The Native Races of the Pacific States

Hubert Howe Bancroft • 1874 • 1,487,000 Words

🔊 Listen॥■►

◄►Bookmark◄❌►▲ ▼Toggle AllToC▲▼Add to LibraryRemove from Library • BShow CommentNext New CommentNext New ReplyRead More

ReplyAgree/Disagree/Etc. More... This Commenter This Thread Hide Thread Display All Comments

AgreeDisagreeThanksLOLTroll

These buttons register your public Agreement, Disagreement, Thanks, LOL, or Troll with the selected comment. They are ONLY available to recent, frequent commenters who have saved their Name+Email using the 'Remember My Information' checkbox, and may also ONLY be used three times during any eight hour period.

Email Comment Ignore Commenter Follow Commenter

Search TextOpen All Case Sensitive Exact Words Include Comments

Table of ContentsOptions

Preface
Authorities Quoted
Chapter I • Ethnological Introduction
Chapter II • Hyperboreans
Chapter III • Columbians
Chapter IV • Californians
Chapter V • New Mexicans
Chapter VI • Wild Tribes of Mexico
Chapter VII • Wild Tribes of Central America
Chapter I • Savagism and Civilization
Chapter II • General View of the Civilized Nations
Chapter III • Government of the Nahua Nations
Chapter IV • Palaces and Households of the Nahua Kings
Chapter V • The Privileged Classes Among the Nahuas
Chapter VI • Plebeians, Slaves, Tenure of Lands, and Taxation
Chapter VII • Education, Marriage, Concubinage, Childbirth, and Baptism
Chapter VIII • Nahua Feasts and Amusements
Chapter IX • Public Festivals
Chapter X • Food of the Nahua Nations
Chapter XI • Dress of the Nahua Nations
Chapter XII • Commerce of the Nahua Nations
Chapter XIII • War Customs of the Nahuas
Chapter XIV • Nahua Laws and Law Courts
Chapter XV • Nahua Arts and Manufactures
Chapter XVI • The Aztec Calendar
Chapter XVII • The Aztec Picture-Writing
Chapter XVIII • Architecture and Dwellings of the Nahuas
Chapter XIX • Medicine and Funeral Rites Among the Nahuas
Chapter XX • Government, Social Classes, Property, and Laws of the Maya Nations
Chapter XXI • Education and Family Matters Among the Mayas
Chapter XXII • Feasts and Amusements of the Mayas
Chapter XXIII • Food, Dress, Commerce, and War Customs of the Mayas
Chapter XXIV • Maya Arts, Calendar, and Hieroglyphics
Chapter XXV • Buildings, Medicine, Burial, Physical Peculiarities, and Character of the Mayas
Chapter I • Speech and Speculation
Chapter II • Origin and End of Things
Chapter III • Physical Myths
Chapter IV • Animal Mythology
Chapter V • Gods, Supernatural Beings, and Worship
Chapter VI • Gods, Supernatural Beings, and Worship
Chapter VII • Gods, Supernatural Beings, and Worship
Chapter VIII • Gods, Supernatural Beings, and Worship
Chapter IX • Gods, Supernatural Beings, and Worship
Chapter X • Gods, Supernatural Beings, and Worship
Chapter XI • Gods, Supernatural Beings, and Worship
Chapter XII • Future State
Chapter I • General Remarks
Chapter II • Hyperborean Languages
Chapter III • Columbian Languages
Chapter IV • Californian Languages
Chapter V • Shoshone Languages
Chapter VI • The Pueblo, Colorado River, and Lower California Languages
Chapter VII • The Pima, Ópata, and Ceri Languages
Chapter VIII • North Mexican Languages
Chapter IX • The Aztec and Otomí Languages
Chapter X • Languages of Central and Southern Mexico
Chapter XI • The Maya-Quiché Languages
Chapter XII • Languages of Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and the Isthmus of Darien
Chapter I • Archæological Introduction
Chapter II • Antiquities of the Isthmus, Costa Rica, Mosquito Coast, and Nicaragua
Chapter III • Antiquities of Salvador and Honduras. Ruins of Copan
Chapter IV • Antiquities of Guatemala and Belize
Chapter V • Antiquities of Yucatan
Chapter VI • Antiquities of Tabasco and Chiapas, Ruins of Palenque
Chapter VII • Antiquities of Oajaca and Guerrero
Chapter VIII • Antiquities of Vera Cruz
Chapter IX • Antiquities of the Central Plateaux
Chapter X • Antiquities of the Northern Mexican States
Chapter XI • Antiquities of Arizona and New Mexico
Chapter XII • Antiquities of the Northwest
Chapter XIII • Works of the Mound-Builders
Chapter XIV • Peruvian Antiquities
Preface to Volume V
Chapter I • On the Origin of the Americans
Chapter II • Introductory to Aboriginal History
Chapter III • The Pre-Toltec Period of Aboriginal History
Chapter IV • The Toltec Period
Chapter V • The Chichimec Period
Chapter VI • The Chichimec Period—Continued
Chapter VII • The Chichimec Period—Concluded
Chapter VIII • The Aztec Period
Chapter IX • The Aztec Period—Concluded
Chapter X • History of the Eastern Plateau, Michoacan, and Oajaca
Chapter XI • The Quiché-Cakchiquel Empire in Guatemala
Chapter XII • Miscellaneous Tribes of Central America
Chapter XIII • History of the Mayas in Yucatan

List of Images

List of Tables

List of Bookmarks

Volume One • Wild Tribes

Preface • 1,900 Words

ORDER IT NOW

In pursuance of a general plan involving the production of a series of works on the western half of North America, I present this delineation of its aboriginal inhabitants as the first. To the immense territory bordering on the western ocean from Alaska to Darien, and including the whole of Mexico and Central America, I give arbitrarily, for want of a better, the name Pacific States. Stretching almost from pole to equator, and embracing within its limits nearly one tenth of the earth’s surface, this last Western Land offers to lovers of knowledge a new and enticing field; and, although hitherto its several parts have been held somewhat asunder by the force of circumstances, yet are its occupants drawn by nature into nearness of relationship, and will be brought yet nearer by advancing civilization; the common oceanic highway on the one side, and the great mountain ramparts on the other, both tending to this result. The characteristics of this vast domain, material and social, are comparatively unknown and are essentially peculiar. To its exotic civilization all the so-called older nations of the world have contributed of their energies; and this composite mass, leavened by its destiny, is now working out the new problem of its future. The modern history of this West antedates that of the East by over a century, and although there may be apparent heterogeneity in the subject thus territorially treated, there is an apparent tendency toward ultimate unity.

To some it may be of interest to know the nature and extent of my resources for writing so important a series of works. The books and manuscripts necessary for the task existed in no library in the world; hence, in 1859, I commenced collecting material relative to the Pacific States. After securing everything within my reach in America, I twice visited Europe, spending about two years in thorough researches in England and the chief cities of the Continent. Having exhausted every available source, I was obliged to content myself with lying in wait for opportunities. Not long afterward, and at a time when the prospect of materially adding to my collection seemed anything but hopeful, the Biblioteca Imperial de Méjico, of the unfortunate Maximilian, collected during a period of forty years by Don José María Andrade, litterateur and publisher of the city of Mexico, was thrown upon the European market and furnished me about three thousand additional volumes.

In 1869, having accumulated some sixteen thousand books, manuscripts, and pamphlets, besides maps and cumbersome files of Pacific Coast journals, I determined to go to work. But I soon found that, like Tantalus, while up to my neck in water, I was dying of thirst. The facts which I required were so copiously diluted with trash, that to follow different subjects through this trackless sea of erudition, in the exhaustive manner I had proposed, with but one life-time to devote to the work, was simply impracticable. In this emergency my friend, Mr Henry L. Oak, librarian of the collection, came to my relief. After many consultations, and not a few partial failures, a system of indexing the subject-matter of the whole library was devised, sufficiently general to be practicable, and sufficiently particular to direct me immediately to all my authorities on any given point. The system, on trial, stands the test, and the index when completed, as it already is for the twelve hundred authors quoted in this work, will more than double the practical value of the library.

Of the importance of the task undertaken, I need not say that I have formed the highest opinion. At present the few grains of wheat are so hidden by the mountain of chaff as to be of comparatively little benefit to searchers in the various branches of learning; and to sift and select from this mass, to extract from bulky tome and transient journal, from the archives of convent and mission, facts valuable to the scholar and interesting to the general reader; to arrange these facts in a natural order, and to present them in such a manner as to be of practical benefit to inquirers in the various branches of knowledge, is a work of no small import and responsibility. And though mine is the labor of the artisan rather than that of the artist, a forging of weapons for abler hands to wield, a producing of raw materials for skilled mechanics to weave and color at will; yet, in undertaking to bring to light from sources innumerable essential facts, which, from the very shortness of life if from no other cause, must otherwise be left out in the physical and social generalizations which occupy the ablest minds, I feel that I engage in no idle pastime.

A word as to the Nations of which this work is a description, and my method of treating the subject. Aboriginally, for a savage wilderness, there was here a dense population; particularly south of the thirtieth parallel, and along the border of the ocean north of that line. Before the advent of Europeans, this domain counted its aborigines by millions; ranked among its people every phase of primitive humanity, from the reptile-eating cave-dweller of the Great Basin, to the Aztec and Maya-Quiché civilization of the southern table-land,—a civilization, if we may credit Dr Draper, “that might have instructed Europe,” a culture wantonly crushed by Spain, who therein “destroyed races more civilized than herself.”

Differing among themselves in minor particulars only, and bearing a general resemblance to the nations of eastern and southern America; differing again, the whole, in character and cast of features from every other people of the world, we have here presented hundreds of nations and tongues, with thousands of beliefs and customs, wonderfully dissimilar for so segregated a humanity, yet wonderfully alike for the inhabitants of a land that comprises within its limits nearly every phase of climate on the globe. At the touch of European civilization, whether Latin or Teutonic, these nations vanished; and their unwritten history, reaching back for thousands of ages, ended. All this time they had been coming and going, nations swallowing up nations, annihilating and being annihilated, amidst human convulsions and struggling civilizations. Their strange destiny fulfilled, in an instant they disappear; and all we have of them, besides their material relics, is the glance caught in their hasty flight, which gives us a few customs and traditions, and a little mythological history.

To gather and arrange in systematic compact form all that is known of these people; to rescue some facts, perhaps, from oblivion, to bring others from inaccessible nooks, to render all available to science and to the general reader, is the object of this work. Necessarily some parts of it may be open to the charge of dryness; I have not been able to interlard my facts with interesting anecdotes for lack of space, and I have endeavored to avoid speculation, believing, as I do, the work of the collector and that of the theorizer to be distinct, and that he who attempts to establish some pet conjecture while imparting general information, can hardly be trusted for impartial statements. With respect to the territorial divisions of the first volume, which is confined to the Wild Tribes, and the necessity of giving descriptions of the same characteristics in each, there may be an appearance of repetition; but I trust this may be found more apparent than real. Although there are many similar customs, there are also many minor differences, and, as one of the chief difficulties of this volume was to keep it within reasonable limits, no delineation has been repeated where a necessity did not appear to exist. The second volume, which treats of the Civilized Nations, offers a more fascinating field, and with ample space and all existing authorities at hand, the fault is the writer’s if interest be not here combined with value. As regards Mythology, Languages, Antiquities, and Migrations, of which the three remaining volumes treat, it has been my aim to present clearly and concisely all knowledge extant on these subjects; and the work, as a whole, is intended to embody all facts that have been preserved concerning these people at the time of their almost simultaneous discovery and disappearance. It will be noticed that I have said little of the natives or their deeds since the coming of the Europeans; of their wars against invaders and among themselves; of repartimientos, presidios, missions, reservations, and other institutions for their conquest, conversion, protection, or oppression. My reason for this is that all these things, so far as they have any importance, belong to the modern history of the country and will receive due attention in a subsequent work.

In these five volumes, besides information acquired from sources not therein named, are condensed the researches of twelve hundred writers, a list of whose works, with the edition used, is given in this volume. I have endeavored to state fully and clearly in my text the substance of the matter, and in reaching my conclusions to use due discrimination as to the respective value of different authorities. In the notes I give liberal quotations, both corroborative of the text, and touching points on which authors differ, together with complete references to all authorities, including some of little value, on each point, for the use of readers or writers who may either be dissatisfied with my conclusions, or may wish to investigate any particular branch of the subject farther than my limits allow.

I have given full credit to each of the many authors from whom I have taken material, and if, in a few instances, a scarcity of authorities has compelled me to draw somewhat largely on the few who have treated particular points, I trust I shall be pardoned in view of the comprehensive nature of the work. Quotations are made in the languages in which they are written, and great pains has been taken to avoid mutilation of the author’s words. As the books quoted form part of my private library, I have been able, by comparison with the originals, to carefully verify all references after they were put in type; hence I may confidently hope that fewer errors have crept in than are usually found in works of such variety and extent.

The labor involved in the preparation of these volumes will be appreciated by few. That expended on the first volume alone, with all the material before me, is more than equivalent to the well-directed efforts of one person for ten years. In the work of selecting, sifting, and arranging my subject-matter, I have called in the aid of a large corps of assistants, and, while desiring to place on no one but myself any responsibility for the work, either in style or matter, I would render just acknowledgment for the services of all; especially to the following gentlemen, for the efficient manner in which, each in his special department, they have devoted their energies and abilities to the carrying out of my plan;—to Mr T. Arundel-Harcourt, in the researches on the manners and customs of the Civilized Nations; to Mr Walter M. Fisher, in the investigation of Mythology; to Mr Albert Goldschmidt, in the treatise on Language; and to Mr Henry L. Oak, in the subject of Antiquities and Aboriginal History.

Authorities Quoted • 14,600 Words

Abbot (Gorham D.), Mexico and the United States. New York, 1869.

Abert (J. W.), Report of his Examination of New Mexico. 1846-7. (30th Congress, 1st Session, Senate Executive Doc. 41.) Washington, 1848.

About (Edmond), Handbook of Social Economy. New York, 1873.

Acazitli (Francisco de Sandoval), Relacion de la Jornada que hizo. Indios Chichimecas de Xuchipila. In Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. ii.

Acosta (Joaquin), Compendio Histórico del Descubrimiento, etc. de la Nueva Granada. Paris, 1848.

Acosta (Josef de), Historia Natural y Moral de las Yndias. Sevilla, 1590. [Quoted as Hist. de las Ynd.]

Acosta (Josef de), The Naturall and Morall Historie of the East and West Indies. London, n. d. [1604]. [Quoted as Hist. Nat. Ind.]

Adair (James), The History of the American Indians. London, 1775. 4to.

Adelung (Johann Christoph), see Vater (J. S.), Mithridates.

Akademie der Wissenschaften, Sitzungsberichte. Berlin.

Alaman (Lúcas), Disertaciones sobre la Historia de la República Mejicana. Méjico, 1844-9. 3 vols.

Alaman (Lúcas), Historia de Méjico. Méjico, 1849-52. 5 vols.

Alarcon (Fernando), The Relation of the Nauigation and Discouery which Captaine Fernando Alarchon made. [1540.] In Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii.; Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii.; Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix.

Album Mexicano. Mexico, 1849.

Alcedo (Antonio de), Diccionario Geográfico Histórico. Madrid, 1786-9. 5 vols.

Alegre (Francisco Javier), Historia de la Compañia de Jesus en Nueva España. Mexico, 1841. 3 vols.

Almaraz (Ramon), Memoria de los trabajos ejecutados por la Comision Científica de Pachuca. Mexico, 1865.

Almaraz (Ramon), Memoria acerca de los Terrenos de Metlaltoyuca. Mexico, 1866.

Alric (Henri J. A.), Dix Ans de Résidence d’un missionnaire dans les deux Californies. Mexico, 1866.

Alzate y Ramirez (José Antonio), Gacetas de Literatura de Mexico. Mexico, 1790-4. 3 vols.; and Puebla, 1831. 4 vols.

Alzate y Ramirez (José Antonio), Memoria sobre la Naturaleza, etc., de la Grana. MS. Mexico, 1777.

America, An Account of the Spanish Settlements in. Edinburgh, 1762.

American Annual Register. New York, 1827 et seq.

American Antiquarian Society, Transactions and Collections. Worcester, etc., 1820-60. 4 vols.

American Ethnological Society, Transactions. New York, 1845-8. vols. i., ii.

American Missions, History of. Worcester, 1844.

American Notes and Queries. Philadelphia, 1857.

American Quarterly Register. Philadelphia, 1848 et seq.

American Quarterly Review. Philadelphia, 1827 et seq.

American Register. Philadelphia, 1807 et seq.

American Review. New York, 1845 et seq.

Amérique Centrale. Colonisation du District de Santo-Thomas, Guatemala. Paris, 1844.

Ampère (J. J.), Promenade en Amérique. Paris, 1855. 2 vols.

Anales Mexicanos de Ciencia, Literatura, etc. Mexico, 1860.

Anderson (Alex. C.), Hand-Book and Map of Frazer’s and Thompson’s Rivers. San Francisco, [1858].

Andrews (W. S.), Illustrations of the West Indies. London, [1861]. folio.

Annales des Voyages. Paris, 1809-14. 24 vols.

Annual of Scientific Discovery. Boston, 1850 et seq.

Annual Register. London, 1787-1807. 47 vols.

Anson (George), A Voyage round the World, 1740-4. London, 1767. 4to.

Antiquités Mexicaines. Paris, 1834. folio. 3 vols. Text, 2 vols., each in 2 divisions; plates, 1 vol.

Antuñez y Acevedo (Rafael), Memorias Históricas. Madrid, 1797.

Anunciacion (Juan de la), Doctrina Christiana muy cumplida. En Lengua Castellana y Mexicana. Mexico, 1575.

Anunciacion (Juan de la), Sermonario en Lengua Mexicana. Mexico, 1577.

Apostólicos Afanes de la Compañia de Jesus. Barcelona, 1754. 4to.

Aravjo (Ivan Martinez de), Manual de los Santos Sacramentos en el Idioma de Michuacan. Mexico, 1690.

Archenholtz (J. M. von), The History of the Pirates, etc., of America. London, 1807.

Archæologia, or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity. London, 1770-1857. 57 vols.

Arenas (Pedro de), Guide de la Conversation en trois Langues, Français, Espagnol et Mexicain. Paris, 1862.

Arenas (Pedro de), Vocabulario Manual de las Lenguas Castellana y Mexicana. Mexico, [1583].

Arenas (Pedro de), Vocabulario Manual de las Lenguas Castellana y Mexicana. Puebla, 1831.

Arizcorreta (Mariano), Respuesta de Algunos Propietarios de Fincas Rústicas, á ——. Mexico, 1849.

Arlegui (Joseph de), Chrónica de la Provincia de N. S. P. S. Francisco de Zacatecas. Mexico, 1737.

Armin (Th.), Das Alte Mexiko. Leipzig, 1865.

Armin (Th.), Das Heutige Mexiko. Leipzig, 1865.

Armstrong (Alex.), A Personal Narrative of the Discovery of the N. W. Passage. London, 1857.

Arricivita (Juan Domingo), Crónica Seráfica y Apostólica del Colegio de Propaganda Fide de la Santa Cruz de Querétaro. Mexico, 1792. 4to.

Arte de la Lengua Névome, que se dice Pima. (Shea’s Linguistics, No. 5.) San Augustine, 1862.

Athanasius, see West-Indische Spieghel.

Atlantic Monthly. Boston, 1858 et seq.

Atwater (Caleb), Description of the Antiquities of Ohio. In Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. i.

Aubin, Mémoire sur l’écriture figurative. Paris, 1849.

Auger (Édouard), Voyage en Californie. Paris, 1854.

Avila (Francisco de), Arte de la Lengua Mexicana. Mexico, 1717.

Baegert (Jacob), An Account of the Aboriginal Inhabitants of the Californian Peninsula. In Smithsonian Report, 1863-4.

Baer (K. E. von), Statistische und Ethnographische Nachrichten über die Russischen Besitzungen an der Nordwestküste von Amerika. St Petersburg, 1839.

Baeza (Bartolomé del Granado), Los Indios de Yucatan. In Registro Yucateco, tom. i.

Baily (John), Central America; describing Guatemala, Honduras, Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. London, 1850.

Bain (Alexander), Mind and Body; The Theories of their Relation. New York, 1873.

Baldwin (John D.), Ancient America. New York, 1872.

Barber (John W.), and Henry Howe, All the Western States and Territories. Cincinnati, 1867.

Bárcena, (J. M. Roa), Ensayo de una Historia Anecdótica de Mexico. Mexico, 1862.

Bárcena, (J. M. Roa), Leyendas Mexicanas. Mexico, 1862.

Barcia (Andrés Gonzalez de), Historiadores Primitivos de las Indias Occidentales. Madrid, 1749. folio. 3 vols.

Bard (Samuel A.), Waikna; or, Adventures on the Mosquito Shore. [By E. G. Squier.] New York, 1855.

Baril (V. L.), Mexique. Douai, 1862.

Barnard (J. G.), and J. J. Williams, The Isthmus of Tehuantepec. New York, 1852. 1 vol. and maps.

Barnes (Demas), From the Atlantic to the Pacific. New York, 1866.

Barreiro (Antonio), Ojeada sobre Nuevo-Mexico. Puebla, 1832.

Barrett-Lennard (C.), Travels in British Columbia. London, 1862.

Bartlett (John Russell), Personal Narrative of Explorations and Incidents in Texas, N. Mexico, California, Sonora and Chihuahua. New York, 1854. 2 vols.

Bates (Mrs D. B.), Incidents on Land and Water. Boston, 1860.

Bausa (José M.), Bosquejo Geográfico y Estadístico de Papantla. In Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. v.

Baxley (Willis), What I saw on the West Coast of South and North America. New York, 1865.

Bazancourt (de), Le Mexique Contemporain. Paris, 1862.

Beaufoy (Mark), Mexican Illustrations. London, 1828.

Beaumont, Pablo de la Purísima Concepcion, Crónica de la Provincia de S. Pedro y S. Pablo de Mechoacan. MS.

Becher (C. C.), Mexico. Hamburg, 1834.

Beechey (F. W.), Narrative of a Voyage to the Pacific, 1825-8. London, 1831. 2 vols.

Beeson (John), A Plea for the Indians. New York, 1858.

Belcher (Edward), Narrative of a Voyage round the World, 1836-42. London, 1843. 2 vols.

Bell (Chas. N.), Remarks on the Mosquito Territory. In Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii.

Bell (James), A system of Geography. Glasgow, 1836. 6 vols.

Belly (Félix), Le Nicaragua. Paris, 1870. 2 vols.

Beltrami (J. C), Le Mexique. Paris, 1830. 2 vols.

Beltran de Santa Rosa María (Pedro), Arte del Idioma Maya. Merida, 1859.

Benzoni (Girolamo), La Historia del Mondo Nvovo. Venetia, 1572.

Benzoni (Girolamo), History of the New World. (Hakl. Soc. ed.) London, 1857.

Berendt (C. H.), Report of Explorations in Central America. In Smithsonian Report, 1867.

Berenger, Collection de tous les Voyages faits autour du Monde. Paris, 1788-9. 9 vols.

Berlandier (Luis), and Rafael Thovel, Diario de Viage de la Comision de Límites. Mexico, 1850.

Bernardez (Josef de Rivera), Descripcion Breve de la Ciudad de Zacatecas. Mexico, 1732.

Betagh (Wm.), A Voyage round the World. London, 1757.

Beulloch, Le Mexique en 1823. London, 1824. 2 vols.

Biart (Lucien), La Terre Chaude. Paris, [1862].

Biart (Lucien), La Terre Tempérée. Paris, 1866.

Bidwell (Chas. Toll), The Isthmus of Panamá. London, 1865.

Bigelow (John), Memoir of the Life and Public Services of John Charles Fremont. New York, 1856.

Bigland (John), A Geographical and Historical View of the World. London, 1810. 5 vols.

Bigler (H. W.), Early Days in Utah and Nevada. MS., 1872.

Bingley (Wm.), Travels in North America. London, 1821.

Biondelli (B.), Sull’ Antica Lingua Azteca. Milano, 1860.

Blagdon (Francis Wm.), The Modern Geographer. London, n. d. 5 vols.

Blake (Wm. P.), Geographical Notes upon Russian America. (40th Congress, 2d Sess., House Ex. Doc. 177, pt. 2.) Washington, 1868.

Bloomfield (E.), A General View of the World. Bungay, 1807. 4to.

Bodega y Quadra (Juan Francisco), Primer Viage hasta la Altura de 58 grados. 1775. MS.

Bodega y Quadra (Juan Francisco), Navegacion y descubrimientos hechos de órden de S. M. en la costa septentrional de California [1779]. MS.

Boggs, Life of Gov. L. W. Boggs, by his Son. MS., 1873.

Boguslawski (B. von), Ueber deutsche Colonisation in Mexico. Berlin, 1851.

Bolduc (J. B. Z.), Extrait d’une Lettre. In Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1845. tom. cviii.

Bollaert (Wm.), Antiquarian and other Researches in New Granada. London, 1860.

Boller (Henry A.), Among the Indians. Philadelphia, 1868.

Bonilla (Antonio), Breve Compendio de Tejas, 1772. MS.

Bonner (T. D.), The Life and Adventures of James P. Beckwourth. New York, 1853.

Bonnycastle (R. H.), Spanish America. London, 1818. 2 vols.

Borthwick (J. D.), Three Years in California. Edinburgh, 1857.

Boscana (Gerónimo), Chinigchinich; A Historical Account of the Origin, etc., of the Indians of San Juan Capistrano. New York, 1846.

Boturini Benaduci (Lorenzo), Computo Cronológico de los Indios Mexicanos. In Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., pt. iv.

Boturini Benaduci (Lorenzo), Idea de Una Nueva Historia General de la America Septentrional. Madrid, 1746.

Boudinot (Elias), A Star in the West, or a humble attempt to find the long lost Ten Tribes of Israel. Trenton, 1816.

Box (Michael James), Adventures and Explorations in New and Old Mexico. New York, 1869.

Boyle (Frederick), A Ride across a Continent. London, 1868. 2 vols.

Brace (Chas. L.), The Races of the Old World. New York, 1863.

Brackenridge (H. M.), Views of Louisiana. Pittsburg, 1814.

Brackett (Albert G.), Gen. Lane’s Brigade in Mexico. Cincinnati, 1854.

Bradford (Alex. W.), American Antiquities and Researches into the Origin and History of the Red Race. New York, 1841.

Brasseur de Bourbourg, Bibliothèque Mexico-Guatémalienne. Paris, 1871.

Brasseur de Bourbourg, Esquisses d’Histoire, d’Archéologie, d’Ethnographie, etc. [Paris, 1864.]

Brasseur de Bourbourg, Grammaire de la Langue Quichée. Paris, 1862.

Brasseur de Bourbourg, Histoire des Nations civilisées du Mexique et de l’Amérique Centrale. Paris, 1857-9. 4 vols.

Brasseur de Bourbourg, Lettres pour servir d’Introduction à l’Histoire primitive des Nations Civilisées de l’Amérique Septentrional. Mexico, 1851. 4to.

Brasseur de Bourbourg, Manuscrit Troano. Études sur le système graphique et la langue des Mayas. Paris, 1869-70. 4to. 2 vols. (Mission Scientifique, Linguistique.)

Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh. Le Livre Sacré et les Mythes de l’Antiquité Américaine. Paris, 1861.

Brasseur de Bourbourg, Quatre Lettres sur le Mexique. Paris, 1868.

Brasseur de Bourbourg, Recherches sur les Ruines de Palenqué. Avec les Dessins de M. de Waldeck. Paris, 1866. folio. 1 vol. text; and 1 vol. plates.

Brasseur de Bourbourg, Voyage sur l’Isthme de Tehuantepec. Paris, 1862.

Brinton (Daniel G.), The Myths of the New World. New York, 1868.

Brissot (A.), Voyage au Guazacoalcos. Paris, 1837.

British Columbia, Papers relating to the Affairs of. London, 1859-60. folio. 3 vols.

British North America. London, n. d.

Browne (J. Ross), Adventures in the Apache Country. New York, 1871.

Browne (J. Ross), Crusoe’s Island, etc. New York, 1864.

Browne (J. Ross), Resources of the Pacific States. San Francisco, 1869.

Browne (J. Ross), A Sketch of the Settlement and Exploration of Lower California. San Francisco, 1869.

Brownell (Charles de Wolf), The Indian Races of North and South America. Hartford, 1865.

Bryant (Edwin), Voyage en Californie. Paris, n. d.

Bryant (Edwin), What I saw in California. New York, 1858.

Bucaneers of America, The History of. Boston, 1857.

Buchanan (James), Sketches of the History, Manners and Customs of the N. American Indians. London, 1824.

Buckle (Henry Thomas), History of Civilization in England. London, 1861. 2 vols.

Buffum (E. Gould), Six Months in the Gold Mines. Philadelphia, 1850.

Bulfinch (Thomas), Oregon and Eldorado. Boston, 1866.

Bullock (W. H.), Across Mexico in 1864-5. London, 1866.

Bullock (W. H.), Six Months’ Residence and Travels in Mexico. London, 1825, 2 vols.

Bülow (A. von), Der Freistaat Nicaragua. Berlin, 1849.

Burgoa (Francisco de), Geográfica Descripcion de la Parte Septentrional del Polo Artico de la America (Oajaca). Mexico, 1674. 4to. 2 vols.

Burgoa (Francisco de), Palestra Historial de Virtudes, y Exemplares Apostólicos. Mexico, 1670. 4to.

Burkart (Joseph), Aufenthalt und Reisen in Mexico. Stuttgart, 1833. 2 vols.

Burke (Edmund), An Account of European Settlements in America. London, 1808. 4to.

Burney (James), A Chronological History of Northeastern Voyages of Discovery. London, 1819.

Burney (James), A Chronological History of the Voyages of Discovery in the South Sea. London, 1803-16. 4to. 4 vols.

Burton (R.), The English Heroe; or Sir Francis Drake revived. London, 1687.

Burton (R. F.), The City of the Saints. London, 1861.

Buschmann (Johann Carl Ed.), Das Apache als eine Athapaskische Sprache erwiesen. Berlin, [1860]. 4to.

Buschmann (Johann Carl Ed.), Der Athapaskische Sprachstamm. Berlin, [1854]. 4to.

Buschmann (Johann Carl Ed.), Grammatik der Sonorischen Sprachen. Berlin, 1864. 4to.

Buschmann (Johann Carl Ed.), Die Lautveränderung Aztekischer Wörter in den Sonorischen Sprachen. Berlin, [1855]. 4to

Buschmann (Johann Carl Ed.), Die Pima-Sprache und die Sprache der Koloschen. Berlin, [1855]. 4to.

Buschmann (Johann Carl Ed.), Die Sprachen Kizh und Netela von Neu-Californien. Berlin, [1855]. 4to.

Buschmann (Johann Carl Ed.), Die Spuren der Aztekischen Sprachen im Nördlichen Mexico und Höheren Amerikanischen Norden. Berlin, 1859. 4to.

Buschmann (Johann Carl Ed.), Die Verwandtschafts-Verhältnisse der Athapaskischen Sprachen. Berlin, 1863. 4to.

Buschmann (Johann Carl Ed.), Die Völker und Sprachen Neu-Mexico’s und der Westseite des Britischen Nordamerikas. Berlin, [1857]. 4to.

Buschmann (Johann Carl Ed.), Systematische Worttafel des Athapaskischen Sprachstamms. Berlin, [1859]. 4to.

Buschmann (Johann Carl Ed.), Über die Aztekischen Ortsnamen. Berlin, [1853] 4to.

Bussièrre (Th. de), L’Empire Mexicain. Paris, 1863.

Bustamante (Benigno), Memoria Geográfica y Estadística del Estado de Guanajuato. In Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. i.

Bustamante (Carlos María), Mañanas de la Alameda de Mexico. Mexico, 1835-6. 2 vols.

Byam (George), Wanderings in some of The Western Republics of America. London, 1850.

Byam (George), Wild Life in the Interior of Central America. London, 1849.

Cabeza de Vaca (Alvar Nuñez), Relation. Translated from the Spanish by Buckingham Smith. New York, 1871. 4to.

Cabeza de Vaca (Alvar Nuñez), Relatione. In Ramusio, Navig., tom. iii.; Barcia, Historiadores Prim., tom. i.; Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. vii.

Cabrera (José María), Estadística de la Municipalidad de Natívitas. In Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. ii.

Cabrera (José Maria), Sobre el Orígen de la Palabra Mexico. In Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. viii.

Cabrera (Paul Felix), Teatro Crítico Americano. In Rio. (Ant. del.), Description of an Ancient City.

Cabrera Bueno (Joseph Gonzalez), Navegacion Especvlativa y Práctica. Manila, 1734. folio.

Cabrillo (Juan Rodriguez), Relacion, ó Diario, de la Navegacion que hizo, 1542. In Smith (B.), Col. de Varios Documentos.

Calderon de la Barca (Madame), Life in Mexico. Boston, 1843. 2 vols.

California, Establecimiento y Progresos de las Misiones de la Antigua California, dispuesto por un Religioso. (Chiefly the letters of P. Juan María de Salvatierra.) In Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. v.

California Academy of Natural Sciences, Proceedings. San Francisco, 1862 et seq.

California Farmer and Journal of Useful Sciences. San Francisco, 1860-3.

California Illustrated. New York, 1852.

California, Its Past History; its Present Position, etc. London, 1850.

California Mercantile Journal. San Francisco, 1860.

California, Nouvelle Descente des Espagnols dans l’ile de Californie l’an 1683. In Voy. de l’Empereur de la Chine.

California State Medical Journal. Sacramento, 1856-7.

Californias, Noticias de la Provincia de Californias en Tres Cartas de un Sacérdote. Valencia, 1794.

Californie, Histoire Chrétienne. Paris, 1851.

Calvo (Charles), Recueil Complet des Traités. Paris, 1862-7. 16 vols.

Camargo (Domingo Muñoz), Histoire de la République de Tlaxcallan. In Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii-ix.

Campbell, A Concise History of Spanish America. London, 1741.

Campbell (Archibald), A Voyage round the World. Edinburgh, 1816.

Cancio (Lorenzo), Cartas, año de 1766. In Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. ii.

Capron (E. S.), History of California. Boston, 1854.

Carbajal Espinosa (Francisco), Historia de Mexico desde los primeros tiempos de que hay noticia. Mex. 1862. vols. i., ii.

Carbajal (Francisco Leon), Discurso sobre la Legislacion de los Antiguos Mexicanos. Mexico, 1864.

Carleton (James Henry), Diary of an Excursion to the Ruins of Abó, etc., New Mexico. In Smithsonian Report, 1854.

Carli (Gian-Rinaldo), Las Cartas Americanas. Mexico, 1821-2.

Carochi (Horacio), Compendio del Arte de la Lengua Mexicana … Dispuesto … por el P. Ignacio de Paredes. Mexico, 1759.

Carpenter (Wm. W.), Travels and Adventures in Mexico. New York, 1851.

Carranza (Domingo Gonzales), A Geographical Description of … the West Indies. London, 1740.

Carriedo (Juan B.), Los Palacios Antiguos de Mitla. In Ilustracion Mexicana, tom. ii.

Carrington (Mrs M. J.), Absaraka, Home of the Crows. Philadelphia, 1868.

Cartari (Vicenzo), Le vere e nove Imagini de gli Dei delli Antichi. Padoua, 1615.

Cartas Edificantes y Curiosas Escritas de las Missiones Estrangeras por algunos missioneros de la Comp. de Jesus. Madrid, 1755-7. 16 vols.

Carvalho (S. N.), Incidents of Travel and Adventure in the Far West. New York, 1858.

Castañeda de Nágera (Pedro de), Relation du Voyage de Cibola. In Ternaux-Compans, Voy., serie i., tom. ix. Paris, 1838.

Castaño de Sosa (Gaspar), Memoria del Descubrimiento … del Nuevo Reino de Leon. 1590. In Pacheco, Col. de Doc. Inéd., tom. iv.

Catecismo en Idioma Mixteco. Puebla, 1837.

Cathecismo y Suma de la Doctrina Christiana … por el III. Concilio Provincial, 1585. MS.

Catherwood (F.), Views of Ancient Monuments in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan. New York, 1844. folio.

Catlin (George), Illustrations of the Manners, Customs and Condition of the North American Indians. London, 1866. 2 vols.

Catlin (George), Okeepa. Philadelphia, 1867.

Cavo (Andres), Los Tres Siglos de Mexico. Mexico, 1836-8. 4 vols.

Chambers’ Edinburgh Journal. London, 1834 et seq.

Champagnac (J. B. J.), Le Jeune Voyageur en Californie. Paris, n. d.

Chandless (Wm.), A Visit to Salt Lake. London, 1857.

Chappe D’Auteroche, Voyage en Californie. Paris, 1772. 4to.

Charlevoix (Fr. Xav. de), Histoire de la Nouvelle France. Paris, 1744. 4to. 3 vols.

Charnay (Désiré), Cités et Ruines Américaines … Avec un Texte par M. Viollet-le-Duc. Paris, 1863. With folio atlas of photographs.

Charpenne (Pierre), Mon Voyage au Mexique. Paris, 1836. 2 vols.

Chateaubriand (de), Voyages en Amérique. Paris, n.d.

Chaves (G.), Rapport sur la Province de Meztitlan. 1579. In Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v.

Chevalier (Michel), L’Isthme de Panamá. Paris, 1844.

Chevalier (Michel), Du Mexique avant et pendant le Conquête. Paris, 1845.

Chevalier (Michel), Le Mexique, Ancien et Moderne. Paris, 1864.

Chimalpopocatl (Faustino Galicia), Disertacion sobre la Riqueza, etc., del Idioma Mexicano. In Museo Mexicano, tom. iv.

Chinook Jargon, Vocabulary. San Francisco, 1860.

Chipman (C.), Mineral Resources of Northern Mexico. New York, 1868.

Choris (Louis), Voyage Pittoresque autour du Monde. Paris, 1822. folio.

Choules (John O.), and Thomas Smith, The Origin and History of Missions. New York, 1851. 4to. 2 vols.

Cincinnatus, Travels on the Western Slope of the Mexican Cordillera. San Francisco, 1867.

Clark (Joseph G.), Lights and Shadows of Sailor Life. Boston, 1848.

Clavigero (Francesco Saverio), Storia della California. Venezia, 1789. 2 vols.

Clavigero (Francesco Saverio), Storia Antica del Messico. Cesena, 1780. 4to. 4 vols.

Cleveland (Richard J.), A Narrative of Voyages. Cambridge, 1842. 2 vols.

Cockburn (John), A Journey Overland from the Gulf of Honduras to the Great South Sea. London, 1735.

Codex Mendoza, etc., See Mex. Picture-Writings.

Cogolludo (Diego Lopez), Historia de Yucathan. Madrid, 1688. folio.

Coke (Henry J.), A Ride over the Rocky Mountains. London, 1852.

Collinson (R.), Account of the Proceedings of H. M. S. Enterprise, from Behring Strait to Cambridge Bay. In Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxv. London, 1855.

Colombo (Fernando), Historie, della vita, e de’ fatti dell’ Ammiraglio D. Christoforo Colombo suo Padre. Venetia, 1709.

Colon (Fernando), La Historia del Almirante D. Christóval Colon su Padre. In Barcia, Historiadores Prim., tom. i.

Colton (Walter), Deck and Port. New York, 1860.

Colton (Walter), The Land of Gold. New York, 1860.

Colton (Walter), Three Years in California. New York, 1850.

Combier (C.), Voyage au Golfe de Californie. Paris, n.d.

Commettant (Oscar), Les Civilisations Inconnues. Paris, 1863.

Comité d’Archéologie Américaine, Annuaire. Paris, 1866-7.

Concilios Provinciales Mexicanos. 1º, 2º, 3º, y 4º; 1555, 1565, 1585, 1771. The original MS. Records, folio. 5 vols.

Conder (Josiah), Mexico and Guatemala. London, 1831. 2 vols.

Cook (James), A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean. London, 1784. 4to. 3 vols. and folio atlas.

Cooke (P. St G.), Scenes and Adventures in the Army. Philadelphia, 1857.

Cooper, The History of North America. London, 1789.

Coréal (François), Voyages aux Indes Occidentales. Paris, 1722. 2 vols.

Cornwallis (Kinahan), The New El Dorado, or British Columbia. London, 1858.

Coronado (Francisco Vazquez de), The Relation of. Country of Cibola. [1540.] In Hakluyt’s Voyages, vol. iii.; Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix.; Ramusio, Navig., tom. iii.

Cortés (Hernan), Aventuras y Conquistas de Hernan Cortés en Méjico. Barcelona, 1846.

Cortés (Hernan), Carta Inédita. [Oct. 15, 1524.] In Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i.

Cortés (Hernan), Cartas y Relaciones de Hernan Cortés al Emperador Carlos V. Paris, 1866.

Cortés (Hernan), The Despatches of. Translated by Geo. Folsom. New York, 1843.

Cortés (Hernan), Historia de Nueva-España. Aumentada por Don Francisco Antonio Lorenzana. Mexico, 1770. folio.

Cortés (Hernan), Vida de Hernan Cortés. [De Rebus Gestis, etc.] In Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i.

Cortés, Martyr, et al., De Insvlis nvper inventis Ferdinandi Cortesii ad Carolum V. Narrationes cum alio quodam Petri Martyris. n.pl., 1532.

Cortez (José), History of the Apache Nations. [1799.] In Pac. R. R. Repts., vol. iii.

Cotheal (Alex. J.), A Grammatical Sketch of the Language spoken by the Indians of the Mosquito Shore. In Amer. Ethnol. Soc., Transact., vol. ii.

Coulter (John), Adventures on the Western Coast of South America and the Interior of California. London, 1847. 2 vols.

Coulter (Thomas), Notes on Upper California. In Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. v.

Cousin (Victor), Course of the History of Modern Philosophy. New York, 1872. 2 vols.

Cox (Isaac), The Annals of Trinity County. San Francisco, 1858.

Cox (Ross), Adventures on the Columbia River. London, 1831. 2 vols.

Coxe (Wm.), Account of the Russian Discoveries between Russia and America. London, 1787.

Cremony (John C.), Life Among the Apaches. San Francisco, 1868.

Crespi (Juan), Diario de la Espedicion de Mar que hizo la fragata Santiago. [Capt. Juan Perez, 1774.] In Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. vi.

Crespi (Juan), Viage de la Espedicion de Tierra de San Diego á Monterey. Copia del Diario, etc. [1769.] In Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. vi.

Cronise (Titus Fey), The Natural Wealth of California. San Francisco, 1868.

Crowe (Frederick), The Gospel in Central America. London, 1850.

Cuaderno Histórico de las Agresiones y Hazañas de tres célebres Apaches. In Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. iii.

Cuesta (Felipe Arroyo de la), Extracto de la Gramática Mutsun. (Shea’s Linguistics, No. 4.) New York, 1861.

Cuesta (Felipe Arroyo de la), A Vocabulary or Phrase Book of the Mutsun Language of Alta California. (Shea’s Linguistics, No. 8.) New York, 1862.

Cullen, The Isthmus of Darien Ship Canal. London, 1853.

Cutts (J. Madison), The Conquest of California and New Mexico. Philadelphia, 1847.

Dale (R.), Notes of an Excursion to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. London, 1851.

Dall (Wm. H.), Alaska and its resources. Boston, 1870.

Dally (E.), Sur les Races Indigènes et sur l’Archéologie du Mexique. Paris, 1862.

Dampier (Wm.), A New Voyage round the World. London, 1699-1709. 3 vols.

Dapper (O.), Die Unbekannte Neue Welt. Amsterdam, 1673. folio.

Darwin (Charles), The Descent of Man. New York, 1871. 2 vols.

Darwin (Charles), On the Origin of Species. New York, 1871.

Davidson (George), Directory for the Pacific Coast of the United States. Washington, n.d.

Dávila (Gil Gonzalez), Teatro Eclesiástico de la Primitiva Iglesia de las Indias Occidentales. Madrid, 1649-55. 2 vols. folio.

Dávila (Julian Gutierrez), Memorias Históricas de la Congregacion de el Oratorio de la Ciudad de Mexico. Mexico, 1736. folio.

Dávila Padilla (Avgvstin), Historia de la Fvndacion y Discvrso de la Provincia de Santiago de Mexico. Brusselas, 1625. folio.

Davis (A.), Antiquities of America. Buffalo, 1846, and New York, 1847.

Davis (W. W. H.), El Gringo; or, New Mexico and her People. New York, 1857.

Dease and Simpson, An Account of the Recent Arctic Discoveries. In Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. viii.

De Bercy (Drouin), L’Europe et l’Amérique. Paris, 1818.

De Costa (B. F.), The Pre-Columbian Discovery of America. Albany, 1868.

De Groot (Henry), British Columbia. San Francisco, 1859.

Delafield (John), An Inquiry into the Origin of the Antiquities of America. Cincinnati, 1839. 4to.

Delano (A.), Life on the Plains. New York, 1861.

Delaporte, Reisen eines Franzosen. Leipzig, 1772.

Democratic Review. Washington, etc., 1832 et seq.

Denkschriften der russischen geographischen Gesellschaft zu St Petersburg. Weimar, 1849 et seq.

Derbec, Lettres écrites de la Californie. In Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851., tom. cxxviii-xxx.

De Smet (P. J. de), Letters and Sketches. Philadelphia, 1843.

De Smet (P. J. de), Missions de l’Orégon. London, 1848.

De Smet (P. J. de), Oregon Missions and Travels over the Rocky Mountains. New York, 1847.

De Smet (P. J. de), Voyages aux Montagnes Rocheuses. Lille, 1859.

De Smet (P. J. de), Western Missions and Missionaries. New York, 1863.

Dewees (W. B.), Letters from an Early Settler of Texas. Louisville, 1852.

Diaz (Juan), Itinerario de la Armada del Rey Católico á la Isla de Yucatan, 1518, en la que fué Juan de Grijalva. In Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i.; Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x.

Diaz del Castillo (Bernal), Historia Verdadera de la Conquista de la Nueva-España. Madrid, 1632. 4to.

Diccionario Universal de Historia y de Geografía. Mexico, 1853. 4to. 10 vols.

Dillon (A.), Beautés de l’Histoire du Mexique. Paris, 1822.

Diorama. [Mexico.] n.d.

Dixon (George), A Voyage round the World. London, 1789. 4to.

Dobbs (Arthur), An Account of the Countries adjoining to Hudson’s Bay. London, 1744. 4to.

Doctrina Christiana y Confesionario en Lengua Névome. (Shea’s Linguistics, No. 5.) San Augustine, 1862.

Documentos para la Historia de Mexico. Mexico, 1853-7. 20 vols. 4 series. Series iii. in folio and in 4 parts referred to as volumes.

Documentos para la Historia eclesiástica y civil de Nueva Vizcaya. In Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. iv.; and MS.

Dollfus (A.), and E. de Mont-Serrat, Voyage Géologique dans les Républiques de Guatemala et de Salvador. Paris, 1868. 4to. (Mission Scientifique, Géologie.)

Domenech (Emmanuel), Journal d’un Missionaire au Texas et au Mexique. Paris, 1857.

Domenech (Emmanuel), Manuscrit Pictographique Américain. Paris, 1860.

Domenech (Emmanuel), Le Mexique tel qu’il est. Paris, 1867.

Domenech (Emmanuel), Seven Years’ Residence in the Great Deserts of North America. London, 1860.

Dominguez (F. A.), and S. V. de Escalante, Diario y Derrotero, Santa Fé á Monterey, 1776. In Doc. Hist. Mex., serie ii., tom. i.

D’Orbigny (Alcide), Voyage dans les deux Amériques. Paris, 1859.

Douglass (Wm.), A Summary, Historical and Political, of British Settlements. Boston, 1755. 2 vols.

Dragoon Campaigns through the Rocky Mountains. New York, 1846.

Drake (Francis), The World Encompassed. Out of the Notes of Master Francis Fletcher. London, 1854. (Hakl. Soc. ed.)

Drake (Samuel G.), The Aboriginal Races of North America. Philadelphia, 1860.

Draper (John Wm.), History of the Intellectual Development of Europe. New York, 1872.

Draper (John Wm.), Thoughts on the Future Civil Polity of America. New York, 1871.

Drew (C. S.), Official Report of the Owyhee Reconnoissance. Jacksonville, 1865.

Duhaut-Cilly (A.), Viaggio intorno al globo. Torino, 1841. 2 vols.

Dunbar (Edward E.), The Mexican Papers. New York, 1860.

Duniway (Abigail J.), Captain Gray’s Company; or Crossing the Plains. Portland, 1859.

Dunlop (Robert Glasgow), Travels in Central America. London, 1847.

Dunn (Henry), Guatimala, or the United Provinces of Central America. New York, 1828.

Dunn (John), History of the Oregon Territory. London, 1844.

Dupaix (Guillermo), Relation de la première (seconde et troisième) Expédition pour la Recherche des Antiquités du Pays. Spanish text and French translation, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. i. Plates in id., tom. iii. Spanish text, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v. English translation, in id., vol. vi. Plates in id., vol. iv.

Duponceau (P. Ét.), Mémoire sur le système Grammaticale des Langues de l’Amérique du Nord. Paris, 1838.

Edinburgh Review. Edinburgh, 1802 et seq.

Edward (David B.), The History of Texas. Cincinnati, 1836.

Edwards (Bryan), The History, Civil and Commercial, of the British Colonies in the West Indies. London, 1793-1801. 4to. 3 vols.

Edwards (Frank S.), A Campaign in New Mexico. Philadelphia, 1847.

Emerson (R. W.), Essay on Civilization.

Emory (Wm. H.), Report of the U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey. (34th Cong., 1st Sess., House Ex. Doc. 135.) Washington, 1857. 4to. 3 vols.

Emory, Abert, and Cooke, Notes of Military Reconnoissance, etc., in New Mexico and California. (30th Cong., 1st Sess., Ex. Doc. 41.) Washington, 1848.

Erman (A.), Archiv für Wissenschaftliche Kunde von Russland. Berlin.

Escalante (Silvestre Velez de), Carta escrita en 2 de Abril de 1778 años. In Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., pt. iv.

Escalera (Evaristo), and M. G. Llana, Méjico Histórico-descriptivo. Madrid, 1862.

Escobar (Alonso de), Account of the Province of Vera Paz. In Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi.

Escudero (José Agustin de), Noticias Estadísticas del Estado de Chihuahua. Mexico, 1834.

Escudero (José Agustin de), Noticias Estadísticas del Estado de Durango. Mexico, 1849.

Escudero (José Agustin de), Noticias Estadísticas de Sonora y Sinaloa. Mexico, 1849.

Esparza (Marcos de), Informe presentado al Gobierno. Zacatecas, 1830.

Espeio (Antonio de), El Viaie qve hizo Antonio de Espeio en el anno de ochenta y tres (to New Mexico). In Hakluyt’s Voyages, vol. iii.

Espinosa (Isidro Felis de), Chrónica Apostólica y Seráphica de todos los Colegios de Propaganda Fide de esta Nueva-España, Primera Parte. Mexico, 1746. folio. [For Segunda Parte see Arricivita.]

Esquemelin (A. O.), De Americaensche Zee-Roovers. Amsterdam, 1678.

Esteva (José María), Apuntes Arqueológicos. In Museo Mex., tom. ii.

Evans (Albert S.), Our Sister Republic. Hartford, 1870.

Fabens (Joseph W.), A Story of Life on the Isthmus. New York, 1853.

Fages (Eduardo), Noticias Estadísticas sobre el Departamento de Tuxpan. In Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. iv.

Fages (Pedro), Voyage en Californie. In Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1844. tom. ci.

Fancourt (Charles St John), The History of Yucatan. London, 1854.

Farnham (Thomas J.), The Early Days of California. Philadelphia, 1860.

Farnham (Thomas J.), Life and Adventures in California. New York, 1846.

Farnham (Thomas J.), Mexico. New York, 1846.

Farnham (Thomas J.), Travels in the Great Western Prairies. New York, 1843.

Fédix, L’Orégon et les Côtes de l’Océan Pacifique du Nord. Paris, 1846.

Ferry (Gabriel), Scènes de la Vie Mexicaine. Paris, 1858.

Ferry (Gabriel), Scènes de la Vie Sauvage au Mexique. Paris, 1868.

Ferry (Gabriel), Vagabond Life in Mexico. New York, 1856.

Figuier (Louis), The Human Race. New York, 1872.

Finck (Hugo), Account of Antiquities in the State of Vera Cruz. In Smithsonian Report, 1870.

Findlay (Alex. G.), A Directory for the Navigation of the Pacific Ocean. London, 1851. 2 vols.

Fitzgerald (James Edward), An Examination of the Charter and Proceedings of the Hudson’s Bay Company. London, 1849.

Fleuri, and Joaquin Ruz, Catecismo Histórico. [En Idioma Yucateco.] Merida, 1822.

Florencia (Francisco de), Historia de la Provincia de la Compañia de Jesvs de Neva-España. Mexico, 1694. folio.

Font (Pedro), Notice sur la Grande Maison dite de Moctezuma. In Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix. Paris, 1837.

Fontaine (Edward), How the World was peopled. New York, 1872.

Foote (Henry Stuart), Texas and the Texans. Philadelphia, 1841. 2 vols.

Foote (Mrs), Recollections of Central America. London, 1869.

Forbes (Alex.), California: A History of Upper and Lower California. London, 1839.

Forbes (Chas.), Prize Essay, Vancouver Island, n.pl., 1862.

Foreign Quarterly Review. London, 1827 et seq.

Foresti, Supplementi Chronicarum Jacobo Phillippo Bergomati. Venetiis, 1513. folio.

Forster (John Reinhold), History of the Voyages and Discoveries made in the North. London, 1786. 4to.

Forster (John Reinhold), Observations made during a Voyage round the World. London, 1778. 4to.

Fossey (Matthieu de), Le Mexique. Paris, 1857.

Foster (J. W.), Pre-Historic Races of the United States. Chicago, 1873.

Franchère (Gabriel), Narrative of a Voyage to the N. W. Coast of America. Readfield, 1854.

Franciscus (Erasmus), Guineischer und Americanischer Blumen-Busch. Nurnberg, 1669.

Franck (Sebastian), Weltbuch-Spiegel und bildtnis des gantzen erdtbodens. Tübingen, 1533.

Franklin (John), Narrative of a Journey to the shores of the Polar Sea. London, 1824. 2 vols.

Fransham (John), The World in Miniature. London, 1741. 2 vols.

Fremont (John Chas.), Geographical Memoir upon Upper California. Washington, 1848.

Fremont (John Chas.), Report of the Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, etc. Washington, 1845.

Fremont, and Emory, Notes of Travel in California. New York, 1849.

French (B. F.), Historical Collections of Louisiana. New York, 1850-69.

Friederichsthal (Emmanuel de), Les Monuments de l’Yucatan. In Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841. tom. xcii.

Frignet (Ernest), La Californie. Paris, 1867.

Froebel (Julius), Aus Amerika. Erfahrungen, Reisen und Studien. Leipzig, n.d. 2 vols.

Froebel (Julius), Seven Years’ Travel in Central America. London, 1859.

Frost (John), Great Cities of the World. Auburn, n.d.

Frost (John), History of the State of California. Auburn, 1853.

Frost (John), Indian Wars of the U. S. New York, 1859.

Fry (F.), Traveler’s Guide. Cincinnati, 1865.

Funnell (Wm.), A Voyage round the World. London, 1707.

Gage (Thomas), A New Survey of the West Indies. London, 1677.

Gairdner, Notes on the Geography of the Columbia River. [1835.] In Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi.

Galindo (Juan), Description of the River Usumasinta. In Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. iii.

Galindo (Juan), Notice of the Caribs. In Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. iii.

Galindo (Juan), Notions transmises, sur Palenque, etc. In Antiquités Mexicaines, tom. i., div. ii.

Galindo (Juan), The Ruins of Copan in Central America. In Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii.

Gallatin (Albert), Hale’s Indians of Northwest America. In Amer. Ethnol. Soc., Transact., vol. ii.

Gallatin (Albert), Notes on the semi-civilized Nations of Mexico, Yucatan, and Cent. Am. In Amer. Ethnol. Soc., Transact., vol. i.

Gallatin (Albert), Sur l’Ancienne Civilisation du Nouveau Mexique. In Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851. tom. cxxxi.

Gallatin (Albert), A Synopsis of the Indian Tribes. In Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii.

Gand (Pierre de), Lettre du Frère Pierre de Gand, autrement dit de Mura, 1529. In Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x.

Garay (José de), Reconocimiento del Istmo de Tehuantepec. London, 1844.

Garces (Francisco), Diario y Derrotero que siguió el M. R. P. Fr. en su viage desde Oct. de 1775 hasta Sept. de 1776, al Rio Colorado. In Doc. Hist. Mex., serie ii., tom. i.

García (Gregorio), Orígen de los Indios de el Nuevo Mundo. Madrid, 1729. folio.

García Conde (Francisco), Frontera de la República. In Album Mexicano, tom. i.

García y Cubas (Antonio), Atlas Geográfico, Estadístico, é Histórico de la República Mexicana, Mexico, 1858. folio.

Gass (Patrick), A Journal of the Voyages and Travels of Lewis and Clarke. Pittsburgh, 1808.

Gastelu (Antonio Vazquez), Arte de la Lengua Mexicana. Puebla, 1726.

Gastelu (Antonio Vazquez), Catecismo Breve [en Lengua Mexicana.] Puebla, 1838.

Gazlay’s Pacific Monthly. San Francisco, 1865.

Gemelli Careri (Giovanni Francesco), A Voyage round the World. In Voyages, Col. (Churchill), vol. iv., and in other Collections. Plates in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. iv.

Gerstäcker (Friederich), Californische Skizzen. Leipzig, 1856.

Gerstäcker (Friederich), Narrative of a Journey round the World. New York, 1853.

Gibbs (George), Alphabetical Vocabulary of the Chinook Language. (Shea’s Linguistics, No. 8.) New York, 1863.

Gibbs (George), Alphabetical Vocabularies of the Clallam and Lummi. (Shea’s Linguistics, No. 11.) New York, 1863.

Gibbs (George), A Dictionary of the Chinook Jargon. (Shea’s Linguistics, No. 12.) (Smithsonian Miscel. Col., No. 161.) New York, 1863.

Gil (Hilarion Romero), Memoria sobre los Descubrimientos que los Españoles hicieron en el Siglo XVI. en Nueva Galicia. In Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. viii.

Gilliam (Albert M.), Travels over the Table Lands and Cordilleras of Mexico. Philadelphia, 1846.

Girard (Juste), Excursion d’un Touriste au Mexique. Tours, 1867.

Gisbourne (Lionel), The Isthmus of Darien in 1852. London, 1853.

Glasunow (Andreas), Auszug aus dem Tagebuche des Schiffer-gehülfen—. In Baer (K. E. von), Stat. und Ethnog. Nachrichten; and in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841. tom. lxxxix.

Gleeson (W.), History of the Catholic Church in California. San Francisco, 1872. 2 vols.

Gomara (Francisco Lopez de), Historia de Mexico. Anvers, 1554.

Gomara (Francisco Lopez de), La Historia General de las Indias. Anvers, 1554.

Gondra (Isidro R.), Antigüedades Mexicanas. In Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. ii.

Gondra (Isidro R.), Campeche. In Album Mexicano, tom. i.

Gondra (Isidro R.), Esplicacion de las Láminas. Historia Antigua de Mejico. In Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., Mexico, 1846, tom. iii.

Gonzalez (Joseph), See Cabrera Bueno (J. G.).

Goodrich, Lives of Celebrated American Indians. Boston, 1852.

Gordon (James Bentley), An Historical and Geographical Memoir of the North American Continent, its Nations and Tribes. Dublin, 1820. 4to.

Gordon (Thomas F.), The History of Ancient Mexico. Philadelphia, 1832. 2 vols.

Gottfriedt (Johann Ludwig), Newe Welt und Americanische Historien. Franckfurt, 1655. folio.

Granados y Galvez (Joseph Joaquin), Tardes Americanas. Mexico, 1778.

Grant (George M.), Ocean to Ocean. Toronto, 1873.

Grant (W. Colquhoun), Description of Vancouver Island. [1857.] In Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vols. xxvii., xxxi.

Gray (Wm. H.), A History of Oregon. Portland, 1870.

Greenhow (Robert), The History of Oregon and California. London, 1844.

Gregg (Josiah), Commerce of the Prairies. Philadelphia, 1850. 2 vols.

Grijalua (Joan de), Crónica de la Orden de N. P. S. Augustin. Mexico, 1624. folio.

Griswold (C. D.), The Isthmus of Panamá. New York, 1852.

Guerra (José), Historia de la Revolucion de Nueva España. London, 1813. 2 vols.

Guizot (F.), History of Civilization. New York, 1860. 4 vols.

Guyot (Arnold), The Earth and Man. Boston, 1867.

Guzman (Nuño de), Relacion anónima de la Jornada que hizo á la Nueva Galicia. In Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. ii.

Hacke (Wm.), A Collection of Original Voyages. London, 1699.

Haefkens (J.), Central America. Dordrecht, 1832.

Hakluyt (Richard), The Principal Navigations, Voyages, etc. London, 1599-1600. folio. 3 vols.

Hale (Horatio), Ethnography and Philology. Philadelphia, 1846. 4to. (U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi.)

Halkett (John), Historical Notes respecting the Indians of North America. London, 1825.

Hall (Basil), Extracts from a Journal. Edinburgh, 1826. 2 vols.

Hall (Basil), Voyage au Chili, etc. Paris, 1834. 2 vols.

Hall (Frederic), The History of San José. San Francisco, 1871.

Hardisty (Wm. L.), The Loucheux Indians. In Smithsonian Report, 1866.

Hardman (Frederick), Scenes and Adventures in Central America. Edinburgh, 1852.

Hardy (R. W. H.), Travels in the Interior of Mexico. London, 1829.

Harmon (Daniel Williams), A Journal of Voyages and Travels. Andover, 1820.

Harpers’ New Monthly Magazine. New York, 1856 et seq.

Harris (G.), Civilization Considered as a Science. New York, 1873.

Hartmann (Carl), Geographisch-statistische Beschreibung von Californien. Weimar, 1849.

Hartmann (Wm.), and Millard, Le Texas; ou Notice Historique sur le Champ-d’Asile. Paris, 1819.

Hassel (G.), and J. G. F. R. Cannabich, Vollständige und neueste Erdbeschreibung vom Reiche Mexico, Guatemala und Westindien. Weimar, 1824.

Hastings (Lansford W.), The Emigrants’ Guide to Oregon and California. Cincinnati, 1845.

Hayes (Benj.), Recollections of Early Times. MS.

Hayes Collection of MSS. and Newspaper Scraps. 1850-74. 50 vols.

Hazart (Cornelius), Kirchen-Geschichte. Wienn, 1684. folio. 2 vols.

Hazlitt (Wm. Carew), The Great Gold Fields of Cariboo. London, 1862.

Hazlitt (Wm. Carew), British Columbia and Vancouver Island. London, 1858.

Heap (Gwinn Harris), Central Route to the Pacific. Philadelphia, 1854.

Hearne (Samuel), A Journey from Prince of Wales’s Fort in Hudson’s Bay to the Northern Ocean. London, 1795. 4to.

Heine (Wilhelm), Wanderbilder aus Central-Amerika. Leipzig, n.d.

Heller (Carl Bartholomæus), Reisen in Mexiko. Leipzig, 1853.

Hellwald (Frederick von), The American Migration. In Smithsonian Report, 1866.

Helmholtz (H.), Popular Lectures on Scientific Subjects. New York, 1873.

Helps (Arthur), The Conquerors of the New World and their Bondsmen. London, 1848-52. 2 vols.

Helps (Arthur), The Life of Las Casas. Philadelphia, 1868.

Helps (Arthur), The Spanish Conquest in America. London. 1858-61. 4 vols.

Henderson (Alex.), A Grammar of the Moskito Language. New York, 1846.

Henderson (George), An Account of the British Settlement of Honduras. London, 1811.

Hennepin (Louis), Description de la Louisiane. Paris, 1688.

Hermesdorf (M. G.), On the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. In Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii.

Hernandez (Francisco), Nova Plantarum Animalium et Mineralium Mexicanorum Historia. Romæ, 1651. folio.

Heredia y Sarmiento (Josef Ignacio), Sermon Panegírico da la Gloriosa Aparicion de Nra. Sra. de Guadalupe. Mexico, 1803.

Herrera (Antonio de), Historia General de los Hechos de los Castellanos en las Islas i Tierra Firme del Mar Océano. Madrid, 1601. 4to. 4 vols.

Hervas (Lorenzo), Catálogo de las Lenguas de las Naciones Conocidas. Madrid, 1800-5. 6 vols.

Hervas (Lorenzo), Saggio Pratico delle Lengue. Cesena, 1787.

Hesperian. San Francisco, 1858 et seq.

Hill (S. S.), Travels in Peru and Mexico. London, 1860. 2 vols.

Hind (Henry Youle), Narrative of the Canadian Red River Exploring Expedition. London, 1860. 2 vols. and atlas.

Hines (Gustavus), Oregon, its History, etc. Buffalo, 1851.

Hines (Gustavus), A Voyage round the World. Buffalo, 1850.

Hinton (R.), The Land of Gold. Baltimore, 1855.

Historia de Welinna, Leyenda Yucateca. Merida, 1863.

Historical Magazine and Notes and Queries. Boston, etc., 1857-69. 4to. 15 vols.

Hittell (John S.), The Resources of California. San Francisco, 1867.

Holinski (Alex.), La Californie et les Routes Interocéaniques. Bruxelles, 1853.

Holley (Mrs May Austin), Texas. Lexington, 1836.

Holmberg (H. J.), Ethnographische Skizzen über die Völker des Russischen America. Helsingfors, 1855. 4to.

Holton (Isaac F.), New Granada. New York, 1857.

Hooper (Wm. H.), Ten Months among the Tents of the Tuski. London, 1853.

Horn (Mrs), An authentic and thrilling Narrative of the Captivity of ——. Cincinnati, n.d.

Horn (George), De Originibus Americanis. Hagae, 1652.

Houstoun (Mrs), Texas and the Gulf of Mexico. London, 1844. 2 vols.

Hudson’s Bay Company, Report. London, 1857. folio.

Hughes (John T.), Doniphan’s Expedition. Cincinnati, 1850.

Humboldt (Alex. de), Essai Politique sur le Royaume de la Nouvelle Espagne. Paris, 1811. folio. 2 vols. and atlas.

Humboldt (Alex. de), État Présent de la République de Centro-America ou Guatemala. In Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1827. tom. xxxv.

Humboldt (Alex. de), Examen Critique de l’histoire de la Géographie du Nouveau Continent. Paris, 1836-9. 5 vols.

Humboldt (Alex. de), Kosmos. Entwurf einer physischen Weltbeschreibung. Stuttgart, 1845-1862. 5 vols.

Humboldt (Alex. de), Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent. London, 1822-9. 7 vols.

Humboldt (Alex. de), Vues des Cordillères, et Monumens des Peuples Indigènes de l’Amérique. Paris, 1816. 2 vols.

Hunter (John D.), Memoirs of a Captivity among the Indians. London, 1823.

Hutchings’ California Magazine. San Francisco, 1857-61. 5 vols.

Huxley (Thomas Henry), Critiques and Addresses. New York, 1873.

Huxley (Thomas Henry), Lay Sermons, Addresses, and Reviews. New York, 1871.

Iberri, Ruinas de Monte-Real, Vera Cruz. In Museo Mex., tom. iii.

Icazbalceta (Joaquin García), Coleccion de Documentos para la Historia de México. Mexico, 1858-66. folio. 2 vols.

Ilustracion Mexicana. Mexico, 1851.

Incidents and Sketches. Cincinnati, n.d.

Indian Affairs, Report of the Commissioner. Washington, 1854 et seq.

Indian Life, Traits of American. London, 1853.

Instituto Nacional de Geografía y Estadística, Boletin. See Sociedad Mexicana, etc., its later name.

Irving (Washington), The Adventures of Captain Bonneville. New York, 1860.

Irving (Washington), Astoria. New York, 1860.

Irving (Washington), The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus. New York, 1869. 3 vols.

Ives (Joseph C.), Report upon the Colorado River of the West. (36th Cong., 1st Sess., House Ex. Doc. 90.) Washington, 1861. 4to.

Ixtlilxochitl (Fernando de Alva), Cruautés Horribles des Conquérants du Mexique. In Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. viii.

Ixtlilxochitl (Fernando de Alva), Histoire des Chichimèques. In Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. ii. Paris, 1840. 2 vols.

Ixtlilxochitl (Fernando de Alva), Historia Chichimeca. In Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix.

Ixtlilxochitl (Fernando de Alva), Relaciones. In Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix.

Jackson (George W.), Vocabulary of the Wintoon Language. MS.

James (Edwin), Account of an Expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains. London, 1823. 3 vols.

Japanese Equivalent of the most common English Words. Tokei, n.d.

Jaramillo (Juan), Relation du Voyage fait à la Nouvelle-Terre. In Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix.

Jefferys (Thomas), Voyages from Asia to America. London, 1761. 4to.

Jenkins (John S.), Voyage of U. S. Exploring Squadron. Auburn, 1850.

Jewett (John R.), A Narrative of the Adventures and Sufferings of. New York, 1849.

Joan Baptista, Advertencias para los Confesores de los Naturales. Mexico, 1600.

Johnson (Chas. Granville), History of the Territory of Arizona. San Francisco, 1868. 4to.

Johnston (Theodore T.), California and Oregon. Philadelphia, 1857.

Jones (Charles C., Jr), Antiquities of the Southern Indians. New York, 1873.

Jones (George), The History of Ancient America. London, 1843.

Jones (Strachan), The Kutchin Tribes. In Smithsonian Report, 1866.

Jourdanet (D.), Du Mexique. Paris, 1861.

Juan (George), and Antonio de Ulloa, Voyage Historique de l’Amérique Méridionale. Amsterdam, 1752. 4to. 2 vols.

Juarros (Domingo), A Statistical and Commercial History of the Kingdom of Guatemala. London, 1824.

Kamtschatka, Histoire de. Lyon, 1767. 2 vols.

Kane (Paul), Wanderings of an Artist among the Indians of N. America. London, 1859.

Kelly (Wm.), An Excursion to California. London, 1851. 2 vols.

Kendall (George Wilkins), Narrative of the Texan Santa Fé Expedition. New York, 1856. 2 vols.

Kennedy (Wm.), Texas; the Rise, Progress, and Prospects. London, 1841. 2 vols.

Koppel (Henry), The Expedition to Borneo. London, 1846. 2 vols.

Ker (Henry), Travels through the Western Interior of the U. S. Elizabethtown, 1816.

Kerr (Robert), A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels. Edinburgh and London, 1824. 18 vols.

King (Clarence), Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada. Boston, 1872.

Kingsborough (Lord), Antiquities of Mexico. London, 1831-48. folio. 9 vols.

Kino, Kappus, and Mange, [Itineraries of their travels in Sonora and on the Gila River.] In Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. i.

Kirby (W. W.), A Journey to the Youcan, Russian America. In Smithsonian Report, 1864.

Kittlitz (F. H. von), Denkwürdigkeiten einer Reise nach dem russischen Amerika, nach Mikronesien und durch Kamtschatka. Gotha, 1858. 2 vols.

Klaproth (J.), Recherches sur le Pays de Fou Sang, pris mal à propos pour une partie de l’Amérique. In Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1831. tom. li.

Klemm (Gustav), Allgemeine Cultur-Geschichte der Menschheit. Leipzig, 1843-52. 10 vols.

Kneeland (Samuel), The Wonders of the Yosemite Valley. Boston, 1871.

Knight (Thomas), Pioneer Life. MS., 1872.

Knight (Wm. H.), Bancroft’s Hand-Book Almanac. San Francisco, 1862-4. 3 vols.

Kotzebue (Otto von), A New Voyage round the World, 1823-6. London, 1830. 2 vols.

Kotzebue (Otto von), A Voyage of Discovery into the South Sea and Beering’s Straits. London, 1821. 3 vols.

Kruger (F.), The First Discovery of America. New York, 1863.

Krusenstern (A. J. von), Voyage round the World. London, 1813. 4to.

Krusenstern (A. J. von), Wörter-Sammlungen. St Petersburg, 1813. 4to.

Kvostoff, and Davidoff, Voyage dans l’Amérique. In Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1852. tom. cxxxv.

Lachapelle (A. de), Le Comte de Raousset-Boulbon. Paris, 1859.

Lacunza (José María), Historia Antigua de Mexico. Discurso Histórico. In Museo Mex., tom. iv.

Laet (Joannis de), Novvs Orbis. Lvgd. Batav., 1633. folio.

Lafond (G.), Voyages autour du Monde. Paris, 1844. 8 vols.

La Harpe (Jean François), Abrégé de l’Histoire Générale des Voyages. Paris, 1816. 24 vols. and atlas.

Lamberg (E.), Inspeccion de las Colonias Militares de Chihuahua. In Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. iii.

Lambert, Curious Observations upon the Manners, Customs, etc. London, n.d. 2 vols.

Landa (Diego de), Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan. [Spanish and French.] Paris, 1864.

Lang (John Dunmore), View of the Origin and Migrations of the Polynesian Nations. London, 1834.

Langsdorff (G. H. von), Voyages and Travels. London, 1813-14. 4to. 2 vols.

La Pérouse (Jean François Galaup de), Voyage autour du monde. Rédigé par M. L. A. Milet-Mureau. Paris, an. vi. [1798.] 4 vols. and atlas.

Lapham (J. A.), The Antiquities of Wisconsin. (Smithsonian Contribution.) Washington, 1853. 4to.

Laplace (C.), Campagne de Circumnavigation. Paris, 1841-54. 6 vols.

Larenaudière, Mexique et Guatemala. Paris, 1847.

Larrainzar (Manuel), Dictamen sobre la Obra de Brasseur de Bourbourg. Mexico, 1865.

Larrainzar (Manuel), Noticia Histórica de Soconusco. In Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. iii.

Las Casas (Bartolomé de), Historia de Indias. MS. folio. 4 vols.

Las Casas (Bartolomé de), Historia Apologética de las Yndias Occidentales. MS. folio. 4 vols.

Lassepas (Ulises Urbano), De la Colonizacion de la Baja California. Mexico, 1859.

Latham (Robert Gordon), Comparative Philology. London, 1862.

Latham (Robert Gordon), Man and his Migrations. London, 1851.

Latham (Robert Gordon), The Native Races of the Russian Empire. London, 1854.

Latour-Allard, Specimens of Mexican Sculpture in the Possession of ——. In Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. iv.

Latrobe (Charles Joseph), The Rambler in Mexico. London, 1836.

Lecciones Espirituales para las Tandas de Ejercicios de S. Ignacio, en el Idioma Mexicano. Puebla, 1841.

Lecky (W. E. H.), History of European Morals. New York, 1873. 2 vols.

Lejarza (Juan José Martinez de), Análisis Estadístico de la Provincia de Michuacan en 1822. Mexico, 1824.

Lemprière (Charles), Notes in Mexico in 1861-2. London, 1862.

Lenoir (Alexandre), Parallèle des Anciens Monuments Mexicains, avec ceux de l’Egypte, de l’Inde, et du reste de l’ancien monde. In Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i.

Leon (Martin de), Camino del Cielo en Lengua Mexicana. Mexico, 1611.

Leon (Martin de), Manual Breve, y Forma de Administrar los Santos Sacramentos. Mexico, 1640.

Leon y Gama (Antonio), Descripcion Histórica y Cronológica de las dos Piedras. Mexico, 1832.

Leon y Gama (Antonio), Saggio dell’ Astronomía, Cronología, etc. Roma, 1804.

Letherman (Jona.), Sketch of the Navajo Tribe of Indians. In Smithsonian Report, 1855.

Lettres Édifiantes et Curieuses écrites des Missions Étrangères. Lyon, 1819. 14 vols.

Letts (J. M.), A Pictorial View of California. New York, 1853.

Lewis and Clarke, Travels to the Source of the Missouri River. London, 1814. 4to.

Linati (C.), Costumes Civils, Militaires et Réligieux du Mexique. Bruxelles, n.d.

Liot (W. B.), Panamá, Nicaragua and Tehuantepec. London, 1849.

Lippincott’s Magazine. Philadelphia, 1868 et seq.

Lisiansky (Urey), A Voyage round the World in the years 1803-6. London, 1814. 4to.

Lizana, Devocionario de Nuestra Señora de Itzamal. Extracts in Landa (Diego de), Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan.

Llorente (J. A.), Oeuvres de Don Barthélemé de Las Casas. Paris, 1822. 2 vols.

Lloyd (J. A), Notes respecting the Isthmus of Panamá. [1831.] In Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. i.

Loa en Obsequio de la Aparicion de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe. (En Lengua Azteca.) [Mexico,] 1866.

Lockman, Travels of the Jesuits. London, 1743. 2 vols.

London Geographical Society, Journal. London, 1831-70. 40 vols.

Long, Porter, and Tucker, America and the West Indies. London, 1845.

Lord (John Keast), The Naturalist in Vancouver Island and British Columbia. London, 1866. 2 vols.

Lorenzana y Buitron (Francisco Antonio), Cartas Pastorales. Mexico, 1770. 4to.

Löwenstern (Isador), Le Mexique. Paris, 1843.

Löwenstern (M. J.), Journey from the City of Mexico to Mazatlan. [1838.] In Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi.

Lowry (A. A.), Klamath Vocabulary. MS., 1873.

Lubbock (John), The Origin of Civilization. New York, 1871.

Lubbock (John), Pre-Historic Times. New York, 1872.

Ludecus (Édouard), Reise durch die Mexikanischen Provinzen. Leipzig, 1837.

Ludewig (Herman E.), The Literature of American Aboriginal Languages. London, 1858.

Lussan (Ravenau de), Journal du Voyage fait à la Mer du Sud avec les Flibustiers, 1684. Paris, 1693.

Lyon (G. F.), Journal of a Residence and Tour in the Republic of Mexico. London, 1828. 2 vols.

M’Clure (R.), Discovery of the North-West Passage. In Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxiv. London, 1854.

McCollum (Wm. S.), California as I saw it. Buffalo, 1850.

McCulloh (James H., Jr.), Researches in America. Baltimore, 1817.

McCulloh (James H., Jr.), Researches, Philosophical and Antiquarian, concerning the Aboriginal History of America. Baltimore, 1829.

McDaniel (Wm. D.), Early Days of California. MS.

Macdonald (D. G. F.), Lecture on British Columbia. London, 1863.

Macfie (Matthew), Vancouver Island and British Columbia. London, 1863.

Macgregor (John), The Progress of America, from the Discovery by Columbus to 1846. London, 1847.

McIntosh (John), The Origin of the North American Indians. New York, 1853.

McKean (Kate), Manual of Social Science. Being a condensation of the Principles of Social Science of H. C. Carey. Philadelphia, 1872.

Mackenzie (Alex.), Voyages from Montreal through the Continent of North America. London, 1801. 4to.

McSherry (Richard), El Puchero; or, A Mixed Dish from Mexico. Philadelphia, 1850.

Maillard (Doran), The History of the Republic of Texas. London, 1842.

Major (Richard Henry), The Life of Prince Henry of Portugal. London, 1868.

Maltby, Letter on California Indians. MS.

Malte-Brun (V. A.), Un Coup d’Oeil sur le Yucatan. Paris, n.d.

Malte-Brun (V. A.), Précis de la Geógraphie Universelle. Bruxelles, 1839. 6 vols. and atlas.

Malte-Brun (V. A.), La Sonora et ses Mines. Paris, 1864.

Manzi (Pietro), Il Conquisto di Messico. Roma, 1817.

Marbois (Barbé), The History of Louisiana. Philadelphia, 1830.

March y Labores (José), Historia de la Marina Real Española. Madrid, 1854. 4to. 2 vols. and atlas.

Marchand (Étienne), Voyage Autour du Monde pendant les Années 1790-92. Paris, ans vi-viii. [1798-1800.] 5 vols. and atlas.

Marcy (Randolph B.), Exploration of the Red River of Louisiana. (32d Cong., 2d Sess., Senate Ex. Doc. 64.) Washington, 1854.

Marcy (Randolph B.), The Prairie Traveler. New York, 1859.

Marcy (Randolph B.), Report of Route from Fort Smith to Santa Fé. (31st Cong., 1st Sess., Senate Ex. Doc. 64.) Washington, 1850.

Marcy (Randolph B.), Thirty Years of Army Life on the Border. New York, 1866.

Marineo (Lucio), Sumario de la clarissima Vida y Heroicos Hechos de los Cathólicos Reyes. Toledo, 1542. 4to.

Marmier (X.), Notice sur les Indiens de la Californie. In Bryant (Ed.), Voy. en Cal.

Marmier (X.), Les Voyageurs Nouveaux. Paris, n.d. 3 vols.

Marquez (Pietro), Due Antichi Monumenti di Architettura Messicana. Roma, 1804.

Marsh (G. P.), Man and Nature. New York, 1867.

Martin (Ch.), Précis des Événements de la Campagne du Mexique. Paris, 1863.

Martin (John), An Account of the Natives of the Tonga Islands. London, 1818. 2 vols.

Martin (R. Montgomery), History of the British Colonies. London, 1834-5. 5 vols.

Martin (R. Montgomery), History of the West Indies. London, 1836. 2 vols.

Martin (R. Montgomery), The Hudson’s Bay Territories and Vancouver’s island. London, 1849.

Martyr (Peter), Decades. In Voy., a Selection, etc. London, 1812.

Martyr (Peter), Petri Martyris ab Angleria, etc., de Rebus Oceanicis et Orbe nouo decades tres. Basileae, 1533. folio.

Maurelle (Fran. Antonio), Journal of a Voyage in 1775. n.pl., n.d. 4to.

Mayer (Brantz), Memoranda upon Mexican Antiquities. In Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi.

Mayer (Brantz), Mexico as it was and as it is. New York, 1854.

Mayer (Brantz), Mexico. Aztec, Spanish and Republican. Hartford, 1853. 2 vols.

Mayer (Brantz), Observations on Mexican History and Archeology. (Smithsonian Contribution, No. 86.) Washington, 1856.

Mayne (R. C.), Four Years in British Columbia and Vancouver Island. London, 1862.

Meares (John), Voyages made in the years 1788-9. London, 1790. 4to.

Medina (Balthassar de), Chrónica de la Santa Provincia de San Diego de Mexico. Mexico, 1682. folio.

Mélanges Russes Tirés du Bulletin Historico-Philologique de l’Académie Impériale des Sciences de St Pétersbourg. St Pétersbourg, 1858.

Meletta, Pah-Utah Vocabulary. MS.

Meline (James F.), Two Thousand Miles on Horseback. New York, 1867.

Mendez (Modesto), Bericht über eine Untersuchungs-Expedition nach den Ruinen der alten Stadt Tikal. In Sivers, Mittelamerika.

Mendieta (Gerónimo de), Historia Eclesiástica Indiana. Mexico, 1870.

Mendoza (Joan Gonzalez de), Historia de las Cosas mas notables, ritos y costumbres del Gran Reyno de la China. Anvers, 1596.

Mengarini (Gregory), A Selish or Flathead Grammar. (Shea’s Linguistics, No. 2.) New York, 1861.

Menonville (Thierry de), Reise nach Guaxaca. Leipzig, 1789.

Mercator (Gerardus), Atlas sive Cosmographicae Meditationes. Dvisbvrgi, 1594. folio.

Mexican Picture-Writings. Fac-similes of Ancient Mexican Paintings and Hieroglyphics, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., as follows:
Codex Berlin, Fac-similes of Original Mexican Paintings deposited in the Royal Library of Berlin by the Baron de Humboldt. vol. ii.
Codex Bodleian, Fac-similes, in Bodleian Library at Oxford. (Nos. 2858, 3135, 3207, 546.) vols. i. ii.
Codex Bologna, Fac-simile, Library of the Institute. vol. ii.
Codex Borgian, Fac-simile, Borgian Museum, Rome. vol. iii.
Codex Boturini, Fac-simile, Collection of Boturini. vol. i.
Codex Dresden, Fac-simile, Royal Library. vol. iii.
Codex Fejérvary, Fac-simile, in possession of M. F——. vol. iii.
Codex Mendoza, Copy of the Collection of Mendoza. vol. i. Explicacion de la Coleccion, vol. v. Interpretion of the Collection, vol. vi.
Codex Telleriano-Remensis, Copy, in Royal Library at Paris. vol. i. Explicacion, vol. v. Explanation, vol. vi.
Codex Vaticanus, Copy, Library of the Vatican, Rome. vols. ii. iii. Spiegazione delle Tavole, vol. v. Translation, vol. vi.
Codex Vienna, Fac-simile, Imperial Library. vol. ii.

Mexican Sculpture, Specimens preserved in the British Museum. In Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. iv.

Mexicanische Zustände aus den Jahren 1830-2. Stuttgart, 1837.

Mexico, Anales del Ministerio de Fomento. Mexico, 1854.

Mexico, the Country, History and People. London, 1863.

Mexico in 1842. New York, 1842.

Mexico, Memoria presentada á S. M. El Emperador por el Ministro de Fomento. Mexico, 1866. 4to.

Mexico, Noticias de la Ciudad. Mexico, 1855. 4to.

Mexico, A Trip to, by a Barrister. London, 1851.

Mexique Conquis. Paris, 1752. 2 vols.

Mexique, Études Historiques. Paris, 1859.

Meyer (Carl), Nach dem Sacramento. Aarau, 1855.

Michler (N.), Report of Survey for Ship Canal near Darien. (36th Cong., 2d Sess., Senate Ex. Doc. 9.) Washington, 1861.

Mijangos (Joan), Espeio Divino en Lengua Mexicana. Mexico, 1607.

Milburn (Wm. Henry), The Rifle, Axe, and Saddle-Bags. New York, 1857.

Mill (John Stuart), Dissertations and Discussions. London, 1867. 3 vols.

Mill (John Stuart), Essay on Civilization.

Mill (Nicholas), History of Mexico. London, 1824.

Miller (Joaquin), Life Amongst the Modocs. London, 1873.

Milton, and Cheadle, The North-West Passage by Land. London, [1865].

Miscellanea Curiosa. London, 1827.

Mission Scientifique au Mexique et dans l’Amérique Centrale. Géologie, Linguistique. Paris, 1868-70. 3 vols. 4to.

Mofras (Duflot de), Exploration du Territoire de l’Orégon, des Californies, etc. Paris, 1844. 2 vols. and atlas.

Molina (Alonso de), Vocabulario en Lengua Castellana y Mexicana. Mexico, 1571. 2 vols. 4to.

Molina (Felipe), Coup d’Oeil rapide sur la République de Costa Rica. Paris, 1850.

Molina (Felipe), Memoir on the Boundary Question, Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Washington, 1851.

Möllhausen (Balduin), Der Flüchtling. Leipzig, 1862. 4 vols.

Möllhausen (Balduin), Das Mormonenmädchen. Jena, 1864. 4 vols.

Möllhausen (Balduin), Reisen in die Felsengebirge Nord-Amerikas. Leipzig, 1861. 2 vols.

Möllhausen (Balduin), Tagebuch einer Reise vom Mississippi nach den Küsten der Südsee. Leipzig, 1858. 4to.

Monglave (Eugéne de), Résumé de l’Histoire du Mexique. Paris, 1826.

Montanus (Arnoldus), De Nieuwe en Onbekende Weereld. Amsterdam, 1671. folio.

Montgomery (G. W.), Narrative of a Journey to Guatemala. New York, 1839.

Moore (Francis, Jr.), Description of Texas. New York, 1854.

Morelet (Arthur), Voyage dans l’Amérique Centrale, l’Isle de Cuba et le Yucatan. Paris, 1857. 2 vols.

Morfi (Juan Agustin de), Viage de Indios y Diario del Nuevo-México. In Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., pt. iv.

Morineau (P. de), Notice sur la Nouvelle Californie. In Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1834. tom. lxi.

Morrell (Benjamin), A Narrative of four Voyages to the South Sea, etc. New York, 1832.

Morse (Jedidiah), A Report on Indian Affairs. New Haven, 1822.

Morton (Samuel George), Crania Americana or a Comparative View of the Skulls of various Aboriginal Nations of North and South America. Philadelphia, 1839. folio.

Mosaico Mexicano. Mexico, 1840-2. 7 vols.

Mosquitoland, Bericht über. Berlin, 1845.

Motolinia (Toribio de Benavente), Historia de los Indios de la Nueva España. In Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i.

Mowry (Sylvester), Arizona and Sonora. New York, 1864.

Mowry (Sylvester), The Geography and Resources of Arizona and Sonora. San Francisco, 1863.

Moxó (Benito María de), Cartas Mejicanas. Genova, n.d.

Mühlenpfordt (Eduard), Versuch einer getreuen Schilderung der Republik Mejico. Hannover, 1844. 2 vols.

Mullan (John), Report on the construction of a Military Road from Walla-Walla to Fort Benton. Washington, 1863.

Müller (J. G.), Geschichte der Amerikanischen Urreligionen. Basel, 1867.

Müller (J. W. von), Beiträge zur Geschichte, etc., von Mexico. Leipzig, 1865.

Müller (J. W. von), Reisen in den Vereinigten Staaten, Canada, und Mexico. Leipzig, 1864. 3 vols.

Müller (Max), Chips from a German Workshop. New York, 1869. 2 vols.

Müller (Max), Lectures on the Science of Language. New York, 1871-2, 2 vols.

Munster (Sebastian), Cosmographia. Basel, 1545. 4to.

Murguia, Estadística antigua y moderna de la Provincia de Guajaca. In Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. vii.

Murphy and Harned, The Puget Sound Directory.

Murr (Christoph Gottlieb von), Nachricht von verschiedenen Ländern des Spanischen Amerika. Halle, 1809.

Murray (Hugh), Historical Account of Discoveries and Travels in North America. London, 1829. 2 vols.

Museo Mexicano. Mexico, 1843-5. 5 vols.

N. (N.), America, or an exact description of the West Indies. London, 1655.

Navarrete (Martin Fernandez), Coleccion de los Viages y Descubrimientos que hicieron los Españoles desde fines del Siglo XV. Madrid, 1825-37. 5 vols.

Náxera (Manuel Crisóstomo), Disertacion sobre la lengua Othomí. Mexico, 1845.

Nebel (Carlos), Viaje Pintoresco y Arqueolójico sobre la República Mejicana, 1829-34. Paris, 1839. folio.

Neue Nachrichten von denen neuentdekten Insuln. Hamburg, 1776.

Neve y Molina (Luis de), Grammática della Lingua Otomí. Esposta en Italiano dal Conte Enea Silvio Vincenzo Piccolomini. Roma, 1841.

Nicolai (Eliud), Newe und Warhafte Relation von West-und-Ost Indien. München, 1619.

Nicolay (C. G.), The Oregon Territory. London, 1846.

Nievwe Weerelt, Anders ghenaempt West-Indien. Amsterdam, 1622. folio.

Niza (Marco de), A Relation of the reuerend father Frier Marco de Niça, touching his discouery of Ceuola or Cibola. In Hakluyt’s Voyages, vol. iii.; Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix.; Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii.

Norman (B. M.), Rambles by Land and Water. New York, 1845.

Norman (B. M.), Rambles in Yucatan. New York, 1843.

North American Review. Boston, 1819 et seq.

Nott (J. C), and Geo. R. Gliddon. Indigenous Races of the Earth. Philadelphia, 1868.

Nouvelles Annales des Voyages. Paris, 1819-60. 168 vols.

Oersted, L’Amérique Centrale. Copenhague, 1863.

Ogilby (John), America: Being the latest and most accurate Description of the New World. London, 1671. folio.

Oregon, Sketches of Mission Life among the Indians of. New York, 1854.

Orozco y Berra (Manuel), Geografía de las Lenguas y Carta Etnográfica de México. Mexico, 1864.

Orrio (Francisco Xavier Alexo de), Solucion del Gran Problema acerca de la Poblacion de las Americas. Mexico, 1763.

Ortega (Francisco de), Apendice to Veytia, Historia Antigua de Mejico, tom. iii.

Ortega (Francisco de), Relacion de la Entrada que hizo á las Californias el Capitan Francisco de Ortega el año de 1631. In Doc. Hist. Mex., serie ii., tom. iii.

Ortega (Joseph de), Vocabulario en Lengua Castellana y Cora. In Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. viii.

Ortelivs (Abrahamvs), Theatrvm Orbis Terrarvm. Antverpiae, 1570. folio.

Oswald (Fr.), Californien und seine Verhältnisse. Leipzig, 1849.

Otis (F. N.), Isthmus of Panamá. New York, 1867.

Ottavio, Promenade dans le Golfe du Mexique. In Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1833. tom. lix.

Overland Monthly. San Francisco, 1868 et seq.

Oviedo y Valdés (Gonzalo Fernandez de), Historia General y Natural de las Indias. Madrid, 1851-5. 4 vols. 4to.

Oviedo y Valdés (Gonzalo Fernandez de), Relacion Sumaria de la Historia Natural de las Indias. In Barcia, Historiadores Prim., tom. i.

Pacheco (Joaquin F.), et al., Coleccion de Documentos Inéditos relativos al Descubrimiento, Conquista y Colonizacion de las Posesiones Españolas en America. Madrid, 1864-7. 7 vols.

Pacific R. R., Reports of Explorations and Surveys. Washington, 1855-60. 13 vols. 4to.

Padilla (Matins de la Mota), Conquista del Reino de la Nueva Galicia. MS. Guadalajara, 1742. folio.

Page (Legh), Notes on a Journey from Belize to Guatemala. In Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. viii.

Pagés (F. de), Nouveau Voyage autour du Monde. Paris, 1797.

Pagés (F. de), Travels round the World. London, 1793. 2 vols.

Palacio (Diego García de), Carta dirigida al Rey de España, año 1576. [With English translation.] Albany, 1860. (No. 1 of Squier’s Collection.)

Palacio (Diego García de), Relacion hecha por el Licenciado Palacio al Rey D. Felipe II. [Same as preceding.] In Pacheco, Col. de Doc., tom. vi.

Palacios, Description de la Province de Guatemala. [Translation of preceding.] In Ternaux-Compans, Recueil de Doc.

Palliser (John), Exploration of British America. London, 1860. folio.

Palliser (John), Solitary Rambles. London, 1853.

Palmer (Joel), Journal of Travels over the Rocky Mountains. Cincinnati, 1852.

Palou (Francisco), Noticias de las Californias. In Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. vi. vii. Mexico, 1857.

Palou (Francisco), Relacion Histórica de la Vida y Apostólicas Tareas del Venerable Padre Fray Junípero Serra. Mexico, 1787.

Pandosy (Mie. Cles.), Grammar and Dictionary of the Yakama Language. (Shea’s Linguistics, No VI.) New York, 1862.

Paredes (Alonso de), Utiles y Curiosas Noticias del Nuevo-Mexico, Cíbola, etc. In Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., pt. iv.

Paredes (Ignacio de), Promptuario Manual Mexicano. Mexico, 1759.

Parker (Samuel), Journal of an Exploring Tour. Ithaca, 1842.

Parker (W. B.), Notes Taken during the Expedition through Unexplored Texas. Philadelphia, 1856.

Parkman (Francis), The California and Oregon Trail. New York, 1849.

Parkman (Francis), The Jesuits in North America. Boston, 1867.

Parry (W. E.), Journals of the first, second and third Voyages for the Discovery of a Northwest Passage. London, 1828-9. 6 vols.

Pattie (James O.), The Personal Narrative of, edited by Timothy Flint. Cincinnati, 1833.

Pauw (De), Recherches Philosophiques sur les Américains. London, 1770. 3 vols.

Pemberton (J. Despard), Facts and Figures relating to Vancouver’s Island and British Columbia. London, 1860.

Perez (Francisco), Catecismo de la Doctrina Cristiana en Lengua Otomí. Mexico, 1834.

Perez (Juan), Relacion del viage en 1774 con la fragata Santiago. MS.

Perez (Juan Pio), Cronología Antigua de Yucatan. In Landa (Diego de), Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan; in Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii.; and in Diccionario Univ. de Geog., tom. iii.

Perez (Manuel), Arte de el Idioma Mexicano. Mexico, 1713.

Peters (De Witt C.), The Life and Adventures of Kit Carson. New York, 1859.

Petit-Thouars (Abel du), Voyage autour du Monde. Paris, 1840-4. 5 vols.

Petzholdt (J.), Das Buch der Wilden. Dresden, 1861.

Pfeiffer (Ida), A Lady’s second Journey round the World. New York, 1856.

Phelps (W. D.), Fore and Aft. Boston, 1871.

Pickering (Charles), The Races of Man: and their Geographical Distribution. Philadelphia, 1848. 4to. (U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix.)

Pidgeon (William), Traditions of Decoodah, and Antiquarian Researches. New York, 1858.

Pike (Zebulon Montgomery), Exploratory Travels through the Western Territories of North America. London, 1811. 4to.

Pilar (García del), Relacion de la Entrada de Nuño de Guzman. In Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. ii.

Pim (Bedford), The Gate of the Pacific. London, 1863.

Pim (Bedford), and Berthold Seemann, Dottings on the Roadside in Panamá, Nicaragua, and Mosquito. London, 1869.

Pimentel (Francisco), Cuadro Descriptivo y Comparativo de las Lenguas indígenas de Mexico. Mexico, 1862-5. 2 vols.

Pimentel (Francisco), La Economía Política. Mexico, 1866.

Pimentel (Francisco), Memoria sobre las Causas que han originado la Situacion Actual de la Raza Indígena le México. Mexico, 1864.

Pimería, Noticias de la. In Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., pt. iv.

Pineda (Emilio), Descripcion Geográfica del Departamento de Chiapas y Soconusco. In Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. iii.

Pinkerton (John), A General Collection of Voyages and Travels. London, 1808-14. 17 vols. 4to.

Pioneer. San Francisco, 1854-5. 4 vols.

Pitman (Robert Birks), A Succinct View and Analysis of Ship Canal across the Isthmus of America. London, 1825.

Pizarro y Orellana (Fernando), Varones Ilvstres del Nvevo Mvndo. Madrid, 1639. folio.

Poinsett (J. R.), Notes on Mexico. London, 1825.

Pontelli (L. de), Explorations in Central America. In Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1857. tom. clv.; and in California Farmer, Nov. 7, 14, 1862.

Poole (Francis), Queen Charlotte Islands. London, 1872.

Porter (Jane), Sir Edward Seaward’s Narrative of his Shipwreck. London, 1841. 2 vols.

Porter (Noah), The Sciences of Nature versus the Science of Man. New York, 1871.

Portlock (Nathaniel), A Voyage round the World. London, 1789.

Poussin (G. T.), Question de l’Orégon. Paris, 1846.

Powers (Stephen), The Northern California Indians. In Overland Monthly, vols. viii. et seq.

Powers (Stephen), Pomo: Some Accounts of the Habits, Customs, Traditions and Languages of the California Indians. MS., 1873.

Powers (Stephen), Vocabularies of the California Indians. MSS.

Poyet (C. F.), Notices Géographiques. Paris, 1863.

Pradt, Cartas al Sr Abate de Pradt. Madrid, 1829.

Prariedom. Rambles and Scrambles in Texas. New York, 1845.

Prescott (William H.), History of the Conquest of Mexico. New York, 1844. 3 vols.

Prescott (William H.), Historia de la Conquista de México. Mexico, 1844-6. 3 vols.

Prescott (William H.), Historia de la Conquista de México. Madrid, 1847-50. 4 vols.

Prichard (James Cowles), The Natural History of Man. London, 1855. 2 vols.

Prichard (James Cowles), Researches in the Physical History of Mankind. London, 1836-47. 5 vols.

Priest (Josiah), American Antiquities and Discoveries in the West. Albany, 1838.

Prieto (Guillermo), Viajes de Orden Suprema. Mexico, 1857.

Purchas his Pilgrimes. London, 1625-6. 5 vols. folio.

Puydt (Lucien de), Account of Scientific Explorations in the Isthmus of Darien, 1861, 1865. In Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxviii.

Quarterly Review, London, 1809 et seq.

Querétaro, Noticias Estadísticas. Mexico, 1848.

Quintana (Manuel Josef), Vidas de Españoles Célebres. Paris, 1845.

Radloff (L.), Einige Nachrichten über die Sprache der Kaiganen; in Mélanges Russes, tom. iii., livraison v. St Pétersbourg, 1858.

Rae (W. F.), Westward by Rail. London, 1870.

Ramirez (Antonio de Guadalupe), Breve Compendio de todo lo que debe saber y entender el Christiano, en Lengua Othomí. Mexico, 1785.

Ramirez (José Fernando), Cuadro Histórico-Geroglífico de la Peregrinacion de las Tribus Aztecas. In García y Cubas, Atlas.

Ramirez (José Fernando), Discursos sobre la Historia Antigua de Méjico. In Revista Científica, tom. i.

Ramirez (José Fernando), Notas y Esclarecimientos á la Historia de la Conquista. In Prescott (W. H.), Hist. Conq. Mex., Mexico, 1845, tom. ii.

Ramirez (José Fernando), Noticias Históricas de Durango. In Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. v.

Ramirez (José Fernando), Noticias Históricas y Estadísticas de Durango. Mexico, 1851.

Ramirez (José Fernando), Proceso de Residencia contra Pedro de Alvarado. Mexico, 1847.

Ramusio (Giovanni Battista), Navigationi et Viaggi. Venetia, tom. i., 1554; tom. ii., 1583; tom. iii., 1565. 3 vols. folio.

Ranking (John), Historical Researches on the Conquest of Peru, Mexico, etc., by the Mongols. London, 1827.

Raso (Antonio del), Notas Estadísticas del Departamento de Querétaro. In Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. iii.

Rattray (Alex.), Vancouver Island and British Columbia. London, 1862.

Rau (Charles), Indian Pottery. In Smithsonian Report, 1866.

Raven (Ralph), Golden Dreams and Leaden Realities. New York, 1853.

Raynal (G. T.), Histoire Philosophique et Politique. Paris, 1820-1. 12 vols. and atlas.

Registro Trimestre. Mexico, 1832.

Registro Yucateco. Mérida, 1845. 2 vols.

Reichardt (C. F.), Centro-Amerika. Braunschweig, 1851.

Reichardt (C. F.), Nicaragua. Braunschweig, 1854.

Reid (Hugo), The Indians of Los Angeles County. In Los Angeles Star, 1852; California Farmer, 1861; and in Hayes Collection.

Relacion de algunas cosas de la Nueva España. [Anonymous Conqueror.] In Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i.

Relatione d’alcvne cose della Nuoua Spagna, etc., per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese. [Anonymous Conqueror.] In Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii.

Religious Ceremonies and Customs. London, 1731. 3 vols. folio.

Remesal (Antonio de), Historia de la Provincia de S. Vicente de Chyapa. Madrid, 1619. 4to.

Remy (Jules), and Julius Brenchley, A Journey to Great Salt Lake City. London, 1861. 2 vols.

Revere (Joseph Warren), A Tour of Duty in California. New York, 1849.

Revilla-Gigedo, Extractos de la Carta de 27 de Diciembre de 1793, sobre las Misiones de la Nueva España. MS.

Revista Científica y Literaria. Mexico, 1845. 2 vols.

Revista Mexicana. Mexico, 1835.

Revue Américaine. Paris, 1826 et seq.

Revue des Deux Mondes. Paris, 1839 et seq.

Revue Française. Paris, 1864.

Ribas (Andres Perez de), Historia de los Trivmphos de Nvestra Santa Fee, en las Misiones de la Provincia de Nueva-España. Madrid, 1645. folio.

Ribero (L. Miguel), Proyecto de Monarquía en Mexico. Madrid, 1846.

Richardson (John), Arctic Searching Expedition: A Journal of a Boat Voyage. London, 1851. 2 vols.

Richardson (John), The Polar Regions. Edinburgh, 1861.

Richthofen (Emil Karl Heinrich von), Die Aeusseren und Inneren Politischen Zustände der Republik Mexico. Berlin, 1854.

Rio (Antonio del), Description of the Ruins of an Ancient City [Palenque]. London, 1822. 4to.

Rio (Antonio del), Beschreibung einer Alten Stadt. [With additions by the translator, J. H. von Minutoli.] Berlin, 1532.

Rios (Epitacio J. de los), Compendio de la Historia de Mexico. Mexico, 1852.

Ripaldo, Catecismo (en idioma Mixteco). Puebla, 1719.

Ritos Antiguos, Sacrificios é Idolatrías de los Indios de la Nueva-España. In Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix.

Rittner (Heinrich), Guatimozin über die Welt und die Erde. Berlin, 1801.

Rivera, and García, Ruinas de la Quemada. In Museo Mexicano, tom. i.

Rivero (Mariano Edward), See Tschudi, Peruvian Antiq.

Robertson (William), The History of America. London, 1777. 2 vols. 4to.

Robertson (William Parrish), A Visit to Mexico. London, 1853. 2 vols.

Robinson (Alfred), Life in California. New York, 1846.

Robinson (Fayette), California and its Gold Regions. New York, 1849.

Rochelle (Roux de), États Unis d’Amérique. Paris, 1853.

Rogers (Woodes), A Cruising Voyage round the World. London, 1718.

Rollin, Mémoire Physiologique et Pathologique sur les Américains. In Pérouse, Voy., tom. iv.

Romero (José Guadalupe), Noticias para formar la Historia y la Estadística del Obispado de Michoacan. Mexico, 1862; and in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. viii.

Roquefeuil (Camille de), Voyage round the World. London, 1823.

Roquette (De la), De la Géographie de la Nouvelle-Grenade. In Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1855. tom. cxlvii.

Roseborough (J. B.), Letter on Northern California Indians. MS.

Ross (Alex.), Adventures of the First Settlers on the Oregon or Columbia River. London, 1849.

Ross (Alex.), The Fur Hunters of the Far West. London, 1855. 2 vols.

Rossi, Souvenirs d’un Voyage en Orégon. Paris, 1864.

Rouhaud (Hip.), Les Régions Nouvelles. Paris, 1868.

Royal Geographical Society of London. See Lond. Geog. Soc.

Ruschenberger (W. S. W.), Narrative of a Voyage round the World. London, 1838. 2 vols.

Ruxton (George Frederic), Adventures in Mexico and the Rocky Mountains. New York, 1848.

Ruxton (George Frederic), Sur la Migration des Anciens Mexicains. In Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1850. tom. cxxvi.

Ruz (Joaquin), Cartilla ó Silabario de Lengua Maya. Mérida, 1845.

Ruz (Joaquin), Gramática Yucateca. Mérida, 1844.

Ryan (William Redmond), Personal Adventures in Upper and Lower California. London, 1850. 2 vols.

S. (J. L.), See Neue Nachrichten.

Sacramento Daily Union. Sacramento, 1854 et seq.

Sahagun (Bernardino de), La Aparicion de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de Mexico. Mexico, 1840.

Sahagun (Bernardino de), Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva España. Mexico, 1829. 3 vols.; and in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vols. v.-vii.

Saigey (Emile), The Unity of Natural Phenomena. Boston, 1873.

Saint-Amant (De), Voyages en Californie et dans l’Orégon. Paris, 1854.

Salazar y Olarte (Ignacio de), Historia de la Conquista de Mexico. Segunda Parte. [Continuation of Solis.] Córdoba, 1743. folio.

Salmeron (Gerónimo de Zárate), Relaciones de todas las cosas que en el Nuevo-Mexico se han visto y sabido, 1538-1626. In Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., pt. iv.

Salvatierra (Juan María de), Cartas. In Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. v., and serie ii., tom. i.

Sámano (Juan de), Relacion de la Conquista de los Teules Chichimecas. In Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. ii.

Sammlung aller Reisebeschreibungen. Leipzig, 1747-74. 21 vols. 4to.

San Francisco Evening Bulletin. San Francisco, 1855 et seq.

Sartorius (C.), Mexico. Landscapes and Popular Sketches. London, 1859. 4to.

Saturday Magazine. London, 1834-41. 8 vols. folio.

Sauer (Martin), An Account of a Geographical and Astronomical Expedition to the Northern Parts of Russia, performed by Joseph Billings. London, 1802. 4to.

Saxon (Isabella), Five Years within the Golden Gate. Philadelphia, 1868.

Scenes in the Rocky Mountains. New York, 1846.

Schérer (Jean Benoît), Recherches Historiques. Paris, 1777.

Scherr (Johannes), Das Trauerspiel in Mexiko. Leipzig, 1868.

Scherzer (Karl), Ein Besuch bei den Ruinen von Quiriguá. (Akademie der Wissenschaften.)

Scherzer (Karl), Die Indianer von Istlávacan. Wien, 1856.

Scherzer (Karl), Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara. London, 1861. 3 vols.

Scherzer (Karl), Travels in the Free States of Central America. London, 1857. 2 vols.

Scherzer (Karl), Wanderungen durch die mittelamerikanischen Freistaaten. Braunschweig, 1857.

Schiel, Reise durch die Felsengebirge und die Humboldtgebirge. Schaffhausen, 1859.

Schoolcraft (Henry R.), Archives of Aboriginal Knowledge. Philadelphia, 1860. 6 vols. 4to.

Schott (Arthur), Remarks on the “Cara Gigantesca” of Yzamal, in Yucatan. In Smithsonian Report, 1869.

Schumacher (Paul), Oregon Antiquities. MS.

Scouler (John), Observations on the Indigenous Tribes of the N. W. Coast of America. In Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi.

Sedelmair (Jacobo), Relacion que hizo el P——, 1746. In Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., pt. iv.

Seemann (Berthold), Narrative of the Voyage of H. M. S. Herald, 1845-51. London, 1853. 2 vols.

Seleny (S. J.), Auszug aus dem Tagebuche des Lieutenants Sagoskin über seine Expedition auf dem festen Lande des nordwestlichen Amerikas. In Denkschriften der russ. geog. Gesellsch. zu St Petersburg, band i. Weimar, 1849.

Seleny (S. J.), [or Zelenöi], Résumé des Journaux de l’Expedition Amérique Russe, 1852-4. In Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1850. tom. cxxv-vi.

Selfridge (Thomas Olliver), Reports of Explorations. Ship-Canal by way of Darien. Washington, 1874. 4to.

Sevin (Ch.), Journey to Mexico. [1856.] In Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxx.

Sharp (Barth.), The Voyages and Adventures of. London, 1684.

Shastas and their Neighbors. MS., 1874.

Shaw (William), Golden Dreams and Waking Realities. London, 1851.

Shea (John Gilmary), History of the Catholic Missions among the Indians of the United States. New York, 1855.

Shea (John Gilmary), Library of American Linguistics. [Quoted separately.]

Shelvocke (George), A Voyage round the World. London, 1726.

Shepard (A. K.), The Land of the Aztecs. Albany, 1859.

Shepard (A. K.), Papers on Spanish America. Albany, 1868.

Shuck (Oscar T.), The California Scrap-Book. San Francisco, 1869.

Shufeldt (Robert W.), Reports of Explorations. Ship-Canal by way of Tehuantepec. (42d Cong., 2d Sess., Ex. Doc. 6.) Washington, 1872. 4to.

Sigüenza y Góngora (Carlos de), Parayso Occidental. Mexico, 1684.

Sigüenza y Góngora (Carlos de), Teatro de Virtudes Políticas. In Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., pt. iii.

Silliman (Benjamin), The American Journal of Science. New Haven, 1819 et seq. 107 vols.

Simon (Mrs), The Ten Tribes of Israel Historically identified with the Aborigines of the Western Hemisphere. London, 1836.

Simpson (George), Narrative of a Journey round the World. London, 1847. 2 vols.

Simpson (James H.), Coronado’s March in search of the “Seven Cities of Cíbola.” In Smithsonian Report, 1869.

Simpson (James H.), Journal of a Military Reconnoissance from Santa Fé to the Navajo Country. Philadelphia, 1852.

Simpson (James H.), The Shortest Route to California. Philadelphia, 1869.

Simpson (Thomas), Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America. London, 1843.

Sitgreaves (L.), Report of an Expedition down the Zuñi and Colorado Rivers. (32d Cong., 2d Sess., Senate Ex. Doc. 59.) Washington, 1853.

Sitjar (Buenaventura), Vocabulario de la Lengua de los Naturales de la Mision de San Antonio, Alta California. (Shea’s Linguistics, No. 7.) New York, 1861.

Sivers (Jegór von), Ueber Madeira und die Antillen nach Mittelamerika. Leipzig, 1861.

Smart (Charles), Notes on the Tonto Apaches. In Smithsonian Report, 1867.

Smith (Buckingham), Coleccion de Varios Documentos para la Historia de la Flórida y Tierras Adyacentes. Madrid, 1857. 4to.

Smith (Buckingham), A Grammatical Sketch of the Heve Language. (Shea’s Linguistics, No. 3.) New York, 1861.

Smith (Charles Hamilton), The Natural History of the Human Species. London, 1859.

Smith (Jedediah), Excursion à l’Ouest des Monts Rocky. In Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1828. tom. xxxvii.

Smithsonian Institution, Annual Report of the Board of Regents. Washington, 1853 et seq.

Smucker (Samuel M.), The Life of Col. John Charles Fremont. New York, 1856.

Sociedad Mexicana de Geografía y Estadística, Boletin. Mexico, 1861 et seq. [Includes Instituto Nacional.]

Société de Géographie, Bulletin. Paris.

Soden (Julius), Die Spanier in Peru und Mexiko. Berlin, 1794. 2 vols.

Solis (Antonio de), Historia de la Conquista de Mexico. Madrid, 1783-4. 2 vols. 4to.

Solórzano Pereyra (Juan de), De Indiarum Jure. Sive de iusta Indiarum Occidentalium Inquisitione, Acquisitione & Retentione. Lugduni, 1672. 2 vols. folio.

Solórzano Pereyra (Juan de), Política Indiana. [Translation of preceding work.] Madrid, 1776. 2 vols. folio.

Sonora, Descripcion Geográfica, Natural y Curiosa de la Provincia de Sonora. [1764.] In Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., pt. iv.

Sonora, Rudo Ensayo, Tentativa de una Prevencional Descripcion Geográfica de la Provincia de Sonora. [Same as preceding.] San Augustin, 1863. 4to.

Soulé (Frank), et al., The Annals of San Francisco. New York, 1855.

Southern Quarterly Review. New Orleans, 1842 et seq.

Sparks (Jared), Life of John Ledyard. Cambridge, 1828.

Spectateur Américain. Amsterdam, 1785.

Spencer (Herbert), Illustrations of Universal Progress. New York, 1872.

Spencer (Herbert), The Principles of Biology. New York, 1873. 2 vols.

Spencer (Herbert), The Principles of Psychology. New York, 1872. 2 vols.

Spencer (Herbert), Recent Discussions in Science, Philosophy and Morals. New York, 1873.

Spencer (Herbert), Social Statics; or, The Conditions Essential to Human Happiness. New York, 1872.

Spizelius (Theophilus), Elevatio Relations Monteziniana de repertis in America Tribubus Israeliticis. Basilea, 1661.

Sproat (Gilbert Malcolm), Scenes and Studies of Savage Life. London, 1868.

Squier (E. G.), Antiquities of the State of New York. Buffalo, 1851.

Squier (E. G.), Monograph of Authors who have written on the Languages of Central America. New York, 1861.

Squier (E. G.), New Mexico and California. In American Review, Nov. 1848.

Squier (E. G.), Nicaragua; its People, Scenery, Resources, Condition, and Proposed Canal. New York, 1860; and New York, 1856. 2 vols.

Squier (E. G.), The Serpent Symbol. New York, 1851.

Squier (E. G.), The State of Central America. New York, 1858.

Squier (E. G.), Waikna. See Bard (Sam. A.).

Squier (E. G.), and E. H. Davis, The Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley. (Smithsonian Contributions, vol. i.) New York, 1848. 4to.

Staehlin (J. von), An Account of the New Northern Archipelago. London, 1774.

Stanley (J. M.), Portraits of North American Indians. Washington, 1852.

Stansbury (Howard), Exploration and Survey of the Valley of the Great Salt Lake of Utah. (Special Sess., March, 1851, Senate Ex. Doc. 3.) Washington, 1853. 1 vol. and maps.

Stapp (William Preston), The Prisoners of Perote. Philadelphia, 1845.

Steele (Mrs), A Summer Journey in the West. New York, 1841.

Stephen (James Fitzjames), Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. New York, 1873.

Stephens (John L.), Incidents of Travel in Central America. New York, 1841. 2 vols.

Stephens (John L.), Incidents of Travel in Yucatan. New York, 1858. 2 vols.

Stevens (Isaac I.), Address on the North West. Washington, 1858.

Stevens (Isaac I.), Report of Explorations for a Route for the Pacific R. R. near the 47th and 49th Parallels, from St Paul to Puget Sound. In Pac. R. R. Reports, vol. i. and Supplement.

Stoddart (John), Glossology, or the Historical Relations of Languages. London, 1858.

Stout (Peter F.), Nicaragua; Past, Present, and Future. Philadelphia, 1859.

Strangeways (Thomas), Sketch of the Mosquito Shore. Edinburgh, 1822.

Stratton (R. B.), Captivity of the Oatman Girls. San Francisco, 1857.

Strickland (W. P.), History of the Missions of the M. E. Church. Cincinnati, 1854.

Stuart (Granville), Montana as it is. New York, 1865.

Sue (Joseph), Henri le Chancelier, Souvenirs d’un Voyage dans l’Amérique Centrale. Paris, 1857.

Sutil y Mexicana, Relacion del Viage hecho por las Goletas Sutil y Mexicana en el año de 1792, para reconocer el Estrecho de Fuca. Madrid, 1802. 1 vol. and atlas.

Swan (James G.), The Northwest Coast; or, Three Years’ Residence in Washington Territory. New York, 1857.

Tápia (Andrés de), Relacion sobre la Conquista de Mexico. In Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. ii.

Taylor (Alex. S.), The Indianology of California. In California Farmer, 1860-3.

Taylor (Bayard), Eldorado; or, Adventures in the Path of Empire. New York, 1850. 2 vols.

Tello (Antonio), Fragmentos de una historia de la Nueva Galicia escrita hácia, 1650. In Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. ii.

Tempsky (G. F. von), Mitla; A Narrative of Incidents and Personal Adventures. London, 1858.

Ternaux-Compans (Henri), Au Port de Mazatlan. In Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1842. tom. xcv.

Ternaux-Compans (Henri), Recueil de Documents et Mémoires originaux sur l’Histoire des Possessions Espagnoles dans l’Amérique. Paris, 1840.

Ternaux-Compans (Henri), Vocabulaire des Principales Langues du Mexique. In Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1840. tom. lxxxviii.

Ternaux-Compans (Henri), Voyages, Relations et Mémoires originaux pour servir à l’histoire de la Découverte de l’Amérique. Paris, 1837-41. 2 series, 10 and 8 vols.

Tezozomoc (Fernando de Alvarado), Crónica Mexicana. In Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix.

Tezozomoc (Alvaro), Histoire du Mexique. [Translation of preceding.] Paris, 1853. 2 vols.

Thompson (G. A.), Narrative of an Official Visit to Guatemala. London, 1829.

Thompson (Waddy), Recollections of Mexico. New York, 1847.

Thornton (J. Quinn), Oregon and California in 1848. New York, 1849. 2 vols.

Thümmel (A. R.), Mexiko und die Mexikaner. Erlangen, 1848.

Todd (John), The Sunset Land. Boston, 1870.

Tomes (Robert), Panamá in 1855. New York, 1855.

Torquemada (Juan de), Monarquía Indiana. Madrid, 1723. 3 vols. folio.

Touron (R. R.), Histoire Générale de l’Amérique. Paris, 1768. 8 vols.

Townsend (John K.), Narrative of a Journey across the Rocky Mountains to the Columbia River. Philadelphia, 1839.

Townshend (F. French), Ten Thousand Miles of Travel, Sport, and Adventure. London, 1869.

Trautwine (John C.), Rough Notes of an Exploration of the Rivers Atrato and San Juan, 1852. In Franklin Institute, Journal, vols. 27-8.

Treasury of Travel and Adventure. New York, 1865.

Trioen (L. F. B.), Indagaciones sobre las Antigüedades Mexicanas. Mexico, 1841.

Tschudi (John James von), Peruvian Antiquities. New York, 1855.

Tudor (Henry), Narrative of a Tour in North America. London, 1834. 2 vols.

Tuthill (Franklin), The History of California. San Francisco, 1866.

Twiss (Travers), The Oregon Territory. New York, 1846.

Tylor (Edward B.), Anahuac; or, Mexico and the Mexicans. London, 1861.

Tylor (Edward B.), Primitive Culture. Boston, 1874. 2 vols.

Tylor (Edward B.), Researches into the Early History of Mankind. London, 1870.

Tyson (James L.), Diary of a Physician in California. New York, 1850.

Tyson (Philip T.), Geology and Industrial Resources of California. Baltimore, 1851.

Ulloa (Antonio de), Noticias Americanas. Madrid, 1772.

Ulloa (Francisco de), A Relation of the Discouery, etc. [1539.] In Hakluyt’s Voyages, vol. iii.; Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii.

United States Exploring Expedition. Philadelphia, 1844-58. 18 vols. 4to., and 8 vols. folio.

Upham (Charles Wentworth), Life, Explorations, and Public Services of John Charles Fremont. Boston, 1856.

Uring (Nathaniel), A History of the Voyages and Travels of. London, 1726.

Utah, Acts, Resolutions and Memorials. Great Salt Lake City, 1866.

Valois (Alfred de), Mexique, Havane, et Guatemala. Paris, n.d.

Vancouver (George), A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean, and round the World. London, 1798. 4to. 3 vols. and atlas.

Variedades de la Civilizacion. Méjico, 1852. 2 vols.

Varnhagen (F. A. de), Le Premier Voyage de Amerigo Vespucci. Vienne, 1869.

Vassar (John Guy), Twenty Years around the World. New York, 1862.

Vater (Johann Severin), Mithridates oder allgemeine Sprachenkunde. Berlin, 1806-17. 4 vols.

Vega (Manuel de la), Historia del Descubrimiento de la America. Mexico, 1826.

Velasco (José Francisco), Noticias Estadísticas del Estado de Sonora. Mexico, 1850.

Velasquez de Cardenas y Leon (Carlos Celedonio), Breve Práctica, y Régimen del Confesionario de Indios, en Mexicano y Castellano. [Mexico, 1661.]

Venegas (Miguel), Noticia de la California y de su Conquista. Madrid, 1757. 3 vols.

Veniaminoff (Ivan), Langues de l’Amérique Russe. In Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1850. tom. cxxv.

Veniaminoff (Ivan), Situation présente de l’Église Orthodoxe (Greco-Russe) dans l’Amérique du Nord. In Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841. tom. xc.

Veniaminoff (Ivan), Ueber die Sprachen des russischen Amerikas nach Wenjaminow; in Erman (A.), Archiv für Wissenschaftl. Kunde von Russland, tom. vii., Heft. i. Berlin, 1848.

Vera Cruz, Estadística del Estado libre y soberano. Jalapa, 1831.

Vetancvrt (Avgvstin de), Teatro Mexicano. Mexico, 1698. folio.

Vetch, On the Monuments and Relics of the Ancient Inhabitants of New Spain. In Lond. Geog. Soc, Jour., vol. vii.

Veytia (Mariano), Historia Antigua de Méjico. Mexico, 1836. 3 vols.

Victor (Mrs Francis Fuller), All over Washington and Oregon. San Francisco, 1872.

Vigne (G. T.), Travels in Mexico, South America, etc. London, 1863. 2 vols.

Vigneaux (Ernest), Souvenirs d’un Prisonnier de Guerre au Mexique. Paris, 1863.

Villa Señor y Sanchez (Josef Antonio de), Theatro Americano. Mexico, 1746. 2 vols. 4to.

Villagra (Gaspar de), Historia de la Nueva Mexico. Alcalá, 1610.

Villagutierre Soto-Mayor (Juan de), Historia de la Conquista de la Provincia de el Itza. [Madrid, 1701.] folio.

Viollet-le-Duc. See Charnay (D.), Cités, etc.

Voyages, A Collection of Voyages and Travels (Harleian Collection). London, 1745. 2 vols. folio.

Voyages, A Collection of Voyages and Travels (Churchill Collection). London, 1752. 8 vols. folio.

Voyages, Curious and Entertaining. London, 1790. 4to.

Voyages, A Historical Account of all the Voyages round the World. London, 1774-81. 6 vols.

Voyages, A New Collection of Voyages, Discoveries, and Travels. London, 1767. 7 vols.

Voyages, A New Universal Collection of Voyages and Travels. London, 1755. 3 vols.

Voyages, New Voyages and Travels. London, [1818-23]. 9 vols.

Voyages, Nouvelle Bibliothèque des Voyages. Paris, n.d. 12 vols.

Voyages, Recueil des Voyages au Nord. Amsterdam, 1715-27. 8 vols.

Voyages, A Selection of curious, rare, and early Voyages. London, 1812. 4to.

Voyages, The World Displayed; or, A Curious Collection of Voyages and Travels. London, 1760-1. 20 vols.

Voyage de l’Empereur de la Chine. Paris, 1685.

Wafer (Lionel), A New Voyage and Description of the Isthmus of America. London, 1699.

Wagner (Moritz), and Karl Scherzer, Die Republik Costa Rica in Central-Amerika. Leipzig, 1857.

Waldeck (Frédéric de), Palenqué et Autres Ruines. Texte redigé par M. Brasseur de Bourbourg. Paris, 1866. folio.

Waldeck (Frédéric de), Voyage Pittoresque et Archéologique dans la Province d’Yucatan. Paris, 1838. folio.

Walker (John D.), The Pimas. MS. San Francisco, 1873.

Walpole (Frederick), Four Years in the Pacific. London, 1849.

Walton (William Jr.), Present State of the Spanish Colonies. London, 1810. 2 vols.

Wappäus (J. E.), Geographie und Statistik von Mexiko und Central-Amerika. Leipzig, 1863.

Warburton (Eliot), Darien, or the Merchant Prince. London, 1852. 3 vols.

Ward (H. G.), Mexico in 1827. London, 1828. 2 vols.

Warden (D. B.), Recherches sur les Antiquités de l’Amérique du Nord. In Antiquités Mexicaines, tom. ii., div. ii.

Weatherhead (W. D.), An Account of the late Expedition against the Isthmus of Darien. London, 1821.

Webb (James Watson), Altowan; or, Incidents of Life and Adventure in the Rocky Mountains. New York, 1846.

Webber (Charles W.), Old Hicks the Guide. New York, 1860.

Weeks (C. E.), Narrative of Captivity in Queen Charlotte Island. In Olympia Wash. Standard, May 16, 1868.

Weil (Johann), Californien wie es ist. Philadelphia, 1849.

Wells (William V.), Explorations and Adventures in Honduras. New York, 1857.

Welshöfer (Max Moritz), Die Republik Mexico. Leipzig, 1862.

West und Ost Indischer Lustgart. Cöllen, 1618.

Western Monthly. Chicago, 1869.

Western Scenes and Reminiscences. Auburn, 1853.

West-Indische Spieghel, door Athanasium Inga. [Amsterdam, 1624.]

Wheelwright (William), Observations on the Isthmus of Panamá. London, 1844.

Whipple (A. W.), Report of Explorations near 35th Parallel, 1853-4. In Pac. R. R. Reports, vols. iii., iv.

Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner, Report upon the Indian Tribes. [1853.] In Pac. R. R. Reports, vol. iii.

White (E.), Ten Years in Oregon. Ithaca, 1850.

Whitney (William Dwight), Language and the Study of Language. New York, 1869.

Whittlesey (Charles), Ancient Mining on the Shores of Lake Superior. (Smithsonian Contribution, No. 155.) Washington, 1863. 4to.

Whymper (Frederick), Travel and Adventure in the Territory of Alaska. New York, 1869.

Wierzbicki (F. P.), California as it is. San Francisco, 1849.

Wilkes (Charles), Narrative of the U. S. Ex. Ex., 1838-42. Philadelphia, 1844. 5 vols. 4to. (U. S. Ex. Ex., vols. i-v.)

Wilkes (Charles), Western America. Philadelphia, 1849.

Wilkes (George), History of Oregon. New York, 1845.

Wilkeson, Notes on Puget Sound, n.pl., n.d.

Williamson (R. S.), Report of Explorations in California, 1853. In Pac. R. R. Reports, vol. v.

Willson (Marcius), American History. Cincinnati, 1847.

Wilson (Daniel), Physical Ethnology. In Smithsonian Report, 1862.

Wilson (Robert Anderson), Mexico and its Religion. New York, 1855.

Wilson (Robert Anderson), A New History of the Conquest of Mexico. Philadelphia, 1859.

Wimmel (Heinrich), Californien. Cassel, 1867.

Winslow (Charles F.), Force and Nature. Philadelphia, 1869.

Winterbotham (W.), An Historical View of the U. S. of America. New York, 1812. 4 vols.

Winterfeldt (L. von), Der Mosquito-Staat. Berlin, 1845.

Winthrop (Theodore), The Canoe and the Saddle. Boston, 1863.

Wise, Los Gringos. New York, 1845.

Wizlizenus (A.), Memoir of a Tour to Northern Mexico. (30th Cong., 1st Sess., Senate Miscel. Doc. 26.) Washington, 1848.

Woods (Daniel B.), Sixteen Months at the Gold Diggings. New York, 1851.

Worsley (Israel), Review of the American Indians. London, 1828.

Wortley (Lady Emmeline Stuart), Travels in the United States. New York, 1851.

Wrangell, Observations recueillies par l’Amiral —— sur les Habitants des Côtes Nord-ouest de l’Amérique. In Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1853. tom. cxxxvii.

Wyeth (John B.), Oregon. Cambridge, 1833.

Ximenez (Francisco), Las Historias del Orígen de los Indios de esta Provincia de Guatemala. Viena, 1857.

Yates (John), Sketch of the Sacramento Valley in 1842. MS.

Yepes (Joaquin Lopez), Catecismo y Declaracion de la Doctrina Cristiana en Lengua Otomí. Megico, 1826.

Yonge (C. D.), Three Centuries of Modern History. New York, 1872.

Young (Thomas), Narrative of a Residence on the Mosquito Shore. London, 1842.

Yucatan, Estadística de. Mexico, 1853.

Zenteno (Carlos de Tapia), Arte Novissima de Lengua Mexicana. Mexico, 1753.

Zenteno (Carlos de Tapia), Noticia de la Lengua Huasteca. Mexico, 1767.

Zapata (Juan Ortiz), Relacion de las Missiones que la Compañia de Jesus tiene en el Reino y Provincia de la Nueva Viscaya. [1678.] In Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. iii.

Zuazo (Alonso), Carte del Licenciado —— al Padre Fray Luis de Figueroa. In Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i.

Zuñiga (Ignacio), Rápida Ojeada al Estado de Sonora. [Coup d’Oeil, etc.] In Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1842. tom. xciii.

Zurita (Alonzo de), Rapport sur les Différentes Classes de Chefs de la Nouvelle Espagne. In Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i. Paris, 1840.

Chapter I • Ethnological Introduction • 12,400 Words

Facts and Theories—Hypotheses concerning Origin—Unity of Race—Diversity of Race—Spontaneous Generation—Origin of Animals and Plants—Primordial Centres of Population—Distribution of Plants and Animals—Adaptability of Species to Locality—Classification of Species—Ethnological Tests—Races of the Pacific—First Intercourse with Europeans.

Facts are the raw material of science. They are to philosophy and history, what cotton and iron are to cloth and steam-engines. Like the raw material of the manufacturer, they form the bases of innumerable fabrics, are woven into many theories finely spun or coarsely spun, which wear out with time, become unfashionable, or else prove to be indeed true and fit, and as such remain. This raw material of the scholar, like that of the manufacturer, is always a staple article; its substance never changes, its value never diminishes; whatever may be the condition of society, or howsoever advanced the mind, it is indispensable. Theories may be only for the day, but facts are for all time and for all science. When we remember that the sum of all knowledge is but the sum of ascertained facts, and that every new fact brought to light, preserved, and thrown into the general fund, is so much added to the world’s store of knowledge,—when we consider that, broad and far as our theories may reach, the realm of definite, tangible, ascertained truth is still of so little extent, the importance of every never-so-insignificant acquisition is manifest. Compare any fact with the fancies which have been prevalent concerning it, and consider, I will not say their relative brilliance, but their relative importance. Take electricity, how many explanations have been given of the lightning and the thunder, yet there is but one fact; the atmosphere, how many howling demons have directed the tempest, how many smiling deities moved in the soft breeze. For the one all-sufficient First Cause, how many myriads of gods have been set up; for every phenomenon how many causes have been invented; with every truth how many untruths have contended, with every fact how many fancies. The profound investigations of latter-day philosophers are nothing but simple and laborious inductions from ascertained facts, facts concerning attraction, polarity, chemical affinity and the like, for the explanation of which there are countless hypotheses, each hypothesis involving multitudes of speculations, all of which evaporate as the truth slowly crystallizes. Speculation is valuable to science only as it directs the mind into otherwise-undiscoverable paths; but when the truth is found, there is an end to speculation.

So much for facts in general; let us now look for a moment at the particular class of facts of which this work is a collection.

Tendency of Philosophic Inquiry

The tendency of philosophic inquiry is more and more toward the origin of things. In the earlier stages of intellectual impulse, the mind is almost wholly absorbed in ministering to the necessities of the present; next, the mysterious uncertainty of the after life provokes inquiry, and contemplations of an eternity of the future command attention; but not until knowledge is well advanced does it appear that there is likewise an eternity of the past worthy of careful scrutiny,—without which scrutiny, indeed, the eternity of the future must forever remain a sealed book. Standing as we do between these two eternities, our view limited to a narrow though gradually widening horizon, as nature unveils her mysteries to our inquiries, an infinity spreads out in either direction, an infinity of minuteness no less than an infinity of immensity; for hitherto, attempts to reach the ultimate of molecules, have proved as futile as attempts to reach the ultimate of masses. Now man, the noblest work of creation, the only reasoning creature, standing alone in the midst of this vast sea of undiscovered truth,—ultimate knowledge ever receding from his grasp, primal causes only thrown farther back as proximate problems are solved,—man, in the study of mankind, must follow his researches in both of these directions, backward as well as forward, must indeed derive his whole knowledge of what man is and will be from what he has been. Thus it is that the study of mankind in its minuteness assumes the grandest proportions. Viewed in this light there is not a feature of primitive humanity without significance; there is not a custom or characteristic of savage nations, however mean or revolting to us, from which important lessons may not be drawn. It is only from the study of barbarous and partially cultivated nations that we are able to comprehend man as a progressive being, and to recognize the successive stages through which our savage ancestors have passed on their way to civilization. With the natural philosopher, there is little thought as to the relative importance of the manifold works of creation. The tiny insect is no less an object of his patient scrutiny, than the wonderful and complex machinery of the cosmos. The lower races of men, in the study of humanity, he deems of as essential importance as the higher; our present higher races being but the lower types of generations yet to come.

Hence, if in the following pages, in the array of minute facts incident to the successive peoples of which we speak, some of them appear small and unworthy of notice, let it be remembered that in nature there is no such thing as insignificance; still less is there anything connected with man unworthy of our most careful study, or any peculiarity of savagism irrelevant to civilization.

Origin of Man

Different schools of naturalists maintain widely different opinions regarding the origin of mankind. Existing theories may be broadly divided into three categories; in the first two of which man is considered as a special creation, and in the third as a natural development from some lower type. The special-creation school is divided on the question of unity or diversity of race. The first party holds by the time-honored tradition, that all the nations of the earth are descended from a single human pair; the second affirms, that by one creative act were produced several special creations, each separate creation being the origin of a race, and each race primordially adapted to that part of the globe which it now inhabits. The third theory, that of the development school, denies that there ever were common centres of origin in organic creation; but claims that plants and animals generate spontaneously, and that man is but the modification of some preexisting animal form.

Hypotheses Concerning Origin

The first hypothesis, the doctrine of the monogenists, is ably supported by Latham, Prichard, and many other eminent ethnologists of Europe, and is the favorite opinion of orthodox thinkers throughout Christendom. The human race, they say, having sprung from a single pair, constitutes but one stock, though subject to various modifications. Anatomically, there is no difference between a Negro and a European. The color of the skin, the texture of the hair, the convolutions of the brain, and all other peculiarities, may be attributed to heat, moisture, and food. Man, though capable of subduing the world to himself, and of making his home under climates and circumstances the most diverse, is none the less a child of nature, acted upon and molded by those conditions which he attempts to govern. Climate, periodicities of nature, material surroundings, habits of thought and modes of life, acting through a long series of ages, exercise a powerful influence upon the human physical organization; and yet man is perfectly created for any sphere in which he may dwell; and is governed in his condition by choice rather than by coercion. Articulate language, which forms the great line of demarcation between the human and the brute creation, may be traced in its leading characteristics to one common source. The differences between the races of men are not specific differences. The greater part of the flora and fauna of America, those of the circumpolar regions excepted, are essentially dissimilar to those of the old world; while man in the new world, though bearing traces of high antiquity, is specifically identical with all the races of the earth. It is well known that the hybrids of plants and of animals do not possess the power of reproduction, while in the intermixture of the races of men no such sterility of progeny can be found; and therefore, as there are no human hybrids, there are no separate human races or species, but all are one family. Besides being consistent with sound reasoning, this theory can bring to its support the testimony of the sacred writings, and an internal evidence of a creation divine and spiritual, which is sanctioned by tradition, and confirmed by most philosophic minds. Man, unlike animals, is the direct offspring of the Creator, and as such he alone continues to derive his inheritance from a divine source. The Hebraic record, continue the monogenists, is the only authentic solution of the origin of all things; and its history is not only fully sustained by science, but it is upheld by the traditions of the most ancient barbarous nations, whose mythology strikingly resembles the Mosaic account of the creation, the deluge, and the distribution of peoples. The Semitic family alone were civilized from the beginning. A peculiar people, constantly upheld by special act of Providence from falling into paganism, they alone possessed a true knowledge of the mystery of creation. A universal necessity for some form of worship, a belief inherent in all mankind, in an omnipotent deity and a life beyond the grave, point to a common origin and prophesy a common destiny. This much for the monogenists.

The second hypothesis, that of the polygenists, holds that there was not one only, but several independent creations, each giving birth to the essential, unchangeable peculiarities of a separate race; thus constituting a diversity of species with primeval adaptation to their geographical distribution. Morton, Agassiz, Gliddon, and others in America, stand sponsors for this theory. The physiological differences of race, they say, which separate mankind into classes, do not result from climatic surroundings, but are inherited from original progenitors. They point to marked characteristics in various peoples which have remained unchanged for a period of four thousand years. In place of controverting divine revelation, they claim that Mosaic history is the history of a single race, and not the history of all mankind; that the record itself contains an implied existence of other races; and that the distribution of the various species or races of men, according to their relative organisms, was part of the creative act, and of no less importance than was the act of creation.

The third hypothesis, derived mainly from the writings of Lamarck, Darwin, and Huxley, is based upon the principle of evolution. All existing species are developments of some preëxisting form, which in like manner descended by true generation from a form still lower. Man, say they, bears no impress of a divine original that is not common to brutes; he is but an animal, more perfectly developed through natural and sexual selection. Commencing with the spontaneous generation of the lowest types of vegetable and animal life,—as the accumulation of mold upon food, the swarming of maggots in meat, the infusorial animalcules in water, the generation of insect life in decaying vegetable substances,—the birth of one form arising out of the decay of another, the slow and gradual unfolding from a lower to a higher sphere, acting through a long succession of ages, culminate in the grandeur of intellectual manhood. Thus much for this life, while the hope of a like continued progress is entertained for the life to come. While the tendency of variety in organic forms is to decrease, argue these latter-day naturalists, individuals increase in a proportion greater than the provisional means of support. A predominating species, under favorable circumstances, rapidly multiplies, crowding out and annihilating opposing species. There is therefore a constant struggle for existence in nature, in which the strongest, those best fitted to live and improve their species, prevail; while the deformed and ill-favored are destroyed. In courtship and sexual selection the war for precedence continues. Throughout nature the male is the wooer; he it is who is armed for fight, and provided with musical organs and ornamental appendages, with which to charm the fair one. The savage and the wild beast alike secure their mate over the mangled form of a vanquished rival. In this manner the more highly favored of either sex are mated, and natural selections made, by which, better ever producing better, the species in its constant variation is constantly improved. Many remarkable resemblances may be seen between man and the inferior animals. In embryonic development, in physical structure, in material composition and the function of organs, man and animals are strikingly alike. And, in the possession of that immaterial nature which more widely separates the human from the brute creation, the ‘reasonable soul’ of man is but an evolution from brute instincts. The difference in the mental faculties of man and animals is immense; but the high culture which belongs to man has been slowly developed, and there is plainly a wider separation between the mental power of the lowest zoöphyte and the highest ape, than between the most intellectual ape and the least intellectual man. Physically and mentally, the man-like ape and the ape-like man sustain to each other a near relationship; while between the mammal and the mollusk there exists the greatest possible dissimilarity. Articulate language, it is true, acting upon the brain, and in turn being acted upon to the improvement of both, belongs only to man; yet animals are not devoid of expedients for expressing feeling and emotion. It has been observed that no brute ever fashioned a tool for a special purpose; but some animals crack nuts with a stone, and an accidentally splintered flint naturally suggests itself as the first instrument of primeval man. The chief difficulty lies in the high state of moral and intellectual power which may be attained by man; yet this same progressive principle is likewise found in brutes. Nor need we blush for our origin. The nations now most civilized were once barbarians. Our ancestors were savages, who, with tangled hair, and glaring eyes, and blood-besmeared hands, devoured man and beast alike. Surely a respectable gorilla lineage stands no unfavorable comparison.

Between the first and the last of these three rallying points, a whole continent of debatable land is spread, stretching from the most conservative orthodoxy to the most scientific liberalism. Numberless arguments may be advanced to sustain any given position; and not unfrequently the same analogies are brought forward to prove propositions directly oppugnant. As has been observed, each school ranks among its followers the ablest men of science of the day. These men do not differ in minor particulars only, meeting in general upon one broad, common platform; on the contrary, they find themselves unable to agree as touching any one thing, except that man is, and that he is surrounded by those climatic influences best suited to his organization. Any one of these theories, if substantiated, is the death-blow of the others. The first denies any diversity of species in creation and all immutability of race; the second denies a unity of species and the possibility of change in race; the third denies all special acts of creation and, like the first, all immutability of race.

Plants and Animals

The question respecting the origin of animals and plants has likewise undergone a similar flux of beliefs, but with different result. Whatever the conclusions may be with regard to the origin of man, naturalists of the present day very generally agree, that there was no one universal centre of propagation for plants and animals; but that the same conditions of soil, moisture, heat, and geographical situation, always produce a similarity of species; or, what is equivalent, that there were many primary centres, each originating species, which spread out from these centres and covered the earth. This doctrine was held by early naturalists to be irreconcilable with the Scripture account of the creation, and was therefore denounced as heretical. Linnæus and his contemporaries drew up a pleasing picture, assigning the birth-place of all forms of life to one particular fertile spot, situated in a genial climate, and so diversified with lofty mountains and declivities, as to present all the various temperatures requisite for the sustenance of the different species of animal and vegetable life. The most exuberant types of flora and fauna are found within the tropical regions, decreasing in richness and profusion towards either pole; while man in his greatest perfection occupies the temperate zone, degenerating in harmony of features, in physical symmetry, and in intellectual vigor in either direction. Within this temperate zone is placed the hypothetical cradle of the human race, varying in locality according to religion and tradition. The Caucasians are referred for their origin to Mount Caucasus, the Mongolians to Mount Altai, and the Africans to Mount Atlas. Three primordial centres of population have been assigned to the three sons of Noah,—Arabia, the Semitic; India, the Japetic; and Egypt, the Hamitic centre. Thibet, and the mountains surrounding the Gobi desert, have been designated as the point from which a general distribution was made; while the sacred writings mention four rich and beautiful valleys, two of which are watered by the Tigris and Euphrates, as the birth-place of man. It was formerly believed that in the beginning, the primeval ocean covered the remaining portion of the globe, and that from this central spot the waters receded, thereby extending the limits of terrestrial life.

Admitting the unity of origin, conjecture points with apparent reason to the regions of Armenia and of Iran, in western Asia, as the cradle of the human race. Departing from this geographical centre, in the directions of the extremities of the continent, the race at first degenerated in proportion to distance. Civilization was for many ages confined within these central limits, until by slow degrees, paths were marked out to the eastward and to the westward, terminating the one upon the eastern coast of Asia, and the other upon the American shores of the Pacific.

Primordial Centers

Concerning the distribution of plants and animals, but one general opinion is now sustained with any degree of reason. The beautifully varied systems of vegetation with which the habitable earth is clothed, springing up in rich, spontaneous abundance; the botanical centres of corresponding latitudes producing resemblance in genera without identity of species; their inability to cross high mountains or wide seas, or to pass through inhospitable zones, or in any way to spread far from the original centre,—all show conclusively the impossibility that such a multitude of animal and vegetable tribes, with characters so diverse, could have derived their origin from the same locality, and disappearing entirely from their original birth-place, sprung forth in some remote part of the globe. Linnæus, and many others of his time, held that all telluric tribes, in common with mankind, sprang from a single pair, and descended from the stock which was preserved by Noah. Subsequently this opinion was modified, giving to each species an origin in some certain spot to which it was particularly adapted by nature; and it was supposed that from these primary centres, through secondary causes, there was a general diffusion throughout the surrounding regions.

A comparison of the entomology of the old world and the new, shows that the genera and species of insects are for the most part peculiar to the localities in which they are found. Birds and marine animals, although unrestricted in their movements, seldom wander far from specific centres. With regard to wild beasts, and the larger animals, insurmountable difficulties present themselves; so that we may infer that the systems of animal life are indigenous to the great zoölogical provinces where they are found.

On the other hand, the harmony which exists between the organism of man and the methods by which nature meets his requirements, tends conclusively to show that the world in its variety was made for man, and that man is made for any portion of the earth in which he may be found. Whencesoever he comes, or howsoever he reaches his dwelling-place, he always finds it prepared for him. On the icy banks of the Arctic Ocean, where mercury freezes and the ground never softens, the Eskimo, wrapped in furs, and burrowing in the earth, revels in grease and train-oil, sustains vitality by eating raw flesh and whale-fat; while the naked inter-tropical man luxuriates in life under a burning sun, where ether boils and reptiles shrivel upon the hot stone over which they attempt to crawl. The watery fruit and shading vegetation would be as useless to the one, as the heating food and animal clothing would be to the other.

The capability of man to endure all climates, his omnivorous habits, and his powers of locomotion, enable him to roam at will over the earth. He was endowed with intelligence wherewith to invent methods of migration and means of protection from unfavorable climatic influence, and with capabilities for existing in almost any part of the world; so that, in the economy of nature the necessity did not exist with regard to man for that diversity of creation which was deemed requisite in the case of plants and animals.

The classification of man into species or races, so as to be able to designate by his organization the family to which he belongs, as well as the question of his origin, has been the subject of great diversity of opinion from the fact that the various forms so graduate into each other, that it is impossible to determine which is species and which variety. Attempts have indeed been made at divisions of men into classes according to their primeval and permanent physiological structure, but what uniformity can be expected from such a classification among naturalists who cannot so much as agree what is primeval and what permanent?

The tests applied by ethnologists for distinguishing the race to which an individual belongs, are the color of the skin, the size and shape of the skull,—determined generally by the facial angle,—the texture of the hair, and the character of the features. The structure of language, also, has an important bearing upon the affinity of races; and is, with some ethnologists, the primary criterion in the classification of species. The facial angle is determined by a line drawn from the forehead to the front of the upper jaw, intersected by a horizontal line passing over the middle of the ear. The facial angle of a European is estimated at 85°, of a Negro at 75°, and of the ape at 60°. Representations of an adult Troglodyte measure 35°, and of a Satyr 30°. Some writers classify according to one or several of these tests, others consider them all in arriving at their conclusions.

Specific Classifications

Thus, Virey divides the human family into two parts: those with a facial angle of from eighty-five to ninety degrees,—embracing the Caucasian, Mongolian, and American; and those with a facial angle of from seventy-five to eighty-two degrees,—including the Malay, Negro, and Hottentot. Cuvier and Jaquinot make three classes, placing the Malay and American among the subdivisions of the Mongolian. Kant makes four divisions under four colors: white, black, copper, and olive. Linnæus also makes four: European, whitish; American, coppery; Asiatic, tawny; and African, black. Buffon makes five divisions and Blumenbach five. Blumenbach’s classification is based upon cranial admeasurements, complexion, and texture of the hair. His divisions are Caucasian or Aryan, Mongolian, Ethiopian, Malay, and American. Lesson makes six divisions according to colors: white, dusky, orange, yellow, red, and black. Bory de St Vincent arranges fifteen stocks under three classes which are differenced by hair: European straight hair, American straight hair, and crisped or curly hair. In like manner Prof. Zeune designates his divisions under three types of crania for the eastern hemisphere, and three for the western, namely, high skulls, broad skulls, and long skulls. Hunter classifies the human family under seven species; Agassiz makes eight; Pickering, eleven; Desmoulins, sixteen; and Crawford, sixty-three. Dr Latham, considered by many the chief exponent of the science of ethnology in England, classifies the different races under three primary divisions, namely: Mongolidæ, Atlantidæ, and Japetidæ. Prichard makes three principal types of cranial conformation, which he denominates respectively, the civilized races, the nomadic or wandering races, and the savage or hunting races. Agassiz designates the races of men according to the zoölogical provinces which they respectively occupy. Thus the Arctic realm is inhabited by Hyperboreans, the Asiatic by Mongols, the European by white men, the American by American Indians, the African by black races, and the East Indian, Australian and Polynesian by their respective peoples.

Now when we consider the wide differences between naturalists, not only as to what constitutes race and species,—if there be variety of species in the human family,—but also in the assignment of peoples and individuals to their respective categories under the direction of the given tests; when we see the human race classified under from one to sixty-three distinct species, according to individual opinions; and when we see that the several tests which govern classification are by no means satisfactory, and that those who have made this subject the study of their lives, cannot agree as touching the fundamental characteristics of such classification—we cannot but conclude, either that there are no absolute lines of separation between the various members of the human family, or that thus far the touchstone by which such separation is to be made remains undiscovered.

All Tests Fallacious

The color of the human skin, for example, is no certain guide in classification. Microscopists have ascertained that the normal colorations of the skin are not the results of organic differences in race; that complexions are not permanent physical characters, but are subject to change. Climate is a cause of physical differences, and frequently in a single tribe may be found shades of color extending through all the various transitions from black to white. In one people, part occupying a cold mountainous region, and part a heated lowland, a marked difference in color is always perceptible. Peculiarities in the texture of the hair are likewise no proof of race. The hair is more sensibly affected by the action of the climate than the skin. Every degree of color and crispation may be found in the European family alone; and even among the frizzled locks of negroes every gradation appears, from crisped to flowing hair. The growth of the beard may be cultivated or retarded according to the caprice of the individual; and in those tribes which are characterized by an absence or thinness of beard, may be found the practice, continued for ages, of carefully plucking out all traces of beard at the age of puberty. No physiological deformities have been discovered which prevent any people from cultivating a beard if such be their pleasure. The conformation of the cranium is often peculiar to habits of rearing the young, and may be modified by accidental or artificial causes. The most eminent scholars now hold the opinion that the size and shape of the skull has far less influence upon the intelligence of the individual than the quality and convolutions of the brain. The structure of language, especially when offered in evidence supplementary to that of physical science, is most important in establishing a relationship between races. But it should be borne in mind that languages are acquired, not inherited; that they are less permanent than living organisms; that they are constantly changing, merging into each other, one dialect dying out and another springing into existence; that in the migrations of nomadic tribes, or in the arrival of new nations, although languages may for a time preserve their severalty, they are at last obliged, from necessity, to yield to the assimilating influences which constantly surround them, and become merged into the dialects of neighboring clans. And on the other hand, a counter influence is exercised upon the absorbing dialect. The dialectic fusion of two communities results in the partial disappearance of both languages, so that a constant assimilation and dissimilation is going on. “The value of language,” says Latham, “has been overrated;” and Whitney affirms that “language is no infallible sign of race;” although both of these authors give to language the first place as a test of national affinities. Language is not a physiological characteristic, but an acquisition; and as such should be used with care in the classification of species.

Science, during the last half century, has unfolded many important secrets; has tamed impetuous elements, called forth power and life from the hidden recesses of the earth; has aroused the slumbering energies of both mental and material force, changed the currents of thought, emancipated the intellect from religious transcendentalism, and spread out to the broad light of open day a vast sea of truth. Old-time beliefs have had to give place. The débris of one exploded dogma is scarcely cleared away before we are startled with a request for the yielding up of another long and dearly cherished opinion. And in the attempt to read the book of humanity as it comes fresh from the impress of nature, to trace the history of the human race, by means of moral and physical characteristics, backward through all its intricate windings to its source, science has accomplished much; but the attempt to solve the great problem of human existence, by analogous comparisons of man with man, and man with animals, has so far been vain and futile in the extreme.

I would not be understood as attempting captiously to decry the noble efforts of learned men to solve the problems of nature. For who can tell what may or may not be found out by inquiry? Any classification, moreover, and any attempt at classification, is better than none; and in drawing attention to the uncertainty of the conclusions arrived at by science, I but reiterate the opinions of the most profound thinkers of the day. It is only shallow and flippant scientists, so called, who arbitrarily force deductions from mere postulates, and with one sweeping assertion strive to annihilate all history and tradition. They attempt dogmatically to set up a reign of intellect in opposition to that of the Author of intellect. Terms of vituperation and contempt with which a certain class of writers interlard their sophisms, as applied to those holding different opinions, are alike an offense against good taste and sound reasoning.

Notwithstanding all these failures to establish rules by which mankind may be divided into classes, there yet remains the stubborn fact that differences do exist, as palpable as the difference between daylight and darkness. These differences, however, are so played upon by change, that hitherto the scholar has been unable to transfix those elements which appear to him permanent and characteristic. For, as Draper remarks, “the permanence of organic forms is altogether dependent on the invariability of the material conditions under which they live. Any variation therein, no matter how insignificant it might be, would be forthwith followed by a corresponding variation in form. The present invariability of the world of organization is the direct consequence of the physical equilibrium, and so it will continue as long as the mean temperature, the annual supply of light, the composition of the air, the distribution of water, oceanic and atmospheric currents, and other such agencies, remain unaltered; but if any one of these, or of a hundred other incidents that might be mentioned, should suffer modification, in an instant the fanciful doctrine of the immutability of species would be brought to its true value.”

Origin of the Indians

The American Indians, their origin and consanguinity, have, from the days of Columbus to the present time proved no less a knotty question. Schoolmen and scientists count their theories by hundreds, each sustaining some pet conjecture, with a logical clearness equaled only by the facility with which he demolishes all the rest. One proves their origin by holy writ; another by the writings of ancient philosophers; another by the sage sayings of the Fathers. One discovers in them Phœnician merchants; another, the ten lost tribes of Israel. They are tracked with equal certainty from Scandinavia, from Ireland, from Iceland, from Greenland, across Bering Strait, across the northern Pacific, the southern Pacific, from the Polynesian Islands, from Australia, from Africa. Venturesome Carthaginians were thrown upon the eastern shore; Japanese junks on the western. The breezes that wafted hither America’s primogenitors are still blowing, and the ocean currents by which they came cease not yet to flow. The finely spun webs of logic by which these fancies are maintained would prove amusing, did not the profound earnestness of their respective advocates render them ridiculous. Acosta, who studied the subject for nine years in Peru, concludes that America was the Ophir of Solomon. Aristotle relates that the Carthaginians in a voyage were carried to an unknown island; whereupon Florian, Gomara, Oviedo, and others, are satisfied that the island was Española. “Who are these that fly as a cloud,” exclaims Esaias, “or as the doves to their windows?” Scholastic sages answer, Columbus is the columba or dove here prophesied. Alexo Vanegas shows that America was peopled by Carthaginians; Anahuac being but another name for Anak. Besides, both nations practiced picture-writing; both venerated fire and water, wore skins of animals, pierced the ears, ate dogs, drank to excess, telegraphed by means of fires on hills, wore all their finery on going to war, poisoned their arrows, beat drums and shouted in battle. Garcia found a man in Peru who had seen a rock with something very like Greek letters engraved upon it; six hundred years after the apotheosis of Hercules, Coleo made a long voyage; Homer knew of the ocean; the Athenians waged war with the inhabitants of Atlantis; hence the American Indians were Greeks. Lord Kingsborough proves conclusively that these same American Indians were Jews: because their “symbol of innocence” was in the one case a fawn and in the other a lamb; because of the law of Moses, “considered in reference to the custom of sacrificing children, which existed in Mexico and Peru;” because “the fears of tumults of the people, famine, pestilence, and warlike invasions, were exactly the same as those entertained by the Jews if they failed in the performance of any of their ritual observances;” because “the education of children commenced amongst the Mexicans, as with the Jews, at an exceedingly early age;” because “beating with a stick was a very common punishment amongst the Jews,” as well as among the Mexicans; because the priesthood of both nations “was hereditary in a certain family;” because both were inclined to pay great respect to lucky or unlucky omens, such as the screeching of the owl, the sneezing of a person in company,” etc., and because of a hundred other equally sound and relevant arguments. Analogous reasoning to this of Lord Kingsborough’s was that of the Merced Indians of California. Shortly after the discovery of the Yosemite Valley, tidings reached the settlers of Mariposa that certain chiefs had united with intent to drop down from their mountain stronghold and annihilate them. To show the Indians the uselessness of warring upon white men, these chieftains were invited to visit the city of San Francisco, where, from the number and superiority of the people that they would there behold, they should become intimidated, and thereafter maintain peace. But contrary to the most reasonable expectations, no sooner had the dusky delegates returned to their home than a council was called, and the assembled warriors were informed that they need have no fear of these strangers: “For,” said the envoys, “the people of the great city of San Francisco are of a different tribe from these white settlers of Mariposa. Their manners, their customs, their language, their dress, are all different. They wear black coats and high hats, and are not able to walk along the smoothest path without the aid of a stick.”

There are many advocates for an Asiatic origin, both among ancient and modern speculators. Favorable winds and currents, the short distance between islands, traditions, both Chinese and Indian, refer the peopling of America to that quarter. Similarity in color, features, religion, reckoning of time, absence of a heavy beard, and innumerable other comparisons, are drawn by enthusiastic advocates, to support a Mongolian origin. The same arguments, in whole or in part, are used to prove that America was peopled by Egyptians, by Ethiopians, by French, English, Trojans, Frisians, Scythians; and also that different parts were settled by different peoples. The test of language has been applied with equal facility and enthusiasm to Egyptian, Jew, Phœnician, Carthaginian, Spaniard, Chinese, Japanese, and in fact to nearly all the nations of the earth. A complete review of theories and opinions concerning the origin of the Indians, I propose to give in another place; not that intrinsically they are of much value, except as showing the different fancies of different men and times. Fancies, I say, for modern scholars, with the aid of all the new revelations of science, do not appear in their investigations to arrive one whit nearer an indubitable conclusion.

It was obvious to the Europeans when they first beheld the natives of America, that these were unlike the intellectual white-skinned race of Europe, the barbarous blacks of Africa, or any nation or people which they had hitherto encountered, yet were strikingly like each other. Into whatsoever part of the newly discovered lands they penetrated, they found a people seemingly one in color, physiognomy, customs, and in mental and social traits. Their vestiges of antiquity and their languages presented a coincidence which was generally observed by early travelers. Hence physical and psychological comparisons are advanced to prove ethnological resemblances among all the peoples of America, and that they meanwhile possess common peculiarities totally distinct from the nations of the old world. Morton and his confrères, the originators of the American homogeneity theory, even go so far as to claim for the American man an origin as indigenous as that of the fauna and flora. They classify all the tribes of America, excepting only the Eskimos who wandered over from Asia, as the American race, and divide it into the American family and the Toltecan family. Blumenbach classifies the Americans as a distinct species. The American Mongolidæ of Dr Latham are divided into Eskimos and American Indians. Dr Morton perceives the same characteristic lineaments in the face of the Fuegian and the Mexican, and in tribes inhabiting the Rocky Mountains, the Mississippi Valley, and Florida. The same osteological structure, swarthy color, straight hair, meagre beard, obliquely cornered eyes, prominent cheek bones, and thick lips are common to them all. Dr Latham describes his American Mongolidæ as exercising upon the world a material rather than a moral influence; giving them meanwhile a color, neither a true white nor a jet black; hair straight and black, rarely light, sometimes curly; eyes sometimes oblique; a broad, flat face and a retreating forehead. Dr Prichard considers the American race, psychologically, as neither superior nor inferior to other primitive races of the world. Bory de St Vincent classifies Americans into five species, including the Eskimos. The Mexicans he considers as cognate with the Malays. Humboldt characterizes the nations of America as one race, by their straight glossy hair, thin beard, swarthy complexion, and cranial formation. Schoolcraft makes four groups; the first extending across the northern end of the continent; the second, tribes living east of the Mississippi; the third, those between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains; and the fourth, those west of the Rocky Mountains. All these he subdivides into thirty-seven families; but so far as those on the Pacific Coast are concerned, he might as reasonably have made of them twice or half the number.

All writers agree in giving to the nations of America a remote antiquity; all admit that there exists a greater uniformity between them than is to be found in the old world; many deny that all are one race. There is undoubtedly a prevailing uniformity in those physical characteristics which govern classification; but this uniformity goes as far to prove one universal race throughout the world, as it does to prove a race peculiar to America. Traditions, ruins, moral and physical peculiarities, all denote for Americans a remote antiquity. The action of a climate peculiar to America, and of natural surroundings common to all the people of the continent, could not fail to produce in time a similarity of physiological structure.

Individuality of Race

The impression of a New World individuality of race was no doubt strengthened in the eyes of the Conquerors, and in the mind of the train of writers that followed, by the fact, that the newly discovered tribes were more like each other than were any other peoples they had ever before seen; and at the same time very much unlike any nation whatever of the old world. And so any really existing physical distinctions among the American stocks came to be overlooked or undervalued. Darwin, on the authority of Elphinstone, observes that in India, “although a newly arrived European cannot at first distinguish the various native races, yet they soon appear to him entirely dissimilar; and the Hindoo cannot at first perceive any difference between the several European nations.”

It has been observed by Prof. von Martius that the literary and architectural remains of the civilized tribes of America indicate a higher degree of intellectual elevation than is likely to be found in a nation emerging from barbarism. In their sacerdotal ordinances, privileged orders, regulated despotisms, codes of law, and forms of government are found clear indications of a relapse from civilization to barbarism. Chateaubriand, from the same premises, develops a directly opposite conclusion, and perceives in all this high antiquity and civilization only a praiseworthy evolution from primeval barbarism.

Thus arguments drawn from a comparison of parallel traits in the moral, social, or physical condition of man should be received with allowance, for man has much in common not only with man, but with animals. Variations in bodily structure and mental faculties are governed by general laws. The great variety of climate which characterizes America could not fail to produce various habits of life. The half-torpid Hyperborean, the fierce warrior-hunter of the vast interior forests, the sluggish, swarthy native of the tropics, and the intelligent Mexican of the table-land, slowly developing into civilization under the refining influences of arts and letters,—all these indicate variety in the unity of the American race; while the insulation of American nations, and the general characteristics incident to peculiar physical conditions could not fail to produce a unity in their variety.

Races of the Pacific

The races of the Pacific States embrace all the varieties of species known as American under any of the classifications mentioned. Thus, in the five divisions of Blumenbach, the Eskimos of the north would come under the fourth division, which embraces Malays and Polynesians, and which is distinguished by a high square skull, low forehead, short broad nose, and projecting jaws. To his fifth class, the American, which he subdivides into the American family and the Toltecan family, he gives a small skull with a high apex, flat on the occiput, high cheek bones, receding forehead, aquiline nose, large mouth, and tumid lips. Morton, although he makes twenty-two divisions in all, classifies Americans in the same manner. The Polar family he characterises as brown in color, short in stature, of thick, clumsy proportions, with a short neck, large head, flat face, small nose, and eyes disposed to obliquity. He perceives an identity of race among all the other stocks from Mount St Elias to Patagonia; though he designates the semi-civilized tribes of Mexico and Peru as the Toltecan family, and the savage nations as the Appalachian branch of the American family. Dr Prichard makes three divisions of the tribes bordering the Pacific between Mount St Elias and Cape St Lucas: the tribes from the borders of the Eskimos southward to Vancouver Island constitute the first division; the tribes of Oregon and Washington, the second; and the tribes of Upper and Lower California, the third. Pickering assigns the limits of the American, Malay, or Toltecan family to California and western Mexico. He is of the opinion that they crossed from southeastern Asia by way of the islands of the Pacific, and landed upon this continent south of San Francisco, there being no traces of them north of this point; while the Mongolians found their way from northeastern Asia across Bering Strait. The Californians, therefore, he calls Malays; and the inhabitants of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon, he classifies as Mongolians. Californians, in the eyes of this traveler, differ from their northern neighbors in complexion and physiognomy. The only physiological test that Mr Pickering was able to apply in order to distinguish the Polynesian in San Francisco from the native Californian, was that the hair of the former was wavy, while that of the latter was straight. Both have more hair than the Oregonian. The skin of the Malay of the Polynesian Islands, and that of the Californian are alike, soft and very dark. Three other analogous characteristics were discovered by Mr Pickering. Both have an open countenance, one wife, and no tomahawk! On the other hand, the Mongolian from Asia, and the Oregonian are of a lighter complexion, and exhibit the same general resemblances that are seen in the American and Asiatic Eskimos.

In general the Toltecan family may be described as of good stature, well proportioned, rather above medium size, of a light copper color; as having long black obliquely pointed eyes, regular white teeth, glossy black hair, thin beard, prominent cheek bones, thick lips, large aquiline nose, and retreating forehead. A gentle expression about the mouth is blended with severity and melancholy in the upper portion of the face. They are brave, cruel in war, sanguinary in religion, and revengeful. They are intelligent; possess minds well adapted to the pursuit of knowledge; and, at the time of the arrival of the Spaniards, were well advanced in history, architecture, mathematics, and astronomy. They constructed aqueducts, extracted metals, carved images in gold, silver, and copper; they could spin, weave, and dye; they could accurately cut precious stones; they cultivated corn and cotton; built large cities, constructing their buildings of stone and lime; made roads and erected stupendous tumuli.

Certain ethnological zones have been observed by some, stretching across the continent in various latitudes, broken somewhat by intersecting continental elevations, but following for the most part isothermal lines which, on coming from the east, bend northward as the softer air of the Pacific is entered. Thus the Eskimos nearly surround the pole. Next come the Tinneh, stretching across the continent from the east, somewhat irregularly, but their course marked generally by thermic lines, bending northward after crossing the Rocky Mountains, their southern boundary, touching the Pacific, about the fifty-fifth parallel. The Algonkin family border on the Tinneh, commencing at the mouth of the St Lawrence River, and extending westward to the Rocky Mountains. Natural causes alone prevent the extension of these belts round the entire earth. Indeed, both philologists and physiologists trace lines of affinity across the Pacific, from island to island, from one continent to the other; one line, as we have seen, crossing Bering Strait, another following the Aleutian Archipelago, and a third striking the coast south of San Francisco Bay.

Savage Humanity

It is common for those unaccustomed to look below the surface of things, to regard Indians as scarcely within the category of humanity. Especially is this the case when we, maddened by some treacherous outrage, some diabolic act of cruelty, hastily pronounce them incorrigibly wicked, inhumanly malignant, a nest of vipers, the extermination of which is a righteous act. All of which may be true; but, judged by this standard, has not every nation on earth incurred the death penalty? Human nature is in no wise changed by culture. The European is but a white-washed savage. Civilized venom is no less virulent than savage venom. It ill becomes the full grown man to scoff at the ineffectual attempts of the little child, and to attempt the cure of its faults by killing it. No more is it a mark of benevolent wisdom in those favored by a superior intelligence, with the written records of the past from which to draw experience and learn how best to shape their course for the future, to cry down the untaught man of the wilderness, deny him a place in this world or the next, denounce him as a scourge, an outlaw, and seize upon every light pretext to assist him off the stage from which his doom is so rapidly removing him. We view man in his primitive state from a wrong stand-point at the outset. In place of regarding savages as of one common humanity with ourselves, and the ancestors perhaps of peoples higher in the scale of being, and more intellectual than any the world has yet seen, we place them among the common enemies of mankind, and regard them more in the light of wild animals than of wild men.

And let not him who seeks a deeper insight into the mysteries of humanity despise beginnings, things crude and small. The difference between the cultured and the primitive man lies chiefly in the fact that one has a few centuries the start of the other in the race of progress. Before condemning the barbarian, let us first examine his code of ethics. Let us draw our light from his light, reason after his fashion; see in the sky, the earth, the sea, the same fantastic imagery that plays upon his fancy, and adapt our sense of right and wrong to his social surroundings. Just as human nature is able to appreciate divine nature only as divine nature accords with human nature; so the intuitions of lower orders of beings can be comprehended only by bringing into play our lower faculties. Nor can we any more clearly appreciate the conceptions of beings below us than of those above us. The thoughts, reasonings, and instincts of an animal or insect are as much a mystery to the human intellect as are the lofty contemplations of an archangel.

Pacification of Tierra Firme

Three hundred and thirty-six years were occupied in the discovery of the western border of North America. From the time when, in 1501, the adventurous notary of Triana, Rodrigo de Bastidas, approached the Isthmus of Darien, in search of gold and pearls, till the year 1837, when Messrs Dease and Simpson, by order of the Hudson’s Bay Company, completed the survey of the northern extremity, which bounds the Arctic Ocean, the intervening territory was discovered at intervals, and under widely different circumstances. During that time, under various immediate incentives, but with the broad principle of avarice underlying all, such parts of this territory as were conceived to be of sufficient value were seized, and the inhabitants made a prey to the rapacity of the invaders. Thus the purpose of the worthy notary Bastidas, the first Spaniard who visited the continent of North America, was pacific barter with the Indians; and his kind treatment was rewarded by a successful traffic. Next came Columbus, from the opposite direction, sailing southward along the coast of Honduras on his fourth voyage, in 1502. His was the nobler object of discovery. He was striving to get through or round this tierra firme which, standing between himself and his theory, persistently barred his progress westward. He had no time for barter, nor any inclination to plant settlements; he was looking for a strait or passage through or round these outer confines to the more opulent regions of India. But, unsuccessful in his laudable effort, he at length yielded to the clamorous cupidity of his crew. He permitted his brother, the Adelantado, to land and take possession of the country for the king of Spain, and, in the year following, to attempt a settlement at Veragua.

First Intercourse with Europeans

In 1506-8, Juan de Solis with Pinzon continued the search of Columbus, along the coast of Yucatan and Mexico, for a passage through to the southern ocean. The disastrous adventures of Alonzo de Ojeda, Diego de Nicuesa, and Juan de la Cosa, on the Isthmus of Darien, between the years 1507 and 1511, brought into more intimate contact the steel weapons of the chivalrous hidalgos with the naked bodies of the savages. Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, after a toilsome journey across the Isthmus in 1513, was rewarded by the first view of the Pacific Ocean, of which he took possession for the king of Spain on the twenty-fifth of September. The white sails of Córdova Grijalva, and Garay, descried by the natives of Yucatan and Mexico in 1517-19, were quickly followed by Cortés and his keen-scented band of adventurers, who, received by the unsuspecting natives as gods, would have been dismissed by them as fiends had not the invasion culminated in the conquest of Mexico. During the years 1522-24, Cortés made expeditions to Tehuantepec, Panuco, and Central America; Gil Gonzales and Cristobal de Olid invaded Nicaragua and Honduras. Nuño de Guzman in 1530, with a large force, took possession of the entire northern country from the city of Mexico to the northern boundary of Sinaloa; and Cabeza de Vaca crossed the continent from Texas to Sinaloa in the years 1528-36. Journeys to the north were made by Cortés, Ulloa, Coronado, Mendoza, and Cabrillo between the years 1536 and 1542. Hundreds of Roman Catholic missionaries, ready to lay down their lives in their earnest anxiety for the souls of the Indians, spread out into the wilderness in every direction. During the latter part of the sixteenth century had place,—the expedition of Francisco de Ibarra to Sinaloa in 1556, the campaign of Hernando de Bazan against the Indians of Sinaloa in 1570, the adventures of Oxenham in Darien in 1575, the voyage round the world of Sir Francis Drake, touching upon the Northwest Coast in 1579; the expedition of Antonio de Espejo to New Mexico in 1583; Francisco de Gali’s return from Macao to Mexico, by way of the Northwest Coast, in 1584; the voyage of Maldonado to the imaginary Straits of Anian in 1588; the expedition of Castaño de Sosa to New Mexico in 1590; the voyage of Juan de Fuca to the Straits of Anian in 1592; the wreck of the ‘San Agustin’ upon the Northwest Coast in 1595; the voyage of Sebastian Vizcaino towards California in 1596; the discoveries of Juan de Oñate in New Mexico in 1599, and many others. Intercourse with the natives was extended during the seventeenth century by the voyage of Sebastian Vizcaino from Mexico to California in 1602; by the expedition of Francisco de Ortega to Lower California in 1631; by the journey of Thomas Gage from Mexico to Guatemala in 1638; by the voyage round the world of William Dampier in 1679; by the reckless adventures of the Buccaneers from 1680 to 1690; by the expedition of Isidor de Otondo into Lower California in 1683; by the expedition of Father Kino to Sonora and Arizona in 1683; by the expeditions of Kino, Kappus, Mange, Bernal, Carrasco, Salvatierra, and others to Sonora and Arizona in 1694-9; and by the occupation of Lower California by the Jesuits, Salvatierra, Ugarte, Kino, and Piccolo, from 1697 to 1701. Voyages of circumnavigation were made by Dampier in 1703-4; by Rogers in 1708-11; by Shelvocke in 1719-22, and by Anson in 1740-4. Frondac made a voyage from China to California in 1709.

The first voyage through Bering Strait is supposed to have been made by Semun Deschneff and his companions in the year 1648, and purports to have explored the Asiatic coast from the river Kolyma to the south of the river Anadir, thus proving the separation of the continents of Asia and America. In 1711, a Russian Cossack, named Popoff, was sent from the fort on the Anadir river to subdue the rebellious Tschuktschi of Tschuktschi Noss, a point of land on the Asiatic coast near to the American continent. He there received from the natives the first intelligence of the proximity of the continent of America and the character of the inhabitants; an account of which will be given in another place. In 1741, Vitus Bering and Alexei Tschirikoff sailed in company, from Petropaulovski, for the opposite coast of America. They parted company during a storm, the latter reaching the coast in latitude fifty-six, and the former landing at Cape St Elias in latitude sixty degrees north. The earliest information concerning the Aleutian Islanders was obtained by the Russians in the year 1745, when Michael Nevodtsikoff sailed from the Kamtchatka river in pursuit of furs. A Russian commercial company, called the Promyschleniki, was formed, and other hunting and trading voyages followed. Lasareff visited six islands of the Andreanovski group in 1761; and the year following was made the discovery of the Alaskan Peninsula, supposed to be an island until after the survey of the coast by Captain Cook. Drusinin made a hunting expedition to Unalaska and the Fox Islands in 1763; and, during the same year, Stephen Glottoff visited the island of Kadiak. Korovin, Solovieff, Synd, Otseredin, Krenitzen, and other Russian fur-hunters spent the years 1762-5 among the Aleutian Islands, capturing sea-otters, seals, and foxes, and exchanging, with the natives, beads and iron utensils, for furs.

Occupation of California

A grand missionary movement, growing out of the religious rivalries of the two great orders of the Catholic Church, led to the original occupation of Upper California by Spaniards. The work of Christianizing Lower California was inaugurated by the Jesuits, under Fathers Salvatierra and Kino, in 1697. When the Jesuits were expelled from Mexico in 1767, their missions were turned over to the Franciscans. This so roused the zeal of the Dominicans that they immediately appealed to Spain, and in 1769 obtained an edict, giving them a due share in the missions of Lower California. The Franciscans, thinking it better to carry their efforts into new fields than to contend for predominance at home, generously offered to cede the whole of Lower California to the Dominicans, and themselves retire to the wild and distant regions of Upper California. This being agreed upon, two expeditions were organized to proceed northward simultaneously, one by water and the other by land. In January, 1769, the ship ‘San Carlos,’ commanded by Vicente Vila, was dispatched for San Diego, followed by the ‘San Antonio,’ under Juan Perez, and the ‘San José,’ which was unfortunately lost. The land expedition was separated into two divisions; the first under Rivera y Moncada departed from Mexico in March, and arrived at San Diego in May; the second under Gaspar de Portolá and Father Junípero Serra reached San Diego in July, 1769. Portolá with his companions immediately set out by land for the Bay of Monterey; but, unwittingly passing it by, they continued northward until barred in their progress by the magnificent Bay of San Francisco. Unable to find the harbor of Monterey, they returned to San Diego in January, 1770. In April, Portolá made a second and more successful attempt, and arrived at Monterey in May. Meanwhile Perez and Junípero Serra accomplished the voyage by sea, sailing in the ‘San Carlos.’ In 1772, Pedro Fages and Juan Crespi proceeded from Monterey to explore the Bay of San Francisco. They were followed by Rivera y Moncada in 1774, and Palou and Ezeta in 1775; and in 1776, Moraga founded the Mission of Dolores. In 1775, Bodega y Quadra voyaged up the Californian coast to the fifty-eighth parallel. In 1776, Dominguez and Escalante made an expedition from Santa Fé to Monterey. Menonville journeyed to Oajaca in New Spain in 1777. In 1778, Captain Cook, in his third voyage round the world, touched along the Coast from Cape Flattery to Norton Sound; and in 1779, Bodega y Quadra, Maurelle, and Arteaga voyaged up the western coast to Mount St Elias. During the years 1785-8, voyages of circumnavigation were made by Dixon and Portlock, and by La Pérouse, all touching upon the Northwest Coast.

French Canadian traders were the first to penetrate the northern interior west of Hudson Bay. Their most distant station was on the Saskatchewan River, two thousand miles from civilization, in the heart of an unknown wilderness inhabited by savage men and beasts. These coureurs des bois or wood-rangers, as they were called, were admirably adapted, by their disposition and superior address, to conciliate the Indians and form settlements among them. Unrestrained, however, by control, they committed excesses which the French government could check only by prohibiting, under penalty of death, any but its authorized agents from trading within its territories. British merchants at New York soon entered into competition with the fur princes of Montreal. But, in 1670, a more formidable opposition arose in the organization of the Hudson’s Bay Company, by Prince Rupert and other noblemen, under a charter of Charles II. which granted exclusive right to all the territory drained by rivers flowing into Hudson Bay. Notwithstanding constant feuds with the French merchants regarding territorial limits, the company prospered from the beginning, paying annual dividends of twenty-five and fifty per cent. after many times increasing the capital stock. In 1676, the Canadians formed the Compagnie du Nord, in order the more successfully to resist encroachment. Upon the loss of Canada by the French in 1762, hostilities thickened between the companies, and the traffic for a time fell off. In 1784, the famous Northwest Company was formed by Canadian merchants, and the management entrusted to the Frobisher brothers and Simon M’Tavish. The head-quarters of the company were at Montreal, but annual meetings were held, with lordly state, at Fort William, on the shore of Lake Superior. The company consisted of twenty-three partners, and employed over two thousand clerks and servants. It exercised an almost feudal sway over a wide savage domain, and maintained a formidable competition with the Hudson’s Bay Company, with which they were for two years in actual war. In 1813, they purchased, from the partners of John Jacob Astor, the settlement of Astoria on the Columbia River. In 1821, they united with the Hudson’s Bay Company; and the charter covering the entire region occupied by both was renewed by act of Parliament. In 1762, some merchants of New Orleans organized a company which was commissioned by D’Abadie, director-general of Louisiana, under the name of Pierre Ligueste Laclède, Antoine Maxan, and Company. Their first post occupied the spot upon which the city of St Louis is now situated; and, under the auspices of the brothers Chouteau, they penetrated northwestward beyond the Rocky Mountains. In 1808, the Missouri Fur Company was formed at St Louis, consisting of the Chouteaus and others; and an expedition under Major Henry was sent across the Rocky Mountains, which established the first post on the Columbia River. Between the years 1825 and 1830, the Rocky Mountain Fur Company of St Louis extended their operations over California and Oregon, but at a loss of the lives of nearly one half of their employés. John Jacob Astor embarked in the fur trade at New York in 1784, purchasing at that time in Montreal. In 1808, he obtained a charter for the American Fur Company, which was, in 1811, merged into the Southwest Company. In 1809, Mr Astor conceived the project of establishing a transcontinental line of posts. His purpose was to concentrate the fur trade of the United States, and establish uninterrupted communication between the Pacific and the Atlantic. He made proposals of association to the Northwest Company, which were not only rejected, but an attempt was made by that association to anticipate Mr Astor in his operations, by making a settlement at the mouth of the Columbia River. In 1810, the Pacific Fur Company was founded by Mr Astor, and an expedition dispatched overland by way of St Louis and the Missouri River. At the same time a vessel was sent round Cape Horn to the mouth of the Columbia; but, their adventure in that quarter proving unsuccessful, the company was dissolved, and the operations of Mr Astor were thereafter confined to the territory east of the Rocky Mountains.

The Great Northwest

Samuel Hearne, an officer of the Hudson’s Bay Company, was the first European to reach the Arctic Ocean through the interior of the continent. He descended Coppermine River to its mouth in the year 1771. The Upper Misinipi River was first visited by Joseph Frobisher in 1775. Three years later, one Peter Pond penetrated to within thirty miles of Athabasca Lake, and established a trading post at that point. Four canoe-loads of merchandise were exchanged by him for more fine furs than his canoes could carry. Other adventurous traders soon followed; but not long afterwards the inevitable broils which always attended the early intercourse of Europeans and Indians, rose to such a height that, but for the appearance of that terrible scourge, the small-pox, the traders would have been extirpated. The ravages of this dire disease continued to depopulate the country until 1782, when traders again appeared among the Knisteneaux and Tinneh. The most northern division of the Northwest Company was at that time the Athabascan Lake region, where Alexander Mackenzie was the managing partner. His winter residence was at Fort Chipewyan, on Athabasca Lake. The Indians who traded at his establishment informed him of the existence of a large river flowing to the westward from Slave Lake. Thinking thereby to reach the Pacific Ocean, Mr Mackenzie, in the year 1789, set out upon an expedition to the west; and, descending the noble stream which bears his name, found himself, contrary to his expectations, upon the shores of the Arctic Sea. In 1793, he made a journey to the Pacific, ascending Peace River, and reaching the coast in latitude about fifty-two. The first expedition organized by the British government for the purpose of surveying the northern coast, was sent out under Lieutenants Franklin and Parry in 1819. During the year following, Franklin descended Coppermine River, and subsequently, in 1825, he made a journey down the Mackenzie. In 1808, D. W. Harmon, a partner in the Northwest Company, crossed the Rocky Mountains, at about the fifty-sixth parallel, to Fraser and Stuart Lakes. The accounts of the natives given by these travelers and their companions are essentially the same, and later voyagers have failed to throw much additional light upon the subject. John Meares, in 1788, visited the Straits of Fuca, Nootka Sound, and Cook Inlet; and, during the same year, two ships, sent out by Boston merchants, under Robert Gray and John Kendrick, entered Nootka Sound. Estevan Martinez and Gonzalo Haro, sent from Mexico to look after the interest of Spain in these regions, explored Prince William Sound, and visited Kadiak. During the same year, the Russians established a trading post at Copper River. In 1789, Joseph Billings visited the Aleutian Islands, and the Boston vessels explored the Eastern coast of Queen Charlotte Island. In 1790, Salvador Fidalgo was sent by the Mexican government to Nootka; and Monaldo explored the Straits of Juan de Fuca. In 1791, four ships belonging to Boston merchants, two Spanish ships, one French and several Russian vessels touched upon the Northwest Coast. The Spanish vessels were under the command of Alejandro Malespina; Etienne Marchand was the commander of the French ship. The ‘Sutil y Mexicana’ entered Nootka Sound in 1792; and during the same year, Vancouver commenced his explorations along the coast above Cape Flattery. In 1803-4, Baron Von Humboldt was making his searching investigations in Mexico; while the captive New Englander, Jewett, was dancing attendance to Maquina, king of the Nootkas. Lewis and Clark traversed the continent in 1805. In 1806, a Mr Fraser set out from Canada, and crossed the Rocky Mountains near the headwaters of the river which bears his name. He descended Fraser River to the lake which he also called after himself. There he built a fort and opened trade with the natives. Kotzebue visited the coast in 1816; and the Russian expedition under Kramchenko, Wasilieff, and Etolin, in 1822. Captain Morrel explored the Californian coast from San Diego to San Francisco in 1825; Captains Beechey and Lütke, the Northwest Coast in 1826; and Sir Edward Belcher in 1837. J. K. Townsend made an excursion west of the Rocky Mountains in 1834. In 1837, Dease and Simpson made an open boat voyage from the Mackenzie River, westward to Point Barrow, the farthest point made by Beechey from the opposite direction, thus reaching the Ultima Thule of northwestern discovery. Sir George Simpson crossed the continent in 1841, Fremont in 1843, and Paul Kane in 1845. Kushevaroff visited the coast in 1838, Laplace in 1839, Commodore Wilkes in 1841, and Captain Kellett in 1849. Following the discovery of gold, the country was deluged by adventurers. In 1853-4, commenced the series of explorations for a Pacific railway. The necessities of the natives were examined, and remnants of disappearing nations were collected upon reservations under government agents. The interior of Alaska was first penetrated by the employés of the Russian-American Fur Company. Malakoff ascended the Yukon in 1838; and, in 1842, Derabin established a fort upon that river. In 1849, W. H. Hooper made a boat expedition from Kotzebue Sound to the Mackenzie River; and, in 1866, William H. Dall and Frederick Whymper ascended the Yukon.

I have here given a few only of the original sources whence my information is derived concerning the Indians. A multitude of minor voyages and travels have been performed during the past three and a half centuries, and accounts published by early residents among the natives, the bare enumeration of which I fear would prove wearisome to the reader. Enough, however, has been given to show the immediate causes which led to the discovery and occupation of the several parts of this western coast. The Spanish cavaliers craved from the Indians of the South their lands and their gold. The Spanish missionaries demanded from the Indians of Northern Mexico and California, faith. The French, English, Canadian, and American fur companies sought from the Indians of Oregon and New Caledonia, peltries. The Russians compelled the natives of the Aleutian Islands to hunt sea-animals. The filthy raw-flesh-eating Eskimos, having nothing wherewith to tempt the cupidity of the superior race, retain their primitive purity.

Cupidity and Zeal

We observe then three original incentives urging on civilized white men to overspread the domain of the Indian. The first was that thirst for gold, which characterized the fiery hidalgos from Spain in their conquests, and to obtain which no cruelty was too severe nor any sacrifice of human life too great; as though of all the gifts vouchsafed to man, material or divine, one only was worth possessing. The second, following closely in the footsteps of the first, and oftentimes constituting a part of it, was religious enthusiasm; a zealous interest in the souls of the natives and the form in which they worshiped. The third, which occupied the attention of other and more northern Europeans, grew out of a covetous desire for the wild man’s clothing; to secure to themselves the peltries of the great hyperborean regions of America. From the south of Europe the Spaniards landed in tropical North America, and exterminated the natives. From the north of Europe the French, English, and Russians crossed over to the northern part of America; and, with a kinder and more refined cruelty, no less effectually succeeded in sweeping them from the face of the earth by the introduction of the poisonous elements of a debased cultivation.

Fortunately for the Indians of the north, it was contrary to the interests of white people to kill them in order to obtain the skins of their animals; for, with a few trinkets, they could procure what otherwise would require long and severe labor to obtain. The policy, therefore, of the great fur-trading companies has been to cherish the Indians as their best hunters, to live at peace with them, to heal their ancient feuds, and to withhold from them intoxicating liquors. The condition of their women, who were considered by the natives as little better than beasts, has been changed by their inter-social relations with the servants of the trading companies; and their more barbarous practices discontinued. It was the almost universal custom of the employés of the Hudson’s Bay Company to unite to themselves native women; thus, by means of this relationship, the condition of the women has been raised, while the men manifest a kinder feeling towards the white race who thus in a measure become one with them.

The efforts of early missionaries to this region were not crowned with that success which attended the Spaniards in their spiritual warfare upon the southern nations, from the fact that no attention was paid to the temporal necessities of the natives. It has long since been demonstrated impossible to reach the heart of a savage through abstract ideas of morality and elevation of character. A religion, in order to find favor in his eyes, must first meet some of his material requirements. If it is good, it will clothe him better and feed him better, for this to him is the chiefest good in life. Intermixtures of civilized with savage peoples are sure to result in the total disappearance of refinement on the one side, or in the extinction of the barbaric race on the other. The downward path is always the easiest. Of all the millions of native Americans who have perished under the withering influences of European civilization, there is not a single instance on record, of a tribe or nation having been reclaimed, ecclesiastically or otherwise, by artifice and argument. Individual savages have been educated with a fair degree of success. But, with a degree of certainty far greater, no sooner is the white man freed from the social restraint of civilized companionship, than he immediately tends towards barbarism; and not infrequently becomes so fascinated with his new life as to prefer it to any other. Social development is inherent: superinduced culture is a failure. Left alone, the nations of America might have unfolded into as bright a civilization as that of Europe. They were already well advanced, and still rapidly advancing towards it, when they were so mercilessly stricken down. But for a stranger to re-create the heart or head of a red man, it were easier to change the color of his skin.

Chapter II • Hyperboreans • 50,600 Words

Native Races of the Pacific States
Hyperborean Group

General Divisions—Hyperborean Nations—Aspects of Nature—Vegetation—Climate—Animals—The Eskimos—Their Country—Physical Characteristics—Dress—Dwellings—Food—Weapons—Boots—Sledges—Snow-Shoes—Government—Domestic Affairs—Amusements—Diseases—Burial—The Koniagas, their Physical and Social Condition—The Aleuts—The Thlinkeets—The Tinneh.

I shall attempt to describe the physical and mental characteristics of the Native Races of the Pacific States under seven distinctive groups; namely, I. Hyperboreans, being those nations whose territory lies north of the fifty-fifth parallel; II. Columbians, who dwell between the fifty-fifth and forty-second parallels, and whose lands to some extent are drained by the Columbia River and its tributaries; III. Californians, and the Inhabitants of the Great Basin; IV. New Mexicans, including the nations of the Colorado River and northern Mexico; V. Wild Tribes of Mexico; VI. Wild Tribes of Central America; VII. Civilized Nations of Mexico and Central America. It is my purpose, without any attempt at ethnological classification, or further comment concerning races and stocks, plainly to portray such customs and characteristics as were peculiar to each people at the time of its first intercourse with European strangers; leaving scientists to make their own deductions, and draw specific lines between linguistic and physiological families, as they may deem proper. I shall endeavor to picture these nations in their aboriginal condition, as seen by the first invaders, as described by those who beheld them in their savage grandeur, and before they were startled from their lair by the treacherous voice of civilized friendship. Now they are gone,—those dusky denizens of a thousand forests,—melted like hoar-frost before the rising sun of a superior intelligence; and it is only from the earliest records, from the narratives of eye witnesses, many of them rude unlettered men, trappers, sailors, and soldiers, that we are able to know them as they were. Some division of the work into parts, however arbitrary it may be, is indispensable. In dealing with Mythology, and in tracing the tortuous course of Language, boundaries will be dropped and beliefs and tongues will be followed wherever they lead; but in describing Manners and Customs, to avoid confusion, territorial divisions are necessary.

Groupings and Subdivisions

In the groupings which I have adopted, one cluster of nations follows another in geographical succession; the dividing line not being more distinct, perhaps, than that which distinguishes some national divisions, but sufficiently marked, in mental and physical peculiarities, to entitle each group to a separate consideration.

The only distinction of race made by naturalists, upon the continents of both North and South America, until a comparatively recent period, was by segregating the first of the above named groups from all other people of both continents, and calling one Mongolians and the other Americans. A more intimate acquaintance with the nations of the North proves conclusively that one of the boldest types of the American Indian proper, the Tinneh, lies within the territory of this first group, conterminous with the Mongolian Eskimos, and crowding them down to a narrow line along the shore of the Arctic Sea. The nations of the second group, although exhibiting multitudinous variations in minor traits, are essentially one people. Between the California Diggers of the third division and the New Mexican Towns-people of the fourth, there is more diversity; and a still greater difference between the savage and civilized nations of the Mexican table-land. Any classification or division of the subject which could be made would be open to criticism. I therefore adopt the most simple practical plan, one which will present the subject most clearly to the general reader, and leave it in the best shape for purposes of theorizing and generalization.

In the first or Hyperborean group, to which this chapter is devoted, are five subdivisions, as follows: The Eskimos, commonly called Western Eskimos, who skirt the shores of the Arctic Ocean from Mackenzie River to Kotzebue Sound; the Koniagas or Southern Eskimos, who, commencing at Kotzebue Sound, cross the Kaviak Peninsula, border on Bering Sea from Norton Sound southward, and stretch over the Alaskan[1]Of late, custom gives to the main land of Russian America, the name Alaska; to the peninsula, Aliaska; and to a large island of the Aleutian Archipelago, Unalashka. The word of which the present name Alaska is a corruption, is first encountered in the narrative of Betsevin, who, in 1761, wintered on the peninsula, supposing it to be an island. The author of Neue Nachrichten von denen neuentdekten Insuln, writes, page 53, ‘womit man nach der abgelegensten Insul Aläksu oder Alachschak über gieng.’ Again, at page 57, in giving a description of the animals on the supposed island he calls it ‘auf der Insul Aläsku.’ ‘This,’ says Coxe, Russian Discoveries, p. 72, ‘is probably the same island which is laid down in Krenitzin’s chart under the name of Alaxa.’ Unalaschka is given by the author of Neue Nachrichten, p. 74, in his narrative of the voyage of Drusinin, who hunted on that island in 1763. At page 115 he again mentions the ‘grosse Insul Aläksu.’ On page 125, in Glottoff’s log-book, 1764, is the entry: ‘Den 28sten May der Wind Ostsüdost; man kam an die Insul Alaska oder Aläksu.’ Still following the author of Neue Nachrichten, we have on page 166, in an account of the voyages of Otseredin and Popoff, who hunted upon the Aleutian Islands in 1769, mention of a report by the natives ‘that beyond Unimak is said to be a large land Aläschka, the extent of which the islanders do not know.’ On Cook’s Atlas, voyage 1778, the peninsula is called Alaska, and the island Oonalaska, La Pérouse, in his atlas, map No. 15, 1786, calls the peninsula Alaska, and the island Ounalaska. The Spaniards, in the Atlas para el Viage de las goletas Sutil y Mexicana, 1792, write Alasca for the peninsula, and for the island Unalaska. Sauer, in his account of Billings’ expedition, 1790, calls the main land Alaska, the peninsula Alyaska, and the island Oonalashka. Wrangell, in Baer’s Statistische und ethnographische Nachrichten, p. 123, writes for the peninsula Alaska and for the island Unalaschka. Holmberg, Ethnographische Skizzen, p. 78, calls the island Unalaschka and the peninsula Aljaska. Dall, Alaska, p. 529, says that the peninsula or main land was called by the natives Alayeksa, and the island Nagun-alayeksa, ‘or the land near Alayeksa.’ Thus we have, from which to choose, the orthography of the earliest voyagers to this coast—Russian, English, French, Spanish, German, and American. The simple word Alaksu, after undergoing many contortions, some authors writing it differently on different pages of the same book, has at length become Alaska, as applied to the main land; Aliaska for the peninsula, and Unalashka as the name of the island. As these names are all corruptions from some one original word, whatever that may be, I see no reason for giving the error three different forms. I therefore write Alaska for the mainland and peninsula and Unalaska for the island. Peninsula and Koniagan Islands to the mouth of the Atna or Copper River, extending back into the interior about one hundred and fifty miles; the Aleuts, or people of the Aleutian Archipelago; the Thlinkeets, who inhabit the coast and islands between the rivers Atna and Nass; and the Tinneh, or Athabascas, occupying the territory between the above described boundaries and Hudson Bay. Each of these families is divided into nations or tribes, distinguished one from another by slight dialectic or other differences, which tribal divisions will be given in treating of the several nations respectively.

Let us first cast a glance over this broad domain, and mark those aspects of nature which exercise so powerful an influence upon the destinies of mankind. Midway between Mount St Elias and the Arctic seaboard rise three mountain chains. One, the Rocky Mountain range, crossing from the Yukon to the Mackenzie River, deflects southward, and taking up its mighty line of march, throws a barrier between the east and the west, which extends throughout the entire length of the continent. Between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific, interposes another called in Oregon the Cascade Range, and in California the Sierra Nevada; while from the same starting-point, the Alaskan range stretches out to the southwest along the Alaskan Peninsula, and breaks into fragments in the Aleutian Archipelago. Three noble streams, the Mackenzie, the Yukon, and the Kuskoquim, float the boats of the inland Hyperboreans and supply them with food; while from the heated waters of Japan comes a current of the sea, bathing the icy coasts with genial warmth, tempering the air, and imparting gladness to the oily watermen of the coast, to the northernmost limit of their lands. The northern border of this territory is treeless; the southern shore, absorbing more warmth and moisture from the Japan current, is fringed with dense forests; while the interior, interspersed with hills, and lakes, and woods, and grassy plains, during the short summer is clothed in luxuriant vegetation.

Notwithstanding the frowning aspect of nature, animal life in the Arctic regions is most abundant. The ocean swarms with every species of fish and sea-mammal; the land abounds in reindeer, moose, musk-oxen; in black, grizzly, and Arctic bears; in wolves, foxes, beavers, mink, ermine, martin, otters, raccoons, and water-fowl. Immense herds of buffalo roam over the bleak grassy plains of the eastern Tinneh, but seldom venture far to the west of the Rocky Mountains. Myriads of birds migrate to and fro between their breeding-places in the interior of Alaska, the open Arctic Sea, and the warmer latitudes of the south. From the Gulf of Mexico, from the islands of the Pacific, from the lakes of California, of Oregon, and of Washington they come, fluttering and feasting, to rear their young during the sparkling Arctic summer-day.

Man and Nature

The whole occupation of man throughout this region, is a struggle for life. So long as the organism is plentifully supplied with heat-producing food, all is well. Once let the internal fire go down, and all is ill. Unlike the inhabitants of equatorial latitudes, where, Eden-like, the sheltering tree drops food, and the little nourishment essential to life may be obtained by only stretching forth the hand and plucking it, the Hyperborean man must maintain a constant warfare with nature, or die. His daily food depends upon the success of his daily battle with beasts, birds, and fishes, which dispute with him possession of sea and land. Unfortunate in his search for game, or foiled in his attempt at capture, he must fast. The associate of beasts, governed by the same emergencies, preying upon animals as animals prey upon each other, the victim supplying all the necessities of the victor, occupying territory in common, both alike drawing supplies directly from the storehouse of nature,—primitive man derives his very quality from the brute with which he struggles. The idiosyncrasies of the animal fasten upon him, and that upon which he feeds becomes a part of him.

Thus, in a nation of hunters inhabiting a rigorous climate, we may look for wiry, keen-scented men, who in their war upon wild beasts put forth strength and endurance in order to overtake and capture the strong; cunning is opposed by superior cunning; a stealthy watchfulness governs every movement, while the intelligence of the man contends with the instincts of the brute. Fishermen, on the other hand, who obtain their food with comparatively little effort, are more sluggish in their natures and less noble in their development. In the icy regions of the north, the animal creation supplies man with food, clothing, and caloric; with all the requisites of an existence under circumstances apparently the most adverse to comfort; and when he digs his dwelling beneath the ground, or walls out the piercing winds with snow, his ultimate is attained.

The chief differences in tribes occupying the interior and the seaboard,—the elevated, treeless, grassy plains east of the Rocky Mountains, and the humid islands and shores of the great Northwest,—grow out of necessities arising from their methods of procuring food. Even causes so slight as the sheltering bend of a coast-line; the guarding of a shore by islands; the breaking of a seaboard by inlets and covering of the strand with sea-weed and polyps, requiring only the labor of gathering; or the presence of a bluff coast or windy promontory, whose occupants are obliged to put forth more vigorous action for sustenance—all govern man in his development. Turn now to the most northern division of our most northern group.

The Eskimos

The Eskimos, Esquimaux, or as they call themselves, Innuit, ‘the people,’ from inuk, ‘man,'[2]The name is said, by Charlevoix ‘to be derived from the language of the Abenaqui, a tribe of Algonquins in Canada, who border upon them and call them “Esquimantsic.”‘ ‘L’origine de leur nom n’est pas certain. Toutefois il y a bien de l’apparence qu’il vient du mot Abenaqui, esquimantsic qui veut dire “mangeur de viande cruë.”‘ See Prichard’s Physical History of Mankind, vol. v., pp. 367, 373. ‘French writers call them Eskimaux.’ ‘English authors, in adopting this term, have most generally written it “Esquimaux,” but Dr. Latham, and other recent ethnologists, write it “Eskimos,” after the Danish orthography.’ Richardson’s Polar Regions, p. 298. ‘Probably of Canadian origin, and the word, which in French orthography is written Esquimaux, was probably originally Ceux qui miaux (miaulent).’ Richardson’s Journal, vol. i., p. 340. ‘Said to be a corruption of Eskimantik, i. e. raw-fish-eaters, a nickname given them by their former neighbors, the Mohicans.’ Seemann’s Voyage of the Herald, vol. ii., p. 49. Eskimo is derived from a word indicating sorcerer or Shamán. ‘The northern Tinneh use the word Uskeemi.’ Dall’s Alaska, pp. 144, 531. ‘Their own national designation is “Keralit.”‘ Morton’s Crania Americana, p. 52. They ‘call themselves “Innuit,” which signifies “man.”‘ Armstrong’s Narrative, p. 191. occupy the Arctic seaboard from eastern Greenland along the entire continent of America, and across Bering[3]It is not without reluctance that I change a word from the commonly accepted orthography. Names of places, though originating in error, when once established, it is better to leave unchanged. Indian names, coming to us through Russian, German, French, or Spanish writers, should be presented in English by such letters as will best produce the original Indian pronunciation. European personal names, however, no matter how long, nor how commonly they may have been erroneously used, should be immediately corrected. Every man who can spell is supposed to be able to give the correct orthography of his own name, and his spelling should in every instance be followed, when it can be ascertained. Veit Bering, anglicè Vitus Behring, was of a Danish family, several members of which were well known in literature before his own time. In Danish writings, as well as among the biographies of Russian admirals, where may be found a fac-simile of his autograph, the name is spelled Bering. It is so given by Humboldt, and by the Dictionnaire de la Conversation. The author of the Neue Nachrichten von denen neuentdekten Insuln, one of the oldest printed works on Russian discoveries in America; as well as Müller, who was the companion of Bering for many years; and Buschmann,—all write Bering. Baer remarks: ‘Ich schreibe ferner Bering, obgleich es jetzt fast allgemein geworden ist, Behring zu schreiben, und auch die Engländer und Franzosen sich der letztern Schreibart bequemt haben. Bering war ein Däne und seine Familie war lange vor ihm in der Literatur-Geschichte bekannt. Sie hat ihren Namen auf die von mir angenommene Weise drucken lassen. Derselben Schreibart bediente sich auch der Historiograph Müller, der längere Zeit unter seinen Befehlen gedient hatte, und Pallas.’ Statistische und ethnographische Nachrichten, p. 328. There is no doubt that the famous navigator wrote his name Bering, and that the letter ‘h’ was subsequently inserted to give the Danish sound to the letter ‘e.’ To accomplish the same purpose, perhaps, Coxe, Langsdorff, Beechey, and others write Beering. Strait to the Asiatic shore. Formerly the inhabitants of our whole Hyperborean sea-coast, from the Mackenzie River to Queen Charlotte Island—the interior being entirely unknown—were denominated Eskimos, and were of supposed Asiatic origin.[4]‘Die Kadjacker im Gegentheil nähern sich mehr den Amerikanischen Stämmen und gleichen in ihrem Aeussern gar nicht den Eskimos oder den Asiatischen Völkern, wahrscheinlich haben sie durch die Vermischung mit den Stämmen Amerika’s ihre ursprüngliche Asiatische äussere Gestalt und Gesichtsbildung verloren und nur die Sprache beibehalten.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn. Nachr., p. 124. ‘Ils ressemblent beaucoup aux indigènes des îles Curiles, dépendantes du Japon.’ Laplace, Circumnavigation de l’Artémise, vol. vi., p. 45. The tribes of southern Alaska were then found to differ essentially from those of the northern coast. Under the name Eskimos, therefore, I include only the Western Eskimos of certain writers, whose southern boundary terminates at Kotzebue Sound.[5]‘The tribes crowded together on the shores of Beering’s Sea within a comparatively small extent of coast-line, exhibit a greater variety, both in personal appearance and dialect, than that which exists between the Western Eskimos and their distant countrymen in Labrador; and ethnologists have found some difficulty in classifying them properly.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., p. 363.

Eskimo Land

Eskimo-land is thinly peopled, and but little is known of tribal divisions. At the Coppermine River, the Eskimos are called Naggeuktormutes, or deer-horns; at the eastern outlet of the Mackenzie, their tribal name is Kittegarute; between the Mackenzie River and Barter Reef, they go by the name of Kangmali Innuit; at Point Barrow they call themselves Nuwungmutes; while on the Nunatok River, in the vicinity of Kotzebue Sound, they are known as Nunatangmutes. Their villages, consisting of five or six families each,[6]For authorities, see Tribal Boundaries, at the end of this chapter. are scattered along the coast. A village site is usually selected upon some good landing-place, where there is sufficient depth of water to float a whale. Between tribes is left a spot of unoccupied or neutral ground, upon which small parties meet during the summer for purposes of trade.[7]Collinson, in London Geographical Society Journal, vol. xxv., p. 201.

The Eskimos are essentially a peculiar people. Their character and their condition, the one of necessity growing out of the other, are peculiar. First, it is claimed for them that they are the anomalous race of America—the only people of the new world clearly identical with any race of the old. Then they are the most littoral people in the world. The linear extent of their occupancy, all of it a narrow seaboard averaging scarcely one hundred miles in width, is estimated at not less than five thousand miles. Before them is a vast, unknown, icy ocean, upon which they scarcely dare venture beyond sight of land; behind them, hostile mountaineers ever ready to dispute encroachment. Their very mother-earth, upon whose cold bosom they have been borne, age after age through countless generations,[8]‘Im nordwestlichsten Theile von Amerika fand Franklin den Boden, Mitte August, schon in einer Tiefe von 16 Zoll gefroren. Richardson sah an einem östlicheren Punkte der Küste, in 71° 12´ Breite, die Eisschicht im Julius aufgethaut bis 3 Fuss unter der krautbedeckten Oberfläche.’ Humboldt, Kosmos, tom. iv., p. 47. is almost impenetrable, thawless ice. Their days and nights, and seasons and years, are not like those of other men. Six months of day succeed six months of night. Three months of sunless winter; three months of nightless summer; six months of glimmering twilight.

About the middle of October[9]Silliman’s Journal, vol. xvi., p. 130. Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 13. Armstrong’s Nar., p. 289. commences the long night of winter. The earth and sea put on an icy covering; beasts and birds depart for regions sheltered or more congenial; humanity huddles in subterraneous dens; all nature sinks into repose. The little heat left by the retreating sun soon radiates out into the deep blue realms of space; the temperature sinks rapidly to forty or fifty degrees below freezing; the air is hushed, the ocean calm, the sky cloudless. An awful, painful stillness pervades the dreary solitude. Not a sound is heard; the distant din of busy man, and the noiseless hum of the wilderness alike are wanting. Whispers become audible at a considerable distance, and an insupportable sense of loneliness oppresses the inexperienced visitor.[10]‘Characteristic of the Arctic regions.’ Silliman’s Jour., vol. xvi., p. 143. Occasionally the aurora borealis flashes out in prismatic coruscations, throwing a brilliant arch from east to west—now in variegated oscillations, graduating through all the various tints of blue, and green, and violet, and crimson; darting, flashing, or streaming in yellow columns, upwards, downwards; now blazing steadily, now in wavy undulations, sometimes up to the very zenith; momentarily lighting up in majestic grandeur the cheerless frozen scenery, but only to fall back with exhausted force, leaving a denser obscurity. Nature’s electric lantern, suspended for a time in the frosty vault of heaven;—munificent nature’s fire-works; with the polar owl, the polar bear, and the polar man, spectators.

In January, the brilliancy of the stars is dimmed perceptibly at noon; in February, a golden tint rests upon the horizon at the same hour; in March, the incipient dawn broadens; in April, the dozing Eskimo rubs his eyes and crawls forth; in May, the snow begins to melt, the impatient grass and flowers arrive as it departs.[11]At Kotzebue Sound, in July, Choris writes: ‘Le sol était émaillé de fleurs de couleurs variées, dans tous les endroits où la neige venait de fondre.’ Voyage Pittoresque, pt. ii., p. 8. In June, the summer has fairly come. Under the incessant rays of the never setting sun, the snow speedily disappears, the ice breaks up, the glacial earth softens for a depth of one, two, or three feet; circulation is restored to vegetation,[12]‘In der Einöde der Inseln von Neu-Sibirien finden grosse Heerden von Rennthieren und zahllose Lemminge noch hinlängliche Nahrung.’ Humboldt, Kosmos, vol. iv., p. 42. which, during winter, had been stopped,—if we may believe Sir John Richardson, even the largest trees freezing to the heart. Sea, and plain, and rolling steppe lay aside their seamless shroud of white, and a brilliant tint of emerald overspreads the landscape.[13]‘Thermometer rises as high as 61° Fahr. With a sun shining throughout the twenty-four hours the growth of plants is rapid in the extreme.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 15. All Nature, with one resounding cry, leaps up and claps her hands for joy. Flocks of birds, lured from their winter homes, fill the air with their melody; myriads of wild fowls send forth their shrill cries; the moose and the reindeer flock down from the forests;[14]‘During the period of incubation of the aquatic birds, every hole and projecting crag on the sides of this rock is occupied by them. Its shores resound with the chorus of thousands of the feathery tribe.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. i., p. 349. from the resonant sea comes the noise of spouting whales and barking seals; and this so lately dismal, cheerless region, blooms with an exhuberance of life equaled only by the shortness of its duration. And in token of a just appreciation of the Creator’s goodness, this animated medley—man, and beasts, and birds, and fishes—rises up, divides, falls to, and ends in eating or in being eaten.

Physical Characteristics

The physical characteristics of the Eskimos are: a fair complexion, the skin, when free from dirt and paint, being almost white;[15]‘Their complexion, if divested of its usual covering of dirt, can hardly be called dark.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 51. ‘In comparison with other Americans, of a white complexion.’ McCulloh’s Aboriginal History of America, p. 20. ‘White Complexion, not Copper coloured.’ Dobbs’ Hudson’s Bay, p. 50. ‘Almost as white as Europeans.’ Kalm’s Travels, vol. ii., p. 263. ‘Not darker than that of a Portuguese.’ Lyon’s Journal, p. 224. ‘Scarcely a shade darker than a deep brunette.’ Parry’s 3rd Voyage, p. 493. ‘Their complexion is light.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 381. ‘Eye-witnesses agree in their superior lightness of complexion over the Chinooks.’ Pickering’s Races of Man, U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 28. At Coppermine River they are ‘of a dirty copper color; some of the women, however, are more fair and ruddy.’ Hearne’s Travels, p. 166. ‘Considerably fairer than the Indian tribes.’ Simpson’s Nar., p. 110. At Cape Bathurst ‘The complexion is swarthy, chiefly, I think, from exposure and the accumulation of dirt.’ Armstrong’s Nar., p. 192. ‘Shew little of the copper-colour of the Red Indians.’ Richardson’s Pol. Reg., p. 303. ‘From exposure to weather they become dark after manhood.’ Richardson’s Nar., vol. i., p. 343. a medium stature, well proportioned, thick-set, muscular, robust, active,[16]‘Both sexes are well proportioned, stout, muscular, and active.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 50. ‘A stout, well-looking people.’ Simpson’s Nar., pp. 110, 114. ‘Below the mean of the Caucasian race.’ Dr. Hayes, in Historic. Magazine, vol. i., p. 6. ‘They are thick set, have a decided tendency to obesity, and are seldom more than five feet in height.’ Figuier’s Human Race, p. 211. At Kotzebue Sound, ‘tallest man was five feet nine inches; tallest woman, five feet four inches.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. i., p. 360. ‘Average height was five feet four and a half inches.’ At the mouth of the Mackenzie they are of ‘middle stature, strong and muscular.’ Armstrong’s Nar., pp. 149, 192. ‘Low, broad-set, not well made, nor strong.’ Hearne’s Trav., p. 166. ‘The men were in general stout.’ Franklin’s Nar., vol. i., p. 29. ‘Of a middle size, robust make, and healthy appearance.’ Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. i., p. 209. ‘Men vary in height from about five feet to five feet ten inches.’ Richardson’s Pol. Reg., p. 304. ‘Women were generally short.’ ‘Their figure inclines to squat.’ Hooper’s Tuski, p. 224. with small and beautifully shaped hands and feet;[17]‘Tous les individus qui appartiennent à la famille des Eskimaux, se distinguent par la petitesse de leurs pieds et de leurs mains, et la grosseur énorme de leurs têtes.’ De Pauw, Recherches Phil., tom. i., p. 262. ‘The hands and feet are delicately small and well formed.’ Richardson’s Pol. Reg., p. 304. ‘Small and beautifully made.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 50. At Point Barrow, ‘their hands, notwithstanding the great amount of manual labour to which they are subject, were beautifully small and well-formed, a description equally applicable to their feet.’ Armstrong’s Nar., p. 101. a pyramidal head;[18]‘The head is of good size, rather flat superiorly, but very fully developed posteriorly, evidencing a preponderance of the animal passions; the forehead was, for the most part, low and receding; in a few it was somewhat vertical, but narrow.’ Armstrong’s Nar., p. 193. Their cranial characteristics ‘are the strongly developed coronary ridge, the obliquity of the zygoma, and its greater capacity compared with the Indian cranium. The former is essentially pyramidal, while the latter more nearly approaches a cubic shape.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 376. ‘Greatest breadth of the face is just below the eyes, the forehead tapers upwards, ending narrowly, but not acutely, and in like manner the chin is a blunt cone.’ Richardson’s Pol. Reg., p. 302. Dr Gall, whose observations on the same skulls presented him for phrenological observation are published by M. Louis Choris, thus comments upon the head of a female Eskimo from Kotzebue Sound: ‘L’organe de l’instinct de la propagation se trouve extrêmement développé pour une tête de femme.’ He finds the musical and intellectual organs poorly developed; while vanity and love of children are well displayed. ‘En général,’ sagely concluded the doctor, ‘cette tête femme présentait une organization aussi heureuse que celle de la plupart des femmes d’Europe.’ Voy. Pitt., pt. ii., p. 16. a broad egg-shaped face; high rounded cheek-bones; flat nose; small oblique eyes; large mouth; teeth regular, but well worn;[19]‘Large fat round faces, high cheek bones, small hazel eyes, eyebrows slanting like the Chinese, and wide mouths.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. i., p. 345. ‘Broad, flat faces, high cheekbones.’ Dr Hayes, in Hist. Mag., vol. i., p. 6. Their ‘teeth are regular, but, from the nature of their food, and from their practice of preparing hides by chewing, are worn down almost to the gums at an early age.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 51. At Hudson Strait, broad, flat, pleasing face; small and generally sore eyes; given to bleeding at the nose. Franklin’s Nar., vol. i., p. 29. ‘Small eyes and very high cheek bones.’ Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. i., p. 209. ‘La face platte, la bouche ronde, le nez petit sans être écrasé, le blanc de l’oeil jaunâtre, l’iris noir et peu brillant.’ De Pauw, Recherches Phil., tom. i., p. 262. They have ‘small, wild-looking eyes, large and very foul teeth, the hair generally black, but sometimes fair, and always in extreme disorder.’ Brownell’s Ind. Races, p. 467. ‘As contrasted with the other native American races, their eyes are remarkable, being narrow and more or less oblique.’ Richardson’s Nar., vol. i., p. 343. Expression of face intelligent and good-natured. Both sexes have mostly round, flat faces, with Mongolian cast. Hooper’s Tuski, p. 223. coarse black hair, closely cut upon the crown, leaving a monk-like ring around the edge,[20]‘Allowed to hang down in a club to the shoulder.’ Richardson’s Pol. Reg., p. 305. Hair cut ‘close round the crown of the head, and thereby, leaving a bushy ring round the lower part of it.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. i., p. 345. ‘Their hair is straight, black, and coarse.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 51. A fierce expression characterized them on the Mackenzie River, which ‘was increased by the long disheveled hair flowing about their shoulders.’ Armstrong’s Nar., p. 149. At Kotzebue Sound ‘their hair was done up in large plaits on each side of the head.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. i., p. 360. At Camden Bay, lofty top-knots; at Point Barrow, none. At Coppermine River the hair is worn short, unshaven on the crown, and bound with strips of deer-skin. Simpson’s Nar., pp. 121, 157. Some of the men have bare crowns, but the majority wear the hair flowing naturally. The women cut the hair short in front, level with the eyebrows. At Humphrey Point it is twisted with some false hair into two immense bows on the back of the head. Hooper’s Tuski, p. 225. ‘Their hair hangs down long, but is cut quite short on the crown of the head.’ Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. i., p. 210. Hair cut like ‘that of a Capuchin friar.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 51. and a paucity of beard.[21]Crantz says the Greenlanders root it out. ‘The old men had a few gray hairs on their chins, but the young ones, though grown up, were beardless.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. i., p. 332. ‘The possession of a beard is very rare, but a slight moustache is not infrequent.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 51. ‘As the men grow old, they have more hair on the face than Red Indians.’ Richardson’s Nar., vol. i., p. 343. ‘Generally an absence of beard and whiskers.’ Armstrong’s Nar., p. 193. ‘Beard is universally wanting.’ Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. i., p. 252. ‘The young men have little beard, but some of the old ones have a tolerable shew of long gray hairs on the upper lip and chin.’ Richardson’s Pol. Reg., p. 303. ‘All have beards.’ Bell’s Geography, vol. v., p. 294. Kirby affirms that in Alaska ‘many of them have a profusion of whiskers and beard.’ Smithsonian Report, 1864, p. 416. The men frequently leave the hair in a natural state. The women of Icy Reef introduce false hair among their own, wearing the whole in two immense bows at the back of the head. At Point Barrow, they separate the hair into two parts or braids, saturating it with train-oil, and binding it into stiff bunches with strips of skin. Their lower extremities are short, so that in a sitting posture they look taller than when standing.

Improvements Upon Nature

Were these people satisfied with what nature has done for them, they would be passably good-looking. But with them as with all mankind, no matter how high the degree of intelligence and refinement attained, art must be applied to improve upon nature. The few finishing touches neglected by the Creator, man is ever ready to supply.

Arrived at the age of puberty, the great work of improvement begins. Up to this time the skin has been kept saturated in grease and filth, until the natural color is lost, and until the complexion is brought down to the Eskimo standard. Now pigments of various dye are applied, both painted outwardly and pricked into the skin; holes are cut in the face, and plugs or labrets inserted. These operations, however, attended with no little solemnity, are supposed to possess some significance other than that of mere ornament. Upon the occasion of piercing the lip, for instance, a religious feast is given.

On the northern coast the women paint the eyebrows and tattoo the chin; while the men only pierce the lower lip under one or both corners of the mouth, and insert in each aperture a double-headed sleeve-button or dumb-bell-shaped labret, of bone, ivory, shell, stone, glass, or wood. The incision when first made is about the size of a quill, but as the aspirant for improved beauty grows older, the size of the orifice is enlarged until it reaches a width of half or three quarters of an inch.[22]‘The lip is perforated for the labret as the boy approaches manhood, and is considered an important era in his life.’ Armstrong’s Nar., p. 194. ‘Some wore but one, others one on each side of the mouth.’ Hooper’s Tuski, p. 224. ‘Lip ornaments, with the males, appear to correspond with the tattooing of the chins of the females.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. i., p. 384. In tattooing, the color is applied by drawing a thread under the skin, or pricking it in with a needle. Different tribes, and different ranks of the same tribe, have each their peculiar form of tattooing. The plebeian female of certain bands is permitted to adorn her chin with but one vertical line in the centre, and one parallel to it on either side, while the more fortunate noblesse mark two vertical lines from each corner of the mouth.[23]‘The women tattoo their faces in blue lines produced by making stitches with a fine needle and thread, smeared with lampblack.’ Richardson’s Pol. Reg., p. 305. Between Kotzebue Sound and Icy Cape, ‘all the women were tattooed upon the chin with three small lines.’ They blacken ‘the edges of the eyelids with plumbago, rubbed up with a little saliva upon a piece of slate.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. i., p. 360. At Point Barrow, the women have on the chin ‘a vertical line about half an inch broad in the centre, extending from the lip, with a parallel but narrower one on either side of it, a little apart. Some had two vertical lines protruding from either angle of the mouth; which is a mark of their high position in the tribe.’ Armstrong’s Nar., pp. 101, 149. On Bering Isle, men as well as women tattoo. ‘Plusieurs hommes avaient le visage tatoué.’ Choris, Voy. Pitt., pt. ii., p. 5. A feminine cast of features, as is common with other branches of the Mongolian race, prevails in both sexes. Some travelers discover in the faces of the men a characteristic expression of ferociousness, and in those of the women, an extraordinary display of wantonness. A thick coating of filth and a strong odor of train-oil are inseparable from an Eskimo, and the fashion of labrets adds in no wise to his comeliness.[24]‘Give a particularly disgusting look when the bones are taken out, as the saliva continually runs over the chin.’ Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. i., p. 227. At Camden, labrets were made of large blue beads, glued to pieces of ivory. None worn at Coppermine River. Simpson’s Nar., pp. 119, 347. ‘Many of them also transfix the septum of the nose with a dentalium shell or ivory needle.’ Richardson’s Nar., vol. i., p. 355.

Eskimo Dress

For covering to the body, the Eskimos employ the skin of all the beasts and birds that come within their reach. Skins are prepared in the fur,[25]‘These natives almost universally use a very unpleasant liquid for cleansing purposes. They tan and soften the seal-skin used for boot-soles with it.’ Whymper’s Alaska, p. 161. ‘Females occasionally wash their hair and faces with their own urine, the odour of which is agreeable to both sexes, and they are well accustomed to it, as this liquor is kept in tubs in the porches of their huts for use in dressing the deer and seal skins.’ Richardson’s Pol. Reg., p. 304. ‘Show much skill in the preparation of whale, seal, and deer-skins.’ Richardson’s Nar., vol. i., p. 357. They have a great antipathy to water. ‘Occasionally they wash their bodies with a certain animal fluid, but even this process is seldom gone through.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 62. and cut and sewed with neatness and skill. Even the intestines of seals and whales are used in the manufacture of water-proof overdresses.[26]‘During the summer, when on whaling or sealing excursions, a coat of the gut of the whale, and boots of seal or walrus hide, are used as water-proof coverings.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 53. At Point Barrow they wear ‘Kamleikas or water-proof shirts, made of the entrails of seals.’ Simpson’s Nar., p. 156. Women wear close-fitting breeches of seal-skin. Hooper’s Tuski, p. 224. ‘They are on the whole as good as the best oil-skins in England.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. i., p. 340. The costume for both sexes consists of long stockings or drawers, over which are breeches extending from the shoulders to below the knees; and a frock or jacket, somewhat shorter than the breeches with sleeves and hood. This garment is made whole, there being no openings except for the head and arms. The frock of the male is cut at the bottom nearly square, while that of the female reaches a little lower, and terminates before and behind in a point or scollop. The tail of some animal graces the hinder part of the male frock; the woman’s has a large hood, in which she carries her infant. Otherwise both sexes dress alike; and as, when stripped of their facial decorations, their physiognomies are alike, they are not unfrequently mistaken one for the other.[27]The dress of the two sexes is much alike, the outer shirt or jacket having a pointed skirt before and behind, those of the female being merely a little longer. ‘Pretty much the same for both sexes.’ Figuier’s Human Race, p. 214. They have boots of walrus or seal skin, mittens or gloves of deer-skin, and intestine water-proofs covering the entire body. Several kinds of fur frequently enter into the composition of one garment. Thus the body of the frock, generally of reindeer-skin, may be of bird, bear, seal, mink, or squirrel skin; while the hood may be of fox-skin, the lining of hare-skin, the fringe of wolverine-skin, and the gloves of fawn-skin.[28]‘They have besides this a jacket made of eider drakes’ skins sewed together, which, put on underneath their other dress, is a tolerable protection against a distant arrow, and is worn in times of hostility.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. i., p. 340. Messrs Dease and Simpson found those of Point Barrow ‘well clothed in seal and reindeer skins.’ Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. viii., p. 221. ‘The finest dresses are made of the skins of unborn deer.’ Richardson’s Pol. Reg., p. 306. ‘The half-developed skin of a fawn that has never lived, obtained by driving the doe till her offspring is prematurely born.’ Whymper’s Alaska, p. 160. Eskimo women pay much regard to their toilet. Richardson’s Nar., vol. i., p. 355. Two suits are worn during the coldest weather; the inner one with the fur next the skin, the outer suit with the fur outward.[29]Their dress consists of two suits. Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 52. ‘Reindeer skin—the fur next the body.’ Armstrong’s Nar., p. 149. ‘Two women, dressed like men, looked frightfully with their tattooed faces.’ Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. i., p. 191. Seal-skin jackets, bear-skin trowsers, and white-fox skin caps, is the male costume at Hudson Strait. The female dress is the same, with the addition of a hood for carrying children. Franklin’s Nar., vol. i., p. 29. At Camden Bay, reindeer-skin jackets and water-proof boots. Simpson’s Nar., p. 119. At Coppermine River, ‘women’s boots which are not stiffened out with whalebone, and the tails of their jackets are not over one foot long.’ Hearne’s Travels, p. 166. Deer-skin, hair outside, ornamented with white fur. Kirby, in Smithsonian Rept., 1864, p. 416. The indoor dress of the eastern Eskimo is of reindeer-skin, with the fur inside. ‘When they go out, another entire suit with the fur outside is put over all, and a pair of watertight sealskin moccasins, with similar mittens for their hands.’ Silliman’s Journal, vol. xvi., p. 146. The frock at Coppermine River has a tail something like a dress-coat. Simpson’s Nar., p. 350. Thus, with their stomachs well filled with fat, and their backs covered with furs, they bid defiance to the severest Arctic winter.[30]‘Some of them are even half-naked, as a summer heat, even of 10° is insupportable to them.’ Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. i., p. 205.

Dwellings of the Eskimos

In architecture, the Eskimo is fully equal to the emergency; building, upon a soil which yields him little or no material, three classes of dwellings. Penetrating the frozen earth, or casting around him a frozen wall, he compels the very elements from which he seeks protection to protect him. For his yourt or winter residence he digs a hole of the required dimensions, to a depth of about six feet.[31]‘Down to the frozen subsoil.’ Richardson’s Pol. Reg., p. 310. ‘Some are wholly above ground, others have their roof scarcely raised above it.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 301. Within this excavation he erects a frame, either of wood or whalebone, lashing his timbers with thongs instead of nailing them. This frame is carried upward to a distance of two or three feet above the ground,[32]‘Formed of stakes placed upright in the ground about six feet high, either circular or oval in form, from which others inclined so as to form a sloping roof.’ Armstrong’s Nar., p. 149. ‘Half underground, with the entrance more or less so.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 13. ‘They are more than half underground,’ and are ‘about twenty feet square and eight feet deep.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 57. when it is covered by a dome-shaped roof of poles or whale-ribs turfed and earthed over.[33]‘The whole building is covered with earth to the thickness of a foot or more, and in a few years it becomes overgrown with grass, looking from a short distance like a small tumulus.’ Richardson’s Pol. Reg., p. 310. In the centre of the roof is left a hole for the admission of light and the emission of smoke. In absence of fire, a translucent covering of whale-intestine confines the warmth of putrifying filth, and completes the Eskimo’s sense of comfort. To gain admittance to this snug retreat, without exposing the inmates to the storms without, another and a smaller hole is dug to the same depth, a short distance from the first. From one to the other, an underground passage-way is then opened, through which entrance is made on hands and knees. The occupants descend by means of a ladder, and over the entrance a shed is erected, to protect it from the snow.[34]A smaller drift-wood house is sometimes built with a side-door. ‘Light and air are admitted by a low door at one end.’ Richardson’s Nar., vol. i., p. 245. Within the entrance is hung a deer-skin door, and anterooms are arranged in which to deposit frozen outer garments before entering the heated room. Around the sides of the dwelling, sleeping-places are marked out; for bedsteads, boards are placed upon logs one or two feet in diameter, and covered with willow branches and skins. A little heap of stones in the centre of the room, under the smoke-hole, forms the fireplace. In the corners of the room are stone lamps, which answer all domestic purposes in the absence of fire-wood.[35]‘The fire in the centre is never lit merely for the sake of warmth, as the lamps are sufficient for that purpose.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 58. ‘They have no fire-places; but a stone placed in the centre serves for a support to the lamp, by which the little cooking that is required is performed.’ Richardson’s Nar., vol. i., p. 348. In the better class of buildings, the sides and floor are boarded. Supplies are kept in a store house at a little distance from the dwelling, perched upon four posts, away from the reach of the dogs, and a frame is always erected on which to hang furs and fish. Several years are sometimes occupied in building a hut.[36]‘On trouva plusieurs huttes construites en bois, moitié dans la terre, moitié en dehors.’ Choris, Voy. Pitt., pt. ii., p. 6. At Beaufort Bay are wooden huts. Simpson’s Nar., p. 177. At Toker Point, ‘built of drift-wood and sods of turf or mud.’ Hooper’s Tuski, p. 343. At Cape Krusenstern the houses ‘appeared like little round hills, with fences of whale-bone.’ Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. i., p. 237. ‘They construct yourts or winter residences upon those parts of the shore which are adapted to their convenience, such as the mouths of rivers, the entrances of inlets, or jutting points of land, but always upon low ground.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 300.

Mark how nature supplies this treeless coast with wood. The breaking-up of winter in the mountains of Alaska is indeed a breaking-up. The accumulated masses of ice and snow, when suddenly loosened by the incessant rays of the never-setting sun, bear away all before them. Down from the mountain-sides comes the avalanche, uprooting trees, swelling rivers, hurrying with its burden to the sea. There, casting itself into the warm ocean current, the ice soon disappears, and the driftwood which accompanied it is carried northward and thrown back upon the beach by the October winds. Thus huge forest-trees, taken up bodily, as it were, in the middle of a continent, and carried by the currents to the incredible distance, sometimes, of three thousand miles, are deposited all along the Arctic seaboard, laid at the very door of these people, a people whose store of this world’s benefits is none of the most abundant.[37]‘I was surprised at the vast quantity of driftwood accumulated on its shore, several acres being thickly covered with it, and many pieces at least sixty feet in length.’ Armstrong’s Nar., p. 104. True, wood is not an absolute necessity with them, as many of their houses in the coldest weather have no fire; only oil-lamps being used for cooking and heating. Whale-ribs supply the place of trees for house and boat timbers, and hides are commonly used for boards. Yet a bountiful supply of wood during their long, cold, dark winter comes in no wise amiss.[38]‘Eastern Esquimaux never seem to think of fire as a means of imparting warmth.’ Simpson’s Nar., p. 346. Their summer tents are made of seal or untanned deer skins with the hair outward, conical or bell-shaped, and without a smoke-hole as no fires are ever kindled within them. The wet or frozen earth is covered with a few coarse skins for a floor.[39]Their houses are ‘moveable tents, constructed of poles and skins.’ Brownell’s Ind. Races, p. 469. ‘Neither wind nor watertight.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. i., p. 361. At Cape Smythe, Hooper saw seven Eskimo tents of seal skin. Tuski, p. 216. ‘We entered a small tent of morse-skins, made in the form of a canoe.’ Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. i., p. 226. At Coppermine River their tents in summer are of deer-skin with the hair on, and circular. Hearne’s Travels, p. 167. At St Lawrence Island, Kotzebue saw no settled dwellings, ‘only several small tents built of the ribs of whales, and covered with the skin of the morse.’ Voyage, vol. i., pp. 190-191.

Snow Houses

But the most unique system of architecture in America is improvised by the Eskimos during their seal-hunting expeditions upon the ice, when they occupy a veritable crystal palace fit for an Arctic fairy. On the frozen river or sea, a spot is chosen free from irregularities, and a circle of ten or fifteen feet in diameter drawn on the snow. The snow within the circle is then cut into slabs from three to four inches in thickness, their length being the depth of the snow, and these slabs are formed into a wall enclosing the circle and carried up in courses similar to those of brick or stone, terminating in a dome-shaped roof. A wedge-like slab keys the arch; and this principle in architecture may have first been known to the Assyrians, Egyptians, Chinese or Eskimos.[40]‘In parallelograms, and so adjusted as to form a rotunda, with an arched roof.’ Silliman’s Jour., vol. xvi., p. 146. Parry’s Voy., vol. v., p. 200. Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 44. Loose snow is then thrown into the crevices, which quickly congeals; an aperture is cut in the side for a door; and if the thin wall is not sufficiently translucent, a piece of ice is fitted into the side for a window. Seats, tables, couches, and even fireplaces are made with frozen snow, and covered with reindeer or seal skin. Out-houses connect with the main room, and frequently a number of dwellings are built contiguously, with a passage from one to another. These houses are comfortable and durable, resisting alike the wind and the thaw until late in the season. Care must be taken that the walls are not so thick as to make them too warm, and so cause a dripping from the interior. A square block of snow serves as a stand for the stone lamp which is their only fire.[41]‘These houses are durable, the wind has little effect on them, and they resist the thaw until the sun acquires very considerable power.’ Richardson’s Nar., vol. i., p. 350.

“The purity of the material,” says Sir John Franklin, who saw them build an edifice of this kind at Coppermine River, “of which the house was framed, the elegance of its construction, and the translucency of its walls, which transmitted a very pleasant light, gave it an appearance far superior to a marble building, and one might survey it with feelings somewhat akin to those produced by the contemplation of a Grecian temple, reared by Phidias; both are triumphs of art, inimitable in their kind.”[42]The snow houses are called by the natives igloo, and the underground huts yourts, or yurts, and their tents topeks. Winter residence, ‘iglut.’ Richardson’s Pol. Reg., p. 310. Beechey, describing the same kind of buildings, calls them ‘yourts.’ Voy., vol. i., p. 366. Tent of skins, tie-poo-eet; topak; toopek. Tent, too-pote. Ibid., vol. ii., p. 381. ‘Yourts.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 59. Tent, topek. Dall says Richardson is wrong, and that igloo or iglu is the name of ice houses. Alaska, p. 532. House, iglo. Tent, tuppek. Richardson’s Jour., vol. ii., p. 378. Snow house, eegloo. Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 47.
(‘These houses are durable, the wind has little effect on them, and they resist the thaw until the sun acquires very considerable power.’ Richardson’s Nar., vol. i., p. 350.)

Eskimos, fortunately, have not a dainty palate. Everything which sustains life is food for them. Their substantials comprise the flesh of land and marine animals, fish and birds; venison, and whale and seal blubber being chief. Choice dishes, tempting to the appetite, Arctic epicurean dishes, Eskimo nectar and ambrosia, are daintily prepared, hospitably placed before strangers, and eaten and drunk with avidity. Among them are: a bowl of coagulated blood, mashed cranberries with rancid train-oil, whortleberries and walrus-blubber, alternate streaks of putrid black and white whale-fat; venison steeped in seal-oil, raw deer’s liver cut in small pieces and mixed with the warm half-digested contents of the animal’s stomach; bowls of live maggots, a draught of warm blood from a newly killed animal.[43]They are so fond of the warm blood of dying animals that they invented an instrument to secure it. See Beechey’s Voy., vol. i., p. 344. ‘Whale-blubber, their great delicacy, is sickening and dangerous to a European stomach.’ Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. i., p. 192. Fish are sometimes eaten alive. Meats are kept in seal-skin bags for over a year, decomposing meanwhile, but never becoming too rancid for our Eskimos. Their winter store of oil they secure in seal-skin bags, which are buried in the frozen ground. Charlevoix remarks that they are the only race known who prefer food raw. This, however, is not the case. They prefer their food cooked, but do not object to it raw or rotten. They are no lovers of salt.[44]Hearne says that the natives on the Arctic coast of British America are so disgustingly filthy that when they have bleeding at the nose they lick up their own blood. Travels, p. 161. ‘Salt always appeared an abomination.’ ‘They seldom cook their food, the frost apparently acting as a substitute for fire.’ Collinson, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxv., p. 201. At Kotzebue Sound they ‘seem to subsist entirely on the flesh of marine animals, which they, for the most part, eat raw.’ Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. i., p. 239.

Migrations for Food

In mid-winter, while the land is enveloped in darkness, the Eskimo dozes torpidly in his den. Early in September the musk-oxen and reindeer retreat southward, and the fish are confined beneath the frozen covering of the rivers. It is during the short summer, when food is abundant, that they who would not perish must lay up a supply for the winter. When spring opens, and the rivers are cleared of ice, the natives follow the fish, which at that time ascend the streams to spawn, and spear them at the falls and rapids that impede their progress. Small wooden fish are sometimes made and thrown into holes in the ice for a decoy; salmon are taken in a whalebone seine. At this season also reindeer are captured on their way to the coast, whither they resort in the spring to drop their young. Multitudes of geese, ducks, and swans visit the ocean during the same period to breed.[45]‘During the two summer months they hunt and live on swans, geese, and ducks.’ Richardson’s Nar., vol. i., p. 346.

August and September are the months for whales. When a whale is discovered rolling on the water, a boat starts out, and from the distance of a few feet a weapon is plunged into its blubbery carcass. The harpoons are so constructed that when this blow is given, the shaft becomes disengaged from the barbed ivory point. To this point a seal-skin buoy or bladder is attached by means of a cord. The blows are repeated; the buoys encumber the monster in diving or swimming, and the ingenious Eskimo is soon able to tow the carcass to the shore. A successful chase secures an abundance of food for the winter.[46]‘Secures winter feasts and abundance of oil for the lamps of a whole village, and there is great rejoicing.’ Richardson’s Pol. Reg., p. 313. ‘The capture of the seal and walrus is effected in the same manner. Salmon and other fish are caught in nets.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 61. ‘Six small perforated ivory balls attached separately to cords of sinew three feet long.’ Dease & Simpson, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. viii., 222. Seals are caught during the winter, and considerable skill is required in taking them. Being a warm-blooded respiratory animal, they are obliged to have air, and in order to obtain it, while the surface of the water is undergoing the freezing process, they keep open a breathing-hole by constantly gnawing away the ice. They produce their young in March, and soon afterward the natives abandon their villages and set out on the ice in pursuit of them. Seals, like whales, are also killed with a harpoon to which is attached a bladder. The seal, when struck, may draw the float under water for a time, but is soon obliged to rise to the surface from exhaustion and for air, when he is again attacked and soon obliged to yield.

The Eskimos are no less ingenious in catching wild-fowl, which they accomplish by means of a sling or net made of woven sinews, with ivory balls attached. They also snare birds by means of whalebone nooses, round which fine gravel is scattered as a bait. They manœuvre reindeer to near the edge of a cliff, and, driving them into the sea, kill them from canoes. They also waylay them at the narrow passes, and capture them in great numbers. They construct large reindeer pounds, and set up two diverging rows of turf so as to represent men; the outer extremities of the line being sometimes two miles apart, and narrowing to a small enclosure. Into this trap the unsuspecting animals are driven, when they are easily speared.[47]Near Smith River, a low piece of ground, two miles broad at the beach, was found enclosed by double rows of turf set up to represent men, narrowing towards a lake, into which reindeer were driven and killed. Simpson’s Nar., p. 135.

BEAR-HUNTING.

To overcome the formidable polar bear the natives have two strategems. One is by imitating the seal, upon which the bear principally feeds, and thereby enticing it within gunshot. Another is by bending a piece of stiff whalebone, encasing it in a ball of blubber, and freezing the ball, which then holds firm the bent whalebone. Armed with these frozen blubber balls, the natives approach their victim, and, with a discharge of arrows, open the engagement. The bear, smarting with pain, turns upon his tormentors, who, taking to their heels, drop now and then a blubber ball. Bruin, as fond of food as of revenge, pauses for a moment, hastily swallows one, then another, and another. Soon a strange sensation is felt within. The thawing blubber, melted by the heat of the animal’s stomach, releases the pent-up whalebone, which, springing into place, plays havoc with the intestines, and brings the bear to a painful and ignominious end. To vegetables, the natives are rather indifferent; berries, acid sorrel leaves, and certain roots, are used as a relish. There is no native intoxicating liquor, but in eating they get gluttonously stupid.

Notwithstanding his long, frigid, biting winter, the Eskimo never suffers from the cold so long as he has an abundance of food. As we have seen, a whale or a moose supplies him with food, shelter, and raiment. With an internal fire, fed by his oily and animal food, glowing in his stomach, his blood at fever heat, he burrows comfortably in ice and snow and frozen ground, without necessity for wood or coal.[48]‘Ce qu’il y a encore de frappant dans la complexion de ces barbares, c’est l’extrême chaleur de leur estomac et de leur sang; ils échauffent tellement, par leur haleine ardente, les huttes où ils assemblent en hiver, que les Européans, s’y sentent étouffés, comme dans une étuve dont la chaleur est trop graduée: aussi ne font-ils jamais de feu dans leur habitation en aucune saison, et ils ignorent l’usage des cheminées, sous le climat le plus froid du globe.’ De Pauw, Recherches Phil., tom. i., p. 261. Nor are those passions which are supposed to develop most fully under a milder temperature, wanting in the half-frozen Hyperborean.[49]‘The voluptuousness and Polygamy of the North American Indians, under a temperature of almost perpetual winter, is far greater than that of the most sensual tropical nations.’ Martin’s British Colonies, vol. iii., p. 524. One of the chief difficulties of the Eskimo during the winter is to obtain water, and the women spend a large portion of their time in melting snow over oil-lamps. In the Arctic regions, eating snow is attended with serious consequences. Ice or snow, touched to the lips or tongue, blisters like caustic. Fire is obtained by striking sparks from iron pyrites with quartz. It is a singular fact that in the coldest climate inhabited by man, fire is less used than anywhere else in the world, equatorial regions perhaps excepted. Caloric for the body is supplied by food and supplemented by furs. Snow houses, from their nature, prohibit the use of fire; but cooking with the Eskimo is a luxury, not a necessity. He well understands how to utilize every part of the animals so essential to his existence. With their skins he clothes himself, makes houses, boats, and oil-bags; their flesh and fat he eats. He even devours the contents of the intestines, and with the skin makes water-proof clothing. Knives, arrow-points, house, boat, and sledge frames, fish-hooks, domestic utensils, ice-chisels, and in fact almost all their implements, are made from the horns and bones of the deer, whale, and seal. Bowstrings are made of the sinews of musk-oxen, and ropes of seal-skin.[50]‘The seal is perhaps their most useful animal, not merely furnishing oil and blubber, but the skin used for their canoes, thongs, nets, lassoes, and boot soles.’ Whymper’s Alaska, p. 161. The Eskimo’s arms are not very formidable. Backed by his ingenuity, they nevertheless prove sufficient for practical purposes; and while his neighbor possesses none better, all are on an equal footing in war. Their most powerful as well as most artistic weapon is the bow. It is made of beech or spruce, in three pieces curving in opposite directions and ingeniously bound by twisted sinews, so as to give the greatest possible strength. Richardson affirms that “in the hands of a native hunter it will propel an arrow with sufficient force to pierce the heart of a musk-ox, or break the leg of a reindeer.” Arrows, as well as spears, lances, and darts, are of white spruce, and pointed with bone, ivory, flint, and slate.[51]They have ‘two sorts of bows; arrows pointed with iron, flint, and bone, or blunt for birds; a dart with throwing-board for seals; a spear headed with iron or copper, the handle about six feet long; and formidable iron knives, equally adapted for throwing, cutting, or stabbing.’ Simpson’s Nar., p. 123. They ascended the Mackenzie in former times as far as the Ramparts, to obtain flinty slate for lance and arrow points. Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., p. 213. At St. Lawrence Island, they are armed with a knife two feet long. Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. i., pp. 193, 211. One weapon was ‘a walrus tooth fixed to the end of a wooden staff.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. i., p. 343. East of the Mackenzie, copper enters largely into the composition of Eskimo utensils.[52]At the Coppermine River, arrows are pointed with slate or copper; hatchets also are made of a thick lump of copper. Hearne’s Travels, pp. 161-9. Before the introduction of iron by Europeans, stone hatchets were common.[53]‘The old ivory knives and flint axes are now superseded, the Russians having introduced the common European sheath-knife and hatchet. The board for throwing darts is in use, and is similar to that of the Polynesians.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 53.

SLEDGES, SNOW-SHOES, AND BOATS.

The Hyperboreans surpass all American nations in their facilities for locomotion, both upon land and water. In their skin boats, the natives of the Alaskan seaboard from Point Barrow to Mount St Elias, made long voyages, crossing the strait and sea of Bering, and held commercial intercourse with the people of Asia. Sixty miles is an ordinary day’s journey for sledges, while Indians on snow-shoes have been known to run down and capture deer. Throughout this entire border, including the Aleutian Islands, boats are made wholly of the skins of seals or sea-lions, excepting the frame of wood or whale-ribs. In the interior, as well as on the coast immediately below Mount St Elias, skin boats disappear, and canoes or wooden boats are used.

Two kinds of skin boats are employed by the natives of the Alaskan coast, a large and a small one. The former is called by the natives oomiak, and by the Russians baidar. This is a large, flat-bottomed, open boat; the skeleton of wood or whale-ribs, fastened with seal-skin thongs or whale’s sinews, and covered with oiled seal or sea-lion skins, which are first sewed together and then stretched over the frame. The baidar is usually about thirty feet in length, six feet in extreme breadth, and three feet in depth. It is propelled by oars, and will carry fifteen or twenty persons, but its capacity is greatly increased by lashing inflated seal-skins to the outside. In storms at sea, two or three baidars are sometimes tied together.[54]The ‘baydare is a large open boat, quite flat, made of sea-lions’ skins,’ and is used also for a tent. At Lantscheff Island it was ‘a large and probably leathern boat, with black sails.’ Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. i., pp. 202, 216. ‘The kaiyaks are impelled by a double-bladed paddle, used with or without a central rest, and the umiaks with oars.’ Can ‘propel their kaiyaks at the rate of seven miles an hour.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., pp. 238, 358. At Hudson Strait they have canoes of seal-skin, like those of Greenland. Franklin’s Nar., vol. i., p. 29. Not a drop of water can penetrate the opening into the canoe. Müller’s Voy., p. 46. The kyak is like an English wager-boat. They are ‘much stronger than their lightness would lead one to suppose.’ Hooper’s Tuski, pp. 226, 228. Oomiaks or family canoes of skin; float in six inches of water. Simpson’s Nar., p. 148. ‘With these boats they make long voyages, frequently visiting St. Lawrence Island.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 380. ‘Frame work of wood—when this cannot be procured whalebone is substituted.’ Armstrong’s Nar., p. 98. Mackenzie saw boats put together with whalebone; ‘sewed in some parts, and tied in others.’ Voyages, p. 67. They also use a sail. ‘On découvrit au loin, dans la baie, un bateau qui allait à la voile; elle était en cuir.’ Choris, Voy. Pitt., pt. ii., p. 6. They ‘are the best means yet discovered by mankind to go from place to place.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 43. ‘It is wonderful what long voyages they make in these slight boats.’ Campbell’s Voy., p. 114. ‘The skin, when soaked with water, is translucent; and a stranger placing his foot upon the flat yielding surface at the bottom of the boat fancies it a frail security.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. i., p. 346. The small boat is called by the natives kyak, and by the Russians baidarka. It is constructed of the same material and in the same manner as the baidar, except that it is entirely covered with skins, top as well as bottom, save one hole left in the deck, which is filled by the navigator. After taking his seat, and thereby filling this hole, the occupant puts on a water-proof over-dress, the bottom of which is so secured round the rim of the hole that not a drop of water can penetrate it. This dress is provided with sleeves and a hood. It is securely fastened at the wrists and neck, and when the hood is drawn over the head, the boatman may bid defiance to the water. The baidarka is about sixteen feet in length, and two feet in width at the middle, tapering to a point at either end.[55]The ‘kajak is shaped like a weaver’s shuttle.’ Richardson’s Pol. Reg., p. 308. ‘The paddle is in the hands of an Eskimo, what the balancing pole is to a tight-rope dancer.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 56. It is light and strong, and when skillfully handled is considered very safe. The native of Norton Sound will twirl his kyak completely over, turn an aquatic somersault, and by the aid of his double-bladed paddle come up safely on the other side, without even losing his seat. So highly were these boats esteemed by the Russians, that they were at once universally adopted by them in navigating these waters. They were unable to invent any improvement in either of them, although they made a baidarka with two and three seats, which they employed in addition to the one-seated kyak. The Kadiak baidarka is a little shorter and wider than the Aleutian.[56]‘The Koltshanen construct birch-bark canoes; but on the coast skin boats or baidars, like the Eskimo kaiyaks and umiaks, are employed.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., p. 405. If by accident a hole should be made, it is stopped with a piece of the flesh of the sea-dog, or fat of the whale, which they always carry with them. Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 43. They strike ‘the water with a quick, regular motion, first on one side, and then on the other.’ Cook’s Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 516. ‘Wiegen nie über 30 Pfund, und haben ein dünnes mit Leder überzognes Gerippe.’ Neue Nachrichten, p. 152. ‘The Aleutians put to sea with them in all weathers.’ Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 40. At the Shumagin Islands they ‘are generally about twelve feet in length, sharp at each end, and about twenty inches broad.’ Meares’ Voy., p. x. They are as transparent as oiled paper. At Unalaska they are so light that they can be carried in one hand. Sauer, Billings’ Ex., p. 157, 159.

Sleds, sledges, dogs, and Arctic land-boats play an important part in Eskimo economy. The Eskimo sled is framed of spruce, birch, or whalebone, strongly bound with thongs, and the runners shod with smooth strips of whale’s jaw-bone. This sled is heavy, and fit only for traveling over ice or frozen snow. Indian sleds of the interior are lighter, the runners being of thin flexible boards better adapted to the inequalities of the ground. Sledges, such as are used by the voyagers of Hudson Bay, are of totally different construction. Three boards, each about one foot in width and twelve feet in length, thinned, and curved into a semicircle at one end, are placed side by side and firmly lashed together with thongs. A leathern bag or blanket of the full size of the sled is provided, in which the load is placed and lashed down with strings.[57]‘They average twelve feet in length, two feet six inches in height, two feet broad, and have the fore part turned up in a gentle curve.’ ‘The floor resembles a grating without cross-bars, and is almost a foot from the level of the snow.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 56. At Saritscheff Island ‘I particularly remarked two very neat sledges made of morse and whalebones.’ Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. i., p. 201. ‘To make the runners glide smoothly, a coating of ice is given to them.’ Richardson’s Pol. Reg., p. 309. At Norton Sound Captain Cook found sledges ten feet long and twenty inches in width. A rail-work on each side, and shod with bone; ‘neatly put together; some with wooden pins, but mostly with thongs or lashings of whale-bone.’ Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 442, 443. Mackenzie describes the sledges of British America, Voyages, pp. 67, 68. Sleds and sledges are drawn by dogs, and they will carry a load of from a quarter to half a ton, or about one hundred pounds to each dog. The dogs of Alaska are scarcely up to the average of Arctic canine nobility.[58]‘About the size of those of Newfoundland, with shorter legs.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 25. ‘Neither plentiful nor of a good class.’ Whymper’s Alaska, p. 171. They are of various colors, hairy, short-legged, with large bushy tails curved over the back; they are wolfish, suspicious, yet powerful, sagacious, and docile, patiently performing an incredible amount of ill-requited labor. Dogs are harnessed to the sledge, sometimes by separate thongs at unequal distances, sometimes in pairs to a single line. They are guided by the voice accompanied by a whip, and to the best trained and most sagacious is given the longest tether, that he may act as leader. An eastern dog will carry on his back a weight of thirty pounds. The dogs of the northern coast are larger and stronger than those of the interior. Eskimo dogs are used in hunting reindeer and musk-oxen, as well as in drawing sledges.[59]The dog will hunt bear and reindeer, but is afraid of its near relative, the wolf. Brownell’s Ind. Races, p. 474. Those at Cape Prince of Wales appear to be of the same species as those used upon the Asiatic coast for drawing sledges.

Snow-shoes, or foot-sledges, are differently made according to the locality. In traveling over soft snow they are indispensable. They consist of an open light wooden frame, made of two smooth pieces of wood each about two inches wide and an inch thick; the inner part sometimes straight, and the outer curved out to about one foot in the widest part. They are from two to six feet in length, some oval and turned up in front, running to a point behind; others flat, and pointed at both ends, the space within the frame being filled with a network of twisted deer-sinews or fine seal-skin.[60]‘An average length is four and a half feet.’ Whymper’s Alaska, p. 183. ‘The Innuit snowshoe is small and nearly flat,’ ‘seldom over thirty inches long.’ ‘They are always rights and lefts.’ Ingalik larger; Kutchin same style; Hudson Bay, thirty inches in length. Dall’s Alaska, pp. 190, 191. ‘They are from two to three feet long, a foot broad, and slightly turned up in front.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 60. The Hudson Bay snow-shoe is only two and a half feet in length. The Kutchin shoe is smaller than that of the Eskimo.

Property

The merchantable wealth of the Eskimos consists of peltries, such as wolf, deer, badger, polar-bear, otter, hare, musk-rat, Arctic-fox, and seal skins; red ochre, plumbago, and iron pyrites; oil, ivory, whalebone; in short, all parts of all species of beasts, birds, and fishes that they can secure and convert into an exchangeable shape.[61]‘Blue beads, cutlery, tobacco, and buttons, were the articles in request.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. i., p. 352. At Hudson Strait they have a custom of licking with the tongue each article purchased, as a finish to the bargain. Franklin’s Nar., vol. i., 27. ‘Articles of Russian manufacture find their way from tribe to tribe along the American coast, eastward to Repulse Bay.’ Richardson’s Pol. Reg., p. 317. The articles they most covet are tobacco, iron, and beads. They are not particularly given to strong drink. On the shore of Bering Strait the natives have constant commercial intercourse with Asia. They cross easily in their boats, carefully eluding the vigilance of the fur company. They frequently meet at the Gwosdeff Islands, where the Tschuktschi bring tobacco, iron, tame-reindeer skins, and walrus-ivory; the Eskimos giving in exchange wolf and wolverine skins, wooden dishes, seal-skins and other peltries. The Eskimos of the American coast carry on quite an extensive trade with the Indians of the interior,[62]Are very anxious to barter arrows, seal-skin boots, and ivory ornaments for tobacco, beads, and particularly for iron. Hooper’s Tuski, p. 217. Some of their implements at Coppermine River are: stone kettles, wooden dishes, scoops and spoons made of buffalo or musk-ox horns. Hearne’s Travels, p. 168. At Point Barrow were ivory implements with carved figures of sea-animals, ivory dishes, and a ‘fine whalebone net.’ Also ‘knives and other implements, formed of native copper’ at Coppermine River. Simpson’s Nar., pp. 147, 156, 261. At Point Barrow they ‘have unquestionably an indirect trade with the Russians.’ Simpson’s Nar., 161. exchanging with them Asiatic merchandise for peltries. They are sharp at bargains, avaricious, totally devoid of conscience in their dealings; will sell their property thrice if possible, and, if caught, laugh it off as a joke. The rights of property are scrupulously respected among themselves, but to steal from strangers, which they practice on every occasion with considerable dexterity, is considered rather a mark of merit than otherwise. A successful thief, when a stranger is the victim, receives the applause of the entire tribe.[63]‘They are very expert traders, haggle obstinately, always consult together, and are infinitely happy when they fancy they have cheated anybody.’ Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. i., p. 211. ‘A thieving, cunning race.’ Armstrong’s Nar., p. 110. They respect each other’s property, ‘but they steal without scruple from strangers.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., p. 352. Captain Kotzebue thus describes the manner of trading with the Russo-Indians of the south and of Asia.

“The stranger first comes, and lays some goods on the shore and then retires; the American then comes, looks at the things, puts as many things near them as he thinks proper to give, and then also goes away. Upon this the stranger approaches, and examines what is offered him; if he is satisfied with it, he takes the skins and leaves the goods instead; but if not, then he lets all the things lie, retires a second time, and expects an addition from the buyer.” If they cannot agree, each retires with his goods.

Social Economy

Their government, if it can be called a government, is patriarchal. Now and then some ancient or able man gains an ascendency in the tribe, and overawes his fellows. Some tribes even acknowledge an hereditary chief, but his authority is nominal. He can neither exact tribute, nor govern the movements of the people. His power seems to be exercised only in treating with other tribes. Slavery in any form is unknown among them. Caste has been mentioned in connection with tattooing, but, as a rule, social distinctions do not exist.[64]‘They have a chief (Nalegak) in name, but do not recognize his authority.’ Dr Hayes, in Hist. Mag., vol. i., p. 6. Government, ‘a combination of the monarchical and republican;’ ‘every one is on a perfect level with the rest.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 59, 60. ‘Chiefs are respected principally as senior men.’ Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 41. At Kotzebue Sound, a robust young man was taken to be chief, as all his commands were punctually obeyed. Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. i., p. 235. Quarrels ‘are settled by boxing, the parties sitting down and striking blows alternately, until one of them gives in.’ Richardson’s Pol. Reg., p. 326. Every man governs his own family. Brownell’s Ind. Races, p. 475. They ‘have a strong respect for their territorial rights, and maintain them with firmness.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., p. 351.

Amusements

The home of the Eskimo is a model of filth and freeness. Coyness is not one of their vices, nor is modesty ranked among their virtues. The latitude of innocency marks all their social relations; they refrain from doing in public nothing that they would do in private. Female chastity is little regarded. The Kutchins, it is said, are jealous, but treat their wives kindly; the New Caledonians are jealous, and treat them cruelly; but the philosophic Eskimos are neither jealous nor unkind. Indeed, so far are they from espionage or meanness in marital affairs, that it is the duty of the hospitable host to place at the disposal of his guest not only the house and its contents, but his wife also.[65]They are ‘horribly filthy in person and habits.’ Hooper’s Tuski, p. 224. ‘A husband will readily traffic with the virtue of a wife for purposes of gain.’ Armstrong’s Nar., p. 195. ‘More than once a wife was proffered by her husband.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., p. 356. As against the above testimony, Seemann affirms: ‘After the marriage ceremony has been performed infidelity is rare.’ Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 66. ‘These people are in the habit of collecting certain fluids for the purposes of tanning; and that, judging from what took place in the tent, in the most open manner, in the presence of all the family.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. i., p. 407. The lot of the women is but little better than slavery. All the work, except the nobler occupations of hunting, fishing, and fighting, falls to them. The lesson of female inferiority is at an early age instilled into the mind of youth. Nevertheless, the Eskimo mother is remarkably affectionate, and fulfills her low destiny with patient kindness. Polygamy is common; every man being entitled to as many wives as he can get and maintain. On the other hand, if women are scarce, the men as easily adapt themselves to circumstances, and two of them marry one woman. Marriages are celebrated as follows: after gaining the consent of the mother, the lover presents a suit of clothes to the lady, who arrays herself therein and thenceforth is his wife.[66]‘Two men sometimes marry the same woman.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 66. ‘As soon as a girl is born, the young lad who wishes to have her for a wife goes to her father’s tent, and proffers himself. If accepted, a promise is given which is considered binding, and the girl is delivered to her betrothed husband at the proper age.’ Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 41. Women ‘carry their infants between their reindeer-skin jackets and their naked backs.’ Simpson’s Nar., p. 121. ‘All the drudgery falls upon the women; even the boys would transfer their loads to their sisters.’ Collinson, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxv., p. 201. Dancing, accompanied by singing and violent gesticulation, is their chief amusement. In all the nations of the north, every well-regulated village aspiring to any degree of respectability has its public or town house, which among the Eskimos is called the Casine or Kashim. It consists of one large subterranean room, better built than the common dwellings, and occupying a central position, where the people congregate on feast-days.[67]The ‘Kashim is generally built by the joint labour of the community.’ Richardson’s Pol. Reg., p. 311. This house is also used as a public work-shop, where are manufactured boats, sledges, and snow-shoes. A large portion of the winter is devoted to dancing. Feasting and visiting commence in November. On festive occasions, a dim light and a strong odor are thrown over the scene by means of blubber-lamps. The dancers, who are usually young men, strip themselves to the waist, or even appear in puris naturalibus, and go through numberless burlesque imitations of birds and beasts, their gestures being accompanied by tambourine and songs. Sometimes they are fantastically arrayed in seal or deer skin pantaloons, decked with dog or wolf tails behind, and wear feathers or a colored handkerchief on the head. The ancients, seated upon benches which encircle the room, smoke, and smile approbation. The women attend with fish and berries in large wooden bowls; and, upon the opening of the performance, they are at once relieved of their contributions by the actors, who elevate the provisions successively to the four cardinal points and once to the skies above, when all partake of the feast. Then comes another dance. A monotonous refrain, accompanied by the beating of an instrument made of seal-intestines stretched over a circular frame, brings upon the ground one boy after another, until about twenty form a circle. A series of pantomimes then commences, portraying love, jealousy, hatred, and friendship. During intervals in the exercises, presents are distributed to strangers. In their national dance, one girl after another comes in turn to the centre, while the others join hands and dance and sing, not unmusically, about her. The most extravagant motions win the greatest applause.[68]‘Their dance is of the rudest kind, and consists merely in violent motion of the arms and legs.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 63. They make ‘the most comical motions with the whole body, without stirring from their place.’ Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. i., p. 192. Their song consisted of the words: ‘Hi, Yangah yangah; ha ha, yangah—with variety only in the inflection of voice.’ Hooper’s Tuski, p. 225. When heated by the dance, even the women were stripped to their breeches. Simpson’s Nar., p. 158. ‘An old man, all but naked, jumped into the ring, and was beginning some indecent gesticulations, when his appearance not meeting with our approbation he withdrew.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. i., p. 396.

Among other customs of the Eskimo may be mentioned the following. Their salutations are made by rubbing noses together. No matter how oily the skin, nor how rank the odor, he who would avoid offense must submit his nose to the nose of his Hyperborean brother,[69]‘C’était la plus grande marque d’amitié qu’ils pouvaient nous donner.’ Choris, Voy. Pitt., pt. ii., p. 5. ‘They came up to me one after the other—each of them embraced me, rubbed his nose hard against mine, and ended his caresses by spitting in his hands and wiping them several times over my face.’ Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. i., pp. 192, 195. and his face to the caressing hand of his polar friend. To convey intimations of friendship at a distance, they extend their arms, and rub and pat their breast. Upon the approach of visitors they form a circle, and sit like Turks, smoking their pipes. Men, women, and children are inordinately fond of tobacco. They swallow the smoke and revel in a temporary elysium. They are called brave, simple, kind, intelligent, happy, hospitable, respectful to the aged. They are also called cruel, ungrateful, treacherous, cunning, dolorously complaining, miserable.[70]‘Their personal bravery is conspicuous, and they are the only nation on the North American Continent who oppose their enemies face to face in open fight.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., p. 244. ‘Simple, kind people; very poor, very filthy, and to us looking exceedingly wretched.’ McClure’s Dis. N. W. Passage, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxiv., p. 242. ‘More bold and crafty than the Indians; but they use their women much better.’ Bell’s Geog., vol. v., p. 294. They are great mimics, and, in order to terrify strangers, they accustom themselves to the most extraordinary contortions of features and body. As a measure of intellectual capacity, it is claimed for them that they divide time into days, lunar months, seasons, and years; that they estimate accurately by the sun or stars the time of day or night; that they can count several hundred and draw maps. They also make rude drawings on bone, representing dances, deer-hunting, animals, and all the various pursuits followed by them from the cradle to the grave.

But few diseases are common to them, and a deformed person is scarcely ever seen. Cutaneous eruptions, resulting from their antipathy to water, and ophthalmia, arising from the smoke of their closed huts and the glare of sun-light upon snow and water, constitute their chief disorders.[71]‘Their diseases are few.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 67. ‘Diseases are quite as prevalent among them as among civilized people.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 195. ‘Ophthalmia was very general with them.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. i., p. 345. ‘There is seldom any mortality except amongst the old people and very young children.’ Armstrong’s Nar., p. 197. For protection to their eyes in hunting and fishing, they make goggles by cutting a slit in a piece of soft wood, and adjusting it to the face.

The Eskimos do not, as a rule, bury their dead; but double the body up, and place it on the side in a plank box, which is elevated three or four feet from the ground, and supported by four posts. The grave-box is often covered with painted figures of birds, fishes, and animals. Sometimes it is wrapped in skins, placed upon an elevated frame, and covered with planks, or trunks of trees, so as to protect it from wild beasts. Upon the frame or in the grave-box are deposited the arms, clothing, and sometimes the domestic utensils of the deceased. Frequent mention is made by travelers of burial places where the bodies lie exposed, with their heads placed towards the north.[72]At Point Barrow, bodies were found in great numbers scattered over the ground in their ordinary seal-skin dress; a few covered with pieces of wood, the heads all turned north-east towards the extremity of the point. Simpson’s Nar., p. 155. ‘They lay their dead on the ground, with their heads all turned to the north.’ ‘The bodies lay exposed in the most horrible and disgusting manner.’ Dease and Simpson, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. viii., p. 221, 222. ‘Their position with regard to the points of the compass is not taken into consideration.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 67. ‘There are many more graves than present inhabitants of the village, and the story is that the whole coast was once much more densely populated.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 19. Hooper, on coming to a burial place not far from Point Barrow, ‘conjectured that the corpses had been buried in an upright position, with their heads at or above the surface.’ Tuski, p. 221.

The Koniagas

The Koniagas derive their name from the inhabitants of the island of Kadiak, who, when first discovered, called themselves Kanagist.[73]Kadiak ‘is a derivative, according to some authors, from the Russian Kadia, a large tub; more probably, however, it is a corruption of Kaniag, the ancient Innuit name.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 532. Holmberg thinks that the word Kadiak arose from Kikchtak, which in the language of the Koniagas means a large island. ‘Der Name Kadjak ist offenbar eine Verdrehung von Kikchtak, welches Wort in der Sprache der Konjagen “grosse Insel” bedeutet und daher auch als Benennung der grössten Insel dieser Gruppe diente.’ Ethnographische Skizzen über die Völker des Russischen Amerika, p. 75. ‘A la division Koniagi appartient la partie la plus septentrionale de l’Alaska, et l’île de Kodiak, que les Russes appellent vulgairement Kichtak, quoique, dans la langue des naturels, le mot Kightak ne désigne en général qu’une île.’ Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 347. Coxe affirms that the natives ‘call themselves Kanagist.’ Russian Dis., p. 135. And Sauer says, ‘the natives call themselves Soo-oo-it.’ Billings’ Ex., p. 175. ‘Man verstand von ihnen, dass sie sich selbst Kanagist nennen.’ Neue Nachr., p. 114. They were confounded by early Russian writers with the Aleuts. English ethnologists sometimes call them Southern Eskimos. From Kadiak they extend along the coast in both directions; northward across the Alaskan Peninsula to Kotzebue Sound, and eastward to Prince William Sound. The Koniagan family is divided into nations as follows: the Koniagas proper, who inhabit the Koniagan Archipelago; the Chugatshes,[74]Tschugatsches, Tschugatsi or Tschgatzi. Latham, Native Races, p. 290, says the name is Athabascan, and signifies ‘men of the sea.’ who occupy the islands and shores of Prince William Sound; the Aglegmutes, of Bristol Bay; the Keyataigmutes, who live upon the river Nushagak and the coast as far as Cape Newenham; the Agulmutes, dwelling upon the coast between the Kuskoquim and Kishunak rivers; the Kuskoquigmutes,[75]Kuskoquigmutes, Kuskokwimen, Kuskokwigmjuten, Kusckockwagemuten, Kuschkukchwakmüten, or Kaskutchewak. occupying the banks of the river Kuskoquim; the Magemutes, in the neighborhood of Cape Romanzoff; the Kwichpagmutes, Kwichluagmutes, and Pashtoliks, on the Kwichpak, Kwickluak, and Pashtolik rivers; the Chnagmutes, near Pashtolik Bay; the Anlygmutes, of Golovnin Bay, and the Kaviaks and Malemutes, of Norton Sound.[76]The termination mute, mut, meut, muten, or mjuten, signifies people or village. It is added to the tribal name sometimes as a substantive as well as in an adjective sense. “All of these people,” says Baron von Wrangell, “speak one language and belong to one stock.”

The most populous district is the Kuskoquim Valley.[77]‘Herr Wassiljew schätzt ihre Zahl auf mindestens 7000 Seelen beiderlei Geschlechts und jeglichen Alters.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 127. The small islands in the vicinity of Kadiak were once well peopled; but as the Russians depopulated them, and hunters became scarce, the natives were not allowed to scatter, but were forced to congregate in towns.[78]‘Es waren wohl einst alle diese Inseln bewohnt.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 76. Schelikoff, the first settler on Kadiak, reported, in that and contiguous isles, thirty thousand natives. Thirty years later, Saritsheff visited the island and found but three thousand. The Chugatshes not long since lived upon the island of Kadiak, but, in consequence of dissensions with their neighbors, they were obliged to emigrate and take up their residence on the main land. They derived their manners originally from the northern nations; but, after having been driven from their ancient possessions, they made raids upon southern nations, carried off their women, and, from the connections thus formed, underwent a marked change. They now resemble the southern rather than the northern tribes. The Kadiaks, Chugatshes, Kuskoquims, and adjacent tribes, according to their own traditions, came from the north, while the Unalaskas believe themselves to have originated in the west. The Kaviaks intermingle to a considerable extent with the Malemutes, and the two are often taken for one people; but their dialects are quite distinct.

Land of the Koniagas

The country of the Koniagas is a rugged wilderness, into many parts of which no white man has ever penetrated. Mountainous forests, glacial cañons, down which flow innumerable torrents, hills interspersed with lakes and marshy plains; ice-clad in winter, covered with luxuriant vegetation in summer. Some sheltered inlets absorb an undue proportion of oceanic warmth. Thus the name Aglegmutes signifies the inhabitants of a warm climate.

Travelers report chiefs among the Koniagas seven feet in height, but in general they are of medium stature.[79]The Malemutes are ‘a race of tall and stout people.’ Whymper’s Alaska, p. 159. ‘Die Kuskokwimer sind, mittlerer Statur, schlank, rüstig und oft mit grosser Stärke begabt.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 135. Dixon’s Voy., p. 186. ‘Bisweilen fallen sogar riesige Gestalten auf, wie ich z. B. einen Häuptling in der igatschen Bucht zu sehen Gelegenheit hatte, dessen Länge 6¾ Fuss betrug.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 80. The chief at Prince William Sound was a man of low stature, ‘with a long beard, and seemed about sixty years of age.’ Portlock’s Voy., p. 237. A strong, raw-boned race. Meares’ Voy., p. 32. At Cook’s Inlet they seemed to be of the same nation as those of Pr. Wm. Sd., but entirely different from those at Nootka, in persons and language. Cook’s Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 400. They are of ‘middle size and well proportioned.’ Dixon’s Voy., p. 68. ‘They emigrated in recent times from the Island of Kadyak, and they claim, as their hereditary possessions, the coast lying between Bristol Bay and Beering’s Straits.’ Richardson’s Nar., vol. i., p. 364. ‘Die Tschugatschen sind Ankömmlinge von der Insel Kadjack, die während innerer Zwistigkeiten von dort vertrieben.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 116. Their complexion may be a shade darker than that of the Eskimos of the northern coast, but it is still very light.[80]Achkugmjuten, ‘Bewohner der warmen Gegend.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 5. ‘Copper complexion.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 194. The Chugatshes are remarkable for their large heads, short necks, broad faces, and small eyes. Holmberg claims for the Koniagas a peculiar formation of the skull; the back, as he says, being not arched but flat. They pierce the septum of the nose and the under lip, and in the apertures wear ornaments of various materials; the most highly prized being of shell or of amber. It is said that at times amber is thrown up in large quantities by the ocean, on the south side of Kadiak, generally after a heavy earthquake, and that at such times it forms an important article of commerce with the natives. The more the female chin is riddled with holes, the greater the respectability. Two ornaments are usually worn, but by very aristocratic ladies as many as six.[81]‘They bore their under lip, where they hang fine bones of beasts and birds.’ Staehlin’s North. Arch., p. 33. ‘Setzen sich auch—Zähne von Vögeln oder Thierknochen in künstliche Oeffnungen der Unterlippe und unter der Nase ein.’ Neue Nachr., p. 113. Their favorite colors in face-painting are red and blue, though black and leaden colors are common.[82]The people of Kadiak, according to Langsdorff, are similar to those of Unalaska, the men being a little taller. They differ from the Fox Islanders. Voy., pt. ii., p. 62. ‘Die Insulaner waren hier von den Einwohnern, der vorhin entdeckten übrigen Fuchsinsuln, in Kleidung und Sprache ziemlich verschieden.’ Neue Nachr., p. 113. ‘Ils ressemblent beaucoup aux indigènes des îles Curiles, dépendantes du Japon.’ Laplace, Circumnav., vol. vi., p. 45. Young Kadiak wives secure the affectionate admiration of their husbands by tattooing the breast and adorning the face with black lines; while the Kuskoquim women sew into their chin two parallel blue lines. The hair is worn long by men as well as women. On state occasions, it is elaborately dressed; first saturated in train-oil, then powdered with red clay or oxide of iron, and finished off with a shower of white feathers. Both sexes wear beads wherever they can find a place for them, round the neck, wrists, and ankles, besides making a multitude of holes for them in the ears, nose, and chin. Into these holes they will also insert buttons, nails, or any European trinket which falls into their possession.[83]‘They wore strings of beads suspended from apertures in the lower lip.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 195. ‘Their ears are full of holes, from which hang pendants of bone or shell.’ Meares’ Voy., p. xxxii. ‘Elles portent des perles ordinairement en verre bleu, suspendues au-dessous du nez à un fil passé dans la cloison nasale.’ D’Orbigny, Voy., p. 573. ‘Upon the whole, I have nowhere seen savages who take more pains than these people do to ornament, or rather to disfigure their persons.’ At Prince William Sound they are so fond of ornament ‘that they stick any thing in their perforated lip; one man appearing with two of our iron nails projecting from it like prongs; and another endeavouring to put a large brass button into it.’ Cook’s Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 370. They slit the under lip, and have ornaments of glass beads and muscle-shells in nostrils and ears; tattoo chin and neck. Langsdorff’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 63. ‘Die Frauen machen Einschnitte in die Lippen. Der Nasenknorpel ist ebenfalls durchstochen.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 135.

Kadiak and Kuskoquim Dress

The aboriginal dress of a wealthy Kadiak was a bird-skin parka, or shirt, fringed at the top and bottom, with long wide sleeves out of which the wearer slipped his arms in an emergency. This garment was neatly sewed with bird-bone needles, and a hundred skins were sometimes used in the making of a single parka. It was worn with the feathers outside during the day, and inside during the night. Round the waist was fastened an embroidered girdle, and over all, in wet weather, was worn an intestine water-proof coat. The Kadiak breeches and stockings were of otter or other skins, and the boots, when any were worn, were of seal-neck leather, with whale-skin soles. The Russians in a measure prohibited the use of furs among the natives, compelling them to purchase woolen goods from the company, and deliver up all their peltries. The parkas and stockings of the Kuskoquims are of reindeer-skin, covered with embroidery, and trimmed with valuable furs. They also make stockings of swamp grass, and cloaks of sturgeon-skin. The Malemute and Kaviak dress is similar to that of the northern Eskimo.[84]The Kadiaks dress like the Aleuts, but their principal garment they call Konägen; Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 63. Like the Unalaskas, the neck being more exposed, fewer ornamentations. Sauer, Billings’ Voy., p. 177. ‘Consists wholly of the skins of animals and birds.’ Portlock’s Voy., p. 249. A coat peculiar to Norton Sound appeared ‘to be made of reeds sewed very closely together.’ Dixon’s Voy., p. 191. ‘Nähen ihre Parken (Winter-Kleider) aus Vögelhäuten und ihre Kamleien (Sommer-Kleider) aus den Gedärmen von Wallfischen und Robben.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 117. At Norton Sound ‘principally of deer-skins.’ Cook’s Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 484. ‘Ihre Kleider sind aus schwarzen und andern Fuchsbälgen, Biber, Vogelhäuten, auch jungen Rennthier and Jewraschkenfellen, alles mit Sehnen genäht.’ Neue Nachr., p. 113. ‘The dress of both sexes consists of parkas and camleykas, both of which nearly resemble in form a carter’s frock.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 194.

The Chugatshes, men, women, and children, dress alike in a close fur frock, or robe, reaching sometimes to the knees, but generally to the ankles. Their feet and legs are commonly bare, notwithstanding the high latitude in which they live; but they sometimes wear skin stockings and mittens. They make a truncated conic hat of straw or wood, in whimsical representation of the head of some fish or bird, and garnished with colors.[85]‘Una tunica entera de pieles que les abriga bastantemente.’ Bodega y Quadra, Nav., MS. p. 66. ‘By the use of such a girdle, it should seem that they sometimes go naked.’ Cook’s Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 437.

Dwellings and Food of the Koniagas

The Koniagas build two kinds of houses; one a large, winter village residence, called by the Russians barabara, and the other a summer hunting-hut, placed usually upon the banks of a stream whence they draw food. Their winter houses are very large, accommodating three or four families each. They are constructed by digging a square space of the required area to a depth of two feet, placing a post, four feet high above the surface of the ground, at every corner, and roofing the space over to constitute a main hall, where eating is done, filth deposited, and boats built. The sides are of planks, and the roof of boards, poles, or whale-ribs, thickly covered with grass. In the roof is a smoke-hole, and on the eastern side a door-hole about three feet square, through which entrance is made on hands and knees, and which is protected by a seal or other skin. Under the opening in the roof, a hole is dug for fire; and round the sides of the room, tomb-like excavations are made, or boards put up, for sleeping-places, where the occupant reposes on his back with his knees drawn up to the chin. Adjoining rooms are sometimes made, with low underground passages leading off from the main hall. The walls are adorned with implements of the chase and bags of winter food; the latter of which, being in every stage of decay, emits an odor most offensive to unhabituated nostrils. The ground is carpeted with straw. When the smoke-hole is covered by an intestine window, the dwellings of the Koniagas are exceedingly warm, and neither fire nor clothing is required.[86]‘Plastered over with mud, which gives it an appearance not very unlike a dung hill.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 214. Sea-dog skin closes the opening. Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 62. The Kuskoquims have ‘huttes qu’ils appellent barabores pour l’été.’ D’Orbigny, Voy., p. 574. ‘Mit Erde und Gras bedeckt, so dass man mit Recht die Wohnungen der Konjagen Erdhütten nennen kann.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 97. ‘A door fronting the east.’ Sauer, Billings’ Voy., p. 175. At Norton Sound ‘they consist simply of a sloping roof, without any side-walls.’ Cook’s Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 484. Build temporary huts of sticks and bark. Portlock’s Voy., p. 253. The kashim, or public house of the Koniagas, is built like their dwellings, and is capable of accommodating three or four hundred people.[87]‘In dem Kashim versammelt sich die männliche Bevölkerung des ganzen Dorfes zur Berathschlagung über wichtige Angelegenheiten, über Krieg und Frieden, etc.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 129. Huts are built by earthing over sticks placed in roof-shape; also by erecting a frame of poles, and covering it with bark or skins.

The Koniagas will eat any digestible substance in nature except pork; from which fact Kingsborough might have proven incontestably a Jewish origin. I should rather give them swinish affinities, and see in this singularity a hesitancy to feed upon the only animal, except themselves, which eats with equal avidity bear’s excrements, carrion birds, maggoty fish, and rotten sea-animals.[88]‘Le poisson est la principale nourriture.’ D’Orbigny, Voy., p. 574. ‘Berries mixed with rancid whale oil.’ ‘The fat of the whale is the prime delicacy.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., pp. 178, 195. ‘Meistentheils nähren sie sich mit rohen und trocknen Fischen, die sie theils in der See mit knöchernen Angelhaken, theils in den Bächen mit Sacknetzen, die sie aus Sehnen flechten, einfangen.’ Neue Nachr., p. 114. They generally eat their food raw, but sometimes they boil it in water heated with hot stones. Meares’ Voy., p. xxxv. The method of catching wild geese, is to chase and knock them down immediately after they have shed their large wing-feathers; at which time they are not able to fly. Portlock’s Voy., p. 265. When a whale is taken, it is literally stripped of everything to the bare bones, and these also are used for building huts and boats.[89]‘Ich hatte auf der Insel Afognak Gelegenheit dem Zerschneiden eines Wallfisches zuzusehen und versichere, dass nach Verlauf von kaum 2 Stunden nur die blanken Knochen auf dem Ufer lagen.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 91. These people can dispose of enormous quantities of food; or, if necessary, they can go a long time without eating.[90]The Kadiaks ‘pass their time in hunting, festivals, and abstinence. The first takes place in the summer; the second begins in the month of December, and continues as long as any provisions remain; and then follows the period of famine, which lasts till the re-appearance of fish in the rivers. During the period last mentioned, many have nothing but shell-fish to subsist on, and some die for want.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., pp. 209, 210. Before the introduction of intoxicating drinks by white men, they made a fermented liquor from the juice of raspberries and blueberries. Tobacco is in general use, but chewing and snuffing are more frequent than smoking. Salmon are very plentiful in the vicinity of Kadiak, and form one of the chief articles of diet. During their periodical ascension of the rivers, they are taken in great quantities by means of a pole pointed with bone or iron. Salmon are also taken in nets made of whale-sinews. Codfish are caught with a bone hook. Whales approach the coast of Kadiak in June, when the inhabitants pursue them in baidarkas. Their whale-lance is about six feet in length, and pointed with a stone upon which is engraved the owner’s mark. This point separates from the handle and is left in the whale’s flesh, so that when the body is thrown dead upon the beach, the whaler proves his property by his lance-point. Many superstitions are mentioned in connection with the whale-fishery. When a whaler dies, the body is cut into small pieces and distributed among his fellow-craftsmen, each of whom, after rubbing the point of his lance upon it, dries and preserves his piece as a sort of talisman. Or the body is placed in a distant cave, where, before setting out upon a chase, the whalers all congregate, take it out, carry it to a stream, immerse it and then drink of the water. During the season, whalers bear a charmed existence. No one may eat out of the same dish with them, nor even approach them. When the season is over, they hide their weapons in the mountains.

In May, the Koniagas set out in two-oared baidarkas for distant islands, in search of sea-otter. As success requires a smooth sea, they can hunt them only during the months of May and June, taking them in the manner following. Fifty or one hundred boats proceed slowly through the water, so closely together that it is impossible for an otter to escape between them. As soon as the animal is discovered, the signal is given, the area within which he must necessarily rise to the surface for air, is surrounded by a dozen boats, and when he appears upon the surface he is filled with arrows. Seals are hunted with spears ten or twelve feet in length, upon the end of which is fastened an inflated bladder, in order to float the animal when dead.

The Kuskokwigmutes and Malemutes

The Kuskokwigmutes are less nomadic than their neighbors; being housed in permanent settlements during the winter, although in summer they are obliged to scatter in various directions in quest of food. Every morning before break of day, during the hunting-season, a boy lights the oil-lamps in all the huts of the village, when the women rise and prepare the food. The men, excepting old men and boys, all sleep in the kashim, whither they retire at sunset. In the morning they are aroused by the appearance of the shamán, arrayed in his sacerdotal robes, and beating his sacred drum. After morning worship, the women carry breakfast to their husbands in the kashim. At day-break the men depart for their hunting or fishing, and when they return, immediately repair to the kashim, leaving the women to unload and take care of the products of the day’s work. During the hunting-season the men visit their wives only during the night, returning to the kashim before daylight.

The Malemutes leave their villages upon the coast regularly in February, and, with their families, resort to the mountains, where they follow the deer until snow melts, and then return to catch water-fowl and herring, and gather eggs upon the cliffs and promontories of the coast and islands. In July is their salmon feast. The fawns of reindeer are caught upon the hills by the women in August, either by chasing them down or by snaring them. Deer are stalked, noosed in snares, or driven into enclosures, where they are easily killed. At Kadiak, hunting begins in February, and in April they visit the smaller islands for sea-otter, seals, sea-lions, and eggs. Their whale and other fisheries commence in June and continue till October, at which time they abandon work and give themselves up to festivities. The seal is highly prized by them for its skin, blubber, and oil. One method of catching seals illustrates their ingenuity. Taking an air-tight seal-skin, they blow it up like a bladder, fasten to it a long line, and, concealing themselves behind the rocks, they throw their imitation seal among the live ones and draw it slowly to the shore. The others follow, and are speared or killed with bow and arrows. Blueberries and huckleberries are gathered in quantities and dried for winter use; they are eaten mixed with seal-oil. The Koniagas are also very fond of raw reindeer-fat. They hunt with guns, and snare grouse, marten, and hares. A small white fish is taken in great quantities from holes in the ice. They are so abundant and so easily caught that the natives break off the barbs from their fish-hooks in order to facilitate their operations.

The white polar bear does not wander south of the sixty-fifth parallel, and is only found near Bering Strait. Some were found on St Matthew Island, in Bering Sea, but were supposed to have been conveyed thither upon floating ice. The natives approach the grizzly bear with great caution. When a lair is discovered, the opening is measured, and a timber barricade constructed, with an aperture through which the bear may put his head. The Indians then quietly approach and secure their timbers against the opening of the den with stones, and throw a fire-brand into the den to arouse the animal, who thereupon puts his head out through the hole and meets with a reception which brings him to an untimely end.[91]‘Wild animals which they hunt, and especially wild sheep, the flesh of which is excellent.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 188. They eat the larger sort of fern-root baked, and a substance which seemed the inner bark of the pine. Cook’s Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 374. ‘Die Eingebornen essen diese Wurzeln (Lagat) roh und gekocht; aus der Wurzel, nachdem sie in Mehl verwandelt ist, bäckt man, mit einer geringen Beimischung von Weizenmehl, süssliche, dünne Kuchen.’ Sagoskin, Tagebuch, in Denkschr. d. russ. Geog. Gesell., p. 343.

War, Implements, and Government

In former times, the Koniagas went to war behind a huge wooden shield a foot thick and twelve feet in width. It was made of three thicknesses of larch-wood, bound together with willows, and with it they covered thirty or forty lancers.[92]‘Ihre hölzernen Schilde nennen sie Kujaki.’ Neue Nachr., p. 114. They poisoned their arrow and lance points with a preparation of aconite, by drying and pulverizing the root, mixing the powder with water, and, when it fermented, applying it to their weapons.[93]‘Selecting the roots of such plants as grow alone, these roots are dried and pounded, or grated.’ Sauer, Billings’ Ex., p. 178. They made arrow-points of copper, obtaining a supply from the Kenai of Copper River;[94]‘Die Pfeilspitzen sind aus Eisen oder Kupfer, ersteres erhalten sie von den Kenayern, letzteres von den Tutnen.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 118. ‘De pedernal en forma de arpon, cortado con tanta delicadeza como pudiera hacerlo el mas hábil lapidario.’ Bodega y Quadra, Nav., MS. p. 66. and the wood was as finely finished as if turned in a lathe.

The boats of the Koniagas are similar to those of the north, except that the bow and stem are not alike, the one turning up to a point and the other cut off square.[95]At Prince William Sound Cook found the canoes not of wood, as at Nootka. At Bristol Bay they were of skin, but broader. Third Voy., vol. ii., pp. 371, 437. ‘Die kadjakschen Baidarken unterscheiden sich in der Form ein wenig von denen der andern Bewohner der amerikanischen Küste, von denen der Aleuten aber namentlich darin, dass sie kürzer und breiter sind.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 99. At Prince William Sound, ‘formada la canoa en esqueleto la forran por fuera con pieles de animales.’ Bodega y Quadra, Nav., MS. p. 65. ‘Qu’on se figure une nacelle de quatre mètres de long et de soixante centimètres de large tout au plus.’ Laplace, Circumnav., vol. vi., p. 48. ‘These canoes were covered with skins, the same as we had seen last season in Cook’s River. Dixon’s Voy., p. 147. ‘Safer at sea in bad weather than European boats.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 211. Needles made of birds’ bones, and thread from whale-sinews, in the hands of a Kadiak woman, produced work, “many specimens of which,” says Lisiansky, “would do credit to our best seamstresses.”[96]Their whale-sinew thread was as fine as silk. Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 207. They produced fire by revolving with a bow-string a hard dry stick upon a soft dry board, one end of the stick being held in a mouth-piece of bone or ivory. Their implements were few—a stone adze, a shell or flint knife, a polishing stone, and a handled tooth.[97]The only tool seen was a stone adze. Cook’s Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 373. Yet they excel in carving, and in working walrus-teeth and whalebone, the former being supplied them mostly by the Aglegmutes of the Alaskan Peninsula. The tools used in these manufactures were of stone, and the polishing tools of shell. Traces of the stone age are found in lamps, hammers and cutting instruments, wedges and hatchets. Carving is done by the men, while the women are no less skillful in sewing, basket-making, crocheting, and knitting. The women tan, and make clothing and boat-covers from skins and intestines.[98]‘Their sewing, plaiting of sinews, and small work on their little bags may be put in competition with the most delicate manufactures found in any part of the known world.’ Cook’s Third Voy., vol. ii., pp. 373, 374. ‘If we may judge by these figures, the inhabitants of Cadiack must have lost much of their skill in carving, their old productions of this kind being greatly superior.’ Lisiansky, p. 178. The Ingalik’s household furniture is made ‘von gebogenem Holz sehr zierlich gearbeitet und mittelst Erdfarben roth, grün und blau angestrichen. Zum Kochen der Speisen bedienen sie sich irdener, ausgebrannter Geschirre.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 121. The Agulmutes are skilled in the carving of wood and ivory; the Kuskoquims excel in wood and stone carving. They make in this manner domestic utensils and vases, with grotesque representations of men, animals, and birds, in relief.

Authority is exercised only by heads of households, but chiefs may, by superior ability, acquire much influence.[99]‘Tis most probable they are divided into clans or tribes.’ Dixon’s Voy., p. 67. ‘They have a King, whose name was Sheenoway.’ Meares’ Voy., p. xxvii. ‘They always keep together in families, and are under the direction of toyons or chiefs.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 151. Before they became broken up and demoralized by contact with civilization, there was a marked division of communities into castes; an hereditary nobility and commonalty. In the former was embodied all authority; but the rule of American chieftains is nowhere of a very arbitrary character. Slavery existed to a limited extent, the thralls being mostly women and children. Their male prisoners of war, they either killed immediately or reserved to torture for the edification and improvement of their children.[100]Female slaves are sold from one tribe to another. Sauer, Billings’ Voy., p. 175. Upon the arrival of the Russians, the slaves then held by the natives, thinking to better their condition, left their barbaric masters and placed themselves under the protection of the new comers. The Russians accepted the trust, and set them to work. The poor creatures, unable to perform the imposed tasks, succumbed; and, as their numbers were diminished by ill treatment, their places were supplied by such of the inhabitants as had been guilty of some misdemeanor; and singularly enough, misdemeanors happened to be about in proportion to the demand for slaves.[101]‘Zugleich verschwand auch ihre Benennung; man nannte sie ferner Kajuren, ein Wort aus Kamtschatka hieher übergesiedelt, welches Tagelöhner oder Arbeiter bedeutet.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 79.

Morality of the Koniagas

The domestic manners of the Koniagas are of the lowest order. In filth they out-do, if possible, their neighbors of the north.[102]‘They will not go a step out of the way for the most necessary purposes of nature; and vessels are placed at their very doors for the reception of the urinous fluid, which are resorted to alike by both sexes.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 214. Thrown together in little bands under one roof, they have no idea of morality, and the marriage relation sits so loosely as hardly to excite jealousy in its abuse. Female chastity is deemed a thing of value only as men hold property in it. A young unmarried woman may live uncensured in the freest intercourse with the men; though, as soon as she belongs to one man, it is her duty to be true to him. Sodomy is common; the Kaviaks practice polygamy and incest; the Kadiaks cohabit promiscuously, brothers and sisters, parents and children.[103]‘Not only do brothers and sisters cohabit with each other, but even parents and children.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 64. The Malemutes are content with one wife, but they have no marriage ceremony, and can put her away at pleasure. They prize boy babies, but frequently kill the girls, taking them out into the wilderness, stuffing grass into their mouth and abandoning them; yet children are highly esteemed, and the barren woman is a reproach among her people. Such persons even go so far as to make a doll or image of the offspring which they so greatly desire, and fondle it as if it were a real child.[104]‘Images dressed in different forms.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 178. ‘The most favoured of women is she who has the greatest number of children.’ Sauer, Billings’ Voy., p. 176. Two husbands are also allowed to one woman; one the chief or principal husband, and the other a deputy, who acts as husband and master of the house during the absence of the true lord; and who, upon the latter’s return, not only yields to him his place, but becomes in the meantime his servant.

But the most repugnant of all their practices is that of male concubinage. A Kadiak mother will select her handsomest and most promising boy, and dress and rear him as a girl, teaching him only domestic duties, keeping him at woman’s work, associating him only with women and girls, in order to render his effeminacy complete. Arriving at the age of ten or fifteen years, he is married to some wealthy man, who regards such a companion as a great acquisition. These male wives are called achnutschik or schopans.[105]‘Der Vater oder die Mutter bestimmen den Sohn schon in seiner frühsten Kindheit zum Achnutschik, wenn er ihnen mädchenhaft erscheint.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 121. ‘Male concubines are much more frequent here than at Oonalashka.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 64. They ‘are happy to see them taken by the chiefs, to gratify their unnatural desires. Such youths are dressed like women, and taught all their domestic duties.’ Sauer, Billings’ Ex., p. 176. ‘Ces peuples sont très adonnés aux plaisirs des sens et même à un vice infame.’ Choris, Voy. Pitt., pt. vii., p. 8. ‘Of all the customs of these islanders, the most disgusting is that of men, called schoopans, living with men, and supplying the place of women.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 199. This shameful custom applies to the Thlinkeets as well. ‘Quelques personnes de l’Equipage du Solide ont rapporté qu’il ne leur est pas possible de douter que les Tchinkîtânéens ne soient souillés de ce vice honteux que la Théogonie immorale des Grecs avoit divinisé.’ Marchand, Voy. aut. du Monde, tom. ii., p. 97.

KONIAGAN SWEAT-HOUSES.

A most cruel superstition is enforced upon maidens at the age of puberty; the victim being confined for six months in a hut built for the purpose, apart from the others, and so small that the poor inmate cannot straighten her back while upon her knees. During the six months following, she is allowed a room a little larger, but is still permitted no intercourse with any one. Daughters of principal men obtain the right of access to the kashim by undergoing a ceremonial yielding up of their virginity to the shamán.[106]‘Der Schamane hat seiner Obliegenheit gemäss oder aus besonderem Wohlwollen sie der Jungferschaft beraubt und sie wäre unwürdig vor der Versammlung zu erscheinen, wenn sie ihre erste Liebe irgend einem Anderen und nicht dem Schamanen gezollt hätte.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 133. Marriage ceremonies are few, and marriage engagements peculiar. The consent of the father of the intended bride being obtained, the aspirant for nuptial honors brings wood and builds a fire in the bath-room; after which, he and the father take a bath together. The relatives meanwhile congregate, a feast is held, presents are made, the bridegroom takes the name of the bride’s father, the couple are escorted to a heated vapor-bath and there left together. Although extremely filthy in their persons and habits, all Indians attach great importance to their sweat-baths. This peculiar institution extends through most of the nations of our territory, from Alaska to Mexico, with wonderful uniformity. Frequently one of the side subterranean apartments which open off from the main hall, is devoted to the purposes of a sweat-house. Into one of these caverns a Kadiak will enter stripped. Steam is generated by throwing water upon heated stones. After sweltering for a time in the confined and heated atmosphere, and while yet in a profuse perspiration, the bather rushes out and plunges into the nearest stream or into the sea, frequently having to break the ice before being able to finish his bath. Sometimes all the occupants of the house join in a bath. They then clear the floor of the main room from obstructions, and build a hot fire under the smoke-hole. When the fire is reduced to coals, a covering is placed over the smoke-hole, and the bathers proceed to wash themselves in a certain liquid, which is carefully saved for this and other cleansing purposes, and also for tanning. The alkali of the fluid combines with the grease upon their persons, and thus a lather is formed which removes dirt as effectually as soap would. They then wash in water, wrap themselves in deer-skins, and repose upon shelves until the lassitude occasioned by perspiration passes away.

Festivals of various kinds are held; as, when one village is desirous of extending hospitality to another village, or when an individual becomes ambitious of popularity, a feast is given. A ceremonial banquet takes place a year after the death of a relative; or an entertainment may be announced as a reparation for an injury done to one’s neighbor. At some of these feasts only men dance, and at others the women join. Upon these occasions, presents are exchanged, and the festivities sometimes continue for several days. The men appear upon the scene nearly or quite naked, with painted faces, and the hair fantastically decorated with feathers, dancing to the music of the tambourine, sometimes accompanied by sham fights and warlike songs. Their faces are marked or fantastically painted, and they hold a knife or lance in one hand and a rattle in the other. The women dance by simply hopping forward and backward upon their toes.[107]‘Their dances are proper tournaments.’ Sauer, Billings’ Ex., p. 176. They are much addicted to public dances, especially during winter. Whymper’s Alaska, p. 165. ‘Masks of the most hideous figures are worn.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 210. ‘Use a sort of rattle composed of a number of the beaks of the sea-parrot, strung upon a wooden cross,’—sounds like castanets. Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 64. ‘Die Tänzer erscheinen, eben so, mit Wurfspiessen oder Messern in den Händen, welche sie über dem Kopfe schwingen.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 118. A visitor, upon entering a dwelling, is presented with a cup of cold water; afterward, fish or flesh is set before him, and it is expected that he will leave nothing uneaten. The more he eats, the greater the honor to the host; and, if it be impossible to eat all that is given him, he must take away with him whatever remains. After eating, he is conducted to a hot bath and regaled with a drink of melted fat.

Sagoskin assisted at a ceremony which is celebrated annually about the first of January at all the villages on the coast. It is called the festival of the immersion of the bladders in the sea. More than a hundred bladders, taken only from animals which have been killed with arrows, and decorated with fantastic paintings, are hung upon a cord stretched horizontally along the wall of the kashim. Four birds carved from wood, a screech-owl with the head of a man, a sea-gull, and two partridges, are so disposed that they can be moved by strings artfully arranged; the owl flutters his wings and moves his head; the gull strikes the boards with his beak as if he were catching fish, and the partridges commence to peck each other. Lastly, a stake enveloped in straw is placed in the centre of the fire-place. Men and women dance before these effigies in honor of Jug-jak, the spirit of the sea. Every time the dancing ceases, one of the assistants lights some straw, burning it like incense before the birds and the bladders. The principal ceremony of the feast consists, as its name indicates, in the immersion of the bladders in the sea. It was impossible to discover the origin of this custom; the only answer given to questions was, that their ancestors had done so before them.

Superstitions of the Koniagas

The shamán, or medicine-man of the Koniagas, is the spiritual and temporal doctor of the tribe; wizard, sorcerer, priest, or physician, as necessity demands. In the execution of his offices, the shamán has several assistants, male and female, sages and disciples; the first in rank being called kaseks, whose duty it is to superintend festivals and teach the children to dance. When a person falls sick, some evil spirit is supposed to have taken possession of him, and it is the business of the shamán to exorcise that spirit, to combat and drive it out of the man. To this end, armed with a magic tambourine, he places himself near the patient and mutters his incantations. A female assistant accompanies him with groans and growls. Should this prove ineffectual, the shamán approaches the bed and throws himself upon the person of the sufferer; then, seizing the demon, he struggles with it, overpowers and casts it out, while the assistants cry, “He is gone! he is gone!” If the patient recovers, the physician is paid, otherwise he receives nothing.[108]‘Les sorciers et chamans jouissent d’une grande faveur dans cette région glacée de l’Amérique.’ D’Orbigny, Voy., p. 574. ‘Schamane und alte Weiber kennen verschiedene Heilmittel.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 135. ‘Next in rank to the shamans are the kaseks, or sages, whose office is to teach children the different dances, and superintend the public amusements and shows, of which they have the supreme control.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 208. Colds, consumption, rheumatism, itch, boils, ulcers, syphilis, are among their most common diseases. Blood-letting is commonly resorted to as a curative, and except in extreme cases the shamán is not called. The Koniagas bleed one another by piercing the arm with a needle, and then cutting away the flesh above the needle with a flint or copper instrument. Beaver’s oil is said to relieve their rheumatism.

“The Kadiak people,” says Lisiansky, “seem more attached to their dead than to their living.” In token of their grief, surviving friends cut the hair, blacken the face with soot, and the ancient custom was to remain in mourning for a year. No work may be done for twenty days, but after the fifth day the mourner may bathe. Immediately after death, the body is arrayed in its best apparel, or wrapped with moss in seal or sea-lion skins, and placed in the kashim, or left in the house in which the person died, where it remains for a time in state. The body, with the arms and implements of the deceased, is then buried. It was not unfrequent in former times to sacrifice a slave upon such an occasion. The grave is covered over with blocks of wood and large stones.[109]‘The dead body of a chief is embalmed with moss, and buried.’ Sauer, Billings’ Ex., p. 177. A mother, upon the death of a child, retires for a time from the camp; a husband or wife withdraws and joins another tribe.[110]‘In one of the small buildings, or kennels, as they may very properly be called, was a woman who had retired into it in consequence of the death of her son.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 184.

The character of the Koniagas may be drawn as peaceable, industrious, serviceable to Europeans, adapted to labor and commerce rather than to war and hunting. They are not more superstitious than civilized nations; and their immorality, though to a stranger most rank, is not to them of that socially criminal sort which loves darkness and brings down the avenger. In their own eyes, their abhorrent practices are as sinless as the ordinary, openly conducted avocations of any community are to the members thereof.

The Aleuts

The Aleuts are the inhabitants of the Aleutian Archipelago. The origin of the word is unknown;[111]‘The word Aleutian seems to be derived from the interrogative particle allix, which struck strangers in the language of that people.’ Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 312. The Unalaskas and ‘the people of Oomnak, call themselves Cowghalingen.’ ‘The natives of Alaska and all the adjacent islands they call Kagataiakung’n.’ Sauer, Billings’ Ex., p. 154. ‘The inhabitants of Unalashka are called Kogholaghi; those of Akutan, and further east to Unimak, Kighigusi; and those of Unimak and Alaxa, Kataghayekiki. They cannot tell whence these appellations are derived; and now begin to call themselves by the general name of Aleyut, given to them by the Russians, and borrowed from some of the Kurile Islands.’ Coxe’s Russ. Dis., p. 219. the original name being Kagataya Koung’ns, or ‘men of the east,’ indicating an American origin.[112]Yet, says D’Orbigny, Voyage, p. 577: ‘Si on interroge les Aléoutiens sur leur origine, ils disent que leurs ancêtres ont habité un grand pays vers l’ouest, et que de là ils sont avancés de proche en proche sur les îles désertes jusq’au continent américain.’ The nation consists of two tribes speaking different dialects; the Unalaskans, occupying the south-western portion of the Alaskan Peninsula, the Shumagin Islands, and the Fox Islands; and the Atkhas, inhabiting the Andreanovski, Rat, and Near Islands. Migrations and intermixtures with the Russians have, however, nearly obliterated original distinctions.

The earliest information concerning the Aleutian Islanders was obtained by Michael Nevodtsikoff, who sailed from Kamchatka in 1745. Other Russian voyagers immediately followed, attracted thither in search of sea-animal skins, which at that time were very plentiful.[113]Trapesnikoff took from an unknown island in 1753, 1920 sea-otter skins. Durneff returned to Kamchatka in 1754, with 3,000 skins. In 1752 one crew touched at Bering Island and took 1,222 Arctic foxes, and 2,500 sea-bears. Cholodiloff, in 1753, took from one island 1,600 otter-skins. Tolstych in one voyage took 1,780 sea-otter, 720 blue foxes, and 840 sea-bears. Coxe’s Russ. Dis., pp. 43, 44, 49, 51, 53. Tribute was levied upon the islanders by the Russians, and a system of cruelty commenced which soon reduced the natives from ten thousand to but little more than one thousand.

The Aleuts, to Langsdorff, “appear to be a sort of middle race between the mongrel Tartars and the North Americans.” John Ledyard, who visited Unalaska with Captain Cook, saw “two different kinds of people; the one we knew to be the aborigines of America, while we supposed the others to have come from the opposite coasts of Asia.”[114]Sparks, Life of Ledyard, p. 79. Their features are strongly marked, and those who saw them as they originally existed, were impressed with the intelligent and benevolent expression of their faces.[115]A great deal of character. Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 32. They have an abundance of lank hair, which they cut with flints—the men from the crown, and the women in front.[116]‘Rather low of stature, but plump and well shaped; with rather short necks; swarthy chubby faces; black eyes; small beards, and long, straight, black hair; which the men wear loose behind, and cut before, but the women tie up in a bunch.’ Cook’s Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 510. ‘Von Gesicht sind sie platt und weiss, von guter Statur, durchgängig mit schwarzen Haaren.’ Neue Nachr., p. 150. ‘Low in stature, broad in the visage.’ Campbell’s Voy., p. 112. Hair ‘strong and wiry;’ scanty beard, but thick on the upper lip. Sauer, Billings’ Ex., p. 154. Both sexes undergo the usual face-painting and ornamentations. They extend their nostrils by means of a bow-cylinder. The men wear a bone about the size of a quill in the nose, and the women insert pieces of bone in the under lip.[117]‘Les femmes aléoutes portaient aux mains et aux pieds des chapelets de pierres de couleur et préférablement d’ambre.’ D’Orbigny, Voy., p. 579. ‘None are so highly esteemed as a sort of long muscle, commonly called sea-teeth, the dentalium entalis of Linnæus.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 40. ‘Women have the chin punctured in fine lines rayed from the centre of the lip and covering the whole chin.’ They wear bracelets of black seal-skin around the wrists and ankles, and go barefoot. Sauer, Billings’ Ex., p. 155. ‘Im Nasen-Knorpel und der Unterlippe machen beide Geschlechter Löcher und setzen Knochen ein, welches ihr liebster Schmuck ist. Sie stechen sich auch bunte Figuren im Gesicht aus.’ Neue Nachr., p. 169. ‘They bore the upper lip of the young children of both sexes, under the nostrils, where they hang several sorts of stones, and whitened fish-bones, or the bones of other animals.’ Staehlin’s North Arch., p. 37. Their legs are bowed, from spending so much of their time in boats; they frequently sitting in them fifteen or twenty hours at a time. Their figure is awkward and uncouth, yet robust, active, capable of carrying heavy burdens and undergoing great fatigue.[118]‘Leur conformation est robuste et leur permet de supporter des travaux et des fatigues de toute sorte.’ D’Orbigny, Voy., p. 577.

Aleutian Hat and Habitation

The hat of the Aleut is the most peculiar part of his dress. It consists of a helmet-shaped crown of wood or leather, with an exceedingly long brim in front, so as to protect the eyes from the sun’s reflection upon the water and snow. Upon the apex is a small carving, down the back part hang the beards of sea-lions, while carved strips of bone and paint ornament the whole. This hat also serves as a shield against arrows. The Fox Islanders have caps of bird-skin, on which are left the bright-colored feathers, wings, and tail.[119]At Shumagin Island, their caps were of sea-lion skins. Müller’s Voy., p. 46. On the front are one or two small images of bone. Cook’s Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 510. A wooden hat, ‘which in front comes out before the eyes like a sort of umbrella, and is rounded off behind.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 38. ‘Einige haben gemeine Mützen von einem bunten Vogelfell, woran sie etwas von den Flügeln und dem Schwanz sitzen lassen;—sind vorn mit einem Brettchen wie ein Schirm versehn und mit Bärten von Seebären—geschmücket.’ Neue Nachr., pp. 151, 152. As a rule, the men adopt bird-skin clothing, and the women furs, the latter highly ornamented with beads and fringes.[120]On a feather garment, ‘a person is sometimes employed a whole year.’ ‘The women for the most part go bare-footed.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., pp. 36, 39. ‘Seams covered with thin slips of skin, very elegantly embroidered with white deer’s hair, goat’s hair, and the sinews of sea animals, dyed of different colours.’ Sauer, Billings’ Ex., p. 156. ‘Ihr Pelzkleid wird über den Kopf angezogen, und ist hinten und vorn ganz zu. Die Männer tragen es aus Vogelhäuten; die Weiber hingegen von Bibern und jungen Seebären.’ Neue Nachr., p. 152. ‘Boots and breeches in one piece.’ Campbell’s Voy., p. 113.

The habitations of the Fox Islanders are called Ullaa, and consist of immense holes from one to three hundred feet in length, and from twenty to thirty feet wide. They are covered with poles and earthed over, leaving several openings at the top through which descent is made by ladders. The interior is partitioned by stakes, and three hundred people sometimes occupy one of these places in common. They have no fire-place, since lamps hollowed from flat stones answer every purpose for cooking and light.[121]‘Round the sides and ends of the huts, the families (for several are lodged together) have their separate apartments, where they sleep, and sit at work; not upon benches, but in a kind of concave trench, which is dug all around the inside of the house, and covered with mats.’ Cook’s Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 512. ‘When they have stood for sometime, they become overgrown with grass, so that a village has the appearance of an European churchyard full of graves.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., p. 32. ‘In den Jurten wird niemals Feuer angelegt und doch ist es gemeiniglich sehr warm darinnen, so dass beide Geschlechter ganz nakkend sitzen.’ Neue Nachr., p. 150. A boat turned bottom upward is the summer house of the Aleut.[122]‘A bidarka or boat is turned up sideways, and at the distance of four or five feet, two sticks, one opposite to the head and the other to the stern, are driven into the ground, on the tops of which a cross stick is fastened. The oars are then laid along from the boat to the cross stick, and covered with seal skins, which are always at hand for the purpose.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 152.

Raw seal and sea-otter, whale and sea-lion blubber, fish, roots, and berries are staple articles of food among the Aleuts. To procure vegetable food is too much trouble. A dead, half-putrefied whale washed ashore is always the occasion of great rejoicing. From all parts the people congregate upon the shore, lay in their winter supplies, and stuff themselves until not a morsel remains. November is their best hunting-season. Whale-fishing is confined to certain families, and the spirit of the craft descends from father to son. Birds are caught in a net attached to the end of a pole; sea-otter are shot with arrows; spears, bone hooks, and nets are used in fishing.[123]‘Among the greatest delicacies of Oonalashka are the webbed feet of a seal, which are tied in a bladder, buried in the ground, and remain there till they are changed into a stinking jelly.’ Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 165. Almost everything is eaten raw. Cook’s Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 520. The sea-dog is caught with nets, killed when asleep, or enticed on shore by a false cap made to resemble a seal’s head. Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 205.After the advent of the Russians, the natives were not allowed to kill fur-animals without accounting to them therefor.[124]‘L’Aléoute peut tuer les phoques et les oiseaux, sans être obligé d’en rendre compte à la compagnie.’ Choris, Voy. Pitt., pt. vii., p. 4.

Their weapons are darts with single and double barbs, which they throw from boards; barbed, bone-pointed lances; spears, harpoons, and arrows, with bone or stone points. At their side is carried a sharp stone knife ten or twelve inches long, and for armor they wear a coat of plaited rushes, which covers the whole body.[125]‘Die Spitze selbst wird theils aus Obsidian oder Lavaglas, theils auch aus Trachyt verfertigt.’ Kittlitz, Reise, vol. i., p. 268. Spear-handles are feathered, the points of sharpened flint. Neue Nachr., p. 102, ‘Arrows are thrown from a narrow and pointed board, twenty inches long, which is held by the thumb and three fingers. They are thrown straight from the shoulder with astonishing velocity.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 205. ‘Les armes défensives consistaient en une cotte de joncs tressés qui leur couvrait tout le corps.’ D’Orbigny, Voy., p. 579. ‘No such thing as an offensive, or even defensive weapon was seen amongst the natives of Oonalashka.’ Probably they had been disarmed by the Russians. Cook’s Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 515. ‘Wherever any one has fixed his habitation, nobody else dares to hunt or fish.’ Staehlin’s Nor. Arch., p. 37. For birds they point their darts with three light bones, spread and barbed. Sauer, Billings’ Ex., p. 157. ‘Indeed, there is a neatness and perfection in most of their work, that shews they neither want ingenuity nor perseverance.’ Cook’s Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 514. An Aleut bear-trap consists of a board two feet square and two inches thick, planted with barbed spikes, placed in bruin’s path and covered with dust. The unsuspecting victim steps firmly upon the smooth surface offered, when his foot sinks into the dust. Maddened with pain, he puts forward another foot to assist in pulling the first away, when that too is caught. Soon all four of the feet are firmly spiked to the board; the beast rolls over on his back, and his career is soon brought to an end.

Customs of the Aleuts

Notwithstanding their peaceful character, the occupants of the several islands were almost constantly at war. Blood, the only atonement for offense, must be washed out by blood, and the line of vengeance becomes endless. At the time of discovery, the Unimak Islanders held the supremacy.

The fabrications of the Aleuts comprise household utensils of stone, bone, and wood; missiles of war and the chase; mats and baskets of grass and the roots of trees, neat and strong; bird-beak rattles, tambourines or drums, wooden hats and carved figures. From the wing-bone of the sea-gull, the women make their needles; from sinews, they make thread and cord.[126]They make ‘baskets called ishcats, in which the Aleutians keep all their valuables.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 181. ‘Thread they make of the sinews of the seal, and of all sizes, from the fineness of a hair to the strength of a moderate cord, both twisted and plaited.’ Sauer, Billings’ Ex., p. 157. Of the teeth of sea-dogs they carve little figures of men, fish, sea-otters, sea-dogs, sea-cows, birds, and other objects. Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 46. To obtain glue for mending or manufacturing purposes, they strike the nose until it bleeds.[127]‘Wollen sie etwas an ihren Pfeilen oder sonst eine Kleinigkeit leimen, so schlagen sie sich an die Nase und bestreichen es mit ihrem Blute.’ Neue Nachr., p. 173. To kindle a fire, they make use of sulphur, in which their volcanic islands abound, and the process is very curious. First they prepare some dry grass to catch the fire; then they take two pieces of quartz, and, holding them over the grass, rub them well with native sulphur. A few feathers are scattered over the grass to catch the particles of sulphur, and, when all is ready, holding the stones over the grass, they strike them together; a flash is produced by the concussion, the sulphur ignites, and the straw blazes up.[128]Sauer, Billings’ Ex., p. 159; Campbell’s Voy., p. 59.

The Aleuts have no marriage ceremony. Every man takes as many women to wife as he can support, or rather as he can get to support him. Presents are made to the relatives of the bride, and when she ceases to possess attractions or value in the eyes of her proprietor, she is sent back to her friends. Wives are exchanged by the men, and rich women are permitted to indulge in two husbands. Male concubinage obtains throughout the Aleutian Islands, but not to the same extent as among the Koniagas.[129]‘Comme les femmes coûtaient cher en présents de fiançailles, la plupart des Aléoutes n’en avaient qu’une ou deux.’ D’Orbigny, Voy., p. 579. Purchase as many girls for wives as they can support. Sauer, Billings’ Ex., p. 160. ‘Objects of unnatural affection.’ Id., p. 160. ‘Their beards are carefully plucked out as soon as they begin to appear, and their chins tattooed like those of the women.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 48. ‘The Russians told us, that they never had any connections with their women, because they were not Christians. Our people were not so scrupulous; and some of them had reason to repent that the females of Oonalashka encouraged their addresses without any reserve; for their health suffered by a distemper that is not unknown here.’ Cook’s Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 521. Mothers plunge their crying babies under water in order to quiet them. This remedy performed in winter amid broken ice, is very effectual.[130]‘It often happens that a mother plunges her noisy child into water, even in winter, and keeps it there till it leaves off crying.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 202. ‘Schreyt das Kind, so trägt es die Mutter, es sey Winter oder Sommer nakkend nach der See, und hält es so lange im Wasser bis es still wird.’ Neue Nachr., p. 168.

Every island, and, in the larger islands, every village, has its toyon, or chief, who decides differences, is exempt from work, is allowed a servant to row his boat, but in other respects possesses no power. The office is elective.[131]‘Have their own chiefs in each island.’ Cook’s Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 510. ‘Generally is conferred on him who is the most remarkable for his personal qualities.’ Coxe’s Russ. Dis., p. 219.

The Aleuts are fond of dancing and given to hospitality. The stranger guest, as he approaches the village, is met by dancing men and dancing women, who conduct him to the house of the host, where food is given him. After supper, the dancing, now performed by naked men, continues until all are exhausted, when the hospitalities of the dwelling are placed at the disposal of the guest, and all retire.[132]Those of the inhabitants who have two wives give their guests one, or a slave. Neue Nachr., p. 171. ‘In the spring holidays, they wear masks, neatly carved and fancifully ornamented.’ Sauer, Billings’ Ex., p. 160. A religious festival used to be held in December, at which all the women of the village assembled by moonlight, and danced naked with masked faces, the men being excluded under penalty of death. The men and women of a village bathe together, in aboriginal innocency, unconscious of impropriety. They are fond of pantomimic performances; of representing in dances their myths and their legends; of acting out a chase, one assuming the part of hunter, another of a bird or beast trying to escape the snare, now succeeding, now failing—the piece ending in the transformation of a captive bird into a lovely woman, who falls exhausted into the arms of the hunter.

The dead are clothed and masked, and either placed in the cleft of a rock, or swung in a boat or cradle from a pole in the open air. They seem to guard the body as much as possible from contact with the ground.[133]‘On avait soin de le disposer de manière à ce qu’il ne touchât pas la terre.’ D’Orbigny, Voy., p. 579. ‘Embalm the bodies of the men with dried moss and grass.’ Sauer, Billings’ Ex., p. 161. Slaves sometimes slaughtered. Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 48. ‘Bury their dead on the summits of hills.’ Cook’s Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 521. ‘When a man dies in the hut belonging to his wife, she retires into a dark hole, where she remains forty days. The husband pays the same compliment to his favorite wife upon her death.’ Coxe’s Russ. Dis., p. 218. ‘Die Todten werden begraben, und man giebt dem Mann seinen Kahn, Pfeile und Kleider mit ins Grab.’ ‘Die Todten umwinden sie mit Riemen und hängen sie in einer Art hölzerner Wiege an einen auf zwey Gabelen ruhenden Querstock in der Luft auf.’ Neue Nachr., pp. 101, 154.

Character of the Aleuts

In their nature and disposition, these islanders are sluggish but strong. Their sluggishness gives to their character a gentleness and obsequiousness often remarked by travelers; while their inherent strength, when roused by brutal passions, drives them on to the greatest enormities. They are capable of enduring great fatigue, and, when roused to action by necessity, they will perform an incredible amount of work, suffering the severest cold or heat or hunger with the most stoical calmness. They are very quiet in their demeanor; sometimes sitting in companies within their dens, or on their house-tops gazing at the sea for hours, without speaking a word. It is said that formerly they were much more gay and cheerful, but that an acquaintance with civilization has been productive of the usual misfortune and misery.[134]‘Naturellement silencieux.’ D’Orbigny, Voy., p. 578. ‘Sie verrichten auch die Nothdurft und das Ehegeschäft ohne alle Scheu.’ Neue. Nachr., p. 150. ‘A stupid silence reigns among them.’ ‘I am persuaded that the simplicity of their character exceeds that of any other people.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., pp. 182, 183. ‘Kind-hearted and obliging, submissive and careful; but if roused to anger, they become rash and unthinking, even malevolent, and indifferent to all danger.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 32. ‘To all appearance, they are the most peaceable, inoffensive people, I ever met with. And, as to honesty, they might serve as a pattern to the most civilized nation upon earth.’ Cook, vol. ii., p. 509.

It does not appear that the Russians were behind the Spaniards in their barbarous treatment of the natives.[135]‘To hunt was their task; to be drowned, or starved, or exhausted, was their reward.’ Simpson’s Jour., vol. ii., p. 229. ‘They are harmless, wretched slaves,’ whose race will soon be extinct. Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 315. The Russian hunters ‘used not unfrequently to place the men close together, and try through how many the ball of their rifle-barrelled musket would pass.’ Sauer, Billings’ Ex. App., p. 56. ‘Of a thousand men, who formerly lived in this spot, scarcely more than forty remained.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 235. ‘La variole, la syphilis, voire même le choléra depuis quelques années, en emportent une effrayante quantité.’ Laplace, Circumnav., vol. ii., p. 51. Notwithstanding their interest lay in preserving life, and holding the natives in a state of serfdom as fishers and hunters, the poor people were soon swept away. Father Innocentius Veniaminoff, a Russian missionary who labored among the islanders long and faithfully, gives them the highest character for probity and propriety. Among other things, he affirms that during a residence of ten years in Unalaska, there did not occur a single fight among the natives. Proselytes were made by the Russians with the same facility as by the Spaniards. Tribute was levied by the Russians upon all the islanders, but, for three years after their conversion, neophytes were exempt; a cheap release from hateful servitude, thought the poor Aleut; and a polity which brought into the folds of the church pagan multitudes.

The Thlinkeets

The Thlinkeets, as they call themselves, or Kolosches, as they are designated by the Russians, inhabit the coast and islands from Mount St Elias to the river Nass. The name Thlinkeet signifies ‘man,’ or ‘human being.’ Kolosch,[136]Kaluga, Kaljush, Koljush, Kalusch, Kolush, Kolosch, Kolosh, Kolosches. Marchand calls them Tchinkîtâné. Voyage aut. du Monde, tom. ii., p. 3. or more properly Kaluga, is the Aleutian word for ‘dish,’ and was given to this people by Aleutian seal-hunters whom the Russians employed during their first occupation of the Island of the Sitkas. Perceiving a resemblance in the shape of the Thlinkeet lip-ornament, to the wooden vessels of their own country, they applied to this nation the name Kaluga, whence the Kolosches of the Russians.

Holmberg carries their boundaries down to the Columbia River; and Wrangell perceives a likeness, real or imaginary, to the Aztecs.[137]See Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., pp. 15, 16. Indeed the differences between the Thlinkeets and the inhabitants of New Caledonia, Washington, and Oregon, are so slight that the whole might without impropriety be called one people. The Thlinkeets have, however, some peculiarities not found elsewhere; they are a nation distinct from the Tinneh upon their eastern border, and I therefore treat of them separately.

The three families of nations already considered, namely, the Eskimos, the Koniagas, and the Aleuts, are all designated by most writers as Eskimos. Some even include the Thlinkeets, notwithstanding their physical and philological differences, which, as well as their traditions, are as broadly marked as those of nations that these same ethnologists separate into distinct families. Nomadic nations, occupying lands by a precarious tenure, with ever-changing boundaries, engaged in perpetual hostilities with conterminous tribes that frequently annihilate or absorb an entire community, so graduate into one another that the dividing line is often with difficulty determined. Thus the Thlinkeets, now almost universally held to be North American Indians proper, and distinct from the Eskimos, possess, perhaps, as many affinities to their neighbors on the north, as to those upon the south and east. The conclusion is obvious. The native races of America, by their geographical position and the climatic influences which govern them, are of necessity to a certain degree similar; while a separation into isolated communities which are acted upon by local causes, results in national or tribal distinctions. Thus the human race in America, like the human race throughout the world, is uniform in its variety, and varied in its unity.

The Thlinkeet family, commencing at the north, comprises the Ugalenzes,[138]Ugalachmiuti, Ugaljachmjuten, Ugalyachmutzi, Ugalukmutes, Ugalenzi, Ugalenzen, Ugalenzes. on the shore of the continent between Mount St Elias and Copper River; the Yakutats, of Bering Bay; the Chilkats, at Lynn Canal; the Hoodnids, at Cross Sound; the Hoodsinoos, of Chatham Strait; and, following down the coast and islands, the Takoos, the Auks, the Kakas, the Sitkas,[139]They ‘call themselves G-tinkit, or S-chinkit, or also S-chitcha-chon, that is, inhabitants of Sitki or Sitcha.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., 128. the Stikines,[140]The orthographic varieties of this word are endless. Stickeen, Stekin, Stakhin, Stachin, Stikin, Stachine, Stikeen, Stikine, Stychine, are among those before me at the moment. and the Tungass. The Sitkas on Baranoff Island[141]At the end of this chapter, under Tribal Boundaries, the location of these tribes is given definitely. are the dominant tribe.

Descending from the north into more genial climes, the physical type changes, and the form assumes more graceful proportions. With the expansion of nature and a freer play of physical powers, the mind expands, native character becomes intensified, instinct keener, savage nature more savage, the nobler qualities become more noble; cruelty is more cruel, torture is elevated into an art, stoicism is cultivated,[142]A Thlinkeet boy, ‘when under the whip, continued his derision, without once exhibiting the slightest appearance of suffering.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 242. human sacrifice and human slavery begin, and the oppression and degradation of woman is systematized. “If an original American race is accepted,” says Holmberg, “the Thlinkeets must be classed with them.” They claim to have migrated from the interior of the continent, opposite Queen Charlotte Island.

The Ugalenzes spend their winters at a small bay east from Kadiak, and their summers near the mouth of Copper River, where they take fish in great quantities. Their country also abounds in beaver. The Chilkats make two annual trading excursions into the interior. The Tacully tribes, the Sicannis and Nehannes, with whom the Chilkats exchange European goods for furs, will allow no white man to ascend their streams.

Thlinkeet Peculiarities

Naturally, the Thlinkeets are a fine race; the men better formed than the boatmen of the north;[143]‘Leur corps est ramassé, mais assez bien proportionné.’ Marchand, Voy., tom. ii., p. 46. ‘Very fierce.’ Portlock’s Voy., p. 291. ‘Limbs straight and well shaped.’ Dixon’s Voy., p. 171. ‘Stolze gerade Haltung.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 16. ‘Active and clever.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 237. ‘Bigote á manera de los Chinos.’ Perez, Nav., MS. p. 14. ‘Limbs ill-proportioned.’ Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 49. ‘Très supérieurs en courage et en intelligence.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. iv., p. 54. the women modest, fair, and handsome;[144]The women ‘are pleasing and their carriage modest.’ Portlock’s Voy., p. 291. When washed, white and fresh. Dixon’s Voy., p. 171. ‘Dunkle Hautfarbe.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 16. ‘Eran de color blanco y habia muchos con ojos azules.’ Perez, Nav., MS. p. 14. As fair as many Europeans. Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 112. ‘Muchos de ellos de un blanco regular.’ Bodega y Quadra, Nav., MS. p. 43. but the latter have gone far out of their way to spoil the handiwork of nature. Not content with daubing the head and body with filthy coloring mixtures; with adorning the neck with copper-wire collars, and the face with grotesque wooden masks; with scarring their limbs and breast with keen-edged instruments; with piercing the nose and ears, and filling the apertures with bones, shells, sticks, pieces of copper, nails, or attaching to them heavy pendants, which drag down the organs and pull the features out of place;[145]‘Leur chevelure, dure, épaisse, mêlée, couverte d’ocre, de duvet d’oiseaux et de toutes les ordures que la négligence et le temps y ont accumulées, contribue encore à rendre leur aspect hideux.’ Marchand, Voy., tom. ii., p. 46. ‘A more hideous set of beings, in the form of men and women, I had never before seen.’ Cleveland’s Voy., p. 91. The men painted ‘a black circle extending from the forehead to the mouth, and a red chin, which gave the face altogether the appearance of a mask.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 146. Pourraient même passer pour jolies, sans l’horrible habitude qu’elles ont adoptée.’ Laplace, Circumnav., tom. vi., p. 87. ‘That person seems to be reckoned the greatest beau amongst them, whose face is one entire piece of smut and grease.’ Dixon’s Voy., p. 68. ‘Ils se font des cicatrices sur les bras et sur la poitrine.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 223. ‘Um aus dem Gesichte diese fette Farbenmasse abzuwaschen, gebrauchen sie ihren eignen Urin, und dieser verursacht bei ihnen den widerlichen Geruch, der den sich ihm nahenden Fremdling fast zum Erbrechen bringt.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 20. they appear to have taxed their inventive powers to the utmost, and with a success unsurpassed by any nation in the world, to produce a model of hideous beauty.

THLINKEET LIP-ORNAMENT.

This success is achieved in their wooden lip-ornament, the crowning glory of the Thlinkeet matron, described by a multitude of eye-witnesses; and the ceremony of its introduction may be not inappropriately termed, the baptism of the block. At the age of puberty,—some say during infancy or childhood,—in the under lip of all free-born female Thlinkeets,[146]Meares, Voyages, p. xxxi., states that at Prince William Sound, ‘the men have universally a slit in their under lip, between the projecting part of the lip and the chin, which is cut parallel with their mouths, and has the appearance of another mouth.’ Worn only by women. Dixon’s Voy., p. 172. a slit is made parallel with the mouth, and about half an inch below it.[147]‘About three tenths of an inch below the upper part of the under lip.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 280. ‘In the centre of the under-lip.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 115. ‘Fendue au ras des gencives.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 224. ‘In the thick part near the mouth.’ Dixon’s Voy., p. 187. ‘When the first person having this incision was seen by one of the seamen, who called out, that the man had two mouths.’ Cook’s Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 369. ‘In their early infancy, a small incision is made in the center of the under lip, and a piece of brass or copper wire is placed in, and left in the wound. This corrodes the lacerated parts, and by consuming the flesh gradually increases the orifice, until it is sufficiently large to admit the wooden appendage.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 408. ‘Les femmes de Tchinkîtâné ont cru devoir ajouter à leur beauté naturelle, par l’emploi d’un ornement labial, aussi bizarre qu’incommode.’ Marchand, Voy., tom. ii., p. 48. If the incision is made during infancy, it is only a small hole, into which a needle of copper, a bone, or a stick is inserted, the size being increased as the child grows. If the baptism is deferred until the period when the maiden merges into womanhood, the operation is necessarily upon a larger scale, and consequently more painful.[148]‘Simply perforated, and a piece of copper wire introduced.’ Dixon’s Voy., p. 187. ‘Les jeunes filles n’ont qu’une aiguille dans la lèvre inférieure.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 226. ‘On y prépare les petites filles aussitôt qu’elles sont nées.’ Id., tom. iv., p. 54. ‘At first a thick wire.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 115. When almost marriageable. Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 51. ‘The children have them bored at about two years of age, when a piece of copper-wire is put through the hole; this they wear till the age of about thirteen or fourteen years, when it is taken out, and the wooden ornament introduced.’ Portlock’s Voy., p. 289. ‘Said to denote maturity.’ Whymper’s Alaska, p. 100. ‘Se percer la lèvre inférieure des l’enfance.’ ‘D’agrandir peu à peu cette ouverture au point de pouvoir jeune fille y introduire une coquille, et femme mariée une énorme tasse de bois.’ Laplace, Circumnav., tom. vi., p. 87. ‘Never takes place during their infancy.’ Dixon’s Voy., p. 187. ‘When the event takes place that implies womanhood.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 243. ‘Wenn zum ersten Mal beim Mädchen sich Spuren der Mannbarkeit zeigen, wird ihre Unterlippe durchstochen und in diese Oeffnung eine Knochenspitze, gegenwärtig doch häufiger ein Silberstift gelegt.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 21. ‘Pues les pareció que solo lo tenian los casados.’ Perez, Nav., MS. p. 15. When the incision is made, a copper wire, or a piece of shell or wood, is introduced, which keeps the wound open and the aperture extended; and by enlarging the object and keeping up a continuous but painful strain, an artificial opening in the face is made of the required dimensions. On attaining the age of maturity, this wire or other incumbrance is removed and a block of wood inserted. This block is oval or elliptical in shape, concaved or hollowed dish-like on the sides, and grooved like the wheel of a pulley on the edge in order to keep it in place.[149]‘Concave on both sides.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 280. ‘So lange sie unverheirathet ist, trägt sie diesen; erhält sie aber einen Mann, so presst man einen grösseren Schmuck von Holz oder Knochen in die Oeffnung, welcher nach innen, d. h. zur Zahnseite etwas trogförmig ausgehöhlt ist.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 21. ‘Une espèce d’écuelle de bois sans anses qui appuie contre les gencives.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 224. Pieces of shell resembling teeth. Meares’ Voy., p. xxxi. The dimensions of the block are from two to six inches in length, from one to four inches in width, and about half an inch thick round the edge, and highly polished.[150]‘As large as a large saucer.’ Portlock’s Voy., p. 289. ‘From one corner of the mouth to the other.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 280. ‘Frequently increased to three, or even four inches in length, and nearly as wide.’ Dixon’s Voy., p. 187. ‘A communément un demi-pouce d’épaisseur, deux de diamètre, et trois pouces de long.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. iv., p. 54. ‘At least seven inches in circumference.’ Meares’ Voy., p. xxxviii. ‘Mit den Jahren wird der Schmuck vergrössert, so dass er bei einem alten Weibe über 2 Zoll breit angetroffen wird.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 21. From two to five inches long, and from one and a half to three inches broad. Ladies of distinction increase the size. ‘I have even seen ladies of very high rank with this ornament, full five inches long and three broad.’ Mr Dwolf affirms that he saw ‘an old woman, the wife of a chief, whose lip ornament was so large, that by a peculiar motion of her under-lip she could almost conceal her whole face with it.’ ‘Horrible in its appearance to us Europeans.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 115. ‘Es una abertura como de media pulgada debaxo del labio inferior, que representa segunda boca, donde colocan una especie de roldana elíptica de pino, cuyo diámetro mayor es de dos pulgadas, quatro lineas, y el menor de una pulgada.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 126. Old age has little terror in the eyes of a Thlinkeet belle, for larger lip-blocks are introduced as years advance, and each enlargement adds to the lady’s social status, if not to her facial charms. When the block is withdrawn, the lip drops down upon the chin like a piece of leather, displaying the teeth, and presenting altogether a ghastly spectacle.[151]‘Une énorme tasse de bois, destinée à recevoir la salive qui s’en échappe constamment.’ Laplace, Circumnav., tom. vi., p. 87. ‘L’effet de cet ornement est de rabattre, par le poids de sa partie saillante la lèvre inférieure sur le menton, de développer les charmes d’une grande bouche béante, qui prend la forme de celle d’un four, et de mettre à découvert une rangée de dents jaunes et sales.’ Marchand, Voy., tom. ii., p. 49. ‘She is obliged to be constantly on the watch, lest it should fall out, which would cover her with confusion.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 244. ‘The weight of this trencher or ornament weighs the lip down so as to cover the whole of the chin, leaving all the lower teeth and gum quite naked.’ Portlock’s Voy., p. 289. ‘L’usage le plus révoltant qui existe peut-être sur la terre.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 226. ‘Always in proportion to a person’s wealth.’ ‘Distorts every feature in the lower part of the face.’ Dixon’s Voy., p. 68, 172. ‘In running the lip flaps up and down so as to knock sometimes against the chin and sometimes against the nose. Upon the continent the kaluga is worn still larger; and the female who can cover her whole face with her under-lip passes for the most perfect beauty,’ ‘The lips of the women held out like a trough, and always filled with saliva stained with tobacco-juice, of which they are immoderately fond, is the most abominably revolting part of the spectacle.’ Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 52. ‘Dadurch entsteht eine im selbigen Maasse ausgedehnte Lippe, die höchst widerlich aussieht, um so mehr, da sich nun mehr der Mund nicht schliessen kann, sondern unaufhörlich einen braunen Tabaksspeichel von sich gibt.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 21. ‘So distorts the face as to take from it almost the resemblance to the human; yet the privilege of wearing this ornament is not extended to the female slaves, who are prisoners taken in war.’ Cleveland’s Voy., p. 91. ‘Look as if they had large flat wooden spoons growing in the flesh.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 115. ‘The sight is hideous. Our men used jocosely to say, this lower lip would make a good slab to lay their trousers on to be scrubbed.’ Dunn’s Oregon, p. 277. ‘On ne connaît point d’explication plausible de cette mutilation, qui, chez les Indiens, passe pour un signe de noblesse.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 336. This custom is evidently associated in their minds with womanly modesty, for when La Pérouse asked them to remove their block, some refused; those who complied manifesting the same embarrassment shown by a European woman who uncovers her bosom. The Yakutats alone of all the Thlinkeet nation have never adopted this fashion.

Dress of the Thlinkeets

Their dress, which is made from wolf, deer, bear, or other skin, extends from the shoulder to the knee, and consists of a mantle, or cape, with sleeves, which reaches down to the waist, and to which the women attach a skirt, or gown, and the men a belt and apron. A white blanket is made from the wool of the wild sheep, embroidered with figures, and fringed with furs, all of native work. This garment is most highly prized by the men. They wear it thrown over the shoulder so as to cover the whole body.

Vancouver thus describes the dress of a chief at Lynn Canal. His “external robe was a very fine large garment, that reached from his neck down to his heels, made of wool from the mountain sheep, neatly variegated with several colors, and edged and otherwise decorated with little tufts or frogs of woolen yarn, dyed of various colors. His head-dress was made of wood, much resembling in its shape a crown, adorned with bright copper and brass plates, from whence hung a number of tails or streamers, composed of wool and fur, wrought together, dyed of various colors, and each terminating in a whole ermine skin. The whole exhibited a magnificent appearance, and indicated a taste for dress and ornament that we had not supposed the natives of these regions to possess.”

The men make a wooden mask, which rests on a neckpiece, very ingeniously carved, and painted in colors, so as to represent the head of some bird or beast or mythological being. This was formerly worn in battle, probably, as La Pérouse suggests, in order to strike terror into the hearts of enemies, but is now used only on festive occasions.[152]‘Die Männertracht unterscheidet sich in Nichts von der Weiber; sie besteht nämlich aus einem bis zu den Knieen gehenden Hemde.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 18. Some of their blankets ‘are so curiously worked on one side with the fur of the sea-otter, that they appear as if lined with it.’ ‘Some dress themselves in short pantaloons.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 238. ‘Las mugeres visten honestamente una especie de túnica interior de piel sobada.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. cxvii. ‘Se vestian las mugeres tunicas de pieles ajustadas al cuerpo con brazaletes de cobre o hierro.’ Perez, Nav., MS. p. 15. ‘Usual clothing consists of a little apron.’ Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 49. ‘Their feet are always bare.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 114.

A small hat of roots and bark, woven in the shape of a truncated cone, ornamented with painted figures and pictures of animals, is worn by both sexes.[153]‘Usan sombreros de la corteza interior del pino en forma de cono truncado.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. cxvii. Their wooden masks ‘are so thick, that a musket-ball, fired at a moderate distance, can hardly penetrate them.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 150. Ordinarily, however, the men wear nothing on the head; their thick hair, greased and covered with ochre and birds’ down, forming a sufficient covering. The hat is designed especially for rainy weather, as a protection to the elaborately dressed hair.[154]Pluck out their beard. Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 112. ‘Ils ont de la barbe, moins à la vérité que les Européens, mais assez cependant pour qu’il soit impossible d’en douter.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 229. ‘The women in general are hair-dressers for their husbands.’ Portlock’s Voy., p. 290. Besides their every-day dress, they have a fantastic costume for tribal holidays.

For their winter habitations, a little back from the ocean, the Thlinkeets build substantial houses of plank or logs, sometimes of sufficient strength to serve as a fortress. They are six or eight feet in height, the base in the form of a square or parallelogram, the roof of poles placed at an angle of forty-five degrees and covered with bark. The entrance is by a small side door. The fire, which is usually kept burning night and day, occupies the centre of the room; over it is a smoke-hole of unusual size, and round the sides of the room are apartments or dens which are used as store-houses, sweat-houses, and private family rooms. The main room is very public and very filthy.[155]‘Der Eingang, ziemlich hoch von der Erde, besteht aus einem kleinen runden Loche.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 25. ‘Ils se construisent des maisons de bois ou de terre pour l’hiver.’ Laplace, Circumnav., vol. vi., p. 87. ‘The barabaras of the Sitcan people are of a square form, and spacious. The sides are of planks; and the roof resembles that of a Russian house.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 239. ‘Habitan estos Indios en chozas ó rancherías de tablas muy desabrigadas.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. cxvi. At Sitka the roof ‘rests upon ten or twelve thick posts driven into the ground, and the sides of the house are composed of broad thick planks fastened to the same posts.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 129. ‘Dans l’intérieur des terres, des habitations bien construites, spacieuses et commodes.’ Marchand, Voy., tom. ii., p. 74. ‘Shanties on a large scale.’ Whymper’s Alaska, p. 100. ‘Their huts are made of a few boards, which they take away with them when they go to their winter quarters. It is very surprising to see how well they will shape their boards with the shocking tools they employ; some of them being full 10 feet long, 2½ feet broad, and not more than an inch thick.’ Portlock’s Voy., p. 292. ‘High, large, and roomy, built of wood, with the hearth in the middle, and the sides divided into as many compartments as there are families living under the roof.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., p. 410. ‘Lebt in Schoppen aus Balken gebaut, wo an den Seiten für jede Familie besondere Plätze abgetheilt sind, in der Mitte aber Feuer für alle zusammen angemacht wird. So pflegen gemeiniglich 2 bis 6 Familien eine einzige Scheune einzunehmen.’ Baer’s Ethn. u. Stat., p. 97. Summer huts are light portable buildings, thrown up during hunting excursions in the interior, or on the sea-beach in the fishing-season. A frame is made of stakes driven into the ground, supporting a roof, and the whole covered with bark, or with green or dry branches, and skins or bark over all. The door is closed by bark or a curtain of skins. Each hut is the rendezvous for a small colony, frequently covering twenty or thirty persons, all under the direction of one chief.[156]‘Vingt-cinq pieds de long sur quinze à vingt pieds de large.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 220. ‘Roof in the whole with the bark of trees.’ Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 53. ‘Las casas en que estos habitan en las playas son de poca consideracion y ninguna subsistencia.’ Bodega y Quadra, Nav., MS. p. 49. ‘A few poles stuck in the ground, without order or regularity.’ Dixon’s Voy., p. 172. ‘Gebäude besteht aus langen, sorgfältig behauenen Brettern, die kartenhausartig über einander gestellt, an zahlreichen in die Erde gesteckten Stangen befestigt, recht eigentlich ein hölzernes Zelt bilden. Es hat die Form einer länglichen Barake mit zwei Giebeln.’ Kittlitz, Reise, vol. i., pp. 220, 221.

Food of the Thlinkeets

The food of the Thlinkeets is derived principally from the ocean, and consists of fish, mussels, sea-weeds, and in fact whatever is left upon the beach by the ebbing tide—which at Sitka rises and falls eighteen feet twice a day—or can be caught by artificial means. Holmberg says that all but the Yakutats hate whale as the Jews hate pork. Roots, grasses, berries, and snails are among their summer luxuries. They chew a certain plant as some chew tobacco, mixing with it lime to give it a stronger effect,[157]All kinds of fish; ‘such as salmon, mussels, and various other shell-fish, sea-otters, seals and porpoises; the blubber of the porpoise, they are remarkably fond of, and indeed the flesh of any animal that comes in their way.’ Portlock’s Voy., p. 290. ‘Vom Meere, an dessen Ufern sie sich stets ansiedeln, erhalten sie ihre hauptsächlichste Nahrung; einige Wurzeln, Gräser u. Beeren gehören nur zu den Leckerbissen des Sommers.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 22. Cakes made of bark of spruce-fir, mixed with roots, berries, and train-oil. For salt they use sea-water. Never eat whale-fat. Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 131. At Sitka, summer food consists of berries, fresh fish, and flesh of amphibious animals. Winter food, of dried salmon, train-oil, and the spawn of fish, especially herrings. Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 239. ‘Sus alimentos se reducen á pescado cocido ó asado ya fresco ó ya seco, varias hierbas y raizes.’ Bodega y Quadra, Nav., MS. p. 50. They chew ‘a plant which appears to be a species of tobacco.’ Dixon’s Voy., p. 175. ‘Sont couverts de vermine; ils font une chasse assidue à ces animaux dévorans, mais pour les dévorer eux-mêmes.’ Marchand, Voy., tom. ii., p. 52. ‘Tägliche Nahrung der Einwohner—sind hauptsächtlich Fische, doch häufig auch Mollusken und Echinodermen.’ Kittlitz, Reise, vol. i., p. 222. and drink whale-oil as a European drinks beer. Preferring their food cooked, they put it in a tight wicker basket, pouring in water, and throwing in heated stones, until the food is boiled.[158]‘Le poisson frais ou fumé, les œufs séchés de poisson.’ Marchand, Voy., tom. ii., p. 62. ‘Is sometimes cooked upon red-hot stones, but more commonly eaten raw.’ Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 53. ‘Not so expert in hunting as the Aleutians. Their principal mode is that of shooting the sea animals as they lie asleep.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 242. They boil their victuals in wooden vessels, by constantly putting red-hot stones into the water. Portlock’s Voy., p. 291. ‘Das Kochen geschieht jetzt in eisernen Kesseln, vor der Bekanntschaft mit den Russen aber wurden dazu aus Wurzeln geflochtene Körbe angewandt.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 23. For winter, they dry large quantities of herring, roes, and the flesh of animals.

For catching fish, they stake the rivers, and also use a hook and line; one fisherman casting from his canoe ten or fifteen lines, with bladders for floats. For herring, they fasten to the end of a pole four or five pointed bones, and with this instrument strike into a shoal, spearing a fish on every point. They sometimes make the same instrument in the shape of a rake, and transfix the fish with the teeth. The Sitkas catch halibut with large, wooden, bone-pointed hooks.[159]To their fishing lines, bladders are fastened, ‘which float upon the surface of the water, so that one person can attend to fourteen or fifteen lines.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 134. ‘Ils pêchent, comme nous, en barrant les rivières, ou à la ligne.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 232. ‘For taking the spawn, they use the branches of the pine-tree, to which it easily adheres, and on which it is afterwards dried. It is then put into baskets, or holes purposely dug in the ground, till wanted.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 239. ‘Su comun alimento es el salmon, y es ingenioso el método que tienen de pescarle.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. cxvii. ‘Their lines are very strong, being made of the sinews or intestines of animals.’ Dixon’s Voy., p. 174. ‘Die Riesenbutte, die in Sitcha bisweilen ein Gewicht von 10 bis 12 Pud erreicht, wird aus der Tiefe mit grossen hölzernen Angeln, die mit Widerhaken aus Eisen oder Knochen versehen sind, herausgezogen. Die Angelschnur besteht aus an einander geknüpften Fucusstängeln.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 32.

The arms of the Thlinkeets denote a more warlike people than any we have hitherto encountered. Bows and arrows; hatchets of flint, and of a hard green stone which cuts wood so smoothly that no marks of notches are left; great lances, six or eight varas in length, if Bodega y Quadra may be trusted, hardened in the fire or pointed with copper, or later with iron; a large, broad, double-ended dagger, or knife,—are their principal weapons. The knife is their chief implement and constant companion. The handle is nearer one end than the other, so that it has a long blade and a short blade, the latter being one quarter the length of the former. The handle is covered with leather, and a strap fastens it to the hand when fighting. Both blades have leathern sheaths, one of which is suspended from the neck by a strap.[160]‘Bows and arrows were formerly their only weapons; now, besides their muskets, they have daggers, and knives half a yard long.’ Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 55. Their weapons were bows, arrows, and spears. Dixon’s Voy., p. 67. ‘Leur lances dont l’ancienne forme n’est pas connue, est à présent composée de deux pièces: de la hampe, longue de quinze ou dix-huit pieds, et du fer qui ne le cède en rien à celui de la hallebarde de parade dont étoit armé un Suisse de paroisse.’ Marchand, Voy., tom. ii., p. 68. Knives, some two feet long, shaped almost like a dagger, with a ridge in the middle. Worn in skin sheaths hung by a thong to the neck under their robe, probably used only as weapons. Cook’s Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 373. ‘Las armas ofensivas que generalmente usan son las flechas, lanzas de seis y ocho varas de largo con lenguetas de fierro.’ Bodega y Quadra, Nav., MS. p. 46. ‘The daggers used in battle are made to stab with either end, having three, four or five inches above the hand tapered to a sharp point; but the upper part of those used in the Sound and River is excurvated.’ Portlock’s Voy., p. 261. ‘Principally bows and arrows.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 131. ‘Sus armas se reducen al arco, la flecha y el puñal que traen siempre consigo.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. cxvii. ‘Comme nous examinions très attentivement tous ces poignards, ils nous firent signe qu’ils n’en faisaient usage que contre les ours et les autres bêtes des forêts.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 172. ‘Der Dolch ist sehr breit und hat zwei geschliffene Blätter auf jeder Seite des Griffes, das obere jedoch nur ein Viertel von der Länge des unteren.’ ‘Beide Blätter oder Klingen sind mit ledernen Scheiden versehen.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 28.

The Thlinkeets in War

They also encase almost the entire body in a wooden and leathern armor. Their helmets have curiously carved vizors, with grotesque representations of beings natural or supernatural, which, when brilliantly or dismally painted, and presented with proper yells, and brandishings of their ever-glittering knives, are supposed to strike terror into the heart of their enemies. They make a breast-plate of wood, and an arrow-proof coat of thin flexible strips, bound with strings like a woman’s stays.[161]‘A kind of jacket, or coat of mail, made of thin laths, bound together with sinews, which makes it quite flexible, though so close as not to admit an arrow or dart.’ Cook’s Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 372. ‘Für den Krieg besitzen die Kaloschen auch von Holz gearbeitete Schutzwaffen: Brustharnische, Sturmhauben und seltsam geschnitzte Visire, mit grellen Farben bemalte Fratzengesichter darstellen.’ Kittlitz, Reise, vol. i., p. 216.

When a Thlinkeet arms for war, he paints his face and powders his hair a brilliant red. He then ornaments his head with white eagle-feathers, a token of stern, vindictive determination. During war they pitch their camp in strong positions, and place the women on guard. Trial by combat is frequently resorted to, not only to determine private disputes, but to settle quarrels between petty tribes. In the latter case, each side chooses a champion, the warriors place themselves in battle array, the combatants armed with their favorite weapon, the dagger, and well armored, step forth and engage in fight; while the people on either side engage in song and dance during the combat. Wrangell and Laplace assert that brave warriors killed in battle are devoured by the conquerors, in the belief that the bravery of the victim thereby enters into the nature of the partaker.[162]‘They never attack their enemies openly.’ Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 55. ‘Les guerriers tués ou faits prisonniers à la guerre, passent également sous la dent de leurs vainqueurs qui, en dévorant une proie aussi distinguée, croient y puiser de nouvelles forces, une nouvelle énergie.’ Laplace, Circumnav., tom. vi., p. 155.

Coming from the north, the Thlinkeets are the first people of the coast who use wooden boats. They are made from a single trunk; the smaller ones about fifteen feet long, to carry from ten to twelve persons; and the larger ones, or war canoes, from fifty to seventy feet long; these will carry forty or fifty persons. They have from two and a half to three feet beam; are sharp fore and aft, and have the bow and stern raised, the former rather more than the latter. Being very light and well modeled, they can be handled with ease and celerity. Their paddles are about four feet in length, with crutch-like handles and wide, shovel-shaped blades. Boats as well as paddles are ornamented with painted figures, and the family coat-of-arms. Bodega y Quadra, in contradiction to all other authorities, describes these canoes as being built in three parts; with one hollowed piece, which forms the bottom and reaches well up the sides, and with two side planks. Having hollowed the trunk of a tree to the required depth, the Thlinkeet builders fill it with water, which they heat with hot stones to soften the wood, and in this state bend it to the desired shape. When they land, they draw their boats up on the beach, out of reach of the tide, and take great care in preserving them.[163]‘Bien hechas de una pieza con su falca sobre las bordas.’ Perez, Nav., MS., p. 17. ‘On n’est pas moins étonné de leur stabilité: malgré la légèreté et le peu de largeur de la coque, elles n’ont pas besoin d’être soutenues par des balanciers, et jamais on ne les accouple.’ Marchand, Voy., tom. ii., p. 72. ‘Las regulares canoas de que se sirven son de pino, y no tienen mas capacidad que la que basta para contener una familia, sin embargo que las hay sumamente grandes.’ Bodega y Quadra, Nav., MS. p. 48. ‘Rudely excavated and reduced to no particular shape, but each end has the resemblance of a butcher’s tray.’ Dixon’s Voy., p. 173. ‘Their canoes are much inferior to those of the lower coast, while their skin “baidarkes” (kyacks) are not equal to those of Norton Sound and the northern coast.’ Whymper’s Alaska, p. 101. At Cook’s Inlet, ‘their canoes are sheathed with the bark of trees.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 188. These canoes ‘were made from a solid tree, and many of them appeared to be from 50 to 70 feet in length, but very narrow, being no broader than the tree itself.’ Meares’ Voy., p. xxxviii. ‘Their boat was the body of a large pine tree, neatly excavated, and tapered away towards the ends, until they came to a point, and the fore-part somewhat higher than the after-part; indeed, the whole was finished in a neat and very exact manner.’ Portlock’s Voy., p. 259.

Industries of the Thlinkeets

The Thlinkeets manifest no less ingenuity in the manufacture of domestic and other implements than in their arms. Rope they make from sea-weed, water-tight baskets and mats from withes and grass; and pipes, bowls, and figures from a dark clay. They excel in the working of stone and copper, making necklaces, bracelets, and rings; they can also forge iron. They spin thread, use the needle, and make blankets from the white native wool. They exhibit considerable skill in carving and painting, ornamenting the fronts of their houses with heraldic symbols, and allegorical and historical figures; while in front of the principal dwellings, and on their canoes, are carved parts representing the human face, the heads of crows, eagles, sea-lions, and bears.[164]‘Ont fait beaucoup plus de progrès dans les arts que dans la morale.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 233. Thlinkeet women make baskets of bark of trees, and grass, that will hold water. Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 132. They have tolerable ideas of carving, most utensils having sculptures, representing some animal. Portlock’s Voy., p. 294. ‘Ces peintures, ces sculptures, telles qu’elles sont, on en voit sur tous leurs meubles.’ Marchand, Voy., tom. ii., p. 71. ‘De la vivacidad de su genio y del afecto al cambio se debe inferir son bastantemente laboriosos.’ Bodega y Quadra, Nav., MS. p. 48. ‘Tienen lana blanca cuya especie ignoraron.’ Perez, Nav., MS. p. 16. ‘Masks very ingeniously cut in wood, and painted with different colors.’ A rattle, ‘very well finished, both as to sculpture and painting.’ ‘One might suppose these productions the work of a people greatly advanced in civilization.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., pp. 150, 241. ‘Found some square patches of ground in a state of cultivation, producing a plant that appeared to be a species of tobacco.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 256. La Pérouse asserts that, except in agriculture, which was not entirely unknown to them, the Thlinkeets were farther advanced in industry than the South Sea Islanders.

Trade is carried on between Europeans and the interior Indians, in which no little skill is manifested. Every article which they purchase undergoes the closest scrutiny, and every slight defect, which they are sure to discover, sends down the price. In their commercial intercourse they exhibit the utmost decorum, and conduct their negotiations with the most becoming dignity. Nevertheless, for iron and beads they willingly part with anything in their possession, even their children. In the voyage of Bodega y Quadra, several young Thlinkeets thus became the property of the Spaniards, as the author piously remarks, for purposes of conversion. Sea-otter skins circulate in place of money.[165]‘The skins of the sea-otters form their principal wealth, and are a substitute for money.’ Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 54. ‘In one place they discovered a considerable hoard of woolen cloth, and as much dried fish as would have loaded 150 bidarkas.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 160.

The office of chief is elective, and the extent of power wielded depends upon the ability of the ruler. In some this authority is nominal; others become great despots.[166]‘Le Gouvernement des Tchinkitânéens paroîtroit donc se rapprocher du Gouvernement patriarchal.’ Marchand, Voy., tom. ii., p. 83. ‘De su gobierno pensamos cuando mas, oiendo el modo de someterse á algunos viejos, seria oligárhico.’ Bodega y Quadra, Nav., MS. p. 50. ‘Though the toyons have power over their subjects, it is a very limited power, unless when an individual of extraordinary abilities starts up, who is sure to rule despotically.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 243. ‘Chaque famille semble vivre d’une manière isolée et avoir un régime particulier.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. iv., p. 61. ‘Ces Conseils composés des vieillards.’ Laplace, Circumnav., tom. vi., p. 155. Slavery was practiced to a considerable extent; and not only all prisoners of war were slaves, but a regular slave-trade was carried on with the south. When first known to the Russians, according to Holmberg, most of their slaves were Flatheads from Oregon. Slaves are not allowed to hold property or to marry, and when old and worthless they are killed. Kotzebue says that a rich man “purchases male and female slaves, who must labor and fish for him, and strengthen his force when he is engaged in warfare. The slaves are prisoners of war, and their descendants; the master’s power over them is unlimited, and he even puts them to death without scruple. When the master dies, two slaves are murdered on his grave that he may not want attendance in the other world; these are chosen long before the event occurs, but meet the destiny that awaits them very philosophically.” Simpson estimates the slaves to be one third of the entire population. Interior tribes enslave their prisoners of war, but, unlike the coast tribes, they have no hereditary slavery, nor systematic traffic in slaves.

Caste and Clanship

With the superior activity and intelligence of the Thlinkeets, social castes begin to appear. Besides an hereditary nobility, from which class all chiefs are chosen, the whole nation is separated into two great divisions or clans, one of which is called the Wolf, and the other the Raven. Upon their houses, boats, robes, shields, and wherever else they can find a place for it, they paint or carve their crest, an heraldic device of the beast or the bird designating the clan to which the owner belongs. The Raven trunk is again divided into sub-clans, called the Frog, the Goose, the Sea-Lion, the Owl, and the Salmon. The Wolf family comprises the Bear, Eagle, Dolphin, Shark, and Alca. In this clanship some singular social features present themselves. People are at once thrust widely apart, and yet drawn together. Tribes of the same clan may not war on each other, but at the same time members of the same clan may not marry with each other. Thus the young Wolf warrior must seek his mate among the Ravens, and, while celebrating his nuptials one day, he may be called upon the next to fight his father-in-law over some hereditary feud. Obviously this singular social fancy tends greatly to keep the various tribes of the nation at peace.[167]Tribes are distinguished by the color and character of their paint. Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 51. They ‘are divided into tribes; the principal of which assume to themselves titles of distinction, from the names of the animals they prefer; as the tribe of the bear, of the eagle, etc. The tribe of the wolf are called Coquontans, and have many privileges over the other tribes.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., pp. 238, 242.

Although the Thlinkeet women impose upon themselves the most painful and rigorous social laws, there are few savage nations in which the sex have greater influence or command greater respect. Whether it be the superiority of their intellects, their success in rendering their hideous charms available, or the cruel penances imposed upon womanhood, the truth is that not only old men, but old women, are respected. In fact, a remarkably old and ugly crone is accounted almost above nature—a sorceress. One cause of this is that they are much more modest and chaste than their northern sisters.[168]‘The women possess a predominant influence, and acknowledged superiority over the other sex.’ Meares’ Voy., p. 323. ‘Parmi eux les femmes jouissent d’une certaine considération.’ Laplace, Circumnav., tom. vi., p. 87. They treat their wives and children with much affection and tenderness, and the women keep the treasures. Portlock’s Voy., p. 290. The Kalush ‘finds his filthy countrywomen, with their lip-troughs, so charming, that they often awaken in him the most vehement passion.’ Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 56. ‘It is certain that industry, reserve, modesty, and conjugal fidelity, are the general characteristics of the female sex among these people.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 133. ‘Quoiqu’elles vivent sous la domination d’hommes très-féroces, je n’ai pas vu qu’elles en fussent traitées d’une manière aussi barbare que le prétendent la plupart des voyageurs.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. iv., p. 61. As a rule, a man has but one wife; more, however, being allowable. A chief of the Nass tribe is said to have had forty.

A young girl arrived at the age of maturity is deemed unclean; and everything she comes in contact with, or looks upon, even the clear sky or pure water, is thereby rendered unpropitious to man. She is therefore thrust from the society of her fellows, and confined in a dark den as a being unfit for the sun to shine upon. There she is kept sometimes for a whole year. Langsdorff suggests that it may be during this period of confinement that the foundation of her influence is laid; that in modest reserve, and meditation, her character is strengthened, and she comes forth cleansed in mind as well as body. This infamous ordeal, coming at a most critical period, and in connection with the baptism of the block, cannot fail to exert a powerful influence upon her character.

It is a singular idea that they have of uncleanness. During all this time, according to Holmberg, only the girl’s mother approaches her, and that only to place food within her reach. There she lies, wallowing in her filth, scarcely able to move. It is almost incredible that human beings can bring themselves so to distort nature. To this singular custom, as well as to that of the block, female slaves do not conform. After the girl’s immurement is over, if her parents are wealthy, her old clothing is destroyed, she is washed and dressed anew, and a grand feast given in honor of the occasion.[169]‘Weddings are celebrated merely by a feast, given to the relatives of the bride.’ Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 57. The natural sufferings of mothers during confinement are also aggravated by custom. At this time they too are considered unclean, and must withdraw into the forest or fields, away from all others, and take care of themselves and their offspring. After the birth of a child, the mother is locked up in a shed for ten days.

A marriage ceremony consists in the assembling of friends and distribution of presents. A newly married pair must fast for two days thereafter, in order to insure domestic felicity. After the expiration of that time they are permitted to partake of a little food, when a second two days’ fast is added, after which they are allowed to come together for the first time; but the mysteries of wedlock are not fully unfolded to them until four weeks after marriage.

Very little is said by travelers regarding the bath-houses of the Thlinkeets, but I do not infer that they used them less than their neighbors. In fact, notwithstanding their filth, purgations and purifications are commenced at an early age. As soon as an infant is born, and before it has tasted food, whatever is in the stomach must be squeezed out. Mothers nurse their children from one to two and a half years. When the child is able to leave its cradle, it is bathed in the ocean every day without regard to season, and this custom is kept up by both sexes through life. Those that survive the first year of filth, and the succeeding years of applied ice water and exposure, are very justly held to be well toughened.

The Thlinkeet child is frequently given two names, one from the father’s side and one from the mother’s; and when a son becomes more famous than his father, the latter drops his own name, and is known only as the father of his son. Their habits of life are regular. In summer, at early dawn they put out to sea in their boats, or seek for food upon the beach, returning before noon for their first meal. A second one is taken just before night. The work is not unequally divided between the sexes, and the division is based upon the economical principles of civilized communities. The men rarely conclude a bargain without consulting their wives.

Marchand draws a revolting picture of their treatment of infants. The little bodies are so excoriated by fermented filth, and so scarred by their cradle, that they carry the marks to the grave. No wonder that when they grow up they are insensible to pain. Nor are the mothers especially given to personal cleanliness and decorum.[170]‘Ils ne s’écartent jamais de deux pas pour aucun besoin; ils ne cherchent dans ces occasions ni l’ombre ni le mystère; ils continuent la conversation qu’ils ont commencée, comme s’ils n’avaient pas un instant à perdre; et lorsque c’est pendant le repas, ils reprennent leur place, dont ils n’ont jamais été éloignés d’une toise.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 221.

Music, as well as the arts, is cultivated by the Thlinkeets, and, if we may believe Marchand, ranks with them as a social institution. “At fixed times,” he says, “evening and morning, they sing in chorus, every one takes part in the concert, and from the pensive air which they assume while singing, one would imagine that the song has some deep interest for them.” The men do the dancing, while the women, who are rather given to fatness and flaccidity, accompany them with song and tambourine.[171]‘Ont un goût décidé pour le chant.’ Marchand, Voy., tom. ii., p. 75. ‘The women sit upon the ground at a distance of some paces from the dancers, and sing a not inharmonious melody, which supplies the place of music.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 114. ‘They dance and sing continually.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 240. Besides the tambourine, Captain Belcher saw a castanet and ‘a new musical instrument, composed of three hoops, with a cross in the centre, the circumference being closely strung with the beaks of the Alca arctica.’ Voy., vol. i., p. 103.

Their principal gambling game is played with thirty small sticks, of various colors, and called by divers names, as the crab, the whale, and the duck. The player shuffles together all the sticks, then counting out seven, he hides them under a bunch of moss, keeping the remainder covered at the same time. The game is to guess in which pile is the whale, and the crab, and the duck. During the progress of the game, they present a perfect picture of melancholic stoicism.[172]They lose at this game all their possessions, and even their wives and children, who then become the property of the winner.’ Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 62. ‘Ce jeu les rend tristes et sérieux.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 235.

The Thlinkeets burn their dead. An exception is made when the deceased is a shamán or a slave; the body of the former is preserved, after having been wrapped in furs, in a large wooden sarcophagus; and the latter is thrown out into the ocean or anywhere, like a beast. The ashes of the burned Thlinkeet are carefully collected in a box covered with hieroglyphic figures, and placed upon four posts. The head of a warrior killed in battle is cut off before the body is burned, and placed in a box supported by two poles over the box that holds his ashes.[173]Upon one tomb, ‘formaba una figura grande y horrorosa que tenia entre sus garras una caxa.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. cxviii. ‘The box is frequently decorated with two or three rows of small shells.’ Dixon’s Voy., p. 176. ‘The dead are burned, and their ashes preserved in small wooden boxes, in buildings appropriated to that purpose.’ Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 57. ‘Nos voyageurs rencontrèrent aussi un morai qui leur prouva que ces Indiens étaient dans l’usage de brûler les morts et d’en conserver la tête.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 205. ‘On the death of a toyon, or other distinguished person, one of his slaves is deprived of life, and burned with him.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 241. Some tribes preserve the bodies of those who die during the winter, until forced to get rid of them by the warmer weather of spring. Their grandest feasts are for the dead. Besides the funeral ceremony, which is the occasion of a festival, they hold an annual ‘elevation of the dead,’ at which times they erect monuments to the memory of their departed.

The shamáns possess some knowledge of the medicinal properties of herbs, but the healing of the body does not constitute so important a part of their vocation as do their dealings with supernatural powers.

Thlinkeet Character

To sum up the character of the Thlinkeets, they may be called bold, brave, shrewd, intelligent, industrious, lovers of art and music, respectful to women and the aged; yet extremely cruel, scalping and maiming their prisoners out of pure wantonness, thievish, lying, and inveterate gamblers. In short they possess most of the virtues and vices incident to savagism.

The Tinneh

The Tinneh, the fifth and last division of our Hyperborean group, occupy the ‘Great Lone Land,’ between Hudson Bay and the conterminous nations already described; a land greater than the whole of the United States, and more ‘lone,’ excepting absolute deserts, than any part of America. White men there are scarcely any; wild men and wild beasts there are few; few dense forests, and little vegetation, although the grassy savannahs sustain droves of deer, buffalo, and other animals. The Tinneh are, next to the Eskimos, the most northern people of the continent. They inhabit the unexplored regions of Central Alaska, and thence extend eastward, their area widening towards the south to the shores of Hudson Bay. Within their domain, from the north-west to the south-east, may be drawn a straight line measuring over four thousand miles in length.

The Tinneh,[174]Called by Gallatin, in Am. Antiq. Soc. Transact., vol. ii., p. 17, Athapasca, the name ‘first given to the central part of the country they inhabit.’ Sir John Richardson, Jour., vol. ii., p. 1, calls them ‘Tinnè, or ‘Dtinnè, Athabascans or Chepewyans.’ ‘They style themselves generally Dinneh men, or Indians.’ Franklin’s Nar., vol. i., p. 241. may be divided into four great families of nations; namely, the Chepewyans, or Athabascas, living between Hudson Bay and the Rocky Mountains; the Tacullies, or Carriers, of New Caledonia or North-western British America; the Kutchins, occupying both banks of the upper Yukon and its tributaries, from near its mouth to the Mackenzie River; and the Kenai, inhabiting the interior from the lower Yukon to Copper River.

The Chepewyan family is composed of the Northern Indians, so called by the fur-hunters at Fort Churchill as lying along the shores of Hudson Bay, directly to their north; the Copper Indians, on Coppermine River; the Horn Mountain and Beaver Indians, farther to the west; the Strong-bows, Dog-ribs, Hares, Red-knives, Sheep, Sarsis, Brush-wood, Nagailer, and Rocky-Mountain Indians, of the Mackenzie River and Rocky Mountains.[175]Richardson’s Jour., vol. ii., pp. 1-33.

The Tacully[176]‘Les Indiens de la côte ou de la Nouvelle Calédonie, les Tokalis, les Chargeurs (Carriers) les Schouchouaps, les Atnas, appartiennent tous à la nation des Chipeouaïans dont la langue est en usage dans le nord du Continent jusqu’à la baie d’Hudson et à la Mer Polaire.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 337. nation is divided into a multitude of petty tribes, to which different travelers give different names according to fancy. Among them the most important are the Talkotins and Chilkotins, Nateotetains and Sicannis, of the upper branches of Fraser River and vicinity. It is sufficient for our purpose, however, to treat them as one nation.

The Kutchins,[177]Are ‘known under the names of Loucheux, Digothi, and Kutshin.’ Latham’s Nat. Races, p. 292. ‘They are called Deguthee Dinees, or the Quarrellers.’ Mackenzie’s Voy., p. 51. ‘On Peel’s River they name themselves Kutchin, the final n being nasal and faintly pronounced.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., p. 378. They are also called Tykothee-dinneh, Loucheux or Quarrellers. Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 83. ‘The Loucheux proper is spoken by the Indians of Peel’s River. All the tribes inhabiting the valley of the Youkon understand one another.’ Hardisty, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 311. a large and powerful nation, are composed of the following tribes. Commencing at the Mackenzie River, near its mouth, and extending westward across the mountains to and down the Yukon; the Loucheux or Quarrellers, of the Mackenzie River; the Vanta Kutchin, Natche Kutchin, and Yukuth Kutchin, of Porcupine River and neighborhood; the Tutchone Kutchin, Han Kutchin, Kutcha Kutchin, Gens de Bouleau, Gens de Milieu, Tenan Kutchin, Nuclukayettes, and Newicarguts, of the Yukon River. Their strip of territory is from one hundred to one hundred and fifty miles in width, lying immediately south of the Eskimos, and extending westward from the Mackenzie River about eight hundred miles.[178]Gallatin, in Am. Antiq. Soc. Transact., vol. ii., p. 17, erroneously ruled the Loucheux out of his Athabasca nation. ‘Im äussersten Nordosten hat uns Gallatin aufmerksam gemacht auf das Volk der Loucheux, Zänker-Indianer oder Digothi: an der Mündung des Mackenzie-Flusses, nach Einigen zu dessen beiden Seiten (westliche und östliche): dessen Sprache er nach den Reisenden für fremd den athapaskischen hielt: worüber sich die neuen Nachrichten noch widersprechen.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Sprache, p. 713. Franklin, Nar., vol. ii., p. 83, allies the Loucheux to the Eskimos.

The Kenai[179]Tnai, ‘man;’ Tnaina Ttynai, Thnaina, Kinai, Kenai, Kenaize. nation includes the Ingaliks, of the Lower Yukon; the Koltchanes, of the Kuskoquim River; and to the south-eastward, the Kenais, of the Kenai Peninsula, and the Atnas, of Copper River.[180]See notes on Boundaries at the end of this chapter.

Thus we see that the Tinneh are essentially an inland people, barred out from the frozen ocean by a thin strip of Eskimo land, and barely touching the Pacific at Cook Inlet. Philologists, however, find dialectic resemblances, imaginary or real, between them and the Umpquas[181]Besides the ‘Umkwa,’ being outlying members of the Athabaskan stock,’ there are the ‘Navahoe, the Jecorilla, the Panalero, along with the Apatsh of New Mexico, California, and Sonora. To these add the Hoopah of California, which is also Athabaskan.’ Latham’s Comp. Phil., p. 393. and Apaches.[182]William W. Turner was the first to assert positively that the Apaches spoke a language which belongs to the Athabascan family. Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Sprache, p. 316.

The Chepewyans

The name Chepewyan signifies ‘pointed coat,’ and derives its origin from the parka, coat, or outer garment, so universally common throughout this region. It is made of several skins differently dressed and ornamented in different localities, but always cut with the skirt pointed before and behind. The Chepewyans believe that their ancestors migrated from the east, and therefore those of them who are born nearest their eastern boundary, are held in the greatest estimation. The Dog-ribs alone refer their origin to the west.

The Chepewyans are physically characterized by a long full face,[183]Face ‘oval.’ Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 180. ‘Broad faces, projecting cheek-bones, and wide nostrils.’ Id., vol. i., p. 242. Foreheads low, chin long. Martin’s Brit. Col., vol. iii., p. 524. An exact compound between the Usquemows and Western Indians. Barrow’s Geog. Hudson Bay, p. 33. tall slim figure;[184]Generally more than medium size. Hearne’s Trav., p. 305. ‘Well proportioned, and about the middle size.’ Martin’s Brit. Col., vol. iii., p. 524. ‘Long-bodied, with short, stout limbs.’ Ross, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 304. in complexion they are darker than coast tribes,[185]‘Dingy copper.’ Martin’s Brit. Col., vol. iii., p. 526. ‘Swarthy.’ Mackenzie’s Voy., p. cxix. Dingy brown, copper cast. Hearne’s Trav., p. 305. ‘Very fresh and red.’ Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 180. ‘Dirty yellowish ochre tinge.’ Ross, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 304. and have small piercing black eyes,[186]‘Small, fine eyes and teeth.’ Franklin’s Nar., vol. i., 242. flowing hair,[187]‘Hair lank, but not always of a dingy black. Men in general extract their beard, though some of them are seen to prefer a bushy, black beard, to a smooth chin.’ Mackenzie’s Voy., p. cxix. Beard in the aged ‘between two and three inches long, and perfectly white.’ Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 180. ‘Black, strait, and coarse.’ Martin’s Brit. Col., vol. iii., p. 524. ‘Neither sex have any hair under their armpits, and very little on any other part of the body, particularly the women; but on the place where Nature plants the hair, I never knew them attempt to eradicate it.’ Hearne’s Trav., p. 306. and tattooed cheeks and forehead.[188]Tattooing appears to be universal among the Kutchins. Kirby, in Smithsonian Rept., 1864, p. 419. The Chepewyans tattooed ‘by entering an awl or needle under the skin, and, on drawing it out again, immediately rubbing powdered charcoal into the wound.’ Hearne’s Trav., p. 306. ‘Both sexes have blue or black bars, or from one to four straight lines on their cheeks or forehead, to distinguish the tribe to which they belong.’ Mackenzie’s Voy., p. cxx. Altogether they are pronounced an inferior race.[189]Women ‘destitute of real beauty.’ Hearne’s Trav., p. 89. ‘Very inferior aspect.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. ii., p. 8. Women nasty. Mackenzie’s Voy., p. 126. ‘Positively hideous.’ Ross, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 304. Into the composition of their garments enter beaver, moose, and deer-skin, dressed with and without the hair, sewed with sinews and ornamented with claws, horns, teeth, and feathers.[190]A Deer-Horn Mountaineer’s dress ‘consisted of a shirt, or jacket with a hood, wide breeches, reaching only to the knee, and tight leggins sewed to the shoes, all of deer’s skins.’ Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 180. The cap consists of the skin of a deer’s head. Mackenzie’s Voy., p. cxxii.

The Northern Indians

The Northern Indian man is master of his household.[191]As witness this speech of a noble chief: ‘Women were made for labor; one of them can carry, or haul, as much as two men can do. They also pitch our tents, make and mend our clothing, keep us warm at night; and, in fact, there is no such thing as traveling any considerable distance, in this country without their assistance.’ Hearne’s Trav., p. 55. He marries without ceremony, and divorces his wife at his pleasure.[192]An Indian desiring another one’s wife, fights with her husband, principally by pulling hair. If victorious, he pays a number of skins to the husband. Hooper’s Tuski, p. 303. A man of forty buys or fights for a spouse of twelve,[193]‘Continence in an unmarried female is scarcely considered a virtue.’ ‘Their dispositions are not amatory.’ ‘I have heard among them of two sons keeping their mother as a common wife, of another wedded to his daughter, and of several married to their sisters. Ross, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 310. Women carry their children on the back next the skin, and suckle them until another is born. They do not suspend their ordinary occupations for child-birth. Mackenzie’s Voy., p. cxxii. ‘A temporary interchange of wives is not uncommon; and the offer of their persons is considered as a necessary part of the hospitality due to strangers.’ Id., p. xcvi. Women are ‘rather the slaves than the companions of the men.’ Bell’s Geog., vol. v., p. 293. and when tired of her whips her and sends her away. Girls on arriving at the age of womanhood must retire from the village and live for a time apart.[194]They are harsh towards their wives, except when enceinte. They are accused of abandoning the aged and sick, but only one case came to his knowledge. Franklin’s Nar., vol. i., pp. 250, 251. The Chepewyans inhabit huts of brush and portable skin tents. They derive their origin from a dog. At one time they were so strongly imbued with respect for their canine ancestry that they entirely ceased to employ dogs in drawing their sledges, greatly to the hardship of the women upon whom this laborious task fell.

Their food consists mostly of fish and reindeer, the latter being easily taken in snares. Much of their land is barren, but with sufficient vegetation to support numerous herds of reindeer, and fish abound in their lakes and streams. Their hunting grounds are held by clans, and descend by inheritance from one generation to another, which has a salutary effect upon the preservation of game. Indian law requires the successful hunter to share the spoils of the chase with all present. When game is abundant, their tent-fires never die, but are surrounded during all hours of the day and night by young and old cooking their food.[195]Beeatee, prepared from deer only, ‘is a kind of haggis, made with the blood, a good quantity of fat shred small, some of the tenderest of the flesh, together with the heart and lungs cut, or more commonly cut into small shivers; all of which is put into the stomach, and roasted.’ Hearne’s Trav., p. 144. ‘Not remarkable for their activity as hunters, owing to the ease with which they snare deer and spear fish.’ Mackenzie’s Voy., p. cxxiii. The Deer-Horn Mountaineers ‘repair to the sea in spring and kill seals; as the season advances, they hunt deer and musk oxen at some distance from the coast. They approach the deer either by crawling, or by leading these animals by ranges of turf towards the spot where the archer can conceal himself.’ Do not use nets, but the hook and line. Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 181. ‘Nets made of lines of twisted willow-bark, or thin strips of deer-hide.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. ii., p. 25. Curdled blood, a favorite dish. Simpson’s Nar., p. 324.

Superabundance of food, merchandise, or anything which they wish to preserve without the trouble of carrying it about with them while on hunting or foraging expeditions, is cached, as they term it; from the French,cacher, to conceal. Canadian fur-hunters often resorted to this artifice, but the practice was common among the natives before the advent of Europeans. A sudden necessity often arises in Indian countries for the traveler to relieve himself from burdens. This is done by digging a hole in the earth and depositing the load therein, so artfully covering it as to escape detection by the wily savages. Goods may be cached in a cave, or in the branches of a tree, or in the hollow of a log. The camp-fire is frequently built over the spot where stores have been deposited, in order that the disturbance of the surface may not be detected.

Their weapons[196]The weapons of the Chepewyans are bows and arrows; stone and bone axes and knives. Harmon’s Jour., p. 183. The bows of the Deer-Horns ‘are formed of three pieces of fir, the centre piece alone bent, the other two lying in the same straight line with the bowstring; the pieces are neatly tied together with sinew. Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 180. In preparing for an attack, each Coppermine Indian paints his shield with figures of Sun, Moon, or some animal or imaginary beings, each portraying whatever character he most relies upon. Hearne’s Trav., p. 148. In some parts hunting grounds descend by inheritance, and the right of property is rigidly enforced. Simpson’s Nar., p. 75. and their utensils[197]‘Their cooking utensils are made of pot-stone, and they form very neat dishes of fir.’ Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 181. Make fishing-lines and nets of green deer-thongs. Mackenzie’s Voy., p. cxxvi. are of the most primitive kind—stone and bone being used in place of metal.

Their dances, which are always performed in the night, are not original, but are borrowed from the Southern and Dog-rib Indians. They consist in raising the feet alternately in quick succession, as high as possible without moving the body, to the sound of a drum or rattle.[198]‘They are great mimics.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. ii., p. 13. Men dance naked; women dressed. A crowd stand in a straight line, and shuffle from right to left without moving the feet from the ground. Hearne’s Trav., p. 335. ‘The men occasionally howl in imitation of some animal.’ Mackenzie’s Voy., p. 35.

They never bury their dead, but leave the bodies where they fall, to be devoured by the birds and beasts of prey.[199]‘They manifest no common respect to the memory of their departed friends, by a long period of mourning, cutting off their hair, and never making use of the property of the deceased.’ Mackenzie’s Voy., p. cxxviii. The death of leading men is attributed to conjuring. They never bury the dead, but leave them, where they die, for wild beasts to devour. Hearne’s Trav., p. 341. The Chepewyans bury their dead. When mourning for relatives they gash their bodies with knives. Richardson’s Jour., vol. ii., pp. 21, 22. Their religion consists chiefly in songs and speeches to these birds and beasts and to imaginary beings, for assistance in performing cures of the sick.[200]‘The Northern Indians seldom attain a great age, though they have few diseases.’ Martin’s Brit. Col., vol. iii., p. 525. For inward complaints, the doctors blow zealously into the rectum, or adjacent parts. Hearne’s Trav., p. 189. The conjurer shuts himself up for days with the patient, without food, and sings over him. Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 41. Medicine-men or conjurers are at the same time doctors. Hooper’s Tuski, pp. 317, 318. ‘The Kutchins practice blood-letting ad libitum.’ Jones, Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 325. ‘Their principal maladies are rheumatic pains, the flux, and consumption.’ Mackenzie’s Voy., p. cxxiv. Old age is treated with disrespect and neglect, one half of both sexes dying before their time for want of care. The Northern Indians are frequently at war with the Eskimos and Southern Indians, for whom they at all times entertain the most inveterate hatred. The Copper Indians, bordering on the southern boundary of the Eskimos at the Coppermine River, were originally the occupants of the territory south of Great Slave Lake.

The Dog-ribs, or Slavés as they are called by neighboring nations, are indolent, fond of amusement, but mild and hospitable. They are so debased, as savages, that the men do the laborious work, while the women employ themselves in household affairs and ornamental needlework. Young married men have been known to exhibit specimens of their wives’ needle-work with pride. From their further advancement in civilization, and the tradition which they hold of having migrated from the westward, were it not that their language differs from that of contiguous tribes only in accent, they might naturally be considered of different origin. Bands of Dog-ribs meeting after a long absence greet each other with a dance, which frequently continues for two or three days. First clearing a spot of ground, they take an arrow in the right hand and a bow in the left, and turning their backs each band to the other, they approach dancing, and when close together they feign to perceive each other’s presence for the first time; the bow and arrow are instantly transferred from one hand to the other, in token of their non-intention to use them against friends. They are very improvident, and frequently are driven to cannibalism and suicide.[201]According to the report of the Dog-ribs, the Mountain Indians are cannibals, casting lots for victims in time of scarcity. Simpson’s Nar., p. 188. ‘Instances of suicide, by hanging, frequently occur among the women.’ Harmon’s Jour., p. 198. During times of starvation, which occur quite frequently, the Slavé Indians eat their families. Hooper’s Tuski, p. 303. ‘These people take their names, in the first instance, from their dogs. A young man is the father of a certain dog, but when he is married, and has a son, he styles himself the father of the boy. The women have a habit of reproving the dogs very tenderly when they observe them fighting. “Are you not ashamed,” say they, “to quarrel with your little brother?”‘ Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., pp. 85, 86. ‘Whether circumcision be practiced among them, I cannot pretend to say, but the appearance of it was general among those whom I saw.’ Mackenzie’s Voy., p. 36. Dog-rib Indians, sometimes also called Slavés, ‘a name properly meaning ‘strangers.’ Gallatin, in Am. Arch. Soc. Trans., vol. ii., p. 19.

HARES, DOG-RIBS, AND TACULLIES.

The Hare Indians, who speak a dialect of the Tinneh scarcely to be distinguished from that of the Dog-ribs, are looked upon by their neighbors as great conjurers. The Hare and Sheep Indians look upon their women as inferior beings. From childhood they are inured to every description of drudgery, and though not treated with special cruelty, they are placed at the lowest point in the scale of humanity. The characteristic stoicism of the red race is not manifested by these tribes. Socialism is practiced to a considerable extent. The hunter is allowed only the tongue and ribs of the animal he kills, the remainder being divided among the members of the tribe.

The Hares and Dog-ribs do not cut the finger-nails of female children until four years of age, in order that they may not prove lazy; the infant is not allowed food until four days after birth, in order to accustom it to fasting in the next world.

The Sheep Indians are reported as being cannibals. The Red-knives formerly hunted reindeer and musk-oxen at the northern end of Great Bear Lake, but they were finally driven eastward by the Dog-ribs. Laws and government are unknown to the Chepewyans.[202]‘Order is maintained in the tribe solely by public opinion.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. ii., p. 26. The chiefs are now totally without power. Franklin’s Nar., vol. i., p. 247. ‘They are influenced, more or less, by certain principles which conduce to their general benefit.’ Mackenzie’s Voy., p. cxxv.

The Tacullies, Or Carriers

The Tacullies, or, as they were denominated by the fur-traders, ‘Carriers,’ are the chief tribe of New Caledonia, or North-western British America. They call themselves Tacullies, or ‘men who go upon water,’ as their travels from one village to another are mostly accomplished in canoes. This, with their sobriquet of ‘Carriers,’ clearly indicates their ruling habitudes. The men are more finely formed than the women, the latter being short, thick, and disproportionately large in their lower limbs. In their persons they are slovenly; in their dispositions, lively and contented. As they are able to procure food[203]‘Many consider a broth, made by means of the dung of the cariboo and the hare, to be a dainty dish.’ Harmon’s Jour., p. 324. They ‘are lazy, dirty, and sensual,’ and extremely uncivilized. ‘Their habits and persons are equally disgusting.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 62. ‘They are a tall, well formed, good-looking race.’ Nicolay’s Ogn. Ter., p. 154. ‘An utter contempt of cleanliness prevailed on all hands, and it was revolting to witness their voracious endeavors to surpass each other in the gluttonous contest.’ Ind. Life, p. 156. with but little labor, they are naturally indolent, but appear to be able and willing to work when occasion requires it. Their relations with white people have been for the most part amicable; they are seldom quarrelsome, though not lacking bravery. The people are called after the name of the village in which they dwell. Their primitive costume consists of hare, musk-rat, badger, and beaver skins, sometimes cut into strips an inch broad, and woven or interlaced. The nose is perforated by both sexes, the men suspending therefrom a brass, copper, or shell ornament, the women a wooden one, tipped with a bead at either end.[204]The women ‘run a wooden pin through their noses.’ Harmon’s Jour., p. 287. At their burial ceremonies they smear the face ‘with a composition of fish-oil and charcoal.’ When conjuring, the chief and his companions ‘wore a kind of coronet formed of the inverted claws of the grizzly bear.’ Ind. Life, pp. 127, 158. Their avarice lies in the direction of hiaqua shells, which find their way up from the sea-coast through other tribes. In 1810, these beads were the circulating medium of the country, and twenty of them would buy a good beaver-skin. Their paint is made of vermilion obtained from the traders, or of a pulverized red stone mixed with grease. They are greatly addicted to gambling, and do not appear at all dejected by ill fortune, spending days and nights in the winter season at their games, frequently gambling away every rag of clothing and every trinket in their possession. They also stake parts of a garment or other article, and if losers, cut off a piece of coat-sleeve or a foot of gun-barrel. Native cooking vessels are made of bark, or of the roots or fibres of trees, woven so as to hold water, in which are placed heated stones for the purpose of cooking food.[205]The Tacullies have ‘wooden dishes, and other vessels of the rind of the birch and pine trees.’ ‘Have also other vessels made of small roots or fibres of the cedar or pine tree, closely laced together, which serve them as buckets to put water in.’ Harmon’s Jour., p. 292. Polygamy is practiced, but not generally. The Tacullies are fond of their wives, performing the most of the household drudgery in order to relieve them, and consequently they are very jealous of them. But to their unmarried daughters, strange as it may seem, they allow every liberty without censure or shame. The reason which they give for this strange custom is, that the purity of their wives is thereby better preserved.[206]‘In the summer season both sexes bathe often; and this is the only time, when the married people wash themselves.’ The Tacullies are very fond and very jealous of their wives, ‘but to their daughters, they allow every liberty, for the purpose, as they say, of keeping the young men from intercourse with the married women.’ Harmon’s Jour., pp. 289, 292, 293. A father, whose daughter had dishonored him, killed her and himself. Ind. Life, 184.

During a portion of every year the Tacullies dwell in villages, conveniently situated for catching and drying salmon. In April they visit the lakes and take small fish; and after these fail, they return to their villages and subsist upon the fish they have dried, and upon herbs and berries. From August to October, salmon are plentiful again. Beaver are caught in nets made from strips of cariboo-skins, and also in cypress and steel traps. They are also sometimes shot with guns or with bows and arrows. Smaller game they take in various kinds of traps.

The civil polity of the Tacullies is of a very primitive character. Any person may become a miuty or chief who will occasionally provide a village feast. A malefactor may find protection from the avenger in the dwelling of a chief, so long as he is permitted to remain there, or even afterwards if he has upon his back any one of the chief’s garments. Disputes are usually adjusted by some old man of the tribe. The boundaries of the territories belonging to the different villages are designated by mountains, rivers, or other natural objects, and the rights of towns, as well as of individuals, are most generally respected; but broils are constantly occasioned by murders, abduction of women, and other causes, between these separate societies.[207]‘The people of every village have a certain extent of country, which they consider their own, and in which they may hunt and fish; but they may not transcend these bounds, without purchasing the privilege of those who claim the land. Mountains and rivers serve them as boundaries.’ Harmon’s Jour., p. 298.

When seriously ill, the Carriers deem it an indispensable condition to their recovery that every secret crime should be confessed to the magician. Murder, of any but a member of the same village, is not considered a heinous offense. They at first believed reading and writing to be the exercise of magic art. The Carriers know little of medicinal herbs. Their priest or magician is also the doctor, but before commencing his operations in the sick room, he must receive a fee, which, if his efforts prove unsuccessful, he is obliged to restore. The curative process consists in singing a melancholy strain over the invalid, in which all around join. This mitigates pain, and often restores health. Their winter tenements are frequently made by opening a spot of earth to the depth of two feet, across which a ridge-pole is placed, supported at either end by posts; poles are then laid from the sides of the excavation to the ridge-pole and covered with hay. A hole is left in the top for purposes of entrance and exit, and also in order to allow the escape of smoke.[208]Mackenzie, Voy., p. 238, found on Fraser River, about latitude 55°, a deserted house, 30 by 20, with three doors, 3 by 3½ feet; three fire-places, and beds on either side; behind the beds was a narrow space, like a manger, somewhat elevated, for keeping fish. ‘Their houses are well formed of logs of small trees, buttressed up internally, frequently above seventy feet long and fifteen high, but, unlike those of the coast, the roof is of bark; their winter habitations are smaller, and often covered over with grass and earth; some even dwell in excavations of the ground, which have only an aperture at the top, and serves alike for door and chimney.’ Nicolay’s Ogn. Ter., p. 154.

Slavery is common with them; all who can afford it keeping slaves. They use them as beasts of burden, and treat them most inhumanly. The country of the Sicannis in the Rocky Mountains is sterile, yielding the occupants a scanty supply of food and clothing. They are nevertheless devotedly attached to their bleak land, and will fight for their rude homes with the most patriotic ardor.

Nehannes and Talkotins

The Nehannes usually pass the summer in the vicinity of the sea-coast, and scour the interior during the winter for furs, which they obtain from inland tribes by barter or plunder, and dispose of to the European traders. It is not a little remarkable that this warlike and turbulent horde was at one time governed by a woman. Fame gives her a fair complexion, with regular features, and great intelligence. Her influence over her fiery people, it is said, was perfect; while her warriors, the terror and scourge of the surrounding country, quailed before her eye. Her word was law, and was obeyed with marvelous alacrity. Through her influence the condition of the women of her tribe was greatly raised.

Great ceremonies, cruelty, and superstition attend burning the dead, which custom obtains throughout this region,[209]‘Quelques peuplades du nord, telles que les Sikanis, enterrent leurs morts.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 339. ‘The Sicaunies bury, while the Tacullies, burn their dead.’ Harmon’s Jour., p. 196. They ‘and the Chimmesyans on the coast, and other tribes speaking their language, burn the dead.’ Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 236. See also Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 79, 80; Ind. Life, pp. 128, 136; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., pp. 362, 363. and, as usual in savagism, woman is the sufferer. When the father of a household dies, the entire family, or, if a chief, the tribe, are summoned to present themselves.[210]They fire guns as a warning to their friends not to invade their sorrow. Mackenzie’s Voy., p. 139. Time must be given to those most distant to reach the village before the ceremony begins.[211]‘In the winter season, the Carriers often keep their dead in their huts during five or six months, before they will allow them to be burned.’ Harmon’s Jour., p. 249. The Talkotin wife, when all is ready, is compelled to ascend the funeral pile, throw herself upon her husband’s body and there remain until nearly suffocated, when she is permitted to descend. Still she must keep her place near the burning corpse, keep it in a proper position, tend the fire, and if through pain or faintness she fails in the performance of her duties, she is held up and pressed forward by others; her cries meanwhile are drowned in wild songs, accompanied by the beating of drums.[212]‘She must frequently put her hands through the flames and lay them upon his bosom, to show her continued devotion.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 239. They have a custom of mourning over the grave of the dead; their expressions of grief are generally exceedingly vociferous. Ind. Life, pp. 185, 186.

When the funeral pile of a Tacully is fired, the wives of the deceased, if there are more than one, are placed at the head and foot of the body. Their duty there is to publicly demonstrate their affection for the departed; which they do by resting their head upon the dead bosom, by striking in frenzied love the body, nursing and battling the fire meanwhile. And there they remain until the hair is burned from their head, until, suffocated and almost senseless, they stagger off to a little distance; then recovering, attack the corpse with new vigor, striking it first with one hand and then with the other, until the form of the beloved is reduced to ashes. Finally these ashes are gathered up, placed in sacks, and distributed one sack to each wife, whose duty it is to carry upon her person the remains of the departed for the space of two years. During this period of mourning the women are clothed in rags, kept in a kind of slavery, and not allowed to marry. Not unfrequently these poor creatures avoid their term of servitude by suicide. At the expiration of the time, a feast is given them, and they are again free. Structures are erected as repositories for the ashes of their dead,[213]‘On the end of a pole stuck in front of the lodge.’ Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 237. in which the bag or box containing the remains is placed. These grave-houses are of split boards about one inch in thickness, six feet high, and decorated with painted representations of various heavenly and earthly objects.

The Indians of the Rocky Mountains burn with the deceased all his effects, and even those of his nearest relatives, so that it not unfrequently happens that a family is reduced to absolute starvation in the dead of winter, when it is impossible to procure food. The motive assigned to this custom is, that there may be nothing left to bring the dead to remembrance.

A singular custom prevails among the Nateotetain women, which is to cut off one joint of a finger upon the death of a near relative. In consequence of this practice some old women may be seen with two joints off every finger on both hands. The men bear their sorrows more stoically, being content in such cases with shaving the head and cutting their flesh with flints.[214]Women cut off a joint of one of their fingers. Men only cut off their hair close to their heads, but also frequently cut and scratch their faces and arms. Harmon’s Jour., p. 182. With some sharp instrument they ‘force back the flesh beyond the first joint, which they immediately amputate.’ Mackenzie’s Voy., p. 148.

Kutchin Characteristics

The Kutchins are the flower of the Tinneh family. They are very numerous, numbering about twenty-two tribes. They are a more noble and manly people than either the Eskimos upon the north or the contiguous Tinneh tribes upon their own southern boundary. The finest specimens dwell on the Yukon River. The women tattoo the chin with a black pigment, and the men draw a black stripe down the forehead and nose, frequently crossing the forehead and cheeks with red lines, and streaking the chin alternately with red and black. Their features are more regular than those of their neighbors, more expressive of boldness, frankness, and candor; their foreheads higher, and their complexions lighter. The Tenan Kutchin of the Tananah River, one of the largest tribes of the Yukon Valley, are somewhat wilder and more ferocious in their appearance. The boys are precocious, and the girls marry at fifteen.[215]‘The men are completely destitute of beard, and both men and women, are intensely ugly.’ Jones, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 320. ‘They reminded me of the ideal North American Indian I had read of but never seen.’ Whymper’s Alaska, p. 239. Distinguished from all other tribes for the frankness and candor of their demeanor, and bold countenances. Simpson’s Nar., p. 100. ‘Males are of the average hight of Europeans, and well-formed, with regular features, high foreheads, and lighter complexions than those of the other red Indians. The women resemble the men.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., p. 379. The Kutchins of Peel River, as observed by Mr Isbister, “are an athletic and fine-looking race; considerable above the average stature, most of them being upwards of six feet in height and remarkably well proportioned.”

Their clothing is made from the skins of reindeer, dressed with the hair on; their coat cut after the fashion of the Eskimos, with skirts peaked before and behind, and elaborately trimmed with beads and dyed porcupine-quills. The Kutchins, in common with the Eskimos, are distinguished by a similarity in the costume of the sexes. Men and women wear the same description of breeches. Some of the men have a long flap attached to their deer-skin shirts, shaped like a beaver’s tail, and reaching nearly to the ground.[216]‘Tunic or shirt reaching to the knees, and very much ornamented with beads, and Hyaqua shells from the Columbia.’ Kirby, in Smithsonian Rept., 1864, p. 418. The Tenan Kutchins are ‘gay with painted faces, feathers in their long hair, patches of red clay at the back of their head.’ Whymper’s Alaska, p. 239. Jackets like the Eskimos. Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., p. 221. ‘Both sexes wear breeches.’ Simpson’s Nar., p. 103. Of the coat, Mr Whymper says: “If the reader will imagine a man dressed in two swallow-tailed coats, one of them worn as usual, the other covering his stomach and buttoned behind, he will get some idea of this garment.” Across the shoulders and breast they wear a broad band of beads, with narrower bands round the forehead and ankles, and along the seams of their leggins. They are great traders; beads are their wealth, used in the place of money, and the rich among them literally load themselves with necklaces and strings of various patterns.[217]‘The Kutch-a-Kutchin, are essentially traders.’ Kirby, in Smithsonian Rept., 1864, p. 418. Appear to care more for useful than ornamental articles. Whymper’s Alaska, p. 213. ‘Dentalium and arenicola shells are transmitted from the west coast in traffic, and are greatly valued.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., p. 391. The nose and ears are adorned with shells.[218]Some wear ‘wampum (a kind of long, hollow shell) through the septum of the nose.’ Hooper’s Tuski, p. 270. They pierce the nose and insert shells, which are obtained from the Eskimos at a high price. Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 84. The hair is worn in a long cue, ornamented with feathers, and bound with strings of beads and shells at the head, with flowing ends, and so saturated with grease and birds’ down as to swell it sometimes to the thickness of the neck. They pay considerable attention to personal cleanliness. The Kutchins construct both permanent underground dwellings and the temporary summer-hut or tent.[219]The Loucheux live in huts ‘formed of green branches. In winter their dwellings are partly under ground. The spoils of the moose and reindeer furnish them with meat, clothing, and tents.’ Simpson’s Nar., pp. 103, 191. The Co-Yukon winter dwellings are made under ground, and roofed over with earth, having a hole for the smoke to escape by, in the same manner as those of the Malemutes and Ingaliks. Whymper’s Alaska, pp. 175, 205. Their movable huts are constructed of deer-skin, ‘dressed with the hair on, and sewed together, forming two large rolls, which are stretched over a frame of bent poles,’ with a side door and smoke-hole at the top. Jones, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 321.

Food of the Kutchins

On the Yukon, the greatest scarcity of food is in the spring. The winter’s stores are exhausted, and the bright rays of the sun upon the melting snow almost blind the eyes of the deer-hunter. The most plentiful supply of game is in August, September, and October, after which the forming of ice on the rivers prevents fishing until December, when the winter traps are set. The reindeer are in good condition in August, and geese are plentiful. Salmon ascend the river in June, and are taken in great quantities until about the first of September; fish are dried or smoked without salt, for winter use. Fur-hunting begins in October; and in December, trade opens with the Eskimos, with whom furs are exchanged for oil and seal-skins.

The Kutchin of the Yukon are unacquainted with nets, but catch their fish by means of weirs or stakes planted across rivers and narrow lakes, having openings for wicker baskets, by which they intercept the fish. They hunt reindeer in the mountains and take moose-deer in snares.[220]The Loucheux are ‘great gormandizers, and will devour solid fat, or even drink grease, to surfeiting.’ Hooper’s Tuski, p. 271. ‘The bears are not often eaten in summer, as their flesh is not good at that time.’ Jones, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 321. Some of their reindeer-pounds are over one hundred years old and are hereditary in the family. Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., p. 394. ‘The mode of fishing through the ice practiced by the Russians is much in vogue with them.’ Whymper’s Alaska, p. 211.

Both Kutchins and Eskimos are very jealous regarding their boundaries; but the incessant warfare which is maintained between the littoral and interior people of the northern coast near the Mackenzie river, is not maintained by the north-western tribes. One of either people, however, if found hunting out of his own territory, is very liable to be shot. Some Kutchin tribes permit the Eskimos to take the meat of the game which they kill, provided they leave the skin at the nearest village.[221]The Kutchins ‘have no knowledge of scalping.’ ‘When a man kills his enemy, he cuts all his joints.’ Jones, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, 327. The Loucheux of Peel River and the Eskimos are constantly at war. Hooper’s Tuski, p. 273.

The Kutchins of the Yukon River manufacture cups and pots from clay, and ornament them with crosses, dots, and lines; moulding them by hand after various patterns, first drying them in the sun and then baking them. The Eskimo lamp is also sometimes made of clay. The Tinneh make paint of pulverized colored stones or of earth, mixed with glue. The glue is made from buffalo feet and applied by a moose-hair brush.

In the manufacture of their boats the Kutchins of the Yukon use bark as a substitute for the seal-skins of the coast. They first make a light frame of willow or birch, from eight to sixteen feet in length. Then with fine spruce-fir roots they sew together strips of birch bark, cover the frame, and calk the seams with spruce gum. They are propelled by single paddles or poles. Those of the Mackenzie River are after the same pattern.[222]‘At Peace River the bark is taken off the tree the whole length of the intended canoe, which is commonly about eighteen feet, and is sewed with watupe at both ends.’ Mackenzie’s Voy., p. 207. When the Kutchins discover a leak, ‘they go ashore, light a small fire, warm the gum, of which they always carry a supply, turn the canoe bottom upward, and rub the healing balm in a semi-fluid state into the seam until it is again water-tight.’ Whymper’s Alaska, p. 225. The Tacullies ‘make canoes which are clumsily wrought, of the aspin tree, as well as of the bark of the spruce fir.’ Harmon’s Jour., p. 291. Rafts are employed on the Mackenzie. Simpson’s Nar., p. 185. ‘In shape the Northern Indian canoe bears some resemblance to a weaver’s shuttle; covered over with birch bark.’ Hearne’s Jour., pp. 97, 98. ‘Kanots aus Birkenrinde, auf denen sie die Flüsse u. Seen befahren.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 112. The Kutchin canoe ‘is flat-bottomed, is about nine feet long and one broad, and the sides nearly straight up and down like a wall.’ Jones, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 323.

In absence of law, murder and all other crimes are compounded for.[223]As for instance for a life, the fine is forty beaver-skins, and may be paid in guns at twenty skins each; blankets, equal to ten skins each; powder, one skin a measure; bullets, eighteen for a skin; worsted belts, two skins each. Hooper’s Tuski, p. 272. ‘For theft, little or no punishment is inflicted; for adultery, the woman only is punished’—sometimes by beating, sometimes by death. Jones, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 325. A man to be well married must be either rich or strong. A good hunter, who can accumulate beads, and a good wrestler, who can win brides by force, may have from two to five wives. The women perform all domestic duties, and eat after the husband is satisfied, but the men paddle the boats, and have even been known to carry their wives ashore so that they might not wet their feet. The women carry their infants in a sort of bark saddle, fastened to their back; they bandage their feet in order to keep them small.[224]Kutchin ‘female chastity is prized, but is nearly unknown.’ Jones, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 325. Loucheux mothers had originally a custom of casting away their female children, but now it is only done by the Mountain Indians, Simpson’s Nar., p. 187. The Kutchin ‘women are much fewer in number and live a much shorter time than the men.’ Kirby, in Smithsonian Rept., 1864, p. 418. The old people ‘are not ill-used, but simply neglected.’ Whymper’s Alaska, p. 229. The children are carried in small chairs made of birch bark. Id., p. 232. ‘In a seat of birch bark.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., p. 384. Kutchin amusements are wrestling, leaping, dancing, and singing. They are great talkers, and etiquette forbids any interruption to the narrative of a new comer.[225]The Loucheux dances ‘abound in extravagant gestures, and demand violent exertion.’ Simpson’s Nar., p. 100. See Hardisty, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 313. ‘Singing is much practiced, but it is, though varied, of a very hum-drum nature.’ Hooper’s Tuski, p. 318. ‘At the festivals held on the meeting of friendly tribes, leaping and wrestling are practised.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., p. 395.

The Tenan Kutchin

The Tenan Kutchin, ‘people of the mountains,’ inhabiting the country south of Fort Yukon which is drained by the river Tananah, are a wild, ungovernable horde, their territory never yet having been invaded by white people. The river upon which they dwell is supposed to take its rise near the upper Yukon. They allow no women in their deer-hunting expeditions. They smear their leggins and hair with red ochre and grease. The men part their hair in the middle and separate it into locks, which, when properly dressed, look like rolls of red mud about the size of a finger; one bunch of locks is secured in a mass which falls down the neck, by a band of dentalium shells, and two smaller rolls hang down either side of the face. After being soaked in grease and tied, the head is powdered with finely cut swan’s down, which adheres to the greasy hair. The women wear few ornaments, perform more than the ordinary amount of drudgery, and are treated more like dogs than human beings. Chastity is scarcely known among them. The Kutcha Kutchin, ‘people of the lowland,’ are cleaner and better mannered.

The Kutchins have a singular system of totems. The whole nation is divided into three castes, called respectively Chitcheah, Tengratsey, and Natsahi, each occupying a distinct territory. Two persons of the same caste are not allowed to marry; but a man of one caste must marry a woman of another. The mother gives caste to the children, so that as the fathers die off the caste of the country constantly changes. This system operates strongly against war between tribes; as in war, it is caste against caste, and not tribe against tribe. As the father is never of the same caste as the son, who receives caste from his mother, there can never be intertribal war without ranging fathers and sons against each other. When a child is named, the father drops his former name and substitutes that of the child, so that the father receives his name from the child, and not the child from the father.

They have scarcely any government; their chiefs are elected on account of wealth or ability, and their authority is very limited.[226]‘Irrespective of tribe, they are divided into three classes, termed respectively, Chit-sa, Nate-sa, and Tanges-at-sa, faintly representing the aristocracy, the middle classes, and the poorer orders of civilized nations, the former being the most wealthy and the latter the poorest.’ Kirby, in Smithsonian Rept., 1864, p. 418. Their custom is to burn the dead, and enclose the ashes in a box placed upon posts; some tribes enclose the body in an elevated box without burning.[227]On Peel River ‘they bury their dead on stages.’ On the Yukon they burn and suspend the ashes in bags from the top of a painted pole. Kirby, in Smithsonian Rept., 1864, p. 419. They of the Yukon ‘do not inter the dead, but put them in oblong boxes, raised on posts.’ Whymper’s Alaska, pp. 207, 211.

The Kenai

The Kenai are a fine, manly race, in which Baer distinguishes characteristics decidedly American, and clearly distinct from the Asiatic Eskimos. One of the most powerful Kenai tribes is the Unakatanas, who dwell upon the Koyukuk River, and plant their villages along the banks of the lower Yukon for a distance of one hundred and fifty miles. They are bold and ferocious, dominative even to the giving of fashion in dress.

That part of the Yukon which runs through their territory abounds with moose, which during the summer frequent the water in order to avoid the mosquitos, and as the animals are clumsy swimmers, the Indians easily capture them. Their women occupy a very inferior position, being obliged to do more drudgery and embellish their dress with fewer ornaments than those of the upper tribes. The men wear a heavy fringe of beads or shells upon their dress, equal sometimes to two hundred marten-skins in value.

At Nuklukahyet, where the Tananah River joins the Yukon, is a neutral trading-ground to which all the surrounding tribes resort in the spring for traffic. Skins are their moneyed currency, the beaver-skin being the standard; one ‘made’ beaver-skin represents two marten-skins.

The Ingaliks inhabiting the Yukon near its mouth call themselves Kaeyah Khatana. Their dialect is totally distinct from the Malemutes, their neighbors on the west, but shows an affinity with that of the Unakatanas to their east. Tobacco they both smoke and snuff. The smoke they swallow; snuff is drawn into the nostrils through a wooden tube. They manufacture snuff from leaf tobacco by means of a wooden mortar and pestle, and carry bone or wooden snuff-boxes. They are described by travelers as a timid, sensitive people, and remarkably honest. Ingalik women are delivered kneeling, and without pain, being seldom detained from their household duties for more than an hour. The infant is washed, greased, and fed, and is seldom weaned under two or three years. The women live longer than the men; some of them reaching sixty, while the men rarely attain more than forty-five years.

The Koltschanes, whose name in the dialect of the Kenai signifies ‘guest,’ and in that of the Atnas of Copper River, ‘stranger,’ have been charged with great cruelty, and even cannibalism, but without special foundation. Wrangell believes the Koltschanes, Atnas, and Kolosches to be one people.

The Kenai, of the Kenaian peninsula, upon recovery from dangerous illness, give a feast to those who expressed sympathy during the affliction. If a bounteous provision is made upon these occasions, a chieftainship may be obtained thereby; and although the power thus acquired does not descend to one’s heir, he may be conditionally recognized as chief. Injuries are avenged by the nearest relative, but if a murder is committed by a member of another clan, all the allied families rise to avenge the wrong. When a person dies, the whole community assemble and mourn. The nearest kinsman, arrayed in his best apparel, with blackened face, his nose and head decked with eagle’s feathers, leads the ceremony. All sit round a fire and howl, while the master of the lamentation recounts the notable deeds of the departed, amidst the ringing of bells, and violent stampings, and contortions of his body. The clothing is then distributed to the relatives, the body is burned, the bones collected and interred, and at the expiration of a year a feast is held to the memory of the deceased, after which it is not lawful for a relative to mention his name.

The lover, if his suit is accepted, must perform a year’s service for his bride. The wooing is in this wise: early some morning he enters the abode of the fair one’s father, and without speaking a word proceeds to bring water, prepare food, and to heat the bath-room. In reply to the question why he performs these services, he answers that he desires the daughter for a wife. At the expiration of the year, without further ceremony, he takes her home, with a gift; but if she is not well treated by her husband, she may return to her father, and take with her the dowry. The wealthy may have several wives, but the property of each wife is distinct. They are nomadic in their inclinations and traverse the interior to a considerable distance in pursuit of game.

The Atnas are a small tribe inhabiting the Atna or Copper River. They understand the art of working copper, and have commercial relations with surrounding tribes. In the spring, before the breaking up of ice upon the lakes and rivers, they hunt reindeer, driving them into angle-shaped wicker-work corrals, where they are killed. In the autumn another general hunt takes place, when deer are driven into lakes, and pursued and killed in boats. Their food and clothing depend entirely upon their success in these forays, as they are unable to obtain fish in sufficient quantities for their sustenance; and when unsuccessful in the chase, whole families die of starvation. Those who can afford it, keep slaves, buying them from the Koltschanes. They burn their dead, then carefully collect the ashes in a new reindeer-skin, enclose the skin in a box, and place the box on posts or in a tree. Every year they celebrate a feast in commemoration of their dead. Baer asserts that the Atnas divide the year into fifteen months, which are designated only by their numbers; ten of them belong to autumn and winter, and five to spring and summer.

Tinneh Character

The Tinneh character, if we may accept the assertions of various travelers, visiting different parts under widely different circumstances, presents a multitude of phases. Thus it is said of the Chepewyans by Mackenzie, that they are “sober, timorous, and vagrant, with a selfish disposition which has sometimes created suspicions of their integrity. They are also of a quarrelous disposition, and are continually making complaints which they express by a constant repetition of the word edmy, ‘it is hard,’ in a whiny and plaintive tone of voice. So indolent that numbers perish every year from famine. Suicide is not uncommon among them.” Hearne asserts that they are morose and covetous; that they have no gratitude; are great beggars; are insolent, if any respect is shown them; that they cheat on all opportunities; yet they are mild, rarely get drunk; and “never proceed to violence beyond bad language;” that they steal on every opportunity from the whites, but very rarely from each other; and although regarding all property, including wives, as belonging to the strongest, yet they only wrestle, and rarely murder. Of the same people Sir John Franklin says, that they are naturally indolent, selfish, and great beggars. “I never saw men,” he writes, “who either received or bestowed a gift with such bad grace.” The Dog-ribs are “of a mild, hospitable, but rather indolent disposition,” fond of dancing and singing. According to the same traveler the Copper Indians are superior, in personal character, to any other Chepewyans. “Their delicate and humane attentions to us,” he remarks, “in a period of great distress, are indelibly engraven on our memories.” Simpson says that it is a general rule among the traders not to believe the first story of an Indian. Although sometimes bearing suffering with fortitude, the least sickness makes them say, “I am going to die,” and the improvidence of the Indian character is greatly aggravated by the custom of destroying all the property of deceased relatives. Sir John Richardson accuses the Hare Indians of timidity, standing in great fear of the Eskimos, and being always in want of food. They are practical socialists, ‘great liars,’ but ‘strictly honest.’ Hospitality is not a virtue with them. According to Richardson, neither the Eskimos, Dog-ribs, nor Hare Indians, feel the least shame in being detected in falsehood, and invariably practice it if they think that they can thereby gain any of their petty ends. Even in their familiar intercourse with each other, the Indians seldom tell the truth in the first instance, and if they succeed in exciting admiration or astonishment, their invention runs on without check. From the manner of the speaker, rather than by his words, is his truth or falsehood inferred, and often a very long interrogation is necessary to elicit the real fact. The comfort, and not unfrequently even the lives of parties of the timid Hare Indians are sacrificed by this miserable propensity. The Hare and Dog-rib women are certainly at the bottom of the scale of humanity in North America. Ross thinks that they are “tolerably honest; not bloodthirsty, nor cruel;” “confirmed liars, far from being chaste.”

According to Harmon, one of the earliest and most observing travelers among them, the Tacullies “are a quiet, inoffensive people,” and “perhaps the most honest on the face of the earth.” They “are unusually talkative,” and “take great delight in singing or humming or whistling a dull air.” “Murder is not considered as a crime of great magnitude.” He considers the Sicannis the bravest of the Tacully tribes.

But the Kutchins bear off the palm for honesty. Says Whymper: “Finding the loads too great for our dogs, we raised an erection of poles, and deposited some bags thereon. I may here say, once for all, that our men often left goods, consisting of tea, flour, molasses, bacon, and all kinds of miscellaneous articles, scattered in this way over the country, and that they remained untouched by the Indians, who frequently traveled past them.” Simpson testifies of the Loucheux that “a bloody intent with them lurks not under a smile.” Murray reports the Kutchins treacherous; Richardson did not find them so. Jones declares that “they differ entirely from the Tinneh tribes of the Mackenzie, being generous, honest, hospitable, proud, high-spirited, and quick to revenge an injury.”

Tribal Boundaries

Accurately to draw partition lines between primitive nations is impossible. Migrating with the seasons, constantly at war, driving and being driven far past the limits of hereditary boundaries, extirpating and being extirpated, overwhelming, intermingling; like a human sea, swelling and surging in its wild struggle with the winds of fate, they come and go, here to-day, yonder to-morrow. A traveler passing over the country finds it inhabited by certain tribes; another coming after finds all changed. One writer gives certain names to certain nations; another changes the name, or gives to the nation a totally different locality. An approximation, however, can be made sufficiently correct for practical purposes; and to arrive at this, I will give at the end of each chapter all the authorities at my command; that from the statements of all, whether conflicting or otherwise, the truth may be very nearly arrived at. All nations, north of the fifty-fifth parallel, as before mentioned, I call Hyperboreans.

To the Eskimos, I give the Arctic sea-board from the Coppermine River to Kotzebue Sound. Late travelers make a distinction between the Malemutes and Kaveaks of Norton Sound and the Eskimos. Whymper calls the former ‘a race of tall and stout people, but in other respect, much resembling the Esquimaux.’ Alaska, p. 159. Sir John Richardson, in his Journal, vol. i., p. 341, places them on the ‘western coast, by Cook’s Sound and Tchugatz Bay, nearly to Mount St. Elias;’ but in his Polar Regions, p. 299, he terminates them at Kotzebue Sound. Early writers give them the widest scope. ‘Die südlichsten sind in Amerika, auf der Küste Labrador, wo nach Charlevoix dieser Völkerstamm den Namen Esquimaux bey den in der Nähe wohnenden Abenaki führte, und auch an der benachbarten Ostseite von Neu-Fundland, ferner westlich noch unter der Halbinsel Alaska.’ Vater, Mithridates, vol. iii., pt. iii., p. 425. Dr Latham, in his Varieties of Man, treats the inhabitants of the Aleutian Islands as Eskimos, and in Native Races of the Russian Empire, p. 289, he gives them ‘the whole of the coast of the Arctic Ocean, and the coast from Behring Strait to Cook Inlet.’ Prichard, Researches, vol. v., p. 371, requires more complete evidence before he can conclude that the Aleuts are not Eskimos. Being entirely unacquainted with the great Kutchin family in the Yukon Valley, he makes the Carriers of New Caledonia conterminous with the Eskimos. The boundary lines between the Eskimos and the interior Indian tribes ‘are generally formed by the summit of the watershed between the small rivers which empty into the sea and those which fall into the Yukon.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 144. Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géographie, vol. v., p. 317, goes to the other extreme. ‘Les Esquimaux,’ he declares, ‘habitent depuis le golfe Welcome jusqu’au fleuve Mackenzie, et probablement jusqu’au détroit de Bering; ils s’étendent au sud jusqu’au lac de l’Esclave.’ Ludewig, Aboriginal Languages, p. 69, divides them into ‘Eskimo proper, on the shores of Labrador, and the Western Eskimos.’ Gallatin sweepingly asserts that ‘they are the sole native inhabitants of the shores of all the seas, bays, inlets, and islands of America, north of the sixtieth degree of north latitude.’ Am. Antiq. Soc. Transact., vol. ii., p. 9. The Western Eskimos, says Beechey, ‘inhabit the north-west coast of America, from 60° 34´ N. to 71° 24´ N.’ Voy., vol. ii., p. 299. ‘Along the entire coast of America.’ Armstrong’s Nar., p. 191.

Eskimos and Koniagas

The tribal subdivisions of the Eskimos are as follows:—At Coppermine River they are known by the name of Naggeuktoomutes, ‘deer-horns.’ At the eastern outlet of the Mackenzie they are called Kittear. Between the Mackenzie River and Barter Reef they call themselves Kangmali-Innuin. The tribal name at Point Barrow is Nuwangmeun. ‘The Nuna-tangmë-un inhabit the country traversed by the Nunatok, a river which falls into Kotzebue Sound.’ Richardson’s Pol. Reg., p. 300. From Cape Lisburn to Icy Cape the tribal appellation is Kitegues. ‘Deutsche Karten zeigen uns noch im Nord-west-Ende des russischen Nordamerika’s, in dieser so anders gewandten Küstenlinie, nördlich vom Kotzebue-Sund: im westlichen Theile des Küstenlandes, dass sie West-Georgien nennen, vom Cap Lisburn bis über das Eiscap; hinlaufend das Volk der Kiteguen.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Sprache, p. 713. ‘The tribes appear to be separated from each other by a neutral ground, across which small parties venture in the summer for barter.’ The Tuski, Tschuktschi, or Tchutski, of the easternmost point of Asia, have also been referred to the opposite coast of America for their habitation. The Tschuktchi ‘occupy the north-western coast of Russian Asia, and the opposite shores of north-western America.’ Ludewig, Ab. Lang., p. 191.

The Koniagan nation occupies the shores of Bering Sea, from Kotzebue Sound to the Island of Kadiak, including a part of the Alaskan Peninsula, and the Koniagan and Chugatschen Islands. The Koniagas proper inhabit Kadiak, and the contiguous islands. Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Sprache, p. 676. ‘The Konægi are inhabitants of the Isle of Kodiak.’ Prichard’s Researches, vol. v., p. 371. ‘Die eigentlichen Konjagen oder Bewohner der Insel Kadjak.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 4. ‘Zu den letztern rechnet man die Aleuten von Kadjack, deren Sprache von allen Küstenbewohnern von der Tschugatschen-Bay, bis an die Berings-Strasse und selbst weiter noch die herrschende ist.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 58. ‘From Iliamna Lake to the 159th degree of west longitude.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 401. ‘La côte qui s’étend depuis le golfe Kamischezkaja jusqu’au Nouveau-Cornouaille, est habitée par cinq peuplades qui forment autant de grandes divisions territoriales dans les colonies de la Russie Américaine. Leurs noms sont: Koniagi, Kenayzi, Tschugatschi, Ugalachmiuti et Koliugi.’ Humboldt, Pol., tom. i., p. 347.

The Chugatsches inhabit the islands and shores of Prince William Sound. ‘Die Tchugatschen bewohnen die grössten Inseln der Bai Tschugatsk, wie Zukli, Chtagaluk u. a. und ziehen sich an der Südküste der Halbinsel Kenai nach Westen bis zur Einfahrt in den Kenaischen Meerbusen.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 4. ‘Die Tschugatschen sind Ankömmlinge von der Insel Kadjack, die während innerer Zwistigkeiten von dort vertrieben, sich zu ihren jetzigen Wohnsitzen an den Ufern von Prince William’s Sound und gegen Westen bis zum Eingange von Cook’s Inlet hingewendet haben.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 116. ‘Les Tschugatschi occupent le pays qui s’étend depuis l’extrémité septentrionale de l’entrée de Cook jusqu’à l’est de la baie du prince Guillaume (golfe Tschugatskaja.)’ Humboldt, Pol., tom. i., p. 348. According to Latham, Native Races, p. 290, they are the most southern members of the family. The Tschugazzi ‘live between the Ugalyachmutzi and the Kenaizi.’ Prichard’s Researches, vol. v., p. 371. ‘Occupy the shores and islands of Chugach Gulf, and the southwest coasts of the peninsula of Kenai.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 401. Tschugatschi, ‘Prince William Sound, and Cook’s Inlet.’ Ludewig, Ab. Lang., p. 191. Tchugatchih, ‘claim as their hereditary possessions the coast lying between Bristol Bay and Beering’s Straits.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., p. 364.

The Aglegmutes occupy the shores of Bristol Bay from the river Nushagak along the western coast of the Alaskan Peninsula, to latitude 56°. ‘Die Aglegmjuten, von der Mündung des Flusses Nuschagakh bis zum 57° oder 56° an der Westküste der Halbinsel Aljaska; haben also die Ufer der Bristol-Bai inne.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 4. Dall calls them Oglemutes, and says that they inhabit ‘the north coast of Aliaska from the 159th degree of west longitude to the head of Bristol Bay, and along the north shore of that Bay to Point Etolin.’ Alaska, p. 405. Die Agolegmüten, an den Ausmündungen der Flüsse Nuschagack und Nackneck, ungefähr 500 an der Zahl.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 121.

The Kijataigmutes dwell upon the banks of the river Nushagak and along the coast westward to Cape Newenham. ‘Die Kijataigmjuten wohnen an den Ufern des Flusses Nuschagakh, sowie seines Nebenflusses Iligajakh.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 5. Dall says that they call themselves Nushergagmut, and ‘inhabit the coast near the mouth of the Nushergak River, and westward to Cape Newenham.’ Alaska, p. 405. ‘Die Kijaten oder Kijataigmüten an den Flüssen Nuschagack und Ilgajack.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 121. ‘Am Fl. Nuschagak.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Sprache, p. 760.

The Agulmutes inhabit the coast between the rivers Kuskoquim and Kishunak. ‘Die Aguljmjuten haben sowohl den Küstenstrich als das Innere des Landes zwischen den Mündungen des Kuskokwim und des Kishunakh inne.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 5. ‘This tribe extends from near Cape Avinoff nearly to Cape Romanzoff.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 406. ‘Den Agulmüten, am Flusse Kwichlüwack.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 122. ‘An der Kwickpak-Münd.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Sprache, p. 719.

The Kuskoquigmutes occupy the banks of Kuskoquim River and Bay. ‘Die Kuskokwigmjuten bewohnen die Ufer des Flusses Kuskokwim von seiner Mündung bis zur Ansiedelung Kwygyschpainagmjut in der Nähe der Odinotschka Kalmakow.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 5. The Kuskwogmuts ‘inhabit both shores of Kuskoquim Bay, and some little distance up that river.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 405. ‘Die Kuskokwimer an dem Flusse Kuskokwim und andern kleinen Zuflüssen desselben und an den Ufern der südlich von diesem Flusse gelegenen Seen.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 122. ‘Between the rivers Nushagak, Ilgajak, Chulitna, and Kuskokwina, on the sea-shore.’ Ludewig, Ab. Lang., p. 98.

The Magemutes live between the rivers Kishunak and Kipunaiak. ‘Die Magmjuten oder Magagmjuten, zwischen den Flüssen Kiskunakh und Kipunajakh.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 5. ‘These inhabit the vicinity of Cape Romanzoff and reach nearly to the Yukon-mouth.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 407. ‘Magimuten, am Flusse Kyschunack.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 122. ‘Im S des Norton Busens.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Sprache, p. 766.

The Kwichpagmutes, or inhabitants of the large river, dwell upon the Kwichpak River, from the coast range to the Uallik. ‘Die Kwichpagmjuten, haben ihre Ansiedelungen am Kwickpakh vom Küstengebirge an bis zum Nebenflusse Uallik.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 5. ‘Kuwichpackmüten, am Flusse Kuwichpack.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 122. ‘Tlagga Silla, or little dogs, nearer to the mouth of the Yukon, and probably conterminous with the Eskimo Kwichpak-meut.’ Latham’s Nat. Races, p. 293. On Whymper’s map are the Primoski, near the delta of the Yukon.

The Kwichluagmutes dwell upon the banks of the Kwichluak or Crooked River, an arm of the Kwichpak. ‘Die Kwichljuagmjuten an den Ufern eines Mündungsarmes des Kwichpakh, der Kwichljuakh.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 5. ‘Inhabit the Kwikhpak Slough.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 407.

The Pashtoliks dwell upon the river Pashtolik. ‘Die Paschtoligmjuten, an den Ufern des Pastolflusses.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 6. ‘Paschtoligmüten, am Flusse Paschtol.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 122. Whymper places them immediately north of the delta of the Yukon.

The Chnagmutes occupy the coast and islands south of the Unalaklik River to Pashtolik Bay. ‘Die Tschnagmjuten, an den Ufern der Meerbusen Pastol und Schachtolik zwischen den Flüssen Pastol an Unalaklik.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 6. ‘Den Tschnagmüten, gegen Norden von den Paschtuligmüten und gegen Westen bis zum Kap Rodney.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 122. ‘Am. sdl. Norton-Busen.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Sprache, p. 805.

The Anlygmutes inhabit the shores of Golovnin Bay and the southern coast of the Kaviak peninsula. ‘Die Anlygmjuten, an den Ufern der Bai Golownin nördlich vom Nortonsunde.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 6. ‘Anlygmüten, an der Golowninschen Bai.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 122. ‘Ndl. vom Norton-Sund.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Sprache, p. 722.

The Kaviaks inhabit the western portion of the Kaviak peninsula. ‘Adjacent to Port Clarence and Behring Strait.’ Whymper’s Alaska, p. 167. ‘Between Kotzebue and Norton Sounds.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 137.

The Malemutes inhabit the coast at the mouth of the Unalaklik River, and northward along the shores of Norton Sound across the neck of the Kaviak Peninsula at Kotzebue Sound. ‘Die Maleigmjuten bewohnen die Küste des Nortonsundes vom Flusse Unalaklik an und gehen durch das Innere des Landes hinauf bis zum Kotzebuesunde.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 6. ‘From Norton Sound and Bay north of Shaktolik, and the neck of the Kaviak Peninsula to Selawik Lake.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 407. ‘Den Malimüten, nahe an den Ufern des Golfes Schaktulack oder Schaktol.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 122. The Malemutes ‘extend from the island of St. Michael to Golovin Sound.’ Whymper’s Alaska, p. 167. ‘Ndl. am Norton-Busen bis zum Kotzebue Sund.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Sprache, p. 766.

The Aleuts

The Aleuts inhabit the islands of the Aleutian archipelago, and part of the peninsula of Alaska and the Island of Kadiak. They are divided into the Atkahs, who inhabit the western islands, and the Unalaskans or eastern division. The tribal divisions inhabiting the various islands are as follows; namely, on the Alaskan peninsula, three tribes to which the Russians have given names—Morshewskoje, Bjeljkowskoje, and Pawlowskoje; on the island of Unga, the Ugnasiks; on the island of Unimak, the Sesaguks; the Tigaldas on Tigalda Island; the Avatanaks on Avatanak Island; on the Island of Akun, three tribes, which the Russians call Arteljnowskoje, Rjätscheschnoje, and Seredkinskoje; the Akutans on the Akutan Island; the Unalgas on the Unalga Island; the Sidanaks on Spirkin Island; on the island of Unalashka, the Ililluluk, the Nguyuk, and seven tribes called by the Russians Natykinskoje, Pestnjakow-swoje, Wesselowskoje, Makuschinskoja, Koschhiginskoje, Tuscon-skoje, and Kalechinskoje; and on the island of Umnak the Tuliks. Latham, Nat. Races, p. 291, assigns them to the Aleutian Isles. ‘Die Unalaschkaer oder Fuchs-Aleuten bewohnen die Gruppe der Fuchsinseln, den südwestlichen Theil der Halbinsel Aljaska, und die Inselgruppe Schumaginsk. Die Atchaer oder Andrejanowschen Aleuten bewohnen die Andrejanowschen, die Ratten, und die Nahen-Inseln der Aleuten-Kette.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., pp. 7, 8. Inhabit ‘the islands between Alyaska and Kamschatka.’ Ludewig, Ab. Lang., p. 4.

The Thlinkeets

The Thlinkeets, or Kolosches, occupy the islands and shores between Copper River and the river Nass. ‘Die eigentlichen Thlinkithen (Bewohner des Archipels von den Parallelen des Flusses Nass bis zum St. Elias-berge).’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 4. ‘The Kalosh Indians seen at Sitka inhabit the coast between the Stekine and Chilcat Rivers.’ Whymper’s Alaska, p. 100. ‘Kaloches et Kiganis. Côtes et îles de l’Amérique Russe.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 335. The ‘Koloshians live upon the islands and coast from the latitude 50° 40´ to the mouth of the Atna or Copper River.’ Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 562. ‘From about 60° to 45° N. Lat., reaching therefore across the Russian frontier as far as the Columbia River.’ Müller’s Chips, vol. i., p. 334. ‘At Sitka Bay and Norfolk Sound.’ Ludewig, Ab. Lang., p. 96. ‘Between Jacootat or Behring’s Bay, to the 57th degree of north latitude.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 242. ‘Die Völker eines grossen Theils der Nordwest-Küste von America.’ Vater, Mithridates, vol. iii., pt. iii., p. 218. ‘Les Koliugi habitent le pays montueux du Nouveau-Norfolk, et la partie septentrionale du Nouveau-Cornouaille.’ Humboldt, Pol., tom. i., p. 349.

The Ugalenzes or Ugalukmutes, the northernmost Thlinkeet tribe, inhabit the coast from both banks of the mouth of Copper River, nearly to Mount St Elias. ‘About Mount Elias.’ Latham’s Nat. Races, p. 292. Adjacent to Behring Bay. Prichard’s Researches, vol. v., p. 370. ‘Die Ugalenzen, die im Winter eine Bucht des Festlandes, der kleinen Insel Kajak gegenüber, bewohnen, zum Sommer aber ihre Wohnungsplätze an dem rechten Ufer des Kupferflusses bei dessen Mündung aufschlagen.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 4. ‘Das Vorgebirge St. Elias, kann als die Gränzscheide der Wohnsitze der See-Koloschen gegen Nordwest angesehen werden.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 96. ‘Les Ugalachmiuti s’étendent depuis le golfe du Prince Guillaume, jusqu’à la baie de Jakutat.’ Humboldt, Pol., tom. i., p. 348. ‘Ugalenzen oder Ugaljachmjuten. An der russ. Küste ndwstl. vom St. Elias Berg.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Sprache, p. 807. ‘West of Cape St. Elias and near the island of Kadjak.’ Ludewig, Ab. Lang., p. 194.

The Yakutats ‘occupy the coast from Mount Fairweather to Mount St. Elias.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 428. At ‘Behring Bay.’ Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 575.

The Chilkat come next, and live on Lynn Canal and the Chilkat River. ‘At Chilkaht Inlet.’ ‘At the head of Chatham Straits.’ Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, pp. 535, 575. ‘Am Lynn’s-Canal, in russ. Nordamerika.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Sprache, p. 736. ‘On Lynn’s Canal.’ Schoolcraft’s Archives, vol. v., p. 489. A little to the northward of the Stakine-Koan. Dunn’s Oregon, p. 288.

The Hoonids inhabit the eastern banks of Cross Sound. ‘For a distance of sixty miles.’ ‘At Cross Sound reside the Whinegas.’ ‘The Hunnas or Hooneaks, who are scattered along the main land from Lynn Canal to Cape Spencer.’ Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, pp. 535, 562, 575. The Huna Cow tribe is situated on Cross Sound. Schoolcraft’s Archives, vol. v., p. 489.

The Hoodsinoos ‘live near the head of Chatham Strait.’ ‘On Admiralty Island.’ ‘Rat tribes on Kyro and Kespriano Islands.’ Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, pp. 335, 562, 575. ‘Hootsinoo at Hoodsinoo or Hood Bay.’ Schoolcraft’s Archives, vol. v., p. 489. ‘Hoodsunhoo at Hood Bay.’ Gallatin, in Am. Antiq. Soc. Transact., vol. ii., p. 302. ‘Hoodsunhoo at Hood Bay.’ ‘Eclikimo in Chatham’s Strait.’ Ludewig, Ab. Lang., p. 175.

The Takoos dwell ‘at the head of Takoo Inlet on the Takoo River. The Sundowns and Takos who live on the mainland from Port Houghton to the Tako River.’ Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, pp. 536, 562. Tako and Samdan, Tako River. Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 489.

The Auks Indians are at the mouth of the Takoo River and on Admiralty Island. ‘North of entrance Tako River.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., p. 489. ‘The Ark and Kake on Prince Frederick’s Sound.’ Am. Antiq. Soc. Transact., vol. ii., p. 302.

The Kakas inhabit the shores of Frederick Sound and Kuprianoff Island. ‘The Kakus, or Kakes, who live on Kuprinoff Island, having their principal settlement near the northwestern side.’ Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 562. ‘The Ark and Kake on Prince Frederick’s Sound.’ Am. Antiq. Soc. Transact., vol. ii., p. 302.

The Sitkas occupy Baranoff Island. ‘They are divided into tribes or clans, of which one is called Coquontans.’ Buschmann, Pima Spr. u. d. Spr. der Koloschen, p. 377. ‘The tribe of the Wolf are called Coquontans.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 242. ‘The Sitka-Koan,’ or the people of Sitka. ‘This includes the inhabitants of Sitka Bay, near New Archangel, and the neighboring islands.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 412. Simpson calls the people of Sitka ‘Sitkaguouays.’ Overland Jour., vol. i., p. 226. ‘The Sitkas or Indians on Baronoff Island.’ Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, pp. 535, 562.

The Stikeen Indians inhabit the country drained by the Stikeen River. ‘Do not penetrate far into the interior.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 411. The Stikein tribe ‘live at the top of Clarence’s Straits, which run upwards of a hundred miles inland.’ Dunn’s Oregon, p. 288. ‘At Stephens Passage.’ ‘The Stikeens who live on the Stackine River and the islands near its mouth.’ Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 562. ‘Stikeen Indians, Stikeen River, Sicknaahutty, Taeeteetan, Kaaskquatee, Kookatee, Naaneeaaghee, Talquatee, Kicksatee, Kaadgettee.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 489. The Secatquonays occupy the main land about the mouths of the Stikeen River, and also the neighboring islands. Simpson’s Overland Jour., vol. i., p. 210.

The Tungass, ‘live on Tongas Island, and on the north side of Portland Channel.’ Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 562. Southern entrance Clarence Strait. Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 489. The Tongarses or Tun Ghaase ‘are a small tribe, inhabiting the S.E. corner of Prince of Wales’s Archipelago.’ Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 218. ‘Tungass, an der sdlst. russ. Küste.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Sprache, p. 806. ‘Tunghase Indians of the south-eastern part of Prince of Wales’s Archipelago.’ Ludewig, Ab. Lang., p. 192. Tongas Indians, lat. 54° 46´ N. and long. 130° 35´ W. Dall’s Alaska, p. 251.

The Tinneh

The Tinneh occupy the vast interior north of the fifty-fifth parallel, and west from Hudson Bay, approaching the Arctic and Pacific Coasts to within from fifty to one hundred and fifty miles: at Prince William Sound, they even touch the seashore. Mackenzie, Voy., p. cxvii., gives boundaries upon the basis of which Gallatin, Am. Antiq. Soc. Transact., vol. ii., p. 9, draws a line from the Mississippi to within one hundred miles of the Pacific at 52° 30´, and allots them the northern interior to Eskimos lands. ‘Extend across the continent.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. ii., p. 2. ‘Von der nördlichen Hudsonsbai aus fast die ganze Breite des Continents durchläuft—im Norden und Nordwesten den 65ten Grad u. beinahe die Gestade des Polarmeers erreicht.’ Buschmann, Athapask. Sprachst., p. 313. The Athabascan area touches Hudson’s Bay on the one side, the Pacific on the other.’ Latham’s Comp. Phil., p. 388. ‘Occupies the whole of the northern limits of North America, together with the Eskimos.’ Ludewig, Ab. Lang., p. 14.

The Chipewyans, or Athabascas proper, Mackenzie, Voy., p. cxvi., places between N. latitude 60° and 65°, and W. longitude 100° and 110°. ‘Between the Athabasca and Great Slave Lakes and Churchill River.’ Franklin’s Nar., vol. i., p. 241. ‘Frequent the Elk and Slave Rivers, and the country westward to Hay River.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. ii., p. 5. The Northern Indians occupy the territory immediately north of Fort Churchill, on the Western shore of Hudson Bay. ‘From the fifty-ninth to the sixty-eighth degree of North latitude, and from East to West is upward of five hundred miles wide.’ Hearne’s Jour., p. 326; Martin’s Brit. Col., vol. iii., p. 524.

The Copper Indians occupy the territory on both sides of the Coppermine River south of the Eskimo lands, which border on the ocean at the mouth of the river. They are called by the Athabascas Tantsawhot-Dinneh. Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., 76; Gallatin, in Am. Antiq. Soc. Transact., vol. ii., p. 19.

The Horn Mountain Indians ‘inhabit the country betwixt Great Bear Lake and the west end of Great Slave Lake.’ Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 82.

The Beaver Indians ‘inhabit the lower part of Peace River.’ Harmon’s Jour., p. 309. On Mackenzie’s map they are situated between Slave and Martin Lakes. ‘Between the Peace River and the West branch of the Mackenzie.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. ii., p. 6. Edchawtawhoot-dinneh, Strong-bow, Beaver or Thick-wood Indians, who frequent the Rivière aux Liards, or south branch of the Mackenzie River, Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 85.

The Thlingcha-dinneh, or Dog-ribs, ‘inhabit the country to the westward of the Copper Indians, as far as Mackenzie’s River.’ Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 80. Gallatin, in Am. Antiq. Soc. Transact., vol. ii., p. 19. ‘East from Martin Lake to the Coppermine River.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. ii., p. 3. ‘At Fort Confidence, north of Great Bear Lake.’ Simpson’s Nar., p. 200. ‘Between Martin’s Lake and the Coppermine River.’ Ludewig, Ab. Lang., p. 66.

The Kawcho-dinneh, or Hare Indians, are ‘immediately to the northward of the Dog-ribs on the north side of Bear Lake River.’ Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 83. They ‘inhabit the banks of the Mackenzie, from Slave Lake downwards.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. ii., p. 3. Between Bear Lake and Fort Good Hope, Simpson’s Nar., p. 98. On Mackenzie River, below Great Slave Lake, extending towards the Great Bear Lake. Gallatin, in Am. Antiq. Soc. Transact., vol. ii., p. 19.

‘To the eastward of the Dog-ribs are the Red-knives, named by their southern neighbors, the Tantsaut-‘dtinnè (Birch-rind people). They inhabit a stripe of country running northwards from Great Slave Lake, and in breadth from the Great Fish River to the Coppermine.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. ii., p. 4.

The Ambawtawhoot Tinneh, or Sheep Indians, ‘inhabit the Rocky Mountains near the sources of the Dawhoot-dinneh River which flows into Mackenzie’s.’ Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 84. Further down the Mackenzie, near the 65° parallel. Richardson’s Jour., vol. ii., p. 7.

The Sarsis, Circees, Ciriés, Sarsi, Sorsi, Sussees, Sursees, or Surcis, ‘live near the Rocky Mountains between the sources of the Athabasca and Saskatchewan Rivers; are said to be likewise of the Tinné stock.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. ii., p. 6. ‘Near the sources of one of the branches of the Saskachawan.’ Gallatin, in Am. Antiq. Soc. Transact., vol. ii., p. 19.

The Tsillawdawhoot Tinneh, or Brush-wood Indians, inhabit the upper branches of the Rivière aux Liards. Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 87. On the River aux Liards (Poplar River), Gallatin, in Am. Antiq. Soc. Transact., vol. ii., p. 19.

The Nagailer, or Chin Indians, on Mackenzie’s map, latitude 52° 30´ longitude 122° to 125°, ‘inhabit the country about 52° 30´ N. L. to the southward of the Takalli, and thence extend south along Fraser’s River towards the Straits of Fuca.’ Prichard’s Researches, vol. v., p. 427.

The Slouacuss Tinneh on Mackenzie’s are next north-west from the Nagailer. Vater places them at 52° 4´. ‘Noch näher der Küste um den 52° 4´ wohnten die Slua-cuss-dinais d. i. Rothfisch-Männer.’ Vater, Mithridates, vol. iii., pt. iii., p. 421. On the upper part of Frazers River. Cox’s Adven., p. 323.

The Rocky Mountain Indians are a small tribe situated to the south-west of the Sheep Indians. Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 85. ‘On the Unjigah or Peace River.’ Gallatin, in Am. Antiq. Soc. Transact., vol. ii., p. 19. On the upper tributaries of Peace River. Mackenzie’s Voy., p. 163.

The Tacullies, or Carriers, inhabit New Caledonia from latitude 52° 30´ to latitude 56°. ‘A general name given to the native tribes of New-Caledonia.’ Morse’s Report, p. 371. ‘All the natives of the Upper Fraser are called by the Hudson Bay Company, and indeed generally, “Porteurs,” or Carriers.’ Mayne’s B. C., p. 298. ‘Tokalis, Le Nord de la Nouvelle Calédonie.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 335. ‘Northern part of New Caledonia.’ Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 33. ‘On the sources of Fraser’s River.’ Ludewig, Ab. Lang., p. 178. ‘Unter den Völkern des Tinné-Stammes, welche das Land westlich von den Rocky Mountains bewohnen, nehmen die Takuli (Wasservolk) oder Carriers den grössten Theil von Neu-Caledonien ein.’ Buschmann, Athapask. Sprachst., p. 152. ‘Greater part of New Caledonia.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. ii., p. 31. ‘Latitude of Queen Charlotte’s Island.’ Prichard’s Researches, vol. v., p. 427. ‘From latitude 52° 30´, where it borders on the country of the Shoushaps, to latitude 56°, including Simpson’s River.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 202. ‘South of the Sicannis and Straits Lake.’ Harmon’s Jour., p. 196. They ‘are divided into eleven clans, or minor tribes, whose names are—beginning at the south—as follows: the Tautin, or Talkotin; the Tsilkotin or Chilcotin; the Naskotin; the Thetliotin; the Tsatsnotin; the Nulaautin; the Ntshaautin; the Natliautin; the Nikozliautin; the Tatshiautin; and the Babine Indians.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 202. ‘The principal tribes in the country north of the Columbia regions, are the Chilcotins and the Talcotins.’ Greenhow’s Hist. Ogn., p. 30. The Talcotins ‘occupy the territory above Fort Alexandria on Frazer River.’ Hazlitt’s B. C., p. 79. ‘Spend much of their time at Bellhoula, in the Bentinck Inlet.’ Mayne’s B. C., p. 299. The Calkobins ‘inhabit New Caledonia, west of the mountains.’ De Smet’s Letters and Sketches, p. 157. The Nateotetains inhabit the country lying directly west from Stuart Lake on either bank of the Nateotetain River. Harmon’s Jour., p. 218. The Naskootains lie along Frazer River from Frazer Lake. Id., p. 245.

The Sicannis dwell in the Rocky Mountains between the Beaver Indians on the east, and the Tacullies and Atnas on the west and south. Id., p. 190. They live east of the Tacullies in the Rocky Mountain. Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 202. ‘On the Rocky Mountains near the Rapid Indians and West of them.’ Morse’s Report, p. 371.

The Kutchins are a large nation, extending from the Mackenzie River westward along the Yukon Valley to near the mouth of the river, with the Eskimos on one side and the Koltshanes on the other. Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Sprache, p. 713, places them on the sixty-fifth parallel of latitude, and from 130° to 150° of longitude west from Greenwich. ‘Das Volk wohnt am Flusse Yukon oder Kwichpak und über ihm; es dehnt sich nach Richardson’s Karte auf dem 65ten Parallelkreise aus vom 130-150° W. L. v. Gr., und gehört daher zur Hälfte dem britischen und zur Hälfte dem russischen Nordamerika an.’ They are located ‘immediately to the northward of the Hare Indians on both banks of Mackenzie’s River.’ Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 83. Gallatin, Am. Antiq. Soc. Transact., vol. ii., p. 83, places their northern boundary in latitude 67° 27´. To the west of the Mackenzie the Loucheux interpose between the Esquimaux ‘and the Tinné, and spread westward until they come into the neighborhood of the coast tribes of Beering’s Sea.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., p. 377. ‘The Kutchin may be said to inhabit the territory extending from the Mackenzie, at the mouth of Peel’s River, lat. 68°, long. 134°, to Norton’s sound, living principally upon the banks of the Youcon and Porcupine Rivers, though several of the tribes are situated far inland, many days’ journey from either river.’ Jones, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 320. ‘They commence somewhere about the 65th degree of north latitude, and stretch westward from the Mackenzie to Behring’s straits.’ ‘They are divided into many petty tribes, each having its own chief, as the Tatlit-Kutchin (Peel River Indians), Ta-Kuth-Kutchin (Lapiene’s House Indians), Kutch-a-Kutchin (Youcan Indians), Touchon-ta-Kutchin (Wooded-country Indians), and many others.’ Kirby, in Smithsonian Rept., 1864, pp. 417, 418.

The Degothi-Kutchin, or Loucheux, Quarrellers, inhabit the west bank of the Mackenzie between the Hare Indians and Eskimos. The Loucheux are on the Mackenzie between the Arctic circle and the sea. Simpson’s Nar., p. 103.

The Vanta-Kutchin occupy ‘the banks of the Porcupine, and the country to the north of it.’ ‘Vanta-kutshi (people of the lakes), I only find that they belong to the Porcupine River.’ Latham’s Nat. Races, p. 294. They ‘inhabit the territory north of the head-waters of the Porcupine, somewhat below Lapierre’s House.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 430.

The Natche-Kutchin, or Gens de Large, dwell to the ‘north of the Porcupine River.’ ‘These extend on the north bank to the mouth of the Porcupine.’ Dall’s Alaska, pp. 109, 430.

‘Neyetse-Kutshi, (people of the open country), I only find that they belong to the Porcupine river.’ Latham’s Nat. Races, p. 294. Whymper’s map calls them Rat Indians.

‘The Na-tsik-Kut-chin inhabit the high ridge of land between the Yukon and the Arctic Sea.’ Hardisty, in Dall’s Alaska, p. 197.

The Kukuth-Kutchin ‘occupy the country south of the head-waters of the Porcupine.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 430.

The Tutchone Kutchin, Gens de Foux, or crow people, dwell upon both sides of the Yukon about Fort Selkirk, above the Han Kutchin. Id., pp. 109, 429.

‘Tathzey-Kutshi, or people of the ramparts, the Gens du Fou of the French Canadians, are spread from the upper parts of the Peel and Porcupine Rivers, within the British territory, to the river of the Mountain-men, in the Russian. The upper Yukon is therefore their occupancy. They fall into four bands: a, the Tratsè-kutshi, or people of the fork of the river; b, the Kutsha-kutshi; c, the Zèkà-thaka (Ziunka-kutshi), people on this side, (or middle people); and, d, the Tanna-kutshi, or people of the bluffs.’ Latham’s Nat. Races, p. 293.

The Han-Kutchin, An-Kutchin Gens de Bois, or wood people, inhabit the Yukon above Porcupine River. Whymper’s Alaska, p. 254. They are found on the Yukon next below the Crows, and above Fort Yukon. Dall’s Alaska, p. 109. ‘Han-Kutchi residing at the sources of the Yukon.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., p. 396.

‘The Artez-Kutshi, or the tough (hard) people. The sixty-second parallel cuts through their country; so that they lie between the head-waters of the Yukon and the Pacific.’ Latham’s Nat. Races, p. 293. See also Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., p. 397.

The Kutcha-Kutchins, or Kot-à-Kutchin, ‘are found in the country near the junction of the Porcupine and the Yukon.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 431.

The Tenan-Kutchin, or Tananahs, Gens de Buttes, or people of the mountains, occupy an unexplored domain south-west of Fort Yukon. Their country is drained by the Tananah River. Dall’s Alaska, p. 108. They are placed on Whymper’s map about twenty miles south of the Yukon, in longitude 151° west from Greenwich. On Whymper’s map are placed: the Birch Indians, or Gens de Bouleau on the south bank of the Yukon at its junction with Porcupine River; the Gens de Milieu, on the north bank of the Yukon, in longitude 150°; the Nuclukayettes on both banks in longitude 152°; and the Newicarguts, on the south bank between longitude 153° and 155°.

The Kenais occupy the peninsula of Kenai and the surrounding country. Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 562. ‘An den Ufern und den Umgebungen von Cook’s Inlet und um die Seen Iliamna und Kisshick.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 103.

The Unakatana Yunakakhotanas, live ‘on the Yukon between Koyukuk and Nuklukahyet.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 53.

‘Junakachotana, ein Stamm, welcher auf dem Flusse Jun-a-ka wohnt.’ Sagoskin, in Denkschr. der russ. geo. Gesell., p. 324. ‘Die Junnakachotana, am Flusse Jukchana oder Junna (so wird der obere Lauf des Kwichpakh genannt) zwischen den Nebenflüssen Nulato und Junnaka, so wie am untern Laufe des letztgenannten Flusses.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 6.

‘Die Junnachotana bewohnen den obern Lauf des Jukchana oder Junna von der Mündung des Junnaka.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 6.

‘Die Jugelnuten haben ihre Ansiedelungen am Kwichpakh, am Tschageljuk und an der Mündung des Innoka. Die Inkalichljuaten, am obern Laufe des Innoka. Die Thljegonchotana am Flusse Thljegon, der nach der Vereinigung mit dem Tatschegno den Innoka bildet.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., pp. 6, 7. ‘They extend virtually from the confluence of the Co-Yukuk River to Nuchukayette at the junction of the Tanana with the Yukon.’ ‘They also inhabit the banks of the Co-yukuk and other interior rivers.’ Whymper’s Alaska, p. 204.

The Ingaliks inhabit the Yukon from Nulato south to below the Anvic River. See Whymper’s Map. ‘The tribe extends from the edge of the wooded district near the sea to and across the Yukon below Nulato, on the Yukon and its affluents to the head of the delta, and across the portage to the Kuskoquim River and its branches.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 28. ‘Die Inkiliken, am untern Laufe des Junna südlich von Nulato.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 6. ‘An dem ganzen Ittege wohnt der Stamm der Inkiliken, welcher zu dem Volk der Ttynai gehört.’ Sagoskin, in Denkschr. der russ. geo. Gesell., p. 341. ‘An den Flüssen Kwichpack, Kuskokwim und anderen ihnen zuströmenden Flüssen.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 120. ‘The Ingaliks living on the north side of the Yukon between it and the Kaiyuh Mountains (known as Takaitsky to the Russians), bear the name of Kaiyuhkatana or “lowland people,” and the other branches of Ingaliks have similar names, while preserving their general tribal name.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 53. On Whymper’s map they are called T’kitskes and are situated east of the Yukon in latitude 64° north.

The Koltschanes occupy the territory inland between the sources of the Kuskoquim and Copper Rivers. ‘They extend as far inland as the watershed between the Copper-river and the Yukon.’ Latham’s Nat. Races, p. 292. ‘Die Galzanen oder Koltschanen (d. h. Fremdlinge, in der Sprache der Athnaer) bewohnen das Innere des Landes zwischen den Quellflüssen des Kuskokwim bis zu den nördlichen Zuflüssen des Athna oder Kupferstromes.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 7. ‘Diejenigen Stämme, welche die nördlichen und östlichen, dem Atna zuströmenden Flüsse und Flüsschen bewohnen, eben so die noch weiter, jenseits der Gebirge lebenden, werden von den Atnaern Koltschanen, d. h. Fremdlinge, genannt.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 101. ‘North of the river Atna.’ Ludewig, Ab. Lang., p. 96.

The Nehannes occupy the territory midway between Mount St. Elias and the Mackenzie River, from Fort Selkirk and the Stakine River. ‘According to Mr. Isbister, range the country between the Russian settlements on the Stikine River and the Rocky Mountains.’ Latham’s Nat. Races, p. 295. The Nohhannies live ‘upon the upper branches of the Rivière aux Liards.’ Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 87. They ‘inhabit the angle between that branch and the great bend of the trunk of the river, and are neighbours of the Beaver Indians.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. ii., p. 6. The region which includes the Lewis, or Tahco, and Pelly Rivers, with the valley of the Chilkaht River, is occupied by tribes known to the Hudson Bay voyageurs as Nehannees. Those on the Pelly and Macmillan rivers call themselves Affats-tena. Some of them near Liard’s River call themselves Daho-tena or Acheto-tena, and others are called Sicannees by the voyageurs. Those near Francis Lake are known as Mauvais Monde, or Slavé Indians. About Fort Selkirk they have been called Gens des Foux.

The Kenai proper, or Kenai-tena, or Thnaina, inhabit the peninsula of Kenai, the shores of Cook Inlet, and thence westerly across the Chigmit Mountains, nearly to the Kuskoquim River. They ‘inhabit the country near Cook’s Inlet, and both shores of the Inlet as far south as Chugachik Bay.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 430. ‘Die eigentlichen Thnaina bewohnen die Halbinsel Kenai und ziehen sich von da westlich über das Tschigmit-Gebirge zum Mantaschtano oder Tchalchukh, einem südlichen Nebenflusse des Kuskokwim.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 7. ‘Dieses—an den Ufern und den Umgebungen von Cook’s Inlet und um die Seen Iliamna und Kisshick lebende Volk gehört zu dem selben Stamme wie die Galzanen oder Koltschanen, Atnaer, und Koloschen.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 103. ‘Les Kenayzi habitent la côte occidentale de l’entrée de Cook ou du golfe Kenayskaja.’ Humboldt, Pol., tom. i., p. 348. ‘The Indians of Cook’s Inlet and adjacent waters are called “Kanisky.” They are settled along the shore of the inlet and on the east shore of the peninsula.’ ‘East of Cook’s Inlet, in Prince William’s Sound, there are but few Indians, they are called “Nuchusk.”‘ Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 575.

The Atnas occupy the Atna or Copper River from near its mouth to near its source. ‘At the mouth of the Copper River.’ Latham’s Comp. Phil., vol. viii., p. 392. ‘Die Athnaer, am Athna oder Kupferflusse.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 7. ‘On the upper part of the Atna or Copper River are a little-known tribe of the above name [viz., Ah-tena]. They have been called Atnaer and Kolshina by the Russians, and Yellow Knife or Nehaunee by the English.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 429. ‘Diese kleine, jetzt ungefähr aus 60 Familien bestehende, Völkerschaft wohnt an den Ufern des Flusses Atna und nennt sich Atnaer.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 97.

Footnotes

[1] Of late, custom gives to the main land of Russian America, the name Alaska; to the peninsula, Aliaska; and to a large island of the Aleutian Archipelago, Unalashka. The word of which the present name Alaska is a corruption, is first encountered in the narrative of Betsevin, who, in 1761, wintered on the peninsula, supposing it to be an island. The author of Neue Nachrichten von denen neuentdekten Insuln, writes, page 53, ‘womit man nach der abgelegensten Insul Aläksu oder Alachschak über gieng.’ Again, at page 57, in giving a description of the animals on the supposed island he calls it ‘auf der Insul Aläsku.’ ‘This,’ says Coxe, Russian Discoveries, p. 72, ‘is probably the same island which is laid down in Krenitzin’s chart under the name of Alaxa.’ Unalaschka is given by the author of Neue Nachrichten, p. 74, in his narrative of the voyage of Drusinin, who hunted on that island in 1763. At page 115 he again mentions the ‘grosse Insul Aläksu.’ On page 125, in Glottoff’s log-book, 1764, is the entry: ‘Den 28sten May der Wind Ostsüdost; man kam an die Insul Alaska oder Aläksu.’ Still following the author of Neue Nachrichten, we have on page 166, in an account of the voyages of Otseredin and Popoff, who hunted upon the Aleutian Islands in 1769, mention of a report by the natives ‘that beyond Unimak is said to be a large land Aläschka, the extent of which the islanders do not know.’ On Cook’s Atlas, voyage 1778, the peninsula is called Alaska, and the island Oonalaska, La Pérouse, in his atlas, map No. 15, 1786, calls the peninsula Alaska, and the island Ounalaska. The Spaniards, in the Atlas para el Viage de las goletas Sutil y Mexicana, 1792, write Alasca for the peninsula, and for the island Unalaska. Sauer, in his account of Billings’ expedition, 1790, calls the main land Alaska, the peninsula Alyaska, and the island Oonalashka. Wrangell, in Baer’s Statistische und ethnographische Nachrichten, p. 123, writes for the peninsula Alaska and for the island Unalaschka. Holmberg, Ethnographische Skizzen, p. 78, calls the island Unalaschka and the peninsula Aljaska. Dall, Alaska, p. 529, says that the peninsula or main land was called by the natives Alayeksa, and the island Nagun-alayeksa, ‘or the land near Alayeksa.’ Thus we have, from which to choose, the orthography of the earliest voyagers to this coast—Russian, English, French, Spanish, German, and American. The simple word Alaksu, after undergoing many contortions, some authors writing it differently on different pages of the same book, has at length become Alaska, as applied to the main land; Aliaska for the peninsula, and Unalashka as the name of the island. As these names are all corruptions from some one original word, whatever that may be, I see no reason for giving the error three different forms. I therefore write Alaska for the mainland and peninsula and Unalaska for the island.

[2] The name is said, by Charlevoix ‘to be derived from the language of the Abenaqui, a tribe of Algonquins in Canada, who border upon them and call them “Esquimantsic.”‘ ‘L’origine de leur nom n’est pas certain. Toutefois il y a bien de l’apparence qu’il vient du mot Abenaqui, esquimantsic qui veut dire “mangeur de viande cruë.”‘ See Prichard’s Physical History of Mankind, vol. v., pp. 367, 373. ‘French writers call them Eskimaux.’ ‘English authors, in adopting this term, have most generally written it “Esquimaux,” but Dr. Latham, and other recent ethnologists, write it “Eskimos,” after the Danish orthography.’ Richardson’s Polar Regions, p. 298. ‘Probably of Canadian origin, and the word, which in French orthography is written Esquimaux, was probably originally Ceux qui miaux (miaulent).’ Richardson’s Journal, vol. i., p. 340. ‘Said to be a corruption of Eskimantik, i. e. raw-fish-eaters, a nickname given them by their former neighbors, the Mohicans.’ Seemann’s Voyage of the Herald, vol. ii., p. 49. Eskimo is derived from a word indicating sorcerer or Shamán. ‘The northern Tinneh use the word Uskeemi.’ Dall’s Alaska, pp. 144, 531. ‘Their own national designation is “Keralit.”‘ Morton’s Crania Americana, p. 52. They ‘call themselves “Innuit,” which signifies “man.”‘ Armstrong’s Narrative, p. 191.

[3] It is not without reluctance that I change a word from the commonly accepted orthography. Names of places, though originating in error, when once established, it is better to leave unchanged. Indian names, coming to us through Russian, German, French, or Spanish writers, should be presented in English by such letters as will best produce the original Indian pronunciation. European personal names, however, no matter how long, nor how commonly they may have been erroneously used, should be immediately corrected. Every man who can spell is supposed to be able to give the correct orthography of his own name, and his spelling should in every instance be followed, when it can be ascertained. Veit Bering, anglicè Vitus Behring, was of a Danish family, several members of which were well known in literature before his own time. In Danish writings, as well as among the biographies of Russian admirals, where may be found a fac-simile of his autograph, the name is spelled Bering. It is so given by Humboldt, and by the Dictionnaire de la Conversation. The author of the Neue Nachrichten von denen neuentdekten Insuln, one of the oldest printed works on Russian discoveries in America; as well as Müller, who was the companion of Bering for many years; and Buschmann,—all write Bering. Baer remarks: ‘Ich schreibe ferner Bering, obgleich es jetzt fast allgemein geworden ist, Behring zu schreiben, und auch die Engländer und Franzosen sich der letztern Schreibart bequemt haben. Bering war ein Däne und seine Familie war lange vor ihm in der Literatur-Geschichte bekannt. Sie hat ihren Namen auf die von mir angenommene Weise drucken lassen. Derselben Schreibart bediente sich auch der Historiograph Müller, der längere Zeit unter seinen Befehlen gedient hatte, und Pallas.’ Statistische und ethnographische Nachrichten, p. 328. There is no doubt that the famous navigator wrote his name Bering, and that the letter ‘h’ was subsequently inserted to give the Danish sound to the letter ‘e.’ To accomplish the same purpose, perhaps, Coxe, Langsdorff, Beechey, and others write Beering.

[4] ‘Die Kadjacker im Gegentheil nähern sich mehr den Amerikanischen Stämmen und gleichen in ihrem Aeussern gar nicht den Eskimos oder den Asiatischen Völkern, wahrscheinlich haben sie durch die Vermischung mit den Stämmen Amerika’s ihre ursprüngliche Asiatische äussere Gestalt und Gesichtsbildung verloren und nur die Sprache beibehalten.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn. Nachr., p. 124. ‘Ils ressemblent beaucoup aux indigènes des îles Curiles, dépendantes du Japon.’ Laplace, Circumnavigation de l’Artémise, vol. vi., p. 45.

[5] ‘The tribes crowded together on the shores of Beering’s Sea within a comparatively small extent of coast-line, exhibit a greater variety, both in personal appearance and dialect, than that which exists between the Western Eskimos and their distant countrymen in Labrador; and ethnologists have found some difficulty in classifying them properly.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., p. 363.

[6] For authorities, see Tribal Boundaries, at the end of this chapter.

[7] Collinson, in London Geographical Society Journal, vol. xxv., p. 201.

[8] ‘Im nordwestlichsten Theile von Amerika fand Franklin den Boden, Mitte August, schon in einer Tiefe von 16 Zoll gefroren. Richardson sah an einem östlicheren Punkte der Küste, in 71° 12´ Breite, die Eisschicht im Julius aufgethaut bis 3 Fuss unter der krautbedeckten Oberfläche.’ Humboldt, Kosmos, tom. iv., p. 47.

[9] Silliman’s Journal, vol. xvi., p. 130. Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 13. Armstrong’s Nar., p. 289.

[10] ‘Characteristic of the Arctic regions.’ Silliman’s Jour., vol. xvi., p. 143.

[11] At Kotzebue Sound, in July, Choris writes: ‘Le sol était émaillé de fleurs de couleurs variées, dans tous les endroits où la neige venait de fondre.’ Voyage Pittoresque, pt. ii., p. 8.

[12] ‘In der Einöde der Inseln von Neu-Sibirien finden grosse Heerden von Rennthieren und zahllose Lemminge noch hinlängliche Nahrung.’ Humboldt, Kosmos, vol. iv., p. 42.

[13] ‘Thermometer rises as high as 61° Fahr. With a sun shining throughout the twenty-four hours the growth of plants is rapid in the extreme.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 15.

[14] ‘During the period of incubation of the aquatic birds, every hole and projecting crag on the sides of this rock is occupied by them. Its shores resound with the chorus of thousands of the feathery tribe.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. i., p. 349.

[15] ‘Their complexion, if divested of its usual covering of dirt, can hardly be called dark.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 51. ‘In comparison with other Americans, of a white complexion.’ McCulloh’s Aboriginal History of America, p. 20. ‘White Complexion, not Copper coloured.’ Dobbs’ Hudson’s Bay, p. 50. ‘Almost as white as Europeans.’ Kalm’s Travels, vol. ii., p. 263. ‘Not darker than that of a Portuguese.’ Lyon’s Journal, p. 224. ‘Scarcely a shade darker than a deep brunette.’ Parry’s 3rd Voyage, p. 493. ‘Their complexion is light.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 381. ‘Eye-witnesses agree in their superior lightness of complexion over the Chinooks.’ Pickering’s Races of Man, U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 28. At Coppermine River they are ‘of a dirty copper color; some of the women, however, are more fair and ruddy.’ Hearne’s Travels, p. 166. ‘Considerably fairer than the Indian tribes.’ Simpson’s Nar., p. 110. At Cape Bathurst ‘The complexion is swarthy, chiefly, I think, from exposure and the accumulation of dirt.’ Armstrong’s Nar., p. 192. ‘Shew little of the copper-colour of the Red Indians.’ Richardson’s Pol. Reg., p. 303. ‘From exposure to weather they become dark after manhood.’ Richardson’s Nar., vol. i., p. 343.

[16] ‘Both sexes are well proportioned, stout, muscular, and active.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 50. ‘A stout, well-looking people.’ Simpson’s Nar., pp. 110, 114. ‘Below the mean of the Caucasian race.’ Dr. Hayes, in Historic. Magazine, vol. i., p. 6. ‘They are thick set, have a decided tendency to obesity, and are seldom more than five feet in height.’ Figuier’s Human Race, p. 211. At Kotzebue Sound, ‘tallest man was five feet nine inches; tallest woman, five feet four inches.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. i., p. 360. ‘Average height was five feet four and a half inches.’ At the mouth of the Mackenzie they are of ‘middle stature, strong and muscular.’ Armstrong’s Nar., pp. 149, 192. ‘Low, broad-set, not well made, nor strong.’ Hearne’s Trav., p. 166. ‘The men were in general stout.’ Franklin’s Nar., vol. i., p. 29. ‘Of a middle size, robust make, and healthy appearance.’ Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. i., p. 209. ‘Men vary in height from about five feet to five feet ten inches.’ Richardson’s Pol. Reg., p. 304. ‘Women were generally short.’ ‘Their figure inclines to squat.’ Hooper’s Tuski, p. 224.

[17] ‘Tous les individus qui appartiennent à la famille des Eskimaux, se distinguent par la petitesse de leurs pieds et de leurs mains, et la grosseur énorme de leurs têtes.’ De Pauw, Recherches Phil., tom. i., p. 262. ‘The hands and feet are delicately small and well formed.’ Richardson’s Pol. Reg., p. 304. ‘Small and beautifully made.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 50. At Point Barrow, ‘their hands, notwithstanding the great amount of manual labour to which they are subject, were beautifully small and well-formed, a description equally applicable to their feet.’ Armstrong’s Nar., p. 101.

[18] ‘The head is of good size, rather flat superiorly, but very fully developed posteriorly, evidencing a preponderance of the animal passions; the forehead was, for the most part, low and receding; in a few it was somewhat vertical, but narrow.’ Armstrong’s Nar., p. 193. Their cranial characteristics ‘are the strongly developed coronary ridge, the obliquity of the zygoma, and its greater capacity compared with the Indian cranium. The former is essentially pyramidal, while the latter more nearly approaches a cubic shape.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 376. ‘Greatest breadth of the face is just below the eyes, the forehead tapers upwards, ending narrowly, but not acutely, and in like manner the chin is a blunt cone.’ Richardson’s Pol. Reg., p. 302. Dr Gall, whose observations on the same skulls presented him for phrenological observation are published by M. Louis Choris, thus comments upon the head of a female Eskimo from Kotzebue Sound: ‘L’organe de l’instinct de la propagation se trouve extrêmement développé pour une tête de femme.’ He finds the musical and intellectual organs poorly developed; while vanity and love of children are well displayed. ‘En général,’ sagely concluded the doctor, ‘cette tête femme présentait une organization aussi heureuse que celle de la plupart des femmes d’Europe.’ Voy. Pitt., pt. ii., p. 16.

[19] ‘Large fat round faces, high cheek bones, small hazel eyes, eyebrows slanting like the Chinese, and wide mouths.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. i., p. 345. ‘Broad, flat faces, high cheekbones.’ Dr Hayes, in Hist. Mag., vol. i., p. 6. Their ‘teeth are regular, but, from the nature of their food, and from their practice of preparing hides by chewing, are worn down almost to the gums at an early age.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 51. At Hudson Strait, broad, flat, pleasing face; small and generally sore eyes; given to bleeding at the nose. Franklin’s Nar., vol. i., p. 29. ‘Small eyes and very high cheek bones.’ Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. i., p. 209. ‘La face platte, la bouche ronde, le nez petit sans être écrasé, le blanc de l’oeil jaunâtre, l’iris noir et peu brillant.’ De Pauw, Recherches Phil., tom. i., p. 262. They have ‘small, wild-looking eyes, large and very foul teeth, the hair generally black, but sometimes fair, and always in extreme disorder.’ Brownell’s Ind. Races, p. 467. ‘As contrasted with the other native American races, their eyes are remarkable, being narrow and more or less oblique.’ Richardson’s Nar., vol. i., p. 343. Expression of face intelligent and good-natured. Both sexes have mostly round, flat faces, with Mongolian cast. Hooper’s Tuski, p. 223.

[20] ‘Allowed to hang down in a club to the shoulder.’ Richardson’s Pol. Reg., p. 305. Hair cut ‘close round the crown of the head, and thereby, leaving a bushy ring round the lower part of it.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. i., p. 345. ‘Their hair is straight, black, and coarse.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 51. A fierce expression characterized them on the Mackenzie River, which ‘was increased by the long disheveled hair flowing about their shoulders.’ Armstrong’s Nar., p. 149. At Kotzebue Sound ‘their hair was done up in large plaits on each side of the head.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. i., p. 360. At Camden Bay, lofty top-knots; at Point Barrow, none. At Coppermine River the hair is worn short, unshaven on the crown, and bound with strips of deer-skin. Simpson’s Nar., pp. 121, 157. Some of the men have bare crowns, but the majority wear the hair flowing naturally. The women cut the hair short in front, level with the eyebrows. At Humphrey Point it is twisted with some false hair into two immense bows on the back of the head. Hooper’s Tuski, p. 225. ‘Their hair hangs down long, but is cut quite short on the crown of the head.’ Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. i., p. 210. Hair cut like ‘that of a Capuchin friar.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 51.

[21] Crantz says the Greenlanders root it out. ‘The old men had a few gray hairs on their chins, but the young ones, though grown up, were beardless.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. i., p. 332. ‘The possession of a beard is very rare, but a slight moustache is not infrequent.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 51. ‘As the men grow old, they have more hair on the face than Red Indians.’ Richardson’s Nar., vol. i., p. 343. ‘Generally an absence of beard and whiskers.’ Armstrong’s Nar., p. 193. ‘Beard is universally wanting.’ Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. i., p. 252. ‘The young men have little beard, but some of the old ones have a tolerable shew of long gray hairs on the upper lip and chin.’ Richardson’s Pol. Reg., p. 303. ‘All have beards.’ Bell’s Geography, vol. v., p. 294. Kirby affirms that in Alaska ‘many of them have a profusion of whiskers and beard.’ Smithsonian Report, 1864, p. 416.

[22] ‘The lip is perforated for the labret as the boy approaches manhood, and is considered an important era in his life.’ Armstrong’s Nar., p. 194. ‘Some wore but one, others one on each side of the mouth.’ Hooper’s Tuski, p. 224. ‘Lip ornaments, with the males, appear to correspond with the tattooing of the chins of the females.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. i., p. 384.

[23] ‘The women tattoo their faces in blue lines produced by making stitches with a fine needle and thread, smeared with lampblack.’ Richardson’s Pol. Reg., p. 305. Between Kotzebue Sound and Icy Cape, ‘all the women were tattooed upon the chin with three small lines.’ They blacken ‘the edges of the eyelids with plumbago, rubbed up with a little saliva upon a piece of slate.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. i., p. 360. At Point Barrow, the women have on the chin ‘a vertical line about half an inch broad in the centre, extending from the lip, with a parallel but narrower one on either side of it, a little apart. Some had two vertical lines protruding from either angle of the mouth; which is a mark of their high position in the tribe.’ Armstrong’s Nar., pp. 101, 149. On Bering Isle, men as well as women tattoo. ‘Plusieurs hommes avaient le visage tatoué.’ Choris, Voy. Pitt., pt. ii., p. 5.

[24] ‘Give a particularly disgusting look when the bones are taken out, as the saliva continually runs over the chin.’ Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. i., p. 227. At Camden, labrets were made of large blue beads, glued to pieces of ivory. None worn at Coppermine River. Simpson’s Nar., pp. 119, 347. ‘Many of them also transfix the septum of the nose with a dentalium shell or ivory needle.’ Richardson’s Nar., vol. i., p. 355.

[25] ‘These natives almost universally use a very unpleasant liquid for cleansing purposes. They tan and soften the seal-skin used for boot-soles with it.’ Whymper’s Alaska, p. 161. ‘Females occasionally wash their hair and faces with their own urine, the odour of which is agreeable to both sexes, and they are well accustomed to it, as this liquor is kept in tubs in the porches of their huts for use in dressing the deer and seal skins.’ Richardson’s Pol. Reg., p. 304. ‘Show much skill in the preparation of whale, seal, and deer-skins.’ Richardson’s Nar., vol. i., p. 357. They have a great antipathy to water. ‘Occasionally they wash their bodies with a certain animal fluid, but even this process is seldom gone through.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 62.

[26] ‘During the summer, when on whaling or sealing excursions, a coat of the gut of the whale, and boots of seal or walrus hide, are used as water-proof coverings.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 53. At Point Barrow they wear ‘Kamleikas or water-proof shirts, made of the entrails of seals.’ Simpson’s Nar., p. 156. Women wear close-fitting breeches of seal-skin. Hooper’s Tuski, p. 224. ‘They are on the whole as good as the best oil-skins in England.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. i., p. 340.

[27] The dress of the two sexes is much alike, the outer shirt or jacket having a pointed skirt before and behind, those of the female being merely a little longer. ‘Pretty much the same for both sexes.’ Figuier’s Human Race, p. 214.

[28] ‘They have besides this a jacket made of eider drakes’ skins sewed together, which, put on underneath their other dress, is a tolerable protection against a distant arrow, and is worn in times of hostility.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. i., p. 340. Messrs Dease and Simpson found those of Point Barrow ‘well clothed in seal and reindeer skins.’ Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. viii., p. 221. ‘The finest dresses are made of the skins of unborn deer.’ Richardson’s Pol. Reg., p. 306. ‘The half-developed skin of a fawn that has never lived, obtained by driving the doe till her offspring is prematurely born.’ Whymper’s Alaska, p. 160. Eskimo women pay much regard to their toilet. Richardson’s Nar., vol. i., p. 355.

[29] Their dress consists of two suits. Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 52. ‘Reindeer skin—the fur next the body.’ Armstrong’s Nar., p. 149. ‘Two women, dressed like men, looked frightfully with their tattooed faces.’ Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. i., p. 191. Seal-skin jackets, bear-skin trowsers, and white-fox skin caps, is the male costume at Hudson Strait. The female dress is the same, with the addition of a hood for carrying children. Franklin’s Nar., vol. i., p. 29. At Camden Bay, reindeer-skin jackets and water-proof boots. Simpson’s Nar., p. 119. At Coppermine River, ‘women’s boots which are not stiffened out with whalebone, and the tails of their jackets are not over one foot long.’ Hearne’s Travels, p. 166. Deer-skin, hair outside, ornamented with white fur. Kirby, in Smithsonian Rept., 1864, p. 416. The indoor dress of the eastern Eskimo is of reindeer-skin, with the fur inside. ‘When they go out, another entire suit with the fur outside is put over all, and a pair of watertight sealskin moccasins, with similar mittens for their hands.’ Silliman’s Journal, vol. xvi., p. 146. The frock at Coppermine River has a tail something like a dress-coat. Simpson’s Nar., p. 350.

[30] ‘Some of them are even half-naked, as a summer heat, even of 10° is insupportable to them.’ Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. i., p. 205.

[31] ‘Down to the frozen subsoil.’ Richardson’s Pol. Reg., p. 310. ‘Some are wholly above ground, others have their roof scarcely raised above it.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 301.

[32] ‘Formed of stakes placed upright in the ground about six feet high, either circular or oval in form, from which others inclined so as to form a sloping roof.’ Armstrong’s Nar., p. 149. ‘Half underground, with the entrance more or less so.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 13. ‘They are more than half underground,’ and are ‘about twenty feet square and eight feet deep.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 57.

[33] ‘The whole building is covered with earth to the thickness of a foot or more, and in a few years it becomes overgrown with grass, looking from a short distance like a small tumulus.’ Richardson’s Pol. Reg., p. 310.

[34] A smaller drift-wood house is sometimes built with a side-door. ‘Light and air are admitted by a low door at one end.’ Richardson’s Nar., vol. i., p. 245.

[35] ‘The fire in the centre is never lit merely for the sake of warmth, as the lamps are sufficient for that purpose.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 58. ‘They have no fire-places; but a stone placed in the centre serves for a support to the lamp, by which the little cooking that is required is performed.’ Richardson’s Nar., vol. i., p. 348.

[36] ‘On trouva plusieurs huttes construites en bois, moitié dans la terre, moitié en dehors.’ Choris, Voy. Pitt., pt. ii., p. 6. At Beaufort Bay are wooden huts. Simpson’s Nar., p. 177. At Toker Point, ‘built of drift-wood and sods of turf or mud.’ Hooper’s Tuski, p. 343. At Cape Krusenstern the houses ‘appeared like little round hills, with fences of whale-bone.’ Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. i., p. 237. ‘They construct yourts or winter residences upon those parts of the shore which are adapted to their convenience, such as the mouths of rivers, the entrances of inlets, or jutting points of land, but always upon low ground.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 300.

[37] ‘I was surprised at the vast quantity of driftwood accumulated on its shore, several acres being thickly covered with it, and many pieces at least sixty feet in length.’ Armstrong’s Nar., p. 104.

[38] ‘Eastern Esquimaux never seem to think of fire as a means of imparting warmth.’ Simpson’s Nar., p. 346.

[39] Their houses are ‘moveable tents, constructed of poles and skins.’ Brownell’s Ind. Races, p. 469. ‘Neither wind nor watertight.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. i., p. 361. At Cape Smythe, Hooper saw seven Eskimo tents of seal skin. Tuski, p. 216. ‘We entered a small tent of morse-skins, made in the form of a canoe.’ Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. i., p. 226. At Coppermine River their tents in summer are of deer-skin with the hair on, and circular. Hearne’s Travels, p. 167. At St Lawrence Island, Kotzebue saw no settled dwellings, ‘only several small tents built of the ribs of whales, and covered with the skin of the morse.’ Voyage, vol. i., pp. 190-191.

[40] ‘In parallelograms, and so adjusted as to form a rotunda, with an arched roof.’ Silliman’s Jour., vol. xvi., p. 146. Parry’s Voy., vol. v., p. 200. Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 44.

[41] ‘These houses are durable, the wind has little effect on them, and they resist the thaw until the sun acquires very considerable power.’ Richardson’s Nar., vol. i., p. 350.

[42] The snow houses are called by the natives igloo, and the underground huts yourts, or yurts, and their tents topeks. Winter residence, ‘iglut.’ Richardson’s Pol. Reg., p. 310. Beechey, describing the same kind of buildings, calls them ‘yourts.’ Voy., vol. i., p. 366. Tent of skins, tie-poo-eet; topak; toopek. Tent, too-pote. Ibid., vol. ii., p. 381. ‘Yourts.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 59. Tent, topek. Dall says Richardson is wrong, and that igloo or iglu is the name of ice houses. Alaska, p. 532. House, iglo. Tent, tuppek. Richardson’s Jour., vol. ii., p. 378. Snow house, eegloo. Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 47.

[43] They are so fond of the warm blood of dying animals that they invented an instrument to secure it. See Beechey’s Voy., vol. i., p. 344. ‘Whale-blubber, their great delicacy, is sickening and dangerous to a European stomach.’ Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. i., p. 192.

[44] Hearne says that the natives on the Arctic coast of British America are so disgustingly filthy that when they have bleeding at the nose they lick up their own blood. Travels, p. 161. ‘Salt always appeared an abomination.’ ‘They seldom cook their food, the frost apparently acting as a substitute for fire.’ Collinson, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxv., p. 201. At Kotzebue Sound they ‘seem to subsist entirely on the flesh of marine animals, which they, for the most part, eat raw.’ Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. i., p. 239.

[45] ‘During the two summer months they hunt and live on swans, geese, and ducks.’ Richardson’s Nar., vol. i., p. 346.

[46] ‘Secures winter feasts and abundance of oil for the lamps of a whole village, and there is great rejoicing.’ Richardson’s Pol. Reg., p. 313. ‘The capture of the seal and walrus is effected in the same manner. Salmon and other fish are caught in nets.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 61. ‘Six small perforated ivory balls attached separately to cords of sinew three feet long.’ Dease & Simpson, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. viii., 222.

[47] Near Smith River, a low piece of ground, two miles broad at the beach, was found enclosed by double rows of turf set up to represent men, narrowing towards a lake, into which reindeer were driven and killed. Simpson’s Nar., p. 135.

[48] ‘Ce qu’il y a encore de frappant dans la complexion de ces barbares, c’est l’extrême chaleur de leur estomac et de leur sang; ils échauffent tellement, par leur haleine ardente, les huttes où ils assemblent en hiver, que les Européans, s’y sentent étouffés, comme dans une étuve dont la chaleur est trop graduée: aussi ne font-ils jamais de feu dans leur habitation en aucune saison, et ils ignorent l’usage des cheminées, sous le climat le plus froid du globe.’ De Pauw, Recherches Phil., tom. i., p. 261.

[49] ‘The voluptuousness and Polygamy of the North American Indians, under a temperature of almost perpetual winter, is far greater than that of the most sensual tropical nations.’ Martin’s British Colonies, vol. iii., p. 524.

[50] ‘The seal is perhaps their most useful animal, not merely furnishing oil and blubber, but the skin used for their canoes, thongs, nets, lassoes, and boot soles.’ Whymper’s Alaska, p. 161.

[51] They have ‘two sorts of bows; arrows pointed with iron, flint, and bone, or blunt for birds; a dart with throwing-board for seals; a spear headed with iron or copper, the handle about six feet long; and formidable iron knives, equally adapted for throwing, cutting, or stabbing.’ Simpson’s Nar., p. 123. They ascended the Mackenzie in former times as far as the Ramparts, to obtain flinty slate for lance and arrow points. Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., p. 213. At St. Lawrence Island, they are armed with a knife two feet long. Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. i., pp. 193, 211. One weapon was ‘a walrus tooth fixed to the end of a wooden staff.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. i., p. 343.

[52] At the Coppermine River, arrows are pointed with slate or copper; hatchets also are made of a thick lump of copper. Hearne’s Travels, pp. 161-9.

[53] ‘The old ivory knives and flint axes are now superseded, the Russians having introduced the common European sheath-knife and hatchet. The board for throwing darts is in use, and is similar to that of the Polynesians.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 53.

[54] The ‘baydare is a large open boat, quite flat, made of sea-lions’ skins,’ and is used also for a tent. At Lantscheff Island it was ‘a large and probably leathern boat, with black sails.’ Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. i., pp. 202, 216. ‘The kaiyaks are impelled by a double-bladed paddle, used with or without a central rest, and the umiaks with oars.’ Can ‘propel their kaiyaks at the rate of seven miles an hour.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., pp. 238, 358. At Hudson Strait they have canoes of seal-skin, like those of Greenland. Franklin’s Nar., vol. i., p. 29. Not a drop of water can penetrate the opening into the canoe. Müller’s Voy., p. 46. The kyak is like an English wager-boat. They are ‘much stronger than their lightness would lead one to suppose.’ Hooper’s Tuski, pp. 226, 228. Oomiaks or family canoes of skin; float in six inches of water. Simpson’s Nar., p. 148. ‘With these boats they make long voyages, frequently visiting St. Lawrence Island.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 380. ‘Frame work of wood—when this cannot be procured whalebone is substituted.’ Armstrong’s Nar., p. 98. Mackenzie saw boats put together with whalebone; ‘sewed in some parts, and tied in others.’ Voyages, p. 67. They also use a sail. ‘On découvrit au loin, dans la baie, un bateau qui allait à la voile; elle était en cuir.’ Choris, Voy. Pitt., pt. ii., p. 6. They ‘are the best means yet discovered by mankind to go from place to place.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 43. ‘It is wonderful what long voyages they make in these slight boats.’ Campbell’s Voy., p. 114. ‘The skin, when soaked with water, is translucent; and a stranger placing his foot upon the flat yielding surface at the bottom of the boat fancies it a frail security.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. i., p. 346.

[55] The ‘kajak is shaped like a weaver’s shuttle.’ Richardson’s Pol. Reg., p. 308. ‘The paddle is in the hands of an Eskimo, what the balancing pole is to a tight-rope dancer.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 56.

[56] ‘The Koltshanen construct birch-bark canoes; but on the coast skin boats or baidars, like the Eskimo kaiyaks and umiaks, are employed.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., p. 405. If by accident a hole should be made, it is stopped with a piece of the flesh of the sea-dog, or fat of the whale, which they always carry with them. Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 43. They strike ‘the water with a quick, regular motion, first on one side, and then on the other.’ Cook’s Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 516. ‘Wiegen nie über 30 Pfund, und haben ein dünnes mit Leder überzognes Gerippe.’ Neue Nachrichten, p. 152. ‘The Aleutians put to sea with them in all weathers.’ Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 40. At the Shumagin Islands they ‘are generally about twelve feet in length, sharp at each end, and about twenty inches broad.’ Meares’ Voy., p. x. They are as transparent as oiled paper. At Unalaska they are so light that they can be carried in one hand. Sauer, Billings’ Ex., p. 157, 159.

[57] ‘They average twelve feet in length, two feet six inches in height, two feet broad, and have the fore part turned up in a gentle curve.’ ‘The floor resembles a grating without cross-bars, and is almost a foot from the level of the snow.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 56. At Saritscheff Island ‘I particularly remarked two very neat sledges made of morse and whalebones.’ Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. i., p. 201. ‘To make the runners glide smoothly, a coating of ice is given to them.’ Richardson’s Pol. Reg., p. 309. At Norton Sound Captain Cook found sledges ten feet long and twenty inches in width. A rail-work on each side, and shod with bone; ‘neatly put together; some with wooden pins, but mostly with thongs or lashings of whale-bone.’ Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 442, 443. Mackenzie describes the sledges of British America, Voyages, pp. 67, 68.

[58] ‘About the size of those of Newfoundland, with shorter legs.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 25. ‘Neither plentiful nor of a good class.’ Whymper’s Alaska, p. 171.

[59] The dog will hunt bear and reindeer, but is afraid of its near relative, the wolf. Brownell’s Ind. Races, p. 474.

[60] ‘An average length is four and a half feet.’ Whymper’s Alaska, p. 183. ‘The Innuit snowshoe is small and nearly flat,’ ‘seldom over thirty inches long.’ ‘They are always rights and lefts.’ Ingalik larger; Kutchin same style; Hudson Bay, thirty inches in length. Dall’s Alaska, pp. 190, 191. ‘They are from two to three feet long, a foot broad, and slightly turned up in front.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 60.

[61] ‘Blue beads, cutlery, tobacco, and buttons, were the articles in request.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. i., p. 352. At Hudson Strait they have a custom of licking with the tongue each article purchased, as a finish to the bargain. Franklin’s Nar., vol. i., 27. ‘Articles of Russian manufacture find their way from tribe to tribe along the American coast, eastward to Repulse Bay.’ Richardson’s Pol. Reg., p. 317.

[62] Are very anxious to barter arrows, seal-skin boots, and ivory ornaments for tobacco, beads, and particularly for iron. Hooper’s Tuski, p. 217. Some of their implements at Coppermine River are: stone kettles, wooden dishes, scoops and spoons made of buffalo or musk-ox horns. Hearne’s Travels, p. 168. At Point Barrow were ivory implements with carved figures of sea-animals, ivory dishes, and a ‘fine whalebone net.’ Also ‘knives and other implements, formed of native copper’ at Coppermine River. Simpson’s Nar., pp. 147, 156, 261. At Point Barrow they ‘have unquestionably an indirect trade with the Russians.’ Simpson’s Nar., 161.

[63] ‘They are very expert traders, haggle obstinately, always consult together, and are infinitely happy when they fancy they have cheated anybody.’ Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. i., p. 211. ‘A thieving, cunning race.’ Armstrong’s Nar., p. 110. They respect each other’s property, ‘but they steal without scruple from strangers.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., p. 352.

[64] ‘They have a chief (Nalegak) in name, but do not recognize his authority.’ Dr Hayes, in Hist. Mag., vol. i., p. 6. Government, ‘a combination of the monarchical and republican;’ ‘every one is on a perfect level with the rest.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 59, 60. ‘Chiefs are respected principally as senior men.’ Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 41. At Kotzebue Sound, a robust young man was taken to be chief, as all his commands were punctually obeyed. Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. i., p. 235. Quarrels ‘are settled by boxing, the parties sitting down and striking blows alternately, until one of them gives in.’ Richardson’s Pol. Reg., p. 326. Every man governs his own family. Brownell’s Ind. Races, p. 475. They ‘have a strong respect for their territorial rights, and maintain them with firmness.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., p. 351.

[65] They are ‘horribly filthy in person and habits.’ Hooper’s Tuski, p. 224. ‘A husband will readily traffic with the virtue of a wife for purposes of gain.’ Armstrong’s Nar., p. 195. ‘More than once a wife was proffered by her husband.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., p. 356. As against the above testimony, Seemann affirms: ‘After the marriage ceremony has been performed infidelity is rare.’ Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 66. ‘These people are in the habit of collecting certain fluids for the purposes of tanning; and that, judging from what took place in the tent, in the most open manner, in the presence of all the family.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. i., p. 407.

[66] ‘Two men sometimes marry the same woman.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 66. ‘As soon as a girl is born, the young lad who wishes to have her for a wife goes to her father’s tent, and proffers himself. If accepted, a promise is given which is considered binding, and the girl is delivered to her betrothed husband at the proper age.’ Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 41. Women ‘carry their infants between their reindeer-skin jackets and their naked backs.’ Simpson’s Nar., p. 121. ‘All the drudgery falls upon the women; even the boys would transfer their loads to their sisters.’ Collinson, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxv., p. 201.

[67] The ‘Kashim is generally built by the joint labour of the community.’ Richardson’s Pol. Reg., p. 311.

[68] ‘Their dance is of the rudest kind, and consists merely in violent motion of the arms and legs.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 63. They make ‘the most comical motions with the whole body, without stirring from their place.’ Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. i., p. 192. Their song consisted of the words: ‘Hi, Yangah yangah; ha ha, yangah—with variety only in the inflection of voice.’ Hooper’s Tuski, p. 225. When heated by the dance, even the women were stripped to their breeches. Simpson’s Nar., p. 158. ‘An old man, all but naked, jumped into the ring, and was beginning some indecent gesticulations, when his appearance not meeting with our approbation he withdrew.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. i., p. 396.

[69] ‘C’était la plus grande marque d’amitié qu’ils pouvaient nous donner.’ Choris, Voy. Pitt., pt. ii., p. 5. ‘They came up to me one after the other—each of them embraced me, rubbed his nose hard against mine, and ended his caresses by spitting in his hands and wiping them several times over my face.’ Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. i., pp. 192, 195.

[70] ‘Their personal bravery is conspicuous, and they are the only nation on the North American Continent who oppose their enemies face to face in open fight.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., p. 244. ‘Simple, kind people; very poor, very filthy, and to us looking exceedingly wretched.’ McClure’s Dis. N. W. Passage, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxiv., p. 242. ‘More bold and crafty than the Indians; but they use their women much better.’ Bell’s Geog., vol. v., p. 294.

[71] ‘Their diseases are few.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 67. ‘Diseases are quite as prevalent among them as among civilized people.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 195. ‘Ophthalmia was very general with them.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. i., p. 345. ‘There is seldom any mortality except amongst the old people and very young children.’ Armstrong’s Nar., p. 197.

[72] At Point Barrow, bodies were found in great numbers scattered over the ground in their ordinary seal-skin dress; a few covered with pieces of wood, the heads all turned north-east towards the extremity of the point. Simpson’s Nar., p. 155. ‘They lay their dead on the ground, with their heads all turned to the north.’ ‘The bodies lay exposed in the most horrible and disgusting manner.’ Dease and Simpson, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. viii., p. 221, 222. ‘Their position with regard to the points of the compass is not taken into consideration.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 67. ‘There are many more graves than present inhabitants of the village, and the story is that the whole coast was once much more densely populated.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 19. Hooper, on coming to a burial place not far from Point Barrow, ‘conjectured that the corpses had been buried in an upright position, with their heads at or above the surface.’ Tuski, p. 221.

[73] Kadiak ‘is a derivative, according to some authors, from the Russian Kadia, a large tub; more probably, however, it is a corruption of Kaniag, the ancient Innuit name.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 532. Holmberg thinks that the word Kadiak arose from Kikchtak, which in the language of the Koniagas means a large island. ‘Der Name Kadjak ist offenbar eine Verdrehung von Kikchtak, welches Wort in der Sprache der Konjagen “grosse Insel” bedeutet und daher auch als Benennung der grössten Insel dieser Gruppe diente.’ Ethnographische Skizzen über die Völker des Russischen Amerika, p. 75. ‘A la division Koniagi appartient la partie la plus septentrionale de l’Alaska, et l’île de Kodiak, que les Russes appellent vulgairement Kichtak, quoique, dans la langue des naturels, le mot Kightak ne désigne en général qu’une île.’ Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 347. Coxe affirms that the natives ‘call themselves Kanagist.’ Russian Dis., p. 135. And Sauer says, ‘the natives call themselves Soo-oo-it.’ Billings’ Ex., p. 175. ‘Man verstand von ihnen, dass sie sich selbst Kanagist nennen.’ Neue Nachr., p. 114.

[74] Tschugatsches, Tschugatsi or Tschgatzi. Latham, Native Races, p. 290, says the name is Athabascan, and signifies ‘men of the sea.’

[75] Kuskoquigmutes, Kuskokwimen, Kuskokwigmjuten, Kusckockwagemuten, Kuschkukchwakmüten, or Kaskutchewak.

[76] The termination mute, mut, meut, muten, or mjuten, signifies people or village. It is added to the tribal name sometimes as a substantive as well as in an adjective sense.

[77] ‘Herr Wassiljew schätzt ihre Zahl auf mindestens 7000 Seelen beiderlei Geschlechts und jeglichen Alters.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 127.

[78] ‘Es waren wohl einst alle diese Inseln bewohnt.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 76.

[79] The Malemutes are ‘a race of tall and stout people.’ Whymper’s Alaska, p. 159. ‘Die Kuskokwimer sind, mittlerer Statur, schlank, rüstig und oft mit grosser Stärke begabt.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 135. Dixon’s Voy., p. 186. ‘Bisweilen fallen sogar riesige Gestalten auf, wie ich z. B. einen Häuptling in der igatschen Bucht zu sehen Gelegenheit hatte, dessen Länge 6¾ Fuss betrug.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 80. The chief at Prince William Sound was a man of low stature, ‘with a long beard, and seemed about sixty years of age.’ Portlock’s Voy., p. 237. A strong, raw-boned race. Meares’ Voy., p. 32. At Cook’s Inlet they seemed to be of the same nation as those of Pr. Wm. Sd., but entirely different from those at Nootka, in persons and language. Cook’s Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 400. They are of ‘middle size and well proportioned.’ Dixon’s Voy., p. 68. ‘They emigrated in recent times from the Island of Kadyak, and they claim, as their hereditary possessions, the coast lying between Bristol Bay and Beering’s Straits.’ Richardson’s Nar., vol. i., p. 364. ‘Die Tschugatschen sind Ankömmlinge von der Insel Kadjack, die während innerer Zwistigkeiten von dort vertrieben.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 116.

[80] Achkugmjuten, ‘Bewohner der warmen Gegend.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 5. ‘Copper complexion.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 194.

[81] ‘They bore their under lip, where they hang fine bones of beasts and birds.’ Staehlin’s North. Arch., p. 33. ‘Setzen sich auch—Zähne von Vögeln oder Thierknochen in künstliche Oeffnungen der Unterlippe und unter der Nase ein.’ Neue Nachr., p. 113.

[82] The people of Kadiak, according to Langsdorff, are similar to those of Unalaska, the men being a little taller. They differ from the Fox Islanders. Voy., pt. ii., p. 62. ‘Die Insulaner waren hier von den Einwohnern, der vorhin entdeckten übrigen Fuchsinsuln, in Kleidung und Sprache ziemlich verschieden.’ Neue Nachr., p. 113. ‘Ils ressemblent beaucoup aux indigènes des îles Curiles, dépendantes du Japon.’ Laplace, Circumnav., vol. vi., p. 45.

[83] ‘They wore strings of beads suspended from apertures in the lower lip.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 195. ‘Their ears are full of holes, from which hang pendants of bone or shell.’ Meares’ Voy., p. xxxii. ‘Elles portent des perles ordinairement en verre bleu, suspendues au-dessous du nez à un fil passé dans la cloison nasale.’ D’Orbigny, Voy., p. 573. ‘Upon the whole, I have nowhere seen savages who take more pains than these people do to ornament, or rather to disfigure their persons.’ At Prince William Sound they are so fond of ornament ‘that they stick any thing in their perforated lip; one man appearing with two of our iron nails projecting from it like prongs; and another endeavouring to put a large brass button into it.’ Cook’s Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 370. They slit the under lip, and have ornaments of glass beads and muscle-shells in nostrils and ears; tattoo chin and neck. Langsdorff’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 63. ‘Die Frauen machen Einschnitte in die Lippen. Der Nasenknorpel ist ebenfalls durchstochen.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 135.

[84] The Kadiaks dress like the Aleuts, but their principal garment they call Konägen; Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 63. Like the Unalaskas, the neck being more exposed, fewer ornamentations. Sauer, Billings’ Voy., p. 177. ‘Consists wholly of the skins of animals and birds.’ Portlock’s Voy., p. 249. A coat peculiar to Norton Sound appeared ‘to be made of reeds sewed very closely together.’ Dixon’s Voy., p. 191. ‘Nähen ihre Parken (Winter-Kleider) aus Vögelhäuten und ihre Kamleien (Sommer-Kleider) aus den Gedärmen von Wallfischen und Robben.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 117. At Norton Sound ‘principally of deer-skins.’ Cook’s Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 484. ‘Ihre Kleider sind aus schwarzen und andern Fuchsbälgen, Biber, Vogelhäuten, auch jungen Rennthier and Jewraschkenfellen, alles mit Sehnen genäht.’ Neue Nachr., p. 113. ‘The dress of both sexes consists of parkas and camleykas, both of which nearly resemble in form a carter’s frock.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 194.

[85] ‘Una tunica entera de pieles que les abriga bastantemente.’ Bodega y Quadra, Nav., MS. p. 66. ‘By the use of such a girdle, it should seem that they sometimes go naked.’ Cook’s Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 437.

[86] ‘Plastered over with mud, which gives it an appearance not very unlike a dung hill.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 214. Sea-dog skin closes the opening. Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 62. The Kuskoquims have ‘huttes qu’ils appellent barabores pour l’été.’ D’Orbigny, Voy., p. 574. ‘Mit Erde und Gras bedeckt, so dass man mit Recht die Wohnungen der Konjagen Erdhütten nennen kann.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 97. ‘A door fronting the east.’ Sauer, Billings’ Voy., p. 175. At Norton Sound ‘they consist simply of a sloping roof, without any side-walls.’ Cook’s Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 484. Build temporary huts of sticks and bark. Portlock’s Voy., p. 253.

[87] ‘In dem Kashim versammelt sich die männliche Bevölkerung des ganzen Dorfes zur Berathschlagung über wichtige Angelegenheiten, über Krieg und Frieden, etc.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 129.

[88] ‘Le poisson est la principale nourriture.’ D’Orbigny, Voy., p. 574. ‘Berries mixed with rancid whale oil.’ ‘The fat of the whale is the prime delicacy.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., pp. 178, 195. ‘Meistentheils nähren sie sich mit rohen und trocknen Fischen, die sie theils in der See mit knöchernen Angelhaken, theils in den Bächen mit Sacknetzen, die sie aus Sehnen flechten, einfangen.’ Neue Nachr., p. 114. They generally eat their food raw, but sometimes they boil it in water heated with hot stones. Meares’ Voy., p. xxxv. The method of catching wild geese, is to chase and knock them down immediately after they have shed their large wing-feathers; at which time they are not able to fly. Portlock’s Voy., p. 265.

[89] ‘Ich hatte auf der Insel Afognak Gelegenheit dem Zerschneiden eines Wallfisches zuzusehen und versichere, dass nach Verlauf von kaum 2 Stunden nur die blanken Knochen auf dem Ufer lagen.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 91.

[90] The Kadiaks ‘pass their time in hunting, festivals, and abstinence. The first takes place in the summer; the second begins in the month of December, and continues as long as any provisions remain; and then follows the period of famine, which lasts till the re-appearance of fish in the rivers. During the period last mentioned, many have nothing but shell-fish to subsist on, and some die for want.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., pp. 209, 210.

[91] ‘Wild animals which they hunt, and especially wild sheep, the flesh of which is excellent.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 188. They eat the larger sort of fern-root baked, and a substance which seemed the inner bark of the pine. Cook’s Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 374. ‘Die Eingebornen essen diese Wurzeln (Lagat) roh und gekocht; aus der Wurzel, nachdem sie in Mehl verwandelt ist, bäckt man, mit einer geringen Beimischung von Weizenmehl, süssliche, dünne Kuchen.’ Sagoskin, Tagebuch, in Denkschr. d. russ. Geog. Gesell., p. 343.

[92] ‘Ihre hölzernen Schilde nennen sie Kujaki.’ Neue Nachr., p. 114.

[93] ‘Selecting the roots of such plants as grow alone, these roots are dried and pounded, or grated.’ Sauer, Billings’ Ex., p. 178.

[94] ‘Die Pfeilspitzen sind aus Eisen oder Kupfer, ersteres erhalten sie von den Kenayern, letzteres von den Tutnen.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 118. ‘De pedernal en forma de arpon, cortado con tanta delicadeza como pudiera hacerlo el mas hábil lapidario.’ Bodega y Quadra, Nav., MS. p. 66.

[95] At Prince William Sound Cook found the canoes not of wood, as at Nootka. At Bristol Bay they were of skin, but broader. Third Voy., vol. ii., pp. 371, 437. ‘Die kadjakschen Baidarken unterscheiden sich in der Form ein wenig von denen der andern Bewohner der amerikanischen Küste, von denen der Aleuten aber namentlich darin, dass sie kürzer und breiter sind.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 99. At Prince William Sound, ‘formada la canoa en esqueleto la forran por fuera con pieles de animales.’ Bodega y Quadra, Nav., MS. p. 65. ‘Qu’on se figure une nacelle de quatre mètres de long et de soixante centimètres de large tout au plus.’ Laplace, Circumnav., vol. vi., p. 48. ‘These canoes were covered with skins, the same as we had seen last season in Cook’s River. Dixon’s Voy., p. 147. ‘Safer at sea in bad weather than European boats.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 211.

[96] Their whale-sinew thread was as fine as silk. Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 207.

[97] The only tool seen was a stone adze. Cook’s Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 373.

[98] ‘Their sewing, plaiting of sinews, and small work on their little bags may be put in competition with the most delicate manufactures found in any part of the known world.’ Cook’s Third Voy., vol. ii., pp. 373, 374. ‘If we may judge by these figures, the inhabitants of Cadiack must have lost much of their skill in carving, their old productions of this kind being greatly superior.’ Lisiansky, p. 178. The Ingalik’s household furniture is made ‘von gebogenem Holz sehr zierlich gearbeitet und mittelst Erdfarben roth, grün und blau angestrichen. Zum Kochen der Speisen bedienen sie sich irdener, ausgebrannter Geschirre.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 121.

[99] ‘Tis most probable they are divided into clans or tribes.’ Dixon’s Voy., p. 67. ‘They have a King, whose name was Sheenoway.’ Meares’ Voy., p. xxvii. ‘They always keep together in families, and are under the direction of toyons or chiefs.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 151.

[100] Female slaves are sold from one tribe to another. Sauer, Billings’ Voy., p. 175.

[101] ‘Zugleich verschwand auch ihre Benennung; man nannte sie ferner Kajuren, ein Wort aus Kamtschatka hieher übergesiedelt, welches Tagelöhner oder Arbeiter bedeutet.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 79.

[102] ‘They will not go a step out of the way for the most necessary purposes of nature; and vessels are placed at their very doors for the reception of the urinous fluid, which are resorted to alike by both sexes.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 214.

[103] ‘Not only do brothers and sisters cohabit with each other, but even parents and children.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 64.

[104] ‘Images dressed in different forms.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 178. ‘The most favoured of women is she who has the greatest number of children.’ Sauer, Billings’ Voy., p. 176.

[105] ‘Der Vater oder die Mutter bestimmen den Sohn schon in seiner frühsten Kindheit zum Achnutschik, wenn er ihnen mädchenhaft erscheint.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 121. ‘Male concubines are much more frequent here than at Oonalashka.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 64. They ‘are happy to see them taken by the chiefs, to gratify their unnatural desires. Such youths are dressed like women, and taught all their domestic duties.’ Sauer, Billings’ Ex., p. 176. ‘Ces peuples sont très adonnés aux plaisirs des sens et même à un vice infame.’ Choris, Voy. Pitt., pt. vii., p. 8. ‘Of all the customs of these islanders, the most disgusting is that of men, called schoopans, living with men, and supplying the place of women.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 199. This shameful custom applies to the Thlinkeets as well. ‘Quelques personnes de l’Equipage du Solide ont rapporté qu’il ne leur est pas possible de douter que les Tchinkîtânéens ne soient souillés de ce vice honteux que la Théogonie immorale des Grecs avoit divinisé.’ Marchand, Voy. aut. du Monde, tom. ii., p. 97.

[106] ‘Der Schamane hat seiner Obliegenheit gemäss oder aus besonderem Wohlwollen sie der Jungferschaft beraubt und sie wäre unwürdig vor der Versammlung zu erscheinen, wenn sie ihre erste Liebe irgend einem Anderen und nicht dem Schamanen gezollt hätte.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 133.

[107] ‘Their dances are proper tournaments.’ Sauer, Billings’ Ex., p. 176. They are much addicted to public dances, especially during winter. Whymper’s Alaska, p. 165. ‘Masks of the most hideous figures are worn.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 210. ‘Use a sort of rattle composed of a number of the beaks of the sea-parrot, strung upon a wooden cross,’—sounds like castanets. Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 64. ‘Die Tänzer erscheinen, eben so, mit Wurfspiessen oder Messern in den Händen, welche sie über dem Kopfe schwingen.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 118.

[108] ‘Les sorciers et chamans jouissent d’une grande faveur dans cette région glacée de l’Amérique.’ D’Orbigny, Voy., p. 574. ‘Schamane und alte Weiber kennen verschiedene Heilmittel.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 135. ‘Next in rank to the shamans are the kaseks, or sages, whose office is to teach children the different dances, and superintend the public amusements and shows, of which they have the supreme control.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 208.

[109] ‘The dead body of a chief is embalmed with moss, and buried.’ Sauer, Billings’ Ex., p. 177.

[110] ‘In one of the small buildings, or kennels, as they may very properly be called, was a woman who had retired into it in consequence of the death of her son.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 184.

[111] ‘The word Aleutian seems to be derived from the interrogative particle allix, which struck strangers in the language of that people.’ Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 312. The Unalaskas and ‘the people of Oomnak, call themselves Cowghalingen.’ ‘The natives of Alaska and all the adjacent islands they call Kagataiakung’n.’ Sauer, Billings’ Ex., p. 154. ‘The inhabitants of Unalashka are called Kogholaghi; those of Akutan, and further east to Unimak, Kighigusi; and those of Unimak and Alaxa, Kataghayekiki. They cannot tell whence these appellations are derived; and now begin to call themselves by the general name of Aleyut, given to them by the Russians, and borrowed from some of the Kurile Islands.’ Coxe’s Russ. Dis., p. 219.

[112] Yet, says D’Orbigny, Voyage, p. 577: ‘Si on interroge les Aléoutiens sur leur origine, ils disent que leurs ancêtres ont habité un grand pays vers l’ouest, et que de là ils sont avancés de proche en proche sur les îles désertes jusq’au continent américain.’

[113] Trapesnikoff took from an unknown island in 1753, 1920 sea-otter skins. Durneff returned to Kamchatka in 1754, with 3,000 skins. In 1752 one crew touched at Bering Island and took 1,222 Arctic foxes, and 2,500 sea-bears. Cholodiloff, in 1753, took from one island 1,600 otter-skins. Tolstych in one voyage took 1,780 sea-otter, 720 blue foxes, and 840 sea-bears. Coxe’s Russ. Dis., pp. 43, 44, 49, 51, 53.

[114] Sparks, Life of Ledyard, p. 79.

[115] A great deal of character. Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 32.

[116] ‘Rather low of stature, but plump and well shaped; with rather short necks; swarthy chubby faces; black eyes; small beards, and long, straight, black hair; which the men wear loose behind, and cut before, but the women tie up in a bunch.’ Cook’s Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 510. ‘Von Gesicht sind sie platt und weiss, von guter Statur, durchgängig mit schwarzen Haaren.’ Neue Nachr., p. 150. ‘Low in stature, broad in the visage.’ Campbell’s Voy., p. 112. Hair ‘strong and wiry;’ scanty beard, but thick on the upper lip. Sauer, Billings’ Ex., p. 154.

[117] ‘Les femmes aléoutes portaient aux mains et aux pieds des chapelets de pierres de couleur et préférablement d’ambre.’ D’Orbigny, Voy., p. 579. ‘None are so highly esteemed as a sort of long muscle, commonly called sea-teeth, the dentalium entalis of Linnæus.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 40. ‘Women have the chin punctured in fine lines rayed from the centre of the lip and covering the whole chin.’ They wear bracelets of black seal-skin around the wrists and ankles, and go barefoot. Sauer, Billings’ Ex., p. 155. ‘Im Nasen-Knorpel und der Unterlippe machen beide Geschlechter Löcher und setzen Knochen ein, welches ihr liebster Schmuck ist. Sie stechen sich auch bunte Figuren im Gesicht aus.’ Neue Nachr., p. 169. ‘They bore the upper lip of the young children of both sexes, under the nostrils, where they hang several sorts of stones, and whitened fish-bones, or the bones of other animals.’ Staehlin’s North Arch., p. 37.

[118] ‘Leur conformation est robuste et leur permet de supporter des travaux et des fatigues de toute sorte.’ D’Orbigny, Voy., p. 577.

[119] At Shumagin Island, their caps were of sea-lion skins. Müller’s Voy., p. 46. On the front are one or two small images of bone. Cook’s Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 510. A wooden hat, ‘which in front comes out before the eyes like a sort of umbrella, and is rounded off behind.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 38. ‘Einige haben gemeine Mützen von einem bunten Vogelfell, woran sie etwas von den Flügeln und dem Schwanz sitzen lassen;—sind vorn mit einem Brettchen wie ein Schirm versehn und mit Bärten von Seebären—geschmücket.’ Neue Nachr., pp. 151, 152.

[120] On a feather garment, ‘a person is sometimes employed a whole year.’ ‘The women for the most part go bare-footed.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., pp. 36, 39. ‘Seams covered with thin slips of skin, very elegantly embroidered with white deer’s hair, goat’s hair, and the sinews of sea animals, dyed of different colours.’ Sauer, Billings’ Ex., p. 156. ‘Ihr Pelzkleid wird über den Kopf angezogen, und ist hinten und vorn ganz zu. Die Männer tragen es aus Vogelhäuten; die Weiber hingegen von Bibern und jungen Seebären.’ Neue Nachr., p. 152. ‘Boots and breeches in one piece.’ Campbell’s Voy., p. 113.

[121] ‘Round the sides and ends of the huts, the families (for several are lodged together) have their separate apartments, where they sleep, and sit at work; not upon benches, but in a kind of concave trench, which is dug all around the inside of the house, and covered with mats.’ Cook’s Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 512. ‘When they have stood for sometime, they become overgrown with grass, so that a village has the appearance of an European churchyard full of graves.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., p. 32. ‘In den Jurten wird niemals Feuer angelegt und doch ist es gemeiniglich sehr warm darinnen, so dass beide Geschlechter ganz nakkend sitzen.’ Neue Nachr., p. 150.

[122] ‘A bidarka or boat is turned up sideways, and at the distance of four or five feet, two sticks, one opposite to the head and the other to the stern, are driven into the ground, on the tops of which a cross stick is fastened. The oars are then laid along from the boat to the cross stick, and covered with seal skins, which are always at hand for the purpose.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 152.

[123] ‘Among the greatest delicacies of Oonalashka are the webbed feet of a seal, which are tied in a bladder, buried in the ground, and remain there till they are changed into a stinking jelly.’ Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 165. Almost everything is eaten raw. Cook’s Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 520. The sea-dog is caught with nets, killed when asleep, or enticed on shore by a false cap made to resemble a seal’s head. Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 205.

[124] ‘L’Aléoute peut tuer les phoques et les oiseaux, sans être obligé d’en rendre compte à la compagnie.’ Choris, Voy. Pitt., pt. vii., p. 4.

[125] ‘Die Spitze selbst wird theils aus Obsidian oder Lavaglas, theils auch aus Trachyt verfertigt.’ Kittlitz, Reise, vol. i., p. 268. Spear-handles are feathered, the points of sharpened flint. Neue Nachr., p. 102, ‘Arrows are thrown from a narrow and pointed board, twenty inches long, which is held by the thumb and three fingers. They are thrown straight from the shoulder with astonishing velocity.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 205. ‘Les armes défensives consistaient en une cotte de joncs tressés qui leur couvrait tout le corps.’ D’Orbigny, Voy., p. 579. ‘No such thing as an offensive, or even defensive weapon was seen amongst the natives of Oonalashka.’ Probably they had been disarmed by the Russians. Cook’s Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 515. ‘Wherever any one has fixed his habitation, nobody else dares to hunt or fish.’ Staehlin’s Nor. Arch., p. 37. For birds they point their darts with three light bones, spread and barbed. Sauer, Billings’ Ex., p. 157. ‘Indeed, there is a neatness and perfection in most of their work, that shews they neither want ingenuity nor perseverance.’ Cook’s Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 514.

[126] They make ‘baskets called ishcats, in which the Aleutians keep all their valuables.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 181. ‘Thread they make of the sinews of the seal, and of all sizes, from the fineness of a hair to the strength of a moderate cord, both twisted and plaited.’ Sauer, Billings’ Ex., p. 157. Of the teeth of sea-dogs they carve little figures of men, fish, sea-otters, sea-dogs, sea-cows, birds, and other objects. Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 46.

[127] ‘Wollen sie etwas an ihren Pfeilen oder sonst eine Kleinigkeit leimen, so schlagen sie sich an die Nase und bestreichen es mit ihrem Blute.’ Neue Nachr., p. 173.

[128] Sauer, Billings’ Ex., p. 159; Campbell’s Voy., p. 59.

[129] ‘Comme les femmes coûtaient cher en présents de fiançailles, la plupart des Aléoutes n’en avaient qu’une ou deux.’ D’Orbigny, Voy., p. 579. Purchase as many girls for wives as they can support. Sauer, Billings’ Ex., p. 160. ‘Objects of unnatural affection.’ Id., p. 160. ‘Their beards are carefully plucked out as soon as they begin to appear, and their chins tattooed like those of the women.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 48. ‘The Russians told us, that they never had any connections with their women, because they were not Christians. Our people were not so scrupulous; and some of them had reason to repent that the females of Oonalashka encouraged their addresses without any reserve; for their health suffered by a distemper that is not unknown here.’ Cook’s Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 521.

[130] ‘It often happens that a mother plunges her noisy child into water, even in winter, and keeps it there till it leaves off crying.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 202. ‘Schreyt das Kind, so trägt es die Mutter, es sey Winter oder Sommer nakkend nach der See, und hält es so lange im Wasser bis es still wird.’ Neue Nachr., p. 168.

[131] ‘Have their own chiefs in each island.’ Cook’s Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 510. ‘Generally is conferred on him who is the most remarkable for his personal qualities.’ Coxe’s Russ. Dis., p. 219.

[132] Those of the inhabitants who have two wives give their guests one, or a slave. Neue Nachr., p. 171. ‘In the spring holidays, they wear masks, neatly carved and fancifully ornamented.’ Sauer, Billings’ Ex., p. 160.

[133] ‘On avait soin de le disposer de manière à ce qu’il ne touchât pas la terre.’ D’Orbigny, Voy., p. 579. ‘Embalm the bodies of the men with dried moss and grass.’ Sauer, Billings’ Ex., p. 161. Slaves sometimes slaughtered. Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 48. ‘Bury their dead on the summits of hills.’ Cook’s Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 521. ‘When a man dies in the hut belonging to his wife, she retires into a dark hole, where she remains forty days. The husband pays the same compliment to his favorite wife upon her death.’ Coxe’s Russ. Dis., p. 218. ‘Die Todten werden begraben, und man giebt dem Mann seinen Kahn, Pfeile und Kleider mit ins Grab.’ ‘Die Todten umwinden sie mit Riemen und hängen sie in einer Art hölzerner Wiege an einen auf zwey Gabelen ruhenden Querstock in der Luft auf.’ Neue Nachr., pp. 101, 154.

[134] ‘Naturellement silencieux.’ D’Orbigny, Voy., p. 578. ‘Sie verrichten auch die Nothdurft und das Ehegeschäft ohne alle Scheu.’ Neue. Nachr., p. 150. ‘A stupid silence reigns among them.’ ‘I am persuaded that the simplicity of their character exceeds that of any other people.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., pp. 182, 183. ‘Kind-hearted and obliging, submissive and careful; but if roused to anger, they become rash and unthinking, even malevolent, and indifferent to all danger.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 32. ‘To all appearance, they are the most peaceable, inoffensive people, I ever met with. And, as to honesty, they might serve as a pattern to the most civilized nation upon earth.’ Cook, vol. ii., p. 509.

[135] ‘To hunt was their task; to be drowned, or starved, or exhausted, was their reward.’ Simpson’s Jour., vol. ii., p. 229. ‘They are harmless, wretched slaves,’ whose race will soon be extinct. Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 315. The Russian hunters ‘used not unfrequently to place the men close together, and try through how many the ball of their rifle-barrelled musket would pass.’ Sauer, Billings’ Ex. App., p. 56. ‘Of a thousand men, who formerly lived in this spot, scarcely more than forty remained.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 235. ‘La variole, la syphilis, voire même le choléra depuis quelques années, en emportent une effrayante quantité.’ Laplace, Circumnav., vol. ii., p. 51.

[136] Kaluga, Kaljush, Koljush, Kalusch, Kolush, Kolosch, Kolosh, Kolosches. Marchand calls them Tchinkîtâné. Voyage aut. du Monde, tom. ii., p. 3.

[137] See Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., pp. 15, 16.

[138] Ugalachmiuti, Ugaljachmjuten, Ugalyachmutzi, Ugalukmutes, Ugalenzi, Ugalenzen, Ugalenzes.

[139] They ‘call themselves G-tinkit, or S-chinkit, or also S-chitcha-chon, that is, inhabitants of Sitki or Sitcha.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., 128.

[140] The orthographic varieties of this word are endless. Stickeen, Stekin, Stakhin, Stachin, Stikin, Stachine, Stikeen, Stikine, Stychine, are among those before me at the moment.

[141] At the end of this chapter, under Tribal Boundaries, the location of these tribes is given definitely.

[142] A Thlinkeet boy, ‘when under the whip, continued his derision, without once exhibiting the slightest appearance of suffering.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 242.

[143] ‘Leur corps est ramassé, mais assez bien proportionné.’ Marchand, Voy., tom. ii., p. 46. ‘Very fierce.’ Portlock’s Voy., p. 291. ‘Limbs straight and well shaped.’ Dixon’s Voy., p. 171. ‘Stolze gerade Haltung.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 16. ‘Active and clever.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 237. ‘Bigote á manera de los Chinos.’ Perez, Nav., MS. p. 14. ‘Limbs ill-proportioned.’ Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 49. ‘Très supérieurs en courage et en intelligence.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. iv., p. 54.

[144] The women ‘are pleasing and their carriage modest.’ Portlock’s Voy., p. 291. When washed, white and fresh. Dixon’s Voy., p. 171. ‘Dunkle Hautfarbe.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 16. ‘Eran de color blanco y habia muchos con ojos azules.’ Perez, Nav., MS. p. 14. As fair as many Europeans. Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 112. ‘Muchos de ellos de un blanco regular.’ Bodega y Quadra, Nav., MS. p. 43.

[145] ‘Leur chevelure, dure, épaisse, mêlée, couverte d’ocre, de duvet d’oiseaux et de toutes les ordures que la négligence et le temps y ont accumulées, contribue encore à rendre leur aspect hideux.’ Marchand, Voy., tom. ii., p. 46. ‘A more hideous set of beings, in the form of men and women, I had never before seen.’ Cleveland’s Voy., p. 91. The men painted ‘a black circle extending from the forehead to the mouth, and a red chin, which gave the face altogether the appearance of a mask.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 146. Pourraient même passer pour jolies, sans l’horrible habitude qu’elles ont adoptée.’ Laplace, Circumnav., tom. vi., p. 87. ‘That person seems to be reckoned the greatest beau amongst them, whose face is one entire piece of smut and grease.’ Dixon’s Voy., p. 68. ‘Ils se font des cicatrices sur les bras et sur la poitrine.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 223. ‘Um aus dem Gesichte diese fette Farbenmasse abzuwaschen, gebrauchen sie ihren eignen Urin, und dieser verursacht bei ihnen den widerlichen Geruch, der den sich ihm nahenden Fremdling fast zum Erbrechen bringt.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 20.

[146] Meares, Voyages, p. xxxi., states that at Prince William Sound, ‘the men have universally a slit in their under lip, between the projecting part of the lip and the chin, which is cut parallel with their mouths, and has the appearance of another mouth.’ Worn only by women. Dixon’s Voy., p. 172.

[147] ‘About three tenths of an inch below the upper part of the under lip.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 280. ‘In the centre of the under-lip.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 115. ‘Fendue au ras des gencives.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 224. ‘In the thick part near the mouth.’ Dixon’s Voy., p. 187. ‘When the first person having this incision was seen by one of the seamen, who called out, that the man had two mouths.’ Cook’s Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 369. ‘In their early infancy, a small incision is made in the center of the under lip, and a piece of brass or copper wire is placed in, and left in the wound. This corrodes the lacerated parts, and by consuming the flesh gradually increases the orifice, until it is sufficiently large to admit the wooden appendage.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 408. ‘Les femmes de Tchinkîtâné ont cru devoir ajouter à leur beauté naturelle, par l’emploi d’un ornement labial, aussi bizarre qu’incommode.’ Marchand, Voy., tom. ii., p. 48.

[148] ‘Simply perforated, and a piece of copper wire introduced.’ Dixon’s Voy., p. 187. ‘Les jeunes filles n’ont qu’une aiguille dans la lèvre inférieure.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 226. ‘On y prépare les petites filles aussitôt qu’elles sont nées.’ Id., tom. iv., p. 54. ‘At first a thick wire.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 115. When almost marriageable. Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 51. ‘The children have them bored at about two years of age, when a piece of copper-wire is put through the hole; this they wear till the age of about thirteen or fourteen years, when it is taken out, and the wooden ornament introduced.’ Portlock’s Voy., p. 289. ‘Said to denote maturity.’ Whymper’s Alaska, p. 100. ‘Se percer la lèvre inférieure des l’enfance.’ ‘D’agrandir peu à peu cette ouverture au point de pouvoir jeune fille y introduire une coquille, et femme mariée une énorme tasse de bois.’ Laplace, Circumnav., tom. vi., p. 87. ‘Never takes place during their infancy.’ Dixon’s Voy., p. 187. ‘When the event takes place that implies womanhood.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 243. ‘Wenn zum ersten Mal beim Mädchen sich Spuren der Mannbarkeit zeigen, wird ihre Unterlippe durchstochen und in diese Oeffnung eine Knochenspitze, gegenwärtig doch häufiger ein Silberstift gelegt.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 21. ‘Pues les pareció que solo lo tenian los casados.’ Perez, Nav., MS. p. 15.

[149] ‘Concave on both sides.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 280. ‘So lange sie unverheirathet ist, trägt sie diesen; erhält sie aber einen Mann, so presst man einen grösseren Schmuck von Holz oder Knochen in die Oeffnung, welcher nach innen, d. h. zur Zahnseite etwas trogförmig ausgehöhlt ist.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 21. ‘Une espèce d’écuelle de bois sans anses qui appuie contre les gencives.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 224. Pieces of shell resembling teeth. Meares’ Voy., p. xxxi.

[150] ‘As large as a large saucer.’ Portlock’s Voy., p. 289. ‘From one corner of the mouth to the other.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 280. ‘Frequently increased to three, or even four inches in length, and nearly as wide.’ Dixon’s Voy., p. 187. ‘A communément un demi-pouce d’épaisseur, deux de diamètre, et trois pouces de long.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. iv., p. 54. ‘At least seven inches in circumference.’ Meares’ Voy., p. xxxviii. ‘Mit den Jahren wird der Schmuck vergrössert, so dass er bei einem alten Weibe über 2 Zoll breit angetroffen wird.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 21. From two to five inches long, and from one and a half to three inches broad. Ladies of distinction increase the size. ‘I have even seen ladies of very high rank with this ornament, full five inches long and three broad.’ Mr Dwolf affirms that he saw ‘an old woman, the wife of a chief, whose lip ornament was so large, that by a peculiar motion of her under-lip she could almost conceal her whole face with it.’ ‘Horrible in its appearance to us Europeans.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 115. ‘Es una abertura como de media pulgada debaxo del labio inferior, que representa segunda boca, donde colocan una especie de roldana elíptica de pino, cuyo diámetro mayor es de dos pulgadas, quatro lineas, y el menor de una pulgada.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 126.

[151] ‘Une énorme tasse de bois, destinée à recevoir la salive qui s’en échappe constamment.’ Laplace, Circumnav., tom. vi., p. 87. ‘L’effet de cet ornement est de rabattre, par le poids de sa partie saillante la lèvre inférieure sur le menton, de développer les charmes d’une grande bouche béante, qui prend la forme de celle d’un four, et de mettre à découvert une rangée de dents jaunes et sales.’ Marchand, Voy., tom. ii., p. 49. ‘She is obliged to be constantly on the watch, lest it should fall out, which would cover her with confusion.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 244. ‘The weight of this trencher or ornament weighs the lip down so as to cover the whole of the chin, leaving all the lower teeth and gum quite naked.’ Portlock’s Voy., p. 289. ‘L’usage le plus révoltant qui existe peut-être sur la terre.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 226. ‘Always in proportion to a person’s wealth.’ ‘Distorts every feature in the lower part of the face.’ Dixon’s Voy., p. 68, 172. ‘In running the lip flaps up and down so as to knock sometimes against the chin and sometimes against the nose. Upon the continent the kaluga is worn still larger; and the female who can cover her whole face with her under-lip passes for the most perfect beauty,’ ‘The lips of the women held out like a trough, and always filled with saliva stained with tobacco-juice, of which they are immoderately fond, is the most abominably revolting part of the spectacle.’ Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 52. ‘Dadurch entsteht eine im selbigen Maasse ausgedehnte Lippe, die höchst widerlich aussieht, um so mehr, da sich nun mehr der Mund nicht schliessen kann, sondern unaufhörlich einen braunen Tabaksspeichel von sich gibt.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 21. ‘So distorts the face as to take from it almost the resemblance to the human; yet the privilege of wearing this ornament is not extended to the female slaves, who are prisoners taken in war.’ Cleveland’s Voy., p. 91. ‘Look as if they had large flat wooden spoons growing in the flesh.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 115. ‘The sight is hideous. Our men used jocosely to say, this lower lip would make a good slab to lay their trousers on to be scrubbed.’ Dunn’s Oregon, p. 277. ‘On ne connaît point d’explication plausible de cette mutilation, qui, chez les Indiens, passe pour un signe de noblesse.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 336.

[152] ‘Die Männertracht unterscheidet sich in Nichts von der Weiber; sie besteht nämlich aus einem bis zu den Knieen gehenden Hemde.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 18. Some of their blankets ‘are so curiously worked on one side with the fur of the sea-otter, that they appear as if lined with it.’ ‘Some dress themselves in short pantaloons.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 238. ‘Las mugeres visten honestamente una especie de túnica interior de piel sobada.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. cxvii. ‘Se vestian las mugeres tunicas de pieles ajustadas al cuerpo con brazaletes de cobre o hierro.’ Perez, Nav., MS. p. 15. ‘Usual clothing consists of a little apron.’ Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 49. ‘Their feet are always bare.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 114.

[153] ‘Usan sombreros de la corteza interior del pino en forma de cono truncado.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. cxvii. Their wooden masks ‘are so thick, that a musket-ball, fired at a moderate distance, can hardly penetrate them.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 150.

[154] Pluck out their beard. Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 112. ‘Ils ont de la barbe, moins à la vérité que les Européens, mais assez cependant pour qu’il soit impossible d’en douter.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 229. ‘The women in general are hair-dressers for their husbands.’ Portlock’s Voy., p. 290.

[155] ‘Der Eingang, ziemlich hoch von der Erde, besteht aus einem kleinen runden Loche.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 25. ‘Ils se construisent des maisons de bois ou de terre pour l’hiver.’ Laplace, Circumnav., vol. vi., p. 87. ‘The barabaras of the Sitcan people are of a square form, and spacious. The sides are of planks; and the roof resembles that of a Russian house.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 239. ‘Habitan estos Indios en chozas ó rancherías de tablas muy desabrigadas.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. cxvi. At Sitka the roof ‘rests upon ten or twelve thick posts driven into the ground, and the sides of the house are composed of broad thick planks fastened to the same posts.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 129. ‘Dans l’intérieur des terres, des habitations bien construites, spacieuses et commodes.’ Marchand, Voy., tom. ii., p. 74. ‘Shanties on a large scale.’ Whymper’s Alaska, p. 100. ‘Their huts are made of a few boards, which they take away with them when they go to their winter quarters. It is very surprising to see how well they will shape their boards with the shocking tools they employ; some of them being full 10 feet long, 2½ feet broad, and not more than an inch thick.’ Portlock’s Voy., p. 292. ‘High, large, and roomy, built of wood, with the hearth in the middle, and the sides divided into as many compartments as there are families living under the roof.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., p. 410. ‘Lebt in Schoppen aus Balken gebaut, wo an den Seiten für jede Familie besondere Plätze abgetheilt sind, in der Mitte aber Feuer für alle zusammen angemacht wird. So pflegen gemeiniglich 2 bis 6 Familien eine einzige Scheune einzunehmen.’ Baer’s Ethn. u. Stat., p. 97.

[156] ‘Vingt-cinq pieds de long sur quinze à vingt pieds de large.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 220. ‘Roof in the whole with the bark of trees.’ Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 53. ‘Las casas en que estos habitan en las playas son de poca consideracion y ninguna subsistencia.’ Bodega y Quadra, Nav., MS. p. 49. ‘A few poles stuck in the ground, without order or regularity.’ Dixon’s Voy., p. 172. ‘Gebäude besteht aus langen, sorgfältig behauenen Brettern, die kartenhausartig über einander gestellt, an zahlreichen in die Erde gesteckten Stangen befestigt, recht eigentlich ein hölzernes Zelt bilden. Es hat die Form einer länglichen Barake mit zwei Giebeln.’ Kittlitz, Reise, vol. i., pp. 220, 221.

[157] All kinds of fish; ‘such as salmon, mussels, and various other shell-fish, sea-otters, seals and porpoises; the blubber of the porpoise, they are remarkably fond of, and indeed the flesh of any animal that comes in their way.’ Portlock’s Voy., p. 290. ‘Vom Meere, an dessen Ufern sie sich stets ansiedeln, erhalten sie ihre hauptsächlichste Nahrung; einige Wurzeln, Gräser u. Beeren gehören nur zu den Leckerbissen des Sommers.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 22. Cakes made of bark of spruce-fir, mixed with roots, berries, and train-oil. For salt they use sea-water. Never eat whale-fat. Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 131. At Sitka, summer food consists of berries, fresh fish, and flesh of amphibious animals. Winter food, of dried salmon, train-oil, and the spawn of fish, especially herrings. Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 239. ‘Sus alimentos se reducen á pescado cocido ó asado ya fresco ó ya seco, varias hierbas y raizes.’ Bodega y Quadra, Nav., MS. p. 50. They chew ‘a plant which appears to be a species of tobacco.’ Dixon’s Voy., p. 175. ‘Sont couverts de vermine; ils font une chasse assidue à ces animaux dévorans, mais pour les dévorer eux-mêmes.’ Marchand, Voy., tom. ii., p. 52. ‘Tägliche Nahrung der Einwohner—sind hauptsächtlich Fische, doch häufig auch Mollusken und Echinodermen.’ Kittlitz, Reise, vol. i., p. 222.

[158] ‘Le poisson frais ou fumé, les œufs séchés de poisson.’ Marchand, Voy., tom. ii., p. 62. ‘Is sometimes cooked upon red-hot stones, but more commonly eaten raw.’ Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 53. ‘Not so expert in hunting as the Aleutians. Their principal mode is that of shooting the sea animals as they lie asleep.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 242. They boil their victuals in wooden vessels, by constantly putting red-hot stones into the water. Portlock’s Voy., p. 291. ‘Das Kochen geschieht jetzt in eisernen Kesseln, vor der Bekanntschaft mit den Russen aber wurden dazu aus Wurzeln geflochtene Körbe angewandt.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 23.

[159] To their fishing lines, bladders are fastened, ‘which float upon the surface of the water, so that one person can attend to fourteen or fifteen lines.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 134. ‘Ils pêchent, comme nous, en barrant les rivières, ou à la ligne.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 232. ‘For taking the spawn, they use the branches of the pine-tree, to which it easily adheres, and on which it is afterwards dried. It is then put into baskets, or holes purposely dug in the ground, till wanted.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 239. ‘Su comun alimento es el salmon, y es ingenioso el método que tienen de pescarle.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. cxvii. ‘Their lines are very strong, being made of the sinews or intestines of animals.’ Dixon’s Voy., p. 174. ‘Die Riesenbutte, die in Sitcha bisweilen ein Gewicht von 10 bis 12 Pud erreicht, wird aus der Tiefe mit grossen hölzernen Angeln, die mit Widerhaken aus Eisen oder Knochen versehen sind, herausgezogen. Die Angelschnur besteht aus an einander geknüpften Fucusstängeln.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 32.

[160] ‘Bows and arrows were formerly their only weapons; now, besides their muskets, they have daggers, and knives half a yard long.’ Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 55. Their weapons were bows, arrows, and spears. Dixon’s Voy., p. 67. ‘Leur lances dont l’ancienne forme n’est pas connue, est à présent composée de deux pièces: de la hampe, longue de quinze ou dix-huit pieds, et du fer qui ne le cède en rien à celui de la hallebarde de parade dont étoit armé un Suisse de paroisse.’ Marchand, Voy., tom. ii., p. 68. Knives, some two feet long, shaped almost like a dagger, with a ridge in the middle. Worn in skin sheaths hung by a thong to the neck under their robe, probably used only as weapons. Cook’s Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 373. ‘Las armas ofensivas que generalmente usan son las flechas, lanzas de seis y ocho varas de largo con lenguetas de fierro.’ Bodega y Quadra, Nav., MS. p. 46. ‘The daggers used in battle are made to stab with either end, having three, four or five inches above the hand tapered to a sharp point; but the upper part of those used in the Sound and River is excurvated.’ Portlock’s Voy., p. 261. ‘Principally bows and arrows.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 131. ‘Sus armas se reducen al arco, la flecha y el puñal que traen siempre consigo.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. cxvii. ‘Comme nous examinions très attentivement tous ces poignards, ils nous firent signe qu’ils n’en faisaient usage que contre les ours et les autres bêtes des forêts.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 172. ‘Der Dolch ist sehr breit und hat zwei geschliffene Blätter auf jeder Seite des Griffes, das obere jedoch nur ein Viertel von der Länge des unteren.’ ‘Beide Blätter oder Klingen sind mit ledernen Scheiden versehen.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 28.

[161] ‘A kind of jacket, or coat of mail, made of thin laths, bound together with sinews, which makes it quite flexible, though so close as not to admit an arrow or dart.’ Cook’s Third Voy., vol. ii., p. 372. ‘Für den Krieg besitzen die Kaloschen auch von Holz gearbeitete Schutzwaffen: Brustharnische, Sturmhauben und seltsam geschnitzte Visire, mit grellen Farben bemalte Fratzengesichter darstellen.’ Kittlitz, Reise, vol. i., p. 216.

[162] ‘They never attack their enemies openly.’ Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 55. ‘Les guerriers tués ou faits prisonniers à la guerre, passent également sous la dent de leurs vainqueurs qui, en dévorant une proie aussi distinguée, croient y puiser de nouvelles forces, une nouvelle énergie.’ Laplace, Circumnav., tom. vi., p. 155.

[163] ‘Bien hechas de una pieza con su falca sobre las bordas.’ Perez, Nav., MS., p. 17. ‘On n’est pas moins étonné de leur stabilité: malgré la légèreté et le peu de largeur de la coque, elles n’ont pas besoin d’être soutenues par des balanciers, et jamais on ne les accouple.’ Marchand, Voy., tom. ii., p. 72. ‘Las regulares canoas de que se sirven son de pino, y no tienen mas capacidad que la que basta para contener una familia, sin embargo que las hay sumamente grandes.’ Bodega y Quadra, Nav., MS. p. 48. ‘Rudely excavated and reduced to no particular shape, but each end has the resemblance of a butcher’s tray.’ Dixon’s Voy., p. 173. ‘Their canoes are much inferior to those of the lower coast, while their skin “baidarkes” (kyacks) are not equal to those of Norton Sound and the northern coast.’ Whymper’s Alaska, p. 101. At Cook’s Inlet, ‘their canoes are sheathed with the bark of trees.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 188. These canoes ‘were made from a solid tree, and many of them appeared to be from 50 to 70 feet in length, but very narrow, being no broader than the tree itself.’ Meares’ Voy., p. xxxviii. ‘Their boat was the body of a large pine tree, neatly excavated, and tapered away towards the ends, until they came to a point, and the fore-part somewhat higher than the after-part; indeed, the whole was finished in a neat and very exact manner.’ Portlock’s Voy., p. 259.

[164] ‘Ont fait beaucoup plus de progrès dans les arts que dans la morale.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 233. Thlinkeet women make baskets of bark of trees, and grass, that will hold water. Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 132. They have tolerable ideas of carving, most utensils having sculptures, representing some animal. Portlock’s Voy., p. 294. ‘Ces peintures, ces sculptures, telles qu’elles sont, on en voit sur tous leurs meubles.’ Marchand, Voy., tom. ii., p. 71. ‘De la vivacidad de su genio y del afecto al cambio se debe inferir son bastantemente laboriosos.’ Bodega y Quadra, Nav., MS. p. 48. ‘Tienen lana blanca cuya especie ignoraron.’ Perez, Nav., MS. p. 16. ‘Masks very ingeniously cut in wood, and painted with different colors.’ A rattle, ‘very well finished, both as to sculpture and painting.’ ‘One might suppose these productions the work of a people greatly advanced in civilization.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., pp. 150, 241. ‘Found some square patches of ground in a state of cultivation, producing a plant that appeared to be a species of tobacco.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 256.

[165] ‘The skins of the sea-otters form their principal wealth, and are a substitute for money.’ Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 54. ‘In one place they discovered a considerable hoard of woolen cloth, and as much dried fish as would have loaded 150 bidarkas.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 160.

[166] ‘Le Gouvernement des Tchinkitânéens paroîtroit donc se rapprocher du Gouvernement patriarchal.’ Marchand, Voy., tom. ii., p. 83. ‘De su gobierno pensamos cuando mas, oiendo el modo de someterse á algunos viejos, seria oligárhico.’ Bodega y Quadra, Nav., MS. p. 50. ‘Though the toyons have power over their subjects, it is a very limited power, unless when an individual of extraordinary abilities starts up, who is sure to rule despotically.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 243. ‘Chaque famille semble vivre d’une manière isolée et avoir un régime particulier.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. iv., p. 61. ‘Ces Conseils composés des vieillards.’ Laplace, Circumnav., tom. vi., p. 155.

[167] Tribes are distinguished by the color and character of their paint. Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 51. They ‘are divided into tribes; the principal of which assume to themselves titles of distinction, from the names of the animals they prefer; as the tribe of the bear, of the eagle, etc. The tribe of the wolf are called Coquontans, and have many privileges over the other tribes.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., pp. 238, 242.

[168] ‘The women possess a predominant influence, and acknowledged superiority over the other sex.’ Meares’ Voy., p. 323. ‘Parmi eux les femmes jouissent d’une certaine considération.’ Laplace, Circumnav., tom. vi., p. 87. They treat their wives and children with much affection and tenderness, and the women keep the treasures. Portlock’s Voy., p. 290. The Kalush ‘finds his filthy countrywomen, with their lip-troughs, so charming, that they often awaken in him the most vehement passion.’ Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 56. ‘It is certain that industry, reserve, modesty, and conjugal fidelity, are the general characteristics of the female sex among these people.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 133. ‘Quoiqu’elles vivent sous la domination d’hommes très-féroces, je n’ai pas vu qu’elles en fussent traitées d’une manière aussi barbare que le prétendent la plupart des voyageurs.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. iv., p. 61.

[169] ‘Weddings are celebrated merely by a feast, given to the relatives of the bride.’ Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 57.

[170] ‘Ils ne s’écartent jamais de deux pas pour aucun besoin; ils ne cherchent dans ces occasions ni l’ombre ni le mystère; ils continuent la conversation qu’ils ont commencée, comme s’ils n’avaient pas un instant à perdre; et lorsque c’est pendant le repas, ils reprennent leur place, dont ils n’ont jamais été éloignés d’une toise.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 221.

[171] ‘Ont un goût décidé pour le chant.’ Marchand, Voy., tom. ii., p. 75. ‘The women sit upon the ground at a distance of some paces from the dancers, and sing a not inharmonious melody, which supplies the place of music.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 114. ‘They dance and sing continually.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 240. Besides the tambourine, Captain Belcher saw a castanet and ‘a new musical instrument, composed of three hoops, with a cross in the centre, the circumference being closely strung with the beaks of the Alca arctica.’ Voy., vol. i., p. 103.

[172] They lose at this game all their possessions, and even their wives and children, who then become the property of the winner.’ Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 62. ‘Ce jeu les rend tristes et sérieux.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 235.

[173] Upon one tomb, ‘formaba una figura grande y horrorosa que tenia entre sus garras una caxa.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. cxviii. ‘The box is frequently decorated with two or three rows of small shells.’ Dixon’s Voy., p. 176. ‘The dead are burned, and their ashes preserved in small wooden boxes, in buildings appropriated to that purpose.’ Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 57. ‘Nos voyageurs rencontrèrent aussi un morai qui leur prouva que ces Indiens étaient dans l’usage de brûler les morts et d’en conserver la tête.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 205. ‘On the death of a toyon, or other distinguished person, one of his slaves is deprived of life, and burned with him.’ Lisiansky’s Voy., p. 241.

[174] Called by Gallatin, in Am. Antiq. Soc. Transact., vol. ii., p. 17, Athapasca, the name ‘first given to the central part of the country they inhabit.’ Sir John Richardson, Jour., vol. ii., p. 1, calls them ‘Tinnè, or ‘Dtinnè, Athabascans or Chepewyans.’ ‘They style themselves generally Dinneh men, or Indians.’ Franklin’s Nar., vol. i., p. 241.

[175] Richardson’s Jour., vol. ii., pp. 1-33.

[176] ‘Les Indiens de la côte ou de la Nouvelle Calédonie, les Tokalis, les Chargeurs (Carriers) les Schouchouaps, les Atnas, appartiennent tous à la nation des Chipeouaïans dont la langue est en usage dans le nord du Continent jusqu’à la baie d’Hudson et à la Mer Polaire.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 337.

[177] Are ‘known under the names of Loucheux, Digothi, and Kutshin.’ Latham’s Nat. Races, p. 292. ‘They are called Deguthee Dinees, or the Quarrellers.’ Mackenzie’s Voy., p. 51. ‘On Peel’s River they name themselves Kutchin, the final n being nasal and faintly pronounced.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., p. 378. They are also called Tykothee-dinneh, Loucheux or Quarrellers. Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 83. ‘The Loucheux proper is spoken by the Indians of Peel’s River. All the tribes inhabiting the valley of the Youkon understand one another.’ Hardisty, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 311.

[178] Gallatin, in Am. Antiq. Soc. Transact., vol. ii., p. 17, erroneously ruled the Loucheux out of his Athabasca nation. ‘Im äussersten Nordosten hat uns Gallatin aufmerksam gemacht auf das Volk der Loucheux, Zänker-Indianer oder Digothi: an der Mündung des Mackenzie-Flusses, nach Einigen zu dessen beiden Seiten (westliche und östliche): dessen Sprache er nach den Reisenden für fremd den athapaskischen hielt: worüber sich die neuen Nachrichten noch widersprechen.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Sprache, p. 713. Franklin, Nar., vol. ii., p. 83, allies the Loucheux to the Eskimos.

[179] Tnai, ‘man;’ Tnaina Ttynai, Thnaina, Kinai, Kenai, Kenaize.

[180] See notes on Boundaries at the end of this chapter.

[181] Besides the ‘Umkwa,’ being outlying members of the Athabaskan stock,’ there are the ‘Navahoe, the Jecorilla, the Panalero, along with the Apatsh of New Mexico, California, and Sonora. To these add the Hoopah of California, which is also Athabaskan.’ Latham’s Comp. Phil., p. 393.

[182] William W. Turner was the first to assert positively that the Apaches spoke a language which belongs to the Athabascan family. Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Sprache, p. 316.

[183] Face ‘oval.’ Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 180. ‘Broad faces, projecting cheek-bones, and wide nostrils.’ Id., vol. i., p. 242. Foreheads low, chin long. Martin’s Brit. Col., vol. iii., p. 524. An exact compound between the Usquemows and Western Indians. Barrow’s Geog. Hudson Bay, p. 33.

[184] Generally more than medium size. Hearne’s Trav., p. 305. ‘Well proportioned, and about the middle size.’ Martin’s Brit. Col., vol. iii., p. 524. ‘Long-bodied, with short, stout limbs.’ Ross, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 304.

[185] ‘Dingy copper.’ Martin’s Brit. Col., vol. iii., p. 526. ‘Swarthy.’ Mackenzie’s Voy., p. cxix. Dingy brown, copper cast. Hearne’s Trav., p. 305. ‘Very fresh and red.’ Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 180. ‘Dirty yellowish ochre tinge.’ Ross, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 304.

[186] ‘Small, fine eyes and teeth.’ Franklin’s Nar., vol. i., 242.

[187] ‘Hair lank, but not always of a dingy black. Men in general extract their beard, though some of them are seen to prefer a bushy, black beard, to a smooth chin.’ Mackenzie’s Voy., p. cxix. Beard in the aged ‘between two and three inches long, and perfectly white.’ Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 180. ‘Black, strait, and coarse.’ Martin’s Brit. Col., vol. iii., p. 524. ‘Neither sex have any hair under their armpits, and very little on any other part of the body, particularly the women; but on the place where Nature plants the hair, I never knew them attempt to eradicate it.’ Hearne’s Trav., p. 306.

[188] Tattooing appears to be universal among the Kutchins. Kirby, in Smithsonian Rept., 1864, p. 419. The Chepewyans tattooed ‘by entering an awl or needle under the skin, and, on drawing it out again, immediately rubbing powdered charcoal into the wound.’ Hearne’s Trav., p. 306. ‘Both sexes have blue or black bars, or from one to four straight lines on their cheeks or forehead, to distinguish the tribe to which they belong.’ Mackenzie’s Voy., p. cxx.

[189] Women ‘destitute of real beauty.’ Hearne’s Trav., p. 89. ‘Very inferior aspect.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. ii., p. 8. Women nasty. Mackenzie’s Voy., p. 126. ‘Positively hideous.’ Ross, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 304.

[190] A Deer-Horn Mountaineer’s dress ‘consisted of a shirt, or jacket with a hood, wide breeches, reaching only to the knee, and tight leggins sewed to the shoes, all of deer’s skins.’ Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 180. The cap consists of the skin of a deer’s head. Mackenzie’s Voy., p. cxxii.

[191] As witness this speech of a noble chief: ‘Women were made for labor; one of them can carry, or haul, as much as two men can do. They also pitch our tents, make and mend our clothing, keep us warm at night; and, in fact, there is no such thing as traveling any considerable distance, in this country without their assistance.’ Hearne’s Trav., p. 55.

[192] An Indian desiring another one’s wife, fights with her husband, principally by pulling hair. If victorious, he pays a number of skins to the husband. Hooper’s Tuski, p. 303.

[193] ‘Continence in an unmarried female is scarcely considered a virtue.’ ‘Their dispositions are not amatory.’ ‘I have heard among them of two sons keeping their mother as a common wife, of another wedded to his daughter, and of several married to their sisters. Ross, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 310. Women carry their children on the back next the skin, and suckle them until another is born. They do not suspend their ordinary occupations for child-birth. Mackenzie’s Voy., p. cxxii. ‘A temporary interchange of wives is not uncommon; and the offer of their persons is considered as a necessary part of the hospitality due to strangers.’ Id., p. xcvi. Women are ‘rather the slaves than the companions of the men.’ Bell’s Geog., vol. v., p. 293.

[194] They are harsh towards their wives, except when enceinte. They are accused of abandoning the aged and sick, but only one case came to his knowledge. Franklin’s Nar., vol. i., pp. 250, 251.

[195] Beeatee, prepared from deer only, ‘is a kind of haggis, made with the blood, a good quantity of fat shred small, some of the tenderest of the flesh, together with the heart and lungs cut, or more commonly cut into small shivers; all of which is put into the stomach, and roasted.’ Hearne’s Trav., p. 144. ‘Not remarkable for their activity as hunters, owing to the ease with which they snare deer and spear fish.’ Mackenzie’s Voy., p. cxxiii. The Deer-Horn Mountaineers ‘repair to the sea in spring and kill seals; as the season advances, they hunt deer and musk oxen at some distance from the coast. They approach the deer either by crawling, or by leading these animals by ranges of turf towards the spot where the archer can conceal himself.’ Do not use nets, but the hook and line. Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 181. ‘Nets made of lines of twisted willow-bark, or thin strips of deer-hide.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. ii., p. 25. Curdled blood, a favorite dish. Simpson’s Nar., p. 324.

[196] The weapons of the Chepewyans are bows and arrows; stone and bone axes and knives. Harmon’s Jour., p. 183. The bows of the Deer-Horns ‘are formed of three pieces of fir, the centre piece alone bent, the other two lying in the same straight line with the bowstring; the pieces are neatly tied together with sinew. Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 180. In preparing for an attack, each Coppermine Indian paints his shield with figures of Sun, Moon, or some animal or imaginary beings, each portraying whatever character he most relies upon. Hearne’s Trav., p. 148. In some parts hunting grounds descend by inheritance, and the right of property is rigidly enforced. Simpson’s Nar., p. 75.

[197] ‘Their cooking utensils are made of pot-stone, and they form very neat dishes of fir.’ Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 181. Make fishing-lines and nets of green deer-thongs. Mackenzie’s Voy., p. cxxvi.

[198] ‘They are great mimics.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. ii., p. 13. Men dance naked; women dressed. A crowd stand in a straight line, and shuffle from right to left without moving the feet from the ground. Hearne’s Trav., p. 335. ‘The men occasionally howl in imitation of some animal.’ Mackenzie’s Voy., p. 35.

[199] ‘They manifest no common respect to the memory of their departed friends, by a long period of mourning, cutting off their hair, and never making use of the property of the deceased.’ Mackenzie’s Voy., p. cxxviii. The death of leading men is attributed to conjuring. They never bury the dead, but leave them, where they die, for wild beasts to devour. Hearne’s Trav., p. 341. The Chepewyans bury their dead. When mourning for relatives they gash their bodies with knives. Richardson’s Jour., vol. ii., pp. 21, 22.

[200] ‘The Northern Indians seldom attain a great age, though they have few diseases.’ Martin’s Brit. Col., vol. iii., p. 525. For inward complaints, the doctors blow zealously into the rectum, or adjacent parts. Hearne’s Trav., p. 189. The conjurer shuts himself up for days with the patient, without food, and sings over him. Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 41. Medicine-men or conjurers are at the same time doctors. Hooper’s Tuski, pp. 317, 318. ‘The Kutchins practice blood-letting ad libitum.’ Jones, Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 325. ‘Their principal maladies are rheumatic pains, the flux, and consumption.’ Mackenzie’s Voy., p. cxxiv.

[201] According to the report of the Dog-ribs, the Mountain Indians are cannibals, casting lots for victims in time of scarcity. Simpson’s Nar., p. 188. ‘Instances of suicide, by hanging, frequently occur among the women.’ Harmon’s Jour., p. 198. During times of starvation, which occur quite frequently, the Slavé Indians eat their families. Hooper’s Tuski, p. 303. ‘These people take their names, in the first instance, from their dogs. A young man is the father of a certain dog, but when he is married, and has a son, he styles himself the father of the boy. The women have a habit of reproving the dogs very tenderly when they observe them fighting. “Are you not ashamed,” say they, “to quarrel with your little brother?”‘ Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., pp. 85, 86. ‘Whether circumcision be practiced among them, I cannot pretend to say, but the appearance of it was general among those whom I saw.’ Mackenzie’s Voy., p. 36. Dog-rib Indians, sometimes also called Slavés, ‘a name properly meaning ‘strangers.’ Gallatin, in Am. Arch. Soc. Trans., vol. ii., p. 19.

[202] ‘Order is maintained in the tribe solely by public opinion.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. ii., p. 26. The chiefs are now totally without power. Franklin’s Nar., vol. i., p. 247. ‘They are influenced, more or less, by certain principles which conduce to their general benefit.’ Mackenzie’s Voy., p. cxxv.

[203] ‘Many consider a broth, made by means of the dung of the cariboo and the hare, to be a dainty dish.’ Harmon’s Jour., p. 324. They ‘are lazy, dirty, and sensual,’ and extremely uncivilized. ‘Their habits and persons are equally disgusting.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 62. ‘They are a tall, well formed, good-looking race.’ Nicolay’s Ogn. Ter., p. 154. ‘An utter contempt of cleanliness prevailed on all hands, and it was revolting to witness their voracious endeavors to surpass each other in the gluttonous contest.’ Ind. Life, p. 156.

[204] The women ‘run a wooden pin through their noses.’ Harmon’s Jour., p. 287. At their burial ceremonies they smear the face ‘with a composition of fish-oil and charcoal.’ When conjuring, the chief and his companions ‘wore a kind of coronet formed of the inverted claws of the grizzly bear.’ Ind. Life, pp. 127, 158.

[205] The Tacullies have ‘wooden dishes, and other vessels of the rind of the birch and pine trees.’ ‘Have also other vessels made of small roots or fibres of the cedar or pine tree, closely laced together, which serve them as buckets to put water in.’ Harmon’s Jour., p. 292.

[206] ‘In the summer season both sexes bathe often; and this is the only time, when the married people wash themselves.’ The Tacullies are very fond and very jealous of their wives, ‘but to their daughters, they allow every liberty, for the purpose, as they say, of keeping the young men from intercourse with the married women.’ Harmon’s Jour., pp. 289, 292, 293. A father, whose daughter had dishonored him, killed her and himself. Ind. Life, 184.

[207] ‘The people of every village have a certain extent of country, which they consider their own, and in which they may hunt and fish; but they may not transcend these bounds, without purchasing the privilege of those who claim the land. Mountains and rivers serve them as boundaries.’ Harmon’s Jour., p. 298.

[208] Mackenzie, Voy., p. 238, found on Fraser River, about latitude 55°, a deserted house, 30 by 20, with three doors, 3 by 3½ feet; three fire-places, and beds on either side; behind the beds was a narrow space, like a manger, somewhat elevated, for keeping fish. ‘Their houses are well formed of logs of small trees, buttressed up internally, frequently above seventy feet long and fifteen high, but, unlike those of the coast, the roof is of bark; their winter habitations are smaller, and often covered over with grass and earth; some even dwell in excavations of the ground, which have only an aperture at the top, and serves alike for door and chimney.’ Nicolay’s Ogn. Ter., p. 154.

[209] ‘Quelques peuplades du nord, telles que les Sikanis, enterrent leurs morts.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 339. ‘The Sicaunies bury, while the Tacullies, burn their dead.’ Harmon’s Jour., p. 196. They ‘and the Chimmesyans on the coast, and other tribes speaking their language, burn the dead.’ Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 236. See also Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 79, 80; Ind. Life, pp. 128, 136; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., pp. 362, 363.

[210] They fire guns as a warning to their friends not to invade their sorrow. Mackenzie’s Voy., p. 139.

[211] ‘In the winter season, the Carriers often keep their dead in their huts during five or six months, before they will allow them to be burned.’ Harmon’s Jour., p. 249.

[212] ‘She must frequently put her hands through the flames and lay them upon his bosom, to show her continued devotion.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 239. They have a custom of mourning over the grave of the dead; their expressions of grief are generally exceedingly vociferous. Ind. Life, pp. 185, 186.

[213] ‘On the end of a pole stuck in front of the lodge.’ Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 237.

[214] Women cut off a joint of one of their fingers. Men only cut off their hair close to their heads, but also frequently cut and scratch their faces and arms. Harmon’s Jour., p. 182. With some sharp instrument they ‘force back the flesh beyond the first joint, which they immediately amputate.’ Mackenzie’s Voy., p. 148.

[215] ‘The men are completely destitute of beard, and both men and women, are intensely ugly.’ Jones, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 320. ‘They reminded me of the ideal North American Indian I had read of but never seen.’ Whymper’s Alaska, p. 239. Distinguished from all other tribes for the frankness and candor of their demeanor, and bold countenances. Simpson’s Nar., p. 100. ‘Males are of the average hight of Europeans, and well-formed, with regular features, high foreheads, and lighter complexions than those of the other red Indians. The women resemble the men.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., p. 379.

[216] ‘Tunic or shirt reaching to the knees, and very much ornamented with beads, and Hyaqua shells from the Columbia.’ Kirby, in Smithsonian Rept., 1864, p. 418. The Tenan Kutchins are ‘gay with painted faces, feathers in their long hair, patches of red clay at the back of their head.’ Whymper’s Alaska, p. 239. Jackets like the Eskimos. Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., p. 221. ‘Both sexes wear breeches.’ Simpson’s Nar., p. 103.

[217] ‘The Kutch-a-Kutchin, are essentially traders.’ Kirby, in Smithsonian Rept., 1864, p. 418. Appear to care more for useful than ornamental articles. Whymper’s Alaska, p. 213. ‘Dentalium and arenicola shells are transmitted from the west coast in traffic, and are greatly valued.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., p. 391.

[218] Some wear ‘wampum (a kind of long, hollow shell) through the septum of the nose.’ Hooper’s Tuski, p. 270. They pierce the nose and insert shells, which are obtained from the Eskimos at a high price. Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 84.

[219] The Loucheux live in huts ‘formed of green branches. In winter their dwellings are partly under ground. The spoils of the moose and reindeer furnish them with meat, clothing, and tents.’ Simpson’s Nar., pp. 103, 191. The Co-Yukon winter dwellings are made under ground, and roofed over with earth, having a hole for the smoke to escape by, in the same manner as those of the Malemutes and Ingaliks. Whymper’s Alaska, pp. 175, 205. Their movable huts are constructed of deer-skin, ‘dressed with the hair on, and sewed together, forming two large rolls, which are stretched over a frame of bent poles,’ with a side door and smoke-hole at the top. Jones, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 321.

[220] The Loucheux are ‘great gormandizers, and will devour solid fat, or even drink grease, to surfeiting.’ Hooper’s Tuski, p. 271. ‘The bears are not often eaten in summer, as their flesh is not good at that time.’ Jones, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 321. Some of their reindeer-pounds are over one hundred years old and are hereditary in the family. Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., p. 394. ‘The mode of fishing through the ice practiced by the Russians is much in vogue with them.’ Whymper’s Alaska, p. 211.

[221] The Kutchins ‘have no knowledge of scalping.’ ‘When a man kills his enemy, he cuts all his joints.’ Jones, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, 327. The Loucheux of Peel River and the Eskimos are constantly at war. Hooper’s Tuski, p. 273.

[222] ‘At Peace River the bark is taken off the tree the whole length of the intended canoe, which is commonly about eighteen feet, and is sewed with watupe at both ends.’ Mackenzie’s Voy., p. 207. When the Kutchins discover a leak, ‘they go ashore, light a small fire, warm the gum, of which they always carry a supply, turn the canoe bottom upward, and rub the healing balm in a semi-fluid state into the seam until it is again water-tight.’ Whymper’s Alaska, p. 225. The Tacullies ‘make canoes which are clumsily wrought, of the aspin tree, as well as of the bark of the spruce fir.’ Harmon’s Jour., p. 291. Rafts are employed on the Mackenzie. Simpson’s Nar., p. 185. ‘In shape the Northern Indian canoe bears some resemblance to a weaver’s shuttle; covered over with birch bark.’ Hearne’s Jour., pp. 97, 98. ‘Kanots aus Birkenrinde, auf denen sie die Flüsse u. Seen befahren.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 112. The Kutchin canoe ‘is flat-bottomed, is about nine feet long and one broad, and the sides nearly straight up and down like a wall.’ Jones, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 323.

[223] As for instance for a life, the fine is forty beaver-skins, and may be paid in guns at twenty skins each; blankets, equal to ten skins each; powder, one skin a measure; bullets, eighteen for a skin; worsted belts, two skins each. Hooper’s Tuski, p. 272. ‘For theft, little or no punishment is inflicted; for adultery, the woman only is punished’—sometimes by beating, sometimes by death. Jones, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 325.

[224] Kutchin ‘female chastity is prized, but is nearly unknown.’ Jones, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 325. Loucheux mothers had originally a custom of casting away their female children, but now it is only done by the Mountain Indians, Simpson’s Nar., p. 187. The Kutchin ‘women are much fewer in number and live a much shorter time than the men.’ Kirby, in Smithsonian Rept., 1864, p. 418. The old people ‘are not ill-used, but simply neglected.’ Whymper’s Alaska, p. 229. The children are carried in small chairs made of birch bark. Id., p. 232. ‘In a seat of birch bark.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., p. 384.

[225] The Loucheux dances ‘abound in extravagant gestures, and demand violent exertion.’ Simpson’s Nar., p. 100. See Hardisty, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 313. ‘Singing is much practiced, but it is, though varied, of a very hum-drum nature.’ Hooper’s Tuski, p. 318. ‘At the festivals held on the meeting of friendly tribes, leaping and wrestling are practised.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., p. 395.

[226] ‘Irrespective of tribe, they are divided into three classes, termed respectively, Chit-sa, Nate-sa, and Tanges-at-sa, faintly representing the aristocracy, the middle classes, and the poorer orders of civilized nations, the former being the most wealthy and the latter the poorest.’ Kirby, in Smithsonian Rept., 1864, p. 418.

[227] On Peel River ‘they bury their dead on stages.’ On the Yukon they burn and suspend the ashes in bags from the top of a painted pole. Kirby, in Smithsonian Rept., 1864, p. 419. They of the Yukon ‘do not inter the dead, but put them in oblong boxes, raised on posts.’ Whymper’s Alaska, pp. 207, 211.

Chapter III • Columbians • 84,700 Words

Native Races of the Pacific States
Columbian Group

Habitat of the Columbian Group—Physical Geography—Sources of Food-Supply—Influence of Food and Climate—Four extreme Classes—Haidahs—Their Home—Physical Peculiarities—Clothing—Shelter—Sustenance—Implements—Manufactures—Arts—Property—Laws—Slavery—Women—Customs—Medicine—Death—The Nootkas—The Sound Nations—The Chinooks—The Shushwaps—The Salish—The Sahaptins—Tribal Boundaries.

The term Columbians, or, as Scouler[228]The Nootka-Columbians comprehend ‘the tribes inhabiting Quadra and Vancouver’s Island, and the adjacent inlets of the mainland, down to the Columbia River, and perhaps as far S. as Umpqua River and the northern part of New California.’ Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 221. and others have called them, Nootka-Columbians, is, in the absence of a native word, sufficiently characteristic to distinguish the aboriginal nations of north-western America between the forty-third and fifty-fifth parallels, from those of the other great divisions of this work. The Columbia River, which suggests the name of this group, and Nootka Sound on the western shore of Vancouver Island, were originally the chief centres of European settlement on the North-west Coast; and at an early period these names were compounded to designate the natives of the Anglo-American possessions on the Pacific, which lay between the discoveries of the Russians on the north and those of the Spaniards on the south. As a simple name is always preferable to a complex one, and as no more pertinent name suggests itself than that of the great river which, with its tributaries, drains a large portion of this territory, I drop ‘Nootka’ and retain only the word ‘Columbian.'[229]Gilbert Malcolm Sproat, a close observer and clear writer, thinks ‘this word Nootkah—no word at all—together with an imaginary word, Columbian, denoting a supposed original North American race—is absurdly used to denote all the tribes which inhabit the Rocky Mountains and the western coast of North America, from California inclusively to the regions inhabited by the Esquimaux. In this great tract there are more tribes, differing totally in language and customs, than in any other portion of the American continent; and surely a better general name for them could be found than this meaningless and misapplied term Nootkah Columbian.’ Sproat’s Scenes, p. 315. Yet Mr Sproat suggests no other name. It is quite possible that Cook, Voy. to the Pacific, vol. ii., p. 288, misunderstood the native name of Nootka Sound. It is easy to criticise any name which might be adopted, and even if it were practicable or desirable to change all meaningless and misapplied geographical names, the same or greater objections might be raised against others, which necessity would require a writer to invent. These nations have also been broadly denominated Flatheads, from a custom practiced more or less by many of their tribes, of compressing the cranium during infancy;[230]Kane’s Wand., p. 173; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., p. 441; Catlin’s N. Am. Ind., vol. ii., p. 108; the name being given to the people between the region of the Columbia and 53° 30´. although the only Indians in the whole area, tribally known as Flatheads, are those of the Salish family, who do not flatten the head at all.

Columbian Families

In describing the Columbian nations it is necessary, as in the other divisions, to subdivide the group; arbitrarily this may have been done in some instances, but as naturally as possible in all. Thus the people of Queen Charlotte Islands, and the adjacent coast for about a hundred miles inland, extending from 55° to 52° of north latitude, are called Haidahs from the predominant tribe of the islands. The occupants of Vancouver Island and the opposite main, with its labyrinth of inlets from 52° to 49°, I term Nootkas. The Sound Indians inhabit the region drained by streams flowing into Puget Sound, and the adjacent shores of the strait and ocean; the Chinooks occupy the banks of the Columbia from the Dalles to the sea, extending along the coast northward to Gray Harbor, and southward nearly to the Californian line. The interior of British Columbia, between the Cascade and Rocky Mountains, and south of the territory occupied by the Hyperborean Carriers, is peopled by the Shushwaps, the Kootenais, and the Okanagans. Between 49° and 47°, extending west from the Cascade to the Rocky Mountains, chiefly on the Columbia and Clarke Fork, is the Salish or Flathead family. The nations dwelling south of 47° and east of the Cascade range, on the Columbia, the lower Snake, and their tributary streams, may be called Sahaptins, from the name of the Nez Percé tribes.[231]The name Nez Percés, ‘pierced noses,’ is usually pronounced as if English, Nez Pér-ces. The great Shoshone family, extending south-east from the upper waters of the Columbia, and spreading out over nearly the whole of the Great Basin, although partially included in the Columbian limits, will be omitted in this, and included in the Californian Group, which follows. These divisions, as before stated, are geographic rather than ethnographic.[232]For particulars and authorities see Tribal Boundaries at end of this chapter. Many attempts have been made by practical ethnologists, to draw partition lines between these peoples according to race, all of which have proved signal failures, the best approximation to a scientific division being that of philologists, the results of whose researches are given in the third volume of this series; but neither the latter division, nor that into coast and inland tribes—in many respects the most natural and clearly defined of all[233]‘The Indian tribes of the North-western Coast may be divided into two groups, the Insular and the Inland, or those who inhabit the islands and adjacent shores of the mainland, and subsist almost entirely by fishing; and those who live in the interior and are partly hunters. This division is perhaps arbitrary, or at least imperfect, as there are several tribes whose affinities with either group are obscure.’ Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 217. See Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 147-8, and Mayne’s B. C., p. 242. ‘The best division is into coast and inland tribes.’ Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 226.—is adapted to my present purpose. In treating of the Columbians, I shall first take up the coast families, going from north to south, and afterward follow the same order with those east of the mountains.

Home of the Columbians

No little partiality was displayed by the Great Spirit of the Columbians in the apportionment of their dwelling-place. The Cascade Mountains, running from north to south throughout their whole territory, make of it two distinct climatic divisions, both highly but unequally favored by nature. On the coast side—a strip which may be called one hundred and fifty miles wide and one thousand miles long—excessive cold is unknown, and the earth, warmed by Asiatic currents and watered by numerous mountain streams, is thickly wooded; noble forests are well stocked with game; a fertile soil yields a great variety of succulent roots and edible berries, which latter means of subsistence were lightly appreciated by the indolent inhabitants, by reason of the still more abundant and accessible food-supply afforded by the fish of ocean, channel, and stream. The sources of material for clothing were also bountiful far beyond the needs of the people.

Passing the Cascade barrier, the climate and the face of the country change. Here we have a succession of plains or table-lands, rarely degenerating into deserts, with a good supply of grass and roots; though generally without timber, except along the streams, until the heavily wooded western spurs of the Rocky Mountains are reached. The air having lost much of its moisture, affords but a scanty supply of rain, the warming and equalizing influence of the ocean stream is no longer felt, and the extremes of heat and cold are undergone according to latitude and season. Yet are the dwellers in this land blessed above many other aboriginal peoples, in that game is plenty, and roots and insects are at hand in case the season’s hunt prove unsuccessful.

Ethnologically, no well-defined line can be drawn to divide the people occupying these two widely different regions. Diverse as they certainly are in form, character, and customs, their environment, the climate, and their methods of seeking food may well be supposed to have made them so. Not only do the pursuit of game in the interior and the taking of fish on the coast, develop clearly marked general peculiarities of character and life in the two divisions, but the same causes produce grades more or less distinct in each division. West of the Cascade range, the highest position is held by the tribes who in their canoes pursue the whale upon the ocean, and in the effort to capture Leviathan become themselves great and daring as compared with the lowest order who live upon shell-fish and whatever nutritious substances may be cast by the tide upon the beach. Likewise in the interior, the extremes are found in the deer, bear, elk, and buffalo hunters, especially when horses are employed, and in the root and insect eaters of the plains. Between these four extreme classes may be traced many intermediate grades of physical and intellectual development, due to necessity and the abilities exercised in the pursuit of game.

The Columbians hitherto have been brought in much closer contact with the whites than the Hyperboreans, and the results of the association are known to all. The cruel treacheries and massacres by which nations have been thinned, and flickering remnants of once powerful tribes gathered on government reservations or reduced to a handful of beggars, dependent for a livelihood on charity, theft, or the wages of prostitution, form an unwritten chapter in the history of this region. That this process of duplicity was unnecessary as well as infamous, I shall not attempt to show, as the discussion of Indian policy forms no part of my present purpose. Whatever the cause, whether from an inhuman civilized policy, or the decrees of fate, it is evident that the Columbians, in common with all the aborigines of America, are doomed to extermination. Civilization and savagism will not coalesce, any more than light and darkness; and although it may be necessary that these things come, yet are those by whom they are unrighteously accomplished none the less culpable.

Once more let it be understood that the time of which this volume speaks, was when the respective peoples were first known to Europeans. It was when, throughout this region of the Columbia, nature’s wild magnificence was yet fresh; primeval forests unprofaned; lakes, and rivers, and rolling plains unswept; it was when countless villages dotted the luxuriant valleys; when from the warrior’s camp-fire the curling smoke never ceased to ascend, nor the sounds of song and dance to be heard; when bands of gaily dressed savages roamed over every hill-side; when humanity unrestrained vied with bird and beast in the exercise of liberty absolute. This is no history; alas! they have none; it is but a sun-picture, and to be taken correctly must be taken quickly. Nor need we pause to look back through the dark vista of unwritten history, and speculate, who and what they are, nor for how many thousands of years they have been coming and going, counting the winters, the moons, and the sleeps; chasing the wild game, basking in the sunshine, pursuing and being pursued, killing and being killed. All knowledge regarding them lies buried in an eternity of the past, as all knowledge of their successors remains folded in an eternity of the future. We came upon them unawares, unbidden, and while we gazed they melted away. The infectious air of civilization penetrated to the remotest corner of their solitudes. Their ignorant and credulous nature, unable to cope with the intellect of a superior race, absorbed only its vices, yielding up its own simplicity and nobleness for the white man’s diseases and death.

Haidah Nations

In the Haidah family I include the nations occupying the coast and islands from the southern extremity of Prince of Wales Archipelago to the Bentinck Arms in about 52°. Their territory is bounded on the north and east by the Thlinkeet and Carrier nations of the Hyperboreans, and on the south by the Nootka family of the Columbians. Its chief nations, whose boundaries however can rarely be fixed with precision, are the Massets, the Skiddegats, and the Cumshawas, of Queen Charlotte Islands; the Kaiganies, of Prince of Wales Archipelago; the Chimsyans, about Fort Simpson, and on Chatham Sound; the Nass and the Skeenas, on the rivers of the same names; the Sebassas, on Pitt Archipelago and the shores of Gardner Channel; and the Millbank Sound Indians, including the Hailtzas and the Bellacoolas, the most southern of this family. These nations, the orthography of whose names is far from uniform among different writers, are still farther subdivided into numerous indefinite tribes, as specified at the end of this chapter.

The Haidah territory, stretching on the mainland three hundred miles in length, and in width somewhat over one hundred miles from the sea to the lofty Chilkoten Plain, is traversed throughout its length by the northern extension of the Cascade Range. In places its spurs and broken foot-hills touch the shore, and the very heart of the range is penetrated by innumerable inlets and channels, into which pour short rapid streams from interior hill and plain. The country, though hilly, is fertile and covered by an abundant growth of large, straight pines, cedars, and other forest trees. The forest abounds with game, the waters with fish. The climate is less severe than in the middle United States; and notwithstanding the high latitude of their home, the Haidahs have received no small share of nature’s gifts. Little has been explored, however, beyond the actual coast, and information concerning this nation, coming from a few sources only, is less complete than in the case of the more southern Nootkas.

Physical Peculiarities of the Haidahs

Favorable natural conditions have produced in the Haidahs a tall, comely, and well-formed race, not inferior to any in North-western America;[234]‘By far the best looking, most intelligent and energetic people on the N. W. Coast.’ Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 218. Also ranked by Prichard as the finest specimens physically on the coast. Researches, vol. v., p. 433. The Nass people ‘were peculiarly comely, strong, and well grown.’ Simpson’s Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 207. ‘Would be handsome, or at least comely,’ were it not for the paint. ‘Some of the women have exceedingly handsome faces, and very symmetrical figures.’ ‘Impressed by the manly beauty and bodily proportions of my islanders.’ Poole’s Queen Charlotte Isl., pp. 310, 314. Mackenzie found the coast people ‘more corpulent and of better appearance than the inhabitants of the interior.’ Voy., pp. 322-3; see pp. 370-1. ‘The stature (at Burke’s Canal) … was much more stout and robust than that of the Indians further south. The prominence of their countenances and the regularity of their features, resembled the northern Europeans.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 262. A chief of ‘gigantic person, a stately air, a noble mien, a manly port, and all the characteristics of external dignity, with a symmetrical figure, and a perfect order of European contour.’ Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 279, 251, 283, 285. Mayne says, ‘their countenances are decidedly plainer’ than the southern Indians. B. C., p. 250. ‘A tall, well-formed people.’ Bendel’s Alex. Arch., p. 29. ‘No finer men … can be found on the American Continent.’ Sproat’s Scenes, p. 23. In 55°, ‘Son bien corpulentos.’ Crespi, in Doc. Hist. Mex., s. iv., vol. vi., p. 646. ‘The best looking Indians we had ever met.’ ‘Much taller, and in every way superior to the Puget Sound tribes. The women are stouter than the men, but not so good-looking.’ Reed’s Nar. the northern nations of the family being generally superior to the southern,[235]The Sebassas are ‘more active and enterprising than the Millbank tribes.’ Dunn’s Oregon, p. 273. The Haeeltzuk are ‘comparatively effeminate in their appearance.’ Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 223. The Kyganies ‘consider themselves more civilised than the other tribes, whom they regard with feelings of contempt.’ Id., p. 219. The Chimsyans ‘are much more active and cleanly than the tribes to the south.’ Id., p. 220. ‘I have, as a rule, remarked that the physical attributes of those tribes coming from the north, are superior to those of the dwellers in the south.’ Barrett-Lennard’s Trav., p. 40. and having physical if not linguistic affinities with their Thlinkeet neighbors, rather than with the Nootkas. Their faces are broad, with high cheek bones;[236]Mackenzie’s Voy., pp. 370-1, 322-3; Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., pp. 262, 320; Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 197. ‘Regular, and often fine features.’ Bendel’s Alex. Arch., p. 29. the eyes small, generally black, though brown and gray with a reddish tinge have been observed among them.[237]Mackenzie’s Voy., pp. 309-10, 322-3, 370-1; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 229. ‘Opening of the eye long and narrow.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 197. The few who have seen their faces free from paint pronounce their complexion light,[238]‘Had it not been for the filth, oil, and paint, with which, from their earliest infancy, they are besmeared from head to foot, there is great reason to believe that their colour would have differed but little from such of the labouring Europeans, as are constantly exposed to the inclemency and alterations of the weather.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 262. ‘Between the olive and the copper.’ Mackenzie’s Voy., pp. 370-1. ‘Their complexion, when they are washed free from paint, is as white as that of the people of the S. of Europe.’ Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 218. Skin ‘nearly as white as ours.’ Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., pp. 314-5. ‘Of a remarkable light color.’ Bendel’s Alex. Arch., p. 29. ‘Fairer in complexion than the Vancouverians.’ ‘Their young women’s skins are as clear and white as those of Englishwomen.’ Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 23-4. ‘Fair in complexion, sometimes with ruddy cheeks.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 197. ‘De buen semblante, color blanco y bermejos.’ Crespi, in Doc. Hist. Mex., s. iv., vol. vi., p. 646. and instances of Albino characteristics are sometimes found.[239]Tolmie mentions several instances of the kind, and states that ‘amongst the Hydah or Queen Charlotte Island tribes, exist a family of coarse, red-haired, light-brown eyed, square-built people, short-sighted, and of fair complexion.’ Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 229-30. The hair is not uniformly coarse and black, but often soft in texture, and of varying shades of brown, worn by some of the tribes cut close to the head.[240]Mackenzie’s Voy., pp. 322-3, 371; Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 370; Dunn’s Oregon, p. 283; Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., p. 315. The beard is usually plucked out with great care, but moustaches are raised sometimes as strong as those of Europeans;[241]Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 218; Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., p. 74. ‘What is very unusual among the aborigines of America, they have thick beards, which appear early in life.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 197. indeed there seems to be little authority for the old belief that the North-western American Indians were destitute of hair except on the head.[242]‘After the age of puberty, their bodies, in their natural state, are covered in the same manner as those of the Europeans. The men, indeed, esteem a beard very unbecoming, and take great pains to get rid of it, nor is there any ever to be perceived on their faces, except when they grow old, and become inattentive to their appearance. Every crinous efflorescence on the other parts of the body is held unseemly by them, and both sexes employ much time in their extirpation. The Nawdowessies, and the remote nations, pluck them out with bent pieces of hard wood, formed into a kind of nippers; whilst those who have communication with Europeans procure from them wire, which they twist into a screw or worm; applying this to the part, they press the rings together, and with a sudden twitch draw out all the hairs that are inclosed between them.’ Carver’s Trav., p. 225. Dr Scouler, comparing Chimsyan skulls with those of the Chinooks, who are among the best known of the north-western nations, finds that in a natural state both have broad, high cheek-bones, with a receding forehead, but the Chimsyan skull, between the parietal and temporal bones, is broader than that of the Chinook, its vertex being remarkably flat.[243]Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 220. Swollen and deformed legs are common from constantly doubling them under the body while sitting in the canoe. The teeth are frequently worn down to the gums by eating sanded salmon.[244]Mackenzie’s Voy., pp. 370-1; Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 226; Dunn’s Oregon, p. 287.

Haidah Dress and Ornament

The Haidahs have no methods of distortion peculiar to themselves, by which they seek to improve their fine physique; but the custom of flattening the head in infancy obtains in some of the southern nations of this family, as the Hailtzas and Bellacoolas,[245]Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 232; Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., pp. 218, 220, 223. ‘The most northern of these Flat-head tribes is the Hautzuk.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. ii., p. 325. and the Thlinkeet lip-piece, already sufficiently described, is in use throughout a larger part of the whole territory. It was observed by Simpson as far south as Millbank Sound, where it was highly useful as well as ornamental, affording a firm hold for the fair fingers of the sex in their drunken fights. These ornaments, made of either wood, bone, or metal, are worn particularly large in Queen Charlotte Islands, where they seem to be not a mark of rank, but to be worn in common by all the women.[246]Simpson’s Overland Journ., vol. i., pp. 204, 233. ‘This wooden ornament seems to be wore by all the sex indiscriminately, whereas at Norfolk Sound it is confined to those of superior rank.’ Dixon’s Voy., pp. 225, 208, with a cut. A piece of brass or copper is first put in, and ‘this corrodes the lacerated parts, and by consuming the flesh gradually increases the orifice.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., pp. 279-80, 408. Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 218; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 276, 279; Crespi, in Doc. Hist. Mex., s. iv., vol. vi., p. 651; Cornwallis’ New El Dorado, p. 106; Catlin’s N. Am. Ind., vol. ii., p. 113, with plate. Besides the regular lip-piece, ornaments, various in shape and material, of shell, bone, wood, or metal, are worn stuck in the lips, nose, and ears, apparently according to the caprice or taste of the wearer, the skin being sometimes, though more rarely, tattooed to correspond.[247]Mayne’s B. C., pp. 281-2; Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., pp. 75, 311; Barrett-Lennard’s Trav., pp. 45-6; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 279, 285. Both for ornament and as a protection against the weather, the skin is covered with a thick coat of paint, a black polish being a full dress uniform. Figures of birds and beasts, and a coat of grease are added in preparation for a feast, with fine down of duck or goose—a stylish coat of tar and feathers—sprinkled over the body as an extra attraction.[248]Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., pp. 82, 106, 310, 322-3; Mayne’s B. C., pp. 282, 283; Dunn’s Oregon, p. 251. When the severity of the weather makes additional protection desirable, a blanket, formerly woven by themselves from dog’s hair, and stained in varied colors, but now mostly procured from Europeans, is thrown loosely over the shoulders. Chiefs, especially in times of feasting, wear richer robes of skins.[249]Mayne’s B. C., p. 282; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 251, 276, 291; Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 263; Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., p. 310. ‘The men habitually go naked, but when they go off on a journey they wear a blanket.’ Reed’s Nar. ‘Cuero de nutrias y lobo marino … sombreros de junco bien tejidos con la copa puntiaguda.’ Crespi, in Doc. Hist. Mex., s. iv., vol. vi., p. 646. The styles of dress and ornament adopted around the forts from contact with the whites need not be described. Among the more unusual articles that have been noticed by travelers are, “a large hat, resembling the top of a small parasol, made of the twisted fibres of the roots of trees, with an aperture in the inside, at the broader end” for the head, worn by a Sebassa chief; and at Millbank Sound, “masks set with seals’ whiskers and feathers, which expand like a fan,” with secret springs to open the mouth and eyes.[250]Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 253, 276-7; Catlin’s N. Am. Ind., vol. ii., p. 113. Mackenzie and Vancouver, who were among the earliest visitors to this region, found fringed robes of bark-fibre, ornamented with fur and colored threads. A circular mat, with an opening in the centre for the head, was worn as a protection from the rain; and war garments consisted of several thicknesses of the strongest hides procurable, sometimes strengthened by strips of wood on the inside.[251]At Salmon River, 52° 58´, ‘their dress consists of a single robe tied over the shoulders, falling down behind, to the heels, and before, a little below the knees, with a deep fringe round the bottom. It is generally made of the bark of the cedar tree, which they prepare as fine as hemp; though some of these garments are interwoven with strips of the sea-otter skin, which give them the appearance of a fur on one side. Others have stripes of red and yellow threads fancifully introduced towards the borders.’ Clothing is laid aside whenever convenient. ‘The women wear a close fringe hanging down before them about two feet in length, and half as wide. When they sit down they draw this between their thighs.’ Mackenzie’s Voy., pp. 322-3, 371; Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., pp. 280, 339.

Haidah Houses

The Haidahs use as temporary dwellings, in their frequent summer excursions for war and the hunt, simple lodges of poles, covered, among the poorer classes by cedar mats, and among the rich by skins. Their permanent villages are usually built in strong natural positions, guarded by precipices, sometimes on rocks detached from the main land, but connected with it by a narrow platform. Their town houses are built of light logs, or of thick split planks, usually of sufficient size to accommodate a large number of families. Poole mentions a house on Queen Charlotte Islands, which formed a cube of fifty feet, ten feet of its height being dug in the ground, and which accommodated seven hundred Indians. The buildings are often, however, raised above the ground on a platform supported by posts, sometimes carved into human or other figures. Some of these raised buildings seen by the earlier visitors were twenty-five or thirty feet from the ground, solidly and neatly constructed, an inclined log with notches serving as a ladder. These houses were found only in the southern part of the Haidah territory. The fronts were generally painted with figures of men and animals. There were no windows or chimney; the floors were spread with cedar mats, on which the occupants slept in a circle round a central fire, whose smoke in its exit took its choice between the hole which served as a door and the wall-cracks. On the south-eastern boundary of this territory, Mackenzie found in the villages large buildings of similar but more careful construction, and with more elaborately carved posts, but they were not dwellings, being used probably for religious purposes.[252]A house ‘erected on a platform, … raised and supported near thirty feet from the ground by perpendicular spars of a very large size; the whole occupying a space of about thirty-five by fifteen (yards), was covered in by a roof of boards lying nearly horizontal, and parallel to the platform; it seemed to be divided into three different houses, or rather apartments, each having a separate access formed by a long tree in an inclined position from the platform to the ground, with notches cut in it by way of steps, about a foot and a half asunder.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 274. See also pp. 137, 267-8, 272, 284. ‘Their summer and winter residences are built of split plank, similar to those of the Chenooks.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 263. ‘Ils habitent dans des loges de soixante pieds de long, construites avec des troncs de sapin et recouvertes d’écorces d’arbres.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 337. ‘Their houses are neatly constructed, standing in a row; having large images, cut out of wood, resembling idols. The dwellings have all painted fronts, showing imitations of men and animals. Attached to their houses most of them have large potatoe gardens.’ Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 293-4. See also, pp. 251-2, 273-4, 290; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 89; vol. ii., pp. 253, 255, with cuts on p. 255 and frontispiece. ‘Near the house of the chief I observed several oblong squares, of about twenty feet by eight. They were made of thick cedar boards, which were joined with so much neatness, that I at first thought they were one piece. They were painted with hieroglyphics, and figures of different animals,’ probably for purposes of devotion, as was ‘a large building in the middle of the village…. The ground-plot was fifty feet by forty-five; each end is formed by four stout posts, fixed perpendicularly in the ground. The corner ones are plain, and support a beam of the whole length, having three intermediate props on each side, but of a larger size, and eight or nine feet in height. The two centre posts, at each end, are two and a half feet in diameter, and carved into human figures, supporting two ridge poles on their heads, twelve feet from the ground. The figures at the upper part of this square represent two persons, with their hands upon their knees, as if they supported the weight with pain and difficulty: the others opposite to them stand at their ease, with their hands resting on their hips…. Posts, poles, and figures, were painted red and black, but the sculpture of these people is superior to their painting.’ Mackenzie’s Voy., p. 331. See also pp. 307, 318, 328-30, 339, 345; Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., pp. 111, 113-4; Reed’s Nar.; Marchand, Voy., tom. ii., pp. 127-31.

Food of the Haidahs

Although game is plentiful, the Haidahs are not a race of hunters, but derive their food chiefly from the innumerable multitude of fish and sea animals, which, each variety in its season, fill the coast waters. Most of the coast tribes, and all who live inland, kill the deer and other animals, particularly since the introduction of firearms, but it is generally the skin and not the flesh that is sought. Some tribes about the Bentinck channels, at the time of Mackenzie’s visit, would not taste flesh except from the sea, from superstitious motives. Birds that burrow in the sand-banks are enticed out by the glare of torches, and knocked down in large numbers with clubs. They are roasted without plucking or cleaning, the entrails being left in to improve the flavor. Potatoes, and small quantities of carrots and other vegetables, are now cultivated throughout this territory, the crop being repeated until the soil is exhausted, when a new place is cleared. Wild parsnips are abundant on the banks of lakes and streams, and their tender tops, roasted, furnish a palatable food; berries and bulbs abound, and the inner tegument of some varieties of the pine and hemlock is dried in cakes and eaten with salmon-oil. The varieties of fish sent by nature to the deep inlets and streams for the Haidah’s food, are very numerous; their standard reliance for regular supplies being the salmon, herring, eulachon or candle-fish, round-fish, and halibut. Salmon are speared; dipped up in scoop-nets; entangled in drag-nets managed between two canoes and forced by poles to the bottom; intercepted in their pursuit of smaller fish by gill-nets with coarse meshes, made of cords of native hemp, stretched across the entrance of the smaller inlets; and are caught in large wicker baskets, placed at openings in weirs and embankments which are built across the rivers. The salmon fishery differs little in different parts of the Northwest. The candle-fish, so fat that in frying they melt almost completely into oil, and need only the insertion of a pith or bark wick to furnish an excellent lamp, are impaled on the sharp teeth of a rake, or comb. The handle of the rake is from six to eight feet long, and it is swept through the water by the Haidahs in their canoes by moonlight. Herring in immense numbers are taken in April by similar rakes, as well as by dip-nets, a large part of the whole take being used for oil. Seals are speared in the water or shot while on the rocks, and their flesh is esteemed a great delicacy. Clams, cockles, and shell-fish are captured by squaws, such an employment being beneath manly dignity. Fish, when caught, are delivered to the women, whose duty it is to prepare them for winter use by drying. No salt is used, but the fish are dried in the sun, or smoke-dried by being hung from the top of dwellings, then wrapped in bark, or packed in rude baskets or chests, and stowed on high scaffolds out of the reach of dogs and children. Salmon are opened, and the entrails, head, and back-bone removed before drying. During the process of drying, sand is blown over the fish, and the teeth of the eater are often worn down by it nearly even with the gums. The spawn of salmon and herring is greatly esteemed, and besides that obtained from the fish caught, much is collected on pine boughs, which are stuck in the mud until loaded with the eggs. This native caviare is dried for preservation, and is eaten prepared in various ways; pounded between two stones, and beaten with water into a creamy consistency; or boiled with sorrel and different berries, and moulded into cakes about twelve inches square and one inch thick by means of wooden frames. After a sufficient supply of solid food for the winter is secured, oil, the great heat-producing element of all northern tribes, is extracted from the additional catch, by boiling the fish in wooden vessels, and skimming the grease from the water or squeezing it from the refuse. The arms and breast of the women are the natural press in which the mass, wrapped in mats, is hugged; the hollow stalks of an abundant sea-weed furnish natural bottles in which the oil is preserved for use as a sauce, and into which nearly everything is dipped before eating. When the stock of food is secured, it is rarely infringed upon until the winter sets in, but then such is the Indian appetite—ten pounds of flour in the pancake-form at a meal being nothing for the stomach of a Haidah, according to Poole—that whole tribes frequently suffer from hunger before spring.[253]On food of the Haidahs and the methods of procuring it, see Lord’s Nat., vol. i., pp. 41, 152; Mackenzie’s Voy., pp. 306, 313-14, 319-21, 327, 333, 339, 369-70; Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., pp. 148, 284-5, 315-16; Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 273; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 251, 267, 274, 290-1; Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 337; Pemberton’s Vancouver Island, p. 23; Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 263; Reed’s Nar.

The Haidah weapons are spears from four to sixteen feet long, some with a movable head or barb, which comes off when the seal or whale is struck; bows and arrows; hatchets of bone, horn, or iron, with which their planks are made; and daggers. Both spears and arrows are frequently pointed with iron, which, whether it found its way across the continent from the Hudson-Bay settlements, down the coast from the Russians, or was obtained from wrecked vessels, was certainly used in British Columbia for various purposes before the coming of the whites. Bows are made of cedar, with sinew glued along one side. Poole states that before the introduction of fire-arms, the Queen Charlotte Islanders had no weapon but a club. Brave as the Haidah warrior is admitted to be, open fair fight is unknown to him, and in true Indian style he resorts to night attacks, superior numbers, and treachery, to defeat his foe. Cutting off the head as a trophy is practiced instead of scalping, but though unmercifully cruel to all sexes and ages in the heat of battle, prolonged torture of captives seems to be unknown. Treaties of peace are arranged by delegations from the hostile tribes, following set forms, and the ceremonies terminate with a many days’ feast.[254]Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 339; Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., p. 316; Mackenzie’s Voy., p. 372-3. ‘Once I saw a party of Kaiganys of about two hundred men returning from war. The paddles of the warriors killed in the fight were lashed upright in their various seats, so that from a long distance the number of the fallen could be ascertained; and on each mast of the canoes—and some of them had three—was stuck the head of a slain foe.’ Bendel’s Alex. Arch., p. 30. Nets are made of native wild hemp and of cedar-bark fibre; hooks, of two pieces of wood or bone fastened together at an obtuse angle; boxes, troughs, and household dishes, of wood; ladles and spoons, of wood, horn, and bone. Candle-fish, with a wick of bark or pith, serve as lamps; drinking vessels and pipes are carved with great skill from stone. The Haidahs are noted for their skill in the construction of their various implements, particularly for sculptures in stone and ivory, in which they excel all the other tribes of Northern America.[255]The Kaiganies ‘are noted for the beauty and size of their cedar canoes, and their skill in carving. Most of the stone pipes, inlaid with fragments of Haliotis or pearl shells, so common in ethnological collections, are their handiwork. The slate quarry from which the stone is obtained is situated on Queen Charlotte’s Island.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 411. The Chimsyans ‘make figures in stone dressed like Englishmen; plates and other utensils of civilization, ornamented pipe stems and heads, models of houses, stone flutes, adorned with well-carved figures of animals. Their imitative skill is as noticeable as their dexterity in carving.’ Sproat’s Scenes, p. 317. The supporting posts of their probable temples were carved into human figures, and all painted red and black, ‘but the sculpture of these people (52° 40´) is superior to their painting.’ Mackenzie’s Voy., pp. 330-1; see pp. 333-4. ‘One man (near Fort Simpson) known as the Arrowsmith of the north-east coast, had gone far beyond his compeers, having prepared very accurate charts of most parts of the adjacent shores.’ Simpson’s Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 207. ‘The Indians of the Northern Family are remarkable for their ingenuity and mechanical dexterity in the construction of their canoes, houses, and different warlike or fishing implements. They construct drinking-vessels, tobacco-pipes, &c., from a soft argillaceous stone, and these articles are remarkable for the symmetry of their form, and the exceedingly elaborate and intricate figures which are carved upon them. With respect to carving and a faculty for imitation, the Queen Charlotte’s Islanders are equal to the most ingenious of the Polynesian Tribes.’ Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 218. ‘Like the Chinese, they imitate literally anything that is given them to do; so that if you give them a cracked gun-stock to copy, and do not warn them, they will in their manufacture repeat the blemish. Many of their slate-carvings are very good indeed, and their designs most curious.’ Mayne’s B. C., p. 278. See also, Dunn’s Oregon, p. 293; Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 337, and plate p. 387. The Skidagates ‘showed me beautifully wrought articles of their own design and make, and amongst them some flutes manufactured from an unctuous blue slate…. The two ends were inlaid with lead, giving the idea of a fine silver mounting. Two of the keys perfectly represented frogs in a sitting posture, the eyes being picked out with burnished lead…. It would have done credit to a European modeller.’ Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., p. 258. ‘Their talent for carving has made them famous far beyond their own country.’ Bendel’s Alex. Arch., p. 29. A square wooden box, holding one or two bushels, is made from three pieces, the sides being from one piece so mitred as to bend at the corners without breaking. ‘During their performance of this character of labor, (carving, etc.) their superstitions will not allow any spectator of the operator’s work.’ Reed’s Nar.; Ind. Life, p. 96. ‘Of a very fine and hard slate they make cups, plates, pipes, little images, and various ornaments, wrought with surprising elegance and taste.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 197. ‘Ils peignent aussi avec le même goût.’ Rossi, Souvenirs, p. 298; Anderson, in Hist. Mag., vol. vii., pp. 74-5.

Haidah Manufactures

The cedar-fibre and wild hemp were prepared for use by the women by beating on the rocks; they were then spun with a rude distaff and spindle, and woven on a frame into the material for blankets, robes, and mats, or twisted by the men into strong and even cord, between the hand and thigh. Strips of otter-skin, bird-feathers, and other materials, were also woven into the blankets. Dogs of a peculiar breed, now nearly extinct, were shorn each year, furnishing a long white hair, which, mixed with fine hemp and cedar, made the best cloth. By dyeing the materials, regular colored patterns were produced, each tribe having had, it is said, a peculiar pattern by which its matting could be distinguished. Since the coming of Europeans, blankets of native manufacture have almost entirely disappeared. The Bellacoolas made very neat baskets, called zeilusqua, as well as hats and water-tight vessels, all of fine cedar-roots. Each chief about Fort Simpson kept an artisan, whose business it was to repair canoes, make masks, etc.[256]Mackenzie’s Voy., p. 338; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 63; vol. ii., pp. 215-17, 254, 258; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 251, 253, 291, 293. ‘They boil the cedar root until it becomes pliable to be worked by the hand and beaten with sticks, when they pick the fibres apart into threads. The warp is of a different material—sinew of the whale, or dried kelp-thread.’ Reed’s Nar. ‘Petatito de vara en cuadro bien vistoso, tejido de palma fina de dos colores blanco y negro que tejido en cuadritos.’ Crespi, in Doc. Hist. Mex., s. iv., vol. vi., pp. 647, 650-1.

The Haidah canoes are dug out of cedar logs, and are sometimes sixty feet long, six and a half wide, and four and a half deep, accommodating one hundred men. The prow and stern are raised, and often gracefully curved like a swan’s neck, with a monster’s head at the extremity. Boats of the better class have their exteriors carved and painted, with the gunwale inlaid in some cases with otter-teeth. Each canoe is made of a single log, except the raised extremities of the larger boats. They are impelled rapidly and safely over the often rough waters of the coast inlets, by shovel-shaped paddles, and when on shore, are piled up and covered with mats for protection against the rays of the sun. Since the coming of Europeans, sails have been added to the native boats, and other foreign features imitated.[257]Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., p. 269, and cuts on pp. 121, 291; Mackenzie’s Voy., p. 335; Simpson’s Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 204; Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 303; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. cxxv; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 174; Reed’s Nar.; Catlin’s N. Am. Ind., vol. ii., p. 113, with plate. The Bellabellahs ‘promised to construct a steam-ship on the model of ours…. Some time after this rude steamer appeared. She was from 20 to 30 feet long, all in one piece—a large tree hollowed out—resembling the model of our steamer. She was black, with painted ports; decked over; and had paddles painted red, and Indians under cover, to turn them round. The steersman was not seen. She was floated triumphantly, and went at the rate of three miles an hour. They thought they had nearly come up to the point of external structure; but then the enginery baffled them; and this they thought they could imitate in time, by perseverance, and the helping illumination of the Great Spirit.’ Dunn’s Oregon, p. 272. See also, p. 291. ‘A canoe easily distanced the champion boat of the American Navy, belonging to the man-of-war Saranac.’ Bendel’s Alex. Arch., p. 29.

Trade and Government

Rank and power depend greatly upon wealth, which consists of implements, wives, and slaves. Admission to alliance with medicine-men, whose influence is greatest in the tribe, can only be gained by sacrifice of private property. Before the disappearance of sea-otters from the Haidah waters, the skins of that animal formed the chief element of their trade and wealth; now the potatoes cultivated in some parts, and the various manufactures of Queen Charlotte Islands, supply their slight necessities. There is great rivalry among the islanders in supplying the tribes on the main with potatoes, fleets of forty or fifty canoes engaging each year in the trade from Queen Charlotte Islands. Fort Simpson is the great commercial rendezvous of the surrounding nations, who assemble from all directions in September, to hold a fair, dispose of their goods, visit friends, fight enemies, feast, and dance. Thus continue trade and merry-making for several weeks. Large fleets of canoes from the north also visit Victoria each spring for trading purposes.[258]Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 219; Macfie’s B. C., pp. 429, 437, 458; Simpson’s Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 206; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 174; Anderson, in Hist. Mag., vol. vii., p. 74; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 279, 281-3, 292; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. cxxv.

Very little can be said of the government of the Haidahs in distinction from that of the other nations of the Northwest Coast. Among nearly all of them rank is nominally hereditary, for the most part by the female line, but really depends to a great extent on wealth and ability in war. Females often possess the right of chieftainship. In early intercourse with whites the chief traded for the whole tribe, subject, however, to the approval of the several families, each of which seemed to form a kind of subordinate government by itself. In some parts the power of the chief seems absolute, and is wantonly exercised in the commission of the most cruel acts according to his pleasure. The extensive embankments and weirs found by Mackenzie, although their construction must have required the association of all the labor of the tribe, were completely under the chief’s control, and no one could fish without his permission. The people seemed all equal, but strangers must obey the natives or leave the village. Crimes have no punishment by law; murder is settled for with relatives of the victim, by death or by the payment of a large sum; and sometimes general or notorious offenders, especially medicine-men, are put to death by an agreement among leading men.[259]Mackenzie’s Voy., pp. 374-5; Tolmie and Anderson, in Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 240-2, 235; Macfie’s B. C., p. 429; Simpson’s Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 205; Dixon’s Voy., p. 227. ‘There exists among them a regular aristocracy.’ ‘The chiefs are always of unquestionable birth, and generally count among their ancestors men who were famous in battle and council.’ ‘The chief is regarded with all the reverence and respect which his rank, his birth, and his wealth can claim,’ but ‘his power is by no means unlimited.’ Bendel’s Alex. Arch., p. 30. Slavery is universal, and as the life of the slave is of no value to the owner except as property, they are treated with extreme cruelty. Slaves the northern tribes purchase, kidnap, or capture in war from their southern neighbors, who obtain them by like means from each other, the course of the slave traffic being generally from south to north, and from the coast inland.[260]Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 273-4, 283; Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 263; Bendel’s Alex. Arch., p. 30; Kane’s Wand., p. 220.

Polygamy is everywhere practiced, and the number of wives is regulated only by wealth, girls being bought of parents at any price which may be agreed upon, and returned, and the price recovered, when after a proper trial they are not satisfactory. The transfer of the presents or price to the bride’s parents is among some tribes accompanied by slight ceremonies nowhere fully described. The marriage ceremonies at Millbank Sound are performed on a platform over the water, supported by canoes. While jealousy is not entirely unknown, chastity appears to be so, as women who can earn the greatest number of blankets win great admiration for themselves and high position for their husbands. Abortion and infanticide are not uncommon. Twin births are unusual, and the number of children is not large, although the age of bearing extends to forty or forty-six years. Women, except in the season of preparing the winter supply of fish, are occupied in household affairs and the care of children, for whom they are not without some affection, and whom they nurse often to the age of two or three years. Many families live together in one house, with droves of filthy dogs and children, all sleeping on mats round a central fire.[261]‘Polygamy is universal, regulated simply by the facilities for subsistence.’ Anderson, in Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 235. See pp. 231-5, and vol. i., pp. 89-90. The women ‘cohabit almost promiscuously with their own tribe though rarely with other tribes.’ Poole, spending the night with a chief, was given the place of honor, under the same blanket with the chief’s daughter—and her father. Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., pp. 312-15, 115-16, 155. ‘The Indians are in general very jealous of their women.’ Dixon’s Voy., p. 225-6. ‘Tous les individus d’une famille couchent pêle-mêle sur le sol plancheyé de l’habitation.’ Marchand, Voy., tom. ii., p. 144. ‘Soon after I had retired … the chief paid me a visit to insist on my going to his bed-companion, and taking my place himself.’ Mackenzie’s Voy., p. 331. See pp. 300, 371-2. Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 263. ‘On the weddingday they have a public feast, at which they dance and sing.’ Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 252-3, 289-90. ‘According to a custom of the Bellabollahs, the widow of the deceased is transferred to his brother’s harem.’ Simpson’s Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 203-4. ‘The temporary present of a wife is one of the greatest honours that can be shown there to a guest.’ Sproat’s Scenes, p. 95.

Haidah Gamblers

The Haidahs, like all Indians, are inveterate gamblers, the favorite game on Queen Charlotte Islands being odd and even, played with small round sticks, in which the game is won when one player has all the bunch of forty or fifty sticks originally belonging to his opponent. Farther south, and inland, some of the sticks are painted with red rings, and the player’s skill or luck consists in naming the number and marks of sticks previously wrapped by his antagonist in grass. All have become fond of whisky since the coming of whites, but seem to have had no intoxicating drink before. At their annual trading fairs, and on other occasions, they are fond of visiting and entertaining friends with ceremonious interchange of presents, a suitable return being expected for each gift. At these reception feasts, men and women are seated on benches along opposite walls; at wedding feasts both sexes dance and sing together. In dancing, the body, head, and arms are thrown into various attitudes to keep time with the music, very little use being made of the legs. On Queen Charlotte Islands the women dance at feasts, while the men in a circle beat time with sticks, the only instruments, except a kind of tambourine. For their dances they deck themselves in their best array, including plenty of birds’ down, which they delight to communicate to their partners in bowing, and which they also blow into the air at regular intervals, through a painted tube. Their songs are a simple and monotonous chant, with which they accompany most of their dances and ceremonies, though Mackenzie heard among them some soft, plaintive tones, not unlike church music. The chiefs in winter give a partly theatrical, partly religious entertainment, in which, after preparation behind a curtain, dressed in rich apparel and wearing masks, they appear on a stage and imitate different spirits for the instruction of the hearers, who meanwhile keep up their songs.[262]‘The Queen Charlotte Islanders surpass any people that I ever saw in passionate addiction’ to gambling. Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., p. 318-20. See pp. 186-87, 232-33. Mackenzie’s Voy., pp. 288, 311. The Sebassas are great gamblers, and ‘resemble the Chinooks in their games.’ Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 25-7, 252-9, 281-3, 293. ‘The Indian mode of dancing bears a strange resemblance to that in use among the Chinese.’ Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., p. 82. Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 258; Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 263; Ind. Life, p. 63.

After the salmon season, feasting and conjuring are in order. The chief, whose greatest authority is in his character of conjurer, or tzeetzaiak as he is termed in the Hailtzuk tongue, pretends at this time to live alone in the forest, fasting or eating grass, and while there is known as taamish. When he returns, clad in bear-robe, chaplet, and red-bark collar, the crowd flies at his approach, except a few brave spirits, who boldly present their naked arms, from which he bites and swallows large mouthfuls. This, skillfully done, adds to the reputation of both biter and bitten, and is perhaps all the foundation that exists for the report that these people are cannibals; although Mr Duncan, speaking of the Chimsyans in a locality not definitely fixed, testifies to the tearing to pieces and actual devouring of the body of a murdered slave by naked bands of cannibal medicine-men. Only certain parties of the initiated practice this barbarism, others confining their tearing ceremony to the bodies of dogs.[263]Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 223; Duncan, in Mayne’s B. C., pp. 285-8, and in Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 434-7; White’s Oregon, p. 246; Simpson’s Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 205; Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., Nov. 1860, pp. 222-8; Ind. Life, p. 68; Reed’s Nar.; Anderson, in Hist. Mag., vol. vii., p. 79.

MAGICIANS AND MEDICINE-MEN.

None of these horrible orgies are practiced by the Queen Charlotte Islanders. The performances of the Haidah magicians, so far as they may differ from those of the Nootkas have not been clearly described by travelers. The magicians of Chatham Sound keep infernal spirits shut up in a box away from the vulgar gaze, and possess great power by reason of the implicit belief on the part of the people, in their ability to charm away life. The doctor, however, is not beyond the reach of a kinsman’s revenge, and is sometimes murdered.[264]The Indians of Millbank Sound became exasperated against me, ‘and they gave me the name of “Schloapes,” i. e., “stingy:” and when near them, if I should spit, they would run and try to take up the spittle in something; for, according as they afterwards informed me, they intended to give it to their doctor or magician; and he would charm my life away.’ Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 246-7. See pp. 279-80; Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., pp. 320-1. With their ceremonies and superstitions there seems to be mixed very little religion, as all their many fears have reference to the present life. Certain owls and squirrels are regarded with reverence, and used as charms; salmon must not be cut across the grain, or the living fish will leave the river; the mysterious operations with astronomical and other European instruments about their rivers caused great fear that the fisheries would be ruined; fogs are conjured away without the slightest suspicion of the sun’s agency.[265]Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 32-4, 53-4; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 367, 274-5. European navigators they welcome by paddling their boats several times round the ship, making long speeches, scattering birds’ down, and singing.[266]Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., pp. 385-9. Ordinary presents, like tobacco or trinkets, are gladly received, but a written testimonial is most highly prized by the Haidahs, who regard writing as a great and valuable mystery. They have absolutely no methods of recording events. Although living so constantly on the water, I find no mention of their skill in swimming, while Poole states expressly that they have no knowledge of that art.[267]Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., pp. 109-10, 116; Anderson, in Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 242.

Very slight accounts are extant of the peculiar methods of curing diseases practiced by the Haidahs. Their chief reliance, as in the case of all Indian tribes, is on the incantations and conjurings of their sorcerers, who claim supernatural powers of seeing, hearing, and extracting disease, and are paid liberally when successful. Bark, herbs, and various decoctions are used in slight sickness, but in serious cases little reliance is placed on them. To the bites of the sorcerer-chiefs on the main, eagle-down is applied to stop the bleeding, after which a pine-gum plaster or sallal-bark is applied. On Queen Charlotte Islands, in a case of internal uneasiness, large quantities of sea-water are swallowed, shaken up, and ejected through the mouth for the purpose, as the natives say, of ‘washing themselves inside out.'[268]At about 52° 40´, between the Fraser River and the Pacific, Mackenzie observed the treatment of a man with a bad ulcer on his back. They blew on him and whistled, pressed their fingers on his stomach, put their fists into his mouth, and spouted water into his face. Then he was carried into the woods, laid down in a clear spot, and a fire was built against his back while the doctor scarified the ulcer with a blunt instrument. Voy., pp. 331-33; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 258, 284; Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., pp. 316-18; Duncan, in Mayne’s B. C., 289-91; Reed’s Nar., in Olympia Wash. Stand., May 16, 1868.

Haidah Burials

Death is ascribed to the ill will and malign influence of an enemy, and one suspected of causing the death of a prominent individual, must make ready to die. As a rule, the bodies of the dead are burned, though exceptions are noted in nearly every part of the territory. In the disposal of the ashes and larger bones which remain unburned, there seems to be no fixed usage. Encased in boxes, baskets, or canoes, or wrapped in mats or bark, they are buried in or deposited on the ground, placed in a tree, on a platform, or hung from a pole. Articles of property are frequently deposited with the ashes, but not uniformly. Slaves’ bodies are simply thrown into the river or the sea. Mourning for the dead consists usually of cutting the hair and blackening anew the face and neck for several months. Among the Kaiganies, guests at the burning of the bodies are wont to lacerate themselves with knives and stones. A tribe visited by Mackenzie, kept their graves free from shrubbery, a woman clearing that of her husband each time she passed. The Nass Indians paddle a dead chief, gaily dressed, round the coast villages.[269]At Boca de Quadra, Vancouver found ‘a box about three feet square, and a foot and a half deep, in which were the remains of a human skeleton, which appeared from the confused situation of the bones, either to have been cut to pieces, or thrust with great violence into this small space.’ … ‘I was inclined to suppose that this mode of depositing their dead is practised only in respect to certain persons of their society.’ Voy., vol. ii., p. 351. At Cape Northumberland, in 54° 45´, ‘was a kind of vault formed partly by the natural cavity of the rocks, and partly by the rude artists of the country. It was lined with boards, and contained some fragments of warlike implements, lying near a square box covered with mats and very curiously corded down.’ Id., p. 370; Cornwallis’ New El Dorado, pp. 106-7. On Queen Charlotte Islands, ‘Ces monumens sont de deux espèces: les premiers et les plus simples ne sont composés que d’un seul pilier d’environ dix pieds d’élévation et d’un pied de diamètre, sur le sommet duquel sont fixées des planches formant un plateau; et dans quelques-uns ce plateau est supporté par deux piliers. Le corps, déposé sur cette plate-forme, est recouvert de mousse et de grosses pierres’ … ‘Les mausolées de la seconde espèce sont plus composés: quatre poteaux plantés en terre, et élevés de deux pieds seulement au-dessus du sol portent un sarcophage travaillé avec art, et hermétiquement clos.’ Marchand, Voy., tom. ii., pp. 135-6. ‘According to another account it appeared that they actually bury their dead; and when another of the family dies, the remains of the person who was last interred, are taken from the grave and burned.’ Mackenzie’s Voy., p. 308. See also pp. 374, 295-98; Simpson’s Overland Journ., vol. i., pp. 203-4; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 272, 276, 280; Mayne’s B. C., pp. 272, 293; Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 235; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 440-41; Dall’s Alaska, p. 417.

The Haidahs, compared with other North American Indians, may be called an intelligent, honest, and brave race, although not slow under European treatment to become drunkards, gamblers, and thieves. Acts of unprovoked cruelty or treachery are rare; missionaries have been somewhat successful in the vicinity of Fort Simpson, finding in intoxicating liquors their chief obstacle.[270]On the coast, at 52° 12´, Vancouver found them ‘civil, good-humoured and friendly.’ At Cascade Canal, about 52° 24´, ‘in traffic they proved themselves to be keen traders, but acted with the strictest honesty;’ at Point Hopkins ‘they all behaved very civilly and honestly;’ while further north, at Observatory Inlet, ‘in their countenances was expressed a degree of savage ferocity infinitely surpassing any thing of the sort I had before observed,’ presents being scornfully rejected. Voy., vol. ii., pp. 281, 269, 303, 337. The Kitswinscolds on Skeena River ‘are represented as a very superior race, industrious, sober, cleanly, and peaceable.’ Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 533. The Chimsyans are fiercer and more uncivilized than the Indians of the South. Sproat’s Scenes, p. 317. ‘Finer and fiercer men than the Indians of the South.’ Mayne’s B. C., p. 250. ‘They appear to be of a friendly disposition, but they are subject to sudden gusts of passion, which are as quickly composed; and the transition is instantaneous, from violent irritation to the most tranquil demeanor. Of the many tribes … whom I have seen, these appear to be the most susceptible of civilization.’ Mackenzie’s Voy., p. 375, 322. At Stewart’s Lake the natives, whenever there is any advantage to be gained are just as readily tempted to betray each other as to deceive the colonists. Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 466-68, 458-59; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 174. A Kygarnie chief being asked to go to America or England, refused to go where even chiefs were slaves—that is, had duties to perform—while he at home was served by slaves and wives. The Sebassas ‘are more active and enterprising than the Milbank tribes, but the greatest thieves and robbers on the coast.’ Dunn’s Oregon, p. 287, 273. ‘All these visitors of Fort Simpson are turbulent and fierce. Their broils, which are invariably attended with bloodshed, generally arise from the most trivial causes.’ Simpson’s Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 206. The Kygarnies ‘are very cleanly, fierce and daring.’ The islanders, ‘when they visit the mainland, they are bold and treacherous, and always ready for mischief.’ Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 219. The Kygarnies ‘are a very fierce, treacherous race, and have not been improved by the rum and fire-arms sold to them.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 411. Queen Charlotte Islanders look upon white men as superior beings, but conceal the conviction. The Skidagates are the most intelligent race upon the islands. Wonderfully acute in reading character, yet clumsy in their own dissimulation…. ‘Not revengeful or blood-thirsty, except when smarting under injury or seeking to avert an imaginary wrong.’ … ‘I never met with a really brave man among them.’ The Acoltas have ‘given more trouble to the Colonial Government than any other along the coast.’ Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., pp. 83, 151-2, 185-6, 208, 214, 233, 235, 245, 257, 271-72, 289, 309, 320-21. ‘Of a cruel and treacherous disposition.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 197. They will stand up and fight Englishmen with their fists. Sproat’s Scenes, p. 23. Intellectually superior to the Puget Sound tribes. Reed’s Nar. ‘Mansos y de buena indole.’ Crespi, in Doc. Hist. Mex., s. iv., vol. vi., p. 646. On Skeena River, ‘the worst I have seen in all my travels.’ Downie, in B. C. Papers, vol. iii., p. 73. ‘As rogues, where all are rogues,’ preëminence is awarded them. Anderson, in Hist. Mag., vol. vii., pp. 74-5.

The Nootkas

The Nootkas, the second division of the Columbian group, are immediately south of the Haidah country; occupying Vancouver Island, and the coast of the main land, between the fifty-second and the forty-ninth parallels. The word nootka is not found in any native dialect of the present day. Captain Cook, to whom we are indebted for the term, probably misunderstood the name given by the natives to the region of Nootka Sound.[271]‘On my arrival at this inlet, I had honoured it with the name of King George’s Sound; but I afterward found, that it is called Nootka by the natives.’ Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., p. 288. ‘No Aht Indian of the present day ever heard of such a name as Nootkah, though most of them recognize the other words in Cook’s account of their language.’ Sproat’s Scenes, p. 315. Sproat conjectures that the name may have come from Noochee! Noochee! the Aht word for mountain. A large proportion of geographical names originate in like manner through accident. The first European settlement in this region was on the Sound, which thus became the central point of early English and Spanish intercourse with the Northwest Coast; but it was soon abandoned, and no mission or trading post has since taken its place, so that no tribes of this family have been less known in later times than those on the west coast of Vancouver Island. The chief tribes of the Nootka family, or those on whose tribal existence, if not on the orthography of their names authors to some extent agree, are as follows.[272]For full particulars see Tribal Boundaries at end of this chapter. The Nitinats, Clayoquots, and Nootkas, on the sounds of the same names along the west coast of Vancouver Island; the Quackolls and Newittees,[273]‘The Newatees, mentioned in many books, are not known on the west coast. Probably the Klah-oh-quahts are meant.’ Sproat’s Scenes, p. 314. in the north; the Cowichins, Ucletas, and Comux, on the east coast of Vancouver and on the opposite main; the Saukaulutuchs[274]There are no Indians in the interior. Fitzwilliam’s Evidence, in Hud. B. Co., Rept. Spec. Com., 1857, p. 115., in the interior of the island; the Clallums,[275]The same name is also applied to one of the Sound nations across the strait in Washington. Sokes, and Patcheena, on the south end; and the Kwantlums and Teets,[276]The Teets or Haitlins are called by the Tacullies, ‘Sa-Chinco‘ strangers. Anderson, in Hist. Mag., vol. vii., pp. 73-4. on the lower Fraser River. These tribes differ but little in physical peculiarities, or manners and customs, but by their numerous dialects they have been classed in nations. No comprehensive or satisfactory names have, however, been applied to them as national divisions.[277]Sproat’s division into nations, ‘almost as distinct as the nations of Europe’ is into the Quoquoulth (Quackoll) or Fort Rupert, in the north and north-east; the Kowitchan, or Thongeith, on the east and south; Aht on the west coast; and Komux, a distinct tribe also on the east of Vancouver. ‘These tribes of the Ahts are not confederated; and I have no other warrant for calling them a nation than the fact of their occupying adjacent territories, and having the same superstitions and language.’ Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 18-19, 311. Mayne makes by language four nations; the first including the Cowitchen in the harbor and valley of the same name north of Victoria, with the Nanaimo and Kwantlum Indians about the mouth of the Fraser River, and the Songhies; the second comprising the Comoux, Nanoose, Nimpkish, Quawguult, etc., on Vancouver, and the Squawmisht, Sechelt, Clahoose, Ucle-tah, Mama-lil-a-culla, etc., on the main, and islands, between Nanaimo and Fort Rupert; the third and fourth groups include the twenty-four west-coast tribes who speak two distinct languages, not named. Mayne’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 243-51. Grant’s division gives four languages on Vancouver, viz., the Quackoll, from Clayoquot Sound north to C. Scott, and thence S. to Johnson’s Strait; the Cowitchin, from Johnson’s Strait to Sanetch Arm; the Tsclallum, or Clellum, from Sanetch to Soke, and on the opposite American shore; and the Macaw, from Patcheena to Clayoquot Sound. ‘These four principal languages … are totally distinct from each other, both in sound, formation, and modes of expression.’ Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 295. Scouler attempts no division into nations or languages. Lond. Geo. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., pp. 221, 224. Mofras singularly designates them as one nation of 20,000 souls, under the name of Ouakich. Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 343. Recent investigations have shown a somewhat different relationship of these languages, which I shall give more particularly in a subsequent volume.

Between the Nootka family and its fish-eating neighbors on the north and south, the line of distinction is not clearly marked, but the contrast is greater with the interior hunting tribes on the east. Since their first intercourse with whites, the Nootkas have constantly decreased in numbers, and this not only in those parts where they have been brought into contact with traders and miners, but on the west coast, where they have retained in a measure their primitive state. The savage fades before the superior race, and immediate intercourse is not necessary to produce in native races those ‘baleful influences of civilization,’ which like a pestilence are wafted from afar, as on the wings of the wind.[278]See Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 272-86, on the ‘effects upon savages of intercourse with civilized men.’ ‘Hitherto, (1856) in Vancouver Island, the tribes who have principally been in intercourse with the white man, have found it for their interest to keep up that intercourse in amity for the purposes of trade, and the white adventurers have been so few in number, that they have not at all interfered with the ordinary pursuits of the natives.’ Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 303.

Nootka Physique

The Nootkas are of less than medium height, smaller than the Haidahs, but rather strongly built; usually plump, but rarely corpulent;[279]‘Muy robustos y bien apersonados.’ ‘De mediana estatura, excepto los Xefes cuya corpulencia se hace notar.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 55, 124. ‘The young princess was of low stature, very plump.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., p. 395. Macquilla, the chief was five feet eight inches, with square shoulders and muscular limbs; his son was five feet nine inches. Belcher’s Voy., vol. i., pp. 110-12. The seaboard tribes have ‘not much physical strength.’ Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., p. 73. ‘La gente dicen ser muy robusta.’ Perez, Rel. del Viage, MS., p. 20. ‘Leur taille est moyenne.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 343. ‘In general, robust and well proportioned.’ Meares’ Voy., p. 249. Under the common stature, pretty full and plump, but not muscular—never corpulent, old people lean—short neck and clumsy body; women nearly the same size as the men. Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 301-3. ‘Of smaller stature than the Northern Tribes; they are usually fatter and more muscular.’ Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 221. In the north, among the Clayoquots and Quackolls, men are often met of five feet ten inches and over; on the south coast the stature varies from five feet three inches to five feet six inches. Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 297. ‘The men are in general from about five feet six to five feet eight inches in height; remarkably straight, of a good form, robust and strong.’ Only one dwarf was seen. Jewitt’s Nar., pp. 60-61. The Klah-oh-quahts are ‘as a tribe physically the finest. Individuals may be found in all the tribes who reach a height of five feet eleven inches, and a weight of 180 pounds, without much flesh on their bodies.’ Extreme average height: men, five feet six inches, women, five feet one-fourth inch. ‘Many of the men have well-shaped forms and limbs. None are corpulent.’ ‘The men generally have well-set, strong frames, and, if they had pluck and skill, could probably hold their own in a grapple with Englishmen of the same stature.’ Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 22-3. ‘Rather above the middle stature, copper-colored and of an athletic make.’ Spark’s Life of Ledyard, p. 71; Prichard’s Researches, vol. v., p. 442. ‘Spare muscular forms.’ Barrett-Lennard’s Trav., pp. 44; Gordon’s Hist. and Geog. Mem., pp. 14-22. their legs, like those of all the coast tribes, short, small, and frequently deformed, with large feet and ankles;[280]Limbs small, crooked, or ill-made; large feet; badly shaped, and projecting ankles from sitting so much on their hams and knees. Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 301-3. ‘Their limbs, though stout and athletic, are crooked and ill-shaped.’ Meares’ Voy., p. 250. ‘Ils ont les membres inférieures légèrement arqués, les chevilles très-saillantes, et la pointe des pieds tournée en dedans, difformité qui provient de la manière dont ils sont assis dans leurs canots.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., pp. 343-4. ‘Stunted, and move with a lazy waddling gait.’ Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., p. 428. ‘Skeleton shanks … not much physical strength … bow-legged—defects common to the seaboard tribes.’ Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., pp. 73-4. All the females of the Northwest Coast are very short-limbed. ‘Raro es el que no tiene muy salientes los tobillos y las puntas de los pies inclinadas hácia dentro … y una especie de entumecimiento que se advierte, particularmente en las mugeres.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 124, 30, 62-3. They have great strength in the fingers. Sproat’s Scenes, p. 33. Women, short-limbed, and toe in. Id., p. 22; Mayne’s B. C., pp. 282-3. ‘The limbs of both sexes are ill-formed, and the toes turned inwards.’ ‘The legs of the women, especially those of the slaves, are often swollen as if oedematous, so that the leg appears of an uniform thickness from the ankle to the calf,’ from wearing a garter. Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 221. the face broad, round, and full, with the usual prominent cheek-bone, a low forehead, flat nose, wide nostrils, small black eyes, round thickish-lipped mouth, tolerably even well-set teeth; the whole forming a countenance rather dull and expressionless, but frequently pleasant.[281]The different Aht tribes vary in physiognomy somewhat—’faces of the Chinese and Spanish types may be seen.’ ‘The face of the Ahts is rather broad and flat; the mouth and lips of both men and women are large, though to this there are exceptions, and the cheekbones are broad but not high. The skull is fairly shaped, the eyes small and long, deep set, in colour a lustreless inexpressive black, or very dark hazel, none being blue, grey, or brown…. One occasionally sees an Indian with eyes distinctly Chinese. The nose … in some instances is remarkably well-shaped.’ ‘The teeth are regular, but stumpy, and are deficient in enamel at the points,’ perhaps from eating sanded salmon. Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 19, 27. ‘Their faces are large and full, their cheeks high and prominent, with small black eyes; their noses are broad and flat; their lips thick, and they have generally very fine teeth, and of the most brilliant whiteness.’ Meares’ Voy., pp. 249-50; Barrett-Lennard’s Trav., p. 44. ‘La fisonomia de estos (Nitinats) era differente de la de los habitantes de Nutka: tenian el cráneo de figura natural, los ojos chicos muy próximos, cargados los párpados.’ Many have a languid look, but few a stupid appearance. Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 28, 30, 62-3, 124. ‘Dull and inexpressive eye.’ ‘Unprepossessing and stupid countenances.’ Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., pp. 74, 80. The Wickinninish have ‘a much less open and pleasing expression of countenance’ than the Klaizzarts. The Newchemass ‘were the most savage looking and ugly men that I ever saw.’ ‘The shape of the face is oval; the features are tolerably regular, the lips being thin and the teeth very white and even: their eyes are black but rather small, and the nose pretty well formed, being neither flat nor very prominent.’ The women ‘are in general very well-looking, and some quite handsome.’ Jewitt’s Nar., pp. 76, 77, 61. ‘Features that would have attracted notice for their delicacy and beauty, in those parts of the world where the qualities of the human form are best understood.’ Meares’ Voy., p. 250. Face round and full, sometimes broad, with prominent cheek-bones … falling in between the temples, the nose flattening at the base, wide nostrils and a rounded point … forehead low; eyes small, black and languishing; mouth round, with large, round, thickish lips; teeth tolerably equal and well-set, but not very white. Remarkable sameness, a dull phlegmatic want of expression; no pretensions to beauty among the women. Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 301-2. See portraits of Nootkas in Belcher’s Voy., vol. i., p. 108; Cook’s Atlas, pl. 38-9; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, Atlas; Whymper’s Alaska, p. 75. ‘Long nose, high cheek bones, large ugly mouth, very long eyes, and foreheads villainously low.’ ‘The women of Vancouver Island have seldom or ever good features; they are almost invariably pug-nosed; they have however, frequently a pleasing expression, and there is no lack of intelligence in their dark hazel eyes.’ Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., pp. 297-8. ‘Though without any pretensions to beauty, could not be considered as disagreeable.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., p. 395. ‘Have the common facial characteristics of low foreheads, high cheek-bones, aquiline noses, and large mouths.’ ‘Among some of the tribes pretty women may be seen.’ Mayne’s B. C., p. 277. The Nootka complexion, so far as grease and paint have allowed travelers to observe it, is decidedly light, but apparently a shade darker than that of the Haidah family.[282]‘Her skin was clean, and being nearly white,’ etc. Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., p. 395. ‘Reddish brown, like that of a dirty copper kettle.’ Some, when washed, have ‘almost a florid complexion.’ Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., pp. 297, 299. ‘Brown, somewhat inclining to a copper cast.’ The women are much whiter, ‘many of them not being darker than those in some of the Southern parts of Europe.’ The Newchemass are much darker than the other tribes. Jewitt’s Nar., pp. 61, 77. ‘Their complexion, though light, has more of a copper hue’ than that of the Haidahs. Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 221. ‘Skin white, with the clear complexion of Europe.’ Meares’ Voy., p. 250. The color hard to tell on account of the paint, but in a few cases ‘the whiteness of the skin appeared almost to equal that of Europeans; though rather of that pale effete cast … of our southern nations…. Their children … also equalled ours in whiteness.’ Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., p. 303. ‘Their complexion is a dull brown,’ darker than the Haidahs. ‘Cook and Meares probably mentioned exceptional cases.’ Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 23-4. ‘Tan blancos como el mejor Español.’ Perez, Rel. del Viage, MS., p. 20. ‘Por lo que se puede inferir del (color) de los niños, parece menos obscuro que el de los Mexicanos,’ but judging by the chiefs’ daughters they are wholly white. Sutil y Mexicana,Viage, p. 125. ‘A dark, swarthy copper-coloured figure.’ Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 143. They ‘have lighter complexions than other aborigines of America.’ Greenhow’s Hist. Ogn., p. 116. ‘Sallow complexion, verging towards copper colour.’ Barrett-Lennard’s Trav., pp. 44-6. Copper-coloured. Spark’s Life of Ledyard, p. 71. The hair, worn long, is as a rule black or dark brown, coarse, and straight, though instances are not wanting where all these qualities are reversed.[283]‘The hair of the natives is never shaven from the head. It is black or dark brown, without gloss, coarse and lank, but not scanty, worn long…. Slaves wear their hair short. Now and then, but rarely, a light-haired native is seen. There is one woman in the Opechisat tribe at Alberni who had curly, or rather wavy, brown hair. Few grey-haired men can be noticed in any tribe. The men’s beards and whiskers are deficient, probably from the old alleged custom, now seldom practiced, of extirpating the hairs with small shells. Several of the Nootkah Sound natives (Moouchahts) have large moustaches and whiskers.’ Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 25-7. ‘El cabello es largo lacio y grueso, variando su color entre rubio, obscuro, castaño y negro. La barba sale á los mozos con la misma regularidad que á los de otros paises, y llega á ser en los ancianos tan poblada y larga como la de los Turcos; pero los jóvenes parecen imberbes porque se la arrancan con los dedos, ó mas comunmente con pinzas formadas de pequeñas conchas.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 124-5, 57. ‘Hair of the head is in great abundance, very coarse, and strong; and without a single exception, black, straight and lank.’ No beards at all, or a small thin one on the chin, not from a natural defect, but from plucking. Old men often have beards. Eyebrows scanty and narrow. Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 301-3. ‘Neither beard, whisker, nor moustache ever adorns the face of the redskin.’ Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 143; Jewitt’s Nar., pp. 61, 75, 77. Hair ‘invariably either black or dark brown.’ Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 297; Meares’ Voy., p. 250; Mayne’s B. C., pp. 277-8; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., p. 442; Spark’s Life of Ledyard, p. 71. The beard is carefully plucked out by the young men, and this operation, repeated for generations, has rendered the beard naturally thin. Old men often allow it to grow on the chin and upper lip.

Nootka Hair and Beard

To cut the hair short is to the Nootka a disgrace. Worn at full length, evened at the ends, and sometimes cut straight across the forehead, it is either allowed to hang loosely from under a band of cloth or fillet of bark, or is tied in a knot on the crown. On full-dress occasions the top-knot is secured with a green bough, and after being well saturated with whale-grease, the hair is powdered plentifully with white feathers, which are regarded as the crowning ornament for manly dignity in all these regions. Both sexes, but particularly the women, take great pains with the hair, carefully combing and plaiting their long tresses, fashioning tasteful head-dresses of bark-fibre, decked with beads and shells, attaching leaden weights to the braids to keep them straight. The bruised root of a certain plant is thought by the Ahts to promote the growth of the hair.[284]Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 304-8; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 126-7; Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 26-7; Meares’ Voy., p. 254; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., p. 442; Jewitt’s Nar., pp. 21, 23, 62, 65, 77-8; Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 297; Mayne’s B. C., pp. 277-8; Barrett-Lennard’s Trav., p. 44.

The custom of flattening the head is practiced by the Nootkas, in common with the Sound and Chinook families, but is not universal, nor is so much importance attached to it as elsewhere; although all seem to admire a flattened forehead as a sign of noble birth, even among tribes that do not make this deformity a sign of freedom. Among the Quatsinos and Quackolls of the north, the head, besides being flattened, is elongated into a conical sugar-loaf shape, pointed at the top. The flattening process begins immediately after birth, and is continued until the child can walk. It is effected by compressing the head with tight bandages, usually attached to the log cradle, the forehead being first fitted with a soft pad, a fold of soft bark, a mould of hard wood, or a flat stone. Observers generally agree that little or no harm is done to the brain by this infliction, the traces of which to a great extent disappear later in life. Many tribes, including the Aht nations, are said to have abandoned the custom since they have been brought into contact with the whites.[285]Mayne’s B. C., pp. 242, 277, with cut of a child with bandaged head, and of a girl with a sugar-loaf head, measuring eighteen inches from the eyes to the summit. Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 28-30; Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 298; Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 222; Meares’ Voy., p. 249; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., p. 441; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 124; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 171; vol. ii., p. 103, cut of three skulls of flattened, conical, and natural form; Kane’s Wand., p. 241; Jewitt’s Nar., p. 76; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. ii., p. 325; Barrett-Lennard’s Trav., p. 45; Gordon’s Hist. and Geog. Mem., p. 115.

NOOTKA FACE-PAINTING.

The body is kept constantly anointed with a reddish clayey earth, mixed in train oil, and consequently little affected by their frequent baths. In war and mourning the whole body is blackened; on feast days the head, limbs, and body are painted in fantastic figures with various colors, apparently according to individual fancy, although the chiefs monopolize the fancy figures, the common people being restricted to plain colors. Solid grease is sometimes applied in a thick coating, and carved or moulded in alto-rilievo into ridges and figures afterwards decorated with red paint, while shining sand or grains of mica are sprinkled over grease and paint to impart a glittering appearance. The women are either less fond of paint than the men, or else are debarred by their lords from the free use of it; among the Ahts, at least of late, the women abandon ornamental paint after the age of twenty-five. In their dances, as in war, masks carved from cedar to represent an endless variety of monstrous faces, painted in bright colors, with mouth and eyes movable by strings, are attached to their heads, giving them a grotesquely ferocious aspect.[286]At Valdes Island, ‘the faces of some were made intirely white, some red, black, or lead colour.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., pp. 307, 341. At Nuñez Gaona Bay, ‘se pintan de encarnado y negro.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 30. At Nootka Sound, ‘Con esta grasa (de ballena) se untan todo el cuerpo, y despues se pintan con una especie de barniz compuesto de la misma grasa ó aceyte, y de almagre en términos que parece este su color natural.’ Chiefs only may paint in varied colors, plebeians being restricted to one.’ Id., pp. 125-7. ‘Many of the females painting their faces on all occasions, but the men only at set periods.’ Vermilion is obtained by barter. Black, their war and mourning color, is made by themselves. Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., p. 442. ‘Ces Indiens enduisent leur corps d’huile de baleine, et se peignent avec des ocres.’ Chiefs only may wear different colors, and figures of animals. Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 344. ‘Rub their bodies constantly with a red paint, of a clayey or coarse ochry substance, mixed with oil…. Their faces are often stained with a black, a brighter red, or a white colour, by way of ornament…. They also strew the brown martial mica upon the paint, which makes it glitter.’ Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., p. 305. ‘A line of vermilion extends from the centre of the forehead to the tip of the nose, and from this “trunk line” others radiate over and under the eyes and across the cheeks. Between these red lines white and blue streaks alternately fill the interstices. A similar pattern ornaments chest, arms, and back, the frescoing being artistically arranged to give apparent width to the chest.’ Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 143. ‘They paint the face in hideous designs of black and red (the only colours used), and the parting of the hair is also coloured red.’ Mayne’s B. C., p. 277. ‘At great feasts the faces of the women are painted red with vermilion or berry-juice, and the men’s faces are blackened with burnt wood. About the age of twenty-five the women cease to use paint…. Some of the young men streak their faces with red, but grown-up men seldom now use paint, unless on particular occasions…. The leader of a war expedition is distinguished by a streaked visage from his black-faced followers.’ Sproat’s Scenes, p. 27-8. The manner of painting is often a matter of whim. ‘The most usual method is to paint the eye-brows black, in form of a half moon, and the face red in small squares, with the arms and legs and part of the body red; sometimes one half of the face is painted red in squares, and the other black; at others, dotted with red spots, or red and black instead of squares, with a variety of other devices, such as painting one half of the face and body red, and the other black.’ Jewitt’s Nar., p. 64; Meares’ Voy., p. 252; Barrett-Lennard’s Trav., p. 46; Spark’s Life of Ledyard, p. 71. The nose and ears are regularly pierced in childhood, with from one to as many holes as the feature will hold, and from the punctures are suspended bones, shells, rings, beads, or in fact any ornament obtainable. The lip is sometimes, though more rarely, punctured. Bracelets and anklets of any available material are also commonly worn.[287]‘The habit of tattooing the legs and arms is common to all the women of Vancouver’s Island; the men do not adopt it.’ Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 307. ‘No such practice as tattooing exists among these natives.’ Sproat’s Scenes, p. 27. ‘The ornament on which they appear to set the most value, is the nose-jewel, if such an appellation may be given to the wooden stick, which some of them employ for this purpose…. I have seen them projecting not less than eight or nine inches beyond the face on each side; this is made fast or secured in its place by little wedges on each side of it.’ Jewitt’s Nar., pp. 65-6, 75; Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 344. Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 304-8; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 30, 126-7; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., p. 442; Whymper’s Alaska, pp. 37, 74, with cut of mask. Mayne’s B. C., p. 268; Kane’s Wand., pp. 221-2, and illustration of a hair medicine-cap.

The aboriginal dress of the Nootkas is a square blanket, of a coarse yellow material resembling straw matting, made by the women from cypress bark, with a mixture of dog’s hair. This blanket had usually a border of fur; it sometimes had arm-holes, but was ordinarily thrown over the shoulders, and confined at the waist by a belt. Chiefs wore it painted in variegated colors or unpainted, but the common people wore a coarser material painted uniformly red. Women wore the garment longer and fastened under the chin, binding an additional strip of cloth closely about the middle, and showing much modesty about disclosing the person, while the men often went entirely naked. Besides the blanket, garments of many kinds of skin were in use, particularly by the chiefs on public days. In war, a heavy skin dress was worn as a protection against arrows. The Nootkas usually went bareheaded, but sometimes wore a conical hat plaited of rushes, bark, or flax. European blankets have replaced those of native manufacture, and many Indians about the settlements have adopted also the shirt and breeches.[288]‘Their cloaks, which are circular capes with a hole in the centre, edged with sea-otter skin, are constructed from the inner bark of the cypress. It turns the rain, is very soft and pliable,’ etc. Belcher’s Voy., vol. i., p. 112. The usual dress of the Newchemass ‘is a kootsuck made of wolf skin, with a number of the tails attached to it … hanging from the top to the bottom; though they sometimes wear a similar mantle of bark cloth, of a much coarser texture than that of Nootka.’ Jewitt’s Nar., pp. 77-8, 21-3, 56-8, 62-6. ‘Their common dress is a flaxen garment, or mantle, ornamented on the upper edge by a narrow strip of fur, and at the lower edge, by fringes or tassels. It passes under the left arm, and is tied over the right shoulder, by a string before, and one behind, near its middle…. Over this, which reaches below the knees, is worn a small cloak of the same substance, likewise fringed at the lower part…. Their head is covered with a cap, of the figure of a truncated cone, or like a flower-pot, made of fine matting, having the top frequently ornamented with a round or pointed knob, or bunch of leathern tassels.’ Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 304-8, 270-1, 280. ‘The men’s dress is a blanket; the women’s a strip of cloth, or shift, and blanket. The old costume of the natives was the same as at present, but the material was different.’ Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 25, 315. ‘Their clothing generally consists of skins,’ but they have two other garments of bark or dog’s hair. ‘Their garments of all kinds are worn mantlewise, and the borders of them are fringed’ with wampum.Spark’s Life of Ledyard, pp. 71-2; Colyer, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 533; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 30-1, 38, 56-7, 126-8; Meares’ Voy., pp. 251-4; Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 297; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., pp. 143-4; Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., pp. 344-5; Whymper’s Alaska, p. 37; Greenhow’s Hist. Ogn., p. 116; Macfie’s Van. Isl., pp. 431, 443; Barrett-Lennard’s Trav., p. 46. See portraits in Cook’s Atlas, Belcher’s Voy., Sutil y Mexicana, Atlas, and Whymper’s Alaska.

Dwellings of the Nootkas

The Nootkas choose strong positions for their towns and encampments. At Desolation Sound, Vancouver found a village built on a detached rock with perpendicular sides, only accessible by planks resting on the branches of a tree, and protected on the sea side by a projecting platform resting on timbers fixed in the crevices of the precipice. The Nimkish tribe, according to Lord, build their homes on a table-land overhanging the sea, and reached by ascending a vertical cliff on a bark-rope ladder. Each tribe has several villages in favorable locations for fishing at different seasons. The houses, when more than one is needed for a tribe, are placed with regularity along streets; they vary in size according to the need or wealth of the occupants, and are held in common under the direction of the chief. They are constructed in the manner following. A row of large posts, from ten to fifteen feet high, often grotesquely carved, supports an immense ridge-pole, sometimes two and a half feet thick and one hundred feet long. Similar but smaller beams, on shorter posts, are placed on either side of the central row, distant from it fifteen, twenty, or twenty-five feet, according to the dimensions required. This frame is then covered with split cedar planks, about two inches thick, and from three to eight feet wide. The side planks are tied together with bark, and supported by slender posts in couples just far enough apart to receive the thickness of the plank. A house like this, forty by one hundred feet, accommodates many families, each of which has its allotted space, sometimes partitioned off like a double row of stalls, with a wide passage in the middle. In the centre of each stall is a circle of stones for a fire-place, and round the walls are raised couches covered with mats. In rainy weather, cracks in the roof and sides are covered with mats. No smoke or window holes are left, and when smoke becomes troublesome a roof-plank is removed. The entrance is at one end. These dwellings furnish, according to Nootka ideas, a comfortable shelter, except when a high wind threatens to unroof them, and then the occupants go out and sit on the roof to keep it in place. Frequently the outside is painted in grotesque figures of various colors. Only the frame is permanent; matting, planks, and all utensils are several times each year packed up and conveyed in canoes to another locality where a frame belonging to the tribe awaits covering. The odor arising from fish-entrails and other filth, which they take no pains to remove, appears to be inoffensive, but the Nootkas are often driven by mosquitos to sleep on a stage over the water.[289]On the east side of Vancouver was a village of thirty-four houses, arranged in regular streets. The house of the leader ‘was distinguished by three rafters of stout timber raised above the roof, according to the architecture of Nootka, though much inferior to those I had there seen, in point of size.’ Bed-rooms were separated, and more decency observed than at Nootka Sound. Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., pp. 346-7, with a view of this village; also pp. 324-5, description of the village on Desolation Sound; p. 338, on Valdes Island; p. 326, view of village on Bute Canal; and vol. iii., pp. 310-11, a peculiarity not noticed by Cook—’immense pieces of timber which are raised, and horizontally placed on wooden pillars, about eighteen inches above the roof of the largest houses in that village; one of which pieces of timber was of a size sufficient to have made a lower mast for a third rate man of war.’ See Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 281, 313-19, and Atlas, plate 40. A sort of a duplicate inside building, with shorter posts, furnishes on its roof a stage, where all kinds of property and supplies are stored. Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 37-43. ‘The planks or boards which they make use of for building their houses, and for other uses, they procure of different lengths, as occasion requires, by splitting them out, with hard wooden wedges from pine logs, and afterwards dubbing them down with their chizzels.’ Jewitt’s Nar., pp. 52-4. Grant states that the Nootka houses are palisade inclosures formed of stakes or young fir-trees, some twelve or thirteen feet high, driven into the ground close together, roofed in with slabs of fir or cedar. Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 299. The Teets have palisaded enclosures. Anderson, in Hist. Mag., vol. vii., p. 74. ‘The chief resides at the upper end, the proximity of his relatives to him being according to their degree of kindred.’ Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 443-4; Dunn’s Oregon, p. 243; Belcher’s Voy., vol. i., p. 112; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., pp. 158, 164-5, 167, 320-21; Seemann’s Voy. of Herald, vol. i., pp. 105-6. The carved pillars are not regarded by the natives as idols in any sense. Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 128-9, 102; Barrett-Lennard’s Trav., pp. 47, 73-4. Some houses eighty by two hundred feet. Colyer, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 533; Mayne’s B. C., p. 296; Gordon’s Hist. and Geog. Mem., pp. 120-1.

Food of the Nootkas

The Nootkas, like the Haidahs, live almost wholly on the products of the sea, and are naturally expert fishermen. Salmon, the great staple, are taken in August and September, from sea, inlet, and river, by nets, spears, pots or baskets, and even by hooks. Hooks consist of sharp barbed bones bound to straight pieces of hard wood; sea-wrack, maple-bark, and whale-sinew furnish lines, which in salmon-fishing are short and attached to the paddles. The salmon-spear is a forked pole, some fifteen feet long, the detachable head having prongs pointed with fish-bone or iron, and the fish in deep water is sometimes attracted within its reach by a wooden decoy, forced down by a long pole, and then detached and allowed to ascend rapidly to the surface. Spearing is carried on mostly by torch-light. A light-colored stone pavement is sometimes laid upon the bottom of the stream, which renders the fish visible in their passage over it. Nets are made of nettles or of wild flax, found along Fraser River. They are small in size, and used as dip-nets, or sunk between two canoes and lifted as the fish pass over. A pot or basket fifteen to twenty feet long, three to five feet in diameter at one end, and tapering to a point at the other, is made of pine splinters one or two inches apart, with twig-hoops; and placed, large end up stream, at the foot of a fall or at an opening in an embankment. The salmon are driven down the fall with poles, and entering the basket are taken out by a door in the small end. This basket is sometimes enclosed in another one, similar but of uniform diameter, and closed at one end. Fences of stakes across the river oblige the salmon to enter the open mouth in their passage up, and passing readily through an opening left in the point of the inner basket, they find themselves entrapped. In March, herring appear on the coast in great numbers, and in April and May they enter the inlets and streams, where they are taken with a dip-net, or more commonly by the fish-rake—a pole armed with many sharp bones or nails. Early in the season they can be taken only by torch-light. Halibut abound from March to June, and are caught with hooks and long lines, generally at some distance from shore. For all other fish, European hooks were early adopted, but the halibut, at least among the Ahts, must still be taken with the native hook. Many other varieties of fish, caught by similar methods, are used as food, but those named supply the bulk of the Nootka’s provision. In May or June, whales appear and are attacked in canoes by the chief, with the select few from each tribe who alone have the right to hunt this monarch of the sea. The head of their harpoon is made of two barbed bones and pointed with muscle-shell; it is fastened to a whale-sinew line of a few feet in length, and this short line to a very long bark rope, at one end of which are seal-skin air-bags and bladders, to keep it afloat. The point is also fastened to a shaft from ten to twenty-five feet in length, from which it is easily detached. With many of these buoys in tow the whale cannot dive, and becomes an easy prey. Whale-blubber and oil are great delicacies, the former being preferred half putrid, while the oil with that of smaller denizens of the sea preserved in bladders, is esteemed a delicious sauce, and eaten with almost everything. Sea-otters and seals are also speared, the former with a weapon more barbed and firmly attached to the handle, as they are fierce fighters; but when found asleep on the rocks, they are shot with arrows. Seals are often attracted within arrow-shot by natives disguised as seals in wooden masks.

Clams and other shell-fish, which are collected in great numbers by the women, are cooked, strung on cypress-bark cords, and hung in the houses to dry for winter use. Fish are preserved by drying only, the use of salt being unknown. Salmon, after losing their heads and tails, which are eaten in the fishing season, are split open and the back-bone taken out before drying; smaller fry are sometimes dried as they come from their element; but halibut and cod are cut up and receive a partial drying in the sun. The spawn of all fish, but particularly of salmon and herring, is carefully preserved by stowing it away in baskets, where it ferments. Bear, deer, and other land animals, as well as wild fowl, are sometimes taken for food, by means of rude traps, nets, and covers, successful only when game is abundant, for the Nootkas are but indifferent hunters. In the time of Jewitt, three peculiarities were observable in the Nootka use of animal food, particularly bear-meat. When a bear was killed, it was dressed in a bonnet, decked with fine down, and solemnly invited to eat in the chief’s presence, before being eaten; after partaking of bruin’s flesh, which was appreciated as a rarity, the Nootka could not taste fresh fish for two months; and while fish to be palatable must be putrid, meat when tainted was no longer fit for food. The Nootka cuisine furnished food in four styles; namely, boiled—the mode par excellence, applicable to every variety of food, and effected, as by the Haidahs, by hot stones in wooden vessels; steamed—of rarer use, applied mostly to heads, tails, and fins, by pouring water over them on a bed of hot stones, and covering the whole tightly with mats; roasted—rarely, in the case of some smaller fish and clams; and raw—fish-spawn and most other kinds of food, when conveniences for cooking were not at hand. Some varieties of sea-weed and lichens, as well as the camass, and other roots, were regularly laid up for winter, while berries, everywhere abundant, were eaten in great quantities in their season, and at least one variety preserved by pressing in bunches. In eating, they sit in groups of five or six, with their legs doubled under them round a large wooden tray, and dip out the food nearly always boiled to a brothy consistency, with their fingers or clam-shells, paying little or no attention to cleanliness. Chiefs and slaves have trays apart, and the principal meal, according to Cook, was about noon. Feasting is the favorite way of entertaining friends, so long as food is plentiful; and by a curious custom, of the portion allotted them, guests must carry away what they cannot eat. Water in aboriginal days was the only Nootka drink; it is also used now when whisky is not to be had.[290]‘Their heads and their garments swarm with vermin, which, … we used to see them pick off with great composure, and eat.’ Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., p. 305. See also pp. 279-80, 318-24. ‘Their mode of living is very simple—their food consisting almost wholly of fish, or fish spawn fresh or dried, the blubber of the whale, seal, or sea-cow, muscles, clams, and berries of various kinds; all of which are eaten with a profusion of train oil.’ Jewitt’s Nar., pp. 58-60, 68-9, 86-8, 94-7, 103. Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 52-7, 61, 87, 144-9, 216-70. ‘The common business of fishing for ordinary sustenance is carried on by slaves, or the lower class of people;—While the more noble occupation of killing the whale and hunting the sea-otter, is followed by none but the chiefs and warriors.’ Meares’ Voy., p. 258. ‘They make use of the dried fucus giganteus, anointed with oil, for lines, in taking salmon and sea-otters.’ Belcher’s Voy., vol. i., pp. 112-13. Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 17, 26, 45-6, 59-60, 76, 129-30, 134-5; Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., pp. 299-300; Mayne’s B. C., pp. 252-7; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 165-442; Simpson’s Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 239; Pemberton’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 28-32; Dunn’s Oregon, p. 243; Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 338. The Sau-kau-lutuck tribe ‘are said to live on the edge of a lake, and subsist principally on deer and bear, and such fish as they can take in the lake.’ Lord’s Nat., vol. i., pp. 158-9; Barrett-Lennard’s Trav., pp. 48, 74-5, 76-7, 85-6, 90-1, 144-50, 197-8; vol. ii., p. 111; Cornwallis’ New El Dorado, p. 100; Forbes’ Vanc. Isl., pp. 54-5; Rattray’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 77-8, 82-3; Hud. Bay Co., Rept. Spec. Com., 1857, p. 114.

Nootka Battles and Boats

Lances and arrows, pointed with shell, slate, flint, or bone, and clubs and daggers of wood and bone, were the weapons with which they met their foes; but firearms and metallic daggers, and tomahawks, have long since displaced them, as they have to a less degree the original hunting and fishing implements.[291]Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 57, 63, 78; Jewitt’s Nar., pp. 78-81; Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., p. 307; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., p. 443; Cox’s Adven., vol. i., p. 100. ‘The native bow, like the canoe and paddle, is beautifully formed. It is generally made of yew or crab-apple wood, and is three and a half feet long, with about two inches at each end turned sharply backwards from the string. The string is a piece of dried seal-gut, deer-sinew, or twisted bark. The arrows are about thirty inches long, and are made of pine or cedar, tipped with six inches of serrated bone, or with two unbarbed bone or iron prongs. I have never seen an Aht arrow with a barbed head.’ Sproat’s Scenes, p. 82. ‘Having now to a great extent discarded the use of the traditional tomahawk and spear. Many of these weapons are, however, still preserved as heirlooms among them.’ Barrett-Lennard’s Trav., p. 42. ‘No bows and arrows.’ ‘Generally fight hand to hand, and not with missiles.’ Fitzwilliam’s Evidence, in Hud. Bay Co. Rept., 1857, p. 115. The Nootka tribes were always at war with each other, hereditary quarrels being handed down for generations. According to their idea, loss of life in battle can be forgotten only when an equal number of the hostile tribe are killed. Their military tactics consist of stratagem and surprise in attack, and watchfulness in defense. Before engaging in war, some weeks are spent in preparation, which consists mainly of abstinence from women, bathing, scrubbing the skin with briers till it bleeds, and finally painting the whole body jet-black. All prisoners not suitable for slaves are butchered or beheaded. In an attack the effort is always made to steal into the adversary’s camp at night and kill men enough to decide the victory before the alarm can be given. When they fail in this, the battle is seldom long continued, for actual hand-to-hand fighting is not to the Nootka taste. On the rare occasions when it is considered desirable to make overtures of peace, an ambassador is sent with an ornamented pipe, and with this emblem his person is safe. Smoking a pipe together by hostile chiefs also solemnizes a treaty.[292]The Ahts ‘do not take the scalp of the enemy, but cut off his head, by three dexterous movements of the knife … and the warrior who has taken most heads is most praised and feared.’ Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 186-202. ‘Scalp every one they kill.’ Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., p. 470, 443, 467. One of the Nootka princes assured the Spaniards that the bravest captains ate human flesh before engaging in battle. Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 130. The Nittinahts consider the heads of enemies slain in battle as spolia opima. Whymper’s Alaska, pp. 54, 78; Jewitt’s Nar., pp. 120-1; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., pp. 155-6, 158, 166, 171, vol. ii., p. 251-3. Women keep watch during the night, and tell the exploits of their nation to keep awake. Meares’ Voy., p. 267. Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., p. 396; Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 296; Mayne’s B. C., p. 270; Barrett-Lennard’s Trav., pp. 41-2, 129-36.

Nootka boats are dug out each from a single pine-tree, and are made of all sizes from ten to fifty feet long, the largest accommodating forty or fifty men. Selecting a proper tree in the forest, the aboriginal Nootka fells it with a sort of chisel of flint or elk-horn, three by six inches, fastened in a wooden handle, and struck by a smooth stone mallet. Then the log is split with wooden wedges, and the better piece being selected, it is hollowed out with the aforesaid chisel, a mussel-shell adze, and a bird’s-bone gimlet worked between the two hands. Sometimes, but not always, fire is used as an assistant. The exterior is fashioned with the same tools. The boat is widest in the middle, tapers toward each end, and is strengthened by light cross-pieces extending from side to side, which, being inserted after the boat is soaked in hot water, modify and improve the original form. The bow is long and pointed, the stern square-cut or slightly rounded; both ends are raised higher than the middle by separate pieces of wood painted with figures of birds or beasts, the head on the bow and the tail on the stern. The inside is painted red; the outside, slightly burned, is rubbed smooth and black, and for the whale fishery is ornamented along the gunwales with a row of small shells or seal-teeth, but for purposes of war it is painted with figures in white. Paddles are neatly made of hard wood, about five and a half feet long with a leaf-shaped blade of two feet, sharp at the end, and used as a weapon in canoe-fighting. A cross-piece is sometimes added to the handle like the top of a crutch.[293]‘They have no seats…. The rowers generally sit on their hams, but sometimes they make use of a kind of small stool.’ Meares’ Voy., pp. 263-4. The larger canoes are used for sleeping and eating, being dry and more comfortable than the houses. Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 319, 327, and Atlas, pl. 41. ‘The most skillful canoe-makers among the tribes are the Nitinahts and the Klah-oh-quahts. They make canoes for sale to other tribes.’ ‘The baling-dish of the canoes, is always of one shape—the shape of the gable-roof of a cottage.’ Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 85, 87-8; Mayne’s B. C., p. 283, and cut on title-page. Canoes not in use are hauled up on the beach in front of their villages. Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 301. ‘They keep time to the stroke of the paddle with their songs.’ Jewitt’s Nar., pp. 69-71, 75; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 39, 133; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 144; Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., p. 338. Their canoes ‘are believed to supply the pattern after which clipper ships are built.’ Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 484, 430. Barrett-Lennard’s Trav., p. 50. Colyer, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 533.

In addition to the implements already named are chests and boxes, buckets, cups and eating-troughs, all of wood, either dug out or pinned together; baskets of twigs and bags of matting; all neatly made, and many of the articles painted or carved, or ornamented with shell work. As among the Haidahs, the dried eulachon is often used as a lamp.[294]Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 271, 308, 316, 326, 329-30. Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 86-9, 317; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 129; Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 257-8, which describes a painted and ornamented plate of native copper some one and a half by two and a half feet, kept with great care in a wooden case, also elaborately ornamented. It was the property of the tribe at Fort Rupert, and was highly prized, and only brought out on great occasions, though its use was not discovered. Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., p. 165. The matting and coarser kinds of cloth are made of rushes and of pine or cedar bark, which after being soaked is beaten on a plank with a grooved instrument of wood or bone until the fibres are separated. The threads are twisted into cords between the hand and thigh; these cords, hung to a horizontal beam and knotted with finer thread at regular intervals, form the cloth. Thread of the same bark is used with a sharpened twig for a needle. Intercourse with Europeans has modified their manufactures, and checked the development of their native ingenuity.[295]Woolen cloths of all degrees of fineness, made by hand and worked in figures, by a method not known. Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., p. 325. Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 46, 136; Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 254; Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 88-9; Jewitt’s Nar., p. 55; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 442, 451, 483-5; Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 344; Pemberton’s Vanc. Isl., p. 131; Cornwallis’ New El Dorado, pp. 99-100. ‘The implement used for weaving, (by the Teets) differed in no apparent respect from the rude loom of the days of the Pharaohs.’ Anderson, in Hist. Mag., vol. vii., p. 78.

Property of the Nootkas

Captain Cook found among the Ahts very “strict notions of their having a right to the exclusive property of everything that their country produces,” so that they claimed pay for even wood, water, and grass. The limits of tribal property are very clearly defined, but individuals rarely claim any property in land. Houses belong to the men who combine to build them. Private wealth consists of boats and implements for obtaining food, domestic utensils, slaves, and blankets, the latter being generally the standard by which wealth or price is computed. Food is not regarded as common property, yet any man may help himself to his neighbor’s store when needy. The accumulation of property beyond the necessities of life is considered desirable only for the purpose of distributing it in presents on great feast-days, and thereby acquiring a reputation for wealth and liberality; and as these feasts occur frequently, an unsuccessful man may often take a fresh start in the race. Instead of being given away, canoes and blankets are often destroyed, which proves that the motive in this disposal of property is not to favor friends, but merely to appear indifferent to wealth. It is certainly a most remarkable custom, and one that exerts a great influence on the whole people. Gifts play an important part in procuring a wife, and a division of property accompanies a divorce. To enter the ranks of the medicine-men or magicians, or to attain rank of any kind, property must be sacrificed; and a man who receives an insult or suffers any affliction must tear up the requisite quantity of blankets and shirts, if he would retain his honor.[296]Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 79-81, 89, 96, 111-13; Kane’s Wand., pp. 220-1; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 429, 437; Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., p. 284; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 147; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., pp. 165-6; Mayne’s B. C., 263-5. Trade in all their productions was carried on briskly between the different Nootka tribes before the coming of the whites. They manifest much shrewdness in their exchanges; even their system of presents is a species of trade, the full value of each gift being confidently expected in a return present on the next festive occasion. In their intertribal commerce, a band holding a strong position where trade by canoes between different parts may be stopped, do not fail to offer and enforce the acceptance of their services as middlemen, thereby greatly increasing market prices.[297]Jewitt’s Nar., pp. 78-80; Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 19, 55, 78-9, 92. Before the adoption of blankets as a currency, they used small shells from the coast bays for coin, and they are still used by some of the more remote tribes. Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 307. ‘Their acuteness in barter is remarkable.’ Forbes’ Vanc. Isl., p. 25.

The system of numeration, sufficiently extensive for the largest numbers, is decimal, the numbers to ten having names which are in some instances compounds but not multiples of smaller numbers. The fingers are used to aid in counting. The year is divided into months with some reference to the moon, but chiefly by the fish-seasons, ripening of berries, migrations of birds, and other periodical events, for which the months are named, as: ‘when the herrings spawn,’ etc. The unit of measure is the span, the fingers representing its fractional parts.[298]The Ahts ‘divide the year into thirteen months, or rather moons, and begin with the one that pretty well answers to our November. At the same time, as their names are applied to each actual new moon as it appears, they are not, by half a month and more (sometimes), identical with our calendar months.’ Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 121-4. ‘Las personas mas cultas dividen el año en catorce meses, y cada uno de estos en veinte dias, agregando luego algunos dias intercalares al fin de cada mes. El de Julio, que ellos llaman Satz-tzi-mitl, y es el primero de su año, á mas de sus veinte dias ordinarios tiene tantos intercalares quantos dura la abundancia de lenguados, atunes, etc.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 153-4, 148; Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., pp. 295, 304; Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 242-4. The Nootkas display considerable taste in ornamenting with sculpture and paintings their implements and houses, their chief efforts being made on the posts of the latter, and the wooden masks which they wear in war and some of their dances; but all implements may be more or less carved and adorned according to the artist’s fancy. They sometimes paint fishing and hunting scenes, but generally their models exist only in imagination, and their works consequently assume unintelligible forms. There seems to be no evidence that their carved images and complicated paintings are in any sense intended as idols or hieroglyphics. A rude system of heraldry prevails among them, by which some animal is adopted as a family crest, and its figure is painted or embroidered on canoes, paddles, or blankets.[299]‘They shew themselves ingenious sculptors. They not only preserve, with great exactness, the general character of their own faces, but finish the more minute parts, with a degree of accuracy in proportion, and neatness in execution.’ Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 326-7, and Atlas, pl. 40; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., pp. 164-5, vol. ii., pp. 257-8, and cut, p. 103; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 444-7, 484; Mayne’s B. C., cut on p. 271.

Nootka Art and Government

To the Nootka system of government the terms patriarchal, hereditary, and feudal have been applied. There is no confederation, each tribe being independent of all the rest, except as powerful tribes are naturally dominant over the weak. In each tribe the head chief’s rank is hereditary by the male line; his grandeur is displayed on great occasions, when, decked in all his finery, he is the central figure. At the frequently recurring feasts of state he occupies the seat of honor; presides at all councils of the tribe, and is respected and highly honored by all; but has no real authority over any but his slaves. Between the chief, or king, and the people is a nobility, in number about one fourth of the whole tribe, composed of several grades, the highest being partially hereditary, but also, as are all the lower grades, obtainable by feats of valor or great liberality. All chieftains must be confirmed by the tribe, and some of them appointed by the king; each man’s rank is clearly defined in the tribe, and corresponding privileges strictly insisted on. There are chiefs who have full authority in warlike expeditions. Harpooners also form a privileged class, whose rank is handed down from father to son. This somewhat complicated system of government nevertheless sits lightly, since the people are neither taxed nor subjected to any laws, nor interfered with in their actions. Still, long-continued custom serves as law and marks out the few duties and privileges of the Nootka citizen. Stealing is not common except from strangers; and offenses requiring punishment are usually avenged—or pardoned in consideration of certain blankets received—by the injured parties and their friends, the chiefs seeming to have little or nothing to do in the matter.[300]‘In an Aht tribe of two hundred men, perhaps fifty possess various degrees of acquired or inherited rank; there may be about as many slaves; the remainder are independent members.’ Some of the Klah-oh-quahts ‘pay annually to their chief certain contributions, consisting of blankets, skins, etc.’ ‘A chief’s “blue blood” avails not in a dispute with one of his own people; he must fight his battle like a common man.’ Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 113-17, 18-20, 226. Cheslakees, a chief on Johnson’s Strait, was inferior but not subordinate in authority to Maquinna, the famous king at Nootka Sound, but the chief at Loughborough’s Channel claimed to be under Maquinna. Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., pp. 346, 331. ‘La dignidad de Tays es hereditaria de padres á hijos, y pasa regularmente á estos luego que estan en edad de gobernar, si los padres por ancianidad ú otras causas no pueden seguir mandando.’ ‘El gobierno de estos naturales puede llamarse Patriarcal; pues el Xefe de la nacion hace á un mismo tiempo los oficios de padre de familia, de Rey y de Sumo Sacerdote.’ ‘Los nobles gozan de tanta consideracion en Nutka, que ni aun de palabra se atreven los Tayses á reprehenderlos.’ ‘Todos consideraban á este (Maquinna) como Soberano de las costas, desde la de Buena Esperanza hasta la punta de Arrecifes, con todos los Canales interiores.’ To steal, or to know carnally a girl nine years old, is punished with death. Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 140, 136, 147, 19, 25. ‘There are such men as Chiefs, who are distinguished by the name or title of Acweek, and to whom the others are, in some measure, subordinate. But, I should guess, the authority of each of these great men extends no farther than the family to which he belongs.’ Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 333-4. ‘La forme de leur gouvernement est toute patriarcale, et la dignité de chef, héréditaire.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 346. Several very populous villages to the northward, included in the territory of Maquilla, the head chief, were entrusted to the government of the principal of his female relations. The whole government formed a political bond of union similar to the feudal system which formerly obtained in Europe. Meares’ Voy., pp. 228-9. ‘The king or head Tyee, is their leader in war, in the management of which he is perfectly absolute. He is also president of their councils, which are almost always regulated by his opinion. But he has no kind of power over the property of his subjects.’ Jewitt’s Nar., pp. 138-9, 47, 69, 73. Kane’s Wand., pp. 220-1. ‘There is no code of laws, nor do the chiefs possess the power or means of maintaining a regular government; but their personal influence is nevertheless very great with their followers.’ Douglas, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxiv., p. 246.

Nootka Slavery and Marriage

Slavery is practiced by all the tribes, and the slave-trade forms an important part of their commerce. Slaves are about the only property that must not be sacrificed to acquire the ever-desired reputation for liberality. Only rich men—according to some authorities only the nobles—may hold slaves. War and kidnapping supply the slave-market, and no captive, whatever his rank in his own tribe, can escape this fate, except by a heavy ransom offered soon after he is taken, and before his whereabouts becomes unknown to his friends. Children of slaves, whose fathers are never known, are forever slaves. The power of the owner is arbitrary and unlimited over the actions and life of the slave, but a cruel exercise of his power seems of rare occurrence, and, save the hard labor required, the material condition of the slave is but little worse than that of the common free people, since he is sheltered by the same roof and partakes of the same food as his master. Socially the slave is despised; his hair is cut short, and his very name becomes a term of reproach. Female slaves are prostituted for hire, especially in the vicinity of white settlements. A runaway slave is generally seized and resold by the first tribe he meets.[301]‘Usually kindly treated, eat of the same food, and live as well as their masters.’ ‘None but the king and chiefs have slaves.’ ‘Maquinna had nearly fifty, male and female, in his house.’ Jewitt’s Nar., pp. 73-4. Meares states that slaves are occasionally sacrificed and feasted upon. Voy., p. 255. The Newettee tribe nearly exterminated by kidnappers. Dunn’s Oregon, p. 242. ‘An owner might bring half a dozen slaves out of his house and kill them publicly in a row without any notice being taken of the atrocity. But the slave, as a rule, is not harshly treated.’ ‘Some of the smaller tribes at the north of the Island are practically regarded as slave-breeding tribes, and are attacked periodically by stronger tribes.’ The American shore of the strait is also a fruitful source of slaves. Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 89-92. ‘They say that one Flathead slave is worth more than two Roundheads.’ Rept. Ind. Aff., 1857, p. 327; Mayne’s B. C., p. 284; Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 296; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., pp. 154-5, 166; Kane’s Wand., p. 220; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 131; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 431, 442, 470-1.

The Nootka Family

The Nootka may have as many wives as he can buy, but as prices are high, polygamy is practically restricted to the chiefs, who are careful not to form alliances with families beneath them in rank. Especially particular as to rank are the chiefs in choosing their first wife, always preferring the daughters of noble families of another tribe. Courtship consists in an offer of presents by the lover to the girl’s father, accompanied generally by lengthy speeches of friends on both sides, extolling the value of the man and his gift, and the attractions of the bride. After the bargain is concluded, a period of feasting follows if the parties are rich, but this is not necessary as a part of the marriage ceremony. Betrothals are often made by parents while the parties are yet children, mutual deposits of blankets and other property being made as securities for the fulfillment of the contract, which is rarely broken. Girls marry at an average age of sixteen. The common Nootka obtains his one bride from his own rank also by a present of blankets, much more humble than that of his rich neighbor, and is assisted in his overtures by perhaps a single friend instead of being followed by the whole tribe. Courtship among this class is not altogether without the attentions which render it so charming in civilized life; as when the fond girl lovingly caresses and searches her lover’s head, always giving him the fattest of her discoveries. Wives are not ill treated, and although somewhat overworked, the division of labor is not so oppressive as among many Indian tribes. Men build houses, make boats and implements, hunt and fish; women prepare the fish and game for winter use, cook, manufacture cloth and clothing, and increase the stock of food by gathering berries and shell-fish; and most of this work among the richer class is done by slaves. Wives are consulted in matters of trade, and in fact seem to be nearly on terms of equality with their husbands, except that they are excluded from some public feasts and ceremonies. There is much reason to suppose that before the advent of the whites, the Nootka wife was comparatively faithful to her lord, that chastity was regarded as a desirable female quality, and offenses against it severely punished. The females so freely brought on board the vessels of early voyagers and offered to the men, were perhaps slaves, who are everywhere prostituted for gain, so that the fathers of their children are never known. Women rarely have more than two or three children, and cease bearing at about twenty-five, frequently preventing the increase of their family by abortions. Pregnancy and childbirth affect them but little. The male child is named at birth, but his name is afterwards frequently changed. He is suckled by the mother until three or four years old, and at an early age begins to learn the arts of fishing by which he is to live. Children are not quarrelsome among themselves, and are regarded by both parents with some show of affection and pride. Girls at puberty are closely confined for several days, and given a little water but no food; they are kept particularly from the sun or fire, to see either of which at this period would be a lasting disgrace. At such times feasts are given by the parents. Divorces or separations may be had at will by either party, but a strict division of property and return of betrothal presents is expected, the woman being allowed not only the property she brought her husband, and articles manufactured by her in wedlock, but a certain proportion of the common wealth. Such property as belongs to the father and is not distributed in gifts during his life, or destroyed at his death, is inherited by the eldest son.[302]‘The women go to bed first, and are up first in the morning to prepare breakfast,’ p. 52. ‘The condition of the Aht women is not one of unseemly inferiority,’ p. 93. ‘Their female relations act as midwives. There is no separate place for lying-in. The child, on being born, is rolled up in a mat among feathers.’ ‘They suckle one child till another comes,’ p. 94. ‘A girl who was known to have lost her virtue, lost with it one of her chances of a favourable marriage, and a chief … would have put his daughter to death for such a lapse,’ p. 95. In case of a separation, if the parties belong to different tribes, the children go with the mother, p. 96. ‘No traces of the existence of polyandry among the Ahts,’ p. 99. The personal modesty of the Aht women when young is much greater than that of the men, p. 315. Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 28-30, 50-2, 93-102, 160, 264, 315. One of the chiefs said that three was the number of wives permitted: ‘como número necesario para no comunicar con la que estuviese en cinta.’ ‘Muchos de ellos mueren sin casarse.’ ‘El Tays no puede hacer uso de sus mugeres sin ver enteramente iluminado el disco de la luna.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 141-6. Women treated with no particular respect in any situation. Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., p. 318. Persons of the same crest are not allowed to marry. ‘The child again always takes the crest of the mother.’ ‘As a rule also, descent is traced from the mother, not from the father.’ ‘Intrigue with the wives of men of other tribes is one of the commonest causes of quarrel among the Indians.’ Mayne’s B. C., pp. 257-8, 276; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 444-7. The women are ‘very reserved and chaste.’ Meares’ Voy., pp. 251, 258, 265, 268; Kane’s Wand., pp. 239-40. The Indian woman, to sooth her child, makes use of a springy stick fixed obliquely in the ground to which the cradle is attached by a string, forming a convenient baby-jumper. Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 259; Pemberton’s Vanc. Isl., p. 131; Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., pp. 346-7. ‘Where there are no slaves in the tribe or family they perform all the drudgery of bringing firewood, water, &c.’ Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., pp. 298-9, 304. No intercourse between the newly married pair for a period of ten days, p. 129. ‘Perhaps in no part of the world is virtue more prized,’ p. 74. Jewitt’s Nar., pp. 59-60, 74, 127-9; Cornwallis’ New El Dorado, p. 101.

From the middle of November to the middle of January, is the Nootka season of mirth and festivity, when nearly the whole time is occupied with public and private gaiety. Their evenings are privately passed by the family group within doors in conversation, singing, joking, boasting of past exploits, personal and tribal, and teasing the women until bed-time, when one by one they retire to rest in the same blankets worn during the day.[303]‘When relieved from the presence of strangers, they have much easy and social conversation among themselves.’ ‘The conversation is frequently coarse and indecent.’ Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 50-1. ‘Cantando y baylando al rededor de las hogueras, abandonándose á todos los excesos de la liviandad.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 133.Swimming and trials of strength by hooking together the little fingers, or scuffling for a prize, seem to be the only out-door amusements indulged in by adults, while the children shoot arrows and hurl spears at grass figures of birds and fishes, and prepare themselves for future conflicts by cutting off the heads of imaginary enemies modeled in mud.[304]Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 55-6; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 144. To gambling the Nootkas are passionately addicted, but their games are remarkably few and uniform. Small bits of wood compose their entire paraphernalia, sometimes used like dice, when the game depends on the side turned up; or passed rapidly from hand to hand, when the gamester attempts to name the hand containing the trump stick; or again concealed in dust spread over a blanket and moved about by one player that the rest may guess its location. In playing they always form a circle seated on the ground, and the women rarely if ever join the game.[305]Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 299; Mayne’s B. C., pp. 275-6; Pemberton’s Vanc. Isl., p. 134; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., p. 444; Barrett-Lennard’s Trav., p. 53. They indulge in smoking, the only pipes of their own manufacture being of plain cedar, filled now with tobacco by those who can afford it, but in which they formerly smoked, as it is supposed, the leaves of a native plant—still mixed with tobacco to lessen its intoxicating properties. The pipe is passed round after a meal, but seems to be less used in serious ceremonies than among eastern Indian nations.[306]Sproat’s Scenes, p. 269. But Lord says ‘nothing can be done without it.’ Nat., vol. i., p. 168.

Nootka Amusements

But the Nootka amusement par excellence is that of feasts, given by the richer classes and chiefs nearly every evening during ‘the season.’ Male and female heralds are employed ceremoniously to invite the guests, the house having been first cleared of its partitions, and its floor spread with mats.[307]The Indian never invites any of the same crest as himself. Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., 445. ‘They are very particular about whom they invite to their feasts, and, on great occasions, men and women feast separately, the women always taking the precedence.’ Duncan, in Mayne’s B. C., pp. 263-6; Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 59-63. As in countries more civilized, the common people go early to secure the best seats, their allotted place being near the door. The élite come later, after being repeatedly sent for; on arrival they are announced by name, and assigned a place according to rank. In one corner of the hall the fish and whale-blubber are boiled by the wives of the chiefs, who serve it to the guests in pieces larger or smaller, according to their rank. What can not be eaten must be carried home. Their drink ordinarily is pure water, but occasionally berries of a peculiar kind, preserved in cakes, are stirred in until a froth is formed which swells the body of the drinker nearly to bursting.[308]Lord’s Nat., vol. i., pp. 259-60. Eating is followed by conversation and speech-making, oratory being an art highly prized, in which, with their fine voices, they become skillful. Finally, the floor is cleared for dancing. In the dances in which the crowd participate, the dancers, with faces painted in black and vermilion, form a circle round a few leaders who give the step, which consists chiefly in jumping with both feet from the ground, brandishing weapons or bunches of feathers, or sometimes simply bending the body without moving the feet. As to the participation of women in these dances, authorities do not agree.[309]‘I have never seen an Indian woman dance at a feast, and believe it is seldom if ever done.’ Mayne’s B. C., pp. 267-9. The women generally ‘form a separate circle, and chaunt and jump by themselves.’ Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 306. ‘As a rule, the men and women do not dance together; when the men are dancing the women sing and beat time,’ but there is a dance performed by both sexes. Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 66-7. ‘On other occasions a male chief will invite a party of female guests to share his hospitality.’ Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., p. 431. ‘Las mugeres baylan desayradisimamente; rara vez se prestan á esta diversion.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 152. In a sort of conversational dance all pass briskly round the room to the sound of music, praising in exclamations the building and all within it, while another dance requires many to climb upon the roof and there continue their motions. Their special or character dances are many, and in them they show much dramatic talent. A curtain is stretched across a corner of the room to conceal the preparations, and the actors, fantastically dressed, represent personal combats, hunting scenes, or the actions of different animals. In the seal-dance naked men jump into the water and then crawl out and over the floors, imitating the motions of the seal. Indecent performances are mentioned by some visitors. Sometimes in these dances men drop suddenly as if dead, and are at last revived by the doctors, who also give dramatic or magic performances at their houses; or they illuminate a wax moon out on the water, and make the natives believe they are communing with the man in the moon. To tell just where amusement ceases and solemnity begins in these dances is impossible.[310]‘La decencia obliga á pasar en silencio los bayles obscenos de los Mischîmis (common people), especialmente el del impotente á causa de la edad, y el del pobre que no ha podido casarse.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 151-2, 18; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 432-7; Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 65-71; Mayne’s B. C., pp. 266-7; Jewitt’s Nar., p. 389; Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 306; Cornwallis’ New El Dorado, pp. 99-103. Birds’ down forms an important item in the decoration at dances, especially at the reception of strangers. All dances, as well as other ceremonies, are accompanied by continual music, instrumental and vocal. The instruments are: boxes and benches struck with sticks; a plank hollowed out on the under side and beaten with drum-sticks about a foot long; a rattle made of dried seal-skin in the form of a fish, with pebbles; a whistle of deer-bone about an inch long with one hole, which like the rattle can only be used by chiefs; and a bunch of muscle-shells, to be shaken like castanets.[311]Jewitt’s Nar., pp. 39, 60, 72-3; Vancouver’s Voy., vol. iii., pp. 307-10; Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 310-11. Their songs are monotonous chants, extending over but few notes, varied by occasional howls and whoops in some of the more spirited melodies, pleasant or otherwise, according to the taste of the hearer.[312]Their music is mostly grave and serious, and in exact concert, when sung by great numbers. ‘Variations numerous and expressive, and the cadence or melody powerfully soothing.’ Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 310-11, 283. Dislike European music. Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 151-2. ‘Their tunes are generally soft and plaintive, and though not possessing great variety, are not deficient in harmony.’ Jewitt thinks the words of the songs may be borrowed from other tribes. Jewitt’s Nar., p. 72, and specimen of war song, p. 166. Airs consist of five or six bars, varying slightly, time being beaten in the middle of the bar. ‘Melody they have none, there is nothing soft, pleasing, or touching in their airs; they are not, however, without some degree of rude harmony.’ Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xviii., p. 306. ‘A certain beauty of natural expression in many of the native strains, if it were possible to relieve them from the monotony which is their fault.’ There are old men, wandering minstrels, who sing war songs and beg. ‘It is remarkable how aptly the natives catch and imitate songs heard from settlers or travelers.’ Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 63-5. Certain of their feasts are given periodically by the head chiefs, which distant tribes attend, and during which take place the distributions of property already mentioned. Whenever a gift is offered, etiquette requires the recipient to snatch it rudely from the donor with a stern and surly look.[313]Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 430-1; Jewitt’s Nar., p. 39.

Miscellaneous Customs

Among the miscellaneous customs noticed by the different authorities already quoted, may be mentioned the following. Daily bathing in the sea is practiced, the vapor-bath not being used. Children are rolled in the snow by their mothers to make them hardy. Camps and other property are moved from place to place by piling them on a plank platform built across the canoes. Whymper saw Indians near Bute Inlet carrying burdens on the back by a strap across the forehead. In a fight they rarely strike but close and depend on pulling hair and scratching; a chance blow must be made up by a present. Invitations to eat must not be declined, no matter how often repeated. Out of doors there is no native gesture of salutation, but in the houses a guest is motioned politely to a couch; guests are held sacred, and great ceremonies are performed at the reception of strangers; all important events are announced by heralds. Friends sometimes saunter along hand in hand. A secret society, independent of tribe, family, or crest, is supposed by Sproat to exist among them, but its purposes are unknown. In a palaver with whites the orator holds a long white pole in his hand, which he sticks occasionally into the ground by way of emphasis. An animal chosen as a crest must not be shot or ill-treated in the presence of any wearing its figure; boys recite portions of their elders’ speeches as declamations; names are changed many times during life, at the will of the individual or of the tribe.

Customs and Cannibalism

In sorcery, witchcraft, prophecy, dreams, evil spirits, and the transmigration of souls, the Nootkas are firm believers, and these beliefs enable the numerous sorcerers of different grades to acquire great power in the tribes by their strange ridiculous ceremonies. Most of their tricks are transparent, being deceptions worked by the aid of confederates to keep up their power; but, as in all religions, the votary must have some faith in the efficacy of their incantations. The sorcerer, before giving a special demonstration, retires apart to meditate. After spending some time alone in the forests and mountains, fasting and lacerating the flesh, he appears suddenly before the tribe, emaciated, wild with excitement, clad in a strange costume, grotesquely painted, and wearing a hideous mask. The scenes that ensue are indescribable, but the aim seems to be to commit all the wild freaks that a maniac’s imagination may devise, accompanied by the most unearthly yells which can terrorize the heart. Live dogs and dead human bodies are seized and torn by their teeth; but, at least in later times, they seem not to attack the living, and their performances are somewhat less horrible and bloody than the wild orgies of the northern tribes. The sorcerer is thought to have more influence with bad spirits than with good, and is always resorted to in the case of any serious misfortune. New members of the fraternity are initiated into the mysteries by similar ceremonies. Old women are not without their traditional mysterious powers in matters of prophecy and witchcraft; and all chiefs in times of perplexity practice fasting and laceration. Dreams are believed to be the visits of spirits or of the wandering soul of some living party, and the unfortunate Nootka boy or girl whose blubber-loaded stomach causes uneasy dreams, must be properly hacked, scorched, smothered, and otherwise tormented until the evil spirit is appeased.[314]‘I have seen the sorcerers at work a hundred times, but they use so many charms, which appear to me ridiculous,—they sing, howl, and gesticulate in so extravagant a manner, and surround their office with such dread and mystery,—that I am quite unable to describe their performances,’ pp. 169-70. ‘An unlucky dream will stop a sale, a treaty, a fishing, hunting, or war expedition,’ p. 175. Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 165-75. A chief, offered a piece of tobacco for allowing his portrait to be made, said it was a small reward for risking his life. Kane’s Wand., p. 240. Shrewd individuals impose on their neighbors by pretending to receive a revelation, telling them where fish or berries are most abundant. Description of initiatory ceremonies of the sorcerers. Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 446, 433-7, 451. Jewitt’s Nar., pp. 98-9. A brave prince goes to a distant lake, jumps from a high rock into the water, and rubs all the skin off his face with pieces of rough bark, amid the applause of his attendants. Description of king’s prayers, and ceremonies to bring rain. Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 145-6, 37. Candidates are thrown into a state of mesmerism before their initiation. ‘Medicus’, in Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. v., pp. 227-8; Barrett-Lennard’s Trav., pp. 51-3; Californias, Noticias, pp. 61-85. Whether or not these people were cannibals, is a disputed question, but there seems to be little doubt that slaves have been sacrificed and eaten as a part of their devilish rites.[315]They brought for sale ‘human skulls, and hands not yet quite stripped of the flesh, which they made our people plainly understand they had eaten; and, indeed, some of them had evident marks that they had been upon the fire.’ Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., p. 271. Slaves are occasionally sacrificed and feasted upon. Meares’ Voy., p. 255. ‘No todos habian comido la carne humana, ni en todo tiempo, sino solamente los guerreros mas animosos quando se preparaban para salir á campaña.’ ‘Parece indudable que estos salvages han sido antropófagos.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 130. ‘At Nootka Sound, and at the Sandwich Islands, Ledyard witnessed instances of cannibalism. In both places he saw human flesh prepared for food.’ Spark’s Life of Ledyard, p. 74; Cornwallis’ New El Dorado, pp. 104-6. ‘Cannibalism, all-though unknown among the Indians of the Columbia, is practised by the savages on the coast to the northward.’ Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 310-11. The cannibal ceremonies quoted by Macfie and referred to Vancouver Island, probably were intended for the Haidahs farther north. Vanc. Isl., p. 434. A slave as late as 1850 was drawn up and down a pole by a hook through the skin and tendons of the back, and afterwards devoured. Medicus, in Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. v., p. 223. ‘L’anthropophagie á été longtemps en usage … et peut-être y existe-t-elle encore…. Le chef Maquina … tuait un prisonnier à chaque lune nouvelle. Tous les chefs étaient invités à cette horrible fête.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 345. ‘It is not improbable that the suspicion that the Nootkans are cannibals may be traced to the practice of some custom analagous to the Tzeet-tzaiak of the Haeel tzuk.’ Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., pp. 223-4. ‘The horrid practice of sacrificing a victim is not annual, but only occurs either once in three years or else at uncertain intervals.’ Sproat’s Scenes, p. 156.

The Nootkas are generally a long-lived race, and from the beginning to the failing of manhood undergo little change in appearance. Jewitt states that during his captivity of three years at Nootka Sound, only five natural deaths occurred, and the people suffered scarcely any disease except the colic. Sproat mentions as the commonest diseases; bilious complaints, dysentery, a consumption which almost always follows syphilis, fevers, and among the aged, ophthalmia. Accidental injuries, as cuts, bruises, sprains, and broken limbs, are treated with considerable success by means of simple salves or gums, cold water, pine-bark bandages, and wooden splints. Natural pains and maladies are invariably ascribed to the absence or other irregular conduct of the soul, or to the influence of evil spirits, and all treatment is directed to the recall of the former and to the appeasing of the latter. Still, so long as the ailment is slight, simple means are resorted to, and the patient is kindly cared for by the women; as when headache, colic, or rheumatism is treated by the application of hot or cold water, hot ashes, friction, or the swallowing of cold teas made from various roots and leaves. Nearly every disease has a specific for its cure. Oregon grape and other herbs cure syphilis; wasp-nest powder is a tonic, and blackberries an astringent; hemlock bark forms a plaster, and dog-wood bark is a strengthener; an infusion of young pine cones or the inside scrapings of a human skull prevent too rapid family increase, while certain plants facilitate abortion. When a sickness becomes serious, the sorcerer or medicine-man is called in and incantations begin, more or less noisy according to the amount of the prospective fee and the number of relatives and friends who join in the uproar. A very poor wretch is permitted to die in comparative quiet. In difficult cases the doctor, wrought up to the highest state of excitement, claims to see and hear the soul, and to judge of the patient’s prospects by its position and movements. The sick man shows little fortitude, and abandons himself helplessly to the doctor’s ridiculous measures. Failing in a cure, the physician gets no pay, but if successful, does not fail to make a large demand. Both the old and the helplessly sick are frequently abandoned by the Ahts to die without aid in the forest.[316]‘Rheumatism and paralysis are rare maladies.’ Syphilis is probably indigenous. Amputation, blood-letting, and metallic medicine not employed. Medicines to produce love are numerous. ‘Young and old of both sexes are exposed when afflicted with lingering disease.’ Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 251-7, 282, 213-4. ‘Headache is cured by striking the part affected with small branches of the spruce tree.’ Doctors are generally chosen from men who have themselves suffered serious maladies. Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 438-40. ‘Their cure for rheumatism or similar pains … is by cutting or scarifying the part affected.’ Jewitt’s Nar., p. 142. They are sea sick on European vessels. Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., p. 81. Description of ceremonies. Swan, in Mayne’s B. C., pp. 261-3, 304. ‘The patient is put to bed, and for the most part starved, lest the food should be consumed by his internal enemy.’ ‘The warm and steam bath is very frequently employed.’ Medicus, in Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. v., pp. 226-8.

All the tribes flatten the head more or less, but none carry the practice to such an extent as their neighbors on the south, unless it be the Cowlitz nation, which might indeed as correctly be classed with the Chinooks. By most of the Sound natives tattooing is not practiced, and they seem somewhat less addicted to a constant use of paint than the Nootkas; yet on festive occasions a plentiful and hideous application is made of charcoal or colored earth pulverized in grease, and the women appreciate the charms imparted to the face by the use of vermilion clay. The nose, particularly at Cape Flattery, is the grand centre of facial ornamentation. Perforating is extravagantly practiced, and pendant trinkets of every form and substance are worn, those of bone or shell preferred, and, if we may credit Wilkes, by some of the women these ornaments are actually kept clean.

Sound Dress and Dwellings

The native garment, when the weather makes nakedness uncomfortable, is a blanket of dog’s hair, sometimes mixed with birds’ down and bark-fibre, thrown about the shoulders. Some few fasten this about the neck with a wooden pin. The women are more careful in covering the person with the blanket than are the men, and generally wear under it a bark apron hanging from the waist in front. A cone-shaped, water-proof hat, woven from colored grasses, is sometimes worn on the head.[321]‘Less bedaubed with paint and less filthy’ than the Nootkas. At Port Discovery ‘they wore ornaments, though none were observed in their noses.’ At Cape Flattery the nose ornament was straight, instead of crescent-shaped, as among the Nootkas. Vancouver supposed their garments to be composed of dog’s hair mixed with the wool of some wild animal, which he did not see. Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., pp. 218, 230, 266. At Port Discovery some had small brass bells hung in the rim of the ears, p. 318. Some of the Skagits were tattooed with lines on the arms and face, and fond of brass rings, pp. 511-12. The Classets ‘wore small pieces of an iridescent mussel-shell, attached to the cartilage of their nose, which was in some, of the size of a ten cents piece, and triangular in shape. It is generally kept in motion by their breathing,’ p. 517. Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 317-20, 334, 404, 444, 511-2, 517-8. The conical hats and stout bodies ‘brought to mind representations of Siberian tribes.’ Pickering’s Races, in Idem., vol. ix., p. 23. The Clallams ‘wear no clothing in summer.’ Faces daubed with red and white mud. Illustration of head-flattening. Kane’s Wand., pp. 180, 207, 210-11, 224. Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. i., pp. 108-9; Rossi, Souvenirs, p. 299; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 232-3; San Francisco Bulletin, May 24, 1859; Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 243; Id., 1857, p. 329; Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 430. Above Gray Harbor they were dressed with red deer skins. Navarrete, in Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. xciv: Cornwallis’ New El Dorado, p. 97; Winthrop’s Canoe and Saddle, p. 32-3; Murphy and Harned, in Puget Sd. Direct., pp. 64-71.

Temporary hunting-huts in summer are merely cross-sticks covered with coarse mats made by laying bulrushes side by side, and knotting them at intervals with cord or grass. The poorer individuals or tribes dwell permanently in similar huts, improved by the addition of a few slabs; while the rich and powerful build substantial houses, of planks split from trees by means of bone wedges, much like the Nootka dwellings in plan, and nearly as large. These houses sometimes measure over one hundred feet in length, and are divided into rooms or pens, each house accommodating many families. There are several fire-places in each dwelling; raised benches extend round the sides, and the walls are often lined with matting.[322]The Skagit tribe being exposed to attacks from the north, combine dwellings and fort, and build themselves ‘enclosures, four hundred feet long, and capable of containing many families, which are constructed of pickets made of thick planks, about thirty feet high. The pickets are firmly fixed into the ground, the spaces between them being only sufficient to point a musket through…. The interior of the enclosure is divided into lodges,’ p. 511. At Port Discovery the lodges were ‘no more than a few rudely-cut slabs, covered in part by coarse mats,’ p. 319. Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 319-20, 511, 517. The Clallams also have a fort of pickets one hundred and fifty feet square, roofed over and divided into compartments for families. ‘There were about two hundred of the tribe in the fort at the time of my arrival.’ ‘The lodges are built of cedar like the Chinook lodges, but much larger, some of them being sixty or seventy feet long.’ Kane’s Wand., pp. 210, 219, 227-9. ‘Their houses are of considerable size, often fifty to one hundred feet in length, and strongly built.’ Rept. Ind. Aff., 1854, pp. 242-3. ‘The planks forming the roof run the whole length of the building, being guttered to carry off the water, and sloping slightly to one end.’ Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 429-30. Well built lodges of timber and plank on Whidbey Island. Thornton’s Ogn. and Cal., vol. i., p. 300. At New Dungeness, ‘composed of nothing more than a few mats thrown over cross sticks;’ and on Puget Sound ‘constructed something after the fashion of a soldier’s tent, by two cross sticks about five feet high, connected at each end by a ridge-pole from one to the other, over some of which was thrown a coarse kind of mat; over others a few loose branches of trees, shrubs or grass.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., pp. 225, 262. The Queniults sometimes, but not always, whitewash the interior of their lodges with pipe-clay, and then paint figures of fishes and animals in red and black on the white surface. See description and cuts of exterior and interior of Indian lodge in Swan’s N. W. Coast, pp. 266-7, 330, 338; Crane’s Top. Mem., p. 65; Cornwallis’ New El Dorado, p. 98; Clark’s Lights and Shadows, p. 225.

Food of the Sound Indians

In spring time they abandon their regular dwellings and resort in small companies to the various sources of food-supply. Fish is their chief dependence, though game is taken in much larger quantities than by the Nootkas; some of the more inland Sound tribes subsisting almost entirely by the chase and by root-digging. Nearly all the varieties of fish which support the northern tribes are also abundant here, and are taken substantially by the same methods, namely, by the net, hook, spear, and rake; but fisheries seem to be carried on somewhat less systematically, and I find no account of the extensive and complicated embankments and traps mentioned by travelers in British Columbia. To the salmon, sturgeon, herring, rock-cod, and candle-fish, abundant in the inlets of the sound, the Classets, by venturing out to sea, add a supply of whale-blubber and otter-meat, obtained with spears, lines, and floats. At certain points on the shore tall poles are erected, across which nets are spread; and against these nets large numbers of wild fowl, dazzled by torch-lights at night, dash themselves and fall stunned to the ground, where the natives stand ready to gather in the feathery harvest. Vancouver noticed many of these poles in different localities, but could not divine their use. Deer and elk in the forests are also hunted by night, and brought within arrow-shot by the spell of torches. For preservation, fish are dried in the sun or dried and smoked by the domestic hearth, and sometimes pounded fine, as are roots of various kinds; clams are dried on strings and hung up in the houses, or occasionally worn round the neck, ministering to the native love of ornament until the stronger instinct of hunger impairs the beauty of the necklace. In the better class of houses, supplies are neatly stored in baskets at the sides. The people are extremely improvident, and, notwithstanding their abundant natural supplies in ocean, stream, and forest, are often in great want. Boiling in wooden vessels by means of hot stones is the ordinary method of cooking. A visitor to the Nooksaks thus describes their method of steaming elk-meat: “They first dig a hole in the ground, then build a wood fire, placing stones on the top of it. As it burns, the stones become hot and fall down. Moss and leaves are then placed on the top of the hot stones, the meat on these, and another layer of moss and leaves laid over it. Water is poured on, which is speedily converted into steam. This is retained by mats carefully placed over the heap. When left in this way for a night, the meat is found tender and well cooked in the morning.” Fowls were cooked in the same manner by the Queniults.[323]The Nootsaks, ‘like all inland tribes, they subsist principally by the chase.’ Coleman, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xxxix., pp. 795, 799, 815; Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 328. Sturgeon abound weighing 400 to 600 pounds, and are taken by the Clallams by means of a spear with a handle seventy to eighty feet long, while lying on the bottom of the river in spawning time. Fish-hooks are made of cedar root with bone barbs. Their only vegetables are the camas, wappatoo, and fern roots. Kane’s Wand., pp. 213-14, 230-4, 289. At Puget Sound, ‘men, women and children were busily engaged like swine, rooting up this beautiful verdant meadow in quest of a species of wild onion, and two other roots, which in appearance and taste greatly resembled the saranne.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., pp. 225, 234, 262. In fishing for salmon at Port Discovery ‘they have two nets, the drawing and casting net, made of a silky grass,’ ‘or of the fibres of the roots of trees, or of the inner bark of the white cedar.’ Nicolay’s Ogn. Ter., p. 147. ‘The line is made either of kelp or the fibre of the cypress, and to it is attached an inflated bladder.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. i., p. 109. At Port Townsend, ‘leurs provisions, consistaient en poisson séché au soleil ou boucané; … tout rempli de sable.’ Rossi, Souvenirs, pp. 182-3, 299. The Clallams ‘live by fishing and hunting around their homes, and never pursue the whale and seal as do the sea-coast tribes.’ Scammon, in Overland Monthly, vol. vii., p. 278. The Uthlecan or candle-fish is used on Fuca Strait for food as well as candles. Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 241. Lamprey eels are dried for food and light by the Nisquallies and Chehalis. ‘Cammass root, … stored in baskets. It is a kind of sweet squills, and about the size of a small onion. It is extremely abundant on the open prairies, and particularly on those which are overflowed by the small streams.’ Cut of salmon fishery, p. 335. ‘Hooks are made in an ingenious manner of the yew tree.’ ‘They are chiefly employed in trailing for fish.’ Cut of hooks, pp. 444-5. The Classets make a cut in the nose when a whale is taken. Each seal-skin float has a different pattern painted on it, p. 517. Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 318-19, 335, 444-5, 517-18. The Chehalis live chiefly on salmon. Id., vol. v., p. 140. According to Swan the Puget Sound Indians sometimes wander as far as Shoalwater Bay in Chinook territory, in the spring. The Queniult Indians are fond of large barnacles, not eaten by the Chinooks of Shoalwater Bay. Cut of a sea-otter hunt. The Indians never catch salmon with a baited hook, but always use the hook as a gaff. N. W. Coast, pp. 59, 87, 92, 163, 264, 271; Thornton’s Ogn. and Cal., vol. i., pp. 293-4, 301, 388-9; Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 241; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 732-5; Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 429. ‘They all depend upon fish, berries, and roots for a subsistence, and get their living with great ease.’ Starling, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 600-2. The Makahs live ‘by catching cod and halibut on the banks north and east of Cape Flattery.’ Ind. Aff. Rept., 1858, p. 231. ‘When in a state of semi-starvation the beast shows very plainly in them (Stick Indians): they are generally foul feeders, but at such a time they eat anything, and are disgusting in the extreme.’ Id., 1858, p. 225; Id., 1860, p. 195; Cornwallis’ New El Dorado, p. 97; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., pp. 102-5; Hittell, in Hesperian, vol. iii., p. 408; Winthrop’s Canoe and Saddle, pp. 33-7; Maurelle’s Jour., p. 28.

I find no mention of other weapons, offensive or defensive, than spears, and bows and arrows. The arrows and spears were usually pointed with bone; the bows were of yew, and though short, were of great power. Vancouver describes a superior bow used at Puget Sound. It was from two and a half to three feet long, made from a naturally curved piece of yew, whose concave side became the convex of the bow, and to the whole length of this side a strip of elastic hide or serpent-skin was attached so firmly by a kind of cement as to become almost a part of the wood. This lining added greatly to the strength of the bow, and was not affected by moisture. The bow-string was made of sinew.[324]Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., p. 253. At Gray Harbor the bows were somewhat more circular than elsewhere. Id., vol. ii., p. 84; Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 319; Kane’s Wand., pp. 209-10. The tribes were continually at war with each other, and with northern nations, generally losing many of their people in battle. Sticking the heads of the slain enemy on poles in front of their dwellings, is a common way of demonstrating their joy over a victory. The Indians at Port Discovery spoke to Wilkes of scalping among their warlike exploits, but according to Kane the Classets do not practice that usage.[325]Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 321; Kane’s Wand., pp. 231-2; Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., p. 234. ‘They have been nearly annihilated by the hordes of northern savages that have infested, and do now, even at the present day, infest our own shores’ for slaves. They had fire-arms before our tribes, thus gaining an advantage.’ Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 327; Clark’s Lights and Shadows, p. 224. Vancouver, finding sepulchres at Penn Cove, in which were large quantities of human bones but no limb-bones of adults, suspected that the latter were used by the Indians for pointing their arrows, and in the manufacture of other implements.[326]Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., p. 287.

Manufactures of Puget Sound

The Sound manufactures include only the weapons and utensils used by the natives. Their articles were made with the simplest tools of bone or shell. Blankets were made of dog’s hair,—large numbers of dogs being raised for the purpose,—the wool of mountain sheep, or wild goats, found on the mountain slopes, the down of wild-fowl, cedar bark-fibre, ravellings of foreign blankets, or more commonly of a mixture of several of these materials. The fibre is twisted into yarn between the hand and thigh, and the strands arranged in perpendicular frames for weaving purposes. Willow and other twigs supply material for baskets of various forms, often neatly made and colored. Oil, both for domestic use and for barter, is extracted by boiling, except in the case of the candle-fish, when hanging in the hot sun suffices; it is preserved in bladders and skin-bottles.[327]‘A single thread is wound over rollers at the top and bottom of a square frame, so as to form a continuous woof through which an alternate thread is carried by the hand, and pressed closely together by a sort of wooden comb; by turning the rollers every part of the woof is brought within reach of the weaver; by this means a bag formed, open at each end, which being cut down makes a square blanket.’ Kane’s Wand., pp. 210-11. Cuts showing the loom and process of weaving among the Nootsaks, also house, canoes, and willow baskets. Coleman, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xxxix., pp. 799-800. The Clallams ‘have a kind of cur with soft and long white hair, which they shear and mix with a little wool or the ravelings of old blankets.’ Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 431. The Makahs have ‘blankets and capes made of the inner bark of the cedar, and edged with fur.’ Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 241-2; Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 32. The candle-fish ‘furnishes the natives with their best oil, which is extracted by the very simple process of hanging it up, exposed to the sun, which in a few days seems to melt it away.’ Thornton’s Ogn. and Cal., vol. i., p. 388. They ‘manufacture some of their blankets from the wool of the wild goat.’ Dunn’s Oregon, p. 231. The Queniults showed ‘a blanket manufactured from the wool of mountain sheep, which are to be found on the precipitous slopes of the Olympian Mountains.’ Alta California, Feb. 9, 1861, quoted in California Farmer, July 25, 1862; Cornwallis’ New El Dorado, p. 97; Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 26.

Canoes are made by the Sound Indians in the same manner as by the Nootkas already described; being always dug out, formerly by fire, from a single cedar trunk, and the form improved afterwards by stretching when soaked in hot water. Of the most elegant proportions, they are modeled by the builder with no guide but the eye, and with most imperfect tools; three months’ work is sufficient to produce a medium-sized boat. The form varies among different nations according as the canoe is intended for ocean, sound, or river navigation; being found with bow or stern, or both, in various forms, pointed, round, shovel-nosed, raised or level. The raised stern, head-piece, and stern-post are usually formed of separate pieces. Like the Nootkas, they char and polish the outside and paint the interior with red. The largest and finest specimen seen by Mr. Swan was forty-six feet long and six feet wide, and crossed the bar into Shoalwater Bay with thirty Queniult Indians from the north. The paddle used in deep water has a crutch-like handle and a sharp-pointed blade.[328]‘They present a model of which a white mechanic might well be proud.’ Description of method of making, and cuts of Queniult, Clallam, and Cowlitz canoes, and a Queniult paddle. Swan’s N. W. Coast, pp. 79-82. At Port Orchard they ‘exactly corresponded with the canoes of Nootka,’ while those of some visitors were ‘cut off square at each end,’ and like those seen below Cape Orford. At Gray Harbor the war canoes ‘had a piece of wood rudely carved, perforated, and placed at each end, three feet above the gunwale; through these holes they are able to discharge their arrows.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., p. 264; vol. ii., p. 84. The Clallam boats were ‘low and straight, and only adapted to the smoother interior waters.’ Scammon, in Overland Monthly, vol. vii., p. 278. Cut showing Nootsak canoes in Harper’s Mag., vol. xxxix., p. 799. ‘The sides are exceedingly thin, seldom exceeding three-fourths of an inch.’ To mend the canoe when cracks occur, ‘holes are made in the sides, through which withes are passed, and pegged in such a way that the strain will draw it tighter; the withe is then crossed, and the end secured in the same manner. When the tying is finished, the whole is pitched with the gum of the pine.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 320-1. The Clallams have ‘a very large canoe of ruder shape and workmanship, being wide and shovel-nosed,’ used for the transportation of baggage. Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 243; Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 430-1; Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. i., p. 108; Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., pp. 25-6; Winthrop’s Canoe and Saddle, p. 20; Clark’s Lights and Shadows, pp. 224-6.

Trade and Government of the Sound Indians

In their barter between the different tribes, and in estimating their wealth, the blanket is generally the unit of value, and the hiaqua, a long white shell obtained off Cape Flattery at a considerable depth, is also extensively used for money, its value increasing with its length. A kind of annual fair for trading purposes and festivities is held by the tribes of Puget Sound at Bajada Point, and here and in their other feasts they are fond of showing their wealth and liberality by disposing of their surplus property in gifts.[329]Kane’s Wand., pp. 237-9; Ind. Aff. Rept., 1862, p. 409; Starling, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 601; Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 26.

The system of government seems to be of the simplest nature, each individual being entirely independent and master of his own actions. There is a nominal chief in each tribe, who sometimes acquires great influence and privileges by his wealth or personal prowess, but he has no authority, and only directs the movements of his band in warlike incursions. I find no evidence of hereditary rank or caste except as wealth is sometimes inherited.[330]‘Ils obéissent à un chef, qui n’exerce son pouvoir qu’en temps de guerre.’ Rossi, Souvenirs, p. 299. At Gray Harbor ‘they appeared to be divided into three different tribes, or parties, each having one or two chiefs.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 84. Wilkes met a squaw chief at Nisqually, who ‘seemed to exercise more authority than any that had been met with.’ ‘Little or no distinction of rank seems to exist among them; the authority of the chiefs is no longer recognized.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 444; vol. v., p. 131. Yellow-cum had become chief of the Makahs from his own personal prowess. Kane’s Wand., pp. 237-9; Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, pp. 327-8. Slaves are held by all the tribes, and are treated very much like their dogs, being looked upon as property, and not within the category of humanity. For a master to kill half a dozen slaves is no wrong or cruelty; it only tends to illustrate the owner’s noble disposition in so freely sacrificing his property. Slaves are obtained by war and kidnapping, and are sold in large numbers to northern tribes. According to Sproat, the Classets, a rich and powerful tribe, encourage the slave-hunting incursions of the Nootkas against their weaker neighbors.[331]Sproat’s Scenes, p. 92; Simpson’s Overland Journ., vol. i., pp. 242-3; Kane’s Wand., pp. 214-15. The Nooksaks ‘have no slaves.’ Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, pp. 327-8; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 601. It is said ‘that the descendants of slaves obtain freedom at the expiration of three centuries.’ Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 28.

Wives are bought by presents, and some performances or ceremonies, representative of hunting or fishing scenes, not particularly described by any visitor, take place at the wedding. Women have all the work to do except hunting and fishing, while their lords spend their time in idleness and gambling. Still the females are not ill-treated; they acquire great influence in the tribe, and are always consulted in matters of trade before a bargain is closed. They are not overburdened with modesty, nor are husbands noted for jealousy. Hiring out their women, chiefly however slaves, for prostitution, has been a prominent source of tribal revenue since the country was partially settled by whites. Women are not prolific, three or four being ordinarily the limit of their offspring. Infants, properly bound up with the necessary apparatus for head-flattening, are tied to their cradle or to a piece of bark, and hung by a cord to the end of a springy pole kept in motion by a string attached to the mother’s great toe. Affection for children is by no means rare, but in few tribes can they resist the temptation to sell or gamble them away.[332]The Makahs have some marriage ceremonies, ‘such as going through the performance of taking the whale, manning a canoe, and throwing the harpoon into the bride’s house.’ Ind. Aff. Rept., p. 242. The Nooksak women ‘are very industrious, and do most of the work, and procure the principal part of their sustenance.’ Id., 1857, p. 327. ‘The women have not the slightest pretension to virtue.’ Id., 1858, p. 225; Siwash Nuptials, in Olympia Washington Standard, July 30, 1870. In matters of trade the opinion of the women is always called in, and their decision decides the bargain. Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. i., p. 108. ‘The whole burden of domestic occupation is thrown upon them.’ Cut of the native baby-jumper. Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 319-20, 361. At Gray Harbor they were not jealous. At Port Discovery they offered their children for sale. Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., p. 231; vol. ii., pp. 83-4. ‘Rarely having more than three or four’ children. Swan’s N. W. Coast, p. 266; Clark’s Lights and Shadows, pp. 224-6.

Amusements of the Sound Indians

Feasting, gambling, and smoking are the favorite amusements; all their property, slaves, children, and even their own freedom in some cases are risked in their games. Several plants are used as substitutes for tobacco when that article is not obtainable. If any important differences exist between their ceremonies, dances, songs and feasts, and those of Vancouver Island, such variations have not been recorded. In fact, many authors describe the manners and customs of ‘North-west America’ as if occupied by one people.[333]Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 320, 444; Rossi, Souvenirs, pp. 298-9; San Francisco Bulletin, May 24, 1859. There is no evidence of cannibalism; indeed, during Vancouver’s visit at Puget Sound, some meat offered to the natives was refused, because it was suspected to be human flesh. Since their acquaintance with the whites they have acquired a habit of assuming great names, as Duke of York, or Jenny Lind, and highly prize scraps of paper with writing purporting to substantiate their claims to such distinctions. Their superstitions are many, and they are continually on the watch in all the commonest acts of life against the swarm of evil influences, from which they may escape only by the greatest care.[334]Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., pp. 263, 270. The Lummi ‘are a very superstitious tribe, and pretend to have traditions—legends handed down to them by their ancestors.’ ‘No persuasion or pay will induce them to kill an owl or eat a pheasant.’ Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, pp. 327-8; Kane’s Wand., pp. 216-17, 229. No forms of salutation. Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., pp. 23-4; Winthrop’s Canoe and Saddle, pp. 21-2.

Character of the Sound Indians

Disorders of the throat and lungs, rheumatism and intermittent fevers, are among the most prevalent forms of disease, and in their methods of cure, as usual, the absurd ceremonies, exorcisms, and gesticulations of the medicine-men play the principal part; but hot and cold baths are also often resorted to without regard to the nature or stage of the malady.[335]Among the Skagits ‘Dr. Holmes saw an old man in the last stage of consumption, shivering from the effects of a cold bath at the temperature of 40° Fahrenheit. A favourite remedy in pulmonary consumption is to tie a rope tightly around the thorax, so as to force the diaphram to perform respiration without the aid of the thoracic muscles.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 512. Among the Clallams, to cure a girl of a disease of the side, after stripping the patient naked, the medicine-man, throwing off his blanket, ‘commenced singing and gesticulating in the most violent manner, whilst the others kept time by beating with little sticks on hollow wooden bowls and drums, singing continually. After exercising himself in this manner for about half an hour, until the perspiration ran down his body, he darted suddenly upon the young woman, catching hold of her side with his teeth and shaking her for a few minutes, while the patient seemed to suffer great agony. He then relinquished his hold, and cried out that he had got it, at the same time holding his hands to his mouth; after which he plunged them in the water and pretended to hold down with great difficulty the disease which he had extracted.’ Kane’s Wand., pp. 225-6. Small-pox seemed very prevalent by which many had lost the sight of one eye. Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., p. 242. To cure a cold in the face the Queniults burned certain herbs to a cinder and mixing them with grease, anointed the face. Swan’s N. W. Coast, p. 265. Among the Nooksaks mortality has not increased with civilization. ‘As yet the only causes of any amount are consumption and the old diseases.’ Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 327. At Neah Bay, ‘a scrofulous affection pervades the whole tribe.’ The old, sick and maimed are abandoned by their friends to die. Id., 1872, p. 350. The bodies of such as succumb to their diseases, or to the means employed for cure, are disposed of in different ways according to locality, tribe, rank, or age. Skeletons are found by travelers buried in the ground or deposited in a sitting posture on its surface; in canoes or in boxes supported by posts, or, more commonly, suspended from the branches of trees. Corpses are wrapped in cloth or matting, and more or less richly decorated according to the wealth of the deceased. Several bodies are often put in one canoe or box, and the bodies of young children are found suspended in baskets. Property and implements, the latter always broken, are deposited with or near the remains, and these last resting-places of their people are religiously cared for and guarded from intrusion by all the tribes.[336]Slaves have no right to burial. Kane’s Wand., p. 215. At a Queniult burial place ‘the different colored blankets and calicoes hung round gave the place an appearance of clothes hung out to dry on a washing day.’ Swan’s N. W. Coast, p. 267. At Port Orchard bodies were ‘wrapped firmly in matting, beneath which was a white blanket, closely fastened round the body, and under this a covering of blue cotton.’ At Port Discovery bodies ‘are wrapped in mats and placed upon the ground in a sitting posture, and surrounded with stakes and pieces of plank to protect them.’ On the Cowlitz the burial canoes are painted with figures, and gifts are not deposited till several months after the funeral. Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 323, 347-8, 509-10. Among the Nisquallies bodies of relatives are sometimes disinterred at different places, washed, re-wrapped and buried again in one grave. Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 238-9. ‘Ornés de rubans de diverses couleurs, de dents de poissons, de chapelets et d’autres brimborions du goût des sauvages.’ Rossi, Souvenirs, pp. 74-5. On Penn Cove, in a deserted village, were found ‘several sepulchres formed exactly like a centry box. Some of them were open, and contained the skeletons of many young children tied up in baskets.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., pp. 254-6, 287; Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 242; Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 429. A correspondent describes a flathead mummy from Puget Sound preserved in San Francisco. ‘The eye-balls are still round under the lid; the teeth, the muscles, and tendons perfect, the veins injected with some preserving liquid, the bowels, stomach and liver dried up, but not decayed, all perfectly preserved. The very blanket that entwines him, made of some threads of bark and saturated with a pitchy substance, is entire.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 693; Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 32. All the peculiarities and inconsistencies of the Nootka character perhaps have been noted by travelers among the Indians of the Sound, but none of these peculiarities are so clearly marked in the latter people. In their character, as in other respects, they have little individuality, and both their virtues and vices are but faint reflections of the same qualities in the great families north and south of their territory. The Cape Flattery tribes are at once the most intelligent, bold, and treacherous of all, while some of the tribes east and north-east of the Sound proper have perhaps the best reputation. Since the partial settlement of their territory by the whites, the natives here as elsewhere have lost many of their original characteristics, chiefly the better ones. The remnants now for the most part are collected on government reservations, or live in the vicinity of towns, by begging and prostitution. Some tribes, especially in the region of Bellingham Bay, have been nominally converted to Christianity, have abandoned polygamy, slavery, head-flattening, gambling, and superstitious ceremonies, and pay considerable attention to a somewhat mixed version of church doctrine and ceremonies.[337]‘Their native bashfulness renders all squaws peculiarly sensitive to any public notice or ridicule.’ Probably the laziest people in the world. The mails are intrusted with safety to Indian carriers, who are perfectly safe from interference on the part of any Indian they may meet. Kane’s Wand., p. 209-16, 227-8, 234, 247-8. ‘La mémoire locale et personelle du sauvage est admirable; il n’oublie jamais un endroit ni une personne.’ Nature seems to have given him memory to supply the want of intelligence. ‘Much inclined to vengeance. Those having means may avert vengeance by payments.’ Rossi, Souvenirs, pp. 113, 295-9. ‘Perfectly indifferent to exposure; decency has no meaning in their language.’ Although always begging, they refuse to accept any article not in good condition, calling it Peeshaaak, a term of contempt. Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. i., pp. 108-9. Murder of a Spanish boat’s crew in latitude 47° 20´. Maurelle’s Jour., pp. 29, 31. ‘Cheerful and well disposed’ at Port Orchard. At Strait of Fuca ‘little more elevated in their moral qualities than the Fuegians.’ At Nisqually, ‘addicted to stealing.’ ‘Vicious and exceedingly lazy, sleeping all day.’ The Skagits are catholics, and are more advanced than others in civilization. Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 317, 444, 510-11, 517. Both at Gray Harbor and Puget Sound they were uniformly civil and friendly, fair and honest in trade. Each tribe claimed that ‘the others were bad people and that the party questioned were the only good Indians in the harbor.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., p. 256; vol. ii., pp. 83-4. ‘The Clallam tribe has always had a bad character, which their intercourse with shipping, and the introduction of whiskey, has by no means improved.’ Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 243. ‘The superior courage of the Makahs, as well as their treachery, will make them more difficult of management than most other tribes.’ Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 429. The Lummis and other tribes at Bellingham Bay have already abandoned their ancient barbarous habits, and have adopted those of civilization. Coleman, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xxxix., pp. 795-7; Simpson’s Overland Journ., vol. i., pp. 240-2. ‘The instincts of these people are of a very degraded character. They are filthy, cowardly, lazy, treacherous, drunken, avaricious, and much given to thieving. The women have not the slightest pretension to virtue.’ The Makahs ‘are the most independent Indians in my district—they and the Quilleyutes, their near neighbors.’ Ind. Aff. Rept., 1858, pp. 225, 231; Id., 1862, p. 390; Id., 1870, p. 20; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 601; Winthrop’s Canoe and Saddle, p. 58; Cram’s Top. Mem., p. 65.

The Chinooks

The Chinooks constitute the fourth division of the Columbian group. Originally the name was restricted to a tribe on the north bank of the Columbia between Gray Bay and the ocean; afterwards, from a similarity in language and customs, it was applied to all the bands on both sides of the river, from its mouth to the Dalles.[338]Perhaps the Cascades might more properly be named as the boundary, since the region of the Dalles, from the earliest records, has been the rendezvous for fishing, trading, and gambling purposes, of tribes from every part of the surrounding country, rather than the home of any particular nation. It is employed in this work to designate all the Oregon tribes west of the Cascade Range, southward to the Rogue River or Umpqua Mountains. This family lies between the Sound Indians on the north and the Californian group on the south, including in addition to the tribes of the Columbia, those of the Willamette Valley and the Coast. All closely resemble each other in manners and customs, having also a general resemblance to the northern families already described, springing from their methods of obtaining food; and although probably without linguistic affinities, except along the Columbia River, they may be consistently treated as one family—the last of the great coast or fish-eating divisions of the Columbian group.

Among the prominent tribes, or nations of the Chinook family may be mentioned the following: the Watlalas or upper Chinooks, including the bands on the Columbia from the Cascades to the Cowlitz, and on the lower Willamette; the lower Chinooks from the Cowlitz to the Pacific comprising the Wakiakums and Chinooks on the north bank, and the Cathlamets and Clatsops on the south; the Calapooyas occupying the Valley of the Willamette, and the Clackamas on one of its chief tributaries of the same name; with the Killamooks and Umpquas who live between the Coast Range[339]For details see Tribal Boundaries at the end of this chapter. The Chinooks, Clatsops, Wakiakums and Cathlamets, ‘resembling each other in person, dress, language, and manners.’ The Chinooks and Wakiakums were originally one tribe, and Wakiakum was the name of the chief who seceded with his adherents. Irving’s Astoria, pp. 335-6. ‘They may be regarded as the distinctive type of the tribes to the north of the Oregon, for it is in them that the peculiarities of the population of these regions are seen in the most striking manner.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., pp. 15-6, 36. All the tribes about the mouth of the Columbia ‘appear to be descended from the same stock … and resemble one another in language, dress, and habits.’ Ross’ Adven., pp. 87-8. The Cathleyacheyachs at the Cascades differ but little from the Chinooks. Id., p. 111. Scouler calls the Columbia tribes Cathlascons, and considers them ‘intimately related to the Kalapooiah Family.’ Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 225. The Willamette tribes ‘differ very little in their habits and modes of life, from those on the Columbia River.’ Hunter’s Cap., p. 72. Mofras makes Killimous a general name for all Indians south of the Columbia. Explor., tom. ii., p. 357; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 114-18; Cox’s Adven., vol. ii., p. 133. The Nechecolees on the Willamette claimed an affinity with the Eloots at the Narrows of the Columbia. The Killamucks ‘resemble in almost every particular the Clatsops and Chinnooks. Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 427, 504. ‘Of the Coast Indians that I have seen there seems to be so little difference in their style of living that a description of one family will answer for the whole.’ Swan’s N. W. Coast, pp. 153-4. ‘All the natives inhabiting the southern shore of the Straits, and the deeply indented territory as far and including the tide-waters of the Columbia, may be comprehended under the general term of Chinooks.’ Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 25. and the ocean.

With respect to the present condition of these nations, authorities agree in speaking of them as a squalid and poverty-stricken race, once numerous and powerful, now few and weak. Their country has been settled by whites much more thickly than regions farther north, and they have rapidly disappeared before the influx of strangers. Whole tribes have been exterminated by war and disease, and in the few miserable remnants collected on reservations or straggling about the Oregon towns, no trace is apparent of the independent, easy-living bands of the remote past.[340]‘The race of the Chenooks is nearly run. From a large and powerful tribe … they have dwindled down to about a hundred individuals, … and these are a depraved, licentious, drunken set.’ Swan’s N. W. Coast, pp. 108-10. The Willopahs ‘may be considered as extinct, a few women only remaining.’ Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 428; Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 351; Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 239-40; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 354; vol. ii., p. 217; De Smet, Missions de l’Orégon, pp. 163-4; Kane’s Wand., pp. 173-6, 196-7; Irving’s Astoria, pp. 335-6; Fitzgerald’s Hud. B. Co., pp. 170-2; Hines’ Oregon, pp. 103-19, 236; Thornton’s Ogn. and Cal., vol. ii., pp. 52-3; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 36; Palmer’s Jour., pp. 84, 87; Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 191-2. ‘In the Wallamette valley, their favorite country, … there are but few remnants left, and they are dispirited and broken-hearted.’ Robertson’s Oregon, p. 130. It is however to be noted that at no time since this region has been known to Europeans has the Indian population been at all in proportion to the supporting capacity of the land, while yet in a state of nature, with its fertile soil and well-stocked streams and forests.

Chinook Physique

In physique the Chinook can not be said to differ materially from the Nootka. In stature the men rarely exceed five feet six inches, and the women five feet. Both sexes are thick-set, but as a rule loosely built, although in this respect they had doubtless degenerated when described by most travelers. Their legs are bowed and otherwise deformed by a constant squatting position in and out of their canoes. Trained by constant exposure with slight clothing, they endure cold and hunger better than the white man, but to continued muscular exertion they soon succumb. Physically they improve in proportion to their distance from the Columbia and its fisheries; the Calapooyas on the upper Willamette, according to early visitors, presenting the finest specimens.[341]‘The personal appearance of the Chinooks differs so much from that of the aboriginal tribes of the United States, that it was difficult at first to recognize the affinity.’ Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 27. ‘There are no two nations in Europe so dissimilar as the tribes to the north and those to the south of the Columbia.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 88; vol. ii., p. 36. ‘Thick set limbs,’ north; ‘slight,’ south. Id., vol. i., p. 88; vol. ii., p. 16. ‘Very inferior in muscular power.’ Id., vol. ii., pp. 15-16. ‘Among the ugliest of their race. They are below the middle size, with squat, clumsy forms.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., pp. 198, 216. The men from five feet to five feet six inches high, with well-shaped limbs; the women six to eight inches shorter, with bandy legs, thick ankles, broad, flat feet, loose hanging breasts. Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 303-4. ‘A diminutive race, generally below five feet five inches, with crooked legs and thick ankles.’ ‘Broad, flat feet.’ Irving’s Astoria, pp. 87, 336. ‘But not deficient in strength or activity.’ Nicolay’s Oregon, p. 145. Men ‘stout, muscular and strong, but not tall;’ women ‘of the middle size, but very stout and flabby, with short necks and shapeless limbs.’ Ross’ Adven., pp. 89-93. At Cape Orford none exceed five feet six inches; ‘tolerably well limbed, though slender in their persons.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., p. 204. The Willamette tribes were somewhat larger and better shaped than those of the Columbia and the coast. Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 425, 436-7, 504, 508. Hunter’s Cap., pp. 70-73; Hines’ Voy., pp. 88, 91. ‘Persons of the men generally are rather symmetrical; their stature is low, with light sinewy limbs, and remarkably small, delicate hands. The women are usually more rotund, and, in some instances, even approach obesity.’ Townsend’s Nar., p. 178. ‘Many not even five feet.’ Franchère’s Nar., pp. 240-1. Can endure cold, but not fatigue; sharp sight and hearing, but obtuse smell and taste. ‘The women are uncouth, and from a combination of causes appear old at an early age. Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 244-5. ‘The Indians north of the Columbia are, for the most part good-looking, robust men, some of them having fine, symmetrical, forms. They have been represented as diminutive, with crooked legs and uncouth features. This is not correct; but, as a general rule, the direct reverse is the truth.’ Swan’s N. W. Coast, p. 154; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 122-3. Descending from the north along the coast, Hyperboreans, Columbians, and Californians gradually assume a more dusky hue as we proceed southward. The complexion of the Chinooks may be called a trifle darker than the natives of the Sound, and of Vancouver; though nothing is more difficult than from the vague expressions of travelers to determine shades of color.[342]The following terms applied to Chinook complexion are taken from the authors quoted in the preceding note: ‘Copper-colored brown;’ ‘light copper color;’ ‘light olive;’ ‘fair complexion.’ ‘Not dark’ when young. ‘Rough tanned skins.’ ‘Dingy copper.’ ‘Fairer’ than eastern Indians. Fairer on the coast than on the Columbia. Half-breeds partake of the swarthy hue of their mothers. Points of resemblance have been noted by many observers between the Chinook and Mongolian physiognomy, consisting chiefly in the eyes turned obliquely upward at the outer corner. The face is broad and round, the nose flat and fat, with large nostrils, the mouth wide and thick-lipped, teeth irregular and much worn, eyes black, dull and expressionless; the hair generally black and worn long, and the beard carefully plucked out; nevertheless, their features are often regular.[343]‘The Cheenook cranium, even when not flattened, is long and narrow, compressed laterally, keel-shaped, like the skull of the Esquimaux.’ Broad and high cheek-bones, with a receding forehead.’ Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 220. ‘Skulls … totally devoid of any peculiar development.’ Nose flat, nostrils distended, short irregular teeth; eyes black, piercing and treacherous. Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 115, 303. ‘Broad faces, low foreheads, lank black hair, wide mouths.’ ‘Flat noses, and eyes turned obliquely upward at the outer corner.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., pp. 198, 216. ‘Faces are round, with small, but animated eyes. Their noses are broad and flat at the top, and fleshy at the end, with large nostrils.’ Irving’s Astoria, p. 336. Portraits of two Calapooya Indians. Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 14. South of the Columbia they have ‘long faces, thin lips,’ but the Calapooyas in Willamette Valley have ‘broad faces, low foreheads,’ and the Chinooks have ‘a wide face, flat nose, and eyes turned obliquely outwards.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 88; vol. ii., pp. 15-16. ‘Dull phlegmatic want of expression’ common to all adults. Nicolay’s Ogn. Ter., p. 145. Women ‘well-featured,’ with ‘light hair, and prominent eyes.’ Ross’ Adven., pp. 89-93. ‘Their features rather partook of the general European character.’ Hair long and black, clean and neatly combed. Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., p. 204. ‘Women have, in general, handsome faces.’ ‘There are rare instances of high aquiline noses; the eyes are generally black,’ but sometimes ‘of a dark yellowish brown, with a black pupil.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 425, 436-7. The men carefully eradicate every vestige of a beard. Dunn’s Oregon, p. 124. ‘The features of many are regular, though often devoid of expression.’ Townsend’s Nar., p. 178. ‘Pluck out the beard at its first appearance.’ Kane’s Wand., p. 181. Portrait of chief, p. 174. ‘A few of the old men only suffer a tuft to grow upon their chins.’ Franchère’s Nar., p. 240. One of the Clatsops ‘had the reddest hair I ever saw, and a fair skin, much freckled.’ Gass’ Jour., p. 244; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 75. For descriptions and plates of Chinook skulls see Morton’s Crania, pp. 202-13; pl. 42-7, 49, 50, and Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. ii., pp. 318-34.

HEAD-FLATTENING PHENOMENON.

It is about the mouth of the Columbia that the custom of flattening the head seems to have originated. Radiating from this centre in all directions, and becoming less universal and important as the distance is increased, the usage terminates on the south with the nations which I have attached to the Chinook family, is rarely found east of the Cascade Range, but extends, as we have seen, northward through all the coast families, although it is far from being held in the same esteem in the far north as in its apparently original centre. The origin of this deformity is unknown. All we can do is to refer it to that strange infatuation incident to humanity which lies at the root of fashion and ornamentation, and which even in these later times civilization is not able to eradicate. As Alphonso the Wise regretted not having been present at the creation—for then he would have had the world to suit him—so different ages and nations strive in various ways to remodel and improve the human form. Thus the Chinese lady compresses the feet, the European the waist, and the Chinook the head. Slaves are not allowed to indulge in this extravagance, and as this class are generally of foreign tribes or families, the work of ethnologists in classifying skulls obtained by travelers, and thereby founding theories of race is somewhat complicated; but the difficulty is lessened by the fact that slaves receive no regular burial, and hence all skulls belonging to bodies from native cemeteries are known to be Chinook.[344]‘Practiced by at least ten or twelve distinct tribes of the lower country.’ Townsend’s Nar., pp. 175-6. ‘On the coast it is limited to a space of about one hundred and seventy miles, extending between Cape Flattery and Cape Look-out. Inland, it extends up the Columbia to the first rapids, or one hundred and forty miles, and is checked at the falls on the Wallamette.’ Belcher’s Voy., vol. i., p. 307. The custom ‘prevails among all the nations we have seen west of the Rocky Mountains,’ but ‘diminishes in receding eastward.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 437. ‘The Indians at the Dalles do not distort the head.’ Kane’s Wand., pp. 263, 180-2. ‘The Chinooks are the most distinguished for their attachment to this singular usage.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 198. The tribes from the Columbia River to Millbank Sound flatten the forehead, also the Yakimas and Klikitats of the interior. Tolmie, in Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 231-2, 249. ‘The practice prevails, generally, from the mouth of the Columbia to the Dalles, about one hundred and eighty miles, and from the Straits of Fuca on the north, to Coos Bay…. Northward of the Straits it diminishes gradually to a mere slight compression, finally confined to women, and abandoned entirely north of Milbank Sound. So east of the Cascade Mountains, it dies out in like manner.’ Gibbs, in Nott and Gliddon’s Indig. Races, p. 337. ‘None but such as are of noble birth are allowed to flatten their skulls.’ Gray’s Hist. Ogn., p. 197. The Chinook ideal of facial beauty is a straight line from the end of the nose to the crown of the head. The flattening of the skull is effected by binding the infant to its cradle immediately after birth, and keeping it there from three months to a year. The simplest form of cradle is a piece of board or plank on which the child is laid upon its back with the head slightly raised by a block of wood. Another piece of wood, or bark, or leather, is then placed over the forehead and tied to the plank with strings which are tightened more and more each day until the skull is shaped to the required pattern. Space is left for lateral expansion; and under ordinary circumstances the child’s head is not allowed to leave its position until the process is complete. The body and limbs are also bound to the cradle, but more loosely, by bandages, which are sometimes removed for cleansing purposes. Moss or soft bark is generally introduced between the skin and the wood, and in some tribes comfortable pads, cushions, or rabbit-skins are employed. The piece of wood which rests upon the forehead is in some cases attached to the cradle by leather hinges, and instances are mentioned where the pressure is created by a spring. A trough or canoe-shaped cradle, dug out from a log, often takes the place of the simple board, and among the rich this is elaborately worked, and ornamented with figures and shells. The child while undergoing this process, with its small black eyes jammed half out of their sockets, presents a revolting picture. Strangely enough, however, the little prisoner seems to feel scarcely any pain, and travelers almost universally state that no perceptible injury is done to the health or brain. As years advance the head partially but not altogether resumes its natural form, and among aged persons the effects are not very noticeable. As elsewhere, the personal appearance of the women is of more importance than that of the men, therefore the female child is subjected more rigorously and longer to the compressing process, than her brothers. Failure properly to mould the cranium of her offspring gives to the Chinook matron the reputation of a lazy and undutiful mother, and subjects the neglected children to the ridicule of their young companions;[345]All authors who mention the Chinooks have something to say of this custom; the following give some description of the process and its effects, containing, however, no points not included in that given above. Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 122-3, 128-30; Ross’ Adven., pp. 99-100; Swan’s N. W. Coast, pp. 167-8, with cut; Chamber’s Jour., vol. x., pp. 111-2; Belcher’s Voy., vol. i., pp. 307-11, with cuts; Townsend’s Nar., pp. 175-6; Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 216; Nicolay’s Ogn. Ter., p. 150; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 294; Irving’s Astoria, p. 89; Cox’s Adven., vol. i., p. 302; Catlin’s N. Am. Ind., vol. ii., pp. 110-11, with plate. Females remain longer than the boys. Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 476, 437. ‘Not so great a deformity as is generally supposed.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 142-3, 251-2. ‘Looking with contempt even upon the white for having round heads.’ Kane’s Wand., p. 181, 204, cut. ‘As a general thing the tribes that have followed the practice of flattening the skull are inferior in intellect, less stirring and enterprising in their habits, and far more degraded in their morals than other tribes.’ Gray’s Hist. Ogn., p. 197. Mr. Gray is the only authority I have seen for this injurious effect, except Domenech, who pronounces the flat-heads more subject to apoplexy than others. Deserts, vol. ii., p. 87; Gass’ Jour., pp. 224-5; Brownell’s Ind. Races, pp. 335-7; Morton’s Crania Am., pp. 203-13, cut of cradle and of skulls; Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., pp. 349-50, Atlas, pl. 26; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 294-5, 328, with cut; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 124; Wilson, in Smithsonian Rept., 1862, p. 287. so despotic is fashion. A practice which renders the Chinook more hideous than the compression of his skull is that of piercing or slitting the cartilage of the nose and ears, and inserting therein long strings of beads or hiaqua shells, the latter being prized above all other ornaments. Tattooing seems to have been practiced, but not extensively, taking usually the form of lines of dots pricked into the arms, legs, and cheeks with pulverized charcoal. Imitation tattooing, with the bright-colored juices of different berries, was a favorite pastime with the women, and neither sex could resist the charms of salmon-grease and red clay. In later times, however, according to Swan, the custom of greasing and daubing the body has been to a great extent abandoned. Great pains is taken in dressing the hair, which is combed, parted in the middle, and usually allowed to hang in long tresses down the back, but often tied up in a queue by the women and girls, or braided so as to hang in two tails tied with strings.[346]The Multnomah women’s hair ‘is most commonly braided into two tresses falling over each ear in front of the body.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 508-9, 416, 425-6, 437-8. The Clackamas ‘tattoo themselves below the mouth, which gives a light blue appearance to the countenance.’ Kane’s Wand., pp. 241, 184-5, 256. At Cape Orford ‘they seemed to prefer the comforts of cleanliness to the painting of their bodies.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., p. 204. On the Columbia ‘in the decoration of their persons they surpassed all the other tribes with paints of different colours, feathers and other ornaments.’ Id., vol. ii., p. 77. ‘Ils mettent toute leur vanité dans leurs colliers et leurs pendants d’oreilles.’ De Smet, Miss. de l’Orégon, p. 45. ‘Some of these girls I have seen with the whole rim of their ears bored full of holes, into each of which would be inserted a string of these shells that reached to the floor, and the whole weighing so heavy that to save their ears from being pulled off they were obliged to wear a band across the top of the head.’ ‘I never have seen either men or women put oil or grease of any kind on their bodies.’ Swan’s N. W. Coast, pp. 112, 158-9. See Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 115, 123-4; Cox’s Adven., pp. 111-12; Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 25; Irving’s Astoria, pp. 336-8; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 354; Franchère’s Nar., p. 244.

Chinook Dress

For dress, skins were much more commonly used in this region than among other coast families; particularly the skins of the smaller animals, as the rabbit and woodrat. These skins, dressed and often painted, were sewed together so as to form a robe or blanket similar in form and use to the more northern blanket of wool, which, as well as a similar garment of goose-skin with the feathers on, was also made and worn by the Chinooks, though not in common use among them. They prefer to go naked when the weather permits. Skins of larger animals, as the deer and elk, are also used for clothing, and of the latter is made a kind of arrow-proof armor for war; another coat of mail being made of sticks bound together. Females almost universally wear a skirt of cedar bark-fibre, fastened about the waist and hanging to the knees. This garment is woven for a few inches at the top, but the rest is simply a hanging fringe, not very effectually concealing the person. A substitute for this petticoat in some tribes is a square piece of leather attached to a belt in front; and in others a long strip of deer-skin passed between the thighs and wound about the waist. A fringed garment, like that described, is also sometimes worn about the shoulders; in cold weather a fur robe is wrapped about the body from the hips to the armpits, forming a close and warm vest; and over all is sometimes thrown a cape, or fur blanket, like that of the men, varying in quality and value with the wealth of the wearer. The best are made of strips of sea-otter skin, woven with grass or cedar bark, so that the fur shows on both sides. Chiefs and men of wealth wear rich robes of otter and other valuable furs. The conical hat woven of grass and bark, and painted in black and white checks or with rude figures, with or without a brim, and fastened under the chin, is the only covering for the head.[347]‘These robes are in general, composed of the skins of a small animal, which we have supposed to be the brown mungo.’ ‘Sometimes they have a blanket woven with the fingers, from the wool of their native sheep.’ Every part of the body but the back and shoulders is exposed to view. The Nechecolies had ‘larger and longer robes, which are generally of deer skin dressed in the hair.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 392, 425-6, 438, 504-9, 522. ‘I have often seen them going about, half naked, when the thermometer ranged between 30° and 40°, and their children barefooted and barelegged in the snow.’ ‘The lower Indians do not dress as well, nor with as good taste, as the upper.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 244-5. The fringed skirt ‘is still used by old women, and by all the females when they are at work in the water, and is called by them their siwash coat.’ Swan’s N. W. Coast, pp. 154-5. Ross’ Adven., pp. 89-93; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 123-4; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., pp. 15-16, 281-2, 288; Townsend’s Nar., p. 178; Kane’s Wand., pp. 184-5; Franchère’s Nar., pp. 242-4. The conical cap reminded Pickering of the Siberian tribes. Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., pp. 25, 39; Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 111-12, 126-7; Hines’ Voy., p. 107. Collars of bears’ claws, for the men, and elks’ tusks for the women and children. Irving’s Astoria, pp. 336-8; Gass’ Jour., pp. 232, 239-40, 242-4, 267, 274, 278, 282.

Dwellings of the Chinooks

The Chinooks moved about less for the purpose of obtaining a supply of food, than many others, even of the coast families, yet the accumulation of filth or—a much stronger motive—of fleas, generally forced them to take down their winter dwellings each spring, preserving the materials for re-erection on the same or another spot. The best houses were built of cedar planks attached by bark-fibre cords to a frame, which consisted of four corner, and two central posts and a ridge pole. The planks of the sides and ends were sometimes perpendicular, but oftener laid horizontally, overlapping here in clapboard fashion as on the roof. In some localities the roof and even the whole structure was of cedar bark. These dwellings closely resembled those farther north, but were somewhat inferior in size, twenty-five to seventy-five feet long, and fifteen to twenty-five feet wide, being the ordinary dimensions. On the Columbia they were only four or five feet high at the eaves, but an equal depth was excavated in the ground, while on the Willamette the structure was built on the surface. The door was only just large enough to admit the body, and it was a favorite fancy of the natives to make it represent the mouth of an immense head painted round it. Windows there were none, nor chimney; one or more fireplaces were sunk in the floor, and the smoke escaped by the cracks, a plank in the roof being sometimes moved for the purpose. Mats were spread on the floor and raised berths were placed on the sides, sometimes in several tiers. Partitions of plank or matting separated the apartments of the several families. Smaller temporary huts, and the permanent homes of the poorer Indians were built in various forms, of sticks, covered with bark, rushes, or skins. The interior and exterior of all dwellings were in a state of chronic filth.[348]‘Their houses seemed to be more comfortable than those at Nootka, the roof having a greater inclination, and the planking being thatched over with the bark of trees. The entrance is through a hole, in a broad plank, covered in such a manner as to resemble the face of a man, the mouth serving the purpose of a door-way. The fire-place is sunk into the earth, and confined from spreading above by a wooden frame.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 77. Emmons, in Schoolcraft’s Archives, vol. iii., p. 206, speaks of a palisade enclosure ten or fifteen feet high, with a covered way to the river. ‘The Indian huts on the banks of the Columbia are, for the most part, constructed of the bark of trees, pine branches, and brambles, which are sometimes covered with skins or rags.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 260. But ‘the Chinooks build their houses of thick and broad planks,’ etc. Id. Lewis and Clarke saw a house in the Willamette Valley two hundred and twenty-six feet long, divided into two ranges of large apartments separated by a narrow alley four feet wide. Travels, pp. 502-4, 509, 431-2, 415-16, 409, 392. The door is a piece of board ‘which hangs loose by a string, like a sort of pendulum,’ and is self-closing. Swan’s N. W. Coast, pp. 110-11. ‘The tribes near the coast remove less frequently than those of the interior.’ California, Past, Present and Future, p. 136. ‘I never saw more than four fires, or above eighty persons—slaves and all—in the largest house.’ Ross’ Adven., pp. 98-9; Palmer’s Jour., pp. 86, 108; Irving’s Astoria, p. 322; Nicolay’s Ogn., pp. 144, 148-9; Cox’s Adven., vol. i., p. 327, from Lewis and Clarke; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 135-7, from Lewis and Clarke; Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 144-5, 178-9, 245; Franchère’s Nar., pp. 247-8; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 65; Townsend’s Nar., p. 181; Kane’s Wand., pp. 187-8; Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., pp. 204, 216-17; Strickland’s Hist. Missions, pp. 136-9.

Fisheries of the Chinooks

The salmon fisheries of the Columbia are now famous throughout the world. Once every year innumerable multitudes of these noble fish enter the river from the ocean to deposit their spawn. Impelled by instinct, they struggle to reach the extreme limits of the stream, working their way in blind desperation to the very sources of every little branch, overcoming seeming impossibilities, and only to fulfill their destiny and die; for if they escape human enemies, they either kill themselves in their mad efforts to leap impassable falls, or if their efforts are crowned with success, they are supposed never to return to the ocean. This fishery has always been the chief and an inexhaustible source of food for the Chinooks, who, although skillful fishermen, have not been obliged to invent a great variety of methods or implements for the capture of the salmon, which rarely if ever have failed them. Certain ceremonies must, however, be observed with the first fish taken; his meat must be cut only with the grain, and the hearts of all caught must be burned or eaten, and on no account be thrown into the water or be devoured by a dog. With these precautions there is no reason to suppose that the Chinook would ever lack a supply of fish. The salmon begin to run in April, but remain several weeks in the warmer waters near the mouth, and are there taken while in their best condition, by the Chinook tribe proper, with a straight net of bark or roots, sometimes five hundred feet long and fifteen feet deep, with floats and sinkers. One end of the net is carried out into the river at high water, and drawn in by the natives on the shore, who with a mallet quiet the fish and prevent them from jumping over the net and escaping. Farther up, especially at the Cascades and at the falls of the Willamette, salmon are speared by natives standing on the rocks or on planks placed for the purpose; scooped up in small dip-nets; or taken with a large unbaited hook attached by a socket and short line to a long pole. There is some account of artificial channels of rocks at these places, but such expedients were generally not needed, since, beside those caught by the Chinooks, such numbers were cast on the rocks by their own efforts to leap the falls, that the air for months was infected by the decaying mass; and many of these in a palatable state of decay were gathered by the natives for food. Hooks, spears, and nets were sometimes rubbed with the juice of certain plants supposed to be attractive to the fish. Once taken, the salmon were cleaned by the women, dried in the sun and smoked in the lodges; then they were sometimes powdered fine between two stones, before packing in skins or mats for winter use. The heads were always eaten as favorite portions during the fishing season. Next to the salmon the sturgeon was ranked as a source of food. This fish, weighing from two hundred to five hundred pounds, was taken by a baited hook, sunk about twenty feet, and allowed to float down the current; when hooked, the sturgeon rises suddenly and is dispatched by a spear, lifted into the canoe by a gaff-hook, or towed ashore. The Chinooks do not attack the whale, but when one is accidentally cast upon the shore, more or less decayed, a season of feasting ensues and the native heart is glad. Many smaller varieties of fish are taken by net, spear, hook, or rake, but no methods are employed meriting special description. Wild fowl are snared or shot; elk and deer are shot with arrows or taken in a carefully covered pit, dug in their favorite haunts. As to the methods of taking rabbits and woodrats, whose skins are said to have been so extensively used for clothing, I find no information. Nuts, berries, wild fruits and roots are all used as food, and to some extent preserved for winter. The Wapato, a bulbous root, compared by some to the potatoe and turnip, was the aboriginal staple, and was gathered by women wading in shallow ponds, and separating the root with their toes.[349]‘In the summer they resort to the principal rivers and the sea coast, … retiring to the smaller rivers of the interior during the cold season.’ Warre and Vavasour, in Martin’s Hud. Bay, p. 83. All small fish are driven into the small coves or shallow waters, ‘when a number of Indians in canoes continue splashing the water; while others sink branches of pine. The fish are then taken easily out with scoops or wicker baskets.’ Thornton’s Ogn. and Cal., vol. i., pp. 389, 288-9, 384-6, 390-1. Fish ‘are not eaten till they become soft from keeping, when they are mashed with water.’ In the Willamette Valley they raised corn, beans, and squashes. Hunter’s Cap., pp. 70-2. A ‘sturgeon, though weighing upwards of three hundred pounds, is, by the single effort of one Indian, jerked into the boat’! Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 135, 114-15, 134, 137-9. The Umpquas, to cook salmon, ‘all provided themselves with sticks about three feet long, pointed at one end and split at the other. They then apportioned the salmon, each one taking a large piece, and filling it with splinters to prevent its falling to pieces when cooking, which they fastened with great care, into the forked end of the stick; … then placing themselves around the fire so as to describe a circle, they stuck the pointed end of the stick into the ground, a short distance from the fire, inclining the top towards the flames, so as to bring the salmon in contact with the heat, thus forming a kind of pyramid of salmon over the whole fire.’ Hines’ Voy., p. 102; Id. Ogn., p. 305. ‘There are some articles of food which are mashed by the teeth before being boiled or roasted; this mastication is performed by the women.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., pp. 314, 316, 240-2. ‘The salmon in this country are never caught with a (baited) hook.’ Wilkes’ Hist. Ogn., p. 107. ‘Turbot and flounders are caught (at Shoalwater Bay) while wading in the water, by means of the feet.’ Swan’s N. W. Coast, pp. 38, 83, 103-8, 140, 163-6, with cuts. On food, see Ross’ Adven., vol. i., pp. 94-5, 97, 112-3; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., pp. 68-9, 181-3; Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 409-15, 422, 425, 430-1, 445, 506; Wells, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xiii., pp. 605-7, with cuts; Nicolay’s Ogn., pp. 144, 147-8; Palmer’s Jour., pp. 84, 105; Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 244; Irving’s Astoria, pp. 86, 335; Cox’s Adven., vol. i., p. 329-32; vol. ii., pp. 128-31;Catlin’s N. Am. Ind., vol. ii., p. 113; Abbott, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. vi., p. 89; Ind. Life, p. 165; Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 26; Kane’s Wand., pp. 185-9; Franchère’s Nar., pp. 235-7; Gass’ Jour., pp. 224, 230-1, 282-3; Fédix, L’Orégon, pp. 44-5; Stanley’s Portraits, pp. 59-62.Boiling in wooden kettles by means of hot stones, was the usual manner of cooking, but roasting on sticks stuck in the sand near the fire was also common. Clam-shells and a few rude platters and spoons of wood were in use, but the fingers, with the hair for a napkin, were found much more convenient table ware.[350]For description of the various roots and berries used by the Chinooks as food, see Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 450-5. In all their personal habits the Chinooks are disgustingly filthy, although said to be fond of baths for health and pleasure. The Clatsops, as reported by one visitor, form a partial exception to this rule, as they occasionally wash the hands and face.[351]The Multnomahs ‘are very fond of cold, hot, and vapour baths, which are used at all seasons, and for the purpose of health as well as pleasure. They, however, add a species of bath peculiar to themselves, by washing the whole body with urine every morning.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 509, 409. Eat insects from each other’s head, for the animals bite them, and they claim the right to bite back. Kane’s Wand., pp. 183-4.

Weapons of the Chinooks

Their chief weapons are bows and arrows, the former of which is made of cedar, or occasionally, as it is said, of horn and bone; its elasticity is increased by a covering of sinew glued on. The arrow-head is of bone, flint, or copper, and the shaft consists of a short piece of some hard wood, and a longer one of a lighter material. The bows are from two and a half to four feet long; five styles, differing in form and curve, are pictured by Schoolcraft. Another weapon in common use was a double-edged wooden broad-sword, or sharp club, two and a half or three feet long; spears, tomahawks, and scalping knives are mentioned by many travelers, but not described, and it is doubtful if either were ever used by these aborigines.[352]Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 323-4; vol. ii., p. 13; Irving’s Astoria, pp. 324, 338; Ross’ Adven., p. 90; Kane’s Wand., p. 189; Catlin’s N. Am. Ind., vol. ii., p. 113, pl. 210½; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 124-5; Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 429-31, 509; Hines’ Ogn., p. 110; Franchère’s Nar., p. 253; Emmons, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., pp. 206-7, 215-16, 468. I have already spoken of their thick arrow-proof elk-skin armor, and of a coat of short sticks bound together with grass; a bark helmet is also employed of sufficient strength to ward off arrows and light blows. Ross states that they also carry a circular elk-skin shield about eighteen inches in diameter. Although by no means a blood-thirsty race, the Chinook tribes were frequently involved in quarrels, resulting, it is said, from the abduction of women more frequently than from other causes. They, like almost all other American tribes, make a free use of war paint, laying it on grotesquely and in bright colors; but unlike most other nations, they never resorted to treachery, surprise, night attacks, or massacre of women and children. Fighting was generally done upon the water. When efforts to settle amicably their differences, always the first expedient, failed, a party of warriors, covered from head to foot with armor, and armed with bows, arrows, and bludgeons, was paddled by women to the enemies’ village, where diplomatic efforts for peace were renewed. If still unsuccessful, the women were removed from danger, and the battle commenced, or, if the hour was late, fighting was postponed till the next morning. As their armor was arrow-proof and as they rarely came near enough for hand-to-hand conflict, the battles were of short duration and accompanied by little bloodshed; the fall of a few warriors decided the victory, the victors gained their point in the original dispute, the vanquished paid some damages, and the affair ended.[353]‘When the conflict is postponed till the next day, … they keep up frightful cries all night long, and, when they are sufficiently near to understand each other, defy one another by menaces, railleries, and sarcasms, like the heroes of Homer and Virgil.’ Franchère’s Nar., pp. 251-4; Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 322-3; Dunn’s Oregon, p. 124; Irving’s Astoria, pp. 340-1; Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., pp. 88, 105-8; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 354; Stanley’s Portraits, pp. 61-2; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 232.

Implements, Manufactures, Boats

Troughs dug out of one piece of cedar, and woven baskets served this people for dishes, and were used for every purpose. The best baskets were of silk grass or fine fibre, of a conical form, woven in colors so closely as to hold liquids, and with a capacity of from one to six gallons. Coarser baskets were made of roots and rushes, rude spoons of ash-wood, and circular mats did duty as plates. Wapato diggers used a curved stick with handle of horn; fish-hooks and spears were made of wood and bone in a variety of forms; the wing-bone of the crane supplied a needle. With regard to their original cutting instruments, by which trees were felled for canoes or for planks which were split off by wedges, there is much uncertainty; since nearly all authorities state that before their intercourse with Europeans, chisels made of ‘old files,’ were employed, and driven by an oblong stone or a spruce-knot mallet. Pipe-bowls were of hard wood fitted to an elder stem, but the best ones, of stone elegantly carved, were of Haidah manufacture and obtained from the north.[354]Pickering makes ‘the substitution of the water-proof basket, for the square wooden bucket of the straits’ the chief difference between this and the Sound Family. Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 25; Emmons, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 206; Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 77; Ross’ Adven., p. 92; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., pp. 241, 260; Franchère’s Nar., pp. 248-9; Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 432-5; Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 329-32; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 138-9; Catlin’s N. Am. Ind., vol. ii., p. 113, pl. 210½, showing cradle, ladles, Wapato diggers, Pautomaugons, or war clubs and pipes. Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 248-9; Kane’s Wand., pp. 184-5, 188-9. To kindle a fire the Chinook twirls rapidly between the palms a cedar stick, the point of which is pressed into a small hollow in a flat piece of the same material, the sparks falling on finely-frayed bark. Sticks are commonly carried for the purpose, improving with use. Besides woven baskets, matting is the chief article of Chinook manufacture. It is made by the women by placing side by side common bulrushes or flags about three feet long, tying the ends, and passing strings of twisted rushes through the whole length, sometimes twenty or thirty feet, about four inches apart, by means of a bone needle.[355]Swan’s N. W. Coast, pp. 161-3; Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 253.

Chinook boats do not differ essentially, either in material, form, or method of manufacture, from those already described as in use among the Sound family. Always dug out of a single log of the common white cedar, they vary in length from ten to fifty feet, and in form according to the waters they are intended to navigate or the freight they are to carry. In these canoes lightness, strength, and elegance combine to make them perfect models of water-craft. Lewis and Clarke describe four forms in use in this region, and their description of boats, as of most other matters connected with this people, has been taken with or without credit by nearly all who have treated of the subject. I cannot do better than to give their account of the largest and best boats used by the Killamooks and other tribes on the coast outside the river. “The sides are secured by cross-bars, or round sticks, two or three inches in thickness, which are inserted through holes just below the gunwale, and made fast with cords. The upper edge of the gunwale itself is about five-eighths of an inch thick, and four or five in breadth, and folds outwards, so as to form a kind of rim, which prevents the water from beating into the boat. The bow and stern are about the same height, and each provided with a comb, reaching to the bottom of the boat. At each end, also, are pedestals, formed of the same solid piece, on which are placed strange grotesque figures of men or animals, rising sometimes to the height of five feet, and composed of small pieces of wood, firmly united, with great ingenuity, by inlaying and mortising, without a spike of any kind. The paddle is usually from four feet and a half to five feet in length; the handle being thick for one-third of its length, when it widens, and is hollowed and thinned on each side of the centre, which forms a sort of rib. When they embark, one Indian sits in the stern, and steers with a paddle, the others kneel in pairs in the bottom of the canoe, and sitting on their heels, paddle over the gunwale next to them. In this way they ride with perfect safety the highest waves, and venture without the least concern in seas where other boats or seamen could not live an instant.” The women are as expert as the men in the management of canoes.[356]Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 433-5. ‘Hollowed out of the cedar by fire, and smoothed off with stone axes.’ Kane’s Wand., p. 189. At Cape Orford ‘their shape much resembled that of a butcher’s tray.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., p. 204. ‘A human face or a white-headed eagle, as large as life, carved on the prow, and raised high in front.’ Ross’ Adven., pp. 97-8. ‘In landing they put the canoe round, so as to strike the beach stern on.’ Franchère’s Nar., p. 246. ‘The larger canoes on the Columbia are sometimes propelled by short oars.’ Emmons, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 218. ‘Finest canoes in the world.’ Wilkes’ Hist. Ogn., p. 107; Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 252; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 121-2; Swan’s N. W. Coast, pp. 79-82, with cuts; Irving’s Astoria, pp. 86, 324; Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 325-7; Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 217; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., pp. 276-7; Brownell’s Ind. Races, pp. 535-7; Gass’ Jour., p. 279.

Chinook Property and Trade

The Chinooks were always a commercial rather than a warlike people, and are excelled by none in their shrewdness at bargaining. Before the arrival of the Europeans they repaired annually to the region of the Cascades and Dalles, where they met the tribes of the interior, with whom they exchanged their few articles of trade—fish, oil, shells, and Wapato—for the skins, roots, and grasses of their eastern neighbors. The coming of ships to the coast gave the Chinooks the advantage in this trade, since they controlled the traffic in beads, trinkets and weapons; they found also in the strangers ready buyers of the skins obtained from the interior in exchange for these articles. Their original currency or standard of value was the hiaqua shell from the northern coast, whose value was in proportion to its length, a fathom string of forty shells being worth nearly double a string of fifty to the fathom. Since the white men came, beaver-skins and blankets have been added to their currency. Individuals were protected in their rights to personal property, such as slaves, canoes, and implements, but they had no idea of personal property in lands, the title to which rested in the tribe for purposes of fishing and the chase.[357]Dried and pounded salmon, prepared by a method not understood except at the falls, formed a prominent article of commerce, both with coast and interior nations. Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 444-7, 413. A fathom of the largest hiaqua shells is worth about ten beaver-skins. A dying man gave his property to his intimate friends ‘with a promise on their part to restore them if he recovered.’ Franchère’s Nar., pp. 244-5, 137; Ross’ Adven., pp. 87-8, 95-6; Swan’s N. W. Coast, p. 166; Irving’s Astoria, p. 322; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 133-4; Cox’s Adven., vol. i., p. 333; Thornton’s Ogn. and Cal., vol. i., p. 392; Kane’s Wand., p. 185; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 250; Gass’ Jour., p. 227; Morton’s Crania Am., pp. 202-14; Fédix, l’Orégon, pp. 44-5.

In decorative art this family cannot be said to hold a high place compared with more northern nations, their only superior work being the modeling of their canoes, and the weaving of ornamental baskets. In carving they are far inferior to the Haidahs; the Cathlamets, according to Lewis and Clarke, being somewhat superior to the others, or at least more fond of the art. Their attempts at painting are exceedingly rude.[358]Have no idea of drawing maps on the sand. ‘Their powers of computation … are very limited.’ Emmons, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., pp. 205, 207; Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 493; Ross’ Adven., pp. 88-9, 98; Kane’s Wand., p. 185.

Little can be said of their system of government except that it was eminently successful in producing peaceful and well regulated communities. Each band or village was usually a sovereignty, nominally ruled by a chief, either hereditary or selected for his wealth and popularity, who exerted over his tribe influence rather than authority, but who was rarely opposed in his measures. Sometimes a league existed, more or less permanent, for warlike expeditions. Slight offenses against usage—the tribal common law—were expiated by the payment of an amount of property satisfactory to the party offended. Theft was an offense, but the return of the article stolen removed every trace of dishonor. Serious crimes, as the robbery of a burial-place, were sometimes punished with death by the people, but no special authorities or processes seem to have been employed, either for detection or punishment.[359]The Willamette tribes, nine in number, were under four principal chiefs. Ross’ Adven., pp. 235-6, 88, 216. Casanov, a famous chief at Fort Vancouver employed a hired assassin to remove obnoxious persons. Kane’s Wand., pp. 173-6; Franchère’s Nar., p. 250; Irving’s Astoria, pp. 88, 340; Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 322-3; Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 253; Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 443.

Slavery, common to all the coast families, is also practiced by the Chinooks, but there is less difference here perhaps than elsewhere between the condition of the slaves and the free. Obtained from without the limits of the family, towards the south or east, by war, or more commonly by trade, the slaves are obliged to perform all the drudgery for their masters, and their children must remain in their parents’ condition, their round heads serving as a distinguishing mark from freemen. But the amount of the work connected with the Chinook household is never great, and so long as the slaves are well and strong, they are liberally fed and well treated. True, many instances are known of slaves murdered by the whim of a cruel and rich master, and it was not very uncommon to kill slaves on the occasion of the death of prominent persons, but wives and friends are also known to have been sacrificed on similar occasions. No burial rights are accorded to slaves, and no care taken of them in serious illness; when unable to work they are left to die, and their bodies cast into the sea or forest as food for fish or beast. It was not a rare occurrence for a freeman to voluntarily subject himself to servitude in payment of a gambling-debt; nor for a slave to be adopted into the tribe, and the privilege of head-flattening accorded to his offspring.[360]‘Live in the same dwelling with their masters, and often intermarry with those who are free.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 197, 247. ‘Treat them with humanity while their services are useful.’ Franchère’s Nar., p. 241. Treated with great severity. Kane’s Wand., pp. 181-2; Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 447; Ross’ Adven., pp. 92-3; Irving’s Astoria, p. 88; Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 305-6; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 129-30; Fitzgerald’s Hud. B. Co., pp. 196-7; Stanley’s Portraits, pp. 61-2.

Marital Relations of the Chinooks

Not only were the Chinooks a peaceable people in their tribal intercourse, but eminently so in their family relations. The young men when they married brought their wives to their father’s home, and thus several generations lived amicably in their large dwellings until forced to separate by numbers, the chief authority being exercised not by the oldest but by the most active and useful member of the household. Overtures for marriage were made by friends of the would-be bridegroom, who offered a certain price, and if accepted by the maiden’s parents, the wedding ceremony was celebrated simply by an interchange and exhibition of presents with the congratulations of invited guests. A man might take as many wives as he could buy and support, and all lived together without jealousy; but practically few, and those among the rich and powerful, indulged in the luxury of more than one wife. It has been noticed that there was often great disparity in the ages of bride and groom, for, say the Chinooks, a very young or very aged couple lack either the experience or the activity necessary for fighting the battles of life. Divorce or separation is easily accomplished, but is not of frequent occurrence. A husband can repudiate his wife for infidelity, or any cause of dissatisfaction, and she can marry again. Some cases are known of infidelity punished with death. Barrenness is common, the birth of twins rare, and families do not usually exceed two children. Childbirth, as elsewhere among aboriginals, is accompanied with but little inconvenience, and children are often nursed until three or five years old. They are carried about on the mother’s back until able to walk; at first in the head-flattening cradle, and later in wicker baskets. Unmarried women have not the slightest idea of chastity, and freely bestow their favors in return for a kindness, or for a very small consideration in property paid to themselves or parents. When married, all this is changed—female virtue acquires a marketable value, the possessorship being lodged in the man and not in the woman. Rarely are wives unfaithful to their husbands; but the chastity of the wife is the recognized property of the husband, who sells it whenever he pleases. Although attaching no honor to chastity, the Chinook woman feels something like shame at becoming the mother of an illegitimate child, and it is supposed to be partly from this instinct, that infanticide and abortion are of frequent occurrence. At her first menstruation a girl must perform a certain penance, much less severe, however, than among the northern nations. In some tribes she must bathe frequently for a moon, and rub the body with rotten hemlock, carefully abstaining from all fish and berries which are in season, and remaining closely in the house during a south wind. Did she partake of the forbidden food, the fish would leave the streams and the berries drop from the bushes; or did she go out in a south wind, the thunder-bird would come and shake his wings. All thunder-storms are thus caused. Both young children and the old and infirm are kindly treated. Work is equally divided between the sexes; the women prepare the food which the men provide; they also manufacture baskets and matting; they are nearly as skillful as the men with the canoe, and are consulted on all important matters. Their condition is by no means a hard one. It is among tribes that live by the chase or by other means in which women can be of little service, that we find the sex most oppressed and cruelly treated.[361]Swan’s N. W. Coast, pp. 161, 171; Emmons, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., pp. 211-2. ‘In proportion as we approach the rapids from the sea, female impurity becomes less perceptible; beyond this point it entirely ceases.’ Cox’s Adven., vol. ii., pp. 134, 159; vol. i., pp. 366-7, 318; Wells, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xiii., p. 602; Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 439-43. Ceremonies of a widow in her endeavors to obtain a new husband. Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 124; Ross’ Adven., pp. 88, 92-3; Franchère’s Nar., pp. 245, 254-5; Hunter’s Cap., p. 70; Hines’ Voy., p. 113; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., pp. 16, 294-5; Irving’s Astoria, p. 340; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 132-3; Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 231-2; Kane’s Wand., pp. 175-7, 182; Gass’ Jour., p. 275; Strickland’s Hist. Missions, pp. 139-40.

Chinook Feasts and Festivities

Like all Indians, the Chinooks are fond of feasting, but their feasts are simply the coming together of men and women during the fishing season with the determination to eat as much as possible, and this meeting is devoid of those complicated ceremonies of invitation, reception, and social etiquette, observed farther north; nor has any traveler noticed the distribution of property as a feature of these festivals. Fantastically dressed and gaudily decked with paint, they are wont to jump about on certain occasions in a hopping, jolting kind of dance, accompanied by songs, beating of sticks, clapping of hands, and occasional yells, the women usually dancing in a separate set. As few visitors mention their dances, it is probable that dancing was less prevalent than with others. Their songs were often soft and pleasing, differing in style for various occasions, the words extemporized, the tunes being often sung with meaningless sounds, like our tra-la-la. Swan gives examples of the music used under different circumstances. Smoking was universal, the leaves of the bear-berry being employed, mixed in later times with tobacco obtained from the whites. Smoke is swallowed and retained in the stomach and lungs until partial intoxication ensues. No intoxicating drink was known to them before the whites came, and after their coming for a little time they looked on strong drink with suspicion, and were averse to its use. They are sometimes sober even now, when no whisky is at hand. But the favorite amusement of all the Chinook nations is gambling, which occupies the larger part of their time when not engaged in sleeping, eating, or absolutely necessary work. In their games they risk all their property, their wives and children, and in many instances their own freedom, losing all with composure, and nearly always accompanying the game with a song. Two persons, or two parties large or small, play one against the other; a banking game is also in vogue, in which one individual plays against all comers. A favorite method is to pass rapidly from hand to hand two small sticks, one of which is marked, the opponent meanwhile guessing at the hand containing the marked stick. The sticks sometimes take the form of discs of the size of a silver dollar, each player having ten; these are wrapped in a mass of fine bark-fibre, shuffled and separated in two portions; the winner naming the bunch containing the marked or trump piece. Differently marked sticks may also be shuffled or tossed in the air, and the lucky player correctly names the relative position in which they shall fall. A favorite game of females, called ahikia, is played with beaver-teeth, having figured sides, which are thrown like dice; the issue depends on the combinations of figures which are turned up. In all these games the players squat upon mats; sticks are used as counters; and an essential point for a successful gambler is to make as much noise as possible, in order to confuse the judgment of opponents. In still another game the players attempt to roll small pieces of wood between two pins set up a few inches apart, at a distance of ten feet, into a hole in the floor just beyond. The only sports of an athletic nature are shooting at targets with arrows and spears, and a game of ball in which two goals are placed a mile apart, and each party—sometimes a whole tribe—endeavors to force the ball past the other’s goal, as in foot-ball, except that the ball is thrown with a stick, to one end of which is fixed a small hoop or ring.[362]‘I saw neither musical instruments, nor dancing, among the Oregon tribes.’ Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 43. ‘All extravagantly fond of ardent spirits, and are not particular what kind they have, provided it is strong, and gets them drunk quickly.’ Swan’s N. W. Coast, pp. 155-8, 197-202. ‘Not addicted to intemperance.’ Franchère’s Nar., p. 242. At gambling ‘they will cheat if they can, and pride themselves on their success.’ Kane’s Wand., pp. 190, 196. Seldom cheat, and submit to their losses with resignation. Cox’s Adven., vol. i., p. 332; Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 410, 443-4; Wells, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xiii., p. 601, and cut of dance at Coos Bay; Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 392-3; vol. v., p. 123; Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 77; Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., pp. 90-4, 112-13; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 114-15, 121, 125-8, 130-1; Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 247-8; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 242; Irving’s Astoria, p. 341; Palmer’s Jour., p. 86. Children’s sports are described only by Swan, and as rag babies and imitated Catholic baptisms were the favorite pastimes mentioned, they may be supposed not altogether aboriginal.

Customs and Superstitions

Personal names with the Chinooks are hereditary, but in many cases they either have no meaning or their original signification is soon forgotten. They are averse to telling their true name to strangers, for fear, as they sometimes say, that it may be stolen; the truth is, however, that with them the name assumes a personality; it is the shadow or spirit, or other self, of the flesh and blood person, and between the name and the individual there is a mysterious connection, and injury cannot be done to one without affecting the other; therefore, to give one’s name to a friend is a high mark of Chinook favor. No account is kept of age. They are believers in sorcery and secret influences, and not without fear of their medicine-men or conjurers, but, except perhaps in their quality of physicians, the latter do not exert the influence which is theirs farther north; their ceremonies and tricks are consequently fewer and less ridiculous. Inventions of the whites not understood by the natives are looked on with great superstition. It was, for instance, very difficult at first to persuade them to risk their lives before a photographic apparatus, and this for the reason before mentioned; they fancied that their spirit thus passed into the keeping of others, who could torment it at pleasure.[363]Tolmie, in Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 248; Gass’ Jour., pp. 232, 275; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 123-8; Kane’s Wand., pp. 205, 255-6; Swan’s N. W. Coast, p. 267; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 654. Consumption, liver complaint and ophthalmia are the most prevalent Chinook maladies; to which, since the whites came, fever and ague have been added, and have killed eighty or ninety per cent. of the whole people, utterly exterminating some tribes. The cause of this excessive mortality is supposed to be the native method of treatment, which allays a raging fever by plunging the patient in the river or sea. On the Columbia this alleviating plunge is preceded by violent perspiration in a vapor bath; consequently the treatment has been much more fatal there than on the coast where the vapor bath is not in use. For slight ills and pains, especially for external injuries, the Chinooks employ simple remedies obtained from various plants and trees. Many of these remedies have been found to be of actual value, while others are evidently quack nostrums, as when the ashes of the hair of particular animals are considered essential ingredients of certain ointments. Fasting and bathing serve to relieve many slight internal complaints. Strangely enough, they never suffer from diseases of the digestive organs, notwithstanding the greasy compounds used as food. When illness becomes serious or refuses to yield to simple treatment, the conclusion is that either the spirits of the dead are striving to remove the spirit of the sick person from the troubles of earth to a happier existence, or certain evil spirits prefer this world and the patient’s body for their dwelling-place. Then the doctor is summoned. Medical celebrities are numerous, each with his favorite method of treatment, but all agree that singing, beating of sticks, indeed a noise, however made, accompanied by mysterious passes and motions, with violent pressure and kneading of the body are indispensable. The patient frequently survives the treatment. Several observers believe that mesmeric influences are exerted, sometimes with benefit, by the doctors in their mummeries.[364]Doctors, if unsuccessful, are sometimes subjected to rough treatment, but rarely killed, except when they have previously threatened the life of the patient. Swan’s N. W. Coast, pp. 176-185. At the Dalles an old woman, whose incantations had caused a fatal sickness, was beheaded by a brother of the deceased. Ind. Life, pp. 173-4, 142-3. Whole tribes have been almost exterminated by the small-pox. Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 82, 179. Venereal disease prevalent, and a complete cure is never effected. Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 440, 508. Generally succeed in curing venereal disease even in its worst stage. Ross’ Adven., pp. 96-9. The unsuccessful doctor killed, unless able to buy his life. Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 394. Flatheads more subject to apoplexy than others. Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 87; Cox’s Adven., vol. i., p. 126-7, 307, 312-15, 335, vol. ii., pp. 94-5; Townsend’s Nar., pp. 158, 178-9; Franchère’s Nar., p. 250; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 115-9, 127; Thornton’s Ogn. and Cal., vol. ii., p. 53; Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 176, 191-2; Fitzgerald’s Hud. B. Co., pp. 171-2; Strickland’s Hist. Missions, pp. 139-40.

Chinook Burial Rites

When the Chinook dies, relatives are careful to speak in whispers, and indulge in no loud manifestations of grief so long as the body remains in the house. The body is prepared for final disposition by wrapping it in blankets, together with ornaments and other property of a valuable but not bulky nature. For a burial place an elevated but retired spot near the river bank or on an island is almost always selected, but the methods of disposing of the dead in these cemeteries differ somewhat among the various tribes. In the region about the mouth of the Columbia, the body with its wrappings is placed in the best canoe of the deceased, which is washed for the purpose, covered with additional blankets, mats, and property, again covered, when the deceased is of the richer class, by another inverted canoe, the whole bound together with matting and cords, and deposited usually on a plank platform five or six feet high, but sometimes suspended from the branches of trees, or even left on the surface of the ground. The more bulky articles of property, such as utensils, and weapons, are deposited about or hung from the platform, being previously spoiled for use that they may not tempt desecrators among the whites or foreign tribes; or, it may be that the sacrifice or death of the implements is necessary before the spirits of the implements can accompany the spirit of the owner. For the same purpose, and to allow the water to pass off, holes are bored in the bottom of the canoe, the head of the corpse being raised a little higher than the feet. Some travelers have observed a uniformity in the position of the canoe, the head pointing towards the east, or down the current of the stream. After about a year, the bones are sometimes taken out and buried, but the canoe and platform are never removed. Chiefs’ canoes are often repainted. Farther up both the Columbia and Willamette Rivers, excavations of little depth are often made, in which bodies are deposited on horizontal boards and covered over with a slightly inclining roof of heavy planks or poles. In these vaults several tiers of corpses are often placed one above another. At the Cascades, depositories of the dead have been noticed in the form of a roofed inclosure of planks, eight feet long, six feet wide, and five feet high, with a door in one end, and the whole exterior painted. The Calapooyas also buried their dead in regular graves, over which was erected a wooden head-board. Desecration of burial places is a great crime with the Chinook; he also attaches great importance to having his bones rest in his tribal cemetery wherever he may die. For a long time after a death, relatives repair daily at sunrise and sunset to the vicinity of the grave to sing songs of mourning and praise. Until the bones are finally disposed of, the name of the deceased must not be spoken, and for several years it is spoken only with great reluctance. Near relatives often change their name under the impression that spirits will be attracted back to earth if they hear familiar names often repeated. Chiefs are supposed to die through the evil influence of another person, and the suspected, though a dear friend, was formerly often sacrificed. The dead bodies of slaves are never touched save by other slaves.[365]A chief on the death of his daughter ‘had an Indian slave bound hand and foot, and fastened to the body of the deceased, and enclosed the two in another mat, leaving out the head of the living one. The Indian then took the canoe and carried it to a high rock and left it there. Their custom is to let the slave live for three days; then another slave is compelled to strangle the victim by a cord.’ Letter, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. ii., p. 71. See also vol. iii., pp. 217-18; vol. vi., pp. 616-23, with plate; vol. v., p. 655. ‘The emblem of a squaw’s grave is generally a camass-root digger, made of a deer’s horns, and fastened on the end of a stick.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., pp. 233-4, vol. iv., p. 394. ‘I believe I saw as many as an hundred canoes at one burying place of the Chinooks.’ Gass’ Jour., p. 274. ‘Four stakes, interlaced with twigs and covered with brush,’ filled with dead bodies. Abbott, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. vi., p. 88. At Coos Bay, ‘formerly the body was burned, and the wife of the corpse killed and interred.’ Now the body is sprinkled with sand and ashes, the ankles are bent up and fastened to the neck; relatives shave their heads and put the hair on the body with shells and roots, and the corpse is then buried and trampled on by the whole tribe. Wells, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xiii., p. 602. ‘The canoe-coffins were decorated with rude carved work.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 54. Strangers are paid to join in the lamentations. Ross’ Adven., p. 97. Children who die during the head-flattening process are set afloat in their cradles upon the surface of some sacred pool, where the bodies of the old are also placed in their canoes. Catlin’s N. Am. Ind., vol. ii., p. 111. On burial and mourning see also, Swan’s N. W. Coast, pp. 72-3, 13, 186-9, with cut of canoe on platform. Mofras’ Explor., vol. ii., p. 355, and pl. 18 of Atlas; Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 423, 429, 509; Kane’s Wand., pp. 176-8, 181, 202-5; Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 124-5, 335-6, vol. ii., p. 157; Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 144, 151-2; Thornton’s Ogn. and Cal., vol. i., pp. 281-2, vol. ii., p. 53; Belcher’s Voy., vol. i., p. 292; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 255; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 119-20, 131-2; Nicolay’s Ogn. Ter., pp. 149-50; Fremont’s Ogn. and Cal., p. 186; Irving’s Astoria, p. 99; Franchère’s Nar., p. 106; Palmer’s Jour., p. 87; Ind. Life, p. 210; Townsend’s Nar., p. 180.

Chinook Character

There is little difference of opinion concerning the character of the Chinooks. All agree that they are intelligent and very acute in trade; some travelers have found them at different points harmless and inoffensive; and in a few instances honesty has been detected. So much for their good qualities. As to the bad, there is unanimity nearly as great that they are thieves and liars, and for the rest each observer applies to them a selection of such adjectives as lazy, superstitious, cowardly, inquisitive, intrusive, libidinous, treacherous, turbulent, hypocritical, fickle, etc. The Clatsops, with some authors, have the reputation of being the most honest and moral; for the lowest position in the scale all the rest might present a claim. It should however be said in their favor that they are devotedly attached to their homes, and treat kindly both their young children and aged parents; also that not a few of their bad traits originated with or have been aggravated by contact with civilization.[366]‘The clumsy thief, who is detected, is scoffed at and despised.’ Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 130-1, 114. ‘The Kalapuya, like the Umkwa, … are more regular and quiet’ than the inland tribes, ‘and more cleanly, honest and moral than the’ coast tribes. The Chinooks are a quarrelsome, thievish, and treacherous people. Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., pp. 217, 215, 198, 204. ‘A rascally, thieving set.’ Gass’ Jour., p. 304. ‘When well treated, kind and hospitable.’ Swan’s N. W. Coast, pp. 215, 110, 152. At Cape Orford ‘pleasing and courteous deportment … scrupulously honest.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., pp. 204-5. Laziness is probably induced by the ease with which they obtain food. Kane’s Wand., pp. 181, 185. ‘Crafty and intriguing.’ Easily irritated, but a trifle will appease him. Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., p. 61, 70-1, 77, 88, 90-1, 124-5, 235-6. ‘They possess in an eminent degree, the qualities opposed to indolence, improvidence, and stupidity: the chiefs above all, are distinguished for their good sense and intelligence. Generally speaking, they have a ready intellect and a tenacious memory.’ ‘Rarely resist the temptation of stealing’ white men’s goods. Franchère’s Nar., pp. 241-2, 261. Loquacious, never gay, knavish, impertinent. Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 416, 441-2, 504, 523-4. ‘Thorough-bred hypocrites and liars.’ ‘The Killymucks the most roguish.’ Industry, patience, sobriety and ingenuity are their chief virtues; thieving, lying, incontinence, gambling and cruelty may be classed among their vices. Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 115, 131, 296-7, 302, 304-5, 321, vol. ii., p. 133. At Wishiam ‘they were a community of arrant rogues and freebooters.’ Irving’s Astoria, pp. 322, 342. ‘Lying is very common; thieving comparatively rare.’ White’s Ogn., p. 207. ‘Do not appear to possess a particle of natural good feeling.’ Townsend’s Nar., p. 183. At Coos Bay ‘by no means the fierce and warlike race found further to the northward.’ Wells, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xiii., p. 601. Umqua and Coose tribes are naturally industrious; the Suislaws the most advanced; the Alcea not so enterprising. Sykes, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1860, p. 215. Calapooias, a poor, cowardly, and thievish race. Miller, in Id., 1857, p. 364; Nicolay’s Ogn. Ter., p. 151; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 87, vol. ii., pp. 16, 36; Warre and Vavasour, in Martin’s Hud. B., p. 83; Palmer’s Jour., pp. 84, 105; Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 249-50; Ind. Life, pp. 1-4, 210; Fitzgerald’s Vanc. Isl., p. 196; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 207, etc.

The Inland Families, constituting the fifth and last division of the Columbians, inhabit the region between the Cascade Range and the eastern limit of what I term the Pacific States, from 52° 30´ to 45° of north latitude. These bounds are tolerably distinct; though that on the south, separating the eastern portions of the Columbian and Californian groups, is irregular and marked by no great river, mountain chain, or other prominent physical feature. These inland natives of the Northwest occupy, in person, character, and customs, as well as in the location of their home, an intermediate position between the coast people already described—to whom they are pronounced superior in most respects—and the Rocky Mountain or eastern tribes. Travelers crossing the Rocky Mountains into this territory from the east, or entering it from the Pacific by way of the Columbia or Fraser, note contrasts on passing the limits, sufficient to justify me in regarding its inhabitants as one people for the purposes aimed at in this volume.[367]‘They all resemble each other in general characteristics.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 229. Shushwaps and Salish all one race. Mayne’s B. C., p. 296-7. ‘The Indians of the interior are, both physically and morally, vastly superior to the tribes of the coast.’ Id., p. 242. ‘The Kliketat near Mount Rainier, the Walla-Wallas, and the Okanagan … speak kindred dialects.’ Ludewig, Ab. Lang., p. 170. The best-supported opinion is that the inland were of the same original stock with the lower tribes. Dunn’s Oregon, p. 316. ‘On leaving the verge of the Carrier country, near Alexandria, a marked change is at once perceptible.’ Anderson, in Hist. Mag., vol. vii., p. 77. Inland tribes differ widely from the piscatorial tribes. Ross’ Adven., p. 127. ‘Those residing near the Rocky Mountains … are and always have been superior races to those living on the lower Columbia.’ Alvord, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 654. ‘I was particularly struck with their vast superiority (on the Similkameen River, Lat. 49° 30´, Long. 120° 30´) in point of intelligence and energy to the Fish Indians on the Fraser River, and in its neighbourhood.’ Palmer, in B. C. Papers, vol. iii., p. 84. Striking contrast noted in passing up the Columbia. Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 199. Instead, therefore, of treating each family separately, as has been done with the coast divisions of the group, I deem it more convenient, as well as less monotonous to the reader, to avoid repetition by describing the manners and customs of all the people within these limits together, taking care to note such variations as may be found to exist. The division into families and nations, made according to principles already sufficiently explained, is as follows, beginning again at the north:

The Shushwaps

The Shushwaps, our first family division, live between 52° 30´ and 49° in the interior of British Columbia, occupying the valleys of the Fraser, Thompson, and Upper Columbia rivers with their tributary streams and lakes. They are bounded on the west by the Nootkas and on the north by the Carriers, from both of which families they seem to be distinct. As national divisions of this family may be mentioned the Shushwaps proper, or Atnahs,[368]‘The Shewhapmuch … who compose a large branch of the Saeliss family,’ known as Nicute-much—corrupted by the Canadians into Couteaux—below the junction of the Fraser and Thompson. Anderson, in Hist. Mag., vol. vii., p. 76-7. Atnahs is their name in the Takali language, and signifies ‘strangers.’ ‘Differ so little from their southern neighbors, the Salish, as to render a particular description unnecessary.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 205. They were called by Mackenzie the Chin tribe, according to Prichard’s Researches, vol. v., p. 427, but Mackenzie’s Chin tribe was north of the Atnahs, being the Nagailer tribe of the Carriers. See Mackenzie’s Voy., pp. 257-8, and map. who occupy the whole northern portion of the territory; the Okanagans,[369]‘About Okanagan, various branches of the Carrier tribe.’ Nicolay’s Ogn. Ter., p. 143. ‘Okanagans, on the upper part of Frazer’s River.’ Ludewig, Ab. Lang., p. 170. in the valley of the lake and river of the same name; and the Kootenais,[370]Also known as Flat-bows. ‘The poorest of the tribes composing the Flathead nation.’ McCormick, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1867, p. 211. ‘Speaking a language of their own, it is not easy to imagine their origin; but it appears probable that they once belonged to some more southern tribe, from which they became shut off by the intervention of larger tribes.’ Mayne’s B. C., p. 297. ‘In appearance, character, and customs, they resemble more the Indians east of the Rocky Mountains than those of Lower Oregon.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 205. ‘Les Arcs-à-Plats, et les Koetenais sont connus dans le pays sous le nom de Skalzi.’ De Smet, Miss. de l’Orégon, p. 80. who inhabit the triangle bounded by the Upper Columbia, the Rocky Mountains, and the 49th parallel, living chiefly on Flatbow river and lake. All three nations might probably be joined with quite as much reason to the Salish family farther south, as indeed has usually been done with the Okanagans; while the Kootenais are by some considered distinct from any of their adjoining nations.

The Salish Family dwells south of the Shushwaps, between 49° and 47°, altogether on the Columbia and its tributaries. Its nations, more clearly defined than in most other families, are the Flatheads,[371]The origin of the name Flathead, as applied to this nation, is not known, as they have never been known to flatten the head. ‘The mass of the nation consists of persons who have more or less of the blood of the Spokanes, Pend d’Oreilles, Nez Perces, and Iroquois.’ Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 207; Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 150; Catlin’s N. Am. Ind., vol. ii., p. 108; Stuart’s Montana, p. 82. Gass applied the name apparently to tribes on the Clearwater of the Sahaptin family. Jour., p. 224. or Salish proper, between the Bitter Root and Rocky Mountains on Flathead and Clarke rivers; the Pend d’Oreilles,[372]Also called Kalispelms and Ponderas. The Upper Pend d’Oreilles consist of a number of wandering families of Spokanes, Kalispelms proper, and Flatheads. Suckley, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 294; Stevens, in Id., p. 149; Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 210. ‘Very similar in manners, etc., to the Flatheads, and form one people with them.’ De Smet, Miss. de l’Orégon, p. 32. who dwell about the lake of the same name and on Clarke River, for fifty to seventy-five miles above and below the lake; the Coeurs d’Alêne,[373]The native name, according to Hale, is Skitsuish, and Coeur d’Alêne, ‘Awl heart,’ is a nickname applied from the circumstance that a chief used these words to express his idea of the Canadian traders’ meanness. Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 210. south of the Pend d’Oreilles, on Coeur d’Alêne Lake and the streams falling into it; the Colvilles,[374]Quiarlpi, ‘Basket People,’ Chaudieres, ‘Kettles,’ Kettle Falls, Chualpays, Skoielpoi, and Lakes, are some of the names applied to these bands. a term which may be used to designate the variously named bands about Kettle Falls, and northward along the Columbia to the Arrow Lakes; the Spokanes,[375]‘Ils s’appellent entre eux les Enfants du Soleil, dans leur langue Spokane.’ De Smet, Miss. de l’Orégon, p. 31. ‘Differing very little from the Indians at Colville, either in their appearance, habits, or language.’ Kane’s Wand., p. 307. on the Spokane River and plateau along the Columbia below Kettle Falls, nearly to the mouth of the Okanagan; and the Pisquouse,[376]So much intermarried with the Yakamas that they have almost lost their nationality.’ Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 236. on the west bank of the Columbia between the Okanagan and Priest Rapids.

The Sahaptin Family

The Sahaptin Family, the last of the Columbian group, is immediately south of the Salish, between the Cascade and Bitter Root mountains, reaching southward, in general terms, to the forty-fifth parallel, but very irregularly bounded by the Shoshone tribes of the Californian group. Of its nations, the Nez Percés,[377]‘Pierced Noses,’ so named by the Canadians, perhaps from the nasal ornaments of the first of the tribe seen, although the custom of piercing the nose has never been known to be prevalent with this people. ‘Generally known and distinguished by the name of “black robes,” in contradistinction to those who live on fish.’ Named Nez Perces from the custom of boring the nose to receive a white shell, like the fluke of an anchor. Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., pp. 305, 185-6. ‘There are two tribes of the Pierced-Nose Indians, the upper and the lower. Brownell’s Ind. Races, pp. 533-5. ‘Though originally the same people, their dialect varies very perceptibly from that of the Tushepaws.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 341. Called Thoiga-rik-kah, Tsoi-gah, ‘Cowse-eaters,’ by the Snakes. ‘Ten times better off to-day than they were then’—’a practical refutation of the time-honored lie, that intercourse with whites is an injury to Indians.’ Stuart’s Montana, pp. 76-7. ‘In character and appearance, they resemble more the Indians of the Missouri than their neighbors, the Salish.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 212; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 54. or Sahaptins proper, dwell on the Clearwater and its branches, and on the Snake about the forks; the Palouse[378]‘La tribu Paloose appartient à la nation des Nez-percés et leur ressemble sous tous les rapports.’ De Smet, Voy., p. 31.occupy the region north of the Snake about the mouth of the Palouse; the south banks of the Columbia and Snake near their confluence, and the banks of the lower Walla Walla are occupied by the Walla Wallas;[379]The name comes from that of the river. It should be pronounced Wălă-Wălă, very short. Pandosy’s Gram., p. 9. ‘Descended from slaves formerly owned and liberated by the Nez Perces.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 247. ‘Not unlike the Pierced-Noses in general appearance, language, and habits.’ Brownell’s Ind. Races, pp. 533-5. Parts of three different nations at the confluence of the Snake and Columbia. Gass’ Jour., pp. 218-19, ‘None of the Indians have any permanent habitations’ on the south bank of the Columbia about and above the Dalles. Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 365. ‘Generally camping in winter on the north side of the river.’ Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 223. the Yakimas and Kliketats[380]The name Yakima is a word meaning ‘Black Bear’ in the Walla Walla dialect. They are called Klikatats west of the mountains. Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 407. ‘The Klikatats and Yakimas, in all essential peculiarities of character, are identical, and their intercourse is constant.’ Id., p. 403, and Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 225. ‘Pshawanwappam bands, usually called Yakamas.’ The name signifies ‘Stony Ground.’ Gibbs, in Pandosy’s Gram., p. vii. ‘Roil-roil-pam, is the Klikatat country.’ ‘Its meaning is “the Mouse country.”‘ Id. The Yakima valley is a great national rendezvous for these and surrounding nations. Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., pp. 19, 21. Kliketats, meaning robbers, was first the name given to the Whulwhypums, and then extended to all speaking the same language. For twenty-five years before 1854 they overran the Willamette Valley, but at that time were forced by government to retire to their own country. Tolmie, in Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 244-7. inhabit the region north of the Dalles, between the Cascade Range and the Columbia, the former in the valley of the Yakima, the latter in the mountains about Mt. Adams. Both nations extend in some bands across into the territory of the Sound family. The natives of Oregon east of the Cascade Range, who have not usually been included in the Sahaptin family, I will divide somewhat arbitrarily into the Wascos, extending from the mountains eastward to John Day River, and the Cayuse,[381]Wasco is said to mean ‘basin,’ and the tribe derives its name, traditionally, from the fact that formerly one of their chiefs, his wife having died, spent much of his time in making cavities or basins in the soft rock for his children to fill with water and pebbles, and thereby amuse themselves. Victor’s All over Ogn., pp. 94-5. The word Cayuse is perhaps the French Cailloux, ‘pebbles.’ Called by Tolmie, ‘Wyeilats or Kyoose.’ He says their language has an affinity to that of the Carriers and Umpquas. Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 249-50. ‘Resemble the Walla-Wallas very much.’ Kane’s Wand., pp. 279-80. ‘The imperial tribe of Oregon’ claiming jurisdiction over the whole Columbia region. Farnham’s Trav., p. 81. The Snakes, Walla-Wallas, and Cayuse meet annually in the Grande Ronde Valley. Thornton’s Ogn. and Cal., vol. i., p. 270. ‘Individuals of the pure blood are few, the majority being intermixed with the Nez Perces and the Wallah-Wallahs.’ Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 218-19. The region which I give to the Wascos and Cayuses is divided on Hale’s map between the Walla-Wallas, Waiilatpu, and Molele. from this river across the Blue Mountains to the Grande Ronde.

Physique of the Inland Tribes

The inland Columbians are of medium stature, usually from five feet seven to five feet ten inches, but sometimes reaching a height of six feet; spare in flesh, but muscular and symmetrical; with well-formed limbs, the legs not being deformed as among the Chinooks by constant sitting in the canoe; feet and hands are in many tribes small and well made. In bodily strength they are inferior to whites, but superior, as might be expected from their habits, to the more indolent fish-eaters on the Pacific. The women, though never corpulent, are more inclined to rotundity than the men. The Nez Percés and Cayuses are considered the best specimens, while in the north the Kootenais seem to be superior to the other Shushwap nations. The Salish are assigned by Wilkes and Hale an intermediate place in physical attributes between the coast and mountain tribes, being in stature and proportion superior to the Chinooks, but inferior to the Nez Percés.[382]In the interior the ‘men are tall, the women are of common stature, and both are well formed.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 229. ‘Of middle height, slender.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 199. The inland tribes of British Columbia, compared with those on the coast, ‘are of a better cast, being generally of the middle height.’ Id., p. 198. See also p. 206. The Nez Percés and Cayuses ‘are almost universally fine-looking, robust men.’ In criticising the person of one of that tribe ‘one was forcibly reminded of the Apollo Belvidere.’ Townsend’s Nar., pp. 148, 98. The Klikatat ‘stature is low, with light, sinewy limbs.’ Id., p. 178; also pp. 158-174. The Walla-Wallas are generally powerful men, at least six feet high, and the Cayuse are still ‘stouter and more athletic.’ Gairdner, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 256. The Umatillas ‘may be a superior race to the “Snakes,” but I doubt it.’ Barnhart, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1862, p. 271. The Salish are ‘rather below the average size, but are well knit, muscular, and good-looking.’ Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 208. ‘Well made and active.’ Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 311, 327. ‘Below the middle hight, with thick-set limbs.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 88, vol. ii., pp. 55-6, 64-5. The Cootonais are above the medium height. Very few Shushwaps reach the height of five feet nine inches. Cox’s Adven., vol. ii., pp. 155, 376, vol. i., p. 240. See also on physique of the inland nations, Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 321, 340, 356, 359, 382, 527-8, 556-7; Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 475; Dunn, in Cal. Farmer, April 26, 1861; San Francisco Herald, June, 1858; Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 309, 414; Nicolay’s Ogn. Ter., p. 151; Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 105-6, and vol. i., frontispiece, cut of a group of Spokanes. De Smet, Voy., pp. 30, 198; Palmer’s Jour., p. 54; Ross’ Adven., pp. 127, 294; Stuart’s Montana, p. 82. Inland, a higher order of face is observed than on the coast. The cheek-bones are still high, the forehead is rather low, the face long, the eyes black, rarely oblique, the nose prominent and frequently aquiline, the lips thin, the teeth white and regular but generally much worn. The general expression of the features is stern, often melancholy, but not as a rule harsh or repulsive. Dignified, fine-looking men, and handsome young women have been remarked in nearly all the tribes, but here again the Sahaptins bear off the palm. The complexion is not darker than on the coast, but has more of a coppery hue. The hair is black, generally coarse, and worn long. The beard is very thin, and its growth is carefully prevented by plucking.[383]The interior tribes have ‘long faces, and bold features, thin lips, wide cheek-bones, smooth skins, and the usual tawny complexion of the American tribes.’ ‘Features of a less exaggerated harshness’ than the coast tribes. Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 198-9. ‘Hair and eyes are black, their cheek bones high, and very frequently they have aquiline noses.’ ‘They wear their hair long, part it upon their forehead, and let it hang in tresses on each side, or down behind.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 229. Complexion ‘a little fairer than other Indians.’ Id. The Okanagans are ‘better featured and handsomer in their persons, though darker, than the Chinooks or other Indians along the sea-coast.’ ‘Teeth white as ivory, well set and regular.’ The voices of Walla Wallas, Nez Percés, and Cayuses, are strong and masculine. Ross’ Adven., pp. 294, 127. The Flatheads (Nez Percés) are ‘the whitest Indians I ever saw.’ Gass’ Jour., p. 189. The Shushwap ‘complexion is darker, and of a more muddy, coppery hue than that of the true Red Indian.’ Milton and Cheadle’s N. W. Pass., p. 335. The Nez Perces darker than the Tushepaws. Dignified and pleasant features. Would have quite heavy beards if they shaved. Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 340, 356, 359, 527-8, 556-7, 321. The inland natives are an ugly race, with ‘broad faces, low foreheads, and rough, coppery and tanned skins.’ The Salish ‘features are less regular, and their complexion darker’ than the Sahaptins. Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 88, vol. ii., pp. 55-6. Teeth of the river tribes worn down by sanded salmon. Anderson, in Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 228; Kane’s Wand., p. 273. Nez Perces and Cayuses ‘are almost universally fine looking, robust men, with strong aquiline features, and a much more cheerful cast of countenance than is usual amongst the race. Some of the women might almost be called beautiful, and none that I have seen are homely.’ Some very handsome young girls among the Walla Wallas. The Kliketat features are ‘regular, though often devoid of expression.’ Townsend’s Nar., pp. 78, 148, 158, 178. Flatheads ‘comparatively very fair in complexion, … with oval faces, and a mild, and playful expression of countenance.’ Dunn’s Oregon, p. 311. The Kayuls had long dark hair, and regular features. Coke’s Rocky Mountains, p. 304. Cut and description of a Clickitat skull, in Morton’s Crania, p. 214, pl. 48. ‘The Flatheads are the ugliest, and most of their women are far from being beauties.’ Stuart’s Montana, p. 82.

HEAD-FLATTENING IN THE INTERIOR.

The custom of head-flattening, apparently of seaboard origin and growth, extends, nevertheless, across the Cascade barrier, and is practiced to a greater or less extent by all the tribes of the Sahaptin family. Among them all, however, with the exception perhaps of the Kliketats, the deformity consists only of a very slight compression of the forehead, which nearly or quite disappears at maturity. The practice also extends inland up the valley of the Fraser, and is found at least in nearly all the more western tribes of the Shushwaps. The Salish family do not flatten the skull.[384]‘The Sahaptin and Wallawallas compress the head, but not so much as the tribes near the coast. It merely serves with them to make the forehead more retreating, which, with the aquiline nose common to these natives, gives to them occasionally, a physiognomy similar to that represented in the hieroglyphical paintings of Central America.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., pp. 214, 205. All the Shushwaps flatten the head more or less. Mayne’s B. C., p. 303. ‘Il est à remarquer que les tribus établies au-dessus de la jonction de la branche sud de la Colombie, et désignées sous le nom de Têtes Plates, ont renoncé depuis longtemps à cet usage.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 349. ‘A roundhead Klickatat woman would be a pariah.’ Winthrop’s Canoe and Saddle, p. 204. Nez Percés ‘seldom known to flatten the head.’ Catlin’s N. Am. Ind., vol. ii., p. 108. See Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., pp. 55-6, 64-5; Tolmie, in Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 231-2, 249-51; Townsend’s Nar., p. 175; Kane’s Wand., p. 263; Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 207-8; Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 415, with cut. Walla Wallas, Skyuse, and Nez Percés flatten the head and perforate the nose. Farnham’s Trav., p. 85; Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 374, 359; Gass’ Jour., p. 224. Other methods of deforming the person, such as tattooing and perforating the features are as a rule not employed; the Yakimas and Kliketats, however, with some other lower Columbia tribes, pierce or cut away the septum of the nose,[385]Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., pp. 38-9; Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 362, 382-3. and the Nez Percés probably derived their name from a similar custom formerly practiced by them. Paint, however, is used by all inland as well as coast tribes on occasions when decoration is desired, but applied in less profusion by the latter. The favorite color is vermilion, applied as a rule only to the face and hair.[386]The Salish ‘profuse in the use of paint.’ Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 207-8, and in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 309. Nez Percés painted in colored stripes. Hines’ Voy., p. 173. ‘Four Indians (Nez Percés) streaked all over with white mud.’ Kane’s Wand., p. 291. Walla Walla ‘faces painted red.’ The Okanagan ‘young of both sexes always paint their faces with red and black bars.’ Ross’ Adven., pp. 127, 294-8. The inland tribes ‘appear to have less of the propensity to adorn themselves with painting, than the Indians east of the mountains, but not unfrequently vermilion mixed with red clay, is used not only upon their faces but upon their hair.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 229. Red clay for face paint, obtained at Vermilion Forks of the Similkameen River, in B. C. Palmer, in B. C. Papers, vol. iii., p. 84. Pend d’Oreille women rub the face every morning with a mixture of red and brown powder, which is made to stick by a coating of fish-oil. De Smet, Voy., p. 198. Elaborate hair-dressing is not common, and both sexes usually wear the hair in the same style, soaked in grease, often painted, and hanging in a natural state, or in braids, plaits, or queues, over the shoulders. Some of the southern tribes cut the hair across the forehead, while others farther north tie it up in knots on the back of the head.[387]The Oakinack ‘women wear their hair neatly clubbed on each side of the head behind the ears, and ornamented with double rows of the snowy higua, which are among the Oakinackens called Shet-la-cane; but they keep it shed or divided in front. The men’s hair is queued or rolled up into a knot behind the head, and ornamented like that of the women; but in front it falls or hangs down loosely before the face, covering the forehead and the eyes, which causes them every now and then to shake the head, or use the hands to uncover their eyes.’ Ross’ Adven., pp. 294-5. The head of the Nez Perces not ornamented. Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 341, 321, 351, 377, 528, 532-3; Coke’s Rocky Mts., p. 304; Kane’s Wand., p. 274.

The coast dress—robes or blankets of bark-fibre or small skins—is also used for some distance inland on the banks of the Columbia and Fraser, as among the Nicoutamuch, Kliketats, and Wascos; but the distinctive inland dress is of dressed skin of deer, antelope, or mountain sheep; made into a rude frock, or shirt, with loose sleeves; leggins reaching half-way up the thigh, and either bound to the leg or attached by strings to a belt about the waist; moccasins, and rarely a cap. Men’s frocks descend half-way to the knees; women’s nearly to the ankles. Over this dress, or to conceal the want of some part of it, a buffalo or elk robe is worn, especially in winter. All garments are profusely and often tastefully decorated with leather fringes, feathers, shells, and porcupine quills; beads, trinkets and various bright-colored cloths having been added to Indian ornamentation since the whites came. A new suit of this native skin clothing is not without beauty, but by most tribes the suit is worn without change till nearly ready to drop off, and becomes disgustingly filthy. Some tribes clean and whiten their clothing occasionally with white earth, or pipe-clay. The buffalo and most of the other large skins are obtained from the country east of the mountains.[388]The Ootlashoot women wear ‘a long shirt of skin, reaching down to the ancles, and tied round the waist.’ Few ornaments. The Nez Percés wear ‘the buffalo or elk-skin robe decorated with beads, sea-shells, chiefly mother-of-pearl, attached to an otter-skin collar and hung in the hair.’ Leggins and moccasins are painted; a plait of twisted grass is worn round the neck. The women wear their long robe without a girdle, but to it ‘are tied little pieces of brass and shells, and other small articles.’ ‘The dress of the female is indeed more modest, and more studiously so than any we have observed, though the other sex is careless of the indelicacy of exposure.’ ‘The Sokulk females have no other covering but a truss or piece of leather tied round the hips and then drawn tight between the legs.’ Three fourths of the Pisquitpaws ‘have scarcely any robes at all.’ The Chilluckittequaws use skins of wolves, deer, elk, and wild cats. ‘Round their neck is put a strip of some skin with the tail of the animal hanging down over the breast.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 321, 340-1, 351, 359, 361, 377, 526, 528, 532-3. Many of the Walla Walla, Nez Percé, and Cayuse females wore robes ‘richly garnished with beads, higuas,’ etc. The war chief wears as a head-dress the whole skin of a wolf’s head, with the ears standing erect. The Okanagans wear in winter long detachable sleeves or mittens of wolf or fox skin, also wolf or bear skin caps when hunting. Men and women dress nearly alike, and are profuse in the use of ornaments. Ross’ Adven., p. 127, 294-8; Id., Fur Hunters, vol. i., p. 306. The Flatheads often change their clothing and clean it with pipe-clay. They have no regular head-dress. From the Yakima to the Okanagan the men go naked, and the women wear only a belt with a slip passing between the legs. Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 133, 148, 240-1, vol. ii., p. 144. Nez Percés better clad than any others, Cayuses well clothed, Walla Wallas naked and half starved. Palmer’s Jour., pp. 54, 124, 127-8. At the Dalles, women ‘go nearly naked, for they wear little else than what may be termed a breech-cloth, of buckskin, which is black and filthy with dirt.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 409-10, 426, 473. The Kliketat women wear a short pine-bark petticoat tied round the loins. Townsend’s Nar., pp. 78, 178, 148. ‘Their buffaloe robes and other skins they chiefly procure on the Missouri, when they go over to hunt, as there are no buffaloe in this part of the country and very little other game.’ Gass’ Jour., pp. 189, 205, 218-19, 295. Tusshepaw ‘women wore caps of willow neatly worked and figured.’ Irving’s Astoria, pp. 315, 317, 319; Id., Bonneville’s Adven., p. 301. The Flathead women wear straw hats, used also for drinking and cooking purposes. De Smet, Voy., pp. 45-7, 198. The Shushwaps wear in wet weather capes of bark trimmed with fur, and reaching to the elbows. Moccasins are more common than on the coast, but they often ride barefoot. Mayne’s B. C., p. 301. Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 229-30; Kane’s Wand., p. 264, and cut; Fremont’s Ogn. and Cal., pp. 186-7; Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 222; Nicolay’s Ogn. Ter., p. 153; Franchère’s Nar., p. 268; Dunn’s Oregon, p. 311; Coke’s Rocky Mts., p. 304; Hunt, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., tom. x., 1821, pp. 74-5, 78.

Inland Dwellings

The inland dwelling is a frame of poles, covered with rush matting, or with the skins of the buffalo or elk. As a rule the richest tribes and individuals use skins, although many of the finest Sahaptin houses are covered with mats only. Notwithstanding these nations are rich in horses, I find no mention that horse-hides are ever employed for this or any other purpose. The form of the lodge is that of a tent, conical or oblong, and usually sharp at the top, where an open space is left for light and air to enter, and smoke to escape. Their internal condition presents a marked contrast with that of the Chinook and Nootka habitations, since they are by many interior tribes kept free from vermin and filth. Their light material and the frequency with which their location is changed contributes to this result. The lodges are pitched by the women, who acquire great skill and celerity in the work. Holes are left along the sides for entrance, and within, a floor of sticks is laid, or more frequently the ground is spread with mats, and skins serve for beds. Dwellings are often built sufficiently large to accommodate many families, each of which in such case has its own fireplace on a central longitudinal line, a definite space being allotted for its goods, but no dividing partitions are ever used. The dwellings are arranged in small villages generally located in winter on the banks of small streams a little away from the main rivers. For a short distance up the Columbia, houses similar to those of the Chinooks are built of split cedar and bark. The Walla Wallas, living in summer in the ordinary mat lodge, often construct for winter a subterranean abode by digging a circular hole ten or twelve feet deep, roofing it with poles or split cedar covered with grass and mud, leaving a small opening at the top for exit and entrance by means of a notched-log ladder. The Atnahs on Fraser River spend the winter in similar structures, a simple slant roof of mats or bark sufficing for shade and shelter in summer. The Okanagans construct their lodges over an excavation in the ground several feet deep, and like many other nations, cover their matting in winter with grass and earth.[389]The Sokulk houses ‘generally of a square or oblong form, varying in length from fifteen to sixty feet, and supported in the inside by poles or forks about six feet high.’ The roof is nearly flat. The Echeloot and Chilluckittequaw houses were of the Chinook style, partially sunk in the ground. The Nez Percés live in houses built ‘of straw and mats, in the form of the roof of a house.’ One of these ‘was one hundred and fifty-six feet long, and about fifteen wide, closed at the ends, and having a number of doors on each side.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 340, 351, 369-70, 381-2, 540. Nez Percé dwellings twenty to seventy feet long and from ten to fifteen feet wide; free from vermin. Flathead houses conical but spacious, made of buffalo and moose skins over long poles. Spokane lodges oblong or conical, covered with skins or mats. Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 148, 192, 200. Nez Percé and Cayuse lodges ‘composed of ten long poles, the lower ends of which are pointed and driven into the ground; the upper blunt and drawn together at the top by thongs’ covered with skins. ‘Universally used by the mountain Indians while travelling.’ Umatillas live in ‘shantys or wigwams of driftwood, covered with buffalo or deer skins.’ Klicatats ‘in miserable loose hovels.’ Townsend’s Nar., pp. 104-5, 156, 174. Okanagan winter lodges are long and narrow, ‘chiefly of mats and poles, covered over with grass and earth;’ dug one or two feet below the surface; look like the roof of a common house set on the ground. Ross’ Adven., pp. 313-4. On the Yakima River ‘a small canopy, hardly sufficient to shelter a sheep, was found to contain four generations of human beings.’ Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., pp. 34, 37. On the Clearwater ‘there are not more than four lodges in a place or village, and these small camps or villages are eight or ten miles apart.’ ‘Summer lodges are made of willows and flags, and their winter lodges of split pine.’ Gass’ Jour., pp. 212, 221, 223. ‘At Kettle Falls, the lodges are of rush mats.’ ‘A flooring is made of sticks, raised three or four feet from the ground, leaving the space beneath it entirely open, and forming a cool, airy, and shady place, in which to hang their salmon.’ Kane’s Wand., pp. 309, 272-3. The Pend d’Oreilles roll their tent-mats into cylindrical bundles for convenience in traveling. Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 215, 238, 282. Barnhart, in Id., 1862, p. 271. The Shushwap den is warm but ‘necessarily unwholesome, and redolent … of anything but roses.’ Anderson, in Hist. Mag., vol. vii., p. 77. Yakimas, ‘rude huts covered with mats.’ Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 407. Shushwaps erect rude slants of bark or matting; have no tents or houses. Milton and Cheadle’s N. W. Pass., p. 242. From the swamps south of Flatbow Lake, ‘the Kootanie Indians obtain the klusquis or thick reed, which is the only article that serves them in the construction of their lodges,’ and is traded with other tribes. Sullivan, in Palliser’s Explor., p. 15. In winter the Salish cover their mats with earth. Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 207. Flag huts of the Walla Wallas. Farnham’s Trav., p. 85; Mullan’s Rept., pp. 49-50; Palmer’s Jour., p. 61; Coke’s Rocky Mts., p. 295; Irving’s Astoria, pp. 315, 319; Id., Bonneville’s Adven., p. 301; De Smet, Voy., p. 185; Id., West. Missions, p. 284; Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 105-6. Hunt, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., tom. x., 1821, pp. 74-5, 79.

Food of the Inland Nations

The inland families eat fish and game, with roots and fruit; no nation subsists without all these supplies; but the proportion of each consumed varies greatly according to locality. Some tribes divide their forces regularly into bands, of men to fish and hunt, of women to cure fish and flesh, and to gather roots and berries. I have spoken of the coast tribes as a fish-eating, and the interior tribes as a hunting people, attributing in great degree their differences of person and character to their food, or rather to their methods of obtaining it; yet fish constitutes an important element of inland subsistence as well. Few tribes live altogether without salmon, the great staple of the Northwest; since those dwelling on streams inaccessible to the salmon by reason of intervening falls, obtain their supply by annual migrations to the fishing-grounds, or by trade with other nations. The principal salmon fisheries of the Columbia are at the Dalles, the falls ten miles above, and at Kettle Falls. Other productive stations are on the Powder, Snake, Yakima, Okanagan, and Clarke rivers. On the Fraser, which has no falls in its lower course, fishing is carried on all along the banks of the river instead of at regular stations, as on the Columbia. Nets, weirs, hooks, spears, and all the implements and methods by which fish are taken and cured have been sufficiently described in treating of the coast region; in the interior I find no important variations except in the basket method in use at the Chaudières or Kettle Falls by the Quiarlpi tribe. Here an immense willow basket, often ten feet in diameter and twelve feet deep, is suspended at the falls from strong timbers fixed in crevices of the rocks, and above this is a frame so attached that the salmon in attempting to leap the fall strike the sticks of the frame and are thrown back into the basket, in the largest of which naked men armed with clubs await them. Five thousand pounds of salmon have thus been taken in a day by means of a single basket. During the fishing-season the Salmon Chief has full authority; his basket is the largest, and must be located a month before others are allowed to fish. The small nets used in the same region have also the peculiarity of a stick which keeps the mouth open when the net is empty, but is removed by the weight of the fish. Besides the salmon, sturgeon are extensively taken in the Fraser, and in the Arrow Lakes, while trout and other varieties of small fish abound in most of the streams. The fishing-season is the summer, between June and September, varying a month or more according to locality. This is also the season of trade and festivity, when tribes from all directions assemble to exchange commodities, gamble, dance, and in later times to drink and fight.[390]Natives begin to assemble at Kettle Falls about three weeks before the salmon begin to run; feuds are laid by; horse-racing, gambling, love-making, etc., occupy the assembly; and the medicine-men are busy working charms for a successful season. The fish are cut open, dried on poles over a small fire, and packed in bales. On the Fraser each family or village fishes for itself; near the mouth large gaff-hooks are used, higher up a net managed between two canoes. All the principal Indian fishing-stations on the Fraser are below Fort Hope. For sturgeon a spear seventy to eighty feet long is used. Cut of sturgeon-fishing. Lord’s Nat., vol. i., pp. 71-6, 181, 184-6. The Pend d’Oreilles ‘annually construct a fence which reaches across the stream, and guides the fish into a weir or rack,’ on Clarke River, just above the lake. The Walla Walla ‘fisheries at the Dalles and the falls, ten miles above, are the finest on the river.’ The Yakima weirs constructed ‘upon horizontal spars, and supported by tripods of strong poles erected at short distances apart; two of the logs fronting up stream, and one supporting them below;’ some fifty or sixty yards long. The salmon of the Okanagan were ‘of a small species, which had assumed a uniform red color.’ ‘The fishery at the Kettle Falls is one of the most important on the river, and the arrangements of the Indians in the shape of drying-scaffolds and store-houses are on a corresponding scale.’ Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 214, 223, 231, 233; Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 407-8. The salmon chief at Kettle Falls distributes the fish among the people, every one, even the smallest child, getting an equal share. Kane’s Wand., pp. 311-14. On Des Chutes River ‘they spear the fish with barbed iron points, fitted loosely by sockets to the ends of poles about eight feet long,’ to which they are fastened by a thong about twelve feet long. Abbott, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. vi., p. 90. On the upper Columbia an Indian ‘cut off a bit of his leathern shirt, about the size of a small bean; then pulling out two or three hairs from his horse’s tail for a line, tied the bit of leather to one end of it, in place of a hook or fly.’ Ross’ Adven., pp. 132-3. At the mouth of Flatbow River ‘a dike of round stones, which runs up obliquely against the main stream, on the west side, for more than one hundred yards in length, resembling the foundation of a wall.’ Similar range on the east side, supposed to be for taking fish at low water. Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. ii., pp. 165-6. West of the Rocky Mountains they fish ‘with great success by means of a kind of large basket suspended from a long cord.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., pp. 240-1. On Powder River they use the hook as a gaff. Coke’s Rocky Mts., p. 283. A Wasco spears three or four salmon of twenty to thirty pounds each in ten minutes. Remy and Brenchley’s Jour., vol. ii., p. 506. No salmon are taken above the upper falls of the Columbia. Thornton’s Ogn. and Cal., vol. i., p. 392. Walla Walla fish-weirs ‘formed of two curtains of small willow switches matted together with withes of the same plant, and extending across the river in two parallel lines, six feet asunder. These are supported by several parcels of poles, … and are either rolled up or let down at pleasure for a few feet…. A seine of fifteen or eighteen feet in length is then dragged down the river by two persons, and the bottom drawn up against the curtain of willows.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 532. Make fishing-nets of flax. Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 90. ‘The Inland, as well as the Coast, tribes, live to a great extent upon salmon.’ Mayne’s B. C., p. 242; Nicolay’s Ogn. Ter., pp. 152-3. Palouse ‘live solely by fishing.’ Mullan’s Rept., p. 49. Salmon cannot ascend to Coeur d’Alêne Lake. Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., pp. 209-10. Okanagan food ‘consists principally of salmon and a small fish which they call carp.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 462. The Walla Wallas ‘may well be termed the fishermen of the Skyuse camp.’ Farnham’s Trav., p. 82.

Hunting by Shushwaps, Salish, and Sahaptins

The larger varieties of game are hunted by the natives on horseback wherever the nature of the country will permit. Buffalo are now never found west of the Rocky Mountains, and there are but few localities where large game has ever been abundant, at least since the country became known to white men. Consequently the Flatheads, Nez Percés, and Kootenais, the distinctively hunting nations, as well as bands from nearly every other tribe, cross the mountains once or twice each year, penetrating to the buffalo-plains between the Yellowstone and the Missouri, in the territory of hostile nations. The bow and arrow was the weapon with which buffalo and all other game were shot. No peculiar cunning seems to have been necessary to the native hunter of buffalo; he had only to ride into the immense herds on his well-trained horse, and select the fattest animals for his arrows. Various devices are mentioned as being practiced in the chase of deer, elk, and mountain sheep; such as driving them by a circle of fire on the prairie towards the concealed hunters, or approaching within arrow-shot by skillful manipulations of a decoy animal; or the frightened deer are driven into an ambush by converging lines of bright-colored rags so placed in the bushes as to represent men. Kane states that about the Arrow Lakes hunting dogs are trained to follow the deer and to bring back the game to their masters even from very long distances. Deer are also pursued in the winter on snow-shoes, and in deep snow often knocked down with clubs. Bear and beaver are trapped in some places; and, especially about the northern lakes and marshes, wild fowl are very abundant, and help materially to eke out the supply of native food.[391]The Shushwaps formerly crossed the mountains to the Assinniboine territory. The Okanagans when hunting wear wolf or bear skin caps; there is no bird or beast whose voice they cannot imitate. War and hunting were the Nez Percé occupation; cross the mountains for buffalo. Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., pp. 148, 219, 297-8, 305. The chief game of the Nez Percés is the deer, ‘and whenever the ground will permit, the favourite hunt is on horseback.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 555. The Salish live by the chase, on elk, moose, deer, big-horn and bears; make two trips annually, spring to fall, and fall to mid-winter, across the mountains, accompanied by other nations. The Pend d’Oreilles hunt deer in the snow with clubs; have distinct localities for hunting each kind of game. Nez Percés, Flatheads, Coeurs d’Alêne, Spokanes, Pend d’Oreilles, etc., hunt together. Yakimas formerly joined the Flatheads in eastern hunt. Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 207-8, 212-15, 218, 225-6. ‘Two hunts annually across the mountains—one in April, for the bulls, from which they return in June and July; and another, after about a month’s recruit, to kill cows, which have by that time become fat.’ Stevens, Gibbs, and Suckley, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 415, 408, 296-7, vol. xii., p. 134. Kootenais live by the chase principally. Hutchins, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1863, p. 455. Spokanes rather indolent in hunting; hunting deer by fire. Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 197, vol. ii., pp. 46-7. The Kootenais ‘seldom hunt;’ there is not much to shoot except wild fowl in fall. Trap beaver and carriboeuf on a tributary of the Kootanie River. Palliser’s Explor., pp. 10, 15, 73. Flatheads ‘follow the buffalo upon the headwaters of Clarke and Salmon rivers.’ Nez Percé women accompany the men to the buffalo-hunt. Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 107, 311. Kootenais cross the mountains for buffalo. Mayne’s B. C., p. 297. Coeurs d’Alêne ditto. Mullan’s Rept., p. 49. Half of the Nez Percés ‘usually make a trip to the buffalo country for three months.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 494. Shushwaps ‘live by hunting the bighorns, mountain goats, and marmots.’ Milton and Cheadle’s N. W. Pass., p. 242. Buffalo never pass to west of the Rocky Mountains. Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 179; Kane’s Wand., p. 328; De Smet, Voy., pp. 31, 45, 144-5; Ind. Life, pp. 23-4, 34-41; Franchère’s Nar., pp. 268-9; Hunt, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., tom. x., 1821, pp. 77-82; Stuart, in Id., tom. xii., pp. 25, 35-6; Joset, in Id., tom. cxxiii., 1849, pp. 334-40.

Food and Its Preparation

Their natural improvidence, or an occasional unlucky hunting or fishing season, often reduces them to want, and in such case the resort is to roots, berries, and mosses, several varieties of which are also gathered and laid upas a part of their regular winter supplies. Chief among the roots are the camass, a sweet, onion-like bulb, which grows in moist prairies, the couse, which flourishes in more sterile and rocky spots, and the bitter-root, which names a valley and mountain range. To obtain these roots the natives make regular migrations, as for game or fish. The varieties of roots and berries used for food are very numerous; and none seem to grow in the country which to the native taste are unpalatable or injurious, though many are both to the European.[392]The Kliketats gather and eat peahay, a bitter root boiled into a jelly; n’poolthla, ground into flour; mamum and seekywa, made into bitter white cakes; kamass; calz, a kind of wild sunflower. Tolmie, in Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 247. The Flatheads go every spring to Camass Prairie. De Smet, Voy., p. 183. The Kootenais eat kamash and an edible moss. Id., Missions de l’Orégon, pp. 75-6. ‘The Cayooses, Nez Percés, and other warlike tribes assemble (in Yakima Valley) every spring to lay in a stock of the favourite kamass and pelua, or sweet potatoes.’ Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., p. 19. Quamash, round, onion-shaped, and sweet, eaten by the Nez Percés. Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 330. Couse root dug in April or May; camas in June and July. Alvord, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 656. The Skyuses ‘main subsistence is however upon roots.’ The Nez Percés eat kamash, cowish or biscuit root, jackap, aisish, quako, etc. Irving’s Bonneville’s Adven., p. 301, 388. Okanagans live extensively on moss made into bread. The Nez Percés also eat moss. Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 462, 494. Pend d’Oreilles at the last extremity live on pine-tree moss; also collect camash, bitter-roots, and sugar pears. Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 211, 214-15. ‘I never saw any berry in the course of my travels which the Indians scruple to eat, nor have I seen any ill effect from their doing so.’ Kane’s Wand., p. 327. The Kootenai food in September ‘appears to be almost entirely berries; namely, the “sasketoom” of the Crees, a delicious fruit, and a small species of cherry, also a sweet root which they obtain to the southward.’ Blakiston, in Palliser’s Explor., p. 73. Flatheads dig konah, ‘bitter root’ in May. It is very nutritious and very bitter. Pahseego, camas, or ‘water seego,’ is a sweet, gummy, bulbous root. Stuart’s Montana, pp. 57-8. Colvilles cut down pines for their moss (alectoria?). Kamas also eaten. Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 34. The Shushwaps eat moss and lichens, chiefly the black lichen, or whyelkine. Mayne’s B. C., p. 301; Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 127. The Salish in March and April eat popkah, an onion-like bulb; in May, spatlam, a root like vermicelli; in June and July, itwha, like roasted chestnuts; in August, wild fruits; in September, marani, a grain. Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 312.

Towards obtaining food the men hunt and fish; all the other work of digging roots, picking berries, as well as dressing, preserving, and cooking all kinds of food is done by the women, with some exceptions among the Nez Percés and Pend d’Oreilles. Buffalo-meat is jerked by cutting in thin pieces and drying in the sun and over smouldering fires on scaffolds of poles. Fish is sun-dried on scaffolds, and by some tribes on the lower Columbia is also pulverized between two stones and packed in baskets lined with fish-skin. Here, as on the coast, the heads and offal only are eaten during the fishing-season. The Walla Wallas are said usually to eat fish without cooking. Roots, mosses, and such berries as are preserved, are usually kept in cakes, which for eating are moistened, mixed in various proportions and cooked, or eaten without preparation. To make the cakes simply drying, pulverizing, moistening, and sun-drying usually suffice; but camas and pine-moss are baked or fermented for several days in an underground kiln by means of hot stones, coming out in the form of a dark gluey paste of the proper consistency for moulding. Many of these powdered roots may be preserved for years without injury. Boiling by means of hot stones and roasting on sharp sticks fixed in the ground near the fire, are the universal methods of cooking. No mention is made of peculiar customs in eating; to eat often and much is the aim; the style of serving is a secondary consideration.[393]At the Dalles ‘during the fishing season, the Indians live entirely on the heads, hearts and offal of the salmon, which they string on sticks, and roast over a small fire.’ Besides pine-moss, the Okanagans use the seed of the balsam oriza pounded into meal, called mielito. ‘To this is added the siffleurs.’ Berries made into cakes by the Nez Percés. Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 410, 462, 494. Quamash, ‘eaten either in its natural state, or boiled into a kind of soup, or made into a cake, which is then called pasheco.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 330, 353, 365, 369. Women’s head-dress serves the Flatheads for cooking, etc. De Smet, Voy., pp. 47, 193-9; Id., Missions de l’Orégon, pp. 75-6. ‘The dog’s tongue is the only dish-cloth known’ to the Okanagans. Pine-moss cooked, or squill-ape, will keep for years. ‘At their meals they generally eat separately and in succession—man, woman and child.’ Ross’ Adven., pp. 132-3, 295, 317-18. ‘Most of their food is roasted, and they excel in roasting fish.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 231, 107. ‘Pine moss, which they boil till it is reduced to a sort of glue or black paste, of a sufficient consistence to take the form of biscuit.’ Franchère’s Nar., p. 279. Couse tastes like parsnips, is dried and pulverized, and sometimes boiled with meat. Alvord, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 656. Root bread on the Clearwater tastes like that made of pumpkins. Gass’ Jour., pp. 202-3. Kamas after coming from the kiln is ‘made into large cakes, by being mashed, and pressed together, and slightly baked in the sun.’ White-root, pulverized with stones, moistened and sun-baked, tastes not unlike stale biscuits. Townsend’s Nar., pp. 126-7. Camas and sun-flower seed mixed with salmon-heads caused in the eater great distension of the stomach. Remy and Brenchley’s Jour., vol. ii., pp. 509-11. Sowete, is the name of the mixture last named, among the Cayuses. Coke’s Rocky Mts., p. 310; Ind. Life, p. 41; Stuart’s Montana, pp. 57-8; Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 34; Kane’s Wand., pp. 272-3; Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 214-15. Life with all these nations is but a struggle for food, and the poorer tribes are often reduced nearly to starvation; yet they never are known to kill dogs or horses for food. About the missions and on the reservations cattle have been introduced and the soil is cultivated by the natives to considerable extent.[394]Additional notes and references on procuring food. The Okanagans break up winter quarters in February; wander about in small bands till June. Assemble on the river and divide into two parties of men and two of women for fishing and dressing fish, hunting and digging roots, until October; hunt in small parties in the mountains or the interior for four or six weeks; and then go into winter quarters on the small rivers. Ross’ Adven., pp. 314-16. Further south on the Columbia plains the natives collect and dry roots until May; fish on the north bank of the river till September, burying the fish; dig camas on the plains till snow falls; and retire to the foot of the mountains to hunt deer and elk through the winter. The Nez Percés catch salmon and dig roots in summer; hunt deer on snow-shoes in winter; and cross the mountains for buffalo in spring. Sokulks live on fish, roots, and antelope. Eneeshur, Echeloots, and Chilluckittequaw, on fish, berries, roots and nuts. Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 444-5, 340-1, 352, 365, 370. Spokanes live on deer, wild fowl, salmon, trout, carp, pine-moss, roots and wild fruit. They have no repugnance to horse-flesh, but never kill horses for food. The Sinapoils live on salmon, camas, and an occasional small deer. The Chaudiere country well stocked with game, fish and fruit. Cox’s Adven., vol. i., p. 201, vol. ii., p. 145. The Kayuse live on fish, game, and camass bread. De Smet, Voy., pp. 30-1. ‘Ils cultivent avec succès le blé, les patates, les pois et plusieurs autres légumes et fruits.’ Id., Miss. de l’Orégon., p. 67. Pend d’Oreilles; fish, Kamash, and pine-tree moss. Id., West. Missions, p. 284. ‘Whole time was occupied in providing for their bellies, which were rarely full.’ Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 211. Yakimas and Kliketats; Unis or fresh-water muscles, little game, sage-fowl and grouse, kamas, berries, salmon. The Okanagans raise some potatoes. Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 404, 408, 413. Kootenais; fish and wild fowl, berries and pounded meat, have cows and oxen. Palliser’s Explor., pp. 10, 72. Palouse; fish, birds, and small animals. Umatillas; fish, sage-cocks, prairie-hares. Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 97, 105-6. Tushepaws would not permit horses or dogs to be eaten. Irving’s Astoria, p. 316. Nez Percés; beaver, elk, deer, white bear, and mountain sheep, also steamed roots. Id., Bonneville’s Adven., p. 301. Sahaptin; gather cherries and berries on Clarke River. Gass’ Jour., p. 193; Nicolay’s Ogn. Ter., p. 151; Hines’ Voy., p. 167; Brownell’s Ind. Races, pp. 533-5; Stanley’s Portraits, pp. 63-71; Catlin’s N. Am. Ind., vol. ii., p. 108; Kane’s Wand., pp. 263-4; Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 228-31, 309; Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 474; Hale’s Ethnog., Ib., vol. vi., p. 206.

Personal Habits in the Interior

In their personal habits, as well as the care of their lodges, the Cayuses, Nez Percés, and Kootenais, are mentioned as neat and cleanly; the rest, though filthy, are still somewhat superior to the dwellers on the coast. The Flatheads wash themselves daily, but their dishes and utensils never. De Smet represents the Pend d’Oreille women as untidy even for savages.[395]Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 383, 548; Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 230, 312; Townsend’s Nar., p. 148; De Smet, Voy., pp. 46-7, 198; Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 197-9, 358, vol. ii., pp. 155, 373, 375; Coke’s Rocky Mts., p. 295; Palmer’s Jour., pp. 54, 58, 59. Guns, knives and tomahawks have generally taken the place of such native weapons as these natives may have used against their foes originally. Only the bow and arrow have survived intercourse with white men, and no other native weapon is described, except one peculiar to the Okanagans,—a kind of Indian slung-shot. This is a small cylindrical ruler of hard wood, covered with raw hide, which at one end forms a small bag and holds a round stone as large as a goose-egg; the other end of the weapon is tied to the wrist. Arrow-shafts are of hard wood, carefully straightened by rolling between two blocks, fitted by means of sinews with stone or flint heads at one end, and pinnated with feathers at the other. The most elastic woods are chosen for the bow, and its force is augmented by tendons glued to its back.[396]The Okanagan weapon is called a Spampt. Ross’ Adven., pp. 318-19; Id., Fur Hunters, vol. i., pp. 306-8. ‘Ils … faire leurs arcs d’un bois très-élastique, ou de la corne du cerf.’ De Smet, Voy., p. 48; Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 488; Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 405; Townsend’s Nar., p. 98; Irving’s Astoria, p. 317; Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 351; Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 106-7, 233; Cox’s Adven., vol. i., p. 216.

The Inland Nations at War

The inland families cannot be called a warlike race. Resort to arms for the settlement of their intertribal disputes seems to have been very rare. Yet all are brave warriors when fighting becomes necessary for defense or vengeance against a foreign foe; notably so the Cayuses, Nez Percés, Flatheads and Kootenais. The two former waged both aggressive and defensive warfare against the Snakes of the south; while the latter joined their arms against their common foes, the eastern Blackfeet, who, though their inferiors in bravery, nearly exterminated the Flathead nation by superiority in numbers, and by being the first to obtain the white man’s weapons. Departure on a warlike expedition is always preceded by ceremonious preparation, including councils of the wise, great, and old; smoking the pipe, harangues by the chiefs, dances, and a general review, or display of equestrian feats and the manœuvres of battle. The warriors are always mounted; in many tribes white or speckled war-horses are selected, and both rider and steed are gaily painted, and decked with feathers, trinkets, and bright-colored cloths. The war-party in most nations is under the command of a chief periodically elected by the tribe, who has no authority whatever in peace, but who keeps his soldiers in the strictest discipline in time of war. Stealthy approach and an unexpected attack in the early morning constitute their favorite tactics. They rush on the enemy like a whirlwind, with terrific yells, discharge their guns or arrows, and retire to prepare for another attack. The number slain is rarely large; the fall of a few men, or the loss of a chief decides the victory. When a man falls, a rush is made for his scalp, which is defended by his party, and a fierce hand-to-hand conflict ensues, generally terminating the battle. After the fight, or before it when either party lacks confidence in the result, a peace is made by smoking the pipe, with the most solemn protestations of goodwill, and promises which neither party has the slightest intention of fulfilling. The dead having been scalped, and prisoners bound and taken up behind the victors, the party starts homeward. Torture of the prisoners, chiefly perpetrated by the women, follows the arrival. By the Flatheads and northern nations captives are generally killed by their sufferings; among the Sahaptins some survive and are made slaves. In the Flathead torture of the Blackfeet are practiced all the fiendish acts of cruelty that native cunning can devise, all of which are borne with the traditional stoicism and taunts of the North American Indian. The Nez Percé system is a little less cruel in order to save life for future slavery. Day after day, at a stated hour, the captives are brought out and made to hold the scalps of their dead friends aloft on poles while the scalp-dance is performed about them, the female participators meanwhile exerting all their devilish ingenuity in tormenting their victims.[397]Torture of Blackfeet prisoners; burning with a red-hot gun-barrel, pulling out the nails, taking off fingers, scooping out the eyes, scalping, revolting cruelties to female captives. The disputed right of the Flatheads to hunt buffalo at the eastern foot of the mountains is the cause of the long-continued hostility. The wisest and bravest is annually elected war chief. The war chief carries a long whip and secures discipline by flagellation. Except a few feathers and pieces of red cloth, both the Flathead and Kootenai enter battle perfectly naked. Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 232-45, vol. ii., p. 160. The Cayuse and Sahaptin are the most warlike of all the southern tribes. The Nez Percés good warriors, but do not follow war as a profession. Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., pp. 185-6, 305, 308-12, vol. ii., pp. 93-6, 139. Among the Okanagans ‘the hot bath, council, and ceremony of smoking the great pipe before war, is always religiously observed. Their laws, however, admit of no compulsion, nor is the chief’s authority implicitly obeyed on these occasions; consequently, every one judges for himself, and either goes or stays as he thinks proper. With a view, however, to obviate this defect in their system, they have instituted the dance, which answers every purpose of a recruiting service.’ ‘Every man, therefore, who enters within this ring and joins in the dance … is in honour bound to assist in carrying on the war.’ Id., Adven. pp. 319-20. Mock battles and military display for the entertainment of white visitors. Hines’ Voy., pp. 173-4. The Chilluckittequaws cut off the forefingers of a slain enemy as trophies. Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 375-6. When scouting, ‘Flathead chief would ride at full gallop so near the foe as to flap in their faces the eagle’s tail streaming behind (from his cap), yet no one dared seize the tail or streamer, it being considered sacrilegious and fraught with misfortune to touch it.’ Tolmie, in Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 238. A thousand Walla Wallas came to the Sacramento River in 1846, to avenge the death of a young chief killed by an American about a year before. Colton’s Three Years in Cal., p. 52. One Flathead is said to be equal to four Blackfeet in battle. De Smet, Voy., pp. 31, 49; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 312-13; Gray’s Hist. Ogn., pp. 171-4; Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 233-7; Stanley’s Portraits, pp. 65-71; Ind. Life, pp. 23-5; Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 495.

The native saddle consists of a rude wooden frame, under and over which is thrown a buffalo-robe, and which is bound to the horse by a very narrow thong of hide in place of the Mexican cincha. A raw-hide crupper is used; a deer-skin pad sometimes takes the place of the upper robe, or the robe and pad are used without the wooden frame. Stirrups are made by binding three straight pieces of wood or bone together in triangular form, and sometimes covering all with raw-hide put on wet; or one straight piece is suspended from a forked thong, and often the simple thong passing round the foot suffices. The bridle is a rope of horse-hair or of skin, made fast with a half hitch round the animal’s lower jaw. The same rope usually serves for bridle and lariat. Sharp bones, at least in later times, are used for spurs. Wood is split for the few native uses by elk-horn wedges driven by bottle-shaped stone mallets. Baskets and vessels for holding water and cooking are woven of willow, bark, and grasses. Rushes, growing in all swampy localities are cut of uniform length, laid parallel and tied together for matting. Rude bowls and spoons are sometimes dug out of horn or wood, but the fingers, with pieces of bark and small mats are the ordinary table furniture. Skins are dressed by spreading, scraping off the flesh, and for some purposes the hair, with a sharp piece of bone, stone, or iron attached to a short handle, and used like an adze. The skin is then smeared with the animal’s brains, and rubbed or pounded by a very tedious process till it becomes soft and white, some hides being previously smoked and bleached with white clay.[398]White marl clay used to cleanse skin robes, by making it into a paste, rubbing it on the hide and leaving it to dry, after which it is rubbed off. Saddles usually sit uneasily on the horse’s back. Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 106, 232-4. ‘Mallet of stone curiously carved’ among the Sokulks. Near the Cascades was seen a ladder resembling those used by the whites. The Pishquitpaws used ‘a saddle or pad of dressed skin, stuffed with goats’ hair.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 353, 370, 375, 528. On the Fraser a rough kind of isinglass was at one time prepared and traded to the Hudson Bay Company. Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 177. ‘The Sahaptins still make a kind of vase of lava, somewhat in the shape of a crucible, but very wide; they use it as a mortar for pounding the grain, of which they make cakes.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., pp. 64, 243. (Undoubtedly an error.) Pend d’Oreilles; ‘les femmes … font des nattes de joncs, des paniers, et des chapeaux sans bords.’ De Smet, Voy., p. 199. ‘Nearly all (the Shushwaps) use the Spanish wooden saddle, which they make with much skill.’ Mayne’s B. C., pp. 301-2. ‘The saddles for women differ in form, being furnished with the antlers of a deer, so as to resemble the high pommelled saddle of the Mexican ladies.’ Franchère’s Nar., pp. 269-70; Palmer’s Jour., p. 129; Irving’s Astoria, p. 317, 365; Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 148-9.

PREPARATION OF SKINS. RIVER-BOATS.

On the lower Columbia the Wascos, Kliketats, Walla Wallas, and other tribes use dug-out boats like those of the coast, except that little skill or labor is expended on their construction or ornamentation; the only requisite being supporting capacity, as is natural in a country where canoes play but a small part in the work of procuring food. Farther in the interior the mountain tribes of the Sahaptin family, as the Cayuses and Nez Percés, make no boats, but use rude rafts or purchase an occasional canoe from their neighbors, for the rare cases when it becomes necessary to transport property across an unfordable stream. The Flatheads sew up their lodge-skins into a temporary boat for the same purpose. On the Fraser the Nootka dug-out is in use. But on the northern lakes and rivers of the interior, the Pend d’Oreille, Flatbow, Arrow, and Okanagan, northward to the Tacully territory, the natives manufacture and navigate bark canoes. Both birch and pine are employed, by stretching it over a cedar hoop-work frame, sewing the ends with fine roots, and gumming the seams and knots. The form is very peculiar; the stem and stern are pointed, but the points are on a level with the bottom of the boat, and the slope or curve is upward towards the centre. Travelers describe them as carrying a heavy load, but easily capsized unless when very skillfully managed.[399]‘The white-pine bark is a very good substitute for birch, but has the disadvantage of being more brittle in cold weather.’ Suckley, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 296. Yakima boats are ‘simply logs hollowed out and sloped up at the ends, without form or finish.’ Gibbs, in Id., p. 408. The Flatheads ‘have no canoes, but in ferrying streams use their lodge skins, which are drawn up into an oval form by cords, and stretched on a few twigs. These they tow with horses, riding sometimes three abreast.’ Stevens, in Id., p. 415. In the Kootenai canoe ‘the upper part is covered, except a space in the middle.’ The length is twenty-two feet, the bottom being a dead level from end to end. Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. ii., pp. 169-70. ‘The length of the bottom of the one I measured was twelve feet, the width between the gunwales only seven and one half feet.’ ‘When an Indian paddles it, he sits at the extreme end, and thus sinks the conical point, which serves to steady the canoe like a fish’s tail.’ Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 178-9, 255-7. On the Arrow Lakes ‘their form is also peculiar and very beautiful. These canoes run the rapids with more safety than those of any other shape.’ Kane’s Wand., p. 328. See De Smet, Voy., pp. 35, 187; Irving’s Astoria, p. 319; Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 375; Hector, in Palliser’s Explor., p. 27; Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 208, 214, 223, 238.

Horses, Property, and Trade

Horses constitute the native wealth, and poor indeed is the family which has not for each member, young and old, an animal to ride, as well as others sufficient to transport all the household goods, and to trade for the few foreign articles needed. The Nez Percés, Cayuses and Walla Wallas have more and better stock than other nations, individuals often possessing bands of from one thousand to three thousand. The Kootenais are the most northern equestrian tribes mentioned. How the natives originally obtained horses is unknown, although there are some slight traditions in support of the natural supposition that they were first introduced from the south by way of the Shoshones. The latter are one people with the Comanches, by whom horses were obtained during the Spanish expeditions to New Mexico in the sixteenth century. The horses of the natives are of small size, probably degenerated from a superior stock, but hardy and surefooted; sustaining hunger and hard usage better than those of the whites, but inferior to them in form, action, and endurance. All colors are met with, spotted and mixed colors being especially prized.[400]‘The tradition is that horses were obtained from the southward,’ not many generations back. Tolmie, in Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 247, 177-8. Individuals of the Walla Wallas have over one thousand horses. Warre and Vavasour, in Martin’s Hud. Bay, p. 83. Kootenais rich in horses and cattle. Palliser’s Explor., pp. 44, 73. Kliketat and Yakima horses sometimes fine, but injured by early usage; deteriorated from a good stock; vicious and lazy. Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 405. ‘La richesse principale des sauvages de l’ouest consiste en chevaux.’ De Smet, Voy., pp. 47, 56. At an assemblage of Walla Wallas, Shahaptains and Kyoots, ‘the plains were literally covered with horses, of which there could not have been less than four thousand in sight of the camp.’ Ross’ Adven., p. 127. The Kootanies about Arrow Lake, or Sinatcheggs have no horses, as the country is not suitable for them. Id., Fur Hunters, vol. ii., pp. 171-2. Of the Spokanes the ‘chief riches are their horses, which they generally obtain in barter from the Nez Percés.’ Cox’s Adven., vol. i., p. 200. A Skyuse is poor who has but fifteen or twenty horses. The horses are a fine race, ‘as large and of better form and more activity than most of the horses of the States.’ Farnham’s Trav., p. 82. The Flatheads ‘are the most northern of the equestrian tribes.’ Nicolay’s Ogn. Ter., p. 153. Many Nez Percés ‘have from five to fifteen hundred head of horses.’ Palmer’s Jour., pp. 128-9. Indians of the Spokane and Flathead tribes ‘own from one thousand to four thousand head of horses and cattle.’ Stevens’ Address, p. 12. The Nez Percé horses ‘are principally of the pony breed; but remarkably stout and long-winded.’ Irving’s Bonneville’s Adven., p. 301; Hastings’ Em. Guide, p. 59; Hines’ Voy., p. 344; Gass’ Jour., p. 295; Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 230.

The different articles of food, skins and grasses for clothing and lodges and implements, shells and trinkets for ornamentation and currency are also bartered between the nations, and the annual summer gatherings on the rivers serve as fairs for the display and exchange of commodities; some tribes even visit the coast for purposes of trade. Smoking the pipe often precedes and follows a trade, and some peculiar commercial customs prevail, as for instance when a horse dies soon after purchase, the price may be reclaimed. The rights of property are jealously defended, but in the Salish nations, according to Hale, on the death of a father his relatives seize the most valuable property with very little attention to the rights of children too young to look out for their own interests.[401]The Chilluckittequaw intercourse seems to be an intermediate trade with the nations near the mouth of the Columbia. The Chopunnish trade for, as well as hunt, buffalo-robes east of the mountains. Course of trade in the Sahaptin county: The plain Indians during their stay on the river from May to September, before they begin fishing, go down to the falls with skins, mats, silk-grass, rushes and chapelell bread. Here they meet the mountain tribes from the Kooskooskie (Clearwater) and Lewis rivers, who bring bear-grass, horses, quamash and a few skins obtained by hunting or by barter from the Tushepaws. At the falls are the Chilluckittequaws, Eneeshurs, Echeloots and Skilloots, the latter being intermediate traders between the upper and lower tribes. These tribes have pounded fish for sale; and the Chinooks bring wappato, sea-fish, berries, and trinkets obtained from the whites. Then the trade begins; the Chopunnish and mountain tribes buy wappato, pounded fish and beads; and the plain Indians buy wappato, horses, beads, etc. Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 341, 382, 444-5. Horse-fairs in which the natives display the qualities of their steeds with a view to sell. Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 86-7. The Oakinacks make trips to the Pacific to trade wild hemp for hiaqua shells and trinkets. Ross’ Adven., pp. 291, 323. Trade conducted in silence between a Flathead and Crow. De Smet, Voy., p. 56. Kliketats and Yakimas ‘have become to the neighboring tribes what the Yankees were to the once Western States, the traveling retailers of notions.’ Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 403, 406. Cayuses, Walla Wallas, and Nez Percés meet in Grande Ronde Valley to trade with the Snakes. Thornton’s Ogn. and Cal., vol. i., p. 270; Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 208; Cox’s Adven., vol. ii., pp. 88-9, 156; Palmer’s Jour., pp. 46, 54; Dunniway’s Capt. Gray’s Comp., p. 160; Coke’s Rocky Mts., p. 294; Mayne’s B. C., p. 299; Gass’ Jour., p. 205. Indeed, I have heard of deeds of similar import in white races. In decorative art the inland natives must be pronounced inferior to those of the coast, perhaps only because they have less time to devote to such unproductive labor. Sculpture and painting are rare and exceedingly rude. On the coast the passion for ornamentation finds vent in carving and otherwise decorating the canoe, house, and implements; in the interior it expends itself on the caparison of the horse, or in bead and fringe work on garments. Systems of numeration are simple, progressing by fours, fives, or tens, according to the different languages, and is sufficiently extensive to include large numbers; but the native rarely has occasion to count beyond a few hundreds, commonly using his fingers as an aid to his numeration. Years are reckoned by winters, divided by moons into months, and these months named from the ripening of some plant, the occurrence of a fishing or hunting season, or some other periodicity in their lives, or by the temperature. Among the Salish the day is divided according to the position of the sun into nine parts. De Smet states that maps are made on bark or skins by which to direct their course on distant excursions, and that they are guided at night by the polar star.[402]In calculating time the Okanagans use their fingers, each finger standing for ten; some will reckon to a thousand with tolerable accuracy, but most can scarcely count to twenty. Ross’ Adven., p. 324. The Flatheads ‘font néanmoins avec précision, sur des écorces d’arbres ou sur des peaux le plan, des pays qu’ils ont parcourus, marquant les distances par journées, demi-journées ou quarts de journées.’ De Smet, Voy., p. 205. Count years by snows, months by moons, and days by sleeps. Have names for each number up to ten; then add ten to each; and then add a word to multiply by ten. Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 242. Names of the months in the Pisquouse and Salish languages beginning with January;—’cold, a certain herb, snow-gone, bitter-root, going to root-ground, camass-root, hot, gathering berries, exhausted salmon, dry, house-building, snow.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 211. ‘Menses computant lunis, ex spkani, sol vel luna et dies per ferias. Hebdomadam unicam per splcháskat, septem dies, plures vero hebdomadas per s’chaxèus, id est, vexillum quod a duce maximo qualibet die dominica suspendebatur. Dies antem in novem dividitur partes.’ Mengarini, Grammatica Linguae Selicae, p. 120; Sproat’s Scenes, p. 270; Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 374.

Chiefs and Their Authority

War chiefs are elected for their bravery and past success, having full authority in all expeditions, marching at the head of their forces, and, especially among the Flatheads, maintaining the strictest discipline, even to the extent of inflicting flagellation on insubordinates. With the war their power ceases, yet they make no effort by partiality during office to insure re-election, and submit without complaint to a successor. Except by the war chiefs no real authority is exercised. The regular chieftainship is hereditary so far as any system is observed, but chiefs who have raised themselves to their position by their merits are mentioned among nearly all the nations. The leaders are always men of commanding influence and often of great intelligence. They take the lead in haranguing at the councils of wise men, which meet to smoke and deliberate on matters of public moment. These councils decide the amount of fine necessary to atone for murder, theft, and the few crimes known to the native code; a fine, the chief’s reprimand, and rarely flogging, probably not of native origin, are the only punishments; and the criminal seldom attempts to escape. As the more warlike nations have especial chiefs with real power in time of war, so the fishing tribes, some of them, grant great authority to a ‘salmon chief’ during the fishing-season. But the regular inland chiefs never collect taxes nor presume to interfere with the rights or actions of individuals or families.[403]The twelve Oakinack tribes ‘form, as it were, so many states belonging to the same union, and are governed by petty chiefs.’ The chieftainship descends from father to son; and though merely nominal in authority, the chief is rarely disobeyed. Property pays for all crimes. Ross’ Adven., pp. 289-94, 322-3, 327. The Chualpays are governed by the ‘chief of the earth’ and ‘chief of the waters,’ the latter having exclusive authority in the fishing-season. Kane’s Wand., pp. 309-13. The Nez Percés offered a Flathead the position of head chief, through admiration of his qualities. De Smet, Voy., pp. 50, 171. Among the Kalispels the chief appoints his successor, or if he fails to do so, one is elected. De Smet, Western Miss., p. 297. The Flathead war chief carries a long whip, decorated with scalps and feathers to enforce strict discipline. The principal chief is hereditary. Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 241-2, vol. ii., p. 88. The ‘camp chief’ of the Flatheads as well as the war chief was chosen for his merits. Ind. Life, pp. 28-9. Among the Nez Percés and Wascos ‘the form of government is patriarchal. They acknowledge the hereditary principle—blood generally decides who shall be the chief.’ Alvord, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., pp. 652-4. No regularly recognized chief among the Spokanes, but an intelligent and rich man often controls the tribe by his influence. Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 475-6. ‘The Salish can hardly be said to have any regular form of government.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., pp. 207-8. Every winter the Cayuses go down to the Dalles to hold a council over the Chinooks ‘to ascertain their misdemeanors and punish them therefor by whipping’! Farnham’s Trav., p. 81-2. Among the Salish ‘criminals are sometimes punished by banishment from their tribe.’ ‘Fraternal union and the obedience to the chiefs are truly admirable.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., pp. 343-4; Hines’ Voy., p. 157; Stanley’s Portraits, p. 63;Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 311-12; White’s Oregon, p. 189; Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 108; Joset, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., tom. cxxiii., 1849, pp. 334-40. Prisoners of war, not killed by torture, are made slaves, but they are few in number, and their children are adopted into the victorious tribe. Hereditary slavery and the slave-trade are unknown. The Shushwaps are said to have no slaves.[404]‘Slavery is common with all the tribes.’ Warre and Vavasour, in Martin’s Hud. B., p. 83. Sahaptins always make slaves of prisoners of war. The Cayuses have many. Alvord, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 654; Palmer’s Jour., p. 56. Among the Okanagans ‘there are but few slaves … and these few are adopted as children, and treated in all respects as members of the family.’ Ross’ Adven., p. 320. The inland tribes formerly practiced slavery, but long since abolished it. Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 247. ‘Not practised in the interior.’ Mayne’s B. C., p. 243. Not practiced by the Shushwaps. Anderson, in Hist. Mag., vol. vii., p. 78.

Family Relations

In choosing a helpmate, or helpmates, for his bed and board, the inland native makes capacity for work the standard of female excellence, and having made a selection buys a wife from her parents by the payment of an amount of property, generally horses, which among the southern nations must be equaled by the girl’s parents. Often a betrothal is made by parents while both parties are yet children, and such a contract, guaranteed by an interchange of presents, is rarely broken. To give away a wife without a price is in the highest degree disgraceful to her family. Besides payment of the price, generally made for the suitor by his friends, courtship in some nations includes certain visits to the bride before marriage; and the Spokane suitor must consult both the chief and the young lady, as well as her parents; indeed the latter may herself propose if she wishes. Runaway matches are not unknown, but by the Nez Percés the woman is in such cases considered a prostitute, and the bride’s parents may seize upon the man’s property. Many tribes seem to require no marriage ceremony, but in others an assemblage of friends for smoking and feasting is called for on such occasions; and among the Flatheads more complicated ceremonies are mentioned, of which long lectures to the couple, baths, change of clothing, torch-light processions, and dancing form a part. In the married state the wife must do all the heavy work and drudgery, but is not otherwise ill treated, and in most tribes her rights are equally respected with those of the husband.

Women and Children

When there are several wives each occupies a separate lodge, or at least has a separate fire. Among the Spokanes a man marrying out of his own tribe joins that of his wife, because she can work better in a country to which she is accustomed; and in the same nation all household goods are considered as the wife’s property. The man who marries the eldest daughter is entitled to all the rest, and parents make no objection to his turning off one in another’s favor. Either party may dissolve the marriage at will, but property must be equitably divided, the children going with the mother. Discarded wives are often reinstated. If a Kliketat wife die soon after marriage, the husband may reclaim her price; the Nez Percé may not marry for a year after her death, but he is careful to avoid the inconvenience of this regulation by marrying just before that event. The Salish widow must remain a widow for about two years, and then must marry agreeably to her mother-in-law’s taste or forfeit her husband’s property.[405]Each Okanagan ‘family is ruled by the joint will or authority of the husband and wife, but more particularly by the latter.’ Wives live at different camps among their relatives; one or two being constantly with the husband. Brawls constantly occur when several wives meet. The women are chaste, and attached to husband and children. At the age of fourteen or fifteen the young man pays his addresses in person to the object of his love, aged eleven or twelve. After the old folks are in bed, he goes to her wigwam, builds a fire, and if welcome the mother permits the girl to come and sit with him for a short time. These visits are several times repeated, and he finally goes in the day-time with friends and his purchase money. Ross’ Adven., pp. 295-302. The Spokane husband joins his wife’s tribe; women are held in great respect; and much affection is shown for children. Among the Nez Percés both men and women have the power of dissolving the marriage tie at pleasure. Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 410, 475-6, 486, 495. The Coeurs d’Alêne ‘have abandoned polygamy.’ Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 149, 309; Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 406. Pend d’Oreille women less enslaved than in the mountains, but yet have much heavy work, paddle canoes, etc. Generally no marriage among savages. De Smet, Voy., pp. 198-9, 210. The Nez Percés generally confine themselves to two wives, and rarely marry cousins. No wedding ceremony. Alvord, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 655. Polygamy not general on the Fraser; and unknown to Kootenais. Cox’s Adven., vol. ii., pp. 155, 379, vol. i., pp. 256-9. Nez Percés have abandoned polygamy. Palmer’s Jour., pp. 129, 56. Flathead women do everything but hunt and fight. Ind. Life, p. 41. Flathead women ‘by no means treated as slaves, but, on the contrary, have much consideration and authority.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 207. ‘Rarely marry out of their own nation,’ and do not like their women to marry whites. Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 313-14. The Sokulk men ‘are said to content themselves with a single wife, with whom … the husband shares the labours of procuring subsistence much more than is usual among savages.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 351; Dunniway’s Capt. Gray’s Comp., p. 161; Gray’s Hist. Ogn., p. 171; Tolmie and Anderson, in Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 231-5; Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 208; De Smet’s West. Miss., p. 289. The women make faithful, obedient wives and affectionate mothers. Incontinence in either girls or married women is extremely rare, and prostitution almost unknown, being severely punished, especially among the Nez Percés. In this respect the inland tribes present a marked contrast to their coast neighbors.[406]The wife of a young Kootenai left him for another, whereupon he shot himself. Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. ii., p. 169. Among the Flatheads ‘conjugal infidelity is scarcely known.’ Dunn’s Oregon, p. 311. The Sahaptins ‘do not exhibit those loose feelings of carnal desire, nor appear addicted to the common customs of prostitution.’ Gass’ Jour., p. 275. Inland tribes have a reputation for chastity, probably due to circumstances rather than to fixed principles. Mayne’s B. C., p. 300. Spokanes ‘free from the vice of incontinence’. Among the Walla Wallas prostitution is unknown, ‘and I believe no inducement would tempt them to commit a breach of chastity.’ Prostitution common on the Fraser. Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 145, 199-200. Nez Percé women remarkable for their chastity. Alvord, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 655. At the first appearance of the menses the woman must retire from the sight of all, especially men, for a period varying from ten days to a month, and on each subsequent occasion for two or three days, and must be purified by repeated ablutions before she may resume her place in the household. Also at the time of her confinement she is deemed unclean, and must remain for a few weeks in a separate lodge, attended generally by an old woman. The inland woman is not prolific, and abortions are not uncommon, which may probably be attributed in great measure to her life of labor and exposure. Children are not weaned till between one and two years of age; sometimes not until they abandon the breast of their own accord or are supplanted by a new arrival; yet though subsisting on the mother’s milk alone, and exposed with slight clothing to all extremes of weather, they are healthy and robust, being carried about in a rude cradle on the mother’s back, or mounted on colts and strapped to the saddle that they may not fall off when asleep. After being weaned the child is named after some animal, but the name is changed frequently later in life.[407]In the Salish family on the birth of a child wealthy relatives make presents of food and clothing. The Nez Percé mother gives presents but receives none on such an occasion. The Flatheads and Pend d’Oreilles bandage the waist and legs of infants with a view to producing broad-shouldered, small-waisted and straight-limbed adults. Tolmie and Anderson, in Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 231-2. Among the Walla Wallas ‘when traveling a hoop, bent over the head of the child, protects it from injury.’ The confinement after child-birth continues forty days. At the first menstruation the Spokane woman must conceal herself two days in the forest; for a man to see her would be fatal; she must then be confined for twenty days longer in a separate lodge. Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 426-8, 485. The Okanagan mother is not allowed to prepare her unborn infant’s swaddling clothes, which consist of a piece of board, a bit of skin, a bunch of moss, and a string. Ross’ Adven., pp. 324-30. ‘Small children, not more than three years old, are mounted alone and generally upon colts.’ Younger ones are carried on the mother’s back ‘or suspended from a high knob upon the forepart of their saddles.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 98. Houses among the Chopunnish ‘appropriated for women who are undergoing the operation of the menses.’ ‘When anything is to be conveyed to these deserted females, the person throws it to them forty or fifty paces off, and then retires.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 539; Townsend’s Nar., p. 78; Alvord, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 655. Although children and old people are as a rule kindly cared for, yet so great the straits to which the tribes are reduced by circumstances, that both are sometimes abandoned if not put to death.[408]With the Pend d’Oreilles ‘it was not uncommon for them to bury the very old and the very young alive, because, they said, “these cannot take care of themselves, and we cannot take care of them, and they had better die.”‘ Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 211; Suckley, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 297; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 328; White’s Ogn., p. 96; Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 148-9.

Games in the Interior

The annual summer gathering on the river banks for fishing and trade, and, among the mountain nations, the return from a successful raid in the enemy’s country, are the favorite periods for native diversions.[409]In the Yakima Valley ‘we visited every street, alley, hole and corner of the camp…. Here was gambling, there scalp-dancing; laughter in one place, mourning in another. Crowds were passing to and fro, whooping, yelling, dancing, drumming, singing. Men, women, and children were huddled together; flags flying, horses neighing, dogs howling, chained bears, tied wolves, grunting and growling, all pell-mell among the tents.’ Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., p. 28. At Kettle Falls ‘whilst awaiting the coming salmon, the scene is one great revel: horse-racing, gambling, love-making, dancing, and diversions of all sorts, occupy the singular assembly; for at these annual gatherings … feuds and dislikes are for the time laid by.’ Lord’s Nat., vol. i., pp. 72-3. To gambling they are no less passionately addicted in the interior than on the coast,[410]The principal amusement of the Okanagans is gambling, ‘at which they are not so quarrelsome as the Spokans and other tribes,’ disputes being settled by arbitration. Cox’s Adven., vol. ii., p. 88. A young man at Kettle Falls committed suicide, having lost everything at gambling. Kane’s Wand., pp. 309-10. ‘Les Indiens de la Colombie ont porté les jeux de hasard au dernier excès. Après avoir perdu tout ce qu’ils ont, ils se mettent eux-mêmes sur le tapis, d’abord une main, ensuite l’autre; s’ils les perdent, les bras, et ainsi de suite tous les membres du corps; la tête suit, et s’ils la perdent, ils deviennent esclaves pour la vie avec leurs femmes et leurs enfants.’ De Smet, Voy., pp. 49-50. Many Kooteneais have abandoned gambling. De Smet, West. Miss., p. 300. ‘Whatever the poor Indian can call his own, is ruthlessly sacrificed to this Moloch of human weakness.’ Ind. Life, p. 42; Irving’s Bonneville’s Adven., p. 102-3. but even in this universal Indian vice, their preference for horse-racing, the noblest form of gaming, raises them above their stick-shuffling brethren of the Pacific. On the speed of his horse the native stakes all he owns, and is discouraged only when his animal is lost, and with it the opportunity to make up past losses in another race. Foot-racing and target-shooting, in which men, women and children participate, also afford them indulgence in their gambling propensities and at the same time develop their bodies by exercise, and perfect their skill in the use of their native weapon.[411]Spokanes; ‘one of their great amusements is horse-racing.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 487. Kliketats and Yakimas; ‘the racing season is the grand annual occasion of these tribes. A horse of proved reputation is a source of wealth or ruin to his owner. On his speed he stakes his whole stud, his household goods, clothes, and finally his wives; and a single heat doubles his fortune, or sends him forth an impoverished adventurer. The interest, however is not confined to the individual directly concerned; the tribe share it with him, and a common pile of goods, of motley description, apportioned according to their ideas of value, is put up by either party, to be divided among the backers of the winner.’ Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 404, 412. ‘Running horses and foot-races by men, women and children, and they have games of chance played with sticks or bones;’ do not drink to excess. Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 237, 406. Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 557; Franchère’s Nar., p. 269. The Colvilles have a game, alkollock, played with spears. A wooden ring some three inches in diameter is rolled over a level space between two slight stick barriers about forty feet apart; when the ring strikes the barrier the spear is hurled so that the ring will fall over its head; and the number scored by the throw depends on which of six colored beads, attached to the hoop’s inner circumference, falls over the spear’s head.[412]Kane’s Wand., pp. 310-11. The almost universal Columbian game of guessing which hand contains a small polished bit of bone or wood is also a favorite here, and indeed the only game of the kind mentioned; it is played, to the accompaniment of songs and drumming, by parties sitting in a circle on mats, the shuffler’s hands being often wrapped in fur, the better to deceive the players.[413]The principal Okanagan amusement is a game called by the voyageurs ‘jeu de main,’ like our odd and even. Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., p. 463. It sometimes takes a week to decide the game. The loser never repines. Ross’ Adven., pp. 308-11; Stuart’s Montana, p. 71. All are excessively fond of dancing and singing; but their songs and dances, practiced on all possible occasions, have not been, if indeed they can be, described. They seem merely a succession of sounds and motions without any fixed system. Pounding on rude drums of hide accompanies the songs, which are sung without words, and in which some listeners have detected a certain savage melody. Scalp-dances are performed by women hideously painted, who execute their diabolical antics in the centre of a circle formed by the rest of the tribe who furnish music to the dancers.[414]Among the Wahowpums ‘the spectators formed a circle round the dancers, who, with their robes drawn tightly round the shoulders, and divided into parties of five or six men, perform by crossing in a line from one side of the circle to the other. All the parties, performers as well as spectators, sing, and after proceeding in this way for some time, the spectators join, and the whole concludes by a promiscuous dance and song.’ The Walla Wallas ‘were formed into a solid column, round a kind of hollow square, stood on the same place, and merely jumped up at intervals, to keep time to the music.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 526, 531. Nez Percés dance round a pole on Sundays, and the chiefs exhort during the pauses. Irving’s Bonneville’s Adven., pp. 101-2, 245. In singing ‘they use hi, ah, in constant repetition, … and instead of several parts harmonizing, they only take eighths one above another, never exceeding three.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 242-3. ‘The song was a simple expression of a few sounds, no intelligible words being uttered. It resembled the words ho-ha-ho-ha-ho-ha-ha-ha, commencing in a low tone, and gradually swelling to a full, round, and beautifully modulated chorus.’ Townsend’s Nar., p. 106. Chualpay scalp-dance. Kane’s Wand., p. 315. Religious songs. Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 338-40; Palmer’s Jour., p. 124. All are habitual smokers, always inhaling the smoke instead of puffing it out after the manner of more civilized devotees of the weed. To obtain tobacco the native will part with almost any other property, but no mention is made of any substitute used in this region before the white man came. Besides his constant use of the pipe as an amusement or habit, the inland native employs it regularly to clear his brain for the transaction of important business. Without the pipe no war is declared, no peace officially ratified; in all promises and contracts it serves as the native pledge of honor; with ceremonial whiffs to the cardinal points the wise men open and close the deliberations of their councils; a commercial smoke clinches a bargain, as it also opens negotiations of trade.[415]De Smet thinks inhaling tobacco smoke may prevent its injurious effects. Voy., p. 207. In all religious ceremonies the pipe of peace is smoked. Ross’ Adven., pp. 288-9. Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 286; Hines’ Voy., p. 184. ‘The medicine-pipe is a sacred pledge of friendship among all the north-western tribes.’ Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 220.

Treatment of Horses

The use of the horse has doubtless been a most powerful agent in molding inland customs; and yet the introduction of the horse must have been of comparatively recent date. What were the customs and character of these people, even when America was first discovered by the Spaniards, must ever be unknown. It is by no means certain that the possession of the horse has materially bettered their condition. Indeed, by facilitating the capture of buffalo, previously taken perhaps by stratagem, by introducing a medium with which at least the wealthy may always purchase supplies, as well as by rendering practicable long migrations for food and trade, the horse may have contributed somewhat to their present spirit of improvidence. The horses feed in large droves, each marked with some sign of ownership, generally by clipping the ears, and when required for use are taken by the lariat, in the use of which all the natives have some skill, though far inferior to the Mexican vaqueros. The method of breaking and training horses is a quick and an effectual one. It consists of catching and tying the animal; then buffalo-skins and other objects are thrown at and upon the trembling beast, until all its fear is frightened out of it. When willing to be handled, horses are treated with great kindness, but when refractory, the harshest measures are adopted. They are well trained to the saddle, and accustomed to be mounted from either side. They are never shod and never taught to trot. The natives are skillful riders, so far as the ability to keep their seat at great speed over a rough country is concerned, but they never ride gracefully, and rarely if ever perform the wonderful feats of horsemanship so often attributed to the western Indians. A loose girth is used under which to insert the knees when riding a wild horse. They are hard riders, and horses in use always have sore backs and mouths. Women ride astride, and quite as well as the men; children also learn to ride about as early as to walk.[416]In moving, the girls and small boys ride three or four on a horse with their mothers, while the men drive the herds of horses that run loose ahead. Lord’s Nat., vol. i., pp. 71-3, 306. Horses left for months without a guard, and rarely stray far. They call this ‘caging’ them. De Smet, Voy., pp. 187, 47, 56. ‘Babies of fifteen months old, packed in a sitting posture, rode along without fear, grasping the reins with their tiny hands.’ Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. xii., pt. ii., p. 130, with plate; Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 404-5; Palliser’s Rept., p. 73; Farnham’s Trav., pp. 81-; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 64; Irving’s Astoria, p. 365; Franchère’s Nar., pp. 269-71; Cox’s Adven., vol. ii., pp. 110-11. Each nation has its superstitions; by each individual is recognized the influence of unseen powers, exercised usually through the medium of his medicine animal chosen early in life. The peculiar customs arising from this belief in the supernatural are not very numerous or complicated, and belong rather to the religion of these people treated elsewhere. The Pend d’Oreille, on approaching manhood, was sent by his father to a high mountain and obliged to remain until he dreamed of some animal, bird, or fish, thereafter to be his medicine, whose claw, tooth, or feather was worn as a charm. The howling of the medicine-wolf and some other beasts forebodes calamity, but by the Okanagans the white-wolf skin is held as an emblem of royalty, and its possession protects the horses of the tribe from evil-minded wolves. A ram’s horns left in the trunk of a tree where they were fixed by the misdirected zeal of their owner in attacking a native, were much venerated by the Flatheads, and gave them power over all animals so long as they made frequent offerings at the foot of the tree. The Nez Percés had a peculiar custom of overcoming the mawish or spirit of fatigue, and thereby acquiring remarkable powers of endurance. The ceremony is performed annually from the age of eighteen to forty, lasts each time from three to seven days, and consists of thrusting willow sticks down the throat into the stomach, a succession of hot and cold baths, and abstinence from food. Medicine-men acquire or renew their wonderful powers by retiring to the mountains to confer with the wolf. They are then invulnerable; a bullet fired at them flattens on their breast. To allowing their portraits to be taken, or to the operations of strange apparatus they have the same aversion that has been noted on the coast.[417]‘L’aigle … est le grand oiseau de médecine.’ De Smet, Voy., pp. 46, 205; Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 494-5; Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 212, and in De Smet’s West. Miss., pp. 285-6; Suckley, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 297; Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 208-9; Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., p. 64, vol. ii., p. 19; Kane’s Wand., pp. 267, 280-1, 318. Steam baths are universally used, not for motives of cleanliness, but sometimes for medical purposes, and chiefly in their superstitious ceremonies of purification. The bath-house is a hole dug in the ground from three to eight feet deep, and sometimes fifteen feet in diameter, in some locality where wood and water are at hand, often in the river bank. It is also built above ground of willow branches covered with grass and earth. Only a small hole is left for entrance, and this is closed up after the bather enters. Stones are heated by a fire in the bath itself, or are thrown in after being heated outside. In this oven, heated to a suffocating temperature, the naked native revels for a long time in the steam and mud, meanwhile singing, howling, praying, and finally rushes out dripping with perspiration, to plunge into the nearest stream.[418]Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 343-4; Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 241-2; Ross’ Adven., pp. 311-12. Every lodge is surrounded by a pack of worthless coyote-looking curs. These are sometimes made to carry small burdens on their backs when the tribe is moving; otherwise no use is made of them, as they are never eaten, and, with perhaps the exception of a breed owned by the Okanagans, are never trained to hunt. I give in a note a few miscellaneous customs noticed by travelers.[419]The Walla Wallas receive bad news with a howl. The Spokanes ‘cache’ their salmon. They are willing to change names with any one they esteem. ‘Suicide prevails more among the Indians of the Columbia River than in any other portion of the continent which I have visited.’ Kane’s Wand., pp. 282-3, 307-10. ‘Preserve particular order in their movements. The first chief leads the way, the next chiefs follow, then the common men, and after these the women and children.’ They arrange themselves in similar order in coming forward to receive visitors. Do not usually know their own age. Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 87, 133-4, 242. Distance is calculated by time; a day’s ride is seventy miles on horseback, thirty-five miles on foot. Ross’ Adven., p. 329. Natives can tell by examining arrows to what tribe they belong. Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. ii., p. 167. Kliketats and Yakimas often unwilling to tell their name. Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 405. ‘D’après toutes les observations que j’ai faites, leur journée équivaut à peu près à cinquante ou soixante milles anglais lorsqu’ils voyagent seuls, et à quinze ou vingt milles seulement lorsqu’ils lèvent leur camps.’ De Smet, Voy., p. 205. Among the Nez Percés everything was promulgated by criers. ‘The office of crier is generally filled by some old man, who is good for little else. A village has generally several.’ Irving’s Bonneville’s Adven., p. 286. Habits of worship of the Flatheads in the missions. Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 315-6. ‘A pack of prick-eared curs, simply tamed prairie wolves, always in attendance.’ Lord’s Nat., vol. i., pp. 71-3.

Medical Practice

These natives of the interior are a healthy but not a very long-lived race. Ophthalmia, of which the sand, smoke of the lodges, and reflection of the sun’s rays on the lakes are suggested as the causes, is more or less prevalent throughout the territory; scrofulous complaints and skin-eruptions are of frequent occurrence, especially in the Sahaptin family. Other diseases are comparatively rare, excepting of course epidemic disorders like small-pox and measles contracted from the whites, which have caused great havoc in nearly all the tribes. Hot and cold baths are the favorite native remedy for all their ills, but other simple specifics, barks, herbs, and gums are employed as well. Indeed, so efficacious is their treatment, or rather, perhaps, so powerful with them is nature in resisting disease, that when the locality or cause of irregularity is manifest, as in the case of wounds, fractures, or snake-bites, remarkable cures are ascribed to these people. But here as elsewhere, the sickness becoming at all serious or mysterious, medical treatment proper is altogether abandoned, and the patient committed to the magic powers of the medicine-man. In his power either to cause or cure disease at will implicit confidence is felt, and failure to heal indicates no lack of skill; consequently the doctor is responsible for his patient’s recovery, and in case of death is liable to, and often does, answer with his life, so that a natural death among the medical fraternity is extremely rare. His only chance of escape is to persuade relatives of the dead that his ill success is attributable to the evil influence of a rival physician, who is the one to die; or in some cases a heavy ransom soothes the grief of mourning friends and avengers. One motive of the Cayuses in the massacre of the Whitman family is supposed to have been the missionary’s failure to cure the measles in the tribe. He had done his best to relieve the sick, and his power to effect in all cases a complete cure was unquestioned by the natives. The methods by which the medicine-man practices his art are very uniform in all the nations. The patient is stretched on his back in the centre of a large lodge, and his friends few or many sit about him in a circle, each provided with sticks wherewith to drum. The sorcerer, often grotesquely painted, enters the ring, chants a song, and proceeds to force the evil spirit from the sick man by pressing both clenched fists with all his might in the pit of his stomach, kneading and pounding also other parts of the body, blowing occasionally through his own fingers, and sucking blood from the part supposed to be affected. The spectators pound with their sticks, and all, including doctor, and often the patient in spite of himself, keep up a continual song or yell. There is, however, some method in this madness, and when the routine is completed it is again begun, and thus repeated for several hours each day until the case is decided. In many nations the doctor finally extracts the spirit, in the form of a small bone or other object, from the patient’s body or mouth by some trick of legerdemain, and this once effected, he assures the surrounding friends that the tormentor having been thus removed, recovery must soon follow.[420]The Nez Percés ‘are generally healthy, the only disorders which we have had occasion to remark being of scrophulous kind.’ With the Sokulks ‘a bad soreness of the eyes is a very common disorder.’ ‘Bad teeth are very general.’ The Chilluckittequaws’ diseases are sore eyes, decayed teeth, and tumors. The Walla Wallas have ulcers and eruptions of the skin, and occasionally rheumatism. The Chopunnish had ‘scrofula, rheumatism, and sore eyes,’ and a few have entirely lost the use of their limbs. Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 341, 352, 382, 531, 549. The medicine-man uses a medicine-bag of relics in his incantations. Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 240-1. The Okanagan medicine-men are called tlaquillaughs, and ‘are men generally past the meridian of life; in their habits grave and sedate.’ ‘They possess a good knowledge of herbs and roots, and their virtues.’ I have often ‘seen him throw out whole mouthfuls of blood, and yet not the least mark would appear on the skin.’ ‘I once saw an Indian who had been nearly devoured by a grizzly bear, and had his skull split open in several places, and several pieces of bone taken out just above the brain, and measuring three-fourths of an inch in length, cured so effectually by one of these jugglers, that in less than two months after he was riding on his horse again at the chase. I have also seen them cut open the belly with a knife, extract a large quantity of fat from the inside, sew up the part again, and the patient soon after perfectly recovered.’ The most frequent diseases are ‘indigestion, fluxes, asthmas, and consumptions.’ Instances of longevity rare. Ross’ Adven., pp. 302-8. A desperate case of consumption cured by killing a dog each day for thirty-two days, ripping it open and placing the patient’s legs in the warm intestines, administering some barks meanwhile. The Flatheads subject to few diseases; splints used for fractures, bleeding with sharp flints for contusions, ice-cold baths for ordinary rheumatism, and vapor bath with cold plunge for chronic rheumatism. Cox’s Adven., vol. ii., pp. 90-3, vol. i., pp. 248-51. Among the Walla Wallas convalescents are directed to sing some hours each day. The Spokanes require all garments, etc., about the death-bed to be buried with the body, hence few comforts for the sick. Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 426-7, 485. The Flatheads say their wounds cure themselves. De Smet, Voy., pp. 198-200. The Wascos cure rattlesnake bites by salt applied to the wound or by whisky taken internally. Kane’s Wand., pp. 265, 273, 317-18. A female doctor’s throat cut by the father of a patient she had failed to cure. Hines’ Voy., p. 190. The office of medicine-men among the Sahaptins is generally hereditary. Men often die from fear of a medicine-man’s evil glance. Rival doctors work on the fears of patients to get each other killed. Murders of doctors somewhat rare among the Nez Percés. Alvord, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., pp. 652-3, 655. Small-pox seems to have come among the Yakimas and Kliketats before direct intercourse with whites. Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 405, 408. A Nez Percé doctor killed by a brother of a man who had shot himself in mourning for his dead relative; the brother in turn killed, and several other lives lost. Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., p. 239.

Grief at the death of a relative is manifested by cutting the hair and smearing the face with black. The women also howl at intervals for a period of weeks or even months; but the men on ordinary occasions rarely make open demonstrations of sorrow, though they sometimes shed tears at the death of a son. Several instances of suicide in mourning are recorded; a Walla Walla chieftain caused himself to be buried alive in the grave with the last of his five sons. The death of a wife or daughter is deemed of comparatively little consequence. In case of a tribal disaster, as the death of a prominent chief, or the killing of a band of warriors by a hostile tribe, all indulge in the most frantic demonstrations, tearing the hair, lacerating the flesh with flints, often inflicting serious injury. The sacrifice of human life, generally that of a slave, was practiced, but apparently nowhere as a regular part of the funeral rites. Among the Flatheads the bravest of the men and women ceremonially bewail the loss of a warrior by cutting out pieces of their own flesh and casting them with roots and other articles into the fire. A long time passes before a dead person’s name is willingly spoken in the tribe. The corpse is commonly disposed of by wrapping in ordinary clothing and burying in the ground without a coffin. The northern tribes sometimes suspended the body in a canoe from a tree, while those in the south formerly piled their dead in wooden sheds or sepulchres above ground. The Okanagans often bound the body upright to the trunk of a tree. Property was in all cases sacrificed; horses usually, and slaves sometimes, killed on the grave. The more valuable articles of wealth were deposited with the body; the rest suspended on poles over and about the grave or left on the surface of the ground; always previously damaged in such manner as not to tempt the sacrilegious thief, for their places of burial are held most sacred. Mounds of stones surmounted with crosses indicate in later times the conversion of the natives to a foreign religion.[421]The Sokulks wrap the dead in skins, bury them in graves, cover with earth, and mark the grave by little pickets of wood struck over and about it. On the Columbia below the Snake was a shed-tomb sixty by twelve feet, open at the ends, standing east and west. Recently dead bodies wrapped in leather and arranged on boards at the west end. About the centre a promiscuous heap of partially decayed corpses; and at eastern end a mat with twenty-one skulls arranged in a circle. Articles of property suspended on the inside and skeletons of horses scattered outside. About the Dalles eight vaults of boards eight feet square, and six feet high, and all the walls decorated with pictures and carvings. The bodies were laid east and west. Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 344-5, 359-60, 379-80, 557-8. Okanagans observe silence about the death-bed, but the moment the person dies the house is abandoned, and clamorous mourning is joined in by all the camp for some hours; then dead silence while the body is wrapped in a new garment, brought out, and the lodge torn down. Then alternate mourning and silence, and the deceased is buried in a sitting posture in a round hole. Widows must mourn two years, incessantly for some months, then only morning and evening. Ross’ Adven., pp. 321-2. Frantic mourning, cutting the flesh, etc., by Nez Percés. Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., pp. 234-5, 238-9, vol. ii., p. 139. Destruction of horses and other property by Spokanes. Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 200-1. A Shushwap widow instigates the murder of a victim as a sacrifice to her husband. The horses of a Walla Walla chief not used after his death. Kane’s Wand., pp. 178-9, 264-5, 277, 289. Hundreds of Wasco bodies piled in a small house on an island, just below the Dalles. A Walla Walla chief caused himself to be buried alive in the grave of his last son. Hines’ Voy., pp. 159, 184-8. Among the Yakimas and Kliketats the women do the mourning, living apart for a few days, and then bathing. Okanagan bodies strapped to a tree. Stone mounds over Spokane graves. Gibbs and Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 405, 413, vol. xii., pt. i., p. 150. Pend d’Oreilles buried old and young alive when unable to take care of them. Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 211, 238. ‘High conical stacks of drift-wood’ over Walla Walla graves. Townsend’s Nar., p. 157. Shushwaps often deposit dead in trees. If in the ground, always cover grave with stones. Mayne’s B. C., p. 304. Killing a slave by Wascos. White’s Ogn., pp. 260-3. Dances and prayers for three days at Nez Percé chief’s burial. Irving’s Bonneville’s Adven., p. 283. Burying infant with parents by Flatheads. De Smet, Voy., p. 173. Light wooden pilings about Shushwap graves. Milton and Cheadle’s Northw. Pass., p. 242; Alvord, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 655; Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 104; Palmer, in B. C. Papers, pt. iii., p. 85; Gass’ Jour., p. 219; Ind. Life, p. 55; Tolmie, in Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 237-8, 260-1.

Inland Morality

In character and in morals,[422]Sokulks ‘of a mild and peaceable disposition,’ respectful to old age. Chilluckittequaws ‘unusually hospitable and good humoured.’ Chopunnish ‘the most amiable we have seen. Their character is placid and gentle, rarely moved into passion.’ ‘They are indeed selfish and avaricious.’ Will pilfer small articles. Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 338, 341, 351, 376, 556-8, 564. The Flatheads ‘se distinguent par la civilité, l’honnétété, et la bonté.’ De Smet, Voy., pp. 31-2, 38-40, 47-50, 166-74, 202-4. Flatheads ‘the best Indians of the mountains and the plains,—honest, brave, and docile.’ Kootenais ‘men of great docility and artlessness of character.’ Stevens and Hoecken, in De Smet’s West. Miss., pp. 281, 284, 290, 300. Coeurs d’Alène selfish and poor-spirited. De Smet, Miss. de l’Orégon, p. 329. In the Walla Wallas ‘an air of open unsuspecting confidence,’ ‘natural politeness,’ no obtrusive familiarity. Flatheads ‘frank and hospitable.’ Except cruelty to captives have ‘fewer failings than any of the tribes I ever met.’ Brave, quiet, and amenable to their chiefs. Spokanes ‘quiet, honest, inoffensive,’ but rather indolent. ‘Thoughtless and improvident.’ Okanagans ‘Indolent rascals;’ ‘an honest and quiet tribe.’ Sanspoils dirty, slothful, dishonest, quarrelsome, etc. Coeurs d’Alène ‘uniformly honest;’ ‘more savage than their neighbours.’ Kootenais honest, brave, jealous, truthful. Kamloops ‘thieving and quarrelling.’ Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 145, 148, 192, 199, 239-40, 262-3, 344, vol. ii., pp. 44, 87-8, 109, 145-60. Okanagans active and industrious, revengeful, generous and brave. Ross’ Adven., pp. 142, 290-5, 327-9. Skeen ‘a hardy, brave people.’ Cayuses far more vicious and ungovernable than the Walla Wallas. Nez Percés treacherous and villainous. Kane’s Wand., pp. 263, 280, 290, 307-8, 315. Nez Percés ‘a quiet, civil, people, but proud and haughty.’ Palmer’s Jour., pp. 128, 48, 53, 59, 61, 124-7. ‘Kind to each other.’ ‘Cheerful and often gay, sociable, kind and affectionate, and anxious to receive instruction.’ ‘Lying scarcely known.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 97, 105, 232, 239, 303-4, 311-12. Of the Nicutemuchs ‘the habitual vindictiveness of their character is fostered by the ceaseless feuds.’ ‘Nearly every family has a minor vendetta of its own.’ ‘The races that depend entirely or chiefly on fishing, are immeasurably inferior to those tribes who, with nerves and sinews braced by exercise, and minds comparatively ennobled by frequent excitement, live constantly amid war and the chase.’ Anderson, in Hist. Mag., vol. vii., pp. 77-80. Inland tribes of British Columbia less industrious and less provident than the more sedentary coast Indians. Mayne’s B. C., pp. 301, 297. Sahaptins ‘cold, taciturn, high-tempered, warlike, fond of hunting.’ Palouse, Yakimas, Kliketats, etc., of a ‘less hardy and active temperament’ than the Nez Percés. Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., pp. 199, 210-13. Cayuses ‘dreaded by their neighbors on account of their courage and warlike spirit.’ Walla Wallas ‘notorious as thieves since their first intercourse with whites.’ ‘Indolent, superstitious, drunken and debauched.’ Character of Flatheads, Pend d’Oreilles, Umatillas. Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 207-9, 211, 218, 223, 282, 1861, pp. 164-5. Yakimas and Kliketats ‘much superior to the river Indians.’ Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 405, 298, 403, 416, vol. xii., pt. i., p. 139. Wascos ‘exceedingly vicious.’ Hines’ Voy., pp. 159, 169. The Nez Percés ‘are, certainly, more like a nation of saints than a horde of savages.’ Skyuses, Walla Wallas. Irving’s Bonneville’s Adven., pp. 101, 287, 289-90, 300. Tushepaws; Irving’s Astoria, p. 316. Thompson River Indians rather a superior and clever race. Victoria Colonist, Oct., 1860. ‘Indians from the Rocky mountains to the falls of Columbia, are an honest, ingenuous, and well disposed people,’ but rascals below the falls. Gass’ Jour., p. 304. Flathead ‘fierceness and barbarity in war could not be exceeded.’ Nicolay’s Ogn. Ter., p. 153. Flatheads, Walla Wallas and Nez Percés; Gray’s Hist. Ogn., pp. 171, 219. Kootenais; Palliser’s Explor., pp. 44, 73. Salish, Walla Wallas; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 88, vol. ii., p. 64. Walla Wallas, Cayuses, and Nez Percés; White’s Oregon, p. 174. Walla Wallas, Kootenais; Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 85, 178. Flatheads, Nez Percés; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 311, 315, 326-8. Nez Percés; Catlin’s N. Am. Ind., vol. ii., p. 109; Franchère’s Nar., p. 268. Kayuses, Walla Wallas; Townsend’s Nar., p. 156. Sahaptins; Wilkes’ Hist. Ogn., p. 106. Nez Percés; Hastings’ Emigrants’ Guide, p. 59. Flatheads; Ind. Life, pp. ix., x., 25. At Dalles; Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 412. Shushwaps;Grant’s Ocean to Ocean, pp. 288-304, 313. At Dalles; Hunt, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1821, tom. x., p. 82; Stuart, in Id., 1821, tom. xii., p. 43. Pend d’Oreilles; Joset, in Id., 1849, tom. cxxiii., pp. 334-40. as well as in physique, the inland native is almost unanimously pronounced superior to the dweller on the coast. The excitement of the chase, of war, and of athletic sports ennobles the mind as it develops the body; and although probably not by nature less indolent than their western neighbors, yet are these natives of the interior driven by circumstances to habits of industry, and have much less leisure time for the cultivation of the lower forms of vice. As a race, and compared with the average American aborigines, they are honest, intelligent, and pure in morals. Travelers are liable to form their estimate of national character from a view, perhaps unfair and prejudiced, of the actions of a few individuals encountered; consequently qualities the best and the worst have been given by some to each of the nations now under consideration. For the best reputation the Nez Percés, Flatheads and Kootenais have always been rivals; their good qualities have been praised by all, priest, trader and tourist. Honest, just, and often charitable; ordinarily cold and reserved, but on occasions social and almost gay; quick-tempered and revengeful under what they consider injustice, but readily appeased by kind treatment; cruel only to captive enemies, stoical in the endurance of torture; devotedly attached to home and family; these natives probably come as near as it is permitted to flesh-and-blood savages to the traditional noble red man of the forest, sometimes met in romance. It is the pride and boast of the Flathead that his tribe has never shed the blood of a white man. Yet none, whatever their tribe, could altogether resist the temptation to steal horses from their neighbors of a different tribe, or in former times, to pilfer small articles, wonderful to the savage eye, introduced by Europeans. Many have been nominally converted by the zealous labors of the Jesuit fathers, or Protestant missionaries; and several nations have greatly improved, in material condition as well as in character, under their change of faith. As Mr Alexander Ross remarks, “there is less crime in an Indian camp of five hundred souls than there is in a civilized village of but half that number. Let the lawyer or moralist point out the cause.”

Tribal Boundaries

The Columbian Group comprises the tribes inhabiting the territory immediately south of that of the Hyperboreans, extending from the fifty-fifth to the forty-third parallel of north latitude.

The Haidah Family

In the Haidah Family, I include all the coast and island nations of British Columbia, from 55° to 52°, and extending inland about one hundred miles to the borders of the Chilcoten Plain, the Haidah nation proper having their home on the Queen Charlotte Islands. ‘The Haidah tribes of the Northern Family inhabit Queen Charlotte’s Island.’ ‘The Massettes, Skittegás, Cumshawás, and other (Haidah) tribes inhabiting the eastern shores of Queen Charlotte’s Island.’ Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 219. ‘The principal tribes upon it (Q. Char. Isl.) are the Sketigets, Massets, and Comshewars.’ Dunn’s Oregon, p. 292. ‘Tribal names of the principal tribes inhabiting the islands:—Klue, Skiddan, Ninstence or Cape St. James, Skidagate, Skidagatees, Gold-Harbour, Cumshewas, and four others…. Hydah is the generic name for the whole.’ Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., p. 309. ‘The Cumshewar, Massit, Skittageets, Keesarn, and Kigarnee, are mentioned as living on the island.’ Ludewig, Ab. Lang., p. 157. The following bands, viz.: Lulanna, (or Sulanna), Nightan, Massetta, (or Mosette), Necoon, Aseguang, (or Asequang), Skittdegates, Cumshawas, Skeedans, Queeah, Cloo, Kishawin, Kowwelth, (or Kawwelth), and Too, compose the Queen Charlotte Island Indians, ‘beginning at N. island, north end, and passing round by the eastward.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 489; and Kane’s Wand., end of vol. ‘The Hydah nation which is divided into numerous tribes inhabiting the island and the mainland opposite.’ Reed’s Nar. ‘Queen Charlotte’s Island and Prince of Wales Archipelago are the country of the Haidahs; … including the Kygany, Massett, Skittegetts, Hanega, Cumshewas, and other septs.’ Anderson, in Hist. Mag., vol. vii., p. 74. ‘Les Indiens Koumchaouas, Haïdas, Massettes, et Skidegats, de l’île de la Reine Charlotte.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 337. My Haidah Family is called by Warre and Vavasour Quacott, who with the Newette and twenty-seven other tribes live, ‘from Lat. 54° to Lat. 50°, including Queen Charlotte’s Island; North end of Vancouver’s Island, Millbank Sound and Island, and the Main shore.’ Martin’s Hudson’s Bay, p. 80.

The Massets and thirteen other tribes besides the Quacott tribes occupy Queen Charlotte Islands. Warre and Vavasour, in Martin’s Hud. Bay, p. 80.

The Ninstence tribe inhabits ‘the southernmost portions of Moresby Island.’ Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., pp. 122, 314-15.

The Crosswer Indians live on Skiddegate Channel. Downie, in B. Col. Papers, vol. iii., p. 72.

The Kaiganies inhabit the southern part of the Prince of Wales Archipelago, and the northern part of Queen Charlotte Island. The Kygargeys or Kygarneys are divided by Schoolcraft and Kane into the Youahnoe, Clictass (or Clictars), Quiahanles, Houaguan, (or Wonagan), Shouagan, (or Showgan), Chatcheenie, (or Chalchuni). Archives, vol. v., p. 489; Wanderings, end of vol. The Kygáni ‘have their head-quarters on Queen Charlotte’s Archipelago, but there are a few villages on the extreme southern part of Prince of Wales Archipelago.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 411. A colony of the Hydahs ‘have settled at the southern extremity of Prince of Wales’s Archipelago, and in the Northern Island.’ Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 219. ‘Die Kaigàni (Kigarnies, Kigarnee, Kygànies der Engländer) bewohnen den südlichen Theil der Inseln (Archipels) des Prinzen von Wales.’ Radloff, Sprache der Kaiganen, in Mélanges Russes, tom. iii., livrais. v., p. 569. ‘The Kegarnie tribe, also in the Russian territory, live on an immense island, called North Island.’ Dunn’s Oregon, p. 287. The Hydahs of the south-eastern Alexander Archipelago include ‘the Kassaaus, the Chatcheenees, and the Kaiganees.’ Bendel’s Alex. Arch., p. 28. ‘Called Kaiganies and Kliavakans; the former being near Kaigan Harbor, and the latter near the Gulf of Kliavakan scattered along the shore from Cordova to Tonvel’s Bay.’ Halleck and Scott, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 562-4. ‘A branch of this tribe, the Kyganies (Kigarnies) live in the southern part of the Archipel of the Prince of Wales.’ Ludewig, Ab. Lang., p. 80.

‘To the west and south of Prince of Wales Island is an off-shoot of the Hydah,’ Indians, called Anega or Hennegas. Mahony, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 575.

The Chimsyans inhabit the coast and islands about Fort Simpson. Ten tribes of Chymsyans at ‘Chatham Sound, Portland Canal, Port Essington, and the neighbouring Islands.’ Warre and Vavasour, in Martin’s Hudson’s Bay, p. 80. ‘The Chimsians or Fort Simpson Indians.’ Tolmie, in Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 231. ‘Indians inhabiting the coast and river mouth known by the name of Chyniseyans.’ Ind. Life, p. 93. The Tsimsheeans live ‘in the Fort Simpson section on the main land.’ Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., p. 257. Chimpsains, ‘living on Chimpsain Peninsula.’ Scott, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 553. The Chimmesyans inhabit ‘the coast of the main land from 55° 30´ N., down to 53° 30´ N.’ Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 202;Ludewig, Ab. Lang., p. 40. The Chimseeans ‘occupy the country from Douglas’ Canal to Nass River.’ Simpson’s Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 206. Divided into the following bands; Kispachalaidy, Kitlan (or Ketlane), Keeches (or Keechis), Keenathtoix, Kitwillcoits, Kitchaclaith, Kelutsah (or Ketutsah), Kenchen Kieg, Ketandou, Ketwilkcipa, who inhabit ‘Chatham’s Sound, from Portland Canal to Port Essington (into which Skeena River discharges) both main land and the neighboring islands.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 487; Kane’s Wand., end of vol. The Chymsyan connection ‘extending from Milbank Sound to Observatory Inlet, including the Sebassas, Neecelowes, Nass, and other offsets.’ Anderson, in Hist. Mag., vol. vii. p. 74. Mr. Duncan divides the natives speaking the Tsimshean language into four parts at Fort Simpson, Nass River, Skeena River, and the islands of Milbank Sound. Mayne’s B. C., p. 250.

The Keethratlah live ‘near Fort Simpson.’ Id., p. 279.

The Nass nation lives on the banks of the Nass River, but the name is often applied to all the mainland tribes of what I term the Haidah Family. The nation consists of the Kithateen, Kitahon, Ketoonokshelk, Kinawalax (or Kinaroalax), located in that order from the mouth upward. Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 487; Kane’s Wand., end of vol. Four tribes, ‘Nass River on the Main land.’ Warre and Vavasour, in Martin’s Hudson’s Bay, p. 80. ‘On Observatory Inlet, lat. 55°.’ Bryant, in Am. Antiq. Soc. Transact., vol. ii., p. 302. Adjoin the Sebassa tribe. Cornwallis’ N. El Dorado, p. 107. About Fort Simpson. Dunn’s Oregon, p. 279. The Hailtsa, Haeeltzuk, Billechoola, and Chimmesyans are Nass tribes. Ludewig, Ab. Lang., p. 130. See Buschmann, Brit. Nordamer., pp. 398-400.

‘There is a tribe of about 200 souls now living on a westerly branch of the Naas near Stikeen River; they are called “Lackweips” and formerly lived on Portland Channel.’ Scott, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 563.

The Skeenas are on the river of the same name, ‘at the mouth of the Skeena River.’ Warre and Vavasour, in Martin’s Hudson’s Bay, p. 80. They are the ‘Kitsalas, Kitswingahs, Kitsiguchs, Kitspayuchs, Hagulgets, Kitsagas, and Kitswinscolds.’ Scott, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 563.

Keechumakarlo (or Keechumakailo) situated ‘on the lower part of the Skeena River.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 487; Kane’s Wand., end of vol.

The Kitswinscolds live ‘between the Nass and the Skeena.’ Scott, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 563. The Kitatels live ‘on the islands in Ogden’s Channel, about sixty miles below Fort Simpson.’ Id.

The Sebassas occupy the shores of Gardner Channel and the opposite islands. Inhabit Banks Island. Simpson’s Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 206. The Labassas in five tribes are situated on ‘Gardner’s Canal, Canal de Principe, Canal de la Reida.’ Warre and Vavasour, in Martin’s Hudson’s Bay, p. 80. Keekheatla (or Keetheatla), on Canal de Principe; Kilcatah, at the entrance of Gardner Canal; Kittamaat (or Kittamuat), on the north arm of Gardner Canal; Kitlope on the south arm; Neeslous on Canal de la Reido (Reina). Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 487; Kane’s Wand., end of vol. ‘In the neighbourhood of Seal Harbour dwell the Sebassa tribe.’ Cornwallis’ N. El Dorado, p. 106. ‘The Shebasha, a powerful tribe inhabiting the numerous islands of Pitt’s Archipelago.’ Bryant, in Am. Antiq. Soc. Transact., vol. ii., p. 302.

The Millbank Sound tribes are the Onieletoch, Weitletoch (or Weetletoch), and Kokwaiytoch, on Millbank Sound; Eesteytoch, on Cascade Canal; Kuimuchquitoch, on Dean Canal; Bellahoola, at entrance of Salmon River of Mackenzie; Guashilla, on River Canal; Nalalsemoch, at Smith Inlet, and Weekemoch on Calvert Island. Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., pp. 487-8; Kane’s Wand., end of vol. ‘The Millbank Indians on Millbank Sound.’ Bryant, in Am. Antiq. Soc. Transact., vol. ii., p. 302.

The Bellacoolas live about the mouth of Salmon River. ‘”Bentick’s Arms”—inhabited by a tribe of Indians—the Bellaghchoolas. Their village is near Salmon River.’ Dunn’s Oregon, p. 267. The Billechoolas live on Salmon River in latitude 53° 30´. Buschmann, Brit. Nordamer., p. 384. The Bellahoolas ‘on the banks of the Salmon river.’ Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 258. ‘The Indians at Milbank Sound called Belbellahs.’ Dunn’s Oregon, p. 271. ‘Spread along the margins of the numerous canals or inlets with which this part of the coast abounds.’ Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 224.

‘In the neighbourhood of the Fort (McLoughlin) was a village of about five hundred Ballabollas.’ Simpson’s Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 202.

The Hailtzas, Hailtzuks, or Haeelzuks ‘dwell to the south of the Billechoola, and inhabit both the mainland and the northern entrance of Vancouver’s Island from latitude 53° 30´ N. to 50° 30´ N.’ Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 224. ‘The Hailtsa commencing in about latitude 51° N., and extending through the ramifications of Fitzhugh and Milbank Sounds.’ Anderson, in Hist. Mag., vol. vii., p. 74. ‘An diesem Sunde (Milbank) wohnen die Hailtsa-Indianer.’ Buschmann, Brit. Nordamer., p. 383; Tolmie, in Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 230.

The Nootka Family

The Nootka Family dwells south of the Haidah, occupying the coast of British Columbia, from Bentinck Arms to the mouth of the Fraser, and the whole of Vancouver Island. By other authors the name has been employed to designate a tribe at Nootka Sound, or applied to nearly all the Coast tribes of the Columbian Group. ‘The native population of Vancouver Island … is chiefly composed of the following tribes:—North and East coasts (in order in which they stand from North to South)—Quackolls, Newittees, Comuxes, Yukletas, Suanaimuchs, Cowitchins, Sanetchs, other smaller tribes;—South Coast (… from East to West)—Tsomass, Tsclallums, Sokes, Patcheena, Sennatuch;—West Coast … (from South to North)—Nitteenats, Chadukutl, Oiatuch, Toquatux, Schissatuch, Upatsesatuch, Cojuklesatuch, Uqluxlatuch, Clayoquots, Nootkas, Nespods, Koskeemos, other small tribes.’ Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 293. ‘In Barclay Sound: Pacheenett, Nittinat, Ohiat, Ouchuchlisit, Opecluset, Shechart, Toquart, Ucletah, Tsomass;—Clayoquot Sound: Clayoquot, Kilsamat, Ahouset, Mannawousut, Ishquat;—Nootka Sound: Matchclats, Moachet, Neuchallet, Ehateset.’ Mayne’s B. C., p. 251. ‘About Queen Charlotte Sound;—Naweetee, Quacolth, Queehavuacolt (or Queehaquacoll), Marmalillacalla, Clowetsus (or Clawetsus), Murtilpar (or Martilpar), Nimkish, Wewarkka, Wewarkkum, Clallueis (or Clalluiis), Cumquekis, Laekquelibla, Clehuse (or Clehure), Soiitinu (or Soiilenu), Quicksutinut (or Quicksulinut), Aquamish, Clelikitte, Narkocktau, Quainu, Exenimuth, (or Cexeninuth), Tenuckttau, Oiclela.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 488; Kane’s Wand., end of vol. On the seaboard, south of Nitinaht Sound, and on the Nitinaht River, the Pacheenaht and Nitinaht tribes; on Barclay, otherwise Nitinaht Sound, the Ohyaht, Howchuklisaht, Opechisaht, Seshaht, Youclulaht, and Toquaht tribes; on Klahohquaht Sound, the Klahohquaht, Killsmaht, Ahousaht and Manohsaht tribes; on Nootkah Sound, the Hishquayaht, Muchlaht, Moouchat (the so-called Nootkahs), Ayhuttisaht and Noochahlaht; north of Nootkah Sound, the Kyohquaht, Chaykisaht, and Klahosaht tribes. Sproat’s Scenes, p. 308. Alphabetical list of languages on Vancouver Island: Ahowzarts, Aitizzarts, Aytcharts, Cayuquets, Eshquates (or Esquiates), Klahars, Klaizzarts, Klaooquates (or Tlaoquatch), Michlaïts, Mowatchits, Neuchadlits, Neuwitties, Newchemass, (Nuchimas), Savinnars, Schoomadits, Suthsetts, Tlaoquatch, Wicananish. Buschmann, Brit. Nordamer., p. 349. ‘Among those from the north were the Aitizzarts, Schoomadits, Neuwitties, Savinnars, Ahowzarts, Mowatchits, Suthsetts, Neuchadlits, Michlaits, and Cayuquets; the most of whom were considered as tributary to Nootka. From the South the Aytcharts, and Esquiates also tributary, with the Klaooquates and the Wickanninish, a large and powerful tribe, about two hundred miles distant.’ Jewitt’s Nar., pp. 36-7. ‘Tribes situated between Nanaimo and Fort Rupert, on the north of Vancouver Island, and the mainland Indians between the same points … are divided into several tribes, the Nanoose, Comoux, Nimpkish, Quawguult, &c., on the Island; and the Squawmisht, Sechelt, Clahoose, Ucletah, Mamalilaculla, &c., on the coast, and among the small islands off it.’ Mayne’s B. C., p. 243. List of tribes on Vancouver Island: ‘Songes, Sanetch, Kawitchin, Uchulta, Nimkis, Quaquiolts, Neweetg, Quacktoe, Nootka, Nitinat, Klayquoit, Soke.’ Findlay’s Directory, pp. 391-2. The proper name of the Vancouver Island Tribes is Yucuatl. Ludewig, Ab. Lang., p. 135. The Nootka Territory ‘extends to the Northward as far as Cape Saint James, in the latitude of 52° 20´ N. … and to the Southward to the Islands … of the Wicananish.’ Meares’ Voy., p. 228. ‘The Cawitchans, Ucaltas, and Coquilths, who are I believe of the same family, occupy the shores of the Gulf of Georgia and Johnston’s Straits.’ Anderson, in Hist. Mag., vol. vii., p. 74. ‘Twenty-four tribes speaking the Challam and Cowaitzchim languages, from latitude 50° along the Coast South to Whitby Island in latitude 48°; part of Vancouver’s Island, and the mouth of Franc’s River.’ Also on the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Vancouver Islands, the Sanetch, three tribes; Hallams, eleven tribes; Sinahomish; Skatcat; Cowitchici, seven tribes; Soke; Cowitciher, three tribes. Warre and Vavasour, in Martin’s Hudson’s Bay, p. 81; also in Hazlitt’s B. C., pp. 66-7. Five tribes at Fort Rupert;—Quakars, Qualquilths, Kumcutes, Wanlish, Lockqualillas. Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 165. ‘The Chicklezats and Ahazats, inhabiting districts in close proximity on the west coast of Vancouver.’ Barrett-Lennard’s Trav., p. 41. ‘North of the district occupied by the Ucletahs come the Nimkish, Mamalilacula, Matelpy and two or three other smaller tribes. The Mamalilaculas live on the mainland.’ Mayne’s B. C., p. 249. The population of Vancouver Island ‘is divided into twelve tribes; of these the Kawitchen, Quaquidts and Nootka are the largest.’ Cornwallis’ N. El Dorado, p. 30. ‘Ouakichs, Grande île de Quadra et Van Couver.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 335.

Nations Inhabiting Vancouver Island

In naming the following tribes and nations I will begin at the north and follow the west coast of the island southward, then the east coast and main land northward to the starting-point.

The Uclenus inhabit Scott Island. Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 488; Kane’s Wand., end of vol.

The Quanes dwell at Cape Scott. Id.

The Quactoe are found in the ‘woody part N.W. coast of the island.’ Findlay’s Directory, p. 391.

The Koskiemos and Quatsinos live on ‘the two Sounds bearing those names.’ Mayne’s B. C., p. 251. Kuskema, and Quatsinu, ‘outside Vancouver’s Island south of C. Scott.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 488; Kane’s Wand., end of vol.

The Kycucut, ‘north of Nootka Sound, is the largest tribe of the West coast.’ Mayne’s B. C., p. 251.

The Aitizzarts are ‘a people living about thirty or forty miles to the Northward’ of Nootka Sound. Jewitt’s Nar., pp. 63, 77.

The Ahts live on the west coast of the island. ‘The localities inhabited by the Aht tribes are, chiefly, the three large Sounds on the west coast of Vancouver Island, called Nitinaht (or Barclay) Klahohquaht, and Nootkah.’ Sproat’s Scenes, p. 10.

The Chicklezahts and Ahazats inhabit districts in close proximity on the west coast of Vancouver. Barrett-Lennard’s Trav., p. 41.

The Clayoquots, or Klahohquahts, live at Clayoquot Sound, and the Moouchats at Nootka Sound. Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 22, 25. North of the Wickininish. Jewitt’s Nar., p. 76.

The Toquahts are a people ‘whose village is in a dreary, remote part of Nitinaht (or Barclay) Sound.’ Sproat’s Scenes, p. 104.

The Seshats live at Alberni, Barclay Sound. Sproat’s Scenes, p. 3.

The Pacheenas, or ‘Pacheenetts, which I have included in Barclay Sound, also inhabit Port San Juan.’ Mayne’s B. C., p. 251.

The Tlaoquatch occupy the south-western part of Vancouver. ‘Den Südwesten der Quadra- und Vancouver-Insel nehmen die Tlaoquatch ein, deren Sprache mit der vom Nutka-Sunde verwandt ist.’ Buschmann, Brit. Nordamer., p. 372. Tlaoquatch, or Tloquatch, on ‘the south-western coast of Vancouver’s Island.’ Ludewig, Ab. Lang., p. 188.

The Sokes dwell ‘between Victoria and Barclay Sound.’ Mayne’s B. C., p. 251. ‘East point of San Juan to the Songes territory.’ Findlay’s Directory, p. 392.

The Wickinninish live about two hundred miles south of Nootka. Jewitt’s Nar., p. 76.

The Songhies are ‘a tribe collected at and around Victoria.’ Mayne’s B. C., p. 243. ‘The Songhish tribe, resident near Victoria.’ Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., p. 430. Songes, ‘S.E. part of the island.’ Findlay’s Directory, p. 391.

The Sanetch dwell ‘sixty miles N.W. of Mount Douglas.’ Findlay’s Directory, p. 391.

The Cowichins live ‘in the harbour and valley of Cowitchen, about 40 miles north of Victoria.’ Mayne’s B. C., p. 243. ‘Cowichin river, which falls into that (Haro) canal about 20 miles N. of Cowichin Head, and derives its name from the tribe of Indians which inhabits the neighbouring country.’ Douglas, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxiv., p. 246. Kawitchin, ‘country N.W. of Sanetch territory to the entrance of Johnson’s Straits.’ Findlay’s Directory, p. 391. ‘North of Fraser’s River, and on the opposite shores of Vancouver’s Island.’ Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 224. ‘North of Fraser’s River, on the north-west coast.’ Ludewig, Ab. Lang., p. 91.

The Comux, or Komux, ‘live on the east coast between the Kowitchan and the Quoquoulth tribes.’ Sproat’s Scenes, p. 311. Comoux, south of Johnston Straits. Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 488; Kane’s Wand., end of vol. The Comoux ‘extend as far as Cape Mudge.’ Mayne’s B. C., p. 243.

The Kwantlums dwell about the mouth of the Fraser. ‘At and about the entrance of the Fraser River is the Kuantlun tribe: they live in villages which extend along the banks of the river as far as Langley.’ Mayne’s B. C., pp. 243, 295.

The Teets live on the lower Frazer River. ‘From the falls (of the Fraser) downward to the seacoast, the banks of the river are inhabited by several branches of the Haitlin or Teet tribe.’ Anderson, in Hist. Mag., vol. vii., p. 73. ‘Extending from Langley to Yale, are the Smess, Chillwayhook, Pallalts, and Teates…. The Smess Indians occupy the Smess River and lake, and the Chillwayhooks the river and lake of that name.’ Mayne’s B. C., p. 295. Teate Indians. See Bancroft’s Map of Pac. States.

The Nanaimos are ‘gathered about the mouth of the Fraser.’ Mayne’s B. C., p. 243.—Chiefly on a river named the Nanaimo, which falls into Wentuhuysen Inlet. Douglas, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxiv., p. 247.

The Squawmishts ‘live in Howe Sound.’ Mayne’s B. C., p. 243.

The Sechelts live on Jervis Inlet. Mayne’s B. C., pp. 243-4.

The Clahoose, or Klahous, ‘live in Desolation Sound.’ Mayne’s B. C., pp. 243-4.

The Nanoose ‘inhabit the harbour and district of that name, which lies 50 miles north of Nanaimo.’ Mayne’s B. C., p. 243.

The Tacultas, or Tahcultahs, live at Point Mudge on Valdes Island. Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 155.

The Ucletas are found ‘at and beyond Cape Mudge.’ ‘They hold possession of the country on both sides of Johnstone Straits until met 20 or 30 miles south of Fort Rupert by the Nimpkish and Mamalilacullas.’ Mayne’s B. C., p. 244. Yougletats—’Une partie campe sur l’ile Vancouver elle-même, le reste habite sur le continent, au nord de la Rivière Fraser.’ De Smet, Miss. de l’Orégon, p. 340. Yongletats, both on Vancouver Island, and on the mainland above the Fraser River. Bolduc, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1845, tom. cviii., pp. 366-7.

The Nimkish are ‘at the mouth of the Nimpkish river, about 15 miles below Fort Rupert.’ Mayne’s B. C., p. 249; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 158.

The Necultas and Queehanicultas dwell at the entrance of Johnston Straits. Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 488; Kane’s Wand., end of vol.

The Quackolls and ‘two smaller tribes, live at Fort Rupert.’ Mayne’s B. C., pp. 244, 249. ‘On the north-east side of Vancouver’s Island, are to be found the Coquilths.’ Cornwallis’ N. El Dorado, p. 98. Coquilths, a numerous tribe living at the north-east end. Dunn’s Oregon, p. 239. The Cogwell Indians live around Fort Rupert. Barrett-Lennard’s Trav., p. 68.

The Newittees ‘east of Cape Scott … meet the Quawguults at Fort Rupert.’ Mayne’s B. C., p. 251. Neweetg, ‘at N.W. entrance of Johnson’s Straits.’ Findlay’s Directory, p. 391. ‘At the northern extremity of the island the Newette tribe.’ Cornwallis’ N. El Dorado, p. 98. Newchemass came to Nootka ‘from a great way to the Northward, and from some distance inland.’ Jewitt’s Nar., p. 77.

The Saukaulutucks inhabit the interior of the northern end of Vancouver Island. Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 158. ‘At the back of Barclay Sound, … about two days’ journey into the interior, live the only inland tribe…. They are called the Upatse Satuch, and consist only of four families.’ Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 287.

The Sound Family

The Sound Family includes all the tribes about Puget Sound and Admiralty Inlet, occupying all of Washington west of the Cascade Range, except a narrow strip along the north bank of the Columbia. In locating the nations of this family I begin with the extreme north-east, follow the eastern shores of the sound southward, the western shores northward, and the coast of the Pacific southward to Gray Harbor. List of tribes between Olympia and Nawaukum River. ‘Staktamish, Squaks’namish, Sehehwamish, Squalliamish, Puyallupamish, S’homamish, Suquamish, Sinahomish, Snoqualmook, Sinaahmish, Nooklummi.’ Tolmie, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 251; Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 434. A canadian trapper found the following tribes between Fort Nisqually and Fraser River; ‘Sukwámes, Sunahúmes, Tshikátstat, Puiále, and Kawítshin.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., pp. 220-1. Cheenales, west; Cowlitz, south; and Nisqually, east of Puget Sound. Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 200, map.

The Shimiahmoos occupy the ‘coast towards Frazer’s river.’ ‘Between Lummi Point and Frazer’s River.’ Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 247, 250. ‘Most northern tribe on the American side of the line.’ Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 433; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 491.

The Lummis ‘are divided into three bands—a band for each mouth of the Lummi River.’ Fitzhugh, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 327. ‘On the northern shore of Bellingham Bay.’ Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 244. ‘Lummi river, and peninsula.’ Id., p. 250. ‘On a river emptying into the northern part of Bellingham bay and on the peninsula.’ Id., p. 247, and in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 433.

The Nooksaks are ‘on the south fork of the Lummi River.’ Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1851, p. 250. Nooksâhk, ‘on the main fork of the river.’ Id., p. 247. Nooksáhk, ‘above the Lummi, on the main fork of the river.’ Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 433. ‘South fork Lummi river.’ Id., p. 435. Nootsaks ‘occupy the territory from the base of Mount Baker down to within five miles of the mouth of the Lummi.’ Coleman, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xxxix., p. 799. Neuksacks ‘principally around the foot of Mount Baker.’ Fitzhugh, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 328. The Neukwers and Siamanas, or Stick Indians ‘live on lakes back of Whatcom and Siamana lakes and their tributaries.’ Id., p. 329. Three tribes at Bellingham Bay, Neuksack, Samish, and Lummis, with some Neukwers and Siamanas who live in the back country. Id., p. 326. Neuksacks, a tribe inhabiting a country drained by the river of the same name … taking the name Lummi before emptying into the Gulf of Georgia. Simmons, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1860, p. 188. Nooklummie, ‘around Bellingham’s bay.’ Am. Quar. Register, vol. iii., p. 389; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 714.

The Samish live on Samish River and southern part of Bellingham Bay. Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 247, 250. ‘They have several islands which they claim as their inheritance, together with a large scope of the main land.’ Fitzhugh, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 327.

The Skagits ‘live on the main around the mouth of Skagit river, and own the central parts of Whidby’s island, their principal ground being the neighborhood of Penn’s cove.’ Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 433, and in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 246. Whidby’s Island ‘is in the possession of the Sachet tribe.’ Thornton’s Ogn. and Cal., vol. i., p. 300. The Sachets inhabit Whidby’s Island. Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 510. Sachets, ‘about Possession Sound.’ Nicolay’s Ogn. Ter., p. 143. Skadjets, ‘on both sides of the Skadjet river, and on the north end of Whidby’s Island.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 701; Am. Quar. Register, vol. iii., p. 388. The Skagit, ‘on Skagit river, and Penn’s cove,’ the N’quachamish, Smalèhhu, Miskaiwhu, Sakuméhu, on the branches of the same river. Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 250; Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 435. Sockamuke, ‘headwaters of Skagit River,’ Neutubvig, ‘north end of Whidby’s Island, and county between Skagit’s river and Bellingham’s bay.’ Cowewachin, Noothum, Miemissouks, north to Frazer River. Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 598.

The Kikiallis occupy the banks of ‘Kikiallis river and Whitby’s island.’ Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 246, 250.

The Skeysehamish dwell in the ‘country along the Skeysehamish river and the north branch of the Sinahemish.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 701; Am. Quar. Register, vol. iii., p. 388.

The Snohomish reside on ‘the southern end of Whidby’s island, and the country on and near the mouth of the Sinahomish river.’ Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 432, 435. The Sinahemish ‘live on the Sinahemish river (falling into Possession Sound).’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 701; Am. Quar. Register, vol. iii., p. 388. ‘Sinahoumez (en 12 tribus) de la rivière Fraser à la baie de Puget.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 335. ‘N’quutlmamish, Skywhamish, Sktahlejum, upper branches, north side, Sinahomish river.’ Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 245, 250. Neewamish, ‘Neewamish river, bay and vicinity;’ Sahmamish, ‘on a lake between Neewamish and Snohomish river;’ Snohomish, ‘South end of Whitney’s Island, Snohomish river, bay and vicinity;’ Skeawamish, ‘north fork of the Snohomish river, called Skeawamish river;’ Skuckstanajumps, ‘Skuckstanajumps river, a branch of Skeawamish river;’ Stillaquamish, ‘Stillaquamish river and vicinity;’ Kickuallis, ‘mouth of Kickuallis river and vicinity.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 598. Stoluchwámish, on Stoluchwámish river, also called Steilaquamish. Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 432, 435, also in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 246, 250. Squinámish, Swodámish, Sinaahmish, ‘north end of Whitby’s island, canoe passage, and Sinamish river.’ Id., pp. 247, 250. ‘Southern end of Whidby’s island and Sinahomish river.’ Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 432-3.

The Snoqualmooks ‘reside on the south fork, north side of the Sinahomish river.’ Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 436, and in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 250. Snoqualimich, ‘Snoqualimich river and the south branch of the Sinahemish.’ Harley, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 701; Am. Quar. Register, vol. iii., p. 388.

The Dwamish are ‘living on and claiming the lands on the D’Wamish river.’ Paige, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 329. Dwamish River and Lake, White and Green Rivers. Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 491. On D’wamish lake etc. … reside the Samamish and S’Ketehlmish tribes. ‘The D’wamish tribe have their home on Lake Fork, D’Wamish river.’ Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 432, 436. Dwamish, ‘Lake Fork, Dwamish River;’ Samamish, S’Ketéhlmish, ‘Dwamish Lake;’ Smelkámiah, ‘Head of White River;’ Skopeáhmish, ‘Head of Green River;’ Stkámish, ‘main White River.’ Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 250.

The Skopeahmish have their home at the ‘head of Green river.’ Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 436. The Sekamish band ‘on the main White river;’ the Smulkamish tribe ‘at the head of White river.’ Ib.

The Seattles, a tribe of the Snowhomish nation, occupied as their principal settlement, ‘a slight eminence near the head of what is now known as Port Madison Bay.’ Overland Monthly, 1870, vol. iv., p. 297.

The Suquamish ‘claim all the land lying on the west side of the Sound, between Apple Tree cove on the north, and Gig harbor on the south.’ Paige, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 329. Soquamish, ‘country about Port Orchard and neighbourhood, and the west side of Widby’s Island.’ Harley, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 700; Am. Quar. Register, vol. iii., p. 388. ‘Peninsula between Hood’s canal and Admiralty inlet.’ Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 250, and in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 435. Snoquamish, ‘Port Orchard, Elliott’s Bay, and their vicinity.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 598. Shomamish, ‘on Vashon’s Island.’ Ib. ‘Vashon’s Island.’ Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 250. S’slomamish, ‘Vaston’s island.’ Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 435. ‘The Indians frequenting this port (Orchard) call themselves the Jeachtac tribe.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 510.

The Puyallupamish live ‘at the mouth of Puyallup river;’ T’quaquamish, ‘at the heads of Puyallup river.’ Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 250, and in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 435. Squallyamish and Pugallipamish, ‘in the country about Nesqually, Pugallipi, and Sinnomish rivers.’ Harley, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 701; Am. Quar. Register, vol. iii., p. 388. Puallipawmish or Pualliss, ‘on Pualliss river, bay, and vicinity.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 598. Puyyallapamish, ‘Puyallop River.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 491.

The Nisquallies, or Skwall, ‘inhabit the shores of Puget’s Sound.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 211. ‘Nesquallis, de la baie de Puget à la pointe Martinez.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 335. Nasqually tribes, ‘Nasqually River and Puget’s Sound.’ Warre and Vavasour, in Martin’s Hudson Bay, p. 81. Squallyamish, ‘at Puget Sound.’ Ludewig, Ab. Lang., p. 177. The Squalliahmish are composed of six bands, and have their residence on Nisqually River and vicinity. Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 435. Squallyamish or Nisqually, Nisqually River and vicinity. Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 598. Fort Nisqually is frequented by the ‘Squallies, the Clallams, the Paaylaps, the Scatchetts, the Checaylis,’ and other tribes.Simpson’s Overland Journey, vol. i., p. 181.

The Steilacoomish dwell on ‘Stalacom Creek;’ Loquamish, ‘Hood’s Reef.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 491. Stitcheosawmish, ‘Budd’s inlet and South bay,’ in the vicinity of Olympia. Id., vol. iv., p. 598. Steilacoomamish, ‘Steilacoom creek and vicinity.’ Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 250, and in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 435.

The Sawamish have their residence on ‘Totten’s inlet.’ Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 435. Sayhaymamish, ‘Totten inlet.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 598. ‘Srootlemamish, Quackenamish at Case’s inlet.’ Ib. Quáks’namish, ‘Case’s inlet;’ S’Hotlemamish, ‘Carr’s inlet;’ Sahéhwamish, ‘Hammersly’s inlet;’ Sawámish, ‘Totten’s inlet;’ Squaiaitl, ‘Eld’s inlet;’ Stéhchasámish, ‘Budd’s inlet;’ Noosehchatl, ‘South bay.’ Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 250.

The Skokomish live at the upper end of Hood Canal. Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 598; Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 244, 250. Töanhooch and Shokomish on Hood’s Canal. Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 491. Tuanoh and Skokomish ‘reside along the shores of Hood’s Canal.’ Am. Quar. Register, vol. iii., p. 388. Toankooch, ‘western shore of Hood’s canal. They are a branch of the Nisqually nation.’ Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 244; Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 431. Tuanooch, ‘mouth of Hood’s Canal.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 598. ‘The region at the head of Puget Sound is inhabited by a tribe called the Toandos.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 140. Homamish, Hotlimamish, Squahsinawmish, Sayhaywamish, Stitchassamish, ‘reside in the country from the Narrows along the western shore of Puget’s Sound to New Market.’ Mitchell and Harley, in Am. Quar. Register, vol. iii., p. 388.

The Noosdalums, or Nusdalums, ‘dwell on Hood’s Channel.’ Ludewig, Ab. Lang., p. 135. ‘Die Noosdalum, wohnen am Hood’s-Canal;’ Buschmann, Brit. Nordamer., p. 373. ‘Noostlalums, consist of eleven tribes or septs living about the entrance of Hood’s canal, Dungeness, Port Discovery, and the coast to the westward.’ Am. Quar. Register, vol. iii., p. 388; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 700.

The Chimakum, or Chinakum, ‘territory seems to have embraced the shore from Port Townsend to Port Ludlow.’ Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 242-244. ‘On Port Townsend Bay.’ Id., in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 431, 435; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 598.

The Clallams, or Clalams, are ‘about Port Discovery.’ Nicolay’s Ogn. Ter., p. 143. ‘Their country stretches along the whole southern shore of the Straits to between Port Discovery and Port Townsend.’ Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 429; Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 242, 244. Southern shore of the Straits of Fuca east of the Classets. Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 220. At Port Discovery. Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 319. Sklallum, ‘between Los Angelos and Port Townsend.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 598. Sklallams, ‘at Cape Flattery.’ Id., vol. v., p. 491. ‘Scattered along the strait and around the bays and bights of Admiralty Inlet, upon a shoreline of more than a hundred miles.’ Scammon, in Overland Monthly, 1871, vol. vii., p. 278. ‘S’Klallams, Chemakum, Toanhooch, Skokomish, and bands of the same, taking names from their villages, … and all residing on the shores of the straits of Fuca and Hood’s Canal.’ Webster, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1862, p. 407. Kahtai, Kaquaith, and Stehllum, at Port Townsend, Port Discovery, and New Dungeness. Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 491; Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 249. Stentlums at New Dungeness. Id., in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 435.

Indians of the Coast of Washington

The Makahs, or Classets, dwell about Cape Flattery. Macaw, ‘Cape Flattery to Neah Bay.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 598. Pistchin, ‘Neah Bay to Los Angelos Point.’ Ib. ‘Country about Cape Flattery, and the coast for some distance to the southward, and eastward to the boundary of the Halam or Noostlalum lands.’ Id., vol. v., p. 700; Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 241, 249; Hale, in Id., 1862, p. 390; Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 429, 435. ‘At Neah Bay or Waadda, and its vicinity.’ Simmons, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1858, p. 231. Tatouche, a tribe of the Classets. Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 516. Classets ‘reside on the south side of the Straits of Fuca.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 220; Mitchell and Harley, in Am. Quar. Register, vol. iii., p. 388. Tatouche or Classets, ‘between the Columbia and the strait of Fuca.’ Nicolay’s Ogn. Ter., p. 143. ‘Clatset tribe.’ Cornwallis’ N. El Dorado, p. 97. ‘Classets, on the Strait of Fuca.’ Greenhow’s Hist. Ogn., p. 30; Stevens’ Address, p. 10. Makahs, ‘inhabiting a wild broken peninsula circumscribed by the river Wyatch, the waters of the Strait and the Pacific.’ Scammon, in Overland Monthly, 1871, vol. vii., p. 277. Klaizzarts, ‘living nearly three hundred miles to the South’ of Nootka Sound. Jewitt’s Nar., p. 75. The Elkwhahts have a village on the strait. Sproat’s Scenes, p. 153.

List of tribes between Columbia River and Cape Flattery on the Coast; Calasthocle, Chillates, Chiltz, Clamoctomichs, Killaxthocles, Pailsh, Potoashs, Quieetsos, Quinnechart, Quiniülts. Morse’s Rept., p. 371.

The Quillehute and Queniult, or Quenaielt, ‘occupy the sea-coast between Ozelt or old Cape Flattery, on the north, and Quinaielt river on the south.’ Simmons, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1860, p. 195. Quinaielt, Quillehuté, Queets, and Hoh, live on the Quinaielt river and ocean. Smith, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, p. 21. The Queniult live ‘at Point Grenville.’ Swan’s N. W. Coast, p. 210. ‘On the banks of a river of the same name.’ Id., p. 78. The Wilapahs ‘on the Wilapah River.’ Id., p. 211. The Copalis ‘on the Copalis River, eighteen miles north of Gray’s Harbor.’ Id., p. 210. Quinaitle, north of Gray’s Harbor. Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 249. Quinaik, ‘coast from Gray’s harbor northward.’ Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 435. Ehihalis, Quinailee, Grey’s Harbor and north. Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 490. South of the Classets along the coast come the Quinnechants, Calasthortes, Chillates, Quinults, Pailsk, etc. Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 428. The Kaliouches and Konnichtchates, spoken of as dwelling on Destruction Island and the neighboring main. Tarakanov, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1823, tom. xx., p. 336, et seq.

The Chehalis, or Chickeeles, ‘inhabit the country around Gray’s Harbour.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 140. On the Chehalis river. Nesmith, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1867, p. 8. Frequent also Shoalwater Bay. Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 240, 249. On the Cowelits. ‘Among the Tsihailish are included the Kwaiantl and Kwenaiwitl … who live near the coast, thirty or forty miles south of Cape Flattery.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., pp. 211-12. ‘In the vicinity of the mouth of the Columbia.’ Catlin’s N. Am. Ind., vol. ii., p. 113. ‘Chekilis, et Quinayat. Près du havre de Gray et la rivière Chekilis.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 335; Swan’s N. W. Coast, p. 210; Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 435; Starling, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 599. ‘A quarante milles au nord, (from the Columbia) le long de la côte, habitent les Tchéilichs.’ Stuart, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1821, tom. x., p. 90. The Whiskkah and Wynooche tribes on the northern branches of the Chihailis. Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 240. Sachals ‘reside about the lake of the same name, and along the river Chickeeles.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 140.

The Cowlitz live on the upper Cowlitz River. Occupy the middle of the peninsula which lies west of Puget Sound and north of the Columbia. Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 211. On the Cowlitz River. The Taitinapams have their abode at the base of the mountains on the Cowlitz. Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 435; and in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 240, 249; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 599, vol. v., p. 490. Cowlitsick, ‘on Columbia river, 62 miles from its mouth.’ Morse’s Rept., p. 368. There are three small tribes in the vicinity of the Cowlitz Farm, ‘the Cowlitz, the Checaylis and the Squally.’ Simpson’s Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 179. The Staktomish live ‘between Nisqually and Cowlitz and the head waters of Chehaylis river.’ Am. Quar. Register, vol. iii., p. 389; Harley, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 701.

The Chinook Family

The Chinook Family includes, according to my division, all the tribes of Oregon west of the Cascade Range, together with those on the north bank of the Columbia river. The name has usually been applied only to the tribes of the Columbia Valley up to the Dalles, and belonged originally to a small tribe on the north bank near the mouth. ‘The nation, or rather family, to which the generic name of Chinook has attached, formerly inhabited both banks of the Columbia River, from its mouth to the Grand Dalles, a distance of about a hundred and seventy miles.’ ‘On the north side of the river, first the Chinooks proper (Tchi-nuk), whose territory extended from Cape Disappointment up the Columbia to the neighborhood of Gray’s Bay (not Gray’s Harbor, which is on the Pacific), and back to the northern vicinity of Shoalwater Bay, where they interlocked with the Chihalis of the coast.’ Gibbs’ Chinook Vocab., pp. iii., iv. The name Watlalas or Upper Chinooks ‘properly belongs to the Indians at the Cascades,’ but is applied to all ‘from the Multnoma Island to the Falls of the Columbia.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., pp. 214-5. ‘The principal tribes or bands were the Wakaíkam (known as the Wahkyekum), the Katlámat (Cathlamet), the Tshinuk (Chinook), and the Tlatsap (Clatsop).’ Ib. ‘The natives, who dwell about the lower parts of the Columbia, may be divided into four tribes—the Clotsops, who reside around Point Adams, on the south side; … the Chinooks; Waakiacums; and the Cathlamets; who live on the north side of the river, and around Baker’s Bay and other inlets.’ Dunn’s Oregon, p. 114. The tribes may be classed: ‘Chinooks, Clatsops, Cathlamux, Wakicums, Wacalamus, Cattleputles, Clatscanias, Killimux, Moltnomas, Chickelis.’ Ross’ Adven., p. 87. Tribes on north bank of the Columbia from mouth; Chilts, Chinnook, Cathlamah, Wahkiakume, Skillute, Quathlapotle. Lewis and Clarke’s Map. ‘All the natives inhabiting the southern shore of the Straits (of Fuca), and the deeply indented territory as far as and including the tide-waters of the Columbia, may be comprehended under the general term of Chinooks.’ Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 25. ‘The Chenook nation resides along upon the Columbia river, from the Cascades to its confluence with the ocean.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 261. ‘Inhabiting the lower parts of the Columbia.’ Catlin’s N. Am. Ind., vol. ii., p. 110. ‘Hauts-Tchinouks, près des cascades du Rio Colombia. Tchinouks d’en bas, des Cascades jusqu’à la mer, Bas-Tchinouks.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., pp. 335, 350-1. ‘On the right bank of the Columbia.’ Ludewig, Ab. Lang., p. 40. The Cheenooks and Kelussuyas, 4 tribes, live at ‘Pillar Rock, Oak Point, the Dallas, the Cascades, Cheate River, Takama River, on the Columbia.’ ‘Cheenooks, Clatsops and several tribes near the entrance of the Columbia River.’ Warre and Vavasour, in Martin’s Hud. B., p. 81. Upper and Lower Chinooks on the Columbia River, Lower Chinooks at Shoalwater Bay. Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 490. Chinooks, ‘north of the Columbia.’ Id., p. 492. ‘Upper Chinooks, five bands, Columbia River, above the Cowlitz. Lower Chinooks, Columbia River below the Cowlitz, and four other bands on Shoalwater Bay.’ Stevens, in Id., p. 703. ‘Mouth of Columbia river, north side, including some 50 miles interior.’ Emmons, in Id., vol. iii., p. 201. The Chinnooks ‘reside chiefly along the banks of a river, to which we gave the same name; and which, running parallel to the sea coast … empties itself into Haley’s Bay.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 425, and map; Irving’s Astoria, p. 335. ‘To the south of the mouth of the Columbia.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 15. ‘Chenooks on the Columbia.’ Swan’s N. W. Coast, p. 210. North side of the Columbia. Morse’s Report, p. 368; Greenhow’s Hist. Ogn., p. 286. Tshinuk south of the Columbia at mouth. Watlala on both sides of the river from the Willamette to Dalles. They properly belong to the Indians at the Cascades. Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., pp. 214-5, and map, p. 197. Banks of the Columbia from Dalles to the mouth. Farnham’s Trav., p. 85. The upper Chinooks were the Shalala and Echeloots of Lewis and Clarke. Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 417. In the vicinity of the mouth of the Columbia, there are, besides the Chinooks, the Klickatacks, Cheehaylas, Naas, and many other tribes. Catlin’s N. Am. Ind., vol. ii., p. 113.

‘The Flathead Indians are met with on the banks of the Columbia River, from its mouth eastward to the Cascades, a distance of about 150 miles; they extend up the Walhamette River’s mouth about thirty or forty miles, and through the district between the Walhamette and Fort Astoria.’ Kane’s Wand., p. 173. ‘The Flatheads are a very numerous people, inhabiting the shores of the Columbia River, and a vast tract of country lying to the south of it.’ Catlin’s N. Am. Ind., vol. ii., p. 108. ‘The Cathlascon tribes, which inhabit the Columbia River.’ Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 225. Cathlascos on the Columbia River, S. side 220 miles from its mouth. Morse’s Rept., p. 368.

Shoalwater Bay Indians: Whilapah on Whilapah river; Necomanchee, or Nickomin, on Nickomin river, flowing into the east side of the bay; Quelaptonlilt, at the mouth of Whilapah river; Wharhoots, at the present site of Bruceport; Querqueltin, at the mouth of a creek; Palux, on Copalux or Palux river; Marhoo, Nasal, on the Peninsula. Swan’s N. W. Coast, p. 211. ‘Karweewee, or Artsmilsh, the name of the Shoalwater Bay tribes.’ Id., p. 210. Along the coast north of the Columbia are the Chinnooks, Killaxthockle, Chilts, Clamoitomish, Potoashees, etc. Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 428. Quillequeoquas at Shoalwater Bay. Map in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 200. Kwalhioqua, north of the Columbia near the mouth. Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 204, and map, p. 197. Klatskanai, ‘on the upper waters of the Nehalem, a stream running into the Pacific, on those of Young’s River, and one bearing their own name, which enters the Columbia at Oak Point.’ Gibbs’ Chinook Vocab., p. iv. Willopahs, ‘on the Willopah River, and the head of the Chihalis.’ Ib.

The Chilts inhabit the ‘coast to the northward of Cape Disappointment.’ Cox’s Adven., vol. i., p. 302. ‘North of the mouth of the Columbia and Chealis rivers.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 261, and map. ‘On the sea-coast near Point Lewis.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 401.

Miscellaneous bands on the Columbia; Aleis, on the north side of the Columbia. Gass’ Jour., p. 285. Cathlacumups ‘on the main shore S.W. of Wappatoo Isl.’ Morse’s Rept., p. 371. Cathlakamaps, ‘at the mouth of the Wallaumut.’ Id., p. 368. Cathlanamenamens, ‘On the island in the mouth of the Wallaumut.’ Id., p. 368. Cathlanaquiahs, ‘On the S.W. side of Wappatoo Isl.’ Id., p. 371. Cathlapootle, eighty miles from mouth of the Columbia opposite the mouth of the Willamette. Id., p. 368. Calhlathlas, ‘at the rapids, S. side.’ Id., p. 368. Clahclellah, ‘below the rapids.’ Morse’s Rept., p. 370. Clannarminnamuns, ‘S.W. side of Wappatoo Isl.’ Id., p. 371. Clanimatas, ‘S.W. side of Wappatoo Isl.’ Ib. Clockstar, ‘S.E. side of Wappattoo Isl.’ Ib. Cooniacs, ‘of Oak Point (Kahnyak or Kukhnyak, the Kreluits of Franchère and Skilloots of Lewis and Clarke).’ Gibbs’ Chinook Vocab., p. iv. Hellwits, ‘S. side 39 miles from mouth.’ Morse’s Rept., p. 368. Katlagakya, ‘from the Cascades to Vancouver.’ Framboise, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 255. Katlaminimim, on Multnomah Island. Ib. Katlaportl, river of same name, and right bank of Columbia for five miles above its mouth. Ib. Ketlakaniaks, at Oak Point, formerly united with Kolnit. Ib. Klakalama, between Kathlaportle and Towalitch rivers. Ib. Mamnit, ‘Multnomah Isl.’ Ib. Nechakoke, ‘S. side, near Quicksand river, opposite Diamond Isl.’ Morse’s Rept., p. 370. Neerchokioon, south side above the Wallaumut river. Ib. Shalala at the grand rapids down to the Willamet. Ib. Quathlapotle, between the Cowlits and Chahwahnahinooks (Cathlapootle?) river. Lewis and Clarke’s Map. Seamysty, ‘at the mouth of the Towalitch River.’ Framboise, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 255. Shoto, W. side back of a pond and nearly opposite the entrance of the Willamut. Morse’s Rept., p. 370. Skillutes, ‘about junction of Cowlitz.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Map. Skiloots on the Columbia on each side, from the lower part of the Columbia Valley as low as Sturgeon Island, and on both sides of the Coweliskee River. Morse’s Rept., p. 371. Smockshop. Id., p. 370. Trile Kalets, near Fort Vancouver. Warre and Vavasour, in Martin’s Hud. B., p. 81. Wahclellah, ‘below all the rapids.’ Morse’s Rept., p. 370. Wakamass, ‘Deer’s Isle to the lower branch of the Wallamat.’ Framboise, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 255. Wyampams, at the narrows. Ross’ Adven., pp. 117-19. Tchilouits on the Columbia, south bank, below the Cowlitz. Stuart, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1821, tom. x., p. 112. Cathlâkaheckits and Cathlathlalas in vicinity of the Cascades. Id., tom. xii., 1821, p. 23.

The Clatsops live on Point Adams. Hines’ Voy., p. 88. ‘South side of the (Columbia) river at its mouth.’ Greenhow’s Hist. Ogn., pp. 30, 286. ‘Southern shore of the bay at the mouth of the Columbia, and along the seacoast on both sides of Point Adams.’ Morton’s Crania, p. 211; Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 401, 426, and map. 12 miles from mouth, south side. Morse’s Rept., p. 368. ‘South side of the river.’ Gass’ Jour., p. 244. ‘From near Tillamook Head to Point Adams and up the river to Tongue Point.’ Gibbs’ Chinook Vocab., p. iv. Klakhelnk, ‘on Clatsop Point, commonly called Clatsops.’ Framboise, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 255; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 201, vol. v., p. 492.

Coast Tribes of Oregon

The Wakiakum, or ‘Wakaikum, live on the right bank of the Columbia; on a small stream, called Cadet River.’ Framboise, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 255. Wakiakums (Wakáiakum) ‘towards Oak Point.’ Gibbs’ Chinook Vocab., p. iv. Wahkiacums, adjoining the Cathlamahs on the south-east and the Skilloots on the north-west. Lewis and Clarke’s Map.. Waakicums, thirty miles from the mouth of the Columbia, north side. Morse’s Rept., p. 368.

The Cathlamets extend from Tongue Point to Puget’s Island. Gibbs’ Chinook Vocab., p. iv. ‘Opposite the lower village of the Wahkiacums.’ Irving’s Astoria, p. 336. ’30 miles from the mouth of Columbia.’ Morse’s Rept., p. 368. ‘On a river of same name.’ Framboise, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 255; Lewis and Clarke’s Map.

‘Along the coast south of the Columbia river are the Clatsops, Killamucks, Lucktons, Kahunkle, Lickawis, Youkone, Necketo, Ulseah, Youitts, Shiastuckle, Killawats, Cookoose, Shalalahs, Luckasos, Hannakalals.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 427-8. ‘Along the coast S. of Columbia river, and speak the Killamucks language,’ Youicone, Neekeetoos, Ulseahs, Youitts, Sheastukles, Killawats, Cookkoooose, Shallalah, Luckkarso, Hannakallal. Morse’s Rept., p. 371. Náélim, ‘on a river on the sea-coast, 30 miles S. of Clatsop Point,’ and the following tribes proceeding southward. Nikaas, Kowai, Neselitch, Tacóón, Aleya, Sayonstla, Kiliwatsal, Kaons, Godamyou (!), Stotonia, at the mouth of Coquin river. Framboise, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., pp. 255-6.

The Killamooks dwell along the coast southward from the mouth of the Columbia. ‘Near the mouth of the Columbia.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 262. Callimix, ’40 miles S. of Columbia.’ Morse’s Rept., p. 368. Killamucks, ‘along the S.E. coast for many miles.’ Id., p. 371. Tillamooks, ‘along the coast from Umpqua River to the Neachesna, a distance of one hundred and twenty miles.’ Palmer, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 256, 259. Kilamukes, ‘south and east of mouth of the Columbia, extending to the coast.’ Emmons, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 201. Nsietshawus, or Killamuks, ‘on the sea-coast south of the Columbia.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 211, and map, p. 197. ‘Between the river Columbia and the Umpqua.’ Warre and Vavasour, in Martin’s Hud. B., p. 81. ‘Country about Cape Lookout.’ Palmer’s Jour., p. 105. ‘On comprend sous le nom général de Killimous, les Indiens du sud du Rio Colombia, tels que les Nahelems, les Nikas, les Kaouais, les Alsiias, les Umquas, les Toutounis et les Sastés. Ces deux dernières peuplades se sont jusqu’à présent montrées hostiles aux caravanes des blancs.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., pp. 335, 357. Killamucks, next to the Clatsops. Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 426. ‘Callemeux nation.’ Gass’ Jour., p. 260. Callemax on the coast forty leagues south of the Columbia. Stuart, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., tom. x., p. 90.

The Lucktons are found ‘adjoining the Killamucks, and in a direction S.S.E.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 427.

The Jakon, or Yakones, dwell south of the Killamooks on the coast. Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 218, and map, p. 197.

The Tlatskanai are farther inland than the Killamooks. Id., p. 204.

The Umpquas live ‘on a river of that name.’ Framboise, in Lond. Geog. Soc. Jour., vol. ii., p. 256. ‘In a valley of the same name. They are divided into six tribes; the Sconta, Chalula, Palakahu, Quattamya, and Chastà.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 262. Umbaquâs. Id., p. 262. ‘Umpquas (3 tribus) sur la rivière de ce nom, et de la rivière aux Vaches.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 335. ‘The Umkwa inhabit the upper part of the river of that name, having the Kalapuya on the north, the Lutuami (Clamets), on the east, and the Sainstkla between them and the sea.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 204, and map, p. 197. Two hundred and twenty-five miles south of the Columbia. Hines’ Voy., p. 94. ‘The country of the Umpquas is bounded east by the Cascade mountains, west by the Umpqua mountains and the ocean, north by the Calipooia mountains and south by Grave Creek and Rogue River mountains.’ Palmer, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 255; Emmons, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 201, vol. v., p. 492.

The Saiustkla reside ‘upon a small stream which falls into the sea just south of the Umqua River.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 221, map, p. 197. Sinselaw, ‘on the banks of the Sinselaw river.’ Harvey, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1863, p. 80. Sayousla, ‘near the mouth of Sayousla bay.’ Brooks, in Id., 1862, p. 299. Saliutla, ‘at the mouth of the Umbaquâ river.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 262.

The Katlawotsetts include the Siuslaw and Alsea bands on Siuslaw River; the Scottsburg, Lower Umpqua, and Kowes Bay bands on Umpqua River. Drew, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 359. Kiliwatshat, ‘at the mouth of the Umpqua.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 221.

The Alseas, or Alseyas, live on Alsea Bay. Brooks, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1862, p. 299; Harvey, in Id., 1863, p. 80. Chocreleatan, ‘at the forks of the Coquille river.’ Quahtomahs, between Coquille River and Port Orford. Nasomah, ‘near the mouth of the Coquille River.’ Parrish, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 287.

Natives of the Willamette Valley

Willamette Valley Nations: ‘The nations who inhabit this fertile neighbourhood are very numerous. The Wappatoo inlet extends three hundred yards wide, for ten or twelve miles to the south, as far as the hills near which it receives the waters of a small creek, whose sources are not far from those of the Killamuck river. On that creek resides the Clackstar nation, a numerous people of twelve hundred souls, who subsist on fish and wappatoo, and who trade by means of the Killamuck river, with the nation of that name on the sea-coast. Lower down the inlet, towards the Columbia, is the tribe called Cathlacumup. On the sluice which connects the inlet with the Multnomah, are the tribes Cathlanahquiah and Cathlacomatup; and on Wappatoo island, the tribes of Clannahminamun and Clahnaquah. Immediately opposite, near the Towahnahiooks, are the Quathlapotles, and higher up, on the side of the Columbia, the Shotos. All these tribes, as well as the Cathlahaws, who live somewhat lower on the river, and have an old village on Deer island, may be considered as parts of the great Multnomah nation, which has its principal residence on Wappatoo island, near the mouth of the large river to which they give their name. Forty miles above its junction with the Columbia, it receives the waters of the Clackamos, a river which may be traced through a woody and fertile country to its sources in Mount Jefferson, almost to the foot of which it is navigable for canoes. A nation of the same name resides in eleven villages along its borders: they live chiefly on fish and roots, which abound in the Clackamos and along its banks, though they sometimes descend to the Columbia to gather wappatoo, where they cannot be distinguished by dress or manners, or language, from the tribes of Multnomahs. Two days’ journey from the Columbia, or about twenty miles beyond the entrance of the Clackamos, are the falls of the Multnomah. At this place are the permanent residences of the Cushooks and Chaheowahs, two tribes who are attracted to that place by the fish, and by the convenience of trading across the mountains and down Killamuck river, with the nation of Killamucks, from whom they procure train oil. These falls were occasioned by the passage of a high range of mountains; beyond which the country stretches into a vast level plain, wholly destitute of timber. As far as the Indians, with whom we conversed, had ever penetrated that country, it was inhabited by a nation called Calahpoewah, a very numerous people, whose villages, nearly forty in number, are scattered along each side of the Multnomah, which furnish them with their chief subsistence, fish, and the roots along its banks.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 507-8. Calapooyas, Moolallels, and Clackamas in the Willamette Valley. Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 200, map. Cathlakamaps at the mouth of the Ouallamat; Cathlapoutles opposite; Cathlanaminimins on an island a little higher up; Mathlanobes on the upper part of the same island; Cathlapouyeas just above the falls; the Cathlacklas on an eastern branch farther up; and still higher the Chochonis. Stuart, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1821, tom. x., pp. 115, 117.

The Cathlathlas live ’60 miles from the mouth of the Wallaumut.’ Morse’s Rept., p. 368.

The Cloughewallhah are ‘a little below the falls.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 177.

The Katlawewalla live ‘at the falls of the Wallamat.’ Framboise, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 256.

The Leeshtelosh occupy the ‘headwaters of the Multnomah.’ Hunter’s Captivity, p. 73.

The Multnomahs (or Mathlanobs) dwell ‘at upper end of the island in the mouth of the Wallaumut.’ Morse’s Rept., p. 368.

The Nemalquinner lands are ‘N.E. side of the Wallaumut river, 3 miles above its mouth.’ Morse’s Rept., p. 370.

The Newaskees extend eastward of the headwaters of the Multnomah, on a large lake. Hunter’s Captivity, p. 73.

The Yamkallies dwell ‘towards the sources of the Wallamut River.’ Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 225.

The Calapooyas live in the upper Willamette Valley. Callipooya, ‘Willamette Valley.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 492, vol. iii., p. 201. Kalapuya, ‘above the falls.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 217. Callawpohyeaas, Willamette tribes sixteen in number. Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., p. 108. Calapooah, seventeen tribes on the Willamette and its branches. Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 261. Callappohyeaass nation consists of Wacomeapp, Nawmooit, Chillychandize, Shookany, Coupé, Shehees, Longtonguebuff, Lamalle, and Pecyou tribes. Ross’ Adven., pp. 236-6. Kalapooyahs, ‘on the shores of the Oregon.’ Morton’s Crania, p. 213. ‘Willamat Plains.’ Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 225. Kalapuyas, ‘above the falls of the Columbia.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 36. ’50 miles from the mouth of the Wallaumut, W. side.’ Morse’s Rept., p. 368. Vule Puyas, Valley of the Willamette. Warre and Vavasour, in Martin’s Hud. B., p. 81.

The Clackamas are on the ‘Clackama River.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 492. ‘Clakemas et Kaoulis, sur le Ouallamet et la rivière Kaoulis.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 335. ‘Valley of the Clakamus and the Willamuta Falls.’ Warre and Vavasour, in Martin’s Hud. B., p. 81. Klackamas, ‘three miles below the falls.’ Hines’ Voy., p. 144. Clackamis. Palmer’s Jour., p. 84. Clarkamees. Morse’s Rept., p. 372. Clackamus. Lewis and Clarke’s Map.

The Mollales are found in ‘Willamettee Valley.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 492. ‘At the mouth of the Wallamet, and the Wapatoo Islands.’ Tucker’s Oregon, p. 71. ‘Upon the west side of the Willamette and opposite Oregon City.’ Palmer’s Jour., p. 84.

The Shushwap Family

The Shushwap Family comprises all the inland tribes of British Columbia, south of lat. 52° 30´.

The Atnahs, Strangers, Niccoutamuch, or Shushwaps proper, inhabit the Fraser and Thompson valleys. ‘At Spuzzum … a race very different both in habits and language is found. These are the Nicoutamuch, or Nicoutameens, a branch of a widely-extended tribe. They, with their cognate septs, the Atnaks, or Shuswapmuch, occupy the Frazer River from Spuzzum to the frontier of that part of the country called by the Hudson Bay Company New Caledonia, which is within a few miles of Fort Alexandria.’ Mayne’s B. C., p. 296. ‘Shushwaps of the Rocky Mountains inhabit the country in the neighbourhood of Jasper House, and as far as Tête Jaune Cache on the western slope. They are a branch of the great Shushwap nation who dwell near the Shushwap Lake and grand fork of the Thompson River in British Columbia.’ Thompson River and Lake Kamloops. Milton and Cheadle’s Northw. Pass., pp. 241, 335. ‘On the Pacific side, but near the Rocky Mountains, are the Shoushwaps who, inhabiting the upper part of Frazer’s River, and the north fork of the Columbia.’ Blakiston, in Palliser’s Explor., p. 44. ‘The Shooshaps live below the Sinpauelish Indians.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 313. ‘The Shushwaps possess the country bordering on the lower part of Frazer’s River, and its branches.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 205. The Atnahs or Soushwap, ‘live in the country on the Fraser’s and Thompson’s Rivers.’ ‘They were termed by Mackenzie the Chin tribe.’ (See p. 251, note 141 of this vol.) Prichard’s Researches, vol. v., p. 427; Buschmann, Brit. Nordamer., p. 320. Shooshaps, south of the Sinpavelist. De Smet, Voy., pp. 50-1. ‘The Atnah, or Chin Indian country extends about one hundred miles,’ from Fort Alexander. Cox’s Adven., vol. ii., p. 361. Shooshewaps inhabit the region of the north bend of the Columbia, in 52°. Atnahs, in the region of the Fraser and Thompson rivers. Macdonald’s Lecture on B. C., p. 10; Hector, in Palliser’s Explor., p. 27. ‘The Shewhapmuch (Atnahs of Mackenzie) … occupy the banks of Thompson’s River; and along Frazer’s River from the Rapid village, twenty miles below Alexandria, to the confluence of these two streams. Thence to near the falls the tribe bears the name of Nicutemuch.’ Anderson, in Hist. Mag., vol. vii., p. 76.

‘The Stta Llimuh, natives of Anderson Lake, speak a dialect of the Sheswap language.’ Skowhomish, in the same vicinity. McKay, in B. C. Papers, vol. ii., p. 32.

‘The Loquilt Indians have their home in the winter on Lake Anderson, and the surrounding district, whence they descend to the coast in Jervis Inlet in the summer.’ Mayne’s B. C., p. 299.

The Kamloops dwell about one hundred and fifty miles north-west of Okanagan. Cox’s Adven., vol. ii., p. 156.

The Clunsus are east of Fraser River, between Yale and latitude 50°; Skowtous, on the fiftieth parallel south of Lake Kamloops and west of Lake Okanagan; Sockatcheenum, east of Fraser and north of 51°. Bancroft’s Map of Pac. States.

The Kootenais live in the space bounded by the Columbia River, Rocky Mountains, and Clarke River. The Kitunaha, Coutanies, or Flatbows, ‘wander in the rugged and mountainous tract enclosed between the two northern forks of the Columbia. The Flat-bow River and Lake also belong to them.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., pp. 204-5, map, p. 297. ‘Inhabit the country extending along the foot of the Rocky mountains, north of the Flatheads, for a very considerable distance, and are about equally in American and in British territory.’ Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 416. Kootoonais, ‘on McGillivray’s River, the Flat Bow Lake, etc.’ Warre and Vavasour, in Martin’s Hud. B., p. 82. Kootonais, on ‘or about the fiftieth parallel at Fort Kootonie, east of Fort Colville.’ Simpson’s Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 138. ‘Between the Rocky Mountains, the Upper Columbia and its tributary the Killuspeha or Pend’oreille, and watered by an intermediate stream called the Kootanais River is an angular piece of country peopled by a small, isolated tribe bearing the same name as the last-mentioned river, on the banks of which they principally live.’ Mayne’s B. C., p. 297. The lands of the Cottonois ‘lie immediately north of those of the Flatheads.’ Irving’s Bonneville’s Adven., p. 70. Kutanàe, Kútani, Kitunaha, Kutneha, Coutanies, Flatbows, ‘near the sources of the Mary River, west of the Rocky Mountains.’ Ludewig, Ab. Lang., p. 98. ‘Inhabit a section of country to the north of the Ponderas, along M’Gillivray’s river.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 312. ‘Koutanies ou Arcs-Plats, Près du fort et du lac de ce nom.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 335. ‘In the Kootanie Valley.’ Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 178. Kootonays, south of the Shushwaps. Palliser’s Explor., p. 44. ‘Great longitudinal valley’ of the Kootanie river. Hector, in Id., p. 27. ‘The Tobacco Plains form the country of the Kootanies.’ Blakiston, in Id., p. 73. ‘About the northern branches of the Columbia.’ Greenhow’s Hist. Ogn., p. 30. Kootanais, ‘angle between the Saeliss lands and the eastern heads of the Columbia.’ Anderson, in Hist. Mag., vol. vii., p. 79. About the river of the same name, between the Columbia and Rocky Mountains. Nicolay’s Ogn. Ter., p. 143. A band called Sinatcheggs on the upper Arrow Lake. Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. ii., p. 190. The Kootenais were perhaps the Tushepaws of Lewis and Clarke.

The Tushepaws are ‘a numerous people of four hundred and fifty tents, residing on the heads of the Missouri and Columbia rivers, and some of them lower down the latter river.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 321, and map; Bulfinch’s Ogn., p. 134. ‘On a N. fork of Clarke’s River.’ Morse’s Rept., p. 372. Ootlashoots, Micksucksealton (Pend d’Oreilles?), Hohilpos (Flatheads?), branches of the Tushepaws. Id., and Lewis and Clarke’s Map. The Tushepaw nation might as correctly be included in the Salish family or omitted altogether. According to Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 417, they were the Kootenais.

The Okanagans, or Okinakanes, ‘comprise the bands lying on the river of that name, as far north as the foot of the great lake. They are six in number, viz: the Tekunratum at the mouth; Konekonep, on the creek of that name; Kluckhaitkwee, at the falls; Kinakanes, near the forks; and Milaketkun, on the west fork. With them may be classed the N’Pockle, or Sans Puelles, on the Columbia river, though these are also claimed by the Spokanes. The two bands on the forks are more nearly connected with the Schwogelpi than with the ones first named.’ Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 237, and in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 412. Oakinackens, Priests’ Rapids, northward over 500 miles, and 100 miles in width, to the Shewhaps, branching out into 12 tribes, as follows, beginning with the south: ‘Skamoynumachs, Kewaughtchenunaughs, Pisscows, Incomecanétook, Tsillane, Intiétook, Battlelemuleemauch, or Meatwho, Inspellum, Sinpohellechach, Sinwhoyelppetook, Samilkanuigh and Oakinacken, which is nearly in the centre.’ Ross’ Adven., pp. 289-90. ‘On both sides the Okanagan River from its mouth up to British Columbia, including the Sennelkameen River.’ Ross, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, p. 22. ‘Près du fort de ce nom.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 335. ‘On the Okanagan and Piscour Rivers.’ Warre and Vavasour, in Martin’s Hud. B., p. 82. ‘Composed of several small bands living along the Okinakane river, from its confluence with the Columbia to Lake Okinakane…. A majority of the tribe live north of the boundary line.’ Paige, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1865, p. 99. ‘Columbia Valley.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 490. North-east and west of the Shoopshaps. De Smet, Voy., p. 51. Junction of the Okanagan and Columbia. Parker’s Map. ‘Upper part of Fraser’s River and its tributaries.’ Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 225. Principal family called Conconulps about 9 miles up stream of the same name. Ross’ Adven., pp. 289-90. The Similkameen live on S. river, and ‘are a portion of the Okanagan tribe.’ Palmer, in B. Col. Papers, vol. iii., p. 85. The Okanagans, called Catsanim by Lewis and Clarke. Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 417. Cutsahnim, on the Columbia above the Sokulks, and on the northern branches of the Taptul. Morse’s Rept., p. 372.

The Salish Family

The Salish Family includes all the inland tribes between 49° and 47°. The Salish, Saalis, Selish, or Flatheads, ‘inhabit the country about the upper part of the Columbia and its tributary streams, the Flathead, Spokan, and Okanagan Rivers. The name includes several independent tribes or bands, of which the most important are the Salish proper, the Kullespelm, the Soayalpi, the Tsakaitsitlin, and the Okinakan.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 205. ‘The Saeliss or Shewhapmuch race, whose limits may be defined by the Rocky Mountains eastward; on the west the line of Frazer’s river from below Alexandria to Kequeloose, near the Falls, in about latitude 49° 50´; northward by the Carrier offset of the Chippewyans; and south by the Sahaptins or Nez Percés of Oregon.’ Anderson, in Hist. Mag., vol. vii., p. 73. ‘From Thompson’s River other septs of this race—the Shuswaps, Skowtous, Okanagans, Spokans, Skoielpoi (of Colville), Pend’oreilles, and Coeurs d’Aleines—occupy the country as far as the Flathead Passes of the Rocky Mountains, where the Saelies or Flatheads form the eastern portion of the race.’ Mayne’s B. C., pp. 296-7. ‘About the northern branches of the Columbia.’ Greenhow’s Hist. Ogn., p. 30; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 55. Tribes mentioned in Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., and map: Tushepaw (Kootenai), Hopilpo (Flathead), Micksucksealtom (Pend d’Oreilles), Wheelpo, (Chualpays), Sarlisto and Sketsomish (Spokanes), Hehighenimmo (Sans Poils), according to Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 417. See Morse’s Rept., p. 372; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 55. ‘Between the two great branches of the Columbia and the Rocky Mountains are only five petty tribes: the Kootanais and Selish, or Flatheads, at the foot of the mountains, and the Pointed Hearts, Pend d’Oreilles, and Spokanes lower down.’ Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. ii., p. 190. ‘Divided into several tribes, the most important of which are the Selishes, the Kullespelms, the Soayalpis, the Tsakaïtsitlins, and the Okinakans.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., pp. 55-6.

The Flatheads, or Salish proper, reside on the river, valley, and lake of the same name. ‘Inhabit St. Mary’s or the Flathead Valley and the neighborhood of the lake of the same name.’ Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 415, and in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 207. ‘Occupying the valleys between the Bitter Root and Rocky mountains.’ Thompson, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 282. ‘South of the Flathead Valley on the Bitter Root.’ Sully, in Id., 1870, p. 192. St. Mary’s River. Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 490. ‘East and south-east (of the Coeurs d’Alène) and extends to the Rocky Mountains.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 311, and map. De Smet, Miss. de l’Orégon, p. 31. Saalis ou faux Têtes-Plates. Sur la rivière de ce nom au pied des Montagnes Rocheuses. Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 335. ‘Along the foot of the mountains.’ Ross’ Adven., p. 213. ‘In New Caledonia, W. of the Rocky Mountains.’ Morse’s Rept., p. 371. Bitter Root valley. Hutchins, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1863, p. 455, 1865, p. 246; Nicolay’s Ogn. Ter., p. 153. Hopilpo, of Lewis and Clarke. Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 417. ‘Ils occupent le pays compris entre le Lewis River et la branche nord-ouest ou la Columbia, et borné en arrière par les Monts-Rocailleux.’ Stuart, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1821, tom. xii., p. 43.

The Pend d’Oreilles occupy the vicinity of the lake of the same name. ‘On the Flathead or Clarke River.’ Warre and Vavasour, in Martin’s Hud. B., p. 82. ‘At Clark’s Fork.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 490. Lower Pend d’Oreilles, ‘in the vicinity of the St. Ignatius Mission.’ Paige, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1865, p. 98. ‘The Kalispelms or Pend d’Oreilles of the Lower Lake, inhabit the country north of the Coeur d’Alenes and around the Kalispelm lake.’ Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 415. Calispels, or Calispellum, ‘on Fool’s Prairie at the head of Colville Valley, and on both sides of the Pend d’Oreille River, from its mouth to the Idaho line, but principally at the Camas Prairie.’ Winans, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, pp. 22, 25, 192. Situated to the east of Fort Colville, adjoining the Kootonais on their eastern border. Simpson’s Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 146. ‘Pend’oreilles ou Kellespem. Au-dessous du fort Colville.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 335. Skatkmlschi, or Pend d’Oreilles of the upper lake. A tribe who, by the consent of the Selish, occupy jointly with them the country of the latter. Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 415. Kullas-Palus, ‘on the Flathead or Clarke River.’ Warre and Vavasour, in Martin’s Hud. B., p. 82. Ponderas, ‘north of Clarke’s river and on a lake which takes its name from the tribe.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 312 and map; De Smet, Voy., p. 32. The Pend’oreilles were probably the Micksucksealtom of Lewis and Clarke. Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 417.

Tribes baptized by De Smet: Thlishatkmuche, Stietshoi, Zingomenes, Shaistche, Shuyelpi, Tschilsolomi, Siur Poils, Tinabsoti, Yinkaceous, Yejak-oun, all of same stock.

Tribes mentioned by Morse as living in the vicinity of Clarke River: Coopspellar, Lahama, Lartielo, Hihighenimmo, Wheelpo, Skeetsomish. Rept., p. 372.

The Coeurs d’Aléne ‘live about the lake which takes its name from them.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 209. East of the Spokanes, at headwaters of the Spokane River. Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 310, and map. ‘The Skitswish or Coeur d’Alenes, live upon the upper part of the Coeur d’Alene river, above the Spokanes, and around the lake of the same name.’ Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 415. Their mission is on the river ten miles above the lake and thirty miles from the mountains. Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 216. Stietshoi, or Coeur d’Alenes on the river, and about the lake. Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 200, map, vol. v., p. 490. Pointed Hearts, ‘shores of a lake about fifty miles to the eastward of Spokan House.’ Cox’s Adven., vol. ii., p. 150; Nicolay’s Ogn. Ter., p. 143; De Smet, Miss. de l’Orégon, p. 31. ‘St. Joseph’s river.’ Mullan’s Rept., p. 49.

The Colvilles include the tribes about Kettle Falls, and the banks of the Columbia up to the Arrow Lakes. ‘Colville valley and that of the Columbia river from Kettle Falls to a point thirty miles below.’ Paige, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1865, p. 98. ‘The Colvilles, whose tribal name is Swielpree, are located in the Colville Valley, on the Kettle River, and on both sides of the Columbia River, from Kettle Falls down to the mouth of the Spokane.’ Winans, in Id., 1870, p. 22. Colvilles and Spokanes, ‘near Fort Colville.’ Warre and Vavasour, in Martin’s Hud. B., p. 82.

The Lakes, ‘whose tribal name is Senijextee, are located on both sides of the Columbia River, from Kettle Falls north to British Columbia.’ Winans, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, p. 22. ‘So named from their place of residence, which is about the Arrow Lakes.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 312. ‘Les sauvages des Lacs … résident sur le Lac-aux-flèches.’ De Smet, Voy., p. 50.

The Chaudières, or Kettle Falls, reside ‘about Colville.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 313. The village of Les Chaudières ‘is situated on the north side just below the fall.’ Cox’s Advent., vol. i., p. 358. Chaudières ‘live south of the Lake Indians.’ De Smet, Voy., p. 50. ‘Fort Colville is the principal ground of the Schwoyelpi or Kettle Falls tribe.’ Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 413. ‘The tribe in the vicinity (of Fort Colville) is known as the Chaudière, whose territory reaches as far up as the Columbia Lakes.’ Simpson’s Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 151. ‘Gens des Chaudières. Près du lac Schouchouap au-dessous des Dalles.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 335. ‘Called in their own language, Chualpays.’ Kane’s Wand., pp. 308-9. ‘Called Quiarlpi (Basket People).’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 472. The Chualpays called Wheelpo by Lewis and Clarke, and by Morse. Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 417.

The Spokane Nation

The Spokanes live on the Spokane river and plateau, along the banks of the Columbia from below Kettle Falls, nearly to the Okanagan. ‘The Spokihnish, or Spokanes, lie south of the Schrooyelpi, and chiefly upon or near the Spokane river. The name applied by the whites to a number of small bands, is that given by the Coeur d’Alene to the one living at the forks. They are also called Sinkoman, by the Kootonies. These bands are eight in number: the Sinslihhooish, on the great plain above the crossings of the Coeur d’Alene river; the Sintootoolish, on the river above the forks; the Smahoomenaish (Spokehnish), at the forks; the Skaischilt’nish, at the old Chemakane mission; the Skecheramouse, above them on the Colville trail; the Scheeetstish, the Sinpoilschne, and Sinspeelish, on the Columbia river; the last-named band is nearly extinct. The Sinpoilschne (N’pochle, or Sans Puelles) have always been included among the Okinakanes, though, as well as the Sinspeelish below them, they are claimed by the Spokanes. The three bands on the Columbia all speak a different language from the rest.’ Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 220, 236; and Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 414-15. ‘This tribe claim as their territory the country commencing on the large plain at the head of the Slawntehus—the stream entering the Columbia at Fort Colville; thence down the Spokane to the Columbia, down the Columbia half way to Fort Okinakane, and up the Spokane and Coeur d’Alene, to some point between the falls and the lake, on the latter.’ Id., p. 414. ‘Inhabit the country on the Spokane river, from its mouth to the boundary of Idaho.’ Paige, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1865, p. 99. ‘At times on the Spokane, at times on the Spokane plains.’ Mullan’s Rept., pp. 18, 49. ‘Principally on the plains.’ Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 157. ‘North-east of the Palooses are the Spokein nation.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 310, and map. ‘Au-dessous du fort Okanagam à l’Est.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 335. ‘Au nord-ouest des Palooses se trouve la nation des Spokanes.’ De Smet, Voy., p. 31. ‘Have a small village at the entrance of their river, but their chief and permanent place of residence is about forty miles higher up … where the Pointed-heart River joins the Spokan from the south-east.’ Cox’s Adven., vol. ii., p. 147. ‘The Spokanes, whose tribal names are Sineequomenach, or Upper, Sintootoo, or Middle Spokamish, and Chekasschee, or Lower Spokanes, living on the Spokane River, from the Idaho line to its mouth.’ Winans, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, p. 23. Spokane, the Sarlilso and Sketsomish of Lewis and Clarke. Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 417.

The Sans Poils (Hairless), or ‘Sanpoils, which includes the Nespeelum Indians, are located on the Columbia, from the mouth of the Spokane down to Grand Coulée (on the south of the Columbia), and from a point opposite the mouth of the Spokane down to the mouth of the Okanagan on the north side of the Columbia, including the country drained by the Sanpoil, and Nespeelum Creeks.’ Winans, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, p. 22. Sinpoilish, west of the Columbia between Priest Rapids and Okanagan. Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 200, map. Sinpauelish, west of the Kettle Falls Indians. Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 313. ‘Sinipouals. Près des grands rapides du Rio Colombia.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 335. Sinpavelist, west of the Chaudières. De Smet, Voy., p. 50. Sinapoils, ‘occupy a district on the northern banks of the Columbia, between the Spokan and Oakinagan rivers.’ Cox’s Adven., vol. ii., p. 145. Hehighenimmo of Lewis and Clarke. Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 417.

The Pisquouse inhabit the west bank of the Columbia between the Okanagan and Priest Rapids. Piskwaus, or Piscous; ‘name properly belongs to the tribe who live on the small river which falls into the Columbia on the west side, about forty miles below Fort Okanagan. But it is here extended to all the tribes as far down as Priest’s Rapids.’ The map extends their territory across the Columbia. Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 210, and map, p. 197. Pisquouse, ‘immediately north of that of the Yakamas.’ ‘On the Columbia between the Priest’s and Ross Rapids.’ Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 236; and Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 412. ‘Piscaous. Sur la petite rivière de ce nom à l’Ouest de la Colombie.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 335.

The Skamoynumacks live on the banks of the Columbia, at Priest Rapids, near the mouth of the Umatilla. Thirty miles distant up the river are the Kewaughtohenemachs. Ross’ Adven., pp. 134, 137.

‘The Mithouies are located on the west side of the Columbia River, from the mouth of the Okanagan down to the Wonatchee, and includes the country drained by the Mithouie, Lake Chelan, and Enteeatook Rivers.’ Winans, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, p. 23.

‘The Isle de Pierres, whose tribal name is Linkinse, are located on the east and south side of the Col. Riv. from Grand Coulée down to Priests’ Rapids, which includes the peninsula made by the great bend of the Col.’ Ib.

Sahaptin Family

The Sahaptin Family is situated immediately south of the Salish. Only six of the eight nations mentioned below have been included in the Family by other authors. ‘The country occupied by them extends from the Dalles of the Columbia to the Bitter-Root mountains, lying on both sides of the Columbia and upon the Kooskooskie and Salmon Forks of Lewis’ and Snake River, between that of the Selish family on the north, and of the Snakes on the south.’ Gibbs, in Pandosy’s Gram., p. vii. ‘The first and more northern Indians of the interior may be denominated the Shahaptan Family, and comprehends three tribes; the Shahaptan, or Nez Percés of the Canadians; the Kliketat, a scion from the Shahaptans who now dwell near Mount Rainier, and have advanced toward the falls of the Columbia; and the Okanagan, who inhabit the upper part of Fraser’s River and its tributaries.’ Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 225. Hale’s map, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 197, divides the territory among the Nez Percés, Walla-Wallas, Waiilaptu, and Molele. ‘The Indians in this district (of the Dalles) are Dog River, Wascos, Tyicks, Des Chutes, John Day, Utilla, Cayuses, Walla-Walla, Nez Percés, Mountain Snakes and Bannacks.’ Dennison, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1859, p. 435. ‘The different tribes attached to Fort Nez Percés, and who formerly went by that cognomen, are the Shamooinaugh, Skamnaminaugh, E’yackimah, Ispipewhumaugh, and Inaspetsum. These tribes inhabit the main north branch above the Forks. On the south branch are the Palletto Pallas, Shawhaapten or Nez Percés proper, Pawluch, and Cosispa tribes. On the main Columbia, beginning at the Dallas, are the Necootimeigh, Wisscopam, Wisswhams, Wayyampas, Lowhim, Sawpaw, and Youmatalla bands.’ Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., p. 185-6. Cathlakahikits, at the rapids of Columbia river, N. side; Chippanchickchicks, ‘N. side of Columbia river, in the long narrows, a little below the falls.’ Hellwits, ‘at the falls of Columbia river;’ Ithkyemamits, ‘on Columbia river, N. side near Chippanchickchicks’; Yehah, ‘above the rapids.’ Morse’s Rept., pp. 368-70.

The Nez Percés ‘possess the country on each side of the Lewis or Snake River, from the Peloose to the Wapticacoes, about a hundred miles—together with the tributary streams, extending, on the east, to the foot of the Rocky Mountains.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 212; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 551. ‘On both sides of the Kooskooskia and north fork of Snake river.’ Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 416; and Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 217. ‘A few bands of the Nez Percés Indians occupy the Salmon river and the Clearwater.’ Thompson, in Id., p. 282. ‘The Nez Percés country is bounded west by the Palouse river and the Tucannon; on the north by the range of mountains between Clear Water and the Coeur d’Alene; east by the Bitter Root mountains; on the south they are bounded near the line dividing the two Territories.’ Craig, in Id., 1857, p. 353. The Buffalo, a tribe of the Nez Perces, winter in the Bitter Root Valley. Owen, in Id., 1859, p. 424. ‘Upper waters and mountainous parts of the Columbia.’ Catlin’s N. Am. Ind., vol. ii., p. 108. ‘Country lying along Lewis river and its tributaries from the eastern base of the Blue Mountains to the Columbia.’ Palmer’s Jour., p. 55. Nez Percés or Sahaptins, ‘on the banks of the Lewis Fork or Serpent River.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 54. ‘Chohoptins, or Nez-Percés, … on the banks of Lewis River.’ Cox’s Adven., vol. ii., p. 143. ‘Rove through the regions of the Lewis branch.’ Greenhow’s Hist. Ogn., p. 30. ‘The Lower Nez Percés range upon the Wayleeway, Immahah, Yenghies, and other of the streams west of the mountains.’ Irving’s Bonneville’s Adven., p. 301. Some Flatheads live along the Clearwater River down to below its junction with the Snake. Gass’ Jour., p. 212. Country ‘drained by the Kooskooskie, westward from the Blackfoot country, and across the Rocky Mountains.’ Brownell’s Ind. Races, p. 533. ‘Près du fort de ce nom, à la junction des deux branches du fleuve.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 335. Junction of Snake and Clearwater. Parker’s Explor. Tour, Map. Chopunnish. Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 331, and map. Copunnish. Bulfinch’s Oregon, p. 144. ‘The Nez-Percés are divided into two classes, the Nez-Percés proper, who inhabit the mountains, and the Polonches, who inhabit the plain country about the mouth of the Snake River.’ Gairdner, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 256. Chopunnish, ‘on Lewis river below the entrance of the Kooskooskee, on both sides.’ ‘On the Kooskooskee river below the forks, and on Cotter’s creek.’ Bands of the Chopunnish; Pelloatpallah, Kimmooenim, Yeletpoo, Willewah, Soyennom. Morse’s Rept., p. 369.

The Palouse, or ‘the Palus, usually written Paloose, live between the Columbia and the Snake.’ Gibbs, in Pandosy’s Gram., p. vi. ‘The Peloose tribe has a stream called after it which empties into Lewis River.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 213. Upon the Peloose River. ‘Entrance of Great Snake River and surrounding country.’ Tolmie, in Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 105, 245. ‘Properly a part of the Nez Percés. Their residence is along the Nez Percé river and up the Pavilion.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 310. In three bands; at the mouth of the Pelouse River; on the north bank of Snake River, thirty miles below the Pelouse; and at the mouth of the Snake River. Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 222-3, and in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 150-1. Palouse, or Pelouse, ‘reside on the banks of the Palouse and Snake rivers.’ Mullan’s Rept., pp. 18, 49. ‘La tribu Paloose appartient à la nation des Nez-Percés … elle habite les bords des deux rivières des Nez-percés et du Pavilion.’ De Smet, Voy., p. 31. Selloatpallah, north of the Snake, near its confluence with the Columbia. Lewis and Clarke’s Map. Same as the Sewatpalla. Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 417.

The Walla-Wallas ‘occupy the country south of the Columbia and about the river of that name.’ Gibbs, in Pandosy’s Gram., p. vii. ‘A number of bands living usually on the south side of the Columbia, and on the Snake river to a little east of the Peluse.’ Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 402. ‘Are on a small stream which falls into the Columbia near Fort Nez-percés.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 213. ‘Inhabit the country about the river of the same name, and range some distance below along the Columbia.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 310. ‘Upon the banks of the Columbia, below the mouth of the Lewis Fork are found the Walla-wallas.’ Brownell’s Ind. Races, p. 535. ‘Oualla-Oualla, au-dessus du fort des Nez Percés.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 335. ‘Under this term are embraced a number of bands living usually on the south side of the Columbia, and on the Snake river, to a little east of the Pelouse; as also the Klikatats and Yakamas, north of the former.’ Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 223. ‘On both sides of the Columbia river between Snake river and Hudson Bay fort, Walla-Walla.’ Dennison, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 374. Walla Wallapum. Tolmie, in Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 244-7. ‘Les Walla-walla habitent, sur la rivière du même nom, l’un des tributaires de la Colombie, et leur pays s’étend aussi le long de ce fleuve.’ De Smet, Voy., p. 30. Wollaw Wollah. South side of the Snake, at junction with the Columbia. Lewis and Clarke’s Map. Wollaolla and Wollawalla, ‘on both sides of Col., as low as the Muscleshell rapid, and in winter pass over to the Taptul river.’ Morse’s Rept., pp. 369-70. ‘Country south of the Columbia and about the river of that name.’ Gibbs, in Pandosy’s Gram., p. vii. Walawaltz nation about the junction of the Snake and Columbia. On Walla Walle River. Gass’ Jour., pp. 294-8. ‘On both banks of the Columbia, from the Blue Mountains to the Dalles.’ Farnham’s Trav., p. 151. Wallah Wallah. Cox’s Adven., vol. ii., p. 142. ‘About the river of that name.’ Nicolay’s Ogn. Ter., pp. 143, 151. Wallawallahs, ‘reside along the lower part of the Walla Walla, the low bottom of the Umatilla and the Columbia, from the mouth of Lewis River for one hundred miles south.’ Palmer’s Jour., pp. 58, 124. ‘On the borders of the Wallahwallah and Columbia.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 64; Stuart, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1821, tom. xii., p. 35.

The Sciatogas and Toustchipas live on Canoe River (Tukanon?), and the Euotalla (Touchet?), the Akaïtchis ‘sur le Big-river,’ (Columbia). Hunt, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1821, tom. x., pp. 74-8. The Sciatogas ‘possède le pays borné au sud-est par la Grande-Plaine; au nord, par le Lewis-River; à l’ouest par la Columbia; au sud par l’Oualamat.’ Id., 1821, tom. xii., p. 42.

The Cayuses and Wascos

The Cayuses extend from John Day River eastward to Grande Ronde Valley. The Cayuse, Cailloux, Waiilatpu, ‘country south of the Sahaptin and Wallawalla. Their head-quarters are on the upper part of Wallawalla River.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 214, map, p. 197. ‘The country belonging to the Cayuse is to the south of and between the Nez Perces and Walla-Wallas, extending from the Des Chutes, or Wanwanwi, to the eastern side of the Blue mountains.’ Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 218; Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 416. ‘On the west side of the Blue mountains and south of the Columbia river.’ Thompson, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 282. ‘Occupy a portion of the Walla-Walla valley.’ Dennison, in Id., 1857, p. 374; Cain, in Id., 1859, pp. 413-14. ‘À l’ouest des Nez-perces sont les Kayuses.’ De Smet, Voy., p. 30. The Kayouse dwell upon the Utalla or Emnutilly River. Townsend’s Nar., p. 122. ‘West of the Nez Percés.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 309, and map. ‘Rove through the regions of the Lewis branch.’ Greenhow’s Hist. Ogn., p. 30. ‘Kayouses. Près du grand détour de la Colombie.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 335. Waiilatpu, Molele, called also Willetpoos, Cayuse, ‘western Oregon, south of the Columbia river.’ Ludewig, Ab. Lang., p. 199; Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 417. Caäguas ‘inhabit the country bordering on Wallawalla river and its tributaries, the Blue mountains and Grand round.’ Palmer’s Jour., pp. 54-6. Wyeilat or Kyoose, country to the south of Walla Walla. Tolmie, in Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 244-5. The Skyuses ‘dwell about the waters of the Wayleeway and the adjacent country.’ Irving’s Bonneville’s Adven., p. 388.

The Willewah ‘reside on the Willewah river, which falls into the Lewis river on the S.W. side, below the forks.’ Morse’s Rept., p. 369. In Grande Ronde Valley. Lewis and Clarke’s Map; Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 417.

The Umatillas ‘live near the junction of the Umatilla and Columbia rivers.’ Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 97. Umatallow River and country extending thence westward to Dalles. Tolmie, in Id., p. 245. ‘The Utillas occupy the country along the river bearing that name.’ Dennison, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 374.

The Wahowpum live ‘on the N. branch of the Columbia, in different bands from the Pishquitpahs; as low as the river Lapage; the different bands of this nation winter on the waters of Taptul and Cataract rivers.’ Morse’s Rept., p. 370; Lewis and Clarke’s Map. On John Day’s River. Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 417.

The Wascos include all the tribes between the Cascade Range and John Day River, south of the Columbia. ‘They are known by the name of Wasco Indians, and they call their country around the Dallas, Wascopam. They claim the country extending from the cascades up to the falls of the Columbia, the distance of about fifty miles.’ Hines’ Voy., p. 159. ‘The Wascos occupy a small tract of country near to and adjoining the Dalles.’ Dennison, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 372. On both sides of the Columbia about the Dalles are the Wascopams. Map, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 200. Eneshur, Echeloots, Chillukkitequaw and Sinacshop occupy the territory, on Lewis and Clarke’s Map; Morse’s Rept., p. 370. The Tchipantchicktchick, Cathlassis, Ilttekaïmamits, and Tchelouits about the Dalles. Stuart, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1821, tom. xii., p. 26; Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 417.

‘The residence of the Molele is (or was) in the broken and wooded country about Mounts Hood and Vancouver.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 214. The Mollales have their home in the Willamette Valley. Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 492.

‘The Tairtla, usually called Taigh, belong … to the environs of the Des-Chutes River.’ Gibbs, in Pandosy’s Gram., p. vii.

‘The Des Chutes … formerly occupied that section of country between the Dalles and the Tyich river.’ Dennison, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 373.

‘The Tyichs … formerly occupied the Tyich valley and the country in its vicinity, which lies about 30 miles south of Fort Dalles.’ Ib.

‘The John Day Rivers occupy the country in the immediate vicinity of the river bearing that name.’ Ib.

‘The Dog River, or Cascade Indians reside on a small stream called Dog river, which empties into the Columbia river, about half way between the Cascades and Dalles.’ Id., p. 371. The Cascades dwell ‘on the river of that name.’ Nicolay’s Ogn. Ter., p. 143.

The Yakimas occupy the valley of the Yakima River and its branches. ‘The upper Yakimas occupy the country upon the Wenass and main branch of the Yakima, above the forks; the Lower upon the Yakima and its tributaries, below the forks and along the Columbia from the mouth of the Yakima to a point three miles below the Dalles.’ Robie, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 350. Three bands, Wishhams, Clickahut, and Skien, along the Columbia. Id., p. 352. ‘The Pshwanwappam bands, usually called Yakamas, inhabit the Yakama River.’ Gibbs, in Pandosy’s Gram., p. vii. Lewis and Clarke’s Chanwappan, Shaltattos, Squamaross, Skaddals, and Chimnahpum, on the Yakima River. Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 417. The Yakimas ‘are divided into two principal bands, each made up of a number of villages, and very closely connected; one owning the country on the Nahchess and Lower Yakima, the other are upon the Wenass and main branch above the forks.’ Id., p. 407. Yackamans, northern banks of the Columbia and on the Yackamans river. Cox’s Adven., vol. ii., p. 143. On the Yakima. Hale’s Ethnog., U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 213. ‘South of the Long Rapids, to the confluence of Lewis’ river with the Columbia, are the Yookoomans.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 313. Pishwanwapum (Yakima), in Yakimaw or Eyakema Valley. Tolmie, in Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 244-7. Called Stobshaddat by the Sound Indians. Id., p. 245.

The Chimnapums are ‘on the N.W. side of Col. river, both above and below the entrance of Lewis’ r. and the Taptul r.’ Morse’s Rept., p. 370; Lewis and Clarke’s Map. The ‘Chunnapuns and Chanwappans are between the Cascade Range and the north branch of the Columbia.’ Nicolay’s Ogn. Ter., p. 143.

The Pisquitpahs, ‘on the Muscleshell rapids, and on the N. side of the Columbia, to the commencement of the high country; this nation winter on the waters of the Taptul and Cataract rivers.’ Morse’s Rept., p. 370.

The Sokulks dwell north of the confluence of the Snake and Columbia. Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 351, and map; Morse’s Rept., p. 369. At Priest Rapids. Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 417.

The Kliketats

The Kliketats live in the mountainous country north of the Cascades, on both sides of the Cascade Range, and south of the Yakimas. Klikatats ‘inhabit, properly, the valleys lying between Mounts St. Helens and Adams, but they have spread over districts belonging to other tribes, and a band of them is now located as far south as the Umpqua.’ Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 403. ‘Roilroilpam is the Klikatat country, situated in the Cascade mountains north of the Columbia and west of the Yakamas.’ Gibbs, in Pandosy’s Gram., p. vii. ‘Wander in the wooded country about Mount St. Helens.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 213. ‘In the vicinity of the mouth of the Columbia.’ Catlin’s N. Am. Ind., vol. ii., p. 113. Klikatats. ‘Au-dessus du fort des Nez-Percés.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 335. ‘The Kliketat, a scion from the Sahaptans, who now dwell near Mount Rainier and have advanced towards the falls of the Columbia.’ Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 225. On Lewis and Clarke’s Map the Kliketat territory is occupied by the Chanwappan, Shallatos, Squamaros, Skaddals, Shahalas. Also in Morse’s Rept., p. 372. Whulwhypum, or Kliketat, ‘in the wooded and prairie country between Vancouver and the Dalles.’ Tolmie, in Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 245.

The Weyehhoo live on the north side of the Columbia, near Chusattes River. (Kliketat.) Gass’ Jour., p. 288.

Footnotes

[228] The Nootka-Columbians comprehend ‘the tribes inhabiting Quadra and Vancouver’s Island, and the adjacent inlets of the mainland, down to the Columbia River, and perhaps as far S. as Umpqua River and the northern part of New California.’ Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 221.

[229] Gilbert Malcolm Sproat, a close observer and clear writer, thinks ‘this word Nootkah—no word at all—together with an imaginary word, Columbian, denoting a supposed original North American race—is absurdly used to denote all the tribes which inhabit the Rocky Mountains and the western coast of North America, from California inclusively to the regions inhabited by the Esquimaux. In this great tract there are more tribes, differing totally in language and customs, than in any other portion of the American continent; and surely a better general name for them could be found than this meaningless and misapplied term Nootkah Columbian.’ Sproat’s Scenes, p. 315. Yet Mr Sproat suggests no other name. It is quite possible that Cook, Voy. to the Pacific, vol. ii., p. 288, misunderstood the native name of Nootka Sound. It is easy to criticise any name which might be adopted, and even if it were practicable or desirable to change all meaningless and misapplied geographical names, the same or greater objections might be raised against others, which necessity would require a writer to invent.

[230] Kane’s Wand., p. 173; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., p. 441; Catlin’s N. Am. Ind., vol. ii., p. 108; the name being given to the people between the region of the Columbia and 53° 30´.

[231] The name Nez Percés, ‘pierced noses,’ is usually pronounced as if English, Nez Pér-ces.

[232] For particulars and authorities see Tribal Boundaries at end of this chapter.

[233] ‘The Indian tribes of the North-western Coast may be divided into two groups, the Insular and the Inland, or those who inhabit the islands and adjacent shores of the mainland, and subsist almost entirely by fishing; and those who live in the interior and are partly hunters. This division is perhaps arbitrary, or at least imperfect, as there are several tribes whose affinities with either group are obscure.’ Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 217. See Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 147-8, and Mayne’s B. C., p. 242. ‘The best division is into coast and inland tribes.’ Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 226.

[234] ‘By far the best looking, most intelligent and energetic people on the N. W. Coast.’ Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 218. Also ranked by Prichard as the finest specimens physically on the coast. Researches, vol. v., p. 433. The Nass people ‘were peculiarly comely, strong, and well grown.’ Simpson’s Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 207. ‘Would be handsome, or at least comely,’ were it not for the paint. ‘Some of the women have exceedingly handsome faces, and very symmetrical figures.’ ‘Impressed by the manly beauty and bodily proportions of my islanders.’ Poole’s Queen Charlotte Isl., pp. 310, 314. Mackenzie found the coast people ‘more corpulent and of better appearance than the inhabitants of the interior.’ Voy., pp. 322-3; see pp. 370-1. ‘The stature (at Burke’s Canal) … was much more stout and robust than that of the Indians further south. The prominence of their countenances and the regularity of their features, resembled the northern Europeans.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 262. A chief of ‘gigantic person, a stately air, a noble mien, a manly port, and all the characteristics of external dignity, with a symmetrical figure, and a perfect order of European contour.’ Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 279, 251, 283, 285. Mayne says, ‘their countenances are decidedly plainer’ than the southern Indians. B. C., p. 250. ‘A tall, well-formed people.’ Bendel’s Alex. Arch., p. 29. ‘No finer men … can be found on the American Continent.’ Sproat’s Scenes, p. 23. In 55°, ‘Son bien corpulentos.’ Crespi, in Doc. Hist. Mex., s. iv., vol. vi., p. 646. ‘The best looking Indians we had ever met.’ ‘Much taller, and in every way superior to the Puget Sound tribes. The women are stouter than the men, but not so good-looking.’ Reed’s Nar.

[235] The Sebassas are ‘more active and enterprising than the Millbank tribes.’ Dunn’s Oregon, p. 273. The Haeeltzuk are ‘comparatively effeminate in their appearance.’ Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 223. The Kyganies ‘consider themselves more civilised than the other tribes, whom they regard with feelings of contempt.’ Id., p. 219. The Chimsyans ‘are much more active and cleanly than the tribes to the south.’ Id., p. 220. ‘I have, as a rule, remarked that the physical attributes of those tribes coming from the north, are superior to those of the dwellers in the south.’ Barrett-Lennard’s Trav., p. 40.

[236] Mackenzie’s Voy., pp. 370-1, 322-3; Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., pp. 262, 320; Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 197. ‘Regular, and often fine features.’ Bendel’s Alex. Arch., p. 29.

[237] Mackenzie’s Voy., pp. 309-10, 322-3, 370-1; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 229. ‘Opening of the eye long and narrow.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 197.

[238] ‘Had it not been for the filth, oil, and paint, with which, from their earliest infancy, they are besmeared from head to foot, there is great reason to believe that their colour would have differed but little from such of the labouring Europeans, as are constantly exposed to the inclemency and alterations of the weather.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 262. ‘Between the olive and the copper.’ Mackenzie’s Voy., pp. 370-1. ‘Their complexion, when they are washed free from paint, is as white as that of the people of the S. of Europe.’ Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 218. Skin ‘nearly as white as ours.’ Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., pp. 314-5. ‘Of a remarkable light color.’ Bendel’s Alex. Arch., p. 29. ‘Fairer in complexion than the Vancouverians.’ ‘Their young women’s skins are as clear and white as those of Englishwomen.’ Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 23-4. ‘Fair in complexion, sometimes with ruddy cheeks.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 197. ‘De buen semblante, color blanco y bermejos.’ Crespi, in Doc. Hist. Mex., s. iv., vol. vi., p. 646.

[239] Tolmie mentions several instances of the kind, and states that ‘amongst the Hydah or Queen Charlotte Island tribes, exist a family of coarse, red-haired, light-brown eyed, square-built people, short-sighted, and of fair complexion.’ Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 229-30.

[240] Mackenzie’s Voy., pp. 322-3, 371; Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 370; Dunn’s Oregon, p. 283; Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., p. 315.

[241] Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 218; Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., p. 74. ‘What is very unusual among the aborigines of America, they have thick beards, which appear early in life.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 197.

[242] ‘After the age of puberty, their bodies, in their natural state, are covered in the same manner as those of the Europeans. The men, indeed, esteem a beard very unbecoming, and take great pains to get rid of it, nor is there any ever to be perceived on their faces, except when they grow old, and become inattentive to their appearance. Every crinous efflorescence on the other parts of the body is held unseemly by them, and both sexes employ much time in their extirpation. The Nawdowessies, and the remote nations, pluck them out with bent pieces of hard wood, formed into a kind of nippers; whilst those who have communication with Europeans procure from them wire, which they twist into a screw or worm; applying this to the part, they press the rings together, and with a sudden twitch draw out all the hairs that are inclosed between them.’ Carver’s Trav., p. 225.

[243] Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 220.

[244] Mackenzie’s Voy., pp. 370-1; Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 226; Dunn’s Oregon, p. 287.

[245] Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 232; Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., pp. 218, 220, 223. ‘The most northern of these Flat-head tribes is the Hautzuk.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. ii., p. 325.

[246] Simpson’s Overland Journ., vol. i., pp. 204, 233. ‘This wooden ornament seems to be wore by all the sex indiscriminately, whereas at Norfolk Sound it is confined to those of superior rank.’ Dixon’s Voy., pp. 225, 208, with a cut. A piece of brass or copper is first put in, and ‘this corrodes the lacerated parts, and by consuming the flesh gradually increases the orifice.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., pp. 279-80, 408. Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 218; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 276, 279; Crespi, in Doc. Hist. Mex., s. iv., vol. vi., p. 651; Cornwallis’ New El Dorado, p. 106; Catlin’s N. Am. Ind., vol. ii., p. 113, with plate.

[247] Mayne’s B. C., pp. 281-2; Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., pp. 75, 311; Barrett-Lennard’s Trav., pp. 45-6; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 279, 285.

[248] Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., pp. 82, 106, 310, 322-3; Mayne’s B. C., pp. 282, 283; Dunn’s Oregon, p. 251.

[249] Mayne’s B. C., p. 282; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 251, 276, 291; Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 263; Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., p. 310. ‘The men habitually go naked, but when they go off on a journey they wear a blanket.’ Reed’s Nar. ‘Cuero de nutrias y lobo marino … sombreros de junco bien tejidos con la copa puntiaguda.’ Crespi, in Doc. Hist. Mex., s. iv., vol. vi., p. 646.

[250] Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 253, 276-7; Catlin’s N. Am. Ind., vol. ii., p. 113.

[251] At Salmon River, 52° 58´, ‘their dress consists of a single robe tied over the shoulders, falling down behind, to the heels, and before, a little below the knees, with a deep fringe round the bottom. It is generally made of the bark of the cedar tree, which they prepare as fine as hemp; though some of these garments are interwoven with strips of the sea-otter skin, which give them the appearance of a fur on one side. Others have stripes of red and yellow threads fancifully introduced towards the borders.’ Clothing is laid aside whenever convenient. ‘The women wear a close fringe hanging down before them about two feet in length, and half as wide. When they sit down they draw this between their thighs.’ Mackenzie’s Voy., pp. 322-3, 371; Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., pp. 280, 339.

[252] A house ‘erected on a platform, … raised and supported near thirty feet from the ground by perpendicular spars of a very large size; the whole occupying a space of about thirty-five by fifteen (yards), was covered in by a roof of boards lying nearly horizontal, and parallel to the platform; it seemed to be divided into three different houses, or rather apartments, each having a separate access formed by a long tree in an inclined position from the platform to the ground, with notches cut in it by way of steps, about a foot and a half asunder.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 274. See also pp. 137, 267-8, 272, 284. ‘Their summer and winter residences are built of split plank, similar to those of the Chenooks.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 263. ‘Ils habitent dans des loges de soixante pieds de long, construites avec des troncs de sapin et recouvertes d’écorces d’arbres.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 337. ‘Their houses are neatly constructed, standing in a row; having large images, cut out of wood, resembling idols. The dwellings have all painted fronts, showing imitations of men and animals. Attached to their houses most of them have large potatoe gardens.’ Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 293-4. See also, pp. 251-2, 273-4, 290; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 89; vol. ii., pp. 253, 255, with cuts on p. 255 and frontispiece. ‘Near the house of the chief I observed several oblong squares, of about twenty feet by eight. They were made of thick cedar boards, which were joined with so much neatness, that I at first thought they were one piece. They were painted with hieroglyphics, and figures of different animals,’ probably for purposes of devotion, as was ‘a large building in the middle of the village…. The ground-plot was fifty feet by forty-five; each end is formed by four stout posts, fixed perpendicularly in the ground. The corner ones are plain, and support a beam of the whole length, having three intermediate props on each side, but of a larger size, and eight or nine feet in height. The two centre posts, at each end, are two and a half feet in diameter, and carved into human figures, supporting two ridge poles on their heads, twelve feet from the ground. The figures at the upper part of this square represent two persons, with their hands upon their knees, as if they supported the weight with pain and difficulty: the others opposite to them stand at their ease, with their hands resting on their hips…. Posts, poles, and figures, were painted red and black, but the sculpture of these people is superior to their painting.’ Mackenzie’s Voy., p. 331. See also pp. 307, 318, 328-30, 339, 345; Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., pp. 111, 113-4; Reed’s Nar.; Marchand, Voy., tom. ii., pp. 127-31.

[253] On food of the Haidahs and the methods of procuring it, see Lord’s Nat., vol. i., pp. 41, 152; Mackenzie’s Voy., pp. 306, 313-14, 319-21, 327, 333, 339, 369-70; Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., pp. 148, 284-5, 315-16; Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 273; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 251, 267, 274, 290-1; Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 337; Pemberton’s Vancouver Island, p. 23; Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 263; Reed’s Nar.

[254] Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 339; Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., p. 316; Mackenzie’s Voy., p. 372-3. ‘Once I saw a party of Kaiganys of about two hundred men returning from war. The paddles of the warriors killed in the fight were lashed upright in their various seats, so that from a long distance the number of the fallen could be ascertained; and on each mast of the canoes—and some of them had three—was stuck the head of a slain foe.’ Bendel’s Alex. Arch., p. 30.

[255] The Kaiganies ‘are noted for the beauty and size of their cedar canoes, and their skill in carving. Most of the stone pipes, inlaid with fragments of Haliotis or pearl shells, so common in ethnological collections, are their handiwork. The slate quarry from which the stone is obtained is situated on Queen Charlotte’s Island.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 411. The Chimsyans ‘make figures in stone dressed like Englishmen; plates and other utensils of civilization, ornamented pipe stems and heads, models of houses, stone flutes, adorned with well-carved figures of animals. Their imitative skill is as noticeable as their dexterity in carving.’ Sproat’s Scenes, p. 317. The supporting posts of their probable temples were carved into human figures, and all painted red and black, ‘but the sculpture of these people (52° 40´) is superior to their painting.’ Mackenzie’s Voy., pp. 330-1; see pp. 333-4. ‘One man (near Fort Simpson) known as the Arrowsmith of the north-east coast, had gone far beyond his compeers, having prepared very accurate charts of most parts of the adjacent shores.’ Simpson’s Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 207. ‘The Indians of the Northern Family are remarkable for their ingenuity and mechanical dexterity in the construction of their canoes, houses, and different warlike or fishing implements. They construct drinking-vessels, tobacco-pipes, &c., from a soft argillaceous stone, and these articles are remarkable for the symmetry of their form, and the exceedingly elaborate and intricate figures which are carved upon them. With respect to carving and a faculty for imitation, the Queen Charlotte’s Islanders are equal to the most ingenious of the Polynesian Tribes.’ Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 218. ‘Like the Chinese, they imitate literally anything that is given them to do; so that if you give them a cracked gun-stock to copy, and do not warn them, they will in their manufacture repeat the blemish. Many of their slate-carvings are very good indeed, and their designs most curious.’ Mayne’s B. C., p. 278. See also, Dunn’s Oregon, p. 293; Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 337, and plate p. 387. The Skidagates ‘showed me beautifully wrought articles of their own design and make, and amongst them some flutes manufactured from an unctuous blue slate…. The two ends were inlaid with lead, giving the idea of a fine silver mounting. Two of the keys perfectly represented frogs in a sitting posture, the eyes being picked out with burnished lead…. It would have done credit to a European modeller.’ Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., p. 258. ‘Their talent for carving has made them famous far beyond their own country.’ Bendel’s Alex. Arch., p. 29. A square wooden box, holding one or two bushels, is made from three pieces, the sides being from one piece so mitred as to bend at the corners without breaking. ‘During their performance of this character of labor, (carving, etc.) their superstitions will not allow any spectator of the operator’s work.’ Reed’s Nar.; Ind. Life, p. 96. ‘Of a very fine and hard slate they make cups, plates, pipes, little images, and various ornaments, wrought with surprising elegance and taste.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 197. ‘Ils peignent aussi avec le même goût.’ Rossi, Souvenirs, p. 298; Anderson, in Hist. Mag., vol. vii., pp. 74-5.

[256] Mackenzie’s Voy., p. 338; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 63; vol. ii., pp. 215-17, 254, 258; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 251, 253, 291, 293. ‘They boil the cedar root until it becomes pliable to be worked by the hand and beaten with sticks, when they pick the fibres apart into threads. The warp is of a different material—sinew of the whale, or dried kelp-thread.’ Reed’s Nar. ‘Petatito de vara en cuadro bien vistoso, tejido de palma fina de dos colores blanco y negro que tejido en cuadritos.’ Crespi, in Doc. Hist. Mex., s. iv., vol. vi., pp. 647, 650-1.

[257] Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., p. 269, and cuts on pp. 121, 291; Mackenzie’s Voy., p. 335; Simpson’s Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 204; Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 303; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. cxxv; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 174; Reed’s Nar.; Catlin’s N. Am. Ind., vol. ii., p. 113, with plate. The Bellabellahs ‘promised to construct a steam-ship on the model of ours…. Some time after this rude steamer appeared. She was from 20 to 30 feet long, all in one piece—a large tree hollowed out—resembling the model of our steamer. She was black, with painted ports; decked over; and had paddles painted red, and Indians under cover, to turn them round. The steersman was not seen. She was floated triumphantly, and went at the rate of three miles an hour. They thought they had nearly come up to the point of external structure; but then the enginery baffled them; and this they thought they could imitate in time, by perseverance, and the helping illumination of the Great Spirit.’ Dunn’s Oregon, p. 272. See also, p. 291. ‘A canoe easily distanced the champion boat of the American Navy, belonging to the man-of-war Saranac.’ Bendel’s Alex. Arch., p. 29.

[258] Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 219; Macfie’s B. C., pp. 429, 437, 458; Simpson’s Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 206; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 174; Anderson, in Hist. Mag., vol. vii., p. 74; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 279, 281-3, 292; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. cxxv.

[259] Mackenzie’s Voy., pp. 374-5; Tolmie and Anderson, in Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 240-2, 235; Macfie’s B. C., p. 429; Simpson’s Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 205; Dixon’s Voy., p. 227. ‘There exists among them a regular aristocracy.’ ‘The chiefs are always of unquestionable birth, and generally count among their ancestors men who were famous in battle and council.’ ‘The chief is regarded with all the reverence and respect which his rank, his birth, and his wealth can claim,’ but ‘his power is by no means unlimited.’ Bendel’s Alex. Arch., p. 30.

[260] Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 273-4, 283; Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 263; Bendel’s Alex. Arch., p. 30; Kane’s Wand., p. 220.

[261] ‘Polygamy is universal, regulated simply by the facilities for subsistence.’ Anderson, in Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 235. See pp. 231-5, and vol. i., pp. 89-90. The women ‘cohabit almost promiscuously with their own tribe though rarely with other tribes.’ Poole, spending the night with a chief, was given the place of honor, under the same blanket with the chief’s daughter—and her father. Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., pp. 312-15, 115-16, 155. ‘The Indians are in general very jealous of their women.’ Dixon’s Voy., p. 225-6. ‘Tous les individus d’une famille couchent pêle-mêle sur le sol plancheyé de l’habitation.’ Marchand, Voy., tom. ii., p. 144. ‘Soon after I had retired … the chief paid me a visit to insist on my going to his bed-companion, and taking my place himself.’ Mackenzie’s Voy., p. 331. See pp. 300, 371-2. Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 263. ‘On the weddingday they have a public feast, at which they dance and sing.’ Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 252-3, 289-90. ‘According to a custom of the Bellabollahs, the widow of the deceased is transferred to his brother’s harem.’ Simpson’s Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 203-4. ‘The temporary present of a wife is one of the greatest honours that can be shown there to a guest.’ Sproat’s Scenes, p. 95.

[262] ‘The Queen Charlotte Islanders surpass any people that I ever saw in passionate addiction’ to gambling. Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., p. 318-20. See pp. 186-87, 232-33. Mackenzie’s Voy., pp. 288, 311. The Sebassas are great gamblers, and ‘resemble the Chinooks in their games.’ Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 25-7, 252-9, 281-3, 293. ‘The Indian mode of dancing bears a strange resemblance to that in use among the Chinese.’ Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., p. 82. Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 258; Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 263; Ind. Life, p. 63.

[263] Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 223; Duncan, in Mayne’s B. C., pp. 285-8, and in Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 434-7; White’s Oregon, p. 246; Simpson’s Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 205; Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., Nov. 1860, pp. 222-8; Ind. Life, p. 68; Reed’s Nar.; Anderson, in Hist. Mag., vol. vii., p. 79.

[264] The Indians of Millbank Sound became exasperated against me, ‘and they gave me the name of “Schloapes,” i. e., “stingy:” and when near them, if I should spit, they would run and try to take up the spittle in something; for, according as they afterwards informed me, they intended to give it to their doctor or magician; and he would charm my life away.’ Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 246-7. See pp. 279-80; Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., pp. 320-1.

[265] Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 32-4, 53-4; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 367, 274-5.

[266] Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., pp. 385-9.

[267] Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., pp. 109-10, 116; Anderson, in Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 242.

[268] At about 52° 40´, between the Fraser River and the Pacific, Mackenzie observed the treatment of a man with a bad ulcer on his back. They blew on him and whistled, pressed their fingers on his stomach, put their fists into his mouth, and spouted water into his face. Then he was carried into the woods, laid down in a clear spot, and a fire was built against his back while the doctor scarified the ulcer with a blunt instrument. Voy., pp. 331-33; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 258, 284; Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., pp. 316-18; Duncan, in Mayne’s B. C., 289-91; Reed’s Nar., in Olympia Wash. Stand., May 16, 1868.

[269] At Boca de Quadra, Vancouver found ‘a box about three feet square, and a foot and a half deep, in which were the remains of a human skeleton, which appeared from the confused situation of the bones, either to have been cut to pieces, or thrust with great violence into this small space.’ … ‘I was inclined to suppose that this mode of depositing their dead is practised only in respect to certain persons of their society.’ Voy., vol. ii., p. 351. At Cape Northumberland, in 54° 45´, ‘was a kind of vault formed partly by the natural cavity of the rocks, and partly by the rude artists of the country. It was lined with boards, and contained some fragments of warlike implements, lying near a square box covered with mats and very curiously corded down.’ Id., p. 370; Cornwallis’ New El Dorado, pp. 106-7. On Queen Charlotte Islands, ‘Ces monumens sont de deux espèces: les premiers et les plus simples ne sont composés que d’un seul pilier d’environ dix pieds d’élévation et d’un pied de diamètre, sur le sommet duquel sont fixées des planches formant un plateau; et dans quelques-uns ce plateau est supporté par deux piliers. Le corps, déposé sur cette plate-forme, est recouvert de mousse et de grosses pierres’ … ‘Les mausolées de la seconde espèce sont plus composés: quatre poteaux plantés en terre, et élevés de deux pieds seulement au-dessus du sol portent un sarcophage travaillé avec art, et hermétiquement clos.’ Marchand, Voy., tom. ii., pp. 135-6. ‘According to another account it appeared that they actually bury their dead; and when another of the family dies, the remains of the person who was last interred, are taken from the grave and burned.’ Mackenzie’s Voy., p. 308. See also pp. 374, 295-98; Simpson’s Overland Journ., vol. i., pp. 203-4; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 272, 276, 280; Mayne’s B. C., pp. 272, 293; Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 235; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 440-41; Dall’s Alaska, p. 417.

[270] On the coast, at 52° 12´, Vancouver found them ‘civil, good-humoured and friendly.’ At Cascade Canal, about 52° 24´, ‘in traffic they proved themselves to be keen traders, but acted with the strictest honesty;’ at Point Hopkins ‘they all behaved very civilly and honestly;’ while further north, at Observatory Inlet, ‘in their countenances was expressed a degree of savage ferocity infinitely surpassing any thing of the sort I had before observed,’ presents being scornfully rejected. Voy., vol. ii., pp. 281, 269, 303, 337. The Kitswinscolds on Skeena River ‘are represented as a very superior race, industrious, sober, cleanly, and peaceable.’ Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 533. The Chimsyans are fiercer and more uncivilized than the Indians of the South. Sproat’s Scenes, p. 317. ‘Finer and fiercer men than the Indians of the South.’ Mayne’s B. C., p. 250. ‘They appear to be of a friendly disposition, but they are subject to sudden gusts of passion, which are as quickly composed; and the transition is instantaneous, from violent irritation to the most tranquil demeanor. Of the many tribes … whom I have seen, these appear to be the most susceptible of civilization.’ Mackenzie’s Voy., p. 375, 322. At Stewart’s Lake the natives, whenever there is any advantage to be gained are just as readily tempted to betray each other as to deceive the colonists. Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 466-68, 458-59; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 174. A Kygarnie chief being asked to go to America or England, refused to go where even chiefs were slaves—that is, had duties to perform—while he at home was served by slaves and wives. The Sebassas ‘are more active and enterprising than the Milbank tribes, but the greatest thieves and robbers on the coast.’ Dunn’s Oregon, p. 287, 273. ‘All these visitors of Fort Simpson are turbulent and fierce. Their broils, which are invariably attended with bloodshed, generally arise from the most trivial causes.’ Simpson’s Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 206. The Kygarnies ‘are very cleanly, fierce and daring.’ The islanders, ‘when they visit the mainland, they are bold and treacherous, and always ready for mischief.’ Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 219. The Kygarnies ‘are a very fierce, treacherous race, and have not been improved by the rum and fire-arms sold to them.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 411. Queen Charlotte Islanders look upon white men as superior beings, but conceal the conviction. The Skidagates are the most intelligent race upon the islands. Wonderfully acute in reading character, yet clumsy in their own dissimulation…. ‘Not revengeful or blood-thirsty, except when smarting under injury or seeking to avert an imaginary wrong.’ … ‘I never met with a really brave man among them.’ The Acoltas have ‘given more trouble to the Colonial Government than any other along the coast.’ Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., pp. 83, 151-2, 185-6, 208, 214, 233, 235, 245, 257, 271-72, 289, 309, 320-21. ‘Of a cruel and treacherous disposition.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 197. They will stand up and fight Englishmen with their fists. Sproat’s Scenes, p. 23. Intellectually superior to the Puget Sound tribes. Reed’s Nar. ‘Mansos y de buena indole.’ Crespi, in Doc. Hist. Mex., s. iv., vol. vi., p. 646. On Skeena River, ‘the worst I have seen in all my travels.’ Downie, in B. C. Papers, vol. iii., p. 73. ‘As rogues, where all are rogues,’ preëminence is awarded them. Anderson, in Hist. Mag., vol. vii., pp. 74-5.

[271] ‘On my arrival at this inlet, I had honoured it with the name of King George’s Sound; but I afterward found, that it is called Nootka by the natives.’ Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., p. 288. ‘No Aht Indian of the present day ever heard of such a name as Nootkah, though most of them recognize the other words in Cook’s account of their language.’ Sproat’s Scenes, p. 315. Sproat conjectures that the name may have come from Noochee! Noochee! the Aht word for mountain. A large proportion of geographical names originate in like manner through accident.

[272] For full particulars see Tribal Boundaries at end of this chapter.

[273] ‘The Newatees, mentioned in many books, are not known on the west coast. Probably the Klah-oh-quahts are meant.’ Sproat’s Scenes, p. 314.

[274] There are no Indians in the interior. Fitzwilliam’s Evidence, in Hud. B. Co., Rept. Spec. Com., 1857, p. 115.

[275] The same name is also applied to one of the Sound nations across the strait in Washington.

[276] The Teets or Haitlins are called by the Tacullies, ‘Sa-Chinco‘ strangers. Anderson, in Hist. Mag., vol. vii., pp. 73-4.

[277] Sproat’s division into nations, ‘almost as distinct as the nations of Europe’ is into the Quoquoulth (Quackoll) or Fort Rupert, in the north and north-east; the Kowitchan, or Thongeith, on the east and south; Aht on the west coast; and Komux, a distinct tribe also on the east of Vancouver. ‘These tribes of the Ahts are not confederated; and I have no other warrant for calling them a nation than the fact of their occupying adjacent territories, and having the same superstitions and language.’ Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 18-19, 311. Mayne makes by language four nations; the first including the Cowitchen in the harbor and valley of the same name north of Victoria, with the Nanaimo and Kwantlum Indians about the mouth of the Fraser River, and the Songhies; the second comprising the Comoux, Nanoose, Nimpkish, Quawguult, etc., on Vancouver, and the Squawmisht, Sechelt, Clahoose, Ucle-tah, Mama-lil-a-culla, etc., on the main, and islands, between Nanaimo and Fort Rupert; the third and fourth groups include the twenty-four west-coast tribes who speak two distinct languages, not named. Mayne’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 243-51. Grant’s division gives four languages on Vancouver, viz., the Quackoll, from Clayoquot Sound north to C. Scott, and thence S. to Johnson’s Strait; the Cowitchin, from Johnson’s Strait to Sanetch Arm; the Tsclallum, or Clellum, from Sanetch to Soke, and on the opposite American shore; and the Macaw, from Patcheena to Clayoquot Sound. ‘These four principal languages … are totally distinct from each other, both in sound, formation, and modes of expression.’ Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 295. Scouler attempts no division into nations or languages. Lond. Geo. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., pp. 221, 224. Mofras singularly designates them as one nation of 20,000 souls, under the name of Ouakich. Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 343. Recent investigations have shown a somewhat different relationship of these languages, which I shall give more particularly in a subsequent volume.

[278] See Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 272-86, on the ‘effects upon savages of intercourse with civilized men.’ ‘Hitherto, (1856) in Vancouver Island, the tribes who have principally been in intercourse with the white man, have found it for their interest to keep up that intercourse in amity for the purposes of trade, and the white adventurers have been so few in number, that they have not at all interfered with the ordinary pursuits of the natives.’ Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 303.

[279] ‘Muy robustos y bien apersonados.’ ‘De mediana estatura, excepto los Xefes cuya corpulencia se hace notar.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 55, 124. ‘The young princess was of low stature, very plump.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., p. 395. Macquilla, the chief was five feet eight inches, with square shoulders and muscular limbs; his son was five feet nine inches. Belcher’s Voy., vol. i., pp. 110-12. The seaboard tribes have ‘not much physical strength.’ Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., p. 73. ‘La gente dicen ser muy robusta.’ Perez, Rel. del Viage, MS., p. 20. ‘Leur taille est moyenne.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 343. ‘In general, robust and well proportioned.’ Meares’ Voy., p. 249. Under the common stature, pretty full and plump, but not muscular—never corpulent, old people lean—short neck and clumsy body; women nearly the same size as the men. Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 301-3. ‘Of smaller stature than the Northern Tribes; they are usually fatter and more muscular.’ Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 221. In the north, among the Clayoquots and Quackolls, men are often met of five feet ten inches and over; on the south coast the stature varies from five feet three inches to five feet six inches. Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 297. ‘The men are in general from about five feet six to five feet eight inches in height; remarkably straight, of a good form, robust and strong.’ Only one dwarf was seen. Jewitt’s Nar., pp. 60-61. The Klah-oh-quahts are ‘as a tribe physically the finest. Individuals may be found in all the tribes who reach a height of five feet eleven inches, and a weight of 180 pounds, without much flesh on their bodies.’ Extreme average height: men, five feet six inches, women, five feet one-fourth inch. ‘Many of the men have well-shaped forms and limbs. None are corpulent.’ ‘The men generally have well-set, strong frames, and, if they had pluck and skill, could probably hold their own in a grapple with Englishmen of the same stature.’ Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 22-3. ‘Rather above the middle stature, copper-colored and of an athletic make.’ Spark’s Life of Ledyard, p. 71; Prichard’s Researches, vol. v., p. 442. ‘Spare muscular forms.’ Barrett-Lennard’s Trav., pp. 44; Gordon’s Hist. and Geog. Mem., pp. 14-22.

[280] Limbs small, crooked, or ill-made; large feet; badly shaped, and projecting ankles from sitting so much on their hams and knees. Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 301-3. ‘Their limbs, though stout and athletic, are crooked and ill-shaped.’ Meares’ Voy., p. 250. ‘Ils ont les membres inférieures légèrement arqués, les chevilles très-saillantes, et la pointe des pieds tournée en dedans, difformité qui provient de la manière dont ils sont assis dans leurs canots.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., pp. 343-4. ‘Stunted, and move with a lazy waddling gait.’ Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., p. 428. ‘Skeleton shanks … not much physical strength … bow-legged—defects common to the seaboard tribes.’ Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., pp. 73-4. All the females of the Northwest Coast are very short-limbed. ‘Raro es el que no tiene muy salientes los tobillos y las puntas de los pies inclinadas hácia dentro … y una especie de entumecimiento que se advierte, particularmente en las mugeres.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 124, 30, 62-3. They have great strength in the fingers. Sproat’s Scenes, p. 33. Women, short-limbed, and toe in. Id., p. 22; Mayne’s B. C., pp. 282-3. ‘The limbs of both sexes are ill-formed, and the toes turned inwards.’ ‘The legs of the women, especially those of the slaves, are often swollen as if oedematous, so that the leg appears of an uniform thickness from the ankle to the calf,’ from wearing a garter. Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 221.

[281] The different Aht tribes vary in physiognomy somewhat—’faces of the Chinese and Spanish types may be seen.’ ‘The face of the Ahts is rather broad and flat; the mouth and lips of both men and women are large, though to this there are exceptions, and the cheekbones are broad but not high. The skull is fairly shaped, the eyes small and long, deep set, in colour a lustreless inexpressive black, or very dark hazel, none being blue, grey, or brown…. One occasionally sees an Indian with eyes distinctly Chinese. The nose … in some instances is remarkably well-shaped.’ ‘The teeth are regular, but stumpy, and are deficient in enamel at the points,’ perhaps from eating sanded salmon. Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 19, 27. ‘Their faces are large and full, their cheeks high and prominent, with small black eyes; their noses are broad and flat; their lips thick, and they have generally very fine teeth, and of the most brilliant whiteness.’ Meares’ Voy., pp. 249-50; Barrett-Lennard’s Trav., p. 44. ‘La fisonomia de estos (Nitinats) era differente de la de los habitantes de Nutka: tenian el cráneo de figura natural, los ojos chicos muy próximos, cargados los párpados.’ Many have a languid look, but few a stupid appearance. Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 28, 30, 62-3, 124. ‘Dull and inexpressive eye.’ ‘Unprepossessing and stupid countenances.’ Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., pp. 74, 80. The Wickinninish have ‘a much less open and pleasing expression of countenance’ than the Klaizzarts. The Newchemass ‘were the most savage looking and ugly men that I ever saw.’ ‘The shape of the face is oval; the features are tolerably regular, the lips being thin and the teeth very white and even: their eyes are black but rather small, and the nose pretty well formed, being neither flat nor very prominent.’ The women ‘are in general very well-looking, and some quite handsome.’ Jewitt’s Nar., pp. 76, 77, 61. ‘Features that would have attracted notice for their delicacy and beauty, in those parts of the world where the qualities of the human form are best understood.’ Meares’ Voy., p. 250. Face round and full, sometimes broad, with prominent cheek-bones … falling in between the temples, the nose flattening at the base, wide nostrils and a rounded point … forehead low; eyes small, black and languishing; mouth round, with large, round, thickish lips; teeth tolerably equal and well-set, but not very white. Remarkable sameness, a dull phlegmatic want of expression; no pretensions to beauty among the women. Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 301-2. See portraits of Nootkas in Belcher’s Voy., vol. i., p. 108; Cook’s Atlas, pl. 38-9; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, Atlas; Whymper’s Alaska, p. 75. ‘Long nose, high cheek bones, large ugly mouth, very long eyes, and foreheads villainously low.’ ‘The women of Vancouver Island have seldom or ever good features; they are almost invariably pug-nosed; they have however, frequently a pleasing expression, and there is no lack of intelligence in their dark hazel eyes.’ Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., pp. 297-8. ‘Though without any pretensions to beauty, could not be considered as disagreeable.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., p. 395. ‘Have the common facial characteristics of low foreheads, high cheek-bones, aquiline noses, and large mouths.’ ‘Among some of the tribes pretty women may be seen.’ Mayne’s B. C., p. 277.

[282] ‘Her skin was clean, and being nearly white,’ etc. Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., p. 395. ‘Reddish brown, like that of a dirty copper kettle.’ Some, when washed, have ‘almost a florid complexion.’ Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., pp. 297, 299. ‘Brown, somewhat inclining to a copper cast.’ The women are much whiter, ‘many of them not being darker than those in some of the Southern parts of Europe.’ The Newchemass are much darker than the other tribes. Jewitt’s Nar., pp. 61, 77. ‘Their complexion, though light, has more of a copper hue’ than that of the Haidahs. Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 221. ‘Skin white, with the clear complexion of Europe.’ Meares’ Voy., p. 250. The color hard to tell on account of the paint, but in a few cases ‘the whiteness of the skin appeared almost to equal that of Europeans; though rather of that pale effete cast … of our southern nations…. Their children … also equalled ours in whiteness.’ Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., p. 303. ‘Their complexion is a dull brown,’ darker than the Haidahs. ‘Cook and Meares probably mentioned exceptional cases.’ Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 23-4. ‘Tan blancos como el mejor Español.’ Perez, Rel. del Viage, MS., p. 20. ‘Por lo que se puede inferir del (color) de los niños, parece menos obscuro que el de los Mexicanos,’ but judging by the chiefs’ daughters they are wholly white. Sutil y Mexicana,Viage, p. 125. ‘A dark, swarthy copper-coloured figure.’ Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 143. They ‘have lighter complexions than other aborigines of America.’ Greenhow’s Hist. Ogn., p. 116. ‘Sallow complexion, verging towards copper colour.’ Barrett-Lennard’s Trav., pp. 44-6. Copper-coloured. Spark’s Life of Ledyard, p. 71.

[283] ‘The hair of the natives is never shaven from the head. It is black or dark brown, without gloss, coarse and lank, but not scanty, worn long…. Slaves wear their hair short. Now and then, but rarely, a light-haired native is seen. There is one woman in the Opechisat tribe at Alberni who had curly, or rather wavy, brown hair. Few grey-haired men can be noticed in any tribe. The men’s beards and whiskers are deficient, probably from the old alleged custom, now seldom practiced, of extirpating the hairs with small shells. Several of the Nootkah Sound natives (Moouchahts) have large moustaches and whiskers.’ Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 25-7. ‘El cabello es largo lacio y grueso, variando su color entre rubio, obscuro, castaño y negro. La barba sale á los mozos con la misma regularidad que á los de otros paises, y llega á ser en los ancianos tan poblada y larga como la de los Turcos; pero los jóvenes parecen imberbes porque se la arrancan con los dedos, ó mas comunmente con pinzas formadas de pequeñas conchas.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 124-5, 57. ‘Hair of the head is in great abundance, very coarse, and strong; and without a single exception, black, straight and lank.’ No beards at all, or a small thin one on the chin, not from a natural defect, but from plucking. Old men often have beards. Eyebrows scanty and narrow. Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 301-3. ‘Neither beard, whisker, nor moustache ever adorns the face of the redskin.’ Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 143; Jewitt’s Nar., pp. 61, 75, 77. Hair ‘invariably either black or dark brown.’ Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 297; Meares’ Voy., p. 250; Mayne’s B. C., pp. 277-8; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., p. 442; Spark’s Life of Ledyard, p. 71.

[284] Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 304-8; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 126-7; Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 26-7; Meares’ Voy., p. 254; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., p. 442; Jewitt’s Nar., pp. 21, 23, 62, 65, 77-8; Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 297; Mayne’s B. C., pp. 277-8; Barrett-Lennard’s Trav., p. 44.

[285] Mayne’s B. C., pp. 242, 277, with cut of a child with bandaged head, and of a girl with a sugar-loaf head, measuring eighteen inches from the eyes to the summit. Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 28-30; Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 298; Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 222; Meares’ Voy., p. 249; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., p. 441; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 124; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 171; vol. ii., p. 103, cut of three skulls of flattened, conical, and natural form; Kane’s Wand., p. 241; Jewitt’s Nar., p. 76; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. ii., p. 325; Barrett-Lennard’s Trav., p. 45; Gordon’s Hist. and Geog. Mem., p. 115.

[286] At Valdes Island, ‘the faces of some were made intirely white, some red, black, or lead colour.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., pp. 307, 341. At Nuñez Gaona Bay, ‘se pintan de encarnado y negro.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 30. At Nootka Sound, ‘Con esta grasa (de ballena) se untan todo el cuerpo, y despues se pintan con una especie de barniz compuesto de la misma grasa ó aceyte, y de almagre en términos que parece este su color natural.’ Chiefs only may paint in varied colors, plebeians being restricted to one.’ Id., pp. 125-7. ‘Many of the females painting their faces on all occasions, but the men only at set periods.’ Vermilion is obtained by barter. Black, their war and mourning color, is made by themselves. Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., p. 442. ‘Ces Indiens enduisent leur corps d’huile de baleine, et se peignent avec des ocres.’ Chiefs only may wear different colors, and figures of animals. Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 344. ‘Rub their bodies constantly with a red paint, of a clayey or coarse ochry substance, mixed with oil…. Their faces are often stained with a black, a brighter red, or a white colour, by way of ornament…. They also strew the brown martial mica upon the paint, which makes it glitter.’ Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., p. 305. ‘A line of vermilion extends from the centre of the forehead to the tip of the nose, and from this “trunk line” others radiate over and under the eyes and across the cheeks. Between these red lines white and blue streaks alternately fill the interstices. A similar pattern ornaments chest, arms, and back, the frescoing being artistically arranged to give apparent width to the chest.’ Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 143. ‘They paint the face in hideous designs of black and red (the only colours used), and the parting of the hair is also coloured red.’ Mayne’s B. C., p. 277. ‘At great feasts the faces of the women are painted red with vermilion or berry-juice, and the men’s faces are blackened with burnt wood. About the age of twenty-five the women cease to use paint…. Some of the young men streak their faces with red, but grown-up men seldom now use paint, unless on particular occasions…. The leader of a war expedition is distinguished by a streaked visage from his black-faced followers.’ Sproat’s Scenes, p. 27-8. The manner of painting is often a matter of whim. ‘The most usual method is to paint the eye-brows black, in form of a half moon, and the face red in small squares, with the arms and legs and part of the body red; sometimes one half of the face is painted red in squares, and the other black; at others, dotted with red spots, or red and black instead of squares, with a variety of other devices, such as painting one half of the face and body red, and the other black.’ Jewitt’s Nar., p. 64; Meares’ Voy., p. 252; Barrett-Lennard’s Trav., p. 46; Spark’s Life of Ledyard, p. 71.

[287] ‘The habit of tattooing the legs and arms is common to all the women of Vancouver’s Island; the men do not adopt it.’ Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 307. ‘No such practice as tattooing exists among these natives.’ Sproat’s Scenes, p. 27. ‘The ornament on which they appear to set the most value, is the nose-jewel, if such an appellation may be given to the wooden stick, which some of them employ for this purpose…. I have seen them projecting not less than eight or nine inches beyond the face on each side; this is made fast or secured in its place by little wedges on each side of it.’ Jewitt’s Nar., pp. 65-6, 75; Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 344. Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 304-8; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 30, 126-7; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., p. 442; Whymper’s Alaska, pp. 37, 74, with cut of mask. Mayne’s B. C., p. 268; Kane’s Wand., pp. 221-2, and illustration of a hair medicine-cap.

[288] ‘Their cloaks, which are circular capes with a hole in the centre, edged with sea-otter skin, are constructed from the inner bark of the cypress. It turns the rain, is very soft and pliable,’ etc. Belcher’s Voy., vol. i., p. 112. The usual dress of the Newchemass ‘is a kootsuck made of wolf skin, with a number of the tails attached to it … hanging from the top to the bottom; though they sometimes wear a similar mantle of bark cloth, of a much coarser texture than that of Nootka.’ Jewitt’s Nar., pp. 77-8, 21-3, 56-8, 62-6. ‘Their common dress is a flaxen garment, or mantle, ornamented on the upper edge by a narrow strip of fur, and at the lower edge, by fringes or tassels. It passes under the left arm, and is tied over the right shoulder, by a string before, and one behind, near its middle…. Over this, which reaches below the knees, is worn a small cloak of the same substance, likewise fringed at the lower part…. Their head is covered with a cap, of the figure of a truncated cone, or like a flower-pot, made of fine matting, having the top frequently ornamented with a round or pointed knob, or bunch of leathern tassels.’ Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 304-8, 270-1, 280. ‘The men’s dress is a blanket; the women’s a strip of cloth, or shift, and blanket. The old costume of the natives was the same as at present, but the material was different.’ Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 25, 315. ‘Their clothing generally consists of skins,’ but they have two other garments of bark or dog’s hair. ‘Their garments of all kinds are worn mantlewise, and the borders of them are fringed’ with wampum.Spark’s Life of Ledyard, pp. 71-2; Colyer, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 533; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 30-1, 38, 56-7, 126-8; Meares’ Voy., pp. 251-4; Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 297; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., pp. 143-4; Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., pp. 344-5; Whymper’s Alaska, p. 37; Greenhow’s Hist. Ogn., p. 116; Macfie’s Van. Isl., pp. 431, 443; Barrett-Lennard’s Trav., p. 46. See portraits in Cook’s Atlas, Belcher’s Voy., Sutil y Mexicana, Atlas, and Whymper’s Alaska.

[289] On the east side of Vancouver was a village of thirty-four houses, arranged in regular streets. The house of the leader ‘was distinguished by three rafters of stout timber raised above the roof, according to the architecture of Nootka, though much inferior to those I had there seen, in point of size.’ Bed-rooms were separated, and more decency observed than at Nootka Sound. Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., pp. 346-7, with a view of this village; also pp. 324-5, description of the village on Desolation Sound; p. 338, on Valdes Island; p. 326, view of village on Bute Canal; and vol. iii., pp. 310-11, a peculiarity not noticed by Cook—’immense pieces of timber which are raised, and horizontally placed on wooden pillars, about eighteen inches above the roof of the largest houses in that village; one of which pieces of timber was of a size sufficient to have made a lower mast for a third rate man of war.’ See Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 281, 313-19, and Atlas, plate 40. A sort of a duplicate inside building, with shorter posts, furnishes on its roof a stage, where all kinds of property and supplies are stored. Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 37-43. ‘The planks or boards which they make use of for building their houses, and for other uses, they procure of different lengths, as occasion requires, by splitting them out, with hard wooden wedges from pine logs, and afterwards dubbing them down with their chizzels.’ Jewitt’s Nar., pp. 52-4. Grant states that the Nootka houses are palisade inclosures formed of stakes or young fir-trees, some twelve or thirteen feet high, driven into the ground close together, roofed in with slabs of fir or cedar. Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 299. The Teets have palisaded enclosures. Anderson, in Hist. Mag., vol. vii., p. 74. ‘The chief resides at the upper end, the proximity of his relatives to him being according to their degree of kindred.’ Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 443-4; Dunn’s Oregon, p. 243; Belcher’s Voy., vol. i., p. 112; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., pp. 158, 164-5, 167, 320-21; Seemann’s Voy. of Herald, vol. i., pp. 105-6. The carved pillars are not regarded by the natives as idols in any sense. Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 128-9, 102; Barrett-Lennard’s Trav., pp. 47, 73-4. Some houses eighty by two hundred feet. Colyer, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 533; Mayne’s B. C., p. 296; Gordon’s Hist. and Geog. Mem., pp. 120-1.

[290] ‘Their heads and their garments swarm with vermin, which, … we used to see them pick off with great composure, and eat.’ Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., p. 305. See also pp. 279-80, 318-24. ‘Their mode of living is very simple—their food consisting almost wholly of fish, or fish spawn fresh or dried, the blubber of the whale, seal, or sea-cow, muscles, clams, and berries of various kinds; all of which are eaten with a profusion of train oil.’ Jewitt’s Nar., pp. 58-60, 68-9, 86-8, 94-7, 103. Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 52-7, 61, 87, 144-9, 216-70. ‘The common business of fishing for ordinary sustenance is carried on by slaves, or the lower class of people;—While the more noble occupation of killing the whale and hunting the sea-otter, is followed by none but the chiefs and warriors.’ Meares’ Voy., p. 258. ‘They make use of the dried fucus giganteus, anointed with oil, for lines, in taking salmon and sea-otters.’ Belcher’s Voy., vol. i., pp. 112-13. Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 17, 26, 45-6, 59-60, 76, 129-30, 134-5; Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., pp. 299-300; Mayne’s B. C., pp. 252-7; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 165-442; Simpson’s Overland Journ., vol. i., p. 239; Pemberton’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 28-32; Dunn’s Oregon, p. 243; Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 338. The Sau-kau-lutuck tribe ‘are said to live on the edge of a lake, and subsist principally on deer and bear, and such fish as they can take in the lake.’ Lord’s Nat., vol. i., pp. 158-9; Barrett-Lennard’s Trav., pp. 48, 74-5, 76-7, 85-6, 90-1, 144-50, 197-8; vol. ii., p. 111; Cornwallis’ New El Dorado, p. 100; Forbes’ Vanc. Isl., pp. 54-5; Rattray’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 77-8, 82-3; Hud. Bay Co., Rept. Spec. Com., 1857, p. 114.

[291] Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 57, 63, 78; Jewitt’s Nar., pp. 78-81; Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., p. 307; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., p. 443; Cox’s Adven., vol. i., p. 100. ‘The native bow, like the canoe and paddle, is beautifully formed. It is generally made of yew or crab-apple wood, and is three and a half feet long, with about two inches at each end turned sharply backwards from the string. The string is a piece of dried seal-gut, deer-sinew, or twisted bark. The arrows are about thirty inches long, and are made of pine or cedar, tipped with six inches of serrated bone, or with two unbarbed bone or iron prongs. I have never seen an Aht arrow with a barbed head.’ Sproat’s Scenes, p. 82. ‘Having now to a great extent discarded the use of the traditional tomahawk and spear. Many of these weapons are, however, still preserved as heirlooms among them.’ Barrett-Lennard’s Trav., p. 42. ‘No bows and arrows.’ ‘Generally fight hand to hand, and not with missiles.’ Fitzwilliam’s Evidence, in Hud. Bay Co. Rept., 1857, p. 115.

[292] The Ahts ‘do not take the scalp of the enemy, but cut off his head, by three dexterous movements of the knife … and the warrior who has taken most heads is most praised and feared.’ Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 186-202. ‘Scalp every one they kill.’ Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., p. 470, 443, 467. One of the Nootka princes assured the Spaniards that the bravest captains ate human flesh before engaging in battle. Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 130. The Nittinahts consider the heads of enemies slain in battle as spolia opima. Whymper’s Alaska, pp. 54, 78; Jewitt’s Nar., pp. 120-1; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., pp. 155-6, 158, 166, 171, vol. ii., p. 251-3. Women keep watch during the night, and tell the exploits of their nation to keep awake. Meares’ Voy., p. 267. Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., p. 396; Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 296; Mayne’s B. C., p. 270; Barrett-Lennard’s Trav., pp. 41-2, 129-36.

[293] ‘They have no seats…. The rowers generally sit on their hams, but sometimes they make use of a kind of small stool.’ Meares’ Voy., pp. 263-4. The larger canoes are used for sleeping and eating, being dry and more comfortable than the houses. Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 319, 327, and Atlas, pl. 41. ‘The most skillful canoe-makers among the tribes are the Nitinahts and the Klah-oh-quahts. They make canoes for sale to other tribes.’ ‘The baling-dish of the canoes, is always of one shape—the shape of the gable-roof of a cottage.’ Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 85, 87-8; Mayne’s B. C., p. 283, and cut on title-page. Canoes not in use are hauled up on the beach in front of their villages. Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 301. ‘They keep time to the stroke of the paddle with their songs.’ Jewitt’s Nar., pp. 69-71, 75; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 39, 133; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 144; Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., p. 338. Their canoes ‘are believed to supply the pattern after which clipper ships are built.’ Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 484, 430. Barrett-Lennard’s Trav., p. 50. Colyer, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 533.

[294] Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 271, 308, 316, 326, 329-30. Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 86-9, 317; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 129; Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 257-8, which describes a painted and ornamented plate of native copper some one and a half by two and a half feet, kept with great care in a wooden case, also elaborately ornamented. It was the property of the tribe at Fort Rupert, and was highly prized, and only brought out on great occasions, though its use was not discovered. Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., p. 165.

[295] Woolen cloths of all degrees of fineness, made by hand and worked in figures, by a method not known. Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., p. 325. Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 46, 136; Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 254; Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 88-9; Jewitt’s Nar., p. 55; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 442, 451, 483-5; Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 344; Pemberton’s Vanc. Isl., p. 131; Cornwallis’ New El Dorado, pp. 99-100. ‘The implement used for weaving, (by the Teets) differed in no apparent respect from the rude loom of the days of the Pharaohs.’ Anderson, in Hist. Mag., vol. vii., p. 78.

[296] Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 79-81, 89, 96, 111-13; Kane’s Wand., pp. 220-1; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 429, 437; Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., p. 284; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 147; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., pp. 165-6; Mayne’s B. C., 263-5.

[297] Jewitt’s Nar., pp. 78-80; Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 19, 55, 78-9, 92. Before the adoption of blankets as a currency, they used small shells from the coast bays for coin, and they are still used by some of the more remote tribes. Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 307. ‘Their acuteness in barter is remarkable.’ Forbes’ Vanc. Isl., p. 25.

[298] The Ahts ‘divide the year into thirteen months, or rather moons, and begin with the one that pretty well answers to our November. At the same time, as their names are applied to each actual new moon as it appears, they are not, by half a month and more (sometimes), identical with our calendar months.’ Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 121-4. ‘Las personas mas cultas dividen el año en catorce meses, y cada uno de estos en veinte dias, agregando luego algunos dias intercalares al fin de cada mes. El de Julio, que ellos llaman Satz-tzi-mitl, y es el primero de su año, á mas de sus veinte dias ordinarios tiene tantos intercalares quantos dura la abundancia de lenguados, atunes, etc.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 153-4, 148; Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., pp. 295, 304; Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 242-4.

[299] ‘They shew themselves ingenious sculptors. They not only preserve, with great exactness, the general character of their own faces, but finish the more minute parts, with a degree of accuracy in proportion, and neatness in execution.’ Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 326-7, and Atlas, pl. 40; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., pp. 164-5, vol. ii., pp. 257-8, and cut, p. 103; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 444-7, 484; Mayne’s B. C., cut on p. 271.

[300] ‘In an Aht tribe of two hundred men, perhaps fifty possess various degrees of acquired or inherited rank; there may be about as many slaves; the remainder are independent members.’ Some of the Klah-oh-quahts ‘pay annually to their chief certain contributions, consisting of blankets, skins, etc.’ ‘A chief’s “blue blood” avails not in a dispute with one of his own people; he must fight his battle like a common man.’ Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 113-17, 18-20, 226. Cheslakees, a chief on Johnson’s Strait, was inferior but not subordinate in authority to Maquinna, the famous king at Nootka Sound, but the chief at Loughborough’s Channel claimed to be under Maquinna. Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., pp. 346, 331. ‘La dignidad de Tays es hereditaria de padres á hijos, y pasa regularmente á estos luego que estan en edad de gobernar, si los padres por ancianidad ú otras causas no pueden seguir mandando.’ ‘El gobierno de estos naturales puede llamarse Patriarcal; pues el Xefe de la nacion hace á un mismo tiempo los oficios de padre de familia, de Rey y de Sumo Sacerdote.’ ‘Los nobles gozan de tanta consideracion en Nutka, que ni aun de palabra se atreven los Tayses á reprehenderlos.’ ‘Todos consideraban á este (Maquinna) como Soberano de las costas, desde la de Buena Esperanza hasta la punta de Arrecifes, con todos los Canales interiores.’ To steal, or to know carnally a girl nine years old, is punished with death. Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 140, 136, 147, 19, 25. ‘There are such men as Chiefs, who are distinguished by the name or title of Acweek, and to whom the others are, in some measure, subordinate. But, I should guess, the authority of each of these great men extends no farther than the family to which he belongs.’ Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 333-4. ‘La forme de leur gouvernement est toute patriarcale, et la dignité de chef, héréditaire.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 346. Several very populous villages to the northward, included in the territory of Maquilla, the head chief, were entrusted to the government of the principal of his female relations. The whole government formed a political bond of union similar to the feudal system which formerly obtained in Europe. Meares’ Voy., pp. 228-9. ‘The king or head Tyee, is their leader in war, in the management of which he is perfectly absolute. He is also president of their councils, which are almost always regulated by his opinion. But he has no kind of power over the property of his subjects.’ Jewitt’s Nar., pp. 138-9, 47, 69, 73. Kane’s Wand., pp. 220-1. ‘There is no code of laws, nor do the chiefs possess the power or means of maintaining a regular government; but their personal influence is nevertheless very great with their followers.’ Douglas, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxiv., p. 246.

[301] ‘Usually kindly treated, eat of the same food, and live as well as their masters.’ ‘None but the king and chiefs have slaves.’ ‘Maquinna had nearly fifty, male and female, in his house.’ Jewitt’s Nar., pp. 73-4. Meares states that slaves are occasionally sacrificed and feasted upon. Voy., p. 255. The Newettee tribe nearly exterminated by kidnappers. Dunn’s Oregon, p. 242. ‘An owner might bring half a dozen slaves out of his house and kill them publicly in a row without any notice being taken of the atrocity. But the slave, as a rule, is not harshly treated.’ ‘Some of the smaller tribes at the north of the Island are practically regarded as slave-breeding tribes, and are attacked periodically by stronger tribes.’ The American shore of the strait is also a fruitful source of slaves. Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 89-92. ‘They say that one Flathead slave is worth more than two Roundheads.’ Rept. Ind. Aff., 1857, p. 327; Mayne’s B. C., p. 284; Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 296; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., pp. 154-5, 166; Kane’s Wand., p. 220; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 131; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 431, 442, 470-1.

[302] ‘The women go to bed first, and are up first in the morning to prepare breakfast,’ p. 52. ‘The condition of the Aht women is not one of unseemly inferiority,’ p. 93. ‘Their female relations act as midwives. There is no separate place for lying-in. The child, on being born, is rolled up in a mat among feathers.’ ‘They suckle one child till another comes,’ p. 94. ‘A girl who was known to have lost her virtue, lost with it one of her chances of a favourable marriage, and a chief … would have put his daughter to death for such a lapse,’ p. 95. In case of a separation, if the parties belong to different tribes, the children go with the mother, p. 96. ‘No traces of the existence of polyandry among the Ahts,’ p. 99. The personal modesty of the Aht women when young is much greater than that of the men, p. 315. Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 28-30, 50-2, 93-102, 160, 264, 315. One of the chiefs said that three was the number of wives permitted: ‘como número necesario para no comunicar con la que estuviese en cinta.’ ‘Muchos de ellos mueren sin casarse.’ ‘El Tays no puede hacer uso de sus mugeres sin ver enteramente iluminado el disco de la luna.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 141-6. Women treated with no particular respect in any situation. Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., p. 318. Persons of the same crest are not allowed to marry. ‘The child again always takes the crest of the mother.’ ‘As a rule also, descent is traced from the mother, not from the father.’ ‘Intrigue with the wives of men of other tribes is one of the commonest causes of quarrel among the Indians.’ Mayne’s B. C., pp. 257-8, 276; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 444-7. The women are ‘very reserved and chaste.’ Meares’ Voy., pp. 251, 258, 265, 268; Kane’s Wand., pp. 239-40. The Indian woman, to sooth her child, makes use of a springy stick fixed obliquely in the ground to which the cradle is attached by a string, forming a convenient baby-jumper. Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 259; Pemberton’s Vanc. Isl., p. 131; Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., pp. 346-7. ‘Where there are no slaves in the tribe or family they perform all the drudgery of bringing firewood, water, &c.’ Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., pp. 298-9, 304. No intercourse between the newly married pair for a period of ten days, p. 129. ‘Perhaps in no part of the world is virtue more prized,’ p. 74. Jewitt’s Nar., pp. 59-60, 74, 127-9; Cornwallis’ New El Dorado, p. 101.

[303] ‘When relieved from the presence of strangers, they have much easy and social conversation among themselves.’ ‘The conversation is frequently coarse and indecent.’ Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 50-1. ‘Cantando y baylando al rededor de las hogueras, abandonándose á todos los excesos de la liviandad.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 133.

[304] Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 55-6; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 144.

[305] Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 299; Mayne’s B. C., pp. 275-6; Pemberton’s Vanc. Isl., p. 134; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., p. 444; Barrett-Lennard’s Trav., p. 53.

[306] Sproat’s Scenes, p. 269. But Lord says ‘nothing can be done without it.’ Nat., vol. i., p. 168.

[307] The Indian never invites any of the same crest as himself. Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., 445. ‘They are very particular about whom they invite to their feasts, and, on great occasions, men and women feast separately, the women always taking the precedence.’ Duncan, in Mayne’s B. C., pp. 263-6; Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 59-63.

[308] Lord’s Nat., vol. i., pp. 259-60.

[309] ‘I have never seen an Indian woman dance at a feast, and believe it is seldom if ever done.’ Mayne’s B. C., pp. 267-9. The women generally ‘form a separate circle, and chaunt and jump by themselves.’ Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 306. ‘As a rule, the men and women do not dance together; when the men are dancing the women sing and beat time,’ but there is a dance performed by both sexes. Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 66-7. ‘On other occasions a male chief will invite a party of female guests to share his hospitality.’ Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., p. 431. ‘Las mugeres baylan desayradisimamente; rara vez se prestan á esta diversion.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 152.

[310] ‘La decencia obliga á pasar en silencio los bayles obscenos de los Mischîmis (common people), especialmente el del impotente á causa de la edad, y el del pobre que no ha podido casarse.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 151-2, 18; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 432-7; Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 65-71; Mayne’s B. C., pp. 266-7; Jewitt’s Nar., p. 389; Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 306; Cornwallis’ New El Dorado, pp. 99-103.

[311] Jewitt’s Nar., pp. 39, 60, 72-3; Vancouver’s Voy., vol. iii., pp. 307-10; Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 310-11.

[312] Their music is mostly grave and serious, and in exact concert, when sung by great numbers. ‘Variations numerous and expressive, and the cadence or melody powerfully soothing.’ Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 310-11, 283. Dislike European music. Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 151-2. ‘Their tunes are generally soft and plaintive, and though not possessing great variety, are not deficient in harmony.’ Jewitt thinks the words of the songs may be borrowed from other tribes. Jewitt’s Nar., p. 72, and specimen of war song, p. 166. Airs consist of five or six bars, varying slightly, time being beaten in the middle of the bar. ‘Melody they have none, there is nothing soft, pleasing, or touching in their airs; they are not, however, without some degree of rude harmony.’ Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xviii., p. 306. ‘A certain beauty of natural expression in many of the native strains, if it were possible to relieve them from the monotony which is their fault.’ There are old men, wandering minstrels, who sing war songs and beg. ‘It is remarkable how aptly the natives catch and imitate songs heard from settlers or travelers.’ Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 63-5.

[313] Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 430-1; Jewitt’s Nar., p. 39.

[314] ‘I have seen the sorcerers at work a hundred times, but they use so many charms, which appear to me ridiculous,—they sing, howl, and gesticulate in so extravagant a manner, and surround their office with such dread and mystery,—that I am quite unable to describe their performances,’ pp. 169-70. ‘An unlucky dream will stop a sale, a treaty, a fishing, hunting, or war expedition,’ p. 175. Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 165-75. A chief, offered a piece of tobacco for allowing his portrait to be made, said it was a small reward for risking his life. Kane’s Wand., p. 240. Shrewd individuals impose on their neighbors by pretending to receive a revelation, telling them where fish or berries are most abundant. Description of initiatory ceremonies of the sorcerers. Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 446, 433-7, 451. Jewitt’s Nar., pp. 98-9. A brave prince goes to a distant lake, jumps from a high rock into the water, and rubs all the skin off his face with pieces of rough bark, amid the applause of his attendants. Description of king’s prayers, and ceremonies to bring rain. Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 145-6, 37. Candidates are thrown into a state of mesmerism before their initiation. ‘Medicus’, in Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. v., pp. 227-8; Barrett-Lennard’s Trav., pp. 51-3; Californias, Noticias, pp. 61-85.

[315] They brought for sale ‘human skulls, and hands not yet quite stripped of the flesh, which they made our people plainly understand they had eaten; and, indeed, some of them had evident marks that they had been upon the fire.’ Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., p. 271. Slaves are occasionally sacrificed and feasted upon. Meares’ Voy., p. 255. ‘No todos habian comido la carne humana, ni en todo tiempo, sino solamente los guerreros mas animosos quando se preparaban para salir á campaña.’ ‘Parece indudable que estos salvages han sido antropófagos.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 130. ‘At Nootka Sound, and at the Sandwich Islands, Ledyard witnessed instances of cannibalism. In both places he saw human flesh prepared for food.’ Spark’s Life of Ledyard, p. 74; Cornwallis’ New El Dorado, pp. 104-6. ‘Cannibalism, all-though unknown among the Indians of the Columbia, is practised by the savages on the coast to the northward.’ Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 310-11. The cannibal ceremonies quoted by Macfie and referred to Vancouver Island, probably were intended for the Haidahs farther north. Vanc. Isl., p. 434. A slave as late as 1850 was drawn up and down a pole by a hook through the skin and tendons of the back, and afterwards devoured. Medicus, in Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. v., p. 223. ‘L’anthropophagie á été longtemps en usage … et peut-être y existe-t-elle encore…. Le chef Maquina … tuait un prisonnier à chaque lune nouvelle. Tous les chefs étaient invités à cette horrible fête.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 345. ‘It is not improbable that the suspicion that the Nootkans are cannibals may be traced to the practice of some custom analagous to the Tzeet-tzaiak of the Haeel tzuk.’ Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., pp. 223-4. ‘The horrid practice of sacrificing a victim is not annual, but only occurs either once in three years or else at uncertain intervals.’ Sproat’s Scenes, p. 156.

[316] ‘Rheumatism and paralysis are rare maladies.’ Syphilis is probably indigenous. Amputation, blood-letting, and metallic medicine not employed. Medicines to produce love are numerous. ‘Young and old of both sexes are exposed when afflicted with lingering disease.’ Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 251-7, 282, 213-4. ‘Headache is cured by striking the part affected with small branches of the spruce tree.’ Doctors are generally chosen from men who have themselves suffered serious maladies. Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 438-40. ‘Their cure for rheumatism or similar pains … is by cutting or scarifying the part affected.’ Jewitt’s Nar., p. 142. They are sea sick on European vessels. Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., p. 81. Description of ceremonies. Swan, in Mayne’s B. C., pp. 261-3, 304. ‘The patient is put to bed, and for the most part starved, lest the food should be consumed by his internal enemy.’ ‘The warm and steam bath is very frequently employed.’ Medicus, in Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. v., pp. 226-8.

[317] The custom of burning or burying property is wholly confined to chiefs. ‘Night is their time for interring the dead.’ Buffoon tricks, with a feast and dance, formed part of the ceremony. Jewitt’s Nar., pp. 105, 111-2, 136. At Valdes Island, ‘we saw two sepulchres built with plank about five feet in height, seven in length, and four in breadth. These boards were curiously perforated at the ends and sides, and the tops covered with loose pieces of plank;’ inclosed evidently the relics of many different bodies. Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., pp. 338-9. ‘The coffin is usually an old canoe, lashed round and round, like an Egyptian mummy-case.’ Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 170. ‘There is generally some grotesque figure painted on the outside of the box, or roughly sculptured out of wood and placed by the side of it. For some days after death the relatives burn salmon or venison before the tomb.’ ‘They will never mention the name of a dead man.’ Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., pp. 301-3. ‘As a rule, the Indians burn their dead, and then bury the ashes.’ ‘It was at one time not uncommon for Indians to desert forever a lodge in which one of their family had died.’ Mayne’s B. C., pp. 271-2, with cut of graves. For thirty days after the funeral, dirges are chanted at sunrise and sunset. Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 447-8. Children frequently, but grown persons never, were found hanging in trees. Meares’ Voy., p. 268; Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 258-63. The bodies of chiefs are hung in trees on high mountains, while those of the commons are buried, that their souls may have a shorter journey to their residence in a future life. Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 139-40. ‘The Indians never inter their dead,’ and rarely burn them. Barrett-Lennard’s Trav., p. 51.

[318] ‘As light-fingered as any of the Sandwich Islanders. Of a quiet, phlegmatic, and inactive disposition.’ ‘A docile, courteous, good-natured people … but quick in resenting what they look upon as an injury; and, like most other passionate people, as soon forgetting it.’ Not curious; indolent; generally fair in trade, and would steal only such articles as they wanted for some purpose. Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 272, 308-12, etc. ‘Exceedingly hospitable in their own homes, … lack neither courage nor intelligence.’ Pemberton’s Vanc. Isl., p. 131. The Kla-iz-zarts ‘appear to be more civilized than any of the others.’ The Cayuquets are thought to be deficient in courage; and the Kla-os-quates ‘are a fierce, bold, and enterprizing people.’ Jewitt’s Nar., pp. 75-7. ‘Civil and inoffensive’ at Horse Sound. Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., p. 307. ‘Their moral deformities are as great as their physical ones.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 88. The Nittinahts given to aggressive war, and consequently ‘bear a bad reputation.’ Whymper’s Alaska, p. 74. Not brave, and a slight repulse daunts them. ‘Sincere in his friendship, kind to his wife and children, and devotedly loyal to his own tribe,’ p. 51. ‘In sickness and approaching death, the savage always becomes melancholy,’ p. 162. Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 30, 36, 52, 91, 119-24, 150-66, 187, 216. ‘Comux and Yucletah fellows very savage and uncivilized dogs,’ and the Nootkas not to be trusted. ‘Cruel, bloodthirsty, treacherous and cowardly.’ Grant, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., pp. 294, 296, 298, 305, 307. Mayne’s B. C., p. 246; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 190, 460-1, 472, 477, 484; Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., pp. 294-6. The Spaniards gave the Nootkas a much better character than voyagers of other nations. Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 25, 31-2, 57-9, 63, 99, 107, 133, 149-51, 154-6; Forbes’ Vanc. Isl., p. 25; Rattray’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 172-3. The Ucultas ‘are a band of lawless pirates and robbers, levying black-mail on all the surrounding tribes.’ Barrett-Lennard’s Trav., p. 43. ‘Bold and ferocious, sly and reserved, not easily provoked, but revengeful.’ Spark’s Life of Ledyard, p. 72. The Teets have ‘all the vices of the coast tribes’ with ‘none of the redeeming qualities of the interior nations.’ Anderson, in Hist. Mag., vol. vii., p. 78.

[319] ‘Those who came within our notice so nearly resembled the people of Nootka, that the best delineation I can offer is a reference to the description of those people’ (by Cook), p. 252. At Cape Flattery they closely resembled those of Nootka and spoke the same language, p. 218. At Gray Harbor they seemed to vary in little or no respect ‘from those on the sound, and understood the Nootka tongue’, p. 83. ‘The character and appearance of their several tribes here did not seem to differ in any material respect from each other,’ p. 288. Evidence that the country was once much more thickly peopled, p. 254. Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., pp. 218, 252, 254, 288; vol. ii., p. 83. The Chehalis come down as far as Shoal-water Bay. A band of Klikatats (Sahaptins) is spoken of near the head of the Cowlitz. ‘The Makahs resemble the northwestern Indians far more than their neighbors.’ The Lummi are a branch of the Clallams. Rept. Ind. Aff., 1854, pp. 240-4. The Lummi ‘traditions lead them to believe that they are descendants of a better race than common savages.’ The Semianmas ‘are intermarried with the north band of the Lummis, and Cowegans, and Quantlums.’ The Neuk-wers and Siamanas are called Stick Indians, and in 1852 had never seen a white. ‘The Neuk-sacks (Mountain Men) trace from the salt water Indians,’ and ‘are entirely different from the others.’ ‘The Loomis appear to be more of a wandering class than the others about Bellingham Bay.’ Id., 1857, pp. 327-9. ‘They can be divided into two classes—the salt-water and the Stick Indians.’ Id., 1857, p. 224. Of the Nisquallies ‘some live in the plains, and others on the banks of the Sound.’ The Classets have been less affected than the Chinooks by fever and ague. Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 231-5. The Clallams speak a kindred language to that of the Ahts. Sproat’s Scenes, p. 270. ‘El gobierno de estos naturales de la entrada y canales de Fuca, la disposicion interior de las habitaciones las manufacturas y vestidos que usan son muy parecidos á los de los habitantes de Nutka.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 111. The Sound Indians live in great dread of the Northern tribes. Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 513. The Makahs deem themselves much superior to the tribes of the interior, because they go out on the ocean. Scammon, in Overland Monthly, vol. vii., pp. 277-8. The Nooksaks are entirely distinct from the Lummi, and some suppose them to have come from the Clallam country. Coleman, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xxxix., p. 799. Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 428.

[320] At Port Discovery they ‘seemed capable of enduring great fatigue.’ ‘Their cheek-bones were high.’ ‘The oblique eye of the Chinese was not uncommon.’ ‘Their countenances wore an expression of wildness, and they had, in the opinion of some of us, a melancholy cast of features.’ Some of women would with difficulty be distinguished in colour from those of European race. The Classet women ‘were much better looking than those of other tribes.’ Portrait of a Tatouche chief. Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 317-8, 320, 517-8. ‘All are bow-legged.’ ‘All of a sad-colored, Caravaggio brown.’ ‘All have coarse, black hair, and are beardless.’ Winthrop’s Canoe and Saddle, p. 32. ‘Tall and stout.’ Maurelle’s Jour., p. 28. Sproat mentions a Clallam slave who ‘could see in the dark like a racoon.’ Scenes, p. 52. The Classet ‘cast of countenance is very different from that of the Nootkians … their complexion in also much fairer and their stature shorter.’ Jewitt’s Nar., p. 75. The Nisqually Indians ‘are of very large stature; indeed, the largest I have met with on the continent. The women are particularly large and stout.’ Kane’s Wand., pp. 207, 228, 234. The Nisquallies are by no means a large race, being from five feet five inches to five feet nine inches in height, and weighing from one hundred and thirty to one hundred and eighty pounds. Anderson, in Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 227. ‘De rostro hermoso y da gallarda figura.’ Navarrete, in Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. xciv. The Queniults, ‘the finest-looking Indians I had ever seen.’ Swan’s N. W. Coast, pp. 78-9. Neuksacks stronger and more athletic than other tribes. Many of the Lummi ‘very fair and have light hair.’ Rept. Ind. Aff., 1857, p. 328; Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 23; Morton’s Crania, p. 215, with plate of Cowlitz skull; Cornwallis’ New El Dorado, p. 97; Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., p. 252; Murphy and Harned, Puget Sound Directory, pp. 64-71; Clark’s Lights and Shadows, pp. 214-15, 224-6.

[321] ‘Less bedaubed with paint and less filthy’ than the Nootkas. At Port Discovery ‘they wore ornaments, though none were observed in their noses.’ At Cape Flattery the nose ornament was straight, instead of crescent-shaped, as among the Nootkas. Vancouver supposed their garments to be composed of dog’s hair mixed with the wool of some wild animal, which he did not see. Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., pp. 218, 230, 266. At Port Discovery some had small brass bells hung in the rim of the ears, p. 318. Some of the Skagits were tattooed with lines on the arms and face, and fond of brass rings, pp. 511-12. The Classets ‘wore small pieces of an iridescent mussel-shell, attached to the cartilage of their nose, which was in some, of the size of a ten cents piece, and triangular in shape. It is generally kept in motion by their breathing,’ p. 517. Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 317-20, 334, 404, 444, 511-2, 517-8. The conical hats and stout bodies ‘brought to mind representations of Siberian tribes.’ Pickering’s Races, in Idem., vol. ix., p. 23. The Clallams ‘wear no clothing in summer.’ Faces daubed with red and white mud. Illustration of head-flattening. Kane’s Wand., pp. 180, 207, 210-11, 224. Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. i., pp. 108-9; Rossi, Souvenirs, p. 299; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 232-3; San Francisco Bulletin, May 24, 1859; Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 243; Id., 1857, p. 329; Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 430. Above Gray Harbor they were dressed with red deer skins. Navarrete, in Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. xciv: Cornwallis’ New El Dorado, p. 97; Winthrop’s Canoe and Saddle, p. 32-3; Murphy and Harned, in Puget Sd. Direct., pp. 64-71.

[322] The Skagit tribe being exposed to attacks from the north, combine dwellings and fort, and build themselves ‘enclosures, four hundred feet long, and capable of containing many families, which are constructed of pickets made of thick planks, about thirty feet high. The pickets are firmly fixed into the ground, the spaces between them being only sufficient to point a musket through…. The interior of the enclosure is divided into lodges,’ p. 511. At Port Discovery the lodges were ‘no more than a few rudely-cut slabs, covered in part by coarse mats,’ p. 319. Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 319-20, 511, 517. The Clallams also have a fort of pickets one hundred and fifty feet square, roofed over and divided into compartments for families. ‘There were about two hundred of the tribe in the fort at the time of my arrival.’ ‘The lodges are built of cedar like the Chinook lodges, but much larger, some of them being sixty or seventy feet long.’ Kane’s Wand., pp. 210, 219, 227-9. ‘Their houses are of considerable size, often fifty to one hundred feet in length, and strongly built.’ Rept. Ind. Aff., 1854, pp. 242-3. ‘The planks forming the roof run the whole length of the building, being guttered to carry off the water, and sloping slightly to one end.’ Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 429-30. Well built lodges of timber and plank on Whidbey Island. Thornton’s Ogn. and Cal., vol. i., p. 300. At New Dungeness, ‘composed of nothing more than a few mats thrown over cross sticks;’ and on Puget Sound ‘constructed something after the fashion of a soldier’s tent, by two cross sticks about five feet high, connected at each end by a ridge-pole from one to the other, over some of which was thrown a coarse kind of mat; over others a few loose branches of trees, shrubs or grass.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., pp. 225, 262. The Queniults sometimes, but not always, whitewash the interior of their lodges with pipe-clay, and then paint figures of fishes and animals in red and black on the white surface. See description and cuts of exterior and interior of Indian lodge in Swan’s N. W. Coast, pp. 266-7, 330, 338; Crane’s Top. Mem., p. 65; Cornwallis’ New El Dorado, p. 98; Clark’s Lights and Shadows, p. 225.

[323] The Nootsaks, ‘like all inland tribes, they subsist principally by the chase.’ Coleman, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xxxix., pp. 795, 799, 815; Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 328. Sturgeon abound weighing 400 to 600 pounds, and are taken by the Clallams by means of a spear with a handle seventy to eighty feet long, while lying on the bottom of the river in spawning time. Fish-hooks are made of cedar root with bone barbs. Their only vegetables are the camas, wappatoo, and fern roots. Kane’s Wand., pp. 213-14, 230-4, 289. At Puget Sound, ‘men, women and children were busily engaged like swine, rooting up this beautiful verdant meadow in quest of a species of wild onion, and two other roots, which in appearance and taste greatly resembled the saranne.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., pp. 225, 234, 262. In fishing for salmon at Port Discovery ‘they have two nets, the drawing and casting net, made of a silky grass,’ ‘or of the fibres of the roots of trees, or of the inner bark of the white cedar.’ Nicolay’s Ogn. Ter., p. 147. ‘The line is made either of kelp or the fibre of the cypress, and to it is attached an inflated bladder.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. i., p. 109. At Port Townsend, ‘leurs provisions, consistaient en poisson séché au soleil ou boucané; … tout rempli de sable.’ Rossi, Souvenirs, pp. 182-3, 299. The Clallams ‘live by fishing and hunting around their homes, and never pursue the whale and seal as do the sea-coast tribes.’ Scammon, in Overland Monthly, vol. vii., p. 278. The Uthlecan or candle-fish is used on Fuca Strait for food as well as candles. Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 241. Lamprey eels are dried for food and light by the Nisquallies and Chehalis. ‘Cammass root, … stored in baskets. It is a kind of sweet squills, and about the size of a small onion. It is extremely abundant on the open prairies, and particularly on those which are overflowed by the small streams.’ Cut of salmon fishery, p. 335. ‘Hooks are made in an ingenious manner of the yew tree.’ ‘They are chiefly employed in trailing for fish.’ Cut of hooks, pp. 444-5. The Classets make a cut in the nose when a whale is taken. Each seal-skin float has a different pattern painted on it, p. 517. Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 318-19, 335, 444-5, 517-18. The Chehalis live chiefly on salmon. Id., vol. v., p. 140. According to Swan the Puget Sound Indians sometimes wander as far as Shoalwater Bay in Chinook territory, in the spring. The Queniult Indians are fond of large barnacles, not eaten by the Chinooks of Shoalwater Bay. Cut of a sea-otter hunt. The Indians never catch salmon with a baited hook, but always use the hook as a gaff. N. W. Coast, pp. 59, 87, 92, 163, 264, 271; Thornton’s Ogn. and Cal., vol. i., pp. 293-4, 301, 388-9; Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 241; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 732-5; Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 429. ‘They all depend upon fish, berries, and roots for a subsistence, and get their living with great ease.’ Starling, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 600-2. The Makahs live ‘by catching cod and halibut on the banks north and east of Cape Flattery.’ Ind. Aff. Rept., 1858, p. 231. ‘When in a state of semi-starvation the beast shows very plainly in them (Stick Indians): they are generally foul feeders, but at such a time they eat anything, and are disgusting in the extreme.’ Id., 1858, p. 225; Id., 1860, p. 195; Cornwallis’ New El Dorado, p. 97; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., pp. 102-5; Hittell, in Hesperian, vol. iii., p. 408; Winthrop’s Canoe and Saddle, pp. 33-7; Maurelle’s Jour., p. 28.

[324] Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., p. 253. At Gray Harbor the bows were somewhat more circular than elsewhere. Id., vol. ii., p. 84; Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 319; Kane’s Wand., pp. 209-10.

[325] Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 321; Kane’s Wand., pp. 231-2; Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., p. 234. ‘They have been nearly annihilated by the hordes of northern savages that have infested, and do now, even at the present day, infest our own shores’ for slaves. They had fire-arms before our tribes, thus gaining an advantage.’ Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 327; Clark’s Lights and Shadows, p. 224.

[326] Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., p. 287.

[327] ‘A single thread is wound over rollers at the top and bottom of a square frame, so as to form a continuous woof through which an alternate thread is carried by the hand, and pressed closely together by a sort of wooden comb; by turning the rollers every part of the woof is brought within reach of the weaver; by this means a bag formed, open at each end, which being cut down makes a square blanket.’ Kane’s Wand., pp. 210-11. Cuts showing the loom and process of weaving among the Nootsaks, also house, canoes, and willow baskets. Coleman, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xxxix., pp. 799-800. The Clallams ‘have a kind of cur with soft and long white hair, which they shear and mix with a little wool or the ravelings of old blankets.’ Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 431. The Makahs have ‘blankets and capes made of the inner bark of the cedar, and edged with fur.’ Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 241-2; Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 32. The candle-fish ‘furnishes the natives with their best oil, which is extracted by the very simple process of hanging it up, exposed to the sun, which in a few days seems to melt it away.’ Thornton’s Ogn. and Cal., vol. i., p. 388. They ‘manufacture some of their blankets from the wool of the wild goat.’ Dunn’s Oregon, p. 231. The Queniults showed ‘a blanket manufactured from the wool of mountain sheep, which are to be found on the precipitous slopes of the Olympian Mountains.’ Alta California, Feb. 9, 1861, quoted in California Farmer, July 25, 1862; Cornwallis’ New El Dorado, p. 97; Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 26.

[328] ‘They present a model of which a white mechanic might well be proud.’ Description of method of making, and cuts of Queniult, Clallam, and Cowlitz canoes, and a Queniult paddle. Swan’s N. W. Coast, pp. 79-82. At Port Orchard they ‘exactly corresponded with the canoes of Nootka,’ while those of some visitors were ‘cut off square at each end,’ and like those seen below Cape Orford. At Gray Harbor the war canoes ‘had a piece of wood rudely carved, perforated, and placed at each end, three feet above the gunwale; through these holes they are able to discharge their arrows.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., p. 264; vol. ii., p. 84. The Clallam boats were ‘low and straight, and only adapted to the smoother interior waters.’ Scammon, in Overland Monthly, vol. vii., p. 278. Cut showing Nootsak canoes in Harper’s Mag., vol. xxxix., p. 799. ‘The sides are exceedingly thin, seldom exceeding three-fourths of an inch.’ To mend the canoe when cracks occur, ‘holes are made in the sides, through which withes are passed, and pegged in such a way that the strain will draw it tighter; the withe is then crossed, and the end secured in the same manner. When the tying is finished, the whole is pitched with the gum of the pine.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 320-1. The Clallams have ‘a very large canoe of ruder shape and workmanship, being wide and shovel-nosed,’ used for the transportation of baggage. Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 243; Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 430-1; Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. i., p. 108; Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., pp. 25-6; Winthrop’s Canoe and Saddle, p. 20; Clark’s Lights and Shadows, pp. 224-6.

[329] Kane’s Wand., pp. 237-9; Ind. Aff. Rept., 1862, p. 409; Starling, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 601; Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 26.

[330] ‘Ils obéissent à un chef, qui n’exerce son pouvoir qu’en temps de guerre.’ Rossi, Souvenirs, p. 299. At Gray Harbor ‘they appeared to be divided into three different tribes, or parties, each having one or two chiefs.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 84. Wilkes met a squaw chief at Nisqually, who ‘seemed to exercise more authority than any that had been met with.’ ‘Little or no distinction of rank seems to exist among them; the authority of the chiefs is no longer recognized.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 444; vol. v., p. 131. Yellow-cum had become chief of the Makahs from his own personal prowess. Kane’s Wand., pp. 237-9; Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, pp. 327-8.

[331] Sproat’s Scenes, p. 92; Simpson’s Overland Journ., vol. i., pp. 242-3; Kane’s Wand., pp. 214-15. The Nooksaks ‘have no slaves.’ Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, pp. 327-8; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 601. It is said ‘that the descendants of slaves obtain freedom at the expiration of three centuries.’ Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 28.

[332] The Makahs have some marriage ceremonies, ‘such as going through the performance of taking the whale, manning a canoe, and throwing the harpoon into the bride’s house.’ Ind. Aff. Rept., p. 242. The Nooksak women ‘are very industrious, and do most of the work, and procure the principal part of their sustenance.’ Id., 1857, p. 327. ‘The women have not the slightest pretension to virtue.’ Id., 1858, p. 225; Siwash Nuptials, in Olympia Washington Standard, July 30, 1870. In matters of trade the opinion of the women is always called in, and their decision decides the bargain. Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. i., p. 108. ‘The whole burden of domestic occupation is thrown upon them.’ Cut of the native baby-jumper. Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 319-20, 361. At Gray Harbor they were not jealous. At Port Discovery they offered their children for sale. Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., p. 231; vol. ii., pp. 83-4. ‘Rarely having more than three or four’ children. Swan’s N. W. Coast, p. 266; Clark’s Lights and Shadows, pp. 224-6.

[333] Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 320, 444; Rossi, Souvenirs, pp. 298-9; San Francisco Bulletin, May 24, 1859.

[334] Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., pp. 263, 270. The Lummi ‘are a very superstitious tribe, and pretend to have traditions—legends handed down to them by their ancestors.’ ‘No persuasion or pay will induce them to kill an owl or eat a pheasant.’ Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, pp. 327-8; Kane’s Wand., pp. 216-17, 229. No forms of salutation. Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., pp. 23-4; Winthrop’s Canoe and Saddle, pp. 21-2.

[335] Among the Skagits ‘Dr. Holmes saw an old man in the last stage of consumption, shivering from the effects of a cold bath at the temperature of 40° Fahrenheit. A favourite remedy in pulmonary consumption is to tie a rope tightly around the thorax, so as to force the diaphram to perform respiration without the aid of the thoracic muscles.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 512. Among the Clallams, to cure a girl of a disease of the side, after stripping the patient naked, the medicine-man, throwing off his blanket, ‘commenced singing and gesticulating in the most violent manner, whilst the others kept time by beating with little sticks on hollow wooden bowls and drums, singing continually. After exercising himself in this manner for about half an hour, until the perspiration ran down his body, he darted suddenly upon the young woman, catching hold of her side with his teeth and shaking her for a few minutes, while the patient seemed to suffer great agony. He then relinquished his hold, and cried out that he had got it, at the same time holding his hands to his mouth; after which he plunged them in the water and pretended to hold down with great difficulty the disease which he had extracted.’ Kane’s Wand., pp. 225-6. Small-pox seemed very prevalent by which many had lost the sight of one eye. Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., p. 242. To cure a cold in the face the Queniults burned certain herbs to a cinder and mixing them with grease, anointed the face. Swan’s N. W. Coast, p. 265. Among the Nooksaks mortality has not increased with civilization. ‘As yet the only causes of any amount are consumption and the old diseases.’ Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 327. At Neah Bay, ‘a scrofulous affection pervades the whole tribe.’ The old, sick and maimed are abandoned by their friends to die. Id., 1872, p. 350.

[336] Slaves have no right to burial. Kane’s Wand., p. 215. At a Queniult burial place ‘the different colored blankets and calicoes hung round gave the place an appearance of clothes hung out to dry on a washing day.’ Swan’s N. W. Coast, p. 267. At Port Orchard bodies were ‘wrapped firmly in matting, beneath which was a white blanket, closely fastened round the body, and under this a covering of blue cotton.’ At Port Discovery bodies ‘are wrapped in mats and placed upon the ground in a sitting posture, and surrounded with stakes and pieces of plank to protect them.’ On the Cowlitz the burial canoes are painted with figures, and gifts are not deposited till several months after the funeral. Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 323, 347-8, 509-10. Among the Nisquallies bodies of relatives are sometimes disinterred at different places, washed, re-wrapped and buried again in one grave. Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 238-9. ‘Ornés de rubans de diverses couleurs, de dents de poissons, de chapelets et d’autres brimborions du goût des sauvages.’ Rossi, Souvenirs, pp. 74-5. On Penn Cove, in a deserted village, were found ‘several sepulchres formed exactly like a centry box. Some of them were open, and contained the skeletons of many young children tied up in baskets.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., pp. 254-6, 287; Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 242; Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 429. A correspondent describes a flathead mummy from Puget Sound preserved in San Francisco. ‘The eye-balls are still round under the lid; the teeth, the muscles, and tendons perfect, the veins injected with some preserving liquid, the bowels, stomach and liver dried up, but not decayed, all perfectly preserved. The very blanket that entwines him, made of some threads of bark and saturated with a pitchy substance, is entire.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 693; Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 32.

[337] ‘Their native bashfulness renders all squaws peculiarly sensitive to any public notice or ridicule.’ Probably the laziest people in the world. The mails are intrusted with safety to Indian carriers, who are perfectly safe from interference on the part of any Indian they may meet. Kane’s Wand., p. 209-16, 227-8, 234, 247-8. ‘La mémoire locale et personelle du sauvage est admirable; il n’oublie jamais un endroit ni une personne.’ Nature seems to have given him memory to supply the want of intelligence. ‘Much inclined to vengeance. Those having means may avert vengeance by payments.’ Rossi, Souvenirs, pp. 113, 295-9. ‘Perfectly indifferent to exposure; decency has no meaning in their language.’ Although always begging, they refuse to accept any article not in good condition, calling it Peeshaaak, a term of contempt. Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. i., pp. 108-9. Murder of a Spanish boat’s crew in latitude 47° 20´. Maurelle’s Jour., pp. 29, 31. ‘Cheerful and well disposed’ at Port Orchard. At Strait of Fuca ‘little more elevated in their moral qualities than the Fuegians.’ At Nisqually, ‘addicted to stealing.’ ‘Vicious and exceedingly lazy, sleeping all day.’ The Skagits are catholics, and are more advanced than others in civilization. Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 317, 444, 510-11, 517. Both at Gray Harbor and Puget Sound they were uniformly civil and friendly, fair and honest in trade. Each tribe claimed that ‘the others were bad people and that the party questioned were the only good Indians in the harbor.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., p. 256; vol. ii., pp. 83-4. ‘The Clallam tribe has always had a bad character, which their intercourse with shipping, and the introduction of whiskey, has by no means improved.’ Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 243. ‘The superior courage of the Makahs, as well as their treachery, will make them more difficult of management than most other tribes.’ Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 429. The Lummis and other tribes at Bellingham Bay have already abandoned their ancient barbarous habits, and have adopted those of civilization. Coleman, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xxxix., pp. 795-7; Simpson’s Overland Journ., vol. i., pp. 240-2. ‘The instincts of these people are of a very degraded character. They are filthy, cowardly, lazy, treacherous, drunken, avaricious, and much given to thieving. The women have not the slightest pretension to virtue.’ The Makahs ‘are the most independent Indians in my district—they and the Quilleyutes, their near neighbors.’ Ind. Aff. Rept., 1858, pp. 225, 231; Id., 1862, p. 390; Id., 1870, p. 20; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 601; Winthrop’s Canoe and Saddle, p. 58; Cram’s Top. Mem., p. 65.

[338] Perhaps the Cascades might more properly be named as the boundary, since the region of the Dalles, from the earliest records, has been the rendezvous for fishing, trading, and gambling purposes, of tribes from every part of the surrounding country, rather than the home of any particular nation.

[339] For details see Tribal Boundaries at the end of this chapter. The Chinooks, Clatsops, Wakiakums and Cathlamets, ‘resembling each other in person, dress, language, and manners.’ The Chinooks and Wakiakums were originally one tribe, and Wakiakum was the name of the chief who seceded with his adherents. Irving’s Astoria, pp. 335-6. ‘They may be regarded as the distinctive type of the tribes to the north of the Oregon, for it is in them that the peculiarities of the population of these regions are seen in the most striking manner.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., pp. 15-6, 36. All the tribes about the mouth of the Columbia ‘appear to be descended from the same stock … and resemble one another in language, dress, and habits.’ Ross’ Adven., pp. 87-8. The Cathleyacheyachs at the Cascades differ but little from the Chinooks. Id., p. 111. Scouler calls the Columbia tribes Cathlascons, and considers them ‘intimately related to the Kalapooiah Family.’ Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 225. The Willamette tribes ‘differ very little in their habits and modes of life, from those on the Columbia River.’ Hunter’s Cap., p. 72. Mofras makes Killimous a general name for all Indians south of the Columbia. Explor., tom. ii., p. 357; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 114-18; Cox’s Adven., vol. ii., p. 133. The Nechecolees on the Willamette claimed an affinity with the Eloots at the Narrows of the Columbia. The Killamucks ‘resemble in almost every particular the Clatsops and Chinnooks. Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 427, 504. ‘Of the Coast Indians that I have seen there seems to be so little difference in their style of living that a description of one family will answer for the whole.’ Swan’s N. W. Coast, pp. 153-4. ‘All the natives inhabiting the southern shore of the Straits, and the deeply indented territory as far and including the tide-waters of the Columbia, may be comprehended under the general term of Chinooks.’ Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 25.

[340] ‘The race of the Chenooks is nearly run. From a large and powerful tribe … they have dwindled down to about a hundred individuals, … and these are a depraved, licentious, drunken set.’ Swan’s N. W. Coast, pp. 108-10. The Willopahs ‘may be considered as extinct, a few women only remaining.’ Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 428; Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 351; Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 239-40; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 354; vol. ii., p. 217; De Smet, Missions de l’Orégon, pp. 163-4; Kane’s Wand., pp. 173-6, 196-7; Irving’s Astoria, pp. 335-6; Fitzgerald’s Hud. B. Co., pp. 170-2; Hines’ Oregon, pp. 103-19, 236; Thornton’s Ogn. and Cal., vol. ii., pp. 52-3; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 36; Palmer’s Jour., pp. 84, 87; Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 191-2. ‘In the Wallamette valley, their favorite country, … there are but few remnants left, and they are dispirited and broken-hearted.’ Robertson’s Oregon, p. 130.

[341] ‘The personal appearance of the Chinooks differs so much from that of the aboriginal tribes of the United States, that it was difficult at first to recognize the affinity.’ Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 27. ‘There are no two nations in Europe so dissimilar as the tribes to the north and those to the south of the Columbia.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 88; vol. ii., p. 36. ‘Thick set limbs,’ north; ‘slight,’ south. Id., vol. i., p. 88; vol. ii., p. 16. ‘Very inferior in muscular power.’ Id., vol. ii., pp. 15-16. ‘Among the ugliest of their race. They are below the middle size, with squat, clumsy forms.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., pp. 198, 216. The men from five feet to five feet six inches high, with well-shaped limbs; the women six to eight inches shorter, with bandy legs, thick ankles, broad, flat feet, loose hanging breasts. Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 303-4. ‘A diminutive race, generally below five feet five inches, with crooked legs and thick ankles.’ ‘Broad, flat feet.’ Irving’s Astoria, pp. 87, 336. ‘But not deficient in strength or activity.’ Nicolay’s Oregon, p. 145. Men ‘stout, muscular and strong, but not tall;’ women ‘of the middle size, but very stout and flabby, with short necks and shapeless limbs.’ Ross’ Adven., pp. 89-93. At Cape Orford none exceed five feet six inches; ‘tolerably well limbed, though slender in their persons.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., p. 204. The Willamette tribes were somewhat larger and better shaped than those of the Columbia and the coast. Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 425, 436-7, 504, 508. Hunter’s Cap., pp. 70-73; Hines’ Voy., pp. 88, 91. ‘Persons of the men generally are rather symmetrical; their stature is low, with light sinewy limbs, and remarkably small, delicate hands. The women are usually more rotund, and, in some instances, even approach obesity.’ Townsend’s Nar., p. 178. ‘Many not even five feet.’ Franchère’s Nar., pp. 240-1. Can endure cold, but not fatigue; sharp sight and hearing, but obtuse smell and taste. ‘The women are uncouth, and from a combination of causes appear old at an early age. Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 244-5. ‘The Indians north of the Columbia are, for the most part good-looking, robust men, some of them having fine, symmetrical, forms. They have been represented as diminutive, with crooked legs and uncouth features. This is not correct; but, as a general rule, the direct reverse is the truth.’ Swan’s N. W. Coast, p. 154; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 122-3.

[342] The following terms applied to Chinook complexion are taken from the authors quoted in the preceding note: ‘Copper-colored brown;’ ‘light copper color;’ ‘light olive;’ ‘fair complexion.’ ‘Not dark’ when young. ‘Rough tanned skins.’ ‘Dingy copper.’ ‘Fairer’ than eastern Indians. Fairer on the coast than on the Columbia. Half-breeds partake of the swarthy hue of their mothers.

[343] ‘The Cheenook cranium, even when not flattened, is long and narrow, compressed laterally, keel-shaped, like the skull of the Esquimaux.’ Broad and high cheek-bones, with a receding forehead.’ Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 220. ‘Skulls … totally devoid of any peculiar development.’ Nose flat, nostrils distended, short irregular teeth; eyes black, piercing and treacherous. Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 115, 303. ‘Broad faces, low foreheads, lank black hair, wide mouths.’ ‘Flat noses, and eyes turned obliquely upward at the outer corner.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., pp. 198, 216. ‘Faces are round, with small, but animated eyes. Their noses are broad and flat at the top, and fleshy at the end, with large nostrils.’ Irving’s Astoria, p. 336. Portraits of two Calapooya Indians. Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 14. South of the Columbia they have ‘long faces, thin lips,’ but the Calapooyas in Willamette Valley have ‘broad faces, low foreheads,’ and the Chinooks have ‘a wide face, flat nose, and eyes turned obliquely outwards.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 88; vol. ii., pp. 15-16. ‘Dull phlegmatic want of expression’ common to all adults. Nicolay’s Ogn. Ter., p. 145. Women ‘well-featured,’ with ‘light hair, and prominent eyes.’ Ross’ Adven., pp. 89-93. ‘Their features rather partook of the general European character.’ Hair long and black, clean and neatly combed. Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., p. 204. ‘Women have, in general, handsome faces.’ ‘There are rare instances of high aquiline noses; the eyes are generally black,’ but sometimes ‘of a dark yellowish brown, with a black pupil.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 425, 436-7. The men carefully eradicate every vestige of a beard. Dunn’s Oregon, p. 124. ‘The features of many are regular, though often devoid of expression.’ Townsend’s Nar., p. 178. ‘Pluck out the beard at its first appearance.’ Kane’s Wand., p. 181. Portrait of chief, p. 174. ‘A few of the old men only suffer a tuft to grow upon their chins.’ Franchère’s Nar., p. 240. One of the Clatsops ‘had the reddest hair I ever saw, and a fair skin, much freckled.’ Gass’ Jour., p. 244; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 75. For descriptions and plates of Chinook skulls see Morton’s Crania, pp. 202-13; pl. 42-7, 49, 50, and Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. ii., pp. 318-34.

[344] ‘Practiced by at least ten or twelve distinct tribes of the lower country.’ Townsend’s Nar., pp. 175-6. ‘On the coast it is limited to a space of about one hundred and seventy miles, extending between Cape Flattery and Cape Look-out. Inland, it extends up the Columbia to the first rapids, or one hundred and forty miles, and is checked at the falls on the Wallamette.’ Belcher’s Voy., vol. i., p. 307. The custom ‘prevails among all the nations we have seen west of the Rocky Mountains,’ but ‘diminishes in receding eastward.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 437. ‘The Indians at the Dalles do not distort the head.’ Kane’s Wand., pp. 263, 180-2. ‘The Chinooks are the most distinguished for their attachment to this singular usage.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 198. The tribes from the Columbia River to Millbank Sound flatten the forehead, also the Yakimas and Klikitats of the interior. Tolmie, in Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 231-2, 249. ‘The practice prevails, generally, from the mouth of the Columbia to the Dalles, about one hundred and eighty miles, and from the Straits of Fuca on the north, to Coos Bay…. Northward of the Straits it diminishes gradually to a mere slight compression, finally confined to women, and abandoned entirely north of Milbank Sound. So east of the Cascade Mountains, it dies out in like manner.’ Gibbs, in Nott and Gliddon’s Indig. Races, p. 337. ‘None but such as are of noble birth are allowed to flatten their skulls.’ Gray’s Hist. Ogn., p. 197.

[345] All authors who mention the Chinooks have something to say of this custom; the following give some description of the process and its effects, containing, however, no points not included in that given above. Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 122-3, 128-30; Ross’ Adven., pp. 99-100; Swan’s N. W. Coast, pp. 167-8, with cut; Chamber’s Jour., vol. x., pp. 111-2; Belcher’s Voy., vol. i., pp. 307-11, with cuts; Townsend’s Nar., pp. 175-6; Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 216; Nicolay’s Ogn. Ter., p. 150; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 294; Irving’s Astoria, p. 89; Cox’s Adven., vol. i., p. 302; Catlin’s N. Am. Ind., vol. ii., pp. 110-11, with plate. Females remain longer than the boys. Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 476, 437. ‘Not so great a deformity as is generally supposed.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 142-3, 251-2. ‘Looking with contempt even upon the white for having round heads.’ Kane’s Wand., p. 181, 204, cut. ‘As a general thing the tribes that have followed the practice of flattening the skull are inferior in intellect, less stirring and enterprising in their habits, and far more degraded in their morals than other tribes.’ Gray’s Hist. Ogn., p. 197. Mr. Gray is the only authority I have seen for this injurious effect, except Domenech, who pronounces the flat-heads more subject to apoplexy than others. Deserts, vol. ii., p. 87; Gass’ Jour., pp. 224-5; Brownell’s Ind. Races, pp. 335-7; Morton’s Crania Am., pp. 203-13, cut of cradle and of skulls; Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., pp. 349-50, Atlas, pl. 26; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 294-5, 328, with cut; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 124; Wilson, in Smithsonian Rept., 1862, p. 287.

[346] The Multnomah women’s hair ‘is most commonly braided into two tresses falling over each ear in front of the body.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 508-9, 416, 425-6, 437-8. The Clackamas ‘tattoo themselves below the mouth, which gives a light blue appearance to the countenance.’ Kane’s Wand., pp. 241, 184-5, 256. At Cape Orford ‘they seemed to prefer the comforts of cleanliness to the painting of their bodies.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., p. 204. On the Columbia ‘in the decoration of their persons they surpassed all the other tribes with paints of different colours, feathers and other ornaments.’ Id., vol. ii., p. 77. ‘Ils mettent toute leur vanité dans leurs colliers et leurs pendants d’oreilles.’ De Smet, Miss. de l’Orégon, p. 45. ‘Some of these girls I have seen with the whole rim of their ears bored full of holes, into each of which would be inserted a string of these shells that reached to the floor, and the whole weighing so heavy that to save their ears from being pulled off they were obliged to wear a band across the top of the head.’ ‘I never have seen either men or women put oil or grease of any kind on their bodies.’ Swan’s N. W. Coast, pp. 112, 158-9. See Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 115, 123-4; Cox’s Adven., pp. 111-12; Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 25; Irving’s Astoria, pp. 336-8; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 354; Franchère’s Nar., p. 244.

[347] ‘These robes are in general, composed of the skins of a small animal, which we have supposed to be the brown mungo.’ ‘Sometimes they have a blanket woven with the fingers, from the wool of their native sheep.’ Every part of the body but the back and shoulders is exposed to view. The Nechecolies had ‘larger and longer robes, which are generally of deer skin dressed in the hair.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 392, 425-6, 438, 504-9, 522. ‘I have often seen them going about, half naked, when the thermometer ranged between 30° and 40°, and their children barefooted and barelegged in the snow.’ ‘The lower Indians do not dress as well, nor with as good taste, as the upper.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 244-5. The fringed skirt ‘is still used by old women, and by all the females when they are at work in the water, and is called by them their siwash coat.’ Swan’s N. W. Coast, pp. 154-5. Ross’ Adven., pp. 89-93; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 123-4; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., pp. 15-16, 281-2, 288; Townsend’s Nar., p. 178; Kane’s Wand., pp. 184-5; Franchère’s Nar., pp. 242-4. The conical cap reminded Pickering of the Siberian tribes. Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., pp. 25, 39; Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 111-12, 126-7; Hines’ Voy., p. 107. Collars of bears’ claws, for the men, and elks’ tusks for the women and children. Irving’s Astoria, pp. 336-8; Gass’ Jour., pp. 232, 239-40, 242-4, 267, 274, 278, 282.

[348] ‘Their houses seemed to be more comfortable than those at Nootka, the roof having a greater inclination, and the planking being thatched over with the bark of trees. The entrance is through a hole, in a broad plank, covered in such a manner as to resemble the face of a man, the mouth serving the purpose of a door-way. The fire-place is sunk into the earth, and confined from spreading above by a wooden frame.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 77. Emmons, in Schoolcraft’s Archives, vol. iii., p. 206, speaks of a palisade enclosure ten or fifteen feet high, with a covered way to the river. ‘The Indian huts on the banks of the Columbia are, for the most part, constructed of the bark of trees, pine branches, and brambles, which are sometimes covered with skins or rags.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 260. But ‘the Chinooks build their houses of thick and broad planks,’ etc. Id. Lewis and Clarke saw a house in the Willamette Valley two hundred and twenty-six feet long, divided into two ranges of large apartments separated by a narrow alley four feet wide. Travels, pp. 502-4, 509, 431-2, 415-16, 409, 392. The door is a piece of board ‘which hangs loose by a string, like a sort of pendulum,’ and is self-closing. Swan’s N. W. Coast, pp. 110-11. ‘The tribes near the coast remove less frequently than those of the interior.’ California, Past, Present and Future, p. 136. ‘I never saw more than four fires, or above eighty persons—slaves and all—in the largest house.’ Ross’ Adven., pp. 98-9; Palmer’s Jour., pp. 86, 108; Irving’s Astoria, p. 322; Nicolay’s Ogn., pp. 144, 148-9; Cox’s Adven., vol. i., p. 327, from Lewis and Clarke; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 135-7, from Lewis and Clarke; Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 144-5, 178-9, 245; Franchère’s Nar., pp. 247-8; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 65; Townsend’s Nar., p. 181; Kane’s Wand., pp. 187-8; Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., pp. 204, 216-17; Strickland’s Hist. Missions, pp. 136-9.

[349] ‘In the summer they resort to the principal rivers and the sea coast, … retiring to the smaller rivers of the interior during the cold season.’ Warre and Vavasour, in Martin’s Hud. Bay, p. 83. All small fish are driven into the small coves or shallow waters, ‘when a number of Indians in canoes continue splashing the water; while others sink branches of pine. The fish are then taken easily out with scoops or wicker baskets.’ Thornton’s Ogn. and Cal., vol. i., pp. 389, 288-9, 384-6, 390-1. Fish ‘are not eaten till they become soft from keeping, when they are mashed with water.’ In the Willamette Valley they raised corn, beans, and squashes. Hunter’s Cap., pp. 70-2. A ‘sturgeon, though weighing upwards of three hundred pounds, is, by the single effort of one Indian, jerked into the boat’! Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 135, 114-15, 134, 137-9. The Umpquas, to cook salmon, ‘all provided themselves with sticks about three feet long, pointed at one end and split at the other. They then apportioned the salmon, each one taking a large piece, and filling it with splinters to prevent its falling to pieces when cooking, which they fastened with great care, into the forked end of the stick; … then placing themselves around the fire so as to describe a circle, they stuck the pointed end of the stick into the ground, a short distance from the fire, inclining the top towards the flames, so as to bring the salmon in contact with the heat, thus forming a kind of pyramid of salmon over the whole fire.’ Hines’ Voy., p. 102; Id. Ogn., p. 305. ‘There are some articles of food which are mashed by the teeth before being boiled or roasted; this mastication is performed by the women.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., pp. 314, 316, 240-2. ‘The salmon in this country are never caught with a (baited) hook.’ Wilkes’ Hist. Ogn., p. 107. ‘Turbot and flounders are caught (at Shoalwater Bay) while wading in the water, by means of the feet.’ Swan’s N. W. Coast, pp. 38, 83, 103-8, 140, 163-6, with cuts. On food, see Ross’ Adven., vol. i., pp. 94-5, 97, 112-3; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., pp. 68-9, 181-3; Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 409-15, 422, 425, 430-1, 445, 506; Wells, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xiii., pp. 605-7, with cuts; Nicolay’s Ogn., pp. 144, 147-8; Palmer’s Jour., pp. 84, 105; Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 244; Irving’s Astoria, pp. 86, 335; Cox’s Adven., vol. i., p. 329-32; vol. ii., pp. 128-31;Catlin’s N. Am. Ind., vol. ii., p. 113; Abbott, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. vi., p. 89; Ind. Life, p. 165; Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 26; Kane’s Wand., pp. 185-9; Franchère’s Nar., pp. 235-7; Gass’ Jour., pp. 224, 230-1, 282-3; Fédix, L’Orégon, pp. 44-5; Stanley’s Portraits, pp. 59-62.

[350] For description of the various roots and berries used by the Chinooks as food, see Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 450-5.

[351] The Multnomahs ‘are very fond of cold, hot, and vapour baths, which are used at all seasons, and for the purpose of health as well as pleasure. They, however, add a species of bath peculiar to themselves, by washing the whole body with urine every morning.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 509, 409. Eat insects from each other’s head, for the animals bite them, and they claim the right to bite back. Kane’s Wand., pp. 183-4.

[352] Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 323-4; vol. ii., p. 13; Irving’s Astoria, pp. 324, 338; Ross’ Adven., p. 90; Kane’s Wand., p. 189; Catlin’s N. Am. Ind., vol. ii., p. 113, pl. 210½; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 124-5; Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 429-31, 509; Hines’ Ogn., p. 110; Franchère’s Nar., p. 253; Emmons, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., pp. 206-7, 215-16, 468.

[353] ‘When the conflict is postponed till the next day, … they keep up frightful cries all night long, and, when they are sufficiently near to understand each other, defy one another by menaces, railleries, and sarcasms, like the heroes of Homer and Virgil.’ Franchère’s Nar., pp. 251-4; Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 322-3; Dunn’s Oregon, p. 124; Irving’s Astoria, pp. 340-1; Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., pp. 88, 105-8; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 354; Stanley’s Portraits, pp. 61-2; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 232.

[354] Pickering makes ‘the substitution of the water-proof basket, for the square wooden bucket of the straits’ the chief difference between this and the Sound Family. Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 25; Emmons, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 206; Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 77; Ross’ Adven., p. 92; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., pp. 241, 260; Franchère’s Nar., pp. 248-9; Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 432-5; Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 329-32; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 138-9; Catlin’s N. Am. Ind., vol. ii., p. 113, pl. 210½, showing cradle, ladles, Wapato diggers, Pautomaugons, or war clubs and pipes. Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 248-9; Kane’s Wand., pp. 184-5, 188-9.

[355] Swan’s N. W. Coast, pp. 161-3; Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 253.

[356] Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 433-5. ‘Hollowed out of the cedar by fire, and smoothed off with stone axes.’ Kane’s Wand., p. 189. At Cape Orford ‘their shape much resembled that of a butcher’s tray.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., p. 204. ‘A human face or a white-headed eagle, as large as life, carved on the prow, and raised high in front.’ Ross’ Adven., pp. 97-8. ‘In landing they put the canoe round, so as to strike the beach stern on.’ Franchère’s Nar., p. 246. ‘The larger canoes on the Columbia are sometimes propelled by short oars.’ Emmons, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 218. ‘Finest canoes in the world.’ Wilkes’ Hist. Ogn., p. 107; Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 252; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 121-2; Swan’s N. W. Coast, pp. 79-82, with cuts; Irving’s Astoria, pp. 86, 324; Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 325-7; Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 217; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., pp. 276-7; Brownell’s Ind. Races, pp. 535-7; Gass’ Jour., p. 279.

[357] Dried and pounded salmon, prepared by a method not understood except at the falls, formed a prominent article of commerce, both with coast and interior nations. Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 444-7, 413. A fathom of the largest hiaqua shells is worth about ten beaver-skins. A dying man gave his property to his intimate friends ‘with a promise on their part to restore them if he recovered.’ Franchère’s Nar., pp. 244-5, 137; Ross’ Adven., pp. 87-8, 95-6; Swan’s N. W. Coast, p. 166; Irving’s Astoria, p. 322; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 133-4; Cox’s Adven., vol. i., p. 333; Thornton’s Ogn. and Cal., vol. i., p. 392; Kane’s Wand., p. 185; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 250; Gass’ Jour., p. 227; Morton’s Crania Am., pp. 202-14; Fédix, l’Orégon, pp. 44-5.

[358] Have no idea of drawing maps on the sand. ‘Their powers of computation … are very limited.’ Emmons, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., pp. 205, 207; Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 493; Ross’ Adven., pp. 88-9, 98; Kane’s Wand., p. 185.

[359] The Willamette tribes, nine in number, were under four principal chiefs. Ross’ Adven., pp. 235-6, 88, 216. Casanov, a famous chief at Fort Vancouver employed a hired assassin to remove obnoxious persons. Kane’s Wand., pp. 173-6; Franchère’s Nar., p. 250; Irving’s Astoria, pp. 88, 340; Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 322-3; Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 253; Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 443.

[360] ‘Live in the same dwelling with their masters, and often intermarry with those who are free.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 197, 247. ‘Treat them with humanity while their services are useful.’ Franchère’s Nar., p. 241. Treated with great severity. Kane’s Wand., pp. 181-2; Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 447; Ross’ Adven., pp. 92-3; Irving’s Astoria, p. 88; Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 305-6; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 129-30; Fitzgerald’s Hud. B. Co., pp. 196-7; Stanley’s Portraits, pp. 61-2.

[361] Swan’s N. W. Coast, pp. 161, 171; Emmons, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., pp. 211-2. ‘In proportion as we approach the rapids from the sea, female impurity becomes less perceptible; beyond this point it entirely ceases.’ Cox’s Adven., vol. ii., pp. 134, 159; vol. i., pp. 366-7, 318; Wells, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xiii., p. 602; Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 439-43. Ceremonies of a widow in her endeavors to obtain a new husband. Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 124; Ross’ Adven., pp. 88, 92-3; Franchère’s Nar., pp. 245, 254-5; Hunter’s Cap., p. 70; Hines’ Voy., p. 113; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., pp. 16, 294-5; Irving’s Astoria, p. 340; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 132-3; Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 231-2; Kane’s Wand., pp. 175-7, 182; Gass’ Jour., p. 275; Strickland’s Hist. Missions, pp. 139-40.

[362] ‘I saw neither musical instruments, nor dancing, among the Oregon tribes.’ Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 43. ‘All extravagantly fond of ardent spirits, and are not particular what kind they have, provided it is strong, and gets them drunk quickly.’ Swan’s N. W. Coast, pp. 155-8, 197-202. ‘Not addicted to intemperance.’ Franchère’s Nar., p. 242. At gambling ‘they will cheat if they can, and pride themselves on their success.’ Kane’s Wand., pp. 190, 196. Seldom cheat, and submit to their losses with resignation. Cox’s Adven., vol. i., p. 332; Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 410, 443-4; Wells, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xiii., p. 601, and cut of dance at Coos Bay; Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 392-3; vol. v., p. 123; Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 77; Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., pp. 90-4, 112-13; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 114-15, 121, 125-8, 130-1; Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 247-8; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 242; Irving’s Astoria, p. 341; Palmer’s Jour., p. 86.

[363] Tolmie, in Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 248; Gass’ Jour., pp. 232, 275; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 123-8; Kane’s Wand., pp. 205, 255-6; Swan’s N. W. Coast, p. 267; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 654.

[364] Doctors, if unsuccessful, are sometimes subjected to rough treatment, but rarely killed, except when they have previously threatened the life of the patient. Swan’s N. W. Coast, pp. 176-185. At the Dalles an old woman, whose incantations had caused a fatal sickness, was beheaded by a brother of the deceased. Ind. Life, pp. 173-4, 142-3. Whole tribes have been almost exterminated by the small-pox. Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 82, 179. Venereal disease prevalent, and a complete cure is never effected. Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 440, 508. Generally succeed in curing venereal disease even in its worst stage. Ross’ Adven., pp. 96-9. The unsuccessful doctor killed, unless able to buy his life. Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 394. Flatheads more subject to apoplexy than others. Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 87; Cox’s Adven., vol. i., p. 126-7, 307, 312-15, 335, vol. ii., pp. 94-5; Townsend’s Nar., pp. 158, 178-9; Franchère’s Nar., p. 250; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 115-9, 127; Thornton’s Ogn. and Cal., vol. ii., p. 53; Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 176, 191-2; Fitzgerald’s Hud. B. Co., pp. 171-2; Strickland’s Hist. Missions, pp. 139-40.

[365] A chief on the death of his daughter ‘had an Indian slave bound hand and foot, and fastened to the body of the deceased, and enclosed the two in another mat, leaving out the head of the living one. The Indian then took the canoe and carried it to a high rock and left it there. Their custom is to let the slave live for three days; then another slave is compelled to strangle the victim by a cord.’ Letter, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. ii., p. 71. See also vol. iii., pp. 217-18; vol. vi., pp. 616-23, with plate; vol. v., p. 655. ‘The emblem of a squaw’s grave is generally a camass-root digger, made of a deer’s horns, and fastened on the end of a stick.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., pp. 233-4, vol. iv., p. 394. ‘I believe I saw as many as an hundred canoes at one burying place of the Chinooks.’ Gass’ Jour., p. 274. ‘Four stakes, interlaced with twigs and covered with brush,’ filled with dead bodies. Abbott, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. vi., p. 88. At Coos Bay, ‘formerly the body was burned, and the wife of the corpse killed and interred.’ Now the body is sprinkled with sand and ashes, the ankles are bent up and fastened to the neck; relatives shave their heads and put the hair on the body with shells and roots, and the corpse is then buried and trampled on by the whole tribe. Wells, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xiii., p. 602. ‘The canoe-coffins were decorated with rude carved work.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 54. Strangers are paid to join in the lamentations. Ross’ Adven., p. 97. Children who die during the head-flattening process are set afloat in their cradles upon the surface of some sacred pool, where the bodies of the old are also placed in their canoes. Catlin’s N. Am. Ind., vol. ii., p. 111. On burial and mourning see also, Swan’s N. W. Coast, pp. 72-3, 13, 186-9, with cut of canoe on platform. Mofras’ Explor., vol. ii., p. 355, and pl. 18 of Atlas; Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 423, 429, 509; Kane’s Wand., pp. 176-8, 181, 202-5; Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 124-5, 335-6, vol. ii., p. 157; Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 144, 151-2; Thornton’s Ogn. and Cal., vol. i., pp. 281-2, vol. ii., p. 53; Belcher’s Voy., vol. i., p. 292; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 255; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 119-20, 131-2; Nicolay’s Ogn. Ter., pp. 149-50; Fremont’s Ogn. and Cal., p. 186; Irving’s Astoria, p. 99; Franchère’s Nar., p. 106; Palmer’s Jour., p. 87; Ind. Life, p. 210; Townsend’s Nar., p. 180.

[366] ‘The clumsy thief, who is detected, is scoffed at and despised.’ Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 130-1, 114. ‘The Kalapuya, like the Umkwa, … are more regular and quiet’ than the inland tribes, ‘and more cleanly, honest and moral than the’ coast tribes. The Chinooks are a quarrelsome, thievish, and treacherous people. Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., pp. 217, 215, 198, 204. ‘A rascally, thieving set.’ Gass’ Jour., p. 304. ‘When well treated, kind and hospitable.’ Swan’s N. W. Coast, pp. 215, 110, 152. At Cape Orford ‘pleasing and courteous deportment … scrupulously honest.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., pp. 204-5. Laziness is probably induced by the ease with which they obtain food. Kane’s Wand., pp. 181, 185. ‘Crafty and intriguing.’ Easily irritated, but a trifle will appease him. Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., p. 61, 70-1, 77, 88, 90-1, 124-5, 235-6. ‘They possess in an eminent degree, the qualities opposed to indolence, improvidence, and stupidity: the chiefs above all, are distinguished for their good sense and intelligence. Generally speaking, they have a ready intellect and a tenacious memory.’ ‘Rarely resist the temptation of stealing’ white men’s goods. Franchère’s Nar., pp. 241-2, 261. Loquacious, never gay, knavish, impertinent. Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 416, 441-2, 504, 523-4. ‘Thorough-bred hypocrites and liars.’ ‘The Killymucks the most roguish.’ Industry, patience, sobriety and ingenuity are their chief virtues; thieving, lying, incontinence, gambling and cruelty may be classed among their vices. Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 115, 131, 296-7, 302, 304-5, 321, vol. ii., p. 133. At Wishiam ‘they were a community of arrant rogues and freebooters.’ Irving’s Astoria, pp. 322, 342. ‘Lying is very common; thieving comparatively rare.’ White’s Ogn., p. 207. ‘Do not appear to possess a particle of natural good feeling.’ Townsend’s Nar., p. 183. At Coos Bay ‘by no means the fierce and warlike race found further to the northward.’ Wells, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xiii., p. 601. Umqua and Coose tribes are naturally industrious; the Suislaws the most advanced; the Alcea not so enterprising. Sykes, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1860, p. 215. Calapooias, a poor, cowardly, and thievish race. Miller, in Id., 1857, p. 364; Nicolay’s Ogn. Ter., p. 151; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 87, vol. ii., pp. 16, 36; Warre and Vavasour, in Martin’s Hud. B., p. 83; Palmer’s Jour., pp. 84, 105; Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 249-50; Ind. Life, pp. 1-4, 210; Fitzgerald’s Vanc. Isl., p. 196; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 207, etc.

[367] ‘They all resemble each other in general characteristics.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 229. Shushwaps and Salish all one race. Mayne’s B. C., p. 296-7. ‘The Indians of the interior are, both physically and morally, vastly superior to the tribes of the coast.’ Id., p. 242. ‘The Kliketat near Mount Rainier, the Walla-Wallas, and the Okanagan … speak kindred dialects.’ Ludewig, Ab. Lang., p. 170. The best-supported opinion is that the inland were of the same original stock with the lower tribes. Dunn’s Oregon, p. 316. ‘On leaving the verge of the Carrier country, near Alexandria, a marked change is at once perceptible.’ Anderson, in Hist. Mag., vol. vii., p. 77. Inland tribes differ widely from the piscatorial tribes. Ross’ Adven., p. 127. ‘Those residing near the Rocky Mountains … are and always have been superior races to those living on the lower Columbia.’ Alvord, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 654. ‘I was particularly struck with their vast superiority (on the Similkameen River, Lat. 49° 30´, Long. 120° 30´) in point of intelligence and energy to the Fish Indians on the Fraser River, and in its neighbourhood.’ Palmer, in B. C. Papers, vol. iii., p. 84. Striking contrast noted in passing up the Columbia. Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 199.

[368] ‘The Shewhapmuch … who compose a large branch of the Saeliss family,’ known as Nicute-much—corrupted by the Canadians into Couteaux—below the junction of the Fraser and Thompson. Anderson, in Hist. Mag., vol. vii., p. 76-7. Atnahs is their name in the Takali language, and signifies ‘strangers.’ ‘Differ so little from their southern neighbors, the Salish, as to render a particular description unnecessary.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 205. They were called by Mackenzie the Chin tribe, according to Prichard’s Researches, vol. v., p. 427, but Mackenzie’s Chin tribe was north of the Atnahs, being the Nagailer tribe of the Carriers. See Mackenzie’s Voy., pp. 257-8, and map.

[369] ‘About Okanagan, various branches of the Carrier tribe.’ Nicolay’s Ogn. Ter., p. 143. ‘Okanagans, on the upper part of Frazer’s River.’ Ludewig, Ab. Lang., p. 170.

[370] Also known as Flat-bows. ‘The poorest of the tribes composing the Flathead nation.’ McCormick, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1867, p. 211. ‘Speaking a language of their own, it is not easy to imagine their origin; but it appears probable that they once belonged to some more southern tribe, from which they became shut off by the intervention of larger tribes.’ Mayne’s B. C., p. 297. ‘In appearance, character, and customs, they resemble more the Indians east of the Rocky Mountains than those of Lower Oregon.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 205. ‘Les Arcs-à-Plats, et les Koetenais sont connus dans le pays sous le nom de Skalzi.’ De Smet, Miss. de l’Orégon, p. 80.

[371] The origin of the name Flathead, as applied to this nation, is not known, as they have never been known to flatten the head. ‘The mass of the nation consists of persons who have more or less of the blood of the Spokanes, Pend d’Oreilles, Nez Perces, and Iroquois.’ Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 207; Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 150; Catlin’s N. Am. Ind., vol. ii., p. 108; Stuart’s Montana, p. 82. Gass applied the name apparently to tribes on the Clearwater of the Sahaptin family. Jour., p. 224.

[372] Also called Kalispelms and Ponderas. The Upper Pend d’Oreilles consist of a number of wandering families of Spokanes, Kalispelms proper, and Flatheads. Suckley, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 294; Stevens, in Id., p. 149; Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 210. ‘Very similar in manners, etc., to the Flatheads, and form one people with them.’ De Smet, Miss. de l’Orégon, p. 32.

[373] The native name, according to Hale, is Skitsuish, and Coeur d’Alêne, ‘Awl heart,’ is a nickname applied from the circumstance that a chief used these words to express his idea of the Canadian traders’ meanness. Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 210.

[374] Quiarlpi, ‘Basket People,’ Chaudieres, ‘Kettles,’ Kettle Falls, Chualpays, Skoielpoi, and Lakes, are some of the names applied to these bands.

[375] ‘Ils s’appellent entre eux les Enfants du Soleil, dans leur langue Spokane.’ De Smet, Miss. de l’Orégon, p. 31. ‘Differing very little from the Indians at Colville, either in their appearance, habits, or language.’ Kane’s Wand., p. 307.

[376] So much intermarried with the Yakamas that they have almost lost their nationality.’ Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 236.

[377] ‘Pierced Noses,’ so named by the Canadians, perhaps from the nasal ornaments of the first of the tribe seen, although the custom of piercing the nose has never been known to be prevalent with this people. ‘Generally known and distinguished by the name of “black robes,” in contradistinction to those who live on fish.’ Named Nez Perces from the custom of boring the nose to receive a white shell, like the fluke of an anchor. Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., pp. 305, 185-6. ‘There are two tribes of the Pierced-Nose Indians, the upper and the lower. Brownell’s Ind. Races, pp. 533-5. ‘Though originally the same people, their dialect varies very perceptibly from that of the Tushepaws.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 341. Called Thoiga-rik-kah, Tsoi-gah, ‘Cowse-eaters,’ by the Snakes. ‘Ten times better off to-day than they were then’—’a practical refutation of the time-honored lie, that intercourse with whites is an injury to Indians.’ Stuart’s Montana, pp. 76-7. ‘In character and appearance, they resemble more the Indians of the Missouri than their neighbors, the Salish.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 212; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 54.

[378] ‘La tribu Paloose appartient à la nation des Nez-percés et leur ressemble sous tous les rapports.’ De Smet, Voy., p. 31.

[379] The name comes from that of the river. It should be pronounced Wălă-Wălă, very short. Pandosy’s Gram., p. 9. ‘Descended from slaves formerly owned and liberated by the Nez Perces.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 247. ‘Not unlike the Pierced-Noses in general appearance, language, and habits.’ Brownell’s Ind. Races, pp. 533-5. Parts of three different nations at the confluence of the Snake and Columbia. Gass’ Jour., pp. 218-19, ‘None of the Indians have any permanent habitations’ on the south bank of the Columbia about and above the Dalles. Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 365. ‘Generally camping in winter on the north side of the river.’ Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 223.

[380] The name Yakima is a word meaning ‘Black Bear’ in the Walla Walla dialect. They are called Klikatats west of the mountains. Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 407. ‘The Klikatats and Yakimas, in all essential peculiarities of character, are identical, and their intercourse is constant.’ Id., p. 403, and Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 225. ‘Pshawanwappam bands, usually called Yakamas.’ The name signifies ‘Stony Ground.’ Gibbs, in Pandosy’s Gram., p. vii. ‘Roil-roil-pam, is the Klikatat country.’ ‘Its meaning is “the Mouse country.”‘ Id. The Yakima valley is a great national rendezvous for these and surrounding nations. Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., pp. 19, 21. Kliketats, meaning robbers, was first the name given to the Whulwhypums, and then extended to all speaking the same language. For twenty-five years before 1854 they overran the Willamette Valley, but at that time were forced by government to retire to their own country. Tolmie, in Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 244-7.

[381] Wasco is said to mean ‘basin,’ and the tribe derives its name, traditionally, from the fact that formerly one of their chiefs, his wife having died, spent much of his time in making cavities or basins in the soft rock for his children to fill with water and pebbles, and thereby amuse themselves. Victor’s All over Ogn., pp. 94-5. The word Cayuse is perhaps the French Cailloux, ‘pebbles.’ Called by Tolmie, ‘Wyeilats or Kyoose.’ He says their language has an affinity to that of the Carriers and Umpquas. Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 249-50. ‘Resemble the Walla-Wallas very much.’ Kane’s Wand., pp. 279-80. ‘The imperial tribe of Oregon’ claiming jurisdiction over the whole Columbia region. Farnham’s Trav., p. 81. The Snakes, Walla-Wallas, and Cayuse meet annually in the Grande Ronde Valley. Thornton’s Ogn. and Cal., vol. i., p. 270. ‘Individuals of the pure blood are few, the majority being intermixed with the Nez Perces and the Wallah-Wallahs.’ Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 218-19. The region which I give to the Wascos and Cayuses is divided on Hale’s map between the Walla-Wallas, Waiilatpu, and Molele.

[382] In the interior the ‘men are tall, the women are of common stature, and both are well formed.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 229. ‘Of middle height, slender.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 199. The inland tribes of British Columbia, compared with those on the coast, ‘are of a better cast, being generally of the middle height.’ Id., p. 198. See also p. 206. The Nez Percés and Cayuses ‘are almost universally fine-looking, robust men.’ In criticising the person of one of that tribe ‘one was forcibly reminded of the Apollo Belvidere.’ Townsend’s Nar., pp. 148, 98. The Klikatat ‘stature is low, with light, sinewy limbs.’ Id., p. 178; also pp. 158-174. The Walla-Wallas are generally powerful men, at least six feet high, and the Cayuse are still ‘stouter and more athletic.’ Gairdner, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 256. The Umatillas ‘may be a superior race to the “Snakes,” but I doubt it.’ Barnhart, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1862, p. 271. The Salish are ‘rather below the average size, but are well knit, muscular, and good-looking.’ Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 208. ‘Well made and active.’ Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 311, 327. ‘Below the middle hight, with thick-set limbs.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 88, vol. ii., pp. 55-6, 64-5. The Cootonais are above the medium height. Very few Shushwaps reach the height of five feet nine inches. Cox’s Adven., vol. ii., pp. 155, 376, vol. i., p. 240. See also on physique of the inland nations, Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 321, 340, 356, 359, 382, 527-8, 556-7; Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 475; Dunn, in Cal. Farmer, April 26, 1861; San Francisco Herald, June, 1858; Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 309, 414; Nicolay’s Ogn. Ter., p. 151; Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 105-6, and vol. i., frontispiece, cut of a group of Spokanes. De Smet, Voy., pp. 30, 198; Palmer’s Jour., p. 54; Ross’ Adven., pp. 127, 294; Stuart’s Montana, p. 82.

[383] The interior tribes have ‘long faces, and bold features, thin lips, wide cheek-bones, smooth skins, and the usual tawny complexion of the American tribes.’ ‘Features of a less exaggerated harshness’ than the coast tribes. Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 198-9. ‘Hair and eyes are black, their cheek bones high, and very frequently they have aquiline noses.’ ‘They wear their hair long, part it upon their forehead, and let it hang in tresses on each side, or down behind.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 229. Complexion ‘a little fairer than other Indians.’ Id. The Okanagans are ‘better featured and handsomer in their persons, though darker, than the Chinooks or other Indians along the sea-coast.’ ‘Teeth white as ivory, well set and regular.’ The voices of Walla Wallas, Nez Percés, and Cayuses, are strong and masculine. Ross’ Adven., pp. 294, 127. The Flatheads (Nez Percés) are ‘the whitest Indians I ever saw.’ Gass’ Jour., p. 189. The Shushwap ‘complexion is darker, and of a more muddy, coppery hue than that of the true Red Indian.’ Milton and Cheadle’s N. W. Pass., p. 335. The Nez Perces darker than the Tushepaws. Dignified and pleasant features. Would have quite heavy beards if they shaved. Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 340, 356, 359, 527-8, 556-7, 321. The inland natives are an ugly race, with ‘broad faces, low foreheads, and rough, coppery and tanned skins.’ The Salish ‘features are less regular, and their complexion darker’ than the Sahaptins. Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 88, vol. ii., pp. 55-6. Teeth of the river tribes worn down by sanded salmon. Anderson, in Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 228; Kane’s Wand., p. 273. Nez Perces and Cayuses ‘are almost universally fine looking, robust men, with strong aquiline features, and a much more cheerful cast of countenance than is usual amongst the race. Some of the women might almost be called beautiful, and none that I have seen are homely.’ Some very handsome young girls among the Walla Wallas. The Kliketat features are ‘regular, though often devoid of expression.’ Townsend’s Nar., pp. 78, 148, 158, 178. Flatheads ‘comparatively very fair in complexion, … with oval faces, and a mild, and playful expression of countenance.’ Dunn’s Oregon, p. 311. The Kayuls had long dark hair, and regular features. Coke’s Rocky Mountains, p. 304. Cut and description of a Clickitat skull, in Morton’s Crania, p. 214, pl. 48. ‘The Flatheads are the ugliest, and most of their women are far from being beauties.’ Stuart’s Montana, p. 82.

[384] ‘The Sahaptin and Wallawallas compress the head, but not so much as the tribes near the coast. It merely serves with them to make the forehead more retreating, which, with the aquiline nose common to these natives, gives to them occasionally, a physiognomy similar to that represented in the hieroglyphical paintings of Central America.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., pp. 214, 205. All the Shushwaps flatten the head more or less. Mayne’s B. C., p. 303. ‘Il est à remarquer que les tribus établies au-dessus de la jonction de la branche sud de la Colombie, et désignées sous le nom de Têtes Plates, ont renoncé depuis longtemps à cet usage.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 349. ‘A roundhead Klickatat woman would be a pariah.’ Winthrop’s Canoe and Saddle, p. 204. Nez Percés ‘seldom known to flatten the head.’ Catlin’s N. Am. Ind., vol. ii., p. 108. See Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., pp. 55-6, 64-5; Tolmie, in Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 231-2, 249-51; Townsend’s Nar., p. 175; Kane’s Wand., p. 263; Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 207-8; Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 415, with cut. Walla Wallas, Skyuse, and Nez Percés flatten the head and perforate the nose. Farnham’s Trav., p. 85; Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 374, 359; Gass’ Jour., p. 224.

[385] Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., pp. 38-9; Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 362, 382-3.

[386] The Salish ‘profuse in the use of paint.’ Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 207-8, and in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 309. Nez Percés painted in colored stripes. Hines’ Voy., p. 173. ‘Four Indians (Nez Percés) streaked all over with white mud.’ Kane’s Wand., p. 291. Walla Walla ‘faces painted red.’ The Okanagan ‘young of both sexes always paint their faces with red and black bars.’ Ross’ Adven., pp. 127, 294-8. The inland tribes ‘appear to have less of the propensity to adorn themselves with painting, than the Indians east of the mountains, but not unfrequently vermilion mixed with red clay, is used not only upon their faces but upon their hair.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 229. Red clay for face paint, obtained at Vermilion Forks of the Similkameen River, in B. C. Palmer, in B. C. Papers, vol. iii., p. 84. Pend d’Oreille women rub the face every morning with a mixture of red and brown powder, which is made to stick by a coating of fish-oil. De Smet, Voy., p. 198.

[387] The Oakinack ‘women wear their hair neatly clubbed on each side of the head behind the ears, and ornamented with double rows of the snowy higua, which are among the Oakinackens called Shet-la-cane; but they keep it shed or divided in front. The men’s hair is queued or rolled up into a knot behind the head, and ornamented like that of the women; but in front it falls or hangs down loosely before the face, covering the forehead and the eyes, which causes them every now and then to shake the head, or use the hands to uncover their eyes.’ Ross’ Adven., pp. 294-5. The head of the Nez Perces not ornamented. Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 341, 321, 351, 377, 528, 532-3; Coke’s Rocky Mts., p. 304; Kane’s Wand., p. 274.

[388] The Ootlashoot women wear ‘a long shirt of skin, reaching down to the ancles, and tied round the waist.’ Few ornaments. The Nez Percés wear ‘the buffalo or elk-skin robe decorated with beads, sea-shells, chiefly mother-of-pearl, attached to an otter-skin collar and hung in the hair.’ Leggins and moccasins are painted; a plait of twisted grass is worn round the neck. The women wear their long robe without a girdle, but to it ‘are tied little pieces of brass and shells, and other small articles.’ ‘The dress of the female is indeed more modest, and more studiously so than any we have observed, though the other sex is careless of the indelicacy of exposure.’ ‘The Sokulk females have no other covering but a truss or piece of leather tied round the hips and then drawn tight between the legs.’ Three fourths of the Pisquitpaws ‘have scarcely any robes at all.’ The Chilluckittequaws use skins of wolves, deer, elk, and wild cats. ‘Round their neck is put a strip of some skin with the tail of the animal hanging down over the breast.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 321, 340-1, 351, 359, 361, 377, 526, 528, 532-3. Many of the Walla Walla, Nez Percé, and Cayuse females wore robes ‘richly garnished with beads, higuas,’ etc. The war chief wears as a head-dress the whole skin of a wolf’s head, with the ears standing erect. The Okanagans wear in winter long detachable sleeves or mittens of wolf or fox skin, also wolf or bear skin caps when hunting. Men and women dress nearly alike, and are profuse in the use of ornaments. Ross’ Adven., p. 127, 294-8; Id., Fur Hunters, vol. i., p. 306. The Flatheads often change their clothing and clean it with pipe-clay. They have no regular head-dress. From the Yakima to the Okanagan the men go naked, and the women wear only a belt with a slip passing between the legs. Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 133, 148, 240-1, vol. ii., p. 144. Nez Percés better clad than any others, Cayuses well clothed, Walla Wallas naked and half starved. Palmer’s Jour., pp. 54, 124, 127-8. At the Dalles, women ‘go nearly naked, for they wear little else than what may be termed a breech-cloth, of buckskin, which is black and filthy with dirt.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 409-10, 426, 473. The Kliketat women wear a short pine-bark petticoat tied round the loins. Townsend’s Nar., pp. 78, 178, 148. ‘Their buffaloe robes and other skins they chiefly procure on the Missouri, when they go over to hunt, as there are no buffaloe in this part of the country and very little other game.’ Gass’ Jour., pp. 189, 205, 218-19, 295. Tusshepaw ‘women wore caps of willow neatly worked and figured.’ Irving’s Astoria, pp. 315, 317, 319; Id., Bonneville’s Adven., p. 301. The Flathead women wear straw hats, used also for drinking and cooking purposes. De Smet, Voy., pp. 45-7, 198. The Shushwaps wear in wet weather capes of bark trimmed with fur, and reaching to the elbows. Moccasins are more common than on the coast, but they often ride barefoot. Mayne’s B. C., p. 301. Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 229-30; Kane’s Wand., p. 264, and cut; Fremont’s Ogn. and Cal., pp. 186-7; Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 222; Nicolay’s Ogn. Ter., p. 153; Franchère’s Nar., p. 268; Dunn’s Oregon, p. 311; Coke’s Rocky Mts., p. 304; Hunt, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., tom. x., 1821, pp. 74-5, 78.

[389] The Sokulk houses ‘generally of a square or oblong form, varying in length from fifteen to sixty feet, and supported in the inside by poles or forks about six feet high.’ The roof is nearly flat. The Echeloot and Chilluckittequaw houses were of the Chinook style, partially sunk in the ground. The Nez Percés live in houses built ‘of straw and mats, in the form of the roof of a house.’ One of these ‘was one hundred and fifty-six feet long, and about fifteen wide, closed at the ends, and having a number of doors on each side.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 340, 351, 369-70, 381-2, 540. Nez Percé dwellings twenty to seventy feet long and from ten to fifteen feet wide; free from vermin. Flathead houses conical but spacious, made of buffalo and moose skins over long poles. Spokane lodges oblong or conical, covered with skins or mats. Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 148, 192, 200. Nez Percé and Cayuse lodges ‘composed of ten long poles, the lower ends of which are pointed and driven into the ground; the upper blunt and drawn together at the top by thongs’ covered with skins. ‘Universally used by the mountain Indians while travelling.’ Umatillas live in ‘shantys or wigwams of driftwood, covered with buffalo or deer skins.’ Klicatats ‘in miserable loose hovels.’ Townsend’s Nar., pp. 104-5, 156, 174. Okanagan winter lodges are long and narrow, ‘chiefly of mats and poles, covered over with grass and earth;’ dug one or two feet below the surface; look like the roof of a common house set on the ground. Ross’ Adven., pp. 313-4. On the Yakima River ‘a small canopy, hardly sufficient to shelter a sheep, was found to contain four generations of human beings.’ Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., pp. 34, 37. On the Clearwater ‘there are not more than four lodges in a place or village, and these small camps or villages are eight or ten miles apart.’ ‘Summer lodges are made of willows and flags, and their winter lodges of split pine.’ Gass’ Jour., pp. 212, 221, 223. ‘At Kettle Falls, the lodges are of rush mats.’ ‘A flooring is made of sticks, raised three or four feet from the ground, leaving the space beneath it entirely open, and forming a cool, airy, and shady place, in which to hang their salmon.’ Kane’s Wand., pp. 309, 272-3. The Pend d’Oreilles roll their tent-mats into cylindrical bundles for convenience in traveling. Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 215, 238, 282. Barnhart, in Id., 1862, p. 271. The Shushwap den is warm but ‘necessarily unwholesome, and redolent … of anything but roses.’ Anderson, in Hist. Mag., vol. vii., p. 77. Yakimas, ‘rude huts covered with mats.’ Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 407. Shushwaps erect rude slants of bark or matting; have no tents or houses. Milton and Cheadle’s N. W. Pass., p. 242. From the swamps south of Flatbow Lake, ‘the Kootanie Indians obtain the klusquis or thick reed, which is the only article that serves them in the construction of their lodges,’ and is traded with other tribes. Sullivan, in Palliser’s Explor., p. 15. In winter the Salish cover their mats with earth. Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 207. Flag huts of the Walla Wallas. Farnham’s Trav., p. 85; Mullan’s Rept., pp. 49-50; Palmer’s Jour., p. 61; Coke’s Rocky Mts., p. 295; Irving’s Astoria, pp. 315, 319; Id., Bonneville’s Adven., p. 301; De Smet, Voy., p. 185; Id., West. Missions, p. 284; Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 105-6. Hunt, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., tom. x., 1821, pp. 74-5, 79.

[390] Natives begin to assemble at Kettle Falls about three weeks before the salmon begin to run; feuds are laid by; horse-racing, gambling, love-making, etc., occupy the assembly; and the medicine-men are busy working charms for a successful season. The fish are cut open, dried on poles over a small fire, and packed in bales. On the Fraser each family or village fishes for itself; near the mouth large gaff-hooks are used, higher up a net managed between two canoes. All the principal Indian fishing-stations on the Fraser are below Fort Hope. For sturgeon a spear seventy to eighty feet long is used. Cut of sturgeon-fishing. Lord’s Nat., vol. i., pp. 71-6, 181, 184-6. The Pend d’Oreilles ‘annually construct a fence which reaches across the stream, and guides the fish into a weir or rack,’ on Clarke River, just above the lake. The Walla Walla ‘fisheries at the Dalles and the falls, ten miles above, are the finest on the river.’ The Yakima weirs constructed ‘upon horizontal spars, and supported by tripods of strong poles erected at short distances apart; two of the logs fronting up stream, and one supporting them below;’ some fifty or sixty yards long. The salmon of the Okanagan were ‘of a small species, which had assumed a uniform red color.’ ‘The fishery at the Kettle Falls is one of the most important on the river, and the arrangements of the Indians in the shape of drying-scaffolds and store-houses are on a corresponding scale.’ Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 214, 223, 231, 233; Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 407-8. The salmon chief at Kettle Falls distributes the fish among the people, every one, even the smallest child, getting an equal share. Kane’s Wand., pp. 311-14. On Des Chutes River ‘they spear the fish with barbed iron points, fitted loosely by sockets to the ends of poles about eight feet long,’ to which they are fastened by a thong about twelve feet long. Abbott, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. vi., p. 90. On the upper Columbia an Indian ‘cut off a bit of his leathern shirt, about the size of a small bean; then pulling out two or three hairs from his horse’s tail for a line, tied the bit of leather to one end of it, in place of a hook or fly.’ Ross’ Adven., pp. 132-3. At the mouth of Flatbow River ‘a dike of round stones, which runs up obliquely against the main stream, on the west side, for more than one hundred yards in length, resembling the foundation of a wall.’ Similar range on the east side, supposed to be for taking fish at low water. Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. ii., pp. 165-6. West of the Rocky Mountains they fish ‘with great success by means of a kind of large basket suspended from a long cord.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., pp. 240-1. On Powder River they use the hook as a gaff. Coke’s Rocky Mts., p. 283. A Wasco spears three or four salmon of twenty to thirty pounds each in ten minutes. Remy and Brenchley’s Jour., vol. ii., p. 506. No salmon are taken above the upper falls of the Columbia. Thornton’s Ogn. and Cal., vol. i., p. 392. Walla Walla fish-weirs ‘formed of two curtains of small willow switches matted together with withes of the same plant, and extending across the river in two parallel lines, six feet asunder. These are supported by several parcels of poles, … and are either rolled up or let down at pleasure for a few feet…. A seine of fifteen or eighteen feet in length is then dragged down the river by two persons, and the bottom drawn up against the curtain of willows.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 532. Make fishing-nets of flax. Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 90. ‘The Inland, as well as the Coast, tribes, live to a great extent upon salmon.’ Mayne’s B. C., p. 242; Nicolay’s Ogn. Ter., pp. 152-3. Palouse ‘live solely by fishing.’ Mullan’s Rept., p. 49. Salmon cannot ascend to Coeur d’Alêne Lake. Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., pp. 209-10. Okanagan food ‘consists principally of salmon and a small fish which they call carp.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 462. The Walla Wallas ‘may well be termed the fishermen of the Skyuse camp.’ Farnham’s Trav., p. 82.

[391] The Shushwaps formerly crossed the mountains to the Assinniboine territory. The Okanagans when hunting wear wolf or bear skin caps; there is no bird or beast whose voice they cannot imitate. War and hunting were the Nez Percé occupation; cross the mountains for buffalo. Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., pp. 148, 219, 297-8, 305. The chief game of the Nez Percés is the deer, ‘and whenever the ground will permit, the favourite hunt is on horseback.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 555. The Salish live by the chase, on elk, moose, deer, big-horn and bears; make two trips annually, spring to fall, and fall to mid-winter, across the mountains, accompanied by other nations. The Pend d’Oreilles hunt deer in the snow with clubs; have distinct localities for hunting each kind of game. Nez Percés, Flatheads, Coeurs d’Alêne, Spokanes, Pend d’Oreilles, etc., hunt together. Yakimas formerly joined the Flatheads in eastern hunt. Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 207-8, 212-15, 218, 225-6. ‘Two hunts annually across the mountains—one in April, for the bulls, from which they return in June and July; and another, after about a month’s recruit, to kill cows, which have by that time become fat.’ Stevens, Gibbs, and Suckley, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 415, 408, 296-7, vol. xii., p. 134. Kootenais live by the chase principally. Hutchins, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1863, p. 455. Spokanes rather indolent in hunting; hunting deer by fire. Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 197, vol. ii., pp. 46-7. The Kootenais ‘seldom hunt;’ there is not much to shoot except wild fowl in fall. Trap beaver and carriboeuf on a tributary of the Kootanie River. Palliser’s Explor., pp. 10, 15, 73. Flatheads ‘follow the buffalo upon the headwaters of Clarke and Salmon rivers.’ Nez Percé women accompany the men to the buffalo-hunt. Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 107, 311. Kootenais cross the mountains for buffalo. Mayne’s B. C., p. 297. Coeurs d’Alêne ditto. Mullan’s Rept., p. 49. Half of the Nez Percés ‘usually make a trip to the buffalo country for three months.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 494. Shushwaps ‘live by hunting the bighorns, mountain goats, and marmots.’ Milton and Cheadle’s N. W. Pass., p. 242. Buffalo never pass to west of the Rocky Mountains. Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 179; Kane’s Wand., p. 328; De Smet, Voy., pp. 31, 45, 144-5; Ind. Life, pp. 23-4, 34-41; Franchère’s Nar., pp. 268-9; Hunt, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., tom. x., 1821, pp. 77-82; Stuart, in Id., tom. xii., pp. 25, 35-6; Joset, in Id., tom. cxxiii., 1849, pp. 334-40.

[392] The Kliketats gather and eat peahay, a bitter root boiled into a jelly; n’poolthla, ground into flour; mamum and seekywa, made into bitter white cakes; kamass; calz, a kind of wild sunflower. Tolmie, in Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 247. The Flatheads go every spring to Camass Prairie. De Smet, Voy., p. 183. The Kootenais eat kamash and an edible moss. Id., Missions de l’Orégon, pp. 75-6. ‘The Cayooses, Nez Percés, and other warlike tribes assemble (in Yakima Valley) every spring to lay in a stock of the favourite kamass and pelua, or sweet potatoes.’ Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., p. 19. Quamash, round, onion-shaped, and sweet, eaten by the Nez Percés. Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 330. Couse root dug in April or May; camas in June and July. Alvord, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 656. The Skyuses ‘main subsistence is however upon roots.’ The Nez Percés eat kamash, cowish or biscuit root, jackap, aisish, quako, etc. Irving’s Bonneville’s Adven., p. 301, 388. Okanagans live extensively on moss made into bread. The Nez Percés also eat moss. Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 462, 494. Pend d’Oreilles at the last extremity live on pine-tree moss; also collect camash, bitter-roots, and sugar pears. Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 211, 214-15. ‘I never saw any berry in the course of my travels which the Indians scruple to eat, nor have I seen any ill effect from their doing so.’ Kane’s Wand., p. 327. The Kootenai food in September ‘appears to be almost entirely berries; namely, the “sasketoom” of the Crees, a delicious fruit, and a small species of cherry, also a sweet root which they obtain to the southward.’ Blakiston, in Palliser’s Explor., p. 73. Flatheads dig konah, ‘bitter root’ in May. It is very nutritious and very bitter. Pahseego, camas, or ‘water seego,’ is a sweet, gummy, bulbous root. Stuart’s Montana, pp. 57-8. Colvilles cut down pines for their moss (alectoria?). Kamas also eaten. Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 34. The Shushwaps eat moss and lichens, chiefly the black lichen, or whyelkine. Mayne’s B. C., p. 301; Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 127. The Salish in March and April eat popkah, an onion-like bulb; in May, spatlam, a root like vermicelli; in June and July, itwha, like roasted chestnuts; in August, wild fruits; in September, marani, a grain. Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 312.

[393] At the Dalles ‘during the fishing season, the Indians live entirely on the heads, hearts and offal of the salmon, which they string on sticks, and roast over a small fire.’ Besides pine-moss, the Okanagans use the seed of the balsam oriza pounded into meal, called mielito. ‘To this is added the siffleurs.’ Berries made into cakes by the Nez Percés. Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 410, 462, 494. Quamash, ‘eaten either in its natural state, or boiled into a kind of soup, or made into a cake, which is then called pasheco.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 330, 353, 365, 369. Women’s head-dress serves the Flatheads for cooking, etc. De Smet, Voy., pp. 47, 193-9; Id., Missions de l’Orégon, pp. 75-6. ‘The dog’s tongue is the only dish-cloth known’ to the Okanagans. Pine-moss cooked, or squill-ape, will keep for years. ‘At their meals they generally eat separately and in succession—man, woman and child.’ Ross’ Adven., pp. 132-3, 295, 317-18. ‘Most of their food is roasted, and they excel in roasting fish.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 231, 107. ‘Pine moss, which they boil till it is reduced to a sort of glue or black paste, of a sufficient consistence to take the form of biscuit.’ Franchère’s Nar., p. 279. Couse tastes like parsnips, is dried and pulverized, and sometimes boiled with meat. Alvord, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 656. Root bread on the Clearwater tastes like that made of pumpkins. Gass’ Jour., pp. 202-3. Kamas after coming from the kiln is ‘made into large cakes, by being mashed, and pressed together, and slightly baked in the sun.’ White-root, pulverized with stones, moistened and sun-baked, tastes not unlike stale biscuits. Townsend’s Nar., pp. 126-7. Camas and sun-flower seed mixed with salmon-heads caused in the eater great distension of the stomach. Remy and Brenchley’s Jour., vol. ii., pp. 509-11. Sowete, is the name of the mixture last named, among the Cayuses. Coke’s Rocky Mts., p. 310; Ind. Life, p. 41; Stuart’s Montana, pp. 57-8; Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 34; Kane’s Wand., pp. 272-3; Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 214-15.

[394] Additional notes and references on procuring food. The Okanagans break up winter quarters in February; wander about in small bands till June. Assemble on the river and divide into two parties of men and two of women for fishing and dressing fish, hunting and digging roots, until October; hunt in small parties in the mountains or the interior for four or six weeks; and then go into winter quarters on the small rivers. Ross’ Adven., pp. 314-16. Further south on the Columbia plains the natives collect and dry roots until May; fish on the north bank of the river till September, burying the fish; dig camas on the plains till snow falls; and retire to the foot of the mountains to hunt deer and elk through the winter. The Nez Percés catch salmon and dig roots in summer; hunt deer on snow-shoes in winter; and cross the mountains for buffalo in spring. Sokulks live on fish, roots, and antelope. Eneeshur, Echeloots, and Chilluckittequaw, on fish, berries, roots and nuts. Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 444-5, 340-1, 352, 365, 370. Spokanes live on deer, wild fowl, salmon, trout, carp, pine-moss, roots and wild fruit. They have no repugnance to horse-flesh, but never kill horses for food. The Sinapoils live on salmon, camas, and an occasional small deer. The Chaudiere country well stocked with game, fish and fruit. Cox’s Adven., vol. i., p. 201, vol. ii., p. 145. The Kayuse live on fish, game, and camass bread. De Smet, Voy., pp. 30-1. ‘Ils cultivent avec succès le blé, les patates, les pois et plusieurs autres légumes et fruits.’ Id., Miss. de l’Orégon., p. 67. Pend d’Oreilles; fish, Kamash, and pine-tree moss. Id., West. Missions, p. 284. ‘Whole time was occupied in providing for their bellies, which were rarely full.’ Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 211. Yakimas and Kliketats; Unis or fresh-water muscles, little game, sage-fowl and grouse, kamas, berries, salmon. The Okanagans raise some potatoes. Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 404, 408, 413. Kootenais; fish and wild fowl, berries and pounded meat, have cows and oxen. Palliser’s Explor., pp. 10, 72. Palouse; fish, birds, and small animals. Umatillas; fish, sage-cocks, prairie-hares. Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 97, 105-6. Tushepaws would not permit horses or dogs to be eaten. Irving’s Astoria, p. 316. Nez Percés; beaver, elk, deer, white bear, and mountain sheep, also steamed roots. Id., Bonneville’s Adven., p. 301. Sahaptin; gather cherries and berries on Clarke River. Gass’ Jour., p. 193; Nicolay’s Ogn. Ter., p. 151; Hines’ Voy., p. 167; Brownell’s Ind. Races, pp. 533-5; Stanley’s Portraits, pp. 63-71; Catlin’s N. Am. Ind., vol. ii., p. 108; Kane’s Wand., pp. 263-4; Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 228-31, 309; Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 474; Hale’s Ethnog., Ib., vol. vi., p. 206.

[395] Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 383, 548; Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 230, 312; Townsend’s Nar., p. 148; De Smet, Voy., pp. 46-7, 198; Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 197-9, 358, vol. ii., pp. 155, 373, 375; Coke’s Rocky Mts., p. 295; Palmer’s Jour., pp. 54, 58, 59.

[396] The Okanagan weapon is called a Spampt. Ross’ Adven., pp. 318-19; Id., Fur Hunters, vol. i., pp. 306-8. ‘Ils … faire leurs arcs d’un bois très-élastique, ou de la corne du cerf.’ De Smet, Voy., p. 48; Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 488; Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 405; Townsend’s Nar., p. 98; Irving’s Astoria, p. 317; Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 351; Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 106-7, 233; Cox’s Adven., vol. i., p. 216.

[397] Torture of Blackfeet prisoners; burning with a red-hot gun-barrel, pulling out the nails, taking off fingers, scooping out the eyes, scalping, revolting cruelties to female captives. The disputed right of the Flatheads to hunt buffalo at the eastern foot of the mountains is the cause of the long-continued hostility. The wisest and bravest is annually elected war chief. The war chief carries a long whip and secures discipline by flagellation. Except a few feathers and pieces of red cloth, both the Flathead and Kootenai enter battle perfectly naked. Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 232-45, vol. ii., p. 160. The Cayuse and Sahaptin are the most warlike of all the southern tribes. The Nez Percés good warriors, but do not follow war as a profession. Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., pp. 185-6, 305, 308-12, vol. ii., pp. 93-6, 139. Among the Okanagans ‘the hot bath, council, and ceremony of smoking the great pipe before war, is always religiously observed. Their laws, however, admit of no compulsion, nor is the chief’s authority implicitly obeyed on these occasions; consequently, every one judges for himself, and either goes or stays as he thinks proper. With a view, however, to obviate this defect in their system, they have instituted the dance, which answers every purpose of a recruiting service.’ ‘Every man, therefore, who enters within this ring and joins in the dance … is in honour bound to assist in carrying on the war.’ Id., Adven. pp. 319-20. Mock battles and military display for the entertainment of white visitors. Hines’ Voy., pp. 173-4. The Chilluckittequaws cut off the forefingers of a slain enemy as trophies. Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 375-6. When scouting, ‘Flathead chief would ride at full gallop so near the foe as to flap in their faces the eagle’s tail streaming behind (from his cap), yet no one dared seize the tail or streamer, it being considered sacrilegious and fraught with misfortune to touch it.’ Tolmie, in Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 238. A thousand Walla Wallas came to the Sacramento River in 1846, to avenge the death of a young chief killed by an American about a year before. Colton’s Three Years in Cal., p. 52. One Flathead is said to be equal to four Blackfeet in battle. De Smet, Voy., pp. 31, 49; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 312-13; Gray’s Hist. Ogn., pp. 171-4; Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 233-7; Stanley’s Portraits, pp. 65-71; Ind. Life, pp. 23-5; Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 495.

[398] White marl clay used to cleanse skin robes, by making it into a paste, rubbing it on the hide and leaving it to dry, after which it is rubbed off. Saddles usually sit uneasily on the horse’s back. Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 106, 232-4. ‘Mallet of stone curiously carved’ among the Sokulks. Near the Cascades was seen a ladder resembling those used by the whites. The Pishquitpaws used ‘a saddle or pad of dressed skin, stuffed with goats’ hair.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 353, 370, 375, 528. On the Fraser a rough kind of isinglass was at one time prepared and traded to the Hudson Bay Company. Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 177. ‘The Sahaptins still make a kind of vase of lava, somewhat in the shape of a crucible, but very wide; they use it as a mortar for pounding the grain, of which they make cakes.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., pp. 64, 243. (Undoubtedly an error.) Pend d’Oreilles; ‘les femmes … font des nattes de joncs, des paniers, et des chapeaux sans bords.’ De Smet, Voy., p. 199. ‘Nearly all (the Shushwaps) use the Spanish wooden saddle, which they make with much skill.’ Mayne’s B. C., pp. 301-2. ‘The saddles for women differ in form, being furnished with the antlers of a deer, so as to resemble the high pommelled saddle of the Mexican ladies.’ Franchère’s Nar., pp. 269-70; Palmer’s Jour., p. 129; Irving’s Astoria, p. 317, 365; Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 148-9.

[399] ‘The white-pine bark is a very good substitute for birch, but has the disadvantage of being more brittle in cold weather.’ Suckley, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 296. Yakima boats are ‘simply logs hollowed out and sloped up at the ends, without form or finish.’ Gibbs, in Id., p. 408. The Flatheads ‘have no canoes, but in ferrying streams use their lodge skins, which are drawn up into an oval form by cords, and stretched on a few twigs. These they tow with horses, riding sometimes three abreast.’ Stevens, in Id., p. 415. In the Kootenai canoe ‘the upper part is covered, except a space in the middle.’ The length is twenty-two feet, the bottom being a dead level from end to end. Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. ii., pp. 169-70. ‘The length of the bottom of the one I measured was twelve feet, the width between the gunwales only seven and one half feet.’ ‘When an Indian paddles it, he sits at the extreme end, and thus sinks the conical point, which serves to steady the canoe like a fish’s tail.’ Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 178-9, 255-7. On the Arrow Lakes ‘their form is also peculiar and very beautiful. These canoes run the rapids with more safety than those of any other shape.’ Kane’s Wand., p. 328. See De Smet, Voy., pp. 35, 187; Irving’s Astoria, p. 319; Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 375; Hector, in Palliser’s Explor., p. 27; Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 208, 214, 223, 238.

[400] ‘The tradition is that horses were obtained from the southward,’ not many generations back. Tolmie, in Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 247, 177-8. Individuals of the Walla Wallas have over one thousand horses. Warre and Vavasour, in Martin’s Hud. Bay, p. 83. Kootenais rich in horses and cattle. Palliser’s Explor., pp. 44, 73. Kliketat and Yakima horses sometimes fine, but injured by early usage; deteriorated from a good stock; vicious and lazy. Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 405. ‘La richesse principale des sauvages de l’ouest consiste en chevaux.’ De Smet, Voy., pp. 47, 56. At an assemblage of Walla Wallas, Shahaptains and Kyoots, ‘the plains were literally covered with horses, of which there could not have been less than four thousand in sight of the camp.’ Ross’ Adven., p. 127. The Kootanies about Arrow Lake, or Sinatcheggs have no horses, as the country is not suitable for them. Id., Fur Hunters, vol. ii., pp. 171-2. Of the Spokanes the ‘chief riches are their horses, which they generally obtain in barter from the Nez Percés.’ Cox’s Adven., vol. i., p. 200. A Skyuse is poor who has but fifteen or twenty horses. The horses are a fine race, ‘as large and of better form and more activity than most of the horses of the States.’ Farnham’s Trav., p. 82. The Flatheads ‘are the most northern of the equestrian tribes.’ Nicolay’s Ogn. Ter., p. 153. Many Nez Percés ‘have from five to fifteen hundred head of horses.’ Palmer’s Jour., pp. 128-9. Indians of the Spokane and Flathead tribes ‘own from one thousand to four thousand head of horses and cattle.’ Stevens’ Address, p. 12. The Nez Percé horses ‘are principally of the pony breed; but remarkably stout and long-winded.’ Irving’s Bonneville’s Adven., p. 301; Hastings’ Em. Guide, p. 59; Hines’ Voy., p. 344; Gass’ Jour., p. 295; Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 230.

[401] The Chilluckittequaw intercourse seems to be an intermediate trade with the nations near the mouth of the Columbia. The Chopunnish trade for, as well as hunt, buffalo-robes east of the mountains. Course of trade in the Sahaptin county: The plain Indians during their stay on the river from May to September, before they begin fishing, go down to the falls with skins, mats, silk-grass, rushes and chapelell bread. Here they meet the mountain tribes from the Kooskooskie (Clearwater) and Lewis rivers, who bring bear-grass, horses, quamash and a few skins obtained by hunting or by barter from the Tushepaws. At the falls are the Chilluckittequaws, Eneeshurs, Echeloots and Skilloots, the latter being intermediate traders between the upper and lower tribes. These tribes have pounded fish for sale; and the Chinooks bring wappato, sea-fish, berries, and trinkets obtained from the whites. Then the trade begins; the Chopunnish and mountain tribes buy wappato, pounded fish and beads; and the plain Indians buy wappato, horses, beads, etc. Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 341, 382, 444-5. Horse-fairs in which the natives display the qualities of their steeds with a view to sell. Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 86-7. The Oakinacks make trips to the Pacific to trade wild hemp for hiaqua shells and trinkets. Ross’ Adven., pp. 291, 323. Trade conducted in silence between a Flathead and Crow. De Smet, Voy., p. 56. Kliketats and Yakimas ‘have become to the neighboring tribes what the Yankees were to the once Western States, the traveling retailers of notions.’ Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 403, 406. Cayuses, Walla Wallas, and Nez Percés meet in Grande Ronde Valley to trade with the Snakes. Thornton’s Ogn. and Cal., vol. i., p. 270; Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 208; Cox’s Adven., vol. ii., pp. 88-9, 156; Palmer’s Jour., pp. 46, 54; Dunniway’s Capt. Gray’s Comp., p. 160; Coke’s Rocky Mts., p. 294; Mayne’s B. C., p. 299; Gass’ Jour., p. 205.

[402] In calculating time the Okanagans use their fingers, each finger standing for ten; some will reckon to a thousand with tolerable accuracy, but most can scarcely count to twenty. Ross’ Adven., p. 324. The Flatheads ‘font néanmoins avec précision, sur des écorces d’arbres ou sur des peaux le plan, des pays qu’ils ont parcourus, marquant les distances par journées, demi-journées ou quarts de journées.’ De Smet, Voy., p. 205. Count years by snows, months by moons, and days by sleeps. Have names for each number up to ten; then add ten to each; and then add a word to multiply by ten. Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 242. Names of the months in the Pisquouse and Salish languages beginning with January;—’cold, a certain herb, snow-gone, bitter-root, going to root-ground, camass-root, hot, gathering berries, exhausted salmon, dry, house-building, snow.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 211. ‘Menses computant lunis, ex spkani, sol vel luna et dies per ferias. Hebdomadam unicam per splcháskat, septem dies, plures vero hebdomadas per s’chaxèus, id est, vexillum quod a duce maximo qualibet die dominica suspendebatur. Dies antem in novem dividitur partes.’ Mengarini, Grammatica Linguae Selicae, p. 120; Sproat’s Scenes, p. 270; Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 374.

[403] The twelve Oakinack tribes ‘form, as it were, so many states belonging to the same union, and are governed by petty chiefs.’ The chieftainship descends from father to son; and though merely nominal in authority, the chief is rarely disobeyed. Property pays for all crimes. Ross’ Adven., pp. 289-94, 322-3, 327. The Chualpays are governed by the ‘chief of the earth’ and ‘chief of the waters,’ the latter having exclusive authority in the fishing-season. Kane’s Wand., pp. 309-13. The Nez Percés offered a Flathead the position of head chief, through admiration of his qualities. De Smet, Voy., pp. 50, 171. Among the Kalispels the chief appoints his successor, or if he fails to do so, one is elected. De Smet, Western Miss., p. 297. The Flathead war chief carries a long whip, decorated with scalps and feathers to enforce strict discipline. The principal chief is hereditary. Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 241-2, vol. ii., p. 88. The ‘camp chief’ of the Flatheads as well as the war chief was chosen for his merits. Ind. Life, pp. 28-9. Among the Nez Percés and Wascos ‘the form of government is patriarchal. They acknowledge the hereditary principle—blood generally decides who shall be the chief.’ Alvord, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., pp. 652-4. No regularly recognized chief among the Spokanes, but an intelligent and rich man often controls the tribe by his influence. Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 475-6. ‘The Salish can hardly be said to have any regular form of government.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., pp. 207-8. Every winter the Cayuses go down to the Dalles to hold a council over the Chinooks ‘to ascertain their misdemeanors and punish them therefor by whipping’! Farnham’s Trav., p. 81-2. Among the Salish ‘criminals are sometimes punished by banishment from their tribe.’ ‘Fraternal union and the obedience to the chiefs are truly admirable.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., pp. 343-4; Hines’ Voy., p. 157; Stanley’s Portraits, p. 63;Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 311-12; White’s Oregon, p. 189; Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 108; Joset, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., tom. cxxiii., 1849, pp. 334-40.

[404] ‘Slavery is common with all the tribes.’ Warre and Vavasour, in Martin’s Hud. B., p. 83. Sahaptins always make slaves of prisoners of war. The Cayuses have many. Alvord, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 654; Palmer’s Jour., p. 56. Among the Okanagans ‘there are but few slaves … and these few are adopted as children, and treated in all respects as members of the family.’ Ross’ Adven., p. 320. The inland tribes formerly practiced slavery, but long since abolished it. Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 247. ‘Not practised in the interior.’ Mayne’s B. C., p. 243. Not practiced by the Shushwaps. Anderson, in Hist. Mag., vol. vii., p. 78.

[405] Each Okanagan ‘family is ruled by the joint will or authority of the husband and wife, but more particularly by the latter.’ Wives live at different camps among their relatives; one or two being constantly with the husband. Brawls constantly occur when several wives meet. The women are chaste, and attached to husband and children. At the age of fourteen or fifteen the young man pays his addresses in person to the object of his love, aged eleven or twelve. After the old folks are in bed, he goes to her wigwam, builds a fire, and if welcome the mother permits the girl to come and sit with him for a short time. These visits are several times repeated, and he finally goes in the day-time with friends and his purchase money. Ross’ Adven., pp. 295-302. The Spokane husband joins his wife’s tribe; women are held in great respect; and much affection is shown for children. Among the Nez Percés both men and women have the power of dissolving the marriage tie at pleasure. Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 410, 475-6, 486, 495. The Coeurs d’Alêne ‘have abandoned polygamy.’ Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 149, 309; Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 406. Pend d’Oreille women less enslaved than in the mountains, but yet have much heavy work, paddle canoes, etc. Generally no marriage among savages. De Smet, Voy., pp. 198-9, 210. The Nez Percés generally confine themselves to two wives, and rarely marry cousins. No wedding ceremony. Alvord, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 655. Polygamy not general on the Fraser; and unknown to Kootenais. Cox’s Adven., vol. ii., pp. 155, 379, vol. i., pp. 256-9. Nez Percés have abandoned polygamy. Palmer’s Jour., pp. 129, 56. Flathead women do everything but hunt and fight. Ind. Life, p. 41. Flathead women ‘by no means treated as slaves, but, on the contrary, have much consideration and authority.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 207. ‘Rarely marry out of their own nation,’ and do not like their women to marry whites. Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 313-14. The Sokulk men ‘are said to content themselves with a single wife, with whom … the husband shares the labours of procuring subsistence much more than is usual among savages.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 351; Dunniway’s Capt. Gray’s Comp., p. 161; Gray’s Hist. Ogn., p. 171; Tolmie and Anderson, in Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 231-5; Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 208; De Smet’s West. Miss., p. 289.

[406] The wife of a young Kootenai left him for another, whereupon he shot himself. Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. ii., p. 169. Among the Flatheads ‘conjugal infidelity is scarcely known.’ Dunn’s Oregon, p. 311. The Sahaptins ‘do not exhibit those loose feelings of carnal desire, nor appear addicted to the common customs of prostitution.’ Gass’ Jour., p. 275. Inland tribes have a reputation for chastity, probably due to circumstances rather than to fixed principles. Mayne’s B. C., p. 300. Spokanes ‘free from the vice of incontinence’. Among the Walla Wallas prostitution is unknown, ‘and I believe no inducement would tempt them to commit a breach of chastity.’ Prostitution common on the Fraser. Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 145, 199-200. Nez Percé women remarkable for their chastity. Alvord, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 655.

[407] In the Salish family on the birth of a child wealthy relatives make presents of food and clothing. The Nez Percé mother gives presents but receives none on such an occasion. The Flatheads and Pend d’Oreilles bandage the waist and legs of infants with a view to producing broad-shouldered, small-waisted and straight-limbed adults. Tolmie and Anderson, in Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 231-2. Among the Walla Wallas ‘when traveling a hoop, bent over the head of the child, protects it from injury.’ The confinement after child-birth continues forty days. At the first menstruation the Spokane woman must conceal herself two days in the forest; for a man to see her would be fatal; she must then be confined for twenty days longer in a separate lodge. Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 426-8, 485. The Okanagan mother is not allowed to prepare her unborn infant’s swaddling clothes, which consist of a piece of board, a bit of skin, a bunch of moss, and a string. Ross’ Adven., pp. 324-30. ‘Small children, not more than three years old, are mounted alone and generally upon colts.’ Younger ones are carried on the mother’s back ‘or suspended from a high knob upon the forepart of their saddles.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 98. Houses among the Chopunnish ‘appropriated for women who are undergoing the operation of the menses.’ ‘When anything is to be conveyed to these deserted females, the person throws it to them forty or fifty paces off, and then retires.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 539; Townsend’s Nar., p. 78; Alvord, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 655.

[408] With the Pend d’Oreilles ‘it was not uncommon for them to bury the very old and the very young alive, because, they said, “these cannot take care of themselves, and we cannot take care of them, and they had better die.”‘ Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 211; Suckley, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 297; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 328; White’s Ogn., p. 96; Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 148-9.

[409] In the Yakima Valley ‘we visited every street, alley, hole and corner of the camp…. Here was gambling, there scalp-dancing; laughter in one place, mourning in another. Crowds were passing to and fro, whooping, yelling, dancing, drumming, singing. Men, women, and children were huddled together; flags flying, horses neighing, dogs howling, chained bears, tied wolves, grunting and growling, all pell-mell among the tents.’ Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., p. 28. At Kettle Falls ‘whilst awaiting the coming salmon, the scene is one great revel: horse-racing, gambling, love-making, dancing, and diversions of all sorts, occupy the singular assembly; for at these annual gatherings … feuds and dislikes are for the time laid by.’ Lord’s Nat., vol. i., pp. 72-3.

[410] The principal amusement of the Okanagans is gambling, ‘at which they are not so quarrelsome as the Spokans and other tribes,’ disputes being settled by arbitration. Cox’s Adven., vol. ii., p. 88. A young man at Kettle Falls committed suicide, having lost everything at gambling. Kane’s Wand., pp. 309-10. ‘Les Indiens de la Colombie ont porté les jeux de hasard au dernier excès. Après avoir perdu tout ce qu’ils ont, ils se mettent eux-mêmes sur le tapis, d’abord une main, ensuite l’autre; s’ils les perdent, les bras, et ainsi de suite tous les membres du corps; la tête suit, et s’ils la perdent, ils deviennent esclaves pour la vie avec leurs femmes et leurs enfants.’ De Smet, Voy., pp. 49-50. Many Kooteneais have abandoned gambling. De Smet, West. Miss., p. 300. ‘Whatever the poor Indian can call his own, is ruthlessly sacrificed to this Moloch of human weakness.’ Ind. Life, p. 42; Irving’s Bonneville’s Adven., p. 102-3.

[411] Spokanes; ‘one of their great amusements is horse-racing.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 487. Kliketats and Yakimas; ‘the racing season is the grand annual occasion of these tribes. A horse of proved reputation is a source of wealth or ruin to his owner. On his speed he stakes his whole stud, his household goods, clothes, and finally his wives; and a single heat doubles his fortune, or sends him forth an impoverished adventurer. The interest, however is not confined to the individual directly concerned; the tribe share it with him, and a common pile of goods, of motley description, apportioned according to their ideas of value, is put up by either party, to be divided among the backers of the winner.’ Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 404, 412. ‘Running horses and foot-races by men, women and children, and they have games of chance played with sticks or bones;’ do not drink to excess. Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 237, 406. Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 557; Franchère’s Nar., p. 269.

[412] Kane’s Wand., pp. 310-11.

[413] The principal Okanagan amusement is a game called by the voyageurs ‘jeu de main,’ like our odd and even. Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., p. 463. It sometimes takes a week to decide the game. The loser never repines. Ross’ Adven., pp. 308-11; Stuart’s Montana, p. 71.

[414] Among the Wahowpums ‘the spectators formed a circle round the dancers, who, with their robes drawn tightly round the shoulders, and divided into parties of five or six men, perform by crossing in a line from one side of the circle to the other. All the parties, performers as well as spectators, sing, and after proceeding in this way for some time, the spectators join, and the whole concludes by a promiscuous dance and song.’ The Walla Wallas ‘were formed into a solid column, round a kind of hollow square, stood on the same place, and merely jumped up at intervals, to keep time to the music.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 526, 531. Nez Percés dance round a pole on Sundays, and the chiefs exhort during the pauses. Irving’s Bonneville’s Adven., pp. 101-2, 245. In singing ‘they use hi, ah, in constant repetition, … and instead of several parts harmonizing, they only take eighths one above another, never exceeding three.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 242-3. ‘The song was a simple expression of a few sounds, no intelligible words being uttered. It resembled the words ho-ha-ho-ha-ho-ha-ha-ha, commencing in a low tone, and gradually swelling to a full, round, and beautifully modulated chorus.’ Townsend’s Nar., p. 106. Chualpay scalp-dance. Kane’s Wand., p. 315. Religious songs. Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 338-40; Palmer’s Jour., p. 124.

[415] De Smet thinks inhaling tobacco smoke may prevent its injurious effects. Voy., p. 207. In all religious ceremonies the pipe of peace is smoked. Ross’ Adven., pp. 288-9. Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 286; Hines’ Voy., p. 184. ‘The medicine-pipe is a sacred pledge of friendship among all the north-western tribes.’ Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 220.

[416] In moving, the girls and small boys ride three or four on a horse with their mothers, while the men drive the herds of horses that run loose ahead. Lord’s Nat., vol. i., pp. 71-3, 306. Horses left for months without a guard, and rarely stray far. They call this ‘caging’ them. De Smet, Voy., pp. 187, 47, 56. ‘Babies of fifteen months old, packed in a sitting posture, rode along without fear, grasping the reins with their tiny hands.’ Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. xii., pt. ii., p. 130, with plate; Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 404-5; Palliser’s Rept., p. 73; Farnham’s Trav., pp. 81-; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 64; Irving’s Astoria, p. 365; Franchère’s Nar., pp. 269-71; Cox’s Adven., vol. ii., pp. 110-11.

[417] ‘L’aigle … est le grand oiseau de médecine.’ De Smet, Voy., pp. 46, 205; Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 494-5; Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 212, and in De Smet’s West. Miss., pp. 285-6; Suckley, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 297; Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 208-9; Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., p. 64, vol. ii., p. 19; Kane’s Wand., pp. 267, 280-1, 318.

[418] Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 343-4; Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 241-2; Ross’ Adven., pp. 311-12.

[419] The Walla Wallas receive bad news with a howl. The Spokanes ‘cache’ their salmon. They are willing to change names with any one they esteem. ‘Suicide prevails more among the Indians of the Columbia River than in any other portion of the continent which I have visited.’ Kane’s Wand., pp. 282-3, 307-10. ‘Preserve particular order in their movements. The first chief leads the way, the next chiefs follow, then the common men, and after these the women and children.’ They arrange themselves in similar order in coming forward to receive visitors. Do not usually know their own age. Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 87, 133-4, 242. Distance is calculated by time; a day’s ride is seventy miles on horseback, thirty-five miles on foot. Ross’ Adven., p. 329. Natives can tell by examining arrows to what tribe they belong. Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. ii., p. 167. Kliketats and Yakimas often unwilling to tell their name. Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 405. ‘D’après toutes les observations que j’ai faites, leur journée équivaut à peu près à cinquante ou soixante milles anglais lorsqu’ils voyagent seuls, et à quinze ou vingt milles seulement lorsqu’ils lèvent leur camps.’ De Smet, Voy., p. 205. Among the Nez Percés everything was promulgated by criers. ‘The office of crier is generally filled by some old man, who is good for little else. A village has generally several.’ Irving’s Bonneville’s Adven., p. 286. Habits of worship of the Flatheads in the missions. Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 315-6. ‘A pack of prick-eared curs, simply tamed prairie wolves, always in attendance.’ Lord’s Nat., vol. i., pp. 71-3.

[420] The Nez Percés ‘are generally healthy, the only disorders which we have had occasion to remark being of scrophulous kind.’ With the Sokulks ‘a bad soreness of the eyes is a very common disorder.’ ‘Bad teeth are very general.’ The Chilluckittequaws’ diseases are sore eyes, decayed teeth, and tumors. The Walla Wallas have ulcers and eruptions of the skin, and occasionally rheumatism. The Chopunnish had ‘scrofula, rheumatism, and sore eyes,’ and a few have entirely lost the use of their limbs. Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 341, 352, 382, 531, 549. The medicine-man uses a medicine-bag of relics in his incantations. Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 240-1. The Okanagan medicine-men are called tlaquillaughs, and ‘are men generally past the meridian of life; in their habits grave and sedate.’ ‘They possess a good knowledge of herbs and roots, and their virtues.’ I have often ‘seen him throw out whole mouthfuls of blood, and yet not the least mark would appear on the skin.’ ‘I once saw an Indian who had been nearly devoured by a grizzly bear, and had his skull split open in several places, and several pieces of bone taken out just above the brain, and measuring three-fourths of an inch in length, cured so effectually by one of these jugglers, that in less than two months after he was riding on his horse again at the chase. I have also seen them cut open the belly with a knife, extract a large quantity of fat from the inside, sew up the part again, and the patient soon after perfectly recovered.’ The most frequent diseases are ‘indigestion, fluxes, asthmas, and consumptions.’ Instances of longevity rare. Ross’ Adven., pp. 302-8. A desperate case of consumption cured by killing a dog each day for thirty-two days, ripping it open and placing the patient’s legs in the warm intestines, administering some barks meanwhile. The Flatheads subject to few diseases; splints used for fractures, bleeding with sharp flints for contusions, ice-cold baths for ordinary rheumatism, and vapor bath with cold plunge for chronic rheumatism. Cox’s Adven., vol. ii., pp. 90-3, vol. i., pp. 248-51. Among the Walla Wallas convalescents are directed to sing some hours each day. The Spokanes require all garments, etc., about the death-bed to be buried with the body, hence few comforts for the sick. Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 426-7, 485. The Flatheads say their wounds cure themselves. De Smet, Voy., pp. 198-200. The Wascos cure rattlesnake bites by salt applied to the wound or by whisky taken internally. Kane’s Wand., pp. 265, 273, 317-18. A female doctor’s throat cut by the father of a patient she had failed to cure. Hines’ Voy., p. 190. The office of medicine-men among the Sahaptins is generally hereditary. Men often die from fear of a medicine-man’s evil glance. Rival doctors work on the fears of patients to get each other killed. Murders of doctors somewhat rare among the Nez Percés. Alvord, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., pp. 652-3, 655. Small-pox seems to have come among the Yakimas and Kliketats before direct intercourse with whites. Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 405, 408. A Nez Percé doctor killed by a brother of a man who had shot himself in mourning for his dead relative; the brother in turn killed, and several other lives lost. Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., p. 239.

[421] The Sokulks wrap the dead in skins, bury them in graves, cover with earth, and mark the grave by little pickets of wood struck over and about it. On the Columbia below the Snake was a shed-tomb sixty by twelve feet, open at the ends, standing east and west. Recently dead bodies wrapped in leather and arranged on boards at the west end. About the centre a promiscuous heap of partially decayed corpses; and at eastern end a mat with twenty-one skulls arranged in a circle. Articles of property suspended on the inside and skeletons of horses scattered outside. About the Dalles eight vaults of boards eight feet square, and six feet high, and all the walls decorated with pictures and carvings. The bodies were laid east and west. Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 344-5, 359-60, 379-80, 557-8. Okanagans observe silence about the death-bed, but the moment the person dies the house is abandoned, and clamorous mourning is joined in by all the camp for some hours; then dead silence while the body is wrapped in a new garment, brought out, and the lodge torn down. Then alternate mourning and silence, and the deceased is buried in a sitting posture in a round hole. Widows must mourn two years, incessantly for some months, then only morning and evening. Ross’ Adven., pp. 321-2. Frantic mourning, cutting the flesh, etc., by Nez Percés. Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., pp. 234-5, 238-9, vol. ii., p. 139. Destruction of horses and other property by Spokanes. Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 200-1. A Shushwap widow instigates the murder of a victim as a sacrifice to her husband. The horses of a Walla Walla chief not used after his death. Kane’s Wand., pp. 178-9, 264-5, 277, 289. Hundreds of Wasco bodies piled in a small house on an island, just below the Dalles. A Walla Walla chief caused himself to be buried alive in the grave of his last son. Hines’ Voy., pp. 159, 184-8. Among the Yakimas and Kliketats the women do the mourning, living apart for a few days, and then bathing. Okanagan bodies strapped to a tree. Stone mounds over Spokane graves. Gibbs and Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 405, 413, vol. xii., pt. i., p. 150. Pend d’Oreilles buried old and young alive when unable to take care of them. Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 211, 238. ‘High conical stacks of drift-wood’ over Walla Walla graves. Townsend’s Nar., p. 157. Shushwaps often deposit dead in trees. If in the ground, always cover grave with stones. Mayne’s B. C., p. 304. Killing a slave by Wascos. White’s Ogn., pp. 260-3. Dances and prayers for three days at Nez Percé chief’s burial. Irving’s Bonneville’s Adven., p. 283. Burying infant with parents by Flatheads. De Smet, Voy., p. 173. Light wooden pilings about Shushwap graves. Milton and Cheadle’s Northw. Pass., p. 242; Alvord, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 655; Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 104; Palmer, in B. C. Papers, pt. iii., p. 85; Gass’ Jour., p. 219; Ind. Life, p. 55; Tolmie, in Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 237-8, 260-1.

[422] Sokulks ‘of a mild and peaceable disposition,’ respectful to old age. Chilluckittequaws ‘unusually hospitable and good humoured.’ Chopunnish ‘the most amiable we have seen. Their character is placid and gentle, rarely moved into passion.’ ‘They are indeed selfish and avaricious.’ Will pilfer small articles. Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 338, 341, 351, 376, 556-8, 564. The Flatheads ‘se distinguent par la civilité, l’honnétété, et la bonté.’ De Smet, Voy., pp. 31-2, 38-40, 47-50, 166-74, 202-4. Flatheads ‘the best Indians of the mountains and the plains,—honest, brave, and docile.’ Kootenais ‘men of great docility and artlessness of character.’ Stevens and Hoecken, in De Smet’s West. Miss., pp. 281, 284, 290, 300. Coeurs d’Alène selfish and poor-spirited. De Smet, Miss. de l’Orégon, p. 329. In the Walla Wallas ‘an air of open unsuspecting confidence,’ ‘natural politeness,’ no obtrusive familiarity. Flatheads ‘frank and hospitable.’ Except cruelty to captives have ‘fewer failings than any of the tribes I ever met.’ Brave, quiet, and amenable to their chiefs. Spokanes ‘quiet, honest, inoffensive,’ but rather indolent. ‘Thoughtless and improvident.’ Okanagans ‘Indolent rascals;’ ‘an honest and quiet tribe.’ Sanspoils dirty, slothful, dishonest, quarrelsome, etc. Coeurs d’Alène ‘uniformly honest;’ ‘more savage than their neighbours.’ Kootenais honest, brave, jealous, truthful. Kamloops ‘thieving and quarrelling.’ Cox’s Adven., vol. i., pp. 145, 148, 192, 199, 239-40, 262-3, 344, vol. ii., pp. 44, 87-8, 109, 145-60. Okanagans active and industrious, revengeful, generous and brave. Ross’ Adven., pp. 142, 290-5, 327-9. Skeen ‘a hardy, brave people.’ Cayuses far more vicious and ungovernable than the Walla Wallas. Nez Percés treacherous and villainous. Kane’s Wand., pp. 263, 280, 290, 307-8, 315. Nez Percés ‘a quiet, civil, people, but proud and haughty.’ Palmer’s Jour., pp. 128, 48, 53, 59, 61, 124-7. ‘Kind to each other.’ ‘Cheerful and often gay, sociable, kind and affectionate, and anxious to receive instruction.’ ‘Lying scarcely known.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 97, 105, 232, 239, 303-4, 311-12. Of the Nicutemuchs ‘the habitual vindictiveness of their character is fostered by the ceaseless feuds.’ ‘Nearly every family has a minor vendetta of its own.’ ‘The races that depend entirely or chiefly on fishing, are immeasurably inferior to those tribes who, with nerves and sinews braced by exercise, and minds comparatively ennobled by frequent excitement, live constantly amid war and the chase.’ Anderson, in Hist. Mag., vol. vii., pp. 77-80. Inland tribes of British Columbia less industrious and less provident than the more sedentary coast Indians. Mayne’s B. C., pp. 301, 297. Sahaptins ‘cold, taciturn, high-tempered, warlike, fond of hunting.’ Palouse, Yakimas, Kliketats, etc., of a ‘less hardy and active temperament’ than the Nez Percés. Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., pp. 199, 210-13. Cayuses ‘dreaded by their neighbors on account of their courage and warlike spirit.’ Walla Wallas ‘notorious as thieves since their first intercourse with whites.’ ‘Indolent, superstitious, drunken and debauched.’ Character of Flatheads, Pend d’Oreilles, Umatillas. Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 207-9, 211, 218, 223, 282, 1861, pp. 164-5. Yakimas and Kliketats ‘much superior to the river Indians.’ Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 405, 298, 403, 416, vol. xii., pt. i., p. 139. Wascos ‘exceedingly vicious.’ Hines’ Voy., pp. 159, 169. The Nez Percés ‘are, certainly, more like a nation of saints than a horde of savages.’ Skyuses, Walla Wallas. Irving’s Bonneville’s Adven., pp. 101, 287, 289-90, 300. Tushepaws; Irving’s Astoria, p. 316. Thompson River Indians rather a superior and clever race. Victoria Colonist, Oct., 1860. ‘Indians from the Rocky mountains to the falls of Columbia, are an honest, ingenuous, and well disposed people,’ but rascals below the falls. Gass’ Jour., p. 304. Flathead ‘fierceness and barbarity in war could not be exceeded.’ Nicolay’s Ogn. Ter., p. 153. Flatheads, Walla Wallas and Nez Percés; Gray’s Hist. Ogn., pp. 171, 219. Kootenais; Palliser’s Explor., pp. 44, 73. Salish, Walla Wallas; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 88, vol. ii., p. 64. Walla Wallas, Cayuses, and Nez Percés; White’s Oregon, p. 174. Walla Wallas, Kootenais; Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 85, 178. Flatheads, Nez Percés; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 311, 315, 326-8. Nez Percés; Catlin’s N. Am. Ind., vol. ii., p. 109; Franchère’s Nar., p. 268. Kayuses, Walla Wallas; Townsend’s Nar., p. 156. Sahaptins; Wilkes’ Hist. Ogn., p. 106. Nez Percés; Hastings’ Emigrants’ Guide, p. 59. Flatheads; Ind. Life, pp. ix., x., 25. At Dalles; Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 412. Shushwaps;Grant’s Ocean to Ocean, pp. 288-304, 313. At Dalles; Hunt, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1821, tom. x., p. 82; Stuart, in Id., 1821, tom. xii., p. 43. Pend d’Oreilles; Joset, in Id., 1849, tom. cxxiii., pp. 334-40.

Chapter IV • Californians • 71,400 Words

Native Races of the Pacific States
Californian Group

Groupal Divisions; Northern, Central, and Southern Californians, and Shoshones—Country of the Californians—The Klamaths, Modocs, Shastas, Pitt River Indians, Eurocs, Cahrocs, Hoopahs, Weeyots, Tolewas, and Rogue River Indians and their Customs—The Tehamas, Pomos, Ukiahs, Gualalas, Sonomas, Petalumas, Napas, Suscols, Suisunes, Tamales, Karquines, Ohlones, Tulomos, Thamiens, Olchones, Rumsens, Escelens, and others of Central California—The Cahuillas, Diegueños, Islanders, and Mission Rancherias of Southern California—The Snakes or Shoshones proper, Utahs, Bannocks, Washoes and other Shoshone Nations.

Of the seven groups into which this work separates the nations of western North America, the Californians constitute the third, and cover the territory between latitude 43° and 32° 30´, extending back irregularly into the Rocky Mountains. There being few distinctly marked families in this group, I cannot do better in subdividing it for the purpose of description than make of the Californians proper three geographical divisions, namely, the Northern Californians, the Central Californians, and the Southern Californians. The Shoshones, or fourth division of this group, who spread out over south-eastern Oregon, southern Idaho, and the whole of Nevada and Utah, present more distinctly marked family characteristics, and will therefore be treated as a family.

Home of the Californians

The same chain of mountains, which, as the Cascade Range, divides the land of the Columbians, holds its course steadily southward, and entering the territory of the Californian group forms, under the name of the Sierra Nevada, the partition between the Californians proper and the Shoshones of Idaho and Nevada. The influence of this range upon the climate is also here manifest, only intenser in degree than farther north. The lands of the Northern Californians are well watered and wooded, those of the central division have an abundance of water for six months in the year, namely, from November to May, and the soil is fertile, yielding abundantly under cultivation. Sycamore, oak, cotton-wood, willow, and white alder, fringe the banks of the rivers; laurel, buckeye, manzanita, and innumerable berry-bearing bushes, clothe the lesser hills; thousands of acres are annually covered with wild oats; the moist bottoms yield heavy crops of grass; and in summer the valleys are gorgeous with wild-flowers of every hue. Before the blighting touch of the white man was laid upon the land, the rivers swarmed with salmon and trout; deer, antelope, and mountain sheep roamed over the foot-hills, bear and other carnivora occupied the forests, and numberless wild fowl covered the lakes. Decreasing in moisture toward the tropics, the climate of the Southern Californians is warm and dry, while the Shoshones, a large part of whose territory falls in the Great Basin, are cursed with a yet greater dryness.

The region known as the Great Basin, lying between the eastern base of the Sierra Nevada and the Wahsatch Mountains, and stretching north and south from latitude 33° to 42°, presents a very different picture from the land of the Californians. This district is triangular in shape, the apex pointing toward the south, or southwest; from this apex, which, round the head of the Gulf of California, is at tide level, the ground gradually rises until, in central Nevada, it reaches an altitude of about five thousand feet, and this, with the exception of a few local depressions, is about the level of the whole of the broad part of the basin. The entire surface of this plateau is alkaline. Being in parts almost destitute of water, there is comparatively little timber; sage-brush and greasewood being the chief signs of vegetation, except at rare intervals where some small stream struggling against almost universal aridity, supports on its banks a little scanty herbage and a few forlorn-looking cotton-wood trees. The northern part of this region, as is the case with the lands of the Californians proper, is somewhat less destitute of vegetable and animal life than the southern portion which is indeed a desert occupied chiefly by rabbits, prairie-dogs, sage-hens, and reptiles. The desert of the Colorado, once perhaps a fertile bottom, extending northward from the San Bernardino Mountains one hundred and eighty miles, and spreading over an area of about nine thousand square miles, is a silent unbroken sea of sand, upon whose ashy surface glares the mid-day sun and where at night the stars draw near through the thin air and brilliantly illumine the eternal solitude. Here the gigantic cereus, emblem of barrenness, rears its contorted form, casting weird shadows upon the moonlit level. In such a country, where in winter the keen dust-bearing blast rushes over the unbroken desolate plains, and in summer the very earth cracks open with intense heat, what can we expect of man but that he should be distinguished for the depths of his low attainment.

But although the poverty and barrenness of his country account satisfactorily for the low type of the inhabitant of the Great Basin, yet no such excuse is offered for the degradation of the native of fertile California. On every side, if we except the Shoshone, in regions possessing far fewer advantages than California, we find a higher type of man. Among the Tuscaroras, Cherokees, and Iroquois of the Atlantic slope, barbarism assumes its grandest proportions; proceeding west it bursts its fetters in the incipient civilization of the Gila; but if we continue the line to the shores of the Pacific we find this intellectual dawn checked, and man sunk almost to the utter darkness of the brute. Coming southward from the frozen land of the Eskimo, or northward from tropical Darien we pass through nations possessing the necessaries and even the comforts of life. Some of them raise and grind wheat and corn, many of them make pottery and other utensils, at the north they venture out to sea in good boats and make Behemoth their spoil. The Californians on the other hand, comparatively speaking, wear no clothes, they build no houses, do not cultivate the soil, they have no boats, nor do they hunt to any considerable extent; they have no morals nor any religion worth calling such. The missionary Fathers found a virgin field whereon neither god nor devil was worshiped. We must look, then, to other causes for a solution of the question why a nobler race is not found in California; such for instance as revolutions and migrations of nations, or upheavals and convulsions of nature, causes arising before the commencement of the short period within which we are accustomed to reckon time.

Tribal Diversity

There is, perhaps, a greater diversity of tribal names among the Californians than elsewhere in America; the whole system of nomenclature is so complicated and contradictory that it is impossible to reduce it to perfect order. There are tribes that call themselves by one name, but whose neighbors call them by another; tribes that are known by three or four names, and tribes that have no name except that of their village or chief.[423]‘Sometimes there is a tribal name for all who speak the same language; sometimes none, and only names for separate villages; sometimes a name for a whole tribe or family, to which is prefixed a separate word for each dialect, which is generally co-extensive with some valley. Of the first, an instance is found in the Cahrocs, on the Klamath, who are a compact tribe, with no dialects; of the second, in the large tribe on the lower Klamath, who have also no dialects, and yet have no name, except for each village; of the third, in the great family of the Pomos on Russian river, who have many dialects, and a name for each,—as Ballo Ki Pomos, Cahto Pomos, etc…. Some remnants of tribes have three or four names, all in use within a radius of that number of miles; some, again, are merged, or dovetailed, into others; and some never had a name taken from their own language, but have adopted that given them by a neighbor tribe, altogether different in speech.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. viii., p. 328. Tribal names are frequently given by one writer which are never mentioned by any other;[424]The natives ‘when asked to what tribe they belong, give the name of their chief, which is misunderstood by the inquirer to be that of the tribe itself.’ Bartlett’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 30. nevertheless there are tribes on whose names authorities agree, and though the spelling differs, the sound expressed in these instances is about the same. Less trouble is experienced in distinguishing the tribes of the northern division, which is composed of people who resemble their neighbors more than is the case in central California, where the meaningless term ‘Indians,’ is almost universally applied in speaking of them.[425]‘Every fifteen or twenty miles of country seems to have been occupied by a number of small lodges or septs, speaking a different language or very divergent dialect.’ Taylor, in Bancroft’s Hand-book Almanac, 1864, p. 29. Beechey counted eleven different dialects in the mission of San Carlos. Voyage, vol. ii., p. 73. ‘Almost every 15 or 20 leagues, you find a distinct dialect; so different, that in no way does one resemble the other.’ Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., p. 240. ‘From the San Joaquin northward to the Klamath there are some hundreds of small tribes.’ Henley, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 304.

Another fruitful source of confusion is the indefinite nickname ‘Digger’ which is applied indiscriminately to all the tribes of northern and middle California, and to those of Nevada, Utah, and the southern part of Oregon. These tribes are popularly known as the Californian Diggers, Washoe Diggers, Shoshone Diggers of Utah, etc., the signification of the term pointing to the digging of roots, and in some parts, possibly, to burrowing in the ground. The name is seemingly opprobrious, and is certainly no more applicable to this people than to many others. By this territorial division I hope to avoid, as far as possible, the two causes of bewilderment before alluded to; neither treating the inhabitants of an immense country as one tribe, nor attempting to ascribe distinct names and idiosyncrasies to hundreds of small, insignificant bands, roaming over a comparatively narrow area of country and to all of which one description will apply.

Nations of Northern California

The Northern Californians, the first tribal group, or division, of which I shall speak, might, not improperly, be called the Klamath family, extending as they do from Rogue River on the north, to the Eel River south, and from the Pacific Ocean to the Californian boundary east, and including the Upper and Lower Klamath and other lakes. The principal tribes occupying this region are the Klamaths,[426]Hale calls them the Lutuami, or Tlamatl, and adds, ‘the first of these names is the proper designation of the people in their own language. The second is that by which they are known to the Chinooks, and through them, to the whites.’ Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 218. who live on the headwaters of the river and on the shores of the lake of that name; the Modocs,[427]‘There true name is Moüdoc—a word which originated with the Shasteecas, who applied it indefinitely to all wild Indians or enemies.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, 1873, vol. x., p. 535. ‘Also called Moahtockna.’ Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, June 22, 1860. ‘The word Modoc is a Shasta Indian word, and means all distant, stranger, or hostile Indians, and became applied to these Indians by white men in early days, by hearing the Shastas speak of them.’ Steele, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1861, p. 121. on Lower Klamath Lake and along Lost River; the Shastas, to the south-west of the lakes, near the Shasta Mountains; the Pitt River Indians; the Eurocs on the Klamath River between Weitspek and the coast; the Cahrocs[428]Speaking of Indians at the junction of the Salmon and Klamath rivers: ‘They do not seem to have any generic appellation for themselves, but apply the terms “Kahruk,” up, and “Youruk,” down, to all who live above or below themselves, without discrimination, in the same manner that the others (at the junction of the Trinity) do “Peh-tsik,” and “Poh-lik.”‘ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 151. on the Klamath River from a short distance above the junction of the Trinity to the Klamath Mountains; the Hoopahs in Hoopah Valley on the Trinity near its junction with the Klamath; numerous tribes on the coast from Eel River and Humboldt Bay north, such as the Weeyots,[429]‘The Bay (Humboldt) Indians call themselves, as we were informed, Wish-osk; and those of the hills Te-ok-a-wilk; but the tribes to the northward denominate both those of the Bay and Eel river, We-yot, or Walla-walloo.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 133. Wallies, Tolewahs, etc., and the Rogue River Indians,[430]They are also called Lototen or Tututamy, Totutime, Toutouni, Tootooton, Tutoten, Tototin, Tototutna, etc. on and about the river of that name.[431]For further particulars as to location of tribes, see notes on Tribal Boundaries, at the end of this chapter.

The Northern Californians are in every way superior to the central and southern tribes.[432]Mr. Gibbs, speaking of the tribes seen on the Klamath and Trinity rivers, says: ‘In person these people are far superior to any we had met below; the men being larger, more muscular, and with countenances denoting greater force and energy of character, as well as intelligence. Indeed, they approach rather to the races of the plains, than to the wretched “diggers” of the greater part of California.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 140. ‘The Indians in the northern portion of California and in Oregon, are vastly superior in stature and intellect to those found in the southern part of California.’ Hubbard, in Golden Era, 1856. The Indians on the Trinity ‘are of another tribe and nature from those along the Sacramento.’ Kelly’s Excursion, vol. ii., p. 166. Speaking of the Wallies, they, ‘in many respects differ from their brethren in the middle and lower counties of the State. They are lighter colored and more intelligent.’ Johnson, in Overland Monthly, 1869, vol. ii., p. 536. Their physique and character, in fact, approach nearer to the Oregon nations than to the people of the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys. This applies more particularly to the inland tribes. The race gradually deteriorates as it approaches the coast, growing less in stature, darker in color, more and more degraded in character, habits, and religion. The Rogue River Indians must, however, be made an exception to this rule. The tendency to improve toward the north, which is so marked among the Californians, holds good in this case; so that the natives on the extreme north-west coast of the region under consideration, are in many respects superior to the interior but more southerly tribes.

Physical Peculiarities

The Northern Californians round the Klamath lakes, and the Klamath, Trinity, and Rogue rivers, are tall, muscular, and well made,[433]‘The males are tall, averaging in height about five feet eight inches, are well proportioned, athletic, and possess the power of endurance to a great degree.’ Hubbard, in Golden Era, March, 1856. ‘The people here (Rogue River) were larger and stronger than those in South California, but not handsomer.’ Pfeiffer’s Second Journ., p. 317. Speaking of Indians on the Klamath River, ‘their stature is a trifle under the American; they have well-sized bodies, erect and strong-knit.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. viii., p. 328. On the upper Trinity they are ‘large and powerful men, of a swarthier complexion, fierce and intractable.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 129. Near Mount Shasta, ‘a fine-looking race, being much better proportioned than those more to the northward, and their features more regular.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 254. At Klamath Lake, ‘well-grown and muscular.’ Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 277. On the Trinity, ‘majestic in person, chivalrous in bearing.’ Kelly’s Excursion, vol. ii., p. 166. with a complexion varying from nearly black to light brown, in proportion to their proximity to, or distance, from the ocean or other large bodies of water; their face is large, oval, and heavily made, with slightly prominent cheek-bones, nose well set on the face and frequently straight, and eyes which, when not blurred by ophthalmia, are keen and bright. The women are short and some of them quite handsome, even in the Caucasian sense of the word;[434]In the vicinity of Klamath lake ‘the squaws are short in comparison with the men, and, for Indians have tolerably regular features.’ Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 277. In the Rogue River region ‘some of them are quite pretty, usually well-formed, handsomely developed, small features, and very delicate and well-turned hands and feet…. They are graceful in their movements and gestures, … always timid and modest.’ Hubbard, in Golden Era, March, 1856. On the Klamath River, ‘with their smooth, hazel skins, oval faces, plump and brilliant eyes, some of the young maidens,—barring the tattooed chins,—have a piquant and splendid beauty.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. viii., p. 329. On the Klamath and Trinity Rivers, many of the women ‘were exceedingly pretty; having large almond-shaped eyes, sometimes of a hazel color, and with the red showing through the cheeks. Their figures were full, their chests ample; and the younger ones had well-shaped busts, and rounded limbs.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 140. But as to the beauty of women tastes never agree; Mr Kelly in his Excursion to Cal., vol. ii., p. 167, speaking of a band of ‘noble-looking Indians’ which he met near Trinity River, says that they were ‘accompanied by a few squaws, who, strange to say, in this latitude are ugly, ill-favoured, stunted in stature, lumpy in figure, and awkward in gait,’ and concerning the Rogue River Indians a lady states that ‘among the women … there were some extremely clumsy figures.’ Pfeiffer’s Second Journ., p. 317. The Pit-River Indian girls ‘have the smallest and prettiest feet and hands I have ever seen.’ Miller’s Life amongst the Modocs, p. 374. and although their beauty rapidly fades, yet they do not in old age present that unnaturally wrinkled and shriveled appearance, characteristic of the Central Californians. This description scarcely applies to the people inhabiting the coast about Redwood Creek, Humboldt Bay, and Eel River, who are squat and fat in figure, rather stoutly built, with large heads covered with coarse thick hair, and repulsive countenances, who are of a much darker color, and altogether of a lower type than the tribes to the east and north of them.[435]At Crescent City, Mr Powers saw some ‘broad-faced squaws of an almost African blackness;’ the Patawats in the vicinity of Mad River and Humboldt Bay are ‘blackskinned, pudgy in stature; well cushioned with adipose tissue;’ at Redwood Creek ‘like most of the coast tribes they are very dark colored, squat in stature, rather fuller-faced than the interior Indians.’ Pomo, MS. At Trinidad Bay ‘their persons were in general indifferently, but stoutly made, of a lower stature than any tribe of Indians we had before seen.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 246. At the mouth of Eel River the Weeyots ‘are generally repulsive in countenance as well as filthy in person…. Their heads are disproportionately large; their figures, though short, strong and well developed.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 127. Carl Meyer names the Indians he saw at Trinidad Bay, Allequas, or Wood-Indians (Holzindianer). I do not find the name anywhere else, and judging by his description, they appear to differ considerably from the natives seen in the same vicinity by Vancouver or Mr Powers; he, Meyer, says; ‘Sie sind von unserm Wuchse, starke und beleibte, kräftige Gestalten. Ihre Haut ist wenig zimmet oder lohfarbig, eher weisslich, wie die der antisischen Inkas gewesen sein soll; bei der Jugend und besonders beim weiblichen Geschlechte schimmert oft ein sanftes Roth auf den Wangen hervor. Ihr Kopf ist wenig gedrückt, die Stirn hoch, der Gesichtswinkel gegen 80 Grad, die Nase römisch gekrümmt, das Auge gross in wenig quadratisch erweiterten Augenhöhlen und intelligent, die Lippen nicht aufgetrieben, das Kinn oval, und Hände und Füsse klein.’ Nach dem Sacramento, p. 215.

Dress in Northern California

Dress depends more on the state of the climate than on their own sense of decency. The men wear a belt, sometimes a breech-clout, and the women an apron or skirt of deer-skin or braided grass; then they sometimes throw over the shoulders a sort of cloak, or robe, of marten or rabbit skins sewn together, deer-skin, or, among the coast tribes, seal or sea-otter skin. When they indulge in this luxury, however, the men usually dispense with all other covering.[436]At Pitt River they ‘have no dress except a buckskin thrown around them.’ The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS. Near Mount Shasta ‘they can scarcely be said to wear any dress, except a mantle of deer or wolf skin. A few of them had deer-skins belted around their waists, with a highly ornamented girdle.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 255. Near Pitt River, the Indians were nearly naked. Abbott, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. vi., p. 61. At Trinidad Bay ‘their clothing was chiefly made of the skins of land animals, with a few indifferent small skins of the sea-otter.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 247. ‘The men, however, do not wear any covering, except the cold is intense, when indeed they put upon their shoulders the skins of sea-wolves, otters, deer, or other animals.’ Maurelle’s Jour., p. 16. ‘They were clothed, for the most part, in skins.’ Greenhow’s Hist. Ogn., p. 118. On Smith River they were ‘in a complete state of nature, excepting only a kind of apology for an apron, worn by the women, sometimes made of elk’s skin, and sometimes of grass.’ Pfeiffer’s Second Journ., p. 313. Among the Weeyots at Eel River the men ‘wore a deer-skin robe over the shoulder, and the women a short petticoat of fringe.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 127. On Klamath River their only dress was the fringed petticoat, or at most, a deerskin robe thrown back over the shoulders, in addition. Id., p. 141. ‘The primitive dress of the men is simply a buckskin girdle about the loins; of the women, a chemise of the same material, or of braided grass, reaching from the breast to the knees.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. viii., p. 329. ‘Were quite naked excepting the maro.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 253. The Klamath Lake Indians ‘wear little more than the breech-cloth.’ Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 277. ‘They were all well dressed in blankets and buckskin.’ Abbott, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. vi., p. 70. Carl Meyer, speaking of a tribe he names Allequas, at Trinidad Bay, says: ‘der Mann geht im Sommer ganz nackt, im Winter trägt er eine selbst gegerbte Hirsch- oder Rehdecke über die Schultern.’ ‘Die Allequas-Weiber tragen im Sommer von Bast-Schnüren oder von Rehfellstreifen, im Winter von Pelzwerk oder Gänseflaum verfertigte Schürzen, die bis auf die Knie reichen.’ Nach dem Sacramento, p. 217, 219. ‘The Klamaths, during the summer go naked, in winter they use the skins of rabbits and wild fowl for a covering.’ Thompson, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 283. Occasionally we find them taking great pride in their gala dresses and sparing no pains to render them beautiful. The Modocs, for instance, took large-sized skins, and inlaid them with brilliant-colored duck-scalps, sewed on in various figures; others, again, embroidered their aprons with colored grasses, and attached beads and shells to a deep fringe falling from the lower part.[437]‘An Indian will trap and slaughter seventy-five rabbits for one of these robes, making it double, with fur inside and out.’ Powers’ Pomo, MS. A bowl-shaped hat, or cap, of basket-work, is usually worn by the women, in making which some of them are very skillful. This hat is sometimes painted with various figures, and sometimes interwoven with gay feathers of the woodpecker or blue quail.[438]Fremont’s Explor. Ex., p. 204; Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., pp. 107, 127; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., 282.The men generally go bare-headed, their thick hair being sufficient protection from sun and weather. In the vicinity of the lakes, where, from living constantly among the long grass and reeds, the greatest skill is acquired in weaving and braiding, moccasins of straw or grass are worn.[439]Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 282; Fremont’s Explor. Ex., p. 204. At the junction of the Klamath and Trinity rivers their moccasins have soles of several thicknesses of leather.[440]Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 142. The natives seen by Maurelle at Trinidad Bay, bound their loins and legs down to the ankle with strips of hide or thread, both men and women.

The manner of dressing the hair varies; the most common way being to club it together behind in a queue, sometimes in two, worn down the back, or occasionally in the latter case drawn forward over the shoulders. The queue is frequently twisted up in a knot on the back of the head—en castanna—as Maurelle calls it. Occasionally the hair is worn loose, and flowing, and some of the women cut it short on the forehead. It is not uncommon to see wreaths of oak or laurel leaves, feathers, or the tails of gray squirrels twisted in the hair; indeed, from the trouble which they frequently take to adorn their coiffure, one would imagine that these people were of a somewhat æsthetic turn of mind, but a closer acquaintance quickly dispels the illusion. On Eel River some cut all the hair short, a custom practiced to some extent by the Central Californians.[441]Maurelle’s Jour., p. 17; Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., pp. 127, 142; Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. viii., p. 329; Pfeiffer’s Second Journ., p. 317. ‘Die Allequas (Trinidad Bay) haben starkes, ziemlich geschmeidiges Haar, das der Männer und der Kinder wird bis auf einen Zoll Länge regelmässig abgebrannt, so dass sie das Aussehen von Titusköpfen erhalten. Zuweilen sieht man die Männer auch mit einem ziemlich langen, durch eine harzige Flüssigkeit gesteiften, aufgerichteten Zopf, der als Schmuck betrachtet, bei festlichen Anlässen, oder im Kriege mit rothen oder weissen Federn geziert wird, und alsdann dem Schopf eines Wiedehopfs gleicht.’ Meyer, Nach dem Sacramento, p. 215. ‘Both men and women part their hair in the middle, the men cut it square on the neck and wear it rather long, the women wear theirs long, plaited in two braids, hanging down the back.’ The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS.

Facial Ornamentation

As usual these savages are beardless, or nearly so.[442]Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 127. ‘Barthaare haben sie, wie alle Indianer Nord-Amerikas, nur wenig; sie werden ausgerupft, und nur in der Trauer stehen gelassen.’ Meyer, Nach dem Sacramento, pp. 215-16. Tattooing, though not carried to any great extent, is universal among the women, and much practiced by the men, the latter confining this ornamentation to the breast and arms. The women tattoo in three blue lines, extending perpendicularly from the centre and corners of the lower lip to the chin. In some tribes they tattoo the arms, and occasionally the back of the hands. As they grow older the lines on the chin, which at first are very faint, are increased in width and color, thus gradually narrowing the intervening spaces. Now, as the social importance of the female is gauged by the width and depth of color of these lines, one might imagine that before long the whole chin would be what Southey calls “blue, darkly, deeply, beautifully blue;” but fashion ordains, as in the lip-ornament of the Thlinkeets, that the lines should be materially enlarged only as the charms of youth fade, thus therewith gauging both age and respectability.[443]The men tattoo so that they may ‘be recognized if stolen by Modocs.’ ‘With the women it is entirely for ornament.’ The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS. At Rogue River the women ‘were tattooed on the hands and arms as well as the chin.’ Pfeiffer’s Second Journ., p. 317. At Trinidad Bay ‘they ornamented their lower lip with three perpendicular columns of punctuation, one from each corner of the mouth and one in the middle, occupying three fifths of the chin.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 247. Maurelle says the same, and adds that a space is left between each line, ‘which is much larger in the young than in the older women, whose faces are generally covered with punctures.’ Jour., p. 17. At Mad River and Humboldt Bay, the same, ‘and also lines of small dots on the backs of their hands.’ Powers’ Pomo, MS. At mouth of Eel River ‘both sexes tattoo; the men on their arms and breasts; the women from inside the under lip down to and beneath the chin. The extent of this disfigurement indicates to a certain extent, the age and condition of the person.’ ‘In the married women the lines are extended up above the corners of the mouth.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., pp. 127, 142. ‘I have never observed any particular figures or designs upon their persons; but the tattooing is generally on the chin, though sometimes on the wrist and arm. Tattooing has mostly been on the persons of females, and seems to be esteemed as an ornament, not apparently indicating rank or condition.’ Johnston, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 223. The squaws among the Cahrocs on the Klamath ‘tattoo, in blue, three narrow fern-leaves, perpendicularly on the chin.’ ‘For this purpose they are said to employ soot, gathered from a stove, mingled with the juice of a certain plant.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. viii., p. 329. Among the Shastys the women ‘are tattooed in lines from the mouth to the chin.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 218. Among the Allequas at Trinidad bay: ‘Die Mädchen werden im fünften Jahre mit einem schwarzen Streifen von beiden Mundwinkeln bis unter das Kinn tättowirt, welchem Striche dann alle fünf Jahre ein parallellaufender beigefügt wird, so dass man an diesen Zeichnungen leicht das Alter jeder Indianerin übersehen kann…. Die Männer bemalen sich bei besondern Anlässen mit einem Tannenfirniss, den sie selbst bereiten, das Gesicht, und zeichnen allerlei geheimnissvolle Figuren und Verzierungen auf Wange, Nase und Stirn, indem sie mit einem hölzernen Stäbchen den noch weichen Firniss auf den einzelnen Stellen von der Haut wegheben.’ Meyer, Nach dem Sacramento, p. 216. In some few tribes, more especially in the vicinity of the lakes, the men paint themselves in various colors and grotesque patterns. Among the Modocs the women also paint. Miller says that when a Modoc warrior paints his face black before going into battle it means victory or death, and he will not survive a defeat.[444]‘I never saw two alike.’ The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS. At Klamath lake they are ‘painted from their heads to their waists all colours and patterns.’ Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 277. The Modocs ‘paint themselves with various pigments formed from rotten wood, different kinds of earth, &c.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. x., p. 536. Kane ‘took a sketch of a Chastay (Shasta) female slave (among the Chinooks) the lower part of whose face, from the corners of the mouth to the ears and downwards, was tattooed of a bluish colour. The men of this tribe do not tattoo, but paint their faces like other Indians.’ Wand., p. 182. Ida Pfeiffer, Second Journ., p. 315, saw Indians on Smith river, who painted their faces ‘in a most detestable manner. They first smeared them with fish fat and then they rubbed in the paint, sometimes passing a finger over it in certain lines, so as to produce a pattern.’ Miller’s Life Amongst the Modocs, p. 361. Both men and women pierce the dividing cartilage of the nose, and wear various kinds of ornaments in the aperture. Sometimes it is a goose-quill, three or four inches long, at others, a string of beads or shells. Some of the more northerly tribes wear large round pieces of wood or metal in the ears.[445]‘No taste in bead work.’ The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS. ‘In den Ohren tragen die Allequas (at Trinidad bay) Schmucksachen, welche sie theils von den Weissen erhalten, theils aus Holz nachahmen; auch sind diese Gegenstände zuweilen durch Steinchen ersetzt, die talismanische Kräfte besitzen sollen. Nur die in den fernen Bergen wohnenden tragen hölzerne oder auch eiserne Ringe in den Nasenwandungen.’ Meyer, Nach dem Sacramento, p. 216; Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 142; Pfeiffer’s Second Journ., p. 317; Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. x., p. 537; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., plate xiv. Maurelle, in his bucolic description of the natives at Trinidad bay, says that “on their necks they wear various fruits, instead of beads.”[446]Maurelle’s Jour., p. 18.Vancouver, who visited the same place nearly twenty years later, states that “all the teeth of both sexes were by some process ground uniformly down horizontally to the gums, the women especially, carrying the fashion to an extreme, had their teeth reduced even below this level.”[447]Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 247.

Here also we see in their habitations the usual summer and winter residences common to nomadic tribes. The winter dwellings, varying with locality, are principally of two forms—conical and square. Those of the former shape, which is the most widely prevailing, and obtains chiefly in the vicinity of the Klamath lakes and on the Klamath and Trinity rivers, are built in the manner following: A circular hole, from two to five feet in depth, and varying in diameter, is dug in the ground. Round this pit, or cellar, stout poles are sunk, which are drawn together at the top until they nearly meet; the whole is then covered with earth to the depth of several inches. A hole is left in the top, which serves as chimney and door, a rude ladder or notched pole communicating with the cellar below, and a similar one with the ground outside. This, however, is only the commoner and lighter kind of conical house. Many of them are built of much heavier timbers, which, instead of being bent over at the top, and so forming a bee-hive-shaped structure, are leaned one against the other.

The dwellings built by the Hoopahs are somewhat better. The inside of the cellar is walled up with stone; round this, and at a distance of a few feet from it, another stone wall is built on the surface level, against which heavy beams or split logs are leaned up, meeting at the top, or sometimes the lower ends of the poles rest against the inside of the wall, thus insuring the inmates against a sudden collapse of the hut.[448]‘The lodges are dome-shaped; like beaver-houses, an arched roof covers a deep pit sunk in the ground, the entrance to which is a round hole.’ Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 278. ‘Large round huts, perhaps 20 feet in diameter, with rounded tops, on which was the door by which they descended into the interior.’ Fremont’s Explor. Ex., p. 204. ‘The Modoc excavates a circular space from two to four feet deep, then makes over it a conical structure of puncheons, which is strongly braced up with timbers, frequently hewn and a foot square.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. x., p. 536; Id., vol. ix., p. 156. ‘The style was very substantial, the large poles requiring five or six men to lift.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 175. ‘Have only an opening at the summit.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 261. On the inside of the door they frequently place a sliding panel. ‘The Kailtas build wigwams in a conical shape—as all tribes on the Trinity do—but they excavate no cellars.’ Powers’ Pomo, MS. See full description of dwellings, by Johnston, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 223. The entrance is a ’round hole just large enough to crawl into, which is on a level with the surface of the ground, or is cut through the roof.’ Johnson, in Overland Monthly, vol. ii., p. 536; Miller’s Life Amongst the Modocs, p. 377.

Californian Habitations

The square style of dwelling is affected more by the coast tribes, although occasionally seen in the interior. A cellar, either square or round, is dug in the same manner as with the conical houses. The sides of the hole are walled with upright slabs, which project some feet above the surface of the ground. The whole structure is covered with a roof of sticks or planks, sloping gently outward, and resting upon a ridge-pole. The position of the door varies, being sometimes in the roof, sometimes on a level with the ground, and occasionally high up in the gable. Its shape and dimensions, however, never alter; it is always circular, barely large enough to admit a full-grown man on hands and knees. When on the roof or in the gable, a notched pole or mud steps lead up to the entrance; when on the ground, a sliding panel closes the entrance. In some cases, the excavation is planked up only to a level with the ground. The upper part is then raised several feet from the sides, leaving a bank, or rim, on which the inmates sleep; occasionally there is no excavation, the house being erected on the level ground, with merely a small fire-hole in the centre. The floors are kept smooth and clean, and a small space in front of the door, paved with stones and swept clean, serves as gossiping and working ground for the women.[449]‘Built of plank, rudely wrought.’ The roofs are not ‘horizontal like those at Nootka, but rise with a small degree of elevation to a ridge in the middle.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., pp. 241-2. Well built, of boards; often twenty feet square; roof pitched over a ridge-pole; ground usually excavated 3 or 4 feet; some cellars floored and walled with stone. Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 140. ‘The dwellings of the Hoopas were built of large planks, about 1½ inches thick, from two to four feet wide, and from six to twelve feet in length.’ Trinity Journal, April, 1857. ‘The floors of these huts are perfectly smooth and clean, with a square hole two feet deep in the centre, in which they make their fire.’ Maurelle’s Jour., p. 17. ‘The huts have never but one apartment. The fire is kindled in the centre, the smoke escaping through the crevices in the roof.’ Hubbard, in Golden Era, March, 1856. The houses of the Eurocs and Cahrocs ‘are sometimes constructed on the level earth, but oftener they excavate a round cellar, four or five feet deep, and twelve or fifteen feet in diameter.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. viii., p. 530; Meyer, Nach dem Sacramento, p. 220; The Shastas and their neighbors, MS.

The temporary summer houses of the Northern Californians are square, conical, and inverted-bowl-shaped huts; built, when square, by driving light poles into the ground and laying others horizontally across them; when conical, the poles are drawn together at the top into a point; when bowl-shaped, both ends of the poles are driven into the ground, making a semi-circular hut. These frames, however shaped, are covered with neatly woven tule matting,[450]Kit Carson says of lodges seen near Klamath lake: ‘They were made of the broad leaves of the swamp flag, which were beautifully and intricately woven together.’ Peters’ Life of Carson, p. 263. ‘The wild sage furnishes them shelter in the heat of summer, and, like the Cayote, they burrow in the earth for protection from the inclemencies of winter.’ Thompson, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 283. ‘Their lodges are generally mere temporary structures, scarcely sheltering them from the pelting storm.’ Palmer, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 262. or with bushes or ferns.[451]‘Slightly constructed, generally of poles.’ Emmons, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 218. ‘The earth in the centre scooped out, and thrown up in a low, circular embankment.’ Turner, in Overland Monthly, p. xi., p. 21.

Hunting and Fishing

The Californians are but poor hunters; they prefer the snare to the bow and arrow. Yet some of the mountain tribes display considerable dexterity in the chase. To hunt the prong-buck, the Klamath fastens to each heel a strip of ermine-skin, and keeping the herd to the windward, he approaches craftily through the tall grass as near as possible, then throwing himself on his back, or standing on his head, he executes a pantomime in the air with his legs. Naturally the antelope wonder, and being cursed with curiosity, the simple animals gradually approach. As soon as they arrive within easy shooting-distance, down go the hunter’s legs and up comes the body. Too late the antelope learn their mistake; swift as they are, the arrow is swifter; and the fattest buck pays the penalty of his inquisitiveness with his life. The Veeards, at Humboldt Bay, construct a slight fence from tree to tree, into which inclosure elk are driven, the only exit being by a narrow opening at one end, where a pole is placed in such a manner as to force the animal to stoop in passing under it, when its head is caught in a noose suspended from the pole. This pole is dragged down by the entangled elk, but soon he is caught fast in the thick undergrowth, and firmly held until the hunter comes up.[452]Powers’ Pomo, MS. Pitfalls are also extensively used in trapping game. A narrow pass, through which an elk or deer trail leads, is selected for the pit, which is ten or twelve feet deep. The animals are then suddenly stampeded from their feeding-grounds, and, in their wild terror, rush blindly along the trail to destruction.[453]‘The rocks supply edible shell-fish.’ Schumacher’s Oregon Antiquities, MS. ‘The deer and elk are mostly captured by driving them into traps and pits.’ ‘Small game is killed with arrows, and sometimes elk and deer are dispatched in the same way.’ Hubbard, in Golden Era, April, 1856. ‘The elk they usually take in snares.’ Pfeiffer’s Second Journ., p. 317. ‘The mountain Indians subsisted largely on game, which of every variety was very abundant, and was killed with their bows and arrows, in the use of which they were very expert.’ Wiley, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1867, p. 497. ‘Die Indianer am Pittflusse machen Graben oder Löcher von circa 5 Kubikfuss, bedecken diese mit Zweigen und Gras ganz leicht, sodass die Thiere, wenn sie darüber gejagt werden, hinein fallen und nicht wieder herauskönnen. Wilde Gänse fangen sie mit Netzen … Nur selten mögen Indianer den grauen Bär jagen.’ Wimmel, Californien, p. 181; The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS. The bear they seldom hunt, and if one is taken, it is usually by accident, in one of their strong elk-traps. Many of the tribes refuse to eat bear-meat, alleging that the flesh of a man-eating animal is unclean; but no doubt Bruin owes his immunity as much to his teeth and claws as to his uncleanness.

Fishing by Night on the Klamath

Fishing is more congenial to the lazy taste of these people than the nobler but more arduous craft of hunting; consequently fish, being abundant, are generally more plentiful in the aboriginal larder than venison. Several methods are adopted in taking them. Sometimes a dam of interwoven willows is constructed across a rapid at the time when salmon are ascending the river; niches four or five feet square are made at intervals across the dam, in which the fish, pressed on by those behind, collect in great numbers and are there speared or netted without mercy. Much ingenuity and labor are required to build some of the larger of these dams. Mr Gibbs describes one thrown across the Klamath, where the river was about seventy-five yards wide, elbowing up the stream in its deepest part. It was built by first driving stout posts into the bed of the river, at a distance of some two feet apart, having a moderate slope, and supported from below, at intervals of ten or twelve feet, by two braces; the one coming to the surface of the water, the other reaching to the string-pieces. These last were heavy spars, about thirty feet in length, and secured to each post by withes. The whole dam was faced with twigs, carefully peeled, and placed so close together as to prevent the fish from passing up. The top, at this stage of the water, was two or three feet above the surface. The labor of constructing this work must, with the few and insufficient tools of the natives, have been immense. Slight scaffolds were built out below it, from which the fish were taken in scoop-nets; they also employ drag-nets and spears, the latter having a movable barb, which is fastened to the shaft with a string in order to afford the salmon play.[454]Schumacher, Oregon Antiquities, MS., classifies their ancient arrow and spear points thus: Long barbs with projections, short barbs with projections, and long and short barbs without projections. ‘The point of the spear is composed of a small bone needle, which sits in a socket, and pulls out as soon as the fish starts. A string connecting the spear handle and the center of the bone serves, when pulled, to turn the needle cross wise in the wound.’ Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, March 8, 1861; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 146. On Rogue River, spearing by torch-light—a most picturesque sight—is resorted to. Twenty canoes sometimes start out together, each carrying three persons—two women, one to row and the other to hold the torch, and a spearman. Sometimes the canoes move in concert, sometimes independently of each other; one moment the lights are seen in line, like an army of fire-flies, then they are scattered over the dark surface of the water like ignes fatui. The fish, attracted by the glare, rise to the surface, where they are transfixed by the unerring aim of the spearmen. Torchlight spearing is also done by driving the fish down stream in the day-time by dint of much wading, yelling, and howling, and many splashes, until they are stopped by a dam previously erected lower down; another dam is then built above, so that the fish cannot escape. At night fires are built round the edge of the enclosed space, and the finny game speared from the bank.[455]The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS.; Hubbard, in Golden Era, April, 1856; Wiley, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1867, p. 497. ‘In spawning-time the fish school up from Clear Lake in extraordinary numbers, so that the Indians have only to put a slight obstruction in the river, when they can literally shovel them out.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. x., p. 537; Schumacher’s Oregon Antiquities, MS. Some tribes on the Klamath erect platforms over the stream on upright poles, on which they sleep and fish at the same time. A string leads from the net either to the fisherman himself or to some kind of alarm; and as soon as a salmon is caught, its floundering immediately awakens the slumberer. On the sea-shore smelts are taken in a triangular net stretched on two slender poles; the fisherman wades into the water up to his waist, turns his face to the shore, and his back to the incoming waves, against whose force he braces himself with a stout stick, then as the smelts are washed back from the beach by the returning waves, he receives them in his net. The net is deep, and a narrow neck connects it with a long network bag behind; into this bag the fish drop when the net is raised, but they cannot return. In this manner the fisherman can remain for some time at his post, without unloading.

Eels are caught in traps having a funnel-shaped entrance, into which the eels can easily go, but which closes on them as soon as they are in. These traps are fastened to stakes and kept down by weights. Similar traps are used to take salmon.

When preserved for winter use, the fish are split open at the back, the bone taken out, then dried or smoked. Both fish and meat, when eaten fresh, are either broiled on hot stones or boiled in water-tight baskets, hot stones being thrown in to make the water boil. Bread is made of acorns ground to flour in a rough stone mortar with a heavy stone pestle, and baked in the ashes. Acorn-flour is the principal ingredient, but berries of various kinds are usually mixed in, and frequently it is seasoned with some high-flavored herb. A sort of pudding is also made in the same manner, but is boiled instead of baked.

They gather a great variety of roots, berries, and seeds. The principal root is the camas,[456]‘The camas is a bulbus root, shaped much like an onion.’ Miller’s Life Amongst the Modocs, p. 22. great quantities of which are dried every summer, and stored away for winter provision. Another root, called kice, or kace,[457]‘A root about an inch long, and as large as one’s little finger, of a bitter-sweetish and pungent taste, something like ginseng.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. x., p. 537. is much sought after. Of seeds they have the wocus,[458]‘An aquatic plant, with a floating leaf, very much like that of a pond-lily, in the centre of which is a pod resembling a poppy-head, full of farinaceous seeds.’ Ib. See also Meyer, Nach dem Sacramento, p. 222. ‘Their principal food is the kamas root, and the seed obtained from a plant growing in the marshes of the lake, resembling, before hulled, a broom-corn seed.’ Palmer, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 263. and several varieties of grass-seeds. Among berries the huckleberry and the manzanita berry are the most plentiful.[459]The Klamaths ‘subsist upon roots and almost every living thing within their reach, not excepting reptiles, crickets, ants, etc.’ Thompson, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 283; Heintzelman, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 391; Roseborough’s letter to the author, MS. The women do the cooking, root and berry gathering, and all the drudgery.

The winter stock of smoked fish hangs in the family room, sending forth an ancient and fish-like smell. Roots and seeds are, among some of the more northerly tribes, stored in large wicker boxes, built in the lower branches of strong, wide-spreading trees. The trunk of the tree below the granary is smeared with pitch to keep away vermin.[459]The Klamaths ‘subsist upon roots and almost every living thing within their reach, not excepting reptiles, crickets, ants, etc.’ Thompson, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 283; Heintzelman, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 391; Roseborough’s letter to the author, MS. The Modocs are sometimes obliged to cache their winter hoard under rocks and bushes; the great number of their enemies and bad character of their ostensibly friendly neighbors, rendering it unsafe for them to store it in their villages. So cunningly do they conceal their treasure that one winter, after an unusually heavy fall of snow, they themselves could not find it, and numbers starved in consequence.[460]Turner, in Overland Monthly, vol. xi., p. 24.

Although the Northern Californians seldom fail to take a cold bath in the morning, and frequently bathe at intervals during the day, yet they are never clean.[461]At Rogue River, ‘the men go in the morning into the river, but, like the Malays, bring all the dirt out on their skins that they took in.’ Pfeiffer’s Second Journ., p. 317. At Pitt River they are ‘disgusting in their habits.’ Abbott, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. vi., p. 61; The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS. ‘Of the many hundreds I have seen, there was not one who still observed the aboriginal mode of life, that had not a sweet breath. This is doubtless due to the fact that, before they became civilized, they ate their food cold.’ Powers’ Pomo, MS. ‘They always rise at the first dawn of day, and plunge into the river.’ Hubbard, in Golden Era, March, 1856. ‘Their persons are unusually clean, as they use both the sweat-house and the cold-bath constantly.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 142. ‘Mit Tagesanbruch begibt sich der Allequa (Trinidad Bay) in jeder Jahreszeit zur nahen Quelle, wo er sich am ganzen Leibe wäscht und in den Strahlen der aufsteigenden Sonne trocknen lässt.’ Meyer, Nach dem Sacramento, p. 221; Roseborough’s letter to the author, MS.

War and Weapons

The Northern Californians are not of a very warlike disposition, hence their weapons are few, being confined chiefly to the bow and arrow.[462]Carl Meyer, after describing the bow, adds: ‘Fernere Waffen der Allequas sind; das Obsidian-Beil oder Tomahawk, die Keule, die Lanze und der Wurfspiess.’ Nach dem Sacramento, p. 218. This statement, I think, may be taken with some allowance, as nowhere else do I find mention of a tomahawk being used by the Californians. The bow is about three feet in length, made of yew, cedar, or some other tough or elastic wood, and generally painted. The back is flat, from an inch and a half to two inches wide, and covered with elk-sinews, which greatly add both to its strength and elasticity; the string is also of sinew. The bow is held horizontally when discharged, instead of perpendicularly as in most countries. The arrows are from two to three feet long, and are made sometimes of reed, sometimes of light wood. The points, which are of flint, obsidian, bone, iron, or copper, are ground to a very fine point, fastened firmly into a short piece of wood, and fitted into a socket in the main shaft, so that on withdrawing the arrow the head will be left in the wound. The feathered part, which is from five to eight inches long, is also sometimes a separate piece bound on with sinews. The quiver is made of the skin of a fox, wild-cat, or some other small animal, in the same shape as when the animal wore it, except at the tail end, where room is left for the feathered ends of arrows to project. It is usually carried on the arm.[463]Schumacher, Oregon Antiquities, MS., speaking of an ancient spear-point, says, ‘the pointed teeth show it to have been a very dangerous weapon.’ Roseborough’s letter to the author, MS. On the Klamath River, ‘among the skins used for quivers, I noticed the otter, wild-cat, fisher, fawn, grey fox and others.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 141. Near Mt Shasta, ‘bows and arrows are very beautifully made: the former are of yew, and about three feet long … backed very neatly with sinew, and painted…. The arrows are upwards of thirty inches long.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 255. At Port Trinidad, ‘arrows are carried in quivers of wood or bone, and hang from their wrist or neck.’ Maurelle’s Jour., p. 20. On Pigeon River ‘their arrows were in general tipped with copper or iron.’ Greenhow’s Hist. Ogn., p. 110. The Pit River ‘arrows are made in three parts.’ Abbott, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. vi., p. 61. The Allequas at Trinidad Bay, described by Carl Meyer, carried their arrows either ‘schussfertig in der Hand oder in einem über die Schultern geworfenen Köcher aus Fuchs- oder Biberpelz. Der Bogen ist aus einer starken, elastischen Rothtannenwurzel verfertigt, etwa 3½ Fuss lang und auf der Rückseite mit einer Bärensehne überklebt.’ Nach dem Sacramento, p. 217. See Mofras, Explor., Atlas, plate xxv. Speaking of the quiver, Mr Powers says: ‘in the animal’s head they stuff a quantity of grass or moss, as a cushion for the arrow-heads to rest in, which prevents them from being broken.’ Overland Monthly, vol. viii., p. 532. ‘Their arrows can only be extracted from the flesh with the knife.’ Cutts’ Conquest of Cal., p. 170. ‘Am oberen Theile (California) ist der Bogen von einer Lage von Hirsch-Sehnen verstärkt und elastisch gemacht. Die Pfeile bestehen aus einem rohrartigen Gewächse von mässiger Länge, an der Spitze mit Obsidian … versehen, ihre Länge ist 2 Zoll, ihre Breite 1 Zoll und die Dicke¹/₃ Zoll, scharfkantig und spitz zulaufend.’ Wimmel, Californien, p. 180.

Mr Powers says: “doubtless many persons who have seen the flint arrow-heads made by the Indians, have wondered how they succeeded with their rude implements, in trimming them down to such sharp, thin points, without breaking them to pieces. The Veeards—and probably other tribes do likewise—employ for this purpose a pair of buck-horn pincers, tied together at the point with a thong. They first hammer out the arrow-head in the rough, and then with these pincers carefully nip off one tiny fragment after another, using that infinite patience which is characteristic of the Indian, spending days, perhaps weeks, on one piece. There are Indians who make arrows as a specialty, just as there are others who concoct herbs and roots for the healing of men.”[464]Powers’ Pomo, MS.; Schumacher’s Oregon Antiquities, MS.; The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS. The Shastas especially excelled in making obsidian arrow-heads; Mr Wilkes of the Exploring Expedition notices them as being “beautifully wrought,” and Lyon, in a letter to the American Ethnological Society, communicated through Dr E. H. Davis, describes the very remarkable ingenuity and skill which they display in this particular. The arrow-point maker, who is one of a regular guild, places the obsidian pebble upon an anvil of talcose slate and splits it with an agate chisel to the required size; then holding the piece with his finger and thumb against the anvil, he finishes it off with repeated slight blows, administered with marvelous adroitness and judgment. One of these artists made an arrow-point for Mr Lyon out of a piece of a broken porter-bottle. Owing to his not being acquainted with the grain of the glass, he failed twice, but the third time produced a perfect specimen.[465]Hist. Mag., vol. iii., p. 214. The Wallies poison their arrows with rattlesnake-virus, but poisoned weapons seem to be the exception.[466]Johnson, in Overland Monthly, vol. ii., p. 536. At Trinidad Bay ‘zuweilen werden die Pfeile mit dem Safte des Sumachbaumes vergiftet, und alsdann nur zum Erlegen wilder Raubthiere gebraucht.’ Meyer, Nach dem Sacramento, p. 218. ‘Einige Stämme vergiften die Spitzen ihrer Pfeile auf folgende Weise: Sie reizen nämlich eine Klapperschlange mit einer vorgehaltenen Hirschleber, worin sie beisst, und nachdem nun die Leber mit dem Gifte vollständig imprägnirt ist, wird sie vergraben und muss verfaulen; hierin wird nun die Spitze eingetaucht und dann getrocknet.’ Wimmel, Californien, p. 180. The Pitt River Indians ‘use the poison of the rattle-snake, by grinding the head of that reptile into an impalpable powder, which is then applied by means of the putrid blood and flesh of the dog to the point of the weapon.’ Gross’ System of Surgery, vol. i., p. 321. ‘The Pitt River Indians poisoned their arrows in a putrid deer’s liver. This is a slow poison, however, and sometimes will not poison at all.’ The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS.; Schumacher’s Oregon Antiquities, MS. The bow is skilfully used; war-clubs are not common.[467]Among other things seen by Meyer were, ‘noch grössere Bogen, die ihnen als bedeutende Ferngeschosse dienen. Ein solcher ist 6 Fuss lang, und der Indianer legt sich auf die Erde, um denselben zu spannen, indem er das rechte Knie in den Bogen einstemmt und mit beiden Armen nachhilft.’ The bow and arrow, knife, and war-club, constitute their weapons. In one of their lodges I noticed an elk-skin shield, so constructed as to be impervious to the sharpest arrows. Palmer, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 262. Miller mentions a Modoc who was ‘painted red, half-naked, and held a tomahawk in his hand.’ Life Amongst the Modocs, p. 20.

War and Its Motives

Wars, though of frequent occurrence, were not particularly bloody. The casus belli was usually that which brought the Spartan King before the walls of Ilion, and Titus Tatius to incipient Rome—woman. It is true, the Northern Californians are less classic abductors than the spoilers of the Sabine women, but their wars ended in the same manner—the ravished fair cleaving to her warrior-lover. Religion also, that ever-fruitful source of war, is not without its conflicts in savagedom; thus more than once the Shastas and the Umpquas have taken up arms because of wicked sorceries, which caused the death of the people.[468]Salem Statesman, April, 1857. So when one people obstructed the river with their weir, thereby preventing the ascent of salmon, there was nothing left for those above but to fight or starve.

Along Pitt River, pits from ten to fifteen feet deep were formerly dug, in which the natives caught man and beast. These man-traps, for such was their primary use, were small at the mouth, widening toward the bottom, so that exit was impossible, even were the victim to escape impalement upon sharpened elk and deer horns, which were favorably placed for his reception. The opening was craftily concealed by means of light sticks, over which earth was scattered, and the better to deceive the unwary traveler, footprints were frequently stamped with a moccasin in the loose soil. Certain landmarks and stones or branches, placed in a peculiar manner, warned the initiated, but otherwise there was no sign of impending danger.[469]Hence, if we may credit Miller, Life Amongst the Modocs, p. 373, the name Pitt River.

Some few nations maintain the predominancy and force the weaker to pay tribute.[470]The Hoopas exacted tribute from all the surrounding tribes. At the time the whites arrived the Chimalaquays were paying them tribute in deer-skins at the rate of twenty-five cents per head. Powers’ Pomo, MS. The Hoopahs have a law requiring those situated on the Trinity, above them to pay tribute. Humboldt Times, Nov. 1857; S. F. Evening Bulletin, Nov. 23, 1857. When two of these dominant nations war with each other, the conflict is more sanguinary. No scalps are taken, but in some cases the head, hands, or feet of the conquered slain are severed as trophies. The Cahrocs sometimes fight hand to hand with ragged stones, which they use with deadly effect. The Rogue River Indians kill all their male prisoners, but spare the women and children.[471]The Sassics, Cahrocs, Hoopahs, Klamaths and Rogue River Indians, take no scalps, but decapitate the slain, or cut off their hands and feet. Pfeiffer’s Second Journ., p. 317. The elk-horn knives and hatchets are the result of much labor and patience.[472]The Veeards on Lower Humboldt Bay ‘took elk-horns and rubbed them on stones for days together, to sharpen them into axes and wedges.’ Powers’ Pomo, MS. On the Klamath river they had ‘spoons neatly made of bone and horn.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 146.

The women are very ingenious in plaiting grass, or fine willow-roots, into mats, baskets, hats, and strips of parti-colored braid for binding up the hair. On these, angular patterns are worked by using different shades of material, or by means of dyes of vegetable extraction. The baskets are of various sizes, from the flat, basin-shaped, water-tight, rush bowl for boiling food, to the large pointed cone which the women carry on their backs when root-digging or berry-picking.[473]‘For basket making, they use the roots of pine-trees, the stem of the spice-bush, and ornament with a kind of grass which looks like a palm leaf, and will bleach white. They also stain it purple with elder berries, and green with soapstone.’ … ‘The Pitt River Indians excel all others in basket-making, but are not particularly good at bead work.’ The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS.; Fremont’s Explor. Ex., p. 204; Johnson, in Overland Monthly, vol. ii., p. 536; Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 134; Powers’ Pomo, MS. They are also expert tanners, and, by a comparatively simple process, will render skins as soft and pliable as cloth. The hide is first soaked in water till the hair loosens, then stretched between trees or upright posts till half dry, when it is scraped thoroughly on both sides, well beaten with sticks, and the brains of some animal, heated at a fire, are rubbed on the inner side to soften it. Finally it is buried in moist ground for some weeks.

Manufactures and Boats

The interior tribes manifest no great skill in boat-making, but along the coast and near the mouth of the Klamath and Rogue rivers, very good canoes are found. They are still, however, inferior to those used on the Columbia and its tributaries. The lashed-up-hammock-shaped bundle of rushes, which is so frequently met in the more southern parts of California, has been seen on the Klamath,[474]Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 253; Emmons, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 218. but I have reason to think that it is only used as a matter of convenience, and not because no better boat is known. It is certain that dug-out canoes were in use on the same river, and within a few miles of the spot where tule buoys obtain. The fact is, this bundle of rushes is the best craft that could be invented for salmon-spearing. Seated astride, the weight of the fisherman sinks it below the surface; he can move it noiselessly with his feet so that there is no splashing of paddles in the sun to frighten the fish; it cannot capsize, and striking a rock does it no injury. Canoes are hollowed from the trunk of a single redwood, pine, fir, sycamore, or cottonwood tree. They are blunt at both ends and on Rogue River many of them are flat-bottomed. It is a curious fact that some of these canoes are made from first to last without being touched with a sharp-edged tool of any sort. The native finds the tree ready felled by the wind, burns it off to the required length, and hollows it out by fire. Pitch is spread on the parts to be burned away, and a piece of fresh bark prevents the flames from extending too far in the wrong direction. A small shelf, projecting inward from the stern, serves as a seat. Much trouble is sometimes taken with the finishing up of these canoes, in the way of scraping and polishing, but in shape they lack symmetry. On the coast they are frequently large; Mr Powers mentions having seen one at Smith River forty-two feet long, eight feet four inches wide, and capable of carrying twenty-four men and five tons of merchandise. The natives take great care of their canoes, and always cover them when out of the water to protect them from the sun. Should a crack appear they do not caulk it, but stitch the sides of the split tightly together with withes. They are propelled with a piece of wood, half pole, half paddle.[475]The boats formerly used by the Modocs were ‘quite rude and unshapely concerns, compared with those of the lower Klamath, but substantial and sometimes large enough to carry 1800 pounds of merchandise.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. viii., p. 532, vol. x., p. 536. ‘Blunt at both ends, with a small projection in the stern for a seat.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 142. ‘Those on Rogue river were roughly built—some of them scow fashion, with flat bottom.’ Emmons, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 218. The Pitt River Indians ‘used boats made from pine; they burn them out … about twenty feet long, some very good ones.’ The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS.

Wealth in Northern California

Wealth, which is quite as important here as in any civilized communities, and of much more importance than is customary among savage nations, consists in shell-money, called allicochick, white deer-skins, canoes, and, indirectly, in women. The shell which is the regular circulating medium is white, hollow, about a quarter of an inch through, and from one to two inches in length. On its length depends its value. A gentleman, who writes from personal observation, says: “all of the older Indians have tattooed on their arms their standard of value. A piece of shell corresponding in length to one of the marks being worth five dollars, ‘Boston money,’ the scale gradually increases until the highest mark is reached. For five perfect shells corresponding in length to this mark they will readily give one hundred dollars in gold or silver.”[476]Chase, in Overland Monthly, vol. ii., p. 433. ‘A kind of bead made from a shell procured on the coast. These they string and wear about the neck…. Another kind is a shell about an inch long, which looks like a porcupine quill. They are more valuable than the other. They also use them as nose-ornaments.’ The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS. ‘The unit of currency is a string of the length of a man’s arm, with a certain number of the longer shells below the elbow, and a certain number of the shorter ones above.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. viii., p. 329. ‘A rare shell, spiral in shape, varying from one to two inches in length, and about the size of a crowquill, called by the natives, Siwash, is used as money.’ Hubbard, in Golden Era, March, 1856. White deer-skins are rare and considered very valuable, one constituting quite an estate in itself.[477]‘The ownership of a (white) deer-skin, constitutes a claim to chieftainship, readily acknowledged by all the dusky race on this coast.’ Humboldt Times, Dec., 1860. A scalp of the red-headed woodpecker is equivalent to about five dollars, and is extensively used as currency on the Klamath. Canoes are valued according to their size and finish. Wives, as they must be bought, are a sign of wealth, and the owner of many is respected accordingly.[478]‘Property consists in women, ornaments made of rare feathers and shells, also furs and skins.’ Hubbard, in Golden Era, March, 1856. Their wealth ‘consisted chiefly of white deerskins, canoes, the scalp of the red-headed woodpecker, and aliquachiek.’ Wiley, in Ind. Aff. Rept. Joint Spec. Com., 1867, p. 497.

Among the Northern Californians, hereditary chieftainship is almost unknown. If the son succeed the father it is because the son has inherited the father’s wealth, and if a richer than he arise the ancient ruler is deposed and the new chief reigns in his stead. But to be chief means to have position, not power. He can advise, but not command; at least, if his subjects do not choose to obey him, he cannot compel obedience.

There is most frequently a head man to each village, and sometimes a chief of the whole tribe, but in reality each head of a family governs his own domestic circle as he thinks best. As in certain republics, when powerful applicants become multiplied—new offices are created, as salmon-chief, elk-chief, and the like. In one or two coast tribes the office is hereditary, as with the Patawats on Mad River, and that mysterious tribe at Trinidad Bay, mentioned by Mr Meyer, the Allequas.[479]‘Have no tribal organization, no such thing as public offence.’ Roseborough’s letter to the author, MS. A Pitt River chief tried the white man’s code, but so unpopular was it, that he was obliged to abandon it. The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS. Among the Klamath and Trinity tribes the power of the chief ‘is insufficient to control the relations of the several villages, or keep down the turbulence of individuals.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., pp. 139-140. The Cahrocs, Eurocs, Hoopas, and Kailtas, have a nominal chief for each village, but his power is extremely limited and each individual does as he likes. Among the Tolewas in Del Norte County, money makes the chief. The Modocs and Patawats have an hereditary chieftainship. Powers’ Pomo, MS. At Trinidad Bay they were ‘governed by a ruler, who directs where they shall go both to hunt and fish.’ Maurelle’s Jour., p. 18. ‘Der Häuptling ist sehr geachtet; er hat über Handel und Wandel, Leben und Tod seiner Unterthanen zu verfügen, und seine Macht vererbt sich auf seinen Erstgebornen.’ Meyer, Nach dem Sacramento, p. 223. The chief ‘obtains his position from his wealth, and usually manages to transmit his effects and with them his honors, to his posterity.’ Hubbard, in Golden Era, March, 1856. Formerly ‘the different rancherias had chiefs, or heads, known as Mow-wee-mas, their influence being principally derived from their age, number of relatives, and wealth.’ Wiley, in Ind. Aff. Rept. Joint Spec. Com., p. 497.

Their penal code is far from Draconian. A fine of a few strings of allicochick appeases the wrath of a murdered man’s relatives and satisfies the requirements of custom. A woman may be slaughtered for half the sum it costs to kill a man. Occasionally banishment from the tribe is the penalty for murder, but capital punishment is never resorted to. The fine, whatever it is, must be promptly paid, or neither city of refuge nor sacred altar-horns will shield the murderer from the vengeance of his victim’s friends.[480]The Cahrocs compound for murder by payment of one string. Among the Patawats the average fine for murdering a man is ten strings, for killing a woman five strings, worth about $100 and $50 respectively. ‘An average Patawut’s life is considered worth about six ordinary canoes, each of which occupies two Indians probably three months in making, or, in all, tantamount to the labor of one man for a period of three years.’ ‘The Hoopas and Kailtas also paid for murder, or their life was taken by the relatives of the deceased.’ Powers’ Pomo, MS. ‘They seem to do as they please, and to be only governed by private revenge. If one man kills another the tribe or family of the latter kill the murderer, unless he buy himself off.’ The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS.

Women and Domestic Affairs

In vain do we look for traces of that Arcadian simplicity and disregard for worldly advantages generally accorded to children of nature. Although I find no description of an actual system of slavery existing among them, yet there is no doubt that they have slaves. We shall see that illegitimate children are considered and treated as such, and that women, entitled by courtesy wives, are bought and sold. Mr Drew asserts that the Klamath children of slave parents, who, it may be, prevent the profitable prostitution or sale of the mother, are killed without compunction.[481]Drew’s Owyhee Reconnaissance, p. 17.

Marriage, with the Northern Californians, is essentially a matter of business. The young brave must not hope to win his bride by feats of arms or softer wooing, but must buy her of her father, like any other chattel, and pay the price at once, or resign in favor of a richer man. The inclinations of the girl are in nowise consulted; no matter where her affections are placed, she goes to the highest bidder, and “Mammon wins his way where seraphs might despair.” Neither is it a trifling matter to be bought as a wife; the social position of the bride herself, as well as that of her father’s family thereafter, depends greatly upon the price she brings; her value is voted by society at the price her husband pays for her, and the father whose daughter commands the greatest number of strings of allicochick, is greatly to be honored. The purchase effected, the successful suitor leads his blushing property to his hut and she becomes his wife without further ceremony. Wherever this system of wife-purchase obtains, the rich old men almost absorb the female youth and beauty of the tribe, while the younger and poorer men must content themselves with old and ugly wives. Hence their eagerness for that wealth which will enable them to throw away their old wives and buy new ones. When a marriage takes place among the Modocs, a feast is given at the house of the bride’s father, in which, however, neither she nor the bridegroom partake. The girl is escorted by the women to a lodge, previously furnished by public contributions, where she is subsequently joined by the man, who is conducted by his male friends. All the company bear torches, which are piled up as a fire in the lodge of the wedded pair, who are then left alone. In some tribes this wife-traffic is done on credit, or at least partially so; but the credit system is never so advantageous to the buyer as the ready-money system, for until the full price is paid, the man is only ‘half-married,’ and besides he must live with his wife’s family and be their slave until he shall have paid in full.[482]The Cahrocs, Eurocs, Hoopahs, and Patawats, all acquire their wives by purchase. The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS.; Powers’ Pomo, MS. ‘Wenn ein Allequa seine künftige Lebensgefährtin unter den Schönen seines Stammes erwählt hat und sich verheirathen will, muss er dem Mauhemi (chief) eine armslange Muschelschnur vorzeigen.’ Meyer, Nach dem Sacramento, p. 223. The mountain Indians seldom, if ever, intermarry with those on the coast. Wiley, in Ind. Aff. Rept. Joint Spec. Com., 1867, p. 497; Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 127. Buy wives with shell-money.Pfeiffer’s Second Journ. Among the Modocs ‘the women are offered for sale to the highest buyer.’ Meacham’s Lecture, in S. F. Alta California, Oct. 6, 1861; Miller’s Life Amongst the Modocs. The children of a wife who has cost her husband nothing are considered no better than bastards, and are treated by society with contumely; nobody associates with them, and they become essentially ostracized. In all this there is one redeeming feature for the wife-buyer; should he happen to make a bad bargain he can, in most instances, send his wife home and get his money back. Mr Gibbs asserts that they shoot their wives when tired of them, but this appears inconsistent with custom.

Adultery and Chastity

Polygamy is almost universal, the number of wives depending only on the limit of a man’s wealth. The loss of one eye, or expulsion from the tribe, are common punishments for adultery committed by a man. A string of beads, however, makes amends. Should the wife venture on any irregularity without just compensation, the outraged honor of her lord is never satisfied until he has seen her publicly disemboweled. Among the Hoopahs the women are held irresponsible and the men alone suffer for the crime.[483]Polygamy is common among the Modocs. Meacham’s Lecture, in S. F. Alta California, Oct. 6, 1873. On Pitt River a chief sometimes has five wives. ‘The most jealous people in the world.’ The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS.; Roseborough’s letter to the author, MS. ‘Among the tribes in the north of the State adultery is punished by the death of the child.’ Taylor, in California Farmer, March 8, 1861. ‘The males have as many wives as they are able to purchase;’ adultery committed by a woman is punished with death. Hubbard, in Golden Era, March, 1856. Among the Cahrocs polygamy is not tolerated; among the Modocs polygamy prevails, and the women have considerable privilege. The Hoopa adulterer loses one eye, the adulteress is exempt from punishment. Powers’ Pomo, MS. The Weeyots at Eel river ‘have as many wives as they please.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 127. At Trinidad Bay ‘we found out that they had a plurality of wives.’ Maurelle’s Jour., p. 19. Illegitimate children are life-slaves to some male relative of the mother, and upon them the drudgery falls; they are only allowed to marry one in their own station, and their sole hope of emancipation lies in a slow accumulation of allicochick, with which they can buy their freedom. We are told by Mr Powers that a Modoc may kill his mother-in-law with impunity. Adultery, being attended with so much danger, is comparatively rare, but among the unmarried, who have nothing to fear, a gross licentiousness prevails.[484]All the young unmarried women are a common possession. Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. viii., p. 330. The women bewail their virginity for three nights before their marriage. Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 173. If we believe Powers, they cannot usually have much to bewail.

Among the Muckalucs a dance is instituted in honor of the arrival of the girls at the age of puberty. On the Klamath, during the period of menstruation the women are banished from the village, and no man may approach them. Although the principal labor falls to the lot of the women, the men sometimes assist in building the wigwam, or even in gathering acorns and roots.[485]Boys are disgraced by work. The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS. Women work, while men gamble or sleep. Wiley, in Ind. Aff. Rept. Joint Spec. Com., 1867, p. 497; Parker, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 242; Roseborough’s letter to the author, MS. Kane mentions that the Shastas, or, as he calls them, the Chastays, frequently sell their children as slaves to the Chinooks.[486]Kane’s Wand., p. 182. Dances and festivities, of a religio-playful character, are common, as when a whale is stranded, an elk snared, or when the salmon come. There is generally a kind of thanksgiving-day once a year, when the people of neighboring tribes meet and dance. The annual feast of the Veeards is a good illustration of the manner of these entertainments. The dance, which takes place in a large wigwam, is performed by as many men as there is room for, and a small proportion of women. They move in a circle slowly round the fire, accompanying themselves with their peculiar chant. Each individual is dressed in all the finery he can muster; every valuable he possesses in the way of shells, furs, or woodpecker-scalps, does duty on this occasion; so that the wealth of the dancers may be reckoned at a glance. When the dance has concluded, an old gray-beard of the tribe rises, and pronounces a thanksgiving oration, wherein he enumerates the benefits received, the riches accumulated, and the victories won during the year; exhorting the hearers meanwhile, by good conduct and moral behavior, to deserve yet greater benefits. This savage Nestor is listened to in silence and with respect; his audience seeming to drink in with avidity every drop of wisdom that falls from his lips; but no sooner is the harangue concluded than every one does his best to violate the moral precepts so lately inculcated, by a grand debauch.

The Cahrocs have a similar festival, which they call the Feast of the Propitiation. Its object is much the same as that of the feast just described, but in place of the orator, the chief personage of the day is called the Chareya, which is also the appellation of their deity. No little honor attaches to the position, but much suffering is also connected with it. It is the duty of the Chareya-man to retire into the mountains, with one attendant only, and there to remain for ten days, eating only enough to keep breath in his body. Meanwhile the Cahrocs congregate in honor of the occasion, dance, sing, and make merry. When the appointed period has elapsed, the Chareya-man returns to camp, or is carried by deputies sent out for the purpose, if he have not strength to walk. His bearers are blindfolded, for no human being may look upon the face of the Chareya-man and live. His approach is the signal for the abrupt breaking up of the festivities. The revelers disperse in terror, and conceal themselves as best they may to avoid catching sight of the dreaded face, and where a moment before all was riot and bustle, a deathly stillness reigns. Then the Chareya-man is conducted to the sweat-house, where he remains for a time. And now the real Propitiation-Dance takes place, the men alone participating in its sacred movements, which are accompanied by the low, monotonous chant of singers. The dance over, all solemnity vanishes, and a lecherous saturnalia ensues, which will not bear description. The gods are conciliated, catastrophes are averted, and all is joy and happiness.[487]For the god Chareya, see Bancroft’s Nat. Races, vol. iii., pp. 90, 161.

Sports and Games

A passion for gambling obtains among the northern Californians as elsewhere. Nothing is too precious or too insignificant to be staked, from a white or black deer-skin, which is almost priceless, down to a wife, or any other trifle. In this manner property changes hands with great rapidity.

I have already stated that on the possession of riches depend power, rank, and social position, so that there is really much to be lost or won. They have a game played with little sticks, of which some are black, but the most white. These they throw around in a circle, the object being seemingly to make the black ones go farther than the white. A kind of guess-game is played with clay balls.[488]Pfeiffer’s Second Journ., p. 318. The Pitt River Indians ‘sing as they gamble and play until they are so hoarse they cannot speak.’ The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS. There is also an international game, played between friendly tribes, which closely resembles our ‘hockey.’ Two poles are set up in the ground at some distance apart, and each side, being armed with sticks, endeavors to drive a wooden ball round the goal opposite to it.[489]Chase, in Overland Monthly, vol. ii., p. 433. In almost all their games and dances they are accompanied by a hoarse chanting, or by some kind of uncouth music produced by striking on a board with lobster-claws fastened to sticks, or by some other equally primitive method. Before the introduction of spirituous liquors by white men drunkenness was unknown. With their tobacco for smoking, they mix a leaf called kinnik-kinnik.[490]‘They used tobacco, which they smoaked in small wooden pipes, in form of a trumpet, and procured from little gardens, where they had planted it.’ Maurelle’s Jour., p. 21.

Medical Treatment

The diseases and ailments most prevalent among these people are scrofula, consumption, rheumatism, a kind of leprosy, affection of the lungs, and sore eyes, the last arising from the dense smoke which always pervades their cabins.[491]The Pitt River Indians ‘give no medicines.’ The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS. ‘The prevailing diseases are venereal, scrofula and rheumatism.’ Many die of consumption. Force, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1871, p. 157. At the mouth of Eel river ‘the principal diseases noticed, were sore eyes and blindness, consumption, and a species of leprosy.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 128. They suffer from a species of lung fever. Geiger, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1858, p. 289. ‘A disease was observed among them (the Shastas) which had the appearance of the leprosy.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 255. In addition to this they have imaginary disorders caused by wizards, witches, and evil spirits, who, as they believe, cause snakes and other reptiles to enter into their bodies and gnaw their vitals. Some few roots and herbs used are really efficient medicine, but they rely almost entirely upon the mummeries and incantations of their medicine men and women.[492]‘The only medicine I know of is a root used for poultices, and another root or plant for an emetic.’ The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS. ‘The root of a parasite fern, found growing on the tops of the fir trees (collque nashul), is the principal remedy. The plant in small doses is expectorant and diurtetic; hence it is used to relieve difficulties of the lungs and kidneys; and, in large doses, it becomes sedative and is an emmenagogue; hence, it relieves fevers, and is useful in uterine diseases, and produces abortions. The squaws use the root extensively for this last mentioned purpose.’ Hubbard, in Golden Era, March, 1856. Their whole system of therapeutics having superstition for a basis, mortality is great among them, which may be one of the causes of the continent being, comparatively speaking, so thinly populated at the time of its discovery. Syphilis, one of the curses for which they may thank the white man, has made fearful havoc among them. Women doctors seem to be more numerous than men in this region; acquiring their art in the temescal or sweat-house, where unprofessional women are not admitted. Their favorite method of cure seems to consist in sucking the affected part of the patient until the blood flows, by which means they pretend to extract the disease. Sometimes the doctress vomits a frog, previously swallowed for the occasion, to prove that she has not sucked in vain. She is frequently assisted by a second physician, whose duty it is to discover the exact spot where the malady lies, and this she effects by barking like a dog at the patient until the spirit discovers to her the place. Mr Gibbs mentions a case where the patient was first attended by four young women, and afterward by the same number of old ones. Standing round the unfortunate, they went through a series of violent gesticulations, sitting down when they could stand no longer, sucking, with the most laudable perseverance, and moaning meanwhile most dismally. Finally, when with their lips and tongue they had raised blisters all over the patient, and had pounded his miserable body with hands and knees until they were literally exhausted, the performers executed a swooning scene, in which they sank down apparently insensible.[493]A Pitt River doctor told his patient that for his fee ‘he must have his horse or he would not let him get well.’ The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS.; Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. viii., p. 428; Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 175. The Rogue River medicine-men are supposed to be able to wield their mysterious power for harm, as well as for good, so that should a patient die, his relatives kill the doctor who attended him; or in case deceased could not afford medical attendance, they kill the first unfortunate disciple of Æsculapius they can lay hands on, frequently murdering one belonging to another tribe; his death, however, must be paid for.[494]The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS.; Rector, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1862, p. 261; Ostrander, in Id., 1857, p. 369; Miller, in Id., p. 361.

But the great institution of the Northern Californians is their temescal, or sweat-house, which consists of a hole dug in the ground, and roofed over in such a manner as to render it almost air-tight. A fire is built in the centre in early fall, and is kept alive till the following spring, as much attention being given to it as ever was paid to the sacred fires of Hestia; though between the subterranean temescal, with its fetid atmosphere, and lurid fire-glow glimmering faintly through dense smoke on swart, gaunt forms of savages, and the stately temple on the Forum, fragrant with fumes of incense, the lambent altar-flame glistening on the pure white robes of the virgin priestesses, there is little likeness. The temescal[495]Temescal is an Aztec word defined by Molina, Vocabulario, ‘Temazcalli, casilla como estufa, adonde se bañan y sudan.’ The word was brought to this region and applied to the native sweat-houses by the Franciscan Fathers. Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 72, gives ‘sweat-house’ in the Chemehuevi language, as pahcaba. is usually built on the brink of a stream; a small hatchway affords entrance, which is instantly closed after the person going in or out. Here congregate the men of the village and enact their sudorific ceremonies, which ordinarily consist in squatting round the fire until a state of profuse perspiration sets in, when they rush out and plunge into the water. Whether this mode of treatment is more potent to kill or to cure is questionable. The sweat-house serves not only as bath and medicine room, but also as a general rendezvous for the male drones of the village. The women, with the exception of those practicing or studying medicine, are forbidden its sacred precincts on pain of death; thus it offers as convenient a refuge for henpecked husbands as a civilized club-house. In many of the tribes the men sleep in the temescal during the winter, which, notwithstanding the disgusting impurity of the atmosphere, affords them a snug retreat from the cold gusty weather common to this region.[496]Roseborough’s letter to the author, MS.; The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS.; Pfeiffer’s Second Journ., p. 317; Powers’ Pomo, MS.; Chase, in Overland Monthly, vol. ii., p. 432.

Burial and Mourning

Incremation obtains but slightly among the Northern Californians, the body usually being buried in a recumbent position. The possessions of the deceased are either interred with him, or are hung around the grave; sometimes his house is burned and the ashes strewn over his burial-place. Much noisy lamentation on the part of his relatives takes place at his death, and the widow frequently manifests her grief by sitting on, or even half burying herself in, her husband’s grave for some days, howling most dismally meanwhile, and refusing food and drink; or, on the upper Klamath, by cutting her hair close to the head, and so wearing it until she obtains consolation in another spouse. The Modocs hired mourners to lament at different places for a certain number of days, so that the whole country was filled with lamentation. These paid mourners were closely watched, and disputes frequently arose as to whether they had fulfilled their contract or not.[497]Meacham’s Lecture on the Modocs, in S. F. Alta California, Oct. 6, 1873; The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS. Occasionally the body is doubled up and interred in a sitting position, and, rarely, it is burned instead of buried. On the Klamath a fire is kept burning near the grave for several nights after the burial, for which rite various reasons are assigned. Mr Powers states that it is to light the departed shade across a certain greased pole, which is supposed to constitute its only approach to a better world. Mr Gibbs affirms that the fire is intended to scare away the devil, obviously an unnecessary precaution as applied to the Satan of civilization, who by this time must be pretty familiar with the element. The grave is generally covered with a slab of wood, and sometimes two more are placed erect at the head and foot; that of a chief is often surrounded with a fence; nor must the name of a dead person ever be mentioned under any circumstances.[498]On Pitt River they burn their dead and heap stones over the ashes for a monument. ‘No funeral ceremonies.’ The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS. On the ocean frontier of south Oregon and north California ‘the dead are buried with their faces looking to the west.’ Hubbard, in Golden Era, March, 1856. The Patawats and Chillulas bury their dead. The Tolewahs are not allowed to name the dead. Powers’ Pomo, MS. ‘It is one of the most strenuous Indian laws that whoever mentions the name of a deceased person is liable to a heavy fine, the money being paid to the relatives.’ Chase, in Overland Monthly, vol. ii., p. 431. ‘The bodies had been doubled up, and placed in a sitting posture in holes. The earth, when replaced, formed conical mounds over the heads.’ Abbott, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. vi., p. 69. ‘They bury their dead under the noses of the living, and with them all their worldly goods. If a man of importance, his house is burned and he is buried on its site.’ Johnson, in Overland Monthly, vol. ii., p. 536. ‘The chick or ready money, is placed in the owner’s grave, but the bow and quiver become the property of the nearest male relative. Chiefs only receive the honors of a fence, surmounted with feathers, round the grave.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 175. ‘Upon the death of one of these Indians they raised a sort of funeral cry, and afterward burned the body within the house of their ruler.’ Maurelle’s Jour., p. 19.

Burial Ceremonies at Pitt River

The following vivid description of a last sickness and burial by the Pitt River Indians, is taken from the letter of a lady eye-witness to her son in San Francisco:—

It was evening. We seated ourselves upon a log, your father, Bertie, and I, near the fire round which the natives had congregated to sing for old Gesnip, the chief’s wife. Presently Sootim, the doctor, appeared, dressed in a low-necked, loose, white muslin, sleeveless waist fastened to a breech-cloth, and red buck-skin cap fringed and ornamented with beads; the face painted with white stripes down to the chin, the arms from wrist to shoulder, in black, red, and white circles, which by the lurid camp-fire looked like bracelets, and the legs in white and black stripes,—presenting altogether a merry-Andrew appearance. Creeping softly along, singing in a low, gradually-increasing voice, Sootim approached the invalid and poised his hands over her as in the act of blessing. The one nearest him took up the song, singing low at first, then the next until the circle was completed; after this the pipe went round; then the doctor taking a sip of water, partly uncovered the patient and commenced sucking the left side; last of all he took a pinch of dirt and blew it over her. This is their curative process, continued night after night, and long into the night, until the patient recovers or dies.

Next day the doctor came to see me, and I determined if possible to ascertain his own ideas of these things. Giving him some muck-a-muck,[499]Muck-a-muck, food. In the Chinook Jargon ‘to eat; to bite; food. Muckamuck chuck, to drink water.’ Dict. Chinook Jargon, or Indian Trade Language, p. 12. I asked him, “What do you say when you talk over old Gesnip?” “I talk to the trees, and to the springs, and birds, and sky, and rocks,” replied Sootim, “to the wind, and rain, and leaves, I beg them all to help me.” Iofalet, the doctor’s companion on this occasion, volunteered the remark: “When Indian die, doctor very shamed, all same Boston doctor;[500]In the vicinity of Nootka Sound and the Columbia River, the first United States traders with the natives were from Boston; the first English vessels appeared about the same time, which was during the reign of George III. Hence in the Chinook Jargon we find ‘Boston, an American; Boston illahie, the United States;’ and ‘King George, English—King George man, an Englishman.’ when Indian get well, doctor very smart, all same Boston doctor.” Gesnip said she wanted after death to be put in a box and buried in the ground, and not burned. That same day the poor old woman breathed her last—the last spark of that wonderful thing called life flickered and went out; there remained in that rude camp the shriveled dusky carcass, the low dim intelligence that so lately animated it having fled—whither? When I heard of it I went to the camp and found them dressing the body. First they put on Gesnip her best white clothes, then the next best, placing all the while whatever was most valuable, beads, belts, and necklaces, next the body. Money they put into the mouth, her daughter contributing about five dollars. The knees were then pressed up against the chest, and after all of her own clothing was put on, the body was rolled up in the best family bear-skin, and tied with strips of buckskin.

Then Soomut, the chief and husband, threw the bundle over his shoulders, and started off for the cave where they deposit their dead, accompanied by the whole band crying and singing, and throwing ashes from the camp-fire into the air. And thus the old barbarian mourns: “Soomut had two wives—one good, one bad; but she that was good was taken away, while she that is bad remains. O Gesnip gone, gone, gone!” And the mournful procession take up the refrain: “O Gesnip gone, gone, gone!” Again the ancient chief: “Soomut has a little boy, Soomut has a little girl, but no one is left to cook their food, no one to dig them roots. O Gesnip gone, gone, gone!” followed by the chorus. Then again Soomut: “White woman knows that Gesnip was strong to work; she told me her sorrow when Gesnip died. O Gesnip gone, gone, gone!” and this was kept up during the entire march, the dead wife’s virtues sung and chorused by the whole tribe, accompanied by the scattering of ashes and lamentations which now had become very noisy. The lady further states that the scene at the grave was so impressive that she was unable to restrain her tears. No wonder then that these impulsive children of nature carry their joy and sorrow to excess, even so far as in this instance, where the affectionate daughter of the old crone had to be held by her companions from throwing herself into the grave of her dead mother. After all, how slight the shades of difference in hearts human, whether barbaric or cultured!

As before mentioned, the ruling passion of the savage seems to be love of wealth; having it, he is respected, without it he is despised; consequently he is treacherous when it profits him to be so, thievish when he can steal without danger, cunning when gain is at stake, brave in defense of his lares and penates. Next to his excessive venality, abject superstition forms the most prominent feature of his character. He seems to believe that everything instinct with animal life—with some, as with the Siahs, it extends to vegetable life also—is possessed by evil spirits; horrible fancies fill his imagination. The rattling of acorns on the roof, the rustling of leaves in the deep stillness of the forest is sufficient to excite terror. His wicked spirit is the very incarnation of fiendishness; a monster who falls suddenly upon the unwary traveler in solitary places and rends him in pieces, and whose imps are ghouls that exhume the dead to devour them.[501]‘They will often go three or four miles out of their way, to avoid passing a place which they think to be haunted.’ The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS.

Were it not for the diabolic view he takes of nature, his life would be a comparatively easy one. His wants are few, and such as they are, he has the means of supplying them. He is somewhat of a stoic, his motto being never do to-day what can be put off until to-morrow, and he concerns himself little with the glories of peace or war. Now and then we find him daubing himself with great stripes of paint, and looking ferocious, but ordinarily he prefers the calm of the peaceful temescal to the din of battle. The task of collecting a winter store of food he converts into a kind of summer picnic, and altogether is inclined to make the best of things, in spite of the annoyance given him in the way of reservations and other benefits of civilization. Taken as a whole, the Northern Californian is not such a bad specimen of a savage, as savages go, but filthiness and greed are not enviable qualities, and he has a full share of both.[502]The Pitt River Indians ‘are very shrewd in the way of stealing, and will beat a coyote. They are full of cunning.’ The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS. They ‘are very treacherous and bloody in their dispositions.’ Abbott, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. vi., p. 61. ‘The Indians of the North of California stand at the very lowest point of culture.’ Pfeiffer’s Second Journ., p. 316. ‘Incapable of treachery, but ready to fight to the death in avenging an insult or injury. They are active and energetic in the extreme.’ Kelly’s Excursion to Cal., vol. ii., p. 166. At Klamath Lake they are noted for treachery. Fremont’s Explor. Ex., p. 205. ‘The Tolowas resemble the Hoopas in character, being a bold and masterly race, formidable in battle, aggressive and haughty.’ The Patawats are ‘extremely timid and inoffensive.’ The Chihulas, like most of the coast tribes ‘are characterized by hideous and incredible superstitions.’ The Modocs ‘are rather a cloddish, indolent, ordinarily good-natured race, but treacherous at bottom, sullen when angered, and notorious for keeping punic faith. Their bravery nobody can dispute.’ The Yukas are a ‘tigerish, truculent, sullen, thievish, and every way bad, but brave race.’ Powers’ Pomo, MS. On Trinity River ‘they have acquired the vices of the whites without any of their virtues.’ Heintzelman, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 391. Above the forks of the main Trinity they are ‘fierce and intractable.’ On the Klamath they ‘have a reputation for treachery, as well as revengefulness; are thievish, and much disposed to sulk if their whims are not in every way indulged.’ They ‘blubber like a schoolboy at the application of a switch.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., pp. 139, 141, 176. The Rogue River Indians and Shastas ‘are a warlike race, proud and haughty, but treacherous and very degraded in their moral nature.’ Miller, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 361. At Rogue River they are ‘brave, haughty, indolent, and superstitious.’ Ostrander, in Id., 1857, p. 363; Roseborough’s letter to the author, MS.

The Central Californians

The Central Californians occupy a yet larger extent of territory, comprising the whole of that portion of California extending, north and south, from about 40° 30´ to 35°, and, east and west, from the Pacific Ocean to the Californian boundary.

Nations of Central California

The Native Races of this region are not divided, as in the northern part of the state, into comparatively large tribes, but are scattered over the face of the country in innumerable little bands, with a system of nomenclature so intricate as to puzzle an Œdipus. Nevertheless, as among the most important, I may mention the following: The Tehamas, from whom the county takes its name; the Pomos, which name signifies ‘people’, and is the collective appellation of a number of tribes living in Potter Valley, where the head-waters of Eel and Russian rivers interlace, and extending west to the ocean and south to Clear Lake. Each tribe of the nation takes a distinguishing prefix to the name of Pomo, as, the Castel Pomos and Ki Pomos on the head-waters of Eel River; the Pome Pomos, Earth People, in Potter Valley; the Cahto Pomos, in the valley of that name; the Choam Chadéla Pomos, Pitch-pine People, in Redwood Valley; the Matomey Ki Pomos, Wooded Valley People, about Little Lake; the Usals, or Camalél Pomos, Coast People, on Usal Creek; the Shebalne Pomos, Neighbor People, in Sherwood Valley, and many others. On Russian River, the Gallinomeros occupy the valley below Healdsburg; the Sanéls, Socoas, Lamas, and Seacos, live in the vicinity of the village of Sanél; the Comachosdwell in Ranchería and Anderson valleys; the Ukiahs, or Yokias, near the town of Ukiah, which is a corruption of their name;[503]These are not to be confounded with the Yukas in Round Valley, Tehama County. the Gualalas[504]Spelled Walhalla on some maps. on the creek which takes its name from them, about twenty miles above the mouth of Russian River. On the borders of Clear Lake were the Lopillamillos, the Mipacmas, and Tyugas; the Yolos, or Yolays, that is to say, ‘region thick with rushes,’ of which the present name of the county of Yolo is a corruption, lived on Cache Creek; the Colusas occupied the west bank of the Sacramento; in the Valley of the Moon, as the Sonomas called their country, besides themselves there were the Guillicas, the Kanimares, the Simbalakees, the Petalumas, and the Wapos; the Yachichumnes inhabited the country between Stockton and Mount Diablo. According to Hittel, there were six tribes in Napa Valley: the Mayacomas, the Calajomanas, the Caymus, the Napas, the Ulucas, and the Suscols; Mr Taylor also mentions the Guenocks, the Tulkays, and the Socollomillos; in Suisun Valley were the Suisunes, the Pulpones, the Tolenos, and the Ullulatas; the tribe of the celebrated chief Marin lived near the mission of San Rafael, and on the ocean-coast of Marin County were the Bolanos and Tamales; the Karquines lived on the straits of that name. Humboldt and Mülhlenpfordt mention the Matalanes, Salses, and Quirotes, as living round the bay of San Francisco. According to Adam Johnson, who was Indian agent for California in 1850, the principal tribes originally living at the Mission Dolores, and Yerba Buena, were the Ahwashtes, Altahmos, Romanans, and Tulomos; Choris gives the names of more than fifteen tribes seen at the Mission, Chamisso of nineteen, and transcribed from the mission books to the Tribal Boundaries of this group, are the names of nearly two hundred rancherías. The Socoisukas, Thamiens, and Gergecensens roamed through Santa Clara County. The Olchones inhabited the coast between San Francisco and Monterey; in the vicinity of the latter place were the Rumsens or Runsiens, the Ecclemaches, Escelens or Eslens, the Achastliens, and the Mutsunes. On the San Joaquin lived the Costrowers, the Pitiaches, Talluches,Loomnears, and Amonces; on Fresno River the Chowclas, Cookchaneys, Fonechas, Nookchues, and Howetsers; the Eemitches and Cowiahs, lived on Four Creeks; the Waches, Notoowthas, and Chunemmes on King River, and on Tulare Lake, the Talches and Woowells.

In their aboriginal manners and customs they differ but little, so little, in fact, that one description will apply to the whole division within the above-named limits. The reader will therefore understand that, except where a tribe is specially named, I am speaking of the whole people collectively.

The conflicting statements of men who had ample opportunity for observation, and who saw the people they describe, if not in the same place, at least in the same vicinity, render it difficult to give a correct description of their physique. They do not appear to deteriorate toward the coast, or improve toward the interior, so uniformly as their northern neighbors; but this may be accounted for by the fact that several tribes that formerly lived on the coast have been driven inland by the settlers and vice versa.

Physical Peculiarities

Some ethnologists see in the Californians a stock different from that of any other American race; but the more I dwell upon the subject, the more convinced I am, that, except in the broader distinctions, specific classifications of humanity are but idle speculations. Their height rarely exceeds five feet eight inches, and is more frequently five feet four or five inches, and although strongly they are seldom symmetrically built. A low retreating forehead, black deep-set eyes, thick bushy eyebrows, salient cheek-bones, a nose depressed at the root and somewhat wide-spreading at the nostrils, a large mouth with thick prominent lips, teeth large and white, but not always regular, and rather large ears, is the prevailing type. Their complexion is much darker than that of the tribes farther north, often being nearly black; so that with their matted, bushy hair, which is frequently cut short, they present a very uncouth appearance.[505]In the vicinity of Fort Ross, ‘Die Indianer sind von mittlerem Wuchse, doch trifft man auch hohe Gestalten unter ihnen an; sie sind ziemlich wohl proportionirt, die Farbe der Haut ist bräunlich, doch ist diese Farbe mehr eine Wirkung der Sonne als angeboren; die Augen und Haare sind schwarz, die letzteren stehen straff…. Beide Geschlechter sind von kräftigem Körperbau.’ Kostromitonow, in Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 81. ‘Quoique surpris dans un très-grand négligé, ces hommes me parurent beaux, de haute taille, robustes et parfaitement découplés … traits réguliers … yeux noirs … nez aquilin surmonté d’un front élevé, les pommettes des joues arrondies, … fortes lèvres … dents blanches et bien rangées … peau jaune cuivré, un cou annonçant la vigueur et soutenu par de larges épaules … un air intelligent et fier à la fois…. Je trouvai toutes les femmes horriblement laides.’ Laplace, Circumnav., tom. vi., 145-6. At the head of the Eel River ‘the average height of these men was not over five feet four or five inches. They were lightly built, with no superfluous flesh, but with very deep chests and sinewy legs.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 119. ‘The Clear Lake Indians are of a very degraded caste; their foreheads naturally being often as low as the compressed skulls of the Chinooks, and their forms commonly small and ungainly.’ Id., p. 108. At Bodega Bay ‘they are an ugly and brutish race, many with negro profiles.’ Id., p. 103. ‘They are physically an inferior race, and have flat, unmeaning features, long, coarse, straight black hair, big mouths, and very dark skins.’ Revere’s Tour, p. 120. ‘Large and strong, their colour being the same as that of the whole territory.’ Maurelle’s Jour., p. 47. It is said of the natives of the Sacramento valley, that ‘their growth is short and stunted; they have short thick necks, and clumsy heads; the forehead is low, the nose flat with broad nostrils, the eyes very narrow and showing no intelligence, the cheek-bones prominent, and the mouth large. The teeth are white, but they do not stand in even rows: and their heads are covered by short, thick, rough hair…. Their color is a dirty yellowish-brown.’ Pfeiffer’s Second Journ., p. 307. ‘This race of Indians is probably inferior to all others on the continent. Many of them are diminutive in stature, but they do not lack muscular strength, and we saw some who were tall and well-formed…. Their complexion is a dark mahogany, or often nearly black, their faces round or square, with features approximating nearer to the African than the Indian. Wide, enormous mouth, noses nearly flat, and hair straight, black, and coarse…. Small, gleaming eyes.’ Johnson’s Cal. and Ogn., pp. 142-3. Of good stature, strong and muscular. Bryant’s Cal., p. 266. ‘Rather below the middle stature, but strong, well-knit fellows…. Good-looking, and well limbed.’ Kelly’s Excursion to Cal., vol. ii., pp. 81, 111. ‘They were in general fine stout men.’ A great diversity of physiognomy was noticeable. Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., pp. 105, 107. On the Sacramento ‘were fine robust men, of low stature, and badly formed.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 198. ‘The mouth is very large, and the nose broad and depressed.’ ‘Chiefly distinguished by their dark color … broad faces, a low forehead.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 222. ‘Their features are coarse, broad, and of a dark chocolate color.’ Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, Nov. 2, 1860. At Drake’s Bay, just above San Francisco, the men are ‘commonly so strong of body, that that which two or three of our men could hardly beare, one of them would take vpon his backe, and without grudging carrie it easily away, vp hill and downe hill an English mile together.’ Drake’s World Encomp., p. 131. ‘Los Naturales de este sitio y Puerto son algo trigueños, por lo quemados del Sol, aunque los venidos de la otra banda del Puerto y del Estero … son mas blancos y corpulentos.’ Palou, Vida de Junípero Serra, p. 215. ‘Ugly, stupid, and savage; otherwise they are well formed, tolerably tall, and of a dark brown complexion. The women are short, and very ugly; they have much of the negro in their countenance…. Very long, smooth, and coal-black hair.’ Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. i., pp. 282-3. ‘They all have a very savage look, and are of a very dark color.’ Chamisso, in Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 47. ‘Ill made; their faces ugly, presenting a dull, heavy, and stupid countenance.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 13. The Tcholovoni tribe ‘differe beaucoup de toutes les autres par les traits du visage par sa physionomie, par un extèrieur assez agréable.’ Choris, Voy. Pitt., part iii., p. 6., plate vi., vii., xii. ‘The Alchones are of good height, and the Tuluraios were thought to be, generally, above the standard of Englishmen. Their complexion is much darker than that of the South-sea Islanders, and their features far inferior in beauty.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 76. At Santa Clara they are ‘of a blackish colour, they have flat faces, thick lips, and black, coarse, straight hair.’ Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 98. ‘Their features are handsome, and well-proportioned; their countenances are cheerful and interesting.’ Morrell’s Voy., p. 212. At Placerville they are ‘most repulsive-looking wretches…. They are nearly black, and are exceedingly ugly.’ Borthwick’s Three Years in Cal., p. 128. In the Yosemite Valley ‘they are very dark colored,’ and ‘the women are perfectly hideous.’ Kneeland’s Wonders of Yosemite, p. 52. The Monos on the east side of the Sierra are ‘a fine looking race, straight, and of good height, and appear to be active.’ Von Schmidt, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1856, p. 2-3. At Monterey ‘ils sont en général bien faits, mais faibles d’esprit et de corps.’ In the vicinity of San Miguel, they are ‘généralement d’une couleur foncée, sales et mal faits … à l’exception tout fois des Indiens qui habitent sur les bords de la rivière des tremblements de terre, et sur la côte voisine. Ceux-ci sont blancs, d’une joli figure, et leurs cheveux tirent sur le roux.’ Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1844, tom. ci., pp. 332, 163; also quoted in Marmier, Notice sur les Indiens, p. 236. ‘Sont généralement petits, faibles … leur couleur est très-approchante de celle des nègres dont les cheveux ne sont point laineux: ceux de ces peuples sont longs et très-forts.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 281. ‘La taille des hommes est plus haute (than that of the Chilians), et leurs muscles mieux prononcés.’ The figure of the women ‘est plus élevée (than that of the Chilian women), et la forme de leurs membres est plus régulière; elles sont en général d’une stature mieux développée et d’une physionomie moins repoussante.’ Rollin, in La Pérouse, Voy., tom. iv., p. 52. At San José ‘the men are almost all rather above the middling stature, and well built; very few indeed are what may be called undersized. Their complexions are dark but not negro like … some seemed to possess great muscular strength; they have very coarse black hair.’ Some of the women were more than five feet six inches in height. And speaking of the Californian Indians, in general, ‘they are of a middling, or rather of a low stature, and of a dark brown colour, approaching to black … large projecting lips, and broad, flat, negro-like noses; … bear a strong resemblance to the negroes…. None of the men we saw were above five feet high … ill-proportioned … we had never seen a less pleasing specimen of the human race.’Langsdorff’s Voy., vol. ii., pp. 194-5, 164, see plate. And speaking generally of the Californian Indians: ‘Die Männer sind im Allgemeinen gut gebaut und von starker Körperbildung,’ height ‘zwischen fünf Fuss vier Zoll und fünf Fuss zehn oder eilf Zoll.’ Complexion ‘die um ein klein wenig heller als bei den Mulatten, also weit dunkler ist, als bei den übrigen Indianerstämmen.’ Osswald, Californien, p. 62. The coast Indians ‘are about five feet and a half in height, and rather slender and feeble,’ in the interior they ‘are taller and more robust.’ Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 364. ‘Cubische Schädelform, niedrige Stirn, breites Gesicht, mit hervorragendem Jochbogen, breite Lippen und grosser Mund, mehr platte Nase und am Innenwinkel herabgezogene Augen.’ Wimmel, Californien, pp. v, 177. ‘Les Californiens sont presque noirs; la disposition de leur yeux et l’ensemble de leur visage leur donnent avec les européens une ressemblance assez marquée.’ Rossi, Souvenirs, pp. 279-80. ‘They are small in stature; thin, squalid, dirty, and degraded in appearance. In their habits little better than an ourang-outang, they are certainly the worst type of savage I have ever seen.’ Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 249. ‘More swarthy in complexion, and of less stature than those east of the Rocky Mountains … more of the Asiatic cast of countenance than the eastern tribe.’ Delano’s Life on the Plains, p. 304. ‘Dépasse rarement la hauteur de cinq pieds deux ou trois pouces; leur membres sont grêles et médiocrement musclés. Ils ont de grosses lévres qui se projettent en avant, le nez large et aplati comme les Ethiopiens; leurs cheveux sont noirs, rude et droits.’ Auger, Voy. en Cal., p. 165. ‘Generally of small stature, robust appearance, and not well formed.’ Thornton’s Ogn. and Cal., vol. ii., p. 91. ‘Schön gewachsen und von schwärtzlich-brauner Farbe.’ Mühlenpfordt Mejico, tom. ii., part ii., p. 455. ‘Low foreheads and skins as black as Guinea negroes.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 85. ‘En naissant les enfants sont presque blancs … mais ils noircissent en grandissant.’ ‘Depuis le nord du Rio Sacramento jusqu’au cap San Lucas … leurs caractères physique, leurs moeurs et leurs usages sont les mêmes.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., pp. 263, 367. ‘Skin of such a deep reddish-brown that it seems almost black.’ Figuier’s Human Race, p. 493; Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Sprache, p. 528; Forbes’ Cal., pp. 180-3; Harper’s Monthly, vol. xiii., p. 583. ‘A fine set of men, who, though belonging to different nationalities, had very much the same outward appearance; so that when you have seen one you seem to have seen them all.’ Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, p. 15.

The question of beard has been much mooted; some travelers asserting that they are bearded like Turks, others that they are beardless as women. Having carefully compared the pros and cons, I think I am justified in stating that the Central Californians have beards, though not strong ones, and that some tribes suffer it to grow, while others pluck it out as soon as it appears.[506]On the Sacramento River ‘the men universally had some show of a beard, an inch or so in length, but very soft and fine.’ Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 105. ‘They had beards and whiskers an inch or two long, very soft and fine.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 198. On Russian River ‘they have quite heavy moustaches and beards on the chin, but not much on the cheeks, and they almost all suffer it to grow.’ The Clear Lake Indians ‘have also considerable beards, and hair on the person.’ At the head of South Fork of Eel River, ‘they pluck their beards.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., pp. 108-119. At Monterey ‘plusieurs ont de la barbe; d’autres, suivant les pères missionaires, n’en ont jamais eu, et c’est un question qui n’est pas même décidée dans le pays.’ La Pérouse, Voy., vol. ii., p. 282. ‘Les Californiens ont la barbe plus fournie que les Chiliens, et les parties génitales mieux garnies: cependant j’ai remarqué, parmi les hommes, un grand nombre d’individus totalement dépourvus de barbe; les femmes ont aussi peu de poil au pénil et aux aisselles.’ Rollin, in La Pérouse, Voy., vol. iv., p. 53. ‘They have the habit common to all American Indians of extracting the beard and the hair of other parts of their body.’ Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 364. Beards ‘short, thin, and stiff.’ Bartlett’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 34. ‘In general very scanty, although occasionally a full flowing beard is observed.’ Forbes’ Cal., pp. 181-2. ‘Beards thin; many shave them close with mussel-shells.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 164. ‘Ihr Bart ist schwach.’ Wimmel, Californien, vol. v. At San Antonio, ‘in the olden times, before becoming christians, they pulled out their beards.’ Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, April 27, 1860. Choris in his Voy. Pitt., plates vi., vii., xii., of part iii., draws the Indians with a very slight and scattered beard. ‘Pluck out their beard.’ Auger, Voy. in Cal., p. 165. ‘Wear whiskers.’ Thornton’s Ogn. and Cal., vol. ii., p. 91. ‘Les Indiens qui habitent dans la direction du cap de Nouvel-An (del Año Nuevo) … ont des moustaches.’ Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1844, tom. ci., p. 335. Mühlenpfordt mentions that at the death of a relation, ‘die Männer raufen Haupthaar und Bart sich aus.’ Mejico, vol. ii., part ii., p. 456.

Dress in Central California

During summer, except on festal occasions, the apparel of the men is of the most primitive character, a slight strip of covering round the loins being full dress; but even this is unusual, the majority preferring to be perfectly unencumbered by clothing. In winter the skin of a deer or other animal is thrown over the shoulders, or sometimes a species of rope made from the feathers of water-fowl, or strips of otter-skin, twisted together, is wound round the body, forming an effectual protection against the weather. The women are scarcely better clad, their summer costume being a fringed apron of tule-grass, which falls from the waist before and behind nearly down to the knees, and is open at the sides. Some tribes in the northern part of the Sacramento Valley wear the round bowl-shaped hat worn by the natives on the Klamath. During the cold season a half-tanned deer-skin, or the rope garment above mentioned, is added. The hair is worn in various styles. Some bind it up in a knot on the back of the head, others draw it back and club it behind; farther south it is worn cut short, and occasionally we find it loose and flowing. It is not uncommon to see the head adorned with chaplets of leaves or flowers, reminding one of a badly executed bronze of Apollo or Bacchus. Ear-ornaments are much in vogue; a favorite variety being a long round piece of carved bone or wood, sometimes with beads attached, which is also used as a needle-case. Strings of shells and beads also serve as ear-ornaments and necklaces. The head-dress for gala days and dances is elaborate, composed of gay feathers, skillfully arranged in various fashions.[507]At Fort Ross ‘Die Männer gehen ganz nackt, die Frauen hingegen bedecken nur den mittleren Theil des Körpers von vorne und von hinten mit den Fellen wilder Ziegen; das Haar binden die Männer auf dem Schopfe, die Frauen am Nacken in Büschel zusammen; bisweilen lassen sie es frei herunter wallen; die Männer heften die Büschel mit ziemlich künstlich, aus einer rothen Palme geschnitzten Hölzchen fest.’ Kostromitonow, in Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., p. 82. At Clear Lake ‘the women generally wear a small round, bowl-shaped basket on their heads; and this is frequently interwoven with the red feathers of the woodpecker, and edged with the plume tufts of the blue quail.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 107. See also p. 68, plate xiv., for plate of ornaments. At Kelsey River, dress ‘consists of a deer-skin robe thrown over the shoulders.’ Id., p. 122. In the Sacramento Valley ‘they were perfectly naked.’ Kelly’s Excursion to Cal., vol. ii., p. 111. ‘Both sexes have the ears pierced with large holes, through which they pass a piece of wood as thick as a man’s finger, decorated with paintings or glass beads.’ Pfeiffer’s Second Journ., p. 307. ‘The men go entirely naked; but the women, with intuitive modesty, wear a small, narrow, grass apron, which extends from the waist to the knees, leaving their bodies and limbs partially exposed.’ Delano’s Life on the Plains, pp. 305, 307. ‘They wear fillets around their heads of leaves.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 192. ‘The dress of the women is a cincture, composed of narrow slips of fibrous bark, or of strings of ‘Californian flax,’ or sometimes of rushes.’ Men naked. Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 108. At Bodega they ‘most liberally presented us with plumes of feathers, rosaries of bone, garments of feathers, as also garlands of the same materials, which they wore round their head.’ Maurelle’s Jour., p. 47. ‘The women wore skins of animals about their shoulders and waists;’ hair ‘clubbed behind.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 436. Around San Francisco Bay: ‘in summer many go entirely naked. The women, however, wear a deer-skin, or some other covering about their loins; but skin dresses are not common.’ To their ears the women ‘attach long wooden cylinders, variously carved, which serve the double purpose of ear-rings and needle-cases.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 77. ‘All go naked.’ Chamisso, in Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 48. ‘The men either go naked or wear a simple breech-cloth. The women wear a cloth or strips of leather around their loins.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 33. Three hundred years ago we are told that the men in the vicinity of San Francisco Bay ‘for the most part goe naked; the women take a kinde of bulrushes, and kembing it after the manner of hemp, make themselues thereof a loose garment, which being knitte about their middles, hanges downe about their hippes, and so affordes to them a couering of that which nature teaches should be hidden; about their shoulders they weare also the skin of a deere, with the haire vpon it.’ The king had upon his shoulders ‘a coate of the skins of conies, reaching to his wast; his guard also had each coats of the same shape, but of other skin…. After these in their order, did follow the naked sort of common people, whose haire being long, was gathered into a bunch behind, in which stucke plumes of feathers; but in the forepart onely single feathers like hornes, every one pleasing himselfe in his owne device.’ Drake’s World Encomp., pp. 121, 126. ‘Asi como Adamitas se presentan sin el menor rubor ni vergüenza (esto es, los hombres) y para librarse del frio que todo el año hace en esta Mision (San Francisco), principalmente las mañanas, se embarran con lodo, diciendo que les preserva de él, y en quanto empieza á calentar el Sol se lavan: las mugeres andan algo honestas, hasta las muchachas chiquitas: usan para la honestidad de un delantar que hacen de hilos de tule, ó juncia, que no pasa de la rodilla, y otro atrás amarrados á la cintura que ambos forman como unas enaguas, con que se presentan con alguna honestidad, y en las espaldas se ponen otros semejantes para librarse en alguna manera del frio.’ Palou, Vida de Junípero Serra, p. 217. At Monterey, and on the coast between Monterey and Santa Barbara the dress ‘du plus riche consiste en un manteau da peau de loutre qui couvre ses reins et descend au dessous des sines…. L’habillement des femmes est un manteau de peau de cerf mal tannée…. Les jeunes filles au-dessous de neuf ans n’ont qu’une simple ceinture et les enfans de l’autre sexe sont tout nus.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., pp. 304-5. ‘Ils se percent aussi les oreilles, et y portent des ornemens d’un genre et d’un gout trés-variés.’ Rollin, in La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 53. ‘Those between Monterey and the extreme northern boundary of the Mexican domain, shave their heads close.’ Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., p. 239. On the coast between San Diego and San Francisco ‘presque tous … vont entierement nus; ceux qui ont quelques vêtements, n’ont autre chose qu’une casaque faite de courroies de peau de lapins, de lièvres ou de loutres tressés ensemble, et qui ont conservé le poil. Les femmes ont une espèce de tablier de roseaux tressés qui s’attache autour de la taille par un cordon, et pend jusqu’aux genoux; une peau de cerf mal tannée et mal préparée, jetée sur leurs épaules en guise de manteau, compléte leur toilette.’ Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1844, tom. ci., p. 155; see also Marmier, Notice, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., p. 227. ‘Sont tres peu couverts, et en été, la plupart vont tout nus. Les femmes font usage de peaux de daim pour se couvrir…. Ces femmes portent encore comme vêtement des espèces de couvertures sans envers, faites en plumes tissues ensemble … il a l’avantage d’être très-chaud…. Elles portent généralement, au lieu de boucles d’oreilles, des morceaux d’os ou de bois en forme de cylindre et sculptés de différentes manières. Ces ornements sont creux et servent également d’étuis pour renfermer leurs aiguilles.’ Petit-Thouars, Voy., tom. ii., p. 135. Speaking generally of the Californian Indians, ‘both sexes go nearly naked, excepting a sort of wrapper round the waist, only in the coldest part of the winter they throw over their bodies a covering of deer-skin, or the skin of the sea-otter. They also make themselves garments of the feathers of many different kinds of water fowl, particularly ducks and geese, bound together fast in a sort of ropes, which ropes are then united quite close so as to make something like a feather skin.’ It is very warm. ‘In the same manner they cut the sea-otter skins into small strips, which they twist together, and then join them as they do the feathers, so that both sides have the fur alike.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., vol. ii., pp. 163-4. See also Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 364, and Forbes’ Cal., p. 183. ‘Im Winter selbst tragen sie wenig Bekleidung, vielleicht nur eine Hirschhaut, welche sie über die Schulter werfen; Männer, Frauen und Kinder gehen selbst im Winter im Schnee barfuss.’ Wimmel, Californien, p. 177; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 249; Patrick, Gilbert, Heald, and Von Schmidt, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1856, pp. 240-4; Choris, Voy. Pitt., part iii., p. 4, and plate xii.; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, vol. ii., part ii., p. 455; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 239; Shea’s Catholic Missions, p. 98; Johnston, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 223; D’Orbigny, Voy., p. 457; Augur, Voy. en Cal., p. 100. After having collated the above notes I was rather taken aback by meeting the following: ‘The general costume of nearly all the Californian Indians gives them rather an interesting appearance; when fully dressed, their hair, which has been loose, is tied up, either with a coronet of silver, or the thongs of skin, ornamented with feathers of the brightest colours; bracelets made in a similar manner are wore; breeches and leggings of doe-skin, sewed, not unfrequently with human hair; a kind of kilt of varied coloured cloth or silk (!), fastened by a scarf, round their waist; … The women wear a cloth petticoat, dyed either blue or red, doe-skin shirt, and leggings, with feathered bracelets round their waist.’ Coulter’s Adventures, vol. i., pp. 172-3. Surely Mr Coulter should know an Indian dress from one composed of Mexican cloth and trinkets.

Personal Adornment

Tattooing is universal with the women, though confined within narrow limits. They mark the chin in perpendicular lines drawn downward from the corners and centre of the mouth, in the same manner as the Northern Californians; they also tattoo slightly on the neck and breast. It is said that by these marks women of different tribes can be easily distinguished. The men rarely tattoo, but paint the body in stripes and grotesque patterns to a considerable extent. Red was the favorite color, except for mourning, when black was used. The friars succeeded in abolishing this custom except on occasions of mourning, when affection for their dead would not permit them to relinquish it. The New Almaden cinnabar mine has been from time immemorial a source of contention between adjacent tribes. Thither, from a hundred miles away, resorted vermilion-loving savages, and often such visits were not free from blood-shed.[508]At Bodega the women ‘were as much tatooed or punctured as any of the females of the Sandwich islands.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 436. In the Sacramento Valley ‘most of the men had some slight marks of tattooing on the breast, disposed like a necklace.’ Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 105. Dana, in a note to Hale, says: ‘The faces of the men were colored with black and red paint, fancifully laid on in triangles and zigzag lines. The women were tattooed below the mouth.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 222. ‘Most of them had some slight marks of tattooing on their breast; somewhat similar to that of the Chinooks…. The face was usually painted, the upper part of the cheek in the form of a triangle, with a blue-black substance, mixed with some shiny particles that looked like pulverized mica.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., pp. 198, 259. ‘Their faces daubed with a thick dark glossy substance like tar, in a line from the outside corners of the eyes to the ends of the mouth, and back from them to the hinge of the jawbone … some also had their entire foreheads coated over.’ Kelly’s Excursion to Cal., vol. ii., p. 111. ‘The women are a little tattooed on the chin.’ Pfeiffer’s Second Journ., p. 307. At Monterey and vicinity, ‘se peignent le corps en rouge, et en noir lorsqu’ils sont en deuil.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 305. ‘Se peignent la peau pour se parer.’ Rollin, in La Pérouse, Voy., tom. iv., p. 53. ‘This one thing was obserued to bee generall amongst them all, that euery one had his face painted, some with white, some blacke, and some with other colours.’ Drake’s World Encomp., p. 126. ‘Tattooing is practised in these tribes by both sexes, both to ornament the person and to distinguish one clan from another. It is remarkable that the women mark their chins precisely in the same way as the Esquimaux.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 77. ‘Les indigènes indepéndents de la Haute-Californie sont tatoués … ces signes servent d’ornement et de distinction, non seulement d’une tribu à une autre tribu, mais encore, d’une famille à une autre famille.’ Petit-Thouars, Voy., tom. ii., pp. 134-5. ‘Tattooing is also used, but principally among the women. Some have only a double or triple line from each corner of the mouth down to the chin; others have besides a cross stripe extending from one of these stripes to the other; and most have simple long and cross stripes from the chin over the neck down to the breast and upon the shoulders.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 167; see plate, p. 169. When dancing, ‘ils se peignent sur le corps des lignes régulières, noires, rouges et blanches. Quelques-uns ont la moitié du corps, depuis la tête jusqu’en bas, barbouillée de noir, et l’autre de rouge; le tout croisé par des raies blanches, d’autres se poudrent les cheveux avec du duvet d’oiseaux.’ Choris, Voy. Pitt., part iii., p. 4; see also plate xii. ‘I have never observed any particular figured designs upon their persons, but the tattooing is generally on the chin, though sometimes on the wrist and arm.’ Mostly on the persons of the females. Johnston, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 223. ‘Les femmes seules emploient le tatouage.’ Auger, Voy. en Cal., p. 165. A thick coat of mud sometimes affords protection from a chilly wind. It is a convenient dress, as it costs nothing, is easily put on, and is no incumbrance to the wearer. The nudity of the savage more often proceeds from an indifference to clothing than from actual want. No people are found entirely destitute of clothing when the weather is cold, and if they can manage to obtain garments of any sort at one time of year they can at another.

Dwellings in Central California

Their dwellings are about as primitive as their dress. In summer all they require is to be shaded from the sun, and for this a pile of bushes or a tree will suffice. The winter huts are a little more pretentious. These are sometimes erected on the level ground, but more frequently over an excavation three or four feet deep, and varying from ten to thirty feet in diameter. Round the brink of this hole willow poles are sunk upright in the ground and the tops drawn together, forming a conical structure, or the upper ends are bent over and driven into the earth on the opposite side of the pit, thus giving the hut a semi-globular shape. Bushes, or strips of bark, are then piled up against the poles, and the whole is covered with a thick layer of earth or mud. In some instances, the interstices of the frame are filled by twigs woven cross-wise, over and under, between the poles, and the outside covering is of tule-reeds instead of earth. A hole at the top gives egress to the smoke, and a small opening close to the ground admits the occupants.

Each hut generally shelters a whole family of relations by blood and marriage, so that the dimensions of the habitation depend on the size of the family.[509]‘Il est bien rare qu’un Indien passe la nuit dans sa maison. Vers le soir chacun prend son arc et ses flèches et va se réunir aux autres dans de grandes cavernes, parce-qu’ils craignent d’être attaqués a l’improviste par leurs ennemis et d’être surpris sans défense au milieu de leurs femmes et de leurs enfants.’ Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1844, tom. ci., pp. 316-7.

Thatched oblong houses are occasionally met with in Russian River Valley, and Mr Powers mentions having seen one among the Gallinomeros which was of the form of the letter L, made of slats leaned up against each other, and heavily thatched. Along the centre the different families or generations had their fires, while they slept next the walls. Three narrow holes served as doors, one at either end and one at the elbow.[510]Two authors describe their dwellings as being much smaller than I have stated them to be: ‘leur maisons ont quatre pieds de diamètre.’ Marmier, Notice, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., p. 238. Their wigwams have ‘une élévation au-dessus du sol de cinq à huit pieds et une circonférence de dix à douze.’ Holinski, La Californie, p. 172. The authorities I have followed, and who agree in essential particulars, are: Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., pp. 103, 106; Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 198; Pfeiffer’s Second Journ., pp. 307-8; Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 106; Fremont’s Explor. Ex., p. 242; Kelly’s Excursion to Cal., vol. ii., pp. 34, 282; Choris, Voy. Pitt., part iii., p. 2; Drake’s World Encomp., p. 121; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 30, with cut; Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., pp. 13, 15; Palou, Noticias, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., vol. vi., pp. 367, 390; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 165; La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 295; Delano’s Life on the Plains, p. 306; Gerstäcker’s Journ., p. 218; Gilbert, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1856, p. 242; Patrick, in Id., p. 240; Jewett, in Id., p. 244; Bailey, in Id., 1858, p. 299; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 248; Langsdorff’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 163; Wimmel, Californien, pp. 177, 179; Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 365; Beechey’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 5; Baer, Stat. und Ethno., p. 72; Kostromitonow, in Id., p. 83; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 239; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., p. 456; Johnston, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 223; Thornton’s Ogn. and Cal., vol. ii., p. 91; Roquefeuil’s Voy. Round the World, p. 29; Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1844, tom. ci., pp. 316, 343. A collection of native huts is in California called a ranchería, from rancho, a word first applied by the Spaniards to the spot where, in the island of Cuba, food was distributed to repartimiento Indians.

Food and Methods of Obtaining It

The bestial laziness of the Central Californian prevents him from following the chase to any extent, or from even inventing efficient game-traps. Deer are, however, sometimes shot with bow and arrow. The hunter, disguised with the head and horns of a stag, creeps through the long grass to within a few yards of the unsuspecting herd, and drops the fattest buck at his pleasure. Small game, such as hares, rabbits, and birds, are also shot with the arrow. Reptiles and insects of all descriptions not poisonous are greedily devoured; in fact, any life-sustaining substance which can be procured with little trouble, is food for them. But their main reliance is on acorns, roots, grass-seeds, berries and the like. These are eaten both raw and prepared. The acorns are shelled, dried in the sun, and then pounded into a powder with large stones. From this flour a species of coarse bread is made, which is sometimes flavored with various kinds of berries or herbs. This bread is of a black color when cooked, of about the consistency of cheese, and is said, by those who have tasted it, to be not at all unpalatable.[511]Wilkes, and the majority of writers, assert that the acorns are sweet and palatable in their natural state; Kostromitonow, however, says: ‘Nachdem die Eicheln vom Baume gepflückt sind, werden sie in der Sonne gedörrt, darauf gereinigt und in Körben mittelst besonders dazu behauener Steine gestossen, dann wird im Sande oder sonst wo in lockerer Erde eine Grube gegraben, die Eicheln werden hineingeschüttet und mit Wasser übergossen, welches beständig von der Erde eingezogen wird. Dieses Ausspülen wiederholt man so lange bis die Eicheln alle ihre eigenthümliche Bitterkeit verloren haben.’ Baer, Stat. und Ethno., p. 84. The acorn bread ‘looks and tastes like coarse black clay, strongly resembling the soundings in Hampton roads, and being about as savory and digestible.’ Revere’s Tour, p. 121. Never having eaten ‘coarse black clay,’ I cannot say how it tastes, but according to all other authorities, this bread, were it not for the extreme filthiness of those who prepare it, would be by no means disagreeable food. The dough is frequently boiled into pudding instead of being baked. A sort of mush is made from clover-seed, which is also described as being rather a savory dish. Grasshoppers constitute another toothsome delicacy. When for winter use, they are dried in the sun; when for present consumption, they are either mashed into a paste, which is eaten with the fingers, ground into a fine powder and mixed with mush, or they are saturated with salt water, placed in a hole in the ground previously heated, covered with hot stones, and eaten like shrimps when well roasted. Dried chrysalides are considered a bonne bouche, as are all varieties of insects and worms. The boiled dishes are cooked in water-tight baskets, into which hot stones are dropped. Meat is roasted on sticks before the fire, or baked in a hole in the ground. The food is conveyed to the mouth with the fingers.

Acorns and Wild Fowl

Grasshoppers are taken in pits, into which they are driven by setting the grass on fire, or by beating the grass in a gradually lessening circle, of which the pit is the centre. For seed-gathering two baskets are used; a large one, which is borne on the back, and another smaller and scoop-shaped, which is carried in the hand; with this latter the tops of the ripe grass are swept, and the seed thus taken is thrown over the left shoulder into the larger basket. The seeds are then parched and pulverized, and usually stored as pinole,[512]Pinole is an Aztec word, and is applied to any kind of grain or seeds, parched and ground, before being made into dough. ‘Pinolli, la harina de mayz y chia, antes que la deslian.’ Molina, Vocabulario. The Aztecs made pinole chiefly of maize or Indian corn. for winter use.[513]‘Nos trageron su regalo de tamales grandes de mas de á tercia con su correspondiente grueso, amasados de semillas silvestres muy prietas que parecen brea; los probé y no tienen mal gusto y son muy mantecosos.’ Palou, Noticias, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. vii., p. 68. Among the presents given to Drake by the Indians was ‘a roote which they call Petáh, whereof they make a kind of meale, and either bake it into bread or eate it raw; broyled fishes, like a pilchard; the seede and downe aforenamed, with such like.’ Drake’s World Encomp., p. 126. Catch salmon in baskets. ‘They neither sow nor reap, but burn their meadows from time to time to increase their fertility.’ Chamisso, in Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 48. ‘Les rats, les insectes, les serpentes, tout sans exception leur sert de nourriture…. Ils sont trop maladroits et trop paresseux pour chasser.’ Choris, Voy. Pitt., part iii., p. 2. ‘Entre ellas tienen una especie de semilla negra, y de su harina hacen unos tamales, á modo de bolas, de tamaño de una naranja, que son muy sabrosos, que parecen de almendra tostada muy mantecosa.’ Palou, Vida de Junípero Serra, p. 216; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 164; Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 116. ‘Their fastidiousness does not prompt them to take the entrails out’ of fishes and birds. Delano’s Life on the Plains, p. 305. ‘Live upon various plants in their several seasons, besides grapes, and even use the Artemesia.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., pp. 202, 259. ‘Ils trouvent aussi autour d’eux une quantité d’aloès dont ils font un fréquent usage…. Ils utilisent éncore la racine d’une espèce de roseau…. Ils mangent aussi une fleur sucrée qui ressemble à celle de l’églantier d’Espagne, et qui croît dans les endroits marécageux.’ Marmier, Notice, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., pp. 232-3, 237. Were cannibals and their sorcerers still eat human flesh. Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., pp. 362, 366-9. The Meewocs ‘eat all creatures that swim in the waters, all that fly through the air, and all that creep, crawl, or walk upon the earth, with, perhaps a dozen exceptions.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. x., p. 324. ‘Ils se nourrissent également d’une espèce de gâteaux fabriqués avec du gland, et qu’ils roulent dans le sable avant de le livrer à la cuisson; de là vient qu’ils sont, jeunes encore, les dents usées jusqu’à la racine, et ce n’est pas, comme le dit Malte-Brun, parce qu’ils ont l’habitude de les limer.’ Auger, Voy. en Cal., p. 163. ‘While I was standing there a couple of pretty young girls came from the woods, with flat baskets full of flower-seed, emitting a peculiar fragrance, which they also prepared for eating. They put some live coals among the seed, and swinging it and throwing it together, to shake the coals and the seed well, and bring them in continual and close contact without burning the latter, they roasted it completely, and the mixture smelled so beautiful and refreshing that I tasted a good handful of it, and found it most excellent.’ Gerstaecker’s Journ., p. 211. See farther: Humboldt, Pol., tom. i., pp. 324-5; Holinski, La Californie, p. 174; Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., pp. 106-7, 113; Wimmel, Californien, pp. 179, 181; Kelly’s Excursion to Cal., vol. ii., p. 113; Taylor’s El Dorado, vol. i., p. 241; King’s Rept., in Taylor’s El Dorado, vol. ii., p. 210; Langsdorff’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 163; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 248; Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 36; Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 103; Petit-Thouars, Voy., tom. ii., pp. 136-7; Fremont’s Explor. Ex., pp. 242, 244; Johnson’s Cal. and Ogn., p. 142; Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 222; Placerville Index, Aug., 1859; Henley, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 303; Patrick, McDermott, Gilbert, Benitz, Jannson, Von Schmidt, McAdam, Bowlby, and Jewett, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1856, pp. 18, 41-4; La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 282; Helper’s Land of Gold, pp. 269-70; Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. iii., pp. 441-2; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 450-1; Thornton’s Ogn. and Cal., pp. 91-2, 152, 316; Yate’s Sketch of the Sacramento Valley in 1842, MS.; D’Orbigny, Voy., p. 457; McDaniels’ Early Days of Cal. MS.; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 339, 346; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., pp. 455-6; Knight’s Pioneer Life, MS. When acorns are scarce the Central Californian resorts to a curious expedient to obtain them. The woodpecker, or carpintero as the Spaniards call it, stores away acorns for its own use in the trunks of trees. Each acorn is placed in a separate hole, which it fits quite tightly. These the natives take; but it is never until hunger compels them to do so, as they have great respect for their little caterer, and would hold it sacrilege to rob him except in time of extreme need.[514]When the Indian finds a tree stocked by the carpenter bird he ‘kindles a fire at its base and keeps it up till the tree falls, when he helps himself to the acorns.’ Helper’s Land of Gold, p. 269. Wild fowl are taken with a net stretched across a narrow stream between two poles, one on either bank. Decoys are placed on the water just before the net, one end of which is fastened to the top of the pole on the farther bank. A line passing through a hole in the top of the pole on the bank where the fowler is concealed, is attached to the nearest end of the net, which is allowed to hang low. When the fowl fly rapidly up to the decoys, this end is suddenly raised with a jerk, so that the birds strike it with great force, and, stunned by the shock, fall into a large pouch, contrived for the purpose in the lower part of the net.[515]Beechey’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 75.

Fish are both speared and netted. A long pole, projecting sometimes as much as a hundred feet over the stream, is run out from the bank. The farther end is supported by a small raft or buoy. Along this boom the net is stretched, the nearer corner being held by a native. As soon as a fish becomes entangled in the meshes it can be easily felt, and the net is then hauled in.[516]‘When a sturgeon is caught, the spinal marrow, which is considered a delicacy, is drawn out whole, through a cut made in the back, and devoured raw.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., pp. 32-3. On the coast a small fish resembling the sardine is caught on the beach in the receding waves by means of a hand-net, in the manner practiced by the Northern Californian heretofore described.[517]Browne, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xxiii., p. 315. The Central Californians do not hunt the whale, but it is a great day with them when one is stranded.[518]‘They cook the flesh of this animal in holes dug in the ground and curbed up with stone like wells. Over this they build large fires, heat them thoroughly, clean out the coals and ashes, fill them with whale flesh, cover the opening with sticks, leaves, grass and earth, and thus bake their repast.’ Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 366-7. ‘Ils font rôtir cette chair dans des trous creusés en terre.’ Marmier, Notice, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., p. 237. In reality their food was not so bad as some writers assert. Before the arrival of miners game was so plentiful that even the lazy natives could supply their necessities. The ‘nobler race,’ as usual, thrust them down upon a level with swine. Johnson thus describes the feeding of the natives at Sutter’s Fort: “Long troughs inside the walls were filled with a kind of boiled mush made of the wheat-bran; and the Indians, huddled in rows upon their knees before these troughs, quickly conveyed their contents by the hand to the mouth.” “But,” writes Powers to the author, “it is a well-established fact that California Indians, even when reared by Americans from infancy, if they have been permitted to associate meantime with others of their race, will, in the season of lush blossoming clover, go out and eat it in preference to all other food.”[519]Johnson’s Cal. and Ogn., p. 132; Powers’ Account of John A. Sutter, MS.; and Id., Letter to the author, MS.

In their personal habits they are filthy in the extreme. Both their dwellings and their persons abound in vermin, which they catch and eat in the same manner as their northern neighbors.[520]‘Reinlichkeit kennen sie nicht, und in ihren Hütten sind die diversesten Parasiten vertreten.’ Wimmel, Californien, p. 177. ‘I have seen them eating the vermin which they picked from each other’s heads, and from their blankets. Although they bathe frequently, they lay for hours in the dirt, basking in the sun, covered with dust.’ Delano’s Life on the Plains, p. 305. ‘In their persons they are extremely dirty.’ Eat lice like the Tartars. Beechey’s Voy., vol. ii., pp. 76-7. ‘Very filthy, and showed less sense of decency in every respect than any we had ever met with.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 106.

Californian Weapons

Their weapons are bows and arrows, spears, and sometimes clubs. The first-named do not differ in any essential respect from those described as being used by the Northern Californians. They are well made, from two and a half to three feet long, and backed with sinew; the string of wild flax or sinew, and partially covered with bird’s down or a piece of skin, to deaden the twang.

The arrows are short, made of reed or light wood, and winged with three or four feathers. The head is of flint, bone, obsidian, or volcanic glass, sometimes barbed and sometimes diamond-shaped. It is fastened loosely to the shaft, and can be extracted only from a wound by cutting it out. The shaft is frequently painted in order that the owner may be able to distinguish his own arrows from others. Spears, or rather javelins, are used, seldom exceeding from four and a half to five feet in length. They are made of some tough kind of wood and headed with the same materials as the arrows. Occasionally the point of the stick is merely sharpened and hardened in the fire.[521]‘Ein Bogen mit Pfeilen und ein Spiess sind ihre Waffen; alles dieses wird meistens aus jungem Tannenholz verfertigt. Die Spitzen der Pfeile und Spiesse bestehen aus scharfen, künstlich behauenen Steinen, zur Bogensehne nehmen sie die Sehnen wilder Ziegen; ausserdem führen sie in Kriegszeiten eine Art von Schleuder, mit welcher sie Steine auf eine grosse Entfernung werfen.’ Kostromitonow, in Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., p. 89. Bow ‘from three to four and a half feet long.’ Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 368. ‘Their arms are clubs, spears of hard wood, and the bow and arrow…. Arrows are mostly made of reeds.’ Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, Feb. 22, 1860. ‘Die einzige Waffe zur Erlegung des Wildes ist ihnen der Bogen und Pfeil.’ Wimmel, Californien, p. 180. ‘Their only arms were bows and arrows.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 222. Bows ‘about thirty inches long … arrows are a species of reed … spears are pointed with bone.’ Delano’s Life on the Plains, p. 306. ‘The quiver of dressed deer-skin, holds both bow and arrows.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 123. ‘The point (of the arrow) itself is a piece of flint chipped down into a flat diamond shape, about the size of a diamond on a playing-card; the edges are very sharp, and are notched to receive the tendons with which it is firmly secured to the arrow.’ Borthwick’s Three Years in Cal., p. 131. ‘Arrows are pointed with flint, as are also their spears, which are very short. They do not use the tomahawk or scalping knife.’ Thornton’s Ogn. and Cal., vol. ii., p. 91. ‘Leurs armes sont l’arc et les flèches armées d’un silex très-artistement travaillé.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 305. ‘Ces arcs sont encore garnis, au milieu, d’une petite lanière de cuir, qui a pour object d’empêcher la flèche de dévier de la position qu’on lui donne en la posant sur l’arc…. Ils prétendent que cette précaution rend leurs coups encore plus sûrs. Les flèches sont moins longues que l’arc, elles ont ordinairement de 80 à 85 centimètres de long, elles sont faites d’un bois très-léger et sont égales en grosseur à chaque extrémité … l’autre extrémité de la flèche est garnie, sur quatre faces, de barbes en plumes qui ont 10 centimètres de longueur sur 0,015 millimètres de hauteur.’ Petit-Thouars, Voy., tom. ii., p. 138. They ‘maintain armories to make their bows, and arrows, and lances.’ Arrows ‘are tipped with barbed obsidian heads … the shaft is ornamented with rings of the distinguishing paint of the owner’s rancheria. Their knives and spear-points are made of obsidian and flint.’ Arrows are of two kinds, ‘one short and light for killing game, and the other a war-shaft measuring a cloth-yard in length.’ Revere’s Tour, pp. 121-2. ‘Ces flèches offrent peu de danger à une certaine distance, à cause de la parabole qu’elles sont forcées de décrire, et qui donne à celui que les voit venir la temps de les éviter.’ Auger, Voy. en Cal., p. 163. ‘La corde, faite avec du chanvre sylvestre, est garnie d’un petit morceau de peau qui en étouffe le sifflement.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 378; see Atlas, plate 25. ‘Ihre Waffen bestehen nur in Bogen und Pfeil.’ Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., part ii., p. 455. ‘They have no offensive arms at all, except bows and arrows, and these are small and powerless…. Arrows are about two feet long.’ Gerstaecker’s Journ., p. 212. ‘Sometimes the bow is merely of wood and rudely made.’ Chamisso, in Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 48. ‘Their weapons consist only of bows and arrows; neither the tomahawk nor the spear is ever seen in their hands.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 77. ‘A portion of the string is covered with downy fur’ to deaden the sound. Arrows are invariably pointed with flint. They have ‘sometimes wooden barbs.’ Javelins pointed with flint, or sometimes simply sharpened at the end. Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 109. Arrows were about three feet long, and pointed with flint. Short spears also pointed with flint. Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 198. ‘Traian unas lanzas cortas con su lengüeta de pedernal tan bien labradas como si fuesen de hierro ó acero, con solo la diferencia de no estar lisas.’ Palou, Noticias, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. vii., p. 68. ‘Los mas de ellos traian varas largas en las manos á modo de lanzas.’ Id., p. 61; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 249; Langsdorff’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 165; Life of Gov. L. W. Boggs, by his Son, MS. The head of the fishing-spear is movable, being attached to the shaft by a line, so that when a fish is struck the pole serves as a float. Some of the tribes formerly poisoned their arrows, but it is probable that the custom never prevailed to any great extent. M. du Petit-Thouars was told that they used for this purpose a species of climbing plant which grows in shady places. It is said that they also poison their weapons with the venom of serpents.[522]Petit-Thouars, Voy., tom. ii., p. 139. Pedro Fages mentions that the natives in the country round San Miguel use a kind of sabre, made of hard wood, shaped like a cimeter, and edged with sharp flints. This they employ for hunting as well as in war, and with such address that they rarely fail to break the leg of the animal at which they hurl it.[523]Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1844, tom. ci., p. 164; Marmier, Notice, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., p. 228. It is impossible to locate with certainty the San Miguel of Fages. There are now several places of the name in California, of which the San Miguel in San Luis Obispo County comes nearest the region in which, to agree with his own narrative, Fages must have been at the time. The cimeter mentioned by him, must have strongly resembled the maquahuitl of the ancient Mexicans, and it was possibly much farther south that he saw it.

Battles and Weapons

Battles, though frequent, were not attended with much loss of life. Each side was anxious for the fight to be over, and the first blood would often terminate the contest. Challenging by heralds obtained. Thus the Shumeias challenge the Pomos by placing three little sticks, notched in the middle and at both ends, on a mound which marked the boundary between the two tribes. If the Pomos accept, they tie a string round the middle notch. Heralds then meet and arrange time and place, and the battle comes off as appointed.[524]Powers’ Pomo, MS.; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 169. Among some tribes, children are sent by mutual arrangement into the enemy’s ranks during the heat of battle to pick up the fallen arrows and carry them back to their owners to be used again.[525]Butte Record, Aug., 1866. When fighting, they stretch out in a long single line and endeavor by shouts and gestures to intimidate the foe.[526]‘Suelen entrar en ella entonando cánticos militares mezclados de extraños alaridos; y acostumbran formarse los campeones en dos lineas muy próximas para empezar disparándose flechazos. Como uno de sus principales ardides consiste en intimidar al enemigo, para conseguirlo procura cada partido que oiga el contrario los preparativos de la batalla.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 170. ‘On coming in sight of the enemy they form in an extended line, something like light infantry, and shouting, like bacchanals dance from side to side to prevent the foe from taking deliberate aim.’ Revere’s Tour, p. 122.

Notwithstanding the mildness of their disposition and the inferiority of their weapons, the Central Californians do not lack courage in battle, and when captured will meet their fate with all the stoicism of a true Indian. For many years after the occupation of the country by the Spaniards, by abandoning their villages and lying in ambush upon the approach of the enemy, they were enabled to resist the small squads of Mexicans sent against them from the presidios for the recovery of deserters from the missions. During the settlement of the country by white people, there were the usual skirmishes growing out of wrong and oppression on the one side, and retaliation on the other; the usual uprising among miners and rancheros, and vindication of border law, which demanded the massacre of a village for the stealing of a cow.

Trespass on lands and abduction of women are the usual causes of war among themselves. Opposing armies, on approaching each other in battle array, dance and leap from side to side in order to prevent their enemies from taking deliberate aim. Upon the invasion of their territory they rapidly convey the intelligence by means of signals. A great smoke is made upon the nearest hilltop, which is quickly repeated upon the surrounding hills, and thus a wide extent of country is aroused in a remarkably short time.

The custom of scalping, though not universal in California, was practiced in some localities. The yet more barbarous habit of cutting off the hands, feet, or head of a fallen enemy, as trophies of victory, prevailed more widely. They also plucked out and carefully preserved the eyes of the slain.

It has been asserted that these savages were cannibals, and there seems to be good reason to believe that they did devour pieces of the flesh of a renowned enemy slain in battle. Human flesh was, however, not eaten as food, nor for the purpose of wreaking vengeance on or showing hate for a dead adversary, but because they thought that by eating part of a brave man they absorbed a portion of his courage. They do not appear to have kept or sold prisoners as slaves, but to have either exchanged or killed them.[527]In the vicinity of Fort Ross: ‘In ihren Kriegen wird Unerschrockenheit geachtet; gefangene Feinde tödtet man nicht, sondern wechselt sie nach beendigtem Kampfe aus; nie verurtheilt man sie zu Sklaven.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., p. 77. Near Feather River ‘they carry off their dead to prevent their being scalped, which next after death they are most fearful of.’ Kelly’s Excursion to Cal., vol. ii., p. 83. In the Sacramento Valley ‘the Californians differ from the other North American tribes in the absence of the tomahawk and of the practice of scalping.’ Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 108. At Clear Lake, ‘they do not scalp the slain.’ Revere’s Tour, p. 122. In the vicinity of San Francisco ‘occasionally, they appear to have eaten pieces of the bodies of their more distinguished adversaries killed in battle.’ Soulé’s Annals of San Francisco, p. 52. At Monterey, ‘lorsqu’ils avaient vaincu et mis à mort sur le champ de bataille des chefs ou des hommes très-courageux, ils en mangeaient quelques morceaux, moins en signe de haine et de vengeance, que comme un hommage qu’ils rendaient à leur valeur, et dans la persuasion qua cette nourriture était propre à augmenter leur courage.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 306. ‘Muchos indios armados de arco y flechas y llamándolos vinieron luego y me regularon muchos de ellos flechas, que es entre ellos la mayor demostracion de paz.’ Palou, Noticias, in Doc. Mex. Hist., serie iv., tom. vii., p. 53. At Santa Cruz they eat slices of the flesh of a brave fallen enemy, thinking to gain some of his valour. They ‘take the scalps of their enemies … they pluck out the eyes of their enemies.’ Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 370. ‘Gefangene werden nicht lange gehalten, sondern gleich getödtet.’ Wimmel, Californien, p. 178. In order to intimidate their enemies ‘cometen con el propio fin en las primeras víctimas las crueldades mas horrorosas.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 170.

Implements and Manufactures

They are not ingenious, and manufacture but few articles requiring any skill. The principal of these are the baskets in which, as I have already mentioned, they carry water and boil their food. They are made of fine grass, so closely woven as to be perfectly water-tight, and are frequently ornamented with feathers, beads, shells, and the like, worked into them in a very pretty manner. Fletcher, who visited the coast with Sir Francis Drake in 1579, describes them as being “made in fashion like a deep boale, and though the matter were rushes, or such other kind of stuffe, yet it was so cunningly handled that the most part of them would hold water; about the brimmes they were hanged with peeces of the shels of pearles, and in some places with two or three linkes at a place, of the chaines forenamed … and besides this, they were wrought vpon with the matted downe of red feathers, distinguished into diuers workes and formes.”[528]Drake’s World Encomp., p. 126. The baskets are of various sizes and shapes, the most common being conical or wide and flat. Their pipes are straight, the bowl being merely a continuation of the stem, only thicker and hollowed out.[529]‘Make baskets of the bark of trees.’ Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 368. ‘Make a very ingenious straw box for keeping their worm bait alive; burying it in the earth, yet not allowing the worms to escape.’ Kneeland’s Wonders of Yosemite, p. 52. ‘Die gewöhnlichste Form für den Korb ist halbconisch, 3 Fuss lang und 18 Zoll breit.’ Wimmel, Californien, p. 182. ‘Their baskets, made of willows, are perfectly water-tight.’ Delano’s Life on the Plains, p. 305. ‘They sometimes ornament the smaller ones with beads, pearl-shell, feathers, &c.’ Revere’s Tour, p. 122 ‘Leurs mortiers de pierre et divers autres utensiles sont artistiquement incrustés de morceaux de nacre de perle … garnissent leur calebasses et leur cruches d’ouvrages de vannerie brodés avec des fils-déliés qu’elles tirent de diverses racines.’ Marmier, Notice, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., p. 233; Langsdorff’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 165; Fremont’s Explor. Ex., p. 243; Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 107; Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 367; Chamisso, in Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 48; Borthwick’s Three Years in Cal., p. 131; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 324.

No Boats in San Francisco Bay

It is a singular fact that these natives about the bay of San Francisco and the regions adjacent, had no canoes of any description. Their only means of navigation were bundles of tule-rushes about ten feet long and three or four wide, lashed firmly together in rolls, and pointed at both ends. They were propelled, either end foremost, with long double-bladed paddles. In calm weather, and on a river, the centre, or thickest part of these rafts might be tolerably dry, but in rough water the rower, who sat astride, was up to his waist in water.[530]Maurelle’s Jour., p. 47. At Clear Lake ‘their canoes or rather rafts are made of bundles of the tulé plant.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 107. At San Francisco Bay and vicinity ‘the only canoes of the Indians are made of plaited reeds.’ Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 90. ‘They do not possess horses or canoes of any kind; they only know how to fasten together bundles of rushes, which carry them over the water by their comparative lightness.’ Chamisso, in Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 48. ‘Les Indiens font leur pirogues à l’instant où ils veulent entreprendre un voyage par eau; elles sont en roseaux. Lorsque l’on y entre elles s’emplissent à moitié d’eau; de sorte qu’assis, l’on en a jusqu’au gras de la jambe; on les fait aller avec des avirons extrêmement longs, et pointus aux deux extremités.’ Choris, Voy. Pitt., part iii., p. 6. Had no boats, but it was reported that they had previously used boats made of rushes. Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 103. ‘The most rude and sorry contrivances for embarcation I had ever beheld…. They were constructed of rushes and dried grass of a long broad leaf, made up into rolls the length of the canoe, the thickest in the middle and regularly tapering to a point at each end … appeared to be very ill calculated to contend with wind and waves…. They conducted their canoe or vessel by long double-bladed paddles, like those used by the Esquimaux.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 5. ‘The balsas are entirely formed of the bulrush … commonly the rowers sit on them soaked in water, as they seldom rise above the surface.’ Forbes’ Cal., p. 191. Build no canoes, but occasionally make use of rafts composed of one or two logs, generally split. Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 192. ‘The “Balsa” is the only thing of the boat kind known among them. It is constructed entirely of bulrushes … sit flat upon the craft, soaked in water, plying their paddles … most of them in all kinds of weather, are either below, or on a level with the water.’ Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 368. ‘My opinion is that the Indians of California, previous to the occupation by the Jesuit Fathers had no other boats than those made from the tule, and even as late as 1840, I never knew or heard of an Indian using any other.’ Phelps’ Letter, MS. It has been asserted that they even ventured far out to sea on them, but that this was common I much doubt.[531]Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 103; Cronise’s Nat. Wealth, p. 23. They were useful to spear fish from, but for little else; in proof of which I may mention, on the authority of Roquefeuil, that in 1809-11, the Koniagas employed by the Russians at Bodega, killed seals and otters in San Francisco Bay under the very noses of the Spaniards, and in spite of all the latter, who appear to have had no boats of their own, could do to prevent them. In their light skin baidarkas, each with places for two persons only, these bold northern boatmen would drop down the coast from Bodega Bay, where the Russians were stationed, or cross over from the Farallones in fleets of from forty to fifty boats, and entering the Golden Gate creep along the northern shore, beyond the range of the Presidio’s guns, securely establish themselves upon the islands of the bay and pursue their avocation unmolested. For three years, namely from 1809 to 1811, these northern fishermen held possession of the bay of San Francisco, during which time they captured over eight thousand otters. Finally, it occurred to the governor, Don Luis Argüello, that it would be well for the Spaniards to have boats of their own. Accordingly four were built, but they were so clumsily constructed, ill equipped, and poorly manned, that had the Russians and Koniagas felt disposed, they could easily have continued their incursions. Once within the entrance, these northern barbarians were masters of the bay, and such was their sense of security that they would sometimes venture for a time to stretch their limbs upon the shore. The capture of several of their number, however, by the soldiers from the fort, made them more wary thereafter. Maurelle, who touched at Point Arenas in 1775, but did not enter the bay of San Francisco, says that “a vast number of Indians now presented themselves on both points, who passed from one to the other in small canoes made of fule, where they talked loudly for two hours or more, till at last two of them came alongside of the ship, and most liberally presented us with plumes of feathers, rosaries of bone, garments of feathers, as also garlands of the same materials, which they wore round their head, and a canister of seeds which tasted much like walnuts.” The only account of this voyage in my possession is an English translation, in which “canoes made of fule” might easily have been mistaken for boats or floats of tule.[532]Roquefeuil’s Voy., pp. 25-6. Tule is an Aztec word, from tollin, signifying rushes, flags, or reeds. Molina, Vocabulario. Mendoza says that when the ancient Mexicans arrived at the site of Mexico, it was a complete swamp, covered ‘con grandes matorrales de enea, que llaman tuli.’ Esplicacion del Codice, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 40. That the Spaniards themselves had not boats at this time is also asserted by Kotzebue: ‘That no one has yet attempted to build even the simplest canoe in a country which produces a superabundance of the finest wood for the purpose, is a striking proof of the indolence of the Spaniards, and the stupidity of the Indians.’ New Voy., vol. ii., p. 90. Split logs were occasionally used to cross rivers, and frequently all means of transportation were dispensed with, and swimming resorted to.

Captain Phelps, in a letter to the author, mentions having seen skin boats, or baidarkas, on the Sacramento River, but supposes that they were left there by those same Russian employés.[533]Phelps’ Letter, MS. Vancouver, speaking of a canoe which he saw below Monterey, says: “Instead of being composed of straw, like those we had seen on our first visit to San Francisco, it was neatly formed of wood, much after the Nootka fashion, and was navigated with much adroitness by four natives of the country. Their paddles were about four feet long with a blade at each end; these were handled with great dexterity, either entirely on one side or alternately on each side of their canoe.”[534]Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 415. ‘Sending off a man with great expedition, to vs in a canow.’ Drake’s World Encomp., p. 119. I account for the presence of this canoe in the same manner that Captain Phelps accounts for the skin canoes on the Sacramento, and think that it must have come either from the south or north.

The probable cause of this absence of boats in Central California is the scarcity of suitable, favorably located timber. Doubtless if the banks of the Sacramento and the shores of San Francisco Bay had been lined with large straight pine or fir trees, their waters would have been filled with canoes; yet after all, this is but a poor excuse; for not only on the hills and mountains, at a little distance from the water, are forests of fine trees, but quantities of driftwood come floating down every stream during the rainy season, out of which surely sufficient material could be secured for some sort of boats.

Shells of different kinds, but especially the variety known as aulone, form the circulating medium. They are polished, sometimes ground down to a certain size, and arranged on strings of different lengths.[535]The shells ‘they broke and rubbed down to a circular shape, to the size of a dime, and strung them on a thread of sinews.’ Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, March 2, 1860. ‘Three kinds of money were employed … white shell-beads, or rather buttons, pierced in the centre and strung together, were rated at $5 a yard; periwinkles, at $1 a yard; fancy marine shells, at various prices, from $3 to $10, or $15, according to their beauty.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. x., p. 325.

Chieftainship and Its Rights

Chieftainship is hereditary, almost without exception. In a few instances I find it depending upon wealth, influence, family, or prowess in war, but this rarely. In some parts, in default of male descent, the females of the family are empowered to appoint a successor.[536]The office of chief is hereditary in the male line only. The widows and daughters of the chiefs are, however, treated with distinction, and are not required to work, as other women. Beechey’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 73. In one case near Clear Lake, when ‘the males of a family had become extinct and a female only remained, she appointed a chief.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 112. At the Port of Sardinas ‘durmió dos noches en la capitana una india anciana, que era señora de estos pueblos, acompañada de muchos Indios.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. xxxii. Although considerable dignity attaches to a chief, and his family are treated with consideration, yet his power is limited, his principal duties consisting in making peace and war, and in appointing and presiding over feasts. Every band has its separate head, and two or even three have been known to preside at the same time.[537]The Kainameahs had three hereditary chiefs. Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 103. Sometimes when several bands are dwelling together they are united under one head chief, who, however, cannot act for the whole without consulting the lesser chiefs. Practically, the heads of families rule in their own circle, and their internal arrangements are seldom interfered with. Their medicine-men also wield a very powerful influence among them.[538]In Russian River Valley and the vicinity: ‘Die Achtung die man für den Vater hegte, geht häufig auf den Sohn über; aber die Gewalt des Oberhauptes ist im Allgemeinen sehr nichtig; denn es steht einem jeden frei, seinen Geburtsort zu verlassen und einen anderen Aufenthalt zu wählen.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., pp. 77-8. ‘Derjenige, der am meisten Anverwandte besitzt, wird als Häuptling oder Tojon anerkannt; in grösseren Wohnsitzen giebt es mehrere solcher Tojone, aber ihre Autorität ist nichts sagend. Sie haben weder das Recht zu befehlen, noch den Ungehorsam zu züchtigen.’Kostromitonow, in Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., p. 86. At Clear Lake chiefdom was hereditary. Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 112. See also pp. 103, 110. Among the Gualalas and Gallinomeros, chieftainship was hereditary. The Sanéls live in large huts, each containing 20 or 30 persons related to each other, each of these families has its own government. The Comachos paid voluntary tribute for support of chief. Powers’ Pomo, MS. In the Sacramento Valley a chief has more authority than that arising merely from his personal character. Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 108. On the coast between San Diego and San Francisco, in the vicinity of San Miguel ‘chaque village est gouverné despotiquement par un chef qui est seul arbitre de la paix et de la guerre.’ Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1844, tom. ci., p. 163. See also Marmier, Notice, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., p. 227; Jewett, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1856, p. 244; Gerstaecker’s Journ., p. 213; Histoire Chrétienne de la Cal., p. 52; Wimmel, Californien, pp. 177-8. Sometimes, when a flagrant murder has been committed, the chiefs meet in council and decide upon the punishment of the offender. The matter is, however, more frequently settled by the relatives of the victim, who either exact blood for blood from the murderer or let the thing drop for a consideration. Among the Neeshenams revenge must be had within twelve months after the murder or not at all.[539]‘El robo era un delito casi desconocido en ambas naciones. Entre los Runsienes se miraba quasi con indiferencia el homicidio; pero no así entre los Eslenes, los quales castigaban al delinquente con pena de muerte.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 171. ‘Im Fall ein Indianer ein Verbrechen in irgend einem Stamme verübt hat, und die Häuptlinge sich bestimmt haben ihn zu tödten, so geschieht dies durch Bogen und Pfeil.’ Wimmel, Californien, pp. 177-8; Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. xii., p. 24.

Rulers of New Albion

According to Fletcher’s narrative, there seems to have been much more distinction of rank at the time of Drake’s visit to California than subsequent travelers have seen; however, allowance must be made for the exaggerations invariably found in the reports of early voyagers. In proof of this, we have only to take up almost any book of travel in foreign lands printed at that time; wherein dragons and other impossible animals are not only zoölogically described, but carefully drawn and engraved, as well as other marvels in abundance. Captain Drake had several temptations to exaggerate. The richer and more important the country he discovered, the more would it redound to his credit to have been the discoverer; the greater the power and authority of the chief who formally made over his dominions to the queen of England, the less likely to be disputed would be that sovereign’s claims to the ceded territory. Fletcher never speaks of the chief of the tribe that received Drake, but as ‘the king,’ and states that this dignitary was treated with great respect and ceremony by the courtiers who surrounded him. These latter were distinguished from the canaille by various badges of rank. They wore as ornaments chains “of a bony substance, euery linke or part thereof being very little, and thinne, most finely burnished, with a hole pierced through the middest. The number of linkes going to make one chaine, is in a manner infinite; but of such estimation it is amongst them, that few be the persons that are admitted to weare the same; and euen they to whom its lawfull to use them, yet are stinted what number they shall vse, as some ten, some twelue, some twentie, and as they exceed in number of chaines, so thereby are they knowne to be the more honorable personages.” Another mark of distinction was a “certain downe, which groweth vp in the countrey vpon an herbe much like our lectuce, which exceeds any other downe in the world for finenesse, and beeing layed vpon their cawles, by no winds can be remoued. Of such estimation is this herbe amongst them, that the downe thereof is not lawfull to be worne, but of such persons as are about the king (to whom also it is permitted to weare a plume of feather on their heads, in signe of honour), and the seeds are not vsed but onely in sacrifice to their gods.” The king, who was gorgeously attired in skins, with a crown of feather-work upon his head, was attended by a regular body-guard, uniformly dressed in coats of skins. His coming was announced by two heralds or ambassadors, one of whom prompted the other, during the proclamation, in a low voice. His majesty was preceded in the procession by “a man of large body and goodly aspect, bearing the septer or royall mace;” all of which happened, if we may believe the worthy chaplain of the expedition, on the coast just above San Francisco Bay, three hundred years ago.[540]Drake’s World Encomp., pp. 124-6.

How a Bride Is Won

Slavery in any form is rare, and hereditary bondage unknown.[541]Wimmel, Californien, p. 178. Polygamy obtains in most of the tribes, although there are exceptions.[542]Near San Francisco, ‘teniendo muchas mugeres, sin que entre ellas se experimente la menor emulacion.’ Palou, Vida de Junipero Serra, p. 217. At Monterey ‘la polygamie leur était permise.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 303. In Tuolumne County ‘polygamy is practiced.’ Healey, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1856, p. 244. At Clear Lake ‘polygamy is practiced only by the chiefs.’ Revere’s Tour, p. 125. ‘Bei manchen Stämmen wird Vielweiberei gestattet.’ Wimmel, Californien, p. 178. ‘A man often marries a whole family, the mother and her daughters…. No jealousies ever appear among these families of wives.’ Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 367. ‘An Indian man may have as many wives as he can keep; but a woman cannot have a plurality of husbands, or men to whom she owes obedience.’ Johnston, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 224. In the Sacramento Valley ‘the men in general have but one wife.’ Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 108. ‘Of these Indians it is reported that no one has more than one wife.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 201. ‘Entre los Runsienes y Eslenes no era permitido á cada hombre tener mas de una muger.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 170. At Clear Lake and down the coast to San Francisco Bay ‘they have but one wife at a time.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 112. In the vicinity of Fort Ross ‘es ist nicht erlaubt mehr als eine Frau zu haben.’ Kostromitonow, in Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., p. 88. In the country round San Miguel ‘non-seulement ce capitaine a le droit d’avoir deux femmes, tandis que les autres Indiens n’en ont qu’une, mais il peut les renvoyer quand cela lui plaît, pour en prendre d’autres dans le village.’ Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1844, tom. ci., p. 163. See also Marmier, Notice, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., p. 227. It is common for a man to marry a whole family of sisters, and sometimes the mother also, if she happen to be free.[543]At Monterey, ‘ils étaient même dans l’usage d’épouser toutes les sœurs d’une famille.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 303. Near Fort Ross, ‘die Blutsverwandtschaft wird streng beachtet und es ist nicht gestattet aus dem ersten oder zweiten Grade der Verwandtschaft zu heirathen; selbst im Falle einer Scheidung darf der nächste Anverwandte die Frau nicht ehelichen, doch giebt es auch Ausnahmen.’ Kostromitonow, in Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., p. 88. At San Francisco ‘no conocen para sus casamientos el parentezco de afinidad; antes bien este los incita á recibir por sus propias mugeres á sus cuñadas, y aun á las suegras, y la costumbre que observan es, que el que logra una muger, tiene por suyas á todas sus hermanas.’ Palou, Vida de Junípero Serra, p. 217. ‘Parentage and other relations of consanguinity are no obstacles to matrimony.’ Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 367. ‘Souvent une femme presse son mari d’épouser ses soeurs, et même sa mère, et cette proposition est fréquemment acceptée.’ Marmier, Notice, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., p. 235. ‘Este método de comprar las mugeres era comun á entrambas naciones (Runsienes y Eslenes), bien que entre los Runsienes hacia mucho mas solemne el contrato la intervencion de los parientes de los novios, contribuyendo los del varon con su quota, la qual se dividia entre los de la novia al tiempo de entregar á esta.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 171. Husband and wife are united with very little ceremony. The inclinations of the bride seem to be consulted here more than among the Northern Californians. It is true she is sometimes bought from her parents, but if she violently opposes the match she is seldom compelled to marry or to be sold. Among some tribes the wooer, after speaking with her parents, retires with the girl; if they agree, she thenceforth belongs to him; if not, the match is broken off.[544]Johnston, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 223. The Neeshenam buys his wife indirectly by making presents of game to her family. He leaves the gifts at the door of the lodge without a word, and, if they are accepted, he shortly after claims and takes his bride without further ceremony. In this tribe the girl has no voice whatever in the matter, and resistance on her part merely occasions brute force to be used by her purchaser.[545]Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. xii., p. 23.

CHILD-BIRTH AND THE COUVADE.

When an Oleepa lover wishes to marry, he first obtains permission from the parents. The damsel then flies and conceals herself; the lover searches for her, and should he succeed in finding her twice out of three times she belongs to him. Should he be unsuccessful he waits a few weeks and then repeats the performance. If she again elude his search, the matter is decided against him.[546]Delano’s Life on the Plains, p. 306. At Santa Cruz, ‘the Gentile Indian, when he wishes to marry, goes to the hut of her he desires for a wife, and sitting himself close by her, sighs without speaking a word, and casting at her feet some beads on a string, goes out, and without further ceremony he is married.’ Comellas’ Letter, in Cal. Farmer, April 5, 1860. At Clear Lake ‘rape exists among them in an authorized form, and it is the custom for a party of young men to surprise and ravish a young girl, who becomes the wife of one of them.’ Revere’s Tour, pp. 125-6. The bonds of matrimony can be thrown aside as easily as they are assumed. The husband has only to say to his spouse, I cast you off, and the thing is done.[547]Marmier, Notice, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., p. 234. At Clear Lake ‘if the parties separate the children go with the wife.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 112. The Gallinomeros acquire their wives by purchase, and are at liberty to sell them again when tired of them.[548]Powers’ Pomo, MS. As usual the women are treated with great contempt by the men, and forced to do all the hard and menial labor; they are not even allowed to sit at the same fire or eat at the same repast with their lords. Both sexes treat children with comparative kindness;[549]‘The Yukas are often brutal and cruel to their women and children, especially to the women.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. ix., p. 308. In the vicinity of Fort Ross, ‘sie lieben ihre Kinder mit grosser Zärtlichkeit.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., p. 77. boys are, however, held in much higher estimation than girls, and from early childhood are taught their superiority over the weaker sex. It is even stated that many female children are killed as soon as born,[550]Wimmel, Californien, p. 178. ‘The practice of abortion, so common among the Chinooks and some other tribes in Oregon, is unknown here.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., pp. 112-13. but I am inclined to doubt the correctness of this statement as applied to a country where polygamy is practiced as extensively as in California. Old people are treated with contumely, both men and women, aged warriors being obliged to do menial work under the supervision of the women. The Gallinomeros kill their aged parents in a most cold-blooded manner. The doomed creature is led into the woods, thrown on his back, and firmly fastened in that position to the ground. A stout pole is then placed across the throat, upon either end of which a person sits until life is extinct.[551]Mr Powers, in his Pomo, MS., makes this assertion upon what he states to be reliable authority. A husband takes revenge for his wife’s infidelities upon the person of her seducer, whom he is justified in killing. Sometimes the male offender is compelled to buy the object of his unholy passions. In consequence of their strictness in this particular, adultery is not common among themselves, although a husband is generally willing to prostitute his dearest wife to a white man for a consideration. The Central Californian women are inclined to rebel against the tyranny of their masters, more than is usual in other tribes. A refractory Tahtoo wife is sometimes frightened into submission. The women have a great dread of evil spirits, and upon this weakness the husband plays. He paints himself in black and white stripes to personate an ogre, and suddenly jumping in among his terrified wives, brings them speedily to penitence. Child-bearing falls lightly on the Californian mother. When the time for delivery arrives she betakes herself to a quiet place by the side of a stream; sometimes accompanied by a female friend, but more frequently alone. As soon as the child is born the mother washes herself and the infant in the stream. The child is then swaddled from head to foot in strips of soft skin, and strapped to a board, which is carried on the mother’s back. When the infant is suckled, it is drawn round in front and allowed to hang there, the mother meanwhile pursuing her usual avocations. So little does child-bearing affect these women, that, on a journey, they will frequently stop by the way-side for half an hour to be delivered, and then overtake the party, who have traveled on at the usual pace. Painful parturition, though so rare, usually results fatally to both mother and child when it does occur. This comparative exemption from the curse, “in sorrow shalt thou bring forth,” is doubtless owing partly to the fact that the sexes have their regular season for copulation, just as animals have theirs, the women bringing forth each year with great regularity. A curious custom prevails, which is, however, by no means peculiar to California. When child-birth overtakes the wife, the husband puts himself to bed, and there grunting and groaning he affects to suffer all the agonies of a woman in labor. Lying there, he is nursed and tended for some days by the women as carefully as though he were the actual sufferer. Ridiculous as this custom is, it is asserted by Mr Tylor to have been practiced in western China, in the country of the Basques, by the Tibareni at the south of the Black Sea, and in modified forms by the Dyaks of Borneo, the Arawaks of Surinam, and the inhabitants of Kamchatka and Greenland.[552]For a full account of this custom of the couvade, as it existed in various parts of the world, see Tylor’s Researches, pp. 293-302, and Max Müller’s Chips, vol. ii., pp. 271-9. For its observance in California, see Venagas, Noticias de Cal., tom. i., p. 94, and Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 367. The females arrive early at the age of puberty,[553]‘It was not a thing at all uncommon, in the days of the Indians’ ancient prosperity, to see a woman become a mother at twelve or fourteen. An instance was related to me where a girl had borne her first-born at ten, as nearly as her years could be ascertained, her husband, a White Man, being then sixty-odd.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. ix., p. 500. and grow old rapidly.[554]For further authorities on family and domestic affairs, see: Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 456; Delano’s Life on the Plains, pp. 306; Forbes’ Cal., p. 190; Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1844, tom. ci., pp. 317-26. Also quoted in Marmier, Notice, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., pp. 232-35; Wimmel, Californien, p. 178; Johnston, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 223-4; Comellas’ Letter, in Cal. Farmer, April 5, 1860; Palou, Vida de Junípero Serra, p. 217; Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. ix., pp. 308, 500-6, vol. x., p. 325; Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., pp. 106-8; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 170-1; Borthwick’s Three Years in Cal., p. 129; La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 303; Rollin, in Id., tom. iv., pp. 57-8; Laplace, Circumnav., tom. vi., p. 145; Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., pp. 112-13; Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., pp. 201, 259; D’Orbigny, Voy., p. 457; Gilbert, McAdam, and Jewett, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1856, pp. 242-4; Revere’s Tour, p. 126; Reid, in Los Angeles Star, 1852; Farnham’s Life in Cal., pp. 367-70; Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., p. 77; Kostromitonow, in Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., pp. 83-8.

Californian Diversions

Most important events, such as the seasons of hunting, fishing, acorn-gathering, and the like, are celebrated with feasts and dances which differ in no essential respect from those practiced by the Northern Californians. They usually dance naked, having their heads adorned with feather ornaments, and their bodies and faces painted with glaring colors in grotesque patterns. Broad stripes, drawn up and down, across, or spirally round the body, form the favorite device; sometimes one half of the body is colored red and the other blue, or the whole person is painted jet black and serves as a ground for the representation of a skeleton, done in white, which gives the wearer a most ghastly appearance.[555]Every traveler who has seen them dance enters into details of dress, etc.; but no two of these accounts are alike, and the reason of this is that they have no regular figures or costumes peculiar to their dances, but that every man, when his dress is not paint only, wears all the finery he possesses with an utter disregard for uniformity. ‘At some of their dances we were told that they avoid particular articles of food, even fowls and eggs.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 113. Dancing is executed at Santa Cruz, by forming a circle, assuming a stooping posture, raising a loud, discordant chant, and, without moving from their places, lifting and lowering a foot, and twisting the body into various contortions. Archives of Santa Cruz Mission. ‘In their dances they sometimes wear white masks.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 192. ‘Se poudrent les cheveux avec du duvet d’oiseaux.’ Choris, Voy. Pitt., part iii., p. 4. When a Wallie chief ‘decides to hold a dance in his village, he dispatches messengers to the neighboring rancherias, each bearing a string whereon is tied a certain number of knots. Every morning thereafter the invited chief unties one of the knots, and when the last but one is reached, they joyfully set forth for the dance.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. x., p. 325. For descriptions of dances of Neeshenams, see Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. xii., pp. 26-7. The dancing is accompanied by chantings, clapping of hands, blowing on pipes of two or three reeds and played with the nose or mouth, beating of skin drums, and rattling of tortoise-shells filled with small pebbles. This horrible discord is, however, more for the purpose of marking time than for pleasing the ear.[556]‘Each one had two and sometimes three whistles, made of reeds, in his mouth.’ San Francisco Bulletin, Oct. 21, 1858. ‘Some had whistles or double flageolets of reed which were stuck into their noses.’ Revere’s Tour, p. 133. ‘The Gentiles do not possess any instrument whatever.’ Comellas’ Letter, in Cal. Farmer, April 5, 1860. ‘Their own original instrument consists of a very primitive whistle, some double, some single, and held in the mouth by one end, without the aid of the fingers; they are about the size and length of a common fife, and only about two notes can be sounded on them.’ Cal. Farmer, Oct. 26, 1860. The women are seldom allowed to join in the dance with the men, and when they are so far honored, take a very unimportant part in the proceedings, merely swaying their bodies to and fro in silence.

Plays, representing scenes of war, hunting, and private life, serve to while away the time, and are performed with considerable skill. Though naturally the very incarnation of sloth, at least as far as useful labor is concerned, they have one or two games which require some exertion. One of these, in vogue among the Meewocs, is played with bats and an oak-knot ball. The former are made of a pliant stick, having the end bent round and lashed to the main part so as to form a loop, which is filled with a network of strings. They do not strike but push the ball along with these bats. The players take sides, and each party endeavors to drive the ball past the boundaries of the other. Another game, which was formerly much played at the missions on the coast, requires more skill and scarcely less activity. It consists in throwing a stick through a hoop which is rapidly rolled along the ground. If the player succeeds in this, he gains two points; if the stick merely passes partially through, so that the hoop remains resting upon it, one point is scored.

But, as usual, games of chance are much preferred to games of skill. The chief of these is the same as that already described in the last chapter as being played by the natives all along the coasts of Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia, and which bears so close a resemblance to the odd-and-even of our school-days. They are as infatuated on this subject as their neighbors, and quite as willing to stake the whole of their possessions on an issue of chance. They smoke a species of strong tobacco in the straight pipes before mentioned;[557]‘They use a species of native tobacco of nauseous and sickening odour.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 107. ‘They burned the aulone shell for the lime to mix with their tobacco, which they swallowed to make them drunk.’ Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, April 27, 1860. ‘A species of tobacco is found on the sandy beaches which the Indians prepare and smoke.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 202. ‘Se pusieron á chupar y reparé en ellos la misma ceremonia de esparcir el humo hácia arriba diciendo en cada bocanada unas palabras; solo entendí una que fué esmen que quiere decir sol; observé la misma costumbre de chupar primero el mas principal, luego da la pipa á otro, y da vuelta á otros.’ Palou, Noticias, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. vii., p. 69; see also p. 77. but they have no native intoxicating drink.[558]On the subject of amusements, see Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. i., p. 282. Delano’s Life on the Plains, p. 307; Helper’s Land of Gold, pp. 271-2; Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., pp. 72, 76-7; Kostromitonow, in Id., pp. 85-92; Holinski, La Californie, p. 173; Comellas’ Letter, in Cal. Farmer, Oct. 5, 1860; Wimmel, Californien, p. 178; Drake’s World Encomp., p. 128; Revere’s Tour, pp. 120-133; San Francisco Bulletin, Oct. 21, 1858, Nov. 29, 1871; Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. ix., pp. 307-8, 501-5, vol. x., pp. 325-7; Power’s Pomo, MS.; Laplace, Circumnav., tom. vi., p. 150; Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 127; Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. iii., pp. 442-6; Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 367; Hist. Chrétienne, pp. 53-4; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pp. ii., p. 456; Choris, Voy. Pitt., pt. iii., pp. 4-5; La Pérouse, Voy., vol. ii., pp. 306-7.

MEDICINE AND SWEAT-HOUSES.

The principal diseases are small-pox, various forms of fever, and syphilis. Owing to their extreme filthiness they are also very subject to disgusting eruptions of the skin. Women are not allowed to practice the healing art, as among the Northern Californians, the privileges of quackery being here reserved exclusively to the men. Chanting incantations, waving of hands, and the sucking powers obtain. Doctors are supposed to have power over life and death, hence if they fail to effect a cure, they are frequently killed.[559]The Meewocs ‘believe that their male physicians, who are more properly sorcerers, can sit on a mountain top fifty miles distant from a man they wish to destroy, and compass his death by filliping poison towards him from their finger-ends.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. x., p. 327. They demand the most extortionate fees in return for their services, and often refuse to officiate unless the object they desire is promised them. Sweat-houses similar to those already described are in like manner used as a means of cure for every kind of complaint.[560]‘I incautiously entered one of these caverns during the operation above described, and was in a few moments so nearly suffocated with the heat, smoke, and impure air, that I found it difficult to make my way out.’ Bryant’s Cal., p. 272. They have another kind of sudatory. A hole is dug in the sand of a size sufficient to contain a person lying at full length; over this a fire is kept burning until the sand is thoroughly heated, when the fire is removed and the sand stirred with a stick until it is reduced to the required temperature. The patient is then placed in the hole and covered, with the exception of his head, with sand. Here he remains until in a state of profuse perspiration, when he is unearthed and plunged into cold water. They are said to practice phlebotomy, using the right arm when the body is affected and the left when the complaint is in the limbs. A few simple decoctions are made from herbs, but these are seldom very efficient medicines, especially when administered for the more complicated diseases which the whites have brought among them. Owing to the insufficient or erroneous treatment they receive, many disorders which would be easily cured by us, degenerate with them into chronic maladies, and are transmitted to their children.[561]‘Zur Heilung bedienen sich die Schamane der Kräuter und Wurzeln, grösstentheils aber saugen sie mit dem Munde das Blut aus der kranken Stelle aus, wobei sie Steinchen oder kleine Schlangen in den Mund nehmen und darauf versichern, sie hätten dieselben aus der Wunde herausgezogen.’ Kostromitonow, in Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., p. 95; see also pp. 83, 91, 94-5. ‘Until now it has not been ascertained that the Indians had any remedy for curing the sick or allaying their sufferings. If they meet with an accident they invariably die.’ Comellas’ Letter, in Cal. Farmer, April 5, 1860. ‘Ring-worm is cured by placing the milk of the poison oak in a circle round the affected part.’ Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. iii., p. 440. ‘Among the Meewocs stomachic affections and severe travail are treated with a plaster of hot ashes and moist earth spread on the stomach.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. x., p. 327. See further: Petit-Thouars, Voy., tom. ii., p. 140; Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 370; Holinski, La Californie, p. 173; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 324; Beechey’s Voy., vol. ii., pp. 35, 78; San Joaquin Republican, Sept., 1858; La Pérouse, Voy., tom. iv., p. 63; Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., pp. 103, 107; Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 193; Pickering’s Races, in Id., vol. ix., p. 109; Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1844, tom. ci., p. 333; also quoted in Marmier, Notice, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., p. 237; Kneeland’s Wonders of Yosemite, p. 52; Kelly’s Excursion to Cal., vol. ii., p. 284; Powers’ Pomo, MS.; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 166; Thornton’s Ogn. and Cal., vol. ii., p. 94; Delano’s Life on the Plains, p. 295; Laplace, Circumnav., tom. vi., p. 152.

Incremation is almost universal in this part of California.[562]‘From north to south, in the present California, up to the Columbia river they burnt the dead in some tribes, and in others buried them. These modes of sepulture differed every few leagues.’ Taylor’s Indianology, in Cal. Farmer, June 8, 1860. A dead Oleepa was buried by one woman in ‘a pit about four feet deep, and ten feet in front of the father’s door.’ Delano’s Life on the Plains, p. 301. At Santa Cruz ‘the Gentiles burn the bodies of their warriors and allies who fall in war; those who die of natural death they inter at sundown.’ Comellas’ Letter, in Cal. Farmer, April 5, 1860. The Indians of the Bay of San Francisco burned their dead with everything belonging to them, ‘but those of the more southern regions buried theirs.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 363. In the vicinity of Clear Lake all the tribes with the exception of the Yubas bury their dead. Geiger, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1858, p. 289. The body is decorated with feathers, flowers, and beads, and after lying in state for some time, is burned amid the howls and lamentations of friends and relations. The ashes are either preserved by the family of the deceased or are formally buried. The weapons and effects of the dead are burned or buried with them.[563]‘Los Runsienes dividian últimamente entre los parientes las pocas cosas que componian la propiedad del difunto. Los Eslenes, al contrario, no solo no repartian cosa alguna, sino que todos sus amigos y súbditos debian contribuir con algunos abalorios que enterraban con el cadáver del fallecido.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 172. ‘If a woman dies in becoming a mother, the child, whether living or dead, is buried with its mother.’ Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. iii., p. 437. When a body is prepared for interment the knees are doubled up against the chest and securely bound with cords. It is placed in a sitting posture in the grave, which is circular. This is the most common manner of sepulture, but some tribes bury the body perpendicularly in a hole just large enough to admit it, sometimes with the head down, sometimes in a standing position. The Pomos formerly burned their dead, and since they have been influenced by the whites to bury them, they invariably place the body with its head toward the south.

Mourning for the Dead

A scene of incremation is a weird spectacle. The friends and relatives of the deceased gather round the funeral pyre in a circle, howling dismally. As the flames mount upward their enthusiasm increases, until in a perfect frenzy of excitement, they leap, shriek, lacerate their bodies, and even snatch a handful of smoldering flesh from the fire, and devour it.

The ashes of the dead mixed with grease, are smeared over the face as a badge of mourning, and the compound is suffered to remain there until worn off by the action of the weather. The widow keeps her head covered with pitch for several months. In the Russian River Valley, where demonstrations of grief appear to be yet more violent than elsewhere, self-laceration is much practiced. It is customary to have an annual Dance of Mourning, when the inhabitants of a whole village collect together and lament their deceased friends with howls and groans. Many tribes think it necessary to nourish a departed spirit for several months. This is done by scattering food about the place where the remains of the dead are deposited. A devoted Neeshenam widow does not utter a word for several months after the death of her husband; a less severe sign of grief is to speak only in a low whisper for the same time.[564]‘Die nächsten Anverwandten schneiden sich das Haar ab und werfen es ins Feuer, wobei sie sich mit Steinen an die Brust schlagen, auf den Boden stürzen, ja bisweilen aus besonderer Anhänglichkeit zu dem Verstorbenen sich blutrünstig oder gar zu Tode stossen; doch sind solche Fälle selten.’ Kostromitonow, in Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., p. 88. ‘The body is consumed upon a scaffold built over a hole, into which the ashes are thrown and covered.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 112. See also: Tehama Gazette, May, 1859; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 171-2; Powers’ Pomo, MS.; also in Overland Monthly, vol. ix., p. 502, vol. x., p. 328, vol. xii., p. 28; San Francisco Evening Bulletin, April 4, 1861; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 448-50; La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 306; Placerville Index, 1857; Marmier, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., pp. 230, 236; Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. iii., p. 437; Wimmel, Californien, p. 178; Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 369; Folsom Dispatch, in Cal. Farmer, Nov. 9, 1860; Johnston, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 225; D’Orbigny, Voy., p. 458; Henley, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1856, p. 242; Forbes’ Cal., p. 195.

Regarding a future state their ideas are vague; some say that the Meewocs believe in utter annihilation after death, but who can fathom the hopes and fears that struggle in their dark imaginings. They are not particularly cruel or vicious; they show much sorrow for the death of a relative; in some instances they are affectionate toward their families.[565]In the Russian River Valley the Indians ‘sind weichherzig, und von Natur nicht rachsüchtig … sie erlernen mit Leichtigkeit mancherlei Handarbeiten und Gewerbe.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., pp. 77-8. Near Fort Ross ‘sind sie sanft und friedfertig, und sehr fähig, besonders in der Auffassung sinnlicher Gegenstände. Nur in Folge ihrer unmässigen Trägheit und Sorglosigkeit scheinen sie sehr dumm zu seyn.’ Kostromitonow, in Id., pp. 81-2. ‘They appear … by no means so stupid’ as those at the missions. Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 26. At Bodega Bay ‘their disposition is most liberal.’Maurelle’s Jour., p. 47. At Clear Lake ‘they are docile, mild, easily managed … roguish, ungrateful, and incorrigibly lazy … cowardly and cringing towards the whites … thorough sensualists and most abandoned gamblers … wretchedly improvident.’ Revere’s Tour, pp. 120-1. In the Sacramento Valley they are ‘excessively jealous of their squaws … stingy and inhospitable.’ Kelly’s Excursion to Cal., vol. ii., p. 114. ‘A mirthful race, always disposed to jest and laugh.’ Dana, in Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 222. ‘Possessed of mean, treacherous, and cowardly traits of character, and the most thievish propensities.’ Johnson’s Cal. and Ogn., p. 143. In the vicinity of San Francisco Bay ‘they are certainly a race of the most miserable beings I ever saw, possessing the faculty of human reason.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 13. ‘For the most part an idle, intemperate race.’ Thornton’s Ogn. and Cal., vol. ii., p. 78. ‘They are a people of a tractable, free, and louing nature, without guile or treachery.’ Drake’s World Encomp., p. 131. ‘Bastantes rancherias de gentiles muy mansos y apacibles.’ Crespi, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. vi., p. 497. ‘Son muy mansos, afables, de buenas caras y los mas de ellos barbados.’ Palou, Noticias, in Id., tom. vii., p. 59. At Monterey they ‘étaient lourds et peu intelligents.’ Those living farther from the missions were not without ‘une certaine finesse, commune à tous les hommes élevés dans l’état de nature.’ Petit-Thouars, Voy., tom. ii., p. 134. ‘Ces peuples sont si peu courageux, qu’ils n’opposent jamais aucune résistance aux trois ou quatre soldats qui violent si évidement à leur égard le droit des gens.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 297. ‘The Yukas are a tigerish, truculent, sullen, thievish, and every way bad, but brave race.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. ix., p. 306. The Tahtoos were very cowardly and peace-loving. Powers’ Pomo, MS. Than the Oleepas ‘a more jolly, laughter-loving, careless, and good-natured people do not exist…. For intelligence they are far behind the Indians east of the Rocky Mountains.’ Delano’s Life on the Plains, p. 297. The Kannimares ‘were considered a brave and warlike Indian race.’ Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, March 30, 1860. The condition of the Wallas ‘is the most miserable that it is possible to conceive; their mode of living, the most abject and destitute known to man.’ Henley, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1856, p. 241. The Fresno River Indians ‘are peaceable, quiet and industrious.’ Henley, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 304. A rational, calculating people, generally industrious. Lewis, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1858, p. 291. On the coast range north and east of Mendocino ‘they are a timid and generally inoffensive race.’ Bailey, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1858, p. 304. In Placer County they are industrious, honest, and temperate; the females strictly virtuous. Brown, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1856, p. 243. Lazy, trifling, drunken. Applegate, Ib. In Tuolumne: friendly, generally honest, truthful; men lazy, women industrious. Jewett, Id., p. 244. In the Yosemite Valley, ‘though low in the scale of man, they are not the abject creatures generally represented; they are mild, harmless, and singularly honest.’ Kneeland’s Wonders of Yosemite, p. 52. At Santa Clara they have no ambition, are entirely regardless of reputation and renown. Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 21. In stupid apathy ‘they exceed every race of men I have ever known, not excepting the degraded races of Terra del Fuego or Van Dieman’s Land.’ Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 97. At Santa Cruz ‘they are so inclined to lying that they almost always will confess offences they have not committed;’ very lustful and inhospitable. Comellas’ Letter, in Cal. Farmer, April 5, 1860. At Kelsey River they are ‘amiable and thievish.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 124. ‘In general terms, the California Indians are more timid, peaceable, and joyous than any of their neighbors.’ Stephens, in Powers’ Pomo, MS. ‘Their stupidity, insensibility, ignorance, inconstancy, slavery to appetite, excessive sloth and laziness, being absorbed for the time in the stir and din of night-watching and battle, give them a new existence.’ Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 366. ‘Faul und jeder Anstrengung abgeneigt.’ Osswald, Californien, p. 63. ‘Stupidity seemed to be their distinctive character.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 239. ‘Loose, lazy, careless, capricious, childish and fickle.’ Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, March 2, 1860. ‘They are really the most harmless tribes on the American continent.’ Gerstaecker’s Nar., p. 212. Revengeful, timid, treacherous and ungrateful. Kelly’s Excursion to Cal., vol. ii., p. 284. ‘Cowardly, treacherous, filthy and indolent.’ Johnston, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 223. ‘Dull, indolent, phlegmatic, timid and of a gentle, submissive temper.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 199. ‘In stature no less than in mind are certainly of a very inferior race of human beings.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 168. ‘Pusillanimous.’ Forbes’ Cal., p. 183. ‘Ils sont également extrêmes dans l’expression de la joie et de la colère.’ Rollin, in La Pérouse, Voy., tom. iv., p. 58. ‘Seemed to be almost of the lowest grade of human beings.’ King’s Rept., in Bayard Taylor’s El Dorado, Appendix, vol. ii., p. 210. ‘Die Indianer von Californien sind physisch und moralisch den andern Indianern untergeordnet.’ Wimmel, Californien, p. 177. ‘Su estupidez mas parece un entorpecimiento de las potencias por falta de accion y por pereza característica, que limitacion absoluta de sus facultades intelectuales; y así quando se las pone en movimiento, y se les dan ideas, no dexan de discernir y de aprender lo que se les enseña.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 164. ‘I noticed that all the Indians from Southern to Northern California were low, shiftless, indolent, and cowardly.’ Miller’s Life Amongst the Modocs, p. 16. Cowardly and treacherous in the extreme. Life of Gov. L. W. Boggs, by his Son, MS.

Central Californian Character

Although nearly all travelers who have seen and described this people, place them in the lowest scale of humanity, yet there are some who assert that the character of the Californian has been maligned. It does not follow, they say, that he is indolent because he does not work when the fertility of his native land enables him to live without labor; or that he is cowardly because he is not incessantly at war, or stupid and brutal because the mildness of his climate renders clothes and dwellings superfluous. But is this sound reasoning? Surely a people assisted by nature should progress faster than another, struggling with depressing difficulties.

From the frozen, wind-swept plains of Alaska to the malaria-haunted swamps of Darien, there is not a fairer land than California; it is the neutral ground, as it were, of the elements, where hyperboreal cold, stripped of its rugged aspect, and equatorial heat, tamed to a genial warmth, meet as friends, inviting, all blusterings laid aside. Yet if we travel northward from the Isthmus, we must pass by ruined cities and temples, traces of mighty peoples, who there flourished before a foreign civilization extirpated them. On the arid deserts of Arizona and New Mexico is found an incipient civilization. Descending from the Arctic sea we meet races of hunters and traders, which can be called neither primitive nor primordial, living after their fashion as men, not as brutes. It is not until we reach the Golden Mean in Central California that we find whole tribes subsisting on roots, herbs and insects; having no boats, no clothing, no laws, no God; yielding submissively to the first touch of the invader; held in awe by a few priests and soldiers. Men do not civilize themselves. Had not the Greeks and the Egyptians been driven on by an unseen hand, never would the city of the Violet Crown have graced the plains of Hellas, nor Thebes nor Memphis have risen in the fertile valley of the Nile. Why Greece is civilized, while California breeds a race inferior to the lowest of their neighbors, save only perhaps the Shoshones on their east, no one yet can tell.

When Father Junípero Serra established the Mission of Dolores in 1776, the shores of San Francisco Bay were thickly populated by the Ahwashtees, Ohlones, Altahmos, Romanons, Tuolomos, and other tribes. The good Father found the field unoccupied, for, in the vocabulary of these people, there is found no word for god, angel, or devil; they held no theory of origin or destiny. A ranchería was situated on the spot where now Beach street intersects Hyde street. Were it there now, as contrasted with the dwellings of San Francisco, it would resemble a pig-sty more than a human habitation.

On the Marin and Sonoma shores of the bay were the Tomales and Camimares, the latter numbering, in 1824, ten thousand souls. Marin, chief of the Tomales, was for a long time the terror of the Spaniards, and his warriors were ranked as among the fiercest of the Californians. He was brave, energetic, and possessed of no ordinary intelligence. When quite old he consented to be baptized into the Romish Church.

Yosemite Valley Indians

It has been suspected that the chief Marin was not a full-bred Indian, but that he was related to a certain Spanish sailor who was cast ashore from a wrecked galeon on a voyage from Manila to Acapulco about the year 1750. The ship-wrecked Spaniards, it has been surmised, were kindly treated by the natives; they married native wives, and lived with the Tomales as of them, and from them descended many of their chiefs; but of this we have no proof.

Yosemite Valley was formerly a stronghold to which tribes in that vicinity resorted after committing their depredations upon white settlers. They used to make their boast that their hiding place could never be discovered by white men. But during the year 1850, the marauders growing bold in their fancied security, the whites arose and drove them into the mountains. Following them thither under the guidance of Tenaya, an old chief and confederate, the white men were suddenly confronted by the wondrous beauties of the valley. The Indians, disheartened at the discovery of their retreat, yielded a reluctant obedience, but becoming again disaffected they renewed their depredations. Shortly afterward the Yosemite Indians made a visit to the Monos. They were hospitably entertained, but upon leaving, could not resist the temptation to drive off a few stray cattle belonging to their friends. The Monos, enraged at this breach of good faith, pursued and gave them battle. The warriors of the valley were nearly exterminated, scarce half a dozen remaining to mourn their loss. All their women and children were carried away into captivity. These Yosemite Indians consisted of a mixture from various tribes, outlaws as it were from the surrounding tribes. They have left as their legacy a name for every cliff and waterfall within the valley. How marvelous would be their history could we go back and trace it from the beginning, these millions of human bands, who throughout the ages have been coming and going, unknowing and unknown!

In the Southern Californians, whose territory lies south of the thirty-fifth parallel, there are less tribal differences than among any people whom we have yet encountered, whose domain is of equal extent. Those who live in the south-eastern corner of the State are thrown by the Sierra Nevada range of mountains into the Shoshone family, to which, indeed, by affinity they belong. The chief tribes of this division are the Cahuillas and the Diegueños, the former living around the San Bernardino and San Jacinto mountains, and the latter in the southern extremity of California. Around each mission were scores of small bands, whose rancherías were recorded in the mission books, the natives as a whole being known only by the name of the mission. When first discovered by Cabrillo in 1542, the islands off the coast were inhabited by a superior people, but these they were induced by the padres to abandon, following which event the people rapidly faded away. The natives called the island of Santa Cruz Liniooh, Santa Rosa Hurmal, San Miguel Twocan, and San Nicolas Ghalashat.

As we approach the southern boundary of California a slight improvement is manifest in the aborigines. The men are here well made, of a stature quite up to the average, comparatively fair-complexioned and pleasant-featured. The children of the islanders are described by the early voyagers as being white, with light hair and ruddy cheeks, and the women as having fine forms, beautiful eyes, and a modest demeanor.[566]At Santa Catalina ‘las mujeres son muy hermosas y honestas, los niños son blancos y rubios y muy risueños.’ Salmeron, Relaciones, p. 18, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv. See also Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 140; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 712. At Santa Barbara, ‘son mas altos, dispuestos, y membrados, que otros, que antes se avian visto.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 714. On the coast from San Diego to San Francisco they are ‘d’une couleur foncée, de petite taille, et assez mal faits.’ Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1844, tom. ci., p. 153; see also Marmier, Notice, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., p. 226. At San Luis Rey, ‘sont bien faits et d’une taille moyenne.’ Id., p. 171; quoted in Marmier, p. 229. An Indian seen at Santa Inez Mission ‘was about twenty-seven years old, with a black thick beard, iris of the eyes light chocolate-brown, nose small and round, lips not thick, face long and angular.’ Cal. Farmer, May 4, 1860. The Noches ‘aunque de buena disposicion son delgados y bastante delicados para andar á pié.’ Garces, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie ii., tom. i., p. 295. ‘Well proportioned in figure, and of noble appearance.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 45. ‘The women (of the Diegeños) are beautifully developed, and superbly formed, their bodies as straight as an arrow.’ Michler, in Emory’s U. S. and Mex., Bound. Survey, vol. i., p. 107. The Cahuillas ‘are a filthy and miserable-looking set, and great beggars, presenting an unfavorable contrast to the Indian upon the Colorado.’ Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 134. The beard is plucked out with a bivalve shell, which answers the purpose of pincers.

Dress in Southern California

A short cloak of deer-skin or rabbit-skins sewed together, suffices the men for clothing; and sometimes even this is dispensed with, for they think it no shame to be naked.[567]The ordinary cloak descends to the waist: ‘le chef seul en a une qui lui tombe jusqu’au jarret, et c’est là la seule marque de distinction.’ Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1844, tom. ci., p. 172; see also Marmier, Notice, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., p. 229. The women and female children wear a petticoat of skin, with a heavy fringe reaching down to the knees; in some districts they also wear short capes covering the breasts.[568]These capes Father Crespi describes as being ‘unos capotillos hechos de pieles de liebres y conejos de que hacen tiras y tercidas como mecate; cosen uno con otro y las defienden del frio cubriéndolas por la honestidad.’ Crespi, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. vi., pp. 291-2; see also Id., p. 312. On the coast and, formerly, on the islands, seals furnished the material.[569]The lobo marino of the Spanish is the common seal and sea calf of the English; le veau marin and phoque commun of the French; vecchio marino of the Italians; Meerwolf and Meerhund of the Germans; Zee-Hund of the Dutch; Sael-hund of the Danes; Sial of the Swedes; and moelrhon of the Welsh. Knight’s Eng. Encyc. Nat. Hist., vol. iv., p. 299. The more industrious and wealthy embroider their garments profusely with small shells. Around Santa Barbara rings of bone or shell were worn in the nose; at Los Angeles nasal ornaments were not the fashion. The women had cylinder-shaped pieces of ivory, sometimes as much as eight inches, in length, attached to the ears by a shell ring. Bracelets and necklaces were made of pieces of ivory ground round and perforated, small pebbles, and shells.

Paint of various colors was used by warriors and dancers. Mr Hugo Reid, who has contributed valuable information concerning the natives of Los Angeles County, states that girls in love paint the cheeks sparingly with red ochre, and all the women, before they grow old, protect their complexion from the effects of the sun by a plentiful application of the same cosmetic.[570]Reid, in Los Angeles Star. Vizcaino saw natives on the southern coast painted blue and silvered over with some kind of mineral substance. On his asking where they obtained the silver-like material they showed him a kind of mineral ore, which they said they used for purposes of ornamentation.[571]Salmeron, Relaciones, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 18.

They take much pride in their hair, which they wear long. It is braided, and either wound round the head turban-like,[572]This hair turban or coil ‘sirve de bolsa para guardar en la cabeza los abalorios y demas chucherias que se les dá.’ Palou, Vida de Junípero Serra, p. 215. The same custom seems to prevail among the Cibolos of New Mexico, as Marmier, in his additional chapter in the French edition of Bryant’s Cal., p. 258, says: ‘les hommes du peuple tressent leurs cheveux avec des cordons, et y placent le peu d’objets qu’ils possèdent, notamment la corne qui renferme leur tabac à fumer.’ or twisted into a top-knot; some tie it in a queue behind. According to Father Boscana the girls are tattooed in infancy on the face, breast, and arms. The most usual method was to prick the flesh with a thorn of the cactus-plant; charcoal produced from the maguey was then rubbed into the wounds, and an ineffaceable blue was the result.[573]On the subject of dress see also Navarrete, Introd., in Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. lxiv.; Palou, Vida de Junípero Serra, p. 79; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 45; Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., p. 240; Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 138; Garces, in Doc. Mex. Hist., serie ii., tom. i., p. 294; Marmier, Notice, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., p. 229.

Dwellings and Food

Dwellings, in the greater part of this region, differ but little from those of the Central Californians. In shape they are conical or semi-globular, and usually consist of a frame, formed by driving long poles into the ground, covered with rushes and earth.[574]On the Los Angeles Coast: ‘La ranchería se compone de veinte casas hechas de zacate de forma esférica á modo de uno media naranja con su respiradero en lo alto por donde les entra la luz y tiene salida el humo.’ Crespi, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. vi., p. 314; Hoffmann, in San Francisco Medical Press, vol. v., p. 149. On the coast of the Santa Barbara Channel there seems to have been some improvement in their style of architecture. It was probably here that Cabrillo saw houses built after the manner of those in New Spain.[575]‘Partiéron de allí el 9, entráron en una ensenada espaciosa, y siguiendo la costa viéron en ella un pueblo de Indios junto á la mar con casas grandes á manera de las de Nueva-España.’ Navarrete, Introd., in Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. xxix., xxxi., xxxvi. The accounts of Cabrillo’s voyage are so confused that it is impossible to know the exact locality in which he saw the people he describes. On this point compare Cabrillo, Relacion, in Col. Doc. Hist. Florida, tom. i., p. 173; Browne’s Lower Cal., pp. 18, 19; Burney’s Chron. Hist. Discov., vol. i., pp. 221-5; Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., pp. 154-5; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 329; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 210-11; Salmeron, Relaciones, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 18; De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 306. ‘Nur um die Meerenge von Santa Barbara fand man, 1769, die Bewohner ein wenig gesittigter. Sie bauten grosse Häuser von pyramidaler Form, in Dörfer vereint.’ Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., pp. 454-5. It is possible that the influences of the southern civilization may have extended as far as this point. Father Boscana’s description of the temples or vanquechs erected by the natives in the vicinity of San Juan Capistrano, in honor of their god, Chinigchinich, is thus translated: “They formed an enclosure of about four or five yards in circumference, not exactly round, but inclining to an oval. This they divided by drawing a line through the centre, and built another, consisting of the branches of trees, and mats to the height of about six feet, outside of which, in the other division, they formed another of small stakes of wood driven into the ground. This was called the gate, or entrance, to the vanquech. Inside of this, and close to the larger stakes, was placed a figure of their god Chinigchinich, elevated upon a kind of hurdle. This is the edifice of the vanquech.”[576]Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., p. 259; Bancroft’s Nat. Races, vol. iii., pp. 163-9.

Almost every living thing that they can lay their hands on serves as food. Coyotes, skunks, wild cats, rats, mice, crows, hawks, owls, lizards, frogs, snakes, excepting him of the rattle, grasshoppers and other insects, all are devoured by the inland tribes. Stranded whales, animals of the seal genus, fish, and shell-fish, form the main support of those inhabiting the coast. Venison they are of course glad to eat when they can get it, but as they are poor hunters, it is a rare luxury. When they did hunt the deer they resorted to the same artifice as their northern neighbors, placing a deer’s head and horns on their own head, and thus disguised approaching within bow-shot. Bear-meat the majority refuse to eat from superstitious motives.[577]‘One of their most remarkable superstitions is found in the fact of their not eating the flesh of large game. This arises from their belief that in the bodies of all large animals the souls of certain generations, long since past, have entered…. A term of reproach from a wild tribe to those more tamed is, “they eat venison.”‘ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., pp. 215-6; see also Reid, in Los Angeles Star. Grasshoppers are eaten roasted. Acorns are shelled, dried, and pounded in stone mortars into flour, which is washed and rewashed in hot and cold water until the bitterness is removed, when it is made into gruel with cold water, or baked into bread. Various kinds of grass-seeds, herbs, berries, and roots, are also eaten, both roasted and raw. Wild fowl are caught in nets made of tules, spread over channels cut through the rushes in places frequented by the fowl, at a sufficient height above the water to allow the birds to swim easily beneath them. The game is gently driven or decoyed under the nets, when at a given signal, a great noise is made, and the terrified fowl, rising suddenly, become hopelessly entangled in the meshes, and fall an easy prey. Or selecting a spot containing clear water about two feet deep, they fasten a net midway between the surface and the bottom, and strewing the place with berries, which sink to the bottom under the net, they retire. The fowl approach and dive for the berries. The meshes of the net readily admit the head, but hold the prisoner tight upon attempting to withdraw it. And what is more, their position prevents them from making a noise, and they serve also as a decoy for others. Fish are taken in seines made from the tough bark of the tioñe-tree. They are also killed with spears having a movable bone head, attached to a long line, so that when a fish is struck the barb becomes loosened; line is then paid out until the fish is exhausted with running, when it is drawn in. Many of the inland tribes come down to the coast in the fishing season, and remain there until the shoals leave, when they return to the interior. Food is either boiled by dropping hot stones into water-baskets, or, more frequently, in vessels made of soap-stone.[578]‘All their food was either cold or nearly so…. Salt was used very sparingly in their food, from an idea that it had a tendency to turn their hair gray.’ Reid, in Los Angeles Star. ‘I have seen many instances of their taking a rabbit, and sucking its blood with eagerness, previous to consuming the flesh in a crude state.’ Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., p. 239. ‘Viven muy regalados con varias semillas, y con la pesca que hacen en sus balsas de tule … y queriendoles dar cosa de comida, solian decir, que de aquello no, que lo que querian era ropa; y solo con cosa de este género, eran los cambalaches que hacian de su pescado con los Soldados y Arrieros.’ Palou, Vida de Junípero Serra, p. 79. See also Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 712; Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 139; Stanley, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1866, p. 102; Id., 1869, pp. 194-5; Walker, in Id., 1872, p. 67; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 125; Hoffmann, in San Francisco Medical Press, vol. v., p. 149; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., vol. i., pp. 82-3.

In their cooking, as in other respects, they are excessively unclean. They bathe frequently, it is true, but when not in the water they are wallowing in filth. Their dwellings are full of offal and other impurities, and vermin abound on their persons.

Weapons and War

Bows and arrows, and clubs, are as usual the weapons most in use. Sabres of hard wood, with edges that cut like steel, are mentioned by Father Junípero Serra.[579]Palou, Vida de Junípero Serra, pp. 83-4. War is a mere pretext for plunder; the slightest wrong, real or imaginary, being sufficient cause for a strong tribe to attack a weaker one. The smaller bands form temporary alliances; the women and children accompanying the men on a raid, carrying provisions for the march, and during an engagement they pick up the fallen arrows of the enemy and so keep their own warriors supplied. Boscana says that no male prisoners are taken, and no quarter given; and Hugo Reid affirms of the natives of Los Angeles County that all prisoners of war, after being tormented in the most cruel manner, are invariably put to death. The dead are decapitated and scalped. Female prisoners are either sold or retained as slaves. Scalps, highly prized as trophies, and publicly exhibited at feasts, may be ransomed, but no consideration would induce them to part with their living captives.[580]Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., pp. 306-9.

Among the few articles they manufacture are fish-hooks, needles, and awls, made of bone or shell; mortars and pestles of granite, and soap-stone cooking vessels, and water-tight baskets.[581]The baskets, though water-proof, ‘were used only for dry purposes. The vessels in use for liquids were roughly made of rushes and plastered outside and in with bitumen or pitch, called by them sanot.’ Reid, in Los Angeles Star; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, vol. ii., pt. ii., pp. 454-5; and Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., vol. i., p. 82. The clay vessels which are frequently found among them now, were not made by them before the arrival of the Spaniards. The stone implements, however, are of aboriginal manufacture, and are well made. The former are said to have been procured mostly by the tribes of the mainland from the Santa Rosa islanders.[582]‘Leurs mortiers de pierre et divers autres ustensiles sont incrustés avec beaucoup d’art de morceaux de nacre de perle.’ Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1844, tom. ci., p. 319. ‘Mortars and pestles were made of granite, about sixteen inches wide at the top, ten at the bottom, ten inches high and two thick.’ Soapstone pots were ‘about an inch in thickness, and procured from the Indians of Santa Catalina; the cover used was of the same material.’ Reid, in Los Angeles Star. On the eastern slopes of the San Bernardino Mountains, blankets are made which will easily hold water. Taylor, in San Francisco Bulletin, 1862, also quoted in Shuck’s Cal. Scrap Book, p. 405. ‘Todas sus obras son primorosas y bien acabadas.’ Crespi, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. vi., p. 315. The instruments which they used in their manufactures were flint knives and awls; the latter Fages describes as being made from the small bone of a deer’s fore-foot. The knife is double-edged, made of a flint, and has a wooden haft, inlaid with mother of pearl.[583]Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1844, tom. ci., pp. 319-20.

On this coast we again meet with wooden canoes, although the balsa, or tule raft, is also in use. These boats are made of planks neatly fastened together and paid with bitumen;[584]‘The planks were bent and joined by the heat of fire, and then paved with asphaltum, called by them chapapote.’ Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, June 1, 1860. prow and stern, both equally sharp, are elevated above the centre, which made them appear to Vizcaino “como barquillos” when seen beside his own junk-like craft. The paddles were long and double-bladed, and their boats, though generally manned by three or four men, were sometimes large enough to carry twenty. Canoes dug out of a single log, scraped smooth on the outside, with both ends shaped alike, were sometimes, though more rarely, used.[585]At Santa Catalina Vizcaino saw ‘vnas Canoguelas, que ellos vsan, de Tablas bien hechas, como Barquillos, con las Popas, y Proas levantadas, y mas altas, que el Cuerpo de la Barca, ò Canoa.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 712; see also Salmeron, Relaciones, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 18. On the coast of Los Angeles Father Crespi saw ‘canoas hechas de buenas tablas de pino, bien ligadas y de una forma graciosa con dos proas…. Usan remos largos de dos palas y vogan con indecible lijeriza y velocidad.’ Crespi, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. vi., p. 315. At San Diego Palou describes ‘balsas de tule, en forma de Canoas, con lo que entran muy adentro del mar.’ Palou, Vida de Junípero Serra, p. 79; Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., p. 240; Marmier, Notice, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., p. 228. Description of balsas, which differ in no respect from those used north. The circulating medium consisted of small round pieces of the white mussel-shell. These were perforated and arranged on strings, the value of which depended upon their length.[586]‘The worth of a rial was put on a string which passed twice and a-half round the hand, i. e., from end of middle finger to wrist. Eight of these strings passed for the value of a silver dollar.’ Cal. Farmer, June 1, 1860. ‘Eight yards of these beads made about one dollar of our currency.’ Id., Jan. 18, 1861. I have said before that this money is supposed to have been manufactured for the most part on Santa Rosa Island. Hence it was distributed among the coast tribes, who bought with it deer-skins, seeds, etc., from the people of the interior.

Government and Punishments

Each tribe acknowledged one head, whose province it was to settle disputes,[587]‘If a quarrel occurred between parties of distinct lodges (villages), each chief heard the witnesses produced by his own people; and then, associated with the chief of the opposite side, they passed sentence. In case they could not agree, an impartial chief was called in, who heard the statements made by both, and he alone decided. There was no appeal from his decision.’ Reid, in Los Angeles Star. levy war, make peace, appoint feasts, and give good advice. Beyond this he had little power.[588]‘Pour tout ce qui concerne les affaires intérieures, l’influence des devins est bien supérieure à la leur.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 373. At San Diego ‘Chaque village est soumis aux ordres absolus d’un chef.’ Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1844, tom. ci., p. 153; or see Marmier, Notice, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., p. 226. ‘I have found that the captains have very little authority.’ Stanley, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 194. He was assisted in his duties by a council of elders. The office of chief was hereditary, and in the absence of a male heir devolved upon the female nearest of kin. She could marry whom she pleased, but her husband obtained no authority through the alliance, all the power remaining in his wife’s hands until their eldest boy attained his majority, when the latter at once assumed the command.

A murderer’s life was taken by the relatives of his victim, unless he should gain refuge in the temple, in which case his punishment was left to their god. Vengeance was, however, only deferred; the children of the murdered man invariably avenged his death, sooner or later, upon the murderer or his descendants. When a chief grew too old to govern he abdicated in favor of his son, on which occasion a great feast was given. When all the people had been called together by criers, “the crown was placed upon the head of the chief elect, and he was enrobed with the imperial vestments,” as Father Boscana has it; that is to say, he was dressed in a head-ornament of feathers, and a feather petticoat reaching from the waist half-way down to the knees, and the rest of his body painted black. He then went into the temple and performed a pas seul before the god Chinigchinich. Here, in a short time, he was joined by the other chiefs, who, forming a circle, danced round him, accompanied by the rattling of turtle-shells filled with small stones. When this ceremony was over he was publicly acknowledged chief.

As I said before, the chief had little actual authority over individuals; neither was the real power vested in the heads of families; but a system of influencing the people was adopted by the chief and the elders, which is somewhat singular. Whenever an important step was to be taken, such as the killing of a malefactor, or the invasion of an enemy’s territory, the sympathies of the people were enlisted by means of criers, who were sent round to proclaim aloud the crime and the criminal, or to dilate upon the wrongs suffered at the hands of the hostile tribe; and their eloquence seldom failed to attain the desired object.[589]Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., pp. 262-9.

Marriage in Southern California

The chief could have a plurality of wives, but the common people were only allowed one.[590]Dr. Hoffman states that in the vicinity of San Diego ‘their laws allow them to keep as many wives as they can support.’ San Francisco Medical Press, vol. vi., p. 150. Fages, speaking of the Indians on the coast from San Diego to San Francisco, says: ‘Ces Indiens n’ont qu’une seule femme à la fois, mais ils en changent aussi souvent que cela leur convient.’ Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1844, tom. ci., p. 153. Of those in the vicinity of San Luis Rey the same author says: ‘Les chefs de ce district ont le privilége de prendre deux on trois femmes, de les répudier ou de les changer aussi souvent qu’ils le veulent; mais les autres habitants n’en ont qu’une seule et ne peuvent les répudier qu’en cas d’adultère.’ Id., p. 173. The form of contracting a marriage varied. In Los Angeles County, according to Mr Reid, the matter was arranged by a preliminary interchange of presents between the male relatives of the bridegroom and the female relatives of the bride. The former proceeded in a body to the dwelling of the girl, and distributed small sums in shell money among her female kinsfolk, who were collected there for the occasion. These afterward returned the compliment by visiting the man and giving baskets of meal to his people. A time was then fixed for the final ceremony. On the appointed day the girl, decked in all her finery, and accompanied by her family and relations, was carried in the arms of one of her kinsfolk toward the house of her lover; edible seeds and berries were scattered before her on the way, which were scrambled for by the spectators. The party was met half-way by a deputation from the bridegroom, one of whom now took the young woman in his arms and carried her to the house of her husband, who waited expectantly. She was then placed by his side, and the guests, after scattering more seeds, left the couple alone. A great feast followed, of which the most prominent feature was a character-dance. The young men took part in this dance in the rôles of hunters and warriors, and were assisted by the old women, who feigned to carry off game, or dispatch wounded enemies, as the case might be. The spectators sat in a circle and chanted an accompaniment.

According to another form of marriage the man either asked the girl’s parents for permission to marry their daughter, or commissioned one of his friends to do so. If the parents approved, their future son-in-law took up his abode with them, on condition that he should provide a certain quantity of food every day. This was done to afford him an opportunity to judge of the domestic qualities of his future wife. If satisfied, he appointed a day for the marriage, and the ceremony was conducted much in the same manner as that last described, except that he received the girl in a temporary shelter erected in front of his hut, and that she was disrobed before being placed by his side.

Children were often betrothed in infancy, kept continually in each other’s society until they grew up, and the contract was scarcely ever broken. Many obtained their wives by abduction, and this was the cause of many of the inter-tribal quarrels in which they were so constantly engaged.

If a man ill-treated his wife, her relations took her away, after paying back the value of her wedding presents, and then married her to another. Little difficulty was experienced in obtaining a divorce on any ground; indeed, in many of the tribes the parties separated whenever they grew tired of each other. Adultery was severely punished. If a husband caught his wife in the act, he was justified in killing her, or, he could give her up to her seducer and appropriate the spouse of the latter to himself.

CHILD-BIRTH.

At the time of child-birth many singular observances obtained; for instance, the old women washed the child as soon as it was born, and drank of the water; the unhappy infant was forced to take a draught of urine medicinally, and although the husband did not affect the sufferings of labor, his conduct was supposed in some manner to affect the unborn child, and he was consequently laid under certain restrictions, such as not being allowed to leave the house, or to eat fish and meat. The women as usual suffer little from child-bearing. One writer thus describes the accouchement of a woman in the vicinity of San Diego: “A few hours before the time arrives she gets up and quietly walks off alone, as if nothing extraordinary was about to occur. In this manner she deceives all, even her husband, and hides herself away in some secluded nook, near a stream or hole of water. At the foot of a small tree, which she can easily grasp with both hands, she prepares her ‘lying-in-couch,’ on which she lies down as soon as the labor pains come on. When the pain is on, she grasps the tree with both hands, thrown up backward over her head, and pulls and strains with all her might, thus assisting each pain, until her accouchement is over. As soon as the child is born, the mother herself ties the navel-cord with a bit of buck-skin string, severing it with a pair of sharp scissors, prepared for the occasion, after which the end is burned with a coal of fire; the child is then thrown into the water; if it rises to the surface and cries, it is taken out and cared for; if it sinks, there it remains, and is not even awarded an Indian burial. The affair being all over, she returns to her usual duties, just as if nothing had happened, so matter of fact are they in such matters.” Purification at child-birth lasted for three days, during which time the mother was allowed no food, and no drink but warm water. The ceremony, in which mother and child participated, was as follows: In the centre of the hut a pit was filled with heated stones, upon which herbs were placed, and the whole covered with earth, except a small aperture through which water was introduced. The mother and child, wrapped in blankets, stood over the pit and were soon in a violent perspiration. When they became exhausted from the effect of the steam and the heated air, they lay upon the ground and were covered with earth, after which they again took to the heated stones and steam. The mother was allowed to eat no meat for two moons, after which pills made of meat and wild tobacco were given her. In some tribes she could hold no intercourse with her husband until the child was weaned.

Children, until they arrived at the age of puberty, remained under the control of their parents, afterward they were subject only to the chief. Like the Spartan youth, they were taught that abstinence, and indifference to hardship and privations, constitute the only true manhood. To render them hardy much unnecessary pain was inflicted. They were forbidden to approach the fire to warm themselves, or to eat certain seeds and berries which were considered luxuries.

A youth, to become a warrior, must first undergo a severe ordeal; his naked body was beaten with stinging nettles until he was literally unable to move; then he was placed upon the nest of a species of virulent ant, while his friends irritated the insects by stirring them up with sticks. The infuriated ants swarmed over every part of the sufferer’s body, into his eyes, his ears, his mouth, his nose, causing indescribable pain.

Boscana states that the young were instructed to love truth, to do good, and to venerate old age.[592]‘The perverse child, invariably, was destroyed, and the parents of such remained dishonored.’ Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., p. 270. ‘Ils ne pensent pas à donner d’autre éducation à leurs enfants qu’à enseigner aux fils exactement ce que faisait leur père; quant aux filles, elles ont le droit de choisir l’occupation qui leur convient le mieux.’ Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1814, tom. ci., p. 153. At an early age they were placed under the protection of a tutelar divinity, which was supposed to take the form of some animal. To discover the particular beast which was to guide his future destinies, the child was intoxicated,[593]The intoxicating liquor was ‘made from a plant called Pibat, which was reduced to a powder, and mixed with other intoxicating ingredients.’ Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., p. 271. and for three or four days kept without food of any kind. During this period he was continually harassed and questioned, until, weak from want of food, crazed with drink and importunity, and knowing that the persecution would not cease until he yielded, he confessed to seeing his divinity, and described what kind of brute it was. The outline of the figure was then molded in a paste made of crushed herbs, on the breast and arms of the novitiate. This was ignited and allowed to burn until entirely consumed, and thus the figure of the divinity remained indelibly delineated in the flesh. Hunters, before starting on an expedition, would beat their faces with nettles to render them clear-sighted. A girl, on arriving at the age of puberty, was laid upon a bed of branches placed over a hole, which had been previously heated, where she was kept with very little food for two or three days. Old women chanted songs, and young women danced round her at intervals during her purification. In the vicinity of San Diego the girl is buried all but her head, and the ground above her is beaten until she is in a profuse perspiration. This is continued for twenty-four hours, the patient being at intervals during this time taken out and washed, and then reimbedded. A feast and dance follow.[594]Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 215. For other descriptions of ceremony observed at age of puberty, see: Hoffman, in San Francisco Medical Press, vol. vi., pp. 150-1; McKinstry, in San Francisco Herald, June, 1853.

When the missionaries first arrived in this region, they found men dressed as women and performing women’s duties, who were kept for unnatural purposes. From their youth up they were treated, instructed, and used as females, and were even frequently publicly married to the chiefs or great men.[595]‘Pero en la Mision de S. Antonio se pudo algo averiguar, pues avisando á los Padres, que en una de las casas de los Neófitos se habian metido dos Gentiles, el uno con el traje natural de ellos, y el otro con el trage de muger, expresándolo con el nombre de Joya (que dicen llamarlos asi en su lengua nativa) fué luego el P. Misionero con el Cabo y un Soldado á la casa á ver lo que buscaban, y los hallaron en el acto de pecado nefando. Castigáronlos, aunque no con la pena merecida, y afearonles el hecho tan enorme; y respondió el Gentil, que aquella Joya era su muger…. Solo en el tramo de la Canal de Santa Bárbara, se hallan muchos Joyas, pues raro es el Pueblo donde no se vean dos ó tres.’ Palou, Vida de Junípero Serra, p. 222. ‘Así en esta ranchería como en otros de la canal, hemos visto algunos gentiles con traje de muger con sus nagüitas de gamusa, y muy engruesadas y limpias; no hemos podido entender lo que significa, ni á qué fin.’ Crespi, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. vi., p. 325. See also Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., pp. 283-4; Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 371; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 427; Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1844, tom. ci., p. 173.

Amusements

Gambling and dancing formed, as usual, their principal means of recreation. Their games of chance differed little from those played farther north. That of guessing in which hand a piece of wood was held, before described, was played by eight, four on a side, instead of four. Another game was played by two. Fifty small pieces of wood, placed upright in a row in the ground, at distances of two inches apart, formed the score. The players were provided with a number of pieces of split reed, blackened on one side; these were thrown, points down, on the ground, and the thrower counted one for every piece that remained white side uppermost; if he gained eight he was entitled to another throw. If the pieces all fell with the blackened side up they counted also. Small pieces of wood placed against the upright pegs, marked the game. They reckoned from opposite ends of the row, and if one of the players threw just so many as to make his score exactly meet that of his opponent, the former had to commence again. Throwing lances of reed through a rolling hoop was another source of amusement. Professional singers were employed to furnish music to a party of gamblers. An umpire was engaged, whose duty it was to hold the stakes, count the game, prevent cheating, and act as referee; he was also expected to supply wood for the fire.

When they were not eating, sleeping, or gambling, they were generally dancing; indeed, says Father Boscana, “such was the delight with which they took part in their festivities, that they often continued dancing day and night, and sometimes entire weeks.” They danced at a birth, at a marriage, at a burial; they danced to propitiate the divinity, and they thanked the divinity for being propitiated by dancing. They decorated themselves with shells and beads, and painted their bodies with divers colors. Sometimes head-dresses and petticoats of feathers were worn, at other times they danced naked. The women painted the upper part of their bodies brown. They frequently danced at the same time as the men, but seldom with them. Time was kept by singers, and the rattling of turtle-shells filled with pebbles. They were good actors, and some of their character-dances were well executed; the step, however, like their chanting, was monotonous and unvarying. Many of their dances were extremely licentious, and were accompanied with obscenities too disgusting to bear recital. Most of them were connected in some way with their superstitions and religious rites.[596]‘In some tribes the men and the women unite in the dance; in others the men alone trip to the music of the women, whose songs are by no means unpleasant to the ear.’ McKinstry, in S. Francisco Herald, June 1853. ‘In their religious ceremonial dances they differ much. While, in some tribes, all unite to celebrate them, in others, men alone are allowed to dance, while the women assist in singing.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 214-15.

These people never wandered far from their own territory, and knew little or nothing of the nations lying beyond their immediate neighbors. Mr Reid relates that one who traveled some distance beyond the limits of his own domain, returned with the report that he had seen men whose ears descended to their hips; then he had met with a race of Lilliputians; and finally had reached a people so subtly constituted that they “would take a rabbit, or other animal, and merely with the breath, inhale the essence; throwing the rest away, which on examination proved to be excrement.”

Customs and Superstitions

They had a great number of traditions, legends, and fables. Some of these give evidence of a powerful imagination; a few are pointed with a moral; but the majority are puerile, meaningless, to us at least, and filled with obscenities. It is said that, in some parts, the Southern Californians are great snake-charmers, and that they allow the reptiles to wind themselves about their bodies and bite them, with impunity.

Feuds between families are nursed for generations; the war is seldom more than one of words, however, unless a murder is to be avenged, and consists of mutual vituperations, and singing obscene songs about each other. Friends salute by inquiries after each other’s health. On parting one says ‘I am going,’ the other answers ‘go.’

They are very superstitious, and believe in all sorts of omens and auguries. An eclipse frightens them beyond measure, and shooting stars cause them to fall down in the dust and cover their heads in abject terror. Many of them believe that, should a hunter eat meat or fish which he himself had procured, his luck would leave him. For this reason they generally hunt or fish in pairs, and when the day’s sport is over, each takes what the other has killed. Living as they do from hand to mouth, content to eat, sleep, and dance away their existence, we cannot expect to find much glimmering of the simpler arts or sciences among them.

Their year begins at the winter solstice, and they count by lunar months, so that to complete their year they are obliged to add several supplementary days. All these months have symbolic names. Thus December and January are called the month of cold; February and March, the rain; March and April, the first grass; April and May, the rise of waters; May and June, the month of roots; June and July, of salmon fishing; July and August, of heat; August and September, of wild fruits; September and October, of bulbous roots; October and November, of acorns and nuts; November and December, of bear and other hunting.

Medical Treatment

Sorcerers are numerous, and as unbounded confidence is placed in their power to work both good and evil, their influence is great. As astrologers and soothsayers, they can tell by the appearance of the moon the most propitious day and hour in which to celebrate a feast, or attack an enemy. Sorcerers also serve as almanacs for the people, as it is their duty to note by the aspect of the moon the time of the decease of a chief or prominent man, and to give notice of the anniversary when it comes round, in order that it may be duly celebrated. They extort black-mail from individuals by threatening them with evil. The charm which they use is a ball made of mescal mixed with wild honey; this is carried under the left arm, in a small leather bag,—and the spell is effected by simply laying the right hand upon this bag. Neither does their power end here; they hold intercourse with supernatural beings, metamorphose themselves at will, see into the future, and even control the elements. They are potent to cure as well as to kill. For all complaints, as usual, they ‘put forth the charm of woven paces and of waving hands,’ and in some cases add other remedies. For internal complaints they prescribe cold baths; wounds and sores are treated with lotions and poultices of crushed herbs, such as sage and rosemary, and of a kind of black oily resin, extracted from certain seeds. Other maladies they affirm to be caused by small pieces of wood, stone, or other hard substance, which by some means have entered the flesh, and which they pretend to extract by sucking the affected part. In a case of paralysis the stricken parts were whipped with nettles. Blisters are raised by means of dry paste made from nettle-stalks, placed on the bare flesh of the patient, set on fire, and allowed to burn out. Cold water or an emetic is used for fever and like diseases, or, sometimes, the sufferer is placed naked upon dry sand or ashes, with a fire close to his feet, and a bowl of water or gruel at his head, and there left for nature to take its course, while his friends and relatives sit round and howl him into life or into eternity. Snake-bites are cured by an internal dose of ashes, or the dust found at the bottom of ants’ nests, and an external application of herbs.[598]Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 380. ‘When the new year begun, no thought was given to the past; and on this account, even amongst the most intelligent, they could not tell the number of years which had transpired, when desirous of giving an idea of any remote event.’ Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., p. 303. The medicine-men fare better here than their northern brethren, as, in the event of the non-recovery of their patient, the death of the latter is attributed to the just anger of their god, and consequently the physician is not held responsible. To avert the displeasure of the divinity, and to counteract the evil influence of the sorcerers, regular dances of propitiation or deprecation are held, in which the whole tribe join.[599]‘For Gonorrhœa they used a strong decoction of an herb that grows very plentifully here, and is called by the Spanish “chancel agua,” and wild pigeon manure, rolled up into pills. The decoction is a very bitter astringent, and may cure some sores, but that it fails in many, I have undeniable proof. In syphilis they use the actual cautery, a living coal of fire applied to the chancer, and a decoction of an herb, said to be something like sarsaparilla, called rosia.’ Hoffman, in San Francisco Medical Press, vol. v., p. 152-3.

Death and Burial

The temescal, or sweat-house, is the same here as elsewhere, which renders a description unnecessary.[600]I am indebted for the only information of value relating to the medical usages of the southern California tribes, to Boscana’s MS., literally translated by Robinson in his Life in Cal., pp. 310-14, and also given in substance in Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., pp. 378-9, and to Reid’s papers on the Indians of Los Angeles County, in the Los Angeles Star, also quoted in Cal. Farmer, Jan. 11, 1861. The dead were either burned or buried. Father Boscana says that no particular ceremonies were observed during the burning of the corpse. The body was allowed to lie untouched some days after death, in order to be certain that no spark of life remained. It was then borne out and laid upon the funeral pyre, which was ignited by a person specially appointed for that purpose. Everything belonging to the deceased was burned with him. When all was over the mourners betook themselves to the outskirts of the village, and there gave vent to their lamentation for the space of three days and nights. During this period songs were sung, in which the cause of the late death was related, and even the progress of the disease which brought him to his grave minutely described in all its stages. As an emblem of grief the hair was cut short in proportion to nearness of relation to or affection for the deceased, but laceration was not resorted to.[602]‘The same custom is now in use, but not only applied to deaths, but to their disappointments and adversities in life, thus making public demonstration of their sorrow.’ Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., pp. 314-15. Mr Taylor relates that the Santa Inez Indians buried their dead in regular cemeteries. The body was placed in a sitting posture in a box made of slabs of claystone, and interred with all the effects of the dead person.[603]California Farmer, May 22, 1863. According to Reid, the natives of Los Angeles County waited until the body began to show signs of decay and then bound it together in the shape of a ball, and buried it in a place set apart for that purpose, with offerings of seeds contributed by the family. At the first news of his death all the relatives of the deceased gathered together, and mourned his departure with groans, each having a groan peculiar to himself. The dirge was presently changed to a song, in which all united, while an accompaniment was whistled through a deer’s leg-bone. The dancing consisted merely in a monotonous shuffling of the feet.[604]Reid, in Los Angeles Star. Pedro Fages thus describes a burial ceremony at the place named by him Sitio de los Pedernales.[605]The latitude of which he fixes at 34° 33´. Immediately after an Indian has breathed his last, the corpse is borne out and placed before the idol which stands in the village, there it is watched by persons who pass the night round a large fire built for the purpose; the following morning all the inhabitants of the place gather about the idol and the ceremony commences. At the head of the procession marches one smoking gravely from a large stone pipe; followed by three others, he three times walks round the idol and the corpse; each time the head of the deceased is passed the coverings are lifted, and he who holds the pipe blows three puffs of smoke upon the body. When the feet are reached, a kind of prayer is chanted in chorus, and the parents and relatives of the defunct advance in succession and offer to the priest a string of threaded seeds, about a fathom long; all present then unite in loud cries and groans, while the four, taking the corpse upon their shoulders, proceed with it to the place of interment. Care is taken to place near the body articles which have been manufactured by the deceased during his life-time. A spear or javelin, painted in various vivid colors, is planted erect over the tomb, and articles indicating the occupation of the dead are placed at his foot; if the deceased be a woman, baskets or mats of her manufacture are hung on the javelin.[606]Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1844, tom. ci., pp. 173-4. Quoted almost literally by Marmier, Notice, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., p. 230.

Death they believed to be a real though invisible being, who gratified his own anger and malice by slowly taking away the breath of his victim until finally life was extinguished. The future abode of good spirits resembled the Scandinavian Valhalla; there, in the dwelling-place of their god, they would live for ever and ever, eating, and drinking, and dancing, and having wives in abundance. As their ideas of reward in the next world were matter-of-fact and material, so were their fears of punishment in this life; all accidents, such as broken limbs or bereavement by death, were attributed to the direct vengeance of their god, for crimes which they had committed.[607]Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., p. 317.

Though good-natured and inordinately fond of amusement, they are treacherous and unreliable. Under a grave and composed exterior they conceal their thoughts and character so well as to defy interpretation. And this is why we find men, who have lived among them for years, unable to foretell their probable action under any given circumstances.

The Shoshone Family

The Shoshone Family, which forms the fourth and last division of the Californian group, may be said to consist of two great nations, the Snakes, or Shoshones proper, and the Utahs. The former inhabit south-eastern Oregon, Idaho, western Montana, and the northern portions of Utah and Nevada, are subdivided into several small tribes, and include the more considerable nation of the Bannacks. The Utahs occupy nearly the whole of Utah and Nevada, and extend into Arizona and California, on each side of the Colorado. Among the many tribes into which the Utahs are divided may be mentioned the Utahs proper, whose territory covers a great part of Utah and eastern Nevada; the Washoes along the eastern base of the Sierra Nevada, between Honey Lake and the west fork of Walker River; the Pah Utes, or, as they are sometimes called, Piutes, in western and central Nevada, stretching into Arizona and south-eastern California; the Pah Vants in the vicinity of Sevier Lake, the Pi Edes south of them, and the Gosh Utes, a mixed tribe of Snakes and Utahs, dwelling in the vicinity of Gosh Ute Lake and Mountains.

The Shoshones[608]In spelling the word Shoshone, I have followed the most common orthography. Many, however, write it Shoshonee, others, Shoshonie, either of which would perhaps give a better idea of the pronunciation of the word, as the accent falls on the final e. The word means ‘Snake Indian,’ according to Stuart, Montana, p. 80; and ‘inland,’ according to Ross, Fur Hunters, vol. i., p. 249. I apply the name Shoshones to the whole of this family; the Shoshones proper, including the Bannacks, I call the Snakes; the remaining tribes I name collectively Utahs. are below the medium stature; the Utahs, though more powerfully built than the Snakes, are coarser-featured and less agile. All are of a dark bronze-color when free from paint and dirt, and, as usual, beardless. The women are clumsily made, although some of them have good hands and feet.[609]See Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., p. 249; Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 228-9; Remy and Brenchley’s Journey, vol. i., p. 124; Chandless’ Visit, p. 118; Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 377; Carvalho’s Incid. of Trav., p. 200; Graves, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 178; Beckwith, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. ii., p. 42; Farley’s Sanitary Rept., in San Francisco Medical Press, vol. iii., p. 154; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 298; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 88; Hesperian Magazine, vol. x., p. 255; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 197; Prince, quoted in Cal. Farmer, Oct. 18, 1861; Townsend’s Nar., pp. 125, 133; Bryant, Voy. en Cal., pp. 152, 194; Coke’s Rocky Mountains, p. 276; Fremont’s Explor. Ex., pp. 148, 267; Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 312; Figuier’s Human Race, p. 484; Burton’s City of the Saints, p. 585. Mention is made by Salmeron of a people living south of Utah Lake, who were ‘blancas, y rosadas las mejillas como los franceses.’ Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 101. Escalante, speaking of Indians seen in the same region, lat. 39° 34´ 37´´, says: ‘Eran estos de los barbones, y narices agujeradas, y en su idioma se nombran Tirangapui, Tian los cinco, que con su capitan venieron primero, tan crecida la barba, que parecian padres capuchinos ó belemitas.’ Doc. Hist. Mex., serie ii., tom. i., p. 476. Wilkes writes, ‘Southwest of the Youta Lake live a tribe who are known by the name of the Monkey Indians; a term which is not a mark of contempt, but is supposed to be a corruption of their name…. They are reported to live in fastnesses among high mountains; to have good clothing and houses; to manufacture blankets, shoes, and various other articles, which they sell to the neighboring tribes. Their colour is as light as that of the Spaniards; and the women in particular are very beautiful, with delicate features, and long flowing hair…. Some have attempted to connect these with an account of an ancient Welsh colony, which others had thought they discovered among the Mandans of the Missouri; while others were disposed to believe they might still exist in the Monkeys of the Western Mountains. There is another account which speaks of the Monquoi Indians, who formerly inhabited Lower California, and were partially civilized by the Spanish missionaries, but who have left that country, and of whom all traces have long since been lost.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 502-3. ‘On the southern boundary of Utah exists a peculiar race, of whom little is known. They are said to be fair-skinned, and are called the “White Indians;” have blue eyes and straight hair, and speak a kind of Spanish language differing from other tribes.’ San Francisco Evening Bulletin, May 15, 1863. Taylor has a note on the subject, in which he says that these fair Indians were doubtless the Moquis of Western New Mexico. Cal. Farmer, June 26, 1863. Although it is evident that this mysterious and probably mythic people belong in no way to the Shoshone family, yet as they are mentioned by several writers as dwelling in a region which is surrounded on all sides by Shoshones, I have given this note, wherefrom the reader can draw his own conclusions.

On the barren plains of Nevada, where there is no large game, the rabbit furnishes nearly the only clothing. The skins are sewn together in the form of a cloak, which is thrown over the shoulders, or tied about the body with thongs of the same. In warm weather, or when they cannot obtain rabbit-skins, men, women and children are, for the most part, in a state of nudity. The hair is generally allowed to grow long, and to flow loosely over the shoulders; sometimes it is cut straight over the forehead, and among the Utahs of New Mexico it is plaited into two long queues by the men, and worn short by the women. Ornaments are rare; I find mention in two instances[610]Beckwith, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. ii., p. 42; Heap’s Cent. Route, p. 102. of a nose-ornament, worn by the Pah Utes, consisting of a slender piece of bone, several inches in length, thrust through the septum of the nose. Tattooing is not practiced but paint of all colors is used unsparingly.[611]Speaking of women: ‘their breasts and stomachs were covered with red mastic, made from an earth peculiar to these rocks, which rendered them hideous. Their only covering was a pair of drawers of hare-skin, badly sewn together, and in holes.’ Remy and Brenchley’s Journ., vol. ii., p. 386; see also vol. i., p. 127, and vol. ii., pp. 389, 404, 407. ‘The women often dress in skirts made of entrails, dressed and sewed together in a substantial way.’ Prince, in Cal. Farmer, Oct. 18, 1861. Hareskins ‘they cut into cords with the fur adhering; and braid them together so as to form a sort of cloak with a hole in the middle, through which they thrust their heads.’ Farnham’s Life and Adven., p. 376. The remaining authorities describe them as naked, or slightly and miserably dressed; see Stansbury’s Rept., pp. 82, 202-3; Chandless’ Visit, p. 291; Heap’s Cent. Route, p. 100; Irving’s Bonneville’s Adven., p. 255; Bryant’s Cal., p. 194; Forney, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1859, p. 365; Dodge,Ib., pp. 374-5; Fenton, in Id., 1869, p. 203; Graves, in Id., 1854, p. 178; Burton’s City of the Saints, pp. 217-18, 272-3, 581, 585; Fremont’s Explor. Ex., pp. 148, 168-9, 212, 218, 225, 227, 267; Bulfinch’s Oregon, p. 129; Saxon’s Golden Gate, p. 251; Scenes in the Rocky Mts., p. 197; Brownell’s Ind. Races, p. 539; Dunn’s Oregon, p. 331.

The Snakes are better dressed than the Utahs, their clothing being made from the skins of larger game, and ornamented with beads, shells, fringes, feathers, and, since their acquaintance with the whites, with pieces of brilliant-colored cloth. A common costume is a shirt, leggins, and moccasins, all of buck-skin, over which is thrown, in cold weather, a heavy robe, generally of buffalo-skin, but sometimes of wolf, deer, elk, or beaver. The dress of the women differs but little from that of the men, except that it is less ornamented and the shirt is longer.[612]Townsend’s Nar., pp. 125, 133; De Smet, Voy., p. 25; Dunn’s Oregon, p. 325; Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 228-30, 308-9; Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., pp. 249-50, 257-8, vol. ii., pp. 22-3; Chandless’ Visit, p. 118; Carvalho’s Incid. of Trav., p. 200; White’s Ogn., p. 377; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 298; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., pp. 244, 281.

Dress of the Snakes

The dress of the Snakes seen by captains Lewis and Clarke was richer than is usually worn by them now; it was composed of a robe, short cloak, shirt, long leggins, and moccasins.

The robe was of buffalo or smaller skins, dressed with the hair on; the collar of the cloak, a strip of skin from the back of the otter, the head being at one end and the tail at the other. From this collar were suspended from one hundred to two hundred and fifty ermine-skins,[613]‘The ermine is the fur known to the north-west traders by the name of the white weasel, but is the genuine ermine.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 313. or rather strips from the back of the ermine, including the head and tail; each of these strips was sewn round a cord of twisted silk-grass, which tapered in thickness toward the tail. The seams were concealed with a fringe of ermine-skin; little tassels of white fur were also attached to each tail, to show off its blackness to advantage. The collar was further ornamented with shells of the pearl-oyster; the shirt, made of the dressed hides of various kinds of deer, was loose and reached half-way down the thigh; the sleeves were open on the under side as low as the elbow,—the edges being cut into a fringe from the elbow to the wrist,—and they fitted close to the arm. The collar was square, and cut into fringe, or adorned with the tails of the animals which furnished the hide; the shirt was garnished with fringes and stained porcupine-quills; the leggins were made each from nearly an entire antelope-skin, and reached from the ankle to the upper part of the thigh. The hind legs of the skin were worn uppermost, and tucked into the girdle; the neck, highly ornamented with fringes and quills, trailed on the ground behind the heel of the wearer; the side seams were fringed, and for this purpose the scalps of fallen enemies were frequently used.

The moccasins were also of dressed hide, without the hair, except in winter, when buffalo-hide, with the hair inside, answered the purpose. They were made with a single seam on the outside edge, and were embellished with quills; sometimes they were covered with the skin of a polecat, the tail of which dragged behind on the ground. Ear-ornaments of beads, necklaces of shells, twisted-grass, elk-tushes, round bones, like joints of a fish’s back-bone, and the claws of the brown bear, were all worn. Eagles’ feathers stuck in the hair, or a strip of otter-skin tied round the head, seem to have been the only head-dresses in use.[614]Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 312-15. This, or something similar, was the dress only of the wealthy and prosperous tribes. Like the Utahs, the Snakes paint extensively, especially when intent upon war.[615]‘On y rencontre aussi des terres métalliques de différentes couleurs, telles que vertes, bleues, jaunes, noires, blanches, et deux sortes d’ocres, l’une pâle, l’autre d’un rouge brillant comme du vermillion. Les Indiens en font très-grand cas; ils s’en servent pour se peindre le corps et le visage.’ Stuart, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1821, tom. xii., p. 83.

Dwellings and Food of the Shoshones

The Snakes also build better dwellings than the Utahs. Long poles are leaned against each other in a circle, and are then covered with skins, thus forming a conical tent. A hole in the top, which can be closed in bad weather, serves as chimney, and an opening at the bottom three or four feet high, admits the occupants on pushing aside a piece of hide stretched on a stick, which hangs over the aperture as a door. These skin tents, as is necessary to a nomadic people, are struck and pitched with very little labor. When being moved from one place to another, the skins are folded and packed on the ponies, and the poles are hitched to each side of the animal by one end, while the other drags. The habitations of the people of Nevada and the greater part of Utah are very primitive and consist of heaps of brush, under which they crawl, or even of a mere shelter of bushes, semi-circular in shape, roofless, and three or four feet high, which serves only to break the force of the wind. Some of them build absolutely no dwellings, but live in caves and among the rocks, while others burrow like reptiles in the ground. Farnham gives us a very doleful picture of their condition; he says: “When the lizard, and snail, and wild roots are buried in the snows of winter, they are said to retire to the vicinity of timber, dig holes in the form of ovens in the steep sides of the sand-hills, and, having heated them to a certain degree, deposit themselves in them, and sleep and fast till the weather permits them to go abroad again for food. Persons who have visited their haunts after a severe winter, have found the ground around these family ovens strewn with the unburied bodies of the dead, and others crawling among them, who had various degrees of strength, from a bare sufficiency to gasp in death, to those that crawled upon their hands and feet, eating grass like cattle.”[616]‘They remain in a semi-dormant, inactive state the entire winter, leaving their lowly retreats only now and then, at the urgent calls of nature, or to warm their burrows…. In the spring they creep from their holes … poor and emaciated, with barely flesh enough to hide their bones, and so enervated from hard fare and frequent abstinence, that they can scarcely move.’ Scenes in the Rocky Mts., p. 179. Stansbury mentions lodges in Utah, east of Salt Lake, which were constructed of ‘cedar poles and logs of a considerable size, thatched with bark and branches, and were quite warm and comfortable.’ Stansbury’s Rept., p. 111; Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 334; Irving’s Bonneville’s Adven., p. 255; Remy and Brenchley’s Journ., vol. i., pp. 80-1, 129, vol. ii., pp. 362, 373; Salmeron, Relaciones, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 101; Farley, in San Francisco Medical Press, vol. iii., p. 154; Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 378; Brownell’s Ind. Races, p. 538; Heap’s Cent. Route, pp. 98-9; De Smet, Voy., p. 28; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 247, vol. ii., pp. 256-7; Coke’s Rocky Mountains, p. 257; Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. ii., p. 117; White’s Ogn., p. 376; Irving’s Astoria, pp. 257, 290; Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 305; Fremont’s Explor. Ex., 1842-3, pp. 142, 212, 218; Townsend’s Nar., p. 136; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 325, 331-2, 337-8; Bulfinch’s Oregon, p. 179; Farnham’s Trav., pp. 58, 61-2; Simpson’s Route to Cal., p. 51; Burton’s City of the Saints, p. 573; Knight’s Pioneer Life, MS. Naturally pusillanimous, weak in development, sunk below the common baser passions of the savage, more improvident than birds, more beastly than beasts, it may be possible to conceive of a lower phase of humanity, but I confess my inability to do so.

Pine-nuts, roots, berries, reptiles, insects, rats, mice, and occasionally rabbits are the only food of the poorer Shoshone tribes. Those living in the vicinity of streams or lakes depend more or less for their subsistence upon fish. The Snakes of Idaho and Oregon, and the tribes occupying the more fertile parts of Utah, having abundance of fish and game, live well the year round, but the miserable root-eating people, partly owing to their inherent improvidence, partly to the scantiness of their food-supply, never store sufficient provision for the winter, and consequently before the arrival of spring they are invariably reduced to extreme destitution. To avoid starvation they will eat dead bodies, and even kill their children for food.[617]Coke’s Rocky Mts., p. 275; De Smet, Voy., p. 29; Dennison, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 375; Saint-Amant, Voyages, p. 325. A rat or a rabbit is prepared for eating by singeing the hair, pressing the offal from the entrails and cooking body and intestines together. Lizards, snakes, grasshoppers, and ants are thrown alive into a dish containing hot embers, and are tossed about until roasted; they are then eaten dry or used to thicken soup. Grasshoppers, seeds, and roots, are also gathered and cooked in the same manner as by the nations already described. The Gosh Utes take rabbits in nets made of flax-twine, about three feet wide and of considerable length. A fence of sage-brush is erected across the rabbit-paths, and on this the net is hung. The rabbits in running quickly along the trail become entangled in the meshes and are taken before they can escape. Lizards are dragged from their holes by means of a hooked stick. To catch ants a piece of fresh hide or bark is placed upon the ant-hill; this is soon covered by vast swarms of the insects, which are then brushed off into a bag and kept there until dead, when they are dried for future use. Among the hunting tribes antelope are gradually closed in upon by a circle of horsemen and beaten to death with clubs. They are also stalked after the fashion of the Californians proper, the hunter placing the head and horns of an antelope or deer upon his own head and thus disguised approaching within shooting distance.

NATIVE FISH-WEIR.

Fish are killed with spears having movable heads, which become detached when the game is struck, and are also taken in nets made of rushes or twigs. In the latter case a place is chosen where the river is crossed by a bar, the net is then floated down the stream and on reaching the bar both ends are drawn together. The fish thus enclosed are taken from the circle by hand, and the Shoshone as he takes each one, puts its head in his mouth and kills it with his teeth. Captain Clarke describes an ingeniously constructed weir on Snake River, where it was divided into four channels by three small islands. Three of these channels were narrow “and stopped by means of trees which were stretched across, and supported by willow stakes, sufficiently near to prevent the passage of the fish. About the centre of each was placed a basket formed of willows, eighteen or twenty feet in length, of a cylindrical form, and terminating in a conic shape at its lower extremity; this was situated with its mouth upwards, opposite to an aperture in the weir. The main channel of the water was then conducted to this weir, and as the fish entered it they were so entangled with each other, that they could not move, and were taken out by emptying the small end of the willow basket. The weir in the main channel was formed in a manner somewhat different; there were, in fact two distinct weirs formed of poles and willow sticks quite across the river, approaching each other obliquely with an aperture in each side of the angle. This is made by tying a number of poles together at the top, in parcels of three, which were then set up in a triangular form at the base, two of the poles being in the range desired for the weir, and the third down the stream. To these poles two ranges of other poles are next lashed horizontally, with willow bark and withes, and willow sticks joined in with these crosswise, so as to form a kind of wicker-work from the bottom of the river to the height of three or four feet above the surface of the water. This is so thick as to prevent the fish from passing, and even in some parts with the help of a little gravel and some stone enables them to give any direction which they wish to the water. These two weirs being placed near to each other, one for the purpose of catching the fish as they ascend, the other as they go down the river, are provided with two baskets made in the form already described, and which are placed at the apertures of the weir.”

For present consumption the fish are boiled in water-tight baskets by means of red-hot stones, or are broiled on the embers; sometimes the bones are removed before the fish is cooked; great quantities are also dried for winter. Some few of the Utahs cultivate a little maize, vegetables, and tobacco, and raise stock, but efforts at agriculture are not general. The Snakes sometimes accompany the more northern tribes into the country of the Blackfeet, for the purpose of killing buffalo.[618]‘They eat the seed of two species of Conifers, one about the size of a hazel-nut, the other much smaller. They also eat a small stone-fruit, somewhat red, or black in colour, and rather insipid; different berries, among others, those of Vaccinium. They collect the seed of the Atriplex and Chenopodium, and occasionally some grasses. Among roots, they highly value that of a bushy, yellowish and tolerably large broomrape, which they cook or dry with the base, or root-stock, which is enlarged, and constitutes the most nutritious part. They also gather the napiform root of a Cirsium acaule, which they eat raw or cooked; when cooked, it becomes quite black, resinous as pitch and rather succulent; when raw, it is whitish, soft, and of a pleasant flavour.’ Remy and Brenchley’s Journey, vol. i., p. 129. The Shoshones of Utah and Nevada ‘eat certain roots, which in their native state are rank poison, called Tobacco root, but when put in a hole in the ground, and a large fire burned over them, become wholesome diet.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., p. 697. ‘Of the roots used … the pap-pa, or wild potatoe, is abundant.’ Id., vol. iv., p. 222; see also, Id., vol. v., pp. 199-200. At Bear River, ‘every living animal, thing, insect, or worm they eat.’ Fremont’s Explor. Exp., p. 142, see also pp. 148, 160, 173-4, 212, 218-19, 267, 273. Inland savages are passionately fond of salt; those living near the sea detest it. Stuart, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1821, tom. xii., p. 85. The Utahs eat ‘the cactus leaf, piñon-nut, and various barks; the seed of the bunch-grass, and of the wheat, or yellow grass, somewhat resembling rye, the rabbit-bush twigs, which are chewed, and various roots and tubers; the soft sego bulb, the rootlet of the cat-tail flag, and of the tule, which when sun-dried and powdered to flour, keeps through the winter and is palatable even to white men.’ Burton’s City of the Saints, p. 581, see also pp. 573, 577. The Pi-Edes ‘live principally on lizards, swifts, and horned toads.’ Ind. Aff. Rept., 1865. p. 145; see also Id., 1854, p. 229; 1856, p. 234; 1861, p. 112; 1859, p. 365; 1866, pp. 114; 1869, pp. 203, 216; 1870, pp. 95, 114; 1872, p. 59. The Snakes eat a white-fleshed kind of beaver, which lives on poisonous roots, whose flesh affects white people badly, though the Indians roast and eat it with impunity. Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. ii., p. 117, see also vol. i., p. 269-72; Brownell’s Ind. Races, p. 539; Farnham’s Life and Adven., pp. 371, 376-8; Irving’s Bonneville’s Adven., pp. 255, 257, 401-2; Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 501; Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 219; Bryant’s Cal., p. 202; Stansbury’s Rept., pp. 77, 148, 233; Kelly’s Excursion, vol. i., p. 238; Saxon’s Golden Gate, p. 251; Smith, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1828, tom. xxxvii., p. 209; Scenes in the Rocky Mts., p. 178-9; Townsend’s Nar., p. 144; White’s Ogn., p. 376; Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 228-31, 309; Coke’s Rocky Mts., p. 277; Irving’s Astoria, pp. 258, 295; De Smet, Voy., pp. 28-30, 127; Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 334; Farnham’s Trav., pp. 58, 61; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 242, 270, vol. ii., pp. 19, 60, 61, 64, 244, 311; Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. ii., p. 534; Simpson’s Route to Pac., pp. 51-2; Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 270, 288-9, 298-9; Bigler’s Early Days in Utah and Nevada, MS.

In their persons, dwellings and habits, the Utahs are filthy beyond description. Their bodies swarm with vermin which they catch and eat with relish. Some of the Snakes are of a more cleanly disposition, but, generally speaking, the whole Shoshone family is a remarkably dirty one.[619]The Wararereeks are ‘dirty in their camps, in their dress, and in their persons.’ Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., p. 250. The persons of the Piutes are ‘more disgusting than those of the Hottentots. Their heads are white with the germs of crawling filth.’ Farnham’s Trav., p. 58. ‘A filthy tribe—the prey of idleness and vermin.’ Farnham’s Life and Adven., p. 325. Bryant says, of the Utahs between Salt Lake and Ogden’s Hole, ‘I noticed the females hunting for the vermin in the heads and on the bodies of their children; finding which they ate the animals with an apparent relish.’ Bryant’s Cal., p. 154. The Snakes ‘are filthy beyond description.’ Townsend’s Nar., p. 137. ‘J’ai vu les Sheyennes, les Serpents, les Youts, etc., manger la vermine les uns des autres à pleins peignes.’ De Smet, Voy., p. 47. ‘The Snakes are rather cleanly in their persons.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 61.

Weapons of the Shoshones

The bow and arrow are universally used by the Shoshones, excepting only some of the most degraded root-eaters, who are said to have no weapon, offensive or defensive, save the club. The bow is made of cedar, pine, or other wood, backed with sinew after the manner already described, or, more rarely, of a piece of elk-horn. The string is of sinew. The length of the bow varies. According to Farnham, that used by the Pi Utes is six feet long, while that of the Shoshones seen by Lewis and Clark was only two and a half feet in length. The arrows are from two to four feet, and are pointed with obsidian, flint, or, among the lower tribes, by merely hardening the tip with fire. Thirty or forty are usually carried in a skin quiver, and two in the hand ready for immediate use. Lances, which are used in some localities, are pointed in the same manner as the arrows when no iron can be procured. The Snakes have a kind of mace or club, which they call a poggamoggon. It consists of a heavy stone, sometimes wrapped in leather, attached by a sinew thong about two inches in length, to the end of a stout leather-covered handle, measuring nearly two feet. A loop fastened to the end held in the hand prevents the warrior from losing the weapon in the fight, and allows him to hold the club in readiness while he uses the bow and arrow.[620]‘A weapon called by the Chippeways, by whom it was formerly used, the poggamoggon.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 309. Bulfinch, Oregon, p. 126, says the stone weighs about two pounds. Salmeron also mentions a similar weapon used by the people living south of Utah Lake; concerning whom see note 187, p. 423. They also have a circular shield about two and a half feet in diameter, which is considered a very important part of a warrior’s equipment, not so much from the fact that it is arrow-proof, as from the peculiar virtues supposed to be given it by the medicine-men. The manufacture of a shield is a season of great rejoicing. It must be made from the entire fresh hide of a male two-year-old buffalo, and the process is as follows. A hole is dug in the ground and filled with red-hot stones; upon these water is poured until a thick steam arises. The hide is then stretched, by as many as can take hold of it, over the hole, until the hair can be removed with the hands and it shrinks to the required size. It is then placed upon a prepared hide, and pounded by the bare feet of all present, until the ceremony is concluded. When the shield is completed, it is supposed to render the bearer invulnerable. Lewis and Clarke also make mention of a species of defensive armor “something like a coat of mail, which is formed by a great many folds of dressed antelope skins, united by means of a mixture of glue and sand. With this they cover their own bodies and those of their horses, and find it impervious to the arrow.” I find mention in one instance only, of a shield being used by the Utahs. In that case it was small, circular, and worn suspended from the neck. The fishing spear I have already described as being a long pole with an elk-horn point. When a fish is struck the shaft is loosened from its socket in the head, but remains connected with the latter by a cord.[621]The Utahs ‘no usan mas armas que las flechas y algunas lanzas de perdernal, ni tienen otro peto, morrion ni espaldar que el que sacaron del vientre de sus madres.’ Escalante, quoted in Salmeron, Relaciones, in Doc. Hist. Mex., ser. iii., part iv., p. 126. ‘Bows made of the horns of the bighorn … are formed by cementing with glue flat pieces of the horn together, covering the back with sinewes and glue, and loading the whole with an unusual quantity of ornaments.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 309. At Ogden River, in Utah, they work obsidian splinters ‘into the most beautiful and deadly points, with which they arm the end of their arrows.’ Thornton’s Ogn. and Cal., vol. i., p. 343. ‘Pour toute arme, un arc, des flèches et un bâton pointu.’ De Smet, Voy., p. 28. ‘Bows and arrows are their (Banattees) only weapons of defence.’ Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., p. 251. The arrows of the Pa-Utes ‘are barbed with a very clear translucent stone, a species of opal, nearly as hard as the diamond; and, shot from their long bow, are almost as effective as a gunshot.’ Fremont’s Expl. Ex., p. 267. The Pi-Utes and Pitches ‘have no weapon of defence except the club, and in the use of that they are very unskilful.’ Farnham’s Trav., p. 58. Southwest of Great Salt Lake, ‘their arms are clubs, with small bows and arrows made of reeds.’ Scenes in the Rocky Mts., p. 180. The Pi-Utes ‘make some weapons of defence, as bows and arrows. The bows are about six feet long; made of the savine (Juniperus sabina).’ Farnham’s Life and Adven., p. 378; see farther, Remy and Brenchley’s Journ., vol. ii., pp. 291, 261; Stansbury’s Rept., p. 232; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 198; Heap’s Cent. Route, pp. 56, 72, 77, 84, 99; Palmer’s Jour., p. 134; Bulfinch’s Oregon, p. 129; Irving’s Bonneville’s Adven., pp. 146, 255, 400; Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 219; Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 228-9, 233; Irving’s Astoria, p. 279; Stuart, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1822, tom. xiii., p. 50; Bigler’s Early Days in Utah and Nevada, MS.; Knight’s Pioneer Life, MS. Arrows are occasionally poisoned by plunging them into a liver which has been previously bitten by a rattlesnake.[622]Remy and Brenchley’s Jour., vol. ii., p. 407; Heap’s Cent. Route, p. 99; Thornton’s Ogn. and Cal., vol. i., p. 171.

Manner of Making War

The tribes that possess horses always fight mounted, and manage their animals with considerable address. In war they place their reliance upon strategy and surprise; fires upon the hills give warning of an enemy’s approach. Prisoners of war are killed with great tortures, especially female captives, who are given over to the women of the victorious tribe and by them done to death most cruelly; it is said, however, that male prisoners who have distinguished themselves by their prowess in battle, are frequently dismissed unhurt. Scalps are taken, and sometimes portions of the flesh of a brave fallen enemy are eaten that the eater may become endued with the valor of the slain. He who takes the most scalps gains the most glory. Whether the warriors who furnished the trophies fell by the hand of the accumulator or not, is immaterial; he has but to show the spoils and his fame is established. The Snakes are said to be peculiarly skillful in eluding pursuit. When on foot, they will crouch down in the long grass and remain motionless while the pursuer passes within a few feet of them, or when caught sight of they will double and twist so that it is impossible to catch them. The custom of ratifying a peace treaty by a grand smoke, common to so many of the North American aborigines, is observed by the Shoshones.[623]‘Taking an enemy’s scalp is an honour quite independent of the act of vanquishing him. To kill your adversary is of no importance unless the scalp is brought from the field of battle, and were a warrior to slay any number of his enemies in action, and others were to obtain the scalps or first touch the dead, they would have all the honours, since they have borne off the trophy.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 309; see also p. 265. The Utahs ‘will devour the heart of a brave man to increase their courage, or chop it up, boil it in soup, engorge a ladleful, and boast they have drunk the enemy’s blood.’ Burton’s City of the Saints, p. 581; see also p. 140. The Utahs never carry arrows when they intend to fight on horseback. Heap’s Cent. Route, p. 77; see also p. 100; Remy and Brenchley’s Journ., pp. 97, 99; Stansbury’s Rept., p. 81; De Smet, Voy., pp. 28-9; Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., p. 275, vol. ii., pp. 93-6; Bulfinch’s Oregon, p. 129; Farnham’s Trav., p. 36.The pipe, the bowl of which is usually of red stone, painted or carved with various figures and adorned with feathers, is solemnly passed from mouth to mouth, each smoker blowing the smoke in certain directions and muttering vows at the same time.

The only tools used before iron and steel were introduced by the whites were of flint, bone, or horn. The flint knife had no regular form, and had a sharp edge about three or four inches long, which was renewed when it became dull. Elk-horn hatchets, or rather wedges, were used to fell trees. They made water-proof baskets of plaited grass, and others of wicker-work covered with hide. The Snakes and some of the Utahs were versed in the art of pottery, and made very good vessels from baked clay. These were not merely open dishes, but often took the form of jars with narrow necks, having stoppers.[624]The pipe of the chief ‘was made of a dense transparent green stone, very highly polished, about two and a half inches long, and of an oval figure, the bowl being in the same situation with the stem. A small piece of burnt clay is placed in the bottom of the bowl to separate the tobacco from the end of the stem.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 267. Pots made of ‘a stone found in the hills … which, though soft and white in its natural state, becomes very hard and black after exposure to the fire.’ Id., p. 312. ‘These vessels, although rude and without gloss, are nevertheless strong, and reflect much credit on Indian ingenuity.’ Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., p. 274. Pipe-stems ‘resemble a walking-stick more than anything else, and they are generally of ash, and from two-and-a-half to three feet long.’ Id., vol. ii., p. 109. ‘Cooking vessels very much resembling reversed bee-hives, made of basket work covered with buffalo skins.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 244. Stansbury discovered pieces of broken Indian pottery and obsidian about Salt Lake. Stansbury’s Rept., p. 182. The material of baskets ‘was mostly willow twig, with a layer of gum, probably from the pine tree.’ Burton’s City of the Saints, p. 573. The Utahs ‘manufacture very beautiful and serviceable blankets.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 200. ‘Considering that they have nothing but stone hammers and flint knives it is truly wonderful to see the exquisite finish and neatness of their implements of war and hunting, as well as their ear-rings and waist-bands, made of an amalgam of silver and lead.’ Prince, in Cal. Farmer, Oct. 18, 1861. ‘Les Indiens en font des jarres, des pots, des plats de diverses formes. Ces vaisseaux communiquent une odeur et une saveur très-agréables à tout ce qu’ils renferment; ce qui provient sans doute de la dissolution de quelque substance bitumineuse contenue dans l’argile.’ Stuart, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1821, tom. xii., p. 83. ‘The pipes of these Indians are either made of wood or of red earth; sometimes these earthen pipes are exceedingly valuable, and Indians have been known to give a horse in exchange for one of them.’ Remy and Brenchley’s Journ., vol. i., p. 130; Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 128-32, 228-9, 234.

Laws and Government

Boats, as a rule, the Shoshones have none. They usually cross rivers by fording; otherwise they swim, or pass over on a clumsy and dangerous raft made of branches and rushes.[625]Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., p. 274. By way of compensation they all, except the poorest, have horses, and these constitute their wealth. They have no regular currency, but use for purposes of barter their stock of dried fish, their horses, or whatever skins and furs they may possess. They are very deliberate traders, and a solemn smoke must invariably precede a bargain.[626]Among the Snakes in Idaho garments of four to five beaver-skins were sold for a knife or an awl, and other articles of fur in proportion. Horses were purchased for an axe each. A ship of seventy-four guns might have been loaded with provision, such as dried buffalo, bought with buttons and rings. Articles of real value they thus disposed of cheaply, while articles of comparatively no value, such as Indian head-dress and other curiosities, were held high. A beaver-skin could thus be had for a brass-ring, while a necklace of bears’ claws could not be purchased for a dozen of the same rings. Axes, knives, ammunition, beads, buttons and rings, were most in demand. Clothing was of no value; a knife sold for as much as a blanket; and an ounce of vermilion was of more value than a yard of fine cloth. Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., pp. 257-9. See further, Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 316; Townsend’s Nar., pp. 133, 138; Prince, in Cal. Farmer, Oct. 18, 1861; Farnham’s Trav., p. 61. Although each tribe has an ostensible chief, his power is limited to giving advice, and although his opinion may influence the tribe, yet he cannot compel obedience to his wishes. Every man does as he likes. Private revenge, of course, occasionally overtakes the murderer, or, if the sympathies of the tribe be with the murdered man, he may possibly be publicly executed, but there are no fixed laws for such cases. Chieftainship is hereditary in some tribes; in others it is derived from prestige.[627]‘They inflict no penalties for minor offences, except loss of character and disfellowship.’ Prince, in Cal. Farmer, Oct. 18, 1861; Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 306-7; Remy and Brenchley’s Journ., vol. i., p. 128.

The Utahs do not hesitate to sell their wives and children into slavery for a few trinkets. Great numbers of these unfortunates are sold to the Navajos for blankets. An act which passed the legislature of Utah in 1852, legalizing slavery, sets forth that from time immemorial, slavery has been a customary traffic among the Indians; that it was a common practice among them to gamble away their wives and children into slavery, to sell them into slavery to other nations, and that slaves thus obtained were most barbarously treated by their masters; that they were packed from place to place on mules; that these unfortunate humans were staked out to grass and roots like cattle, their limbs mutilated and swollen from being bound with thongs; that they were frozen, starved, and killed by their inhuman owners; that families and tribes living at peace would steal each other’s wives and children, and sell them as slaves. In view of these abuses it was made lawful for a probate judge, or selectmen, to bind out native captive women and children to suitable white persons for a term not to exceed twenty years.[628]‘It is virtuous to seize and ravish the women of tribes with whom they are at war, often among themselves, and to retain or sell them and their children as slaves.’ Drews’ Owyhee Recon., p. 17. The Pi-Edes ‘barter their children to the Utes proper for a few trinkets or bits of clothing, by whom they are again sold to the Navajos for blankets.’ Simpson’s Route to Cal., p. 45. ‘Some of the minor tribes in the southern part of the Territory (Utah), near New Mexico, can scarcely show a single squaw, having traded them off for horses and arms.’ Burton’s City of the Saints, p. 582. ‘Viennent trouver les blancs, et leur vendent leurs enfants pour des bagatelles.’ De Smet, Voy., p. 29; Knight’s Pioneer Life, MS.; Utah, Acts, Resolutions, etc., p. 87.

Polygamy, though common, is not universal; a wife is generally bought of her parents;[629]‘A refusal in these lands is often a serious business; the warrior collects his friends, carries off the recusant fair, and after subjecting her to the insults of all his companions espouses her.’ Burton’s City of the Saints, p. 582. girls are frequently betrothed in infancy; a husband will prostitute his wife to a stranger for a trifling present, but should she be unfaithful without his consent, her life must pay the forfeit. The women, as usual, suffer very little from the pains of child-bearing. When the time of a Shoshone woman’s confinement draws near, she retires to some secluded place, brings forth unassisted, and remains there for about a month, alone, and procuring her subsistence as best she can. When the appointed time has elapsed she is considered purified and allowed to join her friends again. The weaker sex of course do the hardest labor, and receive more blows than kind words for their pains. These people, in common with most nomadic nations, have the barbarous custom of abandoning the old and infirm the moment they find them an incumbrance. Lewis and Clarke state that children are never flogged, as it is thought to break their spirit.[630]‘The women are exceedingly virtuous … they are a kind of mercantile commodity in the hands of their masters. Polygamy prevails among the chiefs, but the number of wives is not unlimited.’ Remy and Brenchley’s Journ., vol. i., pp. 123-8. They are given to sensual excesses, and other immoralities. Farnham’s Trav., p. 62; see also p. 60. ‘Prostitution and illegitimacy are unknown … they are not permitted to marry until eighteen or twenty years old … it is a capital offence to marry any of another nation without special sanction from their council and head chief. They allow but one wife.’ Prince, in Cal. Farmer, Oct. 18, 1861. At the time of their confinement the women ‘sit apart; they never touch a cooking utensil, although it is not held impure to address them, and they return only when the signs of wrath have passed away.’ Burton’s City of the Saints, p. 573. ‘Infidelity of the wife, or prostitution of an unmarried female, is punishable by death.’ Davies, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1861, p. 133. ‘Our Pi-Ute has a peculiar way of getting a foretaste of connubial bliss, cohabiting experimentally with his intended for two or three days previous to the nuptial ceremony, at the end of which time, either party can stay further proceedings, to indulge other trials until a companion more congenial is found.’ Farley, in San Francisco Medical Press, vol. iii., p. 155; Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 307-8, 315; De Smet, Voy., p. 27.

Gambling and Drinking

The games of hazard played by the Shoshones differ little from those of their neighbors; the principal one appears to be the odd-and-even game so often mentioned; but of late years they have nearly abandoned these, and have taken to ‘poker,’ which they are said to play with such adroitness as to beat a white man. With the voice they imitate with great exactness the cries of birds and beasts, and their concerts of this description, which generally take place at midnight, are discordant beyond measure. Though they manufacture no intoxicating liquor themselves, they will drink the whisky of the whites whenever opportunity offers. They smoke the kinikkinik leaf when no tobacco can be procured from the traders.[631]The Snakes ‘ont une sorte de tabac sauvage qui croît dans les plaines contiguës aux montagnes du Spanish-River, il a les feuilles plus étroites que le nôtre, il est plus agréable à fumer, ses effets étant bien moins violens.’ Stuart, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1821, tom. xii., pp. 82-3. The Kinik-kinik ‘they obtain from three different plants. One is a Cornus, resembling our Cornus sanguinea; after having detached the epidermic cuticle, they scrape the bark and dry it, when it is ready for use. Another is a Vaccinium with red berries; they gather the leaves to smoke them when dry; the third is a small shrub, the fruit and flower of which I have never seen, but resembles certain species of Daphnads (particularly that of Kauai), the leaves of which are in like manner smoked.’ Remy and Brenchley’s Journ., vol. i., p. 130; see also p. 132; Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., p. 250; Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 306; Fremont’s Explor. Ex., p. 174; De Smet, Voy., pp. 25-6; Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 228-9, 237, 242-3. In connection with their smoking they have many strange observances. When the pipe is passed round at the solemnization of a treaty, or the confirmation of a bargain, each smoker, on receiving it from his neighbor, makes different motions with it; one turns the pipe round before placing the stem to his lips; another describes a semicircle with it; a third smokes with the bowl in the air; a fourth with the bowl on the ground, and so on through the whole company. All this is done with a most grave and serious countenance, which makes it the more ludicrous to the looker-on. The Snakes, before smoking with a stranger, always draw off their moccasins as a mark of respect. Any great feat performed by a warrior, which adds to his reputation and renown, such as scalping an enemy, or successfully stealing his horses, is celebrated by a change of name. Killing a grizzly bear also entitles him to this honor, for it is considered a great feat to slay one of these formidable animals, and only he who has performed it is allowed to wear their highest insignia of glory, the feet or claws of the victim. To bestow his name upon a friend is the highest compliment that one man can offer another.

The Snakes, and some of the Utahs, are skillful riders, and possess good horses. Their horse-furniture is simple. A horse-hair or raw-hide lariat is fastened round the animal’s neck; the bight is passed with a single half-hitch round his lower jaw, and the other end is held in the rider’s hand; this serves as a bridle. When the horse is turned loose, the lariat is loosened from his jaw and allowed to trail from his neck. The old men and the women have saddles similar to those used for packing by the whites; they are a wooden frame made of two pieces of thin board fitting close to the sides of the horse, and held together by two cross-pieces, in shape like the legs of an isosceles triangle. A piece of hide is placed between this and the horse’s back, and a robe is thrown over the seat when it is ridden on. The younger men use no saddle, except a small pad, girthed on with a leather thong. When traveling they greatly overload their horses. All the household goods and provisions are packed upon the poor animal’s back, and then the women and children seat themselves upon the pile, sometimes as many as four or five on one horse.[632]‘En deux occasions diverses, je comptai cinq personnes ainsi montées, dont deux, certes, paraissaient aussi capables, chacune à elle seule, de porter la pauvre bête, que le cheval était à même de supporter leurs poids.’ De Smet, Voy., p. 127; Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 266, 309-11, 316; Graves, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 178.

Diseases and Burial

The poorer Utahs are very subject to various diseases, owing to exposure in winter. They have few, if any, efficient remedies. They dress wounds with pine-gum, after squeezing out the blood. The Snakes are much affected by rheumatism and consumption, caused chiefly by their being almost constantly in the water fishing, and by exposure. Syphilis has, of course, been extensively introduced among all the tribes. A few plants and herbs are used for medicinal purposes, and the medicine-men practice their wonted mummeries, but what particular means of cure they adopt is not stated by the authorities. I find no mention of their having sweat-houses.[633]‘With strong constitutions generally, they either die at once or readily recover.’ Burton’s City of the Saints, p. 581. ‘There is no lack of pulmonary difficulties among them.’ Farley, in San Francisco Medical Press, vol. iii., p. 155. Syphilis usually kills them. Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 316. ‘The convollaria stellata … is the best remedial plant known among those Indians.’ Fremont’s Explor. Ex., p. 273; Davies, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1861, p. 132; Prince, in Cal. Farmer, Oct. 18, 1861; Coke’s Rocky Mts., p. 276; Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 228-9, 240-2.

Concerning the disposal of the dead usage differs. In some parts the body is burned, in others it is buried. In either case the property of the deceased is destroyed at his burial. His favorite horse, and, in some instances, his favorite wife, are killed over his grave, that he may not be alone in the spirit land. Laceration in token of grief is universal, and the lamentations of the dead person’s relatives are heard for weeks after his death, and are renewed at intervals for many months. Child-like in this, they rush into extremes, and when not actually engaged in shrieking and tearing their flesh, they appear perfectly indifferent to their loss.[634]‘The Yutas make their graves high up the kanyons, usually in clefts of rock.’ Burton’s City of the Saints, p. 150. At the obsequies of a chief of the Timpenaguchya tribe ‘two squaws, two Pa Yuta children, and fifteen of his best horses composed the “customs.”‘ Id., p. 577. ‘When a death takes place, they wrap the body in a skin or hide, and drag it by the leg to a grave, which is heaped up with stones, as a protection against wild beasts.’ Id., p. 582; Remy and Brenchley’s Journ., vol. i., pp. 131, 345; De Smet, Voy., p. 28; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., pp. 359, 363.

Shoshone Character

The character of the better Shoshone tribes is not much worse than that of the surrounding nations; they are thieving, treacherous, cunning, moderately brave after their fashion, fierce when fierceness will avail them anything, and exceedingly cruel. Of the miserable root and grass eating Shoshones, however, even this much cannot be said. Those who have seen them unanimously agree that they of all men are lowest. Lying in a state of semi-torpor in holes in the ground during the winter, and in spring crawling forth and eating grass on their hands and knees, until able to regain their feet; having no clothes, scarcely any cooked food, in many instances no weapons, with merely a few vague imaginings for religion, living in the utmost squalor and filth, putting no bridle on their passions, there is surely room for no missing link between them and brutes.[635]The Shoshones of Carson Valley ‘are very rigid in their morals.’ Remy and Brenchley’s Journ., vol. i., p. 85. At Haw’s Ranch, ‘honest and trustworthy, but lazy and dirty.’ Id., p. 123. These Kusi-Utahs ‘were very inoffensive and seemed perfectly guileless.’ Id., vol. ii., p. 412. The Pai-uches are considered as mere dogs, the refuse of the lowest order of humanity. Farnham’s Life and Adven., p. 376. The Timpanigos Yutas ‘are a noble race … brave and hospitable.’ Id., p. 371. The Pi-utes are ‘the most degraded and least intellectual Indians known to the trappers.’ Farnham’s Trav., p. 58. ‘The Snakes are a very intelligent race.’ Id., p. 62. The Bannacks are ‘a treacherous and dangerous race.’ Id., p. 76. The Pi-Edes are ‘timid and dejected;’ the Snakes are ‘fierce and warlike;’ the Tosawitches ‘very treacherous;’ the Bannacks ‘treacherous;’ the Washoes ‘peaceable, but indolent.’ Simpson’s Route to Cal., p. 45-9. The Utahs ‘are brave, impudent, and warlike … of a revengeful disposition.’ Graves, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 178. ‘Industrious.’ Armstrong, in Id., 1856, p. 233. ‘A race of men whose cruelty is scarcely a stride removed from that of cannibalism.’ Hurt, in Id., p. 231. ‘The Pah-utes are undoubtedly the most interesting and docile Indians on the continent.’ Dodge, in Id., 1859, p. 374. The Utahs are ‘fox-like, crafty, and cunning.’ Archuleta, in Id., 1865, p. 167. The Pi-Utes are ‘teachable, kind, and industrious … scrupulously chaste in all their intercourse.’ Parker, in Id., 1866, p. 115. The Weber-Utes ‘are the most worthless and indolent of any in the Territory.’ Head, in Id., p. 123. The Bannocks ‘seem to be imbued with a spirit of dash and bravery quite unusual.’ Campbell, in Id., p. 120. The Bannacks are ‘energetic and industrious.’ Danilson, in Id., 1869, p. 288. The Washoes are docile and tractable. Douglas, in Id., 1870, p. 96. The Pi-utes are ‘not warlike, rather cowardly, but pilfering and treacherous.’ Powell, in Id., 1871, p. 562. The Shoshokoes ‘are extremely indolent, but a mild, inoffensive race.’ Irving’s Bonneville’s Adven., p. 257. The Snakes ‘are a thoroughly savage and lazy tribe.’ Franchère’s Nar., p. 150. The Shoshones are ‘frank and communicative.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 306. The Snakes are ‘pacific, hospitable and honest.’ Dunn’s Oregon, p. 325. ‘The Snakes are a very intelligent race.’ White’s Ogn., p. 379. The Pi-utes ‘are as degraded a class of humanity as can be found upon the earth. The male is proud, sullen, intensely insolent…. They will not steal. The women are chaste, at least toward their white brethren.’ Farley, in San Francisco Medical Jour., vol. iii., p. 154. The Snakes have been considered ‘as rather a dull and degraded people … weak in intellect, and wanting in courage. And this opinion is very probable to a casual observer at first sight, or when seen in small numbers; for their apparent timidity, grave, and reserved habits, give them an air of stupidity. An intimate knowledge of the Snake character will, however, place them on an equal footing with that of other kindred nations, either east or west of the mountains, both in respect to their mental faculties and moral attributes.’ Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. ii., p. 151. ‘Les Sampectches, les Pagouts et les Ampayouts sont … un peuple plus misérable, plus dégradé et plus pauvre. Les Français les appellent communément les Dignes-de-pitié, et ce nom leur convient à merveille.’ De Smet, Voy., p. 28. The Utahs ‘pariassent doux et affables, très-polis et hospitaliers pour les étrangers, et charitables entre eux.’ Id., p. 30. ‘The Indians of Utah are the most miserable, if not the most degraded, beings of all the vast American wilderness.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 64. The Utahs ‘possess a capacity for improvement whenever circumstances favor them.’ Scenes in the Rocky Mts., p. 180. The Snakes are ‘la plus mauvaise des races des Peaux-Rouges que j’ai fréquentées. Ils sont aussi paresseux que peu prévoyants.’ Saint-Amant, Voy., p. 325. The Shoshones of Idaho are ‘highly intelligent and lively … the most virtuous and unsophisticated of all the Indians of the United States.’ Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, April 27, 1860. The Washoes have ‘superior intelligence and aptitude for learning.’ Id., June 14, 1861; see also Id., June 26, 1863. The Nevada Shoshones ‘are the most pure and uncorrupted aborigines upon this continent … they are scrupulously clean in their persons, and chaste in their habits … though whole families live together, of all ages and both sexes, in the same tent, immorality and crime are of rare occurrence.’ Prince, in Id., Oct. 18, 1861. The Bannacks ‘are cowardly, treacherous, filthy and indolent.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 223. ‘The Utahs are predatory, voracious and perfidious. Plunderers and murderers by habit … when their ferocity is not excited, their suspicions are so great as to render what they say unreliable, if they do not remain altogether uncommunicative.’ Id., vol. v., pp. 197-8. The Pa-Vants ‘are as brave and improvable as their neighbours are mean and vile.’ Burton’s City of the Saints, p. 577. ‘The Yuta is less servile, and consequently has a higher ethnic status than the African negro; he will not toil, and he turns at a kick or a blow.’ Id., p. 581. The Shoshokoes ‘are harmless and exceedingly timid and shy.’ Brownell’s Ind. Races, p. 538. Yet as in all men there stands out some prominent good, so in these, the lowest of humanity, there is one virtue: they are lovers of their country; lovers, not of fair hills and fertile valleys, but of inhospitable mountains and barren plains; these reptile-like men love their miserable burrowing-places better than all the comforts of civilization; indeed, in many instances, when detained by force among the whites, they have been known to pine away and die.

Tribal Boundaries

Northern Californians

To the Northern Californians, whose territory extends from Rogue River on the north to Eel River south, and from the Pacific Ocean to the Californian boundary east, including the Klamath, and other lakes, are assigned, according to the authorities, the following tribal boundaries: There are ‘the Hoopahs, and the Ukiahs of Mendocino;’ ‘the Umpquas, Kowooses or Cooses, Macanootoony’s of the Umpqua river section, Nomee Cults, and Nomee Lacks of Tehama County; the Copahs, Hanags, Yatuckets, Terwars and Tolowas, of the lower Klamath river; the Wylaks and Noobimucks of Trinity county mountains west from Sacramento plains; the Modocs of Klamath Lake, the Ylackas of Pitt River, the Ukas and Shastas of Shasta county.’ Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, June 8, 1860.

‘The Tototins are divided into twelve bands; eight of them are located on the coast, one on the forks of the Coquille, and three on Rogue river.’ ‘The Tototins, from whom is derived the generic name of the whole people speaking the language, reside on the north bank of the Tototin river, about four miles from its mouth. Their country extends from the eastern boundary of the Yahshutes, a short distance below their village, up the stream about six miles, where the fishing-grounds of the Mackanotins commence.’ ‘The country of the Euquachees commences at the “Three Sisters,” and extends along the coast to a point about three miles to the south of their village, which is on a stream which bears their name. The mining town of Elizabeth is about the southern boundary of the Euquachees, and is called thirty miles from Port Orford. Next southward of the Euquachees are the Yahshutes, whose villages occupy both banks of the Tototin or Rogue river, at its mouth. These people claim but about two and a half miles back from the coast, where the Tototin country commences. The Yahshutes claim the coast to some remarkable headlands, about six miles south of Rogue river. South of these headlands are the Chetlessentuns. Their village is north of, but near, the mouth of a stream bearing their name, but better known to the whites as Pistol river. The Chetlessentuns claim but about eight miles of the coast; but as the country east of them is uninhabited, like others similarly situated, their lands are supposed to extend to the summit of the mountains. Next to the Chetlessentuns on the south are the Wishtenatins, whose village is at the mouth of a small creek bearing their name. They claim the country to a small trading-post known as the Whale’s Head, about twenty-seven miles south of the mouth of Rogue River. Next in order are the Cheattee or Chitco band, whose villages were situated on each side of the mouth, and about six miles up a small river bearing their name…. The lands of these people extend from Whale’s Head to the California line, and back from the coast indefinitely…. The Mackanotin village is about seven miles above that of the Tototins, and is on the same side of the river. They claim about twelve miles of stream. The Shistakoostees succeed them (the Mackanotins). Their village is on the north bank of Rogue river, nearly opposite the confluence of the Illinois. These are the most easterly band within my district in the South.’ Parrish, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 283-9. ‘Dr. Hubbard, in his notes (1856) on the Indians of Rogue River and South Oregon, on the ocean, before alluded to, gives the following list of names of Rancherias and clans of the Lototen or Tutatamys tribe. Masonah Band, location, Coquille river; Chockrelatan Band, location, Coquille forks; Quatomah Band, location, Flore’s creek; Laguaacha Band, location, Elk river; Cosulhenten Band, location, Port Orford; Yuquache Band, location, Yugua creek; Chetlessenten Band, location, Pistol river; Yah Shutes Band, location, Rogue river; Wishtanatan Band, location, Whale’s head; Cheahtoc Band, location, Chetko; Tototen Band, location, six miles above the mouth of Rogue river; Sisticoosta Band, location, above Big Bend, of Rogue river; Maquelnoteer Band, location, fourteen miles above the mouth of Rogue river.’ Cal. Farmer, June 18, 1860. The Tutotens were a large tribe, numbering thirteen clans, inhabiting the southern coast of Oregon. Golden Era, March, 1856. ‘Toutounis ou Coquins, sur la rivière de ce nom et dans l’intérieur des terres.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 335. ‘On the lower part of the Clamet River are the Totutune, known by the unfavorable soubriquet of the Rogue, or Rascal Indians.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 221. The bands of the Tootooton tribe ‘are scattered over a great extent of country—along the coast and on the streams from the California line to twenty miles north of the Coquille, and from the ocean to the summit of the coast range of mountains.’ Palmer, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 259. Taylor places the Tutunahs in the northwest corner of Del Norte County. MS. Map.

The Hunas live in California a little south of Rogue River, on the way north from Crescent City. Pfeiffer’s Second Journ., p. 314.

Modoc, by some Moädoc, is a word which originated with the Shasteecas, who applied it indefinitely to all wild Indians or enemies. ‘Their proper habitat is on the southern shore of Lower Klamath Lake, on Hot Creek, around Clear Lake, and along Lost River in Oregon.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. x., p. 535. They own the Klamath River from the lake ‘to where it breaks through the Siskiyou range to the westward.’ Id., vol. xi., p. 21. In the northern part of Siskiyou County. MS. Map.‘The Modocs of the Klamath Lake were also called Moahtockna.’ Cal. Farmer, June 22, 1860. East of the Klamaths, whose eastern boundary is twenty-five or thirty miles east of the Cascade Range, along the southern boundary of Oregon, ‘and extending some distance into California, is a tribe known as the Modocks. East of these again, but extending farther south, are the Moetwas.’ ‘The country round Ancoose and Modoc lakes, is claimed and occupied by the Modoc Indians.’ Palmer, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 262-3. ‘The Modocs (or Moadoc, as the word is pronounced) known in their language as the Okkowish, inhabit the Goose lake country, and are mostly within the State of California…. The word Modoc is a Shasta Indian word, and means all distant, stranger, or hostile Indians, and became applied to these Indians by white men in early days from hearing the Shastas speak of them.’ See Steele, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1864, p. 121.

The Oukskenahs, in the north-western part of Siskiyou County. MS. Map.

The Trinity River Tribes

The Klamaths or Lutuami—’Lutuami, or Tlamatl, or Clamet Indians. The first of these names is the proper designation of the people in their own language. The second is that by which they are known to the Chinooks, and through them to the whites. They live on the head waters of the river and about the lake, which have both received from foreigners the name of Clamet.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 218. That portion of the eastern base of the Cascade Range, south of the forty-fourth parallel, ‘extending twenty-five or thirty miles east, and south to the California line, is the country of the Klamath Indians.’ Palmer, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 262. The Tlameths ‘inhabit the country along the eastern base of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada Mountains, and south to the Great Klameth Lake.’ Thompson, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 283. The Clamets inhabit ‘Roquas River, near the south boundary’ (of Oregon). Warre and Vavasour, in Martin’s Hudson’s Bay, p. 81. ‘Lutuami, Clamets; also Tlamatl—Indians of southwestern Oregon, near the Clamet Lake.’ Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 100. ‘Klamacs, sur la rivière de ce nom et dans l’intérieur des terres.’ De Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 335. Clamet: on the upper part of the river, and sixty miles below the lake so named. Framboise, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 255. ‘Next east of the Shastas are the Klamath Lake Indians, known in their language as the Okshee, who inhabit the country about the Klamath lakes, and east about half way to the Goose Lake, to Wright Lake, and south to a line running about due east from Shasta Butte.’ Steele, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1864, pp. 120-1. ‘The name of Klamath or Tlamath, belonging to the tribes on the lake where the river rises, is not known among those farther down…. Thus, at the forks, the Weitspeks call the river below Pohlik, signifying down; and that above Pehtsik, or up; giving, moreover, the same name to the population in speaking of them collectively. Three distinct tribes, speaking different languages, occupy its banks between the sea and the mouth of the Shasté, of which the lowest extends up to Bluff Creek, a few miles above the forks. Of these there are, according to our information, in all, thirty-two villages…. The names of the principal villages … are the Weitspek (at the forks), Wahsherr, Kaipetl, Moraiuh, Nohtscho, Méhteh, Schregon, Yauterrh, Pecquan, Kauweh, Wauhtecq, Scheperrh, Oiyotl, Naiagutl, Schaitl, Hopaiuh, Rekqua, and Weht’lqua, the two last at the mouth of the river.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 138.

The Eurocs inhabit ‘the lower Klamath from Weitspeck down, and along the coast for about twenty miles.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. viii., p. 530. The Eurocs ‘inhabit the banks of the Klamath from the junction of the Trinity to the mouth, and the sea coast from Gold Bluff up to a point about six miles above the mouth of the Klamath.’ Powers’ Pomo, MS.

The Cahrocs live between the Eurocs and the foot of the Klamath Mountains, also a short distance up Salmon River. ‘On the Klamath River there live three distinct tribes, called the Eurocs, Cahrocs, and Modocs; which names mean respectively, “down the river,” “up the river,” and “head of the river.”‘ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. viii., p. 328. Speaking of Indians at the junction of Salmon and Klamath Rivers, Mr. Gibbs says: ‘they do not seem to have any generic appellation for themselves, but apply the terms “Kahruk,” up, and “Youruk,” down, to all who live above or below themselves, without discrimination, in the same manner that the others (at the junction of the Trinity) do “Pehtsik,” and “Pohlik.”‘ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 151.

The Tolewahs are the first tribe on the coast north of Klamath River. Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 139. The Tahlewahs are a ‘tribe on the Klamath River.’ Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 179. ‘In the vicinity of Crescent City and Smith’s River there are the … Lopas, Talawas, and Lagoons.’ Heintzelman, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, pp. 391-2. ‘In Del Norte County … the Haynaggis live along Smith River, the Tolowas on the Lagoon, and the Tahatens around Crescent City.’ Powers’ Pomo, MS.The Cops, Hanags, Yantuckets, and Tolawas, are ‘Indian tribes living near the Oregon and California coast frontiers.’ Crescent City Herald, Aug. 1857. The Tolowas at the meeting point of Trinity, Humboldt, and Klamath counties. MS. Map.

The Terwars, north-west of the Tolowas. MS. Map.

The Weitspeks are the ‘principal band on the Klamath, at the junction of the Trinity.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 422; Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 200.

The Oppegachs are a tribe at Red-Cap’s Bar, on the Klamath River. Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 148.

The Hoopahs live ‘am unteren Rio de la Trinidad, oder Trinity River.’ Buschmann, Das Apache als eine Athhapask. Spr., p. 218. ‘Indian tribe on the lower part of the Trinity River.’ Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 82. The Hoopas live ‘in Hoopa Valley, on the lower Trinity River.’ Power’s Pomo, MS., p. 85. ‘The lower Trinity tribe is, as well as the river itself, known to the Klamaths by the name of Hoopah.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 139; see also p. 422. In the northern part of Klamath County. MS. Map.

‘Upon the Trinity, or Hoopah, below the entrance of the south fork or Otahweiaket, there are said to be eleven ranches, the Okenoke, Agaraits, Uplegoh, Olleppauh’lkahtehtl and Pephtsoh; … and the Haslintah, Aheltah, Sokéakeit, Tashhuanta, and Witspuk above it; A twelfth, the Méyemma, now burnt, was situated just above “New” or “Arkansas” River.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 139.

The Copahs, in the extreme north of Klamath county, north of the Hoopahs. MS. Map. The Cops are mentioned as ‘living near the Oregon and California coast frontiers,’ in the Crescent City Herald, Aug., 1857.

The Kailtas live on the south fork of Trinity River. Powers’ Pomo, MS.

The Pataways occupy the banks of the Trinity, from the vicinity of Big Bar to South Fork. Powers’ Pomo, MS.

The Chimalquays lived on New River, a tributary of the Trinity. Powers’ Pomo, MS.

The Siahs ‘occupied the tongue of land jutting down between Eel River, and Van Dusen’s Fork.’ Powers’ Pomo, MS. The Sians or Siahs lived on the headwaters of Smith River. Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 139.

The Ehneks, Eenahs, or Eenaghs, lived above the Tolewas on Smith River. Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 139. ‘Ehnek was the name of a band at the mouth of the Salmon or Quoratem River.’ Id., p. 422; Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 67.

Wishosk ‘is the name given to the Bay (Humboldt) and Mad River Indians by those of Eel River.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 422; Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 201.

The Weeyots are ‘a band on the mouth of Eel River and near Humboldt Bay.’ Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 200. The Humboldt Bay Indians call themselves Wishosk; and those of the hills Teokawilk; ‘but the tribes to the northward denominate both those of the Bay and Eel River, Weyot, or Walla-walloo.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 133.

‘The Patawats live on the lower waters of Mad River, and around Humboldt Bay, as far south as Arcata, perhaps originally as far down as Eureka.’ Powers’ Pomo, MS.

Ossegon is the name given to the Indians of Gold Bluff, between Trinidad and the Klamath. Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 133.

‘The Lassics formerly dwelt in Mad River Valley, from the head waters down to Low Gap, or thereabout, where they borrowed on the Wheelcuttas.’ Powers’ Pomo, MS.

Chori was the name given to the Indians of Trinidad by the Weeyots. Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 133.

The Chillulahs ‘occupied the banks of Redwood Creek, from the coast up about twenty miles.’ Powers’ Pomo, MS. The Oruk, Tchololah, or Bald Hill Indians, lived on Redwood Creek. Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 139.

The Wallies occupy the sandy country north of Humboldt Bay. Overland Monthly, vol. ii., p. 536.

‘The Wheelcuttas had their place on the Upper Redwood Creek, from the land of the Chillulahs up to the mountains. They ranged across southward by the foot of the Bald Hills, which appear to have marked the boundary between them and the Chillulahs in that direction; and penetrated to Van Dusen’s Fork, anent the Siahs and Lassics, with whom they occasionally came in bloody collision.’ Powers’ Pomo, MS.

The Veeards ‘live around lower Humboldt Bay, and up Eel River to Eagle Prairie.’ Powers’ Pomo, MS.

The Shastas live to the south-west of the Lutuamis or Klamaths. Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 218. ‘Sastés, dans l’intérieur au Nord de la Californie.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 335. ‘The Shasta Indians, known in their language as Weohow—it meaning stone house, from the large cave in their country—occupy the land east of Shasta river, and south of the Siskiyou mountains, and west of the lower Klamath lake.’ Steele, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1864, p. 120. The Shastas occupy the centre of the county of that name. MS. Map. ‘Indians of south-western Oregon, on the northern frontiers of Upper California.’ Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 168. Watsahewah is the name ‘of one of the Scott River bands of the Shasta family.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 422. The name is spelled variously as Shasty, Shaste, Sasté, &c.

The Palaiks live to the southeast of the Lutuamis or Klamaths. Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 218. ‘Indians of south-western Oregon, on the northern frontiers of Upper California.’ Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 145.

On the Klamath are the Odeeilahs; in Shasta Valley the Ikarucks, Kosetahs, and Idakariúkes; and in Scott’s Valley the Watsahewas and Eehs. Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 171.

‘The Hamburg Indians, known in their language as the Tka, inhabit immediately at the mouth of Scott’s river, known in their language as the Ottetiewa river.’ Steele, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1864, p. 120.

‘The Scott’s Valley Indians, known in their language as the Iddoa, inhabit Scott’s Valley above the cañon.’ Ib.

‘The Yreka (a misnomer for Yeka—Shasta Butte) Indians, known in their language as the Hoteday, inhabit that part of the country lying south of Klamath river, and west of Shasta river.’ Ib.

The Yuka or Uka tribe ‘inhabited the Shasta Mountains in the vicinity of McCloud’s fork of Pitt River.’ Cal. Farmer, June 22, 1860. The Ukas are directly south of the Modocs. MS. Map. ‘The Yukeh, or as the name is variously spelt, Yuka, Yuques, and Uca, are the original inhabitants of the Nome-Cult, or Round Valley, in Tehama County … and are not to be confounded with the Yukai Indians of Russian River.’ Gibbs, in Hist. Mag., vol. vii., p. 123.

‘The Noser or Noza Indians … live in the vicinity of Lassen’s Butte.’ Siskiyou Chronicle, May, 1859.

The Ylakas are to the southeast of the Ukas. MS. Map.

The Central Californians occupy the whole of that portion of California extending north and south, from about 40° 30´ to 35°, and east and west, from the Pacific Ocean to the Californian boundary. They are tribally divided as follows:

‘The Mattoles have their habitat on the creek which bears their name, and on the still smaller stream dignified with the appellation of Bear River. From the coast they range across to Eel River, and by immemorial Indian usage and prescriptive right, they hold the western bank of this river from about Eagle Prairie, where they border upon the Veeards, up southward to the mouth of South Fork.’ Powers’ Pomo, MS.

The Betumkes live on the South Fork of Eel River. Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 634. In the northern part of Mendocino County. MS. Map.

The Choweshaks live on the head of Eel river. Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 421. Tribes living on the Middle Fork of Eel River, in the valley called by the Indians Betumki were the Naboh Choweshak, Chawteuh Bakowa, and Samunda. Id., p. 116. The Choweshaks lived on the head of Eel River. Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 48.

‘The Loloncooks live on Bull Creek and the lower South Fork of Eel River, owning the territory between those streams and the Pacific.’ Powers’ Pomo, MS.

The Batemdakaiees live in the valley of that name on the head of Eel River. Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 17.

Russian River and Coast Tribes

The Pomos consist of ‘a great number of tribes or little bands, sometimes one in a valley, sometimes three or four, clustered in the region where the headwaters of Eel and Russian rivers interlace, along the estuaries of the coast and around Clear Lake. Really, the Indians all along Russian river to its mouth are branches of this great family, but below Calpello they no longer call themselves Pomos…. The broadest and most obvious division of this large family is, into Eel river Pomos and Russian river Pomos.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. ix., pp. 498-9.

The Castel Pomos ‘live between the forks of the river extending as far south as Big Chamise and Blue Rock.’ Id., p. 499.

The Ki-Pomos ‘dwell on the extreme headwaters of South Fork, ranging eastward to Eel River, westward to the ocean and northward to the Castel Pomos.’ Ib., MS. Map.

‘The Cahto Pomos (Lake people) were so called from a little lake which formerly existed in the valley now called by their name.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. ix., p. 500.

The Choam Chadéla Pomos (Pitch Pine People) live in Redwood Valley. Id., p. 504.

The Matomey Ki Pomos (Wooded Valley People) live about Little Lake. Ib.

The Camalèl Pomos (Coast People) or Usals live on Usal Creek. Ib.

The Shebalne Pomos (Neighbor People) live in Sherwood Valley. Ib.

The Pome Pomos (Earth People) live in Potter Valley. Besides the Pome Pomos there are two or three other little rancherias in Potter Valley, each with a different name; and the whole body of them are called Ballo Ki Pomos (Oat Valley People). Id.

The Camalel Pomos, Yonsal Pomos, and Bayma Pomos live on Ten Mile, and the country just north of it, in Mendocino County. Tobin, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 405.

‘The Salan Pomas are a tribe of Indians inhabiting a valley called Potter’s Valley.’ Ford, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1856, p. 257.

The Niahbella Pomos live in the north-west of Mendocino County. MS. Map.

The Ukiahs live on Russian River in the vicinity of Parker’s Ranch. Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 112, 421. ‘The Yuka tribe are those mostly within and immediately adjoining the mountains.’ Mendocino Herald, March, 1871. The Yukai live on Russian River. Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 285. The Ukias are in the south-eastern part of Mendocino County. MS. Map.

The Soteomellos or Sotomieyos ‘lived in Russian River valley.’ Cal. Farmer, March 30, 1860.

The Shumeias ‘lived on the extreme upper waters of Eel River, opposite Potter Valley.’ Powers’ Pomo, MS.

The Tahtoos ‘live in the extreme upper end of Potter Valley.’ Ib.

The Yeeaths live at Cape Mendocino. Tobin, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 406.

The Kushkish Indians live at Shelter Cove. Id., p. 405.

The Comachos live in Russian River Valley, in Rancheria and Anderson Valleys. Powers’ Pomo, MS.

The Kajatschims, Makomas, and Japiams live in the Russian River Valley, north of Fort Ross. Baer, Stat. und Ethno., p. 80.

The Gallinomeros occupy Dry Creek Valley and Russian River Valley below Healdsburg. Powers’ Pomo, MS.

The Masalla Magoons ‘live along Russian river south of Cloverdale.’ Id.

The Rincons live south of the Masalla Magoons. Id.

The Gualalas live on Gualala or Wallalla Creek. Id.

The Nahlohs, Carlotsapos, Chowechaks, Chedochogs, Choiteeu, Misalahs, Bacowas, Samindas, and Cachenahs, Tuwanahs, lived in the country between Fort Ross and San Francisco Bay. Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 634.

Chwachamaju (Russian Severnovskia) or Northerners, is the name of one of the tribes in the vicinity of Fort Ross. Kostromitonow, in Baer, Stat. und Ethno., p. 80. ‘Severnovskia, Severnozer, or “Northerners.” Indians north of Bodega Bay. They call themselves Chwachamaja.’ Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 170.

The Olamentkes live at Bodega. Kostromitonow, in Baer, Stat. und Ethnog., p. 80; Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 20.

The Kainamares or Kainaméahs are at Fitch’s Ranch, extending as far back as Santa Rosa, down Russian River, about three leagues to Cooper’s Ranch, and thence across the coast at Fort Ross, and for twenty-five miles above. Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 102. ‘The Kanimares had rancherias at Santa Rosa, Petaluma, or Pataloma, and up to Russian river.’ Cal. Farmer, March 30, 1860. ‘The proper name of Russian river in Sonoma valley is Canimairo after the celebrated Indians of those parts.’ Id., June 8, 1860. The Indians of the plains in vicinity of Fort Ross, call themselves Kainama. Kostromitonow, in Baer, Stat. und Ethno., p. 80. The Kyanamaras ‘inhabit the section of country between the cañon of Russian river and its mouth.’ Ford, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1856, p. 257.

The Tumalehnias live on Bodega Bay. Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 102.

The Socoas, Lamas, and Seacos, live in Russian River Valley in the vicinity of the village of Sanél. Powers’ Pomo, MS.

The Sonomas, Sonomis, or Sonomellos, lived at the embarcadero of Sonoma. Cal. Farmer, March 30, 1860. The Sonomas lived in the south-eastern extremity of what is now the county of Sonoma. MS. Map.

The Tchokoyems lived in Sonoma valley. Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 421. The Chocuyens lived in the region now called Sonoma county, and from their chief the county takes its name. Cronise’s Nat. Wealth, p. 22. The word Sonoma means ‘Valley of the Moon.’ Tuthill’s Hist. Cal., p. 301. The Tchokoyems live in Sonoma Valley. Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 184.

‘The Timbalakees lived on the west side of Sonoma valley.’ Cal. Farmer, March 30, 1860.

The Guillicas lived ‘northwest of Sonoma,’ on the old Wilson ranch of 1846. Ib.; MS. Map.

The Kinklas live in 39° 14´ north lat. and 122° 12´ long. Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 201. The Klinkas are a ‘tribu fixée au nord du Rio del Sacramento.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 358. South of the Rogue River Indians ‘the population is very scanty until we arrive at the valley of the Sacramento, all the tribes of which are included by the traders under the general name of Kinklá, which is probably, like Tlamatl, a term of Chinook origin.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 221.

The Talatui live ‘on the Kassima River, a tributary to the Sacramento, on the eastern side, about eighty miles from its mouth.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 631. Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 180.

The Oleepas live on the Feather River, twenty miles above Marysville. Delano’s Life on the Plains, p. 293.

‘The Nemshous, as stated by General Sutter, roamed (prior to 1846) between the Bear and American rivers; across the Sacramento were the Yolos and Colusas; north of the American Fork were the Bashones. On the banks of the river north of Fort Helvetia, roamed the Veshanacks, the Touserlemnies and Youcoolumnies; between the American (plain and hills) and the Mokalumne roamed the Walacumnies, Cosumnies, Solumnees, Mokelumnees, Suraminis, Yosumnis, Lacomnis, Kis Kies and Omochumnies.’ Cal. Farmer, June 8, 1860. The Colusas live in the north-eastern corner of Colusa County. The Yolos, in the northern part of the county of that name. West of them the Olashes. The Bushones in the south of Yolo County. The Nemshoos in the eastern part of Placer County. The Yukutneys north of them. The Vesnacks south-west of the Nemshoos, and north of the Pulpenes. The Youcoulumnes and Cosumnes are in the eastern part of Amador county. The Mokelumnes south of them. The Yachachumnes west of the Mokelumnes. MS. Map. ‘Yolo is a corruption of the Indian Yoloy, which signified a region thick with rushes, and was the name of the tribe owning the tule lands west of the Sacramento and bordering on Cache Creek.’ Tuthill’s Hist. Cal., p. 301. The following are names of rancherias of tame Indians or Neophytes in the Sacramento Valley; Sakisimme, Shonomnes, Tawalemnes, Seywamenes, Mukelemnes, Cosumne. Rancherias of wild Indians or Gentiles, are: Sagayacumne, Socklumnes, Olonutchamne, Newatchumne, Yumagatock, Shalachmushumne, Omatchamne, Yusumne, Yuleyumne, Tamlocklock, Sapototot, Yalesumne, Wapoomne, Kishey, Secumne, Pushune, Oioksecumne, Nemshan, Palanshan, Ustu, Olash, Yukulme, Hock, Sishu, Mimal, Yulu, Bubu, Honcut. Indian Tribes of the Sacramento Valley, MS. Tame Indians or Neophites: Lakisumne, Shonomne, Fawalomnes, Mukeemnes, Cosumne. Wild Indians or Gentiles: Sagayacumne, Locklomnee, Olonutchamne, Yumagatock, Shalachmushumne, Omutchamne, Yusumne, Yaleyumne, Yamlocklock, Lapototot, Yalesumne, Wajuomne, Kisky, Secumne, Pushune, Oioksecumne, Nemshaw, Palanshawl Ustu, Olash, Yukulme, Hock, Lishu, Mimal, Ubu, Bubu, Honcut. Sutter’s Estimate of Indian Population, 1847, MS. The Ochecamnes, Servushamnes, Chupumnes, Omutchumnes, Sicumnes, Walagumnes, Cosumnes, Sololumnes, Turealemnes, Saywamines, Nevichumnes, Matchemnes, Sagayayumnes, Muthelemnes, and Lopstatimnes, lived on the eastern bank of the Sacramento. The Bushumnes (or Pujuni), (or Sekomne) Yasumnes, Nemshaw, Kisky, Yaesumnes, Huk, and Yucal, lived on the western bank of the Sacramento. Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., pp. 630, 631.

The Yubas or Yuvas lived on Yuva River, a tributary to the Sacramento. Fremont’s Geog. Memoir, p. 22.

The Meidoos and Neeshenams are on the Yuba and Feather Rivers. ‘As you travel south from Chico the Indians call themselves Meidoo until you reach Bear River; but below that it is Neeshenam, or sometimes mana or maidec, all of which denote men or Indians.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. xii., p. 21.

The Cushnas live near the south fork of the Yuba River. Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. ii., 506; Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 59. Taylor also mentions the Cushnas south of the Yuba. Cal. Farmer, May 31, 1861.

Clear Lake Tribes

The Guenocks and Locollomillos lived between Clear Lake and Napa. Cal. Farmer, March 30, 1860.

The Lopillamillos or Lupilomis lived on the borders of Clear lake. Ib.; MS. Map.

The Mayacmas and Tyugas dwell about Clear Lake. San Francisco Herald, June, 1858. The Mayacmas and Tyugas ‘inhabited the vicinity of Clear lake and the mountains of Napa and Mendocino counties.’ Cal. Farmer, June 22, 1860; MS. Map.

The Wi-Lackees ‘live along the western slope of the Shasta mountains from round Valley to Hay Fork, between those mountains on one side and Eel and Mad Rivers on the other, and extending down the latter stream about to Low Gap.’ Powers’ Pomo, MS. The Wye Lakees, Nome Lackees, Noimucks, Noiyucans and Noisas, lived at Clear Lake. Geiger, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1859, p. 438.

Napobatin, meaning ‘many houses,’ was the collective name of six tribes living at Clear Lake: their names were Hulanapo, Habenapo or stone house, Dahnohabe, or stone mountain, Möalkai, Shekom, and Howkuma. Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 109.

The Shanelkayas and Bedahmareks, or lower people, live on the east fork of Eel River. Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 109.

‘The Sanéls live at Clear lake.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 112. ‘The Sanels occupy Russian River Valley in the vicinity of the American village of Sanel.’ Powers’ Pomo, MS.

The Bochheafs, Ubakheas, Tabahteas, and the Moiyas, live between Clear Lake and the coast. Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 112.

The Socoas, Lamas, and Seacos, occupy Russian River Valley in the vicinity of the village of Sanel. Powers’ Pomo, MS.

The Napas ‘inhabited the Salvador Vallejo ranch of Entre-Napa—that is the place between Napa river and Napa creek.’ Hittell, in Hesperian Mag., vol. iv., p. 56; Cal. Farmer, June 7, 1861. ‘The Napa Indians lived near that town and near Yount’s ranch.’ Cal. Farmer, March 30, 1860.

‘The Caymus tribe occupied the tract now owned by G. C. Yount.’ Hittell, in Hesperian Mag., vol. iv., p. 55.

‘The Calajomanas had their home on the land now known as the Bale ranche.’ Ib.

The Mayacomas dwelt in the vicinity of the hot springs in the upper end of Napa Valley. Ib.

The Ulucas lived on the east of the river Napa, near the present townsite. Id., p. 56.

‘The Suscols lived on the ranch of that name, and between Napa and Benicia.’ Cal. Farmer, March 30, 1860. ‘The former domain of the Suscol Indians was afterwards known as Suscol ranch.’ Hittel, in Hesperian Mag., vol. iv., p. 56; MS. Map.

The Tulkays lived ‘below the town of Napa.’ Cal. Farmer, March 30, 1860.

The Canaumanos lived on Bayle’s ranch in Napa valley. Ib.

The Mutistuls live ‘between the heads of Napa and Putos creeks.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 111.

The Yachimeses originally occupied the ground upon which the city of Stockton now stands. Cal. Farmer, Dec. 7, 1860.

The Yachichumnes ‘formerly inhabited the country between Stockton and Mt. Diablo.’ San Francisco Evening Bulletin, Sept. 9, 1864.

The Suisunes live in Suisun valley. Cal. Farmer, March 30, 1860. Solano County was named from their chief. Cronise’s Nat. Wealth, p. 22; Tuthill’s Hist. Cal., p. 301.

The Ullulatas ‘lived on the north side of Suisun Valley.’ Cal. Farmer, March 30, 1860.

The Pulpenes lived on the eastern side of Suisun Valley. Ib.

The Tolenos lived on the north side of Suisun Valley. Ib.

The Karquines lived on the straits of that name. Ib.

The Tomales, Tamales, Tamallos, or Tamalanos, and Bollanos, lived between Bodega Bay and the north shore of San Francisco Bay. Id., March 2, 1860, March 30, 1860.

The Socoisukas, Thamiens, and Gerguensens or Gerzuensens ‘roamed in the Santa Clara valley, between the Coyote and Guadalupe rivers, and the country west of San Jose city to the mountains.’ Id., June 22, 1860.

The Lecatuit tribe occupied Marin county, and it is from the name of their chief that the county takes its name. Cronise’s Nat. Wealth, p. 22.

‘The Petalumas or the Yolhios lived near or around that town.’ Cal. Farmer, March 30, 1860.

The Tulares, so called by the Spaniards, lived between the northern shore of the bay of San Francisco and San Rafael. Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 421.

The Wapos inhabited ‘the country about the Geysers.’ Ford, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1856, p. 257.

The Yosemites inhabited the valley of the same name. The Tosemiteiz are on the headwaters of the Chowchilla. Lewis, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 399.

The Ahwahnachees are the inhabitants of Yosemite Valley. Hittel’s Yosemite, p. 42.

Tribes Near the Mission Dolores

The following names of rancherías which formerly existed in the vicinity of the Mission Dolores, are taken from the Mission Books: Abmoctac, Amutaja, Altanui, Aleytac, Anchin, Aleta, Aramay, Altajumo, Aluenchi, Acnagis, Assunta, Atarpe, Anamás, Acyum, Anamon, Cachanegtac, Caprup, Cazopo, Carascan, Conop, Chutchin, Chagunte, Chapugtac, Chipisclin, Chynau, Chipletac, Chuchictac, Chiputca, Chanigtac, Churmutcé, Chayen, Chupcan, Elarroyde, Flunmuda, Génau, Guloismistac, Gamchines, Guanlen, Hunctu, Halchis, Horocroc, Huimen, Itáes, Juniamuc, Josquigard, Juchium, Juris, Joquizará, Luidneg, Luianeglua, Lamsim, Livangelva, Livangebra, Libantone, Macsinum, Mitliné, Malvaitac, Muingpe, Naig, Naique, Napa, Ompivromo, Ousint, Oturbe, Olestura, Otoacte, Petlenum, or Petaluma, Pruristac, Puichon, Puycone, Patnetac, Pructaca, Purutea, Proqueu, Quet, Sitlintaj, Suchni, Subchiam, Siplichiquin, Siscastac, Ssiti, Sitintajea, Ssupichum, Sicca, Soisehme, Saturaumo, Satumuo, Sittintac, Ssichitca, Sagunte, Ssalayme, Sunchaque, Ssipudca, Saraise, Sipanum, Sarontac, Ssogereate, Sadanes, Tuzsint, Tatquinte, Titmictac, Tupuic, Titiyú, Timita, Timsim, Tubisuste, Timigtac, Torose, Tupuinte, Tuca, Tamalo, or Tomales, Talcan, Totola, Urebure, Uturpe, Ussete, Uchium, Véctaca, Vagerpe, Yelamú, Yacmui, Yacomui, Yajumui, Zomiomi, Zucigin … Aguasajuchium, Apuasto, Aguasto, Carquin, (Karquines), Cuchian, Chaclan, Chiguau, Cotejen, Chuscan, Guylpunes, Huchun, Habasto, Junatca, Jarquin, Sanchines, Oljon, Olpen, Olemos, Olmolococ, Quemelentus, Quirogles, Salzon, Sichican, Saucon, Suchigin, Sadan, Uquitinac, Volvon (or Bolbon). ‘The tribes of Indians upon the Bay of San Francisco, and who were, after its establishment, under the supervision of the Mission of Dolores, were five in number; the Ahwashtees, Ohlones (called in Spanish Costanos, or Indians of the Coast), Altahmos, Romanons, and Tuolomos. There were, in addition to these, a few small tribes, but all upon the land extending from the entrance to the head of San Francisco Bay, spoke the same language.’ Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, May 31, 1861. The tribes mentioned by Adam Johnston in Schoolcraft, who lived around the Missions of Dolores and Yerba Buena, were the ‘Ahwashtes, Ohlones, Altahmos, Romanans, and Tulomos. The Ohlones were likely the same called by the old priests, Sulones, Solomnies, the Sonomis were another.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. ii., p. 506. ‘The following races of Californians were named to us living within the precincts of the Mission of San Francisco; Guymen, Utschim, Olumpali, Soclan, Sonomi, Chulpun, Umpin, Kosmitas, Bulbones, Tchalabones, Pitem, Lamam, Apalamu, Tcholoones, Suysum, Numpali, Tamal, and Ululato.’ Chamisso, in Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 51. ‘On compte dans cette seul mission (San Francisco) plus de quinze différentes tribus d’Indiens: les Khoulpouni; les Oumpini; les Kosmiti; les Lamanès; les Bolbonès; les Pitemèns; les Khalalons; les Apatamnès, ils parlent la même langue et habitent le long des bords du Rio Sacramento; les Guimen; les Outchioung; les Olompalis; les Tamals; les Sonons ils parlent la même langue; ces tribus sont les plus nombreuses dans la mission de San Francisco; les Saklans; les Ouloulatines; les Noumpolis; les Souissouns; ils parlent des langues différentes.’ Choris, Voy. Pitt., pt. iii., pp. 5, 6. ‘California Indians on the Bay of San Francisco, and formerly under the supervisions of the Mission Dolores. There were five tribes: Ashwashtes, Olhones (called by the Spaniards Costanos, or Indians of the coast), Altahmos, Romonans, and Tulomos. A few other small tribes round the bay speak the same language.’ Ludewig, Ab. Lang., p. 53. ‘Um die Bai von San Francisco die Matalánes, Salses und Quiróles, deren Sprachen, eine gemeinsame Quelle haben.’ Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, vol. ii., pt. ii., p. 454. The Olchones ‘inhabit the seacoast between San Francisco and Monterey.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 78. The Salsonas, ‘viven unas seis leguas distantes rumbo al Sueste (of San Francisco Bay) por las cercanias del brazo de mar.’ Palou, Vida de Junípero Serra, p. 214.

The Korekins formerly lived at the mouth of the San Joaquin. Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 141.

‘The rancherias of Indians near this Mission, all within eight or ten miles of Santa Cruz, … were: Aulintac, the rancheria proper to the Mission; Chalumü, one mile north-west of the Mission; Hottrochtac, two miles north-west; … Wallanmai; Sio Cotchmin; Shoremee; Onbi; Choromi; Turami; Payanmin; Shiuguermi; Hauzaurni. The Mission also had neophytes of the rancherias of Tomoy, Osacalis (Souquel), Yeunaba, Achilla, Yeunata, Tejey, Nohioalli, Utalliam, Locobo, Yeunator, Chanech, Huocom, Chicutae, Aestaca, Sachuen, Hualquilme, Sagin, Ochoyos, Huachi, Apil, Mallin, Luchasmi, Coot, and Agtism, as detailed in a letter from Friar Ramon Olbez to Governor de Sola, in November, 1819, in reply to a circular from him, as to the native names, etc., of the Indians of Santa Cruz, and their rancherias.’ Cal. Farmer, April 5, 1860.

The Mutsunes are the natives of the Mission of San Juan Baptista. Cal. Farmer, Nov. 23, and June 22, 1860; Hist. Mag., vol. i., p. 205.

The Ansaymas lived in the vicinity of San Juan Bautista. Cal. Farmer, June 22, 1860. ‘Four leagues (twelve miles) southeast of the Mission (Monterey), inside the hills eastward, was the rancheria of Echilat, called San Francisquita. Eslanagan was one on the east side of the river and Ecgeagan was another; another was Ichenta or San Jose; another Xaseum in the Sierra, ten leagues from Carmelo; that of Pachhepes was in the vicinity of Xaseum, among the Escellens. That of the Sargentarukas was seven leagues south and east of the river in a Canaditta de Palo Colorado.’ Cal. Farmer, April 20, 1860.

The Runsienes live near Monterey. Cal. Farmer, April 20, 1860. The Rumsen or Runsienes are ‘Indians in the neighbourhood of Monterey, California. The Achastliers speak a dialect of the same language.’ Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 163. ‘Um den Hafen von Monterey leben die Rumsen oder Runsien, die Escelen oder Eslen, die Ecclemáches, und Achastliés.’ Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, vol. ii., pt. ii., p. 454. ‘La partie septentrionale de la Nouvelle-Californie est habitée par les deux nations des Rumsen et Escelen…. Elles forment la population du preside et du village de Monterey. Dans la baie de S. Francisco, on distingue les tribus des Matalans, Salsen et Quirotes.’ Humboldt, Pol., p. 321. ‘Eslen y Runsien que ocupan toda la California septentrional.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 167. ‘Um Monterey wohnen zwey Völker … die Rumsen, und im Osten von diesen die Escelen.’ Vater, Mithridates, p. 202. ‘The Eslenes clan roamed over the present ranchos San Francisquito, Tallarcittos, and up and down the Carmelo Valley.’ ‘The rancheria per se of the Escellens was named by the priests, Santa Clara; Soccorondo was across the river a few miles. Their other little clans or septs were called Coyyo, Yampas, Fyules, Nennequi, Jappayon, Gilimis, and Yanostas.’ Cal. Farmer, April 20, 1860. The Eskelens are ‘California Indians, east of Monterey. The Ekklemaches are said to be a tribe of the Eskelen, and to speak the richest idiom of all the California Indians.’ Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 68. The country of the Ecclemachs extends more than twenty leagues east of Monterey. Cal. Farmer, Oct. 17, 1862.

The Katlendarucas seem ‘to have been situated near the Esteros or Lagoons about the mouth of the Salinas river, or in the words of the old priest, “en los Esteros de la entrada al mar del Rio de Monterey, o reversa de esta grande Ensenada.” Their rancherias were Capanay, Lucayasta, Paysim, Tiubta, Culul, Mustac, Pytogius, Animpayamo, Ymunacam, and all on the Pajaro river, or between it and the Salinas.’ Cal. Farmer, April 20, 1860; MS. Map.

The Sakhones had rancherias near Monterey ‘on the ranchos now known as Loucitta, Tarro, National Buena Esperanza, Buena Vista, and lands of that vicinity.’ Ib.; MS. Map.

‘The Wallalshimmez live on Tuolumne River.’ Lewis, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 399.

‘The Potoancies claim the Merced river as their homes.’ Ib. The Potaaches occupy the same region on the MS. Map.

‘The Nootchoos … live on the headwaters of Chowchilla.’ Lewis, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 399. The Nootchoos live on the south fork of the Merced. Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. x., p. 325.

‘The Pohoneeches live on the headwaters of Fresno.’ Lewis, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 399. The Pohoneeches live on the north bank of the Fresno. Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. x., p. 325.

The Pitcatches, the Tallenches, and the Coswas, live on the San Joaquin. Lewis, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 399.

KING’S RIVER AND TULARE LAKE TRIBES.

‘The Wattokes, a nation of Indians, consisting of the Wattokes, Ituchas, Chokemnies, and Wechummies, live high up on King’s river.’ Lewis, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 399.

The Watches, the Notonotoos, and the Wemelches, live in the neighborhood of King’s River Farm. Ib.

‘The Talches and Woowells live on Tulare Lake.’ Ib.

The Chowchillas, Choocchancies, and Howachez, are mentioned as living at Fresno River Farm. Id., p. 399. The Chowchillas inhabit ‘from the Kern River of the Tulare deltas to the Feather river.’ Taylor, in Bancroft’s Hand Book Almanac, 1864, p. 32.

The Wallas live in Tuolumne county. Patrick, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1856, p. 240. There has been much discussion about the word Wallie, or Walla. Powers asserts that it is derived from the word ‘wallim,’ which means ‘down below’, and was applied by the Yosemite Indians to all tribes living below them. The Wallies live on the Stanislaus and Tuolumne. Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. x., p. 325.

The Mewahs live in Tuolumne county. Jewett, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1856, p. 244.

The Meewoc nation ‘extended from the snow-line of the Sierra to the San Joaquin River, and from the Cosumnes to the Fresno…. North of the Stanislaus they call themselves Meewoc (Indians); south of it, to the Merced, Meewa; south of that to the Fresno, Meewie. On the upper Merced river is Wakâlla; on the upper Tuolumne, Wakalumy; on the Stanislaus and Mokelumne, Wakalumytoh…. As to tribal distribution, the Meewocs north of the Stanislaus, like the Neeshenams, designate principally by the points of the compass. These are toomun, choomuch, háyzooit, and ólowit (north, south, east, and west), from which are formed various tribal names—as Toomuns, Toomedocs, and Tamolécas, Choomuch, Choomwits, Choomedocs, or Chimedocs, and Choomtéyas; Olowits, Olówedocs, Oloweéyas, etc. Olówedocs is the name applied to all Indians living on the plains, as far west as Stockton. But there are several names which are employed absolutely, and without any reference to direction. On the south bank of the Cosumnes are the Cawnees; on Sutter Creek, the Yulónees; on the Stanislaus and Tuolumne the extensive tribe of Wallies; in Yosemite, the Awánees, on the south fork of Merced, the Nootchoos; on the middle Merced, the Choomtéyas, on the upper Chowchilla, the Héthtoyas; on the middle Chowchilla the tribe that named the stream; and on the north bank of the Fresno the Pohoneechees.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. x., pp. 322-5; MS. Map.

The Coitch tribe live one hundred and fifty miles east of the Vegas of Santa Clara. Los Angeles Star, May 18, 1861.

The Notonatos lived on King’s river. Maltby’s MS. Letter.

The Kahweahs lived on Four Creeks. Ib.

The Yolanchas lived on Tule river. Ib.

The Pokoninos lived on Deer creek. Ib.

The Poloyamas lived on Pasey creek. Ib.

The Polokawynahs lived on Kern river. Ib.

The Ymithces and Cowiahs live on Four Creeks. Henley, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 303.

The Waches, Notoowthas, Ptolmes, and Chunemnes live on King river. Ib.

The Costrowers, Pitiaches, Talluches, Loomnears and Amonces live on the San Joaquin. Id., p. 304.

The Chowclas, Chookchaneys, Phonechas, Nookchues, and Howetsers, live on the Fresno river. Ib.

The Coconoons live on the Merced river. Johnston, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 413.

The Monos living west of the Sierra Nevada, live on Fine Gold Gulch and the San Joaquin river. Ib. East of the Sierra Nevada they occupy the country south of Mono Lake. MS. Map. ‘The Monos, Cosos, and some other tribes, occupy the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevadas.’ Cal. Farmer, May 8, 1863. ‘The Olanches, Monos, Siqiurionals, Wasakshes, Cowhuillas, Chokiamauves, Tenisichs, Yocolles, Paloushiss, Wikachumnis, Openoches, Taches, Nutonetoos and Choemimnees, roamed from the Tuolumne to Kings river and the Tejon, on the east of the San Joaquin, the Tulare lakes and in the Sierra Nevada, as stated by Lieut. Beale, in 1856.’ Cal. Farmer, June 8, 1860.

The Tulareños live in the mountain wilderness of the Four Creeks, Porsiuncula (or Kerns or Current) river and the Tejon; and wander thence towards the headwaters of the Mohave and the neighborhood of the Cahuillas. Their present common name belongs to the Spanish and Mexican times and is derived from the word Tularé (a swamp with flags). Hayes’ MS. ‘Tulareños, Habitant la grande vallée de los Tulares de la Californie.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 335.

‘The Yocut dominion includes the Kern and Tulare basins and the middle of San Joaquin, stretching from Fresno to Kern River Falls.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. xi., p. 105.

Cumbatwas on Pitt river. Roseborough’s letter to the author, MS.

Shastas, in Shasta and Scott valleys. Ib.

Southern Californians

The Southern Californians, whose territory lies south of the thirty-fifth parallel, are, as far as is known, tribally distributed as follows:

The Cahuillos ‘inhabit principally a tract of country about eighty miles east from San Bernardino, and known as the Cabeson Valley, and their villages are on or near the road leading to La Paz on the Colorado River…. Another branch of this tribe numbering about four hundred occupy a tract of country lying in the mountains about forty miles southeast from San Bernardino, known as the Coahuila Valley.’ Stanley, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, pp. 194-5. ‘The Coahuillas are scattered through the San Bernardino and San Jacinto Mountains and eastward in the Cabesan Valley.’ Whiting, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1871, p. 691. The Coahuilas live in the San Jacinto Mountains. Parker, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 17. The Cohuillas reside in the northern half of the country, commencing on the coast, and extending to within fifty miles of the Colorado river, following the eastern base of the mountains. San Francisco Herald, June, 1853. The Cahuillos or Cawios reside ‘near the Pacific, between the sources of the San Gabriel and Santa Anna.’ Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 26. ‘The Cahuillas are a little to the north of the San Luiseños, occupying the mountain ridges and intervening valleys to the east and southeast of Mount San Bernadino, down towards the Mohava river and the desert that borders the river Colorado, the nation of Mohavas lying between them and these rivers. I am unable just now to give the number and names of all their villages. San Gorgonio, San Jacinto, Coyote, are among those best known, though others even nearer the desert, are more populous.’ Hayes’ MS. The Cohuillas occupy the southwestern part of San Bernardino County, and the northwestern part of San Diego county. MS. Map. ‘The Carvilla Indians occupy the Country from San Gorgonio Pass to the Arroyo Blanco.’ Cram’s Topog. Memoir, p. 119. ‘The Cowillers and Telemnies live on Four Creeks.’ Id., p. 400. ‘The limits of the Kahweyah and Kahsowah tribes appear to have been from the Feather river in the northern part of the State, to the Tulare lakes of the south.’ Cal. Farmer, May 25, 1860.

The Diegeños ‘are said to occupy the coast for some fifty miles above, and about the same distance below San Diego, and to extend about a hundred miles into the interior.’ Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii. The Dieguinos are in the southern part of San Diego County, and extend from the coast to the desert. Henley, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1856, p. 240. The Dieguinas reside in the southern part of the country watered by the Colorado, and claim the land from a point on the Pacific to the eastern part of the mountains impinging on the desert. San Francisco Herald, June, 1853. The Comeyas or Diegenos ‘occupy the coast for some fifty miles above, and about the same distance below San Diego, and extend about a hundred miles into the interior.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 7. ‘The Indians round San Diego, Deguinos, Diegeños, were in a savage state, and their language almost unknown. Bartlett says that they are also called Comeya; but Whipple asserts that the Comeya, a tribe of the Yumas, speak a different language.’ Ludewig, Ab. Lang., p. 62. On page 220 Ludewig says that as the name Diegeños means the Indians round San Diego, there is no such name as Deguinos. ‘The villages of the Dieguinos, wherever they live separately, are a little to the south of the Cahuillas. Indeed, under this appellation they extend a hundred miles into Lower California, in about an equal state of civilization, and thence are scattered through the Tecaté valley over the entire desert on the west side of New River…. Their villages known to me are San Dieguito (about twenty souls), San Diego Mission, San Pasqual, Camajal (two villages), Santa Ysabel, San José, Matahuay, Lorenzo, San Felipe, Cajon, Cuyamaca, Valle de las Viejas.’ Hayes’ MS.

The Missouris ‘are scattered over San Bernardino, San Diego and other counties in the southern part of the State.’ Parker, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 17.

The Kechi inhabit the country about Mission San Luis Rey. Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 92.

The Chumas, or Kachumas live three miles from the Mission of Santa Inez. Cal. Farmer, Oct. 18, 1861.

Los Cayotes was the name given by the Spaniards to the tribe which originally inhabited San Diego county. Hoffman, in San Francisco Medical Press, vol. v., p. 147.

The New River Indians ‘live along New River, sixty miles west from Fort Yuma, and near San Diego.’ Jones, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 216.

The Sierras, or Caruanas, the Lagunas, or Tataguas, and the Surillos or Cartakas are mentioned as living on the Tejon reservation. Wentworth, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1862, pp. 324-6.

The Serranos lived in the vicinity of San Bernardino. Reid, in Los Angeles Star, Letter I., in Hayes Col.

Mr Taylor claims to have discovered the exact positions of many of the places mentioned. His statement, for the accuracy of which I by no means vouch, is as follows: ‘Xucu, or Shucu, on the Ortega farm, near Rincon Point; Missisissepono on Rafel Gonzale’s rancho on Saticoy river, near sea, sometimes called Pono; Coloc, near Carpentaria beach. Mugu, below Saticoy some thirty miles, near the sea; Anacbuc or Anacarck, near the islet of La Patera, near the sea shore. Partocac or Paltocac, the Indian cemetery on the Mesa of La Patera, near sea; Aguin at the beach of Los Llagos Canada; Casalic, at the Refugio Playa and Canada; Tucumu or playa of Arroyo Honda. Xocotoc, Cojo, or Cojotoc, near Pt. Concepcion; Pt. Concepcion, Cancac or Caacac, or Cacat.’ Cal. Farmer, Aug. 21, 1863.

Southern Mission Indians

The following names of rancherías were taken from the archives of the various missions; in the vicinity of La Purissima: Lajuchu, Silimastus, Sisolop, Jlaacs, or Slacus, Huasna, Estait, Esmischue, Ausion, Esnispele, Silisne, Sacspili, Estait, Huenejel, Husistaic, Silimi, Suntaho, Alacupusyuen, Espiiluima, Tutachro, Sisolop, Naila, Tutachro, Paxpili, or Axpitil, Silino, Lisahuato, Guaslaique, Pacsiol, Sihimi, Huenepel Ninyuelgual, Lompoc, Nahuey, or Nahajuey, Sipuca, Stipu, Ialamma, Huasna, Sacsiol, Kachisupal, Salachi, Nocto, Fax, Salachi, Sitolo, or Sautatho, Omaxtux. Near Santa Inez, were: Sotomoenu, Katahuac, Asiuhuil, Situchi, Kulahuasa, Sisuchi, Kuyam, or Cuyama, Ionata, Tekep, Kusil, Sanchu, Sikitipuc, Temesathi, Lujanisuissilac, Tapanissilac, Ialamne, Chumuchn, Suiesia, Chumuchu, Tahijuas, Tinachi, Lompoe, Ionata, Aguama, Sotonoemu, Guaislac, Tequepas, Matiliha, Stucu, Aketsum, or Kachuma, Ahuamhoue, Geguep, Achillimo, Alizway, Souscoc, Talaxano, Nutonto, Cholicus. Near Santa Barbara were Guainnonost, Sisabanonase, Huelemen, Inoje, Luijta, Cajpilili, Missopeno (Sopono), Inajalayehua, Huixapa, Calahuassa, Snihuax, Huililoc, Yxaulo, Anijue, Sisuch, Cojats, Numguelgar, Lugups, Gleuaxcuyu, Chiuchin, Ipec, Sinicon, Xalanaj, Xalou, Sisahiahut, Cholosoc, Ituc, Guima, Huixapapa, Eleunaxciay, Taxlipu, Elmian, Anajue, Huililic, Inajalaihu, Estuc, Eluaxcu. Sihuicom, Liam. Some of these were from rancherias of the valleys east of the range on the coast. Some of these Taylor locates as follows: ‘Janaya, above the Mission, Salpilil on the Patera; Aljiman, near the windmill of La Patera; Geliec, near islet of La Patera; Tequepes, in Santa Ynez Valley; Cascili, in the Refugio playa; Miguihui, on the Dos Pueblos; Sisichii, in Dos Pueblos; Maschal, on Santa Cruz Island; Gelo, the islet of La Patera; Cuyamu on Dos Pueblos also Cinihuaj on same rancho; Coloc, at the Rincon; Alcax in La Goleta; Allvatalama, near the La Goleta Estero; Sayokenek, on the Arroyo Burro; Partocac Cemetery, near Sea Bluffs of La Goleta; Humaliju, of San Fernando Mission; Calla Wassa and Anijue, of Santa Ynez Mission; Sajcay in Los Cruces; Sasaguel, in Santa Cruz Island; Lucuyumu, in the same Island, dated November, 1816; Nanahuani and Chalosas were also on same Island; Eljman was on San Marcos, Xexulpituc and Taxlipu, were camps of the Tulares.’ Cal. Farmer, Aug. 21, 1863.

Near San Buenaventura Mission were: ‘Miscanaka, name of the Mission site. Ojai or Aujay, about ten miles up San Buenavent river. Mugu, on the coast near sea on Guadalasca rancho, not far from the point so called. Matillija up the S. B. river towards Santa Inez, which mission also had Matilija Indians. The Matillija Sierra separates the valleys of S. Buenaventa and S. Inez. Sespe was on the San Cayetano rancho of Saticoy river, twenty miles from the sea. Mupu and Piiru were on the arroyos of those names which came into the Saticoy near Sespe. Kamulas was higher up above Piiru. Cayeguas (not a Spanish name as spelt on some maps) on rancho of that name. Somes or Somo near hills of that name. Malico, range of hills south of Somo. Chichilop, Lisichi, Liam, Sisa, Sisjulcioy, Malahue, Chumpache, Lacayamu, Ypuc, Lojos Aogni, Luupsch, Miguigui, and Chihucchihui were names of other rancherias…. Ishgua or Ishguaget, was a rancheria near the mouth of the Saticoy river and not far from the beach…. Hueneme was a rancheria on the ocean coast a few miles south of Saticoy river. Tapo and Simi were rancherias on the present Noriega rancho of Simi. Saticoy is the name of the existing rancheria … on the lower part of the Santa Paula or Saticoy rancho, about eight miles from the sea, near some fine springs of water, not far from the river, and near the high road going up the valleys.’ Cal. Farmer, July 24, 1863. ‘The site of San Fernando was a rancheria called Pasheckno. Other clans were Okowvinjha, Kowanga and Saway Yanga. The Ahapchingas were a clan or rancheria between Los Angeles and San Juan Capistrano, and enemies of the Gabrielenos or those of San Gabriel…. The following are the names of the rancherias, or clans, living in the vicinity of San Luis Rey Mission: Enekelkawa was the name of one near the mission-site, Mokaskel, Cenyowpreskel, Itukemuk, Hatawa, Hamechuwa, Itaywiy, Milkwanen, Ehutewa, Mootaeyuhew, and Hepowwoo, were the names of others. At the Aquas Calientes was a very populous rancheria, called Hakoopin.’ Id., May 11, 1860.

In Los Angeles county, the following are the principal lodges or rancherias, with their corresponding present local names: Yangna, Los Angeles; Sibag-na, San Gabriel; Isanthcagna, Mision Vieja; Sisitcanogna, Pear Orchard; Sonagna, Mr White’s farm; Acuragua, The Presa; Asucsagna, Azuza; Cucomogna, Cucamonga Farm; Pasinogna, Rancho del Chino; Awigna, La Puente; Chokishgna, The Saboneria; Nacaugna, Carpenter’s Farm; Pineugna, Santa Catalina Island; Pimocagna, Rancho de los Ybarras; Toybipet, San José; Hutucgna, Santa Ana (Yorbes); Aleupkigna, Santa Anita; Maugna, Rancho de los Felis; Hahamogna, Rancho de los Verdugas; Cabuegna, Caliuenga; Pasecgna, San Fernando; Houtgna, Ranchito de Lugo, Suangna, Suanga; Pubugna, Alamitos; Tibahagna, Serritos; Chowig-na, Palos Verdes; Kinkipar, San Clemente Island, Harasgna. Reid, in Los Angeles Star, Letter I., in Hayes Collection.

The San Luisieños inhabit the northern part of San Diego, from the coast east, including the mountains. Henley, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1856, p. 240. ‘The villages of the San Luiseños are in a section of country adjacent to the Cahuillas, between 40 and 70 miles in the mountainous interior from San Diego; they are known as Las Flores, Santa Margarita, San Luis Rey Mission, Wahoma, Pala, Temecula, Ahuanga (two villages), La Joya, Potrero, and Bruno’s and Pedro’s villages within five or six miles of Aqua Caliente; they are all in San Diego County.’ Hayes’ MS.

The Noches are settled along the rivers which flow between the Colorado and the Pacific Ocean. Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 45. Garces mentions the western Noches in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie ii., vol. i., p. 299.

The Tejon Indians were those who inhabited the southern part of Tulare valley. Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., vol. i., p. 83.

The Playanos were Indians who came to settle in the valley of San Juan Capistrano. Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., p. 249.

The Shoshones, whose territory spreads over south-eastern Oregon, southern Idaho, and the whole of Utah and Nevada, extending into Arizona and New Mexico, and the eastern border of California, I divide into two great nations, the Snakes or Shoshones, proper, and the Utahs, with their subdivisions. Wilson divides the Shoshones into the Shoshones and Bannacks, and the Utahs; the latter he subdivides into seven bands, which will be seen under Utahs. He adds: ‘Among the Shoshonies there are only two bands properly speaking. The principal or better portion are called Shoshonies, or Snakes … the others the Shoshocoes…. Their claim of boundary is to the east, from the red Buttes on the North fork of the Platte, to its head in the Park, Decayaque, or Buffalo Bull-pen, in the Rocky Mountains; to the south across the mountains, over to the Yanpapa, till it enters Green, or Colorado river, and then across to the backbone or ridge of mountains called the Bear river mountains running nearly due west towards the Salt Lake, so as to take in most of the Salt Lake, and thence on to the sinks of Marry’s or Humboldt’s river; thence north to the fisheries, on the Snake river, in Oregon; and thence south (their northern boundary), to the Red Buttes, including the source of Green River.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., p. 697. ‘Under various names … the great race of Shoshones, is found scattered over the boundless wilderness, from Texas to the Columbia. Their territory is bounded on the north and west by … the Blackfeet and Crows.’ Brownell’s Ind. Races, pp. 537-8.

The Snakes

The Snakes, or Shoshones proper, although they form a part only of the great Shoshone family, are usually termed ‘the Shoshones’ by the authorities. They are divided by Dr Hurt into ‘Snakes, Bannacks, Tosiwitches, Gosha Utes, and Cumumpahs, though he afterwards classes the last two divisions as hybrid races between the Shoshones and the Utahs…. The Shoshones claim the northeastern portion of the territory for about four hundred miles west, and from one hundred to one hundred and twenty-five miles south from the Oregon line.’ Simpson’s Route to Cal., p. 46. ‘The great Snake nation may be divided into three divisions, namely, the Shirrydikas, or dog-eaters; the Wararereekas, or fish-eaters; and the Banattees, or robbers. But, as a nation, they all go by the general appellation of Shoshones, or Snakes…. The Shirrydikas are the real Shoshones, and live in the plains hunting the buffalo.’ The country claimed by the Snake tribes ‘is bounded on the east by the Rocky Mountains, on the south by the Spanish waters; on the Pacific, or west side, by an imaginary line, beginning at the west end, or spur, of the Blue Mountains, behind Fort Nez Percés, and running parallel with the ocean to the height of land beyond the Umpqua River, in about north lat. 41° (this line never approaches within 150 miles of the Pacific); and on the north by another line, running due east from the said spur of the Blue Mountains, and crossing the great south branch, or Lewis River, at the Dalles, till it strikes the Rocky Mountains 200 miles north of the three pilot knobs, or the place thereafter named the ‘Valley of Troubles.” Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., pp. 249, 251. ‘They embrace all the territory of the Great South Pass, between the Mississippi valley and the waters of the Columbia…. Under the name of Yampatickara or Root-eaters and Bonacks they occupy with the Utahs the vast elevated basin of the Great Salt Lake, extending south and west to the borders of New Mexico and California.’ Brownell’s Ind. Races, pp. 533-7, 540. ‘The hunters report, that the proper country of the Snakes is to the east of the Youta Lake, and north of the Snake or Lewis river; but they are found in many detached places. The largest band is located near Fort Boise, on the Snake river to the north of the Bonacks.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 501. The Shoshones ‘occupy the centre and principal part of the great Basin.’ Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, Oct. 18, 1861. ‘Inhabit that part of the Rocky Mountains which lies on the Grand and Green River branches of the Colorado of the West, the valley of Great Bear River, the habitable shores of the Great Salt Lake, a considerable portion of country on Snake River above and below Fort Hall, and a tract extending two or three hundred miles to the west of that post.’ Farnham’s Trav., p. 61. The Shoshones inhabit about one third of the territory of Utah, living north of Salt Lake ‘and on the line of the Humboldt or Mary River, some 400 miles west and 100 to 125 south of the Oregon line. The Yuta claim the rest of the territory between Kansas, the Sierra Nevada, New Mexico and the Oregon frontier.’ Burton’s City of the Saints, p. 575. ‘Les Soshonies, c’est-à-dire les déterreurs de racines, surnommés les Serpents, … habitent la partie méridionale du territoire de l’Orégon, dans le voisinage de la haute Californie.’ De Smet, Voy., p. 24. ‘Their country lies south-west of the south-east branch of the Columbia, and is said to be the most barren of any part of the country in these western regions.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 83. ‘On the south part of the Oregon Territory, adjoining upper California, are located the Shoshones or Snake Indians.’ Ib., p. 308. ‘Serpents ou Saaptins, Monquis, Bonacks et Youtas toutes les branches du Rio Colombia ou Sud-Est et les environs du lac Salé an Timpanogos.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 335. ‘The country of the Shoshonees proper is south of Lewis or Snake River, and east of the Salt Lake. There is, however one detached band, known as the Wihinasht, or Western Snakes, near Fort Boirie, separated from the main body by the tribe of Bonnaks.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 219. ‘The Shoshones are a small tribe of the nation called Snake Indians, a vague denomination, which embraces at once the inhabitants of the southern part of the Rocky mountains, and of the plains on each side.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 305. The Snakes or Shothoucs ‘formerly occupied the whole of that vast territory lying between the Rocky and the Blue Mountains, and extending northward to the lower fork of the Columbia, and to the south as far as the basin of the Great Salt Lake.’ Coke’s Rocky Mts., p. 275. ‘They occupy southern and western Nevada.’ Parker, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 18. ‘They inhabit the southern part of the Rocky Mountains and the plains on each side.’ Bulfinch’s Ogn., p. 124. ‘They occupy all the country between the southern branches of Lewis’s river, extending from the Umatullum to the E. side of the Stony Mountains, on the southern parts of Wallaumut river from about 40° to 47° N. Lat. A branch of this tribe reside … in spring and summer on the W. fork of Lewis river, a branch of the Columbia, and in winter and fall on the Missouri.’ Morse’s Rept., p. 369. ‘The Shoshones dwell between the Rocky and blue mountain ranges.’ Nicolay’s Ogn. Ter., p. 151. ‘The aboriginees of the Reese River country consist of the Shoshone nation, divided into many subordinate tribes, each having a distinctive name, and occupying a tract of country varying from 20 to 50 miles square. Their country is bordered on the west by the Pi-Utes, the Edwards Creek mountains some 20 miles west of Reese River, being the dividing line. On the east it extends to Ruby Valley, where it joins on the territory of the Goshoots, the Bannocks being their neighbors on the northeast.’ Cal. Farmer, June 26, 1863. ‘The Snake tribe, inhabit the country bordering on Lewis and Bear Rivers, and their various tributaries.’ Palmer’s Jour., p. 43. ‘The Snake Indians, who embrace many tribes, inhabit a wide extent of country at the head of Snake River above and below Fort Hall, and the vicinity of Great Bear River and Great Salt Lake. They are a migratory race, and generally occupy the south-eastern portion of Oregon.’ Dunn’s Ogn., p. 325. The Shoshones inhabit the great plains to the southward of the Lewis River. Cox’s Adven., vol. ii., p. 143. The Shoshones occupy ‘almost the whole eastern half of the State (Nevada). The line separating them from the Pai-Utes on the east and south is not very clearly defined.’ Parker, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1866, p. 114. ‘The western bands of Shoshones … range from the Idaho boundary north, southward to the thirty-eighth parallel; their western limit is the line passing through the Sunatoya Mountains; their eastern limit Steptoe and Great Salt Lake Valleys.’ Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, p. 95. The Snakes inhabit ‘the plains of the Columbia between the 43d and 44th degrees of latitude.’ Franchère’s Nar., p. 150. The Washakeeks or Green River Snakes inhabit the country drained by Green River and its tributaries. The Tookarikkahs, or mountain sheep-eaters, ‘occupy the Salmon river country and the upper part of Snake River Valley, and Coiners’ Prairie, near the Boise mines.’ These two bands are the genuine Snakes; other inferior bands are the Hokandikahs or Salt Lake Diggers who ‘inhabit the region about the great lake.’ The Aggitikkahs or Salmon-eaters who ‘occupy the region round about Salmon falls, on Snake river.’ Stuart’s Montana, p. 80.

Bannacks and Utahs

‘The Bannacks, who are generally classed with the Snakes, inhabit the country south of here, (Powder River) in the vicinity of Harney lake…. The Winnas band of Snakes inhabit the country north of Snake river, and are found principally on the Bayette, Boise, and Sickley rivers.’ Kirkpatrick, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1862, pp. 267-8. The Bonacks ‘inhabit the country between Fort Boise and Fort Hall.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 502. They ‘inhabit the southern borders of Oregon, along the old Humboldt River emigrant road.’ Simpson’s Route to Cal., p. 47. The Bonaks seem ‘to embrace Indian tribes inhabiting a large extent of country west of the Rocky Mountains. As the name imports, it was undoubtedly given to that portion of Indians who dig and live on the roots of the earth.’ Johnston, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 221. The Bonaks inhabit ‘the banks of that part of Saptin or Snake River which lies between the mouth of Boisais or Reeds River and the Blue Mountains.’ Farnham’s Trav., p. 76. The Bonax inhabit the country west of the Lewis fork of the Columbia between the forty-second and forty-fourth parallels. Parker’s Map. The Bannacks range through northern Nevada, and into Oregon and Idaho. Parker, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 18. They ‘claim the southwestern portions of Montana as their land.’ Sully, in Id., p. 289. ‘This tribe occupies most of that portion of Nevada north of the forty-first degree of north latitude, with the southeastern corner of Oregon and the southwestern corner of Idaho.’ Parker, in Id., 1866, p. 114. The Bannocks drift ‘from Boise City to the game country northeast of Bozeman, Montana, and south as far as Fort Bridger, Wyoming Territory … traveling from Oregon to East of the Rocky Mountains.’ High, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1872, pp. 272-3.

Utahs

The Utah nation occupies all that portion of the territory assigned to the Shoshone family lying south of the Snakes, between the country of the Californians proper, and the Rocky Mountains. It is divided into several tribes, the number varying with different authorities. Wilson divides the Utah nation into seven tribes; viz., the ‘Taos, Yampapas, Ewinte, Tenpenny Utahs, Parant Utahs, Sampiches, Pahmetes.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., p. 697. ‘Besides the Parawat Yutas, the Yampas, 200-300 miles south, on the White River; the Tebechya, or sun-hunters, about Tête de Biche, near Spanish lands; and the Tash Yuta, near the Navajos; there are scatters of the nation along the Californian road from Beaver Valley, along the Santa Clara, Virgen, Las Vegas, and Muddy Rivers, to New Mexico.’ Burton’s City of the Saints, p. 578. ‘The tribes of Utah Territory are: Utahs at large, Pi Utahs, roving, Uwinty Utahs, Utahs of Sampitch Valley, Utahs of Carson Valley, Utahs of Lake Sevier and Walker River, Navahoes and Utahs of Grand River, Shoshonees, or Snakes proper, Diggers on Humboldt River, Eutahs of New Mexico.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 498. The Utahs are composed of several bands, the most important of which are the Timpanogs who ‘range through Utah valley and the mountains adjoining the valley on the east…. The Uintahs, the principal band of the Utahs, … range through Uintah valley and the Green River country…. The Pah Vants … range through Pah Vant and Sevier valleys and west to the White mountains.’ Irish, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1865, p. 145. ‘The Yutah nation is very numerous, and is also made up of many bands, which are to be distinguished only by their names…. Four of these bands called Noaches, Payuches, Tabiachis and Sogup, are accustomed to occupy lands within the province of New Mexico, or very near it, to the north and northeast.’ Whipple, Ewbank, & Turner’s Rept., in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii. ‘The Utahs are divided into three bands—Mohuaches, Capotes, and Nomenuches or Poruches.’ Delgado, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1865, p. 163; see also pp. 17, 18. ‘The Ute tribe Dr. Hurt divides into the Pah Utahs, Tamp Pah-Utes, Cheveriches, Pah Vants, San Pitches, and Pyedes. The Utahs proper inhabit the waters of Green River, south of Green River Mountains, the Grand River and its tributaries and as far south as the Navajo country. They also claim the country bordering on Utah Lake and as far south as the Sevier Lake.’ Simpson’s Route to Cal., p. 44. ‘The Utahs are a separate and distinct tribe of Indians, divided into six bands, each with a head chief, as follows: The Menaches … the Capotes … the Tabe-naches … the Cibariches … the Tempanahgoes … the Piuchas.’ Graves, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 178. ‘The Yutahs are subdivided into four great bands: the Noaches, the Payuches (whom we believe to be identical with the Paï Utahs), the Tabiachis, and the Sogups, who live in perfect harmony on the north eastern confines of New Mexico, and at a distance of 500 miles to the south of the great tribe of the Zuguaganas.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 8. The Utes are ‘those … which inhabit the vicinity of the lakes and streams and live chiefly on fish, being distinguished by the name of Pah Utahs or Pah Utes, the word Pah, in their language signifying water.’ Stansbury’s Rept., p. 148. ‘The country of the Utaws is situated to the east and southeast of the Soshonees, at the sources of the Rio Colorado.’ De Smet’s Letters, p. 39. ‘The Youtas live between the Snake and Green Rivers.’ Prichard’s Researches, vol. v., p. 430. ‘The Utahs of New Mexico are a portion of the tribe of the same name inhabiting the Territory of Utah…. They inhabit and claim all that region of country, embracing the sources of the north-western tributaries of the Arkansas river, above Bent’s fort, up to the southern boundary of Utah Territory, and all the northern tributaries of the Rio Grande, which lie within New Mexico and north of the 37th parallel of latitude.’ Merriwether, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 169. The Utes ‘occupy and claim that section of country ranging from Abiquin, northward to Navajo River and westward somewhat of this line.’ Davis, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 255. The Eutaws ‘reside on both sides of the Eutaw or Anahuac mountains, they are continually migrating from one side to the other.’ Farnham’s Trav., p. 48. ‘The Youtas inhabit the country between the Snake and Green rivers.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 502. ‘The Utahs’ claim of boundaries are all south of that of the Shoshonies, embracing the waters of the Colorado, going most probably to the Gulf of California.’ Wilson, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., p. 698. The country of the Utaws ‘is situated to the east and southeast of the Shoshones, about the Salt Lake, and on the head waters of the Colorado river, which empties into the gulf of California…. Their country being in latitude about 41°.’ ‘The Utaws are decent in appearance and their country, which is towards Santa Fe, is said to be tolerably good.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 79, 309. The Yutas, Utaws, or Youtas, ‘range between lat. 35° and 42° North and the Meridians 29° and 37° W. Long. of Washington. The great Yutas tribe is divided into two families which are contradistinguished by the names of their respective head-quarters; the Tao Yutas, so called because their principal camp is pitched in Tao mountains, seventy miles north of Santa Fé; and the Timpanigos Yutas, who hold their great camp near the Timpanigos lake.’ Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 371. ‘Um den Fluss Dolóres haben die Yutas, Tabeguáchis, Payúches und Tularénos ihre Wohnsitze.’ Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 538. The Utahs live ‘on the border of New Mexico.’ Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 196. ‘Le pays des Utaws est situé à l’est et au sud-est de celui des Soshonies, aux sources du Rio-Colorado.’ De Smet, Voy., p. 30. ‘The Yutas or Eutaws are one of the most extensive nations of the West, being scattered from the north of New Mexico to the borders of Snake river and Rio Colorado.’ Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., p. 300.

The Pah Utes occupy the greater part of Nevada, and extend southward into Arizona and south-eastern California. There is reason to believe that the Pi Utes are a distinct tribe from the Pah Utes, but as the same localities are frequently assigned to both tribes by different writers, and as many have evidently thought them one and the same, thereby causing great confusion, I have thought it best to merely give the names as spelled by the authorities without attempting to decide which tribe is being spoken of in either case. The Pah-Utes ‘range principally in the southwestern portion of Utah and the southeastern portion of Nevada.’ Head, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1866, p. 124. The Pah Utes ‘are spread over the vast tract of territory, between the Sierra Nevada and the Colorado River, going as far south as the thirty-fifth parallel, and extending to the northward through California and Nevada into Southern Oregon and Idaho.’ Colyer, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 92. The Pah-Utes inhabit the western part of Nevada. Walker, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1872, p. 59. The Pah Utes and Pah Edes range over all that part of Utah south of the city of Filmore in Millard County. Head, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1868, p. 150. ‘The term Pah Utes is applied to a very large number of Indians who roam through that vast section of country lying between the Sierra Nevada and the Colorado, going as far south as the thirty-fifth parallel, and extending to the northward through California, Nevada, into Southern Oregon and Idaho. The Indians of this tribe in Arizona are located in the Big Bend of the Colorado, on both sides of the river, and range as far east as Diamond River, west to the Sierra Nevada, and northward into the State of Nevada.’ Jones, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 216. The Pah Utes ‘properly belong in Nevada and Arizona, but range over in southwestern Utah.’ Irish, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1865, p. 146. The Pah-Utes ‘range principally from the borders of Oregon, on the north, to the southeast boundary of Nevada, and from the Sierra Nevada eastward to the Humboldt River and Sink of Carson; there are one or two small bands of them still further east, near Austin, Nevada. They are much scattered within these limits.’ Douglas, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, pp. 94-5. ‘The Pah-utes roam along the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada, from the mouth of the Virgin with the Colorado (in about lat. 36° long. 115°) to the territories of the Washoes north, and as far east as the Sevier Lake country of Fremont’s explorations.’ Cal. Farmer, June 22, 1860. ‘The Pa-utahs, and Lake Utahs occupy the territory lying south of the Snakes, and upon the waters of the Colorado of the west and south of the Great Salt Lake.’ Scenes in the Rocky Mts., p. 179. The Pá Yuta (Pey Utes) ‘extend from forty miles west of Stony Point to the Californian line, and N.W. to the Oregon line, and inhabit the valley of the Fenelon River, which rising from Lake Bigler empties itself into Pyramid Lake.’ Burton’s City of the Saints, p. 576. ‘The Womenunche (also known as the Pa Uches) occupy the country on the San Juan river.’ Collins, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1862, p. 238. ‘The custom of designating the different bands of Pah Utes is derived from the name of some article of food not common in other localities; “Ocki,” signifies “trout,” “toy,” “tule,” &c. The Ocki Pah Utes … are located on Walker River and Lake, and the mountains adjacent thereto. The Cozaby Pah Utes … range from Mono Lake east to Smoky Valley.’ Campbell, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, pp. 112-13. The Pah Utes extend, ‘over portions of Utah and Arizona Territories, also the States of Nevada and California. Fenton, in Id., p. 113.

The Chemehuevis are a band of Pah-Utahs. Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 76. The Chimehuevais live about forty miles below the Colorado River agency, on the California side of the river, and are scattered over an area of fifty square miles. Tonner, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1872, p. 323. The Chemehuewas are ‘located mainly on the west bank of the Colorado, above La Paz, and ranges along the river from about thirty miles south of Fort Mohave, to a point fifty miles north of Fort Yuma, to the eastward, but a short distance.’ Sherman, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 216. The Chemehuevis live on the Colorado river, above the Bill Williams fork, a small tribe and quite unknown. Poston, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1863, p. 387. The Chemehuevis are ‘a band of Pahutahs, … belonging to the great Shoshonee family.’ Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 35. ‘The Chimchinves are undoubtedly a branch of the Pah Ute tribe.’ Stanley, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1866, p. 102.

Pi Utes and Gosh Utes

The Pi Utes, or Pyutes, ‘inhabit Western Utah, from Oregon to New Mexico; their locations being generally in the vicinity of the principal rivers and lakes of the Great Basin, viz., Humboldt, Carson, Walker, Truckee, Owens’s, Pyramid, and Mono.’ Simpson’s Route to Cal., p. 48. ‘The tribe of Indians who inhabit this section (near Fort Churchill) of which the post forms the centre comes under the one generic name of Piute, and acknowledge as their great chief Winnemucca. They are split up into small Captaincies and scattered throughout a vast extent of territory.’ Farley, in San Francisco Medical Press, vol. iii., p. 154. The Piutes or Paiuches inhabit ‘the northern banks of the Colorado, the region of Severe river, and those portions of the Timpanigos desert where man can find a snail to eat.’ Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 371. The Piutes live ‘along the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada, from the mouth of the Virgen with the Colorado (in about Lat. 36° Long. 115°) to the territories of the Washoes north, and as far east as the Sevier Lake.’ Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, June 22, 1860. ‘Von 34° nordwärts die Pai Utes.’ Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., vol. i., p. 430. The territory occupied by the Piutes ‘is about one hundred miles broad, and is bounded on the north by the country of the Bannocks, on the east by that of the Shoshones, on the south by the State line between Nevada and California and on the west by the territory of the Washoes.’ Parker, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1866, p. 115. The Piutes inhabit ‘a country two hundred miles long by one hundred and twenty broad, lying parallel and east of that of the Washoes…. South of Walker lake are the Mono Pi Utes…. They are closely allied to the Walker River or Ocki Pi Utes … located in the vicinity of Walker river and lake and Carson river and Upper lake…. At the lower Carson lake are the Toy Pi Utes.’ Campbell, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1866, p. 119. ‘Upon the Colorado river, in the northern part of the Territory lives a band, or some bands, of Pi Utes, occupying both sides of the river, roaming to the limit of Arizona on the west, but on the east, for some miles, how far cannot be determined.’ Whittier, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1868, p. 140. The Pi Ute ‘range extends north to the Beaver, south to Fort Mojave, east to the Little Colorado and San Francisco Mountains, and on the west through the southern part of Nevada as far as the California line … the larger portion living in Nevada.’ Fenton, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 203. The Pi Utes inhabit the south-west portion of Utah. Tourtellotte, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, p. 142. ‘The Pi Ute Indians are scattered over a large extent of country in Southeastern Nevada and Southwestern Utah.’ Powell, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1871, p. 562. The Pi Utes inhabit the south-eastern part of Nevada. Walker, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1872, p. 59.

The Gosh Utes inhabit the country west of Great Salt Lake, and extend to the Pah Utes. They are said by most writers to be of mixed breed, between the Snakes, or Shoshones proper, and the Utahs: ‘The Goshautes live about forty miles west’ of Salt Lake City. Forney, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1858, p. 212. The Goships, or Gosha Utes, range west of Salt Lake. Cooley, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1865, p. 17. The Goships ‘range between the Great Salt Lake and the land of the western Shoshones.’ Head, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1866, p. 123. The Goship Shoshones ‘live in the western part of Utah, between Great Salt Lake and the western boundary of the Territory,’ (Utah). Tourtellotte, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 230. The Goshutes are located ‘in the country in the vicinity of Egan Cañon…. In the Shoshone range.’ Douglas, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, p. 96. ‘The Goship Shoshones inhabit that part of Utah which lies between Great Salt Lake and the western boundary of the Territory (Utah).’ Tourtellotte, in Id., p. 141. The Goshoots ‘Dr. Hurt classes among the Shoshones; but according to Mr. G. W. Bean, Capt. Simpson’s Guide in the fall of 1858 … they are the offspring of a disaffected portion of the Ute tribe, that left their nation, about two generations ago, under their leader or Chief Goship, whence their name Goship Utes since contracted into Goshutes…. Reside principally in the grassy valleys west of Great Salt Lake, along and in the vicinity of Capt. Simpson’s routes, as far as the Ungoweah Range.’ Simpson’s Route to Cal., pp. 47-8. The Gosh Yutas, ‘a body of sixty under a peaceful leader were settled permanently on the Indian Farm at Deep Creek, and the remainder wandered 40 to 200 miles west of Gt. S. L. City.’ Burton’s City of the Saints, p. 577.

The Toquimas live about the head of Reese River Valley, and in the country to the east of that point. Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, June 26, 1863.

The Temoksees live about thirty miles south of Jacobsville. Cal. Farmer, June 26, 1863.

The Pah Vants ‘occupy the Corn Creek, Paravan, and Beaver Valleys, and the valley of Sevier.’ Simpson’s Route to Cal., p. 45. Half the Pavants ‘are settled on the Indian farm at Corn Creek; the other wing of the tribe lives along Sevier Lake, and the surrounding country in the north-east extremity of Filmore Valley, fifty miles from the City, where they join the Gosh Yuta.’ Burton’s City of the Saints, p. 577. Although Mr Burton gives this as the fruit of his own observation, it is evidently taken from Forney’s Rept., in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1859, p. 364, which reads as follows: ‘About half of them (the Pahvants) have their home on the Corn Creek Indian farm. The other wing of the tribe lives along Sevier lake and surrounding country, in the northeast extremity of Fillmore valley, and about fifty miles from Fillmore city.’ The Pah Vants range ‘through Pah-Vant and Sevier valleys, and west to the White Mountains.’ Cooley, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1865, p. 17. ‘The Pahvents occupy the territory in the vicinity of Corn Creek reservation, and south of the Goship Shoshones.’ Tourtellotte, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 230. ‘The Pah Vant Indians inhabit the country south of the Goship Shoshones.’ Tourtellotte, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, p. 142.

The Pi Edes ‘are a band ranging through Beaver and Little Salt Lake Valley, and on the Virgin and Santa Clara rivers, down to the Muddy, embracing the whole southern portion of Utah Territory.’ Irish, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1865, p. 145. ‘The Py Edes live adjoining the Pahvants, down to the Santa Clara.’ Simpson’s Route to Cal., p. 45. ‘The Pi Ede Indians inhabit the country south of the Pah Vants.’ Tourtellotte, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, p. 142. ‘The Piede Indians inhabit the extreme southern portion of the territory (Utah) on the Santa Clara and Muddy rivers.’ Armstrong, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1856, p. 234. The Piede Indians live on Rio Virgin and Santa Clara river. Carvalho’s Incid. of Trav., p. 223.

Washoes and Sampitches

The Washoes ‘inhabit the country along the base of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, from Honey lake on the north to the west fork of Walker’s river the south.’ Dodge, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1859, p. 374. Simpson’s Route to Cal., on p. 45, and Burton’s City of the Saints, p. 578, repeat this. The Washoes ‘are stated to have boundaries as high up as the Oregon line, along the eastern flanks of the Sierra Nevada, as far to the east as two hundred miles and to the south to Walker’s river.’ Cal. Farmer, June 22, 1860. The Washoes live in the extreme western part of Nevada. Parker, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1866, p. 115. ‘Commencing at the western boundary of the State, we have first the Washoe tribe, … occupying a tract of country one hundred miles long, north and south, by twenty-five in width.’ Campbell, in Id., p. 119. The Washoes ‘live along Lake Bigler and the headwaters of Carson, Walker, and Truckee rivers, and in Long and Sierra Valleys.’ Wasson, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1861, p. 114. The Washoes ‘are scattered over a large extent of country along the western border of the State’ of Nevada. Parker, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 18. The Washoes ‘frequent the settled portions of the State, principally the towns of Virginia City, Carson City, Reno, Washoe City, and Genoa. In summer they betake themselves to the mountains in the vicinity of Lake Tahoe and Hope Valley.’ Douglas, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, p. 96.

The Sampitches ‘range through the Sanpitch valley and creek on the Sevier river.’ Irish, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1865, p. 145. ‘The Sampiches are a tribe wandering on the desert to the south of Youta Lake.’ Prichard’s Researches, vol. v., p. 430. Burton mentions ‘Sampichyas’ settled at San Pete. City of the Saints, p. 578. The San Pitches ‘live in the San Pitch valley and along the Sevier river.’ Cooley, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1865, p. 18. ‘The San Pitches occupy a territory south and east of the Timpanagos.’ Tourtellotte, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869. p. 230. ‘The San Pitch Indians inhabit the country about the San Pete reservation.’ Tourtellotte, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, p. 142. ‘Les Sampectches, les Pagouts et les Ampayouts sont les plus proches voisins des Serpents.’ De Smet, Voy., p. 28.

The Uinta Utes ‘claim Uinta valley and the country along Green river.’ Forney, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1859, p. 364. The Uinta Yutas live ‘in the mountains south of Fort Bridger, and in the country along Green River.’ Burton’s City of the Saints, p. 577.

The Yam Pah Utes ‘inhabit the country south of the Uinta Valley reservation.’ Tourtellotte, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, p. 142; Id., 1869, p. 231.

The Elk Mountain Utes live in the south-eastern portion of Utah. Tourtellotte, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, p. 142; Burton’s City of the Saints, p. 578. repeats.

The Tosawees or White Knives, or as they are sometimes called Shoshoteos or Foot-men, on the Humboldt and Goose Creek. Stuart’s Montana, p. 80. ‘The Tosawitches, or White Knives, inhabit the region along the Humboldt River.’ Simpson’s Shortest Route, p. 47. The Indians about Stony Point are called Tosawwitches (white knives). Hurt, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1856.

The Weber Utes ‘live in the valley of Salt Lake.’ Tourtellotte, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 230, also in Id., 1870, p. 141. The Weber Utes live in the vicinity of Salt Lake City. Walker, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1872, p. 56. The Weber River Yutas are principally seen in Great Salt Lake City. Their chief settlement is forty miles to the north. Burton’s City of the Saints, p. 578.

The Cum Umbahs ‘are mixed-bloods of the Utes and Shoshonees, and range in the region of Salt lake, Weber and Ogden valleys in northern Utah.’ Irish, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1865, p. 144.

The Wimmenuches are ‘a tribe of the Ute Indians, whose country is principally from Tierra Amarilla northward to Ellos de los Animas and thence also to the Rio Grande. They mix with the Pi Utes in Utah.’ Davis, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 255. The Wemenuche Utes ‘roam and hunt west of the San Juan River, and their lodges are to be found along the banks of the Rio de las Animas, Rio de la Plata and Rio Mancos.’ Hanson, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, p. 155. The Weminuche Utes live near the San Juan river. Armstrong, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1872, p. 307.

The Capote Utes ‘roam from within five to fifty miles of the agency, but the greater part of the time live in the vicinity of Tierra Amarilla, from five to ten miles distant, north and south along the Rio Charmer.’ Hanson, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, p. 154; Armstrong, in Id., 1870, p. 307.

‘The Sheberetches inhabit the country south of the Yam Pah Utes.’ Tourtellotte, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, p. 142.

The Fish Utes ‘inhabit the country about Red Lake, south of the Sheberetches.’ Tourtellotte, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, p. 142.

The Tash Utes live near the Navajos. Burton’s City of the Saints, p. 578.

The Tabechya, or Sun-hunters, ‘live about Tête de Biche, near Spanish lands.’ ‘Timpenaguchya, or Timpana Yuta, corrupted into Tenpenny Utes, … dwell about the kanyon of that name, and on the east of the Sweetwater Lake.’ Burton’s City of the Saints, pp. 577-8. ‘The Timpanoge Indians formerly resided at and about Spanish Fort reservation, but they are now scattered among other bands and do not now exist as a separate tribe.’ Tourtellotte, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, p. 142; see also Id., 1869, p. 230. The Timpanogs inhabit ‘Utah valley, and the neighboring mountains.’ Cooley, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1865, p. 17.

Footnotes

[423] ‘Sometimes there is a tribal name for all who speak the same language; sometimes none, and only names for separate villages; sometimes a name for a whole tribe or family, to which is prefixed a separate word for each dialect, which is generally co-extensive with some valley. Of the first, an instance is found in the Cahrocs, on the Klamath, who are a compact tribe, with no dialects; of the second, in the large tribe on the lower Klamath, who have also no dialects, and yet have no name, except for each village; of the third, in the great family of the Pomos on Russian river, who have many dialects, and a name for each,—as Ballo Ki Pomos, Cahto Pomos, etc…. Some remnants of tribes have three or four names, all in use within a radius of that number of miles; some, again, are merged, or dovetailed, into others; and some never had a name taken from their own language, but have adopted that given them by a neighbor tribe, altogether different in speech.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. viii., p. 328.

[424] The natives ‘when asked to what tribe they belong, give the name of their chief, which is misunderstood by the inquirer to be that of the tribe itself.’ Bartlett’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 30.

[425] ‘Every fifteen or twenty miles of country seems to have been occupied by a number of small lodges or septs, speaking a different language or very divergent dialect.’ Taylor, in Bancroft’s Hand-book Almanac, 1864, p. 29. Beechey counted eleven different dialects in the mission of San Carlos. Voyage, vol. ii., p. 73. ‘Almost every 15 or 20 leagues, you find a distinct dialect; so different, that in no way does one resemble the other.’ Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., p. 240. ‘From the San Joaquin northward to the Klamath there are some hundreds of small tribes.’ Henley, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 304.

[426] Hale calls them the Lutuami, or Tlamatl, and adds, ‘the first of these names is the proper designation of the people in their own language. The second is that by which they are known to the Chinooks, and through them, to the whites.’ Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 218.

[427] ‘There true name is Moüdoc—a word which originated with the Shasteecas, who applied it indefinitely to all wild Indians or enemies.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, 1873, vol. x., p. 535. ‘Also called Moahtockna.’ Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, June 22, 1860. ‘The word Modoc is a Shasta Indian word, and means all distant, stranger, or hostile Indians, and became applied to these Indians by white men in early days, by hearing the Shastas speak of them.’ Steele, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1861, p. 121.

[428] Speaking of Indians at the junction of the Salmon and Klamath rivers: ‘They do not seem to have any generic appellation for themselves, but apply the terms “Kahruk,” up, and “Youruk,” down, to all who live above or below themselves, without discrimination, in the same manner that the others (at the junction of the Trinity) do “Peh-tsik,” and “Poh-lik.”‘ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 151.

[429] ‘The Bay (Humboldt) Indians call themselves, as we were informed, Wish-osk; and those of the hills Te-ok-a-wilk; but the tribes to the northward denominate both those of the Bay and Eel river, We-yot, or Walla-walloo.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 133.

[430] They are also called Lototen or Tututamy, Totutime, Toutouni, Tootooton, Tutoten, Tototin, Tototutna, etc.

[431] For further particulars as to location of tribes, see notes on Tribal Boundaries, at the end of this chapter.

[432] Mr. Gibbs, speaking of the tribes seen on the Klamath and Trinity rivers, says: ‘In person these people are far superior to any we had met below; the men being larger, more muscular, and with countenances denoting greater force and energy of character, as well as intelligence. Indeed, they approach rather to the races of the plains, than to the wretched “diggers” of the greater part of California.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 140. ‘The Indians in the northern portion of California and in Oregon, are vastly superior in stature and intellect to those found in the southern part of California.’ Hubbard, in Golden Era, 1856. The Indians on the Trinity ‘are of another tribe and nature from those along the Sacramento.’ Kelly’s Excursion, vol. ii., p. 166. Speaking of the Wallies, they, ‘in many respects differ from their brethren in the middle and lower counties of the State. They are lighter colored and more intelligent.’ Johnson, in Overland Monthly, 1869, vol. ii., p. 536.

[433] ‘The males are tall, averaging in height about five feet eight inches, are well proportioned, athletic, and possess the power of endurance to a great degree.’ Hubbard, in Golden Era, March, 1856. ‘The people here (Rogue River) were larger and stronger than those in South California, but not handsomer.’ Pfeiffer’s Second Journ., p. 317. Speaking of Indians on the Klamath River, ‘their stature is a trifle under the American; they have well-sized bodies, erect and strong-knit.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. viii., p. 328. On the upper Trinity they are ‘large and powerful men, of a swarthier complexion, fierce and intractable.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 129. Near Mount Shasta, ‘a fine-looking race, being much better proportioned than those more to the northward, and their features more regular.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 254. At Klamath Lake, ‘well-grown and muscular.’ Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 277. On the Trinity, ‘majestic in person, chivalrous in bearing.’ Kelly’s Excursion, vol. ii., p. 166.

[434] In the vicinity of Klamath lake ‘the squaws are short in comparison with the men, and, for Indians have tolerably regular features.’ Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 277. In the Rogue River region ‘some of them are quite pretty, usually well-formed, handsomely developed, small features, and very delicate and well-turned hands and feet…. They are graceful in their movements and gestures, … always timid and modest.’ Hubbard, in Golden Era, March, 1856. On the Klamath River, ‘with their smooth, hazel skins, oval faces, plump and brilliant eyes, some of the young maidens,—barring the tattooed chins,—have a piquant and splendid beauty.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. viii., p. 329. On the Klamath and Trinity Rivers, many of the women ‘were exceedingly pretty; having large almond-shaped eyes, sometimes of a hazel color, and with the red showing through the cheeks. Their figures were full, their chests ample; and the younger ones had well-shaped busts, and rounded limbs.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 140. But as to the beauty of women tastes never agree; Mr Kelly in his Excursion to Cal., vol. ii., p. 167, speaking of a band of ‘noble-looking Indians’ which he met near Trinity River, says that they were ‘accompanied by a few squaws, who, strange to say, in this latitude are ugly, ill-favoured, stunted in stature, lumpy in figure, and awkward in gait,’ and concerning the Rogue River Indians a lady states that ‘among the women … there were some extremely clumsy figures.’ Pfeiffer’s Second Journ., p. 317. The Pit-River Indian girls ‘have the smallest and prettiest feet and hands I have ever seen.’ Miller’s Life amongst the Modocs, p. 374.

[435] At Crescent City, Mr Powers saw some ‘broad-faced squaws of an almost African blackness;’ the Patawats in the vicinity of Mad River and Humboldt Bay are ‘blackskinned, pudgy in stature; well cushioned with adipose tissue;’ at Redwood Creek ‘like most of the coast tribes they are very dark colored, squat in stature, rather fuller-faced than the interior Indians.’ Pomo, MS. At Trinidad Bay ‘their persons were in general indifferently, but stoutly made, of a lower stature than any tribe of Indians we had before seen.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 246. At the mouth of Eel River the Weeyots ‘are generally repulsive in countenance as well as filthy in person…. Their heads are disproportionately large; their figures, though short, strong and well developed.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 127. Carl Meyer names the Indians he saw at Trinidad Bay, Allequas, or Wood-Indians (Holzindianer). I do not find the name anywhere else, and judging by his description, they appear to differ considerably from the natives seen in the same vicinity by Vancouver or Mr Powers; he, Meyer, says; ‘Sie sind von unserm Wuchse, starke und beleibte, kräftige Gestalten. Ihre Haut ist wenig zimmet oder lohfarbig, eher weisslich, wie die der antisischen Inkas gewesen sein soll; bei der Jugend und besonders beim weiblichen Geschlechte schimmert oft ein sanftes Roth auf den Wangen hervor. Ihr Kopf ist wenig gedrückt, die Stirn hoch, der Gesichtswinkel gegen 80 Grad, die Nase römisch gekrümmt, das Auge gross in wenig quadratisch erweiterten Augenhöhlen und intelligent, die Lippen nicht aufgetrieben, das Kinn oval, und Hände und Füsse klein.’ Nach dem Sacramento, p. 215.

[436] At Pitt River they ‘have no dress except a buckskin thrown around them.’ The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS. Near Mount Shasta ‘they can scarcely be said to wear any dress, except a mantle of deer or wolf skin. A few of them had deer-skins belted around their waists, with a highly ornamented girdle.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 255. Near Pitt River, the Indians were nearly naked. Abbott, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. vi., p. 61. At Trinidad Bay ‘their clothing was chiefly made of the skins of land animals, with a few indifferent small skins of the sea-otter.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 247. ‘The men, however, do not wear any covering, except the cold is intense, when indeed they put upon their shoulders the skins of sea-wolves, otters, deer, or other animals.’ Maurelle’s Jour., p. 16. ‘They were clothed, for the most part, in skins.’ Greenhow’s Hist. Ogn., p. 118. On Smith River they were ‘in a complete state of nature, excepting only a kind of apology for an apron, worn by the women, sometimes made of elk’s skin, and sometimes of grass.’ Pfeiffer’s Second Journ., p. 313. Among the Weeyots at Eel River the men ‘wore a deer-skin robe over the shoulder, and the women a short petticoat of fringe.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 127. On Klamath River their only dress was the fringed petticoat, or at most, a deerskin robe thrown back over the shoulders, in addition. Id., p. 141. ‘The primitive dress of the men is simply a buckskin girdle about the loins; of the women, a chemise of the same material, or of braided grass, reaching from the breast to the knees.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. viii., p. 329. ‘Were quite naked excepting the maro.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 253. The Klamath Lake Indians ‘wear little more than the breech-cloth.’ Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 277. ‘They were all well dressed in blankets and buckskin.’ Abbott, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. vi., p. 70. Carl Meyer, speaking of a tribe he names Allequas, at Trinidad Bay, says: ‘der Mann geht im Sommer ganz nackt, im Winter trägt er eine selbst gegerbte Hirsch- oder Rehdecke über die Schultern.’ ‘Die Allequas-Weiber tragen im Sommer von Bast-Schnüren oder von Rehfellstreifen, im Winter von Pelzwerk oder Gänseflaum verfertigte Schürzen, die bis auf die Knie reichen.’ Nach dem Sacramento, p. 217, 219. ‘The Klamaths, during the summer go naked, in winter they use the skins of rabbits and wild fowl for a covering.’ Thompson, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 283.

[437] ‘An Indian will trap and slaughter seventy-five rabbits for one of these robes, making it double, with fur inside and out.’ Powers’ Pomo, MS.

[438] Fremont’s Explor. Ex., p. 204; Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., pp. 107, 127; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., 282.

[439] Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 282; Fremont’s Explor. Ex., p. 204.

[440] Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 142.

[441] Maurelle’s Jour., p. 17; Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., pp. 127, 142; Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. viii., p. 329; Pfeiffer’s Second Journ., p. 317. ‘Die Allequas (Trinidad Bay) haben starkes, ziemlich geschmeidiges Haar, das der Männer und der Kinder wird bis auf einen Zoll Länge regelmässig abgebrannt, so dass sie das Aussehen von Titusköpfen erhalten. Zuweilen sieht man die Männer auch mit einem ziemlich langen, durch eine harzige Flüssigkeit gesteiften, aufgerichteten Zopf, der als Schmuck betrachtet, bei festlichen Anlässen, oder im Kriege mit rothen oder weissen Federn geziert wird, und alsdann dem Schopf eines Wiedehopfs gleicht.’ Meyer, Nach dem Sacramento, p. 215. ‘Both men and women part their hair in the middle, the men cut it square on the neck and wear it rather long, the women wear theirs long, plaited in two braids, hanging down the back.’ The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS.

[442] Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 127. ‘Barthaare haben sie, wie alle Indianer Nord-Amerikas, nur wenig; sie werden ausgerupft, und nur in der Trauer stehen gelassen.’ Meyer, Nach dem Sacramento, pp. 215-16.

[443] The men tattoo so that they may ‘be recognized if stolen by Modocs.’ ‘With the women it is entirely for ornament.’ The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS. At Rogue River the women ‘were tattooed on the hands and arms as well as the chin.’ Pfeiffer’s Second Journ., p. 317. At Trinidad Bay ‘they ornamented their lower lip with three perpendicular columns of punctuation, one from each corner of the mouth and one in the middle, occupying three fifths of the chin.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 247. Maurelle says the same, and adds that a space is left between each line, ‘which is much larger in the young than in the older women, whose faces are generally covered with punctures.’ Jour., p. 17. At Mad River and Humboldt Bay, the same, ‘and also lines of small dots on the backs of their hands.’ Powers’ Pomo, MS. At mouth of Eel River ‘both sexes tattoo; the men on their arms and breasts; the women from inside the under lip down to and beneath the chin. The extent of this disfigurement indicates to a certain extent, the age and condition of the person.’ ‘In the married women the lines are extended up above the corners of the mouth.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., pp. 127, 142. ‘I have never observed any particular figures or designs upon their persons; but the tattooing is generally on the chin, though sometimes on the wrist and arm. Tattooing has mostly been on the persons of females, and seems to be esteemed as an ornament, not apparently indicating rank or condition.’ Johnston, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 223. The squaws among the Cahrocs on the Klamath ‘tattoo, in blue, three narrow fern-leaves, perpendicularly on the chin.’ ‘For this purpose they are said to employ soot, gathered from a stove, mingled with the juice of a certain plant.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. viii., p. 329. Among the Shastys the women ‘are tattooed in lines from the mouth to the chin.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 218. Among the Allequas at Trinidad bay: ‘Die Mädchen werden im fünften Jahre mit einem schwarzen Streifen von beiden Mundwinkeln bis unter das Kinn tättowirt, welchem Striche dann alle fünf Jahre ein parallellaufender beigefügt wird, so dass man an diesen Zeichnungen leicht das Alter jeder Indianerin übersehen kann…. Die Männer bemalen sich bei besondern Anlässen mit einem Tannenfirniss, den sie selbst bereiten, das Gesicht, und zeichnen allerlei geheimnissvolle Figuren und Verzierungen auf Wange, Nase und Stirn, indem sie mit einem hölzernen Stäbchen den noch weichen Firniss auf den einzelnen Stellen von der Haut wegheben.’ Meyer, Nach dem Sacramento, p. 216.

[444] ‘I never saw two alike.’ The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS. At Klamath lake they are ‘painted from their heads to their waists all colours and patterns.’ Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 277. The Modocs ‘paint themselves with various pigments formed from rotten wood, different kinds of earth, &c.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. x., p. 536. Kane ‘took a sketch of a Chastay (Shasta) female slave (among the Chinooks) the lower part of whose face, from the corners of the mouth to the ears and downwards, was tattooed of a bluish colour. The men of this tribe do not tattoo, but paint their faces like other Indians.’ Wand., p. 182. Ida Pfeiffer, Second Journ., p. 315, saw Indians on Smith river, who painted their faces ‘in a most detestable manner. They first smeared them with fish fat and then they rubbed in the paint, sometimes passing a finger over it in certain lines, so as to produce a pattern.’ Miller’s Life Amongst the Modocs, p. 361.

[445] ‘No taste in bead work.’ The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS. ‘In den Ohren tragen die Allequas (at Trinidad bay) Schmucksachen, welche sie theils von den Weissen erhalten, theils aus Holz nachahmen; auch sind diese Gegenstände zuweilen durch Steinchen ersetzt, die talismanische Kräfte besitzen sollen. Nur die in den fernen Bergen wohnenden tragen hölzerne oder auch eiserne Ringe in den Nasenwandungen.’ Meyer, Nach dem Sacramento, p. 216; Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 142; Pfeiffer’s Second Journ., p. 317; Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. x., p. 537; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., plate xiv.

[446] Maurelle’s Jour., p. 18.

[447] Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 247.

[448] ‘The lodges are dome-shaped; like beaver-houses, an arched roof covers a deep pit sunk in the ground, the entrance to which is a round hole.’ Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 278. ‘Large round huts, perhaps 20 feet in diameter, with rounded tops, on which was the door by which they descended into the interior.’ Fremont’s Explor. Ex., p. 204. ‘The Modoc excavates a circular space from two to four feet deep, then makes over it a conical structure of puncheons, which is strongly braced up with timbers, frequently hewn and a foot square.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. x., p. 536; Id., vol. ix., p. 156. ‘The style was very substantial, the large poles requiring five or six men to lift.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 175. ‘Have only an opening at the summit.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 261. On the inside of the door they frequently place a sliding panel. ‘The Kailtas build wigwams in a conical shape—as all tribes on the Trinity do—but they excavate no cellars.’ Powers’ Pomo, MS. See full description of dwellings, by Johnston, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 223. The entrance is a ’round hole just large enough to crawl into, which is on a level with the surface of the ground, or is cut through the roof.’ Johnson, in Overland Monthly, vol. ii., p. 536; Miller’s Life Amongst the Modocs, p. 377.

[449] ‘Built of plank, rudely wrought.’ The roofs are not ‘horizontal like those at Nootka, but rise with a small degree of elevation to a ridge in the middle.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., pp. 241-2. Well built, of boards; often twenty feet square; roof pitched over a ridge-pole; ground usually excavated 3 or 4 feet; some cellars floored and walled with stone. Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 140. ‘The dwellings of the Hoopas were built of large planks, about 1½ inches thick, from two to four feet wide, and from six to twelve feet in length.’ Trinity Journal, April, 1857. ‘The floors of these huts are perfectly smooth and clean, with a square hole two feet deep in the centre, in which they make their fire.’ Maurelle’s Jour., p. 17. ‘The huts have never but one apartment. The fire is kindled in the centre, the smoke escaping through the crevices in the roof.’ Hubbard, in Golden Era, March, 1856. The houses of the Eurocs and Cahrocs ‘are sometimes constructed on the level earth, but oftener they excavate a round cellar, four or five feet deep, and twelve or fifteen feet in diameter.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. viii., p. 530; Meyer, Nach dem Sacramento, p. 220; The Shastas and their neighbors, MS.

[450] Kit Carson says of lodges seen near Klamath lake: ‘They were made of the broad leaves of the swamp flag, which were beautifully and intricately woven together.’ Peters’ Life of Carson, p. 263. ‘The wild sage furnishes them shelter in the heat of summer, and, like the Cayote, they burrow in the earth for protection from the inclemencies of winter.’ Thompson, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 283. ‘Their lodges are generally mere temporary structures, scarcely sheltering them from the pelting storm.’ Palmer, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 262.

[451] ‘Slightly constructed, generally of poles.’ Emmons, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 218. ‘The earth in the centre scooped out, and thrown up in a low, circular embankment.’ Turner, in Overland Monthly, p. xi., p. 21.

[452] Powers’ Pomo, MS.

[453] ‘The rocks supply edible shell-fish.’ Schumacher’s Oregon Antiquities, MS. ‘The deer and elk are mostly captured by driving them into traps and pits.’ ‘Small game is killed with arrows, and sometimes elk and deer are dispatched in the same way.’ Hubbard, in Golden Era, April, 1856. ‘The elk they usually take in snares.’ Pfeiffer’s Second Journ., p. 317. ‘The mountain Indians subsisted largely on game, which of every variety was very abundant, and was killed with their bows and arrows, in the use of which they were very expert.’ Wiley, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1867, p. 497. ‘Die Indianer am Pittflusse machen Graben oder Löcher von circa 5 Kubikfuss, bedecken diese mit Zweigen und Gras ganz leicht, sodass die Thiere, wenn sie darüber gejagt werden, hinein fallen und nicht wieder herauskönnen. Wilde Gänse fangen sie mit Netzen … Nur selten mögen Indianer den grauen Bär jagen.’ Wimmel, Californien, p. 181; The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS.

[454] Schumacher, Oregon Antiquities, MS., classifies their ancient arrow and spear points thus: Long barbs with projections, short barbs with projections, and long and short barbs without projections. ‘The point of the spear is composed of a small bone needle, which sits in a socket, and pulls out as soon as the fish starts. A string connecting the spear handle and the center of the bone serves, when pulled, to turn the needle cross wise in the wound.’ Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, March 8, 1861; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 146.

[455] The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS.; Hubbard, in Golden Era, April, 1856; Wiley, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1867, p. 497. ‘In spawning-time the fish school up from Clear Lake in extraordinary numbers, so that the Indians have only to put a slight obstruction in the river, when they can literally shovel them out.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. x., p. 537; Schumacher’s Oregon Antiquities, MS.

[456] ‘The camas is a bulbus root, shaped much like an onion.’ Miller’s Life Amongst the Modocs, p. 22.

[457] ‘A root about an inch long, and as large as one’s little finger, of a bitter-sweetish and pungent taste, something like ginseng.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. x., p. 537.

[458] ‘An aquatic plant, with a floating leaf, very much like that of a pond-lily, in the centre of which is a pod resembling a poppy-head, full of farinaceous seeds.’ Ib. See also Meyer, Nach dem Sacramento, p. 222. ‘Their principal food is the kamas root, and the seed obtained from a plant growing in the marshes of the lake, resembling, before hulled, a broom-corn seed.’ Palmer, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 263.

[459] The Klamaths ‘subsist upon roots and almost every living thing within their reach, not excepting reptiles, crickets, ants, etc.’ Thompson, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 283; Heintzelman, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 391; Roseborough’s letter to the author, MS.

[460] Turner, in Overland Monthly, vol. xi., p. 24.

[461] At Rogue River, ‘the men go in the morning into the river, but, like the Malays, bring all the dirt out on their skins that they took in.’ Pfeiffer’s Second Journ., p. 317. At Pitt River they are ‘disgusting in their habits.’ Abbott, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. vi., p. 61; The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS. ‘Of the many hundreds I have seen, there was not one who still observed the aboriginal mode of life, that had not a sweet breath. This is doubtless due to the fact that, before they became civilized, they ate their food cold.’ Powers’ Pomo, MS. ‘They always rise at the first dawn of day, and plunge into the river.’ Hubbard, in Golden Era, March, 1856. ‘Their persons are unusually clean, as they use both the sweat-house and the cold-bath constantly.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 142. ‘Mit Tagesanbruch begibt sich der Allequa (Trinidad Bay) in jeder Jahreszeit zur nahen Quelle, wo er sich am ganzen Leibe wäscht und in den Strahlen der aufsteigenden Sonne trocknen lässt.’ Meyer, Nach dem Sacramento, p. 221; Roseborough’s letter to the author, MS.

[462] Carl Meyer, after describing the bow, adds: ‘Fernere Waffen der Allequas sind; das Obsidian-Beil oder Tomahawk, die Keule, die Lanze und der Wurfspiess.’ Nach dem Sacramento, p. 218. This statement, I think, may be taken with some allowance, as nowhere else do I find mention of a tomahawk being used by the Californians.

[463] Schumacher, Oregon Antiquities, MS., speaking of an ancient spear-point, says, ‘the pointed teeth show it to have been a very dangerous weapon.’ Roseborough’s letter to the author, MS. On the Klamath River, ‘among the skins used for quivers, I noticed the otter, wild-cat, fisher, fawn, grey fox and others.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 141. Near Mt Shasta, ‘bows and arrows are very beautifully made: the former are of yew, and about three feet long … backed very neatly with sinew, and painted…. The arrows are upwards of thirty inches long.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 255. At Port Trinidad, ‘arrows are carried in quivers of wood or bone, and hang from their wrist or neck.’ Maurelle’s Jour., p. 20. On Pigeon River ‘their arrows were in general tipped with copper or iron.’ Greenhow’s Hist. Ogn., p. 110. The Pit River ‘arrows are made in three parts.’ Abbott, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. vi., p. 61. The Allequas at Trinidad Bay, described by Carl Meyer, carried their arrows either ‘schussfertig in der Hand oder in einem über die Schultern geworfenen Köcher aus Fuchs- oder Biberpelz. Der Bogen ist aus einer starken, elastischen Rothtannenwurzel verfertigt, etwa 3½ Fuss lang und auf der Rückseite mit einer Bärensehne überklebt.’ Nach dem Sacramento, p. 217. See Mofras, Explor., Atlas, plate xxv. Speaking of the quiver, Mr Powers says: ‘in the animal’s head they stuff a quantity of grass or moss, as a cushion for the arrow-heads to rest in, which prevents them from being broken.’ Overland Monthly, vol. viii., p. 532. ‘Their arrows can only be extracted from the flesh with the knife.’ Cutts’ Conquest of Cal., p. 170. ‘Am oberen Theile (California) ist der Bogen von einer Lage von Hirsch-Sehnen verstärkt und elastisch gemacht. Die Pfeile bestehen aus einem rohrartigen Gewächse von mässiger Länge, an der Spitze mit Obsidian … versehen, ihre Länge ist 2 Zoll, ihre Breite 1 Zoll und die Dicke¹/₃ Zoll, scharfkantig und spitz zulaufend.’ Wimmel, Californien, p. 180.

[464] Powers’ Pomo, MS.; Schumacher’s Oregon Antiquities, MS.; The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS.

[465] Hist. Mag., vol. iii., p. 214.

[466] Johnson, in Overland Monthly, vol. ii., p. 536. At Trinidad Bay ‘zuweilen werden die Pfeile mit dem Safte des Sumachbaumes vergiftet, und alsdann nur zum Erlegen wilder Raubthiere gebraucht.’ Meyer, Nach dem Sacramento, p. 218. ‘Einige Stämme vergiften die Spitzen ihrer Pfeile auf folgende Weise: Sie reizen nämlich eine Klapperschlange mit einer vorgehaltenen Hirschleber, worin sie beisst, und nachdem nun die Leber mit dem Gifte vollständig imprägnirt ist, wird sie vergraben und muss verfaulen; hierin wird nun die Spitze eingetaucht und dann getrocknet.’ Wimmel, Californien, p. 180. The Pitt River Indians ‘use the poison of the rattle-snake, by grinding the head of that reptile into an impalpable powder, which is then applied by means of the putrid blood and flesh of the dog to the point of the weapon.’ Gross’ System of Surgery, vol. i., p. 321. ‘The Pitt River Indians poisoned their arrows in a putrid deer’s liver. This is a slow poison, however, and sometimes will not poison at all.’ The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS.; Schumacher’s Oregon Antiquities, MS.

[467] Among other things seen by Meyer were, ‘noch grössere Bogen, die ihnen als bedeutende Ferngeschosse dienen. Ein solcher ist 6 Fuss lang, und der Indianer legt sich auf die Erde, um denselben zu spannen, indem er das rechte Knie in den Bogen einstemmt und mit beiden Armen nachhilft.’ The bow and arrow, knife, and war-club, constitute their weapons. In one of their lodges I noticed an elk-skin shield, so constructed as to be impervious to the sharpest arrows. Palmer, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 262. Miller mentions a Modoc who was ‘painted red, half-naked, and held a tomahawk in his hand.’ Life Amongst the Modocs, p. 20.

[468] Salem Statesman, April, 1857.

[469] Hence, if we may credit Miller, Life Amongst the Modocs, p. 373, the name Pitt River.

[470] The Hoopas exacted tribute from all the surrounding tribes. At the time the whites arrived the Chimalaquays were paying them tribute in deer-skins at the rate of twenty-five cents per head. Powers’ Pomo, MS. The Hoopahs have a law requiring those situated on the Trinity, above them to pay tribute. Humboldt Times, Nov. 1857; S. F. Evening Bulletin, Nov. 23, 1857.

[471] The Sassics, Cahrocs, Hoopahs, Klamaths and Rogue River Indians, take no scalps, but decapitate the slain, or cut off their hands and feet. Pfeiffer’s Second Journ., p. 317.

[472] The Veeards on Lower Humboldt Bay ‘took elk-horns and rubbed them on stones for days together, to sharpen them into axes and wedges.’ Powers’ Pomo, MS. On the Klamath river they had ‘spoons neatly made of bone and horn.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 146.

[473] ‘For basket making, they use the roots of pine-trees, the stem of the spice-bush, and ornament with a kind of grass which looks like a palm leaf, and will bleach white. They also stain it purple with elder berries, and green with soapstone.’ … ‘The Pitt River Indians excel all others in basket-making, but are not particularly good at bead work.’ The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS.; Fremont’s Explor. Ex., p. 204; Johnson, in Overland Monthly, vol. ii., p. 536; Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 134; Powers’ Pomo, MS.

[474] Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 253; Emmons, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 218.

[475] The boats formerly used by the Modocs were ‘quite rude and unshapely concerns, compared with those of the lower Klamath, but substantial and sometimes large enough to carry 1800 pounds of merchandise.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. viii., p. 532, vol. x., p. 536. ‘Blunt at both ends, with a small projection in the stern for a seat.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 142. ‘Those on Rogue river were roughly built—some of them scow fashion, with flat bottom.’ Emmons, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 218. The Pitt River Indians ‘used boats made from pine; they burn them out … about twenty feet long, some very good ones.’ The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS.

[476] Chase, in Overland Monthly, vol. ii., p. 433. ‘A kind of bead made from a shell procured on the coast. These they string and wear about the neck…. Another kind is a shell about an inch long, which looks like a porcupine quill. They are more valuable than the other. They also use them as nose-ornaments.’ The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS. ‘The unit of currency is a string of the length of a man’s arm, with a certain number of the longer shells below the elbow, and a certain number of the shorter ones above.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. viii., p. 329. ‘A rare shell, spiral in shape, varying from one to two inches in length, and about the size of a crowquill, called by the natives, Siwash, is used as money.’ Hubbard, in Golden Era, March, 1856.

[477] ‘The ownership of a (white) deer-skin, constitutes a claim to chieftainship, readily acknowledged by all the dusky race on this coast.’ Humboldt Times, Dec., 1860.

[478] ‘Property consists in women, ornaments made of rare feathers and shells, also furs and skins.’ Hubbard, in Golden Era, March, 1856. Their wealth ‘consisted chiefly of white deerskins, canoes, the scalp of the red-headed woodpecker, and aliquachiek.’ Wiley, in Ind. Aff. Rept. Joint Spec. Com., 1867, p. 497.

[479] ‘Have no tribal organization, no such thing as public offence.’ Roseborough’s letter to the author, MS. A Pitt River chief tried the white man’s code, but so unpopular was it, that he was obliged to abandon it. The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS. Among the Klamath and Trinity tribes the power of the chief ‘is insufficient to control the relations of the several villages, or keep down the turbulence of individuals.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., pp. 139-140. The Cahrocs, Eurocs, Hoopas, and Kailtas, have a nominal chief for each village, but his power is extremely limited and each individual does as he likes. Among the Tolewas in Del Norte County, money makes the chief. The Modocs and Patawats have an hereditary chieftainship. Powers’ Pomo, MS. At Trinidad Bay they were ‘governed by a ruler, who directs where they shall go both to hunt and fish.’ Maurelle’s Jour., p. 18. ‘Der Häuptling ist sehr geachtet; er hat über Handel und Wandel, Leben und Tod seiner Unterthanen zu verfügen, und seine Macht vererbt sich auf seinen Erstgebornen.’ Meyer, Nach dem Sacramento, p. 223. The chief ‘obtains his position from his wealth, and usually manages to transmit his effects and with them his honors, to his posterity.’ Hubbard, in Golden Era, March, 1856. Formerly ‘the different rancherias had chiefs, or heads, known as Mow-wee-mas, their influence being principally derived from their age, number of relatives, and wealth.’ Wiley, in Ind. Aff. Rept. Joint Spec. Com., p. 497.

[480] The Cahrocs compound for murder by payment of one string. Among the Patawats the average fine for murdering a man is ten strings, for killing a woman five strings, worth about $100 and $50 respectively. ‘An average Patawut’s life is considered worth about six ordinary canoes, each of which occupies two Indians probably three months in making, or, in all, tantamount to the labor of one man for a period of three years.’ ‘The Hoopas and Kailtas also paid for murder, or their life was taken by the relatives of the deceased.’ Powers’ Pomo, MS. ‘They seem to do as they please, and to be only governed by private revenge. If one man kills another the tribe or family of the latter kill the murderer, unless he buy himself off.’ The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS.

[481] Drew’s Owyhee Reconnaissance, p. 17.

[482] The Cahrocs, Eurocs, Hoopahs, and Patawats, all acquire their wives by purchase. The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS.; Powers’ Pomo, MS. ‘Wenn ein Allequa seine künftige Lebensgefährtin unter den Schönen seines Stammes erwählt hat und sich verheirathen will, muss er dem Mauhemi (chief) eine armslange Muschelschnur vorzeigen.’ Meyer, Nach dem Sacramento, p. 223. The mountain Indians seldom, if ever, intermarry with those on the coast. Wiley, in Ind. Aff. Rept. Joint Spec. Com., 1867, p. 497; Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 127. Buy wives with shell-money.Pfeiffer’s Second Journ. Among the Modocs ‘the women are offered for sale to the highest buyer.’ Meacham’s Lecture, in S. F. Alta California, Oct. 6, 1861; Miller’s Life Amongst the Modocs.

[483] Polygamy is common among the Modocs. Meacham’s Lecture, in S. F. Alta California, Oct. 6, 1873. On Pitt River a chief sometimes has five wives. ‘The most jealous people in the world.’ The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS.; Roseborough’s letter to the author, MS. ‘Among the tribes in the north of the State adultery is punished by the death of the child.’ Taylor, in California Farmer, March 8, 1861. ‘The males have as many wives as they are able to purchase;’ adultery committed by a woman is punished with death. Hubbard, in Golden Era, March, 1856. Among the Cahrocs polygamy is not tolerated; among the Modocs polygamy prevails, and the women have considerable privilege. The Hoopa adulterer loses one eye, the adulteress is exempt from punishment. Powers’ Pomo, MS. The Weeyots at Eel river ‘have as many wives as they please.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 127. At Trinidad Bay ‘we found out that they had a plurality of wives.’ Maurelle’s Jour., p. 19.

[484] All the young unmarried women are a common possession. Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. viii., p. 330. The women bewail their virginity for three nights before their marriage. Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 173. If we believe Powers, they cannot usually have much to bewail.

[485] Boys are disgraced by work. The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS. Women work, while men gamble or sleep. Wiley, in Ind. Aff. Rept. Joint Spec. Com., 1867, p. 497; Parker, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 242; Roseborough’s letter to the author, MS.

[486] Kane’s Wand., p. 182.

[487] For the god Chareya, see Bancroft’s Nat. Races, vol. iii., pp. 90, 161.

[488] Pfeiffer’s Second Journ., p. 318. The Pitt River Indians ‘sing as they gamble and play until they are so hoarse they cannot speak.’ The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS.

[489] Chase, in Overland Monthly, vol. ii., p. 433.

[490] ‘They used tobacco, which they smoaked in small wooden pipes, in form of a trumpet, and procured from little gardens, where they had planted it.’ Maurelle’s Jour., p. 21.

[491] The Pitt River Indians ‘give no medicines.’ The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS. ‘The prevailing diseases are venereal, scrofula and rheumatism.’ Many die of consumption. Force, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1871, p. 157. At the mouth of Eel river ‘the principal diseases noticed, were sore eyes and blindness, consumption, and a species of leprosy.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 128. They suffer from a species of lung fever. Geiger, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1858, p. 289. ‘A disease was observed among them (the Shastas) which had the appearance of the leprosy.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 255.

[492] ‘The only medicine I know of is a root used for poultices, and another root or plant for an emetic.’ The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS. ‘The root of a parasite fern, found growing on the tops of the fir trees (collque nashul), is the principal remedy. The plant in small doses is expectorant and diurtetic; hence it is used to relieve difficulties of the lungs and kidneys; and, in large doses, it becomes sedative and is an emmenagogue; hence, it relieves fevers, and is useful in uterine diseases, and produces abortions. The squaws use the root extensively for this last mentioned purpose.’ Hubbard, in Golden Era, March, 1856.

[493] A Pitt River doctor told his patient that for his fee ‘he must have his horse or he would not let him get well.’ The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS.; Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. viii., p. 428; Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 175.

[494] The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS.; Rector, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1862, p. 261; Ostrander, in Id., 1857, p. 369; Miller, in Id., p. 361.

[495] Temescal is an Aztec word defined by Molina, Vocabulario, ‘Temazcalli, casilla como estufa, adonde se bañan y sudan.’ The word was brought to this region and applied to the native sweat-houses by the Franciscan Fathers. Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 72, gives ‘sweat-house’ in the Chemehuevi language, as pahcaba.

[496] Roseborough’s letter to the author, MS.; The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS.; Pfeiffer’s Second Journ., p. 317; Powers’ Pomo, MS.; Chase, in Overland Monthly, vol. ii., p. 432.

[497] Meacham’s Lecture on the Modocs, in S. F. Alta California, Oct. 6, 1873; The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS.

[498] On Pitt River they burn their dead and heap stones over the ashes for a monument. ‘No funeral ceremonies.’ The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS. On the ocean frontier of south Oregon and north California ‘the dead are buried with their faces looking to the west.’ Hubbard, in Golden Era, March, 1856. The Patawats and Chillulas bury their dead. The Tolewahs are not allowed to name the dead. Powers’ Pomo, MS. ‘It is one of the most strenuous Indian laws that whoever mentions the name of a deceased person is liable to a heavy fine, the money being paid to the relatives.’ Chase, in Overland Monthly, vol. ii., p. 431. ‘The bodies had been doubled up, and placed in a sitting posture in holes. The earth, when replaced, formed conical mounds over the heads.’ Abbott, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. vi., p. 69. ‘They bury their dead under the noses of the living, and with them all their worldly goods. If a man of importance, his house is burned and he is buried on its site.’ Johnson, in Overland Monthly, vol. ii., p. 536. ‘The chick or ready money, is placed in the owner’s grave, but the bow and quiver become the property of the nearest male relative. Chiefs only receive the honors of a fence, surmounted with feathers, round the grave.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 175. ‘Upon the death of one of these Indians they raised a sort of funeral cry, and afterward burned the body within the house of their ruler.’ Maurelle’s Jour., p. 19.

[499] Muck-a-muck, food. In the Chinook Jargon ‘to eat; to bite; food. Muckamuck chuck, to drink water.’ Dict. Chinook Jargon, or Indian Trade Language, p. 12.

[500] In the vicinity of Nootka Sound and the Columbia River, the first United States traders with the natives were from Boston; the first English vessels appeared about the same time, which was during the reign of George III. Hence in the Chinook Jargon we find ‘Boston, an American; Boston illahie, the United States;’ and ‘King George, English—King George man, an Englishman.’

[501] ‘They will often go three or four miles out of their way, to avoid passing a place which they think to be haunted.’ The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS.

[502] The Pitt River Indians ‘are very shrewd in the way of stealing, and will beat a coyote. They are full of cunning.’ The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS. They ‘are very treacherous and bloody in their dispositions.’ Abbott, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. vi., p. 61. ‘The Indians of the North of California stand at the very lowest point of culture.’ Pfeiffer’s Second Journ., p. 316. ‘Incapable of treachery, but ready to fight to the death in avenging an insult or injury. They are active and energetic in the extreme.’ Kelly’s Excursion to Cal., vol. ii., p. 166. At Klamath Lake they are noted for treachery. Fremont’s Explor. Ex., p. 205. ‘The Tolowas resemble the Hoopas in character, being a bold and masterly race, formidable in battle, aggressive and haughty.’ The Patawats are ‘extremely timid and inoffensive.’ The Chihulas, like most of the coast tribes ‘are characterized by hideous and incredible superstitions.’ The Modocs ‘are rather a cloddish, indolent, ordinarily good-natured race, but treacherous at bottom, sullen when angered, and notorious for keeping punic faith. Their bravery nobody can dispute.’ The Yukas are a ‘tigerish, truculent, sullen, thievish, and every way bad, but brave race.’ Powers’ Pomo, MS. On Trinity River ‘they have acquired the vices of the whites without any of their virtues.’ Heintzelman, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 391. Above the forks of the main Trinity they are ‘fierce and intractable.’ On the Klamath they ‘have a reputation for treachery, as well as revengefulness; are thievish, and much disposed to sulk if their whims are not in every way indulged.’ They ‘blubber like a schoolboy at the application of a switch.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., pp. 139, 141, 176. The Rogue River Indians and Shastas ‘are a warlike race, proud and haughty, but treacherous and very degraded in their moral nature.’ Miller, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 361. At Rogue River they are ‘brave, haughty, indolent, and superstitious.’ Ostrander, in Id., 1857, p. 363; Roseborough’s letter to the author, MS.

[503] These are not to be confounded with the Yukas in Round Valley, Tehama County.

[504] Spelled Walhalla on some maps.

[505] In the vicinity of Fort Ross, ‘Die Indianer sind von mittlerem Wuchse, doch trifft man auch hohe Gestalten unter ihnen an; sie sind ziemlich wohl proportionirt, die Farbe der Haut ist bräunlich, doch ist diese Farbe mehr eine Wirkung der Sonne als angeboren; die Augen und Haare sind schwarz, die letzteren stehen straff…. Beide Geschlechter sind von kräftigem Körperbau.’ Kostromitonow, in Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 81. ‘Quoique surpris dans un très-grand négligé, ces hommes me parurent beaux, de haute taille, robustes et parfaitement découplés … traits réguliers … yeux noirs … nez aquilin surmonté d’un front élevé, les pommettes des joues arrondies, … fortes lèvres … dents blanches et bien rangées … peau jaune cuivré, un cou annonçant la vigueur et soutenu par de larges épaules … un air intelligent et fier à la fois…. Je trouvai toutes les femmes horriblement laides.’ Laplace, Circumnav., tom. vi., 145-6. At the head of the Eel River ‘the average height of these men was not over five feet four or five inches. They were lightly built, with no superfluous flesh, but with very deep chests and sinewy legs.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 119. ‘The Clear Lake Indians are of a very degraded caste; their foreheads naturally being often as low as the compressed skulls of the Chinooks, and their forms commonly small and ungainly.’ Id., p. 108. At Bodega Bay ‘they are an ugly and brutish race, many with negro profiles.’ Id., p. 103. ‘They are physically an inferior race, and have flat, unmeaning features, long, coarse, straight black hair, big mouths, and very dark skins.’ Revere’s Tour, p. 120. ‘Large and strong, their colour being the same as that of the whole territory.’ Maurelle’s Jour., p. 47. It is said of the natives of the Sacramento valley, that ‘their growth is short and stunted; they have short thick necks, and clumsy heads; the forehead is low, the nose flat with broad nostrils, the eyes very narrow and showing no intelligence, the cheek-bones prominent, and the mouth large. The teeth are white, but they do not stand in even rows: and their heads are covered by short, thick, rough hair…. Their color is a dirty yellowish-brown.’ Pfeiffer’s Second Journ., p. 307. ‘This race of Indians is probably inferior to all others on the continent. Many of them are diminutive in stature, but they do not lack muscular strength, and we saw some who were tall and well-formed…. Their complexion is a dark mahogany, or often nearly black, their faces round or square, with features approximating nearer to the African than the Indian. Wide, enormous mouth, noses nearly flat, and hair straight, black, and coarse…. Small, gleaming eyes.’ Johnson’s Cal. and Ogn., pp. 142-3. Of good stature, strong and muscular. Bryant’s Cal., p. 266. ‘Rather below the middle stature, but strong, well-knit fellows…. Good-looking, and well limbed.’ Kelly’s Excursion to Cal., vol. ii., pp. 81, 111. ‘They were in general fine stout men.’ A great diversity of physiognomy was noticeable. Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., pp. 105, 107. On the Sacramento ‘were fine robust men, of low stature, and badly formed.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 198. ‘The mouth is very large, and the nose broad and depressed.’ ‘Chiefly distinguished by their dark color … broad faces, a low forehead.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 222. ‘Their features are coarse, broad, and of a dark chocolate color.’ Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, Nov. 2, 1860. At Drake’s Bay, just above San Francisco, the men are ‘commonly so strong of body, that that which two or three of our men could hardly beare, one of them would take vpon his backe, and without grudging carrie it easily away, vp hill and downe hill an English mile together.’ Drake’s World Encomp., p. 131. ‘Los Naturales de este sitio y Puerto son algo trigueños, por lo quemados del Sol, aunque los venidos de la otra banda del Puerto y del Estero … son mas blancos y corpulentos.’ Palou, Vida de Junípero Serra, p. 215. ‘Ugly, stupid, and savage; otherwise they are well formed, tolerably tall, and of a dark brown complexion. The women are short, and very ugly; they have much of the negro in their countenance…. Very long, smooth, and coal-black hair.’ Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. i., pp. 282-3. ‘They all have a very savage look, and are of a very dark color.’ Chamisso, in Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 47. ‘Ill made; their faces ugly, presenting a dull, heavy, and stupid countenance.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 13. The Tcholovoni tribe ‘differe beaucoup de toutes les autres par les traits du visage par sa physionomie, par un extèrieur assez agréable.’ Choris, Voy. Pitt., part iii., p. 6., plate vi., vii., xii. ‘The Alchones are of good height, and the Tuluraios were thought to be, generally, above the standard of Englishmen. Their complexion is much darker than that of the South-sea Islanders, and their features far inferior in beauty.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 76. At Santa Clara they are ‘of a blackish colour, they have flat faces, thick lips, and black, coarse, straight hair.’ Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 98. ‘Their features are handsome, and well-proportioned; their countenances are cheerful and interesting.’ Morrell’s Voy., p. 212. At Placerville they are ‘most repulsive-looking wretches…. They are nearly black, and are exceedingly ugly.’ Borthwick’s Three Years in Cal., p. 128. In the Yosemite Valley ‘they are very dark colored,’ and ‘the women are perfectly hideous.’ Kneeland’s Wonders of Yosemite, p. 52. The Monos on the east side of the Sierra are ‘a fine looking race, straight, and of good height, and appear to be active.’ Von Schmidt, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1856, p. 2-3. At Monterey ‘ils sont en général bien faits, mais faibles d’esprit et de corps.’ In the vicinity of San Miguel, they are ‘généralement d’une couleur foncée, sales et mal faits … à l’exception tout fois des Indiens qui habitent sur les bords de la rivière des tremblements de terre, et sur la côte voisine. Ceux-ci sont blancs, d’une joli figure, et leurs cheveux tirent sur le roux.’ Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1844, tom. ci., pp. 332, 163; also quoted in Marmier, Notice sur les Indiens, p. 236. ‘Sont généralement petits, faibles … leur couleur est très-approchante de celle des nègres dont les cheveux ne sont point laineux: ceux de ces peuples sont longs et très-forts.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 281. ‘La taille des hommes est plus haute (than that of the Chilians), et leurs muscles mieux prononcés.’ The figure of the women ‘est plus élevée (than that of the Chilian women), et la forme de leurs membres est plus régulière; elles sont en général d’une stature mieux développée et d’une physionomie moins repoussante.’ Rollin, in La Pérouse, Voy., tom. iv., p. 52. At San José ‘the men are almost all rather above the middling stature, and well built; very few indeed are what may be called undersized. Their complexions are dark but not negro like … some seemed to possess great muscular strength; they have very coarse black hair.’ Some of the women were more than five feet six inches in height. And speaking of the Californian Indians, in general, ‘they are of a middling, or rather of a low stature, and of a dark brown colour, approaching to black … large projecting lips, and broad, flat, negro-like noses; … bear a strong resemblance to the negroes…. None of the men we saw were above five feet high … ill-proportioned … we had never seen a less pleasing specimen of the human race.’Langsdorff’s Voy., vol. ii., pp. 194-5, 164, see plate. And speaking generally of the Californian Indians: ‘Die Männer sind im Allgemeinen gut gebaut und von starker Körperbildung,’ height ‘zwischen fünf Fuss vier Zoll und fünf Fuss zehn oder eilf Zoll.’ Complexion ‘die um ein klein wenig heller als bei den Mulatten, also weit dunkler ist, als bei den übrigen Indianerstämmen.’ Osswald, Californien, p. 62. The coast Indians ‘are about five feet and a half in height, and rather slender and feeble,’ in the interior they ‘are taller and more robust.’ Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 364. ‘Cubische Schädelform, niedrige Stirn, breites Gesicht, mit hervorragendem Jochbogen, breite Lippen und grosser Mund, mehr platte Nase und am Innenwinkel herabgezogene Augen.’ Wimmel, Californien, pp. v, 177. ‘Les Californiens sont presque noirs; la disposition de leur yeux et l’ensemble de leur visage leur donnent avec les européens une ressemblance assez marquée.’ Rossi, Souvenirs, pp. 279-80. ‘They are small in stature; thin, squalid, dirty, and degraded in appearance. In their habits little better than an ourang-outang, they are certainly the worst type of savage I have ever seen.’ Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 249. ‘More swarthy in complexion, and of less stature than those east of the Rocky Mountains … more of the Asiatic cast of countenance than the eastern tribe.’ Delano’s Life on the Plains, p. 304. ‘Dépasse rarement la hauteur de cinq pieds deux ou trois pouces; leur membres sont grêles et médiocrement musclés. Ils ont de grosses lévres qui se projettent en avant, le nez large et aplati comme les Ethiopiens; leurs cheveux sont noirs, rude et droits.’ Auger, Voy. en Cal., p. 165. ‘Generally of small stature, robust appearance, and not well formed.’ Thornton’s Ogn. and Cal., vol. ii., p. 91. ‘Schön gewachsen und von schwärtzlich-brauner Farbe.’ Mühlenpfordt Mejico, tom. ii., part ii., p. 455. ‘Low foreheads and skins as black as Guinea negroes.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 85. ‘En naissant les enfants sont presque blancs … mais ils noircissent en grandissant.’ ‘Depuis le nord du Rio Sacramento jusqu’au cap San Lucas … leurs caractères physique, leurs moeurs et leurs usages sont les mêmes.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., pp. 263, 367. ‘Skin of such a deep reddish-brown that it seems almost black.’ Figuier’s Human Race, p. 493; Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Sprache, p. 528; Forbes’ Cal., pp. 180-3; Harper’s Monthly, vol. xiii., p. 583. ‘A fine set of men, who, though belonging to different nationalities, had very much the same outward appearance; so that when you have seen one you seem to have seen them all.’ Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, p. 15.

[506] On the Sacramento River ‘the men universally had some show of a beard, an inch or so in length, but very soft and fine.’ Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 105. ‘They had beards and whiskers an inch or two long, very soft and fine.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 198. On Russian River ‘they have quite heavy moustaches and beards on the chin, but not much on the cheeks, and they almost all suffer it to grow.’ The Clear Lake Indians ‘have also considerable beards, and hair on the person.’ At the head of South Fork of Eel River, ‘they pluck their beards.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., pp. 108-119. At Monterey ‘plusieurs ont de la barbe; d’autres, suivant les pères missionaires, n’en ont jamais eu, et c’est un question qui n’est pas même décidée dans le pays.’ La Pérouse, Voy., vol. ii., p. 282. ‘Les Californiens ont la barbe plus fournie que les Chiliens, et les parties génitales mieux garnies: cependant j’ai remarqué, parmi les hommes, un grand nombre d’individus totalement dépourvus de barbe; les femmes ont aussi peu de poil au pénil et aux aisselles.’ Rollin, in La Pérouse, Voy., vol. iv., p. 53. ‘They have the habit common to all American Indians of extracting the beard and the hair of other parts of their body.’ Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 364. Beards ‘short, thin, and stiff.’ Bartlett’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 34. ‘In general very scanty, although occasionally a full flowing beard is observed.’ Forbes’ Cal., pp. 181-2. ‘Beards thin; many shave them close with mussel-shells.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 164. ‘Ihr Bart ist schwach.’ Wimmel, Californien, vol. v. At San Antonio, ‘in the olden times, before becoming christians, they pulled out their beards.’ Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, April 27, 1860. Choris in his Voy. Pitt., plates vi., vii., xii., of part iii., draws the Indians with a very slight and scattered beard. ‘Pluck out their beard.’ Auger, Voy. in Cal., p. 165. ‘Wear whiskers.’ Thornton’s Ogn. and Cal., vol. ii., p. 91. ‘Les Indiens qui habitent dans la direction du cap de Nouvel-An (del Año Nuevo) … ont des moustaches.’ Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1844, tom. ci., p. 335. Mühlenpfordt mentions that at the death of a relation, ‘die Männer raufen Haupthaar und Bart sich aus.’ Mejico, vol. ii., part ii., p. 456.

[507] At Fort Ross ‘Die Männer gehen ganz nackt, die Frauen hingegen bedecken nur den mittleren Theil des Körpers von vorne und von hinten mit den Fellen wilder Ziegen; das Haar binden die Männer auf dem Schopfe, die Frauen am Nacken in Büschel zusammen; bisweilen lassen sie es frei herunter wallen; die Männer heften die Büschel mit ziemlich künstlich, aus einer rothen Palme geschnitzten Hölzchen fest.’ Kostromitonow, in Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., p. 82. At Clear Lake ‘the women generally wear a small round, bowl-shaped basket on their heads; and this is frequently interwoven with the red feathers of the woodpecker, and edged with the plume tufts of the blue quail.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 107. See also p. 68, plate xiv., for plate of ornaments. At Kelsey River, dress ‘consists of a deer-skin robe thrown over the shoulders.’ Id., p. 122. In the Sacramento Valley ‘they were perfectly naked.’ Kelly’s Excursion to Cal., vol. ii., p. 111. ‘Both sexes have the ears pierced with large holes, through which they pass a piece of wood as thick as a man’s finger, decorated with paintings or glass beads.’ Pfeiffer’s Second Journ., p. 307. ‘The men go entirely naked; but the women, with intuitive modesty, wear a small, narrow, grass apron, which extends from the waist to the knees, leaving their bodies and limbs partially exposed.’ Delano’s Life on the Plains, pp. 305, 307. ‘They wear fillets around their heads of leaves.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 192. ‘The dress of the women is a cincture, composed of narrow slips of fibrous bark, or of strings of ‘Californian flax,’ or sometimes of rushes.’ Men naked. Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 108. At Bodega they ‘most liberally presented us with plumes of feathers, rosaries of bone, garments of feathers, as also garlands of the same materials, which they wore round their head.’ Maurelle’s Jour., p. 47. ‘The women wore skins of animals about their shoulders and waists;’ hair ‘clubbed behind.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 436. Around San Francisco Bay: ‘in summer many go entirely naked. The women, however, wear a deer-skin, or some other covering about their loins; but skin dresses are not common.’ To their ears the women ‘attach long wooden cylinders, variously carved, which serve the double purpose of ear-rings and needle-cases.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 77. ‘All go naked.’ Chamisso, in Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 48. ‘The men either go naked or wear a simple breech-cloth. The women wear a cloth or strips of leather around their loins.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 33. Three hundred years ago we are told that the men in the vicinity of San Francisco Bay ‘for the most part goe naked; the women take a kinde of bulrushes, and kembing it after the manner of hemp, make themselues thereof a loose garment, which being knitte about their middles, hanges downe about their hippes, and so affordes to them a couering of that which nature teaches should be hidden; about their shoulders they weare also the skin of a deere, with the haire vpon it.’ The king had upon his shoulders ‘a coate of the skins of conies, reaching to his wast; his guard also had each coats of the same shape, but of other skin…. After these in their order, did follow the naked sort of common people, whose haire being long, was gathered into a bunch behind, in which stucke plumes of feathers; but in the forepart onely single feathers like hornes, every one pleasing himselfe in his owne device.’ Drake’s World Encomp., pp. 121, 126. ‘Asi como Adamitas se presentan sin el menor rubor ni vergüenza (esto es, los hombres) y para librarse del frio que todo el año hace en esta Mision (San Francisco), principalmente las mañanas, se embarran con lodo, diciendo que les preserva de él, y en quanto empieza á calentar el Sol se lavan: las mugeres andan algo honestas, hasta las muchachas chiquitas: usan para la honestidad de un delantar que hacen de hilos de tule, ó juncia, que no pasa de la rodilla, y otro atrás amarrados á la cintura que ambos forman como unas enaguas, con que se presentan con alguna honestidad, y en las espaldas se ponen otros semejantes para librarse en alguna manera del frio.’ Palou, Vida de Junípero Serra, p. 217. At Monterey, and on the coast between Monterey and Santa Barbara the dress ‘du plus riche consiste en un manteau da peau de loutre qui couvre ses reins et descend au dessous des sines…. L’habillement des femmes est un manteau de peau de cerf mal tannée…. Les jeunes filles au-dessous de neuf ans n’ont qu’une simple ceinture et les enfans de l’autre sexe sont tout nus.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., pp. 304-5. ‘Ils se percent aussi les oreilles, et y portent des ornemens d’un genre et d’un gout trés-variés.’ Rollin, in La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 53. ‘Those between Monterey and the extreme northern boundary of the Mexican domain, shave their heads close.’ Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., p. 239. On the coast between San Diego and San Francisco ‘presque tous … vont entierement nus; ceux qui ont quelques vêtements, n’ont autre chose qu’une casaque faite de courroies de peau de lapins, de lièvres ou de loutres tressés ensemble, et qui ont conservé le poil. Les femmes ont une espèce de tablier de roseaux tressés qui s’attache autour de la taille par un cordon, et pend jusqu’aux genoux; une peau de cerf mal tannée et mal préparée, jetée sur leurs épaules en guise de manteau, compléte leur toilette.’ Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1844, tom. ci., p. 155; see also Marmier, Notice, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., p. 227. ‘Sont tres peu couverts, et en été, la plupart vont tout nus. Les femmes font usage de peaux de daim pour se couvrir…. Ces femmes portent encore comme vêtement des espèces de couvertures sans envers, faites en plumes tissues ensemble … il a l’avantage d’être très-chaud…. Elles portent généralement, au lieu de boucles d’oreilles, des morceaux d’os ou de bois en forme de cylindre et sculptés de différentes manières. Ces ornements sont creux et servent également d’étuis pour renfermer leurs aiguilles.’ Petit-Thouars, Voy., tom. ii., p. 135. Speaking generally of the Californian Indians, ‘both sexes go nearly naked, excepting a sort of wrapper round the waist, only in the coldest part of the winter they throw over their bodies a covering of deer-skin, or the skin of the sea-otter. They also make themselves garments of the feathers of many different kinds of water fowl, particularly ducks and geese, bound together fast in a sort of ropes, which ropes are then united quite close so as to make something like a feather skin.’ It is very warm. ‘In the same manner they cut the sea-otter skins into small strips, which they twist together, and then join them as they do the feathers, so that both sides have the fur alike.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., vol. ii., pp. 163-4. See also Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 364, and Forbes’ Cal., p. 183. ‘Im Winter selbst tragen sie wenig Bekleidung, vielleicht nur eine Hirschhaut, welche sie über die Schulter werfen; Männer, Frauen und Kinder gehen selbst im Winter im Schnee barfuss.’ Wimmel, Californien, p. 177; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 249; Patrick, Gilbert, Heald, and Von Schmidt, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1856, pp. 240-4; Choris, Voy. Pitt., part iii., p. 4, and plate xii.; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, vol. ii., part ii., p. 455; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 239; Shea’s Catholic Missions, p. 98; Johnston, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 223; D’Orbigny, Voy., p. 457; Augur, Voy. en Cal., p. 100. After having collated the above notes I was rather taken aback by meeting the following: ‘The general costume of nearly all the Californian Indians gives them rather an interesting appearance; when fully dressed, their hair, which has been loose, is tied up, either with a coronet of silver, or the thongs of skin, ornamented with feathers of the brightest colours; bracelets made in a similar manner are wore; breeches and leggings of doe-skin, sewed, not unfrequently with human hair; a kind of kilt of varied coloured cloth or silk (!), fastened by a scarf, round their waist; … The women wear a cloth petticoat, dyed either blue or red, doe-skin shirt, and leggings, with feathered bracelets round their waist.’ Coulter’s Adventures, vol. i., pp. 172-3. Surely Mr Coulter should know an Indian dress from one composed of Mexican cloth and trinkets.

[508] At Bodega the women ‘were as much tatooed or punctured as any of the females of the Sandwich islands.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 436. In the Sacramento Valley ‘most of the men had some slight marks of tattooing on the breast, disposed like a necklace.’ Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 105. Dana, in a note to Hale, says: ‘The faces of the men were colored with black and red paint, fancifully laid on in triangles and zigzag lines. The women were tattooed below the mouth.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 222. ‘Most of them had some slight marks of tattooing on their breast; somewhat similar to that of the Chinooks…. The face was usually painted, the upper part of the cheek in the form of a triangle, with a blue-black substance, mixed with some shiny particles that looked like pulverized mica.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., pp. 198, 259. ‘Their faces daubed with a thick dark glossy substance like tar, in a line from the outside corners of the eyes to the ends of the mouth, and back from them to the hinge of the jawbone … some also had their entire foreheads coated over.’ Kelly’s Excursion to Cal., vol. ii., p. 111. ‘The women are a little tattooed on the chin.’ Pfeiffer’s Second Journ., p. 307. At Monterey and vicinity, ‘se peignent le corps en rouge, et en noir lorsqu’ils sont en deuil.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 305. ‘Se peignent la peau pour se parer.’ Rollin, in La Pérouse, Voy., tom. iv., p. 53. ‘This one thing was obserued to bee generall amongst them all, that euery one had his face painted, some with white, some blacke, and some with other colours.’ Drake’s World Encomp., p. 126. ‘Tattooing is practised in these tribes by both sexes, both to ornament the person and to distinguish one clan from another. It is remarkable that the women mark their chins precisely in the same way as the Esquimaux.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 77. ‘Les indigènes indepéndents de la Haute-Californie sont tatoués … ces signes servent d’ornement et de distinction, non seulement d’une tribu à une autre tribu, mais encore, d’une famille à une autre famille.’ Petit-Thouars, Voy., tom. ii., pp. 134-5. ‘Tattooing is also used, but principally among the women. Some have only a double or triple line from each corner of the mouth down to the chin; others have besides a cross stripe extending from one of these stripes to the other; and most have simple long and cross stripes from the chin over the neck down to the breast and upon the shoulders.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 167; see plate, p. 169. When dancing, ‘ils se peignent sur le corps des lignes régulières, noires, rouges et blanches. Quelques-uns ont la moitié du corps, depuis la tête jusqu’en bas, barbouillée de noir, et l’autre de rouge; le tout croisé par des raies blanches, d’autres se poudrent les cheveux avec du duvet d’oiseaux.’ Choris, Voy. Pitt., part iii., p. 4; see also plate xii. ‘I have never observed any particular figured designs upon their persons, but the tattooing is generally on the chin, though sometimes on the wrist and arm.’ Mostly on the persons of the females. Johnston, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 223. ‘Les femmes seules emploient le tatouage.’ Auger, Voy. en Cal., p. 165.

[509] ‘Il est bien rare qu’un Indien passe la nuit dans sa maison. Vers le soir chacun prend son arc et ses flèches et va se réunir aux autres dans de grandes cavernes, parce-qu’ils craignent d’être attaqués a l’improviste par leurs ennemis et d’être surpris sans défense au milieu de leurs femmes et de leurs enfants.’ Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1844, tom. ci., pp. 316-7.

[510] Two authors describe their dwellings as being much smaller than I have stated them to be: ‘leur maisons ont quatre pieds de diamètre.’ Marmier, Notice, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., p. 238. Their wigwams have ‘une élévation au-dessus du sol de cinq à huit pieds et une circonférence de dix à douze.’ Holinski, La Californie, p. 172. The authorities I have followed, and who agree in essential particulars, are: Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., pp. 103, 106; Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 198; Pfeiffer’s Second Journ., pp. 307-8; Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 106; Fremont’s Explor. Ex., p. 242; Kelly’s Excursion to Cal., vol. ii., pp. 34, 282; Choris, Voy. Pitt., part iii., p. 2; Drake’s World Encomp., p. 121; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 30, with cut; Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., pp. 13, 15; Palou, Noticias, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., vol. vi., pp. 367, 390; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 165; La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 295; Delano’s Life on the Plains, p. 306; Gerstäcker’s Journ., p. 218; Gilbert, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1856, p. 242; Patrick, in Id., p. 240; Jewett, in Id., p. 244; Bailey, in Id., 1858, p. 299; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 248; Langsdorff’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 163; Wimmel, Californien, pp. 177, 179; Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 365; Beechey’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 5; Baer, Stat. und Ethno., p. 72; Kostromitonow, in Id., p. 83; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 239; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., p. 456; Johnston, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 223; Thornton’s Ogn. and Cal., vol. ii., p. 91; Roquefeuil’s Voy. Round the World, p. 29; Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1844, tom. ci., pp. 316, 343.

[511] Wilkes, and the majority of writers, assert that the acorns are sweet and palatable in their natural state; Kostromitonow, however, says: ‘Nachdem die Eicheln vom Baume gepflückt sind, werden sie in der Sonne gedörrt, darauf gereinigt und in Körben mittelst besonders dazu behauener Steine gestossen, dann wird im Sande oder sonst wo in lockerer Erde eine Grube gegraben, die Eicheln werden hineingeschüttet und mit Wasser übergossen, welches beständig von der Erde eingezogen wird. Dieses Ausspülen wiederholt man so lange bis die Eicheln alle ihre eigenthümliche Bitterkeit verloren haben.’ Baer, Stat. und Ethno., p. 84. The acorn bread ‘looks and tastes like coarse black clay, strongly resembling the soundings in Hampton roads, and being about as savory and digestible.’ Revere’s Tour, p. 121. Never having eaten ‘coarse black clay,’ I cannot say how it tastes, but according to all other authorities, this bread, were it not for the extreme filthiness of those who prepare it, would be by no means disagreeable food.

[512] Pinole is an Aztec word, and is applied to any kind of grain or seeds, parched and ground, before being made into dough. ‘Pinolli, la harina de mayz y chia, antes que la deslian.’ Molina, Vocabulario. The Aztecs made pinole chiefly of maize or Indian corn.

[513] ‘Nos trageron su regalo de tamales grandes de mas de á tercia con su correspondiente grueso, amasados de semillas silvestres muy prietas que parecen brea; los probé y no tienen mal gusto y son muy mantecosos.’ Palou, Noticias, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. vii., p. 68. Among the presents given to Drake by the Indians was ‘a roote which they call Petáh, whereof they make a kind of meale, and either bake it into bread or eate it raw; broyled fishes, like a pilchard; the seede and downe aforenamed, with such like.’ Drake’s World Encomp., p. 126. Catch salmon in baskets. ‘They neither sow nor reap, but burn their meadows from time to time to increase their fertility.’ Chamisso, in Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 48. ‘Les rats, les insectes, les serpentes, tout sans exception leur sert de nourriture…. Ils sont trop maladroits et trop paresseux pour chasser.’ Choris, Voy. Pitt., part iii., p. 2. ‘Entre ellas tienen una especie de semilla negra, y de su harina hacen unos tamales, á modo de bolas, de tamaño de una naranja, que son muy sabrosos, que parecen de almendra tostada muy mantecosa.’ Palou, Vida de Junípero Serra, p. 216; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 164; Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 116. ‘Their fastidiousness does not prompt them to take the entrails out’ of fishes and birds. Delano’s Life on the Plains, p. 305. ‘Live upon various plants in their several seasons, besides grapes, and even use the Artemesia.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., pp. 202, 259. ‘Ils trouvent aussi autour d’eux une quantité d’aloès dont ils font un fréquent usage…. Ils utilisent éncore la racine d’une espèce de roseau…. Ils mangent aussi une fleur sucrée qui ressemble à celle de l’églantier d’Espagne, et qui croît dans les endroits marécageux.’ Marmier, Notice, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., pp. 232-3, 237. Were cannibals and their sorcerers still eat human flesh. Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., pp. 362, 366-9. The Meewocs ‘eat all creatures that swim in the waters, all that fly through the air, and all that creep, crawl, or walk upon the earth, with, perhaps a dozen exceptions.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. x., p. 324. ‘Ils se nourrissent également d’une espèce de gâteaux fabriqués avec du gland, et qu’ils roulent dans le sable avant de le livrer à la cuisson; de là vient qu’ils sont, jeunes encore, les dents usées jusqu’à la racine, et ce n’est pas, comme le dit Malte-Brun, parce qu’ils ont l’habitude de les limer.’ Auger, Voy. en Cal., p. 163. ‘While I was standing there a couple of pretty young girls came from the woods, with flat baskets full of flower-seed, emitting a peculiar fragrance, which they also prepared for eating. They put some live coals among the seed, and swinging it and throwing it together, to shake the coals and the seed well, and bring them in continual and close contact without burning the latter, they roasted it completely, and the mixture smelled so beautiful and refreshing that I tasted a good handful of it, and found it most excellent.’ Gerstaecker’s Journ., p. 211. See farther: Humboldt, Pol., tom. i., pp. 324-5; Holinski, La Californie, p. 174; Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., pp. 106-7, 113; Wimmel, Californien, pp. 179, 181; Kelly’s Excursion to Cal., vol. ii., p. 113; Taylor’s El Dorado, vol. i., p. 241; King’s Rept., in Taylor’s El Dorado, vol. ii., p. 210; Langsdorff’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 163; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 248; Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 36; Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 103; Petit-Thouars, Voy., tom. ii., pp. 136-7; Fremont’s Explor. Ex., pp. 242, 244; Johnson’s Cal. and Ogn., p. 142; Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 222; Placerville Index, Aug., 1859; Henley, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 303; Patrick, McDermott, Gilbert, Benitz, Jannson, Von Schmidt, McAdam, Bowlby, and Jewett, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1856, pp. 18, 41-4; La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 282; Helper’s Land of Gold, pp. 269-70; Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. iii., pp. 441-2; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 450-1; Thornton’s Ogn. and Cal., pp. 91-2, 152, 316; Yate’s Sketch of the Sacramento Valley in 1842, MS.; D’Orbigny, Voy., p. 457; McDaniels’ Early Days of Cal. MS.; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 339, 346; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., pp. 455-6; Knight’s Pioneer Life, MS.

[514] When the Indian finds a tree stocked by the carpenter bird he ‘kindles a fire at its base and keeps it up till the tree falls, when he helps himself to the acorns.’ Helper’s Land of Gold, p. 269.

[515] Beechey’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 75.

[516] ‘When a sturgeon is caught, the spinal marrow, which is considered a delicacy, is drawn out whole, through a cut made in the back, and devoured raw.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., pp. 32-3.

[517] Browne, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xxiii., p. 315.

[518] ‘They cook the flesh of this animal in holes dug in the ground and curbed up with stone like wells. Over this they build large fires, heat them thoroughly, clean out the coals and ashes, fill them with whale flesh, cover the opening with sticks, leaves, grass and earth, and thus bake their repast.’ Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 366-7. ‘Ils font rôtir cette chair dans des trous creusés en terre.’ Marmier, Notice, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., p. 237.

[519] Johnson’s Cal. and Ogn., p. 132; Powers’ Account of John A. Sutter, MS.; and Id., Letter to the author, MS.

[520] ‘Reinlichkeit kennen sie nicht, und in ihren Hütten sind die diversesten Parasiten vertreten.’ Wimmel, Californien, p. 177. ‘I have seen them eating the vermin which they picked from each other’s heads, and from their blankets. Although they bathe frequently, they lay for hours in the dirt, basking in the sun, covered with dust.’ Delano’s Life on the Plains, p. 305. ‘In their persons they are extremely dirty.’ Eat lice like the Tartars. Beechey’s Voy., vol. ii., pp. 76-7. ‘Very filthy, and showed less sense of decency in every respect than any we had ever met with.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 106.

[521] ‘Ein Bogen mit Pfeilen und ein Spiess sind ihre Waffen; alles dieses wird meistens aus jungem Tannenholz verfertigt. Die Spitzen der Pfeile und Spiesse bestehen aus scharfen, künstlich behauenen Steinen, zur Bogensehne nehmen sie die Sehnen wilder Ziegen; ausserdem führen sie in Kriegszeiten eine Art von Schleuder, mit welcher sie Steine auf eine grosse Entfernung werfen.’ Kostromitonow, in Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., p. 89. Bow ‘from three to four and a half feet long.’ Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 368. ‘Their arms are clubs, spears of hard wood, and the bow and arrow…. Arrows are mostly made of reeds.’ Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, Feb. 22, 1860. ‘Die einzige Waffe zur Erlegung des Wildes ist ihnen der Bogen und Pfeil.’ Wimmel, Californien, p. 180. ‘Their only arms were bows and arrows.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 222. Bows ‘about thirty inches long … arrows are a species of reed … spears are pointed with bone.’ Delano’s Life on the Plains, p. 306. ‘The quiver of dressed deer-skin, holds both bow and arrows.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 123. ‘The point (of the arrow) itself is a piece of flint chipped down into a flat diamond shape, about the size of a diamond on a playing-card; the edges are very sharp, and are notched to receive the tendons with which it is firmly secured to the arrow.’ Borthwick’s Three Years in Cal., p. 131. ‘Arrows are pointed with flint, as are also their spears, which are very short. They do not use the tomahawk or scalping knife.’ Thornton’s Ogn. and Cal., vol. ii., p. 91. ‘Leurs armes sont l’arc et les flèches armées d’un silex très-artistement travaillé.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 305. ‘Ces arcs sont encore garnis, au milieu, d’une petite lanière de cuir, qui a pour object d’empêcher la flèche de dévier de la position qu’on lui donne en la posant sur l’arc…. Ils prétendent que cette précaution rend leurs coups encore plus sûrs. Les flèches sont moins longues que l’arc, elles ont ordinairement de 80 à 85 centimètres de long, elles sont faites d’un bois très-léger et sont égales en grosseur à chaque extrémité … l’autre extrémité de la flèche est garnie, sur quatre faces, de barbes en plumes qui ont 10 centimètres de longueur sur 0,015 millimètres de hauteur.’ Petit-Thouars, Voy., tom. ii., p. 138. They ‘maintain armories to make their bows, and arrows, and lances.’ Arrows ‘are tipped with barbed obsidian heads … the shaft is ornamented with rings of the distinguishing paint of the owner’s rancheria. Their knives and spear-points are made of obsidian and flint.’ Arrows are of two kinds, ‘one short and light for killing game, and the other a war-shaft measuring a cloth-yard in length.’ Revere’s Tour, pp. 121-2. ‘Ces flèches offrent peu de danger à une certaine distance, à cause de la parabole qu’elles sont forcées de décrire, et qui donne à celui que les voit venir la temps de les éviter.’ Auger, Voy. en Cal., p. 163. ‘La corde, faite avec du chanvre sylvestre, est garnie d’un petit morceau de peau qui en étouffe le sifflement.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 378; see Atlas, plate 25. ‘Ihre Waffen bestehen nur in Bogen und Pfeil.’ Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., part ii., p. 455. ‘They have no offensive arms at all, except bows and arrows, and these are small and powerless…. Arrows are about two feet long.’ Gerstaecker’s Journ., p. 212. ‘Sometimes the bow is merely of wood and rudely made.’ Chamisso, in Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 48. ‘Their weapons consist only of bows and arrows; neither the tomahawk nor the spear is ever seen in their hands.’ Beechey’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 77. ‘A portion of the string is covered with downy fur’ to deaden the sound. Arrows are invariably pointed with flint. They have ‘sometimes wooden barbs.’ Javelins pointed with flint, or sometimes simply sharpened at the end. Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 109. Arrows were about three feet long, and pointed with flint. Short spears also pointed with flint. Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 198. ‘Traian unas lanzas cortas con su lengüeta de pedernal tan bien labradas como si fuesen de hierro ó acero, con solo la diferencia de no estar lisas.’ Palou, Noticias, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. vii., p. 68. ‘Los mas de ellos traian varas largas en las manos á modo de lanzas.’ Id., p. 61; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 249; Langsdorff’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 165; Life of Gov. L. W. Boggs, by his Son, MS.

[522] Petit-Thouars, Voy., tom. ii., p. 139.

[523] Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1844, tom. ci., p. 164; Marmier, Notice, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., p. 228. It is impossible to locate with certainty the San Miguel of Fages. There are now several places of the name in California, of which the San Miguel in San Luis Obispo County comes nearest the region in which, to agree with his own narrative, Fages must have been at the time. The cimeter mentioned by him, must have strongly resembled the maquahuitl of the ancient Mexicans, and it was possibly much farther south that he saw it.

[524] Powers’ Pomo, MS.; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 169.

[525] Butte Record, Aug., 1866.

[526] ‘Suelen entrar en ella entonando cánticos militares mezclados de extraños alaridos; y acostumbran formarse los campeones en dos lineas muy próximas para empezar disparándose flechazos. Como uno de sus principales ardides consiste en intimidar al enemigo, para conseguirlo procura cada partido que oiga el contrario los preparativos de la batalla.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 170. ‘On coming in sight of the enemy they form in an extended line, something like light infantry, and shouting, like bacchanals dance from side to side to prevent the foe from taking deliberate aim.’ Revere’s Tour, p. 122.

[527] In the vicinity of Fort Ross: ‘In ihren Kriegen wird Unerschrockenheit geachtet; gefangene Feinde tödtet man nicht, sondern wechselt sie nach beendigtem Kampfe aus; nie verurtheilt man sie zu Sklaven.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., p. 77. Near Feather River ‘they carry off their dead to prevent their being scalped, which next after death they are most fearful of.’ Kelly’s Excursion to Cal., vol. ii., p. 83. In the Sacramento Valley ‘the Californians differ from the other North American tribes in the absence of the tomahawk and of the practice of scalping.’ Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 108. At Clear Lake, ‘they do not scalp the slain.’ Revere’s Tour, p. 122. In the vicinity of San Francisco ‘occasionally, they appear to have eaten pieces of the bodies of their more distinguished adversaries killed in battle.’ Soulé’s Annals of San Francisco, p. 52. At Monterey, ‘lorsqu’ils avaient vaincu et mis à mort sur le champ de bataille des chefs ou des hommes très-courageux, ils en mangeaient quelques morceaux, moins en signe de haine et de vengeance, que comme un hommage qu’ils rendaient à leur valeur, et dans la persuasion qua cette nourriture était propre à augmenter leur courage.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 306. ‘Muchos indios armados de arco y flechas y llamándolos vinieron luego y me regularon muchos de ellos flechas, que es entre ellos la mayor demostracion de paz.’ Palou, Noticias, in Doc. Mex. Hist., serie iv., tom. vii., p. 53. At Santa Cruz they eat slices of the flesh of a brave fallen enemy, thinking to gain some of his valour. They ‘take the scalps of their enemies … they pluck out the eyes of their enemies.’ Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 370. ‘Gefangene werden nicht lange gehalten, sondern gleich getödtet.’ Wimmel, Californien, p. 178. In order to intimidate their enemies ‘cometen con el propio fin en las primeras víctimas las crueldades mas horrorosas.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 170.

[528] Drake’s World Encomp., p. 126.

[529] ‘Make baskets of the bark of trees.’ Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 368. ‘Make a very ingenious straw box for keeping their worm bait alive; burying it in the earth, yet not allowing the worms to escape.’ Kneeland’s Wonders of Yosemite, p. 52. ‘Die gewöhnlichste Form für den Korb ist halbconisch, 3 Fuss lang und 18 Zoll breit.’ Wimmel, Californien, p. 182. ‘Their baskets, made of willows, are perfectly water-tight.’ Delano’s Life on the Plains, p. 305. ‘They sometimes ornament the smaller ones with beads, pearl-shell, feathers, &c.’ Revere’s Tour, p. 122 ‘Leurs mortiers de pierre et divers autres utensiles sont artistiquement incrustés de morceaux de nacre de perle … garnissent leur calebasses et leur cruches d’ouvrages de vannerie brodés avec des fils-déliés qu’elles tirent de diverses racines.’ Marmier, Notice, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., p. 233; Langsdorff’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 165; Fremont’s Explor. Ex., p. 243; Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 107; Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 367; Chamisso, in Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 48; Borthwick’s Three Years in Cal., p. 131; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 324.

[530] Maurelle’s Jour., p. 47. At Clear Lake ‘their canoes or rather rafts are made of bundles of the tulé plant.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 107. At San Francisco Bay and vicinity ‘the only canoes of the Indians are made of plaited reeds.’ Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 90. ‘They do not possess horses or canoes of any kind; they only know how to fasten together bundles of rushes, which carry them over the water by their comparative lightness.’ Chamisso, in Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 48. ‘Les Indiens font leur pirogues à l’instant où ils veulent entreprendre un voyage par eau; elles sont en roseaux. Lorsque l’on y entre elles s’emplissent à moitié d’eau; de sorte qu’assis, l’on en a jusqu’au gras de la jambe; on les fait aller avec des avirons extrêmement longs, et pointus aux deux extremités.’ Choris, Voy. Pitt., part iii., p. 6. Had no boats, but it was reported that they had previously used boats made of rushes. Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 103. ‘The most rude and sorry contrivances for embarcation I had ever beheld…. They were constructed of rushes and dried grass of a long broad leaf, made up into rolls the length of the canoe, the thickest in the middle and regularly tapering to a point at each end … appeared to be very ill calculated to contend with wind and waves…. They conducted their canoe or vessel by long double-bladed paddles, like those used by the Esquimaux.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 5. ‘The balsas are entirely formed of the bulrush … commonly the rowers sit on them soaked in water, as they seldom rise above the surface.’ Forbes’ Cal., p. 191. Build no canoes, but occasionally make use of rafts composed of one or two logs, generally split. Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 192. ‘The “Balsa” is the only thing of the boat kind known among them. It is constructed entirely of bulrushes … sit flat upon the craft, soaked in water, plying their paddles … most of them in all kinds of weather, are either below, or on a level with the water.’ Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 368. ‘My opinion is that the Indians of California, previous to the occupation by the Jesuit Fathers had no other boats than those made from the tule, and even as late as 1840, I never knew or heard of an Indian using any other.’ Phelps’ Letter, MS.

[531] Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 103; Cronise’s Nat. Wealth, p. 23.

[532] Roquefeuil’s Voy., pp. 25-6. Tule is an Aztec word, from tollin, signifying rushes, flags, or reeds. Molina, Vocabulario. Mendoza says that when the ancient Mexicans arrived at the site of Mexico, it was a complete swamp, covered ‘con grandes matorrales de enea, que llaman tuli.’ Esplicacion del Codice, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 40. That the Spaniards themselves had not boats at this time is also asserted by Kotzebue: ‘That no one has yet attempted to build even the simplest canoe in a country which produces a superabundance of the finest wood for the purpose, is a striking proof of the indolence of the Spaniards, and the stupidity of the Indians.’ New Voy., vol. ii., p. 90.

[533] Phelps’ Letter, MS.

[534] Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 415. ‘Sending off a man with great expedition, to vs in a canow.’ Drake’s World Encomp., p. 119.

[535] The shells ‘they broke and rubbed down to a circular shape, to the size of a dime, and strung them on a thread of sinews.’ Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, March 2, 1860. ‘Three kinds of money were employed … white shell-beads, or rather buttons, pierced in the centre and strung together, were rated at $5 a yard; periwinkles, at $1 a yard; fancy marine shells, at various prices, from $3 to $10, or $15, according to their beauty.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. x., p. 325.

[536] The office of chief is hereditary in the male line only. The widows and daughters of the chiefs are, however, treated with distinction, and are not required to work, as other women. Beechey’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 73. In one case near Clear Lake, when ‘the males of a family had become extinct and a female only remained, she appointed a chief.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 112. At the Port of Sardinas ‘durmió dos noches en la capitana una india anciana, que era señora de estos pueblos, acompañada de muchos Indios.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. xxxii.

[537] The Kainameahs had three hereditary chiefs. Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 103.

[538] In Russian River Valley and the vicinity: ‘Die Achtung die man für den Vater hegte, geht häufig auf den Sohn über; aber die Gewalt des Oberhauptes ist im Allgemeinen sehr nichtig; denn es steht einem jeden frei, seinen Geburtsort zu verlassen und einen anderen Aufenthalt zu wählen.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., pp. 77-8. ‘Derjenige, der am meisten Anverwandte besitzt, wird als Häuptling oder Tojon anerkannt; in grösseren Wohnsitzen giebt es mehrere solcher Tojone, aber ihre Autorität ist nichts sagend. Sie haben weder das Recht zu befehlen, noch den Ungehorsam zu züchtigen.’Kostromitonow, in Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., p. 86. At Clear Lake chiefdom was hereditary. Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 112. See also pp. 103, 110. Among the Gualalas and Gallinomeros, chieftainship was hereditary. The Sanéls live in large huts, each containing 20 or 30 persons related to each other, each of these families has its own government. The Comachos paid voluntary tribute for support of chief. Powers’ Pomo, MS. In the Sacramento Valley a chief has more authority than that arising merely from his personal character. Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 108. On the coast between San Diego and San Francisco, in the vicinity of San Miguel ‘chaque village est gouverné despotiquement par un chef qui est seul arbitre de la paix et de la guerre.’ Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1844, tom. ci., p. 163. See also Marmier, Notice, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., p. 227; Jewett, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1856, p. 244; Gerstaecker’s Journ., p. 213; Histoire Chrétienne de la Cal., p. 52; Wimmel, Californien, pp. 177-8.

[539] ‘El robo era un delito casi desconocido en ambas naciones. Entre los Runsienes se miraba quasi con indiferencia el homicidio; pero no así entre los Eslenes, los quales castigaban al delinquente con pena de muerte.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 171. ‘Im Fall ein Indianer ein Verbrechen in irgend einem Stamme verübt hat, und die Häuptlinge sich bestimmt haben ihn zu tödten, so geschieht dies durch Bogen und Pfeil.’ Wimmel, Californien, pp. 177-8; Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. xii., p. 24.

[540] Drake’s World Encomp., pp. 124-6.

[541] Wimmel, Californien, p. 178.

[542] Near San Francisco, ‘teniendo muchas mugeres, sin que entre ellas se experimente la menor emulacion.’ Palou, Vida de Junipero Serra, p. 217. At Monterey ‘la polygamie leur était permise.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 303. In Tuolumne County ‘polygamy is practiced.’ Healey, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1856, p. 244. At Clear Lake ‘polygamy is practiced only by the chiefs.’ Revere’s Tour, p. 125. ‘Bei manchen Stämmen wird Vielweiberei gestattet.’ Wimmel, Californien, p. 178. ‘A man often marries a whole family, the mother and her daughters…. No jealousies ever appear among these families of wives.’ Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 367. ‘An Indian man may have as many wives as he can keep; but a woman cannot have a plurality of husbands, or men to whom she owes obedience.’ Johnston, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 224. In the Sacramento Valley ‘the men in general have but one wife.’ Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 108. ‘Of these Indians it is reported that no one has more than one wife.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 201. ‘Entre los Runsienes y Eslenes no era permitido á cada hombre tener mas de una muger.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 170. At Clear Lake and down the coast to San Francisco Bay ‘they have but one wife at a time.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 112. In the vicinity of Fort Ross ‘es ist nicht erlaubt mehr als eine Frau zu haben.’ Kostromitonow, in Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., p. 88. In the country round San Miguel ‘non-seulement ce capitaine a le droit d’avoir deux femmes, tandis que les autres Indiens n’en ont qu’une, mais il peut les renvoyer quand cela lui plaît, pour en prendre d’autres dans le village.’ Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1844, tom. ci., p. 163. See also Marmier, Notice, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., p. 227.

[543] At Monterey, ‘ils étaient même dans l’usage d’épouser toutes les sœurs d’une famille.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 303. Near Fort Ross, ‘die Blutsverwandtschaft wird streng beachtet und es ist nicht gestattet aus dem ersten oder zweiten Grade der Verwandtschaft zu heirathen; selbst im Falle einer Scheidung darf der nächste Anverwandte die Frau nicht ehelichen, doch giebt es auch Ausnahmen.’ Kostromitonow, in Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., p. 88. At San Francisco ‘no conocen para sus casamientos el parentezco de afinidad; antes bien este los incita á recibir por sus propias mugeres á sus cuñadas, y aun á las suegras, y la costumbre que observan es, que el que logra una muger, tiene por suyas á todas sus hermanas.’ Palou, Vida de Junípero Serra, p. 217. ‘Parentage and other relations of consanguinity are no obstacles to matrimony.’ Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 367. ‘Souvent une femme presse son mari d’épouser ses soeurs, et même sa mère, et cette proposition est fréquemment acceptée.’ Marmier, Notice, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., p. 235. ‘Este método de comprar las mugeres era comun á entrambas naciones (Runsienes y Eslenes), bien que entre los Runsienes hacia mucho mas solemne el contrato la intervencion de los parientes de los novios, contribuyendo los del varon con su quota, la qual se dividia entre los de la novia al tiempo de entregar á esta.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 171.

[544] Johnston, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 223.

[545] Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. xii., p. 23.

[546] Delano’s Life on the Plains, p. 306. At Santa Cruz, ‘the Gentile Indian, when he wishes to marry, goes to the hut of her he desires for a wife, and sitting himself close by her, sighs without speaking a word, and casting at her feet some beads on a string, goes out, and without further ceremony he is married.’ Comellas’ Letter, in Cal. Farmer, April 5, 1860. At Clear Lake ‘rape exists among them in an authorized form, and it is the custom for a party of young men to surprise and ravish a young girl, who becomes the wife of one of them.’ Revere’s Tour, pp. 125-6.

[547] Marmier, Notice, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., p. 234. At Clear Lake ‘if the parties separate the children go with the wife.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 112.

[548] Powers’ Pomo, MS.

[549] ‘The Yukas are often brutal and cruel to their women and children, especially to the women.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. ix., p. 308. In the vicinity of Fort Ross, ‘sie lieben ihre Kinder mit grosser Zärtlichkeit.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., p. 77.

[550] Wimmel, Californien, p. 178. ‘The practice of abortion, so common among the Chinooks and some other tribes in Oregon, is unknown here.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., pp. 112-13.

[551] Mr Powers, in his Pomo, MS., makes this assertion upon what he states to be reliable authority.

[552] For a full account of this custom of the couvade, as it existed in various parts of the world, see Tylor’s Researches, pp. 293-302, and Max Müller’s Chips, vol. ii., pp. 271-9. For its observance in California, see Venagas, Noticias de Cal., tom. i., p. 94, and Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 367.

[553] ‘It was not a thing at all uncommon, in the days of the Indians’ ancient prosperity, to see a woman become a mother at twelve or fourteen. An instance was related to me where a girl had borne her first-born at ten, as nearly as her years could be ascertained, her husband, a White Man, being then sixty-odd.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. ix., p. 500.

[554] For further authorities on family and domestic affairs, see: Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 456; Delano’s Life on the Plains, pp. 306; Forbes’ Cal., p. 190; Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1844, tom. ci., pp. 317-26. Also quoted in Marmier, Notice, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., pp. 232-35; Wimmel, Californien, p. 178; Johnston, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 223-4; Comellas’ Letter, in Cal. Farmer, April 5, 1860; Palou, Vida de Junípero Serra, p. 217; Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. ix., pp. 308, 500-6, vol. x., p. 325; Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., pp. 106-8; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 170-1; Borthwick’s Three Years in Cal., p. 129; La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 303; Rollin, in Id., tom. iv., pp. 57-8; Laplace, Circumnav., tom. vi., p. 145; Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., pp. 112-13; Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., pp. 201, 259; D’Orbigny, Voy., p. 457; Gilbert, McAdam, and Jewett, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1856, pp. 242-4; Revere’s Tour, p. 126; Reid, in Los Angeles Star, 1852; Farnham’s Life in Cal., pp. 367-70; Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., p. 77; Kostromitonow, in Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., pp. 83-8.

[555] Every traveler who has seen them dance enters into details of dress, etc.; but no two of these accounts are alike, and the reason of this is that they have no regular figures or costumes peculiar to their dances, but that every man, when his dress is not paint only, wears all the finery he possesses with an utter disregard for uniformity. ‘At some of their dances we were told that they avoid particular articles of food, even fowls and eggs.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 113. Dancing is executed at Santa Cruz, by forming a circle, assuming a stooping posture, raising a loud, discordant chant, and, without moving from their places, lifting and lowering a foot, and twisting the body into various contortions. Archives of Santa Cruz Mission. ‘In their dances they sometimes wear white masks.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 192. ‘Se poudrent les cheveux avec du duvet d’oiseaux.’ Choris, Voy. Pitt., part iii., p. 4. When a Wallie chief ‘decides to hold a dance in his village, he dispatches messengers to the neighboring rancherias, each bearing a string whereon is tied a certain number of knots. Every morning thereafter the invited chief unties one of the knots, and when the last but one is reached, they joyfully set forth for the dance.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. x., p. 325. For descriptions of dances of Neeshenams, see Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. xii., pp. 26-7.

[556] ‘Each one had two and sometimes three whistles, made of reeds, in his mouth.’ San Francisco Bulletin, Oct. 21, 1858. ‘Some had whistles or double flageolets of reed which were stuck into their noses.’ Revere’s Tour, p. 133. ‘The Gentiles do not possess any instrument whatever.’ Comellas’ Letter, in Cal. Farmer, April 5, 1860. ‘Their own original instrument consists of a very primitive whistle, some double, some single, and held in the mouth by one end, without the aid of the fingers; they are about the size and length of a common fife, and only about two notes can be sounded on them.’ Cal. Farmer, Oct. 26, 1860.

[557] ‘They use a species of native tobacco of nauseous and sickening odour.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 107. ‘They burned the aulone shell for the lime to mix with their tobacco, which they swallowed to make them drunk.’ Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, April 27, 1860. ‘A species of tobacco is found on the sandy beaches which the Indians prepare and smoke.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 202. ‘Se pusieron á chupar y reparé en ellos la misma ceremonia de esparcir el humo hácia arriba diciendo en cada bocanada unas palabras; solo entendí una que fué esmen que quiere decir sol; observé la misma costumbre de chupar primero el mas principal, luego da la pipa á otro, y da vuelta á otros.’ Palou, Noticias, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. vii., p. 69; see also p. 77.

[558] On the subject of amusements, see Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. i., p. 282. Delano’s Life on the Plains, p. 307; Helper’s Land of Gold, pp. 271-2; Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., pp. 72, 76-7; Kostromitonow, in Id., pp. 85-92; Holinski, La Californie, p. 173; Comellas’ Letter, in Cal. Farmer, Oct. 5, 1860; Wimmel, Californien, p. 178; Drake’s World Encomp., p. 128; Revere’s Tour, pp. 120-133; San Francisco Bulletin, Oct. 21, 1858, Nov. 29, 1871; Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. ix., pp. 307-8, 501-5, vol. x., pp. 325-7; Power’s Pomo, MS.; Laplace, Circumnav., tom. vi., p. 150; Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 127; Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. iii., pp. 442-6; Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 367; Hist. Chrétienne, pp. 53-4; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pp. ii., p. 456; Choris, Voy. Pitt., pt. iii., pp. 4-5; La Pérouse, Voy., vol. ii., pp. 306-7.

[559] The Meewocs ‘believe that their male physicians, who are more properly sorcerers, can sit on a mountain top fifty miles distant from a man they wish to destroy, and compass his death by filliping poison towards him from their finger-ends.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. x., p. 327.

[560] ‘I incautiously entered one of these caverns during the operation above described, and was in a few moments so nearly suffocated with the heat, smoke, and impure air, that I found it difficult to make my way out.’ Bryant’s Cal., p. 272.

[561] ‘Zur Heilung bedienen sich die Schamane der Kräuter und Wurzeln, grösstentheils aber saugen sie mit dem Munde das Blut aus der kranken Stelle aus, wobei sie Steinchen oder kleine Schlangen in den Mund nehmen und darauf versichern, sie hätten dieselben aus der Wunde herausgezogen.’ Kostromitonow, in Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., p. 95; see also pp. 83, 91, 94-5. ‘Until now it has not been ascertained that the Indians had any remedy for curing the sick or allaying their sufferings. If they meet with an accident they invariably die.’ Comellas’ Letter, in Cal. Farmer, April 5, 1860. ‘Ring-worm is cured by placing the milk of the poison oak in a circle round the affected part.’ Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. iii., p. 440. ‘Among the Meewocs stomachic affections and severe travail are treated with a plaster of hot ashes and moist earth spread on the stomach.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. x., p. 327. See further: Petit-Thouars, Voy., tom. ii., p. 140; Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 370; Holinski, La Californie, p. 173; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 324; Beechey’s Voy., vol. ii., pp. 35, 78; San Joaquin Republican, Sept., 1858; La Pérouse, Voy., tom. iv., p. 63; Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., pp. 103, 107; Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 193; Pickering’s Races, in Id., vol. ix., p. 109; Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1844, tom. ci., p. 333; also quoted in Marmier, Notice, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., p. 237; Kneeland’s Wonders of Yosemite, p. 52; Kelly’s Excursion to Cal., vol. ii., p. 284; Powers’ Pomo, MS.; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 166; Thornton’s Ogn. and Cal., vol. ii., p. 94; Delano’s Life on the Plains, p. 295; Laplace, Circumnav., tom. vi., p. 152.

[562] ‘From north to south, in the present California, up to the Columbia river they burnt the dead in some tribes, and in others buried them. These modes of sepulture differed every few leagues.’ Taylor’s Indianology, in Cal. Farmer, June 8, 1860. A dead Oleepa was buried by one woman in ‘a pit about four feet deep, and ten feet in front of the father’s door.’ Delano’s Life on the Plains, p. 301. At Santa Cruz ‘the Gentiles burn the bodies of their warriors and allies who fall in war; those who die of natural death they inter at sundown.’ Comellas’ Letter, in Cal. Farmer, April 5, 1860. The Indians of the Bay of San Francisco burned their dead with everything belonging to them, ‘but those of the more southern regions buried theirs.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 363. In the vicinity of Clear Lake all the tribes with the exception of the Yubas bury their dead. Geiger, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1858, p. 289.

[563] ‘Los Runsienes dividian últimamente entre los parientes las pocas cosas que componian la propiedad del difunto. Los Eslenes, al contrario, no solo no repartian cosa alguna, sino que todos sus amigos y súbditos debian contribuir con algunos abalorios que enterraban con el cadáver del fallecido.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 172. ‘If a woman dies in becoming a mother, the child, whether living or dead, is buried with its mother.’ Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. iii., p. 437.

[564] ‘Die nächsten Anverwandten schneiden sich das Haar ab und werfen es ins Feuer, wobei sie sich mit Steinen an die Brust schlagen, auf den Boden stürzen, ja bisweilen aus besonderer Anhänglichkeit zu dem Verstorbenen sich blutrünstig oder gar zu Tode stossen; doch sind solche Fälle selten.’ Kostromitonow, in Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., p. 88. ‘The body is consumed upon a scaffold built over a hole, into which the ashes are thrown and covered.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 112. See also: Tehama Gazette, May, 1859; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. 171-2; Powers’ Pomo, MS.; also in Overland Monthly, vol. ix., p. 502, vol. x., p. 328, vol. xii., p. 28; San Francisco Evening Bulletin, April 4, 1861; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 448-50; La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 306; Placerville Index, 1857; Marmier, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., pp. 230, 236; Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. iii., p. 437; Wimmel, Californien, p. 178; Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 369; Folsom Dispatch, in Cal. Farmer, Nov. 9, 1860; Johnston, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 225; D’Orbigny, Voy., p. 458; Henley, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1856, p. 242; Forbes’ Cal., p. 195.

[565] In the Russian River Valley the Indians ‘sind weichherzig, und von Natur nicht rachsüchtig … sie erlernen mit Leichtigkeit mancherlei Handarbeiten und Gewerbe.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., pp. 77-8. Near Fort Ross ‘sind sie sanft und friedfertig, und sehr fähig, besonders in der Auffassung sinnlicher Gegenstände. Nur in Folge ihrer unmässigen Trägheit und Sorglosigkeit scheinen sie sehr dumm zu seyn.’ Kostromitonow, in Id., pp. 81-2. ‘They appear … by no means so stupid’ as those at the missions. Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 26. At Bodega Bay ‘their disposition is most liberal.’Maurelle’s Jour., p. 47. At Clear Lake ‘they are docile, mild, easily managed … roguish, ungrateful, and incorrigibly lazy … cowardly and cringing towards the whites … thorough sensualists and most abandoned gamblers … wretchedly improvident.’ Revere’s Tour, pp. 120-1. In the Sacramento Valley they are ‘excessively jealous of their squaws … stingy and inhospitable.’ Kelly’s Excursion to Cal., vol. ii., p. 114. ‘A mirthful race, always disposed to jest and laugh.’ Dana, in Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 222. ‘Possessed of mean, treacherous, and cowardly traits of character, and the most thievish propensities.’ Johnson’s Cal. and Ogn., p. 143. In the vicinity of San Francisco Bay ‘they are certainly a race of the most miserable beings I ever saw, possessing the faculty of human reason.’ Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 13. ‘For the most part an idle, intemperate race.’ Thornton’s Ogn. and Cal., vol. ii., p. 78. ‘They are a people of a tractable, free, and louing nature, without guile or treachery.’ Drake’s World Encomp., p. 131. ‘Bastantes rancherias de gentiles muy mansos y apacibles.’ Crespi, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. vi., p. 497. ‘Son muy mansos, afables, de buenas caras y los mas de ellos barbados.’ Palou, Noticias, in Id., tom. vii., p. 59. At Monterey they ‘étaient lourds et peu intelligents.’ Those living farther from the missions were not without ‘une certaine finesse, commune à tous les hommes élevés dans l’état de nature.’ Petit-Thouars, Voy., tom. ii., p. 134. ‘Ces peuples sont si peu courageux, qu’ils n’opposent jamais aucune résistance aux trois ou quatre soldats qui violent si évidement à leur égard le droit des gens.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 297. ‘The Yukas are a tigerish, truculent, sullen, thievish, and every way bad, but brave race.’ Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. ix., p. 306. The Tahtoos were very cowardly and peace-loving. Powers’ Pomo, MS. Than the Oleepas ‘a more jolly, laughter-loving, careless, and good-natured people do not exist…. For intelligence they are far behind the Indians east of the Rocky Mountains.’ Delano’s Life on the Plains, p. 297. The Kannimares ‘were considered a brave and warlike Indian race.’ Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, March 30, 1860. The condition of the Wallas ‘is the most miserable that it is possible to conceive; their mode of living, the most abject and destitute known to man.’ Henley, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1856, p. 241. The Fresno River Indians ‘are peaceable, quiet and industrious.’ Henley, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 304. A rational, calculating people, generally industrious. Lewis, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1858, p. 291. On the coast range north and east of Mendocino ‘they are a timid and generally inoffensive race.’ Bailey, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1858, p. 304. In Placer County they are industrious, honest, and temperate; the females strictly virtuous. Brown, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1856, p. 243. Lazy, trifling, drunken. Applegate, Ib. In Tuolumne: friendly, generally honest, truthful; men lazy, women industrious. Jewett, Id., p. 244. In the Yosemite Valley, ‘though low in the scale of man, they are not the abject creatures generally represented; they are mild, harmless, and singularly honest.’ Kneeland’s Wonders of Yosemite, p. 52. At Santa Clara they have no ambition, are entirely regardless of reputation and renown. Vancouver’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 21. In stupid apathy ‘they exceed every race of men I have ever known, not excepting the degraded races of Terra del Fuego or Van Dieman’s Land.’ Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 97. At Santa Cruz ‘they are so inclined to lying that they almost always will confess offences they have not committed;’ very lustful and inhospitable. Comellas’ Letter, in Cal. Farmer, April 5, 1860. At Kelsey River they are ‘amiable and thievish.’ Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 124. ‘In general terms, the California Indians are more timid, peaceable, and joyous than any of their neighbors.’ Stephens, in Powers’ Pomo, MS. ‘Their stupidity, insensibility, ignorance, inconstancy, slavery to appetite, excessive sloth and laziness, being absorbed for the time in the stir and din of night-watching and battle, give them a new existence.’ Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 366. ‘Faul und jeder Anstrengung abgeneigt.’ Osswald, Californien, p. 63. ‘Stupidity seemed to be their distinctive character.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 239. ‘Loose, lazy, careless, capricious, childish and fickle.’ Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, March 2, 1860. ‘They are really the most harmless tribes on the American continent.’ Gerstaecker’s Nar., p. 212. Revengeful, timid, treacherous and ungrateful. Kelly’s Excursion to Cal., vol. ii., p. 284. ‘Cowardly, treacherous, filthy and indolent.’ Johnston, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 223. ‘Dull, indolent, phlegmatic, timid and of a gentle, submissive temper.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 199. ‘In stature no less than in mind are certainly of a very inferior race of human beings.’ Langsdorff’s Voy., pt. ii., p. 168. ‘Pusillanimous.’ Forbes’ Cal., p. 183. ‘Ils sont également extrêmes dans l’expression de la joie et de la colère.’ Rollin, in La Pérouse, Voy., tom. iv., p. 58. ‘Seemed to be almost of the lowest grade of human beings.’ King’s Rept., in Bayard Taylor’s El Dorado, Appendix, vol. ii., p. 210. ‘Die Indianer von Californien sind physisch und moralisch den andern Indianern untergeordnet.’ Wimmel, Californien, p. 177. ‘Su estupidez mas parece un entorpecimiento de las potencias por falta de accion y por pereza característica, que limitacion absoluta de sus facultades intelectuales; y así quando se las pone en movimiento, y se les dan ideas, no dexan de discernir y de aprender lo que se les enseña.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 164. ‘I noticed that all the Indians from Southern to Northern California were low, shiftless, indolent, and cowardly.’ Miller’s Life Amongst the Modocs, p. 16. Cowardly and treacherous in the extreme. Life of Gov. L. W. Boggs, by his Son, MS.

[566] At Santa Catalina ‘las mujeres son muy hermosas y honestas, los niños son blancos y rubios y muy risueños.’ Salmeron, Relaciones, p. 18, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv. See also Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 140; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 712. At Santa Barbara, ‘son mas altos, dispuestos, y membrados, que otros, que antes se avian visto.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 714. On the coast from San Diego to San Francisco they are ‘d’une couleur foncée, de petite taille, et assez mal faits.’ Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1844, tom. ci., p. 153; see also Marmier, Notice, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., p. 226. At San Luis Rey, ‘sont bien faits et d’une taille moyenne.’ Id., p. 171; quoted in Marmier, p. 229. An Indian seen at Santa Inez Mission ‘was about twenty-seven years old, with a black thick beard, iris of the eyes light chocolate-brown, nose small and round, lips not thick, face long and angular.’ Cal. Farmer, May 4, 1860. The Noches ‘aunque de buena disposicion son delgados y bastante delicados para andar á pié.’ Garces, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie ii., tom. i., p. 295. ‘Well proportioned in figure, and of noble appearance.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 45. ‘The women (of the Diegeños) are beautifully developed, and superbly formed, their bodies as straight as an arrow.’ Michler, in Emory’s U. S. and Mex., Bound. Survey, vol. i., p. 107. The Cahuillas ‘are a filthy and miserable-looking set, and great beggars, presenting an unfavorable contrast to the Indian upon the Colorado.’ Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 134.

[567] The ordinary cloak descends to the waist: ‘le chef seul en a une qui lui tombe jusqu’au jarret, et c’est là la seule marque de distinction.’ Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1844, tom. ci., p. 172; see also Marmier, Notice, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., p. 229.

[568] These capes Father Crespi describes as being ‘unos capotillos hechos de pieles de liebres y conejos de que hacen tiras y tercidas como mecate; cosen uno con otro y las defienden del frio cubriéndolas por la honestidad.’ Crespi, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. vi., pp. 291-2; see also Id., p. 312.

[569] The lobo marino of the Spanish is the common seal and sea calf of the English; le veau marin and phoque commun of the French; vecchio marino of the Italians; Meerwolf and Meerhund of the Germans; Zee-Hund of the Dutch; Sael-hund of the Danes; Sial of the Swedes; and moelrhon of the Welsh. Knight’s Eng. Encyc. Nat. Hist., vol. iv., p. 299.

[570] Reid, in Los Angeles Star.

[571] Salmeron, Relaciones, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 18.

[572] This hair turban or coil ‘sirve de bolsa para guardar en la cabeza los abalorios y demas chucherias que se les dá.’ Palou, Vida de Junípero Serra, p. 215. The same custom seems to prevail among the Cibolos of New Mexico, as Marmier, in his additional chapter in the French edition of Bryant’s Cal., p. 258, says: ‘les hommes du peuple tressent leurs cheveux avec des cordons, et y placent le peu d’objets qu’ils possèdent, notamment la corne qui renferme leur tabac à fumer.’

[573] On the subject of dress see also Navarrete, Introd., in Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. lxiv.; Palou, Vida de Junípero Serra, p. 79; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 45; Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., p. 240; Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 138; Garces, in Doc. Mex. Hist., serie ii., tom. i., p. 294; Marmier, Notice, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., p. 229.

[574] On the Los Angeles Coast: ‘La ranchería se compone de veinte casas hechas de zacate de forma esférica á modo de uno media naranja con su respiradero en lo alto por donde les entra la luz y tiene salida el humo.’ Crespi, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. vi., p. 314; Hoffmann, in San Francisco Medical Press, vol. v., p. 149.

[575] ‘Partiéron de allí el 9, entráron en una ensenada espaciosa, y siguiendo la costa viéron en ella un pueblo de Indios junto á la mar con casas grandes á manera de las de Nueva-España.’ Navarrete, Introd., in Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, pp. xxix., xxxi., xxxvi. The accounts of Cabrillo’s voyage are so confused that it is impossible to know the exact locality in which he saw the people he describes. On this point compare Cabrillo, Relacion, in Col. Doc. Hist. Florida, tom. i., p. 173; Browne’s Lower Cal., pp. 18, 19; Burney’s Chron. Hist. Discov., vol. i., pp. 221-5; Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., pp. 154-5; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 329; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 210-11; Salmeron, Relaciones, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 18; De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 306. ‘Nur um die Meerenge von Santa Barbara fand man, 1769, die Bewohner ein wenig gesittigter. Sie bauten grosse Häuser von pyramidaler Form, in Dörfer vereint.’ Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., pp. 454-5.

[576] Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., p. 259; Bancroft’s Nat. Races, vol. iii., pp. 163-9.

[577] ‘One of their most remarkable superstitions is found in the fact of their not eating the flesh of large game. This arises from their belief that in the bodies of all large animals the souls of certain generations, long since past, have entered…. A term of reproach from a wild tribe to those more tamed is, “they eat venison.”‘ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., pp. 215-6; see also Reid, in Los Angeles Star.

[578] ‘All their food was either cold or nearly so…. Salt was used very sparingly in their food, from an idea that it had a tendency to turn their hair gray.’ Reid, in Los Angeles Star. ‘I have seen many instances of their taking a rabbit, and sucking its blood with eagerness, previous to consuming the flesh in a crude state.’ Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., p. 239. ‘Viven muy regalados con varias semillas, y con la pesca que hacen en sus balsas de tule … y queriendoles dar cosa de comida, solian decir, que de aquello no, que lo que querian era ropa; y solo con cosa de este género, eran los cambalaches que hacian de su pescado con los Soldados y Arrieros.’ Palou, Vida de Junípero Serra, p. 79. See also Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 712; Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 139; Stanley, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1866, p. 102; Id., 1869, pp. 194-5; Walker, in Id., 1872, p. 67; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 125; Hoffmann, in San Francisco Medical Press, vol. v., p. 149; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., vol. i., pp. 82-3.

[579] Palou, Vida de Junípero Serra, pp. 83-4.

[580] Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., pp. 306-9.

[581] The baskets, though water-proof, ‘were used only for dry purposes. The vessels in use for liquids were roughly made of rushes and plastered outside and in with bitumen or pitch, called by them sanot.’ Reid, in Los Angeles Star; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, vol. ii., pt. ii., pp. 454-5; and Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., vol. i., p. 82.

[582] ‘Leurs mortiers de pierre et divers autres ustensiles sont incrustés avec beaucoup d’art de morceaux de nacre de perle.’ Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1844, tom. ci., p. 319. ‘Mortars and pestles were made of granite, about sixteen inches wide at the top, ten at the bottom, ten inches high and two thick.’ Soapstone pots were ‘about an inch in thickness, and procured from the Indians of Santa Catalina; the cover used was of the same material.’ Reid, in Los Angeles Star. On the eastern slopes of the San Bernardino Mountains, blankets are made which will easily hold water. Taylor, in San Francisco Bulletin, 1862, also quoted in Shuck’s Cal. Scrap Book, p. 405. ‘Todas sus obras son primorosas y bien acabadas.’ Crespi, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. vi., p. 315.

[583] Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1844, tom. ci., pp. 319-20.

[584] ‘The planks were bent and joined by the heat of fire, and then paved with asphaltum, called by them chapapote.’ Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, June 1, 1860.

[585] At Santa Catalina Vizcaino saw ‘vnas Canoguelas, que ellos vsan, de Tablas bien hechas, como Barquillos, con las Popas, y Proas levantadas, y mas altas, que el Cuerpo de la Barca, ò Canoa.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 712; see also Salmeron, Relaciones, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 18. On the coast of Los Angeles Father Crespi saw ‘canoas hechas de buenas tablas de pino, bien ligadas y de una forma graciosa con dos proas…. Usan remos largos de dos palas y vogan con indecible lijeriza y velocidad.’ Crespi, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. vi., p. 315. At San Diego Palou describes ‘balsas de tule, en forma de Canoas, con lo que entran muy adentro del mar.’ Palou, Vida de Junípero Serra, p. 79; Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., p. 240; Marmier, Notice, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., p. 228. Description of balsas, which differ in no respect from those used north.

[586] ‘The worth of a rial was put on a string which passed twice and a-half round the hand, i. e., from end of middle finger to wrist. Eight of these strings passed for the value of a silver dollar.’ Cal. Farmer, June 1, 1860. ‘Eight yards of these beads made about one dollar of our currency.’ Id., Jan. 18, 1861.

[587] ‘If a quarrel occurred between parties of distinct lodges (villages), each chief heard the witnesses produced by his own people; and then, associated with the chief of the opposite side, they passed sentence. In case they could not agree, an impartial chief was called in, who heard the statements made by both, and he alone decided. There was no appeal from his decision.’ Reid, in Los Angeles Star.

[588] ‘Pour tout ce qui concerne les affaires intérieures, l’influence des devins est bien supérieure à la leur.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 373. At San Diego ‘Chaque village est soumis aux ordres absolus d’un chef.’ Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1844, tom. ci., p. 153; or see Marmier, Notice, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., p. 226. ‘I have found that the captains have very little authority.’ Stanley, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 194.

[589] Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., pp. 262-9.

[590] Dr. Hoffman states that in the vicinity of San Diego ‘their laws allow them to keep as many wives as they can support.’ San Francisco Medical Press, vol. vi., p. 150. Fages, speaking of the Indians on the coast from San Diego to San Francisco, says: ‘Ces Indiens n’ont qu’une seule femme à la fois, mais ils en changent aussi souvent que cela leur convient.’ Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1844, tom. ci., p. 153. Of those in the vicinity of San Luis Rey the same author says: ‘Les chefs de ce district ont le privilége de prendre deux on trois femmes, de les répudier ou de les changer aussi souvent qu’ils le veulent; mais les autres habitants n’en ont qu’une seule et ne peuvent les répudier qu’en cas d’adultère.’ Id., p. 173.

[592] ‘The perverse child, invariably, was destroyed, and the parents of such remained dishonored.’ Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., p. 270. ‘Ils ne pensent pas à donner d’autre éducation à leurs enfants qu’à enseigner aux fils exactement ce que faisait leur père; quant aux filles, elles ont le droit de choisir l’occupation qui leur convient le mieux.’ Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1814, tom. ci., p. 153.

[593] The intoxicating liquor was ‘made from a plant called Pibat, which was reduced to a powder, and mixed with other intoxicating ingredients.’ Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., p. 271.

[594] Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 215. For other descriptions of ceremony observed at age of puberty, see: Hoffman, in San Francisco Medical Press, vol. vi., pp. 150-1; McKinstry, in San Francisco Herald, June, 1853.

[595] ‘Pero en la Mision de S. Antonio se pudo algo averiguar, pues avisando á los Padres, que en una de las casas de los Neófitos se habian metido dos Gentiles, el uno con el traje natural de ellos, y el otro con el trage de muger, expresándolo con el nombre de Joya (que dicen llamarlos asi en su lengua nativa) fué luego el P. Misionero con el Cabo y un Soldado á la casa á ver lo que buscaban, y los hallaron en el acto de pecado nefando. Castigáronlos, aunque no con la pena merecida, y afearonles el hecho tan enorme; y respondió el Gentil, que aquella Joya era su muger…. Solo en el tramo de la Canal de Santa Bárbara, se hallan muchos Joyas, pues raro es el Pueblo donde no se vean dos ó tres.’ Palou, Vida de Junípero Serra, p. 222. ‘Así en esta ranchería como en otros de la canal, hemos visto algunos gentiles con traje de muger con sus nagüitas de gamusa, y muy engruesadas y limpias; no hemos podido entender lo que significa, ni á qué fin.’ Crespi, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. vi., p. 325. See also Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., pp. 283-4; Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 371; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 427; Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1844, tom. ci., p. 173.

[596] ‘In some tribes the men and the women unite in the dance; in others the men alone trip to the music of the women, whose songs are by no means unpleasant to the ear.’ McKinstry, in S. Francisco Herald, June 1853. ‘In their religious ceremonial dances they differ much. While, in some tribes, all unite to celebrate them, in others, men alone are allowed to dance, while the women assist in singing.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 214-15.

[598] Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 380. ‘When the new year begun, no thought was given to the past; and on this account, even amongst the most intelligent, they could not tell the number of years which had transpired, when desirous of giving an idea of any remote event.’ Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., p. 303.

[599] ‘For Gonorrhœa they used a strong decoction of an herb that grows very plentifully here, and is called by the Spanish “chancel agua,” and wild pigeon manure, rolled up into pills. The decoction is a very bitter astringent, and may cure some sores, but that it fails in many, I have undeniable proof. In syphilis they use the actual cautery, a living coal of fire applied to the chancer, and a decoction of an herb, said to be something like sarsaparilla, called rosia.’ Hoffman, in San Francisco Medical Press, vol. v., p. 152-3.

[600] I am indebted for the only information of value relating to the medical usages of the southern California tribes, to Boscana’s MS., literally translated by Robinson in his Life in Cal., pp. 310-14, and also given in substance in Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., pp. 378-9, and to Reid’s papers on the Indians of Los Angeles County, in the Los Angeles Star, also quoted in Cal. Farmer, Jan. 11, 1861.

[602] ‘The same custom is now in use, but not only applied to deaths, but to their disappointments and adversities in life, thus making public demonstration of their sorrow.’ Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., pp. 314-15.

[603] California Farmer, May 22, 1863.

[604] Reid, in Los Angeles Star.

[605] The latitude of which he fixes at 34° 33´.

[606] Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1844, tom. ci., pp. 173-4. Quoted almost literally by Marmier, Notice, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., p. 230.

[607] Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., p. 317.

[608] In spelling the word Shoshone, I have followed the most common orthography. Many, however, write it Shoshonee, others, Shoshonie, either of which would perhaps give a better idea of the pronunciation of the word, as the accent falls on the final e. The word means ‘Snake Indian,’ according to Stuart, Montana, p. 80; and ‘inland,’ according to Ross, Fur Hunters, vol. i., p. 249. I apply the name Shoshones to the whole of this family; the Shoshones proper, including the Bannacks, I call the Snakes; the remaining tribes I name collectively Utahs.

[609] See Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., p. 249; Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 228-9; Remy and Brenchley’s Journey, vol. i., p. 124; Chandless’ Visit, p. 118; Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 377; Carvalho’s Incid. of Trav., p. 200; Graves, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 178; Beckwith, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. ii., p. 42; Farley’s Sanitary Rept., in San Francisco Medical Press, vol. iii., p. 154; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 298; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 88; Hesperian Magazine, vol. x., p. 255; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 197; Prince, quoted in Cal. Farmer, Oct. 18, 1861; Townsend’s Nar., pp. 125, 133; Bryant, Voy. en Cal., pp. 152, 194; Coke’s Rocky Mountains, p. 276; Fremont’s Explor. Ex., pp. 148, 267; Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 312; Figuier’s Human Race, p. 484; Burton’s City of the Saints, p. 585. Mention is made by Salmeron of a people living south of Utah Lake, who were ‘blancas, y rosadas las mejillas como los franceses.’ Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 101. Escalante, speaking of Indians seen in the same region, lat. 39° 34´ 37´´, says: ‘Eran estos de los barbones, y narices agujeradas, y en su idioma se nombran Tirangapui, Tian los cinco, que con su capitan venieron primero, tan crecida la barba, que parecian padres capuchinos ó belemitas.’ Doc. Hist. Mex., serie ii., tom. i., p. 476. Wilkes writes, ‘Southwest of the Youta Lake live a tribe who are known by the name of the Monkey Indians; a term which is not a mark of contempt, but is supposed to be a corruption of their name…. They are reported to live in fastnesses among high mountains; to have good clothing and houses; to manufacture blankets, shoes, and various other articles, which they sell to the neighboring tribes. Their colour is as light as that of the Spaniards; and the women in particular are very beautiful, with delicate features, and long flowing hair…. Some have attempted to connect these with an account of an ancient Welsh colony, which others had thought they discovered among the Mandans of the Missouri; while others were disposed to believe they might still exist in the Monkeys of the Western Mountains. There is another account which speaks of the Monquoi Indians, who formerly inhabited Lower California, and were partially civilized by the Spanish missionaries, but who have left that country, and of whom all traces have long since been lost.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 502-3. ‘On the southern boundary of Utah exists a peculiar race, of whom little is known. They are said to be fair-skinned, and are called the “White Indians;” have blue eyes and straight hair, and speak a kind of Spanish language differing from other tribes.’ San Francisco Evening Bulletin, May 15, 1863. Taylor has a note on the subject, in which he says that these fair Indians were doubtless the Moquis of Western New Mexico. Cal. Farmer, June 26, 1863. Although it is evident that this mysterious and probably mythic people belong in no way to the Shoshone family, yet as they are mentioned by several writers as dwelling in a region which is surrounded on all sides by Shoshones, I have given this note, wherefrom the reader can draw his own conclusions.

[610] Beckwith, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. ii., p. 42; Heap’s Cent. Route, p. 102.

[611] Speaking of women: ‘their breasts and stomachs were covered with red mastic, made from an earth peculiar to these rocks, which rendered them hideous. Their only covering was a pair of drawers of hare-skin, badly sewn together, and in holes.’ Remy and Brenchley’s Journ., vol. ii., p. 386; see also vol. i., p. 127, and vol. ii., pp. 389, 404, 407. ‘The women often dress in skirts made of entrails, dressed and sewed together in a substantial way.’ Prince, in Cal. Farmer, Oct. 18, 1861. Hareskins ‘they cut into cords with the fur adhering; and braid them together so as to form a sort of cloak with a hole in the middle, through which they thrust their heads.’ Farnham’s Life and Adven., p. 376. The remaining authorities describe them as naked, or slightly and miserably dressed; see Stansbury’s Rept., pp. 82, 202-3; Chandless’ Visit, p. 291; Heap’s Cent. Route, p. 100; Irving’s Bonneville’s Adven., p. 255; Bryant’s Cal., p. 194; Forney, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1859, p. 365; Dodge,Ib., pp. 374-5; Fenton, in Id., 1869, p. 203; Graves, in Id., 1854, p. 178; Burton’s City of the Saints, pp. 217-18, 272-3, 581, 585; Fremont’s Explor. Ex., pp. 148, 168-9, 212, 218, 225, 227, 267; Bulfinch’s Oregon, p. 129; Saxon’s Golden Gate, p. 251; Scenes in the Rocky Mts., p. 197; Brownell’s Ind. Races, p. 539; Dunn’s Oregon, p. 331.

[612] Townsend’s Nar., pp. 125, 133; De Smet, Voy., p. 25; Dunn’s Oregon, p. 325; Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 228-30, 308-9; Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., pp. 249-50, 257-8, vol. ii., pp. 22-3; Chandless’ Visit, p. 118; Carvalho’s Incid. of Trav., p. 200; White’s Ogn., p. 377; Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 298; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., pp. 244, 281.

[613] ‘The ermine is the fur known to the north-west traders by the name of the white weasel, but is the genuine ermine.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 313.

[614] Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 312-15.

[615] ‘On y rencontre aussi des terres métalliques de différentes couleurs, telles que vertes, bleues, jaunes, noires, blanches, et deux sortes d’ocres, l’une pâle, l’autre d’un rouge brillant comme du vermillion. Les Indiens en font très-grand cas; ils s’en servent pour se peindre le corps et le visage.’ Stuart, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1821, tom. xii., p. 83.

[616] ‘They remain in a semi-dormant, inactive state the entire winter, leaving their lowly retreats only now and then, at the urgent calls of nature, or to warm their burrows…. In the spring they creep from their holes … poor and emaciated, with barely flesh enough to hide their bones, and so enervated from hard fare and frequent abstinence, that they can scarcely move.’ Scenes in the Rocky Mts., p. 179. Stansbury mentions lodges in Utah, east of Salt Lake, which were constructed of ‘cedar poles and logs of a considerable size, thatched with bark and branches, and were quite warm and comfortable.’ Stansbury’s Rept., p. 111; Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 334; Irving’s Bonneville’s Adven., p. 255; Remy and Brenchley’s Journ., vol. i., pp. 80-1, 129, vol. ii., pp. 362, 373; Salmeron, Relaciones, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 101; Farley, in San Francisco Medical Press, vol. iii., p. 154; Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 378; Brownell’s Ind. Races, p. 538; Heap’s Cent. Route, pp. 98-9; De Smet, Voy., p. 28; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 247, vol. ii., pp. 256-7; Coke’s Rocky Mountains, p. 257; Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. ii., p. 117; White’s Ogn., p. 376; Irving’s Astoria, pp. 257, 290; Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 305; Fremont’s Explor. Ex., 1842-3, pp. 142, 212, 218; Townsend’s Nar., p. 136; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 325, 331-2, 337-8; Bulfinch’s Oregon, p. 179; Farnham’s Trav., pp. 58, 61-2; Simpson’s Route to Cal., p. 51; Burton’s City of the Saints, p. 573; Knight’s Pioneer Life, MS.

[617] Coke’s Rocky Mts., p. 275; De Smet, Voy., p. 29; Dennison, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 375; Saint-Amant, Voyages, p. 325.

[618] ‘They eat the seed of two species of Conifers, one about the size of a hazel-nut, the other much smaller. They also eat a small stone-fruit, somewhat red, or black in colour, and rather insipid; different berries, among others, those of Vaccinium. They collect the seed of the Atriplex and Chenopodium, and occasionally some grasses. Among roots, they highly value that of a bushy, yellowish and tolerably large broomrape, which they cook or dry with the base, or root-stock, which is enlarged, and constitutes the most nutritious part. They also gather the napiform root of a Cirsium acaule, which they eat raw or cooked; when cooked, it becomes quite black, resinous as pitch and rather succulent; when raw, it is whitish, soft, and of a pleasant flavour.’ Remy and Brenchley’s Journey, vol. i., p. 129. The Shoshones of Utah and Nevada ‘eat certain roots, which in their native state are rank poison, called Tobacco root, but when put in a hole in the ground, and a large fire burned over them, become wholesome diet.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., p. 697. ‘Of the roots used … the pap-pa, or wild potatoe, is abundant.’ Id., vol. iv., p. 222; see also, Id., vol. v., pp. 199-200. At Bear River, ‘every living animal, thing, insect, or worm they eat.’ Fremont’s Explor. Exp., p. 142, see also pp. 148, 160, 173-4, 212, 218-19, 267, 273. Inland savages are passionately fond of salt; those living near the sea detest it. Stuart, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1821, tom. xii., p. 85. The Utahs eat ‘the cactus leaf, piñon-nut, and various barks; the seed of the bunch-grass, and of the wheat, or yellow grass, somewhat resembling rye, the rabbit-bush twigs, which are chewed, and various roots and tubers; the soft sego bulb, the rootlet of the cat-tail flag, and of the tule, which when sun-dried and powdered to flour, keeps through the winter and is palatable even to white men.’ Burton’s City of the Saints, p. 581, see also pp. 573, 577. The Pi-Edes ‘live principally on lizards, swifts, and horned toads.’ Ind. Aff. Rept., 1865. p. 145; see also Id., 1854, p. 229; 1856, p. 234; 1861, p. 112; 1859, p. 365; 1866, pp. 114; 1869, pp. 203, 216; 1870, pp. 95, 114; 1872, p. 59. The Snakes eat a white-fleshed kind of beaver, which lives on poisonous roots, whose flesh affects white people badly, though the Indians roast and eat it with impunity. Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. ii., p. 117, see also vol. i., p. 269-72; Brownell’s Ind. Races, p. 539; Farnham’s Life and Adven., pp. 371, 376-8; Irving’s Bonneville’s Adven., pp. 255, 257, 401-2; Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 501; Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 219; Bryant’s Cal., p. 202; Stansbury’s Rept., pp. 77, 148, 233; Kelly’s Excursion, vol. i., p. 238; Saxon’s Golden Gate, p. 251; Smith, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1828, tom. xxxvii., p. 209; Scenes in the Rocky Mts., p. 178-9; Townsend’s Nar., p. 144; White’s Ogn., p. 376; Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 228-31, 309; Coke’s Rocky Mts., p. 277; Irving’s Astoria, pp. 258, 295; De Smet, Voy., pp. 28-30, 127; Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 334; Farnham’s Trav., pp. 58, 61; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 242, 270, vol. ii., pp. 19, 60, 61, 64, 244, 311; Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. ii., p. 534; Simpson’s Route to Pac., pp. 51-2; Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 270, 288-9, 298-9; Bigler’s Early Days in Utah and Nevada, MS.

[619] The Wararereeks are ‘dirty in their camps, in their dress, and in their persons.’ Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., p. 250. The persons of the Piutes are ‘more disgusting than those of the Hottentots. Their heads are white with the germs of crawling filth.’ Farnham’s Trav., p. 58. ‘A filthy tribe—the prey of idleness and vermin.’ Farnham’s Life and Adven., p. 325. Bryant says, of the Utahs between Salt Lake and Ogden’s Hole, ‘I noticed the females hunting for the vermin in the heads and on the bodies of their children; finding which they ate the animals with an apparent relish.’ Bryant’s Cal., p. 154. The Snakes ‘are filthy beyond description.’ Townsend’s Nar., p. 137. ‘J’ai vu les Sheyennes, les Serpents, les Youts, etc., manger la vermine les uns des autres à pleins peignes.’ De Smet, Voy., p. 47. ‘The Snakes are rather cleanly in their persons.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 61.

[620] ‘A weapon called by the Chippeways, by whom it was formerly used, the poggamoggon.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 309. Bulfinch, Oregon, p. 126, says the stone weighs about two pounds. Salmeron also mentions a similar weapon used by the people living south of Utah Lake; concerning whom see note 187, p. 423.

[621] The Utahs ‘no usan mas armas que las flechas y algunas lanzas de perdernal, ni tienen otro peto, morrion ni espaldar que el que sacaron del vientre de sus madres.’ Escalante, quoted in Salmeron, Relaciones, in Doc. Hist. Mex., ser. iii., part iv., p. 126. ‘Bows made of the horns of the bighorn … are formed by cementing with glue flat pieces of the horn together, covering the back with sinewes and glue, and loading the whole with an unusual quantity of ornaments.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 309. At Ogden River, in Utah, they work obsidian splinters ‘into the most beautiful and deadly points, with which they arm the end of their arrows.’ Thornton’s Ogn. and Cal., vol. i., p. 343. ‘Pour toute arme, un arc, des flèches et un bâton pointu.’ De Smet, Voy., p. 28. ‘Bows and arrows are their (Banattees) only weapons of defence.’ Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., p. 251. The arrows of the Pa-Utes ‘are barbed with a very clear translucent stone, a species of opal, nearly as hard as the diamond; and, shot from their long bow, are almost as effective as a gunshot.’ Fremont’s Expl. Ex., p. 267. The Pi-Utes and Pitches ‘have no weapon of defence except the club, and in the use of that they are very unskilful.’ Farnham’s Trav., p. 58. Southwest of Great Salt Lake, ‘their arms are clubs, with small bows and arrows made of reeds.’ Scenes in the Rocky Mts., p. 180. The Pi-Utes ‘make some weapons of defence, as bows and arrows. The bows are about six feet long; made of the savine (Juniperus sabina).’ Farnham’s Life and Adven., p. 378; see farther, Remy and Brenchley’s Journ., vol. ii., pp. 291, 261; Stansbury’s Rept., p. 232; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 198; Heap’s Cent. Route, pp. 56, 72, 77, 84, 99; Palmer’s Jour., p. 134; Bulfinch’s Oregon, p. 129; Irving’s Bonneville’s Adven., pp. 146, 255, 400; Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 219; Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 228-9, 233; Irving’s Astoria, p. 279; Stuart, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1822, tom. xiii., p. 50; Bigler’s Early Days in Utah and Nevada, MS.; Knight’s Pioneer Life, MS.

[622] Remy and Brenchley’s Jour., vol. ii., p. 407; Heap’s Cent. Route, p. 99; Thornton’s Ogn. and Cal., vol. i., p. 171.

[623] ‘Taking an enemy’s scalp is an honour quite independent of the act of vanquishing him. To kill your adversary is of no importance unless the scalp is brought from the field of battle, and were a warrior to slay any number of his enemies in action, and others were to obtain the scalps or first touch the dead, they would have all the honours, since they have borne off the trophy.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 309; see also p. 265. The Utahs ‘will devour the heart of a brave man to increase their courage, or chop it up, boil it in soup, engorge a ladleful, and boast they have drunk the enemy’s blood.’ Burton’s City of the Saints, p. 581; see also p. 140. The Utahs never carry arrows when they intend to fight on horseback. Heap’s Cent. Route, p. 77; see also p. 100; Remy and Brenchley’s Journ., pp. 97, 99; Stansbury’s Rept., p. 81; De Smet, Voy., pp. 28-9; Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., p. 275, vol. ii., pp. 93-6; Bulfinch’s Oregon, p. 129; Farnham’s Trav., p. 36.

[624] The pipe of the chief ‘was made of a dense transparent green stone, very highly polished, about two and a half inches long, and of an oval figure, the bowl being in the same situation with the stem. A small piece of burnt clay is placed in the bottom of the bowl to separate the tobacco from the end of the stem.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 267. Pots made of ‘a stone found in the hills … which, though soft and white in its natural state, becomes very hard and black after exposure to the fire.’ Id., p. 312. ‘These vessels, although rude and without gloss, are nevertheless strong, and reflect much credit on Indian ingenuity.’ Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., p. 274. Pipe-stems ‘resemble a walking-stick more than anything else, and they are generally of ash, and from two-and-a-half to three feet long.’ Id., vol. ii., p. 109. ‘Cooking vessels very much resembling reversed bee-hives, made of basket work covered with buffalo skins.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 244. Stansbury discovered pieces of broken Indian pottery and obsidian about Salt Lake. Stansbury’s Rept., p. 182. The material of baskets ‘was mostly willow twig, with a layer of gum, probably from the pine tree.’ Burton’s City of the Saints, p. 573. The Utahs ‘manufacture very beautiful and serviceable blankets.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 200. ‘Considering that they have nothing but stone hammers and flint knives it is truly wonderful to see the exquisite finish and neatness of their implements of war and hunting, as well as their ear-rings and waist-bands, made of an amalgam of silver and lead.’ Prince, in Cal. Farmer, Oct. 18, 1861. ‘Les Indiens en font des jarres, des pots, des plats de diverses formes. Ces vaisseaux communiquent une odeur et une saveur très-agréables à tout ce qu’ils renferment; ce qui provient sans doute de la dissolution de quelque substance bitumineuse contenue dans l’argile.’ Stuart, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1821, tom. xii., p. 83. ‘The pipes of these Indians are either made of wood or of red earth; sometimes these earthen pipes are exceedingly valuable, and Indians have been known to give a horse in exchange for one of them.’ Remy and Brenchley’s Journ., vol. i., p. 130; Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 128-32, 228-9, 234.

[625] Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., p. 274.

[626] Among the Snakes in Idaho garments of four to five beaver-skins were sold for a knife or an awl, and other articles of fur in proportion. Horses were purchased for an axe each. A ship of seventy-four guns might have been loaded with provision, such as dried buffalo, bought with buttons and rings. Articles of real value they thus disposed of cheaply, while articles of comparatively no value, such as Indian head-dress and other curiosities, were held high. A beaver-skin could thus be had for a brass-ring, while a necklace of bears’ claws could not be purchased for a dozen of the same rings. Axes, knives, ammunition, beads, buttons and rings, were most in demand. Clothing was of no value; a knife sold for as much as a blanket; and an ounce of vermilion was of more value than a yard of fine cloth. Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., pp. 257-9. See further, Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 316; Townsend’s Nar., pp. 133, 138; Prince, in Cal. Farmer, Oct. 18, 1861; Farnham’s Trav., p. 61.

[627] ‘They inflict no penalties for minor offences, except loss of character and disfellowship.’ Prince, in Cal. Farmer, Oct. 18, 1861; Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 306-7; Remy and Brenchley’s Journ., vol. i., p. 128.

[628] ‘It is virtuous to seize and ravish the women of tribes with whom they are at war, often among themselves, and to retain or sell them and their children as slaves.’ Drews’ Owyhee Recon., p. 17. The Pi-Edes ‘barter their children to the Utes proper for a few trinkets or bits of clothing, by whom they are again sold to the Navajos for blankets.’ Simpson’s Route to Cal., p. 45. ‘Some of the minor tribes in the southern part of the Territory (Utah), near New Mexico, can scarcely show a single squaw, having traded them off for horses and arms.’ Burton’s City of the Saints, p. 582. ‘Viennent trouver les blancs, et leur vendent leurs enfants pour des bagatelles.’ De Smet, Voy., p. 29; Knight’s Pioneer Life, MS.; Utah, Acts, Resolutions, etc., p. 87.

[629] ‘A refusal in these lands is often a serious business; the warrior collects his friends, carries off the recusant fair, and after subjecting her to the insults of all his companions espouses her.’ Burton’s City of the Saints, p. 582.

[630] ‘The women are exceedingly virtuous … they are a kind of mercantile commodity in the hands of their masters. Polygamy prevails among the chiefs, but the number of wives is not unlimited.’ Remy and Brenchley’s Journ., vol. i., pp. 123-8. They are given to sensual excesses, and other immoralities. Farnham’s Trav., p. 62; see also p. 60. ‘Prostitution and illegitimacy are unknown … they are not permitted to marry until eighteen or twenty years old … it is a capital offence to marry any of another nation without special sanction from their council and head chief. They allow but one wife.’ Prince, in Cal. Farmer, Oct. 18, 1861. At the time of their confinement the women ‘sit apart; they never touch a cooking utensil, although it is not held impure to address them, and they return only when the signs of wrath have passed away.’ Burton’s City of the Saints, p. 573. ‘Infidelity of the wife, or prostitution of an unmarried female, is punishable by death.’ Davies, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1861, p. 133. ‘Our Pi-Ute has a peculiar way of getting a foretaste of connubial bliss, cohabiting experimentally with his intended for two or three days previous to the nuptial ceremony, at the end of which time, either party can stay further proceedings, to indulge other trials until a companion more congenial is found.’ Farley, in San Francisco Medical Press, vol. iii., p. 155; Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 307-8, 315; De Smet, Voy., p. 27.

[631] The Snakes ‘ont une sorte de tabac sauvage qui croît dans les plaines contiguës aux montagnes du Spanish-River, il a les feuilles plus étroites que le nôtre, il est plus agréable à fumer, ses effets étant bien moins violens.’ Stuart, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1821, tom. xii., pp. 82-3. The Kinik-kinik ‘they obtain from three different plants. One is a Cornus, resembling our Cornus sanguinea; after having detached the epidermic cuticle, they scrape the bark and dry it, when it is ready for use. Another is a Vaccinium with red berries; they gather the leaves to smoke them when dry; the third is a small shrub, the fruit and flower of which I have never seen, but resembles certain species of Daphnads (particularly that of Kauai), the leaves of which are in like manner smoked.’ Remy and Brenchley’s Journ., vol. i., p. 130; see also p. 132; Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., p. 250; Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 306; Fremont’s Explor. Ex., p. 174; De Smet, Voy., pp. 25-6; Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 228-9, 237, 242-3.

[632] ‘En deux occasions diverses, je comptai cinq personnes ainsi montées, dont deux, certes, paraissaient aussi capables, chacune à elle seule, de porter la pauvre bête, que le cheval était à même de supporter leurs poids.’ De Smet, Voy., p. 127; Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., pp. 266, 309-11, 316; Graves, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 178.

[633] ‘With strong constitutions generally, they either die at once or readily recover.’ Burton’s City of the Saints, p. 581. ‘There is no lack of pulmonary difficulties among them.’ Farley, in San Francisco Medical Press, vol. iii., p. 155. Syphilis usually kills them. Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 316. ‘The convollaria stellata … is the best remedial plant known among those Indians.’ Fremont’s Explor. Ex., p. 273; Davies, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1861, p. 132; Prince, in Cal. Farmer, Oct. 18, 1861; Coke’s Rocky Mts., p. 276; Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 228-9, 240-2.

[634] ‘The Yutas make their graves high up the kanyons, usually in clefts of rock.’ Burton’s City of the Saints, p. 150. At the obsequies of a chief of the Timpenaguchya tribe ‘two squaws, two Pa Yuta children, and fifteen of his best horses composed the “customs.”‘ Id., p. 577. ‘When a death takes place, they wrap the body in a skin or hide, and drag it by the leg to a grave, which is heaped up with stones, as a protection against wild beasts.’ Id., p. 582; Remy and Brenchley’s Journ., vol. i., pp. 131, 345; De Smet, Voy., p. 28; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., pp. 359, 363.

[635] The Shoshones of Carson Valley ‘are very rigid in their morals.’ Remy and Brenchley’s Journ., vol. i., p. 85. At Haw’s Ranch, ‘honest and trustworthy, but lazy and dirty.’ Id., p. 123. These Kusi-Utahs ‘were very inoffensive and seemed perfectly guileless.’ Id., vol. ii., p. 412. The Pai-uches are considered as mere dogs, the refuse of the lowest order of humanity. Farnham’s Life and Adven., p. 376. The Timpanigos Yutas ‘are a noble race … brave and hospitable.’ Id., p. 371. The Pi-utes are ‘the most degraded and least intellectual Indians known to the trappers.’ Farnham’s Trav., p. 58. ‘The Snakes are a very intelligent race.’ Id., p. 62. The Bannacks are ‘a treacherous and dangerous race.’ Id., p. 76. The Pi-Edes are ‘timid and dejected;’ the Snakes are ‘fierce and warlike;’ the Tosawitches ‘very treacherous;’ the Bannacks ‘treacherous;’ the Washoes ‘peaceable, but indolent.’ Simpson’s Route to Cal., p. 45-9. The Utahs ‘are brave, impudent, and warlike … of a revengeful disposition.’ Graves, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 178. ‘Industrious.’ Armstrong, in Id., 1856, p. 233. ‘A race of men whose cruelty is scarcely a stride removed from that of cannibalism.’ Hurt, in Id., p. 231. ‘The Pah-utes are undoubtedly the most interesting and docile Indians on the continent.’ Dodge, in Id., 1859, p. 374. The Utahs are ‘fox-like, crafty, and cunning.’ Archuleta, in Id., 1865, p. 167. The Pi-Utes are ‘teachable, kind, and industrious … scrupulously chaste in all their intercourse.’ Parker, in Id., 1866, p. 115. The Weber-Utes ‘are the most worthless and indolent of any in the Territory.’ Head, in Id., p. 123. The Bannocks ‘seem to be imbued with a spirit of dash and bravery quite unusual.’ Campbell, in Id., p. 120. The Bannacks are ‘energetic and industrious.’ Danilson, in Id., 1869, p. 288. The Washoes are docile and tractable. Douglas, in Id., 1870, p. 96. The Pi-utes are ‘not warlike, rather cowardly, but pilfering and treacherous.’ Powell, in Id., 1871, p. 562. The Shoshokoes ‘are extremely indolent, but a mild, inoffensive race.’ Irving’s Bonneville’s Adven., p. 257. The Snakes ‘are a thoroughly savage and lazy tribe.’ Franchère’s Nar., p. 150. The Shoshones are ‘frank and communicative.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 306. The Snakes are ‘pacific, hospitable and honest.’ Dunn’s Oregon, p. 325. ‘The Snakes are a very intelligent race.’ White’s Ogn., p. 379. The Pi-utes ‘are as degraded a class of humanity as can be found upon the earth. The male is proud, sullen, intensely insolent…. They will not steal. The women are chaste, at least toward their white brethren.’ Farley, in San Francisco Medical Jour., vol. iii., p. 154. The Snakes have been considered ‘as rather a dull and degraded people … weak in intellect, and wanting in courage. And this opinion is very probable to a casual observer at first sight, or when seen in small numbers; for their apparent timidity, grave, and reserved habits, give them an air of stupidity. An intimate knowledge of the Snake character will, however, place them on an equal footing with that of other kindred nations, either east or west of the mountains, both in respect to their mental faculties and moral attributes.’ Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. ii., p. 151. ‘Les Sampectches, les Pagouts et les Ampayouts sont … un peuple plus misérable, plus dégradé et plus pauvre. Les Français les appellent communément les Dignes-de-pitié, et ce nom leur convient à merveille.’ De Smet, Voy., p. 28. The Utahs ‘pariassent doux et affables, très-polis et hospitaliers pour les étrangers, et charitables entre eux.’ Id., p. 30. ‘The Indians of Utah are the most miserable, if not the most degraded, beings of all the vast American wilderness.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 64. The Utahs ‘possess a capacity for improvement whenever circumstances favor them.’ Scenes in the Rocky Mts., p. 180. The Snakes are ‘la plus mauvaise des races des Peaux-Rouges que j’ai fréquentées. Ils sont aussi paresseux que peu prévoyants.’ Saint-Amant, Voy., p. 325. The Shoshones of Idaho are ‘highly intelligent and lively … the most virtuous and unsophisticated of all the Indians of the United States.’ Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, April 27, 1860. The Washoes have ‘superior intelligence and aptitude for learning.’ Id., June 14, 1861; see also Id., June 26, 1863. The Nevada Shoshones ‘are the most pure and uncorrupted aborigines upon this continent … they are scrupulously clean in their persons, and chaste in their habits … though whole families live together, of all ages and both sexes, in the same tent, immorality and crime are of rare occurrence.’ Prince, in Id., Oct. 18, 1861. The Bannacks ‘are cowardly, treacherous, filthy and indolent.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 223. ‘The Utahs are predatory, voracious and perfidious. Plunderers and murderers by habit … when their ferocity is not excited, their suspicions are so great as to render what they say unreliable, if they do not remain altogether uncommunicative.’ Id., vol. v., pp. 197-8. The Pa-Vants ‘are as brave and improvable as their neighbours are mean and vile.’ Burton’s City of the Saints, p. 577. ‘The Yuta is less servile, and consequently has a higher ethnic status than the African negro; he will not toil, and he turns at a kick or a blow.’ Id., p. 581. The Shoshokoes ‘are harmless and exceedingly timid and shy.’ Brownell’s Ind. Races, p. 538.

Chapter V • New Mexicans • 72,500 Words

Native Races of the Pacific States
New Mexican Group

Geographical Position of this Group, and Physical Features of the Territory—Family Divisions: Apaches, Pueblos, Lower Californians, and Northern Mexicans—the Apache Family: Comanches, Apaches Proper, Hualapais, Yumas, Cosninos, Yampais, Yalchedunes, Yamajabs, Cochees, Cruzados, Nijoras, Navajos, Mojaves, and their Customs—The Pueblo Family: Pueblos, Moquis, Pimas, Maricopas, Papagos, and their Neighbours—The Cochimis, Waicuris, Pericuis, and other Lower Californians—The Seris, Sinaloas, Tarahumares, Conchos, Tepehuanes, Tobosos, Acaxes, and others in Northern Mexico.

The New Mexicans, under which name I group the nations of New Mexico, Arizona, Lower California, Sonora, Sinaloa, Chihuahua, Durango, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, northern Zacatecas, and western Texas, present some peculiarities not hitherto encountered in this work. As a groupal designation, this name is neither more nor less appropriate than some others; all I claim for it is that it appears as fit as any. The term Mexican might with propriety be applied to this group, as the majority of its people live within the Mexican boundary, but that word is employed in the next division, which is yet more strictly of Mexico.

The territory of the New Mexicans, which lies for the most part between the parallels 36° and 23° and the meridians 96° and 117°, presents a great diversity of climate and aspect. On reaching the northern extremity of the Gulf of California, the Sierra Nevada and coast ranges of mountains join and break up into detached upheavals, or as they are called ‘lost mountains’; one part, with no great elevation, continuing through the peninsula, another, under the name of Sierra Madre, extending along the western side of Mexico. The Rocky Mountains, which separate into two ranges at about the forty-fifth parallel, continue southward, one branch, known in Utah as the Wahsatch, merging into the Sierra Madre, while the other, the great Cordillera, stretches along the eastern side of Mexico, uniting again with the Sierra Madre in the Mexican table-land. Besides these are many detached and intersecting ranges, between which lie arid deserts, lava beds, and a few fertile valleys. From the sterile sandy deserts which cover vast areas of this territory, rise many isolated groups of almost inaccessible peaks, some of which are wooded, thus affording protection and food for man and beast. Two great rivers, the Colorado and the Rio Grande del Norte flow through this region, one on either side, but, except in certain spots, they contribute little to the fertilization of the country. In the more elevated parts the climate is temperate, sometimes in winter severely cold; but on the deserts and plains, with the scorching sun above and the burning sand beneath, the heat is almost insupportable. The scanty herbage, by which the greater part of this region is covered, offers to man but a transient food-supply; hence he must move from place to place or starve. Thus nature, more than elsewhere on our coast, invites to a roving life; and, as on the Arabian deserts, bands of American Bedouins roam over immense tracts seeking what they may devour. Here it is that many a luckless miner and ill-protected traveler pays the penalty of his temerity with his life; here it is, more than elsewhere within the temperate zones of the two Americas, that the natives bid defiance to the encroachments of civilization. Sweeping down upon small settlements and isolated parties, these American Arabs rob, murder, and destroy, then fleeing to their strongholds bid defiance to pursuers. In the midst of all this we find another phenomenon in the semi-civilized towns-people of New Mexico and Arizona; a spontaneous awakening from the ruder phases of savagism.

The families of this division may be enumerated as follows: The Apaches, under which general name I include all the savage tribes roaming through New Mexico, the north-western portion of Texas, a small part of northern Mexico, and Arizona; the Pueblos, or partially cultivated towns-people of New Mexico and Arizona, with whom I unite, though not town-builders, the non-nomadic Pimas, Maricopas and Pápagos of the lower Gila River; the Lower Californians, who occupy the peninsula; and the Northern Mexicans, which term includes the various nations scattered over the States of Sonora, Sinaloa, Chihuahua, Durango, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and northern Zacatecas.

The Apaches

To the Apaches, using the term in the signification of a family of this division, no accurate boundaries can be assigned. Owing to their roving proclivities and incessant raids they are led first in one direction and then in another. In general terms they may be said to range about as follows: The Comanches, Jetans, or Nauni, consisting of three tribes, the Comanches proper, the Yamparacks, and Tenawas, inhabiting northern Texas, eastern Chihuahua, Nuevo Leon, Coahuila, Durango, and portions of south-western New Mexico,[636]The Comanches ‘are divided into three principal bands, to wit: the Comanche, the Yamparack and the Tenawa.’ Burnet, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., p. 230; ‘Ietans, termed by the Spaniards Comanches, and in their own language Na-uni, signifying “life people.”‘ Prichard’s Nat. Hist., vol. ii., p. 549. ‘The Comanches and the numerous tribes of Chichimecas … are comprehended by the Spaniards under the vague name of Mecos.’ Prichard’s Researches, vol. v., p. 422. ‘The tribe called themselves Niyuna.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. ii., pp. 575-6; Parker’s Notes on Tex., p. 231; Neighbors, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1856, p. 175; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 115; French’s Hist. La., p. 155. ‘Se divide en cuatro ramas considerables bajo los nombres de Cuchanticas, Jupes, Yamparicas y Orientales.’ García Conde, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. v., p. 318; see also Cortez, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 121. The Jetans or Camanches, as the Spaniards term them, or Padoucas, as they are called by the Pawnees. Pike’s Explor. Trav., p. 214. by language allied to the Shoshone family;[637]Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 76. ‘Los Indios yutas, … son los mismos que los comanches ó cumanches, pues yuta eso quiere decir en la lengua de los lipanes. Por consiguente no se pueden distinguir esos nombres, que aunque de dos lenguas diferentes espresan una misma nacion.’ Berlandier y Thovel, Diario, p. 251. ‘The Comanches are a branch of the Shoshones or Snakes.’ Ruxton’s Adven., p. 244. ‘The Pawnees are descended from a cousin-germanship of the same stock.’ Edward’s Hist. Tex., pp. 108-9. ‘Si le sang des Aztéques existe encore sans mélange en Amerique, il doit couler dans les veines des Comanches.’ Domenech’s Jour., p. 16; see also Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 24; Buschmann, Spuren der Azt. Spr., p. 391. the Apaches, who call themselves Shis Inday, or ‘men of the woods,'[638]‘Probably because their winter quarters are always located amid the forests which grow upon the Sierras.’ Cremony’s Apaches, p. 243. and whose tribal divisions are the Chiricaguis, Coyoteros, Faraones, Gileños, Lipanes, Llaneros, Mescaleros, Mimbreños, Natages, Pelones, Pinaleños, Tejuas, Tontos and Vaqueros, roaming over New Mexico, Arizona, north-western Texas, Chihuahua and Sonora,[639]Cordero gives the following tribal names, which he says are used among themselves: Vinni ettinenne, Tontos; Segatajenne, Chiricaguis; Tjuiccujenne, Gileños; Iccujenne, Mimbreños; Yutajenne, Faraones; Sejenne, Mescaleros; Cuelcajenne, Llaneros; Lipajenne and Yutajenne, Lipans and Navajos. Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 369, 379-385. ‘Los pimas gileños llaman á los yavipais taros ó nifores; los jamajabs les llaman yavipais y nosotros apaches.’ Garces, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie ii., tom. i., pp. 265, 352-3. ‘Yavipais Tejua que son los indómitos Apaches.’ Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 471. ‘Yavapais, or Apache Mohaves, as they are more generally called.’ Parker, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 217. ‘Pueden dividirse en nueve tribus principales … Tontos, Chirocahues, Gileños, Mimbreños, Faraones, Mezcaleros, Llaneros, Lipanes y Navajoes. Todos hablan un mismo idioma…. No componen una nacion uniforme en sus usos y costumbres, pero coinciden en la major parte de sus inclinaciones, variando en otras con proporcion á los terrenos de su residencia, á las necesidades que padecen.’ García Conde, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. v., p. 314. Apaches, ‘their name is said to signify ‘men.” Mescaleros, ‘the meaning of the name, probably, is drinkers of mescal.’ Cortez, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., pp. 118-9. Froebel’s Central Amer., pp. 309, 353, 491; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., pp. 161, 223, 425; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., p. 285; Wislizenus’ Tour, p. 26; Thümmel, Mexiko, p. 351; Ruxton’s Adven., p. 194; Eaton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 216; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., pp. 212-13; Mowry, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 298; Steck, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1863, p. 108, and Id., 1864, p. 182, 1858, p. 197;Bailey, in Id., 1858, p. 206; Clum, in Id., 1871, p. 42; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., p. 325. Called Coyoteros, because it is believed that ‘they feed upon the flesh of the coyote.’ Hardy’s Trav., p. 430. ‘Les Gileños … avec les Axuas et les Apaches qui viennent de la Sierra Madre sont confondus sous le nom de Pápagos.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. i., p. 213; Bustamante, in Cavo, Tres Siglos, tom. iii., pp. 79-80. ‘Tonto, in Spanish means stupid.’ ‘Tonto is a Spanish corruption of the original Indian name.’ Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 460; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., pp. 5-8; Ayers, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1858, p. 175; Collins, in Id., 1860, p. 161; Id., 1861, p. 122; Maxwell, in Id., 1863, p. 116; Parker, in Id., 1869, p. 23; Walker, in Id., 1872, p. 53; Clum, in Id., 1871, p. 368; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 214; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 275; Turner, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1852, tom. cxxxv., p. 308. and who are allied by language to the great Tinneh family;[640]‘The Apaches and their congeners belong to the Athapascan family.’ Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 84, and in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1852, tom. cxxxv., p. 311; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 10. the Navajos, or Tenuai, ‘men,’ as they designate themselves, having linguistic affinities with the Apache nation, with which indeed they are sometimes classed, living in and around the Sierra de los Mimbres;[641]‘The Apaches call the Navajoes Yútahkah. The Navajoes call themselves, as a tribe, Tenúai (man). The appellation Návajo was unquestionably given them by the Spaniards.’ Eaton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 217, 218. ‘The Navajoes and Apaches are identically one people.’ Cremony’s Apaches, p. 306; Ruxton’s Adven., p. 194; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 229; Poston, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1863, p. 389. ‘Navajoes and Apaches have descended from the same stock.’ Carleton, in Ind. Aff. Rept. Spec. Com., 1867, p. 134. ‘The Navajoes are a Pueblo Indian.’ Griner, in Id., p. 329. ‘Allied to the Crow Indians.’ Fitzpatrick, in Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 133; Thümmel, Mexiko, p. 348. ‘Most civilized of all the wild Indians of North America.’ Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 372. The Navajoes ‘are a division of the ancient Mexicans.’ Scenes in the Rocky Mts., p. 180. the Mojaves, occupying both banks of the Colorado in Mojave Valley; the Hualapais, near the headwaters of Bill Williams Fork; the Yumas, on the east bank of the Colorado, near its junction with the Rio Gila;[642]‘”Yumah,” signifies “Son of the River,” and is only applied to the Indians born on the banks of the Colorado. This nation is composed of five tribes … among which … the Yabipaïs (Yampaïs or Yampaos).’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 65. ‘The Cajuenches and Cuchans … belong to two different divisions of one tribe, which forms part of the great nation of the Yumas.’ Id., p. 10. the Cosninos, who like the Hualapais are sometimes included in the Apache nation, ranging through the Mogollon Mountains;[643]Cosninos, ‘Es ist mehrfach die Ansicht ausgesprochen worden, dass die meisten derselben zu dem Stamme der Apaches gehören, oder vielmehr mit ihnen verwandt sind.’ Möllhausen, Tagebuch, pp. 330-1; Figuier’s Human Race, p. 482.and the Yampais, between Bill Williams Fork and the Rio Hassayampa.[644]‘The Yampais form a connecting link between the Gila, Colorado, and Pueblo Indians.’ Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 98. Yampais are related to the Yumas. Möllhausen, Reisen, tom. i., p. 431. Yampais: ‘Unable to separate them from the Tonto-Apaches.’ Mowry, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 302. Of the multitude of names mentioned by the early Spanish authorities, I only give in addition to the above the Yalchedunes, located on the west bank of the Colorado in about latitude 33° 20´, the Yamajabs, on the east bank of the same river, in about latitude 34°-35°; the Cochees, in the Chiricagui Mountains of Arizona, the Cruzados[645]‘Llaman á estos indios los cruzados, por unas cruces que todos, chicos y grandes se atan del copete, que les viene á caer en la frente; y esto hacen cuando ven á los españoles.’ Salmeron, Relaciones, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iii., p. 31. in New Mexico, and finally the Nijoras,[646]‘Unos dicen que á un lado de estas naciones (Yutas) para hácia al Poniente está la nacion de los nijoras, y otros afirman que no hay tal nacion Nijora, sino que esta palabra nijor quiere decir cautivo, y que los cocomaricopas les dan de noche á las naciones mas inmediatas y les quitan sus hijos, los que cautivan y venden á los pimas y éstos á los españoles; si es asi que hay tal nacion, está en esta inmediacion del rio Colorado para el rio Salado ó rio Verde.’ Noticias de la Pimeria, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 838. ‘Todos estos cautivos llaman por acá fuera Nijores, aunque hay otra nacion Hijeras á parte.’ Sedelmair, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 852. somewhere about the lower Colorado.[647]For further particulars as to location of tribes, see notes on Tribal Boundaries, at the end of this chapter.

The Apache country is probably the most desert of all, alternating between sterile plains and wooded mountains, interspersed with comparatively few rich valleys. The rivers do little to fertilize the soil except in spots; the little moisture that appears is quickly absorbed by the cloudless air and arid plains which stretch out, sometimes a hundred miles in length and breadth, like lakes of sand. In both mountain and desert the fierce, rapacious Apache, inured from childhood to hunger and thirst, and heat and cold, finds safe retreat. It is here, among our western nations, that we first encounter thieving as a profession. No savage is fond of work; indeed, labor and savagism are directly antagonistic, for if the savage continues to labor he can but become civilized. Now the Apache is not as lazy as some of his northern brothers, yet he will not work, or if he does, like the Pueblos who are nothing but partially reclaimed Apaches or Comanches, he forthwith elevates himself, and is no longer an Apache; but being somewhat free from the vice of laziness, though subject in an eminent degree to all other vices of which mankind have any knowledge, he presents the anomaly of uniting activity with barbarism, and for this he must thank his thievish propensities. Leaving others to do the work, he cares not whom, the agriculturists of the river-bottoms or the towns-people of the north, he turns Ishmaelite, pounces upon those near and more remote, and if pursued retreats across the jornadas del muerte, or ‘journeys of death’ as the Mexican calls them, and finds refuge in the gorges, cañons, and other almost impregnable natural fortresses of the mountains.

Physique of Apaches

The disparity in physical appearance between some of these nations, which may be attributed for the most part to diet, is curious. While those who subsist on mixed vegetable and animal food, present a tall, healthy, and muscular development, hardly excelled by the Caucasian race, those that live on animal food, excepting perhaps the Comanches, are small in stature, wrinkled, shriveled, and hideously ugly.[648]‘Besonders fiel uns der Unterschied zwischen den im Gebirge, ähnlich den Wölfen lebenden Yampays und Tontos … und den von vegetabilischen Stoffen sich nährenden Bewohnern des Colorado-Thales auf, indem erstere nur kleine hässliche Gestalten mit widrigem tückischem Ausdruck der Physiognomie waren, die anderen dagegen wie lauter Meisterwerke der schöpferischen Natur erschienen.’ Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 384. All the natives of this family, with the exception of the Apaches proper, are tall, well-built, with muscles strongly developed, pleasing features, although at times rather broad faces, high foreheads, large, clear, dark-colored eyes, possessing generally extraordinary powers of vision, black coarse hair and, for a wonder, beards. Taken as a whole, they are the most perfect specimens of physical manhood that we have yet encountered. While some, and particularly females, are PHYSICAL PECULIARITIES.a light copper color, others again approach near to the dark Californian. Women are generally plumper, inclining more to obesity than the men. Some comely girls are spoken of amongst them, but they grow old early.[649]The Navajos are ‘of good size, nearly six feet in height, and well proportioned; cheek-bones high and prominent, nose straight and well shaped; hair long and black; eyes black; … feet small; lips of moderate size; head of medium size and well shaped; forehead not small but retreating.’ Lethermann, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 288. ‘Fine looking, physically.’ ‘Most symmetrical figure, combining ease, grace and power, and activity.’ And the Comanches ‘about five feet ten inches in height, with well proportioned shoulders, very deep chest, and long, thin, but muscular arms.’ Cremony’s Apaches, pp. 49, 305, 15. The Mojave ‘men are tall, erect, and finely proportioned. Their features are inclined to European regularity; their eyes large, shaded by long lashes.’ The Cuchans are ‘a noble race, well formed, active and intelligent.’ Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., pp. 110, 114. The Navajos are distinguished ‘by the fullness and roundness of their eyes.’ Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 31. ‘The Camanches are small of stature … wear moustaches and heads of long hair.’ Pope, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. ii., p. 15. The Comanches ‘que da un aspecto bien particular á estas naciones, es la falta completa de cejas, pues ellos se las arrancan; algunos tienen una poca barba.’ Berlandier and Thovel, Diario, p. 253. The Yumas ‘if left to their natural state, would be fine looking,’ but the Hualpais ‘were squalid, wretched-looking creatures, with splay feet, large joints and diminutive figures … features like a toad’s…. They present a remarkable contrast to our tall and athletic Mojaves.’ The Navajos are ‘a fine looking race with bold features.’ ‘The Mojaves are perhaps as fine a race of men physically, as there is in existence.’ Ives’ Colorado River, pp. 44, 54, 97-8, 108, 73, 128, 19, 39, 59, 66, plate p. 66. The Comanches are ‘de buena estatura.’ Beaumont, Crónica de Mechoacan, MS., p. 527. The people between the Colorado and Gila rivers. ‘Es gente bien agestada y corpulenta, trigueños de color.’ Sedelmair, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 851. The Cruzados are described as ‘bien agestados y nobles y ellas hermosas de lindos ojos y amorosas.’ Salmeron, Relaciones, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 31; see also Cordoue, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., serie i., tom. x., p. 446. In New Mexico Allegre describes them as ‘corpulentos y briosos, pero mal agestados, las orejas largas … tienen poco barba.’ Allegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 332; and of the same people Alcedo writes ‘son de mejor aspecto, color y proporcion que los demás.’ Diccionario, tom. iii., p. 184. And Lieut. Möllhausen, who frequently goes into ecstasies over the splendid figures of the lower Colorado people, whom he calls the personification of the ancient gods of the Romans and Greeks, says further that they are ‘grosse, schön gewachsene Leute,’ and describes their color as ‘dunkelkupferfarbig.’ Of the women he adds ‘Ganz im Gegensatze zu den Männern sind die Weiber der Indianer am Colorado durchgängig klein, untersetzt und so dick, dass ihr Aussehen mitunter an’s komische gränzt.’ Comparing the Hualapais with the Mojaves he writes ‘auf der einen Seite die unbekleideten, riesenhaften und wohlgebildeten Gestalten der Mohaves … auf der andern Seite dagegen die im Vergleich mit erstern, zwergähnlichen, hagern…. Figuren der Wallpays, mit ihren verwirrten, struppigen Haaren, den kleinen, geschlitzten Augen undmden falschen, gehässigen Ausdruck in ihren Zügen.’ The Cosninos he calls ‘hässlich und verkümmert.’ Möllhausen, Tagebuch, pp. 331, 382-8; Möllhausen, Reisen, tom. i., pp. 123-4, 199, 215, 274, 293, 318, tom. ii., pp. 43, 37, and plate frontispiece. Möllhausen, Mormonenmädchen, tom. ii., p. 140. The Comanche ‘men are about the medium stature, with bright copper-coloured complexions … the women are short with crooked legs … far from being as good looking as the men.’ In the Colorado Valley ‘are the largest and best-formed men I ever saw, their average height being an inch over six feet.’ Marcy’s Army Life, pp. 25, 279. ‘Les Comanchés ont la taille haute et élancée, et sont presque aussi blancs que les Européens.’ Soc. Géog., Bulletin, serie v., No. 96, p. 192. And of the Comanches see further. Dragoon Camp., p. 153. ‘Robust, almost Herculean race.’ Foote’s Texas, vol. i., p. 298. ‘Exceedingly handsome.’ Calderon de la Barca’s Life in Mex., vol. ii., p. 308; Hartmann and Millard’s Texas, p. 109. ‘Women are ugly, crooklegged, stoop-shouldered.’ Parker’s Notes on Tex., pp. 189, 232, 194; Mexikanische Zustände, tom. i., p. 373; Froebel’s Cent. Am., p. 267; see also Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., p. 101; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. ii., pp. 37-8; Domenech, Journ., p. 132. The Yuma ‘women are generally fat.’ ‘The men are large, muscular, and well formed.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., pp. 180, 178. Navajo women are ‘much handsomer and have lighter complexions than the men.’ Pattie’s Pers. Nar., pp. 218-19; Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., p. 52; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., pp. 7, 10, 24, 65, plate 8. The Navajos have ‘light flaxen hair, light blue eyes … their skin is of the most delicate whiteness.’ Brownell’s Ind. Races, p. 545; Hughes’ Doniphan’s Ex., p. 203. On the Mojaves see further, Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, p. 138; Sitgreaves’ Zuñi Ex., p. 18; Cal. Mercantile Jour., vol. i., p. 227, plate; Clum, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1871, p. 363. And on the Yumas. Poston, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1863, p. 387; Browne’s Apache Country, p. 61; Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, Feb. 22, 1860. Women’s ‘feet are naturally small.’ Emory’s Rept., in U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. 109. The Yampais are broad-faced, and have ‘aquiline noses and small eyes.’ Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 460. Indian Traits, in Hayes Col. In contradistinction to all this the Apaches proper, or Apache nation, as we may call them, are slim, ill developed, but very agile. Their height is about five feet four to five inches; features described as ugly, repulsive, emotionless, flat, and approaching the Mongol cast, while the head is covered with an unkempt mass of coarse, shocky, rusty black hair, not unlike bristles. The women are not at all behind the men in ugliness, and a pleasing face is a rarity. A feature common to the family is remarkably small feet; in connection with which may be mentioned the peculiarity which obtains on the lower Colorado, of having the large toe widely separated from the others, which arises probably from wading in marshy bottoms. All the tribes whose principal subsistence is meat, and more particularly those that eat horse and mule flesh, are said to exhale a peculiar scent, something like the animals themselves when heated.[650]‘Their average height is about five feet four or five inches. They are but slimly built, and possess but little muscular development … light brownish red color.’ Some have ‘a Chinese cast of countenance … rusty black hair.’ Smart, in Smithsonian Rept., 1867, p. 418. Their ‘features were flat, negro-like … small legged, big-bellied and broad-shouldered.’ Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 52. ‘More miserable looking objects I never beheld;’ legs, ‘large and muscular.’ Fremont and Emory’s Notes of Trav., p. 139. ‘Widerliche Physiognomien und Gestalten … unter mittlerer Grösse … grosse Köpfe, vorstehende Stirn und Backenknochen, dicke Nasen, aufgeworfene Lippen und kleine geschlitzte Augen…. Ihr Gesicht war dunkler als ich es jemals bei Indianern gefunden.’ Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 360. ‘Von zottigen weit abstehenden Haupthaaren bedeckt.’ Möllhausen, Flüchtling, tom. iii., p. 49. ‘Ill-formed, emaciated, and miserable looking race … had all a treacherous-fiendish look.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., p. 327. ‘Physically of a slighter build than any Indians I have seen.’ Clum, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1871, p. 47. ‘Most wretched looking Indians I have ever seen.’ Sitgreaves’ Zuñi Ex., p. 14. ‘Small in stature…. Coal-black eye.’ Peters’ Life of Carson, p. 326. ‘Hair is very black and straight, much resembling horse hair … appears to belong to the Asiatic type.’ Henry, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 211. ‘Gipsy looking with an eye singularly wild and piercing.’ Houstoun’s Texas, p. 227. ‘Have very light complexions.’ Ward’s Mexico, vol. i., p. 580. ‘Die Lipanis haben blondes Haar, und sind schöne Leute.’ Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., p. 215, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 421. ‘Sont des beaux hommes.’ Lachapelle, Raousset-Boulbon, p. 82. ‘Tall, majestic in figure; muscular.’ Brantz-Mayer’s Mex. Aztec., etc., vol. ii., p. 123. ‘Fine physical conformation.’ Foote’s Texas, vol. i., p. 298. ‘Their skin looked whiter than I have ever seen it in the Indians.’ Wizlizenus’ Tour, p. 71. ‘Crian pié menor que los otros indios.’ Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 564. ‘Todos son morenos, cuerpo bien proporcionado, ojos vivos, cabello largo y lampiños.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 265. ‘Su talla y color diferencian algo en cada tribu, variando este desde el bronceado al moreno. Son todos bien proporcionados … y ninguna barba.’ García Conde, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. v., p. 314; see also Cordero, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 370-1. ‘Though not tall, are admirably formed, with fine features and a bright complexion, inclining to yellow.’ Pattie’s Pers. Nar., p. 117. ‘Son altos, rubios y de bellisimas proporciones.’ Revista Científica, tom. i., p. 55. ‘Taille ordinaire, de couleur foncé.’ ‘Comme ces Indiens ne font leur nourriture que de chair et principalement de celle de l’âne et du mulet, ils exhalent une odeur si pénétrante que les chevaux et surtout les mules rebroussent chemin aussitôt qu’ils les éventent.’ Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 187.

Dress of Apaches and Mojaves

Comanche Dress and Ornament

The Comanches of both sexes tattoo the face, and body generally on the breast.[661]‘Tattooed over the body, especially on the chest.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 281. ‘Tattoo their faces and breasts.’ Marcy’s Army Life, p. 25. ‘Mares juxta atque fœminæ facies atque artus lineis quibusdam persignant.’ De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 310; Warden, Recherches, p. 79; Farnham’s Trav., p. 32. The men do not cut the hair, but gather it into tufts or plaits, to which they attach round pieces of silver graduated in size from top to bottom; those who cannot obtain or afford silver use beads, tin, or glass.[662]‘They never cut the hair, but wear it of very great length, and ornament it upon state occasions with silver and beads.’ Marcy’s Army Life, p. 25. ‘Their heads are covered with bits of tin and glass.’ Shepard’s Land of the Aztecs, p. 182. ‘Der dicke und lang über den Rücken hinabhängende Zopf mit abwärts immer kleiner werdenden silbernen Scheiben belastet, die, im Nacken mit der Grösse einer mässigen Untertasse beginnend, an der Spitze des Zopfes mit der Grösse eines halben Thalers endigten.’ Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., p. 100, and Froebel’s Cent. Am., p. 266. They ‘never cut their hair, which they wear long, mingling with it on particular occasions silver ornaments and pearls.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 24. ‘Todos ellos llevan la cabeza trasquilada desde la mitad hasta la frente, y dejan lo demas del pelo colgando.’ Beaumont, Crón. de Mechoacan, MS., p. 527; Revista Cientifica, tom. i., p. 162; Parker’s Notes on Tex., p. 194; Dragoon Camp., p. 153; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 115; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., p. 27, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii.; García Conde, in Album Mex., tom. i., p. 299; Combier, Voy., p. 224. Much time is spent by them in painting and adorning their person—red being a favorite color; feathers also form a necessary adjunct to their toilet.[663]‘Im Gesichte mit Zinnober bemalt, auf dem Kopfe mit Adlerfedern geschmückt.’ Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., p. 100. ‘It takes them a considerable time to dress, and stick feathers and beads in their hair.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 281. ‘Fond of decking themselves with paint, beads and feathers.’ Marcy’s Army Life, pp. 25, 26, 30. ‘Vederbosschen op’t hoofd.’ Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 209. ‘En quanto á los colores, varian mucho, no solamente en ellos, sino tambien en los dibujos que se hacen en la cara.’ García Conde, in Album Mex., tom. i., p. 299. The Comanches ‘de tout sexe portent un miroir attaché au poignet, et se teignent le visage en rouge.’ Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 192; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., p. 27, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii.; Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 450; Pattie’s Pers. Nar., pp. 35, 36; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. ii., p. 133; Parker’s Notes on Tex., pp. 181, 194, 197, 202; Wislizenus’ Tour, p. 71; Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., p. 119; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 332; Combier, Voy., p. 224; Hartmann and Millard, Texas, p. 110; Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., p. 147, plate; Tempsky’s Mitla, p. 80; Gilliam’s Trav., p. 305; Horn’s Captivity, p. 25. Some few wear a deer-skin shirt, but the more common dress is the buffalo-robe, which forms the sole covering for the upper part of the body; in addition, the breech-cloth, leggins, and moccasins are worn. The women crop the hair short, and a long shirt made of deer-skin, which extends from the neck to below the knees, with leggins and moccasins, are their usual attire.[664]‘The Camanches prefer dark clothes.’ Parker’s Notes on Tex., pp. 180, 181, 202. ‘Les guerriers portent pour tout vêtement une peau de buffle en manteau.’ Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 192. ‘Las mugeres andan vestidas de la cintura para abajo con unos cueros de venado adobado en forma de faldellines, y cubren el cuerpo con unos capotillos del mismo cuero.’ Beaumont, Crón. de Mechoacan, MS., p. 527. ‘Vistense galanos … asi hombres como mugeres con mantas pintadas y bordadas.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 681. ‘Sus vestidos se componen de unas botas, un mediano delantal que cubre sus vergüenzas, y un coton, todo de pieles: las mugeres usan una manta cuadrada de lana negra muy estrecha.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 332. ‘Tam mares quam fœminæ gossypinis tunicis et ferarum exuviis vestiebantur ad Mexicanorum normam et quod insolens barbaris, ideoque Hispanis novum visum, utebantur calceis atque ocreis quæ è ferarum tergoribus et taurino corio consuta erant. Fœminis capillus bene pexus et elegantur erat dispositus, nec ullo præterea velamine caput tegebant.’ De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 311; Froebel, Aus Amerika, pp. 99, 101; Dragoon Camp., p. 153; Warden, Recherches, pp. 79, 80; García Conde, in Album Mex., tom. i., p. 299; Salmeron, Relaciones, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., pp. 25, 31, 91; Revista Cientifica, tom. i., p. 162; Horn’s Captivity, p. 22; Marcy’s Army Life, pp. 25, 29, 45; Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 450; Cremony’s Apaches, p. 15; Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., p. 147, plate; Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxxi., pp. 252, 272, 273; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 216, and Dapper, Neue Welt, p. 243; Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans,Voy., série i., tom. iv., p. 127; Wislizenus’ Tour, p. 71; Parker, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 109; Escudero, Noticias de Chihuahua, p. 230; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. ii., pp. 38, 310, 312; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 228; Hartmann and Millard, Texas, p. 110; Domenech, Jour., pp. 134, 135; Maillard, Hist. Tex., p. 240, Jaramillo, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 372, 377;Castaño de Soza, in Pacheco, Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. iv., p. 331; Houstoun’s Tex., p. 227; Alcedo, Diccionario, tom. iii., p. 184; Farnham’s Trav., p. 32; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. ii., p. 133; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 24.

Dwellings of the Apaches

Nomadic and roving in their habits, they pay little attention to the construction of their dwellings. Seldom do they remain more than a week in one locality;[665]The Apaches ‘rarely remain more than a week in any one locality.’ Cremony’s Apaches, p. 240. ‘Cette nation étant nomade et toujours à la poursuite du gibier.’ Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. p. 133; Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 266; Marcy’s Army Life, p. 44; Henry, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 212; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 202; Backus, in Id., vol. iv., p. 213; Ten Broeck, in Id., vol. iv., p. 89; Bailey, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1858, p. 206; Ind. Aff. Rept. Spec. Com., 1867, p. 325; Foote’s Texas, p. 298; Carleton, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1867, p. 325; Holley’s Texas, p. 152; Dragoon Camp., p. 153; Kennedy’s Texas, vol. i., p. 437; Delaporte, Reisen, pt. x., p. 456. hence their lodges are comfortless, and diversified in style according to caprice and circumstances. The frame-work everywhere is usually of poles, the Comanches placing them erect, the Lipans bringing the tops together in cone-shape, while the Apaches bend them over into a low oval;[666]‘The principal characteristic I believe, is the form of their wigwams; one sets up erect poles, another bends them over in a circular form, and the third gives them a low oval shape.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., p. 106. Other tribes make their lodges in a different way, by a knowledge of which circumstance, travelers are able to discover on arriving at a deserted camp whether it belongs to a hostile or friendly tribe. Parker’s Notes on Texas, p. 213; Hartmann and Millard, Texas, p. 110; García Conde, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Bulletin, tom. v., p. 315. one or other of the above forms is usually adopted by all this family,[667]‘Sus chozas ó jacales son circulares, hechas de ramas de los árboles, cubiertas con pieles de caballos, vacas, ó cíbolos.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 371. ‘I did expect … to find that the Navajos had other and better habitations than the conical, pole, brush, and mud lodge.’ Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., p. 77. ‘The Camanches make their lodges by placing poles in the ground in a circle and tying the tops together.’ Parker’s Notes on Texas, p. 213. Huts are only temporary, conical, of sticks. Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 289. ‘Sie bestanden einfach aus grossen Lauben von Cedernzweigen, deren Wölbung auf starken Pfählen ruhte, und von Aussen theilweise mit Erde, Lehm, und Steinen bedeckt war.’ Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. ii., pp. 15, 220-233. ‘Un grand nombre de forme ronde.’ Jaramillo, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 379. ‘Their lodges are rectangular.’ Sitgreaves’ Zuñi Ex., p. 18; Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 194; Ives’ Colorado River, p. 100; Figuier’s Hum. Race, p. 482. with unimportant differences depending on locality and variations of climate. The framework is covered with brushwood or skins, sometimes with grass or flat stones. They are from twelve to eighteen feet in diameter at the widest part, and vary from four to eight feet in height,[668]‘They make them of upright poles a few feet in height … upon which rest brush and dirt.’ Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., pp. 111-12. ‘The very rudest huts hastily constructed of branches of cedar trees, and sometimes of flat stones for small roofs.’ Eaton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 217. These huts are about eight feet high, eighteen feet in diameter at base, the whole being covered with bark or brush and mud. Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., p. 60. ‘Exceedingly rude structures of sticks about four or five feet high.’ Backus, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 213. ‘The Comanches make their lodges … in a conical shape … which they cover with buffalo hides.’ Parker’s Notes on Tex., p. 213. ‘Ils habitent sous des tentes.’ Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., tom. 96, p. 192; Davis’ El Gringo, p. 414; Henry, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 212; Bent, in Id., vol. i., p. 243; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., p. 290; Browne’s Apache Country, p. 96; Farnham’s Trav., p. 32; Mange, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. i., p. 299; Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., p. 413; Dufey, Résumé de l’Hist., tom. i., p. 4; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 279; Domenech, Jour., p. 131; Dillon, Hist. Mex., p. 97; Ludecus, Reise, p. 104; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 205; Thümmel, Mexiko, p. 352; Emory’s Recon., p. 61; Marcy’s Rept., p. 219; Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cli., p. 274; Jaramillo, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., serie i., tom. ix., pp. 372-9; Beaumont, Crón. de Mechoacan, p. 417; Alarchon, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 431; Dapper, Neue Welt, p. 239; see also, Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 209; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, pp. 109-115; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 230; Cordoue, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 443; De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 301; Brownell’s Ind. Races, p. 544; Hardy’s Trav., p. 336. which is sometimes increased by excavation.[669]Sitgreaves’ Zuñi Ex., p. 18. ‘This compels the Navajoes to erect substantial huts of an oval form, the lower portion of the hut being excavated.’ Cremony’s Apaches, p. 306. ‘They live in brush houses, in the winter time, digging a hole in the ground and covering this with a brush roof.’ Parker, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, p. 130; Hughes’ Doniphan’s Ex., p. 218; Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, p. 136; Maillard’s Hist. Tex., p. 241. A triangular opening serves as a door, which is closed with a piece of cloth or skin attached to the top.[670]‘Their lodges are … about four or five feet high, with a triangular opening for ingress or egress.’ Backus, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 213. The most they do is to build small huts … with thick poles for the arches and a small door through which a single person can hardly pass. Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 266. A ranchería of the Cuabajai is described as ‘formada como una grande galeria en una pieza muy larga adornada con arcos de sauz, y cubierta con esteras de tule muy delgadas y bien cocidas; tenia ventanas para la luz y desahogar el humo y dos puertas, una al Oriente y otra al Poniente, … á los dos lados de la pieza habia varios cámaras ó alojamientos para dormir.’ Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, pp. 474-5. When on or near rocky ground they live in caves, whence some travelers have inferred that they build stone houses.[671]‘Some live in caves in the rocks.’ Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 289. ‘They do not live in houses built of stone as has been repeatedly represented, but in caves, caverns, and fissures of the cliffs.’ Eaton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 217. ‘Ils habitaient des cavernes et des lieux souterrains, où ils déposaient leurs récoltes.’ Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxxi., p. 309. Most of the Navajos ‘live in houses built of stone.’ Scenes in the Rocky Mts., p. 180; Thümmel, Mexiko, p. 352; Almanza, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 825; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 679; Sanchez, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. i., p. 93; Gordon’s Hist. and Geog. Mem., p. 88. A few of the Mojave dwellings are so superior to the others that they deserve special notice. They may be described as a sort of shed having perpendicular walls and sloping roof, the latter supported by a horizontal beam running along the center, the roof projecting in front so as to form a kind of portico. The timber used is cottonwood, and the interstices are filled up with mud or straw.[672]‘The large cottonwood posts and the substantial roof of the wide shed in front, are characteristic of the architecture of this people.’ Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., p. 23, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii. ‘They are built upon sandy soil and are thirty or forty feet square; the sides about two feet thick of wicker-work and straw … their favorite resort seems to be the roof, where could usually be counted from twenty to thirty persons, all apparently at home.’ Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 464. None of their houses have windows, the door and smoke-hole in the roof serving for this purpose; but, as many of them have their fires outside, the door is often the only opening.[673]See plate in Marcy’s Army Life, p. 48. ‘The fire is made in the front of the lodge.’ Backus, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 70.

New Mexican Dwellings

Small huts about three feet in height constitute their medicine-lodges, or bath-houses, and are generally in form and material like their other structures.[674]‘In every village may be seen small structures, consisting of a frame-work of slight poles, bent into a semi-spherical form and covered with buffalo hides. These are called medicine lodges and are used as vapor-baths.’ Marcy’s Army Life, p. 60. ‘They make huts three feet high for bath-rooms and heat them with hot stones.’ Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 289. The Mojaves also build granaries in a cylindrical form with conical, skillfully made osier roofs.[675]Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xviii., p. 464; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., p. 23, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii.

Food and Agriculture

The food of all is similar;[676]‘Ils sont très-laborieux; ils cultivent les melons, les haricots, et d’autres légumes; ils récoltent aussi en abondance le maïs.’ Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 186. ‘Bohnen, Mais, Weizen, feingeriebenes Mehl, Kürbisse und Melonen.’ Möllhausen, Tagebuch, pp. 385, 396-7. ‘The Yumas and other tribes on the Colorado, irrigate their lands, and raise wheat, corn, melons, &c.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., pp. 263, 180, 181; Lachapelle, Raousset-Boulbon, p. 81; Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 419; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 332; Ives’ Colorado River, pp. 60, 67, 70, 73; Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., pp. 117, 128, 129; Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, p. 123; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., pp. 40, 65, 66; Sitgreaves’ Zuñi Ex., p. 18; Browne’s Apache Country, pp. 51, 52, 107; Mowry’s Arizona, p. 33; Pattie’s Pers. Nar., p. 91; Mexicanische Zustände, tom. i., p. 64; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. i., p. 111; Champagnac, Voyageur, p. 84; Bent, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., p. 243; Eaton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 217; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., pp. 13, 120, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii.; Thümmel, Mexiko, p. 349; Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxxi., pp. 288-9; Prichard’s Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., p. 567; Farnham’s Life in Cal.; Davis’ El Gringo, p. 411; Clark, in Hist. Mag., vol. viii., p. 280; Salmeron, Relaciones, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., pp. 25-6. most of them make more or less pretentions to agriculture, and are habituated to a vegetable diet, but seldom do any of them raise a sufficient supply for the year’s consumption, and they are therefore forced to rely on the mesquit-bean, the piñon-nut and the maguey-plant, agave mexicana, and other wild fruits, which they collect in considerable quantities.[677]‘A small but agreeable nut called the Piñon, grows abundantly in this country; and during a period of scarcity, it sometimes constitutes the sole food of the poorer class of natives for many successive weeks.’ Backus, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 212. ‘Living upon the fruit of the mezquit and tornilla trees.’ Sitgreaves’ Zuñi Ex., pp. 10, 19; Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. 112. ‘Tambien tienen para su sustento mescali, que es conserva de raiz de maguey.’ Salmeron, Relaciones, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 31; Henry, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 212; Hardy’s Trav., pp. 338; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, pp. 147, 331, 350, 396, 397; Cordoue, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 446; Castañeda, in Id., série i., tom. ix., pp. 53, 54; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 217; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., p. 234. They are but indifferent hunters, and secure only a precarious supply of small game, such as rabbits and squirrels, with ultimate recourse to rats, grasshoppers, lizards and other reptiles.[678]‘The quail and hare of the valley, and the deer and lizards of the plains, together furnish but a scanty supply.’ Ehrenberg, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1866, p. 110. ‘They ate worms, grasshoppers, and reptiles.’ Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, pp. 115-116. ‘An den dünnen Gurt hatten unsere Besucher noch Ratten, grosse Eidechsen und Frösche befestigt.’ Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 383. ‘Depending upon game and roots for food.’ Parker, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, p. 137, and 1869, p. 92. ‘Mas para ellos es plato regaladísimo el de ratones del campo asados ó cocidos y toda especie de insectos.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 332; Hardy’s Trav., p. 430; Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, pp. 419, 473; Figuier’s Hum. Race, p. 484; Backus, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 212; Cremony’s Apaches, p. 297. A few fish are taken by those living in the neighborhood of rivers.[679]On the Rivers Colorado and Gila. ‘Usan de hilo torcido unas redes y otras de varios palitos, que los tuercen y juntan por las puntas, en que forman á modo de un pequeño barquito para pescar del infinito pescado que hay en el rio.’ Sedelmair, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 851. The Cajuenches when the produce is insufficient, live on fish. Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 10. The Navajos ‘live by raising flocks and herds, instead of hunting and fishing.’ Davis’ El Gringo, p. 411. The Apaches ‘no comen pescado alguno, no obstante de lo que abundan sus rios.’ Cordero, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 375. ‘El Apache no come el pescado, aunque los hay abundantes en sus rios.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 285; Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. 123; Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, p. 149; Hardy’s Trav., p. 373; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. i., pp. 227-8. The Navajos, Mojaves, and Yumas, have long been acquainted with the art of agriculture and grow corn, beans, pumpkins, melons, and other vegetables, and also some wheat; some attempt a system of irrigation, and others select for their crops that portion of land which has been overflowed by the river. The Navajos possess numerous flocks of sheep, which though used for food, they kill only when requiring the wool for blankets. Although in later years they have cows, they do not make butter or cheese, but only a curd from sour milk, from which they express the whey and of which they are very fond.[680]‘They do not make butter and cheese…. Some who own cattle make from the curd of soured milk small masses, which some have called cheese.’ Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 292. ‘They never to my knowledge make butter or cheese, nor do I believe they know what such things are.’ Eaton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 217. The Navajoes ‘make butter and cheese.’ Scenes in the Rocky Mts., p. 180. Some of the ‘men brought into camp a quantity of cheese.’ Ives’ Colorado River, pp. 128, 130.

Their method of planting is simple; with a short sharp-pointed stick small holes are dug in the ground into which they drop the seeds, and no further care is given to the crop except to keep it partially free from weeds.[681]Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. 112. ‘They plant corn very deep with a stake and raise very good crops.’ Ind. Aff. Rept. Spec. Com., 1867, p. 337; Merriwether, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 172.

Maize soaked in water is ground to a paste between two stones. From this paste tortillas, or thin cakes, are made which are baked on a hot stone. To cook the maguey, a hole is made in the ground, in which a fire is kindled; after it has burned some time the maguey-bulb is buried in the hot ashes and roasted. Some concoct a gypsy sort of dish or ollapodrida; game, and such roots or herbs as they can collect, being put in an earthen pot with water and boiled.[682]‘The metate is a slightly hollowed hard stone, upon which soaked maize is laid and then reduced to paste…. The paste so formed is then patted between the hands until it assumes a flat, thin and round appearance when it is laid on a hot pan and baked into a tortilla.’ Cremony’s Apaches, pp. 145-6. ‘Ils récoltent aussi en abondance le maïs dont ils font de tortillas.’ Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 186. ‘Their meat was boiled with water in a Tusquin (clay kettle) and this meat-mush or soup was the staple of food among them.’ Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, pp. 114, 115. ‘A large Echino Cactus … hollowed so as to make a trough. Into this were thrown the soft portions of the pulpy substance which surrounds the heart of the cactus; and to them had been added game and plants gathered from the banks of the creek. Mingled with water, the whole had been cooked by stirring it up with heated stones.’ Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 96. ‘Ils mangent des pains de maïs cuits sous la cendre, aussi gros que les gros pains de Castille.’ Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 49; Hardy’s Trav., p. 238; Pattie’s Pers. Nar., p. 63; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., p. 291; Castaño de Soza, in Pacheco, Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. iv., pp. 330-1.

As before mentioned, the roving Apaches obtain most of their food by hunting and plunder; they eat more meat and less vegetable diet than the other Arizona tribes. They have a great partiality for horse-flesh, seldom eat fish, but kill deer and antelope.[683]‘The Apaches rely chiefly upon the flesh of the cattle and sheep they can steal … they are said, however, to be more fond of the meat of the mule than that of any other animal.’ Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., pp. 290-1. ‘A nonproductive race, subsisting wholly on plunder and game.’ Cremony’s Apaches, p. 141. The Jicarilla Apaches: ‘the chase is their only means of support.’ Carson, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1860, p. 164. ‘They live entirely by hunting.’ Delgado, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1866, p. 138. ‘Die Nahrung der Apaches besteht hauptsächlich in dem Fleische der Rinder und Schafe … doch soll, wie man sagt, Maulthierfleisch ihre Lieblingsspeise sein.’ Thümmel, Mexiko, p. 352. ‘Ihre besten Leckerbissen sind Pferde und Mauleselfleisch, welches sie braten und dem Rindfleische vorziehen.’ Ochs, in Murr, Nachrichten, p. 289. Their daintiest food is mule and horseflesh. Apostólicos Afanes, p. 432. ‘Anteriormente antes que en la frontera abundase el ganado, uno de sus alimentos era la came del caballo, y la caza de diferentes animales.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, pp. 266-7; Edward’s Hist. Texas, p. 95; Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. 112; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., p. 327; Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 187; Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, p. 116; Ward’s Mexico, vol. i., p. 580; Armin, Das Heutige Mexiko, p. 282; Stanley’s Portraits, p. 57; Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 460; Edwards’ Campaign, p. 95; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 276; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 202; see further Ind. Aff. Repts., from 1854-73; Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxxi., p. 308; Peters’ Life of Carson, p. 452; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 679. When hunting they frequently disguise themselves in a skin, and imitating closely the habits and movements of the animal, they contrive to approach within shooting-distance.[684]‘What I would have sworn was an antelope, proved to be a young Indian, … who having enveloped himself in an antelope’s skin with head, horns and all complete, had gradually crept up to the herd under his disguise.’ Cremony’s Apaches, pp. 28, 194. ‘Se viste de una piel de los mismos animales, pone sobre su cabeza otra de la clase de los que va á buscar, y armado de su arco y flechas andando en cuatro piés, procura mezclarse en una banda da ellos.’ Cordero, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 375; García Conde, in Album Mex., tom. i., p. 372; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 212; Ferry,Scènes de la Vie Sauvage, p. 262.Whether it be horse or deer, every portion of the carcass with the exception of the bones, is consumed, the entrails being a special delicacy. Their meat they roast partially in the fire, and eat it generally half raw. When food is plenty they eat ravenously and consume an enormous quantity; when scarce, they fast long and stoically. Most of them hate bear-meat and pork. So Jew-like is the Navajo in this particular that he will not touch pork though starving.[685]‘They always asked if we had bear on the table, for they wished to avoid it…. I found they had some superstitious prejudice against it.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., p. 324. ‘The Apaches are rather fond of lion and panther meat, but seldom touch that of the bear.’ Cremony’s Apaches, p. 226. ‘Tambien matan para comer osos.’ Salmeron, Relaciones, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 25. The Navajoes ‘never kill bears or rattlesnakes unless attacked.’ Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 291. ‘Sie verehren den Bären, der nie von ihnen getödtet wird, und dessen Fleisch zu essen sie sich scheuen. Schweinefleisch verschmähen sie desgleichen; beim iärgsten Hunger können sie es nicht über sich gewinnen, davon zu kosten.’ Armin, Das Heutige Mexiko, p. 278; Cordero, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 370.

Buffalo Hunting

The Comanches do not cultivate the soil, but subsist entirely by the chase. Buffalo, which range in immense herds throughout their country, are the chief food, the only addition to it being a few wild plants and roots; hence they may be said to be almost wholly flesh-eaters.[686]‘The Northern and Middle Comanches … subsist almost exclusively upon the flesh of the buffalo, and are known among the Indians as buffalo-eaters.’ Marcy’s Army Life, pp. 19, 26, 46. ‘They plant no corn, and their only food is meat, and a few wild plants that grow upon the prairies.’ Marcy’s Rept., p. 188. The Comanches are a ‘nation subsisting solely by the chase.’ Pike’s Explor. Trav., p. 214. ‘Subsist mainly upon the buffalo.’ Graves, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 180. ‘Acknowledge their entire ignorance of even the rudest methods of agriculture.’ Baylor, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1856, p. 177; Bent, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., p. 244; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 575; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., p. 103, and Froebel’s Cent. Amer., p. 268; Combier, Voy., p. 292; French’s Hist. Coll. La., pt. ii., p. 155; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 115; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, pp. 214-16, 307; Figuier’s Hum. Race, p. 480; Ludecus, Reise, p. 104; Dragoon Camp., p. 153; Foote’s Texas, p. 298; Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 192; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 21; Domenech, Jour., p. 469; Kennedy’s Texas, vol. i., p. 345; Holley’s Texas, p. 153; Dufey, Résumé, tom. i., p. 4; Dewees’ Texas, p. 233; Frost’s Ind. Battles, p. 385. In pursuit of the buffalo they exhibit great activity, skill, and daring. When approaching a herd, they advance in close column, gradually increasing their speed, and as the distance is lessened, they separate into two or more groups, and dashing into the herd at full gallop, discharge their arrows right and left with great rapidity; others hunt buffalo with spears, but the common and more fatal weapon is the bow and arrow. The skinning and cutting up of the slain animals is usually the task of the women.[687]‘Luego que los cíbolos echan á huir, los cazadores sin apresurarlos demasiado los persiguen á un galope corto, que van activando mas y mas hasta que rompen en carrera … el indio sin cesar de correr, dispara su arco en todas direcciones, y va sembrando el campo de reses…. Las indias al mismo tiempo van dessollando cada una de aquellas reses, recogiendo la piel y la carne.’ Revista Científica, tom. i., pp. 165-6. ‘At a suitable distance from their prey they divide into two squadrons, one half taking to the right, and the other to the left, and thus surround it.’ Edward’s Hist. Tex., p. 108; French’s Hist. Coll. La., pt. ii., p. 155; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. ii., pp. 214-216. Women when they perceive a deer or antelope ‘give it chase, and return only after capturing it with the lasso.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 249. The meat and also the entrails are eaten both raw and roasted. A fire being made in a hole, sticks are ranged round it, meeting at the top, on which the meat is placed. The liver is a favorite morsel, and is eaten raw; they also drink the warm blood of the animal.[688]‘When any game was killed, the Indians would tear out the heart, liver, and entrails, and eat them raw.’ Frost’s Ind. Battles, p. 385. ‘Ces Indiens se nourissent de viande crue et boivent du sang…. Ils coupent la viande en tranches très-minces et la font sécher au soleil; ils la réduisent ensuite en poudre pour la conserver.’ Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 190-1. ‘They “jerked” or dried the meat and made the pemmican.’ Marcy’s Army Life, p. 18. ‘Comen las criadillas crudas, recogiendo la sangre que corre del cuerpo con unas tutundas ó jicaras, se la beben caliente.’ Beaumont, Crón. de Mechoacan, MS., p. 528; Farnham’s Trav., p. 32; Horn’s Captivity, pp. 16, 23; Kennedy’s Texas, vol. i., p. 345. No provision is made for a time of scarcity, but when many buffalo are killed, they cut portions of them into long strips, which, after being dried in the sun, are pounded fine. This pemican they carry with them in their hunting expeditions, and when unsuccessful in the chase, a small quantity boiled in water or cooked with grease, serves for a meal. When unable to procure game, they sometimes kill their horses and mules for food, but this only when compelled by necessity.[689]‘At one time their larder is overstocked and they gorge themselves to repletion.’ Marcy’s Army Life, pp. 32, 44, 46. ‘Catch and tame these wild horses, and when unsuccessful in chase, subsist upon them.’ Holley’s Texas, p. 153. ‘When pressed by hunger from scarcity of game, they subsist on their young horses and mules.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. ii., pp. 132-3. ‘Have a rare capacity for enduring hunger, and manifest great patience under its infliction. After long abstinence they eat voraciously.’ Burnet, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., p. 231; Parker’s Notes on Tex., p. 235; Edward’s Hist. Tex., p. 108. In common with all primitive humanity they are filthy—never bathing except in summer[690]The tribe ‘lived in the most abject condition of filth and poverty.’ Browne’s Apache Country, p. 96. ‘With very few exceptions, the want of cleanliness is universal—a shirt being worn until it will no longer hang together, and it would be difficult to tell the original color.’ Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 290. ‘They are fond of bathing in the summer, … but nothing can induce them to wash themselves in winter.’ Cremony’s Apaches, p. 302. They give off very unpleasant odors. Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. i., p. 307. ‘They seem to have a natural antipathy against water, considered as the means of cleansing the body … water is only used by them in extreme cases; for instance, when the vermin become too thick on their heads, they then go through an operation of covering the head with mud, which after some time is washed out.’ Dodt, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, p. 130; Ives’ Colorado Riv., 108; Backus, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 214; Parker’s Notes on Tex., p. 203; Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 470.—with little or no sense of decency.[691]‘They defecate promiscuously near their huts; they leave offal of every character, dead animals and dead skins, close in the vicinity of their huts.’ Ind. Aff. Rept. Spec. Com., 1867, p. 339; Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, p. 114; Hardy’s Trav., p. 380.

Weapons

Throughout Arizona and New Mexico, the bow and arrow is the principal weapon, both in war and in the chase; to which are added, by those accustomed to move about on horseback, the shield and lance;[692]The Mojave ‘arms are the bow and arrow, the spear and the club.’ Sitgreaves’ Zuñi Ex., p. 18. ‘Armed with bows and arrows.’ Fremont and Emory’s Notes of Trav., p. 39. The Querechos ‘use the bow and arrow, lance and shield.’ Marcy’s Army Life, pp. 19, 23. ‘The Apache will invariably add his bow and arrows to his personal armament.’ Cremony’s Apaches, pp. 15, 75-6, 103, 189. ‘Neben Bogen und Pfeilen führen sie noch sehr lange Lanzen.’ Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 230. ‘They use the bow and arrow and spear.’ Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 293. ‘Armed with bows and arrows, and the lance.’ Backus, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 214. For colored lithograph of weapons see Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., p. 50, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii. ‘El armamento de los apaches se componen de lanza, arco y flechas.’ Cordero, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 372. ‘Las armas de los apaches son fusil, flechas y lanza.’ García Conde, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. v., p. 315. ‘Los Yumas son Indios … de malas armas, muchos no llevan arco, y si lo llevan es mal dispuesto, y con dos ó tres flechas.’ Garces, in Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 419; Sedelmair, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 851; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. iii., p. 111; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 399; Parker’s Notes on Tex., p. 190; Drew, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 105; Odin, in Domenech, Jour., p. 450; Wislizenus’ Tour, p. 71; Dewees’ Texas, p. 233; Holley’s Texas, p. 153; Brownell’s Ind. Races, p. 543; Dragoon Camp., p. 153; Moore’s Texas, p. 33; Ward’s Mexico, vol. ii., p. 602; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, vol. ii., pt. ii., p. 421; Lachapelle, Raousset-Boulbon, p. 82; Combier, Voy., p. 224; Brantz-Mayer’s Mex., Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 123; Thümmel, Mexiko, p. 444; Peters’ Life of Carson, p. 452; Cutts’ Conq. of Cal., p. 185; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., pp. 328-9, 451; Pagés’ Travels, vol. i., p. 107; Linati, Costumes, plate xxii.; Armin, Das Heutige Mexiko, p. 274; Möllhausen, Mormonenmädchen, tom. ii., p. 152; Figuier’s Hum. Race, pp. 480-2, with cut. with such also the Mexican riata may now occasionally be seen.[693]‘Their weapons of war are the spear or lance, the bow, and the laso.’ Hughes’ Doniphan’s Ex., p. 173. In battle, the Colorado River tribes use a club made of hard heavy wood, having a large mallet-shaped head, with a small handle, through which a hole is bored, and in which a leather thong is introduced for the purpose of securing it in the hand.[694]Among ‘their arms of offence’ is ‘what is called Macána, a short club, like a round wooden mallet, which is used in close quarters.’ Hardy’s Trav., p. 373. ‘War clubs were prepared in abundance.’ Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, p. 176. Die Apachen ‘nur Bogen, Pfeile und Keulen.’ Thümmel, Mexiko, p. 444. ‘Their clubs are of mezquite wood (a species of acacia) three or four feet long.’ Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. 108. ‘Ils n’ont d’autre arme qu’un grand croc et une massue.’ Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 186. ‘Arma sunt … oblongi lignei gladii multis acutis silicibus utrimque muniti.’ De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 311. ‘Sus Armas son Flechas, y Macanas.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 681. Among the Comanches: ‘Leur massue est une queue de buffle à l’extrémité de laquelle ils insèrent une boule en pierre on en métal.’ Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 193; Mowry, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 302. They seldom use the tomahawk. BOW AND LANCE.Some carry slings with four cords attached.[695]‘Mit vierstreifigen Strickschleudern bewaffnet.’ Mexikanische Zustände, tom. i., p. 64. ‘Sie fechten mit Lanzen, Büchsen, Pfeilen und Tamahaks.’ Ludecus, Reise, p. 104. ‘Une petite hache en silex.’ Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 193; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., p. 539; Treasury of Trav., p. 31; Escudero, Noticias de Chihuahua, p. 230; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 272. The bows are made of yew, bois d’arc, or willow, and strengthened by means of deer-sinews, firmly fastened to the back with a strong adhesive mixture. The length varies from four to five feet. The string is made from sinews of the deer.[696]The Querecho ‘bows are made of the tough and elastic wood of the “bois d’arc” or Osage orange (Maclura Aurantiaca), strengthened and reenforced with the sinews of the deer wrapped firmly around them, and strung with a cord made of the same material.’ Marcy’s Army Life, p. 24. The Tonto ‘bow is a stout piece of tough wood … about five feet long, strengthened at points by a wrapping of sinew … which are joined by a sinew string.’ Smart, in Smithsonian Rept., 1867, p. 418. The Navajo ‘bow is about four feet in length … and is covered on the back with a kind of fibrous tissue.’Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 293. The Yuma ‘bow is made of willow.’ Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. 108. ‘Langen Bogen von Weidenholz.’ Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. i., p. 124. Apaches: ‘the bow forms two semicircles, with a shoulder in the middle; the back of it is entirely covered with sinews, which are laid on … by the use of some glutinous substance.’ Pike’s Explor. Trav., p. 338. ‘Los tamaños de estas armas son differentes, segun las parcialidades que las usan.’ Cordero, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 372; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 360; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 453; Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 98; Pattie’s Pers. Nar., pp. 117, 149; Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 450. A leathern arm-guard is worn round the left wrist to defend it from the blow of the string.[697]The Apaches: ‘Tous portaient au poignet gauche le bracelet de cuir … Ce bracelet de cuir est une espèce de paumelle qui entoure la main gauche, … Le premier sert à amortir le coup de fouet de la corde de l’arc quand il se détend, la seconde empêche les pennes de la flèche de déchirer la peau de la main.’ Ferry, Scènes de la vie Sauvage, p. 256. ‘With a leather bracelet on one wrist and a bow and quiver of arrows form the general outfit.’ Smart, in Smithsonian Rept., 1867, p. 418. The arrows measure from twenty to thirty inches, according to length of bow, and the shaft is composed of two pieces; the notch end, which is the longer, consisting of a reed, into which is fitted a shorter piece made of acacia, or some other hard wood, and tipped with obsidian, agate, or iron. It is intended that when an object is struck, and an attempt is made to draw out the arrow, the pointed end shall remain in the wound. There is some difference in the feathering; most nations employing three feathers, tied round the shaft at equal distances with fine tendons. The Tontos have their arrows winged with four feathers, while some of the Comanches use only two. All have some distinguishing mark in their manner of winging, painting, or carving on their arrows.[698]The Coyoteros ‘use very long arrows of reed, finished out with some hard wood, and an iron or flint head, but invariably with three feathers at the opposite end.’ Cremony’s Apaches, p. 103. Navajoes: ‘the arrow is about two feet long and pointed with iron.’ Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 293. The Querechos ‘arrows are twenty inches long, of flexible wood, with a triangular point of iron at one end, and two feathers … at the opposite extremity.’ Marcy’s Army Life, p. 24. The Apache ‘arrows are quite long, very rarely pointed with flint, usually with iron. The feather upon the arrow is placed or bound down with fine sinew in threes, instead of twos…. The arrow-shaft is usually made of some pithy wood, generally a species of yucca.’ Henry, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 209. ‘Sagittæ acutis silicibus asperatæ.’ De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 311. ‘Arrows were … pointed with a head of stone. Some were of white quartz or agate, and others of obsidian.’ Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 98. The Tonto ‘arrows … are three feet long … the cane is winged with four strips of feather, held in place by threads of sinew … which bears on its free end an elongated triangular piece of quartz, flint, or rarely iron.’ Smart, in Smithsonian Rept., 1867, p. 418. The Lipan arrows ‘have four straight flutings; the Comanches make two straight black flutings and two red spiral ones.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 270; Sitgreaves’ Zuñi Ex., p. 18; Tempsky’s Mitla, p. 82; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 276; Conder’s Mex. Guat., vol. ii., p. 76; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 360; Möllhausen, Flüchtling, tom. iv., p. 31; Pattie’s Pers. Nar., p. 149. The quiver is usually made of the skin of some animal, deer or sheep, sometimes of a fox or wild-cat skin entire with the tail appended, or of reeds, and carried slung at the back or fastened to a waist-belt.[699]The Apache ‘quivers are usually made of deer-skin, with the hair turned inside or outside, and sometimes of the skin of the wild-cat, with the tail appended.’ Henry, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 210. ‘Quiver of sheep-skin.’ Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 461. ‘Quiver of fresh-cut reeds.’ Fremont and Emory’s Notes of Trav., p. 39. ‘Un carcax ó bolsa de piel de leopardo en lo general.’ Cordero, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 373; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., p. 31, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii.; Tempsky’s Mitla, p. 80. The lance is from twelve to fifteen feet long, the point being a long piece of iron, a knife or sword blade socketed into the pole.[700]‘The spear is eight or ten feet in length, including the point, which is about eighteen inches long, and also made of iron.’ Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 293. Should the Apaches possess any useless firearms, ‘generalmente vienen á darles nuevo uso, haciendo de ellas lanzas, cuchillos, lengüetas de flechas.’ Cordero, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 372. ‘La lanza la usan muy larga.’ García Conde, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. v., p. 315. ‘Lance of fifteen feet in length.’ Pike’s Explor. Trav., p. 338; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 276; Holley’s Texas, p. 153; Cutts’ Conq. of Cal., p. 242; Revista Científica, tom. i., p. 162; Parker’s Notes on Tex., p. 195; Pattie’s Pers. Nar., p. 298. Previous to the introduction of iron, their spears were pointed with obsidian or some other flinty substance which was hammered and ground to a sharp edge. The frame of the shield is made of light basket-work, covered with two or three thicknesses of buffalo-hide; between the layers of hide it is usual with the Comanches to place a stuffing of hair, thus rendering them almost bullet proof. Shields are painted in various devices and decorated with feathers, pieces of leather, and other finery, also with the scalps of enemies, and are carried on the left arm by two straps.[701]The Comanche ‘shield was round … made of wicker-work, covered first with deer skins and then a tough piece of raw buffalo-hide drawn over, … ornamented with a human scalp, a grizzly bear’s claw and a mule’s tail … for the arm were pieces of cotton cloth twisted into a rope.’ Parker’s Notes on Tex., p. 195. ‘En el brazo izquierdo llevaba el chimal, que es un escudo ovalado, cubierto todo de plumas, espejos, chaquiras y adornos de paño encarnado.’ Revista Científica, tom. i., p. 162. Their shield ‘is generally painted a bright yellow.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 268. ‘Shield of circular form, covered with two thicknesses of hard, undressed buffalo hide, … stuffed with hair … a rifle-ball will not penetrate it unless it strikes perpendicular to the surface.’ Marcy’s Army Life, pp. 24-5; Möllhausen, Flüchtling, tom. iv., p. 31; Tempsky’s Mitla, p. 80. A ‘Navajo shield … with an image of a demon painted on one side … border of red cloth, … trimmed with feathers.’ Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 454; Linati, Costumes, plate xxii.; Shepard’s Land of the Aztecs, p. 182; Edward’s Hist. Tex., p. 104.

Apache Warriors

Their fighting has more the character of assassination and murder than warfare. They attack only when they consider success a foregone conclusion, and rather than incur the risk of losing a warrior will for days lie in ambush till a fair opportunity for surprising the foe presents itself.[702]‘Wherever their observations can be made from neighboring heights with a chance of successful ambush, the Apache never shows himself.’ Cremony’s Apaches, pp. 79, 189. ‘Attacking only when their numbers, and a well-laid ambush, promise a certainty of success.’ Smart, in Smithsonian Rept., 1867, p. 419. ‘Colocan de antemano una emboscada.’ Cordero, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 375; Parker, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, pp. 221-3, 256; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 4; Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 47; Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, p. 107; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 276; Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 186; Davis, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1868, p. 161. The ingenuity of the Apache in preparing an ambush or a surprise is described by Colonel Cremony as follows: “He has as perfect a knowledge of the assimilation of colors as the most experienced Paris modiste. By means of his acumen in this respect, he can conceal his swart body amidst the green grass, behind brown shrubs, or gray rocks, with so much address and judgment that any but the experienced would pass him by without detection at the distance of three or four yards. Sometimes they will envelop themselves in a gray blanket, and by an artistic sprinkling of earth, will so resemble a granite boulder as to be passed within near range without suspicion. At others, they will cover their persons with freshly gathered grass, and lying prostrate, appear as a natural portion of the field. Again they will plant themselves among the Yuccas, and so closely imitate the appearance of that tree as to pass for one of its species.”

Before undertaking a raid they secrete their families in the mountain fastnesses, or elsewhere, then two by two, or in greater numbers, they proceed by different routes, to a place of rendezvous, not far from where the assault is to be made or where the ambuscade is to be prepared. When, after careful observation, coupled with the report of their scouts, they are led to presume that little, if any, resistance will be offered them, a sudden assault is made, men, women and children are taken captives, and animals and goods secured, after which their retreat is conducted in an orderly and skillful manner, choosing pathways over barren and rugged mountains which are known only to themselves.[703]‘Salen … generalmente divididos en pequeñas partidas para ocultar mejor sus rastros…. Es imponderable la velocidad con que huyen despues que han ejecutado un crecido robo … las montañas que encumbran, los desiertos sin agua que atraviesan.’ García Conde, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. v., p. 316. ‘They steal upon their enemies under the cover of night.’ Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. 107; Murr, Nachrichten, p. 303; Lachapelle, Raousset-Boulbon, p. 83; Apostólicos Afanes, p. 434; Cordero, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 375-6; Browne’s Apache Country, p. 279; Figuier’s Hum. Race, p. 480; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 276. Held asunder from congregating in large bodies by a meagerness of provisions, they have recourse to a system of signals which facilitates intercourse with each other. During the day one or more columns of smoke are the signals made for the scattered and roaming bands to rendezvous, or they serve as a warning against approaching danger. To the same end at night they used a fire beacon; besides these, they have various other means of telegraphing which are understood only by them, for example, the displacement and arrangement of a few stones on the trail, or a bended twig, is to them a note of warning as efficient, as is the bugle-call to disciplined troops.[704]‘La practica, que observan para avisarse los unos à los otros … es levantar humaredas.’ Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., p. 394. ‘Smokes are of various kinds, each one significant of a particular object.’ Cremony’s Apaches, pp. 183-4. ‘In token of retreate sounded on a certaine small trumpet … made fires, and were answered againe afarre off … to giue their fellowes vnderstanding, how wee marched and where we arriued.’ Coronado, in Hakluyt’s Voy., tom. iii., p. 376; Möllhausen, Flüchtling, tom. ii., p. 157; Smart, in Smithsonian Rept., 1867, p. 419.

They treat their prisoners cruelly; scalping them, or burning them at the stake; yet, ruled as they are by greediness, they are always ready to exchange them for horses, blankets, beads, or other property. When hotly pursued, they murder their male prisoners, preserving only the females and children, and the captured cattle, though under desperate circumstances they do not hesitate to slaughter the latter.[705]‘La suma crueldad con que tratan á los vencidos atenaccandolos vivos y comiendose los pedazos de la carne que la arrancan.’ Doc. Hist. N. Vizcaya, MS., p. 4. ‘Their savage and blood-thirsty natures experience a real pleasure in tormenting their victim.’ Cremony’s Apaches, p. 266. ‘Hang their victims by the heels to a tree and put a slow fire under their head.’ Browne’s Apache Country, pp. 201, 93, 96. Among the Navajos, ‘Captives taken in their forays are usually treated kindly.’ Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 295. ‘Ils scalpent avec la corde de leur arc, en la tournant rapidement autour de la tête de leur victime.’ Lachapelle, Raousset-Boulbon, p. 82; Murr, Nachrichten, p. 303; Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, pp. 114-118, 138, 149, 218; Farnham’s Trav., p. 32; Graves, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 180; Labadi, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1862, p. 247; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 453; Scenes in the Rocky Mts., p. 180; Stone, in Hist. Mag., vol. v., p. 167; Henry, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 212; Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. iii., p. 10; Pattie’s Pers. Nar., p. 118. The Apaches returning to their families from a successful expedition, are received by the women with songs and feasts, but if unsuccessful they are met with jeers and insults. On such occasions says Colonel Cremony, “the women turn away from them with assured indifference and contempt. They are upbraided as cowards, or for want of skill and tact, and are told that such men should not have wives, because they do not know how to provide for their wants. When so reproached, the warriors hang their heads and offer no excuse for their failure. To do so would only subject them to more ridicule and objurgation; but Indian-like, they bide their time in the hope of finally making their peace by some successful raid.” If a Mojave is taken prisoner he is forever discarded in his own nation, and should he return his mother even will not own him.[706]Cremony’s Apaches, p. 216; Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 114.

Comanche Warriors

The Comanches, who are better warriors than the Apaches, highly honor bravery on the battle-field. From early youth, they are taught the art of war, and the skillful handling of their horses and weapons; and they are not allowed a seat in the council, until their name is garnished by some heroic deed.[707]‘Obran en la guerra con mas táctica que los apaches.’ García Conde, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. v., p. 318. ‘A young man is never considered worthy to occupy a seat in council until he has encountered an enemy in battle.’ Marcy’s Army Life, p. 34; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 22; Domenech, Jour., pp. 140-1; Foote’s Texas, vol. i., p. 298; Kennedy’s Texas, vol. i., p. 346; Maillard’s Hist. Tex., p. 243. Before going on the war-path they perform certain ceremonies, prominent among which is the war-dance.[708]‘When a chieftain desires to organize a war-party, he … rides around through the camp singing the war-song.’ Marcy’s Army Life, p. 53. ‘When a chief wishes to go to war … the preliminaries are discussed at a war-dance.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. ii., p. 132; Armin, Das Heutige Mexiko, p. 280; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. ii., p. 315. They invariably fight on horseback with the bow and arrow, spear and shield, and in the management of these weapons they have no superiors.

Their mode of attack is sudden and impetuous; they advance in column, and when near the enemy form subdivisions charging on the foe simultaneously from opposite sides, and while keeping their horses in constant motion, they throw themselves over the side, leaving only a small portion of the body exposed, and in this position discharge their arrows over the back of the animal or under his neck with great rapidity and precision.[709]‘They dart forward in a column like lightning…. At a suitable distance from their prey, they divide into two squadrons.’ Holley’s Texas, p. 153. ‘A Comanche will often throw himself upon the opposite side of his charger, so as to be protected from the darts of the enemy.’ Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. ii., pp. 312-13; Dewees’ Texas, p. 234; Shepard’s Land of the Aztecs, p. 182; Ludecus, Reise, p. 104. A few scalps are taken, for the purpose of being used at the war or scalp dance by which they celebrate a victory. Prisoners belong to the captors and the males are usually killed, but women are reserved and become the wives or servants of their owners, while children of both sexes are adopted into the tribe.[710]‘Ils tuent tous les prisonniers adultes, et ne laissent vivre que les enfants, qu’ils élèvent avec soin pour s’en servir comme d’esclaves.’ Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 290. ‘Invariably kill such men as offer the slightest impediment to their operations, and take women and children prisoners.’ Marcy’s Army Life, pp. 24, 54. ‘Prisoners of war belong to the captors.’ Burnet, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., p. 232; Farnham’s Trav., p. 32; Figuier’s Hum. Race, p. 480; Pattie’s Pers. Nar., p. 41; Foote’s Texas, vol. i., p. 298; Horn’s Captivity, p. 15; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 205. Peace ceremonies take place at a council of warriors, when the pipe is passed round and smoked by each, previous to which an interchange of presents is customary.[711]‘Ten chiefs were seated in a circle within our tent, when the pipe, the Indian token of peace, was produced … they at first refused to smoke, their excuse being, that it was not their custom to smoke until they had received some presents.’ Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. ii., p. 39.

Implements

Household utensils are made generally of wickerwork, or straw, which, to render them watertight, are coated with some resinous substance. The Mojaves and a few of the Apache tribes have also burnt-clay vessels, such as water-jars and dishes.[712]‘I saw no earthenware vessels among them; the utensils employed in the preparation of food being shallow basins of closely netted straw. They carried water in pitchers of the same material, but they were matted all over with a pitch.’ Smart, in Smithsonian Rept., 1867, p. 419. ‘Aus Binsen und Weiden geflochtene Gefässe, mitunter auch einige aus Thon geformte;’ … by the door stood ‘ein breiter Stein … auf welchem mittelst eines kleineren die Mehlfrüchte zerrieben wurden.’ Möllhausen, Tagebuch, pp. 396, 404. ‘Panniers of wicker-work, for holding provisions, are generally carried on the horse by the women.’ Henry, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 210; Neighbors, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. ii., p. 129. ‘Their only implements are sticks.’ Greene, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, p. 140. ‘They (the Axuas of Colorado River) had a beautiful fishing-net made out of grass.’ … ‘They had also burnt earthen jars, extremely well made. The size of each of them might be about two feet in diameter in the greatest swell; very thin, light, and well formed.’ Hardy’s Trav., p. 338. ‘Nets wrought with the bark of the willow.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 220; Browne’s Apache Country, p. 200. ‘Tienen mucha loza de las coloradas, y pintadas y negras, platos, caxetes, saleros; almofias, xicaras muy galanas: alguna de la loza está vidriada. Tienen mucho apercibimiento de leña, é de madera, para hacer sus casas, en tal manera, á lo que nos dieron á entender, que cuando uno queria hacer casa, tiene aquella madera allí de puesto para el efecto, y hay mucha cantidad. Tiene dos guaxexes á los lados del pueblo, que le sirven para se bañar, porque de otros ojos de agua, á tiro de arcabuz, beben y se sirven. A un cuarto de legua va el rio Salado, que decimos, por donde fué nuestro camino, aunque el agua salada se pierde de muchas leguas atrás.’ Castaño de Sosa, in Pacheco, Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. iv., p. 331; Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, Feb. 14th, 1862; Browne’s Apache Country, p. 200. ‘Their only means of farming are sharpened sticks.’ Colyer, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1871, p. 50. For grinding maize, as before stated, a kind of metate is used, which with them is nothing more than a convex and a concave stone.[713]‘Their utensils for the purpose of grinding breadstuff, consist of two stones; one flat, with a concavity in the middle; the other round, fitting partly into the hollow of the flat stone.’ Henry, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 209; Smart, in Smithsonian Rept., 1867, p. 418; Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 282. Of agricultural implements they know nothing; a pointed stick, crooked at one end, which they call kishishai, does service as a corn-planter in spring, and during the later season answers also for plucking fruit from trees, and again, in times of scarcity, to dig rats and prairie dogs from their subterranean retreats. Their cradle is a flat board, padded, on which the infant is fastened; on the upper part is a little hood to protect the head, and it is carried by the mother on her back, suspended by a strap.[714]‘The cradle of the Navajo Indians resembles the same article made by the Western Indians. It consists of a flat board, to support the vertebral column of the infant, with a layer of blankets and soft wadding, to give ease to the position, having the edges of the frame-work ornamented with leather fringe. Around and over the head of the child, who is strapped to this plane, is an ornamented hoop, to protect the face and cranium from accident. A leather strap is attached to the vertebral shell-work, to enable the mother to sling it on her back.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 435-6, and plate p. 74.Their saddles are simply two rolls of straw covered with deer or antelope skin, which are connected by a strap; a piece of raw hide serves for girths and stirrups. In later years the Mexican saddle, or one approaching it in shape, has been adopted, and the Navajos have succeeded in making a pretty fair imitation of it, of hard ash. Their bridles, which consist of a rein attached to the lower jaw, are very severe on the animal.[715]‘The saddle is not peculiar but generally resembles that used by the Mexicans. They ride with a very short stirrup, which is placed further to the front than on a Mexican saddle. The bit of the bridle has a ring attached to it, through which the lower jaw is partly thrust, and a powerful pressure is exerted by this means when the reins are tightened.’ Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 292. ‘Sa selle est faite de deux rouleaux de paille reliés par une courroie et maintenus par une sangle de cuir.’ Lachapelle, Raousset-Boulbon, p. 82; Tempsky’s Mitla, p. 80. The Navajos have ‘aus zähem Eschenholz gefertigten Sattelbogen.’ Möllhausen, Flüchtling, tom. iv., p. 39. Although not essentially a fish-eating people, the Mojaves and Axuas display considerable ingenuity in the manufacture of fishing-nets, which are noted for their strength and beauty. Plaited grass, or the fibry bark of the willow, are the materials of which they are made.[716]‘Das Netz war weitmaschig, aus feinen, aber sehr starken Bastfäden geflochten, vier Fuss hoch, und ungefähr dreissig Fuss lang. Von vier zu vier Fuss befanden sich lange Stäbe an demselben, mittelst welcher es im Wasser, zugleich aber auch auf dem Boden und aufrecht gehalten wurde.’ Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. i., p. 227; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 220. Fire is obtained in the old primitive fashion of rubbing together two pieces of wood, one soft and the other hard. The hard piece is pointed and is twirled on the softer piece, with a steady downward pressure until sparks appear.[717]‘El apache para sacar lumbre, usa … un pedazo de sosole y otro de lechuguilla bien secos. Al primero le forman una punta, lo que frotan con la segunda con cuanta velocidad pueden á la manera del ejercicio de nuestros molinillos para hacer el chocolate: luego que ambos palos se calientan con la frotacion, se encienden y producen el fuego.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 282.

Navajo Blankets

Of the Comanches, the Abbé Domenech relates that they extracted silver from some mines near San Saba, from which they manufactured ornaments for themselves and their saddles and bridles.[727]‘Mines d’argent exploitées par les Comanches, qui en tirent des ornements pour eux et pour leurs chevaux, ainsi que des balles pour leurs fusils.’ Domenech, Jour., p. 132.

Property

They have no boats, but use rafts of wood, or bundles of rushes fastened tightly together with osier or willow twigs, and propelled sometimes with poles; but more frequently they place upon the craft their property and wives, and, swimming alongside of it, with the greatest ease push it before them.[728]The Mescaleros had ‘a raft of bulrush or cane, floated and supported by some twenty or thirty hollow pumpkins fastened together.’ Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. iii., p. 56. The Yumas had ‘batteaus which could hold 200 or 300 pounds weight.’ Id., vol. iv., p. 546. The Mojaves had ‘Flössen, die von Binsen-Bündeln zusammengefügt waren (die einzige Art von Fahrzeug, welche ich bei den Bewohnern des Colorado-Thales bemerkte).’ Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 401. ‘Merely bundles of rushes placed side by side, and securely bound together with willow twigs … their owners paddled them about with considerable dexterity.’ Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 117, and plate. Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. i., pp. 238, 254; Ives’ Colorado Riv., p. 69. For their maintenance, especially in latter days, they are indebted in a great measure to their horses, and accordingly they consider them as their most valuable property. The Navajos are larger stock owners than any of the other nations, possessing numerous flocks of sheep, and herds of cattle as well as horses and mules. These, with their blankets, their dressed skins, and peaches which they cultivate, constitute their chief wealth.[729]‘Immense numbers of horses and sheep, attesting the wealth of the tribe.’ Ives’ Colorado Riv., pp. 128, 130. ‘They possess more wealth than all the other wild tribes in New Mexico combined.’ Graves, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 179. ‘They are owners of large flocks and herds.’ Bent, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., p. 243; Eaton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 217; Backus, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 211, 212; Scenes in the Rocky Mts., p. 180; Davis’ El Gringo, p. 411; Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, pp. 291-2; Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxxi., p. 289; Prichard’s Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., p. 567; Hughes’ Doniphan’s Ex., p. 173; Peters’ Life of Carson, p. 124; Thümmel, Mexiko, p. 349; Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., p. 79; Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 460; Cremony’s Apaches, p. 254; Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 60. Certain bands of the Apache nation exchange with the agriculturists pottery and skins for grain.[730]The Jicarilla Apaches ‘manufacture a species of coarse earthenware, which they exchange for corn and wheat.’ Keithly, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1863, p. 115. Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, p. 123. Among the Navajos, husband and wife hold their property separate, and at their death it becomes the inheritance of the nephew or niece. This law of entail is often eluded by the parents, who before death give their goods to their children.[731]‘Das Eigenthum des Vaters nicht auf den Sohn übergeht, sondern dass Neffen und Nichten als die rechtmässigen Erben anerkannt werden wenn nicht der Vater bei Lebzeiten schon seine Habe an die eigenen Kinder geschenkt hat.’ Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. ii., p. 234. ‘The husband has no control over the property of his wife…. Property does not descend from father to son, but goes to the nephew of the decedent, or, in default of a nephew, to the niece … but if, while living, he distributes his property to his children, that disposition is recognised.’ Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, pp. 294-5. ‘When the father dies … a fair division is not made; the strongest usually get the bulk of the effects.’ Bristol, in Ind. Aff. Rept. Spec. Com., 1867, p. 357. Their exchanges are governed by caprice rather than by established values. Sometimes they will give a valuable blanket for a trifling ornament. The Mojaves have a species of currency which they call pook, consisting of strings of shell beads, whose value is determined by the length.[732]‘The blankets, though not purchasable with money … were sold, in some instances, for the most trifling article of ornament or clothing.’ Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., p. 81. Shell beads, which they call ‘pook,’ are their substitute for money.’ Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 115. At the time of Coronado’s expedition, in 1540, the Comanches possessed great numbers of dogs, which they employed in transporting their buffalo-skin tents and scanty household utensils.[733]The Querechos encountered by Coronado had with them ‘un grand troupeau de chiens qui portaient tout ce qu’ils possédaient.’ Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 117. ‘The only property of these people, with the exception of a few articles belonging to their domestic economy, consists entirely in horses and mules.’ Marcy’s Army Life, p. 22; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 23; Kennedy’s Texas, vol. i., p. 347; Marcy’s Rept., p. 188; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, pp. 116-17. When a buffalo is killed, the successful hunter claims only the hide; the others are at liberty to help themselves to the meat according to their necessities.[734]‘There are no subdivisions of land acknowledged in their territory, and no exclusive right of game.’ Neighbors, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. ii., p. 131. ‘Their code is strictly Spartan.’ Marcy’s Army Life, p. 23. In their trading transactions they display much shrewdness, and yet are free from the tricks usually resorted to by other nations.[735]‘They are sufficiently astute in dealing.’ Burnet, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., p. 232. ‘Le chef des Indiens choisit, parmi ces objets, ceux qui sont nécessaires à sa tribu.’ Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 193. ‘In Comanche trade the main trouble consists in fixing the price of the first animal. This being settled by the chiefs.’ Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. ii., p. 45; Parker’s Notes on Tex., pp. 190, 234; Burnet, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., p. 232; Domenech, Jour., p. 130; Dewees’ Texas, p. 36.

Arts and Calendar

Their knowledge of decorative art is limited; paintings and sculptures of men and animals, rudely executed on rocks or walls of caverns are occasionally met with; whether intended as hieroglyphical representations, or sketched during the idle moments of some budding genius, it is difficult to determine, owing to the fact that the statements of the various authors who have investigated the subject are conflicting.[736]Mr Bartlett, describing an excursion he made to the Sierra Waco near the Copper Mines in New Mexico, says, he saw ‘an overhanging rock extending for some distance, the whole surface of which is covered with rude paintings and sculptures, representing men, animals, birds, snakes, and fantastic figures … some of them, evidently of great age, had been partly defaced to make room for more recent devices.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., pp. 170-4, with cuts. In Arizona, Emory found ‘a mound of granite boulders … covered with unknown characters…. On the ground nearby were also traces of some of the figures, showing some of the hieroglyphics, at least, to have been the work of modern Indians.’ Emory’s Reconnoissance, pp. 89, 90, with cut. The Comanches ‘aimaient beaucoup les images, qu’ils ne se lassaient pas d’admirer.’ Domenech, Jour., p. 136. The Comanches display a certain taste in painting their buffalo-robes, shields, and tents. The system of enumeration of the Apaches exhibits a regularity and diffusiveness seldom met with amongst wild tribes, and their language contains all the terms for counting up to ten thousand.[737]‘The Apaches count ten thousand with as much regularity as we do. They even make use of the decimal sequences.’ Cremony’s Apaches, p. 237. In this respect the Comanches are very deficient; what little knowledge of arithmetic they have is decimal, and when counting, the aid of their fingers or presence of some actual object is necessary, being, as they are, in total ignorance of the simplest arithmetical calculation. The rising sun proclaims to them a new day; beyond this they have no computation or division of time. They know nothing of the motions of the earth or heavenly bodies, though they recognise the fixedness of the polar star.[738]‘They have no computation of time beyond the seasons … the cold and hot season … frequently count by the Caddo mode—from one to ten, and by tens to one hundred, &c…. They are ignorant of the elements of figures.’ Neighbors, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. ii., pp. 129-30. ‘Ce qu’ils savent d’astronomie se borne à la connaissance de l’étoile polaire…. L’arithmétique des sauvages est sur leurs doigts; … Il leur faut absolument un objet pour nombrer.’ Hartmann and Millard, Tex., pp. 112-13.

Their social organization, like all their manners and customs, is governed by their wild and migratory life. Government they have none. Born and bred with the idea of perfect personal freedom, all restraint is unendurable.[739]The Navajos have no tribal government, and in reality no chiefs. Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 288. ‘Their form of government is so exceedingly primitive as to be hardly worthy the name of a political organization.’ Davis’ El Gringo, pp. 412, 413; Ives’ Colorado Riv., p. 71. ‘Ils n’ont jamais connu de domination.’ Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série. v., No. 96, p. 187. ‘Each is sovereign in his own right as a warrior.’ Cremony’s Apaches, p. 177. The nominal authority vested in the war chief, is obtained by election, and is subordinate to the council of warriors.[740]‘It is my opinion that the Navajo chiefs have but very little influence with their people.’ Bennett, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 238, and 1870, p. 152; Bristol, in Ind. Aff. Rept. Spec. Com., 1867, p. 357. Every father holds undisputed sway over his children until the age of puberty. His power, importance, and influence at the council-fire is determined by the amount of his slaves and other property.[741]‘Los padres de familia ejercen esta autoridad en tanto que los hijos no salen de la infancia, porque poco antes de salir de la pubertad son como libres y no reconocen mas superioridad que sus propias fuerzas, ó la del indio que los manda en la campaña.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, pp. 282-3. ‘Every rich man has many dependants, and these dependants are obedient to his will, in peace and in war.’ Backus, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 211; Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 89. ‘Every one who has a few horses and sheep is a “head man.”‘ Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 288; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. ii., p. 233. The rule of the Querechos is ‘essentially patriarchal.’ Marcy’s Army Life, p. 20. Those specially distinguished by their cunning and prowess in war, or success in the chase, are chosen as chiefs.

Comanche Government

A chief may at any time be deposed.[742]‘When one or more (of the Navajos) are successful in battle or fortunate in their raids to the settlements on the Rio Grande, he is endowed with the title of captain or chief.’ Bristol, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1867, p. 357. ‘En cualquiera de estas incorporaciones toma el mando del todo por comun consentimiento el mas acreditado de valiente.’ Cordero, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 373. The Comanches have ‘a right to displace a chief, and elect his successor, at pleasure.’ Kennedy’s Texas, vol. i., p. 346. A chief of the Comanches is never degraded ‘for any private act unconnected with the welfare of the whole tribe.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. ii., p. 130. Sometimes it happens that one family retains the chieftaincy in a tribe during several generations, because of the bravery or wealth of the sons.[743]The office of chief is not hereditary with the Navajos. Cremony’s Apaches, p. 307. The wise old men of the Querechos ‘curb the impetuosity of ambitious younger warriors.’ Marcy’s Army Life, p. 20. ‘I infer that rank is (among the Mojaves), to some extent, hereditary.’ Ives’ Colorado Riv., pp. 67, 71. ‘This captain is often the oldest son of the chief, and assumes the command of the tribe on the death of his father,’ among the Apaches. Henry, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 210. In time of peace but little authority is vested in the chief; but on the war path, to ensure success, his commands are implicitly obeyed. It also frequently happens that chiefs are chosen to lead some particular war or marauding expedition, their authority expiring immediately upon their return home.[744]The Mescaleros and Apaches ‘choose a head-man to direct affairs for the time being.’ Carleton, in Smithsonian Rept., 1854, p. 315. ‘Es gibt auch Stämme, an deren Spitze ein Kriegs- sowie ein Friedens-Häuptling steht.’ Armin, Das Heutige Mexiko, p. 279; García Conde, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. v., p. 315.

Among the Comanches public councils are held at regular intervals during the year, when matters pertaining to the common weal are discussed, laws made, thefts, seditions, murders, and other crimes punished, and the quarrels of warrior-chiefs settled. Smaller councils are also held, in which, as well as in the larger ones, all are free to express their opinion.[745]When Col. Langberg visited the Comanches who inhabit the Bolson de Mapimi, ‘wurde dieser Stamm von einer alten Frau angeführt.’ Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., p. 222; Id., Cent. Amer., p. 352; Hardy’s Trav., p. 348. ‘I have never known them (Comanches) to make a treaty that a portion of the tribe do not violate its stipulations before one year rolls around.’ Neighbors, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 267. Questions laid before them are taken under consideration, a long time frequently elapsing before a decision is made. Great care is taken that the decrees of the meeting shall be in accordance with the opinion and wishes of the majority. Laws are promulgated by a public crier, who ranks next to the chief in dignity.[746]The chiefs of the Comanches ‘are in turn subject to the control of a principal chief.’ Kennedy’s Texas, vol. i., p. 345. ‘La autoridad central de su gobierno reside en un gefe supremo.’ Revista Científica, tom. i., p. 57; Escudero, Noticias de Chihuahua, p. 229. The southern Comanches ‘do not of late years acknowledge the sovereignty of a common ruler and leader in their united councils nor in war.’ Marcy’s Army Life, p. 43. The Gila Apaches acknowledge ‘no common head or superior.’ Merriwether, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 170, 172.

Ancestral customs and traditions govern the decisions of the councils; brute force, or right of the strongest, with the law of talion in its widest acceptance, direct the mutual relations of tribes and individuals.[747]The Comanches ‘hold regular councils quarterly, and a grand council of the whole tribe once a year.’ Edward’s Hist. Tex., p. 108. ‘At these councils prisoners of war are tried, as well as all cases of adultery, theft, sedition and murder, which are punished by death. The grand council also takes cognizance of all disputes between the chiefs, and other matters of importance.’ Maillard’s Hist. Tex., p. 244. ‘Their decisions are of but little moment, unless they meet the approbation of the mass of the people; and for this reason these councils are exceedingly careful not to run counter to the wishes of the poorer but more numerous class, being aware of the difficulty, if not impossibility, of enforcing any act that would not command their approval.’ Collins, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 274. ‘Singulis pagis sui Reguli erant, qui per praecones suos edicta populo denuntiabant.’ De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 311. ‘Tienen otra Persona, que llaman Pregonero, y es la segunda Persona de la República; el oficio de este, es manifestar al Pueblo todas las cosas que se han de hacer.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 337; Id., tom. i., p. 680. They recognize ‘no law but that of individual caprice.’Steck, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1863, p. 109. The Comanches ‘acknowledge no right but the right of the strongest.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 575. ‘La loi du talion est la base fondamentale du code politique, civil et criminel de ces diverses peuplades, et cette loi reçoit une rigoureuse application de nation à nation, de famille à famille, d’individu à individu.’ Hartmann and Millard, Tex., p. 114. Murder, adultery, theft, and sedition are punished with death or public exposure, or settled by private agreement or the interposition of elderly warriors. The doctor failing to cure his patient must be punished by death. The court of justice is the council of the tribe, presided over by the chiefs, the latter with the assistance of sub-chiefs, rigidly executing judgment upon the culprits.[748]The Comanches punish ‘Adultery, theft, murder, and other crimes … by established usage.’ Kennedy’s Texas, vol. i., p. 347. Among the Navajos, ‘Lewdness is punished by a public exposure of the culprit.’ Scenes in the Rocky Mts., p. 180. Marcy’s Army Life, pp. 26, 59. Navajoes ‘regard each other’s right of property, and punish with great severity any one who infringes upon it. In one case a Navajo was found stealing a horse; they held a council and put him to death.’ Bristol, in Ind. Aff. Rept. Spec. Com., 1867, p. 344. A Cuchano young boy who frightened a child by foretelling its death, which accidentally took place the next day, ‘was secretly accused and tried before the council for “being under the influence of evil spirits,”‘ and put to death. Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. iii.; Feudge, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1868, p. 137. Among the Yumas, ‘Each chief punishes delinquents by beating them across the back with a stick. Criminals brought before the general council for examination, if convicted, are placed in the hands of a regularly appointed executioner of the tribe, who inflicts such punishment as the council may direct.’ Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. iii. All crimes may be pardoned but murder, which must pay blood for blood if the avenger overtake his victim.[749]The Apache chief Ponce, speaking of the grief of a poor woman at the loss of her son, says: ‘The mother of the dead brave demands the life of his murderer. Nothing else will satisfy her…. Would money satisfy me for the death of my son? No! I would demand the blood of the murderer. Then I would be satisfied.’ Cremony’s Apaches, p. 69. ‘If one man (Apache) kills another, the next of kin to the defunct individual may kill the murderer—if he can. He has the right to challenge him to single-combat…. There is no trial, no set council, no regular examination into the crime or its causes; but the ordeal of battle settles the whole matter.’ Id., p. 293.

All the natives of this family hold captives as slaves;[750]Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 7; Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 294. ‘Ils (Comanches) tuent tous les prisonniers adultes, et ne laissent vivre que les enfans.’ Dillon, Hist. Mex., p. 98. The Navajos ‘have in their possession many prisoners, men, women, and children, … whom they hold and treat as slaves.’ Bent, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., p. 244. some treat them kindly, employing the men as herders and marrying the women; others half-starve and scourge them, and inflict on them the most painful labors.[751]One boy from Mexico taken by the Comanches, said, ‘dass sein Geschäft in der Gefangenschaft darin bestehe die Pferde seines Herrn zu weiden.’ Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., p. 102; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. ii., p. 313. The natives of New Mexico take the women prisoners ‘for wives.’ Marcy’s Rept., p. 187. Some prisoners liberated from the Comanches, were completely covered with stripes and bruises. Dewees’ Texas, p. 232. Miss Olive Oatman detained among the Mohaves says: ‘They invented modes and seemed to create necessities of labor that they might gratify themselves by taxing us to the utmost, and even took unwarranted delight in whipping us on beyond our strength. And all their requests and exactions were couched in the most insulting and taunting language and manner, as it then seemed, and as they had the frankness soon to confess, to fume their hate against the race to whom we belonged. Often under the frown and lash were we compelled to labor for whole days upon an allowance amply sufficient to starve a common dandy civilized idler.’ Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, pp. 114-18, 130.Nothing short of crucifixion, roasting by a slow fire, or some other most excruciating form of death, can atone the crime of attempted escape from bondage. They not only steal children from other tribes and sell them, but carry on a most unnatural traffic in their own offspring.[752]‘It appeared that the poor girl had been stolen, as the Indian (Axua) said, from the Yuma tribe the day before, and he now offered her for sale.’ Hardy’s Trav., p. 379. ‘The practice of parents selling their children is another proof of poverty’ of the Axuans. Id., p. 371.

Treatment of Women

Womankind as usual is not respected. The female child receives little care from its mother, being only of collateral advantage to the tribe. Later she becomes the beast of burden and slave of her husband. Some celebrate the entry into womanhood with feasting and dancing.[753]‘According to their (Tontos’) physiology the female, especially the young female, should be allowed meat only when necessary to prevent starvation.’ Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, p. 115. The Comanches ‘enter the marriage state at a very early age frequently before the age of puberty.’ Neighbors, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. ii., p. 132. Whenever a Jicarilla female arrives at a marriageable age, in honor of the ‘event the parents will sacrifice all the property they possess, the ceremony being protracted from five to ten days with every demonstration of hilarity.’ Steck, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1863, p. 109; Marcy’s Army Life, p. 28-9. Among the Yumas, the applicant for womanhood is placed in an oven or closely covered hut, in which she is steamed for three days, alternating the treatment with plunges into the near river, and maintaining a fast all the time.’ Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., pp. 110-11. The Apaches celebrate a feast with singing, dancing, and mimic display when a girl arrives at the marriageable state, during which time the girl remains ‘isolated in a huge lodge’ and ‘listens patiently to the responsibilities of her marriageable condition,’ recounted to her by the old men and chiefs. ‘After it is finished she is divested of her eyebrows…. A month afterward the eye lashes are pulled out.’ Cremony’s Apaches, pp. 143, 243-6. Courtship is simple and brief; the wooer pays for his bride and takes her home.[754]There is no marriage ceremony among the Navajoes ‘a young man wishing a woman for his wife ascertains who her father is; he goes and states the cause of his visit and offers from one to fifteen horses for the daughter. The consent of the father is absolute, and the one so purchased assents or is taken away by force. All the marriageable women or squaws in a family can be taken in a similar manner by the same individual; i. e., he can purchase wives as long as his property holds out.’ Bristol, in Ind. Aff. Rept. Spec. Com., 1867, p. 357; Marcy’s Army Life, p. 49; Backus, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 214; Parker’s Notes on Tex., p. 233. Every man may have all the wives he can buy. There is generally a favorite, or chief wife, who exercises authority over MARRIAGE AND CHILD-BIRTH.the others. As polygamy causes a greater division of labor, the women do not object to it.[755]Among the Apaches, the lover ‘stakes his horse in front of her roost…. Should the girl favor the suitor, his horse is taken by her, led to water, fed, and secured in front of his lodge…. Four days comprise the term allowed her for an answer…. A ready acceptance is apt to be criticised with some severity, while a tardy one is regarded as the extreme of coquetry.’ Cremony’s Apaches, pp. 245-9; Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 89; Marcy’s Army Life, pp. 30, 51. The Apache ‘who can support or keep, or attract by his power to keep, the greatest number of women, is the man who is deemed entitled to the greatest amount of honor and respect.’ Cremony’s Apaches, pp. 44, 85. Un Comanche, ‘peut épouser autant de femmes qu’il veut, à la seule condition de donner à chacune un cheval.’ Domenech, Jour., p. 135. Among the Navajoes, ‘The wife last chosen is always mistress of her predecessors.’ Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., p. 42, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii. They seldom, if ever, marry out of the tribe. Ward, in Ind. Aff. Rept. Spec. Com., 1867, p. 455. ‘In general, when an Indian wishes to have many wives he chooses above all others, if he can, sisters, because he thinks he can thus secure more domestic peace.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 306. ‘I think that few, if any, have more than one wife,’ of the Mojaves. Ives’ Colorado Riv., p. 71. Sometimes a feast of horse-flesh celebrates a marriage.[756]‘The Navajo marriage-ceremony consists simply of a feast upon horse-flesh.’ Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 460. When the Navajos desire to marry, ‘they sit down on opposite sides of a basket, made to hold water, filled with atole or some other food, and partake of it. This simple proceeding makes them husband and wife.’ Davis’ El Gringo, p. 415. All the labor of preparing food, tanning skins, cultivating fields, making clothes, and building houses, falls to the women, the men considering it beneath their dignity to do anything but hunt and fight. The women feed and saddle the horses of their lords; oftentimes they are cruelly beaten, mutilated, and even put to death.[757]The Comanche women ‘are drudges.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 575; Dufey, Résumé de l’Hist., tom. i., p. 4; Neighbors, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 265; Escudero, Noticias de Chihuahua, p. 230; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., p. 308. Labor is considered degrading by the Comanches. Kennedy’s Texas, vol. i., p. 347. The Apache men ‘no cuidan de otras cosas, sino de cazar y divertirse.’ Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 563; Marcy’s Army Life, pp. 29, 49, 56. ‘La femme (du Comanche) son esclave absolue, doit tout faire pour lui. Souvent il n’apporte pas même le gibier qu’il a tué, mais il envoie sa femme le chercher au loin.’ Dubuis, in Domenech, Jour., p. 459. The Navajos ‘treat their women with great attention, consider them equals, and relieve them from the drudgery of menial work.’ Hughes’ Doniphan’s Ex., p. 203. The Navajo women ‘are the real owners of all the sheep…. They admit women into their councils, who sometimes control their deliberations; and they also eat with them.’ Davis’ El Gringo, p. 412; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., p. 101., in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii. ‘De aquí proviene que sean árbitros de sus mugeres, dandoles un trato servilísimo, y algunas veces les quitan hasta la vida por celos.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 268. ‘Les Comanches, obligent le prisonnier blanc, dont ils ont admiré le valeur dans le combat, á s’unir aux leurs pour perpétuer sa race.’ Fossey, Mexique, p. 462. The marriage yoke sits lightly; the husband may repudiate his wife at will and take back the property given for her; the wife may abandon her husband, but by the latter act she covers him with such disgrace that it may only be wiped out by killing somebody[758]Among the Apaches, ‘muchas veces suele disolverse el contrato por unánime consentimiento de los desposados, y volviendo la mujer á su padre, entrega este lo que recibió por ella.’ Cordero. in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 373. When the Navajo women abandon the husband, the latter ‘asks to wipe out the disgrace by killing some one.’ Ind. Aff. Rept. Spec. Com., 1867, p. 334; Eaton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 217.—anybody whom he may chance to meet. In the event of a separation the children follow the mother. They are not a prolific race; indeed, it is but seldom that a woman has more than three or four children. As usual parturition is easy; but owing to unavoidable exposure many of their infants soon die. The naming of the child is attended with superstitious rites, and on reaching the age of puberty they never fail to change its name.[759]Navajo women, ‘when in parturition, stand upon their feet, holding to a rope suspended overhead, or upon the knees, the body being erect.’ Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 290. ‘Previous to a birth, the (Yuma) mother leaves her village for some short distance and lives by herself until a month after the child is born; the band to which she belongs then assemble and select a name for the little one, which is given with some trivial ceremony.’ Emory’s Rept., vol. i., p. 110; Marcy’s Army Life, p. 31. ‘Si el parto es en marcha, se hacen á un lado del camino debajo de un árbol, en donde salen del lance con la mayor facilidad y sin apuro ninguno, continuando la marcha con la criatura y algun otro de sus chiquillos, dentro de una especie de red, que á la manera de una canasta cargan en los hombros, pendiente de la frente con una tira de cuero ó de vaqueta que la contiene, en donde llevan ademas alunos trastos ó cosas que comer.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 281; Fossey, Mexique, p. 462. ‘Luego que sale á luz esta, sale la vieja de aquel lugar con la mano puesta en los ojos, y no se descubre hasta que no haya dado una vuelta fuera de la casa, y el objeto que primero se le presenta á la vista, es el nombre que se le pone á la criatura.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 335. Immediately after the birth of the child, it is fastened to a small board, by bandages, and so carried for several months on the back of the mother. Later the child rides on the mother’s hip, or is carried on her back in a basket or blanket, which in travelling on horseback is fastened to the pommel of the saddle. Boys are early taught the use of weapons, and early learn their superiority over girls, being seldom or never punished.[760]Pattie’s Pers. Nar., p. 92; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. i., p. 320; Ives’ Colorado River, pp. 66, 71; Henry, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 211. ‘Quand les Indiennes (Comanches) voyagent avec leurs enfants en bas âge, elles les suspendent à la selle avec des courroies qu’elles leur passent entre les jambes et sous les bras. Les soubresauts du cheval, les branches, les broussailles heurtent ces pauvres petits, les déchirent, les meurtrissent: peu importe, c’est une façon de les aguerrir.’ Domenech, Journ. p. 135; Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 52. ‘A la edad de siete años de los apaches, ó antes, lo primero que hacen los padres, es poner á sus hijos el carcax en la mano enseñándoles á tirar bien, cuya táctica empiezan á aprender en la caza.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 283. The Apaches, ‘juventutem sedulo instituunt castigant quod aliis barbaris insolitum.’ De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 316. Male children of the Comanches ‘are even privileged to rebel against their parents, who are not entitled to chastise them but by consent of the tribe.’ Kennedy’s Texas, vol. i., p. 346-7. In fact a Navajo Indian has said, ‘that he was afraid to correct his own boy, lest the child should wait for a convenient opportunity, and shoot him with an arrow.’ Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 294.

It is a singular fact that of all these people the thievish meat-eating Apache is almost the only one who makes any pretentions to female chastity. All authorities agree that the Apache women both before and after marriage are remarkably pure.[761]Ind. Aff. Rept. Spec. Com., 1867, p. 354; Cremony’s Apaches, p. 367; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 399; Pattie’s Pers. Nar., p. 119.

Yuma husbands for gain surrender not only their slaves, but their wives. Hospitality carries with it the obligation of providing for the guest a temporary wife. The usual punishment for infidelity is the mutilation of the nose or ears, which disfigurement prevents the offender from marrying, and commonly sends her forth as a public harlot in the tribe.[762]‘The Navajo women are very loose, and do not look upon fornication as a crime.’ Guyther, in Ind. Aff. Rept. Spec. Com., 1867, p. 339; Cremony’s Apaches, p. 244. ‘Prostitution is the rule among the (Yuma) women, not the exception.’ Mowry, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 301; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., p. 476; Browne’s Apache Country, p. 96. ‘Prostitution prevails to a great extent among the Navajoes, the Maricopas, and the Yuma Indians; and its attendant diseases, as before stated, have more or less tainted the blood of the adults; and by inheritance of the children.’ Carleton, in Ind. Aff. Rept. Spec. Com., 1867, p. 433. Among the Navajoes, ‘the most unfortunate thing which can befall a captive woman is to be claimed by two persons. In this case, she is either shot or delivered up for indiscriminate violence.’ Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 50. The Colorado River Indians ‘barter and sell their women into prostitution, with hardly an exception.’ Safford, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, p. 139. ‘The Comanche women are, as in many other wild tribes, the slaves of their lords, and it is a common practice for their husbands to lend or sell them to a visitor for one, two, or three days at a time.’ Marcy’s Rept., p. 187; Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 419. ‘Las faltas conyugales no se castigan por la primera vez; pero á la segunda el marido corta la punta de la nariz á su infiel esposa, y la despide de su lado.’ Revista Científica, vol. i., p. 57; Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 192. ‘The squaw who has been mutilated for such a cause, is ipso facto divorced, and, it is said, for ever precluded from marrying again. The consequence is, that she becomes a confirmed harlot in the tribe.’ Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. ii., pp. 43, 308-10, 313. ‘El culpable, segun dicen, jamas es castigado por el marido con la muerte; solamente se abroga el derecho de darle algunos golpes y cogerse sus mulas ó caballos.’ Berlandier y Thovel, Diario, p. 253; Marcy’s Army Life, p. 49. ‘These yung men may not haue carnall copulation with any woman: but all the yung men of the countrey which are to marrie, may company with them…. I saw likewise certaine women which liued dishonestly among men.’ Alarchon, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 436. The seducer can appease the anger of an injured husband by presents, although before the law he forfeits his life. Even sodomy and incestuous intercourse occur among them. Old age is dishonorable.[763]‘They tolde mey that … such as remayned widowes, stayed halfe a yeere, or a whole yeere before they married.’ Alarchon, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 431; Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. 110; Marcy’s Army Life, p. 54; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. ii., p. 234; García Conde, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. v., p. 315.

Amusements

Smoking and Dancing

They are immoderately fond of smoking, drinking, feasting, and amusements which fill up the many hours of idleness. Dancing and masquerading is the most favorite pastime. They have feasts with dances to celebrate victories, feasts given at marriage, and when girls attain the age of puberty; a ceremonial is observed at the burial of noted warriors, and on other various occasions of private family life, in which both men and women take part. The dance is performed by a single actor or by a number of persons of both sexes to the accompaniment of instruments or their own voices.[764]‘En las referidas reuniones los bailes son sus diversiones favoritas. Los hacen de noche al son de una olla cubierta la boca con una piel tirante, que suenan con un palo, en cuya estremidad lian un boton de trapos. Se interpolan ambos secsos, saltan todos a un mismo tiempo, dando alaridos y haciendo miles de ademanes, en que mueven todos los miembros del cuerpo con una destreza extraordinaria, arremedando al coyote y al venado. Desta manera forman diferentes grupos simétricamente.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 269; Marcy’s Army Life, p. 177; Cremony’s Apaches, p. 285. ‘Este lo forma una junta de truhanes vestidos de ridiculo y autorizados por los viejos del pueblo para cometer los mayores desórdenes, y gusten tanto de estos hechos, que ni los maridos reparan las infamias que cometen con sus mugeres, ni las que resultan en perjuicio de las hijas.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 335. ‘The females (of the Apaches) do the principal part of the dancing.’ Henry, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 212. ‘Among the Abenakis, Chactas, Comanches, and other Indian tribes, the women dance the same dances, but after the men, and far out of their sight … they are seldom admitted to share any amusement, their lot being to work.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., pp. 199, 214. ‘De éstos vinieron cinco danzas, cada una compuesta de treinta indias; de éstas, veintiseis como de 15 à 20 años, y las cuatro restantes de mas edad, que eran las que cuidaban y dirigian à las jóvenes.’ Museo Mex., tom. i., p. 288. ‘The dance (of the Tontos) is similar to that of the California Indians; a stamp around, with clapping of hands and slapping of thighs in time to a drawl of monotones.’ Smart, in Smithsonian Rept., 1867, p. 419. All festivities are incomplete without impromptu songs, the music being anything but agreeable, and the accompaniment corn-stalk or cane flutes, wooden drums, or calabashes filled with stone and shaken to a constantly varying time.[765]Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, p. 180. The Yumas ‘sing some few monotonous songs, and the beaux captivate the hearts of their lady-loves by playing on a flute made of cane.’ Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. iii. ‘No tienen mas orquesta que sus voces y una olla ó casco de calabazo à que se amarra una piel tirante y se toca con un palo.’ Cordero, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 373-4; Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 419; Ives’ Colorado Riv., pp. 71-2; García Conde, in Album Mex., tom. i., pp. 166, 168. They also spend much time in gambling, often staking their whole property on a throw, including everything upon their backs. One of these games is played with a bullet, which is passed rapidly from one hand to the other, during which they sing, assisting the music with the motion of their arms. The game consists in guessing in which hand the bullet is held. Another Comanche game is played with twelve sticks, each about six inches in length. These are dropped on the ground and those falling across each other are counted for game, one hundred being the limit.[766]Stanley’s Portraits, p. 55; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. ii., p. 133. ‘Y el vicio que tienen estos Indios, es jugar en las Estufas las Mantas, y otras Preseas con vnas Cañuelas, que hechan en alto (el qual Juego vsaban estos Indios Mexicanos) y al que no tiene mas que vna Manta, y la pierde, se la buelven; con condicion, que ha de andar desnudo por todo el Pueblo, pintado, y embijado todo el cuerpo, y los Muchachos dandole grita.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 680. Horse-racing is likewise a passion with them;[767]Kennedy’s Texas, vol. i., p. 347. as are also all other athletic sports.[768]‘The players generally take each about ten arrows, which they hold with their bows in the left hand; he whose turn it is advances in front of the judges, and lances his first arrow upwards as high as possible, for he must send off all the others before it comes down. The victory belongs to him who has most arrows in the air together, and he who can make them all fly at once is a hero.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 198. ‘The Indians amuse themselves shooting at the fruit (pitaya), and when one misses his aim and leaves his arrow sticking in the top of the cactus, it is a source of much laughter to his comrades.’ Browne’s Apache Country, p. 78; Armin, Das Heutige Mexiko, p. 309. The hoop and pole game of the Mojaves is thus played. ‘The hoop is six inches in diameter, and made of elastic cord; the poles are straight, and about fifteen feet in length. Rolling the hoop from one end of the course toward the other, two of the players chase it half-way, and at the same time throw their poles. He who succeeds in piercing the hoop wins the game.’ Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 463; Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. iii.; Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 114; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. i., pp. 216, 223; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 395; Backus, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 214. ‘Tienen unas pelotas de materia negra como pez, embutidas en ella varias conchuelas pequeñas del mar, con que juegan y apuestan arrojándola con el pié.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. iii., p. 111; Sedelmair, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., vol. iv., p. 851. When smoking, the Comanches direct the first two puffs, with much ceremony and muttering, to the sun, and the third puff with a like demonstration is blown toward the earth. When short of tobacco, they make use of the dried leaves of the sumach, of willow-bark, or other plants.[769]‘Los salvages recogen sus hojas generalmente en el Otoño, las que entónces están rojas y muy oxidadas: para hacer su provision, la secan al fuego ó al sol, y para fumarlas, las mezclan con tabaco.’ Berlandier y Thovel, Diario, p. 257. The Comanches smoke tobacco, ‘mixed with the dried leaves of the sumach, inhaling the smoke into their lungs, and giving it out through their nostrils.’ Marcy’s Army Life, pp. 29, 32; Alarchon, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 432; Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 285.

The Comanches are remarkable for their temperance, or rather abhorrence for intoxicating drink; all the other nations of this family abandon themselves to this subtle demoralization, and are rapidly sinking under it. They make their own spirits out of corn and out of agave americana, the pulque and mescal, both very strong and intoxicating liquors.[770]Thümmel, Mexiko, p. 352. The Comanches ‘avoid the use of ardent spirits, which they call “fool’s water.”‘ Kennedy’s Texas, vol. i., p. 347; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. ii., p. 307. Dubuis, in Domenech, Jour., p. 469. ‘In order to make an intoxicating beverage of the mescal, the roasted root is macerated in a proportionable quantity of water, which is allowed to stand several days, when it ferments rapidly. The liquor is boiled down and produces a strongly intoxicating fluid.’ Cremony’s Apaches, p. 217. ‘When its stem (of the maguey) is tapped there flows from it a juice which, on being fermented, produces the pulque.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., p. 290. The Apaches out of corn make an intoxicating drink which they called “teeswin,” made by boiling the corn and fermenting it. Murphy, in Ind. Aff. Rept. Spec. Com., 1867, p. 347; Hardy’s Trav., pp. 334, 337.

Of all North American Indians the Comanches and Cheyennes are said to be the most skillful riders, and it would be difficult to find their superiors in any part of the world. Young children, almost infants, are tied by their mothers to half-wild, bare-backed mustangs, which place thenceforth becomes their home. They supply themselves with fresh horses from wild droves wandering over the prairies, or from Mexican rancherías. A favorite horse is loved and cherished above all things on earth, not excepting wives or children. The women are scarcely behind the men in this accomplishment. They sit astride, guide the horses with the knee like the men, and catch and break wild colts. In fighting, the Comanches throw the body on one side of the horse, hang on by the heel and shoot with great precision and rapidity. It is beneath the dignity of these horsemen to travel on foot, and in their sometimes long and rapid marches, they defy pursuit.[771]Jones, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 223; Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. 108; Domenech, Jour., p. 137; Turner, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1852, tom. 135, p. 307; Backus, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 212; García Conde, in Album Mex., 1849, tom. i., p. 165; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 277; Shepard’s Land of the Aztecs, p. 182; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 114-6; Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 61; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 399. The Apache women, ‘Son tan buenas ginetas, que brincan en un potro, y sin mas riendas que un cabrestillo, saben arrendarlo.’ Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 564; Pattie’s Pers. Nar., p. 298; Marcy’s Army Life, p. 28; Figuier’s Hum. Race, p. 480. ‘A short hair halter was passed around under the neck of the horse, and both ends tightly braided into the mane, on the withers, leaving a loop to hang under the neck, and against the breast, which, being caught up in the hand, makes a sling into which the elbow falls, taking the weight of the body on the middle of the upper arm. Into this loop the rider drops suddenly and fearlessly, leaving his heel to hang over the back of the horse, to steady him, and also to restore him when he wishes to regain his upright position on the horse’s back.’ Brownell’s Ind. Races, p. 540; Davis’ El Gringo, p. 412. Les Comanches ‘regardent comme un déshonneur d’aller à pied.’ Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 192; Cremony’s Apaches, p. 282. The Comanches, for hardening the hoofs of horses and mules, have a custom of making a fire of the wild rosemary—artemisia—and exposing their hoofs to the vapor and smoke by leading them slowly through it. Parker’s Notes on Tex., p. 203. Before horses were known they used to transport their household effects on the backs of dogs, which custom even now prevails among some nations.[772]Marcy’s Army Life, p. 18; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 290; Cordoue, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 443; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 454; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 209. ‘Les Teyas et Querechos ont de grands troupeaux de chiens qui portent leur bagage; ils l’attachent sur le dos de ces animaux au moyen d’une sangle et d’un petit bât. Quand la charge se dérange les chiens se mettent à hurler, pour avertir leur maître de l’arranger.’ Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 117, 125, 190. ‘On the top of the bank we struck a Camanche trail, very broad, and made by the lodge poles, which they transport from place to place … by fastening them on each side of their pack horses, leaving the long ends trailing upon the ground.’ Parker’s Notes on Tex., p. 154. ‘Si carecen de cabalgaduras, cargan los muebles las mujeres igualmente que sus criaturas.’ García Conde, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. v., p. 317; Ives’ Colorado Riv., p. 128.

Comanche Customs

The Comanche observes laws of hospitality as strictly as the Arab, and he exacts the observance of his rules of etiquette from strangers. When a visitor enters his dwelling, the master of the house points to him a seat, and how to reach it, and the host is greatly offended if his directions are not strictly followed. Meeting on the prairie, friends as well as enemies, if we may believe Colonel Marcy, put their horses at full speed. “When a party is discovered approaching thus, and are near enough to distinguish signals, all that is necessary to ascertain their disposition is to raise the right hand with the palm in front, and gradually push it forward and back several times. They all understand this to be a command to halt, and if they are not hostile, it will at once be obeyed. After they have stopped, the right hand is raised again as before, and slowly moved to the right and left, which signifies, I do not know you. Who are you? They will then answer the inquiry by giving their signal.” Then they inflict on strangers the hugging and face-rubbing remarked among the Eskimos, demonstrating thereby the magnitude of their joy at meeting.[773]Neighbors, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. ii., p. 132; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., p. 234; Marcy’s Army Life, pp. 29, 33, 189; Marcy’s Rept., p. 187; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. ii., pp. 38, 46; Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, pp. 473, 475; Cordero, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 378. When the Yampais ‘wish to parley they raise a firebrand in the air as a sign of friendship.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 218. The various tribes of the Yuma and Mojave nations hold communication with one another by means of couriers or runners, who quickly disseminate important news, and call together the various bands for consultation, hunting, and war. Besides this, there is used everywhere on the prairies, a system of telegraphy, which perhaps is only excelled by the wires themselves. Smoke during the day, and fires at night, perched on mountain-tops, flash intelligence quickly and surely across the plains, giving the call for assistance or the order to disperse when pursued. The advanced posts also inform the main body of the approach of strangers, and all this is done with astonishing regularity, by either increasing or diminishing the signal column, or by displaying it only at certain intervals or by increasing the number.[774]‘These messengers (of the Mohaves) were their news-carriers and sentinels. Frequently two criers were employed (sometimes more) one from each tribe. These would have their meeting stations. At these stations these criers would meet with promptness, and by word of mouth, each would deposit his store of news with his fellow expressman, and then each would return to his own tribe with the news.’ Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, pp. 220, 283. ‘El modo de darse sus avisos para reunirse en casos de urgencia de ser perseguidos, es por medio de sus telégrafos de humos que forman en los cerros mas elevados formando hogueras de los palos mas humientos que ellos conocen muy bien.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 281. Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 5. ‘Para no detenerse en hacer los humos, llevan los mas de los hombres y mujeres, los instrumentos necessarios para sacar lumbre; prefieren la piedra, el eslabon, y la yesca; pero si no tienen estos útiles, suplen su falta con palos preparados al efecto bien secos, que frotados se inflaman.’ García Conde, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. v., p. 317. In cold weather many of the nations in the neighborhood of the Colorado, carry firebrands in their hands, as they assert for the purpose of warming themselves, which custom led the early visitors to name the Colorado the Rio del Tizon.[775]Eaton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 217; Sitgreaves’ Zuñi Ex., p. 18. ‘Su frazada en tiempo de frio es un tizon encendido que aplicándolo á la boca del estómago caminan por los mañanas, y calentando ya el sol como a las ocho tiran los tizones, que por muchos que hayan tirado por los caminos, pueden ser guias de los caminantes.’ Sedelmair, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., vol. iv., p. 851.

Diseases and Medicine

The Comanches stand in great dread of evil spirits, which they attempt to conciliate by fasting and abstinence. When their demons withhold rain or sunshine, according as they desire, they whip a slave, and if their gods prove obdurate, their victim is almost flayed alive. The Navajos venerate the bear, and as before stated, never kill him nor touch any of his flesh.[776]The Comanches ‘have yearly gatherings to light the sacred fires; they build numerous huts, and sit huddled about them, taking medicine for purification, and fasting for seven days. Those who can endure to keep the fast unbroken become sacred in the eyes of the others.’ Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 451. If a Yuma kills one of his own tribe he keeps ‘a fast for one moon; on such occasions he eats no meat—only vegetables—drinks only water, knows no woman, and bathes frequently during the day to purify the flesh.’ Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. 110. ‘It was their (Mojaves,) custom never to eat salted meat for the next moon after the coming of a captive among them.’ Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, p. 180; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 402; Domenech, Jour., p. 13; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, pp. 125-6. Although early writers speak of cannibalism among these people, there is no evidence that they do or ever did eat human flesh.[777]‘Entre cuyas tribus hay algunas que se comen á sus enemigos.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 332. ‘Los chirumas, que me parecen ser los yumas, no se que coman carne humana como dijo el indio cosnina.’ Garces, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie ii., tom. i., p. 363. ‘Among the spoil which we took from these Camanches, we found large portions of human flesh evidently prepared for cooking.’ Dewees’ Texas, p. 232-3. Certain Europeans have represented the Comanches ‘as a race of cannibals; but according to the Spaniards … they are merely a cruel, dastardly race of savages.’ Pagés’ Travels, vol. i., p. 107. In their intercourse they are dignified and reserved, and never interrupt a person speaking. Unless compelled by necessity, they never speak any language but their own, it being barbarous in their eyes to make use of foreign tongues.[778]Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 451; Berlandier y Thovel, Diario, p. 253; Cremony’s Apaches, p. 34; Davis’ El Gringo, p. 407.

Burial of the Dead

Although endowed generally with robust and healthy constitutions, bilious and malarial fever, pneumonia, rheumatism, dysentery, ophthalmia, measles, small-pox, and various syphilitic diseases are sometimes met among them; the latter occurring most frequently among the Navajos, Mojaves, Yumas, and Comanches. Whole bands are sometimes affected with the last-mentioned disease, and its effects are often visible in their young. A cutaneous ailment, called pintos, also makes its appearance at times.[779]Smart, in Smithsonian Rept., 1867, p. 418. ‘Gonorrhœa and syphilis are not at all rare’ among the Navajos. Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 290; Marcy’s Army Life, p. 31. For these ailments they have different remedies, consisting of leaves, herbs, and roots, of which decoctions or poultices are made; scarification and the hunger cure are resorted to as well. Among the Mojaves the universal remedy is the sweat-house, employed by them and the other nations not only as a remedy for diseases, but for pleasure. There is no essential difference between their sweat-houses and those of northern nations—an air-tight hut near a stream, heated stones, upon which water is thrown to generate steam, and a plunge into the water afterward. As a cure for the bite of a rattlesnake they employ an herb called euphorbia. Broken or wounded limbs are encased in wooden splints until healed. But frequently they abandon their sick and maimed, or treat them with great harshness.[780]Hardy’s Trav., p. 442-3. ‘Los comanches la llaman Puip; y cuando uno de entre ellos está herido, mascan la raiz (que es muy larga) y esprimen el yugo y la saliva en la llaga.’ Berlandier y Thovel, Diario, p. 257; Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 290; Pattie’s Pers. Nar., p. 118; Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, p. 156; Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 289; Browne’s Apache Country, p. 63; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 142; Id., Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. i., p. 118; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 335; Neighbors, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. ii., p. 130; Parker’s Notes on Tex., p. 193. The Apaches: ‘Cuando se enferma alguno á quien no han podido hacer efecto favorable la aplicacion de las yerbas, único antidoto con que se curan, lo abandonan, sin mas diligencia ulterior que ponerle un monton de brasas á la cabecera y una poca de agua, sin saberse hasta hoy qué significa ésto ó con qué fin la hacen.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 280.Priests or medicine-men possess almost exclusively the secrets of the art of healing. When herbs fail they resort to incantations, songs, and wailings. They are firm believers in witchcraft, and wear as amulets and charms, feathers, stones, antelope-toes, crane’s bills, bits of charred wood and the like. Their prophets claim the power of foretelling future events, and are frequently consulted therefor.[781]Eaton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 217; Domenech, Jour., pp. 13, 139; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., p. 42, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii.; Henry, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 212; Parker’s Notes on Tex., p. 240-1. Among the Comanches during the steam bath, ‘the shamans, or medicine-men, who profess to have the power of communicating with the unseen world, and of propitiating the malevolence of evil spirits, are performing various incantations, accompanied by music on the outside.’ Marcy’s Army Life, p. 60; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 576; Bristol, in Ind. Aff. Rept. Spec. Com., 1867, p. 358. ‘De aquí ha sucedido que algunos indios naturalmente astutos, se han convertido en adivinos, que han llegado á sostener como á sus oràculos. Estos mismos adivinos hacen de médicos, que por darse importancía á la aplicacion de ciertas yerbas, agregan porcion de ceremonias supersticiosas y ridiculas, con cánticos estraños, en que hablan á sus enfermos miles de embustes y patrañas.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 280. Most of the nations in the vicinity of the Colorado, burn their dead as soon as possible after death, on which occasion the worldly effects of the deceased are likewise spiritualized; utensils, property, sometimes wives, are sent with their master to the spirit land.[782]At the Colorado river they ‘burned those which dyed.’ Alarchon, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 432; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 404; Browne’s Apache Country, p. 97; Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 467; Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, p. 240-1. ‘It is the custom of the Mojaves to burn their property when a relation dies to whose memory they wish to pay especial honor.’ Ives’ Colorado Riv., p. 69. ‘Die Comanches tödteten früher das Lieblingsweib des gestorbenen Häuptlings.’ Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 88. ‘No Navajo will ever occupy a lodge in which a person has died. The lodge is burned.’ Backus, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 213; Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 289. ‘When a death occurs they (Yumas) move their villages, although sometimes only a short distance, but never occupying exactly the same locality.’ Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. 110.Those that do not burn the dead, bury them in caves or in shallow graves, with the robes, blankets, weapons, utensils, and ornaments of the deceased. The Comanches frequently build a heap of stones over the grave of a warrior, near which they erect a pole from which a pair of moccasins is suspended.[783]‘When a Comanche dies … he is usually wrapped in his best blankets or robes, and interred with most of his “jewelry,” and other articles of esteem.’ Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. ii., pp. 317, 243. ‘Cuando muere algun indio, … juntando sus deudos todas las alhajas de su peculio, se las ponen y de esta manera lo envuelven en una piel de cíbolo y lo llevan á enterrar.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 336; Kennedy’s Texas, vol. i., p. 347; Wislizenus’ Tour, p. 69. The Comanches cover their tombs ‘with grass and plants to keep them concealed.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 363; Id., Jour., p. 14. The Apaches: ‘probably they bury their dead in caves; no graves are ever found that I ever heard of.’ Henry, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 212. See also James’ Exped., vol. ii., p. 305. ‘On the highest point of the hill, was a Comanche grave, marked by a pile of stones and some remnants of scanty clothing.’ Parker’s Notes on Tex., pp. 137, 151. The custom of the Mescalero Apaches ‘heretofore has been to leave their dead unburied in some secluded spot.’ Curtis, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1871, p. 402; Cremony’s Apaches, p. 50; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. ii., p. 233; Pattie’s Pers. Nar., p. 119. After burying the corpse, they have some mourning ceremonies, such as dances and songs around a fire, and go into mourning for a month. As a sign of grief they cut off the manes and tails of their horses, and also crop their own hair and lacerate their bodies in various ways; the women giving vent to their affliction by long continued howlings. But this applies only to warriors; children, and old men, are not worth so ostentatious a funeral.[784]Among the Navajos ‘Immediately after a death occurs a vessel containing water is placed near the dwelling of the deceased, where it remains over night; in the morning two naked Indians come to get the body for burial, with their hair falling over and upon their face and shoulders. When the ceremony is completed they retire to the water, wash, dress, do up their hair, and go about their usual avocations.’ Bristol, in Ind. Aff. Rept. Spec. Com., 1867, p. 358. The Navajos ‘all walked in solemn procession round it (the grave) singing their funeral songs. As they left it, every one left a present on the grave; some an arrow, others meat, moccasins, tobacco, war-feathers, and the like, all articles of value to them.’ Pattie’s Pers. Nar., p. 119; Revista Científica, tom. i., p. 57. ‘A los niños y niñas de pecho les llevan en una jicara la leche ordenada de sus pechos las mismas madres, y se las echan en la sepultura; y esto lo hacen por algunos dias continuos.’ Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 543; Neighbors, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. ii., p. 133; Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 280; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., p. 100; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. i., p. 304; Marcy’s Army Life, p. 56. ‘When a young warrior dies, they mourn a long time, but when an old person dies, they mourn but little, saying that they cannot live forever, and it was time they should go.’ Parker’s Notes on Tex., pp. 192, 236. The name of a deceased person is rarely mentioned, and the Apaches are shy of admitting strangers to a celebration of funeral ceremonies, which mostly take place at night. In general they are averse to speaking upon the subject of death at all. The Navajos, says Mr Davis, “have a superstitious dread of approaching a dead body, and will never go near one when they can avoid it.”[785]Davis’ El Gringo, pp. 414-5; Cremony’s Apaches, pp. 250, 297.

New Mexican Character

In the character of the several nations of this division there is a marked contrast. The Apaches as I have said, though naturally lazy like all savages, are in their industries extremely active,—their industries being theft and murder, to which they are trained by their mothers, and in which they display consummate cunning, treachery, and cruelty.[786]‘The quality of mercy is unknown among the Apaches.’ Cremony’s Apaches, pp. 33-4, 193, 215-16, 227-8. ‘Perfectly lawless, savage, and brave.’ Marcy’s Rept., p. 197. ‘For the sake of the booty, also take life.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 202. ‘Inclined to intemperance in strong drinks.’ Henry, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 211. ‘Ferocísimos de condicion, de naturaleza sangrientos.’ Almanza, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 824. ‘Sumamente vengativo.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 283. ‘Alevoso y vengativo caracte … rastutos ladrones, y sanguinarios.’ Bustamante, in Cavo, Tres Siglos, tom. iii., p. 78. ‘I have not seen a more intelligent, cheerful, and grateful tribe of Indians than the roving Apaches.’ Colyer, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1871, pp. 15, 47, 51; García Conde, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. v., pp. 314-15, 317; Doc. Hist. N. Vizcaya, MS., p. 4; Cordero, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 371; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., pp. 322, 326-7; Smart, in Smithsonian Rept., 1867, p. 419; Apostólicos Afanes, p. 430; Lachapelle, Raousset-Boulbon, p. 83; Turner, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1852, tom. cxxxv., pp. 307, 314; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., pp. 5, 6, 8; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. i., p. 294; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, pp. 330, 361; Bent, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., p. 243; Ward’s Mexico, vol. i., p. 580; Mowry’s Arizona, pp. 31-2; Pope, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. ii., p. 13; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., p. 14, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii.; Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxxi., p. 273; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., pp. 291, 295; Hist. Chrétienne de la Cal., p. 99; Edward’s Hist. Tex., p. 95; Peters’ Life of Carson, p. 323; Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 187; Pike’s Explor. Trav., p. 341; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 276; Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., pp. 462-3; Figuier’s Hum. Race, pp. 482, 484; Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 419; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. ii., p. 404; Ives’ Colorado Riv., p. 44; Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. 111; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., pp. 475-6, and Cent. Amer., p. 527; Pattie’s Pers. Nar., p. 117; Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 99; Sedelmair, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 850; see further, Ind. Aff. Repts., from 1854 to 1872; Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, pp. 116, 122. The Navajos and Mojaves display a more docile nature; their industries, although therein they do not claim to eschew all trickery, being of a more peaceful, substantial character, such as stock-raising, agriculture, and manufactures. Professional thieving is not countenanced. Though treacherous, they are not naturally cruel; and though deaf to the call of gratitude, they are hospitable and socially inclined. They are ever ready to redeem their pledged word, and never shrink from the faithful performance of a contract. They are brave and intelligent, and possess much natural common sense.[787]The Navajos: ‘Hospitality exists among these Indians to a great extent…. Nor are these people cruel…. They are treacherous.’ Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, pp. 292, 295. ‘Brave, hardy, industrious.’ Colyer, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 89; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 40. ‘Tricky and unreliable.’ Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., p. 56. The Mojaves: ‘They are lazy, cruel, selfish; … there is one good quality in them, the exactitude with which they fulfil an agreement.’ Ives’ Colorado Riv., pp. 20, 71-2; Backus, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 211; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., p. 329; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. ii., p. 234; Eaton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 217-18; Hughes’ Doniphan’s Ex., p. 203; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 384. The Tamajabs have no inclination to share in marauding excursions. Though not wanting in courage, they possess a mild disposition, and are kind to strangers.[788]Cortez, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 124. ‘Estos indios se aventajan en muchas circunstancias á los yumas y demas naciones del Rio Colorado; son menos molestos y nada ladrones.’ Garces, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie ii., tom. i., p. 273; also in Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 472; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 62.The Comanches are dignified in their deportment, vain in respect to their personal appearance, ambitious of martial fame, unrelenting in their feuds, always exacting blood for blood, yet not sanguinary. They are true to their allies, prizing highly their freedom, hospitable to strangers, sober yet gay, maintaining a grave stoicism in presence of strangers, and a Spartan indifference under severe suffering or misfortune. Formal, discreet, and Arab-like, they are always faithful to the guest who throws himself upon their hospitality. To the valiant and brave is awarded the highest place in their esteem. They are extremely clannish in their social relations. Quarrels among relatives and friends are unheard of among them.[789]‘Grave and dignified … implacable and unrelenting … hospitable, and kind … affectionate to each other … jealous of their own freedom.’ Marcy’s Army Life, pp. 25, 30-1, 34, 36-9, 41, 60. ‘Alta estima hacen del valor estas razas nomadas.’ Museo Mex., tom. ii., p. 34. ‘Loin d’être cruels, ils-sont très-doux et très-fidèles dans leurs amitiés.’ Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., serie i., tom. ix., p. 191; Payno, in Revista Científica, tom. i., p. 57; Escudero, Noticias de Chihuahua, pp. 229-30; Domenech, Jour., pp. 13, 137, 469; Soc. Géog., Bulletin, tom. v., No. 96, p. 193; Neighbors, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. ii., pp. 132-3; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., pp. 293, 295; vol. ii., pp. 307, 313; Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxxi., p. 273; Shepard’s Land of the Aztecs, p. 182; Pagés’ Travels, vol. i., p. 107; Calderon de la Barca’s Life in Mex., vol. ii., p. 308.

The Pueblos

The non-nomadic semi-civilized town and agricultural peoples of New Mexico and Arizona, the second division of this group, I call the Pueblos, or Towns-people, from pueblo, town, population, people, a name given by the Spaniards to such inhabitants of this region as were found, when first discovered, permanently located in comparatively well-built towns. Strictly speaking, the term Pueblos applies only to the villagers settled along the banks of the Rio Grande del Norte and its tributaries, between latitudes 34° 45´ and 36° 30´, and although the name is employed as a general appellation for this division, it will be used, for the most part, only in its narrower and popular sense. In this division, besides the before-mentioned Pueblos proper, are embraced the Moquis, or villagers of eastern Arizona, and the non-nomadic agricultural nations of the lower Gila River,—the Pimas, Maricopas, Pápagos, and cognate tribes. The country of the Towns-people, if we may credit Lieutenant Simpson, is one of “almost universal barrenness,” yet interspersed with fertile spots; that of the agricultural nations, though dry, is more generally productive. The fame of this so-called civilization reached Mexico at an early day; first through Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca and his companions, who belonged to the expedition under the unfortunate Pámphilo de Narvaez, traversing the continent from Florida to the shore of the gulf of California; they brought in exaggerated rumors of great cities to the north, which prompted the expeditions of Marco de Niza in 1539, of Coronado in 1540, and of Espejo in 1586. These adventurers visited the north in quest of the fabulous kingdoms of Quivira, Tontonteac, Marata and others, in which great riches were said to exist. The name of Quivira was afterwards applied by them to one or more of the pueblo cities. The name Cíbola, from cíbolo, Mexican bull, bos bison, or wild ox of New Mexico, where the Spaniards first encountered buffalo, was given to seven of the towns which were afterwards known as the seven cities of Cíbola. But most of the villages known at the present day were mentioned in the reports of the early expeditions by their present names. The statements in regard to the number of their villages differed from the first. Castañeda speaks of seven cities.[790]‘Tiguex est situé vers le nord, à environ quarante lieues,’ from Cíbola. Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 165. ‘La province de Cibola contient sept villages; le plus grand se nomme Muzaque.’ Id., p. 163. Of two provinces north of Tiguex, ‘l’une se nommait Hemes, et renfermait sept villages; l’autre Yuque-Yunque.’ Id., p. 138. ‘Plus au nord (of Tiguex) est la province de Quirix … et celle de Tutahaco.’ Id., p. 168. From Cicuyé to Quivira, ‘On compte sept autres villages.’ Id., p. 179. ‘Il existe aussi, d’après le rapport … un autre royaume très-vaste, nommé villes, et la capitale. Acus sans aspiration est un royaume.’ Niza, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 271. ‘The kingdome of Totonteac so much extolled by the Father prouinciall, … the Indians say is a hotte lake, about which are five or sixe houses; and that there were certaine other, but that they are ruinated by warre. The kingdome of Marata is not to be found, neither haue the Indians any knowledge thereof. The kingdome of Acus is one onely small citie, where they gather cotton which is called Acucu, and I say that this is a towne. For Acus with an aspiration nor without, is no word of they countrey. And because I gesse that they would deriue Acucu of Acus, I say that it is this towne whereinto the kingdom of Acus is conuerted.’ Coronado, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 378; Espeio, in Id., pp. 386-394; Mendoza, Lettre, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 296; De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 315; Salmeron, Relaciones, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 100; Escalante, in Id., pp. 124-5; Pike’s Explor. Trav., pp. 341-2; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., pp. 528-9; Eaton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 220; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 197. The following list, according to Lieutenant Whipple’s statement, appears to be the most complete. Commencing north, and following the southward course of the Rio Grande del Norte; Shipap, Acoti, Taos, Picuris, San Juan, Pojuaque, Santa Clara, San Ildefonso, Nambe, Tesuque, Cochite, Pecos, Santo Domingo, Cuyamanque, Silla, Jemez, San Felipe, Galisteo, Santa Ana, Zandia, Laguna, Acoma, Zuñi, Isleta, and Chilili.[791]Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., pp. 10-12, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii.; Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., pp. 128-130; Hezio, Noticia de las Misiones, in Meline’s Two Thousand Miles, pp. 208-9; Chacon, in Id., pp. 210-11; Alencaster, in Id., p. 212; Davis’ El Gringo, p. 115; Calhoun, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 633. The Moquis who speak a distinct language, and who have many customs peculiar to themselves, inhabit seven villages, named Oraibe, Shumuthpa, Mushaiina, Ahlela, Gualpi, Siwinna, and Tegua.[792]Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., p. 13, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii. ‘Los nombres de los pueblos del Moqui son, segun lengua de los Yavipais, Sesepaulabá, Masagneve, Janogualpa, Muqui, Concabe y Muca á quien los zuñís llaman Oraive, que es en el que estuve.’ Garces, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie ii., tom. i., p. 332; Ruxton’s Adven. Mex., p. 195; Ives’ Colorado Riv., p. 127.

By the Spanish conquest of New Mexico the natives were probably disturbed less than was usually the case with the vanquished race; the Pueblos being well-domiciled and well-behaved, and having little to be stolen, the invaders adopted the wise policy of permitting them to work in peace, and to retain the customs and traditions of their forefathers as they do, many of them, to this day. Attempts have been made to prove a relationship with the civilized Aztecs of Mexico, but thus far without success. No affinities in language appear to exist; that of the Moquis, indeed, contains a few faint traces of and assimilations to Aztec words, as I shall show in the third volume of this work, but they are not strong enough to support any theory of common origin or relationship.[793]Affirmations are abundant enough, but they have no foundation whatever in fact, and many are absurd on their face. ‘Nous affirmons que les Indiens Pueblos et les anciens Mexicains sont issus d’une seule et même souche.’ Ruxton, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1850, tom. cxxvi., p. 44. ‘These Indians claim, and are generally supposed, to have descended from the ancient Aztec race.’ Merriwether, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 174. ‘They are the descendants of the ancient rulers of the country.’ Davis’ El Gringo, p. 114. ‘They are the remains of a once powerful people.’ Walker, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1872, p. 55; Colyer, in Id., 1869, p. 90. ‘They (Moquis) are supposed by some to be descended from the band of Welsh, which Prince Madoc took with him on a voyage of discovery, in the twelfth century; and it is said that they weave peculiarly and in the same manner as the people of Wales.’ Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 81. ‘Il est assez singulier que les Moquis soient désignés par les trappers et les chasseurs américains, qui pènètrent dans leur pays … sous le nom d’Indiens Welches.’ Ruxton, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1850, tom. cxxvi., p. 55. ‘Moques, supposed to be vestiges of Aztecs.’ Amer. Quart. Register, vol. i., p. 173; Prichard’s Researches, vol. v., p. 431.

PIMAS AND PÁPAGOS.

The Pimas inhabit the banks of the Gila River about two hundred miles above its confluence with the Colorado. Their territory extends from about the bend of the Gila up the river to a place called Maricopa Coppermine; northward their boundary is the Salt River, and south the Picacho. They are generally divided, and known as the upper and lower Pimas, which branches show but slight dialectic differences. When first seen their territory extended further southward into Sonora. The Pápagos, their neighbors, are closely allied to them by language. In nowise related to them, but very similar in their manners and customs, are the Maricopas, who reside in their immediate vicinity, and who claim to have migrated to that place some centuries ago, from a more westerly territory.

All these people, although not dwelling in houses built, like those of the Pueblos, of solid materials, have settled villages in which they reside at all times, and are entirely distinct from the roving and nomadic tribes described in the Apache family. When first found by the Spaniards, they cultivated the soil, and knew how to weave cotton and other fabrics; in fact it was easily observable that they had made a step toward civilization. I therefore describe them together with the Pueblos. The region occupied by them, although containing some good soil, is scantily provided with water, and to enable them to raise crops, they are obliged to irrigate, conducting the water of the Gila to their fields in small canals. The water obtained by digging wells is frequently brackish, and in many places they are forced to carry all the water needed for household purposes quite a long distance. The climate is claimed to be one of the hottest on the American continent.

The Pueblos, and Moqui villagers, are a race of small people, the men averaging about five feet in height, with small hands and feet, well-cut features, bright eyes, and a generally pleasing expression of countenance.[794]‘Les hommes sont petits.’ Mendoza, Lettre, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 294. The Moquis are ‘of medium size and indifferently proportioned, their features strongly marked and homely, with an expression generally bright and good-natured.’ Ives’ Colorado Riv., pp. 120-2, 123-7. The Keres ‘sind hohen Wuchses.’ Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 528; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 453; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 197; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. ii., p. 240; De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 301; Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., p. 93; Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 67-8; Ruxton, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1850, tom. cxxvi., pp. 52-3; Pike’s Explor. Trav., p. 342.Their hair is dark, soft, and of fine texture, and their skin a clear shade of brown.[795]‘The people are somewhat white.’ Niza, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 372. ‘Much fairer in complexion than other tribes.’ Ruxton’s Adven. Mex., p. 195; Kendall’s Nar., vol. i., p. 379; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 230; Prichard’s Researches, vol. v., pp. 423, 431; Walker, in S. F. Herald, Oct. 15, 1853; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 41. The woman seldom exceed four feet in height, with figure rotund, but a graceful carriage, and face full, with pretty, intelligent features and good teeth.[796]‘Prettiest squaws I have yet seen.’ Marcy’s Army Life, p. 111. Good looking and symmetrical. Davis’ El Gringo, pp. 421-2. Albinos are at times seen amongst them, who are described as having very fair complexions, light hair, and blue or pink eyes.[797]Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 81. ‘Many of the inhabitants have white skin, fair hair, and blue eyes.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 210, vol. ii., p. 66; Eaton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 220-1; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 285; Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 456.

Dress of the Pueblos

The Pimas and their neighbors are men of fine physique, tall and bony, many of them exceeding six feet in height, broad-chested, erect, and muscular, but frequently light-limbed with small hands, though the feet of both sexes are large. They have large features, expressive of frankness and good nature, with prominent cheek-bones and aquiline nose, those of the women being somewhat retroussés.[798]‘A robust and well-formed race.’ Cremony’s Apaches, pp. 90, 103. ‘Well built, generally tall and bony.’ Walker’s Pimas, MS. The Maricopas ‘sont de stature plus haute et plus athlétique que les Pijmos.’ Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxxi., p. 290; see also Emory, in Fremont and Emory’s Notes of Trav., pp. 49, 50; Id., in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. ii., p. 12; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 19; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. iii., p. 103; Murr, Nachrichten, p. 196; Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 132; Bigler’s Early Days in Utah and Nevada, MS.; Johnson’s Hist. Arizona, p. 11; Brackett, in Western Monthly, p. 169; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., p. 448; San Francisco Bulletin, July, 1860. The females are symmetrically formed, with beautifully tapered limbs, full busts, pleasing features, embellished with white and evenly set teeth.[799]‘Las mujeres hermosas.’ Mange, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. i., pp. 298, 364. ‘Rather too much inclined to embonpoint.’ Ives’ Colorado Riv., pp. 31, 33, 39; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 229. Their coarse hair grows to a great length and thickness, and their dark complexion becomes yet darker toward the south.[800]‘Ambos secsos … no mal parecidos y muy melenudos.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, pp. 116, 161. ‘Trigueños de color.’ Sedelmair, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 851. ‘Die Masse, Dicke und Länge ihres Haupthaares grenzt an das Unglaubliche.’ Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., p. 455; Id., Cent. Amer., p. 513; Prichard’s Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., p. 557; Pattie’s Pers. Nar., pp. 143-5, 149; Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, p. 180. The ordinary dress of the Pueblos is the breech-cloth and blanket; some add a blouse of cotton or deer-skin, a waist-belt, and buckskin leggins and moccasins. The women wear a long, cotton, sleeveless tunic, confined round the waist by a colored girdle, a species of cape bordered in different colors, fastened round the neck at the two corners, and reaching down to the waist, while over the head a shawl is thrown. The feet are protected by neat moccasins of deer-skin or woolen stuff, surmounted by leggins of the same material. They have a habit of padding the leggins, which makes them appear short-legged with small feet.[801]‘Heads are uncovered.’ Ruxton’s Adven. Mex., p. 196. ‘Los hombres visten, y calçan de cuero, y las mugeres, que se precian de largos cabellos, cubren sus cabeças y verguenças con lo mesmo.’ Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 275. ‘De kleeding bestond uit kotoene mantels, huiden tot broeken, genaeyt, schoenen en laerzen van goed leder.’ Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 209, 217-18. The women ‘having the calves of their legs wrapped or stuffed in such a manner as to give them a swelled appearance.’ Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., pp. 14, 115; De Laet, Novus Orbis, pp. 297-8, 301, 303, 312-13; Coronado, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., pp. 377, 380; Espejo, in Id., pp. 384-96; Niza, in Id., pp. 368, 370; Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 457; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., pp. 30, 122, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii.; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 197, 203, vol. ii., pp. 213, 281; Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 73-88; Wizlizenus’ Tour, p. 26; Larenaudière, Mex. et Gaut., p. 147; Warden, Recherches, p. 79; Marcy’s Army Life, pp. 99-100, 105-6; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 394; Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 61-68, 76, 163, 173, 177; Jaramillo, in Id., pp. 369-371; Ives’ Colorado Riv., pp. 119-127; Ruxton, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1850, tom. cxxvi., p. 53; Eaton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 220; Abert, in Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 471; Mayer’s Mex., Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 359; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, pp. 217, 283; Kendall’s Nar., vol. i., p. 379; Revilla-Gigedo, Carta, MS.; Alcedo, Diccionario, tom. iv., p. 388; Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 479; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., pp. 248, 279-80; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. ii., pp. 195, 239. The men bind a handkerchief or colored band round the head. Young women dress the hair in a peculiarly neat and becoming style. Parting it at the back, they roll it round hoops, when it is fastened in two high bunches, one on each side of the head, placing sometimes a single feather in the center; married women gather it into two tight knots at the side or one at the back of the head; the men cut it in front of the ears, and in a line with the eye-brows, while at the back it is plaited or gathered into a single bunch, and tied with a band.[801]‘Heads are uncovered.’ Ruxton’s Adven. Mex., p. 196. ‘Los hombres visten, y calçan de cuero, y las mugeres, que se precian de largos cabellos, cubren sus cabeças y verguenças con lo mesmo.’ Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 275. ‘De kleeding bestond uit kotoene mantels, huiden tot broeken, genaeyt, schoenen en laerzen van goed leder.’ Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 209, 217-18. The women ‘having the calves of their legs wrapped or stuffed in such a manner as to give them a swelled appearance.’ Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., pp. 14, 115; De Laet, Novus Orbis, pp. 297-8, 301, 303, 312-13; Coronado, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., pp. 377, 380; Espejo, in Id., pp. 384-96; Niza, in Id., pp. 368, 370; Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 457; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., pp. 30, 122, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii.; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 197, 203, vol. ii., pp. 213, 281; Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 73-88; Wizlizenus’ Tour, p. 26; Larenaudière, Mex. et Gaut., p. 147; Warden, Recherches, p. 79; Marcy’s Army Life, pp. 99-100, 105-6; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 394; Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 61-68, 76, 163, 173, 177; Jaramillo, in Id., pp. 369-371; Ives’ Colorado Riv., pp. 119-127; Ruxton, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1850, tom. cxxvi., p. 53; Eaton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 220; Abert, in Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 471; Mayer’s Mex., Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 359; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, pp. 217, 283; Kendall’s Nar., vol. i., p. 379; Revilla-Gigedo, Carta, MS.; Alcedo, Diccionario, tom. iv., p. 388; Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 479; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., pp. 248, 279-80; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. ii., pp. 195, 239. On gala occasions they paint and adorn themselves in many grotesque styles; arms, legs, and exposed portions of the body are covered with stripes or rings, and conical-shaped head-dresses; feathers, sheep-skin wigs, and masks, are likewise employed.[802]Both sexes go bareheaded. ‘The hair is worn long, and is done up in a great queue that falls down behind.’ Davis’ El Gringo, pp. 147, 154-5, 421. The women ‘trençan los cabellos, y rodeanse los à la cabeça, por sobre las orejas.’ Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 273. ‘Llevan las viejas el pelo hecho dos trenzas y las mozas un moño sobre cada oreja.’ Garces, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie ii., tom. i., pp. 328-9; Eaton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 220. The habiliments of the Pimas are a cotton serape of their own manufacture, a breech-cloth, with sandals of raw-hide or deer-skin. Women wear the same kind of serape, wound round the loins and pinned, or more frequently tucked in at the waist, or fastened with a belt in which different-colored wools are woven; some wear a short petticoat of deer-skin or bark.[803]‘Van vestidos estos indios con frazadas de algodon, que ellos fabrican, y otras de lana.’ Garces, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie ii., tom. i., p. 235. Their dress is cotton of domestic manufacture. Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 132. ‘Kunstreich dagegen sind die bunten Gürtel gewebt, mit denen die Mädchen ein Stück Zeug als Rock um die Hüften binden.’ Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., pp. 440, 447; Browne’s Apache Country, p. 68; Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. 123; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., p. 452, vol. ii., pp. 216-7, 219; Cremony’s Apaches, p. 104; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. iii., p. 103; Ives’ Colorado Riv., pp. 31, 33; Mowry’s Arizona, p. 30; Mange, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. i., pp. 364-5; Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 116; Briefe aus den Verein. Staat., tom. ii., p. 322. They wear no head-dress. Like the Pueblos, the men cut the hair short across the forehead, and either plait it in different coils behind, which are ornamented with bits of bone, shells, or red cloth, or mix it with clay, or gather it into a turban shape on top of the head, leaving a few ornamented and braided locks to hang down over the ears.[804]‘Men never cut their hair.’ Cremony’s Apaches, p. 90. They plait and wind it round their heads in many ways; one of the most general forms a turban which they smear with wet earth. Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., pp. 454-6; Fremont and Emory’s Notes of Trav., p. 47; Emory, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. ii., p. 9; Pattie’s Pers. Nar., pp. 143, 145, 149; Browne’s Apache Country, p. 107; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 296. Each paints in a manner to suit the fancy; black, red, and yellow are the colors most in vogue, black being alone used for war paint. Some tattoo their newly born children round the eyelids, and girls, on arriving at the age of maturity, tattoo from the corners of the mouth to the chin. Some tribes oblige their women to cut the hair, others permit it to grow.[805]Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 542. ‘All of them paint, using no particular design; the men mostly with dark colors, the women, red and yellow.’ Walker’s Pimas, MS.; Johnson’s Hist. Arizona, p. 11. ‘The women when they arrive at maturity, … draw two lines with some blue-colored dye from each corner of the mouth to the chin.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 228. For ornament, shell and bead necklaces are used; also ear-rings of a blue stone found in the mountains.[806]‘Adornanse con gargantillas de caracolillos del mar, entreverados de otras cuentas de concha colorada redonda.’ Mange, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. i., p. 299. ‘They had many ornaments of sea shells.’ Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 132. ‘Some have long strings of sea-shells.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 230-1. ‘Rarely use ornaments.’ Walker’s Pimas, MS.; Murr, Nachrichten, pp. 252-6; Sedelmair, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., pp. 850-1. The dwellings of the PIMA AND MARICOPA DWELLINGS.agricultural Pimas, Maricopas, and Pápagos consist of dome-shaped huts, either round or oval at the base. There are usually thirty or more to a village, and they are grouped with some regard to regularity. Strong forked stakes are firmly fixed in the ground at regular distances from each other, the number varying according to the size of the hut, cross-poles are laid from one to the other, around these are placed cotton-wood poles, which are bent over and fastened to the transverse sticks, the structure is then wattled with willows, reeds, or coarse straw, and the whole covered with a coat of mud. The only openings are an entrance door about three feet high, and a small aperture in the center of the roof that serves for ventilation. Their height is from five to seven feet, and the diameter from twenty to fifty. Outside stands a shed, open at all sides with a roof of branches or corn-stalks, under which they prepare their food. Their houses are occupied mainly during the rainy season; in summer they build light sheds of twigs in their corn-fields, which not only are more airy, but are also more convenient in watching their growing crops. Besides the dwelling-place, each family has a granary, similar in shape and of like materials but of stronger construction; by frequent plastering with mud they are made impervious to rain.[807]Cremony’s Apaches, p. 91; Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. 131, p. 292; Browne’s Apache Country, p. 108. The Maricopas ‘occupy thatched cottages, thirty or forty feet in diameter, made of the twigs of cotton-wood trees, interwoven with the straw of wheat, corn-stalks, and cane.’ Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 132; Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. 117; Mange, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. i., pp. 277, 365-6. ‘Leurs (Pápagos) maisons sont de formes coniques et construites en jonc et en bois.’ Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 188; Walker’s Pimas, MS.; Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., p. 395; Sedelmair, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 851; Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, pp. 115, 161. ‘Andere, besonders die dummen Papagos, machten Löcher und schliefen des Nachts hierinnen; ja im Winter machten sie in ihren Dachslöchern zuvor Feuer, und hitzten dieselben.’ Murr, Nachrichten, p. 245. ‘Their summer shelters are of a much more temporary nature, being constructed after the manner of a common arbor, covered with willow rods, to obstruct the rays of the vertical sun.’ Hughes’ Doniphan’s Ex., p. 222. In front of the Pimo house is usually ‘a large arbor, on top of which is piled the cotton in the pod, for drying.’ Emory, in Fremont and Emory’s Notes of Trav., p. 48. The Pápagos’ huts were ‘fermées par des peaux de buffles.’ Ferry, Scènes de la Vie Sauvage, p. 107. Granary built like the Mexican jakals. They are better structures than their dwellings, more open, in order to give a free circulation of air through the grain deposited in them. Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., p. 382, vol. ii., pp. 233-5. The towns of the Pueblos are essentially unique, and are the dominant feature of these aboriginals. Some of them are situated in valleys, others on mesas; sometimes they are planted on elevations almost inaccessible, reached only by artificial grades or by steps cut in the solid rock. Some of the towns are of an elliptical shape, while others are square, a town being frequently but a block of buildings. Thus a Pueblo consists of one or more squares, each enclosed by three or four buildings of from three to four hundred feet in length, and about one hundred and fifty feet in width at the base, and from two to seven stories of from eight to nine feet each in height. The buildings forming the square do not meet, but in some cases are connected by bridges or covered gangways, and in some instances the houses project over the streets below, which being narrow, are thus given an underground appearance. The stories are built in a series of gradations or retreating surfaces, decreasing in size as they rise, thus forming a succession of terraces.

In some of the towns these terraces are on both sides of the building; in others they face only toward the outside; while again in others they are on the inside. In front of the terraces is a parapet, which serves as a shelter for the inhabitants when forced to defend themselves against an attack from the outside. These terraces are about six feet wide, and extend round the three or four sides of the square, forming a walk for the occupants of the story resting upon it, and a roof for the story beneath; so with the stories above. As there is no inner communication with one another, the only means of mounting to them is by ladders which stand at convenient distances along the several rows of terraces, and they may be drawn up at pleasure, thus cutting off all unwelcome intrusion. The outside walls of one or more of the lower stories are entirely solid, having no openings of any kind, with the exception of, in some towns, a few loopholes. All the doors and windows are on the inside opening on the court. The several stories of these huge structures are divided into multitudinous compartments of greater or lesser size, which are apportioned to the several families of the tribe. Access is had to the different stories by means of the ladders, which at night and in times of danger are drawn up after the person entering. To enter the rooms on the ground floor from the outside, one must mount the ladder to the first balcony or terrace, then descend through a trap door in the floor by another ladder on the inside. The roofs or ceilings, which are nearly flat, are formed of transverse beams which slope slightly outward, the ends resting on the side walls; on these, to make the floor and terrace of the story above, is laid brush wood, then a layer of bark or thin slabs, and over all a thick covering of mud sufficient to render them water-tight. The windows in the upper stories are made of flakes of selenite instead of glass. The rooms are large, the substantial partitions are made of wood, and neatly whitewashed. The apartments on the ground floor are gloomy, and generally used as store-rooms; those above are sometimes furnished with a small fireplace, the chimney leading out some feet above the terrace. PUEBLO HOUSES.Houses are common property, and both men and women assist in building them; the men erect the wooden frames, and the women make the mortar and build the walls. In place of lime for mortar, they mix ashes with earth and charcoal. They make adobes or sun-dried bricks by mixing ashes and earth with water, which is then moulded into large blocks and dried in the sun. Some of the towns are built with stones laid in mud. Captain Simpson describes several ruined cities, which he visited, which show that the inhabitants formerly had a knowledge of architecture and design superior to any that the Pueblos of the present day possess. Yet their buildings are even now well constructed, for although several stories in height, the walls are seldom more than three or four feet in thickness. The apartments are well arranged and neatly kept; one room is used for cooking, another for grinding corn and preserving winter supplies of food, others for sleeping-rooms. On the balconies, round the doors opening upon them, the villagers congregate to gossip and smoke, while the streets below, when the ladders are drawn up, present a gloomy and forsaken appearance. Sometimes villages are built in the form of an open square with buildings on three sides, and again two or more large terraced structures capable of accommodating one or two thousand people are built contiguous to each other, or on opposite banks of a stream. In some instances the outer wall presents one unbroken line, without entrance or anything to indicate the busy life within; another form is to join the straight walls, which encompass three sides of a square, by a fourth circular wall; in all of which the chief object is defense. The Pueblos take great pride in their picturesque and, to them, magnificent structures, affirming that as fortresses they have ever proved impregnable. To wall out black barbarism was what the Pueblos wanted, and to be let alone; under these conditions time was giving them civilization.[808]Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., p. 412; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., pp. 21, 23, 122, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. ii.; Scenes in the Rocky Mts., p. 177; Salmeron, Relaciones, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., pp. 25, 30-1. ‘Ellas son las que hacen, y edifican las Casas, assi de Piedra, como de Adove, y Tierra amasada; y con no tener la Pared mas de vn pie de ancho, suben las Casas dos, y tres, y quatro, y cinco Sobrados, ó Altos; y á cada Alto, corresponde vn Corredor por de fuera; si sobre esta altura hechan mas altos, ó Sobrados (porque ay Casas que llegan á siete) son los demás, no de Barro, sino de Madera.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 681. For further particulars, see Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 2, 42, 58, 69, 71, 76, 80, 138, 163, 167, 169; Niza, in Id., pp. 261, 269, 270, 279; Diaz, in Id., pp. 293, 296; Jaramillo, in Id., pp. 369, Cordoue, in Id., tom. x., pp. 438-9; Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., pp. 13, 90, 114; Bent, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., p. 244; Ten Broeck, in Id., vol. iv., pp. 76, 80, and plates, pp. 24, 72; Warden, Recherches, p. 79; Ruxton’s Adven. Mex., p. 191; Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 455; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 453; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 278; Mayer’s Mex., Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 359; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., pp. 268, 276; Hughes’ Doniphan’s Ex., p. 195; Garces, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie ii., tom. i., p. 322; Ives’ Colorado Riv., pp. 119, 121, 126; Marcy’s Army Life, pp. 97, 99, 104, 105; Ruxton, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1850, tom. cxxvi., pp. 42, 45, 52, 57; Gallatin, in Id., 1851, tom. cxxxi., pp. 248, 257, 267, 270, 277, 278, 288; Espejo, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., pp. 385, 392, 394-6; Coronado, in Id., vol. iii., pp. 377, 379; Niza, in Id., vol. iii., pp. 367, 372; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 538; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. ii., p. 238; Id., Tagebuch, pp. 217-18, 285; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 209, 215, 217. The town of Cíbola ‘domos è lapidibus et caemento affabre constructas et conjunctim dispositas esse, superliminaria portarum cyaneis gemmis, (Turcoides vocant) ornata.’ De Laet, Novus Orbis, pp. 297, 311-14; Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 480. ‘The houses are well distributed and very neat. One room is designed for the kitchen, and another to grind the grain. This last is apart, and contains a furnace and three stones made fast in masonry.’ Davis’ El Gringo, pp. 118-20, 141, 311, 313, 318, 420, 422; Castaño de Sosa, in Pacheco, Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. iv., pp. 329-30; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 178; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 394.

Pueblo Estufas

The sweat-house, or as the Spaniards call it, the estufa, assumes with the Pueblos the grandest proportions. Every village has from one to six of these singular structures. A large, semi-subterranean room, it is at once bath-house, town-house, council-chamber, club-room, and church. It consists of a large excavation, the roof being about on a level with the ground, sometimes a little above it, and is supported by heavy timbers or pillars of masonry. Around the sides are benches, and in the center of the floor a square stone box for fire, wherein aromatic plants are kept constantly burning. Entrance is made by means of a ladder, through a hole in the top placed directly over the fire-place so that it also serves as a ventilator and affords a free passage to the smoke. Usually they are circular in form and of both large and small dimensions; they are placed either within the great building or underground in the court without. In some of the ruins they are found built in the center of what was once a pyramidal pile, and four stories in height. At Jemez the estufa is of one story, twenty-five feet wide by thirty feet high. The ruins of Chettro Kettle contain six estufas, each two or three stories in height. At Bonito are estufas one hundred and seventy-five feet in circumference, built in alternate layers of thick and thin stone slabs. In these subterranean temples the old men met in secret council, or assembled in worship of their gods. Here are held dances and festivities, social intercourse, and mourning ceremonies. Certain of the Pueblos have a custom similar to that practiced by some of the northern tribes, the men sleeping in the sweat-house with their feet to the fire, and permitting women to enter only to bring them food. The estufas of Tiguex were situated in the heart of the village, built underground, both round and square, and paved with large polished stones.[809]In the province of Tucayan, ‘domiciliis inter se junctis et affabre constructis, in quibus et tepidaria quae vulgo Stuvas appellamus, sub terra constructa adversus hyemis vehementiam.’ De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 301. ‘In the centre was a small square box of stone, in which was a fire of guava bushes, and around this a few old men were smoking.’ Marcy’s Army Life, p. 110. ‘Estufas, que mas propiamente deberian llamar sinagogas. En estas hacen sus juntas, forman sus conciliábulos, y ensayan sus bailes á puerta cerrada.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 333; Beaumont, Crón. de Mechoacan, MS., p. 418; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 273; Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., pp. 13, 21; Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 139, 165, 169-70, 176; Espejo, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., pp. 392-3; Niel, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., pp. 90-1.

How Food Is Obtained

From the earliest information we have of these nations they are known to have been tillers of the soil; and though the implements used and their methods of cultivation were both simple and primitive, cotton, corn, wheat, beans, with many varieties of fruits, which constituted their principal food, were raised in abundance. The Pueblos breed poultry to a considerable extent; fish are eaten whenever obtainable, as also a few wild animals, such as deer, hares, and rabbits, though they are indifferent hunters.[810]‘Magna ipsis Mayzü copia et leguminum.’ De Laet, Novus Orbis, pp. 298, 302, 310-13, 315. ‘Hallaron en los pueblos y casas muchos mantenimientos, y gran infinidad de gallinas de la tierra.’ Espejo, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., pp. 386, 393. ‘Criaban las Indias muchas Gallinas de la Tierra.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 678. ‘Zy leven by mair, witte orweten, haesen, konynen en vorder wild-braed.’ Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 215, and Dapper, Neue Welt, p. 242. Compare Scenes in the Rocky Mts., p. 177; Marcy’s Army Life, pp. 97-8, 104, 108; Cortez, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 122; Sitgreaves’ Zuñi Ex., pp. 5-6; Jaramillo, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 369-71; Diaz, in Id., pp. 294-5; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., pp. 268, 281; Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 86; Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., pp. 16, 82, 91, 113; Wislizenus’ Tour, p. 26; Bent, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., p. 244; Ruxton, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1850, tom. cxxvi., p. 52; Gallatin, in Id., 1851, tom. cxxxi., pp. 270-1, 279, 288-9, 292, 297; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., pp. 439, 445, 453; Möllhausen, Reisen in the Felsengeb., tom. ii., pp. 239, 284; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., pp. 178, 214-18, 233-7; Browne’s Apache Country, pp. 78, 94, 107-10, 141-2, 276-7; Sedelmair, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., pp. 848, 850; Id., serie iv., tom. i., p. 19; Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 131; Mowry’s Arizona, p. 30; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 278; Hughes’ Doniphan’s Ex., pp. 196, 221; Eaton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 221; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 273; Ind. Aff. Repts., from 1857 to 1872. The Pápagos, whose country does not present such favorable conditions for agriculture are forced to rely for a subsistence more upon wild fruits and animals than the nations north of them. They collect large quantities of the fruit of the pitahaya (cereus giganteus), and in seasons of scarcity resort to whatever is life-sustaining, not disdaining even snakes, lizards, and toads.[811]‘Para su sustento no reusa animal, por inmundo que sea.’ Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., p. 395. ‘Los pápagos se mantienen de los frutos silvestres.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, pp. 160-1. ‘Hatten grossen Appetit zu Pferd- und Mauleselfleisch.’ Murr, Nachrichten, pp. 247-9, 267, 282-92; Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., pp. 837-8; Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 188; Stone, in Hist. Mag., vol. v., p. 166. Most of these people irrigate their lands by means of conduits or ditches, leading either from the river or from tanks in which rain-water is collected and stored for the purpose. These ditches are kept in repair by the community, but farming operations are carried on by each family for its own separate benefit, which is a noticeable advance from the usual savage communism.[812]The Pimas ‘Hacen grandes siembras … para cuyo riego tienen formadas buenas acequias.’ Garces, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie ii., tom. i., pp. 235, 237. ‘We were at once impressed with the beauty, order, and disposition of the arrangements for irrigating.’ Emory, in Fremont and Emory’s Notes of Trav., pp. 47-8. With the Pueblos: ‘Regen-bakken vergaederden ‘t water: of zy leiden ‘t uit een rievier door graften.’ Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 218; De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 312; Espejo, in Hakluyt’s Voy., tom. iii., pp. 385-7, 392-4; Cutts’ Conq. of Cal., p. 196. Fishing nets are made of twisted thread or of small sticks joined together at the ends. When the rivers are low, fish are caught in baskets or shot with arrows to which a string is attached.[813]Walker’s Pimas, MS.; Mange, Itinerario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. i., p. 299. ‘Usan de hilo torcido unas redes y otras de varios palitos, que los tuercen y juntan por las puntas.’ Sedelmair, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., pp. 851-2. The corn which is stored for winter use, is first par-boiled in the shuck, and then suspended from strings to dry; peaches are dried in large quantities, and melons are preserved by peeling and removing the seeds, when they are placed in the sun, and afterward hung up in trees. Meal is ground on the metate and used for making porridge, tortillas, and a very thin cake called guayave, which latter forms a staple article of food amongst the Pueblos. The process of making the guayave, as seen by Lieutenant Simpson at Santo Domingo on the Rio Grande, is thus described in his journal. “At the house of the governor I noticed a woman, probably his wife, going through the process of baking a very thin species of corn cake, called, according to Gregg, guayave. She was hovering over a fire, upon which lay a flat stone. Near her was a bowl of thin corn paste, into which she thrust her fingers; allowing then the paste to drip sparingly upon the stone, with two or three wipes from the palm of her hand she would spread it entirely and uniformly over the stone; this was no sooner done than she peeled it off as fit for use; and the process was again and again repeated, until a sufficient quantity was obtained. When folded and rolled together, it does not look unlike (particularly that made from the blue corn) a hornet’s nest—a name by which it is sometimes called.” The Pimas do all their cooking out of doors, under a shed erected for the purpose. They collect the pulp from the fruit of the pitahaya, and boiling it in water, make a thick syrup, which they store away for future use. They also dry the fruit in the sun like figs.[814]‘Hacen de la Masa de Ma’z por la mañana Atole…. Tambien hacen Tamales, y Tortillas.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 679. ‘The fruit of the petajaya … is dried in the sun.’ Cremony’s Apaches, pp. 89, 91, 106, 111-12. ‘From the suwarrow (Cereus Giganteus) and pitaya they make an excellent preserve.’ Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. 123. See also Ives’ Colorado Riv., pp. 31, 45, 121, 123, 126; Carleton, in Smithsonian Rept., 1854, p. 308; Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 8, 76; Coronado, in Hakluyt’s Voy., tom. iii., p. 378; Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., pp. 113, 115; Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 61, 71, 164, 170-2; Davis’ El Gringo, pp. 114, 119, 121-2, 147-8; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, pp. 218-9, 285.

The Pueblos and Moquis are remarkable for their personal cleanliness and the neatness of their dwellings.[815]Ives’ Colorado Riv., pp. 119-20, 124. ‘Ils vont faire leurs odeurs au loin, et rassemblent les urines dans de grands vases de terre que l’on va vider hors du village.’ Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 171.

Pueblo Weapons

Their weapons are bows and arrows, spears, and clubs. The Pueblos use a crooked stick, which they throw somewhat in the manner of the boomerang; they are exceedingly skillful in the use of the sling, with a stone from which they are said to be able to hit with certainty a small mark or kill a deer at the distance of a hundred yards. For defense, they use a buckler or shield made of raw hide. Their arrows are carried in skin quivers or stuck in the belt round the waist.[816]‘The only defensive armor they use is a rude shield made of raw bull-hide.’ Davis’ El Gringo, pp. 145-6. ‘Bows and arrows, and the wooden boomerang.’ Colyer, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 91. The Papagos ‘armes sont la massue, la lance et l’arc; ils portent aussi une cuirasse et un bouclier en peau de buffle.’ Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 188. For further comparisons see Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., p. 30, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii.; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., p. 280; De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 300; Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., p. 147; Pike’s Explor. Trav., p. 342; Niza, in Hakluyt’s Voy., tom. iii., p. 372; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 528.; Mange, Itinerario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. i., p. 299; Sedelmair, in Id., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 851; Salmeron, Relaciones, in Id., p. 106; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., pp. 217, 237. Bows are made of willow, and are about six feet in length, strung with twisted deer-sinews; arrows are made of reeds, into which a piece of hard wood is fitted.[817]Bows ‘of strong willow-boughs.’ Walker’s Pimas, MS. ‘Bows are six feet in length, and made of a very tough and elastic kind of wood, which the Spaniards call Tarnio.’ Pattie’s Pers. Nar., pp. 91, 149. The Pimas wing their war arrows with three feathers and point them with flint, while for hunting purposes they have only two feathers and wooden points.[818]The Pima ‘arrows differ from those of all the Apache tribes in having only two feathers.’ Cremony’s Apaches, p. 103. ‘War arrows have stone points and three feathers; hunting arrows, two feathers and a wooden point.’ Walker’s Pimas, MS.; Coronado, in Hakluyt’s Voy., tom. iii., p. 380. It has been stated that they poison them, but there does not appear to be good foundation for this assertion.[819]The Pimas: ‘Flechas, ennervadas con el eficaz mortífero veneno que componen de varias ponzoñas, y el zumo de la yerba llamada en pima Usap.’ Mange, Itinerario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. i., p. 307. ‘Die Spitzen ihrer Pfeile … welche mit einer dunklen Substanz überzogen waren. Sie behaupteten, dass diese aus Schlangengift bestehe, was mir indess unwahrscheinlich ist.’ Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., p. 438; Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 59, 107, 126. Clubs, which are used in hand-to-hand combats, are made of a hard, heavy wood, measuring from twenty to twenty-four inches in length. In former days they were sharpened by inserting flint or obsidian along the edge.[820]‘Una macana, como clava ó porra…. Estas son de un palo muy duro y pesado.’ Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 556. ‘Macanas, que son vnas palos de media vara de largo, y llanos todos de pedernales agudos, que bastan a partir por medio vn hombre.’ Espejo, in Hakluyt’s Voy., tom. iii., pp. 386, 393.

War Ceremonies

The Pimas wage unceasing war against the Apaches, and the Pueblos are ever at enmity with their neighbors, the Navajos. The Pueblos are securely protected by the position and construction of their dwellings, from the top of which they are able to watch the appearance and movements of enemies, and should any be daring enough to approach their walls, they are greeted by a shower of stones and darts. As an additional protection to their towns, they dig pitfalls on the trails leading to them, at the bottom of which sharp-pointed stakes are driven, the top of the hole being carefully covered.[821]‘De grosses pierres avaient été rassemblées au sommet, pour les rouler sur quiconque attaquerait la place.’ Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxxi., p. 270. ‘They have placed around all the trails leading to the town, pits, ten feet deep.’ Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 81. See further, Coronado, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 376; Browne’s Apache Country, p. 279; Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 840; Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 179. Expeditions are sometimes organized against the Navajos for the recovery of stolen property. On such occasions the Towns-people equip themselves with the heads, horns, and tails of wild animals, paint the body and plume the head.[822]‘Painted to the eyes, their own heads and their horses covered with all the strange equipments that the brute creation could afford.’ Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 37. Lieutenant Simpson mentions a curious custom observed by them, just previous to going into action. “They halted on the way to receive from their chiefs some medicine from the medicine bags which each of them carried about his person. This they rubbed upon their heart, as they said, to make it big and brave.” The Pueblos fight on horseback in skirmishing order, and keep up a running fight, throwing the body into various attitudes, the better to avoid the enemies’ missiles, at the same time discharging their arrows with rapidity.[823]‘Sometimes a fellow would stoop almost to the earth, to shoot under his horse’s belly, at full speed.’ Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 37. The Pimas, who fight usually on foot, when they decide on going to war, select their best warriors, who are sent to notify the surrounding villages, and a place of meeting is named where a grand council is held. A fire being lighted and a circle of warriors formed, the proceedings are opened by war songs and speeches, their prophet is consulted, and in accordance with his professional advice, their plan of operations is arranged.[824]Walker’s Pimas, MS. The attack is usually made about day-break, and conducted with much pluck and vigor. They content themselves with proximate success, and seldom pursue a flying foe.[825]Cremony’s Apaches, p. 106. During the heat of battle they spare neither sex nor age, but if prisoners are taken, the males are crucified or otherwise cruelly put to death, and the women and children sold as soon as possible.[826]Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., pp. 274-5; Browne’s Apache Country, p. 104; Pattie’s Pers. Nar., pp. 93, 148; Cutts’ Conq. of Cal., p. 223; Soc. Géog., Bulletin, serie v., No. 96, p. 188. The successful war party on its return is met by the inhabitants of the villages, scalps are fixed on a pole, trophies displayed, and feasting and dancing indulged in for several days and nights; if unsuccessful, mourning takes the place of feasting, and the death-cries of the women resound through the villages.[827]Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 78-9; Murr, Nachrichten, p. 206; Cremony’s Apaches, pp. 108-9.

Pueblo Trade

For farming implements they use plows, shovels, harrows, hatchets, and sticks, all of wood.[828]Walker’s Pimas, MS.; Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxxi., pp. 292-4. Baskets of willow-twigs, so closely woven as to be water-tight, and ornamented with figures; and round, baked, and glazed earthen vessels, narrow at the top, and decorated with paintings or enamel, are their household utensils.[829]Baskets and pottery ‘are ornamented with geometrical figures.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., p. 382, vol. ii., pp. 227-8, 236. ‘Schüsselförmige runde Körbe (Coritas), diese flechten sie aus einem hornförmigen, gleich einer Ahle spitzigen Unkraute.’ Murr, Nachrichten, p. 193. The Pueblos had ‘de la vaiselle de terre très-belle, bien vernie et avec beaucoup d’ornements. On y vit aussi de grands jarres remplies d’un métal brillant qui servait à faire le vernis de cette faïence.’ Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 138, 173, 185; see also Niza, in Id., p. 259. ‘They (Pueblos) vse vessels of gold and siluer.’ Niza, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 372; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, pp. 216, 271, 273, 279; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 435; Marcy’s Army Life, pp. 97, 111; Carleton, in Smithsonian Rept., 1854, p. 308; Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., pp. 457, 459; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., p. 278; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 393; Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., p. 97; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 425; Coronado, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 380; Browne’s Apache Country, pp. 68, 109, 112, 276. For mashing hulled corn they used the metate, a Mexican implement, made of two stones, one concave and the other convex, hereafter more fully described. Among their household utensils there must also be mentioned hair sieves, hide ropes, water-gourds, painted fans, stone pipes, and frame panniers connected with a netting to carry loads on their backs.[830]‘All the inhabitants of the Citie (Cíbola) lie vpon beddes raysed a good height from the ground, with quilts and canopies ouer them, which couer the sayde Beds.’ Niza, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 370; Id., in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 271. The Quires had ‘umbracula (vulgo Tirazoles) quibus Sinenses utuntur Solis, Lunæ, et Stellarum imaginibus eleganter picta.’ De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 312; Espejo, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 393. The Moquis’ chief men have pipes made of smooth polished stone. Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 87; Ives’ Colorado Riv., p. 121. In their manufacture of blankets, of cotton and woolen cloths, and stockings, the Pueblos excel their neighbors, the Navajos, although employing essentially the same method, and using similar looms and spinning instruments, as have been described in the preceding pages. Although the women perform most of this work, as well as tanning leather, it is said that the men also are expert in knitting woolen stockings. According to Mühlenpfordt the Pimas and Maricopas make a basket-boat which they call cora, woven so tight as to be water-proof without the aid of pitch or other application.[831]Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 72, 76, 87. ‘Sie flechten von zartgeschlitzten Palmen auf Damastart die schönsten ganz leichten Hüthe, aus einem Stücke.’ Murr, Nachrichten, p. 192. The Maricopa blankets will turn rain. Cremony’s Apaches, pp. 106, 90. The Moquis wove blankets from the wool of their sheep, and made cotton cloth from the indigenous staple. Poston, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1863, p. 388. The Maricopas make a heavy cloth of wool and cotton, ‘used by the women to put around their loins; and an article from 3 to 4 inches wide, used as a band for the head, or a girdle for the waist.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 224. ‘Rupicaprarum tergora eminebant (among the Yumanes) tam industriè præparata ut cum Belgicis certarent.’ De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 310. All these nations, particularly the Pueblos, have great droves of horses, mules, donkeys, cattle, sheep, and goats grazing on the extensive plains, and about their houses poultry, turkeys, and dogs. The flocks they either leave entirely unprotected, or else the owner herds them himself, or from each village one is appointed by the war captain to do so. The Pápagos carry on an extensive trade in salt, taken from the great inland salt lakes. Besides corn, they manufacture and sell a syrup extracted from the pitahaya.[832]De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 301; Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., pp. 117, 123; Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxxi., p. 290; Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., pp. 91, 113, 115; Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 81, 86; Eaton, in Id., vol. iv., p. 221; Emory, in Fremont and Emory’s Notes of Trav., p. 48; see further Ind. Aff. Reports, from 1854 to 1872; Browne’s Apache Country, p. 290. ‘These Papagos regularly visit a salt lake, which lies near the coast and just across the line of Sonora, from which they pack large quantities of salt, and find a ready market at Tubac and Tucson.’ Walker, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1859, p. 352, and 1860, p. 168. ‘Many Pimas had jars of the molasses expressed from the fruit of the Cereus Giganteus.’ Emory, in Fremont and Emory’s Notes of Trav., p. 48. The laws regulating inheritance of property are not well defined. Among some there is nothing to inherit, as all is destroyed when the person dies; among others the females claim the right of inheritance; at other times the remaining property is divided among all the members of the tribe. In general they care but little for gold, and all their trade, which at times is considerable, is carried on by barter; a kind of blue stone, often called turquoise, beads, skins, and blankets, serving the purpose of currency.[833]‘Die Vernichtung des Eigenthums eines Verstorbenen,—einen unglücklichen Gebrauch der jeden materiellen Fortschritt unmöglich macht.’ Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. i., p. 437. ‘The right of inheritance is held by the females generally, but it is often claimed by the men also.’ Gorman, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1858, p. 200. ‘All the effects of the deceased (Pima) become common property: his grain is distributed; his fields shared out to those who need land; his chickens and dogs divided up among the tribe.’ Browne’s Apache Country, pp. 69, 112; Ives’ Colorado Riv., p. 121; Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxxi., p. 262; Niza, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 264, 265, 267, 268; Id., in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 372. The Zuñis ‘will sell nothing for money, but dispose of their commodities entirely in barter.’ Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., p. 91. The Pimos ‘wanted white beads for what they had to sell, and knew the value of money.’ Cutts’ Conq. of Cal., p. 188; Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. xi., pp. 164, 72. ‘Ils apportèrent des coquillages, des turquoises et des plumes.’ Cabeza de Vaca, Relation, in Id., tom. vii., p. 274; Diaz, in Id., tom. xi., p. 294; Coronado, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 377. Many of the Pueblo Indians are rich, ‘one family being worth over one hundred thousand dollars. They have large flocks.’ Colyer, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 89; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 144.

The Pueblos display much taste in painting the walls of their estufas, where are represented different plants, birds, and animals symmetrically done, but without any scenic effect. Hieroglyphic groupings, both sculptured and painted, are frequently seen in the ancient Pueblo towns, depicting, perhaps, their historical events and deeds. With colored earths their pottery is painted in bright colors.[834]Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., p. 278; Davis’ El Gringo, p. 147; Scenes in the Rocky Mts., p. 177; Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 458; Coronado, in Hakluyt’s Voy., tom. iii., p. 380; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 284. Many Spanish authors mention a great many gold and silver vessels in use amongst them, and speak of the knowledge they had in reducing and working these metals; but no traces of such art are found at present.[835]‘Estos ahijados tienen mucho oro y lo benefician.’ Salmeron, Relaciones, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. i., p. 28. ‘They vse vessels of gold and siluer, for they have no other mettal.’ Niza, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 372; Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 2, 133; Espejo, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., pp. 386-8, 393-5; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 217; Diaz, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 294.

Laws of the Pueblos

Among the Pueblos an organized system of government existed at the time of Coronado’s expedition through their country; Castañeda, speaking of the province of Tiguex, says that the villages were governed by a council of old men; and a somewhat similar system obtains with these people at the present time. Each village selects its own governor, frames its own laws, and in all respects they act independently of each other. The governor and his council are elected annually by the people; all affairs of importance and matters relating to the welfare of the community are discussed at the estufa; questions in dispute are usually decided by a vote of the majority. All messages and laws emanating from the council-chamber are announced to the inhabitants by town criers. The morals of young people are carefully watched and guarded by a kind of secret police, whose duty it is to report to the governor all irregularities which may occur; and especial attention is given that no improper intercourse shall be allowed between the young men and women, in the event of which the offending parties are brought before the governor and council and, if guilty, ordered to marry, or if they refuse they are restricted from holding intercourse with each other, and if they persist they are whipped. Among their laws deserves to be particularly mentioned one, according to which no one can sell or marry out of the town until he obtains permission from the authorities.[836]Pueblo government purely democratic; election held once a year. ‘Besides the officers elected by universal suffrage, the principal chiefs compose a “council of wise men.”‘ Davis’ El Gringo, pp. 142-4. ‘One of their regulations is to appoint a secret watch for the purpose of keeping down disorders and vices of every description.’ Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., p. 274. See further: Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 61, 168; Niza, in Id., p. 269; Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 455; De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 298; Wislizenus’ Tour, p. 26; Mayer’s Mex., Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 359; Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxi., p. 277; Stanley’s Portraits, p. 55. In the seven confederate pueblos of the Moquis, the office of chief governor is hereditary; it is not, however, necessarily given to the nearest heir, as the people have the power to elect any member of the dominant family. The governor is assisted by a council of elders, and in other respects the Moqui government is similar to that of the other towns.[837]Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 85, 76; Marcy’s Army Life, p. 108. The Pimas and Maricopas have no organized system of government, and are not controlled by any code of laws; each tribe or village has a chief to whom a certain degree of respect is conceded, but his power to restrain the people is very limited; his influence over them is maintained chiefly by his oratorical powers or military skill. In war the tribe is guided by the chief’s advice, and his authority is fully recognized, but in time of peace his rule is nominal; nor does he attempt to control their freedom or punish them for offences. The chief’s office is hereditary, yet an unpopular ruler may be deposed and another chosen to fill his place.[838]‘Gobierno no tienen alguno, ni leyes, tradiciones ó costumbres con que gobernarse.’ Mange, Itinerario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. i., p. 366. ‘Cada cual gobernado por un anciano, y todas por el general de la nacion.’ Escudero, Noticias de Sonora y Sinaloa, p. 142; Murr, Nachrichten, p. 267. Compare: Grossman, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, p. 124; Mowry, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1859, p. 356; Walker’s Pimas, MS.

Women Among the Pueblos

Among the Pueblos the usual order of courtship is reversed; when a girl is disposed to marry she does not wait for a young man to propose to her, but selects one to her own liking and consults her father, who visits the parents of the youth and acquaints them with his daughter’s wishes. It seldom happens that any objections to the match are made, but it is imperative on the father of the bridegroom to reimburse the parents of the maiden for the loss of their daughter. This is done by an offer of presents in accordance with his rank and wealth. The inhabitants of one village seldom marry with those of another, and, as a consequence, intermarriage is frequent among these families—a fertile cause of their deterioration. The marriage is always celebrated by a feast, the provisions for which are furnished by the bride, and the assembled friends unite in dancing and music. Polygamy is never allowed, but married couples can separate if they are dissatisfied with each other; in such a contingency, if there are children, they are taken care of by the grandparents, and both parties are free to marry again; fortunately, divorces are not of frequent occurrence, as the wives are always treated with respect by their husbands.[839]‘Un homme n’épouse jamais plus d’une seule femme.’ Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 164; Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 86-7; Ward, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1864, p. 190. To the female falls all indoor work, and also a large share of that to be done out of doors. In the treatment of their children these people are careful to guide them in the ways of honesty and industry, and to impress their minds with chaste and virtuous ideas. Mothers bathe their infants with cold water, and boys are not permitted to enter the estufas for the purpose of warming themselves; if they are cold they are ordered to chop wood, or warm themselves by running and exercise.[840]‘Ils traitent bien leurs femmes.’ Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 126. ‘Desde que maman los Niños, los laban sus Madres con Nieve todo el cuerpo.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 679; Ives’ Colorado Riv., p. 123; Scenes in the Rocky Mts., p. 178. A girl’s arrival at the age of puberty among the Gila nations is a period of much rejoicing; when the first symptoms appear, all her friends are duly informed of the important fact, and preparations are made to celebrate the joyful event. The girl is taken by her parents to the prophet, who performs certain ceremonies, which are supposed to drive the evil out of her, and then a singing and dancing festival is held. When a young man sees a girl whom he desires for a wife, he first endeavors to gain the good will of the parents; this accomplished, he proceeds to serenade his lady-love, and will often sit for hours, day after day, near her house, playing on his flute. Should the girl not appear it is a sign she rejects him; but if, on the other hand, she comes out to meet him, he knows that his suit is accepted, and he takes her to his house. No marriage ceremony is performed. Among the Pápagos the parents select a husband for their daughter to whom she is, so to say, sold. It not unfrequently happens that they offer their daughter at auction, and she is knocked down to the highest bidder. However, among all the nations of this family, whether the bridegroom makes a love-match or not, he has to recompense the parents with as much as his means will permit.[841]‘Early marriages occur … but the relation is not binding until progeny results.’ Poston, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1864, p. 152. ‘No girl is forced to marry against her will, however eligible her parents may consider the match.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 222-4; Davis’ El Gringo, p. 146; Cremony’s Apaches, p. 105; Browne’s Apache Country, p. 112. Although polygamy is not permitted, they often separate and marry again at pleasure. Women, at the time of their confinement as well as during their monthly periods, must live apart; as they believe that if any male were to touch them, he would become sick. The children are trained to war, and but little attention given to teaching them useful pursuits. All the household labor is performed by the women; they also assist largely in the labors of the field; severe laws oblige them to observe the strictest chastity, and yet, at their festivals, much debauchery and prostitution take place.[842]‘Si el marido y mujer se desavienen y los hijos non pequeños, se arriman á cualquiera de los dos y cada uno gana por su lado.’ Mange, Itinerario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. i., p. 369. ‘Tanto los pápagos occidentales, como los citados gilas desconocen la poligamia.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 161. ‘Among the Pimas loose women are tolerated.’ Cremony’s Apaches, pp. 102-4; Ruxton, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1850, tom. cxxvi., p. 59; Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. 117.

With but few exceptions, they are temperate in drinking and smoking. Intoxicating liquors they prepare out of the fruits of the pitahaya, agave, aloe, corn, mezcal, prickly pear, wild and cultivated grapes. Colonel Cremony says that the Pimas and Maricopas ‘macerate the fruit of the pitahaya (species of cactus) in water after being dried in the sun, when the saccharine qualities cause the liquid to ferment, and after such fermentation it becomes highly intoxicating. It is upon this liquor that the Maricopas and Pimas get drunk once a year, the revelry continuing for a week or two at a time; but it is also an universal custom with them to take regular turns, so that only one third of the party is supposed to indulge at one time, the remainder being required to take care of their stimulated comrades, and protect them from injuring each other or being injured by other tribes.'[843]‘The Pimas also cultivate a kind of tobacco, this, which is very light, they make up into cigaritos, never using a pipe.’ Walker’s Pimas, MS. The Pueblos ‘sometimes get intoxicated.’ Walker, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1860, p. 169. The Pueblos ‘are generally free from drunkenness.’ Davis’ El Gringo, p. 146. Cremony’s Apaches, p. 112; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., p. 446; Murr, Nachrichten, p. 249. All are fond of dancing and singing; in their religious rites, as well as in other public and family celebrations, these form the chief diversion. Different PUEBLO DANCES.dances are used on different occasions; for example, they have the arrow, scalp, turtle, fortune, buffalo, green-corn, and Montezuma dances. Their costumes also vary on each of these occasions, and not only are grotesque masks, but also elk, bear, fox, and other skins used as disguises. The dance is sometimes performed by only one person, but more frequently whole tribes join in, forming figures, shuffling, or hopping about to the time given by the music. Lieutenant Simpson, who witnessed a green-corn dance at the Jemez pueblo, describes it as follows:

‘When the performers first appeared, all of whom were men, they came in a line, slowly walking and bending and stooping as they approached. They were dressed in a kirt of blanket, the upper portion of their bodies being naked and painted red. Their legs and arms, which were also bare, were variously striped with red, white and blue colors; and around their arms, above the elbow, they wore a green band, decked with sprigs of piñon. A necklace of the same description was worn around the neck. Their heads were decorated with feathers. In one hand they carried a dry gourd, containing some grains of corn; in the other, a string from which were hung several tortillas. At the knee were fastened small shells of the ground turtle and antelope’s feet; and dangling from the back, at the waist, depended a fox-skin. The party was accompanied by three elders of the town, whose business it was to make a short speech in front of the different houses, and, at particular times, join in the singing of the rest of the party. Thus they went from house to house, singing and dancing, the occupants of each awaiting their arrival in front of their respective dwellings.’

Reed flutes and drums are their chief instruments of music; the former they immerse in a shallow basin of water, and thereby imitate the warbling of birds. The drum is made of a hollow log, about two and a half feet long and fifteen inches in diameter. A dried hide, from which previously the hair has been scraped, is stretched over either end, and on this the player beats with a couple of drumsticks, similar to those used on our kettle-drums. Gourds filled with pebbles and other rattles, are also used as a musical accompaniment to their dances.[845]Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 73-4; Johnson’s Hist. Arizona, p. 11. ‘Their instruments consisted, each of half a gourd, placed before them, with the convex side up; upon this they placed, with the left hand, a smooth stick, and with their right drew forward and backwards upon it, in a sawing manner, a notched one.’ Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., p. 17. ‘I noticed, among other things, a reed musical instrument with a bell-shaped end like a clarionet, and a pair of painted drumsticks tipped with gaudy feathers.’ Ives’ Colorado Riv., p. 121. ‘Les Indiens (Pueblos) accompagnent leurs danses et leur chants avec des flûtes, où sont marqués les endroits où il faut placer les doigts…. Ils disent que ces gens se réunissent cinq ou six pour jouer de la flûte; que ces instruments sont d’inégales grandeurs.’ Diaz, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 295; Castañeda, in Id., pp. 72, 172; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., p. 455; Garces, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie ii., tom. i., p. 331. ‘While they are at work, a man, seated at the door, plays on a bagpipe, so that they work keeping time: they sing in three voices.’ Davis’ El Gringo, p. 119.

CUSTOMS OF PIMAS AND PÁPAGOS.

The Cocomaricopas and Pimas are rather fond of athletic sports, such as football, horse and foot racing, swimming, target-shooting, and of gambling.[846]The Cocomaricopas, ‘componen unas bolas redondas del tamaño de una pelota de materia negra como pez, y embutidas en ellas varias conchitas pequeñas del mar con que hacen labores y con que juegan y apuestan, tirándola con la punta del pié corren tres ó cuatro leguas y la particularidad es que el que da vuelta y llega al puesto donde comenzaron y salieron á la par ese gana.’ Sedelmair, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 851. ‘It is a favorite amusement with both men [Maricopas] and boys to try their skill at hitting the pitahaya, which presents a fine object on the plain. Numbers often collect for this purpose; and in crossing the great plateau, where these plants abound, it is common to see them pierced with arrows.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 237; Mowry, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 301. ‘Amusements of all kinds are universally resorted to [among the Pueblos]; such as foot-racing, horse-racing, cock-fighting, gambling, dancing, eating, and drinking.’ Ward, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1864, p. 192; Mange, Itinerario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. i., pp. 299, 365. Many curious customs obtain among these people. Mr Walker relates that a Pima never touches his skin with his nails, but always uses a small stick for that purpose, which he renews every fourth day, and wears in his hair. Among the same nation, when a man has killed an Apache, he must needs undergo purification. Sixteen days he must fast, and only after the fourth day is he allowed to drink a little pinole. During the sixteen days he may not look on a blazing fire, nor hold converse with mortal man; he must live in the woods companionless, save only one person appointed to take care of him. On the seventeenth day a large space is cleared off near the village, in the center of which a fire is lighted. The men form a circle round this fire, outside of which those who have been purified sit, each in a small excavation. Certain of the old men then take the weapons of the purified and dance with them in the circle; for which service they receive presents, and thenceforth both slayer and weapon are considered clean, but not until four days later is the man allowed to return to his family. They ascribe the origin of this custom to a mythical personage, called Szeukha, who, after killing a monster, is said to have fasted for sixteen days.

The Pápagos stand in great dread of the coyote, and the Pimas never touch an ant, snake, scorpion, or spider, and are much afraid of thunderstorms. Like the Mojaves and Yumas, the Maricopas in cold weather carry a firebrand to warm themselves withal. In like manner the Pueblos have their singularities and semi-religious ceremonies, many of which are connected with a certain mythical personage called Montezuma. Among these may be mentioned the perpetual watching of the eternal estufa-fire, and also the daily waiting for the rising sun, with which, as some writers affirm, they expectantly look for the promised return of the much-loved Montezuma. The Moqui, before commencing to smoke, reverently bows toward the four cardinal points.[847]Walker’s Pimas, MS. ‘The Papago of to-day will on no account kill a coyote.’ Davidson, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1865, p. 132. ‘Eben so abergläubischen Gebrauch hatten sie bey drohenden Kieselwetter, da sie den Hagel abzuwenden ein Stück von einem Palmteppiche an einem Stecken anhefteten und gegen die Wolken richteten.’ Murr, Nachrichten, pp. 203, 207; Arny, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1871, pp. 385, 389. ‘A sentinel ascends every morning at sunrise to the roof of the highest house, and, with eyes directed towards the east, looks out for the arrival of the divine chieftain, who is to give the sign of deliverance.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 165, 197, 390, 210, and vol. ii., p. 54. ‘On a dit que la coutume singulière de conserver perpétuellement un feu sacré près duquel les anciens Mexicains attendaient le retour du dieu Quetzacoatl, existe aussi chez les Pueblos.’ Ruxton, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1850, tom. cxxvi., p. 58; Sedelmair, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv.. p. 851; Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxxi., p. 278; Cremony’s Apaches, p. 92; Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., p. 93. ‘I, however, one night, at San Felipe, clandestinely witnessed a portion of their secret worship. One of their secret night dances is called Tocina, which is too horrible to write about.’ Arny, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1871, p. 385; Ward, in Id., 1864, p. 192; Ives’ Colorado Riv., p. 121; Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 73, 77; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 278. ‘Ils ont des prêtres … ils montent sur la terrasse la plus élevée du village et font un sermon au moment où le soleil se lève.’ Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 133, 164, 239.

Their diseases are few; and among these the most frequent are chills and fevers, and later, syphilis. The Pueblos and Moquis resort to the sweat-house remedy, but the Pimas only bathe daily in cold running water. Here, as elsewhere, the doctor is medicine-man, conjuror, and prophet, and at times old women are consulted. If incantations fail, emetics, purgatives, or blood-letting are prescribed.[848]Walker’s Pimas, MS.; Mowry, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 361; Ruggles, in Id., 1869, p. 209; Andrews, in Id., 1870, p. 117; Ward, in Id., 1864, p. 188; Davis’ El Gringo, pp. 119, 311. The cause of the decrease of the Pecos Indians is ‘owing to the fact that they seldom if ever marry outside of their respective pueblos.’ Parker, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 251; Murr, Nachrichten, p. 273. ‘Au milieu [of the estufa] est un foyer allumé, sur lequel on jette de temps en temps une poignée de thym, ce qui suffit pour entretenir la chaleur, de sorte qu’on y est comme dans un bain.’ Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 170.

The Pimas bury their dead immediately after death. At the bottom of a shaft, about six feet deep, they excavate a vault, in which the corpse is placed, after having first been tied up in a blanket. House, horses, and most personal effects are destroyed; but if children are left, a little property is reserved for them. A widow or a daughter mourns for three months, cutting the hair and abstaining from the bath during that time. The Maricopas burn their dead. Pueblo and Moqui burials take place with many ceremonies, the women being the chief mourners.[849]Walker’s Pimas, MS. The Pimas, ‘usan enterrar sus varones con su arco y flechas, y algun bastimento y calabazo de agua, señal que alcanzan vislumbre de la immortalidad, aunque no con la distincion de prémio ó castigo.’ Mange, Itinerario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. i., p. 369. ‘The Maricopas invariably bury their dead, and mock the ceremony of cremation.’ … ‘sacrifice at the grave of a warrior all the property of which he died possessed, together with all in possession of his various relatives.’ Cremony’s Apaches, pp. 103, 105. ‘The Pimos bury their dead, while the Coco-Maricopas burn theirs.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 262. ‘The females of the family [Pueblo] approached in a mournful procession (while the males stood around in solemn silence), each one bearing on her head a tinaja, or water-jar, filled with water, which she emptied into the grave, and whilst doing so commenced the death-cry. They came singly and emptied their jars, and each one joined successively in the death-cry; … They believe that on a certain day (in August, I think) the dead rise from their graves and flit about the neighboring hills, and on that day, all who have lost friends, carry out quantities of corn, bread, meat, and such other good things of this life as they can obtain, and place them in the haunts frequented by the dead, in order that the departed spirits may once more enjoy the comforts of this nether world.’ Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 75-8. If the dead Pima was a chief, ‘the villagers are summoned to his burial. Over his grave they hold a grand festival. The women weep and the men howl, and they go into a profound mourning of tar. Soon the cattle are driven up and slaughtered, and every body heavily-laden with sorrow, loads his squaw with beef, and feasts for many days.’ Browne’s Apache Country, pp. 112-13; Murr, Nachrichten, pp. 204, 210, 281; Ferry, Scènes de la vie Sauvage, p. 115; Froebel’s Cent. Amer., p. 500; Id., Aus Amerika, tom. ii., p. 437; Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 165.

Character of the Pueblos

Industrious, honest, and peace-loving, the people of this division are at the same time brave and determined, when necessity compels them to repel the thieving Apache. Sobriety may be ranked among their virtues, as drunkenness only forms a part of certain religious festivals, and in their gambling they are the most moderate of barbarians.[850]‘Though naturally disposed to peaceful pursuits, the Papagoes are not deficient in courage.’ Browne’s Apache Country, pp. 142, 107, 110-11, 140, 277; Johnson’s Hist. Arizona, p. 10; Stone, in Hist. Mag., vol. v., p. 166; Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 188; Escudero, Noticias de Sonora y Sinaloa, p. 142; Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, pp. 116, 160; Froebel’s Cent. Amer., pp. 500, 506, 512; Id., Aus Amerika, tom. ii., pp. 437, 447, 454; Garces, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie ii., tom. i., p. 238; Sedelmair, Relacion, in Id., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 850; Gallardo, in Id., p. 892. ‘The peaceful disposition of the Maricopas is not the result of incapacity for war, for they are at all times enabled to meet, and vanquish the Apaches in battle.’ Emory, in Fremont and Emory’s Notes of Trav., p. 49; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. iii., pp. 62, 103; Murr, Nachrichten, p. 282; Hardy’s Trav., pp. 440, 443; Mange, Itinerario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. i., pp. 365-6;Mowry’s Arizona, p. 30; Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, pp. 397, 412; Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., pp. 553-5, 838. ‘The Pueblos were industrious and unwarlike in their habits.’ Marcy’s Army Life, pp. 98, 110. The Moquis ‘are a mild and peaceful race of people, almost unacquainted with the use of arms, and not given to war. They are strictly honest…. They are kind and hospitable to strangers.’ Davis’ El Gringo, pp. 421, 145. ‘C’est une race (Pueblos) remarquablement sobre et industrieuse, qui se distingue par sa moralité.’ Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxxi., pp. 277, 288, 290; Ruxton, in Id., 1850, tom. cxxvi., pp. 45, 47, 60; Ruxton’s Adven. Mex., p. 191; Ives’ Colorado Riv., pp. 31, 36, 45, 122, 124-7; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., p. 120, 268, 274; Pike’s Explor. Trav., p. 342; Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 241; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. iv., p. 453; Champagnac, Voyageur, p. 84; Hughes’ Doniphan’s Ex., pp. 196, 221; Espejo, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 392; Wislizenus’ Tour, p. 26; Pattie’s Pers. Nar., p. 91; Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 72, 87; Eaton, in Id., p. 220; Bent, in Id., vol. i., p. 244; Kendall’s Nar., vol. i., p. 378; Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 126, 163; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 528; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 144; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. ii., p. 240. The Pueblos ‘are passionately fond of dancing, and give themselves up to this diversion with a kind of frenzy.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 198, 185, 203, 206, and vol. ii., pp. 19, 51-2; Cutts’ Conq. of Cal., pp. 188-9, 222; Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., pp. 81, 91, 113, 115; Scenes in the Rocky Mts., p. 177; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 679-80; Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, p. 239; Id., Mex., Aztec etc., vol. ii., p. 358. See further: Ind. Aff. Rept., from 1854 to 1872.

The Lower Californians present a sad picture. Occupying the peninsula from the head of the gulf to Cape San Lucas, it is thought by some that they were driven thither from Upper California by their enemies. When first visited by the Missionary Fathers, they presented humanity in one of its lowest phases, though evidences of a more enlightened people having at some previous time occupied the peninsula were not lacking. Clavigero describes large caves or vaults, which had been dug out of the solid rock, the sides decorated with paintings of animals and figures of men, showing dress and features different from any of the inhabitants. Whom they represented or by whom they were depicted there is no knowledge, as the present race have been unable to afford any information on the subject.

Lower California

The peninsula extends from near 32° to 23° north latitude; in length it is about seven hundred, varying in width from thirty-five to eighty miles. Its general features are rugged; irregular mountains of granite formation and volcanic upheavals traversing the whole length of the country, with barren rocks and sandy plains, intersected by ravines and hills. Some fertile spots and valleys with clear mountain streams are there, and in such places the soil produces abundantly; then there are plains of greater or less extent, with rich soil, but without water; so that, under the circumstances, they are little more than deserts. These plains rise in places into mesas, which are cut here and there by cañons, where streams of water are found, which are again lost on reaching the sandy plains. Altogether, Lower California is considered as one of the most barren and unattractive regions in the temperate zone, although its climate is delightful, and the mountain districts especially are among the healthiest in the world, owing to their southern situation between two seas. A curious meteorological phenomenon is sometimes observed both in the gulf and on the land; it is that of rain falling during a perfectly clear sky. Savants, who have investigated the subject, do not appear to have discovered the cause of this unusual occurrence.

The greater part of the peninsula, at the time of its discovery, was occupied by the Cochimís, whose territory extended from the head of the gulf to the neighborhood of Loreto, or a little south of the twenty-sixth parallel; adjoining them were the Guaicuris, living between latitude 26° and 23° 30´; while the Pericúis were settled in the southern part, from about 23° 30´ or 24° to Cape San Lucas, and on the adjacent islands.[851]Baegert, in Smithsonian Rept., 1863, p. 359; Forbes’ Cal., pp. 20-2; Mofras, Explor., tom. i., p. 239; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 451; Gleeson’s Hist. Cath. Church, vol. i., pp. 95-6; Prichard’s Researches, vol. v., p. 446. ‘Esse sono tre nella California Cristiana, cioè quelle de’ Pericui, de’ Guaicuri, e de’ Cochimì.’ Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., p. 109. Venegas, in giving the opinion of Father Taravàl, says: ‘Tres son (dice este habil Missionero) las Lenguas: la Cochimi, la Pericù, y la de Loreto. De esta ultima salen dos ramos, y son: la Guaycùra, y la Uchiti; verdad es, que es la variacion tanta, que el que no tuviere connocimiento de las tres Lenguas, juzgara, no solo que hay quatro Lenguas, sino que hay cinco…. Està poblada la primera àzia el Medioda, desde el Cabo de San Lucas, hasta mas acá del Puerto de la Paz de la Nacion Pericú, ó siguiendo la terminacion Castellana de los Pericúes: la segunda desde la Paz, hasta mas arriba del Presidio Real de Loreto, es de los Monquis; la tercera desde el territorio de Loreto, por todo lo descubierto al Norte de la nacion Cochimi, ó de los Cochimíes.’ Venegas, Noticia de la Cal., tom. i., pp. 63-6. ‘Auf der Halbinsel Alt-Californien wohnen: an der Südspitze die Perícues, dann die Monquis oder Menguis, zu welchen die Familien der Guaycúras und Coras gehören, die Cochímas oder Colímiës, die Laimónes, die Utschítas oder Vehítis, und die Icas.’ Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., p. 212. ‘All the Indian tribes of the Peninsula seem to be affiliated with the Yumas of the Colorado and with the Coras below La Paz … in no case do they differ in intellect, habits, customs, dress, implements of war, or hunting, traditions, or appearances from the well-known Digger Indians of Alta-California, and undoubtedly belong to the same race or family.’ Browne’s Lower Cal., pp. 53-4.

The Lower Californians are well formed, robust and of good stature, with limbs supple and muscular; they are not inclined to corpulence; their features are somewhat heavy, the forehead low and narrow, the nose well set on, but thick and fleshy; the inner corners of the eyes round instead of pointed; teeth very white and regular, hair very black, coarse, straight, and glossy, with but little on the face, and none upon the body or limbs. The color of the skin varies from light to dark brown, the former color being characteristic of the dwellers in the interior, and the latter of those on the sea-coast.[852]‘Di buona statura, ben fatti, sani, e robusti.’ Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., pp. 112-13. ‘El color en todos es muy moreno … no tienen barba ni nada de vello en el cuerpo.’ Californias, Noticias, carta i., pp. 47, 61, carta ii., p. 12. Compare: Kino, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. i., p. 407; Crespi, in Id., serie iv., tom. vii., p. 135; Ulloa, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 345, 351; Venegas, Noticia de la Cal., tom. i., p. 68; Baegert, in Smithsonian Rept., 1863, p. 357; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., pp. 443-4; Gleeson’s Hist. Cath. Church, p. 99.

COCHIMÍ AND PERICÚI DRESS.

Adam without the fig-leaves was not more naked than were the Cochimís before the missionaries first taught them the rudiments of shame. They ignored even the usual breech-cloth, the only semblance of clothing being a head-dress of rushes or strips of skin interwoven with mother-of-pearl shells, berries, and pieces of reed. The Guaicuris and Pericúis indulge in a still more fantastic head-dress, white feathers entering largely into its composition. The women display more modesty, for, although scantily clad, they at least essay to cover their nakedness. The Pericúi women are the best dressed of all, having a petticoat reaching from the waist to the ankles, made from the fibre of certain palm-leaves, and rendered soft and flexible by beating between two stones. Over the shoulders they throw a mantle of similar material, or of plaited rushes, or of skins. The Cochimí women make aprons of short reeds, strung upon cords of aloe-plant fibres fastened to a girdle. The apron is open at the sides, one part hanging in front, the other behind. As they are not more than six or eight inches wide, but little of the body is in truth covered. When traveling they wear sandals of hide, which they fasten with strings passed between the toes.[853]‘Siendo de gran deshonra en los varones el vestido.’ Salvatierra, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. v., p. 42. ‘Aprons are about a span wide, and of different length.’ Baegert, in Smithsonian Rept., 1863, pp. 361-2. Consult further: Venegas, Noticia de la Cal., tom. i., pp. 81-8, 113; Gleeson’s Hist. Cath. Church, pp. 96-9, 107-10; Forbes’ Cal., pp. 9, 18; Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., pp. 120-3, 133, 144; Gemelli Careri, in Churchill’s Col. Voyages, vol. iv., p. 469, and in Berenger, Col. de Voy., tom. ii., p. 371. Both sexes are fond of ornaments; to gratify this passion, they string together pearls, shells, fruit-stones and seeds in the forms of necklaces and bracelets. In addition to the head-dress the Pericúis are distinguished by a girdle highly ornamented with pearls and mother-of-pearl shells. They perforate ears, lips, and nose, inserting in the openings, shells, bones, or hard sticks. Paint in many colors and devices is freely used on war and gala occasions; tattooing obtains, but does not appear to be universal among them. Mothers, to protect them against the weather, cover the entire bodies of their children with a varnish of coal and urine. Cochimí women cut the hair short, but the men allow a long tuft to grow on the crown of the head. Both sexes among the Guaicuris and Pericúis wear the hair long and flowing loosely over the shoulders.[854]‘Unos se cortan un pedazo de oreja, otros las dos; otros agugerean el labio inferior, otros las narizes, y es cosa de risa, pues allí llevan colgando ratoncillos, lagartijitas, conchitas. &c.’ Californias, Noticias, carta i., pp. 48, 22. ‘It has been asserted that they also pierce the nose. I can only say that I saw no one disfigured in that particular manner.’ Baegert, in Smithsonian Rept., 1863, p. 362. ‘Nudi agunt, genas quadratis quibusdam notis signati.’ De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 306. Further reference: Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., pp. 279, 282; Ulloa, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 347-8, and in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 412; Delaporte, Reisen, tom. x., p. 428.

Equally Adamitic are their habitations. They appear to hold a superstitious dread of suffocation if they live or sleep in covered huts; hence in their rare and meagre attempts to protect themselves from the inclemencies of the weather, they never put any roof over their heads. Roving beast-like in the vicinity of springs during the heat of the day, seeking shade in the ravines and overhanging rocks; at night, should they desire shelter, they resort to caverns and holes in the ground. During winter they raise a semi-circular pile of stones or brushwood, about two feet in height, behind which, with the sky for a roof and the bare ground for a bed, they camp at night. Over the sick they sometimes throw a wretched hut, by sticking a few poles in the ground, tying them at the top and covering the whole with grass and reeds, and into this nest visitors crawl on hands and knees.[855]Venegas, Noticia de la Cal., tom. i., p. 88; Campbell’s Hist. Span. Amer., p. 86; Ulloa, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 347, 350; Californias, Noticias, carta i., p. 45; Lockman’s Trav. Jesuits, vol. i., p. 403. ‘Le abitazioncelle più comuni sono certe chiuse circolari di sassi sciolti, ed ammucchiati, le quali hanno cinque piedi di diametro, e meno di due d’altezza.’ Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., p. 119. ‘I am certainly not much mistaken in saying that many of them change their night-quarters more than a hundred times in a year.’ Baegert, in Smithsonian Rept., 1863, p. 361.

Lower Californian Food

Reed-roots, wild fruit, pine-nuts, cabbage-palms, small seeds roasted, and also roasted aloe and mescal roots constitute their food. During eight weeks of the year they live wholly on the redundant fat-producing pitahaya, after which they wander about in search of other native vegetable products, and when these fail they resort to hunting and fishing. Of animal food they will eat anything—beasts, birds, and fishes, or reptiles, worms, and insects; and all parts: flesh, hide, and entrails. Men and monkeys, however, as articles of food are an abomination; the latter because they so much resemble the former. The gluttony and improvidence of these people exceed, if possible, those of any other nation; alternate feasting and fasting is their custom. When so fortunate as to have plenty they consume large quantities, preserving none. An abominable habit is related of them, that they pick up the undigested seeds of the pitahaya discharged from their bowels, and after parching and grinding them, eat the meal with much relish. Clavigero, Baegert, and other authors, mention another rather uncommon feature in the domestic economy of the Cochimís; it is that of swallowing their meat several times, thereby multiplying their gluttonous pleasures. Tying to a string a piece of well-dried meat, one of their number masticates it a little, and swallows it, leaving the end of the string hanging out of the mouth; after retaining it for about two or three minutes in his stomach, it is pulled out, and the operation repeated several times, either by the same individual or by others, until the meat becomes consumed. Here is Father Baegert’s summary of their edibles: “They live now-a-days on dogs and cats; horses, asses and mules; item: on owls, mice and rats; lizards and snakes; bats, grasshoppers and crickets; a kind of green caterpillar without hair, about a finger long, and an abominable white worm of the length and thickness of the thumb.”[856]‘Twenty-four pounds of meat in twenty-four hours is not deemed an extraordinary ration for a single person.’ Baegert, in Smithsonian Rept., 1863, pp. 364-7. ‘No tienen horas señaladas para saciar su apetito: comen cuanto hallan por delante; hasta las cosas mas sucias sirven á su gula.’ Californias, Noticias, carta i., pp. 46-7, 21; see also: Salmeron, Relaciones, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 13; Salvatierra, in Id., serie iv., tom. v., p. 116; Crespi, in Id., serie iv., tom. vii., pp. 106, 135, 143; Delaporte, Reisen, tom. x., pp. 423-4; Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 153; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. iii., p. 106; Ulloa, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 350; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 451; Alcedo, Diccionario, tom. i., p. 318.

Their weapon is the bow and arrow, but they use stratagem to procure the game. The deer-hunter deceives his prey by placing a deer’s head upon his own; hares are trapped; the Cochimís throw a kind of boomerang or flat curved stick, which skims the ground and breaks the animal’s legs. Fish are taken from pools left by the tide and from the sea, sometimes several miles out, in nets and with the aid of long lances. It is said that at San Roche Island they catch fish with birds. They also gather oysters, which they eat roasted, but use no salt. They have no cooking utensils, but roast their meat by throwing it into the fire and after a time raking it out. Insects and caterpillars are parched over the hot coals in shells. Fish is commonly eaten raw; they drink only water.[857]‘La pesca si fa da loro in due maniere, o con reti nella spiaggia, o ne’ gorghi rimasi della marea, o con forconi in alto mare.’ Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., pp. 111, 125-6; ‘Use neither nets nor hooks, but a kind of lance.’ Baegert, in Smithsonian Rept., 1863, p. 364. ‘Forman los Indios redes para pescar, y para otros usos.’ Venegas, Noticia de la Cal., tom. i., p. 52. It is said that they never wash, and it is useless to add that in their filthiness they surpass the brutes.[858]‘Poichè le stesse donne si lavavano, e si lavano anche oggidì con essa (orina) la faccia.’ Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., p. 133.

Besides bows and arrows they use javelins, clubs, and slings of cords, from which they throw stones. Their bows are six feet long, very broad and thick in the middle and tapering toward the ends, with strings made from the intestines of animals. The arrows are reeds about thirty inches in length, into the lower end of which a piece of hard wood is cemented with resin obtained from trees, and pointed with flint sharpened to a triangular shape and serrated at the edges. Javelins are sharpened by first hardening in the fire and then grinding to a point; they are sometimes indented like a saw. Clubs are of different forms, either mallet-head or axe shape; they also crook and sharpen at the edge a piece of wood in the form of a scimeter.[859]Gemelli Careri, in Churchill’s Col. Voyages, vol. iv., p. 469; Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 346, 351; Baegert, in Smithsonian Rept., 1863, p. 362; Kino, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. i., p. 407; Crespi, in Id., serie iv., tom. vii., p. 143. ‘Si trovarono altre spezie d’armi per ferir da vicino, ma tutte di legno. La prima è un mazzapicchio, simile nella forma a una girella col suo manico tutta d’un pezzo. La seconda è a foggia d’un ascia di legnajuolo tutta anch’essa d’un sol pezzo. La terza ha la forma d’una piccola scimitara.’ Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., pp. 124, 127.

Their wars, which spring from disputed boundaries, are frequent and deadly, and generally occur about fruit and seed time. The battle is commenced amidst yells and brandishing of weapons, though without any preconcerted plan, and a tumultuous onslaught is made without regularity or discipline, excepting that a certain number are held in reserve to relieve those who have expended their arrows or become exhausted. While yet at a distance they discharge their arrows, but soon rush forward and fight at close quarters with their clubs and spears; nor do they cease till many on both sides have fallen.[860]‘El modo de publicar la guerra era, hacer con mucho estruendo gran provision de cañas, y pedernales para sus flechas, y procurar, que por varios caminos llegassen las assonadas à oídos de sus contrarios.’ Venegas, Noticia de la Cal., tom. i., pp. 97-8. Referring to Venegas’ work, Baegert, Smithsonian Rept., 1864, p. 385, says: ‘All that is said in reference to the warfare of the Californians is wrong. In their former wars they merely attacked the enemy unexpectedly during the night, or from an ambush, and killed as many as they could, without order, previous declaration of war, or any ceremonies whatever.’ See also: Apostólicos Afanes, pp. 424-5, and Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., p. 127.

Implements in Lower California

Their implements and household utensils are both rude and few. Sharp flints serve them instead of knives; a bone ground to a point answers the purpose of a needle or an awl; and with a sharp-pointed stick roots are dug. Fire is obtained in the usual way from two pieces of wood. When traveling, water is carried in a large bladder. The shell of the turtle is applied to various uses, such as a receptacle for food and a cradle for infants.

The Lower Californians have little ingenuity, and their display of mechanical skill is confined to the manufacture of the aforesaid implements, weapons of war, and of the chase; they make some flat baskets of wicker work, which are used in the collection of seeds and fruits; also nets from the fibre of the aloe, one in which to carry provisions, and another fastened to a forked stick and hung upon the back, in which to carry children.[861]‘In lieu of knives and scissors they use sharp flints for cutting almost everything—cane, wood, aloë, and even their hair.’ Baegert, in Smithsonian Rept., 1863, p. 363. ‘Le loro reti, tanto quelle da pescare, quanto quelle, che servono a portare checchessia, le fanno col filo, che tirano dalle foglie del Mezcal.’ Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., p. 124. Further notice in Ulloa, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 350; Venegas, Noticia de la Cal., tom. i., p. 90; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 447.

For boats the inhabitants of the peninsula construct rafts of reeds made into bundles and bound tightly together; they are propelled with short paddles, and seldom are capable of carrying more than one person. In those parts where trees grow a more serviceable canoe is made from bark, and sometimes of three or more logs, not hollowed out, but laid together side by side and made fast with withes or pita-fibre cords. These floats are buoyant, the water washing over them as over a catamaran. On them two or more men will proceed fearlessly to sea, to a distance of several miles from the coast. To transport their chattels across rivers, they use wicker-work baskets, which are so closely woven as to be quite impermeable to water; these, when loaded, are pushed across by the owner, who swims behind.[862]Vancouver, Voy., vol. ii., p. 482, speaking of Lower California says: ‘We were visited by one of the natives in a straw canoe.’ ‘Vedemmo che vsci vna canoua in mare con tre Indiani dalle lor capanne.’ Ulloa, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 350-1, 343, 347, and in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii, p. 418. See further: Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., p. 126; Gemelli Careri, in Churchill’s Col. Voyages, vol. iv., p. 469, and in Berenger, Col. de Voy., tom. ii., p. 371.

Besides their household utensils and boats, and the feathers or ornaments on their persons, I find no other property. They who dwell on the sea-coast occasionally travel inland, carrying with them sea-shells and feathers to barter with their neighbors for the productions of the interior.[863]‘Tienen trato de pescado con los indios de tierra adentro.’ Salmeron, Relaciones, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 17; also, Ulloa, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 347-8.

They are unable to count more than five, and this number is expressed by one hand; some few among them are able to understand that two hands signify ten, but beyond this they know nothing of enumeration, and can only say much or many, or show that the number is beyond computation, by throwing sand into the air and such like antics. The year is divided into six seasons; the first is called Mejibo, which is midsummer, and the time of ripe pitahayas; the second season Amaddappi, a time of further ripening of fruits and seeds; the third Amadaappigalla, the end of autumn and beginning of winter; the fourth, which is the coldest season, is called Majibel; the fifth, when spring commences, is Majiben; the sixth, before any fruits or seeds have ripened, consequently the time of greatest scarcity, is called Majiibenmaaji.[864]‘Su modo de contar es muy diminuto y corto, pues apénas llegan á cinco, y otros á diez, y van multiplicando segun pueden.’ Californias, Noticias, carta i., p. 103. ‘Non dividevano l’Anno in Mesi, ma solamente in sei stagioni.’ Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., pp. 110-11.

Neither government nor law is found in this region; every man is his own master, and administers justice in the form of vengeance as best he is able. As Father Baegert remarks: ‘The different tribes represented by no means communities of rational beings, who submit to laws and regulations and obey their superiors, but resembled far more herds of wild swine, which run about according to their own liking, being together to-day and scattered to-morrow, till they meet again by accident at some future time. In one word, the Californians lived, salva venia, as though they had been free-thinkers and materialists.’ In hunting and war they have one or more chiefs to lead them, who are selected only for the occasion, and by reason of superior strength or cunning.[865]Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., pp. 129-30. Venegas, Noticia de la Cal., tom. i., p. 79. ‘Entre ellos siempre hay alguno mas desahogado y atrevido, que se reviste con el caracter de Capitan: pero ni este tiene jurisdiccion alguna, ni le obedecen, y en estando algo viejo lo suelen quitar del mando: solo en los lances que les tiene cuenta siguen sus dictámenes.’ Californias, Noticias, carta i., pp. 40, 45.

Marriage

Furthermore, they have no marriage ceremony, nor any word in their language to express marriage. Like birds or beasts they pair off according to fancy. The Pericúi takes as many women as he pleases, makes them work for him as slaves, and when tired of any one of them turns her away, in which case she may not be taken by another. Some form of courtship appears to have obtained among the Guaicuris; for example, when a young man saw a girl who pleased him, he presented her with a small bowl or basket made of the pita-fibre; if she accepted the gift, it was an evidence that his suit was agreeable to her, and in return she gave him an ornamented head-dress, the work of her own hand; then they lived together without further ceremony. Although among the Guaicuris and Cochimís some hold a plurality of wives, it is not so common as with the Pericúis, for in the two first-mentioned tribes there are more men than women. A breach of female chastity is sometimes followed by an attempt of the holder of the woman to kill the offender; yet morality never attained any great height, as it is a practice with them for different tribes to meet occasionally for the purpose of holding indiscriminate sexual intercourse. Childbirth is easy; the Pericúis and Guaicuris wash the body of the newly born, then cover it with ashes; as the child grows it is placed on a frame-work of sticks, and if a male, on its chest they fix a bag of sand to prevent its breasts growing like a woman’s, which they consider a deformity. For a cradle the Cochimís take a forked stick or bend one end of a long pole in the form of a hoop, and fix thereto a net, in which the infant is placed and covered with a second net. It can thus be carried over the shoulder, or when the mother wishes to be relieved, the end of the pole is stuck in the ground, and nourishment given the child through the meshes of the net. When old enough the child is carried astride on its mother’s shoulders. As soon as children are able to get food for themselves, they are left to their own devices, and it sometimes happens that when food is scarce the child is abandoned, or killed by its parents.[866]Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., pp. 130-4; Ulloa, in Ramusio, Navigationi tom. iii., fol. 348; Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., p. 284; Baegert, in Smithsonian Rept., 1863, pp. 367-9. ‘Sus casamientos son muy ridiculos: unos para casarse enseñan sus cuerpos á las mugeres, y estas á ellos; y adoptándose á su gusto, se casan: otros en fin, que es lo mas comun, se casan sin ceremonia.’ Californias, Noticias, carta i., pp. 50, 40-1. ‘El adulterio era mirado como delito, que por lo menos daba justo motivo á la venganza, á excepción de dos ocasiones: una la de sus fiestas, y bayles: y otra la de las luchas.’ Venegas, Noticia de la Cal., tom. i., p. 93. ‘Les hommes s’approchaient des femmes comme des animaux, et les femmes se mettaient publiquement à quatre pattes pour les recevoir.’ Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 153. This method of copulation is by no means peculiar to the Lower Californians, but is practiced almost universally by the wild tribes of the Pacific States. Writers naturally do not mention this custom, but travellers are unanimous in their verbal accounts respecting it.

Lower Californian Feast

Nevertheless, these miserables delight in feasts, and in the gross debauchery there openly perpetrated. Unacquainted with intoxicating liquors, they yet find drunkenness in the fumes of a certain herb smoked through a stone tube, and used chiefly during their festivals. Their dances consist of a series of gesticulations and jumpings, accompanied by inarticulate murmurings and yells. One of their great holidays is the pitahaya season, when, with plenty to eat, they spend days and nights in amusements; at such times feats of strength and trials of speed take place. The most noted festival among the Cochimís occurs upon the occasion of their annual distribution of skins. To the women especially it was an important and enjoyable event. Upon an appointed day all the people collected at a designated place. In an arbor constructed with branches, the road to which was carpeted with the skins of wild animals that had been killed during the year, their most skillful hunters assembled; they alone were privileged to enter the arbor, and in their honor was already prepared a banquet and pipes of wild tobacco. The viands went round as also the pipe, and, in good time, the partakers became partially intoxicated by the smoke; then one of the priests or sorcerers, arrayed in his robe of ceremony, appeared at the entrance to the arbor, and made a speech to the people, in which he recounted the deeds of the hunters. Then the occupants of the arbor came out and made a repartition of the skins among the women; this finished, dancing and singing commenced and continued throughout the night. It sometimes happened that their festivals ended in fighting and bloodshed, as they were seldom conducted without debauchery, especially among the Guaicuris and Pericúis.[867]‘Fiesta entre los Indios Gentiles no es mas que una concurrencia de hombres y mugeres de todas partes para desahogar los apetitos de luxuria y gula.’ Californias, Noticias, carta i., pp. 60-75. ‘Una de las fiestas mas celebres de los Cochimies era la del dia, en que repartian las pieles à las mugeres una vez al año.’ Venegas, Noticia de la Cal., tom. i., pp. 85-6, 96; Baegert, in Smithsonian Rept., 1864, p. 389; Salvatierra, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. v., pp. 103, 116.

When they have eaten their fill they pass their time in silly or obscene conversation, or in wrestling, in which sports the women often take a part. They are very adroit in tracking wild beasts to their lairs and taming them. At certain festivals their sorcerers, who were called by some quamas, by others cusiyaes, wore long robes of skins, ornamented with human hair; these sages filled the offices of priests and medicine-men, and threatened their credulous brothers with innumerable ills and death, unless they supplied them with provisions. These favored of heaven professed to hold communication with oracles, and would enter caverns and wooded ravines, sending thence doleful sounds, to frighten the people, who were by such tricks easily imposed upon and led to believe in their deceits and juggleries.[868]Californias, Noticias, carta i., pp. 59-65; Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., pp. 126, 146. ‘There existed always among the Californians individuals of both sexes who played the part of sorcerers or conjurers, pretending to possess the power of exorcising the devil.’ Baegert, in Smithsonian Rept., 1864, p. 389.

As to ailments, Lower Californians are subject to consumption, burning fevers, indigestion, and cutaneous diseases. Small pox, measles, and syphilis, the last imported by troops, have destroyed numberless lives. Wounds inflicted by the bites of venomous reptiles may be added to the list of troubles. Loss of appetite is with them, generally, a symptom of approaching death. They submit resignedly to the treatment prescribed by their medicine-men, however severe or cruel it may be. They neglect their aged invalids, refusing them attendance if their last sickness proves too long, and recovery appears improbable. In several instances they have put an end to the patient by suffocation or otherwise.[869]Baegert, in Smithsonian Rept., 1864, pp. 385-7. ‘Las carreras, luchas, peleas y otras trabajos voluntarios les ocasionan muchos dolores de pecho y otros accidentes.’ Californias, Noticias, carta i., pp. 85-99.

Diseases are treated externally by the application of ointments, plasters, and fomentations of medicinal herbs, particularly the wild tobacco. Smoke is also a great panacea, and is administered through a stone tube placed on the suffering part. The usual juggleries attend the practice of medicine. In extreme cases they attempt to draw with their fingers the disease from the patient’s mouth. If the sick person has a child or sister, they cut its or her little finger of the right hand, and let the blood drop on the diseased part. Bleeding with a sharp stone and whipping the affected part with nettles, or applying ants to it, are among the remedies used. For the cure of tumors, the medicine-men burst and suck them with their lips until blood is drawn. Internal diseases are treated with cold-water baths. The means employed by the medicine-man are repeated by the members of the patient’s family and by his friends. In danger even the imitation of death startles them. If an invalid is pronounced beyond recovery, and he happens to slumber, they immediately arouse him with blows on the head and body, for the purpose of preserving life.[870]Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., pp. 112-13, 142-5; Apostólicos Afanes, pp. 426-7; Salvatierra, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. v., p. 23; Delaporte, Reisen, tom. x., pp. 433-4. ‘Rogaba el enfermo, que le chupassen, y soplassen de el modo mismo, que lo hacian los Curanderos. Executaban todos por su orden este oficio de piedad, chupando, y soplando primero la parte lesa, y despues todos los otros organos de los sentidos.’ Venegas, Noticia de la Cal., tom. i., pp. 117-18.

Death and Burial in Lower California

Death is followed by a plaintive, mournful chant, attended with howling by friends and relatives, who beat their heads with sharp stones until blood flows freely. Without further ceremony they either inter or burn the body immediately, according to the custom of the locality: in the latter case they leave the head intact. Oftentimes they bury or burn the body before life has actually left it, never taking pains to ascertain the fact.[871]Baegert says: ‘It seems tedious to them to spend much time near an old, dying person that was long ago a burden to them and looked upon with indifference. A person of my acquaintance restored a girl to life that was already bound up in a deer-skin, according to their custom, and ready for burial.’ Baegert, in Smithsonian Rept., 1864, p. 387.

Weapons and other personal effects are buried or burned with the owner; and in some localities, where burying is customary, shoes are put to the feet, so that the spiritualized body may be prepared for its journey. In Colechá and Guajamina mourning ceremonies are practiced certain days after death—juggleries—in which the priest pretends to hold converse with the departed spirit through the scalp of the deceased, commending the qualities of the departed, and concluding by asking on the spirit’s behalf that all shall cut off their hair as a sign of sorrow. After a short dance, more howling, hair-pulling, and other ridiculous acts, the priest demands provisions for the spirit’s journey, which his hearers readily contribute, and which the priest appropriates to his own use, telling them it has already started. Occasionally they honor the memory of their dead by placing a rough image of the departed on a high pole, and a quama or priest sings his praises.[872]‘Solevano essi onorar la memoria d’alcuni defunti ponendo sopra un’ alta pertica la loro figura gossamente formata di rami, presso alla quale si metteva un Guama a predicar le loro lodi.’ Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., p. 144; Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 184.

The early missionaries found the people of the peninsula kind-hearted and tractable, although dull of comprehension and brutal in their instincts, rude, narrow-minded, and inconstant. A marked difference of character is observable between the Cochimís and the Pericúis. The former are more courteous in their manners and better behaved; although cunning and thievish, they exhibit attachment and gratitude to their superiors; naturally indolent and addicted to childish pursuits and amusements, they lived among themselves in amity, directing their savage and revengeful nature against neighboring tribes with whom they were at variance. The Pericúis, before they became extinct, were a fierce and barbarous nation, unruly and brutal in their passions, cowardly, treacherous, false, petulant, and boastful, with an intensely cruel and heartless disposition, often shown in relentless persecutions and murders. In their character and disposition the Guaicuris did not differ essentially from the Pericúis. In the midst of so much darkness there was still one bright spot visible, inasmuch as they were of a cheerful and happy nature, lovers of kind and lovers of country. Isolated, occupying an ill-favored country, it was circumstances, rather than any inherent incapacity for improvement, that held these poor people in their low state; for, as we shall see at some future time, in their intercourse with civilized foreigners, they were not lacking in cunning, diplomacy, selfishness, and other aids to intellectual progress.[873]‘La estupidèz è insensibilidad: la falta de conocimiento, y reflexion: la inconstancia, y volubilidad de una voluntad, y apetitos sin freno, sin luz, y aun sin objeto: la pereza, y horror à todo trabajo, y fatiga à la adhesion perpetua à todo linage de placer, y entretenimiento puerìl, y brutàl: la pusilanimidad, y flaqueza de animo; y finalmente, la falta miserable de todo lo que forma à los hombres esto es racionales, politicos, y utiles para sì, y para la sociedad.’ Venegas, Noticia de la Cal., tom. i., pp. 74-9, 87-8. ‘Las naciones del Norte eran mas despiertas, dóciles y fieles, ménos viciosas y libres, y por tanto mejor dispuestas para recibir el cristianismo que las que habitaban al Sur.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. lxxxix. ‘Eran los coras y pericues, y generalmente las rancherias del Sur de California, mas ladinos y capaces; pero tambien mas viciosos é inquietos que las demas naciones de la península.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. iii., p. 252. ‘Ces peuples sont d’une tres-grande docilité, ils se laissent instruire.’ Californie, Nouvelle Descente, in Voy. de l’Empereur de la Chine, p. 104. Other allusions to their character may be found in Calderon de la Barca’s Life in Mex., vol. i., p. 330; Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., p. 292; Baegert, in Smithsonian Rept., 1864, pp. 378-85; Crespi, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. vii., pp. 135, 143-6; Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 442; Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., pp. 113-14; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 451.

Northern Mexicans

The Northern Mexicans, the fourth and last division of this group, spread over the territory lying between parallels 31° and 23° of north latitude. Their lands have an average breadth of about five hundred miles, with an area of some 250,000 square miles, comprising the states of Sonora, Sinaloa, Chihuahua, Durango, Nuevo Leon, and the northern portions of Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí and Tamaulipas.

Nearly parallel with the Pacific seaboard, and dividing the states of Sonora and Sinaloa from Chihuahua and Durango, runs the great central Cordillera; further to the eastward, passing through Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and San Luis Potosí, and following the shore line of the Mexican Gulf, the Sierra Madre continues in a southerly direction, until it unites with the first-named range at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. All of these mountains abound in mineral wealth. The table-land between them is intersected by three ridges; one, the Sierra Mimbres, issuing from the inner flank of the Western Cordillera north of Arispe, extending in a northerly direction and following the line of the Rio Grande. The middle mountainous divide crosses from Durango to Coahuila, while the third rises in the state of Jalisco and taking an easterly and afterward northerly direction, traverses the table-land and merges into the Sierra Madre in the state of San Luis Potosí. On these broad table-lands are numerous lakes fed by the streams which have their rise in the mountains adjacent; in but few spots is the land available for tillage, but it is admirably adapted to pastoral purposes. The climate can hardly be surpassed in its tonic and exhilarating properties; the atmosphere is ever clear, with sunshine by day, and a galaxy of brilliant stars by night; the absence of rain, fogs, and dews, with a delicious and even temperature, renders habitations almost unnecessary. All this vast region is occupied by numerous tribes speaking different languages and claiming distinct origins. Upon the northern seaboard of Sonora and Tiburon Island are the Ceris, Tiburones, and Tepocas; south of them the Cahitas, or Sinaloas, which are general names for the Yaquis and Mayos, tribes so called from the rivers on whose banks they live. In the state of Sinaloa there are also the Cochitas, Tuvares, Sabaibos, Zuaques, and Ahomes, besides many other small tribes. Scattered through the states of the interior are the Ópatas, Eudeves,Jovas, Tarahumares, Tubares, and Tepehuanes, who inhabit the mountainous districts of Chihuahua and Durango. East of the Tarahumares, in the northern part of the first-named state, dwell the Conchos. In Durango, living in the hills round Topia, are the Acaxées; south of whom dwell the Xiximes. On the table-lands of Mapimi and on the shores of its numerous lakes, the Irritilas and many other tribes are settled; while south of these again, in Zacatecas and San Luis Potosí, are the Guachichiles, Huamares, and Cazcanes, and further to the east, and bordering on the gulf shores we find the country occupied by scattered tribes, distinguished by a great variety of names, prominent among which are the Carrizas or Garzas, Xanambres, and Pintos.[874]Father Ribas, the first priest who visited the Yaquis, was surprised at the loud rough tone in which they spoke. When he remonstrated with them for doing so, their reply was, ‘No vés que soy Hiaqui: y dezianlo, porque essa palabra, y nombre, significa, el que habla a gritos.’ Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 285. Mayos: ‘Their name comes from their position, and means in their own language boundary, they having been bounded on both sides by hostile tribes.’ Stone, in Hist. Mag., vol. v., p. 165. ‘Segun parece, la palabra talahumali ó tarahumari significa, “corredor de a pié;” de tala ó tara, pié, y huma, correr’. Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 364. ‘La palabra tepehuan creen algunos que es Mexicana, y corrupcion de tepehuani, conquistador; ó bien un compuesto de tepetl, monte, y hua, desinencia que en Mexicano indica posesion, como si dijéramos señor ó dueño del monte. Otros, acaso con mas exactitud, dicen que tepchuan es voz tarahumar, derivada de pehua ó pegua, que significa duro, lo cual conviene con el carácter de la nacion.’ Id., tom. ii., p. 45. ‘La palabra acaxee parece ser la misma que la de acaxete, nombre de un pueblo perteneciente al estado de Puebla, ambos corrupcion de la palabra Mexicana acaxitl, compuesta de atl (agua), y de caxitl (cazuela ó escudilla), hoy tambien corrompida, cajete: el todo significa alberca, nombre perfectamente adecuado á la cosa, pues que Alcedo, [Diccion. geográf. de América] dice que en Acaxete, “hay una caja ó arca de agua de piedra de cantería, en que se recogen las que bajan de la Sierra y se conducen à Tepeaca: el nombre, pues, nos dice que si no la obra arquitectónica, á lo menos la idea y la ejecucion, vienen desde los antiguos Mexicanos.”‘ Diccionario Universal de Hist. Geog., tom. i., p. 31.

Physical Peculiarities in North Mexico

Most of these nations are composed of men of large stature; robust, and well formed, with an erect carriage; the finest specimens are to be found on the sea-coast, exceptions being the Ópatas and Chicoratas, the former inclining to corpulency, the latter being short, although active and swift runners. The women are well limbed and have good figures, but soon become corpulent. The features of these people are quite regular, the head round and well shaped, with black and straight hair; they have high cheek-bones and handsome mouths, with a generally mild and pleasing expression of countenance. They have piercing black eyes, and can distinguish objects at great distances. The Ceris see best toward the close of the day, owing to the strong reflection from the white sands of the coast during the earlier part of the day. The Carrizas are remarkable for their long upper lip. The men of this region have little beard; their complexion varies from a light brown to a copper shade. Many of them attain to a great age.[875]‘Las mugeres son notables por los pechos y piés pequeños.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 169. ‘Tienen la vista muy aguda…. El oido es tambien vivissimo.’ Arlegui, Crón. de Zacatecas, pp. 174-5. See also, Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, pp. 7, 145, 285, 677; Zuñiga, in Escudero, Noticias de Sonora y Sinaloa, p. 142; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 416; Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, pp. 184, 189; Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 44, 49; Beaumont, Crón. de Mechoacan, MS., p. 242; Lachapelle, Raousset-Boulbon, pp. 79-80; Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., p. 80; Berlandier y Thovel, Diario, p. 69; Hardy’s Trav., pp. 289, 299; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., pp. 444, 446; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., pp. 214-15, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 419; Ulloa, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 345; Guzman, Rel. Anon., in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. ii., fol. 296; Sevin, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxx., p. 12; De Laet, Novus Orbis, pp. 284-5; Ward’s Mexico, vol. i., pp. 571, 583; Prichard’s Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., p. 562; Coronado, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 362.

For raiment the Cahitas and Ceris wear only a small rag in front of their persons, secured to a cord tied round the waist; the Tarahumares, Acaxées, and other nations of the interior use for the same purpose a square piece of tanned deer-skin painted, except in cold weather, when they wrap a large blue cotton mantle round the shoulders. The women have petticoats reaching to their ankles, made of soft chamois or of cotton or agave-fibre, and a tilma or mantle during the winter. Some wear a long sleeveless chemise, which reaches from the shoulders to the feet. The Ceri women have petticoats made from the skins of the albatross or pelican, the feathers inside. The Ópata men, soon after the conquest, were found well clad in blouse and drawers of cotton, with wooden shoes, while their neighbors wore sandals of raw hide, cut to the shape of the foot.[876]‘No alcanzan ropa de algodon, si no es algunas pampanillas y alguna manta muy gruesa; porque el vestido de ellos es de cuero de venados adobados, y el vestido que dellos hacen es coser un cuero con otro y ponérselos por debajo del brazo atados al hombro, y las mujeres traen sus naguas hechas con sus jirones que les llegan hasta los tobillos como faja.’ Guzman, Rel. Anón., in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. ii., pp. 296, 290, 481. The Ceri women wear ‘pieles de alcatras por lo general, ó una tosca frazada de lana envuelta en la cintura.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, pp. 131, 74, 153.

The Cahitas, Acaxées and most other tribes, pierce the ears and nose, from which they hang small green stones, attached to a piece of blue cord; on the head, neck, and wrists, a great variety of ornaments are worn, made from mother-of-pearl and white snails’ shells, also fruit-stones, pearls, and copper and silver hoops; round the ankles some wear circlets of deer’s hoofs, others decorate their heads and necks with necklaces of red beans and strings of paroquets and small birds; pearls and feathers are much used to ornament the hair. The practice of painting the face and body is common to all, the colors most in use being red and black. A favorite style with the Ceris is to paint the face in alternate perpendicular stripes of blue, red, and white. The Pintos paint the face, breast, and arms; the Tarahumares tattoo the forehead, lips, and cheeks in various patterns; the Yaquis the chin and arms; while other tribes tattoo the face or body in styles peculiar to themselves. Both sexes are proud of their hair, which they wear long and take much care of; the women permit it to flow, in loose tresses, while the men gather it into one or more tufts on the crown of the head, and when hunting protect it by a chamois cap, to prevent its being disarranged by trees or bushes.[877]The Temoris had ‘las orejas cercadas de los zarcillos que ellos vsan, adornados de conchas de nacar labradas, y ensartadas en hilos azules, y cercan toda la oreja.’ Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, pp. 226, 286, 472. Near Culiacan, Nuño de Guzman met about 50,000 warriors who ‘traian al cuello sartas de codornices, pericos pequeños y otros diferentes pajaritos.’ Tello, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. ii., p. 354. The Humes, ‘coronadas sus cabezas de diademas de varias plumas de papagayos, guacamayas con algunos penachos de hoja de plata batida.’ Ahumada, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. iii., p. 96. ‘Los Indios de este nuevo Reyno son de diversas naciones que se distinguen por la diversidad de rayas en el rostro.’ Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., pp. 472, 531. ‘No hemos visto á ningun carrizo pintado con vermellon, tal como lo hacen otros.’ Berlandier y Thovel, Diario, p. 69. For further description see Hardy’s Trav., pp. 289-90, 298; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., p. 445; Combier, Voy., pp. 199-200; Coronado, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., pp. 362-4; Espejo, in Id., pp. 384, 390-1; Cabeza de Vaca, Relation, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. vii., p. 250; Castañeda, in Id., tom. ix., p. 157; Jaramillo, in Id., p. 366; Ward’s Mexico, vol. i., p. 571; Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, pp. 184-5, 190; Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 552; Arnaya, in Id., serie iv., tom. iii., p. 63; Descrip. Top., in Id., serie iv., tom. iv., pp. 113-14; Lachapelle, Raousset-Boulbon, pp. 79-80; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., pp. 574-6, 609; Sevin, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxx., pp. 12, 25-6; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., pp. 401, 406, and ii., pp. 124, 184; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 208, 226, 228; and Dapper, Neue Welt, pp. 235, 254-5; Cabeza de Vaca, Relation, pp. 167-8; García Conde, in Album Mex., tom. i., p. 93; Beaumont, Crón. de Mechoacan, MS., pp. 241-2; Hazart, Kirchen-Geschichte, tom. ii., p. 539.

Northern Mexican Dwellings

Their houses are of light construction, usually built of sticks and reeds, and are covered with coarse reed matting. The Chinipas, Yaquis, Ópatas and Conchos build somewhat more substantial dwellings of timber and adobes, or of plaited twigs well plastered with mud; all are only one story high and have flat roofs. Although none of these people are without their houses or huts, they spend most of their time, especially during summer, under the trees. The Tarahumares find shelter in the deep caverns of rocky mountains, the Tepehuanes and Acaxées place their habitations on the top of almost inaccessible crags, while the Humes and Batucas build their villages in squares, with few and very small entrances, the better to defend themselves against their enemies—detached buildings for kitchen and store-room purposes being placed contiguous.[878]‘Todos los pueblos de los indios cobiertas las casas de esteras, á las cuales llaman en lengua de México petates, y por esta causa le llamamos Petatlan.’ Guzman, Rel. Anón., in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. ii., p. 296. Compare Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 49, 156; Combier, Voy., pp. 157, 160, 164, 200; Coronado, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 363; Niza, in Id., p. 366; Espejo, in Id., p. 384; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 206, 216, 227-8; and Dapper, Neue Welt, pp. 232, 255; Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, pp. 3, 6, 7, 155, 222, 594; Cabeza de Vaca, Relation, pp. 167, 175; Id., in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 327; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 574, 576, 609; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 396; Azpilcueta, in Id., tom. ii., p. 186; Berlandier y Thovel, Diario, p. 68.

The Northern Mexicans live chiefly on wild fruits such as the pitahaya, honey, grain, roots, fish, and larvæ; they capture game both large and small, and some of them eat rats, mice, frogs, snakes, worms, and vermin. The Ahomamas along the shores of Lake Parras, the Yaquis, Batucas, Ceris, Tarahumares, and the Ópatas since the conquest have become agriculturists and cattle-breeders, besides availing themselves of fishing and hunting as means of subsistence. On the coast of Sonora, there being no maize, the natives live on pulverized rush and straw, with fish caught at sea or in artificial enclosures. The dwellers on the coast of Sinaloa consume a large quantity of salt, which they gather on the land during the dry season, and in the rainy reason from the bottom of marshes and pools. It is said that the Salineros sometimes eat their own excrement. According to the reports of the older historians, the Tobosos, Bauzarigames, Cabezas, Contotores, and Acaxées, as well as other tribes of Durango and Sinaloa, formerly fed on human flesh,—hunted human beings for food as they hunted deer or other game. The flesh of their brave foes they ate, thinking thereby to augment their own bravery.[879]‘Comian inmundas carnes sin reservar la humana.’ Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., pp. 530, 80, 84, 533. ‘Ils mangent tous de la chair humaine, et vont à la chasse des hommes.’ Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 152, 158-9. See also, Arlegui, Chrón. de Zacatecas, pp. 150, 180-2; Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, pp. 3, 6, 7, 11, 14, 175, 217, 385, 671.

Methods of Hunting

The Ceris of Tiburon Island depend for food entirely on fish and game. They catch turtle by approaching the animal and suddenly driving the point of their spear into its back, a cord being attached to the weapon by which they drag the prize on to the raft as soon as its strength has become exhausted. According to Gomara, the natives of Sonora in 1537 were caught poisoning the deer-pools, probably for the skins, or it may have been only a stupefying drink that the pools were made to supply. The Sinaloans are great hunters; at times they pursue the game singly, then again the whole town turns out and, surrounding the thickest part of the forest, the people set fire to the underbrush and bring down the game as it attempts to escape the flames. A feast of reptiles is likewise thus secured. Iguanas are caught with the hands, their legs broken, and thus they are kept until required for food. For procuring wild honey, a bee is followed until it reaches its tree, the sweet-containing part of which is cut off and carried away. The Tarahumares hunt deer by driving them through narrow passes, where men are stationed to shoot them. Others make use of a deer’s head as a decoy. For fishing they have various contrivances; some fish between the rocks with a pointed stick; others, when fishing in a pool, throw into the water a species of cabbage or leaves of certain trees, that stupefy the fish, when they are easily taken with the hands; they also use wicker baskets, and near the Pacific Ocean they inclose the rivers, and catch enormous quantities of smelt and other fish, which have come up from the sea to spawn. The Laguneros of Coahuila catch ducks by placing a calabash on their heads, with holes through which to breathe and see; thus equipped, they swim softly among the ducks, and draw them under water without flutter or noise. Tatéma is the name of a dish cooked in the ground by the Tarahumares. The Laguneros make tortillas of flour obtained from an aquatic plant. The Zacatecs make the same kind of bread from the pulp of the maguey, which is first boiled with lime, then washed and boiled again in pure water, after which it is squeezed dry and made into cakes. Most of the people use pozole, or pinolatl, both being a kind of gruel made of pinole, of parched corn or seeds ground, the one of greater thickness than the other; also tamales, boiled beans, and pumpkins. The Ceris of Tiburon eat fish and meat uncooked, or but slightly boiled. The Salineros frequently devour uncooked hares and rabbits, having only removed their furs.[880]Poçolatl, ‘beuida de mayz cozido.’ Pinolatl, ‘beuida de mayz y chia tostado.’ Molina, Vocabulario. The Batucas ‘cuanto siembran es de regadío … sus milpas parecen todas huertas.’ Azpilcueta, in Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. ii., p. 186, see also p. 184; Acaxées, mode of fishing, etc., in Id., tom. i., pp. 401-5, also 283-4, 399, 402-3; Tarahumaras, mode of fishing, hunting, and cooking. Murr, Nachrichten, pp. 310, 317, 322-3, 337, 342. The Yaquis ‘fields and gardens in the highest state of cultivation.’ Ward’s Mexico, vol. ii., p. 606. For further account of their food and manner of cooking, etc., see Revista Mexicana, tom. i., pp. 375-6; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 54; Zepeda, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. iii., p. 158; Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, pp. 72, 169-70; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., pp. 465, 469; Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., pp. 549-50; Jaramillo, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 366; Cabeza de Vaca, in Id., tom. vii., pp. 242-3, 249-50, 265; Espejo, in Hakluyt’s Voy., tom. iii., p. 384; Coronado, in Id., pp. 363, 374; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 609; Combier, Voy., pp. 160-2, 169, 198, 200, 312; Guzman, Rel. Anón., in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. ii., p. 289; Tello, in Id., p. 353; De Laet, Novus Orbis, pp. 286, 310; Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 442; Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 185; Ulloa, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 341-2; Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxxi., pp. 256, 260; Zuñiga, in Id., 1842, tom. xciii., p. 239; Stone, in Hist. Mag., vol. v., p. 166; Malte-Brun, Sonora, pp. 14-5.

How Arrows Were Made and Poisoned

The weapons universally used by these nations were bows and arrows and short clubs, in addition to which the chiefs and most important warriors carried a short lance and a buckler. The arrows were carried in a quiver made of lion or other skins. The Tarahumares and some others wore a leathern guard round the left wrist, to protect it from the blow of the bow-string. Flint knives were employed for cutting up their slain enemies. The Ceris, Jovas, and other tribes smeared the points of their arrows with a very deadly poison, but how it was applied to the point, or whence obtained, it is difficult to determine; some travelers say that this poison was taken from rattlesnakes and other venomous reptiles, which, by teasing, were incited to strike their fangs into the liver of a cow or deer which was presented to them, after which it was left to putrefy, and the arrows being dipped into the poisonous mass, were placed in the sun to dry; but other writers, again, assert that the poison was produced from a vegetable preparation. The wound inflicted by the point, however slight, is said to have caused certain death. The arrows were pointed with flint, or some other stone, or with bone, fastened to a piece of hard wood, which is tied by sinews to a reed or cane, notched, and winged with three feathers; when not required for immediate use, the tying was loosed, and the point reversed in the cane, to protect it from being broken. The Ceris and Chicoratos cut a notch a few inches above the point, so that in striking it should break off and remain in the wound. Their clubs were made of a hard wood called guayacan, with a knob at the end, and when not in use were carried slung to the arm by a leather thong. Their lances were of Brazil wood, bucklers of alligator-skin, and shields of bull’s hide, sufficiently large to protect the whole body, with a hole in the top to look through. Another kind of shield was made of small lathes closely interwoven with cords, in such a manner that, when not required for use, it could be shut up like a fan, and was carried under the arm.[881]Of the Ceris it is said that ‘la ponzoña con que apestan las puntas de sus flechas, es la mas activa que se ha conocido por acá … no se ha podido averiguar cuáles sean á punto fijo los mortíferos materiales de esta pestilencial maniobra? Y aunque se dicen muchas cosas, como que lo hacen de cabezas de víboras irritadas cortadas al tiempo que clavan sus dientes en un pedazo de bofes y de carne humana ya medio podrida … pues no es mas que adivinar lo que no sabemos. Sin duda su principal ingrediente será alguna raíz.’ Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., pp. 560-1, 552. ‘El magot es un árbol pequeño muy losano y muy hermoso á la vista; pero á corta incision de la corteza brota una leche mortal que les servia en su gentilidad para emponzoñar sus flechas.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. ii., p. 215. See also Hardy’s Trav., pp. 298-9, 391; Stone, in Hist. Mag., vol. v., p. 166; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 57; Cabeza de Vaca, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. vii., pp. 250-1; Castañeda, in Id., série i., tom. ix., pp. 209, 222-3; Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, pp. 185-6, 190; Arlegui, Chron. de Zacatecas, p. 153; Tello, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. ii., p. 354; Guzman, Rel. Anón., in Id., p. 289, 296; Descrip. Topog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. iv., p. 114; Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, pp. 10, 110, 473, 677; De Laet, Novus Orbis, pp. 285, 287, 305, 310; Sevin, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxx., pp. 12, 25; Berlandier y Thovel, Diario, p. 68; Ramirez, in Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 284; Combier, Voy., pp. 198, 346; Espejo, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., pp. 384, 390; Niza, in Id., p. 567; Ulloa, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 342-3; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 208, 228; and Dapper, Neue Welt, pp. 234, 255; Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., p. 520; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 55.

Living in a state of constant war, arising out of family quarrels or aggressions made into each other’s territories, they were not unskilled in military tactics. Previous to admission as a warrior, a young man had to pass through certain ordeals; having first qualified himself by some dangerous exploit, or having faithfully performed the duty of a scout in an enemy’s country. The preliminaries being settled, a day was appointed for his initiation, when one of the braves, acting as his godfather, introduced him to the chief, who, for the occasion, had first placed himself in the midst of a large circle of warriors. The chief then addressed him, instructing him in the several duties required of him, and drawing from a pouch an eagle’s talon, with it proceeded to score his body on the shoulders, arms, breast, and thighs, till the blood ran freely; the candidate was expected to suffer without showing the slightest signs of pain. The chief then handed to him a bow and a quiver of arrows; each of the braves also presented him with two arrows. In the campaigns that followed, the novitiate must take the hardest duty, be ever at the post of danger, and endure without a murmur or complaint the severest privations, until a new candidate appeared to take his place.[882]‘El jóven que desea valer por las armas, ántes de ser admitido en toda forma á esta profesion, debe hacer méritos en algunas campañas … despues de probado algun tiempo en estas experiencias y tenida la aprobacion de los ancianos, citan al pretendiente para algun dia en que deba dar la última prueba de su valor.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. ii., pp. 218-9, 396-8, and tom. i., pp. 396-9. Examine Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., pp. 544-7; Lizasoin, in Id., pp. 684-5.

War Customs in North Mexico

When one tribe desires the assistance of another in war, they send reeds filled with tobacco, which, if accepted, is a token that the alliance is formed; a call for help is made by means of the smoke signal. When war is decided upon, a leader is chosen, at whose house all the elders, medicine-men, and principal warriors assemble; a fire is then lighted, and tobacco handed round and smoked in silence. The chief, or the most aged and distinguished warrior then arises, and in a loud tone and not unpoetic language, harangues his hearers, recounting to them heroic deeds hitherto performed, victories formerly gained, and present wrongs to be avenged; after which tobacco is again passed round, and new speakers in turn address the assembly. War councils are continued for several nights, and a day is named on which the foe is to be attacked. Sometimes the day fixed for the battle is announced to the enemy, and a spot on which the fight is to take place selected. During the campaign fasting is strictly observed. The Acaxées, before taking the war-path, select a maiden of the tribe, who secludes herself during the whole period of the campaign, speaking to no one, and eating nothing but a little parched corn without salt. The Ceris and Ópatas approach their enemy under cover of darkness, preserving a strict silence, and at break of day, by a preconcerted signal, a sudden and simultaneous attack is made. To fire an enemy’s house, the Tepagues and others put lighted corn-cobs on the points of their arrows. In the event of a retreat they invariably carry off the dead, as it is considered a point of honor not to leave any of their number on the field. Seldom is sex or age spared, and when prisoners are taken, they are handed over to the women for torture, who treat them most inhumanly, heaping upon them every insult devisable, besides searing their flesh with burning brands, and finally burning them at the stake, or sacrificing them in some equally cruel manner. Many cook and eat the flesh of their captives, reserving the bones as trophies. The slain are scalped, or a hand is cut off, and a dance performed round the trophies on the field of battle. On the return of an expedition, if successful, entry into the village is made in the day-time. Due notice of their approach having been forwarded to the inhabitants, the warriors are received with congratulations and praises by the women, who, seizing the scalps, vent their spleen in frantic gestures; tossing them from one to another, these female fiends dance and sing round the bloody trophies, while the men look on in approving silence. Should the expedition, however, prove unsuccessful, the village is entered in silence and during the dead of night. All the booty taken is divided amongst the aged men and women, as it is deemed unlucky by the warriors to use their enemy’s property.[883]As to the Mayos, ‘eran estos indios en sus costumbres y modo de guerrear como los de Sinaloa, hacian la centinela cada cuarto de hora, poniendose en fila cincuenta indios, uno delante de otro, con sus arcos y flechas y con una rodilla en tierra.’ Beaumont, Crón. de Mechoacan, MS., p. 241. See also Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, pp. 9, 18, 76, 473-4; Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., p. 522; Guzman, Rel. Anón., in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. ii., pp. 301-2; Hazart, Kirchen-Geschichte, tom. ii., p. 539; Ferry, Scènes de le vie Sauvage, p. 76; Arlegui, Chrón. de Zacatecas, p. 150; Coronado, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 363; Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxxi., p. 256.

Their household utensils consist of pots of earthen ware and gourds, the latter used both for cooking and drinking purposes; later, out of the horns of oxen cups are made. The Tarahumares use in place of saddles two rolls of straw fastened by a girdle to the animal’s back, loose enough, however, to allow the rider to put his feet under them. Emerging from their barbarism, they employ, in their agricultural pursuits, plows with shares of wood or stone, and wooden hoes. The Ceris have a kind of double-pointed javelin, with which they catch fish, which, once between the prongs, are prevented from slipping out by the jagged sides.[884]See Combier, Voy., p. 157; Murr, Nachrichten, pp. 307, 335, 337; Descrip. Topog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. iv., p. 114; Hardy’s Trav., p. 290.

The Ahomoas, Eudebes, Jovas, Yaquis, and Ópatas weave fabrics out of cotton or agave-fibre, such as blankets or serapes, and cloth with colored threads in neat designs and figures; these nations also manufacture matting from reeds and palm-leaves. Their loom consists of four short sticks driven into the ground, to which a frame is attached to hold the thread. The shuttle is an oblong piece of wood, on which the cross-thread is wound. After passing through the web, the shuttle is seized and pressed close by a ruler three inches in breadth, which is placed between the web and supplies the place of a comb. When any patterns are to be worked, several women assist to mark off with wooden pegs the amount of thread required. The Yaquis and Ceris manufacture common earthen ware, and the Tarahumares twist horse-hair into strong cords; they also use undressed hides cut in strips, and coarse aloe-fibres.[885]‘Vsauan el arte de hilar, y texer algodon, ó otras yeruas siluestres, como el Cañamo de Castilla, o Pita.’ Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, pp. 12, 200. For the Yaquis, see Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 73; for the Ópatas and Jovas, Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., pp. 550-2; and for the Tarahumares, Murr, Nachrichten, p. 344; Cabeza de Vaca, Relation, pp. 166, 174; Id., in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 327; Lachapelle, Raousset-Boulbon, pp. 79-80.

PROPERTY OF CERIS, ÓPATAS, AND YAQUIS.

No boats or canoes are employed by any of the natives of this region; but the Ceris, the Tiburones, and the Tepocas make rafts of reeds or bamboos, fastened together into bundles. These rafts are about eighteen feet long and tapering toward both ends; some are large enough to carry four or five men; they are propelled with a double-bladed paddle, held in the middle and worked alternately on both sides.[886]‘El indio tomando el asta por medio, boga con gran destreza por uno y otro lado.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. iii., p. 119. ‘An Indian paddles himself … by means of a long elastic pole of about twelve or fourteen feet in length.’ Hardy’s Trav., pp. 297, 291. See also Niza, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., pp. 366; Cabeza de Vaca, Relation, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. vii., p. 250; Ulloa, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 342.

Subsequent to the conquest, the Ópatas and Yaquis accumulated large flocks of sheep, cattle, and bands of horses; the latter are good miners, and expert divers for pearls. Their old communistic ideas follow them in their new life; thus, the landed property of the Tarahumares is from time to time repartitioned; they have also a public asylum for the sick, helpless, and for orphans, who are taken care of by male and female officials called tenanches. Pearls, turquoises, emeralds, coral, feathers, and gold were in former times part of their property, and held the place of money; trade, for the most part, was carried on by simple barter.[887]The Carrizos ‘no tienen caballos, pero en cambio, sus pueblos están llenos de perros.’ Berlandier y Thovel, Diario, p. 70. The Tahus ‘sacrifiaient une partie de leurs richesses, qui consistaient en étoffes et en turquoises.’ Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 150. Compare further, Combier, Voy., pp. 200-1; Zuñiga, in Escudero, Noticias de Sonora y Sinaloa, p. 135; Mex. in 1842, p. 68; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., p. 260; Id., Cent. Amer., p. 380; Cabeza de Vaca, Relation, p. 167.

The Northern Mexicans make no pretensions to art; nevertheless, Guzman states that in the province of Culiacan the walls of the houses were decorated with obscene paintings. They are all great observers of the heavenly bodies and the changes in the atmosphere; the Yaquis count their time by the moon. They are good musicians, imitating to perfection on their own instruments almost any strain they happen to hear. Their native melodies are low, sweet, and harmonious. In Petatlan they embroidered dresses with pearls, and as they had no instrument for piercing the jewel, they cut a small groove round it, and so strung them. With pearls they formed on cloth figures of animals and birds.[888]‘Son grandes observadores de los Astros, porque como siempre duermen á Cielo descubierto, y estan hechos â mirarlos, se marabillan de qualquier nueva impression, que registran en los Cielos.’ Arlegui, Chrón. de Zacatecas, p. 175. Among the Yaquis, ‘hay asimismo músicos de violin y arpa, todo por puro ingenio, sin que se pueda decir que se les hayan enseñado las primeras reglas.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 74. See also Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 12; De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 285; Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 152; Combier, Voy., p. 201; Murr, Nachrichten, p. 370; Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., p. 80.

I find nowhere in this region any system of laws or government. There are the usual tribal chieftains, selected on account of superior skill or bravery, but with little or no power except in war matters. Councils of war, and all meetings of importance, are held at the chief’s house.[889]‘Leyes, ni Reyes que castigassen tales vicios y pecados, no los tuuieron, ni se hallaua entre ellos genero de autoridad y gouierno politico que los castigasse.’ Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 11; Combier, Voy., p. 200; Ahumada, Carta, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. iii., p. 96; Espejo, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 384.

Marriage and Polygamy

The Ceris and Tepocas celebrate the advent of womanhood with a feast, which lasts for several days. The Ahome maiden wears on her neck a small carved shell, as a sign of her virginity, to lose which before marriage is a lasting disgrace. On the day of marriage the bridegroom removes this ornament from his bride’s neck. It is customary among most of the tribes to give presents to the girl’s parents. The Tahus, says Castañeda, are obliged to purchase a maiden from her parents, and deliver her to the cacique,[890]The word cacique, which was used by the Spaniards to designate the chiefs and rulers of provinces and towns throughout the West Indies, Central America, Mexico, and Peru, is originally taken from the Cuban language. Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 595, explains it as follows: ‘Cacique: señor, jefe absoluto ó rey de una comarca ó Estado. En nuestros dias suele emplearse esta voz en algunas poblaciones de la parte oriental de Cuba, para designar al regidor decano de un ayuntamiento. Asi se dice: Regidor cacique. Metafóricamente tiene aplicacion en nuestra península, para designar á los que en los pueblos pequeños llevan la voz y gobiernan á su antojo y capricho.’ chief, or possibly high priest, to whom was accorded the droit de seigneur. If the bride proves to be no virgin, all the presents are returned by her parents, and it is optional with the bridegroom to keep her or condemn her to the life of a public prostitute. The Bauzarigames, Cabezas, Contotores, and Tehuecos practice polygamy and inter-family marriages, but these are forbidden by the Ceris, Chinipas, Tiburones, and Tepocas. Different ceremonies take place upon the birth of the first child. Among some, the father is intoxicated, and in that state surrounded by a dancing multitude, who score his body till the blood flows freely. Among others, several days after the birth of a male child, the men visit the house, feel each limb of the newly born, exhort him to be brave, and finally give him a name; women perform similar ceremonies with female children. The couvade obtains in certain parts; as for instance, the Lagunero and Ahomama husbands, after the birth of a child, remain in bed for six or seven days, during which time they eat neither fish nor meat. The Sisibotaris, Ahomes, and Tepehuanes hold chastity in high esteem, and both their maidens and matrons are remarkably chaste. The standard of morality elsewhere in this vicinity is in general low, especially with the Acaxées and Tahus, whose incestuous connections and system of public brothels are notorious. According to Arlegui, Ribas, and other authors, among some of these nations male concubinage prevails to a great extent; these loathsome semblances of humanity, whom to call beastly were a slander upon beasts, dress themselves in the clothes and perform the functions of women, the use of weapons even being denied them.[891]‘Juntos grandes y pequeños ponen á los mocetones y mujeres casaderas en dos hileras, y dada una seña emprenden á correr éstas; dada otra siguen la carrera aquellos, y alcanzándolas, ha de cojer cada uno la suya de la tetilla izquierda; y quedan hechos y confirmados los desposorios.’ Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 542-3. ‘Unos se casan con una muger sola, y tienen muchas mancebas…. Otras se casan con quantas mugeres quieren…. Otras naciones tienen las mugeres por comunes.’ Arlegui, Chrón. de Zacatecas, pp. 154-7. For further account of their family relations and marriage customs, see Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, pp. 11, 145, 171, 201, 242, 475; Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 186; Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 150, 152, 155, 158; Hazart, Kirchen-Geschichte, tom. ii., p. 541; Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., p. 530; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 452; Arista, in Id., p. 417;Berlandier y Thovel, Diario, p. 70; Combier, Voy., p. 201; Löwenstern, Mexique, p. 409.

Drunkenness prevails to a great extent among most of the tribes; their liquors are prepared from the fruit of the pitahaya, mezquite-beans, agave, honey, and wheat. In common with all savages, they are immoderately fond of dancing, and have numerous feasts, where, with obscene carousals and unseemly masks, the revels continue, until the dancers, from sheer exhaustion or intoxication, are forced to rest. The Ópatas hold a festival called torom raqui, to insure rain and good crops. Clearing a square piece of ground, they strew it with seeds, bones, boughs, horns, and shells; the actors then issue forth from huts built on the four corners of the square, and there dance from sunrise to sunset. On the first day of the year they plant in the ground a tall pole, to which are tied long ribbons of many colors. A number of young maidens, fancifully attired, dance round the pole, holding the ends of the ribbons, twisting themselves nearer or away from the center in beautiful figures. Upon other occasions they commemorate, in modern times, what is claimed to be the journey of the Aztecs, and the appearance of Montezuma among them. Hunting and war expeditions are inaugurated by dances. Their musical instruments are flutes and hollow trunks beaten with sticks or bones, and accompanied with song and impromptu words, relating the exploits of their gods, warriors, and hunters. They are passionately fond of athletic sports, such as archery, wrestling, and racing; but the favorite pastime is a kind of foot-ball. The game is played between two parties, with a large elastic ball, on a square piece of ground prepared expressly for the purpose. The players must strike the ball with the shoulders, knees, or hips, but never with the hand. Frequently one village challenges another as upon the occasion of a national festival, which lasts several days, and is accompanied with dancing and feasting. They have also games with wooden balls, in which sticks are used when playing. The players are always naked, and the game often lasts from sunrise to sunset, and sometimes, when the victory is undecided, the play will be continued for several successive days. Bets are freely made, and horses and other property staked with the greatest recklessness.[892]Les Yaquis ‘aiment surtout une danse appelée tutuli gamuchi … dans laquelle ils changent de femmes en se cédant réciproquement tous leurs droits conjugaux.’ Zuñiga, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1842, tom. xciii., pp. 238-9. The Sisibotaris; ‘En las danzas … fué muy de notar que aunque danzaban juntos hombres y mugeres, ni se hablaban ni se tocaban inmediatamente las manos.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. ii., p. 124, and tom. i., pp. 405-7. In the province of Pánuco, ‘cuando estan en sus borracheras é fiestas, lo que no pueden beber por la boca, se lo hacen echar por bajo con un embudo.’ Guzman, Rel. Anón., in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. ii., p. 295. See further, Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, pp. 9, 15, 256, 672; Murr, Nachrichten, pp. 321, 343, 345; De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 287; Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., pp. 519, 530; Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 158; Hardy’s Trav., p. 440; Arlegui, Chrón. de Zacatecas, pp. 158, 160; Donnavan’s Adven., pp. 46, 48; Las Casas, Hist. Indias, MS., lib. iii., cap. 168; García Conde, in Album Mex., tom. i., p. 167; Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96. p. 190; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., p. 261; Id., Cent. Amer., p. 381; Sevin, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxx., p. 25.

Customs in Northern Mexico

Loads are carried on the head, or in baskets at the back, hanging from a strap that passes across the forehead. Another mode of carrying burdens is to distribute equally the weight at both ends of a pole which is slung across the shoulder, à la Chinoise. Their conceptions of the supernatural are extremely crude; thus, the Ópatas, by yells and gesticulations, endeavor to dispel eclipses of the heavenly bodies; before the howling of the wind they cower as before the voice of the Great Spirit. The Ceris superstitiously celebrate the new moon, and bow reverentially to the rising and setting sun. Nuño de Guzman states that in the province of Culiacan tamed serpents were found in the dwellings of the natives, which they feared and venerated. Others have a great veneration for the hidden virtues of poisonous plants, and believe that if they crush or destroy one, some harm will happen to them. It is a common custom to hang a small bag containing poisonous herbs round the neck of a child, as a talisman against diseases or attacks from wild beasts, which they also believe will render them invulnerable in battle. They will not touch a person struck by lightning, and will leave him to die, or, if dead, to lie unburied.[893]The Ópatas have ‘grande respeto y veneracion que hasta hoy tienen á los hombrecitos pequeños y contrahechos, á quienes temen y franquean su casa y comida.’ Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 628. ‘Angulis atque adytis angues complures reperti, peregrinum in modum conglobati, capitibus supra et infra exsertis, terribili rictu, si quis propuis accessisset, cæterum innocui; quos barbari vel maxime venerabantur, quod diabolus ipsis hac forma apparere consuesset: eosdem tamen et manibus contrectabant et nonnunquam iis vescebantur.’ De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 284. Further reference in Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 472; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 574-5; Lachapelle, Raousset-Boulbon, p. 79; Cabeza de Vaca, Relation, p. 169; Arlegui, Chrón. de Zacatecas, pp. 166-7; Sevin, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxx., p. 26.

Medical Treatment

Intermittent and other fevers prevail among the people of Northern Mexico. Small-pox, introduced by Europeans, has destroyed many lives; syphilis was introduced among the Carrizos by the Spanish troops. The Tarahumares suffer from pains in the side about the end of the spring. The Ópatas of Oposura are disfigured by goitres, but this disease seems to be confined within three leagues of the town. Wounds inflicted by arrows, many of them poisoned, and bites of rattlesnakes are common. Friends, and even parents and brothers leave to their fate such as are suffering from contagious diseases; they, however, place water and wild fruits within the sufferer’s reach. To relieve their wearied legs and feet after long marches, they scarify the former with sharp flints. In extreme cases they rub themselves with the maguey’s prickly leaf well pounded, which, acting as an emollient on their hardened bodies, affords them prompt relief. The Carrizos cure syphilis with certain plants, the medicinal properties of which are known to them. As a purgative they use the grains of the maguacate, and as a febrifuge the cenicilla (teraina frutescens). With the leaves of the latter they make a decoction which, mixed with hydromel, is an antidote for intermittent fevers. They also use the leaves of the willow in decoction, as a remedy for the same complaint. In Sinaloa, the leaf and roots of the guaco are used by the natives as the most efficacious medicine for the bites of poisonous reptiles. The Ópatas employ excellent remedies for the diseases to which they are subject. They have a singular method of curing rattlesnake bites, a sort of retaliative cure; seizing the reptile’s head between two sticks, they stretch out the tail and bite it along the body, and if we may believe Alegre, the bitten man does not swell up, but the reptile does, until it bursts. In some parts, if a venomous snake bites a person, he seizes it at both ends, and breaks all its bones with his teeth until it is dead, imagining this to be an efficacious means of saving himself from the effect of the wounds. Arrow wounds are first sucked, and then peyote powder is put into them; after two days the wound is cleaned, and more of the same powder applied; this operation is continued upon every second day, and finally powdered lechugilla-root is used; by this process the wound, after thoroughly suppurating, becomes healed. Out of the leaves of the maguey, lechugilla, and date-palm, as well as from the rosemary, they make excellent balsams for curing wounds. They have various vegetable substances for appeasing the thirst of wounded persons, as water is considered injurious. The Acaxées employ the sucking processes, and blowing through a hollow tube, for the cure of diseases. The Yaquis put a stick into the patient’s mouth, and with it draw from the stomach the disease; the Ceris of Tiburon Island also employ charms in their medical practice.[894]‘Quando entre los Indios ay algun contagio, que es el de viruelas el mas continuo, de que mueren innumerables, mudan cada dia lugares, y se van á los mas retirados montes, buscando los sitios mas espinosos y enmarañados, para que de miedo de las espinas, no entren (segun juzgan, y como cierto lo afirman) las viruelas.’ Arlegui, Chrón. de Zacatecas, pp. 152-3, 182. See also, Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 431; Berlandier y Thovel, Diario, pp. 70-1; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 399, tom. ii., pp. 213-4, 219-20; Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, pp. 17, 322-3; Löwenstern, Mexique, p. 411; Hardy’s Trav., p. 282; Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., pp. 547-8.

I find nothing of cremation in these parts. The dead body is brought head and knees together, and placed in a cave or under a rock. Several kinds of edibles, with the utensils and implements with which the deceased earned a support while living, are deposited in the grave, also a small idol, to serve as a guide and fellow traveler to the departed on the long journey. On the lips of dead infants is dropped milk from the mother’s breast, that these innocents may have sustenance to reach their place of rest. Among the Acaxées, if a woman dies in childbirth, the infant surviving is slain, as the cause of its mother’s death. Cutting the hair is the only sign of mourning among them.[895]See Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 516; Villa, in Prieto, Viajes, p. 443.

Character

The character of the Northern Mexicans, as portrayed by Arlegui, is gross and low; but some of these tribes do not deserve such sweeping condemnation. The Mayos, Yaquis, Acaxées, and Ópatas are generally intelligent, honest, social, amiable, and intrepid in war; their young women modest, with a combination of sweetness and pride noticed by some writers. The Ópatas especially are a hard-working people, good-humored, free from intemperance and thievishness; they are also very tenacious of purpose, when their minds are made up—danger often strengthening their stubbornness the more. The Sisibotaris, Ahomamas, Onavas, and Tarahumares are quiet and docile, but brave when occasion requires; the last-mentioned are remarkably honest. The Tepocas and Tiburones are fierce, cruel, and treacherous, more warlike and courageous than the Ceris of the main land, who are singularly devoid of good qualities, being sullenly stupid, lazy, inconstant, revengeful, depredating, and much given to intemperance. Their country even has become a refuge for evil-doers. In former times they were warlike and brave: but even this quality they have lost, and have become as cowardly as they are cruel. The Tepehuanes and other mountaineers are savage and warlike, and their animosity to the whites perpetual. The Laguneros and other tribes of Coahuila are intelligent, domestic, and hospitable; the former especially are very brave. In Chihuahua they are generally fierce and uncommunicative. At El Paso, the women are more jovial and pleasant than the men; the latter speak but little, never laugh, and seldom smile; their whole aspect seems to be wrapped in melancholy—everything about it has a semblance of sadness and suffering.[896]‘Las mas de las naciones referidas son totalmente barbaras, y de groseros entendimientos; gente baxa.’ Arlegui, Chrón. de Zacatecas, p. 149. The Yaquis: ‘by far the most industrious and useful of all the other tribes in Sonora … celebrated for the exuberance of their wit.’ Hardy’s Trav., pp. 439, 442. ‘Los ópatas son tan honrados como valientes … la nacion ópata es pacífica, dócil, y hasta cierto punto diferente de todas los demas indígenas del continente … son amantes del trabajo.’ Zuñiga, in Escudero, Noticias de Sonora y Sinaloa, pp. 139-41. ‘La tribu ópata fué la que manifestó un carácter franco, dócil, y con simpatías á los blancos … siempre fué inclinada al órden y la paz.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, pp. 151, 117. The Ópatas ‘son de génio malicioso, disimulados y en sumo grado vengativos; y en esto sobresalen las mujeres.’ Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., pp. 629-30. See also: Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, pp. 237, 285, 358, 369, 385; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., pp. 442-3; Ward’s Mexico, vol. i., p. 583, vol. ii., p. 606; Combier, Voy., pp. 198-201; Malte-Brun, Sonora, pp. 13-14; Browne’s Apache Country, p. 248; Lachapelle, Raousset-Boulbon, p. 79; Cabeza de Vaca, Relation, pp. 169, 176; Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, pp. 405, 442; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., pp. 284, 402-3, 405, 452, and tom. ii., p. 184; Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., pp. 80, 84; Berlandier y Thovel, Diario, pp. 69-70; García Conde, in Album Mex., tom. i., p. 93.

Tribal Boundaries

To the New Mexican group belong the nations inhabiting the territory lying between the parallels 36° and 23° of north latitude, and the meridians 96° and 117° of west longitude; that is to say, the occupants of the states of New Mexico, Arizona, Lower California, Sonora, Sinaloa, Chihuahua, Durango, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, Northern Zacatecas, and Western Texas.

In the Apache family, I include all the savage tribes roaming through New Mexico, the north-western portion of Texas, a small part of Northern Mexico, and Arizona; being the Comanches, Apaches proper, Navajos, Mojaves, Hualapais, Yumas, Cosninos, Yampais, Yalchedunes, Yamajabs, Cochees, Cruzados, Nijoras, Cocopas, and others.

The Comanches inhabit Western Texas, Eastern New Mexico, and Eastern Mexico, and from the Arkansas River north to near the Gulf of Mexico south. Range ‘over the plains of the Arkansas from the vicinity of Bent’s fort, at the parallel of 38°, to the Gulf of Mexico … from the eastern base of the Llano Estacado to about the meridian of longitude 98th.’ Pope, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. ii., p. 16. From the western border of the Choctaw country ‘uninterruptedly along the Canadian to Tucumcari creek and thence, occasionally, to Rio Pecos. From this line they pursue the buffalo northward as far as the Sioux country, and on the south are scarcely limited by the frontier settlements of Mexico.’ Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., p. , in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii. ‘During summer … as far north as the Arkansas river, their winters they usually pass about the head branches of the Brazos and Colorado rivers of Texas.’ Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. ii., p. 307. ‘Between 102° and 104° longitude and 33° and 37° north latitude.’ Norton, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1866, p. 146. ‘About thirteen thousand square miles of the southern portion of Colorado, and probably a much larger extent of the neighboring States of Kansas and Texas, and Territory of New Mexico and the “Indian country,” are occupied by the Kioways and Comanches.’ Dole, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1862, p. 34; Evans and Collins, in Id., pp. 230, 242; Martinez, in Ind. Aff. Rept. Spec. Com., 1867, p. 487. ‘En Invierno se acercan á Téjas, y en Estío á la sierra de Santa Fe.’ Berlandier y Thovel, Diario, p. 251. ‘Comanches ou Hietans (Eubaous, Yetas), dans le nord-ouest du Texas.’ Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1852, tom. cxxxiii., p. 225. ‘Originaire du Nouveau-Mexique; mais … ils descendent souvent dans les plaines de la Basse-Californie et de la Sonora.’ Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 192. ‘Range east of the mountains of New Mexico.’ Bent, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., p. 244. ‘In dem uncultivirten Theile des Bolson de Mapimi’ (Chihuahua). Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 214; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., pp. 221-2. ‘Entre la rivière Rouge et le Missouri, et traversent el Rio-Bravo-del-Norte.’ Dufey, Resumé de l’Hist., tom. i., p. 4. ‘Upon the south and west side’ of the Rio Brazos. Marcy’s Rept., p. 217; Marcy’s Army Life, pp. 43-6. ‘Im Westen des Mississippi und des Arcansas … und bis an das linke Ufer des Rio Grande.’ Ludecus, Reise, p. 104. ‘Range from the sources of the Brazos and Colorado, rivers of Texas, over the great Prairies, to the waters of the Arkansas and the mountains of Rio Grande.’ Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 51. Concurrent statements in Wilson’s Amer. Hist., p. 625; Prichard’s Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., p. 549; Ward’s Mexico, vol. ii., p. 557; Moore’s Texas, p. 30; Dewees’ Texas, p. 233; Holley’s Texas, p. 152; Dragoon Camp., p. 153. ‘La nacion comanche, que está situada entre el Estado de Texas y el de Nuevo México … se compone de las siguientes tribus ó pueblos, á saber: Yaparehca, Cuhtzuteca, Penandé, Pacarabó, Caiguarás, Noconi ó Yiuhta, Napuat ó Quetahtore, Yapainé, Muvinábore. Sianábone, Caigua, Sarritehca y Quitzaené.’ García Rejon, in Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., p. 347. ‘Extends from the Witchita Mountains as far as New Mexico, and is divided into four bands, called respectively the Cuchanticas, the Tupes, the Yampaxicas, and the Eastern Comanches.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 21. See also: Kennedy’s Texas, vol. i., p. 344, 348-9; Foote’s Texas, vol. i., p. 298; Frost’s Ind. Wars, p. 293.

Apache Tribes

The Apaches may be said to ‘extend from the country of the Utahs, in latitude 38° north to about the 30th parallel.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., p. 325. ‘Along both sides of the Rio Grande, from the southern limits of the Navajo country at the parallel of 34°, to the extreme southern line of the Territory, and from thence over the States of Chihuahua, Sonora, and Durango, of Mexico. Their range eastward is as far as the valley of the Pecos, and they are found as far to the west as the Pimos villages on the Gila.’ Pope, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. ii., p. 13. Scattered ‘throughout the whole of Arizona, a large part of New Mexico, and all the northern portion of Chihuahua and Sonora, and in some parts of Durango.’ Cremony’s Apaches, p. . Range ‘over some portions of California, most of Sonora, the frontiers of Durango, and … Chihuahua.’ Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., p. 291. Apatschee, a nation ‘welche um ganz Neu-Biscaya, und auch an Tarahumara gränzet.’ Steffel, in Murr, Nachrichten, p. 302. ‘Reicht das Gebiet der Apache-Indianer vom 103. bis zum 114. Grad westlicher Länge von Greenwich, und von den Grenzen des Utah-Gebietes, dem 38. Grad, bis hinunter zum 30. Grad nördlicher Breite.’ Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 229. Inhabit ‘all the country north and south of the Gila, and both sides of the Del Norte, about the parallel of the Jornada and Dead Man’s lakes.’ Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 132. ‘Tota hæc regio, quam Novam Mexicanam vocant, ab omnibus pene lateribus ambitur ab Apachibus.’ De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 316. ‘Recorren las provincias del Norte de México, llegando algunas veces hasta cerca de Zacatecas.’ Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., p. 251. ‘Derramadas desde la Intendencia de San Luis Potosí hasta la extremidad setentrional del golfo de California.’ Balbi, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 385. ‘Se extienden en el vasto espacio … que comprenden los grados 30 á 38 de latitud norte, y 264 á 277 de longitude de Tenerife.’ Cordero, in Id., p. 369; see also Id., p. 40. ‘From the entrance of the Rio Grande to the Gulf of California.’ Pike’s Explor. Trav., p. 337. ‘The southern and south-western portions of New Mexico, and mainly the valley of the Gila.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 203; Bent, in Id., vol. i., p. 243. ‘Scarcely extends farther north than Albuquerque … nor more than two hundred miles south of El Paso del Norte; east, the vicinity of the White Mountains; west, generally no further than the borders of Sonora.’ Henry, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 207. ‘Ils ont principalement habité le triangle formé par le Rio del Norte, le Gila et le Colorado de l’ouest.’ Turner, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1852, tom. cxxxv., pp. 307, 313. Concurrent authorities: Gallatin, in Id., 1851, tom. cxxxi., pp. 298, 301; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 453; Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., pp. 8, 186; Kennedy’s Texas, vol. i., p. 345; Stanley’s Portraits, p. 57; Pattie’s Pers. Nar., p. 297; Prichard’s Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., p. 549; Western Scenes, p. 233; Mill’s Hist. Mex., p. 170; Delaporte, Reisen, tom. x., p. 456; Conder’s Mex. Guat., vol. ii., p. 74-5; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., pp. 4-6; Graves, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 180; Poston, in Id., 1864, p. 155; Clark, in Ind. Aff. Rept. Spec. Com., 1867, p. 336.

The Apache nation is divided into the following tribes; Chiricagüis, Coyoteros, Faraones, Gileños, Copper Mine Apaches, Lipanes, Llaneros, Mescaleros, Mimbreños, Natages, Pelones, Pinaleños, Tontos, Vaqueros, and Xicarillas.

The Lipanes roam through western Texas, Coahuila, and the eastern portion of Chihuahua. Their territory is bounded on the west by the ‘lands of the Llaneros; on the north, the Comanche country; on the east, the province of Cohaguila; and on the south, the left bank of the Rio Grande del Norte.’ Cortez, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 119; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., p. 8, in Id.; Pope, in Id., vol. ii., p. 14. The Lee Panis ‘rove from the Rio Grande to some distance into the province of Texas. Their former residence was on the Rio Grande, near the sea shore.’ Pike’s Explor. Trav., p. 363. Su ‘principal asiento es en Coahuila, Nuevo Leon y Tamaulipas.’ Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., p. 251. ‘Divídese en dos clases … la primera ha estado enlazada con los mescaleros y llaneros, y ocupa los terrenos contiguos á aquellas tribus: la segunda vive generalmente en la frontera de la provincia de Tejas y orillas del mar…. Por el Poniente son sus limites los llaneros; por el Norte los comanches; por el Oriente los carancaguaces y borrados, provincia de Tejas, y por el Sur nuestra frontera (Mexico).’ Cordero, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 382. ‘From time immemorial has roved and is yet roving over the Bolson de Mapimi.’ Wislizenus’ Tour, p. 70. ‘Frequented the bays of Aransas and Corpus Christi, and the country lying between them and the Rio Grande.’ Kennedy’s Texas, vol. i., p. 349; Foote’s Texas, p. 298. See also: Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 289; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 210; Moore’s Texas, p. 31; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 6.

The Mescaleros inhabit ‘the mountains on both banks of the river Pecos, as far as the mountains that form the head of the Bolson de Mapimi, and there terminate on the right bank of the Rio Grande. Its limit on the west is the tribe of the Taracones; on the north, the extensive territories of the Comanche people; on the east, the coast of the Llanero Indians; and on the south, the desert Bolson de Mapimi.’ Cortez, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 119. ‘Im Bolsón de Mapimí und in den östlichen Gränzgebirgen del Chanáte, del Diablo puerco und de los Pílares.’ Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 521. ‘Occupent le Bolson de Mapimi, les montagnes de Chanate, et celles de los Organos, sur la rive gauche du Rio Grande del Norte.’ Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 289. Live ‘east of the Rio del Norte.’ Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., p. 290; Carleton, in Smithsonian Rept., 1854, p. 315; Western Scenes, p. 233; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 6; Kennedy’s Texas, vol. i., p. 343. ‘On the east side of the Rio Grande, and on both sides of the Pecos, extending up the latter river … to about the thirty-fourth parallel.’ Merriwether, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 170-1. See also: Steck, in Id., 1858, pp. 195-8, 1863, p. 108; Collins, in Id., 1862, p. 240; Cooley, in Id., 1865, p. 20; Norton, in Id., 1866, p. 145.

‘The Copper Mine Apaches occupy the country on both sides of the Rio Grande, and extend west to the country of the Coyoteros and Pinalinos, near the eastern San Francisco River.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., p. 323.

The Faraones, Pharaones or Taracones, ‘inhabit the mountains between the river Grande del Norte and the Pecos.’ Cortez, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 119. The following concur; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., p. 213, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 521; Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., p. 416; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 289.

The ‘Xicarillas anciently inhabited the forests of that name in the far territories to the north of New Mexico, until they were driven out by the Comanches, and now live on the limits of the province, some of them having gone into the chasms (cañadas) and mountains between Pecuries and Taos, which are the last towns of the province.’ Cortez, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 119. ‘Inhabiting the mountains north of Taos.’ Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., p. 285. ‘Les Jicorillas, à l’extrémité nord du Nouveau-Mexique.’ Turner, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1852, tom. cxxxv., p. 310. ‘From the Rio Grande eastward beyond the Red river, between the thirty-fourth and thirty-seventh parallels.’ Merriwether, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 170. ‘In the mountains which lie between Santa Fé, Taos, and Abiquin.’ Collins, in Id., 1860, pp. 159-60. ‘At the Cimarron.’ Graves, in Id., 1866, p. 133. ‘Upon Rio Ose, west of the Rio Grande.’ Davis, in Id., 1868, p. 160; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 8.

The Llaneros occupy ‘the great plains and sands that lie between the Pecos and the left bank of the river Grande del Norte.’ Cortez, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 119. Inhabit the ‘cajones de la Cabellera y Pitaycachi, Sierra de Mimbres, Laguna de Guzman.’ Barrangan, in El Orden, Mex., Decemb. 27, 1853. ‘Ocupan … los llanos y arenales situados entre el rio de Pecos, nombrado por ellos Tjunchi, y el Colorado que llaman Tjulchide.’ Cordero, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 381; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 6.

The Mimbreños have their hunting grounds upon the Mimbres Mountains and River, and range between the sierras San Mateo and J’lorida on the north and south, and between the Burros and Mogoyen on the west and east. Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 207. ‘Südlich von den Apáches Gileños, an den Gränzen von Chihuáhua und Neu-Mejico jagen in den Gebirgen im Osten die Apáches Mimbreños.’ Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., p. 211. ‘La provincia de Nuevo México es su confin por el Norte; por el Poniente la parcialidad mimbreña; por el Oriente la faraona, y por el Sur nuestra frontera.’ Cordero, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 380. See also: Cortez, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 119; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 6. ‘In the wild ravines of the Sierra de Acha.’ Mill’s Hist. Mex., p. 185.

The Chiricaguis adjoin on the north ‘the Tontos and Moquinos; on the east the Gileños; and on the south and west the province of Sonora.’ Cortez, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 119. ‘Live in the mountains of that name, the Sierra Largua and Dos Cabaces.’ Steck, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1859, pp. 345-6.

The Tontos ‘inhabit the northern side of the Gila from Antelope Peak to the Pimo villages.’ Cremony’s Apaches, p. 130. ‘Between Rio Verde and the Aztec range of mountains,’ and ‘from Pueblo creek to the junction of Rio Verde with the Salinas.’ Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., p. 14-15; in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii.; Cortez, in Id., p. 118. ‘Südlich von den Wohnsitzen der Cocomaricópas und dem Rio Gila.’ Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., p. 211. On the ‘rio Puerco.’ Barrangan, in El Orden, Mex., Decemb. 27, 1853. ‘In the cañons to the north and east of the Mazatsal peaks.’ Smart, in Smithsonian Rept., 1867, p. 417. See Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 460; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 185, vol. ii., p. 7. ‘Inhabit the Tonto basin from the Mogollon Mountains on the north to Salt River on the south, and between the Sierra Ancha on the east to the Mazatsal Mountains.’ Colyer, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 94. ‘On both sides of the Verde from its source to the East Fork, and … around the headwaters of the Chiquito Colorado, on the northern slope of the Black Mesa or Mogollon Mountains … on the north, to Salt River on the south, and between the Sierra Ancha on the east and the Mazatsal Mountains on the west.’ Jones, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 221.

The Pinaleños, Piñols or Piñals range ‘over an extensive circuit between the Sierra Piñal and the Sierra Blanca.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., p. 308. ‘Between the Colorado Chiquito and Rio Gila.’ Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., p. 14, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii. See also: Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 147; Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 150. In ‘the country watered by the Salinas and other tributaries of the Gila.’ Steck, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1859, p. 346; also Whittier, in Id., 1868, p. 141; Colyer, in Id., 1869, p. 94; Jones, in Id., p. 222.

The Coyoteros ‘live in the country north of the Gila and east of the San Carlos.’ Colyer, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 223. ‘Upon the Rio San Francisco, and head waters of the Salinas.’ Steck, in Id., 1859, p. 346; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 185; Hardy’s Trav., p. 430.

‘The Gileños inhabit the mountains immediately on the river Gila … bounded on the west by the Chiricagüìs; on the north by the province of New Mexico; on the east by the Mimbreño tribe.’ Cortez, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 119. ‘Oestlich von diesem Flusse (Gila), zwischen ihm und dem südlichen Fusse der Sierra de los Mimbres, eines Theiles der Sierra Madre.’ Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 421; Cordero, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 380; Maxwell, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1873, p. 116.

The Apache Mojaves are ‘a mongrel race of Indians living between the Verde or San Francisco and the Colorado.’ Poston, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1864, p. 156.

The Navajos occupy ‘a district in the Territory of New Mexico, lying between the San Juan river on the north and northeast, the Pueblo of Zuñi on the south, the Moqui villages on the west, and the ridge of land dividing the waters which flow into the Atlantic ocean from those which flow into the Pacific on the east.’ Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 283. ‘Extending from near the 107th to 111th meridian, and from the 34th to the 37th parallel of latitude.’ Clark, in Hist. Mag., vol. viii., p. 280. Northward from the 35th parallel ‘to Rio San Juan, valley of Tuñe Cha, and Cañon de Chelle.’ Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., p. 13, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii. ‘Between the Del Norte and Colorado of the West,’ in the northwestern portion of New Mexico. Eaton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 216. ‘In the main range of Cordilleras, 150 to 200 miles west of Santa Fé, on the waters of Rio Colorado of California.’ Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., p. 285-6. ‘Between the del Norte and the Sierra Anahuac, situated upon the Rio Chama and Puerco,—from thence extending along the Sierra de los Mimbros, into the province of Sonora.’ Scenes in the Rocky Mts., p. 180. ‘La Provincia de Navajoos, que está situada à la parte de el Norte del Moqui, y à la del Noruest de la Villa de Santa Fee.’ Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., p. 426. ‘Esta nacion dista de las fronteras de Nuevo-México como veinticinco leguas, entre los pueblos de Moqui, Zuñi y la capital (Santa Fé).’ Barreiro, Ojeada sobre N. Mex., app., p. 10. ‘Habita la sierra y mesas de Navajó.’ Cordero, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 382. See also: Alcedo, Diccionario, tom. iii., p. 295. ‘Along the 34th parallel, north latitude.’ Mowry’s Arizona, p. 16. ‘On the tributaries of the river San Juan, west of the Rio Grande, and east of the Colorado, and between the thirty-fifth and thirty-seventh parallels of north latitude.’ Merriwether, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 172. ‘From Cañon de Chelly to Rio San Juan.’ Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 460. ‘From the Rio San Juan to the Gila.’ Graves, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 179. ‘Directly west from Santa Fé, extending from near the Rio Grande on the east, to the Colorado on the west; and from the land of the Utahs on the north, to the Apaches on the south.’ Backus, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 209. ‘Fifty miles from the Rio del Norte.’ Pattie’s Pers. Nar., p. 102. ‘From the 33° to the 38° of north latitude.’ and ‘from Soccorro to the valley of Taos.’ Hughes’ Doniphan’s Ex., p. 202. Concurrent authorities: Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., p. 78; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 184; Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 132.

Mojaves and Yumas

The Mojaves dwell on the Mojave and Colorado rivers, as far up as Black Cañon. The word Mojave ‘appears to be formed of two Yuma words—hamook (three), and häbî (mountains)—and designates the tribe of Indians which occupies a valley of the Colorado lying between three mountains. The ranges supposed to be referred to are: 1st, “The Needles,” which terminates the valley upon the south, and is called Asientic-häbî, or first range; 2d, the heights that bound the right bank of the Colorado north of the Mojave villages, termed Havic-häbî, or second range; and, 3d, the Blue Ridge, extending along the left bank of the river, to which has been given the name of Hamook-häbî, or third range.’ Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 30. ‘Von 34° 36´ nordwärts bis zum Black Cañon.’ Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. i., pp. 430-4. ‘Inhabit the Cottonwood valley.’ Ives’ Colorado Riv., p. 79. ‘Occupy the country watered by a river of the same name, which empties into the Colorado.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 178. ‘The Mohaves, or Hamockhaves, occupy the river above the Yumas.’ Mowry, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 302. See further: Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 122; Cal. Mercantile Jour., vol. i., p. 227; Jones, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 217; Willis, in Id., Spec. Com., 1867, pp. 329-30; Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, p. 123.

The Hualapais are ‘located chiefly in the Cerbat and Aquarius Mountains, and along the eastern slope of the Black Mountains. They range through Hualapai, Yampai, and Sacramento valleys, from Bill Williams Fork on the south to Diamond River on the north.’ Jones, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 217. ‘In the almost inaccessible mountains on the Upper Colorado.’ Poston, in Id., 1863, p. 387. ‘On the north and south of the road from Camp Mohave to Prescott.’ Whittier, in Id., 1868, p. 140. ‘In the northwest part of Arizona.’ Willis, in Ind. Aff. Rept. Spec. Com., 1867, p. 329.

The Yumas or Cuchans range ‘from the New River to the Colorado, and through the country between the latter river and the Gila, but may be said to inhabit the bottom lands of the Colorado, near the junction of the Gila and the Colorado.’ Ind. Traits, vol. i., in Hayes Collection. ‘Both sides of the Colorado both above and below the junction with the Gila.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., pp. 177-9. ‘From about sixty miles above Fort Yuma to within a few miles of the most southern point of that part of the Colorado forming the boundary.’ Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. 107. ‘Das eigentliche Gebiet dieses Stammes ist das Thal des untern Colorado; es beginnt dasselbe ungefähr achtzig Meilen oberhalb der Mündung des Gila, und erstreckt sich von da bis nahe an den Golf von Californien.’ Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., vol. i., pp. 122, 430-1, 434. ‘La junta del Gila con el Colorado, tierra poblada de la nacion yuma.’ Sedelmair, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 849. ‘Le nord de la Basse-Californie, sur la rive droite du Rio-Colorado.’ Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 186. ‘For ten or fifteen miles north and south’ in the valley near the mouth of the Gila. Ives’ Colorado Riv., p. 42. See Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., p. 101, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii.; Latham’s Comparative Philology, vol. viii., p. 420; Lachapelle, Raousset-Boulbon, p. 78; Mowry’s Arizona, p. 33; McKinstry, in San Francisco Herald, June, 1853; Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 205; Mowry, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, pp. 301-2; Bailey, in Id., 1858, p. 202; Jones, in Id., 1869, p. 216; Howard, in Id., 1872, pp. 161-2; Prichard’s Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., p. 561.

The Cosninos ‘roam northward to the big bend of the Colorado.’ Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., p. 14, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii. ‘In the vicinity of Bill Williams and San Francisco Mountains.’ Jones, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 221. See also: Figuier’s Hum. Race, p. 484; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 185.

The Yampais inhabit the country west and north-west of the Aztec range of mountains to the mouth of the Rio Virgen. Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., p. 14, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii. ‘Am obern Colorado.’ ‘Nördlich von den Mohaves.’ Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. i., pp. 431, 277. ‘On the west bank of the Colorado, about the mouth of Bill Williams’s fork.’ Mowry, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 302; Poston, in Id., 1863, p. 387.

The Yalchedunes or Talchedunes ‘live on the right bank of the Colorado, and their tribes first appear in lat. 33° 20´.’ Cortez, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 124.

The Yamajabs or Tamajabs ‘are settled on the left bank of the Colorado from 34° of latitude to 35°.’ Cortez, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 124; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 62.

The Cochees are in the ‘Chiricahua mountains, southern Arizona and northern Sonora.’ Whittier, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1868, p. 141.

The Nijoras dwell in the basin of the Rio Azul. ‘Petite tribu des bords du Gila.’ Ruxton, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1850, tom. cxxvi., p. 47; Gallatin, in Id., 1851, tom. cxxxi., p. 291.

The Soones live ‘near the head waters of the Salinas.’ Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 133; Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxxi., p. 296.

The Cocopas ‘live along the Colorado for fifty miles from the mouth.’ Ives’ Colorado Riv., p. 31. ‘On the Colorado bottoms were the Cocopahs, the southern gulf tribes of which Consag calls the Bagiopas, Hebonomas, Quigyamas, Cuculetes, and the Alchedumas.’ Browne’s Explor. of Lower Cal., p. 54. ‘On the right bank of the river Colorado, from lat. 32° 18´ upward.’ Cortez, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 123. ‘Range all the way from Port Isabel, upon the east bank of the river (Colorado), to the boundary line between the Republic of Mexico and the United States.’ Johnson’s Hist. Arizona, p. 10. ‘Between the Gila and the Gulf, and near the latter.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 179. See also: Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. 107; Mowry, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 301; Poston, in Id., 1863, p. 386; Bailey, in Id., 1858, p. 202; Howard, in Id., 1872, p. 149.

Without definitely locating them, Salmeron enumerates the following nations, seen by Oñate during his trip through New Mexico:

The Cruzados, somewhere between the Moquis and the Rio Gila, near a river which he calls the Rio Sacramento. ‘Dos jornadas de allí (Cruzados) estaba un rio de poco agua, por donde ellos iban á otro muy grande que entra en la mar, en cuyas orillas habia una nacion que se llama Amacava.’ ‘Pasada esta nacion de amacabos … llegaron á la nacion de los Bahacechas.’ ‘Pasada esta nacion de Bahacecha, llegaron á la nacion de los indios ozaras.’ ‘La primera nacion pasado el rio del nombre de Jesus, es Halchedoma.’ ‘Luego está la nacion Cohuana.’ ‘Luego está la nacion Haglli.’ ‘Luego los Tlalliquamallas.’ Salmeron, Relaciones, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., pp. 31-6. ‘La nacion Excanjaque que habita cien leguas del Nuevo-México, rumbo Nordeste.’ Id., p. 92. ‘Habitan indios excanjaques aquel tramo de tierra que en cuarenta y seis grados de altura al polo y ciento sesenta y dos de longitud, se tiende oblícuamente al abrigo que unas serranías hacen á un rio que corre Norueste, Sur deste á incorporarse con otro que se va á juntar con el Misissipi, son contérmino de los pananas.’ Id., p. 107. ‘Cerca de este llano de Matanza, está otro llano de esa otra parte del rio en que hay siete cerros, habitados de la nacion Aixas.’ Id., p. 92. ‘La nacion de los Aijados, que hace frente por la parte del Oriente y casi confina con la nacion Quivira por la parte del norte, estando vecina de los Tejas por Levante.’ Paredes, in Id., p. 217.

Pueblo Family

In the Pueblo Family, besides the inhabitants of the villages situated in the valley of the Rio Grande del Norte, I include the seven Moqui villages lying west of the former, and also the Pimas, the Maricopas, the Pápagos, and the Sobaipuris with their congeners of the lower Gila river. ‘The number of inhabited pueblos in the Territory [New Mexico] is twenty-six…. Their names are Taos, Picoris, Nambé, Tezuque, Pojuaque, San Juan, San Yldefonso, Santo Domingo, San Felipe, Santa Ana, Cochiti, Isleta, Silla, Laguna, Acoma, Jemez, Zuñi, Sandia, and Santa Clara…. In Texas, a short distance below the southern boundary of New Mexico, and in the valley of the Del Norte, is a pueblo called Isleta of the South,’ and another called Los Lentes. Davis’ El Gringo, pp. 115-16. San Gerónimo de Taos, San Lorenzo de Picuries, San Juan de los Caballeros, Santo Tomas de Abiquiu, Santa Clara, San Ildefonso, San Francisco de Nambé, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de Pojuaque, San Diego de Tesuque, N. S. de los Angeles de Tecos, San Buena Ventura de Cochiti, Santo Domingo, San Felipe, N. S. de los Dolores de Sandia, San Diego de Jemes, N. S. de la Asumpcion de Zia, Santa Ana, San Augustin del Isleta, N. S. de Belem, San Estevan de Acoma, San Josef de La Laguna, N. S. de Guadalupe de Zuñi. Alencaster, in Meline’s Two Thousand Miles, p. 212. Taos, eighty-three miles north north-east of Santa Fé; Picuris, on Rio Picuris, sixty miles north by east of Santa Fé; San Juan, on the Rio Grande, thirty-four miles north of Santa Fé, on road to Taos; Santa Clara, twenty-six miles north north-west of Santa Fé; San Ildefonso, on Rio Grande, eighteen miles north of Santa Fé; Nambe, on Nambe Creek, three miles east of Pojuaque; Pojuaque, sixteen miles north of Santa Fé; Tesuque, eight miles north of Santa Fé; Cochiti, on west bank of Rio Grande, twenty-four miles south-west of Santa Fé; Santo Domingo, on Rio Grande, six miles south of Cochiti; San Felipe, on Rio Grande, six miles south of Santo Domingo; Sandia, on Rio Grande, fifteen miles south of San Felipe; Isleta, on Rio Grande, thirty miles south of Sandia; Jemes, on Jemes River, fifty miles west of Santa Fé; Zia, near Jemes, fifty-five miles west of Santa Fé; Santa Ana, near Zia, sixty-five miles west of Santa Fé; Laguna, west of Albuquerque forty-five miles, on San José River; Acoma, one hundred and fifteen miles west of Santa Fé, on a rock five hundred feet high, fifteen miles south-west of Laguna; Zuñi, one hundred and ninety miles west south-west of Santa Fé, in the Navajo country, on Zuñi River. Meline’s Two Thousand Miles, p. 222. See Abert, in Emory’s Reconnoissance, pp. 488-94; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., pp. 10-12, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii.; Ward, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1864, pp. 191, 193-4; Barreiro, Ojeada sobre N. Mex., p. 15. ‘La primera, entrando sur á norte, es la nacion Tigua…. Están poblados junto á la sierra de Puruai, que toma el nombre del principal pueblo que se llama asi, y orillas del gran rio … fueran de éste, pueblan otros dos pueblos, el uno San Pedro, rio abajo de Puruai y el otro Santiago, rio arriba…. La segunda nacion es la de Tahanos, que al rumbo oriental y mano derecha del camino, puebla un rio que de la parte del Oriente … viene á unirse con el rio Grande; su pueblo principal es Zandia con otros dos pueblos…. La tercera nacion es la de los Gemex, que á la parte Occidua puebla las orillas del Rio-Puerco cuyo principal pueblo Qicinzigua…. La cuarta nacion es de los teguas, que están poblados al Norte de los tahanas, de esa otra parte del rio, su principal es Galisteo … con otros dos pueblos, y hay al rumbo oriental, encaramada en una sierra alta, la quinta de Navon de los Pecos, su principal pueblo se llama así, otro se llama el Tuerto, con otras rancherías en aquellos picachos…. La sesta nacion es la de los queres…. El pueblo principal de esta nacion es Santo Domingo … la sétima nacion al rumbo boreal es la de los tahos…. La octava nacion es la de los picuries, al rumbo Norueste de Santa Cruz, cuyo pueblo principal es San Felipe, orillas del rio Zama, y su visita Cochite, orilla del mismo rio…. La última nacion es la de los tompiras, que habita de esa otra parte de la cañada de Santa Clara y rio Zama, en un arroyo que junta al dicho rio, y es las fronteras de los llanos de Cíbola ó Zuñi.’ Salmeron, Relaciones, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., pp. 98-100.

‘Some sixty miles to the south southeast of Fort Defiance is situated the pueblo of Zuñi, on a small tributary of the Colorado Chiquito.’ Davis’ El Gringo, p. 422. ‘On the Rio de Zuñi.’ Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., p. 90. ‘To the N. E. of the Little Colorado, about lat. 35°, are the Zunis.’ Prichard’s Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., p. 563.

The Moquis, are settled ‘West from the Navajos, and in the fork between the Little and the Big Colorados.’ The names of their villages are, according to Mr Leroux, ‘Óráibè, Shúmuthpà, Múshàilnà, Ahlélà, Guálpí, Shiwinnà, Téquà.’ Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., p. 13, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii. ‘Westward of the capital of New Mexico … Oraibe, Taucos, Moszasnavi, Guipaulavi, Xougopavi, Gualpi.’ Cortez, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 121. ‘Desde estos parages (Zuñi) corriendo para el Vest Noruest, empiezan los Pueblos, y Rancherías de las Provincias de Moqui Oraybe: los Pueblos Moquinos son: Hualpi, Tanos, Moxonavi, Xongopavi, Quianna, Aguatubi, y Rio grande de espeleta.’ Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., pp. 425-6; Venegas, Noticia de la Cal., tom. ii., p. 527. ‘The five pueblos in the Moqui are Orayxa, Masanais, Jongoapi, Gualpa, and another, the name of which is not known.’ Ruxton’s Adven. Mex., p. 195. ‘The three eastern villages are located on one bluff, and are named as follows: Taywah, Sechomawe, Jualpi…. Five miles west of the above-named villages … is … the village of Meshonganawe…. One mile west of the last-named village … is … Shepowlawe. Five miles, in a northwestern direction, from the last-named village is … Shungopawe. Five miles west of the latter … is the Oreybe village.’ Crothers, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1872, p. 324. Further authorities: Palmer, in Id., 1870, p. 133; Browne’s Apache Country, p. 290; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 185, vol. ii., p. 40; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 305; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 278; Ives’ Colorado Riv., p. 127; Marcy’s Life on the Border, p. 111.

The Pimas of Arizona

‘The Pimas inhabit the country on both banks of the Gila River, two hundred miles above its mouth. They claim the territory lying between the following boundaries: Commencing at a mountain about twelve miles from the bend of the Gila River, the line runs up said river to the Maricopa Coppermine. The north line extends to Salt River and the southern one to the Picacho.’ Walker’s Pimas, MS. ‘La partie la plus septentrionale de l’intendance de la Sonora porte le nom de la Pimeria…. On distingue la Pimeria alta de la Pimeria baxa.’ Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 296. ‘Corre, pues, esta Pimería alta, de Sur á Norte desde los 30 grados hasta los 34 que se cuentan desde esta mision de Nuestra Señora de los Dolores hasta el rio del Gila … y de Oriente á Poniente desde el valle de los pimas, llamados sobaipuris, hasta las cercanías y costas del seno del mar californio, habitadas de los pimas sobas…. Por el Sur tiene el resto de las naciones ópata, endeves, pertenecientes á dicha provincia y entre ellas y la sierra-madre, de Oriente á Poniente, la Pimería baja.’ Mange, Itinerario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. i., pp. 345-6. ‘Los pueblos de pimas bajos son … desde Taraitzi hasta Cumuripa, Onapa, Nuri, Movas y Oanbos lo son hàcia el Sur de Cumuripa, Suaqui, San José de Pimas, Santa Rosalía, Ures y Nacameri hácia el Poniente, son la frontera contra los seris…. Los pimas altos ocupan todo el terreno que hay desde de Cucurpe por Santa Ana Caborca hasta la mar de Oriente á Poniente y Sur Norte, todo lo que desde dicha mision tirando por Dolores, Remedios, Cocospera el presidio de Terrenate, y desde éste siguiendo el rio de San Pedro ó de los Sobaipuris hasta su junta con el rio Xila, y por ambas orillas de este hasta el Colorado y entre la mar, ó seno de Californias se encierra.’ Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., pp. 553-4. ‘From the river Yaqui in Sonora, northward to the Gila and even beyond the Tomosatzi (Colorado) eastward beyond the mountains in the province of Taraumara, and westward to the sea of Cortez,’ Smith, Grammar of the Pima or Névome Language, p. viii; Id., Heve Language, pp. 5-7; Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 396; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. ii., p. 216. ‘Nördlich vom Flusse Yaqui, vom Dorfe S. José de Pimas bis zu dem über 60 Leguas nördlicher gelegenen Dorfe Cucurápe, bewohnen die Pimas bajas die Mitte des Landes.’ ‘Nördlich vom Fluss Ascensión, von der Küste weit ins Land hinein, treffen wir die Pimas altas.’ Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., pp. 419-20. ‘Pimérie haute et basse. La première s’étend depuis les Rios Colorado et Gila jusqu’à la ville de Hermosillo et au Rio de los Ures, et la seconde depuis cette limite jusqu’au Rio del Fuerte qui la sépare de Sinaloa.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. i., p. 208. ‘Los pimas altos ocupan los partidos de la Magdalena y del Altar; lindan al Norte con el Gila; al Este con los apaches y con los ópatas, sirviendo de limite el rio San Pedro ó de Sobaipuris; al Oeste el mar de Cortés, y al Sur el terreno que ocuparon los séris.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 347. See also: Malte-Brun, Sonora, pp. 14-15; Mill’s Hist. Mex., p. 191; Lachapelle, Raousset-Boulbon, p. 81; Hardy’s Trav., p. 437; Cutts’ Conq. Cal., p. 195; Stanley’s Portraits, p. 58; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 296; Cremony’s Apaches, pp. 89-90; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 50.

The Maricopas inhabit both sides of the Gila River, for about 36 leagues in the vicinity of its junction with the Asuncion River. Apostólicos Afanes, p. 354. ‘On the northern bank of the Gila, a few miles west of that of the Pimas, in about west longitude 112°.’ Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., p. 102, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii. ‘Desde Stue Cabitic, se estienden à lo largo del rio (Gila) como treinta y seis leguas.’ Sedelmair, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 849; Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., pp. 404-5. ‘Vom südlichen Ufer des Gila bis zum östlichen des Colorádo.’ Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 420; Emory’s Reconnoissance, pp. 131-2; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. i., p. 123. ‘Au sud du rio Gila, sur une étendue de près de 150 milles, en remontant depuis l’embouchure.’ Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxxi., p. 291; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 18; Escudero, Noticias de Chihuahua, p. 228.

The Pimas and Maricopas live ‘on the Gila, one hundred and eighty miles from its junction with the Colorado.’ Mowry’s Arizona, p. 14. ‘Wo der 112te Grad westlicher Länge den Gila-Strom Kreuzt, also ungefähr auf der Mitte der Strecke, die der Gila, fast vom Rio Grande del Norte bis an die Spitze des Golfs von Kalifornien, zu durchlaufen hat, liegen die Dörfer der Pimos und Coco-Maricopas.’ Möllhausen, Flüchtling, tom. iv., p. 137. ‘Non loin du confluent du rio Salinas, par 112° environ de longitude.’ Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxxi., pp. 289-90. ‘On the Gila river, about one hundred miles above the confluence of that stream with the Colorado.’ Dole, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1864, p. 20. ‘Claimed as their own property the entire Gila valley on both sides, from the Piñal mountains to the Tesotal.’ Mowry, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1859, p. 358. ‘From Maricopa Wells to a short distance beyond Sacaton.’ Whittier, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1868, p. 142. Limits also given in Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 232; Ives’ Colorado Riv., p. 45; Bailey, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1858, pp. 203; Poston, in Id., 1864, p. 152.

The Pápagos ‘inhabit that triangular space of arid land bounded by the Santa Cruz, Gila, and Colorado rivers, and the Mexican boundary line.’ Poston, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1863, p. 384. ‘Nördlich von diesen (Pimas altas) hausen im Osten der Sierra de Santa Clara, welche sich unter 31½° nördlicher Breite dicht am östlichen Ufer des Meerbusens von Californien erhebt, die Papágos oder Papábi-Ootam.’ Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., p. 210. ‘Junto al rio de San Marcos: 50 leguas mas arriba habita la nacion de los Papagos.’ Alcedo, Diccionario, tom. iv., p. 217. ‘In the country about San Xavier del Baca, a few miles from Tucson.’ Parker, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 19; Jones, in Id., p. 220; Dole, in Id., 1864, p. 21. ‘Wander over the country from San Javier as far west as the Tinajas Altas.’ Emory’s Rept. Mex. and U. S. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. 123. See also: Davidson, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1865, p. 133; Lachapelle, Raousset-Boulbon, p. 81.

The Sobaipuris, a nation related to the Pimas, live among the lower Pimas. ‘Por una sierrezuela que hay al Oriente de este rio y sus rancherías, se dividen éstas del valle de los pimas sobaipuris, que á poca distancia tienen las suyas muchas y muy numerosas, las mas al Poniente y pocas al Oriente del rio, que naciendo de las vertientes del cerro de Terrenate, que está como treinta leguas al Norte de esta mision, corre de Sur à Norte hasta juntarse con el tantas veces nombrado de Gila y juntos corren al Poniente.’ Mange, Itinerario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. i., p. 349. Reference also in Alcedo, Diccionario, tom. iv., p. 218; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., p. 210.

Lower Californians

The Lower Californian Family includes all the nations inhabiting the Peninsula of Lower California, northward to the mouth of the Colorado River.

The Cochimís inhabit the peninsula north of the twenty-sixth degree of north latitude. ‘I Cochimí ne presero la parte settentrionale da gr. 25 sino a 33, e alcune isole vicine del Mar Pacifico.’ Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., p. 109. ‘Desde el territorio de Loreto, por todo lo descubierto al Norte de la Nacion Cochimí, ó de los Cochimies.’ ‘La Nacion, y Lengua de los Cochimies ázia el Norte, despues de la ultima Mission de San Ignacio.’ ‘Los Laymones son los mismos, que los Cochimies del Norte.’ Venegas, Noticia de la Cal., tom. i., pp. 63-7. ‘Los Cochimíes ocupaban la peninsula desde Loreto hasta poco mas allá de nuestra frontera. Los de las misiones de San Francisco Javier y San José Comondú se llamaban edúes; los de San Ignacio didúes.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 366; Forbes’ Cal., p. 21; Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., pp. 49, 99; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., p. 207; Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., pp. 469-70. ‘Between San Fernando and Moleje were the Limonies, divided (going from north) into the Cagnaguets, Adacs and Kadakamans.’ ‘From Santo Tomas to San Vicente they were termed Icas.’ Browne’s Lower Cal., p. 54; Hist. Chrétienne de la Cal., p. 163. ‘Nördlich von Loréto schwärmt der zahlreiche Stamm der Cochimíes, auch Cochimas oder Colimíes genannt. Zu ihnen gehören die Laimónes und die Icas,.’ Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 443.

The Guaicuris roam south of the Cochimís, as far as Magdalena Bay. ‘Si stabilirono tra i gr. 23½ e 26.’ Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., p. 109. ‘Los guaicuras se subdividen en guaicuras, coras, conchos, uchitas, y aripas. Los guaicuras vivian principalmente en la costa del Pacífico, desde el puerto de San Bernabe hasta el de la Magdalena. Los coras en la costa del Golfo, desde los pericúes hasta la mision de los Dolores, comprendiendo el puerto de la Paz. Entre los guaicuras, los coras, y los pericúes estaban los uchitas ó uchities. Hasta el mismo Loreto, ó muy cerca llegaban los conchos ó monquies, á quienes los jesuitas pusieron lauretanos, … una rama de su nacion nombrada monquí-laimon ó monquíes del interior, porque vivian lejos de la costa, y se encuentran tambien nombrados por solo laimones. Los aripas al Norte de los guaicuras.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 365-6. ‘Desde la Paz hasta mas arriba del Presidio Real de Loreto, es de los Monquis … à si mismos se llaman con vocablo general Monqui, ó Monquis … los Vehities, que pueblan las cercanías de la Bahía y Puerto de la Paz; y la de los Guaycúras, que desde la Paz se estienden en la Costa interior hasta las cercanías de Loreto. Los Monquis mismos se dividen en Liyùes, Didiùs, y otras ramas menores.’ Venegas, Noticia de la Cal., tom. i., pp. 63-7. ‘Los Guaicuras se establecieron entre el paralelo de 23° 30´ y el de 26°.’ Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., p. 207. ‘Von La Paz bis über den Presidio von Loréto dehnt der Stamm Monqui, Moqui oder Mongui sich aus, welchem die Familien Guaycùra und Uchíti oder Vehíti angehören, die jedoch von einigen Reisenden für ganz verschiedene Stämme gehalten werden.’ Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 443; Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 473; Forbes’ Cal., p. 21; Browne’s Lower Cal., p. 54; Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 198. ‘La nacion ya nombrada Guaicure, que habita el ramalde la sierra giganta, que viene costeando el puerto de la Magdalena hasta el de San Bernabé.’ Salmeron, Relaciones, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 64.

The Pericúis live in the southern portion of the Peninsula from Cape San Lucas northward to La Paz. ‘Desde el Cabo de San Lucas, hasta mas acà del Puerto de la Paz de la Nacion Pericù…. A los Indios, que caen al Sùr, ò Mediodia de su territorio, llaman Edù, ó Equù, ó Edùes … se divide en varias Nacioncillas pequeñas, de las quales la mas nombrada es la de los Coras, nombre propio de una Ranchería, que se ha comunicado despues à algunos Pueblos, y al Rio, que desagua en la Bahía de San Bernabé.’ Venegas, Noticia de la Cal., tom. i., pp. 63-7. ‘Los pericúes habitan en la mision de Santiago, que tiene sujeto á San José del Cabo y en las islas de Cerralvo, el Espíritu Santo y San José.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 365. ‘I Pericui ne occuparono la parte australe dal C. di S. Luca sino a gr. 24, e le isole adjacenti di Cerralvo, dello Spirito Santo, e di S. Giuseppe.’ Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., p. 109. ‘Im Süden, vom Cap San Lucas bis über den Hafen Los Pichilingues und die Mission La Paz hinaus wohnen die Perícues zu welchen die Familien Edú oder Equu und Cora gerechnet werden.’ Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 443. See also: Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., p. 207; Californias, Noticias, carta i., p. 86; Browne’s Lower Cal., p. 45; Forbes’ Cal., p. 21; Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 480.

The Northern Mexican Family is composed of the inhabitants of the States of Sonora, Sinaloa, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and portions of Tamaulipas, Durango, and Zacatecas, south as far as 23° north latitude, divided as follows:

CERIS AND ÓPATAS.

The Seris ‘live towards the coast of Sonora, on the famous Cerro Prieto, and in its immediate neighborhood.’ Cortez, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 123. ‘Reside in the village near Hermosillo, occupy the island of Tiburon in the Gulf of California, north of Guaymas.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., p. 464. ‘Son las Islas nombradas S. Antonio, Taburon, S. Estevan, Bocalinas, Salsipuedes, la Tortuga, la ensenada de la Concepcion, habitadas de Indios de la nacion Seris.’ Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., p. 490. ‘Su principal abrigo es el famoso cerro Prieto, al Poniente de San José de los Pimas, doce leguas, y doce casi al Sur del Pitic; del mar como cerca de catorce leguas al Oriente, y de la boca del rio Hiaqui al Norte, treinta leguas…. Otro asilo tienen, así en su isla del Tiburon, casi como cuarenta leguas al Poniente de la hacienda del Pitic y como una legua de la costa, en el seno de Californias; como en la de San Juan Bautista, cerca de nueve leguas del Tiburon al Sud-sudueste y á mas de dos leguas de tierra.’ Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., vol. iv., pp. 559-60. ‘Los ceris … [1779] estaban situados en la villa de Horcasitas en un pueblo llamado el Pópulo, una legua hácia el Este de dicha villa, camino para Nacameri. De allí se trasladaron en 1789 al pueblo de Ceris.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 124. ‘The Céres are confined to the island of Tiburon, the coast of Tépoca, and the Pueblo of Los Céres, near Pitic.’ Hardy’s Trav., p. 437. ‘Zwischen dem Flecken Petíc und der Küste, und diese hinauf bis zum Flusse Ascensión.’ Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, vol. ii., pt. ii., p. 419. The country adjacent to the Bay of San Juan Bautista was occupied by the Ceris. Browne’s Apache Country, p. 247. ‘Sus madrigueras las han tenido en el famoso cerro Prieto, doce leguas al Oeste de San José de los Pimas, en la cadena que se extiende hácia Guaymas, en el rincon de Márcos, en las sierras de Bocoatzi Grande, en la sierra de Picu cerca de la costa, y sobre todo en la isla del Tiburon, situada en el Golfo de Californias, á una legua de la playa.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 354; Pajaken, in Cal. Farmer, June 13, 1862. Concurrent authorities: Lachappelle, Raousset-Boulbon, p. 79; Dillon, Hist. Mex., p. 215; Ward’s Mexico, vol. i., p. 565; Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 34; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 57; Mofras, Explor., tom. i., p. 214; Stone, in Hist. Mag., vol. v., p. 166.

The Salineros ‘hácia los confines de la Pimeria alta.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 354.

The Tepocas are south of the latter. ‘Ordinarily live on the island of Tiburon.’ Cortez, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 122. ‘Los mas próximos á la isla del Tiburon.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 354; Malte-Brun, Sonora, pp. 20-1; Mofras, Explor., tom. i., p. 214.

The Guaymas and Upanguaymas live near the like-named port. ‘Ocupaban el terreno en que ahora se encuentra el puerto de ese nombre, y que se redujeron al pueblo de Belen.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 354.

The Ópatas occupy central and eastern Sonora. ‘In the eastern part of the State, on the banks of the Sonora and Oposura, and in the vicinity of the town of Arispe and the mineral region of Nocasari.’ Mayer’s Mex., Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 300. ‘Leurs villages couvrent les bords des rivières de Yaqui, de Sonora et de Nacaméri, ainsi que la belle vallée d’Oposura.’ Zuñiga, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1842, tom. xciii., pp. 238-9. ‘Im Osten des Staats, an den Ufern der Flüsse Sonóra und Oposúra und bis gegen die Stadt Aríspe und den Minendistrict von Nacosári hinauf.’ Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 420. ‘Habita el centro del Estado de Sonora.’ Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 403. ‘Le long des rivières de San Miguel de Horcasitas, d’Arispe, de los Ures et d’Oposura.’ Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1842, tom. xcv., p. 319. ‘Confinan al Norte con los pimas y con los apaches; al Este con la Tarahumara; al Sur con la Pimeria baja, y al Oeste con los pimas y con los séris.’ ‘Ocupan en el Estado de Sonora los actuales partidos de Sahuaripa, Oposura, Ures, Arizpe y parte del de Magdalena.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 338, 343-4. The Ópatas, Eudebes, and Jovas ‘pueblan la mayor parte de la Sonora, desde muy adentro de la sierra, son sus terrenos hácia al Sur desde este que pusimos por lindero al Oriente, por el desierto pueblo de Natora, Aribetzi, Bacanora, Tonitzi, Soyopa, Nacori, Alamos, parte de Ures, Nacameri, Opodepe, Cucurpe hácia el Poniente; desde aquí Arispe, Chinapa, Bacoatzi, Cuquiaratzi hasta Babispe hácia el Norte, y desde esta mision la poco ha citado sierra hasta Natora, los que la terminan hácia el Oriente.’ Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., pp. 552-3. See also: Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 174; Mofras, Explor., tom. i., p. 213; Malte-Brun, Sonora, p. 14; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., p. 444; Hardy’s Trav., p. 437; Pajaken, in Cal. Farmer, June 6, 1862; Prichard’s Nat. Hist. Man, tom. ii., p. 562; Ward’s Mexico, vol. i., p. 597; Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 139; Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, pp. 117, 145. In early days ‘they occupied the whole western slope of the Sierra, from the headquarters of the Sonora River to Nuri, near the Yaqui towns. They were then esteemed different tribes in different localities, and are named in the old records as Jobas, Teqüimas, Teguis, and Cogüinachies.’ Stone, in Hist. Mag., vol. v., p. 166. ‘La nacion ópata se subdivide en ópatas tegüis, avecindados en los pueblos de Opodepe, Terrapa, Cucurpe, Alamos, Batuco. En opatas tegüimas en Sinoquipe, Banamichi, Huepaca, Aconchi, Babiacora, Chinapa, Bacuachi, Cuquiarachi, Cumpas. Ópatas Cogüinachis en Toniche, Matape, Oputo, Oposura, Guasavas, Bacadeguachi, Nacori (otro), Mochopa. Los del pueblo de Santa Cruz se dice que son de nacion contla. Los Batucas, en el pueblo de Batuco corresponden tambien á los ópatas, así como los sahuaripas, los himeris y los guasabas.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 343-4, and Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, pp. 156-6.

To the Jovas ‘pertenecen los pueblos de San José Teopari, Los Dolores, Sahuaripa, donde hay tambien ópatas, Pónida, Santo Tomas, Arivetzi, San Mateo Malzura.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 345; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., p. 249. Ovas, ‘esta nacion está poblada á orillas del rio Papigochic, variedad de algunos pueblos y corre hasta cerca del partido de Samaripa y uno de sus pueblos llamado Teopari (que es de nacion ova su gente) y corre como se ha dicho poblada en este rio hasta cerca de la mision de Matachic.’ Zapata, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. iii., p. 341. ‘Los ovas, tribu que vive principalmente en Sonora … en Chihuahua está poblada orillas del rio Papigochi (el Yaqui), llegando hasta cerca de Yepomera, de la mision de tarahumares de Matachic; sus rancherías se llamaron Oparrapa, Natora, Bacaniyahua ó Baipoa, Orosaqui y Xiripa.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 325.

The Sobas ‘ocuparon à Caborca, encontrándose tambien en los alrededores.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 348.

The Potlapiguas, ‘nacion gentil cerca de Babispe y de Bacerac, colocada en la frontera.’ Ib.

The Tepahues were ‘habitadores de una península que forman dos rios ó brazos del Mayo al Oriente de los de esta nacion.’ Id., p. 356.

The Tecayaguis, Cues or Macoyahuis were ‘en las vertientes del rio, antes de los tepahues … sus restos se encuentran en el pueblo de la Concepcion de Macoyahui.’ Ib.

The Hymeris, ‘nacion situada en los varios valles que forma la Sierra Madre entre Occidente y Norte del valle de Sonora.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. ii., p. 243.

The Sonoras inhabit the valley of Soñora, which ‘cae a la banda del Norte, apartado de la villa (Sinaloa) ciento y treinta leguas.’ Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 392.

The Eudeves, Eudebes, Hegues, Hequis, Heves, Eudevas or Dohme dwell in the villages ‘Matape, Nacori, Los Alamos, Robesco, Bacanora, Batuco, Tepuspe, Cucurpe, Saracatzi, Toape, and Opodepe.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 344.

The Sibubapas ‘del pueblo de Suaqui.’ Id., p. 351.

The Nures, ‘habitadores del pueblo de Nuri.’ Ib. ‘Habita cerca de la de los Nebomes.’ Alcedo, Diccionario, vol. iii., p. 350.

The Hios, ‘á ocho leguas al Este de Tepahue.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 351.

The Huvagueres and Tehuisos are neighbors of the Hios. Ib.

The Basiroas and Teatas, ‘más al Este.’ Ib.

The Tupocuyos are four leagues Northwest of Santa Magdalena. ‘De Santa Magdalena en … el rumbo al Noroeste … á 4 leguas de distancia llegamos á la ranchería del Tupocuyos.’ Mange, Itinerario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. i., p. 232.

Sinaloas and Mayos

‘The Indians of the state of Cinaloa belong to different tribes: towards the south, in the country and in the Sierra, the Coras, Najarites, and Hueicolhues are to be found; to the north of Culiacan, the Cinaloas, Cochitas and Tuvares; and towards the town of El Fuerte, and farther north, we find the Mayos Indians, to which belong also the tribes Quasare, Ahome, and Ocoronis.’ Sevin, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxx., p. 12; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 402.

The Sinaloas ‘tiene su assiento y poblaciones en el mismo rio de Tegueco, y Cuaque, en lo mas alto dél, y mas cercanas a las haldas de serranias de Topia; y sus pueblos comiençan seis leguas arriba del fuerte de Montesclaros.’ Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, pp. 199, 47. ‘Los mas orientales de las gentes que habitaban las riberas del que ahora llamamos rio del Fuerte.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 460. ‘Avecindados en una parte de las orillas, hácia las fuentes del rio del Fuerte.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 329.

The Mayos occupy the banks of the rivers Mayo and Fuerte. The Mayo river ‘baña todos los pueblos de indígenas llamados los Mayos.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 82. ‘Die eigentlichen Mayos wohnen hauptsächlich westlich and nordwestlich von der Stadt Alamos.’ Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 402. ‘Los mayos, sobre el rio Mayo … están distribuidos en los pueblos de Santa Cruz de Mayo, Espíritu Santo Echojoa ó Echonova, Natividad Navajoa ó Navohoua, Concepcion Cuirimpo, San Ignacio de Tesia, Santa Catalina Cayamoa ó Camoa, San Bartolomé Batacosa, Masiaca.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 356, 354; Malte-Brun, Sonora, p. 13. ‘The Mayos on the river Mayo inhabit the following towns: Tepágue, Conecáre, Camóa, Tésia, Navahóa, Curinghóa, Echehóa, and Santa Cruz de Mayo, a seaport. Towns of the same nation on the Rio del Fuerte: Tóro, Báca, Chóis, Omi, San Miguel, Charác, Sivilihóa, and Teguéco.’ Hardy’s Trav., pp. 438, 390;Ward’s Mexico, vol. i., p. 583, vol. ii., p. 606; also: Stone, in Hist. Mag., vol. v., p. 165; Mayer’s Mex., Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 299.

The Yaquis are settled on the Rio Yaqui and between it and the Rio Mayo. On the Yaqui River at a distance of twelve leagues from the sea, ‘está poblada la famosa Nacion de Hiaquis.’ Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 284. ‘Lista de los pueblos del rio Yaqui, contados desde Cocori, primer pueblo al otro lado del rio de Buenavista, al Este del Estado, camino para la ciudad de Alamos, y rio abajo hasta Belen: Cocori, Bacum, Torin, Bicam, Potam, Rahum, Huirivis.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 84. ‘Zwischen den Flüssen Mayo und Yaquí…. Die Ortschaften des Stammes Yaquí (Hiaquí) sind besonders: Belén, Huadíbis, Raún, Potan, Bican, Torin, Bacún und Cocorún.’ Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, vol. ii., pt. ii., p. 419; Malte-Brun, Sonora, p. 13. ‘Les habitations des Yaquis commencent, à partir de la rivière de ce nom, et s’étendent également sur le Rio de Mayo Fuerte et de Sinaloa, sur une étendue de plus de 140 lieues.’ Zuñiga, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1842, tom. xciii., p. 239; Ternaux-Compans, in Id., tom. xcv., p. 306. ‘Taraumara es la residencia de los Indios Yaquis.’ ‘Are still farther north (than the Mayos), and belong entirely to the state of Sonora.’ Sevin, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxx., p. 12; Stone, in Hist. Mag., vol. v., pp. 164-5; Pajaken, in Cal. Farmer, June 6, 1862; Alcedo, Diccionario, tom. v., p. 46. ‘Occupent le pays situé au sud de Guaymas jusqu’au Rio del Fuerte.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. i., p. 212. See further: Ferry, Scènes de la Vie Sauvage, pp. 15, 45; Ward’s Mexico, vol. i., p. 582, vol. ii., p. 606; Hardy’s Trav., pp. 437-8; Combier, Voy., p. 200; Mex. in 1842, pp. 67-8; Hist. Chrétienne de la Cal., p. 244.

The Zuaques have their villages between the Mayo and Yaqui rivers. ‘Los zuaques estaban adelante, á cinco leguas de los tehuecos, y sus tierras corrian por espacio de diez leguas.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 332. ‘Sus pueblos … eran tres … el principal dellos, llamado Mochicaui.’ Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 163; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, vol. ii., pt. ii., p. 419.

The Tehuecos are west of the Sinaloas. ‘Seis leguas al Oeste del último de sus pueblos (Sinaloas) seguian los teguecos ó tehuecos.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 332. ‘Los pueblos desta Nacion, que en sus principios fueron tres, començauan quatro leguas rio arriba del vltimo de los Çuaques.’ Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 171.

The Ahomes dwell on the Rio Zuaque four leagues from the sea. ‘La Nacion Ahome, y su principal pueblo…. Dista quatro leguas de la mar de Californias.’ Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 145; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 332; Alcedo, Diccionario, vol. i., p. 33; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 522.

The Vacoregues ‘vivian en las playas del mar y en los médanos, … un pueblo, orillas del rio (Fuerte), no lejos de Ahome.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 332.

The Batucaris ‘frecuentaban un lagunazo á tres leguas de Ahome.’ Ib.

The Comoporis ‘existian en una península, siete leguas de Ahome.’ Ib.

‘En vna peninsula retirada, y en los Medanos, ó montes de arena del mar, viuian las rancherias de la gente fiera destos Comoporis.’ Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 153.

The Guazaves ‘distante diez, y doze leguas de la villa’ (Cinaloa). Id., p. 46. ‘Habitadores de San Pedro Guazave y de Tamazula, orillas del rio Sinaloa.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 332.

The Zoes ‘eran Indios serranos, que tenian sus poblaciones en lo alto del mismo rio de los Cinaloas, y a las haldas de sus serranias.’ Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 208. ‘Se establecieron á las faldas de la Sierra, en las fuentes del rio del Fuerte cercanos á los sinaloas.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 333. ‘Confinan con los tubares.’ Zapata, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. iii., p. 395.

The Huites ‘Vivian en la Sierra, à siete leguas de los sinaloas.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 333.

The Ohueras and Cahuimetos dwell at ‘San Lorenzo de Oguera … situado á seis leguas al E. de la villa de Sinaloa y sobre el rio.’ Id., p. 334.

The Chicoratos and Basopas, ‘en la sierra, y á siete leguas al E. de Oguera, se encuentra la Concepcion de Chicorato…. Cinco leguas al Norte tiene à San Ignacio de Chicuris, en que los habitantes son tambien basopas.’ Ib.

The Chicuràs ‘eran vecinos de los chicoratos.’ Ib.

The Tubares or Tovares live in the ‘pueblos de Concepcion, San Ignacio y San Miguel.’ ‘habitan uno de los afluentes del rio del Fuerte.’ Id., pp. 323-4. ‘Poblada en varias rancherias sobre los altos del rio grande de Cinaloa.’ Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 117. ‘En el distrito de Mina.’ Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., p. 254.

The Chinipas, Guailopos, and Maguiaquis live ‘en San Andres Chinipas.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 324; Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 95.

The Hizos are in ‘Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de Voragios ó Taraichi.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 324.

The Varogios, Husorones, Cutecos and Tecàrgonis are in ‘Nuestra Señora de Loreto de Voragios ó Sinoyeca y en Santa Ana.’ Ib.

The Tarahumares inhabit the district of Tarahumara in the state of Chihuahua. ‘Provincia … confina por el O con la de Sonora, por el E con el Nuevo México, sirviéndole de límites el rio Grande del Norte, por este rumbo no están conocidos aun sus términos, por el S O con la de Cinaloa … toma el nombre de la Nacion de Indios así llamada, que confinaba con la de los Tepeguanes.’ Alcedo, Diccionario, tom. v., p. 46; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 363. ‘In den tiefen und wilden Schluchten von Tararécua und Santa Sinforósa, jagen verschiedene Familien der Tarahumáras.’ Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 521; Mexikanische Zustände, tom. i., p. 74. ‘Bewohnen einen Theil des Berglandes im W. der Hauptstadt, wo sie namentlich in dem schönen Hochthale des Rio Papigóchic in allen Ortschaften einen Theil der Bevölkerung bilden.’ Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 213. ‘Inhabit the towns in Mulatos.’ Hardy’s Trav., p. 438. ‘En la raya que divide los Reynos de la Vizcaya y de la Galicia no en los terminos limitados que hoy tiene que es Acaponeta, sino en los que antes tubo hasta cerca de Sinaloa.’ Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., p. 491. ‘Al Oriente tienen el rio de los Conchos y al Poniente la Sinaloa, Sonora y las regiones del Nuevo México, al Norte y al Austro la Nacion de los Tepehuanes. ‘Se estiendan por el Norte hasta mas abajo de San Buenaventura.’ ‘Vivian en S. José de Bocas, cabecera de una de las misiones de los jesuitas,’ in Durango. Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 319-25. ‘Á tres leguas de San José Temaichic está otro pueblo y mucha gente en él llamada taraumar Pachera.’ Zapata, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. iii., p. 333; Richthofen, Mexico, p. 448. ‘Les Tahues étaient probablement les mêmes que ceux que l’on désigne plus tard sous le nom de Tarahumaras.’ ‘Leur capitale était Téo-Colhuacan.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, preface, p. 191.

The Conchos inhabit the banks of the Rio Conchos, near its confluence with the Rio del Norte. ‘Endereço su camino hazia el Norte, y a dos jornadas topo mucha cantidad de Indios de los que llaman Conchos.’ Espejo, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., pp. 384, 390. ‘En en Real del Parral.’ Arlegui, Chrón. de Zacatecas, p. 97. ‘Se estiende hasta las orillas del rio grande del Norte. Por la parte del septentrion confina con los laguneros, y al Mediodia tiene algunos pueblos de los tepehuanes y valle de Santa Bárbara.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. ii., p. 58.

The Passaguates live twenty-four leagues north of the Conchos. ‘Andadas las veinte y quatro leguas dichas (from the Conchos), toparon otra nacion de Indios, llamados Passaguates.’ Espejo, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., pp. 384, 391.

The Mamites, Colorados, Arigames, Otaquitamones, Pajalames, Poaramas were in the neighborhood of the Conchos. Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 325.

The Guazapares are ‘a veinte leguas de distancia del pueblo y partido de Loreto al Sur, reconociendo al Oriente, y solas diez del pueblo y partido de Santa Inés, caminando derecho al Oriente, está el pueblo y partido de Santa Teresa de Guazapares, llamado en su lengua Guazayepo.’ Zapata, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. iii., p. 389.

The Temoris dwell in the ‘pueblo de Santa María Magdalena de Temoris…. A cinco leguas de distancia hácia el Norte del pueblo y cabecera de Santa Teresa está el pueblo llamado Nuestra Señora del Valle Humbroso.’ Id., p. 390.

The Tobosos are north of the Tarahumares and in the Mission of San Francisco de Coahuila, in the state of Coahuila. ‘Se extendian por el Bolson de Mapimí, y se les encuentra cometiendo depredaciones así en Chihuahua y en Durango, como en las misiones de Parras, en las demas de Coahuila y en el Norte de Nuevo Leon.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 308-9, 302, 325. In Coahuila, ‘Un paraje … que llaman la Cuesta de los muertos, donde tienen habitacion los Indios Tobosos.’ Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., pp. 296-7, 348-9. ‘A un paraje que hoy es la mision del Santo nombre de Jesus.’ Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, p. 519.

The Sisimbres, Chizos, Cocoyomes, Coclamas, Tochos, Babos, and Nures live near the Tobosos. Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 325. ‘Valle de San Bartholome, Presidio de la Provincia de Tepeguana … antigua residencia de los Indios Infieles Cocoyomes.’ Alcedo, Diccionario, tom. i., pp. 222-3.

The Tepagues are ‘Cinco leguas arriba del rio de Mayo, en vn arroyo.’ Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 253.

The Conicaris live ‘distante de Chinipa diez y seis leguas.’ Id., pp. 265, 254.

NORTH-EASTERN MEXICAN TRIBES.

A multitude of names of nations or tribes are mentioned by different authorities, none of which coincide one with the other. But few nations are definitely located. I therefore first give the different lists of names, and afterwards locate them as far as possible. ‘Babeles, Xicocoges, Gueiquizales, Goxicas, Manos Prietas, Bocoras, Escabas, Cocobiptas, Pinanacas, Codames, Cacastes, Colorados, Cocomates, Jaímamares, Contores, Filifaes, Babiamares, Catujanes, Apes, Pachagues, Bagnames, Isipopolames, Piez de benado. Chancafes, Payaguas, Pachales, Jumes, Johamares, Bapancorapinamacas, Babosarigames, Pauzanes, Paseos, Chahuanes, Mescales, Xarames, Chachaguares, Hijames, Iedocodamos, Xijames, Cenízos, Pampapas, Gavilanes. Sean estos nombres verdaderos, ó desfigurados segun la inteligencia, caprichos, ó voluntariedad de los que se emplearon en la pacificacion del Pais, ó de los fundadores de las Doctrinas, parece mas creible que los mencionados Yndios, fuesen pequeñas parcialidades, ó ramos de alguna nacion cayo nombre genérico no ha podido Saberse.’ Revillagigedo, Carta, MS. ‘Pacpoles, Coaquites, Zíbolos, Canos, Pachoches, Sicxacames, Siyanguayas, Sandajuanes, Liguaces, Pacuazin, Pajalatames y Carrizos.’ Padilla, cap. lxix., quoted in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 306. ‘Negritos, Bocalos, Xanambres, Borrados, Guanipas, Pelones, Guisoles, Hualahuises, Alasapas, Guazamoros, Yurguimes, Mazames, Metazures, Quepanos, Coyotes, Bguanas, Zopilotes, Blancos, Amitaguas, Quimis, Ayas, Comocabras, Mezquites.’ Archivo General, MSS., tom. xxxi., fol. 208, quoted in Ib. ‘Paogas, Caviseras, Vasapalles, Ahomamas, Yanabopos, Daparabopos, Mamazorras, Neguales, Salineros y Baxaneros, conocidos generalmente bajo la apelacion de Laguneros.’ Id., p. 305. ‘Rayados y Cholomos.’ Id., p. 306.

‘Las tribus que habitaban el Valle (del rio Nazas) se nombraban Irritilas, Miopacoas, Meviras, Hoeras y Maiconeras, y los de la laguna’ [Laguna grande de San Pedro or Tlahuelila]. Id., p. 305.

‘Pajalates, Orejones, Pacoas, Tilijayas, Alasapas, Pausanes, y otras muchas diferentes, que se hallan en las misiones del rio de San Antonio y rio grande … como son; los Pacúaches, Mescales, Pampopas, Tácames, Chayopines, Venados, Pamaques, y toda la juventud de Pihuiques, Borrados, Sanipáos y Manos de Perro.’ Id., p. 306; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., p. 409. ‘Á media legua corta … [de San Juan Bautista] se fundó la mision de San Bernardo … con las naciones de Ocanes, Canuas, Catuxanes, Paxchales, Pomulumas, Pacuaches, Pastancoyas, Pastalocos y Pamasus, á que se agregaron despues los Pacuas, Papanacas, Tuancas y otras.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 303.

The Gijames are in the mountains near the mission of El Santo Nombre de Jesus de Peyotes. Morfi, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 434.

The Pitas and Pasalves at the Mission of ‘Nuestra Señora de los Dolores de la Punta.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 303.

The Pampopas ‘habitaban en el rio de las Nueces, à 22 leguas al Sur de la mision de San Juan Bautista; los Tilijaes mas abajo de los anteriores; al Sur de estos los Patacales, y los Cachopostales cerca de los Pampopas. Los Pajalaques vivian en el rio de San Antonio como à 40 leguas de la mision de San Bernardo; los Pacos y los Pastancoyas à 15 leguas en el paraje nombrado el Carrizo; los Panagues à 18 leguas de la mision sobre el rio de las Nueces; Los Pauzanes sobre el rio de San Antonio, y los Paguachis à 15 leguas del mismo San Bernardo.’ … ‘Con Indios de la naciones Mahuames, Pachales, Mescales, Jarames, Ohaguames y Chahuames … con ellos y con las tribus de Pampopas, Tilofayas, Pachalocos y Tusanes situó de nuevo la mision de San Juan Bautista, junto al presidio del mismo nombre, cerca del rio Bravo.’ ‘A tiro de escopeta [from Santo Nombre de Jesus Peyotes] se encuentra San Francisco Vizarron de los Pausanes … con familias de Tinapihuayas, Pihuiques y Julimeños, aunque la mayor parte fueron Pauzanes.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 303-4. ‘En el valle de Santo Domingo, á orilla del rio de Sabinas … San Juan Bautista … lo pobló con indios Chahuanes, Pachales, Mescales y Jarames, à que se agregaron despues algunos Pampopas, Tilofayas, Pachalocos y Tusanes.’ Morfi, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., pp. 440-1.

The Cabesas, Contotores, Bazaurigames and others were at the mission San Buenaventura. Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., p. 530.

The Gabilanes and Tripas Blancas roamed over a stretch of country situated north of the Presidio of Mapimi, between the rivers San Pedro and Conchos to their confluence with the Rio Grande. Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., pp. 348-9.

The Laguneros ‘poblados à las margenes de la laguna que llaman Grande de san Pedro, y algunos dellos en las isletas que haze la misma laguna.’ Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 669.

Los misioneros franciscanos atrajeron de paz las tribus siguientes, con los cuales fundaron cinco misiones. San Francisco de Coahuila, un cuarto de legua al Norte de Monclova, con indios Boboles y Obayas, à los cuales se agregaron algunos Tobosos y Tlaxcaltecas conducidas de San Esteban del Saltillo. Santa Rosa de Nadadores, puesta en 1677 à cuarenta leguas al Noroeste de Coahuila, de indios Cotzales y Manosprietas, trasladada junto al rio de Nadadores para huir de la guerra de los Tobosos, y colocada al fin, en 1693, à siete leguas al Noroeste de Coahuila: se le agregaron ocho familias Tlaxcaltecas. San Bernardo de la Candela, con indios Catujanes, Tilijais y Milijaes, y cuatro familias Tlaxcaltecas. San Buenaventura de las cuatro Ciénegas, veinte leguas al Oeste de Coahuila, con indios Cabezas, Contores y Bauzarigames: la mision repuesta en 1692 con los Tocas y los Colorados. Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 302.

The Irritilas occupy ‘la parte del partido de Mapimí al Este.’ Id., p. 319.

The Pisones and Xanambres roam ‘Al Sur del valle de la Purísima y al Norte hasta Rio Blanco, confinando al Oeste con los Cuachichiles.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 298.

Other names which cannot be located are: Cadimas, Pelones, Nazas, Pamoranos, Quedexeños, Palmitos, Pintos, Quinicuanes, Maquiapemes, Seguyones, Ayagua, Zima, Canaina, Comepescados, Aguaceros, Vocarros, Posuamas, Zalaias, Malahuecos, Pitisfiafuiles, Cuchinochis, Talaquichis, Alazapas, Pafaltoes. Id., pp. 299-300.

Tribes of Tamaulipas

The nations or tribes of Tamaulipas, although very numerous, are mostly located.

The Olives live in Horcasitas. Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 293.

The Palagueques are at the Mission of San Francisco Xavier. Ib.

The Anacanas, ‘a una legua de Altamira.’ Ib.

The Aretines, Panguais, and Caramiguais in the ‘sierra del Chapopote, que remata en la barra del Tordo.’ Ib.

The Mapulcanas, Cataicanas, Caramiguais, Panguais, and Zapoteros live near the Salinas, which are between the Cerro del Maiz and the sea. Ib.

The Caribays, Comecamotes, Ancasiguais, Tagualilos, and Pasitas are near De Soto la Marina and Santander. Ib.

The Moraleños and Panguajes live on the coast between Marina and Altamirano. Ib.

The Martinez, ‘en la Sierra de Tamaulipa vieja.’ Ib.

The Mariguanes, Caramariguanes, Aretines, ‘habitada desde el cerro de S. José á la mar.’ Ib.

The Tumapacanes, ‘en el camino para Santander.’ Ib.

The Inapanames, ‘á una y media leguas de la primera villa (Santillana).’ Ib.

The Pintos and Quinicuanes dwell near San Fernando de Austria. Ib.

The Tedexeños, ‘en las lagunas de la barra.’ Ib.

The Comecrudos, ‘donde el rio se vacia en sus crecientes.’ Ib.

The Tamaulipecos and Malincheños live at the mission of S. Pedro Alcántara. Ib.

The Guixolotes, Cadimas, Canaynes, and Borrados are ‘al pié de la sierra de Tamaulipas, teniendo al Sur el terreno que se llama la Tamaulipa Moza.’ Id., pp. 293-4.

The Nazas, Narices, Comecrudos, and Texones are at the mission of Reynosa. Id., p. 294.

The Tanaquiapemes, Saulapaguemes, Auyapemes, Uscapemes, Comesacapemes, Gummesacapemes, Catanamepaques are ‘rumbo al Este y sobre el rio, à seis leguas de la mision … se internan à las tierras llegando en sus correrías únicamente hasta el mar.’ Ib.

The Carrizos, Cotomanes, and Cacalotes are at ‘Camargo, situado sobre el rio da S. Juan … al otro lado del Bravo … los cuales por fuera del rio Grande llegan hasta Revilla.’ Ib.

The Garzas and Malaguecos live near rio Alamo. Id., p. 294.

No location for the following can be found: Politos, Mulatos, Pajaritos, Venados, Payzanos, Cuernos quemados. Id., pp. 295-6.

The Tepehuanes inhabit the mountains of southern Chihuahua and the northern portions of Durango, a district commonly called the partido de Tepehuanes. ‘Estiende desde la Sierra del Mezquital hasta el Parral … hasta adelante de Topia, muy cerca de Caponeta.’ Arlegui, Chrón. de Zacatecas, pp. 187-8. ‘Se extiende esta region desde la altura misma de Guadiana, á poco ménos de 25 grados hasta los 27 de latitud septentrional. Sus pueblos comienzan á las veinticinco leguas de la capital de Nueva-Vizcaya, ácia el Noroeste en Santiago de Papásquiaro. Al Norte tiene á la provincia de Taraumara, al Sur la de Chiametlán y costa del seno Californio, al Oriente los grandes arenales y naciones vecinas á la laguna de S. Pedro, y al Poniente la Sierra Madre de Topía, que la divide de esta provincia y la de Sinaloa.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 319. ‘Sus pueblos, parte en llanos, y parte en sierra, a las vertientes de la de Topia, y san Andres…. Y por essa parte vezinos a las Naziones Xixime, y Acaxee, y aun a las de la tierra mas adentro de Cinaloa.’ Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 573. For concurrent testimony see: Zapata, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. iii., p. 310; Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., pp. 344-5; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., p. 43; Murr, Nachrichten, p. 323; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 318-19.

The Acaxées inhabit the valleys of the mountain regions of Topia and S. Andres in Durango and Sinaloa. ‘La principal Nacion, en cuyas tierras está el Real de Topia, es la Acaxee.’ Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 471. ‘Lo limitan al Norte y al Este el Tepehuan, al Sur el Xixime y al Oeste el Sabaibo y el Tebaca.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 319, 310, 315; Zapata, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. iii., pp. 416-17. ‘San Pedro valle de Topia, el mineral de Topia, Asuncion Sianori, San Antonio Tahuahueto y los Dolores de Agua Caliente, las cuales poblaciones marcan los terrenos habitados por los Acaxees.’ Tamaron, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 314.

The Tebacas lived among the Acaxees in the mountain districts of Topia and S. Andres. Id., p. 334.

The Sabaibos ‘habitaban en el partido de San Ignacio Otatitlan y pueblos de Piaba, Alaya y Quejupa.’ Ib.

The Cácaris dwell in Cacaria. Id., p. 319.

The Papudos and Tecayas were settled in the district of San Andres. Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., pp. 379-80.

The Xiximes inhabited ‘en el coraçon desta sierra’ de San Andres. Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 531. ‘Ocupan el partido de San Dimas.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 315-17.

The Hinas ‘Habitan la mayor parte en profundísimas quebradas del centro de la sierra, y muchos á las márgenes del rio de Humace, que en su embocadura llaman de Piaxtla, muy cerca de su nacimiento, como á cinco leguas de Yamoriba.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. ii., p. 195. ‘Habitantes de las márgenes del rio de Piaztla.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 316.

The Humes are in the Sierra de San Andres. ‘Como nueue leguas del pueblo de Quilitlan, y en lo mas alto de toda esta sierra, caminando al Oriente.’ Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 562. ‘Nueve leguas mas adelante del lugar de Queibos ó de Santiago.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. ii., p. 199; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 316, 325.

The Zacatecos inhabit the like-named State, and particularly near the rio Nazas. ‘Baxò la Sierra, que oy llaman del calabazal, y parò â las orillas de un rio, que oy llaman de Suchil.’ Arlegui, Chrón. de Zacatecas, p. 26. ‘Los que habitan en el rio de las Nasas son indios zacatecos.’ Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. iii., p. 33. ‘Se extendian hasta el rio Nazas. Cuencamé, Cerro Gordo, S. Juan del Rio, Nombre de Dios, quedaban comprendidos en esta demarcacion.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 319.

The Guachichiles, Cuachichiles, or Huachichiles ‘corrian por Zacatecas hasta San Potosí y Coahuila.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 285. ‘La villa del Saltillo está fundada sobre el terreno que en lo antiguo ocuparon los indios cuachichiles.’ Id., pp. 301, 287; De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 281.

Footnotes

[636] The Comanches ‘are divided into three principal bands, to wit: the Comanche, the Yamparack and the Tenawa.’ Burnet, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., p. 230; ‘Ietans, termed by the Spaniards Comanches, and in their own language Na-uni, signifying “life people.”‘ Prichard’s Nat. Hist., vol. ii., p. 549. ‘The Comanches and the numerous tribes of Chichimecas … are comprehended by the Spaniards under the vague name of Mecos.’ Prichard’s Researches, vol. v., p. 422. ‘The tribe called themselves Niyuna.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. ii., pp. 575-6; Parker’s Notes on Tex., p. 231; Neighbors, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1856, p. 175; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 115; French’s Hist. La., p. 155. ‘Se divide en cuatro ramas considerables bajo los nombres de Cuchanticas, Jupes, Yamparicas y Orientales.’ García Conde, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. v., p. 318; see also Cortez, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 121. The Jetans or Camanches, as the Spaniards term them, or Padoucas, as they are called by the Pawnees. Pike’s Explor. Trav., p. 214.

[637] Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 76. ‘Los Indios yutas, … son los mismos que los comanches ó cumanches, pues yuta eso quiere decir en la lengua de los lipanes. Por consiguente no se pueden distinguir esos nombres, que aunque de dos lenguas diferentes espresan una misma nacion.’ Berlandier y Thovel, Diario, p. 251. ‘The Comanches are a branch of the Shoshones or Snakes.’ Ruxton’s Adven., p. 244. ‘The Pawnees are descended from a cousin-germanship of the same stock.’ Edward’s Hist. Tex., pp. 108-9. ‘Si le sang des Aztéques existe encore sans mélange en Amerique, il doit couler dans les veines des Comanches.’ Domenech’s Jour., p. 16; see also Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 24; Buschmann, Spuren der Azt. Spr., p. 391.

[638] ‘Probably because their winter quarters are always located amid the forests which grow upon the Sierras.’ Cremony’s Apaches, p. 243.

[639] Cordero gives the following tribal names, which he says are used among themselves: Vinni ettinenne, Tontos; Segatajenne, Chiricaguis; Tjuiccujenne, Gileños; Iccujenne, Mimbreños; Yutajenne, Faraones; Sejenne, Mescaleros; Cuelcajenne, Llaneros; Lipajenne and Yutajenne, Lipans and Navajos. Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 369, 379-385. ‘Los pimas gileños llaman á los yavipais taros ó nifores; los jamajabs les llaman yavipais y nosotros apaches.’ Garces, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie ii., tom. i., pp. 265, 352-3. ‘Yavipais Tejua que son los indómitos Apaches.’ Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 471. ‘Yavapais, or Apache Mohaves, as they are more generally called.’ Parker, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 217. ‘Pueden dividirse en nueve tribus principales … Tontos, Chirocahues, Gileños, Mimbreños, Faraones, Mezcaleros, Llaneros, Lipanes y Navajoes. Todos hablan un mismo idioma…. No componen una nacion uniforme en sus usos y costumbres, pero coinciden en la major parte de sus inclinaciones, variando en otras con proporcion á los terrenos de su residencia, á las necesidades que padecen.’ García Conde, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. v., p. 314. Apaches, ‘their name is said to signify ‘men.” Mescaleros, ‘the meaning of the name, probably, is drinkers of mescal.’ Cortez, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., pp. 118-9. Froebel’s Central Amer., pp. 309, 353, 491; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., pp. 161, 223, 425; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., p. 285; Wislizenus’ Tour, p. 26; Thümmel, Mexiko, p. 351; Ruxton’s Adven., p. 194; Eaton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 216; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., pp. 212-13; Mowry, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 298; Steck, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1863, p. 108, and Id., 1864, p. 182, 1858, p. 197;Bailey, in Id., 1858, p. 206; Clum, in Id., 1871, p. 42; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., p. 325. Called Coyoteros, because it is believed that ‘they feed upon the flesh of the coyote.’ Hardy’s Trav., p. 430. ‘Les Gileños … avec les Axuas et les Apaches qui viennent de la Sierra Madre sont confondus sous le nom de Pápagos.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. i., p. 213; Bustamante, in Cavo, Tres Siglos, tom. iii., pp. 79-80. ‘Tonto, in Spanish means stupid.’ ‘Tonto is a Spanish corruption of the original Indian name.’ Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 460; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., pp. 5-8; Ayers, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1858, p. 175; Collins, in Id., 1860, p. 161; Id., 1861, p. 122; Maxwell, in Id., 1863, p. 116; Parker, in Id., 1869, p. 23; Walker, in Id., 1872, p. 53; Clum, in Id., 1871, p. 368; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 214; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 275; Turner, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1852, tom. cxxxv., p. 308.

[640] ‘The Apaches and their congeners belong to the Athapascan family.’ Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 84, and in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1852, tom. cxxxv., p. 311; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 10.

[641] ‘The Apaches call the Navajoes Yútahkah. The Navajoes call themselves, as a tribe, Tenúai (man). The appellation Návajo was unquestionably given them by the Spaniards.’ Eaton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 217, 218. ‘The Navajoes and Apaches are identically one people.’ Cremony’s Apaches, p. 306; Ruxton’s Adven., p. 194; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 229; Poston, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1863, p. 389. ‘Navajoes and Apaches have descended from the same stock.’ Carleton, in Ind. Aff. Rept. Spec. Com., 1867, p. 134. ‘The Navajoes are a Pueblo Indian.’ Griner, in Id., p. 329. ‘Allied to the Crow Indians.’ Fitzpatrick, in Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 133; Thümmel, Mexiko, p. 348. ‘Most civilized of all the wild Indians of North America.’ Farnham’s Life in Cal., p. 372. The Navajoes ‘are a division of the ancient Mexicans.’ Scenes in the Rocky Mts., p. 180.

[642] ‘”Yumah,” signifies “Son of the River,” and is only applied to the Indians born on the banks of the Colorado. This nation is composed of five tribes … among which … the Yabipaïs (Yampaïs or Yampaos).’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 65. ‘The Cajuenches and Cuchans … belong to two different divisions of one tribe, which forms part of the great nation of the Yumas.’ Id., p. 10.

[643] Cosninos, ‘Es ist mehrfach die Ansicht ausgesprochen worden, dass die meisten derselben zu dem Stamme der Apaches gehören, oder vielmehr mit ihnen verwandt sind.’ Möllhausen, Tagebuch, pp. 330-1; Figuier’s Human Race, p. 482.

[644] ‘The Yampais form a connecting link between the Gila, Colorado, and Pueblo Indians.’ Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 98. Yampais are related to the Yumas. Möllhausen, Reisen, tom. i., p. 431. Yampais: ‘Unable to separate them from the Tonto-Apaches.’ Mowry, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 302.

[645] ‘Llaman á estos indios los cruzados, por unas cruces que todos, chicos y grandes se atan del copete, que les viene á caer en la frente; y esto hacen cuando ven á los españoles.’ Salmeron, Relaciones, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iii., p. 31.

[646] ‘Unos dicen que á un lado de estas naciones (Yutas) para hácia al Poniente está la nacion de los nijoras, y otros afirman que no hay tal nacion Nijora, sino que esta palabra nijor quiere decir cautivo, y que los cocomaricopas les dan de noche á las naciones mas inmediatas y les quitan sus hijos, los que cautivan y venden á los pimas y éstos á los españoles; si es asi que hay tal nacion, está en esta inmediacion del rio Colorado para el rio Salado ó rio Verde.’ Noticias de la Pimeria, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 838. ‘Todos estos cautivos llaman por acá fuera Nijores, aunque hay otra nacion Hijeras á parte.’ Sedelmair, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 852.

[647] For further particulars as to location of tribes, see notes on Tribal Boundaries, at the end of this chapter.

[648] ‘Besonders fiel uns der Unterschied zwischen den im Gebirge, ähnlich den Wölfen lebenden Yampays und Tontos … und den von vegetabilischen Stoffen sich nährenden Bewohnern des Colorado-Thales auf, indem erstere nur kleine hässliche Gestalten mit widrigem tückischem Ausdruck der Physiognomie waren, die anderen dagegen wie lauter Meisterwerke der schöpferischen Natur erschienen.’ Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 384.

[649] The Navajos are ‘of good size, nearly six feet in height, and well proportioned; cheek-bones high and prominent, nose straight and well shaped; hair long and black; eyes black; … feet small; lips of moderate size; head of medium size and well shaped; forehead not small but retreating.’ Lethermann, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 288. ‘Fine looking, physically.’ ‘Most symmetrical figure, combining ease, grace and power, and activity.’ And the Comanches ‘about five feet ten inches in height, with well proportioned shoulders, very deep chest, and long, thin, but muscular arms.’ Cremony’s Apaches, pp. 49, 305, 15. The Mojave ‘men are tall, erect, and finely proportioned. Their features are inclined to European regularity; their eyes large, shaded by long lashes.’ The Cuchans are ‘a noble race, well formed, active and intelligent.’ Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., pp. 110, 114. The Navajos are distinguished ‘by the fullness and roundness of their eyes.’ Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 31. ‘The Camanches are small of stature … wear moustaches and heads of long hair.’ Pope, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. ii., p. 15. The Comanches ‘que da un aspecto bien particular á estas naciones, es la falta completa de cejas, pues ellos se las arrancan; algunos tienen una poca barba.’ Berlandier and Thovel, Diario, p. 253. The Yumas ‘if left to their natural state, would be fine looking,’ but the Hualpais ‘were squalid, wretched-looking creatures, with splay feet, large joints and diminutive figures … features like a toad’s…. They present a remarkable contrast to our tall and athletic Mojaves.’ The Navajos are ‘a fine looking race with bold features.’ ‘The Mojaves are perhaps as fine a race of men physically, as there is in existence.’ Ives’ Colorado River, pp. 44, 54, 97-8, 108, 73, 128, 19, 39, 59, 66, plate p. 66. The Comanches are ‘de buena estatura.’ Beaumont, Crónica de Mechoacan, MS., p. 527. The people between the Colorado and Gila rivers. ‘Es gente bien agestada y corpulenta, trigueños de color.’ Sedelmair, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 851. The Cruzados are described as ‘bien agestados y nobles y ellas hermosas de lindos ojos y amorosas.’ Salmeron, Relaciones, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 31; see also Cordoue, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., serie i., tom. x., p. 446. In New Mexico Allegre describes them as ‘corpulentos y briosos, pero mal agestados, las orejas largas … tienen poco barba.’ Allegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 332; and of the same people Alcedo writes ‘son de mejor aspecto, color y proporcion que los demás.’ Diccionario, tom. iii., p. 184. And Lieut. Möllhausen, who frequently goes into ecstasies over the splendid figures of the lower Colorado people, whom he calls the personification of the ancient gods of the Romans and Greeks, says further that they are ‘grosse, schön gewachsene Leute,’ and describes their color as ‘dunkelkupferfarbig.’ Of the women he adds ‘Ganz im Gegensatze zu den Männern sind die Weiber der Indianer am Colorado durchgängig klein, untersetzt und so dick, dass ihr Aussehen mitunter an’s komische gränzt.’ Comparing the Hualapais with the Mojaves he writes ‘auf der einen Seite die unbekleideten, riesenhaften und wohlgebildeten Gestalten der Mohaves … auf der andern Seite dagegen die im Vergleich mit erstern, zwergähnlichen, hagern…. Figuren der Wallpays, mit ihren verwirrten, struppigen Haaren, den kleinen, geschlitzten Augen undmden falschen, gehässigen Ausdruck in ihren Zügen.’ The Cosninos he calls ‘hässlich und verkümmert.’ Möllhausen, Tagebuch, pp. 331, 382-8; Möllhausen, Reisen, tom. i., pp. 123-4, 199, 215, 274, 293, 318, tom. ii., pp. 43, 37, and plate frontispiece. Möllhausen, Mormonenmädchen, tom. ii., p. 140. The Comanche ‘men are about the medium stature, with bright copper-coloured complexions … the women are short with crooked legs … far from being as good looking as the men.’ In the Colorado Valley ‘are the largest and best-formed men I ever saw, their average height being an inch over six feet.’ Marcy’s Army Life, pp. 25, 279. ‘Les Comanchés ont la taille haute et élancée, et sont presque aussi blancs que les Européens.’ Soc. Géog., Bulletin, serie v., No. 96, p. 192. And of the Comanches see further. Dragoon Camp., p. 153. ‘Robust, almost Herculean race.’ Foote’s Texas, vol. i., p. 298. ‘Exceedingly handsome.’ Calderon de la Barca’s Life in Mex., vol. ii., p. 308; Hartmann and Millard’s Texas, p. 109. ‘Women are ugly, crooklegged, stoop-shouldered.’ Parker’s Notes on Tex., pp. 189, 232, 194; Mexikanische Zustände, tom. i., p. 373; Froebel’s Cent. Am., p. 267; see also Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., p. 101; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. ii., pp. 37-8; Domenech, Journ., p. 132. The Yuma ‘women are generally fat.’ ‘The men are large, muscular, and well formed.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., pp. 180, 178. Navajo women are ‘much handsomer and have lighter complexions than the men.’ Pattie’s Pers. Nar., pp. 218-19; Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., p. 52; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., pp. 7, 10, 24, 65, plate 8. The Navajos have ‘light flaxen hair, light blue eyes … their skin is of the most delicate whiteness.’ Brownell’s Ind. Races, p. 545; Hughes’ Doniphan’s Ex., p. 203. On the Mojaves see further, Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, p. 138; Sitgreaves’ Zuñi Ex., p. 18; Cal. Mercantile Jour., vol. i., p. 227, plate; Clum, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1871, p. 363. And on the Yumas. Poston, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1863, p. 387; Browne’s Apache Country, p. 61; Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, Feb. 22, 1860. Women’s ‘feet are naturally small.’ Emory’s Rept., in U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. 109. The Yampais are broad-faced, and have ‘aquiline noses and small eyes.’ Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 460. Indian Traits, in Hayes Col.

[650] ‘Their average height is about five feet four or five inches. They are but slimly built, and possess but little muscular development … light brownish red color.’ Some have ‘a Chinese cast of countenance … rusty black hair.’ Smart, in Smithsonian Rept., 1867, p. 418. Their ‘features were flat, negro-like … small legged, big-bellied and broad-shouldered.’ Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 52. ‘More miserable looking objects I never beheld;’ legs, ‘large and muscular.’ Fremont and Emory’s Notes of Trav., p. 139. ‘Widerliche Physiognomien und Gestalten … unter mittlerer Grösse … grosse Köpfe, vorstehende Stirn und Backenknochen, dicke Nasen, aufgeworfene Lippen und kleine geschlitzte Augen…. Ihr Gesicht war dunkler als ich es jemals bei Indianern gefunden.’ Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 360. ‘Von zottigen weit abstehenden Haupthaaren bedeckt.’ Möllhausen, Flüchtling, tom. iii., p. 49. ‘Ill-formed, emaciated, and miserable looking race … had all a treacherous-fiendish look.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., p. 327. ‘Physically of a slighter build than any Indians I have seen.’ Clum, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1871, p. 47. ‘Most wretched looking Indians I have ever seen.’ Sitgreaves’ Zuñi Ex., p. 14. ‘Small in stature…. Coal-black eye.’ Peters’ Life of Carson, p. 326. ‘Hair is very black and straight, much resembling horse hair … appears to belong to the Asiatic type.’ Henry, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 211. ‘Gipsy looking with an eye singularly wild and piercing.’ Houstoun’s Texas, p. 227. ‘Have very light complexions.’ Ward’s Mexico, vol. i., p. 580. ‘Die Lipanis haben blondes Haar, und sind schöne Leute.’ Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., p. 215, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 421. ‘Sont des beaux hommes.’ Lachapelle, Raousset-Boulbon, p. 82. ‘Tall, majestic in figure; muscular.’ Brantz-Mayer’s Mex. Aztec., etc., vol. ii., p. 123. ‘Fine physical conformation.’ Foote’s Texas, vol. i., p. 298. ‘Their skin looked whiter than I have ever seen it in the Indians.’ Wizlizenus’ Tour, p. 71. ‘Crian pié menor que los otros indios.’ Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 564. ‘Todos son morenos, cuerpo bien proporcionado, ojos vivos, cabello largo y lampiños.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 265. ‘Su talla y color diferencian algo en cada tribu, variando este desde el bronceado al moreno. Son todos bien proporcionados … y ninguna barba.’ García Conde, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. v., p. 314; see also Cordero, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 370-1. ‘Though not tall, are admirably formed, with fine features and a bright complexion, inclining to yellow.’ Pattie’s Pers. Nar., p. 117. ‘Son altos, rubios y de bellisimas proporciones.’ Revista Científica, tom. i., p. 55. ‘Taille ordinaire, de couleur foncé.’ ‘Comme ces Indiens ne font leur nourriture que de chair et principalement de celle de l’âne et du mulet, ils exhalent une odeur si pénétrante que les chevaux et surtout les mules rebroussent chemin aussitôt qu’ils les éventent.’ Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 187.

[651] ‘Cut their hair short over the forehead, and let it hang behind.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 65. Distinguished ‘durch den vollständig gleichmässigen Schnitt ihrer schwarzen Haare.’ Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. i., p. 274; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 384; Browne’s Apache Country, 107; Sitgreaves’ Zuñi Ex., pp. 15, 18; Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., pp. 460, 461; Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., pp. 98, 110.

[652] Mojave girls, after they marry, tattoo the chin ‘with vertical blue lines.’ Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 463. Yumas: ‘Doch ist ihnen das Tätowiren nicht fremd; dieses wird indessen mehr von den Frauen angewendet welche sich die Mundwinkel und das Kinn mit blauen Punkten und Linien schmücken.’ Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. i., p. 124; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 385; Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, pp. 151-2; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., p. 33, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., and plate; Michler, in Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. 110; Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 186; Treasury of Trav., p. 32.

[653] ‘Das Gesicht hatten sich alle Vier (Mojaves) auf gleiche Weise bemalt, nämlich kohlschwarz mit einem rothen Striche, der sich von der Stirne über Nase, Mund und Kinn zog.’ Möllhausen, Tagebuch, pp. 383, 385, 388; plate, 394. ‘Painted perfectly black, excepting a red stripe from the top of his forehead, down the bridge of his nose to his chin.’ Ives’ Colorado Riv., p. 67. The Apaches ‘Se tiñen el cuerpo y la cara con bastantes colores.’ Doc. Hist. N. Vizcaya, MS., p. 5. ‘Pintura de greda y almagre con que se untan la cara, brazos y piernas.’ Cordero, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 371; Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. iii., p. 11; Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 266; Henry, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 211; Hardy’s Trav., p. 337; Smart, in Smithsonian Rept., 1867, p. 418; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., p. 33, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., and plate; Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 110; Sedelmair, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., vol. iv., p. 858.

[654] ‘Naked with the exception of the breech-cloth.’ Sitgreaves’ Zuñi Ex., pp. 14, 18; see also plates; Mojave men ‘simply a breech-cloth.’ Touner, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1871. ‘No clothing but a strip of cotton…. The Yumas display ‘a ludicrous variety of tawdry colors and dirty finery.’ Ives’ Colorado Rept., pp. 54, 59, 66. See colored plates of Yumas, Mojaves, and Hualpais, ‘Andan enteramente desnudos.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. iii., p. 111; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 383; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 62; Hardy’s Trav., pp. 336, 342; Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, p. 138; Pattie’s Pers. Nar., p. 149; Walker, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1872, p. 162; Cortez, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 124; Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 33; Cremony’s Apaches, pp. 29, 132; Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 93, p. 186; Indian Traits, vol. i., in Hayes Col.

[655] ‘A few stripes of the inner bark of the willow or acacia tied scantily round their waists.’ Hardy’s Trav., p. 336. ‘Long fringe of strips of willow bark wound around the waist.’ Sitgreaves’ Zuñi Ex., p. 18. The men wear ‘a strip of cotton,’ the women ‘a short petticoat, made of strips of bark.’ Ives’ Colorado Riv., p. 66. ‘Nude, with the exception of a diminutive breech cloth.’ Cremony’s Apaches, p. 29. ‘Las mas se cubren de la cintura hasta las piernas con la cáscara interior del sauce.’ Sedelmair, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 851. ‘Las mugeres se cubren de la cintura á la rodilla con la cáscara interior del sauce.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. iii., p. 111; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 384; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., vol. i., p. 123; Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, p. 138; Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 186; Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 114; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., p. 33, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., plate and cuts; Touner, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1871, p. 364; Parker, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, p. 130; Michler, in Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., pp. 109, 110, with plate.

[656] ‘Partly clothed like the Spaniards, with wide drawers, moccasins and leggings to the knee … their moccasins have turned-up square toes … mostly they have no head-dress, some have hats, some fantastic helmets.’ Cutts’ Conq. of Cal., p. 184. ‘They prefer the legging and blanket to any other dress.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., pp. 320, 328. ‘Mexican dress and saddles predominated, showing where they had chiefly made up their wardrobe.’ Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 61. ‘Los hombres, se las acomodan alrededor del cuerpo, dejando desambarazados los brazos. Es en lo general la gamuza ó piel del venado la que emplean en este servicio. Cubren la cabeza de un bonete ó gorra de lo mismo, tal vez adornado de plumas de aves, ó cuernos de animales…. El vestuario de las mujeres es igualmente de pieles.’ Cordero, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 371. ‘Cervinis tergoribus amiciuntur tam fœminæ quam mares.’ Benavides, in De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 316; Alarchon, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., pp. 431, 437; Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 564; Doc. Hist. N. Vizcaya, MS., p. 5; Pattie’s Pers. Nar., p. 117; Hughes’ Doniphan’s Ex., p. 214; Peters’ Life of Carson, p. 451; Henry, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., pp. 210, 211; Walker, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1872, p. 174; Parker, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 248; Roedel, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1871, p. 397; Niza, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 266, 268; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., pp. 161, 424; see also Froebel’s Cent. Am., pp. 309, 490; García Conde, in Album Mex., tom. i., pp. 46, 166, 167; Linati, Costumes, plate xxii.; Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 266; Möllhausen, Flüchtling, tom. ii., p. 173; Beaumont, Crón. de Mechoacan, MS., p. 417; Lachapelle, Raousset-Boulbon, p. 82.

[657] The hair of the Mohaves is occasionally ‘matted on the top of the head into a compact mass with mud.’ Sitgreaves’ Zuñi Ex., p. 18. ‘Their pigments are ochre, clay, and probably charcoal mingled with oil.’ Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., pp. 33, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii. ‘Ihr Hauptschmuck dagegen sind die langen, starken Haare, die mittelst nasser Lehmerde in Rollen gedreht.’ Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. i., p. 124. The Axuas ‘Beplastered their bodies and hair with mud.’ Hardy’s Trav., pp. 343-4, 356, 368, 370; Browne’s Apache Country, pp. 61, 63.

[658] Small white beads are highly prized by the Mohaves. Ives’ Colorado River, pp. 68-9. ‘The young girls wear beads … a necklace with a single sea-shell in front.’ The men ‘leather bracelets, trimmed with bright buttons … eagles’ feathers, called “sormeh,” sometimes white, sometimes of a crimson tint … strings of wampum, made of circular pieces of shell.’ Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., pp. 114, 115. ‘Shells of the pearl-oyster, and a rough wooden image are the favorite ornaments of both sexes’ with the Apaches. Henry, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 210. ‘Sus adornos en el cuello y brazos son sartas de pesuñas de venado y berrendos, conchas, espinas de pescado y raices de yerbas odoríferas. Las familias mas pudientes y aseadas bordan sus trajes y zapatos de la espina del puerco-espin.’ Cordero, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 371. ‘Adórnanse con gargantillas de caracolillos del mar, entreverados de otras cuentas, de conchas coloradas redondas.’ Sedelmair, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 851. ‘Las mugeres por arracadas ó aretes, se cuelgan conchas enteras de nácar, y otras mayores azules en cada oreja.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. iii., p. 111;Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., p. 424; Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 61; Cremony’s Apaches, p. 222; García Conde, in Album Mex., tom. i., pp. 166, 167; Pattie’s Pers. Nar., p. 149; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 181; Almanza, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 837; Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 463; Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 266; Browne’s Apache Country, pp. 60-64; Michler, in Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, pp. 109-110; Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 98; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., p. 33, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii.; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, pp. 389, 394, 399; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 210; Hardy’s Trav., p. 364; Smart, in Smithsonian Rept., 1867, pp. 418-19; Ternaux-Compans, Voy., serie i., tom. ix., pp. 266, 268, 273; Alarchon, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 437; Mexikanische Zustände, tom. i., p. 64.

[659] The ‘hair is worn long and tied up behind’ by both sexes; Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 290. ‘Langes starkes Haar in einen dicken Zopf zusammengeknotet.’ Möllhausen, Flüchtling, tom. iv., p. 36; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., p. 329.

[660] ‘Tolerably well dressed, mostly in buckskin…. They dress with greater comfort than any other tribe, and wear woolen and well-tanned buckskin … the outer seams are adorned with silver or brass buttons.’ Davis’ El Gringo, pp. 406, 411, 412. Leggins made of deer-skin with thick soles … a leathern cap shaped like a helmet, decorated with cocks’, eagles’ or vultures’ feathers. Figuier’s Hum. Race, pp. 481, 482. ‘Auf dem Kopfe tragen sie eine helmartige Lederkappe die gewöhnlich mit einem Busch kurzer, glänzender Truthahnfedern und einigen Geier oder Adlerfedern geschmückt ist.’Möllhausen, Tagebuch, pp. 229, 230. ‘A close banded cap is worn by the men which is gracefully ornamented by feathers, and held under the chin by a small throat-latch.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 435, and plate vii., Fig. 3, p. 74. ‘Their wardrobes are never extravagantly supplied.’ Backus, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 212. The women ‘wear a blanket.’ Ives’ Colorado Riv., p. 128, and plate. The women ‘wore blankets, leggins and moccasons.’ Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., pp. 51, 52, 81. ‘Over all is thrown a blanket, under and sometimes over which is worn a belt, to which are attached oval pieces of silver.’ Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 290. The women’s dress is ‘chiefly composed of skins … showily corded at the bottom, forming a kind of belt of beads and porcupine quills.’ Pattie’s Pers. Nar., pp. 118-9. Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., p. 329; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. ii., pp. 220, 224, 235; Möllhausen, Flüchtling, tom. iv., pp. 36, 37; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., p. 31, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii.; Bristol, in Ind. Aff. Rept. Spec. Com., 1867, p. 344; Cremony’s Apaches, p. 305.

[661] ‘Tattooed over the body, especially on the chest.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 281. ‘Tattoo their faces and breasts.’ Marcy’s Army Life, p. 25. ‘Mares juxta atque fœminæ facies atque artus lineis quibusdam persignant.’ De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 310; Warden, Recherches, p. 79; Farnham’s Trav., p. 32.

[662] ‘They never cut the hair, but wear it of very great length, and ornament it upon state occasions with silver and beads.’ Marcy’s Army Life, p. 25. ‘Their heads are covered with bits of tin and glass.’ Shepard’s Land of the Aztecs, p. 182. ‘Der dicke und lang über den Rücken hinabhängende Zopf mit abwärts immer kleiner werdenden silbernen Scheiben belastet, die, im Nacken mit der Grösse einer mässigen Untertasse beginnend, an der Spitze des Zopfes mit der Grösse eines halben Thalers endigten.’ Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., p. 100, and Froebel’s Cent. Am., p. 266. They ‘never cut their hair, which they wear long, mingling with it on particular occasions silver ornaments and pearls.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 24. ‘Todos ellos llevan la cabeza trasquilada desde la mitad hasta la frente, y dejan lo demas del pelo colgando.’ Beaumont, Crón. de Mechoacan, MS., p. 527; Revista Cientifica, tom. i., p. 162; Parker’s Notes on Tex., p. 194; Dragoon Camp., p. 153; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 115; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., p. 27, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii.; García Conde, in Album Mex., tom. i., p. 299; Combier, Voy., p. 224.

[663] ‘Im Gesichte mit Zinnober bemalt, auf dem Kopfe mit Adlerfedern geschmückt.’ Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., p. 100. ‘It takes them a considerable time to dress, and stick feathers and beads in their hair.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 281. ‘Fond of decking themselves with paint, beads and feathers.’ Marcy’s Army Life, pp. 25, 26, 30. ‘Vederbosschen op’t hoofd.’ Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 209. ‘En quanto á los colores, varian mucho, no solamente en ellos, sino tambien en los dibujos que se hacen en la cara.’ García Conde, in Album Mex., tom. i., p. 299. The Comanches ‘de tout sexe portent un miroir attaché au poignet, et se teignent le visage en rouge.’ Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 192; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., p. 27, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii.; Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 450; Pattie’s Pers. Nar., pp. 35, 36; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. ii., p. 133; Parker’s Notes on Tex., pp. 181, 194, 197, 202; Wislizenus’ Tour, p. 71; Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., p. 119; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 332; Combier, Voy., p. 224; Hartmann and Millard, Texas, p. 110; Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., p. 147, plate; Tempsky’s Mitla, p. 80; Gilliam’s Trav., p. 305; Horn’s Captivity, p. 25.

[664] ‘The Camanches prefer dark clothes.’ Parker’s Notes on Tex., pp. 180, 181, 202. ‘Les guerriers portent pour tout vêtement une peau de buffle en manteau.’ Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 192. ‘Las mugeres andan vestidas de la cintura para abajo con unos cueros de venado adobado en forma de faldellines, y cubren el cuerpo con unos capotillos del mismo cuero.’ Beaumont, Crón. de Mechoacan, MS., p. 527. ‘Vistense galanos … asi hombres como mugeres con mantas pintadas y bordadas.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 681. ‘Sus vestidos se componen de unas botas, un mediano delantal que cubre sus vergüenzas, y un coton, todo de pieles: las mugeres usan una manta cuadrada de lana negra muy estrecha.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 332. ‘Tam mares quam fœminæ gossypinis tunicis et ferarum exuviis vestiebantur ad Mexicanorum normam et quod insolens barbaris, ideoque Hispanis novum visum, utebantur calceis atque ocreis quæ è ferarum tergoribus et taurino corio consuta erant. Fœminis capillus bene pexus et elegantur erat dispositus, nec ullo præterea velamine caput tegebant.’ De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 311; Froebel, Aus Amerika, pp. 99, 101; Dragoon Camp., p. 153; Warden, Recherches, pp. 79, 80; García Conde, in Album Mex., tom. i., p. 299; Salmeron, Relaciones, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., pp. 25, 31, 91; Revista Cientifica, tom. i., p. 162; Horn’s Captivity, p. 22; Marcy’s Army Life, pp. 25, 29, 45; Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 450; Cremony’s Apaches, p. 15; Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., p. 147, plate; Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxxi., pp. 252, 272, 273; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 216, and Dapper, Neue Welt, p. 243; Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans,Voy., série i., tom. iv., p. 127; Wislizenus’ Tour, p. 71; Parker, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 109; Escudero, Noticias de Chihuahua, p. 230; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. ii., pp. 38, 310, 312; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 228; Hartmann and Millard, Texas, p. 110; Domenech, Jour., pp. 134, 135; Maillard, Hist. Tex., p. 240, Jaramillo, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 372, 377;Castaño de Soza, in Pacheco, Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. iv., p. 331; Houstoun’s Tex., p. 227; Alcedo, Diccionario, tom. iii., p. 184; Farnham’s Trav., p. 32; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. ii., p. 133; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 24.

[665] The Apaches ‘rarely remain more than a week in any one locality.’ Cremony’s Apaches, p. 240. ‘Cette nation étant nomade et toujours à la poursuite du gibier.’ Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. p. 133; Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 266; Marcy’s Army Life, p. 44; Henry, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 212; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 202; Backus, in Id., vol. iv., p. 213; Ten Broeck, in Id., vol. iv., p. 89; Bailey, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1858, p. 206; Ind. Aff. Rept. Spec. Com., 1867, p. 325; Foote’s Texas, p. 298; Carleton, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1867, p. 325; Holley’s Texas, p. 152; Dragoon Camp., p. 153; Kennedy’s Texas, vol. i., p. 437; Delaporte, Reisen, pt. x., p. 456.

[666] ‘The principal characteristic I believe, is the form of their wigwams; one sets up erect poles, another bends them over in a circular form, and the third gives them a low oval shape.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., p. 106. Other tribes make their lodges in a different way, by a knowledge of which circumstance, travelers are able to discover on arriving at a deserted camp whether it belongs to a hostile or friendly tribe. Parker’s Notes on Texas, p. 213; Hartmann and Millard, Texas, p. 110; García Conde, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Bulletin, tom. v., p. 315.

[667] ‘Sus chozas ó jacales son circulares, hechas de ramas de los árboles, cubiertas con pieles de caballos, vacas, ó cíbolos.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 371. ‘I did expect … to find that the Navajos had other and better habitations than the conical, pole, brush, and mud lodge.’ Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., p. 77. ‘The Camanches make their lodges by placing poles in the ground in a circle and tying the tops together.’ Parker’s Notes on Texas, p. 213. Huts are only temporary, conical, of sticks. Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 289. ‘Sie bestanden einfach aus grossen Lauben von Cedernzweigen, deren Wölbung auf starken Pfählen ruhte, und von Aussen theilweise mit Erde, Lehm, und Steinen bedeckt war.’ Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. ii., pp. 15, 220-233. ‘Un grand nombre de forme ronde.’ Jaramillo, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 379. ‘Their lodges are rectangular.’ Sitgreaves’ Zuñi Ex., p. 18; Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 194; Ives’ Colorado River, p. 100; Figuier’s Hum. Race, p. 482.

[668] ‘They make them of upright poles a few feet in height … upon which rest brush and dirt.’ Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., pp. 111-12. ‘The very rudest huts hastily constructed of branches of cedar trees, and sometimes of flat stones for small roofs.’ Eaton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 217. These huts are about eight feet high, eighteen feet in diameter at base, the whole being covered with bark or brush and mud. Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., p. 60. ‘Exceedingly rude structures of sticks about four or five feet high.’ Backus, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 213. ‘The Comanches make their lodges … in a conical shape … which they cover with buffalo hides.’ Parker’s Notes on Tex., p. 213. ‘Ils habitent sous des tentes.’ Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., tom. 96, p. 192; Davis’ El Gringo, p. 414; Henry, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 212; Bent, in Id., vol. i., p. 243; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., p. 290; Browne’s Apache Country, p. 96; Farnham’s Trav., p. 32; Mange, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. i., p. 299; Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., p. 413; Dufey, Résumé de l’Hist., tom. i., p. 4; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 279; Domenech, Jour., p. 131; Dillon, Hist. Mex., p. 97; Ludecus, Reise, p. 104; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 205; Thümmel, Mexiko, p. 352; Emory’s Recon., p. 61; Marcy’s Rept., p. 219; Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cli., p. 274; Jaramillo, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., serie i., tom. ix., pp. 372-9; Beaumont, Crón. de Mechoacan, p. 417; Alarchon, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 431; Dapper, Neue Welt, p. 239; see also, Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 209; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, pp. 109-115; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 230; Cordoue, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 443; De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 301; Brownell’s Ind. Races, p. 544; Hardy’s Trav., p. 336.

[669] Sitgreaves’ Zuñi Ex., p. 18. ‘This compels the Navajoes to erect substantial huts of an oval form, the lower portion of the hut being excavated.’ Cremony’s Apaches, p. 306. ‘They live in brush houses, in the winter time, digging a hole in the ground and covering this with a brush roof.’ Parker, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, p. 130; Hughes’ Doniphan’s Ex., p. 218; Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, p. 136; Maillard’s Hist. Tex., p. 241.

[670] ‘Their lodges are … about four or five feet high, with a triangular opening for ingress or egress.’ Backus, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 213. The most they do is to build small huts … with thick poles for the arches and a small door through which a single person can hardly pass. Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 266. A ranchería of the Cuabajai is described as ‘formada como una grande galeria en una pieza muy larga adornada con arcos de sauz, y cubierta con esteras de tule muy delgadas y bien cocidas; tenia ventanas para la luz y desahogar el humo y dos puertas, una al Oriente y otra al Poniente, … á los dos lados de la pieza habia varios cámaras ó alojamientos para dormir.’ Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, pp. 474-5.

[671] ‘Some live in caves in the rocks.’ Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 289. ‘They do not live in houses built of stone as has been repeatedly represented, but in caves, caverns, and fissures of the cliffs.’ Eaton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 217. ‘Ils habitaient des cavernes et des lieux souterrains, où ils déposaient leurs récoltes.’ Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxxi., p. 309. Most of the Navajos ‘live in houses built of stone.’ Scenes in the Rocky Mts., p. 180; Thümmel, Mexiko, p. 352; Almanza, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 825; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 679; Sanchez, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. i., p. 93; Gordon’s Hist. and Geog. Mem., p. 88.

[672] ‘The large cottonwood posts and the substantial roof of the wide shed in front, are characteristic of the architecture of this people.’ Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., p. 23, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii. ‘They are built upon sandy soil and are thirty or forty feet square; the sides about two feet thick of wicker-work and straw … their favorite resort seems to be the roof, where could usually be counted from twenty to thirty persons, all apparently at home.’ Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 464.

[673] See plate in Marcy’s Army Life, p. 48. ‘The fire is made in the front of the lodge.’ Backus, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 70.

[674] ‘In every village may be seen small structures, consisting of a frame-work of slight poles, bent into a semi-spherical form and covered with buffalo hides. These are called medicine lodges and are used as vapor-baths.’ Marcy’s Army Life, p. 60. ‘They make huts three feet high for bath-rooms and heat them with hot stones.’ Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 289.

[675] Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xviii., p. 464; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., p. 23, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii.

[676] ‘Ils sont très-laborieux; ils cultivent les melons, les haricots, et d’autres légumes; ils récoltent aussi en abondance le maïs.’ Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 186. ‘Bohnen, Mais, Weizen, feingeriebenes Mehl, Kürbisse und Melonen.’ Möllhausen, Tagebuch, pp. 385, 396-7. ‘The Yumas and other tribes on the Colorado, irrigate their lands, and raise wheat, corn, melons, &c.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., pp. 263, 180, 181; Lachapelle, Raousset-Boulbon, p. 81; Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 419; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 332; Ives’ Colorado River, pp. 60, 67, 70, 73; Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., pp. 117, 128, 129; Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, p. 123; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., pp. 40, 65, 66; Sitgreaves’ Zuñi Ex., p. 18; Browne’s Apache Country, pp. 51, 52, 107; Mowry’s Arizona, p. 33; Pattie’s Pers. Nar., p. 91; Mexicanische Zustände, tom. i., p. 64; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. i., p. 111; Champagnac, Voyageur, p. 84; Bent, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., p. 243; Eaton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 217; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., pp. 13, 120, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii.; Thümmel, Mexiko, p. 349; Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxxi., pp. 288-9; Prichard’s Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., p. 567; Farnham’s Life in Cal.; Davis’ El Gringo, p. 411; Clark, in Hist. Mag., vol. viii., p. 280; Salmeron, Relaciones, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., pp. 25-6.

[677] ‘A small but agreeable nut called the Piñon, grows abundantly in this country; and during a period of scarcity, it sometimes constitutes the sole food of the poorer class of natives for many successive weeks.’ Backus, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 212. ‘Living upon the fruit of the mezquit and tornilla trees.’ Sitgreaves’ Zuñi Ex., pp. 10, 19; Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. 112. ‘Tambien tienen para su sustento mescali, que es conserva de raiz de maguey.’ Salmeron, Relaciones, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 31; Henry, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 212; Hardy’s Trav., pp. 338; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, pp. 147, 331, 350, 396, 397; Cordoue, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 446; Castañeda, in Id., série i., tom. ix., pp. 53, 54; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 217; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., p. 234.

[678] ‘The quail and hare of the valley, and the deer and lizards of the plains, together furnish but a scanty supply.’ Ehrenberg, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1866, p. 110. ‘They ate worms, grasshoppers, and reptiles.’ Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, pp. 115-116. ‘An den dünnen Gurt hatten unsere Besucher noch Ratten, grosse Eidechsen und Frösche befestigt.’ Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 383. ‘Depending upon game and roots for food.’ Parker, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, p. 137, and 1869, p. 92. ‘Mas para ellos es plato regaladísimo el de ratones del campo asados ó cocidos y toda especie de insectos.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 332; Hardy’s Trav., p. 430; Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, pp. 419, 473; Figuier’s Hum. Race, p. 484; Backus, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 212; Cremony’s Apaches, p. 297.

[679] On the Rivers Colorado and Gila. ‘Usan de hilo torcido unas redes y otras de varios palitos, que los tuercen y juntan por las puntas, en que forman á modo de un pequeño barquito para pescar del infinito pescado que hay en el rio.’ Sedelmair, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 851. The Cajuenches when the produce is insufficient, live on fish. Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 10. The Navajos ‘live by raising flocks and herds, instead of hunting and fishing.’ Davis’ El Gringo, p. 411. The Apaches ‘no comen pescado alguno, no obstante de lo que abundan sus rios.’ Cordero, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 375. ‘El Apache no come el pescado, aunque los hay abundantes en sus rios.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 285; Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. 123; Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, p. 149; Hardy’s Trav., p. 373; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. i., pp. 227-8.

[680] ‘They do not make butter and cheese…. Some who own cattle make from the curd of soured milk small masses, which some have called cheese.’ Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 292. ‘They never to my knowledge make butter or cheese, nor do I believe they know what such things are.’ Eaton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 217. The Navajoes ‘make butter and cheese.’ Scenes in the Rocky Mts., p. 180. Some of the ‘men brought into camp a quantity of cheese.’ Ives’ Colorado River, pp. 128, 130.

[681] Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. 112. ‘They plant corn very deep with a stake and raise very good crops.’ Ind. Aff. Rept. Spec. Com., 1867, p. 337; Merriwether, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 172.

[682] ‘The metate is a slightly hollowed hard stone, upon which soaked maize is laid and then reduced to paste…. The paste so formed is then patted between the hands until it assumes a flat, thin and round appearance when it is laid on a hot pan and baked into a tortilla.’ Cremony’s Apaches, pp. 145-6. ‘Ils récoltent aussi en abondance le maïs dont ils font de tortillas.’ Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 186. ‘Their meat was boiled with water in a Tusquin (clay kettle) and this meat-mush or soup was the staple of food among them.’ Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, pp. 114, 115. ‘A large Echino Cactus … hollowed so as to make a trough. Into this were thrown the soft portions of the pulpy substance which surrounds the heart of the cactus; and to them had been added game and plants gathered from the banks of the creek. Mingled with water, the whole had been cooked by stirring it up with heated stones.’ Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 96. ‘Ils mangent des pains de maïs cuits sous la cendre, aussi gros que les gros pains de Castille.’ Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 49; Hardy’s Trav., p. 238; Pattie’s Pers. Nar., p. 63; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., p. 291; Castaño de Soza, in Pacheco, Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. iv., pp. 330-1.

[683] ‘The Apaches rely chiefly upon the flesh of the cattle and sheep they can steal … they are said, however, to be more fond of the meat of the mule than that of any other animal.’ Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., pp. 290-1. ‘A nonproductive race, subsisting wholly on plunder and game.’ Cremony’s Apaches, p. 141. The Jicarilla Apaches: ‘the chase is their only means of support.’ Carson, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1860, p. 164. ‘They live entirely by hunting.’ Delgado, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1866, p. 138. ‘Die Nahrung der Apaches besteht hauptsächlich in dem Fleische der Rinder und Schafe … doch soll, wie man sagt, Maulthierfleisch ihre Lieblingsspeise sein.’ Thümmel, Mexiko, p. 352. ‘Ihre besten Leckerbissen sind Pferde und Mauleselfleisch, welches sie braten und dem Rindfleische vorziehen.’ Ochs, in Murr, Nachrichten, p. 289. Their daintiest food is mule and horseflesh. Apostólicos Afanes, p. 432. ‘Anteriormente antes que en la frontera abundase el ganado, uno de sus alimentos era la came del caballo, y la caza de diferentes animales.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, pp. 266-7; Edward’s Hist. Texas, p. 95; Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. 112; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., p. 327; Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 187; Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, p. 116; Ward’s Mexico, vol. i., p. 580; Armin, Das Heutige Mexiko, p. 282; Stanley’s Portraits, p. 57; Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 460; Edwards’ Campaign, p. 95; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 276; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 202; see further Ind. Aff. Repts., from 1854-73; Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxxi., p. 308; Peters’ Life of Carson, p. 452; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 679.

[684] ‘What I would have sworn was an antelope, proved to be a young Indian, … who having enveloped himself in an antelope’s skin with head, horns and all complete, had gradually crept up to the herd under his disguise.’ Cremony’s Apaches, pp. 28, 194. ‘Se viste de una piel de los mismos animales, pone sobre su cabeza otra de la clase de los que va á buscar, y armado de su arco y flechas andando en cuatro piés, procura mezclarse en una banda da ellos.’ Cordero, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 375; García Conde, in Album Mex., tom. i., p. 372; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 212; Ferry,Scènes de la Vie Sauvage, p. 262.

[685] ‘They always asked if we had bear on the table, for they wished to avoid it…. I found they had some superstitious prejudice against it.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., p. 324. ‘The Apaches are rather fond of lion and panther meat, but seldom touch that of the bear.’ Cremony’s Apaches, p. 226. ‘Tambien matan para comer osos.’ Salmeron, Relaciones, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 25. The Navajoes ‘never kill bears or rattlesnakes unless attacked.’ Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 291. ‘Sie verehren den Bären, der nie von ihnen getödtet wird, und dessen Fleisch zu essen sie sich scheuen. Schweinefleisch verschmähen sie desgleichen; beim iärgsten Hunger können sie es nicht über sich gewinnen, davon zu kosten.’ Armin, Das Heutige Mexiko, p. 278; Cordero, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 370.

[686] ‘The Northern and Middle Comanches … subsist almost exclusively upon the flesh of the buffalo, and are known among the Indians as buffalo-eaters.’ Marcy’s Army Life, pp. 19, 26, 46. ‘They plant no corn, and their only food is meat, and a few wild plants that grow upon the prairies.’ Marcy’s Rept., p. 188. The Comanches are a ‘nation subsisting solely by the chase.’ Pike’s Explor. Trav., p. 214. ‘Subsist mainly upon the buffalo.’ Graves, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 180. ‘Acknowledge their entire ignorance of even the rudest methods of agriculture.’ Baylor, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1856, p. 177; Bent, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., p. 244; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 575; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., p. 103, and Froebel’s Cent. Amer., p. 268; Combier, Voy., p. 292; French’s Hist. Coll. La., pt. ii., p. 155; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 115; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, pp. 214-16, 307; Figuier’s Hum. Race, p. 480; Ludecus, Reise, p. 104; Dragoon Camp., p. 153; Foote’s Texas, p. 298; Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 192; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 21; Domenech, Jour., p. 469; Kennedy’s Texas, vol. i., p. 345; Holley’s Texas, p. 153; Dufey, Résumé, tom. i., p. 4; Dewees’ Texas, p. 233; Frost’s Ind. Battles, p. 385.

[687] ‘Luego que los cíbolos echan á huir, los cazadores sin apresurarlos demasiado los persiguen á un galope corto, que van activando mas y mas hasta que rompen en carrera … el indio sin cesar de correr, dispara su arco en todas direcciones, y va sembrando el campo de reses…. Las indias al mismo tiempo van dessollando cada una de aquellas reses, recogiendo la piel y la carne.’ Revista Científica, tom. i., pp. 165-6. ‘At a suitable distance from their prey they divide into two squadrons, one half taking to the right, and the other to the left, and thus surround it.’ Edward’s Hist. Tex., p. 108; French’s Hist. Coll. La., pt. ii., p. 155; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. ii., pp. 214-216. Women when they perceive a deer or antelope ‘give it chase, and return only after capturing it with the lasso.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 249.

[688] ‘When any game was killed, the Indians would tear out the heart, liver, and entrails, and eat them raw.’ Frost’s Ind. Battles, p. 385. ‘Ces Indiens se nourissent de viande crue et boivent du sang…. Ils coupent la viande en tranches très-minces et la font sécher au soleil; ils la réduisent ensuite en poudre pour la conserver.’ Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 190-1. ‘They “jerked” or dried the meat and made the pemmican.’ Marcy’s Army Life, p. 18. ‘Comen las criadillas crudas, recogiendo la sangre que corre del cuerpo con unas tutundas ó jicaras, se la beben caliente.’ Beaumont, Crón. de Mechoacan, MS., p. 528; Farnham’s Trav., p. 32; Horn’s Captivity, pp. 16, 23; Kennedy’s Texas, vol. i., p. 345.

[689] ‘At one time their larder is overstocked and they gorge themselves to repletion.’ Marcy’s Army Life, pp. 32, 44, 46. ‘Catch and tame these wild horses, and when unsuccessful in chase, subsist upon them.’ Holley’s Texas, p. 153. ‘When pressed by hunger from scarcity of game, they subsist on their young horses and mules.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. ii., pp. 132-3. ‘Have a rare capacity for enduring hunger, and manifest great patience under its infliction. After long abstinence they eat voraciously.’ Burnet, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., p. 231; Parker’s Notes on Tex., p. 235; Edward’s Hist. Tex., p. 108.

[690] The tribe ‘lived in the most abject condition of filth and poverty.’ Browne’s Apache Country, p. 96. ‘With very few exceptions, the want of cleanliness is universal—a shirt being worn until it will no longer hang together, and it would be difficult to tell the original color.’ Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 290. ‘They are fond of bathing in the summer, … but nothing can induce them to wash themselves in winter.’ Cremony’s Apaches, p. 302. They give off very unpleasant odors. Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. i., p. 307. ‘They seem to have a natural antipathy against water, considered as the means of cleansing the body … water is only used by them in extreme cases; for instance, when the vermin become too thick on their heads, they then go through an operation of covering the head with mud, which after some time is washed out.’ Dodt, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, p. 130; Ives’ Colorado Riv., 108; Backus, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 214; Parker’s Notes on Tex., p. 203; Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 470.

[691] ‘They defecate promiscuously near their huts; they leave offal of every character, dead animals and dead skins, close in the vicinity of their huts.’ Ind. Aff. Rept. Spec. Com., 1867, p. 339; Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, p. 114; Hardy’s Trav., p. 380.

[692] The Mojave ‘arms are the bow and arrow, the spear and the club.’ Sitgreaves’ Zuñi Ex., p. 18. ‘Armed with bows and arrows.’ Fremont and Emory’s Notes of Trav., p. 39. The Querechos ‘use the bow and arrow, lance and shield.’ Marcy’s Army Life, pp. 19, 23. ‘The Apache will invariably add his bow and arrows to his personal armament.’ Cremony’s Apaches, pp. 15, 75-6, 103, 189. ‘Neben Bogen und Pfeilen führen sie noch sehr lange Lanzen.’ Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 230. ‘They use the bow and arrow and spear.’ Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 293. ‘Armed with bows and arrows, and the lance.’ Backus, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 214. For colored lithograph of weapons see Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., p. 50, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii. ‘El armamento de los apaches se componen de lanza, arco y flechas.’ Cordero, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 372. ‘Las armas de los apaches son fusil, flechas y lanza.’ García Conde, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. v., p. 315. ‘Los Yumas son Indios … de malas armas, muchos no llevan arco, y si lo llevan es mal dispuesto, y con dos ó tres flechas.’ Garces, in Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 419; Sedelmair, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 851; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. iii., p. 111; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 399; Parker’s Notes on Tex., p. 190; Drew, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 105; Odin, in Domenech, Jour., p. 450; Wislizenus’ Tour, p. 71; Dewees’ Texas, p. 233; Holley’s Texas, p. 153; Brownell’s Ind. Races, p. 543; Dragoon Camp., p. 153; Moore’s Texas, p. 33; Ward’s Mexico, vol. ii., p. 602; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, vol. ii., pt. ii., p. 421; Lachapelle, Raousset-Boulbon, p. 82; Combier, Voy., p. 224; Brantz-Mayer’s Mex., Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 123; Thümmel, Mexiko, p. 444; Peters’ Life of Carson, p. 452; Cutts’ Conq. of Cal., p. 185; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., pp. 328-9, 451; Pagés’ Travels, vol. i., p. 107; Linati, Costumes, plate xxii.; Armin, Das Heutige Mexiko, p. 274; Möllhausen, Mormonenmädchen, tom. ii., p. 152; Figuier’s Hum. Race, pp. 480-2, with cut.

[693] ‘Their weapons of war are the spear or lance, the bow, and the laso.’ Hughes’ Doniphan’s Ex., p. 173.

[694] Among ‘their arms of offence’ is ‘what is called Macána, a short club, like a round wooden mallet, which is used in close quarters.’ Hardy’s Trav., p. 373. ‘War clubs were prepared in abundance.’ Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, p. 176. Die Apachen ‘nur Bogen, Pfeile und Keulen.’ Thümmel, Mexiko, p. 444. ‘Their clubs are of mezquite wood (a species of acacia) three or four feet long.’ Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. 108. ‘Ils n’ont d’autre arme qu’un grand croc et une massue.’ Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 186. ‘Arma sunt … oblongi lignei gladii multis acutis silicibus utrimque muniti.’ De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 311. ‘Sus Armas son Flechas, y Macanas.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 681. Among the Comanches: ‘Leur massue est une queue de buffle à l’extrémité de laquelle ils insèrent une boule en pierre on en métal.’ Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 193; Mowry, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 302.

[695] ‘Mit vierstreifigen Strickschleudern bewaffnet.’ Mexikanische Zustände, tom. i., p. 64. ‘Sie fechten mit Lanzen, Büchsen, Pfeilen und Tamahaks.’ Ludecus, Reise, p. 104. ‘Une petite hache en silex.’ Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 193; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., p. 539; Treasury of Trav., p. 31; Escudero, Noticias de Chihuahua, p. 230; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 272.

[696] The Querecho ‘bows are made of the tough and elastic wood of the “bois d’arc” or Osage orange (Maclura Aurantiaca), strengthened and reenforced with the sinews of the deer wrapped firmly around them, and strung with a cord made of the same material.’ Marcy’s Army Life, p. 24. The Tonto ‘bow is a stout piece of tough wood … about five feet long, strengthened at points by a wrapping of sinew … which are joined by a sinew string.’ Smart, in Smithsonian Rept., 1867, p. 418. The Navajo ‘bow is about four feet in length … and is covered on the back with a kind of fibrous tissue.’Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 293. The Yuma ‘bow is made of willow.’ Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. 108. ‘Langen Bogen von Weidenholz.’ Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. i., p. 124. Apaches: ‘the bow forms two semicircles, with a shoulder in the middle; the back of it is entirely covered with sinews, which are laid on … by the use of some glutinous substance.’ Pike’s Explor. Trav., p. 338. ‘Los tamaños de estas armas son differentes, segun las parcialidades que las usan.’ Cordero, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 372; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 360; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 453; Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 98; Pattie’s Pers. Nar., pp. 117, 149; Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 450.

[697] The Apaches: ‘Tous portaient au poignet gauche le bracelet de cuir … Ce bracelet de cuir est une espèce de paumelle qui entoure la main gauche, … Le premier sert à amortir le coup de fouet de la corde de l’arc quand il se détend, la seconde empêche les pennes de la flèche de déchirer la peau de la main.’ Ferry, Scènes de la vie Sauvage, p. 256. ‘With a leather bracelet on one wrist and a bow and quiver of arrows form the general outfit.’ Smart, in Smithsonian Rept., 1867, p. 418.

[698] The Coyoteros ‘use very long arrows of reed, finished out with some hard wood, and an iron or flint head, but invariably with three feathers at the opposite end.’ Cremony’s Apaches, p. 103. Navajoes: ‘the arrow is about two feet long and pointed with iron.’ Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 293. The Querechos ‘arrows are twenty inches long, of flexible wood, with a triangular point of iron at one end, and two feathers … at the opposite extremity.’ Marcy’s Army Life, p. 24. The Apache ‘arrows are quite long, very rarely pointed with flint, usually with iron. The feather upon the arrow is placed or bound down with fine sinew in threes, instead of twos…. The arrow-shaft is usually made of some pithy wood, generally a species of yucca.’ Henry, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 209. ‘Sagittæ acutis silicibus asperatæ.’ De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 311. ‘Arrows were … pointed with a head of stone. Some were of white quartz or agate, and others of obsidian.’ Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 98. The Tonto ‘arrows … are three feet long … the cane is winged with four strips of feather, held in place by threads of sinew … which bears on its free end an elongated triangular piece of quartz, flint, or rarely iron.’ Smart, in Smithsonian Rept., 1867, p. 418. The Lipan arrows ‘have four straight flutings; the Comanches make two straight black flutings and two red spiral ones.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 270; Sitgreaves’ Zuñi Ex., p. 18; Tempsky’s Mitla, p. 82; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 276; Conder’s Mex. Guat., vol. ii., p. 76; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 360; Möllhausen, Flüchtling, tom. iv., p. 31; Pattie’s Pers. Nar., p. 149.

[699] The Apache ‘quivers are usually made of deer-skin, with the hair turned inside or outside, and sometimes of the skin of the wild-cat, with the tail appended.’ Henry, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 210. ‘Quiver of sheep-skin.’ Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 461. ‘Quiver of fresh-cut reeds.’ Fremont and Emory’s Notes of Trav., p. 39. ‘Un carcax ó bolsa de piel de leopardo en lo general.’ Cordero, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 373; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., p. 31, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii.; Tempsky’s Mitla, p. 80.

[700] ‘The spear is eight or ten feet in length, including the point, which is about eighteen inches long, and also made of iron.’ Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 293. Should the Apaches possess any useless firearms, ‘generalmente vienen á darles nuevo uso, haciendo de ellas lanzas, cuchillos, lengüetas de flechas.’ Cordero, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 372. ‘La lanza la usan muy larga.’ García Conde, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. v., p. 315. ‘Lance of fifteen feet in length.’ Pike’s Explor. Trav., p. 338; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 276; Holley’s Texas, p. 153; Cutts’ Conq. of Cal., p. 242; Revista Científica, tom. i., p. 162; Parker’s Notes on Tex., p. 195; Pattie’s Pers. Nar., p. 298.

[701] The Comanche ‘shield was round … made of wicker-work, covered first with deer skins and then a tough piece of raw buffalo-hide drawn over, … ornamented with a human scalp, a grizzly bear’s claw and a mule’s tail … for the arm were pieces of cotton cloth twisted into a rope.’ Parker’s Notes on Tex., p. 195. ‘En el brazo izquierdo llevaba el chimal, que es un escudo ovalado, cubierto todo de plumas, espejos, chaquiras y adornos de paño encarnado.’ Revista Científica, tom. i., p. 162. Their shield ‘is generally painted a bright yellow.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 268. ‘Shield of circular form, covered with two thicknesses of hard, undressed buffalo hide, … stuffed with hair … a rifle-ball will not penetrate it unless it strikes perpendicular to the surface.’ Marcy’s Army Life, pp. 24-5; Möllhausen, Flüchtling, tom. iv., p. 31; Tempsky’s Mitla, p. 80. A ‘Navajo shield … with an image of a demon painted on one side … border of red cloth, … trimmed with feathers.’ Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 454; Linati, Costumes, plate xxii.; Shepard’s Land of the Aztecs, p. 182; Edward’s Hist. Tex., p. 104.

[702] ‘Wherever their observations can be made from neighboring heights with a chance of successful ambush, the Apache never shows himself.’ Cremony’s Apaches, pp. 79, 189. ‘Attacking only when their numbers, and a well-laid ambush, promise a certainty of success.’ Smart, in Smithsonian Rept., 1867, p. 419. ‘Colocan de antemano una emboscada.’ Cordero, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 375; Parker, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, pp. 221-3, 256; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 4; Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 47; Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, p. 107; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 276; Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 186; Davis, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1868, p. 161.

[703] ‘Salen … generalmente divididos en pequeñas partidas para ocultar mejor sus rastros…. Es imponderable la velocidad con que huyen despues que han ejecutado un crecido robo … las montañas que encumbran, los desiertos sin agua que atraviesan.’ García Conde, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. v., p. 316. ‘They steal upon their enemies under the cover of night.’ Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. 107; Murr, Nachrichten, p. 303; Lachapelle, Raousset-Boulbon, p. 83; Apostólicos Afanes, p. 434; Cordero, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 375-6; Browne’s Apache Country, p. 279; Figuier’s Hum. Race, p. 480; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 276.

[704] ‘La practica, que observan para avisarse los unos à los otros … es levantar humaredas.’ Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., p. 394. ‘Smokes are of various kinds, each one significant of a particular object.’ Cremony’s Apaches, pp. 183-4. ‘In token of retreate sounded on a certaine small trumpet … made fires, and were answered againe afarre off … to giue their fellowes vnderstanding, how wee marched and where we arriued.’ Coronado, in Hakluyt’s Voy., tom. iii., p. 376; Möllhausen, Flüchtling, tom. ii., p. 157; Smart, in Smithsonian Rept., 1867, p. 419.

[705] ‘La suma crueldad con que tratan á los vencidos atenaccandolos vivos y comiendose los pedazos de la carne que la arrancan.’ Doc. Hist. N. Vizcaya, MS., p. 4. ‘Their savage and blood-thirsty natures experience a real pleasure in tormenting their victim.’ Cremony’s Apaches, p. 266. ‘Hang their victims by the heels to a tree and put a slow fire under their head.’ Browne’s Apache Country, pp. 201, 93, 96. Among the Navajos, ‘Captives taken in their forays are usually treated kindly.’ Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 295. ‘Ils scalpent avec la corde de leur arc, en la tournant rapidement autour de la tête de leur victime.’ Lachapelle, Raousset-Boulbon, p. 82; Murr, Nachrichten, p. 303; Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, pp. 114-118, 138, 149, 218; Farnham’s Trav., p. 32; Graves, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 180; Labadi, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1862, p. 247; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 453; Scenes in the Rocky Mts., p. 180; Stone, in Hist. Mag., vol. v., p. 167; Henry, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 212; Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. iii., p. 10; Pattie’s Pers. Nar., p. 118.

[706] Cremony’s Apaches, p. 216; Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 114.

[707] ‘Obran en la guerra con mas táctica que los apaches.’ García Conde, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. v., p. 318. ‘A young man is never considered worthy to occupy a seat in council until he has encountered an enemy in battle.’ Marcy’s Army Life, p. 34; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 22; Domenech, Jour., pp. 140-1; Foote’s Texas, vol. i., p. 298; Kennedy’s Texas, vol. i., p. 346; Maillard’s Hist. Tex., p. 243.

[708] ‘When a chieftain desires to organize a war-party, he … rides around through the camp singing the war-song.’ Marcy’s Army Life, p. 53. ‘When a chief wishes to go to war … the preliminaries are discussed at a war-dance.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. ii., p. 132; Armin, Das Heutige Mexiko, p. 280; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. ii., p. 315.

[709] ‘They dart forward in a column like lightning…. At a suitable distance from their prey, they divide into two squadrons.’ Holley’s Texas, p. 153. ‘A Comanche will often throw himself upon the opposite side of his charger, so as to be protected from the darts of the enemy.’ Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. ii., pp. 312-13; Dewees’ Texas, p. 234; Shepard’s Land of the Aztecs, p. 182; Ludecus, Reise, p. 104.

[710] ‘Ils tuent tous les prisonniers adultes, et ne laissent vivre que les enfants, qu’ils élèvent avec soin pour s’en servir comme d’esclaves.’ Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 290. ‘Invariably kill such men as offer the slightest impediment to their operations, and take women and children prisoners.’ Marcy’s Army Life, pp. 24, 54. ‘Prisoners of war belong to the captors.’ Burnet, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., p. 232; Farnham’s Trav., p. 32; Figuier’s Hum. Race, p. 480; Pattie’s Pers. Nar., p. 41; Foote’s Texas, vol. i., p. 298; Horn’s Captivity, p. 15; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 205.

[711] ‘Ten chiefs were seated in a circle within our tent, when the pipe, the Indian token of peace, was produced … they at first refused to smoke, their excuse being, that it was not their custom to smoke until they had received some presents.’ Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. ii., p. 39.

[712] ‘I saw no earthenware vessels among them; the utensils employed in the preparation of food being shallow basins of closely netted straw. They carried water in pitchers of the same material, but they were matted all over with a pitch.’ Smart, in Smithsonian Rept., 1867, p. 419. ‘Aus Binsen und Weiden geflochtene Gefässe, mitunter auch einige aus Thon geformte;’ … by the door stood ‘ein breiter Stein … auf welchem mittelst eines kleineren die Mehlfrüchte zerrieben wurden.’ Möllhausen, Tagebuch, pp. 396, 404. ‘Panniers of wicker-work, for holding provisions, are generally carried on the horse by the women.’ Henry, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 210; Neighbors, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. ii., p. 129. ‘Their only implements are sticks.’ Greene, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, p. 140. ‘They (the Axuas of Colorado River) had a beautiful fishing-net made out of grass.’ … ‘They had also burnt earthen jars, extremely well made. The size of each of them might be about two feet in diameter in the greatest swell; very thin, light, and well formed.’ Hardy’s Trav., p. 338. ‘Nets wrought with the bark of the willow.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 220; Browne’s Apache Country, p. 200. ‘Tienen mucha loza de las coloradas, y pintadas y negras, platos, caxetes, saleros; almofias, xicaras muy galanas: alguna de la loza está vidriada. Tienen mucho apercibimiento de leña, é de madera, para hacer sus casas, en tal manera, á lo que nos dieron á entender, que cuando uno queria hacer casa, tiene aquella madera allí de puesto para el efecto, y hay mucha cantidad. Tiene dos guaxexes á los lados del pueblo, que le sirven para se bañar, porque de otros ojos de agua, á tiro de arcabuz, beben y se sirven. A un cuarto de legua va el rio Salado, que decimos, por donde fué nuestro camino, aunque el agua salada se pierde de muchas leguas atrás.’ Castaño de Sosa, in Pacheco, Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. iv., p. 331; Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, Feb. 14th, 1862; Browne’s Apache Country, p. 200. ‘Their only means of farming are sharpened sticks.’ Colyer, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1871, p. 50.

[713] ‘Their utensils for the purpose of grinding breadstuff, consist of two stones; one flat, with a concavity in the middle; the other round, fitting partly into the hollow of the flat stone.’ Henry, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 209; Smart, in Smithsonian Rept., 1867, p. 418; Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 282.

[714] ‘The cradle of the Navajo Indians resembles the same article made by the Western Indians. It consists of a flat board, to support the vertebral column of the infant, with a layer of blankets and soft wadding, to give ease to the position, having the edges of the frame-work ornamented with leather fringe. Around and over the head of the child, who is strapped to this plane, is an ornamented hoop, to protect the face and cranium from accident. A leather strap is attached to the vertebral shell-work, to enable the mother to sling it on her back.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 435-6, and plate p. 74.

[715] ‘The saddle is not peculiar but generally resembles that used by the Mexicans. They ride with a very short stirrup, which is placed further to the front than on a Mexican saddle. The bit of the bridle has a ring attached to it, through which the lower jaw is partly thrust, and a powerful pressure is exerted by this means when the reins are tightened.’ Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 292. ‘Sa selle est faite de deux rouleaux de paille reliés par une courroie et maintenus par une sangle de cuir.’ Lachapelle, Raousset-Boulbon, p. 82; Tempsky’s Mitla, p. 80. The Navajos have ‘aus zähem Eschenholz gefertigten Sattelbogen.’ Möllhausen, Flüchtling, tom. iv., p. 39.

[716] ‘Das Netz war weitmaschig, aus feinen, aber sehr starken Bastfäden geflochten, vier Fuss hoch, und ungefähr dreissig Fuss lang. Von vier zu vier Fuss befanden sich lange Stäbe an demselben, mittelst welcher es im Wasser, zugleich aber auch auf dem Boden und aufrecht gehalten wurde.’ Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. i., p. 227; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 220.

[717] ‘El apache para sacar lumbre, usa … un pedazo de sosole y otro de lechuguilla bien secos. Al primero le forman una punta, lo que frotan con la segunda con cuanta velocidad pueden á la manera del ejercicio de nuestros molinillos para hacer el chocolate: luego que ambos palos se calientan con la frotacion, se encienden y producen el fuego.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 282.

[718] The Navajos ‘manufacture the celebrated, and, for warmth and durability, unequaled, Navajo blanket. The Navajo blankets are a wonder of patient workmanship, and often sell as high as eighty, a hundred, or a hundred and fifty dollars.’ Walker, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1872, p. 53. ‘Navajo blankets have a wide and merited reputation for beauty and excellence.’ Cremony’s Apaches, p. 305; Ind. Aff. Rept. Spec. Com., 1867, p. 341; Turner, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1852, tom. cxxxv., p. 314; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., pp. 13, 32, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii.; Davis’ El Gringo, p. 411; Hughes’ Doniphan’s Ex., p. 203; Scenes in the Rocky Mts., p. 180; Figuier’s Hum. Race, p. 481; Peters’ Life of Carson, p. 125; Prichard’s Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., p. 567; Farnham’s Life in Cal., pp. 373-4.

[719] ‘This art may have been acquired from the New Mexicans, or the Pueblo Indians.’ Eaton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 217. ‘This manufacture of blankets … was originally learned from the Mexicans when the two people lived on amicable terms.’ Cremony’s Apaches, p. 367.

[720] ‘The blanket is woven by a tedious and rude process, after the manner of the Pueblo Indians…. The manner of weaving is peculiar, and is, no doubt, original with these people and the neighboring tribes.’ Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 291; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 437.

[721] ‘The spinning and weaving is done … by hand. The thread is made entirely by hand, and is coarse and uneven.’ Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 291. ‘The wool or cotton is first prepared by carding. It is then fastened to the spindle near its top, and is held in the left hand. The spindle is held between the thumb and the first finger of the right hand, and stands vertically in the earthen bowl. The operator now gives the spindle a twirl, as a boy turns his top, and while it is revolving, she proceeds to draw out her thread, precisely as is done by our own operatives, in using the common spinning-wheel. As soon as the thread is spun, the spindle is turned in an opposite direction, for the purpose of winding up the thread on the portion of it next to the wooden block.’ Backus, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 436.

[722] Backus, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 436. ‘The colors are woven in bands and diamonds. We have never observed blankets with figures of a complicated pattern.’ Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 291.

[723] ‘The colors, which are given in the yarn, are red, black, and blue. The juice of certain plants is employed in dyeing, but it is asserted by recent authorities that the brightest red and blue are obtained by macerating strips of Spanish cochineal, and altamine dyed goods, which have been purchased at the towns.’ Backus, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 436. ‘The colors are red, blue, black, and yellow; black and red being the most common. The red strands are obtained by unravelling red cloth, black by using the wool of black sheep, blue by dissolving indigo in fermented urine, and yellow is said to be by coloring with a particular flower.’ Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 291. The women ‘welche sich in der Wahl der Farben und der Zusammenstellung von bunten Streifen und phantastischen Figuren in dem Gewebe gegenseitig zu übertreffen suchen. Ursprünglich trugen die Decken nur die verschiedenen Farben der Schafe in breiten Streifen, doch seit die Navahoes farbige, wollene Stoffe von Neu-Mexiko beziehen können, verschaffen sie sich solche, um sie in Fäden aufzulösen, und diese dann zu ihrer eigenen Weberei zu verwenden.’ Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. ii., p. 235; Ruxton’s Adven. Mex., p. 195.

[724] ‘Ils (the Apaches) travaillent bien les cuirs, font de belles brides.’ Lachapelle, Raousset-Boulbon, p. 82. ‘They manufacture rough leather.’ Pike’s Explor. Trav., p. 335. ‘Man macht Leder.’ Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 195. ‘It has been represented that these tribes (the Navajos) wear leather shoes…. Inquiry from persons who have visited or been stationed in New Mexico, disaffirms this observation, showing that in all cases the Navajo shoes are skins, dressed and smoked after the Indian method.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 204; Cremony’s Apaches, p. 305; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., p. 286. They ‘knit woolen stockings.’ Davis’ El Gringo, p. 411. ‘They also manufacture … a coarse woolen cloth with which they clothe themselves.’ Clark, in Hist. Mag., vol. viii., p. 280; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 403, vol. ii., pp. 244-5. ‘The Navajoes raise no cotton.’ Backus, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 212. ‘Sie sind noch immer in einigen Baumwollengeweben ausgezeichnet.’ Thümmel, Mexiko, p. 349. ‘These people (the inhabitants of Arizona in 1540) had cotton, but they were not very carefull to vse the same: because there was none among them that knew the arte of weauing, and to make apparel thereof.’ Alarchon, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 433; Bent, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., p. 243; Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 89; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 680; Alcedo, Diccionario, tom. iii., p. 184.

[725] The Xicarillas, ‘manufacture a sort of pottery which resists the action of fire.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 8; Graves, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 177. The Yuma ‘women make baskets of willow, and also of tule, which are impervious to water; also earthen ollas or pots, which are used for cooking and for cooling water.’ Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. 111; Revillagigedo, Carta, MS., p. 21. ‘Figure 4. A scoop or dipper, from the Mohave tribe, and as neat and original an article in earthenware as could well be designed by a civilized potter.’ Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., p. 46, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii. ‘Professor Cox was informed that the New Mexican Indians colored their pottery black by using the gum of the mezquite, which has much the appearance and properties of gum arabic, and then baking it. Much of the ancient pottery from the Colorado Chiquito is colored, the prevailing tints being white, black, and red.’ Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 250; Ruxton’s Adven. Mex., p. 195. The Yampais had ‘some admirably made baskets of so close a texture as to hold water; a wicker jar coated with pine tree gum.’ Sitgreaves’ Zuñi. Ex., p. 10; Bent, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., p. 243.

[726] Gregg’s Com. Prairies, p. 286. ‘In regard to the manufacture of plumage, or feather-work, they certainly display a greater fondness for decorations of this sort than any Indians we have seen…. I saw no exhibition of it in the way of embroidery.’ Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., p. 79; Thümmel, Mexiko, p. 349.

[727] ‘Mines d’argent exploitées par les Comanches, qui en tirent des ornements pour eux et pour leurs chevaux, ainsi que des balles pour leurs fusils.’ Domenech, Jour., p. 132.

[728] The Mescaleros had ‘a raft of bulrush or cane, floated and supported by some twenty or thirty hollow pumpkins fastened together.’ Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. iii., p. 56. The Yumas had ‘batteaus which could hold 200 or 300 pounds weight.’ Id., vol. iv., p. 546. The Mojaves had ‘Flössen, die von Binsen-Bündeln zusammengefügt waren (die einzige Art von Fahrzeug, welche ich bei den Bewohnern des Colorado-Thales bemerkte).’ Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 401. ‘Merely bundles of rushes placed side by side, and securely bound together with willow twigs … their owners paddled them about with considerable dexterity.’ Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 117, and plate. Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. i., pp. 238, 254; Ives’ Colorado Riv., p. 69.

[729] ‘Immense numbers of horses and sheep, attesting the wealth of the tribe.’ Ives’ Colorado Riv., pp. 128, 130. ‘They possess more wealth than all the other wild tribes in New Mexico combined.’ Graves, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 179. ‘They are owners of large flocks and herds.’ Bent, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., p. 243; Eaton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 217; Backus, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 211, 212; Scenes in the Rocky Mts., p. 180; Davis’ El Gringo, p. 411; Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, pp. 291-2; Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxxi., p. 289; Prichard’s Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., p. 567; Hughes’ Doniphan’s Ex., p. 173; Peters’ Life of Carson, p. 124; Thümmel, Mexiko, p. 349; Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., p. 79; Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 460; Cremony’s Apaches, p. 254; Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 60.

[730] The Jicarilla Apaches ‘manufacture a species of coarse earthenware, which they exchange for corn and wheat.’ Keithly, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1863, p. 115. Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, p. 123.

[731] ‘Das Eigenthum des Vaters nicht auf den Sohn übergeht, sondern dass Neffen und Nichten als die rechtmässigen Erben anerkannt werden wenn nicht der Vater bei Lebzeiten schon seine Habe an die eigenen Kinder geschenkt hat.’ Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. ii., p. 234. ‘The husband has no control over the property of his wife…. Property does not descend from father to son, but goes to the nephew of the decedent, or, in default of a nephew, to the niece … but if, while living, he distributes his property to his children, that disposition is recognised.’ Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, pp. 294-5. ‘When the father dies … a fair division is not made; the strongest usually get the bulk of the effects.’ Bristol, in Ind. Aff. Rept. Spec. Com., 1867, p. 357.

[732] ‘The blankets, though not purchasable with money … were sold, in some instances, for the most trifling article of ornament or clothing.’ Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., p. 81. Shell beads, which they call ‘pook,’ are their substitute for money.’ Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 115.

[733] The Querechos encountered by Coronado had with them ‘un grand troupeau de chiens qui portaient tout ce qu’ils possédaient.’ Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 117. ‘The only property of these people, with the exception of a few articles belonging to their domestic economy, consists entirely in horses and mules.’ Marcy’s Army Life, p. 22; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 23; Kennedy’s Texas, vol. i., p. 347; Marcy’s Rept., p. 188; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, pp. 116-17.

[734] ‘There are no subdivisions of land acknowledged in their territory, and no exclusive right of game.’ Neighbors, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. ii., p. 131. ‘Their code is strictly Spartan.’ Marcy’s Army Life, p. 23.

[735] ‘They are sufficiently astute in dealing.’ Burnet, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., p. 232. ‘Le chef des Indiens choisit, parmi ces objets, ceux qui sont nécessaires à sa tribu.’ Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 193. ‘In Comanche trade the main trouble consists in fixing the price of the first animal. This being settled by the chiefs.’ Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. ii., p. 45; Parker’s Notes on Tex., pp. 190, 234; Burnet, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., p. 232; Domenech, Jour., p. 130; Dewees’ Texas, p. 36.

[736] Mr Bartlett, describing an excursion he made to the Sierra Waco near the Copper Mines in New Mexico, says, he saw ‘an overhanging rock extending for some distance, the whole surface of which is covered with rude paintings and sculptures, representing men, animals, birds, snakes, and fantastic figures … some of them, evidently of great age, had been partly defaced to make room for more recent devices.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., pp. 170-4, with cuts. In Arizona, Emory found ‘a mound of granite boulders … covered with unknown characters…. On the ground nearby were also traces of some of the figures, showing some of the hieroglyphics, at least, to have been the work of modern Indians.’ Emory’s Reconnoissance, pp. 89, 90, with cut. The Comanches ‘aimaient beaucoup les images, qu’ils ne se lassaient pas d’admirer.’ Domenech, Jour., p. 136.

[737] ‘The Apaches count ten thousand with as much regularity as we do. They even make use of the decimal sequences.’ Cremony’s Apaches, p. 237.

[738] ‘They have no computation of time beyond the seasons … the cold and hot season … frequently count by the Caddo mode—from one to ten, and by tens to one hundred, &c…. They are ignorant of the elements of figures.’ Neighbors, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. ii., pp. 129-30. ‘Ce qu’ils savent d’astronomie se borne à la connaissance de l’étoile polaire…. L’arithmétique des sauvages est sur leurs doigts; … Il leur faut absolument un objet pour nombrer.’ Hartmann and Millard, Tex., pp. 112-13.

[739] The Navajos have no tribal government, and in reality no chiefs. Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 288. ‘Their form of government is so exceedingly primitive as to be hardly worthy the name of a political organization.’ Davis’ El Gringo, pp. 412, 413; Ives’ Colorado Riv., p. 71. ‘Ils n’ont jamais connu de domination.’ Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série. v., No. 96, p. 187. ‘Each is sovereign in his own right as a warrior.’ Cremony’s Apaches, p. 177.

[740] ‘It is my opinion that the Navajo chiefs have but very little influence with their people.’ Bennett, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 238, and 1870, p. 152; Bristol, in Ind. Aff. Rept. Spec. Com., 1867, p. 357.

[741] ‘Los padres de familia ejercen esta autoridad en tanto que los hijos no salen de la infancia, porque poco antes de salir de la pubertad son como libres y no reconocen mas superioridad que sus propias fuerzas, ó la del indio que los manda en la campaña.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, pp. 282-3. ‘Every rich man has many dependants, and these dependants are obedient to his will, in peace and in war.’ Backus, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 211; Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 89. ‘Every one who has a few horses and sheep is a “head man.”‘ Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 288; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. ii., p. 233. The rule of the Querechos is ‘essentially patriarchal.’ Marcy’s Army Life, p. 20.

[742] ‘When one or more (of the Navajos) are successful in battle or fortunate in their raids to the settlements on the Rio Grande, he is endowed with the title of captain or chief.’ Bristol, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1867, p. 357. ‘En cualquiera de estas incorporaciones toma el mando del todo por comun consentimiento el mas acreditado de valiente.’ Cordero, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 373. The Comanches have ‘a right to displace a chief, and elect his successor, at pleasure.’ Kennedy’s Texas, vol. i., p. 346. A chief of the Comanches is never degraded ‘for any private act unconnected with the welfare of the whole tribe.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. ii., p. 130.

[743] The office of chief is not hereditary with the Navajos. Cremony’s Apaches, p. 307. The wise old men of the Querechos ‘curb the impetuosity of ambitious younger warriors.’ Marcy’s Army Life, p. 20. ‘I infer that rank is (among the Mojaves), to some extent, hereditary.’ Ives’ Colorado Riv., pp. 67, 71. ‘This captain is often the oldest son of the chief, and assumes the command of the tribe on the death of his father,’ among the Apaches. Henry, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 210.

[744] The Mescaleros and Apaches ‘choose a head-man to direct affairs for the time being.’ Carleton, in Smithsonian Rept., 1854, p. 315. ‘Es gibt auch Stämme, an deren Spitze ein Kriegs- sowie ein Friedens-Häuptling steht.’ Armin, Das Heutige Mexiko, p. 279; García Conde, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. v., p. 315.

[745] When Col. Langberg visited the Comanches who inhabit the Bolson de Mapimi, ‘wurde dieser Stamm von einer alten Frau angeführt.’ Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., p. 222; Id., Cent. Amer., p. 352; Hardy’s Trav., p. 348. ‘I have never known them (Comanches) to make a treaty that a portion of the tribe do not violate its stipulations before one year rolls around.’ Neighbors, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 267.

[746] The chiefs of the Comanches ‘are in turn subject to the control of a principal chief.’ Kennedy’s Texas, vol. i., p. 345. ‘La autoridad central de su gobierno reside en un gefe supremo.’ Revista Científica, tom. i., p. 57; Escudero, Noticias de Chihuahua, p. 229. The southern Comanches ‘do not of late years acknowledge the sovereignty of a common ruler and leader in their united councils nor in war.’ Marcy’s Army Life, p. 43. The Gila Apaches acknowledge ‘no common head or superior.’ Merriwether, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 170, 172.

[747] The Comanches ‘hold regular councils quarterly, and a grand council of the whole tribe once a year.’ Edward’s Hist. Tex., p. 108. ‘At these councils prisoners of war are tried, as well as all cases of adultery, theft, sedition and murder, which are punished by death. The grand council also takes cognizance of all disputes between the chiefs, and other matters of importance.’ Maillard’s Hist. Tex., p. 244. ‘Their decisions are of but little moment, unless they meet the approbation of the mass of the people; and for this reason these councils are exceedingly careful not to run counter to the wishes of the poorer but more numerous class, being aware of the difficulty, if not impossibility, of enforcing any act that would not command their approval.’ Collins, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 274. ‘Singulis pagis sui Reguli erant, qui per praecones suos edicta populo denuntiabant.’ De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 311. ‘Tienen otra Persona, que llaman Pregonero, y es la segunda Persona de la República; el oficio de este, es manifestar al Pueblo todas las cosas que se han de hacer.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 337; Id., tom. i., p. 680. They recognize ‘no law but that of individual caprice.’Steck, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1863, p. 109. The Comanches ‘acknowledge no right but the right of the strongest.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 575. ‘La loi du talion est la base fondamentale du code politique, civil et criminel de ces diverses peuplades, et cette loi reçoit une rigoureuse application de nation à nation, de famille à famille, d’individu à individu.’ Hartmann and Millard, Tex., p. 114.

[748] The Comanches punish ‘Adultery, theft, murder, and other crimes … by established usage.’ Kennedy’s Texas, vol. i., p. 347. Among the Navajos, ‘Lewdness is punished by a public exposure of the culprit.’ Scenes in the Rocky Mts., p. 180. Marcy’s Army Life, pp. 26, 59. Navajoes ‘regard each other’s right of property, and punish with great severity any one who infringes upon it. In one case a Navajo was found stealing a horse; they held a council and put him to death.’ Bristol, in Ind. Aff. Rept. Spec. Com., 1867, p. 344. A Cuchano young boy who frightened a child by foretelling its death, which accidentally took place the next day, ‘was secretly accused and tried before the council for “being under the influence of evil spirits,”‘ and put to death. Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. iii.; Feudge, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1868, p. 137. Among the Yumas, ‘Each chief punishes delinquents by beating them across the back with a stick. Criminals brought before the general council for examination, if convicted, are placed in the hands of a regularly appointed executioner of the tribe, who inflicts such punishment as the council may direct.’ Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. iii.

[749] The Apache chief Ponce, speaking of the grief of a poor woman at the loss of her son, says: ‘The mother of the dead brave demands the life of his murderer. Nothing else will satisfy her…. Would money satisfy me for the death of my son? No! I would demand the blood of the murderer. Then I would be satisfied.’ Cremony’s Apaches, p. 69. ‘If one man (Apache) kills another, the next of kin to the defunct individual may kill the murderer—if he can. He has the right to challenge him to single-combat…. There is no trial, no set council, no regular examination into the crime or its causes; but the ordeal of battle settles the whole matter.’ Id., p. 293.

[750] Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 7; Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 294. ‘Ils (Comanches) tuent tous les prisonniers adultes, et ne laissent vivre que les enfans.’ Dillon, Hist. Mex., p. 98. The Navajos ‘have in their possession many prisoners, men, women, and children, … whom they hold and treat as slaves.’ Bent, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., p. 244.

[751] One boy from Mexico taken by the Comanches, said, ‘dass sein Geschäft in der Gefangenschaft darin bestehe die Pferde seines Herrn zu weiden.’ Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., p. 102; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. ii., p. 313. The natives of New Mexico take the women prisoners ‘for wives.’ Marcy’s Rept., p. 187. Some prisoners liberated from the Comanches, were completely covered with stripes and bruises. Dewees’ Texas, p. 232. Miss Olive Oatman detained among the Mohaves says: ‘They invented modes and seemed to create necessities of labor that they might gratify themselves by taxing us to the utmost, and even took unwarranted delight in whipping us on beyond our strength. And all their requests and exactions were couched in the most insulting and taunting language and manner, as it then seemed, and as they had the frankness soon to confess, to fume their hate against the race to whom we belonged. Often under the frown and lash were we compelled to labor for whole days upon an allowance amply sufficient to starve a common dandy civilized idler.’ Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, pp. 114-18, 130.

[752] ‘It appeared that the poor girl had been stolen, as the Indian (Axua) said, from the Yuma tribe the day before, and he now offered her for sale.’ Hardy’s Trav., p. 379. ‘The practice of parents selling their children is another proof of poverty’ of the Axuans. Id., p. 371.

[753] ‘According to their (Tontos’) physiology the female, especially the young female, should be allowed meat only when necessary to prevent starvation.’ Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, p. 115. The Comanches ‘enter the marriage state at a very early age frequently before the age of puberty.’ Neighbors, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. ii., p. 132. Whenever a Jicarilla female arrives at a marriageable age, in honor of the ‘event the parents will sacrifice all the property they possess, the ceremony being protracted from five to ten days with every demonstration of hilarity.’ Steck, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1863, p. 109; Marcy’s Army Life, p. 28-9. Among the Yumas, the applicant for womanhood is placed in an oven or closely covered hut, in which she is steamed for three days, alternating the treatment with plunges into the near river, and maintaining a fast all the time.’ Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., pp. 110-11. The Apaches celebrate a feast with singing, dancing, and mimic display when a girl arrives at the marriageable state, during which time the girl remains ‘isolated in a huge lodge’ and ‘listens patiently to the responsibilities of her marriageable condition,’ recounted to her by the old men and chiefs. ‘After it is finished she is divested of her eyebrows…. A month afterward the eye lashes are pulled out.’ Cremony’s Apaches, pp. 143, 243-6.

[754] There is no marriage ceremony among the Navajoes ‘a young man wishing a woman for his wife ascertains who her father is; he goes and states the cause of his visit and offers from one to fifteen horses for the daughter. The consent of the father is absolute, and the one so purchased assents or is taken away by force. All the marriageable women or squaws in a family can be taken in a similar manner by the same individual; i. e., he can purchase wives as long as his property holds out.’ Bristol, in Ind. Aff. Rept. Spec. Com., 1867, p. 357; Marcy’s Army Life, p. 49; Backus, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 214; Parker’s Notes on Tex., p. 233.

[755] Among the Apaches, the lover ‘stakes his horse in front of her roost…. Should the girl favor the suitor, his horse is taken by her, led to water, fed, and secured in front of his lodge…. Four days comprise the term allowed her for an answer…. A ready acceptance is apt to be criticised with some severity, while a tardy one is regarded as the extreme of coquetry.’ Cremony’s Apaches, pp. 245-9; Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 89; Marcy’s Army Life, pp. 30, 51. The Apache ‘who can support or keep, or attract by his power to keep, the greatest number of women, is the man who is deemed entitled to the greatest amount of honor and respect.’ Cremony’s Apaches, pp. 44, 85. Un Comanche, ‘peut épouser autant de femmes qu’il veut, à la seule condition de donner à chacune un cheval.’ Domenech, Jour., p. 135. Among the Navajoes, ‘The wife last chosen is always mistress of her predecessors.’ Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., p. 42, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii. They seldom, if ever, marry out of the tribe. Ward, in Ind. Aff. Rept. Spec. Com., 1867, p. 455. ‘In general, when an Indian wishes to have many wives he chooses above all others, if he can, sisters, because he thinks he can thus secure more domestic peace.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 306. ‘I think that few, if any, have more than one wife,’ of the Mojaves. Ives’ Colorado Riv., p. 71.

[756] ‘The Navajo marriage-ceremony consists simply of a feast upon horse-flesh.’ Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 460. When the Navajos desire to marry, ‘they sit down on opposite sides of a basket, made to hold water, filled with atole or some other food, and partake of it. This simple proceeding makes them husband and wife.’ Davis’ El Gringo, p. 415.

[757] The Comanche women ‘are drudges.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 575; Dufey, Résumé de l’Hist., tom. i., p. 4; Neighbors, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 265; Escudero, Noticias de Chihuahua, p. 230; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., p. 308. Labor is considered degrading by the Comanches. Kennedy’s Texas, vol. i., p. 347. The Apache men ‘no cuidan de otras cosas, sino de cazar y divertirse.’ Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 563; Marcy’s Army Life, pp. 29, 49, 56. ‘La femme (du Comanche) son esclave absolue, doit tout faire pour lui. Souvent il n’apporte pas même le gibier qu’il a tué, mais il envoie sa femme le chercher au loin.’ Dubuis, in Domenech, Jour., p. 459. The Navajos ‘treat their women with great attention, consider them equals, and relieve them from the drudgery of menial work.’ Hughes’ Doniphan’s Ex., p. 203. The Navajo women ‘are the real owners of all the sheep…. They admit women into their councils, who sometimes control their deliberations; and they also eat with them.’ Davis’ El Gringo, p. 412; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., p. 101., in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii. ‘De aquí proviene que sean árbitros de sus mugeres, dandoles un trato servilísimo, y algunas veces les quitan hasta la vida por celos.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 268. ‘Les Comanches, obligent le prisonnier blanc, dont ils ont admiré le valeur dans le combat, á s’unir aux leurs pour perpétuer sa race.’ Fossey, Mexique, p. 462.

[758] Among the Apaches, ‘muchas veces suele disolverse el contrato por unánime consentimiento de los desposados, y volviendo la mujer á su padre, entrega este lo que recibió por ella.’ Cordero. in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 373. When the Navajo women abandon the husband, the latter ‘asks to wipe out the disgrace by killing some one.’ Ind. Aff. Rept. Spec. Com., 1867, p. 334; Eaton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 217.

[759] Navajo women, ‘when in parturition, stand upon their feet, holding to a rope suspended overhead, or upon the knees, the body being erect.’ Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 290. ‘Previous to a birth, the (Yuma) mother leaves her village for some short distance and lives by herself until a month after the child is born; the band to which she belongs then assemble and select a name for the little one, which is given with some trivial ceremony.’ Emory’s Rept., vol. i., p. 110; Marcy’s Army Life, p. 31. ‘Si el parto es en marcha, se hacen á un lado del camino debajo de un árbol, en donde salen del lance con la mayor facilidad y sin apuro ninguno, continuando la marcha con la criatura y algun otro de sus chiquillos, dentro de una especie de red, que á la manera de una canasta cargan en los hombros, pendiente de la frente con una tira de cuero ó de vaqueta que la contiene, en donde llevan ademas alunos trastos ó cosas que comer.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 281; Fossey, Mexique, p. 462. ‘Luego que sale á luz esta, sale la vieja de aquel lugar con la mano puesta en los ojos, y no se descubre hasta que no haya dado una vuelta fuera de la casa, y el objeto que primero se le presenta á la vista, es el nombre que se le pone á la criatura.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 335.

[760] Pattie’s Pers. Nar., p. 92; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. i., p. 320; Ives’ Colorado River, pp. 66, 71; Henry, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 211. ‘Quand les Indiennes (Comanches) voyagent avec leurs enfants en bas âge, elles les suspendent à la selle avec des courroies qu’elles leur passent entre les jambes et sous les bras. Les soubresauts du cheval, les branches, les broussailles heurtent ces pauvres petits, les déchirent, les meurtrissent: peu importe, c’est une façon de les aguerrir.’ Domenech, Journ. p. 135; Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 52. ‘A la edad de siete años de los apaches, ó antes, lo primero que hacen los padres, es poner á sus hijos el carcax en la mano enseñándoles á tirar bien, cuya táctica empiezan á aprender en la caza.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 283. The Apaches, ‘juventutem sedulo instituunt castigant quod aliis barbaris insolitum.’ De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 316. Male children of the Comanches ‘are even privileged to rebel against their parents, who are not entitled to chastise them but by consent of the tribe.’ Kennedy’s Texas, vol. i., p. 346-7. In fact a Navajo Indian has said, ‘that he was afraid to correct his own boy, lest the child should wait for a convenient opportunity, and shoot him with an arrow.’ Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 294.

[761] Ind. Aff. Rept. Spec. Com., 1867, p. 354; Cremony’s Apaches, p. 367; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 399; Pattie’s Pers. Nar., p. 119.

[762] ‘The Navajo women are very loose, and do not look upon fornication as a crime.’ Guyther, in Ind. Aff. Rept. Spec. Com., 1867, p. 339; Cremony’s Apaches, p. 244. ‘Prostitution is the rule among the (Yuma) women, not the exception.’ Mowry, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 301; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., p. 476; Browne’s Apache Country, p. 96. ‘Prostitution prevails to a great extent among the Navajoes, the Maricopas, and the Yuma Indians; and its attendant diseases, as before stated, have more or less tainted the blood of the adults; and by inheritance of the children.’ Carleton, in Ind. Aff. Rept. Spec. Com., 1867, p. 433. Among the Navajoes, ‘the most unfortunate thing which can befall a captive woman is to be claimed by two persons. In this case, she is either shot or delivered up for indiscriminate violence.’ Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 50. The Colorado River Indians ‘barter and sell their women into prostitution, with hardly an exception.’ Safford, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, p. 139. ‘The Comanche women are, as in many other wild tribes, the slaves of their lords, and it is a common practice for their husbands to lend or sell them to a visitor for one, two, or three days at a time.’ Marcy’s Rept., p. 187; Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 419. ‘Las faltas conyugales no se castigan por la primera vez; pero á la segunda el marido corta la punta de la nariz á su infiel esposa, y la despide de su lado.’ Revista Científica, vol. i., p. 57; Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 192. ‘The squaw who has been mutilated for such a cause, is ipso facto divorced, and, it is said, for ever precluded from marrying again. The consequence is, that she becomes a confirmed harlot in the tribe.’ Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. ii., pp. 43, 308-10, 313. ‘El culpable, segun dicen, jamas es castigado por el marido con la muerte; solamente se abroga el derecho de darle algunos golpes y cogerse sus mulas ó caballos.’ Berlandier y Thovel, Diario, p. 253; Marcy’s Army Life, p. 49. ‘These yung men may not haue carnall copulation with any woman: but all the yung men of the countrey which are to marrie, may company with them…. I saw likewise certaine women which liued dishonestly among men.’ Alarchon, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 436.

[763] ‘They tolde mey that … such as remayned widowes, stayed halfe a yeere, or a whole yeere before they married.’ Alarchon, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 431; Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. 110; Marcy’s Army Life, p. 54; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. ii., p. 234; García Conde, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. v., p. 315.

[764] ‘En las referidas reuniones los bailes son sus diversiones favoritas. Los hacen de noche al son de una olla cubierta la boca con una piel tirante, que suenan con un palo, en cuya estremidad lian un boton de trapos. Se interpolan ambos secsos, saltan todos a un mismo tiempo, dando alaridos y haciendo miles de ademanes, en que mueven todos los miembros del cuerpo con una destreza extraordinaria, arremedando al coyote y al venado. Desta manera forman diferentes grupos simétricamente.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 269; Marcy’s Army Life, p. 177; Cremony’s Apaches, p. 285. ‘Este lo forma una junta de truhanes vestidos de ridiculo y autorizados por los viejos del pueblo para cometer los mayores desórdenes, y gusten tanto de estos hechos, que ni los maridos reparan las infamias que cometen con sus mugeres, ni las que resultan en perjuicio de las hijas.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 335. ‘The females (of the Apaches) do the principal part of the dancing.’ Henry, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 212. ‘Among the Abenakis, Chactas, Comanches, and other Indian tribes, the women dance the same dances, but after the men, and far out of their sight … they are seldom admitted to share any amusement, their lot being to work.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., pp. 199, 214. ‘De éstos vinieron cinco danzas, cada una compuesta de treinta indias; de éstas, veintiseis como de 15 à 20 años, y las cuatro restantes de mas edad, que eran las que cuidaban y dirigian à las jóvenes.’ Museo Mex., tom. i., p. 288. ‘The dance (of the Tontos) is similar to that of the California Indians; a stamp around, with clapping of hands and slapping of thighs in time to a drawl of monotones.’ Smart, in Smithsonian Rept., 1867, p. 419.

[765] Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, p. 180. The Yumas ‘sing some few monotonous songs, and the beaux captivate the hearts of their lady-loves by playing on a flute made of cane.’ Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. iii. ‘No tienen mas orquesta que sus voces y una olla ó casco de calabazo à que se amarra una piel tirante y se toca con un palo.’ Cordero, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 373-4; Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 419; Ives’ Colorado Riv., pp. 71-2; García Conde, in Album Mex., tom. i., pp. 166, 168.

[766] Stanley’s Portraits, p. 55; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. ii., p. 133. ‘Y el vicio que tienen estos Indios, es jugar en las Estufas las Mantas, y otras Preseas con vnas Cañuelas, que hechan en alto (el qual Juego vsaban estos Indios Mexicanos) y al que no tiene mas que vna Manta, y la pierde, se la buelven; con condicion, que ha de andar desnudo por todo el Pueblo, pintado, y embijado todo el cuerpo, y los Muchachos dandole grita.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 680.

[767] Kennedy’s Texas, vol. i., p. 347.

[768] ‘The players generally take each about ten arrows, which they hold with their bows in the left hand; he whose turn it is advances in front of the judges, and lances his first arrow upwards as high as possible, for he must send off all the others before it comes down. The victory belongs to him who has most arrows in the air together, and he who can make them all fly at once is a hero.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 198. ‘The Indians amuse themselves shooting at the fruit (pitaya), and when one misses his aim and leaves his arrow sticking in the top of the cactus, it is a source of much laughter to his comrades.’ Browne’s Apache Country, p. 78; Armin, Das Heutige Mexiko, p. 309. The hoop and pole game of the Mojaves is thus played. ‘The hoop is six inches in diameter, and made of elastic cord; the poles are straight, and about fifteen feet in length. Rolling the hoop from one end of the course toward the other, two of the players chase it half-way, and at the same time throw their poles. He who succeeds in piercing the hoop wins the game.’ Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 463; Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. iii.; Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 114; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. i., pp. 216, 223; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 395; Backus, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 214. ‘Tienen unas pelotas de materia negra como pez, embutidas en ella varias conchuelas pequeñas del mar, con que juegan y apuestan arrojándola con el pié.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. iii., p. 111; Sedelmair, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., vol. iv., p. 851.

[769] ‘Los salvages recogen sus hojas generalmente en el Otoño, las que entónces están rojas y muy oxidadas: para hacer su provision, la secan al fuego ó al sol, y para fumarlas, las mezclan con tabaco.’ Berlandier y Thovel, Diario, p. 257. The Comanches smoke tobacco, ‘mixed with the dried leaves of the sumach, inhaling the smoke into their lungs, and giving it out through their nostrils.’ Marcy’s Army Life, pp. 29, 32; Alarchon, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 432; Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 285.

[770] Thümmel, Mexiko, p. 352. The Comanches ‘avoid the use of ardent spirits, which they call “fool’s water.”‘ Kennedy’s Texas, vol. i., p. 347; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. ii., p. 307. Dubuis, in Domenech, Jour., p. 469. ‘In order to make an intoxicating beverage of the mescal, the roasted root is macerated in a proportionable quantity of water, which is allowed to stand several days, when it ferments rapidly. The liquor is boiled down and produces a strongly intoxicating fluid.’ Cremony’s Apaches, p. 217. ‘When its stem (of the maguey) is tapped there flows from it a juice which, on being fermented, produces the pulque.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., p. 290. The Apaches out of corn make an intoxicating drink which they called “teeswin,” made by boiling the corn and fermenting it. Murphy, in Ind. Aff. Rept. Spec. Com., 1867, p. 347; Hardy’s Trav., pp. 334, 337.

[771] Jones, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 223; Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. 108; Domenech, Jour., p. 137; Turner, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1852, tom. 135, p. 307; Backus, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 212; García Conde, in Album Mex., 1849, tom. i., p. 165; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 277; Shepard’s Land of the Aztecs, p. 182; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 114-6; Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 61; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 399. The Apache women, ‘Son tan buenas ginetas, que brincan en un potro, y sin mas riendas que un cabrestillo, saben arrendarlo.’ Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 564; Pattie’s Pers. Nar., p. 298; Marcy’s Army Life, p. 28; Figuier’s Hum. Race, p. 480. ‘A short hair halter was passed around under the neck of the horse, and both ends tightly braided into the mane, on the withers, leaving a loop to hang under the neck, and against the breast, which, being caught up in the hand, makes a sling into which the elbow falls, taking the weight of the body on the middle of the upper arm. Into this loop the rider drops suddenly and fearlessly, leaving his heel to hang over the back of the horse, to steady him, and also to restore him when he wishes to regain his upright position on the horse’s back.’ Brownell’s Ind. Races, p. 540; Davis’ El Gringo, p. 412. Les Comanches ‘regardent comme un déshonneur d’aller à pied.’ Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 192; Cremony’s Apaches, p. 282. The Comanches, for hardening the hoofs of horses and mules, have a custom of making a fire of the wild rosemary—artemisia—and exposing their hoofs to the vapor and smoke by leading them slowly through it. Parker’s Notes on Tex., p. 203.

[772] Marcy’s Army Life, p. 18; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 290; Cordoue, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 443; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 454; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 209. ‘Les Teyas et Querechos ont de grands troupeaux de chiens qui portent leur bagage; ils l’attachent sur le dos de ces animaux au moyen d’une sangle et d’un petit bât. Quand la charge se dérange les chiens se mettent à hurler, pour avertir leur maître de l’arranger.’ Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 117, 125, 190. ‘On the top of the bank we struck a Camanche trail, very broad, and made by the lodge poles, which they transport from place to place … by fastening them on each side of their pack horses, leaving the long ends trailing upon the ground.’ Parker’s Notes on Tex., p. 154. ‘Si carecen de cabalgaduras, cargan los muebles las mujeres igualmente que sus criaturas.’ García Conde, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. v., p. 317; Ives’ Colorado Riv., p. 128.

[773] Neighbors, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. ii., p. 132; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., p. 234; Marcy’s Army Life, pp. 29, 33, 189; Marcy’s Rept., p. 187; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. ii., pp. 38, 46; Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, pp. 473, 475; Cordero, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 378. When the Yampais ‘wish to parley they raise a firebrand in the air as a sign of friendship.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 218.

[774] ‘These messengers (of the Mohaves) were their news-carriers and sentinels. Frequently two criers were employed (sometimes more) one from each tribe. These would have their meeting stations. At these stations these criers would meet with promptness, and by word of mouth, each would deposit his store of news with his fellow expressman, and then each would return to his own tribe with the news.’ Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, pp. 220, 283. ‘El modo de darse sus avisos para reunirse en casos de urgencia de ser perseguidos, es por medio de sus telégrafos de humos que forman en los cerros mas elevados formando hogueras de los palos mas humientos que ellos conocen muy bien.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 281. Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 5. ‘Para no detenerse en hacer los humos, llevan los mas de los hombres y mujeres, los instrumentos necessarios para sacar lumbre; prefieren la piedra, el eslabon, y la yesca; pero si no tienen estos útiles, suplen su falta con palos preparados al efecto bien secos, que frotados se inflaman.’ García Conde, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. v., p. 317.

[775] Eaton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 217; Sitgreaves’ Zuñi Ex., p. 18. ‘Su frazada en tiempo de frio es un tizon encendido que aplicándolo á la boca del estómago caminan por los mañanas, y calentando ya el sol como a las ocho tiran los tizones, que por muchos que hayan tirado por los caminos, pueden ser guias de los caminantes.’ Sedelmair, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., vol. iv., p. 851.

[776] The Comanches ‘have yearly gatherings to light the sacred fires; they build numerous huts, and sit huddled about them, taking medicine for purification, and fasting for seven days. Those who can endure to keep the fast unbroken become sacred in the eyes of the others.’ Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 451. If a Yuma kills one of his own tribe he keeps ‘a fast for one moon; on such occasions he eats no meat—only vegetables—drinks only water, knows no woman, and bathes frequently during the day to purify the flesh.’ Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. 110. ‘It was their (Mojaves,) custom never to eat salted meat for the next moon after the coming of a captive among them.’ Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, p. 180; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 402; Domenech, Jour., p. 13; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, pp. 125-6.

[777] ‘Entre cuyas tribus hay algunas que se comen á sus enemigos.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 332. ‘Los chirumas, que me parecen ser los yumas, no se que coman carne humana como dijo el indio cosnina.’ Garces, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie ii., tom. i., p. 363. ‘Among the spoil which we took from these Camanches, we found large portions of human flesh evidently prepared for cooking.’ Dewees’ Texas, p. 232-3. Certain Europeans have represented the Comanches ‘as a race of cannibals; but according to the Spaniards … they are merely a cruel, dastardly race of savages.’ Pagés’ Travels, vol. i., p. 107.

[778] Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 451; Berlandier y Thovel, Diario, p. 253; Cremony’s Apaches, p. 34; Davis’ El Gringo, p. 407.

[779] Smart, in Smithsonian Rept., 1867, p. 418. ‘Gonorrhœa and syphilis are not at all rare’ among the Navajos. Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 290; Marcy’s Army Life, p. 31.

[780] Hardy’s Trav., p. 442-3. ‘Los comanches la llaman Puip; y cuando uno de entre ellos está herido, mascan la raiz (que es muy larga) y esprimen el yugo y la saliva en la llaga.’ Berlandier y Thovel, Diario, p. 257; Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 290; Pattie’s Pers. Nar., p. 118; Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, p. 156; Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 289; Browne’s Apache Country, p. 63; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 142; Id., Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. i., p. 118; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 335; Neighbors, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. ii., p. 130; Parker’s Notes on Tex., p. 193. The Apaches: ‘Cuando se enferma alguno á quien no han podido hacer efecto favorable la aplicacion de las yerbas, único antidoto con que se curan, lo abandonan, sin mas diligencia ulterior que ponerle un monton de brasas á la cabecera y una poca de agua, sin saberse hasta hoy qué significa ésto ó con qué fin la hacen.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 280.

[781] Eaton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 217; Domenech, Jour., pp. 13, 139; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., p. 42, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii.; Henry, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 212; Parker’s Notes on Tex., p. 240-1. Among the Comanches during the steam bath, ‘the shamans, or medicine-men, who profess to have the power of communicating with the unseen world, and of propitiating the malevolence of evil spirits, are performing various incantations, accompanied by music on the outside.’ Marcy’s Army Life, p. 60; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 576; Bristol, in Ind. Aff. Rept. Spec. Com., 1867, p. 358. ‘De aquí ha sucedido que algunos indios naturalmente astutos, se han convertido en adivinos, que han llegado á sostener como á sus oràculos. Estos mismos adivinos hacen de médicos, que por darse importancía á la aplicacion de ciertas yerbas, agregan porcion de ceremonias supersticiosas y ridiculas, con cánticos estraños, en que hablan á sus enfermos miles de embustes y patrañas.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 280.

[782] At the Colorado river they ‘burned those which dyed.’ Alarchon, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 432; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 404; Browne’s Apache Country, p. 97; Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 467; Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, p. 240-1. ‘It is the custom of the Mojaves to burn their property when a relation dies to whose memory they wish to pay especial honor.’ Ives’ Colorado Riv., p. 69. ‘Die Comanches tödteten früher das Lieblingsweib des gestorbenen Häuptlings.’ Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 88. ‘No Navajo will ever occupy a lodge in which a person has died. The lodge is burned.’ Backus, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 213; Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, p. 289. ‘When a death occurs they (Yumas) move their villages, although sometimes only a short distance, but never occupying exactly the same locality.’ Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. 110.

[783] ‘When a Comanche dies … he is usually wrapped in his best blankets or robes, and interred with most of his “jewelry,” and other articles of esteem.’ Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. ii., pp. 317, 243. ‘Cuando muere algun indio, … juntando sus deudos todas las alhajas de su peculio, se las ponen y de esta manera lo envuelven en una piel de cíbolo y lo llevan á enterrar.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 336; Kennedy’s Texas, vol. i., p. 347; Wislizenus’ Tour, p. 69. The Comanches cover their tombs ‘with grass and plants to keep them concealed.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 363; Id., Jour., p. 14. The Apaches: ‘probably they bury their dead in caves; no graves are ever found that I ever heard of.’ Henry, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 212. See also James’ Exped., vol. ii., p. 305. ‘On the highest point of the hill, was a Comanche grave, marked by a pile of stones and some remnants of scanty clothing.’ Parker’s Notes on Tex., pp. 137, 151. The custom of the Mescalero Apaches ‘heretofore has been to leave their dead unburied in some secluded spot.’ Curtis, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1871, p. 402; Cremony’s Apaches, p. 50; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. ii., p. 233; Pattie’s Pers. Nar., p. 119.

[784] Among the Navajos ‘Immediately after a death occurs a vessel containing water is placed near the dwelling of the deceased, where it remains over night; in the morning two naked Indians come to get the body for burial, with their hair falling over and upon their face and shoulders. When the ceremony is completed they retire to the water, wash, dress, do up their hair, and go about their usual avocations.’ Bristol, in Ind. Aff. Rept. Spec. Com., 1867, p. 358. The Navajos ‘all walked in solemn procession round it (the grave) singing their funeral songs. As they left it, every one left a present on the grave; some an arrow, others meat, moccasins, tobacco, war-feathers, and the like, all articles of value to them.’ Pattie’s Pers. Nar., p. 119; Revista Científica, tom. i., p. 57. ‘A los niños y niñas de pecho les llevan en una jicara la leche ordenada de sus pechos las mismas madres, y se las echan en la sepultura; y esto lo hacen por algunos dias continuos.’ Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 543; Neighbors, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. ii., p. 133; Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 280; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., p. 100; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. i., p. 304; Marcy’s Army Life, p. 56. ‘When a young warrior dies, they mourn a long time, but when an old person dies, they mourn but little, saying that they cannot live forever, and it was time they should go.’ Parker’s Notes on Tex., pp. 192, 236.

[785] Davis’ El Gringo, pp. 414-5; Cremony’s Apaches, pp. 250, 297.

[786] ‘The quality of mercy is unknown among the Apaches.’ Cremony’s Apaches, pp. 33-4, 193, 215-16, 227-8. ‘Perfectly lawless, savage, and brave.’ Marcy’s Rept., p. 197. ‘For the sake of the booty, also take life.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 202. ‘Inclined to intemperance in strong drinks.’ Henry, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 211. ‘Ferocísimos de condicion, de naturaleza sangrientos.’ Almanza, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 824. ‘Sumamente vengativo.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 283. ‘Alevoso y vengativo caracte … rastutos ladrones, y sanguinarios.’ Bustamante, in Cavo, Tres Siglos, tom. iii., p. 78. ‘I have not seen a more intelligent, cheerful, and grateful tribe of Indians than the roving Apaches.’ Colyer, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1871, pp. 15, 47, 51; García Conde, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. v., pp. 314-15, 317; Doc. Hist. N. Vizcaya, MS., p. 4; Cordero, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 371; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., pp. 322, 326-7; Smart, in Smithsonian Rept., 1867, p. 419; Apostólicos Afanes, p. 430; Lachapelle, Raousset-Boulbon, p. 83; Turner, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1852, tom. cxxxv., pp. 307, 314; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., pp. 5, 6, 8; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. i., p. 294; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, pp. 330, 361; Bent, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., p. 243; Ward’s Mexico, vol. i., p. 580; Mowry’s Arizona, pp. 31-2; Pope, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. ii., p. 13; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., p. 14, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii.; Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxxi., p. 273; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., pp. 291, 295; Hist. Chrétienne de la Cal., p. 99; Edward’s Hist. Tex., p. 95; Peters’ Life of Carson, p. 323; Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 187; Pike’s Explor. Trav., p. 341; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 276; Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., pp. 462-3; Figuier’s Hum. Race, pp. 482, 484; Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 419; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. ii., p. 404; Ives’ Colorado Riv., p. 44; Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. 111; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., pp. 475-6, and Cent. Amer., p. 527; Pattie’s Pers. Nar., p. 117; Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 99; Sedelmair, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 850; see further, Ind. Aff. Repts., from 1854 to 1872; Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, pp. 116, 122.

[787] The Navajos: ‘Hospitality exists among these Indians to a great extent…. Nor are these people cruel…. They are treacherous.’ Letherman, in Smithsonian Rept., 1855, pp. 292, 295. ‘Brave, hardy, industrious.’ Colyer, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 89; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 40. ‘Tricky and unreliable.’ Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., p. 56. The Mojaves: ‘They are lazy, cruel, selfish; … there is one good quality in them, the exactitude with which they fulfil an agreement.’ Ives’ Colorado Riv., pp. 20, 71-2; Backus, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 211; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., p. 329; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. ii., p. 234; Eaton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 217-18; Hughes’ Doniphan’s Ex., p. 203; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 384.

[788] Cortez, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 124. ‘Estos indios se aventajan en muchas circunstancias á los yumas y demas naciones del Rio Colorado; son menos molestos y nada ladrones.’ Garces, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie ii., tom. i., p. 273; also in Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 472; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 62.

[789] ‘Grave and dignified … implacable and unrelenting … hospitable, and kind … affectionate to each other … jealous of their own freedom.’ Marcy’s Army Life, pp. 25, 30-1, 34, 36-9, 41, 60. ‘Alta estima hacen del valor estas razas nomadas.’ Museo Mex., tom. ii., p. 34. ‘Loin d’être cruels, ils-sont très-doux et très-fidèles dans leurs amitiés.’ Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., serie i., tom. ix., p. 191; Payno, in Revista Científica, tom. i., p. 57; Escudero, Noticias de Chihuahua, pp. 229-30; Domenech, Jour., pp. 13, 137, 469; Soc. Géog., Bulletin, tom. v., No. 96, p. 193; Neighbors, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. ii., pp. 132-3; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., pp. 293, 295; vol. ii., pp. 307, 313; Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxxi., p. 273; Shepard’s Land of the Aztecs, p. 182; Pagés’ Travels, vol. i., p. 107; Calderon de la Barca’s Life in Mex., vol. ii., p. 308.

[790] ‘Tiguex est situé vers le nord, à environ quarante lieues,’ from Cíbola. Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 165. ‘La province de Cibola contient sept villages; le plus grand se nomme Muzaque.’ Id., p. 163. Of two provinces north of Tiguex, ‘l’une se nommait Hemes, et renfermait sept villages; l’autre Yuque-Yunque.’ Id., p. 138. ‘Plus au nord (of Tiguex) est la province de Quirix … et celle de Tutahaco.’ Id., p. 168. From Cicuyé to Quivira, ‘On compte sept autres villages.’ Id., p. 179. ‘Il existe aussi, d’après le rapport … un autre royaume très-vaste, nommé villes, et la capitale. Acus sans aspiration est un royaume.’ Niza, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 271. ‘The kingdome of Totonteac so much extolled by the Father prouinciall, … the Indians say is a hotte lake, about which are five or sixe houses; and that there were certaine other, but that they are ruinated by warre. The kingdome of Marata is not to be found, neither haue the Indians any knowledge thereof. The kingdome of Acus is one onely small citie, where they gather cotton which is called Acucu, and I say that this is a towne. For Acus with an aspiration nor without, is no word of they countrey. And because I gesse that they would deriue Acucu of Acus, I say that it is this towne whereinto the kingdom of Acus is conuerted.’ Coronado, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 378; Espeio, in Id., pp. 386-394; Mendoza, Lettre, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 296; De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 315; Salmeron, Relaciones, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 100; Escalante, in Id., pp. 124-5; Pike’s Explor. Trav., pp. 341-2; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., pp. 528-9; Eaton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 220; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 197.

[791] Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., pp. 10-12, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii.; Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., pp. 128-130; Hezio, Noticia de las Misiones, in Meline’s Two Thousand Miles, pp. 208-9; Chacon, in Id., pp. 210-11; Alencaster, in Id., p. 212; Davis’ El Gringo, p. 115; Calhoun, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 633.

[792] Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., p. 13, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii. ‘Los nombres de los pueblos del Moqui son, segun lengua de los Yavipais, Sesepaulabá, Masagneve, Janogualpa, Muqui, Concabe y Muca á quien los zuñís llaman Oraive, que es en el que estuve.’ Garces, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie ii., tom. i., p. 332; Ruxton’s Adven. Mex., p. 195; Ives’ Colorado Riv., p. 127.

[793] Affirmations are abundant enough, but they have no foundation whatever in fact, and many are absurd on their face. ‘Nous affirmons que les Indiens Pueblos et les anciens Mexicains sont issus d’une seule et même souche.’ Ruxton, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1850, tom. cxxvi., p. 44. ‘These Indians claim, and are generally supposed, to have descended from the ancient Aztec race.’ Merriwether, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 174. ‘They are the descendants of the ancient rulers of the country.’ Davis’ El Gringo, p. 114. ‘They are the remains of a once powerful people.’ Walker, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1872, p. 55; Colyer, in Id., 1869, p. 90. ‘They (Moquis) are supposed by some to be descended from the band of Welsh, which Prince Madoc took with him on a voyage of discovery, in the twelfth century; and it is said that they weave peculiarly and in the same manner as the people of Wales.’ Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 81. ‘Il est assez singulier que les Moquis soient désignés par les trappers et les chasseurs américains, qui pènètrent dans leur pays … sous le nom d’Indiens Welches.’ Ruxton, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1850, tom. cxxvi., p. 55. ‘Moques, supposed to be vestiges of Aztecs.’ Amer. Quart. Register, vol. i., p. 173; Prichard’s Researches, vol. v., p. 431.

[794] ‘Les hommes sont petits.’ Mendoza, Lettre, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 294. The Moquis are ‘of medium size and indifferently proportioned, their features strongly marked and homely, with an expression generally bright and good-natured.’ Ives’ Colorado Riv., pp. 120-2, 123-7. The Keres ‘sind hohen Wuchses.’ Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 528; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 453; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 197; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. ii., p. 240; De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 301; Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., p. 93; Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 67-8; Ruxton, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1850, tom. cxxvi., pp. 52-3; Pike’s Explor. Trav., p. 342.

[795] ‘The people are somewhat white.’ Niza, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 372. ‘Much fairer in complexion than other tribes.’ Ruxton’s Adven. Mex., p. 195; Kendall’s Nar., vol. i., p. 379; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 230; Prichard’s Researches, vol. v., pp. 423, 431; Walker, in S. F. Herald, Oct. 15, 1853; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 41.

[796] ‘Prettiest squaws I have yet seen.’ Marcy’s Army Life, p. 111. Good looking and symmetrical. Davis’ El Gringo, pp. 421-2.

[797] Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 81. ‘Many of the inhabitants have white skin, fair hair, and blue eyes.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 210, vol. ii., p. 66; Eaton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 220-1; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 285; Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 456.

[798] ‘A robust and well-formed race.’ Cremony’s Apaches, pp. 90, 103. ‘Well built, generally tall and bony.’ Walker’s Pimas, MS. The Maricopas ‘sont de stature plus haute et plus athlétique que les Pijmos.’ Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxxi., p. 290; see also Emory, in Fremont and Emory’s Notes of Trav., pp. 49, 50; Id., in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. ii., p. 12; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 19; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. iii., p. 103; Murr, Nachrichten, p. 196; Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 132; Bigler’s Early Days in Utah and Nevada, MS.; Johnson’s Hist. Arizona, p. 11; Brackett, in Western Monthly, p. 169; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., p. 448; San Francisco Bulletin, July, 1860.

[799] ‘Las mujeres hermosas.’ Mange, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. i., pp. 298, 364. ‘Rather too much inclined to embonpoint.’ Ives’ Colorado Riv., pp. 31, 33, 39; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 229.

[800] ‘Ambos secsos … no mal parecidos y muy melenudos.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, pp. 116, 161. ‘Trigueños de color.’ Sedelmair, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 851. ‘Die Masse, Dicke und Länge ihres Haupthaares grenzt an das Unglaubliche.’ Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., p. 455; Id., Cent. Amer., p. 513; Prichard’s Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., p. 557; Pattie’s Pers. Nar., pp. 143-5, 149; Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, p. 180.

[801] ‘Heads are uncovered.’ Ruxton’s Adven. Mex., p. 196. ‘Los hombres visten, y calçan de cuero, y las mugeres, que se precian de largos cabellos, cubren sus cabeças y verguenças con lo mesmo.’ Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 275. ‘De kleeding bestond uit kotoene mantels, huiden tot broeken, genaeyt, schoenen en laerzen van goed leder.’ Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 209, 217-18. The women ‘having the calves of their legs wrapped or stuffed in such a manner as to give them a swelled appearance.’ Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., pp. 14, 115; De Laet, Novus Orbis, pp. 297-8, 301, 303, 312-13; Coronado, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., pp. 377, 380; Espejo, in Id., pp. 384-96; Niza, in Id., pp. 368, 370; Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 457; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., pp. 30, 122, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii.; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 197, 203, vol. ii., pp. 213, 281; Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 73-88; Wizlizenus’ Tour, p. 26; Larenaudière, Mex. et Gaut., p. 147; Warden, Recherches, p. 79; Marcy’s Army Life, pp. 99-100, 105-6; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 394; Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 61-68, 76, 163, 173, 177; Jaramillo, in Id., pp. 369-371; Ives’ Colorado Riv., pp. 119-127; Ruxton, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1850, tom. cxxvi., p. 53; Eaton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 220; Abert, in Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 471; Mayer’s Mex., Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 359; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, pp. 217, 283; Kendall’s Nar., vol. i., p. 379; Revilla-Gigedo, Carta, MS.; Alcedo, Diccionario, tom. iv., p. 388; Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 479; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., pp. 248, 279-80; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. ii., pp. 195, 239.

[802] Both sexes go bareheaded. ‘The hair is worn long, and is done up in a great queue that falls down behind.’ Davis’ El Gringo, pp. 147, 154-5, 421. The women ‘trençan los cabellos, y rodeanse los à la cabeça, por sobre las orejas.’ Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 273. ‘Llevan las viejas el pelo hecho dos trenzas y las mozas un moño sobre cada oreja.’ Garces, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie ii., tom. i., pp. 328-9; Eaton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 220.

[803] ‘Van vestidos estos indios con frazadas de algodon, que ellos fabrican, y otras de lana.’ Garces, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie ii., tom. i., p. 235. Their dress is cotton of domestic manufacture. Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 132. ‘Kunstreich dagegen sind die bunten Gürtel gewebt, mit denen die Mädchen ein Stück Zeug als Rock um die Hüften binden.’ Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., pp. 440, 447; Browne’s Apache Country, p. 68; Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. 123; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., p. 452, vol. ii., pp. 216-7, 219; Cremony’s Apaches, p. 104; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. iii., p. 103; Ives’ Colorado Riv., pp. 31, 33; Mowry’s Arizona, p. 30; Mange, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. i., pp. 364-5; Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 116; Briefe aus den Verein. Staat., tom. ii., p. 322.

[804] ‘Men never cut their hair.’ Cremony’s Apaches, p. 90. They plait and wind it round their heads in many ways; one of the most general forms a turban which they smear with wet earth. Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., pp. 454-6; Fremont and Emory’s Notes of Trav., p. 47; Emory, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. ii., p. 9; Pattie’s Pers. Nar., pp. 143, 145, 149; Browne’s Apache Country, p. 107; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 296.

[805] Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 542. ‘All of them paint, using no particular design; the men mostly with dark colors, the women, red and yellow.’ Walker’s Pimas, MS.; Johnson’s Hist. Arizona, p. 11. ‘The women when they arrive at maturity, … draw two lines with some blue-colored dye from each corner of the mouth to the chin.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 228.

[806] ‘Adornanse con gargantillas de caracolillos del mar, entreverados de otras cuentas de concha colorada redonda.’ Mange, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. i., p. 299. ‘They had many ornaments of sea shells.’ Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 132. ‘Some have long strings of sea-shells.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 230-1. ‘Rarely use ornaments.’ Walker’s Pimas, MS.; Murr, Nachrichten, pp. 252-6; Sedelmair, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., pp. 850-1.

[807] Cremony’s Apaches, p. 91; Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. 131, p. 292; Browne’s Apache Country, p. 108. The Maricopas ‘occupy thatched cottages, thirty or forty feet in diameter, made of the twigs of cotton-wood trees, interwoven with the straw of wheat, corn-stalks, and cane.’ Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 132; Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. 117; Mange, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. i., pp. 277, 365-6. ‘Leurs (Pápagos) maisons sont de formes coniques et construites en jonc et en bois.’ Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 188; Walker’s Pimas, MS.; Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., p. 395; Sedelmair, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 851; Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, pp. 115, 161. ‘Andere, besonders die dummen Papagos, machten Löcher und schliefen des Nachts hierinnen; ja im Winter machten sie in ihren Dachslöchern zuvor Feuer, und hitzten dieselben.’ Murr, Nachrichten, p. 245. ‘Their summer shelters are of a much more temporary nature, being constructed after the manner of a common arbor, covered with willow rods, to obstruct the rays of the vertical sun.’ Hughes’ Doniphan’s Ex., p. 222. In front of the Pimo house is usually ‘a large arbor, on top of which is piled the cotton in the pod, for drying.’ Emory, in Fremont and Emory’s Notes of Trav., p. 48. The Pápagos’ huts were ‘fermées par des peaux de buffles.’ Ferry, Scènes de la Vie Sauvage, p. 107. Granary built like the Mexican jakals. They are better structures than their dwellings, more open, in order to give a free circulation of air through the grain deposited in them. Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., p. 382, vol. ii., pp. 233-5.

[808] Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., p. 412; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., pp. 21, 23, 122, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. ii.; Scenes in the Rocky Mts., p. 177; Salmeron, Relaciones, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., pp. 25, 30-1. ‘Ellas son las que hacen, y edifican las Casas, assi de Piedra, como de Adove, y Tierra amasada; y con no tener la Pared mas de vn pie de ancho, suben las Casas dos, y tres, y quatro, y cinco Sobrados, ó Altos; y á cada Alto, corresponde vn Corredor por de fuera; si sobre esta altura hechan mas altos, ó Sobrados (porque ay Casas que llegan á siete) son los demás, no de Barro, sino de Madera.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 681. For further particulars, see Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 2, 42, 58, 69, 71, 76, 80, 138, 163, 167, 169; Niza, in Id., pp. 261, 269, 270, 279; Diaz, in Id., pp. 293, 296; Jaramillo, in Id., pp. 369, Cordoue, in Id., tom. x., pp. 438-9; Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., pp. 13, 90, 114; Bent, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., p. 244; Ten Broeck, in Id., vol. iv., pp. 76, 80, and plates, pp. 24, 72; Warden, Recherches, p. 79; Ruxton’s Adven. Mex., p. 191; Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 455; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 453; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 278; Mayer’s Mex., Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 359; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., pp. 268, 276; Hughes’ Doniphan’s Ex., p. 195; Garces, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie ii., tom. i., p. 322; Ives’ Colorado Riv., pp. 119, 121, 126; Marcy’s Army Life, pp. 97, 99, 104, 105; Ruxton, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1850, tom. cxxvi., pp. 42, 45, 52, 57; Gallatin, in Id., 1851, tom. cxxxi., pp. 248, 257, 267, 270, 277, 278, 288; Espejo, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., pp. 385, 392, 394-6; Coronado, in Id., vol. iii., pp. 377, 379; Niza, in Id., vol. iii., pp. 367, 372; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 538; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. ii., p. 238; Id., Tagebuch, pp. 217-18, 285; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 209, 215, 217. The town of Cíbola ‘domos è lapidibus et caemento affabre constructas et conjunctim dispositas esse, superliminaria portarum cyaneis gemmis, (Turcoides vocant) ornata.’ De Laet, Novus Orbis, pp. 297, 311-14; Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 480. ‘The houses are well distributed and very neat. One room is designed for the kitchen, and another to grind the grain. This last is apart, and contains a furnace and three stones made fast in masonry.’ Davis’ El Gringo, pp. 118-20, 141, 311, 313, 318, 420, 422; Castaño de Sosa, in Pacheco, Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. iv., pp. 329-30; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 178; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 394.

[809] In the province of Tucayan, ‘domiciliis inter se junctis et affabre constructis, in quibus et tepidaria quae vulgo Stuvas appellamus, sub terra constructa adversus hyemis vehementiam.’ De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 301. ‘In the centre was a small square box of stone, in which was a fire of guava bushes, and around this a few old men were smoking.’ Marcy’s Army Life, p. 110. ‘Estufas, que mas propiamente deberian llamar sinagogas. En estas hacen sus juntas, forman sus conciliábulos, y ensayan sus bailes á puerta cerrada.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 333; Beaumont, Crón. de Mechoacan, MS., p. 418; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 273; Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., pp. 13, 21; Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 139, 165, 169-70, 176; Espejo, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., pp. 392-3; Niel, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., pp. 90-1.

[810] ‘Magna ipsis Mayzü copia et leguminum.’ De Laet, Novus Orbis, pp. 298, 302, 310-13, 315. ‘Hallaron en los pueblos y casas muchos mantenimientos, y gran infinidad de gallinas de la tierra.’ Espejo, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., pp. 386, 393. ‘Criaban las Indias muchas Gallinas de la Tierra.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 678. ‘Zy leven by mair, witte orweten, haesen, konynen en vorder wild-braed.’ Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 215, and Dapper, Neue Welt, p. 242. Compare Scenes in the Rocky Mts., p. 177; Marcy’s Army Life, pp. 97-8, 104, 108; Cortez, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 122; Sitgreaves’ Zuñi Ex., pp. 5-6; Jaramillo, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 369-71; Diaz, in Id., pp. 294-5; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., pp. 268, 281; Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 86; Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., pp. 16, 82, 91, 113; Wislizenus’ Tour, p. 26; Bent, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., p. 244; Ruxton, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1850, tom. cxxvi., p. 52; Gallatin, in Id., 1851, tom. cxxxi., pp. 270-1, 279, 288-9, 292, 297; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., pp. 439, 445, 453; Möllhausen, Reisen in the Felsengeb., tom. ii., pp. 239, 284; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., pp. 178, 214-18, 233-7; Browne’s Apache Country, pp. 78, 94, 107-10, 141-2, 276-7; Sedelmair, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., pp. 848, 850; Id., serie iv., tom. i., p. 19; Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 131; Mowry’s Arizona, p. 30; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 278; Hughes’ Doniphan’s Ex., pp. 196, 221; Eaton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 221; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 273; Ind. Aff. Repts., from 1857 to 1872.

[811] ‘Para su sustento no reusa animal, por inmundo que sea.’ Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., p. 395. ‘Los pápagos se mantienen de los frutos silvestres.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, pp. 160-1. ‘Hatten grossen Appetit zu Pferd- und Mauleselfleisch.’ Murr, Nachrichten, pp. 247-9, 267, 282-92; Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., pp. 837-8; Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 188; Stone, in Hist. Mag., vol. v., p. 166.

[812] The Pimas ‘Hacen grandes siembras … para cuyo riego tienen formadas buenas acequias.’ Garces, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie ii., tom. i., pp. 235, 237. ‘We were at once impressed with the beauty, order, and disposition of the arrangements for irrigating.’ Emory, in Fremont and Emory’s Notes of Trav., pp. 47-8. With the Pueblos: ‘Regen-bakken vergaederden ‘t water: of zy leiden ‘t uit een rievier door graften.’ Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 218; De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 312; Espejo, in Hakluyt’s Voy., tom. iii., pp. 385-7, 392-4; Cutts’ Conq. of Cal., p. 196.

[813] Walker’s Pimas, MS.; Mange, Itinerario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. i., p. 299. ‘Usan de hilo torcido unas redes y otras de varios palitos, que los tuercen y juntan por las puntas.’ Sedelmair, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., pp. 851-2.

[814] ‘Hacen de la Masa de Ma’z por la mañana Atole…. Tambien hacen Tamales, y Tortillas.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 679. ‘The fruit of the petajaya … is dried in the sun.’ Cremony’s Apaches, pp. 89, 91, 106, 111-12. ‘From the suwarrow (Cereus Giganteus) and pitaya they make an excellent preserve.’ Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. 123. See also Ives’ Colorado Riv., pp. 31, 45, 121, 123, 126; Carleton, in Smithsonian Rept., 1854, p. 308; Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 8, 76; Coronado, in Hakluyt’s Voy., tom. iii., p. 378; Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., pp. 113, 115; Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 61, 71, 164, 170-2; Davis’ El Gringo, pp. 114, 119, 121-2, 147-8; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, pp. 218-9, 285.

[815] Ives’ Colorado Riv., pp. 119-20, 124. ‘Ils vont faire leurs odeurs au loin, et rassemblent les urines dans de grands vases de terre que l’on va vider hors du village.’ Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 171.

[816] ‘The only defensive armor they use is a rude shield made of raw bull-hide.’ Davis’ El Gringo, pp. 145-6. ‘Bows and arrows, and the wooden boomerang.’ Colyer, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 91. The Papagos ‘armes sont la massue, la lance et l’arc; ils portent aussi une cuirasse et un bouclier en peau de buffle.’ Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 188. For further comparisons see Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., p. 30, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii.; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., p. 280; De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 300; Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., p. 147; Pike’s Explor. Trav., p. 342; Niza, in Hakluyt’s Voy., tom. iii., p. 372; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 528.; Mange, Itinerario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. i., p. 299; Sedelmair, in Id., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 851; Salmeron, Relaciones, in Id., p. 106; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., pp. 217, 237.

[817] Bows ‘of strong willow-boughs.’ Walker’s Pimas, MS. ‘Bows are six feet in length, and made of a very tough and elastic kind of wood, which the Spaniards call Tarnio.’ Pattie’s Pers. Nar., pp. 91, 149.

[818] The Pima ‘arrows differ from those of all the Apache tribes in having only two feathers.’ Cremony’s Apaches, p. 103. ‘War arrows have stone points and three feathers; hunting arrows, two feathers and a wooden point.’ Walker’s Pimas, MS.; Coronado, in Hakluyt’s Voy., tom. iii., p. 380.

[819] The Pimas: ‘Flechas, ennervadas con el eficaz mortífero veneno que componen de varias ponzoñas, y el zumo de la yerba llamada en pima Usap.’ Mange, Itinerario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. i., p. 307. ‘Die Spitzen ihrer Pfeile … welche mit einer dunklen Substanz überzogen waren. Sie behaupteten, dass diese aus Schlangengift bestehe, was mir indess unwahrscheinlich ist.’ Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., p. 438; Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 59, 107, 126.

[820] ‘Una macana, como clava ó porra…. Estas son de un palo muy duro y pesado.’ Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 556. ‘Macanas, que son vnas palos de media vara de largo, y llanos todos de pedernales agudos, que bastan a partir por medio vn hombre.’ Espejo, in Hakluyt’s Voy., tom. iii., pp. 386, 393.

[821] ‘De grosses pierres avaient été rassemblées au sommet, pour les rouler sur quiconque attaquerait la place.’ Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxxi., p. 270. ‘They have placed around all the trails leading to the town, pits, ten feet deep.’ Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 81. See further, Coronado, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 376; Browne’s Apache Country, p. 279; Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 840; Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 179.

[822] ‘Painted to the eyes, their own heads and their horses covered with all the strange equipments that the brute creation could afford.’ Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 37.

[823] ‘Sometimes a fellow would stoop almost to the earth, to shoot under his horse’s belly, at full speed.’ Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 37.

[824] Walker’s Pimas, MS.

[825] Cremony’s Apaches, p. 106.

[826] Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., pp. 274-5; Browne’s Apache Country, p. 104; Pattie’s Pers. Nar., pp. 93, 148; Cutts’ Conq. of Cal., p. 223; Soc. Géog., Bulletin, serie v., No. 96, p. 188.

[827] Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 78-9; Murr, Nachrichten, p. 206; Cremony’s Apaches, pp. 108-9.

[828] Walker’s Pimas, MS.; Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxxi., pp. 292-4.

[829] Baskets and pottery ‘are ornamented with geometrical figures.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., p. 382, vol. ii., pp. 227-8, 236. ‘Schüsselförmige runde Körbe (Coritas), diese flechten sie aus einem hornförmigen, gleich einer Ahle spitzigen Unkraute.’ Murr, Nachrichten, p. 193. The Pueblos had ‘de la vaiselle de terre très-belle, bien vernie et avec beaucoup d’ornements. On y vit aussi de grands jarres remplies d’un métal brillant qui servait à faire le vernis de cette faïence.’ Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 138, 173, 185; see also Niza, in Id., p. 259. ‘They (Pueblos) vse vessels of gold and siluer.’ Niza, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 372; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, pp. 216, 271, 273, 279; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 435; Marcy’s Army Life, pp. 97, 111; Carleton, in Smithsonian Rept., 1854, p. 308; Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., pp. 457, 459; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., p. 278; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 393; Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., p. 97; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 425; Coronado, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 380; Browne’s Apache Country, pp. 68, 109, 112, 276.

[830] ‘All the inhabitants of the Citie (Cíbola) lie vpon beddes raysed a good height from the ground, with quilts and canopies ouer them, which couer the sayde Beds.’ Niza, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 370; Id., in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 271. The Quires had ‘umbracula (vulgo Tirazoles) quibus Sinenses utuntur Solis, Lunæ, et Stellarum imaginibus eleganter picta.’ De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 312; Espejo, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 393. The Moquis’ chief men have pipes made of smooth polished stone. Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 87; Ives’ Colorado Riv., p. 121.

[831] Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 72, 76, 87. ‘Sie flechten von zartgeschlitzten Palmen auf Damastart die schönsten ganz leichten Hüthe, aus einem Stücke.’ Murr, Nachrichten, p. 192. The Maricopa blankets will turn rain. Cremony’s Apaches, pp. 106, 90. The Moquis wove blankets from the wool of their sheep, and made cotton cloth from the indigenous staple. Poston, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1863, p. 388. The Maricopas make a heavy cloth of wool and cotton, ‘used by the women to put around their loins; and an article from 3 to 4 inches wide, used as a band for the head, or a girdle for the waist.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 224. ‘Rupicaprarum tergora eminebant (among the Yumanes) tam industriè præparata ut cum Belgicis certarent.’ De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 310.

[832] De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 301; Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., pp. 117, 123; Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxxi., p. 290; Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., pp. 91, 113, 115; Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 81, 86; Eaton, in Id., vol. iv., p. 221; Emory, in Fremont and Emory’s Notes of Trav., p. 48; see further Ind. Aff. Reports, from 1854 to 1872; Browne’s Apache Country, p. 290. ‘These Papagos regularly visit a salt lake, which lies near the coast and just across the line of Sonora, from which they pack large quantities of salt, and find a ready market at Tubac and Tucson.’ Walker, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1859, p. 352, and 1860, p. 168. ‘Many Pimas had jars of the molasses expressed from the fruit of the Cereus Giganteus.’ Emory, in Fremont and Emory’s Notes of Trav., p. 48.

[833] ‘Die Vernichtung des Eigenthums eines Verstorbenen,—einen unglücklichen Gebrauch der jeden materiellen Fortschritt unmöglich macht.’ Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. i., p. 437. ‘The right of inheritance is held by the females generally, but it is often claimed by the men also.’ Gorman, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1858, p. 200. ‘All the effects of the deceased (Pima) become common property: his grain is distributed; his fields shared out to those who need land; his chickens and dogs divided up among the tribe.’ Browne’s Apache Country, pp. 69, 112; Ives’ Colorado Riv., p. 121; Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxxi., p. 262; Niza, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 264, 265, 267, 268; Id., in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 372. The Zuñis ‘will sell nothing for money, but dispose of their commodities entirely in barter.’ Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., p. 91. The Pimos ‘wanted white beads for what they had to sell, and knew the value of money.’ Cutts’ Conq. of Cal., p. 188; Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. xi., pp. 164, 72. ‘Ils apportèrent des coquillages, des turquoises et des plumes.’ Cabeza de Vaca, Relation, in Id., tom. vii., p. 274; Diaz, in Id., tom. xi., p. 294; Coronado, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 377. Many of the Pueblo Indians are rich, ‘one family being worth over one hundred thousand dollars. They have large flocks.’ Colyer, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 89; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 144.

[834] Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., p. 278; Davis’ El Gringo, p. 147; Scenes in the Rocky Mts., p. 177; Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 458; Coronado, in Hakluyt’s Voy., tom. iii., p. 380; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 284.

[835] ‘Estos ahijados tienen mucho oro y lo benefician.’ Salmeron, Relaciones, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. i., p. 28. ‘They vse vessels of gold and siluer, for they have no other mettal.’ Niza, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 372; Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 2, 133; Espejo, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., pp. 386-8, 393-5; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 217; Diaz, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 294.

[836] Pueblo government purely democratic; election held once a year. ‘Besides the officers elected by universal suffrage, the principal chiefs compose a “council of wise men.”‘ Davis’ El Gringo, pp. 142-4. ‘One of their regulations is to appoint a secret watch for the purpose of keeping down disorders and vices of every description.’ Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., p. 274. See further: Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 61, 168; Niza, in Id., p. 269; Palmer, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xvii., p. 455; De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 298; Wislizenus’ Tour, p. 26; Mayer’s Mex., Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 359; Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxi., p. 277; Stanley’s Portraits, p. 55.

[837] Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 85, 76; Marcy’s Army Life, p. 108.

[838] ‘Gobierno no tienen alguno, ni leyes, tradiciones ó costumbres con que gobernarse.’ Mange, Itinerario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. i., p. 366. ‘Cada cual gobernado por un anciano, y todas por el general de la nacion.’ Escudero, Noticias de Sonora y Sinaloa, p. 142; Murr, Nachrichten, p. 267. Compare: Grossman, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, p. 124; Mowry, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1859, p. 356; Walker’s Pimas, MS.

[839] ‘Un homme n’épouse jamais plus d’une seule femme.’ Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 164; Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 86-7; Ward, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1864, p. 190.

[840] ‘Ils traitent bien leurs femmes.’ Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 126. ‘Desde que maman los Niños, los laban sus Madres con Nieve todo el cuerpo.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 679; Ives’ Colorado Riv., p. 123; Scenes in the Rocky Mts., p. 178.

[841] ‘Early marriages occur … but the relation is not binding until progeny results.’ Poston, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1864, p. 152. ‘No girl is forced to marry against her will, however eligible her parents may consider the match.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 222-4; Davis’ El Gringo, p. 146; Cremony’s Apaches, p. 105; Browne’s Apache Country, p. 112.

[842] ‘Si el marido y mujer se desavienen y los hijos non pequeños, se arriman á cualquiera de los dos y cada uno gana por su lado.’ Mange, Itinerario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. i., p. 369. ‘Tanto los pápagos occidentales, como los citados gilas desconocen la poligamia.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 161. ‘Among the Pimas loose women are tolerated.’ Cremony’s Apaches, pp. 102-4; Ruxton, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1850, tom. cxxvi., p. 59; Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, vol. i., p. 117.

[843] ‘The Pimas also cultivate a kind of tobacco, this, which is very light, they make up into cigaritos, never using a pipe.’ Walker’s Pimas, MS. The Pueblos ‘sometimes get intoxicated.’ Walker, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1860, p. 169. The Pueblos ‘are generally free from drunkenness.’ Davis’ El Gringo, p. 146. Cremony’s Apaches, p. 112; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., p. 446; Murr, Nachrichten, p. 249.

[844] Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., p. 17. ‘Their hair hung loose upon their shoulders, and both men and women had their hands painted with white clay, in such a way as to resemble open-work gloves. The women … were bare-footed, with the exception of a little piece tied about the heel…. They all wore their hair combed over their faces, in a manner that rendered it utterly impossible to recognize any of them…. They keep their elbows close to their sides, and their heels pressed firmly together, and do not raise the feet, but shuffle along with a kind of rolling motion, moving their arms, from the elbows down, with time to the step. At times, each man dances around his squaw; while she turns herself about, as if her heels formed a pivot on which she moved.’ Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 74. The dresses of the men were similar to those worn on other festivities, ‘except that they wear on their heads large pasteboard towers painted typically, and curiously decorated with feathers; and each man has his face entirely covered by a vizor made of small willows with the bark peeled off, and dyed a deep brown.’ Id., p. 83. ‘Such horrible masks I never saw before—noses six inches long, mouths from ear to ear, and great goggle eyes, as big as half a hen’s egg, hanging by a string partly out of the socket.’ Id., p. 85. ‘Each Pueblo generally had its particular uniform dress and its particular dance. The men of one village would sometimes disguise themselves as elks, with horns on their heads, moving on all-fours, and mimicking the animal they were attempting to personate. Others would appear in the garb of a turkey, with large heavy wings.’ Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., pp. 271, 275. ‘Festejo todo (Pimas) el dia nuestra llegada con un esquisito baile en forma circular, en cuyo centro figaraba una prolongada asta donde pendian trece cabelleras, arcos, flechas y demas despojos de otros tantos enemigos apaches que habian muerto.’ Mange, Itinerario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. i., p. 277. ‘Este lo forma una junta de truhanes vestidos de ridículo y autorizados por los viejos del pueblo para cometer los mayores desórdenes, y gustan tanto de estos hechos, que ni los maridos reparan las infamias que cometen con sus mugeres, ni las que resultan en perjuicio de las hijas.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., pp. 333-5. For further particulars see Kendall’s Nar., vol. i., p. 378; Marcy’s Army Life, pp. 104-8; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 244; Davis’ El Gringo, pp. 154-5; Espejo, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 394; Sitgreaves’ Zuñi Ex., plates 1, 2, 3; Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 67; Pike’s Explor. Trav., p. 343.

[845] Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 73-4; Johnson’s Hist. Arizona, p. 11. ‘Their instruments consisted, each of half a gourd, placed before them, with the convex side up; upon this they placed, with the left hand, a smooth stick, and with their right drew forward and backwards upon it, in a sawing manner, a notched one.’ Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., p. 17. ‘I noticed, among other things, a reed musical instrument with a bell-shaped end like a clarionet, and a pair of painted drumsticks tipped with gaudy feathers.’ Ives’ Colorado Riv., p. 121. ‘Les Indiens (Pueblos) accompagnent leurs danses et leur chants avec des flûtes, où sont marqués les endroits où il faut placer les doigts…. Ils disent que ces gens se réunissent cinq ou six pour jouer de la flûte; que ces instruments sont d’inégales grandeurs.’ Diaz, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 295; Castañeda, in Id., pp. 72, 172; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., p. 455; Garces, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie ii., tom. i., p. 331. ‘While they are at work, a man, seated at the door, plays on a bagpipe, so that they work keeping time: they sing in three voices.’ Davis’ El Gringo, p. 119.

[846] The Cocomaricopas, ‘componen unas bolas redondas del tamaño de una pelota de materia negra como pez, y embutidas en ellas varias conchitas pequeñas del mar con que hacen labores y con que juegan y apuestan, tirándola con la punta del pié corren tres ó cuatro leguas y la particularidad es que el que da vuelta y llega al puesto donde comenzaron y salieron á la par ese gana.’ Sedelmair, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 851. ‘It is a favorite amusement with both men [Maricopas] and boys to try their skill at hitting the pitahaya, which presents a fine object on the plain. Numbers often collect for this purpose; and in crossing the great plateau, where these plants abound, it is common to see them pierced with arrows.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 237; Mowry, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 301. ‘Amusements of all kinds are universally resorted to [among the Pueblos]; such as foot-racing, horse-racing, cock-fighting, gambling, dancing, eating, and drinking.’ Ward, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1864, p. 192; Mange, Itinerario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. i., pp. 299, 365.

[847] Walker’s Pimas, MS. ‘The Papago of to-day will on no account kill a coyote.’ Davidson, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1865, p. 132. ‘Eben so abergläubischen Gebrauch hatten sie bey drohenden Kieselwetter, da sie den Hagel abzuwenden ein Stück von einem Palmteppiche an einem Stecken anhefteten und gegen die Wolken richteten.’ Murr, Nachrichten, pp. 203, 207; Arny, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1871, pp. 385, 389. ‘A sentinel ascends every morning at sunrise to the roof of the highest house, and, with eyes directed towards the east, looks out for the arrival of the divine chieftain, who is to give the sign of deliverance.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 165, 197, 390, 210, and vol. ii., p. 54. ‘On a dit que la coutume singulière de conserver perpétuellement un feu sacré près duquel les anciens Mexicains attendaient le retour du dieu Quetzacoatl, existe aussi chez les Pueblos.’ Ruxton, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1850, tom. cxxvi., p. 58; Sedelmair, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv.. p. 851; Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxxi., p. 278; Cremony’s Apaches, p. 92; Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., p. 93. ‘I, however, one night, at San Felipe, clandestinely witnessed a portion of their secret worship. One of their secret night dances is called Tocina, which is too horrible to write about.’ Arny, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1871, p. 385; Ward, in Id., 1864, p. 192; Ives’ Colorado Riv., p. 121; Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 73, 77; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 278. ‘Ils ont des prêtres … ils montent sur la terrasse la plus élevée du village et font un sermon au moment où le soleil se lève.’ Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 133, 164, 239.

[848] Walker’s Pimas, MS.; Mowry, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 361; Ruggles, in Id., 1869, p. 209; Andrews, in Id., 1870, p. 117; Ward, in Id., 1864, p. 188; Davis’ El Gringo, pp. 119, 311. The cause of the decrease of the Pecos Indians is ‘owing to the fact that they seldom if ever marry outside of their respective pueblos.’ Parker, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 251; Murr, Nachrichten, p. 273. ‘Au milieu [of the estufa] est un foyer allumé, sur lequel on jette de temps en temps une poignée de thym, ce qui suffit pour entretenir la chaleur, de sorte qu’on y est comme dans un bain.’ Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 170.

[849] Walker’s Pimas, MS. The Pimas, ‘usan enterrar sus varones con su arco y flechas, y algun bastimento y calabazo de agua, señal que alcanzan vislumbre de la immortalidad, aunque no con la distincion de prémio ó castigo.’ Mange, Itinerario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. i., p. 369. ‘The Maricopas invariably bury their dead, and mock the ceremony of cremation.’ … ‘sacrifice at the grave of a warrior all the property of which he died possessed, together with all in possession of his various relatives.’ Cremony’s Apaches, pp. 103, 105. ‘The Pimos bury their dead, while the Coco-Maricopas burn theirs.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 262. ‘The females of the family [Pueblo] approached in a mournful procession (while the males stood around in solemn silence), each one bearing on her head a tinaja, or water-jar, filled with water, which she emptied into the grave, and whilst doing so commenced the death-cry. They came singly and emptied their jars, and each one joined successively in the death-cry; … They believe that on a certain day (in August, I think) the dead rise from their graves and flit about the neighboring hills, and on that day, all who have lost friends, carry out quantities of corn, bread, meat, and such other good things of this life as they can obtain, and place them in the haunts frequented by the dead, in order that the departed spirits may once more enjoy the comforts of this nether world.’ Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 75-8. If the dead Pima was a chief, ‘the villagers are summoned to his burial. Over his grave they hold a grand festival. The women weep and the men howl, and they go into a profound mourning of tar. Soon the cattle are driven up and slaughtered, and every body heavily-laden with sorrow, loads his squaw with beef, and feasts for many days.’ Browne’s Apache Country, pp. 112-13; Murr, Nachrichten, pp. 204, 210, 281; Ferry, Scènes de la vie Sauvage, p. 115; Froebel’s Cent. Amer., p. 500; Id., Aus Amerika, tom. ii., p. 437; Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 165.

[850] ‘Though naturally disposed to peaceful pursuits, the Papagoes are not deficient in courage.’ Browne’s Apache Country, pp. 142, 107, 110-11, 140, 277; Johnson’s Hist. Arizona, p. 10; Stone, in Hist. Mag., vol. v., p. 166; Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 188; Escudero, Noticias de Sonora y Sinaloa, p. 142; Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, pp. 116, 160; Froebel’s Cent. Amer., pp. 500, 506, 512; Id., Aus Amerika, tom. ii., pp. 437, 447, 454; Garces, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie ii., tom. i., p. 238; Sedelmair, Relacion, in Id., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 850; Gallardo, in Id., p. 892. ‘The peaceful disposition of the Maricopas is not the result of incapacity for war, for they are at all times enabled to meet, and vanquish the Apaches in battle.’ Emory, in Fremont and Emory’s Notes of Trav., p. 49; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. iii., pp. 62, 103; Murr, Nachrichten, p. 282; Hardy’s Trav., pp. 440, 443; Mange, Itinerario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. i., pp. 365-6;Mowry’s Arizona, p. 30; Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, pp. 397, 412; Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., pp. 553-5, 838. ‘The Pueblos were industrious and unwarlike in their habits.’ Marcy’s Army Life, pp. 98, 110. The Moquis ‘are a mild and peaceful race of people, almost unacquainted with the use of arms, and not given to war. They are strictly honest…. They are kind and hospitable to strangers.’ Davis’ El Gringo, pp. 421, 145. ‘C’est une race (Pueblos) remarquablement sobre et industrieuse, qui se distingue par sa moralité.’ Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxxi., pp. 277, 288, 290; Ruxton, in Id., 1850, tom. cxxvi., pp. 45, 47, 60; Ruxton’s Adven. Mex., p. 191; Ives’ Colorado Riv., pp. 31, 36, 45, 122, 124-7; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., p. 120, 268, 274; Pike’s Explor. Trav., p. 342; Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 241; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. iv., p. 453; Champagnac, Voyageur, p. 84; Hughes’ Doniphan’s Ex., pp. 196, 221; Espejo, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 392; Wislizenus’ Tour, p. 26; Pattie’s Pers. Nar., p. 91; Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 72, 87; Eaton, in Id., p. 220; Bent, in Id., vol. i., p. 244; Kendall’s Nar., vol. i., p. 378; Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 126, 163; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 528; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 144; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. ii., p. 240. The Pueblos ‘are passionately fond of dancing, and give themselves up to this diversion with a kind of frenzy.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 198, 185, 203, 206, and vol. ii., pp. 19, 51-2; Cutts’ Conq. of Cal., pp. 188-9, 222; Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., pp. 81, 91, 113, 115; Scenes in the Rocky Mts., p. 177; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 679-80; Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, p. 239; Id., Mex., Aztec etc., vol. ii., p. 358. See further: Ind. Aff. Rept., from 1854 to 1872.

[851] Baegert, in Smithsonian Rept., 1863, p. 359; Forbes’ Cal., pp. 20-2; Mofras, Explor., tom. i., p. 239; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 451; Gleeson’s Hist. Cath. Church, vol. i., pp. 95-6; Prichard’s Researches, vol. v., p. 446. ‘Esse sono tre nella California Cristiana, cioè quelle de’ Pericui, de’ Guaicuri, e de’ Cochimì.’ Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., p. 109. Venegas, in giving the opinion of Father Taravàl, says: ‘Tres son (dice este habil Missionero) las Lenguas: la Cochimi, la Pericù, y la de Loreto. De esta ultima salen dos ramos, y son: la Guaycùra, y la Uchiti; verdad es, que es la variacion tanta, que el que no tuviere connocimiento de las tres Lenguas, juzgara, no solo que hay quatro Lenguas, sino que hay cinco…. Està poblada la primera àzia el Medioda, desde el Cabo de San Lucas, hasta mas acá del Puerto de la Paz de la Nacion Pericú, ó siguiendo la terminacion Castellana de los Pericúes: la segunda desde la Paz, hasta mas arriba del Presidio Real de Loreto, es de los Monquis; la tercera desde el territorio de Loreto, por todo lo descubierto al Norte de la nacion Cochimi, ó de los Cochimíes.’ Venegas, Noticia de la Cal., tom. i., pp. 63-6. ‘Auf der Halbinsel Alt-Californien wohnen: an der Südspitze die Perícues, dann die Monquis oder Menguis, zu welchen die Familien der Guaycúras und Coras gehören, die Cochímas oder Colímiës, die Laimónes, die Utschítas oder Vehítis, und die Icas.’ Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., p. 212. ‘All the Indian tribes of the Peninsula seem to be affiliated with the Yumas of the Colorado and with the Coras below La Paz … in no case do they differ in intellect, habits, customs, dress, implements of war, or hunting, traditions, or appearances from the well-known Digger Indians of Alta-California, and undoubtedly belong to the same race or family.’ Browne’s Lower Cal., pp. 53-4.

[852] ‘Di buona statura, ben fatti, sani, e robusti.’ Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., pp. 112-13. ‘El color en todos es muy moreno … no tienen barba ni nada de vello en el cuerpo.’ Californias, Noticias, carta i., pp. 47, 61, carta ii., p. 12. Compare: Kino, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. i., p. 407; Crespi, in Id., serie iv., tom. vii., p. 135; Ulloa, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 345, 351; Venegas, Noticia de la Cal., tom. i., p. 68; Baegert, in Smithsonian Rept., 1863, p. 357; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., pp. 443-4; Gleeson’s Hist. Cath. Church, p. 99.

[853] ‘Siendo de gran deshonra en los varones el vestido.’ Salvatierra, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. v., p. 42. ‘Aprons are about a span wide, and of different length.’ Baegert, in Smithsonian Rept., 1863, pp. 361-2. Consult further: Venegas, Noticia de la Cal., tom. i., pp. 81-8, 113; Gleeson’s Hist. Cath. Church, pp. 96-9, 107-10; Forbes’ Cal., pp. 9, 18; Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., pp. 120-3, 133, 144; Gemelli Careri, in Churchill’s Col. Voyages, vol. iv., p. 469, and in Berenger, Col. de Voy., tom. ii., p. 371.

[854] ‘Unos se cortan un pedazo de oreja, otros las dos; otros agugerean el labio inferior, otros las narizes, y es cosa de risa, pues allí llevan colgando ratoncillos, lagartijitas, conchitas. &c.’ Californias, Noticias, carta i., pp. 48, 22. ‘It has been asserted that they also pierce the nose. I can only say that I saw no one disfigured in that particular manner.’ Baegert, in Smithsonian Rept., 1863, p. 362. ‘Nudi agunt, genas quadratis quibusdam notis signati.’ De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 306. Further reference: Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., pp. 279, 282; Ulloa, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 347-8, and in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 412; Delaporte, Reisen, tom. x., p. 428.

[855] Venegas, Noticia de la Cal., tom. i., p. 88; Campbell’s Hist. Span. Amer., p. 86; Ulloa, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 347, 350; Californias, Noticias, carta i., p. 45; Lockman’s Trav. Jesuits, vol. i., p. 403. ‘Le abitazioncelle più comuni sono certe chiuse circolari di sassi sciolti, ed ammucchiati, le quali hanno cinque piedi di diametro, e meno di due d’altezza.’ Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., p. 119. ‘I am certainly not much mistaken in saying that many of them change their night-quarters more than a hundred times in a year.’ Baegert, in Smithsonian Rept., 1863, p. 361.

[856] ‘Twenty-four pounds of meat in twenty-four hours is not deemed an extraordinary ration for a single person.’ Baegert, in Smithsonian Rept., 1863, pp. 364-7. ‘No tienen horas señaladas para saciar su apetito: comen cuanto hallan por delante; hasta las cosas mas sucias sirven á su gula.’ Californias, Noticias, carta i., pp. 46-7, 21; see also: Salmeron, Relaciones, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 13; Salvatierra, in Id., serie iv., tom. v., p. 116; Crespi, in Id., serie iv., tom. vii., pp. 106, 135, 143; Delaporte, Reisen, tom. x., pp. 423-4; Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 153; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. iii., p. 106; Ulloa, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 350; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 451; Alcedo, Diccionario, tom. i., p. 318.

[857] ‘La pesca si fa da loro in due maniere, o con reti nella spiaggia, o ne’ gorghi rimasi della marea, o con forconi in alto mare.’ Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., pp. 111, 125-6; ‘Use neither nets nor hooks, but a kind of lance.’ Baegert, in Smithsonian Rept., 1863, p. 364. ‘Forman los Indios redes para pescar, y para otros usos.’ Venegas, Noticia de la Cal., tom. i., p. 52.

[858] ‘Poichè le stesse donne si lavavano, e si lavano anche oggidì con essa (orina) la faccia.’ Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., p. 133.

[859] Gemelli Careri, in Churchill’s Col. Voyages, vol. iv., p. 469; Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 346, 351; Baegert, in Smithsonian Rept., 1863, p. 362; Kino, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. i., p. 407; Crespi, in Id., serie iv., tom. vii., p. 143. ‘Si trovarono altre spezie d’armi per ferir da vicino, ma tutte di legno. La prima è un mazzapicchio, simile nella forma a una girella col suo manico tutta d’un pezzo. La seconda è a foggia d’un ascia di legnajuolo tutta anch’essa d’un sol pezzo. La terza ha la forma d’una piccola scimitara.’ Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., pp. 124, 127.

[860] ‘El modo de publicar la guerra era, hacer con mucho estruendo gran provision de cañas, y pedernales para sus flechas, y procurar, que por varios caminos llegassen las assonadas à oídos de sus contrarios.’ Venegas, Noticia de la Cal., tom. i., pp. 97-8. Referring to Venegas’ work, Baegert, Smithsonian Rept., 1864, p. 385, says: ‘All that is said in reference to the warfare of the Californians is wrong. In their former wars they merely attacked the enemy unexpectedly during the night, or from an ambush, and killed as many as they could, without order, previous declaration of war, or any ceremonies whatever.’ See also: Apostólicos Afanes, pp. 424-5, and Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., p. 127.

[861] ‘In lieu of knives and scissors they use sharp flints for cutting almost everything—cane, wood, aloë, and even their hair.’ Baegert, in Smithsonian Rept., 1863, p. 363. ‘Le loro reti, tanto quelle da pescare, quanto quelle, che servono a portare checchessia, le fanno col filo, che tirano dalle foglie del Mezcal.’ Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., p. 124. Further notice in Ulloa, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 350; Venegas, Noticia de la Cal., tom. i., p. 90; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 447.

[862] Vancouver, Voy., vol. ii., p. 482, speaking of Lower California says: ‘We were visited by one of the natives in a straw canoe.’ ‘Vedemmo che vsci vna canoua in mare con tre Indiani dalle lor capanne.’ Ulloa, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 350-1, 343, 347, and in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii, p. 418. See further: Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., p. 126; Gemelli Careri, in Churchill’s Col. Voyages, vol. iv., p. 469, and in Berenger, Col. de Voy., tom. ii., p. 371.

[863] ‘Tienen trato de pescado con los indios de tierra adentro.’ Salmeron, Relaciones, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 17; also, Ulloa, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 347-8.

[864] ‘Su modo de contar es muy diminuto y corto, pues apénas llegan á cinco, y otros á diez, y van multiplicando segun pueden.’ Californias, Noticias, carta i., p. 103. ‘Non dividevano l’Anno in Mesi, ma solamente in sei stagioni.’ Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., pp. 110-11.

[865] Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., pp. 129-30. Venegas, Noticia de la Cal., tom. i., p. 79. ‘Entre ellos siempre hay alguno mas desahogado y atrevido, que se reviste con el caracter de Capitan: pero ni este tiene jurisdiccion alguna, ni le obedecen, y en estando algo viejo lo suelen quitar del mando: solo en los lances que les tiene cuenta siguen sus dictámenes.’ Californias, Noticias, carta i., pp. 40, 45.

[866] Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., pp. 130-4; Ulloa, in Ramusio, Navigationi tom. iii., fol. 348; Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., p. 284; Baegert, in Smithsonian Rept., 1863, pp. 367-9. ‘Sus casamientos son muy ridiculos: unos para casarse enseñan sus cuerpos á las mugeres, y estas á ellos; y adoptándose á su gusto, se casan: otros en fin, que es lo mas comun, se casan sin ceremonia.’ Californias, Noticias, carta i., pp. 50, 40-1. ‘El adulterio era mirado como delito, que por lo menos daba justo motivo á la venganza, á excepción de dos ocasiones: una la de sus fiestas, y bayles: y otra la de las luchas.’ Venegas, Noticia de la Cal., tom. i., p. 93. ‘Les hommes s’approchaient des femmes comme des animaux, et les femmes se mettaient publiquement à quatre pattes pour les recevoir.’ Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 153. This method of copulation is by no means peculiar to the Lower Californians, but is practiced almost universally by the wild tribes of the Pacific States. Writers naturally do not mention this custom, but travellers are unanimous in their verbal accounts respecting it.

[867] ‘Fiesta entre los Indios Gentiles no es mas que una concurrencia de hombres y mugeres de todas partes para desahogar los apetitos de luxuria y gula.’ Californias, Noticias, carta i., pp. 60-75. ‘Una de las fiestas mas celebres de los Cochimies era la del dia, en que repartian las pieles à las mugeres una vez al año.’ Venegas, Noticia de la Cal., tom. i., pp. 85-6, 96; Baegert, in Smithsonian Rept., 1864, p. 389; Salvatierra, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. v., pp. 103, 116.

[868] Californias, Noticias, carta i., pp. 59-65; Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., pp. 126, 146. ‘There existed always among the Californians individuals of both sexes who played the part of sorcerers or conjurers, pretending to possess the power of exorcising the devil.’ Baegert, in Smithsonian Rept., 1864, p. 389.

[869] Baegert, in Smithsonian Rept., 1864, pp. 385-7. ‘Las carreras, luchas, peleas y otras trabajos voluntarios les ocasionan muchos dolores de pecho y otros accidentes.’ Californias, Noticias, carta i., pp. 85-99.

[870] Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., pp. 112-13, 142-5; Apostólicos Afanes, pp. 426-7; Salvatierra, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. v., p. 23; Delaporte, Reisen, tom. x., pp. 433-4. ‘Rogaba el enfermo, que le chupassen, y soplassen de el modo mismo, que lo hacian los Curanderos. Executaban todos por su orden este oficio de piedad, chupando, y soplando primero la parte lesa, y despues todos los otros organos de los sentidos.’ Venegas, Noticia de la Cal., tom. i., pp. 117-18.

[871] Baegert says: ‘It seems tedious to them to spend much time near an old, dying person that was long ago a burden to them and looked upon with indifference. A person of my acquaintance restored a girl to life that was already bound up in a deer-skin, according to their custom, and ready for burial.’ Baegert, in Smithsonian Rept., 1864, p. 387.

[872] ‘Solevano essi onorar la memoria d’alcuni defunti ponendo sopra un’ alta pertica la loro figura gossamente formata di rami, presso alla quale si metteva un Guama a predicar le loro lodi.’ Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., p. 144; Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 184.

[873] ‘La estupidèz è insensibilidad: la falta de conocimiento, y reflexion: la inconstancia, y volubilidad de una voluntad, y apetitos sin freno, sin luz, y aun sin objeto: la pereza, y horror à todo trabajo, y fatiga à la adhesion perpetua à todo linage de placer, y entretenimiento puerìl, y brutàl: la pusilanimidad, y flaqueza de animo; y finalmente, la falta miserable de todo lo que forma à los hombres esto es racionales, politicos, y utiles para sì, y para la sociedad.’ Venegas, Noticia de la Cal., tom. i., pp. 74-9, 87-8. ‘Las naciones del Norte eran mas despiertas, dóciles y fieles, ménos viciosas y libres, y por tanto mejor dispuestas para recibir el cristianismo que las que habitaban al Sur.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. lxxxix. ‘Eran los coras y pericues, y generalmente las rancherias del Sur de California, mas ladinos y capaces; pero tambien mas viciosos é inquietos que las demas naciones de la península.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. iii., p. 252. ‘Ces peuples sont d’une tres-grande docilité, ils se laissent instruire.’ Californie, Nouvelle Descente, in Voy. de l’Empereur de la Chine, p. 104. Other allusions to their character may be found in Calderon de la Barca’s Life in Mex., vol. i., p. 330; Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., p. 292; Baegert, in Smithsonian Rept., 1864, pp. 378-85; Crespi, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. vii., pp. 135, 143-6; Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 442; Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., pp. 113-14; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 451.

[874] Father Ribas, the first priest who visited the Yaquis, was surprised at the loud rough tone in which they spoke. When he remonstrated with them for doing so, their reply was, ‘No vés que soy Hiaqui: y dezianlo, porque essa palabra, y nombre, significa, el que habla a gritos.’ Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 285. Mayos: ‘Their name comes from their position, and means in their own language boundary, they having been bounded on both sides by hostile tribes.’ Stone, in Hist. Mag., vol. v., p. 165. ‘Segun parece, la palabra talahumali ó tarahumari significa, “corredor de a pié;” de tala ó tara, pié, y huma, correr’. Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 364. ‘La palabra tepehuan creen algunos que es Mexicana, y corrupcion de tepehuani, conquistador; ó bien un compuesto de tepetl, monte, y hua, desinencia que en Mexicano indica posesion, como si dijéramos señor ó dueño del monte. Otros, acaso con mas exactitud, dicen que tepchuan es voz tarahumar, derivada de pehua ó pegua, que significa duro, lo cual conviene con el carácter de la nacion.’ Id., tom. ii., p. 45. ‘La palabra acaxee parece ser la misma que la de acaxete, nombre de un pueblo perteneciente al estado de Puebla, ambos corrupcion de la palabra Mexicana acaxitl, compuesta de atl (agua), y de caxitl (cazuela ó escudilla), hoy tambien corrompida, cajete: el todo significa alberca, nombre perfectamente adecuado á la cosa, pues que Alcedo, [Diccion. geográf. de América] dice que en Acaxete, “hay una caja ó arca de agua de piedra de cantería, en que se recogen las que bajan de la Sierra y se conducen à Tepeaca: el nombre, pues, nos dice que si no la obra arquitectónica, á lo menos la idea y la ejecucion, vienen desde los antiguos Mexicanos.”‘ Diccionario Universal de Hist. Geog., tom. i., p. 31.

[875] ‘Las mugeres son notables por los pechos y piés pequeños.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 169. ‘Tienen la vista muy aguda…. El oido es tambien vivissimo.’ Arlegui, Crón. de Zacatecas, pp. 174-5. See also, Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, pp. 7, 145, 285, 677; Zuñiga, in Escudero, Noticias de Sonora y Sinaloa, p. 142; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 416; Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, pp. 184, 189; Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 44, 49; Beaumont, Crón. de Mechoacan, MS., p. 242; Lachapelle, Raousset-Boulbon, pp. 79-80; Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., p. 80; Berlandier y Thovel, Diario, p. 69; Hardy’s Trav., pp. 289, 299; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., pp. 444, 446; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., pp. 214-15, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 419; Ulloa, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 345; Guzman, Rel. Anon., in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. ii., fol. 296; Sevin, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxx., p. 12; De Laet, Novus Orbis, pp. 284-5; Ward’s Mexico, vol. i., pp. 571, 583; Prichard’s Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., p. 562; Coronado, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 362.

[876] ‘No alcanzan ropa de algodon, si no es algunas pampanillas y alguna manta muy gruesa; porque el vestido de ellos es de cuero de venados adobados, y el vestido que dellos hacen es coser un cuero con otro y ponérselos por debajo del brazo atados al hombro, y las mujeres traen sus naguas hechas con sus jirones que les llegan hasta los tobillos como faja.’ Guzman, Rel. Anón., in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. ii., pp. 296, 290, 481. The Ceri women wear ‘pieles de alcatras por lo general, ó una tosca frazada de lana envuelta en la cintura.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, pp. 131, 74, 153.

[877] The Temoris had ‘las orejas cercadas de los zarcillos que ellos vsan, adornados de conchas de nacar labradas, y ensartadas en hilos azules, y cercan toda la oreja.’ Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, pp. 226, 286, 472. Near Culiacan, Nuño de Guzman met about 50,000 warriors who ‘traian al cuello sartas de codornices, pericos pequeños y otros diferentes pajaritos.’ Tello, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. ii., p. 354. The Humes, ‘coronadas sus cabezas de diademas de varias plumas de papagayos, guacamayas con algunos penachos de hoja de plata batida.’ Ahumada, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. iii., p. 96. ‘Los Indios de este nuevo Reyno son de diversas naciones que se distinguen por la diversidad de rayas en el rostro.’ Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., pp. 472, 531. ‘No hemos visto á ningun carrizo pintado con vermellon, tal como lo hacen otros.’ Berlandier y Thovel, Diario, p. 69. For further description see Hardy’s Trav., pp. 289-90, 298; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., p. 445; Combier, Voy., pp. 199-200; Coronado, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., pp. 362-4; Espejo, in Id., pp. 384, 390-1; Cabeza de Vaca, Relation, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. vii., p. 250; Castañeda, in Id., tom. ix., p. 157; Jaramillo, in Id., p. 366; Ward’s Mexico, vol. i., p. 571; Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, pp. 184-5, 190; Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 552; Arnaya, in Id., serie iv., tom. iii., p. 63; Descrip. Top., in Id., serie iv., tom. iv., pp. 113-14; Lachapelle, Raousset-Boulbon, pp. 79-80; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., pp. 574-6, 609; Sevin, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxx., pp. 12, 25-6; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., pp. 401, 406, and ii., pp. 124, 184; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 208, 226, 228; and Dapper, Neue Welt, pp. 235, 254-5; Cabeza de Vaca, Relation, pp. 167-8; García Conde, in Album Mex., tom. i., p. 93; Beaumont, Crón. de Mechoacan, MS., pp. 241-2; Hazart, Kirchen-Geschichte, tom. ii., p. 539.

[878] ‘Todos los pueblos de los indios cobiertas las casas de esteras, á las cuales llaman en lengua de México petates, y por esta causa le llamamos Petatlan.’ Guzman, Rel. Anón., in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. ii., p. 296. Compare Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 49, 156; Combier, Voy., pp. 157, 160, 164, 200; Coronado, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 363; Niza, in Id., p. 366; Espejo, in Id., p. 384; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 206, 216, 227-8; and Dapper, Neue Welt, pp. 232, 255; Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, pp. 3, 6, 7, 155, 222, 594; Cabeza de Vaca, Relation, pp. 167, 175; Id., in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 327; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 574, 576, 609; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 396; Azpilcueta, in Id., tom. ii., p. 186; Berlandier y Thovel, Diario, p. 68.

[879] ‘Comian inmundas carnes sin reservar la humana.’ Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., pp. 530, 80, 84, 533. ‘Ils mangent tous de la chair humaine, et vont à la chasse des hommes.’ Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 152, 158-9. See also, Arlegui, Chrón. de Zacatecas, pp. 150, 180-2; Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, pp. 3, 6, 7, 11, 14, 175, 217, 385, 671.

[880] Poçolatl, ‘beuida de mayz cozido.’ Pinolatl, ‘beuida de mayz y chia tostado.’ Molina, Vocabulario. The Batucas ‘cuanto siembran es de regadío … sus milpas parecen todas huertas.’ Azpilcueta, in Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. ii., p. 186, see also p. 184; Acaxées, mode of fishing, etc., in Id., tom. i., pp. 401-5, also 283-4, 399, 402-3; Tarahumaras, mode of fishing, hunting, and cooking. Murr, Nachrichten, pp. 310, 317, 322-3, 337, 342. The Yaquis ‘fields and gardens in the highest state of cultivation.’ Ward’s Mexico, vol. ii., p. 606. For further account of their food and manner of cooking, etc., see Revista Mexicana, tom. i., pp. 375-6; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 54; Zepeda, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. iii., p. 158; Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, pp. 72, 169-70; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., pp. 465, 469; Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., pp. 549-50; Jaramillo, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 366; Cabeza de Vaca, in Id., tom. vii., pp. 242-3, 249-50, 265; Espejo, in Hakluyt’s Voy., tom. iii., p. 384; Coronado, in Id., pp. 363, 374; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 609; Combier, Voy., pp. 160-2, 169, 198, 200, 312; Guzman, Rel. Anón., in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. ii., p. 289; Tello, in Id., p. 353; De Laet, Novus Orbis, pp. 286, 310; Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 442; Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 185; Ulloa, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 341-2; Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxxi., pp. 256, 260; Zuñiga, in Id., 1842, tom. xciii., p. 239; Stone, in Hist. Mag., vol. v., p. 166; Malte-Brun, Sonora, pp. 14-5.

[881] Of the Ceris it is said that ‘la ponzoña con que apestan las puntas de sus flechas, es la mas activa que se ha conocido por acá … no se ha podido averiguar cuáles sean á punto fijo los mortíferos materiales de esta pestilencial maniobra? Y aunque se dicen muchas cosas, como que lo hacen de cabezas de víboras irritadas cortadas al tiempo que clavan sus dientes en un pedazo de bofes y de carne humana ya medio podrida … pues no es mas que adivinar lo que no sabemos. Sin duda su principal ingrediente será alguna raíz.’ Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., pp. 560-1, 552. ‘El magot es un árbol pequeño muy losano y muy hermoso á la vista; pero á corta incision de la corteza brota una leche mortal que les servia en su gentilidad para emponzoñar sus flechas.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. ii., p. 215. See also Hardy’s Trav., pp. 298-9, 391; Stone, in Hist. Mag., vol. v., p. 166; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 57; Cabeza de Vaca, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. vii., pp. 250-1; Castañeda, in Id., série i., tom. ix., pp. 209, 222-3; Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, pp. 185-6, 190; Arlegui, Chron. de Zacatecas, p. 153; Tello, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. ii., p. 354; Guzman, Rel. Anón., in Id., p. 289, 296; Descrip. Topog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. iv., p. 114; Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, pp. 10, 110, 473, 677; De Laet, Novus Orbis, pp. 285, 287, 305, 310; Sevin, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxx., pp. 12, 25; Berlandier y Thovel, Diario, p. 68; Ramirez, in Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 284; Combier, Voy., pp. 198, 346; Espejo, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., pp. 384, 390; Niza, in Id., p. 567; Ulloa, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 342-3; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 208, 228; and Dapper, Neue Welt, pp. 234, 255; Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., p. 520; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 55.

[882] ‘El jóven que desea valer por las armas, ántes de ser admitido en toda forma á esta profesion, debe hacer méritos en algunas campañas … despues de probado algun tiempo en estas experiencias y tenida la aprobacion de los ancianos, citan al pretendiente para algun dia en que deba dar la última prueba de su valor.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. ii., pp. 218-9, 396-8, and tom. i., pp. 396-9. Examine Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., pp. 544-7; Lizasoin, in Id., pp. 684-5.

[883] As to the Mayos, ‘eran estos indios en sus costumbres y modo de guerrear como los de Sinaloa, hacian la centinela cada cuarto de hora, poniendose en fila cincuenta indios, uno delante de otro, con sus arcos y flechas y con una rodilla en tierra.’ Beaumont, Crón. de Mechoacan, MS., p. 241. See also Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, pp. 9, 18, 76, 473-4; Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., p. 522; Guzman, Rel. Anón., in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. ii., pp. 301-2; Hazart, Kirchen-Geschichte, tom. ii., p. 539; Ferry, Scènes de le vie Sauvage, p. 76; Arlegui, Chrón. de Zacatecas, p. 150; Coronado, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 363; Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxxi., p. 256.

[884] See Combier, Voy., p. 157; Murr, Nachrichten, pp. 307, 335, 337; Descrip. Topog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. iv., p. 114; Hardy’s Trav., p. 290.

[885] ‘Vsauan el arte de hilar, y texer algodon, ó otras yeruas siluestres, como el Cañamo de Castilla, o Pita.’ Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, pp. 12, 200. For the Yaquis, see Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 73; for the Ópatas and Jovas, Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., pp. 550-2; and for the Tarahumares, Murr, Nachrichten, p. 344; Cabeza de Vaca, Relation, pp. 166, 174; Id., in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 327; Lachapelle, Raousset-Boulbon, pp. 79-80.

[886] ‘El indio tomando el asta por medio, boga con gran destreza por uno y otro lado.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. iii., p. 119. ‘An Indian paddles himself … by means of a long elastic pole of about twelve or fourteen feet in length.’ Hardy’s Trav., pp. 297, 291. See also Niza, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., pp. 366; Cabeza de Vaca, Relation, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. vii., p. 250; Ulloa, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 342.

[887] The Carrizos ‘no tienen caballos, pero en cambio, sus pueblos están llenos de perros.’ Berlandier y Thovel, Diario, p. 70. The Tahus ‘sacrifiaient une partie de leurs richesses, qui consistaient en étoffes et en turquoises.’ Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 150. Compare further, Combier, Voy., pp. 200-1; Zuñiga, in Escudero, Noticias de Sonora y Sinaloa, p. 135; Mex. in 1842, p. 68; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., p. 260; Id., Cent. Amer., p. 380; Cabeza de Vaca, Relation, p. 167.

[888] ‘Son grandes observadores de los Astros, porque como siempre duermen á Cielo descubierto, y estan hechos â mirarlos, se marabillan de qualquier nueva impression, que registran en los Cielos.’ Arlegui, Chrón. de Zacatecas, p. 175. Among the Yaquis, ‘hay asimismo músicos de violin y arpa, todo por puro ingenio, sin que se pueda decir que se les hayan enseñado las primeras reglas.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 74. See also Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 12; De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 285; Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 152; Combier, Voy., p. 201; Murr, Nachrichten, p. 370; Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., p. 80.

[889] ‘Leyes, ni Reyes que castigassen tales vicios y pecados, no los tuuieron, ni se hallaua entre ellos genero de autoridad y gouierno politico que los castigasse.’ Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 11; Combier, Voy., p. 200; Ahumada, Carta, in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iv., tom. iii., p. 96; Espejo, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 384.

[890] The word cacique, which was used by the Spaniards to designate the chiefs and rulers of provinces and towns throughout the West Indies, Central America, Mexico, and Peru, is originally taken from the Cuban language. Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 595, explains it as follows: ‘Cacique: señor, jefe absoluto ó rey de una comarca ó Estado. En nuestros dias suele emplearse esta voz en algunas poblaciones de la parte oriental de Cuba, para designar al regidor decano de un ayuntamiento. Asi se dice: Regidor cacique. Metafóricamente tiene aplicacion en nuestra península, para designar á los que en los pueblos pequeños llevan la voz y gobiernan á su antojo y capricho.’

[891] ‘Juntos grandes y pequeños ponen á los mocetones y mujeres casaderas en dos hileras, y dada una seña emprenden á correr éstas; dada otra siguen la carrera aquellos, y alcanzándolas, ha de cojer cada uno la suya de la tetilla izquierda; y quedan hechos y confirmados los desposorios.’ Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 542-3. ‘Unos se casan con una muger sola, y tienen muchas mancebas…. Otras se casan con quantas mugeres quieren…. Otras naciones tienen las mugeres por comunes.’ Arlegui, Chrón. de Zacatecas, pp. 154-7. For further account of their family relations and marriage customs, see Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, pp. 11, 145, 171, 201, 242, 475; Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96, p. 186; Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 150, 152, 155, 158; Hazart, Kirchen-Geschichte, tom. ii., p. 541; Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., p. 530; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 452; Arista, in Id., p. 417;Berlandier y Thovel, Diario, p. 70; Combier, Voy., p. 201; Löwenstern, Mexique, p. 409.

[892] Les Yaquis ‘aiment surtout une danse appelée tutuli gamuchi … dans laquelle ils changent de femmes en se cédant réciproquement tous leurs droits conjugaux.’ Zuñiga, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1842, tom. xciii., pp. 238-9. The Sisibotaris; ‘En las danzas … fué muy de notar que aunque danzaban juntos hombres y mugeres, ni se hablaban ni se tocaban inmediatamente las manos.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. ii., p. 124, and tom. i., pp. 405-7. In the province of Pánuco, ‘cuando estan en sus borracheras é fiestas, lo que no pueden beber por la boca, se lo hacen echar por bajo con un embudo.’ Guzman, Rel. Anón., in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. ii., p. 295. See further, Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, pp. 9, 15, 256, 672; Murr, Nachrichten, pp. 321, 343, 345; De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 287; Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., pp. 519, 530; Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., p. 158; Hardy’s Trav., p. 440; Arlegui, Chrón. de Zacatecas, pp. 158, 160; Donnavan’s Adven., pp. 46, 48; Las Casas, Hist. Indias, MS., lib. iii., cap. 168; García Conde, in Album Mex., tom. i., p. 167; Soc. Géog., Bulletin, série v., No. 96. p. 190; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. ii., p. 261; Id., Cent. Amer., p. 381; Sevin, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxx., p. 25.

[893] The Ópatas have ‘grande respeto y veneracion que hasta hoy tienen á los hombrecitos pequeños y contrahechos, á quienes temen y franquean su casa y comida.’ Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., p. 628. ‘Angulis atque adytis angues complures reperti, peregrinum in modum conglobati, capitibus supra et infra exsertis, terribili rictu, si quis propuis accessisset, cæterum innocui; quos barbari vel maxime venerabantur, quod diabolus ipsis hac forma apparere consuesset: eosdem tamen et manibus contrectabant et nonnunquam iis vescebantur.’ De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 284. Further reference in Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 472; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 574-5; Lachapelle, Raousset-Boulbon, p. 79; Cabeza de Vaca, Relation, p. 169; Arlegui, Chrón. de Zacatecas, pp. 166-7; Sevin, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxx., p. 26.

[894] ‘Quando entre los Indios ay algun contagio, que es el de viruelas el mas continuo, de que mueren innumerables, mudan cada dia lugares, y se van á los mas retirados montes, buscando los sitios mas espinosos y enmarañados, para que de miedo de las espinas, no entren (segun juzgan, y como cierto lo afirman) las viruelas.’ Arlegui, Chrón. de Zacatecas, pp. 152-3, 182. See also, Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 431; Berlandier y Thovel, Diario, pp. 70-1; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 399, tom. ii., pp. 213-4, 219-20; Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, pp. 17, 322-3; Löwenstern, Mexique, p. 411; Hardy’s Trav., p. 282; Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., pp. 547-8.

[895] See Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 516; Villa, in Prieto, Viajes, p. 443.

[896] ‘Las mas de las naciones referidas son totalmente barbaras, y de groseros entendimientos; gente baxa.’ Arlegui, Chrón. de Zacatecas, p. 149. The Yaquis: ‘by far the most industrious and useful of all the other tribes in Sonora … celebrated for the exuberance of their wit.’ Hardy’s Trav., pp. 439, 442. ‘Los ópatas son tan honrados como valientes … la nacion ópata es pacífica, dócil, y hasta cierto punto diferente de todas los demas indígenas del continente … son amantes del trabajo.’ Zuñiga, in Escudero, Noticias de Sonora y Sinaloa, pp. 139-41. ‘La tribu ópata fué la que manifestó un carácter franco, dócil, y con simpatías á los blancos … siempre fué inclinada al órden y la paz.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, pp. 151, 117. The Ópatas ‘son de génio malicioso, disimulados y en sumo grado vengativos; y en esto sobresalen las mujeres.’ Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., pp. 629-30. See also: Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, pp. 237, 285, 358, 369, 385; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., pp. 442-3; Ward’s Mexico, vol. i., p. 583, vol. ii., p. 606; Combier, Voy., pp. 198-201; Malte-Brun, Sonora, pp. 13-14; Browne’s Apache Country, p. 248; Lachapelle, Raousset-Boulbon, p. 79; Cabeza de Vaca, Relation, pp. 169, 176; Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, pp. 405, 442; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., pp. 284, 402-3, 405, 452, and tom. ii., p. 184; Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., pp. 80, 84; Berlandier y Thovel, Diario, pp. 69-70; García Conde, in Album Mex., tom. i., p. 93.

Chapter VI • Wild Tribes of Mexico • 29,300 Words

Native Races of the Pacific States
Mexican Group

Territorial Aspects—Two Main Divisions; Wild Tribes of Central Mexico, and Wild Tribes of Southern Mexico—The Coras and others in Jalisco—Descendants of the Aztecs—The Otomís and Mazahuas adjacent to the Valley of Mexico—The Pames— The Tarascos and Matlaltzincas of Michoacan—The Huaztecs and Totonacs of Vera Cruz and Tamaulipas—The Chontales, Chinantecs, Mazatecs, Cuicatecs, Chatinos, Miztecs, Zapotecs, Mijes, Huaves, Chiapanecs, Zoques, Lacandones, Choles, Mames, Tzotziles, Tzendales, Chochones, and others of Southern Mexico.

The term Wild Tribes of Mexico, which I employ to distinguish this from the other groupal divisions of the Native Races of the Pacific States needs some explanation. The territory embraced under this title extends from latitude 23° north, to the eighteenth parallel on the Atlantic, and the fifteenth on the Pacific; that is to the Central American line, including Yucatan and excluding Guatemala. At the time of the conquest, a large portion of this region as well as part of Central America was occupied by those nations that we call civilized, which are fully described in the second volume of this work. These several precincts of civilization may be likened to suns, shining brightly at their respective centres, and radiating into the surrounding darkness with greater or less intensity according to distance and circumstances. The bloody conquest achieved, these suns were dimmed, their light went out; part of this civilization merged into that of the conquerors, and part fell back into the more distant darkness. Later many of the advanced aboriginals became more and more identified with the Spaniards; the other natives soon came to be regarded as savages, who, once pacified, spread over the seat of their nation’s former grandeur, obliterating many of the traces of their peoples’ former high advancement;—so that very shortly after the Spaniards became masters of the land, any description of its aborigines could but be a description of its savage nations, or of retrograded, or partially obliterated peoples of higher culture. And thus I find it, and thus must treat the subject, going over the whole territory almost as if there had been no civilization at all.

For variety and striking contrasts the climate and scenery of central and southern Mexico is surpassed by no region of equal extent in the world. It is here that the tierra caliente, or hot border-land of either ocean, the tierra templada, or temperate belt adjacent, and the tierra fria, or cool elevated table-land assume their most definite forms. The interior table-lands have an average elevation above the sea of from 5,000 to 8,000 feet. The geological formation is on a Titanic scale; huge rocks of basalt, granite, and lava rise in fantastic shapes, intersected by deep barrancas or ravines presenting unparalleled scenes of grandeur. Prominent among the surrounding mountains tower the snow-clad crests of Orizaba and Popocatepetl,—volcanic piles whose slumbering fires appear to be taking but a temporary rest. The plateau is variegated with many lakes; the soil, almost everywhere fertile, is overspread with a multitudinous variety of nopal, maguey, and forests of evergreen, among which the graceful fir and umbrageous oak stand conspicuous. Seasons come and go and leave no mark behind; or it may be said that spring, satisfied with its abode, there takes up its perpetual rest; the temperature is ever mellow, with resplendent sunshine by day, while at night the stars shine with a brilliancy nowhere excelled. The limits of the tierra templada it is impossible to define, as the term is used in a somewhat arbitrary manner by the inhabitants of different altitudes. On the lowlands along the coast known as the tierra caliente, the features of nature are changed; vegetation assumes a more luxuriant aspect; palms, parasitical plants and trees of a tropical character, take the place of the evergreens of a colder clime; the climate is not salubrious, and the heat is oppressive. On the Atlantic side furious storms, called ‘northers,’ spring up with a suddenness and violence unexampled in other places, often causing much destruction to both life and property.

Tribes of Central Mexico

For the purpose of description, I separate the Wild Tribes of Mexico in two parts,—the Wild Tribes of Central Mexico, and the Wild Tribes of Southern Mexico. The first of these divisions extends from 23° north latitude to the northern boundary of the state of Oajaca, or rather to an imaginary line, taking as its base said boundary and running from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, that is to say from Vera Cruz to Acapulco.

To enumerate and locate all the nations and tribes within this territory, to separate the uncivilized from the civilized, the mythical from the real, is not possible. I have therefore deferred to the end of this chapter such authorities as I have on the subject, where they will be found ranged in proper order under the head of[897]Otomí;—’Otho en la misma lengua othomí quiere decir nada, y mi, quieto, ó sentado, de manera que traducida literalmente la palabra, significa nada-quieto, cuya idea pudiéramos expresar diciendo peregrino ó errante.’ Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 118. Chichimecs;—’Los demas Indios les llamaban Chichimecos (que hoy lo mismo es chichi que perros altaneros) por la ninguna residencia.’ Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., p. 44. Speaking of Chichimecs, ‘debaxo deste nombre estan muchas naciones con dierencias de lenguas como son Pamies, Capuzes, Samues, Zancas, Maiolias, Guamares, Guachichiles, y otros, todos diferentes aunque semejantes en las costumbres.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. viii., lib. vi., cap. xiv. For further etymology of tribes, see Buschmann, Ortsnamen.

Physical Features in Northern Mexico

The natives of the valley of Mexico are represented by some authorities as tall, by others as of short stature; but from what I gather we may conclude that on the whole they are over rather than under the middle height, well made and robust. In Vera Cruz they are somewhat shorter, say from four feet six inches to five feet at most, and clumsily made, having their knees further apart than Europeans and walking with their toes turned in; the women are shorter than the men and become fully developed at a very early age. In Jalisco both sexes are tall; they are also well built, and among the women are found many forms of such perfection that they might well serve as models for sculpture. Throughout the table-lands, the men are muscular and well proportioned. Their skin is very thick and conceals the action of the muscles; they are out-kneed, turn their toes well in, and their carriage is anything but graceful.[898]‘Hanno d’altezza più di cinque piedi parigini.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iv., p. 161. ‘De pequeña estatura [cuatro piés seis pulgadas, á cinco piés cuando mas.]’ Berlandier y Thovel, Diario, p. 229. In Yalisco ‘casi en todo este reyno, son grandes, y hermosas.’ Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 271. ‘Son de estatura alta, bien hechos y fornidos.’ Ulloa, Noticias Americanas, p. 308; Tylor’s Anahuac, p. 182; Burkart, Mexico, tom. i., p. 49; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 560; Beaumont, Crón. de Mechoacan, MS., p. 236. Various opinions have been advanced by competent persons in regard to the features of the natives of Mexico. Baron Von Humboldt describes them as resembling the aborigines of Canada, Peru, Florida, and Brazil; having elongated eyes, the corners turned towards the temples, prominent cheek-bones, large lips, and a sweet expression about the mouth, forming a strong contrast with their otherwise gloomy and severe aspect. Rossi says that their eyes are oval, and that their physiognomy resembles that of the Asiatics. According to Prescott, they bear a strong resemblance to the Egyptians, and Viollet le Duc asserts that the Malay type predominates. They have generally a very narrow forehead, an oval face, long black eyes set wide apart, large mouth with thick lips, teeth white and regular, the nose small and rather flat. The general expression of the countenance is melancholy, and exhibits a strange combination of moroseness and gentleness. Although some very handsome women are to be found among them, the majority of the race, both men and women, are ugly, and in old age, which with the women begins early, their faces are much wrinkled and their features quite harsh. They have acute senses, especially that of sight, which remains unimpaired to a very advanced age. Long, straight, black, thick, and glossy hair is common to all; their beard is thin, and most of them, especially in the capital and its vicinity, have a small moustache; but very few, if any, have hair on their legs, thighs, or arms. It is very seldom that a gray-haired native is found. All the people referred to, are remarkable for their strength and endurance, which may be judged of by the heavy burdens they carry on their backs. The inhabitants of the table-lands are of various hues; some are olive, some brown, others of a red copper color. In the Sierras some have a bluish tint as if dyed with indigo. The natives of the tierras calientes are of a darker complexion, inclining to black. There are some called Indios Pintos, whose cuticle is of a less deep color, inclining more to yellowish and marked with dark copper-colored spots.[899]‘In complexion, feature, hair and eyes, I could trace a very great resemblance between these Indians and the Esquimaux.’ Lyon’s Journal, vol. i., p. 296, see also vol. ii., pp. 199, 239. ‘Son de la frente ancha, y las cabezas chatas.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 133, 129. See further, Prichard’s Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., p. 511; Calderon de la Barca’s Life in Mex., vol. i., p. 200; Almaraz, Memoria, p. 79; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., pp. 82, 86; Rossi, Souvenirs, p. 280; Viollet-Le-Duc., in Charnay, Ruines Américaines, p. 102; Poinsett’s Notes on Mex., pp. 107-8; Ottavio, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1833, tom. lix., pp. 73-4; Fossey, Mexique, p. 391; Vigneaux, Souv. Mex., p. 320; D’Orbigny, Voy., p. 352; Bonnycastle’s Span. Am., vol. i., pp. 49-50; Figuier’s Hum. Race, p. 455; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., pp. 38-40; Bullock’s Mexico, vol. i., pp. 184, 192; Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, pp. 142, 167, 291.

Mexican Costumes

In the valley of Mexico the natives wear the ichapilli, or a sort of shirt without sleeves, made of white and blue striped cotton, which reaches to the knees and is gathered round the waist with a belt. This is frequently the only garment worn by the aborigines of the Mexican valley. In lieu of the ancient feather ornaments for the head, they now use large felt or straw hats, the rim of which is about nine inches in width; or they bind round the head a colored handkerchief. Most of the men and women go barefooted, and those who have coverings for their feet, use the cacles, or huaraches, (sandals) made of tanned leather and tied with thongs to the ankles. The dress of the women has undergone even less change than that of the men, since the time of the Spanish conquest. Many of them wear over the ichapilli a cotton or woolen cloth, bound by a belt just above the hips; this answers the purpose of a petticoat; it is woven in stripes of dark colors or embellished with figures. The ichapilli is white, with figures worked on the breast, and is longer than that worn by the men. In Puebla the women DRESS IN MICHOACAN.wear very narrow petticoats and elegant quichemels covering the breast and back and embroidered all over with silk and worsted. In the state of Vera Cruz and other parts of the tierra caliente the men’s apparel consists of a short white cotton jacket or a dark-colored woolen tunic, with broad open sleeves fastened round the waist with a sash, and short blue or white breeches open at the sides near the knee; these are a Spanish innovation, but they continue to wear the square short cloak, tilma or tilmatli, with the end tied on one of the shoulders or across the breast. Sometimes a pair of shorter breeches made of goat or deer skin are worn over the cotton ones, and also a jacket of the same material. The women wear a coarse cotton shift with large open sleeves, often worked about the neck in bright colored worsted, to suit the wearer’s fancy; a blue woolen petticoat is gathered round the waist, very full below, and a blue or brown rebozo is used as a wrapper for the shoulders. Sometimes a muffler is used for the head and face.[900]In Mexico in 1698 the costume was a ‘short doublet and wide breeches. On their shoulders they wear a cloak of several colours, which they call Tilma…. The women all wear the Guaipil, (which is like a sack) under the Cobixa, which is a fine white cotton cloth; to which they add another upon their back…. Their coats are narrow with figures of lions, birds, and other creatures, adorning them with curious ducks’ feathers, which they call Xilotepec.’ Gemelli Careri, in Churchill’s Col. Voyages, vol. iv., p. 491. Dress of a native girl of Mexico, ‘enaguas blanquísimas, el quisquemel que graciosamente cubre su pecho y espalda … dos largas trenzas color de ébano caen á los lados del cuello.’ Prieto, Viajes, pp. 454, 190-1, 430-1. ‘Leur costume varie selon le terrain et le climat.’ Löwenstern, Mexique, pp. 176, 339. They bestow great care on their luxuriant hair, which they arrange in two long braids that fall from the back of the head, neatly painted and interwoven with worsted of lively colors, and the ends tied at the waist-band or joined behind; others bind the braids tightly round the head, and occasionally add some wild flowers.[901]See Calderon de la Barca’s Life in Mex., vol. ii., pp. 346-8. In the tierra fria, a thick dark woolen blanket with a hole in the centre through which passes the head protects the wearer during the day from the cold and rain, and serves at night for a covering and often for the bed itself. This garment has in some places taken the place of the tilmatli. Children are kept in a nude state until they are eight or ten years old, and infants are enveloped in a coarse cotton cloth, leaving the head and limbs exposed. The Huicholas of Jalisco have a peculiar dress; the men wear a short tunic made of coarse brown or blue woolen fabric, tightened at the waist with a girdle hanging down in front and behind, and very short breeches of poorly dressed goat or deer skin without hair, at the lower edges of which are strung a number of leathern thongs. Married men and women wear straw hats with high pointed crowns and broad turned-up rims; near the top is a narrow and handsomely woven band of many colors, with long tassels. Their long bushy hair is secured tightly round the crown of the head with a bright woolen ribbon. Many of the men do up the hair in queues with worsted ribbons, with heavy tassels that hang below the waist.[902]‘Usan de una especie de gran paño cuadrado, que tiene en el centro una abertura por donde pasa la cabeza.’ Berlandier y Thovel, Diario, p. 229. De Laet, describing the natives of Jalisco early in the seventeenth century, speaks of square cloths made of cotton and maguey tied on the right or left shoulder, and small pebbles or shells strung together as necklaces. Mota Padilla, in his history of New Galicia, says that the Chichimecs at Xalostitlan, in 1530, went naked. The inhabitants of Alzatlan about that time adorned themselves with feathers. In Zacualco, the common dress of the women about the same period, particularly widows, was the huipil, made of fine cotton cloth, generally black. The natives of the province of Pánuco, for many years after the Spanish Conquest, continued to go naked; they pulled out the beard, perforated the nose and ears, and, filing their teeth to a sharp point, bored holes in them and dyed them black. The slayer of a human being used to hang a piece of the skin and hair of the slain at the waist, considering such things as very valuable ornaments. Their hair they dyed in various colors, and wore it in different forms. Their women adorned themselves profusely, and braided their hair with feathers. Sahagun, speaking of the Matlaltzincas, says that their apparel was of cloth made from the maguey; referring to the Tlahuicas, he mentions among their faults that they used to go overdressed; and of the Macoaques, he writes: that the oldest women as well as the young ones paint themselves with a varnish called tecocavitl, or with some colored stuff, and wear feathers about their arms and legs. The Tlascaltecs in 1568 wore cotton-cloth mantles painted in various fine colors. The inhabitants of Cholula, according to Cortés, dressed better than the Tlascaltecs; the better class wearing over their other clothes a garment resembling the Moorish cloak, yet somewhat different, as that of Cholula had pockets, but in the cloth, the cut, and the fringe, there was much resemblance to the cloak worn in Africa. Old Spanish writers tell us that the natives of Michoacan made much use of feathers for wearing-apparel and for adorning their bodies and heads. At their later religious festivals, both sexes appear in white, the men with shirt and trowsers, having a band placed slantingly across the breast and back, tied to a belt round the waist, and on the head a small red cloth arranged like a turban, from which are pendent scarlet feathers, similar to those used by the ancient Aztec warriors. The man is also adorned with a quantity of showy beads, and three small mirrors, one of which is placed on his breast, another on his back, and the third invariably on his forehead. At his back he carries a quiver, and in his hand a bow, adorned with bright colored artificial flowers, or it may be the Aztec axe, so painted and varnished as to resemble flint. At the present time, a native woman, however poor, still wears a necklace of coral or rows of red beads. The unmarried women of Chilpanzinco used to daub their faces with a pounded yellow flower. In Durango, the natives were accustomed to rub their swarthy bodies with clay of various colors, and paint reptiles and other animals thereon.[903]‘Yuan muy galanes, y empenachados.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. i. ‘Señores ó principales, traían en el labio un bezote de chalchivite ó esmeralda, ó de caracol, ó de oro, ó de cobre…. Las mugeres cuando niñas, tambien se rapaban la cabeza, y cuando ya mosas dejaban criar los cabellos … cuando alguna era ya muger hecha y habia parido, tocabase el cabello. Tambien traían sarcillos ó orejeras, y se pintaban los pechos y los brazos, con una labor que quedaba de azul muy fino, pintada en la misma carne cortándola con una navajuela.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 123-5, 133-4. ‘En el Pueblo de Juito salieron muchos Yndios de paz con escapularios blancos al pecho, cortado el cabello en modo de cerquillo como Religiosos, todos con unas cruces en las manos que eran de carrizos, y un Yndio que parecia el principal ó cacique con un vestuario de Tunica talan.’ Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., p. 73, also, pp. 21, 44, 46, 63, 107, 150. For further description of dress and ornaments see Nebel, Viaje, plates, nos. xxvi., xxxi., xxxvi., xli., xlvi.; Thompson’s Recollections Mexico, p. 29; Laet, Novus Orbis, pp. 250, 252, 281; Lafond, Voyages, tom. i., p. 211; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., pp. 90, 279; Lyon’s Journal, vol. ii., pp. 64, 198; Arlegui, Chrón. de Zacatecas, p. 162; Beaumont, Crón. de Mechoacan, MS., p. 210; Apostólicos Afanes, pp. 10, 67; Alcedo, Diccionario, tom. iii., p. 299; Vigneaux, Souv. Mex., pp. 276, 296; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 55-6; Biart, in Revue Française, Dec. 1864, pp. 478-9; Ottavio, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1833, tom. lix., p. 61; Tylor’s Anahuac, p. 302; Burkart, Mexico, tom. i., pp. 50-1.

The dwellings of the Wild Tribes of Central Mexico vary with climate and locality. In the lowlands, sheds consisting of a few poles stuck in the ground, the spaces between filled with rushes, and the roof covered with palm-leaves, afforded sufficient shelter. In the colder highlands they built somewhat more substantial houses of trunks of trees, tied together with creeping plants, the walls plastered with mud or clay, the roof of split boards kept in place with stones. In treeless parts, houses were constructed of adobe or sun-dried bricks and stones, and the interior walls covered with mats; the best houses were only one story high, and the humbler habitations too low to allow a man to stand erect. The entire house constituted but one room, where all the family lived, sleeping on the bare ground. A few stones placed in the middle of the floor, served as a fireplace where food was cooked. In Vera Cruz there is a separate small hut for cooking purposes. The wild nomadic Chichimecs lived in caverns or fissures of rocks situated in secluded valleys, and the Pames contented themselves with the shade afforded by the forest-trees.[904]‘Les cabanes sont de véritables cages en bambous.’ Vigneaux, Souv. Mex., p. 274; Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, p. 170; Ward’s Mexico, vol. ii., pp. 179, 522; Bustamante, in Prieto, Viajes, pp. 192, 195, 373, 437, 447; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., pp. 223-4; Beaufoy’s Mex. Illustr., p. 258; Pagés Travels, vol. i., p. 159; Dillon, Hist. Mex., p. 47.

Food and Agriculture

Corn, beans, tomatoes, chile, and a variety of fruits and vegetables constitute the chief subsistence of the people, and in those districts where the banana flourishes, it ranks as an important article of food. The natives of Vera Cruz and Tamaulipas gather large quantities of the pitahaya, by means of an osier basket attached to a long pole; round the brim are arranged several forks, for the purpose of detaching the fruit, which then drops into the basket. From the blossoms and buds they make a ragout, and also grind the seeds for bread. From the sea and rivers they obtain a plentiful supply of fish, and they have acquired from childhood a peculiar habit of eating earth, which is said to be injurious to their physical development. It has been stated that in former days they used human flesh as food.

The Otomís and tribes of Jalisco cultivated but little grain, and consumed that little before it ripened, trusting for a further supply of food to the natural productions of the soil and to game, such as rabbits, deer, moles, and birds, and also foxes, rats, snakes and other reptiles. Corn-cobs they ground, mixed cacao with the powder, and baked the mixture on the fire. From the lakes in the valley of Mexico they gathered flies’ eggs, deposited there in large quantities by a species of flies called by the Mexicans axayacatl, that is to say, ‘water-face,’ and by MM. Meneville and Virlet d’Aoust corixa femorata and notonecta unifasciata. The eggs being pounded, were moulded into lumps and sold in the market-place; they were esteemed a special delicacy, and were eaten fried. These people are also accused by some authors of having eaten human flesh.[905]Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 250; and Dapper, Neue Welt, p. 582. ‘Estos Otomies comian los zorrillos que hieden, culebras y lirones, y todo género de ratones, comadrejas, y otras sabandijas del campo y del monte, lagartijas de todas suertes, y abejones y langostas de todas maneras.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 126-7, 123-5. In Jalisco ‘Los indios de aquellas provincias son caribes, que comen carne humana todas las veçes que la pueden aver.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 568.

Other tribes, inhabiting the valley of Mexico, Puebla, Michoacan, and Querétaro, show a greater inclination to cultivate the soil, and live almost wholly on the products of their own industry. They plant corn by making a hole in the ground with a sharp-pointed stick, into which the seed is dropped and covered up. Honey is plentiful, and when a tree is found where bees are at work, they stop the entrance with clay, cut off the branch and hang it outside their huts; after a short time they remove the clay, and the bees continue their operations in their new locality, as if they had not been disturbed.[906]In Puebla ‘Los Indios se han aplicado mas al cultivo de la tierra y plantío de frutas y legumbres.’ In Michoacan ‘Cultivan mucho maiz, frixoles y ulgodon.’ Alcedo, Diccionario, tom. i., pp. 494, 714. In Querétaro ‘viven del cultivo de las sementeras.’ Id., tom. iii., p. 320.

Gemelli Careri thus describes a novel method of catching ducks: “Others contrive to deceive ducks, as shy as they are; for when they have us’d ’em to be frequently among calabashes left floating on the lake for that purpose, they make holes in those calabashes, so that putting their heads in them, they can see out of them, and then going up to the neck in the water, they go among the ducks and draw ’em down by the feet.” For making tortillas, the corn is prepared by placing it in water, to which a little lime is added, and allowing it to soak all night, or it is put to simmer over a slow fire; the husk is then easily separated and the corn mashed or ground on the metate. From this paste the tortilla is formed by patting it between the hands into a very thin cake, which is cooked on an earthern pan placed over the fire; the tortilla is eaten with boiled beans, and a mixture of chile and lard. The ground corn is also mixed with water and strained through a sieve; of this liquor they make a gruel, to which is added a little cacao or sugar. The sediment which remains in the sieve is used to make tamales, which are a combination of chopped meat, chile, and onions, which ingredients are covered with the corn paste, and the whole enveloped in corn or plantain leaves and boiled or baked. The Mexicans are very moderate eaters, but have an insatiable passion for strong liquors.[907]‘They boil the Indian wheat with lime, and when it has stood a-while grind it, as they do the cacao.’ Gemelli Careri, in Churchill’s Col. Voyages, vol. v., pp. 496, 492, 513; Walton’s Span. Col., p. 305. For further account of food see Tylor’s Anahuac, pp. 88-9, 156; Sivers, Mittelamerika, p. 295; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, p. 102; Delaporte, Reisen, tom. x., p. 323; Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., pp. 31, 44, 53, 73, 127; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., pp. 79, 87; Larenaudière, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1824, tom. xxiii., p. 67; Prieto, Viajes, pp. 191-2, 373; Mex. in 1842, pp. 46, 64, 68; Mayer’s Mex., Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 32; Albornoz, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 488; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., pp. 185, 218-19; Armin, Das Heutige Mexiko, p. 245, with plate; Mendoza, Hist. de las Cosas, p. 310; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 443.

Laziness and filth follow us as we proceed southward in our observations; among the Mexicans, the poorer classes especially are filthy in their persons, and have a disgusting appearance, which increases with the infirmities of age. Many of them indulge freely in the use of a steam-bath called temazcalli, similar to the Russian vapor-bath, but it does not appear to have the effect of cleansing their persons.[908]Ward’s Mexico, vol. ii., pp. 268-9. ‘One would think the bath would make the Indians cleanly in their persons, but it hardly seems so, for they look rather dirtier after they have been in the temazcalli than before.’ Tylor’s Anahuac, p. 302.

Weapons and Shields

All these tribes use bows and arrows; the latter carried in a quiver slung at the back, a few spare ones being stuck in the belt for immediate use. A heavy club is secured to the arm by a thong, and wielded with terrible effect at close quarters. In battle, the principal warriors are armed with spears and shields. Another weapon much in use is the sling, from which they cast stones to a great distance and with considerable accuracy. The natives of the valley of Mexico kill birds with small pellets blown through a hollow tube.[909]Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., pp. 33, 72-3; Beaumont, Crón. de Mechoacan, MS., p. 235. ‘El arco y la flecha eran sus armas en la guerra, aunque para la caza los caciques y señores usaban tambien de cervatanas.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 279. ‘I saw some Indians that kill’d the least birds upon the highest trees with pellets shot out of trunks.’ Gemelli Careri, in Churchill’s Col. Voyages, vol. iv., p. 512, and in Berenger, Col. de Voy., tom. ii., p. 397.

The clubs, which are from three to four feet in length, are made of a species of heavy wood, some having a round knob at the end similar to a mace, others broad and flat, and armed with sharp pieces of obsidian, fastened on either side. Acosta states that with these weapons they could cut off the head of a horse at one stroke. Spears and arrows are pointed with flint or obsidian, the latter having a reed shaft with a piece of hard wood inserted into it to hold the point. Their quivers are made of deer-skin, and sometimes of seal or shark-skin. Shields are ingeniously constructed of small canes so woven together with thread that they can be folded up and carried tied under the arm. When wanted for use they are loosed, and when opened out they cover the greater part of the body.[910]West und Ost Indischer Lustgart, pt. i., p. 102; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 141-4, with plate; Cartas al Abate de Pradt, p. 114; Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. ii., p. 286; Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 89; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 129, 133; Lyon’s Journal, vol. i., pp. 149, 293; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. ii.; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 378. ‘Una macana, á manera de porra, llena de puntas de piedras pedernales.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 568. ‘En schilden uit stijve stokjens gevlochten, van welke sick verwonderens-waerdig dienen in den oorlog.’ Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 225-6, and Dapper, Neue Welt, p. 254.

War and Treatment of Captives

Aboriginally, as with most northern nations, warfare was the normal state of these people. The so-called Chichimecs attacked all who entered their domain, whether for hunting, collecting fruit, or fighting. War once declared between two tribes, each side endeavors to secure by alliance as many of their neighbors as possible; to which end ambassadors are despatched to the chiefs of adjacent provinces, each bearing in his hand an arrow of the make peculiar to the tribe of the stranger chief. Arriving at the village, the messenger seeks out the chief and lays the arrow at his feet; if the proposal of his master be accepted by the stranger chief, the rendezvous is named and the messenger departs. The ambassadors having returned with their report, preparations are at once made for the reception of the allies, a feast is prepared, large quantities of game and intoxicating drink are made ready, and as soon as the guests arrive the viands are placed before them. Then follow eating and drinking, concluding with drunken orgies; this finished, a council is held, and the assault planned, care being taken to secure places suitable for an ambuscade and stones for the slingers. A regular organization of forces is observed and every effort made to outflank or surround the enemy. Archers and slingers march to an attack in single file, always occupying the van, while warriors armed with clubs and lances are drawn up in the rear; the assault is commenced by the former, accompanied with furious shouts and yells. During the period of their wars against the Spaniards, they often expended much time and labor in the fortification of heights by means of tree-trunks, and large rocks, which were so arranged, one on top of another, that at a given signal they might be loosened, and let fall on their assailants. The chiefs of the Tepecanos and contiguous tribes carried no weapons during the action, but had rods with which they chastised those who exhibited symptoms of cowardice, or became disorderly in the ranks.[911]‘Siempre procuran de acometer en malos pasos, en tierras dobladas y pedregosas.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. vii., lib. ii., cap. xii. ‘Tres mil Yndios formaban en solo una fila haciendo frente á nuestro campo.’ Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., p. 34; see further, Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 572; Beaumont, Crón. de Mechoacan, MS., p. 235. The slain were scalped or their heads cut off, and prisoners were treated with the utmost barbarity, ending invariably in the death of the unfortunates; often were they scalped while yet alive, and the bloody trophy placed upon the heads of their tormentors. The heads of the slain were placed on poles and paraded through their villages in token of victory, the inhabitants meanwhile dancing round them. Young children were sometimes spared, and reared to fight in the ranks of their conquerors; and in order to brutalize their youthful minds and eradicate all feelings of affection toward their own kindred, the youthful captives were given to drink the brains and blood of their murdered parents. The Chichimecs carried with them a bone, on which, when they killed an enemy, they marked a notch, as a record of the number each had slain. Mota Padilla states that when Nuño de Guzman arrived in the valley of Coynan, in Jalisco, the chiefs came out to meet him, and, as a sign of peace and obedience, dropped on one knee; upon being raised up by the Spaniards, they placed round their necks strings of rabbits and quails, in token of respect.[912]The Chichimecs ‘Flea their heads, and fit that skin upon their own heads with all the hair, and so wear it as a token of valour, till it rots off in bits.’ Gemelli Careri, in Churchill’s Col. Voyages, vol. iv., p. 513, and Berenger, Col. de Voy., tom. ii., p. 400. ‘Quitandoles los cascos con el pelo, se los llevan á su Pueblo, para baylar el mitote en compañia de sus parientes con las cabezas de sus enemigos en señal del triunfo.’ Arlegui, Chrón. de Zacatecas, pp. 179, 159-60. Further reference in Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 133-4; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 281.

As the wants of the people are few and simple, so is the inventory of their implements and household furniture. Every family is supplied with the indispensable metate, an oblong stone, about twelve by eighteen inches, smooth on the surface and resting upon three legs in a slanting position; with this is used a long stone roller, called the metlapilli, for rubbing down the maize, and a large earthen pan, called the comalli, on which to bake the tortillas. Their bottles, bowls, and cups are made from gourds, often prettily painted, and kept hanging round the walls; some unglazed earthenware vessels, ornamented with black figures on a dull red ground, are used for cooking, a block of wood serves for a stool and table, and lastly a few petates (Aztec, petlatl, ‘palm-leaf mat’), are laid upon the ground for beds. These comprise the whole effects of a native’s house. For agricultural purposes, they have wooden spades, hoes, and sharp stakes for planting corn. Their products are carried home or to market in large wicker-work frames, often five feet high by two and a half feet broad, made from split palm-leaves.[913]Cassel, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1830, tom. xlv., p. 338; Vigneaux, Souv. Mex., p. 274; Prieto, Viajes, p. 193; Tylor’s Anahuac, pp. 201-2; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., pp. 224-6, 241; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 224; and Dapper, Neue Welt, p. 252.

In the State of Jalisco, the natives are celebrated for the manufacture of blankets and woolen mantas; in other parts of the country they continue to weave cotton stuffs in the same manner as before the conquest, all on very primitive hand-looms. The common designs are in blue or red and white stripes, but they are sometimes neatly worked with figures, the juice from the murex or purple shell supplying the vermilion color for the patterns. The inhabitants of Tonala exhibit much taste and excellence in the production of pottery, making a great variety of toys, masks, figures, and ornaments, besides the vessels for household use. In the vicinity of Santa Cruz, the fibres of the aloe, crushed upon the metate, are employed for the manufacture of ropes, nets, bags, and flat round pelotas, used in rubbing down the body after a bath. Palm-leaf mats and dressed skins also figure largely among the articles of native industry.[914]‘The Indians of this Countrie doe make great store of Woollen Cloth and Silkes.’ Purchas His Pilgrimes, vol. iv., lib. vii., p. 1433. The Otomís ‘sabian hacer lindas labores en las mantas, enaguas, y vipiles que tejian muy curiosamente; pero todas ellas labraban lo dicho de hilo de maguéy que sacaban y beneficiaban de las pencas.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 127; see also, Tylor’s Anahuac, p. 201; Bustamante, in Prieto, Viajes, p. 193; Carpenter’s Trav. Mex., p. 243; Mex. in 1842, p. 66; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 341; Lyon’s Journal, vol. ii., p. 43; Thümmel, Mexiko, p. 63.

In Vera Cruz, they have canoes dug out of the trunk of a mahogany or cedar tree, which are capable of holding several persons, and are worked with single paddles.[915]Dale’s Notes, p. 24.

Trade and Arts

A considerable trade is carried on in pottery, mats, dressed skins, and manufactures of the aloe-fibre; also fruit, feathers, vegetables, and fish. All such wares are packed in light osier baskets, which, thrown upon their backs, are carried long distances to the several markets. In the province of Vera Cruz, vanilla, jalap, and other herbs are important articles of native commerce, and all the interior tribes place a high value on salt, for which they readily exchange their products.[916]‘In those countreys they take neither golde nor silver for exchange of any thing, but onley Salt.’ Chilton, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 459; compare Lyon’s Journal, vol. i., p. 293, and vol. ii., p. 198; and Tylor’s Anahuac, p. 85.

The natives display much patience and skill in ornamental work, especially carvings in stone, and in painting; although the figures, their gods bearing witness, are all of grotesque shapes and appearance. With nothing more than a rude knife, they make very ingenious figures, of wax, of the pith of trees, of wood, charcoal, clay, and bone. They are fond of music, and readily imitate any strain they hear. From time immemorial they have retained a passion for flowers, in all seasons of the year tastefully decorating therewith their dwellings and shops. The art of working in gold and silver is well known to the natives of Jalisco, who execute well-shaped specimens of cups and vases, beautifully engraved and ornamented.[917]Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 98; Tylor’s Anahuac, p. 316; Ward’s Mexico, vol. ii., p. 237; Lafond, Voyages, tom. i., p. 131; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., p. 243; Mill’s Hist. Mex., p. 6; Carpenter’s Trav. Mex., p. 243. ‘Les Mexicains ont conservé un goût particulier pour la peinture et pour l’art de sculpter en pierre et en bois.’ Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 446. ‘Lo particular de Michoacan era el arte de pintar con las plumas de diversos colores.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 90. ‘Son muy buenos cantores y tañedores de toda suerte de instrumentos.’ Mendoza, Hist. de las Cosas, p. 308.

The wild tribes surrounding, and in places intermixed with, the Civilized Nations of Central Mexico, as far as I can learn, do not appear to have had any systematic tribal government; at least, none of the old historians have given any account of such. Some of the tribes attach themselves to chiefs of their own choice, to whom they pay a certain tribute from the produce of their labor or hunting expeditions, while others live without any government or laws whatsoever, and only elect a chief on going to war.[918]Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 281; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. viii., lib. vi., cap. xv.; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 567; Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., pp. 31, 68; Ottavio, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1833, tom. lix., p. 61.

Marriage Customs

Marriage takes place at an early age, and girls are seldom found single after they attain fourteen or fifteen years. Gomara, however, says that women in the district of Tamaulipas are not married till they reach the age of forty. The Otomís marry young, and if, when arrived at the age of puberty, a young girl has not found a mate, her parents or guardians select one for her, so that none shall remain single. Among the Guachichiles, when a young man has selected a girl, he takes her on trial for an indefinite period; if, afterwards, both parties are satisfied with each other, the ceremony of marriage is performed; should it happen, however, that the man be not pleased, he returns the girl to her parents, which proceeding does not place any obstacle in the way of her obtaining another suitor. The Chichimecs cannot marry without the consent of parents; if a young man violates this law and takes a girl without first obtaining the parental sanction, even with the intention of marrying her, the penalty is death; usually, in ancient times, the offender was shot with arrows. When one of this people marries, if the girl proves not to be a virgin, the marriage is null, and the girl is returned to her parents. When a young man desires to marry, his parents make a visit to those of the intended bride, and leave with them a bouquet of flowers bound with red wool; the bride’s parents then send round to the houses of their friends a bunch of mariguana, a narcotic herb, which signifies that all are to meet together at the bride’s father’s on the next night. The meeting is inaugurated by smoking; then they chew mariguana, during which time all preliminaries of the marriage are settled. The following day the resolutions of the conclave are made known to the young man and woman, and if the decision is favorable, the latter sends her husband a few presents, and from that time the parties consider themselves married, and the friends give themselves up to feasting and dancing.[919]Mayer’s Mex., Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 296; Villa, in Prieto, Viajes, pp. 428-30. ‘Tenian uso y costumbre los otomíes, de que los varones siendo muy muchachos y tiernos se casasen, y lo mismo las mugeres.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 127. Chichimecs ‘casanse con las parientas mas cercanas, pero no con las hermanas.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. viii., lib. vi., cap. xv.

A plurality of wives was found among all the inhabitants of this region at the time of the Spanish conquest, the first wife taking precedence of those who came after her. Many had concubines who, it may be said, ranked third in the family circle. The missionary Fathers, however, soon put an end to the custom of more than one wife, whenever they had the power to do so. Herrera says that the Chichimecs indulged in one wife only, but that they had the habit of repudiating her for any slight cause, and of taking another. The women are kept under subjection by their husbands, and not only have all the indoor work to do, such as cooking, spinning, and mat-making, but they are also required to carry heavy burdens home from the market, and bring all the wood and water for household use. Infants are carried on the mother’s back, wrapped in a coarse cotton cloth, leaving the head and legs free. Among the Chichimecs, when a woman goes out of her house, she places her child in a wicker basket, and there leaves it, usually suspending it from the branch of a tree. A child is suckled by the mother until another comes on and crowds it out. Mühlenpfordt relates that he saw a boy of seven or eight years of age demanding suck and receiving it from his mother. A woman near her time of confinement, retires to a dark corner of the house, attended by some aged woman, who sings to her, and pretends to call the baby from afar. This midwife, however, does not in any way assist at the birth, but as soon as the child is born she goes out, meanwhile covering her face with her hands, so that she may not see. Having walked once round the house, she opens her eyes, and the name of the first object she sees is chosen as the name of the child. Among the Otomís, a young woman about to become a mother is the victim of much unnecessary suffering arising from their superstitious practices; loaded with certain amulets and charms, she must carefully avoid meeting certain individuals and animals whose look might produce evil effects—a black dog especially must be avoided. The song of a mocking-bird near the house is held to be a happy omen. At certain hours the mother was to drink water which had been collected in the mountains, and previously presented to the gods; the phases of the moon were carefully watched. She was obliged to undergo an examination from the old crone who attended her, and who performed certain ceremonies, such as burning aromatic herbs mingled with saltpetre. Sometimes, amidst her pains, the ancient attendant obliged her charge to jump about, and take powerful medicines, which frequently caused abortion or premature delivery. If the child was a boy, one of the old men took it in his arms and painted on its breast an axe or some implement of husbandry, on its forehead a feather, and on the shoulders a bow and quiver; he then invoked for it the protection of the gods. If the child proved to be a female, the same ceremony was observed, with the exception that an old woman officiated, and the figure of a flower was traced over the region of the heart, while on the palm of the right hand a spinning-wheel was pictured, and on the left a piece of wool, thus indicating the several duties of after life. According to the Apostólicos Afanes, the Coras call the child after one of its uncles or aunts. In twelve months’ time a feast is prepared in honor of said young, and the mother and child, together with the uncle or aunt, placed in the middle of the circle of relatives. Upon these occasions much wine is drunk, and for the first time salt is placed in the child’s mouth. As soon as the child’s teeth are all cut, a similar meeting takes place, and the child is then given its first meal; and again, at the age of twelve, the ancients come together, when the youth is first given wine to drink. As a rule, young people show great respect and affection for their parents; all their earnings being at once handed over to them.[920]Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., pp. 246-8; Bullock’s Mexico, vol. i., p. 192; Apostólicos Afanes, pp. 21-2; Rittner, Guatimozin, p. 81. ‘El amancebamiento no es deshonra entre ellos.’ Zarfate, in Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., pp. 281, 335. ‘Zlingerden de kinderen in gevlochte korven aen boomtakken.’ Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 219; and Dapper, Neue Welt, p. 246.

In early times, immorality and prostitution existed among these nations to an unparalleled extent. Gomara says that in the province of Tamaulipas there were public brothels, where men enacted the part of women, and where every night were assembled as many as a thousand, more or less, of these worse than beastly beings, according to the size of the village. It is certain that incest and every species of fornication was commonly practiced, especially in the districts of Vera Cruz, Tamaulipas, and Querétaro.[921]‘La mancebía, el incesto, y cuanto tiene de mas asquerosamente repugnante el desarreglo de la concupiscencia, se ha convertido en hábito.’ Prieto, Viajes, p. 379; Fossey, Mexique, p. 27; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 56.

Children and Amusements

Their amusements are stamped with the general melancholy of their character. Dancing, accompanied with music and singing, is their favorite pastime, but it is seldom indulged in without the accompanying vice of intoxication. When the Totonacs join in their national dances, they attach a kind of rattle called aiacachtli to a band round the head, that produces a peculiar sound during the performance. Among some tribes women are not permitted to join in the dances. They make various kinds of drinks and intoxicating liquors. One is made from the fruit of the nopal or prickly pear, which is first peeled and pressed; the juice is then passed through straw sieves, and placed by a fire or in the sun, where in about an hour it ferments. Another drink, called chicha, is made from raw sugar-cane, which is mashed with a wooden mallet and passed through a pressing-machine. Their principal and national drink is pulque, made from the agave americana, and is thus prepared: When the plant is about to bloom, the heart or stalk is cut out, leaving a hole in the center, which is covered with the outer leaves. Every twenty-four hours, or in the hotter climates twice a day, the cavity fills with the sap from the plant, which is taken out and fermented by the addition of some already-fermented pulque, and the process is continued until the plant ceases to yield a further supply. The liquor obtained is at first of a thick white color, and is at all times very intoxicating.[922]Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 97; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 160; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 131; Apostólicos Afanes, p. 12; Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, pp. 19, 127; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 80; Thümmel, Mexiko, p. 61; Alcedo, Diccionario, tom. ii., p. 470; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., p. 219; Gemelli Careri, in Churchill’s Col. Voyages, vol. iv., p. 517.

Making an Alliance

Father Joseph Arlegui, in his Chrónica de la Provincia de Zacatecas, which province then comprised a much larger extent of territory than the present state of Zacatecas, describes a singular ceremony nowhere else mentioned. It is employed when one nation wishes to form a close connection, friendship, alliance, family or blood relationship, so to say (tratan de hacerse parientes), with another nation; and the process is as follows: From the tribe with which the alliance is desired, a man is seized, and a feast or drunken carousal commenced. Meanwhile the victim destined to form the connecting link between the two bands, and whose blood is to cement their friendship, is kept without food for twenty-four hours. Into him is then poured of their execrable beverages until he is filled, and his senses are deadened, when he is stretched before a fire, built in a wide open place, where all the people may have access to him. Having warmed well his body, and rubbed his ears, each aspirant to the new friendship, armed with a sharp awl-shaped instrument, made of deer’s bone, proceeds to pierce the ears of the prostrate wretch, each in turn forcing his sharpened bone through some new place, which causes the blood to spurt afresh with every incision. With the blood so drawn, the several members of the tribe anoint themselves, and the ceremony is done. On the spot where the relative of a Cora is killed in a fight, a piece of cloth is dipped in blood, and kept as a remembrance, until his death be avenged by killing the slayer, or one of the males of his family. When meeting each other on a journey, they make use of many complimentary salutations, and a kind of freemasonry appears to exist among them. Major Brantz Mayer mentions a tribe at Cuernavaca that, in the event of a white man arriving at their village, immediately seize and place him under guard for the night in a large hut; he and his animals are carefully provided for until the following day, when he is despatched from the village under an escort, to wait upon him until far beyond the limits of the settlement. The custom, at the present day, of hiding money in the ground is universal; nothing would induce a native to entrust his savings with another. The inhabitants of Querétaro spend much of their time basking in the sun, and if the sun does not yield sufficient warmth, they scoop out a hole in the ground, burn in it branches and leaves of the maguey, and when properly heated, lay themselves down in the place, and cover themselves with a mat or the loose earth.[923]Arlegui, Chrón. de Zacatecas, pp. 161-2; Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, pp. 175-6; Mendoza, Hist. de las Cosas, p. 311; Prieto, Viajes, p. 375; Apostólicos Afanes, p. 12. ‘Los indios, si no todos en su mayor parte, viven ligados por una especie de masonería.’ Bustamante, in Prieto, Viajes, p. 199. ‘Wenn mehrere in Gesellschaft gehen, nie neben, sondern immer hinter einander und selten ruhig schreitend, sondern fast immer kurz trabend.’ Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 39. ‘L’Indien enterre son argent, et au moment de sa mort il ne dit pas à son plus proche parent oú il a déposé son trésor, afin qu’il ne lui fasse pas faute quand il ressuscitera.’ Cassel, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1830, tom. xlv., p. 339.

The Mexicans are not subject to many diseases. Small-pox, brought into the country at the time of the conquest, typhoid fever, and syphilis are those which cause the greatest destruction of life; the two former are aggravated by the filthy condition of the villages. Yellow fever, or black vomit, very rarely attacks the aborigines. The measles is a prevalent disease. Death is likewise the result of severe wounds, fractures, or bruises, most of which end in mortification, owing to neglect, or to the barbarous remedies applied to combat them. The Huastecs of Vera Cruz suffer from certain worms that breed in their lips, and highly esteem salt for the curative properties they believe it to possess against this disorder. At the village of Comalá, in the state of Colima, a considerable number of the children are born deaf and dumb, idiots, or deformed; besides which, when they reach a mature age, if we may believe the early chroniclers, the goitres are more or less developed on them, notwithstanding Humboldt’s assertion that the aborigines never suffer from this disorder. There is another disease, cutaneous in its character, which is quite prevalent in many parts of the country, and is supposed to be contracted under the influence of a warm, humid, and unhealthy climate, and may be described as follows: Without pain the skin assumes a variety of colors, the spots produced being white, red, brownish, or blue. The Pintos, as south-western coast-dwellers are called, the chief victims to this disorder, experience no physical pain, except when they go into a cold climate; then they feel twitchings in the places where the skin has changed color. The disease is declared to be contagious: and from all accounts no remedy for it has been as yet discovered. Formerly, an epidemic called the matlalzahuatl visited the country at long intervals and caused terrible havoc. All the Spanish writers who speak of it call it the peste, and suppose it to be the same scourge that destroyed nearly the whole population of the Toltec empire in the eleventh century. Others believe it to have borne a greater similarity to yellow fever. The disease, whatever it is, made its appearance in 1545, 1576, and 1736, since which date I find no mention of it, destroying each time an immense number of people; but upon no occasion did it attack the pure whites or the mestizos. Its greatest havoc was in the interior, on the central plateau, and in the coldest and most arid regions, the lowlands of the coast being nearly, if not entirely, free from its effects.[924]‘La petite vérole et la rougeole sont deux maladies très communes.’ Chappe d’Auteroche, Voyage, p. 25. The Pintos ‘marked with great daubs of deep blue … the decoration is natural and cannot be effaced.’ Tylor’s Anahuac, p. 309. See further: Fossey, Mexique, pp. 33-4, 395-6. Compare Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., pp. 66, 69-70, 88; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 250; Dapper, Neue Welt, p. 282; Cassel, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1830, tom. xlv., p. 340; Löwenstern, Mexique, p. 207; Charnay, Ruines Américaines, pp. 502-3; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 443; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 40.

Medical Treatment

When small-pox was first introduced, the natives resorted to bathing as a cure, and a very large number succumbed to the disease. An old Spanish author, writing in 1580, states that the natives of the kingdom of New Spain had an extensive knowledge of medicinal herbs; that they seldom resorted to bleeding or compound purgatives, for they had many simple cathartic herbs. They were in the habit of making pills with the India-rubber gum mixed with other substances, which they swallowed, and rubbed themselves withal, to increase their agility and suppleness of body. Cold water baths are commonly resorted to when attacked with fever, and they cannot be prevailed upon to abandon the practice. The temazcalli or sweat-bath, is also very much used for cases of severe illness. The bath-house stands close to a spring of fresh water, and is built and heated not unlike a European bake-oven. When up to the required temperature the fire is taken out, and water thrown in; the patient is then thrust into it naked, feet foremost and head near the aperture, and laid on a mat that covers the hot stones. The hole that affords him air for breathing is about eighteen inches square. When sufficiently steamed, and the body well beaten with rushes, a cold water bath and a brisk rubbing complete the operation.[925]‘Los Indios son grandes herbolarios, y curan siempre con ellas.’ Mendoza, Hist. de las Cosas, p. 311. ‘For fevers, for bad colds, for the bite of a poisonous animal, this (the temazcalli) is said to be a certain cure; also for acute rheumatism.’ Calderon de la Barca’s Life in Mex., vol. i., p. 255; Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. ii., p. 430; Menonville, Reise, p. 124; Murr, Nachrichten, p. 306; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., p. 250.

In Michoacan, the natives believe that the leaves of a plant called cozolmecatl or olcacaran applied to a sore part of the body will foretell the result of the disorder; for if the leaves adhere to the spot, it is a sure sign that the sufferer will get well, but if they fall off, the contrary will happen. When prostrated with disease, the nearest relatives and friends surround the patient’s couch and hold a confab upon the nature of his ailment and the application of the remedy. Old sorceresses and charlatans put in practice their spells; fumigations and meltings of saltpetre abound; and by some jugglery, out of the crystallized saltpetre is brought a monstrous ant, a horrible worm, or some other object, which, as they allege, is the cause of the disorder. As the disease progresses, the friends of the sufferer severally recommend and apply, according to the judgment each may have formed of the matter, oil of scorpions or of worms, water supposed to produce miraculous effects on fevers, or like applications, and these empirical remedies, most of which are entirely useless, and others extremely barbarous, are applied together without weight or measure.[926]‘Notant barbari, folia parti affectæ aut dolenti applicata, de eventu morbi præjudicare: nam si firmiter ad hæreant, certum signum esse ægrum convaliturum, sin decidant, contra.’ Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 271; Villa, in Prieto, Viajes, pp. 438-9.

Burial and Character

In common with other peoples, it is usual with these nations to place several kinds of edibles in the grave with the deceased. Among the Coras, when one died, the corpse was dressed and wrapped in a mantle; if a man, with bow and arrows, and if a woman, with her distaff, etc., and in this manner the body was buried in a cave previously selected by the deceased. All his worldly goods were placed at the door of his former house, so that he might come and take them without crossing the threshold, as they believed the dead returned to see about property. If the deceased had cattle, his friends and relatives every now and then placed some meat upon sticks about the fields, for fear he might come for the cattle he formerly owned. Five days after death a hired wizard essayed to conjure away the shade of the departed property-holder. These spirit-scarers went smoking their pipes all over the dead man’s house, and shook zapote-branches in the corners, till they pretended to have found the fancied shadow, which they hurled headlong to its final resting-place. Upon the second of November most of the natives of the Mexican valley bring offerings to their dead relatives and friends, consisting of edibles, live animals, and flowers, which are laid on or about the graves. The anniversary or commemoration of the dead among the ancient Aztecs occurred almost upon the same day.[927]The remains of one of their ancient kings found in a cave is thus described; ‘estaba cubierto de pedreria texida segun su costumbre en la manta con que se cubria desde los hombros hasta los pies, sentado en la misma silla que la fingieron el solio, con tahalí, brazaletes, collares, y apretadores de plata; y en la frente una corona de hermosas plumas, de varios colores mezcladas, la mano izquierda puesta en el brazo de la silla, y en la derecha un alfange con guarnicion de plata.’ Alcedo, Diccionario, tom. iii., p. 299. See also: Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., pp. 259-60; Apostólicos Afanes, p. 22;Armin, Das Heutige Mexiko, p. 249.

The thick-skinned, thoughtful and reserved aboriginals of central Mexico are most enigmatical in their character. Their peculiar cast of features, their natural reserve, and the thickness of their skin, make it extremely difficult to ascertain by the expression of the face what their real thoughts are. The general characteristics of this people may be summed up as follows: peaceable, gentle and submissive to their superiors, grave even to melancholy, and yet fond of striking exhibitions and noisy revelry; improvident but charitable, sincerely pious, but wallowing in ignorance and superstitions; quick of perception, and possessed of great facility for acquiring knowledge, especially of the arts, very imitative, but with little originality, unambitious, unwilling to learn, and indifferent to the comforts of life. Irascibility is by no means foreign to their nature, but it seems to lie dormant until awakened by intoxication or some powerful impulse, when the innate cruelty flames forth, and they pass suddenly from a state of perfect calmness to one of unrestrained fierceness. Courage and cowardice are so blended in their character that it is no easy matter to determine which is the predominant trait. A fact worthy of notice is that upon many occasions they have proved themselves capable of facing danger with the greatest resolution, and yet they will tremble at the angry frown of a white man. Laziness, and a marked inclination to cheating and stealing are among the other bad qualities attributed to them; but there is abundant evidence to show, that although naturally averse to industry, they work hard from morning till night, in mining, agriculture, and other occupations, and in their inefficient way accomplish no little labor. Murder and highway robbery are crimes not generally committed by the pure aboriginal, who steals rarely anything but food to appease his hunger or that of his family. A Mexican author says, the Indian cuts down a tree to pick its fruit, destroys an oak of ten years growth for a week’s firewood; in other words, he produces little, consumes little, and destroys much. Another Mexican writer affirms that the Indian is active, industrious, handy in agricultural labor, a diligent servant, a trusty postman, humble, hospitable to his guests, and shows a sincere gratitude to his benefactors.[928]D’Orbigny, Voy., p. 353; Calderon de la Barca’s Life in Mex., vol. i., p. 200; Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, pp. 170, 201; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Voy. Tehuantepec, pp. 114, 172; Larenaudière, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1824, tom. xxiii., p. 67; Ottavio, in Id., 1833, tom. lix., p. 71; Rittner, Guatimozin, pp. 81-2; Villa, in Prieto, Viajes, pp. 446-7; Arizcorreta, Respuesta á, pp. 24, 26; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 131, 135; Rossi, Souvenirs, p. 285; Lafond, Voyages, tom. i., p. 213; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., pp. 40-1; Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., p. 10; Poinsett’s Notes Mex., pp. 108, 161; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 445; Gemelli Careri, in Churchill’s Col. Voyages, vol. iv., p. 492; Berenger, Col. de Voy., tom. ii., pp. 383-4; Bonnycastle’s Span. Am., vol. i., pp. 49-50. ‘L’indigène mexicain est grave, mélancolique, silencieux, aussi long-temps que les liqueurs enivrantes n’ont pas agi sur lui.’ Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., pp. 94, 96. ‘The most violent passions are never painted in their features.’ Mill’s Hist. Mex., pp. 5-6, 10. ‘Of a sharpe wit, and good vnderstanding, for what soeuer it be, Sciences or other Arts, these people are very apt to learne it with small instructing.’ Purchas His Pilgrimes, vol. iv., p. 1433.

Character in Northern Mexico

The Pames, Otomís, Pintos, and other nations north of the Mexican valley were, at the time of the conquest, a barbarous people, fierce and warlike, covetous even of trifles and fond of display. The Michoacaques or Tarascos are warlike and brave, and for many years after the conquest showed themselves exceedingly hostile to the whites, whom they attacked, plundered, and frequently murdered, when traveling through their country. In 1751 they were already quiet, and gave evidences of being intelligent and devoted to work. The men in the vicinity of the city of Vera Cruz are careless, lazy, and fickle; much given to gambling and drunkenness; but the women are virtuous, frugal, cleanly, and extremely industrious. The natives of Jalapa, judging by their countenance, are less intelligent, and lack the sweetness of character that distinguishes the inhabitants of the higher plateau; they are, however, peaceable and inoffensive. The wild tribes of the north are rude, revengeful, dull, irreligious, lazy, and given to robbery, plunder, and murder. Such are the characteristics attributed to them under the name of Chichimecs by old Spanish authors and others. Indeed, the only creditable traits they were allowed to possess, were, in certain parts, courage and an independent spirit. Of the nations of Jalisco, both ancient and modern writers bear testimony to their bravery. They are also sagacious and somewhat industrious, but opposed to hard labor (as what savage is not), and not easily kept under restraint. Those who dwell on Lake Chapala are quiet and mild, devoted to agricultural pursuits. They indeed proved themselves high-spirited and efficient in defending their rights, when long oppression had exhausted their forbearance. The Coras were hardy and warlike, averse to any intercourse with the whites and to the Christian religion, but by the efforts of the missionaries, and the heavy blows of the Spanish soldiers, they were brought under subjection, and became tractable.[929]The Pintos of Guerrero are ‘most ferocious savages.’ Tylor’s Anahuac, p. 309. The Chichimecs are ‘los peores de todos y los mayores homicidas y salteadores de toda la tierra.’ Zarfate, in Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 281. See further, Almaraz, Memoria, p. 18; Kératry, in Revue des deux Mondes, Sept., 1866, p. 453; Delaporte, Reisen, tom. x., p. 323; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 284; Laet, Novus Orbis, pp. 269, 280; Combier, Voy., p. 394; Biart, in Revue Française, Dec., 1864, pp. 479, 485; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. viii., lib. vi., cap. xvi.; Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 721; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 560; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 271; Beaumont, Crón. de Mechoacan, MS., pp. 197, 235; Pagés’ Travels, vol. i., p. 150.

The Nations of Southern Mexico

The Southern Mexicans, under which name I group the people inhabiting the present states of Oajaca, Guerrero, Chiapas, the southern portion of Vera Cruz, Tabasco, and Yucatan, constitute the second and last division of this chapter. Much of this territory is situated within the tierras calientes, or hot lands, wherein every variety of tropical vegetation abounds in luxuriant profusion. The heat, especially along the coast, to the unacclimated is most oppressive. The great chain of the cordillera in its transit across the Tehuantepec isthmus, approaches nearer to the Pacific seaboard than to the Atlantic, and dropping from the elevated table-land of central Mexico, seeks a lower altitude, and breaks into cross-ridges that traverse the country in an east and west direction. Upon the northern side of the isthmus are plains of considerable extent, of rich alluvial soil, through which several rivers, after draining the mountain districts, discharge into the Mexican gulf. These streams, in their course through the table-lands, are bordered by rich lands of greater or lesser extent. On the southern side, nature puts on a bolder aspect and a narrower belt of lowlands is traversed by several rivers, which discharge the drainage of the southern slope into the Pacific Ocean, and into the lagoons that border the ocean. One of the most important features of Yucatan is the absence of any important river. The coast, which is of great extent, has in general a bleak and arid appearance, and is little broken except on the north-west, where it is indented by the laguna de Terminos, and on the eastern side by the bays of Ascension, Espíritu Santo, and Chetumel. The central part of the Yucatan peninsula is occupied by a low ridge of mountains, of barren aspect. A short distance from the coast the general appearance of the country improves, being well-wooded, and containing many fertile tracts.

Many of the nations occupying this region at the time of the conquest may be called cultivated, or at least, progressive, and consequently belong to the civilized nations described in the second volume of this work; others falling back into a state of wildness after the central civilization was extinguished, makes it extremely difficult to draw any line separating civilization from savagism. Nevertheless we will examine them as best we may; and if it be found that what we learn of them refers more to the present time than has been the case with nations hitherto treated, the cause will be obvious.

The Zapotecs, who were in former times a very powerful nation, still occupy a great portion of Oajaca, surrounded by the ruins of their ancient palaces and cities. The whole western part of the state is taken up by the Miztecs. Tributary to the above before the conquest, were the Mijes and other smaller tribes now residing in the mountain districts in the centre of the isthmus. The Huaves, who are said to have come by sea from the south, and to have landed near the present city of Tehuantepec, spread out over the lowlands and around the lagoons on the south-western coast of Oajaca. In the province of Goazacoalco, and in Tabasco, are the Ahualulcos, and Chontales, who occupy a large portion of the latter state. South of them in Chiapas are the Choles, Tzendales, Zotziles, Alames, and Quelenes, and in the extreme south-eastern end of the same state, and extending into Central America, some tribes of the Lacandones are located. The extensive peninsula of Yucatan, the ancient name of which was Mayapan, formed the independent and powerful kingdom of the Mayas, who held undisputed possession of the country until, after a heroic resistance, they were finally compelled to yield to the superior discipline and weapons of the Spanish invaders.[930]The Mayas, ‘Sie selbst nennen sich heute noch Macegual, d. h. Eingeborene vom Maya-Lande, nie Yucatanos oder Yucatecos, was spanischer Ausdruck für die Bewohner des Staates ist.’ Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., pp. 142-3. See also Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 163, 173, 176, 196; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, preface, p. clvii.; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., p. 208; tom. ii., pt. i., pp. 140-3; Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt. ii., fol. 396, 400-1; Remesal, Hist. de Chyapa, pp. 264-5; Juarros’ Hist. Guat., p. 14.

Physique in Oajaca and Yucatan

The Zapotecs proper are well-formed and strong; the features of the men are of a peculiar cast and not pleasing; the women, however, are delicately formed, and graceful with handsome features. Another tribe of the same nation, the Zapotecs of Tehuantepec, are rather under the medium height, with a pleasing oval face and present a fine personal appearance. Not a few of them have light-colored hair, and a somewhat fair complexion. Their senses, especially that of sight, are acute, and the constitution sound and robust, notwithstanding their habits of intoxication. The females have regular and handsome features, and though of small stature and bizarre in their carriage, are truly graceful and seductive. Dark lustrous eyes, long eye-lashes, well defined eye-brows, luxuriant and glossy jet-black hair, play havoc with the men. Those of Acayucan village are particularly noted for their beauty. But not all are thus; instance the Chatinos who are remarkably ugly. The natives of Oajaca are generally large and well-formed; those of Sierra are of a light-yellow complexion, and their women are tolerably white with mild features. Some branches of the Miztecs and Mazatecs carry upon their shoulders very large loads. Father Burgoa writing of the Miztecs, of Yangüistlan, in the year 1541, speaks of their beautiful complexion and fine forms. The Mijes are of good height, strongly built, hardy, and active; they wear a beard, and altogether their aspect is repulsive. The Zoques are very much like the Mijes, their features are as prominent and unprepossessing; but they are probably more athletic. The Chontales are tall and very robust. In the village of Tequisistlan, Oajaca, shortly after the Spanish conquest, they were all reported as of a gigantic stature. The Huaves present a different appearance from any of the other natives of the isthmus of Tehuantepec. They are generally well-made, and of strong constitutions. The natives of Tabasco who dwell in the country bordering on the river of that name, are of medium height, and with well-developed limbs. Both men and women have round flat faces, low foreheads, small eyes, flattish noses, thick lips, small but quite full mouths, white teeth, and tawny complexions. The Ahualulcos are rather under the middle height, but of great physical strength. They have a low narrow forehead, salient cheek-bones, full lips, white teeth, small beard, and coarse hair. Their features are aquiline, and the expression of their countenance is melancholy, one of gentleness blended with sternness. They strongly resemble the descendants of the Aztecs of Mexico. The women are more delicately made, and some beautiful ones are seen among them. They move quickly and with much natural grace.[931]Barnard’s Tehuantepec, pp. 220, 224, 227; Moro, in Garay, Reconocimiento, pp. 89-94; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., p. 215; Macgregor’s Progress of America, pp. 848, 850; Hermesdorf, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., p. 543; Charnay, Ruines Américaines, pp. 287, 500-1; Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. ii., p. 394. Zapotecs ‘bien tallados,’ Mijes ‘Arrogantes, altiuos de condicion, y cuerpo,’ Miztecs ‘linda tez en el rostro, y buena disposicion en el talle.’ Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt. ii., fol. 202, 271, 354, 401, tom. i., pt. ii., p. 134. ‘Tehuantepec women: Jet-black hair, silky and luxuriant, enframes their light-brown faces, on which, in youth, a warm blush on the cheek heightens the lustre of their dark eyes, with long horizontal lashes and sharply-marked eyebrows.’ Tempsky’s Mitla, p. 269. The Soques, ‘short, with large chests and powerful muscles…. Both men and women have very repulsive countenances.’ Shufeldt’s Explor. Tehuantepec, p. 126.

The descendants of the Mayas are of medium size, with good limbs, large faces and mouth, the upper lip slightly arched, and a marked tendency to stoutness; the nose is somewhat flat, eyes sleepy-looking and hair black and glossy, which rarely turns gray; complexion of a copper color, and in some instances yellowish. Naturally strong, the Maya or Yucatec can carry heavy loads long distances, and perform a great deal of hard labor without showing signs of fatigue. An old Spanish writer mentions that they were generally bow-legged, and many of them squint-eyed. The same author says they had good faces, were not very dark, did not wear a beard, and were long-lived. The women are plump, and generally speaking not ugly.[932]‘Es gente la de Yucatan de buenos cuerpos, bien hechos, y rezios’…. The women ‘bien hechas, y no feas … no son blancas, sino de color baço.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. iii., cap. iv. See further: Dampier’s Voyages, vol. ii., pt. ii., p. 115; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 148; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 258; Dapper, Neue Welt, p. 291; Tylor’s Anahuac, p. 16.

Dress in Oajaca and Yucatan

Very scanty was the dress of the dwellers on Tehuantepec isthmus. In Oajaca and Chiapas, the men wore a piece of deer or other skin fastened round the waist, and hanging down in front, and the women wore aprons of maguey-fibre. Montanus in describing the Mijes says they were quite naked, but that some wore round the waist a white deer-skin dressed with human hearts. The Lacandones, when going to war, wore on their shoulders the skin of a tiger, lion, or deer. The Quelenes wrapped round their head a colored cloth, in the manner of a turban, or garland of flowers. At present, the usual dress of the Zapotecs is a pair of wide Mexican drawers, and short jacket of cotton, with a broad-brimmed hat, made of felt or straw—yet the Huaves and many of the poorer class, still wear nothing but a breech-cloth. The costume of the women is simple, and not without elegance. That of the Miztecs, Zapotecs, and others dwelling in the city of Tehuantepec is a skirt made of cotton,—sometimes of wool—that reaches nearly to the ankles, prettily and often elaborately worked in various designs and colors. The upper part of the body is covered with a kind of chemisette, with short sleeves called the huipil, of fine texture, and adorned with lace and gold or silk threads. On the head is a white cotton covering, made like a narrow sack or sleeve, which is drawn on and hangs down over the back. In Tabasco, the dress of the men differs little from that of the people of Tehuantepec; the Tabascan women wear a cotton petticoat or a few yards of calico wrapped round the waist, and reaching below the knees. Over the petticoat they wear a frock with sleeves to the wrist, leaving the bosom and neck exposed. Children and boys go naked; indeed, whenever clothing to any extent is found in this region, we may be sure that the foreign trader is at the bottom of it.[933]Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt. ii., fol. 285; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 255; Dapper, Neue Welt, p. 288; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Voy. de Tehuantepec, p. 194; Palacios, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 166; Leon, in Id., p. 162; Museo Mex., tom. ii., p. 555. ‘Muchachos ya mayorcillos. Todos desnudos en carnes, como nacieron de sus madres…. Tras ellos venian muchos Indios mayores, casi tan desnudos como sus hijos, con muchos sartales de flores … en la cabeza, rebuxada una toca de colores, como tocado de Armenio.’ Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, p. 292.

Both sexes usually wear the hair long, parting it in the middle, and either permit it to hang in loose tresses over the shoulders, or, binding it with gay colored ribbons, loop it up on the back of the head, where it is fastened with a large comb. On festive occasions they interweave flowers with the hair, and also mingle with it a species of shining beetle, called cucullo, which emits a phosphorescent light, and produces a very pretty effect. Among the Zoques who reside at San Miguel and Santa María Chimalapa, the males shave the crown of the head, a custom of possible monkish origin peculiar to themselves. Feather tufts and skins of green birds were formerly much used for ornaments; they had also necklaces made of pieces of gold joined together, and amber beads. Nose and ears were pierced, and pieces of stone or amber or gold rings or a bit of carved wood inserted. Montanus describes a kind of snake called ibobaca, which he says the inhabitants of Chiapas wore round the neck.[934]‘With their hair ty’d up in a Knot behind, they think themselves extream fine.’ Dampier’s Voyages, vol. ii., pt. ii., p. 114. ‘Muy empenachados y pintados.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. iv., cap. xi.; Barnard’s Tehuantepec, pp. 221-2, 226. They also painted and stained the face. When Fernandez de Córdova explored the northern coast of Yucatan, he found the people clad in cotton garments, and at the present day this forms the principal material from which their clothing is made. Men now wear a cotton shirt or blouse, usually without sleeves, and wide drawers; round the waist is tied a white or colored sash; for protection from the sun, a straw hat is worn, or perhaps a piece of colored calico, and their sandals are made from deer-skin. Instead of drawers, they used to wear a broad cotton band passed round the loins, the ends of which were arranged to hang one in front and the other behind; a cloak or mantle of cotton called zugen was thrown over the shoulders. Colonel Galindo mentions that they used the bark of the India-rubber tree for making garments, and Cogolludo says that when the Spaniards arrived at Aké, in the year 1527, the army of natives were in a state of nudity, with only their privy parts covered, and the whole body besmeared with clay of different colors. The women display considerable taste in the style of their garments; over a petticoat, which reaches to their ankles, and prettily bordered at the bottom, they have a dress with sleeves down to the elbow; the skirt is open at the sides, and does not fall as low as the petticoat, so that the border of the latter may be seen, the bosom of the dress is open, and on each side of the breast and round the neck it is embroidered with coarse silk, as in Tehuantepec; the huipil (Aztec, vipilli) is also worn. In country places women wear the petticoat alone, using the overskirt or huipil only on special occasions. When out of doors, they cover the head and part of the face with a piece of cotton cloth.[935]‘Their apparell was of Cotton in manifold fashions and colours.’ Purchas His Pilgrimes, vol. v., p. 885. The Maya woman’s dress ‘se reduce al hipil que cubre la parte superior del cuerpo, y al fustan ó enagua, de manta de algodon.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 158. Of the men ‘un calzoncillo ancho y largo hasta media pierna, y tal vez hasta cerca del tobillo, de la misma manta, un ceñidor blanco ó de colores, un pañuelo, y un sombrero de paja, y á veces una alpargata de suela, con sus cordones de mecate.’ Registro Yucateco, tom. i., pp. 177-8. See further: Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 267; Galindo, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. iii., p. 59; Wilson’s Amer. Hist., pp. 88, 114; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 147, 179. All permit the hair to attain to its full length; the men plait theirs and wind it round the head, leaving a short end to hang down behind, while that of the women hangs in dark masses over their shoulders, or is neatly bound up behind and decorated with flowers or feathers. Herrera states that it was customary to scorch the faces of young children to prevent the growth of their beards, and the men allowed the hair to grow down over the eyebrows, making their heads and foreheads flat on purpose. They pierced nose and ears, ornamenting them with rings set with pearls and bits of amber, and wore collars and bracelets of gold. Some among them filed their teeth. They painted the face and all exposed parts of the body in many colors, using white or yellow with black and red, covering themselves from the waist upward with a variety of designs and figures. When going to battle paint was much used, in order to render their appearance more formidable; men tattooed on the chest, and the women mixed liquid amber with their pigments, which, when rubbed over the body, emitted a perfume.[936]‘Tous portaient les cheveux longs, et les Espagnols ont eu beaucoup de peine à les leur faire couper; la chevelure longue est encore aujourd’hui le signe distinctif des Indiens insoumis.’ Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 40. ‘Las caras de blanco, negro, y colorado pintadas, que llaman embijarse, y cierto parecen demonios pintados.’ Cogolludo, Hist. de Yucathan, p. 6. Compare above with Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 50; Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. ii., p. 262.

Zapotec Buildings

The better class of Zapotecs of the present day build their houses in a substantial manner of adobes; the common people construct a more simple dwelling with branches arranged in a double row, and the space between filled in with earth; they also make them of wattled cane-work plastered with clay. Such dwellings are cool and proof against the frequent earthquakes that occur in their territory. Roofs are thatched with palmetto-leaves without opening, nor are there any windows in the walls. The interior is divided into several compartments, according to size and necessity.[937]‘The buildings of the lower class are thatched with palm-leaves, and form but one piece, without window or chimney.’ Hermesdorf, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., p. 544. ‘Cubrense las casas de vna cuchilla que los Indios hazen de pajas muy espessas y bien assentadas, que llaman en esta tierra jacales.’ Dávila Padilla, Hist. Fund. Mex., p. 549. See also: Museo Mex., tom. ii., p. 554; Barnard’s Tehuantepec, pp. 221, 225, with cut; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 252; Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. i., pt. ii., fol. 197. The Mijes thatch their houses with bundles of coarse straw. The Chinantecs, Chochos, and Chontales originally built no houses, but sought out the most shady forests, where they dwelt, or they located themselves in ravines and rocky parts, living in caverns or holes under the rocks; the Tzendales of Chiapas had many towns and painted their houses; the Ahualulcos lived together in communities, and had commodious, well-built houses of interwoven cane, plastered on the inside with mud, the roof thatched with palmetto.[938]The Chochos and Chontales ‘no tenian Pueblo fundado, si no cobachuelas estrechas en lo mas escondido de los montes.’ Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt. ii., fol. 336. The Chinantecs lived ‘en rancherias entre barrancas, y espessuras de arboles.’ Burgoa, Palestra, Hist., pt. i., fol. 102; Charnay, Ruines Américaines, p. 438.

Preparation of Food

From the earliest times of which we have any record, the natives of Oajaca and the isthmus of Tehuantepec cultivated corn and vegetables, and likewise followed the chase; those who dwelt on the borders of the sea or lakes applied themselves to fishing. The Zapotecs now raise wheat, and build mills. It is asserted by an old Spanish chronicler that this nation exceeded all others in eating and drinking. As early as 1690, they gathered crops of maguey, maize, Spanish peas, chile, potatoes, and pumpkins, and bred swine and poultry. Of late they cultivate rice, sugar-cane, and other tropical productions, as also do the inhabitants of Tehuantepec. Primitive agriculture has undergone but little alteration; deer are caught by means of traps and nets. The Miztecs, Mijes, and Cuicatecs have from the earliest times been cultivators of the soil. The Mijes make a coarse or impure sugar from sugar-cane; their corn-fields are often many miles distant from their dwellings. The Huaves, the greater portion of whom are on the borders of the lagoons on the isthmus of Tehuantepec, live mostly on the proceeds of their fisheries, although they raise a small supply of grain and fruit. Their fishing is almost exclusively done with sweep-nets in shallow waters, and during one month of the year they catch large schools of shrimps in traps. The Zoques produce the small quantity of corn that they need, some achote, many very fine oranges, and tobacco. They are fond of iguanas and their eggs, and of parrots, killing the latter with stones. The Chontales of Tabasco and Tehuantepec use maize and cocoa as food. They eat flesh only upon great religious festivals, marriages, or other celebrations, but are fond of fish. In olden times they were cannibals, and Antonio de Herrera, the chief chronicler of the Indies, accused also the natives of Chiapas of being eaters of human flesh. Since the conquest the natives have lived mostly on corn and other vegetable productions, cultivated by themselves. A large portion of the Mayas and of the other aborigines of Yucatan are to-day engaged in the cultivation of the soil, they also breed such domestic animals as they need for themselves. They are very simple and frugal in their eating.[939]Zapotecs; ‘Se dan con gran vicio sus sementeras.’ Miztecs, ‘labradores de mayz, y frizol.’ Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. i., pt. ii., fol. 36, 143 and 47, 165-6, 184, tom. ii., pt. ii., fol. 199-200, 202, 228, 282, 396, 398, 400. Zapotecs, ‘grande inclinacion, y exercicio á la caza, y monteria de animales campesinos en especial de venados.’ Burgoa, Palestra Hist., pt. i., fol. 110. See further: Barnard’s Tehuantepec, pp. 220-2, 225-6; Moro, in Garay, Reconocimiento, pp. 90, 93-4; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Voy. Tehuantepec, p. 196; Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., pp. 56, 61; Galindo, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. iii., p. 59. All the natives of this section of the Mexican republic grind their maize in the same manner; after first soaking it in lye or in lime and water, it is bruised on the metate, or rubbing-stone, being wet occasionally, until it becomes a soft paste. With this they make their tortillas and other compounds, both to eat and drink. To make tortillas the maize paste is shaped into thin cakes with the palms of the hands and cooked upon a flat clay pan. The totoposte is a smaller cake used for journeys in lieu of the tortillas. The difference between them is in the manner of preparation; the totopostes are cooked one side only and laid near the fire which makes them crisp, and require to be moistened in order to render them eatable. Tamales are a favorite dish and are made of pork, game, or poultry. The meat is cut up in small pieces and washed; a small quantity of the maize paste seasoned with cinnamon, saffron, cloves, pimento, tomatoes, coarse pepper, salt, red coloring matter, and some lard added to it, is placed on the fire in a pan and as soon as it has acquired the consistency of a thick gruel, it is removed, mixed with the meat, some more lard and salt added, and the mass kneaded for a few moments. It is then divided into small portions, which are enveloped in a thin paste of maize. The tamales thus prepared are covered with a banana-leaf or corn-husk and placed in a pot or pan over which large leaves are laid. They are allowed to boil from one hour and a half to two hours. The posole is a nourishing drink made of sour maize paste mixed with water; sometimes they add a little honey to it. They also prepare a drink by parching corn and grinding it to powder on the metate, and mixing it with water and a little achote. This last drink they prefer to the posole, for long journeys.[940]Tabasco: ‘Comen a sus horas concertadas, carnes de vaca, puerco, y aues, y beué vna beuida muy sana, hecha de cacao, mayz, y especia de la tierra, la qual llaman Zocolate.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. vii., cap. iii. Tortillas, ‘When they are baked brown, they are called “totoposti,” and taste like parched corn.’ Shufeldt’s Explor. Tehuantepec, p. 125. The Chontales, ‘su alimento frecuente es el posole … rara vez comen la carne de res.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 161-2; Dampier’s Voyages, vol. ii., pt. ii., pp. 112-14; Hermesdorf, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., pp. 543-4.

The natives of Tehuantepec and especially those who reside in the Goazacoalco district are neat and clean in regard to their personal habits. They observe the custom of bathing daily. In their ablutions they make use of a plant called chintule the root of which they mix with water, thereby imparting to their bodies a strong aromatic odor. The same plant is used when they wash their clothes, the scent from which remains on them for some time. A pleasing feature in the appearance of these people is the spotless whiteness of their cotton dresses and the care they bestow on their luxuriant hair.

The other tribes who inhabit this isthmus as well as those of Chiapas are not so clean in their persons, and as a consequence are much infested with vermin which the women have a disgusting habit of eating when picked from the heads of their children. The Mayas make frequent use of cold water, but this practice appears to be more for pleasure than for cleansing purposes, as neither in their persons nor in their dwellings do they present an appearance of cleanliness.[941]Sr Moro, speaking of the chintule, says: ‘Una infusion de estas raices comunica su fragancia al agua que los tehuantepecanos emplean como un objeto de lujo sumamente apreciado, tanto para labar la ropa de uso, como para las abluciones personales.’ Moro, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 180. ‘Toutes les parties de leur vêtement sont toujours nouvellement blanchies. Les femmes se baignent au moins une fois par jour.’ Fossey, Mexique, p. 24. At Chiapas, ‘Tous ces Indiens, nus ou en chemise, répandaient dans l’atmosphère une odeur sui generis qui soulevait le cœur.’ Charnay, Ruines Américaines, p. 457. The women are ‘not very clean in their habits, eating the insects from the bushy heads of their children.’ Hermesdorf, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., p. 543. ‘No son muy limpias en sus personas, ni en sus casas, con quanto se laban.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv.; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 148.

Weapons and War

The weapons of the Southern Mexicans were in most respects similar to those used by the Central Mexicans, namely, bows and arrows, macanas, and lances, the latter of great length and very strong. In Tabasco they carried turtle-shell shields highly polished so as to reflect the sun; they also had flint stones for lances and arrow-points, but sometimes weapon-points were made from strong thorns and fish-bones. The hard wooden sword of the Maya was a heavy and formidable weapon, and required the use of both hands to wield it; the edge was grooved for the purpose of inserting the sharp flint with which it was armed. Slings were commonly used by all these nations. In addition to shields the Mayas had for defensive armor garments of thickly quilted cotton called escaupiles, which covered the body down to the lower part of the thigh, and were considered impervious to arrows. The flint knife of former days has now been replaced by the machete which serves the purpose of both cutlass and chopping-knife, and without it no native ever goes into the woods.[942]‘Peleauan con lanças, armadas las puntas con espinas y huessos muy agudos de pescados.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. iv., cap. xi. ‘Usaban de lanzas de desmesurado tamaño para combatir.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 187. See also: Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 461; Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt. ii., fol. 336; Cogolludo, Hist. de Yucathan, pp. 5-6, 11, 77; Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., pp. 58-59; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 179.

When the Spaniards first arrived at Tabasco, they encountered a people well-skilled in the art of war, with a fair knowledge of military tactics, who defended their country with much bravery; their towns and villages were well fortified with intrenchments or palisades, and strong towers and forts were built on such places as presented the most favorable position for resisting attacks. To their forts they retired when invaded by a superior force, and from the walls they hurled large rocks with damaging effect against their foes. Cortés found erected on the bank of the Tabasco River, in front of one of their towns, a strong wooden stockade, with loopholes through which to discharge arrows; and subsequently, during his march through their country, they frequently set fire to their villages, with the object of harassing his troops. When advancing to battle they maintained a regular formation, and they are described as having met Francisco Montejo in good order, drawn up in three columns, the centre under the command of their chief, accompanied by their chief priest. The combatants rushed forward to the attack with loud shouts, cheered on by the blowing of horns and beating of small drums called tunkules. Prisoners taken in battle were sacrificed to their gods.[943]‘Tienen enfrente deste Pueblo vn cerro altissimo, con vna punta que descuella soberviamente, casi entre la Region de las nubes, y coronase con vna muy dilatada muralla de lossas de mas de vn estado de alto, y quentan de las pinturas de sus characteres historiales, que se retiraban alli, para defenderse de sus enemigos.’ Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. i., pt. ii., fol. 167. ‘Començaron luego á tocar las bozinas, pitos, trompetillas, y atabalejos de gente de guerra.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. ii., cap. xvii., and lib. iv., cap. xi. Also see Cogolludo, Hist. de Yucathan, pp. 5, 77-8; Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., pp. 60-3; Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. ii., p. 263.

The furniture of their houses is of the plainest description, and limited to their absolute wants. Their tables or benches are made of a few rough boards, and a mat called petate, spread on the floor, serves for a bed, while a coarse woolen blanket is used for covering; some few have small cane bedsteads. The natives of Tabasco and Yucatan more commonly have a network hamaca or hammock, suspended from two posts or trees. Their cooking-utensils consist of the metate, pots made of earthenware, and gourds. The universal machete carried by man and boy serves many purposes, such as chopping firewood, killing animals, eating, and building houses. Burgoa describes nets of a peculiar make used by the Zapotecs for catching game; in the knots of the net were fixed the claws of lions, tigers, bears, and other wild beasts of prey, and at intervals were fastened a certain number of small stones; the object of such construction being probably to wound or disable the animal when caught.[944]Dampier’s Voyages, vol. ii., pt. ii., p. 115; Burgoa, Palestra Hist., pt. i., fol. 110; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Voy. Tehuantepec, p. 196; Charnay, Ruines Américaines, p. 454. ‘Sobre vna estera si la tiene, que son muy pocos los que duermen en alto, en tapescos de caña … ollas, ó hornillos de tierra … casolones, ò xicaras.’ Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt. ii., fol. 294, 393.

Oajacan Manufactures

The Zapotecs, Miztecs, Mayas, and others, since the conquest, have long been justly celebrated for the manufacture of cotton stuffs, a fact that is all the more surprising when we consider the very imperfect implements they possessed with which to perform the work. Burgoa speaks of the excellence and rich quality of their manufactures in cotton, silk, and gold thread, in 1670, and Thomas Gage, writing about the same time, says “it is rare to see what works those Indian women will make in silk, such as might serve for patterns and samplers to many Schoolmistresses in England.” All the spinning and weaving is done by the women; the cotton clothes they make are often interwoven with beautiful patterns or figures of birds and animals, sometimes with gold and silk thread. A species of the agave americana is extensively cultivated through the country, from the fibres of which the natives spin a very strong thread that is used chiefly for making hammocks; the fibre is bleached and then dyed in different rich tints. The materials they have for dyeing are so good that the colors never fade. The Zapotecs have also an intimate knowledge of the process of tanning skins, which they use for several domestic purposes.[945]‘Los zoques cultivan … dos plantas pertenecientes á la familia de las bromelias, de las cuales sacan el ixtle y la pita cuyas hebras saben blanquear, hilar y teñir de varios colores. Sus hilados y las hamacas que tejen con estas materias, constituyen la parte principal de su industria y de su comercio’…. The Zapotecs, ‘los tejidos de seda silvestre y de algodon que labran las mugeres, son verdaderamente admirables.’ Moro, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 170, 180. Of the Miztecs it is said that ‘las mugeres se han dado á texer con primor paños, y huepiles, assi de algodon como de seda, y hilo de oro, muy costosos.’ Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. i., pt. ii., fol. 143, and tom. ii., pt. ii., fol. 400. Further reference in Barnard’s Tehuantepec, pp. 226-7; Chilton, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 459; Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. ii., p. 394; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 163; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 49; Gage’s New Survey, p. 236; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. i., pp. 198, 209.

Notwithstanding their proximity to the sea-coast, and although their country is in many parts intersected by rivers and lagoons, they have a surprisingly slight knowledge of navigation, few having any vessels with which to venture into deep water. The inhabitants of Tabasco, the Yucatan coast, and Cozumel island possess some canoes made from the single trunk of a mahogany-tree, which they navigate with small lateen sails and paddles. The Huaves and others are in complete ignorance of the management of any description of boats.[946]Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. iii., cap. ii., lib. iv., cap. xi.; Cogolludo, Hist. de Yucathan, p. 2; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 179, 214; Shufeldt’s Explor. Tehuantepec, p. 123. ‘Their canoes are formed out of the trunk of a single mahogany or cedar tree.’ Dale’s Notes, p. 24. When Grijalva was at Cozumel ‘vino una canoa.’ Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., p. 56. The Huaves ‘no poseyendo embarcaciones propias para arriesgarse en aguas de algun fondo, y desconociendo hasta el uso de los remos, no frecuentan mas que los puntos que por su poca profundidad no ofrecen mayor peligro.’ Moro, in Garay, Reconocimiento, p. 90.

The Zoques make from the ixtle and pita thread and superior hammocks, in which they have quite a trade. In the neighborhood of Santa María they grow excellent oranges, and sell them throughout all the neighboring towns. The Zapotecs have, many of them, a considerable commerce in fruits, vegetables, and seeds. In the city of Tehuantepec the business of buying and selling is conducted exclusively by women in the market-place. The Ahualulcos are chiefly employed in cutting planks and beams, with which they supply many places on this isthmus; they also trade to some extent in seeds and cotton cloths. Different kinds of earthenware vessels for domestic purposes are made by the natives of Chiapas, and by them exchanged for salt, hatchets, and glass ornaments. The Mayas have an extensive business in logwood, which, besides maize and poultry, they transport to several places along the coast. Mr Stephens describes a small community of the Maya nation, numbering about a hundred men with their families, living at a place called Schawill, who hold and work their lands in common. The products of the soil are shared equally by all, and the food for the whole settlement is prepared at one hut. Each family contributes its quota of provisions, which, when cooked, are carried off smoking hot to their several dwellings. Many of the natives of Tabasco earn a livelihood by keeping bee-hives; the bees are captured wild in the woods, and domesticated. The Huaves breed cattle and tan hides; cheese and tasajo, or jerked meat, are prepared and exported by them and other tribes on the isthmus of Tehuantepec. At the present day cochineal is cultivated to a considerable extent, and forms an important article of commerce among the inhabitants. A rather remarkable propensity to the possession of large numbers of mules is peculiar to the Mijes; such property in no way benefits them, as they make no use of them as beasts of burden; indeed, their owners seem to prefer carrying the loads on their own backs.[947]Mill’s Hist. Mex., p. 158; Palacios, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 166; Hermesdorf, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., p. 547; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Voy. Tehuantepec, p. 108; Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. ii., p. 394; Macgregor’s Progress of America, vol. i., p. 849; Moro, in Garay, Reconocimiento, p. 93; Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., p. 14.

Zapotec Government

Formerly the Zapotecs were governed by a king, under whom were caciques or governors who ruled over certain districts. Their rank and power descended by inheritance, but they were obliged to pay tribute to the king, from whom they held their authority in fief. At the time of the conquest the most powerful among them was the Lord of Cuicatlan; for the service of his household, ten servants were furnished daily, and he was treated with the greatest respect and homage. In later years a cacique was elected annually by the people, and under him officers were appointed for the different villages. Once a week these sub-officers assembled to consult with and receive instructions from the cacique on matters relating to the laws and regulations of their districts. In the towns of the Miztecs a municipal form of government was established. Certain officials, elected annually, appointed the work which was to be done by the people, and every morning at sunrise the town-criers from the tops of the highest houses called the inhabitants to their allotted tasks. It was also the duty of the town-criers to inflict the punishment imposed on all who from laziness or other neglect failed to perform their share of work. A somewhat similar system appears to have prevailed in Chiapas, where the people lived under a species of republican government.[948]‘Les seigneurs de Cuicatlan étaient, au temps de la conquête très-riches et très-puissants, et leurs descendants en ligne directe, décorés encore du titre de caciques.’ Fossey, Mexique, pp. 338-9. At Etla ‘Herren des Ortes waren Caziken, welche ihn als eine Art von Mannlehen besassen, und dem Könige einen gewissen Tribut bezahlen mussten.’ Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. i., p. 188. The Miztecs ‘tenian señalados como pregoneros, officiales que elegian por año, para que todas las mañanas al despuntar el Sol, subidos en lo mas alto de la casa de su Republica, con grandes vozes, llamasen, y exitasen á todos, diziendo salid, salid á trabajar, á trabajar, y con rigor executivo castigaban al que faltaba de su tarea.’ Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. i., pt. ii., fol. 151, also Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. xi. The Mayas were at one time governed by a king who reigned supreme over the whole of Yucatan. Internal dissensions and wars, however, caused their country to be divided up into several provinces, which were ruled over by lords or petty kings, who held complete sway, each in his own territory, owing allegiance to none, and recognizing no authority outside of their own jurisdiction. These lords appointed captains of towns, who had to perform their duties subject to their lord’s approval. Disputes arising, the captains named umpires to determine differences, whose decisions were final. These people had also a code of criminal laws, and when capital punishment was ordered, public executioners carried the sentence into effect. The crime of adultery in the man was punishable by death, but the injured party could claim the right to have the adulterer delivered to him, and he could kill or pardon him at pleasure; disgrace was the punishment of the woman. The rape of a virgin was punished by stoning the man to death.[949]‘Estava sujeta á diuersos Señores, que como Reyezuelos dominaban diuersos territorios … pero antes auia sido toda sujeta á vn Señor, y Rey Supremo, y asi gouernada con gouierno Monarquico.’ Cogolludo, Hist. de Yucathan, p. 60. ‘En cada pueblo tenian señalados Capitanes a quienes obedecian.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. ii.-iv. For old customs and new, compare above with Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 168, and Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 267.

Slavery and Marriage

Slavery existed among the tribes of Goazacoalco and Tabasco. Doña Marina was one of twenty female slaves who were presented to Cortés by the cacique of the latter place; and when her mother, who lived in the province of Goazacoalco, gave her away to some traveling merchants, she, to conceal the act, pretended that the corpse of one of her slaves who died at that time was that of her own daughter.[950]‘With other presents which they brought to the conqueror were twenty female slaves.’ Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. ii., p. 264.

WEDDINGS AND FATHERS-IN-LAW.

Among the Zapotecs and other nations who inhabit the isthmus of Tehuantepec, marriages are contracted at a very early age; it happens not unfrequently that a youth of fourteen marries a girl of eleven or twelve. Polygamy is not permissible, and gentleness, affection, and frugality characterize the marital relations. Certain superstitious ceremonies formerly attended the birth of children, which, to a modified extent, exist at the present day. When a woman was about to be confined, the relatives assembled in the hut, and commenced to draw on the floor figures of different animals, rubbing each one out as soon as it was completed. This operation continued till the moment of birth, and the figure that then remained sketched upon the ground was called the child’s tona or second self. When the child grew old enough, he procured the animal that represented him and took care of it, as it was believed that health and existence were bound up with that of the animals, in fact, that the death of both would occur simultaneously. Soon after the child was born, the parents, accompanied by friends and relatives, carried it to the nearest water, where it was immersed, while at the same time they invoked the inhabitants of the water to extend their protection to the child; in like manner they afterwards prayed for the favor of the animals of the land. It is a noticeable trait, much to the credit of the parents, that their children render to them as well as to all aged people the greatest respect and obedience. That the women are strictly moral cannot be asserted. Voluptuous, with minds untrained, and their number being greatly in excess of the men, it is not surprising that travelers have noted an absence of chastity among these women; yet few cases of conjugal infidelity occur, and chastity is highly esteemed. Illegitimate children are not common, partly the result, perhaps, of early marriages.[951]‘Vbo en esta juridicion grandes errores, y ritos con las paridas, y niños recien nacidos, lleuandolos á los rios, y sumergiendolos en el agua, hazian deprecacion á todos los animales aquatiles, y luego á los de tierra le fueran fauorables, y no le ofendieran.’ Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt. ii., fol. 329. ‘Consérvase entre ellos la creencia de que su vida está unida á la de un animal, y que es forzoso que mueran ellos cuando éste muere.’ Museo Mex., tom. ii., pp. 554-5. ‘Between husband and wife cases of infidelity are rare…. To the credit of the Indians be it also said, that their progeny is legitimate, and that the vows of marriage are as faithfully cherished as in the most enlightened and favored lands. Youthful marriages are nevertheless of frequent occurrence.’ Barnard’s Tehuantepec, p. 222. Women of the Japateco race: ‘their manners in regard to morals are most blameable.’ Hermesdorf, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., p. 543. Moro, referring to the women of Jaltipan, says: ‘Son de costumbres sumamente libres: suele decirse ademas que los jaltipanos no solo no las celan, sino que llevan las ideas de hospitalidad á un raro exceso.’ Garay, Reconocimiento, p. 116; Ferry, Costal L’Indien, pp. 6-7; Registro Yucateco, tom. i., p. 166. Among the Quelenes, when a contract of marriage was made, the friends and relatives collected at the assembly-house common to every village. The bride and bridegroom were then introduced by the parents, and in the presence of the cacique and priest confessed all the sins of which they were guilty. The bridegroom was obliged to state whether he had had connection with the bride or with other women, and she, on her part, made a full confession of all her shortcomings; this ended, the parents produced the presents, which consisted of wearing-apparel and jewelry, in which they proceeded to array them; they were then lifted up and placed upon the shoulders of two old men and women, who carried them to their future home, where they laid them on a bed, locked them in, and there left them securely married.[952]‘Iuntauanse en el Capul, que es vna casa del comun, en cada barrio, para hazer casamientos, el Cazique, el Papa, los desposados, los parientes: estando sentados el señor, y el Papa, llegauan los contrayentes, y el Papa les amonestaua que dixessen las cosas que auian hecho hasta aquella hora.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. xi. Among the Mayas early marriage was a duty imposed by the Spanish Fathers, and if a boy or girl at the age of twelve or fourteen had not chosen a mate, the priest selected one of equal rank or fortune and obliged them to marry. The usual presents were dresses; and a banquet was prepared, of which all present partook. During the feast the parents of the parties addressed them in speeches applicable to the occasion, and afterwards the house was perfumed by the priest, who then blessed the company and the ceremony ended. Previous to the wedding-day the parents fasted during three days. The young man built a house in front of that of his father-in-law, in which he lived with his wife during the first years of his servitude, for he was obliged to work for his father-in-law four or five years. If he failed to perform faithful service, his father-in-law dismissed him, and gave his daughter to another. Widowers were exempt from this servitude, and could choose whom they pleased for a wife without the interference of relatives. It was forbidden a man to marry a woman of the same name as his father. They married but one wife, though the lords were permitted to make concubines of their slaves. Mr Stephens, in his description of the inhabitants of the village of Schawill, says: “Every member must marry within the rancho, and no such thing as a marriage out of it had ever occurred. They said it was impossible; it could not happen. They were in the habit of going to the villages to attend the festivals; and when we suggested a supposable case of a young man or woman falling in love with some village Indian, they said it might happen; there was no law against it; but none could marry out of the rancho. This was a thing so little apprehended, that the punishment for it was not defined in their penal code; but being questioned, after some consultations, they said that the offender, whether man or woman would be expelled. We remarked that in their small community constant intermarriages must make them all relatives, which they said was the case since the reduction of their numbers by the cholera. They were in fact all kinsfolk, but it was allowable for kinsfolk to marry, except in the relationship of brothers and sisters.”

In divisions of property women could not inherit; in default of direct male heirs the estate went to the brothers or nearest male relatives. When the heir was a minor, one of his male relatives was appointed guardian, until the days of his minority should have passed, when the property was delivered up to him. The Southern Mexicans were particular to keep a strict chronology of their lineage. Young children underwent a kind of baptismal ceremony. The Mayas believed that ablution washed away all evil; and previous to the ceremony the parents fasted three days, and they were particular to select for it what they considered a lucky day. The age at which the rite was performed was between three and twelve years, and no one could marry until he had been baptized. Habits of industry as well as respect for parents and aged people was strongly impressed upon the minds of the children.[953]Dampier’s Voyages, vol. ii., pt. ii., p. 114; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv.; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 50; Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 15-16; Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 272; Dicc. Univ., tom. iv., p. 256; Baeza, in Registro Yucateco, tom. i., p. 166.

The Southern Mexicans are fond of singing and dancing, though there is not much variety either in their melancholy music or monotonous dances. Their favorite instrument is the marimba, composed of pieces of hard wood of different lengths stretched across a hollowed-out canoe-shaped case. The pieces of wood or keys are played upon with two short sticks, one held in each hand. The sound produced is soft and pleasing, and not unlike that of a piano. Another instrument is the tunkul or drum, made of a hollow log with sheep-skin stretched over the end; it is struck with the fingers of the right hand, the performer holding it under his left arm. Their movements during their dances are slow and graceful. The men are addicted to intoxication at their feasts, the liquor in common use among them being mescal and aguardiente, a colorless spirit made from the sugar-cane. Many of the natives have a small still in their houses.[954]‘Their amusements are scarcely worthy of note … their liveliest songs are sad, and their merriest music melancholy.’ Barnard’s Tehuantepec, p. 222. ‘Afectos á las bebidas embriagantes, conocen dos particulares, el chorote, y el balché ó guarapo, compuesto de agua, caña de azúcar, palo-guarapo y maiz quemado.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 162. See also: Fossey, Mexique, pp. 343, 364; Dampier’s Voyages, vol. ii., pt. ii., p. 115; Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 144-5; Charnay, Ruines Américaines, pp. 496-7.

Customs in Oajaca

The Zapotecs are exceedingly polite to one another in their common salutations, calling each other brother, and to the descendants of their ancient caciques or lords the utmost reverence is paid. It is related by a Mexican writer that in a village not distant from the city of Oajaca, whenever an aged man, the son of one of their ancient lords was seen by the natives out walking, with a majesty that well became his fine form, position, and age, they uncovered their heads, kissed his hands, which he held out to them, with much tenderness, calling him daade (father), and remained uncovered until he was lost to sight. They are a theocratic people, much addicted to their ancient religious belief and customs. Those who live in the vicinity of Mitla entertain a peculiar superstition; they will run to the farthest villages and pick up even the smallest stones that formed a part of the mosaic work of that famous ruin, believing that such stones will in their hands turn into gold. Some of them hold the belief that anyone who discovers a buried or hidden treasure has no right to appropriate to his own use any portion of it, and that if he does, death will strike him down within the year, in punishment of the sacrilege committed against the spirit of the person who hid or buried the treasure. One of the first priests that lived among the Zapotecs says that after they had entered the pale of the church, they still clung to their old religious practices, and made offerings of aromatic gums, and living animals; and that when the occasion demanded a greater solemnity, the officiating priest drew blood from the under part of his tongue, and from the back part of his ears, with which he sprinkled some thick coarse straw, held as sacred and used at the sacrifices. To warm themselves, the Chochos, or Chuchones, of Oajaca used, in cold weather, towards the evening, to burn logs and dry leaves close to the entrance of their caves, and blow the smoke into their dwellings, which being quite full, all the family, old and young, males and females, rushed in naked and closed the entrance. The natives of Goazacoalco and other places practiced some of the Jewish rites, including a kind of circumcision, which custom they claimed to have derived from their forefathers; hence have arisen innumerable analogies to prove the Jewish origin of these peoples. The Huaves still preserve ancient customs at their feasts. It is a remarkable fact that although nearly all these people are fishermen, very few of them can swim. The Mijes have a habit of speaking in very loud tones; this is attributed by some to their haughty spirit, and by others to their manner of life in the most rugged portion of the mountains. When bound upon a journey, if they have no other load to carry, they fill their tonates, or nets, with stones. This is generally done by them on the return home from the market-place of Tehuantepec. These loads rest upon their backs, and hang by a band from their foreheads. In ancient times, when they were in search of a new country to settle in, they subjected the places they had devastated to the fire proof. This was done by putting a firebrand over night into a hole, and if it was found extinguished in the morning, they considered that the Sun desired his children (that is themselves) to continue their journey. They are much given, even at the present time, to idolatrous practices, and will make sacrifices in their churches, if permitted, of birds as offerings to the false gods they worshiped before their partial conversion to Christianity. The natives attribute eclipses of the moon to an attempt by the sun to destroy their satellite, and to prevent the catastrophe make a frightful uproar, employing therefor everything they can get hold of.[955]‘Provinciæ Guazacualco atque Ylutæ nec non et Cueztxatlæ indiginæ, multas ceremonias Iudæorum usurpabant, nam et circumcidebantur, more à majoribus (ut ferebant) accepto, quod alibi in hisce regionibus ab Hispanis hactenus non fuit observatum.’ Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 261. ‘They appear to regard with horror and avoid with superstitious fear all those places reputed to contain remains or evidences of their former religion.’ Shufeldt’s Explor. Tehuantepec, p. 125. See further: Museo Mex., tom. ii., pp. 554-5; Charnay, Ruines Américaines, pp. 265, 286; Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt. ii., fol. 281-2, 290, 313, 332, 335-6, 397; Id., Palestra Hist., fol. 110; Moro, in Garay, Reconocimiento, pp. 90, 93; Dicc. Univ., tom. iv., p. 257.

Diseases and Medical Treatment

The diseases most prevalent among the Southern Mexicans are fevers, measles, and severe colds. All these people possess an excellent knowledge of medicinal herbs, and make use of them in cases of pains and sickness. They still practice some of their mysterious ceremonies, and are inclined to attribute all complaints to the evil influence of bewitchments. Father Baeza, in the Registro Yucateco, says they consulted a crystal or transparent stone called zalzun, by which they pretended to divine the origin and cause of any sickness. When suffering with fever or other disorders, the disease is often much aggravated and death caused by injudicious bathing in the rivers. In ancient times tobacco was much used as a specific against pains arising from colds, rheumatism, and asthma; the natives found that it soothed the nerves and acted as a narcotic. They also practiced bleeding with a sharp flint or fish-bone. The Zapotecs attempted cures by means of a blow-pipe, at the same time invoking the assistance of the gods.[956]Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt. ii., fol. 329; Baeza, in Registro Yucateco, tom. i., p. 168; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 313; Hermesdorf, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., p. 543. ‘Ay en esta tierra mucha diuersidad de yeruas medicinales, con que se curan los naturales.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. vii., cap. iii. The Maya ‘sabe las virtudes de todas las plantas como si hubiese estudiado botánica, conoce los venenos, los antídotos, y no se lo ocultan los calmantes.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 158, 162, 178.

When a death occurs the body is wrapped in a cotton cloth, leaving the head and face uncovered, and in this condition is placed in a grave. Very few of the ancient funeral usages remain at the present day, though some traces of superstitious ceremonies may still be observed among them; such as placing food in the grave, or at different spots in its immediate vicinity. Sometimes a funeral is conducted with a certain degree of pomp, and the corpse carried to its last resting-place followed by horn-blowers, and tunkul-drummers. As in the case of the central Mexicans, a memorial day is observed, when much respect is shown for the memory of the dead, at which times fruits, bread, and cakes are placed upon the graves.[957]Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 51; Museo Mex., tom. ii., p. 554. ‘En Tamiltepec, los indios usan de ceremonias supersticiosas en sus sepulturas. Se les ve hacer en los cementerios pequeños montones de tierra, en los que mezclan víveres cada vez que entierran alguno de ellos.’ Berlandier y Thovel, Diario, p. 231.

Character of Southern Mexicans

The character of the inhabitants of the Tehuantepec isthmus and Yucatan is at the present day one of docility and mildness. With a few exceptions they are kind-hearted, confiding, and generous, and some few of them evince a high degree of intelligence, although the majority are ignorant, superstitious, of loose morality as we esteem it, yet apparently unconscious of wrong. Cayetano Moro says they are far superior to the average American Indian. The Zapotecs are a bold and independent people, exhibit many intellectual qualities, and are of an impatient disposition, though cheerful, gentle, and inoffensive; they make good soldiers; they are fanatical and superstitious like their neighbors. The women are full of vivacity, of temperate and industrious habits, their manners are characterized by shyness rather than modesty, and they are full of intrigue. To this nation the Mijes present a complete contrast; of all the tribes who inhabit the isthmus, they are the most brutal, degraded, and idolatrous; they are grossly stupid, yet stubborn and ferocious. The Chontales and Choles are barbarous, fierce, and quarrelsome, and greatly addicted to witchcraft. The Cajonos and Nexitzas, of Oajaca, are of a covetous and malicious nature, dishonest in their dealings, and much inclined to thieving. The Zoques are more rational in their behavior; although they are ignorant and intemperate in their habits, they are naturally kind and obliging, as well as patient and enduring. The Huaves are deficient in intelligence, arrogant and inhospitable to strangers, and of a reticent and perverse disposition. The Miztecs are grave and steady; they exhibit many traits of ingenuity, are industrious, hospitable, and affable in their manners, and retain an ardent love for liberty.[958]The Miztecs ‘siempre de mayor reputacion, y mas políticos.’ Zapotecs ‘naturalmente apazibles, limpios, lucidos, y liberales.’ Nexitzas ‘astutos, maliciosos, inclinados á robos, y desacatos, con otros Cerranos supersticiosos, acostumbrados á aleuosias, y hechizeros.’ Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. i., pt. ii., fol. 151, tom. ii., pt. ii., fol. 202, 312, also fol. 204, 211, 228, 271, 282, 294, 335, 400. Choles, ‘nacion … feroz, guerrera é independiente.’ Balbi, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 167. ‘Siendo los Indios Mixes de natural feroz, barbaro, y duro, que quieren ser tratados con aspereza, y rigor.’ Dávila, Teatro Ecles., tom. i., p. 224. See further: Burgoa, Palestra Hist., pt. i., fol. 101; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 161-2, 186-7; Torres, in Id., p. 179; Museo Mex., tom. ii., pp. 554-5; Tempsky’s Mitla, p. 269; Hermesdorf, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., p. 543; Barnard’s Tehuantepec, pp. 220-7; Charnay, Ruines Américaines, pp. 258-9, 287; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 439; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. i., p. 200; Dampier’s Voyages, vol. ii., pt. ii., pp. 115-16; Dávila Padilla, Hist. Fund. Mex., p. 294; Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 325.The Mayas exhibit many distinguished characteristics. Although of limited intelligence, and more governed by their senses than their reason, their good qualities predominate. Formerly they were fierce and warlike, but these characteristics have given place to timidity, and they now appear patient, generous, and humane; they are frugal and satisfied with little, being remarkably free from avarice. Herrera describes them as fierce and warlike, much given to drunkenness and other sins, but generous and hospitable. Doctor Young, in his History of Mexico, says: “They are not so intelligent or energetic, though far more virtuous and humane than their brethren of the north.” The women are industrious, have pleasing manners, and are inclined to shyness. To sum it all up, I may say that the besetting vice of these nations is intemperance, but the habit of drinking to excess is found to be much more common among the mountain tribes than among the inhabitants of the lowlands. Quarrels among themselves seldom occur, and there is abundant evidence to show that many of them possess excellent natural qualifications both for common labor, and artistic industry; and that there is no cause to prevent their becoming, under favorable circumstances, useful citizens.[959]‘Es el indio yucateco un monstruoso conjunto de religion é impiedad, de virtudes y vicios, de sagacidad y estupidez … tiene ideas exactas precisas de lo bueno y de lo malo…. Es incapaz de robar un peso, y roba cuatro veces dos reales…. Siendo honrado en casi todas sus acciones … se puede decir que el único vicie que le domina es el de la embriaguez.’ Registro Yucateco, tom. i., pp. 291-3; Baeza, in Id., tom. i., pp. 166-8, 174; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 148; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv.; Mill’s Hist. Mex., p. 158; Moro, in Garay, Reconocimiento, pp. 89-34; Müller, Reisen, tom. ii., p. 371.

Tribal Boundaries

Under the name Wild Tribes of Mexico, I include all the people inhabiting the Mexican Territory from ocean to ocean, between latitude 23° north and the Central American boundary line south, including Yucatan and Tehuantepec. The southernmost point of this division touches the fifteenth degree of north latitude. A subdivision of this group is made and the parts are called the Central Mexicans, and the Southern Mexicans, respectively. In the former I include the nations north of an imaginary line, drawn from the port of Acapulco, on the Pacific coast, to Vera Cruz, on the Gulf of Mexico, and in the latter all those south of this line.

Going to the fountain-head of Mexican history, I find mentioned certain names, of which it is now impossible to determine whether they are different names applied to the same people or different peoples, or whether they are mythical and apply to no really existing nations. Still less is it possible to give these strange names any definite location; instance the Toltecs and the Chichimecs, and indeed almost all early designations, very common names used to denote very uncommon people. Sahagun is the only one of the oldest writers who mentions the name of Toltecs, which in later years was used by Ixtlilxochitl and Boturini, and after them bandied about more freely by modern writers. After the conquest, the name Chichimecs was applied to all uncivilized and unsettled people north of the valley of Mexico, extending to the farthest discovered region. Of still other nations nothing further can be said than that they occupied the cities to which their name was applied; such were the Mexicans, or Aztecs, the Tlascaltecs, the Cholultecs, and many others. Some general remarks respecting the location of the principal civilized nations, will be found in vol. ii., chap. ii., of this work; and all obtainable details concerning the many tribes that cannot be definitely located here are given in volume v.

Olmecs and Xicalancas

The Quinames or Giants are mentioned as the first inhabitants of Mexico. ‘Los Quinametin, gigantes que vivian en esta rinconada, que se dice ahora Nueva España.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 322; Id., Hist. Chichimeca, in Id., p. 205. ‘Los que hasta ahora se sabe, aver morado estas Estendidas, y Ampliadisimas Tierras, y Regiones, de la Nueva España, fueron vnas Gentes mui crecidas de Cuerpo, que llamaron despues otros, Qainametin.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 34. ‘Les Quinamés, la plus ancienne des races connues de ces contrées, étaient encore en possession de quelques localités de peu d’importance près des villes de Huitzilapan, de Cuetlaxcohuapan et de Totomihuacan.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 196. ‘Sa domination s’étendait sur les provinces intérieures du Mexique et du Guatémala, et, à l’époque du débarquement des Olmèques et des Xicalancas, les histoires nous la montrent encore en possession du plateau aztèque et des contrées voisines du fleuve Tabasco.’ Id., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1858, tom. clviii., p. 258. ‘Vivian hácia las riberas del rio Atoyac, entre la ciudad de Tlaxcala y la de la Puebla de los Angeles.’ Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 28, 143-4.

The Olmecs and Xicalancas were ‘los que poseian este Nuevo Mundo, en esta tercera edad.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chichimeca, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 205. ‘Olmecas, Vixtoti, y Mixtecas. Estos tales así llamados, están ácia el nacimiento del sol, y llámanles tambien tenime, porque hablan lengua bárbara, y dicen que son Tultecas.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 136. ‘Estos poblaron, donde aora està Edificada, y Poblada la Ciudad de los Angeles, y en Totomihuacan…. Los Xicalancas, fueron tambien Poblando, ácia Cuathazualco (que es ácia la Costa del Norte) y adelante en la misma Costa, está oi dia vn Pueblo, que se dice Xicalanco…. Otro Pueblo ai del mismo Nombre, en la Provincia de Maxcaltzinco, cerca del Puerto de la Vera-Cruz, que parece averlo tambien Poblado los Xicalancas.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 32. ‘Atravesando los Puertos del Bolcan, y Sierra-Nevada, y otros rodeandolos por la parte de el Mediodia, hasta que venieron à salir à vn Lugar, que de presente se llama Tochmilco. De alli, pasaron á Atlixco, Calpan, y Huexotzinco, hasta llegar al parage, y Tierras de la Provincia de Tlaxcallan; y haciendo asiento en el principio, y entrada de la dicha Tierra, hicieron su Fundacion en el Pueblo, que aora se llama Nuestra Señora de la Natividad (y en Lengua Mexicana Yancuictlalpan.) De alli, pasaron à otro Poblado, el referido, llamado Huapalcalco, junto à vna Hermita, que llaman de Santa Cruz, al qual llaman los Naturales, Texoloc, Mizco, y Xiloxuchitla, donde aora es la Hermita de San Vicente, y el Cerro de la Xochitecatl, y Tenayacac, donde estàn otras dos Hermitas, à poco trecho vna de otra, que las llaman de San Miguél, y de San Francisco, enmedio de las quales, pasa el Rio, que viene de la Sierra Nevada de Huexotzinco. Y aqui en este Sitio, hicieron los Hulmecas, su Principal asiento, y Poblaçon.’ Id., p. 257; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 145-6; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 7. ‘Vlmecatlh poblo tambien muchos lugares en aquella parte, a do agora esta la ciudad de los Angeles. Y nombro los Totomiuacan, Vicilapan, Cuetlaxcoapan, y otros assi. Xicalancatlh anduuo mas tierra, llego a la mar del norte, y en la costa hizo muchos pueblos. Pero a los dos mas principales llamo de su mesmo nombre. El vn Xicalanco esta en la prouincia de Maxcalcinco, que es cerca de la Vera Cruz, y el otro Xicalanco esta cerca de Tauasco.’ Gomara,Conq. Mex., fol. 299. ‘Hácia Atlisco y Itzucan los xicalancas: y en el territorio de la Puebla, Chollolan y Tlaxcallan los ulmecas, cuya primitiva y principal poblacion dicen haber sido la ciudad de Chollolan.’ Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 153; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 110-11, 196; Id., Popol Vuh, introd., p. xxx.; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 119; Alcedo, Diccionario, tom. iii., p. 374.

The Coras constitute the north-westernmost nation of the Central Mexicans, inhabiting the district of ‘Nayarit ó reino de Nuevo Toledo…. Al Oeste tiene los pueblos de la antigua provincia de Acaponeta; al Este los de Colotlan, y al Sur quieren algunos que se extienda hasta las orillas del rio Grande ó Tololotlan … el Nayarit se extiende entre los 21° 20´ y 23° de lat., y entre los 5° y 6° de long. occidental de México.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 279. ‘En la Sierra del Nayarit.’ Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., p. 71. ‘Los indios que viven en el centro de la sierra, llamados muutzizti…. Los llamados teakuaeitzizti viven en las faldas de la sierra que mira al Poniente … los coras que viven á la orilla del rio Nayarit ó de Jesus María, conocidos por Ateakari.’ Id., p. 83.

The Tecoxines ‘tenian su principal asiento en el valle de Cactlan … y se extendian à la Magdalena, Analco, Hoxtotipaquillo y barrancas de Mochitiltic.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 279.

The Cocotlanes were at the missions of ‘Apozolco y en Comatlan.’ Id., p. 280.

The Maraveres reside in Tlajomulco. Alcedo, Diccionario, tom. ii., p. 242.

The Thorames and Tzayaquecas dwell near the town of Zentipac. ‘Dos leguas apartado del mar, la nacion Thorama … diez leguas de Zentipac habia otros Indios de Nacion Tzayaqueca.’ Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., p. 62. ‘La gran poblacion y Valle de Tzenticpac, cuyo pueblo principal está situado punto á la mar del Sur, dos leguas antes á orillas del rio grande, y que la gente de esta provincia era de la nacion Totorame.’ Beaumont, Crón. de Mechoacan, MS., p. 197.

The Corarus ‘habitaban … hacia la parte del Norte, diez leguas del dicho pueblo de Tzenticpac.’ Ib.

The Guicholas ‘are settled in the village of San Sebastian, which lies eighteen leagues to the westward of Bolaños.’ Lyon’s Journal, vol. i., p. 322; Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1828, tom. xl., p. 239. ‘En Santa Catarina, S. Sebastian, S. Andres Coamiat, Soledad y Tezompan, pertenecientes á Colotlan.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 282.

The Coronados ‘son los del pueblo de Tuito al Sur del valle de Banderas.’ Id., p. 278.

The Tiaxomultecs ‘habitaban en Tlajomulco.’ ‘Estos tecuexes … llaman à los indios cocas de toda la provincia de Tonalan, que no eran de su lengua, tlaxomultecas.’ Id., p. 278.

The Cocas and Tecuexes ‘eran los de la provincia de Tonalan…. Los tecuexes pasaban del otro lado de Tololotlan hasta ocupar parte de Zacatecas, derramándose por los pueblos de Tecpatitlan, Teocaltiche, Mitic, Jalostotitlan, Mesticatan, Yagualica, Tlacotlan, Teocaltitlan, Ixtlahuacan, Cuautla, Ocotic y Acatic.’ Id., pp. 278-9.

The Mazapiles are ‘al N. E. de la zacateca.’ Hervas, in Id., p. 11.

The Cazcanes ‘habitan hasta la comarca de Zacatecas.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. ix., cap. xiii.; Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 281. ‘Ocupaba el terreno desde el rio Grande, confinando con los tecuexes y los tepecanos.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 284, 49.

The Mecos live in the pueblo Soledad de las Canoas, in the State of Querétaro. Alcedo, Dicc., tom. iv., p. 567.

The Pames inhabit the state of Querétaro, ‘treinta leguas distante de la expresada Ciudad de Querétaro, y se estiende á cien leguas de largo, y treinta de ancho, en cuyas breñas vivian los Indios de la Nacion Pame.’ Paiou, Vida de Junípero Serra, p. 23. ‘En la mision de Cerro Prieto del Estado de México, se extiende principalmente por los pueblos de San Luis Potosí, y tambien se le encuentra en Querétaro y en Guanajuato.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 48, 256, 262, 264. ‘En San Luis de la Paz, territorio de la Sierra Gorda … en la ciudad del Maiz, Departamento de San Luis Potosí … en la Purísima Concepcion de Arnedo, en la Sierra Gorda.’ Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., p. 265.

THE OTOMÍS.

The Otomís are one of the most widely dispersed nations of Mexico. ‘Todo lo alto de las montañas, ó la mayor parte, á la redonda de México, están llenas de ellos. La cabeza de su señorío creo que es Xilotepec, que es una gran provincia, y las provincias de Tollan y Otompa casi todas son de ellos, sin contar que en lo bueno de la Nueva España hay muchas poblaciones de estos Otomíes, de los quales proceden los Chichimecas.’ Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 9. The above is copied by Torquemada, in his Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 32. ‘Estos Teochichimecas son los que aora se llaman Otomies…. Tlaixpan, es de los que hablan esta Lengua Otomi.’ Id., p. 261. ‘La grandisima Provincia, ò Reino de los Otomies, que coge à Tepexic, Tula, Xilotepec, Cabeça de este Reyno, Chiapa, Xiquipilco, Atocpan, y Queretaro, en cuio medio de estos Pueblos referidos, ai otro inumerables, porque lo eran sus Gentes.’ Id., p. 287. ‘Xilotepeque provincia Otomiis habitata.’ Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 234. ‘La Provincia degli Otomiti cominciava nella parte settentrionale della Valle Messicana, e si continuava per quelle montagne verso tramontana sino a novanta miglia dalla Capitale. Sopra tutti i luoghi abitati, che v’erano ben molti, s’innalzava l’antica e celebre Città di Tollan [oggidì Tula] e quella di Xilotepec.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 31. In ancient times they ‘occuparono un tratto di terra di più di trecento miglia dalle montagne d’Izmiquilpan verso Maestro, confinando verso Levante, e verso Ponente con altre Nazioni parimente selvaggie.’ Later: ‘fondarono nel paese d’Anahuac, ed anche nella stessa Valle di Messico infiniti luoghi; la maggior parte d’essi, e spezialmente i più grandi, come quelli di Xilotopec e di Huitzapan nelle vicinanze del paese, che innanzi occupavano: altri sparsi fra i Matlatzinchi, ed i Tlascallesi, ed in altre Provincie del Regno.’ Id., p. 148. ‘Los indios de este pais (Querétaro) eran por la mayor parte otomites.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. ii., p. 163; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 77. ‘Sous le nom d’Othomis, on comprenait généralement les restes des nations primitives, répandus dans les hautes vallées qui bornent l’Anahuac à l’occident.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 56. ‘Les traditions les plus anciennes du Mexique nous montrent les Othomis en possession des montagnes et de la vallée d’Anahuac, ainsi que des vastes contrées qui s’étendent au delà, dans le Michoacan, jusqu’aux frontières de Xalizco et de Tonalàn; ils étaient également les maîtres du plateau de Tlaxcallan.’ Id., tom. i., p. 160. ‘Ils occupaient la plus grande partie de la vallée d’Anahuac, avec ses contours jusqu’aux environs de Cholullan, ainsi que les provinces que s’étendent au nord entre la Michoacan et Tuilantzinco.’ Id., p. 196. ‘Otompan, aujourd’hui Otumba, fut leur capitale.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, introd., pp. xxx., cx. Querétaro ‘fue siempre domicilio de los esforzados Othomites…. Tienen poblado todo lo alto de las Montañas, que circundan á Mexico, siendo cabecera de toda la Provincia Othomí Xilotepec, que la hacen numerosa los Pueblos de Tepexic, Tula, Huichiapan, Xiquilpo, Atocpan, el Mexquital, S. Juan del Rio, y Queretaro.’ Espinosa, Chrón. Apostólica, pp. 1-2. The Otomí language ‘se le encuentra derramado por el Estado de México, entra en San Luis Potosí, abraza todo Querétaro y la mayor parte de Guanajuato, limitándose al O. por los pueblos de los tarascos; reaparece confundido con el tepehua cerca del totonaco, y salpicado aquí y allá se tropieza con él en Puebla y en Veracruz.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 17, 216-7, 240, 255-6, 261-4, 272. ‘En todo el Estado de Querétaro y en una parte de los de San Luis, Guanajuato, Michoacan, México, Puebla, Veracruz y Tlaxcala.’ Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 117. Concurrent authorities: Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 138; Delaporte, Reisen, tom. x., p. 323; Ward’s Mexico, vol. ii., p. 345; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 477; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., pp. 36, 188, 196-7; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., p. 193; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 2; Gemelli Careri, in Churchill’s Col. Voyages, tom. iv., p. 513. ‘Habitait les bords du golfe du Mexique, depuis la province de Panuco jusqu’au Nueces.’ Domenech, Jour., p. 16.

The Mazahuas ‘furono tempo fa parte della Nazione Otomita…. I principali luoghi da loro abitati erano sulle montagne occidentali della Valle Messicana, e componevano la Provincia di Mazahuacan, appartenente alla Corona di Tacuba.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 149-50; copied in Heredia y Sarmiento, Sermon de Guadalupe, p. 83. ‘Mazahua, Mazahui, Matzahua, Matlazahua Mozahui, en Mexico y en Michoacan. En tiempos del imperio azteca esta tribu pertenecia al reino de Tlacopan; sus pueblos marcaban los límites entre su señorío y Michoacan.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 256. ‘Parece que solo quedan algunos restos de la nacion mazahua en el distrito Ixtlahuaca, perteneciente al Departamento de México.’Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., p. 193. ‘Au nord ils étendaient leurs villages jusqu’à peu de distance de l’ancien Tollan.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 56.

The Huastecs, Huaxtecs, Guastecs, or Cuextecas inhabit portions of the states of Vera Cruz and Tamaulipas. ‘A los mismos llamaban Panteca ó Panoteca, que quiere decir hombres del lugar pasadero, los cuales fueron así llamados, y son los que viven en la provincia de Panuco, que propiamente se llaman Pantlan, ó Panotlan.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 132. ‘El Huaxtecapan se extendió de Veracruz á San Luis Potosí, y corria á lo largo de la costa del Golfo, hácia el Norte, prolongándose probablemente muy adentro de Tamaulipas, por lugares en donde ahora no se encuentra ni vestigio suyo.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 206, 19. ‘Cuando llegaron los españoles, el lugar que ocupaban era la frontera Norte del reino de Texcoco, y parte de la del mexicano…. Hoy se conoce su pais con el nombre de la Huaxteca: comprende la parte Norte del Estado de Veracruz y una fraccion lindante del de San Luis, confinando, al Oriente, con el Golfo de México, desde la barra de Tuxpan hasta Tampico.’ Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 5. Further mention in Chaves, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., p. 298; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. i., p. 46; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 226; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., pp. 35-6; Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 316; Villa-Señor, Theatro, tom. i., p. 122.

Totonacs and Nahuatlacs

The Totonacs occupy the country east of the valley of Mexico down to the sea-coast, and particularly the state of Veracruz and a portion of Puebla. ‘Estos Totonaques estan poblados á la parte del norte, y se dice ser guastemas.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 131-4. ‘Totonachi. Questa grande Provincia, ch’era per quella parte l’ultima dell’ imperio, si stendeva per ben centocinquanta miglia, cominciando dalla frontiera di Zacatlan … e terminando nel Golfo Messicano. Oltre alla capitale Mizquihuacan, quindici miglia a Levante da Zacatlan, v’era la bella Città di Cempoallan sulla costa del Golfo.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 34. ‘Raccontavano dunque, que essendosi eglino da principio per qualche tempo stabiliti su le rive del lago tezcucano, quindi si portarono a popolare quelle montagne, che da loro presero il nome di Totonacapan.’ Id., tom. iv., p. 51. ‘En Puebla y en Veracruz. Los totonacos ocupan la parte Norte del Departamento, formando un solo grupo con sus vecinos de Veracruz; terminan sobre la costa del golfo, en toda la zona que se extiende entre los rios de Chachalacas y de Cazones ó S. Márcos.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 214, 216. ‘Están estendidos, y derramados por las Sierras, que le caen, al Norte, à esta Ciudad de Mexico.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 278; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 223. ‘In the districts of Zacatlan, State of Puebla, and in the State of Vera Cruz.’ Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 190; Villa-Señor,Theatro, tom. i., p. 312; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., p. 208; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 4.

The Meztitlanecs inhabited the region north of Tezcuco, between the Sierra Madre and the territory occupied by the Huastecs. ‘Al Norte de Tetzcoco existia el señorío independiente de Meztitlan, que hoy corresponde al Estado de México…. Obedecian á Meztitlan, cabecera principal, las provincias de Molango, Malila, Tlanchinolticpac, Ilamatlan, Atlihuetzian, Suchicoatlan, Tianguiztengo, Guazalingo, Yagualica. El señorío, pues, se extendia por toda la sierra, hasta el limite con los huaxtecos: en Yahualica estaba la guarnicion contra ellos, por ser la frontera, comenzando desde allí las llanuras de Huaxtecapan. Xelitla era el punto mas avanzado al Oeste y confinaba con los bárbaros chichimecas: el término al Sur era Zacualtipan y al Norte tenia á los chichimecas.’ Chavez, Relacion de Meztitlan, quoted in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 246.

The Nahuatlacs ‘se diuiden en siete linajes…. Los primeros fueron los Suchimilcos, que quiere dezir, gente de sementeras de flores. Estos poblaron a la orilla de la gran laguna de Mexico hazia el Mediodia, y fundaron vna ciudad de su nombre, y otros muchos lugares. Mucho despues llegaron los del segundo linage llamados Chalcas, que significa gente de las bocas, y tambien fundaron otra ciudad de su nombre, partiendo terminos con los Suchimílcos. Los terceros fueron los Tepanecas, que quiere dezir, gente de la Puente. Y tambien poblaron en la orilla de la laguna al Occidente…. La cabeça de su provincia la llamaron Azcapuzàlco…. Tras estos vinieron, los que poblaron a Tezcùco, que son los de Cùlhua, que quiere dezir, gente corua…. Y assi quedò la laguna cercada de estas quatro naciones, poblando estos al Oriente, y los Tepanècas al Norte…. Despues llegaron los Tlatluìcas, que significa gente de la sierra…. Y como hallaron ocupados todos los llanos en contorno de la laguna hasta las sierras, passaron de la otra parte de la sierra…. Y a la cabeça de su prouincia llamaron Quahunahuàc … que corrompidamente nuestro vulgo llama Quernauaca, y aquella prouincia es, la que oy se dize el Marquesado. Los de la sexta generacion, que son los Tlascaltècas, que quiere dezir gente de pan, passaron la serrania hazia el Oriente atrauessando la sierra neuada, donde està el famoso bolcan entre Mexico y la ciudad de los Angeles … la cabeça de su prouincia llamaron de su nombre Tlascàla…. La septima cueua, o linage, que es la nacion Mexicana, la qual como las otras, salio de las prouincias de Aztlan, y Teuculhuàcan.’ Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 454-8. Repeated in Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. x. Also in Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 151-2, and in Heredia y Sarmiento, Sermon de Guadalupe, p. 85; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 91-2.

The Acolhuas inhabited the kingdom of Acolhuacan. ‘Su capital era Tetzcoco, á la orilla del lago de su nombre…. La extension del reino era: desde el mar del N. á la del Sur, con todo lo que se comprende á la banda del Poniente hasta el puerto de la Veracruz, salvo la cuidad de Tlachcala y Huexotzinco.’ Pomar, Relacion de Texcoco, quoted in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 240-2. ‘Juan B. Pomar fija los límites del reino con toda la exageracion que puede infundir el orgullo de raza. Por nuestra parte, hemos leido con cuidado las relaciones que á la monarquía corresponden, y hemos estudiado en el plano los lugares á que se refieren, y ni de las unas ní de los otros llegamos á sacar jamas que los reyes de Aculhuacan mandaran sobre las tribus avecindadas en la costa del Pacífico, no ya á la misma altura de México, sino aun á menores latitudes.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 242-4. See further: Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 11; Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 341.

The Ocuiltecs ‘viven en el distrito de Toluca, en tierras y terminos suyos.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 130.

The Macaoaquez ‘viven en una comarca de Toluca, y están poblados en el pueblo de Xocotitlan. Ib.

The Tarascos dwell chiefly in the state of Michoacan. ‘La provincia de estos, es la madre de los pescados, que es Michoacan: llámase tambien Quaochpanme.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 137. Repeated in Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 148. Their territory is bounded: ‘Au nord-est, le royaume de Tonalan et le territoire maritime de Colima eu sont séparés par le rio Pantla et le fleuve Coahuayana, auquel s’unit cette rivière, dix lieues avant d’aller tomber dans la mer Pacifique, dont le rivage continue ensuite à borner le Michoacan, au sud-ouest, jusqu’à Zacatollan. Là les courbes capricieuses du Mexcala lui constituent d’autres limites, à l’est et au sud, puis, à l’est encore, les riches provinces de Cohuixco et de Matlatzinco…. Plus au nord, c’étaient les Mazahuas, dont les fertiles vallées, ainsi que celles des Matlatzincas, s’étendent dans les régions les plus froides de la Cordillère; enfin le cour majestueux du Tololotlan et les rives pittoresques du lac Chapala formaient une barrière naturelle entre les Tarasques et les nombreuses populations othomies et chichimèques des états de Guanaxuato et de Queretaro.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 53, 56. ‘El tarasco se habla en el Estado de Michoacan, exceptuando la parte Sur-Oeste que linda con el Pacífico donde se habla el mexicano, una pequeña parte al Nor-Este, donde se acostumbra el othomí ó el mazahua, y otra parte donde se usa el matlatzinca. Tambien se habla en el Estado de Guanajuato, en la parte que linda con Michoacan y Guadalajara, limitada al Oriente por una línea que puede comenzar en Acámbaro, seguir á Irapuato y terminar en San Felipe, es decir, en los límites con San Luis Potosí.’ Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 271. ‘En Michoacan, Guerrero, Guanajuato y Jalisco.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 58, 238, 264, 271-2, 281. Concurrent authorities: Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 4; Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 182; Figuier’s Hum. Race, p. 460; Ward’s Mexico, vol. ii., p. 675

Matlaltzincas and Tlapanecs

The Matlaltzincas, Pirindas, or Tolucas inhabited the valley of Toluca, situated between the valley of Mexico and Michoacan. ‘La Provincia dei Matlatzinchi comprendeva, oltre la valle di Tolocan, tutto quello spazio, che v’è infino a Tlaximaloyan (oggi Taximaroa) frontiera del regno di Michuacan…. Nelle montagne circonvicine v’erano gli stati di Xalatlauhco, di Tzompahuacan, e di Malinalco; in non molta lontananza verso Levante dalla valle quello d’Ocuillan, e verso Ponente quelli di Tozantla, e di Zoltepec.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 31-2, 150. ‘Antiguamente en el valle de Toluca; pero hoy solo se usa en Charo, lugar perteneciente al Estado de Michoacan.’ Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 499. ‘In the district of that name, sixty miles south-west of Mexico.’ Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., tom. i., p. 4. Also in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 56.

The Chumbias inhabit the pueblos Ciutla, Axalo, Ihuitlan, Vitalata, Guaguayutla and Coyuquilla in the State of Guerrero. Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 227.

The Tlapanecs, Coviscas, Yopes, Yopis, Jopes, Yopimes, Tenimes, Pinomes, Chinquimes, Chochontes, Pinotl-Chochons, Chochos, Chuchones, Popolocas, Tecos, Tecoxines, or Popolucas are one and the same people, who by different writers are described under one or the other of these names. ‘Estos Coviscas y Tlapanecas, son unos … y están poblados en Tepecuacuilco y Tlachmalacac, y en la provincia de Chilapan.’ ‘Estos Yopimes y Tlapanecas, son de los de la comarca de Yopitzinco, llámenles Yopes … son los que llaman propiamente tenimes, pinome, chinquime, chochonti.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 135; quoted also in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 235-6, 217, 196. ‘La provincia de los Yopes lindaba al Oeste con los Cuitlateques, al Sur con el Pacífico, al Este con los Mixtecos y al Norte con los Cohuixcas: la division por esta parte la representaria una linea de Este à Oeste, al Sur de Xocolmani y de Amatlan, y comprendiera à los actuales tlapanecos.’ Montufar, in Id., pp. 235-6. ‘Confinava colla costa dei Cohuixchi quella dei Jopi, e con questa quella dei Mixtechi, conosciuta ai nostri tempi col nome di Xicayan.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 34; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 4. ‘Tecamachalco era su poblacion principal, y se derramaban al Sur hasta tocar con los mixtecos. Durante el siglo XVI se encontraban aún popolocos en Tlacotepec y en San Salvador (unidos con los otomíes), pueblo sujeto á Quecholac…. Por la parte de Tehuacan, el límite de esta tribu se hallaba en Coxcatlan.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 217-18. The Chochos dwell in sixteen pueblos in the department of Huajuapan in the state of Oajaca. Id., p. 196.

The Cohuixcas dwelt in the province of the same name, which ‘confinava a Settentrione coi Matlatzinchi, e coi Tlahuichi, a Ponente coi Cuitlatechi, a Levante coi Jopi e coi Mixtechi, ed a Mezzogiornio si stendeva infino al Mar Pacifico per quella parte, dove presentemente vi sono il porto e la Città d’Acapulco.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 32. ‘La provincia comenzaba en Zacualpa, límite con los matlaltzincas, y que, por último, los confines de esa porcion antigua del imperio Mexicano, eran al Norte los matlaltzinques; los tlahuiques, al Este los mixtecos y los tlapanecos, al Sur los yopes, y al Oeste los cuitlateques.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 227-32. Their country lies ‘between Tesitzlan and Chilapan.’ Ker’s Travels, p. 233.

The Cuitlatecs inhabit the country between the Cohuixcas and the Pacific Coast. ‘I Cuitlatechi abitavano un paese, che si stendeva più di dugento miglia da Maestro a Scirocco dal regno di Michuacan infino al mar Pacifico. La loro capitale era la grande e popolosa città di Mexcaltepec sulla costa, della quale appena sussistono le rovine.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 32. ‘En Ajuchitlan, San Cristóbal y Poliutla en la municipalidad de Ajuchitlan, distrito del mismo nombre, y en Atoyac, distrito y municipalidad de Tecpan. La provincia de los cuitlateques ó cuitlatecos, sujeta en lo antiguo á los emperadores de México, quedaba comprendida entre las de Zacatula y de los cohuixques.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 233-4.

Proceeding southward, among the Southern Mexicans, we first encounter the Miztecs, whose province, Miztecapan, was in the present states of Oajaca and Guerrero. ‘La Mixtecapan, o sia Provincia dei Mixtechi si stendeva da Acatlan, luogo lontano cento venti miglia dalla corte verso Scirocco, infino al Mar Pacifico, e conteneva più Città e villaggi ben popolati, e di considerabile commercio.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 32. ‘Le Mixtecapan comprenait les régions occidentales de l’état d’Oaxaca, depuis la frontière septentrionale d’Acatlan, qui le séparait des principautés des Tlahuicas et de Mazatlan, jusque sur le rivage de l’océan Pacifique. Elles se divisaient en haute et basse Mixtèque, l’une et l’autre également fertiles, la première resserrèe entre les montagnes qui lui donnaient son nom; la seconde, occupant les riches territoires des bords de la mer, ayant pour capitale la ville de Tututepec (à l’embouchure du rio Verde).’ Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 4. ‘Les Mixtèques donnaient eux-mêmes à leur pays le nom de Gnudzavui-Gnuhu, Terre de pluie, pour le haute Mixtèque, et Gnuundaa, Côte de la mer, à la basse.’ Id., pp. 5-6. ‘En la antigua provincia de este nombre, situada sobre la costa del mar Pacifico, que comprende actualmente, hácia el Norte, una fraccion del Estado de Puebla; hácia el Este, una del de Oajaca, y al Oeste, parte del Estado de Guerrero. Divídese la Mixteca en alta y baja, estando la primera en la serranía, y la segunda en las llanuras contiguas á la costa.’ Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 37. ‘Westlich der Zapotécos, bei San Francisco Huizo im Norden und bei Santa Cruz Miztepéc im Süden des grossen Thales von Oajáca beginnen die Mistéken, welche den ganzen westlichen Theil des Staats einnehmen, und südlich bis an die Küste des Austral-Oceans bei Jamiltepéc und Tututepéc hinabreichen.’ Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. i., pp. 142, 187, 192-6, 198-9, 201-2. Also in Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 163.

Zapotecs and Mijes

The Zapotecs occupy the large valley of Oajaca. ‘Fue la Zapotecapan Señora, y tan apoderada de las demas de su Orizonte, que ambiciosos sus Reyes, rompieron los terminos de su mando, y se entraron ferozes, y valientes, por Chontales, Mijes, y tierras maritimas de ambos mares del Sur, y del Norte … y venciendo, hasta Señorear los fertiles llanos de Teguantepeque, y corriendo hasta Xoconusco.’ Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. i., pt. ii., fol. 196, tom. ii., fol. 362. ‘Hasta Tepeiac, Techamachalco, Quecholac y Teohuacan, que por aquí dicen que hicieron sus poblaciones los zapotecas.’ Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 153. ‘A Levante de’ Mixtechi erano i Zapotechi, cosí chiamati dalla loro capitale Teotzapotlan. Nel loro distretto era la Valle di Huaxyacac, dagli Spagnuoli detta Oaxaca o Guaxaca.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 32. ‘En una parte del Estado de Oajaca, limitada al Sur por el Pacífico, exceptuando una pequeña fraccion de terreno ocupada por los chontales.’ Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 319. See also: Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 177-87; Murguía y Galardi, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. vii., pp. 245-6. ‘The Zapotecs constitute the greater part of the population of the southern division of the Isthmus (of Tehuantepec).’ Barnard’s Tehuantepec, p. 226. ‘Inhabit the Pacific plains and the elevated table-lands from Tarifa to Petapa.’ Shufeldt’s Explor. Tehuantepec, pp. 125, 133-4; Garay’s Tehuantepec, p. 59; Fossey, Mexique, pp. 338, 470. ‘Zapotécos, welche die Mitte des Staates, das grosse Thal von Oajáca bewohnen, sich im Osten über die Gebirge von Huixázo, Iztlán und Tanétze und die Thäler Los Cajónos ausbreiten, und im Süden, im Partido Quíechápa (Depart. Tehuantepéc) mit den Mijes, im Partido von Pochútla (Depart. Ejútla) aber mit den Chontáles, Nachbaren jener, gränzen.’ Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. i., pp. 141, 170, 173-6, 183-6, 189, 191, 199, 212-13; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 162. ‘Les Zapotèques appelaient leur pays Lachea.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 38; Macgregor’s Progress of America, p. 848.

The Mijes dwell in the mountains of southern Oajaca and in a small portion of Tehuantepec. ‘Antérieurement à la ruine de l’empire toltèque … les Mijes occupaient tout le territoire de l’isthme de Tehuantepec, d’une mer à l’autre.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Voy. Tehuantepec, pp. 138-9. ‘Toute cette région, comprenant, à l’est, les cimes de la Sierra de Macuilapa que domine le village actuel de Zanatepec et les montagnes qui s’étendent, du côté opposé, vers Lachixila, baignées par la rivière de Tehuantepec, au sud, et, au nord, par celle de la Villa-Alta, jusqu’aux savanes, oú roulent les affluents de l’Alvarado et du Guazacoalco, appartenait à la même nation des Mixi ou Mijes … les Mijes vaincus demeurèrent soumis dès lors aux rois de la Mixtèque et du Zapotecapan, à l’exception d’un petit nombre qui, jusqu’à l’époque espagnole, continuérent dans leur résistance dans les cantons austères qui environnent le Cempoaltepec. Ce qui reste de cette nation sur l’isthme de Tehuantepec est disséminé actuellement en divers villages de la montagne. Entre les plus importants est celui de Guichicovi que j’avais laissé à ma droite en venant de la plaine de Xochiapa au Barrio.’ Id., pp. 105-7. ‘Les Mixi avaient possédé anciennement la plus grande partie des royaumes de Tehuantepec, de Soconusco et du Zapotecapan; peut-être même les rivages de Tututepec leur devaient-ils leur première civilisation.’ Id., Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 34-5. ‘En algunos lugares del Departamento de Oajaca como Juquila, Quezaltepec y Atilan.’ Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., p. 173. ‘Les Indiens mijes habitent une contrée montagneuse, au sud-ouest du Goatzacoalco et au nord-ouest de Tehuantepec…. De la chaîne des monts Mijes descend la rivière de Sarrabia, qui traverse la belle plaine de Boca-del-Monte.’ Fossey, Mexique, p. 49. ‘The Mijes, once a powerful tribe, inhabit the mountains to the west, in the central division of the Isthmus, and are now confined to the town of San Juan Guichicovi.’ Barnard’s Tehuantepec, p. 224; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 225; Hermesdorf, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., p. 547. ‘The Mijes constituted formerly a powerful nation, and they still occupy the land from the Sierra, north of Tehuantepec, to the district of Chiapas. In the Isthmus they only inhabit the village of Guichicovi, and a small portion of the Sierra, which is never visited.’ Garay’s Tehuantepec, p. 60. Also Macgregor’s Progress of America, p. 849; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 176-7.

The Huaves, Huavi, Huabi, Huabes, Guavi, Wabi, etc., live on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. ‘Les Wabi avaient été, dans les siècles passés, possesseurs de la province de Tehuantepec…. Ils avaient été les maîtres du riche territoire de Soconusco (autrefois Xoconochco … espèce de nopal), et avaient étendu leurs conquêtes jusqu’au sein même des montagnes, où ils avaient fondé ou accru la ville de Xalapa la Grande (Xalapa-del-Marques).’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 3. ‘The Huaves are in all little more than three thousand, and occupy the four villages of the coast called San Mateo, Santa Maria, San Dionisio, and San Francisco.’ Garay’s Tehuantepec, p. 59. ‘Scattered over the sandy peninsulas formed by the lakes and the Pacific. At present they occupy the four villages of San Mateo, Santa Maria, San Dionisio, and San Francisco.’ Barnard’s Tehuantepec, p. 227. ‘San Francisco Istaltepec is the last village, inhabited by the descendants of a tribe called Huaves.’ Hermesdorf, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., p. 546. ‘Habitent les villages du bord de la mer au sud de Guichicovi.’ Fossey, Mexique, p. 467. Shufeldt’s Explor. Tehuantepec, p. 126; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. i., p. 141. ‘Se extienden en Tehuantepec, desde las playas del Pacífico hasta la cordillera interior.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 173-6.

The Beni-Xonos ‘composaient une province nombreuse, occupant en partie les routes qui conduisaient au Mexique et aux montagnes des Mixi…. Leur ville principale, depuis la conquête, s’appelait San-Francisco, à 15 l. N. O. de la cité d’Oaxaca.’ ‘Habitant sur les confins des Mixi et des Zapotêques.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 42-3. ‘Les Beni-Xono sont appelés aussi Nexicha et Cajones.’ Ib.

The Mazatecs live in the state of Oajaca, near the Puebla boundary. ‘A Tramontana dei Mixtechi v’era la Provincia di Mazatlan, e a Tramontana, e a Levante dei Zapotechi quella di Chinantla colle loro capitali dello stesso nome, onde furono i loro abitanti Mazatechi e Chinantechi appellati.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 33. ‘In den Partidos Teutitlán und Teutíla, Departement Teutitlán del Camíno.’ Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. i., pp. 141, 206, 210. ‘En el Departamento de Teotitlan, formando una pequeña fraccion en el límite con el Estado de Veracruz.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 188.

Tribes of Oajaca and Chiapas

The Cuicatecs dwell ‘en una pequeña fraccion del Departamento de Oajaca.’ Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., p. 259. ‘In den Partidos Teutitlán und Teutíla, Departement Teutitlán del Camíno.’ Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. i., p. 141; repeated in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 188-9; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 163.

The Pabucos live in the ‘pueblo de Elotepec, Departamento del Centro.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 197; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. i., p. 187.

The Soltecs are in the pueblo de Sola. Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 197.

The Pintos are a people inhabiting small portions of Guerrero and Tehuantepec. ‘A l’ouest, sur le versant des Cordillères, une grande partie de la côte baignée par le Pacifique, habitée par les Indiens Pintos.’ Kératry, in Revue des Deux Mondes, Sept. 15, 1866, p. 453. ‘On trouve déjà dans la plaine de Tehuantepec quelques échantillons de cette race toute particulière au Mexique, appelée pinto, qui appartient principalement à l’état de Guerrero.’ Charnay, Ruines Américaines, p. 502.

The Chiapanecs inhabit the interior of the state of Chiapas. ‘Dans l’intérieur des provinces bordant les rives du Chiapan, à sa sortie des gouffres d’où il s’élance, en descendant du plateau de Zacatlan.’ (Guatemalan name for Chiapas,) and they extended over the whole province, later on. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 87. ‘À l’ouest de ce plateau, entre les Zotziles ou Quélènes du sud et les Zoqui du nord, habitaient les Chiapanèques.’ Id., Popol Vuh, introd., pp. 157, 199. Also in Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 325; Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 39. ‘En Acala, distrito del Centro, y en la villa de Chiapa y en Suchiapa, distrito del Oeste.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 172. ‘Le principali Città dei Chiapanechi erano Teochiapan, (chiamata dagli Spagnuoli Chiapa de Indios), Tochtla, Chamolla, e Tzinacantla.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 33.

The Tzendales are in Chiapas. ‘De l’Etat de Chiapas.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. 364. ‘The province called Zeldales lyeth behind this of the Zoques, from the North Sea within the continent, running up towards Chiapa and reaches in some parts near to the borders of Comitlan, north-westward.’ Gage’s New Survey, p. 236. Also in Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 193; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., p. 235; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 169; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. xi.; Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 325.

The Zotziles inhabit a small district in Chiapas. ‘La ciudad de Tzinacantlan, que en mexicano significa “lugar de murciélagos,” fué la capital de los quelenes, y despues de los tzotziles quienes la llamaban Zotzilhá, que significa lo mismo; de zotzil, murciélago.’ Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., p. 245. Tzinacantan (Quiche Zotzilha) ‘doit avoir été le berceau de la nation zotzil, l’une des nombreuses populations du Chiapas.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 88.

The Chatinos live in the ‘Departamentos del Centro y de Jamiltepee.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 189; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. i., pp. 196-9.

The Chinantecs, or Tenez, are in the ‘Departamento de Teotitlan.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 187; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. i., p. 214. ‘In the partidos of Quiechapa, Jalalog, and Chuapan.’ Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 40.

The Ahualulcos inhabit San Francisco de Ocuapa which ‘es la Cabeza de Partido de los Indios Ahualulcos.’ Alcedo, Diccionario, tom. iii., p. 366.

The Quelenes occupied a district in Chiapas near the Guatemala boundary line. ‘La nation des Quelènes, dont la capitale était Comitan, occupait la frontière guatémalienne.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 4. ‘Au temps de la conquête, la ville principale des Quelènes était Copanahuaztlan.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, introd., p. 157. ‘Établies entre le haut plateau de Ghovel ou de Ciudad-Real et les montagnes de Soconusco au midi.’ Ib.; and Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 271.

The Zoques are scattered over portions of Tabasco, Chiapas, Oajaca, and Tehuantepec. ‘Se encuentran derramados en Chiapas, Tabasco y Oaxaca; tienen al Norte el mexicano y el chontal, al Este el tzendal, el tzotzil y el chiapaneco, al Sur el mexicano, y al Oeste el huave, el zapoteco y el mixe.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 170. ‘Occupy the mountain towns of Santa Maria and San Miguel, and number altogether about two thousand souls.’ Shufeldt’s Explor. Tehuantepec, p. 126. ‘Les Zotziles et les Zoqui, confinant, au sud-est, avec les Mixi montagnards, au nord avec les Nonohualcas, et les Xicalancas, qui habitaient les territoires fertiles de Tabasco.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 5. ‘Quorum præcipuum Tecpatlan.’ Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 325. ‘The Soques, who came originally from Chiapas, inhabit in the Isthmus only the villages of San Miguel and Santa María Chimalapa.’ Garay’s Tehuantepec, p. 60. ‘La mayor de ellas está situada á tres leguas de Tacotalpa, aguas arriba del rio de la Sierra. Ocupa un pequeño valle causado por el descenso de varios cerros y colinas que la circuyen.’ Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., pp. 236-8; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. i., pp. 181-2; Macgregor’s Progress of America, pp. 849-50. ‘The Zoques inhabit the mountainous region to the east, from the valley of the Chiapa on the south, to the Rio del Corte on the north. Originally occupying a small province lying on the confines of Tabasco, they were subjugated by the expedition to Chiapas under Luis Marin. At present they are confined to the villages of San Miguel and Santa Maria Chimalapa.’ Barnard’s Tehuantepec, p. 225. ‘Near the Arroyo de Otates, on the road from Tarifa to Santa Maria, stands a new settlement, composed of a few shanties, inhabited by Zoques, which is called Tierra Blanca.’ Hermesdorf, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., p. 546.

The Choles, Manches, and Mopanes are scattered through small portions of Chiapas and Vera Paz in Guatemala. ’23 leagues from Cahbón, in the midst of inaccessible mountains and morasses, dwell the Chóls and Manchés.’ Escobar, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., pp. 94-5. Residen en la ‘Provincia del Manché.’ Alcedo, Dicc., tom. iii., p. 452. Also in Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., preface, p. 14; Dunlop’s Cent. Amer., p. 196; Gavarrete, in Panamá Star and Herald, Dec. 19, 1867. ‘Los Choles forman una tribu establecida desde tiempos remotos en Guatemala; dividos en dos fracciones … la una se encuentra al Este de Chiapas, y la otra muy retirada en la Verapaz.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 167. ‘Tenia por el Sur la Provincia del Chòl: Por la Parte del Oriente, y de el Norte, de igual modo, las Naciones de los Itzaex Petenes: Y por el Poniente, las de los Lacandones, y Xoquinoès.’ Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 278-9. ‘The nation of the Chol Indians is settled in a country about 25 or 30 leagues distant from Cahabon, the last village in Verapaz, and far removed from the Manchés.’ Juarros’ Hist. Guat., p. 275.

Mayas and Itzas

The Mayas inhabit the peninsula of Yucatan. ‘Avant la conquête des Espagnols, les Mayas occupaient toute la presque’île d’Yucatan, y compris les districts de Peten, le Honduras anglais, et la partie orientale de Tabasco…. La seule portion de pure race restant de cette grande nation, se réduit à quelques tribus èparses, habitant principalement les bords des rivières Usumasinta, San Pedro et Pacaitun; la totalitè de leur territoire fait, politiquement parlant, partie du Peten.’ Galindo, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1834, tom. lxiii., pp. 148-9, and in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., tom. iii., p. 59. ‘En todo el Estado de Yucatan, Isla del Cármen, pueblo de Montecristo en Tabasco, y del Palenque en Chiapas.’ Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., p. 3; Crowe’s Cent. America, pp. 46-7; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 453; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., p. 208; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., pp. 142-3.

The Itzas occupy a like-named district in the centre of Yucatan. ‘Los que poblaron a Chicheniza, se llaman los Yzaes.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. ii. ‘Tienen por la parte del Mediodia, la Provincia de la Vera-Paz, y Reyno de Guatimala; por el Norte, las Provincias de Yucatán; por la parte del Oriente, el Mar; por la de el Occidente, la Provincia de Chiapa; y al Sueste, la Tierra, y Provincia de Honduras.’ Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 489.

Footnotes

[897] Otomí;—’Otho en la misma lengua othomí quiere decir nada, y mi, quieto, ó sentado, de manera que traducida literalmente la palabra, significa nada-quieto, cuya idea pudiéramos expresar diciendo peregrino ó errante.’ Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 118. Chichimecs;—’Los demas Indios les llamaban Chichimecos (que hoy lo mismo es chichi que perros altaneros) por la ninguna residencia.’ Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., p. 44. Speaking of Chichimecs, ‘debaxo deste nombre estan muchas naciones con dierencias de lenguas como son Pamies, Capuzes, Samues, Zancas, Maiolias, Guamares, Guachichiles, y otros, todos diferentes aunque semejantes en las costumbres.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. viii., lib. vi., cap. xiv. For further etymology of tribes, see Buschmann, Ortsnamen.

[898] ‘Hanno d’altezza più di cinque piedi parigini.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iv., p. 161. ‘De pequeña estatura [cuatro piés seis pulgadas, á cinco piés cuando mas.]’ Berlandier y Thovel, Diario, p. 229. In Yalisco ‘casi en todo este reyno, son grandes, y hermosas.’ Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 271. ‘Son de estatura alta, bien hechos y fornidos.’ Ulloa, Noticias Americanas, p. 308; Tylor’s Anahuac, p. 182; Burkart, Mexico, tom. i., p. 49; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 560; Beaumont, Crón. de Mechoacan, MS., p. 236.

[899] ‘In complexion, feature, hair and eyes, I could trace a very great resemblance between these Indians and the Esquimaux.’ Lyon’s Journal, vol. i., p. 296, see also vol. ii., pp. 199, 239. ‘Son de la frente ancha, y las cabezas chatas.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 133, 129. See further, Prichard’s Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., p. 511; Calderon de la Barca’s Life in Mex., vol. i., p. 200; Almaraz, Memoria, p. 79; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., pp. 82, 86; Rossi, Souvenirs, p. 280; Viollet-Le-Duc., in Charnay, Ruines Américaines, p. 102; Poinsett’s Notes on Mex., pp. 107-8; Ottavio, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1833, tom. lix., pp. 73-4; Fossey, Mexique, p. 391; Vigneaux, Souv. Mex., p. 320; D’Orbigny, Voy., p. 352; Bonnycastle’s Span. Am., vol. i., pp. 49-50; Figuier’s Hum. Race, p. 455; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., pp. 38-40; Bullock’s Mexico, vol. i., pp. 184, 192; Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, pp. 142, 167, 291.

[900] In Mexico in 1698 the costume was a ‘short doublet and wide breeches. On their shoulders they wear a cloak of several colours, which they call Tilma…. The women all wear the Guaipil, (which is like a sack) under the Cobixa, which is a fine white cotton cloth; to which they add another upon their back…. Their coats are narrow with figures of lions, birds, and other creatures, adorning them with curious ducks’ feathers, which they call Xilotepec.’ Gemelli Careri, in Churchill’s Col. Voyages, vol. iv., p. 491. Dress of a native girl of Mexico, ‘enaguas blanquísimas, el quisquemel que graciosamente cubre su pecho y espalda … dos largas trenzas color de ébano caen á los lados del cuello.’ Prieto, Viajes, pp. 454, 190-1, 430-1. ‘Leur costume varie selon le terrain et le climat.’ Löwenstern, Mexique, pp. 176, 339.

[901] See Calderon de la Barca’s Life in Mex., vol. ii., pp. 346-8.

[902] ‘Usan de una especie de gran paño cuadrado, que tiene en el centro una abertura por donde pasa la cabeza.’ Berlandier y Thovel, Diario, p. 229.

[903] ‘Yuan muy galanes, y empenachados.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. i. ‘Señores ó principales, traían en el labio un bezote de chalchivite ó esmeralda, ó de caracol, ó de oro, ó de cobre…. Las mugeres cuando niñas, tambien se rapaban la cabeza, y cuando ya mosas dejaban criar los cabellos … cuando alguna era ya muger hecha y habia parido, tocabase el cabello. Tambien traían sarcillos ó orejeras, y se pintaban los pechos y los brazos, con una labor que quedaba de azul muy fino, pintada en la misma carne cortándola con una navajuela.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 123-5, 133-4. ‘En el Pueblo de Juito salieron muchos Yndios de paz con escapularios blancos al pecho, cortado el cabello en modo de cerquillo como Religiosos, todos con unas cruces en las manos que eran de carrizos, y un Yndio que parecia el principal ó cacique con un vestuario de Tunica talan.’ Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., p. 73, also, pp. 21, 44, 46, 63, 107, 150. For further description of dress and ornaments see Nebel, Viaje, plates, nos. xxvi., xxxi., xxxvi., xli., xlvi.; Thompson’s Recollections Mexico, p. 29; Laet, Novus Orbis, pp. 250, 252, 281; Lafond, Voyages, tom. i., p. 211; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., pp. 90, 279; Lyon’s Journal, vol. ii., pp. 64, 198; Arlegui, Chrón. de Zacatecas, p. 162; Beaumont, Crón. de Mechoacan, MS., p. 210; Apostólicos Afanes, pp. 10, 67; Alcedo, Diccionario, tom. iii., p. 299; Vigneaux, Souv. Mex., pp. 276, 296; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 55-6; Biart, in Revue Française, Dec. 1864, pp. 478-9; Ottavio, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1833, tom. lix., p. 61; Tylor’s Anahuac, p. 302; Burkart, Mexico, tom. i., pp. 50-1.

[904] ‘Les cabanes sont de véritables cages en bambous.’ Vigneaux, Souv. Mex., p. 274; Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, p. 170; Ward’s Mexico, vol. ii., pp. 179, 522; Bustamante, in Prieto, Viajes, pp. 192, 195, 373, 437, 447; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., pp. 223-4; Beaufoy’s Mex. Illustr., p. 258; Pagés Travels, vol. i., p. 159; Dillon, Hist. Mex., p. 47.

[905] Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 250; and Dapper, Neue Welt, p. 582. ‘Estos Otomies comian los zorrillos que hieden, culebras y lirones, y todo género de ratones, comadrejas, y otras sabandijas del campo y del monte, lagartijas de todas suertes, y abejones y langostas de todas maneras.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 126-7, 123-5. In Jalisco ‘Los indios de aquellas provincias son caribes, que comen carne humana todas las veçes que la pueden aver.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 568.

[906] In Puebla ‘Los Indios se han aplicado mas al cultivo de la tierra y plantío de frutas y legumbres.’ In Michoacan ‘Cultivan mucho maiz, frixoles y ulgodon.’ Alcedo, Diccionario, tom. i., pp. 494, 714. In Querétaro ‘viven del cultivo de las sementeras.’ Id., tom. iii., p. 320.

[907] ‘They boil the Indian wheat with lime, and when it has stood a-while grind it, as they do the cacao.’ Gemelli Careri, in Churchill’s Col. Voyages, vol. v., pp. 496, 492, 513; Walton’s Span. Col., p. 305. For further account of food see Tylor’s Anahuac, pp. 88-9, 156; Sivers, Mittelamerika, p. 295; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, p. 102; Delaporte, Reisen, tom. x., p. 323; Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., pp. 31, 44, 53, 73, 127; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., pp. 79, 87; Larenaudière, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1824, tom. xxiii., p. 67; Prieto, Viajes, pp. 191-2, 373; Mex. in 1842, pp. 46, 64, 68; Mayer’s Mex., Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 32; Albornoz, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 488; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., pp. 185, 218-19; Armin, Das Heutige Mexiko, p. 245, with plate; Mendoza, Hist. de las Cosas, p. 310; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 443.

[908] Ward’s Mexico, vol. ii., pp. 268-9. ‘One would think the bath would make the Indians cleanly in their persons, but it hardly seems so, for they look rather dirtier after they have been in the temazcalli than before.’ Tylor’s Anahuac, p. 302.

[909] Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., pp. 33, 72-3; Beaumont, Crón. de Mechoacan, MS., p. 235. ‘El arco y la flecha eran sus armas en la guerra, aunque para la caza los caciques y señores usaban tambien de cervatanas.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 279. ‘I saw some Indians that kill’d the least birds upon the highest trees with pellets shot out of trunks.’ Gemelli Careri, in Churchill’s Col. Voyages, vol. iv., p. 512, and in Berenger, Col. de Voy., tom. ii., p. 397.

[910] West und Ost Indischer Lustgart, pt. i., p. 102; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 141-4, with plate; Cartas al Abate de Pradt, p. 114; Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. ii., p. 286; Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 89; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 129, 133; Lyon’s Journal, vol. i., pp. 149, 293; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. ii.; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 378. ‘Una macana, á manera de porra, llena de puntas de piedras pedernales.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 568. ‘En schilden uit stijve stokjens gevlochten, van welke sick verwonderens-waerdig dienen in den oorlog.’ Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 225-6, and Dapper, Neue Welt, p. 254.

[911] ‘Siempre procuran de acometer en malos pasos, en tierras dobladas y pedregosas.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. vii., lib. ii., cap. xii. ‘Tres mil Yndios formaban en solo una fila haciendo frente á nuestro campo.’ Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., p. 34; see further, Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 572; Beaumont, Crón. de Mechoacan, MS., p. 235.

[912] The Chichimecs ‘Flea their heads, and fit that skin upon their own heads with all the hair, and so wear it as a token of valour, till it rots off in bits.’ Gemelli Careri, in Churchill’s Col. Voyages, vol. iv., p. 513, and Berenger, Col. de Voy., tom. ii., p. 400. ‘Quitandoles los cascos con el pelo, se los llevan á su Pueblo, para baylar el mitote en compañia de sus parientes con las cabezas de sus enemigos en señal del triunfo.’ Arlegui, Chrón. de Zacatecas, pp. 179, 159-60. Further reference in Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 133-4; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 281.

[913] Cassel, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1830, tom. xlv., p. 338; Vigneaux, Souv. Mex., p. 274; Prieto, Viajes, p. 193; Tylor’s Anahuac, pp. 201-2; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., pp. 224-6, 241; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 224; and Dapper, Neue Welt, p. 252.

[914] ‘The Indians of this Countrie doe make great store of Woollen Cloth and Silkes.’ Purchas His Pilgrimes, vol. iv., lib. vii., p. 1433. The Otomís ‘sabian hacer lindas labores en las mantas, enaguas, y vipiles que tejian muy curiosamente; pero todas ellas labraban lo dicho de hilo de maguéy que sacaban y beneficiaban de las pencas.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 127; see also, Tylor’s Anahuac, p. 201; Bustamante, in Prieto, Viajes, p. 193; Carpenter’s Trav. Mex., p. 243; Mex. in 1842, p. 66; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 341; Lyon’s Journal, vol. ii., p. 43; Thümmel, Mexiko, p. 63.

[915] Dale’s Notes, p. 24.

[916] ‘In those countreys they take neither golde nor silver for exchange of any thing, but onley Salt.’ Chilton, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 459; compare Lyon’s Journal, vol. i., p. 293, and vol. ii., p. 198; and Tylor’s Anahuac, p. 85.

[917] Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 98; Tylor’s Anahuac, p. 316; Ward’s Mexico, vol. ii., p. 237; Lafond, Voyages, tom. i., p. 131; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., p. 243; Mill’s Hist. Mex., p. 6; Carpenter’s Trav. Mex., p. 243. ‘Les Mexicains ont conservé un goût particulier pour la peinture et pour l’art de sculpter en pierre et en bois.’ Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 446. ‘Lo particular de Michoacan era el arte de pintar con las plumas de diversos colores.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 90. ‘Son muy buenos cantores y tañedores de toda suerte de instrumentos.’ Mendoza, Hist. de las Cosas, p. 308.

[918] Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 281; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. viii., lib. vi., cap. xv.; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 567; Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., pp. 31, 68; Ottavio, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1833, tom. lix., p. 61.

[919] Mayer’s Mex., Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 296; Villa, in Prieto, Viajes, pp. 428-30. ‘Tenian uso y costumbre los otomíes, de que los varones siendo muy muchachos y tiernos se casasen, y lo mismo las mugeres.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 127. Chichimecs ‘casanse con las parientas mas cercanas, pero no con las hermanas.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. viii., lib. vi., cap. xv.

[920] Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., pp. 246-8; Bullock’s Mexico, vol. i., p. 192; Apostólicos Afanes, pp. 21-2; Rittner, Guatimozin, p. 81. ‘El amancebamiento no es deshonra entre ellos.’ Zarfate, in Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., pp. 281, 335. ‘Zlingerden de kinderen in gevlochte korven aen boomtakken.’ Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 219; and Dapper, Neue Welt, p. 246.

[921] ‘La mancebía, el incesto, y cuanto tiene de mas asquerosamente repugnante el desarreglo de la concupiscencia, se ha convertido en hábito.’ Prieto, Viajes, p. 379; Fossey, Mexique, p. 27; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 56.

[922] Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 97; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 160; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 131; Apostólicos Afanes, p. 12; Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, pp. 19, 127; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 80; Thümmel, Mexiko, p. 61; Alcedo, Diccionario, tom. ii., p. 470; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., p. 219; Gemelli Careri, in Churchill’s Col. Voyages, vol. iv., p. 517.

[923] Arlegui, Chrón. de Zacatecas, pp. 161-2; Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, pp. 175-6; Mendoza, Hist. de las Cosas, p. 311; Prieto, Viajes, p. 375; Apostólicos Afanes, p. 12. ‘Los indios, si no todos en su mayor parte, viven ligados por una especie de masonería.’ Bustamante, in Prieto, Viajes, p. 199. ‘Wenn mehrere in Gesellschaft gehen, nie neben, sondern immer hinter einander und selten ruhig schreitend, sondern fast immer kurz trabend.’ Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 39. ‘L’Indien enterre son argent, et au moment de sa mort il ne dit pas à son plus proche parent oú il a déposé son trésor, afin qu’il ne lui fasse pas faute quand il ressuscitera.’ Cassel, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1830, tom. xlv., p. 339.

[924] ‘La petite vérole et la rougeole sont deux maladies très communes.’ Chappe d’Auteroche, Voyage, p. 25. The Pintos ‘marked with great daubs of deep blue … the decoration is natural and cannot be effaced.’ Tylor’s Anahuac, p. 309. See further: Fossey, Mexique, pp. 33-4, 395-6. Compare Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., pp. 66, 69-70, 88; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 250; Dapper, Neue Welt, p. 282; Cassel, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1830, tom. xlv., p. 340; Löwenstern, Mexique, p. 207; Charnay, Ruines Américaines, pp. 502-3; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 443; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 40.

[925] ‘Los Indios son grandes herbolarios, y curan siempre con ellas.’ Mendoza, Hist. de las Cosas, p. 311. ‘For fevers, for bad colds, for the bite of a poisonous animal, this (the temazcalli) is said to be a certain cure; also for acute rheumatism.’ Calderon de la Barca’s Life in Mex., vol. i., p. 255; Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. ii., p. 430; Menonville, Reise, p. 124; Murr, Nachrichten, p. 306; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., p. 250.

[926] ‘Notant barbari, folia parti affectæ aut dolenti applicata, de eventu morbi præjudicare: nam si firmiter ad hæreant, certum signum esse ægrum convaliturum, sin decidant, contra.’ Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 271; Villa, in Prieto, Viajes, pp. 438-9.

[927] The remains of one of their ancient kings found in a cave is thus described; ‘estaba cubierto de pedreria texida segun su costumbre en la manta con que se cubria desde los hombros hasta los pies, sentado en la misma silla que la fingieron el solio, con tahalí, brazaletes, collares, y apretadores de plata; y en la frente una corona de hermosas plumas, de varios colores mezcladas, la mano izquierda puesta en el brazo de la silla, y en la derecha un alfange con guarnicion de plata.’ Alcedo, Diccionario, tom. iii., p. 299. See also: Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., pp. 259-60; Apostólicos Afanes, p. 22;Armin, Das Heutige Mexiko, p. 249.

[928] D’Orbigny, Voy., p. 353; Calderon de la Barca’s Life in Mex., vol. i., p. 200; Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, pp. 170, 201; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Voy. Tehuantepec, pp. 114, 172; Larenaudière, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1824, tom. xxiii., p. 67; Ottavio, in Id., 1833, tom. lix., p. 71; Rittner, Guatimozin, pp. 81-2; Villa, in Prieto, Viajes, pp. 446-7; Arizcorreta, Respuesta á, pp. 24, 26; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 131, 135; Rossi, Souvenirs, p. 285; Lafond, Voyages, tom. i., p. 213; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., pp. 40-1; Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., p. 10; Poinsett’s Notes Mex., pp. 108, 161; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 445; Gemelli Careri, in Churchill’s Col. Voyages, vol. iv., p. 492; Berenger, Col. de Voy., tom. ii., pp. 383-4; Bonnycastle’s Span. Am., vol. i., pp. 49-50. ‘L’indigène mexicain est grave, mélancolique, silencieux, aussi long-temps que les liqueurs enivrantes n’ont pas agi sur lui.’ Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., pp. 94, 96. ‘The most violent passions are never painted in their features.’ Mill’s Hist. Mex., pp. 5-6, 10. ‘Of a sharpe wit, and good vnderstanding, for what soeuer it be, Sciences or other Arts, these people are very apt to learne it with small instructing.’ Purchas His Pilgrimes, vol. iv., p. 1433.

[929] The Pintos of Guerrero are ‘most ferocious savages.’ Tylor’s Anahuac, p. 309. The Chichimecs are ‘los peores de todos y los mayores homicidas y salteadores de toda la tierra.’ Zarfate, in Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 281. See further, Almaraz, Memoria, p. 18; Kératry, in Revue des deux Mondes, Sept., 1866, p. 453; Delaporte, Reisen, tom. x., p. 323; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 284; Laet, Novus Orbis, pp. 269, 280; Combier, Voy., p. 394; Biart, in Revue Française, Dec., 1864, pp. 479, 485; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. viii., lib. vi., cap. xvi.; Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 721; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 560; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 271; Beaumont, Crón. de Mechoacan, MS., pp. 197, 235; Pagés’ Travels, vol. i., p. 150.

[930] The Mayas, ‘Sie selbst nennen sich heute noch Macegual, d. h. Eingeborene vom Maya-Lande, nie Yucatanos oder Yucatecos, was spanischer Ausdruck für die Bewohner des Staates ist.’ Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., pp. 142-3. See also Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 163, 173, 176, 196; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, preface, p. clvii.; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., p. 208; tom. ii., pt. i., pp. 140-3; Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt. ii., fol. 396, 400-1; Remesal, Hist. de Chyapa, pp. 264-5; Juarros’ Hist. Guat., p. 14.

[931] Barnard’s Tehuantepec, pp. 220, 224, 227; Moro, in Garay, Reconocimiento, pp. 89-94; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., p. 215; Macgregor’s Progress of America, pp. 848, 850; Hermesdorf, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., p. 543; Charnay, Ruines Américaines, pp. 287, 500-1; Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. ii., p. 394. Zapotecs ‘bien tallados,’ Mijes ‘Arrogantes, altiuos de condicion, y cuerpo,’ Miztecs ‘linda tez en el rostro, y buena disposicion en el talle.’ Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt. ii., fol. 202, 271, 354, 401, tom. i., pt. ii., p. 134. ‘Tehuantepec women: Jet-black hair, silky and luxuriant, enframes their light-brown faces, on which, in youth, a warm blush on the cheek heightens the lustre of their dark eyes, with long horizontal lashes and sharply-marked eyebrows.’ Tempsky’s Mitla, p. 269. The Soques, ‘short, with large chests and powerful muscles…. Both men and women have very repulsive countenances.’ Shufeldt’s Explor. Tehuantepec, p. 126.

[932] ‘Es gente la de Yucatan de buenos cuerpos, bien hechos, y rezios’…. The women ‘bien hechas, y no feas … no son blancas, sino de color baço.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. iii., cap. iv. See further: Dampier’s Voyages, vol. ii., pt. ii., p. 115; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 148; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 258; Dapper, Neue Welt, p. 291; Tylor’s Anahuac, p. 16.

[933] Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt. ii., fol. 285; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 255; Dapper, Neue Welt, p. 288; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Voy. de Tehuantepec, p. 194; Palacios, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 166; Leon, in Id., p. 162; Museo Mex., tom. ii., p. 555. ‘Muchachos ya mayorcillos. Todos desnudos en carnes, como nacieron de sus madres…. Tras ellos venian muchos Indios mayores, casi tan desnudos como sus hijos, con muchos sartales de flores … en la cabeza, rebuxada una toca de colores, como tocado de Armenio.’ Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, p. 292.

[934] ‘With their hair ty’d up in a Knot behind, they think themselves extream fine.’ Dampier’s Voyages, vol. ii., pt. ii., p. 114. ‘Muy empenachados y pintados.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. iv., cap. xi.; Barnard’s Tehuantepec, pp. 221-2, 226.

[935] ‘Their apparell was of Cotton in manifold fashions and colours.’ Purchas His Pilgrimes, vol. v., p. 885. The Maya woman’s dress ‘se reduce al hipil que cubre la parte superior del cuerpo, y al fustan ó enagua, de manta de algodon.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 158. Of the men ‘un calzoncillo ancho y largo hasta media pierna, y tal vez hasta cerca del tobillo, de la misma manta, un ceñidor blanco ó de colores, un pañuelo, y un sombrero de paja, y á veces una alpargata de suela, con sus cordones de mecate.’ Registro Yucateco, tom. i., pp. 177-8. See further: Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 267; Galindo, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. iii., p. 59; Wilson’s Amer. Hist., pp. 88, 114; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 147, 179.

[936] ‘Tous portaient les cheveux longs, et les Espagnols ont eu beaucoup de peine à les leur faire couper; la chevelure longue est encore aujourd’hui le signe distinctif des Indiens insoumis.’ Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 40. ‘Las caras de blanco, negro, y colorado pintadas, que llaman embijarse, y cierto parecen demonios pintados.’ Cogolludo, Hist. de Yucathan, p. 6. Compare above with Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 50; Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. ii., p. 262.

[937] ‘The buildings of the lower class are thatched with palm-leaves, and form but one piece, without window or chimney.’ Hermesdorf, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., p. 544. ‘Cubrense las casas de vna cuchilla que los Indios hazen de pajas muy espessas y bien assentadas, que llaman en esta tierra jacales.’ Dávila Padilla, Hist. Fund. Mex., p. 549. See also: Museo Mex., tom. ii., p. 554; Barnard’s Tehuantepec, pp. 221, 225, with cut; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 252; Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. i., pt. ii., fol. 197.

[938] The Chochos and Chontales ‘no tenian Pueblo fundado, si no cobachuelas estrechas en lo mas escondido de los montes.’ Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt. ii., fol. 336. The Chinantecs lived ‘en rancherias entre barrancas, y espessuras de arboles.’ Burgoa, Palestra, Hist., pt. i., fol. 102; Charnay, Ruines Américaines, p. 438.

[939] Zapotecs; ‘Se dan con gran vicio sus sementeras.’ Miztecs, ‘labradores de mayz, y frizol.’ Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. i., pt. ii., fol. 36, 143 and 47, 165-6, 184, tom. ii., pt. ii., fol. 199-200, 202, 228, 282, 396, 398, 400. Zapotecs, ‘grande inclinacion, y exercicio á la caza, y monteria de animales campesinos en especial de venados.’ Burgoa, Palestra Hist., pt. i., fol. 110. See further: Barnard’s Tehuantepec, pp. 220-2, 225-6; Moro, in Garay, Reconocimiento, pp. 90, 93-4; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Voy. Tehuantepec, p. 196; Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., pp. 56, 61; Galindo, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. iii., p. 59.

[940] Tabasco: ‘Comen a sus horas concertadas, carnes de vaca, puerco, y aues, y beué vna beuida muy sana, hecha de cacao, mayz, y especia de la tierra, la qual llaman Zocolate.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. vii., cap. iii. Tortillas, ‘When they are baked brown, they are called “totoposti,” and taste like parched corn.’ Shufeldt’s Explor. Tehuantepec, p. 125. The Chontales, ‘su alimento frecuente es el posole … rara vez comen la carne de res.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 161-2; Dampier’s Voyages, vol. ii., pt. ii., pp. 112-14; Hermesdorf, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., pp. 543-4.

[941] Sr Moro, speaking of the chintule, says: ‘Una infusion de estas raices comunica su fragancia al agua que los tehuantepecanos emplean como un objeto de lujo sumamente apreciado, tanto para labar la ropa de uso, como para las abluciones personales.’ Moro, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 180. ‘Toutes les parties de leur vêtement sont toujours nouvellement blanchies. Les femmes se baignent au moins une fois par jour.’ Fossey, Mexique, p. 24. At Chiapas, ‘Tous ces Indiens, nus ou en chemise, répandaient dans l’atmosphère une odeur sui generis qui soulevait le cœur.’ Charnay, Ruines Américaines, p. 457. The women are ‘not very clean in their habits, eating the insects from the bushy heads of their children.’ Hermesdorf, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., p. 543. ‘No son muy limpias en sus personas, ni en sus casas, con quanto se laban.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv.; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 148.

[942] ‘Peleauan con lanças, armadas las puntas con espinas y huessos muy agudos de pescados.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. iv., cap. xi. ‘Usaban de lanzas de desmesurado tamaño para combatir.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 187. See also: Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 461; Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt. ii., fol. 336; Cogolludo, Hist. de Yucathan, pp. 5-6, 11, 77; Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., pp. 58-59; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 179.

[943] ‘Tienen enfrente deste Pueblo vn cerro altissimo, con vna punta que descuella soberviamente, casi entre la Region de las nubes, y coronase con vna muy dilatada muralla de lossas de mas de vn estado de alto, y quentan de las pinturas de sus characteres historiales, que se retiraban alli, para defenderse de sus enemigos.’ Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. i., pt. ii., fol. 167. ‘Començaron luego á tocar las bozinas, pitos, trompetillas, y atabalejos de gente de guerra.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. ii., cap. xvii., and lib. iv., cap. xi. Also see Cogolludo, Hist. de Yucathan, pp. 5, 77-8; Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., pp. 60-3; Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. ii., p. 263.

[944] Dampier’s Voyages, vol. ii., pt. ii., p. 115; Burgoa, Palestra Hist., pt. i., fol. 110; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Voy. Tehuantepec, p. 196; Charnay, Ruines Américaines, p. 454. ‘Sobre vna estera si la tiene, que son muy pocos los que duermen en alto, en tapescos de caña … ollas, ó hornillos de tierra … casolones, ò xicaras.’ Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt. ii., fol. 294, 393.

[945] ‘Los zoques cultivan … dos plantas pertenecientes á la familia de las bromelias, de las cuales sacan el ixtle y la pita cuyas hebras saben blanquear, hilar y teñir de varios colores. Sus hilados y las hamacas que tejen con estas materias, constituyen la parte principal de su industria y de su comercio’…. The Zapotecs, ‘los tejidos de seda silvestre y de algodon que labran las mugeres, son verdaderamente admirables.’ Moro, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 170, 180. Of the Miztecs it is said that ‘las mugeres se han dado á texer con primor paños, y huepiles, assi de algodon como de seda, y hilo de oro, muy costosos.’ Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. i., pt. ii., fol. 143, and tom. ii., pt. ii., fol. 400. Further reference in Barnard’s Tehuantepec, pp. 226-7; Chilton, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 459; Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. ii., p. 394; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 163; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 49; Gage’s New Survey, p. 236; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. i., pp. 198, 209.

[946] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. iii., cap. ii., lib. iv., cap. xi.; Cogolludo, Hist. de Yucathan, p. 2; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 179, 214; Shufeldt’s Explor. Tehuantepec, p. 123. ‘Their canoes are formed out of the trunk of a single mahogany or cedar tree.’ Dale’s Notes, p. 24. When Grijalva was at Cozumel ‘vino una canoa.’ Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., p. 56. The Huaves ‘no poseyendo embarcaciones propias para arriesgarse en aguas de algun fondo, y desconociendo hasta el uso de los remos, no frecuentan mas que los puntos que por su poca profundidad no ofrecen mayor peligro.’ Moro, in Garay, Reconocimiento, p. 90.

[947] Mill’s Hist. Mex., p. 158; Palacios, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 166; Hermesdorf, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., p. 547; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Voy. Tehuantepec, p. 108; Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. ii., p. 394; Macgregor’s Progress of America, vol. i., p. 849; Moro, in Garay, Reconocimiento, p. 93; Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., p. 14.

[948] ‘Les seigneurs de Cuicatlan étaient, au temps de la conquête très-riches et très-puissants, et leurs descendants en ligne directe, décorés encore du titre de caciques.’ Fossey, Mexique, pp. 338-9. At Etla ‘Herren des Ortes waren Caziken, welche ihn als eine Art von Mannlehen besassen, und dem Könige einen gewissen Tribut bezahlen mussten.’ Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. i., p. 188. The Miztecs ‘tenian señalados como pregoneros, officiales que elegian por año, para que todas las mañanas al despuntar el Sol, subidos en lo mas alto de la casa de su Republica, con grandes vozes, llamasen, y exitasen á todos, diziendo salid, salid á trabajar, á trabajar, y con rigor executivo castigaban al que faltaba de su tarea.’ Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. i., pt. ii., fol. 151, also Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. xi.

[949] ‘Estava sujeta á diuersos Señores, que como Reyezuelos dominaban diuersos territorios … pero antes auia sido toda sujeta á vn Señor, y Rey Supremo, y asi gouernada con gouierno Monarquico.’ Cogolludo, Hist. de Yucathan, p. 60. ‘En cada pueblo tenian señalados Capitanes a quienes obedecian.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. ii.-iv. For old customs and new, compare above with Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 168, and Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 267.

[950] ‘With other presents which they brought to the conqueror were twenty female slaves.’ Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. ii., p. 264.

[951] ‘Vbo en esta juridicion grandes errores, y ritos con las paridas, y niños recien nacidos, lleuandolos á los rios, y sumergiendolos en el agua, hazian deprecacion á todos los animales aquatiles, y luego á los de tierra le fueran fauorables, y no le ofendieran.’ Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt. ii., fol. 329. ‘Consérvase entre ellos la creencia de que su vida está unida á la de un animal, y que es forzoso que mueran ellos cuando éste muere.’ Museo Mex., tom. ii., pp. 554-5. ‘Between husband and wife cases of infidelity are rare…. To the credit of the Indians be it also said, that their progeny is legitimate, and that the vows of marriage are as faithfully cherished as in the most enlightened and favored lands. Youthful marriages are nevertheless of frequent occurrence.’ Barnard’s Tehuantepec, p. 222. Women of the Japateco race: ‘their manners in regard to morals are most blameable.’ Hermesdorf, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., p. 543. Moro, referring to the women of Jaltipan, says: ‘Son de costumbres sumamente libres: suele decirse ademas que los jaltipanos no solo no las celan, sino que llevan las ideas de hospitalidad á un raro exceso.’ Garay, Reconocimiento, p. 116; Ferry, Costal L’Indien, pp. 6-7; Registro Yucateco, tom. i., p. 166.

[952] ‘Iuntauanse en el Capul, que es vna casa del comun, en cada barrio, para hazer casamientos, el Cazique, el Papa, los desposados, los parientes: estando sentados el señor, y el Papa, llegauan los contrayentes, y el Papa les amonestaua que dixessen las cosas que auian hecho hasta aquella hora.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. xi.

[953] Dampier’s Voyages, vol. ii., pt. ii., p. 114; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv.; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 50; Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 15-16; Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 272; Dicc. Univ., tom. iv., p. 256; Baeza, in Registro Yucateco, tom. i., p. 166.

[954] ‘Their amusements are scarcely worthy of note … their liveliest songs are sad, and their merriest music melancholy.’ Barnard’s Tehuantepec, p. 222. ‘Afectos á las bebidas embriagantes, conocen dos particulares, el chorote, y el balché ó guarapo, compuesto de agua, caña de azúcar, palo-guarapo y maiz quemado.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 162. See also: Fossey, Mexique, pp. 343, 364; Dampier’s Voyages, vol. ii., pt. ii., p. 115; Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 144-5; Charnay, Ruines Américaines, pp. 496-7.

[955] ‘Provinciæ Guazacualco atque Ylutæ nec non et Cueztxatlæ indiginæ, multas ceremonias Iudæorum usurpabant, nam et circumcidebantur, more à majoribus (ut ferebant) accepto, quod alibi in hisce regionibus ab Hispanis hactenus non fuit observatum.’ Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 261. ‘They appear to regard with horror and avoid with superstitious fear all those places reputed to contain remains or evidences of their former religion.’ Shufeldt’s Explor. Tehuantepec, p. 125. See further: Museo Mex., tom. ii., pp. 554-5; Charnay, Ruines Américaines, pp. 265, 286; Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt. ii., fol. 281-2, 290, 313, 332, 335-6, 397; Id., Palestra Hist., fol. 110; Moro, in Garay, Reconocimiento, pp. 90, 93; Dicc. Univ., tom. iv., p. 257.

[956] Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt. ii., fol. 329; Baeza, in Registro Yucateco, tom. i., p. 168; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 313; Hermesdorf, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., p. 543. ‘Ay en esta tierra mucha diuersidad de yeruas medicinales, con que se curan los naturales.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. vii., cap. iii. The Maya ‘sabe las virtudes de todas las plantas como si hubiese estudiado botánica, conoce los venenos, los antídotos, y no se lo ocultan los calmantes.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 158, 162, 178.

[957] Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 51; Museo Mex., tom. ii., p. 554. ‘En Tamiltepec, los indios usan de ceremonias supersticiosas en sus sepulturas. Se les ve hacer en los cementerios pequeños montones de tierra, en los que mezclan víveres cada vez que entierran alguno de ellos.’ Berlandier y Thovel, Diario, p. 231.

[958] The Miztecs ‘siempre de mayor reputacion, y mas políticos.’ Zapotecs ‘naturalmente apazibles, limpios, lucidos, y liberales.’ Nexitzas ‘astutos, maliciosos, inclinados á robos, y desacatos, con otros Cerranos supersticiosos, acostumbrados á aleuosias, y hechizeros.’ Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. i., pt. ii., fol. 151, tom. ii., pt. ii., fol. 202, 312, also fol. 204, 211, 228, 271, 282, 294, 335, 400. Choles, ‘nacion … feroz, guerrera é independiente.’ Balbi, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 167. ‘Siendo los Indios Mixes de natural feroz, barbaro, y duro, que quieren ser tratados con aspereza, y rigor.’ Dávila, Teatro Ecles., tom. i., p. 224. See further: Burgoa, Palestra Hist., pt. i., fol. 101; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 161-2, 186-7; Torres, in Id., p. 179; Museo Mex., tom. ii., pp. 554-5; Tempsky’s Mitla, p. 269; Hermesdorf, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., p. 543; Barnard’s Tehuantepec, pp. 220-7; Charnay, Ruines Américaines, pp. 258-9, 287; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 439; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. i., p. 200; Dampier’s Voyages, vol. ii., pt. ii., pp. 115-16; Dávila Padilla, Hist. Fund. Mex., p. 294; Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 325.

[959] ‘Es el indio yucateco un monstruoso conjunto de religion é impiedad, de virtudes y vicios, de sagacidad y estupidez … tiene ideas exactas precisas de lo bueno y de lo malo…. Es incapaz de robar un peso, y roba cuatro veces dos reales…. Siendo honrado en casi todas sus acciones … se puede decir que el único vicie que le domina es el de la embriaguez.’ Registro Yucateco, tom. i., pp. 291-3; Baeza, in Id., tom. i., pp. 166-8, 174; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 148; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv.; Mill’s Hist. Mex., p. 158; Moro, in Garay, Reconocimiento, pp. 89-34; Müller, Reisen, tom. ii., p. 371.

Chapter VII • Wild Tribes of Central America • 46,700 Words

Native Races of the Pacific States
Central American Group

Physical Geography and Climate—Three Groupal Divisions; First, the nations of Yucatan, Guatemala, Salvador, Western Honduras, and Nicaragua; Second, The Mosquitos of Honduras; Third, the nations of Costa Rica and the Isthmus of Panamá—The Popolucas, Pipiles, and Chontales—The Descendants of the Maya-Quiché Races—The Natives of Nicaragua—The Mosquitos, Poyas, Ramas, Lencas, Towkas, Woolwas, and Xicaques of Honduras—The Guatusos of the Rio Frio—The Caimanes, Bayamos, Dorachos, Goajiros, Mandingos, Savanerics, Sayrones, Viscitas, and others living in Costa Rica and on the Isthmus.

Of the Wild Tribes of Central America, which territorial group completes the line of our Pacific States seaboard, I make three divisions following modern geographical boundaries, namely, the aborigines of Guatemala, Salvador, and Nicaragua, which I call Guatemalans; the people of the Mosquito Coast and Honduras, Mosquitos; and the nations of Costa Rica and the isthmus of Darien, or Panamá, Isthmians.

Physical Geography of Central America

The territory occupied by this group of nations lies between the eighteenth and the seventh parallels of north latitude, that is to say, between the northern boundary of the Central American states, and the river Atrato, which stream nearly severs the Isthmus from the South American continent. This continental tract is a narrow, irregular, indented coast-country of volcanic character, in which Guatemala and Honduras alone present any considerable breadth. The two cordilleras, running through Mexico and meeting on the isthmus of Tehuantepec, continue their course through Guatemala, where they form a broken table-land studded with elevations, of less height than the plateaux of Mexico. After sinking considerably at the isthmus formed by the gulf of Honduras, this mountain range takes a fresh start and offers a formidable barrier along the Pacific coast, which sends a number of transverse ranges into the interior of Honduras, and gives rise to countless rivers, chiefly emptying into the Atlantic. The chain passes at a diminished altitude through Nicaragua, where it forms a large basin, which holds the lakes of Nicaragua and Managua; but on reaching Costa Rica it again becomes a bold, rugged range, capped by the volcano of Cartago. Seemingly exhausted by its wild contortions, it dwindles into a series of low ridges on entering Veragua, and passes in this form through the isthmus of Panamá, until it unites with the South American Andes. The scenery of this region is extremely varied, uniting that of most countries of the globe; lakes, rivers, plains, valleys, and bays abound in all forms and sizes. The north-east trade winds blow the greater part of the year, and, meeting the high ranges, deposit their superabundant moisture upon the eastern side, which is damp, overgrown with rank vegetation, filled with marshes, and unhealthful. The summer here, is hot and fever-breeding. Relieved of their moisture, and cooled by the mountains, the trade winds continue their course through the gaps left here and there, and tend materially to refresh the atmosphere of the Pacific slope for a part of the year; while the south-west winds, blowing from May to October, for a few hours at a time, bring short rains to temper what would otherwise be the hot season on this coast. Dew falls everywhere, except in the more elevated regions, and keeps vegetation fresh. Palms, plantains, mahogany, and dye-woods abound in the hot district; maize flourishes best in the temperate parts, while cedars, pines, and hardier growths find a home in the tierra fria. The animal kingdom is best represented on the Atlantic side, for here the puma, the tiger-cat, and the deer, startled only by the climbing opossum or the chattering monkey, find a more secure retreat. Birds of brilliant plumage fill the forests with their songs, while the buzz of insects everywhere is heard as they swarm over sweltering alligators, lizards, and snakes. The manifold productions, and varied features of the country have had, no doubt, a great influence in shaping the destiny of the inhabitants. The fine climate, good soil, and scarcity of game on the Pacific side must have contributed to the allurements of a settled life and assisted in the progress of nations who had for centuries before the conquest lived in the enjoyment of a high culture. It is hard to say what might have been the present condition of a people so happily situated, but the advent of the white race, bent only upon the acquirement of present riches by means of oppression, checked the advancement of a civilization which struck even the invaders with admiration. Crossing to the Atlantic side we find an over-abundant vegetation, whose dark recesses serve as a fitting shelter for the wild beast. Here man, imbibing the wildness of his surroundings, and oppressed by a feverish climate, seems content to remain in a savage state depending upon natural fruits, the chase, and fishing for his subsistence. Of a roaming disposition, he objects to the restraint imposed by government and forms. The natives of Costa Rica and the isthmus of Darien escaped the civilizing influence of foreign intercourse,—thanks to their geographical isolation,—and remain on about the same level of culture as in their primitive days.

Central American Nations

Under the name of Guatemalans, I include the natives of Guatemala, Salvador, and Nicaragua. I have already pointed out the favorable features of the region inhabited by them. The only sultry portion of Guatemala is a narrow strip along the Pacific; it is occupied by a few planters and fishermen, who find most of their requirements supplied by the palms that grow here in the greatest luxuriance. The chief part of the population is concentrated round the various lakes and rivers of the table-land above, where maize, indigo, cochineal, and sugar-cane are staple products. In the altos, the banana is displaced by hardier fruits sheltered under the lofty cedar, and here we find a thrifty and less humble people who pay some attention to manufactures. Salvador presents less abrupt variation in its features. Although outside of the higher range of mountains, it still possesses a considerable elevation running through its entire length, which breaks out at frequent intervals into volcanic peaks, and gives rise to an abundant and well-spread water system. Such favorable conditions have not failed to gather a population which is not only the most numerous comparatively, but also the most industrious in Central America. Northern Nicaragua is a continuation of Salvador in its features and inhabitants; but the central and southern parts are low and have more the character of the Guatemalan coast, the climate being hot, yet not unhealthful. Its Atlantic coast region, however, partakes of the generally unfavorable condition described above.

The Spanish rulers naturally exercised a great influence upon the natives, and their ancient civilization was lost in the stream of Caucasian progress, a stream which, in this region, itself flowed but slowly in later times. Oppressed and despised, a sullen indifference has settled upon the race, and caused it to neglect even its traditions. The greater portion still endeavor to keep up tribal distinctions and certain customs; certain tribes of lesser culture, as the cognate Manches and Lacandones, retired before the Spaniards to the north and north-east, where they still live in a certain isolation and independence. The name Lacandones has been applied to a number of tribes, of which the eastern are described to be quite harmless as compared with the western. The Quichés, a people living in the altos, have also surrounded themselves with a certain reserve, and are truer to their ancient customs than the Zutugils, Cakchiquels, and many others related by language to the Quichés surrounding them. The Pipiles, meaning children, according to Molina, are the chief people in Salvador, where their villages are scattered over a large extent of territory. In Nicaragua we find several distinct peoples. The aboriginal inhabitants seem to have been the different peoples known as Chorotegans, who occupy the country lying between the bay of Fonseca and lake Nicaragua. The Chontales (strangers, or barbarians) live to the north-east of the lakes, and assimilate more to the barbarous tribes of the Mosquito country adjoining them. The Cholutecs inhabit the north from the gulf of Fonseca towards Honduras. The Orotiñans occupy the country south of the lake of Nicaragua and around the gulf of Nicoya. Further information about the location of the different nations and tribes of this family will be found at the[960]The Lacandones are of one stock with the Manches, and very numerous. They were highly civilized only one hundred and fifty years ago. Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., preface, pp. 14-17. ‘The old Chontals were certainly in a condition more civilised.’ Id., pp. 286-95, 265-70. ‘Die Chontales werden auch Caraiben genannt.’ Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., pp. 243-8, 265, 283-90, 311, 321, 326, 330, 335. It seems there existed in Nicaragua: Chorotegans, comprising Dirians, Nagrandans, and Orotiñans; Cholutecans and Niquirans, Mexican colonies; and Chondals. Squier’s Nicaragua, vol. ii., pp. 309-12. Examine further: Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 454; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. i., pp. 285-92; Puydt, Rapport, in Amérique Centrale, p. 69; Benzoni, Hist. del Mondo Nuovo, fol. 104; Malte-Brun, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1858, tom. clviii., p. 200; Berendt, in Smithsonian Rept., 1867, p. 425; Crowe’s Cent. Amer., p. 40; Hassel, Mex. Guat., pp. 357-8, 370; Dollfus and Mont-Serrat, Voy. Géologique, pp. 18-19; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 202, 208, 272, tom. ii., pp. 49, 125, 313; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 79, 110-11; Valois, Mexique, pp. 288, 299-300; Escobar, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., pp. 89-97.

Physique and Dress

The Guatemalans, that is to say the aborigines of Guatemala, Salvador, and Nicaragua, are rather below the middle size, square and tough, with a finely developed physique. Their hue is yellow-brown, in some parts coppery, varying in shade according to locality, but lighter than that of the standard American type. The full round face has a mild expression; the forehead is low and retiring, the cheek-bones protruding, chin and nose short, the latter thick and flat, lips full, eyes black and small, turned upwards at the temples, with a stoical, distrustful look. The cranium is slightly conical; hair long, smooth, and black, fine but strong, retaining its color well as old age approaches, though sometimes turning white. Although the beard is scanty, natives may be seen who have quite a respectable moustache. The limbs are muscular, the calf of the leg being especially large; hands and feet small; a high instep, which, no doubt, partly accounts for their great endurance in walking. The women are not devoid of good looks, especially in Nicaragua, where, in some districts, they are said to be stronger and better formed than the men. The custom of carrying pitchers of water upon the head, gives to the women an erect carriage and a firm step. The constitution of the males is good, and, as a rule, they reach a ripe old age; the females are less long-lived. Deformed persons are extremely rare. Guatemala, with its varied geographical aspects, presents striking differences in physique; the highlanders being lighter in complexion, and finer in form and features than the inhabitants of the lowlands.[961]Crowe’s Cent. Amer., pp. 40-1; Squier’s Nicaragua, pp. 268, 278-9; Froebel’s Cent. Amer., pp. 33-4; Dunn’s Guatemala, pp. 277-8; Reichardt, Nicaragua, pp. 106-7; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 272; Lafond, Voyages, tom. i., p. 338; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 260, tom. ii., pp. 126, 197; Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., p. 414; Belly, Nicaragua, tom. i., pp. 200-1;Scherzer, Wanderungen, pp. 52-3; Foote’s Cent. Amer., p. 104. Round Leon ‘hay más indios tuertos … y es la causa el contínuo polvo.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 64. In Guatemala, ‘los hombres muy gruessos.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. v., caps. xi., xii., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. xiv. ‘Ceux de la tierra fria sont petits, trapus, bien membrés, susceptibles de grandes fatigues … ceux de la tierra caliente sont grands, maigres, paresseux.’ Dollfus and Mont-Serrat, Voy. Géologique, pp. 47, 21. ‘Kurze Schenkel, langen Oberleib, kurze Stirne und langes struppiges Haar.’ Bülow, Nicaragua, p. 78. ‘The disproportionate size of the head, the coarse harsh hair, and the dwarfish stature,’ of the Masayas. Boyle’s Ride, vol. ii., pp. 8-9.

Guatemalan Dress and Ornaments

Intercourse with Spaniards seems to have produced little change in the dress of the Guatemalans, which is pretty much the same as that of the Mexicans. The poorer class wear a waist-cloth of white cotton, or of pita, which is a kind of white hemp, or a long shirt of the same material, with short sleeves, partly open at the sides, the ends of which are passed between the legs, and fastened at the waist; a strip of cotton round the head, surmounted by a dark-colored hat of straw or palm-leaves, with a very wide brim, completes the attire. This cotton cap or turban is an indispensable article of dress to the highlander, who passes suddenly from the cold air of the hilly country, to the burning plains below. Sumptuary regulations here obtain, as aboriginally the lower classes were not allowed to wear anything better than pita clothing, cotton being reserved for the nobles. The primitive dress of the nobility is a colored waist-cloth, and a mantle ornamented and embroidered with figures of birds, tigers, and other designs, and, although they have adopted much of the Spanish dress, the rich and fanciful stitchings on the shirt, still distinguish them from their inferiors. On feast-days, and when traveling, a kind of blanket, commonly known as serape, manga, or poncho, is added to the ordinary dress. The serape, which differs in style according to locality, is closer in texture than the ordinary blanket and colored, checked, figured, or fringed, to suit the taste. It has an opening in the centre, through which the head is passed, and hanging in loose folds over the body it forms a very picturesque attire. Some fasten it with a knot on one shoulder, leaving it to fall over the side from the other. The serape also serves for rain-coat and wrapper, and, at night, it is wound round the head and body, serving for bed as well as covering, the other portion of the dress being made into a pillow. The carriers of Guatemala use a rain-proof palm-leaf called suyacal. Shepherds are distinguished by a black and white checked apron, somewhat resembling the Scotch kilt. The hair, which, before the conquest of Guatemala, was worn long, and hung in braids down the back, is now cut short, except in the remote mountain districts, where long loose hair is still the fashion. In Salvador and Nicaragua, on the other hand, the front part of the hair used to be shaved off, the brave often appearing perfectly bald. Most natives go bare-footed, except when traveling; they then put on sandals, which consist of a piece of hide fastened by thongs. The women, when at home, content themselves with a waist-cloth, generally blue-checked, secured by a twisted knot; but, on going abroad, they put on the huipil, which is a piece of white cotton, having an opening in the middle for the head, and covering the breast and back, as far as the waist. Some huipils are sewed together at the sides and have short sleeves. On this part of their dress the women—who, for that matter, attend to the manufacture and dyeing of all the clothing—expend their best efforts. They embroider, or dye, the neck and shoulders with various designs, whose outlines and coloring often do great credit to their taste. In Guatemala, the colors and designs are distinct for different villages, so that it may at once be seen to which tribe the wearer belongs. The hair is plaited into one or two braids, interlaced with bright-colored ribbons, and usually wreathed turban-fashion round the head. The Quichés, whose red turban-dress is more pronounced than others, sometimes vary it by adding yellow bands and tassels to the braids, which are permitted to hang down to the heels. Thomas Gage, who lived in Guatemala from about 1627 to 1638, relates that on gala-days the fair natives were arrayed in cotton veils reaching to the ground. The ancient custom of painting, and of piercing the ears and lip, to hold pendants, is now restricted to the remote hill country, and ornaments are limited to a few strings of beads, shells, and metal for the arms and neck, with an occasional pair of ear-rings; the women add flowers and garlands to their head-dress, especially on feast-days. Some mountain tribes of Guatemala wear red feathers in their cotton turbans—the nobles and chiefs using green ones—and paint the body black: the paint being, no doubt, intended for a protection against mosquitos. The apron worn by the women is made of bark, which, after being soaked and beaten, assumes the appearance of chamois leather. The Lacandones also wore cotton sacks adorned with tassels, and the women had bracelets of cords with tassels. In Nicaragua, tattooing seems to have been practiced, for Oviedo says that the natives cut their faces and arms with flint knives, and rubbed a black powder obtained from pine gum into the scars. Children wear no other dress than that provided by nature: here and there, however, the girls are furnished with a strip of cotton for the waist.[962]Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., pp. 407, 414. In Salvador, the women’s ‘only garment being a long straight piece of cotton cloth without a seam.’ Foote’s Cent. Amer., pp. 103-4. The Nicaraguans ‘se rasent la barbe, les cheueux, et tout le poil du corps, et ne laissent que quelques cheueux sur le sommet de la teste…. Ils portent des gabans, et des chemises sans manches.’ D’Avity, L’Amérique, tom. ii., p. 93. ‘The custom of tattooing, it seems, was practiced to a certain extent, at least so far as to designate, by peculiarities in the marks, the several tribes or caziques … they flattened their heads.’ Squier’s Nicaragua, vol. ii., pp. 341, 345; Id., Nicaragua, pp. 273-4; Valenzuela, in Id., Cent. Amer., p. 566; Tempsky’s Mitla, pp. 363-5, 368; Dollfus and Mont-Serrat, Voy. Géologique, pp. 19-20, 46-9, 56-60; Juarros’ Hist. Guat., pp. 193-5; Hassel, Mex. Guat., pp. 302-5; Valois, Mexique, pp. 278-9; Gage’s New Survey, pp. 316-8; Montgomery’s Guatemala, pp. 98-9; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; Morelet, Voyage, tom. ii., pp. 102, 126, 145, 171, 227, 245, 253; Galindo, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1834, tom. lxiii., p. 149; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 166; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 263.

Guatemalan Dwellings

The conquerors have left numerous records of large cities with splendid palaces and temples of stone, but these exist now only in their ruins. The masses had, doubtless, no better houses than those we see at present. Their huts are made of wooden posts and rafters supporting a thatched roof of straw or palm-leaves, the side being stockaded with cane, bamboo, or rush, so as to allow a free passage to the air. Generally they have but one room; two or three stones in the centre of the hut compose the fireplace, and the only egress for the smoke is through the door. The room is scantily furnished with a few mats, a hammock, and some earthenware. Their villages are generally situated upon rising ground, and, owing to the houses being so scattered, they often extend over a league, which gives some foundation to the statements of the conquerors reporting the existence of towns of enormous size. The better kind of villages have regular streets, a thing not to be seen in the ordinary hamlets; and the houses, which are often of adobes (sun-burnt bricks), or of cane plastered over, containing two or three rooms and a loft, are surrounded by neatly kept gardens, enclosed within hedges. When a Guatemalan wishes to build a hut, or repair one, he notifies the chief, who summons the tribe to bring straw and other needful materials, and the work is finished in a few hours; after which the owner supplies the company with chocolate. Some of the Vera Paz tribes are of a roaming disposition. They will take great trouble in clearing and preparing a piece of ground for sowing, and, after one or two harvests, will leave for another locality. Their dwellings, which are often grouped in hamlets, are therefore of a more temporary character, the walls being of maize-stalks and sugar-cane, surmounted by a slight palm-leaf roof. During an expedition into the country of the Lacandones, the Spaniards found a town of over one hundred houses, better constructed than the villages on the Guatemalan plateau. In the centre of the place stood three large buildings, one a temple, and the other two assembly houses, for men and women respectively. All were enclosed with fences excellently varnished. The Nicaraguan villages seem to be the neatest; the houses are chiefly of plaited cane or bamboo frame-work, raised a few feet from the ground, and standing in the midst of well-arranged flowers and shrubbery. Dollfus describes a simple but ingenious method used by the Guatemalans to cross deep rivers. A stout cable of aloe-fibres is passed over the stream, and fixed to the banks at a sufficient height from the surface of the water. To this rope bridge, called garucha, is attached a running strap, which the traveler passes round his body, and is pulled across by men stationed on the opposite side.[963]The Lacandones have ‘floating gardens which can navigate the lagoons like bolsas,’ and are often inhabited. They have stone sepulchres highly sculptured. Pontelli, in Cal. Farmer, Nov. 7, 1862. ‘In these ancient Chontales villages the houses were in the centre, and the tombs, placed in a circle around…. The Indians who before the Spanish conquest inhabited Nicaragua did not construct any large temples or other stone buildings.’ Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, pp. 126-7. They live like their forefathers ‘in buildings precisely similar … some huts of a single room will monopolise an acre of land.’ Boyle’s Ride, vol. ii., pp. 6-8; Gage’s New Survey, pp. 318-19; Scherzer, Wanderungen, pp. 75, 430, 496; Puydt, Rapport, in Amérique Centrale, pp. 69-70; Valois, Mexique, p. 278; Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, fol. 86, 102; Froebel’s Cent. Amer., pp. 89, 96; Dollfus and Mont-Serrat, Voy. Géologique, pp. 19, 55; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; Berendt, in Smithsonian Rept., 1867, p. 425; West und Ost Indischer Lustgart, pt. ii., pp. 380, 390; Valenzuela, in Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 566.

These natives are essentially agricultural, but, like all who inhabit the warm zone, desire to live with the least possible labor. Most of them are content with a small patch of ground round their huts, on which they cultivate, in the same manner as did their forefathers, the little maize, beans, and the banana and plantain trees necessary for their subsistence. There are, however, a number of small farmers, who raise cochineal, cacao, indigo, and cotton, thereby adding to their own and their country’s prosperity. In the more thinly settled districts, hunting enables them to increase the variety of their food with the flesh of wild hogs, deer, and other game, which are generally brought down with stone-headed arrows. When hunting the wild hog, they stretch a strong net, with large meshes, in some part of the woods, and drive the animals towards it. These rush headlong into the meshes, and are entangled, enabling their pursuers to dispatch them with ease.

Food of the Guatemalans

Beans, and tortillas of maize, with the inevitable chile for seasoning, and plantains or bananas are their chief food. To these may be added meat in small quantities, fish, eggs, honey, turtle, fowl, and a variety of fruit and roots. Salt is obtained by boiling the soil gathered on the sea-shore. Maize is prepared in several ways. When young and tender, the ears are boiled, and eaten with salt and pepper; or a portion of them are pressed, and the remainder boiled with the juice thus extracted. When ripe, the fruit is soaked and then dried between the hands, previous to being crushed to flour between two stones. It is usually made into tortillas, which are eaten hot, with a strong sprinkling of pepper and occasionally a slight addition of fat. Tamales is the name for balls of cooked maize mixed with beef and chile, and rolled in leaves. A favorite dish is a dumpling made of maize and frijoles. The frijoles, or beans, of which a stock is always kept, are boiled a short time with chile; they are then mixed with maize, and again put into the pot until thoroughly cooked, when they are eaten with a sauce made of salt, chile, and water. There are a number of fluid and solid preparations made chiefly from maize, and known as atole, to which name various prefixes are added to denote the other ingredients used. Meat, which is usually kept jerked, is a feast-day food. Gage describes the jerking process as follows: Fresh meat is cut into long strips, salted, and hung between posts to dry in the sun for a week. The strips are then smoked for another week, rolled up in bundles, which become quite hard, and are called tassajo or cesina. Another mode of preparing meat is described by the same author: When a deer has been shot, the body is left until decay and maggots render it appetizing; it is then brought home and parboiled with a certain herb until the flesh becomes sweet and white. The joint is afterwards again boiled, and eaten with chile. The Lacandones preserve meat as follows: A large hole is made in the ground, and lined with stones. After the hole has been heated, the meat is thrown in, and the top covered with leaves and earth, upon which a fire is kept burning. The meat takes four hours to cook, and can be preserved for eight or ten days. Cacao forms an important article of food, both as a drink and as bread. The kernel is picked when ripe, dried on a mat, and roasted in an earthen pan, previous to being ground to flour. Formerly, cacao was reserved for the higher classes, and even now the poor endeavor to economize it by adding sapuyal, the kernel of the sapote. They observe no regularity in their meals, but eat and drink at pleasure. When traveling, some roasted maize paste called totoposte, crumbled in boiling water with an addition of salt and pepper, and a cup of warm water, suffice for a repast. Fire is obtained in the usual primitive manner, by rubbing two sticks together.[964]They ‘vivent le plus souvent de fruits et de racines.’ Dollfus and Mont-Serrat, Voy. Géologique, pp. 47, 20-2, 69. ‘Tout en faisant maigre chère, ils mangent et boivent continuellement, comme les animaux.’ Morelet, Voyage, tom. ii., pp. 104, 92, 102, 132, 134, 145, 240, tom. i., pp. 205-6. Nicaraguans ‘essen auch Menschenfleisch … alle Tag machet nur ein Nachbar ein Fewer an, dabei sie alle kochen, vnd dann ein anderer.’ West und Ost Indischer Lustgart, pt. i., p. 390. ‘Perritos pequeños que tambien los comian, y muchos venados y pesquerías.’ Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., pp. 413-14, 407. Hunting alligators: a man dives under, and fastens a noose round the leg of the sleeping monster; his companions then haul it on shore and kill it. Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 139, 130. Compare further: Findlay’s Directory, vol. i., p. 253; Gage’s New Survey, pp. 319-23; Scherzer, Wanderungen, pp. 412-13, 494; Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, fol. 103-4; Juarros’ Hist. Guat., pp. 196-7; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. vii.-ix., lib. x., cap. xiv.; Escobar, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 91; Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 320; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 42-3.

Most authorities agree that they are clean in their habits, and that frequent bathing is the rule, yet it is hinted that leprosy is caused partially by uncleanliness.[965]Dunlop’s Cent. Amer., p. 337; Scherzer, Wanderungen, p. 173.

War, Weapons, and Implements

Since the Spaniards assumed control of the country, weapons, as applied to war, have fallen into disuse, and it is only in the mountain districts that we meet the hunter armed with bow and spear, and slung over his shoulder a quiver full of reed arrows, pointed with stone. In Salvador and Nicaragua, the natives are still very expert in the use of the sling, game often being brought down by it.[966]The Lacandones ’emploient des flèches de canne ayant des têtes de cailloux.’ Galindo, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 67. See also, Bülow, Nicaragua, pp. 79-80; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 305; Juarros’ Hist. Guat., pp. 195, 278; Scherzer, Wanderungen, pp. 413, 430; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. i., p. 358.

I find no record of any wars among the aborigines since the conquest, and the only information relating to their war customs, gathered from the account of skirmishes which the Spaniards have had with some of the tribes in eastern Guatemala, is, that the natives kept in the back-ground, hidden by rocks or trees, waiting for the enemy to approach. As soon as the soldiers came close enough, a cloud of arrows came whizzing among them, and the warriors appeared, shouting with all their might. The Lacandones occasionally retaliate upon the planters on their borders for ill-treatment received at their hands. A number of warriors set out at night with faggots of dry sticks and grass, which are lighted as they approach the plantation, and thrown into the enemy’s camp; during the confusion that ensues, the proposed reprisal is made. One writer gives a brief description of the ceremonies preceding and following their expeditions. In front of the temple are burning braziers filled with odoriferous resin; round this the warriors assemble in full dress, their arms being placed behind them. A smaller brazier of incense blazes in front of each warrior, before which he prostrates himself, imploring the aid of the Great Spirit in his enterprise. On their return, they again assemble, disguised in the heads of various animals, and go through a war dance before the chief and his council. Sentinels are always pacing the summit of the hills, and give notice to one another, by trumpet blast, of the approach of any stranger. If it is an enemy, they speedily form ambuscades to entrap him.[967]Morelet, Voyage, tom. ii., p. 31; Pontelli, in Cal. Farmer, Nov. 7, 14, 1862.

I have already referred to the bare interior of their dwellings: a few mats, a hammock, and some earthenware being the only apology for furniture. The mats are plaited of bark or other fibres, and serve, among other purposes, as a bed for the children, the grown persons generally sleeping in hammocks attached to the rafters. Scattered over the floor may be seen the earthen jar which the women so gracefully balance on their head when bringing it full of water from the well; the earthen pot for boiling plantains, with its folded banana-leaf cover; cups made from clay, calabash, cocoa-nut, or wacal shells, with their stands, often polished and bearing the marks of native sculpture; the metate for grinding the family flour; the comal, a clay plate upon which the tortilla is baked. A banana-leaf serves for a plate, and a fir-stick does the duty of a candle. Their hunting or bag nets are made of pita or bark-fibres. The steel machete and the knife have entirely displaced their ancient silex tools, of which some relics may still be found among the Lacandones. Valenzuela mentions that in the meeting-house of this tribe, the conquerors found two hundred hanging seats.[968]Valois, Mexique, pp. 278, 287; Sivers, Mittelamerika, p. 130; Scherzer, Wanderungen, p. 430; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 279; Squier’s Nicaragua, pp. 272-3; Valenzuela, in Id., Cent. Amer., p. 567. The Lacandon hut contained ‘des métiers à tisser, des sarbacanes, des haches et d’autres outils en silex.’ Morelet, Voyage, tom. ii., pp. 79, 104, 197, 211. ‘Duermen en vna red, que se les entra por las costillas, o en vn cañizo, y por cabecera vn madero: ya se alumbran con teas.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. xiv., dec. ii., lib. iii., cap. vi. At Masaya, ‘Leur mobilier se compose de nattes par terre, de hamacs suspendus, d’un lit de cuir et d’une caisse en cèdre, quelquefois ornée d’incrustations de cuivre.’ Belly, Nicaragua, tom. i., pp. 197-8.

These natives still excel in the manufacture of pottery, and produce, without the aid of tools, specimens that are as remarkable for their fanciful forms, as for their elegance and coloring. Water-jars are made sufficiently porous to allow the water to percolate and keep the contents cool; other earthenware is glazed by rubbing the heated vessel with a resinous gum. Nor are they behind-hand in the art of weaving, for most of the fabrics used in the country are of native make. The aboriginal spinning machine is not yet wholly displaced, and consists, according to Squier, of a thin spindle of wood, fifteen or sixteen inches in length, which is passed through a wheel of hard, heavy wood, six inches in diameter, and resembles a gigantic top. When used, it is placed in a hollowed piece of wood, to prevent it from toppling over. A thread is attached to the spindle just above the wheel, and it is then twirled rapidly between the thumb and forefinger. The momentum of the wheel keeps it in motion for half a minute, and meantime the thread is drawn out by the operator from the pile of prepared cotton in her lap. Their mode of weaving is the same as that of the Mexicans, and the fabrics are not only durable, but tastefully designed and colored to suit the quality and price. The dyes used are, indigo for blue, cochineal for red, and indigo mixed with lemon juice for black. The Nicaraguans obtain a highly prized purple by pressing the valve of a shell-fish found on the sea-shore. Baily says that they take the material to the seaside, and, after procuring a quantity of fresh coloring matter, dip each thread singly into it, and lay it aside to dry. From the aloe, and pita, or silk-grass, which are very strong and can easily be bleached, they obtain a very fine thread, suitable for the finest weaving. Reeds and bark give material for coarser stuff, such as ropes and nets. Mats and hammocks, which are made from any of the last-mentioned fibres, are often interwoven with gray colors and rich designs. Some idea may be formed of the patient industry of the native when we learn that he will work for months upon one of the highly prized hats made from the fibre of the half-formed carludovica palmata leaf. They drill holes in stones, for pipes and other objects, by twirling a stick rapidly between the hands in some sand and water placed upon the stone.[969]‘Le principe colorant est fixé an moyen d’une substance grasse que l’on obtient par l’ébullition d’un insecte nommé age.’ Morelet, Voyage, tom. ii., pp. 130, 197. Consult further, Squier’s Nicaragua, pp. 269-73; Baily’s Cent. Amer., pp. 124-5; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. vii., ix., lib. x., cap. xiv.; Crowe’s Cent. Amer., pp. 44; Squier, in Hist. Mag., vol. v., p. 215; Dollfus and Mont-Serrat, Voy. Géologique, p. 47; Dunlop’s Cent. Amer., p. 338; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 274.

Guatemalan Canoes

Canoes are the usual ‘dug-outs,’ made from a single cedar or mahogany log, cedar being liked for its lightness, mahogany for its durability. They are frequent enough on the coast, and even the north-eastern Guatemalans used to muster fleets of several hundred canoes on their lakes and rivers, using them for trade as well as war. Pim, when at Greytown, particularly observed the hollowed-out boats, some upwards of fifty feet in length, and straight as an arrow. He says that they are very skillfully handled, and may be seen off the harbor in any weather. The paddles, which are used both for steering and propelling, are of light mahogany, four feet long, with very broad blades, and a cross at the handle.[970]Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, pp. 241-2; Lafond, Voyages, tom. i., p. 317; Morelet, Voyage, tom. ii., p. 31; Dollfus and Mont-Serrat, Voy. Géologique, pp. 47-8. In their trade, the Lacandones ‘are said to have employed not less than 424 canoes.’ Juarros’ Hist. Guat., p. 271.

Their wealth, which, since the conquest, mostly consists of household goods, is the product of their farms and industry mentioned under food, implements, and manufactures. The coast tribes, in Salvador, have a source of wealth not yet referred to—balsam—and they are very jealous of their knowledge of obtaining it. The process, as described by Dollfus, is to make several deep incisions in the trunk of the balsam-tree, and stuff the holes with cotton rags. When these have absorbed sufficient balm, they are placed in jars of water, and submitted to a moderate heat. The heat separates the substance from the rags, and the balsam rises to the surface to be skimmed and placed in well-closed jars for shipment. These people possess no written records to establish ownership to their property, but hold it by ancient rights transmitted from father to son, which are transferable. The right of first discovery, as applied to fruit-trees and the like, is respected, and can be transmitted. Goods and lands are equally divided among the sons. There is a general interchange of products on a small scale, and as soon as the farm yield is ready, or a sufficient quantity of hammocks, mats, hats, and cups have been prepared, the native will start on a short trading-tour, with the load on his back—for they use no other mode of transport. The ancient custom of holding frequent markets in all towns of any importance has not quite disappeared, for Masaya, among other places, continues to keep a daily tianguez. Cacao-beans, which were formerly the chief currency, are still used for that purpose to a certain extent, and make up a large item in their wealth. The Lacandones at one time drove a brisk trade on the rio de la Pasion, employing several hundred canoes, but this has now greatly diminished, and they seem to grow less and less inclined to intercourse. Hardcastle relates that two shy mountain tribes of Guatemala “exchange dogs and a species of very sharp red pepper, by leaving them on the top of the mountain, and going to the spot in turn.”[971]The Quichés ‘portent jusqu’au Nicaragua des hamacs en fil d’agave.’ Morelet, Voyage, tom. ii., pp. 145, 92, 130-1, 198, tom. i., pp. 260, 318, 320; Dollfus and Mont-Serrat, Voy. Géologique, pp. 18, 60; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. v., cap. xii.; Juarros’ Hist. Guat., pp. 68, 271, 475; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., pp. 248, 345; Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 319; Hardcastle, in Hist. Mag., vol. vi., p. 153; Gage’s New Survey, p. 319.

Art and Government

The native’s aptitude for art is well illustrated by the various products of his industry, decorated as they are with fanciful designs, carvings, and coloring. The calabash cups are widely circulated, and the artistic carving of leaves, curious lines, and figures of all descriptions, in relief, with which the outside is ornamented, has been much admired. No less esteemed are the small Guatemalan earthen figures, painted in natural colors, representing the various trades and occupations of the people, which may be said to rival European productions of the same character. The ornaments on their pottery bear some resemblance to the Etruscan. They are equally advanced in painting, for many of the altar-pieces in Central America are from the native brush, and their dishes are often richly colored in various designs. Original lyric poetry seems to flourish among them, and is not wanting in grace, although the rendering of it may not be exactly operatic. The subject generally refers to victorious encounters with monsters, but contains also sarcasms on government and society.[972]Among the Nahuatls ‘mechanical arts are little understood, and, of course, the fine arts still less practiced.’ Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 320; Id., Nicaragua, pp. 270-3. The Masayans have ‘une caisse en cèdre, quelquefois ornée d’incrustations de cuivre.’ Belly, Nicaragua, pp. 197-8. See also, Morelet, Voyage, tom. ii., p. 130; Puydt, Rapport, in Amérique Centrale, p. 134; Gage’s New Survey, p. 329; Valois, Mexique, pp. 287, 420-6; Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 127, 295; Funnell’s Voy., p. 113; Dunn’s Guatemala, p. 281; Pontelli, in Cal. Farmer, Nov. 7, 1862.

A reverential respect for authority is innate with these people, and the chief, usually a descendant of the ancient caciques, who is also the head of the municipal government introduced among them by the Spaniards, receives the homage paid him with imperturbable gravity. These chiefs form a proud and powerful noblesse, who rule with an iron hand over their submissive followers. Although governed to all appearance by the code of the country, they have their own laws based on custom and common sense, which are applied to civil as well as criminal cases. Among the Lacandones, the chief is elected by a council of old men, when death, misconduct, or the superior abilities of some one else call for such a step. Pontelli adds that the new chief is invested with lion-skins and a collar of human teeth to represent his victories; a crown of feathers or a lion-skin is his usual distinctive head-dress. The wife of the chief is required to possess some rare qualities. These people are very strict in executing the law; the offender is brought before the old men, and if the crime is serious his relatives have often to share in his punishment. The people of Salvador, according to Dollfus, have frequent reunions in their council-house at night. The hall is then lighted up by a large fire, and the people sit with uncovered heads, listening respectfully to the observations and decisions of the ahuales—men over forty years of age, who have occupied public positions, or distinguished themselves in some way. Gage makes a curious statement concerning the rio Lempa that may be based upon some ancient law. Any man who committed a heinous crime on the one side of the river, and succeeded in escaping to the other, was allowed to go unmolested, provided he did not return.[973]Dollfus and Mont-Serrat, Voy. Géologique, pp. 20, 49-51; Puydt, Rapport, in Amérique Centrale, p. 134; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 398; Gage’s New Survey, pp. 318-9, 417; Pontelli, in Cal. Farmer, Nov. 7, 1862. ‘Chacun d’eux vint ensuite baiser la main du chef, hommage qu’il reçut avec une dignité imperturbable.’ Morelet, Voyage, tom. ii., pp. 245-6, 134.

Marriage and Childbirth

Marriages take place at an early age, often before puberty, and usually within the tribe. When the boy, in Guatemala and Salvador, has attained the age of nine, his parents begin to look around for a bride for him, the mother having a good deal to say in this matter. Presents are made to the parents of the girl chosen, and she is transferred to the house of her future father-in-law, where she is treated as a daughter, and assists in the household duties, until she is old enough to marry. It sometimes happens that she has by this time become distasteful to the affianced husband, and is returned to her parents. The presents given for her are then demanded back, a refusal naturally follows, and feuds result, lasting for generations. Gage states that when the parties to the betrothal are of different tribes, the chiefs are notified, and meet in solemn conclave to consult about the expediency of the alliance. The consultations often extend over a period of several months, during which the parents of the boy supply the council with refreshments, and make presents to the girl’s family for her purchase. If the council disagree, the presents are returned, and the matter drops. When the youth has reached his sixteenth or eighteenth year, and the maid her fourteenth, they are considered able to take care of themselves; a house is accordingly built, and the father gives his son a start in life. The cacique and relations are summoned to witness the marriage ceremony, now performed by the priest, after which the pair are carried upon the shoulders of their friends to the new house, placed in a room, and shut in. The bride brings no dowry, but presents are made by the friends of the families. Several tribes in Guatemala are strictly opposed to marriages outside of the tribe, and destroy the progeny left by a stranger. The Lacandones still practice polygamy, each wife having a separate house and field for her support. In Nicaragua, where women are more independent, and fewer of the ancient marriage customs have been retained than elsewhere, the ceremony is often quickly disposed of, the husband and wife returning to their avocations immediately after. The life of the woman is one of drudgery; household duties, weaving, and the care of children keeping her constantly busy, while the husband is occupied in dolce far niente; yet their married life is not unhappy. Although the female dresses scantily and is not over shy when bathing, she is by no means immodest or unchaste, but bears rather a better character than women of the superior race. Childbirth is not attended with any difficulties, for it sometimes happens that the woman, after being delivered on the road, will wash the child and herself in the nearest stream, and proceed on her journey, as if nothing had occurred. The Quichés, among others, still call in the sorcerer to take the horoscope of the new-born, and to appeal to the gods in its behalf. He also gives the infant the name of some animal, which becomes its guardian spirit for life. Belly states that more boys are born to the natives, while the whites have more girls. The mother invariably nurses the child herself until its third year, and, when at work, carries it on her back in a cloth passed round her body; the movements of the mother in washing or kneading tending to rock the infant to sleep. Otherwise the child is little cared for, and has to lie on the bare ground, or, at most, with a mat under it. As the boy grows older the father will take him into the field and forest, suiting the work to his strength, and instructing him in the use of tools, while the mother takes charge of the girl, teaching her to cook, spin, and weave. Respect for parents and older people is inculcated, and children never presume to speak before a grown person unless first addressed. They remain under the parents’ roof until married, and frequently after, several generations often living together in one house under the rule of the eldest. The native is fond of home, for here he escapes from the contempt of the other races, and reigns supreme over a family which is taught to respect him: patriotism has been replaced by love of home among this oppressed people.[974]‘Leur dernier-né suspendu à leurs flancs.’ Morelet, Voyage, tom. ii., pp. 198, 126, tom. i., pp. 204-5, 318. In Salvador, the ‘bridegroom makes his wife’s trousseau himself, the women, strange to say, being entirely ignorant of needlework.’ Foote’s Cent. Amer., p. 103. Further reference in Valois, Mexique, pp. 280, 288; Belly, Nicaragua, pp. 200-1, 253; Hassel, Mex. Guat., pp. 303-4; Revue Brit., 1825, in Amérique Centrale, p. 23; Bülow, Nicaragua, p. 80; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 272; Gage’s New Survey, p. 319; Juarros’ Hist. Guat., pp. 195-6; Tempsky’s Mitla, p. 365; Dollfus and Mont-Serrat, Voy. Géologique, pp. 20, 47; Scherzer, Wanderungen, p. 66; Id., Die Indianer von Istlávacan, p. 11.

Guatemalan Music

Their amusements are less common and varied than among the whites, and are generally reserved for special occasions, when they are indulged in to excess. Still, they have orderly gatherings round the hearth, at which wondrous and amusing stories form the chief part of the entertainment. Songs follow in natural order, and are loudly applauded by the listeners, who join in repeating the last words of the verse. The subject, as given by some local poet, or transmitted from an ancient bard, is pleasing enough, but the rendering is in a plaintive, disagreeable monotone. Their instrumental music is an improvement on the vocal, in some respects, and practice has enabled the player to execute pieces from memory with precision and accord. The marimba, a favorite instrument, consists of a series of vertical tubes of different length but equal diameter, fastened together in a line by bark fibre, and held firm between two pieces of wood. The tubes have a lateral opening at the base covered with a membrane, and the upper end is closed by a small, movable elastic plate, upon which the performer strikes with light drumsticks. The play of the plates causes a compression of air in the tube, and a consequent vibration of the membrane, which produces a sound differing in character according to the length of the tube. All the parts are of wood, the tube being, however, occasionally of terra-cotta, or replaced by calabash-shells. The marimba of usual size is over a yard in length, and consists of twenty-two tubes ranging from four to sixteen inches in length, forming three complete octaves. The pitch is regulated by a coating of wax on the key-plates. Some drumsticks are forked to strike two plates at once. Occasionally, several persons join in executing an air upon the instrument, or two marimbas are played in perfect accord with some song. Their usual drum is called tepanabaz, described by Gage as a smooth hollow trunk with two or three clefts on the upper side and holes at the ends. It is beaten with two sticks, and produces a dull heavy sound. Other drums covered with wild goat skin, tortoise-shells, pipes, small bells, and rattles, are chiefly used at dances. The Lacandones possess a kind of mandolin, a double-necked, truncated cone, with one string, made to pass four times over the bridge; also a clarionet-like instrument named chirimiya; their drum is called tepanahuaste. A dance is generally a grand affair with the native, combining as it does dress with dramatic and saltatory exhibitions. At the tocontin dance, in Guatemala, from twenty to forty persons dressed in white clothes richly embroidered, and bedecked with gaudy bands, colored feathers in gilt frames fastened on the back, fanciful helmets topped with feathers, and feathers, again, on their legs, in form of wings. The conductor stands in the centre beating time on the tepanabaz, while the dancers circle round him, one following the other, sometimes straight, sometimes turning half-way, at other times fully round, and bending the body to the ground, all the time shouting the fame of some hero. This continues for several hours, and is often repeated in one house after another. In another dance they disguise themselves with skins of different animals, acting up to the character assumed, and running in and out of the circle formed round the musicians, striking, shrieking, and hotly pursuing some particular performer. There are also several dances like those of the Mexicans, in which men dress in women’s clothes and other disguises. The Nicaraguan dances vary but little from the above. Several hundred people will gather in some well-cleared spot, their arms and legs ornamented with strings of shells, their heads with feathers, and with fans in their hands. The leader, walking backwards, commences some movements to be imitated by the dancers, who follow in threes and fours, turning round, intermingling, and again uniting. The musicians beat drums and sing songs to which the leader responds, the dancers taking up the refrain in their turn, and shaking their calabash rattles. After a while they pass round each other and perform the most curious antics and grimaces, crying, laughing, posturing, acting lame, blind, and so on. Drinking is inseparable from these reunions, and they do not usually break up until all have attained the climax of their wishes—becoming helplessly drunk. The principal drinks are, atole made from maize, but which assumes different prefixes, according to the additional ingredients used, as istatole, jocoatole, etc.; pulque, chiefly used in the highlands; and, not least, chicha, made from maize and various fruits and roots, fermented with honey or sugar-cane juice. Gage states that tobacco-leaves and toads were added to increase the flavor. The Nicaraguans make their favorite drink from a wild red cherry. It takes several weeks to prepare these liquors, but by the generous aid of friends the stock is often consumed at one carousal.[975]Gage’s New Survey, pp. 323, 347-50; Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., p. 415; Valois, Mexique, pp. 279-80, 420-6; Dollfus and Mont-Serrat, Voy. Géologique, p. 48; Froebel’s Cent. Amer., pp. 78-81; Dapper, Neue Welt, pp. 306, 312; Valenzuela, in Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 567; Juarros’ Hist. Guat., pp. 447-9; Coreal, Voyages, tom. i., pp. 88-9; Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 34; Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 320-2; Pontelli, in Cal. Farmer, Nov. 14, 1862. ‘Les Indiens ne fument pas.’ Belly, Nicaragua, p. 164. ‘Ihr gewöhnliches Getränke ist Wasser.’ Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 304. ‘Je n’ai entendu qu’à Flores, pendant le cours de mon voyage, des chœurs exécutés avec justesse.’ Morelet, Voyage, tom. ii., pp. 42-4, 325, tom. i., p. 196.

Customs in Guatemala and Nicaragua

Ignorant and oppressed as they are, superstition is naturally strong among them, the evil eye, ominous import of animals and the like being firmly believed in. Nicaraguans gave as a reason for speaking in whispers at night, that loud talking attracts mosquitos. The Quichés, of Istlávacan, among others, believe in certain evil and certain good days, and arrange their undertakings accordingly. When meeting a stranger, they present the forehead to be touched, thinking that a beneficial power is imparted to them by this means. They still adhere to their sorcerers, who are called in upon all important occasions, to predict the future, exorcise evil spirits and the like, with the aid of various decoctions and incantations. The Chontales have diviners who, with the aid of drugs, taken after a fast, fall into a trance, during which they prophesy. They form a sort of guild, and live alone in the mountains with a few pupils, who support them in return for the instruction received. Although idolatry proper is abolished, some ancient practices still live, blended with their Christian worship, and it is said that tribes inhabiting the remote mountain regions still keep up their old rites in secret. Dollfus is apparently inclined to believe that the songs he heard the natives chant every morning and evening may be the relic of some ancient religious ceremony. The Itzas hold deer sacred, and these animals were consequently quite familiar with man, before the conquerors subdued the country. The Lacandones are said to have been the last who publicly worshiped in their temple, and whose priests sacrificed animals to idols. By the side of the temple stood two other large buildings used as meeting-houses, one for men, the other for women. Dogs and tame parrots formed part of their domestic establishment. The native is very taciturn before strangers, but on paying a visit to friends he will deliver long harangues full of repetition. It is almost impossible to obtain a direct answer from him to any question. Another peculiarity with many is to hoard money at the expense of bodily comfort. It is buried in some secret place, and the owner dies without even caring to inform his kin of the whereabouts of his treasures. The favorite occupation of the people is to act as porters, and Guatemala certainly possesses the most excellent carriers, who are trained for the business from an early age. They usually go in files, headed by a chief, all armed with long staffs and water-proof palm-leaf mats, and travel from twenty to thirty miles a day, for days in succession, without suffering any inconvenience. The weight varies from one hundred to two hundred and fifty pounds, according to road and distance, and is carried on the back, supported by straps passed over the forehead and shoulders. They are very moderate in eating, and never drink cold water if they can avoid it; when tired, they stretch themselves at full length on the ground, and are speedily refreshed. Women are also accustomed to carry burdens, and may frequently be seen taking several filled pitchers to market in nets suspended from their forehead and shoulders. Water they usually bring in jars balanced on the head.[976]The Lacandon chief received me with ‘the emblem of friendship (which is a leaf of the fan-palm).’ Pontelli, in Cal. Farmer, Nov. 14, 1862. See Tempsky’s Mitla, pp. 364-5; Valois, Mexique, pp. 407-8; Escobar, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 91; Thümmel, Mexiko, p. 394; Juarros’ Hist. Guat., p. 197; Foote’s Cent. Amer., p. 122; Dollfus and Mont-Serrat, Voy. Géologique, pp. 48-9; Scherzer, Die Indianer von Istlávacan, pp. 7-15; Reichardt, Nicaragua, pp. 106, 234; Valenzuela, in Squier’s Cent. Amer., pp. 566-7; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 206, tom. ii., pp. 58, 101-2, 104, 197; Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., pp. 293-4, vol. ii., pp. 11-12, 48.

Medical Practice

The ruling diseases are small-pox, which makes yearly havoc; dysentery, which is also not uncommon in the highlands during the summer; and leprosy, manifested by wounds and eruptions, and caused by filth, immoral habits, and bad food. In some parts of Nicaragua, the latter disease breaks out in horny excrescences, similar in appearance to the tips of cow-horns. Rheumatism and chest diseases are rare, in spite of their rough life. Superstitious practices and empirical recipes transmitted from their ancestors are the remedies resorted to. Hot bathing is the favorite treatment. They are skillful at blood-letting, making very small punctures, and applying a pinch of salt to them after the operation is ended. Cauterizing wounds to prevent inflammation is not uncommon, and does not affect the patient much. The principal remedy of the Chorotegans consists of a decoction from various herbs injected by means of a tube. Some tribes of the highlands call in sorcerers to knead and suck the suffering part. After performing a variety of antics and grimaces, the wise man produces a black substance from the mouth, which he announces as the cause of the sickness; the friends of the patient take this matter and trample it to pieces amidst noisy demonstrations.[977]At Masaya, ‘The death-rate among children is said to be excessive.’ Boyle’s Ride, vol. ii., p. 10. ‘Alle Glieder der Familie hatten ein äusserst ungesundes Aussehen und namentlich die Kinder, im Gesicht bleich und mager, hatten dicke, aufgeschwollene Bäuche,’ caused by yucca-roots. Scherzer, Wanderungen, pp. 494, 173-4; Morelet, Voyage, tom. ii., pp. 109-10, 152; Gage’s New Survey, p. 318; Puydt, Rapport, in Amérique Centrale, p. 49; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. i., pp. 345-6; Hassel, Mex. Guat., pp. 302, 398; Escobar, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 91; Scherzer, Die Indianer von Istlávacan, pp. 10-11.

Their dead are washed, and dressed in a fresh suit; friends then assemble to express their regard and sorrow by burning copal and performing a wild dance round the corpse, which is buried with all its belongings, as well as food for sustenance on the long journey. The Itzas, inhabiting the islands in the lake Peten, are said to have thrown their dead into the lake, for want of room.[978]Scherzer, Die Indianer von Istlávacan, pp. 11-12; Morelet, Voyage, tom. ii., p. 63; Valois, Mexique, p. 408.

The character of the Guatemalans exhibits a number of excellent traits. They have always been a gentle race, and easily led by kindness, but centuries of oppression have thrown over them a timid, brooding spirit. Far from warlike, they have nevertheless proved themselves efficient soldiers during the late civil wars. Their honesty and faithfulness to a trust or engagement is universally admitted, and every traveler bears witness to their hospitality and obliging disposition. Although taciturn before strangers, whom they naturally distrust, they are quite voluble and merry among themselves, especially the women; their mirth, however, wants the ring of true happiness. Looking at the darker side, it is found that drunkenness stands preëminent, and if the native is not oftener drunk, it is because the means for carousing are wanting. Surrounded by a bountiful nature, he is naturally lazy and improvident, whole days being passed in dreamy inaction, without a symptom of ennui. He is obstinate, and clings to ancient customs, yet he will not dispute with you, but tacitly forms his own opinion. Taught to be humble, he does not possess much manliness, has a certain cunning, will weep at trifles, and is apt to be vindictive, especially if his jealousy is aroused. The highlanders form an exception to these general characteristics in many respects. The purer air of the mountain has infused in them a certain independent energy, and industry. Nor are the women to be classed as lazy, for their position is rather that of slaves than of wives, yet they are vivacious and not devoid of coquetry, but of undisputed modesty. Many of the remoter tribes are brave, and the Manches, for instance, behaved lately in so spirited a manner as to compel the government to treat with them. The Itzas are said to have been warlike and cruel, but their neighbors the Lacandones are not so ferocious as supposed. The Quichés bear a high character for industry, and intelligence, while those of Rabinal excel in truthfulness, honesty, and morality. The Vera Paz tribes are less active and industrious than those of the plateau; this applies especially to the eastern nations who are also more stupid than the western. The Salvador people are noted for their phlegmatic temperament, and the provoked stranger who seeks to hurry them, is merely laughed at; otherwise they, as well as the Nicaraguans, are more docile and industrious than the Guatemalans, but also more superstitious. Scherzer thinks that they have all the inclination for becoming robbers, but want the energy. The Aztec remnants in Nicaragua are particularly patient and thrifty, but extremely shy and brooding. The Chontales, on the other hand, are said to have been a savage and debased race, while the Cholutecs were brave and cruel but subject to petticoat rule. Opinions concerning the intelligence of the natives and their prospect of advancement are varied, some affirming that they are dull and spiritless, incapable of making any progress, while others assign them a high character and intelligence, which, properly directed, would give them a prominent position.[979]‘La somme des peines est donc limitée comme celle des jouissances; ils ne ressentent ni les unes ni les autres avec beaucoup de vivacité.’ Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 205-7, 196, tom. ii., pp. 104, 132, 198, 200, 253. ‘When aroused, however, they are fierce, cruel, and implacable … shrewd … cringing servility and low cunning … extreme teachableness.’ Crowe’s Cent. Amer., pp. 42-3. ‘Melancholy … silent … pusillanimous … timid.’ Dunn’s Guatemala, p. 278. ‘Imperturbability of the North American Indian, but are a gentler and less warlike race.’ Foote’s Cent. Amer., pp. 104-5. Nicaraguans ‘are singularly docile and industrious … not warlike but brave.’ Squier’s Nicaragua, p. 268. For further reference concerning these people see Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 555; Bülow, Nicaragua, pp. 79-81; Juarros’ Hist. Guat., pp. 197-8; Belly, Nicaragua, pp. 109, 160; Puydt, Rapport, in Amérique Centrale, pp. 70, 135-6; T’ Kint, in Id., pp. 157-8; Fossey, Mexique, p. 471; Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., pref., p. xiv., and p. 75; Gage’s New Survey, pp. 311-12, 333; Valois, Mexique, pp. 238-9, 277, 288, 299, 430; Dollfus and Mont-Serrat, Voy. Géologique, pp. 47-9, 69; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 35; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; Scherzer, Wanderungen, pp. 53, 61, 455, 464-5; Dunlop’s Cent. Amer., pp. 211, 337-8. The Lacandones are very laconic, sober, temperate and strict. Pontelli, in Cal. Farmer, Nov. 7, 1862.

The Mosquitos

The Mosquitos, the second division of the Central American group, are at the present day composed in part of an incongruous mixture of Carib colonists and negro importations, and in part of a pure native element. Owing to the independent spirit of the tribes along the central chain of mountains, which successfully resisted the attempts of Spaniards to penetrate the territory, and to the unhealthy climate of the coast, this country, with the exception of the northern part of Honduras, has as yet escaped subjection to the white race. The country, aside from the sea-shore, possesses many attractive features. The transverse ranges, radiating from the principal chain, form a series of terraces which gradually lessen in elevation, until they disappear in a low coast region. Between them innumerable rivers, fed by the moisture-laden sea-winds, now rushing boisterously from heavily wooded heights, now sluggishly wending their way through luxuriant prairie-land, flow through a region of most pleasing variety, and at last empty into vast lagoons bordering the ocean. The aborigines still form the greater part of the population, and are composed of a large number of tribes which, while practicing agriculture to a limited extent, subsist chiefly on natural fruits and on the products of the chase. Excepting the small tribes of the eastern Mosquito country, Mr Squier, who has given much patient research to their languages, includes the natives of this sub-division among MOSQUITO NATIONS.the Lenca family, at the head of which stand the Guajiqueros in western Honduras, essentially an agricultural people. East of these are the Xicaques, and Poyas, names given to a collection of closely related tribes, some of which have been brought under the subjugating influences of the missionary Fathers, while others still keep their ancient customs intact. The Secos on Black River are included by some writers with the Poyas. South and west of these are the Moscos, and in the western part of the Mosquito coast, the Woolwas, who still cherish a tradition of their emigration from the north-west. East of the latter live the Towkas and Cookras, who extend to Blewfields, and speak dialects varying little from the Woolwa tongue, but stand lower in the scale of humanity. Bell states that the Towkas are merely a branch of the Smoos, who have many points in common with the Poyas, though differing from them in language. Among other aborigines may be mentioned the Albatuinas, Tahuas, Panamekas, Jaras, Taos, Gaulas, Itziles, Motucas, and the Ramas on the Blewfields lagoon; of several others the names are either lost or unknown. Following the coast southward we meet the Caribs, a strong, hardy, but crude race at present, of varied negro admixture, chiefly descended from the turbulent natives of San Vicente island, whom the English transported in 1796 to the island of Roatan, whence they were brought over to Honduras. The Caribs, who have within a few decades spread from a small colony over the whole northern coast, driving other nations into the interior and southward, appear to be superseding the aborigines, now fast disappearing under the annihilating effect of drink and disease. South of the Caribs round cape Gracias á Dios are the Sambos, or Mosquitos proper, said to have sprung from the union of native women with negro slaves wrecked on the coast during the seventeenth century. Owing to their geographical position they were brought in contact with the buccaneers, and placed in a position to gain ascendancy over other tribes from the Poyas southward, but were at the same time inoculated with the degrading vices and disorders which are now so rapidly bringing about their extinction. Elated by their position as masters of the coast, they assumed the proud title of Waiknas, or men, in which conceit they have been imitated by the subjected tribes, which are gradually adopting the Sambo tongue. Adjacent to them are the Toonglas, a not very numerous offshoot of Smoos and Sambos.[980]The name Mosquito is generally supposed to have arisen from the numerous mosquito insects to be found in the country; others think that the small islands off the coast, “which lie as thick as mosquitoes,” may have caused the appellation; while a third opinion is that the name is a corruption of an aboriginal term, and to substantiate this opinion it is said that the natives call themselves distinctly Misskitos. Mosquitoland, Bericht, pp. 134, 19-23. The Carib name is pronounced “Kharibees” on the coast. Macgregor’s Progress of America, vol. i., pp. 770, 775. ‘Il existe chez eux des langues très différentes, et nous avons remarqué qu’à cent lieues de distance ils ne se comprennent plus les uns les autres.’ Varnhagen, Prem. Voy. de Amerigo Vespucci, p. 40. See further: Stout’s Nicaragua, p. 113; Squier’s Nicaragua, vol. ii., p. 308; Id., Cent. Amer., pp. 241, 244-7; 252-3; Bülow, Nicaragua, p. 77; Juarros’ Hist. Guat., p. 346; Galindo, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. iii., p. 290; Bell, in Id., vol. xxxii., pp. 258-9; Bard’s Waikna, pp. 123, 201-2, 243; Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, pp. 395-6; Young’s Narrative, pp. 36, 86; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., pp. 243-7, 303, 347-50; Henderson’s Honduras, p. 216; Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., pp. xii-xiii., 269, 287; Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 179-80, 287-8.

Race-mixtures in certain localities have almost obliterated aboriginal types, which are portrayed as of medium stature, regular form, and varying in color from light brown to dark coppery. The people about cape Gracias á Dios are represented by the first voyagers to have been nearly as dark as negroes. The face is rather flat and oval, the head smaller than among Europeans; forehead high and cheek-bones not very prominent; hair long, straight, coarse, and black; beard scanty; nose very small, thin, and usually aquiline among the coast people, but larger and broader toward the interior. The iris of the eye is generally black, but often verges toward brown; mouth broad, with thin lips and regular teeth. The women present a full bust and abdomen; they are called pretty, but early marriages soon make them old. It is suspected that infant murder has something to do with the rarity of deformed people. The Towkas and Ramas present the finest pure-blooded type, the former being very fair, while the latter are large, athletic, and stern-looking. The Poyas are copper-colored, short, but muscular, broad-faced, with large forehead, bent nose, and small, mild eyes. The Toonglas are duskier; the Smoos approach the fair Towkas in hue, though they have a flatter head, accompanied by a stolid look. The darkest of all are the Woolwas, whose color seems a mixture of yellow ochre and India ink. Proceeding to Honduras, we meet the Caribs, whose varied admixture of negro blood separates them into yellow and black Caribs. The former are distinguished by a somewhat ruddy hue, with a hooked nose; while his duskier brother is taller, hardier, and longer-lived; with a nose inclining to aquiline. Children are prettier as they approach the negro type. The hair varies in curl and gloss according to purity of blood. The Mosquitos proper are more uniform in appearance, and buccaneers have no doubt assisted in bringing out many of the characteristics that have obtained for the Sambo race the leading position on the coast. They are all well-built, raw-boned, nimble, and of a dull, dark, copper color. The face is oval, with a coarse, lustful expression, the hair rough, wavy, and black, eyes bright and remarkably strong; women pretty, with large eyes, and small feet and ankles.[981]‘Die Backenknochen treten nicht, wie bei andern amerikanischen Stämmen, auffallend hervor … starke Oberlippe.’ Mosquitoland, Bericht, pp. 134-6, 59, 70, 151. Consult also: Squier’s Cent. Amer., pp. 230, 251, 597-8; Hassel, Mex. Guat., pp. 388-9; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. i., pp. 397-8; Varnhagen, Prem. Voy. de Amerigo Vespucci, pp. 40-1. The pure type has ‘schlichte, gröbere, schwarze Haare und feinere Lippen.’ Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 74, 177, 180, 287-8; Young’s Narrative, pp. 26, 28-9, 72, 75, 79, 82, 87, 123; Uring’s Hist. Voy., p. 226; Bell, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., pp. 256-9; Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, pp. 248, 305, 403; Colon, Hist. Almirante, in Barcia, Historiadores, tom. i., p. 104; Bard’s Waikna, pp. 127, 298, 317; Strangeways’ Mosquito Shore, p. 329. The natives of Corn island are ‘of a dark copper-colour, black Hair, full round Faces, small black Eyes, their Eye-brows hanging over their Eyes, low Foreheads, short thick Noses, not high, but flattish; full Lips, and short Chins.’ Dampier’s Voyages, vol. i., pp. 31-2, 7-8.

Mosquito Physique and Dress

A piece of cloth fastened at the waist in a twist or by a cord, and reaching to the knee, constitutes the native male costume in these parts, that of the women being somewhat shorter. This cloth is either of cotton, sometimes woven with down, or of fibres from the inner bark of the caoutchouc tree, beaten on stones till they become soft, and is often large enough to serve for a covering at night. Some are quite fanciful in color and design, and formerly they were painted. Those of the Woolwas are usually six feet long by three broad, striped blue and yellow; they are passed between the legs and fastened at the waist by a thong. The Xicaques, on the contrary, wear the cloth serape-fashion, by passing the head through a slit in the centre, and tying the folds round the waist. Even this scanty covering is often reduced to the smallest apron, and is dispensed with altogether in some parts, for modern travelers speak of natives in a naked state. Women occasionally wear a small square cloth, having an opening for the head, one part of which covers the breast, the other the back. In some parts chiefs are distinguished by a cotton cap, and a long sleeveless robe, open in front and often nicely ornamented; in other places men of rank wear turbans decorated with plumes and feathers, and dress in skins of eagles, tigers, and other animals; these are also used by the common people on festive occasions. The Smoos’ head-dress is especially pretty, with its embroidery and feather-work. Ordinarily the long loose hair is deemed sufficient to protect the head, and is kept sleek and shining by palm-oil, which they say furthers its growth. The women have longer hair than the men, and often dress it in ringlets, seldom in a knot or wreath. The people of northern Honduras wear a lock hanging over the forehead; some highland chieftains, on the contrary, shave the front of the head, but allow the back hair to grow long, while the Poyas part theirs in the middle, keeping it in position with a band. That of the religious men reaches to the waist, and generally falls in braids behind. In mourning, both sides of the head are shaved, a bushy comb being left along the middle. Formerly all hair except that on the head, even eyebrows and lashes, was pulled out, because it was thought fit for animals only to have hair on the body. All go barefooted, and it is only where the native has to travel over a rough road that he puts on alparagats, or sandals of bark, wood, or skin, which are fastened by thongs round the foot. Whatever is wanting in actual dress, however, is made up by paint and ornaments, of which both sexes are equally fond. The face and upper part of the body are either uniformly daubed over or tattooed with rays, fanciful lines, and designs representing animals and the like, chiefly in red and black. Taste is not wanting in this adornment, for the tint is often delicate, and the black circles round the eyes indicate that they understand effect, increasing as they do the lustre of the orbs. Esquemelin states that when visitors were expected, the men combed the hair, and smeared the face with an ointment of oil and black powder, the women using a red admixture. Tattooing figures on the body by cauterization, as seen by Columbus on the Mosquito Coast, is still practiced in certain parts of the interior. Aboriginal Mosquitos also perforated ears, lips, and cheeks, to hold pendants of fish-bones and green stones; the holes in the ears being as large as eggs. The natives of Corn island not only carried large pieces of wood in the ears, but gradually enlarged the hole in the lower lip; at fifteen years of age the wood was removed and a tortoise-shell inserted. Women wore a tight bandage round the ankle to increase the size of their calves. Strings of tastefully arranged beads, bones, shells, and stones, and gaily colored bandages, were worn round the neck and wrist; the women adorning the legs and ankles in a similar manner, and also using feathers and flowers. Certain interior tribes, as the Smoos, esteem a round MOSQUITO HEAD-FLATTENING.forehead as a reproach, and hence the head is flattened, the effect of which would be more noticeable, were it not for the thick bushy hair. This head-flattening fashion here appears for the first time since we left the Columbian group; we shall see it once again further south, and that is all. The process here is essentially similar to that of the Columbians. When the infant is a month old, it is tied to a board, and a flat piece of wood, kept firm by bands, is placed upon the forehead. The child remains in this painful position for several months, the pressure increasing as the head grows.[982]Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. i., cap. vi., lib. viii., cap. iii., v.; Esquemelin, Zee-Roovers, pp. 150-1; Squier, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xix., p. 614; Id., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1858, tom. clx., p. 134; Martin’s Brit. Col., vol. ii., p. 412; Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, pp. 248-50, 280, 308, 403, 415; Macgregor’s Progress of Amer., vol. i., p. 772; Dampier’s Voyages, vol. i., pp. 11, 32; Bard’s Waikna, pp. 127, 253-6, 298; Mosquitoland, Bericht, pp. 116-17, 136-7; Bell, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., pp. 256-60; Young’s Narrative, pp. 12, 26, 29, 32, 72, 77, 83, 122, 133. ‘Alcuni vsano certe camiciuole com’quelle, che vsiamo noi, lunghe sino al belico, e senza manche. Portano le braccia, e il corpo lauorati di lauori moreschi, fatti col fuoco.’ Colombo, Hist. del Ammiraglio, pp. 403-5.

Towns there are none, except in certain parts; seldom do more than four or five houses stand in a group; the locality being changed at intervals for sanitary or superstitious purposes. A few upright posts planted in parallel lines, or in a circle, and occasionally interwoven with cane or leaves, support what may be called the hut proper, which is a sharply sloping, well-thatched palm-leaf roof with projecting eaves, reaching to within three or four feet of the ground. There is usually but one apartment, the floor of which is often coated with clay, and raised a little to avoid dampness. In the center is the fireplace, surrounded by household ware and cackling hens, and all round may be seen hammocks and nets suspended from the bamboo rafters. Some sleep on a frame-work of bamboo placed upon posts. The better class of houses contain partitions for the several families occupying it, and stand in fields enclosed by stalk fences. A village with many of the interior tribes consists of one large building, often one hundred feet long by thirty feet wide. The front and end of these structures are open, but the back is partitioned off into small closets with the bark of the cabbage-palms, each serving as a bedroom for a married couple, or for unmarried women. A platform immediately under the roof is used as a sleeping-place for the boys, and an apartment at the end of the hut is set apart for women about to be confined. Some of the Guajiquero villages contain over a hundred substantial huts of mud, or of cane plastered over and whitewashed. The Toonglas and Cookras, erect temporary sheds near the streams, during the summer, but seek more secure huts in the winter. Carib dwellings are the neatest of all; some are of cane, others of frame-work filled with mud. Cockburn relates that, during his journey through Honduras, he came across a bridge made of a net-work of cane, which was suspended between trees so that the centre hung forty feet above the surface of the stream. He found it very old and shaky, and concluded that it belonged to the remote past.[983]Strangeways’ Mosquito Shore, p. 334; Froebel’s Cent. Amer., p. 185; Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 660; Id., in Harper’s Mag., vol. xix., p. 613; Id., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1858, tom. clx., p. 134; Young’s Narrative, pp. 13, 77, 98-9, 125; Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, pp. 279, 295, 415-6; Bell, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., pp. 258-9; Bard’s Waikna, pp. 293-4, 318-9; Mosquitoland, Bericht, pp. 20, 137-9; Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 167, 178; Cockburn’s Journey, pp. 23, 55-7.

Food in Honduras

Redundant nature here leaves man so little to do, as scarcely to afford an opportunity for development. The people of northern Honduras, according to Herrera, cleared the ground with stone axes, and turned the sod by main strength with a forked pole or with sharp wooden spades, and by this means secured two or three yields every year; but the present occupants scarcely take so much trouble. On marrying, the men prepare a small field for a few beds of yams, beans, cassava, and squash, some pepper, and pine-apples, besides twenty to thirty plantain and cocoa-nut trees, leaving their wives to give it such further care as may be required. Where maize is cultivated it is either sown two or three grains in holes two feet apart, or broadcast over freshly cleared woodland a little before the rainy season. The Poyas are the only people who cultivate respectable farms. Fishing is the favorite occupation of the coast tribes, and their dexterity with the spear and harpoon is quite remarkable. The proper time for catching the larger species of fish, such as the tarpom and palpa, is at night, when a fleet of pitpans, each with a pitch-pine torch in the bow, may be seen on the lagoon intermingling in picturesque confusion. One or two paddlers propel the boat, another holds the torch, while the harpooneer stands at the bow with a waisko-dusa, or staff, having a loosely fitting, barbed harpoon at one end, and a piece of light wood at the other. A short line attached to the harpoon, passes along the staff, and is rolled round this float for convenience. The glare of the torch attracts the fish and enables the bowman to spy his prey, which is immediately transfixed by the harpoon. Away it darts, but the float retards its progress, and points out its whereabouts to the boatmen, who again seize the line, and drag it to the shore. Occasionally the tarpom is taken in strong nets, the meshes of which require to be six inches square in order to entangle it. Manatees or sea-cows are caught in the early morning, and to get within striking distance of the wary animal, it is necessary to deck the canoe with bushes and leaves, giving it the appearance of a floating tree. The line attached to the harpoon is in this case payed out from the canoe, which is often trailed by the manatee in a lively manner. It generally takes several harpoons as well as lances to kill it. Smaller harpoons, without barb, with merely quadrangular points an inch and a half long and nearly as wide, are used for catching turtles so that the shell may not be damaged. As the canoe approaches, the turtle slides under the water; the bowman signalizes the oarsman how to steer, and when the turtle rises to breathe, it is speared, dragged into the canoes, and placed on its back. Some fishermen will jump into the water after the animal, and bring it up in their hands, but this feat is attended with danger, from bites and sharp coral. The hawk-bill turtle is set free after the shell has been stripped of its scales, but the green species is eaten, and its eggs, which are esteemed a dainty, are sought for in the sand by poking suspected places with a stick. Smaller fish are speared with the sinnock, a long pole with a fixed point. The river people take less pleasure in fishing, and resort thereto only as driven by necessity. Weirs of branches and clay are constructed, with a small outlet in the middle, where men are stationed to catch the passing fish with nets and spears. The Poyas employ a still surer method. The water is beaten with sticks for some distance above the weir, so as to drive the fish together; a quantity of juice extracted from a wild vine called pequine, which has a stupefying effect, is thrown into the water, and the men have merely to select the best looking, the smaller ones being allowed to float away and recover in the unadulterated waters below. The preserving of fish is the work of women, who cut them in slices,—sometimes rubbing them with salt,—and place the pieces on a framework of cane over the fire to be smoke-dried; after which they are exposed to the sun for a day or two. Part of the fish is cooked, or baked in oil, and eaten at MOSQUITO COOKERY.once. If we except the Smoos and Xicaques, who follow game with true precision and patience, the usual mode of hunting is as primitive as weir-fishing. A number of men assemble and set fire to the grass, which drives the terrified animals into a corner, where they are shot or struck down, or the game is entrapped in holes partly filled with water. The wild hog, the tapir, and deer supply most of the meat, which is cured in the same way as fish: some cutting the meat in strips, and curing it on the buccan, or grate of sticks, while others prefer the barbecue method which is to smoke-dry the whole animal. Certain old writers state that human flesh was eaten, but this is discredited by others, who think that the error arose from seeing the natives feast on monkeys, which, skinned, have much the appearance of humans. The statement of their eating raw fish may also be wrong, for the natives of the present day are very careful about thoroughly cooking their food, and even avoid fruit not fully ripened. A well-known article of food is the Carib bread, a sort of white hard biscuit made from cassava or mandioc roots, which are skinned, washed, and grated on a board set with sharp stones. The pulp is rinsed in water to extract the poisonous juice, and when it is sufficiently whitened by this means, the water is carefully pressed out, and the substance set to dry in the sun. The sifted flour is made into large round thin cakes, which, after being exposed to the sun for a while, are slowly baked over the fire. The Poyas make large rolls, which are wrapped in leaves and baked in the ashes. These soon become sour, and are then eaten with a relish. Others grind cassava or maize on the metate, and bake tortillas. A gruel is also made of the flour, and eaten with salt and chile, or syrup. One of their dainties is bisbire, the name given to plantains kept in leaves till putrid, and eaten boiled. Scalding hot cacao mixed with chile is the favorite stimulant, of which large quantities are imbibed, until the perspiration starts from every pore. Cacao-fruit is also eaten roasted. Notwithstanding the richness of the soil and the variety of its productions, the natives are accused of resorting to insects for food, and of eating their own vermin. The coast people have the greater selection, but trust mostly to fishing, while the interior tribes after natural products depend upon the chase. The Cookras subsist chiefly on the cabbage-palm. Sambo girls have a peculiar fancy for eating charcoal and sand, believing that their charms are improved thereby. No regularity is observed in eating, but food is taken at any hour, and with voracity; nor will they take the trouble to procure more, until the whole stock is consumed, and hunger drives them from their hammocks. The Poyas and Guajiqueros seem to be the only tribes who have any idea of providing for the future; the latter laying up a common reserve.[984]Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. iii.-v.; Macgregor’s Progress of Amer., vol. i., pp. 774-5; Squier, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xix., p. 613; Young’s Narrative, pp. 14, 18, 21, 61, 74-7, 96, 98, 106; Bard’s Waikna, pp. 100-11, 132-6, 297-303, 320; Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 75-6, 87, 168-74. The Woolwas had fish ‘which had been shot with arrows.’ Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, pp. 403, 248-50, 300-1, 407, 412-13; Dampier’s Voyages, vol. i., pp. 9-13, 35-7.

Frequent bathing is the rule, yet the Sambos, who have a better opportunity for this, perhaps, than other tribes, are described as dirty in their surroundings, and, when warmed by motion, emit a disagreeable odor, arising from the use of ointments and powders. The Poyas, Xicaques, Secos, and especially the Caribs are, on the contrary, very cleanly in their habits.[985]Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., pref., p. 18; Young’s Narrative, pp. 76, 99, 133; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 335.

Mosquito Weapons and War

The bow and arrow figures as the chief weapon of the Mosquitos, the former being usually of iron-wood, spanned with twisted mahoe-bark, and often six feet in length; the latter of reed or wood, hardened in fire, and pointed with hard wood, flint, fish-bones, or teeth. They not only handle the bow well, but some are expert in the art of defense. To attain this dexterity, children are taught to turn aside, with a stick, the blunt darts thrown at them, and in time they become sufficiently expert to ward off arrows in the same manner. They also fight with cane lances about nine feet long, with oblong diamond points, javelins, clubs, and heavy sharp-pointed swords made of a poisonous wood, a splinter from which causes first madness and then death. The milky juice of the manzanilla-tree is used to poison arrows and darts. Blowpipes, whose light arrows surely and silently bring down birds at a hundred feet and over, are in great favor with the youth. Armor is made of plaited reeds covered with tiger-skins, and ornamented with feathers; besides which, the northern Mosquitos employ a breastplate of twisted cotton, like that of the Mexicans. Mosquito women are said to be as good archers as the men.[986]Of the people of Las Perlas islands it is said; ‘Aen’t endt van haer geweer een hay-tandt, schieten met geen boogh.’ Esquemelin, Zee-Roovers, pp. 71, 150. Also see: Colon, Hist. Almirante, in Barcia, Historiadores, tom. i., p. 105; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ix., cap. x., and dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. iii.; Dampier’s Voyages, vol. i., pp. 7-8; Bard’s Waikna, pp. 120, 128.

Aboriginal wars were continually waged in Honduras without any other object than to avenge the death of an ancestor, or to retaliate on those who had carried away friends into slavery. Neighboring tribes, however, agreed to a truce at certain times, to allow the interchange of goods. Previous to starting on an expedition, turkeys, dogs, and even human beings were sacrificed to influence the gods; blood was drawn from tongue and ears, and dreams carefully noted, and their import determined. Ambassadors were sent to challenge the enemy to a pitched battle, and, if they were not responded to, the country was ravaged. When prisoners were taken they were usually held as slaves, after having the nose cut off. Forty thousand men sometimes composed an expedition, operating without chief or order, devising ambushes and stratagems as it suited them, and accompanied by women to act as porters. Mosquito warriors blacken the face, and place themselves under the temporary command of the bravest and most experienced. The coast people are bold and unyielding, and usually kill their prisoners. When the Sambos confederate with their neighbors, they expect their allies to pay for friends lost in battle.[987]Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. iii.; Esquemelin, Zee-Roovers, p. 153; Dampier’s Voyages, vol. i., p. 8; Delaporte, Reisen, tom. x., p. 406; Strangeways’ Mosquito Shore, p. 331.

Domestic utensils in the homes of the Mosquitos consist of stones for grinding grain and roots, clay pots and plates for cooking purposes, and gourds, calabashes, and nets for holding food and liquids. The stone hatchet, which is fast becoming a relic, is ten inches long, four broad, and three thick, sharp at both ends, with a groove to hold the handle which is firmly twisted round its centre. Besides the implements already referred to under fishing and weapons, may be mentioned the lasso, in the use of which they are very expert, and the patapee, a pretty water-tight basket that the Caribs plait of reeds. The men usually sleep in hammocks, or on mats spread on the ground near the fire, with a stick for a pillow, while the women prefer a platform of cane raised a few feet from the ground, and covered with a mat or a skin.[988]‘Hammocks, made of a Sort of Rushes.’ Cockburn’s Journey, pp. 64, 23. ‘El almohada vn palo, o vna piedra: los cofres son cestillos, aforrados en cueros de venados.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. v. Consult also: Young’s Narrative, pp. 76-7; Dampier’s Voyages, vol. i., p. 85; Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 660; Mosquitoland, Bericht, pp. 100, 116, 123, 138, 173.

Fibres of mahoe and ule bark, pisang-leaves and silk-grass furnish material for ropes, nets, mats, and coarse fabrics. Most of the Mosquitos grow a little cotton, which the women spin on a rude wheel, like that of the Guatemalans, and weave on a frame loom into strong and neat cloths. The favorite blue color for dyeing is obtained from the jiquilite plant; the yellow from the achiolt tree. Pottery is a very ancient art among them, as may be seen from the fine specimens discovered in the graves and ruins of Honduras. Their red cooking-pots are very light but strong, and the water-jars, which are only slightly burnt to permit percolation, show considerable taste in design.[989]Sivers, Mittelamerika, p. 167; Bard’s Waikna, pp. 127, 298-9. ‘Auf irgend eine Zubereitung (of skins) verstehen sich die Indianer nicht.’ Mosquitoland, Bericht, pp. 190, 148. ‘They make large Jars here, one of which will hold ten Gallons, and not weigh one Pound.’ Cockburn’s Journey, p. 83.

Boats and Fisheries

Nowhere do we find more daring and expert boatmen than the Mosquitos, who will venture out upon the roughest sea in a boat barely large enough to hold a man and a boy. If the boat capsize it is at once righted, bailed out, and the voyage resumed, and seldom is any part of the cargo lost. The dory, or ordinary sea-boat is a hollowed-out tree, often twenty-five to fifty feet long, four to six wide, and four to five deep, round-bottomed, buoyant, and with good handling safe. The best are made by the up-river tribes, especially the Towkas, who prepare them roughly with axe and fire, and sell them to the coast people to be finished according to fancy. After the dug-out has been trimmed, it is often soaked in water for a time, so that the sides may be stretched and secured with knees. The pitpan, which is used on rivers and lagoons, differs from the dory in being flat-bottomed, with broad and gradually rounded ends, and of less depth and width. Cedar is chiefly used for pitpans on account of its lightness, and the stronger mahogany for dories; but the latter are, however, soon injured by worms if kept in the water. Small boats are propelled by a single broad-bladed paddle; sails also are employed with the crean or keeled canoe.[990]Young’s Narrative, pp. 11, 19, 76, 160-1; Martin’s West Indies, vol. i., pp. 155-6; Dampier’s Voyages, vol. i., pp. 35, 85. ‘Der Tuberose tree der Engländer liefert die stärksten Baumstämme, deren die Indianer sich zur Anfertigung ihrer grössten Wasserfahrzeuge bedienen.’ Mosquitoland, Bericht, pp. 116, 70, 147.

Harpoon and canoe are the basis of the Mosquito’s wealth, for with them he obtains his food and the tortoise-shell, the principal article of traffic. The season for catching hawk-bill turtles is from April to August, when fleets of canoes, each manned by about twelve men, proceed to different parts of the coast, as far south as Chiriquí, and bring home ten thousand pounds of shell on an average. Green turtles, which are caught near reefs, also find a good market in Blewfields and elsewhere. All keep hogs, the Caribs more than others; many possess cattle and horses, which are allowed to run wild over the prairies, the horses being lassoed whenever required for riding. Their manner of breaking them is unique. One man leads the horse with the lasso into water, to a depth of three or four feet, when another jumps upon his back, and responds to buckings and skittishness with blows on the head, until in about half an hour the exhausted animal surrenders. A line of bark-fibre serves for reins, and a few plaited palm-leaves for saddle. Preservation of wealth is little thought of, for cattle are most recklessly slaughtered at feasts and for offences, and fruit-trees, as well as other property are, as a rule, destroyed on the death of the owner. Quite a trade is carried on in these parts, the inland tribes bringing rough canoes, calabashes, skins, cloth, honey, and cacao to the coast people, and receiving therefor turtles, salt, English fancy and useful articles; while many of the latter undertake lengthy coast trips to dispose of the bartered produce, as well as their own. The Wankees deal heavily in bisbire, or decomposed plantains, while sarsaparilla and honey are the staple articles of the Secos and Poyas. A mixture of shrewdness and simplicity characterizes their dealings. A party wishing to dispose of hides, for instance, first produces the worst ones, which are thrown aside by the buyer until those of the standard quality are brought out; a sum is then offered for the whole, which is often unhesitatingly accepted by the native who is too dazzled by the apparently high price to consider the amount of produce given for it. Very little value is placed upon labor, for canoes, which have taken a considerable time to prepare, are often bartered for a mere trifle. The people of Honduras have always a stock of cloth and honey to pay taxes with, and set a high value on colored feathers obtained from Yucatec coast traders, who take cacao for return cargoes.[991]The Mosquitos have ‘little trade except in tortoise-shells and sarsaparilla.’ Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 659. Compare Bard’s Waikna, p. 317; Bell, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., p. 252; Strangeways’ Mosquito Shore, p. 337; Young’s Narrative, pp. 16, 82, 86-7, 91, 126; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. iii., v.; Mosquitoland, Bericht, pp. 148, 171-4, 190.

Mosquito Calendar and Art

Although versatile enough in handicrafts, their mental faculties are exceedingly crude. With the aid of fingers and toes the Sambo is able to count to twenty, but anything beyond that confuses him. Time is reckoned by kates, or moons, thirteen of which make a mani, or year. When asked to fix the date of an event, he will say that it occurred so many sleeps or moons ago; but when the time exceeds a year or two, the answer is given in the rather indefinite term of “many, many years;” consequently he is unable to tell his age. His ideas of cosmology are equally vague; thus, stars are held to be glowing stones. The people of Honduras call the year iolar, and divide it in the same manner as the Mexicans, by whom the system has, no doubt, been introduced. They reckon time by so many nights or twilights, not by days, and determine the hour by the height of the sun. The song-language of the Mosquitos differs greatly from that employed in conversation, a quaint old-time style being apparently preserved in their lyrics.[992]The Mosquitos ‘divisaient l’année en 18 mois de 20 jours, et ils appellaient les mois Ioalar.’ Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 472. ‘Dit konense reeckenen by de Maen, daer van sy vyftien voor een jaer reeckenen.’ Esquemelin, Zee-Roovers, p. 152. ‘Für die Berechnung der Jahre existirt keine Aera. Daher weiss Niemand sein Alter.’ Mosquitoland, Bericht, pp. 142, 267-8. See also Bard’s Waikna, pp. 244-5; Young’s Narrative, p. 76; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. vi.

The art of extracting and melting gold has long been known to them, but, although they wear a few ornaments of this metal, they do not seem to prize it very highly. At the time of Cockburn’s visit to Honduras, dams were used in mining, and instruments of cane to sift the gold. The mode employed by the Poyas to separate gold from sand is the one known in California as panning, and is thus described by Squier: “Scooping up some of the sand in his bowl, and then filling it with water, he whirled it rapidly, so that a feathery stream of mingled sand and water flew constantly over its edge. He continued this operation until the sand was nearly exhausted, and then filled the bowl again. After repeating this process several times, he grew more careful, balancing the bowl skillfully, and stopping occasionally to pick out the pebbles … after the process was complete, the Poyer showed me a little deposit of gold, in grains, at the bottom of the calabash.” The gold dust passes into the hands of the white trader.[993]Bard’s Waikna, pp. 292-3; Cockburn’s Journey, p. 37; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 63. The natives of Honduras had ‘pedaços de Tierra, llamada Calcide, con la qual se funde el Metal.’ Colon, Hist. Almirante, in Barcia, Historiadores, tom. i., p. 104.

Government, Slavery, Polygamy

The Mosquitos proper are ruled by a hereditary king, who claims sovereignty over the interior tribes of the Mosquito Coast, which, in many cases, is merely nominal. Before the English made their influence felt, this monarch, who, in these latter degenerate days, does not possess many prerogatives, seems to have had but a small extent of territory, for among the earlier travelers some assert that the inhabitants of this coast lived under a republican rule, while others observed no form of government. Each village or community has a principal man, or judge, selected from the eldest and ablest, who settles minor grievances, referring weightier matters to the king, and superintends the contribution of canoes, tortoise-shells, and produce for the support of the monarch and chiefs—for regular taxes are not collected. Among the Poyas, the old men, who are highly respected by their juniors, assemble every evening to deliberate upon the duties of the following day; all members of the tribe take part in the work, and share alike in the results. According to Young, the Mosquitos had an officer, in whom was vested certain authority. The Caribs are also ruled by elders, dignified by the title of captains. Their laws are in some respects harsh: for instance, a woman who has had intercourse with a man of another race is whipped slowly to death. Sambos are less particular in this matter, the adulterer being merely mulcted in a cow. If the decision of a chief be not satisfactory, the contestants resort to trial by combat. The Xicaques live in communities of from seventy to one hundred persons ruled by chiefs elected for life. The insignia of a judge or ruler in Honduras are a white staff, often elaborately ornamented with a golden head and tassels. Formerly each town or province was ruled by an hereditary cacique, who administered justice with four nobles as counselors. Theft was punished by confiscation of property, and in graver cases the ears and hands of the culprit were cut off; the adulterer caught in the act had his ear-rings forcibly torn out; then he was whipped by the relatives of the injured, and deprived of his possessions. The woman went free on the supposition that she, as the weaker party, was not responsible.[994]Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. v.; Cockburn’s Journey, p. 45; Dampier’s Voyages, vol. i., pp. 10-11; Esquemelin, Zee-Roovers, p. 150; Delaporte, Reisen, tom. x., p. 406; Froebel’s Cent. Amer., p. 184; Crowe’s Cent. Amer., p. 49; Winterfeldt, Mosquito-Staat, p. 22; Bard’s Waikna, pp. 231, 297-8; Bell, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., pp. 258-9; Squier, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xix., p. 614; Id., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1858, tom. clx., p. 134; Young’s Narrative, pp. 71, 98; Mosquitoland, Bericht, pp. 171-2. ‘Sie stehen unter eignen Kaziken, die ihre Anführer im Kriege machen und welchen sie unbedingt gehorchen.’ Poyas, ‘Ihre Regierungsform ist aristokratisch.’ Hassel, Mex. Guat., pp. 388, 390. Mosquito ‘conjurers are in fact the priests, the lawyers and the judges … the king is a despotic monarch.’ Bonnycastle’s Span. Amer., vol. i., p. 174.

One principal object of war among the ancient nations of Honduras was to make slaves, but the Mosquito Coast was free from this scourge, according to all accounts.[995]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 335.

Mosquito Marriage Customs

Polygamy obtains, some men having six wives each, and the king yet more. The first wife, who as a rule, is betrothed from early infancy, is mistress commanding; her marriage is attended with festivities, and later additions to the harem are subject to her. The custom is to marry early, often before puberty, and it is not unusual to see a girl of thirteen with an offspring in her arms; but the marriage tie is not very binding, for the wife may be discarded or sold at will, on the slightest pretence, especially if children do not follow the union. The interior tribes, which are less given to plurality of wives, bear a pretty good character for female MOSQUITO COURTSHIP.chastity. The cacique of ancient Honduras married among his own class. On behalf of a suitor not previously engaged, an old man was dispatched with presents to the father of the chosen girl, before whom he made a long harangue on the ancestry and qualities of the youth. If this proved satisfactory, the presents were accepted, and Bacchanalia followed. Next morning the bride was closely wrapped in a gorgeously painted cloth, and, seated upon the shoulder of a man, was conveyed to the bridegroom, a number of friends accompanying her, dancing and singing along the road, drinking out of every rivulet, and feasting at every stopping-place. On arrival, she was received by the female friends of the groom, and subjected to a cleaning and perfuming process, lasting three days, during which the friends of the two families held a grand feast to celebrate the approaching union. She was then delivered to the husband, who kept her three nights at his home, and then proceeded to the house of his father-in-law, where the couple remained three other nights, after which they returned to their own house and renewed festivities. These were the ceremonies attending the marriage of nobles only. An old woman acted as messenger for common swains, and brought a present of cacao to the bride’s parents, which was consumed at the preliminary feast. The girl was then delivered to the old woman, together with a return present of cacao to serve for two feasts, one taking place at the house of the bridegroom, the other at the bride’s. Relationship was no impediment to marriage, and widows were received among the wives of the late husband’s brother. Immorality ruled, and the most lascivious performances prevailed at their festivals. On the islands in the gulf of Honduras and on the Belize coast, the suitor had to undergo a preliminary examination by the proposed father-in-law as to his ability to perform the duties of husband; if satisfactory, a bow and arrow were handed him, and he at once presented himself before the object of his affection with a garland of leaves and flowers, which she placed upon her head instead of the wreath always worn by a virgin. Friends thereupon met at the home of the bride to discuss the prospects of the couple, and to witness the act of giving her to the bridegroom, partaking, meanwhile, of some cheering liquid. The next day the bride appeared before the mother, and tore off her garland with much lamentation. Among the Sambos the betrothed suitor must give presents of food and other articles to the parents of his intended, as payment for their care of her until she attains the marriageable age, when he comes to claim her. Should the parents then refuse to give up the girl, they are bound to refund the value of the presents twice or thrice told. The usual price paid for a wife is a cow or its equivalent, which is also exacted from any man infringing on the marital right, while the female for such offence is merely beaten. Esquemelin adds that when the young man came to claim his bride, he was questioned as to his ability to make nets and arrows, and if all went well, the daughter was summoned to bring a calabash of wine, which the three drained between them in token of the new relationship. The widow was bound to supply the grave of her husband with provisions for a year, after which she took up the bones and carried them with her for another year, at last placing them upon the roof of her house, and then only was she allowed to marry again. The Carib must provide a separate house and field for each of his wives, where she not only supports herself, her children, and her husband, but can, if she pleases, accumulate property. The husband is expected to spend his time equally between his wives, but not to assist in providing necessities after the marriage day; should his help be required, the wife must pay him the customary rate of wages. The several wives compete jealously with each other to provide the best for their husband, and are comparatively well-behaved, owing, perhaps, to the severe punishment of infidelity. Among the Smoos, wives of one husband generally live together, each wife bringing her share to make up her lord’s dinner. Widows are the property of the relatives of the husband, to whom ‘widow-money’ must be paid before they are allowed to marry again. The method of courtship among the Woolwas is to place a deer’s carcass and some firewood at the door of the intended; if accepted, marriage ensues. Each wife has usually a separate establishment. The Towkas, who are more inclined to monogamy, have an interesting marriage ceremony, of which Squier gives a long account. On the betrothal of children a corresponding cotton band is fastened above the elbow or below the knee of each. These bands are selected by the old men so as to be distinct from others in color, and are renewed when worn out. They also wear necklaces to which a shell or bead is added every year, and when the boy has ten added to his string, he is called muhasal, or ten, signifying half a man; when the twentieth and final shell is added, he is considered a full man, and is called all, meaning twenty. If his intended has by this time attained her fifteenth year, preparations are at once made for the marriage. A general holiday is taken by the villagers, who clear from grass a circular piece of ground, which is defined by a ring of stones, and trampled smooth; a little hut is then erected in the centre having a small opening at the top, and another at the side facing the east. Within the hut, the entrance of which is covered with a mat, is a heap of copal-twigs, and without, at the edge of the circle, a canoe filled with palm-wine is placed, having a large pile of white calabashes by its side. At noon the villagers proceed to the home of the bridegroom, who is addressed in turn by the old men; they then start with the youth for the house of the bride where the young man seats himself before the closed entrance on a bundle of presents intended for the bride. The father raps at the door which is partly opened by an old woman who asks his business, but the reply does not seem satisfactory, for the door is slammed in his face. The old men try their power of persuasion with the same result, and at last determine to call Orpheus to their aid. Music hath charms! the door is seen to open, and a female peeps timidly out: louder swells the music, and the bridegroom hastens to unroll his bundle containing beads and other articles. The door opens wider and wider as each present is handed in by the father, until it is entirely thrown back, revealing the bride arrayed in her prettiest, seated on a crickery, in the remotest corner. While all are absorbed in examining the presents, the bridegroom dashes in, shoulders the girl like a sack, and trots off for the mystic circle, which, urged on by the frantic cries of the women, he reaches before the crowd can rescue her. The females, who cannot pass the ring, stand outside giving vent to their despairing shrieks, while the men squat within the circle in rows, facing outward. The old men alone remain standing, and one of them hands a lighted stick to the couple inside the hut, with a short speech. Soon an aromatic smoke curls up from the copal pile, whereat the women grow silent, but when it subsides, a sudden gayety takes possession of them, and the music is again heard. The reason for this is that the bridegroom, if he has any objections to the girl, may expel her while the gum is burning, but if it burns out quietly, the groom is supposed to be satisfied and the marriage complete. The women now pass filled calabashes to the men, who soon become excited and start a dance which increases in wildness with each additional cup, and does not end till most of them have bitten the dust. After dark the crowd proceeds with lighted torches to the hut, which is torn down, disclosing the married pair sitting demurely side by side. The husband shoulders his new baggage and is escorted to his home. The following day everybody presents a gift of some kind, so as to place the couple on an equal footing with the rest of the villagers.[996]Bard’s Waikna, pp. 127, 129-30, 202-11, 236, 243, 299-300, 321-3; Strangeways’ Mosquito Shore, pp. 332, 336; Froebel’s Cent. Amer., p. 137; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 216. ‘They marry but one Wife, with whom they live till death separates them.’ Dampier’s Voyages, vol. i., p. 9. ‘Doch besitzen in der That die meisten Männer nur ein Weib.’ Mosquitoland, Bericht, pp. 144-6, 133-9; Salazar y Olarte, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. ii., p. 312.

The position of a wife is not an enviable one, as the care of the household, the farm, and all hard and degrading work fall to her share, while her liege lord spends most of his time in idling. When about to be confined, she proceeds to a hut erected for this purpose in the forest, a short distance from the village, where she remains from a week to two months, according to the custom of the tribe, attended by female friends who supply all her wants, since she is not allowed to handle food herself. No one must pass to the windward of the hut, because an obstruction of the air might cause the death of the mother and child, and for thus offending the guilty party must pay the damages. In such seclusion it is easy to dispose of deformed children, and it is believed that this is done to avoid the disgrace of a nickname, which might otherwise attach to the family. At the expiration of the period of purification, the mother returns to the village carrying the infant tied to her back in a cloth. The village witch has in the meantime fastened round its neck, a pew or charm, consisting of a bag of small seeds with which to pay old Charon for ferriage across the river, in case of an early death. The child is suckled for about two years; yucca-root pap also forms a great part of its food in some parts, but otherwise it receives little care. The mother delivers herself, cutting the navel-string with her own hand; she also washes the infant’s clothes, for it is believed that the child will die if this is done by another; after washing herself and suckling the child she returns to the village. Formerly all children born within the year were taken to the temple by the parents, wrapped in a net and painted cloth, and laid to sleep under a cake made of honey and iguana-flesh. Notice was taken of dreams, and if the child appeared well and happy, they augured riches and long life for it, if weak and sorrowful, it would be poor and unfortunate; if no dreams occurred, it betokened an early death. Acting on this superstition, parents often became careless about the future of their children, and suffered them to grow up without attention. Priests were not allowed to marry, and the care and education of the sons of prominent men were entrusted to them.[997]Esquemelin relates that the natives on the Belize coast and adjacent islands carried the new-born infant to the temple, where it was placed naked in a hole filled with ashes, exposed to the wild beasts, and left there until the track of some animal was noticed in the ashes. This became patron to the child who was taught to offer it incense and to invoke it for protection. Zee-Roovers, pp. 64-9, 149. The genitals are pierced as a proof of constancy and affection for a woman. Id., pp. 151-3. Compare Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. i., cap. vi., lib. viii., cap. iii.-vi.; Young’s Narrative, pp. 73, 75, 123, 125; Bell, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., pp. 251, 254-5, 257-8; Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, pp. 249, 306-8; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 335; Delaporte, Reisen, tom. x., p. 409; Crowe’s Cent. Amer., pp. 49, 245-7.

Mosquito Diversions

Drinking is the chief amusement, and to become helplessly drunk is the sum of all enjoyment. Frequent sihkrans or feasts are held, lasting for days, at which large numbers assist to drain the canoeful of liquor prepared for the occasion. Occasionally surrounding villagers are invited, and a drinking-bout is held, first in one house and then in another, until the climax is reached in a debauch by both sexes of the most revolting character. Quarrels are generally put off for these occasions, but, as the wives have carefully hidden all weapons, recourse is had to the fist, with which the combatants exchange blows in turn until one has had enough. These trials of endurance are also held in sport; the Smoo or Woolwa, for instance, who wishes to be held most worthy of the fair sex, engages in a lowta or striking-match with a rival, each one presenting his bent back to the other in turn, until the bravest stands declared. Death is not unfrequently the result of such trials. Even boys, carried away by emulation, hold lighted sticks to each other’s skin. In early times the people of Honduras held regular festivals at the beginning of each month, at the time of electing officers, at harvest time, and three other grand celebrations during the year, for which much food and drink were prepared. As the wine took effect, the participants were seized with a desire to move to the exhilarating sound of drum, flute, and rattle, and a simple dance was organized. That of the Carib is merely a forward and backward movement of hands and feet, accompanied by a peculiar intonation of voice, and at their seekroes, or festivals in commemoration of the departed, they stalk in a circle, one following the other, and singing in a loud and uncouth tone. Their pas seul is livelier, however, the performer skipping up and down, bending the body in different ways, and making the most grotesque movements. They are not satisfied with a mere drinking-bout at their reunions, but spread a good table, to which guests often bring their own liquor. The Towkas and others prefer the circle dance, walking at a slow, swinging pace, beating their knuckles against emptied calabashes, and joining in a refrain, at the end of which they strike their cups one against another’s. At each additional potation, the walk is increased in speed, until it assumes a trot and ends in a gallop, the calabashes rattling in accordance. The Sambo dance is like a minuet, in which the performers advance and recede, making strange gesticulations. The women have also a dance among themselves,—for they are not allowed to join with the men,—in which they form a ring, holding each other round the waist with the left hand, bending, wriggling, shaking calabash rattles, and singing until exhausted. Dramatic representations usually accompany these saltatory exhibitions, wherein the various phases of a lover’s trials, comical sketches, or battles are depicted. The people of Honduras are fond of disguising themselves with feather tufts, and skins of animals, whose actions and cries they imitate. The favorite entertainment of the Sambos is to put on a head-dress of thin strips of wood painted in various colors to represent the beak of a sword-fish, fasten a collar of wood round the neck, from which a number of palm-leaves are suspended, and to daub the face red, black, and yellow. Two men thus adorned advance toward one another and bend the fish-head in salute, keeping time with a rattle and singing, “shovel-nosed sharks, grandmother!” after which they slide off crab-like, making the most ludicrous gestures imaginable. This fun exhausted, fresh men appear, introducing new movements, and then the spectators join in a ‘walk around,’ flourishing white sticks in their hands, and repeating the above-mentioned refrain in a peculiar buzzing tone produced by placing in the mouth a small tube covered with the membrane of a nut.[998]Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. iii., vi.; Bell, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., p. 255-6. The Woolwas ‘haben gewisse Jahresfeste bei welchen weder ein Fremder noch Weiber und Kinder des eignen Stammes zugelassen werden. Bei diesen Festen führen sie mit lautem Geschrei ihre Tänze auf, “wobei ihnen ihr Gott Gesellschaft leistet.”‘ Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. i., pp. 407-8.

Guajiquero Dance

The Guajiqueros in an interesting performance described by Squier, depict incidents from their history. A square piece of ground having a tree in the centre is marked off, and two poles adorned with feathers are erected in opposite corners, one bearing the head of a deer, the other that of a tiger. A dull, monotonous music is heard, and two parties of youth, fantastically dressed up and painted, move up to the square in a slow, but not ungraceful dance, and station themselves round the poles that bear their respective insignia. A man, stooping as if bent with age, starts out from the deers, dances round the ground, trying to arouse the mirth of the spectators with his grotesque movements. The tigers also dispatch a man, who does his best to excel the other one in contortions and grimaces. After a while they meet, and commence a discussion which ends in open rupture, the rising passions being well delineated. The two men who represent ambassadors then return to their party with an account of the mission, the result of which is a general excitement, both factions starting out, dancing backwards and forwards, up and down the square, until they meet under the tree, in the centre. The leader of each then steps out and recites the glories and prowess of his tribe, amidst the applause of his own men, and the disapproval of the others. As soon as they are worked up to the requisite pitch of irritation, the dialogue ceases, the music strikes up, and a mimic combat ensues, in which the armies advance and retreat, close and separate, using short canes for weapons. At last the tigers lose their standard and take to flight, whereat the victors execute a dance of triumph; but finding how dearly the victory has been bought, their joy is turned into sorrow, and they bend their head upon the knees, breaking out in loud lament. In a few moments one of them starts up and begins a panegyric on the fallen brave, which is followed by a mimic sacrifice and other ceremonies. The vanquished are now seen to approach with downcast eyes, bringing tribute, which they lay at the feet of the victors, who receive it with imperious bearing. The music at these entertainments is not of a very inspiring nature; drums, consisting of a section of hollow tree covered with skin, which are generally beaten with the hand, and flutes of bamboo with four stops on which eight notes are played with different degrees of speed for variety, being the usual instruments. The Guajiqueros also use the chirimaya, two flutes joined in one mouthpiece; the syrinx, or Pan’s pipe; a long calabash with a narrow opening at the small end, into which the performer blows suddenly, at intervals, to mark time; and a sort of drum consisting of a large earthen jar, over the mouth of which a dressed skin is tightly stretched. To the centre of the skin, and passing through an opening in the bottom, is attached a string which the performer pulls, the rebound of the membrane producing a very lugubrious sound. In western Honduras the so-called strum-strum is much used. This is a large gourd cut in the middle, and covered with a thin board having strings attached. The marimba, and the jews-harp which has been introduced by the trader, are, however, the favorite instruments for a quiet reunion, and the few tunes known to them are played thereon with admirable skill and taste. Songs always accompany their dances and are usually impromptu compositions on suitable subjects, gotten up for the occasion by the favorite singers of the village, and rendered in a soft, but monotonous and plaintive tone. They have no national melodies, but on the receipt of any good or bad message, their feelings generally find vent in a ditty embodying the news. Talking is a passion with them, and as soon as a piece of news is received at a village, two or three younger men will start with their women and children for the next hamlet, where it is discussed for hours by the assembled population, who in their turn dispatch a messenger to the next village, and thus spread the news over the whole country in a very short time. In story-telling, those who concoct the biggest lies receive the most applause. Of course, the pipe must be smoked on these occasions, but as their own tobacco has become too mild for them, recourse is had to the vilest description of American leaf. When this is wanting, the smoke-dried leaves of the trumpet and papah-tree are used by men as BEVERAGES OF HONDURAS.well as women. The favorite drink is mishla, prepared chiefly from cassava-roots; but others from bananas, pine-apples, and other fruits are also used. A number of young women provided with good teeth, untiring jaws, and a large supply of saliva, are employed to chew about half of the boiled and peeled roots requisite to make a canoeful of liquor, the remainder being crushed in a mortar. This delectable compound is stirred with cold water, and allowed to ferment for a day or two, when it assumes a creamy appearance, and tastes very strong and sour. Plantains are kneaded in warm water, and then allowed to stand for a few days till the mixture ferments, or the fruit is left in the water in small pieces, and the kneading performed in the cup previous to drinking. A fermented drink from powdered cacao and indigenous sugar-cane juice is called ulung, and pesso is the name given to another made from crushed lime-rinds, maize and honey; in early times mead was a favorite drink in Honduras. The cocoa-nut palm yields monthly a large quantity of liquor known as caraca. The tip of the undeveloped shoots are cut off, and the branch bent down so as to allow the fluid to drip into a calabash placed beneath. Its seeds, when crushed and steeped in hot water give the acchioc.[999]Squier, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xix., pp. 603-6, 613; Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 171-2, 174-6; Martin’s West Indies, vol. i., p. 155; Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 337; Uring’s Hist. Voy., pp. 223-5; Dampier’s Voyages, vol. i., pp. 10, 127; Bard’s Waikna, pp. 205-9, 226-9, 232-3, 299; Mosquitoland, Bericht, pp. 108, 141-2, 146-7, 196, 201-2, 267; Crowe’s Cent. Amer., p. 247; Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, pp. 306, 405; Young’s Narrative, pp. 30-3, 72, 77-8, 125, 132-5; Esquemelin, Zee-Roovers, pp. 150-1. The natives of Honduras kept small birds which ‘could talk intelligibly, and whistle and sing admirably.’ Cockburn’s Journey, pp. 52-3, 46, 70-2, 88-90.

Mosquito Customs

No name for a supreme good spirit is found in the vocabulary of the Mosquitos; all their appeals are addressed to Wulasha, the devil, the cause of all misfortunes and contrarieties that happen. The intercessors with this dread being are the sukias, or sorceresses, generally dirty, malicious old hags, who are approached with gifts by the trembling applicant, and besought to use their power to avert impending evils. They are supposed to be in partnership with their devil, for whom they always exact the half of the fee before entering upon any exorcising or divination. These witches exercise a greater power over the people than the chief—a power which is sustained by the exhibition of certain tricks, such as allowing poisonous snakes to bite them, and handling fire, which they have learned from predecessors during their long preparation for the office, passed amidst exposure and fasts in the solitude of the wilderness. The people of Honduras had also evil sorcerers who possessed the power of transforming men into wild beasts, and were much feared and hated accordingly; but their priests or hermits who live in communion with materialized gods, in small, elevated huts, apart from the villages, enjoyed the respect of all, and their advice was applied for on every matter of importance. None but the principal men could approach them without the necessary offering of maize and fowl, and they humbly knelt before them to receive their oracular answer. Preparatory to important undertakings, dogs, cocks, and even men were sacrificed to obtain the favor of their idols, and blood was drawn from tongue, ears, and other members of the body. They thought it likewise necessary to their welfare to have naguals, or guardian spirits, whose life became so bound up with their own that the death of one involved that of the other. The manner of obtaining this guardian was to proceed to some secluded spot and offer up a sacrifice: with the beast or bird which thereupon appeared, in dream or in reality, a compact for life was made, by drawing blood from various parts of the body. Caribs and Woolwas assemble at certain periods every year, to propitiate controlling spirits with ceremonies transmitted from their forefathers. A variety of ghosts, as Lewire, the spirit of the water, are supposed to play their pranks at night, and it is difficult to induce anyone to leave the hut after dark, unless in company. The belief in dreams is so firmly rooted that their very course of life is influenced by it. Every dream has a direct or indirect meaning; thus, a broken calabash betokens loss of wife; a broken dish, the death of a mother. Among other superstitions, it was believed that the lighting of an owl upon the house-top would be followed by the death of an inmate; when thunder roared, cotton-seed was burned; broken egg-shells and deer-bones were carefully preserved lest the chickens or the deer should die or disappear. Aware of the peculiar influence of the moon on man and matter, they are careful not to sleep in its glare, nor to fish when it is up, and mahogany-cutters abstain from felling trees at certain periods for fear the wood may spoil. They are wonderfully good pathfinders, and will pass through the densest forest without guiding marks; as swimmers they are not to be surpassed. Their mode of greeting a friend is very effusive, according to Dampier. One will throw himself at the feet of another, who helps him up, embraces him, and falls down in his turn to be assisted up and comforted with a pressure. Cockburn says that the Honduras people bend one knee to the ground and clap their hands in token of farewell.[1000]Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. iv.-vi.; Cockburn’s Journey, pp. 36, 45-6; Dampier’s Voyages, vol. i., pp. 8-9, 86; Mosquitoland, Bericht, pp. 142-3; Martin’s Brit. Col., vol. ii., p. 413; Bard’s Waikna, pp. 228-32, 239-43, 256-8, 273-4. Sivers was thought possessed of the devil, and carefully shunned, because he imitated the crowing of a cock. Sivers, Mittelamerika, p. 178.

Mosquito Medical Treatment

Their licentious life, and fruit and fish diet, with limited use of salt, have left their constitution very susceptible to epidemics as well as other diseases. The most common disorders are affections of the bowels, such as dysentery and diarrhœa, but chills, rheumatism, consumption, and measles are not unfrequent. Children suffer much from worms, and their abdomen is sometimes enormously swollen. A very painful, though not dangerous eye-disease termed unkribikun is prevalent; and the burrowing of the tick in the skin causes wounds and inflammation if the fly be not speedily removed; the chegoe, or sand-flea, attacks the feet in the same manner. But small-pox and leprosy are the greatest scourges of this country, the former having here as elsewhere in America committed enormous ravages among the population. Leprosy—that living death reflecting the sins of former generations, so capricious in the selection of its victims, taking the parent, yet leaving the child intact, or seizing upon the offspring without touching its mother—may certainly be less destructive, but it is nevertheless fearful in its effect; half of the natives of the Mosquito country being more or less marked by it, either in the shape of white or livid spots, or red, white, and scabbed bulpis. All sickness and affliction is supposed to be the work of the evil spirit who has taken possession of the affected part; sukias must, therefore, be called in to use their incantations and herbs against the enemy. The witch appears with her face painted in hideous devices, and begins operations by placing some herbs beneath the pillow of the patient, blowing smoke over him, rubbing the body with the hands, and muttering strange words. If this is not effective, a decoction is made from the herbs, to be used as a drink or fomentation, and the patient is fenced in with painted sticks, with strict orders to let no one approach; the witch herself bringing the food to the patient, whistling a plaintive strain and muttering over the invalid for some time to chase away the evil. No pregnant woman, or person who has lately buried a friend, must come near the house during the illness, nor must any one pass to the windward of it, lest the sick be deprived of breath; any presumed breach of these injunctions leaving a safe loophole for the sorceress, in case her remedies fail. During epidemics, the sukias consult together and note their dreams, to ascertain the nature and disposition of the spirit. After muttering incantations all night, and invoking all sorts of terrible monsters, they plant small painted sticks, mounted by grotesque figures, to the windward of the village, and announce the expulsion of the evil. Should the scourge continue, it is supposed that the spirits are obstinate, and the people remove to other parts, burning the village. The instructions of the sukia are always scrupulously followed, and the credulous native may be seen lying on the beach for days, exposed to all weathers, smeared with blood and waiting for restoration from ills. Scarifications are much resorted to, and fever patients throw themselves into cold water, where they remain until dead or until the fever leaves them. In Honduras, on the other hand, the patient is taken out of the water after a short immersion, and rolled to and fro before a fire, until half dead with fatigue, when he was left to be restored by sleep; blood is let from the thighs, legs, and shoulders; vomiting is promoted by certain herbs; vermin are administered for jaundice. In sickness a rigid diet is observed, the patient subsisting chiefly on iguana broth. Snake-bites are cured by chewing the guaco-root, and poulticing the wound therewith; the Caribs apply an oil obtained from the head of the tommy-goff as an antidote for its bite. Herrera states that the comfort of a sick person was but little regarded; bread and drink were placed near the patient’s head, and if strong enough to partake thereof, well and good, but if not he might die; nobody took any notice of him after this. The Mosquitos are not entirely devoid of affection; but their grief seems to be reserved for the dead, not the dying.[1001]Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. v., dec. v., lib. i., cap. x.; Crowe’s Cent. Amer., pp. 245-7; Young’s Narrative, pp. 23, 26, 28, 73, 82; Bell, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., pp. 253, 260-1; Mosquitoland, Bericht, pp. 132, 148-51; Bard’s Waikna, pp. 243-4.

The corpse is wrapped in a cloth and placed in one half of a pitpan which has been cut in two; friends assemble for the funeral and drown their grief in mushla, the women giving vent to their sorrow by dashing themselves on the ground until covered with blood, and inflicting other tortures, occasionally even committing suicide. As it is supposed that the evil spirit seeks to obtain possession of the body, musicians are called in to lull it to sleep, while preparations are made for its removal; all at once four naked men, who have disguised themselves with paint, so as not to be recognized and punished by Wulasha, rush out from a neighboring hut, and, seizing the rope attached to the canoe, drag it into the woods, followed by the music and the crowd. Here the pitpan is lowered into the grave with bow, arrow, spear, paddle, and other implements to serve the departed in the land beyond; then the other half of the boat is placed over the body. A rude hut is constructed over the grave, serving as a receptacle for the choice food, drink, and other articles placed there from time to time by relatives. The water that disappears from the porous jars is thought to have been drunk by the deceased, and if the food is nibbled by birds it is held to be a good sign. On returning from the grave the property of the deceased is destroyed, the cocoa-palms being cut down, and all who have taken part in the funeral undergo a lustration in the river. Relatives cut off the hair, the men leaving a ridge along the middle from the nape of the neck to the forehead; widows, according to some old writers, after supplying the grave with food for a year, take up the bones, and carry them on the back in the daytime, sleeping with them at night, for another year, after which they are placed at the door, or upon the house-top. On the anniversary of death, friends of the deceased hold a feast called seekroe, at which large quantities of liquor are drained to his memory. Squier, who witnessed the ceremonies on an occasion of this kind, says that males and females were dressed in ule cloaks fantastically painted black and white, while their faces were correspondingly streaked with red and yellow, and they performed a slow walk-around, the immediate relatives prostrating themselves at intervals, calling loudly upon the dead, and tearing the ground with their hands. At no other time is the departed referred to, the very mention of his name being superstitiously avoided. Some tribes extend a thread from the house of death to the grave, carrying it in a straight line over every obstacle. Froebel states that among the Woolwas all property of the deceased is buried with him, and that both husband and wife cut the hair and burn the hut on the death of either, placing a gruel of maize upon the grave for a certain time.[1002]The dead ‘are sewed up in a mat, and not laid in their grave length-ways, but upright on their feet, with their faces directly to the east.’ Amer. Span. Settl., p. 46. ‘Ein anderer Religionsgebrauch der alten Mosquiten war, dass sie bey dem Tode eines Hausvaters alle seine Bedienten mit ihm begruben.’ Delaporte, Reisen, tom. x., p. 408. Bard’s Waikna, pp. 68-73, 245-6; Mosquitoland, Bericht, pp. 136, 143-4; Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, pp. 307-8; Bell, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., p. 255; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. i., p. 407; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. v.-vi.;Esquemelin, Zee-Roovers, pp. 152-3.

Character of the Mosquitos

Hospitality, a gentle and obliging disposition, faithfulness in the fulfilling of engagements, honesty and docility, balanced by an inaptness to make any avail of natural benefits, and a supineness in matters of veracity and judgment, by reason of which they fall into many excesses, especially in drink, characterize both Mosquitos and Caribs. The apathy and slowness of the unadulterated aboriginal are, however, in striking contrast to the vivacious and impressible nature of the Caribs, whose versatility evidences a rather higher intelligence, which is again overshadowed by an inordinate vanity, based chiefly upon their greater strength and stature. Both possess a certain industry, the one being more plodding, the other more energetic though less patient; this trait is also noticeable in their pastimes, where the native is far less exuberant and noisy than his darker neighbor. With regard to the effect of negro admixture on character, comparisons may be made among the Caribs themselves, when it will be found that the black race is much more mercurial and vehement than the purer type, and possesses greater volubility. The severe discipline kept up, and the disposition, among the women at least, to provide for the morrow, augurs well for their future. The bravery and love of freedom which so long kept the Spanish invaders at bay both on the western and northern borders and on the coast was subsequently subdued, instance the mild disposition of the independent Xicaques, Poyas, and Secos, who are now inclined rather to peaceful diplomacy than to warlike demonstrations; yet the Caribs manifested considerable spirit during a late conflict with the Honduras government, and proved themselves efficient soldiers. The character given to the nations of this subdivision by ancient writers, contains many unenviable qualities, for not only are they described as lazy, vicious, lying, inconstant, but as cruel, void of affection, and of less intelligence than the Mexicans; nevertheless they are obedient, peaceable, and quiet. The only characteristic we have concerning the Albatuins is that they were savage, and until of late the Ramas bore the same character. Among the industrious Towkas we find that gentle melancholy which characterizes some of the Guatemalans; while their brothers, the Smoos, have the reputation of being a very simple people whom the neighbors take delight in imposing upon, yet their women are said to be more ingenious than the Sambo women. Proceeding to the Toonglas and Sambos, we observe a preponderance of bad qualities, attributable, no doubt, to their intercourse with buccaneers and traders. By most writers they are characterized as a lazy, drunken, debauched, audacious race, given to thieving; capricious, quarrelsome, treacherous and exacting among themselves, though obliging to strangers, their only redeeming traits being hospitality, and a certain impulsiveness which is chiefly exhibited in grief, and indicates something good at heart. Their want of energy, which deters them alike from household work and the commission of great crimes, will not prevent them from undertaking wearisome voyages to dispose of mere trifles; and their superstitious fears and puerility under affliction, are entirely lost when facing the raging surf or hungry shark. Other writers take advantage of this trait to show that they are high-spirited enough to carry anything through when once aroused, and add that they have proved themselves faithful to their masters, are docile and intelligent, abhorring to appear mean and cowardly.[1003]Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. viii., cap. vii., dec. iv., lib. i., cap. vi., lib. viii., cap. iii., v.; Young’s Narrative, pp. 78-82, 85, 87, 122, 133; Bell, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., pp. 250-2, 257-8; Bard’s Waikna, pp. 245, 317, 324; Mosquitoland, Bericht, pp. 135, 139-40, 144-5, 236; Strangeways’ Mosquito Shore, p. 329; Puydt, Rapport, in Amérique Centrale, p. 71; Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, pp. 248-9, 279, 308-9; Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., pref., pp. 13, 18; Morelet, Voyage, tom. ii., pp. 240, 289, 302; Crowe’s Cent. Amer., pp. 49, 243.

The Isthmians

The Isthmians, by which name I designate all the nations occupying the territory lying between the San Juan River and the southern shore of Lake Nicaragua on the north, and the gulf of Urabá, or Darien, and the River Atrato on the south, present several peculiarities when compared with the other nations of Central America. The inhabitants of these regions are a hardy and active race, jealous of their independence and ever hostile to those who attempt to penetrate their country. Their resoluteness in excluding all foreigners is materially strengthened by the rugged and malarious nature of the country, by its deep ravines, its miasmatic swamps, its abrupt heights, its rapid streams, its tangled undergrowth, and densely wooded districts. The air of the table-lands and valleys is hot and moist, the soil exceedingly fertile, but the interior and mountainous localities have a milder and more temperate climate with but little variation except that of the dry and wet seasons. In the lowlands of Panamá, the swampy nature of the surface, with the great humidity of the atmosphere, produces a luxuriant vegetation, and the consequent quantity of decomposed vegetable matter under the influence of a vertical sun, engenders a miasma deadly to the unacclimated. The rich and marshy nature of the soil, however, sends forth immense palm-trees, in the branches of which the natives build their houses, thus obtaining a purer air and greater safety from the numerous wild animals and dangerous reptiles that infest that region. A great portion of the territory is rich in minerals which were once produced by the natives in great quantities, but which, unfortunately, were the loadstone that drew upon them the ruthless Spanish plunderers.

Isthmian Nations

In the northern part of Costa Rica along the head waters of the Rio Frio the Guatusos, or Pranzas, are located. Mr Squier is inclined to think they are of the same stock as the Nahuas. Some striking physical peculiarities observed among them have given rise to various surmises and startling conclusions regarding their origin. Dwelling in the western part of the state are the Terrabas and the Changuenes, fierce and barbarous nations, at constant enmity with their neighbors. In the south-east and extending to the borders of Chiriquí dwell the Talamancas composed of a number of different tribes and declared by some to be allied in race with the Guatusos. Besides these are the Buricas, Torresques, Toxas, and others.[1004]The Guatusos ‘are said to be of very fair complexion, a statement which has caused the appellation of Indios blancos, or Guatusos—the latter name being that of an animal of reddish-brown colour, and intended to designate the colour of their hair.’ Froebel’s Cent. Amer., p. 24; Id., Aus Amer., tom. i., p. 244. Speaking of Sir Francis Drake’s mutineers and their escape from Esparsa northward, he says: ‘It is believed by many in Costa Rica that the white Indians of the Rio Frio, called Pranzos, or Guatusos … are the descendants of these Englishmen.’ Boyle’s Ride, vol. ii., pp. 210, 27, and vol. i., pref., pp. xx-xxii. ‘Talamanca contains 26 different tribes of Indians; besides which there are several neighbouring nations, as the Changuenes, divided into thirteen tribes; the Terrabas, the Torresques, Urinamas, and Cavecaras.’ Juarros’ Hist. Guat., p. 373; Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 413; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 407; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 331-3. In the mountains of Chiriquí are the Valientes, so called by the Spaniards from their heroic resistance to the invaders. Many of the warlike nations who occupied the country at the time of the discovery derived their names from the caciques that governed them. The people who dwell along the shore of the Caribbean Sea, between Portobello and Urabá, and occupy the Limones, Sasardi, and Pinos islands are supposed to be a branch of the once powerful Darien nations who to the present day remain unconquered. Their province is situated on the western shore of the gulf of Urabá, and their town was originally near the mouth of the River Atrato. The town and the river as well as the province were called by the natives Darien. This town was conquered in 1510 by a little band of shipwrecked Spaniards under the Bachiller Enciso. Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, Francisco Pizarro, and men of like metal were there, and this was the first successful conquest and settlement on Tierra Firme. Whence, as the conquests of the Spaniards widened, the name Darien was at length applied to the greater part of the Isthmus. Still further westward were the once powerful province of Cueva, and the site of the ancient city of Panamá, discovered in 1515 by Tello de Guzman. This was a famous fishing-station, the word Panamá signifying in the native tongue a place where many fish are taken. Along the western shore of the bay of Panamá dwelt several independent and warlike nations, those of Cutara, Paris, Escoria, besides many others who waged continual war against each other with the object of increasing their territories and adding lustre to their names.[1005]‘The indians who at present inhabit the Isthmus are scattered over Bocas del Toro, the northern portions of Veraguas, the north-eastern shores of Panama and almost the whole of Darien, and consist principally of four tribes, the Savanerics, the San Blas Indians, the Bayanos, and the Cholos.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. i., p. 317. ‘At the time of the conquest of Darien, the country was covered with numerous and well-peopled villages. The inhabitants belonged to the Carribbee race, divided into tribes, the principal being the Maudinghese, Chucunaquese, Dariens, Cunas, Anachacunas, &c. On the eastern shore of the Gulf of Uraba dwelt the immense but now nearly exterminated tribe of the Caimans,—only a few remnants of the persecutions of the Spaniards, having taken refuge in the Choco Mountains, where they are still found…. The Dariens, as well as the Anachacunas, have either totally disappeared or been absorbed in other tribes.’ Puydt, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxviii., pp. 91-2; Fitz-Roy, in Id., vol. xx., pp. 163-4; Roquette, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1855, tom. cxlvii., p. 30; Bateman, in N. Y. Century, 6th Decem., 1860; Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., p. 406; Macgregor’s Progress of Amer., vol. i., p. 823; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, introd., p. ccii. See Tribal Boundaries.

Slight differences only are observable in the Isthmian physique. The people are generally well-built, muscular, and of average height, although old authorities, such as Herrera, Andagoya, and Gomara, describe a tribe, whom they locate near Escoria and Quarecas, as being very tall—veritable giants. Women, as a rule, are small and of delicate proportions, but after attaining a certain age, incline to obesity. The mountain tribes are generally shorter in stature, with more pleasing features than the coast-dwellers. A notable difference between the Isthmians and the other aborigines of the Pacific States, is the short, rather flat nose, in contradistinction to the almost universal aquiline cast. In color they are of a medium bronze tint, varying according to localities, the mountain tribes being the darker. Black, straight, and very abundant coarse hair, black or dark eyes, and excellent teeth predominate.[1006]Savanerics, ‘a fine athletic race.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. i., p. 318. ‘Tienen los cascos de la cabeça gruessos.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 138. ‘The Chocós are not tall nor remarkable in appearance, but always look well conditioned.’ Michler’s Darien, p. 65. ‘Son apersonados.’ Dávila, Teatro Ecles., tom. ii., fol. 56; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 77, 87; Selfridge’s Darien Surveys, pp. 10, 36; Colon, Hist. Almirante, in Barcia, Historiadores, tom. i., p. 107; Puydt, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxviii., pp. 95-7; Peter Martyr, dec. viii., lib. vi; Gisborne’s Darien, p. 155; Cockburn’s Journey, p. 235; D’Avity, L’Amérique, tom. ii., p. 98; Winthrop’s Canoe and Saddle, p. 365; Macgregor’s Progress of Amer., vol. i., p. 823; Fransham’s World in Miniature, p. 25. ‘Afirmaua Pasqual de Andagoya, auer visto algunos tan grandes, que los otros hombres eran enanos con ellos, y que tenian buenas caras, y cuerpos.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. iii., cap. vi.; Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., p. 412; Gage’s New Survey, p. 174; Darien, Defence of the Scots’ Settlement, pp. 69-70; Cullen’s Darien, pp. 65, 67. In Costa Rica, on the Rio Frio, is the frequently spoken of but never accurately described nation—the Guatusos—whom somewhat mythical accounts describe as of fair complexions, with light hair and blue eyes. Likewise Albinos are spoken of by Wafer, who relates having seen people “milk white, lighter than the colour of any Europeans, and much like that of a white horse.” Furthermore, it is said that their bodies were covered with a milk-white down, which added to the whiteness of their skin; hair and eyebrows white, and eyes oblong, with the corners pointing downwards. During daylight they were weak-sighted, restive, and lacking energy, but after sundown, their cheerfulness, activity, and eyesight returned—the latter being apparently as good as that of other people.[1007]Golfo Dulce. ‘Modicæ sunt staturæ, bene compositis membris, moribus blandis et non invenustis.’ Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 329. ‘It is a universal belief along the Atlantic coast, from Belize to Aspinwall, that the Frio tribe have white complexions, fair hair, and grey eyes.’ Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., pp. 20, 236, and pref., pp. xxi-xxii.; Squier, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1856, tom. cli., pp. 6, 12; Id., in Hist. Mag., vol. iv., p. 62; Wafer’s New Voy., pp. 131-7.

Dress of the Isthmians

Cotton textures and the bark of a certain tree, beaten in a wet state until soft and pliant, were the materials used by the Isthmians to cover their nakedness, if, indeed, they covered it at all. Where cotton was used, as in parts of Costa Rica, the costume was simply a small strip of cloth which both men and women wound round the loins or, as on the islands in the gulf of Nicoya, the women passed it between the legs, and fastened it to a string round the waist. These latter ornamented their scanty raiment prettily with various designs painted in colors, and also with seeds and shells. Near the bay of Herradura the men wore a kind of mantle covering the whole front and back of the wearer, made of the above-mentioned bark, in the centre of which was a hole through which the head passed. The women of this locality only wrap themselves in a piece of bark, without taking the trouble to fashion a mantle of it. Yet more simple was the dress of the men near Cartago; a few cotton strings wound round the foreskin of their virile member, sufficed them.[1008]‘El miembro generativo traen atado por el capullo, haçiéndole entrar tanto adentro, que á algunos no se les paresçe de tal arma sino la atadura, que es unos hilos de algodon allí revueltos.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 109-11, 179. See also: Cockburn’s Journey, pp. 181-3, 188; Wagner and Scherzer, Costa Rica, pp. 557-9; Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., p. 251. Referring to Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, ‘La gente que hallo andaua en cueros, sino eran señores, cortesanos, y mugeres.’ Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 82, 66, 87. Urabá; ‘Ex gentibus ijs mares nudos penitus, fœminas uero ab umbilico gossampina contectas multitia repererunt.’ Peter Martyr, dec. ii., lib. i., also dec. iii., lib. iv., dec. vii., lib. x., dec. viii., lib. vi., viii.; Quintana, Vidas de Españoles (Balboa), p. 9; Wafer’s New Voy., pp. 37, 87, 102, plate, 132-4, 138-48, plate; Wallace, in Miscellanea Curiosa, vol. iii., p. 418; Warburton’s Darien, p. 322; Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., p. 26; Andagoya, in Id., pp. 307-8, 407, 412; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. iii., cap. v., vi., and dec. iv., lib. i., cap. x.; Michler’s Darien, pp. 43, 65-6, 86. Near Panamá and Darien, the caciques only wore long cotton mantles thrown over the shoulder and reaching nearly to the feet, the common people going naked, only encasing their privy parts in a kind of funnel made of gold, silver, shell, or bamboo, according to the wealth of the wearer, and which was held in place by a string fastened to two holes in the sides which was passed round the waist. Women in the same localities wore cotton petticoats reaching to the knees, or, if ladies of quality, to the ankles. Near the gulf of Nicoya, women wore the long hair parted in the middle from the front to the back of the head, and plaited into two braids which hung down on either side over the ears. The men tied the hair up in a stiff queue with a cotton band, which was at times arranged so as to rise straight over the crown of the head. Necklaces of colored beads or of tiger’s teeth were worn as ornaments. Like many nations of the Hyperborean group, the Chorotegans of Nicoya pierced the lower lip and inserted a round piece of bone. Their arms they painted with a mixture of their own blood and charcoal. In portions of Veragua and Behetrias even the funnel or cotton strings were omitted, and the Gugures, Mandingos, and many others on the Pacific seaboard, like the people of Veragua, went entirely naked, the chiefs only wearing long mantles. All of the Isthmians were fond of ornaments; among those which deserve special notice is the nose-pendant. This was a crescent-shaped piece of gold or silver, of various sizes for different occasions, those used on holidays hanging down so as to cover the mouth, while those for ordinary use only reached the upper lip. Besides the nose-pendant were ear-rings and a number of heavy necklaces of gold, silver, tiger’s teeth, colored seeds, shells, and coral, according to the wealth of the wearer. Under their breasts the richer women also wore gold bars as a support, which were held up by strings passed over the shoulders. Guanines, or figures of animals made of gold, were worn around the neck by the men on the coast of Veragua, Chiriquí, and Urabá; others again wore on their heads fillets or crowns of gold or of the claws of wild beasts, or of feathers. Thus did these naked savages decorate themselves, often to the extent of several pounds weight. Women considered it a mark of beauty to have thick legs, and to that end wore bandages round them. Another Hyperborean custom is here met with—the anointing of the body with oil—which in these tropics is extracted from the bixa or seed of the arnotto, and over which they sprinkled down and feathers. Painting the body was everywhere practiced, and was carried to a great extent, the different colors and figures employed each having its peculiar significance.

ISTHMIAN BODY-PAINTING.

On going to war, paint was used more freely than at other times, and the greater the warrior the thicker the paint. Among the men of Cueba painting had a double object; it served as an ornament to the person, and also as a mark of distinction of rank. The chief, when he inherited or attained his title, made choice of a certain device, which became that of all his house. Freemen were painted from the mouth downward, and on the arms and chest, while slaves were only painted or tattooed from the mouth upward. All the lords, servitors, and vassals who were freemen, were painted in exactly the same manner. If the son of a chief adopted the ancestral totem, he could not afterward change it on coming into his inheritance, but if during his father’s life-time he declined to use the distinctive badge of his house, he could, when he became chief, choose any new device he might fancy. A son who did not adopt his father’s totem was always hateful to him during his lifetime. The natives on the northern coast of Chiriquí painted the body in wavy lines, from the shoulders to the heels; through the cartilage of the nose they stuck a porcupine-quill, and in the chin the tooth of a wild beast. The women had holes made in their cheeks through which they stuck little bunches of feathers; they also wore tiger’s claws in their ears. At San Blas, some of the men painted themselves in black streaks, and the women in red. At Porto Belo, the king was painted black and all his subjects red. The natives of Escoria tattooed breast and arms; the women of Darien across the bridge of the nose from one cheek to the other; they also blacken their teeth. Others have figures of birds, animals, or trees painted all over the body, according to fancy; their favorite colors being black, red, and yellow, which are laid on with pencils made of wood, chewed at the end till they become soft.[1009]Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. i., pp. 314, 316; Porras, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. i., p. 285; Colon, in Id., p. 298; Cockburn’s Journey, pp. 240-1; Gage’s New Survey, p. 191; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 88, 284; and Dapper, Neue Welt, pp. 99, 319; Puydt, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxviii., pp. 95-8; Selfridge’s Darien Surveys, p. 10; Cullen’s Darien, pp. 67-8;Esquemelin, Zee-Roovers, p. 142; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxlii.-ccxliv. The women of Cueba ‘se ponian una barra de oro atravessada en los pechos, debaxo de las tetas, que se las levanta, y en ella algunos páxaros é otras figuras de relieve, todo de oro fino: que por lo menos pessaba çiento é çinqüenta é aun dosiçentos pessos una barreta destas…. Destos caracoles grandes se haçen unas conteçicas blancas de muchas maneras, é otras coloradas, é otras negras, é otras moradas, é cañuticos de lo mesmo: é haçen braçaletes en que con estas qüentas mezclan otras, é olivetas de oro que se ponen en las muñecas y ençima de los tobillos é debaxo de las rodillas por gentileça: en espeçial las mugeres…. Traen assimesmo çarçillos de oro en las orejas, é horádanse las nariçes hecho un agugero entre las ventanas, é cuelgan de allí sobre el labio alto otro çarçillo.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 126, 138. All the Isthmians pull out the hair from every part of the body except the head, and rub themselves with herbs, which prevent its further growth. Both sexes pride themselves on the length of the hair, and most of them allow it to grow to its full length and hang loose over their shoulders, but keep it cut on the forehead as low as the eyebrows. The men of Cariai and some parts of Chiriquí, bind it with fillets and wind it in rolls round the head, fastening it with a comb made of the heart of the palm-tree; others wear round their head a band made of bark or certain fibres of plants, and at festivals they often wear high caps, made from the gaudy feathers of parrots. At Tanela married women cut their hair short. It appears that head-flattening again crops out in these parts. Las Casas states that infants had their heads placed between two pads, one in front and another behind, in order to increase the length of the head and width of the forehead.[1010]Their hair ‘they wear usually down to the middle of the Back, or lower, hanging loose at its full length…. All other Hair, except that of their Eye-brows and Eye-lids, they eradicate.’ Wafer’s New Voy., pp. 132-3; Gisborne’s Darien, p. 155; Macgregor’s Progress of Amer., p. 824; D’Avity, L’Amérique, tom. i., p. 98.

Dwellings on the Isthmus

In Costa Rica many of the natives live in small huts built of plaited rushes. In the year 1545, Diego Gutierrez, governor of Nueva Cartago, in Costa Rica, attempted to explore that territory. Arriving at the province of Suere upon a river of that name at a point some twelve leagues distant from the North Sea, he came to a village, and there occupied a house belonging to the chief of the district. The old Milanese chronicler, Girolamo Benzoni, who accompanied the expedition, describing the dwelling of the cacique, says it was shaped like an egg and was forty-five paces in length and nine in breath. The sides were of reeds and the roof of palm-leaves all interlaced and well executed. There were but few other houses in the village and those of inferior character. Padre Zepeda, a jesuit, who in 1750 lived among the Guatusos for several months, speaking of their towns and gardens, says that when the rains commence, they construct small huts in the trees, where they live safe from the danger of floods.[1011]Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, fol. 86; Squier, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1836, tom. cli., p. 9; Froebel, Aus Amer., tom. i., p. 246; Id., Cent. Amer., p. 26; Wagner and Scherzer, Costa Rica, p. 253. Unlike most other nations, the Isthmians do not build their villages in squares, but generally form long streets, keeping the houses well apart from each other, probably as a precaution against conflagrations. On many parts of the coast of Darien and on the gulf of Urabá, the villages are built in the water. Others are on the banks of rivers, and many of them are spacious and constructed with great skill and attention to details. The supporting posts of the roof are large bamboos or palm-trees. Three or four of these are driven into the ground at equal distances, proportioned according to the intended length of the house, and across the top is laid the ridge-pole; on each side a number of shorter posts are sunk, from which long rafters are laid to the ridge-pole; the whole is then covered with palm-leaves, both roof and sides. Other houses are plastered inside and outside with mud, and these have a flooring of open bamboo work, raised six or eight feet from the ground. The dwellings are divided into two or more rooms, having no doors to the entrances, which are reached by ladders. Sometimes the house is built without walls, in which case the roof descends to below the level of the floor, and the structure is left open at both ends, having the appearance of an elevated platform. The Savanerics and some others on the coast of Veragua build circular or pyramidal dwellings, by driving strong posts into the ground sloping toward each other, so as to unite in a point where they are strongly bound with withes or vines, across which are tied small sticks, some peeled, others with the bark on, or blackened, thereby producing a pleasing effect. The walls inside are lined with reeds beautifully interwoven. The upper portion of the structure is thatched on the outside with straw and on the apex is placed an ornament of baked clay. In the centre of the dwelling is a spacious apartment, and round the walls are small rooms in which different families reside.[1012]Puydt, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxviii., p. 95; Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. i., pp. 319, 321-2; Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, p. 151; Michler’s Darien, p. 84; Wafer’s New Voy., pp. 149-52; Cockburn’s Journey, pp. 234-5. On the banks of the Rio Grande, the Spaniards under Johan de Tavira found ‘muchas poblaçiones en barbacoas ó casas muy altas, fechas é armadas sobre postes de palmas negras fortíssimas é quassi inexpugnables’…. ‘Hay otra manera de buhíos ó casas en Nata redondos, como unos chapiteles muy altos.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 50, 131, 8, 46. ‘En otras muchas partes hacian sus casas de madera y de paja de la forma de una campana. Estas eran muy altas y muy capaces que moraban en cada una de ellas diez y mas vecinos.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. 43. Each village has a public, town, or council house, or fort, one hundred or more feet in length, constructed in the same manner as the dwellings, but with no interior partitions; in the walls are loop-holes for the discharge of arrows. There is an entrance at each end, and thick doors, made of split palm-tree and bamboo strongly bound together with withes, are kept in readiness to shut out the enemy. The doors are kept in position by strong posts set in the ground behind them. In the province of Veragua they build strong wooden fences or palisades round some of the villages, to protect them from attacks of enemies and wild beasts. During the expedition of Gaspar de Espinosa in 1517, Diego de Albitez, who invaded the province of a cacique named Tabraba, some distance south-west from Panamá, found the inhabitants protected by strong fortifications. Their forts are built with much skill. The ground is first enclosed by a deep trench, upon the inner bank of which trees are planted, and the interstices filled up with logs and rocks. In many parts of the country the inhabitants were found living in the tops of trees like birds, laying sticks across from one branch to another, and building their houses upon them. In 1512, Vasco Nuñez de Balboa surveyed several channels at the mouth of the River Atrato in quest of gold and plunder. The surrounding country was low and marshy, but the soil sent forth immense palm-trees, in the branches of which the natives built their houses. Vasco Nuñez, entering an affluent of the Rio Negro, discovered a large tree-top village, the name of whose ruler was Abieiba. The houses were divided into several apartments, each of a size sufficient to accommodate several families. They were built of wood and willows, and were so pliable and yet so strong, that the swaying to and fro of the branches, to which the elastic tenement yielded, did not in the least interfere with the safety of the occupants. Ladders, made of a single large bamboo split in two, were used in making the ascent and descent. These were drawn up at night, or in case of the invasion of an enemy. On the coast of Veragua Columbus discovered similar dwellings, and he says that he could not account for the custom, unless it was through fear of griffins which abound in that country, or of enemies, each tribe being at war with every other tribe along the coast. The true cause, however, of their taking to trees for places of residence, is to place themselves beyond the reach of sudden and violent floods, which are caused by the swelling of streams after storms in the mountains, and also in order to be out of the reach of reptiles and wild beasts in which that country abounds.[1013]‘Hallaron muchos pueblos cercados, con palenques de madera.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. ix., dec. i., lib. ix., cap. ii., vi. ‘Tengano le lor case in cima de gli alberi.’ Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, fol. 160. See also: Irving’s Columbus, vol. iii., p. 176; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 75; Colon, Hist. Almirante, in Barcia, Historiadores, tom. i., p. 108. Some of the Isthmians built large enclosures for the chiefs, which early contemporary writers call the king’s palace. Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, on his march through the province of Comagre, situated on the northern coast of Darien about thirty leagues from the gulf of Urabá, relates that he visited the dwelling or palace of the cacique Comagre, which he describes as follows: It was one hundred and fifty by eighty paces in dimension, constructed upon heavy posts, which stood within a stone wall. The upper part of the building was beautifully finished with timbers, interlaced in such a manner as to strike the beholder with amazement. The building contained various apartments—chambers, pantry, and wine-cellar. In one very large apartment were sacredly kept the remains of the king’s ancestors arranged round the walls.[1014]Of Comagre’s palace it is said, ‘Longitudinem dimensi passuum centum quinquaginta, latitudinem uero pedum octoginta, in uacuo dinumerarunt: laquearibus et pauimentis arte eximia laboratis.’ Peter Martyr, dec. ii., lib. iii. Compare further: Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 64-5, 87; Dapper, Neue Welt, pp. 71-2, 98; Darien, Defence of the Scots’ Settlement, p. 81.

Food of the Isthmians

The Costa Ricans live chiefly by hunting and fishing, and many of them cultivate maize, beans, and bananas; the Talamancas, especially, are agriculturists. According to Father Zepeda, and others who penetrated some distance into the country of the Guatusos, they had large fields under cultivation. Salt is seldom used by any of these tribes, and none of them ever eat dogs, as they keep them for hunting purposes. Their chief game is wild hogs and deer, but they are not very particular as to their animal diet, for they eat whatever they can catch, including reptiles. Their mode of cooking fish renders them exceedingly palatable, which is by roasting them wrapped in plantain-leaves. Bananas are usually pulled when green, and buried in sand to ripen.[1015]Squier, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1856, tom. cli., p. 11; Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., pref., pp. xii., xxiii.; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 407; Cockburn’s Journey, pp. 204, 224-5; Wagner and Scherzer, Costa Rica, pp. 558-9. On the Chara Islands, ‘comen los indios en estas islas muchos venados é puercos, que los hay en grandissima cantidad, é mahiz, é fésoles muchos é de diversas maneras, é muchos é buenos pescados, é tambien sapo … é ninguna cosa viva dexan de comer por suçia que sea.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 110. Many of the other Isthmians are agriculturists, and grow considerable quantities of maize, plantains, cacao, pimiento, and cocoa-nuts; their means of subsistence are further largely supplemented by game and fish. A staple article of food among the coast tribes is turtle, of which they capture large numbers. Monkeys afford them a favorite meal, and they are especially fond of iguanas, young alligators, and their eggs. From the yucca as well as corn they make a good quality of bread. The Doraches and Guaimies of Veragua subsist mainly on wild roots and a fruit called pixbaex, somewhat resembling dates, which toasted, makes an agreeable and wholesome food. Most of their dishes are highly seasoned with pimiento, a kind of pepper produced by a small shrub which is very abundant on Tierra Firme. The toocan bird lives chiefly on the berry, which it discharges from the stomach almost immediately after swallowing it; the natives prefer it thus, as its bitterness is partly absorbed by the bird. It is said that the Caribs ate human flesh whenever they had an opportunity. Herrera says that some of the Isthmians purchased slaves, whom they sold to the Caribs for food, and the inhabitants of Paria supplied boys to the natives of Tubrabá for the same purpose. They cooked the flesh of their enemies, and ate it seasoned with salt and ají (chile).[1016]‘Hanno la maggior parte di questa costiera per costume di mangiar carne humana e quando mangiauano de gli Spagnuoli, v’erano di coloro che ricusauano di cibarsene, temendo ancora che nel lor corpo, non gli facessero quelle carni qualche danno.’ Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, fol. 49. On the coast ‘they live principally upon fish, plantains, and bananas, with Indian corn and a kind of cassava.’ Selfridge’s Darien Surveys, pp. 10, 20. Compare Colon, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. i., p. 308; Balboa, in Id., tom. iii., pp. 364-5; Alcedo, Dicc., tom. v., p. 293; Cullen’s Darien, pp. 65, 68-9; Colombo, Hist. Ammiraglio, p. 412; Meyer, Nach dem Sacramento, pp. 20-2. When a piece of ground is to be planted, a number of the villagers collect and cut down the brushwood on a selected spot; the seed is then scattered among the wood as it lies. In due time the grain, which is well sheltered from the sun by the branches, springs up and overtops them, and when fit for harvesting the ears are gathered. After this, the underwood and corn-stalks are set on fire, and the ground continues to be used for agricultural purposes. In hunting deer and wild swine, dogs are used to drive them out of the dense forest; at other times they set fire to a part of the woods, and as the animals try to escape, they kill them with spears and arrows. Birds are killed with a blow-pipe. When fishing they use nets made of mahoe-bark or silk-grass, and in places where rocks prevent their using a net, they catch them with their hands or shoot them with arrows. Fishing by torchlight with spears is frequently practiced. The Savanerics poison pools with pounded leaves of the barbasco, and thus obtain fish without much labor. For duck-hunting they also employ the often-described trick of placing a calabash on the head, and in this manner approach the game. The men of Cueba are celebrated for making pure white salt from sea water—an article much used in this locality. In the same province a kind of communism obtained; all provisions were delivered to the chief, who distributed to each his share. Part of the community were employed as agriculturists, and part as hunters and fishermen. At his meals the cacique was served by women, some of his principal men eating with him.[1017]‘Cogen dos y tres vezes al año maiz, y por esto no lo engraneran.’ Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 82, 88. ‘Seguian mucho la caça de venados, y de aquellos puercos con el ombligo al espinazo.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. iii., cap. v., xv. For further details see Michler’s Darien, pp. 65, 68, 81; Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., pp. 403, 407; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 71; and Dapper, Neue Welt, p. 79; Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. i., pp. 315, 319; Peter Martyr, dec. viii., lib. vii.; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 132-3, 136, 139; Wafer’s New Voy., pp. 88, 101, 106-7, 129-130, 152-6, 170-7.

In their personal habits the Isthmians are cleanly; they bathe generally twice a day and sometimes oftener; but commonly at sunrise and sunset. The interior of their dwellings has a neat appearance, and order and cleanliness prevail in all their domestic arrangements.[1018]Michler’s Darien, p. 65; Cockburn’s Journey, p. 236. ‘Tienen por costumbre, assi los indios como las indias, de se bañar tres ó quatro veçes al dia, por estar limpios é porque diçen que descansan en lavarse.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 135-6.

Weapons of the Isthmians

Bows and arrows, long spears, javelins, flint-edged clubs, and blow-pipes, are the weapons used in these parts. The bows are beautifully made, those of the Costa Ricans being about seven feet long, of a dark-colored, very hard wood, with the string of well-twisted silk-grass. Arrows are of the same wood, very long, and pointed with a porcupine-quill or fish-bone. The bows and arrows of those farther south are much shorter, and of black palm-wood, as are also their lances and javelins. The arrows are pointed with flint or fish-bone, or are hardened in the fire and barbed; the shaft is of reed having a piece of hard wood eight or ten inches in length inserted in the end. The inhabitants of Coiba and some of the tribes on the western shore of the gulf of Urabá, do not use bows and arrows. In this respect, so far as I have observed, they form an exception; as among the almost innumerable tribes situated between the gulf of Urabá and the Arctic Ocean I know of none others where bows and arrows are not used. These people in battle employ a long wooden sword, and wooden spears, the ends of which are hardened in the fire and tipped with bone; they also make use of slings and darts. Their javelins are thrown with much force and dexterity by means of a stick slightly grooved to hold the projectile. It is called estorica and is held between the thumb and two fingers, there being a small loop on the side, near the centre, in which the forefinger is placed; the dart is cast straight from the shoulder, while the projector is retained in the hand. I have noticed a somewhat similar contrivance employed by the Aleutian Islanders.[1019]In Cueva, ‘no son flecheros, é pelean con macanas é con lanças luengas y con varas que arrojan, como dardos con estóricas (que son cierta manera de avientos) de unos bastones bien labrados.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 127, 129. ‘Sunt autem ipsorum arma, non arcus, non sagittæ uenenatæ, uti habere indígenas illos trans sinum orientales diximus. Cominus hi certant ut plurimum, ensibus oblongis, quos macanas ipsi appellant, ligneis tamen, quia ferrum non assequuntur: et præustis sudibus aut osseis cuspidibus, missilibus etiam ad præluim utuntur.’ Peter Martyr, dec. ii., lib. iii., also, dec. iv., lib. x., dec. v., lib. ix. Compare further, Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. i., lib. ix., cap. vi., lib. x., cap. i.; Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., p. 403; Parras, in Id., tom. i., p. 285; Cockburn’s Journey, p. 225; D’Avity, L’Amérique., p. 98; Otis’ Panamá, pp. 77-8; Puydt, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxviii., pp. 95, 98. The blow-pipe which is used with much effect, is about six or seven feet long, and the darts shot from it are made of Mucaw-wood, very thin with an exceedingly sharp point, notched, so that when an object is struck it breaks off and it is almost impossible to extract the broken point; others are poisoned so that a slight wound causes death in a short time. One end is wrapped with a little cotton, until it fits the tube which is placed to the mouth and the dart blown out. It is quite effective for a distance of one hundred yards. Different varieties of poison have been described by writers and travelers. Herrera speaks of one which he says was made with certain grey roots found along the coast, which were burnt in earthen pipkins and mixed with a species of poisonous black ant; to this composition were added large spiders, some hairy caterpillars, the wings of a bat, and the head and tail of sea-fish called tavorino, very venomous, besides toads, the tails of snakes, and manzanillas. All these ingredients were set over a fire in an open field and well boiled in pots by a slave till they were reduced to a proper consistency. The unfortunate slave who attends to the boiling almost invariably dies from the fumes. Another poisonous composition is spoken of as having been made of fourteen different ingredients and another of twenty-four, one that kills in three days, another in five, and another later, and when one was employed it was stated that sometimes the wounded lived as many days as the poison had been made. The natives said that fire, sea water, and continency were the antidotes against the venom, others affirmed that the dung of the wounded person taken in pills or otherwise was a cure. Peter Martyr writes that the poison was made by old women skilled in the art, who were shut up for two days in a house where they boiled the ingredients; if at the expiration of the time, the women were found in good health instead of being half dead, they were punished and the ointment was thrown away. Captain Cochrane in his Journal in Colombia, says that they obtain the poison from a small frog called the rana de veneno. These frogs are kept in a hollow cane and regularly fed. When required for use, they take one and pass a pointed stick down its throat and out at one of its legs. The pain brings to the back of the toad a white froth, which is a deadly poison and in it the darts are rubbed; below the froth a yellow oily matter is found which is carefully scraped off, as it is also a powerful poison, but not so lasting as the first substance, which will retain its deadly properties for a year while the yellow matter looses its strength after five or six months.[1020]‘The pipe was made of two pieces of reed, each forming a half circle; these being placed together left a small hole, just large enough for the admission of the arrow…. The arrows are about eight inches long … the point very sharp, and cut like a corkscrew for an inch up…. This is rolled in the poison…. The arrow will fly one hundred yards, and is certain death to man or animal wounded by it; no cure as yet having been discovered. A tiger, when hit, runs ten or a dozen yards, staggers, becomes sick, and dies in four or five minutes. A bird is killed as with a bullet, and the arrow and wounded part of the flesh being cut out, the remainder is eaten without danger.’ Cochrane’s Journal in Colombia, vol. ii., pp. 405-7. ‘That poyson killeth him that is wounded, but not suddenly…. Whoso is wounded, liues a miserable and strict life after that, for he must abstaine from many things.’ Peter Martyr, dec. viii., lib. viii. ‘Some woorali (corova) and poisoned arrows that I obtained from the Indians of the interior were procured by them from Choco … their deadly effect is almost instantaneous.’ Cullen’s Darien, p. 67. ‘We inquired of all the Indians, both men and boys, at Caledonia Bay and at San Blas for the “curari” or “urari” poison … they brought us what they represented to be the bona-fide poison…. It turned out to be nothing but the juice of the manzanillo del playa. So, if this is their chief poison, and is the same as the “curari”, it is not so much to be dreaded.’ Selfridge’s Darien Surveys, pp. 136-7. See further, Fitz-Roy, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xx., p. 164; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. i., lib. vii., cap. xvi.; Michler’s Darien, p. 77; Dampier’s Voyages, vol. i., p. 41. The javelins used by the Caribs were not made pointed but square at the end, they also have very long pikes and heavy clubs. When Bartolomé Hurtado in 1516 visited the island of Caubaco he relates that the cacique presented him with a golden armor valued at one thousand castellanos. At the island of Cabo seven leagues distant, the warriors wore a thick matted armor of cotton impervious to arrows; they were armed with pikes and in their march were accompanied with drums, conchs, and fifes.[1021]Acosta, N. Granada, p. 6; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 88; Carli, Cartas, pt. i., p. 17. ‘Traian suscoseletes fechos de algodon, que les llegaban é abaxaban de las espaldas dellos, é les llegaban á las rodillas é dende abaxo, é las mangas fasta los codos, é tan gruesos como un colchon de cama, son tan fuertes, que una ballesta no los pasa.’ Pacheco, Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. ii., p. 516.

Weapons, Armor, and Wars

Wars arise chiefly from the jealousies and ambition of rival chieftains. Battles are frequent and sanguinary, often lasting for many days, and are fought with tenacious courage. Throughout Darien it is customary to place sentinels at night in the highest houses of the towns, to keep watch and give warning of the approach of an enemy. At the commencement of a campaign, chiefs and captains experienced in war are nominated by the head of the tribe, to lead the men in battle and conduct the operations; they wear certain insignia, so as to be distinguished from the rest of the men, lofty plumes on the head, and a quantity of golden ornaments and jewels, besides which they are painted in a different style. All, however, adorn themselves when going to battle, with a profusion of necklaces, bracelets, and golden corselets. The men are cheered on to battle and encouraged during the fight by the blowing of large shells and the beating of drums. In the province of Cueba, women accompany the men, fighting by their side and sometimes even leading the van. The action is commenced with the slings and estoricas, but they soon meet at close quarters, when the heavy wooden swords and javelins are brought into use. Certain rules and military regulations are observed whereby the brave are rewarded, and offenders against military discipline punished. Nobility is conferred on him who is wounded in war, and he is further rewarded with lands, with some distinguished woman, and with military command; he is deemed more illustrious than others, and the son of such a father, following the profession of arms, may inherit all the father’s honors. He who disobeys the orders of his chief in battle is deprived of his arms, struck with them, and driven from the settlement. All booty is the property of him who captured it. The prisoner is the slave of the captor; he is branded on the face and one of his front teeth knocked out. The Caribs, however, used to kill and eat their prisoners. Wafer mentions that upon some occasions, he who had killed an enemy cut off his own hair as a distinguishing mark of triumph, and painted himself black, continuing so painted until the first new moon.[1022]‘Cuando iban á la guerra llevaban coronas de oro en las cabezas y unas patenas grandes en los pechos y braceletes y otras joyas en otros lugares del cuerpo.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxv., ccxliv. ‘El herido en la guerra es hidalgo, y goza de grandes franquezas.’ Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 88. ‘A los que pueden matar matan, é á los que prenden los hierran é se sirven dellos por esclavos.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 129, 126. See further: Quintana, Vidas Españoles (Balboa), p. 8; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. iii., cap. v.; Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., pp. 399, 403, 412; Peter Martyr, dec. iii., lib. iv., dec. viii., lib. viii.; Wafer’s New Voy., p. 133.

Isthmian Dishes and Implements

The Isthmians sleep in hammocks, often beautifully made, and suspended between two trees or upright posts. Owing to the material of which they are composed they are exceedingly cool and well adapted to the climate. Gourds, calabashes, and cocoa-nut shells are employed for water-bowls and drinking-cups. Their other household utensils consist of earthen jars, flint knives, stone hatchets and boxes ingeniously made of palm-leaves, and covered with deer or other skins. Drums of different sizes, some very large, others small, are made of the hollow trunk of a tree covered at the ends with deer’s hide. Those of the largest size are kept at the chief’s residence or at the town-house. Hammocks are made of finely woven cloth, or more frequently of plaited grass of various colors and curiously ornamented. Wooden mortars, made from the knotty part of a tree, are used to pound yucca, from which they make their cassava. The metate or rubbing-stone is also in use among them. They have nets of different kinds for both fishing and hunting. At night, as a light for their dwellings they use torches made from palm-wood dipped in oil and beeswax. The lords and principal men of the provinces of Darien and Urabá are reputed to have drunk from golden cups of rich and beautiful workmanship. Peter Martyr gives an account of golden trumpets and a great number of bells found by the Spaniards in a town situated on the River Dabaiba (Atrato). The bells were used at ceremonies and festivals, giving forth a sweet and pleasant sound; the tongues or clappers were beautifully made, of fish-bones. In another part of the country, on the gulf of Urabá, says Peter Martyr, as rendered by the ancient translator: “They founde also a great multitude of shetes, made of the silke or cotton of the gossampine tree; likewise diuers kindes of vessels and tooles made of wood, and many of earth; also many brest plates of gold, and ouches wrought after their manner.”[1023]‘La manta de la hamaca no es hecha red, sino entera é muy gentil tela delgada é ancha…. Hay otras, que la manta es de paja texida é de colores é labores.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 131, 136, 138, 142, 181. ‘Muy buenas redes con anzuelos de hueso que hacen de concha de tortuga.’ Vega, Hist. Descub. Amer., p. 145. ‘Tenian los Reyes y Señores ricos y señalados vasos con que bebian.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxv. Compare further: Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. i., lib. vii., cap. xvi., lib. ix., cap. i., dec. ii., lib. ii., cap. i.; Peter Martyr, dec. ii., lib. i., dec. vii., lib. x.;Michler’s Darien, pp. 66, 77; Meyer, Nach dem Sacramento, pp. 21-2.

They manufacture strong cords from the bark of the mahoe-tree, which is taken off in long strips, beaten with sticks, cleaned, and then twisted. A finer description of thread is made from a species of pita, of which the leaves undergo a somewhat similar process in preparation as flax, being steeped in water for several days, then dried in the sun and afterwards beaten, producing fine silky threads, from which their hammocks and finer kinds of nets for catching small fish are made. From the same plant they make excellent baskets and matting; the materials are first dyed in different colors, prettily mixed and woven together so closely as to hold water. They are of a soft texture and exceedingly durable. The Dorachos are famed for the manufacture of pottery, water-bottles, and other household utensils, elegantly shaped and prettily painted. Cotton cloths are woven by women, and considering the rude and simple implements they work with, the fineness of texture and blending of colors present a marvel of skill and patience. The process of weaving is thus described by Wafer: “The Women make a Roller of Wood, about three Foot long, turning easily about between two Posts. About this they place Strings of Cotton, of 3 or 4 yards long, at most, but oftner less, according to the use the Cloth is to be put to, whether for a Hammock, or to tie about their Waists, or for Gowns, or for Blankets to cover them in their Hammocks, as they lie in them in their Houses; which are all the Uses they have for Cloth: And they never weave a piece of Cotton with a design to cut it, but of a size that shall just serve for the particular use. The Threads thus coming from the Roller are the Warp; and for the Woof, they twist Cotton-yarn about a small piece of Macaw-wood, notch’d at each end; And taking up every other Thread of the Warp with the Fingers of one Hand, they put the Woof through with the other Hand, and receive it out on the other side: and to make the Threads of the Woof lie close in the Cloth, they strike them at every turn with a long and thin piece of Macaw-wood like a Ruler, which lies across between the Threads of the Warp for that purpose.”[1024]Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 348; Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. i., p. 320; Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, p. 29; Cockburn’s Journey, pp. 172-3, 243-4; Wafer’s New Voy., pp. 92-4, 160-2. Referring to Chiriquí earthen relics; ‘The vessels … are neatly and sometimes very gracefully formed of clay…. Several bear resemblance to Roman, Grecian, and Etruscan jars…. Dr. Merritt mentioned that the natives of the Isthmus now make their rude earthen utensils of a peculiar black earth, which gives them the appearance of iron.’ Hist. Mag., vol. iv., p. 176. In Veragua ‘vide sábanas grandes de algodon, labradas de muy sotiles labores; otras pintadas muy sútilmente a colores con pinceles.’ Colon, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. i., p. 308.

Isthmian Boats and Navigation

The canoes and rafts of the Isthmians are admirably adapted to the navigation of their rivers and gulfs, and the men who manage them are skillful boatmen. The canoes vary in size; some are dug out from the single trunk of a tree, others are constructed of bark. The largest are thirty-five feet in length by three in breadth, and are capable of carrying many persons, besides a considerable amount of cargo. They are so lightly built that little difficulty is experienced in passing them over obstructions, and those of smaller size are often carried on the head. They draw very little water, and are propelled with paddles by two persons, one in the stern, the other in the bow. When passing over rapids, palancas, or poles, are used, with crotchets attached, which answer the purpose of a boat-hook in laying hold of the bank or overhanging branches of trees, where the depth of water prevents the pole reaching the bottom. The rafts are made from an exceedingly light and soft timber similar to cork-wood. Three or four logs are bound together with ropes and across them are laid smaller timbers of the same wood, fastened down with hard wooden pegs that are easily driven through. The rafts are chiefly employed for fishing or crossing large rivers. Canoes are, however, quite as frequently used for fishing purposes.[1025]‘En estas islas de Chara é Pocosi no tienen canoas, sino balsas’…. In the Province of Cueba ‘tienen canoas pequeñas, tambien las usan grandes … hay canoa que lleva çinquenta ó sessenta hombres é mas.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 110, 159. See also: Michler’s Darien, pp. 48, 66-7; Wafer’s New Voy., p. 96; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 67; and Dapper, Neue Welt, p. 75; Puydt, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxviii., p. 99; Acosta, N. Granada, p. 43.

The native products are gold, pearls, tortoise-shell, ivory-nuts, cacao, caoutchouc, corozo-nuts, cocoa-nuts, dried venison, lard, and deer-skins; these are offered in considerable quantities to foreigners, and in exchange they receive salt and ironware, besides various trinkets and such domestic utensils as they are in need of. The value of the pearls was lessened on account of their practice of throwing oysters into the fire in order to open them, which partially destroyed their lustre. The natives of the coast carry into the interior dried fish and salt, which they barter for gold dust and other products. At Pueblo Nuevo sarsaparilla forms a principal article of trade. The native traders are very shrewd, and as a rule practice fair dealing. On his march through the country, Vasco Nuñez de Balboa found the people in possession of large quantities of gold, jewelry, and pearls. Everywhere along his route he received presents of gold; indeed, in some places he found this metal in greater abundance than food.[1026]Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 74, 88; Balboa, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., pp. 364-5; Peter Martyr, dec. viii., lib. vi.; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. i., lib. vii., cap. xvi., lib. x., cap. iii.; Belcher’s Voyage, vol. i., p. 250; Selfridge’s Darien Surveys, pp. 10-11; Puydt, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxviii., p. 99; Gisborne’s Darien, p. 154; Otis’ Panamá, p. 77; Cullen’s Darien, pp. 65-6. ‘Quando los indios no tienen guerra, todo su exerciçio es tractar é trocar quanto tienen unos con otros … unos llevan sal, otros mahiz, otros mantas, otros hamacas, otros algodon hilado ó por hilar, otros pescados salados; otros llevan oro.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 140, tom. ii., p. 340.

The streams of this region are subject to frequent swellings, caused by heavy rains. After the subsiding of these floods, the natives procure gold from the river-beds; they also burn the grass in the mountains and pick up the metal left exposed on the surface in large quantities. In the district of Veragua and in Darien they have workers in gold, crucibles for melting metals, and implements of silversmiths. They understand the alloying of gold, from which they make vases and many kinds of ornaments in the shape of birds and different varieties of animals. The relics which from time to time have been exhumed in Chiriquí and other parts of the Isthmus, prove that the natives had an excellent knowledge of the art of working and also of sculpturing in gold and stone. Painting and glazing on jars and other descriptions of pottery was an art in which the men of Chiriquí were famous.[1027]‘Este cacique Davaive tiene grand fundicion de oro en su casa; tiene cient hombres á la contina que labran oro.’ Balboa, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., pp. 364-5. ‘Hay grandes mineros de cobre: hachas de ello, otras cosas labradas, fundidas, soldadas hube, y fraguas con todo su aparejo de platero y los crisoles.’ Colon, in Id., tom. i., p. 308. In Panamá, ‘grandes Entalladores, y Pintores.’ Dávila, Teatro Ecles., tom. ii., fol. 56. Compare further: Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, fol. 88; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. ii., cap. x.; Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, pp. 29-30; Peter Martyr, dec. iii., lib. iv.; Bidwell’s Isthmus, p. 37. The Isthmians possessed only a very slight knowledge of the computation of time. They calculate the hour of the day by the height of the sun in the heavens, and have no division of time into years, months, or weeks. Their enumeration is limited to twenty, and beyond that they count by twenties to one hundred; their knowledge of numbers does not go further.[1028]Wafer’s New Voy., pp. 178-86; Lussan, Jour. du Voy., p. 46; Puydt, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxviii., p. 99.

Arts and Government

In the provinces of Cueba, Comagre, and other parts of Darien the eldest son succeeded to the government upon the death of his father. As soon as the funeral ceremonies were over, the heir received the congratulations of the attendant nobles, the highest and most aged of whom conducted him to a chamber and laid him in a hammock. His subjects then came to offer their submission accompanied with presents, which consisted of large stores of edibles and fruits of every kind. They greeted him with triumphal songs in which they recounted the deeds of his ancestors, as well as those of other lords of the land, telling him who were his friends and who his enemies. Much wine was consumed and the rejoicing lasted several days. Afterwards ambassadors were dispatched to inform all the neighboring caciques of the new accession, desiring their good will and friendship for the future. In the province of Panamá upon the death of the lord, the eldest brother succeeded him, and if there were no brothers the succession went to a nephew by the sister’s side. The chiefs held undisputed authority over their people and were implicitly obeyed. They received no tribute but required personal service for house-building, hunting, fishing, or tilling the ground; men so employed were fed and maintained by the chief. In Cueba the reigning lord was called quebi, in other parts he was called tiba. The highest in rank after the tiba had the title of sacos, who commanded certain districts of the country. Piraraylos were nobles who had become famous in war. Subject to the sacos were the cabras who enjoyed certain lands and privileges not accorded to the common people. Any one wounded in battle, when fighting in presence of the tiba, was made a cabra and his wife became an espave or principal woman. A constable could not arrest or kill a cabra; this could be done only by the tiba; once struck by the tiba, however, any person might kill him, for no sooner was he wounded by his chief than his title and rank dropped from him. Constables were appointed whose duty it was to arrest offenders and execute judgment on the guilty. Justice was administered without form by the chief in person who decided all controversies. The cases must be stated truthfully, as the penalty for false testimony was death. There was no appeal from the decision of the chief. Theft was punishable with death and anyone catching a thief in flagrante delicto, might cut off the offender’s hands and hang them to his neck. Murder was also punished by death; the penalty for adultery was death to both parties. In Darien, he who defloured a virgin had a brier thrust up his virile member, which generally caused death. The facts had to be proved on oath, the form of taking which was to swear by their tooth. As I have said, a constable could not arrest or kill a noble; consequently if one committed a crime punishable with death, the chief must kill him with his own hand, and notice was given to all the people by beating the large war drum so that they should assemble and witness the execution. The chief then in presence of the multitude recited the offence, and the culprit acknowledged the justice of the sentence. This duty fulfilled, the chief struck the culprit two or three blows on the head with a macana until he fell, and if he was not killed, any one of the spectators gave him the finishing stroke. Criminals who were executed were denied the right of burial. The Caribs had no chiefs, every man obeyed the dictates of his own passions, unrestrained by either government or laws.[1029]‘Besan los pies al hijo, o sobrino, que hereda, estando en la cama: que vale tanto como juramento, y coronacion.’ Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 255-6, 88. ‘Todos tenian sus Reies, y Señores, á quien obedecian.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 346. ‘Los hijos heredauan a los padres, siendo auidos en la principal muger…. Los Caziques y señores eran muy tenidos y obedecidos.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. i., lib. vii., cap. xvi., dec. iv., lib. i., cap. x. See also, Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 129-30, 142, 156-7; Quintana, Vidas de Españoles, (Balboa), p. 9; Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., p. 399; Wafer’s New Voy., p. 163; Dapper, Neue Welt, p. 73; Wallace, in Miscellanea Curiosa, vol. iii., p. 418; Puydt, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxviii., p. 97; Funnell’s Voyage, pp. 131-2; Selfridge’s Darien Surveys, p. 20.

Punishments and Slavery

Slavery was in force among the various nations inhabiting the Isthmus, and every principal man retained a number of prisoners as bondsmen; they were called pacos, and, as I have already mentioned, were branded or tattooed with the particular mark of the owner on the face or arm, or had one of their front teeth extracted. When traveling, the slaves had to carry their lord’s effects, and a dozen or more were detailed to carry his litter or hammock, which was slung on a pole and borne on the shoulders of two men at a time, who were relieved at intervals by two others, the change being made without stopping. On his march across the Isthmus in 1513, Vasco Nuñez found some negro slaves belonging to the cacique of Quarecas, but the owner could give no information relative to them, except that there were more of that color near the place, with whom they were continually at war.[1030]Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 8, 126, 129; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 77; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 66; Dapper, Neue Welt, p. 74.

Family Relations of the Isthmians

Caciques and lords married as many wives as they pleased. The marriage of the first wife was celebrated with a great banquet, at the close of which the bride was handed over to her husband. Subsequent wives were not married with ceremonies or rejoicings, but took the place of concubines, and were subject to the orders of the first wife. The number of wives was limited only by the wealth of the lord. Vasco Nuñez took prisoner the cacique Tumanamá with all his family, among which were eighty wives. The children of the first wife were legitimate, while those of others were bastards and could not inherit. Marriage was not contracted with strangers or people speaking a different language, and the tiba and lords only married with the daughters of noble blood. Divorces were brought about by mutual consent and for slight causes, and sometimes wives were exchanged. If a woman was barren, they promptly agreed upon a separation, which took place when the woman had her menstrual period, in order that there might be no suspicion of pregnancy. When a maiden reached the age of puberty, she was kept shut up, sometimes for a period of two years. In some parts of Darien, when a contract of marriage was made, all the neighbors brought presents of maize or fruits, and laid them at the door of the bride’s father; when the offerings were all made, each one of the company was given a calabash of liquor; then followed speeches and dancing, and the bridegroom’s father presented his son to the bride, and joined their hands; after which the bride was returned to her father, who kept her shut up in a house with him for seven days. During that time all the friends assisted in clearing a plantation and building a house for the couple, while the women and children planted the ground. The seven days having elapsed, another merrymaking took place, at which much liquor was drunk. The bridegroom took the precaution to put away all weapons which were hung to the ridge-pole of his house, in order to prevent any serious fighting during their drunken orgies, which lasted several days, or until all the liquor was consumed. If a man had several wives, he often kept each one in a separate house, though sometimes they all lived together; a woman who was pregnant always occupied a house to herself.[1031]Puydt, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxviii., p. 98; Macgregor’s Process of Amer., pp. 823-5, 829; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxliv. ‘Casauanse con hijas de sus hermanas: y los señores tenian muchas mugeres.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. i., lib. vii., cap. xvi., dec. iv., lib. i., cap. x. ‘De las mugeres principales de sus padres, y hermanas ó hijas guardan que no las tomen por mugeres, porque lo tienen por malo.’ Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., pp. 402-3. Of wives: ‘They may haue as many as they please, (excepting their kindred, and allies) vnlesse they be widdowes … in some place a widdow marryeth the brother of her former husband, or his kinsman, especially if hee left any children.’ Peter Martyr, dec. vii., lib. x., dec. viii., lib. viii. Women are easily delivered, and the young infant is tied to a board on its back or between two pillows, and is kept so confined until able to walk, the board being removed only to wash the child. Male children are early accustomed to the use of weapons, and when able to carry a few provisions for themselves, they accompany their fathers on hunting expeditions. Girls are brought up to household duties, cooking, weaving, and spinning. Prostitution was not infamous; noble ladies held as a maxim, that it was plebeian to deny anything asked of them, and they gave themselves up to any person that wooed them, willingly, especially to principal men. This tendency to licentiousness carried with it extremes in the use of abortives whereby to avoid the consequence of illicit pleasures, as well that they might not be deprived of them, as to keep their breasts from softening; for, said they, old women should bear children, not young ones, who have to amuse themselves. Sodomy was practiced by the nations of Cueba, Careta, and other places. The caciques and some of the head men kept harems of youths, who, as soon as destined to the unclean office, were dressed as women, did women’s work about the house, and were exempt from war and its fatigues. They went by the name of camayoas, and were hated and detested by the women.[1032]The women ‘observe their Husbands with a profound Respect and Duty upon all occasions; and on the other side their Husbands are very kind and loving to them. I never knew an Indian beat his Wife, or give her any hard Words…. They seem very fond of their Children, both Fathers and Mothers.’ Wafer’s New Voy., pp. 156-66. ‘Tienen mancebias publicas de mugeres, y aun de hombres en muchos cabos.’ Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 87. See also: Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 18, 20, 133-4; Quintana, Vidas de Españoles, (Balboa), pp. 9-10.

Intoxicating Liquors

Their public amusements were called areitos, a species of dance very nearly resembling some in the northern provinces of Spain. They took place upon occasions of a marriage or birth, or when they were about to go forth on a hunting expedition, or at the time of harvest. One led the singing, stepping to the measure, and the rest followed, imitating the leader. Others again engaged in feats of arms and sham battles, while singers and improvisatori related the deeds of their ancestors and historical events of the nation. The men indulged freely in fermented liquors and wines, the drinking and dancing lasting many hours and sometimes whole days, until drunk and exhausted they fell to the ground. Actors in appropriate costumes counterfeited the various pursuits of fishing, hunting, and agriculture, while others, in the guise of jesters and fools, assisted in enlivening the scene. Their principal musical instruments were drums and small whistles made of reeds; they had also javelins with holes pierced in them near the end, so that when cast into the air a loud whistling noise was produced.[1033]‘Pipes, or fluites of sundry pieces, of the bones of Deere, and canes of the riuer. They make also little Drummes or Tabers beautified with diuers pictures, they forme and frame them also of gourdes, and of an hollowe piece of timber greater than a mannes arme.’ Peter Martyr, dec. viii., lib. viii. See also: Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 127, 130, 137, 156; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 88; Darien, Defence of the Scots’ Settlement, pp. 72-3; Macgregor’s Progress of Amer., pp. 825, 832; Warburton’s Darien, p. 321; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxliii. They have various kinds of wines and liquors both sweet and sour. One is obtained from a species of palm-tree, by tapping the trunk near the top, and inserting a leaf into the cut. The liquor drawn off soon ferments, and in two or three days is fit to drink; or it is boiled with water and mixed with spices. Another kind called chicha is made from maize; a quantity of the grain is soaked in water, then taken out and left to sprout, when it is bruised and placed in a large vessel filled with water, where it is allowed to remain until it begins to turn sour. A number of old women then collect and chew some of the grain, which they spit out into large gourds until they have a sufficient quantity; this, as soon as it ferments, is added to the water in the vessel, and in a short time the whole undergoes fermentation. When the liquor is done working it is drawn off from the sediment, and a strongly intoxicating liquor is thus produced, which is their favorite beverage. They have another method of making chicha, by boiling the sprouted grain in water till the quantity is considerably reduced; it is then removed from the fire and left to settle and cool. In two days it becomes clear and fit to drink, but after five or six days it begins to acidify so that only a moderate quantity is made at a time. Different varieties of wines and liquors are made from dates, bananas, pineapples, and other fruits, and we are told that the first Spanish explorers of the country found large quantities of fermented liquors buried beneath the ground under their house-tree, because if stored in their houses the liquor became turbid from constant agitation. The cellar of the king Comagre is described as being filled with great vessels of earth and wood, containing wine and cider. Peter Martyr, in his account of the visit of Vasco Nuñez and his company to the king, says “they drunke wines of sundry tastes both white and black.” Tobacco is much used by the Isthmians; the natives of Costa Rica roll the leaf up in the form of a cigar, and tie it with grass threads; they inhale the smoke, and, retaining it for a short time, pass it out through the mouth and nostrils. The cigar used by the natives of the isthmus of Panamá is much larger. Mr Wafer thus describes their manner of making and smoking it: “Laying two or three Leaves upon one another, they roll up all together side-ways into a long Roll, yet leaving a little hollow. Round this they roll other Leaves one after another, in the same manner but close and hard, till the Roll be as big as ones Wrist, and two or three Feet in length. Their way of Smoaking when they are in Company together is thus: A Boy lights one end of a Roll and burns it to a Coal, wetting the part next it to keep it from wasting too fast. The End so lighted he puts into his Mouth, and blows the Smoak through the whole length of the Roll into the Face of every one of the Company or Council, tho’ there be 2 or 300 of them. Then they, sitting in their usual Posture upon Forms, make, with their Hands held hollow together, a kind of Funnel round their Mouths and Noses. Into this they receive the Smoak as ’tis blown upon them, snuffing it up greedily and strongly as long as ever they are able to hold their Breath, and seeming to bless themselves, as it were, with the Refreshment it gives them.” After eating heartily, more especially after supper, they burn certain gums and herbs and fumigate themselves to produce sleep.[1034]In Comagre, ‘vinos blancos y tintos, hechos de mayz, y rayzes de frutas, y de cierta especie de palma, y de otras cosas: los quales vinos loauan los Castellanos quando los beuian.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. i., lib. ix., cap. ii. ‘Tenia vna bodega con muchas cubas y tinajas llenas de vino, hecho de grano, y fruta, blanco, tinto, dulce, y agrete de datiles, y arrope.’ Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 73. ‘Hacian de maiz vino blanco i tinto…. Es de mui buen sabor aunque como unos vinos bruscos ó de gascuña.’ Las Casas, Hist. Ind., MS., tom. ii., cap. xxvi. See also: Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 136-7, 141-2; tom. iv., pp. 96-7; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 64, 285; Dapper, Neue Welt, pp. 71, 321; Wafer’s New Voy., pp. 87, 102-3, 153-5, 164, 169-70; Puydt, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxviii., p. 96.

The Isthmians are good walkers, their tread firm, but light and soft as a cat, and they are exceedingly active in all their movements. When traveling they are guided by the sun, or ascertain their course by observing the bark of the trees; the bark on the south side being always the thickest. When fatigued by travel they scarify their legs with a sharpened reed or snakes’ teeth. They are very expert swimmers and the dwellers on the coast pass much of their time in the water. In salutation they turn their backs to each other. No one will accept a gift from a stranger unless with the especial permission of the chief.[1035]‘Quando hablan vno con otro, se ponen do espaldas.’ Colon, Hist. Almirante, in Barcia, Historiadores, tom. i., p. 111; Wafer’s New Voy., pp. 177-9.

Isthmian Sorcerers

They believe largely in spirits and divinations, and have sorcerers called piaces who are held in much respect and awe. The piaces profess to have the power of foretelling the future and raising spirits. When putting in practice their arts they retire to a solitary place, or shut themselves up in a house, where, with loud cries and unearthly sounds they pretend to consult the oracle. Boys destined to be piaces are taken at the age of ten or twelve years to be instructed in the office; they are selected for the natural inclination or the peculiar aptitude and intelligence which they display for the service. Those so chosen are confined in a solitary place where they dwell in company with their instructors. For two years they are subjected to severe discipline, they must not eat flesh nor anything having life, but live solely on vegetables, drink only water, and not indulge in sexual intercourse. During the probationary term neither parents nor friends are permitted to see them; at night only are they visited by professional masters, who instruct them in the mysteries of the necromantic arts. In the province of Cueba masters in these arts are called tequinas. It is asserted of the piaces that they could foretell an eclipse of the moon three months before the time. The people were much troubled with witches, who were supposed to hold converse with evil spirits, and inflicted many ills especially upon children.[1036]Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 255; Peter Martyr, dec. vii., lib. x., dec. viii., lib. viii.; Wafer’s New Voy., pp. 37-9; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. iii., cap. v.; Selfridge’s Darien Surveys, pp. 10-11; Vega, Hist. Descub. Amer., p. 145. ‘Deste nombre tequina se haçe mucha diferençia; porque á qualquiera ques mas hábil y experto en algun arte, … le llaman tequina, que quiere deçir lo mesmo que maestro: por manera que al ques maestro de las responsiones é inteligencias con el diablo, llámenle tequina en aquel arte, porque aqueste tal es el que administra sus ydolatrías é çerimonias é sacrifiçios, y el que habla con el diablo.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 127. ‘Tenian ó habia entre estas gentes unos sacerdotes que llamaban en su lengua “Piachas” muy espertos en el arte mágica, tanto que se revestia en ellos el Diabolo y hablaba por boca de ellos muchas falsedades, conque los tenia cautivos.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxlv.

Medical Practice

The Isthmians are a healthful and long-lived race. The ills most common to them are fevers and venereal disease. The latter, as Oviedo affirms, was introduced into Europe from Hayti, or Española, where it was prevalent as well as throughout Tierra Firme. This is a subject that has given rise to much contention among authors, but the balance of testimony seems to indicate that the venereal disease in Europe was not of American origin, although the disease probably existed in America before the coming of Europeans. The remedies employed by the Isthmians for the complaint were guayacan wood, and other medicinal herbs known to them. They are much troubled with a minute species of tick-lice that cover their limbs in great numbers, from which they endeavor to free themselves by applying burning straw. Another insect, more serious in its consequences and penetrating in its attacks, is the chegoe, or pulex penetrans; it burrows under the skin, where it lays its eggs, and if not extracted will in time increase to such an extent as to endanger the loss of the limb. The natives remove it with any sharp-pointed instrument. They are liable to be bitten by venomous snakes, which are numerous in the country and frequently cause death. Whenever one is bitten by such a reptile, the sufferer immediately ties above the wounded part a ligature made from plants well known to the natives, and which they usually carry with them; this enables him to reach a village, where he procures assistance, and by means of herbal applications is often cured. Some of them are subject to a skin disease somewhat similar in its appearance to ringworm; it spreads over the whole body until eventually the skin peels off. Those who are thus afflicted are called carates. These people are generally very hardy and strong, with great powers of endurance. The piaces, as medicine-men, consult their oracles for the benefit of all those who require their services. The sucking cure obtains in these parts as well as northward. When summoned to attend a patient, if the pain or disease is slight, the medicine-man takes some herbs in his mouth, and applying his lips to the part affected, pretends to suck out the disorder; suddenly he rushes outside with cheeks extended, and feigns to spit out something, cursing and imprecating at the same time; he then assures his patient that he has effected a cure by extracting the cause of the pain. When the sickness is of a more serious nature, more elaborate enchantments are enacted, ending in the practitioner sucking it out from the sick person’s body, not, however, without undergoing infinite trouble, labor, and contortions, till at last the piace thrusts a small stick down his own throat, which causes him to vomit, and so he casts up that which he pretends to have drawn out from the sufferer. Should his conjurations and tricks not prove effectual, the physician brings to his aid certain herbs and decoctions, with which he is well acquainted; their knowledge of medicine is, however, more extensive in the treatment of external than of internal diseases. The compensation given to the piace is in proportion to the gravity of the case, and the ability of the individual to reward him. In cases of fever, bleeding is resorted to; their mode of practicing phlebotomy is peculiar and attended with much unnecessary suffering. The operator shoots a small arrow from a bow into various parts of the patient’s body until a vein be accidentally opened; the arrow is gauged a short distance from the point to prevent its penetrating too far.[1037]The priests ‘comunmente eran sus médicos, é conosçian muchas hiervas, de que usaban, y eran apropriadas á diversas enfermedades.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 126, 138-9, 141, tom. i., pp. 56-7. ‘According to the diuers nature, or qualitie of the disease, they cure them by diuers superstitions, and they are diuersly rewarded.’ Peter Martyr, dec. viii., cap. viii. Compare further; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 88; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxlv.; Wafer’s New Voy., p. 28; Selfridge’s Darien Surveys, p. 10; Puydt, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxviii., p. 97; Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. v., p. 893. Oviedo tells us that in the province of Cueba the practice of sucking was carried on to a fearful extent, and with dire consequences. The persons, men and women, who indulged in the habit were called by the Spaniards chupadores. They belonged to a class of sorcerers, and the historian says they went about at night visiting certain of the inhabitants, whom they sucked for hours, continuing the practice from day to day, until finally the unfortunate recipients of their attentions became so thin and emaciated that they often died from exhaustion.[1038]‘Quédame de deçir que en aquesta lengua de Cueva hay muchos indios hechiçeros é en espeçial un çierto género de malos, que los chripstianos en aquella tierra llaman chupadores…. Estos chupan á otros hasta que los secan é matan, é sin calentura alguna de dia en dia poco á poco se enflaquesçen tanto, que se les pueden contar los huesos, que se les paresçen solamente cubiertos con el cuero; y el vientre se les resuelve de manera quel ombligo traen pegado á los lomos y espinaço, é se tornan de aquella forma que pintan á la muerte, sin pulpa ni carne. Estos chupadores, de noche, sin ser sentidos, van á haçer mal por las casas agenas: é ponen la boca en el ombligo de aquel que chupan, y están en aquel exerçiçio una ó dos horas ó lo que les paresçe, teniendo en aquel trabaxo al paçiente, sin que sea poderoso de se valer ni defender, no dexando de sufrir su daño con silençio. É conosçe el assi ofendido, é vee al malhechor, y aun les hablan: lo qual, assi los que haçen este mal como los que le padesçen, han confessado algunos dellos; é diçen questos chupadores son criados é naborias del tuyra, y quél se los manda assi haçer, y el tuyra es, como está dicho, el diablo.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 159-60.

Isthmian Graves and Mourning

Among certain nations of Costa Rica when a death occurs the body is deposited in a small hut constructed of plaited palm-leaves; food, drink, as well as the weapons and implements that served the defunct during life are placed in the same hut. Here the body is preserved for three years, and upon each anniversary of the death it is redressed and attended to amidst certain ceremonies. At the end of the third year it is taken out and interred. Among other tribes in the same district, the corpse after death is covered with leaves and surrounded with a large pile of wood which is set on fire, the friends dancing and singing round the flames until all is consumed, when the ashes are collected and buried in the ground. In Veragua the Dorachos had two kinds of tombs, one for the principal men constructed with flat stones laid together with much care, and in which were placed costly jars and urns filled with food and wines for the dead; those for plebeians were merely trenches, in which were deposited with the occupant some gourds FUNERAL RITES ON THE ISTHMUS.of maize and wine and the place filled with stones. In some parts of Panamá and Darien only the chiefs and lords received funeral rites. Among the common people a person feeling his end approaching either went himself or was led to the woods by his wife, family, and friends, who, supplying him with some cake or ears of corn and a gourd of water, there left him to die alone, or to be assisted by wild beasts. Others with more respect for their dead, buried them in sepulchres made with niches where they placed maize and wine and renewed the same annually. With some, a mother dying while suckling her infant, the living child was placed at her breast and buried with her in order that in her future state she might continue to nourish it with her milk. In some provinces when the cacique became sick, the priests consulted their oracles as to his condition and if they received for answer that the illness was mortal, one half of his jewelry and gold was cast into the river as a sacrifice to the god they reverenced, in the belief that he would guide him to his final rest; the other half was buried in the grave. The relatives of the deceased shaved the head as a sign of mourning and all his weapons and other property were consumed by fire in order that nothing should remain as a remembrance of him. In Panamá, Nata, and some other districts, when a cacique died, those of his concubines that loved him enough, those that he loved ardently and so appointed, as well as certain servants, killed themselves and were interred with him. This they did in order that they might wait upon him in the land of spirits. They held the belief that those who did not accompany him then, would, when they died a natural death, lose the privilege of being with him afterwards, and in fact that their souls would die with them. The privilege of attending on the cacique in his future state was believed to be only granted to those who were in his service during his lifetime, hence such service was eagerly sought after by natives of both sexes, who made every exertion to be admitted as servants in his house. At the time of the interment, those who planted corn for him during his lifetime had some maize and an implement of husbandry buried with them in order that they might commence planting immediately on arrival in the other world. In Comagre and other provinces the bodies of the caciques were embalmed by placing them on a cane hurdle, hanging them up by cords, or placing them on a stone, or log; and round or below the body they made a slow fire of herbs at such a distance as to dry it gradually until only skin and bone remained. During the process of embalming, twelve of the principal men sat round the body, dressed in black mantles which covered their heads, letting them hang down to their feet; at intervals one of them beat a drum and when he ceased he chanted in monotonous tones, the others responding. Day and night the twelve kept watch and never left the body. When sufficiently dried it was dressed and adorned with many ornaments of gold, jewels, and feathers, and set up in an apartment of the palace where were kept ranged round the walls the remains of his ancestors, each one in his place and in regular succession. In case a cacique fell in battle and his body could not be recovered, or was otherwise lost, the place he would have occupied in the row was always left vacant. Among other tribes the body after being dried by fire was wrapped in several folds of cloth, put in a hammock, and placed upon a platform in the air or in a room. The manner in which the wives, attendants, and servants put themselves to death was, with some, by poison; in such case, the multitude assembled to chant the praises of their dead lord, when those who were to follow drank poison from gourds, and dropped dead instantly. In some cases they first killed their children. With others the funeral obsequies of a principal chief were conducted differently. They prepared a large grave twelve or fifteen feet square and nine or ten feet deep; round the sides they built a stone bench and covered it with painted cloth; in the middle of the grave they placed jars and gourds filled with maize, fruit, and wines, and a quantity of flowers. On the bench was laid the dead chief dressed, ornamented, and jeweled, while around him sat his wives gaily attired with ear-rings and bracelets. All being prepared the assembled multitude raised their voices in songs declaring the bravery and prowess of the deceased; they recounted his liberality and many virtues and highly extolled the affection of his faithful wives who desired to accompany him. The singing and dancing usually lasted two days and during its continuance wine was freely served to the performers and also to the women who were awaiting their fate. At the expiration of such time they became entirely inebriated and in a senseless condition, when the final act was consummated by throwing dead and doomed into the grave, and filling it with logs, branches, and earth. The spot was afterwards held in sacred remembrance and a grove of trees planted round it. At the end of a year funeral honors were celebrated in memory of the dead. A host of friends and relatives of equal rank with the deceased were invited to participate, who upon the day appointed brought quantities of food and wine such as he whose memory they honored delighted in, also weapons with which he used to fight, all of which were placed in a canoe prepared for the purpose; in it was also deposited an effigy of the deceased. The canoe was then carried on men’s shoulders round the court of the palace or house, in presence of the deceased, if he was embalmed, and afterwards brought out to the centre of the town where it was burned with all it contained,—the people believing that the fumes and smoke ascended to the soul of the dead and was pleasing and acceptable to him.[1039]‘Ay muchos, que piensan, que no ay mas de nacer, y morir: y aquellos tales no se entierran con pan, y vino, ni con mugeres, ni moços. Los que creen la immortalidad del alma, se entierra: si son Señores, con oro, armas, plumas, si no lo son, con mayz, vino, y mantas.’ Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 255, 88. ‘Huius reguli penetrale ingressi cameram reperiunt pensilibus repletam cadaueribus, gossampinis funibus appensis. Interrogati quid sibi uellet ea superstitio: parentum esse et auorum atauorumque Comogri regulea cadauera, inquiunt. De quibus seruandis maximam esse apud eos curami et pro religione eam pietatem haberi recensent: pro cuiusque gradu indu, menta cuique cadaueri imposita, auro gemmisque superintexta.’ Peter Martyr, dec. ii., lib. iii., dec. iii., lib. iv., dec. vii., lib. x., dec. viii., lib. ix. ‘Viendo la cantidad é número de los muertos, se conosçe qué tantos señores ha avido en aquel Estado, é quál fué hijo del otro ó le subçedió en el señorio segund la órden subçesiva en que están puestos.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 155-6, 142. For further accounts see Wagner and Scherzer, Costa Rica, pp. 556, 560; Cockburn’s Journey, p. 183; Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. i., pp. 314, 316, 319; Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, p. 30; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. i., lib. vii., cap. xvi., lib. ix., cap. ii., dec. ii., lib. iii., cap. v., dec. iv., lib. i., cap. xi.; Quintana, Vidas de Españoles, (Balboa), p. 10; Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., pp. 401-2; Carli, Cartas, pt. i., pp. 105-6; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxlii., ccxlvii.; Purchas His Pilgrimes, vol. v., p. 894. If the body had been interred they opened the sepulchre; all the people with hair disheveled uttering loud lamenting cries while the bones were being collected, and these they burned all except the hinder part of the skull, which was taken home by one of the principal women and preserved by her as a sacred relic.

Isthmian Character

The character of the Costa Ricans has ever been that of a fierce and savage people, prominent in which qualities are the Guatusos and Buricas, who have shown themselves strongly averse to intercourse with civilization. The Talamancas are a little less untameable, which is the best, or perhaps the worst, that can be said. The Terrabas, also a cruel and warlike nation, are nevertheless spoken of by Fray Juan Domingo Arricivita as endowed with natural docility. The natives of Boca del Toro are barbarous and averse to change. In Chiriquí they are brave and intelligent, their exceeding courage having obtained for them the name of Valientes or Indios Bravosfrom the early discoverers; they are also noted for honesty and fair dealing. The same warlike and independent spirit and fearlessness of death prevails among the nations of Veragua, Panamá, and Darien. The inhabitants of Panamá and Cueba are given to lechery, theft, and lying; with some these qualities are fashionable; others hold them to be crimes. The Mandingos and natives of San Blas are an independent and industrious people, possessing considerable intelligence, and are of a docile and hospitable disposition. The inhabitants of Darien are kind, open-hearted, and peaceable, yet have always been resolute in opposing all interference from foreigners; they are fond of amusements and inclined to indolence; the latter trait is not, however, applicable to all, a noticeable exception being the Cunas and Chocos of the Atrato Valley, who are of a gentle nature, kind, hospitable, and open-hearted when once their confidence is gained; they are likewise industrious and patient, and M. Lucien de Puydt says of the former: “Theft is altogether unknown amongst the Cunas.” Colonel Alcedo, speaking of their neighbors, the Idibaes, calls them treacherous, inconstant, and false. In the interior and mountain districts the inhabitants are more fierce than those from the coast; the former are shy and retiring, yet given to hospitality. On the gulf of Urabá the people are warlike, vainglorious, and revengeful.[1040]The Terrabas ‘naciones … las mas braves é indómitas de todas … Indios dotados de natural docilidad y dulzura de genio.’ Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 19. Speaking of the natives of Panamá; ‘muy deuotos del trabajo, y enemigos de la ociosidad.’ Dávila, Teatro Ecles., tom. ii., p. 56. Darien: ‘Son inclinados a juegos y hurtos, son muy haraganes.’ Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 88. San Blas tribes: ‘They are very peaceable in their natures’…. Chucunas and Navigandis: ‘The most warlike’ … Coast tribes, ‘from contact with foreigners, are very docile and tractable’…. The Sassardis: ‘As a whole, this tribe are cowardly, but treacherous.’ Selfridge’s Darien Surveys, pp. 10-11, 36. Compare further, Froebel’s Cent. Amer., p. 24; Squier, in Nouvelles Annales Voy., 1856, tom. cli., p. 6; Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., pref., p. xii.; Wagner and Scherzer, Costa Rica, p. 557; Gage’s New Survey, p. 426; Michler’s Darien, p. 26; Alcedo, Dicc., tom. ii., p. 413; Puydt, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxviii., p. 96; Macgregor’s Progress of Amer., p. 830; Otis’ Panamá, p. 77; Cullen’s Darien, pp. 65-6, 68-9.

Thus from the icy regions of the north to the hot and humid shores of Darien I have followed these Wild Tribes of the Pacific States, with no other object in view than faithfully to picture them according to the information I have been able to glean. And thus I leave them, yet not without regret: for notwithstanding all that has been said I cannot but feel how little we know of them. Of their mighty unrecorded past, their interminable intermixtures, their ages of wars and convulsions, their inner life, their aspirations, hopes, and fears, how little do we know of all this! And now as the eye rests upon the fair domain from which they have been so ignobly hurried, questions like these arise: How long have these backings and battlings been going on? What purpose did these peoples serve? Whence did they come and whither have they gone?—questions unanswerable until Omniscience be fathomed and the beginning and end made one.

Tribal Boundaries

The Wild Tribes of Central America, the last groupal division of this work, extend from the western boundary of Guatemala, south and eastward, to the Rio Atrato. I have divided the group into three subdivisions, namely: the Guatemalans, the Mosquitos, and the Isthmians.

The Guatemalans, for the purposes of this delineation, embrace those nations occupying the present states of Guatemala, Salvador, and portions of Nicaragua.

The Lacandones are a wild nation inhabiting the Chammá mountains on the boundary of Guatemala and Chiapas. ‘Mountains of Chammá, inhabited by the wild Indians of Lacandón … a distinction ought to be drawn between the Western and Eastern Lacandónes. All the country lying on the W., between the bishopric of Ciudad Real and the province of Vera Paz, was once occupied by the Western Lacandónes…. The country of the Eastern Lacandónes may be considered as extending from the mountains of Chammá, a day and a half from Cobán, along the borders of the river de la Pasion to Petén, or even further.’ Escobar, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., pp. 93-4. Upon the margin of the Rio de la Passion. Juarros’ Hist. Guat., p. 271. ‘Un tribu de Mayas sauvages appelés Lacandons, qui habitent un district immense dans le centre du continent, embrasse toute la partie occidentale du Peten; erre sur les bords supérieurs de l’Usumasinta et le pays qui se trouve au sud de l’endroit d’où j’écris.’ Galindo, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 67. ‘The vast region lying between Chiapa, Tabasco, Yucatan, and the republic of Guatemala … is still occupied by a considerable body of Indians, the Lacandones and others.’ Squier, in Hist. Mag., vol. iv., p. 65, ‘The vast region embracing not less than from 8000 to 10,000 square miles, surrounding the upper waters of the river Usumasinta, in which exist the indomitable Lacandones.’ Id., p. 67. ‘Mais la contrée qui s’étendait au nord de Cahabon, siége provisoire des Dominicains, et qui comprenait le pays de Dolores et celui des Itzas, était encore à peu près inconnue. Là vivaient les Choles, les belliqueux et féroces Mopans, les Lacandons et quelques tribus plus obscures, dont l’histoire a négligé les noms.’ Morelet, Voyage, tom. ii., p. 78, tom. i., p. 318. ‘They are reduced to-day to a very insignificant number, living on and near Passion river and its tributaries.’ Berendt, in Smithsonian Rept., 1867, p. 425. ‘In the north of Vera Paz, to the west of Peten, and all along the Usumacinta, dwell numerous and warlike tribes, called generally Lacandones.’ Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., pref., p. xvi.; Fossey, Mexique, p. 471; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, p. 197.

The Mames of Guatemala

The Mames ‘occupied the existing district of Güegüetenango, a part of Quezaltenango, and the province of Soconusco, and in all these places the Mam or Pocoman language is vernacular. It is a circumstance not a little remarkable, that this idiom is also peculiar to places very distant from the country of the Mams: viz. in Amatitan, Mixco, and Petapa, in the province of Sacatepeques; Chalchuapa, in St. Salvador; Mita, Jalapa, and Xilotepeque, in Chiquimula.’ Juarros’ Hist. Guat., p. 169. ‘El Mame ó Pocoman le usan los mames ó pocomanes, que parecen no ser mas que dos tribus de una misma nacion, la cual formaba un estado poderoso en Guatemala. Se extendió por el distritó de Huehuetenango, en la provincia de este nombre, y por parte de la de Quetzaltenango, así como por el distrito de Soconusco en Chiapas. En todos estos lugares se hablaba mame ó pocoman, lo mismo que en Amatitlan, Mixco y Petapa, de la provincia de Zacatepec ó Guatemala; en Chalchuapa, perteneciente á la de San Salvador; y en Mita, Jalapa y Jiloltepec, de la de Chiquimula.’ Balbi, in Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 81. ‘Leur capitale était Gueguetenango, au nord-est de la ville actuelle de Guatemala, et les villes de Masacatan, Cuilco, Chiantla et Istaguacan étaient enclavées dans leur territoire.’ Squier, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1857, tom. cliii., p. 177. ‘A l’ouest, jusqu’aux frontières de Chiapas, s’étendaient les Mams, proprement dits Mam-Yoc, dans leurs histoires, partagés en plusieurs familles également puissantes qui gouvernaient souverainement cette contrée, alors désignée sous le nom commun d’Otzoya (de otzoy, sortes d’écrevisses d’or): c’étaient d’un côté les Chun-Zak-Yoc, qui avaient pour capitale Qulaha, que son opulence et son étendue avaient fait surnommer Nima-Amag ou la Grande-Ville, dite depuis Xelahun-Quieh, ou Xelahuh, et Quezaltenango; les Tzitzol, dont la capitale était peut-être Chinabahul ou Huehuetenango, les Ganchebi (see note below under Ganchebis) et les Bamaq. Ceux-ci, dont nous avons connu les descendants, étaient seigneurs d’Iztlahuacan (San-Miguel-Iztlahuacan), dont le plateau est encore aujourd’hui parsemé de ruines au milieu desquelles s’élève l’humble bourgade de ce nom: au dessus domine, à une hauteur formidable, Xubiltenam (ville du Souffle)…. Ganchebi, écrit alternativement Canchebiz, Canchevez et Ganchebirse. Rien n’indique d’une manière précise où régnait cette famille: mais il se pourrait que ce fût à Zipacapan ou à Chivun, dont les ruines existent à trois lieues au sud de cette dernière localité; là était l’ancien Oztoncalco.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, introd., pp. 264-5. ‘Habitaban el Soconusco, desde tiempos remotos, y era un pueblo autócton; los olmecas que llegaron de la parto de México, les redujeron á la servidumbre, y una fraccion de los vencidos emigró hasta Guatemala.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 168. The Mamey, Achi, Cuaahtemalteca, Hutateca, and Chirichota ‘en la de los Suchitepeques y Cuaahtemala.’ Palacio, in Pacheco, Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. vi., p. 7. Mame ‘Parlé dans les localités voisines de Huehuetenango.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, MS. Troano, tom. ii., p. viii. ‘On retrouve encore aujourd’hui leurs restes parmi les Indiens de la province de Totonicapan, aux frontières de Chiapas et des Lacandons, an nord-ouest de l’état de Guatémala. La place forte de Zakuléu (c’est-à-dire, Terre blanche, mal à propos orthographié Socoléo), dont on admire les vastes débris auprès de la ville de Huéhuétenango, resta, jusqu’au temps de la conquête espagnole, la capitale des Mems. Cette race avait été antérieurement la maîtresse de la plus grande partie de l’état de Guatémala.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 119-20.

The Pokomams, or Pokonchis, lived in the district of Vera Paz in Guatemala, ‘sous le nom d’Uxab et de Pokomam, une partie des treize tribus de Tecpan, dont la capitale était la grande cité de Nimpokom, était maîtresse de la Verapaz et des provinces situées au sud du Motagua jusqu’à Palin’ (2 leagues N. W. of Rabinal). Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, introd., p. 264. Ils ‘paraissent avoir occupé une grande partie des provinces guatémaliennes.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 84, 506. ‘Toute la rive droite du Chixoy (Lacandon ou haut Uzumacinta), depuis Coban (écrit quelquefois Coboan) jusqu’au fleuve Motagua, les montagnes et les vallées de Gagcoh (San-Cristoval), de Taltic, de Rabinal et d’Urran, une partie des départements actuels de Zacatépec, de Guatémala et de Chiquimulà, jusqu’au pied des volcans de Hunahpu (volcans d’Eau et de Feu), devinrent leur proie.’ Id., pp. 121-2. ‘Le pocomchi, le pokoman, le cakchi, semés d’Amatitan à Coban.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, MS. Troano, tom. ii., introd., p. viii. In ‘La Verapaz, la poponchi, caechi y colchi.’ Palacio, in Pacheco, Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. vi., p. 7. ‘La lengua pocomana se habla en Amatitán, Petapa, San Chrisobal, Pinula, y Hermita ó Llano de la Culebra de Guatemala.’ Hervás, Catálogo, tom. i., p. 305. ‘A la nacion Poconchi pertenecen los lugares ó misiones … llamadas Santa Cruz, San Christobal, Taktik, Tucurú, y Tomasiú.’ Ib.

The Quichés inhabit the centre of the state of Guatemala. ‘Quiché then comprehended the present districts of Quiché, Totonicapan, part of Quezaltenango, and the village of Rabinal; in all these places the Quiché language is spoken. For this reason, it may be inferred with much probability, that the greater part of the province of Sapotitlan, or Suchiltepeques, was a colony of the Quichées, as the same idiom is made use of nearly throughout the whole of it.’ Juarros’ Hist. Guat., p. 168. ‘Les Quichés, or Utletecas, habitaient la frontière du sud, les chefs de Sacapulus et Uspatan à l’est, et les Lacandones indépendants au nord. Ils occupaient probablement la plus grande partie du district actuel de Totonicapan et une portion de celui de Quesaltenango.’ Squier, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1857, tom. cliii., p. 177. ‘Leurs postes principaux furent établis sur les deux côtés du Chixoy, depuis Zacapulas jusqu’à Zactzuy.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 131-2; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., pp. 286, 288, 291.

The Cakchiquels are south of the Quichés. ‘The territory of the Kachiqueles was composed of that which now forms the provinces of Chimaltenango and Sacatepeques, and the district of Sololá; and as the Kachiquel language is also spoken in the villages of Patulul, Cotzumalguapan, and others along the same coast, it is a plausible supposition that they were colonies settled by the Kachiquels, for the purpose of cultivating the desirable productions of a warmer climate than their own.’ Juarros’ Hist. Guat., p. 169. ‘La capitale fut, en dernier lieu, Iximché ou Tecpan-Guatemala, lors de la déclaration de l’indépendence de cette nation.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, introd., p. 270. ‘Der westliche Theil der Provinz [Atitan] mit 16 Dörfern in 4 Kirchspielen, von Nachkommen der Kachiquelen und Zutugilen bewohnt.’ Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 338. ‘Los paises de la nacion Cakchiquila son Chimaltenango, Zumpango, Tejar, Santo Domingo, San Pedro las Huertas, San Gaspar, San Luis de las Carretas, y otros diez lugares, todos pertenecientes á las misiones de los PP. dominicos; y á las de los PP. observantes de san Francisco pertenecen Isapa, Pason, Tepan-guatemalan Comalapa, San Antonio, San Juan del Obispo, y otros quince lugares á lo menos de la misma nacion Cakchiquila, cuyas poblaciones estan al rededor de Guatemala.’ Hervás, Catálogo, tom. i., p. 305.

The Zutugils dwelt near the lake of Atitlan. ‘The dominion of the Zutugiles extended over the modern district of Atitan, and the village of San Antonio, Suchiltepeques.’ Juarros’ Hist. Guat., p. 169. ‘La capital de los cachiqueles era Patinamit ó Tecpanguatemala, ciudad grande y fuerte; y la de los zutuhiles, Atitan, cerca de la laguna de este nombre y que se tenia por inexpugnable.’ Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., pp. 121-2.

The Chortis live on the banks of the Motagua River. The Chiquimula ‘Indians belong to the Chorti nation.’ Gavarrete, in Panamá Star and Herald, Dec. 19, 1867; Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 48.

Guatemalans

Brasseur de Bourbourg describes quite a number of very ancient nations, of some of which he endeavors to fix the localities, and which I insert here. Dan or Tamub founded a monarchy on the Guatemalan plateau. Their ‘capitale, Amag-Dan, existait, suivant toute apparence, entre les monts Tohil et Mamah, à trois lieues à peine au nord d’Utlatlan.’ Popol Vuh, introd., pp. 148, 262. ‘Ilocab étendait sa domination à l’ouest et au sud de Tamub, et la cité d’Uquincat, siége principale de cette maison, occupait un plateau étroit, situé entre les mêmes ravins qui ceignent un peu plus bas les ruines d’Utlatlan.’ ‘La ville d’Uquincat (forme antique). Avec le filet (à mettre le maïs), était sur un plateau au nord-ouest de ceux d’Utlatlan, dont elle n’était séparée que par ses ravins; on en voit encore les ruines connues aujourd’hui sous le nom de P’-Ilocab, en Ilocab.’ Id., p. 263. Agaab, ‘dont les possessions s’étendaient sur les deux rives du Chixoy ou Lacandon.’ ‘C’était une nation, puissante dont les principales villes existaient à peu de distance de la rive gauche du fleuve Chixoy ou Lacandon (Rio Grande de Sacapulas). L’une d’elles était Carinal, dont j’ai visité le premier, en 1856, les belles ruines, situées sur les bords du Pacalag, rivière qui se jette dans le Lacandon, presque vis-à-vis l’embouchure de celle de Rabinal, dans la Vérapaz.’ Ib. Cabinal, ‘la capitale était à Zameneb, dans les montagnes de Xoyabah ou Xolabah, [Entre les rochers].’ Id., p. 270. Ah-Actulul, ‘sept tribus de la nation Ah-Actulul, qui s’étaient établies sur des territoires dépendants de la souveraineté d’Atitlan.’ ‘Ces sept tribus sont: Ah-Tzuque, Ah-Oanem, Manacot, Manazaquepet, Vancoh, Yabacoh et Ah-Tzakol-Quet ou Queh.—Ac-Tulul peut-être pour Ah-Tulul.’ Id., p. 274. ‘Ah-Txiquinaha, ceux ou les habitants de Tziquinaha (Nid d’oiseau), dont la capitale fut Atitlan, sur le lac du même nom.’ Id., p. 296. Acutee, ‘nom aussi d’une ancienne tribu dont on retrouve le souvenir dans Chuvi-Acutec, au-dessus d’Acutec, sur le territoire de Chalcitan, près de Malacatan et de Huehuetenango.’ Id., pp. 342-3. Cohah, ‘nom d’une tribu antique dans l’orient des Quichés.’ Id., p. 353.

The Chontales dwell in the mountain districts N.E. of Lake Nicaragua, besides having miscellaneous villages in Guerrero, Oajaca, Tabasco, Guatemala, and Honduras. ‘En el Departamento de Tlacolula … y se encuentran chontales en Guerrero, en Tabasco y en Guatemala.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 186-7. In San Salvador, Choluteca, Honduras, Nicaragua. Palacio, in Pacheco, Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. vi., pp. 7, 26, 35. ‘Quiéchápa 20 Leguas südöstlich von Oajáca und 10 Leguas südwestlich von Nejápa…. An den Gränzen des Landes der Chontáles.’ … ‘Tlapalcatepéc. Hauptort im Lande der Chontáles.’ Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. i., pp. 172-3, 175, 192. ‘Les Chontáles s’étaient vus en possession de toute la contrée qui s’étend entre la mer et la chaîne de Quyecolani … étaient en possession non seulement de Nexapa, mais encore de la portion la plus importante de la montagne de Quiyecolani.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 3, 47. ‘Au nord-ouest du grand lac, les Chondals occupaient le district montagneux appelé encore aujourd’hui Chontales, d’après eux.’ Holinski, La Californie, p. 290. ‘Inhabitants of the mountainous regions to the north-east of the lake of Nicaragua.’ Froebel’s Cent. Amer., p. 52. ‘Au nord des lacs, les Chontales barbares habitaient la cordillère.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 110. ‘The Chontals covered Chontales, northward of Lake Nicaragua, and lying between the tribes already given, and those on the Caribbean Sea.’ Stout’s Nicaragua, p. 114. ‘Bewohner der Gebirgsgegenden nordöstlich vom See von Nicaragua.’ Froebel, Aus Amer., tom. i., p. 285. ‘In Nicaragua die Chontales im Hochlande im N. des Managua-Sees.’ Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 246. ‘Deste lugar [Yztepeque] comiençan los Chontales.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. x. ‘The Chondals or Chontals, the third great division mentioned by Oviedo, occupied the wide, mountainous region, still bearing the name of Chontales, situated to the northward of Lake Nicaragua, and midway between the nations already named and the savage hordes bordering the Caribbean Sea.’ Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 311. ‘On the northern shores of the Lake of Nicaragua.’ Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 48. ‘The Lencas … under the various names of Chontals, and perhaps Xicaques and Payas, occupying what is now the Department of San Miguel in San Salvador, of Comayagua, Choluteca, Tegucigalpa, and parts of Olancho and Yoro in Honduras, including the islands of Roatan, Guanaja, and their dependencies.’ Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 252.

The Pipiles ‘n’y occupaient guère quelques cantons sur les côtes de l’océan Pacifique, dans la province d’Itzcuintlan et ne s’internaient que vers les frontières de l’état de San-Salvador, le long des rives du rio Paxa.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 120. ‘Welche den ganzen westlichen Theil des heutigen Staates von S. Salvador südlich vom Rio Lampa, das sogen. Reich Cozcotlan bewohnten.’ Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., pp. 322, 326. ‘Are settled along the coasts of the Pacific, from the province of Escuintla to that of St. Salvador…. In a short time these Pipiles multiplied immensely, and spread over the provinces of Zonzonate, St. Salvador, and St. Miguel.’ Juarros’ Hist. Guat., pp. 202, 224. Among ‘los Izalcos y costa de Guazacapan … San Salvador … Honduras … Nicaragua.’ Palacio, in Pacheco, Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. vi., p. 7.

Nonohualcas. ‘Á la falda de un alto volcan (San Vicente) están cuatro lugares de indios, que llaman los Nunualcos.’ Id., p. 25.

Tlascaltecs. ‘In mehreren Puncten San Salvadors, wie z. B. in Isalco, Mexicanos, Nahuisalco leben noch jetzt Indianer vom Stamme der Tlaskalteken.’ Scherzer, Wanderungen, p. 456.

Nations of Nicaragua

The Cholutecs ‘occupied the districts north of the Nagrandans, extending along the Gulf of Fonseca into what is now Honduras territory.’ Stout’s Nicaragua, p. 114. ‘The Cholutecans, speaking the Cholutecan dialect, situated to the northward of the Nagrandans, and extending along the Gulf of Fonseca, into what is now the territory of Honduras. A town and river in the territory here indicated, still bear the name of Choluteca, which however is a Mexican name.’ Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 310. These Soconusco exiles settled ‘dans les terres qui s’étendent au nord et à l’ouest du golfe de Conchagua, aux frontières de Honduras et de Nicaragua.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 79. ‘Beyond them (Nagrandans) on the gulf of Fonseca, a nation called the Cholutecans had their seats.’ Froebel’s Cent. Amer., p. 53.

Maribios, a tribe formerly inhabiting the mountain region about Leon. ‘Ihre Wohnsitze bildeten die Provinz Maribichoa.’ Froebel, Aus Amer., tom. i., p. 333.

‘Ay en Nicaragua cinco leguajes … Coribici … Chorotega … Chondal … Orotiña … Mexicano.’ Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 264. ‘Hablauan en Nicaragua, cinco lenguas diferentes, Coribizi, que lo hablan mucho en Chuloteca … Los de Chontal, … la quarta es Orotina, Mexicana es la quinta.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii. ‘In Nicaragua there were fiue linages, and different languages: the Coribici, Ciocotoga, Ciondale, Oretigua, and the Mexican.’ Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. v., p. 887; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 35; Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. 132.

The Chorotegans ‘occupied the entire country north of the Niquirans, extending along the Pacific Ocean, between it and Lake Managua, to the borders, and probably for a distance along the shores of the gulf of Fonseca. They also occupied the country south of the Niquirans, and around the gulf of Nicoya, then called Orotina.’ Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 310. ‘Welche die Gegenden zwischen der Südsee und dem Managua-See von der Fonseca-Bai südwärts bis zu den aztekisch sprechenden Indianern bewohnen und auch südlich von den Niquirians bis zur Bai von Nicoya sich ausbreiten.’ Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 246. ‘North of the Mexican inhabitants of Nicaragua (the Niquirans), between the Pacific Ocean, Lake Managua, and the Gulf of Fonseca.’ Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 48. Before the conquest they occupied ‘les régions aujourd’hui à peu près désertes qui s’étendent entre le territoire de Tehuantepec et celui de Soconusco, sur les bords de l’Océan Pacifique.’ … To escape the Olmec tyranny they emigrated to ‘golfe de Nicoya; de là, ils retournèrent ensuite, en passant les monts, jusqu’au lac de Nicaragua et se fixèrent sur ses bords.’ Driven off by the Nahuas ‘les uns, se dirigeant au nord-ouest, vont fonder Nagarando, au bord du lac de Managua, tandis que les autres contournaient les rivages du golfe de Nicoya, que l’on trouve encore aujourd’hui habités par leurs descendants.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, introd., pp. cc., ccii. ‘Als die Spanier nach Nicaragua kamen, war diess Volk an der Küste verbreitet … wohnten längs der Küste des Austroloceans.’ Hassel, Mex. Guat., pp. 397-8.

The Dirians ‘occupied the territory lying between the upper extremity of Lake Nicaragua, the river Tipitapa, and the southern half of Lake Managua and the Pacific, whose principal towns were situated where now stand the cities of Granada, (then called Salteba,) Masaya, and Managua, and the villages of Tipitapa, Diriomo and Diriamba.’ Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 310. ‘Groupés dans les localités encore connues de Liria, de Diriomé, de Diriamba, de Monbacho et de Lenderi, sur les hauteurs qui forment la base du volcan de Mazaya.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 111. ‘Occupied Masaya, Managua, Tipitapa, Diriomo, and Diriamba.’ Stout’s Nicaragua, p. 114; Froebel, Aus Amer., tom. i., p. 287.

The Nagrandans. ‘Entre les Dirias et la Choluteca était située la province des Mangnés ou Nagarandas (Torquemada dit que Nagarando est un mot de leur langue. Oviedo les appelle Nagrandas), dont les fertiles campagnes s’étendaient, au nord et à l’ouest du lac de Managua, jusqu’à la mer; on y admirait les cités florissantes de Chinandéga, de Chichigalpa, de Pozoltega, de Telica, de Subtiaba, de Nagarando, appelée aussi Xolotlan, de Matiares et une foule d’autres, réduites maintenant, pour la plupart, à de misérables bourgades.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 111-12. ‘The Nagrandans occupied the plain of Leon between the northern extreme of Lake Managua and the Pacific.’ Stout’s Nicaragua, p. 114. ‘An welche sich weiter nordwestwärts (the last mention was Dirians) die Bewohner der Gegend von Leon, welche Squier Nagrander nennt … anschlossen.’ Froebel, Aus Amer., tom. i., p. 287. ‘Chorotega tribe of the plains of Leon, Nicaragua.’ Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 130; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 310.

The Niquirans ‘settled in the district of Nicaragua, between the Lake of Nicaragua and the Pacific Ocean.’ Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 134. ‘Au centre du pays, sur le lac Nicaragua, appelé Cocibolca par les indigènes, vivaient les Niquirans.’ Holinski, La Californie, p. 290. Ometepec. ‘This island was occupied by the Niquirans.’ Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 313; Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., p. 74.

The Orotiñans occupied ‘the country around the Gulf of Nicoya, and to the southward of Lake Nicaragua.’ Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 310. ‘Am Golfe von Orotina oder Nicoya…. Unter den geographischen Namen im Lande der Orotiner stösst man auf den Vulkan Orosi, im jetzigen Costa Rica, während einer der Vulkane in der Kette der Maribios, bei Leon, also im Lande der Nagrander, Orota heisst.’ Froebel, Aus Amer., tom. i., p. 287. ‘Les Orotinas, voisins du golfe de Nicoya, dont les villes principales étaient Nicoya, Orotina, Cantren et Choroté.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 110. ‘Settled the country south of Lake Nicaragua around the Gulf of Nicoya.’ Stout’s Nicaragua, p. 114.

Mosquito Nations

The Mosquitos, as a subdivision of this group, inhabit the whole of Honduras, the eastern portion of Nicaragua, and all that part of the coast on the Caribbean Sea known as the Mosquito Coast.

The Xicaques ‘exist in the district lying between the Rio Ulua and Rio Tinto…. It seems probable that the Xicaques were once much more widely diffused, extending over the plains of Olancho, and into the Department of Nueva Segovia, in Nicaragua.’ Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 244. ‘Se rencontrent principalement dans le département de Yoro … (some) à l’embouchure de la rivière Choloma, et le reste est dispersé dans les montagnes à l’ouest de la plaine de Sula. Dans le département de Yoro, ils sont répandus dans le pays depuis la rivière Sulaco jusqu’à la baie de Honduras.’ Id., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1858, tom. clx., pp. 133-4. Yoro department; ‘Welche am oberen Lauf der Flüsse und in dem Berg- und Hügellande zwischen der Küste und dem Thale von Olancho wohnen.’ Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 317.

The Poyas. ‘In the triangle between the Tinto, the sea, and the Rio Wanks, or Segovia.’ Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 244. ‘Inhabit the Poyer mountains, beyond the Embarcadero on the Polyer River.’ Young’s Narrative, p. 80. ‘Den westlichen Theil des Distrikts Taguzgalpa, zwischen den Flüssen Aguan und Barbo.’ Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 389. ‘Inhabit the heads of the Black and Patook rivers.’ Bell, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., p. 258.

The Towkas, ‘bewohnen die südlichen Gegenden des Distrikts (Taguzgalpa) und das Gebirge.’ Hassel, Mex. Guat., pp. 390-1. ‘Their principal residence is at the head of Patook River.’ Young’s Narrative, p. 87. ‘They dwell along the Twaka river which is a branch of the Prinz Awala.’ Bell, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., p. 258.

The ‘Toonglas inhabit along the other branch of the same river.’ Ib.

The Smoos ‘inhabit the heads of all the rivers from Blewfields to Patook.’ Id., p. 256.

The Cookras ‘reside about one hundred and thirty miles from its mouth’ (the Rio Escondido). Strangeways’ Mosquito Shore, p. 30.

The Caribs ‘now occupy the coast from the neighborhood of the port of Truxillo to Carataska Lagoon…. Their original seat was San Vincent, one of what are called the Leeward Islands, whence they were deported in a body, by the English, in 1798, and landed upon the then unoccupied island of Roatan, in the Bay of Honduras.’ They afterwards removed to the main land ‘in the vicinity of Truxillo, whence they have spread rapidly to the eastward. All along the coast, generally near the mouths of the various rivers with which it is fringed, they have their establishments or towns.’ Bard’s Waikna, p. 316. ‘Now settled along the whole extent of coast from Cape Gracias à Dios to Belize.’ Froebel’s Cent. Amer., p. 185. ‘Dwell on the sea coast, their first town, Cape Town, being a few miles to the westward of Black River.’ Young’s Narrative, pp. 71, 122, 134. In Roatan: ‘Die Volksmenge besteht aus Caraiben und Sambos, deren etwa 4,000 auf der Insel seyn sollen.’ Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 386. ‘Unter den Caraibendörfern sind zu nennen: Stanu Creek … unfern im S. von Belize und von da bis zur Südgrenze Settee, Lower Stanu Creek, Silver Creek, Seven Hills und Punta Gorda.’ Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 300. See also: Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 154, 179; Morelet, Voyage, tom. ii., p. 289.

The Ramas extend from Greytown to Blewfields, a region ‘uninhabited except by the scanty remnant of a tribe called Ramas.’ ‘Inhabit a small island at the southern extremity of Blewfields Lagoon; they are only a miserable remnant of a numerous tribe that formerly lived on the St. John’s and other rivers in that neighbourhood. A great number of them still live at the head of the Rio Frio, which runs into the St. John’s River at San Carlos Fort.’ Bell, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., pp. 242, 259. ‘Rama Cay, in Blewfiels Lagoon. This small island is the refuge of a feeble remnant of the once powerful Rama tribe.’ Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, p. 278.

The Mosquitos inhabit ‘the whole coast from Pearl Key Lagoon to Black River, and along the banks of the Wawa and Wanx, or Wanks Rivers for a great distance inland.’ Bell, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., p. 250. ‘L’intérieur du pays est occupé par la nation sauvage et indomptable des Mosquitos-Sombos. Les côtes, surtout près le cap Gracias à Dios, sont habitées par une autre tribu d’Indiens que les navigateurs anglais ont appelés Mosquitos de la côte.’ Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 472. ‘An dem Ende dieser Provinz (Honduras), nahe bey dem Cap, Gratias-a-Dios, findet man die berühmte Nation der Mosquiten.’ Delaporte, Reisen, tom. x., p. 404. ‘Nearly the whole coast of Honduras; and their most numerous tribe exists near the Cape Gracios á Dios.’ Bonnycastle’s Span. Amer., vol. i., p. 172. ‘Ocupan el terreno de mas de sesenta leguas, que corren desde la jurisdiccion de Comaniagua, hasta la de Costa-Rica.’ Revista Mex., tom. i., p. 404. ‘Die Sambo, oder eigentlichen Mosquitoindianer welche den grössten Theil der Seeküste bis zum Black river hinauf und die an derselben gelegenen Savannen bewohnen.’ Mosquitoland, Bericht, p. 19. ‘Inhabiting on the Main, on the North side, near Cape Gratia Dios; between Cape Honduras and Nicaragua.’ Dampier’s Voyages, vol. i., p. 7. ‘Inhabit a considerable space of country on the continent of America, nearly extending from Point Castile, or Cape Honduras, the southern point of the Bay of Truxillo, to the northern branch of the river Nicaragua, called usually St. Juan’s; and comprehending within these limits nearly 100 leagues of land on the sea coast, from latitude 11 to 16 deg.’ Henderson’s Honduras, pp. 211-12. The Sambos ‘inhabit the country from Sandy Bay to Potook.’ Strangeways’ Mosquito Shore, p. 330. ‘The Sambos, or Mosquitians, inhabit the sea coast, and the savannas inland, as far west as Black River.’ Young’s Narrative, p. 71. ‘The increase and expansion of the Caribs has already driven most of the Sambos, who were established to the northward and westward of Cape Gracias á Dios, into the territory of Nicaragua, southward of the Cape.’ Squier’s Honduras [Lond., 1870,] p. 169; Id., Cent. Amer., p. 228.

Isthmian Nations

The Isthmians, the last sub-division of this group, embrace the people of Costa Rica, together with the nations dwelling on the Isthmus of Panamá, or Darien, as far as the gulf of Urabá, and along the river Atrato to the mouth of the Napipi, thence up the last-named river to the Pacific Ocean. ‘The Indian tribes within the territory of Costarrica, distinguished by the name of Parcialidades, are the Valientes, or most eastern people of the state; the Tiribees, who occupy the coast from Bocatoro to the Banana; the Talamancas and Blancos, who inhabit the interior, but frequent the coast between the Banana and Salt Creek; the Montaños and Cabecares, who are settled in the neighbourhood of the high lands bounding Veragua, and the Guatusos, inhabiting the mountains and forest between Esparsa and Bagases, and towards the north of these places.’ Galindo, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. vi., p. 134. From Boca del Toro towards the west coast dwell the Viceitas, Blancos, Valientes, Guatusos, Tiribis, and Talamancas. Wagner and Scherzer, Costa Rica, p. 554. Blancos, Valientes, and Talamancas ‘entlang der Ostküste zwischen dem Rio Zent und Boca del Toro, im Staate Costa Rica.’ Id., p. 573.

The Guatusos ‘vom Nicaragua-See an den Rio Frio aufwärts und zwischen diesem und dem San Carlos bis zum Hochlande.’ Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 357. ‘Inhabit a territory lying between the Merivales mountains on the west, the lake of Nicaragua and the San Juan river on the north, the Atlantic shore on the east, and the table land of San José upon the south.’ … The Rio Frio ‘head-waters are the favorite haunt or habitation of the Guatusos … occupy the north-east corner of Costa Rica.’ Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., pref., pp. xii., xix., p. 298. They inhabit ‘the basin of the Rio Frio.’ Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 405; Id., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1856, tom. cli., p. 5; Id., in Hist. Mag., vol. iv., p. 65; Vigne’s Travels, vol. i., p. 77.

The Guetares ‘viven ençima de las sierras del puerto de la Herradora é se extienden por la costa deste golpho al Poniente de la banda del Norte hasta el confin de los Chorotegas.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 108.

The Blancos ‘welche ungefähr 5 Tagereisen südöstlich von Angostura in den Bergen hausen.’ Wagner and Scherzer, Costa Rica, pp. 556, 554.

The Valientes and Ramas, ‘zwischen dem Punta Gorda und der Lagune von Chiriqui.’ Mosquitoland, Bericht, p. 9.

Inhabiting the Isthmus were numerous tribes speaking different languages, mentioned by early writers only by the name of the chief, which was usually identical with that of both town and province. In the province of Panamá there were ‘quatro señores de lenguas diferentes…. De alli se baxaua a la prouincia de Natá … treynta leguas de Panamá … otro llamado Escoria, ocho leguas de Natá…. Ocho leguas mas adelante, la buelta de Panamá, auia otro Cazique dicho Chirú, de lengua diferente: y otras siete leguas mas adelante, házia Panamá, estaua el de Chamé, que era el remate de la lengua de Coyba: y la prouincia de Paris se hallaua doze leguas de Natá, Les hueste.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. iii., cap. vi. Westward from the gulf of Urabá ‘hay una provincia que se dice Careta … yendo mas la costa abajo, fasta cuarenta leguas desta villa, entrando la tierra adentro fasta doce leguas, está un cacique que se dice Comogre y otro que se dice Poborosa.’ Balboa, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., p. 366. ‘En la primera provincia de los darieles hay las poblaciones siguientes: Seraque, Surugunti, Queno, Moreri, Agrazenuqua, Occabayanti y Uraba.’ Hervás, Catálogo, tom. i., p. 280. ‘Treinta y tantas leguas del Darien habia una provincia que se decia Careta, y otra cinco leguas de ella que se dice Acla…. La primera provincia desde Acla hácia el ueste es Comogre…. En esta tierra está una provincia que se llama Peruqueta, de una mar á otra, y la isla de las Perlas, y golfo de S. Miguel, y otra provincia, que llamamos las Behetrías por no haber en ella ningun señor, se llama Cueva: es toda una gente y de una lengua…. Desde esta provincia da Peruqueta hasta Adechame que son cerca de 40 leguas todavía al ueste, se llama la provincia de Coiba, y la lengua es la de Cueva … desde Burica hasta esta provincia, que se dice Tobreytrota, casi que cada señor es diferente de lengua uno de otro…. Desde aquí tornando á bajar cerca de la mar, venimos á la provincia de Nata … está 30 leguas de Panamá … tenia por contrario á un señor que se decia Escoria, que tenia sus poblaciones en un rio grande ocho leguas de Meta…. Esta es lengua por sí. Y ocho leguas de allí hácia Panamá está otro señor que se dice Chiru, lengua diferente. Siete leguas de Chiru, hácia Panamá, está la provincia de Chame: es el remate de la lengua de Coiba … Chiman … dos leguas de Comogre … desde esto Chiman … la provincia de Pocorosa, y de allí dos leguas la vuelta del ueste … la de Paruraca, donde comienza la de Coiba, y de allí la misma via cuatro leguas … la de Tubanamá, y de allí á ocho leguas todo á esta via … la de Chepo, y seis leguas de allí … la de Chepobar, y dos leguas delante … la de Pacora, y cuatro de allí … la de Panamá, y de allí otras cuatro … la de Periquete, y otras cuatro adelante … la de Tabore, y otras cuatro adelante … la de Chame, que es remate de la lengua y provincia de Coiba … de Chame á la provincia del Chiru hay ocho leguas … y este Chiru es otra lengua por sí.’ Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., pp. 397-8, 407-8, 410.

The Guaimies. ‘En la provincia de Veraguas, situada á 9 grados de latitud boreal, está la nacion de los Guaimies ó Huamies.’ Hervás, Catálogo, tom. i., pp. 280-1. ‘Los quales indios, segun decian, no eran naturales de aquella comarca: ántes era en antigua patria la tierra que está junto al rio grande de Darien.’ Cieza de Leon, in Id., p. 281.

‘The Indians who at present inhabit the Isthmus are scattered over Bocas del Toro, the northern portions of Veraguas, the north-eastern shores of Panamá, and almost the whole of Darien, and consist principally of four tribes, the Savanerics, the San Blas Indians, the Bayanos, and the Cholos. Each tribe speaks a different language.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. i., p. 317. ‘Les Goajiros, les Motilones, les Guainetas et les Cocinas, dans les provinces de Rio-Hacha, de Upar et de Santa-Marta; et les Dariens, les Cunas et les Chocoes, sur les rives et les affluents de l’Atrato et les côtes du Darien.’ Roquette, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1855, tom. cxlvii., pp. 24-5.

‘The Savanerics occupy the northern portion of Veraguas.’ Ib.

The Dorachos occupied western Veragua. Id., p. 312.

The Manzanillo, or San Blas Indians, ‘inhabit the north-eastern portion of the province of Panama.’ Id., p. 320. ‘The chief settlement is about San Blas, the rest of the coast being dotted over with small villages.’ Gisborne’s Darien, p. 156. ‘Their principal settlements are on the upper branches of the Chepo, Chiman, and Congo, on the Tuquesa, Ucurganti, Jubuganti, and Chueti, branches of the Chuquanaqua, and on the Pucro and Paya.’ Cullen’s Darien, p. 69. ‘The whole of the Isthmus of Darien, except a small portion of the valley of the Tuyra, comprising the towns of Chipogana, Pinogana, Yavisa, and Santa Maria, and a few scattering inhabitants on the Bayamo near its mouth, is uninhabited except by the San Blas or Darien Indians…. They inhabit the whole Atlantic coast from San Blas to the Tarena, mouth of the Atrato, and in the interior from the Sucubti to the upper parts of the Bayamo.’ Selfridge’s Darien Surveys, p. 10.

The Mandingos ‘occupy the coast as far as the Bay of Caledonia.’ Puydt, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxviii., p. 92; Reichardt, Cent. Amer., p. 161; Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 61.

The Bayanos, ‘about the River Chepo.’ Id., p. 18; Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. i., p. 321.

The Cholos, ‘extending from the Gulf of San Miguel to the bay of Choco, and thence with a few interruptions to the northern parts of the Republic of Ecuador.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. i., p. 321. ‘Inhabiting part of the Isthmus of Darien, east of the river Chuquanaqua, which is watered by the river Paya and its branches in and about lat. 8° 15´ N., and long. 77° 20´ W.’ Latham, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xx., p. 189.

‘The Cunas have established themselves on the shores of the Gulf of Urabá, near the outlets of the Atrato.’ Puydt, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxviii., p. 92.

The Cunacunas, ‘on the south-easterly side of the Isthmus.’ Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 59. ‘The remnants of the Chucunaquese who in 1861 dwelt on the banks of the river which bears their name … have gone up towards the north.’ Ib.

The Chocos, ‘on the Leon and the different tributaries of the Atrato.’ Michler’s Darien, p. 26.

The Caimanes, ‘between Punta Arenas and Turbo.’ Ib.

The Urabás, ‘en las selvas y bosques de la Provincia de Urabá.’ Alcedo, Dicc., tom. v., p. 258.

The Idibas ‘del Reyno de Tierra-Firme y Gobierno de Panamá, son confinantes con los Chocoes y los Tatabes.’ Id., tom. ii., p. 413.

The Payas ‘on the river of that name.’ Selfridge’s Darien Surveys, p. 86.

Footnotes

[960] The Lacandones are of one stock with the Manches, and very numerous. They were highly civilized only one hundred and fifty years ago. Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., preface, pp. 14-17. ‘The old Chontals were certainly in a condition more civilised.’ Id., pp. 286-95, 265-70. ‘Die Chontales werden auch Caraiben genannt.’ Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., pp. 243-8, 265, 283-90, 311, 321, 326, 330, 335. It seems there existed in Nicaragua: Chorotegans, comprising Dirians, Nagrandans, and Orotiñans; Cholutecans and Niquirans, Mexican colonies; and Chondals. Squier’s Nicaragua, vol. ii., pp. 309-12. Examine further: Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 454; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. i., pp. 285-92; Puydt, Rapport, in Amérique Centrale, p. 69; Benzoni, Hist. del Mondo Nuovo, fol. 104; Malte-Brun, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1858, tom. clviii., p. 200; Berendt, in Smithsonian Rept., 1867, p. 425; Crowe’s Cent. Amer., p. 40; Hassel, Mex. Guat., pp. 357-8, 370; Dollfus and Mont-Serrat, Voy. Géologique, pp. 18-19; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 202, 208, 272, tom. ii., pp. 49, 125, 313; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 79, 110-11; Valois, Mexique, pp. 288, 299-300; Escobar, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., pp. 89-97.

[961] Crowe’s Cent. Amer., pp. 40-1; Squier’s Nicaragua, pp. 268, 278-9; Froebel’s Cent. Amer., pp. 33-4; Dunn’s Guatemala, pp. 277-8; Reichardt, Nicaragua, pp. 106-7; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 272; Lafond, Voyages, tom. i., p. 338; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 260, tom. ii., pp. 126, 197; Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., p. 414; Belly, Nicaragua, tom. i., pp. 200-1;Scherzer, Wanderungen, pp. 52-3; Foote’s Cent. Amer., p. 104. Round Leon ‘hay más indios tuertos … y es la causa el contínuo polvo.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 64. In Guatemala, ‘los hombres muy gruessos.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. v., caps. xi., xii., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. xiv. ‘Ceux de la tierra fria sont petits, trapus, bien membrés, susceptibles de grandes fatigues … ceux de la tierra caliente sont grands, maigres, paresseux.’ Dollfus and Mont-Serrat, Voy. Géologique, pp. 47, 21. ‘Kurze Schenkel, langen Oberleib, kurze Stirne und langes struppiges Haar.’ Bülow, Nicaragua, p. 78. ‘The disproportionate size of the head, the coarse harsh hair, and the dwarfish stature,’ of the Masayas. Boyle’s Ride, vol. ii., pp. 8-9.

[962] Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., pp. 407, 414. In Salvador, the women’s ‘only garment being a long straight piece of cotton cloth without a seam.’ Foote’s Cent. Amer., pp. 103-4. The Nicaraguans ‘se rasent la barbe, les cheueux, et tout le poil du corps, et ne laissent que quelques cheueux sur le sommet de la teste…. Ils portent des gabans, et des chemises sans manches.’ D’Avity, L’Amérique, tom. ii., p. 93. ‘The custom of tattooing, it seems, was practiced to a certain extent, at least so far as to designate, by peculiarities in the marks, the several tribes or caziques … they flattened their heads.’ Squier’s Nicaragua, vol. ii., pp. 341, 345; Id., Nicaragua, pp. 273-4; Valenzuela, in Id., Cent. Amer., p. 566; Tempsky’s Mitla, pp. 363-5, 368; Dollfus and Mont-Serrat, Voy. Géologique, pp. 19-20, 46-9, 56-60; Juarros’ Hist. Guat., pp. 193-5; Hassel, Mex. Guat., pp. 302-5; Valois, Mexique, pp. 278-9; Gage’s New Survey, pp. 316-8; Montgomery’s Guatemala, pp. 98-9; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; Morelet, Voyage, tom. ii., pp. 102, 126, 145, 171, 227, 245, 253; Galindo, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1834, tom. lxiii., p. 149; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 166; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 263.

[963] The Lacandones have ‘floating gardens which can navigate the lagoons like bolsas,’ and are often inhabited. They have stone sepulchres highly sculptured. Pontelli, in Cal. Farmer, Nov. 7, 1862. ‘In these ancient Chontales villages the houses were in the centre, and the tombs, placed in a circle around…. The Indians who before the Spanish conquest inhabited Nicaragua did not construct any large temples or other stone buildings.’ Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, pp. 126-7. They live like their forefathers ‘in buildings precisely similar … some huts of a single room will monopolise an acre of land.’ Boyle’s Ride, vol. ii., pp. 6-8; Gage’s New Survey, pp. 318-19; Scherzer, Wanderungen, pp. 75, 430, 496; Puydt, Rapport, in Amérique Centrale, pp. 69-70; Valois, Mexique, p. 278; Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, fol. 86, 102; Froebel’s Cent. Amer., pp. 89, 96; Dollfus and Mont-Serrat, Voy. Géologique, pp. 19, 55; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; Berendt, in Smithsonian Rept., 1867, p. 425; West und Ost Indischer Lustgart, pt. ii., pp. 380, 390; Valenzuela, in Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 566.

[964] They ‘vivent le plus souvent de fruits et de racines.’ Dollfus and Mont-Serrat, Voy. Géologique, pp. 47, 20-2, 69. ‘Tout en faisant maigre chère, ils mangent et boivent continuellement, comme les animaux.’ Morelet, Voyage, tom. ii., pp. 104, 92, 102, 132, 134, 145, 240, tom. i., pp. 205-6. Nicaraguans ‘essen auch Menschenfleisch … alle Tag machet nur ein Nachbar ein Fewer an, dabei sie alle kochen, vnd dann ein anderer.’ West und Ost Indischer Lustgart, pt. i., p. 390. ‘Perritos pequeños que tambien los comian, y muchos venados y pesquerías.’ Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., pp. 413-14, 407. Hunting alligators: a man dives under, and fastens a noose round the leg of the sleeping monster; his companions then haul it on shore and kill it. Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 139, 130. Compare further: Findlay’s Directory, vol. i., p. 253; Gage’s New Survey, pp. 319-23; Scherzer, Wanderungen, pp. 412-13, 494; Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, fol. 103-4; Juarros’ Hist. Guat., pp. 196-7; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. vii.-ix., lib. x., cap. xiv.; Escobar, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 91; Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 320; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 42-3.

[965] Dunlop’s Cent. Amer., p. 337; Scherzer, Wanderungen, p. 173.

[966] The Lacandones ’emploient des flèches de canne ayant des têtes de cailloux.’ Galindo, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 67. See also, Bülow, Nicaragua, pp. 79-80; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 305; Juarros’ Hist. Guat., pp. 195, 278; Scherzer, Wanderungen, pp. 413, 430; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. i., p. 358.

[967] Morelet, Voyage, tom. ii., p. 31; Pontelli, in Cal. Farmer, Nov. 7, 14, 1862.

[968] Valois, Mexique, pp. 278, 287; Sivers, Mittelamerika, p. 130; Scherzer, Wanderungen, p. 430; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 279; Squier’s Nicaragua, pp. 272-3; Valenzuela, in Id., Cent. Amer., p. 567. The Lacandon hut contained ‘des métiers à tisser, des sarbacanes, des haches et d’autres outils en silex.’ Morelet, Voyage, tom. ii., pp. 79, 104, 197, 211. ‘Duermen en vna red, que se les entra por las costillas, o en vn cañizo, y por cabecera vn madero: ya se alumbran con teas.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. xiv., dec. ii., lib. iii., cap. vi. At Masaya, ‘Leur mobilier se compose de nattes par terre, de hamacs suspendus, d’un lit de cuir et d’une caisse en cèdre, quelquefois ornée d’incrustations de cuivre.’ Belly, Nicaragua, tom. i., pp. 197-8.

[969] ‘Le principe colorant est fixé an moyen d’une substance grasse que l’on obtient par l’ébullition d’un insecte nommé age.’ Morelet, Voyage, tom. ii., pp. 130, 197. Consult further, Squier’s Nicaragua, pp. 269-73; Baily’s Cent. Amer., pp. 124-5; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. vii., ix., lib. x., cap. xiv.; Crowe’s Cent. Amer., pp. 44; Squier, in Hist. Mag., vol. v., p. 215; Dollfus and Mont-Serrat, Voy. Géologique, p. 47; Dunlop’s Cent. Amer., p. 338; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 274.

[970] Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, pp. 241-2; Lafond, Voyages, tom. i., p. 317; Morelet, Voyage, tom. ii., p. 31; Dollfus and Mont-Serrat, Voy. Géologique, pp. 47-8. In their trade, the Lacandones ‘are said to have employed not less than 424 canoes.’ Juarros’ Hist. Guat., p. 271.

[971] The Quichés ‘portent jusqu’au Nicaragua des hamacs en fil d’agave.’ Morelet, Voyage, tom. ii., pp. 145, 92, 130-1, 198, tom. i., pp. 260, 318, 320; Dollfus and Mont-Serrat, Voy. Géologique, pp. 18, 60; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. v., cap. xii.; Juarros’ Hist. Guat., pp. 68, 271, 475; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., pp. 248, 345; Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 319; Hardcastle, in Hist. Mag., vol. vi., p. 153; Gage’s New Survey, p. 319.

[972] Among the Nahuatls ‘mechanical arts are little understood, and, of course, the fine arts still less practiced.’ Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 320; Id., Nicaragua, pp. 270-3. The Masayans have ‘une caisse en cèdre, quelquefois ornée d’incrustations de cuivre.’ Belly, Nicaragua, pp. 197-8. See also, Morelet, Voyage, tom. ii., p. 130; Puydt, Rapport, in Amérique Centrale, p. 134; Gage’s New Survey, p. 329; Valois, Mexique, pp. 287, 420-6; Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 127, 295; Funnell’s Voy., p. 113; Dunn’s Guatemala, p. 281; Pontelli, in Cal. Farmer, Nov. 7, 1862.

[973] Dollfus and Mont-Serrat, Voy. Géologique, pp. 20, 49-51; Puydt, Rapport, in Amérique Centrale, p. 134; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 398; Gage’s New Survey, pp. 318-9, 417; Pontelli, in Cal. Farmer, Nov. 7, 1862. ‘Chacun d’eux vint ensuite baiser la main du chef, hommage qu’il reçut avec une dignité imperturbable.’ Morelet, Voyage, tom. ii., pp. 245-6, 134.

[974] ‘Leur dernier-né suspendu à leurs flancs.’ Morelet, Voyage, tom. ii., pp. 198, 126, tom. i., pp. 204-5, 318. In Salvador, the ‘bridegroom makes his wife’s trousseau himself, the women, strange to say, being entirely ignorant of needlework.’ Foote’s Cent. Amer., p. 103. Further reference in Valois, Mexique, pp. 280, 288; Belly, Nicaragua, pp. 200-1, 253; Hassel, Mex. Guat., pp. 303-4; Revue Brit., 1825, in Amérique Centrale, p. 23; Bülow, Nicaragua, p. 80; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 272; Gage’s New Survey, p. 319; Juarros’ Hist. Guat., pp. 195-6; Tempsky’s Mitla, p. 365; Dollfus and Mont-Serrat, Voy. Géologique, pp. 20, 47; Scherzer, Wanderungen, p. 66; Id., Die Indianer von Istlávacan, p. 11.

[975] Gage’s New Survey, pp. 323, 347-50; Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., p. 415; Valois, Mexique, pp. 279-80, 420-6; Dollfus and Mont-Serrat, Voy. Géologique, p. 48; Froebel’s Cent. Amer., pp. 78-81; Dapper, Neue Welt, pp. 306, 312; Valenzuela, in Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 567; Juarros’ Hist. Guat., pp. 447-9; Coreal, Voyages, tom. i., pp. 88-9; Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 34; Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 320-2; Pontelli, in Cal. Farmer, Nov. 14, 1862. ‘Les Indiens ne fument pas.’ Belly, Nicaragua, p. 164. ‘Ihr gewöhnliches Getränke ist Wasser.’ Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 304. ‘Je n’ai entendu qu’à Flores, pendant le cours de mon voyage, des chœurs exécutés avec justesse.’ Morelet, Voyage, tom. ii., pp. 42-4, 325, tom. i., p. 196.

[976] The Lacandon chief received me with ‘the emblem of friendship (which is a leaf of the fan-palm).’ Pontelli, in Cal. Farmer, Nov. 14, 1862. See Tempsky’s Mitla, pp. 364-5; Valois, Mexique, pp. 407-8; Escobar, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 91; Thümmel, Mexiko, p. 394; Juarros’ Hist. Guat., p. 197; Foote’s Cent. Amer., p. 122; Dollfus and Mont-Serrat, Voy. Géologique, pp. 48-9; Scherzer, Die Indianer von Istlávacan, pp. 7-15; Reichardt, Nicaragua, pp. 106, 234; Valenzuela, in Squier’s Cent. Amer., pp. 566-7; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 206, tom. ii., pp. 58, 101-2, 104, 197; Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., pp. 293-4, vol. ii., pp. 11-12, 48.

[977] At Masaya, ‘The death-rate among children is said to be excessive.’ Boyle’s Ride, vol. ii., p. 10. ‘Alle Glieder der Familie hatten ein äusserst ungesundes Aussehen und namentlich die Kinder, im Gesicht bleich und mager, hatten dicke, aufgeschwollene Bäuche,’ caused by yucca-roots. Scherzer, Wanderungen, pp. 494, 173-4; Morelet, Voyage, tom. ii., pp. 109-10, 152; Gage’s New Survey, p. 318; Puydt, Rapport, in Amérique Centrale, p. 49; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. i., pp. 345-6; Hassel, Mex. Guat., pp. 302, 398; Escobar, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 91; Scherzer, Die Indianer von Istlávacan, pp. 10-11.

[978] Scherzer, Die Indianer von Istlávacan, pp. 11-12; Morelet, Voyage, tom. ii., p. 63; Valois, Mexique, p. 408.

[979] ‘La somme des peines est donc limitée comme celle des jouissances; ils ne ressentent ni les unes ni les autres avec beaucoup de vivacité.’ Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 205-7, 196, tom. ii., pp. 104, 132, 198, 200, 253. ‘When aroused, however, they are fierce, cruel, and implacable … shrewd … cringing servility and low cunning … extreme teachableness.’ Crowe’s Cent. Amer., pp. 42-3. ‘Melancholy … silent … pusillanimous … timid.’ Dunn’s Guatemala, p. 278. ‘Imperturbability of the North American Indian, but are a gentler and less warlike race.’ Foote’s Cent. Amer., pp. 104-5. Nicaraguans ‘are singularly docile and industrious … not warlike but brave.’ Squier’s Nicaragua, p. 268. For further reference concerning these people see Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 555; Bülow, Nicaragua, pp. 79-81; Juarros’ Hist. Guat., pp. 197-8; Belly, Nicaragua, pp. 109, 160; Puydt, Rapport, in Amérique Centrale, pp. 70, 135-6; T’ Kint, in Id., pp. 157-8; Fossey, Mexique, p. 471; Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., pref., p. xiv., and p. 75; Gage’s New Survey, pp. 311-12, 333; Valois, Mexique, pp. 238-9, 277, 288, 299, 430; Dollfus and Mont-Serrat, Voy. Géologique, pp. 47-9, 69; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 35; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; Scherzer, Wanderungen, pp. 53, 61, 455, 464-5; Dunlop’s Cent. Amer., pp. 211, 337-8. The Lacandones are very laconic, sober, temperate and strict. Pontelli, in Cal. Farmer, Nov. 7, 1862.

[980] The name Mosquito is generally supposed to have arisen from the numerous mosquito insects to be found in the country; others think that the small islands off the coast, “which lie as thick as mosquitoes,” may have caused the appellation; while a third opinion is that the name is a corruption of an aboriginal term, and to substantiate this opinion it is said that the natives call themselves distinctly Misskitos. Mosquitoland, Bericht, pp. 134, 19-23. The Carib name is pronounced “Kharibees” on the coast. Macgregor’s Progress of America, vol. i., pp. 770, 775. ‘Il existe chez eux des langues très différentes, et nous avons remarqué qu’à cent lieues de distance ils ne se comprennent plus les uns les autres.’ Varnhagen, Prem. Voy. de Amerigo Vespucci, p. 40. See further: Stout’s Nicaragua, p. 113; Squier’s Nicaragua, vol. ii., p. 308; Id., Cent. Amer., pp. 241, 244-7; 252-3; Bülow, Nicaragua, p. 77; Juarros’ Hist. Guat., p. 346; Galindo, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. iii., p. 290; Bell, in Id., vol. xxxii., pp. 258-9; Bard’s Waikna, pp. 123, 201-2, 243; Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, pp. 395-6; Young’s Narrative, pp. 36, 86; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., pp. 243-7, 303, 347-50; Henderson’s Honduras, p. 216; Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., pp. xii-xiii., 269, 287; Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 179-80, 287-8.

[981] ‘Die Backenknochen treten nicht, wie bei andern amerikanischen Stämmen, auffallend hervor … starke Oberlippe.’ Mosquitoland, Bericht, pp. 134-6, 59, 70, 151. Consult also: Squier’s Cent. Amer., pp. 230, 251, 597-8; Hassel, Mex. Guat., pp. 388-9; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. i., pp. 397-8; Varnhagen, Prem. Voy. de Amerigo Vespucci, pp. 40-1. The pure type has ‘schlichte, gröbere, schwarze Haare und feinere Lippen.’ Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 74, 177, 180, 287-8; Young’s Narrative, pp. 26, 28-9, 72, 75, 79, 82, 87, 123; Uring’s Hist. Voy., p. 226; Bell, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., pp. 256-9; Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, pp. 248, 305, 403; Colon, Hist. Almirante, in Barcia, Historiadores, tom. i., p. 104; Bard’s Waikna, pp. 127, 298, 317; Strangeways’ Mosquito Shore, p. 329. The natives of Corn island are ‘of a dark copper-colour, black Hair, full round Faces, small black Eyes, their Eye-brows hanging over their Eyes, low Foreheads, short thick Noses, not high, but flattish; full Lips, and short Chins.’ Dampier’s Voyages, vol. i., pp. 31-2, 7-8.

[982] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. i., cap. vi., lib. viii., cap. iii., v.; Esquemelin, Zee-Roovers, pp. 150-1; Squier, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xix., p. 614; Id., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1858, tom. clx., p. 134; Martin’s Brit. Col., vol. ii., p. 412; Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, pp. 248-50, 280, 308, 403, 415; Macgregor’s Progress of Amer., vol. i., p. 772; Dampier’s Voyages, vol. i., pp. 11, 32; Bard’s Waikna, pp. 127, 253-6, 298; Mosquitoland, Bericht, pp. 116-17, 136-7; Bell, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., pp. 256-60; Young’s Narrative, pp. 12, 26, 29, 32, 72, 77, 83, 122, 133. ‘Alcuni vsano certe camiciuole com’quelle, che vsiamo noi, lunghe sino al belico, e senza manche. Portano le braccia, e il corpo lauorati di lauori moreschi, fatti col fuoco.’ Colombo, Hist. del Ammiraglio, pp. 403-5.

[983] Strangeways’ Mosquito Shore, p. 334; Froebel’s Cent. Amer., p. 185; Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 660; Id., in Harper’s Mag., vol. xix., p. 613; Id., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1858, tom. clx., p. 134; Young’s Narrative, pp. 13, 77, 98-9, 125; Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, pp. 279, 295, 415-6; Bell, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., pp. 258-9; Bard’s Waikna, pp. 293-4, 318-9; Mosquitoland, Bericht, pp. 20, 137-9; Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 167, 178; Cockburn’s Journey, pp. 23, 55-7.

[984] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. iii.-v.; Macgregor’s Progress of Amer., vol. i., pp. 774-5; Squier, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xix., p. 613; Young’s Narrative, pp. 14, 18, 21, 61, 74-7, 96, 98, 106; Bard’s Waikna, pp. 100-11, 132-6, 297-303, 320; Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 75-6, 87, 168-74. The Woolwas had fish ‘which had been shot with arrows.’ Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, pp. 403, 248-50, 300-1, 407, 412-13; Dampier’s Voyages, vol. i., pp. 9-13, 35-7.

[985] Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., pref., p. 18; Young’s Narrative, pp. 76, 99, 133; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 335.

[986] Of the people of Las Perlas islands it is said; ‘Aen’t endt van haer geweer een hay-tandt, schieten met geen boogh.’ Esquemelin, Zee-Roovers, pp. 71, 150. Also see: Colon, Hist. Almirante, in Barcia, Historiadores, tom. i., p. 105; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ix., cap. x., and dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. iii.; Dampier’s Voyages, vol. i., pp. 7-8; Bard’s Waikna, pp. 120, 128.

[987] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. iii.; Esquemelin, Zee-Roovers, p. 153; Dampier’s Voyages, vol. i., p. 8; Delaporte, Reisen, tom. x., p. 406; Strangeways’ Mosquito Shore, p. 331.

[988] ‘Hammocks, made of a Sort of Rushes.’ Cockburn’s Journey, pp. 64, 23. ‘El almohada vn palo, o vna piedra: los cofres son cestillos, aforrados en cueros de venados.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. v. Consult also: Young’s Narrative, pp. 76-7; Dampier’s Voyages, vol. i., p. 85; Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 660; Mosquitoland, Bericht, pp. 100, 116, 123, 138, 173.

[989] Sivers, Mittelamerika, p. 167; Bard’s Waikna, pp. 127, 298-9. ‘Auf irgend eine Zubereitung (of skins) verstehen sich die Indianer nicht.’ Mosquitoland, Bericht, pp. 190, 148. ‘They make large Jars here, one of which will hold ten Gallons, and not weigh one Pound.’ Cockburn’s Journey, p. 83.

[990] Young’s Narrative, pp. 11, 19, 76, 160-1; Martin’s West Indies, vol. i., pp. 155-6; Dampier’s Voyages, vol. i., pp. 35, 85. ‘Der Tuberose tree der Engländer liefert die stärksten Baumstämme, deren die Indianer sich zur Anfertigung ihrer grössten Wasserfahrzeuge bedienen.’ Mosquitoland, Bericht, pp. 116, 70, 147.

[991] The Mosquitos have ‘little trade except in tortoise-shells and sarsaparilla.’ Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 659. Compare Bard’s Waikna, p. 317; Bell, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., p. 252; Strangeways’ Mosquito Shore, p. 337; Young’s Narrative, pp. 16, 82, 86-7, 91, 126; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. iii., v.; Mosquitoland, Bericht, pp. 148, 171-4, 190.

[992] The Mosquitos ‘divisaient l’année en 18 mois de 20 jours, et ils appellaient les mois Ioalar.’ Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 472. ‘Dit konense reeckenen by de Maen, daer van sy vyftien voor een jaer reeckenen.’ Esquemelin, Zee-Roovers, p. 152. ‘Für die Berechnung der Jahre existirt keine Aera. Daher weiss Niemand sein Alter.’ Mosquitoland, Bericht, pp. 142, 267-8. See also Bard’s Waikna, pp. 244-5; Young’s Narrative, p. 76; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. vi.

[993] Bard’s Waikna, pp. 292-3; Cockburn’s Journey, p. 37; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 63. The natives of Honduras had ‘pedaços de Tierra, llamada Calcide, con la qual se funde el Metal.’ Colon, Hist. Almirante, in Barcia, Historiadores, tom. i., p. 104.

[994] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. v.; Cockburn’s Journey, p. 45; Dampier’s Voyages, vol. i., pp. 10-11; Esquemelin, Zee-Roovers, p. 150; Delaporte, Reisen, tom. x., p. 406; Froebel’s Cent. Amer., p. 184; Crowe’s Cent. Amer., p. 49; Winterfeldt, Mosquito-Staat, p. 22; Bard’s Waikna, pp. 231, 297-8; Bell, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., pp. 258-9; Squier, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xix., p. 614; Id., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1858, tom. clx., p. 134; Young’s Narrative, pp. 71, 98; Mosquitoland, Bericht, pp. 171-2. ‘Sie stehen unter eignen Kaziken, die ihre Anführer im Kriege machen und welchen sie unbedingt gehorchen.’ Poyas, ‘Ihre Regierungsform ist aristokratisch.’ Hassel, Mex. Guat., pp. 388, 390. Mosquito ‘conjurers are in fact the priests, the lawyers and the judges … the king is a despotic monarch.’ Bonnycastle’s Span. Amer., vol. i., p. 174.

[995] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 335.

[996] Bard’s Waikna, pp. 127, 129-30, 202-11, 236, 243, 299-300, 321-3; Strangeways’ Mosquito Shore, pp. 332, 336; Froebel’s Cent. Amer., p. 137; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 216. ‘They marry but one Wife, with whom they live till death separates them.’ Dampier’s Voyages, vol. i., p. 9. ‘Doch besitzen in der That die meisten Männer nur ein Weib.’ Mosquitoland, Bericht, pp. 144-6, 133-9; Salazar y Olarte, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. ii., p. 312.

[997] Esquemelin relates that the natives on the Belize coast and adjacent islands carried the new-born infant to the temple, where it was placed naked in a hole filled with ashes, exposed to the wild beasts, and left there until the track of some animal was noticed in the ashes. This became patron to the child who was taught to offer it incense and to invoke it for protection. Zee-Roovers, pp. 64-9, 149. The genitals are pierced as a proof of constancy and affection for a woman. Id., pp. 151-3. Compare Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. i., cap. vi., lib. viii., cap. iii.-vi.; Young’s Narrative, pp. 73, 75, 123, 125; Bell, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., pp. 251, 254-5, 257-8; Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, pp. 249, 306-8; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 335; Delaporte, Reisen, tom. x., p. 409; Crowe’s Cent. Amer., pp. 49, 245-7.

[998] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. iii., vi.; Bell, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., p. 255-6. The Woolwas ‘haben gewisse Jahresfeste bei welchen weder ein Fremder noch Weiber und Kinder des eignen Stammes zugelassen werden. Bei diesen Festen führen sie mit lautem Geschrei ihre Tänze auf, “wobei ihnen ihr Gott Gesellschaft leistet.”‘ Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. i., pp. 407-8.

[999] Squier, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xix., pp. 603-6, 613; Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 171-2, 174-6; Martin’s West Indies, vol. i., p. 155; Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 337; Uring’s Hist. Voy., pp. 223-5; Dampier’s Voyages, vol. i., pp. 10, 127; Bard’s Waikna, pp. 205-9, 226-9, 232-3, 299; Mosquitoland, Bericht, pp. 108, 141-2, 146-7, 196, 201-2, 267; Crowe’s Cent. Amer., p. 247; Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, pp. 306, 405; Young’s Narrative, pp. 30-3, 72, 77-8, 125, 132-5; Esquemelin, Zee-Roovers, pp. 150-1. The natives of Honduras kept small birds which ‘could talk intelligibly, and whistle and sing admirably.’ Cockburn’s Journey, pp. 52-3, 46, 70-2, 88-90.

[1000] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. iv.-vi.; Cockburn’s Journey, pp. 36, 45-6; Dampier’s Voyages, vol. i., pp. 8-9, 86; Mosquitoland, Bericht, pp. 142-3; Martin’s Brit. Col., vol. ii., p. 413; Bard’s Waikna, pp. 228-32, 239-43, 256-8, 273-4. Sivers was thought possessed of the devil, and carefully shunned, because he imitated the crowing of a cock. Sivers, Mittelamerika, p. 178.

[1001] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. v., dec. v., lib. i., cap. x.; Crowe’s Cent. Amer., pp. 245-7; Young’s Narrative, pp. 23, 26, 28, 73, 82; Bell, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., pp. 253, 260-1; Mosquitoland, Bericht, pp. 132, 148-51; Bard’s Waikna, pp. 243-4.

[1002] The dead ‘are sewed up in a mat, and not laid in their grave length-ways, but upright on their feet, with their faces directly to the east.’ Amer. Span. Settl., p. 46. ‘Ein anderer Religionsgebrauch der alten Mosquiten war, dass sie bey dem Tode eines Hausvaters alle seine Bedienten mit ihm begruben.’ Delaporte, Reisen, tom. x., p. 408. Bard’s Waikna, pp. 68-73, 245-6; Mosquitoland, Bericht, pp. 136, 143-4; Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, pp. 307-8; Bell, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., p. 255; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. i., p. 407; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. v.-vi.;Esquemelin, Zee-Roovers, pp. 152-3.

[1003] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. viii., cap. vii., dec. iv., lib. i., cap. vi., lib. viii., cap. iii., v.; Young’s Narrative, pp. 78-82, 85, 87, 122, 133; Bell, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., pp. 250-2, 257-8; Bard’s Waikna, pp. 245, 317, 324; Mosquitoland, Bericht, pp. 135, 139-40, 144-5, 236; Strangeways’ Mosquito Shore, p. 329; Puydt, Rapport, in Amérique Centrale, p. 71; Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, pp. 248-9, 279, 308-9; Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., pref., pp. 13, 18; Morelet, Voyage, tom. ii., pp. 240, 289, 302; Crowe’s Cent. Amer., pp. 49, 243.

[1004] The Guatusos ‘are said to be of very fair complexion, a statement which has caused the appellation of Indios blancos, or Guatusos—the latter name being that of an animal of reddish-brown colour, and intended to designate the colour of their hair.’ Froebel’s Cent. Amer., p. 24; Id., Aus Amer., tom. i., p. 244. Speaking of Sir Francis Drake’s mutineers and their escape from Esparsa northward, he says: ‘It is believed by many in Costa Rica that the white Indians of the Rio Frio, called Pranzos, or Guatusos … are the descendants of these Englishmen.’ Boyle’s Ride, vol. ii., pp. 210, 27, and vol. i., pref., pp. xx-xxii. ‘Talamanca contains 26 different tribes of Indians; besides which there are several neighbouring nations, as the Changuenes, divided into thirteen tribes; the Terrabas, the Torresques, Urinamas, and Cavecaras.’ Juarros’ Hist. Guat., p. 373; Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 413; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 407; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 331-3.

[1005] ‘The indians who at present inhabit the Isthmus are scattered over Bocas del Toro, the northern portions of Veraguas, the north-eastern shores of Panama and almost the whole of Darien, and consist principally of four tribes, the Savanerics, the San Blas Indians, the Bayanos, and the Cholos.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. i., p. 317. ‘At the time of the conquest of Darien, the country was covered with numerous and well-peopled villages. The inhabitants belonged to the Carribbee race, divided into tribes, the principal being the Maudinghese, Chucunaquese, Dariens, Cunas, Anachacunas, &c. On the eastern shore of the Gulf of Uraba dwelt the immense but now nearly exterminated tribe of the Caimans,—only a few remnants of the persecutions of the Spaniards, having taken refuge in the Choco Mountains, where they are still found…. The Dariens, as well as the Anachacunas, have either totally disappeared or been absorbed in other tribes.’ Puydt, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxviii., pp. 91-2; Fitz-Roy, in Id., vol. xx., pp. 163-4; Roquette, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1855, tom. cxlvii., p. 30; Bateman, in N. Y. Century, 6th Decem., 1860; Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., p. 406; Macgregor’s Progress of Amer., vol. i., p. 823; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, introd., p. ccii. See Tribal Boundaries.

[1006] Savanerics, ‘a fine athletic race.’ Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. i., p. 318. ‘Tienen los cascos de la cabeça gruessos.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 138. ‘The Chocós are not tall nor remarkable in appearance, but always look well conditioned.’ Michler’s Darien, p. 65. ‘Son apersonados.’ Dávila, Teatro Ecles., tom. ii., fol. 56; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 77, 87; Selfridge’s Darien Surveys, pp. 10, 36; Colon, Hist. Almirante, in Barcia, Historiadores, tom. i., p. 107; Puydt, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxviii., pp. 95-7; Peter Martyr, dec. viii., lib. vi; Gisborne’s Darien, p. 155; Cockburn’s Journey, p. 235; D’Avity, L’Amérique, tom. ii., p. 98; Winthrop’s Canoe and Saddle, p. 365; Macgregor’s Progress of Amer., vol. i., p. 823; Fransham’s World in Miniature, p. 25. ‘Afirmaua Pasqual de Andagoya, auer visto algunos tan grandes, que los otros hombres eran enanos con ellos, y que tenian buenas caras, y cuerpos.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. iii., cap. vi.; Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., p. 412; Gage’s New Survey, p. 174; Darien, Defence of the Scots’ Settlement, pp. 69-70; Cullen’s Darien, pp. 65, 67.

[1007] Golfo Dulce. ‘Modicæ sunt staturæ, bene compositis membris, moribus blandis et non invenustis.’ Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 329. ‘It is a universal belief along the Atlantic coast, from Belize to Aspinwall, that the Frio tribe have white complexions, fair hair, and grey eyes.’ Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., pp. 20, 236, and pref., pp. xxi-xxii.; Squier, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1856, tom. cli., pp. 6, 12; Id., in Hist. Mag., vol. iv., p. 62; Wafer’s New Voy., pp. 131-7.

[1008] ‘El miembro generativo traen atado por el capullo, haçiéndole entrar tanto adentro, que á algunos no se les paresçe de tal arma sino la atadura, que es unos hilos de algodon allí revueltos.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 109-11, 179. See also: Cockburn’s Journey, pp. 181-3, 188; Wagner and Scherzer, Costa Rica, pp. 557-9; Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., p. 251. Referring to Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, ‘La gente que hallo andaua en cueros, sino eran señores, cortesanos, y mugeres.’ Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 82, 66, 87. Urabá; ‘Ex gentibus ijs mares nudos penitus, fœminas uero ab umbilico gossampina contectas multitia repererunt.’ Peter Martyr, dec. ii., lib. i., also dec. iii., lib. iv., dec. vii., lib. x., dec. viii., lib. vi., viii.; Quintana, Vidas de Españoles (Balboa), p. 9; Wafer’s New Voy., pp. 37, 87, 102, plate, 132-4, 138-48, plate; Wallace, in Miscellanea Curiosa, vol. iii., p. 418; Warburton’s Darien, p. 322; Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., p. 26; Andagoya, in Id., pp. 307-8, 407, 412; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. iii., cap. v., vi., and dec. iv., lib. i., cap. x.; Michler’s Darien, pp. 43, 65-6, 86.

[1009] Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. i., pp. 314, 316; Porras, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. i., p. 285; Colon, in Id., p. 298; Cockburn’s Journey, pp. 240-1; Gage’s New Survey, p. 191; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 88, 284; and Dapper, Neue Welt, pp. 99, 319; Puydt, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxviii., pp. 95-8; Selfridge’s Darien Surveys, p. 10; Cullen’s Darien, pp. 67-8;Esquemelin, Zee-Roovers, p. 142; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxlii.-ccxliv. The women of Cueba ‘se ponian una barra de oro atravessada en los pechos, debaxo de las tetas, que se las levanta, y en ella algunos páxaros é otras figuras de relieve, todo de oro fino: que por lo menos pessaba çiento é çinqüenta é aun dosiçentos pessos una barreta destas…. Destos caracoles grandes se haçen unas conteçicas blancas de muchas maneras, é otras coloradas, é otras negras, é otras moradas, é cañuticos de lo mesmo: é haçen braçaletes en que con estas qüentas mezclan otras, é olivetas de oro que se ponen en las muñecas y ençima de los tobillos é debaxo de las rodillas por gentileça: en espeçial las mugeres…. Traen assimesmo çarçillos de oro en las orejas, é horádanse las nariçes hecho un agugero entre las ventanas, é cuelgan de allí sobre el labio alto otro çarçillo.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 126, 138.

[1010] Their hair ‘they wear usually down to the middle of the Back, or lower, hanging loose at its full length…. All other Hair, except that of their Eye-brows and Eye-lids, they eradicate.’ Wafer’s New Voy., pp. 132-3; Gisborne’s Darien, p. 155; Macgregor’s Progress of Amer., p. 824; D’Avity, L’Amérique, tom. i., p. 98.

[1011] Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, fol. 86; Squier, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1836, tom. cli., p. 9; Froebel, Aus Amer., tom. i., p. 246; Id., Cent. Amer., p. 26; Wagner and Scherzer, Costa Rica, p. 253.

[1012] Puydt, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxviii., p. 95; Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. i., pp. 319, 321-2; Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, p. 151; Michler’s Darien, p. 84; Wafer’s New Voy., pp. 149-52; Cockburn’s Journey, pp. 234-5. On the banks of the Rio Grande, the Spaniards under Johan de Tavira found ‘muchas poblaçiones en barbacoas ó casas muy altas, fechas é armadas sobre postes de palmas negras fortíssimas é quassi inexpugnables’…. ‘Hay otra manera de buhíos ó casas en Nata redondos, como unos chapiteles muy altos.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 50, 131, 8, 46. ‘En otras muchas partes hacian sus casas de madera y de paja de la forma de una campana. Estas eran muy altas y muy capaces que moraban en cada una de ellas diez y mas vecinos.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. 43.

[1013] ‘Hallaron muchos pueblos cercados, con palenques de madera.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. ix., dec. i., lib. ix., cap. ii., vi. ‘Tengano le lor case in cima de gli alberi.’ Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, fol. 160. See also: Irving’s Columbus, vol. iii., p. 176; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 75; Colon, Hist. Almirante, in Barcia, Historiadores, tom. i., p. 108.

[1014] Of Comagre’s palace it is said, ‘Longitudinem dimensi passuum centum quinquaginta, latitudinem uero pedum octoginta, in uacuo dinumerarunt: laquearibus et pauimentis arte eximia laboratis.’ Peter Martyr, dec. ii., lib. iii. Compare further: Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 64-5, 87; Dapper, Neue Welt, pp. 71-2, 98; Darien, Defence of the Scots’ Settlement, p. 81.

[1015] Squier, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1856, tom. cli., p. 11; Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., pref., pp. xii., xxiii.; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 407; Cockburn’s Journey, pp. 204, 224-5; Wagner and Scherzer, Costa Rica, pp. 558-9. On the Chara Islands, ‘comen los indios en estas islas muchos venados é puercos, que los hay en grandissima cantidad, é mahiz, é fésoles muchos é de diversas maneras, é muchos é buenos pescados, é tambien sapo … é ninguna cosa viva dexan de comer por suçia que sea.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 110.

[1016] ‘Hanno la maggior parte di questa costiera per costume di mangiar carne humana e quando mangiauano de gli Spagnuoli, v’erano di coloro che ricusauano di cibarsene, temendo ancora che nel lor corpo, non gli facessero quelle carni qualche danno.’ Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, fol. 49. On the coast ‘they live principally upon fish, plantains, and bananas, with Indian corn and a kind of cassava.’ Selfridge’s Darien Surveys, pp. 10, 20. Compare Colon, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. i., p. 308; Balboa, in Id., tom. iii., pp. 364-5; Alcedo, Dicc., tom. v., p. 293; Cullen’s Darien, pp. 65, 68-9; Colombo, Hist. Ammiraglio, p. 412; Meyer, Nach dem Sacramento, pp. 20-2.

[1017] ‘Cogen dos y tres vezes al año maiz, y por esto no lo engraneran.’ Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 82, 88. ‘Seguian mucho la caça de venados, y de aquellos puercos con el ombligo al espinazo.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. iii., cap. v., xv. For further details see Michler’s Darien, pp. 65, 68, 81; Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., pp. 403, 407; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 71; and Dapper, Neue Welt, p. 79; Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. i., pp. 315, 319; Peter Martyr, dec. viii., lib. vii.; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 132-3, 136, 139; Wafer’s New Voy., pp. 88, 101, 106-7, 129-130, 152-6, 170-7.

[1018] Michler’s Darien, p. 65; Cockburn’s Journey, p. 236. ‘Tienen por costumbre, assi los indios como las indias, de se bañar tres ó quatro veçes al dia, por estar limpios é porque diçen que descansan en lavarse.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 135-6.

[1019] In Cueva, ‘no son flecheros, é pelean con macanas é con lanças luengas y con varas que arrojan, como dardos con estóricas (que son cierta manera de avientos) de unos bastones bien labrados.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 127, 129. ‘Sunt autem ipsorum arma, non arcus, non sagittæ uenenatæ, uti habere indígenas illos trans sinum orientales diximus. Cominus hi certant ut plurimum, ensibus oblongis, quos macanas ipsi appellant, ligneis tamen, quia ferrum non assequuntur: et præustis sudibus aut osseis cuspidibus, missilibus etiam ad præluim utuntur.’ Peter Martyr, dec. ii., lib. iii., also, dec. iv., lib. x., dec. v., lib. ix. Compare further, Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. i., lib. ix., cap. vi., lib. x., cap. i.; Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., p. 403; Parras, in Id., tom. i., p. 285; Cockburn’s Journey, p. 225; D’Avity, L’Amérique., p. 98; Otis’ Panamá, pp. 77-8; Puydt, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxviii., pp. 95, 98.

[1020] ‘The pipe was made of two pieces of reed, each forming a half circle; these being placed together left a small hole, just large enough for the admission of the arrow…. The arrows are about eight inches long … the point very sharp, and cut like a corkscrew for an inch up…. This is rolled in the poison…. The arrow will fly one hundred yards, and is certain death to man or animal wounded by it; no cure as yet having been discovered. A tiger, when hit, runs ten or a dozen yards, staggers, becomes sick, and dies in four or five minutes. A bird is killed as with a bullet, and the arrow and wounded part of the flesh being cut out, the remainder is eaten without danger.’ Cochrane’s Journal in Colombia, vol. ii., pp. 405-7. ‘That poyson killeth him that is wounded, but not suddenly…. Whoso is wounded, liues a miserable and strict life after that, for he must abstaine from many things.’ Peter Martyr, dec. viii., lib. viii. ‘Some woorali (corova) and poisoned arrows that I obtained from the Indians of the interior were procured by them from Choco … their deadly effect is almost instantaneous.’ Cullen’s Darien, p. 67. ‘We inquired of all the Indians, both men and boys, at Caledonia Bay and at San Blas for the “curari” or “urari” poison … they brought us what they represented to be the bona-fide poison…. It turned out to be nothing but the juice of the manzanillo del playa. So, if this is their chief poison, and is the same as the “curari”, it is not so much to be dreaded.’ Selfridge’s Darien Surveys, pp. 136-7. See further, Fitz-Roy, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xx., p. 164; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. i., lib. vii., cap. xvi.; Michler’s Darien, p. 77; Dampier’s Voyages, vol. i., p. 41.

[1021] Acosta, N. Granada, p. 6; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 88; Carli, Cartas, pt. i., p. 17. ‘Traian suscoseletes fechos de algodon, que les llegaban é abaxaban de las espaldas dellos, é les llegaban á las rodillas é dende abaxo, é las mangas fasta los codos, é tan gruesos como un colchon de cama, son tan fuertes, que una ballesta no los pasa.’ Pacheco, Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. ii., p. 516.

[1022] ‘Cuando iban á la guerra llevaban coronas de oro en las cabezas y unas patenas grandes en los pechos y braceletes y otras joyas en otros lugares del cuerpo.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxv., ccxliv. ‘El herido en la guerra es hidalgo, y goza de grandes franquezas.’ Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 88. ‘A los que pueden matar matan, é á los que prenden los hierran é se sirven dellos por esclavos.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 129, 126. See further: Quintana, Vidas Españoles (Balboa), p. 8; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. iii., cap. v.; Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., pp. 399, 403, 412; Peter Martyr, dec. iii., lib. iv., dec. viii., lib. viii.; Wafer’s New Voy., p. 133.

[1023] ‘La manta de la hamaca no es hecha red, sino entera é muy gentil tela delgada é ancha…. Hay otras, que la manta es de paja texida é de colores é labores.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 131, 136, 138, 142, 181. ‘Muy buenas redes con anzuelos de hueso que hacen de concha de tortuga.’ Vega, Hist. Descub. Amer., p. 145. ‘Tenian los Reyes y Señores ricos y señalados vasos con que bebian.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxv. Compare further: Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. i., lib. vii., cap. xvi., lib. ix., cap. i., dec. ii., lib. ii., cap. i.; Peter Martyr, dec. ii., lib. i., dec. vii., lib. x.;Michler’s Darien, pp. 66, 77; Meyer, Nach dem Sacramento, pp. 21-2.

[1024] Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 348; Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. i., p. 320; Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, p. 29; Cockburn’s Journey, pp. 172-3, 243-4; Wafer’s New Voy., pp. 92-4, 160-2. Referring to Chiriquí earthen relics; ‘The vessels … are neatly and sometimes very gracefully formed of clay…. Several bear resemblance to Roman, Grecian, and Etruscan jars…. Dr. Merritt mentioned that the natives of the Isthmus now make their rude earthen utensils of a peculiar black earth, which gives them the appearance of iron.’ Hist. Mag., vol. iv., p. 176. In Veragua ‘vide sábanas grandes de algodon, labradas de muy sotiles labores; otras pintadas muy sútilmente a colores con pinceles.’ Colon, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. i., p. 308.

[1025] ‘En estas islas de Chara é Pocosi no tienen canoas, sino balsas’…. In the Province of Cueba ‘tienen canoas pequeñas, tambien las usan grandes … hay canoa que lleva çinquenta ó sessenta hombres é mas.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 110, 159. See also: Michler’s Darien, pp. 48, 66-7; Wafer’s New Voy., p. 96; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 67; and Dapper, Neue Welt, p. 75; Puydt, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxviii., p. 99; Acosta, N. Granada, p. 43.

[1026] Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 74, 88; Balboa, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., pp. 364-5; Peter Martyr, dec. viii., lib. vi.; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. i., lib. vii., cap. xvi., lib. x., cap. iii.; Belcher’s Voyage, vol. i., p. 250; Selfridge’s Darien Surveys, pp. 10-11; Puydt, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxviii., p. 99; Gisborne’s Darien, p. 154; Otis’ Panamá, p. 77; Cullen’s Darien, pp. 65-6. ‘Quando los indios no tienen guerra, todo su exerciçio es tractar é trocar quanto tienen unos con otros … unos llevan sal, otros mahiz, otros mantas, otros hamacas, otros algodon hilado ó por hilar, otros pescados salados; otros llevan oro.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 140, tom. ii., p. 340.

[1027] ‘Este cacique Davaive tiene grand fundicion de oro en su casa; tiene cient hombres á la contina que labran oro.’ Balboa, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., pp. 364-5. ‘Hay grandes mineros de cobre: hachas de ello, otras cosas labradas, fundidas, soldadas hube, y fraguas con todo su aparejo de platero y los crisoles.’ Colon, in Id., tom. i., p. 308. In Panamá, ‘grandes Entalladores, y Pintores.’ Dávila, Teatro Ecles., tom. ii., fol. 56. Compare further: Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, fol. 88; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. ii., cap. x.; Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, pp. 29-30; Peter Martyr, dec. iii., lib. iv.; Bidwell’s Isthmus, p. 37.

[1028] Wafer’s New Voy., pp. 178-86; Lussan, Jour. du Voy., p. 46; Puydt, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxviii., p. 99.

[1029] ‘Besan los pies al hijo, o sobrino, que hereda, estando en la cama: que vale tanto como juramento, y coronacion.’ Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 255-6, 88. ‘Todos tenian sus Reies, y Señores, á quien obedecian.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 346. ‘Los hijos heredauan a los padres, siendo auidos en la principal muger…. Los Caziques y señores eran muy tenidos y obedecidos.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. i., lib. vii., cap. xvi., dec. iv., lib. i., cap. x. See also, Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 129-30, 142, 156-7; Quintana, Vidas de Españoles, (Balboa), p. 9; Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., p. 399; Wafer’s New Voy., p. 163; Dapper, Neue Welt, p. 73; Wallace, in Miscellanea Curiosa, vol. iii., p. 418; Puydt, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxviii., p. 97; Funnell’s Voyage, pp. 131-2; Selfridge’s Darien Surveys, p. 20.

[1030] Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 8, 126, 129; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 77; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 66; Dapper, Neue Welt, p. 74.

[1031] Puydt, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxviii., p. 98; Macgregor’s Process of Amer., pp. 823-5, 829; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxliv. ‘Casauanse con hijas de sus hermanas: y los señores tenian muchas mugeres.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. i., lib. vii., cap. xvi., dec. iv., lib. i., cap. x. ‘De las mugeres principales de sus padres, y hermanas ó hijas guardan que no las tomen por mugeres, porque lo tienen por malo.’ Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., pp. 402-3. Of wives: ‘They may haue as many as they please, (excepting their kindred, and allies) vnlesse they be widdowes … in some place a widdow marryeth the brother of her former husband, or his kinsman, especially if hee left any children.’ Peter Martyr, dec. vii., lib. x., dec. viii., lib. viii.

[1032] The women ‘observe their Husbands with a profound Respect and Duty upon all occasions; and on the other side their Husbands are very kind and loving to them. I never knew an Indian beat his Wife, or give her any hard Words…. They seem very fond of their Children, both Fathers and Mothers.’ Wafer’s New Voy., pp. 156-66. ‘Tienen mancebias publicas de mugeres, y aun de hombres en muchos cabos.’ Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 87. See also: Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 18, 20, 133-4; Quintana, Vidas de Españoles, (Balboa), pp. 9-10.

[1033] ‘Pipes, or fluites of sundry pieces, of the bones of Deere, and canes of the riuer. They make also little Drummes or Tabers beautified with diuers pictures, they forme and frame them also of gourdes, and of an hollowe piece of timber greater than a mannes arme.’ Peter Martyr, dec. viii., lib. viii. See also: Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 127, 130, 137, 156; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 88; Darien, Defence of the Scots’ Settlement, pp. 72-3; Macgregor’s Progress of Amer., pp. 825, 832; Warburton’s Darien, p. 321; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxliii.

[1034] In Comagre, ‘vinos blancos y tintos, hechos de mayz, y rayzes de frutas, y de cierta especie de palma, y de otras cosas: los quales vinos loauan los Castellanos quando los beuian.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. i., lib. ix., cap. ii. ‘Tenia vna bodega con muchas cubas y tinajas llenas de vino, hecho de grano, y fruta, blanco, tinto, dulce, y agrete de datiles, y arrope.’ Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 73. ‘Hacian de maiz vino blanco i tinto…. Es de mui buen sabor aunque como unos vinos bruscos ó de gascuña.’ Las Casas, Hist. Ind., MS., tom. ii., cap. xxvi. See also: Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 136-7, 141-2; tom. iv., pp. 96-7; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 64, 285; Dapper, Neue Welt, pp. 71, 321; Wafer’s New Voy., pp. 87, 102-3, 153-5, 164, 169-70; Puydt, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxviii., p. 96.

[1035] ‘Quando hablan vno con otro, se ponen do espaldas.’ Colon, Hist. Almirante, in Barcia, Historiadores, tom. i., p. 111; Wafer’s New Voy., pp. 177-9.

[1036] Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 255; Peter Martyr, dec. vii., lib. x., dec. viii., lib. viii.; Wafer’s New Voy., pp. 37-9; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. iii., cap. v.; Selfridge’s Darien Surveys, pp. 10-11; Vega, Hist. Descub. Amer., p. 145. ‘Deste nombre tequina se haçe mucha diferençia; porque á qualquiera ques mas hábil y experto en algun arte, … le llaman tequina, que quiere deçir lo mesmo que maestro: por manera que al ques maestro de las responsiones é inteligencias con el diablo, llámenle tequina en aquel arte, porque aqueste tal es el que administra sus ydolatrías é çerimonias é sacrifiçios, y el que habla con el diablo.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 127. ‘Tenian ó habia entre estas gentes unos sacerdotes que llamaban en su lengua “Piachas” muy espertos en el arte mágica, tanto que se revestia en ellos el Diabolo y hablaba por boca de ellos muchas falsedades, conque los tenia cautivos.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxlv.

[1037] The priests ‘comunmente eran sus médicos, é conosçian muchas hiervas, de que usaban, y eran apropriadas á diversas enfermedades.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 126, 138-9, 141, tom. i., pp. 56-7. ‘According to the diuers nature, or qualitie of the disease, they cure them by diuers superstitions, and they are diuersly rewarded.’ Peter Martyr, dec. viii., cap. viii. Compare further; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 88; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxlv.; Wafer’s New Voy., p. 28; Selfridge’s Darien Surveys, p. 10; Puydt, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxviii., p. 97; Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. v., p. 893.

[1038] ‘Quédame de deçir que en aquesta lengua de Cueva hay muchos indios hechiçeros é en espeçial un çierto género de malos, que los chripstianos en aquella tierra llaman chupadores…. Estos chupan á otros hasta que los secan é matan, é sin calentura alguna de dia en dia poco á poco se enflaquesçen tanto, que se les pueden contar los huesos, que se les paresçen solamente cubiertos con el cuero; y el vientre se les resuelve de manera quel ombligo traen pegado á los lomos y espinaço, é se tornan de aquella forma que pintan á la muerte, sin pulpa ni carne. Estos chupadores, de noche, sin ser sentidos, van á haçer mal por las casas agenas: é ponen la boca en el ombligo de aquel que chupan, y están en aquel exerçiçio una ó dos horas ó lo que les paresçe, teniendo en aquel trabaxo al paçiente, sin que sea poderoso de se valer ni defender, no dexando de sufrir su daño con silençio. É conosçe el assi ofendido, é vee al malhechor, y aun les hablan: lo qual, assi los que haçen este mal como los que le padesçen, han confessado algunos dellos; é diçen questos chupadores son criados é naborias del tuyra, y quél se los manda assi haçer, y el tuyra es, como está dicho, el diablo.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 159-60.

[1039] ‘Ay muchos, que piensan, que no ay mas de nacer, y morir: y aquellos tales no se entierran con pan, y vino, ni con mugeres, ni moços. Los que creen la immortalidad del alma, se entierra: si son Señores, con oro, armas, plumas, si no lo son, con mayz, vino, y mantas.’ Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 255, 88. ‘Huius reguli penetrale ingressi cameram reperiunt pensilibus repletam cadaueribus, gossampinis funibus appensis. Interrogati quid sibi uellet ea superstitio: parentum esse et auorum atauorumque Comogri regulea cadauera, inquiunt. De quibus seruandis maximam esse apud eos curami et pro religione eam pietatem haberi recensent: pro cuiusque gradu indu, menta cuique cadaueri imposita, auro gemmisque superintexta.’ Peter Martyr, dec. ii., lib. iii., dec. iii., lib. iv., dec. vii., lib. x., dec. viii., lib. ix. ‘Viendo la cantidad é número de los muertos, se conosçe qué tantos señores ha avido en aquel Estado, é quál fué hijo del otro ó le subçedió en el señorio segund la órden subçesiva en que están puestos.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 155-6, 142. For further accounts see Wagner and Scherzer, Costa Rica, pp. 556, 560; Cockburn’s Journey, p. 183; Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. i., pp. 314, 316, 319; Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, p. 30; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. i., lib. vii., cap. xvi., lib. ix., cap. ii., dec. ii., lib. iii., cap. v., dec. iv., lib. i., cap. xi.; Quintana, Vidas de Españoles, (Balboa), p. 10; Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., pp. 401-2; Carli, Cartas, pt. i., pp. 105-6; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxlii., ccxlvii.; Purchas His Pilgrimes, vol. v., p. 894.

[1040] The Terrabas ‘naciones … las mas braves é indómitas de todas … Indios dotados de natural docilidad y dulzura de genio.’ Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 19. Speaking of the natives of Panamá; ‘muy deuotos del trabajo, y enemigos de la ociosidad.’ Dávila, Teatro Ecles., tom. ii., p. 56. Darien: ‘Son inclinados a juegos y hurtos, son muy haraganes.’ Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 88. San Blas tribes: ‘They are very peaceable in their natures’…. Chucunas and Navigandis: ‘The most warlike’ … Coast tribes, ‘from contact with foreigners, are very docile and tractable’…. The Sassardis: ‘As a whole, this tribe are cowardly, but treacherous.’ Selfridge’s Darien Surveys, pp. 10-11, 36. Compare further, Froebel’s Cent. Amer., p. 24; Squier, in Nouvelles Annales Voy., 1856, tom. cli., p. 6; Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., pref., p. xii.; Wagner and Scherzer, Costa Rica, p. 557; Gage’s New Survey, p. 426; Michler’s Darien, p. 26; Alcedo, Dicc., tom. ii., p. 413; Puydt, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxviii., p. 96; Macgregor’s Progress of Amer., p. 830; Otis’ Panamá, p. 77; Cullen’s Darien, pp. 65-6, 68-9.

Volume Two • Civilized Nations

Chapter I • Savagism and Civilization • 26,600 Words

Definition of the Terms—Force and Nature—The Universal Soul of Progress—Man the Instrument and not the Element of Progress—Origin of Progressional Phenomena—The Agency of Evil—Is Civilization Conducive to Happiness?—Objective and Subjective Humanity—Conditions Essential to Progress—Continental Configurations—Food and Climate—Wealth and Leisure—Association—War, Slavery, Religion, and Government—Morality and Fashion—The Development of Progressional Law.

Location of THE CIVILIZED NATIONS

The terms Savage and Civilized, as applied to races of men, are relative and not absolute terms. At best these words mark only broad shifting stages in human progress; the one near the point of departure, the other farther on toward the unattainable end. This progress is one and universal, though of varying rapidity and extent; there are degrees in savagism and there are degrees in civilization; indeed, though placed in opposition, the one is but a degree of the other. The Haidah, whom we call savage, is as much superior to the Shoshone, the lowest of Americans, as the Aztec is superior to the Haidah, or the European to the Aztec. Looking back some thousands of ages, we of to-day are civilized; looking forward through the same duration of time, we are savages.

Nor is it, in the absence of fixed conditions, and amidst the many shades of difference presented by the nations along our western seaboard, an easy matter to tell where even comparative savagism ends and civilization begins. In the common acceptation of these terms, we may safely call the Central Californians savage, and the Quichés of Guatemala civilized; but between these two extremes are hundreds of peoples, each of which presents some claim for both distinctions. Thus, if the domestication of ruminants, or some knowledge of arts and metals, constitute civilization, then are the ingenious but half-torpid Hyperboreans civilized, for the Eskimos tame reindeer, and the Thlinkeets are skillful carvers and make use of copper; if the cultivation of the soil, the building of substantial houses of adobe, wood, and stone, with the manufacture of cloth and pottery, denote an exodus from savagism, then are the Pueblos of New Mexico no longer savages; yet in both these instances enough may be seen, either of stupidity or brutishness, to forbid our ranking them with the more advanced Aztecs, Mayas, and Quichés.

We know what savages are; how, like wild animals, they depend for food and raiment upon the spontaneous products of nature, migrating with the beasts and birds and fishes, burrowing beneath the ground, hiding in caves, or throwing over themselves a shelter of bark or skins or branches or boards, eating or starving as food is abundant or scarce; nevertheless, all of them have made some advancement from their original naked, helpless condition, and have acquired some aids in the procurement of their poor necessities. Primeval man, the only real point of departure, and hence the only true savage, nowhere exists on the globe to-day. Be the animal man never so low—lower in skill and wisdom than the brute, less active in obtaining food, less ingenious in building his den—the first step out of his houseless, comfortless condition, the first fashioning of a tool, the first attempt to cover nakedness and wall out the wind, if this endeavor spring from intellect and not from instinct, is the first step toward civilization. Hence the modern savage is not the pre-historic or primitive man; nor is it among the barbarous nations of to-day that we must look for the rudest barbarism.

Definition of the Terms

Often is the question asked, What is civilization? and the answer comes, The act of civilizing; the state of being civilized. What is the act of civilizing? To reclaim from a savage or barbarous state; to educate; to refine. What is a savage or barbarous state? A wild uncultivated state; a state of nature. Thus far the dictionaries. The term civilization, then, popularly implies both the transition from a natural to an artificial state, and the artificial condition attained. The derivation of the word civilization, from civis, citizen, civitas, city, and originally from cœtus, union, seems to indicate that culture which, in feudal times, distinguished the occupants of cities from the ill-mannered boors of the country. The word savage, on the other hand, from silva, a wood, points to man primeval; silvestres homines, men of the forest, not necessarily ferocious or brutal, but children of nature. From these simple beginnings both words have gradually acquired a broader significance, until by one is understood a state of comfort, intelligence, and refinement; and by the other, humanity wild and bestial.

Guizot defines civilization as an “improved condition of man resulting from the establishment of social order in place of the individual independence and lawlessness of the savage or barbarous life;” Buckle as “the triumph of mind over external agents;” Virey as “the development more or less absolute of the moral and intellectual faculties of man united in society;” Burke as the exponent of two principles, “the spirit of a gentleman and the spirit of religion.” “Whatever be the characteristics of what we call savage life,” says John Stuart Mill, “the contrary of these, or the qualities which society puts on as it throws off these, constitute civilization;” and, remarks Emerson, “a nation that has no clothing, no iron, no alphabet, no marriage, no arts of peace, no abstract thought, we call barbarous.”

Men talk of civilization and call it liberty, religion, government, morality. Now liberty is no more a sign of civilization than tyranny; for the lowest savages are the least governed of all people. Civilized liberty, it is true, marks a more advanced stage than savage liberty, but between these two extremes of liberty there is a necessary age of tyranny, no less significant of an advance on primitive liberty than is constitutional liberty an advance on tyranny. Nor is religion civilization, except in so far as the form and machinery of sacerdotal rites, and the abandonment of fetichism for monotheism become significant of intenser thought and expansion of intellect. No nation ever practiced grosser immorality, or what we of the present day hold to be immorality, than Greece during the height of her intellectual refinement. Peace is no more civilization than war, virtue than vice, good than evil. All these are the incidents, not the essence, of civilization.

That which we commonly call civilization is not an adjunct nor an acquirement of man; it is neither a creed nor a polity, neither science nor philosophy nor industry; it is rather the measure of progressional force implanted in man, the general fund of the nation’s wealth, learning, and refinement, the storehouse of accumulated results, the essence of all best worth preserving from the distillations of good and the distillations of evil. It is a something between men, no less than a something within them; for neither an isolated man nor an association of brutes can by any possibility become civilized.

Civilization a Working Principle

Further than this, civilization is not only the measure of aggregated human experiences, but it is a living working principle. It is a social transition; a moving forward rather than an end attained; a developing vitality rather than a fixed entity; it is the effort or aim at refinement rather than refinement itself; it is labor with a view to improvement and not improvement consummated, although it may be and is the metre of such improvement. And this accords with latter-day teachings. Although in its infancy, and, moreover, unable to explain things unexplainable, the science of evolution thus far has proved that the normal condition of the human race, as well as that of physical nature, is progressional; that the plant in a congenial soil is not more sure to grow than is humanity with favorable surroundings certain to advance. Nay, more, we speak of the progress of civilization as of something that moves on of its own accord; we may, if we will, recognize in this onward movement, the same principle of life manifest in nature and in the individual man.

To things we do not understand we give names, with which by frequent use we become familiar, when we fancy that we know all about the things themselves. At the first glance civilization appears to be a simple matter; to be well clad, well housed, and well fed, to be intelligent and cultured are better than nakedness and ignorance; therefore it is a good thing, a thing that men do well to strive for,—and that is all. But once attempt to go below this placid surface, and investigate the nature of progressional phenomena, and we find ourselves launched upon an eternity of ocean, and in pursuit of the same occult Cause, which has been sought alike by philosophic and barbaric of every age and nation; we find ourselves face to face with a great mystery, to which we stand in the same relation as to other great mysteries, such as the origin of things, the principle of life, the soul-nature. When such questions are answered as What is attraction, heat, electricity; what instinct, intellect, soul? Why are plants forced to grow and molecules to conglomerate and go whirling in huge masses through space?—then we may know why society moves ever onward like a river in channels predetermined. At present, these phenomena we may understand in their action partially, in their essence not at all; we may mark effects, we may recognize the same principle under widely different conditions though we may not be able to discover what that principle is. Science tells us that these things are so; that certain combinations of certain elements are inevitably followed by certain results, but science does not attempt to explain why they are so. Nevertheless, a summary of such few simple thoughts as I have been able to gather upon the subject, may be not wholly valueless.

Force and Matter

And first, to assist our reflections, let us look for a moment at some of the primal principles in nature, not with a view to instruct in that direction, but rather to compare some of the energies of the material world with the intellectual or progressional energy in man; and of these I will mention such only as are currently accepted by latter-day science.

Within the confines of the conceivable universe one element alone is all-potential, all-pervading,—Force. Throughout the realms of space, in and round all forms of matter, binding minutest atoms, balancing systems of worlds, rioting in life, rotting in death, under its various aspects mechanical and chemical, attractive and repulsive, this mighty power is manifest; a unifying, coalescing, and flowing power, older than time, quicker than thought, saturating all suns and planets and filling to repletion all molecules and masses. Worlds and systems of worlds are sent whirling, worlds round worlds and systems round systems, in a mazy planetary dance, wherein the slightest tripping, the least excess of momentum or inertia, of tension or traction, in any part, and chaos were come again. Every conceivable entity, ponderable and imponderable, material and immaterial, is replete with force. By it all moving bodies are set in motion, all motionless bodies held at rest; by it the infinitesimal atom is held an atom and the mass is held concrete, vapory moisture overspreads the land, light and heat animate senseless substance; by it forms of matter change, rocks grow and dissolve, mountains are made and unmade, the ocean heaves and swells, the eternal hills pulsate, the foundations of the deep rise up, and seas displace continents.

One other thing we know, which with the first comprises all our knowledge,—Matter. Now force and matter are interdependent, one cannot exist without the other; as for example, all substance, unless held together—which term obviously implies force—would speedily dissolve into inconceivable nothingness. But no less force is required to annihilate substance than to create it; force, therefore, is alike necessary to the existence or non-existence of matter, which reduces the idea of a possible absence of either force or matter to an absurdity; or, in other words, it is impossible for the human mind to conceive of a state of things wherein there is no matter, and consequently no force.

Force has been called the soul of nature, and matter the body, for by force matter lives and moves and has its being.

Force like matter, is divisible, infinitely so, as far as human experience goes; for, though ultimates may exist, they have never yet been reached; and it would seem that all physical phenomena, endlessly varied and bewildering as they may appear, spring from a few simple incomprehensible forces, the bases of which are attraction and repulsion; which may yet, indeed, derive their origin from One Only Source. In the morphological and geometrical displays of matter these phenomena assume a multitude of phases; all are interactive and interdependent, few are original or primary,—for example, heat and electricity are the offspring of motion which is the result of attractive and repulsive force.

What is force and what matter, whether the one is the essence of a self-conscious Creator and the other his handiwork, or whether both are the offspring of a blind chance or fate—which latter hypothesis is simply unthinkable—it is not my purpose here to consider. I propose in this analysis to take things as I find them, to study the operations rather than the origin of phenomena, to determine what man does rather than what he ought to do, and to drop the subject at the confines of transcendentalism. When, therefore, I speak of force as the life of matter, it no more implies a self-existant materialism in man, than the soul of man implies a pantheistic self-existant soul in nature. Omnipotence can as easily create and sustain a universe through the media of antagonistic and interdependent forces as through any other means, can as easily place nature and man under the governance of fixed laws as to hold all under varying arbitrary dispensations, and can reconcile these laws with man’s volition. Wells of bitterness are dug by disputants under meaningless words; scientists are charged with materialism and religionists with fanaticism, in their vain attempts to fathom the ways of the Almighty and restrict his powers to the limits of our weak understanding.

It has been said that, in the beginning, the sixty and odd supposed several elements of matter were in a chaotic state; that matter and force were poised in equilibrium or rioted at random throughout space, that out of this condition of things sprang form and development; regular motion and time began; matter condensed into revolving masses and marked off the days, and months, and years; organization and organisms were initiated and intellectual design became manifest. The infinitesimal molecules, balanced by universal equilibrium of forces, which before motion and time were but chaotic matter and force, were finally supposed to have been each endowed with an innate individuality. However this may be, we now see every atom in the universe athrill with force, and possessed of chemical virtues, and, under conditions, with the faculty of activity. As to the Force behind force, or how or by what means this innate energy was or is implanted in molecules, we have here nothing to do. It is sufficient for our purpose that we find it there; yet, the teachings of philosophy imply that this innate force is neither self-implanted nor self-operative; that whether, in pre-stellar times, infinitesimal particles of matter floated in space as nebulous fluid or objectless vapor without form or consistence, or whether all matter was united in one mass which was set revolving, and became broken into fragments, which were sent whirling as suns and planets in every direction; that in either case, or in any other conceivable case, matter, whether as molecules or masses, was primordially, and is, endowed and actuated by a Creative Intelligence, which implanting force, vitality, intellect, soul, progress, is ever acting, moving, mixing, unfolding, and this in every part and in all the multitudinous combinations of matter; and that all forces and vitalities must have co-existed in the mass, innate in and around every atom.

Theories of Newton and Laplace

Thus, in his great theory of the projectile impulse given to heavenly bodies in counteraction of the attractive impulse, Sir Isaac Newton assumes that both impulses were given from without; that some power foreign to themselves projected into space these heavenly bodies and holds them there. So, too, when Laplace promulgated the idea that in pre-planetary times space was filled with particles and vapors, solar systems existing only in a nebulous state and this nebula set revolving in one mass upon its own axis from west to east, and that as the velocity of this mass increased suns and planets were, by centrifugal force, thrown off and condensed into habitable but still whirling worlds, some impulse foreign to the revolving mass setting it in motion is implied.

With organization and motion, the phases of force, called heat, light, electricity and magnetism, hitherto held dormant in molecules are engendered; composition and decomposition ensue; matter assumes new and varying forms; a progressional development, which is nothing but intelligently directed motion, is initiated, and motion becomes eternal.

It is a well-established principle of physics that force cannot be created or lost. The conservation of force is not affected by the action or energies of moving bodies. Force is not created to set a body in motion, nor when expended, as we say, is it lost. The sum of all potential energies throughout the universe is always the same, whether matter is at rest or in motion. It is evident that so long as every molecule is charged with attractive force no atom can drop out into the depths of unoccupied and absolute space and become lost or annihilated; and so long as force is dependent on matter for its perceivable existence, force cannot escape beyond the confines of space and become lost in absolute void.

Not only are forces interdependent, but they are capable of being metamorphosed one into another. Thus intellectual energy invents a machine which drives a steamship across the ocean. This invention or creation of the mind is nothing else than a vitalization or setting at liberty of mechanical forces, and without this vitalization or applied intellectual force such mechanical force lies dormant as in so-called dead matter. Gravitation is employed to turn a water-wheel, caloric to drive a steam-engine, by means of either of which weights may be raised, heat, electricity, and light produced, and these new-created forces husbanded and made to produce still other forces or turned back into their original channels. And so in chemical and capillary action, the correlation of forces everywhere is found.

Intimacy of Mind and Matter

Between mind and matter there exists the most intimate relationship. Immateriality, in its various phases of force, life, intellect, so far as human consciousness can grasp it, is inseparable from materiality. The body is but part of the soil on which it treads, and the mind can receive no impressions except through the organs of the body. The brain is the seat of thought and the organ of thought; neither can exist in a normal state apart from the other. As a rule, the power of the intellect is in proportion to the size and quality of the brain. Among animals, those of lowest order have the least brains; man, the most intellectual of animals, has relatively, if not absolutely, the largest brain. True, in some of the largest animals the cerebral mass is larger than in man, but, in its chemical composition, its convolutions, shape, and quality, that in man is superior; and it is in the quality, rather than in the quantity of the nervous tissues, that their superiority consists. Intelligence enters the brain by the organs of the senses, and through the nervous system its subtle influence radiates to every part of the body. All human activities are either mental or mechanical; nor will it be denied that mental activity is produced by mechanical means, or, that mechanical activity is the result of mental force. Corporeal motion is mental force distributed to the various parts of the body.

The action of immaterial forces on the material substances of the human body manifestly accords with the action of immaterial forces elsewhere. All the physical and mechanical actions of the human body accord with the physical and mechanical forces elsewhere displayed. Man, we are told, was the last of all created things, but in the making of man no new matter was employed; nor in setting the body in motion can we discover that any new force was invented. Thus the heart beats upon mechanical principles; the eye sees, and the voice speaks in accordance with the general laws of optics and acoustics.

To the observer, organic activity is but the product of combined inorganic forces. The same processes are at work, and in the same manner, in living and in so-called dead matter. Life, to all appearance, is but the result of combined chemical and mechanical processes. Assimilation, digestion, secretion, are explainable by chemistry, and by chemistry alone. The stomach is a chemical retort, the body a chemical laboratory. Carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, combine and separate in the body as out of the body. The blood circulates upon purely mechanical principles; all muscular action is mechanical. In the phenomena of life, the only perceptible difference is in the combinations of fundamental elements; yet chemistry and mechanics cannot produce a live body.

With the foregoing well-recognized principles before us, let us now notice some few parallelisms between mechanical and social energetics.

Man, like every other natural substance, is a compound of force and matter. “Respiration,” says Liebig, “is the falling weight, the bent spring, which keeps the clock in motion; the inspirations and respirations are the strokes of the pendulum which regulates.” Atoms of matter, through the instrumentality of living force, cohere and coalesce under endless complex conditions into endless varieties of form and substance; so also the activities of man, corporeal and intellectual, result in vast accumulations of experiences, which accumulations become the property of the whole society. Society, like matter, is composed of units, each possessing certain forces, attractive and repulsive; societies act upon each other, like celestial bodies, in proportion to their volume and proximity, and the power of the unit increases with the increase of the mass. In association there is a force as silent and as subtle as that which governs atoms and holds worlds in equipoise; its grosser forms are known as government, worship, fashion, and the like; its finer essence is more delicate than thought. It is this social force, attractive and repulsive, that binds men together, tears them asunder, kneads, and knits, and shapes, and evolves; it is the origin of every birth, the ultimate of every activity. Mechanical forces are manifest in machines, as the lever, the wheel, the inclined plane; professional force is manifest in intellectual ingenuity, literature, art, science, which are the machines of human progress.

Materiality Acting on the Mind

How many of all our joys and sorrows, our loves and hates, our good and evil actions, spring from physical causes only? Even material substances display moods and affections, as when heated, electrified, decomposed, or set in motion; the sea at rest presents a different mood from the sea raging. Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s idea that the soul might be governed for its good by material things working through the media of the senses, is not so extravagant after all. “The gospel according to Jean-Jacques,” as Carlyle puts it, runs as follows on this point—and, indeed, the great Genevan evangelist at one time intended to devote a book to the subject under the title of La Morale Sensitive:—”The striking and numerous observations that I had collected were beyond all dispute; and, in their physical origin, they appeared to me proper for furnishing an exterior regimen, which, varied according to circumstances, should be able to place or maintain the soul in the state most favorable to virtue. How many wanderings one might save the reason, how many vices might be hindered birth, if one could but force the animal economy to favor the moral order that it troubles so often. Climates, seasons, sounds, colors, darkness, light, the elements, food, noise, silence, movement, repose, all act on our bodily frame, and, by consequence, on our soul; all offer us a thousand firm holds to govern, in their origin, those sentiments by which we allow ourselves to be dominated.”

In contemplating the numerous activities by which we are surrounded, again and again we are called upon to wonder at the marvelous regularity which characterizes all their movements. So regular are these movements, so sure are certain conditions to accompany certain results, that in physics, in chemistry, in physiology, and even in society, facts are collected and classified, and from them laws are discovered as fixed and irrevocable as the facts themselves, which laws, indeed, are themselves facts, no less than the facts from which they are deduced.

Highly cultivated nations frame laws that provide for many contingencies, but the code of nature has yet finer provisions. There are conditions that neither political nor social laws reach, there are none not reached by physical law; in society, criminals sometimes evade the law; in nature, never. So subtle are the laws of nature, that even thought cannot follow them; when we see that every molecule, by virtue of its own hidden force, attracts every other molecule, up to a certain point, and then from the same inherent influence every atom repels every other atom; when by experiments of physicists it has been proved that in polarization, crystallization, and chemical action, there is not the slightest deviation from an almost startling regularity, with many other facts of like import, how many natural laws do we feel to be yet unrevealed and, from the exquisite delicacy of their nature, unrevealable to our present coarse understanding.

It would be indeed strange, if, when all the universe is under the governance of fixed laws—laws which regulate the motion of every molecule, no less than the revolutions of suns—laws of such subtle import, as for instance, regulate the transformations of heat, the convertibility and correlation of force; it would be strange, I say, if such laws as these, when they reached the domain of human affairs should pause and leave the world of man alone in purposeless wanderings.

Analogies Between Man and Nature

To continue our analogies. As, latent in the atom, or in the mass, there are energies releasable only by heat or friction,—as in charcoal, which holds, locked up, muriatic acid gas equivalent to ninety times its volume; or in spongy platinum, which holds in like manner oxygen, equal to eight hundred times its volume; so, latent in every individual, are numberless energies, which demand the friction of society to call them out.

Force comprises two elements, attraction and repulsion, analagous to the principles commonly called good and evil in the affairs of human society; take away from mechanical force either of these two oppugnant elements, and there could be neither organism nor life, so without both good and evil in human affairs there could be no progress.

If none of the forces of nature are dissipated or lost, and if force can no more be extinguished than matter, and like matter passes from one form into another, we may conclude that intellectual force is never dissipated or lost, but that the potential energies of mind and soul perpetually vibrate between man and nature.

Or, again, if, as we have seen, energy of every kind is clothed in matter, and when employed and expended returns again to its place in matter; and if the mind draws its forces from the body, as it appears to do, both growing, acting, and declining simultaneously; and if the body draws its energy from the earth, which is no less possible; then may not intellectual and progressional force be derived from man’s environment, and return thither when expended? Every created being borrows its material from the storehouse of matter, and when uncreated restores it again; so every individual born into society becomes charged with social force, with progressional energy, which, when expended, rests with society. Winslow’s opinion on this subject is, that “all electric and magnetic currents originate in—are inducted from—and radiate either directly or indirectly out of the globe as the fountain of every form and constituency of mechanical force, and that abstract immaterial mechanical energy, as we have thus far discussed and developed its dual principles, is absolutely convertible through molecular motion into every form and expansion of secondary force, passing successively from heat through electricity, magnetism, etc., and vice versa, it follows that this same mechanical energy itself, as hypostatical motive power, must proceed out of the globe also.”

Thus is loaded with potential energy the universe of matter, generating life, mind, civilization, and hence we may conclude that whatever else it is, civilization is a force; that it is the sum of all the forces employed to drive humanity onward; that it acts on man as mechanical force acts on matter, attracting, repelling, pressing forward yet holding in equilibrium, and all under fixed and determined laws.

From all which it would appear that nothing is found in man that has not its counterpart in nature, and that all things that are related to man are related to each other; even immortal mind itself is not unlike that subtle force, inherent in, and working round every atom.

In this respect physical science is the precursor of social science. Nature produces man; man in his earlier conception of nature, that is in his gods, reproduces himself; and later, his knowledge of intrinsic self depends upon his knowledge of extrinsic agencies, so that as the laws that govern external nature are better understood, the laws that govern society are more definitely determined. The conditions of human progress can be wrought into a science only by pursuing the same course that raises into a science any branch of knowledge; that is, by collecting, classifying, and comparing facts, and therefrom discovering laws. Society must be studied as chemistry is studied; it must be analyzed, and its component parts—the solubilities, interactions, and crystallizations of religions, governments and fashions, ascertained. As in the earlier contemplations of physical nature, the action of the elements was deemed fortuitous, so in a superficial survey of society, all events appear to happen by chance; but on deeper investigation, in society as in physics, events apparently fortuitous, may be reduced to immutable law. To this end the life of mankind on the globe must be regarded as the life of one man, successions of societies as successions of days in that life; for the activities of nations are but the sum of the activities of the individual members thereof.

Physical Laws and Social Laws

We have seen that man’s organism, as far as it may be brought under exact observation, is governed by the same processes that govern elemental principles in inorganic nature. The will of man attempting to exert itself in antagonism to these laws of nature is wholly ineffectual. We are all conscious of a will, conscious of a certain freedom in the exercise of our will, but wholly unconscious as to the line of separation between volition and environment. Part of our actions arise from fixed necessity, part are the result of free will. Statistics, as they are accumulated and arranged, tend more and more to show that by far the greater part of human actions are not under individual control, and that the actions of masses are, in the main, wholly beyond the province of the human will.

Take the weather for a single day, and note the effect on the will. The direction of the wind not unfrequently governs one’s train of thought; resolution often depends upon the dryness of the atmosphere, benevolence upon the state of the stomach; misfortunes, arising from physical causes, have ere now changed the character of a ruler from one of lofty self-sacrifice, to one of peevish fretfulness, whereat his followers became estranged and his empire lost in consequence. In the prosecution of an enterprise, how often we find ourselves drifting far from the anticipated goal. The mind is governed by the condition of the body, the body by the conditions of climate and food; hence it is that many of our actions, which we conceive to be the result of free choice, arise from accidental circumstances.

It is only in the broader view of humanity that general laws are to be recognized, as Dr Draper remarks: “He who is immersed in the turmoil of a crowded city sees nothing but the acts of men; and, if he formed his opinion from his experience alone, must conclude that the course of events altogether depends on the uncertainties of human volition. But he who ascends to a sufficient elevation loses sight of the passing conflicts, and no longer hears the contentions. He discovers that the importance of individual action is diminishing as the panorama beneath him is extending; and if he could attain to the truly philosophical, the general point of view, disengage himself from all terrestrial influences and entanglements, rising high enough to see the whole at a glance, his acutest vision would fail to discern the slightest indication of man, his free will, or his works.”

Let us now glance at some of the manifestations of this progressional influence; first in its general aspects, after which we will notice its bearing on a few of the more important severalties intimately affecting humanity, such as religion, morality, government, and commerce,—for there is nothing that touches man’s welfare, no matter how lightly, in all his long journey from naked wildness to clothed and cultured intelligence, that is not placed upon him by this progressional impulse.

MANIFESTATIONS OF PROGRESSIONAL IMPULSE.

In every living thing there is an element of continuous growth; in every aggregation of living things there is an element of continuous improvement. In the first instance, a vital actuality appears; whence, no one can tell. As the organism matures, a new germ is formed, which, as the parent stock decays, takes its place and becomes in like manner the parent of a successor. Thus even death is but the door to new forms of life. In the second instance, a body corporate appears, no less a vital actuality than the first; a social organism in which, notwithstanding ceaseless births and deaths, there is a living principle. For while individuals are born and die, families live; while families are born and die, species live; while species are born and die, organic being assumes new forms and features. Herein the all-pervading principle of life, while flitting, is nevertheless permanent, while transient is yet eternal. But above and independent of perpetual birth and death is this element of continuous growth, which, like a spirit, walks abroad and mingles in the affairs of men. “All our progress,” says Emerson, “is an unfolding, like the vegetable bud. You have first an instinct; then an opinion, then a knowledge, as the plant has root bud and fruit.”

Under favorable conditions, and up to a certain point, stocks improve; by a law of natural selection the strongest and fittest survive, while the ill-favored and deformed perish; under conditions unfavorable to development, stocks remain stationary or deteriorate. Paradoxically, so far as we know, organs and organisms are no more perfect now than in the beginning; animal instincts are no keener, nor are their habitudes essentially changed. No one denies that stocks improve, for such improvement is perceptible and permanent; many deny that organisms improve, for if there be improvement it is imperceptible, and has thus far escaped proof. But, however this may be, it is palpable that the mind, and not the body, is the instrument and object of the progressional impulse.

Man in the duality of his nature is brought under two distinct dominions; materially he is subject to the laws that govern matter, mentally to the laws that govern mind; physiologically he is perfectly made and non-progressive, psychologically he is embryonic and progressive. Between these internal and external forces, between moral and material activities there may be, in some instances, an apparent antagonism. The mind may be developed in excess and to the detriment of the body, and the body may be developed in excess and to the detriment of the mind.

The animal man is a bundle of organs, with instincts implanted that set them in motion; man intellectual is a bundle of sentiments, with an implanted soul that keeps them effervescent; mankind in the mass, society,—we see the fermentations, we mark the transitions; is there, then, a soul in aggregated humanity as there is in individual humanity?

The instincts of man’s animality teach the organs to perform their functions as perfectly at the first as at the last; the instincts of man’s intellectuality urge him on in an eternal race for something better, in which perfection is never attained nor attainable; in society, we see the constant growth, the higher and yet higher development; now in this ever-onward movement are there instincts which originate and govern action in the body social as in the body individual? Is not society a bundle of organs, with an implanted Soul of Progress, which moves mankind along in a resistless predetermined march?

Nations are born and die; they appear first in a state of infancy or savagism; many die in their childhood, some grow into manhood and rule for a time the destinies of the world; finally, by sudden extinction, or a lingering decrepitude, they disappear, and others take their place. But in this ceaseless coming and going there is somewhere a mysterious agency at work, making men better, wiser, nobler, whether they will or not. This improvement is not the effect of volition; the plant does not will to unfold, nor the immature animal to grow; neither can the world of human kind cease to advance in mind and in manners. Development is the inevitable incident of being. Nations, under normal conditions, can no more help advancing than they can throw themselves into a state of non-existence; than can the individual stop his corporeal growth, or shut out from the intellect every perception of knowledge, and become a living petrification. And in whatever pertains to intellectual man this fundamental principle is apparent. It underlies all moralities, governments, and religions, all industries, arts, and commerce; it is the mainspring of every action, the consequence of every cause; it is the great central idea toward which all things converge; it is the object of all efforts, the end of all successes; it absorbs all forces, and is the combined results of innumerable agencies, good and evil.

Before the theory of Dr von Martius and his followers, that the savage state is but a degeneration from something higher, can become tenable, the whole order of nature must be reversed. Races may deteriorate, civilized peoples relapse into barbarism, but such relapse cannot take place except under abnormal conditions. We cannot believe that any nation, once learning the use of iron would cast it away for stone. Driven from an iron-yielding land, the knowledge of iron might at last be forgotten, but its use would never be voluntarily relinquished. And so with any of the arts or inventions of man. Societies, like individuals, are born, mature, and decay; they grow old and die; they may pause in their progress, become diseased, and thereby lose their strength and retrograde, but they never turn around and grow backward or ungrow,—they could not if they would.

Brutes Cannot Progress

In the brute creation this element of progress is wanting. The bird builds its nest, the bee its cell, the beaver its dam, with no more skill or elaboration to-day, than did the bird or bee or beaver primeval. The instinct of animals does not with time become intellect; their comforts do not increase, their sphere of action does not enlarge. By domestication, stocks may be improved, but nowhere do we see animals uniting for mutual improvement, or creating for themselves an artificial existence. So in man, whose nature comprises both the animal and the intellectual, the physical organism neither perceptibly advances nor deteriorates. The features may, indeed, beam brighter from the light of a purer intellectuality cast upon them from within, but the hand, the eye, the heart, so far as we know, is no more perfect now than in the days of Adam.

As viewed by Mr Bagehot, the body of the accomplished man “becomes, by training, different from what it once was, and different from that of the rude man, becomes charged with stored virtue and acquired faculty which come away from it unconsciously.” But the body of the accomplished man dies, and the son can in no wise inherit it, whereas the soul of his accomplishments does not die, but lives in the air, and becomes part of the vital breath of society. And, again, “power that has been laboriously acquired and stored up as statical in one generation” sometimes, says Maudsley, “becomes the inborn faculty of the next; and the development takes place in accordance with that law of increasing speciality and complexity of adaption to external nature which is traceable through the animal kingdom; or, in other words, that law of progress, from the general to the special, in development, which the appearance of nerve force amongst natural forces and the complexity of the nervous system of man both illustrate.” On the other side John Stuart Mill is just as positive that culture is not inherent. “Of all vulgar modes,” he remarks, “of escaping from the consideration of the effect of social and moral influences on the human mind, the most vulgar is that of attributing the diversities of conduct and character to inherent natural differences;” and, says Mr Buckle, “we cannot safely assume that there has been any permanent improvement in the moral or intellectual faculties of man, nor have we any decisive ground for saying that those faculties are likely to be greater in an infant born in the most civilized part of Europe, than in one born in the wildest region of a barbarous country.”

Whether or not the nervous system, which is the connective tissue between man’s animality and his intellectuality, transmits its subtle forces from one generation to another, we may be sure that the mind acts on the nerves, and the nerves on every part of the system, and that the intelligence of the mind influences and governs the materialism of the body, and the consequences in some way are felt by succeeding generations; but that the mind becomes material, and its qualities transmitted to posterity, is an hypothesis yet unestablished.

IMPROVEMENT PURELY INTELLECTUAL.

Moreover we may safely conclude that the improvement of mankind is a phenomenon purely intellectual.

Not that the improvement of the mind is wholly independent of the condition of the body; for, as we shall hereafter see, so intimate is the connection between the mind and the body, that the first step toward intellectual advancement cannot be taken until the demands of the body are satisfied. Nervous phenomena are dependent upon the same nutritive processes that govern physical development; and that this nerve force, through whose agency the system is charged with intellectuality, as the molecule is charged with mechanical force, does exist, is capable, to some extent, of transmitting acquirements or artificial instincts from parent to child, we have every reason to believe; but, so far as we know, intellectual force, per se, is no more a transmittable entity than is the flesh-quivering of the slain ox life.

The strangest part of it all is, that though wrought out by man as the instrument, and while acting in the capacity of a free agent, this spirit of progress is wholly independent of the will of man. Though in our individual actions we imagine ourselves directed only by our free will, yet in the end it is most difficult to determine what is the result of free will, and what of inexorable environment. While we think we are regulating our affairs, our affairs are regulating us. We plan out improvements, predetermine the best course and follow it, sometimes; yet, for all that, the principle of social progress is not the man, is not in the man, forms no constituent of his physical or psychical individual being; it is the social atmosphere into which the man is born, into which he brings nothing and from which he takes nothing. While a member of society he adds his quota to the general fund and there leaves it; while acting as a free agent he performs his part in working out this problem of social development, performs it unconsciously, willing or unwilling he performs it, his baser passions being as powerful instruments of progress as his nobler; for avarice drives on intellect as effectually as benevolence, hate as love, and selfishness does infinitely more for the progress of mankind than philanthropy. Thus is humanity played upon by this principle of progress, and the music sometimes is wonderful; green fields as if by magic take the place of wild forests, magnificent cities rise out of the ground, the forces of nature are brought under the dominion of man’s intelligence, and senseless substances endowed with speech and action.

It is verily as Carlyle says; “under the strangest new vesture, the old great truth (since no vesture can hide it) begins again to be revealed: That man is what we call a miraculous creature, with miraculous power over men; and, on the whole, with such a Life in him, and such a World round him, as victorious Analysis, with her Physiologies, Nervous Systems, Physic and Metaphysic, will never completely name, to say nothing of explaining.”

Thus, to sum up the foregoing premises: in society, between two or more individuals, there is at work a mysterious energy, not unlike that of force between molecules or life in the organism; this social energy is under intelligent governance, not fortuitous nor causeless, but reducible to fixed law, and capable of being wrought into a science; is, moreover, a vital actuality, not an incident nor an accident, but an entity, as attraction and repulsion are entities; under this agency society, perforce, develops like the plant from a germ. This energy acts on the intellect, and through the intellect on the organism; acts independently of the will, and cannot be created or destroyed by man; is not found in the brute creation, is not transmittable by generation through individuals, is wrought out by man as a free-will agent, though acting unconsciously, and is the product alike of good and evil.

CAUSES OF MAN’S DEVELOPMENT.

As to the causes which originate progressional phenomena there are differences of opinion. One sees in the intellect the germ of an eternal unfolding; another recognizes in the soul-element the vital principle of progress, and attributes to religion all the benefits of enlightenment; one builds a theory on the ground-work of a fundamental and innate morality; another discovers in the forces of nature the controlling influence upon man’s destiny; while yet others, as we have seen, believe accumulative and inherent nervous force to be the media through which culture is transmitted. Some believe that moral causes create the physical, others that physical causes create the moral.

Thus Mr Buckle attempts to prove that man’s development is wholly dependent upon his physical surroundings. Huxley points to a system of reflex actions,—mind acting on matter, and matter on mind,—as the possible culture-basis. Darwin advances the doctrine of an evolution from vivified matter as the principle of progressive development. In the transmution of nerve-element from parents to children, Bagehot sees “the continuous force which binds age to age, which enables each to begin with some improvement on the last, if the last did itself improve; which makes each civilization not a set of detached dots, but a line of color, surely enhancing shade by shade.” Some see in human progress the ever-ruling hand of a divine providence, others the results of man’s skill; with some it is free will, with others necessity; some believe that intellectual development springs from better systems of government, others that wealth lies at the foundation of all culture; every philosopher recognizes some cause, invents some system, or brings human actions under the dominion of some species of law.

As in animals of the same genus or species, inhabiting widely different localities, we see the results of common instincts, so in the evolutions of the human race, divided by time or space, we see the same general principles at work. So too it would seem, whether species are one or many, whether man is a perfectly created being or an evolution from a lower form, that all the human races of the globe are formed on one model and governed by the same laws. In the customs, languages, and myths of ages and nations far removed from each other in social, moral, and mental characteristics, innumerable and striking analogies exist. Not only have all nations weapons, but many who are separated from each other by a hemisphere use the same weapon; not only is belief universal, but many relate the same myth; and to suppose the bow and arrow to have had a common origin, or that all flood-myths, and myths of a future life are but offshoots from Noachic and Biblical narratives is scarcely reasonable.

It is easier to tell what civilization is not, and what it does not spring from, than what it is and what its origin. To attribute its rise to any of the principles, ethical, political, or material, that come under the cognizance of man, is fallacy, for it is as much an entity as any other primeval principle; nor may we, with Archbishop Whately, entertain the doctrine that civilization never could have arisen had not the Creator appeared upon earth as the first instructor; for, unfortunately for this hypothesis, the aboriginals supposedly so taught, were scarcely civilized at all, and compare unfavorably with the other all-perfect works of creation; so that this sort of reasoning, like innumerable other attempts of man to limit the powers of Omnipotence, and narrow them down to our weak understandings, is little else than puerility.

Society Essential to Intellect

Nor, as we have seen, is this act of civilizing the effect of volition; nor, as will hereafter more clearly appear, does it arise from an inherent principle of good any more than from an inherent principle of evil. The ultimate result, though difficult of proof, we take for granted to be good, but the agencies employed for its consummation number among them more of those we call evil than of those we call good. The isolated individual never, by any possibility, can become civilized like the social man; he cannot even speak, and without a flow of words there can be no complete flow of thought. Send him forth away from his fellow-man to roam the forest with the wild beasts, and he would be almost as wild and beastlike as his companions; it is doubtful if he would ever fashion a tool, but would not rather with his claws alone procure his food, and forever remain as he now is, the most impotent of animals. The intellect, by which means alone man rises above other animals, never could work, because the intellect is quickened only as it comes in contact with intellect. The germ of development therein implanted cannot unfold singly any more than the organism can bear fruit singly. It is a well-established fact that the mind without language cannot fully develop; it is likewise established that language is not inherent, that it springs up between men, not in them. Language, like civilization, belongs to society, and is in no wise a part or the property of the individual. “For strangely in this so solid-seeming World,” says Carlyle, “which nevertheless is in continual restless flux, it is appointed that Sound, to appearance the most fleeting, should be the most continuing of all things.” And further, as remarked by Herbert Spencer: “Now that the transformation and equivalence of forces is seen by men of science to hold not only throughout all inorganic actions, but throughout all organic actions; now that even mental changes are recognized as the correlatives of cerebral changes, which also conform to this principle; and now that there must be admitted the corollary, that all actions going on in a society are measured by certain antecedent energies, which disappear in effecting them, while they themselves become actual or potential energies from which subsequent actions arise; it is strange that there should not have arisen the consciousness that these higher phenomena are to be studied as lower phenomena have been studied—not, of course, after the same physical methods, but in conformity with the same principles.”

We may hold then, a priori, that this progressional principle exists; that it exists not more in the man than around him; that it requires an atmosphere in which to live, as life in the body requires an atmosphere which is its vital breath, and that this atmosphere is generated only by the contact of man with man. Under analysis this social atmosphere appears to be composed of two opposing principles—good and evil—which, like attraction and repulsion, or positive and negative electricity, underlie all activities. One is as essential to progress as the other; either, in excess or disproportionately administered, like an excess of oxygen or of hydrogen in the air, becomes pernicious, engenders social disruptions and decay which continue until the equilibrium is restored; yet all the while with the progress of humanity the good increases while the evil diminishes. Every impulse incident to humanity is born of the union of these two opposing principles. For example, as I have said, and will attempt more fully to show further on, association is the first requisite of progress. But what is to bring about association? Naked nomads will not voluntarily yield up their freedom, quit their wanderings, hold conventions and pass resolutions concerning the greatest good to the greatest number; patriotism, love, benevolence, brotherly kindness, will not bring savage men together; extrinsic force must be employed, an iron hand must be laid upon them which will compel them to unite, else there can be no civilization; and to accomplish this first great good to man,—to compel mankind to take the initial step toward the amelioration of their condition,—it is ordained that an evil, or what to us of these latter times is surely an evil, come forward,—and that evil is War.

Evil as a Stimulant of Progress

Primeval man, in his social organization, is patriarchal, spreading out over vast domains in little bands or families, just large enough to be able successfully to cope with wild beasts. And in that state humanity would forever remain did not some terrible cause force these bands to confederate. War is an evil, originating in hateful passions and ending in dire misery; yet without war, without this evil, man would forever remain primitive. But something more is necessary. War brings men together for a purpose, but it is insufficient to hold them together; for when the cause which compacted them no longer exists, they speedily scatter, each going his own way. Then comes in superstition to the aid of progress. A successful leader is first feared as a man, then reverenced as a supernatural being, and finally himself, or his descendant, in the flesh or in tradition, is worshiped as a god. Then an unearthly fear comes upon mankind, and the ruler, perceiving his power, begins to tyrannize over his fellows. Both superstition and tyranny are evils; yet, without war superstition and tyranny, dire evils, civilization, which many deem the highest good, never by any possibility, as human nature is, could be. But more of the conditions of progress hereafter; what I wish to establish here is, that evil is no less a stimulant of development than good, and that in this principle of progress are manifest the same antagonism of forces apparent throughout physical nature; the same oppugnant energies, attractive and repulsive, positive and negative, everywhere existing. It is impossible for two or more individuals to be brought into contact with each other, whether through causes or for purposes good or evil, without ultimate improvement to both. I say whether through causes or for purposes good or evil, for, to the all-pervading principle of evil, civilization is as much indebted as to the all-pervading principle of good. Indeed, the beneficial influences of this unwelcome element have never been generally recognized. Whatever be this principle of evil, whatever man would be without it, the fact is clearly evident that to it civilization, whatever that may be, owes its existence. “The whole tendency of political economy and philosophical history,” says Lecky, “which reveal the physiology of society, is to show that the happiness and welfare of mankind are evolved much more from our selfish than what are termed our virtuous acts.” No wonder that devil-worship obtains, in certain parts, when to his demon the savage finds himself indebted for skill not only to overthrow subordinate deities, but to cure diseases, to will an enemy to death, to minister to the welfare of departed friends, as well as to add materially to his earthly store of comforts. The world, such as it is, man finds himself destined for a time to inhabit. Within him and around him the involuntary occupant perceives two agencies at work; agencies apparently oppugnant, yet both tending to one end—improvement; and Night or Day, Love or Crime, leads all souls to the Good, as Emerson sings. The principle of evil acts as a perpetual stimulant, the principle of good as a reward of merit. United in their operation, there is a constant tendency toward a better condition, a higher state; apart, the result would be inaction. For, civilization being a progression and not a fixed condition, without incentives, that is without something to escape from and something to escape to, there could be no transition, and hence no civilization.

Had man been placed in the world perfected and sinless, obviously there would be no such thing as progress. The absence of evil implies perfect good, and perfect good perfect happiness. Were man sinless and yet capable of increasing knowledge, the incentive would be wanting, for, if perfectly happy, why should he struggle to become happier? The advent of civilization is in the appearance of a want, and the first act of civilization springs from the attempt to supply the want. The man or nation that wants nothing remains inactive, and hence does not advance; so that it is not in what we have but in what we have not that civilization consists. These wants are forced upon us, implanted within us, inseparable from our being; they increase with an increasing supply, grow hungry from what they feed on; in quick succession, aspirations, emulations, and ambitions spring up and chase each other, keeping the fire of discontent ever glowing, and the whole human race effervescent.

The tendency of civilizing force, like the tendency of mechanical force, is toward an equilibrium, toward a never-attainable rest. Obviously there can be no perfect equilibrium, no perfect rest, until all evil disappears, but in that event the end of progress would be attained, and humanity would be perfect and sinless.

Man at the outset is not what he may be, he is capable of improvement or rather of growth; but childlike, the savage does not care to improve, and consequently must be scourged into it. Advancement is the ultimate natural or normal state of man; humanity on this earth is destined some day to be relatively, if not absolutely, good and happy.

The healthy body has appetites, in the gratification of which lies its chiefest enjoyment; the healthy mind has proclivities, the healthy soul intuitions, in the exercise and activities of which the happiest life is attainable; and in as far as the immaterial and immortal in our nature is superior to the material and mortal, in so far does the education and development of our higher nature contribute in a higher degree to our present benefit and our future well-being.

Labor a Civilizing Agent

There is another thought in this connection well worthy our attention. In orthodox and popular parlance, labor is a curse entailed on man by vindictive justice; yet viewed as a civilizing agent, labor is man’s greatest blessing. Throughout all nature there is no such thing found as absolute inertness; and, as in matter, so with regard to our faculties, no sooner do they begin to rest than they begin to rot, and even in the rotting they can obtain no rest. One of the chief objects of labor is to get gain, and Dr Johnson holds that “men are seldom more innocently employed than when they are making money.”

Human experience teaches, that in the effort is greater pleasure than in the end attained; that labor is the normal condition of man; that in acquisition, that is progress, is the highest happiness; that passive enjoyment is inferior to the exhilaration of active attempt. Now imagine the absence from the world of this spirit of evil, and what would be the result? Total inaction. But before inaction can become more pleasurable than action, man’s nature must be changed. Not to say that evil is a good thing, clearly there is a goodness in things evil; and in as far as the state of escaping from evil is more pleasurable than the state of evil escaped from, in so far is evil conducive to happiness.

The effect of well-directed labor is twofold; by exercise our faculties strengthen and expand, and at the same time the returns of that labor give us leisure in which to direct our improved faculties to yet higher aims. By continual efforts to increase material comforts, greater skill is constantly acquired, and the mind asserts more and more its independence. Increasing skill yields ever increased delights, which encourage and reward our labor. This, up to a certain point; but with wealth and luxury comes relaxed energy. Without necessity there is no labor; without labor no advancement. Corporeal necessity first forces corporeal activity; then the intellect goes to work to contrive means whereby labor may be lessened and made more productive.

Evil Tends to Disappear

The discontent which arises from discomfort, lies at the root of every movement; but then comfort is a relative term and complete satisfaction is never attained. Indeed, as a rule, the more squalid and miserable the race, the more are they disposed to settle down and content themselves in their state of discomfort. What is discomfort to one is luxury to another; “the mark of rank in nature is capacity for pain”; in following the intellectual life, the higher the culture the greater the discontent; the greater the acquisition, the more eagerly do men press forward toward some higher and greater imaginary good. We all know that blessings in excess become the direst curses; but few are conscious where the benefit of a blessing terminates and the curse begins, and fewer still of those who are able thus to discriminate have the moral strength to act upon that knowledge. As a good in excess is an evil, so evil as it enlarges outdoes itself and tends toward self-annihilation. If we but look about us, we must see that to burn up the world in order to rid it of gross evil—a dogma held by some—is unnecessary, for accumulative evils ever tend towards reaction. Excessive evils are soonest remedied; the equilibrium of the evil must be maintained, or the annihilation of the evil ensues.

Institutions and principles essentially good at one time are essential evils at another time. The very aids and agencies of civilization become afterward the greatest drags upon progress. At one time it would seem that blind faith was essential to improvement, at another time skepticism, at one time order and morality, at another time lawlessness and rapine; for so it has ever been, and whether peace and smiling plenty, or fierce upheavals and dismemberments predominate, from every social spasm as well as fecund leisure, civilization shoots forward in its endless course. The very evils which are regarded as infamous by a higher culture were the necessary stepping-stones to that higher life. As we have seen, no nation ever did or can emerge from barbarism without first placing its neck under the yokes of despotism and superstition; therefore, despotism and superstition, now dire evils, were once essential benefits. No religion ever attained its full development except under persecution. Our present evils are constantly working out for humanity unforeseen good. All systems of wrongs and fanaticisms are but preparing us for and urging us on to a higher state.

If then civilization is a predestined, ineluctable, and eternal march away from things evil toward that which is good, it must be that throughout the world the principle of good is ever increasing and that of evil decreasing. And this is true. Not only does evil decrease, but the tendency is ever toward its disappearance. Gradually the confines of civilization broaden; the central principle of human progress attains greater intensity, and the mind assumes more and more its lordly power over matter.

The moment we attempt to search out the cause of any onward movement we at once encounter this principle of evil. The old-time aphorism that life is a perpetual struggle; the first maxim of social ethics ‘the greatest happiness to the greatest number’; indeed, every thought and action of our lives points in the same direction. From what is it mankind is so eager to escape; with what do we wrestle; for what do we strive? We fly from that which gives pain to that which gives pleasure; we wrestle with agencies which bar our escape from a state of infelicity; we long for happiness.

IS CIVILIZATION CONDUCIVE TO HAPPINESS?

Then comes the question, What is happiness? Is man polished and refined happier than man wild and unfettered; is civilization a blessing or a curse? Rousseau, we know, held it to be the latter; but not so Virey. “What!” he exclaims, “is he happier than the social man, this being abandoned in his maladies, uncared for even by his children in his improvident old age, exposed to ferocious beasts, in fear of his own kind, even of the cannibal’s tooth? The civilized man, surrounded in his feebleness by affectionate attention, sustains a longer existence, enjoys more pleasure and daily comforts, is better protected against inclemencies of weather and all external ills. The isolated man must suffice for himself, must harden himself to endure any privation; his very existence depends upon his strength, and if necessity requires it of him, he must be ready to abandon wife and children and life itself at any moment. Such cruel misery is rare in social life, where the sympathies of humanity are awakened, and freely exercised.”

Continue these simple interrogatories a little farther and see where we land. Is the wild bird, forced to long migrations for endurable climates and food, happier than the caged bird which buys a daily plentiful supply for a song? Is the wild beast, ofttimes hungry and hunted, happier than its chained brother of the menagerie? Is the wild horse, galloping with its fellows over the broad prairie, happier than the civilized horse of carriage, cart, or plow? May we not question whether the merchant, deep in his speculating ventures, or the man of law, poring over his brain-tearing brief, derives a keener sense of enjoyment than does the free forest-native, following the war-path or pursuing his game?

As I have attempted to show, civilization is not an end attained, for man is never wholly civilized,—but only the effort to escape from an evil, or an imaginary evil—savagism. I say an evil real or imaginary, for as we have seen, the question has been seriously discussed whether civilization is better or worse than savagism. For every advantage which culture affords, a price must be paid,—some say too great a price. The growth of the mind is dependent upon its cultivation, but this cultivation may be voluntary or involuntary, it may be a thing desired or a thing abhorred.

Every nation, every society, and every person has its or his own standard of happiness. The miser delights in wealth, the city belle in finery, the scholar in learning. The Christian’s heaven is a spiritual city, where they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; the Norse-man’s a Valhalla of alternate battle and wassail; the Mahometan’s, a paradise of houris and lazy sensuality. The martyr at the stake, triumphant in his faith, may be happier than the man of fashion dying of ennui and gout; the savage, wandering through forest and over plain in pursuit of game, or huddled in his hut with wives and children, may be happier than the care-laden speculator or the wrangling politician. Content, the essence of all happiness, is as prevalent among the poor and ill-mannered, as among the rich, refined and civilized. Ubi bene, ibi patria, where it is well with me, there is my country, is the motto of the Indian,—and to be well with him signifies only to be beyond the reach of hunger and enemies. Ask the savage which is preferable, a native or a cultured state, and he will answer the former; ask the civilized man, and he will say the latter. I do not see any greater absurdity in the wild man saying to the tamed one: Give up the despotisms and diseases of society and throw yourself with me upon beauteous, bounteous nature; than in the European saying to the American: If you would find happiness, abandon your filth and naked freedom, accept Christianity and cotton shirts, go to work in a mission, rot on a reservation, or beg and starve in civilized fashion!

Of all animals, man alone has broken down the barriers of his nature in civilizing, or, as Rousseau expresses it, in denaturalizing himself; and for this denaturalization some natural good must be relinquished; to every infringement of nature’s law, there is a penalty attached; for a more delicate organism the price is numberless new diseases; for political institutions the price is native freedom. With polished manners the candidate for civilization must accept affectation, social despotism; with increasing wealth, increasing wants; civilization engenders complexity in society, and in its turn is engendered thereby. Peoples the most highly cultured are moved by the most delicate springs; a finer touch, the result of greater skill, with a finer tone, the result of greater experience, produces music more and yet more exquisite.

Subjective and Objective Humanity

Were man only an animal, this denaturalization and more, would be true. The tamed brute gives up all the benefits of savagism for few of the blessings of civilization; in a cultured state, as compared to a state of wild freedom, its ills are numberless, its advantages infinitesimal. But human nature is twofold, objective and subjective, the former typical of the savage state, the latter of the civilized. Man is not wholly animal; and by cultivating the mind, that is, by civilizing himself, he is no more denaturalized than by cultivating the body, and thereby acquiring greater physical perfection. We cannot escape our nature; we cannot re-create ourselves; we can only submit ourselves to be polished and improved by the eternal spirit of progress. The moral and the intellectual are as much constituents of human nature as the physical; civilization, therefore, is as much the natural state of man as savagism.

Another more plausible and partially correct assertion is, that by the development of the subjective part of our nature, objective humanity becomes degenerated. The intellectual cannot be wrought up to the highest state of cultivation except at the expense of the physical, nor the physical fully developed without limiting the mental. The efforts of the mind draw from the energies of the body; the highest and healthiest vigor of the body can only be attained when the mind is at rest, or in a state of careless activity. In answer to which I should say that beyond a certain point, it is true; one would hardly train successfully for a prize fight and the tripos at the same time; but that the non-intellectual savage, as a race, is physically superior, capable of enduring greater fatigue, or more skillful in muscular exercise than the civilized man is inconsistent with facts. Civilization has its vices as well as its virtues, savagism has its advantages as well as its demerits.

The evils of savagism are not so great as we imagine; its pleasures more than we are apt to think. As we become more and more removed from evils their magnitude enlarges; the fear of suffering increases as suffering is less experienced and witnessed. If savagism holds human life in light esteem, civilization makes death more hideous than it really is; if savagism is more cruel, it is less sensitive. Combatants accustomed to frequent encounter think lightly of wounds, and those whose life is oftenest imperiled think least of losing it. Indifference to pain is not necessarily the result of cruelty; it may arise as well from the most exalted sentiment as from the basest.

Civilization not only engenders new vices, but proves the destroyer of many virtues. Among the wealthier classes energy gives way to enjoyment, luxury saps the foundation of labor, progress becomes paralyzed, and with now and then a noble exception, but few earnest workers in the paths of literature, science, or any of the departments which tend to the improvement of mankind, are to be found among the powerful and the affluent, while the middle classes are absorbed in money-getting, unconsciously thereby, it is true, working toward the ends of civilization.

That civilization is expedient, that it is a good, that it is better than savagism, we who profess to be civilized entertain no doubt. Those who believe otherwise must be ready to deny that health is better than disease, truth than superstition, intellectual power than stupid ignorance; but whether the miseries and vices of savagism, or those of civilization are the greater, is another question. The tendency of civilization is, on the whole, to purify the morals, to give equal rights to man, to distribute more equally among men the benefits of this world, to melioriate wholesale misery and degradation, offer a higher aim and the means of accomplishing a nobler destiny, to increase the power of the mind and give it dominion over the forces of nature, to place the material in subservience to the mental, to elevate the individual and regulate society. True, it may be urged that this heaping up of intellectual fruits tends toward monopoly, toward making the rich richer and the poor poorer, but I still hold that the benefits of civilization are for the most part evenly distributed; that wealth beyond one’s necessity is generally a curse to the possessor greater than the extreme of poverty, and that the true blessings of culture and refinement like air and sunshine are free to all.

Civilization, it is said, multiplies wants, but then they are ennobling wants, better called aspirations, and many of these civilization satisfies.

If civilization breeds new vices, old ones are extinguished by it. Decency and decorum hide the hideousness of vice, drive it into dark corners, and thereby raise the tone of morals and weaken vice. Thus civilization promotes chastity, elevates woman, breaks down the barriers of hate and superstition between ancient nations and religions; individual energy, the influence of one over the many, becomes less and less felt, and the power of the people becomes stronger.

Civilization in itself can not but be beneficial to man; that which makes society more refined, more intellectual, less bestial, more courteous; that which cures physical and mental diseases, increases the comforts and luxury of life, purifies religions, makes juster governments, must surely be beneficial: it is the universal principle of evil which impregnates all human affairs, alloying even current coin, which raises the question. That there are evils attending civilization as all other benefits, none can deny, but civilization itself is no evil.

Conditions Essential to Progress

If I have succeeded in presenting clearly the foregoing thoughts, enough has been said as to the nature and essence of civilization; let us now examine some of the conditions essential to intellectual development. For it must not be forgotten that, while every department of human progress is but the unfolding of a germ; while every tendency of our life, every custom and creed of our civilization finds its rudiment in savagism; while, as man develops, no new elements of human nature are created by the process; while, as the organism of the child is as complex and complete as the organism of the man, so is humanity in a savage state the perfect germ of humanity civilized,—it must not be forgotten in all this, that civilization cannot unfold except under favorable conditions. Just as the plant, though endowed with life which corresponds to the mind-principle in progress, requires for its growth a suitable soil and climate, so this progressional phenomenon must have soil and sunshine before it yields fruit; and this is another proof that civilization is not in the man more than around him; for if the principle were inherent in the individual, then the Hyperborean, with his half year of light and half year of underground darkness, must of necessity become civilized equally with the man born amidst the sharpening jostles of a European capital, for in all those parts that appertain solely to the intrinsic individual, the one develops as perfectly as the other. A people undergoing the civilizing process need not necessarily, does not indeed, advance in every species of improvement at the same time; in some respects the nation may be stationary, in others even retrograde. Every age and every nation has its special line of march. Literature and the fine arts reached their height in pagan Greece; monotheism among the Hebrews; science unfolded in Egypt, and government in Rome.

In every individual there is some one talent that can be cultivated more advantageously than any other; so it is with nations, every people possesses some natural advantage for development in some certain direction over every other people, and often the early history of a nation, like the precocious proclivities of the child, points toward its future; and in such arts and industries as its climate and geographical position best enable it to develop, is discovered the germ of national character. Seldom is the commercial spirit developed in the interior of a continent, or the despotic spirit on the border of the sea, or the predatory spirit in a country wholly devoid of mountains and fastnesses. It cannot be said that one nation or race is inherently better fitted for civilization than another; all may not be equally fitted for exactly the same civilization, but all are alike fitted for that civilization which, if left to itself, each will work out.

Mankind, moreover, advances spasmodically, and in certain directions only at a time, which is the greatest drawback to progress. As Lecky remarks: “Special agencies, such as religious or political institutions, geographical conditions, traditions, antipathies, and affinities, exercise a certain retarding, accelerating, or deflecting influence, and somewhat modify the normal progress.” Perfect development only is permanent, and that alone is perfect which develops the whole man and the whole society equally in all its parts; all the activities, mental, moral, and physical, must needs grow in unison and simultaneously, and this alone is perfect and permanent development. Should all the world become civilized there will still be minor differences; some will advance further in one direction and some in another, all together will form the complete whole.

Civilization as an exotic seldom flourishes. Often has the attempt been made by a cultivated people to civilize a barbarous nation, and as often has it failed. True, one nation may force its arts or religion upon another, but to civilize is neither to subjugate nor annihilate; foreigners may introduce new industries and new philosophies, which the uncultured may do well to accept, but as civilization is an unfolding, and not a creation, he who would advance civilization must teach society how to grow, how to enlarge its better self; must teach in what direction its highest interests lie.

Thus it appears that, while this germ of progress is innate in every human society, certain conditions are more favorable to its development than others,—conditions which act as stimulants or impediments to progress. Often we see nations remain apparently stationary, the elements of progress evenly balanced by opposing influences, and thus they remain until by internal force, or external pressure, their system expands or explodes, until they absorb or are absorbed by antagonistic elements. The intrinsic force of the body social appears to demand extrinsic prompting before it will manifest itself. Like the grains of wheat in the hand of Belzoni’s mummy, which held life slumbering for three thousand years, and awoke to growth when buried in the ground, so the element of human progress lies dormant until planted in a congenial soil and surrounded by those influences which provoke development.

This stimulant, which acts upon and unfolds the intellect, can be administered only through the medium of the senses. Nerve force, which precedes intellectual force, is supplied by the body; the cravings of man’s corporeal nature, therefore, must be quieted before the mind can fix itself on higher things. The first step toward teaching a savage is to feed him; the stomach satisfied he will listen to instruction, not before.

Cultivation of at least the most necessary of the industrial arts invariably precedes cultivation of the fine arts; the intellect must be implanted in a satisfied body before it will take root and grow. The mind must be allowed some respite from its attendance on the body, before culture can commence; it must abandon its state of servitude, and become master; in other words, leisure is an essential of culture.

As association is the primal condition of progress, let us see how nature throws societies together or holds them asunder. In some directions there are greater facilities for intercommunication (another essential of improvement) than in other directions. Wherever man is most in harmony with nature, there he progresses most rapidly; wherever nature offers the greatest advantages, such as a sea that invites to commerce, an elevated plateau lifting its occupants above the malaria of a tropical lowland, a sheltering mountain range that wards off inclement winds and bars out hostile neighbors, there culture flourishes best.

Objective and Subjective Stimulants

So that humanity, in its twofold nature, is dependent for its development upon two distinct species of stimulants, objective and subjective. Material causations, or those forces which minister to the requirements of man’s material nature but upon which his intellectual progress is dependent, are configurations of surface, soil, climate, and food. Those physical conditions which, when favorable, give to their possessors wealth and leisure, are the inevitable precursors of culture. Immaterial causations are those forces which act more directly upon man’s immaterial nature, as association, religion, wealth, leisure, and government. Continuing the analysis, let us first examine physical stimulants. Admitting readily two of M. Taine’s primordial humanity-moving forces, ‘le milieu’ or environment, and his ‘le moment’ or inherited impulse, we will pass over the third force ‘la race’;—for inherent differences in race, in the present stage of science, are purely hypothetical; it remains yet to be proved that one nation is primarily inherently inferior or superior to another nation. That man once created is moulded and modified by his environment, there can be no doubt. Even a cursory survey of the globe presents some indications favorable and unfavorable to the unfolding of the different forms of organic being.

Great continents, for instance, appear to be congenial to the development of animal life; islands and lesser continents to the growth of exuberant vegetation. Thus, in the eastern hemisphere, which is a compact oval, essentially continental, with vast areas far removed from the influence of the ocean, flourish the elephant, the hippopotamus, the rhinoceros, the courageous lion, the fierce tiger, the largest and lordliest of animal kind, while in the more oceanic western hemisphere inferior types prevail. Cold and dryness characterize the one; heat and humidity the other; in one are the greatest deserts, in the other the greatest lakes and rivers. Warm oceanic currents bathe the frosty shores of the northern extremities of the continents and render them habitable; the moisture-laden equatorial atmosphere clothes the adjacent islands and firm land in emerald verdure. Upon the same parallel of latitude are the great Sahara Desert of Africa, and the wilderness of luxuriant billowy foliage of the American Isthmus. In warm, moist climates, such species of animal life attain the fullest development as are dependent upon the aqueous and herbous agencies. In tropical America are seen the largest reptiles, the most gorgeous insects,—there the inhabitants of warm marshes and sluggish waters assume gigantic proportions, while only upon the broad inland prairies or upon elevated mountain ranges, away from the influences of warm waters and humid atmospheres, are found the buffalo, bear, and elk. The very complexion and temperament of man are affected by these vegetative and umbrageous elements. Unprotected from the perpendicular rays of the sun, the African is black, muscular, and cheerful; under the shadow of primeval forest, man assumes a coppery hue, lacking the endurance of the negro, and becomes in disposition cold and melancholy.

And again, if we look for the natural causes which tend to promote or retard association, we find in climates and continental configurations the chief agencies. The continent of the two Americas, in its greatest length, lies north and south, the eastern continental group extends east and west. Primitive people naturally would spread out in those directions which offered the least change of climate from that of the primitive centre. Obviously, variations of climate are greater in following a meridian than along a parallel of latitude. Thus, the tropical man passing along a meridian is driven back by unendurable cold, while a continent may be traversed on any parallel, elevations excepted, with but little variation in temperature. A savage, exposed and inexperienced, not knowing how to protect himself against severe changes of climate, could not travel far in a northerly or southerly direction without suffering severely from the cold or heat; hence, other things being equal, the inhabitants of a country whose greatest length lay east and west, would intermingle more readily than those whose territory extended north and south.

Climate and Mountain Ranges

That the eastern hemisphere attained a higher degree of civilization than the western, may be partly due to the fact, that the former presents wider spaces of uniform climate than the latter. The climatic zones of the New World, besides being shorter, are intersected by mountain barriers, which tend to retard the intercourse that would otherwise naturally follow. Thus the Mexican table-land, the seat of Aztec civilization, is a tierra friasituated above the insalubrious tierra caliente of either coast and the healthful tierra templada of the slopes, but below the mountain ranges which rise from this table-land, forming a tierra frígida, a region of perpetual snow. To this day, the natives of the Mexican plateau cannot live on the sea-coast, though less than a day’s journey distant.

Between the climatic zones which extend through Europe and Asia, there are contrasts as marked and changes as sudden, but these differences are between the different zones rather than between longitudinal sections of the same zone. Hence, in the old world, where climatic zones are separated by mountain ranges which make the transition from one to the other sudden and abrupt, we see a greater diversity of race than in America, where the natural barriers extend north and south and intersect the climatic zones, thereby bringing the inhabitants along a meridian in easier communication than those who live in the same latitude but who are separated by mountains, table-lands and large rivers. That is, if color and race are dependent on climate, America should offer greater varieties in color and race than Europe, for America traverses the most latitudes; but the mountain barriers of America extend north and south, thereby forcing its people to intermingle, if at all, in that direction, while the chief ranges of the eastern continent extend east and west, parallel with climatic zones, thereby forming in themselves distinctly marked lines between peoples, forcing the African to remain under his burning sun, and the northmen in their cooler latitudes; so that in the several climatic zones of the old world, we see the human race distinctly marked, Aryan, Semitic, and Turanian—white, black, and yellow—while throughout the two Americas, from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, type and color are singularly uniform.

Who can picture the mighty tide of humanity, which, while the eastern hemisphere has been developing so high a state of culture, in America has ebbed and flowed between barbarisms and civilizations? Through what long and desperate struggles, continuing age after age through the lives of nations, now advancing, now receding, have these peoples passed? Asia, from its central position and favorable climate, would seem naturally to encourage a redundant population and a spontaneous civilization; the waters of the Mediterranean invite commerce and intercommunication of nations, while the British Isles, from their insular situation and distance from hypothetical primitive centres, would seem necessarily to remain longer in a state of barbarism. In the Pacific States of North America we find the densest population north along the shores of the ocean, and south on the cordillera table-land, from the fact that the former offers the best facilities for food and locomotion until the latter is reached, when the interior presents the most favorable dwelling-place for man.

Climate affects both mental and moral endowments, the temperament of the body, and the texture of the brain; physical energy, and mental vigor. Temperate climates are more conducive to civilization, not for the reason given by Mr Harris, “as developing the higher qualities, and not invigorating the baser feelings”, for the Hyperborean is as unchaste and as great a slave to passion as the sub-equatorial man—but because a temperate climate, while it lures to exertion, rewards the laborer.

The Influence of Food

Next, let us consider the agency of food in human development. The effect of food is to supply the body with caloric, which is essential to its life, and to repair the muscular fibres which are constantly undergoing waste in our daily activities. These two effects are produced by two different kinds of diet; carbonized food, such as animal flesh, fish, oils and fats, and oxidized food, which consists chiefly of vegetables. In hot climates, obviously, less carbonized food is required to keep up the necessary temperature of the body than in cold climates. Hence it is, that hyperborean nations subsist on whale’s blubber, oil, and flesh, while the tropical man confines himself almost exclusively to a vegetable diet.

It is not my purpose here to enter into the relative effects of the different kinds of food on physiological and mental development; I desire, however, to call attention to the comparative facility with which carbonized and oxidized food is procured by man, and to note the effect of this ease or difficulty in obtaining a food supply, upon his progress. In warm, humid climates vegetation is spontaneous and abundant; a plentiful supply of food may, therefore, be obtained with the smallest expenditure of labor. The inhabitants of cold climates, however, are obliged to pursue, by land and water, wild and powerful animals, to put forth all their strength and skill in order to secure a precarious supply of the necessary food. Then, again, besides being more difficult to obtain, and more uncertain as to a steady supply, the quantity of food consumed in a cold climate is much greater than that consumed in a hot climate. Now as leisure is essential to cultivation, and as without a surplus of food and clothing there can be no leisure, it would seem to follow naturally that in those countries where food and clothing are most easily obtained culture should be the highest; since so little time and labor are necessary to satisfy the necessities of the body, the mind would have opportunity to expand. It would seem that a fertile soil, an exuberant vegetation, soft skies and balmy air, a country where raiment was scarcely essential to comfort, and where for food the favored inhabitant had but to pluck and eat, should become the seat of a numerous population and a high development. Is this the fact? “Wherever snow falls,” Emerson remarks, “there is usually civil freedom. Where the banana grows, the animal system is indolent, and pampered at the cost of higher qualities; the man is sensual and cruel;” and we may add that where wheat grows, there is civilization, where rice is the staple, there mental vigor is relaxed.

Heat and moisture being the great vegetative stimulants, tropical lands in proximity to the sea are covered with eternal verdure. Little or no labor is required to sustain life; for food there is the perpetually ripening fruit, a few hours’ planting, sometimes, being sufficient to supply a family for months; for shelter, little more than the dense foliage is necessary, while scarcely any clothing is required.

But although heat and moisture, the great vegetative stimulants, lie at the root of primitive progress, these elements in superabundance defeat their own ends, and in two ways: First, excessive heat enervates the body and prostrates the mind, languor and inertia become chronic, while cold is invigorating and prompts to activity. And in tropical climates certain hours of the day are too hot for work, and are, consequently, devoted to sleep. The day is broken into fragments; continuous application, which alone produces important results, is prevented, and habits of slackness and laxity become the rule of life. Satisfied, moreover, with the provisions of nature for their support, the people live without labor, vegetating, plant-like, through a listless and objectless life. Secondly, vegetation, stimulated by excessive heat and moisture, grows with such strength and rapidity as to defy the efforts of inexperienced primitive man; nature becomes domineering, unmanageable, and man sinks into insignificance. Indeed the most skillful industry of armed and disciplined civilization is unable to keep under control this redundancy of tropical vegetation. The path cleared by the pioneer on penetrating the dense undergrowth, closes after him like the waters of the sea behind a ship; before the grain has time to spring up, the plowed field is covered with rank weeds, wild flowers, and poisonous plants no less beautiful than pernicious. I have seen the very fence-posts sprouting up and growing into trees. So destructive is the vegetation of the Central American lowlands, that in their triumphal march the persistent roots penetrate the crevices of masonry, demolish strong walls, and obliterate stupendous tumuli. The people whose climate makes carbonized food a necessity, are obliged to call into action their bolder and stronger faculties in order to obtain their supplies, while the vegetable-eater may tranquilly rest on bounteous nature. The Eskimo struggles manfully with whale, and bear, and ice, and darkness, until his capacious stomach is well filled with heat-producing food, then he dozes torpidly in his den while the supply lasts; the equatorial man plucks and eats, basks in the open air, and sleeps.

UNMANAGEABLENESS OF REDUNDANT NATURE.

Here we have a medley of heterogeneous and antagonistic elements. Leisure is essential to culture; before leisure there must be an accumulation of wealth; the accumulation of wealth is dependent upon the food-supply; a surplus of food can only be easily obtained in warm climates. But labor is also essential to development, and excessive heat is opposed to labor. Labor, moreover, in order to produce leisure must be remunerative, and excessive cold is opposed to accumulation. It appears, therefore, that an excess of labor and an excess of leisure are alike detrimental to improvement. Again, heat and moisture are essential to an abundant supply of oxidized food. But heat and moisture, especially in tropical climates, act as a stimulant upon other rank productions, engendering dense forests, tangled brush-wood, and poisonous shrubs, and filling miasmatic marshes with noxious reptiles. These enemies to human progress the weaponless savage is unable to overcome.

It is, therefore, neither in hot and humid countries, nor in excessively cold climates, that we are to look for a primitive civilization; for in the latter nature lies dormant, while in the former the redundancy of nature becomes unmanageable. It is true that in the tropics of America and Asia are found the seats of many ancient civilizations, but if we examine them one after the other, we shall see, in nearly every instance, some opposite or counteracting agency. Thus, the Aztecs, though choosing a low latitude in proximity to both oceans, occupied an elevated table-land, in a cool, dry atmosphere, seven or eight thousand feet above the level of the sea. The river Nile, by its periodic inundations, forced the ancient Egyptians to lay by a store of food, which is the very first step toward wealth. The rivers of India are, some of them, subject to like overflowings, while the more elevated parts are dry and fertile.

Egypt was the cradle of European development. Long before the advent of Christianity, the fertile banks of the Nile, for their pyramidal tombs, their colossi, their obelisks and catacombs and sphinxes and temples, were regarded by surrounding barbarians as a land of miracles and marvels. Thence Greece derived her earliest arts and maxims. The climate of Egypt was unchangeable, and the inundations of the Nile offered a less uncertain water-supply than the rains of many other districts, and thus agriculture, while offering to the laborer the greater part of the year for leisure, was almost certain to be remunerative. Common instincts and common efforts, uniformity of climate and identity of interests produced a homogeneous people, and forty centuries of such changeless coming and going could not fail to result in improvement.

MR BUCKLE’S THEORY.

Mr Buckle, in his attempt to establish a universal theory that heat and moisture inevitably engender civilization, and that without those combined agencies no civilization can arise, somewhat overreaches himself. “In America, as in Asia and Africa,” he says, “all the original civilizations were seated in hot countries; the whole of Peru, proper, being within the southern tropic, the whole of Central America and Mexico within the northern tropic.” The fact is, that Cuzco, the capital city of the Incas, is in the cordilleras, three hundred miles from and eleven thousand feet above the sea. For the latitude the climate is both cold and dry. The valley of Mexico is warmer and moister, but cannot be called hot and humid. Palenque and Copan approach nearer Mr Buckle’s ideal than Cuzco or Mexico, being above the tierra caliente proper, and yet in a truly hot and humid climate.

The Hawaiian Islands,—an isolated group of lava piles, thrown up into the trade winds on the twentieth parallel, and by these winds deluged on one side with rain, while the other is left almost dry, with but little alluvial soil, and that little exceedingly fertile,—at the time of their discovery by Captain Cook appeared to have made no inconsiderable advance toward feudalism. Systems of land tenure and vassalage were in operation, and some works for the public weal had been constructed. Here were the essentials for a low order of improvement such as was found there, but which never, in all probability, would have risen much higher.

Again, Mr Buckle declares that, “owing to the presence of physical phenomena, the civilization of America was, of necessity, confined to those parts where alone it was found by the discoverers of the New World.” An apparently safe postulate; but, upon any conceivable hypothesis, there are very many places as well adapted to development as those in which it was found. Once more: “The two great conditions of fertility have not been united in any part of the continent north of Mexico.” When we consider what it is, namely, heat and humidity, upon which Mr Buckle makes intellectual evolution dependent, and that not only the Mexican plateau lacked both these essentials, in the full meaning of the term, but that both are found in many places northward, as for instance, in some parts of Texas and in Louisiana, a discrepancy in his theory becomes apparent. “The peculiar configuration of the land,” he continues, “secured a very large amount of coast, and thus gave to the southern part of North America the character of an island.” An island, yes, but, as M. Guyot terms it, an “aerial island;” bordered on either side by sea-coast, but by such sea-coast as formed an almost impassable barrier between the table-land and the ocean.

“While, therefore,” adds Mr Buckle, “the position of Mexico near the equator gave it heat, the shape of the land gave it humidity; and this being the only part of North America in which these two conditions were united it was likewise the only part which was at all civilized. There can be no doubt, that if the sandy plains of California and Southern Columbia, instead of being scorched into sterility, had been irrigated by the rivers of the east, or if the rivers of the east had been accompanied by the heat of the west, the result of either combination would have been that exuberance of soil, by which, as the history of the world decisively proves, every early civilization was preceded. But inasmuch as, of the two elements of fertility, one was deficient in every part of America north of the twentieth parallel, it followed that, until that line was passed, civilization could gain no resting place; and there never has been found, and we may confidently assert never will be found, any evidence that even a single ancient nation, in the whole of that enormous continent, was able to make much progress in the arts of life, or organize itself into a fixed and permanent society.” This is a broad statement embodying precipitate deductions from false premises, and one which betrays singular ignorance of the country and its climate. These same “sandy plains of California” so far from being “scorched into sterility”, are to-day sending their cereals in every direction—to the east and to the west—and are capable of feeding all Europe.

WHY WERE CALIFORNIANS NOT CIVILIZED?

I have often wondered why California was not the seat of a primitive civilization; why, upon every converging line the race deteriorates as this centre is approached; why, with a cool, salubrious seaboard, a hot and healthful interior, with alternate rainy and dry seasons, alternate seasons of labor and leisure which encourage producing and hoarding and which are the primary incentives to accumulation and wealth, in this hot and cool, moist and dry, and invigorating atmosphere, with a fertile soil, a climate which in no part of the year can be called cold or inhospitable, should be found one of the lowest phases of humanity on the North American continent. The cause must be sought in periods more remote, in the convulsions of nature now stilled; in the tumults of nations whose history lies forgotten, forever buried in the past. Theories never will solve the mystery. Indeed, there is no reason why the foundations of the Aztec and Maya-Quiché civilizations may not have been laid north of the thirty-fifth parallel, although no architectural remains have been discovered there, nor other proof of such an origin; but upon the banks of the Gila, the Colorado, and the Rio Grande, in Chihuahua, and on the hot dry plains of Arizona and New Mexico, far beyond the limits of Mr Buckle’s territory where “there never has been found, and we may confidently assert never will be found” any evidence of progress, are to-day walled towns inhabited by an industrial and agricultural people, whose existence we can trace back for more than three centuries, besides ruins of massive buildings of whose history nothing is known.

Thus, that California and many other parts of North America could not have been the seat of a primitive civilization, cannot be proved upon the basis of any physical hypothesis; and, indeed, in our attempt to elucidate the principles of universal progress, where the mysterious and antagonistic activities of humanity have been fermenting all unseen for thousands of ages, unknown and unknowable, among peoples of whom our utmost knowledge can be only such as is derived from a transient glimpse of a disappearing race, it is with the utmost difficulty that satisfactory conclusions can in any instance be reached.

It is in a temperate climate, therefore, that man attains the highest development. On the peninsulas of Greece and Italy, where the Mediterranean invites intercourse; in Iran and Armenia, where the climate is cold enough to stimulate labor, but not so cold as to require the use of all the energies of body and mind in order to acquire a bare subsistence; warm enough to make leisure possible, but not so warm as to enervate and prostrate the faculties; with a soil of sufficient fertility to yield a surplus and promote the accumulation of wealth, without producing such a redundancy of vegetation as to be unmanageable by unskilled, primitive man—there it is that we find the highest intellectual culture.

It sometimes happens that, in those climates which are too vigorous for the unfolding of the tender germ, cultivation is stimulated into greater activity than in its original seats. It sometimes happens that, when the shell of savagism is once fairly broken, a people may overcome a domineering vegetation, and flourish in a climate where by no possibility could their development have originated. Even in the frozen regions of the north, as in Scandinavia, man, by the intensity of his nature, was enabled to surmount the difficulties of climate and attain a fierce, rude cultivation. The regions of Northern Europe and Northern America, notwithstanding their original opposition to man, are to-day the most fruitful of all lands in industrial discoveries and intellectual activities, but in the polar regions, as in the equatorial, the highest development never can be reached.

The conditions which encourage indigenous civilization are not always those that encourage permanent development, and vice versa. Thus, Great Britain in her insulation, remained barbarous long after Greece and Italy had attained a high degree of cultivation, yet when once the seed took root, that very insulation acted as a wall of defense, within which a mighty power germinated and with its influence overspread the whole earth.

Thus we have seen that a combination of physical conditions is essential to intellectual development. Without leisure, there can be no culture, without wealth no leisure, without labor no wealth, and without a suitable soil and climate no remunerative labor.

Now, throughout the material universe, there is no object or element which holds its place, whether at rest or in motion, except under fixed laws; no atom of matter nor subtle mysterious force, no breath of air, nor cloudy vapor nor streak of light, but in existing obeys a law. The Almighty fiat: Be fruitful and multiply, fruitful in increase, intellectual as well as physical, was given alike to all mankind; seeds of progress were sown broadcast throughout all the races human; some fell on stony places, others were choked with weeds, others found good soil. When we see a people in the full enjoyment of all these physical essentials to progress yet in a state of savagism, we may be sure that elements detrimental to progress have, at some period of their history, interposed to prevent natural growth. War, famine, pestilence, convulsions of nature, have nipped in the bud many an incipient civilization, whose history lies deep buried in the unrecorded past.

Association an Element of Progress

The obvious necessity of association as a primary condition of development leaves little to be said on that subject. To the manifestation of this Soul of Progress a body social is requisite, as without an individual body there can be no manifestation of an individual soul. This body social, like the body individual, is composed of numberless organs, each having its special functions to perform, each acting on the others, and all under the general government of the progressional idea. Civilization is not an individual attribute, and though the atom, man, may be charged with stored energy, yet progress constitutes no part of individual nature; it is something that lies between men and not within them; it belongs to society and not to the individual; man, the molecule of society, isolate, is inert and forceless. The isolated man, as I have said, never can become cultivated, never can form a language, does not possess in its fullness the faculty of abstraction, nor can his mind enter the realm of higher thought. All those characteristics which distinguish mankind from animal-kind become almost inoperative. Without association there is no speech, for speech is but the conductor of thought between two or more individuals; without words abstract thought cannot flow, for words, or some other form of expression, are the channels of thought, and with the absence of words the fountain of thought is in a measure sealed.

At the very threshold of progress social crystallization sets in; something there is in every man that draws him to other men. In the relationship of the sexes, this principle of human attraction reaches its height, where the husband and wife, as it were, coalesce, like the union of one drop of water with another, forming one globule. As unconsciously and as positively are men constrained to band together into societies as are particles forced to unite and form crystals. And herein is a law as palpable and as fixed as any law in nature; a law, which if unfulfilled, would result in the extermination of the race. But the law of human attraction is not perfect, does not fulfill its purpose apart from the law of human repulsion, for as we have seen, until war and despotism and superstition and other dire evils come, there is no progress. Solitude is insupportable, even beasts will not live alone; and men are more dependent on each other than beasts. Solitude carries with it a sense of inferiority and insufficiency; the faculties are stinted, lacking completeness, whereas volume is added to every individual faculty by union.

COÖPERATION AND THE DIVISION OF LABOR.

But association simply, is not enough; nothing materially great can be accomplished without union and coöperation. It is only when aggregations of families intermingle with other aggregations, each contributing its quota of original knowledge to the other; when the individual gives up some portion of his individual will and property for the better protection of other rights and property; when he entrusts society with the vindication of his rights; when he depends upon the banded arm of the nation, and not alone upon his own arm for redress of grievances, that progress is truly made. And with union and coöperation comes the division of labor by which means each, in some special department, is enabled to excel. By fixing the mind wholly upon one thing, by constant repetition and practice, the father hands down his art to the son, who likewise, improves it for his descendants. It is only by doing a new thing, or by doing an old thing better than it has ever been done before, that progress is made. Under the régime of universal mediocrity the nation does not advance; it is to the great men,—great in things great or small, that progress is due; it is to the few who think, to the few who dare to face the infinite universe of things and step, if need be, outside an old-time boundary, that the world owes most.

Originally implanted is the germ of intelligence, at the first but little more than brute instinct. This germ in unfolding undergoes a double process; it throws off its own intuitions and receives in return those of another. By an interchange of ideas, the experiences of one are made known for the benefit of another, the inventions of one are added to the inventions of another; without intercommunication of ideas the intellect must lie dormant. Thus it is with individuals, and with societies it is the same. Acquisitions are eminently reciprocal. In society, wealth, art, literature, polity, and religion act and react on each other; in science a fusion of antagonistic hypotheses is sure to result in important developments. Before much progress can be made, there must be established a commerce between nations for the interchange of aggregated human experiences, so that the arts and industries acquired by each may become the property of all the rest, and thus knowledge becomes scattered by exchange, in place of each having to work out every problem for himself. Thus viewed, civilization is a partnership entered into for mutual improvement; a joint stock operation, in which the product of every brain contributes to a general fund for the benefit of all. No one can add to his own store of knowledge without adding to the general store; every invention, and discovery, however insignificant, is a contribution to civilization.

In savagism, union and coöperation are imperfectly displayed. The warriors of one tribe unite against the warriors of another; a band will coöperate in pursuing a herd of buffalo; even one nation will sometimes unite with another nation against a third, but such combinations are temporary, and no sooner is the particular object accomplished than the confederation disbands, and every man is again his own master. The moment two or more persons unite for the accomplishment of some purpose which shall tend permanently to meliorate the condition of themselves and others, that moment progress begins. The wild beasts of the forest, acting in unison, were physically able to rise up and extirpate primitive man, but could beasts in reality confederate and do this, such confederation of wild beasts could become civilized.

The Savage Hates Civilization

But why does primitive man desire to abandon his original state and set out upon an arduous never-ending journey? Why does he wish to change his mild paternal government, to relinquish his title to lands as broad as his arm can defend, with all therein contained, the common property of his people? Why does he wish to give up his wild freedom, his native independence, and place upon his limbs the fetters of a social and political despotism? He does not. The savage hates civilization as he hates his deadliest foe; its choicest benefits he hates more than the direst ills of his own unfettered life. He is driven to it; driven to it by extraneous influences, without his knowledge and against his will; he is driven to it by this Soul of Progress. It is here that this progressional phenomenon again appears outside of man and in direct opposition to the will of man; it is here that the principle of evil again comes in and stirs men up to the accomplishment of a higher destiny. By it Adam, the first of recorded savages, was driven from Eden, where otherwise he would have remained forever, and remained uncivilized. By it our ancestors were impelled to abandon their simple state, and organize more heterogeneous complex forms of social life. And it is a problem for each nation to work out for itself. Millions of money are expended for merely proselyting purposes, when if the first principles of civilization were well understood, a more liberal manner of teaching would prevail.

Every civilization has its peculiarities, its idiosyncrasies. Two individuals attempting the same thing differ in the performance; so civilization evolving under incidental and extraneous causes takes an individuality in every instance. This is why civilizations will not coalesce; this is why the Spaniards could make the Aztecs accept their civilization only at the point of the sword. Development engendered by one set of phenomena will not suit the developments of other circumstances. The government, religion, and customs of one people will not fit another people any more than the coat of one person will suit the form of another. Thought runs in different channels; the happiness of one is not the happiness of another; development springs from inherent necessity, and one species cannot be engrafted on another.

Let us now examine the phenomena of government and religion in their application to the evolution of societies, and we shall better understand how the wheels of progress are first set in motion,—and by religion I do not mean creed or credulity, but that natural cultus inherent in humanity, which is a very different thing. Government is early felt to be a need of society; the enforcement of laws which shall bring order out of social chaos; laws which shall restrain the vicious, protect the innocent, and punish the guilty; which shall act as a shield to inherent budding morality. But before government, there must arise some influence which will band men together. An early evil to which civilization is indebted is war; the propensity of man—unhappily not yet entirely overcome—for killing his fellow-man.

Government and Religion

The human race has not yet attained that state of homogeneous felicity which we sometimes imagine; upon the surface, we yet bear many of the relics of barbarism; under cover of manners, we hide still more. War is a barbarism which civilization only intensifies, as indeed civilization intensifies every barbarism which it does not eradicate or cover up. The right of every individual to act as his own avenger; trial by combat; justice dependent upon the passion or caprice of the judge or ruler and not upon fixed law; hereditary feuds and migratory skirmishes; these and the like are deemed barbarous, while every nation of the civilized world maintains a standing army, applies all the arts and inventions of civilization to the science of killing, and upon sufficient provocation, as a disputed boundary or a fancied insult, no greater nor more important than that which moved our savage ancestors to like conduct, falls to, and after a respectable civilized butchery of fifty or a hundred thousand men, ceases fighting, and returns, perhaps, to right and reason as a basis for the settlement of the difficulty. War, like other evils which have proved instruments of good, should by this time have had its day, should have served its purpose. Standing armies, whose formation was one of the first and most important steps in association and partition of labor, are but the manifestation of a lingering necessity for the use of brute force in place of moral force in the settlement of national disputes. Surely, rational beings who retain the most irrational practices concerning the simplest principles of social life cannot boast of a very high order of what we are pleased to call civilization. Morality, commerce, literature, and industry, all that tends toward elevation of intellect, is directly opposed to the warlike spirit. As intellectual activity increases, the taste for war decreases, for an appeal to war in the settlement of difficulties is an appeal from the intellectual to the physical, from reason to brute force.

Despotism is an evil, but despotism is as essential to progress as any good. In some form despotism is an inseparable adjunct of war. An individual or an idea may be the despot, but without cohesion, without a strong central power, real or imaginary, there can be no unity, and without unity no protracted warfare. In the first stages of government despotism is as essential as in the last it is noxious. It holds society together when nothing else would hold it, and at a time when its very existence depends upon its being so held. And not until a moral inherent strength arises sufficient to burst the fetters of despotism, is a people fit for a better or milder form of government; for not until this inherent power is manifest is there sufficient cohesive force in society to hold it together without being hooped by some such band as despotism. Besides thus cementing society, war generates many virtues, such as courage, discipline, obedience, chivalrous bearing, noble thought; and the virtues of war, as well as its vices, help to mould national character.

Slavery to the present day has its defenders, and from the first it has been a preventive of a worse evil,—slaughter. Savages make slaves of their prisoners of war, and if they do not preserve them for slaves they kill them. The origin of the word, servus, from servare, to preserve, denotes humane thought rather than cruelty. Discipline is always necessary to development, and slavery is another form of savage discipline. Then, by systems of slavery, great works were accomplished, which, in the absence of arts and inventions, would not have been possible without slavery. And again, in early societies where leisure is so necessary to mental cultivation and so difficult to obtain, slavery, by promoting leisure, aids elevation and refinement. Slaves constitute a distinct class, devoted wholly to labor, thereby enabling another class to live without labor, or to labor with the intellect rather than with the hands.

Primordially, society was an aggregation of nomadic families, every head of a family having equal rights, and every individual such power and influence as he could acquire and maintain. In all the ordinary avocations of savage life this was sufficient; there was room for all, and the widest liberty was possessed by each. And in this happy state does mankind ever remain until forced out of it. In unity and coöperation alone can great things be accomplished; but men will not unite until forced to it. Now in times of war—and with savages war is the rule and not the exception—some closer union is necessary to avoid extinction; for other things being equal, the people who are most firmly united and most strongly ruled are sure to prevail in war. The idea of unity in order to be effectual must be embodied in a unit; some one must be made chief, and the others must obey, as in a band of wild beasts that follow the one most conspicuous for its prowess and cunning. But the military principle alone would never lay the foundation of a strong government, for with every cessation from hostilities there would be a corresponding relaxation of government.

Government Forced Upon Man

Another necessity for government here arises, but which likewise is not the cause of government, for government springs from force and not from utility. These men do not want government, they do not want culture; how then is an arm to be found sufficiently strong to bridle their wild passions? In reason they are children, in passion men; to restrain the strong passions of strong non-reasoning men requires a power; whence is this power to come? It is in the earlier stage of government that despotism assumes its most intense forms. The more passionate, and lawless, and cruel the people, the more completely do they submit to a passionate, lawless, and cruel prince; the more ungovernable their nature, the more slavish are they in their submission to government; the stronger the element to be governed, the stronger must be the government.

The primitive man, whoever or whatever that may be, lives in harmony with nature; that is, he lives as other animals live, drawing his supplies immediately from the general storehouse of nature. His food he plucks from a sheltering tree, or draws from a sparkling stream, or captures from a prolific forest. The remnants of his capture, unfit for food, supply his other wants; with the skin he clothes himself, and with the bones makes implements and points his weapons. In this there are no antagonisms, no opposing principles of good and evil; animals are killed not with a view of extermination, but through necessity, as animals kill animals in order to supply actual wants. But no sooner does the leaven of progress begin to work than war is declared between man and nature. To make room for denser populations and increasing comforts, forests must be hewn down, their primeval inhabitants extirpated or domesticated, and the soil laid under more direct contribution. Union and coöperation spring up for purposes of protection and aggression, for the accomplishment of purposes beyond the capacity of the individual. Gradually manufactures and commerce increase; the products of one body of laborers are exchanged for the products of another, and thus the aggregate comforts produced are doubled to each. Absolute power is taken from the hands of the many and placed in the hands of one, who becomes the representative power of all. Men are no longer dependent upon the chase for a daily supply of food; even agriculture no longer is a necessity which each must follow for himself, for the intellectual products of one person or people may be exchanged for the agricultural products of another. With these changes of occupation new institutions spring up, new ideas originate, and new habits are formed. Human life ceases to be a purely material existence; another element finds exercise, the other part of man is permitted to grow. The energies of society now assume a different shape; hitherto the daily struggle was for daily necessities, now the accumulation of wealth constitutes the chief incentive to labor. Wealth becomes a power and absorbs all other powers. The possessor of unlimited wealth commands the products of every other man’s labor.

But in time, and to a certain extent, a class arises already possessed of wealth sufficient to satisfy even the demands of avarice, and something still better, some greater good is yet sought for. Money-getting gives way before intellectual cravings. The self-denials and labor necessary to the acquisition of wealth are abandoned for the enjoyment of wealth already acquired and the acquisition of a yet higher good. Sensual pleasure yields in a measure to intellectual pleasure, the acquisition of money to the acquisition of learning.

Where brute intelligence is the order of the day, man requires no more governing than brutes, but when lands are divided, and the soil cultivated, when wealth begins to accumulate and commerce and industry to flourish, then protection and lawful punishment become necessary. Like the wild horse, leave him free, and he will take care of himself; but catch him and curb him, and the wilder and stronger he is the stronger must be the curb until he is subdued and trained, and then he is guided by a light rein. The kind of government makes little difference so that it be strong enough.

The Supernatural in Civilization

Granted that it is absolutely essential to the first step toward culture that society should be strongly governed, how is the first government to be accomplished; how is one member of a passionate, unbridled heterogeneous community to obtain dominion absolute over all the others? Here comes in another evil to the assistance of the former evils, all for future good,—Superstition. Never could physical force alone compress and hold the necessary power with which to burst the shell of savagism. The government is but a reflex of the governed. Not until one man is physically or intellectually stronger than ten thousand, will an independent people submit to a tyrannical government, or a humane people submit to a cruel government, or a people accustomed to free discussion to an intolerant priesthood.

At the outset, if man is to be governed at all, there must be no division of governmental force. The cause for fear arising from both the physical and the supernatural must be united in one individual. In the absence of the moral sentiment the fear of legal and that of spiritual punishments are identical, for the spiritual is feared only as it works temporal or corporal evil. Freedom of thought at this stage is incompatible with progress, for thought without experience is dangerous, tending towards anarchy. Before men can govern themselves they must be subjected to the sternest discipline of government, and whether this government be just or humane or pleasant is of small consequence so that it be only strong enough. As with polity so with morality and religion; conjointly with despotism there must be an arbitrary central church government, or moral anarchy is the inevitable consequence. At the outset it is not for man to rule but to obey; it is not for savages, who are children in intellect to think and reason, but to believe.

And thus we see how wonderfully man is provided with the essentials of growth. This tender germ of progress is preserved in hard shells and prickly coverings, which, when they have served their purpose are thrown aside as not only useless but detrimental to further development. We know not what will come hereafter, but up to the present time a state of bondage appears to be the normal state of humanity; bondage, at first severe and irrational, then ever loosening, and expanding into a broader freedom. As mankind progresses, moral anarchy no more follows freedom of thought than does political anarchy follow freedom of action. In Germany, in England, in America, wherever secular power has in any measure cut loose from ecclesiastical power and thrown religion back upon public sentiment for support, a moral as well as an intellectual advance has always followed. What the mild and persuasive teachings and lax discipline of the present epoch would have been to the Christians of the fourteenth century, the free and lax government of republican America would have been to republican Rome. Therefore, let us learn to look charitably upon the institutions of the past, and not forget how much we owe to them; while we rejoice at our release from the cruelty and ignorance of mediæval times, let us not forget the debt which civilization owes to the rigorous teachings of both Church and State.

Morality and Creed

Christianity, by its exalted un-utilitarian morality and philanthropy, has greatly aided civilization. Indeed so marked has been the effect in Europe, so great the contrast between Christianity and Islamism and the polytheistic creeds in general, that Churchmen claim civilization as the offspring of their religion. But religion and morality must not be confounded with civilization. All these and many other activities act and react on each other as proximate principles in the social organism, but they do not, any or all of them, constitute the life of the organism. Long before morality is religion, and long after morality religion sends the pious penitent to his knees. Religious culture is a great assistant to moral culture as intellectual training promotes the industrial arts, but morality is no more religion than is industry intellect. When Christianity, as in the early settlement of Mexico and Central America, falls into the hands of unprincipled adventurers or blind zealots who stand up in deadly antagonism to liberty, then Christianity is a drag upon civilization; and therefore we may conclude that in so far as Christianity grafts on its code of pure morality the principle of intellectual freedom, in so far is civilization promoted by Christianity, but when Christianity engenders persecution, civilization is retarded thereby.

Then Protestantism sets up a claim to the authorship of civilization, points to Spain and then to England, compares Italy and Switzerland, Catholic America and Puritan America, declares that the intellect can never attain superiority while under the dominion of the Church of Rome; in other words, that civilization is Protestantism. It is true that protestation against irrational dogmas, or any other action that tends toward the emancipation of the intellect, is a great step in advance; but religious belief has nothing whatever to do with intellectual culture. Religion from its very nature is beyond the limits of reason; it is emotional rather than intellectual, an instinct and not an acquisition. Between reason and religion lies a domain of common ground upon which both may meet and join hands, but beyond the boundaries of which neither may pass. The moment the intellect attempts to penetrate the domain of the Supernatural all intellectuality vanishes, and emotion and imagination fill its place. There can be no real conflict between the two, for neither, by any possibility, can pass this neutral ground. Before the mind can receive Christianity, or Mahometanism, or any other creed, it must be ready to accept dogmas in the analysis of which human reason is powerless. Among the most brilliant intellects are found Protestants, Romanists, Unitarians, Deists, and Atheists; judging from the experiences of mankind in ages past, creeds and formulas, orthodoxy and heterodoxy, have no inherent power to advance or retard the intellect. Some claim, indeed, that strong doctrinal bias stifles thought, fosters superstition, and fetters the intellect; still religious thought, in some form, is inseparable from the human mind, and it would be very difficult to prove that belief is more debasing than non-belief.

Development of the Religious Ideal

Religion at first is a gross fetichism, which endows every wonder with a concrete personality. Within every appearance is a several personal cause, and to embody this personal cause in some material form is the first effort of the savage mind. Hence, images are made in representation of these imaginary supernatural powers. Man, of necessity, must clothe these supernatural powers in the elements of some lower form. The imagination cannot grasp an object or an idea beyond the realms of human experience. Unheard-of combinations of character may be made, but the constituent parts must, at some time and in some form, have had an existence in order to be conceivable. It is impossible for the human mind to array in forms of thought anything wholly and absolutely new. This state is the farthest remove possible from a recognition of those universal laws of causation toward which every department of knowledge is now so rapidly tending. Gods are made in the likeness of man and beast, endowed with earthly passions, and a sensual polytheism, in which blind fate is a prominent element, becomes the religious ideal. Religious conceptions are essentially material; all punishments and rewards are such as effect man as a material being; morality, the innate sense of right and wrong, lies stifled, almost dormant.

Thrown wholly upon himself, without experience to guide him, the savage must, of necessity, invest nature with his own qualities, for his mind can grasp none other. But when experience dispels the nearer illusions, objects more remote are made gods; in the sun and stars he sees his controlling destinies; the number of his gods is lessened until at last all merge into one God, the author of all law, the great and only ruler of the universe. In every mythology we see this impersonation of natural phenomena; frost and fire, earth and air and water, in their displays of mysterious powers, are at once deified and humanized. These embodiments of physical force are then naturally formed into families, and their supposed descendants worshiped as children of the gods. Thus, in the childhood of society, when incipient thought takes up its lodgment in old men’s brains, shadows of departed heroes mingle with shadows of mysterious nature, and admiration turns to adoration.

Next arises the desire to propitiate these unseen powers, to accomplish which some means of communication must be opened up between man and his deities. Now, as man in his gods reproduces himself, as all his conceptions of supernatural power must, of necessity, be formed on the skeleton of human power, naturally it follows that the strongest and most cunning of the tribe, he upon whom leadership most naturally falls, comes to be regarded as specially favored of the gods. Powers supernatural are joined to powers temporal, and embodied in the chieftain of the nation. A grateful posterity reveres and propitiates departed ancestors. The earlier rulers are made gods, and their descendants lesser divinities; the founder of a dynasty, perhaps, the supreme god, his progeny subordinate deities. The priesthood and kingship thus become united; religion and civil government join forces to press mankind together, and the loose sands of the new strata cohere into the firm rock, that shall one day bear alone the wash of time and tide.

Hence arise divine kingship, and the divine right of kings, and with the desire to win the favor of this divine king, arise the courtesies of society, the first step toward polish of manners. Titles of respect and worship are given him, some of which are subsequently applied to the Deity, while others drop down into the common-place compliments of every-day life.

Here then, we have as one of the first essentials of progress the union of Church and State, of superstition and despotism, a union still necessarily kept up in some of the more backward civilizations. Excessive loyalty and blind faith ever march hand in hand. The very basis of association is credulity, blind loyalty to political powers and blind faith in sacerdotal terrors. In all mythologies at some stage temporal and spiritual government are united, the supernatural power being incarnated in the temporal chief; political despotism and an awful sanguinary religion,—a government and a belief, to disobey which was never so much as thought possible.

See how every one of these primary essentials of civilization becomes, as man advances, a drag upon his progress; see how he now struggles to free himself from what, at the outset, he was led by ways he knew not to endure so patiently. Government, in early stages always strong and despotic, whether monarchical, oligarchical, or republican, holding mankind under the dominion of caste, placing restrictions upon commerce and manufactures, regulating social customs, food, dress,—how men have fought to break loose these bonds! Religion, not that natural cultus instinctive in humanity, the bond of union as well under its most disgusting form of fetichism, as under its latest, loveliest form of Christianity; but those forms and dogmas of sect and creed which stifle thought and fetter intellect,—how men have lived lives of sacrifice and self-denial as well as died for the right to free themselves from unwelcome belief!

Relation of Government to Civilization

In primeval ages, government and religion lay lightly on the human race; ethnology, as well as history, discloses the patriarchal as the earliest form of government, and a rude materialism as the earliest religious ideal; these two simple elements, under the form of monsters, became huge abortions, begotten of ignorance, that held the intellect in abject slavery for thousands of years, and from these we, of this generation, more than any other, are granted emancipation. Even wealth, kind giver of grateful leisure, in the guise of avarice becomes a hideous thing, which he who would attain the higher intellectual life, must learn to despise.

Government, as we have seen, is not an essential element of collective humanity. Civilization must first be awakened, must even have passed the primary stages before government appears. Despotism, feudalism, divine kingship, slavery, war, superstition, each marks certain stages of development, and as civilization advances all tend to disappear; and, as in the early history of nations the state antedates the government, so the time may come in the progress of mankind when government will be no longer necessary. Government always grows out of necessity; the intensity of government inevitably following necessity. The form of government is a natural selection; its several phases always the survival of the fittest. When the federalist says to the monarchist, or the monarchist to the federalist: My government is better than yours, it is as if the Eskimo said to the Kaffir: My coat, my house, my food, is better than yours.

The government is made for the man, and not the man for the government. Government is as the prop for the growing plant; at first the young shoot stands alone, then in its rapid advancement for a time it requires support, after which it is able again to stand alone. What we term the evils of government are rather its necessities, and are, indeed, no evils at all. The heavy bit which controls the mouth of an untamed horse is to that horse an evil, yet to the driver a necessity which may be laid aside as the temper of the animal is subdued. So despotism, feudalism, slavery, are evils to those under their dominion, yet are they as necessary for the prevention of anarchy, for the restraint of unbridled passions, as the powerful bit to the horse, and will as surely be laid aside when no longer required. Shallow-minded politicians talk of kingcraft, arbitrary rule, tyrants, the down-trodden masses, the withholding of just rights; as though the government was some independent, adverse element, wholly foreign to the character of the people; as though one man was stronger than ten thousand; as though, if these phases of society were not the fittest, they would be tolerated for a moment. The days of rigorous rule were ever the best days of France and Spain, and so it will be until the people become stronger than the strength of rulers. Republicanism is as unfit for stupid and unintellectual populations, as despotism would be for the advanced ideas and liberal institutions of Anglo-Saxon America. The subject of a liberal rule sneeringly crying down to the subject of an absolute rule his form of government, is like the ass crying to the tiger: Leave blood and meat; feed on grass and thistles, the only diet fit for civilized beasts! Our federal government is the very best for our people, when it is not so it will speedily change; it fits the temper of American intelligence, but before it can be planted in Japan or China the traditions and temper of the Asiatics must change.

We of to-day are undergoing an important epoch in the history of civilization. Feudalism, despotism, and fanaticism have had each its day, have each accomplished its necessary purpose, and are fast fading away. Ours is the age of democracy, of scientific investigation, and freedom of religious thought; what these may accomplish for the advancing intellect remains to be seen. Our ancestors loved to dwell upon the past, now we all look toward the future.

LATTER-DAY PROGRESSION.

The sea of ice, over which our forefathers glided so serenely in their trustful reliance, is breaking up. One after another traditions evaporate; in their application to proximate events they fail us, history ceases to repeat itself as in times past. Old things are passing away, all things are becoming new; new philosophies, new religions, new sciences; the industrial spirit springs up and overturns time-honored customs; theories of government must be reconstructed. Thus, says experience, republicanism, as a form of government, can exist only in small states; but steam and electricity step in and annihilate time and space. The Roman republic, from a lack of cohesive energy, from failure of central vital power sufficient to send the blood of the nation from the heart to the extremities, died a natural death. The American republic, covering nearly twice the territory of republican Rome in her palmiest days, is endowed with a different species of organism; in its physiological system is found a new series of veins and arteries, the railway, the telegraph, and the daily press,—through which pulsates the life’s blood of the nation, millions inhaling and exhaling intelligence as one man. By means of these inventions all the world, once every day, are brought together. By telegraphic wires and railroad iron men are now bound as in times past they were bound by war, despotism, and superstition. The remotest corners of the largest republics of to-day, are brought into closer communication than were the adjoining states of the smallest confederations of antiquity. A united Germany, from its past history held to be an impossibility, is, with the present facilities of communication, an accomplished fact. England could as easily have possessed colonies in the moon, as have held her present possessions, three hundred years ago. Practically, San Francisco is nearer Washington than was Philadelphia when the foundations of the Capitol were laid. What is to prevent republics from growing, so long as intelligence keeps pace with extension? The general of an army may now sit before his maps, and manœuvre half a score of armies a hundred or a thousand miles apart, know hourly the situation of every division, the success of every battle, order an advance or a retreat, lay plots and make combinations, with more exactness than was once possible in the conduct of an ordinary campaign.

Morals, Manners, and Fashion

A few words about morals, manners, and fashion, will further illustrate how man is played upon by his environment, which here takes the shape of habit. In their bearing on civilization, these phenomena all come under the same category; and this, without regard to the rival theories of intuition and utility in morals. Experience teaches, blindly at first yet daily with clearer vision, that right conduct is beneficial, and wrong conduct detrimental; that the consequences of sin invariably rest on the evil-doer; that for an unjust act, though the knowledge of it be forever locked in the bosom of the offender, punishment is sure to follow; yet there are those who question the existence of innate moral perceptions, and call it all custom and training. And if we look alone to primitive people for innate ideas of morality and justice I fear we shall meet with disappointment. Some we find who value female chastity only before marriage, others only after marriage,—that is, after the woman and her chastity both alike become the tangible property of somebody. Some kindly kill their aged parents, others their female infants; the successful Apache horse-thief is the darling of his mother, and the hero of the tribe; often these American Arabs will remain from home half-starved for weeks, rather than suffer the ignominy of returning empty-handed. Good, in the mind of the savage, is when he steals wives; bad, is when his own wives are stolen. Where it is that inherent morality in savages first makes its appearance, and in what manner, it is often difficult to say; the most hideous vices are everywhere practiced with unblushing effrontery.

Take the phenomena of Shame. Go back to the childhood of our race, or even to our own childhood, and it will be hard to discover any inherent quality which make men ashamed of one thing more than another. Nor can the wisest of us give any good and sufficient reason why we should be ashamed of our body any more than of our face. The whole man was fashioned by one Creator, and all parts equally are perfect and alike honorable. We cover our person with drapery, and think thereby to hide our faults from ourselves and others, as the ostrich hides its head under a leaf, and fancies its body concealed from the hunter. What is this quality of shame if it be not habit? A female savage will stand unblushingly before you naked, but strip her of her ornaments and she will manifest the same appearance of shame, though not perhaps so great in degree, that a European woman will manifest if stripped of her clothes. It is well known how civilized and semi-civilized nations regard this quality of propriety. Custom, conventional usage, dress and behavior, are influences as subtle and as strong as any that govern us, weaving their net-work round man more and more as he throws off allegiance to other powers; and we know but little more of their origin and nature than we do of the origin and nature of time and space, of life and death, of origin and end.

Every age and every society has its own standard of morality, holds up some certain conduct or quality as a model, saying to all, Do this, and receive the much-coveted praise of your fellows. Often what one people deem virtue is to another vice; what to one age is religion is to another superstition; but underlying all this are living fires, kindled by Omnipotence, and destined to burn throughout all time. In the Spartan and Roman republics the moral ideal was patriotism; among mediæval Churchmen it took the form of asceticism; after the elevation of woman the central idea was female chastity.

In this national morality, which is the cohesive force of the body social, we find the fundamental principle of the progressional impulse, and herein is the most hopeful feature of humanity; mankind must progress, and progress in the right direction. There is no help for it until God changes the universal order of things; man must become better in spite of himself; it is the good in us that grows and ultimately prevails.

As a race we are yet in our nonage; fearful of the freedom given us by progress we cling tenaciously to our leading-strings; hugging our mother, Custom, we refuse to be left alone. Liberty and high attainments must be meted out to us as we are able to receive them, for social retchings and vomitings inevitably follow over-feedings. Hence it is, that we find ourselves escaped from primeval and mediæval tyrannies only to fall under greater ones; society is none the less inexorable in her despotisms because of the sophistry which gives her victims fancied freedom. For do we not now set up forms and fashions, the works of our own hands, and bow down to them as reverently as ever our heathen ancestors did to their gods of wood and stone? Who made us? is not the first question of our catechism, but What will people say?

Origin and Significance of Dress

Of all tyrannies, the tyranny of fashion is the most implacable; of all slaveries the slavery to fashion is the most abject; of all fears the fear of our fellows is the most overwhelming; of all the influences that surround and govern man the forms and customs which he encounters in society are the most domineering. It is the old story, only another turn of the wheel that grinds and sharpens and polishes humanity,—at the first a benefit, now a drag. Forms and fashions are essential; we cannot live without them. If we have worship, government, commerce, or clothes, we must have forms; or if we have them not we still must act and do after some fashion; costume, which is but another word for custom, we must have, but is it necessary to make the form the chief concern of our lives while we pay so little heed to the substance? and may we not hope while rejoicing over our past emancipations, that we shall some day be free from our present despotisms?

Dress has ever exercised a powerful influence on morals and on progress; but this vesture-phenomenon is a thing but imperfectly understood. Clothes serve as a covering to the body of which we are ashamed, and protect it against the weather, and these, we infer, are the reasons of our being clothed. But the fact is, aboriginally, except in extreme cases, dress is not essential to the comfort of man until it becomes a habit, and as for shame, until told of his nakedness, the primitive man has none. The origin of dress lies behind all this; it is found in one of the most deep-rooted elements of our nature, namely, in our love of approbation. Before dress is decoration. The successful warrior, proud of his achievement, besmears his face and body with the blood of the slain, and straightway imitators, who also would be thought strong and brave, daub themselves in like manner; and so painting and tattooing become fashionable, and pigments supply the place of blood. The naked, houseless Californian would undergo every hardship, travel a hundred miles, and fight a round with every opposing band he met, in order to obtain cinnabar from the New Almaden quicksilver mine. So when the hunter kills a wild beast, and with the tail or skin decorates his body as a trophy of his prowess, others follow his example, and soon it is a shame to that savage who has neither paint, nor belt, nor necklace of bears’ claws. And so follow head-flattenings, and nose-piercings, and lip-cuttings, and, later, chignons, and breast-paddings, and bustles. Some say that jealousy prompted the first Benedicks to hide their wives’ charms from their rivals, and so originated female dress, which, from its being so common to all aborigines, is usually regarded as the result of innate modesty. But whatever gave us dress, dress has given much to human progress. Beneath dress arose modesty and refinement, like the courtesies that chivalry threw over feudalism, covering the coarse brutality of the barons, and paving the way to real politeness.

Etiquette, Morality, Laws

From the artificial grimaces of fashion have sprung many of the natural courtesies of life; though here, too, we are sent back at once to the beginning for the cause. From the ages of superstition and despotism have descended the expressions of every-day politeness. Thus we have sir, from sieur, sire, seigneur, signifying ruler, king, lord, and aboriginally father. So madam, ma dame, my lady, formerly applied only to women of rank. In place of throwing ourselves upon the ground, as before a god or prince, we only partially prostrate ourselves in bowing, and the hat which we touch to an acquaintance we take off on entering a church in token of our humility. Again, the captive in war is made a slave, and as such is required to do obeisance to his master, which forms of servility are copied by the people in addressing their superiors, and finally become the established usage of ordinary intercourse. Our daily salutations are but modified acts of worship, and our parting word a benediction; and from blood, tomahawks, and senseless superstitions we turn and find all the world of humanity, with its still strong passions and subtle cravings, held in restraint by a force of which its victims are almost wholly unconscious,—and this force is Fashion. In tribunals of justice, in court and camp etiquette, everywhere these relics of barbarism remain with us. Even we of this latter-day American republicanism, elevate one of our fellows to the chieftainship of a federation or state, and call him Excellency; we set a man upon the bench and plead our cause before him; we send a loafer to a legislature, and straightway call him Honorable,—such divinity doth hedge all semblance of power.

Self-denial and abstinence lie at the bottom of etiquette and good manners. If you would be moral, says Kant, you must “act always so that the immediate motive of thy will may become a universal rule for all intelligent beings,” and Goethe teaches that “there is no outward sign of courtesy that does not rest on a deep, moral foundation.”

Fine manners, though but the shell of the individual, are, to society, the best actions of the best men crystallized into a mode; not only the best thing, but the best way of doing the best thing. Good society is, or ought to be, the society of the good; but fashion is more than good society, or good actions; it is more than wealth, or beauty, or genius, and so arbitrary in its sway that, not unfrequently, the form absorbs the substance, and a breach of decorum becomes a deadly sin.

Thus we see in every phase of development the result of a social evolution; we see men coming and going, receiving their leaven from the society into which by their destiny they are projected, only to fling it back into the general fund interpenetrated with their own quota of force. Meanwhile, this aggregation of human experiences, this compounding of age with age, one generation heaping up knowledge upon another; this begetting of knowledge by knowledge, the seed so infinitesimal, the tree now so rapidly sending forth its branches, whither does it tend? Running the eye along the line of progress, from the beginning to the end, the measure of our knowledge seems nearly full; resolving the matter, experience assures us that, as compared with those who shall come after us, we are the veriest barbarians. The end is not yet; not until infinity is spanned and eternity brought to an end, will mankind cease to improve.

Out of this conglomeration of interminable relationships concordant and antagonistic laws are ever evolving themselves. Like all other progressional phenomena, they wait not upon man; they are self-creative, and force themselves upon the mind age after age, slowly but surely, as the intellect is able to receive them; laws without law, laws unto themselves, gradually appearing as from behind the mists of eternity. At first, man and his universe appear to be regulated by arbitrary volitions, by a multitude of individual minds; each governs absolutely his own actions; every phenomenon of nature is but the expression of some single will. As these phenomena, one after another, become stripped of their mystery, there stands revealed not a god, but a law; seasons come and go, and never fail; sunshine follows rain, not because a pacified deity smiles, but because the rain-clouds have fallen and the sun cannot help shining. Proximate events first are thus made godless, then the whole host of deities is driven farther and farther back. Finally the actions of man himself are found to be subject to laws. Left to his own will, he wills to do like things under like conditions.

As to the nature of these laws, the subtle workings of which we see manifest in every phase of society, I cannot even so much as speak. An infinite ocean of phenomena awaits the inquirer; an ocean bottomless, over whose surface spreads an eternity of progress, and beneath whose glittering waves the keenest intellect can scarcely hope to penetrate far. The universe of man and matter must be anatomized; the functions of innumerable and complex organs studied; the exercise and influence of every part on every other part ascertained, and events apparently the most capricious traced to natural causes; then, when we know all, when we know as God knoweth, shall we understand what it is, this Soul of Progress.

Chapter II • General View of the Civilized Nations • 18,800 Words

The American Civilization of the Sixteenth Century—Its Disappearance—The Past, a New Element—Dividing line between Savage and Civilized Tribes—Bounds of American Civilization—Physical Features of the Country—Maya and Nahua Branches of Aboriginal Culture—The Nahua Civilization—The Aztecs its Representatives—Limits of the Aztec Empire—Ancient History of Anáhuac in Outline—The Toltec Era—The Chichimec Era—The Aztec Era—Extent of the Aztec Language—Civilized Peoples outside of Anáhuac—Central American Nations—The Maya Culture—The Primitive Maya Empire—Nahua Influence in the South—Yucatan and the Mayas—The Nations of Chiapas—The Quiché Empire in Guatemala—The Nahuas in Nicaragua and Salvador—Etymology of Names.

In the preceding volume I have had occasion several times to remark that, in the delineation of the Wild Tribes of the Pacific States, no attempt is made to follow them in their rapid decline, no attempt to penetrate their past or prophesy a possible future, no profitless lingering over those misfortunes that wrought among them such swift destruction. To us the savage nations of America have neither past nor future; only a brief present, from which indeed we may judge somewhat of their past; for the rest, foreign avarice and interference, European piety and greed, saltpetre, steel, small-pox, and syphilis, tell a speedy tale. Swifter still must be the hand that sketches the incipient civilization of the Mexican and Central American table-lands. For although here we have more past, there is still less present, and scarcely any future. Those nations raised the highest by their wealth and culture, were the first to fall before the invader, their superior attainments offering a more shining mark to a rapacious foe; and falling, they were the soonest lost,—absorbed by the conquering race, or disappearing in the surrounding darkness. Although the savage nations were rapidly annihilated, traces of savagism lingered, and yet linger; but the higher American culture, a plant of more delicate growth and more sensitive nature, withered at the first rude touch of foreign interference. Instead of being left to its own intuitive unfoldings, or instead of being fostered by the new-comers, who might have elevated by interfusion both their own culture and that of the conquered race, the spirit of progress was effectually stifled on both sides by fanatical attempts to substitute by force foreign creeds and polities for those of indigenous origin and growth. And now behold them both, the descendants of conquerors and of conquered, the one scarcely less denaturalized than the other, the curse inflicted by the invaders on a flourishing empire returning and resting with crushing weight on their own head. Scarce four centuries ago the empire of Charles the Fifth, and the empire of Montezuma the Second, were brought by the force of progress most suddenly and unexpectedly face to face; the one then the grandest and strongest of the old world as was the other of the new. Since which time the fierce fanaticism that overwhelmed the New World empire, has pressed like an incubus upon the dominant race, and held it fast while all the world around were making the most rapid strides forward.

The Past, A New Element

No indigenous civilization exists in America to-day, yet the effects of a former culture are not altogether absent. The descendant of the Aztec, Maya, and Quiché, is still of superior mind and haughtier spirit than his roving brother who boasts of none but a savage ancestry. Still, so complete has been the substitution of foreign civil and ecclesiastical polities, and so far-reaching their influence on native character and conduct; so intimate the association for three and more centuries with the Spanish element; so closely guarded from foreign gaze has been every manifestation of the few surviving sparks of aboriginal modes of thought, that a study of the native condition in modern times yields, by itself, few satisfactory results. This study, however, as part of an investigation of their original or normal condition, should by no means be neglected, since it may furnish illustrative material of no little value.

Back of all this lies another element which lends to our subject yet grander proportions. Scattered over the southern plateaux are heaps of architectural remains and monumental piles. Furthermore, native traditions, both orally transmitted and hieroglyphically recorded by means of legible picture-writings, afford us a tolerably clear view of the civilized nations during a period of several centuries preceding the Spanish conquest, together with passing glances, through momentary clearings in the mythologic clouds, at historical epochs much more remote. Here we have as aids to this analysis,—aids almost wholly wanting among the so-called savage tribes, antiquities, tradition, history, carrying the student far back into the mysterious New World past; and hence it is that from its simultaneous revelation and eclipse, American civilization would otherwise offer a more limited field for investigation than American savagism, yet by the introduction of this new element the field is widely extended.

Nor have we even yet reached the limits of our resources for the investigation of this New World civilization. In these relics of architecture and literature, of mythology and tradition, there are clear indications of an older and higher type of culture than that brought immediately to the knowledge of the invaders; of a type that had temporarily deteriorated, perhaps through the influence of long-continued and bloody conflicts, civil and foreign, by which the more warlike rather than the more highly cultured nations had been brought into prominence and power. But this anterior and superior civilization, resting largely as it does on vague tradition, and preserved to our knowledge in general allusions rather than in detail, may, like the native condition since the conquest, be utilized to the best advantage here as illustrative of the later and better-known, if somewhat inferior civilization of the sixteenth century, described by the conqueror, the missionary, and the Spanish historian.

Antique remains of native skill, which have been preserved for our examination, may also be largely used in illustration of more modern art, whose products have disappeared. These relics of the past are also of the highest value as confirming the truth of the reports made by Spanish writers, very many, or perhaps most, of whose statements respecting the wonderful phenomena of the New World, without this incontrovertible material proof, would find few believers among the sceptical students of the present day. These remains of antiquity, however, being fully described in another volume of this work, may be referred to in very general terms for present purposes.

Origin of American Civilization

Of civilization in general, the nature of its phenomena, the causes and processes by which it is evolved from savagism, I have spoken sufficiently in the foregoing chapter. As for the many theories respecting the American civilization in particular, its origin and growth, it is not my purpose to discuss them in this volume. No theory on these questions could be of any practical value in the elucidation of the subject, save one that should stand out among the rest so preëminently well-founded as to be generally accepted among scientific men, and no one of all the multitude proposed has acquired any such preëminence. A complete résumé of all the theories on the subject, with the foundations which support them, is given elsewhere in connection with the ancient traditionary history of the aboriginal nations. It is well, however, to remark that our lack of definite knowledge about the origin of this civilization is not practically so important as might appear at first thought. True, we know not for certain whether it is indigenous or exotic; and if the former, whether to ascribe its cradle to the north or south, to one locality or many; or if the latter, whether contact with the old world was effected at one or many points, on one occasion or at divers epochs, through the agency of migrating peoples or by the advent of individual civilizers and teachers. Yet the tendency of modern research is to prove the great antiquity of the American civilization as well as of the American people; and if either was drawn from a foreign source, it was at a time probably so remote as to antedate any old-world culture now existing, and to prevent any light being thrown on the offspring by a study of the parent stock; while if indigenous, little hope is afforded of following rationally their development through the political convulsions of the distant past down to even a traditionally historic epoch.

I may then dispense with theories of origin and details of past history as confusing rather than aiding my present purpose, and as being fully treated elsewhere in this work. Neither am I required in this treatment of the civilized races to make an accurate division between them and their more savage neighbors, to determine the exact standard by which savagism and civilization are to be measured, or to vindicate the use of the word civilized as applied to the American nations in preference to that of semi-civilized, preferred by many writers. We have seen that civilization is at best only a comparative term, applied to some of the ever-shifting phases of human progress. In many of the Wild Tribes already described some of its characteristics have been observed, and the opposite elements of savagism will not be wanting among what I proceed to describe as the Civilized Nations. There is not a savage people between Anáhuac and Nicaragua that has not been influenced in its institutions by intercourse, warlike, social, or commercial, with neighbors of higher culture, and has not exerted in its turn a reflex influence on the latter. The difficulty of drawing division-lines between nations thus mutually acting on each other is further increased in America by the fact that two or three nations constitute the central figure of nearly all that has been observed or written by the few that came in actual contact with the natives. This volume will, therefore, deal rather with the native civilization than with the nations that possessed it.

While, however, details on all the points mentioned, outside of actual institutions found existing in the sixteenth century, would tend to confusion rather than to clearness, besides leading in many cases to endless repetition, yet a general view of the whole subject, of the number, extent, location, and mutual relations of the nations occupying the central portions of the continent at its discovery, as well as of their relations to those of the more immediate past, appears necessary to an intelligent perusal of the following pages. In this general view I shall avoid all discussion of disputed questions, reserving arguments and details for future volumes on antiquities and aboriginal history.

Home of the American Culture

That portion of what we call the Pacific States which was the home of American civilization within historic or traditionally historic times, extends along the continent from north-west to south-east, between latitudes 22° and 11°. On the Atlantic side the territory stretches from Tamaulipas to Honduras, on the Pacific from Colima to Nicaragua. Not that these are definitely drawn boundaries, but outside of these limits, disregarding the New Mexican Pueblo culture, this civilization had left little for Europeans to observe, while within them lived few tribes uninfluenced or unimproved by contact with it. No portion of the globe, perhaps, embraces within equal latitudinal limits so great a variety of climate, soil, and vegetation; a variety whose important bearing on the native development can be understood in some degree, and which would doubtless account satisfactorily for most of the complications of progressional phenomena observed within the territory, were the connection between environment and progress fully within the grasp of our knowledge. All the gradations from a torrid to a temperate clime are here found in a region that lies wholly within the northern tropic, altitudinal variations taking the place of and producing all the effects elsewhere attributable to latitude alone. These variations result from the topography of the country as determined by the conformation given to the continent by the central cordillera. The Sierra Madre enters this territory from the north in two principal ranges, one stretching along the coast of the Pacific, while the other and more lofty range trends nearer the Atlantic, the two again uniting before reaching the isthmus of Tehuantepec. This eastern branch between 18° 40´ and 20° 30´ opens out into a table-land of some seventy-five by two hundred miles area, with an altitude of from six to eight thousand feet above the sea level. This broad plateau or series of plateaux is known as the tierra fria, while the lower valleys, with a band of the surrounding slopes, at an elevation of from three to five thousand feet, including large portions of the western lands of Michoacan, Guerrero, and Oajaca, between the two mountain branches, constitute the tierra templada. From the surface of the upper table-land rise sierras and isolated peaks of volcanic origin, the highest in North America, their summits covered with eternal snow, which shelter, temper, and protect the fertile plateaux lying at their base. Centrally located on this table-land, surrounded by a wall of lofty volcanic cliffs and peaks, is the most famous of all the valley plateaux, something more than one hundred and sixty miles in circuit, the valley of Mexico, Anáhuac, that is to say, ‘country by the waters,’ taking its name from the lakes that formerly occupied one tenth of its area. Anáhuac, with an elevation of 7,500 feet, may be taken as representative of the tierra fria. It has a mean temperature of 62°, a climate much like that of southern Europe, although dryer, and to which the term ‘cold’ can only be comparatively applied. The soil is fertile and productive, though now generally presenting a bare and parched surface, by reason of the excessive evaporation on lofty plains exposed to the full force of a tropical sun, its natural forest-covering having been removed since the Spanish conquest, chiefly, it is believed, through artificial agencies. Oak and pine are prominent features of the native forest-growth, while wheat, barley, and all the European cereals and fruits flourish side by side with plantations of the indigenous maize, maguey, and cactus. From May to October of each year, corresponding nearly with the hot season of the coast, rains or showers are frequent, but rarely occur during the remaining months. Trees retain their foliage for ten months in the year, and indeed their fading is scarcely noticeable. Southward of 18°, as the continent narrows, this eastern table-land contracts into a mountain range proper, presenting a succession of smaller terraces, valleys, and sierras, in place of the broader plateaux of the region about Anáhuac. Trending south-eastward toward the Pacific, and uniting with the western Sierra Madre, the chain crosses the isthmus of Tehuantepec at a diminished altitude, only to rise again and expand laterally into the lofty Guatemalan ranges which stretch still south-eastward to Lake Nicaragua, where for the second time a break occurs in the continental cordillera at the southern limit of the territory now under consideration. From this central cordillera lateral subordinate branches jut out at right angles north and south toward either ocean. As we go southward the vegetation becomes more dense, and the temperature higher at equal altitudes, but the same gradations of ‘fria’ and ‘templada’ are continued, blending into each other at a height of 5,000 to 6,000 feet. The characteristics of the cordillera south of the Mexican table-land are lofty volcanic peaks whose lower bases are clothed with dense forests, fertile plateaux bounded by precipitous cliffs, vertical fissures or ravines of immense depth torn in the solid rock by volcanic action, and mountain torrents flowing in deep beds of porphyry and forming picturesque lakes in the lower valleys. Indeed, in Guatemala, where more than twenty volcanoes are in active operation, all these characteristic features appear to unite in their highest degree of perfection. One of the lateral ranges extends north-eastward from the continental chain, forming with a comparatively slight elevation the back-bone of the peninsula of Yucatan.

The Tierra Caliente

At the bases of the central continental heights, on the shores of either ocean, is the tierra caliente, a name applied to all the coast region with an elevation of less than 1,500 feet, and also by the inhabitants to many interior valleys of high temperature. So abruptly do the mountains rise on the Pacific side that the western torrid band does not perhaps exceed twenty miles in average width for its whole length, and has exerted comparatively little influence on the history and development of the native races. But on the Atlantic or gulf coast is a broad tract of level plain and marsh, and farther inland a more gradual ascent to the interior heights. This region presents all the features of an extreme tropical climate and vegetation. In the latitude of Vera Cruz barren and sandy tracts are seen; elsewhere the tierra caliente is covered with the densest tropical growth of trees, shrubs, vines, and flowers, forming in their natural state an almost impenetrable thicket. Cocoa, cotton, cacao, sugar-cane, indigo, vanilla, bananas, and the various palms are prominent among the flora; while the fauna include birds in infinite variety of brilliant plumage, with myriads of tormenting and deadly insects and reptiles. The atmosphere is deadly to all but natives. The moist soil, enriched by the decay of vegetable substances, breathes pestilence and malaria from every pore, except during the winter months of incessant winds, which blow from October to March. Southern Vera Cruz and Tabasco, the tierra caliente par excellence, exhibit the most luxuriant display of nature’s prodigality. Of alluvial and comparatively recent formation this region is traversed by the Goazacoalco, Alvarado, Usumacinta, and other noble rivers, which rise in the mountains of Guatemala, Chiapas, and Tehuantepec. River-banks are crowded with magnificent forest-trees, and the broad savanas farther back marked off into natural plantations of the valuable dye-woods which abound there, by a network of branch streams and canals, which serve both for irrigation and as a medium of transport for the native products that play no unimportant rôle in the world’s commerce. Each year inundations are expected between June and October, and these transform the whole system of lagoons into a broad lake. Farther up the course of the rivers on the foothills of the cordillera, are extensive forests of cedar, mahogany, zapote, Brazil, and other precious woods, together with a variety of medicinal plants and aromatic resins.

The whole of Yucatan may, by reason of its temperature and elevation above the sea, be included in the tierra caliente, but its climate is one of the most healthful in all tropical America. The whole north and west of the peninsula are of fossil shell formation, showing that at no very distant date this region was covered by the waters of the sea. There are no rivers that do not dry up in winter, but by a wonderful system of small ponds and natural wells the country is supplied with water, the soil being moreover always moist, and supporting a rich and vigorous vegetation.

The Nahua and Maya Elements

Notwithstanding evident marks of similarity in nearly all the manifestations of the progressional spirit in aboriginal America, in art, thought, and religion, there is much reason for and convenience in referring all the native civilization to two branches, the Maya and the Nahua, the former the more ancient, the latter the more recent and wide-spread. It is important, however, to understand the nature and extent of this division, and just how far it may be considered real and how far ideal. Of all the languages spoken among these nations, the two named are the most wide-spread, and are likewise entirely distinct. In their traditional history, their material relics, and, above all, in their methods of recording events by hieroglyphics, as well as in their several lesser characteristics, these two stocks show so many and so clear points of difference standing prominently out from their many resemblances, as to indicate either a separate culture from the beginning, or what is more probable and for us practically the same thing, a progress in different paths for a long time prior to the coming of the Europeans. Very many of the nations not clearly affiliated with either branch show evident traces of both cultures, and may be reasonably supposed to have developed their condition from contact and intermixture of the parent stocks with each other, and with the neighboring savage tribes. It is only, however, in a very general sense that this classification can be accepted, and then only for practical convenience in elucidating the subject; since there are several nations that must be ranked among our civilized peoples, which, particularly in the matter of language, show no Maya nor Nahua affinities. Nor is too much importance to be attached to the names Maya and Nahua by which I designate these parallel civilizations. The former is adopted for the reason that the Maya people and tongue are commonly regarded as among the most ancient in all the Central American region, a region where formerly flourished the civilization that left such wonderful remains at Palenque, Uxmal, and Copan; the latter as being an older designation than either Aztec or Toltec, both of which stocks the race Nahua includes. The civilization of what is now the Mexican Republic, north of Tehuantepec, belonged to the Nahua branch, both at the time of the conquest and throughout the historic period preceding. Very few traces of the Maya element occur north of Chiapas, and these are chiefly linguistic, appearing in two or three nations dwelling along the shores of the Mexican gulf. In published works upon the subject the Aztecs are the representatives of the Nahua element; indeed, what is known of the Aztecs has furnished material for nine tenths of all that has been written on the American civilized nations in general. The truth of the matter is that the Aztecs were only the most powerful of a league or confederation of three nations, which in the sixteenth century, from their capitals in the valley, ruled central Mexico. This confederation, moreover, was of comparatively recent date. These three nations were the Acolhuas, the Aztecs, and the Tepanecs, and their respective capitals, Tezcuco, Mexico, and Tlacopan (Tacuba) were located near each other on the lake borders, where, except Mexico, they still are found in a sad state of dilapidation. Within the valley, in general terms, the eastern section belonged to Tezcuco, the southern and western to Mexico, and a limited territory in the north-west to Tlacopan. At the time when the confederation was formed, which was about one hundred years before the advent of the Spaniards, Tezcuco was the most advanced and powerful of the allies, maintaining her precedence nearly to the end of the fifteenth century. Tlacopan was far inferior to the other two. Her possessions were small, and according to the terms of the compact, which seem always to have been strictly observed, she received but one fifth of the spoils obtained by successful war. While keeping within the boundaries of their respective provinces, so far as the valley of Mexico was concerned, these three chief powers united their forces to extend their conquests beyond the limits of the valley in every direction. Thus under the leadership of a line of warlike kings Mexico extended her domain to the shores of either ocean, and rendered the tribes therein tributary to her. During this period of foreign conquest, the Aztec kings, more energetic, ambitious, warlike, and unscrupulous than their allies, acquired a decided preponderance in the confederate councils and possessions; so that, originally but a small tribe, one of the many which had settled in the valley of Anáhuac, by its valor and success in war, by the comparatively broad extent of its domain, by the magnificence of its capital, the only aboriginal town in America rebuilt by the conquerors in anything like its pristine splendor, and especially by being the people that came directly into contact with the invaders in the desperate struggles of the conquest, the Aztecs became to Europeans, and to the whole modern world, the representatives of the American civilized peoples. Hence, in the observations of those who were personally acquainted with these people, little or no distinction is made between the many different nations of Central Mexico, all being described as Aztecs. Indeed, many of the lesser nations favored this error, being proud to claim identity with the brave and powerful people to whose valor they had been forced to succumb. While this state of things doubtless creates some confusion by failing to show clearly the slight tribal differences that existed, yet the difficulty is not a serious one, from the fact that very many of these nations were unquestionably of the same blood as the Aztecs, and that all drew what civilization they possessed from the same Nahua source. I may therefore continue to speak of the Aztecs in their representative character, including directly in this term all the nations permanently subjected to the three ruling powers in Anáhuac, due care being taken to point out such differences as may have been noticed and recorded.

THE AZTECS THE NAHUA REPRESENTATIVES.

To fix the limits of the Aztec Empire with any approximation to accuracy is exceedingly difficult, both by reason of conflicting statements, and because the boundaries were constantly changing as new tribes were brought under Aztec rule, or by successful revolt threw off the Mexican yoke. Clavigero, followed by Prescott, gives to the empire the territory from 18° to 21° on the Atlantic, and 14° to 19° on the Pacific, exclusive, according to the latter author, of the possessions of Tezcuco and Tlacopan. But this extent of territory, estimated at nearly twice that of the state of California, gives an exaggerated idea of Anáhuac, even when that term is applied to the conquered territory of the whole confederacy. The limits mentioned are in reality the extreme points reached by the allied armies in their successful wars, or rather, raids, during the most palmy days of Aztec rule. Within these bounds were several nations that were never conquered, even temporarily, by the arms of Anáhuac, as for example the Tlascaltecs, the Tarascos, and the Chiapanecs. Many nations, indeed most of those whose home was far from the central capitals, were simply forced on different occasions by the presence of a conquering army to pay tribute and allegiance to the Aztec kings, an allegiance which they were not slow to throw off as soon as the invaders had withdrawn. Such were the nations of northern Guatemala and Soconusco, whose conquest was in reality but a successful raid for plunder and captives; such the nations of Tehuantepec, such the Miztecs and Zapotecs of Oajaca, the latter having completely regained their independence and driven the Aztecs from their soil before the coming of the Spaniards. Other nations were conquered only in the years immediately preceding the Spanish conquest; instance the Matlaltzincas just west of Anáhuac, and the Huastecs and Totonacs of Vera Cruz. By their successful raids among these latter peoples, the Aztecs only sealed their own doom, making inveterate foes of the coast nations, whose services would have been most efficacious in resisting the fatal progress of the Castilian arms. But other tribes less warlike and powerful, or nearer the strongholds of their conquerors, were, by means of frequent military expeditions made to check outbreaking rebellion, kept nominally subject to the Aztecs during fifty years, more or less, preceding the coming of the Spaniards, paying their annual tribute with some regularity. Outside the rocky barriers of their valley, the Mexicans maintained their supremacy only by constant war; and even within the valley their sway was far from undisputed, since several tribes, notably the Chalcas on the southern lake, broke out in open rebellion whenever the imperial armies were elsewhere occupied.

Extent of the Aztec Empire

The Aztec empire proper, not restricting it to its original seat in the valley of Mexico, nor including within its limits all the nations which were by the fortunes of war forced at one time or another to pay tribute, may then be said to have extended from the valley of Mexico and its immediate environs, over the territories comprised in the present States of Mexico (with its modern subdivisions of Hidalgo and Morelos), Puebla, southern Vera Cruz, and Guerrero. Of all the nations that occupied this territory, most of them, as I have said, were of one blood and language with their masters, and all, by their character and institutions, possessed in greater or less degree the Nahua culture. Of many of the multitudinous nations occupying the vast territory surrounding the valley of Mexico, nothing is known beyond their names and their likeness, near or remote, to the Aztecs. For a statement of their names and localities in detail, the reader is referred to the Tribal Boundaries following the chapter on the Central Mexicans in the first volume of this work. Let it be understood, therefore, that the description of Aztec institutions contained in this volume applies to all the nations of the empire as bounded above, except where special limitation is indicated; besides which it has a general application to a much wider region, in fact to the whole country north of the isthmus of Tehuantepec.

The Nahuas in AnÁhuac

In this connection, and before attempting a description of the Mexican nations beyond the limits of the empire, nations more or less independent of Aztec sway, a glance at ancient Mexican history seems necessary, as well to throw light on the mutual relations of the peoples of Anáhuac, as to partially explain the broad extent of the Nahua civilization and of the Aztec idiom. The old-time story, how the Toltecs in the sixth century appeared on the Mexican table-land, how they were driven out and scattered in the eleventh century, how after a brief interval the Chichimecs followed their footsteps, and how these last were succeeded by the Aztecs who were found in possession,—the last two, and probably the first, migrating in immense hordes from the far north-west,—all this is sufficiently familiar to readers of Mexican history, and is furthermore fully set forth in the fifth volume of this work. It is probable, however, that this account, accurate to a certain degree, has been by many writers too literally construed; since the once popular theory of wholesale national migrations of American peoples within historic times, and particularly of such migrations from the north-west, may now be regarded as practically unfounded. The sixth century is the most remote period to which we are carried in the annals of Anáhuac by traditions sufficiently definite to be considered in any proper sense as historic records. At this period we find the Nahua civilization and institutions established on the table-land, occupied then as at every subsequent time by many tribes more or less distinct from each other. And there this culture remained without intermixture of essentially foreign elements down to the sixteenth century; there the successive phases of its development appeared, and there the progressional spirit continued to ferment for a period of ten centuries, which fermentation constitutes the ancient Mexican history. During the course of these ten centuries we may follow now definitely now vaguely the social, religious, and political convulsions through which these aboriginals were doomed to pass. From small beginnings we see mighty political powers evolved, and these overturned and thrown into obscurity by other and rival unfoldings. Religious sects in like manner we see succeed each other, coloring their progress with frequent persecutions and reformations, not unworthy of old-world mediæval fanaticism, as partisans of rival deities shape the popular superstition in conformity with their creeds. Wars, long and bloody, are waged for plunder, for territory, and for souls; now, to quell the insurrection of a tributary prince, now to repel the invasion of outer barbarian hordes. Leaders, political and religious, rising to power with their nation, faction, city, or sect, are driven at their fall into exile, and thereby forced to seek their fortunes and introduce their culture among distant tribes. Outside bands, more or less barbarous, but brave and powerful, come to settle in Anáhuac, and to receive, voluntarily or involuntarily, the benefits of its arts and science.

I have no disposition unduly to magnify the New World civilization, nor to under-rate old world culture, but during these ten centuries of almost universal mediæval gloom, the difference between the two civilizations was less than most people imagine. On both sides of the Dark Sea humanity lay floundering in besotted ignorance; the respective qualities of that ignorance it is hardly profitable to analyze. The history of all these complicated changes, so far as it may be traced, separates naturally into three chronologic periods, corresponding with what are known as the Toltec, the Chichimec, and the Aztec empires. Prior to the sixth century doubtless there were other periods of Nahua greatness, for there is little evidence to indicate that this was the first appearance in Mexico of this progressive people, but previous developments can not be definitely followed, although affording occasional glimpses which furnish interesting matter for antiquarian speculation.

At the opening then, of the historic times, we find the Toltecs in possession of Anáhuac and the surrounding country. Though the civilization was old, the name was new, derived probably, although not so regarded by all, from Tollan, a capital city of the empire, but afterward becoming synonymous with all that is excellent in art and high culture. Tradition imputes to the Toltecs a higher civilization than that found among the Aztecs, who had degenerated with the growth of the warlike spirit, and especially by the introduction of more cruel and sanguinary religious rites. But this superiority, in some respects not improbable, rests on no very strong evidence, since this people left no relics of that artistic skill which gave them so great traditional fame; there is, however, much reason to ascribe the construction of the pyramids at Teotihuacan and Cholula to the Toltec or a still earlier period. Among the civilized peoples of the sixteenth century, however, and among their descendants down to the present day, nearly every ancient relic of architecture or sculpture is accredited to the Toltecs, from whom all claim descent. In fact the term Toltec became synonymous in later times with all that was wonderful or mysterious in the past; and so confusing has been the effect of this universal reference of all traditional events to a Toltec source, that, while we can not doubt the actual existence of this great empire, the details of its history, into which the supernatural so largely enters, must be regarded as to a great extent mythical.

The Toltec Empire

There are no data for fixing accurately the bounds of the Toltec domain, particularly in the south. There is very little, however, to indicate that it was more extensive in this direction than that of the Aztecs in later times, although it seems to have extended somewhat farther northward. On the west there is some evidence that it included the territory of Michoacan, never subdued by the Aztecs; and it probably stretched eastward to the Atlantic, including the Totonac territory of Vera Cruz. Of the tribes or nations that made up the empire none can be positively identified by name with any of the later peoples found in Anáhuac, though there can be little doubt that several of the latter were descended directly from the Toltecs and contemporary tribes; and indeed it is believed with much reason that the semi-barbarous Otomís of Anáhuac, and several nations beyond the limits of the valley, may date their tribal history back to a period even preceding the Toltec era. During the most flourishing period of its traditional five centuries of duration, the Toltec empire was ruled by a confederacy similar in some respects to the alliance of later date between Mexico, Tezcuco, and Tlacopan. The capitals were Culhuacan, Otompan, and Tollan, the two former corresponding somewhat in territory with Mexico and Tezcuco, while the latter was just beyond the limits of the valley toward the north-west. Each of these capital cities became in turn the leading power in the confederacy. Tollan reached the highest eminence in culture, splendor, and fame, and Culhuacan was the only one of the three to survive by name the bloody convulsions by which the empire was at last overthrown, and retain anything of her former greatness.

Long-continued civil wars, arising chiefly from dissensions between rival religious factions, resulting naturally in pestilence and famine, which in the aboriginal annals are attributed to the direct interposition of irate deities, gradually undermine the imperial thrones. Cities and nations previously held in subjection or overshadowed by the splendor and power of Tollan, take advantage of her civil troubles to enlarge their respective domains and to establish independent powers. Distant tribes, more or less barbarous, but strong and warlike, come and establish themselves in desirable localities within the limits of an empire whose rulers are now powerless to repel invasion. So the kings of Tollan, Culhuacan, and Otompan lose, year by year, their prestige, and finally, in the middle of the eleventh century, are completely overthrown, leaving the Mexican table-land to be ruled by new combinations of rising powers. Thus ends the Toltec period of ancient Anáhuac history.

The popular account pictures the whole Toltec population, or such part of it as had been spared by war, pestilence, and famine, as migrating en masse southward, and leaving Anáhuac desolate and unpeopled for nearly a half century, to be settled anew by tribes that crowded in from the north-west when they learned that this fair land had been so strangely abandoned. This account, like all other national migration-narratives pertaining to the Americans, has little foundation in fact or in probability.

The royal families and religious leaders of the Toltecs were doubtless driven into perpetual exile, and were accompanied by such of the nobility as preferred, rather than content themselves with subordinate positions at home, to try their fortunes in new lands, some of which were perhaps included in the southern parts of the empire concerning which so little is known. That there was any essential or immediate change in the population of the table-land beyond the irruption of a few tribes, is highly improbable. The exiled princes and priests, as I have said, went southward, where doubtless they played an important part in the subsequent history of the Maya-Quiché nations of Central America, a history less fully recorded than that of Anáhuac. That these exiles were the founders of the Central American civilization, a popular belief supported by many writers, I cannot but regard as another phase of that tendency above-mentioned to attribute all that is undefined and ill-understood to the great and wonderful Toltecs; nor do I believe that the evidence warrants such an hypothesis. If the pioneer civilizers of the south, the builders of Palenque, Copan, and other cities of the more ancient type, were imbued with or influenced by the Nahua culture, as is not improbable, it certainly was not that culture as carried southward in the eleventh century, but a development or phase of it long preceding that which took the name of Toltec on the Mexican plateaux. With the destruction of the empire the term Toltec, as applied to an existing people, disappeared. This disappearance of the name while the institutions of the nation continued to flourish, may indicate that the designation of the people—or possibly of the ruling family—of Tollan, was not applied contemporaneously to the whole empire, and that in the traditions and records of later times, it has incidentally acquired a fictitious importance. Of the Toltec cities, Culhuacan, on the lake border, recovered under the new political combinations something of her old prominence; the name Culhuas applied to its people appears much more ancient than that of Toltecs, and indeed the Mexican civilization as a whole might perhaps as appropriately be termed Culhua as Nahua.

The Chichimec Empire

The new era succeeding the Toltec rule is that of the Chichimec empire, which endured with some variations down to the coming of Cortés. The ordinary version of the early annals has it, that the Chichimecs, a wild tribe living far in the north-west, learning that the fertile regions of Central Mexico had been abandoned by the Toltecs, came down in immense hordes to occupy the land. Numerous other tribes came after them at short intervals, were kindly received and granted lands for settlement, and the more powerful of the new comers, in confederation with the original Chichimec settlers, developed into the so-called empire. Now, although this occupation of the central table-lands by successive migrations of foreign tribes cannot be accepted by the sober historian, and although we must conclude that very many of the so-called new comers were tribes that had occupied the country during the Toltec period,—their names now coming into notice with their increasing importance and power,—yet it is probable that some new tribes, sufficiently powerful to exercise a great if not a controlling influence in building up the new empire, did at this time enter Anáhuac from the immediately bordering regions, and play a prominent part, in conjunction with the rising nations within the valley, in the overthrow of the kings of Tollan. These in-coming nations, by alliance with the original inhabitants, infused fresh life and vigor into the worn-out monarchies, furnishing the strength by which new powers were built up on the ruins of the old, and receiving on the other hand the advantages of the more perfect Nahua culture.

If one, and the most powerful, of these new nations was, as the annals state, called the Chichimec, nothing whatever is known of its race or language. The Chichimecs, their identity, their idiom, and their institutions, if any such there were, their name even, as a national appellation, were merged into those of the Nahua nations that accompanied or followed them, and were there lost. The ease and rapidity with which this tribal fusion of tongue and culture is represented to have been accomplished would indicate at least that the Chichimecs, if a separate tribe, were of the same race and language as the Toltecs; but however this may be, it must be conceded that, while they can not have been the wild cave-dwelling barbarians painted by some of the historians, they did not introduce into Anáhuac any new element of civilization.

No Such Nation as the Chichimec

The name Chichimec at the time of the Spanish conquest, and subsequently, was used with two significations, first, as applied to the line of kings that reigned at Tezcuco, and second, to all the wild hunting tribes, particularly in the broad and little-known regions of the north. Traditionally or historically the name has been applied to nearly every people mentioned in the ancient history of America. This has caused the greatest confusion among writers on the subject, a confusion which I believe can only be cleared up by the supposition that the name Chichimec, like that of Toltec, never was applied as a tribal or national designation proper to any people, while such people were living. It seems probable that among the Nahua peoples that occupied the country from the sixth to the eleventh centuries, a few of the leading powers appropriated to themselves the title Toltecs, which had been at first employed by the inhabitants of Tollan, whose artistic excellence soon rendered it a designation of honor. To the other Nahua peoples, by whom these leading powers were surrounded, whose institutions were identical but whose polish and elegance of manner were deemed by these self-constituted autocrats somewhat inferior, the term Chichimecs, barbarians, etymologically ‘dogs,’ was applied. After the convulsions that overthrew Tollan and reversed the condition of the Nahua nations, the ‘dogs’ in their turn assumed an air of superiority and retained their designation Chichimecs as a title of honor and nobility.

The names of the tribes represented as entering Anáhuac after the Chichimecs, but respecting the order of whose coming there is little agreement among authors, are the following: Matlaltzincas, Tepanecs, Acolhuas, Teo-Chichimecs (Tlascaltecs), Malinalcas, Cholultecs, Xochimilcas, Chalcas, Huexotzincas, Cuitlahuacs, Cuicatecs, Mizquicas, Tlahuicas, Cohuixcas, and Aztecs. Some of these, as I have said, may have entered the valley from the immediate north. Which these were I shall not attempt to decide, but they were nearly all of the same race and language, all lived under Nahua institutions, and their descendants were found living on and about the Aztec plateau in the sixteenth century, speaking, with one or two exceptions, the Aztec tongue.

In the new era of prosperity that now dawned on Anáhuac, Culhuacan, where some remnants even of the Toltec nobility remained, under Chichimec auspices regained to a great extent its old position as a centre of culture and power. Among the new nations whose name now first appears in history, the Acolhuas and Tepanecs soon rose to political prominence in the valley. The Acolhuas were the Chichimecs par excellence, or, as tradition has it, the Chichimec nation was absorbed by them, giving up its name, language, and institutions. The capitals which ruled the destinies of Anáhuac down to the fifteenth century, besides Culhuacan, were Tenayocan, Xaltocan, Coatlychan, Tezcuco, and Azcapuzalco. These capitals being governed for the most part by branches of the same royal Chichimec family, the era was one of civil intrigue for the balance of power and for succession to the throne, rather than one of foreign conquest. During the latter part of the period, Tezcuco, the Acolhua capital under the Chichimec kings proper, Azcapuzalco the capital of the Tepanecs, and Culhuacan held the country under their sway, sometimes allied to meet the forces of foreign foes, but oftener plotting against each other, each, by alliance with a second against the third, aiming at universal dominion. At last in this series of political manœuvres Culhuacan was permanently overthrown, and the Chichimec ruler at Tezcuco was driven from his possessions by the warlike chief of the Tepanecs, who thus for a short time was absolute master of Anáhuac.

But with the decadence of the Culhua power at Culhuacan, another of the tribes that came into notice in the valley after the fall of the Toltecs, had been gradually gaining a position among the nations. This rising power was the Aztecs, a people traditionally from the far north-west, whose wanderings are described in picture-writings shown in another part of this volume. Their migration is more definitely described than that of any other of the many who are said to have come from the same direction, and has been considered by different writers to be a migration from California, New Mexico, or Asia. Later researches indicate that the pictured annals are intended simply as a record of the Aztec wanderings in the valley of Mexico and its vicinity. Whatever their origin, by their fierce and warlike nature and bloody religious rites, from the first they made themselves the pests of Anáhuac, and later its tyrants. For some centuries they acquired no national influence, but were often conquered, enslaved, and driven from place to place, until early in the fourteenth century, when Mexico or Tenochtitlan was founded, and under a line of able warlike kings started forward in its career of prosperity unequaled in the annals of aboriginal America. At the fall of Culhuacan, Mexico ranked next to Tezcuco and Azcapuzalco, and when the armies of the latter prevailed against the former, Mexico was the most powerful of all the nations that sprang to arms, and pressed forward to humble the Tepanec tyrant, to reïnstate the Acolhua monarch on his throne, and to restore Tezcuco to her former commanding position. The result was the utter defeat of the Tepanecs, and the glory of Azcapuzalco departed forever.

The Aztec Era

Thus ended in the early part of the fifteenth century the Chichimec empire,—that is, it nominally ended, for the Chichimec kings proper lost nothing of their power,—and, by the establishment of the confederacy already described, the Aztec empire was inaugurated. Under the new dispensation of affairs, Mexico, by whose aid chiefly Azcapuzalco had been humbled, received rank and dominion at least equal to that of Tezcuco, while from motives of policy, and in order, so far as possible, to conciliate the good will of a strong though conquered people, Tlacopan, under a branch of the Tepanecs, with a less extensive domain, was admitted to the alliance. The terms of the confederacy seem, as I have said, never to have been openly violated; but in the first years of the sixteenth century the Aztecs had not only excited the hatred of the most powerful nations outside the bounds of Anáhuac by their foreign raids, but by their arrogant overbearing spirit had made themselves obnoxious at home. Their aim at supreme power was apparent, and both Tezcuco and the independent republic of Tlascala began to tremble at the dangerous progress of their mighty neighbor. A desperate struggle was imminent, in which the Aztecs, pitted against all central Mexico, by victory would have grasped the coveted prize of imperial power, or crushed as were the Tepanecs before them by a coalition of nations, would have yielded their place in the confederacy to some less dangerous rival. At this juncture Cortés appeared. This renowned chieftain aided Montezuma’s foes to triumph, and in turn fastened the shackles of European despotism on all alike, with a partial exception in favor of brave Tlascala. The nations which formed the Aztec empire proper, were the tribes for the most part that have been named as springing into existence or notice in Anáhuac early in the Chichimec period, and the names of most of them have been preserved in the names of modern localities. It will be seen, in treating of the languages of the Pacific States, that the Aztec tongue, in a pure state, in distinct verbal or grammatical traces, and in names of places, is spread over a much wider extent of territory than can be supposed to have ever been brought under subjection to Anáhuac during either the Toltec, Chichimec, or Aztec phases of the Nahua domination. To account for this we have the commercial connections of the Aztecs, whose traders are known to have pushed their mercantile ventures far beyond the regions subjected by force of arms; colonies which, both in Toltec and Aztec times, may be reasonably supposed to have sought new homes; the exile of nobles and priests at the fall of the Toltec empire, and other probable migrations, voluntary and involuntary, of princes and teachers; the large detachments of Aztecs who accompanied the Spaniards in the expeditions by which the continent was brought under subjection; and finally, if all these are not sufficient, the unknown history and migrations of the Nahua peoples during the centuries preceding the Toltec era.

The Tarascos of Michoacan

I will now briefly notice the civilized nations beyond the limits of Anáhuac, and more or less independent of the Aztec rule, concerning whose institutions and history comparatively little or nothing is known, except what is drawn from the Aztec annals, with some very general observations on their condition made by their Spanish conquerors. Westward of the Mexican valley was the flourishing independent kingdom of Michoacan, in possession of the Tarascos, whose capital was Tzintzuntzan on Lake Patzcuaro. Their country, lying for the most part between the rivers Mexcala and Tololotlan, is by its altitude chiefly in the tierra templada, and enjoys all the advantages of a tropical climate, soil, and vegetation. Topographically it presents a surface of undulating plains, intersected by frequent mountain chains and by the characteristic ravines, and well watered by many streams and beautiful lakes; hence the name Michoacan, which signifies ‘land abounding in fish.’ The lake region of Patzcuaro, the seat of the Tarasco kings, is described as unsurpassed in picturesque beauty, while in the variety of its agricultural products and in its yield of mineral wealth, Michoacan was equaled by few of the states of New Spain.

If we may credit the general statements of early authors, who give us but few details, in their institutions, their manners, wealth, and power, the Tarascos were at least fully the equals of the Aztecs, and in their physical development were even superior. That they successfully resisted and defeated the allied armies of Anáhuac is sufficient proof of their military prowess, although they yielded almost without a struggle to the Spaniards after the fall of Mexico. With respect to their civilization we must accept the statements of their superiority as the probably correct impression of those who came first in contact with this people, notwithstanding which I find no architectural or artistic relics of a high culture within their territory. All that is known on the subject indicates that their civilization was of the Nahua type, although the language is altogether distinct from the Aztec, the representative Nahua tongue. The history of Michoacan, in the form of any but the vaguest traditions, does not reach back farther than the thirteenth century; nevertheless, as I have said, there is some reason to suppose that it formed part of the Toltec empire. The theory has even been advanced that the Tarascos, forming a part of that empire, were not disturbed by its fall, and were therefore the best representatives of the oldest Nahua culture. Their reported physical superiority might favor this view, but their distinct language on the contrary would render it improbable. A careful study of all that is known of this people convinces me that they had long been settled in the lands where they were found, but leaves on the mind no definite idea of their earlier history. Their later annals are made up of tales, partaking largely of the marvelous and supernatural, of the doings of certain demi-gods or priests, and of wars waged against the omnipresent Chichimecs. Branches of the great and primitive Otomí family are mentioned as having their homes in the mountains, and there are traditions that fragments of the Aztecs and other tribes which followed the Chichimecs into Anáhuac, lingered on the route of their migration and settled in the fertile valleys of Michoacan. Between the Tarascos and the Aztecs, speaking a language different from either but allied more or less intimately with the former, were the Matlaltzincas, whose capital was in the plateau valley of Toluca, just outside the bounds of Anáhuac. This was one of the tribes that have already been named as coming traditionally from the north-west. For a long time they maintained their independence, but in the last quarter of the fifteenth century were forced to yield to the victorious arms of Axayacatl, the Aztec warrior king.

Immediately below the mouth of the Mexcala, on the border of the Pacific, were the lands of the Cuitlatecs, and also the province or kingdom of Zacatollan, whose capital was the modern Zacatula. Of these two peoples absolutely nothing is known, save that they were tributary to the Aztec empire, the latter having been added to the domain of Tezcuco in the very last years of the fifteenth century.

The provinces that extended south-westward from Anáhuac to the ocean, belonging chiefly to the modern state of Guerrero and included in what I have described as the Aztec empire proper, were those of the Tlahuicas, whose capital was Cuernavaca, the Cohuixcas, capital at Acapulco, the Yoppi on the coast south of Acapulco, and the province of Mazatlan farther inland or north-east. The name Tlapanecs is also rather indefinitely applied to the people of a portion of this territory in the south, including probably the Yoppi. Of the names mentioned we have met those of the Tlahuicas and Cohuixcas among the tribes newly springing into notice at the beginning of the Chichimec period. It is probable that nearly all were more or less closely allied in race and language to their Mexican masters, their political subjection to whom dates from about the middle of the fifteenth century.

Miztecs and Zapotecs

The western slope of the cordillera still farther south-west, comprising in general terms the modern state of Oajaca, was ruled and to a great extent inhabited by the Miztecs and Zapotecs, two powerful nations distinct in tongue from the Aztecs and from each other. Western Oajaca, the home of the Miztecs, was divided into Upper and Lower Miztecapan, the latter toward the coast, and the former higher up in the mountains, and sometimes termed Cohuaixtlahuacan. The Zapotecs in eastern Oajaca, when first definitely known to history, had extended their power over nearly all the tribes of Tehuantepec, besides encroaching somewhat on the Miztec boundaries. The Miztecs, notwithstanding the foreign aid of Tlascaltecs and other eastern foes of the Aztec king, were first defeated by the allied forces of Anáhuac about 1458; and from that date the conquerors succeeded in holding their stronger towns and more commanding positions down to the conquest, thus enforcing the payment of tribute and controlling the commerce of the southern coast, which was their primary object. Tehuantepec and Soconusco yielded some years after to the conquering Axayacatl, and Zapotecapan still later to his successor Ahuitzotl; but in the closing years of the fifteenth century the Zapotecs recovered their country with Tehuantepec, leaving Socunusco, however, permanently in Aztec possession. The history of the two nations takes us no farther back than the fourteenth century, when they first came into contact with the peoples of Anáhuac; it gives a record of their rulers and their deeds of valor in wars waged against each other, against the neighboring tribes, and against the Mexicans. Prior to that time we have a few traditions of the vaguest character preserved by Burgoa, the historian of Oajaca. These picture both Miztecs and Zapotecs as originally wild, but civilized by the influence of teachers, priests, or beings of supernatural powers, who came among them, one from the south, and others from the direction of Anáhuac. Their civilization, however received, was surely Nahua, as is shown by the resemblances which their institutions, and particularly their religious rites, bear to those of the Aztecs. Being of the Nahua type, its origin has of course been referred to that inexhaustible source, the dispersion of the Toltecs, or to proselyting teachers sent southward by that wonderful people. Indeed, the Miztec and Zapotec royal families claimed a direct Toltec descent. It is very probable, however, that the Nahua element here was at least contemporaneous in its introduction with the same element known as Toltec in Anáhuac, rather than implanted in Oajaca by missionaries, voluntary or involuntary, from Tollan. I have already remarked that the presence of Nahua institutions in different regions is too often attributed to the Toltec exiles, and too seldom to historical events preceding the sixth century. The Oajacan coast region or tierra caliente, if we may credit the result of researches by the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg, was sometimes known as Anáhuac Ayotlan, as the opposite coast of Tabasco was called Anáhuac Xicalanco. Both these Anáhuacs were inhabited by enterprising commercial peoples, whose flourishing centres of trade were located at short intervals along the coast. Material relics of past excellence in architecture and other arts of civilization abound in Oajaca, chief among which stand the remarkable structures at Mitla.

Nations of Tehuantepec

Although Tehuantepec in the later aboriginal times was subject to the kings of Zapotecapan, yet within its limits, besides the Chontales,—a name resembling in its uncertainty of application that of Chichimecs farther north,—were the remnants of two old nations that still preserved their independence. These were the Mijes, living chiefly by the chase in the mountain fastnesses of the north, and the Huaves, who held a small territory on the coast and islands of the lagoons just east of the city of Tehuantepec. The Mijes, so far as the vague traditions of the country reveal anything of their past, were once the possessors of Zapotecapan and the isthmus of Tehuantepec, antedating the Zapotecs and perhaps the Nahua culture in this region, being affiliated, as some believe, in institutions and possibly in language, with the Maya element of Central America. While this connection must be regarded as somewhat conjectural, we may nevertheless accept as probably authentic the antiquity, civilization, and power of this brave people. The Huaves were traditionally of southern origin, having come to Tehuantepec by sea from Nicaragua or a point still farther south. In navigation and in commerce they were enterprising, as were indeed all the tribes of this southern-coast Anáhuac, and they took gradually from the Mijes, whom they found in possession, a large extent of territory, which as we have seen they were finally forced to yield up to their Zapotec conquerors.

Crossing now to the Atlantic or Gulf shores we have from the past nothing but a confused account of Olmecs, Xicalancas, and Nonohualcas, who may have been distinct peoples, or the same people under different names at different epochs, and who at some time inhabited the lowlands of Tehuantepec and Vera Cruz, as well as those of Tabasco farther south. At the time of the conquest we know that this region was thickly inhabited by a people scarcely less advanced than those of Anáhuac, and dotted with flourishing towns devoted to commerce. But neither in the sixteenth nor immediately preceding centuries can any one civilized nation be definitely named as occupying this Anáhuac Xicalanco. We know, however, that this country north of the Goazacoalco River formed a portion of the Aztec empire, and that its inhabitants spoke for the most part the Aztec tongue. These provinces, known as Cuetlachtlan and Goazacoalco, were conquered, chiefly with a view to the extension of the Aztec commerce, as early as the middle of the fifteenth century, notwithstanding the assistance rendered by the armies of Tlascala.

The Tlascaltecs

The plateau east of Anáhuac sometimes known as Huitzilapan was found by the Spaniards in the possession of the independent republics, or cities, of Tlascala, Huexotzinco, and Cholula. The people who occupied this part of the table-land were the Teo-Chichimecs, of the same language and of the same traditional north-western origin as the Aztecs, whom they preceded in Anáhuac. Late in the thirteenth century they left the valley of Mexico, and in several detachments established themselves on the eastern plateau, where they successfully maintained their independence of all foreign powers. As allies of the Chichimec king of Tezcuco they aided in overturning the Tepanec tyrant of Azcapuzalco; but after the subsequent dangerous development of Aztec ambition, the Tlascaltec armies aided in nearly every attempt of other nations to arrest the progress of the Mexicans toward universal dominion. Their assistance, as we have seen, was unavailing except in the final successful alliance with the forces of Cortés; for, although secure in their small domain against foreign invasion, their armies were often defeated abroad. Tlascala has retained very nearly its original bounds, and the details of its history from the foundation of the city are, by the writings of the native historian Camargo, more fully known than those of most other nations outside of Anáhuac. This author, however, gives us the annals of his own and the surrounding peoples from a Tlascaltec stand-point only. Before the Teo-Chichimec invasion of Huitzilapan, Cholula had already acquired great prominence as a Toltec city, and as the residence of the great Nahua apostle Quetzalcoatl, of which era, or a preceding one, the famous pyramid remains as a memento. Outside of Cholula, however, the ancient history of this region presents but a blank page, or one vaguely filled with tales of giants, its first reputed inhabitants, and of the mysterious Olmecs, from some remaining fragments of which people the Tlascaltecs are said to have won their new homes. These Olmecs seem to have been a very ancient people who occupied the whole eastern region, bordering on or mixed with the Xicalancas in the south; or rather the name Olmec seems to have been the designation of a phase or era of the Nahua civilization preceding that known as the Toltec. It is impossible to determine accurately whether the Xicalancas should be classed with the Nahua or Maya element, although probably with the former.

The coast region east of Tlascala, comprising the northern half of the state of Vera Cruz, was the home of the Totonacs, whose capital was the famous Cempoala, and who were conquered by the Aztecs at the close of the fifteenth century. They were probably one of the ancient pre-Toltec peoples like the Otomís and Olmecs, and they claimed to have occupied in former times Anáhuac and the adjoining territory, where they erected the pyramids of the sun and moon at Teotihuacan. Their institutions when first observed by Europeans seem to have been essentially Nahua, and the abundant architectural remains found in Totonac territory, as at Papantla, Misantla, and Tusapan, show no well-defined differences from Aztec constructions proper. Whether this Nahua culture was that originally possessed by them or was introduced at a comparatively late period through the influence of the Teo-Chichimecs, with whom they became largely consolidated, is uncertain. The Totonac language is, however, distinct from the Aztec, and is thought to have some affinity with the Maya.

North of the Totonacs on the gulf coast, in the present state of Tamaulipas, lived the Huastecs, concerning whose early history nothing whatever is known. Their language is allied to the Maya dialects. They were a brave people, looked upon by the Mexicans as semi-barbarous, but were defeated and forced to pay tribute by the king of Tezcuco in the middle of the fifteenth century.

Nations of Central America

The difficulties experienced in rendering to any degree satisfactory a general view of the northern nations, are very greatly augmented now that I come to treat of the Central American tribes. The causes of this increased difficulty are many. I have already noticed the prominence of the Aztecs in most that has been recorded of American civilization. During the conquest of the central portions of the continent following that of Mexico, the Spaniards found an advanced culture, great cities, magnificent temples, a complicated system of religious and political institutions; but all these had been met before in the north, and consequently mere mention in general terms of these later wonders was deemed sufficient by the conquerors, who were a class of men not disposed to make minute observations or comparisons respecting what seemed to them unimportant details. As to the priests, their duty was clearly to destroy rather than to closely investigate these institutions of the devil. And in the years following the conquest, the association between the natives and the conquerors was much less intimate than in Anáhuac. These nations in many instances fought until nearly annihilated, or after defeat retired in national fragments to the inaccessible fastnesses of the cordillera, retaining for several generations—some of them permanently—their independence, and affording the Spaniards little opportunity of becoming acquainted with their aboriginal institutions. In the south, as in Anáhuac, native writers, after their language had been fitted to the Spanish alphabet, wrote more or less fully of their national history; but all such writings whose existence is known are in the possession of one or two individuals, and, excepting the Popol Vuh translated by Ximenes as well as Brasseur de Bourbourg, and the Perez Maya manuscript, their contents are only vaguely known to the public through the writings of their owners. Another difficulty respecting these writings is that their dependence on any original authority more trustworthy than that of orally transmitted traditions, is at least doubtful. The key to the hieroglyphics engraved on the stones of Palenque and Copan, and painted on the pages of the very few ancient manuscripts preserved, is now practically lost; that it was possessed by the writers referred to is, although not impossible, still far from proven. Again, chronology, so complicated and uncertain in the annals of Anáhuac, is here, through the absence of legible written records, almost entirely wanting, so that it is in many cases absolutely impossible to fix even an approximate date for historical events of great importance. The attempts of authors to attach some of these events, without sufficient data, to the Nahua chronology, have done much to complicate the matter still further.

The only author who has attempted to treat of the subject of Central American civilization and antiquity comprehensively as a whole is the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg. The learned abbé, however, with all his research and undoubted knowledge of the subject, and with his well-known enthusiasm and tact in antiquarian engineering, by which he is wont to level difficulties, apparently insurmountable, to a grade which offers no obstruction to his theoretical construction-trains, has been forced to acknowledge at many points his inability to construct a perfect whole from data so meagre and conflicting. Such being the case, the futility must be apparent of attempting here any outline of history which may throw light on the institutions of the sixteenth century. I must be content, for the purposes of this chapter, with a mention of the civilized nations found in possession of the country, and a brief statement of such prominent points in their past as seem well-authenticated and important.

The Ancient Maya Empire

Closely enveloped in the dense forests of Chiapas, Guatemala, Yucatan, and Honduras, the ruins of several ancient cities have been discovered, which are far superior in extent and magnificence to any seen in Aztec territory, and of which a detailed description may be found in the fourth volume of this work. Most of these cities were abandoned and more or less unknown at the time of the conquest. They bear hieroglyphic inscriptions apparently identical in character; in other respects they resemble each other more than they resemble the Aztec ruins—or even other and apparently later works in Guatemala and Honduras. All these remains bear evident marks of great antiquity. Their existence and similarity, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, would indicate the occupation of the whole country at some remote period by nations far advanced in civilization, and closely allied in manners and customs, if not in blood and language. Furthermore, the traditions of several of the most advanced nations point to a wide-spread civilization introduced among a numerous and powerful people by Votan and Zamná, who, or their successors, built the cities referred to, and founded great allied empires in Chiapas, Yucatan and Guatemala; and moreover, the tradition is confirmed by the universality of one family of languages or dialects spoken among the civilized nations, and among their descendants to this day. I deem the grounds sufficient, therefore, for accepting this Central American civilization of the past as a fact, referring it not to an extinct ancient race, but to the direct ancestors of the peoples still occupying the country with the Spaniards, and applying to it the name Maya as that of the language which has claims as strong as any to be considered the mother tongue of the linguistic family mentioned. As I have said before, the phenomena of civilization in North America may be accounted for with tolerable consistency by the friction and mixture of this Maya culture and people with the Nahua element of the north; while that either, by migrations northward or southward, can have been the parent of the other within the traditionally historic past, I regard as extremely improbable. That the two elements were identical in their origin and early development is by no means impossible; all that we can safely presume is that within historic times they have been practically distinct in their workings.

There are also some rather vague traditions of the first appearance of the Nahua civilization in the regions of Tabasco and Chiapas, of its growth, the gradual establishment of a power rivalling that of the people I call Mayas, and of a struggle by which the Nahuas were scattered in different directions, chiefly northward, to reappear in history some centuries later as the Toltecs of Anáhuac. While the positive evidence in favor of this migration from the south is very meagre, it must be admitted that a southern origin of the Nahua culture is far more consistent with fact and tradition than was the north-western origin, so long implicitly accepted. There are no data by which to fix the period of the original Maya empire, or its downfall or breaking-up into rival factions by civil and foreign wars. The cities of Yucatan, as is clearly shown by Mr Stephens, were, many of them, occupied by the descendants of the builders down to the conquest, and contain some remnants of wood-work still in good preservation, although some of the structures appear to be built on the ruins of others of a somewhat different type. Palenque and Copan, on the contrary, have no traces of wood or other perishable material, and were uninhabited and probably unknown in the sixteenth century. The loss of the key to what must have been an advanced system of hieroglyphics, while the spoken language survived, is also an indication of great antiquity, confirmed by the fact that the Quiché structures of Guatemala differed materially from those of the more ancient epoch. It is not likely that the Maya empire in its integrity continued later than the third or fourth century, although its cities may have been inhabited much later, and I should fix the epoch of its highest power at a date preceding rather than following the Christian era. A Maya manuscript fixes the date of the first appearance in Yucatan of the Tutul Xius at 171 A. D. The Abbé Brasseur therefore makes this the date of the Nahua dispersion, believing, on apparently very slight foundation, the Tutul Xius to be one of the Nahua fragments. With the breaking-up of this empire into separate nations at an unknown date, the ancient history of Central America as a whole ceases, and down to a period closely preceding the conquest we have only an occasional event preserved in the traditions of two or three nations.

Maya Nations of Yucatan

Yucatan was occupied in the sixteenth century by the Mayas proper, all speaking the same language, and living under practically the same institutions, religious and political. The chief divisions were the Cocomes, Tutul Xius, Itzas, and Cheles, which seem to have been originally the designations of royal or priestly families, rather than tribal names proper of the peoples over whom they held sway. Each of these had their origin-traditions of immigrating tribes or teachers who came in the distant past to seek new homes, escape persecution, or introduce new religious ideas, in the fertile Maya plains. Some of these stranger apostles of new creeds are identified by authors with Toltec missionaries or exiles from Anáhuac. The evidence in favor of this identity in any particular case is of course unsatisfactory, but that it was well-founded in some cases is both probable,—commercial intercourse having undoubtedly made the two peoples mutually acquainted with each other,—and is supported by the presence of Nahua names of rulers and priests, and of Nahua elements in the Yucatec religion, the same remark applying to all Central America. The ancient history of Yucatan is an account of the struggles, alliances, and successive domination of the factions mentioned. To enumerate here, in outline even, these successive changes so vaguely and confusedly recorded would be useless, especially as their institutions, so far as can be known, were but slightly affected by political changes among people of the same blood, language, and religion.

The Cocomes were traditionally the original Maya rulers of the land, and the Tutul Xius first came into notice in the second century, the Itzas and Cheles appearing at a much later date. One of the most prosperous eras in the later history of the peninsula of Yucatan is represented to have followed the appearance of Cuculcan, a mysterious stranger corresponding closely in his teachings, as in the etymology of his name, with the Toltec Quetzalcoatl. He became the head of the Cocome dynasty at Mayapan, and ruled the country as did his successors after him in alliance with the Tutul Xius at Uxmal, the Itzas at Chichen Itza, and the Cheles at Izamal. But later the Cocomes were overthrown, and Mayapan destroyed by a revolution of the allies. The Tutul Xius now became the leading power, a position which they held down to the time, not long before the conquest, when the country was divided by war and civil dissensions into numerous petty domains, each ruled by its chief and independent of the rest, all in a weak and exhausted condition compared with their former state, and unable to resist by united effort the progress of the Spanish invaders whom individually they fought most bravely. Three other comparatively recent events of some importance in Yucatec history may be noticed. The Cocomes in the struggle preceding their fall called in the aid of a large force of Xicalancas, probably a Nahua people, from the Tabascan coast region, who after their defeat were permitted by the conquerors to settle in the country. A successful raid by some foreign people, supposed with some reason to be the Quichés from Guatemala, is reported to have been made against the Mayas with, however, no important permanent results. Finally a portion of the Itzas migrated southward and settled in the region of Lake Peten, establishing their capital city on an island in the lake. Here they were found, a powerful and advanced nation, by Hernan Cortés in the sixteenth century, and traces of their cities still remain, although it must be noted that another and older class of ruins are found in the same region, dating back perhaps to a time when the glory of the Maya empire had not wholly departed.

Chiapas and Guatemala

Chiapas, politically a part of the Mexican Republic, but belonging geographically to Central America, was occupied by the Chiapanecs, Tzendales, and Quelenes. The Tzendales lived in the region about Palenque, and were presumably the direct descendants of its builders, their language having nearly an equal claim with the Maya to be considered the mother tongue. The Chiapanecs of the interior were a warlike tribe, and had before the coming of the Spaniards conquered the other nations, forcing them to pay tribute, and successfully resisting the attacks of the Aztec allies. They also are a very old people, having been referred even to the tribes that preceded the establishment of Votan’s empire. Statements concerning their history are numerous and irreconcilable; they have some traditions of having come from the south; their linguistic affinity with the Mayas is at least very slight. The Quelenes or Zotziles, whose past is equally mysterious, inhabited the southern or Guatemalan frontier.

Guatemala and northern Honduras were found in possession of the Mames in the north-west, the Pocomams in the south-east, the Quichés in the interior, and the Cakchiquels in the south. The two latter were the most powerful and ruled the country from their capitals of Utatlan and Patinamit, where they resisted the Spaniards almost to the point of annihilation, retiring for the most part after defeat to live by the chase in the distant mountain gorges. Guatemalan history from the Votan empire down to an indefinite date not many centuries before the conquest is a blank. It recommences with the first traditions of the nations just mentioned. These traditions, as in the case of every American people, begin with the immigration of foreign tribes into the country as the first in the series of events leading to the establishment of the Quiché-Cakchiquel empire. Assuming the Toltec dispersion from Anáhuac in the eleventh century as a well-authenticated fact, most writers have identified the Guatemalan nations, except perhaps the Mames by some considered the descendants of the original inhabitants, with the migrating Toltecs who fled southward to found a new empire. I have already made known my scepticism respecting national American migrations in general, and the Toltec migration southward in particular, and there is nothing in the annals of Guatemala to modify the views previously expressed. The Quiché traditions are vague and without chronologic order, much less definite than those relating to the mythical Aztec wanderings. The sum and substance of the Quiché and Toltec identity is the traditional statement that the former people entered Guatemala at an unknown period in the past, while the latter left Anáhuac in the eleventh century. That the Toltecs should have migrated en masse southward, taken possession of Guatemala, established a mighty empire, and yet have abandoned their language for dialects of the original Maya tongue is in the highest degree improbable. It is safer to suppose that the mass of the Quichés and other nations of Guatemala, Chiapas, and Honduras, were descended directly from the Maya builders of Palenque, and from contemporary peoples. Yet the differences between the Quiché-Cakchiquel structures, and the older architectural remains of the Maya empire indicate a new era of Maya culture, originated not unlikely by the introduction of foreign elements. Moreover, the apparent identity in name and teachings between the early civilizers of the Quiché tradition and the Nahua followers of Quetzalcoatl, together with reported resemblances between actual Quiché and Aztec institutions as observed by Europeans, indicate farther that the new element was engrafted on Maya civilization by contact with the Nahuas, a contact of which the presence of the exiled Toltec nobility may have been a prominent feature. After the overthrow of the original empire we may suppose the people to have been subdivided during the course of centuries by civil wars and sectarian struggles into petty states, the glory of their former greatness vanished and partially forgotten, the spirit of progress dormant, to be roused again by the presence of the Nahua chiefs. These gathered and infused new life into the scattered remnants; they introduced some new institutions, and thus aided the ancient people to rebuild their empire on the old foundations, retaining the dialects of the original language.

Nicaraguans and Pipiles

In addition to the peoples thus far mentioned, there were undoubtedly in Nicaragua, and probably in Salvador, nations of nearly pure Aztec blood and language. The former are known among different authors as Nicaraguans, Niquirans, or Cholutecs, and they occupied the coast between lake Nicaragua and the ocean, with the lake islands. Their institutions, political and religious, were nearly the same as those of the Aztecs of Anáhuac, and they have left abundant relics in the form of idols and sepulchral deposits, but no architectural remains. These relics are moreover hardly less abundant in the territory of the adjoining tribes, nor do they differ essentially in their nature; hence we must conclude that some other Nicaraguan peoples, either by Aztec or other influence, were considerably advanced in civilization. The Nahua tribes of Salvador, the ancient Cuscatlan, were known as Pipiles, and their culture appears not to have been of a high order. Both of these nations probably owe their existence to a colony sent southward from Anáhuac; but whether in Aztec or pre-Aztec times, the native traditions, like their interpretation by writers on the subject, are inextricably confused and at variance. For further details on the location of Central American nations I refer to the statement of tribal boundaries at the end of Chapter VII., Volume I., of this work.

I here close this general view of the subject, and if it is in some respects unsatisfactory, I cannot believe that a different method of treatment would have rendered it less so. To have gone more into detail would have tended to confuse rather than elucidate the matter in the reader’s mind, unless with the support of extensive quotations from ever-conflicting authorities, which would have swollen this general view from a chapter to a volume. As far as antiquity is concerned, the most intricate element of the subject, I shall attempt to present—if I cannot reconcile—all the important variations of opinion in another division of this work.

In the treatment of my subject, truth and accuracy are the principal aim, and these are never sacrificed to graphic style or glowing diction. As much of interest is thrown into the recital as the authorities justify, and no more. Often may be seen the more striking characteristics of these nations dashed off with a skill and brilliance equaled only by their distance from the facts; disputed points and unpleasing traits glossed over or thrown aside whenever they interfere with style and effect. It is my sincere desire, above all others, to present these people as they were, not to make them as I would have them, nor to romance at the expense of truth; nevertheless, it is to be hoped that in the truth enough of interest will remain to command the attention of the reader. My treatment of the subject is essentially as follows: The civilized peoples of North America naturally group themselves in two great divisions, which for convenience may be called the Nahuas and the Mayas respectively; the first representing the Aztec civilization of Mexico, and the second the Maya-Quiché civilization of Central America. In describing their manners and customs, five large divisions may be made of each group. The first may be said to include the systems of government, the order of succession, the ceremonies of election, coronation, and anointment, the magnificence, power, and manner of life of their kings; court forms and observances; the royal palaces and gardens. The second comprises the social system; the classes of nobles, gentry, plebeians and slaves; taxation, tenure, and distribution of lands; vassalage and feudal service; the inner life of the people; their family and private relations, such as marriage, divorce, and education of youth; other matters, such as their dress, food, games, feasts and dances, knowledge of medicine, and manner of burial. The third division includes their system of war, their relations with foreign powers, their warriors and orders of knighthood, their treatment of prisoners of war and their weapons. The fourth division embraces their system of trade and commerce, the community of merchants, their sciences, arts, and manufactures. The fifth and last considers their judiciary, law-courts, and legal officials. I append as more appropriately placed here than elsewhere, a note on the etymological meaning and derivation, so far as known, of the names of the Civilized Nations.

Etymology of Names

Acolhuas;—Possibly from coloa, ‘to bend,’ meaning with the prefix atl, ‘water-colhuas,’ or ‘people at the bend of the water.’ Not from acolli, ‘shoulder,’ nor from colli, ‘grandfather.’ Buschmann, Ortsnamen, pp. 85, 89. ‘Coloa, encoruar, o entortar algo, o rodear yendo camino.’ ‘Acolli, ombro.’ ‘Culhuia, lleuar a otro por rodeos a alguna parte.’ Molina, Vocabulario. Colli, ‘grand-father,’ plural colhuan. Colhuacan, or Culiacan, may then mean ‘the land of our ancestors.’ Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 204-5. ‘El nombre de aculhuas, ó segun la ortografía mexicana, aculhuaque, en plural, y no aculhuacanes, ni aculhues.’ Dicc. Univ., tom. i., p. 39. ‘Col, chose courbe, faisant coloa, colua, ou culhua, nom appliqué plus tard dans le sens d’ancêtre, parce que du Colhuacan primitif, des îles de la Courbe, vinrent les émigrés qui civilisèrent les habitants de la vallée d’Anahuac.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Quatre Lettres, p. 407. ‘Colhua, ou culhua, culua, de coltic, chose courbée. De là le nom de la cité de Colhuacan, qu’on traduit indifféremment, ville de la courbe, de choses recourbées (des serpents), et aussi des aïeux, de coltzin, aïeul.’ Id., Popol Vuh, p. xxix.

Aztecs;—From Aztlan, the name of their ancient home, from a root Aztli, which is lost. It has no connection with azcatl, ‘ant,’ but may have some reference to iztac, ‘white.’ Buschmann, Ortsnamen, pp. 5-6. ‘De Aztlan se deriva el nacional Aztecatl.’ Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 158. ‘Az, primitif d’azcatl, fourmi, est le mot qui désigne, à la fois, d’une manière générale, la vapeur, le gaz, ou toute chose légère, comme le vent ou la pluie; c’est l’aile, aztli qui désigne aussi la vapeur, c’est le héron dans aztatl. Il se retrouve, avec une légère variante, dans le mot nahuatl composé, tem-az-calli, bain de vapeur, dans ez-tli, le sang ou la lave; dans les vocables quichés atz, bouffée du fumée, épouvantail, feu-follet…. Ainsi les fourmis de la tradition haïtienne, comme de la tradition mexicaine, sont à la fois des images des feux intérieurs de la terre et de leurs exhalaisons, comme du travail des mines et de l’agriculture. Du même primitif az vient Aztlan “le Pays sur ou dans le gaz, az-tan, az-dan, la terre sèche, soulevée par les gaz ou remplie de vapeurs.”‘ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Quatre Lettres, p. 311.

Chalcas;—’Il nome Chalcho vale, Nella gemma. Il P. Acosta dice, che Chalco vuol dire, Nelle bocche.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 253. Buschmann believes Acosta’s definition ‘in the mouths’ to be more correct. Ortsnamen, p. 83. ‘Chalca, Ce qui est le calcaire; c’est l’examen de tous les vocables mexicains, commençant en chal, qui m’a fait découvrir le sens exact de ce mot; il se trouve surtout dan chal-chi-huitl, le jade, littéralement ce qui est sorti du fond du calcaire.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Quatre Lettres, pp. 403, 406.

Cheles;—’Le Chel dans la langue maya est une espèce d’oiseaux particuliers à cette contrée.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 19.

Chiapanecs;—Chiapan, ‘locality of the chia’ (oil-seed). Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. 187. ‘Chiapanèque, du nahuatl chiapanecatl, c’est-à-dire homme de la rivière Chiapan (eau douce), n’est pas le nom véritable de ce peuple; c’est celui que lui donnèrent les Mexicains.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 87.

Chichimecs;—’Chichi, perro, o perra.’ Molina, Vocabulario. Chichi, ‘dog’; perhaps as inhabitants of Chichimecan, ‘place of dogs.’ Mecatl may mean ‘line,’ ‘row,’ ‘race,’ and Chichimecatl, therefore ‘one of the race of dogs.’ Buschmann, Ortsnamen, pp. 79, 81. ‘Chichimèque veut dire, à proprement parler, homme sauvage…. Ce mot désigne des hommes qui mangent de la viande crue et sucent le sang des animaux; car chichiliztli veut dire, en mexicain, sucer; chichinaliztli, la chose que l’on suce, et Chichihualli, mamelle…. Toutes les autres nations les redoutaient et leur donnaient le nom de Suceurs, en mexicain, Chichimecatechinani. … Les Mexicains nomment aussi les chiens chichime, parce qu’ils lèchent le sang des animaux et le sucent.’ Camargo, Hist. Tlaxcallan, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 140. ‘Teuchichimecas, que quiere decir del todo barbados, que por otro nombre se decian Cacachimecas, ó sea hombres silvestres.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 116. ‘Chichimec ou chichimetl, suceur de maguey, et de là les Chichimèques.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 171, 56. Other derivations are from Chichen, a city of Yucatan, and from chichiltic ‘red,’ referring to the color of all Indians. Id., Popol Vuh, p. lxiii. ‘Chi … selon Vetancourt, c’est une préposition, exprimant ce qui est tout en bas, au plus profond, comme aco signifie ce qui est au plus haut…. Chichi est un petit chien (chi-en), de ceux qu’on appelle de Chihuahua, qui se creusent des tanières souterraines…. Chichi énonce tout ce qui est amer, aigre ou âcre, tout ce qui fait tache: il a le sens de sucer, d’absorber; c’est la salive, c’est le poumon et la mamelle. Si maintenant … j’ajoute me, primitif de metl, aloès, chose courbée, vous aurez Chichime, choses courbes, tortueuses, suçantes, absorbantes, amères, âcres ou acides, se cachant, comme les petits chiens terriers, sous le sol où elles se concentrent, commes des poumons ou des mamelles…. Or, puisqu’il est acquis, d’après ces peintures et ces explications, que tout cela doit s’appliquer à une puissance tellurique, errante, d’ordinaire, comme les populations nomades, auxquelles on attacha le nom de Chichimeca.’ Id., Quatre Lettres, pp. 111-12.

Cholultecs;—From choloa, meaning ‘to spring,’ ‘to run,’ ‘to flee,’ or ‘place where water springs up,’ ‘place of flight,’ or ‘fugitives.’ Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. 100. ‘C’est du lieu d’où ils étaient sortis primitivement, ou plutôt à cause de leur qualité actuelle d’exilés, qu’ils prirent ensuite le nom de Cholutecas.’ ‘Cholutecas, mieux Cholultecas, c’est-à-dire, Exilés, et aussi, Habitants de Cholullan.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 79.

Chontales;—’Chontalli, estrangero o forastero.’ Molina, Vocabulario; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 21; Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. 133; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 47.

Cocomes;—’Cocom signifie écouteur, croyant.’ Landa, Rel. de las Cosas de Yucatan, p. 39. ‘Cocom est un nom d’origine nahuatl; il est le pluriel de cohuatl, serpent…. Dans la langue maya, le mot cocom a la signification d’écouteur, celui qui entend; cette étymologie nous paraît plus rationnelle que la première.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 78.

Cohuixcas;—Ayala translates the name of their province Cuixca, ‘tierra de lagartijas.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 48.

Cuitlahuacs;—’Cuitlatl, excremento, y genéricamente cosa sucia.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 47. ‘Cuitlahuac, Dans celui qui a les Excréments, de cuitlatl, excrément, déjection de l’homme ou de l’animal, mais que le chroniste mexicain applique ici aux déjections du volcan voisin de la Grande-Base … de là le nom de teo-cuitlatl, excréments divins, donné aux métaux précieux, l’or avec l’adjectif jaune, l’argent avec l’adjectif blanc.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Quatre Lettres, p. 407. Cuitlatlan, ‘locality of dirt.’ Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. 15. ‘Cuitlatl, mierda.’ Molina, Vocabulario. The name of the Cuitlatecs seems to have no separate etymological meaning.

Culhuas;—See Acolhuas. The two people are not supposed to have been the same, but it is probable that they are identical in the derivation of their names.

Huastecs;—’Huaxtlan es una palabra mexicana que significa, “donde hay, ó abunda el huaxi,” fruto muy conocido en México con el nombre castellanizado de guaje. Compónese aquella palabra de huaxin, perdiendo in por contraccion, muy usada en mexicano al componerse las palabras, y de tlan, partícula que significa “donde hay, ó abunda algo,” y que sirve para formar colectivos. De huaxtlan es de donde, segun parece, viene el nombre gentilicio huaxtecatl, que los españoles convirtieron en huaxteca ó huaxteco.’ Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., pp. 5-6; Buschmann, Ortsnamen, pp. 12-13. ‘El que es inhábil ó tosco, le llaman … cuextecatl.’ From the name of their ruler, who took too much wine. ‘Así por injuria, y como alocado, le llamaban de Cuextecatl.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 134-5, 143-4.

Huexotzincas;—Diminutive of huexotla, ‘willow-forest.’ Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. 100.

Itzas;—From the name of Zamná, the first Yucatan civilizer. ‘Le llamaban tambien Ytzamná, y le adoraban por Dios.’ Cogolludo, Hist. de Yucathan, p. 196. ‘Itzmat-ul, que quiere dezir el que recibe y posee la gracia, ó rozio, ó sustancia del cielo.”Ytzen caan, ytzen muyal, que era dezir yo soy el rozio ó sustancia del cielo y nubes.’ Lizana, in Landa, Rel. de las Cosas de Yucatan, p. 356. ‘Suivant Ordoñez, le mot itza est composé de itz, doux, et de hà, eau.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 15.

Malinalcas;—’Malina, nitla, torcer cordel encima del muslo.’ ‘Malinqui, cosa torcida.’ Molina, Vocabulario. ‘Malinal est le nom commun de la liane, ou des cordes tordues.’ ‘Malina, tordre, qui fait malinal, liane ou corde. Ou bien plus littéralement de choses tournées, percée à jour, de mal, primitif de mamali, percer, tarauder, et de nal, de part en part, tout autour.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Quatre Lettres, pp. 407-8.

Mames;—’El verdadero nombre de la lengua y de la tribu es mem, que quiere decir tartamudos porque los pueblos que primero les oyeron hablar, encontraron semejanza entre los tardos para pronunciar, y la manera con que aquellos decian su lengua.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 24. ‘A esta lengua llaman Mame, é indios mames á los de esta sierra, porque ordinariamente hablan y responden con esta palabra man, que quiere decir padre.’ Reynoso, in Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., pp. 83-4. ‘Memveut dire bègue et muet.’ ‘”Mem”, mal à propos défiguré dans Mame par les Espagnols, servit depuis généralement à désigner les nations qui conservèrent leur ancienne langue et demeurèrent plus ou moins indépendantes des envahisseurs étrangers.’ Mam ‘veut dire ancien, vieillard.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 119. Mam sometimes means grand-son. Id., Popol Vuh, p. 41.

Matlaltzincas;—’El nombre Matlalcincatl, tomóse de Matlatl que es la red con la cual desgranaban el maiz, y hacian otras cosas…. Tambien se llaman Matlatzincas de hondas que se dicen tlematlate, y así Matlatzincas por otra interpretacion quiere decir, honderos ó fondibularios; porque los dichos Matlatzincas cuando muchachos, usaban mucho traer las hondas, y de ordinario las traían consigo, como los Chichimecas sus arcos, y siempre andaban tirando con ellas. Tambien les llamaban del nombre de red por otra razon que és la mas principal, porque cuando à su idolo sacrificaban alguna persona, le echaban dentro en una red, y allí le retorcian y estrujaban con la dicha red, hasta que le hacian echar los intestinos. La causa de llamarse coatl (Ramirez) dice que “debe leerse cuaitl (cabeza). Coatl significa culebra,” cuando es uno, y qüaqüatas cuando son muchos és, porque siempre traían la cabeza ceñida con la honda; por lo cual el vocablo se decia qüa por abreviatura, que quiere decir quaitl que es la cabeza, yta que quiere decir tamatlatl (Molina says ‘Honda para tirar es tematlatl, tlatematlauiloni‘) ques es la honda, y así quiere decir quatlatl hombre que trae la honda en la cabeza por guirnalda: tambien se interpreta de otra manera, que quiere decir hombre de cabeza de piedra.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 128, and Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 29-30. ‘Matlatzinia, dar palmadas.’ ‘Matlatepito, red pequeña.’ Molina, Vocabulario. From matlatl, ‘net’, meaning therefore ‘small place of nets’. Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. 13. ‘De Matlatl, le filet, les mailles.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Quatre Lettres, p. 408. ‘Matlatzinco es una palabra mexicana que significa “lugarcito de las redes”, pues se compone de matlat, red, y la partícula tzinco que expresa diminucion. Fácilmente se comprende, pues, que matlatzinca viene de matlatzinco, y que la etimología exige que estas palabras se escriban con c (mejor k) y no con g como hacen algunos autores’, Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 500.

Mayas;—'”Mai“, une divinité ou un personnage des temps antiques, sans doute celui à l’occasion duquel le pays fut appelé Maya.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Landa, Rel. de las Cosas de Yucatan, p. 42. ‘Maya ou Maïa, nom antique d’une partie du Yucatan, paraît signifier aussi la terre.’ Id., p. lxx. ‘Maayhà, non adest aqua, suivant Ordoñez, c’est-à-dire, Terre sans eau.’ Id., Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 76. The terminations a and o of this name are Spanish. Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., p. 35.

Mizquicas;—’Mizquitl, arbol de goma para tinta.’ Molina, Vocabulario. Mizquitl, a tree yielding the pure gum arabic, a species of acacia. Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. 104.

Miztecs;—’La palabra mexicana Mixtecatl, es nombre nacional, derivado de mixtlan, lugar de nubes ó nebuloso, compuesto de mixtli, nube, y de la terminacion tlan.’ Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 39. Mixtlan, ‘place of clouds.’ Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. 18. ‘Mixtecapan … pays des brouillards.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 146.

Nahuas;—’Todos los que hablan claro la lengua mexicana que les llaman nahóas, son descendientes de los Tultecas.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 114. ‘Nahoatl ó nahuatl, segun el diccionario de Molina, significa cosa que suena bien, de modo que viene à ser un adjetivo que aplicado al sustantivo idioma, creo que puede traducirse por armonioso.’ Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 158. Something of fine, or clear, or loud sound; nahuatlato means an interpreter; nahuati, to speak loud; nahuatia, to command. The name has no connection whatever with Anáhuac. Buschmann, Ortsnamen, pp. 7-8. ‘Molina le traduit par Ladino, instruit, expert, civilisé, et lui donne aussi un sens qui se rapporte aux sciences occultes. On n’en trouve pas, toutefois, la racine dans le mexicain. La langue quichée en donne une explication parfaite: il vient du verbe Nao ou Naw, connaître, sentir, savoir, penser; Tin nao, je sais; Naoh, sagesse, intelligence. Il y a encore le verbe radical Na, sentir, soupçonner. Le mot Nahual dans son sens primitif et véritable, signifie donc littéralement “qui sait tout”; c’est la même chose absolument que le mot anglais Know-all, avec lequel il a tant d’identité. Le Quiché et le Cakchiquel l’emploient fréquemment aussi dans le sens de mystérieux, extraordinaire, merveilleux.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 101-2, 194.

Nonohualcas;—The Tutul-Xius, chiefs of a Nahuatl house in Tulan, seem to have borne the name of Nonoual, which may have given rise to Nonohualco or Onohualco. ‘Nonoual ne serait-il pas une altération de Nanaual ou Nanahuatl?’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Landa, Rel. de las Cosas de Yucatan, p. 420.

Olmecs;—Olmecatl was the name of their first traditionary leader. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 152. Olmecatl may mean an inhabitant of the town of Olman; but as mecatl is also used for ‘shoot’, ‘offspring’, ‘branch’, the word probably comes from olli, and means ‘people of the gum’. Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. 16.

Otomís;—’El vocablo Otomitl, que es el nombre de los Otomies, tomáronlo de su caudillo, el cual se llamaba Oton.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 122. Not a native word, but Mexican, derived perhaps from otli, ‘road’, and tomitl, ‘animal hair’, referring possibly to some peculiar mode of wearing the hair. Buschmann, Ortsnamen, pp. 18-19. ‘Otho en la misma lengua othomí quiere decir nada, y mi, quieto, ó sentado, de manera que traducida literalmente la palabra, significa nada-quieto, cuya idea pudiéramos expresar diciendo peregrino ó errante.’ Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 118; Náxera, Disertacion, p. 4. ‘Son étymologie mexicaine, Otomitl, signifie la flèche d’Oton.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 158.

Pipiles;—A reduplication of pilli, which has two meanings, ‘noble’ and ‘child’, the latter being generally regarded as its meaning in the tribal name. Buschmann, Ortsnamen, pp. 137-8. So called because they spoke the Mexican language with a childish pronunciation. Juarros’ Hist. Guat., p. 224.

Pokomams;—’Pokom, dont la racine pok désigne une sorte de tuf blanc et sablonneux…. La termination om est un participe présent. De Pokom vient le nom de Pokomam et de Pokomchi, qui fut donné à ces tribus de la qualité du sol où ils bâtirent leur ville.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 122.

Quichés;—’La palabra quiché, kiché, ó quitze, significa muchos árboles.’ Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., p. 124. ‘De quï beaucoup, plusieurs, et de che, arbre, ou de queche, quechelah, qechelah, la forêt.’ Ximenez, in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. cclxv.

Tarascos;—’Tarasco viene de tarhascue, que en la lengua de Michoacan significa suegro, ó yerno segun dice el P. Lagunas en su Gramática.’ Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 273. ‘Taras en la lengua mexicana se dice Mixcoatl, que era el dios de los Chichimecas.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 138. ‘Á quienes dieron el nombre de tarascos, por el sonido que les hacian las partes genitales en los muslos al andar.’ Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 105; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. des Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 57.

Tepanecs;—Tepan, ‘stony place’, from tetl, or tecpan, ‘royal palace’. Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. 92. ‘Tecpantlan signifie auprès des palais.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. cx. ‘Cailloux roulés sur la roche, te-pa-ne-ca, littéralement ce qui est mêlé ensemble sur la pierre; ou bien te-pan-e-ca, c’est-à-dire avec des petites pierres sur la roche ou le solide, e, pour etl, le haricot, frijol, étant pris souvent dans le sens d’une petite pierre sur une surface, etc.’ Id., Quatre Lettres, p. 408.

Tlahuicas;—From tlahuitl, ‘cinnabar’, from this mineral being plentiful in their country. Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. 93. Tlahuilli, ‘poudres brillantes.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Quatre Lettres, p. 422. ‘Tlauia, alumbrar a otros con candela o hacha.’ Molina, Vocabulario.

Tlapanecs;—’Y llámanlos tambien tlapanecas que quiere decir hombres almagrados, porque se embijaban con color.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 135. From tlalpantli, ‘ground’; may also come from tlalli, ‘land’. Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. 162. Tlapallan, ‘terre colorée’. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. lxiii. Tla, ‘feu’. Id., Quatre Lettres, p. 416. ‘Tlapani, quebrarse algo, o el tintorero que tiñe paños.’ Molina, Vocabulario. Probably a synonym of Yoppi, q. v. Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 26-7.

Tlascaltecs;—’Tlaxcalli, tortillas de mayz, o pan generalmente.’ Molina, Vocabulario. Tlaxcalli, ‘place of bread or tortillas’, the past participle of ixca, ‘to bake or broil’. Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. 93.

Toltecs;—’Toltecayotl, maestria de arte mecanica. Toltecatl, official de arte mecanica. Toltecauia, fabricar o hazer algo el maestro.’ Molina, Vocabulario. ‘Los tultecas todos se nombraban chichimecas, y no tenian otro nombre particular sino este que tomaron de la curiosidad, y primor de las obras que hacian, que se llamaron obras tultecas ó sea como si digesemos, oficiales pulidos y curiosos como ahora los de Flandes, y con razon, porque eran sutiles y primorosos en cuanto ellos ponian la mano, que todo era muy bueno.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 107. Toltecs, ‘people of Tollan’. Tollan, ‘place of willows or reeds’, from tolin, ‘willow, reed.’ Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. 76. ‘Toltecatl était le titre qu’on donnait à un artiste habile.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 194. Tollan: ‘Elle est frappante … par l’identité qu’elle présente avec le nom de Metztli ou le Croissant. En effet, ce qu’elle exprime, d’ordinaire, c’est l’idée d’un “pays recourbé” ou incliné. Sa première syllabe tol, primitif de toloa, “abaxar, inclinar la cabeça,” dit Molina, “entortar, encorvar,” dit-il ailleurs, signifie donc baisser, incliner la tête, se tortuer, courber, ce qui, avec la particule locale lan pour tlan ou tan, la terre, l’endroit, annonce une terre ou un pays recourbé, sens exact du mot tollan. Du même verbe vient tollin, le jonc, le roseau, dont la tête s’incline au moindre vent; de là, le sens de Jonquière, de limné, que peut prendre tollan, dont le hiéroglyphe représente précisément le son et la chose, et qui paraît exprimer doublement l’idée de cette terre fameuse de la Courbe ou du Croissant, basse et marécageuse en beaucoup d’endroits suivant la tradition…. Dans sa (the word toloa) signification active, Molina le traduit par “tragar”, avaler, engloutir, ce qui donne alors pour tollan, le sens de terre engloutie, abîmée, qui, comme vous le voyez, convient on ne peut mieux dans le cas présent. Mais si tollan est la terre engloutie, si c’est en même temps le pays de la Courbe, Metztli ou le Croissant, ces deux noms, remarquez-le, peuvent s’appliquer aussi bien au lieu où il a été englouti, à l’eau qui se courbait le long des rivages du Croissant, soit à l’intérieur des grandes golfes du nord et du midi, soit au rivage convexe, tourné comme le genou de la jambe, vers l’Orient. C’est ainsi qu’on retrouve l’identification continuelle de l’idée mâle avec l’idée femelle, du contenu et du contenant, de tollan, le pays englouti, avec tollan, l’océan engloutisseur, de l’eau qui est contenue et des continents qui l’enserrent dans leurs limites. Ajoutons, pour compléter cette analyse, que tol, dans la langue quichée, est un verbe, dont tolan est le passé, et qu’ainsi que tulan il signifie l’abandon, la nudité, etc. De tol, faites tor, dans la même langue, et vous aurez avec toran, ce qui est tourné ou retourné, comme en mexicain, de même que dans turn (touran) vous trouverez ce qui a été renversé, bouleversé de fond en comble, noyé sous les eaux, etc. Dans la langue maya, tul signifie remplir, combler, et an, comme en quiché, est le passé du verbe: mais si à tul on ajoute ha ou a, l’eau, nous avons Tuhla ou Tula, rempli, submergé d’eau. En dernière analyse, tol ou tul paraît avoir pour l’origine ol, ul, couler, venir, suivant le quiché encore; primitif d’olli, ou bien d’ulli, en langue nahuatl, la gomme élastique liquide, la boule noire du jeu de paume, qui devient le hiéroglyphe de l’eau, remplissant les deux golfes. Le préfixe t pour ti serait une préposition; faisant to, il signifie l’orbite de l’œil, en quiché, image de l’abîme que la boule noire remplit comme sa prunelle, ce dont vous pouvez vous assurer dans la figure de la page suivante; to est, en outre, l’aide, l’instrument, devenant tool; mais en mexicain, to, primitif de ton, est la chaleur de l’eau bouillante. Tol, contracté de to-ol, pourrait donc avoir signifié “le liquide bouillant”, ou la venue de la chaleur bouillante, de l’embrasement. Avec teca, étendre, le mot entier tolteca, nous aurions donc, étendre le courbé, etc., et tol-tecatl, le toltèque, serait ce qui étend le courbé ou l’englouti, on bien l’eau bouillante, etc. Ces étymologies rentrent donc toutes dans la même idée qui, sous bien des rapports, fait des Toltèques, une des puissances telluriques, destructrices de la terre du Croissant.’ Id., Quatre Lettres, pp. 118-20.

Totonacs;—From tototl and nacatl, ‘bird-flesh’; or from tona, ‘to be warm’. Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. 13. ‘Totonaco significa á la letra, tres corazones en un sentido, y tres panales en otro,’ from toto, ‘three’, and naco, ‘heart’, in the Totonac language. Dominguez, in Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., pp. 226-7. ‘Totonal, el signo, en que alguno nasce, o el alma y espiritu.’ Molina, Vocabulario.

Tutul-Xius;—’Le nom des Tutul-Xiu paraît d’origine nahuatl; il serait dérivé de totol, tototl, oiseau, et de xíuitl, ou xíhuitl, herbe.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Landa, Rel. de las Cosas de Yucatan, p. 47.

Xicalancas;—’Xicalli, vaso de calabaça.’ Molina, Vocabulario. Xicalli, ‘place of this species of calabash or drinking-shell.’ Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. 17. ‘Xicalanco, la Ville des courges ou des tasses faites de la courge et appelée Xicalli dans ces contrées, et dont les Espagnols ont fait Xicara.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 110.

Xochimilcas;—From xochitl, ‘flower’, and milli, ‘piece of land’, meaning ‘place of flower-fields.’ Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. 94. ‘Xochimicque captiuos en guerra.’ Molina, Vocabulario. ‘Xochimilca, habitants de Xochimilco, lieu où l’on sème tout en bas de la Base, nom de la terre végétale et fertile où l’on ensemençait, m’il, qu’on retourne, d’où le mot mil ou milli, champ, terre ensemencée, et sans doute aussi le latin milium, notre míl et millet.’ ‘J’ajouterai seulement que ce nom signifie dans le langage ordinaire, ceux qui cultivent de fleurs, de xochitl, fleur, littéralement, ce qui vit sous la base.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Quatre Lettres, pp. 406-8.

Yoppi;—’Llámanles yopes porque su tierra se llama Yopinzinco.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 135. ‘Inferimos … que yope, yopi, jope, segun se encuentra escrita la palabra en varios lugares, es sinónimo de tlapaneca.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 26-7. Yopaa, ‘Land of Tombs.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 9.

Zapotecs;—’Tzapotl, cierta fruta conocida.’ Molina, Vocabulario. Tzapotlan, ‘place of the zapotes, trees or fruits.’ Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. 16. ‘Derivado de la palabra mexicana tzapotlan, que significa “lugar de los zapotes“, nombre castellanizado de una fruta muy conocida.’ Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 319. ‘Zapotecapan est le nom que les Mexicains avaient donné à cette contrée, à cause de la quantité et de la qualité supérieure de ses fruits.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 38.

Zotziles;—’Zotzil, murciélago.’ Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., p. 245. Zotzilha ‘signifie la ville des Chauves-Souris.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 88.

Chapter III • Government of the Nahua Nations • 10,700 Words

System of Government—The Aztec Confederacy—Order of Succession—Election of Kings among the Mexicans—Royal Prerogatives—Government and Laws of Succession among the Toltecs and in Michoacan, Tlascala, Cholula, Huexotzinco, and Oajaca—Magnificence of the Nahua Monarchs—Ceremony of Anointment—Ascent to the Temple—The Holy Unction—Address of the High-Priest to the King—Penance And Fasting in the House called Tlacatecco—Homage of the Nobles—General Rejoicing throughout the Kingdom—Ceremony of Coronation—The Procuring of Sacrifices—Description of the Crown—Coronations, Feasts, and Entertainments—Hospitality Extended to Enemies—Coronation-Speech of Nezahualpilli, King of Tezcuco, to Montezuma II. of Mexico—Oration of a Noble to a Newly Elected King.

The prevailing form of government among the civilized nations of Mexico and Central America was monarchical and nearly absolute, although some of the smaller and less powerful states, as for instance, Tlascala, affected an aristocratic republican system. The three great confederated states of Mexico, Tezcuco, and Tlacopan were each governed by a king, who had supreme authority in his own dominion, and in matters touching it alone. Where, however, the welfare of the whole allied community was involved, no one king could act without the concurrence of the others; nevertheless, the judgment of one who was held to be especially skilful and wise in any question under consideration, was usually deferred to by his colleagues. Thus in matters of war, or foreign relations, the opinion of the king of Mexico had most weight, while in the administration of home government, and in decisions respecting the rights of persons, it was customary during the reigns of the two royal sages of Tezcuco, Nezahualcoyotl and Nezahualpilli, to respect their counsel above all other.[1]Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxi.; Zurita, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., p. 95; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 354. The relative importance of these three kingdoms must, however, have shown greater disparity as fresh conquests were made, since in the division of territory acquired by force of arms, Tlacopan received only one fifth, and of the remainder, judging by the relative power and extent of the states when the Spaniards arrived, it is probable that Mexico took the larger share.[2]Ixtlilxochitl, for whose patriotism due allowance must be made, writes: ‘Es verdad, que el de Mexico y Tezcuco fueron iguales en dignidad señorío y rentas; y el de Tlacopan solo tenia cierta parte como la quinta, en lo que era rentas y despues en los otros dos.’ Hist. Chichimeca, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 238. Zurita also affirms this: ‘Dans certaines, les tributs étaient répartis en portions égales, et dans d’autres on en faisait cinq parts: le souverain de Mexico et celui de Tezcuco en prélevaient chacun deux, celui de Tacuba une seule.’ Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., p. 12. ‘Quedó pues determinado que á los estados de Tlacopan se agregase la quinta parte de las tierras nuevamente conquistadas, y el resto se dividiese igualmente entre el príncipe y el rey de Méjico.’ Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 164. Brasseur de Bourbourg agrees with and takes his information from Ixtlilxochitl. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 191. Torquemada makes a far different division: ‘Concurriendo los tres, se diese la quinta parte al Rei de Tlacupa, y el Tercio de lo que quedase, à Neçalhualcoiotl; y los demas, à Itzcohuatzin, como à Cabeça Maior, y Suprema.’ Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 146. As also does Clavigero: ‘Si diede quella Corona (Tlacopan) a Totoquihuatzin sotto la condizione di servir con tutte le sue truppe al Re di Messico, ogni volta che il richiedesse, assegnando a lui medesimo per ciò la quinta parte delle spoglie, che si avessero dai nemici. Similmente Nezahualcojotl fu messo in possesso del trono d’Acolhuacan sotto la condizione di dover soccorrere i Messicani nella guerra, e perció gli fu assegnata la terza parte della preda, cavatane prima quella del Re di Tacuba, restando l’altre due terze parti pel Re Messicano.’ Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 224. Prescott says it was agreed that ‘one fifth should be assigned to Tlacopan, and the remainder be divided, in what proportion is uncertain, between the other powers.’ Mex., vol. i., p. 18.

Election of Kings, Order of Succession

In Tezcuco and Tlacopan the order of succession was lineal and hereditary, in Mexico it was collateral and elective. In the two former kingdoms, however, although the sons succeeded their fathers, it was not according to birth, but according to rank; the sons of the queen, or principal wife, who was generally a daughter of the royal house of Mexico, being always preferred to the rest.[3]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 356; Zurita, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., pp. 12-13; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 116; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 577. In Mexico, the eldest surviving brother of the deceased monarch was generally elected to the throne, and when there were no more brothers, then the nephews, commencing with the eldest son of the first brother that had died; but this order was not necessarily observed, since the electors, though restricted in their choice to one family, could set aside the claims of those whom they considered incompetent to reign; and, indeed, it was their particular duty to select from among the relatives of the deceased king the one best fitted to bear the dignity and responsibility of supreme lord.[4]Torquemada writes: ‘esta fue costumbre de estos Mexicanos, en las Elecciones, que hacian, que fuesen Reinando sucesivamente, los Hermanos, vnos despues de otros, y acabando de Reinar el vltimo, entraba en su lugar, el Hijo de Hermano Maior, que primero avia Reinado, que era Sobrino de los otros Reies, qui à su Padre avian sucedido.’ Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 107. ‘Los Reies (of Mexico) no heredaban, sino que eran elegidos, y como vimos en el Libro de los Reies, quando el Rei moria, si tenia hermano, entraba heredando; y muerto este, otro, si lo avia; y quando faltaba, le sucedia el sobrino, Hijo de su hermano maior, à quien, por su muerte, avia sucedido, y luego el hermano de este, y así discurrian por los demas.’ Id., tom. ii., p. 177. Zurita states that in Tezcuco and Tlacopan, and their dependent provinces, ‘le droit de succession le plus ordinaire était celui du sang en ligne directe de père en fils; mais tous les fils n’héritaient point, il n’y avait que le fils aîné de l’épouse principale que le souverain avait choisie dans cette intention. Elle jouissait d’une plus grande considération que les autres, et les sujets la respectaient davantage. Lorsque le souverain prenaient une de ses femmes dans la famille de Mexico, elle occupait le premier rang, et son fils succédait, s’il était capable.’ Then, without definitely stating whether he is speaking of all or part of the three kingdoms in question, the author goes on to say, that in default of direct heirs the succession became collateral; and finally, speaking in this instance of Mexico alone, he says, that in the event of the king dying without heirs, his successor was elected by the principal nobles. In a previous paragraph he writes: ‘L’ordre de succession variait suivant les provinces; les mêmes usages, à peu de différence prés, étaient reçus à Mexico, à Tezcuco et à Tacuba.’ Afterward we read: ‘Dans quelques provinces, comme par exemple à Mexico, les frères étaient admis à la succession, quoiqu’il y eût des fils, et ils gouvernaient successivement.’ Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., pp. 12-18. M. l’Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg, taking his information from Zurita, and, indeed, almost quoting literally from the French translation of that author, agrees that the direct line of succession obtained in Tlacopan and Tezcuco, but asserts, regarding Mexico, that the sovereign was elected by the five principal ministers of the state, who were, however, restricted in their choice to the brothers, nephews, or sons of the deceased monarch. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 576-7. Pimentel also follows Zurita. Memoria, p. 26. Prescott affirms that ‘the sovereign was selected from the brothers of the deceased prince, or, in default of them, from his nephews.’ Mex., vol. i., p. 23. Sahagun merely says: ‘Escogian uno de los mas nobles de la linea de los señores antepasados,’ who should be a valiant, wise, and accomplished man. Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 318. ‘Per non lasciar troppa libertà agli Elettori, e per impedire, quanto fosse possibile, gl’inconvenienti de’ partiti, o fazioni, fissarono la corona nella casa d’Acamapitzin; e poi stabilirono per legge, che al Re morto dovesse succedere uno de’suoi fratelli, e mancando i fratelli, uno de’suoi nipoti, e se mai non ve ne fossero neppur di questi, uno de’suoi cugini restando in balìa degli Elettori lo scegliere tra i fratelli, o tra i nipoti del Re morto colui, che riconoscessero più idoneo pel governo, schivando con sí fatta legge parecchj inconvenienti da noi altrove accennati.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 112. Leon Carbajal quotes this almost literally. Discurso, pp. 54-5. That the eldest son could put forward no claim to the crown by right of primogeniture, is evident from the following: ‘Quando algun Señor moria y dexava muchos hijos, si alguno se alzava en palacio y se queria preferir á los otros, aunque fuese el mayor, no lo consentia el Señor á quien pertenecia la confirmacion, y menos el pueblo. Antes dexavan pasar un año, ó mas de otro, en el qual consideravan bien que era mejor para regir ó governar el estado, y aquel permanecia por señor.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii.Señor Carbajal Espinosa says that from the election of Chimalpopoca, who succeeded his brother Huitzilihuitl, and was the third king of Mexico, ‘quedó establecida la ley de elegir uno de los hermanos del rey difunto, y á falta de éstos un sobrino, cuya práctica se observó constantemente, como lo harémos ver, hasta la ruina del imperio mexicano.’ Hist. de Mex., tom. i., p. 334. ‘El Imperio era monárquico, pero no hereditario. Muriendo el Emperador los gefes del Imperio antiguamente se juntaban y elegian entre sí mismos al que creian mas digno, y por el cual la intriga, el manejo, la supersticion, eran mas felizmente reconocidas.’ Carli, Cartas, pt i., p. 114. ‘Tambien auia sucession por sangre, sucedia el hijo mayor, siendo para ello, y sino el otro: en defeto de los hijos sucedian nietos, y en defeto dellos yua por elecion.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. xv. As the order in which the Mexican kings actually did follow each other should be stronger proof of what was the law than any other evidence, I take from the Codex Mendoza the following list: Acamapichtli, who is usually spoken of as the first king, succeeded Tenuch, although it is not stated that he was related to him in any way; then came Huicilyhuitl, son of Acamapichtli; Chimalpupuca, son of Huicilyhuitl, Yzcoaci, son of Acamapichtli; Huehuemoteccuma, son of Huicilyhuitl; Axayacaci, son of Tecocomochtli, and grandson of Yzcoaci; Tiçoçicatzi, son of Axayacaci; Ahuiçoçin, brother of Tiçoçicatzi; Motecçuma, son of Axayacaci; thus, according to this author, we see, out of nine monarchs, three succeeded directly by their sons, and three by their brothers. Esplicacion, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 42-53. See further, Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., and Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ. These writers differ slightly from the collection above quoted, but in no important respect. During the early days of the Mexican monarchy the king was elected by vote of the whole people, who were guided in their choice by their leaders; even the women appear to have had a voice in the matter at this period.[5]After the death of Acamapichtli, the first king of Mexico, a general council was held, and the people were addressed as follows: ‘Ya es fallido nuestro rey Acamapichtli, á quien pondremos en su lugar, que rija y gobierne este pueblo Mexicano? Pobres de los viejos, niños y mugeres viejas que hay: que será de nosotros á donde irémos á demandar rey que sea de nuestra patria y nacion Mexicana? hablen todos para de cual parte elegirémos rey, é ninguno puede dejar de hablar, pues á todos nos importa para el reparo, y cabeza de nuestra patria Mexicana esté.’ Upon Huitzilihuitl being proposed, ‘todos juntos, mancebos, viejos y viejas respondieron á una: que sea mucho de enhorabuena, que á él quieren por señor y rey.’ Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 10. Sahagun’s description of their manner of electing kings, appears also to be more appropriate to this early period than to a later date: ‘Cuando moria el señor ó rey para elegir otro, juntábanse los senadores que llamaban tecutlatoque, y tambien los viejos del pueblo que llamaban achcacauhti, y tambien los capitanes soldados viejos de la guerra que llamaban Iauiequioaque, y otros capitanes que eran principales en las cosas de la guerra, y tambien los Sátrapas que llamaban Tlenamacazque ó papaoaque: todos estos se juntaban en las casas reales, y allí deliberaban y determinaban quien habia de ser señor.’ Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 318; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 439. Afterwards, the duty of electing the king of Mexico devolved upon four or five of the chief men of the empire. The kings of Tezcuco and Tlacopan were also electors, but with merely an honorary rank; they ratified the decision of the others, but probably took no direct part in the election, although their influence and wishes doubtless carried great weight with the council. As soon as the new king had been chosen the body of electors was dissolved, and others were appointed in their place, whose duties also terminated with their first electoral vote.[6]The exact number and rank of these electors is hard to determine. ‘Si le souverain de Mexico mourait sans héritier, les principaux chefs lui choisissaient un successeur dont l’élection était confirmée par les chefs supérieurs de Tezcuco et Tacuba.’ Zurita, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., pp. 15-16. Pimentel follows this, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, p. 26: ‘Tutti e due i Re (of Tezcuco and Tlacopan) furono creati Elettori onorarj del Re di Messico, il qual onore soltanto riducevasi a ratificare l’elezion fatta da quattro Nobili Messicani, ch’erano i veri Elettori.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 224. ‘Despues en tiempo de Izcoatl quarto Rey, por consejo y orden de vn sabio y valeroso hombre, que tuuieron a llamado Tlacaellèl se señalaron quatro electores, y a estos juntamente con dos señores, o Reyes sujetos al Mexicano, que eran el de Tezcùco, y el de Tacuba, tocaua hazer la elecion.’ Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 439. These four electors ‘de ordinario eran hermanos, o parientes muy cercanos del Rey. Llamauan a estos Tlacohecalcàtl, que significa el Príncipe de los lanças arrojadizas, que era vn genero de armas que ellos mucho vsauan.’ Id., p. 441. ‘Seis electores elegian el Emperador, dos de cuales eran siempre los príncipes de Tescuco á de Acolhuacan y de Tacuba, y un príncipe de la sangre real.’ Carli, Cartas, pt i., p. 114. ‘Four of the principal nobles, who had been chosen by their own body in the preceding reign, filled the office of electors, to whom were added, with merely an honorary rank however, the two royal allies of Tezcuco and Tlacopan.’ Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 23. Brasseur de Bourbourg gives the style and title of each elector, and says they were five in number, but does not state his authority: ‘Les principaux dignitaires du royaume, le Cihuacohuatl ou Ministre suprême de la justice et de la maison du roi, le Tlacochcalcatl, Généralissime ou Maître de la maison des Armes, l’Atempanecatl, ou Grand-Maître des Eaux, l’Ezhuahuacatl, ou le Maître du Sang, et le Tlillancalqui, ou chef de la Maison-Noire, composant entre eux le conseil de la monarchie, élisaient celui qui leur paraissait le plus apte aux affaires publiques, et lui donnaient la couronne…. Il est douteux que les rois de Tetzcuco et de Tlacopan aient jamais pris une part directe à ce choix.’ Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 577-8. At the foot of the same page is the following note: ‘Si havia duda ó diferencia quien debia de ser rey, averiguase lo mas aina que podian, y sino poco tenian que hacer (los señores de Tetzcuco y Tlacapan).’ Gomara, Crónica de Nueva-España, ap. Barcia, cap. 99. This quotation is not to be found, however in the place indicated. ‘Crearon cuatro electores, en cuya opinion se comprometian todos los votos del reino. Eran aquellos funcionarios, magnates y señores de la primera nobleza, comunmente de sangre real, y de tanta prudencia y probidad, cuanta se necesitaba para un cargo tan importante.’ Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 578. ‘Fue el quinto Rey, Motezuma primero deste nombre; y porque, para la elecion auia quatro eletores, con los quales interuenian los Reyes Tezcuco y de Tacuba. Se juntò con ellos Tlacaellel como Capitan general, y saliò elegido su sobrino Motezuma.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xiii. After the king in rank, ‘eran los quatro electores del Rey, que tambien sucedian por elecion, y de ordinario eran hermanos, o parientes cercanos del Rey, y a estos llamauan en su lengua, principes de las lanças arrojadizas, armas que ellos vsauan.’ Id., cap. xix.

This plan of election was not without its advantages. As the persons to whom the choice was entrusted were great ministers or lords who lived at court, they had better opportunities of observing the true character of the future candidates for the throne than the common people, who are ever too apt to judge, by pleasing exterior rather than by real merit, those with whose private life they can have no acquaintance. In the next place, the high private rank of the Mexican electors placed them beyond the ordinary influence of bribery or threats; and thus the state was in a measure free from that system of corruption which makes the voice of the people a mockery in more democratic communities, and which would have prevailed to a far greater extent in a country where feudal relations existed between lord and vassal. Then again, the freedom of choice accorded to electors enabled them to prevent imbeciles from assuming the responsibilities of kingship, and thus the most conspicuous evil of an hereditary monarchy was avoided.

Power of the Mexican Kings

The almost absolute authority vested in the person of the sovereign rendered great discrimination necessary in his selection. It was essential that the ruler of a people surrounded by enemies and continually bent upon conquest, should be an approved and valiant warrior; having the personal direction of state affairs, it was necessary that he should be a deep and subtle politician; the gross superstition and theocratic tendencies of the governed required the governor to be versed in religion, holding the gods in reverence; and the records of the nation prove that he was generally a man of culture, and a patron of art and science.

In its first stages the Mexican monarchy partook rather of an aristocratic than of an absolute nature. Though the king was ostensibly the supreme head of the state, he was expected to confer with his council, which was composed of the royal electors, and other exalted personages, before deciding upon any important step;[7]Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 441, gives the names of three military orders, of which the four royal electors formed one; and of a fourth, which was of a sacerdotal character. All these were of the royal council, and without their advice the king could do nothing of importance. Herrera helps himself to this from Acosta almost word for word: dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xix. Sahagun implies that this supreme council was composed of only four members: ‘Elegido el señor, luego elegian otros cuatro que eran como senadores que siempre habian de estar al lado de él, y entender en todos los negocios graves de reino, (estos cuatro tenian en diversos lugares diversos nombres).’ Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 318. According to Ixtlilxochitl the council whose duties corresponded to this in Tezcuco, was composed of fourteen members. Hist. Chichimeca, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 243; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 183. and though the legislative power rested entirely in his hands, the executive government was entrusted to regularly appointed officials and courts of justice. As the empire, owing to the able administration of a succession of conquering princes, increased in greatness, the royal power gradually increased, although I find nothing of constitutional amendments or reconstructions until the time of Montezuma II., when the authority of all tribunals was reduced almost to a dead letter, if opposed to the desires or commands of the king.

The neighboring independent and powerful kingdom of Michoacan was governed by an absolute monarch, who usually resided at his capital, on Lake Patzcuaro. Over each province was placed a governor, chosen from the first ranks of the nobility, who ruled with great if not absolute authority, in the name of the king, and maintained a court that was in almost every respect a miniature of that of his sovereign. The order of succession was hereditary and lineal, the eldest son generally succeeding to the throne. The selection of a successor, however, was left to the reigning king, who, when he felt himself to be near his end, was at liberty to choose from among his sons the one whom he thought best fitted to govern. In order to test his capability and accustom him to handling the reigns of government, and that he might have the old monarch’s advice, the chosen heir immediately began to exercise the functions of king. A custom similar to this existed among the ancient Toltecs. Their kings were only permitted to reign for a xiuhmolpilli, that is to say an ‘age,’ which was fifty-two years, after which time the eldest son was invested with royal authority and commenced to reign.[8]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 37. When the old Michoacan monarch fell sick, the son who had been nominated as his successor immediately dispatched messengers to all the grandees of the kingdom, with orders to repair immediately to the capital. None was exempt from being present, and a failure to comply with the summons was held to be lèse-majesté. Having assembled at the palace, if the invalid is able to receive them, the nobles pass one by one through his chamber and with words of condolence and encouragement seek to comfort him. Before leaving the palace each mourner deposits in the throne-room certain presents, brought for the occasion as a more substantial testimonial of his sorrow. If, however, the physicians pronounce the royal patient beyond hope of recovery, no one is allowed to see him.[9]Beaumont, Crón. de Mechoacan, pp. 52, 54-5; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 338, 523; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 138; Zurita, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., p. 17; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 310-11; Pimentel, Mem. Raza Indígena, p. 27; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 82. In the West-Indische Spieghel, pp. 265-6, we read: ‘Dese Stadt ende Provincie wierden voor de comste der Spaenjaerden soo treffelick gheregeert, als eenighe van die Landen, daer was een Cacique die absolutelick regeerde, staende onder de ghehoorsaemheydt van de groote Heere van Tenoxtitlan.’ The old chronicler is mistaken here, however, as the kingdom of Michoacan was never in any way subject to Mexico.

Government in Tlascala, The Pontiff of Yopaa

He who reads the romantic story of the conquest, feels his heart warm towards that staunch little nation of warriors, the Tlascaltecs. There is that about the men who ate their meat saltless for fifty years rather than humble themselves before the mighty despots of Mexico, that savors of the same material that defied the Persian host at Thermopylæ. Had the Tlascaltecs steadily opposed the Spaniards, Cortés never could have gone forward to look upon the face of King Montezuma, nor backward to King Charles as the conqueror of New Spain; the warriors who routed their allied enemies on the bloody plains of Poyauhtlan, assuredly could have offered the hearts of the invaders an acceptable sacrifice to the gods of Tlascala. The state of Tlascala, though invariably spoken of as a republic, was certainly not so in the modern acceptation of the term. At the time of the conquest it was governed by four supreme lords, each independent in his own territory, and possessed of equal authority with the others in matters concerning the welfare of all.[10]Clavigero says that the city of Tlascala was divided into four parts, each division having its lord, to whom all places dependent on such division were likewise subject. Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 155. A parliament or senate, composed of these four lords and the rest of the nobility, settled the affairs of government, especially those relating to peace and war. The law of succession was much the same as in Michoacan. The chief before his death named the son whom he wished to succeed him, who, however, did not, as in Michoacan, commence to govern until after his father’s death. The old chief’s choice was restricted in two ways: in the first place the approval of his three colleagues was necessary; and secondly, legitimate sons, that is the sons of a wife to whom he had been united according to certain forms, must take precedence of his other children. In default of sons, the brothers of the deceased chief succeeded.[11]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 200, 276, tom. ii., pp. 347-9; Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. ii.; Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 252; Pimentel, Mem. Raza Indígena, p. 27; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 411. In any event the property of the late ruler was inherited by his brothers, who also, according to a custom which we shall find to be almost universal among the civilized peoples of the New World, married his widows.[12]Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 197. Such information as I find upon the subject ascribes the same form of government to Cholula and Huexotzinco, that was found in Tlascala.[13]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 350-1. The Miztecs and Zapotecs acknowledged one supreme chief or king; the law of inheritance with them was similar to that of Tlascala, except that in default of sons a daughter could inherit.[14]Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xii. Brasseur de Bourbourg writes: ‘Dans les divers états du Mixtecapan, les héritages passaient de mâle en mâle, sans que les femmes pussent y avoir droit.’ Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 39; this may, however, refer merely to private property. The Zapotecs appear, at least in the more ancient times, to have been, if possible, even more priest-ridden than their neighbors; the orders of priests existing among them were, as will be seen elsewhere, numerous, and seem to have possessed great power, secular as well as sacerdotal. Yopaa, one of their principal cities, was ruled absolutely by a pontiff, in whom the Zapotec monarchs had a powerful rival. It is impossible to overrate the reverence in which this spiritual king was held. He was looked upon as a god, whom the earth was not worthy to hold, nor the sun to shine upon. He profaned his sanctity if he so much as touched the ground with his foot. The officers who bore his palanquin upon their shoulders were members of the first Zapotec families; he scarcely deigned to look upon anything about him. He never appeared in public, except with the most extraordinary pomp, and all who met him fell with their faces to the ground, fearing that death would overtake them were they to look upon the face of the holy Wiyatao, as he was called. The most powerful lords never entered his presence except with eyes lowered and feet bared, and even the Zapotec princes of the blood must occupy a seat before him lower than his own. Continence was strictly imposed upon the Zapotec priests, and especially was it incumbent upon the pontiff of Yopaa, from the eminence of his position, to be a shining light of chastity for the guidance of those who looked up to him; yet was the pontifical dignity hereditary in the family of the Wiyatao. The way in which this paradox is explained is as follows: on certain days in each year, which were generally celebrated with feasts and dances, it was customary for the high-priest to become drunk. While in this state, seeming to belong neither to heaven nor to earth, one of the most beautiful of the virgins consecrated to the service of the gods was brought to him. If the result of this holy debauch proved to be a male infant, the child was brought up with great care as a prince of the royal family. The eldest son of the reigning pontiff inherited the throne of Yopaa, or in default of children, the high-priest’s nearest relative succeeded. The younger children devoted themselves to the service of the gods, or married and remained laymen, according to their inclination or the paternal wish; in either case the most honorable and important positions usually fell to their lot.[15]Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., cap. 53; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 29-30.

The pomp and circumstance which surrounded the Aztec monarchs, and the magnificence of their every-day life was most impressive. From the moment of his coronation the Aztec sovereign lived in an atmosphere of adulation unknown to the mightiest potentate of the old world. Reverenced as a god, the haughtiest nobles, sovereigns in their own land, humbled themselves before him; absolute in power, the fate of thousands depended upon a gesture of his hand.

Ceremony of Anointment

The ceremony of anointment, which preceded and was entirely distinct from that of coronation, was an occasion of much display. In Mexico, as soon as the new king was elected, which was immediately after the funeral of his predecessor, the kings of Tezcuco and Tlacopan were sent for to be present at the ceremony of anointment; all the great feudatory lords, who had been present at the funeral of the late king, were also invited to attend. When all are assembled the procession sets out for the temple of Huitzilopochtli, the god of war. The kings of Tezcuco and Tlacopan, surrounded by all the most powerful nobles of the realm, bearing their ensigns and insignia of rank, lead the van. Next comes the king elect, naked, excepting only the maxtli, or cloth about the loins; following these are the lesser nobles, and after them the common people. Silently the procession wends its way along the streets; no beat of drum nor shout of people is heard above the tramping. The road in advance is as free from obstruction as a corridor in the royal palace; no one moves among the multitude that string along its edges, but all stand with bended head and eyes downcast until the solemn pageant has passed, when they close in with the jostling and whispering crowd that follows. Arrived at the temple the king and that part of the procession which precedes him ascend to the summit. During the ascent he is supported on either side by a great lord, and such aid is not superfluous, for the staircases, having in all one hundred and fourteen steps, each a foot high, are so arranged that it is necessary to go completely round the building several times before reaching the top. On the summit the king is met by the high-priest and his colleagues, the people meanwhile waiting below. His first action upon reaching the summit is to pay reverence to the image of the god of battles by touching the earth with his hand and then carrying it to his mouth. The high-priest now anoints the king throughout his entire body with a certain black ointment, and sprinkles him with water which has been blessed at the grand feast of Huitzilopochtli, using for this purpose branches of cedar and willow and leaves of maize;[16]Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 474, writes: ‘Pusieronle Corona Real, y vngieronle, como fue costumbre hazerlo con todos sus Reyes, con vna vncion que llamauan diuina, porque era la misma con que vngian su ydolo.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 360, says that Acosta is mistaken, for, he observes that ‘la Corona que llamaba Copilli, no se daba en esta ocasión, sino que en lugar de ella, le ponían las mantas dichas sobre la Cabeça, ni tampoco era la vncion la misma que la de los Idolos; porque la Divina, que èl [Acosta] nombra, era de Ulli, y Sangre de Niños, con que tambien vngian al Sumo Sacerdote;’ but Torquemada here directly contradicts a previous statement of his own, tom. i., p. 102, where he says that immediately after the election, having seated the king elect upon a throne, ‘le pusieron la Corona Real en su Cabeça, y le vntaron todo el Cuerpo, con la Vncion, que despues acostumbraron, que era la misma con que vngian à su Dios,’ thus using almost the same words as Acosta. Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, says that the water used at the anointing was drawn from the fountain Tozpalatl, which was held in great veneration, and that it was first used for this purpose at the anointment of Huitzilihuitl, second king of Mexico. at the same time he addresses a few words of counsel to him. The newly anointed monarch is next clothed with a mantle, on which are represented skulls and bones, to remind him, we are told, that even kings are mortal; his head is covered with two cloths, or veils, one blue and the other black, and decorated in a similar manner; about his neck is tied a small gourd, containing a certain powder, which is esteemed a strong preservative against disease, sorcery, and treason. A censer containing live coals is put into his right hand, and into his left a bag of copal, and thus accoutred and provided he proceeds to incense the god Huitzilopochtli.[17]Sahagun states that the king was dressed upon this occasion in a tunic of dark green cloth, with bones painted upon it; this tunic resembled the huipil, or chemise of the women, and was usually worn by the nobles when they offered incense to the gods. The veil was also of green cloth ornamented with skulls and bones, and in addition to the articles described by other writers, this author mentions that they placed dark green sandals upon his feet. He also affirms that the four royal electors were confirmed in their office at the same time as the king, being similarly dressed, save that the color of their costume was black, and going through the same performances after him, except, of course, the anointment. Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., p. 319. Gomara says they hung upon the king’s neck ‘vnas correas coloradas largas y de muchos ramales: de cuios cabos colgauan ciertas insignias de rei, como pinjantes.’ Conq. Mex., fol. 305. This act of worship he performs on his knees, amid the cheers of the people below, and the playing of musical instruments. He has concluded now, and the high-priest again addresses a short speech to him. Consider well, Sire, he says, the great honor which your subjects have conferred upon you, and remember now that you are king, that it is your duty to watch over your people with great care, to look upon them as your children, to preserve them from suffering, and to protect the weak from the oppression of the strong. Behold before you the chiefs of your kingdom together with all your subjects, to whom you are both father and mother, for it is to you they turn for protection. It is now your place to command and to govern, and most especially is it your duty to bestow great attention upon all matters relating to war, to search out and punish criminals without regard to rank, to put down rebellion, and to chastise the seditious. Let not the strength of religion decline during your reign, see that the temples are well cared for, let there be ever an abundance of victims for sacrifice, and so will you prosper in all your undertakings and be beloved of the gods. Gomara affirms that the high-priest imposed an oath upon the king that during his reign he would maintain the religion of his ancestors, and observe their laws; that he would give offence to none, and be valiant in war; that he would make the sun to shine, the clouds to give rain, the rivers to flow, and the earth to bring forth fruits in abundance.[18]Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 306. The allied kings and the nobles next address him to the same purpose; to which the king answers with thanks and promises to exert himself to the utmost of his power for the happiness of the state.

The speeches being ended the procession again winds round the temple until, following terrace after terrace, it finally reaches the ground in the same order that it went up. The king now receives homage and gifts from the rest of the nobility, amidst the loud acclaims of the people. He is next conducted to a temple called Tlacatecco, where during four days he remains alone, doing penance and eating but once a day, with the liberty, however, of choosing his own food. Twice in each twenty-four hours he bathes, once at noon and once at midnight, and after each bath he draws blood from his ears and offers it, together with some burnt copal, to Huitzilopochtli. The remainder of his time during these four days he occupies in praying the gods to endow him with the wisdom and prudence necessary to the ruler of a mighty kingdom. On the fifth day he is conducted in state to the royal palace, where the feudatory lords come to renew the investiture of their feifs. Then follow great public rejoicings, with games, feasts, dances, and illuminations.

Coronation Ceremony

The coronation was, as I have stated, a ceremony distinct from the anointment. To prepare for it, it was necessary that the newly elected king should go out to war, to procure victims for the sacrifices necessary on such an occasion. They were never without enemies upon whom war might be made; either some province of the kingdom had rebelled, or Mexican merchants had been unjustly put to death, or insult had been offered to the royal ambassadors, or, if none of these excuses was at hand, the importance of the occasion alone rendered war justifiable. Of the manner in which war was waged, and of the triumphal return of the victorious army, I shall speak in another place. It appears that when a king of Mexico was crowned, the diadem was placed upon his head by the king of Tezcuco. The crown, which was called by the Mexicans copilli, was in shape like a small mitre, the fore part of which stood erect and terminated in a point, while the hinder part hung down over the neck. It was composed of different materials, according to the pleasure of the wearer; sometimes it was of thin plates of gold, sometimes it was woven of golden thread and adorned with beautiful feathers.[19]The crown used by the early Chichimec sovereigns was composed of a herb called pachxochitl, which grew on the rocks, surmounted by plumes of the royal eagle, and green fathers called Tecpilotl, the whole being mounted with gold and precious stones, and bound to the head with strips of deer-skin. Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chichimeca, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. xi., p. 213. In another place, Relaciones, in id., p. 336, the same writer says that the crown differed according to time and season. In time of war it was composed of royal eagle feathers, placed at the back of the head, and held together with clasps of gold and precious stones; in time of peace the crown was made of laurel and green feathers of a very rare bird called Quezaltotolc; in the dry season it was made of a whitish moss which grew on the rocks, with a flower at the junction called teoxuchitl. Accounts of the particular ceremonies used at the coronation are wanting, but all agree that they were of unparalleled splendor. The new king entertained most sumptuously at his own palace all the great nobles of his realm; honors were conferred with a lavish hand, and gifts were made in profusion both by and to the king. Splendid banquets were given in which all the nobility of the kingdom participated, and the lower classes were feasted and entertained with the greatest liberality. The fondness of the Aztecs for all kinds of public games and festivals is evidenced in the frequency of their feasts, and in no way could a newly elected monarch better secure a place in the affections of his subjects than by inaugurating his reign with a series of splendid entertainments. The strange fascination which this species of enjoyment possessed for them is shown by the fact that strangers and foreigners came from afar to witness the coronation feasts, and it is related that members of hostile nations were frequently discovered disguised among the crowd, and were not only allowed by the clemency of the king to pass unmolested, but were provided with seats, from which they could obtain a good view of the proceedings and where they would be secure from insult.[20]Concerning anointment and coronation, see Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 102; tom. ii., pp. 83, 359-69; Zurita, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., pp. 20-9; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 113-15; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 318-21; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. xv.; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 305-6; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 356, 439-40, 474; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 309; Tezozomoc, Crón. Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., p. 142-3. In addition to the numerous works of acknowledged authority on the subject of aboriginal American civilization there are a number of others, chiefly of modern date, that treat more or less completely of the matter. Many of these are mere compilations, put together without regard to accuracy or consistency; others are works which deal ostensibly with other Spanish American matters and only refer to the ancient civilization in passing; their accounts are usually copied bodily from one or two of the old writers; some few profess to exhaust the subject; in these latter, however, the authors have failed to cite their authorities, or at best have merely given a list of them. To attempt to note all the points on which these writers have fallen into error, or where they differ from my text, would prove as tiresome to the reader as the result would lie useless. It will therefore be sufficient to refer to this class of books at the conclusion of the large divisions into which this work naturally falls. About the system of government, laws of succession, ceremonies of election, anointment and coronation, of the Aztecs and other nations included in this division, see: Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 578-83, 596; Soden,Spanier in Peru, tom. ii., pp. 8-14, 51-2; Touron, Hist. Gén., tom. iii., pp. 6-7, 25-38; Baril, Mexique, pp. 204-7; Bussierre, L’Empire Mexicain, pp. 119, 150-8, 229-30, 244; Lafond, Voyages, tom. i., p. 119; Poinsett’s Notes Mex., app., pp. 22-3; Macgregor’s Progress of America, p. 21; Dillon, Hist. Mex., pp. 24-6, 41-3; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 247; Dilworth, Conq. Mex., p. 45; Pradt, Cartas, pp. 106, 176; Monglave, Résumé, pp. 9, 14-19, 22-3, 32-6, 68; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 59-75, 186; Cortés, Aventuras, pref., pp. 7-13; Chamber’s Jour., vol. iv., p. 253; West und Ost Indischer Lustgart, p. 97. One of the principal features of the day was the congratulatory speech of one monarch to another, which was courteous and flattering and filled with good advice; the following address of Nezahualpilli, king of Tezcuco, to Montezuma II., on the occasion of the accession of the latter to the throne of Mexico, will illustrate.

Address to the King

The great good fortune, most mighty lord, which has befallen this kingdom in deserving thee for its monarch, is plainly shown by the unanimity with which thou wast elected, and by the general rejoicing of thy people thereat. And they have reason to rejoice; for so great is the Mexican empire that none possessed of less wisdom, prudence, and courage, than thou, were fit to govern it. Truly is this people beloved of the gods, in that they have given it light to choose that which is best; for who can doubt that a prince who, before he came to the throne, made the nine heavens his study,[21]‘Que antes de Reinar avia investigado los nueve dobleces de el Cielo.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 194. Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 306, writes: ‘Quel el que siendo particular supo penetrar los secretos del cielo;’ ‘that he who, being a private individual, could penetrate the secrets of heaven,’ which appears more intelligible. will, now that he is king, obtain the good things of the earth for his people? Who can doubt that his well-tried courage will be even greater now that it is so much needed? Who can believe that so mighty and powerful a prince will be found wanting in charity toward the orphan and the widow? Who can doubt that the Mexican people are favored of the gods, in having for a king one to whom the great Creator has imparted so much of his own glory that by simply looking upon his face we are made to partake of that glory? Rejoice, O happy land! for the gods have given thee a prince who will be a firm pillar for thy support, a father and a refuge for thy succor, a more than brother in pity and mercy toward his people. Verily thou hast a king who will not avail himself of his high place to give himself up to sloth and pleasure, but who, rather, will lie sleepless through the night, pondering thy welfare. Tell me, then, most fortunate land, have I not reason for saying, Rejoice and be happy! And thou most noble and puissant lord, be of good heart, for as the high gods have appointed thee to this office, so will they grant thee strength to fill it; and be well assured that the gods who have been so gracious to thee during these many years, will not now fail in their goodness; by them hast thou been raised to thy present exalted position; we pray that with their help thou mayest continue to hold it during many happy years to come.[22]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 194-5.

It is probable that the orations used upon those occasions by the Aztecs were, like their prayers, not spoken ex tempore, nor even prepared beforehand by the speaker; most likely they were in the form of a fixed ritual, each being prepared to suit a special occasion, such as the coronation or burial of a monarch, and repeated as often as such an occasion occurred. Some orations must be delivered by particular persons; others needed only an eloquent speaker. Sahagun gives us a speech which was addressed to a newly elected king. It could be delivered, he says, by one of the high-priests, or by a noble noted for his eloquence, or by some delegate from the provinces who was an eloquent speaker, or possibly by some learned senator, or other person well versed in the art of speech-making. The language is constrained and quaint, and possibly tiresome, but as a specimen of Aztec oratory I give it in full, adhering to the sense, and as clearly as possible to the words of the original:

O king, most pitiful, most devout, and best beloved, more worthy to be esteemed than precious stones or choice feathers, thou art here by the will of the Lord our God, who has appointed thee to rule over us in the place of the kings thy ancestors, who, dying, have let fall from their shoulders the burden of government under which they labored, even as one who toils up a hill heavy-laden. Perchance these dead ones still remember and care for the land which they governed, now, by the will of God, a desert, in darkness, and desolate without a king; peradventure they look with pity upon their country, which is become a place of briars and barren, and upon their poor people who are orphans, fatherless and motherless, knowing not nor understanding those things which are best; who are unable to speak for dumbness, who are as a body without a head. He who has lately left us was strong and valorous: for a few short days he was lent to us, then like a vision he slipped from our midst, and his passing was as a dream, for the Lord our God hath called him to rest with the dead kings, his ancestors, who are to-day in a manner shut from our sight in a coffer. Thus was he gathered to his people, and is even now with our father and mother, the God of Hell, who is called Mictlantecutli. Will he, peradventure, return from the place to which he is gone? May it not be that he will come back to us? Gone is he forever, and his kingdom has lost him. Never again, through all coming time, may we see his face, nor those who come after us. He is gone from our sight forever. Our light is put out; we, whom he illumined, whom he carried, as it were, upon his shoulders, are abandoned, and in darkness, and in great peril of destruction. Behold he has left his people and the throne and seat whereon our Lord God placed him, and which he made it his constant aim to hold in peace and quietness. He did not cover his hands and feet with his mantle for laziness, but with diligence did he work for the good of his people. In thee, O most compassionate king, we have a great solace and joy; in thee hath the Lord God given us a sun-like glory and splendor. God points at thee with his finger, he hath written down thy name in red letters. It is fixed above and below, in heaven and in hell, that thou shalt be king and possess the throne and seat and dignity of this kingdom, the root of which was deep planted long ago by thine ancestors, they themselves being its first branches. To thee, Sire, is entrusted the care of the seignory. Thou art the successor of the lords, thy predecessors, and must bear the burden they bore; upon thy back must thou place the load of this kingdom; to the strength of thy thighs and thine arms does the Lord God entrust the government of the common people, who are capricious and hard to please. For many years must thou support and amuse them as though they were young children; during all thy life must thou dandle them in thine arms, nurse them on thy lap and soothe them to sleep with a lullaby. O, our lord, most serene and estimable, this thing was determined in heaven and in hell; this matter was considered and thou wast signaled out, upon thee fell the choice of the Lord our God. Was it possible that thou couldst hide thyself or escape this decision? In what esteem dost thou hold the Lord God? With what respect dost thou consider the kings and great nobles who have been inspired by God to choose thee for our father and mother, whose election is divine and irrevocable?

This being so, O our lord, see that thou girdest thyself for thy task, that thou puttest thy shoulder to the burden which has been imposed upon thee. Let the will of God be obeyed. Perchance thou wilt carry this load for a space, or it may be that death will cut thee off, and thy election be as a dream. Take heed, therefore, that thou art not ungrateful, setting small store by the benefits of God. Be assured that he sees all secret things, and that he will afflict thee in such manner as may seem good to him. Peradventure he will send thee into the mountains and waste places, or he will cast thee upon dirt and filthiness, or some fearful and ugly thing will happen to thee; perchance thou shalt be defamed and covered with shame, or discord and revolt shall arise in thy kingdom, so that thou shalt fall into contempt and be cast down; perhaps other kings, thine enemies, may rise up against thee and conquer thee; or possibly the Lord may suffer famine and want to desolate thy kingdom. What wilt thou do if in thy time thy kingdom should be destroyed, and the wrath of our God should visit thee in a pestilence? Or if the light of thy splendor should be turned into utter darkness, and thy dominions laid waste? Or if death should come upon thee while thou art yet young, or the Lord God should set his foot upon thee before thou hast fully gathered up the reins of government? What wilt thou do if God on a sudden should send forth armies of enemies against thee, from the wilderness or from the sea, from the waste and barren places where men wage war and shed blood that the thirst of the sun and the earth may be slaked? Manifold are the punishments of God for those that offend him. Wherefore, O our king, it behoves thee with all thy strength to do that which is right in the fulfilment of thine office, taking care that this be done with tears and sighs, and continual prayer to the Lord our God, the invisible, the impalpable. Draw near to him, Sire, weeping, and in all sincerity, that he may help thee to govern in peace. Beware that thou receivest with kindness and humility those that approach thee in grief and despair. Neither speak nor act rashly, but hear calmly and to the end all complaints brought before thee; do not harshly interrupt the words of the speaker, for thou art the image of the Lord God, in thee is represented his person, thou art his reliance, with thy mouth he speaks, with thine ear he listens. Be no respecter of persons, Sire, but punish all alike, and justly, for thou hast thy power of God, thy right hand to punish is as the claws and teeth of God, for thou art his judge and executioner. Do justice, therefore, heeding the wrath of none; this is the command of God, who hath given the doing of these things into thine hand. Take care that in the high places of the lords and judges there be nothing done snatchingly nor in haste, that there be no hot words nor deeds done in anger. Say not now in thine heart, I am the lord, my will is law, but rather let this be an occasion for the humbling of thy valor and the lowering of thy self-esteem. Look to it that thy new dignities be not the means of puffing thee up with pride and haughtiness, but in place thereof ponder often on thy former lowly estate, from which, without desert, thou wast taken and placed where thou now art. Say to thine heart, Who was I? Who am I? Not by mine own deserts did I attain this high place, but by the will of God; verily all this is a dream, and not sober truth. Be watchful, Sire, that thou dost not rest free from care, that thou dost not grow heedless with pleasure, and become a glutton and wine-bibber, spending in feasting and drunkenness that which is earned by the sweat of thy subjects; let not the graciousness which God has shown in electing thee king, be repaid with profanity, folly, and disturbances.

O King and grandchild of ours, God watches over those that govern his kingdoms, and when they do wrong he laughs at them; he mocks and is silent; for he is the Lord our God, he does what he pleases, he scoffs at whom he pleases; we are the work of his hand, in the hollow of his palm he tosses us to and fro even as balls and playthings, he makes a mockery of us as we stumble and fall, he uses us for his ends as we roll from side to side. Strive hard, O king, to do what thou hast to do little by little. Perchance the number of our sins has rendered us unworthy, and thy election will be to us a vision that passes; or perchance it may be the will of the Lord that thou possess the royal dignity for a time; perchance he will prove thee, and put thee to the test, and, if thou art found wanting will set up another in thy place. Are not the friends of the Lord great in number? Art thou the only one whom he holds dear? Many are the friends of the Lord; many are those that call upon him; many are those that lift up their voices before him; many are those that weep before him; many are those that tearfully pray to him; many are those that sigh in his presence; verily all these are uncountable. There are many generous and prudent men of great ability and power, who pray to the Lord and cry aloud to him; behold, therefore, there are not lacking others beside thyself on whom to confer the dignity of king. Peradventure as a thing that endures not, as a thing seen in sleep, the Lord gives thee this great honor and glory; peradventure he gives thee to smell of his tender sweetness, and passes it quickly over thy lips. O king, most fortunate, bow down and humble thyself; weep with sadness and sigh; pray fervently and do the will of the Lord by night as well as by day, during the time he sees fit to spare thee. Act thy part with calmness, continually praying on thy throne with kindness and softness. Take heed that thou givest none cause for pain or weariness or sorrow, that thou settest thy foot upon none, that thou frightest none with angry words or fierce looks. Refrain also, O our king, from all lewd jests and converse, lest thou bring thy person into contempt; levity and buffoonery are not fit for one of thy dignity. Incline not thine ear to ribaldry, even though it come from a near relative, for though as a man thou art mortal, yet in respect to thine office thou art as God. Though thou art our fellow-creature and friend, our son and our brother, yet are we not thine equals, nor do we look upon thee as a man, in that thou now art the image of the Lord God; he it is that speaks within thee, instructing us and making himself heard through thy lips; thy mouth is his mouth, thy tongue is his tongue, thy face is his face. Already he has graced thee with his authority, he has given thee teeth and claws that thou mayest be feared and respected. See to it, Sire, that thy former levity be now laid aside, that thou take to thyself the heart of an old man, of one who is austere and grave. Look closely to thine honor, to the decency of thy person, and the majesty of thine office; let thy words be few and serious, for thou art now another being. Behold the place on which thou standest is exceeding high, and the fall therefrom is perilous. Consider that thou goest on a lofty ridge and upon a narrow path having a fearful depth sheer down on either side, so that it is impossible to swerve to the right or to the left without falling headlong into the abyss. It also behoves thee, Sire, to guard thyself against being cross-grained and fierce and dreaded as a wild beast by all. Combine moderation with rigor, inclining rather to mercy than to pitilessness. Never show all thy teeth nor put forth the full length of thy claws. Never appear startled or in fear, harsh or dangerous; conceal thy teeth and claws; assemble thy chief men together, make thyself acceptable to them with gifts and kind words. Provide also for the entertainment of the common people according to their quality and rank; adapt thyself to the different classes of the people and ingratiate thyself with them. Have a care and concern thyself about the dances, and about the ornaments and instruments used at them, for they are the means of infusing a warlike spirit into men. Gladden the hearts of the common people with games and amusements, for thus wilt thou become famous and be beloved, and even after death thy fame will live and the old men and women who knew thee will shed tears of sorrow for thine absence. O most fortunate and happy king, most precious treasure, bear in mind that thou goest by a craggy and dangerous road, whereon thou must step with firmness, for in the path of kings and princes there are many yawning gulfs, and slippery places, and steep, pathless slopes, where the matted thorn-bushes and long grass hide pitfalls having pointed stakes set upright in them. Wherefore it behoves thee to call upon thy God with moanings and lamentations, to watch constantly, and to shun the harlot, who is a curse and a sickness to man. Sleep not lightly in thy bed, Sire, but rather lie and ponder the affairs of thy kingdom; even in thy slumbers let thy dreams be of the good things in thy charge, that thou mayest know how best to distribute them among thy lords and courtiers, for there are many who envy the king, and would fain eat as he eats and drink as he drinks, wherefore is it said that kings ‘eat the bread of grief.’ Think not, Sire, that the royal throne is a soft and pleasant seat, for there is nothing but trouble and penitence. O blessed and most precious king, it is not my wish to cause pain to thine heart nor to excite thy wrath and indignation; it is sufficient for me that I have many times stumbled and slipped, aye, and have even fallen, during this discourse of mine; enough for me are the faults of the speech which I have spoken, going, in a manner, with jumps like a frog before our Lord God, the invisible, the impalpable, who is here and listening to us, who has heard distinctly the slightest of the words which I have spoken stammeringly and with hesitation, in bad order and with unapt gestures; but in doing this I have complied with the custom which obliges the aged men of the state to address a newly elected king. In like manner have I done my duty to our God who hears me, to whom I make an offering of this my speech. Long mayest thou live and reign, O lord and king. I have spoken.

Footnotes

[1] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxi.; Zurita, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., p. 95; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 354.

[2] Ixtlilxochitl, for whose patriotism due allowance must be made, writes: ‘Es verdad, que el de Mexico y Tezcuco fueron iguales en dignidad señorío y rentas; y el de Tlacopan solo tenia cierta parte como la quinta, en lo que era rentas y despues en los otros dos.’ Hist. Chichimeca, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 238. Zurita also affirms this: ‘Dans certaines, les tributs étaient répartis en portions égales, et dans d’autres on en faisait cinq parts: le souverain de Mexico et celui de Tezcuco en prélevaient chacun deux, celui de Tacuba une seule.’ Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., p. 12. ‘Quedó pues determinado que á los estados de Tlacopan se agregase la quinta parte de las tierras nuevamente conquistadas, y el resto se dividiese igualmente entre el príncipe y el rey de Méjico.’ Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 164. Brasseur de Bourbourg agrees with and takes his information from Ixtlilxochitl. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 191. Torquemada makes a far different division: ‘Concurriendo los tres, se diese la quinta parte al Rei de Tlacupa, y el Tercio de lo que quedase, à Neçalhualcoiotl; y los demas, à Itzcohuatzin, como à Cabeça Maior, y Suprema.’ Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 146. As also does Clavigero: ‘Si diede quella Corona (Tlacopan) a Totoquihuatzin sotto la condizione di servir con tutte le sue truppe al Re di Messico, ogni volta che il richiedesse, assegnando a lui medesimo per ciò la quinta parte delle spoglie, che si avessero dai nemici. Similmente Nezahualcojotl fu messo in possesso del trono d’Acolhuacan sotto la condizione di dover soccorrere i Messicani nella guerra, e perció gli fu assegnata la terza parte della preda, cavatane prima quella del Re di Tacuba, restando l’altre due terze parti pel Re Messicano.’ Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 224. Prescott says it was agreed that ‘one fifth should be assigned to Tlacopan, and the remainder be divided, in what proportion is uncertain, between the other powers.’ Mex., vol. i., p. 18.

[3] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 356; Zurita, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., pp. 12-13; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 116; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 577.

[4] Torquemada writes: ‘esta fue costumbre de estos Mexicanos, en las Elecciones, que hacian, que fuesen Reinando sucesivamente, los Hermanos, vnos despues de otros, y acabando de Reinar el vltimo, entraba en su lugar, el Hijo de Hermano Maior, que primero avia Reinado, que era Sobrino de los otros Reies, qui à su Padre avian sucedido.’ Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 107. ‘Los Reies (of Mexico) no heredaban, sino que eran elegidos, y como vimos en el Libro de los Reies, quando el Rei moria, si tenia hermano, entraba heredando; y muerto este, otro, si lo avia; y quando faltaba, le sucedia el sobrino, Hijo de su hermano maior, à quien, por su muerte, avia sucedido, y luego el hermano de este, y así discurrian por los demas.’ Id., tom. ii., p. 177. Zurita states that in Tezcuco and Tlacopan, and their dependent provinces, ‘le droit de succession le plus ordinaire était celui du sang en ligne directe de père en fils; mais tous les fils n’héritaient point, il n’y avait que le fils aîné de l’épouse principale que le souverain avait choisie dans cette intention. Elle jouissait d’une plus grande considération que les autres, et les sujets la respectaient davantage. Lorsque le souverain prenaient une de ses femmes dans la famille de Mexico, elle occupait le premier rang, et son fils succédait, s’il était capable.’ Then, without definitely stating whether he is speaking of all or part of the three kingdoms in question, the author goes on to say, that in default of direct heirs the succession became collateral; and finally, speaking in this instance of Mexico alone, he says, that in the event of the king dying without heirs, his successor was elected by the principal nobles. In a previous paragraph he writes: ‘L’ordre de succession variait suivant les provinces; les mêmes usages, à peu de différence prés, étaient reçus à Mexico, à Tezcuco et à Tacuba.’ Afterward we read: ‘Dans quelques provinces, comme par exemple à Mexico, les frères étaient admis à la succession, quoiqu’il y eût des fils, et ils gouvernaient successivement.’ Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., pp. 12-18. M. l’Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg, taking his information from Zurita, and, indeed, almost quoting literally from the French translation of that author, agrees that the direct line of succession obtained in Tlacopan and Tezcuco, but asserts, regarding Mexico, that the sovereign was elected by the five principal ministers of the state, who were, however, restricted in their choice to the brothers, nephews, or sons of the deceased monarch. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 576-7. Pimentel also follows Zurita. Memoria, p. 26. Prescott affirms that ‘the sovereign was selected from the brothers of the deceased prince, or, in default of them, from his nephews.’ Mex., vol. i., p. 23. Sahagun merely says: ‘Escogian uno de los mas nobles de la linea de los señores antepasados,’ who should be a valiant, wise, and accomplished man. Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 318. ‘Per non lasciar troppa libertà agli Elettori, e per impedire, quanto fosse possibile, gl’inconvenienti de’ partiti, o fazioni, fissarono la corona nella casa d’Acamapitzin; e poi stabilirono per legge, che al Re morto dovesse succedere uno de’suoi fratelli, e mancando i fratelli, uno de’suoi nipoti, e se mai non ve ne fossero neppur di questi, uno de’suoi cugini restando in balìa degli Elettori lo scegliere tra i fratelli, o tra i nipoti del Re morto colui, che riconoscessero più idoneo pel governo, schivando con sí fatta legge parecchj inconvenienti da noi altrove accennati.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 112. Leon Carbajal quotes this almost literally. Discurso, pp. 54-5. That the eldest son could put forward no claim to the crown by right of primogeniture, is evident from the following: ‘Quando algun Señor moria y dexava muchos hijos, si alguno se alzava en palacio y se queria preferir á los otros, aunque fuese el mayor, no lo consentia el Señor á quien pertenecia la confirmacion, y menos el pueblo. Antes dexavan pasar un año, ó mas de otro, en el qual consideravan bien que era mejor para regir ó governar el estado, y aquel permanecia por señor.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii.Señor Carbajal Espinosa says that from the election of Chimalpopoca, who succeeded his brother Huitzilihuitl, and was the third king of Mexico, ‘quedó establecida la ley de elegir uno de los hermanos del rey difunto, y á falta de éstos un sobrino, cuya práctica se observó constantemente, como lo harémos ver, hasta la ruina del imperio mexicano.’ Hist. de Mex., tom. i., p. 334. ‘El Imperio era monárquico, pero no hereditario. Muriendo el Emperador los gefes del Imperio antiguamente se juntaban y elegian entre sí mismos al que creian mas digno, y por el cual la intriga, el manejo, la supersticion, eran mas felizmente reconocidas.’ Carli, Cartas, pt i., p. 114. ‘Tambien auia sucession por sangre, sucedia el hijo mayor, siendo para ello, y sino el otro: en defeto de los hijos sucedian nietos, y en defeto dellos yua por elecion.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. xv. As the order in which the Mexican kings actually did follow each other should be stronger proof of what was the law than any other evidence, I take from the Codex Mendoza the following list: Acamapichtli, who is usually spoken of as the first king, succeeded Tenuch, although it is not stated that he was related to him in any way; then came Huicilyhuitl, son of Acamapichtli; Chimalpupuca, son of Huicilyhuitl, Yzcoaci, son of Acamapichtli; Huehuemoteccuma, son of Huicilyhuitl; Axayacaci, son of Tecocomochtli, and grandson of Yzcoaci; Tiçoçicatzi, son of Axayacaci; Ahuiçoçin, brother of Tiçoçicatzi; Motecçuma, son of Axayacaci; thus, according to this author, we see, out of nine monarchs, three succeeded directly by their sons, and three by their brothers. Esplicacion, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 42-53. See further, Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., and Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ. These writers differ slightly from the collection above quoted, but in no important respect.

[5] After the death of Acamapichtli, the first king of Mexico, a general council was held, and the people were addressed as follows: ‘Ya es fallido nuestro rey Acamapichtli, á quien pondremos en su lugar, que rija y gobierne este pueblo Mexicano? Pobres de los viejos, niños y mugeres viejas que hay: que será de nosotros á donde irémos á demandar rey que sea de nuestra patria y nacion Mexicana? hablen todos para de cual parte elegirémos rey, é ninguno puede dejar de hablar, pues á todos nos importa para el reparo, y cabeza de nuestra patria Mexicana esté.’ Upon Huitzilihuitl being proposed, ‘todos juntos, mancebos, viejos y viejas respondieron á una: que sea mucho de enhorabuena, que á él quieren por señor y rey.’ Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 10. Sahagun’s description of their manner of electing kings, appears also to be more appropriate to this early period than to a later date: ‘Cuando moria el señor ó rey para elegir otro, juntábanse los senadores que llamaban tecutlatoque, y tambien los viejos del pueblo que llamaban achcacauhti, y tambien los capitanes soldados viejos de la guerra que llamaban Iauiequioaque, y otros capitanes que eran principales en las cosas de la guerra, y tambien los Sátrapas que llamaban Tlenamacazque ó papaoaque: todos estos se juntaban en las casas reales, y allí deliberaban y determinaban quien habia de ser señor.’ Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 318; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 439.

[6] The exact number and rank of these electors is hard to determine. ‘Si le souverain de Mexico mourait sans héritier, les principaux chefs lui choisissaient un successeur dont l’élection était confirmée par les chefs supérieurs de Tezcuco et Tacuba.’ Zurita, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., pp. 15-16. Pimentel follows this, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, p. 26: ‘Tutti e due i Re (of Tezcuco and Tlacopan) furono creati Elettori onorarj del Re di Messico, il qual onore soltanto riducevasi a ratificare l’elezion fatta da quattro Nobili Messicani, ch’erano i veri Elettori.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 224. ‘Despues en tiempo de Izcoatl quarto Rey, por consejo y orden de vn sabio y valeroso hombre, que tuuieron a llamado Tlacaellèl se señalaron quatro electores, y a estos juntamente con dos señores, o Reyes sujetos al Mexicano, que eran el de Tezcùco, y el de Tacuba, tocaua hazer la elecion.’ Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 439. These four electors ‘de ordinario eran hermanos, o parientes muy cercanos del Rey. Llamauan a estos Tlacohecalcàtl, que significa el Príncipe de los lanças arrojadizas, que era vn genero de armas que ellos mucho vsauan.’ Id., p. 441. ‘Seis electores elegian el Emperador, dos de cuales eran siempre los príncipes de Tescuco á de Acolhuacan y de Tacuba, y un príncipe de la sangre real.’ Carli, Cartas, pt i., p. 114. ‘Four of the principal nobles, who had been chosen by their own body in the preceding reign, filled the office of electors, to whom were added, with merely an honorary rank however, the two royal allies of Tezcuco and Tlacopan.’ Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 23. Brasseur de Bourbourg gives the style and title of each elector, and says they were five in number, but does not state his authority: ‘Les principaux dignitaires du royaume, le Cihuacohuatl ou Ministre suprême de la justice et de la maison du roi, le Tlacochcalcatl, Généralissime ou Maître de la maison des Armes, l’Atempanecatl, ou Grand-Maître des Eaux, l’Ezhuahuacatl, ou le Maître du Sang, et le Tlillancalqui, ou chef de la Maison-Noire, composant entre eux le conseil de la monarchie, élisaient celui qui leur paraissait le plus apte aux affaires publiques, et lui donnaient la couronne…. Il est douteux que les rois de Tetzcuco et de Tlacopan aient jamais pris une part directe à ce choix.’ Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 577-8. At the foot of the same page is the following note: ‘Si havia duda ó diferencia quien debia de ser rey, averiguase lo mas aina que podian, y sino poco tenian que hacer (los señores de Tetzcuco y Tlacapan).’ Gomara, Crónica de Nueva-España, ap. Barcia, cap. 99. This quotation is not to be found, however in the place indicated. ‘Crearon cuatro electores, en cuya opinion se comprometian todos los votos del reino. Eran aquellos funcionarios, magnates y señores de la primera nobleza, comunmente de sangre real, y de tanta prudencia y probidad, cuanta se necesitaba para un cargo tan importante.’ Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 578. ‘Fue el quinto Rey, Motezuma primero deste nombre; y porque, para la elecion auia quatro eletores, con los quales interuenian los Reyes Tezcuco y de Tacuba. Se juntò con ellos Tlacaellel como Capitan general, y saliò elegido su sobrino Motezuma.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xiii. After the king in rank, ‘eran los quatro electores del Rey, que tambien sucedian por elecion, y de ordinario eran hermanos, o parientes cercanos del Rey, y a estos llamauan en su lengua, principes de las lanças arrojadizas, armas que ellos vsauan.’ Id., cap. xix.

[7] Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 441, gives the names of three military orders, of which the four royal electors formed one; and of a fourth, which was of a sacerdotal character. All these were of the royal council, and without their advice the king could do nothing of importance. Herrera helps himself to this from Acosta almost word for word: dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xix. Sahagun implies that this supreme council was composed of only four members: ‘Elegido el señor, luego elegian otros cuatro que eran como senadores que siempre habian de estar al lado de él, y entender en todos los negocios graves de reino, (estos cuatro tenian en diversos lugares diversos nombres).’ Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 318. According to Ixtlilxochitl the council whose duties corresponded to this in Tezcuco, was composed of fourteen members. Hist. Chichimeca, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 243; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 183.

[8] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 37.

[9] Beaumont, Crón. de Mechoacan, pp. 52, 54-5; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 338, 523; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 138; Zurita, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., p. 17; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 310-11; Pimentel, Mem. Raza Indígena, p. 27; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 82. In the West-Indische Spieghel, pp. 265-6, we read: ‘Dese Stadt ende Provincie wierden voor de comste der Spaenjaerden soo treffelick gheregeert, als eenighe van die Landen, daer was een Cacique die absolutelick regeerde, staende onder de ghehoorsaemheydt van de groote Heere van Tenoxtitlan.’ The old chronicler is mistaken here, however, as the kingdom of Michoacan was never in any way subject to Mexico.

[10] Clavigero says that the city of Tlascala was divided into four parts, each division having its lord, to whom all places dependent on such division were likewise subject. Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 155.

[11] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 200, 276, tom. ii., pp. 347-9; Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. ii.; Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 252; Pimentel, Mem. Raza Indígena, p. 27; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 411.

[12] Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 197.

[13] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 350-1.

[14] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xii. Brasseur de Bourbourg writes: ‘Dans les divers états du Mixtecapan, les héritages passaient de mâle en mâle, sans que les femmes pussent y avoir droit.’ Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 39; this may, however, refer merely to private property.

[15] Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., cap. 53; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 29-30.

[16] Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 474, writes: ‘Pusieronle Corona Real, y vngieronle, como fue costumbre hazerlo con todos sus Reyes, con vna vncion que llamauan diuina, porque era la misma con que vngian su ydolo.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 360, says that Acosta is mistaken, for, he observes that ‘la Corona que llamaba Copilli, no se daba en esta ocasión, sino que en lugar de ella, le ponían las mantas dichas sobre la Cabeça, ni tampoco era la vncion la misma que la de los Idolos; porque la Divina, que èl [Acosta] nombra, era de Ulli, y Sangre de Niños, con que tambien vngian al Sumo Sacerdote;’ but Torquemada here directly contradicts a previous statement of his own, tom. i., p. 102, where he says that immediately after the election, having seated the king elect upon a throne, ‘le pusieron la Corona Real en su Cabeça, y le vntaron todo el Cuerpo, con la Vncion, que despues acostumbraron, que era la misma con que vngian à su Dios,’ thus using almost the same words as Acosta. Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, says that the water used at the anointing was drawn from the fountain Tozpalatl, which was held in great veneration, and that it was first used for this purpose at the anointment of Huitzilihuitl, second king of Mexico.

[17] Sahagun states that the king was dressed upon this occasion in a tunic of dark green cloth, with bones painted upon it; this tunic resembled the huipil, or chemise of the women, and was usually worn by the nobles when they offered incense to the gods. The veil was also of green cloth ornamented with skulls and bones, and in addition to the articles described by other writers, this author mentions that they placed dark green sandals upon his feet. He also affirms that the four royal electors were confirmed in their office at the same time as the king, being similarly dressed, save that the color of their costume was black, and going through the same performances after him, except, of course, the anointment. Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., p. 319. Gomara says they hung upon the king’s neck ‘vnas correas coloradas largas y de muchos ramales: de cuios cabos colgauan ciertas insignias de rei, como pinjantes.’ Conq. Mex., fol. 305.

[18] Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 306.

[19] The crown used by the early Chichimec sovereigns was composed of a herb called pachxochitl, which grew on the rocks, surmounted by plumes of the royal eagle, and green fathers called Tecpilotl, the whole being mounted with gold and precious stones, and bound to the head with strips of deer-skin. Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chichimeca, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. xi., p. 213. In another place, Relaciones, in id., p. 336, the same writer says that the crown differed according to time and season. In time of war it was composed of royal eagle feathers, placed at the back of the head, and held together with clasps of gold and precious stones; in time of peace the crown was made of laurel and green feathers of a very rare bird called Quezaltotolc; in the dry season it was made of a whitish moss which grew on the rocks, with a flower at the junction called teoxuchitl.

[20] Concerning anointment and coronation, see Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 102; tom. ii., pp. 83, 359-69; Zurita, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., pp. 20-9; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 113-15; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 318-21; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. xv.; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 305-6; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 356, 439-40, 474; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 309; Tezozomoc, Crón. Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., p. 142-3. In addition to the numerous works of acknowledged authority on the subject of aboriginal American civilization there are a number of others, chiefly of modern date, that treat more or less completely of the matter. Many of these are mere compilations, put together without regard to accuracy or consistency; others are works which deal ostensibly with other Spanish American matters and only refer to the ancient civilization in passing; their accounts are usually copied bodily from one or two of the old writers; some few profess to exhaust the subject; in these latter, however, the authors have failed to cite their authorities, or at best have merely given a list of them. To attempt to note all the points on which these writers have fallen into error, or where they differ from my text, would prove as tiresome to the reader as the result would lie useless. It will therefore be sufficient to refer to this class of books at the conclusion of the large divisions into which this work naturally falls. About the system of government, laws of succession, ceremonies of election, anointment and coronation, of the Aztecs and other nations included in this division, see: Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 578-83, 596; Soden,Spanier in Peru, tom. ii., pp. 8-14, 51-2; Touron, Hist. Gén., tom. iii., pp. 6-7, 25-38; Baril, Mexique, pp. 204-7; Bussierre, L’Empire Mexicain, pp. 119, 150-8, 229-30, 244; Lafond, Voyages, tom. i., p. 119; Poinsett’s Notes Mex., app., pp. 22-3; Macgregor’s Progress of America, p. 21; Dillon, Hist. Mex., pp. 24-6, 41-3; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 247; Dilworth, Conq. Mex., p. 45; Pradt, Cartas, pp. 106, 176; Monglave, Résumé, pp. 9, 14-19, 22-3, 32-6, 68; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 59-75, 186; Cortés, Aventuras, pref., pp. 7-13; Chamber’s Jour., vol. iv., p. 253; West und Ost Indischer Lustgart, p. 97.

[21] ‘Que antes de Reinar avia investigado los nueve dobleces de el Cielo.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 194. Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 306, writes: ‘Quel el que siendo particular supo penetrar los secretos del cielo;’ ‘that he who, being a private individual, could penetrate the secrets of heaven,’ which appears more intelligible.

[22] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 194-5.

Chapter IV • Palaces and Households of the Nahua Kings • 11,300 Words

Extent and Interior of the Great Palace in Mexico—The Palace of Nezahualcoyotl, King of Tezcuco—The Zoölogical Collections of the Nahua Monarchs—Montezuma’s Oratory—Royal Gardens and Pleasure-Grounds—The Hill of Chapultepec—Nezahualcoyotl’s Country Residence at Tezcozinco—Toltec Palaces—the Royal Guard—The King’s Meals—An Aztec Cuisine—The Audience Chamber—After-dinner Amusements—The Royal Wardrobe—The King Among his People—Meeting of Montezuma II. and Cortés—the King’s Harem—Revenues of the Royal Household—Policy of Aztec Kings.

Reliability of Authorities

In the preceding chapter we have seen how the monarchs were chosen, and anointed, and crowned, and feasted, and lectured; now let us follow them to their homes. And here I must confess I am somewhat staggered by the recitals. It is written that as soon as the new king was formally invested with the right of sovereignty, he took possession of the royal palaces and gardens, and that these abodes of royalty were on a scale of magnificence almost unparalleled in the annals of nations. How far we may rely on these accounts it is difficult to say; how we are to determine disputed questions is yet more difficult. In the testimony before us, there are two classes of evidence: one having as its base selfishness, superstition, and patriotism; the other disaffection, jealousy, and hatred. Between these contending evils, fortunately, we may at least approximate to the truth. To illustrate: there can be no doubt that much concerning the Aztec civilization has been greatly exaggerated by the old Spanish writers, and for obvious reasons. It was manifestly to the advantage of some, both priests and adventurers, to magnify the power and consequence of the people conquered, and the cities demolished by them, knowing full well that tales of mighty realms, with countless man-eaters and fabulous riches, would soonest rouse the zeal and cupidity of the Spaniards, and best secure to them both honors and supplies. Gathered from the lips of illiterate soldiers little prone to diminish the glory of their achievements in the narration, or from the manuscripts of native historians whose patriotic statements regarding rival states no longer in existence could with difficulty be disproved, these accounts passed into the hands of credulous writers of fertile imagination, who drank in with avidity the marvels that were told them, and wrote them down with superhuman discrimination—with a discrimination which made every so-called fact tally with the writings of the Fathers. These writers possessed in an eminent degree the faculty called by latter-day scholars the imaginative in history-writing. Whatever was told them that was contrary to tradition was certainly erroneous, a snare of the devil; if any facts were wanting in the direction pointed out by doctrines or dogmas, it was their righteous duty to fill them in. Thus it was in certain instances. But to the truth of the greater part of these relations, testimony is borne by the unanimity of the authors, though this is partly owing to their copying each from the writings of the others, and, more conclusively, by the architectural remains which survived the attacks of the iconoclastic conquerors, and the golden and bejeweled ornaments of such exquisite workmanship as to equal if not surpass anything of the kind in Europe, which ornaments were sent to Spain as proofs of the richness of the country. At this distance of time it is impossible to draw a definite line between the true and the false; nor do I feel it my duty to dogmatize in these matters, but rather to tell the tale as I find it, at the same time laying every shade of evidence before the reader.

Royal Palace at Mexico

The principal palace in the city of Mexico was an irregular pile of low buildings, enormous in extent, constructed of huge blocks of tetzontli, a kind of porous stone common to that country, cemented with mortar. The arrangement of the buildings was such that they enclosed three great plazas or public squares, in one of which a beautiful fountain incessantly played. Twenty great doors opened on the squares, and on the streets, and over these was sculptured in stone the coat of arms of the kings of Mexico,—an eagle gripping in his talons a jaguar.[23]Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. ix. Though it is more than probable that Gomara means the same thing, yet the manner in which he expresses it leaves us in some doubt whether the tiger might not have been standing over the eagle. ‘El escudo de armas, que estaua por las puertas de palacio y que traen las vanderas de Motecçuma, y las de sus antecessores, es vna aguila abatida a vn tigre, las manos y vñas puestas como para hazer presa.’ Conq. Mex., fol. 108. ‘Het Wapen dat boven de Poorte stont, was een Arent die op een Griffioen nederdaelde, met open Clauwen hem ghereet maeckende, om syn Roof te vatten.’ West-Indische Spieghel, p. 246. In the interior were many halls, each of immense size, and one in particular is said by a writer who accompanied Cortés, known as the Anonymous Conqueror, to have been of sufficient extent to contain three thousand men; while upon the terrace that formed its roof thirty men on horseback could have gone through the spear exercise.[24]Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 309. In addition to these there were more than one hundred smaller rooms, and the same number of marble baths, which together with the fountains, ponds, and basins in the gardens, were supplied with water from the neighboring hill of Chapultepec. There were also splendid suites of apartments retained for the use of the kings of Tezcuco and Tlacopan, and their attendants, when they visited Mexico, and for the ministers and counselors, and the great lords and their suites, who constantly resided at the capital. Besides these, the private attendants of the king—and their name was legion—had to be provided for; so that when we consider the other extensive buildings, such as the harem, in which, according to some authorities, were nearly three thousand women; the armory, the granaries, storehouses, menageries, and aviaries, which either formed part or were in the immediate vicinity of the palace buildings, we are prepared somewhat to credit the Anonymous Conqueror aforesaid when he affirms that, although he four times wandered about the palace until he was tired, with no other purpose than to view its interior, yet he never succeeded in seeing the whole of it.[25]Ib. The walls and floors of halls and apartments were many of them faced with polished slabs of marble, porphyry, jasper, obsidian, and white tecali;[26]‘Le tecali paraît être la pierre transparente semblable à l’albâtre oriental, dont on faisait un grand usage à Mexico, et dont les réligieux se servirent même pour faire une espèce de vitres à leurs fenêtres. On en trouve encore de ce genre dans plusieurs couvents de la Puebla de los Angeles.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 8. lofty columns of the same fine stones supported marble balconies and porticoes, every niche and corner of which was filled with wondrous ornamental carving, or held a grinning grotesquely sculptured head. The beams and casings were of cedar, cypress, and other valuable woods, profusely carved and put together without nails. The roofs of the palace buildings formed a suite of immense terraces, from which a magnificent view of the whole city could be obtained. Superb mats of most exquisite finish were spread upon the marble floors; the tapestry that draped the walls and the curtains that hung before the windows were made of a fabric most wonderful for its delicate texture, elegant designs and brilliant colors; through the halls and corridors a thousand golden censers, in which burned precious spices and perfumes, diffused a subtle odor.[27]Incense-offering among the Mexicans, and other nations of Anáhuac, was not only an act of religion towards their gods, but also a piece of civil courtesy to lords and ambassadors. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 51. Cortés during his march to the capital was on more than one occasion met by a deputation of nobles, bearing censers which they swung before him as a mark of courtesy.

The palace built by Nezahualcoyotl, king of Tezcuco, even surpassed that of Montezuma in many respects. The Tezcucan historian, Ixtlilxochitl, has given a full description of it, which I partially translate. The collection of buildings, which composed not only the royal residence, but also the public offices and courts of law, extended from east to west twelve hundred and thirty-four and a half yards, and from north to south, nine hundred and seventy-eight yards. These were encompassed by a wall made of adobes strongly cemented together, and standing on a foundation of very hard mortar, six feet in width at the base. On its southern and eastern sides the wall was three times a man’s stature in height; on the western side, towards the lake, and on the northern side it rose to the height of five times a man’s stature.[28]Prescott, Mex., vol. i., p. 177, makes in both cases the ‘estado’ the same measure as the ‘vara,’ that is three feet, a clumsy error certainly, when translating such a sentence as this: ‘que tenia de grueso dos varas, y de alto tres estados.’ For one third of the distance from the base to the top, the wall grew gradually thinner, while the remainder was of one thickness.[29]‘Á manera de estribo,’ writes Ixtlilxochitl. Within this inclosure were the royal dwelling, the council-chambers, and other halls and apartments. There were also two large plazas, the outer one of which served as the public market-place. The inner court-yard was surrounded by the various courts of justice, and other halls where matters relative to science, art, and the army were judicially and otherwise considered, all of which will be described in their place, and also a hall where the archives of the kingdom were preserved. In the centre of the court-yard, which was also used as a market-place, was a tennis-court; on the west side were the apartments of the king, more than three hundred in number, all admirably arranged; here were also storehouses for tribute, and splendid suites of apartments reserved for the use of the kings of Mexico and Tlacopan when they visited Tezcuco. These apartments led into the royal pleasure-gardens, which were artistically laid out with labyrinthian walks winding through the dark foliage, where often the uninitiated would lose themselves; then there were sparkling fountains, and inviting baths, and shady groves of cedar and cypress, and ponds well stocked with fish, and aviaries filled with birds of every hue and species, besides extensive menageries.[30]Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., pp. 242-3. The city of Mexico, however, furnished the largest collection of animals, or at all events it is more fully described by the conquerors than others. The Aztec monarchs took special pleasure in maintaining zoölogical collections on an immense scale, which fancy was probably more fully indulged by Montezuma II. than by any other. That prince caused to be erected in the city of Mexico an immense edifice, surrounded by extensive gardens, which was used for no other purpose than to keep and display all kinds of birds and beasts.

MONTEZUMA’S MENAGERIE.

One portion of this building consisted of a large open court, paved with stones of different colors, and divided into several compartments, in which were kept wild beasts, birds of prey, and reptiles. The larger animals were confined in low wooden cages made of massive beams. They were fed upon the intestines of human sacrifices, and upon deer, rabbits, and other animals. The birds of prey were distributed according to their species, in subterranean chambers, which were more than seven feet deep, and upwards of seventeen feet in length and breadth. Half of each chamber was roofed with slabs of stone, under which perches were fixed in the wall, where the birds might sleep and be protected from the rain; the other half was covered only with a wooden grating, which admitted air and sunlight. Five hundred turkeys were daily killed for food for these birds. Alligators were kept in ponds walled round to prevent their escape, and serpents in long cages or vessels, large enough to allow them to move about freely. These reptiles were also fed on human blood and intestines. Mr Prescott tells us that the whole of this menagerie “was placed under the charge of numerous keepers, who acquainted themselves with the habits of their prisoners, and provided for their comfort and cleanliness.”

Thomas Gage, the shrewd old English heretic, takes another view. In his quaint though free and slashing style he writes: “But what was wonderful to behold, horrid to see, hideous to hear in this house, was the Officers’ daily occupations about these beasts, the floor with blood like a gelly, stinking like a slaughter-house, and the roaring of the Lions, the fearful hissing of the Snakes and Adders, the doleful howling and barking of the Wolves, the sorrowful yelling of the Ownzes and Tigres, when they would have meat. And yet in this place, which in the night season seemed a dungeon of hell, and a dwelling place for the Devil, could a heathen Prince pray unto his Gods and Idols; for near unto this Hall was another of a hundred and fifty foot long and thirty foot broad, where was a chappel with a roof of silver and gold in leaf, wainscotted and decked with great store of pearl and stone, as Agats, Cornerines, Emeralds, Rubies, and divers other sorts; and this was the Oratory where Montezuma prayed in the night season, and in that chappel the Devil did appear unto him, and gave him answer according to his prayers, which as they were uttered among so many ugly and deformed beasts, and with the noise of them which represented Hell it self, were fitted for a Devil’s answer.”[31]Gage’s New Survey, p. 99. Concerning this oratory, see Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., tom. i., cap. l. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 296, asserts that the gold and silver plates with which the walls and roof were coated, were almost as thick as a finger, and that the first conquerors did not see this chapel or oratory, because Montezuma always went to the temple to pray, and probably, as the natives declared, knowing the covetousness of the Spaniards, he purposely concealed all this wealth from them; it is also said that when Mexico was taken the natives destroyed this chapel, and threw its treasures into the lake.

ZOÖLOGICAL COLLECTION OF MONTEZUMA.

In another part of the building was an immense hall which served as an aviary, in which were collected specimens of all the birds in the empire, excepting those of prey. They were of infinite variety and splendid plumage; many specimens were so difficult to obtain that their feathers brought almost fabulous prices in the Mexican market; while some few, either because of their extreme rarity or their inability to live in confinement, did not appear even in the royal aviary, except in imitation, for we are told that, both in Mexico and Tezcuco, all kinds of birds and animals that could not be obtained alive were represented in gold and silver so skillfully that they are said to have served the naturalist Hernandez for models. But to attain this honor, a bird must indeed have been a rara avis, a very phœnix, for it is related by Torquemada and many others, on the authority of a Spanish eye-witness, that the Emperor Montezuma II. happening one day to see a sparrow-hawk soaring through the air, and “taking a fancy to its beauty and mode of flight,” ordered his followers to catch it without delay and bring it alive to his hand; and such were the efforts made and care used, that in an incredibly short space of time “they captured that fierce and haughty hawk as though it had been but a gentle domestic pigeon, and brought it to the king.”[32]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 297.

Marble galleries, supported upon jasper pillars, all of one piece, surrounded this building, and looked out upon a large garden, wherein were groves of rare trees, choice shrubbery and flowers, and fountains filled with fish. But the prominent feature of the garden was ten large ponds for the use of water-fowl, some of which were filled with fresh and some with salt water, according to the nature of the birds that frequented them. Each pond was surrounded with tessellated marble pavement and shaded by clumps of trees. As often as the water began to stagnate it was drained off and renewed. Montezuma is said to have passed much of his time here, alone or with his women, seated in the shade, amid the plashing of fountains and odor of flowers, musing upon affairs of state or diverting his mind from such cares by watching the motions of the strange birds upon the water.

No less than three hundred persons were employed in attending upon the water-fowl and the birds in the aviary; feeding them and in the moulting season carefully gathering the gorgeous plumes, which served as material for the celebrated Aztec feather-work. The habits of the birds were closely studied, and great care was taken that every species should be supplied with the food best suited to its taste, whether it consisted of worms, insects, or seeds. The fish with which the water-fowl were supplied amounted to one hundred and fifty pounds daily. In another hall a collection of human monstrosities was kept. As we shall presently see, many of these unfortunate creatures were trained to play the part of jesters at the royal table. Yet another hall contained a number of albinos, or white Indians, who were considered a great curiosity.

In addition to these city palaces the Aztec monarchs had numerous equally splendid country residences, besides whole tracts of country set apart as royal hunting-grounds. In these parts timber was not allowed to be cut nor game disturbed, which regulations were enforced with great rigor.

The Hill of Chapultepec

The principal country villa of Montezuma II., and the only one of which any signs are yet visible, was situated upon the hill of Chapultepec, which stood in a westerly direction from the city of Mexico. In the days of the Aztec kings, the lake of Tezcuco washed the base of the hill, round which the royal grounds stretched for miles in every direction. The gardens were laid out in terraces, that wound down the hillside amid dense groves of pepper-trees, myrtles, and cypresses, innumerable fountains and artificial cascades. Little of the ancient glory of either palace or gardens is now left, except the natural beauty of the foliage that clothes the hill, and the magnificent view to be obtained from the summit. Two statues of Montezuma II. and his father, cut in bas relief on the porphyry rock, were still to be seen, Gama tells us, in the middle of the last century, but these are now gone, swept away by the same ruthless hands that laid waste the hanging gardens and tore down halls and monuments until the groves of gigantic cypresses are all that is left standing in the gardens of Chapultepec that ministered to the pleasure of the ancient owners. Peter Martyr, describing the palace at Iztapalapan, writes, in the language of an early translator: “That house also hath orchardes, finely planted with diuers trees, and herbes, and flourishing flowers, of a sweete smell. There are also in the same, great standing pooles of water with many kindes of fish, in the which diuers kindes of all sortes of waterfoule are swimminge. To the bottome of these lakes, a man may descend by marble steppes brought farr of. They report strange thinges of a walke inclosed with nettinges of Canes, least any one should freely come within the voyde plattes of grounde, or to the fruite of the trees. Those hedges are made with a thousande pleasant deuises, as it falleth out in those delicate purple crosse alleyes, of mirtle, rosemary, or boxe, al very delightfull to behold.”[33]Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. ii.

Nezahualcoyotl, the Tezcucan Solomon, was no whit behind his royal brother of Mexico in the matter of splendid country residences and gardens. Not content with the royal pleasure-grounds called Huectecpan, writes the Chichimec historian,[34]Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 251-2. this great king made others, such as the forest so famous in Tezcotzincan history, and those called Cauchiacac, Tzinacamoztoc, Cozcaquauhco, Cuetlachatitlan, or Tlateitec, and those of the lake Acatelelco, and Tepetzinco; he likewise marked out a large tract, where he might pass his leisure moments in hunting. These gardens were adorned with fountains, drains, sewers, ponds, and labyrinths, and were planted with all kinds of flowers and trees, both indigenous and foreign.

But Nezahualcoyotl was not one to overlook utility in laying out his grounds. Five large patches of the most fertile lands lying near the capital were brought under cultivation and the products appropriated exclusively to the use of the royal household.

Certain towns and provinces in the vicinity of the court furnished attendants and laborers for the palaces, gardens, and plantations. In return for such service said towns and provinces were exempt from taxation and enjoyed certain privileges. The manner of service was divided; thus twenty-eight towns supplied those who attended to the cleanliness and order of the royal buildings and waited upon the king and his suite; fourteen of these towns[35]Their names, as given by Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 251, were: Huexotla, Coatlichan, Coatapec, Chimalhuacan, Ytztapalocan, Tepetlaoztoc, Acolman, Tepechpan, Chiuhnauhtlan, Teioiocan, Chiauhtla, Papalotlan, Xaltocan, and Chalco. did service during one half of the year and the remainder[36]Otompan, Teotihuacan, Tepepolco, Cempoalon, Aztaquemecan, Ahuatepec, Axapochoc, Oztoticpac, Tizayocan, Tlalanapan, Coioac, Quatlatlauhcan, Quauhtlacca, and Quatlatzinco. Ib. during the other half. Five towns provided attendants for the king’s chamber,[37]‘Para la recámara del rey,’ namely: Calpolalpan, Mazaapan, Yahualiuhcan, Atenco, and Tzihuinquilocan. Ib. It is unreasonable to suppose that these so-called ‘towns’ were really more than mere villages, since the kingdoms proper of Mexico, Tezcuco, and Tlacopan, of which they formed only a fraction, were all contained in a valley not two hundred miles in circumference. and eight provinces,[38]Tolantzinco, Quauhchinanco, Xicotepec, Pauhatla, Yauhtepec, Tepechco, Ahuacaiocan, and Quauhahuac. Ib.; see also Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 167. with their dependent towns, furnished, each in its turn, foresters, gardeners, and agricultural laborers for the woods and gardens, ornamental or otherwise.

Summer Palace at Tezcozinco

King Nezahualcoyotl’s favorite country residence, some remains of which are still visible, was at Tezcozinco, on a conical hill lying about two leagues from Tezcuco. A broad road, running between high hedges, and probably winding spirally round the hill, appears to have led up to the summit,[39]‘La cerca tan grande que tenia para subir á la cumbre de él y andarlo todo.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 251. which, however, could be reached in a shorter time by means of a flight of steps, many of which were cut into the living rock, and the remainder made of pieces of stone firmly cemented together. Dávila Padilla, who wrote in the latter part of the sixteenth century, says that he counted five hundred and twenty of these steps, without reckoning those that had already crumbled to pieces.[40]‘Para subir hasta esta cumbre se passan quinientos y veynte escalones, sin algunos que estan ya deshechos, por auer sido de piedras sueltas y puestas à mano: que otros muchos escalones ay, labrados en la propia peña con mucha curiosidad. El año pasado los anduue todos, y los contè, para deponer de vista.’ Dávila Padilla, Hist. Fvnd. Mex., p. 619. Prescott, Mex., vol. i., p. 186, citing the above author, gives five hundred and twenty as the whole number of steps, without further remark. He furthermore adds that for the last twelve steps in the ascent the staircase was tunneled through the solid rock, and became so narrow that only one person could pass at a time. Dávila Padilla inquired the reason of this of the natives, and was told by them, as they had heard it from their fathers, that this narrow passage enabled the Tezcucan monarch to assert his rank by taking precedence of his royal visitors when they went in a body to worship the idol that stood upon the summit; not a very polite proceeding certainly.[41]Torquemada also mentions this staircase. Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 436. Water was brought over hill and dale to the top of the mountain by means of a solid stone aqueduct. Here it was received in a large basin, having in its centre a great rock, upon which were inscribed in a circle the hieroglyphics representing the years that had elapsed since Nezahualcoyotl’s birth, with a list of his most noteworthy achievements in each.[42]‘Esculpida en ella en circunferencia los años desde que habia nacido el rey Nezahualcoiotzin, hasta la edad de aquel tiempo.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 252.Prescott says that the hieroglyphics represented the ‘years of Nezahualcoyotl’s reign.’ Mex., vol. i., p. 182. Within this circle the royal coat of arms was sculptured, the elaborate device of which it is almost impossible to imagine from the clumsy description of it given by Ixtlilxochitl. As nearly as I can make it out, certain figures representing a deer’s foot adorned with feathers and having a precious stone tied to it, a hind supporting an arm which grasps a bow and arrows, and a corseleted warrior, wearing a helmet with its ear-pieces, formed the centre; these were flanked by two houses, one in flames and falling to pieces, the other whole and highly ornamented; two tigers of the country, vomiting fire and water, served as supporters; the whole was surrounded by a border composed of twelve heads of kings and great nobles. From this basin the water was distributed through the gardens in two streams, one of which meandered down the northern side of the hill, and the other down the southern side. Dávila Padilla relates that there also stood upon the summit an image of a coyote, hewn from the living rock, which represented a celebrated fasting Indian.[43]Hist. Fvnd. Mex., p. 619. ‘This figure was, no doubt, the emblem of Nezahualcoyotl himself, whose name … signified “hungry fox.”‘ Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 183, note 42.There were likewise several towers or columns of stone, having their capitals made in the shape of a pot, from which protruded plumes of feathers, which signified the name of the place. Lower down was the colossal figure of a winged beast, called by Ixtlilxochitl a lion,[44]‘Un leon de mas de dos brazas de largo con sus alas y plumas.’ Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 252. lying down, with its face toward the east, and bearing in its mouth a sculptured portrait of the king; this statue was generally covered with a canopy adorned with gold and feather-work.[45]These figures were destroyed by order of Fr Juan de Zumárraga, first Bishop of Mexico. Dávila Padilla, Hist. Fvnd. Mex., p. 619; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 252. The injury wrought by this holy iconoclast is incalculable. Blinded by the mad fanaticism of the age, he saw a devil in every Aztec image and hieroglyph; his hammers did more in a few years to efface all vestiges of Aztec art and greatness than time and decay could have done in as many centuries. It is a few such men as this that the world has to thank for the utter extinction in a few short years of a mighty civilization. In a letter to the Franciscan Chapter at Tolosa, dated June 12, 1531, we find the old bigot exulting over his vandalism. ‘Very reverend Fathers,’ he writes: ‘be it known to you that we are very busy in the work of converting the heathen; of whom, by the grace of God, upwards of one million have been baptized at the hands of the brethren of the order of our seraphic Father Saint Francis; five hundred temples have been leveled to the ground, and more than twenty thousand figures of the devils they worshiped have been broken to pieces and burned.’ And it appears that the worthy zealot had even succeeded in bringing the natives themselves to his way of thinking, for further on he writes: ‘They watch with great care to see where their fathers hide the idols, and then with great fidelity they bring them to the religious of our order that they may be destroyed; and for this many of them have been brutally murdered by their parents, or, to speak more properly, have been crowned in glory with Christ.’ Dicc. Univ., App., tom. iii., p. 1131.

Ornamental Gardens at Tezcozinco

A little lower yet were three basins of water, emblematic of the great lake, and on the borders of the middle one three female figures were sculptured on the solid rock, representing the heads of the confederated states of Mexico, Tezcuco, and Tlacopan.[46]There is a singular confusion about this passage. In Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 252, Ixtlilxochitl is made to write: ‘Un poquito mas abajo estaban tres albercas de agua, y en la del medio estaban en sus bordos tres damas esculpidas y labradas en la misma peña, que significaban la gran laguna; y las ranas los cabezas del imperio.’ In Prescott’s Mex., App., vol. iii., pp. 430-2, Ixtlilxochitl’s description of Tezcozinco is given in full; the above-quoted passage is exactly the same here except that for ranas, frogs, we read ramas, branches. Either of these words would render the description incomprehensible, and in my description I have assumed that they are both misprints for damas. Mr Prescott, Mex., vol. i., pp. 182-3, surmounts the difficulty as follows: ‘On a lower level were three other reservoirs, in each of which stood a marble statue of a woman, emblematic of the three states of the empire.’ This is inaccurate as well as incomplete, inasmuch as the figures were not statues, each standing in a basin, but were all three cut upon the face of the rock-border of the middle basin. Upon the northern side of the hill was another pond; and here upon the rock was carved the coat of arms of the city of Tollan, which was formerly the chief town of the Toltecs; upon the southern slope of the hill was yet another pond, bearing the coat of arms and the name of the city of Tenayuca, which was formerly the head town of the Chichimecs. From this basin a stream of water flowed continually over the precipice, and being dashed into spray upon the rocks, was scattered like rain over a garden of odorous tropical plants.[47]I have no doubt that this is the basin known to modern travelers as the ‘Baths of Montezuma,’ of which Ward says that it is neither of the proper shape, nor large enough for a bath, but that it more probably ‘served to receive the waters of a spring, since dried up, as its depth is considerable, while the edge on one side is formed into a spout.’ Mexico, vol. ii., p. 297. Of late years this excavation has been repeatedly described by men who claim to have visited it, but whose statements it is hard to reconcile. Bullock mentions having seen on this spot ‘a beautiful basin about twelve feet long by eight wide, having a well about five feet by four deep in the centre, surrounded by a parapet or rim two feet six inches high, with a throne or chair, such as is represented in ancient pictures to have been used by the kings. There are steps to descend into the basin or bath; the whole cut out of the living porphyry rock with the most mathematical precision, and polished in the most beautiful manner.’ Mexico, vol. ii., pp. 125-6. Latrobe says there were ‘two singular basins, of perhaps two feet and a half in diameter, not big enough for any monarch bigger than Oberon to take a duck in.’ Rambler, p. 187; Vigne’s Travels, vol. i., p. 27, mentions ‘the remains of a circular stone bath … about a foot deep and five in diameter, with a small surrounding and smoothed space cut out of the solid rock.’ Brantz Mayer, who both saw it and gives a sketch of it, writes: ‘The rock is smoothed to a perfect level for several yards, around which, seats and grooves are carved from the adjacent masses. In the centre there is a circular sink, about a yard and a half in diameter, and a yard in depth, and a square pipe, with a small aperture, led the water from an aqueduct, which appears to terminate in this basin.’ Mex. as it Was, p. 234. Beaufoy says that two-thirds up the southern side of the hill was a mass of fine red porphyry, in which was an excavation six feet square, with steps leading down three feet, having in the centre a circular basin four and a half feet in diameter and five deep also with steps. Mex. Illustr., p. 195. ‘On the side of the hill are two little circular baths, cut in the solid rock. The lower of the two has a flight of steps down to it; the seat for the bather, and the stone pipe which brought the water, are still quite perfect.’ Tylor’s Anahuac, p. 152. In the garden were two baths, dug out of one large piece of porphyry,[48]‘Tras este jardin se seguian los baños hechos y labrados de peña viva, que con dividirse en dos baños era de una pieza.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 252. and a flight of steps also cut from the solid rock, worked and polished so smooth that they looked like mirrors, and on the front of the stairs were carved the year, month, day, and hour in which information was brought to King Nezahualcoyotl of the death of a certain lord of Huexotzinco, whom he esteemed very highly, and who died while the said staircase was being built.[49]Ib. The garden is said to have been a perfect little paradise. The gorgeous flowers were all transplanted from the distant tierra caliente; marble pavilions, supported on slender columns, with tesselated pavements and sparkling fountains, nestled among the shady groves and afforded a cool retreat during the long summer days. At the end of the garden, almost hidden by the groups of gigantic cedars and cypresses that surrounded it, was the royal palace,[50]Dávila Padilla says that some of the gateways of this palace were formed of one piece of stone, and he saw one beam of cedar there which was almost ninety feet in length and four in breadth. Hist. Fvnd. Mex., p. 620. so situated that while its spacious halls were filled with the sensuous odors of the tropics, blown in from the gardens, it remained sheltered from the heat.[51]Concerning the royal buildings, gardens, &c., of the Aztecs, compare Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., tom. i., cap. l.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 167, 296-8; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 243-4, 251-2; Dávila Padilla, Hist. Fvnd. Mex., pp. 619-20; Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 309; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 302-9; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 196; Acosta’s Hist. Nat. Ind., p. 484; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 271-4; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 305-7, 504; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 69; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 181-5; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 107-11; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 315-19; Cortés, Cartas, pp. 110-11; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. ix.-xi.; West-Indische Spieghel, pp. 245-6, 343; Gage’s New Survey, pp. 97-9; Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. iii., iv., x.; Chevalier, Mexique, pp. 30-2; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 177-84, vol. ii., pp. 65, 115-21; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., pp. 8-11; Pimentel, Raza Indígena, p. 57; Tápia, Relacion, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. ii., pp. 581-3. Other works of no original value, which touch on this subject, are: Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 15, 244, 65-6, 234-7; Ranking’s Hist. Researches, pp. 347-51; Bussierre, L’Empire Mexicain, pp. 90-4, 109; Macgregor’s Progress of America, p. 22; Dilworth’s Conq. Mex., pp. 66, 70; West und Ost Indischer Lustgart, pt i., p. 125.

Toltec Palaces

If the ancient traditions may be believed, the Toltec monarchs built as magnificent palaces as their Aztec successors. The sacred palace of that mysterious Toltec priest-king, Quetzalcoatl, had four principal halls, facing the four cardinal points. That on the east was called the Hall of Gold, because its halls were ornamented with plates of that metal, delicately chased and finished; the apartment lying toward the west was named the Hall of Emeralds and Turquoises, and its walls were profusely adorned with all kinds of precious stones; the hall facing the south was decorated with plates of silver and with brilliant-colored sea-shells, which were fitted together with great skill. The walls of the fourth hall, which was on the north, were red jasper, covered with carving and ornamented with shells. Another of these palaces or temples, for it is not clear which they were, had also four principal halls decorated entirely with feather-work tapestry. In the eastern division the feathers were yellow; in the western they were blue, taken from a bird called Xiuhtototl; in the southern hall the feathers were white, and in that on the north they were red.[52]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 107-8.

The number of attendants attached to the royal houses was very great. Every day from sunrise until sunset the antechambers of Montezuma’s palace in Mexico were occupied by six hundred noblemen and gentlemen, who passed the time lounging about and discussing the gossip of the day in low tones, for it was considered disrespectful to speak loudly or make any noise within the palace limits. They were provided with apartments in the palace,[53]Close to the great audience hall was a very large court-yard, ‘en que avia çient aposentos de veynte é çinco ó treynta piés de largo cada uno sobre sí en torno de dicho patio, é allí estaban los señores prinçipales apossentados, como guardas del palacio ordinarias.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 501. and took their meals from what remained of the superabundance of the royal table, as did, after them, their own servants, of whom each person of quality was entitled to from one to thirty, according to his rank. These retainers, numbering two or three thousand, filled several outer courts during the day.

Montezuma at Table, The Royal Wardrobe

The king took his meals alone, in one of the largest halls of the palace. If the weather was cold, a fire was kindled with a kind of charcoal made of the bark of trees, which emitted no smoke, but threw out a delicious perfume; and that his majesty might suffer no inconvenience from the heat, a screen ornamented with gold and carved with figures of the idols[54]‘Vna como tabla labrada con oro, y otras figuras de idolos.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 68. was placed between his person and the fire. He was seated upon a low leather cushion, upon which were thrown various soft skins, and his table was of a similar description, except that it was larger and rather higher, and was covered with white cotton cloths of the finest texture. The dinner-service was of the finest ware of Cholula, and many of the goblets were of gold and silver, or fashioned of beautiful shells. He is said to have possessed a complete service of solid gold, but as it was considered below a king’s dignity to use anything at table twice, Montezuma with all his extravagance, was obliged to keep this costly dinner-set in the temple. The bill of fare comprised everything edible of fish, flesh, and fowl, that could be procured in the empire or imported from beyond it. Relays of couriers were employed in bringing delicacies from afar, and as the royal table was every day supplied with fresh fish brought, without the modern aids of ice and air-tight packing, from a sea-coast more than two hundred miles distant, by a road passing chiefly through a tropical climate, we can form some idea of the speed with which these couriers traveled. There were cunning cooks among the Aztecs, and at these extravagant meals there was almost as much variety in the cooking as in the matter cooked. Sahagun[55]Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 297-302. gives a most formidable list of roast, stewed, and boiled dishes of meat, fish, and poultry, seasoned with many kinds of herbs, of which, however, the most frequently mentioned is chile.[56]This pungent condiment is at the present day as omnipresent in Spanish American dishes as it was at the time of the conquest; and I am seriously informed by a Spanish gentleman who resided for many years in Mexico, and was an officer in Maximilian’s army, that while the wolves would feed upon the dead bodies of the French that lay all night upon the battle-field, they never touched the bodies of the Mexicans, because the flesh of the latter was completely impregnated with chile. Which, if true, may be thought to show that wolves do not object to a diet seasoned with garlic. He further describes many kinds of bread, all bearing a more or less close resemblance to the modern Mexican tortilla,[57]Described too frequently in vol. i., of this series, to need repetition. and all most tremendously named; imagine, for instance, when one wished for a piece of bread, having to ask one’s neighbor to be good enough to pass the totanquitlaxcallitlaquelpacholli; then there were tamales of all kinds,[58]The tamale is another very favorite modern Mexican dish. The natives generally make them with pork; the bones are crushed almost to powder; the meat is cut up in small pieces, and the whole washed; a small quantity of maize paste, seasoned with cinnamon, saffron, cloves, pimento, tomatoes, coarse pepper, salt, red coloring matter, and some lard added to it, is placed on the fire in a pan; as soon as it has acquired the consistency of a thick gruel it is removed, mixed with the meat, some more lard and salt added, and the mass kneaded for a few moments; it is then divided into small portions, which are enveloped in a thin paste of maize. The tamales thus prepared are covered with a banana-leaf or a corn-husk, and placed in a pot or pan over which large leaves are laid. They are allowed to boil from one hour and a half to two hours. Game, poultry, vegetables, or sweetmeats are often used instead of pork. and many other curious messes, such as frog-spawn, and stewed ants cooked with chile, but more loathsome to us than even such as these, and strangest of all the strange compounds that went to make up the royal carte, was one highly seasoned, and probably savory-smelling dish, so exquisitely prepared that its principal ingredient was completely disguised, yet that ingredient was nothing else than human flesh.[59]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 229, regrets that certain persons, out of the ill-will they bore the Mexicans, have falsely imputed to Montezuma the crime of eating human flesh without its being well seasoned, but he admits that when properly cooked and disguised, the flesh of those sacrificed to the gods appeared at the royal board. Some modern writers seem to doubt even this; it is, however, certain that cannibalism existed among the people, not as a means of allaying appetite, but from partly religious motives, and there seems no reason to doubt that the king shared the superstitions of the people. I do not, however, base the opinion upon Oviedo’s assertion, which smacks strongly of the ‘giant stories’ of the nursery, that certain ‘dishes of tender children’ graced the monarch’s table. Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 501. Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 68, also cannot withstand the temptation to deal in the marvelous, and mentions ‘carnes de muchachos de poca edad;’though it is true the soldier-like bluntness the veteran so prided himself upon, comes to his aid, and he admits that perhaps after all Montezuma was not an ogre. Each dish was kept warm by a chafing-dish placed under it. Writers do not agree as to the exact quantity of food served up at each meal, but it must have been immense, since the lowest number of dishes given is three hundred,[60]Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 68.and the highest three thousand.[61]Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 501. They were brought into the hall by four hundred pages of noble birth, who placed their burdens upon the matted floor and retired noiselessly. The king then pointed out such viands as he wished to partake of, or left the selection to his steward, who doubtless took pains to study the likes and dislikes of the royal palate. This steward was a functionary of the highest rank and importance; he alone was privileged to place the designated delicacies before the king upon the table; he appears to have done duty both as royal carver and cup-bearer, and, according to Torquemada, to have done it barefooted and on his knees.[62]Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 229.Everything being in readiness, a number of the most beautiful of the king’s women[63]Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 68, says there were four of these women; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 229, says there were twenty. entered, bearing water in round vessels called xicales, for the king to wash his hands in, and towels that he might dry them, other vessels being placed upon the ground to catch the drippings. Two other women at the same time brought him some small loaves of a very delicate kind of bread made of the finest maize-flour, beaten up with eggs. This done, a wooden screen, carved and gilt, was placed before him, that no one might see him while eating.[64]‘E ya que començaua á comer, echauanle delante vna como puerta de madera muy pintada de oro, porque no le viessen comer.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 68. ‘Luego que se sentaba à la Mesa, cerraba el Maestre-Sala vna Varanda de Madera, que dividia la Sala, para que la Nobleça de los Caballeros, que acudia à verle comer, no embaraçase la Mesa.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 229. ‘Tosto che il Re si metteva a tavola, chiudeva lo Scalco la porta della Sala, acciocchè nessuno degli altri Nobili lo vedesse mangiare.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 270. There were always present five or six aged lords, who stood near the royal chair barefooted, and with bowed heads. To these, as a special mark of favor, the king occasionally sent a choice morsel from his own plate. During the meal the monarch sometimes amused himself by watching the performances of his jugglers and tumblers, whose marvelous feats of strength and dexterity I shall describe in another place; at other times there was dancing, accompanied by singing and music; there were also present dwarfs, and professional jesters, who were allowed to speak, a privilege denied all others under penalty of death, and, after the manner of their kind, to tell sharp truths in the shape of jests. The more solid food was followed by pastry, sweetmeats, and a magnificent dessert of fruit. The only beverage drank at the meal was chocolate,[65]‘A potation of chocolate, flavored with vanilla and other spices, and so prepared as to be reduced to a froth of the consistency of honey, which gradually dissolved in the mouth.’ Prescott’s Mex., vol. ii., p. 125. ‘This was something like our chocolate, and prepared in the same way, but with this difference, that it was mixed with the boiled dough of maise, and was drunk cold.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., [Lockhart’s translation Lond., 1814, vol. i., note, p. 393]. ‘La bebida es agua mezclada con cierta harina de unas almendras que llaman cacao. Esta es de mucha sustancia, muy fresca, y sabrosa y agradable, y no embriaga.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxi. of which about fifty jars were provided;[66]‘Entonces no mirauamos en ello; mas lo que yo vi, que traian sobre cincuenta jarros grandes hechos de buen cacao con su espuma, y de lo que bebia.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 68. Oviedo, as usual, is content with no number less than three thousand: ‘É luego venian tres mill xícalos (cántaros ó ánforas) de brevage.’ Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 501. Las Casas makes it three hundred: ‘A su tiempo, en medio ò en fin de los manjares segun la costumbre que tenian, entravan otros trescientos pajes, cada uno con un vaso grande que cabia medio azumbre, (about a quart), y aun tres quartillos de la bebida en el mismo, y servia el un vaso al rey el maestresala, de que bebia lo que le agradava.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxi. it was taken with a spoon, finely wrought of gold or shell, from a goblet of the same material. Having finished his dinner, the king again washed his hands in water brought to him, as before, by the women. After this, several painted and gilt pipes were brought, from which he inhaled, through his mouth or nose, as suited him best, the smoke of a mixture of liquid-amber, and an herb called tobacco.[67]‘Vnas yervas que se dize tabaco.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 68. His siesta over, he devoted himself to business, and proceeded to give audience to foreign ambassadors, deputations from cities in the empire, and to such of his lords and ministers as had business to transact with him. Before entering the presence-chamber, all, no matter what their rank might be, unless they were of the blood-royal, were obliged to leave their sandals at the door, to cover their rich dresses with a large coarse mantle, and to approach the monarch, barefooted and with downcast eyes, for it was death to the subject who should dare to look his sovereign in the face.[68]Only five persons enjoyed the privilege of looking Montezuma II. in the face: the kings of Tezcuco and Tlacopan, and the lords of Quauhtitlan, Coyouacan, and Azcapuzalco. Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxi. Bernal Diaz says that all who approached the royal seat made three reverences, saying in succession, ‘Lord,’ ‘my lord,’ ‘sublime lord.’ Hist. Conq., fol. 68. The king usually answered through his secretaries,[69]This custom of speaking through a secretary was adopted by the other Aztec monarchs as well as Montezuma, and was also imitated by many of the great tributary lords and governors of provinces who wished to make as much display of their rank and dignity as possible. See Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 184; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxi.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 205. or when he deigned to speak directly to the person who addressed him, it was in such a low tone as scarcely to be heard;[70]‘Lo que los señores hablaban y la palabra que mas ordinariamente decian al fin de las pláticas y negocios que se les comunicaban, eran decir con muy baja voz tlaa, que quiere decir “sí, ó bien, bien.”‘ Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 184. at the same time he listened very attentively to all that was communicated to him, and encouraged those who, from embarrassment, found difficulty in speaking. Each applicant, when dismissed, retired backward, keeping his face always toward the royal seat. The time set apart for business having elapsed, he again gave himself up to pleasure, and usually passed the time in familiar badinage with his jesters, or in listening to ballad-singers who sang of war and the glorious deeds of his ancestors, or he amused himself by looking on at the feats of strength and legerdemain of his jugglers and acrobats; or, sometimes, at this hour, he would retire to the softer pleasures of the harem. He changed his dress four times each day, and a dress once worn could never be used again. Concerning this custom, Peter Martyr, translated into the quaintest of English, writes: “Arising from his bed, he is cloathed after one maner, as he commeth forth to bee seene, and returning backe into his chamber after he hath dined, he changeth his garments: and when he commeth forthe againe to supper, hee taketh another, and returning backe againe the fourth which he weareth vntill he goe to bed. But concerning 3. garments, which he changeth euery day, many of them that returned haue reported the same vnto me, with their owne mouth: but howsoeuer it be, all agree in the changing of garmentes, that being once taken into the wardrope, they are there piled vp on heaps, not likely to see the face of Muteczuma any more: but what manner of garmentes they be, we will elswhere declare, for they are very light. These things being obserued, it wil not be wōdred at, that we made mention before concerning so many garments presented. For accounting the yeares, and the dayes of the yeares, especially, wherein Muteczuma hath inioyed peace & howe often he changeth his garments euery daye, all admiration will cease. But the readers will demand, why he heapeth vp so great a pile of garments, & that iustly. Let them knowe that Muteczuma vsed to giue a certeine portion of garments to his familiar friends, or well deseruing soldiers, in steed of a beneuolence, or stipend, when they go to the wars, or returne from y^e victory, as Augustus Cæsar lord of the world, a mightier Prince than Muteczuma, commāded only a poore reward of bread to be giuen ouer & aboue to such as performed any notable exployt, while being by Maro admonished, that so smal a larges of bread was an argumēt y^t he was a bakers son: then although it be recorded in writīg that Cæsar liked y^e mery cōceit, yet it is to be beleued y^t he blushed at that diuinatiō, because he promised Virgil to alter his dispositiō & that hereafter he would bestow gifts worthy a great king, & not a bakers son.”[71]Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. iv.

The King Out of Doors

The kings did not often appear among their people,[72]Torquemada writes of Montezuma II.: ‘Su trato con los Suios era poco: raras veces se dejaba vèr, y estabase encerrado mucho tiempo, pensando en el Govierno de su Reino.’ Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 205. though we are told that they would sometimes go forth in disguise to see that no part of the religious feasts and ceremonies was omitted, to make sure that the laws were observed, and probably, as is usual in such cases, to ascertain the true state of public opinion with regard to themselves.[73]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 205. Whenever they did appear abroad, however, it was with a parade that corresponded with their other observances. Upon these occasions the king was seated in a magnificent litter, overshadowed by a canopy of feather-work, the whole being adorned with gold and precious stones, and carried upon the shoulders of four noblemen. He was attended by a vast multitude of courtiers of all ranks, who walked without speaking, and with their eyes bent upon the ground. The procession was headed by an official carrying three wands, whose duty it was to give warning of the king’s approach, and by others who cleared the road of all obstructions.[74]Picking up straws, says Las Casas: ‘É iban estos oficiales delante quitando las pajas del suelo por finas que fuesen.’ Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxi. All who chanced to meet the royal party, instantly stopped, and remained motionless with heads bent down, like friars chanting the Gloria Patri, says Father Motolinia, until the procession had passed. When the monarch alighted, a carpet was spread upon the ground for him to step on. The meeting of Montezuma II. and Cortés, as described by Bernal Diaz, will show the manner in which the Aztec kings were attended when out of doors:

“When we arrived at a spot where another narrow causeway led towards Cuyoacan, we were met by a number of caciques and distinguished personages, all splendidly dressed. They had been sent by Montezuma to meet us and welcome us in his name; and as a sign of peace each touched the earth with his hand and then kissed it.[75]This was the Aztec manner of salutation, and is doubtless what Bernal Diaz means where he writes: ‘Y en señal de paz tocauan con la mano en el suelo, y besauan la tierra con la mesma mano.’ Hist. Conq., fol. 65. While we were thus detained, the lords of Tezcuco, Iztapalapa, Tacuba, and Cuyoacan, advanced to meet the mighty Montezuma, who was approaching seated on a splendid litter, and escorted by a number of powerful nobles. When we arrived at a place not far from the capital, where were certain fortifications, Montezuma, descending from his litter, came forward leaning on the arms of some of the attendant lords, while others held over him a canopy of rich feather-work ornamented with silver and gold, having an embroidered border from which hung pearls and chalchihuis stones.[76]Green stones, more valued than any other among the Aztecs. Montezuma was very sumptuously dressed, according to his custom, and had on his feet a kind of sandals, with soles of gold, the upper part being studded with precious stones. The four grandees[77]Cortés himself says that the king was supported by two grandees only; one of whom was his nephew, the king of Tezcuco, and the other his brother, the lord of Iztapalapa. Cartas, p. 85. who supported him were also very richly attired, and it seemed to us that the clothes they now wore must have been held in readiness for them somewhere upon the road, for they were not thus dressed when they first came out to meet us. And besides these great lords there were many others, some of whom held the canopy over the king’s head, while others went in advance, sweeping the ground over which he was to walk, and spreading down cotton cloths that his feet might not touch the earth. Excepting only the four nobles upon whose arms he leaned, and who were his near relatives, none of all his followers presumed to look in the king’s face, but all kept their eyes lowered to the ground in token of respect.”[78]Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 65.

The Royal Harem

Besides the host of retainers already mentioned there were innumerable other officers attached to the royal household, such as butlers, stewards, and cooks of all grades, treasurers, secretaries, scribes, military officers, superintendents of the royal granaries and arsenals, and those employed under them. A great number of artisans were constantly kept busy repairing old buildings and erecting new ones, and a little army of jewelers and workers in precious metals resided permanently at the palace for the purpose of supplying the king and court with the costly ornaments that were eventually such a windfall for the conquerors, and over the description of which they one and all so lovingly linger. Nor was the softer sex unrepresented at court. The Aztec sovereigns were notorious for their uxoriousness. Montezuma II. had in his harem at least one thousand women, and this number is increased by most of the historians to three thousand, including the female attendants and slaves. Of these we are told on good authority that he had one hundred and fifty pregnant at one time, all of whom killed their offspring in the womb;[79]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 230; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 107; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. ix.; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 67; West-Indische Spieghel, p. 246. Clavigero disbelieves the report that Montezuma had one hundred and fifty women pregnant at once. Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 268. Oviedo makes the number of women four thousand. Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 505. yet notwithstanding this wholesale abortion, he had more than fifty sons and daughters. His father had one hundred and fifty children, of whom Montezuma II. killed all his brothers and forced his sisters to marry whom he pleased;—at least such is the import of Oviedo’s statement.[80]Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 505. Nezahualpilli, of Tezcuco, had between seventy and one hundred children.[81]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 435. Camargo tells us that Xicotencatl, one of the chiefs of Tlascala had a great number of sons by more than fifty wives or concubines.[82]Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 169. These women were the daughters of the nobles, who thought themselves honored by having a child in the royal harem. Occasionally the monarch presented one of his concubines to some great lord or renowned warrior, a mark of favor which thenceforth distinguished the recipient as a man whom the king delighted to honor. The seraglio was presided over by a number of noble matrons, who kept close watch and ward over the conduct of their charges and made daily reports to the king, who invariably caused the slightest indiscretion to be severely punished. Whether eunuchs were employed in the Aztec harems is uncertain; this, however, we read in Motolinia: “Moteuczomatzin had in his palace dwarfs and little hunchbacks, who when children were with great ingenuity made crook-backed, ruptured,[83]‘Quebraban,’ which probably here means ‘castrated.’ and disjointed, because the lords in this country made the same use of them as at the present day the Grand Turk does of eunuchs.”[84]‘Tenia Moteuczomatzin en su palacio enanos y corcobadillos, que de industria siendo niños los hacian jibosos, y los quebraban y descoyuntaban, porque de estos se servian los señores en esta tierra como ahora hace el Gran Turco de eunucos.’ Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 184-5. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 298, uses nearly the same words.

The enormous expenditure incurred in the maintenance of such a household as this, was defrayed by the people, who, as we shall see in a future chapter, were sorely oppressed by over-taxation. The management of the whole was entrusted to a head steward or majordomo, who, with the help of his secretaries, kept minute hieroglyphic accounts of the royal revenue. Bernal Diaz tells us that a whole apartment was filled with these account-books.[85]Hist. Conq., fol. 68. In Tezcuco, writes Ixtlilxochitl, the food consumed by the court was supplied by certain districts of the kingdom, in each of which was a gatherer of taxes, who besides collecting the regular tributes, was obliged to furnish the royal household, in his turn, with a certain quantity of specified articles, for a greater or less number of days, according to the wealth and extent of his department. The daily supply amounted to thirty-one and a quarter bushels of grain; nearly three bushels and three quarters of beans;[86]‘Otros tres Tlacopintlix de frisoles.’ The Tlacopintlix was one ‘fanega,’ and three ‘almudes,’ or, one bushel and a quarter. four hundred thousand ready-made tortillas; four xiquipiles[87]‘Xiquipilli, costal, talega, alforja, o bolsa.’ Molina, Vocabulario. of cocoa, making in all thirty-two thousand cocoa-beans;[88]‘Treinta y dos mil cacaos,’ possibly cocoa-pods instead of cocoa-beans. one hundred cocks of the country;[89]‘Cien gallos.’ Probably turkeys. twenty loaves of salt; twenty great baskets of large chiles, and twenty of small chiles; ten baskets of tomatoes; and ten of seed.[90]Probably pumpkin or melon seed. All this was furnished daily for seventy days by the city of Tezcuco and its suburbs, and by the districts of Atenco, and Tepepulco; for sixty-five days by the district of Quauhtlatzinco; and for forty-five days by the districts of Azapocho and Ahuatepec.[91]Ixtlilxochitl, in Hist. Chich., Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 241.

Aztec Kings and Their Subjects

Such, as full in detail as it is handed down to us, was the manner in which the Aztec monarchs lived. The policy they pursued toward their subjects was to enforce obedience and submission by enacting laws that were calculated rather to excite awe and dread than to inspire love and reverence. To this end they kept the people at a distance by surrounding themselves with an impassable barrier of pomp and courtly etiquette, and enforced obedience by enacting laws that made death the penalty of the most trivial offenses. There was little in common between king and people; as is ever the case between a despot and his subjects. The good that the kings did by their liberality and love of justice, and the success they nearly all achieved by their courage and generalship, merited the admiration of their subjects. On the other hand, the oppression which they made their vassals feel, the heavy burdens they imposed upon them, their own pride and arrogance, and their excessive severity in punishments, engendered what we should now call a debasing fear, but which is none the less an essential element of progress at certain stages.[92]Concerning the king’s manner of living and the domestic economy of the royal household, see: Cortés, Cartas, pp. 84-5, 109-13; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 66-8; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 286-322; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxi.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 167-8, 205-6, 228-31, 298, tom. ii., p. 435; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 184-5; Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. iii., iv.; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 103-4, 107-8; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 507; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 307, 501, 505; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 268-71; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. v., vii., ix., xii-xiii., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xiv.; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 189-91; Ortega, in Id., pp. 310-17; West-Indische Spieghel, p. 246; Gage’s New Survey, pp. 97, 100-1; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 284, tom. iv., pp. 9-13; Prescott’s Mex., tom. ii., pp. 121-9; Zuazo,Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 362; Carli, Cartas, pt i., pp. 117-18. Other works of more or less value bearing on this subject are: Touron, Hist. Gén., tom. iii., pp. 25-38, 355-7, 359; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., pp. 109, 119-22, 254-5; Baril, Mexique, pp. 204-7; Dufey, Résumé, tom. i., pp. 136-7; Brownell’s Ind. Races, pp. 83, 93-5; Ranking’s Hist. Researches, pp. 315-16, 321-3, 342-7, 350; Soden, Spanier in Peru, p. 136; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 582-4; Lafond, Voyages, tom. i., pp. 104-5; Cooper’s Hist. N. Amer., pp. 112-13; Dilworth’s Conq. Mex., pp. 65-6, 70-1; Hawks, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 469; Monglave, Résumé, pp. 19, 82-3; Incidents and Sketches, p. 60; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 63-6, 209-11, 234, 242; Dillon, Hist. Mex., p. 52; West und Ost Indischer Lustgart, pp. 123-5.

Footnotes

[23] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. ix. Though it is more than probable that Gomara means the same thing, yet the manner in which he expresses it leaves us in some doubt whether the tiger might not have been standing over the eagle. ‘El escudo de armas, que estaua por las puertas de palacio y que traen las vanderas de Motecçuma, y las de sus antecessores, es vna aguila abatida a vn tigre, las manos y vñas puestas como para hazer presa.’ Conq. Mex., fol. 108. ‘Het Wapen dat boven de Poorte stont, was een Arent die op een Griffioen nederdaelde, met open Clauwen hem ghereet maeckende, om syn Roof te vatten.’ West-Indische Spieghel, p. 246.

[24] Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 309.

[25] Ib.

[26] ‘Le tecali paraît être la pierre transparente semblable à l’albâtre oriental, dont on faisait un grand usage à Mexico, et dont les réligieux se servirent même pour faire une espèce de vitres à leurs fenêtres. On en trouve encore de ce genre dans plusieurs couvents de la Puebla de los Angeles.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 8.

[27] Incense-offering among the Mexicans, and other nations of Anáhuac, was not only an act of religion towards their gods, but also a piece of civil courtesy to lords and ambassadors. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 51. Cortés during his march to the capital was on more than one occasion met by a deputation of nobles, bearing censers which they swung before him as a mark of courtesy.

[28] Prescott, Mex., vol. i., p. 177, makes in both cases the ‘estado’ the same measure as the ‘vara,’ that is three feet, a clumsy error certainly, when translating such a sentence as this: ‘que tenia de grueso dos varas, y de alto tres estados.’

[29] ‘Á manera de estribo,’ writes Ixtlilxochitl.

[30] Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., pp. 242-3.

[31] Gage’s New Survey, p. 99. Concerning this oratory, see Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., tom. i., cap. l. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 296, asserts that the gold and silver plates with which the walls and roof were coated, were almost as thick as a finger, and that the first conquerors did not see this chapel or oratory, because Montezuma always went to the temple to pray, and probably, as the natives declared, knowing the covetousness of the Spaniards, he purposely concealed all this wealth from them; it is also said that when Mexico was taken the natives destroyed this chapel, and threw its treasures into the lake.

[32] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 297.

[33] Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. ii.

[34] Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 251-2.

[35] Their names, as given by Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 251, were: Huexotla, Coatlichan, Coatapec, Chimalhuacan, Ytztapalocan, Tepetlaoztoc, Acolman, Tepechpan, Chiuhnauhtlan, Teioiocan, Chiauhtla, Papalotlan, Xaltocan, and Chalco.

[36] Otompan, Teotihuacan, Tepepolco, Cempoalon, Aztaquemecan, Ahuatepec, Axapochoc, Oztoticpac, Tizayocan, Tlalanapan, Coioac, Quatlatlauhcan, Quauhtlacca, and Quatlatzinco. Ib.

[37] ‘Para la recámara del rey,’ namely: Calpolalpan, Mazaapan, Yahualiuhcan, Atenco, and Tzihuinquilocan. Ib. It is unreasonable to suppose that these so-called ‘towns’ were really more than mere villages, since the kingdoms proper of Mexico, Tezcuco, and Tlacopan, of which they formed only a fraction, were all contained in a valley not two hundred miles in circumference.

[38] Tolantzinco, Quauhchinanco, Xicotepec, Pauhatla, Yauhtepec, Tepechco, Ahuacaiocan, and Quauhahuac. Ib.; see also Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 167.

[39] ‘La cerca tan grande que tenia para subir á la cumbre de él y andarlo todo.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 251.

[40] ‘Para subir hasta esta cumbre se passan quinientos y veynte escalones, sin algunos que estan ya deshechos, por auer sido de piedras sueltas y puestas à mano: que otros muchos escalones ay, labrados en la propia peña con mucha curiosidad. El año pasado los anduue todos, y los contè, para deponer de vista.’ Dávila Padilla, Hist. Fvnd. Mex., p. 619. Prescott, Mex., vol. i., p. 186, citing the above author, gives five hundred and twenty as the whole number of steps, without further remark.

[41] Torquemada also mentions this staircase. Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 436.

[42] ‘Esculpida en ella en circunferencia los años desde que habia nacido el rey Nezahualcoiotzin, hasta la edad de aquel tiempo.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 252.Prescott says that the hieroglyphics represented the ‘years of Nezahualcoyotl’s reign.’ Mex., vol. i., p. 182.

[43] Hist. Fvnd. Mex., p. 619. ‘This figure was, no doubt, the emblem of Nezahualcoyotl himself, whose name … signified “hungry fox.”‘ Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 183, note 42.

[44] ‘Un leon de mas de dos brazas de largo con sus alas y plumas.’ Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 252.

[45] These figures were destroyed by order of Fr Juan de Zumárraga, first Bishop of Mexico. Dávila Padilla, Hist. Fvnd. Mex., p. 619; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 252. The injury wrought by this holy iconoclast is incalculable. Blinded by the mad fanaticism of the age, he saw a devil in every Aztec image and hieroglyph; his hammers did more in a few years to efface all vestiges of Aztec art and greatness than time and decay could have done in as many centuries. It is a few such men as this that the world has to thank for the utter extinction in a few short years of a mighty civilization. In a letter to the Franciscan Chapter at Tolosa, dated June 12, 1531, we find the old bigot exulting over his vandalism. ‘Very reverend Fathers,’ he writes: ‘be it known to you that we are very busy in the work of converting the heathen; of whom, by the grace of God, upwards of one million have been baptized at the hands of the brethren of the order of our seraphic Father Saint Francis; five hundred temples have been leveled to the ground, and more than twenty thousand figures of the devils they worshiped have been broken to pieces and burned.’ And it appears that the worthy zealot had even succeeded in bringing the natives themselves to his way of thinking, for further on he writes: ‘They watch with great care to see where their fathers hide the idols, and then with great fidelity they bring them to the religious of our order that they may be destroyed; and for this many of them have been brutally murdered by their parents, or, to speak more properly, have been crowned in glory with Christ.’ Dicc. Univ., App., tom. iii., p. 1131.

[46] There is a singular confusion about this passage. In Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 252, Ixtlilxochitl is made to write: ‘Un poquito mas abajo estaban tres albercas de agua, y en la del medio estaban en sus bordos tres damas esculpidas y labradas en la misma peña, que significaban la gran laguna; y las ranas los cabezas del imperio.’ In Prescott’s Mex., App., vol. iii., pp. 430-2, Ixtlilxochitl’s description of Tezcozinco is given in full; the above-quoted passage is exactly the same here except that for ranas, frogs, we read ramas, branches. Either of these words would render the description incomprehensible, and in my description I have assumed that they are both misprints for damas. Mr Prescott, Mex., vol. i., pp. 182-3, surmounts the difficulty as follows: ‘On a lower level were three other reservoirs, in each of which stood a marble statue of a woman, emblematic of the three states of the empire.’ This is inaccurate as well as incomplete, inasmuch as the figures were not statues, each standing in a basin, but were all three cut upon the face of the rock-border of the middle basin.

[47] I have no doubt that this is the basin known to modern travelers as the ‘Baths of Montezuma,’ of which Ward says that it is neither of the proper shape, nor large enough for a bath, but that it more probably ‘served to receive the waters of a spring, since dried up, as its depth is considerable, while the edge on one side is formed into a spout.’ Mexico, vol. ii., p. 297. Of late years this excavation has been repeatedly described by men who claim to have visited it, but whose statements it is hard to reconcile. Bullock mentions having seen on this spot ‘a beautiful basin about twelve feet long by eight wide, having a well about five feet by four deep in the centre, surrounded by a parapet or rim two feet six inches high, with a throne or chair, such as is represented in ancient pictures to have been used by the kings. There are steps to descend into the basin or bath; the whole cut out of the living porphyry rock with the most mathematical precision, and polished in the most beautiful manner.’ Mexico, vol. ii., pp. 125-6. Latrobe says there were ‘two singular basins, of perhaps two feet and a half in diameter, not big enough for any monarch bigger than Oberon to take a duck in.’ Rambler, p. 187; Vigne’s Travels, vol. i., p. 27, mentions ‘the remains of a circular stone bath … about a foot deep and five in diameter, with a small surrounding and smoothed space cut out of the solid rock.’ Brantz Mayer, who both saw it and gives a sketch of it, writes: ‘The rock is smoothed to a perfect level for several yards, around which, seats and grooves are carved from the adjacent masses. In the centre there is a circular sink, about a yard and a half in diameter, and a yard in depth, and a square pipe, with a small aperture, led the water from an aqueduct, which appears to terminate in this basin.’ Mex. as it Was, p. 234. Beaufoy says that two-thirds up the southern side of the hill was a mass of fine red porphyry, in which was an excavation six feet square, with steps leading down three feet, having in the centre a circular basin four and a half feet in diameter and five deep also with steps. Mex. Illustr., p. 195. ‘On the side of the hill are two little circular baths, cut in the solid rock. The lower of the two has a flight of steps down to it; the seat for the bather, and the stone pipe which brought the water, are still quite perfect.’ Tylor’s Anahuac, p. 152.

[48] ‘Tras este jardin se seguian los baños hechos y labrados de peña viva, que con dividirse en dos baños era de una pieza.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 252.

[49] Ib.

[50] Dávila Padilla says that some of the gateways of this palace were formed of one piece of stone, and he saw one beam of cedar there which was almost ninety feet in length and four in breadth. Hist. Fvnd. Mex., p. 620.

[51] Concerning the royal buildings, gardens, &c., of the Aztecs, compare Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., tom. i., cap. l.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 167, 296-8; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 243-4, 251-2; Dávila Padilla, Hist. Fvnd. Mex., pp. 619-20; Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 309; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 302-9; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 196; Acosta’s Hist. Nat. Ind., p. 484; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 271-4; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 305-7, 504; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 69; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 181-5; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 107-11; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 315-19; Cortés, Cartas, pp. 110-11; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. ix.-xi.; West-Indische Spieghel, pp. 245-6, 343; Gage’s New Survey, pp. 97-9; Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. iii., iv., x.; Chevalier, Mexique, pp. 30-2; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 177-84, vol. ii., pp. 65, 115-21; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., pp. 8-11; Pimentel, Raza Indígena, p. 57; Tápia, Relacion, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. ii., pp. 581-3. Other works of no original value, which touch on this subject, are: Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 15, 244, 65-6, 234-7; Ranking’s Hist. Researches, pp. 347-51; Bussierre, L’Empire Mexicain, pp. 90-4, 109; Macgregor’s Progress of America, p. 22; Dilworth’s Conq. Mex., pp. 66, 70; West und Ost Indischer Lustgart, pt i., p. 125.

[52] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 107-8.

[53] Close to the great audience hall was a very large court-yard, ‘en que avia çient aposentos de veynte é çinco ó treynta piés de largo cada uno sobre sí en torno de dicho patio, é allí estaban los señores prinçipales apossentados, como guardas del palacio ordinarias.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 501.

[54] ‘Vna como tabla labrada con oro, y otras figuras de idolos.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 68.

[55] Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 297-302.

[56] This pungent condiment is at the present day as omnipresent in Spanish American dishes as it was at the time of the conquest; and I am seriously informed by a Spanish gentleman who resided for many years in Mexico, and was an officer in Maximilian’s army, that while the wolves would feed upon the dead bodies of the French that lay all night upon the battle-field, they never touched the bodies of the Mexicans, because the flesh of the latter was completely impregnated with chile. Which, if true, may be thought to show that wolves do not object to a diet seasoned with garlic.

[57] Described too frequently in vol. i., of this series, to need repetition.

[58] The tamale is another very favorite modern Mexican dish. The natives generally make them with pork; the bones are crushed almost to powder; the meat is cut up in small pieces, and the whole washed; a small quantity of maize paste, seasoned with cinnamon, saffron, cloves, pimento, tomatoes, coarse pepper, salt, red coloring matter, and some lard added to it, is placed on the fire in a pan; as soon as it has acquired the consistency of a thick gruel it is removed, mixed with the meat, some more lard and salt added, and the mass kneaded for a few moments; it is then divided into small portions, which are enveloped in a thin paste of maize. The tamales thus prepared are covered with a banana-leaf or a corn-husk, and placed in a pot or pan over which large leaves are laid. They are allowed to boil from one hour and a half to two hours. Game, poultry, vegetables, or sweetmeats are often used instead of pork.

[59] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 229, regrets that certain persons, out of the ill-will they bore the Mexicans, have falsely imputed to Montezuma the crime of eating human flesh without its being well seasoned, but he admits that when properly cooked and disguised, the flesh of those sacrificed to the gods appeared at the royal board. Some modern writers seem to doubt even this; it is, however, certain that cannibalism existed among the people, not as a means of allaying appetite, but from partly religious motives, and there seems no reason to doubt that the king shared the superstitions of the people. I do not, however, base the opinion upon Oviedo’s assertion, which smacks strongly of the ‘giant stories’ of the nursery, that certain ‘dishes of tender children’ graced the monarch’s table. Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 501. Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 68, also cannot withstand the temptation to deal in the marvelous, and mentions ‘carnes de muchachos de poca edad;’though it is true the soldier-like bluntness the veteran so prided himself upon, comes to his aid, and he admits that perhaps after all Montezuma was not an ogre.

[60] Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 68.

[61] Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 501.

[62] Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 229.

[63] Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 68, says there were four of these women; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 229, says there were twenty.

[64] ‘E ya que començaua á comer, echauanle delante vna como puerta de madera muy pintada de oro, porque no le viessen comer.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 68. ‘Luego que se sentaba à la Mesa, cerraba el Maestre-Sala vna Varanda de Madera, que dividia la Sala, para que la Nobleça de los Caballeros, que acudia à verle comer, no embaraçase la Mesa.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 229. ‘Tosto che il Re si metteva a tavola, chiudeva lo Scalco la porta della Sala, acciocchè nessuno degli altri Nobili lo vedesse mangiare.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 270.

[65] ‘A potation of chocolate, flavored with vanilla and other spices, and so prepared as to be reduced to a froth of the consistency of honey, which gradually dissolved in the mouth.’ Prescott’s Mex., vol. ii., p. 125. ‘This was something like our chocolate, and prepared in the same way, but with this difference, that it was mixed with the boiled dough of maise, and was drunk cold.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., [Lockhart’s translation Lond., 1814, vol. i., note, p. 393]. ‘La bebida es agua mezclada con cierta harina de unas almendras que llaman cacao. Esta es de mucha sustancia, muy fresca, y sabrosa y agradable, y no embriaga.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxi.

[66] ‘Entonces no mirauamos en ello; mas lo que yo vi, que traian sobre cincuenta jarros grandes hechos de buen cacao con su espuma, y de lo que bebia.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 68. Oviedo, as usual, is content with no number less than three thousand: ‘É luego venian tres mill xícalos (cántaros ó ánforas) de brevage.’ Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 501. Las Casas makes it three hundred: ‘A su tiempo, en medio ò en fin de los manjares segun la costumbre que tenian, entravan otros trescientos pajes, cada uno con un vaso grande que cabia medio azumbre, (about a quart), y aun tres quartillos de la bebida en el mismo, y servia el un vaso al rey el maestresala, de que bebia lo que le agradava.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxi.

[67] ‘Vnas yervas que se dize tabaco.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 68.

[68] Only five persons enjoyed the privilege of looking Montezuma II. in the face: the kings of Tezcuco and Tlacopan, and the lords of Quauhtitlan, Coyouacan, and Azcapuzalco. Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxi. Bernal Diaz says that all who approached the royal seat made three reverences, saying in succession, ‘Lord,’ ‘my lord,’ ‘sublime lord.’ Hist. Conq., fol. 68.

[69] This custom of speaking through a secretary was adopted by the other Aztec monarchs as well as Montezuma, and was also imitated by many of the great tributary lords and governors of provinces who wished to make as much display of their rank and dignity as possible. See Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 184; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxi.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 205.

[70] ‘Lo que los señores hablaban y la palabra que mas ordinariamente decian al fin de las pláticas y negocios que se les comunicaban, eran decir con muy baja voz tlaa, que quiere decir “sí, ó bien, bien.”‘ Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 184.

[71] Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. iv.

[72] Torquemada writes of Montezuma II.: ‘Su trato con los Suios era poco: raras veces se dejaba vèr, y estabase encerrado mucho tiempo, pensando en el Govierno de su Reino.’ Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 205.

[73] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 205.

[74] Picking up straws, says Las Casas: ‘É iban estos oficiales delante quitando las pajas del suelo por finas que fuesen.’ Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxi.

[75] This was the Aztec manner of salutation, and is doubtless what Bernal Diaz means where he writes: ‘Y en señal de paz tocauan con la mano en el suelo, y besauan la tierra con la mesma mano.’ Hist. Conq., fol. 65.

[76] Green stones, more valued than any other among the Aztecs.

[77] Cortés himself says that the king was supported by two grandees only; one of whom was his nephew, the king of Tezcuco, and the other his brother, the lord of Iztapalapa. Cartas, p. 85.

[78] Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 65.

[79] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 230; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 107; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. ix.; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 67; West-Indische Spieghel, p. 246. Clavigero disbelieves the report that Montezuma had one hundred and fifty women pregnant at once. Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 268. Oviedo makes the number of women four thousand. Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 505.

[80] Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 505.

[81] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 435.

[82] Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 169.

[83] ‘Quebraban,’ which probably here means ‘castrated.’

[84] ‘Tenia Moteuczomatzin en su palacio enanos y corcobadillos, que de industria siendo niños los hacian jibosos, y los quebraban y descoyuntaban, porque de estos se servian los señores en esta tierra como ahora hace el Gran Turco de eunucos.’ Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 184-5. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 298, uses nearly the same words.

[85] Hist. Conq., fol. 68.

[86] ‘Otros tres Tlacopintlix de frisoles.’ The Tlacopintlix was one ‘fanega,’ and three ‘almudes,’ or, one bushel and a quarter.

[87] ‘Xiquipilli, costal, talega, alforja, o bolsa.’ Molina, Vocabulario.

[88] ‘Treinta y dos mil cacaos,’ possibly cocoa-pods instead of cocoa-beans.

[89] ‘Cien gallos.’ Probably turkeys.

[90] Probably pumpkin or melon seed.

[91] Ixtlilxochitl, in Hist. Chich., Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 241.

[92] Concerning the king’s manner of living and the domestic economy of the royal household, see: Cortés, Cartas, pp. 84-5, 109-13; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 66-8; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 286-322; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxi.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 167-8, 205-6, 228-31, 298, tom. ii., p. 435; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 184-5; Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. iii., iv.; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 103-4, 107-8; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 507; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 307, 501, 505; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 268-71; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. v., vii., ix., xii-xiii., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xiv.; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 189-91; Ortega, in Id., pp. 310-17; West-Indische Spieghel, p. 246; Gage’s New Survey, pp. 97, 100-1; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 284, tom. iv., pp. 9-13; Prescott’s Mex., tom. ii., pp. 121-9; Zuazo,Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 362; Carli, Cartas, pt i., pp. 117-18. Other works of more or less value bearing on this subject are: Touron, Hist. Gén., tom. iii., pp. 25-38, 355-7, 359; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., pp. 109, 119-22, 254-5; Baril, Mexique, pp. 204-7; Dufey, Résumé, tom. i., pp. 136-7; Brownell’s Ind. Races, pp. 83, 93-5; Ranking’s Hist. Researches, pp. 315-16, 321-3, 342-7, 350; Soden, Spanier in Peru, p. 136; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 582-4; Lafond, Voyages, tom. i., pp. 104-5; Cooper’s Hist. N. Amer., pp. 112-13; Dilworth’s Conq. Mex., pp. 65-6, 70-1; Hawks, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 469; Monglave, Résumé, pp. 19, 82-3; Incidents and Sketches, p. 60; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 63-6, 209-11, 234, 242; Dillon, Hist. Mex., p. 52; West und Ost Indischer Lustgart, pp. 123-5.

Chapter V • The Privileged Classes Among the Nahuas • 10,700 Words

Titles of the Nobility and Gentry—The Power of the Nobles—The Aristocracy of Tezcuco—The Policy of King Techotlalatzin—Privileges of the Nobles—Montezuma’s Policy—Rivalry between Nobles and Commons—The Knightly Order of Tecuhtli—Ceremony of Initiation—Origin of the Order—The Nahua Priesthood—The Priests of Mexico—Dedication of Children—Priestesses—Priesthood of Miztecapan—The Pontiff of Yopaa—Tradition of Wixipecocha—The Cave of Yopaa—The Zapotec Priests—Toltec Priests—Totonac Priests—Priests of Michoacan, Puebla, and Tlascala.

The Aztec Aristocracy

Descending in due order the social scale of the Aztecs, we now come to the nobility, or, more properly speaking, the privileged classes. The nobles of Mexico, and of the other Nahua nations, were divided into several classes, each having its own peculiar privileges and badges of rank. The distinctions that existed between the various grades, and their titles, are not, however, clearly defined. The title of Tlatoani was the highest and most respected; it signified an absolute and sovereign power, an hereditary and divine right to govern. The kings, and the great feudatory lords who were governors of provinces, and could prove their princely descent and the ancient independence of their families, belonged to this order. The title of Tlatopilzintli was given to the eldest son of the king, and that of Tlatoque to all the princes in general. Tlacahua signified a lord without sovereignty, but who had vassals under his orders, and was, to a certain extent, master of his people. The appellation of Pilli was given to all who were noble, without regard to rank. Axcahua, was a rich man, a proprietor of wealth in general, and Tlaquihua, a landed proprietor, or almost the same thing as an English country gentleman.

The title of Tlatoani was invariably hereditary, but many of the others were conferred only for life, as a reward for important military or other services to the state. Of the tenure by which they held their lands I shall have occasion to speak hereafter.

The power of the nobles, as a body, was very great; according to some accounts there were, in Montezuma’s realms, thirty great lords who each controlled one hundred thousand vassals, and three thousand other lords also very powerful. A number of nobles possessing such formidable power as this, would, if permitted to live on their estates, some of which were a long distance from the capital, have been a constantly threatening source of danger to the crown; at any moment an Aztec Runnimede might have been expected. To guard against any such catastrophe, the more powerful nobles were required to reside in the capital, at least during the greater part of each year; and permission to return to their homes for a short time, could only be obtained on condition that they left a son or brother as a guarantee of good faith during their absence.[93]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 231; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xii.; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 502.

In the kingdom of Tezcuco were twenty-six great fiefs,[94]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 88; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 182, makes the number twenty-seven. each independent of the rest and having several fiefs of less importance subjected to it. The greater part of these great chiefs bore the sovereign title of Tlatoani, or a similar one. They recognized no prerogative of the king except his right to preside at their grand assemblies, to receive their homage upon his accession to the throne, to levy certain tributes in their provinces, and to call upon them to appear in the field with a contingent of troops in case of war. For the rest, each Tlatoani was perfectly independent in his own domain, which he governed with the same omnipotence as the king of Tezcuco himself. Notwithstanding the precautions taken, it frequently happened that one of these great feudatories would feel himself strong enough to set the authority of the king at defiance, but as their private feuds generally prevented any number of the Tlatoanis from uniting their forces against the crown, the rebels were in most instances speedily reduced to subjection; in which event the leaders either suffered death or were degraded from their rank.

They were an unruly family, these overgrown vassals, and the Aztec monarchs were often at their wit’s end in endeavors to conciliate and keep them within bounds. Torquemada tells us that Techotlalatzin, king of Tezcuco, was sorely harassed by the powerful nobles of his realm. He accordingly set about remedying the evil with great prudence and perseverance. His first step was to unite, by strong bonds of interest, the less important nobles to the crown. To this end he heaped favors upon all. The vanity of some he flattered by conferring the dignity and title of Tlatoani upon them, to others he gave wealth and lands. By this means he weakened the individual power of the great vassals by increasing their number, a policy the efficiency of which has been frequently proved in the old world as well as in the new. Techotlalatzin next proceeded to summon them one after another to court, and then under pretense of being in constant need of their advice, he formed twenty-six of their number into a council of state, obliging them by this means to reside constantly in the capital. With this council he conferred upon all grave and difficult questions, whatever might be their nature. It was the duty of its members to draw up and issue ordinances, both for the general government and for the administration of affairs in particular provinces; and to enact laws for enforcing good order in towns and villages, as well as those relating to agriculture, science and art, military discipline, and the tribunals of justice.

Orders of Nobility

At the same time Techotlalatzin created a large number of new offices and honorary trusts, which were dependent on the crown. Four of the most powerful nobles were invested with the highest dignities. The first, with the title Tetlahto, was made commander-in-chief of the army, and president of the military council. The second was entitled Yolqui; his office was that of grand master of ceremonies; it was his duty to receive and introduce the ambassadors and ministers of foreign princes, to conduct them to court, to lodge them and provide for their comfort, and to offer them the presents appointed by the king. The third lord received the title of Tlami or Calpixcontli; he was master of the royal household, and minister of finance, and was assisted in his functions by a council of other nobles. It was the duty of this body to keep strict account of all taxes paid by the people; its members were required to be well informed as to the exact condition of each town and province, with the nature of its produce, and the fertility of its soil; they had also to distribute the taxes with equality and justice, and in proportion to the resources of the people. The care and management of the interior of the palace was also intrusted to them, and it was their place to provide all the food for the consumption of the royal household. The fourth great officer was styled Amechichi; he acted as grand chamberlain, and attended to the king’s private apartments. Like the Tlami, he was assisted by other nobles. A fifth officer was afterward appointed, who bore the title of Cohuatl, and superintended the workers in precious metals, jewels, and feathers, who were employed by the court. At first sight it may appear that such duties as these would be below the dignity of a haughty Aztec grandee, yet we find the nobles of Europe during the middle ages not only filling the same positions, but jealous of their right to do so, and complaining loudly if deprived of them. Sismondi tells us that the count of Anjou, under Louis VI., claimed the office of grand seneschal of France; that is, to carry dishes to the king’s table on state days. The court of Charlemagne was crowded with officers of every rank, some of the most eminent of whom exercised functions about the royal person which would have been thought fit only for slaves in the palace of Augustus or Antonine. The free-born Franks saw nothing menial in the titles of cup-bearer, steward, marshal, and master of the horse, which are still borne by some of the noblest families in many parts of Europe.

As soon as habits of submission and an appreciation of the honors showered upon them had taken root among his great vassals, Techotlalatzin subdivided the twenty-six provinces of his kingdom into sixty-five departments. The ancient lords were not by this measure despoiled of all their authority, nor of those estates which were their private property; but the jurisdiction they exercised in person or through their officials was greatly diminished by the nomination of thirty-five new governors, chosen by the king, and of whose fidelity he was well assured. This was a mortal blow to the great aristocrats, and a preliminary step toward the total abolition of feudal power. But the master-stroke was yet to come. The inhabitants of each province were carefully counted and divided into sections. They were then changed about from place to place, in numbers proportioned to the size and population of the territory. For example, from a division containing six thousand people, two thousand were taken and transported into the territory of another lord, from the number of whose vassals two thousand were also taken and placed upon the vacated land in the first lord’s possessions; each noble, however, retained his authority over that portion of his vassals which had been removed. By this means, although the number of each lord’s subjects remained the same, yet as a large portion of each territory was occupied by the vassals of another, a revolt would be difficult. Nor could two nobles unite their forces against the crown, as care was taken that the interchange of dependents should not be effected between two estates adjoining each other.

These measures, despotic as they were, were nevertheless executed without opposition from either nobles or people,—such was the awe in which the sovereign was held and his complete ascendancy over his subjects.[95]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 88, et seq.; see also Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 182, et seq.; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 428, et seq.; Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 353, et seq.; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 502; Herrera, dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xii.

Privileges of the Nobles

The privileges of the nobles were numerous. They alone were allowed to wear ornaments of gold and gems upon their clothes, and, indeed, in their entire dress, as we shall presently see, they were distinguished from the lower classes. The exact limits of the power they possessed over their vassals is not known, but it was doubtless nearly absolute. Fuenleal, bishop of Santo Domingo, writes to Charles V. of the lower orders, that “they were, and still are, so submissive that they allow themselves to be killed or sold into slavery without complaining.”[96]Lettre, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 251. In Mexico their power and privileges were greatly augmented by Montezuma II., who we are told ousted every plebeian that held a position of high rank, and would allow none who were not of noble birth to be employed in his palace or about his person. At the time of this monarch’s accession there were many members of the royal council who were men of low extraction; all these he dismissed and supplied their places with creatures of his own.

It is related that an old man who had formerly been his guardian or tutor had the boldness to remonstrate with him against such a course; telling him with firmness that he acted contrary to his own interests, and advising him to weigh well the consequences of the measures he was adopting. To banish the plebeians from the palace, added the old man, was to estrange them forever from the king; and the time would come when the common people would no longer either wish or dare to look upon him. Montezuma haughtily made answer, that this was precisely what he wished; it was a burning shame, he said, that the low and common people should be allowed to mix with the nobles in the royal service; he was astonished and indignant that his royal predecessors had so long suffered such a state of things to be.[97]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 196.

By these measures the services of many brave soldiers, promoted, as a reward for their gallantry, from the ranks of the people, were lost to the crown; nor were such men likely to be slow to show their discontent. The new policy, incited by a proud aristocracy, struck exactly those men who had the best right to a share in the government. It was the officers promoted for their merits from the ranks who had contributed most to the success of the Mexican arms; it was the great merchants who, by their extended commerce, had made the wealth of the country. A spirit of rivalry had long existed between the poor well-born nobles, and the wealthy base-born merchants. During many successive reigns the importance of the latter class had been steadily increasing, owing to the valuable services they had rendered the state. From the earliest times they were permitted a certain degree of familiarity with the kings, who took great delight in hearing them recount the wonderful adventures they had met with while on their long expeditions into strange parts. Doubtless the royal ear did not always meet the truth unembellished, any more than did that of Haroun Alraschid upon similar occasions, but probably the monarchs learned many little secrets in this way that they could never know by other means. Afterward these merchants were admitted to the royal councils, and during the latter years of the reign of Ahuitzotl we find them enjoying many of the exclusive privileges hitherto reserved to the warrior aristocracy.

Class Conflicts

The merchants appear to have partly brought upon themselves the misfortunes which subsequently overtook them, by aggravating the envious feelings with which they were already regarded. Not content with being admitted to equal privileges with the nobles, and vexed at not being able to vie with them in brilliant titles and long lines of illustrious ancestry, they did their utmost to surpass them in the magnificence of their houses, and in the pomp which they displayed upon every occasion. At the public feasts and ceremonies these parvenus outshone the proudest nobles by the profuseness of their expenditure; they strove for and obtained honors and exalted positions which the aristocracy could not accept for lack of wealth; they were sparing of money in no place where it could be used for their own advancement. It is easy to conceive the effect such a state of things had on the proud and overbearing nobles of Mexico. On several occasions they complained to their kings that their order was losing its prestige by being obliged to mix on equal terms with the plebeians; but the services that the great commercial body rendered every day to the crown were too material to allow the kings to listen patiently to such complaints. During the reign of Ahuitzotl, the pride of the merchants had reached its zenith; it is not therefore surprising that the leaders of the aristocratic party, when that monarch was dead, elected as his successor Montezuma II., a prince well known for his partiality for the higher classes. His policy, as events proved, was a far less wise one than that of Techotlalatzin of Tezcuco, of which we have already spoken. By not restraining his overweening pride he prepared the way for disaffection and revolt; he furnished his enemies with weapons which they were not slow to use; he alienated the affections of his subjects, so that when aid was most needed there was none to help him, and when, fettered and a prisoner in the hand of the Spaniards, he called upon his people, the only replies were hoots and missiles.

The generals of the army and military officers of the higher ranks, must of course be included among the privileged classes; usually, indeed, they were noble by birth as well as influential by position, and in Mexico, from the time of Montezuma’s innovations this was always the case. There were several military orders and titles which were bestowed upon distinguished soldiers for services in the field or the council. Of those which were purely the reward of merit, and such as could be attained by a plebeian, I shall speak in a future chapter. There was one, however, the membership of which was confined to the nobility; this was the celebrated and knightly order of the Tecuhtli.

To obtain this rank it was necessary to be of noble birth, to have given proof in several battles of the utmost courage, to have arrived at a certain age, and to have sufficient wealth to support the enormous expenses incurred by members of the order.

Ceremony of Initiating a Tecuhtli

For three years before he was admitted, the candidate and his parents busied themselves about making ready for the grand ceremony, and collecting rich garments, jewels, and golden ornaments, for presents to the guests. When the time approached, the auguries were consulted, and a lucky day having been fixed upon, the relations and friends of the candidate, as well as all the great nobles and Tecuhtlis that could be brought together, were invited to a sumptuous banquet. On the morning of the all-important day the company set out in a body for the temple of Camaxtli,[98]Camaxtli was the Tlascaltec god of war, corresponding with and probably the same as the Mexican Huitzilopochtli. The order of Tecuhtli being held in higher esteem in Tlascala than elsewhere, the ceremony of initiation is generally described as it took place in that state. followed by a multitude of curious spectators, chiefly of the lower orders, intent upon seeing all there is to see. Arrived at the summit of the pyramid consecrated to Camaxtli, the aspirant to knightly honors bows down reverently before the altar of the god. The high-priest now approaches him, and with a pointed tiger’s bone or an eagle’s claw perforates the cartilage of his nose in two places, inserting into the holes thus made small pieces of jet or obsidian,[99]‘Unas piedras chequitas de piedra negra, y creo eran de la piedra de que hacen las navajas.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxvii. which remain there until the year of probation is passed, when they are exchanged for beads of gold and precious stones. This piercing the nose with an eagle’s claw or a tiger’s bone, signifies, says Torquemada, that he who aspires to the dignity of Tecuhtli must be as swift to overtake an enemy as the eagle, as strong in fight as the tiger. The high-priest, speaking in a loud voice, now begins to heap insults and injurious epithets upon the man standing meekly before him. His voice grows louder and louder; he brandishes his arms aloft, he waxes furious. The assistant priests are catching his mood; they gather closer about the object of the pontiff’s wrath; they jostle him, they point their fingers sneeringly at him, and call him coward. For a moment the dark eyes of the victim gleam savagely, his hands close involuntarily, he seems about to spring upon his tormentors; then with an effort he calms himself and is passive as ever. That look made the taunters draw back, but it was only for a moment; they are upon him again; they know now that he is strong to endure, and they will prove him to the uttermost. Screaming insults in his ears, they tear his garments piece by piece from his body until nothing but the maxtli is left, and the man stands bruised and naked in their midst. But all is useless, their victim is immovable, so at length they leave him in peace. He has passed safely through one of the severest ordeals of the day, but that fierce look a while ago was a narrow escape; had he lifted a finger in resistance, he must have gone down from the temple to be scorned and jeered at by the crowd below as one who had aspired to the dignity of Tecuhtli, yet who could restrain his temper no better than a woman. The long months of careful preparation would have been all in vain, his parents would have spat upon him for vexation and shame, perchance he would have been punished for sacrilege. But he is by no means a member of the coveted order yet. He is next conducted to another hall of the temple,[100]‘Se iba à vna de las Salas, ò Aposentos de los Ministros que servian al Demonio, que se llamaba Tlamacazcalco.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 362. It seems unlikely, however, that the candidate would be taken to another temple at this juncture. Brasseur explains the name of the hall to which he was taken as ‘le Lieu des habitations des Ministres, prêtres de Camaxtli.’ Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 587. where he commences his noviciate, which is to last from one to two years, by four days of penance, prayer, and fasting. As soon as he is conducted to this hall the banquet which has been prepared for the guests commences, and after a few hours of conviviality each returns to his home.

During these first four days the candidate’s powers of endurance are sorely taxed. The only articles of furniture allowed him are a coarse mat and a low stool; his garments are of the coarsest description. When night comes, the priests bring him a black preparation, with which to besmear his face, some spines of the maguey-plant to draw blood from his body with, a censer and some incense. His only companions are three veteran warriors, who instruct him in his duties and keep him awake, for during the four days he is only allowed to sleep for a few minutes at a time, and then it must be sitting upon his stool. If, overcome by drowsiness, he exceed this time, his guardians thrust the maguey-thorns into his flesh, crying: Awake, awake! learn to be vigilant and watchful; keep your eyes open that you may look to the interests of your vassals. At midnight he goes to burn incense before the idol, and to draw blood from different parts of his body as a sacrifice. He then walks round the temple, and as he goes he burns paper and copal in four holes in the ground, which he makes at the four sides of the building, facing the cardinal points; upon each of these fires he lets fall a few drops of blood drawn from his body. These ceremonies he repeats at dawn and sunset. He breaks his fast only once in twenty-four hours, at midnight: and then his repast consists merely of four little dumplings of maize-meal, each about the size of a nut, and a small quantity of water; but even this he leaves untasted if he wishes to evince extraordinary powers of endurance. The four days having elapsed, he obtains permission from the high-priest to complete his time of probation in some temple of his own district or parish; but he is not allowed to go home, nor, if married, to see his wife during this period.

Final Ceremonies

For two or three months preceding his formal admission into the order, the home of the postulant is in a bustle of preparation for the coming ceremony. A grand display is made of rich stuffs and dresses, and costly jewels, for the use of the new knight when he shall cast off his present chrysalis-husk of coarse nequen and emerge a full-blown Tecuhtli. A great number of presents are provided for the guests; a sumptuous banquet is prepared, and the whole house is decorated for the occasion. The oracles are again consulted, and upon the lucky day appointed the company assemble once more at the house of the candidate, in the same manner as at the commencement of his noviciate. In the morning the new knight is conducted to a bath, and after having undergone a good scrubbing, he is again carried, in the midst of music and dancing, to the temple of Camaxtli. Accompanied by his brother Tecuhtlis he ascends the steps of the teocalli. After he has respectfully saluted the idol, the mean garments he has worn so long are taken off, and his hair is bound up in a knot on the top of his head with a red cord, from the ends of which hang some fine feathers; he is next clad in garments of rich and fine materials, the principal of which is a kind of tunic, ornamented with a delicately embroidered device, which is the insignia of his new rank; in his right hand he receives some arrows and in his left a bow. The high-priest completes the ceremony with a discourse, in which he instructs the new knight in his duties, tells him the names which he is to add to his own, as a member of the order; describes to him the signs and devices which he must emblazon on his escutcheon, and impresses upon his memory the advantages of being liberal and just, of loving his country and his gods. As soon as the newly made Tecuhtli has descended into the court of the temple, the music and dancing recommence, and are kept up until it is time to begin the banquet. This is served with great magnificence and liberality, and, to the guests at least, is probably the most interesting feature of the day. In front of each person at table are placed the presents intended for him, consisting of costly stuffs and ornaments in such quantity that each bundle was carried with difficulty by two slaves; each guest is also given a new garment, which he wears at table.

The value of the gifts was proportioned to the rank of the receiver, and such distinctions must be made with great care, for the Aztec nobility were very jealous of their rights of precedence. The places of such nobles as had been invited to the feast but were from illness or other cause unable to attend were left vacant, and their share of presents and food was placed upon the table exactly as if they had been present; Torquemada tells us, moreover, that the same courtesy was extended to the empty seat as to the actual guest.[101]‘Y à las Sillas solas que representaban las Personas ausentes, hacian tanta cortesia, y le captaban Benevolencia, como si realmente estuvieran presentes los Señores que faltaban.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 364. Upon these occasions the absent noble generally sent a substitute, whose seat was placed next to that of the person he represented. On the following day the servants and followers of the guests were feasted and presented with gifts, according to the means and liberality of the donor.

The privileges of the Tecuhtlis were important and numerous. In council they took the first places, and their votes outweighed all others; in the same manner at all feasts and ceremonies, in peace or in war, they were always granted preëminence. As before remarked, the vast expenses entailed upon a Tecuhtli debarred the honor from many who were really worthy of it. In some instances, however, when a noble had greatly distinguished himself in war, but was too poor to bear the expenses of initiation, these were defrayed by the governor of his province, or by the other Tecuhtlis.[102]Concerning the ceremony of initiation see: Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 361-6; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxvii.; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 306-8; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 120-1; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., pp. 147-9.

Origin of the Order

The origin of the order of Tecuhtli is not known. Both the Toltecs and the Tlascaltecs claim to have established it. Veytia, however, asserts that this was not the case, but that it was first instituted by Xolotl, king of the Chichimecs.[103]Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., pp. 58-60. M. l’Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg infers from ancient Toltec history that the ceremony of initiation and the probation of the candidate derive their origin from the mysterious rites of which traces are still found among the nations of Mexico and Central America. The traditions relating to Votan and Quetzalcoatl, or Gucumatz, evidently allude to it. The birth of Ceacatl-Quetzalcoatl is celebrated by his father, Mixcohua-Camaxtli, at Culhuacan, with great rejoicings and the creation of a great number of knights; it is these same knights who are afterwards sent to avenge his death upon his assassins at Cuitlahuac, a town which appears, since that time, to have been always the principal place of residence of the order. After the separation of Cholula from the rest of the Toltec empire by Ceacatl-Quetzalcoatl, that town, together with Huexotzinco and Tlascala, appears to have had special privileges in this particular. It is in these places that after the conquest of the Aztec plateau by the Teo-Chichimecs, we find most of their chiefs bearing the title of Tecuhtli; it may be that the priests were forced into confirming their warlike conquerors in the honor, or it may be that they did so voluntarily, hoping by this means to submit the warriors to their spiritual power. This, however, is certain, that the rank of Tecuhtli remained to the last the highest honor that a prince or soldier could acquire in the states of Tlascala, Cholula, and Huexotzinco.[104]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 586.

The Mexican Priesthood

The priesthood filled a very important place among the privileged classes, but as a succeeding volume has been set apart for all matters relating to religion, I will confine myself here to such an outline of the sacerdotal system as is necessary to make our view of Aztec social distinctions complete. The learned Abbé, M. Brasseur de Bourbourg, gives us a very correct and concise account of the Mexican priesthood, a partial translation of which will answer the present purpose.

Among the nations of Mexico and Central America, whose civilization is identical, the priesthood always occupied a high rank in the state, and up to the last moment its members continued to exercise a powerful influence in both public and private affairs. In Anáhuac the priestly offices do not appear to have been appropriated exclusively by an hereditary caste; all had an equal right to fill them, with the exception of the offices about the temple of Huitzilopochtli, at Mexico, which were granted to some families dwelling in certain quarters of that city.[105]Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xv. The ministers of the various temples, to be fitted for an ecclesiastical career, must be graduates of the Calmecac, colleges or seminaries to which they had been sent by their parents in their infancy. The dignities of their order were conferred by vote; but it is evident that the priests of noble birth obtained almost invariably the highest honors. The quarrels between the priest and warrior classes, which, in former times, had brought so much harm to the Mexican nation, had taught the kings to do their best to effect a balance of power between the rival bodies; to this end they appropriated to themselves the privilege of electing priests, and placed at the head of the clergy a priest or a warrior of high rank, as they saw fit; this could be all the more easily done, as both classes received the same education in the same schools.

The august title of Topiltzin, which in ancient times expressed the supreme military and priestly power, came to mean, in after years, a purely ecclesiastical authority. In Tezcuco and Tlacopan, where the crown was inherited in a direct line by one of the sons of the deceased monarch, the supreme pontiff was usually selected from among the members of the royal family; but in Mexico, where it involved, almost always, the duties of Tlacochcalcatl, or commander-in-chief of the army, and, eventually, succession to the throne, the office of high-priest, like that of king, was elective. The election of the spiritual king, for so we may call him, generally followed close upon that of the temporal monarch, and such was the honor in which the former was held, that he was consecrated with the same sacred unguent with which the king was anointed. In this manner Axayacatl, Montezuma II., and Quauhtemoc, were each made pontiff before the royal crown was placed upon their head. The title of him who held this dignity was Mexicatl-Teohuatzin, that is to say, the ‘Mexican lord of sacred things;’ he added also, besides a great number of other titles, that of Teotecuhtli, or ‘divine master,’ and he was, by right, high-priest of Huitzilopochtli; he was the ‘head of the church,’ and of all its branches, not only at Mexico, but in all the provinces of the Mexican empire; he had absolute authority over all priests, of whatever rank, and the colleges and monasteries of every class were under his control. He was elected by the two dignitaries ranking next to himself in the aboriginal hierarchy. The Mexicatl-Teohuatzin was looked upon as the right arm of the king, particularly in all matters of war and religion, and it rarely happened that any important enterprise was set on foot without his advice. At the same time it is evident that the high-priest was, after all, only the vicar and lieutenant of the king, for on certain solemn occasions the monarch himself performed the functions of grand sacrificer.

The Quetzalcoatl, that is, the high-priest of the god of that name, was almost equal in rank to the Mexicatl-Teohuatzin; but his political influence was far inferior. The ordinary title of the priests was Teopixqui, or ‘sacred guardian;’ those who were clothed with a higher dignity were called Huey-Teopixqui, or ‘great sacred guardian.’ The Huitznahuac-Teohuatzin and the Tepan-Teohuatzin followed, in priestly rank, the high-priest of Huitzilopochtli; they were his vicars, and superintended the colleges and monasteries in every part of his kingdom. The Tlaquimilol-Tecuhtli, or ‘grand master of relics,'[106]The Tlaquimilloli, from whence the title is derived, was a sacred package or bundle, containing relics of gods and heroes. took charge of the ornaments, furniture, and other articles specially relating to worship. The Tlillancalcatl, or ‘chief of the house of Tlillan,’ exercised the functions of principal sacristan; he took care of the robes and utensils used by the high-priest. The choristers were under the orders of the Ometochtli, the high-priest of the god so named, who had, as director of the singing-schools, an assistant styled Tlapitzcatzin; it was this latter officer’s duty to instruct his pupils in the hymns which were chanted at the principal solemnities. The Tlamacazcatlotl, or ‘divine minister’ overlooked the studies in the schools; another priest discharged the duties of grand master of the pontifical ceremonies; another was archdeacon and judge of the ecclesiastical courts; the latter had power to employ and discharge the attendants in the temples; besides these there was a crowd of other dignitaries, following each other rank below rank in perfect order.

Sacerdotal Offices

In Mexico and the other towns of the empire, there were as many complete sets of priests as there were temples. Besides the seventy-eight sanctuaries dedicated to Huitzilopochtli, which were in part directed by the priests we have already enumerated, the capital contained many others. Each had jurisdiction in its own section, which corresponded to our parish; the priests and their pupils dwelling in a school or college which adjoined the temple.

It was the province of the priests to attend to all matters relating to religion and the instruction of youth. Some took charge of the sacrifices, others were skilled in the art of divination; certain of them were entrusted with the arrangement of the festivals and the care of the temple and sacred vessels, others applied themselves to the composition of hymns and attended to the singing and music. The priests who were learned in science superintended the schools and colleges, made the calculations for the annual calendar, and fixed the feast-days; those who possessed literary talent compiled the historical works, and collected material for the libraries. To each temple was attached a monastery, or we might call it a chapter, the members of which enjoyed privileges similar to those of our canons.

The Tlamacazqui, ‘deacons’ or ‘ministers’ and the Quaquacuiltin, ‘herb-eaters,’ were those who dedicated themselves to the service of the gods for life. They led a very ascetic life; continence was strictly imposed upon them, and they mortified the flesh by deeds of penance in imitation of Quetzalcoatl, who was their patron deity. The name of Tlamacazcayotl, signifying ‘government of the religious,’ was given to these orders, and they had monasteries for the reception of both sexes. The high-priest of the god Quetzalcoatl was their supreme lord; he was a man of great authority, and never deigned to put his foot out of doors unless it was to confer with the king. When a father of a family wished to dedicate one of his children to the service of Quetzalcoatl, he with great humility advised the high-priest of his intention. That dignitary deputed a Tlamacazqui to represent him at the feast which was given in his honor, and to bring away the child. If at this time the infant was under four years of age, a slight incision was made on his chest, and a few drops of blood were drawn as a token of his future position. Four years was the age requisite for admission into the monastery. Some remained there until they were of an age to enter the world, some dedicated their whole lives to the service of the gods; others vowed themselves to perpetual continence. All were poorly clothed, wore their hair long, lived upon coarse and scanty fare, and did all kinds of work. At midnight they arose and went to the bath; after washing, they drew blood from their bodies with spines of the maguey-plant; then they watched and chanted praises of the gods until two in the morning. Notwithstanding this austerity, however, these monks could betake themselves alone to the woods, or wander through the mountains and deserts, there in solitude to spend the time in holy contemplation.

Mexican Priestesses

Females were consecrated to the service of the gods in several ways. When a girl was forty days old, the father carried her to the neighboring temple; he placed in her little hands a broom and a censer, and thus presented her to the Teopixqui, or priest; who by accepting these symbols of his future state, bound himself to perform his part of the engagement. As soon as the little one was able to do so in person, she carried a broom and a censer to the temple, with some presents for the priest; at the required age she entered the monastery. Some of the girls took an oath of perpetual continence; others, on account of some vow which they had made during sickness, or that the gods might send them a good husband, entered the monastery for one, two, three, or four years. They were called Cihuatlamacasque, ‘deaconesses,’ or Cihuaquaquilli, ‘eaters of vegetables.’ They were under the surveillance of a number of staid matrons of good character; upon entering the monastery each girl had her hair cut short.[107]Clavigero asserts that the hair of such only as entered the service on account of some private vow, was cut. They all slept in one dormitory, and were not allowed to disrobe before retiring to rest, in order that they might always be ready when the signal was given to rise. They occupied themselves with the usual labors of their sex; weaving and embroidering the tapestry and ornamental work for the temple. Three times during the night they rose to renew the incense in the braziers, at ten o’clock, at midnight, and at dawn.[108]Clavigero says that only a part of them rose upon each occasion. ‘S’alzavano alcune due ore incirca innanzi alla mezza notte, altre alla mezza notte, ed altre allo spuntar del di per attizzar, e mantener vivo il fuoco, e per incensare gl’Idoli.’ Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 42. On these occasions a matron led the procession; with eyes modestly bent upon the ground, and without daring to cast a glance to one side or the other, the maidens filed up one side of the temple, while the priests did the same on the other, so that all met before the altar. In returning to the dormitory the same order was observed. They spent part of the morning in preparing bread and confectionery, which they placed, while warm, in the temple, where the priests partook of it after sacrifice.[109]‘Elles passaient une partie de la matinée à preparer le pain en galette et les pâtisseries qu’elles présentaient, toutes chaudes, dans le temple, où les prêtres allaient les prendre après l’oblation.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 556. Clavigero says they prepared the offering of provisions which was presented to the idols: ‘Tutte le mattine preparavano l’obblazioni di commestibili da presentarsi agl’Idoli.’ Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 42. The young women, for their part, fasted strictly; they first broke their fast at noon, and with the exception of a scanty meal in the evening, this was all they ate during the twenty-four hours. On feast-days they were permitted to taste meat, but at all other times their diet was extremely meagre. While sweeping the temple they took great care never to turn their back to the idol, lest the god should be insulted.

If one of these young women unhappily violated her vows of chastity she redoubled her fasting and severity, in the fear that her flesh would rot, and in order to appease the gods and induce them to conceal her crime, for death was the punishment inflicted on the Mexican vestal who was convicted of such a trespass. The maiden who entered the service of the gods for a certain period only, and not for life, did not usually leave the monastery until she was about to be married. At that time the parents, having chosen a husband for the girl, and gotten everything in readiness, repaired to the monastery, taking care first to provide themselves with quails, copal, hollow canes filled with perfume, which Torquemada says they called poquietl, a brassier for incense, and some flowers. The girl was then clothed in a new dress, and the party went up to the temple; the altar was covered with a cloth, upon which were placed the presents they had brought with them, accompanied by sundry dishes of meats and pastry. A complimentary speech was next made by the parents to the Tequaquilli, or chief priest of the temple, and when this was concluded the girl was taken away to her father’s house. But of those young men and maidens who stayed in the temple-schools for a time only, and received a regular course of instruction at the hands of the priests, it is my intention to speak further when treating of the education of the Mexican youth. The original accounts are rather confused on this point, so that it is difficult to separate with accuracy those who entered with the intention of becoming permanent priests from those who were merely temporary scholars.

Dress of the Mexican Priests

The ordinary dress of the Mexican priests differed little from that of other citizens; the only distinctive feature being a black cotton mantle, which they wore in the manner of a veil thrown back upon the head. Those, however, who professed a more austere life, such as the Quaquaquiltin and Tlamacazqui before mentioned, wore long black robes; many among them never cut their hair, but allowed it to grow as long as it would; it was twisted with thick cotton cords, and bedaubed with unctuous matter, the whole forming a weighty mass, as inconvenient to carry as it was disgusting to look at. The high-priest usually wore, as a badge of his rank, a kind of fringe which hung down over his breast, called Xicolli; on feast-days he was clothed in a long robe, over which he wore a sort of chasuble or cope, which varied in color, shape, and ornamentation, according to the sacrifices he made and the divinity to which he offered them.[110]Clavigero writes: ‘L’insegna de’ Sommi Sacerdoti di Messico era un fiocco, o nappa di cotone pendente dal petto, e nelle feste principali vestivansi abiti sfarzosi, ne’ quali vedevansi figurate le insegne di quel Dio, la cui festa celebravano.’ Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 38. The most important works that can be consulted concerning the Mexican priesthood are: Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 549-59; from which I have principally taken my account; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 163-5, 175-91; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, caps. cxxxiii., cxxxix., cxl.; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 112 et seq., 218-23, tom. iii., pp. 276-7; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 323-5; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 335-42; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xv-xvii.; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 36 et seq.

Among the Miztecs and Zapotecs the priests had as much or even more influence than among the Mexicans. In briefly reviewing the sacerdotal system of these nations, let us once more take M. Brasseur de Bourbourg for our guide.

The kingdom of Tilantongo, which comprised upper Miztecapan, was spiritually governed by the high-priest of Achiuhtla; he had the title of Taysacaa,[111]This is the title given by the Spanish authors; it is probably derived from tay, a man, and sacaa, a priest. Vocabul. en lengua Mixteca, etc., according to Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 17, note. and his power equalled, if it did not surpass, that of the sovereign. This office, it appears, was reserved for the royal family, and was transmitted from male to male; a member of any free family could, however, become a sacaa, or simple priest. All, even to the successor of the Taysacaa, had to submit to a vigorous noviciate of one year’s duration, and to this rule no exceptions were made. Up to the time of commencing his noviciate, and for four years after it was ended, the candidate for the priesthood was supposed to have led a perfectly chaste life, otherwise he was judged unworthy to be admitted into the order. His only food during the year of probation was herbs, wild honey, and roasted maize; his life was passed in silence and retirement, and the monotony of his existence was only relieved by waiting on the priests, taking care of the altars, sweeping the temple, and gathering wood for the fires.

When four years after his admission to the priesthood had elapsed, during which time he seems to have served a sort of apprenticeship, he was permitted to marry if he saw fit, and at the same time to perform his priestly functions. If he did not marry he entered one of the monasteries which were dependent on the temples, and while performing his regular duties, increased the austerity of his life. Those priests who were entrusted with the higher and more important offices, such as the instruction of youth or a seat in the royal council, were selected from the latter class. The king, or the nobles, each in his own state, provided for their wants, and certain women, sworn to chastity, prepared their food. They never left the monastery except on special occasions, to assist at some feast, to play at ball in the court of their sovereign lord, to go on a pilgrimage for the accomplishment of a vow made by the king or by themselves, or to take their place at the head of the army, which, on certain occasions, they commanded. If one of these monks fell sick, he was well cared for in the monastery; if he died he was interred in the court of the building. If one of them violated his vow of chastity, he was bastinadoed to death.

The Pontiff of Yopaa, The Cave of Yopaa

In Zapotecapan the supreme pontiff was called the Wiyatao;[112]Wiyatao, Burgoa writes huijatoo, and translates, ‘great watchman;’ the Zapotec vocabulary translates it by the word papa, or priest. his residence was in the city of Yopaa,[113]Yopaa, Burgoa also writes Lyobaa and Yobaa; it signifies the Place of Tombs, from Yo, place, or ground, and paa, tomb, in the Zapotec tongue, ‘the centre of rest.’ and there he was from time immemorial spiritual and temporal lord, though, indeed, he made his temporal power felt more or less throughout the whole kingdom; and he appears in the earliest history of this country as master and lord of both the princes and the people of those nations who acknowledged him as the supreme head of their religion. The origin of the city of Yopaa is not known; it was situated on the slope of Mount Teutitlan,[114]Teutitlan was its name in the Nahuatl language. Its Zapotecan name was Xaquiya. which in this place formed a valley, shut in by overshadowing rocks, and watered by a stream which lower down flowed into the river Xalatlaco. The original inhabitants of this region were the disciples and followers of a mysterious, white-skinned personage named Wixipecocha. What race he belonged to, or from what land he came when he presented himself to the Zapotecs, is not known; a certain vague tradition relates that he came by sea from the south, bearing a cross in his hand, and debarked in the neighborhood of Tehuantepec;[115]Rasgos y señales de la primera predicacion en el Nuevo-Mundo, MS. de Don Isidro Gondra; Carriedo, Estudios históricos y estadísticos del Estado Oaxaqueño, Mexico, 1850, tom. i., cap. i.; quoted in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 9. a statue representing him is still to be seen, on a high rock near the village of Magdalena. He is described as a man of a venerable aspect, having a bushy, white beard, dressed in a long robe and a cloak, and wearing a covering upon his head resembling a monk’s cowl. The statue represents him seated in a pensive attitude, apparently occupied in hearing the confession of a woman who kneels by his side.[116]Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt ii., cap. lxxii. His voice, to accord with his appearance, must have been of remarkable sweetness. Wixipecocha taught his disciples to deny themselves the vanities of this world, to mortify the flesh with penance and fasting, and to abstain from all sensual pleasures. Adding example to precept, he utterly abjured female society, and suffered no woman to approach him except in the act of auricular confession, which formed part of his doctrine.[117]Rasgos y señales de la primera predicacion en el Nuevo-Mundo, MS. de Don Isidro Gondra; quoted in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 10. This extraordinary conduct caused him to be much respected; especially as it was an unheard-of thing among these people for a man to devote his life to celibacy. Nevertheless, he was frequently persecuted by those whose vices and superstitions he attacked. Passing through one province after another he at length arrived in the Zapotec valley, a large portion of which was at that time occupied by a lake named Rualo. Afterwards, being entered into the country of the Miztecs, to labor for their conversion, the people sought to take his life. Those who were sent to take him prisoner, overtook him at the foot of Cempoaltepec, the most lofty peak in the country; but at the moment they thought to lay hands upon him, he disappeared suddenly from their sight, and soon afterwards, adds the tradition, his figure was seen standing on the summit of the highest peak of the mountain. Filled with astonishment, his persecutors hastened to scale the rocky height. When after great labor they arrived at the point where they had seen the figure, Wixipecocha appeared to them again for a few instants, then as suddenly vanished, leaving no traces of his presence save the imprints of his feet deeply impressed upon the rock where he had stood.[118]Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt ii., cap. lxxii. Since then we do not know that Wixipecocha reappeared in the ordinary world, though tradition relates that he afterwards showed himself in the enchanted island of Monapostiac, near Tehuantepec, whither he probably went for the purpose of obtaining new proselytes. In spite of the silence which history maintains concerning the time of his advent and the disciples which he left behind him, there can be no doubt that the priests of Yopaa did not continue to promulgate his doctrines, or that the Wiyatao, the supreme pontiff in Zapotecapan, was not there as the vicar and successor of the prophet of Monapostiac. Like the ancient Brahmans of Hindustan, the first disciples of Wixipecocha celebrated the rites of their religion in a deep cave, which M. de Bourbourg thinks was most probably hollowed out in the side of the mountain by the waters of the flood. This was afterwards used as a place of worship by the Wiyataos, who, as the number of their proselytes increased, brought art to the aid of nature, and under the hands of able architects the cave of Yopaa was soon turned into a temple, having halls, galleries, and numerous apartments all cut in the solid rock. It was into the gloomy recesses of this temple that the priests descended on solemn feast-days to assist at those mysterious sacrifices which were sacred from the profane gaze of the vulgar, or to take part in the burial rites at the death of a king.[119]Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt ii., cap. liii.

The classes of religious men were as numerous and their names and duties as varied among the Zapotecs as elsewhere. A certain order of priests who made the interpreting of dreams their special province were called Colanii Cobee Pécala. Each form of divination was made a special study. Some professed to foretell the future by the aid of stars, earth, wind, fire, or water; others, by the flight of birds, the entrails of sacrificial victims, or by magic signs and circles. Among other divinities a species of parroquet, with flaming plumage, called the ara,[120]So called from the cry of ara, ara, which it constantly repeats. was worshiped in some districts. In this bird a god was incarnate, who was said to have descended from the sky like a meteor. There were among the Zapotecs hermits or fakirs, who passed their entire lives in religious Ecstasy and meditation, shut up in dark caves, or rude huts, with no other companion but an ara, which they fed respectfully upon a species of altar; in honor of the bird they lacerated their flesh and drew blood from their bodies; upon their knees they kissed it morning and evening, and offered it with their prayers sacrifices of flowers and copal.

Zapotec Priests

Priests of a lower order were styled Wiyana and Wizaechi, and the monks Copapitas. The influence which they were supposed to have with the gods, and the care which they took to keep their number constantly recruited with scions of the most illustrious families, gained them great authority among the people. No noble was so great but he would be honored by having a son in the temple. They added, also, to the credit of their profession by the strict propriety of their manners, and the excessive rigor with which they guarded their chastity. Parents who wished to consecrate one of their children to the service of the gods, led him, while still an infant, to the chief priest of the district, who after carefully catechizing the little one, delivered him over to the charge of the master of the novices. Besides the care of the sanctuary, which fell to their lot, these children were taught singing, the history of their country, and such sciences as were within their comprehension.

These religious bodies were looked upon with much respect. Their members were taught to bear themselves properly at home and in the street, and to preserve a modest and humble demeanor. The least infraction of the rules was severely punished; a glance or a sign which might be construed into a carnal desire, was punished as criminal, and those who showed by their actions a strong disposition to violate their vow of chastity were relentlessly castrated.

The Wiyanas were divided into several orders, but all were ruled in the most absolute manner by the pontiff of Yopaa. I have already spoken of the veneration in which this spiritual monarch was held, and of the manner in which he surmounted the difficulty of having children to inherit the pontifical chair, when continence was strictly imposed upon him.[121]See this vol., pp. 142-3.

The ordinary dress of the Zapotec priests was a full white robe, with openings to pass the arms through, but no sleeves; this was girt at the waist with a colored cord. During the ceremony of sacrifice, and on feast-days, the Wiyatao wore, over all, a kind of tunic, with full sleeves, adorned with tassels and embroidered in various colors with representations of birds and animals. On his head he wore a mitre of feather-work, ornamented with a very rich crown of gold; his neck, arms, and wrists were laden with costly necklaces and bracelets; upon his feet were golden sandals, bound to his legs with cords of gold and bright-colored thread.[122]Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., cap. liii. Of the Miztec high-priest Torquemada writes: ‘Se vestia, para celebrar sus Fiestas, de Pontifical, de esta manera. Unas mantas mui variadas de colores, matiçadas, y pintadas de Historias acaecidas à algunos de sus Dioses: poniase vnas como Camisas, ò Roquetes, sin mangas (à diferencia de los Mexicanos) que llegaban mas abajo de la rodilla, y en las piernas vnas como antiparas, que le cubrian la pantorrilla; y era esto casi comun à todos los Sacerdotes Sumos, y calçado, con que adornaban las Estatuas de los Dioses; y en el braço izquierdo, vn pedaço de manta labrada, à manera de liston, como suelen atarse algunos al braço, quando salen à Fiestas, ò Cañas, con vna borla asida de ella, que parecia manipulo. Vestia encima de todo vna Capa, como la nuestra de Coro, con vna borla colgando à las espaldas, y vna gran Mitra en la cabeça, hecha de plumas verdes, con mucho artificio, y toda sembrada, y labrada de los mas principales Dioses, que tenian. Quando bailaban, en otras ocasiones, y patios de los Templos (que era el modo ordinario de cantar sus Horas, y reçar su Oficio) se vestian de ropa blanca pintada, y vnas ropetas, como camisetas de Galeote.’ Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 217.

Priests of Michoacan

The Toltec sacerdotal system so closely resembled the Mexican already described that it needs no further description in this volume. Their priests wore a long black robe reaching to the ground; their heads were covered with a hood, and their hair fell down over their shoulders and was braided. They rarely put sandals on their feet, except when about to start on a long journey.[123]Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., p. 327. Among the Totonacs six great ecclesiastics were elected, one as high-priest, one next to him in rank, and so on with the other four. When the high-priest died, the second priest succeeded him. He was anointed and consecrated with great ceremony; the unction used upon the occasion was a mixture of a fluid called in the Totonac tongue ole, and blood drawn at the circumcision of children.[124]Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxxiii. There existed also among these people an order of monks devoted to their goddess Centeotl. They lived a very austere and retired life, and their character, according to the Totonac standard, was irreproachable. None but men above sixty years of age, who were widowers of virtuous life and estranged from the society of women, were admitted into this order. Their number was fixed, and when one of them died another was received in his stead. They were so much respected that they were not only consulted by the common people, but likewise by the great nobles and the high-priest. They listened to those who consulted them, sitting upon their heels, with their eyes fixed upon the ground, and their answers were received as oracles even by the kings of Mexico. They were employed in making historical paintings, which they gave to the high-priest that he might exhibit them to the people. The common Totonac priests wore long black cotton robes with hoods; their hair was braided like the other common priests of Mexico, and anointed with the blood of human sacrifices, but those who served the goddess Centeotl were always dressed in the skins of foxes or coyotes.[125]Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxi.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 181; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 44; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. v., cap. xiv. At Izacapu, in Michoacan, there was a pontiff named Curinacanery, who was looked upon with such deep veneration that the king himself visited him once a year to offer him the first-fruits of the season, which he did upon his knees, having first respectfully kissed his hand. The common priests of Michoacan wore their hair loose and disheveled; a leathern band encircled their foreheads; their robes were white, embroidered with black, and in their hands they carried feather fans.[126]Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., pp. 52-3; Herrera says of the priests of Mechoacan: ‘Trahian los cabellos largos, y coronas abiertas en la cabeça, como los de la Yglesia Catolica, y guirnaldas de fluecos colorados.’ Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. x. In Puebla they also wore white robes, with sleeves, and fringed on the edges.[127]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 438. The papas, or sacrificing priests of Tlascala, allowed their hair to grow long and anointed it with the blood of their victims.[128]Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 201. Much more might be written concerning the priests of these countries, but as it does not strictly come within the province of this volume, it is omitted here.[129]Less important, or more modern, authorities that treat of the privileged classes among the Aztecs, are: Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 19-22; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 495-504; Carli, Cartas, pt i., pp. 114-15; Carbajal, Discurso, pp. 108-14; Chaves, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., pp. 303-6, 337; Dilworth’s Conq. Mex., p. 36; Monglave, Résumé, pp. 14-19, 32-5; Hazart, Kirchen-Geschichte, tom. ii., pp. 503-5; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 74, 235-6, 264-5; West und Ost Indischer Lustgart, pt i., pp. 73-7, 98-100; Cortés, Aventuras, pref., p. 6; Baril, Mexique, pp. 201-2; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 59-70, 88-98, 209-10; Soden, Spanier in Peru, tom. ii., pp. 12-13, 19; Chevalier, Mex., Ancien et Mod., pp. 116-120.

Footnotes

[93] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 231; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xii.; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 502.

[94] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 88; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 182, makes the number twenty-seven.

[95] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 88, et seq.; see also Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 182, et seq.; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 428, et seq.; Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 353, et seq.; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 502; Herrera, dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xii.

[96] Lettre, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 251.

[97] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 196.

[98] Camaxtli was the Tlascaltec god of war, corresponding with and probably the same as the Mexican Huitzilopochtli. The order of Tecuhtli being held in higher esteem in Tlascala than elsewhere, the ceremony of initiation is generally described as it took place in that state.

[99] ‘Unas piedras chequitas de piedra negra, y creo eran de la piedra de que hacen las navajas.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxvii.

[100] ‘Se iba à vna de las Salas, ò Aposentos de los Ministros que servian al Demonio, que se llamaba Tlamacazcalco.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 362. It seems unlikely, however, that the candidate would be taken to another temple at this juncture. Brasseur explains the name of the hall to which he was taken as ‘le Lieu des habitations des Ministres, prêtres de Camaxtli.’ Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 587.

[101] ‘Y à las Sillas solas que representaban las Personas ausentes, hacian tanta cortesia, y le captaban Benevolencia, como si realmente estuvieran presentes los Señores que faltaban.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 364.

[102] Concerning the ceremony of initiation see: Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 361-6; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxvii.; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 306-8; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 120-1; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., pp. 147-9.

[103] Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., pp. 58-60.

[104] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 586.

[105] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xv.

[106] The Tlaquimilloli, from whence the title is derived, was a sacred package or bundle, containing relics of gods and heroes.

[107] Clavigero asserts that the hair of such only as entered the service on account of some private vow, was cut.

[108] Clavigero says that only a part of them rose upon each occasion. ‘S’alzavano alcune due ore incirca innanzi alla mezza notte, altre alla mezza notte, ed altre allo spuntar del di per attizzar, e mantener vivo il fuoco, e per incensare gl’Idoli.’ Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 42.

[109] ‘Elles passaient une partie de la matinée à preparer le pain en galette et les pâtisseries qu’elles présentaient, toutes chaudes, dans le temple, où les prêtres allaient les prendre après l’oblation.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 556. Clavigero says they prepared the offering of provisions which was presented to the idols: ‘Tutte le mattine preparavano l’obblazioni di commestibili da presentarsi agl’Idoli.’ Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 42.

[110] Clavigero writes: ‘L’insegna de’ Sommi Sacerdoti di Messico era un fiocco, o nappa di cotone pendente dal petto, e nelle feste principali vestivansi abiti sfarzosi, ne’ quali vedevansi figurate le insegne di quel Dio, la cui festa celebravano.’ Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 38. The most important works that can be consulted concerning the Mexican priesthood are: Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 549-59; from which I have principally taken my account; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 163-5, 175-91; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, caps. cxxxiii., cxxxix., cxl.; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 112 et seq., 218-23, tom. iii., pp. 276-7; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 323-5; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 335-42; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xv-xvii.; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 36 et seq.

[111] This is the title given by the Spanish authors; it is probably derived from tay, a man, and sacaa, a priest. Vocabul. en lengua Mixteca, etc., according to Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 17, note.

[112] Wiyatao, Burgoa writes huijatoo, and translates, ‘great watchman;’ the Zapotec vocabulary translates it by the word papa, or priest.

[113] Yopaa, Burgoa also writes Lyobaa and Yobaa; it signifies the Place of Tombs, from Yo, place, or ground, and paa, tomb, in the Zapotec tongue, ‘the centre of rest.’

[114] Teutitlan was its name in the Nahuatl language. Its Zapotecan name was Xaquiya.

[115] Rasgos y señales de la primera predicacion en el Nuevo-Mundo, MS. de Don Isidro Gondra; Carriedo, Estudios históricos y estadísticos del Estado Oaxaqueño, Mexico, 1850, tom. i., cap. i.; quoted in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 9.

[116] Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt ii., cap. lxxii.

[117] Rasgos y señales de la primera predicacion en el Nuevo-Mundo, MS. de Don Isidro Gondra; quoted in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 10.

[118] Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt ii., cap. lxxii.

[119] Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt ii., cap. liii.

[120] So called from the cry of ara, ara, which it constantly repeats.

[121] See this vol., pp. 142-3.

[122] Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., cap. liii. Of the Miztec high-priest Torquemada writes: ‘Se vestia, para celebrar sus Fiestas, de Pontifical, de esta manera. Unas mantas mui variadas de colores, matiçadas, y pintadas de Historias acaecidas à algunos de sus Dioses: poniase vnas como Camisas, ò Roquetes, sin mangas (à diferencia de los Mexicanos) que llegaban mas abajo de la rodilla, y en las piernas vnas como antiparas, que le cubrian la pantorrilla; y era esto casi comun à todos los Sacerdotes Sumos, y calçado, con que adornaban las Estatuas de los Dioses; y en el braço izquierdo, vn pedaço de manta labrada, à manera de liston, como suelen atarse algunos al braço, quando salen à Fiestas, ò Cañas, con vna borla asida de ella, que parecia manipulo. Vestia encima de todo vna Capa, como la nuestra de Coro, con vna borla colgando à las espaldas, y vna gran Mitra en la cabeça, hecha de plumas verdes, con mucho artificio, y toda sembrada, y labrada de los mas principales Dioses, que tenian. Quando bailaban, en otras ocasiones, y patios de los Templos (que era el modo ordinario de cantar sus Horas, y reçar su Oficio) se vestian de ropa blanca pintada, y vnas ropetas, como camisetas de Galeote.’ Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 217.

[123] Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., p. 327.

[124] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxxiii.

[125] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxi.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 181; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 44; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. v., cap. xiv.

[126] Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., pp. 52-3; Herrera says of the priests of Mechoacan: ‘Trahian los cabellos largos, y coronas abiertas en la cabeça, como los de la Yglesia Catolica, y guirnaldas de fluecos colorados.’ Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. x.

[127] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 438.

[128] Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 201.

[129] Less important, or more modern, authorities that treat of the privileged classes among the Aztecs, are: Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 19-22; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 495-504; Carli, Cartas, pt i., pp. 114-15; Carbajal, Discurso, pp. 108-14; Chaves, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., pp. 303-6, 337; Dilworth’s Conq. Mex., p. 36; Monglave, Résumé, pp. 14-19, 32-5; Hazart, Kirchen-Geschichte, tom. ii., pp. 503-5; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 74, 235-6, 264-5; West und Ost Indischer Lustgart, pt i., pp. 73-7, 98-100; Cortés, Aventuras, pref., p. 6; Baril, Mexique, pp. 201-2; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 59-70, 88-98, 209-10; Soden, Spanier in Peru, tom. ii., pp. 12-13, 19; Chevalier, Mex., Ancien et Mod., pp. 116-120.

Chapter VI • Plebeians, Slaves, Tenure of Lands, and Taxation • 8,600 Words

Influence of the Commoners—Oppression by Nobles—Deprived of Office by Montezuma II.—Classes of Slaves—Penal Slaves—Voluntary Slavery—Slave Market at Azcapuzalco—Punishment and Privileges of Slaves—Division of Lands—Crown Lands—Lands of the Nobles—Municipal Property—Property of the Temples—Tenure of Lands in Zapotecapan, Miztecapan, Michoacan, Tlascala, Cholula, and Huexotzinco—Similarity to Feudal System of Europe—System of Taxation—Municipal Taxes—Lice Tribute—Tribute from Conquered Provinces—Revenue Officers—Injustice of Montezuma II.

Plebeians and Slaves

No writer seems to have thought it worth while to define the exact condition of the lower orders of free citizens among the Aztecs. In Mexico, under the earlier kings, they appear to have enjoyed considerable privileges. They were represented in the royal councils, they held high offices at court and about the king’s person, their wishes were consulted in all affairs of moment, and they were generally recognized as an important part of the community. Gradually, however, their power lessened as that of the nobles increased, until, in the time of Montezuma II., they were, as we have seen, deprived of all offices that were not absolutely menial, and driven from the palace. Still, there is no doubt that from the earliest times the plebeians were always much oppressed by the nobles, or that, as the Bishop of Santo Domingo, before quoted,[130]See page 191 of this volume. remarks, “they were, and still are, so submissive that they allow themselves to be killed or sold into slavery without complaining.” Father Acosta, also, writes that “so great is the authority which the caciques have assumed over their vassals that these latter dare not open their lips to complain of any order given them, no matter how difficult or disagreeable it may be to fulfill; indeed, they would rather die and perish than incur the wrath of their lord; for this reason the nobles frequently abuse their power, and are often guilty of extortion, robbery, and violence towards their vassals.”[131]Acosta, De procuranda, indorum salute; quoted in Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, p. 81. Camargo tells us that the plebeians were content to work without pay for the nobles, if they could only insure their protection by so doing.[132]Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcix., p. 130.

Of those who stood below the macehuales, as the plebeians were called, and lowest of all in the social scale, the slaves, we have more definite information. Slavery was enforced and recognized by law and usage throughout the entire country inhabited by the Nahua nations. There were in ancient Mexico three classes of slaves; namely, prisoners of war, persons condemned for crime to lose their freedom, and those who sold themselves, or children sold by their parents. The captor of a prisoner of war had an undisputed right to doom his prize to be sacrificed to the gods; this power he almost invariably exerted, and it was held a punishable crime for another to deprive him of it by rescuing the prisoner or setting him free.[133]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 134-6; Cortés, Carta Inéd., in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 474. Sahagun tells us that the captor could, if he chose, either sell or hold his prisoners as slaves; and if among them any man or woman showed unusual ability in music, embroidering, weaving, or other domestic occupation, he or she was frequently purchased by the king or some noble or wealthy man, and employed in his house, and thus saved from the sacrifice.[134]Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 32-3; see also, tom. ii., lib. vii., pp. 258-9, lib. ix., pp. 353, 370. The Anonymous Conqueror agrees with Sahagun: ‘Tutti quei che si pigliauano nella guerra, ò erano màgiati da loro, ò erano tenuti per schiaui.’ Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 304. Motolinia, however, asserts that all prisoners of war were sacrificed: ‘por que ningun esclavo se hacian en ellas, ni rescataban ninguno de los que en las guerras prendian, mas todos los guardavan para sacrificar.’ Carta al Emperador Cárlos V., Jan. 2, 1555, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 272. Gomara also confirms this with a grim joke: ‘Los catiuos en guerra no siruian de esclauos, sino de sacrificados: y no hazian mas de comer para ser comidos.’ Conq. Mex., fol. 320-1; see also fol. 309. The offences which the Aztecs punished with slavery were the following: firstly, failure on the part of any relation of a person convicted of high treason, to give timely information of the plot to the proper authorities, provided he or she had knowledge of it, the wives and children of the traitor being also enslaved; secondly, the unauthorized sale of a free man or woman or of a free child kidnapped or found astray, the kidnapper fraudulently asserting such person to be a slave, or such child to be his own; thirdly, the sale or disposal, by a tenant or depositary, of another’s property, without the permission of the owner or his representative, or of a proper legal authority; fourthly, hindering a collared slave from reaching the asylum of the sovereign’s palace, provided it was the act of one who was not the owner or the owner’s son; fifthly, stealing things of value, or being an inveterate thief; sixthly, stealing from a field a certain number of ears of corn or of useful plants, exception being made to this law when the act was committed by a child under ten years of age, or when the stolen property was paid for; seventhly, the impregnating, by a free man, of another’s female slave, if the woman died during her pregnancy, or in consequence of it. This latter statement is contradicted by Torquemada, upon the strength of information given him, as he alleges, by Aztecs well acquainted with the laws of their country.[135]‘Algunos quisieron decir, que si vn libre tenia acceso à alguna Esclava, y quedaba preñada de la copula, era Esclavo el Varon que cometiò acto con Esclava, y servia al Señor de la Esclava; pero esto no fue asi, segun confesion de los mismos Indios Sabios, que sabian sus Leies, y las practicaban.’ Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 566. Gomara asserts, though he allows that others deny it, that when a man died insolvent, his son or his wife became the property of his creditors.[136]Conq. Mex., fol. 320.Torquemada affirms that it was customary for a creditor to look for payment of his claim to the estate, real or personal, if any there was, but no member of the debtor’s family was awarded to him to cancel the debt.[137]Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 566. It sometimes happened that persons too poor to pay their taxes were put up for sale, but this mostly occurred in conquered provinces. Penal slaves did not become the property of the king or the state, but were publicly sold to private persons, or assigned to the parties whom they had injured; nor were such offenders held to be slaves, or their punishment considered to have commenced until they had been formally delivered to the new owner.

Penal and Voluntary Slavery

Among those who voluntarily surrendered their freedom for a consideration, besides such as were driven by extreme poverty to do so, were the indolent who would not trust to their own exertions for a livelihood, gamesters, to obtain the wherewithal to satisfy their passion for gambling,[138]Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. iii., cap. xxii., xxiii. and harlots, to provide themselves with showy clothing and finery. The two latter classes were not obliged to go into service until after the expiration of a year from the time of receiving the consideration for which they sold themselves.

Slaves were continually offered for sale in the public market-place of every town, but the principal slave-mart in the Mexican empire seems to have been the town of Azcapuzalco, which was situated about two leagues from the city of Mexico; it occupied the site of the ancient capital of the Tepanec kingdom, which was destroyed by King Nezahualcoyotl of Tezcuco. Great numbers of slaves were brought to Azcapuzalco from all the provinces; and it is said that the merchants who traded in them had to adopt great precautions to prevent their property from being stolen or rescued on the journey. With a view to advantageous sales the slaves thus exposed in the public markets were kept well clothed and fed, and were forced to dance and look cheerful.

Parents could pawn, or sell a son as a slave, but were allowed to take him back on surrendering another son to serve in his stead; on such occasions the master was wont to show his generosity by allowing an extra compensation for the new servant. There was yet another kind of slavery, called by the Mexicans huehuetlatlacolli, meaning ‘ancient servitude.’ When one or more families were entirely destitute and famine-stricken, they sold a son to some noble, and bound themselves to always ‘keep that slave alive,’ that is to say, to supply another to fill his place if he died or became incapacitated. This obligation was binding upon each member of the families making the contract, but was null and void if the man who was actually serving died in his master’s house, or if his employer took from him anything that he had lawfully acquired; therefore, to prevent this forfeiture of ownership, the master neither took from his slave anything but personal service, nor allowed him to dwell in his house. It frequently happened that as many as four or five families were bound in this manner to supply a noble and his heirs with a slave. But in 1505 or 1506, a year of famine in the country, Nezahualpilli of Tezcuco, foreseeing the evils that this system of perpetual contract would entail upon his subjects if the scarcity of food continued long, repealed the law, and declared all families exempt from its obligations; it is recorded that Montezuma II. soon after followed his example.[139]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 564-5; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 303. Brasseur de Bourbourg asserts that these contracts remained in force down to the time of the Spanish conquest. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 611.

Condition and Treatment of Slaves

Slavery in Mexico was, according to all accounts, a moderate subjection, consisting merely of an obligation to render personal service, nor could that be exacted without allowing the slave a certain amount of time to labor for his own advantage. Slaves were kindly treated and were allowed far greater privileges than any in the old world; they could marry and bring up families, hold property, including other slaves to serve them, and their children were invariably born free. There is, however, some obscurity on this point, as Sahagun tells us that in the year Ce Tochtli, which came round every fifty-two years, there was generally a great famine in the land, and at that time many persons, driven to it by hunger, sold not only themselves as slaves, but also their children and descendants for countless generations.[140]‘Y cuando acontecia la dicha hambre, entónces se vendian por esclavos muchos pobres hombres y mugeres, y comprábanlos los ricos que tenian muchas provisiones allegadas, y no solamente los dichos pobres se vendian a sí mismos, sino que tambien vendian á sus hijos, y á sus descendientes, y á todo su linaje, y así eran esclavos perpetuamente, porque decian que esta servidumbre que se cobraba en tal tiempo, no tenia remedio para acabarse en algun tiempo, porque sus padres se habian vendido por escapar de la muerte, ó por librar su vida de la última necesidad.’ Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vii., pp. 258-9. Very young or poor slaves lived at the home of their master, and were treated almost as members of the family; the other slaves lived independently, either on their owner’s land, or upon their own. It frequently happened that a master succumbed to the charms of one of his female slaves and made her his wife, or that a comely bondman found favor in the sight of his mistress, and became her lord; nor was this so strange as it may at first appear, there being no difference of race or color to make such alliances repugnant or shameful. Feelings of affection and respect existed, as a rule, between master and servant. A slave who had served long and faithfully was often entrusted with the stewardship of his owner’s household and property, and, on the other hand, if the master through misfortune should become poor, his bondmen would cheerfully labor for his support. No well-behaved slave could be sold without his consent unless his owner could prove that poverty or debt made such sale unavoidable; nor could such faults as laziness, disobedience, or running away, be punished without due warning, which the master for his own justification usually gave in the presence of respectable witnesses. If after this had occurred two or three times the slave continued refractory, a wooden collar was placed on his neck, and then his master was authorized to transfer him against his will. Purchasers of a collared slave always inquired how many times he had been so disposed of before, and if after two or three such sales he continued incorrigible, he could be sold for the sacrifice. But even yet he has one chance left; if he can escape from his master’s premises and gain the courtyard of the royal palace, he not only avoids punishment, but he is from that day forth a free man; moreover, no person, save his owner or his owner’s sons, is allowed in any manner to prevent him from reaching the asylum, under penalty of being made the slave of him whom he attempts to deprive of his chance for freedom.

The sale of a slave was conducted with much formality, and must be made in the presence of at least four respectable witnesses; in cases of self-sale the witnesses acted as conscientious arbitrators to secure the highest price and most favorable conditions for him who sold himself. The usual price for an average slave was twenty mantles, equivalent to one load of cotton cloth; some were worth less, while others brought as many as forty mantles.

Slavery among the Nahua nations appears, then, to have been only a partial deprivation of a freeman’s rights. As a slave was permitted to possess property and even other slaves of his own, and as his children were born free and he had complete control of his own family, we can scarcely say he lost his citizenship, although it is true he was not eligible for public office. It was a common practice for a master during his lifetime, or on his death-bed, to emancipate his slaves, but if no such provision were made they went to the heirs with the rest of the property. Murder of a slave, even by his master, was a capital offence.

Yet in spite of all this testimony in favor of the mildness of slavery among the Nahua nations, there is still room for some reasonable doubt concerning the patriarchal character of the system; inasmuch as we are told that many slaves, not mentioned as being prisoners of war or criminals, as well as servants, dwarfs, or deformed persons, and purchased children, were put to death at religious feasts and royal funerals.[141]‘Vendian niños recien nacidos, y de dos años, para cumplir sus promesas, y ofrecer en los templos, como nosotros las candelas, y sacrificarlos para alcançar sus pretensiones.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xvi. ‘Porque como andaban todos los Reinos, con sus mercancias, traìan de todos ellos muchos esclavos, los quales, si no eran todos, à lo menos, los mas, sacrificaban.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 272. ‘Porque casi todos los que sacrificaban á los idolos eran los que prendian en las guerras … mui poquitos eran los otros que sacrificavan.’ Motolinia, Carta al Emperador Cárlos V., Jan. 2, 1555, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 264, 272. ‘Luego proponian un parlamento á los esclavos, enanos y corcobados, diciendo: hijos mios, id á la buena ventura con vuestro señor Axayaca á la otra vida…. Luego le abrieron el pecho, teniendolo seis ó siete sacerdotes, y el mayoral le sacaba el corazon, y todo el dia y toda la noche ardía el cuerpo del rey, con los corazones de los miserables esclabos que morian sin culpa.’ Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 90, 142. ‘Sacrificando en sus honras doscientos esclavos, y cien esclavas.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chichimeca, in Id., pp. 282, 250. ‘Quando moria algun principal, matavan juntamente con él un esclavo, y enterravan con él para que le fuese á servir.’ Codex Telleriano-Remensis, in Id., vol. v., p. 130. ‘Avec lui, de jeunes filles, des esclaves et des bossus.’ Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 202. ‘Se quemaba junto con sus cuerpos y con los corazones de los cautivos y esclavos que mataban.’ Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, p. 35; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 453, 573-4; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 6, 8; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, p. 65; Among those who in later times have treated of slavery among the Nahua nations are the following: Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 261; Dapper, Neue Welt, p. 294; Chevalier, Mex., Ancien et Mod., p. 62; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., pp. 155-6; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 541; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, pp. 69-70; Soden, Spanier in Peru, tom. ii., pp. 14-15; Simon’s Ten Tribes, p. 273.

Tenure of Lands

The lands were divided between the crown, the nobility, the various tribes or clans of the people, and the temples. The division, however, was by no means equal, by far the greater portion being appropriated by the king and the aristocracy.[142]Toribio and Olarte, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 405. All landed property was duly surveyed, and each estate was accurately marked out on maps, or paintings, kept on file by a competent officer in the district where they were situated. The crown lands were painted in purple, those of the nobility in scarlet, and those of the calpullis, or wards, in light yellow. Certain portions of the crown property called tecpantlalli, or ‘lands of the palace,’ were granted to nobles of the rank of Tecuhtli, who were called tecpanpouhque or tecpantlaca, ‘people of the palace.’ They had the free use and enjoyment of such lands, and in return certain services were expected of them. It was their duty to attend to the repairs and proper arrangement of the royal residences, and to cultivate and keep in order the royal gardens, for all of which they had to provide the necessary number of workmen; besides this they were obliged to wait on the king and accompany him whenever he appeared in public. Although in consideration of these services the ‘people of the palace’ paid no rent, yet the eminent domain of their lands was vested in the sovereign. When one of them died his eldest son inherited his privileges, subject to the same obligations, but if he changed his residence to another part of the country, or died without male issue, the usufruct was forfeited and the land reverted to the sovereign, who transferred it to another usufructuary, or left the choice of one to the community in whose district the property was situated.[143]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 545-6; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 122. The produce of other lands belonging to the crown was set apart for the support of the royal household, and for benevolent purposes.

Landed Property of the Nobles

In conquered provinces, the habits and customs and established form of government of the vanquished were usually respected. The sovereigns of Anáhuac retained the native princes in power, and allowed the people to keep their property; but they invariably set apart a certain part of the territory, proportioned to the conquest, which became the property of the conquering monarch. These lands, called yaotlalli, which means ‘war lands,’ were cultivated by the conquered people for the benefit of their conqueror. If they belonged to Mexico their name was mexica-tlalli; if to Acolhuacan, acolhua-tlalli, and so on.[144]Zurita, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., p. 67; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 603; Carbajal, Discurso, p. 61; Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., p. 40.

Inheritance of Estates

The lands of the nobility were called pillalli, and were either ancient possessions of the nobles transmitted by inheritance from father to son, or were rewards of valor granted by the king. They were held by various tenures; some of them could be alienated at the will of the owner, subject only to the restriction that they should not pass into the hands of a plebeian; others were entailed upon the eldest male issue and could not be otherwise disposed of. Many of the Aztec estates were of very ancient origin. After the Chichimecs obtained undisputed possession of the valley of Mexico, their chief or sovereign Xolotl made grants of land to his own people, and to others who acknowledged him as their supreme lord, under the condition that the grantees should render service to the crown with their persons, vassals, and estates, whenever he should require it of them, and the same policy was adopted by his successors.[145]Boturini, Idea, p. 165; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 208, 216, 224-5, 241; Id., Relaciones, in Id., pp. 339-43, 346, 353, 386-7, 395, 451, 453; Heredia y Sarmiento, Sermon, MS., pp. 51-2; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 189; Vetancvrt, Teatro, Mex., pt ii., pp. 13-14. Sons generally inherited their father’s estates by right of primogeniture, but if the eldest son was judged incapable of taking proper care of the property, the father left it to whichever son he pleased, stipulating, however, that the heir should insure a competency to him he had supplanted.[146]Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xvii., says that brothers inherited estates and not sons; but this assertion is not borne out by any other authority. In the republic of Tlascala daughters could not inherit an estate, the object being to prevent landed property from going into the hands of strangers. In the kingdoms of Mexico, Tezcuco, and Tlacopan it is probable that the law was the same in this respect, but the authorities give us no information concerning the matter.[147]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 348; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 123. These feudatories paid no rent for their lands, but were bound to assist their suzerain, the king, with their persons, vassals, and fortunes in all cases of foreign or civil war. Each king, on his accession, confirmed the investiture of estates derived from the crown.[148]Fuenleal, Lettre, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., pp. 252-4; Cortés, Cartas, p. 68; Witt, Lettre, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., p. 287; Carbajal, Discurso, p. 63; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 535; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 231; Zurita, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., pp. 48-9, 65; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 122-4; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 304; Vetancvrt, Teatro, Mex., pt ii., pp. 53-4. The lands of the people were called calpulli, and every city was divided into as many of these as there were wards in it, and the whole number of calpulli being collectively named altepatlalli. The calpulli, as well as the tlaxicalli, or streets, were all measured out and their boundaries marked, so that the inhabitants of one ward or street could not invade the possessions of another. Each of these divisions belonged to its respective community, and was of greater or less extent and importance according to the partition which had been made by the first settlers in Anáhuac. The owners of a calpulli were all members of the same clan or tribe, and their district bore their name. The right of tenure was perpetual and inalienable, and was the common property of the community and not of individuals. Any member of the community not possessed of any land, had the right to ask for a portion suitable to his position and requirements, which was granted him. This portion he was entitled to hold as long as he cultivated and improved it, and he could transmit it to his heirs; he had no authority to sell his portion, but he could let it to another for a number of years. If he neglected to cultivate it for two years the head man of the calpulli remonstrated with him; if he paid no heed to this warning he was ousted the following year in favor of some other person; a reasonable excuse for such neglect was, however, always accepted. If the land assigned to anyone proved unfruitful and barren, he was at liberty to abandon it and another portion was granted him. Under no pretext whatever could any person settle upon the land lawfully occupied by another, nor could the authorities of the calpulli deprive the latter of his right. If a land-owner died without heirs, his portion was considered vacant and assigned to the first applicant for it. If a calpulli was in great need the authorities were allowed to lease its lands, but under no circumstances were the inhabitants permitted to work on the lands of another district. The elders of the tribe formed the council of the calpulli; this body elected a principal, called calpullec, whose duty it was to watch over the interests of the community; he acted only with the advice and consent of the council. Each city set apart a piece of land in the suburbs wherefrom to supply the needs of the army in time of war. These portions were called milchimalli, or cacalomilli, according to the kind of grain they produced, and were cultivated jointly by all the calpullis. It was not unusual for the kings to make a life-grant of a portion of the people’s property to some favorite noble, for though there is no doubt that the calpulli lands of right belonged to the people, yet in this respect as in others, the kings were wont to usurp a power not their own.[149]‘Ce n’est pas qu’ils eussent ces terres en propre; car, comme les seigneurs exerçaient un pouvoir tyrannique, ils disposaient des terrains et des vassaux suivant leur bon plaisir. Les Indiens n’étaient donc, proprement dit, ni propriétaires ni maîtres de ces villages; ils n’étaient que les laboureurs ou les amodiateurs des seigneurs terriers, de telle façon que l’on pourrait dire que tout le territoire, soit des plaines, soit des montagnes, dépendait du caprice des seigneurs et qu’il leur appartenait, puisqu’ils y exerçaient un pouvoir tyrannique, et que les Indiens vivaient au jour le jour; les seigneurs partageant entre eux tous leurs produits.’ Simancas, De l’Ordre de Succession, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., pp. 224-5; Zurita, Rapport, in Id., série ii., tom. i., pp. 51-7; Fuenleal, Lettre, in Id., tom. v., p. 221; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 603-7; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 590; Variedades Civ., tom. i., pp. 158-9; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 35-6; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., pp. 153-5. Every temple, great and insignificant, had its own lands and country estates, the produce of which was applied to the support of the priests and of public worship; the tenants who occupied these lands were looked upon as vassals of the temples. The chief priests, who, on the temple lands, exercised a power similar to that of the royal governors, frequently visited these estates to inspect their condition and to administer justice to their tenants. The temple of Huitzilopochtli was considered the wealthiest in Mexico. Torquemada says that in Tezcuco fifteen large cities furnished the temples of that kingdom with wood, provisions, and other necessaries.[150]Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 164. Clavigero makes the number of towns twenty-nine.[151]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 36. See further: Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. 141; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 558-9; Carbajal, Discurso, p. 36; Soden, Spanier in Peru, tom. ii., p. 13; Dillon, Hist. Mex., p. 43; Chevalier, Mex., Ancien et Mod., pp. 117-18.

Throughout Zapotecapan and Miztecapan landed property was invariably transmitted from male to male, females being excluded from the succession. No one had the right to sell his land in perpetuity; the law forbade its transfer out of a family either by marriage or otherwise; and if a proprietor was compelled by the force of necessity to dispose of his real estate, it returned after the lapse of some years to his son or his nearest relative, who paid to the holder the consideration for which it had been pledged or its equivalent.[152]Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. i., pt ii., fol. 188; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 39-40. In Miztecapan the first-born son, before taking possession of his inheritance, had to do penance for a year; he was confined in a religious house, clothed in rags, daubed with India-rubber juice, and his face and body rubbed with fetid herbs; during that time he had to draw blood repeatedly from his body and limbs, and was subjected to hard labor and privation. At the expiration of the year he was washed with odorous water by four girls, and then conducted by friends to his house with great pomp and festivity.[153]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 54; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 95-6.

Estates in Michoacan

Early writers say nothing about the tenure of lands among the Tarascos of Michoacan, but merely state in general terms that the sovereign’s power over the lives and property of his subjects was unlimited.[154]Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., p. 52.

The tenure of lands in the republic of Tlascala had its origin in the division made at the time when the country was first settled; which was as follows: Any Tecuhtli who established an entail, called teccalli, or pilcalli, took for his own use the best and largest part of the lands that fell to his lot or were awarded to him in the partition, including woods, springs, rivers, and lakes; of the remainder a fair division was made among his servitors and vassals, or, in other words, his soldiers, friends, and kinsmen. All were bound to keep the manor-house in repair and to supply their lord with game, flowers, and other comforts, and he in his turn, was expected to entertain, protect, and feed them in his house. To these kinsmen, friends, and servitors, was given the name of teixhuihuan, meaning the ‘grand-children of the manor-house.’ In this manner all the nobles divided their land. All were greatly respected by their vassals. They derived their income from the taxes that their tenants paid them out of what they obtained from the chase, from the soil, and by raising domestic animals.[155]Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 176; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 276-7.

No information has reached us respecting the provisions under which land was held in Cholula and Huexotzinco, or among the Totonacs. In the province of Pánuco, the eldest son was the sole inheritor of land and, therefore, the only one that paid tribute; the other sons had to rent land from those who were in possession of it.[156]Witt, Lettre, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., p. 289.

There can be no doubt that in all this there is, as so many writers have observed, a strong resemblance to the feudal systems of Europe. The obligation of military service, and other relations of lord and vassal smack strongly of the institutions of the Middle Ages, but, as Mr Prescott says, the minor points of resemblance “fall far short of that harmonious system of reciprocal service and protection, which embraced, in nice gradation, every order of a feudal monarchy. The kingdoms of Anáhuac were, in their nature, despotic, attended, indeed, with many mitigating circumstances, unknown to the despotisms of the East; but it is chimerical to look for much in common—beyond a few accidental forms and ceremonies—with those aristocratic institutions of the Middle Ages, which made the court of every petty baron the precise image in miniature of that of his sovereign.” I have no inclination to draw analogies, believing them, at least in a work of this kind, to be futile; and were I disposed to do so, space would not permit it. Nations in their infancy are almost as much alike as are human beings in their earlier years, and in studying these people I am struck at every turn by the similarity between certain of their customs and institutions and those of other nations; comparisons might be happily drawn between the division of lands in Anáhuac and that made by Lycurgus and Numa in Laconia and Rome, or between the relations of Aztec master and slave and those of Roman patron and client, for the former were nearly as mild as the latter; but the list of such comparisons would never be complete, and I am fain to leave them to the reader.

System of Taxation

The people of Anáhuac and of the surrounding countries paid taxes to the crown and to the temples, either with personal service or with the productions or results of their labor; in short, with everything useful. We have seen that in the kingdom of Tezcuco twenty-nine cities were appointed to provide the king’s household with everything requisite of food, furniture, and so forth, and were, consequently, exempt from all other taxes. Fourteen of these cities served in this manner during one half of the year, and fifteen during the other half. They likewise furnished the workingmen and laborers, such as water-carriers, sweepers, tillers of the palace lands, and gardeners. Boys who were too young to do men’s work were required to provide annually four hundred armfuls of wood for the fires which were kept up day and night in the principal rooms of the palace. The young men of Tollantzinco, either themselves or through their servants supplied fine rushes for mats, stools, or seats, called icpalli, pine-wood splinters for lighting fires, other wood for torches, acayetl, or pipes with tobacco, various kinds of dyes, liquid amber both in cakes and in vessels, copal incense in their golden cylinders, and a large quantity of other articles, which it is unnecessary to specify.[157]Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 241-2. Manufacturers paid their taxes with the objects produced by their industry. Journeymen mechanics, such as carpenters, masons, workers in feathers and precious metals, and musicians, were, according to Oviedo, exempt from such tax, and in lieu thereof rendered personal service to the sovereign without remuneration.[158]Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 535, 305-6. Merchants paid their taxes with such articles as they traded in. The last class of tribute-payers were the tlamaitl, tenants attached to a nobleman’s land, who tilled the same for their own benefit. They were obliged to do a certain amount of work every year for the landlord, and to render military service when it was required of them by the sovereign. Brasseur says that these tenants paid no tribute to the king, but his statement is contradicted by Clavigero.[159]‘Nè i Vasalli de’ Feudatari erano esenti da’ tributi, che pagavano al Re gli altri Vassalli della Corona.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 122-7. Taxes paid in fruit and grain were collected immediately after harvest; other tributes were collected at different times through the year. In each town there was a magazine for storing the revenues, from which supplies were drawn as required. In the vicinity of Mexico it was customary to convey the agricultural produce into the capital, in order that the inhabitants, who, being surrounded with the waters of the lake, had no land of their own to cultivate, might be regularly supplied with food. There was no uniform system of collecting taxes from the merchants and manufacturers. Payments were made by them in accordance with their circumstances and the nature of the articles they contributed. There were about three hundred and seventy tributary towns in the Mexican empire, some of which paid their taxes every twenty days, and some every four days, while others only did so once in six months, or even only once a year. The people of Tlatelulco, says Purchas,[160]His Pilgrimes, vol. iv., p. 1080. “were charged for tribute, alwayes to repaire the Church called Huiznahuac. Item, fortie great Baskets (of the bignesse of half a Bushell) of cacao ground, with the Meale of Maiz (which they called Chianpinoli,) and euery Basket had sixteene hundred Almonds of Cacao. Item, other fortie Baskets of Chianpinoli. Item, eight hundred burthens of great Mantels. Item, eightie pieces of Armour, of slight Feathers, and as many Targets of the same Feathers, of the deuices & colours as they are pictured. All the which tribute, except the said armes and targets they gaue euery 24. dayes,[161]In the Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 54, we read that it was paid every eighty days. and the said armes and targets they gaue for tribute but once in the whole yeere. The said tribute had his beginning since the time of Quauhtlatoa and Moquihuix, which were Lords of Tlatilulco. The Lords of Mexico, which first enioyned to those of Tlatilulco, to pay tribute, and to acknowledge their subiection, were Yzcoatçi and Axiacaçi.” Sometimes merchants’ guilds or individuals did not pay their taxes at the regular assessment of the town in which they lived, but did so according to prior arrangement made with the revenue officers.

Taxes Paid by Cities, Taxes Paid in Vermin

In addition to the taxes levied upon private individuals, each town contributed a large number of cotton garments, with a certain quantity of breadstuffs and feathers and such other productions as were a specialty of the province in which it was situated. Mazatlan, Xoconocho, Huehuetlan, and other towns on the Pacific coast, paid, besides the cotton garments, four thousand bundles of fine feathers of divers colors, two hundred sacks of cocoa, forty tiger-skins, and one hundred and sixty birds of a certain species. Coyolapan, Atlacuechahuaxan, Huaxyacac, and other towns of the Zapotecs, forty pieces of gold of a specified size, and twenty sacks of cochineal. Tlachquiauhco, Ayotlan, and Teotzapotlan, twenty vessels of a fixed size filled with gold dust. Tochtepec, Otlatitlan, Cozamalloapan, Michapan and other places on the gulf of Mexico, besides cotton garments, cocoa, and gold, paid twenty-four thousand bundles of exquisite feathers of various qualities and colors, six necklaces, two of which were of the finest emerald, and four of the commoner description, twenty ear-rings of amber set in gold, and an equal number made of crystal rock, one hundred pots of liquid amber, and sixteen thousand loads of India-rubber. Tepeyacac, Quecholac, Tecamachalco, Acatzinco and other towns of that region of country, each contributed four thousand sacks of lime, four thousand loads of solid reed for building purposes, with as many of smaller reed for making darts, and eight thousand loads of reeds filled with aromatic substances. Malinaltepec, Tlalcozauhtitlan, Olinallan, Ichcatlan, Qualac, and other southern towns situated in the warm region, paid each six hundred measures of honey, forty large jars of yellow ochre for paint, one hundred and sixty copper shields, forty round plates of gold of fixed dimensions, ten small measures of fine turquoises, and one load of smaller turquoises. Quauhnahuac, Panchimalco, Atlacholoayan, Xiuhtepec, Huitzilac, and other towns of the Tlahuicas, paid each sixteen thousand large leaves of paper, and four thousand xicalli, or gourds, of different sizes. Quauhtitlan, Tehuilloyocan, and other neighboring towns, each gave eight thousand mats and eight thousand icpalli, or stools. Some cities paid their taxes with fire-wood, stone, and beams for building; others with copal-gum; others sent to the royal houses and forests a certain number of birds and animals, such as Xilotepec, Michmaloyan, and other cities of the Otomís, which were each compelled to furnish yearly forty live eagles to the king. After the Matlaltzincas were made subject to the Mexican crown by King Axayacatl, they were required not only to pay a heavy tax in kind, but also to keep under cultivation a field of seven hundred toesas[162]The toesa is the same thing as the French toise, which is 6.3945 English feet, or seven Castilian feet. by three hundred and fifty, for the benefit of the army. As the Saxon king imposed a tax of wolves’ heads upon his subjects for the purpose of ridding his kingdom of those ravenous animals, so did the Mexican monarchs exact from those who were too poor to pay the regular taxes a certain quantity of snakes, scorpions, centipedes and other obnoxious creatures. Lice, especially, were contributed in large numbers in Mexico.[163]Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., pp. 17-18; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 206; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 275; Zuazo, Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 366; Cortés, Hist. N. España, p. 173. It is related that soon after Cortés arrived in the city of Mexico, certain cavaliers of his force, among whom were Alonso de Ojeda and Alonso de Mata, were roaming through the royal palace, admiring its great extent and all its wonders, doubtless with an eye to plunder, when they came across some bags, filled with some soft, fine, and weighty material; never doubting but that it must be valuable, they hastened to untie the mouth of one of the sacks, when to their disgust and disappointment they found its contents to consist of nothing but lice, which, as they afterwards ascertained, had been paid as tribute by the poor.[164]Torquemada adds: ‘Ai quien diga, que no eran Piojos, sino Gusanillos; pero Alonso de Ojeda en sus Memoriales, lo certifica de vista, y lo mismo Alonso de Mata.’ Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 461. Duties were levied upon property, manufactures, and articles exposed for sale in the market-places, in proportion to the wealth of the person taxed or the value of the merchandise sold. Produce and merchandise of every description, carried into the city of Mexico, was subject to toll duties, which were paid into the royal treasury.

The proportion in which taxes were paid is stated at from thirty to thirty-three per cent., or about one third of everything made and produced. Oviedo affirms that each taxpayer, in addition to one third of his property, delivered one out of every three of his children, or in lieu thereof a slave, for the sacrifice; if he failed to do this he forfeited his own life.[165]‘Dábanle sus vassallos en tributo ordinario de tres hijos uno, y el que no tenia hijos avia de dar un indio ó india para sacrificar á sus dioses, é si no lo daban, avian de sacrificarle á él.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 502. Nowhere else do I find mention of such a custom, although in Michoacan the despotic power of the king, and his tyrannous abuse of it, led to almost the same results. In Michoacan: ‘Tributauan al Rey quanto tenian y el queria, hasta las mugeres y hijos, si los queria; de manera que eran mas que esclauos, y viuian en terrible seruidumbre.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. x., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xiii. ‘Si bien todas las atenciones dedicadas á los decorosos mugeriles privilegios destruian la sujecion del tributo á sus Monarcas, sirviendolos en la ceguedad de ofrecerles no solo la hacienda, y la vida, sino á sus proprias mugeres, en caso de discurrir aceptable el vergonzoso obsequio.’ Salazar y Olarte, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. ii., pp. 69-70.

The government had in the head town of each province large warehouses for the storage of breadstuffs and merchandise received by the tax-gatherers; also auditing offices to which the calpixques, or stewards of the revenue, were required to render a very strict account of their collections, and such as were convicted of embezzlement, were immediately put to death and their property confiscated.[166]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 307. In the royal treasury were paintings by which were recorded the tributary towns, and the quantity and kind of tribute paid by each. In the Codex Mendoza may be seen thirty-six such paintings, each one of which represents the principal towns of one or of several provinces of the empire, together with the quantity and quality of the taxes and the time when they were paid.[167]Codex Mendoza, in Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., pp. 1080-1101; Id., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 54-89, vol. i., plates xix-lvii; Cortés, Hist. N. España, p. 176; Cortés, Cartas, p. 110.

The personal and ordinary service consisted in providing every day the water and wood needed at the chiefs’ houses; this was distributed from day to day among the towns or wards, and thus each individual was occupied in rendering such service once or twice in the year at the utmost. Residents in the vicinity were the only ones so subjected, and then, in consideration of such service, were exempted from paying a portion of the imposts. Other labor was mostly done by slaves, of whom there were large numbers. Foreign provinces subjected by the empire without having made any resistance, were not required to pay a fixed tribute, but sent several times in the year whatever they thought proper, as a present to the king, who showed himself more or less gracious according to the value of the presents. No calpixques or tax-gatherers were placed in such provinces by the Mexican sovereign, but they continued under the rule of their own chiefs. Such countries as were reduced by war, had to submit to the rigorous conditions imposed by the conqueror, and bore the name of tequitin tlacotl, which means ‘paying tribute like slaves.’ Over them were stationed stewards and calpixques, who had authority even over the lords of the country, and who besides recovering the tributes forced men to cultivate land, and women to spin, weave, and embroider for their private benefit; indeed, so great was their tyranny, that whatever they coveted they were sure to obtain by fair means or foul. The kings of Tezcuco and Tlacopan, and other sovereign lords, allies of the king of Mexico, shared these tributes if they aided in the conquest.[168]Tápia, Relacion, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. ii., p. 592.

Taxation Under Montezuma II

The sovereigns selected the calpixques from among the Aztec pilli, or nobles of inferior rank. They were under the supervision of the chief treasurers or hueycalpixques, who resided at the several capitals, and it was their duty to gather the tributes or taxes, and to see that the lands belonging to the municipalities or to private persons were kept under cultivation. The duties of these calpixques were not very arduous at first, as the people generally hastened to pay their taxes before being called upon; but during the reign of Montezuma II. the taxes increased so enormously, owing to the great extravagance of the court, that this commendable zeal cooled down very considerably. The bulk of the immense wealth which the conquerors saw with so much admiration at Montezuma’s court was the result of this excessive taxation, and it was one of the main causes of that alienation of the people from their sovereign which rendered the conquest a possible achievement. Notwithstanding the easy disposition of the taxpayers, they could not submit patiently to a yoke so onerous. The merchants, whose trading expeditions had been so useful to the state in former times, were no less overwhelmed by the taxes than the inhabitants of conquered provinces by the tributes. It was among that powerful class that the first symptoms of defection were noticed. To the main grievance was added the tyranny and harshness exhibited by the revenue officers in collecting the taxes. They carried a small rod in one hand and a feather fan in the other, and, accompanied by a large retinue of understrappers, went through cities and fields, unmercifully maltreating the unfortunate beings who could not promptly comply with their demands, and even selling them into slavery; at least it is certain that such sales occurred in conquered provinces.

Selfishness of Montezuma II

From the first years of his reign Montezuma II. began to oppress the merchants with heavy taxation, even upon the most trifling things. The greatest sufferers were the retail dealers, who had to pay excessive duties upon the merchandise they introduced into the principal tianguez, or market-place, from which such merchandise was taken to the lesser market-places. But the king and his creatures finding that this did not directly injure the wholesale traders, among whom were the judges of the mercantile court,—that is to say, the consuls and syndics, so to name them, of the company of Tlatelulco,—witnesses were soon found to trump up charges of high treason against them, which ended in their being put to death, and their goods and chattels confiscated and distributed among the people of the royal household. A very large portion of the taxes and tributes was expended in supporting the army, the public employees, the poor and destitute, such as widows, orphans, and the aged, and also in providing food for the people in times of great scarcity, but almost as large a portion was appropriated by the king to his own uses.[169]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 147, 206, 231, 461, tom. ii., pp. 545-7, 560; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 111-13; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxli.; Toribio and Olarte, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., pp. 401-8; Fuenleal, in Id., pp. 244-54; Chaves, Rapport, in Id., série ii., tom. v., p. 301; Simancas, in Id., série i., tom. x., pp. 229-31; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., pp. 180, 198-9; Witt, Lettre in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., pp. 284-93; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 491-2; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 68; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 189-90, 193-8; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 38-40; Solis, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. i., pp. 417-19; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 36-7; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 99, 101, 437, 495, 589-93, 631, tom. ii., p. 203; Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 240; Dicc. Univ., tom. x., p. 637; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 606-9; Carbajal, Discurso, pp. 36, 45-6, 58; Dillon, Hist. Mex., pp. 42-5; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, pp. 55, 59, 68-72, 211; Baril, Mexique, pp. 206-8; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., pp. 153-8; Soden, Spanier in Peru, tom. ii., p. 13; Lang’s Polynesian Nat., p. 99; Brownell’s Ind. Races, p. 83; Touron, Hist. Gén., tom. iii., pp. 25-9, 38; Monglave, Résumé, pp. 23, 65. It was by such acts as these that Montezuma II. undid the work of his fathers, and spoiled the harmony of his realm by caring only for his own glory and that of his court.

Footnotes

[130] See page 191 of this volume.

[131] Acosta, De procuranda, indorum salute; quoted in Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, p. 81.

[132] Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcix., p. 130.

[133] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 134-6; Cortés, Carta Inéd., in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 474.

[134] Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 32-3; see also, tom. ii., lib. vii., pp. 258-9, lib. ix., pp. 353, 370. The Anonymous Conqueror agrees with Sahagun: ‘Tutti quei che si pigliauano nella guerra, ò erano màgiati da loro, ò erano tenuti per schiaui.’ Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 304. Motolinia, however, asserts that all prisoners of war were sacrificed: ‘por que ningun esclavo se hacian en ellas, ni rescataban ninguno de los que en las guerras prendian, mas todos los guardavan para sacrificar.’ Carta al Emperador Cárlos V., Jan. 2, 1555, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 272. Gomara also confirms this with a grim joke: ‘Los catiuos en guerra no siruian de esclauos, sino de sacrificados: y no hazian mas de comer para ser comidos.’ Conq. Mex., fol. 320-1; see also fol. 309.

[135] ‘Algunos quisieron decir, que si vn libre tenia acceso à alguna Esclava, y quedaba preñada de la copula, era Esclavo el Varon que cometiò acto con Esclava, y servia al Señor de la Esclava; pero esto no fue asi, segun confesion de los mismos Indios Sabios, que sabian sus Leies, y las practicaban.’ Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 566.

[136] Conq. Mex., fol. 320.

[137] Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 566.

[138] Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. iii., cap. xxii., xxiii.

[139] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 564-5; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 303. Brasseur de Bourbourg asserts that these contracts remained in force down to the time of the Spanish conquest. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 611.

[140] ‘Y cuando acontecia la dicha hambre, entónces se vendian por esclavos muchos pobres hombres y mugeres, y comprábanlos los ricos que tenian muchas provisiones allegadas, y no solamente los dichos pobres se vendian a sí mismos, sino que tambien vendian á sus hijos, y á sus descendientes, y á todo su linaje, y así eran esclavos perpetuamente, porque decian que esta servidumbre que se cobraba en tal tiempo, no tenia remedio para acabarse en algun tiempo, porque sus padres se habian vendido por escapar de la muerte, ó por librar su vida de la última necesidad.’ Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vii., pp. 258-9.

[141] ‘Vendian niños recien nacidos, y de dos años, para cumplir sus promesas, y ofrecer en los templos, como nosotros las candelas, y sacrificarlos para alcançar sus pretensiones.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xvi. ‘Porque como andaban todos los Reinos, con sus mercancias, traìan de todos ellos muchos esclavos, los quales, si no eran todos, à lo menos, los mas, sacrificaban.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 272. ‘Porque casi todos los que sacrificaban á los idolos eran los que prendian en las guerras … mui poquitos eran los otros que sacrificavan.’ Motolinia, Carta al Emperador Cárlos V., Jan. 2, 1555, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 264, 272. ‘Luego proponian un parlamento á los esclavos, enanos y corcobados, diciendo: hijos mios, id á la buena ventura con vuestro señor Axayaca á la otra vida…. Luego le abrieron el pecho, teniendolo seis ó siete sacerdotes, y el mayoral le sacaba el corazon, y todo el dia y toda la noche ardía el cuerpo del rey, con los corazones de los miserables esclabos que morian sin culpa.’ Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 90, 142. ‘Sacrificando en sus honras doscientos esclavos, y cien esclavas.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chichimeca, in Id., pp. 282, 250. ‘Quando moria algun principal, matavan juntamente con él un esclavo, y enterravan con él para que le fuese á servir.’ Codex Telleriano-Remensis, in Id., vol. v., p. 130. ‘Avec lui, de jeunes filles, des esclaves et des bossus.’ Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 202. ‘Se quemaba junto con sus cuerpos y con los corazones de los cautivos y esclavos que mataban.’ Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, p. 35; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 453, 573-4; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 6, 8; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, p. 65; Among those who in later times have treated of slavery among the Nahua nations are the following: Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 261; Dapper, Neue Welt, p. 294; Chevalier, Mex., Ancien et Mod., p. 62; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., pp. 155-6; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 541; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, pp. 69-70; Soden, Spanier in Peru, tom. ii., pp. 14-15; Simon’s Ten Tribes, p. 273.

[142] Toribio and Olarte, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 405.

[143] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 545-6; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 122.

[144] Zurita, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., p. 67; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 603; Carbajal, Discurso, p. 61; Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., p. 40.

[145] Boturini, Idea, p. 165; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 208, 216, 224-5, 241; Id., Relaciones, in Id., pp. 339-43, 346, 353, 386-7, 395, 451, 453; Heredia y Sarmiento, Sermon, MS., pp. 51-2; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 189; Vetancvrt, Teatro, Mex., pt ii., pp. 13-14.

[146] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xvii., says that brothers inherited estates and not sons; but this assertion is not borne out by any other authority.

[147] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 348; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 123.

[148] Fuenleal, Lettre, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., pp. 252-4; Cortés, Cartas, p. 68; Witt, Lettre, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., p. 287; Carbajal, Discurso, p. 63; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 535; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 231; Zurita, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., pp. 48-9, 65; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 122-4; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 304; Vetancvrt, Teatro, Mex., pt ii., pp. 53-4.

[149] ‘Ce n’est pas qu’ils eussent ces terres en propre; car, comme les seigneurs exerçaient un pouvoir tyrannique, ils disposaient des terrains et des vassaux suivant leur bon plaisir. Les Indiens n’étaient donc, proprement dit, ni propriétaires ni maîtres de ces villages; ils n’étaient que les laboureurs ou les amodiateurs des seigneurs terriers, de telle façon que l’on pourrait dire que tout le territoire, soit des plaines, soit des montagnes, dépendait du caprice des seigneurs et qu’il leur appartenait, puisqu’ils y exerçaient un pouvoir tyrannique, et que les Indiens vivaient au jour le jour; les seigneurs partageant entre eux tous leurs produits.’ Simancas, De l’Ordre de Succession, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., pp. 224-5; Zurita, Rapport, in Id., série ii., tom. i., pp. 51-7; Fuenleal, Lettre, in Id., tom. v., p. 221; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 603-7; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 590; Variedades Civ., tom. i., pp. 158-9; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 35-6; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., pp. 153-5.

[150] Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 164.

[151] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 36. See further: Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. 141; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 558-9; Carbajal, Discurso, p. 36; Soden, Spanier in Peru, tom. ii., p. 13; Dillon, Hist. Mex., p. 43; Chevalier, Mex., Ancien et Mod., pp. 117-18.

[152] Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. i., pt ii., fol. 188; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 39-40.

[153] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 54; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 95-6.

[154] Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., p. 52.

[155] Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 176; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 276-7.

[156] Witt, Lettre, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., p. 289.

[157] Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 241-2.

[158] Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 535, 305-6.

[159] ‘Nè i Vasalli de’ Feudatari erano esenti da’ tributi, che pagavano al Re gli altri Vassalli della Corona.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 122-7.

[160] His Pilgrimes, vol. iv., p. 1080.

[161] In the Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 54, we read that it was paid every eighty days.

[162] The toesa is the same thing as the French toise, which is 6.3945 English feet, or seven Castilian feet.

[163] Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., pp. 17-18; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 206; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 275; Zuazo, Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 366; Cortés, Hist. N. España, p. 173.

[164] Torquemada adds: ‘Ai quien diga, que no eran Piojos, sino Gusanillos; pero Alonso de Ojeda en sus Memoriales, lo certifica de vista, y lo mismo Alonso de Mata.’ Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 461.

[165] ‘Dábanle sus vassallos en tributo ordinario de tres hijos uno, y el que no tenia hijos avia de dar un indio ó india para sacrificar á sus dioses, é si no lo daban, avian de sacrificarle á él.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 502. Nowhere else do I find mention of such a custom, although in Michoacan the despotic power of the king, and his tyrannous abuse of it, led to almost the same results. In Michoacan: ‘Tributauan al Rey quanto tenian y el queria, hasta las mugeres y hijos, si los queria; de manera que eran mas que esclauos, y viuian en terrible seruidumbre.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. x., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xiii. ‘Si bien todas las atenciones dedicadas á los decorosos mugeriles privilegios destruian la sujecion del tributo á sus Monarcas, sirviendolos en la ceguedad de ofrecerles no solo la hacienda, y la vida, sino á sus proprias mugeres, en caso de discurrir aceptable el vergonzoso obsequio.’ Salazar y Olarte, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. ii., pp. 69-70.

[166] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 307.

[167] Codex Mendoza, in Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., pp. 1080-1101; Id., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 54-89, vol. i., plates xix-lvii; Cortés, Hist. N. España, p. 176; Cortés, Cartas, p. 110.

[168] Tápia, Relacion, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. ii., p. 592.

[169] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 147, 206, 231, 461, tom. ii., pp. 545-7, 560; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 111-13; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxli.; Toribio and Olarte, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., pp. 401-8; Fuenleal, in Id., pp. 244-54; Chaves, Rapport, in Id., série ii., tom. v., p. 301; Simancas, in Id., série i., tom. x., pp. 229-31; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., pp. 180, 198-9; Witt, Lettre in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., pp. 284-93; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 491-2; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 68; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 189-90, 193-8; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 38-40; Solis, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. i., pp. 417-19; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 36-7; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 99, 101, 437, 495, 589-93, 631, tom. ii., p. 203; Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 240; Dicc. Univ., tom. x., p. 637; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 606-9; Carbajal, Discurso, pp. 36, 45-6, 58; Dillon, Hist. Mex., pp. 42-5; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, pp. 55, 59, 68-72, 211; Baril, Mexique, pp. 206-8; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., pp. 153-8; Soden, Spanier in Peru, tom. ii., p. 13; Lang’s Polynesian Nat., p. 99; Brownell’s Ind. Races, p. 83; Touron, Hist. Gén., tom. iii., pp. 25-9, 38; Monglave, Résumé, pp. 23, 65.

Chapter VII • Education, Marriage, Concubinage, Childbirth, and Baptism • 16,600 Words

Education of the Nahua Youth—Manner of Punishment—Marriage Preliminaries—Nuptial Ceremony—Observance after Marriage—Mazatec, Otomí, Chichimec, and Toltec Marriages—Divorce—Concubinage—Ceremonies Preliminary to Childbirth—Treatment of Pregnant Woman—Proceedings of Midwife—Superstitions with regard to Women who Died in Childbed—Abortion—Baptism—Speeches of Midwife—Naming of Children—Baptism among the Tlascaltecs, Miztecs, and Zapotecs—Circumcision and Scarification of Infants.

In examining the domestic customs of the Nahua nations it will be as well to first inquire how their children were reared and instructed. The education of a child was commenced by its parents as soon as it was able to walk, and was finished by the priests. Aside from the superstitious and idolatrous flavor with which everything Aztec was more or less tainted, the care taken to mold aright the minds of the youth of both sexes is worthy of admiration. Both parents and priests strenuously endeavored to inspire their pupils with a horror of vice and a love of truth. Respect for their elders and modesty in their actions was one of their first lessons, and lying was severely punished.

Education of Youth

In a series of ancient Aztec paintings, which give a hieroglyphical history of the Aztecs, are represented the manner in which children were brought up, the portion of food allowed them, the labors they were employed in, and the punishments resorted to by parents for purposes of correction. Purchas relates that the book containing this picture-history with interpretations made by natives, was obtained by the Spanish governor, who intended it for a present to the emperor Charles V. The ship on which it was carried was captured by a French man-of-war, and the book fell into the hands of the French king’s geographer, Andrew Thevet. At his death it was purchased for twenty French crowns by Richard Hakluyt, then chaplain to the English ambassador at the French court, and was left by him in his last will and testament to Samuel Purchas, who had woodcut copies made from the original and published them, with explanatory text, for the benefit of science and learning. In that part of the work which relates to the bringing up and education of children,—a specimen page of which is given in the chapter of this volume which treats of hieroglyphics,—a boy and girl with their father and mother are depicted; three small circles, each of which represents one year, show that the children are three years of age, while the good counsel they are receiving issues visibly from the father’s lips; half an oval divided in its breadth shows that at this age they were allowed half a cake of bread at each meal. During their fourth and fifth years the boys are accustomed to light bodily labor, such as carrying light burdens, while the girl is shown a distaff by her mother, and instructed in its use. At this age their ration of bread is a whole cake. During their sixth and seventh years the pictures show how the parents begin to make their children useful. The boy follows his father to the market-place, carrying a light load, and while there occupies himself in gathering up grains of corn or other trifles that happen to be spilt about the stalls. The girl is represented as spinning, under the close surveillance of her mother, who lectures and directs her at the same time. The allowance of bread is now a cake and a half, and continues to be so until the children have reached their thirteenth year. We are next shown the various modes of punishing unruly children. When eight years old they are merely shown the instruments of punishment as a warning. At ten, boys who were disobedient or rebellious were bound hand and foot and pricked in different parts of the body with thorns of the maguey; girls were only pricked in the hands and wrists; if this did not suffice they were beaten with sticks. If they were unruly when eleven years old they were held over a pile of burning chile, and forced to inhale the smoke, which caused great pain.[170]Clavigero writes: ‘Nella dipintura cinquantesimaseconda si rappresentano due ragazzi d’undici anni, ai quali per non essersi emendati con altri gastighi, fanno i lor Padri ricevere nel naso il fumo del Chilli, o sia peverone.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 103. But this is a mistake; in this picture we see a girl being punished by her mother in the manner described, and a boy by his father. At twelve years of age a bad boy was bound hand and foot and exposed naked in a damp place during an entire day; the naughty girl of the same age was obliged to rise in the night and sweep the whole house.[171]Clavigero mentions this girl as ‘una putta … cui fa sua Madre spazzar la notte tutta la casa, e parte della strada.’ Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 103. From the age of thirteen years the allowance of bread was increased to two cakes. Between the ages of thirteen and fifteen the boys were employed in bringing wood from the mountains by land or in canoes, or in catching fish; the girls spent their time in grinding corn, cooking, and weaving. At fifteen, the boys were delivered to the priests to receive religious instruction, or were educated as soldiers by an officer called Achcauhtli.[172]For these picture-writings and the interpretations of them, see: Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., pp. 1103-7; Codex Bodleian, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. i., plates 59-62; Codex Mendoza, in Id., vol. i., and vol. v., pp. 92-7; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 566-575; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 102-3.

Schools for Youth

The schools and seminaries were annexed to the temples, and the instruction of the young of both sexes was a monopoly in the hands of the priests. In general boys were sent to the colleges between the ages of six and nine years; they were dressed in black, their hair was left uncut,[173]‘Tenian estas gentes tambien por ley que todos los niños llegados à los seis años hasta los nueve habian de enviar los padres à los Templos para ser instruidos en la doctrína y noticia de sus leyes las cuales contenian casi todas las virtudes esplicadas la en ley natural.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxv., ccxv. ‘Todos estos religiosos visten de negro y nunca cortan el cabello … y todos los hijos de las personas principales, así señores como ciudadanos honrados, estan en aquellas religiones y hábito desde edad de siete ú ocho años fasta que los sacan para los casar.’ Cortés, Cartas, p. 105. ‘Cuando el niño llegaba á diez ó doce años, metíanle en la casa de educacion ó Calmecac.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 326; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 302; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 187. and they were placed under the charge of priests specially appointed for that purpose, who instructed them in the branches most suitable to their future calling. All were instructed in religion and particular attention was given to good behavior and morals. No women were permitted to enter the college, nor could the youths on any account have communication with the other sex. At certain seasons they were required to abstain from various kinds of food.

The schools, or colleges, were of two distinct classes. Those attended by the common people were called telpochcalli, or ‘houses of the youths;’ there was one of these in each quarter of the city, after the manner of our public schools, and the parents of the district were required to enter their children at the age of four or five years. The telpochtlato, or ‘chief of youth,’ instructed them how to sweep the sanctuary, to replenish the fire in the sacred censers, to clean the schoolhouse, to do penance, more or less severe according to their age, and to go in parties to the forest to gather wood for the temple. Each pupil took his meals at the house of his parents, but all were obliged to sleep in the seminary. At nightfall all assembled in the cuicacalco, or ‘house of song,’ and were there taught the arts of singing and dancing, which formed part of a Mexican education; they were also exercised here in the use of arms.[174]A native author asserts that this ‘house of song’ was frequently the scene of debauch and licentiousness. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 553. At the age of fifteen or sixteen, or sometimes earlier, it was customary for the parents to withdraw their children from the telpochcalli that they might follow a trade or profession, but this was never done without first making a present to the telpochtlato. The schools at which the sons of the nobility and those destined to be priests were educated, were called calmecac, which means a college, or monastery. The pupils did not do as much manual labor as those educated in the telpochcalli, nor did they take their meals at home, but in the building. They were under the supervision of priests of the Tlamacazqui order, who instructed them in all that the plebeians learned, besides many of the arts and sciences, such as the study of heroic songs and sacred hymns, which they had to learn by heart, history, religion, philosophy, law, astronomy, astrology, and the writing and interpreting of hieroglyphics. If not quick and diligent, they were given less food and more work; they were admonished to be virtuous and chaste, and were not allowed to leave the temple, until with their father’s permission they went out from it to be married, or, in the case of a youth of strength and courage, to go to the wars; those who showed qualities fitted for a military life were exercised in gymnastics and trained to the use of weapons, to shoot with the bow, manage the shield, and to cast darts at a mark. Their courage, strength, and endurance underwent severe tests; they were early afforded opportunities of realizing the hardships of camp life, and, while boys, were sent to carry provisions to the soldiers, upon which occasions their behavior was closely watched, and a display of courage met with suitable promotion and reward.[175]‘Los hijos de los nobles no se libraban tampoco de faenas corporales, pues hacian zanjas, construian paredes y desempeñaban otros trabajos semejantes, aunque tambien se les enseñaba á hablar bien, saludar, hacer reverencias y, lo que es mas importante, aprendian la astronomía, la historia y demas conocimientos que aquellas gentes alcanzaban.’ Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, p. 66;Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 444-6.

Female Seminaries

Annexed to the temples were large buildings used as seminaries for girls. The maidens who were educated in them were principally the daughters of lords and princes. They were presided over by matrons or vestal priestesses, brought up in the temple, who watched over those committed to their care with great vigilance. Day and night the exterior of the building was strictly guarded by old men, to prevent any intercourse between the sexes from taking place; the maidens could not even leave their apartments without a guard; if any one broke this rule and went out alone, her feet were pricked with thorns till the blood flowed. When they went out, it was together and accompanied by the matrons; upon such occasions they were not allowed to raise their eyes, or in any way take notice of anyone; any infringement of these rules was visited with severe punishment. The maidens had to sweep those precincts of the temple occupied by them, and attend to the sacred fire; they were taught the tenets of their religion and shown how to draw blood from their bodies when offering sacrifice to the gods. They also learned how to make feather-work, and to spin, and weave mantles; particular attention was given to their personal cleanliness; they were obliged to bathe frequently, and to be skilful and diligent in all household affairs. They were taught to speak with reverence, and to humble themselves in the presence of their elders, and to observe a modest and bashful demeanor at all times. They rose at day-break, and whenever they showed themselves idle or rude, punishment was inflicted. At night the pupils slept in large rooms in sight of the matrons, who watched them closely. The daughters of nobles, who entered the seminaries at an early age, remained there until taken away by their parents to be married.[176]‘Iban tan honestas que no alzaban los ojos del suelo, y si se descuidaban, luego les hacian señal que recogiesen la vista … las mujeres estaban por si en piezas apartadas, no salian las doncellas de sus aposentos á la huerta ó verjeles sin ir acompañadas con sus guardas…. Siendo las niños de cinco años las comenzaban á enseñar á hilar, tejer y labrar, y no las dejaban andar ociosas, y á la que se levantaba de labor fuera de tiempo, atábanle los piés, porque asentase y estuviese queda.’ Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 121-2.

Children brought up in the house of their parents were taught the worship of the gods, and were frequently conducted to the temple in order that they might witness the religious performances. Military men instructed their sons in the use of weapons and the art of war, and lost no opportunity of inuring them to danger, always endeavoring to inspire courage and daring. Laborers and artisans usually taught their children their own trade. The sons of the nobles who were placed in the seminaries were never permitted to go out unless accompanied by one of the superiors of the temple; their food was brought to them by their parents. The punishments inflicted were excessively severe. Liars had thorns thrust into their lips; and sometimes, if the fault was frequent, their lips were slightly split. Those who were negligent or disobedient were bound hand and foot, and pricked with thorns or badly pinched. A girl who was detected looking at or speaking to a man was severely punished; and if addicted to walking the streets, her feet were tied together, and pricked with sharp thorns.[177]See further, for information on the education of the Mexicans: Solis, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. i., pp. 421-3; Carbajal, Discurso, pp. 17-18; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 563-4; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., pp. 144-5; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xix.; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 267-8; Fuenleal, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 251; Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. iv.; Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 239; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 38-47; Chevalier, Mex., Ancien et Mod., pp. 119-20.

There was in Tezcuco, during the reign of Nezahualcoyotl, a large seminary, built upon the west side of the temple, which consisted of several spacious halls and rooms, with a courtyard, and was called the tlacoteo. Here the king’s sons were brought up and instructed. The guardians and tutors who had charge of them took much pains to instruct them in everything becoming their high estate. Besides the use of arms, they were taught all the arts and sciences as far as then known, and were made fully acquainted with the practical working of precious metals and stones. Separate rooms were devoted to the use of the king’s daughters, where they were given an education fitting their station. In accordance with a law of the realm, the king, his children and relatives, with their guardians and masters, and the grandees of the kingdom, came together every eighty days, in a large hall of the tlacoteo; all were seated according to rank; the males on one side, and the females on the other. All the men, even those of royal blood, were dressed in coarse garments of nequen, or maguey-fibre. An orator ascended a sort of pulpit and commenced a discourse, in which he censured those who had done badly during the last eighty days, and praised those who had done well; this he did without favor, not even hesitating to blame the king if he saw fit. The discourse was delivered with such eloquence and feeling as generally to move the audience to tears.[178]Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., pp. 244-5.

A PARENT’S DISCOURSE TO HIS SONS.

Sahagun, Motolinia, Mendieta, and other early writers, who were well acquainted with the Mexican language, give us specimens of the exhortations delivered by parents to their children. I select one from the first-mentioned author, as an example: “Give ear unto me and hearken, O my sons,” says the Mexican parent, “because I am your father; and I, though unworthy, am chosen by the gods to rule and govern this city. Thou who art my first-born and the eldest of thy brothers; and thou the second, and thou the third, and thou the last and least—know that I am anxious and concerned, lest some of you should prove worthless in after life; lest, peradventure, not one among you should prove worthy to bear my dignities and honors after me; perhaps it is the will of the gods that the house which I have with so great labor built up, shall fall to the ground and remain a ruin and a dung-hill; that my name shall be no more remembered among men; that after my death no man shall speak well of me. Hear now the words that I shall speak unto you, that you may learn how to be of use in the world, and how to draw near unto the gods that they may show favor to you; for this I say unto you, that those who weep and are grieved; those who sigh, pray and ponder; those who are watchful at night, and wakeful in the morning; those who diligently keep the temples cleanly and in order; those who are reverent and prayerful—all these find favor with the gods; to all such the gods give riches, honor, and prosperity, even as they give them to those who are strong in battle. It is by such deeds the gods know their friends, and to such they give high rank and military distinctions; success in battle, and an honorable place in the hall of justice; making them parents of the sun, that they may give meat and drink not only to the gods of heaven, but also to the gods of hell; and such as are thus honored are revered by all brave men and warriors: all men look on them as their parents, because the gods have shown them favor; and have rendered them fit to hold high offices and dignities and to govern with justice; they are placed near the god of fire, the father of all the gods, whose dwelling is in the water surrounded by turreted walls of flowers, and who is called Ayamictlan and Xiuhtecutli; or they are made lords of the rank of Tlacatecutli or Tlacochtecutli, or they are given some lower post of honor. Perchance they are given some such office as I now hold, not through any merit of my own, but because the gods know not my unworthiness. I am not what I am by my own asking; never did I say, I wish to be so and so, I desire this or that honor; the gods have done me this honor of their own will, for surely all is theirs, and all that is given comes from their hand; nor shall any one say, I desire this or that honor, for the gods give as they please and to whom they please, and stand in need of counsel from none. Harken, my sons, to another sorrow that afflicts me when I arise at midnight to pray and do penance. Then I ponder many things, and my heart rises and sinks even as one who goes up and down mountains, for I am satisfied with no one of you. Thou, my eldest son, dost not give any sign of improvement, I see in thee nothing manly, thou remainest ever a boy, thy conduct does not become an elder brother. And thou, my second son, and thou, my third, I see in you no discretion or manliness; peradventure it is because you are second and third that you have become careless. What will become of you in the world? Lo, now, are you not the children of noble parents? Your parents are not tillers of the soil or wood-cutters. What, I say again, will become of you? Do you wish to be nothing but merchants, to carry a staff in your hands and a load on your backs? Will you become laborers and work with your hands? Harken, my sons, and give heed unto my words, and I will point out to you those things which you shall do. See to the proper observance of the dances, and the music, and the singing, for thus will you please both the people and the gods; for with music and singing are favors and riches gained. Endeavor to learn some honorable trade or profession, such as working in feathers or precious metals; for by such means bread can be obtained in time of necessity. Pay attention to every branch of agriculture, for the earth desires not food or drink, but only to bring forth and produce. Your fathers sought to understand these things, for though they were gentlemen and nobles they took care that their estate should be properly cultivated. If you think only of your high rank and are unmindful of these things, how will you support your family, in no part of the world does anyone support himself by his gentility only. But above all study well to provide all those things which are necessary for the sustenance of the body, for these are the very foundation of our being, and rightly are they called tonacaiutltomio, that is to say our flesh and bones, because it is by them that we work, live, and are strong. There is no man in the world but what eats, for each one has a stomach and intestines. The greatest lords need food, the most valiant warrior must carry a bag of victuals. By the sustenance of the body life is upheld, by it the world is peopled. See, therefore, my sons, that you be careful to plant the corn and the magueys, for do we not know that fruit is the delight of children; truly it cools and quenches the thirst of the little ones. And you, boys, do you not like fruit? But how will you get it if you do not plant and grow it. Give heed, my sons, to the conclusion of my discourse, and let it be written upon your hearts. Many more things could I say, but my task would never be ended. A few more words only will I add that have been handed down to us from our forefathers. Firstly, I counsel you to propitiate the gods, who are invisible and impalpable, giving them your whole soul and body. Look to it that you are not puffed up with pride, that you are neither obstinate, nor of a weak, vacillating mind, but take heed to be meek and humble and to put your trust in the gods, lest they visit your transgressions upon you, for from them nothing can be hidden, they punish how and whom they please. Secondly, my sons, endeavor to live at peace with your fellow-men. Treat all with deference and respect; if any speak ill of you answer them not again; be kind and affable to all, yet converse not too freely with any; slander no man; be patient, returning good for evil, and the gods will amply avenge your wrongs. Lastly, my children, be not wasteful of your goods nor of your time, for both are precious; at all seasons pray to the gods and take counsel with them; be diligent about those things which are useful. I have spoken enough, my duty is done. Peradventure you will forget or take no heed of my words. As you will. I have done my duty, let him profit by my discourse who chooses.”[179]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 113-19. A literal translation of Sahagun would be unintelligible to the reader. I therefore have merely followed as closely as possible the spirit and sense of this discourse. For further exhortations and advice to children see Id., pp. 119-52; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 112; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 493-9; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 104-9.

Marriage

The customary marrying-age for young men was from twenty to twenty-two, and for girls from eleven to eighteen.[180]Although Gomara says ‘casan ellos a los veinte años, y aun antes: y ellas á diez.’ Conq. Mex., fol. 314. Marriages between blood relations or those descended from a common ancestor were not allowed. A brother could, and was enjoined to, marry his deceased brother’s wife, but this was only considered a duty if the widow had offspring by the first marriage, in order that the children might not be fatherless.[181]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 330; Carbajal, Discurso, p. 16. When a youth reached a marriageable age, he or his parents asked permission of his teacher. He seldom was allowed any choice of his own, but was expected to abide by the selection of his parents. It rarely happened that a marriage took place without the sanction of parents or relatives, and he who presumed to choose his own wife, or married without such consent, had to undergo penance, and was looked upon as ungrateful, ill-bred, and apostate. In some parts the high priest commanded them to marry when they arrived at the proper age, and he who refused to comply was obliged to remain continent through life, and dedicate the remainder of his days to the service of the gods. Should he afterward repent and desire to marry, he was despised by all his friends and publicly denounced as infamous, inasmuch as he had shown himself to be devoid of firmness, and unable to keep the vow of chastity to which he had voluntarily bound himself; nor would any respectable woman afterward accept him as a husband. In Tlascala, if any one carelessly allowed the time to pass by without taking a wife, or deciding upon a life of chastity, his hair was cut short and he was driven out from the company of the youths with whom he was educated.

Cutting the hair formed a part of the marriage ceremony, but the mode of cutting was different from that of the penalty.[182]‘Por otro respecto no era pena trasquilar los tales mancebos, sino ceremonia de sus casamientos: esto era, por que dejando la cabellera significaba dejar la lozania y liviandad de mancebo; y asi como desde adelante habia de criar nueva forma de cabellos, tuviese nueva seso y cordura para regir su muger y casa. Bien creo que debia de haber alguna diferencia en estos trasquilados cuando se trasquilaban por ceremonia ó por pena.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxxix.; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i. p. 577. When the time came for the parents to choose a wife for their son, all the relations were called together and informed by the father that the youth had now reached an age when he should be provided with a wife; for that he was now a man, and must learn how to perform the duties of a man, and refrain from boyish tricks and promiscuous intercourse with women. The youth was then summoned before his parents, and his father addressed him, saying: “My son, thou art now a man, and it seems to us proper to search among the maidens for a wife for thee. Ask thy tutors for permission to separate thyself from thy friends, the youths with whom thou hast been educated. Make known our wishes to those called Telpuchtlatoque, who have the charge of thee.” The youth in answer expressed his willingness and desire to enter into their plans. The parents then set about preparing a quantity of food, such as tamales, chocolate, and other dishes; and also provided a small axe, which was to bear a part in the next proceeding. The repast being prepared, an invitation was sent to the priests who were instructors of the youth, accompanied with presents of food and pipes of tobacco; all the relations were also invited. When the meal was finished, the relations, and guardians of the ward in which the parents of the pair lived, seated themselves. Then one of the youth’s relations, addressing the priestly instructors of the youth said: “Here, in the presence of all, we beg of you not to be troubled because this lad, our son, desires to withdraw from your company, and to take a wife; behold this axe, it is a sign that he is anxious to separate from you; according to our Mexican custom, take it, and leave us the youth.” Then the priest answered: “I, and the young men with whom your son has been educated have heard how that you have determined to marry him and that from henceforward, forever, he will be parted from us; let everything be done as you wish.” The tutor of the youth next addressed him, entreating him to persevere in the paths of virtue, not to forget the teachings he has received, and to continue to be a zealous servant of the gods; he advised him that as he was now about to take a wife he must be careful to provide for her support, and to bring up and instruct his children in the same manner as he had been educated. He adjured him to be courageous in battle, to honor and obey his parents, to show respect to his seniors and all aged persons; and so the speaker ambled morally along at some length, but I spare the reader the remainder of the discourse.[183]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 152-3; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 125; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxxix. The priests then took their leave, bearing the axe with them, and the young man remained in his father’s house.

Preliminaries to Marriage Ceremony

Soon after this the parents called the relations together once more to consult upon the selection of a maiden suitable to be the wife of their son. Their first act, and one that was of paramount importance, was to ascertain the day and sign of his birth. If they were unable to remember or calculate the sign they called in the aid of astrologers, or soothsayers, who by certain reckonings and ceremonies interpreted all they sought to know. The birthday and sign of the damsel were in like manner ascertained. If the horoscope of both was favorable, the astrologers predicted a happy union with prosperity and good fortune to both, but if the signs did not agree they foretold adversity and evil fortune, and it became necessary to choose another maiden. Once assured of a favorable combination according to the auguries, steps were taken to obtain the consent of the girl’s parents. For this purpose the parents and relatives of the youth commissioned two old women, chosen from among the most discreet and virtuous of the district, who were to act as negotiators in the affair; these were called cihuatlanque. They went on the part of the bridegroom and conveyed the message to the parents or nearest relatives of the young girl. Their first visit was made shortly after midnight or upon the following morning, upon which occasion they took with them some presents to offer to the girl’s parents. Upon their arrival they commenced a suitable address, in which they formally solicited the hand of the girl in marriage. The first overture was invariably rejected and some frivolous excuse given, even though the girl’s relatives might be more desirous of the match than those who solicited it. The embassy was told that the girl was not yet of an age to marry, or that she was not worthy of the honor offered her. After some few more such compliments had been paid, the matrons returned to those who had sent them. A few days having elapsed, the old women were sent back bearing more presents, and with instructions to again solicit the alliance, and to define clearly the position of the suitor, his qualifications and riches. Upon this second interview the negotiations assumed a more business-like aspect; the conversation turned upon the portion that each would bring to the other, and finally the relatives of the girl consented to consider the affair; yet they still maintained a semblance of reluctance, insisting that the girl was not worthy to become the wife of so estimable a young man; but adding that, as the matter was urged with so much importunity, they would on the morrow assemble all the relations of the young woman, that they might consult together about the affair; they then closed the conference by inviting their visitors to be present on that occasion and receive their final decision.

Marriage Ceremonies

The next day the parents of the girl called a meeting of all her relatives, at which the proposed alliance was discussed with due deliberation; and the girl being called before them, much good advice was given her; her duties as a wife were defined, she was charged to serve and please her husband, and not bring disgrace upon her parents. Information of their decision was then sent to the parents of the young man, and preparations for a fitting celebration of the wedding commenced. The augurs were consulted and requested to name a lucky day for the ceremony; the signs Acatl, Ozomatli, Cipactli, Quauhtli, or Calli, were deemed most favorable, and one or other of them was generally selected for the celebration of the nuptials. Several ensuing days were spent by both families in preparing for the marriage celebration, and in issuing invitations to friends and relations. The ceremony was always performed at the house of the bridegroom’s parents, where the best room was put in order for the occasion; the roof and walls were festooned with green branches and garlands of flowers, disposed with great taste, and the floor was strewn with the same. In the centre stood a brazier containing fire. When all the arrangements were completed, certain of the bridegroom’s friends and relatives went to the house of his intended to conduct her to the room. If the distance was great, or the bride the daughter of a lord or great personage, she was borne upon a litter, otherwise she was carried on the back of the bride’s-woman, or sponsor, accompanied by a large concourse of people, disposed in two rows and bearing torches. The bride occupied the centre of the procession, and immediately about her walked her nearest relatives. As the procession passed, many of the lookers-on profited by the occasion, to point her out to their own daughters as an example worthy of emulation.

Consummation of Marriage, Dancing the Chemise

The bridegroom met his betrothed at the entrance of his house, preceded by four women bearing lighted torches; in his hands he carried a censer with burning incense, and another was given to the bride; with these they at once perfumed each other, and the groom, taking her by the hand, led her into the room prepared for the ceremony. They were then seated upon an ornamented and painted mat spread close to the fireplace, the woman being placed on the left of the man.[184]‘Venian los de la casa del mozo á llevar á la moza de parte de noche: llevábanla con gran solemnidad acuestas de una matrona, y con muchas hachas de teas encendidas en dos rencles delante de ella.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 82, 157. ‘Pronuba, quam Amantesam vocabant, sponsam tergo gestans, quatuor fœminis comitantibus quæ pineis tædis, prælucerent, illam post Solis occasum, ad limen domus in qua parentes sponsi manebant, sistebat.’ Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 239. ‘La celebracion era que la desposada la llevaba á cuestas á prima noche una amanteca, que es medica, é hiban con ellas cuatro mujeres con sus achas de pino resinado encendidas, con que la hiban alumbrando, y llegada á casa del desposado, los padres del desposado la salian á recibir al patio de la casa, y la metian en una sala donde el desposado la estava aguardando.’ Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 99. The bridegroom’s mother then came forward with presents for her daughter-in-law, and dressed her in a huipil, or short chemise, at the same time laying at her feet a cuatli, or skirt, richly embroidered and worked. Next the bride’s mother gave presents to the bridegroom; she covered him with a mantle, which she fastened at the shoulder, and placed a maxtli or breech-clout at his feet. The most important part in the ceremony was next performed by the priest, who made a long address to the betrothed couple, in which he defined the duties of the married state, and pointed out to them the obedience a wife should observe towards her husband, and the care and attention the latter should give to her, how that he was bound to maintain and support her, and the children they might have. He was enjoined to bring up and educate his children near him, teaching all according to their abilities, to make them useful members of society, and to instruct them in habits of industry. A wife’s duties, he said, were to labor and aid her husband in obtaining sustenance for their family. Both were exhorted to be faithful to one another, to maintain peace and harmony between themselves, to overlook each other’s failings, and to help one another, ever bearing in mind that they were united for life by a tie which only death could sever. The rites of marriage were always conducted with much solemnity, and during the ceremony nothing was said or done contrary to the rules of modesty and decorum. At the conclusion of the address the couple stood up, and the priest tied the end of the man’s mantle to the dress of the woman; they then walked seven times round the fire, casting therein copal and incense, and giving presents to each other, while their friends and relatives threw chains of flowers about their necks and crowned them with garlands.[185]‘Un sacerdote ataba una punta del hueipilli, ó camisa de la doncella, con otra del tilmatli, ó capa del jóven.’ Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 557. ‘Al tiempo que los novios se avian de acostar é dormir en uno, tomaban la halda delantera de la camisa de la novia, é atábanla á la manta de algodon que tenia cubierta el novio.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 548. ‘Unas viejas que se llaman titici, ataban la esquina de la manta del mozo, con la falda del vipil de la moza.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 83. ‘Hechos los tratados, comparecian ambos contrayentes en el templo, y uno de los sacerdotes examinaba su voluntad con preguntas rituales; y despues tomaba con una mano el velo de la muger, y con otra el manto del marido, y los añudaba por los extremos, significando el vínculo interior de las dos voluntades. Con este género de yugo nupcial volvian á su casa, en compañia del mismo sacerdote: donde … entraban á visitar el fuego doméstico, que á su parecer, mediaban en la paz de los casados, y daban siete vueltas á él siguiendo al sacerdote.’ Solis, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. i., pp. 432-3. The mother-in-law of the bride now brought some food, and gave four mouthfuls to the bride to eat and afterwards gave the same quantity to the bridegroom. They then received the congratulations of their friends, while at the same time a dance was performed to the sound of musical instruments. Accompanied by the dancers and musicians, the newly wedded pair was conducted to the temple, at the door of which the tlamacaxques, or priests, appeared to receive them. While the company remained below, the wedded couple with their sponsors and parents ascended the steps of the temple. The priest wore his robes of ceremony, and carried in his hand an incensory filled with incense, with which he proceeded to perfume them. He then placed himself between the two, with the man on his right and the woman on his left, and taking them by the hands led them to the altar of the idol, muttering prayers as he went. The altar reached, he placed upon each of the parties a very fine and showy shawl woven and variegated with many colors, in the centre of which was painted a skeleton, as a symbol that death only could now separate them from each other. He then perfumed them again with the incensory, and led them back to the door of the temple, where they were received by the assemblage and accompanied to their home with dancing and music. The marriage ceremonies being finished, the relatives and friends partook of a banquet, and amidst much rejoicing congratulated each other on the new relations they had acquired. In the feasting, drinking, and dancing the bridal pair took no part; they had now to enter upon a season of fasting and penance, which lasted four days, in the strict retirement of their room, where they were closely guarded by old women; on no account were they permitted to leave their room except for the necessary calls of nature, or to offer sacrifice to the gods; the time was to be passed in prayer, and on no account were they to allow their passions to get the better of them or indulge in carnal intercourse. Such weakness on their part would, they believed, bring discord or death or some other dire misfortune between them. The close confinement, the watchful guard and imposed penances were intended to calm their passions and purify their minds, whereby they would be more fitted to undertake the duties before them, and not be led astray by unruly desires. What small supply of sustenance they received in the four days of their retirement was carried to them by the old women who had charge of them, and during this time they neither washed nor bathed themselves; they were dressed in new garments and wore certain charms and regalia pertaining to their patron idol. At midnight they came forth to offer sacrifice and burn incense on the altar in their house, in front of which they also left food offerings for their god; this they did during the four days of abstinence, while their friends and relatives continued their rejoicings, festivities, and dancing.[186]‘Quedando los esposos en aquella estancia durante los cuatro dias siguientes, sin salir de ella, sino á media noche para incensar á los ídolos y hacerles oblaciones de diversas especies de manjares.’ Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 557. ‘Á la media noche y al medio dia salian de su aposento á poner encienso sobre un altar que en su casa tenian.’ Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 128. ‘Los padrinos llevaban á los novios á otra pieza separada, donde los dejaban solos, encerrándolos por la parte de afuera, hasta la mañana siguiente, que venian á abrirles, y todo el concurso repetia las enhorabuenas, suponiendo ya consumado el matrimonio.’ Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 26. Upon the fourth night, when the marriage was to be consummated, two priests of the temple prepared a couch of two mats, between which were placed some feathers and a stone somewhat the color of an emerald, called chalchiuite; underneath they put a piece of tiger-skin, and on top of all they spread some cotton cloths. At the four corners of the bed were placed green reeds perfumed, and thorns of the maguey with which the pair were to draw blood from their tongues and ears when they sacrificed to the gods.[187]The position of the tiger-skin is doubtful: ‘Ponian tambien vn pedaço de cuero de Tigre, debajo de las esteras.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 415. ‘Ponian un pedazo de cuero de tigre encima de las esteras.’ Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 128. ‘La estera sobre que habian dormido, que se llamaba petatl, la sacaban al medio del patio, y allí la sacudian con cierta ceremonia, y despues tornaban á ponerla en el lugar donde habian de dormir.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 158. The following morning the bridal pair took the bed on which they had lain, with the cloths, reeds, and food they had offered to their god during the four days of penance, to the temple and left them as a thanksgiving offering.[188]‘Otra ceremonia, casi como esta, vsaban los del Pueblo de Israèl, acerca del acostar los Novios, la primera noche de sus Bodas, que les ponian vna sabana, ó lienço, para que en èl se estampase el testimonio de la virginidad, que era la sangre, que del primer acto se vertìa, la qual se quitaba de la cama delante de testigos, que pudiesen afirmar haverla visto, con la señal de la sangre, que comprobaba la corrupcion de la Doncella y embuelta, ó doblada, la ponian en cierto lugar, diputado para esto, donde quedaba guardada, en memoria de la limpieça, y puridad, con que la dicha Doncella venia á poder de su Marido. Seria posible, que quisiese significar entre estos Indios lo mismo, este cuidado de los viejos, de traer manta, ó sabana, y tenderla sobre la cama de los desposados, para los primeros actos matrimoniales; y es creible, que seria este el intento, pues la ropa, y esteras, que sirvieron en este Sacrificio, se llevaban al Templo, y no servian mas en casa, como ni mas, ni menos la ceremonia antigua de guardar la sabana, con sangre, entre los Hebreos, en lugar particular, y seguro.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 416. If any charcoal or ashes were found in the bridal chamber they considered it an evil omen, but if, on the other hand, a grain of corn or other seed was found, they considered it a sign of a long and prosperous life and a happy union. A baptismal ceremony was next performed, the wedded pair being placed on green reed mats, while the priests poured water over them. Nobles received four ablutions with water in honor of Chalchihuitlicue, the goddess of waters, and four of wine, in reverence to Tezcatzoncatl, the god of wine. After the bath they were dressed in new vestments, the bride’s head was adorned with white feathers and her hands and feet with red. To her husband was given a thurible, filled with incense wherewith to perfume his household gods. At the conclusion of these ceremonies a further distribution of dresses and presents was made, and the company partook of food and wine, while the scene was enlivened with songs and dances. Some more good advice, of which the Aztecs seem to have had a never-failing store, was then given to the wedded pair by the mothers-in-law or nearest relatives, and thus ended the nuptial ceremonies, which were conducted in accordance with the means of the principal parties concerned.[189]Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 116-20, 127-8; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 416; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 548-9; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 158-60; Carbajal, Discurso, p. 19. In some places, proof of the maiden’s virginity was required on the morning following the consummation of the marriage. In such case the sponsors entered the room where the wedded pair had passed the night and demanded the bride’s chemise; if they found it stained with blood they brought it out, placed it on a stick, and exhibited it to all present as an evidence that the bride was a virgin; then a dance was formed and the procession went through all the place, carrying the chemise on a stick, dancing and expressing their joy, and this was called ‘dancing the chemise.’ If it happened that the chemise was unstained, tears and lamentations took the place of rejoicing, abuse and insults were heaped upon the bride, and her husband was at liberty to repudiate her.[190]Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., pp. 26-7. In the kingdom of Miztecapan, before the ceremony of tying their mantles together was performed it was customary to cut a lock of hair from the bridegroom’s head and from the bride’s, after which they took each other by the hand and their dresses were tied by the ends. The man then took the girl on his back and carried her a short distance; which proceeding terminated the nuptials.

In Ixcatlan, he who desired to get married presented himself before the priests, and they took him to the temple, where in presence of the idols he worshiped they cut off some of his hair, and showing it to the people, shouted “This man wishes to get married.” From thence he was obliged to descend and take the first unmarried woman he met, in the belief that she was especially destined for him by the gods. They were then married according to the customary Mexican rites. The Mazatec bridegroom abstained for the first fifteen days of his wedded life from carnal knowledge of his wife, and both spent the time in fasting and penance. Among the Otomís it was not considered an offence for an unmarried man to deflour a single woman. The husband was permitted to repudiate the woman the day following his marriage if she did not please him; but if he remained satisfied upon that occasion he was not afterwards allowed to send her away. They had then to undergo a period of penance and abstinence and remain secluded for twenty or thirty days, during which time they were to abstain from all sexual intercourse, to draw blood from themselves as a sacrifice, and to bathe frequently. The Chichimecs, although they contracted marriage at a very early age, could not have legitimate connection with their wives until the woman was forty years old. After their intercourse with the Toltecs this custom began to be abolished, although the princes and nobles observed it rigorously for some time longer. Marriage with near relatives was never permitted among them, and polygamy was strictly prohibited.[191]For further information relating to marriage ceremonies and customs see Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 125-8; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 83, 186, 412-20, 496-7; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 81-3, tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 152-62, tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 116-17; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., pp. 23-7, 178; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxxix., clxxv.; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 214; Id., Relaciones, in Id., pp. 327, 335, 340, 400; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 374-5; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 189, tom. iii., pp. 79, 565-7; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 33-5; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 298, 314-16; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xvi., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xvii.; Chaves, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., pp. 308-9; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 265; Gemelli Careri, in Churchill’s Col. Voyages, vol. iv., p. 484; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 279; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 555-9, 577; Baril, Mexique, pp. 202-3; Touron, Hist. Gén., tom. iii., pp. 11-12; Simon’s Ten Tribes, pp. 274-5; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., pp. 145-7; Carbajal, Discurso, pp. 15-30; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 89-93, 111.

Divorce and Division of Property

Among the Mexicans divorce was permitted, but as a general rule was discouraged. In the event of discord arising between man and wife so that they could not live together peacefully, or where one or other of the parties had just cause of complaint, they applied to a judge for permission to separate. Such permission was not granted unless good and sufficient cause was shown in support of the application. The judge investigated the case with much care and attention, closely examining the parties in reference to their marital relations; whether they had been married with the consent of their parents, and if all the ceremonies of marriage had been fully observed. If the answers proved that the parties had not been married according to the usual rites and ceremonies, or if they had been living together in a state of fornication, the judge refused to interfere between them; but if he found they had properly complied with the regulations governing marriage, he used his best efforts to reconcile them; he reminded them of the solemn obligations appertaining to the marriage contract, and warned them not to bring disgrace upon themselves and their parents by breaking the bonds by which they were united, thereby creating a scandal in the community. If his endeavors to effect a reconciliation were of no avail, and he found that one or other of the parties had just cause of complaint, a license to separate could be issued, but more frequently the judge refused to interfere in the matter, and dismissed them with a stern reproval. Marriage was looked upon as a solemn and binding tie only to be dissolved by death, and any attempt or desire to annul the contract was deemed a disgrace and a bad example. Under these circumstances divorce was always discouraged both by the magistrates and the community. A judge was generally unwilling to sanction with the authority of the law the annulment of so binding an engagement; therefore only a tacit consent was given by the court, by which the whole onus of the disgrace attending a separation was thrown upon the parties themselves. When a dissolution took place between man and wife, they could not again under any circumstances be united; the divorce once effected, no subsequent condonation could authorize their living together.[192]‘Nunca sentenciaban en disfavor del Matrimonio, ni consentian, que por autoridad de Justicia, ellos se apartasen; porque decian ser cosa ilicita, y de mucho escandalo para el Pueblo, favorecer, con autoridad publica, cosa contraria à la raçon; pero ellos se apartaban de hecho, y este hecho se toleraba, aunque no en todos, segun el mas, ò menos escandalo, que se engendraba en el Pueblo. Otros dicen, que por Sentencia difinitiva, se hacia este Repudio, y Divorcio … los Jueces sentenciaban (si acaso concedemos, que havia sentencia) que se apartasen, y quedasen libres, y sin obligacion el vno, al otro; pero no de la murmuracion del Pueblo, que buelto contra ellos, decian ser dignos de grandisima pena, por haver quebrado la Fè è integridad del Matrimonio, y haver dado tan mal exemplo à la Republica.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 442; Carbajal, Discurso, pp. 20-1; Monglave, Résumé, p. 31; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 131.

We have no information how or on what terms a division of property was made in the event of a dissolution of marriage, or to which of the parties the custody of the children belonged. The ancient historians throw no light upon the subject. As much deference and respect was shown to old age, it is probable that the decision of such matters was left to the influence and wisdom of the friends and relatives, and that through their intervention equitable arrangements were made.

Concubines in Mexico

Concubinage, of which there were three classes, was permitted throughout the Mexican empire. The first class was the union of young men with unmarried women, before they arrived at the age when they were expected to marry. All young men, with the exception of those who were consecrated to a perpetual chastity, were allowed to have concubines. The youth usually asked his parents to select a girl for him, and the one upon whom their choice fell cohabited with him. Such women were called tlacacavili. No contract was made nor any ceremony performed; the connection was a simple private arrangement of the relatives on both sides. When a girl lived with an unmarried man as his concubine without the consent of her parents she was called temecauh, which had a more general signification. It does not appear, however, that concubinage among the unmarried men was common; on the contrary, the manner in which parents are reputed to have brought up their children, and the care taken by the priests in their education would seem to show that such a practice was discouraged, or rather tolerated than allowed, and it is probable the custom was chiefly confined to the sons of nobles and wealthy men. When a young man arrived at the age when he should marry, he was expected to dispense with his concubine that he might marry the girl selected by his parents to be his lawful wife. He could, however, legitimatize the connection between his concubine and himself by notifying his parents of his wishes and having the usual marriage ceremonies performed; she then became his lawful wife and was called ciuatlantli. If while they lived together in concubinage the woman had a child, her parents then required that he should at once restore her to them, or make her his wife, as they considered it proper that having a child she should also have a husband as a legal protector. Young women were not dishonored by living in a state of concubinage, nor were their chances of contracting advantageous marriages in any degree lessened.

The second order of concubines might rather be termed, perhaps, the less legitimate wives of married men; with them the tying of garments constituted the entire marriage ceremony; the husband could not repudiate them without just cause and the sanction of the courts, but neither they nor their children could inherit property; in this respect they were treated as concubines, but nevertheless they were called Ciuatlantli, which corresponds with the latin word uxor, and was the title borne by the first and legitimate wife.

The third class of concubines were merely kept mistresses; with them no marriage rite of any kind was performed. They were kept usually by the nobles and chief men who could afford to maintain large establishments; they occupied a third rank in the domestic circle after the principal wife and less legitimate ones, and were called ciuanemactli, or tlaciuantli, if their master had obtained them from their parents; those whom he took without such permission were called tlaciuaantin.[193]‘Tengono molte moglie, & tante quante ne possono mantenere come i mori, però come si è detto, vna è la principale & patrona & i figliuoli di qsta hereditano, & quei dell’altre no, che non possono anzi son tenuti per bastardi. Nelle nozze di questa patrona principale fanno alcune cirimonie, il che non si osserua nelle nozze dell’altre.’ Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 310. See further, Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 376; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, cap. ccxiii., ccxiv., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., pp. 127-8; Carbajal, Discurso, pp. 20-7; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., pp. 169, 197; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 107; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 430-1; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 260; Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. iv., dec. v., lib. x.

The Toltec kings could only marry one woman, and in case of her death could not marry again or live in concubinage with any woman; the same rule held good with their queens in the event of the king dying first. Prostitution among the Mexicans was tolerated, but at the same time was restrained within certain bounds; that is, the law took cognizance of the practice as regarded the women engaged in such traffic. It was looked upon as a necessary evil, and the law did not interfere with men who consorted with prostitutes; but the latter, if they plied their traffic too openly, or with too great frequency, so as to create a public scandal and become a nuisance, were punished according to the extent of the offence.[194]Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, cap. ccxiii., ccxiv., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 127; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 370; Carbajal, Discurso, pp. 27-8; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 37-8; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 132-3.

We may suppose that, the marriage ceremonies being concluded, the young couple were left in peace, and that for a time there was a truce to the speech-making and ever-ready advice of anxious parents and meddling relatives. But this respite was generally of brief duration. As soon as the woman found herself to be pregnant, all her friends and relations were immediately upon the tiptoe of expectation and interest again. The parents were at once informed of the interesting event, and a feast was prepared, of which all who had been present at the wedding partook. After the repast the inevitable speeches commenced. An old man, squatting on his hams, first spoke in behalf of the husband, referring to the precious burden carried by the pregnant woman and to the future prospects of the child; after a while another relieved the speaker and pursued the subject in the same strain; the man and his wife then responded, dwelling upon the pleasure in store for them, and expressing their hopes that, with the favor of the gods, it might be realized. The parents of the pair were next addressed directly by one of the guests upon the same theme and made a reply. Certain elderly relatives then seized the opportunity to admonish and instruct the young woman, to which she made a suitable answer, thanking them for their solicitude on her behalf.[195]I have thought it unnecessary to give these speeches in full, but the reader can find them all together in Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 161-73.

Pregnancy and Childbirth

During the months of her pregnancy the mother was very careful to insure the safety and health of the child, though many of the rules observed for this purpose were of a partly superstitious nature. Thus, sleeping in the day-time would contort the child’s face; approaching too near the fire or standing in the hot sun would parch the fœtus; hard and continued work, lifting weights, running, mental excitement, such as grief, anger, or alarm, were particularly avoided; in case of an earthquake all the pots in the house were covered up or broken to stop the shaking; eating tzictli, or chicle, was thought to harden the palate of the unborn child, and to make its gums thick so that it would be unable to suck, and also to communicate to it a disease called netentzzoponiztli; neither must the edible earth, of which, as we shall see in a future chapter, the Mexicans were very fond, be eaten by the mother, lest the child should prove weak and sickly; but everything else the woman fancied was to be given her, because any interference with her caprices might be hurtful to her offspring.[196]Sahagun adds: ‘Mandaba que á la preñada la diesen de comer suficientemente y buenos manjares, calientes y bien guisados, con especialidad cuando á la preñada le viene su purgacion, ó como dicen la regla, y esto llaman que la criatura se laba los pies, porque no se halle ésta en vacio, ó haya alguna vaciedad ó falta de sangre ó humor necesario, y así reciba algun daño.’ Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 182. Moderation in sexual connection with her husband was recommended to a woman from one to three months advanced in pregnancy, but total abstinence in this respect was thought to be injurious to the unborn child; during the later stages of the woman’s pregnancy, however, the husband abstained entirely from having intercourse with her.[197]Sahagun’s original MS. contains twenty-four additional lines on this subject, but these his editor deems too indelicate to print. Id., p. 181. When the time for the confinement drew near another feast was prepared and the usual invitations were issued. When all were gathered an old man was the first to speak, on behalf of the married couple. By virtue of his long experience in these matters he recommended that the pregnant woman be placed in the xuchicalli, or bath, under the protection of Xuchicaltzin, the god of the bath, and of Yoalticitl, goddess of the bath and of childbirth. He further advised the parents to select a competent ticitl, or midwife. This functionary having been named, a female relative of the husband addressed her, asking her to accept the trust, praising her qualifications, and exhorting her to exert her utmost skill and care. The mother and relatives of the wife also made brief speeches to the same purpose. The midwife-elect then expressed her wish and intention to do all in her power.[198]For these addresses see Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 174-83. Wealthy people frequently employed several midwives, who for some days prior to the birth busied themselves in waiting on their patient and putting everything in readiness for the important hour. Zuazo states that some of these acted merely as witnesses to the fact of the birth.[199]‘Se llegan algunas mujeres como parteras, y otras como testigos para ver si el parto es supuesto ó natural; y al tiempo del nacer no permiten que la criatura llegue á la tierra con la vida; é antes que se la cortenle hacen ciertas señales en el corpezuelo.’ Zuazo, Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 363-4.

The ‘hour of death,’ as the time of confinement was named, having arrived, the patient was carried to a room previously set in order for the purpose; here her hair was soaped and she was placed in a bath to be washed. Care was taken that the water should not be too hot, lest the fœtus should be scalded; in some cases the woman was beaten on the back with maize leaves which had been boiled in the water used for the bath. The midwife next proceeded to rub and press the abdomen of the patient in order to set the child in place. If the pain grew worse, soothing remedies were administered. A decoction of cihoapatli herbs was given to promote the delivery; should this not prove effective, however, a small piece, about an inch and a half long, of the tail of the tlaquatzin, or tlaquatl, was given, which is a very powerful emetic. If after all the woman got no ease, it was concluded that she would die. In cases of great danger prayers were addressed to Cioacoatl, Quilaztli, Yoalticitl, and other deities. Should the child die in the womb it was removed piecemeal, unless the parents objected, in which case the mother was left to die.

Ghastly Talismans

Mocioaquezqui, ‘brave woman,’ was the name given to her who died in childbed. After death the body was washed, dressed in good, new clothes, and buried with great ceremony in the courtyard of the temple dedicated to the ‘celestial women.'[200]Cihuapipiltin, or Ciuapipilti. A long description of the burial rites upon these occasions in Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 186-91. These will, however, be described in a future chapter. Talismanic virtues were supposed to reside in the corpse; thus, the middle fingers of the left hand, and the hair, were thought to make their possessor irresistible in battle; soldiers, therefore, sought by every means, fair or foul, to procure them. Thieves believed that the left hand and arm of the corpse would strike terror into their victims, and they therefore engaged sorcerers to procure it. The birth of twins was believed to foretell the death of one of the parents at the hands of their child; to prevent this, one of the infants was killed.[201]Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 130, and Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 84, who seems to have copied from him, are the authorities for this, but the custom could not have been very general, for it is said that in Tlascala the mother assigned a breast to each of the twins. Abortion was not unusual, and was procured by taking a decoction of certain herbs; the crime was nevertheless punished with death.[202]The principal authority on the matter of pregnancy and childbirth, and the one whom I have thus far followed, is Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 160-92. If everything went well, and the woman was easily delivered, the midwife gave a loud cry of triumph. She next addressed some words of counsel to the child, and then proceeded to wash it. Turning to the water, she addressed the goddess of waters, Chalchihuitlicue, asking her favor and protection for the child. Then taking some water, the midwife breathed upon it, gave some to the infant to taste, and then touched its head and chest therewith, saying: “Come, my son (or daughter) to Chalchihuitlicue; it is for her to bear you on the back and in her arms throughout this life!” Then, placing the infant in the water, she continued: Enter thou into the water called metlalac and tuspalac; may it wash thee, and may the Omnipotent cleanse from thee all ill that is inherent in thee from the beginning of the world and from before the beginning. Begone, all evil imparted to thee by thy father and thy mother.[203]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 86, differs from Sahagun in these prayers or invocations; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 445, Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., p. 36, and Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 560, follow Clavigero more or less closely. Having washed the child, the midwife clothed it, addressing it meanwhile in whispers of welcome and admonition. Then, raising her voice, she complimented the mother on her bravery and endurance.[204]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 199-200; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 445-6. A female relative next praised the fortitude of the patient, who in her response dilated on the trouble and pain she had gone through, and expressed her joy at the treasure vouchsafed her by the gods. The midwife then closed the ceremony by congratulating the grandparents and assembled friends. A few days after the confinement the mother took a bath in the temazcalli, and indulged in rich food and wine; on this occasion a feast was also tendered to invited friends, who partook of it near the spot where the woman bathed.

All these elaborate preparations and midwife ceremonies at birth could, however, only have been in vogue among the well-to-do classes, for the Mexican women, were, as a rule, little affected by the troubles of child-bearing; their training and manner of life were not calculated to make them delicate. Motolinia, and many with him, say, for instance, that the Tlascaltec women delivered themselves, the mother applying to a neighbor only at the birth of her first child.[205]The Teochichimec husband undertook the office of midwife when the birth took place on the road. He heated the back of his wife with fire, threw water over her in lieu of a bath, and gave her two or three kicks in the back after the delivery, in order to promote the issue of superfluous blood. The new-born babe was placed in a wicker basket, and thrown over the back of the mother, who proceeded on her journey. Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 191-203; also Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 445-6; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 86; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 560; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 551-2, 673, etc. The utensils which served at the birth of the child were, according to Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxix., offered at the fountain or river where the mother washed herself.

Casting the Nativity of Infants

It was now time to cast the nativity of the infant. For this purpose the services of a tonalpouhqui, or horoscopist, were engaged. These tonalpouhquis were a highly respected class, and were therefore approached with much respect and liberally fed with mantles, food, and other articles. Having been told the hour of birth, the horoscoper consulted his book for the sign of the day on which the infant was born.[206]By Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iv., pp. 282-328, and Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. iii., cap. ii., the signs of the calendar and their subdivisions are described at length. Each sign had thirteen sub-signs, representing the same number of days, by whom its good or bad import was moderated to a certain extent. Under certain signs the child was liable to become a drunkard, under another a jester, under a third a warrior, and so on. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 560, and Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 552, state that the sign which had been most frequent at this period during the past thirteen years was also considered by the astrologer. If the birth had taken place exactly at midnight, the signs for the closing and breaking day were combined. Comparing the birthday sign with the other twelve signs, as well as with the principal sign of the group, he deduced the required fortune, and, if the augury was favorable, dwelt on the honors and happiness in store for the infant. Should the augury prove unfavorable, as well as the sign for the fifth day after birth, which was the occasion of the second bath, or baptism, this ceremony was postponed to another day, generally the most favorable of the thirteen, in order to moderate, if possible, the threatened misfortune. The fortune-teller dilated upon the troubles in store for the infant and the vices it would develop, but ‘hedged’ his oracle by adding that the adjoining signs contained certain redeeming features which might have power to counterbalance the evil import of the birthday sign.[207]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 215-7; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 449.

Baptism of Infants

Preparations are now made for the baptism. The portals of the dwelling are decorated with green branches, flowers, and sweet-smelling herbs are scattered over the floors and courtyard, and the approaches to the house are carefully swept; tamales are cooked, maize and cacao ground, and delicacies of every description prepared for the table, not forgetting the liquors; for any shortcoming in this respect would reflect severely on the hospitality of the host.[208]A long description of this feast, the table, attendance, etc., is given by Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iv., pp. 332-6, and by Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 457-8. I shall have occasion to describe it in a future chapter of this volume, devoted to such matters. The relatives of the family assemble before sunrise, and other friends drop in as the day advances; each, as he congratulates the host, presents a gift of clothing for the infant, and receives in his turn a present of mantles, flowers, and choice food.[209]The poorer classes contented themselves with an interchange of flowers and food. In the course of the morning the midwife carries the infant to the courtyard, and places it upon a heap of leaves, beside which are set a new apaxtle, or earthenware vessel, filled with clear water, and several miniature implements, insignia of the father’s trade or profession. If he is a noble or a warrior, the articles consist of a small shield, and a bow with arrows of a corresponding size, placed with their heads directed toward the four cardinal points. Another set of arms made from dough of amaranth-seed, and bound together with the dried navel-string of the child, is also prepared. If the child is a girl, there are placed beside it, instead of the little weapons, a spindle and distaff, and some articles of girl’s clothing. When the sun rises the midwife sets her face and the face of the child toward the west, and addressing the infant, says: “O eagle, O tiger, O brave little man and grandson of mine, thou hast been brought into the world by thy father and mother, the great lord and the great lady. Thou wast created in that house which is the abode of the supreme gods that are above the nine heavens. Thou art a gift from our son Quetzalcoatl, the omnipresent; be joined to thy mother, Chalchihuitlicue, the goddess of water.” Then placing her dripping fingers on the lips of the child, she continues: “Take this, for upon it thou hast to live, to wax strong, and flourish; by it we obtain all necessary things; take it!” Then touching the child on the breast with her moistened fingers, she says: “Take this holy and pure water that thine heart may be cleansed.” Then the midwife pours water on the child’s head, saying: “Receive, O my son, the water of the Lord of the World, which is our life, with which we wash and are clean; may this celestial light-blue water enter into thy body, and there remain; may it destroy and remove from thee all evil and adverse things that were given thee before the beginning of the world; behold, all of us are in the hands of Chalchihuitlicue, our mother.” She now washes the body of the child, exclaiming: “Evil, wheresoever thou art, begone, avaunt; for the child liveth anew and is born again; once more it is purified; a second time is it renewed of our mother, Chalchihuitlicue.” Then lifting up the little one toward heaven, she addresses Ometochtli and Omecioatl:[210]A dual deity, uniting both sexes in one person. “Behold, O Lord, the creature which thou hast sent to this place of sorrow, affliction, and anguish, to this world; give it, O Lord, of thy gifts and inspiration, for thou art the great god and the great goddess.” Then stooping as if to set the child down, she raises it a second time, crying upon the goddess of the waters:[211]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 220, makes the midwife, in this instance, call upon Citlalatonac. This goddess was, however, identical with Ometochtli and Omecioatl (see, more especially, Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 472), to whom the preceding prayer was directed. Clavigero and Torquemada assert that the prayer was addressed to the water-goddess. “O lady goddess, mother of the gods, inspire this child with thy virtue.” A third time she stoops and raising the child toward heaven, addresses the gods: “O lords celestial, and gods who dwell in heaven, behold this creature whom ye have sent among men, fill it with your spirit and mercy, that it may live.” A fourth time she sets down and raises the babe, and calling now upon the sun and the earth she says:[212]Sahagun addresses the Sun-God only. “O our Lord, Sun, father of all, and thou, O Earth, our mother, take ye this child for your own, and, as it is born for war,[213]We may presume that the midwife is here addressing the child of a warrior. so let it die defending the cause of the gods, and be permitted to enjoy the delights prepared in heaven for the brave.”

The midwife now takes the implements and prays to the patron deity of the trade or profession they represent on behalf of the child; then she places the mantle upon the shoulders of the infant, girds on the little maxtli, and asks the boys present to give the child a name. This was, however, merely a matter of form; the parents really had the choosing of the name and told it to the boys. It was usually taken either from the sign of the day, or from a bird or animal, in the case of a boy; the girls were named from flowers, and this rule was especially observed by the Toltecs and Miztecs. Sometimes a child took its name from some important event which occurred at the time of its birth; as when the Tlascaltec chief Citlalpopoca, ‘smoking star,’ was so named because at his birth a flaming comet was seen in the sky. Sometimes children were named after the feast held at the time of their nativity; thus, boys born during the festival of the renewal of the sacred fire, called toxilmolpilia, were named molpilli, ‘a tied object,’ and girls xiuhnenetl, ‘little doll of the year of fire.’ Occasionally a child was named after some renowned ancestor. A second name could be acquired by valiant deeds in battle. Motolinia adds that sons of prominent men took a surname from the dignity or office held by the father, either in youth or manhood; or they inherited it with the estate at the death of the parent. Children born during the last five days of the year, called nemontemi, ‘unlucky days,’ were considered unfortunate; boys born under such circumstances were often named nemoquichtli, ‘unlucky man,’ and girls nencihuatl, ‘unlucky woman.'[214]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 84, Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 287, and Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 287, translate Nemoquichtli and Nencihuatl ‘useless man’ and ‘useless woman.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 454-6, discusses names, why and how they were applied, in Mexico and elsewhere. Motolinia, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 37, states that the name given at baptism was discarded for one applied by the priest, when the parents carried the child to the temple in the third month. See also Ritos Antiguos, p. 22, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix. Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 312, says that the name given by the priest was the surname, nobles sometimes taking a third name. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 562, says that several additional names could be taken under various circumstances. In Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 90, it is stated that the name was given by three boys who sat by eating yxcue.

The midwife, having baptized the child, now calls upon it three times by its new name; admonishing it to make good use of the implements or weapons placed in its hands.[215]Boturini states that the infant is thereupon passed four times through the fire. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 88; but this ceremony is described elsewhere in this volume as taking place in the temple. It is thereupon carried into the house, preceded by torch-bearers, and placed in the cradle, before which the midwife offers prayers to Yoalticitl, ‘goddess of the cradle,’ commending the child to her care, and beseeching her to nourish and protect it; then, turning to the cradle, she adds: “O thou, the mother of the child, receive this babe with gentleness, taking heed not to injure it.” Then she places the child in the cradle, the parents meanwhile calling upon Yoalticitl to protect it, and upon Yoaltecutli, ‘the god of night,’ to lull it to sleep. During this ceremony, which is termed tlacoculaquilo, or ‘the act of placing the child in the cradle,’ the boys of the village, dressed to imitate soldiers, enter the house, seize certain food previously prepared for them, called the ‘child’s navel,’ scatter the rest, and rush forth, munching and shouting the child’s name and future destinies. The lights, called ocote, which have been used during the ceremonies, must be left to burn out, and the fire that was lighted on the birthday must be kept brightly burning until after the baptizing, nor is any one allowed to borrow from its flame, for that would injure the prospects of the child. The umbilical cord is buried with the mimic weapons in a place where a battle may be expected to take place on a future day. The girl’s instruments and navel-string are buried under a metate. The afterbirth is interred in a corner of the house. After the cradling ceremony the guests proceed to the banqueting-room, where they seat themselves according to age and rank.

The festivities lasted twenty days,[216]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iv., pp. 330-6. or even longer, if the father was wealthy, during which time the house was kept open to all comers. Each visitor presented his gifts and made a speech to the infant on the duties, honors, and happiness in store for it, and adorning his discourse according to the rank of the parents, or his own courtesy. He next congratulated the mother, then the midwife, urging her further care of the infant, and lastly the father, referring to his character and services, and wishing him joy. If the father was a lord, the neighboring princes sent an embassy, preceded by numerous presents, and a chosen orator delivered a congratulatory address before the father and those present, to which an old man responded on behalf of all, commenting upon the good wishes of the neighboring nobles. The orator of the embassy then begged that the shortcomings of his former speech might be excused, and was answered by the oldest or most respected person present, on the parent’s behalf. The female friends who came to inspect the infant, rubbed the joints of the body, especially the knees, with ashes, thinking that this would strengthen them and prevent the bones from becoming loose. The same was done to the children who accompanied them.[217]It was believed, says Torquemada, that this rubbing of their own limbs had a strengthening effect upon the new-born. Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 457. In some parts the baptismal ceremony consisted in putting some quicklime upon the child’s knee, and saying to it: “O thou little one, that hast come into the world to suffer, suffer and be silent. Thou livest, but thou shalt die; much pain and anguish shall come upon thee; thou shalt become dust, even as this lime, which was once stone.”[218]Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 312. If a boy, an arrow or dart was then placed in the child’s left hand, to indicate that he must be brave and defend his country; if a girl, she was given a distaff, as a sign that she must become industrious in all womanly pursuits.[219]Dávila, Teatro Ecles., tom. i., p. 18. In Tlascala and Miztecapan the infant was bathed in a sacred spring, which, it was thought, would avert misfortune. Mendieta says that the midwife merely sprinkled the child a certain number of times, first with wine and then with water.[220]Hist. Ecles., p. 107. Among the Zapotecs both mother and child were washed in a river, and invocations were addressed to all land and aquatic animals, entreating their favor and deprecating their anger;[221]Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 329. it was also customary to assign some animal or bird to a child, as its nagual, or tutelary genius, and with the fortune of such creature its fate was supposed to be so intimately connected, that the death of one involved the death of the other.[222]Id., fol. 395. Burgoa adds further that this was assigned by lot, but it is stated elsewhere, and with greater probability if we may judge by similar superstitions in the old world, that the first bird or beast that appeared after the birth of the child was appointed its spiritual protector.[223]The following are contradictory accounts of baptism. On the fourth day the child and mother took a purification bath, and the assembled guests were feasted on zamorra, a dish made from maize and the flesh of hens, deer, etc. Three days after, the mother carried the child to the adjoining ward, accompanied by six little boys, if it was a male child, otherwise six girls went with her, to carry the implements or insignia of the father’s trade. Here she washed the child in a stream, and then returned home. Two years after a feast was served in the house of the most intimate neighbor, who was asked to name the child, and with him it remained and was held as a member of his family. Chaves, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., pp. 306-8. The infant was carried to the temple, where the priest made an oration on the miseries to be endured in this world, and placed a sword in the right hand of the child and a buckler in the left; or, if it was destined to be a mechanic, an artisan’s tool; if a girl it received a distaff. The priest then took the child to the altar and drew a few drops of blood from its body with a maguey-thorn or knife, after which he threw water over it, delivering certain imprecations the while. Touron, Hist. Gén., tom. iii., pp. 12-13. The implements were placed in the hands of the child by the priest before the idol. Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 374. Also Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xvii. The child underwent three baptisms or baths. Zuazo, Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 364. On the seventh day the baptism took place, and a dart was placed in the hand of the child to signify that he should become a defender of his country. Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Id., p. 37. In Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), tav. xxxi., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 181, it is stated that the child was sprinkled with a bunch of ficitle dipped in water, and fumigated with incense before receiving its name. Offerings were made at the temple which the priest divided among the school children. Tylor, in his Anahuac, p. 279, and Primitive Culture, vol. ii., pp. 429-36 gives short reviews of the baptismal ceremony and its moral import.

Circumcision and Scarification

Whether the custom of circumcision, which has been the great prop of argument in favor of the Jewish origin of the Aztecs, really obtained among these people, has been doubted by numerous authors. Although circumcision was certainly not by any means general, yet sufficient proof exists to show that it was in use in some form among certain tribes. Las Casas and Mendieta state that the Aztecs and Totonacs practiced it, and Brasseur de Bourbourg has discovered traces of it among the Mijes. Las Casas affirms that the child was carried to the temple on the twenty-eighth or twenty-ninth day after birth; there the high-priest and his assistant placed it upon a stone, and cut off the prepuce at the root; the part amputated they afterward burned to ashes. Girls of the same age were defloured by the finger of the priest, who ordered the mother to repeat the operation at the sixth year. Zuazo adds that these rites were only performed upon the children of great men, and that there was no compulsion in the matter, the parents having the option of having their children defloured or circumcised at any time within five years.[224]Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxv.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 83-4; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 107-8; Zuazo, Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 364; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 35. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 73, reviews the subject of circumcision and denies that it was ever practiced. Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., p. 45, tom. x., referring to Diaz’ statement that all Indians of the Vera Cruz Islands are circumcised, says that he must have confounded the custom of drawing blood from the secret organs with circumcision. Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 191, says circumcision was unknown to the Indians of Yucatan. Duran and Brasseur evidently consider the slight incisions made for the purpose of drawing blood from the prepuce or ear, in the eleventh month, as the act. Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 538, following Clavigero, holds the scarification of breast, stomach and arms to be the circumcision referred to by other authors. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xvii., and especially Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 374, consider the incision on the prepuce and ear to have been mistaken for circumcision, and state that it was chiefly performed upon sons of great men; they do not state when the ceremony took place.

In the fifth month, at Huitzilopochtli’s festival, all children born during the year were scarified on the breast, stomach, or arms, and by this means received as followers of their god.[225]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 266; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 538. At the festival in honor of Teteionan or Toci, ‘mother of the gods,’ in the eleventh month, the women delivered during the year underwent purification and presented their children. In the evening a signal was sounded from the temple, and the mothers, dressed in their best, accompanied by friends, and preceded by torch-bearers and servants carrying the babes, made the tour of the town or quarter; a halt was made at every temple to leave an offering and a lighted torch for the presiding goddess. At the temple of Toci extra offerings were made, including tzocoyotl, cakes of flour and honey; and here the priest performed the ceremony of purification by pronouncing certain prayers over the women.[226]This rite was followed by another, which usually took place in the temple of Huitzilopochtli. The priest made a slight incision on the ear of the female child, and on the ear and prepuce of the male, with a new obsidian knife handed to him by the mother, then, throwing the knife at the feet of the idol, he gave a name to the infant, at the request of the parent, after duly considering the horoscope and signs of the time. Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. iii., cap. iii., quoted by Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 525-6. Duran really states that these ceremonies took place in the fourth month, but as Toci’s festival occurs in the eleventh month, Brasseur alters the evident mistake. The naming of the infant may have been a mere confirmation of the name given by the midwife. In the eighteenth month of every fourth year, the children born since the last corresponding feast, were taken to the temple, where their ears were pierced with a sharp bone, and macaw-feathers, tlachcayotl, inserted; the god-father and god-mother, or, as they are termed, uncles and aunts, whose duty it was to initiate the children into the service of the gods, holding them during the operation.[227]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii. p. 286.

An offering of flour of the chian seed was made, and the god-father was presented with a red robe, the god-mother with a huipil. Each child was then passed through the flames of a fire prepared for the purpose; the priest next took its head between his hands, and in that manner lifted it bodily from the ground. Everyone thereupon went home to feast, but at noon the god-father and god-mother returned to the temple and executed a dance, holding the children on their backs, and giving them pulque to drink, in very small cups. This went on till dusk, when they retired to their houses to continue the dancing and drinking. This feast and month, Itzcalli, ‘growth,’ obtained its name from the ceremony of squeezing the heads of children, which, it was thought, would make them grow; but it was also called the ‘feast of the intoxication of boys and girls.'[228]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 189-90. Sahagun translates Itzcalli by ‘growth,’ but other authors differ from him, as we shall see in a future chapter on the Calendar.

HEAD-FLATTENING.

Among the Miztecs, the mother took hot baths for twenty days after delivery, at the end of which time a feast was held in honor of the goddess of the bath, the child sharing in the honors of the occasion.[229]Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xii. They also gave the child a feast on its first birthday. Great care was exercised to make children hardy and strong, and no mother, however high in rank, allowed her child to be given to a nurse, unless her own health demanded such a step. The test of a wet nurse was to press out a drop of milk upon the nail, when if it did not run the milk was considered good.[230]Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 77; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 460-1. No food was given to the child the first day, in order to create an appetite.[231]Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 312. It was suckled for three years, in some places much longer;[232]Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 553. and, during this time the mother adhered to a diet that would keep up the quality of the milk; many abstained from intercourse with their husbands for the same period, to prevent the possibility of another child interfering with the proper nurture of the first one. Another feast was given at the weaning of the child. Gomara mentions that a kind of head-flattening was practiced; he says that the infants were so placed in the cradle as not to allow the occiput to grow, for such a development was considered ugly.[233]Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 318. Humboldt, however, says that the Aztecs never flattened the head. That it was practiced to a considerable extent in remote times by people inhabiting the country, seems to be shown by the deformed skulls found in their graves, and by the sculptured figures upon the ruins. Klemm states that the cradle consisted of a hard board to which the infant was bound in such a manner as to cause the malformation. The cradle among the poor Aztecs was generally of light cane, and could be tied to the back of the mother.[234]The authorities on childbirth, baptism, and circumcision are: Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 187-90, lib. iv., pp. 281-337, tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 160-222, tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 119-20; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 2-73, 86-89; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 83-4, 266, 286, 445-61; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xvii., lib. iii., cap. xii., lib. iv., cap. xvi.; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxv., clxxix.; Codex Mendoza, pp. 90-1, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v.; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 37-8, 77, 108; Zuazo, Carta, in Id., pp. 363-4; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 107-8, 139; Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 329, 395; Dávila, Teatro Ecles., tom. i., p. 18; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 203; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 538, 551-5, 673; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 240, tom. iii., pp. 35, 525-6, 560-3; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 374; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 312, 317-18; Touron, Hist. Gén., tom. iii., pp. 12-13; Chaves, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., pp. 306-8; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 32, 265; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 36-9; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., pp. 140-1; D’Avity, L’Amérique, tom. ii., p. 73; Baril, Mexique, pp. 199-200; Ritos Antiguos, pp. 22-3, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix.; Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 239; Adair’s Amer. Ind., p. 217; Müller, Reisen, tom. iii., pp. 118-20; Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., pp. 1102-3, 1140; Carli, Cartas, pt. i., p. 101; Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. iii., cap. iii.; Diaz, Itinéraire, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 45; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 90; Morton’s Crania Amer., p. 147; Delafield’s Antiq. Amer., p. 19.

Footnotes

[170] Clavigero writes: ‘Nella dipintura cinquantesimaseconda si rappresentano due ragazzi d’undici anni, ai quali per non essersi emendati con altri gastighi, fanno i lor Padri ricevere nel naso il fumo del Chilli, o sia peverone.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 103. But this is a mistake; in this picture we see a girl being punished by her mother in the manner described, and a boy by his father.

[171] Clavigero mentions this girl as ‘una putta … cui fa sua Madre spazzar la notte tutta la casa, e parte della strada.’ Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 103.

[172] For these picture-writings and the interpretations of them, see: Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., pp. 1103-7; Codex Bodleian, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. i., plates 59-62; Codex Mendoza, in Id., vol. i., and vol. v., pp. 92-7; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 566-575; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 102-3.

[173] ‘Tenian estas gentes tambien por ley que todos los niños llegados à los seis años hasta los nueve habian de enviar los padres à los Templos para ser instruidos en la doctrína y noticia de sus leyes las cuales contenian casi todas las virtudes esplicadas la en ley natural.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxv., ccxv. ‘Todos estos religiosos visten de negro y nunca cortan el cabello … y todos los hijos de las personas principales, así señores como ciudadanos honrados, estan en aquellas religiones y hábito desde edad de siete ú ocho años fasta que los sacan para los casar.’ Cortés, Cartas, p. 105. ‘Cuando el niño llegaba á diez ó doce años, metíanle en la casa de educacion ó Calmecac.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 326; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 302; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 187.

[174] A native author asserts that this ‘house of song’ was frequently the scene of debauch and licentiousness. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 553.

[175] ‘Los hijos de los nobles no se libraban tampoco de faenas corporales, pues hacian zanjas, construian paredes y desempeñaban otros trabajos semejantes, aunque tambien se les enseñaba á hablar bien, saludar, hacer reverencias y, lo que es mas importante, aprendian la astronomía, la historia y demas conocimientos que aquellas gentes alcanzaban.’ Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, p. 66;Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 444-6.

[176] ‘Iban tan honestas que no alzaban los ojos del suelo, y si se descuidaban, luego les hacian señal que recogiesen la vista … las mujeres estaban por si en piezas apartadas, no salian las doncellas de sus aposentos á la huerta ó verjeles sin ir acompañadas con sus guardas…. Siendo las niños de cinco años las comenzaban á enseñar á hilar, tejer y labrar, y no las dejaban andar ociosas, y á la que se levantaba de labor fuera de tiempo, atábanle los piés, porque asentase y estuviese queda.’ Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 121-2.

[177] See further, for information on the education of the Mexicans: Solis, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. i., pp. 421-3; Carbajal, Discurso, pp. 17-18; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 563-4; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., pp. 144-5; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xix.; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 267-8; Fuenleal, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 251; Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. iv.; Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 239; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 38-47; Chevalier, Mex., Ancien et Mod., pp. 119-20.

[178] Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., pp. 244-5.

[179] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 113-19. A literal translation of Sahagun would be unintelligible to the reader. I therefore have merely followed as closely as possible the spirit and sense of this discourse. For further exhortations and advice to children see Id., pp. 119-52; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 112; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 493-9; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 104-9.

[180] Although Gomara says ‘casan ellos a los veinte años, y aun antes: y ellas á diez.’ Conq. Mex., fol. 314.

[181] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 330; Carbajal, Discurso, p. 16.

[182] ‘Por otro respecto no era pena trasquilar los tales mancebos, sino ceremonia de sus casamientos: esto era, por que dejando la cabellera significaba dejar la lozania y liviandad de mancebo; y asi como desde adelante habia de criar nueva forma de cabellos, tuviese nueva seso y cordura para regir su muger y casa. Bien creo que debia de haber alguna diferencia en estos trasquilados cuando se trasquilaban por ceremonia ó por pena.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxxix.; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i. p. 577.

[183] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 152-3; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 125; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxxix.

[184] ‘Venian los de la casa del mozo á llevar á la moza de parte de noche: llevábanla con gran solemnidad acuestas de una matrona, y con muchas hachas de teas encendidas en dos rencles delante de ella.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 82, 157. ‘Pronuba, quam Amantesam vocabant, sponsam tergo gestans, quatuor fœminis comitantibus quæ pineis tædis, prælucerent, illam post Solis occasum, ad limen domus in qua parentes sponsi manebant, sistebat.’ Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 239. ‘La celebracion era que la desposada la llevaba á cuestas á prima noche una amanteca, que es medica, é hiban con ellas cuatro mujeres con sus achas de pino resinado encendidas, con que la hiban alumbrando, y llegada á casa del desposado, los padres del desposado la salian á recibir al patio de la casa, y la metian en una sala donde el desposado la estava aguardando.’ Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 99.

[185] ‘Un sacerdote ataba una punta del hueipilli, ó camisa de la doncella, con otra del tilmatli, ó capa del jóven.’ Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 557. ‘Al tiempo que los novios se avian de acostar é dormir en uno, tomaban la halda delantera de la camisa de la novia, é atábanla á la manta de algodon que tenia cubierta el novio.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 548. ‘Unas viejas que se llaman titici, ataban la esquina de la manta del mozo, con la falda del vipil de la moza.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 83. ‘Hechos los tratados, comparecian ambos contrayentes en el templo, y uno de los sacerdotes examinaba su voluntad con preguntas rituales; y despues tomaba con una mano el velo de la muger, y con otra el manto del marido, y los añudaba por los extremos, significando el vínculo interior de las dos voluntades. Con este género de yugo nupcial volvian á su casa, en compañia del mismo sacerdote: donde … entraban á visitar el fuego doméstico, que á su parecer, mediaban en la paz de los casados, y daban siete vueltas á él siguiendo al sacerdote.’ Solis, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. i., pp. 432-3.

[186] ‘Quedando los esposos en aquella estancia durante los cuatro dias siguientes, sin salir de ella, sino á media noche para incensar á los ídolos y hacerles oblaciones de diversas especies de manjares.’ Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 557. ‘Á la media noche y al medio dia salian de su aposento á poner encienso sobre un altar que en su casa tenian.’ Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 128. ‘Los padrinos llevaban á los novios á otra pieza separada, donde los dejaban solos, encerrándolos por la parte de afuera, hasta la mañana siguiente, que venian á abrirles, y todo el concurso repetia las enhorabuenas, suponiendo ya consumado el matrimonio.’ Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 26.

[187] The position of the tiger-skin is doubtful: ‘Ponian tambien vn pedaço de cuero de Tigre, debajo de las esteras.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 415. ‘Ponian un pedazo de cuero de tigre encima de las esteras.’ Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 128. ‘La estera sobre que habian dormido, que se llamaba petatl, la sacaban al medio del patio, y allí la sacudian con cierta ceremonia, y despues tornaban á ponerla en el lugar donde habian de dormir.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 158.

[188] ‘Otra ceremonia, casi como esta, vsaban los del Pueblo de Israèl, acerca del acostar los Novios, la primera noche de sus Bodas, que les ponian vna sabana, ó lienço, para que en èl se estampase el testimonio de la virginidad, que era la sangre, que del primer acto se vertìa, la qual se quitaba de la cama delante de testigos, que pudiesen afirmar haverla visto, con la señal de la sangre, que comprobaba la corrupcion de la Doncella y embuelta, ó doblada, la ponian en cierto lugar, diputado para esto, donde quedaba guardada, en memoria de la limpieça, y puridad, con que la dicha Doncella venia á poder de su Marido. Seria posible, que quisiese significar entre estos Indios lo mismo, este cuidado de los viejos, de traer manta, ó sabana, y tenderla sobre la cama de los desposados, para los primeros actos matrimoniales; y es creible, que seria este el intento, pues la ropa, y esteras, que sirvieron en este Sacrificio, se llevaban al Templo, y no servian mas en casa, como ni mas, ni menos la ceremonia antigua de guardar la sabana, con sangre, entre los Hebreos, en lugar particular, y seguro.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 416.

[189] Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 116-20, 127-8; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 416; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 548-9; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 158-60; Carbajal, Discurso, p. 19.

[190] Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., pp. 26-7.

[191] For further information relating to marriage ceremonies and customs see Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 125-8; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 83, 186, 412-20, 496-7; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 81-3, tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 152-62, tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 116-17; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., pp. 23-7, 178; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxxix., clxxv.; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 214; Id., Relaciones, in Id., pp. 327, 335, 340, 400; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 374-5; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 189, tom. iii., pp. 79, 565-7; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 33-5; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 298, 314-16; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xvi., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xvii.; Chaves, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., pp. 308-9; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 265; Gemelli Careri, in Churchill’s Col. Voyages, vol. iv., p. 484; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 279; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 555-9, 577; Baril, Mexique, pp. 202-3; Touron, Hist. Gén., tom. iii., pp. 11-12; Simon’s Ten Tribes, pp. 274-5; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., pp. 145-7; Carbajal, Discurso, pp. 15-30; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 89-93, 111.

[192] ‘Nunca sentenciaban en disfavor del Matrimonio, ni consentian, que por autoridad de Justicia, ellos se apartasen; porque decian ser cosa ilicita, y de mucho escandalo para el Pueblo, favorecer, con autoridad publica, cosa contraria à la raçon; pero ellos se apartaban de hecho, y este hecho se toleraba, aunque no en todos, segun el mas, ò menos escandalo, que se engendraba en el Pueblo. Otros dicen, que por Sentencia difinitiva, se hacia este Repudio, y Divorcio … los Jueces sentenciaban (si acaso concedemos, que havia sentencia) que se apartasen, y quedasen libres, y sin obligacion el vno, al otro; pero no de la murmuracion del Pueblo, que buelto contra ellos, decian ser dignos de grandisima pena, por haver quebrado la Fè è integridad del Matrimonio, y haver dado tan mal exemplo à la Republica.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 442; Carbajal, Discurso, pp. 20-1; Monglave, Résumé, p. 31; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 131.

[193] ‘Tengono molte moglie, & tante quante ne possono mantenere come i mori, però come si è detto, vna è la principale & patrona & i figliuoli di qsta hereditano, & quei dell’altre no, che non possono anzi son tenuti per bastardi. Nelle nozze di questa patrona principale fanno alcune cirimonie, il che non si osserua nelle nozze dell’altre.’ Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 310. See further, Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 376; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, cap. ccxiii., ccxiv., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., pp. 127-8; Carbajal, Discurso, pp. 20-7; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., pp. 169, 197; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 107; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 430-1; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 260; Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. iv., dec. v., lib. x.

[194] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, cap. ccxiii., ccxiv., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 127; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 370; Carbajal, Discurso, pp. 27-8; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 37-8; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 132-3.

[195] I have thought it unnecessary to give these speeches in full, but the reader can find them all together in Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 161-73.

[196] Sahagun adds: ‘Mandaba que á la preñada la diesen de comer suficientemente y buenos manjares, calientes y bien guisados, con especialidad cuando á la preñada le viene su purgacion, ó como dicen la regla, y esto llaman que la criatura se laba los pies, porque no se halle ésta en vacio, ó haya alguna vaciedad ó falta de sangre ó humor necesario, y así reciba algun daño.’ Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 182.

[197] Sahagun’s original MS. contains twenty-four additional lines on this subject, but these his editor deems too indelicate to print. Id., p. 181.

[198] For these addresses see Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 174-83.

[199] ‘Se llegan algunas mujeres como parteras, y otras como testigos para ver si el parto es supuesto ó natural; y al tiempo del nacer no permiten que la criatura llegue á la tierra con la vida; é antes que se la cortenle hacen ciertas señales en el corpezuelo.’ Zuazo, Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 363-4.

[200] Cihuapipiltin, or Ciuapipilti. A long description of the burial rites upon these occasions in Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 186-91. These will, however, be described in a future chapter.

[201] Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 130, and Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 84, who seems to have copied from him, are the authorities for this, but the custom could not have been very general, for it is said that in Tlascala the mother assigned a breast to each of the twins.

[202] The principal authority on the matter of pregnancy and childbirth, and the one whom I have thus far followed, is Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 160-92.

[203] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 86, differs from Sahagun in these prayers or invocations; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 445, Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., p. 36, and Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 560, follow Clavigero more or less closely.

[204] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 199-200; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 445-6.

[205] The Teochichimec husband undertook the office of midwife when the birth took place on the road. He heated the back of his wife with fire, threw water over her in lieu of a bath, and gave her two or three kicks in the back after the delivery, in order to promote the issue of superfluous blood. The new-born babe was placed in a wicker basket, and thrown over the back of the mother, who proceeded on her journey. Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 191-203; also Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 445-6; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 86; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 560; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 551-2, 673, etc. The utensils which served at the birth of the child were, according to Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxix., offered at the fountain or river where the mother washed herself.

[206] By Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iv., pp. 282-328, and Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. iii., cap. ii., the signs of the calendar and their subdivisions are described at length. Each sign had thirteen sub-signs, representing the same number of days, by whom its good or bad import was moderated to a certain extent. Under certain signs the child was liable to become a drunkard, under another a jester, under a third a warrior, and so on. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 560, and Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 552, state that the sign which had been most frequent at this period during the past thirteen years was also considered by the astrologer.

[207] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 215-7; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 449.

[208] A long description of this feast, the table, attendance, etc., is given by Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iv., pp. 332-6, and by Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 457-8. I shall have occasion to describe it in a future chapter of this volume, devoted to such matters.

[209] The poorer classes contented themselves with an interchange of flowers and food.

[210] A dual deity, uniting both sexes in one person.

[211] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 220, makes the midwife, in this instance, call upon Citlalatonac. This goddess was, however, identical with Ometochtli and Omecioatl (see, more especially, Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 472), to whom the preceding prayer was directed. Clavigero and Torquemada assert that the prayer was addressed to the water-goddess.

[212] Sahagun addresses the Sun-God only.

[213] We may presume that the midwife is here addressing the child of a warrior.

[214] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 84, Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 287, and Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 287, translate Nemoquichtli and Nencihuatl ‘useless man’ and ‘useless woman.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 454-6, discusses names, why and how they were applied, in Mexico and elsewhere. Motolinia, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 37, states that the name given at baptism was discarded for one applied by the priest, when the parents carried the child to the temple in the third month. See also Ritos Antiguos, p. 22, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix. Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 312, says that the name given by the priest was the surname, nobles sometimes taking a third name. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 562, says that several additional names could be taken under various circumstances. In Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 90, it is stated that the name was given by three boys who sat by eating yxcue.

[215] Boturini states that the infant is thereupon passed four times through the fire. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 88; but this ceremony is described elsewhere in this volume as taking place in the temple.

[216] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iv., pp. 330-6.

[217] It was believed, says Torquemada, that this rubbing of their own limbs had a strengthening effect upon the new-born. Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 457.

[218] Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 312.

[219] Dávila, Teatro Ecles., tom. i., p. 18.

[220] Hist. Ecles., p. 107.

[221] Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 329.

[222] Id., fol. 395.

[223] The following are contradictory accounts of baptism. On the fourth day the child and mother took a purification bath, and the assembled guests were feasted on zamorra, a dish made from maize and the flesh of hens, deer, etc. Three days after, the mother carried the child to the adjoining ward, accompanied by six little boys, if it was a male child, otherwise six girls went with her, to carry the implements or insignia of the father’s trade. Here she washed the child in a stream, and then returned home. Two years after a feast was served in the house of the most intimate neighbor, who was asked to name the child, and with him it remained and was held as a member of his family. Chaves, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., pp. 306-8. The infant was carried to the temple, where the priest made an oration on the miseries to be endured in this world, and placed a sword in the right hand of the child and a buckler in the left; or, if it was destined to be a mechanic, an artisan’s tool; if a girl it received a distaff. The priest then took the child to the altar and drew a few drops of blood from its body with a maguey-thorn or knife, after which he threw water over it, delivering certain imprecations the while. Touron, Hist. Gén., tom. iii., pp. 12-13. The implements were placed in the hands of the child by the priest before the idol. Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 374. Also Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xvii. The child underwent three baptisms or baths. Zuazo, Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 364. On the seventh day the baptism took place, and a dart was placed in the hand of the child to signify that he should become a defender of his country. Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Id., p. 37. In Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), tav. xxxi., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 181, it is stated that the child was sprinkled with a bunch of ficitle dipped in water, and fumigated with incense before receiving its name. Offerings were made at the temple which the priest divided among the school children. Tylor, in his Anahuac, p. 279, and Primitive Culture, vol. ii., pp. 429-36 gives short reviews of the baptismal ceremony and its moral import.

[224] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxv.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 83-4; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 107-8; Zuazo, Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 364; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 35. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 73, reviews the subject of circumcision and denies that it was ever practiced. Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., p. 45, tom. x., referring to Diaz’ statement that all Indians of the Vera Cruz Islands are circumcised, says that he must have confounded the custom of drawing blood from the secret organs with circumcision. Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 191, says circumcision was unknown to the Indians of Yucatan. Duran and Brasseur evidently consider the slight incisions made for the purpose of drawing blood from the prepuce or ear, in the eleventh month, as the act. Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 538, following Clavigero, holds the scarification of breast, stomach and arms to be the circumcision referred to by other authors. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xvii., and especially Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 374, consider the incision on the prepuce and ear to have been mistaken for circumcision, and state that it was chiefly performed upon sons of great men; they do not state when the ceremony took place.

[225] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 266; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 538.

[226] This rite was followed by another, which usually took place in the temple of Huitzilopochtli. The priest made a slight incision on the ear of the female child, and on the ear and prepuce of the male, with a new obsidian knife handed to him by the mother, then, throwing the knife at the feet of the idol, he gave a name to the infant, at the request of the parent, after duly considering the horoscope and signs of the time. Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. iii., cap. iii., quoted by Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 525-6. Duran really states that these ceremonies took place in the fourth month, but as Toci’s festival occurs in the eleventh month, Brasseur alters the evident mistake. The naming of the infant may have been a mere confirmation of the name given by the midwife.

[227] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii. p. 286.

[228] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 189-90. Sahagun translates Itzcalli by ‘growth,’ but other authors differ from him, as we shall see in a future chapter on the Calendar.

[229] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xii.

[230] Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 77; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 460-1.

[231] Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 312.

[232] Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 553.

[233] Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 318.

[234] The authorities on childbirth, baptism, and circumcision are: Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 187-90, lib. iv., pp. 281-337, tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 160-222, tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 119-20; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 2-73, 86-89; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 83-4, 266, 286, 445-61; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xvii., lib. iii., cap. xii., lib. iv., cap. xvi.; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxv., clxxix.; Codex Mendoza, pp. 90-1, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v.; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 37-8, 77, 108; Zuazo, Carta, in Id., pp. 363-4; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 107-8, 139; Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 329, 395; Dávila, Teatro Ecles., tom. i., p. 18; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 203; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 538, 551-5, 673; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 240, tom. iii., pp. 35, 525-6, 560-3; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 374; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 312, 317-18; Touron, Hist. Gén., tom. iii., pp. 12-13; Chaves, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., pp. 306-8; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 32, 265; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 36-9; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., pp. 140-1; D’Avity, L’Amérique, tom. ii., p. 73; Baril, Mexique, pp. 199-200; Ritos Antiguos, pp. 22-3, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix.; Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 239; Adair’s Amer. Ind., p. 217; Müller, Reisen, tom. iii., pp. 118-20; Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., pp. 1102-3, 1140; Carli, Cartas, pt. i., p. 101; Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. iii., cap. iii.; Diaz, Itinéraire, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 45; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 90; Morton’s Crania Amer., p. 147; Delafield’s Antiq. Amer., p. 19.

Chapter VIII • Nahua Feasts and Amusements • 6,900 Words

Excessive Fondness for Feasts—Manner of Giving Feasts—Serving the Meal—Professional Jesters—Parting Presents to Guests—Royal Banquets—Tobacco Smoking—Public Dances—Manner of Singing and Dancing—The Neteteliztli—The Drama among the Nahuas—Music and Musical Instruments—Nahua Poetry—Acrobatic Feats—The Netololiztli, or ‘Bird Dance’—Professional Runners—The Game of Tlactli—Games of Chance—The Patoliztli, or ‘Bean Game’—Totoloque, Montezuma’s Favorite Game.

Feasts and Entertainments

The excessive fondness of the Aztecs for feasts and amusements of every kind seems to have extended through all ranks of society. Every man feasted his neighbor and was himself in turn feasted. Birthdays, victories, house-warmings, successful voyages or speculations, and other events too numerous to enumerate were celebrated with feasts. Every man, from king to peasant, considered it incumbent upon him to be second to none among his equals in the giving of banquets and entertainments, and as these involved the distribution of costly presents among his guests, it often happened that the host ruined himself by his hospitality; indeed, it is said that many sold themselves into slavery that they might be able to prepare at least one feast that would immortalize their memory.[235]Ritos Antiguos, p. 20, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix. Moreover the priests, with the subtle policy characteristic of their class, took advantage of this disposition to ordain long and frequent celebrations in honor of innumerable gods; in short, it is difficult to conceive what part of the year could have been saved for business from what seems to have been a continual round of merry-making.

The grandeur of the feast depended, of course, upon the wealth of the host, the rank of the guests, and the importance of the event celebrated. For many days before a noble or wealthy man entertained his friends, an army of servants were employed in sweeping the approaches to the house, decorating the halls and courts with branches and garlands, erecting chinamas, or arbors, and strewing the floors with flowers and sweet herbs; others prepared the table service, killed and dressed dogs, plucked fowls, cooked tamales, baked bread, ground cacao, brewed drinks, and manufactured perfumed cigarettes. Invitations were in the meantime sent to the guests. These on their arrival were presented with flowers as a token of welcome. Those of a superior condition to the host were saluted after the Aztec fashion by touching the hand to the earth and then carrying it to the lips. On some occasions garlands were placed upon the heads of the guests and strings of roses about their necks, while copal was burnt before those whom the host delighted specially to honor. While waiting for the meal the guests employed their time in walking freely about the place, complimenting their host on the tasteful manner in which the house was decorated, or admiring the fine shrubbery, green grass plats, well-kept flower-beds, and sparkling fountains in the gardens.

Dinner being announced, all took their seats, according to rank and age, upon mats or icpalli, stools, ranged close along the walls.[236]The highest in rank or consideration sat on the right side, and those of inferior degree on the left; young men sat at the ends on both sides, according to their rank. Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. ix., pp. 347-8. Servants then entered with water and towels, with which each guest washed his hands and mouth. Smoking-canes were next presented on molcaxetes, or plates, to stimulate the appetite. The viands, kept warm by chafing dishes, were then brought in upon artistically worked plates of gold, silver, tortoise-shell, or earthenware. Each person before beginning to eat threw a small piece of food into a lighted brazier, in honor of Xiuhtecutli, the god of fire,[237]Speaking of this Xiuhtecutli, Torquemada says: ‘Honrabanlo como à Dios, porque los calentaba, cocia el Pan y guisaba la Carne, y por esto en cada Casa le veneraban; y en el mismo Fogòn, ò Hogar, quando querian comer, le daban el primer bocado de la vianda, para que alli se quemase; y lo que avian de beber, lo avia de gustar primero, hechando en el fuego parte de el licor.’ Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 57. Sahagun says the morsel of food was thrown into the fire in honor of the god Tlaltecutli: ‘Antes que comenzasen á comer los convidados la comida que les habian puesto, tomaban un bocado de la comida, y arrojábanlo al fuego á honra del dios Tlaltecutli, y luego comenzaban á comer.’ Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iv., p. 333. probably by way of grace. The numerous highly seasoned dishes of meat and fish having been duly discussed, the servants cleared the tables and feasted upon the remains of the banquet in company with the attendants of the guests.[238]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 457. Vessels called teutecomatls, filled with chocolate, each provided with a spoon to stir the fluid with, were then brought on, together with water for washing the hands and rinsing the mouth. The women who were present on these occasions, although they sat apart from the men, received a kind of spiced gruel instead of cacao. The old people, however, were plied with octli, a very potent beverage, until they became drunk, and this was held to be an indispensable part of the ceremony.

The smoking-canes were now once more produced, and while the guests reclined luxuriously upon their mats enjoying the grateful influence of the fragrant leaf which we are told by Bernal Diaz they called ‘tobacco,’ and sipping their drinks, the music suddenly struck up, and the young folks, or perhaps some professionals, executed a dance, singing at the same time an ode prepared for the occasion, as well as other songs. Dwarfs, deformed beings, and curious objects were also introduced to vary the entertainment; but the professional jesters were the favorites, and the jokes made by them raised many a laugh, though this was rather forced perhaps by those at whose expense said jokes were cracked, for these fools were fully as privileged as their contemporary European brothers of motley, and sometimes spoke very biting truths in the shape of a jest; in some cases they were disguised in the costume of a foreign nation, whose dialect and peculiarities they imitated; at other times they would mimic old women, well-known eccentric individuals, and so forth.

The nobles kept a number of these jesters for their own amusement, and often sent them to a neighboring brother-noble to propound riddles; taking care to provide them with means to pay forfeit should the riddle be solved.[239]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 292.

These private banquets generally lasted till midnight, when the party broke up. Each guest received at parting presents of dresses, gourds, cacao-beans, flowers, or articles of food. Should any accident or shortcoming have marred the pleasure of the party, the host would sooner repeat the entertainment than have any slur rest upon his great social venture. In any case it was doubtless difficult for the good man to escape censure either for extravagance or stinginess.

At the royal feasts given when the great vassals came to the capital to render homage to their sovereign, the people flocked in from the provinces in great numbers to see the sights, which consisted of theatrical representations, gladiatorial combats, fights between wild beasts, athletic sports, musical performances, and poetical recitations in honor of kings, gods, and heroes. The nobles, in addition to this, partook daily of banquets at the palace, and were presented by the monarch with costly gifts.[240]For description of feasts see: Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 457-8; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iv., pp. 332-6, tom. ii., lib. ix., pp. 359-60, 364-5; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 615-6; Id., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1858, tom. clix., pp. 74-6; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 318; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 152-7; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., p. 178; Baril, Mexique, pp. 210-11; Ritos Antiguos, p. 20, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix.

Tobacco in the New World

To the tobacco-loving reader it will be interesting to learn how the weed was smoked in the New World before it was introduced into the Old by the immortal Jean Nicot, whose name be forever blessed. The habit of smoking did not possess among the Nahuas the peculiar character attached to it by the North American natives, as an indispensable accessory to treaties, the cementing of friendship, and so forth, but was indulged in chiefly by the sick, as a pastime and for its stimulating effect. The origin of the custom among the Nahuas may be traced to the use of reed-grass, filled with aromatic herbs, which was lighted and given to guests that they might diffuse the perfume about them; gradually they came to puff the reeds and swallow the smoke, pretending to find therein a remedy against headache, fatigue, phlegm, sleeplessness, etc. Three kinds of tobacco were used, the yetl, signifying tobacco in general, obtained from a large leaved plant, the picyetl, from a small but stronger species, and quauyetl, a less esteemed kind known later on as wild tobacco. Clavigero asserts that the picyetl and quauyetl were the only species known among the Mexicans. It was generally smoked after dinner in the form of paper, reed, or maize-leaf cigarettes, called pocyetl, ‘smoking tobacco,’ or acayetl, ‘tobacco-reed,’ the leaf being mixed in a paste, says Veytia, with xochiocotzotl, liquid amber, aromatic herbs, and pulverized charcoal, so as to keep smouldering when once lighted, and shed a perfume. The picyetl tobacco was smoked later in the day, without admixture, and somewhat in the shape of cigars. The smoke was inhaled, and the nose closed, in order that none of the grateful qualities should be lost. Wooden, metal, or bamboo tubes were sometimes used instead of cigarettes. Snuffing the pulverized leaf is an ancient custom which we owe to them.[241]Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 49-51; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 227. Hernandez, Nova Plant., p. 173; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., p. 525; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 646; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 684; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 12-13.

Dancing was the favorite Aztec amusement, and the fanciful arrangement of their dances, as well as the peculiar grace of their motions, is highly praised by all the old chroniclers. Dancing, and especially religious dances, formed an important part of an Aztec youth’s education, and much trouble was taken by the priests to instruct them in it.

The Mitote and Ribbon Dance

The preparations for the great public dances, when the performers numbered thousands,[242]‘Iuntauanse a este bayle, no mil hombres, como dize Gomara, pero mas de ocho mil.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. viii. were on an immense scale. The choirs and bands attached to the service of the various temples were placed under the supervision of a leader, usually a priest, who composed the ode of the day, set it to music, instructed the musicians, appointed the leaders of the dance, perfected the arrangements generally, observed that all did their duty, and caused every fault or negligence to be severely punished.[243]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 315, ever prepared with capital punishment, states that ‘el señor les mandaba prender, y otro dia los mandaba matar.’ The Neteteliztli dance took place either in the plaza or in the courtyard of the temple, in the centre of which mats were spread for the musicians. The nobles and aged men formed a circle nearest to the drums, the people of less importance formed another circle a little distance behind, and the young people composed the third ring. Two leading dancers directed the movements, and whatever steps they made were imitated by the performers. When all was ready, a whistle gave the signal and the drums were beaten lightly to a well-known tune started by the leaders and taken up by the dancers, who at the same time began to move their feet, arms, heads and bodies in perfect accord. Each verse or couplet was repeated three or four times, the dancers keeping time with their ayacachtli, or rattles. Each must keep his relative position in the circle, and complete the circuit at the same time; the inner circle, therefore, moved at a slow, dignified pace, suited to the rank and age of the men composing it; the second proceeded somewhat faster, while the dancers in the outer circle approached a run as the dance became livelier. The motions were varied; at one time the dancers held one another by the hand, at another, round the waist; now they took the left hand neighbor for partner, now the right, sometimes facing one way, sometimes another. The first song ended, which referred to the event of the day, a popular ode, treating of their gods, kings, or heroes, was taken up and sung in a higher scale and to a livelier measure, the dance meanwhile constantly increasing in animation. This was the case with all the succeeding songs, each one becoming higher and shriller as it proceeded; flutes, trumpets, and sharp whistles were sometimes added to the band to increase the effect. When one set of dancers became tired, another took its place, and so the dance continued through the whole day, each song taking about an hour. Jesters and clowns in various disguises circulated between the lines, cutting capers, cracking jokes, and serving refreshments. Herrera states that the solemn mitote was danced by twos in the outer circle.[244]Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xix. At private dances, two parallel lines were usually formed, the dancers turning in various directions, changing partners, and crossing from line to line.[245]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 180. Sometimes one stepped from each line, and performed a pas de deux while the others looked on. The ‘ribbon dance,’ resembled the English may-pole dance to a certain extent. A pole, fifteen to twenty feet high, was erected on a smooth piece of ground, and twenty or more persons, each seizing the end of a colored ribbon attached to its summit, began to dance about the mast, crossing each other and winding in apparent confusion, until the pole was covered with a motley texture of a certain design. When the band became too short, the plaiting was unwound by reversing the order of the dance. They had a number of other mitotes, or dances, varying chiefly in the colors worn by the dancers, the finery, painting, and disguises, and conforming to the text of the songs, such as the huexotzincaiutl, anaoacaiutl, cuextecaiutl, tocotin, and others to be described under religious festivals.[246]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 308-9; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 181-2. Children from four to eight years of age, the sons of nobles, took part in some dances and sang the soprano, and the priests joined in the solemn performances. Certain dances, as the netecuitotoli,[247]Netecuhytotiliztli, according to Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 286. could only be performed by the king and nobles,[248]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 189. a space being always set apart for the sovereign when he danced. Women joined the men in some dances, but generally danced apart. Certain dancing-houses of bad repute termed cuicoyan, ‘great joy of women,’ were open to females at night, and were then scenes of unmitigated debauch.[249]Tezozomoc, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 87. Great pains was taken to appear as fine as possible at the dances; noted warriors appeared magnificently dressed, and occasionally bearing shields set with feathers; nobles in court dress of rich mantles knotted at the shoulders, fanciful maxtlis round the loins, tassels of feathers and gold in the hair, lip-ornaments of gold and precious stones, gold rings in the ears, bracelets of the same metal set with plumes, or strings of chalchiuites and turquoises round the wrists and other parts of the arms, and some had gold bells attached to the ankles; the gaily colored dresses of the lower class were decorated with feathers and embroidery; garlands and flowers encircled the head, necklaces of shells and beans hung about the neck, bracelets clasped the arms and legs, and all carried nosegays. The women also shone in huipiles, gaily colored, fancifully embroidered, and set with fringes.[250]‘I Plebei si travestivano in varie figure d’animali con abiti fatti di carta, e di penne, o di pelli’—no doubt to distinguish them from the gentry when they joined in the dance. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 179-81, and others who follow him. In Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 130-3, is a long description of feast-day dress. For description of dances see Id., tom. ii., lib. viii. pp. 308-9, 314-15; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 550-2; D’Avity, L’Amérique, tom. ii., p. 68; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 267-8; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 446-9; Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., pp. 1064-5; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 643-5; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 669-71; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 140-3; Tezozomoc, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 61, 87; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 106-7; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 56-8; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. viii., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xix., and Translation, Lond. 1726, vol. iii., p. 227, with cut.

The Aboriginal Drama

The drama scarcely equaled in excellence the choral dance, yet in this respect, as in others, the Nahuas showed considerable advancement. Thalia presided more frequently than Melpomene over the play, which generally took the character of a burlesque. The performers mostly wore masks of wood, or were disguised as animals. No special building was devoted to the drama, but the lower porch of a temple usually served as the stage; some large towns, however, boasted of a permanent stage, erected in the centre of the plaza. The principal of these was at Tlatelulco, and consisted of a terrace of stone and lime, thirteen feet high, by thirty in breadth. When in use it was decorated with foliage, and mats of various colors, whereon was emblazoned the coat of arms of the city, were hung all round it. At Cholula the porch of the temple of Quetzalcoatl served as a stage; this was whitewashed and adorned with arches of branches, feathers, and flowers, from which hung birds, rabbits, and other curious objects. Here the people congregated after dinner on gala-days to witness the performance, in which deaf, lame, blind, deformed, or sick people, or, sometimes, merchants, mechanics, or prominent citizens, were mimicked, burlesqued, and made fun of. Each actor endeavored to represent his rôle in the most grotesque manner possible. He who was for the moment deaf gave nonsensical answers to questions put to him; the sick man depicted the effects of pain, and so forth. When these had exhausted their stock of jokes, others entered as beetles, frogs, or lizards, croaking, whistling, and skipping about the stage after the manner of the creatures they represented. The boys from the temples also appeared as birds and butterflies, and flocked into the trees in the courtyard. Each performer rehearsed his part before appearing in public, and great care was taken that no blunder should mar the beauty of the plot. The priests added to the fun by blowing mud-balls at the actors through wooden tubes, and praising or censuring the performance in a jocular manner. The entertainment concluded with a ball, which was attended by all the actors.[251]Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 144-5, has it that the audience also attended this ball.

Some authors have spoken very favorably of the dramatic skill of the Nahuas. Clavigero is not inclined to indorse this opinion, although he thinks a great advance would have been made in this direction had the Mexican Empire survived another century; a very natural conclusion, certainly. The ceremonies at the religious festivals often partook of a dramatic character, as will be seen presently.[252]Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 391-2; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 76-8; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 59-60; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 674-6.

Music, a principal attraction at our theatrical entertainments, did not play an important part on the Nahua stage, and, though we hear of singers appearing, instrumental concert is not mentioned. Aside from this, the high importance attached to music is evident from the myth of its origin. According to this myth no less a personage than Tezcatlipoca[253]For an account of Tezcatlipoca see Vol. III. of this work. brought, or sent for, music from the sun, and constructed a bridge of whales and turtles, symbols of strength, by which to convey it to the earth.

Musical Instruments

Drums, horns, shells, trumpets, and shrill whistles made from cleft bones were the instruments most used. The drum was the favorite, and the beating of several in nice accord sufficed alone for an accompaniment to the song and the dance. Two kinds of drum are mentioned; of these, the huehuetl[254]Called tlapanhuehuetl by Tezozomoc and Brasseur de Bourbourg. was a hollow cylinder of wood, about three feet high, and a foot and a half in diameter, curiously carved and painted, and having its upper end covered with a dressed deer-skin, tightened or loosened in tuning, and played upon with the hands. The other kind of drum was called the teponaztli, ‘wing of the stone-vapor;’ this was entirely of wood, and had no opening but two parallel slits in one side, the enclosed piece being divided in the centre so as to form two tongues, each of which increased in thickness towards its extremity; the drum was placed in a horizontal position and the sound was produced by beating the tongues with sticks tipped with rubber balls. This drum varied in length from a toy of a few inches to five feet. Sometimes it was carved in the shape of a man, woman, or animal, and lay lengthways on trestles. The huehuetl gave forth a dull sound resembling that of the East Indian tom-tom. These drums, when of the largest size, could be heard at a distance of two miles.[255]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 179, etc. The teponaztli produced a melancholy sound, which is considered by Brasseur de Bourbourg to have been a symbol of the hollow warning noise preceding the annihilation of Earth, which was symbolized by the instrument itself.[256]Quatre Lettres, p. 94. The tetzilacatlwas a kind of gong made of copper and struck with a hammer of the same material. The ayacachtli was a rattle of copper, perforated and filled with pebbles, used by dancers.

The ancient writers unite in praising the perfect unison and good time observed by the singers, both in solo and quartette, with chorus and responses, and they mention particularly the little boys of from four to eight years of age, who rendered the soprano in a manner that reflected great credit on the training of their priestly tutors. Each temple, and many noblemen kept choirs and bands of professional musicians, usually led by a priest, who composed odes appropriate to every occasion, and set them to music. Bass singers were rare, and were prized in proportion to their rarity. They had a great number of popular songs or ballads, which were well known in all classes. Young people were obliged to learn by heart long epics, in which were recounted the glorious deeds of heroes in battle and the chase; or didactic pieces, pointing some moral and inculcating a useful lesson; or hymns of praise and appeal for sacred festivals. Clavigero, Pimentel, and other authors extol the aboriginal muse highly, and describe the language used as pure, brilliant, figurative, and interwoven with allusions to the beauties of nature; unmeaning interjections scattered here and there to assist the metre, evince a lack of finish, however, and the long, compound words, a single one of which often formed a whole verse, certainly did not add to the harmony, yet they observed good metre and cadence.[257]Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 106, states, ‘y esto va todo en copla por sus consonantes,’ but it is not likely that they were anything else than blank verse, for such a thing as rhyme is not mentioned by any other writer.

The art of music was under royal protection, and singers as well as musicians were exempt from taxation. Nezahualcoyotl, the great Tezcucan patron of art, himself composed a number of odes and elegies, and founded an academy of sciences and music, where the allied kings of Mexico, Tezcuco, and Tlacopan presided, and distributed prizes to the successful competitors. Toltec songs are highly praised for their beauty and variety. The Totonacs and Tepanecs are said to have been as far advanced in music and singing as the Aztecs;[258]Concerning music and singing see: Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 174-9; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 229, tom. ii., pp. 551-2; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 447; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 140-1; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 106; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 57-9; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 282, tom. iii., pp. 279, 669, 672-74; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 641-2; Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., pp. 1064-5; Tezozomoc, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 61; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 145-50; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 545; Ranking’s Hist. Researches, p. 344; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 170-5, 194; Lenoir, Parallèle, p. 64; Dupaix, Rel., 2de Expéd., pl. 62-3, in Antiq. Mex., tom. iii.; Fuenleal, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., pp. 218-19; Boturini, Idea, pp. 85-99. but concerning these arts I shall speak more at length in a future chapter.

Gymnastic Performances

The acrobatic feats performed by the Nahuas excited the surprise and admiration of the conquerors, and the court of Spain, before which some of these athletes were introduced, was no less astounded at the grace, daring, and strength displayed by them.

Some of these gymnastic performances have only of late become known to us; thus, the so-called Chinese foot-balancing trick, in which a man lying on his back spins a heavy pole on the soles of his raised feet, throws it up, catches it, and twirls it in every direction, was a common feat with the Nahua acrobat, who, indeed, excelled the circus-man of to-day, in that he twirled the pole while a man sat at each end of it. Another feat was performed by three. One having braced himself firmly, another mounted on his shoulders, while the third climbed up and stood upon the head of the second. In this position the human column moved slowly about, the man on the top performing a kind of dance at the same time. Again, a man would dance on the top of a beam, the lower end of which was forked and rested upon the shoulders of two other dancers. Some raised a stick from the ground while a man balanced at the end of it; others leaped upon a stick set upright in the ground, or danced upon the tight-rope. Another game involving an equal display of grace and daring was the netotoliztli, or ‘bird dance,’ known to the Spaniards as the ‘flying-game,’ and performed especially during the laymen’s feast. In the centre of an open place, generally a public square, a lofty pole was erected. On the top of this pole was placed a wooden, moveable cap, resembling an inverted mortar; to this were fastened four stout ropes which supported a wooden frame about twelve feet square. Four other, longer ropes were carefully wound thirteen times about the pole just below the cap, and were thence passed through holes made one in each of the four sides of the frame. The ends of these ropes, while wound about the pole, hung several feet below the frame. Four gymnasts, who had practiced some time previously, and were disguised as birds of different form, ascended by means of loops of cord tied about the pole, and each having fastened one of the ropes round his waist, they started on their circular flight with spread wings. The impulse of the start and the weight of the men set the frame in motion, and the rope unwound quicker and quicker, enabling the flyers to describe larger and larger circles. A number of other men, all richly dressed, sat perched upon the frame, whence they ascended in turn to the top of the revolving cap, and there danced and beat a drum, or waved a flag, each man endeavoring to surpass his predecessor in daring and skill.[259]Espinosa seems to think that one man did all the dancing on the summit, and Brasseur says that each of the flyers performed on the top of the mast before taking their flight. As the flyers neared the ground, and the ropes were almost untwisted, the men on the frame glided down the ropes so as to gain the ground at the same time, sometimes passing from one rope to the other in their descent and performing other tricks. The thirteen turns of the rope, with the four flyers, represented the cycle with its four divisions of thirteen years.

Running was practiced, not only for exercise, but as a profession; as the government employed a large number of couriers to run with messages, who were trained for the purpose from early childhood. To these I shall have occasion to refer again. Races were held at the chief temple in Mexico under the auspices of the priests,[260]Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 387-8. at which prizes were awarded to the four competitors who succeeded in first gaining the topmost of the one hundred and twenty steps. The Nahuas must have been able swimmers, too, for it is said that travelers usually took to the water when crossing rivers, leaving the bridges to those who carried burdens. There were also sham fights and public reviews, both for the exercise of the army and the delectation of the masses. At these times the soldiers competed for prizes in shooting with the arrow or throwing the dart.[261]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 292. On grand occasions, such as the coronation of a king, soldiers fought with wild beasts, or wrestled with one another, and animals were pitted against each other in fenced enclosures.[262]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 53, 87; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 238.

The Tlachtli, Or National Game

The national game of the Nahuas was the tlachtli, which strongly resembled in many points our game of football, and was quite as lively and full of scuffle. It was common among all the nations whose cult was similar to the Toltec, and was under special divine protection, though what original religious significance it had is not clear. Indeed, for that matter, nearly every game enjoyed divine patronage, and Ometochtli, ‘two rabbits,’ the god of games, according to Duran, was generally invoked by athletes as well as gamblers, in conjunction with some special god. Instruments of play, and natural objects were also conjured to grant good luck to the applicant. As an instance of the popularity of the game of tlachtli,[263]Sahagun calls it tlaxtli, or tlachtl; and Tezozomoc tlachco, but this is shown by others to be the name of the play-ground. it may be mentioned that a certain number of towns contributed annually sixteen thousand balls in taxes, that each town of any size had a special play-ground devoted to the game, and that kings kept professionals to play before them, occasionally challenging each other to a game besides. The ground in which it was played, called the tlachco,[264]Gomara says tlachtli, or tlachco; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. viii., tlachtli. was an alley whose shape is shown in the cut; one hundred feet long[265]Duran makes it one hundred to two hundred feet, Espinosa fifty varas, Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 667, sixty to eighty feet. and half as wide, except at each end where there were rectangular nooks, which doubtless served as resting-places for the players. The whole was enclosed by smooth whitewashed walls, from nine to twelve feet high on the sides, and somewhat lower at the ends, with battlements and turrets, and decreasing in thickness toward the top.[266]Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 647, says that the side walls are lowest, ‘de ménos altura los laterales que los dos de los extremos,’ but this agrees neither with other statements, nor with the requirements of the play. Sahagun’s description of the tlachco gives two walls, forty to fifty feet long, twenty to thirty feet apart, and about nine feet high. At midnight, previous to the day fixed for the game, which was always fixed favorably by the augurs, the priests with much ceremony placed two idols—one representing the god of play, the other the god of the tlachtli[267]Carbajal Espinosa thinks that one of them was Omeacatl, ‘the god of joy.’—upon the side walls, blessed the edifice, and consecrated the game by throwing the ball four times round the ground, muttering the while a formula. The owner of the tlachco, usually the lord of the place, also performed certain ceremonies and presented offerings, before opening the game. The balls, called ullamaloni, were of solid India-rubber, three to four inches in diameter. The players were simply attired in the maxtli, or breech-clout, and sometimes wore a skin to protect the parts coming in contact with the ball, and gloves; they played in parties, usually two or three on each side. The rule was to hit the ball only with knee, elbow, shoulder, or buttock, as agreed upon, the latter was however the favorite way, and to touch the wall of the opposite side with the ball, or to send it over, either of which counted a point. He who struck the ball with his hand or foot, or with any part of his body not previously agreed upon, lost a point; to settle such matters without dispute a priest acted as referee. On each side-wall, equidistant from the ends, was a large stone, carved with images of idols, pierced through the centre with a hole large enough to just admit the passage of the ball;[268]Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 647, states that the stones were in the centre of the ground, ‘en el espacio que mediaba entre los jugadores,’ but no other author confirms this. It is not unlikely that these stones are the idols placed upon the walls by the priests, for they are described as being decorated with figures of idols. For description and cuts of the ruins of what seem to have been similar structures in Yucatan, see Vol. IV., pp. 172, 230-1, of this work. the player who by chance or skill drove the ball through one of these openings not only won the game for his side, but was entitled to the cloaks of all present, and the haste with which the spectators scrambled off in order to save their garments is said to have been the most amusing part of the entertainment. A feat so difficult was, of course, rarely accomplished, save by chance, and the successful player was made as much of as a prize-winner at the Olympic games, nor did he omit to present thank offerings to the god of the game for the good fortune vouchsafed him.

The possession of much property depended upon the issue of the game; the rich staked their gold and jewels, the poor their dresses, their food, or even their liberty.[269]Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 107, says that the ball had to be kept up in the air a long time, and he who let it drop lost, which is unlikely, since the point was to drive it against the opponent’s wall; it is possible, however, that this trial of skill formed a part of the play, at times. He also states that in the centre of the play-ground was a hole filled with water, and the player who sent the ball into it lost his clothes and had opprobrious epithets hurled at him, among which ‘great adulterer’ was the most frequent; moreover, it was believed that he would die by the hand of an injured husband. A hole filled with water does not, however, seem appropriate to a nice play-ground; besides, the ball would be very likely to roll into the pool, for the opponents would not prevent it. Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 196, and Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 123, say that nobles only were allowed to play the game, which can only refer to certain play-grounds or occasions, for the number of the balls paid in taxes proves the game too general to have been reserved for nobles.

Ball-Playing and Gambling

Gambling, the lowest yet most infatuating of amusements, was a passion with the Nahuas, and property of all kinds, from ears of corn or cacao-beans, to costly jewelry and personal liberty, were betted upon the issue of the various games. Professional gamesters went from house to house with dice and play-mats, seeking fresh victims. All gambling tools were formally charmed, and this charm was renewed and strengthened at intervals by presenting the instruments in the temple, with prayers that the blessing of the idol might descend upon them.

Popular Amusements

Patoliztli, which somewhat resembled our backgammon, appears to have been the most popular game of chance. Patolli, or large beans marked with dots, like dice, were shaken in the hand and thrown upon a mat, upon which was traced a square marked with certain transverse and diagonal lines. The thrower of the beans marked his points on these lines according to the number of spots which fell upward. He who first gained a certain score won the game. The players were usually surrounded by a crowd of interested spectators, who betted heavily on the result, and called loudly for the favor of Macuilxochitl, the patron deity of the game. Golden and jewelled dice were often used instead of beans by the rich.[270]Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 105, is the authority for the names of the game and beans. Torquemada affirms, however, ‘y dicenle Juego Patolli, porque estos dados, se llaman asi.’ Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 554. Clavigero, on the other hand, says: ‘Patolli è un nome generico significante ogni sorta di giuoco.’ Carbajal Espinosa translates him. Referring to the dice, Sahagun says that they were ‘cuatro frisoles grandes, y cada uno tiene un ahugero;’ afterwards he contradicts this by saying that they consisted of three large beans with ‘ciertos puntos en ellos.’ Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 292, 317. Brasseur de Bourbourg describes the playing process as follows: ‘Ils jetaient les dés en l’air avec les deux mains, marquant les cases avec de petits signaux de diverses couleurs, et celui qui retournait le premier dans les cases gagnait la partie,’ which agrees with Torquemada’s account. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 671. They had another game in which reeds took the place of dice. Two players, each with ten pebbles by his side, shot split reeds in turn towards small holes made in the ground, by bending them between the fingers; if a reed fell over a hole a marker was placed on a square; this continued until the markers were all exhausted by the winner.[271]‘Hacian encima de un encalado unos hoyos pequeñitos … y con unas cañuelas hendidas por medio daban en el suelo y saltaban en alto, y tantas cuantas en las cañuelas caian lo hueco por arriba tantas casas adelantaba sus piedras.’ Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. iii., cap. xxii. Montezuma’s favorite game was called totoloque, and consisted in throwing small golden balls at pieces of the same metal set up as targets at a certain distance. Five points won the stakes. Peter Martyr jumps at the conclusion that chess must have been known to the Nahuas, because they possessed checkered mats.[272]For Nahua games and amusements, see: Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 53, 87, tom. ii., pp. 305-6, 552-4; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 182-6; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 291-3, 316-17; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 104-6; Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. iii., cap. 22-3; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. vii-viii.; Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. x.; Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., pp. 1065, 1127-8; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 123, 129, tom. iii., pp. 665-9; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 645-9; Klemm,Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 54-6; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 387-8; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 407; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. 64; West und Ost Indischer Lustgart, pt i., pp. 100-1; Cortés, Aven. y Conq., p. 306; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., pp. 107-8; Dilworth’s Conq. Mex., p. 80; Lenoir, Parallèle, pp. 47-8, quoting Picart, Cérémonies Relig., tom. ii., p. 81.

Footnotes

[235] Ritos Antiguos, p. 20, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix.

[236] The highest in rank or consideration sat on the right side, and those of inferior degree on the left; young men sat at the ends on both sides, according to their rank. Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. ix., pp. 347-8.

[237] Speaking of this Xiuhtecutli, Torquemada says: ‘Honrabanlo como à Dios, porque los calentaba, cocia el Pan y guisaba la Carne, y por esto en cada Casa le veneraban; y en el mismo Fogòn, ò Hogar, quando querian comer, le daban el primer bocado de la vianda, para que alli se quemase; y lo que avian de beber, lo avia de gustar primero, hechando en el fuego parte de el licor.’ Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 57. Sahagun says the morsel of food was thrown into the fire in honor of the god Tlaltecutli: ‘Antes que comenzasen á comer los convidados la comida que les habian puesto, tomaban un bocado de la comida, y arrojábanlo al fuego á honra del dios Tlaltecutli, y luego comenzaban á comer.’ Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iv., p. 333.

[238] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 457.

[239] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 292.

[240] For description of feasts see: Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 457-8; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iv., pp. 332-6, tom. ii., lib. ix., pp. 359-60, 364-5; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 615-6; Id., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1858, tom. clix., pp. 74-6; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 318; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 152-7; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., p. 178; Baril, Mexique, pp. 210-11; Ritos Antiguos, p. 20, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix.

[241] Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 49-51; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 227. Hernandez, Nova Plant., p. 173; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., p. 525; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 646; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 684; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 12-13.

[242] ‘Iuntauanse a este bayle, no mil hombres, como dize Gomara, pero mas de ocho mil.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. viii.

[243] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 315, ever prepared with capital punishment, states that ‘el señor les mandaba prender, y otro dia los mandaba matar.’

[244] Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xix.

[245] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 180.

[246] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 308-9; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 181-2.

[247] Netecuhytotiliztli, according to Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 286.

[248] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 189.

[249] Tezozomoc, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 87.

[250] ‘I Plebei si travestivano in varie figure d’animali con abiti fatti di carta, e di penne, o di pelli’—no doubt to distinguish them from the gentry when they joined in the dance. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 179-81, and others who follow him. In Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 130-3, is a long description of feast-day dress. For description of dances see Id., tom. ii., lib. viii. pp. 308-9, 314-15; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 550-2; D’Avity, L’Amérique, tom. ii., p. 68; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 267-8; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 446-9; Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., pp. 1064-5; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 643-5; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 669-71; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 140-3; Tezozomoc, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 61, 87; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 106-7; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 56-8; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. viii., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xix., and Translation, Lond. 1726, vol. iii., p. 227, with cut.

[251] Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 144-5, has it that the audience also attended this ball.

[252] Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 391-2; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 76-8; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 59-60; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 674-6.

[253] For an account of Tezcatlipoca see Vol. III. of this work.

[254] Called tlapanhuehuetl by Tezozomoc and Brasseur de Bourbourg.

[255] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 179, etc.

[256] Quatre Lettres, p. 94.

[257] Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 106, states, ‘y esto va todo en copla por sus consonantes,’ but it is not likely that they were anything else than blank verse, for such a thing as rhyme is not mentioned by any other writer.

[258] Concerning music and singing see: Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 174-9; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 229, tom. ii., pp. 551-2; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 447; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 140-1; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 106; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 57-9; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 282, tom. iii., pp. 279, 669, 672-74; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 641-2; Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., pp. 1064-5; Tezozomoc, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 61; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 145-50; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 545; Ranking’s Hist. Researches, p. 344; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 170-5, 194; Lenoir, Parallèle, p. 64; Dupaix, Rel., 2de Expéd., pl. 62-3, in Antiq. Mex., tom. iii.; Fuenleal, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., pp. 218-19; Boturini, Idea, pp. 85-99.

[259] Espinosa seems to think that one man did all the dancing on the summit, and Brasseur says that each of the flyers performed on the top of the mast before taking their flight.

[260] Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 387-8.

[261] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 292.

[262] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 53, 87; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 238.

[263] Sahagun calls it tlaxtli, or tlachtl; and Tezozomoc tlachco, but this is shown by others to be the name of the play-ground.

[264] Gomara says tlachtli, or tlachco; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. viii., tlachtli.

[265] Duran makes it one hundred to two hundred feet, Espinosa fifty varas, Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 667, sixty to eighty feet.

[266] Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 647, says that the side walls are lowest, ‘de ménos altura los laterales que los dos de los extremos,’ but this agrees neither with other statements, nor with the requirements of the play. Sahagun’s description of the tlachco gives two walls, forty to fifty feet long, twenty to thirty feet apart, and about nine feet high.

[267] Carbajal Espinosa thinks that one of them was Omeacatl, ‘the god of joy.’

[268] Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 647, states that the stones were in the centre of the ground, ‘en el espacio que mediaba entre los jugadores,’ but no other author confirms this. It is not unlikely that these stones are the idols placed upon the walls by the priests, for they are described as being decorated with figures of idols. For description and cuts of the ruins of what seem to have been similar structures in Yucatan, see Vol. IV., pp. 172, 230-1, of this work.

[269] Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 107, says that the ball had to be kept up in the air a long time, and he who let it drop lost, which is unlikely, since the point was to drive it against the opponent’s wall; it is possible, however, that this trial of skill formed a part of the play, at times. He also states that in the centre of the play-ground was a hole filled with water, and the player who sent the ball into it lost his clothes and had opprobrious epithets hurled at him, among which ‘great adulterer’ was the most frequent; moreover, it was believed that he would die by the hand of an injured husband. A hole filled with water does not, however, seem appropriate to a nice play-ground; besides, the ball would be very likely to roll into the pool, for the opponents would not prevent it. Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 196, and Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 123, say that nobles only were allowed to play the game, which can only refer to certain play-grounds or occasions, for the number of the balls paid in taxes proves the game too general to have been reserved for nobles.

[270] Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 105, is the authority for the names of the game and beans. Torquemada affirms, however, ‘y dicenle Juego Patolli, porque estos dados, se llaman asi.’ Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 554. Clavigero, on the other hand, says: ‘Patolli è un nome generico significante ogni sorta di giuoco.’ Carbajal Espinosa translates him. Referring to the dice, Sahagun says that they were ‘cuatro frisoles grandes, y cada uno tiene un ahugero;’ afterwards he contradicts this by saying that they consisted of three large beans with ‘ciertos puntos en ellos.’ Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 292, 317. Brasseur de Bourbourg describes the playing process as follows: ‘Ils jetaient les dés en l’air avec les deux mains, marquant les cases avec de petits signaux de diverses couleurs, et celui qui retournait le premier dans les cases gagnait la partie,’ which agrees with Torquemada’s account. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 671.

[271] ‘Hacian encima de un encalado unos hoyos pequeñitos … y con unas cañuelas hendidas por medio daban en el suelo y saltaban en alto, y tantas cuantas en las cañuelas caian lo hueco por arriba tantas casas adelantaba sus piedras.’ Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. iii., cap. xxii.

[272] For Nahua games and amusements, see: Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 53, 87, tom. ii., pp. 305-6, 552-4; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 182-6; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 291-3, 316-17; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 104-6; Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. iii., cap. 22-3; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. vii-viii.; Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. x.; Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., pp. 1065, 1127-8; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 123, 129, tom. iii., pp. 665-9; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 645-9; Klemm,Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 54-6; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 387-8; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 407; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. 64; West und Ost Indischer Lustgart, pt i., pp. 100-1; Cortés, Aven. y Conq., p. 306; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., pp. 107-8; Dilworth’s Conq. Mex., p. 80; Lenoir, Parallèle, pp. 47-8, quoting Picart, Cérémonies Relig., tom. ii., p. 81.

Chapter IX • Public Festivals • 14,800 Words

Frequent Occurrence of Religious Feasts—Human Sacrifices—Feasts of the Fourth Year—Monthly Festivals—Sacrifice of Children—Feast of Xipe—Manner of Sacrifice—Feasts of Camaxtli, of the Flower-Dealers, of Centeotl, of Tezcatlipoca, and of Huitzilopochtli—Festival of the Salt-Makers—The Sacrifice by Fire—Feast of the Dead—The Coming of the Gods—The Footprints on the Mat—Hunting Feast—The Month of Love—Hard Times—Nahua Lupercalia—Feasts of the Sun, of the Winter Solstice—Harvest and Eight-Year Festivals—The Binding of the Sheaf.

Religious Festivals

The amusements described in the preceding chapter were chiefly indulged in during the great religious festivals, when the people flocked together from all quarters to propitiate or offer up thanks to some particular god.

These festivals were of very frequent occurrence. The Nahuas were close observers of nature; but like other nations in a similar or even more advanced stage of culture, the Greeks and Northmen for example, they entirely misunderstood the laws which govern the phenomena of nature, and looked upon every natural occurrence as the direct act of some particular divinity. The coming of the rains was held to be the coming of the rain-gods, with their heralds the thunder and lightning; the varying condition of the crops was ascribed to their Ceres; drought, storms, eclipses, all were considered the acts of special deities.

The religious machinery required to propitiate the anger, humor the whims, and beseech the favor of such a vast number of capricious divinities, was as intricate as it was ponderous. Besides the daily services held in the various temples, prayers were offered several times during each day in that of the sun, special rites attended every undertaking, from the departure of a private traveler to the setting forth of an army for war, and fixed as well as movable feasts were held, the number of which was continually increased as opportunity offered. The priests observed fasts among themselves, attended with penance, scarifications, and mutilations sometimes so severe as to result fatally. Thus, at the festival in honor of Camaxtli, the priests fasted one hundred and sixty days, and passed several hundred sticks, varying in thickness from half an inch to an inch and a half through a hole freshly made in the tongue.[273]See the Totonac daily temple service, in Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxv. ‘Luego aquel viejo mas principal metia y sacaba por su lengua en aquel dia cuatro cientos y cincuenta palos de aquellos … otros no tan viejos sacaban trescientos…. Estos palos que metian y sacaban por las lenguas eran tan gordos como el dedo pulgar de la mano … y otros tanto gruezos como las dos dedos de la mano pulgar y él con que señalamos podian abrazar.’ Id., cap. clxxii. The people imitated these penances in a less degree, and scarified the members of their bodies that had been the means of committing a sin. Blood was drawn from the ears for inattention, or for conveying evil utterances to the mind; from the tongue for giving expression to bad words; the eyes, the arms, the legs, all suffered for any reprehensible act or neglect. The people of each province, says Las Casas, had a manner of drawing blood peculiar to themselves.[274]‘En cada provincia tenian diferente costumbre porque unos de los brazos y otros de los pechos y otros de los muslos, &c. Y en esto se cognoscian tambien de que Provincia eran.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxx.

At the public festivals each private person brought such offering to the god as his means allowed. The poor had often nothing to give but a flower, a cake, or personal service, but the wealthy gave rich robes, jewels, gold, and slaves. But no great feast seems to have been complete without human sacrifice. This was always the great event of the day, to which the people looked eagerly forward, and for which victims were carefully preserved. Most of these miserable beings were captives taken in war, and it was rarely that the supply failed to be sufficient to the occasion, especially among the Mexicans, since, as I have before said, there was nearly always trouble in some part of the empire, if not, a lack of victims for sacrifice was held good cause for picking a quarrel with a neighboring nation; besides, if the number of war prisoners was not sufficient there were never wanting refractory slaves to swell the number. We have it upon good authority that upon almost every monthly feast, and upon numerous other grand celebrations, several hundred human hearts were torn hot from living breasts as an acceptable offering to the Nahua gods and a pleasant sight to the people.[275]‘En esta Fiesta, y en todas las demàs, donde no se hiciere mencion de particulares Sacrificios de Hombres, los avia, por ser cosa general hacerlos en todas las Festividades, y no era la que carecia de ello.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 255.

The grandest festivals were celebrated during the fourth year, called Teoxihuitl, or ‘divine year,’ and at the commencement of every thirteenth year. On these occasions a greater number of victims bled and the penances were more severe than at other times. The Nahuas also observed a grand festival every month in the year; but, as these feasts were closely connected with their religion, and therefore will be necessarily described at length in the next volume, I will confine myself here to such an outline description of them as will suffice to give the reader an idea of what they were.[276]‘Le feste, che annualmente si celebravano, erano più solenni nel Teoxihuitl, o Anno divino, quali erano tutti gli anni, che aveano per carattere il Coniglio.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 84; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 549. ‘En cada principio del mes en el dia que nombramos cabeza de sierpe celebraban una fiesta solemnisima … la cual era tan guardada y festejada que ni aun barrer la casa ni hacer de comer no se permitia.’ Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. iii., cap. ii.

Religious Feasts

The Aztec feast that is mentioned first by the old writers, namely that of the month Atlcahualco, ‘the diminishing of the waters,’ or, as it was called in some parts, Quahuitlehua, ‘burning of the trees or mountains,’ was celebrated in honor of the Tlalocs, gods of rains and waters. At this feast a great number of sucking infants were sacrificed, some upon certain high mountains, others in a whirlpool in the lake of Mexico. The little ones were mostly bought from their mothers, though sometimes they were voluntarily presented by parents who wished to gain the particular favor of the god. Those only who had two curls on the head, and who had been born under a lucky sign were thought acceptable to the gods. The sacrifices were not all made in one place, but upon six several mountains and in the lake. These were visited one after another by a great procession of priests attended by the music of flutes and trumpets, and followed by a vast multitude of people thirsting for the sight of blood; nay, more, literally hungering for the flesh of the babes, if we may credit the assertion of some authors, that the bodies were actually brought back and the flesh eaten as a choice delicacy by the priests and chief men. But of cannibalism more anon.

The little ones were carried to their death upon gorgeous litters adorned with plumes and jewels, and were themselves dressed in a splendid manner in embroidered and jeweled mantles and sandals, and colored paper wings. Their faces were stained with oil of India-rubber, and upon each cheek was painted a round white spot. No wonder that, as the old chroniclers say, the people wept as the doomed babes passed by; surely there was good cause for weeping in such a sight. Gladiatorial combats and sacrifice of prisoners of war at the temple completed this feast.[277]Sahagun in his short résumé of the festival states that some hold this celebration to have been in honor of Chalchihuitlicue, the water-goddess, and others in honor of Quetzalcoatl; but thinks that it might have been in honor of all these deities, namely, the Tlalocs, Chalchihuitlicue, and Quetzalcoatl. Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 49-50, 83-7. See also Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 250-2, 295.

The next feast, that in the month of Tlacaxipehualiztli, ‘the flaying of men,’ was held in honor of Xipe, who was especially the patron deity of the goldsmiths.[278]Although Sahagun states that Huitzilopochtli also received honors this month, yet no direct ceremonies were observed before his image. The large number of captives sacrificed, however, the universality and length of the festivities, the royal dance, etc., would certainly point to a celebration in honor of a greater deity than Xipe. He also says: ‘En esta fiesta mataban todos los cautivos, hombres, mugeres, y niños,’ which is not very probable. Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 88. This god was thought to inflict sore eyes, itch, and other diseases upon those who offended him, and they were therefore careful to observe his feast with all due regularity and honor. On this occasion thieves convicted for the second time of stealing gold or jewels[279]Thieves convicted the second time of stealing gold articles were sacrificed. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 503. were sacrificed, besides the usual number of prisoners of war. The vigil of the feast, on the last day of the preceding month, began with solemn dances. At midnight the victims were taken from the chapel, where they had been compelled to watch, and brought before the sacred fire. Here the hair was shaven from the top of their heads, the captors at the same time drawing blood from their own ears in honor of the idol; the severed topknot of each war prisoner was afterwards hung up at the house of his captor as a token and memorial of the father’s bravery. Towards daybreak some of the prisoners were taken up to the great temple to be sacrificed. But before we proceed farther it will be necessary to see how these human offerings were made.

Sacrificial Rites

Sacrifices varied in number, place, and manner, according to the circumstances of the festival. In general the victims suffered death by having the breast opened, and the heart torn out; but others were drowned, others were shut up in caves and starved to death, others fell in the gladiatorial sacrifice, which will be described elsewhere. The customary place was the temple, on the topmost platform of which stood the altar used for ordinary sacrifices. The altar of the great temple at Mexico, says Clavigero, was a green stone, probably jasper, convex above, and about three feet high and as many broad, and more than five feet long. The usual ministers of the sacrifice were six priests, the chief of whom was the Topiltzin, whose dignity was preëminent and hereditary; but at every sacrifice he assumed the name of that god to whom it was made. When sacrificing he was clothed in a red habit, similar in shape to a modern scapulary, fringed with cotton; on his head he wore a crown of green and yellow feathers, from his ears hung golden ear-ornaments and green jewels, and from his under lip a pendant of turquoise. His five assistants were dressed in white habits of the same make, but embroidered with black; their hair was plaited and bound with leather thongs, upon their foreheads were little patches of various-colored paper; their entire bodies were dyed black. The victim was carried naked up to the temple, where the assisting priests seized him and threw him prostrate on his back upon the altar, two holding his legs, two his feet, and the fifth his head; the high-priest then approached, and with a heavy knife of obsidian cut open the miserable man’s breast; then with a dexterity acquired by long practice the sacrificer tore forth the yet palpitating heart, which he first offered to the sun and then threw at the foot of the idol; taking it up he again offered it to the god and afterwards burned it, preserving the ashes with great care and veneration. Sometimes the heart was placed in the mouth of the idol with a golden spoon. It was customary also to anoint the lips of the image and the cornices of the door with the victim’s blood. If he was a prisoner of war, as soon as he was sacrificed they cut off his head to preserve the skull, and threw the body down the temple steps, whence it was carried to the house of the warrior by whom the victim had been taken captive, and cooked and eaten at a feast given by him to his friends; the body of a slave purchased for sacrifice was carried off by the former proprietor for the same purpose. This is Clavigero’s account. The same writer asserts that the Otomís having killed the victim, tore the body in pieces, which they sold at market. The Zapotecs sacrificed men to their gods, women to their goddesses, and children to some other diminutive deities. At the festival of Teteionan the woman who represented this goddess was beheaded on the shoulders of another woman. At the feast celebrating the arrival of the gods, the victims were burned to death. We have seen that they drowned children at one feast in honor of Tlaloc; at another feast of the same god several little boys were shut up in a cavern, and left to die of fear and hunger.[280]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 45-9. The same author says with regard to the number of sacrifices made annually in the Mexican Empire, that he can affirm nothing, as the reports vary greatly. ‘Zumárraga, the first bishop of Mexico, says, in a letter of the 12th of June, 1531, addressed to the general chapter of his order, that in that capital alone twenty thousand human victims were annually sacrificed. Some authors quoted by Gomara, affirm that the number of the sacrificed amounted to fifty thousand. Acosta writes that there was a certain day of the year on which five thousand were sacrificed in different places of the empire; and another day on which they sacrificed twenty thousand. Some authors believe, that on the mountain Tepeyacac alone, twenty thousand were sacrificed to the goddess Tonantzin. Torquemada, in quoting, though unfaithfully, the letter of Zumárraga, says, that there were twenty thousand infants annually sacrificed. But, on the contrary, Las Casas, in his refutation of the bloody book, wrote by Dr. Sepulveda, reduces the sacrifices to so small a number, that we are left to believe, they amounted not to fifty, or at most not to a hundred. We are strongly of opinion that all these authors have erred in the number, Las Casas by diminution, the rest by exaggeration of the truth.’ Id., Translation, Lond. 1807, vol. i., p. 281.

Sacrifices in Honor of Xipe

Let us now proceed with the feast of Xipe. We left a part of the doomed captives on their way to death. Arrived at the summit of the temple each one is led in turn to the altar of sacrifice seized by the grim, merciless priests, and thrown upon the stone; the high priest draws near, the knife is lifted, there is one great cry of agony, a shuffle of feet as the assistants are swayed to and fro by the death struggles of their victim, then all is silent save the muttering of the high-priest as high in air he holds the smoking heart, while from far down beneath comes a low hum of admiration from the thousands of upturned faces.

The still quivering bodies were cast down the temple steps, as at other times, but on this occasion they were not taken away until they had been flayed, for which reason these victims were called xipeme, ‘flayed,’ or tototecti, ‘one who dies in honor of Totec.’ The remains were then delivered over to the captor by certain priests, at the chapel where he had made his vow of offering, a vow which involved a fast of twenty days previous to the festival. A thigh was sent to the king’s table, and the remainder was cooked with maize and served up at the banquet given by the captors, to which their friends were invited. This dish was called tlacatlaolli; the giver of the feast, says Sahagun, did not taste the flesh of his own captive, who was held, in a manner, to be his son, but ate of others.

Ghastly Beggars, The Feast of Camaxtli

The next day another batch of prisoners, called oavanti, whose top hair had also been shaved, were brought out for sacrifice. In the meantime a number of young men also termed tototecti, began a gladiatorial game, a burlesque on the real combat to follow; dressing themselves in the skins of the flayed victims, they were teased to fight by a number of their comrades; these they pursued and put to flight, and thereupon turned against one another, dragging the vanquished to the guard-house, whence they were not discharged until a fine had been paid. A number of priests, each representing a god, now descended from the summit of the temple, and directed their steps to the stone of sacrifice, which stood below and must not be confounded with the altar, and seated themselves upon stools round about it, the high-priest taking the place of honor. After them came four braves, two disguised as eagles, and two as tigers, who performed fencing tactics as they advanced, and were destined to fight the captives. A band of singers and musicians, who were seated behind the priests, and bore streamers of white feathers mounted on long poles which were strapped to their shoulders, now began to sound flutes, shells, and trumpets, to whistle and to sing, while others approached, each dragging his own captive along by the hair. A cup of pulque was given to each of these poor wretches, which he presented toward the four quarters of the earth, and then sucked up the fluid by means of a tube. A priest thereupon took a quail, cut off its head before the captive, and taking the shield which he carried from him he raised it upwards, at the same time throwing the quail behind him—a symbol, perhaps, of his fate. Another priest arrayed in a bear-skin, who stood as god-father to the doomed men, now proceeded to tie one of the captives to a ring fixed in the elevated flat stone upon which the combat took place; he then handed him a sword edged with feathers instead of flint, and four pine sticks wherewith to defend himself against the four braves who were appointed to fight with him, one by one. These advanced against him with shield and sword raised toward the sky, and executing all manner of capers; if the captive proved too strong for them, a fifth man who fought both with the right and left hand was called in.[281]This farce differed from the regular gladiatorial combat which will be described elsewhere. Those who were too faint-hearted to attempt this hopeless combat, had their hearts torn out at once, whilst the others were sacrificed only after having been subdued by the braves. The bleeding and quivering heart was held up to the sun and then thrown into a bowl, prepared for its reception. An assistant priest sucked the blood from the gash in the chest through a hollow cane, the end of which he elevated towards the sun, and then discharged its contents into a plume-bordered cup held by the captor of the prisoner just slain. This cup was carried round to all the idols in the temples and chapels, before whom another blood-filled tube was held up as if to give them a taste of the contents; this ceremony performed, the cup was left at the palace. The corpse was taken to the chapel where the captive had watched, and there flayed, the flesh being consumed at a banquet as before.[282]‘Quedauan las cabeças coraçones para los sacerdotes.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 327. The skin was given to certain priests, or college youths, who went from house to house dressed in the ghastly garb, with the arms swinging, singing, dancing, and asking for contributions; those who refused to give anything received a stroke in the face from the dangling arm. The money collected was at the disposal of the captor, who gave it to the performers, and, no doubt, it eventually found its way to the temple or school treasury.[283]‘Guardaban alguno que fuese principal señor para este dia; el cual dessolaban para que se vestiese Montezuma gran Rey de la tierra y con él baylaba con sus reales contenencias.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxx. ‘Embutian los cueros de algodon o paja, y, o los colgauan en el templo, o en palacio,’ in the case of a prisoner of rank. Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 327. It is not stated that the persons who wore the skins and made the collection were connected with the temple, but this was no doubt the case, especially as many authors mention that priests had to dress themselves in the ghastly garb for a certain time. For representation of priest dressed in a flayed skin see Nebel, Viaje, pl. xxxiv. After the sacrifice, the priests, chiefs, and owners of the captives commenced to dance the motzontecomaitotia, circling round the stone of combat, weeping and lamenting as if going to their death, the captors holding the heads of the dead men by the hair in their right hands, and the priests swinging the cords which had held them toward the four quarters of the compass, amid many ceremonies. The next morning solemn dances were held everywhere, beginning at the royal palaces, at which everybody appeared in his best finery, holding tamales or cakes in his hands in lieu of flowers, and wearing dry maize, instead of garlands, as appropriate to the season. They also carried imitations of amaranths made of feathers and maize-stalks with the ears. At noon the priests retired from the dance, whereupon the lords and nobles arranged themselves in front of the palace by threes, with the king at their head, holding the lord of Tezcuco by the right hand and the lord of Tlacopan by the left, and danced solemnly till sunset. Other dances by warriors, and women, chiefly prostitutes, followed at the temple and lasted till midnight, the motions consisting of swinging of arms and interwinding. The festivities were varied by military reviews, sports, and concerts, and extended over the whole month. It was held incumbent upon everyone at this time to eat a kind of uncooked cake called huilocpalli. The Tlascaltecs called this month Cohuailhuitl, ‘feast of the snake,’ a name which truly indicates rejoicings, such as carnivals, sports, and banquets, participated in by all classes. Celebrations in honor of Camaxtli were also held at this time here as well as in Huexotzinco and many other places, for which the priests prepared themselves by a severe fast. The ceremonies when they took place in the fourth year, called ‘God’s year,’ were especially imposing. When the time came for the long fast which preceded the feast to begin, those of the priests who had sufficient courage to undergo the severe penance then exacted from the devout were called upon to assemble at the temple. Here the eldest arose and exhorted them to be faithful to their vows, giving notice to those who were faint-hearted to leave the company of penance-doers within five days, for, if they failed, after that time by the rules of the fast they would be disgraced and deprived of their estates. On the fifth day they again met to the number of two or three hundred, although many had already deserted, fearing the severity of the rules, and repaired to Mount Matlalcueje, stopping half-way up to pray, while the high-priest ascended alone to the top, where stood a temple devoted to the divinity of this name. Here he offered chalchiuite-stones and quetzal-feathers, paper and incense, praying to Matlalcueje and Camaxtli to give his servants strength and courage to keep the fast. Other priests belonging to various temples in the meantime gathered loads of sticks, two feet long and as thick as the wrist, which they piled up in the chief temple of Camaxtli. These were fashioned to the required form and size and polished by carpenters who had undergone a five days’ fast, and were, in return for their services, fed outside the temple. Flint-cutters, who had also undergone a fast to ensure the success of their work, were now summoned to prepare knives, which were placed upon clean cloths, exposed to the sun and perfumed; a broken blade was held as a sign of bad fasting, and the one who broke it was reprimanded. At sunset, on the day of the great penance, the achcauhtli, ‘eldest brothers,’ began chanting in a solemn tone and playing upon their drums.[284]‘Cuatro de ellos cantaban á las navajas.’ Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 57. On the termination of the last hymn, which was of a very lugubrious character and delivered without accompaniment, the self-torture commenced. Certain penance-doers seized each a knife and cut a hole in the tongue of each man, through which the prepared sticks were inserted, the smaller first and then the stouter, the number varying according to the piety and endurance of the penitent. The chief set the example by passing four hundred and fifty through his tongue,[285]‘Estos palos que metian y sacaban por las lenguas eran tan gordos como el dedo pulgar de la mano, y otros como el dedo pulgar del pie: y otros tanto gruezos como los dos dedos de la mano pulgar y él con que señalamos podian abrazar.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxii. singing a hymn at the same time in spite of all. This was repeated every twenty days during the fast, the sticks decreasing in size and number as the time for the feast drew near. The sticks which had been used were thrown as an offering to the idol within a circle formed in the courtyard of the temple with a number of poles, six fathoms in height, and were afterwards burnt. After the lapse of eighty days, a branch was placed in the temple-yard, as a sign that all the people had to join in the fast for the remaining eighty days, during which nothing but maize-cakes, without chile—a severe infliction, indeed, for this people—were to be eaten, no baths taken and no communion with women indulged in.[286]Motolinia conveys the idea that the people also performed the infliction on the tongue: ‘aquella devota gente … sacaban por sus lenguas otros palillos de á jeme y del gordor de un cañon de pato.’ Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 58. Fires were to be kept alight the whole time, and so strict was this rule that the life of the slaves in great houses depended upon the proper attention paid to it. The chief achcauhtli went once more to the Matlalcueje mountain[287]‘Cada dia de estos iba el viejo de noche á la sierra ya dicha y ofrecia al demonio mucho papel, y copalli, y cordonices.’ Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 58. escorted by four others, where, alone and at night, he offered copal, paper, and quails; he also made a tour round the province, carrying a green branch in his hand, and exhorting all to observe the fast. The devout seized this opportunity to make him presents of clothes and other valuables. Shortly before the end of the fast all the temples were repaired and adorned, and three days previous to the festival the achcauhtlis painted themselves with figures of animals in various colors, and danced solemnly the whole day in the temple-yard. Afterwards they adorned the image of Camaxtli, which stood about seventeen feet high, and dressed the small idol by his side in the raiments of the god Quetzalcoatl, who was held to be the son of Camaxtli. This idol was said to have been brought to the country by the first settlers. The raiment was borrowed from the Cholultecs, who asked the same favor when they celebrated Camaxtli’s feast. Camaxtli was adorned with a mask of turquoise mosaic,[288]‘La cual decian que habia venido con el ídolo pequeño, de un pueblo que se dice Tollan, y de otro que se dice Poyauhtlan, de donde se afirma que fué natural el mismo ídolo.’ Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 58-9. green and red plumes waved upon his head, a shield of gold and rich feathers was fastened to his left arm, and in his right hand he held a dart of fine workmanship pointed with flint. He was dressed in several robes and a tecucxicolli, like a priest’s vestment, open in front and finely bordered with cotton and rabbit-hair, which was spun and dyed like silk. A number of birds, reptiles, and insects were killed before him, and flowers offered. At midnight, a priest dressed in the vestments of the idol lighted a new fire, which was consecrated with the blood of the principal captive, called the Son of the Sun. All the other temples were supplied from this flame. A great number of captives were thereupon sacrificed to Camaxtli as well as to other gods, and the bodies consumed at the banquets that followed. The number killed in the various towns of the province amounted to over one thousand, a number greatly increased by the numerous sacrifices offered at the same time in other places where Camaxtli was worshiped.[289]See also Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 288-90, 252-3, 296.

FEAST OF THE FLOWER-DEALERS.

The next feast, which was that of the month called Tozoztontli, or ‘short vigil,’ was characterized by a constant night watch observed by the priests in the various temples, where they kept fires burning and sounded the gongs to prevent napping. More of the children bought in the first month were now sacrificed, and offerings of fruit and flowers were made to induce the Tlalocs to send rain.[290]‘Echaban por el pueblo cierto pecho ó derrama recogiendo tanto haber que pudiesen comprar cuatro niños esclavos de cinco á seis años. Estos comprados ponianlos en una cueva y cerrabanla hasta otro año que hacian otro tanto.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxx. The chief event, however, of this month, was a fast given in honor of Cohuatlicue, or Coatlantona, by the xochimanques, or flower-dealers, of Mexico. The celebration took place in the temple of Yopico, which was under the special care and protection of the people of Xochimilco and Quauhnahuac, whose lands were renowned for the beauty and abundance of their flowers. Here were offered the first flowers of the season, of which hitherto none might inhale the perfume, and here the people sat down and chanted hymns of praise to the goddess. Cakes made of wild amaranth or savory, called tzatzapaltamale, were also offered. In this temple of Yopico was a grotto in which the skins of the victims sacrificed at the feast of the preceding month were now deposited by the priests who had worn them continuously until this time. These marched in solemn procession to the grotto, accompanied by a number of people whom the angered Xipe had smitten with itch, or eye diseases; this act of devotion would, it was thought, induce the god to relent and remove the curse. The owners of the captives to whom the skins had belonged, and their families, of whom none was permitted to wash his head during the month, in token of sorrow for the slain, followed the procession. The priests doffed their strange and filthy attire and deposited it in the grotto; they were then washed in water mixed with flour, their bodies at the same time being belabored and slapped with the moist hands of their assistants, to bring out the unhealthy matter left by the rotting skins. This was followed by a lustration in pure water. The diseased underwent the same washing and slapping. On returning home feasting and amusements broke out anew. Among other sports the owners of the late prisoners gave the paper ornaments which had been worn by them to certain young men, who, having put them on, took each a shield in one hand and a bludgeon in the other; thus armed they ran about threatening to maltreat those whom they met. Everybody fled before them, calling out “here comes the tetzonpac.” Those who were caught forfeited their mantles, which were taken to the house of the warrior, to be redeemed, perhaps, after the conclusion of the game. The paper ornaments were afterwards wrapped in a mat and placed upon a tripod in front of the wearer’s house. By the side of the tripod a wooden pillar was erected, to which the thigh-bone of a victim, adorned with gaudy papers, was attached amid many ceremonies, and in the presence of the captor’s friends. Both these trophies commemorated the bravery of the owner. This lasted six days. About this time, says Duran, certain old diviners went about provided with talismans, generally small idols, which they hung round the necks of boys by means of colored thread, as a security against evil, and for this service received presents from the parents.[291]Duran adds that all male children under twelve years of age were punctured in the ears, tongue, and leg, and kept on short allowance on the day of festival, but this is not very probable, for other authors name the fifth month for the scarification of infants. Hist. Indias, MS., tom. iii., appendix, cap. iii. For particulars of the feast see Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 52-4, 95-7; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 253-5, 296; Boturini, Idea, pp. 51-2.

Feast of Centeotl

The following month, which was called Huey-Tozoztli, ‘great vigil,'[292]Boturini, Idea, p. 52, translates this name as ‘the great bleeding,’ referring to the scarifications in expiation of sins. a feast was celebrated in honor of Centeotl, the god of cereals, and Chicomecoatl, goddess of provisions. At this time both people and priest fasted four days. Offerings of various kinds were made to the gods of the feast, and afterwards a procession of virgins strangely and gaudily attired carried ears of corn to be used as seed, to the temple to be blessed.[293]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 255-6; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 97-100. According to Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. iii., appendix, cap. iii., the Tlalocs were worshiped this month also, and this involved bloody rites. Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 43-4. Motolinia states that food was offered to the stalks: ‘delante de aquellas cañas ofrecian comida y atolli.’ Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 46. For a more detailed description of this feast see Vol. III. of this work, pp. 360-2.

The first half of the succeeding month, called Toxcatl, was, among the Mexicans, taken up with a continuous series of festivals in honor of Tezcatlipoca; the latter half of the month was devoted to the worship of his brother-god Huitzilopochtli. Ten days before the feast began, a priest, arrayed in the vestments of Tezcatlipoca, and holding a nosegay in one hand and a clay flute in the other, came out from the temple, and turning first to the east and then to the other three quarters, blew a shrill note on his instrument; then, stooping, he gathered some dust on his finger and swallowed it, in token of humility and submission. On hearing the whistle all the people knelt, ate dust, and implored the clemency and favor of the god. On the eve of the festival the nobles brought to the temple a present of a new set of robes, in which the priests clothed the idol, adorning it besides with its proper ornaments of gold and feathers; the old dress was deposited in the temple coffers as a relic. The sanctuary was then thrown open to the multitude. In the evening certain fancifully attired priests carried the idol on a litter round the courtyard of the temple, which was strewn with flowers for the occasion. Here the young men and maidens devoted to the service of the temple formed a circle round the procession, bearing between them a long string of withered maize as a symbol of drought. Some decked the idol with garlands, others strewed the ground with maguey-thorns, that the devout might step upon them and draw blood in honor of the god. The girls wore rich dresses, and their arms and cheeks were dyed; the boys were clothed in a kind of net-work, and all were adorned with strings of withered maize. Two priests marched beside the idol, swinging their lighted censers now towards the image, now towards the sun, and praying that their appeals might rise to heaven, even as the smoke of the burning copal; and as the people heard and saw they knelt and beat their backs with knotted cords.

As soon as the idol was replaced, offerings poured in of gold, jewels, flowers, and feathers, as well as toasted quails, corn, and other articles of food prepared by women who had solicited and obtained the privilege. This food was afterwards divided among the priests, who, in fact, seem to have really reaped the benefit on most religious occasions. It was carried to them by a procession of virgins who served in the temple. At the head of the procession marched a priest strangely attired in a white-bordered surplice, reaching to the knee, and a sleeveless jacket of red skin, with a pair of wings attached, to which hung a number of ribbons, suspending a gourd filled with charms. The food was set down at the temple stairway, whence it was carried to the priests by attendant boys. After a fast of five days these divine viands were doubtless doubly welcome.

Feast of Tezcatlipoca

Among the captives brought out for sacrifice at the same festival a year before, the one who possessed the finest form, the most agreeable disposition, and the highest culture, had been selected to be the mortal representative of the god till this day. It was absolutely necessary, however, that he should be of spotless physique, and, to render him still more worthy of the divine one whom he personated, the calpixques, under whose care he was placed, taught him all the accomplishments that distinguished the higher class. He was regaled upon the fat of the land, but was obliged to take doses of salted water to counteract any tendency toward obesity; he was allowed to go out into the town day and night, escorted by eight pages of rank dressed in the royal livery, and received the adoration of the people as he passed along. His dress corresponded with his high position; a rich and curiously bordered mantle, like a fine net, and a maxtli with wide, embroidered margin, covered his body; white cock-feathers, fastened with gum, and a garland of izquixuchitl flowers, encircled the helmet of sea-shells which covered his head; strings of flowers crossed his breast; gold rings hung from his ears, and from a necklace of precious stones about his neck dangled a valuable stone; upon his shoulders were pouch-like ornaments of white linen with fringes and tassels; golden bracelets encircled the upper part of his arms, while the lower part was almost covered with others of precious stones, called macuextli; upon his ankles golden bells jingled as he walked, and prettily painted slippers covered his feet.

Twenty days before the feast he was bathed, and his dress changed; the hair being cut in the style used by captains, and tied with a curious fringe which formed a tassel falling from the top of the head, from which two other tassels, made of feathers, gold, and tochomitl, and called aztaxelli, were suspended. He was then married to four accomplished damsels, to whom the names of four goddesses, Xochiquetzal, Xilonen, Atlatonan, and Huixtocioatl were given, and these remained with him until his death, endeavoring to render him as happy as possible. The last five days the divine honors paid to him became still more imposing, and celebrations were held in his honor, the first day in the Tecanman district, the second in the ward where the image of Tezcatlipoca stood, the third in the woods of the ward of Tepetzinco, and the fourth in the woods of Tepepulco; the lords and nobles gave, besides, solemn banquets followed by recreations of all kinds. At the end of the fourth feast, the victim was placed with his wives in one of the finest awning-covered canoes belonging to the king, and sent from Tepepulco to Tlapitzaoayan, where he was left alone with the eight pages who attended him during the year. These conducted him to the Tlacochcalco, a small and plain temple standing near the road, about a league from Mexico,[294]‘Le Tlacochcalco, ou maison d’armes, était un arsenal, consacré à Huitzilopochtli, dans l’enceinte du grand temple. Il se trouvait à côté un teocalli où l’on offrait des sacrifices spéciaux à ce dieu et à Tetzcatlipoca.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 510. This sanctuary outside the town was also dependent on the great temple, and, as the fate of the youth was to illustrate the miserable end to which riches and pleasures may come, it is, perhaps, more likely that this poor and lonely edifice was the place of sacrifice. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 70, says ‘conducevanlo … al tempio di Tezcatlipoca.’ which he ascended, breaking a flute against every step of the staircase. At the summit he was received by the sacrificing ministers, who served him after their manner, and held up his heart exultingly to the sun; the body was carried down to the courtyard on the arms of priests, and the head having been cut off was spitted at the Tzompantli, or ‘place of skulls;’ the legs and arms were set apart as sacred food for the lords and people of the temple. This end, so terrible, signified that riches and pleasures may turn into poverty and sorrow; a pretty moral, truly, to adorn so gentle a tale.

After the sacrifice, the college youths, nobles, and priests commenced a grand ball for which the older priests supplied the music; and at sunset the virgins brought another offering of bread made with honey. This was placed upon clay plates, covered with skulls and dead men’s bones, carried in procession to the altar of Tezcatlipoca, and destined for the winners in the race up the temple steps, who were dressed in robes of honor, and, after undergoing a lustration, were invited to a banquet by the temple dignitaries. The feast was closed by giving an opportunity to boys and girls in the college, of a suitable age, to marry. Their remaining comrades took advantage of this to joke and make sport of them, pelting them with soft balls and reproving them for leaving the service of the god for the pleasures of matrimony.[295]Brasseur de Bourbourg indicates that the race in the temple, and the liberation of the marriageable took place in leap-years only, but he evidently misunderstands his authority. Prescott, Mex., vol. i., pp. 75-7, gives an account of this festival. Tezcatlipoca’s representative was the only victim sacrificed at this festival, but every leap-year the blood flowed in torrents.

Feast of Huitzilopochtli, Incensing of Huitzilopochtli

After this celebration commenced the festival in honor of the younger brother of Tezcatlipoca, Huitzilopochtli, the Mexican god of war. The priests of the god prepared a life-size statue like his original image, the bones of which were composed of mezquite-wood, the flesh of tzoalli, a dough made from amaranth and other seeds. This they dressed in the raiments of the idol, viz: a coat decorated with human bones, and a net-like mantle of cotton and nequen, covered by another mantle, the tlaquaquallo, adorned with feather-work, and bearing a gold plate upon its front; its wide folds were painted with the bones and members of a human being, and fell over a number of men’s bones made of dough, which represented his power over death. A paper crown, very wide at the top and set with plumes, covered this head, and attached to its feather-covered summit was a bloody flint-knife, signifying his fury in battle. The image was placed upon a stage of logs, formed to resemble four snakes whose heads and tails protruded at the four corners, and borne by four of the principal warriors[296]Contrary to the statement of others, Brasseur de Bourbourg says that the stage was borne by temple officers; surely, warriors were the fit persons to attend the god of war. to the temple of Huitznahuac, attended by a vast number of people, who sang and danced along the road. A sheet of maguey-paper, twenty fathoms in length, one in breadth, and one finger in thickness, upon which were depicted the glorious deeds of the god, was carried before the procession on the points of darts ornamented with feathers, the bearers singing the praises of the deity to the sound of music.[297]‘Llevábanle entablado con unas saetas que ellos llamaban teumitl, las cuales tenían plumas en tres partes junto el casquillo, y en el medio, y el cabo, iban estas saetas una debajo, y otra encima del papel; tomábanlas dos, uno de una parte, y otro de otra, llevándolas asidas ambas juntas con las manos, y con ellas apretaban el papelon una por encima, y otra por debajo.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 105-6. At sunset the stage was raised to the summit of the temple by means of ropes attached to the four corners, and placed in position. The paper painting was then rolled up in front of it, and the darts made into a bundle. After a presentation of offerings consisting of tamales and other food, the idol was left in charge of its priests. At dawn the next morning similar offerings, accompanied with incense, were made to the family image of the god at every house. That day the king himself appeared in the sacerdotal character. Taking four quails, he wrenched their heads off one after another, and threw the quivering bodies before the idol; the priests did the same, and then the people. Some of the birds were prepared and eaten by the king, priest, and principal men at the feast, the rest were preserved for another occasion. Each minister then placed coals and chapopotli incense[298]‘El Incienso no era del ordinario, que llaman Copal blanco, ni de el Incienso comun … sino de vna Goma, ò Betun negro, à manera de Pez, el qual licor se engendra en la Mar, y sus Aguas, y olas, lo hechan en algunas partes à sus riberas, y orillas, y le llaman Chapopotli, el qual hecha de sì mal olor, para quien no le acostumbra à oler, y es intenso, y fuerte.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 266. in his tlemaitl,[299]A kind of perforated and ornamented censer, shaped like a large spoon. and wafted the disagreeable odor towards the idol. The ashes were then emptied from the censers into an immense brazier, called the tlexictli, or ‘fire-navel.’ This ceremony gave the name to the festival, which was known as the ‘incensing of Huitzilopochtli.’ The girls devoted to the service of the temple now appeared, having their arms and legs decorated with red feathers, their faces painted, and garlands of toasted maize on their heads; in their hands they held split canes, upon which were flags of paper or cloth painted with vertical black bars. Linking hands they joined the priests in the grand dance called toxcachocholoa. Upon the large brazier, round which the dancers whirled, stood two shield-bearers with blackened faces, who directed the motions. These men had cages of candlewood tied to their backs after the manner of women. The priests who joined in the dance wore paper rosettes upon their foreheads, yellow and white plumes on their heads, and had their lips and their blackened faces smeared with honey. They also wore undergarments of paper, called amasmaxtli, and each held a palm wand in his hand, the upper part of which was adorned with flowers, while the lower end was tipped with a ball, both balls and flowers being made of black feathers; the part of the wand grasped in the hand was rolled in strips of black-striped paper. When dancing, they touched the ground with their wands as if to support themselves. The musicians were hidden from view in the temple. The courtiers and warriors danced in another part of the courtyard, apart from the priests, with girls attired somewhat like those already described.

At the same time that the representative of Tezcatlipoca was chosen, the year before, another youth was appointed to represent Huitzilopochtli, to whom was given the name of Ixteocale, that is, ‘eyes of the lord of the divine house.'[300]Clavigero writes: ‘Ixteocale, che vale, Savio Signor del Cielo.’ Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 72. Several other names are also applied to him. He always associated with the other doomed one of Tezcatlipoca, and shared his enjoyments; but, as the representative of a less esteemed god, he was paid no divine honors. His dress was characteristic of the deity for whom he was fated to die. Papers painted with black circles covered his body, a mitre of eagle-feathers, with waving plumes and a flint knife in the centre adorned his head, and a fine piece of cloth, a hand square, with a bag called patoxin above it, was tied to his breast; on one of his arms he had an ornament made of the hair of wild beasts, like a maniple, called imatacax, and golden bells jingled about his ankles. Thus arrayed he led the dance of the plebeians,[301]‘Mischiavasi nel ballo de’Cortigiani.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 72. like the god conducting his warriors to battle. This youth had the privilege of choosing the hour of his death, but any delay involved the loss to him of a proportionate amount of glory and happiness in the other world. When he delivered himself up to the sacrificers, they raised him on their arms, tore out his heart, beheaded him, and spitted the head at the place of skulls. After him several other captives were immolated, and then the priests started another dance, the atepocaxixilihua, which lasted the remainder of the day, certain intervals being devoted to incensing the idol. On this day the male and female children born during the year were taken to the temple and scarified on the chest, stomach, and arms, to mark them as followers of the god.

The feast in honor of Quetzalcoatl, as it was celebrated during this month in Cholula, and the feast of the following month, called Etzalqualiztli, dedicated to the Tlalocs, or rain gods, the reader will find fully described in the next volume.[302]Pp. 286-7, 334-43.

Small Feast of the Lords

The next month was one of general rejoicing among the Nahuas, and was for this reason called Tecuilhuitzintli, or Tecuilhuitontli, ‘small feast of the lords.’ The nobles and warriors exercised with arms to prepare for coming wars; hunting parties, open-air sports, and theatricals divided the time with banquets and indoor parties; and there was much interchanging of roses out of compliment. Yet the amusements this month were mostly confined to the lower classes, the more imposing celebrations of the nobility taking place in the following month. The religious celebrations were in honor of Huixtocihuatl, the goddess of salt, said to have been a sister to the rain gods, who quarreled with her, and drove her into the salt water, where she invented the art of making salt. Her chief devotees were, of course, the salt-makers, mostly females, who held a ten-days’ festival in her temple, singing and dancing every evening from dusk till midnight in company with the doomed captives. They were all adorned with garlands of a sweet-smelling herb called iztauhiatl, and danced in a ring formed by cords of flowers, led by some of their own sex; the music was furnished by two old men. The female who represented the goddess and was to die in her honor danced with them, generally in the centre of the circle, and accompanied by an old man holding a beautiful plume, called huixtopetlacotl; if very nervous she was supported by old women.[303]‘Se juntauan todos los caualleros y principales personas de cada prouincia … vestian vna muger de la ropa y insignias de la diosa de la sal, y baylauan con ella todos.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 327. She was dressed in the yellow robes of the goddess, and wore on her head a mitre surmounted by a number of green plumes; her huipil and skirt with net covering were worked in wavy outlines, and bordered with chalchiuites; ear-rings of gold in imitation of flowers hung from her ears; golden bells and white shells held by straps of tiger-skin, jingled and clattered about her ankles; her sandals were fastened with buttons and cords of cotton. On her arm she bore a shield painted with broad leaves, from which hung bits of parrot-feathers, tipped with flowers formed of eagle-plumage; it was also fringed with bright quetzal-feathers. In her hand she held a round bludgeon, one or two hands broad at the end, adorned with rubber-stained paper, and three flowers, at equal distances apart, filled with incense and set with quetzal-feathers; this shield she flourished as she danced. The priests who performed the sacrifice were dressed in an appropriate costume; on the great day, the priests performed another and solemn dance, devoting intervals to the sacrifice of captives, who were called Huixtoti in honor of the deity. Finally, towards evening, the female victim was thrown upon the stone by five young men, who held her while the priests cut open her breast, pressing a stick or a swordfish-bone against her throat to prevent her from screaming. The heart was held up to the sun and then thrown into a bowl. The music struck up and the people went home to feast.[304]‘Era esta fiesta de muy poca solemnidad y sin ceremonias, ni comidas, y sin muertes de hombres; en fin no era mas de una preparacion para la fiesta venidera del mes que viene.’ Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. iii., appendix, cap. iii.; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 124-8; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 74-5.

Great Feast of the Lords

The feast of the following month, Hueytecuilhuitl, or ‘great feast of the lords,’ occurred at the time of the year when food was most scarce, the grain from the preceding harvest being nearly exhausted and the new crop not yet ripe for cutting. The nobles at this time gave great and solemn banquets among themselves, and provided at their personal expense feasts for the poor and needy. On the eleventh day a religious celebration took place in honor of Centeotl, under the name of Xilonen, derived from xilotl, which means a tender maize-ear, for this goddess changed her name according to the state of the grain. On this occasion, a woman who represented the goddess and was dressed in a similar manner, was sacrificed. The day before her death a number of women took her with them to offer incense in four places, which were sacred to the four characters of the divisions of the cycle, the reed, the flint, the house, and the rabbit. The night was spent in singing, dancing, and praying before the temple of the goddess.[305]Duran says that the women took the victim to mount Chapultepec, to the very summit, and said, ‘My daughter, let us hasten back to the place whence we came,’ whereupon all started back to the temple, chasing the doomed woman before them. Hist. Indias, MS., tom. iii., appendix, cap. iii. On the day of sacrifice certain priestesses and lay women whirled in a ring about the victim, and a number of priests and principal men who danced before her. The priests blew their shells and horns, shook their rattles and scattered incense as they danced, the nobles held stalks of maize in their hands which they extended toward the woman. The priest who acted as executioner wore a bunch of feathers on his shoulders, held by the claws of an eagle inserted in an artificial leg. Towards the close of the dance this priest stopped at the foot of the temple, shook the rattle-board before the victim, scattered more incense, and turned to lead the way to the summit. This reached, another priest seized the woman, twisted her shoulders against his, and stooped over, so that her breast lay exposed. On this living altar she was beheaded and her heart torn out. After the sacrifice there was more dancing, in which the women, old and young, took part by themselves, their arms and legs decorated with red macaw-feathers, and their faces painted yellow and dusted with marcasite. The whole pleasantly finished with a feast. Offerings were also presented to the household gods. This festival inaugurated the eating of corn.[306]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 128-39; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 269-71, 297-8; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 518, says: ‘Les rois eux-mêmes prenaient alors part à la danse, qui avait lieu dans les endroits où ils pouvait s’assembler le plus de spectateurs.’

During the next month, which was called Tlaxochimaco, or ‘the distribution of flowers,'[307]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 271. gifts of flowers were presented to the gods and mutually interchanged among friends. At noon on the day of the great feast, the signal sounded and a pompous dance was begun in the courtyard of the temple of Huitzilopochtli, to whom the honors of the day were paid, in which the performers consisted of various orders of warriors led by the bravest among them. Public women joined these dances, one woman going hand in hand with two men, and the contrary, or with their hands resting on each other’s shoulders, or thrown round the waist.[308]‘Salian los Hombres Nobles, y muchas Mugeres Principales, y asianse de las manos los vnos, de los otros, mezclados Hombres, y Mugeres mui por orden, y luego se hechaban los braços al cuello, y asi abraçados, començaban à moverse mui paso à paso.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 271. The musicians were stationed at a round altar, called momuztli. The motions consisted of a mere interwinding walk, to the time of a slow song. At sunset, after the usual sacrifices, the people went home to perform the same dance before their household idol; the old indulging in liquor as usual. The festival in honor of Iyacacoliuhqui, the god of commerce, was, however, the event of the month, owing to the number and solemnity of the sacrifices of slaves, brought from all quarters by the wealthy merchants for the purpose, and the splendor of the attendant banquets. The Tlascaltecs called this month Miccailhuitzintli, ‘the small festival of the dead,’ and gathered in the temples to sing sorrowful odes to the dead, the priests, dressed in black mantles, making offerings of food to the spirit of the departed. This seems to have been a commemoration of the ordinary class only, for the departed heroes and great men were honored in the following month. Duran and others assert, however, that the festival was devoted to the memory of the little ones who had died, and adds that the mothers performed thousands of superstitious ceremonies with their children, placing talismans upon them and the like, to prevent their death.[309]Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. iii., appendix, cap. iii.; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 65; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 271-3, 298; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 61-2, 139-41.

Feast of the Fall of Fruit

The feast of the next month, called Xocotlhuetzin, ‘fall, or maturity of fruit,’ was dedicated to Xiuhtecutli, the god of fire. At the beginning of the month certain priests went out into the mountains and selected the tallest and straightest tree they could find. This was cut down and trimmed of all except its top branches.[310]‘Cortaban un gran árbol en el monte, de veinte y cinco brazas de largo.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 141. ‘L’emportaient (the tree) processionnellement au temple de Huitzilopochtli, sans rien lui enlever de ses rameaux ni de son feuillage.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 521. It was then moved carefully into the town upon rollers, and set up firmly in the courtyard of the temple, where it stood for twenty days. On the eve of the feast-day the tree was gently lowered to the ground; early the next morning carpenters dressed it perfectly smooth, and fastened a cross-yard five fathoms long, near the top, where the branches had been left. The priests now adorned the pole with colored papers, and placed upon the summit a statue of the god of fire, made of dough of amaranth-seeds, and curiously dressed in a maxtli, sashes, and strips of paper. Three rods were stuck into its head, upon each of which was spitted a tamale, or native pie. The pole was then again hoisted into an erect position.

Those who had captives to offer now appeared, dancing side by side with the victims, and most grotesquely dressed and painted. At sunset the dance ceased, and the doomed men were shut up in the temple, while their captors kept guard outside, and sang hymns to the god. About midnight every owner brought out his captive and shaved off his top hair, which he carefully kept as a token of his valor. At dawn the human offerings were taken to the Tzompantli, where the skulls of the sacrificed were spitted, and there stripped by the priests of their dress and ornaments. At a certain signal each owner seized his captive by the hair and dragged or led him to the foot of the temple-steps. Thereupon those priests who were appointed to execute the fearful sacrifice descended from the temple, each bearing in his hand a bag filled with certain stupefying powder extracted from the yiauhtli plant, which they threw into the faces of the victims to deaden somewhat the agony before them. Each naked and bound captive was then borne upon the shoulders of a priest up to the summit of the temple, where smoldered a great heap of glowing coal. Into this the bearers cast their living burdens, and when the cloud of dust was blown off the dull red mass could be seen to heave, human forms could be seen writhing and twisting in agony, the crackling of flesh could be distinctly heard.[311]Clavigero says that the captors sprinkled the victims and threw them into the fire. Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 77. But the victims were not to die by fire; in a few moments, and before life was extinct, the blackened and blistered wretches were raked out by the watching priests, cast one after another upon the stone of sacrifice, and in a few moments all that remained upon the summit of the temple was a heap of human hearts smoking at the feet of the god of fire.

These bloody rites over, the people came together and danced and sang in the courtyard of the temple. Presently all adjourned to the place where the pole before mentioned stood. At a given signal the youths made a grand scramble for the pole, and he who first reached the summit and scattered the image and its accoutrements among the applauding crowd below, was reckoned the hero of the day. With this the festival ended, and the pole was dragged down by the multitude amid much rejoicing.

Feasts of Tepanecs and Tlascaltecs

The Tepanecs, according to Duran, had a very similar ceremony. A huge tree was carried to the entrance of the town, and to it offerings and incense were presented every day during the month preceding the festival. Then it was raised with many ceremonies, and a bird of dough placed at the top. Food and wine were offered, and then the warriors and women, dressed in the finest garments and holding small dough idols in their hands, danced round the pole, while the youths struggled wildly to reach and knock down the bird image. Lastly, the pole was overthrown.[312]Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., appendix, tom. iii., cap. iii.

The Tlascaltecs called the same month Hueymiccailhuitl, ‘the great festival of the dead,’ and commemorated the event with much solemnity, painting their bodies black and making much lamentation. Both here and in other parts of Mexico the priests and nobles passed several days in the temple, weeping for their ancestors and singing their heroic deeds. The families of lately deceased persons assembled upon the terraces of their houses, and prayed with their faces turned towards the north, where the dead were supposed to sojourn. Heroes who had fallen in battle, or died in captivity, defunct princes, and other persons of merit were, in a manner, canonized, and their statues placed among the images of the gods, whom, it was believed, they had joined to live in eternal bliss.[313]‘C’était l’époque où la noblesse célébrait la commémoration des princes et des guerriers qui les avaient précédés.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 522; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 298, 273-5; Codex Telleriano-Remensis, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. v., pp. 130-1.

The festival of the next month, called Ochpaniztli, was held in honor of Centeotl, the mother-goddess. Fifteen days before the festival began those who were to take part in it commenced a dance, which they repeated every afternoon for eight days. At the expiration of this time the medical women and midwives brought forth the woman who was to die on this occasion, and dividing themselves into two parties, fought a sham battle by pelting each other with leaves. The doomed woman, who was called ‘the image of the mother of the gods,’ placed herself at the head of one party of the combatants, supported by three old women who guarded and attended upon her continually. This was repeated during four successive days. On the fifth day the unfortunate creature was conducted by her guardians and the medical women through the market-place. As she walked she scattered maize, and at the end of her journey she was received by the priests, who delivered her again to the women that they might console her (for it was necessary that she should be in a good humor, say the old chroniclers) and adorn her with the ornaments of the mother-goddess. At midnight she was carried to the summit of the temple, caught up upon the shoulders of a priest, and in this position beheaded. The body while yet warm was flayed, and the skin used in certain religious ceremonies which will be described at length elsewhere.[314]See volume iii., of this work, pp. 354-9, where a detailed description of this festival is given. In this month the temples and idols underwent a thorough cleansing and repairing, a sacred work in which everyone was eager to share according to his means and ability, believing that divine blessings would ensue. To this commendable custom is no doubt to be attributed the good condition in which the religious edifices were found by the Conquerors. Roads, public buildings, and private houses also shared in this renovation, and special prayers were offered up to the gods for the preservation of health and property.

The festival of the succeeding month, called Teotleco, ‘coming of the gods,’ was sacred to all the deities, though the principal honors were paid to Tezcatlipoca as the supreme head. Fifteen days of the month being passed, the college-boys prepared for the great event by decorating the altars in the temples, oratories, and public buildings, with green branches tied in bunches of three. In the same manner they decked the idols in private houses, receiving from the inmates, as their reward, baskets containing from two to four ears of maize; this gift was called cacalotl.

Footsteps of the Gods

Tezcatlipoca, being younger and stronger than the other gods, and therefore able to travel faster, was expected to arrive during the night of the eighteenth. A mat, sprinkled with flour, was therefore placed on the threshold of his temple, and a priest set to watch for the footprints which would indicate the august arrival.[315]Sahagun writes: ‘Á la media noche de este mismo dia, molian un poco de harina de maíz, y hacian un montoncillo de ella bien tupida: y lo fabricaban de harina, redondo como un queso, sobre un petate. En el mismo veían cuando habian llegado todos los dioses, porque aparecia una pisada de un pie pequeño sobre la harina.’ Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 157. He did not, however, remain constantly close to the mat; had he done so he would probably never have seen the longed-for marks, but he approached the spot from time to time, and immediately on perceiving the tracks he shouted: “His majesty has arrived;” whereupon the other priests arose in haste, and soon their shells and trumpets resounded through all the temples, proclaiming the joyful tidings to the expectant people. These now flocked in with their offerings, each person bringing four balls made of roasted and ground amaranth-seed kneaded with water; they then returned to their homes to feast and drink pulque. Others beside the old people appear to have been permitted to indulge in libations on this occasion, which they euphoniously called ‘washing the feet of the god’ after his long journey. On the following day other deities arrived, and so they kept coming until the last divine laggard had left his footprints on the mat. Every evening the people danced, feasted, ‘washed the feet of the gods,’ and made a sacrifice of slaves, who were thrown alive upon a great bed of live coal which glowed on the tecalco.[316]These sacrifices by fire appear to have been made upon the summit of a small temple which stood within the courtyard of the larger one. At the head of the steps leading up to the place of sacrifice stood two young men, one of whom wore long, false hair, and a crown adorned with rich plumes; his face was painted black, with white curved stripes drawn from ear to forehead, and from the inner corner of the eye to the cheek; down his back hung a long feather, with a dried rabbit attached to it. The other man was dressed to resemble an immense bat, and held rattles like poppy-heads in his hands. Whenever a victim was cast into the fire these weird figures danced and leaped, the one whistling with his fingers and mouth, the other shaking his rattles.[317]‘Ballavano attorno ad un gran fuoco molti giovani travestiti in parecchie forme di mostri, e frattanto andavano gettando de’prigionieri nel fuoco.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 78;Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 527.

After the sacrificing was ended, the priests placed themselves in order, dressed in paper stoles which crossed the chest from shoulder to armpit, and ascended the steps of the small edifice devoted to fire sacrifices; hand in hand they walked round, and then rushed suddenly down the steps, releasing each other in such a manner as to cause many to tumble. This game, which certainly was not very dignified for priests to play at, was called mamatlavicoa, and gave rise to much merriment, especially if any of the reverend players should lose his temper, or limp, or make a wry face after a fall. The festival closed with a general dance, which lasted from noon till night. At this season all males, young and old, wore feathers of various colors gummed to the arms and body, as talismans to avert evil.[318]The burning and dancing took place on the first two days of the following month, according to Sahagun. ‘Estos dos dias postreros eran del mes que se sigue.’ Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 159;Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 278-9.

The festival of the next month, called Tepeilhuitl, was sacred to the Tlalocs, and is fully described elsewhere.[319]See vol. iii., p. 343-6. The Mexican Bacchus, Centzontotochtin, was also especially honored during this month, according to Torquemada, and slaves were sacrificed to him. A captive was also sacrificed by night to a deity named Nappatecutli.[320]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 152-3.

Festival of the Month Quecholli

The festivals of the ensuing month, which was called Quecholli,[321]The name of a bird with red and blue plumage. were devoted to various deities, though Mixcoatl, god of the chase, seems to have carried the honors in most parts of Mexico. The first five days of the month were passed in repose, so far as religious celebrations were concerned, but on the sixth day the authorities of the city wards ordered canes to be gathered and carried to the temple of Huitzilopochtli; there young and old assembled during the four days following, to share in the sacred work of making arrows. The arrows, which were all of uniform length, were then formed into bundles of twenty, carried in procession to the temple of Huitzilopochtli, and piled up in front of the idol. The four days were, moreover, devoted to fasting and penance, involving abstinence from strong liquors, and separation of husbands from wives. On the second day of the fast, the boys were summoned to the temple, where, having first blown upon shells and trumpets, their faces were smeared with blood drawn from their ears. This sacrifice, called momacaico, was made to the deer which they proposed to hunt. The rest of the people drew blood from their own ears, and if any one omitted this act he was deprived of his mantle by the overseers.

On the second day following, darts were made to be used in games and exercises, and shooting matches were held at which maguey-leaves served for targets. The next day was devoted to ceremonies in honor of the dead by rich and poor. The day after, a great quantity of hay was brought from the hills to the temple of Mixcoatl. Upon this certain old priestesses seated themselves, while mothers brought their children before them, accompanied by five sweet tamales. On this day were also ceremonies in honor of the god of wine, to whom sacrifices of male and female slaves were made by the pulque-dealers.

On the tenth day of the month a number of hunters set out for mount Cacatepec, near Tacubaya, to celebrate the hunting festival of Mixcoatl, god of the chase. On the first day they erected straw huts, in which they passed the night. The next morning, having broken their fast, they formed themselves into a great circle, and all advancing toward a common centre, the game was hemmed in and killed with ease. The spirits of the children sacrificed to the rain-gods, whose dwelling was upon the high mountains, were supposed to descend upon the hunters and make them strong and fortunate. Having secured their game, the hunters started for home in grand procession, singing songs of triumph, and hymns to the mighty Mixcoatl. After a solemn sacrifice of a portion of the game to the god, each took his share home and feasted upon it.[322]‘Al undécimo dia de este mes, iban á hacer una casa á aquella sierra que estaba encima de Atlacuioayan, y esta era fiesta por sí, de manera que en este mes habia dos fiestas.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 165. ‘No sacrificaban este dia hombres sino caza, y asi la caza servia de victimas á los Dioses.’ Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., appendix, tom. iii., cap. iii.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 148-9. The Tlascaltecs sacrificed to the god at the place where the hunt took place, which was upon a neighboring hill. The way leading to the spot was strewn with leaves, over which the idol was carried with great pomp and ceremony.[323]Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 327-8; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 221; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xv. Towards the close of the month male and female slaves were sacrificed before Mixcoatl.[324]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 167.

In Tlascala and the neighboring republics this was the ‘month of love,’ and great numbers of young girls were sacrificed to Xochiquetzal, Xochitecatl, and Tlazolteotl, goddesses of sensual delights. Among the victims were many courtesans, who voluntarily offered themselves, some to die in the temple, others on the battle-field, where they rushed in recklessly among the enemy. As no particular disgrace attended a life of prostitution, it seems improbable that remorse or repentance could have prompted this self-sacrifice; it must therefore be attributed to pure religious fervor. As a recompense for their devotion, these women before they went to their death had the privilege of insulting with impunity their chaster sisters. It is further said that a certain class of young men addicted to unnatural lusts, were allowed at this period to solicit custom on the public streets. At Quauhtitlan, every fourth year, during this month, a festival was celebrated in honor of Mitl, when a slave was bound to a cross and shot to death with arrows.[325]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 299, 280-1; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 530, tom. ii., pp. 462-3.

The feast of the next month, called Panquetzaliztli, was dedicated to Huitzilopochtli, god of war; that of the following month, called Atemoztli, was sacred to the Tlalocs. Both these festivals will be described elsewhere.[326]See vol. iii. of this work, pp. 297-300, 323-4, 346-8.

Feast of the Month of Hard Times

The ensuing month was named Tititl, or the month of ‘hard times,’ owing to the inclement weather. The celebrations of this period were chiefly in honor of an aged goddess, named Ilamatecutli, to whom a female slave was sacrificed. This woman represented the goddess and was dressed in white garments decorated with dangling shells and sandals of the same color; upon her head was a crown of feathers; the lower part of her face was painted black, the upper, yellow; in one hand she carried a white shield ornamented with feathers of the eagle and the night-heron, in the other she held a knitting stick. Before going to her death she performed a dance, and was permitted, contrary to usual custom, to express her grief and fear in loud lamentations. In the afternoon she was conducted to the temple of Huitzilopochtli, accompanied by a procession of priests, among whom was one dressed after the manner of the goddess Ilamatecutli. After the heart of the victim had been torn from her breast, her head was cut off and given to this personage, who immediately placed himself at the head of the other priests and led them in a dance round the temple, brandishing the head by the hair the while. As soon as the performers of the vecula, as this dance was named, had left the summit of the temple, a priest curiously attired descended, and, proceeding to a spot where stood a cage made of candlewood adorned with papers, set fire to it. Immediately upon seeing the flames the other priests, who stood waiting, rushed one and all up again to the temple-top; here lay a flower, which was secured by the first who could put hands upon it, carried back to the fire, and there burned. On the following day a game was played which resembled in some respects the Roman Lupercalia. The players were armed with little bags filled with paper, leaves, or flour, and attached to cords three feet long. With these they struck each other, and any girl or woman who chanced to come in their way was attacked by the boys, who, approaching quietly with their bags hidden, fell suddenly upon her, crying out: “This is the sack of the game.” It sometimes happened, however, that the woman had provided herself with a stick, and used it freely, to the great discomfiture and utter rout of the urchins.[327]Gomara says men and women danced two nights with the gods and drank until they were all drunk. Conq. Mex., fol. 328. According to Duran, Camaxtli was fêted in this month, and a bread called yocotamally was eaten exclusively on the day of the festival. Hist. Indias, MS., tom. iii., appendix, cap. iii.; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 179-82. A captive was sacrificed during this month to Mictlantecutli, the Mexican Pluto, and the traders celebrated a grand feast in honor of Yacatecutli.[328]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 83; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 153. During the last Aztec month, which was called Itzcalli, imposing rites were observed throughout Mexico in honor of Xiuhtecutli, god of fire;[329]See vol. iii. of this work, pp. 390-3. in the surrounding states, such as Tlacopan, Coyuhuacan, Azcapuzalco,[330]See Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 286; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 539; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxi. Quauhtitlan,[331]See Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 329; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 286-7; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxi.; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 43-4. and Tlascala,[332]See Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxi.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 291. ceremonies more or less similar were gone through, accompanied by much roasting and flaying of men and women.

Miscellaneous Feasts

Besides these monthly festivals there were many others devoted to the patron deities of particular trades, to whom the priests and people interested in their worship made offerings, and, in some cases, human sacrifices. There were also many movable feasts, held in honor of the celestial bodies, at harvest time, and on other like occasions. These sometimes happened to fall on the same day as a fixed festival, in which case the less important was either set aside or postponed. It is related of the Culhuas that on one occasion when a movable feast in honor of Tezcatlipoca chanced to fall upon the day fixed for the celebration of Huitzilopochtli, they postponed the former, and thereby so offended the god that he predicted the destruction of the monarchy and the subjugation of the people by a strange nation who would introduce a monotheistic worship.[333]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 538.

One of the most solemn of the movable feasts was that given to the sun, which took place at intervals of two or three hundred days, and was called Netonatiuhqualo, or ‘the sun eclipsed.’ Another festival took place when the sun appeared in the sign called Nahui Ollin Tonatiuh,[334]‘Nahui Ollin Tonatiuh, esto es, el sol en sus cuatro movientos, acompañado de la Via lactea.’ Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt i., p. 91. a sign much respected by kings and princes, and regarded as concerning them especially.

At the great festival of the winter solstice, which took place either in the month of Atemoztli or in that of Tititl, all the people watched and fasted four days, and a number of captives were sacrificed, two of whom represented the sun and moon.[335]‘Mataban quatro Cautivos de los que se llamaban Chachame, que quiere decir: Tontos; y mataban tambien la imagen del Sol, y de la Luna, que eran dos Hombres.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 148. ‘On immolait ensuite un grand nombre de captifs, dont les principaux, appelés Chachamé, figuraient le soleil et la lune.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 535. About the same time a series of celebrations were held in honor of Iztacacenteotl, goddess of white maize; the victims sacrificed on this occasion were lepers and others suffering from contagious diseases.[336]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 150-2; Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt i., p. 91. Whenever the sign of Ce Miquiztli, or One Death, occurred, Mictlantecutli, god of hades, was fêted, and honors were paid to the dead.[337]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 538. Of the heavenly bodies, they esteemed next to the sun a certain star, into which Quetzalcoatl was supposed to have converted himself on leaving the earth. It was visible during about two hundred and sixty days of the year, and on the day of its first appearance above the horizon, the king gave a slave to be sacrificed, and many other ceremonies were performed. The priests, also, offered incense to this star every day, and drew blood from their bodies in its honor, acts which many of the devout imitated.[338]‘Creen que Topilcin su rey primero se conuertio en aquella estrella.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 331; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxiv.

At harvest-time the first-fruits of the season were offered to the sun. The sacrifice on this occasion was called Tetlimonamiquian, ‘the meeting of the stones.’ The victim, who was the most atrocious criminal to be found in the jails, was placed between two immense stones, balanced opposite each other; these were then allowed to fall together. After the remains had been buried, the principal men took part in a dance; the people also danced and feasted during the day and night.[339]Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 249-50. ‘Papahua-tlamacazqui, ou Ministres aux longs cheveux. C’est par leurs mains que passaient les prémices des fruits de la terre qu’on offrait aux astres du jour et de la nuit…. On immolait un grand nombre de captifs et, à leur défaut, les criminels…. Sur leur sépulture on exécutait un ballet.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 274-5.For description of Zapotec harvest-feast see Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 332-3; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 40-2.

Every eight years a grand festival took place, called Atamalqualiztli, ‘the fast of bread and water,’ the principal feature of which was a mask ball, at which people appeared disguised as various animals whose actions and cries they imitated with great skill.[340]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 195-7.

The Binding of the Years

The most solemn of all the Mexican festivals was that called Xiuhmolpilli, that is to say, ‘the binding-up of the years.’ Every fifty-two years was called a ‘sheaf of years,’ and it was universally believed that at the end of some ‘sheaf’ the world would be destroyed. The renewal of the cycle was therefore hailed with great rejoicing and many ceremonies.[341]For description of this feast see vol. iii. of this work, pp. 393-6. The authorities on Aztec festivals are: Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 49-218, lib. i., pp. 1-40; Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 1-98; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 147-56, 246-300; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 66-86; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxix-clxxvii.; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 38-62; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 326-36; Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. iii., appendix, cap. iii.,; Leon, Camino del Cielo, pp. 96-100; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcix., pp. 130-7; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 99-107; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 327-9, 354-6, 360-4, 382-93; Boturini, Idea, pt i., pp. 50-3, 90-3; Tezozomoc, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 161-6; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xv-xvii.; Purchas his Pilgrimes, tom. iv., pp. 1040-8; Gemelli Careri, in Churchill’s Col. Voyages, vol. iv., pp. 490-1; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 221, 248, 265-7; West und Ost Indischer Lustgart, pt i., pp. 71-2; Codex Telleriano-Remensis, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 129-34; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 234-5, 274-5, tom. ii., pp. 462-3, tom. iii., pp. 40-2, 498-547; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 104-14; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 515-17, 531-51; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., pp. 128-38; Lenoir, Parallèle, pp. 9-11.

Footnotes

[273] See the Totonac daily temple service, in Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxv. ‘Luego aquel viejo mas principal metia y sacaba por su lengua en aquel dia cuatro cientos y cincuenta palos de aquellos … otros no tan viejos sacaban trescientos…. Estos palos que metian y sacaban por las lenguas eran tan gordos como el dedo pulgar de la mano … y otros tanto gruezos como las dos dedos de la mano pulgar y él con que señalamos podian abrazar.’ Id., cap. clxxii.

[274] ‘En cada provincia tenian diferente costumbre porque unos de los brazos y otros de los pechos y otros de los muslos, &c. Y en esto se cognoscian tambien de que Provincia eran.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxx.

[275] ‘En esta Fiesta, y en todas las demàs, donde no se hiciere mencion de particulares Sacrificios de Hombres, los avia, por ser cosa general hacerlos en todas las Festividades, y no era la que carecia de ello.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 255.

[276] ‘Le feste, che annualmente si celebravano, erano più solenni nel Teoxihuitl, o Anno divino, quali erano tutti gli anni, che aveano per carattere il Coniglio.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 84; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 549. ‘En cada principio del mes en el dia que nombramos cabeza de sierpe celebraban una fiesta solemnisima … la cual era tan guardada y festejada que ni aun barrer la casa ni hacer de comer no se permitia.’ Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. iii., cap. ii.

[277] Sahagun in his short résumé of the festival states that some hold this celebration to have been in honor of Chalchihuitlicue, the water-goddess, and others in honor of Quetzalcoatl; but thinks that it might have been in honor of all these deities, namely, the Tlalocs, Chalchihuitlicue, and Quetzalcoatl. Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 49-50, 83-7. See also Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 250-2, 295.

[278] Although Sahagun states that Huitzilopochtli also received honors this month, yet no direct ceremonies were observed before his image. The large number of captives sacrificed, however, the universality and length of the festivities, the royal dance, etc., would certainly point to a celebration in honor of a greater deity than Xipe. He also says: ‘En esta fiesta mataban todos los cautivos, hombres, mugeres, y niños,’ which is not very probable. Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 88.

[279] Thieves convicted the second time of stealing gold articles were sacrificed. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 503.

[280] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 45-9. The same author says with regard to the number of sacrifices made annually in the Mexican Empire, that he can affirm nothing, as the reports vary greatly. ‘Zumárraga, the first bishop of Mexico, says, in a letter of the 12th of June, 1531, addressed to the general chapter of his order, that in that capital alone twenty thousand human victims were annually sacrificed. Some authors quoted by Gomara, affirm that the number of the sacrificed amounted to fifty thousand. Acosta writes that there was a certain day of the year on which five thousand were sacrificed in different places of the empire; and another day on which they sacrificed twenty thousand. Some authors believe, that on the mountain Tepeyacac alone, twenty thousand were sacrificed to the goddess Tonantzin. Torquemada, in quoting, though unfaithfully, the letter of Zumárraga, says, that there were twenty thousand infants annually sacrificed. But, on the contrary, Las Casas, in his refutation of the bloody book, wrote by Dr. Sepulveda, reduces the sacrifices to so small a number, that we are left to believe, they amounted not to fifty, or at most not to a hundred. We are strongly of opinion that all these authors have erred in the number, Las Casas by diminution, the rest by exaggeration of the truth.’ Id., Translation, Lond. 1807, vol. i., p. 281.

[281] This farce differed from the regular gladiatorial combat which will be described elsewhere.

[282] ‘Quedauan las cabeças coraçones para los sacerdotes.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 327.

[283] ‘Guardaban alguno que fuese principal señor para este dia; el cual dessolaban para que se vestiese Montezuma gran Rey de la tierra y con él baylaba con sus reales contenencias.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxx. ‘Embutian los cueros de algodon o paja, y, o los colgauan en el templo, o en palacio,’ in the case of a prisoner of rank. Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 327. It is not stated that the persons who wore the skins and made the collection were connected with the temple, but this was no doubt the case, especially as many authors mention that priests had to dress themselves in the ghastly garb for a certain time. For representation of priest dressed in a flayed skin see Nebel, Viaje, pl. xxxiv.

[284] ‘Cuatro de ellos cantaban á las navajas.’ Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 57.

[285] ‘Estos palos que metian y sacaban por las lenguas eran tan gordos como el dedo pulgar de la mano, y otros como el dedo pulgar del pie: y otros tanto gruezos como los dos dedos de la mano pulgar y él con que señalamos podian abrazar.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxii.

[286] Motolinia conveys the idea that the people also performed the infliction on the tongue: ‘aquella devota gente … sacaban por sus lenguas otros palillos de á jeme y del gordor de un cañon de pato.’ Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 58.

[287] ‘Cada dia de estos iba el viejo de noche á la sierra ya dicha y ofrecia al demonio mucho papel, y copalli, y cordonices.’ Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 58.

[288] ‘La cual decian que habia venido con el ídolo pequeño, de un pueblo que se dice Tollan, y de otro que se dice Poyauhtlan, de donde se afirma que fué natural el mismo ídolo.’ Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 58-9.

[289] See also Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 288-90, 252-3, 296.

[290] ‘Echaban por el pueblo cierto pecho ó derrama recogiendo tanto haber que pudiesen comprar cuatro niños esclavos de cinco á seis años. Estos comprados ponianlos en una cueva y cerrabanla hasta otro año que hacian otro tanto.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxx.

[291] Duran adds that all male children under twelve years of age were punctured in the ears, tongue, and leg, and kept on short allowance on the day of festival, but this is not very probable, for other authors name the fifth month for the scarification of infants. Hist. Indias, MS., tom. iii., appendix, cap. iii. For particulars of the feast see Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 52-4, 95-7; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 253-5, 296; Boturini, Idea, pp. 51-2.

[292] Boturini, Idea, p. 52, translates this name as ‘the great bleeding,’ referring to the scarifications in expiation of sins.

[293] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 255-6; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 97-100. According to Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. iii., appendix, cap. iii., the Tlalocs were worshiped this month also, and this involved bloody rites. Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 43-4. Motolinia states that food was offered to the stalks: ‘delante de aquellas cañas ofrecian comida y atolli.’ Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 46. For a more detailed description of this feast see Vol. III. of this work, pp. 360-2.

[294] ‘Le Tlacochcalco, ou maison d’armes, était un arsenal, consacré à Huitzilopochtli, dans l’enceinte du grand temple. Il se trouvait à côté un teocalli où l’on offrait des sacrifices spéciaux à ce dieu et à Tetzcatlipoca.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 510. This sanctuary outside the town was also dependent on the great temple, and, as the fate of the youth was to illustrate the miserable end to which riches and pleasures may come, it is, perhaps, more likely that this poor and lonely edifice was the place of sacrifice. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 70, says ‘conducevanlo … al tempio di Tezcatlipoca.’

[295] Brasseur de Bourbourg indicates that the race in the temple, and the liberation of the marriageable took place in leap-years only, but he evidently misunderstands his authority. Prescott, Mex., vol. i., pp. 75-7, gives an account of this festival.

[296] Contrary to the statement of others, Brasseur de Bourbourg says that the stage was borne by temple officers; surely, warriors were the fit persons to attend the god of war.

[297] ‘Llevábanle entablado con unas saetas que ellos llamaban teumitl, las cuales tenían plumas en tres partes junto el casquillo, y en el medio, y el cabo, iban estas saetas una debajo, y otra encima del papel; tomábanlas dos, uno de una parte, y otro de otra, llevándolas asidas ambas juntas con las manos, y con ellas apretaban el papelon una por encima, y otra por debajo.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 105-6.

[298] ‘El Incienso no era del ordinario, que llaman Copal blanco, ni de el Incienso comun … sino de vna Goma, ò Betun negro, à manera de Pez, el qual licor se engendra en la Mar, y sus Aguas, y olas, lo hechan en algunas partes à sus riberas, y orillas, y le llaman Chapopotli, el qual hecha de sì mal olor, para quien no le acostumbra à oler, y es intenso, y fuerte.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 266.

[299] A kind of perforated and ornamented censer, shaped like a large spoon.

[300] Clavigero writes: ‘Ixteocale, che vale, Savio Signor del Cielo.’ Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 72. Several other names are also applied to him.

[301] ‘Mischiavasi nel ballo de’Cortigiani.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 72.

[302] Pp. 286-7, 334-43.

[303] ‘Se juntauan todos los caualleros y principales personas de cada prouincia … vestian vna muger de la ropa y insignias de la diosa de la sal, y baylauan con ella todos.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 327.

[304] ‘Era esta fiesta de muy poca solemnidad y sin ceremonias, ni comidas, y sin muertes de hombres; en fin no era mas de una preparacion para la fiesta venidera del mes que viene.’ Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. iii., appendix, cap. iii.; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 124-8; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 74-5.

[305] Duran says that the women took the victim to mount Chapultepec, to the very summit, and said, ‘My daughter, let us hasten back to the place whence we came,’ whereupon all started back to the temple, chasing the doomed woman before them. Hist. Indias, MS., tom. iii., appendix, cap. iii.

[306] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 128-39; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 269-71, 297-8; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 518, says: ‘Les rois eux-mêmes prenaient alors part à la danse, qui avait lieu dans les endroits où ils pouvait s’assembler le plus de spectateurs.’

[307] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 271.

[308] ‘Salian los Hombres Nobles, y muchas Mugeres Principales, y asianse de las manos los vnos, de los otros, mezclados Hombres, y Mugeres mui por orden, y luego se hechaban los braços al cuello, y asi abraçados, començaban à moverse mui paso à paso.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 271.

[309] Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. iii., appendix, cap. iii.; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 65; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 271-3, 298; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 61-2, 139-41.

[310] ‘Cortaban un gran árbol en el monte, de veinte y cinco brazas de largo.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 141. ‘L’emportaient (the tree) processionnellement au temple de Huitzilopochtli, sans rien lui enlever de ses rameaux ni de son feuillage.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 521.

[311] Clavigero says that the captors sprinkled the victims and threw them into the fire. Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 77.

[312] Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., appendix, tom. iii., cap. iii.

[313] ‘C’était l’époque où la noblesse célébrait la commémoration des princes et des guerriers qui les avaient précédés.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 522; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 298, 273-5; Codex Telleriano-Remensis, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. v., pp. 130-1.

[314] See volume iii., of this work, pp. 354-9, where a detailed description of this festival is given.

[315] Sahagun writes: ‘Á la media noche de este mismo dia, molian un poco de harina de maíz, y hacian un montoncillo de ella bien tupida: y lo fabricaban de harina, redondo como un queso, sobre un petate. En el mismo veían cuando habian llegado todos los dioses, porque aparecia una pisada de un pie pequeño sobre la harina.’ Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 157.

[316] These sacrifices by fire appear to have been made upon the summit of a small temple which stood within the courtyard of the larger one.

[317] ‘Ballavano attorno ad un gran fuoco molti giovani travestiti in parecchie forme di mostri, e frattanto andavano gettando de’prigionieri nel fuoco.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 78;Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 527.

[318] The burning and dancing took place on the first two days of the following month, according to Sahagun. ‘Estos dos dias postreros eran del mes que se sigue.’ Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 159;Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 278-9.

[319] See vol. iii., p. 343-6.

[320] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 152-3.

[321] The name of a bird with red and blue plumage.

[322] ‘Al undécimo dia de este mes, iban á hacer una casa á aquella sierra que estaba encima de Atlacuioayan, y esta era fiesta por sí, de manera que en este mes habia dos fiestas.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 165. ‘No sacrificaban este dia hombres sino caza, y asi la caza servia de victimas á los Dioses.’ Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., appendix, tom. iii., cap. iii.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 148-9.

[323] Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 327-8; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 221; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xv.

[324] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 167.

[325] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 299, 280-1; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 530, tom. ii., pp. 462-3.

[326] See vol. iii. of this work, pp. 297-300, 323-4, 346-8.

[327] Gomara says men and women danced two nights with the gods and drank until they were all drunk. Conq. Mex., fol. 328. According to Duran, Camaxtli was fêted in this month, and a bread called yocotamally was eaten exclusively on the day of the festival. Hist. Indias, MS., tom. iii., appendix, cap. iii.; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 179-82.

[328] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 83; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 153.

[329] See vol. iii. of this work, pp. 390-3.

[330] See Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 286; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 539; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxi.

[331] See Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 329; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 286-7; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxi.; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 43-4.

[332] See Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxi.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 291.

[333] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 538.

[334] ‘Nahui Ollin Tonatiuh, esto es, el sol en sus cuatro movientos, acompañado de la Via lactea.’ Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt i., p. 91.

[335] ‘Mataban quatro Cautivos de los que se llamaban Chachame, que quiere decir: Tontos; y mataban tambien la imagen del Sol, y de la Luna, que eran dos Hombres.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 148. ‘On immolait ensuite un grand nombre de captifs, dont les principaux, appelés Chachamé, figuraient le soleil et la lune.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 535.

[336] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 150-2; Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt i., p. 91.

[337] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 538.

[338] ‘Creen que Topilcin su rey primero se conuertio en aquella estrella.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 331; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxiv.

[339] Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 249-50. ‘Papahua-tlamacazqui, ou Ministres aux longs cheveux. C’est par leurs mains que passaient les prémices des fruits de la terre qu’on offrait aux astres du jour et de la nuit…. On immolait un grand nombre de captifs et, à leur défaut, les criminels…. Sur leur sépulture on exécutait un ballet.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 274-5.For description of Zapotec harvest-feast see Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 332-3; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 40-2.

[340] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 195-7.

[341] For description of this feast see vol. iii. of this work, pp. 393-6. The authorities on Aztec festivals are: Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 49-218, lib. i., pp. 1-40; Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 1-98; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 147-56, 246-300; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 66-86; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxix-clxxvii.; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 38-62; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 326-36; Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. iii., appendix, cap. iii.,; Leon, Camino del Cielo, pp. 96-100; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcix., pp. 130-7; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 99-107; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 327-9, 354-6, 360-4, 382-93; Boturini, Idea, pt i., pp. 50-3, 90-3; Tezozomoc, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 161-6; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xv-xvii.; Purchas his Pilgrimes, tom. iv., pp. 1040-8; Gemelli Careri, in Churchill’s Col. Voyages, vol. iv., pp. 490-1; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 221, 248, 265-7; West und Ost Indischer Lustgart, pt i., pp. 71-2; Codex Telleriano-Remensis, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 129-34; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 234-5, 274-5, tom. ii., pp. 462-3, tom. iii., pp. 40-2, 498-547; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 104-14; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 515-17, 531-51; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., pp. 128-38; Lenoir, Parallèle, pp. 9-11.

Chapter X • Food of the Nahua Nations • 8,300 Words

Origin of Agriculture—Floating Gardens—Agricultural Products—Manner of Preparing the Soil—Description of Agricultural Implements—Irrigation—Granaries—Gardens—the Harvest Feast—Manner of Hunting—Fishing—Methods of Procuring Salt—Nahua Cookery—Various Kinds of Bread—Beans—Pepper—Fruit—Tamales—Miscellaneous Articles of Food—Eating of Human Flesh—Manufacture of Pulque—Preparation of Chocolatl—Other Beverages—Intoxicating Drinks—Drunkenness—Time and Manner of Taking Meals.

Agriculture and Civilization

Hunting, fishing, and agriculture furnished the Nahua nations with means of subsistence, besides which they had, in common with their uncivilized brethren of the sierras and forests, the uncultivated edible products of the soil. Among the coast nations, the dwellers on the banks of large streams, and the inhabitants of the lake regions of Anáhuac and Michoacan, fish constituted an important article of food. But agriculture, here as elsewhere, distinguished savagism from civilization, and of the lands of the so-called civilized nations few fertile tracts were found uncultivated at the coming of the Spaniards. Cultivation of the soil was doubtless the first tangible step in the progressive development of these nations, and this is indicated in their traditionary annals, which point, more or less vaguely, to a remote period when the Quinames, or giants, occupied the land as yet untilled; which means that the inhabitants were savages, whose progress had not yet exhibited any change sufficiently marked to leave its imprint on tradition. At a time still more remote, however, the invention of bows and arrows is traditionally referred to.[342]‘Dicen que en aquellos principios del mundo se mantenian los hombres solamente con frutas y yerbas, hasta que uno á quien llaman Tlaominqui, que quiere decir, el que mató con flecha halló la invencion del arco y la flecha, y que desde entónces comenzaron á ejercitarse en la caza y mantenerse de carnes de los animales que mataban en ella.’ Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 10. The giants lived ‘mas como brutos que como racionales: su alimento eran las carnes crudas de las aves y fieras que cazavan sin distincion alguna, las frutas y yerbas silvestres porque nada cultivaban;’ yet they knew how to make pulque to get drunk with. Id., p. 151.

The gradual discovery and introduction of agricultural arts according to the laws of development, were of course unintelligible to the aboriginal mind; consequently their traditions tell us wondrous tales of divine intervention and instruction. Nevertheless, the introduction of agriculture was doubtless of very ancient date. The Olmecs and Xicalancas, traditionally the oldest civilized peoples in Mexico, were farmers back to the limit of traditional history, as were the lineal ancestors of all the nations which form the subject of this volume. Indeed, as the Nahua nations were living when the Spaniards found them, so had they probably been living for at least ten centuries, and not improbably for a much longer period.

It was, however, according to tradition, during the Toltec period of Nahua culture that husbandry and all the arts pertaining to the production and preparation of food, were brought to the highest degree of perfection. Many traditions even attribute to the Toltecs the invention or first introduction of agriculture.[343]The Olmecs raised at least maize, chile, and beans before the time of the Toltecs. Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 154. The Toltec ‘comida era el mismo mantenimiento que ahora se usa del maíz que sembraban y beneficiaban así el blanco como el de mas colores.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 112. To the Toltec agriculture ‘debitrici si riconobbero le posteriori Nazioni del frumentone, del cotone, del peverone, e d’altri utilissimi frutti.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 127. The Toltecs ‘truxeron mays, algodon, y demas semillas.’ Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 11. ‘Tenian el maiz, algodon, chile, frijoles y las demas semillas de la tierra que hay.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., pp. 327, 393-4.

But even during this Toltec period hunting tribes, both of Nahua and other blood, were pursuing their game in the forests and mountains, especially in the northern region. Despised by their more civilized, corn-eating brethren, they were known as barbarians, dogs, Chichimecs, ‘suckers of blood,’ from the custom attributed to them of drinking blood and eating raw flesh. Many tribes, indeed, although very far from being savages, were known to the aristocratic Toltecs as Chichimecs, by reason of some real or imaginary inferiority. By the revolutions of the tenth century, some of these Chichimec nations, probably of the Nahua blood and tillers of the soil, although at the same time bold hunters and valiant warriors, gained the ascendancy in Anáhuac. Hence the absurd versions of native traditions which represent the Valley of Mexico as occupied during the Chichimec period by a people who, until taught better by the Acolhuas, lived in caverns and subsisted on wild fruits and raw meat, while at the same time they were ruled by emperors, and possessed a most complicated and advanced system of government and laws. Their barbarism probably consisted for the most part in resisting for a time the enervating influences of Toltec luxury, especially in the pleasures of the table.[344]‘Su comida era toda especie de caza, tanto cuadrúpeda como volátil, sin distincion ni otro condimento que asada, y las frutas … pero nada sembraban, ni cultivaban.’ Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 6. ‘No sembraban, ni cocian, ni asaban las Carnes de la caza.’ Their kings and nobles kept forests of deer and hare to supply the people with food, until in Nopaltzin’s reign they were taught to plant by a descendant of the Toltecs. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 32, 38-9, 67, 279. They were the first inhabitants of the country and ‘solo se mantenian de caça.’ ‘Caçauan venados, liebres, conejos, comadrejas, topos, gatos monteses, paxaros, y aun inmundicias como culebras, lagartos, ratones, langostas, y gusanos, y desto y de yeruas rayzes se sustentauan.’ Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 453-5. And to the same effect Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 132-3; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 203; Heredia y Sarmiento, Sermon, p. 74; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., pp. 140, 151; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 12. They began to till the ground in Hotzin’s reign, but before that they roasted their meat and did not, as many claim, eat it raw. Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 213-14; Id., Relaciones, p. 335. Agriculture introduced in Nopaltzin’s reign. Id., p. 344. But Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 115, says some of the Chichimecs ‘hacian tambien alguna sementerilla de maíz.’

Chinampas, Or Floating Gardens

The Aztecs were traditionally corn-eaters from the first, but while shut up for long years on an island in the lake, they had little opportunity for agricultural pursuits. During this period of their history, the fish, birds, insects, plants, and mud of the lake supplied them with food, until floating gardens were invented and subsequent conquests on the main land afforded them broad fields for tillage. As a rule no details are preserved concerning the pre-Aztec peoples; where such details are known they will be introduced in their proper place as illustrative of later Nahua food-customs.

The chinampas, or floating gardens, cultivated by the Aztecs on the surface of the lakes in Anáhuac, were a most extraordinary source of food. Driven in the days of their national weakness to the lake islands, too small for the tillage which on the main had supported them, these ingenious people devised the chinampa. They observed small portions of the shore, detached by the high water and held together by fibrous roots, floating about on the surface of the water. Acting on the suggestion, they constructed rafts of light wood, covered with smaller sticks, rushes, and reeds, bound together with fibrous aquatic plants, and on this foundation they heaped two or three feet of black mud from the bottom of the lake. Thus the broad surface around their island home was dotted with fertile gardens, self-irrigating and independent of rains, easily moved from place to place according to the fancy of the proprietor. They usually took the form of parallelograms and were often over a hundred feet long. All the agricultural products of the country, particularly maize, chile, and beans were soon produced in abundance on the chinampas, while the larger ones even bore fruit and shade trees of considerable size, and a hut for the convenience of the owner, or gardener. The floating gardens have remained in use down to modern times, but since the waters of the lakes receded so much from their former limits, they have been generally attached to the shore, being separated by narrow canals navigated by the canoes which bear their produce to the markets. In later times, however, only flowers and garden vegetables have been raised in this manner.[345]‘Sobre juncia y espadaña se echa tierra en tal forma, que no la deshaga el agua, y allí se siembra, y cultiua, y crece, y madura, y se lleua de vna parte á otra.’ The products are maize, chile, wild amaranth, tomatoes, beans, chian, pumpkins, etc. Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 472. ‘La lor figura regolare è quadrilunga: la lunghessa, e la larghezza son varie; ma per lo più hanno, secondo che mi pare, otto pertiche in circa di lunghezza, non più di tre di larghezza, e meno d’un piede d’elevazione sulla superficie dell’acqua.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 152-3. Produce not only plants useful for food, dress, and medicine, but flowers and plants that serve only for decoration and luxury. Id., tom. iv., p. 227. Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 620, translates Clavigero’s description. ‘Fairy islands of flowers, overshadowed occasionally by trees of considerable size.’ ‘That archipelago of wandering islands.’ 200 or 300 feet long, 3 or 4 feet deep. Prescott’s Mex., vol. ii., pp. 70, 107-8. The black mud of the chinampas is impregnated with muriate of soda, which is gradually washed out as the surface is watered. Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., pp. 200-2. Mention by Gayangos in Cortés, Cartas, p. 79; Heredia y Sarmiento, Sermon, pp. 95-6. ‘Camellones, que ellos llaman Chinampas.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 483; Carli, Cartas, pt i., pp. 38-9.

On the mainland throughout the Nahua territory few fertile spots were left uncultivated. The land was densely populated, and agriculture was an honorable profession in which all, except the king, the nobility, and soldiers in time of actual war, were more or less engaged.[346]‘Es esta provincia (Tlascala) de muchos valles llanos y hermosos, y todos labrados y sembrados.’ In Cholula ‘ni un palmo de tierra hay que no esté labrado.’ Cortés, Cartas, pp. 68, 75. ‘Tout le monde, plus ou moins, s’adonnait à la culture, et se faisait honneur de travailler à la campagne.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 634; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 481. ‘Hasta los montes y sierras fragosas las tenian ocupadas con sembrados y otros aprovechamientos.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 250.

Aboriginal Agriculture

Agricultural products in the shape of food were not a prominent feature among articles of export and import, excepting, of course, luxuries for the tables of the kings and nobles. Each province, as a rule, raised only sufficient supplies for its own ordinary necessities; consequently, when by reason of drought or other cause, a famine desolated one province, it was with the greatest difficulty that food could be obtained from abroad. The Mexicans were an improvident people, and want was no stranger to them.[347]Cortés, Cartas, p. 75; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 250; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 331.

The chief products of Nahua tillage were maize, beans, magueyes, cacao, chian, chile, and various native fruits.[348]A full list and description of the many edible Mexican plants which were cultivated by the Nahuas in the sixteenth and earlier centuries, as they have been ever since by their descendants, is given by the botanist, Hernandez, in his Nova Plantarum; see also Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 45-68; repeated in Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 102-19; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 236, et seq. Maize, maguey, cacao, bananas, and vanilla. Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 134-6. The Totonacs raised fruits, but no cacao or veinacaztli. Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 131. The people of Michoacan raised ‘maíz, frisoles, pepitas y fruta, y las semillas de mantenimientos, llamados oauhtli, y chian.’ Id., p. 137. The Matlaltzincas also raised the hoauhtli. Id., p. 130. Besides corn, the most important products were cotton, cacao, maguey (metl), frijoles, chia, and chile. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 158; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 624. ‘Les Mexicains cultivaient non-seulement toutes les fleurs et toutes les plantes que produit leur pays, mais encore une infinité d’autres qu’ils y avaient transplantées des contrées les plus éloignées.’ Tezozomoc, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 44. Id., Crónica, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 18. ‘Hay frutas de muchas maneras, en que hay cerezas, y ciruelas que son semejables á las de España.’ Cortés, Cartas, p. 104. Fruit was more abundant among the Huastecs than elsewhere. Tezozomoc, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 147. ‘They haue also many kindes of pot herbes, as lettice, raddish, cresses, garlicke, onyons, and many other herbes besides.’ Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. iii. Edible fruits. Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 300. The maize, or Indian corn, the dried ears of which were called by the Aztecs centli, and the dried kernels separated from the cob, tlaolli,[349]Molina, Diccionario. ‘Centli, o Tlaulli, que otros dizen mayz.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., p. 343. was the standard and universal Nahua food. Indigenous to America, in the development of whose civilization, traditionally at least, it played an important part, it has since been introduced to the world. It is the subject of the New World traditions respecting the introduction of agriculture among men. Tortillas, of maize, accompanied by the inevitable frijoles, or beans, seasoned with chile, or pepper, and washed down with drinks prepared from the maguey and cacao, were then, as now, the all-sustaining diet, and we are told that corn grew so strong and high in the fields that covered the surface of the country in some parts, as to seriously embarrass the conqueror Cortés in his movements against the natives hidden in these natural labyrinths.[350]Cortés, Cartas, p. 64; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 515. In Tlascala ‘no tienen otra riqueza ni granjeria, sino centli que es su pan.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 87.

Cornfields and Granaries

Respecting the particular methods of cultivation practiced by the Nahuas, except in the raising of corn, early observers have left no definite information.[351]Peter Martyr and the Anonymous Conqueror say, however, that cacao-trees were planted under larger trees, which were cut down when the plant gained sufficient strength. Dec. v., lib. iv.; Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 380. The valleys were of course the favorite localities for cornfields, but the highlands were also cultivated. In the latter case the trees and bushes were cut down, the land burned over, and the seed put in among the ashes. Such lands were allowed to rest several years—Torquemada says five or six—after each crop, until the surface was covered with grass and bushes for a new burning. No other fertilizer than ashes, so far as known, was ever employed. Fields were enclosed by stone walls and hedges of maguey, which were carefully repaired each year in the month of Panquetzaliztli. They had no laboring animals, and their farming implements were exceedingly few and rude. Three of these only are mentioned. The huictli was a kind of oaken shovel or spade, in handling which both hands and feet were used. The coatl, or coa (serpent), so called probably from its shape, was a copper implement with a wooden handle, used somewhat as a hoe is used by modern farmers in breaking the surface of the soil. Another copper instrument, shaped like a sickle, with a wooden handle, was used for pruning fruit-trees. A simple sharp stick, the point of which was hardened in the fire, or more rarely tipped with copper, was the implement in most common use. To plant corn, the farmer dropped a few kernels into a hole made with this stick, and covered them with his foot, taking the greatest pains to make the rows perfectly straight and parallel; the intervals between the hills were always uniform, though the space was regulated according to the nature and fertility of the soil. The field was kept carefully weeded, and at a certain age the stalks were supported by heaping up the soil round them. At maturity the stalks were often broken two thirds up, that the husks might protect the hanging ear from rain. During the growth and ripening of the maize, a watchman or boy was kept constantly on guard in a sheltered station commanding the field, whose duty it was to drive away, with stones and shouts, the flocks of feathered robbers which abounded in the country. Women and children aided the men in the lighter farm labors, such as dropping the seeds, weeding the plants, and husking and cleaning the grain. To irrigate the fields the water of rivers and of mountain streams was utilized by means of canals, dams, and ditches. The network of canals by which the cacao plantations of the tierra caliente in Tabasco were watered, offered to Cortés’ army even more serious obstructions than the dense growth of the maizales, or cornfields.

Granaries for storing maize were built of oyametl, or oxametl, a tree whose long branches were regular, tough, and flexible. The sticks were laid in log-house fashion, one above another, and close together, so as to form a tight square room, which was covered with a water-tight roof, and had only two openings or windows, one at the top and another at the bottom. Many of these granaries had a capacity of several thousand bushels, and in them corn was preserved for several, or, as Brasseur says, for fifteen or twenty, years. Besides the regular and extensive plantations of staple products, gardens were common, tastefully laid out and devoted to the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, medicinal herbs, and particularly flowers, of which the Mexicans were very fond, and which were in demand for temple decorations and bouquets. The gardens connected with the palaces of kings and nobles, particularly those of Tezcuco, Iztapalapan, and Huaxtepec, excited great wonder and admiration in the minds of the first European visitors, but these have been already mentioned in a preceding chapter.[352]On the culture of maize and other points mentioned above see Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 481-2, 564, tom. i., p. 166; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 153-6; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 633-7, tom. iv., p. 61; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 621-4; Cortés, Cartas, p. 75; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., p. 128; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 196; Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. ii.; Gagern, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2^da época, tom. i., pp. 815-16.

We shall find the planting and growth of maize not without influence in the development of the Nahua calendars, and that it was closely connected with the worship of the gods and with religious ideas and ceremonies. Father Burgoa relates that in Oajaca, the cultivation of this grain, the people’s chief support, was attended by some peculiar ceremonies. At harvest-time the priests of the maize god in Quegolani, ceremonially visited the cornfields followed by a procession of the people, and sought diligently the fairest and best-filled ear. This they bore to the village, placed it on an altar decked for the occasion with flowers and precious chalchiuites, sang and danced before it, and wrapped it with care in a white cotton cloth, in which it was preserved until the next seed-time. Then with renewed processions and solemn rites the magic ear with its white covering was wrapped in a deer-skin and buried in the midst of the cornfields in a small hole lined with stones. When another harvest came, if it were a fruitful one, the precious offering to the earth was dug up and its decayed remains distributed in small parcels to the happy populace as talismans against all kinds of evil.[353]Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt ii., pp. 332-3; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 40-2.

THE CHASE IN ANÁHUAC.

The game most abundant was deer, hare, rabbits, wild hogs, wolves, foxes, jaguars, or tigers, Mexican lions, coyotes, pigeons, partridges, quails, and many aquatic birds. The usual weapon was the bow and arrow, to the invention of which tradition ascribes the origin of the chase; but spears, snares, and nets were also employed, and the sarbacan, a tube through which pellets or darts were blown, was an effective bird-killer. Game in the royal forests was protected by law, and many hunters were employed in taking animals and birds alive for the king’s collections. Among the peculiar devices employed for taking water-birds was that already mentioned in connection with the Wild Tribes; the hunter floating in the water, with only his head, covered with a gourd, above the surface, and thus approaching his prey unsuspected. Young monkeys were caught by putting in a concealed fire a peculiar black stone which exploded when heated. Corn was scattered about as a bait, and when the old monkeys brought their young to feed they were frightened by the explosion and ran away, leaving the young ones an easy prey. The native hunters are represented as particularly skillful in following an indistinct trail. According to Sahagun, a superstition prevailed that only four arrows might be shot at a tiger, but to secure success a leaf was attached to one of the arrows, which, making a peculiar whizzing sound, fell short and attracted the beast’s attention while the hunter took deliberate aim. Crocodiles were taken with a noose round the neck and also, by the boldest hunters, by inserting a stick sharpened and barbed at both ends in the animal’s open mouth. It is probable that, while a small portion of the common people in certain parts of the country sought game for food alone, the chase among the Nahuas was for the most part a diversion of the nobles and soldiers. There were also certain hunts established by law or custom at certain periods of the year, the products of which were devoted to sacrificial purposes, although most likely eaten eventually.

In the month Quecholli a day’s hunt was celebrated by the warriors in honor of Mixcoatl. A large forest—that of Zacatepec, near Mexico, being a favorite resort—was surrounded by a line of hunters many miles in extent. In the centre of the forest various snares and traps were set. When all was ready, the living circle began to contract, and the hunters with shouts pressed forward toward the centre. To aid in the work, the grass was sometimes fired. The various animals were driven from their retreats into the snares prepared for them, or fell victims to the huntsmen’s arrows. Immense quantities of game were thus secured and borne to the city and to the neighboring towns, the inhabitants of which had assisted in the hunt, as an offering to the god. Each hunter carried to his own home the heads of such animals as he had killed, and a prize was awarded to the most successful. In the month Tecuilhuitontli also, while the warriors practiced in sham fights for actual war, the common people gave their attention to the chase. Large numbers of birds were taken in nets spread on poles like spear-shafts. In earlier times, when the chase was more depended on for food, the first game taken was offered to the gods; or, by the Chichimecs and Xochimilcas, to the sun, as Ixtlilxochitl informs us.[354]On hunting see Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 48; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 165, tom. iii., lib. xi., pp. 149-229, including a full list and description of Mexican animals; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 298, tom. ii., pp. 281, 297; Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. iii.; Cortés, Cartas, p. 22; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 196; Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 335, 346, 458; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 160-2. List of Mexican animals in Id., tom. i., pp. 68-99; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 626-7, 120-44, with same list; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 235.

Fisheries and Salt

Fish was much more universally used for food than game. Torquemada tells us that the Aztecs first invented the art of fishing prompted by the mother of invention when forced by their enemies to live on the lake islands; and it was the smell of roasted fish, wafted to the shore, that revealed their presence. This tradition is somewhat absurd, and it is difficult to believe that the art was entirely unknown during the preceding Toltec and Olmec periods of Nahua civilization. Besides the supply in lake and river, artificial ponds in the royal gardens were also stocked with fish, and we have seen that fresh fish from the ocean were brought to Mexico for the king’s table. Respecting the particular methods employed by the Nahua fishermen, save that they used both nets and hooks, the authorities say nothing. The Tarascos had such an abundance of food in their lakes that their country was named Michoacan, ‘land of fish’; and the rivers of Huastecapan are also mentioned as richly stocked with finny food.[355]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 99-105, tom. ii., p. 162, with list and description of Mexican fishes, of which over 100 varieties fit for food are mentioned; repeated in Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 145-50, 628; Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. ii., iii.; Tezozomoc, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 60, 147; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 93; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 132; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 460. List of fishes in Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. xi., pp. 199-207.

The Nahuas had, as I have said, no herds or flocks, but besides the royal collections of animals, which included nearly every known variety of quadrupeds, birds, and reptiles, the common people kept and bred techichi (a native animal resembling a dog), turkeys, quails, geese, ducks, and many other birds. The nobles also kept deer, hares, and rabbits.[356]‘Crian muchas gallinas … que son tan grandes como pavos.’ ‘Conejos, liebres, venados y perros pequeños, que crian para comer castrados.’ Cortés, Cartas, pp. 23, 94, 104, 222. ‘Young whelpes flesh is vsuall there … which they geld and fatte for foode.’ Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. iii. The same author, dec. v., lib. iii., gives some queer information respecting the turkeys. ‘The femalles sometimes lay 20. or 30. egges, so that it is a multiplying company. The males, are alwayes in loue, and therefore they say, they are very light meate of digestion.’ A certain priest reports that ‘the male is troubled with certayne impedimentes in the legges, that he can scarse allure the henne to treade her, vnlesse some knowne person take her in his hand, and hold her…. As soone as hee perceiueth the henne which he loueth, is held, hee presently commeth vnto her, and performes his businesse in the hand of the holder,’ See Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 158-9, tom. iv., p. 228; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 624-6; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 291-2.

Next to chile, salt, or iztatl, was the condiment most used, and most of the supply came from the Valley of Mexico. The best was made by boiling the water from the salt lake in large pots, and was preserved in white cakes or balls. It was oftener, however, led by trenches into shallow pools and evaporated by the sun. The work would seem to have been done by women, since Sahagun speaks of the women and girls employed in this industry as dancing at the feast in honor of the goddess of salt in the month Tecuilhuitontli. A poor quality of salt, tequizquitl, brick-colored and strongly impregnated with saltpetre, was scraped up on the flats around the lakes, and largely used in salting meats. Las Casas mentions salt springs in the bed of fresh-water streams, the water of which was pumped out through hollow canes, and yielded on evaporation a fine white salt; but it is not certain what part of the country he refers to. The Aztec kings practically monopolized the salt market and refused to sell it to any except tributary nations. In consequence of this disposition, republican Tlascala, one of the few nations that maintained its independence, was forced for many years to eat its food unsalted; and so habituated did the people become to this diet, that in later times, if we may credit Camargo, very little salt was consumed.[357]Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. iii.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 450; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. v.; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 284; Cortés, Cartas, p. 66; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 124-8, tom. iii., lib. x., p. 130; Albornoz, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 507; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 180; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 100; Solis, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. i., pp. 390-1.

The Nahua Cuisine

We now come to the methods adopted by the Nahuas in preparing and cooking food. Maize, when in the milk, was eaten boiled, and called elotl; when dry it was often prepared for food by simply parching or roasting, and then named mumuehitl. But it usually came to the Aztec table in the shape of tlaxcalli, the Spanish tortillas, the standard bread, then as now, in all Spanish America. It would be difficult to name a book in any way treating of Mexico in which tortillas are not fully described. The aborigines boiled the corn in water, to which lime, or sometimes nitre, was added. When sufficiently soft and free from hulls it was crushed on the metlatl, or metate, with a stone roller, and the dough, after being kneaded also on the metate, was formed by the hands of the women into very thin round cakes which were quickly baked on earthen pans, or comalli, and piled up one on another that they might retain their warmth, for when cold they lost their savor. Peter Martyr speaks of these tortillas as “bread made of Maizium.” They were sometimes, but rarely, flavored with different native plants and flowers. There was, however, some variety in their preparation, according to which they bore different names. For example totanquitlaxcallitlaquelpacholli were very white, being folded and covered with napkins; huietlaxcalli were large, thin, and soft; quauhtlaqualli were thick and rough; tlaxcalpacholli, grayish; and tlacepoallitlaxcalli presented a blistered surface. There were many other kinds. In addition to the tlaxcalli, thicker corn-bread in the form of long cakes and balls were made. Atolli varied in consistency from porridge, or gruel, to mush, and may consequently be classed either as a drink or as food. To make it, the hulled corn was mashed, mixed with water, and boiled down to the required consistency; it was variously sweetened and seasoned, and eaten both hot and cold. According to its condition and seasoning it received about seventeen names; thus totonquiatolli was eaten hot, nequatolli was sweetened with honey, chilnequatolli was seasoned with chile, and quauhnexatolli with saltpetre.

Beans, the etl of the Aztecs, the frijoles of the Spaniards, were while yet green boiled in the pod, and were then called exotl; when dry they were also generally boiled; but Ixtlilxochitl mentions flour made from beans.

Chilli, chile, or pepper, was eaten both green and dry, whole and ground. A sauce was also made from it into which hot tortillas were dipped, and which formed a part of the seasoning in nearly every Nahua dish. “It is the principal sauce and the only spice of the Indias,” as Acosta tells us.

Flesh, fowl, and fish, both fresh and salted, were stewed, boiled, and roasted, with the fat of the techichi, and seasoned with chile, tomatl (since called tomatoes), etc. The larger roasted game preserved for eating from the sacrifices in the month of Itzcalli is termed calpuleque by Sahagun. Pipian was a stew of fowl with chile, tomatoes, and ground pumpkin-seeds. Deer and rabbits were barbecued. Peter Martyr speaks of “rost and sodden meates of foule.”

Fruits, for the most part, were eaten as with us, raw, but some, as the plantain and banana, were roasted and stewed.

So much for the plain Nahua cookery. Into the labyrinthine mysteries of the mixed dishes I shall not penetrate far. It is easier for the writer, and not less satisfactory to the reader, to dismiss the subject with the remark that all the articles of food that have been mentioned, fish, flesh, and fowl, were mixed and cooked in every conceivable proportion, the product taking a different name with each change in the ingredients. The two principal classes of these mixed dishes were the pot-stews, or cazuelas, of various meats with multitudinous seasonings; and the tamalli, or tamales, meat pies, to make which meats were boiled, chopped fine, and seasoned, then mixed with maize-dough, coated with the same, wrapped in a corn-husk, and boiled again. These also took different names according to the ingredients and seasoning. The tamale is still a favorite dish, like tortillas and frijoles.

Miscellaneous articles of food, not already spoken of, were axayacatl, flies of the Mexican lakes, dried, ground, boiled, and eaten in the form of cakes; ahuauhtli, the eggs of the same fly, a kind of native caviar; many kinds of insects, ants, maguey-worms, and even lice; tecuitlatl, ‘excrement of stone,’ a slime that was gathered on the surface of the lakes, and dried till it resembled cheese; eggs of turkeys, iguanas, and turtles, roasted, boiled, and in omelettes; various reptiles, frogs, and frog-spawn; shrimps, sardines, and crabs; corn-silk, wild-amaranth seeds, cherry-stones, tule-roots, and very many other articles inexpressible; yucca flour, potoyucca, tunas; honey from maize, from bees, and from the maguey; and roasted portions of the maguey stalks and leaves.

The women did all the work in preparing and cooking food; in Tlascala, however, the men felt that an apology was due for allowing this work to be done by women, and claimed, as Sahagun says, that the smoke of cooking would impair their eye-sight and make them less successful in the hunt. All these articles of food, both cooked and uncooked, were offered for sale in the market-places of each large town, of which I shall speak further when I come to treat of commerce. Eating-houses were also generally found near the markets, where all the substantials and delicacies of the Nahua cuisine might be obtained.[358]On the preparation of food, and for mention more or less extensive of miscellaneous articles of food, see Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 129-30, 184-6, tom. ii., lib. vii., p. 258, tom. viii., pp. 297, 302-5, tom. iii, lib. x., pp. 118-19, 130, 132; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 237-38, 250-1, 254, 257-8; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 68-9; Cortés, Cartas, pp. 23, 68, 103-5; Relacion de Algunas Cosas, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 378-9; Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. ii., iii.; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. 43, 175; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 93, 353, 373, tom. ii., p. 297; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 39, 318-19; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 158, 217, etc., tom. iv., p. 228; Solis, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. i., p. 394; Tezozomoc, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 44, 48-9, 60, 88, 133, 141-3; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 191; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 624, 628-30, 674-9; Diaz, Itinerario, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 298-9; Zuazo, Carta, in Id., pp. 359-61; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 234, tom. iii., pp. 631, 641-4; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., pp. 142, 151-2.

Eating of Human Flesh

One article of Nahua food demands special mention—human flesh. That they ate the arms and legs of the victims sacrificed to their gods, there is no room for doubt. This religious cannibalism—perhaps human sacrifice itself—was probably not practiced before the cruel-minded Aztec devotees of Huitzilopochtli came into power, or at least was of rare occurrence; but during the Aztec dominion, the custom of eating the flesh of sacrificed enemies became almost universal. That cannibalism, as a source of food, unconnected with religious rites, was ever practiced, there is little evidence. The Anonymous Conqueror tells us that they esteemed the flesh of men above all other food, and risked their lives in battle solely to obtain it. Bernal Diaz says that they sold it at retail in the markets; and Veytia also states that this was true of the Otomís. Father Gand assures us that there were many priests that ate and drank nothing but the flesh and blood of children. But these ogreish tales are probably exaggerations, since those who knew most of the natives, Sahagun, Motolinia, and Las Casas, regard the cannibalism of the Nahuas rather as an abhorrent feature of their religion than as the result of an unnatural appetite. That by long usage they became fond of this food, may well be believed; but that their prejudice was strong against eating the flesh of any but their sacrificed foes, is proven, as Gomara says, by the fact that multitudes died of starvation during the siege of Mexico by Cortés. Even the victims of sacrifice seem only to have been eaten in banquets, more or less public, accompanied with ceremonial rites. A number of infants sacrificed to the Tlalocs were eaten each year, and the blood of these and of other victims was employed in mixing certain cakes, some of which were at one time sent as a propitiatory offering to Cortés.[359]‘Oi dezir, que le (for Montezuma) solian guisar carnes de muchachos de poca edad.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 68, 35, 37. A slave ‘elaborately dressed’ was a prominent feature of the banquet. Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 155. They ate the arms and legs of the Spaniards captured. Gemelli Careri, in Churchill’s Col. Voyages, vol. iv., p. 527. ‘They draw so much blood, as in stead of luke warme water may suffice to temper the lumpe, which by the hellish butchers of that art, without any perturbation of the stomacke being sufficiently kneaded, while it is moyst, and soft euen as a potter of the clay, or a wax chandler of wax, so doth this image maker, admitted and chosen to be maister of this damned and cursed worke.’ Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. iv., i. ‘Cocian aquella carne con maíz, y daban á cada uno un pedazo de ella en una escudilla ó cajete con su caldo, y su maíz cocida, y llamaban aquella comida tlacatlaolli.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 89, 14, 84, 93, 97. ‘La tenian por cosa, como sagrada, y mas se movian à esto por Religion, que por vicio.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 584-5. See also Albornoz, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 488; Zuazo, Carta, in Id., pp. 363, 365; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Id., pp. 40-1, 59; Relacion de Algunas Cosas, in Id., p. 398; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 282-3; Gand, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 197; Bologne, in Id., p. 215; Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. iii., appendix, cap. iii.; Carbajal, Discurso, p. 60; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 47; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 502-3, tom. iv., p. 90; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. 175-6.

Drinks and Drunkenness

The most popular Nahua beverages were those since known as pulque and chocolate. The former, called by the natives octli—pulque, or pulcre, being a South American aboriginal term applied to the liquor in some unaccountable way by the Spaniards—was the fermented juice of the maguey. One plant is said to yield about one hundred pounds in a month. A cavity is cut at the base of the larger leaves, and allowed to fill with juice, which is removed to a vessel of earthen ware or of skin, where it ferments rapidly and is ready for use. In a pure state it is of a light color, wholesome, and somewhat less intoxicating than grape wine; but the aborigines mixed with it various herbs, some to merely change its color or flavor, and others to increase its intoxicating properties. This national drink was honored with a special divinity, Ometochtli, one of the numerous Nahua gods of wine. According to some traditions the Quinames, or giants, knew how to prepare it, but its invention is oftener attributed to the Toltecs, its first recorded use having been to aid in the seduction of a mighty monarch from his royal duties.[360]Texcalcevia, texcalcevilo, and mataluhtli are some of the names given to pulque according to its hue and condition. Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 175, 179, 186. Pulque from Chilian language. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 221-2. See Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 679-80; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 643-4, tom. i., pp. 340-5; Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. iii., cap. xxii.; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 151. ‘Antes que á su vino lo cuezan con unas raices que le echan, es claro y dulce como aguamiel. Despues de cocido, hácese algo espeso y tiene mal olor, y los que con él se embeodan, mucho peor.’ Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 22-3; and Ritos Antiguos, pp. 16-17, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix. ‘No hay perros muertos, ni bomba, que assi hiedan como el haliento del borracho deste vino.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 319.

Chocolatl—the foundation of our chocolate—was made by pounding cacao to a powder, adding an equal quantity of a seed called pochotl, also powdered, and stirring or beating the mixture briskly in a dish of water. The oily foam which rose to the surface was then separated, a small quantity of maize flour was added, and the liquid which was set before the fire. The oily portion was finally restored and the beverage was drunk lukewarm, sweetened with honey and often seasoned with vanilla. This drink was nutritious, refreshing, and cooling, and was especially a favorite with those called upon to perform fatiguing labor with scant food.[361]‘Esta bebida es el mas sano y mas sustancioso alimento de cuantos se conocen en el mundo, pues el que bebe una taza de ella, aunque haga una jornada, puede pasarse todo el dia sin tomar otra cosa; y siendo frio por su naturaleza, es mejor en tiempo caliente que frio.’ Relacion de Algunas Cosas, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 381. ‘La mejor, mas delicada y cara beuida que tienen es de harina de cacao y agua. Algunas vezes le mezclan miel, y harina de otras legumbres. Esto no emborracha, antes refresca mucho.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 319. ‘Of certaine almondes … they make wonderfull drinke.’ Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. ii., iv. ‘Cierta bebida hecha del mismo cacao, que dezian era para tener acceso con mugeres.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 68. Red, vermilion, orange, black, and white. Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 301-2. See Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 251; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 219-20; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 642-3.

Miscellaneous drinks were water, plantain-juice, the various kinds of porridge known as atolli, already mentioned, the juice of maize-stalks, those prepared from chian and other seeds by boiling, and fermented water in which corn had been boiled—a favorite Tarasco drink. Among the ingredients used to make their drinks more intoxicating the most powerful was the teonanacatl, ‘flesh of god,’ a kind of mushroom which excited the passions and caused the partaker to see snakes and divers other visions.[362]Chicha and sendechó, fermented drinks. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 221. Sendechó, an Otomí drink, for a full description see Mendoza, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. ii., pp. 25-8. ‘Ale, and syder.’ Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. iv. ‘Panicap que es cierto brebaje que ellos beben.’ Cortés, Cartas, p. 76. See besides references in note 19; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 23; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 118, 130; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 139; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 676, 678-9.

The Aztec laws against drunkenness were very severe, yet nearly all the authors represent the people as delighting in all manner of intoxication, and as giving way on every opportunity to the vice when the power of their rulers over them was destroyed by the coming of the Spaniards. Drinking to excess seems to have been with them a social vice, confined mostly to public feasts and private banquets. It may have been chiefly against intemperance among the working classes, and officials when on duty, that the stringent laws were directed. Mendieta speaks of the people as very temperate, using pulque only under the direction of the chiefs and judges for medicinal purposes chiefly. The nobles made it a point of honor not to drink to excess, and all feared punishment. But Motolinia and other good authorities take an opposite view of the native character in this respect.[363]Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 138-40. ‘Comunmente comenzaban á beber despues de vísperas, y dábanse tanta prisa á beber de diez en diez, ó quince en quince, y los escanciadores que no cesaban, y la comida que no era mucha, á prima noche ya van perdiendo el sentido, ya cayendo ya asentado, cantando y dando voces llamando al demonio.’ Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 23, 32. ‘Beben con tanto exceso, que no paran hasta caer como muertos de puro ebrios, y tienen á grande honra beber mucho y embriagarse.’ Relacion de Algunas Cosas, in Id., pp. 582, 587. Drinkers and drunkards had several special divinities. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 493. Drank less before the conquest. Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. iii., cap. xxii.; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 119.

Meals of the Common People

Concerning the manner of serving the king’s meals, as well as the banquets and feasts of nobles and the richer classes, enough has been already said. Of the daily meals among the masses little is known. The Nahuas seem to have confined their indulgence in rich and varied viands to the oft-recurring feasts, while at their homes they were content with plain fare. This is a peculiarity that is still observable in the country, both among the descendants of the Nahuas and of their conquerors. The poorer people had in each house a metate for grinding maize, and a few earthen dishes for cooking tortillas and frijoles. They ate three meals a day, morning, noon, and night, using the ground for table, table-cloth, napkins, and chairs, conveying their tlaxcalli and chile to the mouth with the fingers, and washing down their simple food with water or atole. The richer Nahuas were served with a greater variety on palm-mats often richly decorated, around which low seats were placed for their convenience; napkins were also furnished.[364]‘Comen en el suelo, y suziamente … parten los hueuos en vn cabello que se arrancan,’ whatever that operation may be. Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 319. ‘Es gente que con muy poco mantenimiento vive, y la que menos come de cuantas hay en el mundo.’ Relacion de Algunas Cosas, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 379-80. ‘Molto sobrj nel mangiare.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 119. ‘It is not lawfull for any that is vnmaried to sit at table with such as are maried, or to eate of the same dish, or drinke of the same cup, and make themselues equall with such as are married.’ Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. iv. The nobles gave feasts at certain periods of the year for the relief of the poor. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 270. See also Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 138; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 535; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 644-5. Additional references for the whole subject of Nahua food are:—Montanus,Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 74, 80, 247, 251; Dapper, Neue Welt, pp. 83, 91, 278-9, 283; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 10-13, 20-6, 102, 104, 180-3, 189, 196; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., pp. 44-9; Tylor’s Anahuac, pp. 62, 103, 145-6, 173-4; Fossey, Mexique, pp. 44, 215, 485-6; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 456; Monglave, Résumé, pp. 37-8, 261; Delaporte Reisen, tom. x., pp. 257, 268-9; Dillon, Hist. Mex., p. 45; Chevalier, Mex., Ancien y Mod., pp. 15-27; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 538; Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., pp. 278-9; Macgregor’s Progress of Amer., vol. i., p. 22; Gibbs, in Hist. Mag., vol. vii., p. 99; Hazart, Kirchen-Geschichte, tom. ii., p. 502; Helps’ Span. Conq., tom. ii., p. 455; Lafond, Voyages, tom. i., p. 107; Baril, Mexique, pp. 208-9; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., pp. 164-6, 178, 230; Lenoir, Parallèle, p. 39; Long, Porter, and Tucker’s America, p. 162; Soden, Spanier in Peru, tom. ii., pp. 16-17.

Footnotes

[342] ‘Dicen que en aquellos principios del mundo se mantenian los hombres solamente con frutas y yerbas, hasta que uno á quien llaman Tlaominqui, que quiere decir, el que mató con flecha halló la invencion del arco y la flecha, y que desde entónces comenzaron á ejercitarse en la caza y mantenerse de carnes de los animales que mataban en ella.’ Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 10. The giants lived ‘mas como brutos que como racionales: su alimento eran las carnes crudas de las aves y fieras que cazavan sin distincion alguna, las frutas y yerbas silvestres porque nada cultivaban;’ yet they knew how to make pulque to get drunk with. Id., p. 151.

[343] The Olmecs raised at least maize, chile, and beans before the time of the Toltecs. Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 154. The Toltec ‘comida era el mismo mantenimiento que ahora se usa del maíz que sembraban y beneficiaban así el blanco como el de mas colores.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 112. To the Toltec agriculture ‘debitrici si riconobbero le posteriori Nazioni del frumentone, del cotone, del peverone, e d’altri utilissimi frutti.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 127. The Toltecs ‘truxeron mays, algodon, y demas semillas.’ Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 11. ‘Tenian el maiz, algodon, chile, frijoles y las demas semillas de la tierra que hay.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., pp. 327, 393-4.

[344] ‘Su comida era toda especie de caza, tanto cuadrúpeda como volátil, sin distincion ni otro condimento que asada, y las frutas … pero nada sembraban, ni cultivaban.’ Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 6. ‘No sembraban, ni cocian, ni asaban las Carnes de la caza.’ Their kings and nobles kept forests of deer and hare to supply the people with food, until in Nopaltzin’s reign they were taught to plant by a descendant of the Toltecs. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 32, 38-9, 67, 279. They were the first inhabitants of the country and ‘solo se mantenian de caça.’ ‘Caçauan venados, liebres, conejos, comadrejas, topos, gatos monteses, paxaros, y aun inmundicias como culebras, lagartos, ratones, langostas, y gusanos, y desto y de yeruas rayzes se sustentauan.’ Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 453-5. And to the same effect Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 132-3; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 203; Heredia y Sarmiento, Sermon, p. 74; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., pp. 140, 151; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 12. They began to till the ground in Hotzin’s reign, but before that they roasted their meat and did not, as many claim, eat it raw. Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 213-14; Id., Relaciones, p. 335. Agriculture introduced in Nopaltzin’s reign. Id., p. 344. But Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 115, says some of the Chichimecs ‘hacian tambien alguna sementerilla de maíz.’

[345] ‘Sobre juncia y espadaña se echa tierra en tal forma, que no la deshaga el agua, y allí se siembra, y cultiua, y crece, y madura, y se lleua de vna parte á otra.’ The products are maize, chile, wild amaranth, tomatoes, beans, chian, pumpkins, etc. Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 472. ‘La lor figura regolare è quadrilunga: la lunghessa, e la larghezza son varie; ma per lo più hanno, secondo che mi pare, otto pertiche in circa di lunghezza, non più di tre di larghezza, e meno d’un piede d’elevazione sulla superficie dell’acqua.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 152-3. Produce not only plants useful for food, dress, and medicine, but flowers and plants that serve only for decoration and luxury. Id., tom. iv., p. 227. Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 620, translates Clavigero’s description. ‘Fairy islands of flowers, overshadowed occasionally by trees of considerable size.’ ‘That archipelago of wandering islands.’ 200 or 300 feet long, 3 or 4 feet deep. Prescott’s Mex., vol. ii., pp. 70, 107-8. The black mud of the chinampas is impregnated with muriate of soda, which is gradually washed out as the surface is watered. Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., pp. 200-2. Mention by Gayangos in Cortés, Cartas, p. 79; Heredia y Sarmiento, Sermon, pp. 95-6. ‘Camellones, que ellos llaman Chinampas.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 483; Carli, Cartas, pt i., pp. 38-9.

[346] ‘Es esta provincia (Tlascala) de muchos valles llanos y hermosos, y todos labrados y sembrados.’ In Cholula ‘ni un palmo de tierra hay que no esté labrado.’ Cortés, Cartas, pp. 68, 75. ‘Tout le monde, plus ou moins, s’adonnait à la culture, et se faisait honneur de travailler à la campagne.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 634; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 481. ‘Hasta los montes y sierras fragosas las tenian ocupadas con sembrados y otros aprovechamientos.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 250.

[347] Cortés, Cartas, p. 75; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 250; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 331.

[348] A full list and description of the many edible Mexican plants which were cultivated by the Nahuas in the sixteenth and earlier centuries, as they have been ever since by their descendants, is given by the botanist, Hernandez, in his Nova Plantarum; see also Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 45-68; repeated in Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 102-19; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 236, et seq. Maize, maguey, cacao, bananas, and vanilla. Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 134-6. The Totonacs raised fruits, but no cacao or veinacaztli. Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 131. The people of Michoacan raised ‘maíz, frisoles, pepitas y fruta, y las semillas de mantenimientos, llamados oauhtli, y chian.’ Id., p. 137. The Matlaltzincas also raised the hoauhtli. Id., p. 130. Besides corn, the most important products were cotton, cacao, maguey (metl), frijoles, chia, and chile. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 158; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 624. ‘Les Mexicains cultivaient non-seulement toutes les fleurs et toutes les plantes que produit leur pays, mais encore une infinité d’autres qu’ils y avaient transplantées des contrées les plus éloignées.’ Tezozomoc, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 44. Id., Crónica, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 18. ‘Hay frutas de muchas maneras, en que hay cerezas, y ciruelas que son semejables á las de España.’ Cortés, Cartas, p. 104. Fruit was more abundant among the Huastecs than elsewhere. Tezozomoc, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 147. ‘They haue also many kindes of pot herbes, as lettice, raddish, cresses, garlicke, onyons, and many other herbes besides.’ Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. iii. Edible fruits. Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 300.

[349] Molina, Diccionario. ‘Centli, o Tlaulli, que otros dizen mayz.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., p. 343.

[350] Cortés, Cartas, p. 64; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 515. In Tlascala ‘no tienen otra riqueza ni granjeria, sino centli que es su pan.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 87.

[351] Peter Martyr and the Anonymous Conqueror say, however, that cacao-trees were planted under larger trees, which were cut down when the plant gained sufficient strength. Dec. v., lib. iv.; Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 380.

[352] On the culture of maize and other points mentioned above see Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 481-2, 564, tom. i., p. 166; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 153-6; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 633-7, tom. iv., p. 61; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 621-4; Cortés, Cartas, p. 75; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., p. 128; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 196; Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. ii.; Gagern, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2^da época, tom. i., pp. 815-16.

[353] Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt ii., pp. 332-3; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 40-2.

[354] On hunting see Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 48; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 165, tom. iii., lib. xi., pp. 149-229, including a full list and description of Mexican animals; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 298, tom. ii., pp. 281, 297; Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. iii.; Cortés, Cartas, p. 22; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 196; Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 335, 346, 458; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 160-2. List of Mexican animals in Id., tom. i., pp. 68-99; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 626-7, 120-44, with same list; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 235.

[355] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 99-105, tom. ii., p. 162, with list and description of Mexican fishes, of which over 100 varieties fit for food are mentioned; repeated in Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 145-50, 628; Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. ii., iii.; Tezozomoc, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 60, 147; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 93; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 132; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 460. List of fishes in Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. xi., pp. 199-207.

[356] ‘Crian muchas gallinas … que son tan grandes como pavos.’ ‘Conejos, liebres, venados y perros pequeños, que crian para comer castrados.’ Cortés, Cartas, pp. 23, 94, 104, 222. ‘Young whelpes flesh is vsuall there … which they geld and fatte for foode.’ Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. iii. The same author, dec. v., lib. iii., gives some queer information respecting the turkeys. ‘The femalles sometimes lay 20. or 30. egges, so that it is a multiplying company. The males, are alwayes in loue, and therefore they say, they are very light meate of digestion.’ A certain priest reports that ‘the male is troubled with certayne impedimentes in the legges, that he can scarse allure the henne to treade her, vnlesse some knowne person take her in his hand, and hold her…. As soone as hee perceiueth the henne which he loueth, is held, hee presently commeth vnto her, and performes his businesse in the hand of the holder,’ See Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 158-9, tom. iv., p. 228; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 624-6; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 291-2.

[357] Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. iii.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 450; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. v.; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 284; Cortés, Cartas, p. 66; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 124-8, tom. iii., lib. x., p. 130; Albornoz, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 507; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 180; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 100; Solis, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. i., pp. 390-1.

[358] On the preparation of food, and for mention more or less extensive of miscellaneous articles of food, see Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 129-30, 184-6, tom. ii., lib. vii., p. 258, tom. viii., pp. 297, 302-5, tom. iii, lib. x., pp. 118-19, 130, 132; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 237-38, 250-1, 254, 257-8; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 68-9; Cortés, Cartas, pp. 23, 68, 103-5; Relacion de Algunas Cosas, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 378-9; Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. ii., iii.; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. 43, 175; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 93, 353, 373, tom. ii., p. 297; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 39, 318-19; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 158, 217, etc., tom. iv., p. 228; Solis, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. i., p. 394; Tezozomoc, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 44, 48-9, 60, 88, 133, 141-3; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 191; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 624, 628-30, 674-9; Diaz, Itinerario, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 298-9; Zuazo, Carta, in Id., pp. 359-61; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 234, tom. iii., pp. 631, 641-4; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., pp. 142, 151-2.

[359] ‘Oi dezir, que le (for Montezuma) solian guisar carnes de muchachos de poca edad.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 68, 35, 37. A slave ‘elaborately dressed’ was a prominent feature of the banquet. Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 155. They ate the arms and legs of the Spaniards captured. Gemelli Careri, in Churchill’s Col. Voyages, vol. iv., p. 527. ‘They draw so much blood, as in stead of luke warme water may suffice to temper the lumpe, which by the hellish butchers of that art, without any perturbation of the stomacke being sufficiently kneaded, while it is moyst, and soft euen as a potter of the clay, or a wax chandler of wax, so doth this image maker, admitted and chosen to be maister of this damned and cursed worke.’ Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. iv., i. ‘Cocian aquella carne con maíz, y daban á cada uno un pedazo de ella en una escudilla ó cajete con su caldo, y su maíz cocida, y llamaban aquella comida tlacatlaolli.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 89, 14, 84, 93, 97. ‘La tenian por cosa, como sagrada, y mas se movian à esto por Religion, que por vicio.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 584-5. See also Albornoz, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 488; Zuazo, Carta, in Id., pp. 363, 365; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Id., pp. 40-1, 59; Relacion de Algunas Cosas, in Id., p. 398; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 282-3; Gand, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 197; Bologne, in Id., p. 215; Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. iii., appendix, cap. iii.; Carbajal, Discurso, p. 60; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 47; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 502-3, tom. iv., p. 90; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. 175-6.

[360] Texcalcevia, texcalcevilo, and mataluhtli are some of the names given to pulque according to its hue and condition. Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 175, 179, 186. Pulque from Chilian language. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 221-2. See Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 679-80; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 643-4, tom. i., pp. 340-5; Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. iii., cap. xxii.; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 151. ‘Antes que á su vino lo cuezan con unas raices que le echan, es claro y dulce como aguamiel. Despues de cocido, hácese algo espeso y tiene mal olor, y los que con él se embeodan, mucho peor.’ Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 22-3; and Ritos Antiguos, pp. 16-17, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix. ‘No hay perros muertos, ni bomba, que assi hiedan como el haliento del borracho deste vino.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 319.

[361] ‘Esta bebida es el mas sano y mas sustancioso alimento de cuantos se conocen en el mundo, pues el que bebe una taza de ella, aunque haga una jornada, puede pasarse todo el dia sin tomar otra cosa; y siendo frio por su naturaleza, es mejor en tiempo caliente que frio.’ Relacion de Algunas Cosas, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 381. ‘La mejor, mas delicada y cara beuida que tienen es de harina de cacao y agua. Algunas vezes le mezclan miel, y harina de otras legumbres. Esto no emborracha, antes refresca mucho.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 319. ‘Of certaine almondes … they make wonderfull drinke.’ Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. ii., iv. ‘Cierta bebida hecha del mismo cacao, que dezian era para tener acceso con mugeres.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 68. Red, vermilion, orange, black, and white. Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 301-2. See Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 251; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 219-20; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 642-3.

[362] Chicha and sendechó, fermented drinks. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 221. Sendechó, an Otomí drink, for a full description see Mendoza, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. ii., pp. 25-8. ‘Ale, and syder.’ Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. iv. ‘Panicap que es cierto brebaje que ellos beben.’ Cortés, Cartas, p. 76. See besides references in note 19; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 23; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 118, 130; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 139; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 676, 678-9.

[363] Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 138-40. ‘Comunmente comenzaban á beber despues de vísperas, y dábanse tanta prisa á beber de diez en diez, ó quince en quince, y los escanciadores que no cesaban, y la comida que no era mucha, á prima noche ya van perdiendo el sentido, ya cayendo ya asentado, cantando y dando voces llamando al demonio.’ Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 23, 32. ‘Beben con tanto exceso, que no paran hasta caer como muertos de puro ebrios, y tienen á grande honra beber mucho y embriagarse.’ Relacion de Algunas Cosas, in Id., pp. 582, 587. Drinkers and drunkards had several special divinities. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 493. Drank less before the conquest. Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. iii., cap. xxii.; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 119.

[364] ‘Comen en el suelo, y suziamente … parten los hueuos en vn cabello que se arrancan,’ whatever that operation may be. Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 319. ‘Es gente que con muy poco mantenimiento vive, y la que menos come de cuantas hay en el mundo.’ Relacion de Algunas Cosas, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 379-80. ‘Molto sobrj nel mangiare.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 119. ‘It is not lawfull for any that is vnmaried to sit at table with such as are maried, or to eate of the same dish, or drinke of the same cup, and make themselues equall with such as are married.’ Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. iv. The nobles gave feasts at certain periods of the year for the relief of the poor. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 270. See also Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 138; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 535; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 644-5. Additional references for the whole subject of Nahua food are:—Montanus,Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 74, 80, 247, 251; Dapper, Neue Welt, pp. 83, 91, 278-9, 283; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 10-13, 20-6, 102, 104, 180-3, 189, 196; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., pp. 44-9; Tylor’s Anahuac, pp. 62, 103, 145-6, 173-4; Fossey, Mexique, pp. 44, 215, 485-6; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 456; Monglave, Résumé, pp. 37-8, 261; Delaporte Reisen, tom. x., pp. 257, 268-9; Dillon, Hist. Mex., p. 45; Chevalier, Mex., Ancien y Mod., pp. 15-27; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 538; Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., pp. 278-9; Macgregor’s Progress of Amer., vol. i., p. 22; Gibbs, in Hist. Mag., vol. vii., p. 99; Hazart, Kirchen-Geschichte, tom. ii., p. 502; Helps’ Span. Conq., tom. ii., p. 455; Lafond, Voyages, tom. i., p. 107; Baril, Mexique, pp. 208-9; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., pp. 164-6, 178, 230; Lenoir, Parallèle, p. 39; Long, Porter, and Tucker’s America, p. 162; Soden, Spanier in Peru, tom. ii., pp. 16-17.

Chapter XI • Dress of the Nahua Nations • 6,300 Words

Progress in Dress—Dress of the Pre-Aztec Nations—Garments of the Chichimecs and Toltecs—Introduction of Cotton—The Maxtli—The Tilmatli—Dress of the Acolhuas—Origin of the Tarascan Costume—Dress of the Zapotecs and Tabascans—Dress of Women—The Huipil and Cueitl—Sandals—Manner of Wearing the Hair—Painting and Tattooing—Ornaments Used by the Nahuas—Gorgeous Dress of the Nobles—Dress of the Royal Attendants—Names of the Various Mantles—The Royal Diadem—The Royal Wardrobe—Costly Decorations.

With but few exceptions the dress of all the civilized nations of Mexico appears to have been the same. The earliest people, the historians inform us, went entirely naked or covered only the lower portion of the body with the skins of wild animals. Afterwards, as by degrees civilization advanced, this scanty covering grew into a regular costume, though still, at first, made only of skins. From this we can note a farther advance to garments manufactured first out of tanned and prepared skins, later of maguey and palm-tree fibres, and lastly of cotton. From the latter no further progress was made, excepting in the various modes of ornamenting and enriching the garments with feather-work, painting, embroidery, gold-work, and jewelry. The common people were obliged to content themselves with plain clothing, but the dress of the richer classes, nobles, princes, and sovereigns, was of finer texture and richer ornamentation.[365]‘La gente pobre vestia de nequen, que es la tela que se haze del maguey, y los ricos vestian de algodon, con orlas labradas de pluma, y pelo de conejos.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. ii.

The descriptions of the dresses of the nations which occupied the Valley of Mexico before the Aztecs vary according to different authors. While some describe them as gorgeously decked out in painted and embroidered garments of cotton and nequen, others say, that they went either wholly naked or were only partially covered with skins. Thus Sahagun and Brasseur de Bourbourg describe the Toltecs as dressed in undergarments and mantles on which blue scorpions were painted,[366]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 112; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 283. ‘Maxtli enrichi de broderies, et … tunique d’une grande finesse.’ Id., p. 350. ‘En tiempo de calor con sus mantas y pañetes de algodon, y en tiempo de frio se ponian unos jaquetones sin mangas que los llevaban hasta las rodillas con sus mantas y pañetes.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 327. while the latter author in another place says that they went entirely naked.[367]‘Nu suivant la coutume des indigènes qui travaillaient aux champs.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 348. Veytia goes even farther than Sahagun, affirming that they knew well how to manufacture clothing of cotton, that a great difference existed between the dress of the nobles and that of the plebeians, and that they even varied their clothing with the seasons. He describes them as wearing in summer a kind of breech-cloth or drawers and a square mantle tied across the breast and descending to the ankles, while in winter in addition to the above they clothed themselves in a kind of sack, which reached down as far as the thighs, without sleeves but with a hole for the head and two others for the arms.[368]‘Algodon, que sabian beneficiar y fabricar de él las ropas de que se vestian.’ Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 43; Id., tom. i., p. 253.

Dress of the Aztecs, Tarascos, and Huastecs

The Chichimecs, generally mentioned as the successors of the Toltecs, are mostly described as going naked, or only partly dressed in skins.[369]‘Su vestuario eran las pieles … que las ablandaban y curaban para el efecto, trayendo en tiempo de frios el pelo adentro, y en tiempo de calores … el pelo por la parte afuera.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 214; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 4; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 298; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 133; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 38. ‘Por lo frio de su clima vestian todos pieles de animales adobadas y curtidas, sin que perdiesen el pelo, las que acomodaban á manera de un sayo, que por detras les llegaba hasta las corvas, y por delante á medio muslo.’ Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 5, tom. i., p. 25. ‘S’habillaient … de peaux de bêtes fauves, le poil en dehors durant l’été, et en dedans en hiver…. Chez les classes aisées … ces peaux étaient tannées ou maroquinées avec art; on y usait aussi des toiles de nequen, et quelquefois des cotonnades d’une grande finesse.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 186. This appears, however, only to relate to the people spoken of as wild Chichimecs; those who inhabited Tezcuco and others in that neighborhood as civilized as the Aztecs, dressed probably in a similar fashion to theirs; at least, as we shall presently see, this was the case with their sovereigns and nobles. All the Nahuas, with the exception of the Tarascos and Huastecs, made use of the breech-cloth, or maxtli.[370]‘Maxtlatl, bragas, o cosa semejante.’ Molina, Vocabulario. The Tarascos ‘n’adoptèrent jamais l’usage des caleçons.’ Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 132.The maxtli is frequently spoken of as drawers or pantaloons. The Huastecs ‘no traen maxtles con que cubrir sus vergüenzas.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 134. This with the Mexicans in very early times is said to have been a kind of mat, woven of the roots of a plant which grew in the Lake of Mexico, and was called amoxtli.[371]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 84. Later, the fibre of the palm-tree and the maguey furnished the material for their clothing, and it was only during the reign of King Huitzilihuitl that cotton was introduced.[372]‘Cominciarono in questo tempo a vestirsi di cotone, del quale erano innanzi affatto privi per la loro miseria, nè d’altro vestivansi, se non delle tele grosse di filo di maguei, o di palma salvatica.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 181. ‘Les Mexicains, les Tecpanèques et les autres tribus qui restèrent en arrière, conservèrent l’usage des étoffes de coton, de fil de palmier, de maguey ixchele, de poil de lapin et de lièvre, ainsi que des peaux d’animaux.’ Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 132. ‘Non aveano lana, nè seta comune, nè lino, nè canapa; ma supplivano alla lana col cotone, alla seta colla piuma, e col pelo del coniglio, e della lepre, ed al lino, ed alla canapa coll’ Icxotl, o palma montana, col Quetzalichtli, col Pati, e con altre spezie di Maguei…. Il modo, che avevano di preparar questi materiali, era quello stesso, che hanno gli Europei nel lino, e nella canapa. Maceravano in acqua le foglie, e poi le nettavano, le mettevano al Sole, e le ammaccavano, finattantochè le mettevano in istato di poterle filare.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 207-8. Ycçotl, Palma Montana. ‘Non videtur filendum, è folijs huius arboris fila parari, linteis, storisq. intexendis perquam accommoda, politiora, firmioraq. eis quæ ex Metl passim fieri consueuere, madentibus in primis aqua, mox protritis, ac lotis, iterumq. et iterum maceratis, et insolatis, donec apta reddantur, vt neri possint, et in usus accommodari materies est leuis, aclenta.’ Hernandez, Nova Plant., p. 76.

The maxtli was about twenty-four feet long and nine inches wide, and was generally more or less ornamented at the ends with colored fringes and tassels, the latter sometimes nine inches long. The manner of wearing it was to pass the middle between the legs and to wind it about the hips, leaving the ends hanging one in front and the other at the back, as is done at this day by the Malays and other East Indian natives. It was at the ends usually that the greatest display of embroidery, fancy fringes, and tassels was made.[373]‘Maxtles, c’est ainsi qu’on nomme en langue mexicaine des espèces d’almaysales qui sont longues de quatre brasses, larges d’une palme et demie et terminées par des broderies de diverses couleurs, qui ont plus d’une palme et demie de haut.’ Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 132. ‘Cuoprono le loro parti vergogno se cosi di dietro come dinanzi, con certi sciugatoi molto galanti, che sono come gran fazzuoli che si legano il capo per viaggio, di diuersi colori, e orlati di varie foggie, e di colori similmente diuersi, con i suoi fiocchi, che nel cingersegli, viene l’un capo dauanti e l’altro di dietro.’ Relatione fatta par vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 305. In Meztitlan, ‘les uns et les autres couvraient leur nudités d’une longue bande d’étoffe, semblable à un almaizar, qui leur faisait plusieurs fois le tour du corps et passait ensuite entre les jambes, les extrémités retombant par-devant jusqu’aux genoux.’ Chaves, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., p. 316. ‘Los vestidos que traen (Totonacs) es como de almaizales muy pintados, y los hombres traen tapadas sus verguenzas.’ Cortés, Cartas, p. 23. In Oajaca, ‘Maxtles conque se cubrian sus vergüenzas.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 136, 123, 131. The Miztecs ‘por çaraguelles trahian matzles; que los Castellanos dizen mastiles.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xii.; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 223.

Garments of the Tarascos

As a further covering the men wore the tilmatli, or ayatl, a mantle, which was nothing more than a square piece of cloth about four feet long. If worn over both shoulders, the two upper ends were tied in a knot across the breast, but more frequently it was only thrown over one shoulder and knotted under one of the arms. Sometimes two or three of these mantles were worn at one time. This, however, was only done by the better classes. The older Spanish writers generally compare this mantle to the Moorish albornoz. It was usually colored or painted, frequently richly embroidered or ornamented with feathers and furs. The edges were scalloped or fringed with tufts of cotton and sometimes with gold. Rich people had, besides these, mantles made of rabbit or other skins, or of beautiful feathers, and others of fine cotton into which was woven rabbit-hair, which latter were used in cold weather.[374]‘Il Tilmatli era un mantello quadro, lungo quattro piedi in circa; due estremità d’esso annodavano sul petto, o sopra una spalla…. Gli Uomini solevano portar due, o tre mantelli.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 223, and plate, p. 224. ‘I vestimenti loro son certi manti di bambagia come lenzuola, ma non cosi grande, lauoratori di gentili lauori di diuerse maniere, e con le lor franze e orletti, e di questi ciascun n ‘ha duoi ò tre e se gli liga per dauanti al petto.’ Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 305; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 131. ‘Todos traen albornoces encima de la otra ropa, aunque son diferenciados de los de Africa, porque tienen maneras; pero en la hechura y tela y los rapacejos son muy semejables.’ Cortés, Cartas, pp. 75, 23. ‘Leur vêtement consistait anciennement dans deux ou trois manteaux d’une vare et demi en carré, noués, par en haut, le nœud se mettant pour les uns sur la poitrine, pour les autres à l’épaule gauche, et souvent par derrière.’ Chaves, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., pp. 315-16. ‘Ningun plebeyo vestia de algodon, con franja, ni guarnicion, ni ropa rozagante, sino senzilla, llana, corta, y sin ribete, y assi era conocido cada vno en el trage.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xvii.;Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 174. ‘Otras hacian de pelo de Conejo, entretexido de hilo de Algodon … con que se defendian del frio.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 488; Diaz, Itinerario, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 298. The Totonacs; ‘algunos con ropas de algodon, ricas a su costumbre. Los otros casi desnudos.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 39, 95;Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 131. Huastecs ‘andan bien vestidos: y sus ropas y mantas son muy pulidas y curiosas con lindas labores, porque en su tierra hacen las mantas que llaman centzontilmatli, cenzonquaehtli, que quiere dezir, mantas de mil colores: de allá se traen las mantas que tienen unas cabezas de monstruos pintadas, y las de remolinos de agua engeridas unas con otras, en las cuales y en otras muchas, se esmeraban las tejedoras.’ Id., p. 134. ‘Una manta cuadrada anudada sobre el pecho, hácia el hombro siniestro, que descendia hasta los tobillos; pero en tiempo de invierno cubrian mas el cuerpo con un sayo cerrado sin mangas, y con una sola abertura en la sumida para entrar la cabeza, y dos á los lados para los brazos, y con él se cubrian hasta los muslos.’Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 253; Zuazo, Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 360.

In only one instance garments with sleeves are mentioned. Ixtlilxochitl, in describing the dress of the Acolhuas, says that they wore a kind of long coat reaching to the heels with long sleeves.[375]‘Vestíanse, unas túnicas largas de pellejos curtidos hasta los carcañales, abiertas por delante y atadas con unas á manera de agugetas, y sus manos que llegaban hasta las muñecas, y las manos.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 341.

The dress of the Tarascos differed considerably from that of the other Nahua nations. This difference is said to have originated in ancient times, when they together with other tribes, as the legend relates, immigrated into Mexico. While on their wanderings being obliged to cross a river, and having no ropes with which to construct rafts, they used for this purpose their maxtlis and mantles. Not being able to procure other clothing immediately, they were under the necessity of putting on the huipiles, or chemises, of the women, leaving to the latter only their naguas, or petticoats. In commemoration of this event, they later adopted this as their national costume, discarding the maxtli and wearing the huipil and a mantle.[376]Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 132; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 57. The tilmatli, or ayatl, was by the Tarascos called tlanatzi. It was worn over one shoulder and was knotted under the other arm. They frequently trimmed it with hare-skins and painted it gaudily. The young wore it considerably shorter than old people. The manufacture of feather garments seems to have been a specialty of the Tarascos.[377]Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., pp. 130-1; Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., pp. 49-50; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. ix.

The Zapotecs chiefly dressed in skins, while others in Oajaca are said to have worn small jackets, and Cortés reports these people to have been better dressed than any he had previously seen.[378]‘El trage de ellos era de diversas maneras, unos traían mantas, otros como unas xaquetillas.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 136. ‘Era mas vestida que estotra que habemos visto.’ Cortés, Cartas, p. 93. ‘La mayor parte andauan en cueros.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xiv. The Miztecs ‘vestian mantas blancas de algodon, texidas, pintadas, y matizadas con flores, rosas, y aves de diferentes colores: no trahian camisas.’ Id., cap. xii. In Tabasco but little covering was used, the greater part of the population going almost naked.[379]‘Andan casi desnudos.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 36.

Dress of Women

There was no difference in the dress of the women throughout Anáhuac. The huipil and cueitl were the chief articles, and were universally used. Besides these, mantles of various shapes and materials were worn. The huipil was a kind of chemise, with either no sleeves at all or very short ones; it covered the upper part of the body to a little below the thighs. The lower part of the body was covered by the cueitl, a petticoat, reaching to about half-way between the knees and ankles, and often nicely embroidered and ornamented. Skins, ixcotl, or palm-fibre, nequen, and cotton were the materials used for these garments. Out of doors they frequently put on another over-dress similar to the huipil, only longer and with more ornamental fringes and tassels. Sometimes they wore two or three of these at the same time, one over the other, but in that case they were of different lengths, the longest one being worn underneath. A mantle similar in size and shape to that used by the men, white and painted in various designs on the outside, was also used by the females. To the upper edge of this, on that portion which was at the back of the neck, a capuchin, like that worn by the Dominican and other monks, was fastened, with which they covered their head.[380]‘Traen camisas de medias mangas.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 317; Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 305; Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 327; Cortés, Cartas, p. 23. In Jalisco they had ‘vn Huipilillo corto, que llaman Ixquemitl, ò teapxoloton.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 339. ‘Una sopravvesta … con maniche più lunghe.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 223; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 6, tom. i., pp. 253-4; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 283. In Michoacan ‘no traían vipiles.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 138, 123; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 203-4; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xii.

To protect their feet they used sandals, by the Aztecs called cactli, which were made of deer or other skins, and frequently also of nequen and cotton. The strings or straps used to fasten them were of the same material.[381]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 112, 123; Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 336, 341; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xvii.; Id., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. ix., xii.; Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., p. 50; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 259; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 317; Chaves, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., p. 316; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 223. I do not find any description of the manner in which they were fastened, but in an old Mexican manuscript on maguey paper, in which some of the natives are painted in various colors, I find that the sandals were fastened in three places; first by a strap running across the foot immediately behind the toes, then another over the instep and running toward the heel, and lastly by a strap from the heel round the ankle.

HAIR-DRESSING AND PAINTING.

As a general thing Mexicans wore the hair long, and in many parts of the empire it was considered a disgrace to cut the hair of a free man or woman.[382]‘Aveano a disonore l’esser tosati.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 224. Unlike most of the American natives they wore moustaches, but in other parts of the body they eradicated all hair very carefully.[383]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 350. ‘Ni bien baruados, porque se arrancan y vntan los pelos para que no nazcan.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 317. The Mistecs ‘las barbas se arrancauan con tenazillas de oro.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xii. There were public barber-shops and baths in all the principal cities.[384]Cortés, Cartas, pp. 68, 104; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 300. The Aztecs had various ways of dressing the hair, differing according to rank and office. Generally it was left hanging loose down the back. The women also frequently wore it in this way, but oftener had it done up or trimmed after various fashions; thus some wore it long on the temples and had the rest of the head shaved, others twisted it with dark cotton thread, others again had almost the whole head shaved. Among them it was also fashionable to dye the hair with a species of black clay, or with an herb called xiuhquilitl, the latter giving it a violet shade. Unmarried girls wore the hair always loose; they considered it as especially graceful to wear the hair low[385]‘Hazen lo negro con tierra por gentileza y porque les mate los piojos. Las casadas se lo rodean a la cabeça con vn ñudo a la frente. Las virgines y por casar, lo traen suelto, y echado atras y adelante. Pelan se y vntan se todas para no tener pelo sino en la cabeça y cejas, y assi tienen por hermosura tener chica frente, y llena de cabello, y no tener colodrillo.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 317; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 309-10, tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 113, 120, tom. xi., p. 309; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 224; Chaves, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., p. 316. The Chichimecs wore it, ‘largo hasta las espaldas, y por delante se lo cortan.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 335. on the forehead. The virgins who served in the temples had their hair cut short.[386]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 224.

The Otomís shaved the fore part of the heads of children, leaving only a tuft behind, which they called piochtli, while the men wore the hair cut short as far as the middle of the back of the head, but left it to grow long behind; and these long locks they called piocheque. Girls did not have their hair cut until after marriage, when it was worn in the same style as by the men.[387]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 124. The Tarascos, or as they were also called Quaochpanme, derived this last name from an old fashion of having their heads shaved, both men and women.[388]‘Llámase tambien Quaochpanme, que quiere decir hombres de cabeza rapada ó raida, porque antiguamente estos tales no traían cabellos largos, antes se rapaban la cabeza así los hombres, como las mugeres.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 137; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 57. Later they wore the hair long, the common people simply letting it hang down the back, while the rich braided it with cotton threads of various colors.[389]Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., p. 50. The Miztecs wore the hair braided, and ornamented with many feathers.[390]Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xiv.

The Nahua women used paint freely to beautify their person, and among some nations they also tattooed. Among the Aztecs they painted their faces with a red, yellow, or black color, made, as Sahagun tells us, of burnt incense mixed with dye. They also dyed their feet black with the same mixture. Their teeth they cleaned and painted with cochineal; hands, neck, and breast were also painted.[391]‘Se raiaban las Caras.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 255; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 310. Among the Tlascaltecs the men painted their faces with a dye made of the xagua and bixa.[392]Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 75. The Otomís tattooed their breasts and arms by making incisions with a knife and rubbing a blue powder therein. They also covered the body with a species of pitch called teocahuitl, and over this again they applied some other color. Their teeth they dyed black.[393]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 124-6.

The Nahuas, like all semi-barbarous people, had a passion for loading themselves with ornaments. Those worn by the kings, nobles, and rich persons, were of gold or silver, set with precious stones; those of the poorer classes were of copper, stone, or bone, set with imitations in crystal of the rarer jewels. These ornaments took the shape of bracelets, armlets, anklets, and rings for the nose, ears, and fingers. The lower lip was also pierced, and precious stones, or crystals, inserted. The richer classes used principally for this purpose the chalchiuite, which is generally designated as an emerald. There existed very stringent laws regarding the class of ornaments which the different classes of people were allowed to wear, and it was prohibited, on pain of death, for a subject to use the same dress or ornaments as the king. Duran relates that to certain very brave but low-born warriors permission was accorded to wear a cheap garland or crown on the head, but on no account might it be made of gold.[394]Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. xxvi. Gomara tells us that the claws and beaks of the eagle and also fish-bones were worn as ornaments in the ears, nose, and lips.[395]Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 317; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xii.; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 224, describes the ornaments, but in his accompanying plate fails to show any of them. Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix. pp. 79-80; Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., p. 1119.

The Otomís used ear-ornaments made of burned clay, nicely browned, and others of cane.[396]‘De barro cocido bien bruñidas, ó de caña.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 124. The Tarascos chiefly relied on feathers for their personal adornment.[397]Id., p. 137. The Totonacs ‘traian vnos grandes agujeros en los beços de abaxo, y en ellos vnas rodajas de piedras pintadillas de azul, y otros con vnas hojas de oro delgadas, y en las orejas muy grandes agujeros, y en ellos puestas otras rodajas de oro, y piedras.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 28; Cortés, Cartas, p. 23. Of the natives encountered by Cortés when he landed at Vera Cruz, Peter Martyr tells us that in the “hole of the lippes, they weare a broad plate within fastened to another on the outside of the lippe, and the iewell they hang thereat is as great as a siluer Caroline doller and as thicke as a mans finger.”[398]Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. vii.

In Oajaca more ornaments were worn than in any other part of the country, owing, perhaps, as the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg remarks, to the plentiful supply of precious metals in that state.[399]The Miztecs ‘traen imán, axorcas muy anchas de oro, y sartales de piedra á las muñecas, y joyeles de éstas y de oro al cuello.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 136; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 30.

Dress of the Nobles

The dress of the nobles and members of the royal household differed from that of the lower classes only in fineness of material and profusion of ornaments. The kings appear to have worn garments of the same shape as those of their subjects, but, in other respects, a particular style of dress was reserved for royalty, and he who presumed to imitate it was put to death. On occasions, however, when the monarch wished to bestow a special mark of favor upon a brave soldier or distinguished statesman, he would graciously bestow upon him one of his garments, which, even though the recipient were a great noble, was received with joy, and the wearer respected as a man whom the king delighted to honor.[400]‘Ninguna Persona (aunque fuesen sus propios Hijos) podia vestirlo, so pena de la vida.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 542; Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. xxvi. In Tlascala differences of rank among the nobles were easily recognized by the style of dress. The common people were strictly forbidden to wear cotton clothes with fringes or other trimmings, unless with special permission, granted in consideration of services rendered.[401]Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 198.

The court laws of etiquette prescribed the dress to be worn by the royal attendants, who could only appear without sandals, barefooted, and in coarse mantles before the king, and even the apparel of the sovereign was in like manner fixed by custom, if not by law. The different kinds of tilmatlis, or mantles, had each its appropriate name, and varied in material as well as in ornament and color. The cotton mantles are described as being of exceeding fineness of texture, so much so that it required an expert to determine whether they were cotton or silk.[402]‘Tan delgadas y bien texidas que necesitaban del tacto para diferenciarse de la seda.’ Solis, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. i., p. 132; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 507. The mantle worn as every-day dress in the palace was white and blue and called the xiuhtilmatli.[403]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 115-16; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 542.There were many other kinds of mantles, of which the following are the principal: A yellowish, heavily fringed mantle, on which monstrous heads were painted, was called coazayacaiotilmatli; another, blue, ornamented with red shells, with three borders, one light, another dark blue, and a third of white feather-work, and fringed with the same kind of shells, was named tecuciciotilmatli; another, dark yellow, with alternate black and white circles painted on it, and a border representing eyes, was the temalcacaiotilmatlitenisio; a similar one, differing only in the figures and shape of the ornaments, was the itzcayotilmatli; a very gaudy one, worked in many colors, was the umetechtecomaiotilmatli; another, with a yellow ground, on which were butterflies made of feathers, and with scalloped edges, was called papaloiotilmatlitenisio; the xaoalquauhiotilmatlitenisio, was embroidered with designs representing the flower called ecacazcatl, and further ornamented with white feather-work and feather edges; the ocelotentlapalliyiticycacocelotl was an imitation of a tiger-skin, also ornamented with an edge of white feathers; the ixnextlacuilolli was worked in many colors, and had a sun painted on it.[404]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp 286-8. Other mantles, differing mainly in their style of ornamentation, were the coaxacayo and tlacalhuaztilmatli, the latter worn when the king went into his gardens or to the chase. In the same manner there are also various kinds of maxtlis mentioned, such as the ynyaomaxaliuhqui, ytzahuazalmaxtlatl and yacahualiuqui.[405]Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 57. In fact there appears to have been a different dress for every occasion. We are told, for instance, that when going to the temple the king wore a white mantle, another when going to preside at the court of justice, and here he again changed his dress, according as the case before the court was a civil or criminal suit.[406]‘Para salir de Palacio los Reies à visitar los Templos, se vestian de blanco; pero para entrar en los Consejos, y asistir en otros Actos publicos, se vestian de diferentes colores, conforme la ocasion.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 543. ‘Les rois s’habillaient tantôt de blanc, tantôt d’étoffes d’un jaune obscur ornées de franges de mille couleurs.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 284, tom. iv., pp. 210-11. ‘Mantas de á dos haces, labradas de plumas de papos de aves, tan suaves, que trayendo la mano por encima á pelo y á pospelo, no era mas que una marta cebellina muy bien adobada: hice pesar una dellas, no pesó mas de seis onzas.’ Zuazo, Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 360. ‘Vestidos de pelo de conejo y de algodon de mucha curiosidad, y estas eran vestiduras de Caciques y de gente muy principal’ in Michoacan. Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., pp. 49-50; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 336, 240, 265; Id., Relaciones, in Id., p. 336; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 298. Description of Montezuma’s dress when meeting Cortés, in Solis, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. i., p. 369; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iii., p. 77; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 386; Prescott’s Mex., vol. ii., p. 317. Representations of the dresses of the Mexican kings and nobles are also in the Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. i. The sandals of the kings were always richly ornamented with precious stones, and had golden soles.[407]‘Traia calçados vnos como cotaras, que assi se dize lo que se calçan, las suelas de oro, y muy preciada pedreria encima en ellas.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 65. ‘Portoit une chaussure de peau de chevreuil.’ Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1824, tom. xxiv., p. 137. ‘Çapatos de oro, que ellos llaman zagles, y son a la manera antigua de los Romanos, tenian gran pedreria de mucho valor, las suelas estauan prendidas con correas.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. v. ‘Cotaras de cuero de tigres.’ Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 79; Solis, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. i., p. 369; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 525; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., pp. 210-11; Cortés, Cartas, p. 85; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 386; Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 327; Prescott’s Mex., vol. ii., pp. 73-4, 317.

Dress of the Kings

Whenever the sovereign appeared in public he wore the royal crown, called copilli, which was of solid gold, and is described by most writers as having been shaped like a bishop’s mitre; but in the hieroglyphical paintings, in which the Mexican kings are represented, it is simply a golden band, wider in front than at the back, the front running up to a point; on some occasions it was ornamented with long feathers.[408]‘La corona de Rey, que tiene semejança a la corona de la Señoria de Venecia.’ Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 471. ‘Unas tiaras de oro y pedrería.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 295. ‘En la Cabeça vnos Plumajes ricos, que ataban tantos cabellos de la Corona, quanto toma el espacio de la Corona Clerical: estos Plumajes prendian y ataban con vna correa colorada, y de ella colgaban con sus pinjantes de Oro, que pendian à manera de chias de Mitra de Obispo.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 542-3. ‘Era di varie materie giusta il piacere dei Re, or di lame sottili d’oro or tessuta di filo d’oro, e figurata con vaghe penne.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 115, tom. iii., p. 77. ‘Before like a Myter, and behinde it was cut, so as it was not round, for the forepart was higher, and did rise like a point.’ Purchas his Pilgrimes, tom. iv., p. 1062; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 386; Prescott’s Mex., vol. ii., p. 317; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 210. The following description of ornaments, worn by the Mexican kings and nobles, I extract from Sahagun:—

Aboriginal Dress

The quetzalalpitoai consisted of two tassels of fine feathers garnished with gold, which they wore bound to the hair on the crown of the head, and hanging down to the temples. The tlauhquecholtzontli was a handsome garment of feathers worn on the shoulders. On the arms they placed gold rings; on the wrists a thick black strap made soft with balsam, and upon it a large chalchiuite or other precious stone. They also had a barbote, or chin-piece, of chalchiuite or other precious stone, set in gold, inserted in the chin. These chin-ornaments were made long, of crystal, with some blue feathers in the centre, which made them look like sapphire. The lip had a hole bored in it, from which precious stones or gold crescents were suspended. The great lords likewise had holes in their nose, and placed therein very fine turquoises or other precious stones, one on each side of the nose. On their necks they wore strings of precious stones, or a medal suspended by a gold chain, with pearl pendants hanging from its edge, and a flat jewel in the centre of it. They used bracelets of mosaic work made with turquoises. On their legs they wore, from the knee down, greaves of very thin gold. They carried in the right hand a little golden flag with a tuft of gaudy feathers on the top. Upon their heads they wore a bird made of rich feathers, with its head and beak resting on the forehead, its tail toward the back of the head, its wings falling over the temples.[409]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. vii., lib. ii., pp. 288-90; Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 57, 79; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Id., p. 327; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 525; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 259, tom. iii., p. 392; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcix., p. 178. Further mention of ornaments in the enumeration of presents given by Montezuma to Cortés in Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iii., pp. 65, 80; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. v., cap. v.; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 279, 283, 285, 292, 298; Solis, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. i., pp. 125, 132-3; Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., pp. 1118-9, 1124; Cortés, Cartas, pp. 69, 85; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., pp. 76, 84, 214, 263-4; Prescott’s Mex., vol. ii., p. 83. Among the modern authors who have written upon the subject of dress may be mentioned: Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 326, 680-2, tom. ii., pp. 91, 224-5, with numerous cuts; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., p. 145; Chevalier, Mex., Ancien et Mod., pp. 57-8; Dillon, Hist. Mex., p. 47; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 13-14, 22, 28, 189; Monglave, Résumé, p. 36; Brownell’s Ind. Races, pp. 65, 79; Baril, Mexique, p. 209; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, p. 61.

Footnotes

[365] ‘La gente pobre vestia de nequen, que es la tela que se haze del maguey, y los ricos vestian de algodon, con orlas labradas de pluma, y pelo de conejos.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. ii.

[366] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 112; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 283. ‘Maxtli enrichi de broderies, et … tunique d’une grande finesse.’ Id., p. 350. ‘En tiempo de calor con sus mantas y pañetes de algodon, y en tiempo de frio se ponian unos jaquetones sin mangas que los llevaban hasta las rodillas con sus mantas y pañetes.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 327.

[367] ‘Nu suivant la coutume des indigènes qui travaillaient aux champs.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 348.

[368] ‘Algodon, que sabian beneficiar y fabricar de él las ropas de que se vestian.’ Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 43; Id., tom. i., p. 253.

[369] ‘Su vestuario eran las pieles … que las ablandaban y curaban para el efecto, trayendo en tiempo de frios el pelo adentro, y en tiempo de calores … el pelo por la parte afuera.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 214; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 4; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 298; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 133; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 38. ‘Por lo frio de su clima vestian todos pieles de animales adobadas y curtidas, sin que perdiesen el pelo, las que acomodaban á manera de un sayo, que por detras les llegaba hasta las corvas, y por delante á medio muslo.’ Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 5, tom. i., p. 25. ‘S’habillaient … de peaux de bêtes fauves, le poil en dehors durant l’été, et en dedans en hiver…. Chez les classes aisées … ces peaux étaient tannées ou maroquinées avec art; on y usait aussi des toiles de nequen, et quelquefois des cotonnades d’une grande finesse.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 186.

[370] ‘Maxtlatl, bragas, o cosa semejante.’ Molina, Vocabulario. The Tarascos ‘n’adoptèrent jamais l’usage des caleçons.’ Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 132.The maxtli is frequently spoken of as drawers or pantaloons. The Huastecs ‘no traen maxtles con que cubrir sus vergüenzas.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 134.

[371] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 84.

[372] ‘Cominciarono in questo tempo a vestirsi di cotone, del quale erano innanzi affatto privi per la loro miseria, nè d’altro vestivansi, se non delle tele grosse di filo di maguei, o di palma salvatica.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 181. ‘Les Mexicains, les Tecpanèques et les autres tribus qui restèrent en arrière, conservèrent l’usage des étoffes de coton, de fil de palmier, de maguey ixchele, de poil de lapin et de lièvre, ainsi que des peaux d’animaux.’ Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 132. ‘Non aveano lana, nè seta comune, nè lino, nè canapa; ma supplivano alla lana col cotone, alla seta colla piuma, e col pelo del coniglio, e della lepre, ed al lino, ed alla canapa coll’ Icxotl, o palma montana, col Quetzalichtli, col Pati, e con altre spezie di Maguei…. Il modo, che avevano di preparar questi materiali, era quello stesso, che hanno gli Europei nel lino, e nella canapa. Maceravano in acqua le foglie, e poi le nettavano, le mettevano al Sole, e le ammaccavano, finattantochè le mettevano in istato di poterle filare.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 207-8. Ycçotl, Palma Montana. ‘Non videtur filendum, è folijs huius arboris fila parari, linteis, storisq. intexendis perquam accommoda, politiora, firmioraq. eis quæ ex Metl passim fieri consueuere, madentibus in primis aqua, mox protritis, ac lotis, iterumq. et iterum maceratis, et insolatis, donec apta reddantur, vt neri possint, et in usus accommodari materies est leuis, aclenta.’ Hernandez, Nova Plant., p. 76.

[373] ‘Maxtles, c’est ainsi qu’on nomme en langue mexicaine des espèces d’almaysales qui sont longues de quatre brasses, larges d’une palme et demie et terminées par des broderies de diverses couleurs, qui ont plus d’une palme et demie de haut.’ Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 132. ‘Cuoprono le loro parti vergogno se cosi di dietro come dinanzi, con certi sciugatoi molto galanti, che sono come gran fazzuoli che si legano il capo per viaggio, di diuersi colori, e orlati di varie foggie, e di colori similmente diuersi, con i suoi fiocchi, che nel cingersegli, viene l’un capo dauanti e l’altro di dietro.’ Relatione fatta par vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 305. In Meztitlan, ‘les uns et les autres couvraient leur nudités d’une longue bande d’étoffe, semblable à un almaizar, qui leur faisait plusieurs fois le tour du corps et passait ensuite entre les jambes, les extrémités retombant par-devant jusqu’aux genoux.’ Chaves, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., p. 316. ‘Los vestidos que traen (Totonacs) es como de almaizales muy pintados, y los hombres traen tapadas sus verguenzas.’ Cortés, Cartas, p. 23. In Oajaca, ‘Maxtles conque se cubrian sus vergüenzas.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 136, 123, 131. The Miztecs ‘por çaraguelles trahian matzles; que los Castellanos dizen mastiles.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xii.; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 223.

[374] ‘Il Tilmatli era un mantello quadro, lungo quattro piedi in circa; due estremità d’esso annodavano sul petto, o sopra una spalla…. Gli Uomini solevano portar due, o tre mantelli.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 223, and plate, p. 224. ‘I vestimenti loro son certi manti di bambagia come lenzuola, ma non cosi grande, lauoratori di gentili lauori di diuerse maniere, e con le lor franze e orletti, e di questi ciascun n ‘ha duoi ò tre e se gli liga per dauanti al petto.’ Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 305; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 131. ‘Todos traen albornoces encima de la otra ropa, aunque son diferenciados de los de Africa, porque tienen maneras; pero en la hechura y tela y los rapacejos son muy semejables.’ Cortés, Cartas, pp. 75, 23. ‘Leur vêtement consistait anciennement dans deux ou trois manteaux d’une vare et demi en carré, noués, par en haut, le nœud se mettant pour les uns sur la poitrine, pour les autres à l’épaule gauche, et souvent par derrière.’ Chaves, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., pp. 315-16. ‘Ningun plebeyo vestia de algodon, con franja, ni guarnicion, ni ropa rozagante, sino senzilla, llana, corta, y sin ribete, y assi era conocido cada vno en el trage.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xvii.;Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 174. ‘Otras hacian de pelo de Conejo, entretexido de hilo de Algodon … con que se defendian del frio.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 488; Diaz, Itinerario, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 298. The Totonacs; ‘algunos con ropas de algodon, ricas a su costumbre. Los otros casi desnudos.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 39, 95;Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 131. Huastecs ‘andan bien vestidos: y sus ropas y mantas son muy pulidas y curiosas con lindas labores, porque en su tierra hacen las mantas que llaman centzontilmatli, cenzonquaehtli, que quiere dezir, mantas de mil colores: de allá se traen las mantas que tienen unas cabezas de monstruos pintadas, y las de remolinos de agua engeridas unas con otras, en las cuales y en otras muchas, se esmeraban las tejedoras.’ Id., p. 134. ‘Una manta cuadrada anudada sobre el pecho, hácia el hombro siniestro, que descendia hasta los tobillos; pero en tiempo de invierno cubrian mas el cuerpo con un sayo cerrado sin mangas, y con una sola abertura en la sumida para entrar la cabeza, y dos á los lados para los brazos, y con él se cubrian hasta los muslos.’Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 253; Zuazo, Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 360.

[375] ‘Vestíanse, unas túnicas largas de pellejos curtidos hasta los carcañales, abiertas por delante y atadas con unas á manera de agugetas, y sus manos que llegaban hasta las muñecas, y las manos.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 341.

[376] Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 132; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 57.

[377] Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., pp. 130-1; Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., pp. 49-50; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. ix.

[378] ‘El trage de ellos era de diversas maneras, unos traían mantas, otros como unas xaquetillas.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 136. ‘Era mas vestida que estotra que habemos visto.’ Cortés, Cartas, p. 93. ‘La mayor parte andauan en cueros.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xiv. The Miztecs ‘vestian mantas blancas de algodon, texidas, pintadas, y matizadas con flores, rosas, y aves de diferentes colores: no trahian camisas.’ Id., cap. xii.

[379] ‘Andan casi desnudos.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 36.

[380] ‘Traen camisas de medias mangas.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 317; Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 305; Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 327; Cortés, Cartas, p. 23. In Jalisco they had ‘vn Huipilillo corto, que llaman Ixquemitl, ò teapxoloton.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 339. ‘Una sopravvesta … con maniche più lunghe.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 223; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 6, tom. i., pp. 253-4; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 283. In Michoacan ‘no traían vipiles.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 138, 123; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 203-4; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xii.

[381] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 112, 123; Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 336, 341; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xvii.; Id., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. ix., xii.; Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., p. 50; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 259; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 317; Chaves, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., p. 316; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 223.

[382] ‘Aveano a disonore l’esser tosati.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 224.

[383] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 350. ‘Ni bien baruados, porque se arrancan y vntan los pelos para que no nazcan.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 317. The Mistecs ‘las barbas se arrancauan con tenazillas de oro.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xii.

[384] Cortés, Cartas, pp. 68, 104; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 300.

[385] ‘Hazen lo negro con tierra por gentileza y porque les mate los piojos. Las casadas se lo rodean a la cabeça con vn ñudo a la frente. Las virgines y por casar, lo traen suelto, y echado atras y adelante. Pelan se y vntan se todas para no tener pelo sino en la cabeça y cejas, y assi tienen por hermosura tener chica frente, y llena de cabello, y no tener colodrillo.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 317; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 309-10, tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 113, 120, tom. xi., p. 309; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 224; Chaves, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., p. 316. The Chichimecs wore it, ‘largo hasta las espaldas, y por delante se lo cortan.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 335.

[386] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 224.

[387] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 124.

[388] ‘Llámase tambien Quaochpanme, que quiere decir hombres de cabeza rapada ó raida, porque antiguamente estos tales no traían cabellos largos, antes se rapaban la cabeza así los hombres, como las mugeres.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 137; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 57.

[389] Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., p. 50.

[390] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xiv.

[391] ‘Se raiaban las Caras.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 255; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 310.

[392] Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 75.

[393] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 124-6.

[394] Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. xxvi.

[395] Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 317; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xii.; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 224, describes the ornaments, but in his accompanying plate fails to show any of them. Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix. pp. 79-80; Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., p. 1119.

[396] ‘De barro cocido bien bruñidas, ó de caña.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 124.

[397] Id., p. 137. The Totonacs ‘traian vnos grandes agujeros en los beços de abaxo, y en ellos vnas rodajas de piedras pintadillas de azul, y otros con vnas hojas de oro delgadas, y en las orejas muy grandes agujeros, y en ellos puestas otras rodajas de oro, y piedras.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 28; Cortés, Cartas, p. 23.

[398] Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. vii.

[399] The Miztecs ‘traen imán, axorcas muy anchas de oro, y sartales de piedra á las muñecas, y joyeles de éstas y de oro al cuello.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 136; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 30.

[400] ‘Ninguna Persona (aunque fuesen sus propios Hijos) podia vestirlo, so pena de la vida.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 542; Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. xxvi.

[401] Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 198.

[402] ‘Tan delgadas y bien texidas que necesitaban del tacto para diferenciarse de la seda.’ Solis, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. i., p. 132; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 507.

[403] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 115-16; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 542.

[404] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp 286-8.

[405] Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 57.

[406] ‘Para salir de Palacio los Reies à visitar los Templos, se vestian de blanco; pero para entrar en los Consejos, y asistir en otros Actos publicos, se vestian de diferentes colores, conforme la ocasion.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 543. ‘Les rois s’habillaient tantôt de blanc, tantôt d’étoffes d’un jaune obscur ornées de franges de mille couleurs.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 284, tom. iv., pp. 210-11. ‘Mantas de á dos haces, labradas de plumas de papos de aves, tan suaves, que trayendo la mano por encima á pelo y á pospelo, no era mas que una marta cebellina muy bien adobada: hice pesar una dellas, no pesó mas de seis onzas.’ Zuazo, Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 360. ‘Vestidos de pelo de conejo y de algodon de mucha curiosidad, y estas eran vestiduras de Caciques y de gente muy principal’ in Michoacan. Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., pp. 49-50; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 336, 240, 265; Id., Relaciones, in Id., p. 336; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 298. Description of Montezuma’s dress when meeting Cortés, in Solis, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. i., p. 369; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iii., p. 77; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 386; Prescott’s Mex., vol. ii., p. 317. Representations of the dresses of the Mexican kings and nobles are also in the Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. i.

[407] ‘Traia calçados vnos como cotaras, que assi se dize lo que se calçan, las suelas de oro, y muy preciada pedreria encima en ellas.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 65. ‘Portoit une chaussure de peau de chevreuil.’ Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1824, tom. xxiv., p. 137. ‘Çapatos de oro, que ellos llaman zagles, y son a la manera antigua de los Romanos, tenian gran pedreria de mucho valor, las suelas estauan prendidas con correas.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. v. ‘Cotaras de cuero de tigres.’ Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 79; Solis, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. i., p. 369; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 525; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., pp. 210-11; Cortés, Cartas, p. 85; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 386; Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 327; Prescott’s Mex., vol. ii., pp. 73-4, 317.

[408] ‘La corona de Rey, que tiene semejança a la corona de la Señoria de Venecia.’ Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 471. ‘Unas tiaras de oro y pedrería.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 295. ‘En la Cabeça vnos Plumajes ricos, que ataban tantos cabellos de la Corona, quanto toma el espacio de la Corona Clerical: estos Plumajes prendian y ataban con vna correa colorada, y de ella colgaban con sus pinjantes de Oro, que pendian à manera de chias de Mitra de Obispo.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 542-3. ‘Era di varie materie giusta il piacere dei Re, or di lame sottili d’oro or tessuta di filo d’oro, e figurata con vaghe penne.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 115, tom. iii., p. 77. ‘Before like a Myter, and behinde it was cut, so as it was not round, for the forepart was higher, and did rise like a point.’ Purchas his Pilgrimes, tom. iv., p. 1062; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 386; Prescott’s Mex., vol. ii., p. 317; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 210.

[409] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. vii., lib. ii., pp. 288-90; Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 57, 79; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Id., p. 327; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 525; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 259, tom. iii., p. 392; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcix., p. 178. Further mention of ornaments in the enumeration of presents given by Montezuma to Cortés in Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iii., pp. 65, 80; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. v., cap. v.; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 279, 283, 285, 292, 298; Solis, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. i., pp. 125, 132-3; Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., pp. 1118-9, 1124; Cortés, Cartas, pp. 69, 85; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., pp. 76, 84, 214, 263-4; Prescott’s Mex., vol. ii., p. 83. Among the modern authors who have written upon the subject of dress may be mentioned: Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 326, 680-2, tom. ii., pp. 91, 224-5, with numerous cuts; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., p. 145; Chevalier, Mex., Ancien et Mod., pp. 57-8; Dillon, Hist. Mex., p. 47; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 13-14, 22, 28, 189; Monglave, Résumé, p. 36; Brownell’s Ind. Races, pp. 65, 79; Baril, Mexique, p. 209; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, p. 61.

Chapter XII • Commerce of the Nahua Nations • 7,700 Words

The Main Features of Nahua Commerce—Commerce in Pre-Aztec Times—Outrages Committed by Aztec Merchants—Privileges of the Merchants of Tlatelulco—Jealousy between Merchants and Nobles—Articles used as Currency—the Markets of Anáhuac—Arrangement and Regulations of the Market-Places—Number of Buyers and Sellers—Transportation of Wares—Traveling Merchants—Commercial Routes—Setting out on a Journey—Caravans of Traders—The Return—Customs and Feasts of the Merchants—Nahua Boats and Navigation.

COMMERCE IN PRE-AZTEC TIMES.

Traditional history tells us but little respecting American commerce previous to the formation of the great Aztec alliance, or empire, but the faint light thrown on the subject would indicate little or no change in the system within the limits of Nahua history. The main features of the commercial system in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, were: markets in one or more of the public squares of every town, where eatables and other articles of immediate necessity were daily sold—shops proper being unknown; frequently recurring fairs in each of the large towns, where the products of agriculture, manufacture, and art in the surrounding country were displayed before consumers and merchants from home and from abroad; similar fairs but on a grander scale in the great commercial centres, where home products were exchanged for foreign merchandise, or sold for export to merchants from distant nations who attended these fairs in large numbers; itinerant traders continually traversing the country in companies, or caravans; and the existence of a separate class exclusively devoted to commerce.

From the earliest times the two southern Anáhuacs of Ayotlan and Xicalanco, corresponding to what are now the southern coast of Oajaca and the tierra caliente of Tabasco and southern Vera Cruz, were inhabited by commercial peoples, and were noted for their fairs and the rich wares therein exposed for sale. These nations, the Xicalancas, Mijes, Huaves, and Zapotecs even engaged to some extent in a maritime coasting trade, mostly confined, however, as it would appear, to the coasts of their own territories and those immediately adjacent; and in this branch of commerce little or no advance had been made at the time when the Spaniards came.[410]Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. i., pt ii., fol. 181; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 42-3.

The Toltecs are reported to have excelled in commerce as in all other respects, and the markets of Tollan and Cholula are pictured in glowing colors; but all traditions on this subject are exceedingly vague.[411]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 271-3; Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 332. In the new era of prosperity that followed the Toltec disasters Cholula seems to have held the first place as a commercial centre, her fairs were the most famous, and her merchants controlled the trade of the southern coasts on either ocean. After the coming of the Teo-Chichimec hordes to the eastern plateau, Tlascala became in her turn the commercial metropolis of the north, a position which she retained until forced to yield it to the merchants of the Mexican valley, who were supported by the warlike hordes of the Aztec confederacy. Before the Aztec supremacy, trade seems to have been conducted with some show of fairness, and commerce and politics were kept to a great extent separate. But the Aztecs introduced a new order of things. Their merchants, instead of peaceful, industrious, unassuming travelers, became insolent and overbearing, meddling without scruple in the public affairs of the nations through whose territory they had to pass, and trusting to the dread of the armies of Mexico for their own safety; caravans became little less than armed bodies of robbers. The confederate kings were ever ready to extend by war the field of their commerce, and to avenge by the hands of their warriors any insult, real or imaginary, offered to their merchants. The traveling bands of traders were instructed to prepare maps of countries traversed, to observe carefully their condition for defence, and their resources. If any province was reported rich and desirable, its people were easily aggravated to commit some act of insolence which served as a pretext to lay waste their lands, and make them tributary to the kings of Anáhuac. Within the provinces that were permanently and submissively tributary to Mexico, Tezcuco, and Tlacopan, traffic may be supposed to have been as a rule fairly conducted. The merchants had in turn to pay into the royal treasury a large percentage of their gains, but this, under the circumstances, they could well afford.

Tlatelulco while an independent city was noted for her commerce, as was Tenochtitlan for the prowess of her warriors, and when mercantile enterprise was forced to yield to the power of arms, Tlatelulco, as a part of Mexico, retained her former preëminence in trade, and became the commercial centre of Anáhuac. Her merchants, who were a separate class of the population, were highly honored, and, so far as the higher grades were concerned, the merchant princes, the pochtecas, dwellers in the aristocratic quarter of Pochtlan, had privileges fully equal to those of the nobles. They had tribunals of their own, to which alone they were responsible, for the regulation of all matters of trade. They formed indeed, to all intents and purposes, a commercial corporation controlling the whole trade of the country, of which all the leading merchants of other cities were in a sense subordinate members. Jealousy between this honored class of merchants and the nobility proper, brought about the many complications during the last years of the Aztec empire, to which I have referred in a preceding chapter. Throughout the Nahua dominion commerce was in the hands of a distinct class, educated for their calling, and everywhere honored both by people and by kings; in many regions the highest nobles thought it no disgrace to engage in commercial pursuits.

The Tlatelulcan Company

Besides the pochtecas, two other classes of merchants are mentioned in Tlatelulco, the nahualoztomecas, those who made a specialty of visiting the lands of enemies in disguise, and the teyaohualohuani or traders in slaves.[412]‘Teyaoyaualoani, el que cerca a los enemigos.’ Molina, Vocabulario. The merchants were exempt from military and other public service, and had the right not only to make laws for the regulation of trade, but to punish even those who were not of their class for offenses against such laws. Sahagun gives an account of the gradual development and history of the Tlatelulcan company, stating the names of the leading merchants under the successive kings, with details respecting the various articles dealt in at different periods, all of which is not deemed of sufficient interest to be reproduced in these pages.

Nahua trade was as a rule carried on by means of barter, one article of merchandise being exchanged for another of equivalent value. Still, regular purchase and sale were not uncommon, particularly in the business of retailing the various commodities to consumers. Although no regular coined money was used, yet several more or less convenient substitutes furnished a medium of circulation. Chief among these were nibs, or grains, of the cacao, of a species somewhat different from that employed in making the favorite drink, chocolate. This money, known as patlachté, passed current anywhere, and payments of it were made by count up to eight thousand, which constituted a xiquipilli. In large transactions sacks containing three xiquipilli were used to save labor in counting. Patolquachtli were small pieces of cotton cloth used as money in the purchase of articles of immediate necessity or of little value. Another circulating medium was gold-dust kept in translucent quills, that the quantity might be readily seen. Copper was also cut into small pieces shaped like a T, which constituted perhaps the nearest approach to coined money. Cortés, in search of materials for the manufacture of artillery, found that in several provinces pieces of tin circulated as money, and that a mine of that metal was worked in Taxco. Sahagun says the Mexican king gave to the merchant-soldiers, dispatched on one of their politico-commercial expeditions, sixteen hundred quauhtli, or eagles, to trade with. Bustamante, Sahagun’s editor, supposes these to have been the copper pieces already mentioned, but Brasseur believes, from the small value of the copper and the large amount of rich fabrics purchased with the eagles, that they were of gold. The same authority believes that the golden quoits with which Montezuma paid his losses at gambling also served as money.[413]The Toltecs ‘usaban de una cierta moneda de cobre de largo de dos dedos y de ancho uno á manera de achitas pequeñas, y de grueso, como un real de á ocho. Esta moneda no ha mucho tiempo que la han dejado los de Tutupec del mar del sur.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 332. ‘No saben que cosas es moneda batida de metal ninguno.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 87, 342. The cacao nibs ‘val ciascuno come vn mezzo marchetto (about three cents) fra noi.’ Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 306. See Cortés, Cartas, p. 311; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. ix., p. 342; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 627-9; Id., Quatre Lettres, p. 276; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 666. Salt used as money. Chaves, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., p. 328. I omit a long list of references to authors who merely mention cacao and the other articles as used for money.

THE MARKETS OF ANÁHUAC.

The Nahuas bought and sold their merchandise by count and by measures both of length and capacity, but not by weight; at least, such is the general opinion of the authorities. Sahagun, however, says of the skillful merchant that he knows “the value of gold and silver, according to the weight and fineness, is diligent and solicitous in his duty, and defrauds not in weighing, but rather gives overweight,” and this too in the “time of their infidelity.” Native words also appear in several vocabularies for weights and scales. Brasseur de Bourbourg regards this as ample proof that scales were used. Clavigero thinks weights may have been employed and mention of the fact omitted in the narratives.[414]‘No tenian peso (que yo sepa) los Mexicanos, falta grandissima para la contratacion. Quien dize que no lo vsauan por escusar los engaños, quien por que no lo auian menester, quien por ignorancia, que es lo cierto. Por donde parece que no auian oido como hizo Dios todos las cosas en cuento, peso, y medida.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 342; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 166; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 42, 40; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 629-30. The market, tianquiztli, of Tlatelulco was the grandest in the country and may be taken as a representative of all. Its grandeur consisted, however, in the abundance and variety of the merchandise offered for sale and in the crowd of buyers and sellers, not in the magnificence of the buildings connected with it; for the market-place was simply an open plaza, surrounded as all the authorities say with ‘porticoes’ where merchandise was exhibited. What these porticoes were we are left to conjecture. Probably they were nothing more than simple booths arranged in streets and covering the whole plaza, where merchants and their wares were sheltered from the rays of a tropical sun. Whatever may have been the nature and arrangement of these shelters, we know that the space was systematically apportioned among the different industries represented. Fishermen, hunters, farmers, and artists, each had their allotted space for the transaction of business. Hither, as Torquemada tells us, came the potters and jewelers from Cholula, the workers in gold from Azcapuzalco, the painters from Tezcuco, the shoe-makers from Tenayocan, the huntsmen from Xilotepec, the fishermen from Cuitlahuac, the fruit-growers of the tierra caliente, the mat-makers of Quauhtitlan, the flower-dealers of Xochimilco, and yet so great was the market that to each of these was afforded an opportunity to display his wares.

All kinds of food, animal and vegetable, cooked and uncooked, were arranged in the most attractive manner; eating-houses were also attached to the tianquiztli and much patronized by the poorer classes. Here were to be found all the native cloths and fabrics, in the piece and made up into garments coarse and fine, plain and elaborately embroidered, to suit the taste and means of purchasers; precious stones, and ornaments of metal, feathers, or shells; implements and weapons of metal, stone, and wood; building material, lime, stone, wood, and brick; articles of household furniture; matting of various degrees of fineness; medicinal herbs and prepared medicines; wood and coal; incense and censers; cotton and cochineal; tanned skins; numerous beverages; and an infinite variety of pottery; but to enumerate all the articles noticed in the market-place by the conquerors would make a very long list, and would involve, beside, the repetition of many names which have been or will be mentioned elsewhere.

Cortés speaks of this market as being twice as large as that of Salamanca, and all the conquistadores are enthusiastic in their expressions of wonder not only at the variety of products offered for sale, but at the perfect order and system which prevailed, notwithstanding the crowd of buyers and sellers. The judges of the commercial tribunal, twelve in number according to Torquemada, four, according to Zuazo, held their court in connection with the market buildings, where they regulated prices and measures, and settled disputes. Watchmen acting under their authority, constantly patrolled the tianquiztli to prevent disorder. Any attempt at extortionate charges, or at passing off injured or inferior goods, or any infringement on another’s rights was immediately reported and severely punished. The judges had even the right to enforce the death penalty. Other markets in the Nahua regions were on a similar plan, those of Tlascala and Tezcuco coming next to that of Tlatelulco in importance.[415]On the Nahua markets and the articles offered for sale, see: Cortés, Cartas, pp. 68, 103-5; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 70; Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 309; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 323-5, tom. ix., p. 357; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxx.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 554-60; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 272, 299-301; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 87-8, 116-18; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xv., xvi.; Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. iii., iv.; Zuazo, Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 359-61.

Buyers and Sellers

Trade was carried on daily in the tianquiztli, chiefly for the convenience of the inhabitants of the city, but every fifth day was set apart as a special market-day, on which a fair was held, crowded not only by local customers, but by buyers and sellers from all the country round, and from foreign lands. In Tlatelulco these special market-days were those that fell under the signs calli, tochtli, acatl, and tecpatl. In other large cities, days with other signs were chosen, in order that the fairs might not occur on the same day in neighboring towns. Las Casas says that each of the two market-places in the city of Mexico would contain 200,000 persons, 100,000 being present each fifth day; and Cortés tells us that more than 60,000 persons assembled daily in the Tlatelulco market. According to the same authority 30,000 was the number of daily visitors to the market of Tlascala. Perhaps, however, he refers to the fair-days, on which occasion at Tlatelulco, the Anonymous Conqueror puts the number at 50,000, limiting the daily concourse to about 25,000.[416]Cortés, Cartas, pp. 103, 68; Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 309. ‘Es tanta la gente que concurre á vender y comprar, que no puede facilmente declararse.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxx. Considering the population of the cities and surrounding country, together with the limited facilities for transportation, these accounts of the daily attendance at the markets, as also of the abundance and variety of the merchandise, need not be regarded as exaggerations.

On the lakes about the city of Mexico merchandise of all kinds was transported to and from the markets by boats, 50,000 of which, as Zuazo tells us, were employed daily in bringing provisions to the city.[417]Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 359. ‘Sobre cincuenta mill canoas y cient mill segun se cree.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxx. ‘The lake day and night is plyed with boates going and returning.’ Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. iii. The heavier or more bulky articles of trade, such as building material, were often offered for sale in the boats to save the labor of repeated handling. Boats were also used for transportation on the southern coasts, to some extent on navigable rivers, and also by traveling merchants in crossing such streams as could not conveniently be bridged. The only other means of transportation known in the country was that afforded by the carriers. Large numbers of these carriers, or porters, were in attendance at the markets to move goods to and from the boats, or to carry parcels to the houses of consumers. For transportation from town to town, or to distant lands, merchandise was packed in bales, wrapped in skins and mats, or in bamboo cases covered with skin, known as petlacalli. Cases, or cages, for the transportation of the more fragile wares were called cacaxtli. The tlamama, or regular carriers, were trained to their work of carrying burdens from childhood, seventy or eighty pounds was the usual burden carried, placed on the back and supported by the mecapalli, a strap passing round the forehead; twelve or fifteen miles was the ordinary day’s journey. The tlamama, clad in a maxtli, carried on long trips, besides his bale of merchandise, a sort of palm-leaf umbrella, a bag of provisions, and a blanket.

Traveling Merchants

Expeditions to distant provinces were undertaken by the company of Tlatelulco for purposes of commercial gain; or by order of the king, when political gains were the object in view, and the traders in reality armed soldiers; or more rarely by individual merchants on their own private account. For protection large numbers usually traveled in company, choosing some one of the company to act as leader. Previous to departure they gave a banquet to the old merchants of the town, who by reason of their age had ceased to travel; at this feast they made known their plans, and spoke of the places they intended to visit and roads by which they would travel. The old merchants applauded the spirit and enterprise of those who were going on the expedition, and, if they were young and inexperienced, encouraged them and spoke of the fame they would gain for having left their homes to undertake a dangerous journey and suffer privations and hardships. They reminded them of the wealth and honored name acquired by their fathers in similar expeditions, and gave them advice as to the best manner of conducting themselves on the road.[418]For specimens of the exhortations of old merchants to young men see Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iv., pp. 310-314; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 585-6.

On the route the carriers marched in single file, and at every camping-place the strictest watch was kept against enemies, and especially against robbers, who then as now infested the dangerous passes to lie in wait for the richly laden caravans. Rulers of the different friendly provinces, mindful of the benefits resulting from such expeditions, constructed roads and kept them in repair; furnished bridges or boats for crossing unfordable streams; and at certain points, remote from towns, placed houses for the travelers’ accommodation. Expeditions in hostile provinces were undertaken by the nahualoztomecas, who disguised themselves in the dress of the province visited, and endeavored to imitate the manners and to speak the language of its people, with which it was a qualification of their profession to make themselves acquainted. Extraordinary pains was taken to guard against robbers on the return to Mexico, and it is also said to have been customary for the merchants on nearing the city, to dress in rags, affecting poverty, and an unsuccessful trip. The motive for this latter proceeding is not very apparent, nor for the invariable introduction of goods into the city by night; they had not even the hope of evading the payment of taxes which in later times prompts men to similar conduct, since merchandise could only be sold in the public market, where it could not be offered without paying the royal percentage of duties.

The usual route of commercial expeditions was south-eastward to Tochtepec near the banks of the Rio Alvarado, whence the caravans took separate roads according as their destination was the coast region of Goazacoalco, the Miztec and Zapotec towns on the Pacific, or the still more distant regions across the isthmus of Tehuantepec. The southern limit reached by the traders of the Aztec empire, it is impossible accurately to determine. The merchants of Xicalanco furnished Cortés, when about to undertake the conquest of Honduras, tolerably correct maps of the whole region as far south as the isthmus of Panamá;[419]Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. vi., cap. xii.; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 197. the raiders from Anáhuac are known to have penetrated to Chiapa, Soconusco, and Guatemala; it is by no means improbable that her merchants reached on more than one occasion the Isthmus.[420]A very full account of the Nahua commerce is given in Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 163-70, and the same is translated with slight changes, in Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 628-35, in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 612-32, and in Id., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1858, tom. clix., pp. 45-58. See also Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. ii., pp. 329-31; Gage’s New Survey, pp. 109-12; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 541; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 25-8; West-Indische Spieghel, pp. 247-8; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., pp. 166-71; Touron, Hist. Gén., tom. iii., pp. 43-6. See also Note 12.

The preceding pages contain all that has been preserved concerning Nahua trade and traders except what may be termed the mythology of commerce, a branch of the subject not without importance, embracing the ceremonies, sacrifices, and superstitions connected with the setting-out, journey, and return of the Tlatelulcan caravans. Commerce, like every other feature of Nahua civilization, was under the care of a special deity, and no merchant dared to set out on an expedition in quest of gain, without fully complying with all the requirements of the god as interpreted by the priesthood. The particular divinity of the traders was Iyacatecutli, or Iyacacoliuhqui, ‘lord with the aquiline nose’—that nasal type being, as the Abbé Brasseur thinks, symbolic of mercantile cunning and skill. Services in his honor were held regularly in the month of Tlaxochimaco; but the ceremonies performed by traveling merchants, seem to have been mostly devoted to the god of fire and the god of the roads.

SETTING-OUT OF THE MERCHANTS.

First a day was selected for the start whose sign was deemed favorable—Ce Cohuatl, ‘one serpent,’ was a favorite. The day before they departed the hair was cropped close, and the head soaped; during all their absence, even should it last for years, these operations must not be repeated, nor might they wash more than the neck, face, and hands, bathing the body being strictly prohibited. At midnight they cut flag-shaped papers for Xiuhtecutli, the god of fire, fastened them to sticks painted with vermilion, and marked on them the face of the god with drops of melted ulli, or India-rubber. Other papers also marked with ulli, were cut in honor of Tlaltecutli, to be worn on the breast. Others, for the god of the merchants, were used to cover a bamboo stick, which they worshiped and carried with them. The gods of the roads, Zacatzontli and Tlacotzontli, also had their papers ornamented with ulli-drops and painted butterflies; while the papers for Cecoatlutlimelaoatl, one of the signs of the divining art, were decorated with snake-like figures. When all the papers were ready, those of the fire-god were placed before the fire in the house, the others being arranged in systematic order in the courtyard. Then the merchants, standing before the fire, offered to it some quails which they first beheaded, and forthwith, drawing blood from their own ears and tongue, they repeated some mystic word and sprinkled the blood four times on the fire. Blood was then sprinkled in turn on the papers in the house, towards the heavens and cardinal points, and finally on the papers in the courtyard. The fire-god’s papers, after a few appropriate words to the deity, were burned in a brazier with pure white copal. If they burned with a clear flame, it was a good omen; otherwise ill fortune and disaster were betokened. The papers left outside were burned together—save those of the merchants’ god—in a fire which was kindled in the court, and the ashes were carefully buried there.

All this at midnight. At early dawn the principal merchants of the city or of the neighborhood, or simply friends and relatives of the party about to set out on the journey, according to the wealth of the party, with youths and old women, were invited to assemble and, after a washing of mouths and hands, to partake of food. After the repast, concluded by another washing and by smoking of pipes and drinking of chocolate, the host spoke a few words of welcome to the guests, and explained his plans. To this some one of the chief merchants briefly responded with wishes for the success of the expedition, advice respecting the route to be followed and behavior while abroad, applause for the spirit and enterprise shown, and words of encouragement to those about to undertake their first commercial journey, picturing to them in vivid colors both the hardships and the honors that were before them. Then the merchandise and provisions for the trip were made ready in bales and placed in the canoes, if the start was to be made by water, under the direction of the leader who, after attending to this matter, made a farewell address of thanks for advice and good wishes, recommending to the care of those that remained behind their wives and children. The friends again replied briefly and all was ready for the departure. A fire was built in the courtyard and a vase of copal was placed near it. As a final parting ceremony each of the departing merchants took a portion of the copal and threw it on the fire, stepping at once toward his canoe. Not another word of farewell must be spoken, nor a parting glance be directed backward to friends behind. To look back or speak would be a most unpropitious augury.

Caravans of Traders

Thus they set out, generally at night, as Sahagun implies. On the journey each merchant carried continually in his hand a smooth black stick representing his god Iyacatecutli—probably the same sticks that have been mentioned as being covered with papers in honor of this god the night before the departure from home. When they halted for the night the sticks of the company were bound together in a bundle, forming a kind of combination divinity to whose protecting care the encampment was piously entrusted. To this god offerings of ulli and paper were made by the leaders, and to the gods of the roads as well. Blood must also be drawn and mingled with the offering, else it were of no avail; and, a most inconvenient rule for poor weak humanity, the sacrificial offering had to be repeated twice again each night, so that one or another of the chiefs must be continually on the watch. The caravans, when their destination was a friendly province, usually bore some presents from the sovereigns of Mexico as tokens of their good will, and they were received by the authorities of such provinces with some public ceremonies not definitely described.

When the merchants returned home, after consultation with a tonalpouhqui, they awaited a favorable sign, such as Ce Calli, or Chicome Calli, ‘one, or seven house,’ and then entered the city under shade of night. They repaired immediately to the house of the leading merchant of the corporation, or to that of the merchant under whose direction their trip had been made, formally announcing their safe arrival, and also their intention to invite all the merchants on the following day to partake of “a little chocolate in their poor house,” that is, to be present at a most sumptuous banquet. Papers were then cut and at midnight offered with ulli, much after the manner already described, to the gods as a thank-offering for their protection. The feast that took place next day, when all the guests were assembled, was accompanied by additional offerings to the gods of fire and trade, and, of course, by speeches of the returned travelers and their guests, but presented no particularly noticeable contrasts with the many feasts that have been described.

Not only was the traveler obliged, according to the Nahua superstition, to abstain from baths during his absence, but even his family during the same period, while allowed to bathe the body, must not wash the head or face oftener than once in eighty days; thus were the gods propitiated to watch kindly over their absent relative wandering in distant lands. If a merchant died while on a journey, his body, at least if he belonged to the highest rank, was neither buried nor burned, but, clad in fine apparel, and decorated with certain mystical papers and painted devices, it was put in a wooden cage, or cacaxtli, and secured to a tree on the top of a high mountain. Advice of the death was forwarded to the old merchants, who in turn informed the family of the deceased, and regular funeral ceremonies were performed either immediately or on the return of the caravan. If the deceased met his death at the hands of an enemy, a wooden image was prepared, dressed in the clothing of the dead merchant, and made the subject of the usual funeral rites.

Feasts of the Merchants

Besides the regular feasts attending the departure and return of caravans, many others took place under the auspices of the mercantile class. We have noticed the fondness of the Nahua people for entertainments of this kind, and it is natural that the merchants, as the richest class in the community, should have been foremost in contributing to this popular taste. Each merchant, when he had acquired great wealth by good fortune in his trading ventures, deemed it, as Sahagun tells us, a most disgraceful thing “to die without having made some splendid expenditure” by entertaining his friends and fellow-merchants in a banquet, which should be remembered as theevent of his career. A long time was devoted to making ready for the feast, to the purchase of provisions and decorations, and to engaging dancers and singers, that no item might be neglected, nor any oversight be allowed to mar the perfect enjoyment of the invited guests. All being ready, a propitious sign was selected, and invitations issued. The object of the display of hospitality being not only the entertainment of friends, but a thanksgiving to the gods for favors shown to the host, the first ceremonies were naturally in honor of the deities. These began in the night preceding the feast-day, with offerings of flowers in the shrine of Huitzilopochtli, in the chapels of other gods, and finally in the courtyard of the host, where were placed drums and two plates, on which perfumed canes were burning. Those officiating whistled in a peculiar manner, and all, stooping, put some earth in their mouth, crying “our lord has sounded.” Then all burned perfumed copal, and a priest beheaded a quail before the drum, throwing it on the ground and watching in what direction it might flutter. If northward, it was a bad omen, foretelling sickness, or perhaps death. But the west and south were fortunate directions, indicating a peaceful and friendly disposition on the part of the gods. Incense was burned toward the cardinal points, the burning coals were thrown from the censer into the fire, and then the performers engaged for the areito, including, it would seem, soldiers of several classes, led by the tlacatecatl, began to dance and sing. Neither the host nor merchant guests joined in the dance, but remained in the house to receive the company and present them with bouquets of flowers. At midnight ulli-marked paper was offered to the gods, and its ashes buried to promote the prosperity of future generations. Before the light of day chocolate was drunk and the nanacatl, or intoxicating mushroom, was eaten, which caused some to dance, others to sing, and yet others to sit pensive in their rooms dreaming dreams and seeing visions of horrid import, whose narration at a later hour, when the effects of the drug had passed away, formed a prominent feature of the entertainment. At the appearance of the morning star all the ashes of the sacrifices, the flowers, the burning canes, and all the implements used in the foregoing ceremonies, were buried, that they might not be seen by any visitor polluted by any kind of vice or uncleanness. The rising sun was greeted with songs, dancing, and beating of the teponaztli. The day was passed in feasting and music, and at the close of the day’s banquet food was distributed to the common people. The banquet was often continued more than one day, and if after the first day’s feast the provision of food was exhausted, it was regarded by the guests as a bad sign—a very sensible superstition truly.

Sacrifice of Slaves

There was another merchant’s feast in the month of Panquetzaliztli, in which a number of slaves were killed and eaten. The victims were purchased sometime beforehand at the slave mart in Azcapuzalco, kept clean,—being therefore called tlaaltilzin, ‘washed’—and fattened for the occasion. The male slaves meantime had no work but to dance daily on the housetop, but the women had to spin. The articles collected for this feast embraced large numbers of rich mantles, maxtlis, and huipiles, which were to be presented to guests. Not only the residents of Mexico were invited but members of the Tlatelulcan company who lived in other towns. The giver of the feast went personally to many towns, especially to Tochtepec, to issue invitations and distribute gifts. On his arrival he went first to the shrine of Iyacatecutli, before whose image he performed certain ceremonies and left some offerings. Then he went to the house of the Tlatelulcan company, prepared a feast and summoned the rich traders, who came at midnight. Washing of the hands and mouth preceded and followed the eating, presents were made, chocolate drunk, pipes smoked, quails offered in the courtyard, and incense burned. One of the best speakers then announced the purpose of their visitor to kill a few slaves in honor of Huitzilopochtli, and in his name invited the company to be present at the pleasing spectacle, and partake of the human flesh and other choice viands. Another speaker responded in a speech of acceptance, and the feast-giver directed his steps homeward to Mexico. After resting awhile the merchant ceremonially invited those of his own city to be present at the feast, and the latter, after many precautions, including an inspection by the older merchants to satisfy themselves that food enough had been provided and that the affair could not be a failure, deigned to accept, although they warned the would-be host of the fearful responsibility he would incur should the feast be in any respect improperly managed, through his unwillingness to spend money enough. Ce Calli, Ome Xochitl, and Ome Ozomatli, were good signs for this feast.

On the first day the male slaves, richly attired and decorated, were made to dance and perform the areito, carrying garlands of flowers and also pipes from which they were continually puffing smoke. The females, in equally rich attire were stationed with plenty of food in one of the rooms where all could readily see them. The eating, drinking, and distribution of gifts were kept up all night. The following day’s feast was a repetition of the first, and was called tlaixnexia; that of the third day was called tetevaltia, and on this day they made many changes in the dress of the slaves, putting on wigs of many-colored feathers, painted ear-flaps, stone nose-ornaments like butterflies, jackets with fringed borders and death’s heads for decoration, hawks’ wings, tlomaitl, on the shoulders, rings, matacaxtli, on the arms, stained sandals, and girdles called xiuhtlalpilli. From this time forward strict guard was kept over them day and night until their death.

On yet a fourth occasion, apparently some days, or perhaps weeks, later, the merchant assembled his guests, and then just before sunset the victims were made drunk with teuvetli, and carried to Huitzilopochtli’s temple, where they were made to dance and sing, and kept awake all night. At midnight they were placed on a mat before the fire, and the master of the banquet, dressed much like the slaves themselves, put out the fire, and in the darkness gave to each four mouthfuls of a dough moistened with honey, called tzoalli. Then a man dancing before them played upon an instrument called chichtli, hairs were pulled out of the top of each slave’s head and put in a plate, quacaxitl, held by the dancer, and the master threw incense toward the east, west, north, and south. The slaves were offered food, but could not be induced to eat, expecting each moment the messenger of death. They were first taken to the ward of Coatlan, and in the courtyard of the temple of Huitzcalco were forced to fight against certain persons, the most valiant of whom were called tlaamaviques. If by force of arms these persons captured any of the slaves, they were entitled to receive their full value from the owner, or in default of such payment to take the bodies after the sacrifice and eat the same. After the contest the victims were sacrificed on the shrine of Huitzilopochtli, the complicated details of the ceremonies which followed differing only very slightly from those of similar sacrifices already several times described. The bodies were thrown down the steps as usual, carried home by the owner, cooked with maize, seasoned with salt without chile, and were finally eaten by the guests. With this horrible repast the great feast of the month of Panquetzaliztli ended; but he who had given it carefully preserved the clothing, and other relics of the slaughtered slaves, guarding them in a basket as most precious and pleasant souvenirs all the days of his life; and after his death the basket and its contents were burned at his obsequies.

Acosta tells us that in Cholula the merchants, especially those that dealt in slaves, furnished each year a slave of fine physique to represent their god Quetzalcoatl, in whose honor he was sacrificed, with appropriate and complicated ceremonies, his flesh being afterwards eaten in a banquet.[421]On merchants’ feasts, ceremonies, and superstitions, see Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. ix., pp. 335-86, tom. i., lib. iv., pp. 310-15; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 388-92; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 585-7. See also account of a feast of flower-dealers in this volume, p. 315, and account of the Cholultec feast in honor of Quetzalcoatl in vol. iii., pp. 286-7 of this work.

Boats and Navigation

The little to be said of Nahua watercraft may be as appropriately inserted here as elsewhere. I have already referred to the important use made of canoes in the transportation of merchandise upon the lakes of Anáhuac. In the art of navigation, however, no progress was made by the Nahuas at all in proportion to their advancement in other respects. As navigators they were altogether inferior to their savage brethren of the Columbian and Hyperborean groups on the north-west coasts, whose skill in the manufacture and management of boats has been described in a preceding volume of this work. The reason is obvious: their progress in agriculture enabled them to obtain a food supply without risking their lives habitually on the sea; their sunny clime obviated the necessity of whale-blubber and seal-skins. In the earlier stages of civilization men make progress only when impelled by some actual necessity; consequently among the Nahuas, when means were supplied of crossing streams, and of transporting goods on the lakes and for short distances along the coast at the mouth of large rivers, progress in this direction ceased.

Clavigero’s investigations led him to believe that the use of sails was unknown, and although Brasseur de Bourbourg in one place speaks of such aids to navigation, yet he gives no authority for his statement.[422]Clavigero’s description of Nahua boats and navigation is in his Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 168-9. ‘Leurs barques, dont les plus grandes mesuraient jusqu’à soixante pieds de longueur, couvertes et abritées contre le mauvais temps, marchaient à la voile et à la rame,’ probably referring to a boat met by Columbus some distance out at sea. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 632.

Rafts and ‘dug-out’ canoes were the vessels employed; the former were used for the most part in crossing streams and were of various material and construction. Those of the ruder kind were simply a number of poles tied together with strings.[423]Invented, according to tradition, by the Tarascos of Michoacan during their early migrations. Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., pp. 131-2. Those called by the Spaniards balsas were of superior construction, made of otlatl reeds, or tules, and rushes of different kinds in bundles. The best balsas were about five feet square, made of bamboos and supported by hollow gourds closed by a water and air tight covering. The rafts were propelled by swimmers, one in front and another behind.[424]‘Mettevansi a sedere in questa macchina quattro, o sei passaggieri alla volta.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 168. ‘Ces radeaux sont fort légers et très-solides; ils sont encore en usage dans l’Amérique, et nous avons passé ainsi plus d’une rivière.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 295.

The canoes—acalli, ‘water-houses’ among the Aztecs, called also tahucup in Tabasco—were hollowed out from the trunk of a single tree, were generally flat-bottomed and without keel, somewhat narrower at the bow than at the stern as Las Casas says, and would carry from two to sixty persons. As to the instruments employed in hollowing out and finishing the acalli we have no information, neither do we know whether fire was one of the agents made use of.[425]Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxx: ‘En cada vna cabian sesenta Hombres.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 460, and Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. viii., cap. iv. ‘The Canowes are litle barkes, made of one tree.’ Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. iii. Called Acates. Id., dec. v., lib. ii. ‘Estas acallis ó barcas cada una es de una sola pieza, de un arbol tan grande y tan grueso como lo demanda la longitud, y conforme al ancho que le pueden dar, que es de lo grueso del árbol de que se hacen, y para esto hay sus maestros como en Vizcaya los hay de navíos.’ Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 200.

Boats Used in War

The use of boats was not altogether confined to traffic, but extended to war and the transportation of troops. Fierce conflicts on the waters of the lakes are recorded in the ancient annals of Anáhuac; canoe fleets of armed natives came out to meet the Spaniards at various points along the coast; and we read of the vain efforts to defend the approaches to the Aztec capital, by thousands of boats which could offer little resistance to the advance of Cortés’ brigantines.[426]‘The sides of the Indian boats were fortified with bulwarks.’ Prescott’s Mex., vol. iii., p. 100; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 140; Cortés, Cartas, p. 211.

These fleets, so inefficient against Spanish vessels and arms, must have been of great service to the Aztecs in maintaining their domination over the many towns on the lake shores. To increase the efficiency of boats and boatmen, races and sham fights were established, which, besides affording useful training to paddlers and warriors, furnished an additional means of entertainment to the people who gathered in crowds to watch the struggles of the competitors, applaud the ducking of each vanquished boat’s crew, and to reward the victors with honors and prizes.[427]‘Spesso s’esercitavano in questo genere di combattimenti.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 151; West-Indische Spieghel, p. 251. 200,000 canoes on the lake about Mexico. Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 115. See also note 8 of this chapter. Additional notes on Nahua boats. ‘Habia en México muchas acallis ó barcas para servicio de las casas, y otras muchas de tratantes que venian con bastimentos á la ciudad, y todos los pueblos de la redonda, que están llenos de barcas que nunca cesan de entrar y salir á la ciudad, las cuales eran innumerables.’ ‘Con estas salen á la mar, y con las grandes de estas acallis navegan de una isla á otra, y se atreven á atravesar algun golfo pequeño.’ Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 187, 200. ‘Lo mas del trato, y camino de los Indios, en aquella Tierra, es por Agua, en Acales, ò Canoas.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 613; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. viii., cap. iv.; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 247; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 633, tom. ii., p. 591; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 75-6.

Footnotes

[410] Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. i., pt ii., fol. 181; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 42-3.

[411] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 271-3; Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 332.

[412] ‘Teyaoyaualoani, el que cerca a los enemigos.’ Molina, Vocabulario.

[413] The Toltecs ‘usaban de una cierta moneda de cobre de largo de dos dedos y de ancho uno á manera de achitas pequeñas, y de grueso, como un real de á ocho. Esta moneda no ha mucho tiempo que la han dejado los de Tutupec del mar del sur.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 332. ‘No saben que cosas es moneda batida de metal ninguno.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 87, 342. The cacao nibs ‘val ciascuno come vn mezzo marchetto (about three cents) fra noi.’ Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 306. See Cortés, Cartas, p. 311; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. ix., p. 342; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 627-9; Id., Quatre Lettres, p. 276; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 666. Salt used as money. Chaves, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., p. 328. I omit a long list of references to authors who merely mention cacao and the other articles as used for money.

[414] ‘No tenian peso (que yo sepa) los Mexicanos, falta grandissima para la contratacion. Quien dize que no lo vsauan por escusar los engaños, quien por que no lo auian menester, quien por ignorancia, que es lo cierto. Por donde parece que no auian oido como hizo Dios todos las cosas en cuento, peso, y medida.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 342; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 166; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 42, 40; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 629-30.

[415] On the Nahua markets and the articles offered for sale, see: Cortés, Cartas, pp. 68, 103-5; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 70; Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 309; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 323-5, tom. ix., p. 357; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxx.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 554-60; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 272, 299-301; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 87-8, 116-18; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xv., xvi.; Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. iii., iv.; Zuazo, Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 359-61.

[416] Cortés, Cartas, pp. 103, 68; Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 309. ‘Es tanta la gente que concurre á vender y comprar, que no puede facilmente declararse.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxx.

[417] Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 359. ‘Sobre cincuenta mill canoas y cient mill segun se cree.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxx. ‘The lake day and night is plyed with boates going and returning.’ Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. iii.

[418] For specimens of the exhortations of old merchants to young men see Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iv., pp. 310-314; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 585-6.

[419] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. vi., cap. xii.; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 197.

[420] A very full account of the Nahua commerce is given in Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 163-70, and the same is translated with slight changes, in Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 628-35, in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 612-32, and in Id., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1858, tom. clix., pp. 45-58. See also Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. ii., pp. 329-31; Gage’s New Survey, pp. 109-12; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 541; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 25-8; West-Indische Spieghel, pp. 247-8; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., pp. 166-71; Touron, Hist. Gén., tom. iii., pp. 43-6. See also Note 12.

[421] On merchants’ feasts, ceremonies, and superstitions, see Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. ix., pp. 335-86, tom. i., lib. iv., pp. 310-15; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 388-92; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 585-7. See also account of a feast of flower-dealers in this volume, p. 315, and account of the Cholultec feast in honor of Quetzalcoatl in vol. iii., pp. 286-7 of this work.

[422] Clavigero’s description of Nahua boats and navigation is in his Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 168-9. ‘Leurs barques, dont les plus grandes mesuraient jusqu’à soixante pieds de longueur, couvertes et abritées contre le mauvais temps, marchaient à la voile et à la rame,’ probably referring to a boat met by Columbus some distance out at sea. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 632.

[423] Invented, according to tradition, by the Tarascos of Michoacan during their early migrations. Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., pp. 131-2.

[424] ‘Mettevansi a sedere in questa macchina quattro, o sei passaggieri alla volta.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 168. ‘Ces radeaux sont fort légers et très-solides; ils sont encore en usage dans l’Amérique, et nous avons passé ainsi plus d’une rivière.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 295.

[425] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxx: ‘En cada vna cabian sesenta Hombres.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 460, and Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. viii., cap. iv. ‘The Canowes are litle barkes, made of one tree.’ Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. iii. Called Acates. Id., dec. v., lib. ii. ‘Estas acallis ó barcas cada una es de una sola pieza, de un arbol tan grande y tan grueso como lo demanda la longitud, y conforme al ancho que le pueden dar, que es de lo grueso del árbol de que se hacen, y para esto hay sus maestros como en Vizcaya los hay de navíos.’ Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 200.

[426] ‘The sides of the Indian boats were fortified with bulwarks.’ Prescott’s Mex., vol. iii., p. 100; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 140; Cortés, Cartas, p. 211.

[427] ‘Spesso s’esercitavano in questo genere di combattimenti.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 151; West-Indische Spieghel, p. 251. 200,000 canoes on the lake about Mexico. Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 115. See also note 8 of this chapter. Additional notes on Nahua boats. ‘Habia en México muchas acallis ó barcas para servicio de las casas, y otras muchas de tratantes que venian con bastimentos á la ciudad, y todos los pueblos de la redonda, que están llenos de barcas que nunca cesan de entrar y salir á la ciudad, las cuales eran innumerables.’ ‘Con estas salen á la mar, y con las grandes de estas acallis navegan de una isla á otra, y se atreven á atravesar algun golfo pequeño.’ Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 187, 200. ‘Lo mas del trato, y camino de los Indios, en aquella Tierra, es por Agua, en Acales, ò Canoas.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 613; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. viii., cap. iv.; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 247; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 633, tom. ii., p. 591; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 75-6.

Chapter XIII • War Customs of the Nahuas • 12,100 Words

Importance of the Military Profession—Indications of Rank—Education of Warriors—Rewards for Valor—Military Orders and their Dress—Gorgeous War-Dresses of Montezuma and the Aztec Nobility—Dress of the Common Soldiers—Armor and Defensive Weapons—Offensive Weapons—Standards—Ambassadors and Couriers—Fortifications—The Military Council—Articles of War—Declaration of War—Spies—Order of March and Battle—War Customs of the Tlascaltecs and Tarascos—Return of the Conquering Army—Celebration of Feats of Arms.

The Military Profession

As might be expected from a people so warlike and ambitious as the Nahuas, the profession of arms ranked high above all other callings, save that of the priests. This was especially the case in the later days, under the Aztec kings, whose unscrupulous ambition and passion for conquest could only be gratified by their warriors. Huitzilopochtli, god of war, protector of the empire, was glorified and honored above all other gods; his altars must be red with blood, for blood alone could extort his favor, and wars were frequently waged solely for his propitiation; valor was the loftiest virtue, the highest honors were paid to those who distinguished themselves in battle; no dignities, positions, or decorations, under the government, were given to any but approved soldiers. Children were taught by parent and priest the chivalrous deeds of their ancestors, whom they were urged to emulate in daring; titles, rewards, and posts of honor were offered to stimulate the ambition of the young men. The king might not receive his crown until with his own hand he had taken captives to be sacrificed at the feast of his coronation. The priests were the foremost inciters to war and carnage. All wars were religious crusades. The highest earthly rewards were in store for the victor, while the soul of him that fell in battle took immediate flight to heaven. Only defeat and cowardice were to be dreaded.

The Nahua warrior’s services were rewarded only by promotion, since no paid troops were employed. But promotion was sure to follow brilliant exploits performed by even the humblest soldier, while without such daring deeds the sons of the highest nobles could hope for no advancement. Dress and ornaments were the indications of rank, and were changed in some detail for every new achievement. To escape from the coarse nequen garments of the common soldier, and to put on successively the decorative mantles of the higher grades, was deemed a sufficient reward and incentive. The costume of each warrior indicated the exact number of prisoners captured by the wearer.

Especial care was taken, however, with the sons of lords intended for the profession of arms. At an early age their heads were shaved, except a tuft on the back of the head called mocuexpaltia, a designation changed to cuexpatchicuepul when the boy was fifteen years old. At this age he was sent to war in charge of veteran warriors, and if with their aid he took a prisoner, the tuft was cut off and another given to be worn over the ear with feather plumes; on his return he was addressed after the following manner by his grandparents or uncles: “My child, the Sun and the Earth have washed and renewed thy face, because thou didst dare to attempt the capture of an enemy in company with others. Lo, now it were better to abandon thee to the mercies of the enemy than that thou shouldst again take a prisoner with the aid of others, because, should it so happen, they will place another tuft over thine other ear and thou wilt appear like a girl; truly, it were better thou shouldst die than that this should happen to thee.” If after a fair trial the youth failed to take a captive, he was disgraced, and ceased to be a warrior in the eyes of his comrades: but if, unaided, he was successful, he was called a warlike youth, telpuchtlitaquitlamani, and was presented to the king, whose stewards dyed his face red, his temples and body yellow, and bestowed upon him mantles and maxtlis of the colors and designs which his achievements gave him the right to wear. If he took two captives, the honors were of course greater; three entitled him to a command over others; four made him a captain who might wear long lip-ornaments, leathern ear-rings, and gaudy tassels. With five prisoners the young man became a quauhiacatl, ‘eagle that guides,’ with corresponding insignia, a head-plume with silver threads, the mantle called cuechintli, another called chicoapalnacazminqui of two colors, and still another decorated with straps. The prisoners must, however, be from nations of acknowledged prowess, such as those of Atlixco, the Huexotzincas, or Tlascaltecs; double or triple the number of Cuextecas or Tenimes must be captured, and no number of these could entitle a youth to the highest honors.[428]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 329-32.

In the Mexican picture-writings are delineated the successive grades by which a graduate from the temple school advanced, with the costumes and defensive armor he was permitted to wear. First we see him leaving for the war, carrying the impedimenta of the chief priest, who goes into the field to embolden the troops, enforce orders, and perform other duties. The pictures that follow portray the devices on the shields, manner of painting, armor, head-dresses, and ornaments they were allowed to assume, according to the number of captives each had taken. The warrior-priests were rewarded, in like manner, with accoutrements and insignia of peculiar designs, and with important commands in the army.[429]Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. i., pl. lxiv-lxvi. In explanation of plate lxv., No. 19, it is stated that the warrior was called Quachic by reason of having taken five prisoners in war. ‘Haber cautivado en la guerra cinco, demas de que en otras guerras a cautivado otros muchos de sus enemigos.’ Explanation of Id., vol. v., p. 104; while Purchas says such a one was ‘called Quagchil … shewing that hee had taken fiue at the Wars of Guexo, besides that in other Wars he tooke many of his enemies.’ Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., p. 1110-11.

Three Military Orders

Three military orders were established by the Aztec monarchs, the members of which were granted certain privileges, and entitled to wear badges of distinction; they also had apartments allotted to them in the royal palace and formed the royal guard. Promotion to the order was open to all, but could only be won by some notable feat of arms. The members of the first of these three orders were called Achcauhtin, or Princes, of the second, Quauhtin, or Eagles, of the third, Ocelome, or Tigers. The distinctive mark of the Princes was their manner of dressing the hair, which was tied on the crown of the head with a red thong, and worked into as many braids, each terminating in a cotton tassel, as were the deeds of valor performed by the wearer; the Eagles wore a kind of casque, in the form of an eagle’s head; the Tigers wore a particular armor, spotted like the skin of the animal whose name they bore. These insignia were only used in war; at court all military officers wore the tlachquauhyo, a dress of many colors. The members of these three military orders had the privilege of wearing garments of much finer texture than the common people, as well as such feathers and jewels as they could afford to buy. An inferior order of knighthood appears also to have existed, the members of which had their hair cropped close about their ears, and wore skull-caps and split collars; these were only armed for defence from the girdle upwards, whereas their superiors fought in complete armor. All these privileged warriors were permitted to use painted and gilt vessels, but the common soldiers might use none but plain earthen ones.[430]Torquemada and Brasseur speak of a yet higher rank among the princes. ‘Vna de las maiores grandeças, à que llegaba, era atarse el cabello, que era demonstracion de Gran Capitan, y estos se llamaban Quachictin, que era el mas honroso nombre, que à los Capitanes se los daba, y pocos lo alcançaban.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 543. ‘Dont les membres se nommaient “Quachictin,” c’est-à-dire, Couronnés. Leurs insignes consistaient dans la courroie écarlate dont nous avons parlé plus haut, mais dont le bout, avec sa houppe de plumes, pendait alors jusqu’à la ceinture.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 590-1. Herrera and Acosta both mention a fourth order: ‘Auia otros como caualleros Pardos, que no eran de tanta cuenta, como estos, los quales tenian vnas coletas cortadas por encima de la oreja en redondo.’ Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 443-4; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xix.; West und Ost Indischer Lustgart, pt i., p. 99; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 267-8; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 140.

Montezuma, who was a member of the order of Princes, when he went in person against the enemy, wore upon his legs greaves of gold, and upon his arms thin plates of the same metal, as well as bracelets; about his neck were a collar and chains of gold and precious stones; from his ears and lower lip hung ornaments of gold set with precious chalchiuites; and from the back of his head to his waist was suspended the glittering decoration of royalty, only worn by kings, the quachictli. This was an ornament of exquisite workmanship, wrought with great labor of costly feathers and jewels, and shaped somewhat like a butterfly. In addition to this he was distinguished from his retinue by a shield upon which was displayed the royal coat of arms in feather-work; and he carried also a small drum, upon which he beat the signal for battle.[431]The greaves were called cozehuatl, the brachials matemecatl, the bracelets matzopetztli, the lip ornament tentetl, the ear-rings nacochtli, and the collar or necklace cozcapetlatl. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 543; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 595; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 141.

Military Dress and Ornaments

On the occasion when the sovereigns and nobility of Mexico, Tezcuco, and Tlacopan came out to receive Cortés, there was little, so far as dress was concerned, by which king might be distinguished from subject; the only difference was that the monarchs wore crowns of gold and precious stones, bejeweled sandals with golden soles, and tassels at the end of the ribbon with which their hair was bound.[432]Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 295-6. A prince of the blood-royal, on his début upon the battle-field, was clad in plain white; his behavior was closely watched, and after the action such insignia and colors as he had merited by his conduct were bestowed upon him.

Sahagun gives an extended description of the gorgeous war-costumes of the noble Aztec warriors, with the native name for each fraction of the equipments. Here are described head-dresses composed of rich feathers, prominent among which were the quetzal; corselets of red and green feathers, worked with gold thread; head-dresses of green feathers set in gold bands, or of tiger-skin; helmets of silver; a garment called tocivitl reaching to the knees, made of yellow macaw-feathers, embroidered with gold, and worn with a golden casque plumed with quetzal-feathers; and other equally gorgeous attire. As a means of directing their men some officers bore small drums, painted and ornamented with feathers so as to correspond with their dress, in a net at their backs; others carried little flags made of feathers held together with bands of gold or silver. Many noble warriors had their armorial bearings, devils, monsters, and what not, painted or embroidered upon their backs. Truly such spolia opima were worthy of a hero’s toil.[433]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 293-7.

The rank and file of the Aztec army wore no clothing but the maxtli in battle, but by painting their faces and bodies in grotesque patterns with brilliant colors, and covering their heads with raw cotton, they presented a sufficiently fierce and gaudy appearance.[434]Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxvi.; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 593; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 143; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 543.

The Tlascaltec leaders wore a quilted cotton tunic two fingers in thickness that fitted closely to the body and also protected the shoulders and thighs; the wealthier class wore over the tunic a cuirass of thin gold or silver plates, and over all they threw a rich mantle of feather-work elegantly embroidered; to protect their legs they put on leathern boots or wooden greaves ornamented with gold. On their heads they wore a morion made of hide or wood representing the head of some animal, bird, or serpent. From the crown waved a magnificent tuft of richly variegated plumes, a conspicuous mark, that served to denote the warrior’s rank.

Armor and Defensive Weapons

The armor and defensive weapons of the Nahua knights, though of little service against the firearms and swordsmanship of the Spaniards, yet were admirably suited for protection from the weapons in use among themselves. The chimalli, or Mexican shield, was made of various materials and in divers forms; sometimes it was round, sometimes oval, sometimes rounded only on the lower side; it was commonly constructed of flexible bamboo canes, bound firmly together, and covered with hide. The face of the shield was ornamented according to the rank and taste of the bearer; that of a noble was generally covered with thin plates of gold, with a heavy boss in the centre. In Tabasco, and along the coast, tortoise-shells, inlaid with gold, silver, or copper, were commonly used as shields. Reed-grass, hides, or nequen-cloth, coated with India-rubber, served to protect an Aztec common soldier. Some shields were of an ordinary size, others were intended to cover the entire body, and were so constructed that when not in use they could be folded up and carried under the arm. The body-armor of the nobles and higher grades of warriors consisted of a breast-piece made of quilted cotton, one or two fingers in thickness, called ichcahuepilli; over this was a thick cotton coat, which covered part of the arms and thighs, made in one piece, fastened behind, and decorated with feathers of whatever colors the uniform of the company to which the wearer belonged might be. This cotton armor was completely arrow-proof, and was of great service to the Spanish Conquerors, who lost no time in adopting it in place of their heavy steel armor. Arm and leg guards made of wood covered with leather or gold plates and trimmed with feathers, and morions of the same material shaped and painted to represent the head of a tiger, serpent, or monster, with mouth open and teeth bared, complete the defensive equipment. Over a cuirass of gold and silver plates some lords wore a garment of feathers which is said to have been proof against arrows and javelins. Nobles and officers also wore lofty plumes so as to present the appearance of increased stature.[435]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 141-3; Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 305.

The shields used by the Toltecs were made of skins ornamented with feathers of various colors; on their heads they wore helmets of gold, silver, or skins. The body-armor worn by the principal warriors was made of double cloth padded with cotton; it differed from that of the Aztecs inasmuch as it reached down to the ankles and was worn over a thin white tunic. The private soldiers, like those of the Aztec army, also painted the upper part of the body to represent armor, but from the waist to the thighs they wore short drawers and over them, fastened round the waist, a kind of kilt that reached to the knees and availed them somewhat for defence. Across the body was a sash made of feathers that passed from the right shoulder to the left side of the waist. They wore sandals on their feet and had feather-ornaments upon their heads, more or less rich according to the quality of the warrior. When going to battle they adorned their necks, breasts, arms, and legs with their most valuable trinkets of gold or precious stones.[436]Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 289-90. Tezozomoc mentions that the Tarascos wore steel helmets, but, as I have already stated, none of these nations were acquainted with the use of iron in any shape.[437]Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 83. Some of the armor in use among the Tabascans must have been exceedingly rich, judging by that which was presented to Juan de Grijalva by the cacique of that province. It consisted of greaves for the knees and legs made of wood and covered with sheets of gold, head-pieces covered with gold plates and precious stones, among which was a visor, of which the upper half was of jewels linked together, and the lower half of gold plates; then there were cuirasses of solid gold, besides a quantity of armor-plates sufficient to cover the whole body.[438]Carli, Cartas, pt i., pp. 17-21; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 354; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. iii., cap. ii.; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 37; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., p. 519; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 14. For further reference to defensive weapons and armor, see: Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 608-19; West-Indische Spieghel, p. 246; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 267; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 81-3; Mexique, Études Hist., p. 8; Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt ii., p. 28; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., p. 161; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 133; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 542.

Offensive Weapons

The offensive weapons of the Aztecs consisted of bows and arrows, slings, clubs, spears, light javelins, and swords; and in the use of all of these the soldiers were well skilled. The bows were made of tough, elastic wood, and were about five feet in length; for strings they used the sinews of animals or stags’ hair twisted. The arrows were light canes, with about six inches of oak or other hard wood inserted in the end; at the extremity a piece of iztli was fastened with twisted nequen-fibre, and further secured by a paste of resin or other adhesive substance. Sometimes instead of iztli they used the bones of animals or fish; the bone of a fish called libisa is said to have caused by its venomous properties[439]Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xi.; Gage’s New Survey, pp. 99-100. a wound very difficult to heal. It is well known that none of the Nahua nations used poisoned arrows; such weapons would have defeated the object for which they often engaged in war, namely that of taking their enemies alive for the purpose of immolating them upon the altars of their gods. It is reasonable to believe that many of them attained to great accuracy in shooting with the bow, but there is room to doubt the assertion that some of them were able to shoot with three or four arrows at a time; or to throw an ear of corn into the air and pierce every kernel before it reached the ground; or to throw up a coin of the size of half a dollar, and keep it in the air as long as they pleased with their arrows.[440]‘I Tehuacanesi erano singolarmente rinomati per la lor destrezza nel tirar tre, o quatro frecce insieme…. La destrezza di quei Popoli nel tirar le frecce non sarebbe credibile, se non fosse accertata per la deposizione di centinaja di testimonj oculati. Radunatisi parecchj frecciatori gettano in sù una pannocchia di frumentone, e si mettono a saettarla con una tal prontezza, e con una tal desterità, che non la lasciano venite a terra, finattantochè non le hanno levati tutti i grani. Gettano similmente una moneta d’argento non più grande d’un giulio, e saettandola la trattengono in aria, quanto voglioni.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 143. The sling was a braid of pita-thread or other fibre, broader in the middle than at the ends, with which stones were thrown with much force and accuracy; the missiles were carried in a pouch filled with stones and suspended from the waist in front. The maza was a club similar to the Roman clava, tapering from the handle towards the end and terminating in a knotty head, filled with points of iztli or tempered copper.[441]Ixtlilxochitl mentions clubs studded with iron, but it is well known that the Aztec nations had no knowledge of that mineral, although it is said they possessed the art of being able to temper copper to the hardness of steel, ‘porras claveteadas de hierro, cobre y oro.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 332. The macana, or macuahuitl, called by the Spaniards espada, a sword, was made of tough wood, about three and a half feet long, with a flat blade four fingers in width armed upon both sides with sharp pieces of iztli about three fingers long by three wide, which were inserted into the grooved edge at intervals, and cemented with some adhesive compound.[442]According to Gomara it was made of ‘cierta rayz que llaman çacotl, y de teuxalli, que es vna arena rezia, y como de vena de diamantes, que mezclan y amassan con sangre de morcielagos, y no se que otras aues.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 110. This weapon, when not in immediate use, was carried slung to the arm with a cord. Many of these swords were two-handed and very heavy, and it is asserted that with them the Aztec warrior could at one blow cut a man in two or sever a horse’s head. The one with which the famous Tlascaltec commander Tlahuicol fought was so weighty that a man of ordinary strength could hardly raise it from the ground.[443]In reference to the macana, which all assert to have been a most formidable weapon, I quote only a few authorities. ‘Sus espadas de palo largas, de un palo muy fuerte, engeridas de pedernales agudísimos, que de una cuchillada cortaban á cercen el pescuezo de un caballo.’ Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 188. Bernal Diaz describing a battle with the Tlascaltecs where Pedro de Moron was wounded and had his horse killed, says ‘dieron vna cuchillada â la yegua, que le cortaron el pescueço redondo, y alli quedó muerta.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 44. ‘Taglia come vn rasoio di Tolosa. Io viddi che combattendosi vn di, diede vn Indiano vna cortellata a vn cauallo sopra il qual era vn caualliero con chi combatteua, nel petto, che glielo aperse fin alle interiora, et cadde incontanente morto, & il medesimo giorno viddi che vn’altro cortellata a vn’altro cauallo su il collo che se lo gettò morto a i piedi.’ Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 305. The Anonymous Conqueror does not say the head was cut off, but that one horse was killed with a cut on the breast that opened it to the entrails, and the other from a cut on the neck was laid dead at his feet. ‘Lo que podrán efectuar con aquella espada en el pescuezo del caballo sera de la herida cuanto entraren los filos en la carne, que no pasarán de un canto de real de plata, porque todo lo otro es grueso, por tener el lomo que arriba referimos las navajas.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxvi.; Hernandez,Nova Plant., p. 340; Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., p. 1129. The Mexican spears were very strong, and were pointed with iztli or copper. Spears were the principal weapon used by the Zapotecs and other tribes of Oajaca. The tlacochtli, or Mexican javelin, was like a long arrow made of otlatl or bamboo; the point was usually hardened in the fire or armed with iztli, copper, or bone; many had three points, thus inflicting a very severe wound; they were hurled with great force, and had a cord attached, so that when thrown they could be recovered for another cast. Some writers mention a ballista as being used with which to launch the javelin, but I do not find any description of its form or of the manner of using it;[444]It may be that this ballesta was a somewhat similar implement to that used by the Aleuts and Isthmians. See vol. i., pp. 90, 761. ‘Dardi che essi tirano con vn manga no fatto di vn’altro bastone.’ Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 305; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 594-5. certainly the javelin was projected with great velocity, if it be true, as asserted, that they would pass through a man’s body; they were much dreaded by the Spanish Conquerors.

THE BLOW-PIPE AND STANDARDS.

When the Chichimecs first settled in the valley of Anáhuac the only weapons were the bow and arrow and blow-pipe, in the use of which they were very expert. The blow-pipe was a long hollow tube through which clay pellets were projected, and it is affirmed that with them the Chichimecs could kill a man or wild beast at a moderate distance; afterwards this weapon came to be generally used by other nations, but was only employed for shooting small birds. Among other things, Cortés was presented by Montezuma with a dozen blow-pipes beautifully ornamented and painted with figures of birds and animals; the mouth-piece of each was made of gold, five or six inches long; they were also ornamented in the centre with gold, and accompanying them were gold net-work pouches to carry the pellets.[445]Cortés, Cartas, p. 101; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 5; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 299; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 460. The Matlaltzincas and Tabascans used weapons similar to those of the nations of the Anáhuac valley; the former were especially dexterous in their practice with the sling, which, when not in actual use, was carried wound about the head.[446]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 128-9. The fighting men among the Jaliscans were similarly armed, but the lords and captains carried only long staves with which to urge their men to fight and punish any who were disorderly or showed symptoms of cowardice.[447]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 339.

Each nation had its own particular standard on which were painted or embroidered the armorial bearings of the state. That of the Mexican empire, as we have seen, bore an eagle in the act of seizing a tiger, or jaguar. That of the republic of Tlascala, a bird with its wings spread as in the act of flying, which some authors call an eagle, others a white bird or crane. Each of the four lordships of the republic had also its appropriate ensign; Tizatlan had a crane upon a rock, Tepeticpac a wolf with a bunch of arrows in his paws, Ocotelulco a green bird upon a rock, and Quiahuiztlan a parasol made of green feathers.[448]In regard to the armorial ensign of the Tlascaltecs, authors differ. It is admitted that the general-in-chief carried the standard of the republic, and important authorities say that the one borne by Xicotencatl in his battle with Cortés had emblazoned upon it a white bird resembling an ostrich or heron, but Clavigero and Prescott incline to the opinion that the emblem was an eagle. In regard to this we have the following accounts. Bernal Diaz, an actor in the battle, says the Tlascaltec army was ranged under the banner of Xicotencatl, ‘qua era vn aue blanca tendidas las alas, como que queria bolar, que parece como auestruz.’ Hist. Conq., fol. 45. ‘Lleuaua el estandarte de la ciudad, que es vna grua de oro con las alas tendidas.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 75. ‘Esta bandera de Tascaltecle es una grua que trae por divisa, ó armas al natural, de oro, é tendidas las alas.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 499. ‘Xicotencatl … llevaba el Estandarte de la Republica, que era vn Aguila de Oro, con las Alas estendidas.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 423; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 145; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 439; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., p. 234. Each company or command had also a distinct standard, the colors of which corresponded to that of the armor and plumes of the chief. The great standard of the Tlascaltec army was carried by the general commanding, and the smaller banners of the companies by their respective captains; they were carried on the back and were so firmly tied there that they could not be detached without great difficulty.[449]‘Ha ogni compagnia il suo Alfiere con la sua insegna inhastata, & in tal modo ligata sopra le spalle, che non gli da alcun disturbo di poter combattere ne far ciò che vuole, & la porta cosi ligata bene al corpo, che se non fanno del suo corpo pezzi, non se gli puo sligare, ne torgliela mai.’ Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 305. When upon a march and not in presence of the enemy the standard of the Tlascaltecs was carried in the van, but in action it was always placed in the rear. The Mexican standard was borne in the centre of the army. Instruments of music, consisting of drums, horns, and large sea-shells, were sounded while fighting to encourage and animate the men.

Ambassadors and Couriers

The office of ambassador was one of much consequence, and persons of the highest rank, selected for their courteous manners and oratorical powers, were appointed to the position. Their persons were held sacred and they were usually received by those to whom they were sent with honor and respect, perfumed with incense, presented with flowers, and well lodged and entertained; in case any insult or indignity was offered them, it constituted a sufficient cause of war. Such an instance occurred when the Tepanecs, during the reign of their king Maxtlaton, invited the Mexican monarch Itzcoatl and his chiefs to visit their province and partake of their hospitality. Itzcoatl declined at the advice of his chiefs, but the latter went, carrying presents. They were accepted by the Tepanecs and the chiefs sent back in women’s apparel, which they were compelled to wear; the indignity brought about a war between the two nations. The proper courtesy and protection due to their position was, however, only accorded them when on the high road that led to their destination; if they deviated from it they lost their rights and privileges as ambassadors. When on duty they wore a special garb that denoted their office; it consisted of a green habit resembling a scapulary, or small cloak; handsome feathers were twisted in the hair with tufts of divers colors; in the right hand they carried an arrow with the point towards the ground, and in the left a shield; a small net containing provisions hung from the left arm.

A complete courier-system was established throughout the empire; these couriers were employed to carry messages in peace and war, and fresh provisions for the king’s table; as we have seen in a former chapter, it is asserted that Montezuma had fresh fish brought to his palace daily from the gulf coast. They were exceedingly swift runners, being exercised from childhood and encouraged by rewards to excel in speed. Stations were fixed at distances of about six miles apart, where small towers were built, in which dwelt one or more couriers ready at all times to set out with dispatches. As soon as a courier arrived at one of these towers, one of those waiting received from him the message he bore, usually expressed in paintings, and at once started for the next stage, and thus the tidings were conveyed to the capital in an incredibly short time. When the dispatches were of an important nature, the courier wore some badge or was dressed in a manner indicative of the intelligence entrusted to him. For instance, if it related to a defeat in battle, he traveled with hair dishevelled, preserving a strict silence until the message was delivered to the person to whom it was directed; on the other hand, if he brought news of a victory, his hair was neatly tied with a colored string, about his body was wrapped a white cotton cloth, on his left arm he carried a shield and in his right hand a sword which he brandished as if in combat, singing at the same time the glorious deeds of the victors.[450]‘Respetaban à los Embaxadores de sus mortales enemigos, como à Dioses, teniendo por mejor violar qualquier rito de su Religion, que pecar contra la fee dada à los Embaxadores.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 535-6. ‘Los Correos, ò Mensageros, que se despachaban de las Guerras, tambien pasaban seguros, por todas partes.’ Ib.; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 118-20.

Nahua Fortifications

The Mexicans and other Nahua nations, favored by the general features of the country, adopted a system of fortifications and entrenchments admirably adapted to secure them from the attacks of internal enemies, though insufficient as a defense against the superior tactics and indomitable perseverance of Cortés. The position of the city of Tenochtitlan, or Mexico, gave it all the advantages of a fortified town. There was no avenue of approach to it but the causeways, which were defended by towers and ditches spanned by draw-bridges; it was the untimely raising of one of these draw-bridges that caused such destruction to the Spaniards and their allies on the ‘noche triste.’ Besides this, the inhabitants prepared themselves to defend their city by means of boats, and were frequently exercised in sham naval engagements. The temples of Mexico served all the purposes of citadels, especially the great temple built by the Emperor Tizoc. It occupied the centre of the city and was surrounded by a stone wall eight feet high and very thick, having turrets and stone figures upon it; the wall was pierced by four principal entrances, over each of which were fortified apartments, well stocked with weapons, offensive and defensive, ready for immediate service; here, in case of a revolt or sudden alarm, the garrison went and armed themselves.[451]‘A cada parte y puerta de las cuatro del patio del templo grande ya dicho habia una gran sala con muy buenos aposentos altos y bajos en rededor. En estos tenian muchas armas, porque como los Templos tengan por fortalezas de los pueblos tienen en ellos toda su municion.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. li. One of the royal palaces also contained a large armory where great quantities of arms were kept and armorers employed in their manufacture. The peculiar architecture of the temple rendered the ascent to its top very slow and difficult; during the battles of the Mexicans with Cortés’ troops after Montezuma’s death, five hundred Mexican nobles took possession of this summit, whence they hurled darts, arrows, and stones against the Spaniards, many of whom lost their lives during the assault before the position was taken by Cortés in person. In his dispatch to the Emperor Charles the Fifth he says: “so arduous was the attempt to take this tower that if God had not broken their spirits, twenty of them would have been sufficient to resist the ascent of a thousand men, although they fought with the greatest valor even unto death.”[452]‘Si Dios no les quebrara las alas.’ Cortés, Cartas, p. 132. See also Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 151-2; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 319.

Besides the arsenal and general rendezvous there were many turreted towers and strong buildings throughout the city, from the top of which men could shoot their arrows and hurl darts and stones with great effect. The lofty teocalli served as watch-towers, whence the movements of the enemy could be observed. Naturally impregnable localities, such as the vicinity of impassable rivers or ravines were selected as sites for cities, which they further strengthened with forts or surrounded with stone walls. The city of Guacachula, taken by Cortés shortly after his retreat from Mexico on the ‘noche triste,’ is thus described by him in his letter to Charles the Fifth: “This city of Guacachula is situated upon a plain bounded upon one side by some very lofty and craggy hills; encircling the plain, on the other sides, about two cross-bow shots apart, are two rivers that run through large and deep ravines. There are but few means of entrance to the city, and those extremely difficult both in the ascent and descent so that they can hardly be passed on horseback. The whole city is surrounded by a very strong wall of stone and lime about twenty-two feet high on the outside and almost level with the ground upon the inside. Around the whole wall runs a battlement, half the height of a man, as a protection when fighting; it has four entrances of sufficient width to admit a man on horseback, and in each entrance are three or four curves in the wall that lap one over the other and in the course of the curves, on the top of the wall are parapets for fighting. In the whole circuit of the wall is a large quantity of stones large and small and of different shapes for use in action.” Four leagues distant from Guacachula was another city called Izucan, also strongly fortified with breastworks, towers, and a deep river that encircled a great part of the city.[453]Cortés, Cartas, pp. 150, 152.

One of the most celebrated structures built for defence was the stone wall erected by the Tlascaltecs to secure themselves from the incursions of the Mexicans. This wall was six miles long, extending across a valley from one mountain to another; it was nearly nine feet high and twenty feet thick, surmounted along its whole length by a breastwork that enabled its defenders to fight in comparative security from the top. There was only one entrance, about ten paces wide, where one part of the wall overlapped the other in curvilinear form in the manner of a ravelin for a distance of forty paces. Bernal Diaz and Cortés differ as to the materials of which the wall was built. The former affirms that it was built of stones cemented together with lime and a bitumen so strongly that it was necessary to use pick-axes to separate them, while the latter says it was built of dry stone.

Cortés, describing the residence of the cacique of Iztacmaxtitlan, a garrison of the Mexicans, says it was situated on a lofty eminence, with a better fortress than there was in half Spain, defended by a wall, barbican, and moats.[454]‘Una gran cerca de piedra seca.’ Cortés, Cartas, pp. 59-60. ‘Una fuerça bien fuerte hecha de cal y canto, y de otro betun tan rezio, que con picos de hierro era forçoso deshazerla.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 43; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 418-19; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., pp. 229, 232; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., pp. 134-5; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 70; Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. i.; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 150; Solis, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. i., p. 241. In many other parts of the country were stone fortifications, wooden stockades and intrenchments. A short distance from the village of Molcaxac stood a strong fortress built on the top of a mountain; it was surrounded by four walls, erected at certain intervals between the base of the mountain and the top. Twenty-five miles from Córdova was the fortress of Quauhtochco, now Guatusco, encircled by high stone walls in which were no entrance gates; the interior could only be gained by means of steep narrow steps, a method commonly adopted in the country.[455]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 150. The nations of Michoacan and Jalisco employed heavy tree-trunks in fortifying their positions against the Spanish invaders, or cut deep intrenchments in which they fixed sharpened stakes. Previous to an attack led by Pedro Alvarado against the inhabitants of Jalisco, the latter took up a strong position on a hill which they fortified by placing large stones in such a manner, that upon cutting the cords that held them they would be precipitated upon the assailants; in the assault many Spaniards were killed and Alvarado was thrown from his horse with such violence that he died two days afterwards.[456]Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, p. 107; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 567; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 133.

Under the tripartite treaty made by the kingdoms of Mexico, Tezcuco, and Tlacopan, a military council was established consisting of a president and twenty-one members. During the reign of the emperor Nezahualcoyotl their deliberations were held in a hall of his palace in Tezcuco. The president belonged to the highest rank of the nobility and commanders of the army, the other members were composed of six of the principal men of Tezcuco, three nobles and three commoners, and fifteen selected from the other chief provinces. All were veteran officers of recognized courage and good conduct. To this court were referred all matters relating to war. The council assembled when required, to discuss and decide all affairs of the service, whether for the punishment of offenses subversive of military discipline, or to transact the business relative to a declaration of war against other powers. In the latter case the consultation always took place in presence of the sovereign, or of the three heads of the empire. All ambassadors and soldiers were subject to this tribunal, which meted out reward as well as punishment. The following were the articles of war:

Articles of War

First: any general or other military officer who, accompanying the king on a campaign, should forsake him, or leave him in the power of the enemy, thereby failing in his duty, which was to bring back his sovereign dead or alive, suffered death by decapitation.

Second: any officer who formed the prince’s guard and deserted his trust, suffered death by decapitation.

Third: any soldier who disobeyed his superior officer, or abandoned his post, or turned his back upon the enemy, or showed them favor, suffered death by decapitation.

Fourth: any officer or soldier who usurped the captive or spoil of another, or who ceded to another the prisoner he himself had taken, suffered death by hanging.

Fifth: any soldier who in war caused injury to the enemy without permission of his officer, or who attacked before the signal was given, or who abandoned the standard or headquarters, or broke or violated any order issued by his captain, suffered death by decapitation.

Sixth: the traitor who revealed to the enemy the secrets of the army or orders communicated for the success thereof, suffered death by being torn to pieces; his property was forfeited to the crown and all his children and relations were made slaves in perpetuity.

Seventh: any person who protected or concealed an enemy in time of war, whether noble or plebeian, suffered death by being torn to pieces in the middle of the public square, and his limbs were given to the populace to be treated as objects of derision and contempt.

Eighth: any noble or person of distinction who, in action, or at any dance or festival, exhibited the insignia or badges of the kings of Mexico, Tezcuco, or Tlacopan, suffered death and forfeiture of property.

Ninth: any nobleman who, being captured by the enemy fled from prison and returned to his country suffered death by decapitation; but, if he fought and vanquished seven soldiers in gladiatorial combat previous to return, he was free and was rewarded as a brave man. The private soldier who fled from an enemy’s prison and returned to his country was well received.

Tenth: any ambassador who failed to discharge his trust in accordance with the orders and instructions given to him or who returned without an answer, suffered death by decapitation.[457]Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 203-4, 422-3; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 384-5, 540; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv.; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 243, 246; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 132.

As I have already stated, the primary object of most wars was to procure victims for sacrifices to Huitzilopochtli and other gods, and the Mexicans were never at a loss for an excuse to pick a quarrel. The refusal of a neighboring power to receive in its temple one of the Mexican gods, neglect to pay tribute demanded, insults offered to ambassadors or traveling merchants, or symptoms of rebellion in a city or a province, furnished sufficient pretext to take up arms. The rulers of Mexico, however, always endeavored to justify their conduct before they made war, and never commenced hostilities without sending due notice of their intention to the adversary. Before an actual challenge was sent or war declared against any nation, the council met in presence of the three heads of the empire, and gravely discussed the equity of the case. If the difficulty lay with a province subject to the empire, secret emissaries were sent to inquire whether the fault originated solely with the governor or if he was sustained by his subjects. If it appeared that the whole blame rested with the governor, a force was sent to arrest him, and he was publicly punished, together with all others implicated; but if the rising was with the consent of the people, they were summoned to submit and place themselves in obedience to the king whose vassals they were, and a fine, proportionate to the magnitude of the case, was imposed. It was customary for the rulers of Mexico or Tezcuco to send messengers to distant provinces with a demand that they should receive one or more of their gods and worship them in their temples. If the messenger was killed or the proposed god rejected, a war ensued.

Declaration of War

As I have said, it was a breach of international etiquette to proceed to war without giving due notice to the enemy, and military law prescribed that three embassies should be despatched before commencing hostilities. The number of ambassadors varied according to the circumstances and rank of the princes against whom war was to be made, for the higher his rank the fewer in number were the envoys. If he was a great king only one was sent, and he was generally of the blood-royal or a famous general. Sometimes the ambassadors were instructed to deliver their message directly to the hostile prince, at other times to the people of the province. In the first case upon entering into the prince’s presence they paid their respects with reverence, and having seated themselves in the centre of the audience-hall, waited till permission was given them to speak. The signal made, the principal among them delivered his message in a low tone of voice and with a studied address, the audience preserving a decorous silence, and listening attentively. As a general thing, in all embassies an interchange of presents was made, and if the message was from one friendly power to another, a refusal of such gifts was a serious affront. If, however, it was to an enemy, the ambassador could not receive a present without express orders from his master. When the three powers of Mexico, Tezcuco, and Tlacopan acted in unison, in the event of a difficulty with another nation, the first ambassadors sent were of the Mexican nation and were called quaquauhnochtzin. Upon arriving at the capital of the kingdom or province they proceeded at once to the public square and summoned before them the ministers and aged men, to whom they made known the several circumstances of the case, warning them that, in case their lord refused to accede to their propositions, upon them and their families would fall the evils and hardships produced by war, and exhorting them to counsel and persuade their lord to maintain the good will and protection of the empire; for this purpose they granted twenty days, within which time they would expect an answer, and in order that there might be no complaint of being surprised and taken unprepared they left a supply of weapons and then retired outside the town to await the answer. If within the twenty days it was decided to accept the terms of the ambassadors, the ministers went to the place where they were in waiting and conducted them into the city, where they were received with every mark of respect, and in a short time were sent back to their own country, accompanied by other ambassadors, bearing costly presents in token of friendship and esteem. If, however, twenty days passed without a satisfactory adjustment of the difficulty, a second set of ambassadors, held in readiness for the occasion, who had to be of the kingdom of Tezcuco and were called achcacauhtzin, were sent into the city. These carried with them a quantity of arms, some feathers of a bird called tecpilotl, and a small earthenware jar containing a certain balsamic and aromatic ointment, compounded of various herbs and gums. They went directly to the palace of the prince and in presence of the gentlemen of his court delivered their message. They then represented to him the miseries of war, and warned him, that if within the space of twenty days he did not agree to their terms, in the event of his being taken captive during the war which would ensue he would be put to death under the penalty of the law, which sentenced him to have his head smashed with a club, and that his vassals would be chastised in proportion to the offence each had committed. If the refractory prince or noble refused immediate compliance, the ambassadors anointed his right arm and his head with the ointment brought with them, telling him to be strong and of good courage and to fight bravely against the troops of the empire, whose valor in war they greatly extolled. They then tied the tecpilotl-plumes at the back of his head with red strings, handed him the weapons they had brought with them, and retired to the place where the first ambassadors were, to await the expiration of the twenty days. If he surrendered within the time, he was required to pay a stipulated annual tribute of small amount, but if he refused to surrender, there came a third set of ambassadors, who were of the kingdom of Tlacopan; they appeared before the lord in the presence of his ministers and court, and delivered their message with stronger threats and warnings, to the effect that if he did not surrender at the expiration of a further twenty days, the army of the empire would march against his territory and punish the inhabitants regardless of age or sex, and that although they might implore its clemency they would not be heard; they then gave them a larger supply of arms than on the preceding occasions, telling them to avail themselves of them and not to say at a future time that they had been assailed unprepared. If the lord of the province surrendered within the last twenty days, he was punished according to the pleasure of the three powers, but not with death nor with the confiscation of his rank or property; he was usually condemned to pay an extraordinary tribute out of his own revenues; should he continue rebellious, war broke out, and the army of the empire, already prepared on the frontiers, commenced its operations.[458]Las Casas says that very old women were admitted to war councils. ‘Nunca movian guerra sin dar parte al pueblo, y sin mucho consejo de los mas ancianos y caballeros ejercitados en la guerra, al cual consejo se admitian las mujeres muy viejas como personas que habian visto y oido muchas cosas y asi esperimentadas de lo pasado.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxvi. According to the Chevalier Boturini the first ambassadors were accredited to the king or lord of the province, the second were dispatched to the nobility requiring them to persuade their lord, and the third convoked the people and advised them of the motives their monarch had for waging war against them. Boturini, Idea, pp. 162-3. See also Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 424-7; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., pp. 246-7; Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Id., pp. 40, 73; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 382-3, 534-5.

It was usual to send a formal challenge or declaration of war, accompanied by some presents, either of arms, clothing, or food, as it was held to be a discreditable act to attack any unarmed or defenseless people. A notable instance of this spirit was shown by the Tlascaltecs when they confronted the army of Cortés; their general is reported to have exclaimed: “Who are these presumptuous men, so few in number that they attempt to enter our country in spite of us? Lest they think we want to take them by hunger rather than by force of arms, let us send them food, that we may find them savory after the sacrifice, for they come starved and worn out.” Before the battle they sent three hundred turkeys and two hundred baskets of centli or tamales, each basket weighing about twenty-five pounds, a gift most acceptable to the Castilians.[459]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 423; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 75; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. vi.

When war against another nation was decided upon, the first care of the Mexicans was to investigate the character and resources of the region they were about to invade. Certain spies called quimichtin, who were selected for their knowledge of the language and customs of the enemy’s country, were sent thither, dressed after the manner of the inhabitants. These spies were directed to prepare maps of the districts they passed through, showing the plains, rivers, mountains, and dangerous passes as well as the most practicable routes, and were to take notice of all means of defense possessed by the enemy. The sketches and information thus obtained were given to the chiefs of the army to guide them in their march and enable them to make the best disposition of their forces. Such spies as brought valuable news were rewarded with the grant of a piece of land, and if one came over from the enemy’s side and gave advice of their preparations and force, he was well paid and given presents of mantles.[460]‘A estas Espias, que embiaban delante, llamaban Ratones, que andan de noche, ò escondidos, y à hurtadillas.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 538. When a war was to be conducted jointly by the three allied powers, proclamation was made by heralds in the public thoroughfares of the capital cities. Commissariat officers called calpixques collected the necessary stores and provisions for the campaign, and distributed weapons and coarse mantles of nequen to the army. The troops then went to the temple and performed the ceremony of scarifying their bodies, while the customary sacrifices were offered by the priests to Huitzilopochtli.

Order of March and Battle

If the expedition was an important one and the army large, it was composed of several divisions, called xiquipilli, each consisting of eight thousand men under their respective commanders. When all was in readiness the order of march was thus formed: the priests with their idols started one day’s march in advance; next came the captains and flower of the army, followed by the soldiers of Mexico; after them the Tezcucans, and then those of Tlacopan, the rear being closed by the troops of other provinces; one day’s march separated each division. Perfect order was maintained on the route, and when near the enemy’s country the chiefs traced out the camping-ground each division should occupy, and directed all to entrench and fortify their positions.[461]Camargo says: ‘L’armée était divisée par bataillons de cent hommes.’ Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 134. ‘Quando l’esercito era numeroso, si contava per Xiquipilli: ed ogni Xiquipilli si componeva d’otto mila uomini.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 147.

The battle was sometimes fought on a piece of neutral ground lying between the confines of two territories. Such a place was known by the name yauhtlalli, and was especially reserved for the purpose, and always left uncultivated.[462]Also spelt quiahtlale, jaotlalli, meaning a place for war. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 147-3; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 322; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 538. Before the action commenced each soldier received from the royal magazine a handful of pinole and a kind of cake called tlaxcaltotopochtli; afterwards the high-priest or chief addressed the troops, reminding them of the glory to be gained by victory, and the eternal bliss in store for those who fell, and concluded by counseling them to place their trust in Huitzilopochtli and fight valiantly. If the king was present on the field the signal for attack was given by him. The Mexican monarch issued his orders to commence the action by sounding on a large shell making a noise like a trumpet; the lords of Tezcuco beat upon a small drum, and lords of other provinces struck two bones together. The signals for retreat were given upon similar instruments. When the battle commenced, the shrieking of musical instruments, the clashing of swords against bucklers, and shouting of the combatants made a noise so great as to strike terror into those unused to it. While fighting the warriors shouted the names of their respective towns or districts to enable them to recognize each other and prevent confusion.[463]Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 31, 41, 50, 147.

In fighting there appears to have been no special tactics; the commanders of divisions and the captains used every effort to keep their men together, and were very careful to protect the standard, as, if that was taken, the battle was considered lost and all fled. They observed the wise policy of keeping a number of men in reserve to replace any who were wearied or had exhausted their weapons. The archers, slingers, and javelin men commenced the action at a distance and gradually drew nearer, until they came to close quarters, when they took to their swords and spears. All movements, both in advance and retreat, were rapidly executed; sometimes a retreat was feigned in order to draw the enemy into an ambuscade which had been prepared beforehand. The chief object was to take prisoners and not to slay; when an enemy refused to surrender, they endeavored to wound them in the foot or leg so as to prevent escape, but they never accepted a ransom for a prisoner. Certain men were attached to the army whose duty it was to remove the killed and wounded during the action, so that the enemy might not know the losses and take fresh heart.[464]For further account of their manner of conducting a war, see: Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 147-9; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 311-12; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxvii.; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 129-31; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 322-3; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 598-601; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 537-40; Chaves, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., pp. 313-14; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 86-8.

Tlascaltecs and Tarascos

The Tlascaltecs formed their army into battalions, each having its appointed chief, the whole being under the command of a general-in-chief, who was elected from among those of the four seigniories into which the republic was divided. Their mode of fighting differed little from that of the Mexicans, with the exception of a certain practice which they observed upon first coming in contact with the enemy. This consisted in carrying with them two darts which they believed would presage victory or defeat according to the result of their delivery into the hostile ranks. According to Motolinia the tradition among them in regard to this belief was, that their ancestors came from the north-west, and that in order to reach the land they navigated eight or ten days; from the oldest among them they then received two darts which they guarded as precious relics, and regarded as an infallible augury by which to know whether they would gain a victory or ought to retreat in time.[465]Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 11; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xvii.; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 87; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 34; Gage’s New Survey, p. 77; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., p. 230. When a victory was won the great standard was brought to the front and placed upon a rising ground or in some conspicuous position, and all were obliged to assemble around it; he who neglected to do so was punished.

The Tarascos fought with great courage to the sound of numerous horns and sea-shells, and carried to battle banners made of feathers of many colors. Their skill and valor is best proven by the fact that the Mexicans were never able to subdue them. They showed especial strategy in luring the foe into ambush. Like the Mexicans their chief object in battle was to take prisoners to sacrifice to their gods.[466]Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., pp. 51, 60-1.

Among the Mexicans, when the battle was over, the first prisoners taken were given to the priests to be sacrificed before the idols they carried with them. An account was taken of the losses sustained and of the number of prisoners and other booty gained. Rewards were distributed to all who had distinguished themselves and punishment inflicted on any who had misbehaved. All disputes relative to the capture of prisoners were inquired into and adjusted. If a case arose where neither of the disputants could prove their title, the prisoner was taken from them and given to the priests to be sacrificed. Those inhabitants of the conquered province who could prove that they had taken no active part in the war were punished at the discretion of their conqueror; usually they were condemned to pay a certain annual tribute, or to construct public works; meantime, the vanquished province was supplied with a governor and officers, appointed from among the conquerors.[467]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 313; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxvii.

When the king or a feudatory lord captured a prisoner for the first time, his success was made the occasion of much rejoicing. The captive, dressed in showy apparel and mounted on a litter, was borne to the town in great triumph, accompanied by a host of warriors shouting and singing; at the outskirts of the city the procession was met by the inhabitants, some playing on musical instruments, others dancing and singing songs composed for the occasion. The prisoner was saluted with mimic honors, and his captor greatly extolled and congratulated. Numbers of people arrived from the adjoining towns and villages to assist in the general hilarity, bringing with them presents of gold, jewels, and rich dresses. Upon the day appointed for the sacrifice a grand festival was held, previous to and after which the lord fasted and performed certain prescribed ceremonies. The victim was usually dressed for the occasion in the robes of the god of the sun, and sacrificed in the usual manner. With some of the blood that flowed, the priest sprinkled the four sides of the temple; the remainder was collected in a vessel and sent to the noble captor, who with it sprinkled all the gods in the court yard of the temple as a thank-offering for the victory he had gained. After the heart was taken out the body was rolled down the steps and received below; the head was then cut off and placed upon a high pole, afterwards the body was flayed, and the skin stuffed with cotton and hung up in the captor’s house as a memento of his prowess.[468]Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 131-4; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 541-2; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 149.

Gladiatorial Combat

When a renowned captain or noble was made prisoner, the right of fighting for his liberty was granted him—an honor not permitted to warriors of an inferior rank. Near the temple was an open space capable of containing a large multitude; in the middle was a circular mound built of stone and mortar, about eight feet high, with steps leading to the top, where was fixed a large round stone, three feet high, smooth, and adorned with figures. This stone was called the temalacatl; upon it the prisoner was placed, tied at the ankle with a cord, which passed through a hole in the centre of the stone. His weapons consisted of a shield and macana.[469]Camargo says the prisoner was given his choice of every kind of offensive and defensive weapons. Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., pp. 188-9, but all other authors state that he was only given a short sword and shield. Boturini says a servant who was under the stone drew the cord and so controlled the prisoner that he could not move. Idea, p. 164. Duran says: ‘El modo que en celebrarlo tenian; que era atar á los Presos con una soga al pie por un ahugero que aquella piedra tenia por medio, y desnudo en cueros le daban una rodela y una espada de solo palo emplumado en las manos, y unas pelotas de palo con que se defendian de los que salian á combatir con él, que eran cuatro muy bien armados.’ Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. 36. He who had taken him prisoner then mounted the stone, better armed, to combat with him. Both the combatants were animated with the strongest motives to fight desperately. The prisoner fought for his life and liberty, and his adversary to sustain his reputation. If the former was conquered, a priest, called chalchiuhtepehua, immediately seized him, hurried him dead or alive to the sacrificial stone and tore out his heart. The victor was then publicly congratulated and rewarded with military honors. If, however, the prisoner vanquished his first opponent and six others, by whom, in succession, he was attacked, he was granted his freedom, all spoil taken from him in battle was restored to him, and he returned to his country covered with glory. A notable violation of this law is recorded of the Huexotzincas. In a battle between them and the Cholultecs, the leader of the latter nation became separated from his own people during the heat of battle, and was, after a gallant resistance, made prisoner and conducted to the capital. Being placed on the gladiatorial stone he conquered the seven adversaries that were brought against him, but the Huexotzincas, dreading to liberate so famous a warrior, contrary to their universal law, put him to death, and thereby covered themselves with ignominy.[470]Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 305; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 47-8.

Prisoners of War

If the prisoner was a person of very high rank, he was taken before the king, who ordered that he should be sumptuously fed and lodged for forty days. At the end of that time he was accorded the right of combat, and if conquered, after the usual sacrificial ceremonies the body was cut into small pieces; these were sent to the relations and friends of the deceased, who received them as relics of great value and acknowledged the favor by returning gold, jewels, and rich plumes.[471]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 536. If we are to believe Gomara and others, the number of victims, chiefly prisoners of war, sacrificed at some of the festivals, was enormous. The historians relate that in front of the principal gate of the temple there was a mound built of stone and lime with innumerable skulls of prisoners inserted between the stones. At the head and foot of the mound were two towers built entirely of skulls and lime; on the top of the mound were seventy or more upright poles, each with many other sticks fastened crossways to it, at intervals, from top to bottom; on the points of each cross stick were five skulls. They go on to say that two soldiers of Cortés counted these skulls and found them to amount to one hundred and thirty-six thousand. Those that composed the towers they could not count.[472]Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 121-2; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 333-5; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xviii.; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 242.

The nations contiguous to the Mexicans imitated to a great extent their manner of disposing of prisoners of war, and kept them to be sacrificed at their festivals. The first prisoner taken in battle by the Tlascaltecs was flayed alive and he who captured him dressed himself in the horrid trophy, and so covered served the god of battles during a certain number of days. He paraded from one temple to another followed by a crowd that shrieked for joy; but had, however, to run from his pursuers, for if they caught him they beat him till he was nearly dead. This ceremony was called exquinan, and was sometimes observed by two or three at the same time.[473]Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcix., p. 134. At one of their festivals they bound their prisoners to high crosses and shot them to death with arrows; at other times they killed them with the bastinado. They had also solemn banquets, at which they ate the flesh of their prisoners. At the taking of Mexico, the Tlascaltec soldiery feasted upon the bodies of the slain Mexicans, and Cortés, although shocked at the revolting practice, was unable to prevent it.[474]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 51; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 423. For further reference to treatment of prisoners, see: Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 250-1; Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Id., p. 164; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 102-3; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 634; Fossey, Mexique, pp. 215-16; Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. viii.

The Mexicans, Tlascaltecs, and neighboring nations always made the return of a successful army the occasion of great festivity and rejoicing; the loud sound of drums and musical instruments greeted the entry of the victorious troops into the capital; triumphal arches were erected in the streets and the houses decorated with flowers; an abundance of copal was burned and sumptuous banquets were prepared; all were dressed in their gayest attire, and the warriors put on all the insignia of their rank; gifts were distributed to those who had performed any deed of gallantry, and minstrels sung or recited poems in their praise. Many went to the temples to observe especial acts of devotion to the gods, and numbers of the prisoners were then sacrificed. All these ceremonies tended to inspire the youths with courage and make them ambitious to gain distinction in war.[475]Instances of how the Mexicans received their victorious armies are given in Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 39, 61, 177-8; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 321-2. See further, Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcix., p. 136; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xvii.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 574; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 489-90.

Footnotes

[428] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 329-32.

[429] Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. i., pl. lxiv-lxvi. In explanation of plate lxv., No. 19, it is stated that the warrior was called Quachic by reason of having taken five prisoners in war. ‘Haber cautivado en la guerra cinco, demas de que en otras guerras a cautivado otros muchos de sus enemigos.’ Explanation of Id., vol. v., p. 104; while Purchas says such a one was ‘called Quagchil … shewing that hee had taken fiue at the Wars of Guexo, besides that in other Wars he tooke many of his enemies.’ Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., p. 1110-11.

[430] Torquemada and Brasseur speak of a yet higher rank among the princes. ‘Vna de las maiores grandeças, à que llegaba, era atarse el cabello, que era demonstracion de Gran Capitan, y estos se llamaban Quachictin, que era el mas honroso nombre, que à los Capitanes se los daba, y pocos lo alcançaban.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 543. ‘Dont les membres se nommaient “Quachictin,” c’est-à-dire, Couronnés. Leurs insignes consistaient dans la courroie écarlate dont nous avons parlé plus haut, mais dont le bout, avec sa houppe de plumes, pendait alors jusqu’à la ceinture.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 590-1. Herrera and Acosta both mention a fourth order: ‘Auia otros como caualleros Pardos, que no eran de tanta cuenta, como estos, los quales tenian vnas coletas cortadas por encima de la oreja en redondo.’ Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 443-4; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xix.; West und Ost Indischer Lustgart, pt i., p. 99; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 267-8; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 140.

[431] The greaves were called cozehuatl, the brachials matemecatl, the bracelets matzopetztli, the lip ornament tentetl, the ear-rings nacochtli, and the collar or necklace cozcapetlatl. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 543; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 595; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 141.

[432] Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 295-6.

[433] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 293-7.

[434] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxvi.; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 593; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 143; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 543.

[435] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 141-3; Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 305.

[436] Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 289-90.

[437] Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 83.

[438] Carli, Cartas, pt i., pp. 17-21; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 354; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. iii., cap. ii.; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 37; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., p. 519; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 14. For further reference to defensive weapons and armor, see: Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 608-19; West-Indische Spieghel, p. 246; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 267; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 81-3; Mexique, Études Hist., p. 8; Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt ii., p. 28; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., p. 161; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 133; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 542.

[439] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xi.; Gage’s New Survey, pp. 99-100.

[440] ‘I Tehuacanesi erano singolarmente rinomati per la lor destrezza nel tirar tre, o quatro frecce insieme…. La destrezza di quei Popoli nel tirar le frecce non sarebbe credibile, se non fosse accertata per la deposizione di centinaja di testimonj oculati. Radunatisi parecchj frecciatori gettano in sù una pannocchia di frumentone, e si mettono a saettarla con una tal prontezza, e con una tal desterità, che non la lasciano venite a terra, finattantochè non le hanno levati tutti i grani. Gettano similmente una moneta d’argento non più grande d’un giulio, e saettandola la trattengono in aria, quanto voglioni.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 143.

[441] Ixtlilxochitl mentions clubs studded with iron, but it is well known that the Aztec nations had no knowledge of that mineral, although it is said they possessed the art of being able to temper copper to the hardness of steel, ‘porras claveteadas de hierro, cobre y oro.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 332.

[442] According to Gomara it was made of ‘cierta rayz que llaman çacotl, y de teuxalli, que es vna arena rezia, y como de vena de diamantes, que mezclan y amassan con sangre de morcielagos, y no se que otras aues.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 110.

[443] In reference to the macana, which all assert to have been a most formidable weapon, I quote only a few authorities. ‘Sus espadas de palo largas, de un palo muy fuerte, engeridas de pedernales agudísimos, que de una cuchillada cortaban á cercen el pescuezo de un caballo.’ Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 188. Bernal Diaz describing a battle with the Tlascaltecs where Pedro de Moron was wounded and had his horse killed, says ‘dieron vna cuchillada â la yegua, que le cortaron el pescueço redondo, y alli quedó muerta.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 44. ‘Taglia come vn rasoio di Tolosa. Io viddi che combattendosi vn di, diede vn Indiano vna cortellata a vn cauallo sopra il qual era vn caualliero con chi combatteua, nel petto, che glielo aperse fin alle interiora, et cadde incontanente morto, & il medesimo giorno viddi che vn’altro cortellata a vn’altro cauallo su il collo che se lo gettò morto a i piedi.’ Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 305. The Anonymous Conqueror does not say the head was cut off, but that one horse was killed with a cut on the breast that opened it to the entrails, and the other from a cut on the neck was laid dead at his feet. ‘Lo que podrán efectuar con aquella espada en el pescuezo del caballo sera de la herida cuanto entraren los filos en la carne, que no pasarán de un canto de real de plata, porque todo lo otro es grueso, por tener el lomo que arriba referimos las navajas.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxvi.; Hernandez,Nova Plant., p. 340; Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., p. 1129.

[444] It may be that this ballesta was a somewhat similar implement to that used by the Aleuts and Isthmians. See vol. i., pp. 90, 761. ‘Dardi che essi tirano con vn manga no fatto di vn’altro bastone.’ Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 305; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 594-5.

[445] Cortés, Cartas, p. 101; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 5; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 299; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 460.

[446] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 128-9.

[447] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 339.

[448] In regard to the armorial ensign of the Tlascaltecs, authors differ. It is admitted that the general-in-chief carried the standard of the republic, and important authorities say that the one borne by Xicotencatl in his battle with Cortés had emblazoned upon it a white bird resembling an ostrich or heron, but Clavigero and Prescott incline to the opinion that the emblem was an eagle. In regard to this we have the following accounts. Bernal Diaz, an actor in the battle, says the Tlascaltec army was ranged under the banner of Xicotencatl, ‘qua era vn aue blanca tendidas las alas, como que queria bolar, que parece como auestruz.’ Hist. Conq., fol. 45. ‘Lleuaua el estandarte de la ciudad, que es vna grua de oro con las alas tendidas.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 75. ‘Esta bandera de Tascaltecle es una grua que trae por divisa, ó armas al natural, de oro, é tendidas las alas.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 499. ‘Xicotencatl … llevaba el Estandarte de la Republica, que era vn Aguila de Oro, con las Alas estendidas.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 423; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 145; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 439; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., p. 234.

[449] ‘Ha ogni compagnia il suo Alfiere con la sua insegna inhastata, & in tal modo ligata sopra le spalle, che non gli da alcun disturbo di poter combattere ne far ciò che vuole, & la porta cosi ligata bene al corpo, che se non fanno del suo corpo pezzi, non se gli puo sligare, ne torgliela mai.’ Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 305.

[450] ‘Respetaban à los Embaxadores de sus mortales enemigos, como à Dioses, teniendo por mejor violar qualquier rito de su Religion, que pecar contra la fee dada à los Embaxadores.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 535-6. ‘Los Correos, ò Mensageros, que se despachaban de las Guerras, tambien pasaban seguros, por todas partes.’ Ib.; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 118-20.

[451] ‘A cada parte y puerta de las cuatro del patio del templo grande ya dicho habia una gran sala con muy buenos aposentos altos y bajos en rededor. En estos tenian muchas armas, porque como los Templos tengan por fortalezas de los pueblos tienen en ellos toda su municion.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. li.

[452] ‘Si Dios no les quebrara las alas.’ Cortés, Cartas, p. 132. See also Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 151-2; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 319.

[453] Cortés, Cartas, pp. 150, 152.

[454] ‘Una gran cerca de piedra seca.’ Cortés, Cartas, pp. 59-60. ‘Una fuerça bien fuerte hecha de cal y canto, y de otro betun tan rezio, que con picos de hierro era forçoso deshazerla.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 43; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 418-19; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., pp. 229, 232; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., pp. 134-5; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 70; Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. i.; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 150; Solis, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. i., p. 241.

[455] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 150.

[456] Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, p. 107; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 567; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 133.

[457] Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 203-4, 422-3; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 384-5, 540; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv.; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 243, 246; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 132.

[458] Las Casas says that very old women were admitted to war councils. ‘Nunca movian guerra sin dar parte al pueblo, y sin mucho consejo de los mas ancianos y caballeros ejercitados en la guerra, al cual consejo se admitian las mujeres muy viejas como personas que habian visto y oido muchas cosas y asi esperimentadas de lo pasado.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxvi. According to the Chevalier Boturini the first ambassadors were accredited to the king or lord of the province, the second were dispatched to the nobility requiring them to persuade their lord, and the third convoked the people and advised them of the motives their monarch had for waging war against them. Boturini, Idea, pp. 162-3. See also Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 424-7; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., pp. 246-7; Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Id., pp. 40, 73; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 382-3, 534-5.

[459] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 423; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 75; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. vi.

[460] ‘A estas Espias, que embiaban delante, llamaban Ratones, que andan de noche, ò escondidos, y à hurtadillas.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 538.

[461] Camargo says: ‘L’armée était divisée par bataillons de cent hommes.’ Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 134. ‘Quando l’esercito era numeroso, si contava per Xiquipilli: ed ogni Xiquipilli si componeva d’otto mila uomini.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 147.

[462] Also spelt quiahtlale, jaotlalli, meaning a place for war. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 147-3; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 322; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 538.

[463] Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 31, 41, 50, 147.

[464] For further account of their manner of conducting a war, see: Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 147-9; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 311-12; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxvii.; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 129-31; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 322-3; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 598-601; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 537-40; Chaves, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., pp. 313-14; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 86-8.

[465] Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 11; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xvii.; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 87; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 34; Gage’s New Survey, p. 77; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., p. 230.

[466] Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., pp. 51, 60-1.

[467] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 313; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxvii.

[468] Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 131-4; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 541-2; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 149.

[469] Camargo says the prisoner was given his choice of every kind of offensive and defensive weapons. Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., pp. 188-9, but all other authors state that he was only given a short sword and shield. Boturini says a servant who was under the stone drew the cord and so controlled the prisoner that he could not move. Idea, p. 164. Duran says: ‘El modo que en celebrarlo tenian; que era atar á los Presos con una soga al pie por un ahugero que aquella piedra tenia por medio, y desnudo en cueros le daban una rodela y una espada de solo palo emplumado en las manos, y unas pelotas de palo con que se defendian de los que salian á combatir con él, que eran cuatro muy bien armados.’ Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. 36.

[470] Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 305; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 47-8.

[471] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 536.

[472] Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 121-2; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 333-5; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xviii.; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 242.

[473] Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcix., p. 134.

[474] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 51; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 423. For further reference to treatment of prisoners, see: Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 250-1; Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Id., p. 164; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 102-3; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 634; Fossey, Mexique, pp. 215-16; Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. viii.

[475] Instances of how the Mexicans received their victorious armies are given in Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 39, 61, 177-8; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 321-2. See further, Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcix., p. 136; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xvii.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 574; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 489-90.

Chapter XIV • Nahua Laws and Law Courts • 16,000 Words

General Remarks—the Cihuacoatl, or Supreme Judge—the Court of the Tlacatecatl—Jurisdiction of the Tecuhtlis—the Centectlapixques and Topillis—Law Courts and Judges of Tezcuco—Eighty-Day Council—Tribunal of the King—Court Proceedings—Lawyers—Witnesses—Remuneration of Judges—Justice of King Nezahualpilli—He orders his Son’s Execution—Montezuma and the Farmer—Jails—Laws against Theft, Murder, Treason, Kidnapping, Drunkenness, Witchcraft, Adultery, Incest, Sodomy, Fornication, and other Crimes—Story of Nezahualcoyotl and the Boy.

It has already been stated that among the Nahuas the supreme legislative power belonged to the king; the lawful share that he took in the administration of justice we shall see as we examine the system of jurisprudence adopted by them.

When treating of the Nahua judiciary the majority of historians have preferred to discuss almost exclusively the system in vogue at Tezcuco, partly, perhaps, because it presents a nicer gradation of legal tribunals, and consequently a closer resemblance to European institutions than did the more simple routine of the Mexicans, but mainly because the materials of information were more accessible and abundant. Many writers, however, have not followed this rule, but throwing all the information they could obtain into a general fund, they have applied the whole indiscriminately to the ‘Mexicans,’ by which term they mean all the inhabitants of the regions conquered by Cortés. Las Casas, speaking of the allied kingdoms of Mexico, Tezcuco, and Tlacopan, says that “their government and laws scarcely differed, so that whatever may be said of those parts concerning which the most information can be obtained, may be understood, and perhaps it is best to say it, as applying to all.”[476]‘El govierno y las leyes quasi no diferian, por manera que por lo que de unas partes dijeremos, y adonde tuvimos mayor noticia, se podra entender, y quiza sera mejor, decirlo en comun y generalmente.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxii. It is also stated that many Mexican cases, presenting more than ordinary difficulty, were tried in the Tezcucan law-courts; see Zurita, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., p. 95; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxii.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 354. Speaking of Mexico, Tezcuco, and Tlacopan, Zurita says: ‘Les lois et la procédure étaient les mêmes dans ces trois états, de sorte qu’en exposant les usages établis dans l’un d’eux, on fera connaître ce qui se passait dans les autres.’ Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., pp. 93-4. Although the number and jurisdiction of the law-courts of Mexico and Tezcuco differed, there is reason to believe that the laws themselves and the penalties inflicted were the same, or nearly so.

The Cihuacoatl, Supreme Judge

In Mexico, and in each of the principal cities of the empire, there was a supreme judge, called cihuacoatl,[477]The title cihuacoatl, meaning ‘serpent-woman,’ appears incomprehensible as applied to a judge, but M. l’Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 579-80, sees reason to believe that the Mexicans, when they succeeded to the rights of the Toltec kings of Culhuacan, adopted also the titles of the court, and that the name cihuacoatl had been given to the prime minister in memory of Cihuacoatl, the sister of Camaxtli, who cared for the infancy of Quetzalcoatl. The learned Abbé translates cihuacoatl, serpent femelle, which is literally a serpent of the female sex. Molina, however, in his Vocabulario, gives ‘ciua’ as a substantive, meaning ‘women’ (mugeres), and ‘coatl’ as another substantive, meaning ‘serpent’ (culebra), the two as a compound he does not give. I translate the word ‘serpent-woman,’ because the sister of Camaxtli would more probably be thus distinguished among women, than among serpents as the ‘woman-serpent.’ who was considered second only to the king in rank and authority. He heard appeals in criminal cases from the court immediately below him, and from his decision no appeal was allowed, not even to the king.[478]Although all other historians agree that the judgment of the cihuacoatl was final, the interpreter of Mendoza’s collection states that an appeal lay from the judges (he does not state which) to the king. Explicacion de la Coleccion de Mendoza, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 109. Prescott, Mex., vol. i., p. 29, attributes this to the changes made during Montezuma’s reign, the period which the Mendoza paintings represent, and Leon Carbajal, Discurso, p. 98, totally denies the truth of the statement. Whether or not the cihuacoatl pronounced judgment in civil cases is uncertain. According to Clavigero he did;[479]‘Dalle sentenze da lui pronunziate o nel civile, o nel criminale, non si poteva appellare ad un altro tribunale,’ &c. Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 127.Prescott,[480]Mex., vol. i., p. 29. Brasseur de Bourbourg,[481]Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 580. and Carbajal Espinosa[482]Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 593. agree with Clavigero, and Leon Carbajal[483]Discurso, p. 97. cites Torquemada as an authority for this statement, but the fact is Torquemada distinctly affirms the contrary,[484]‘Oìa de causas, que se debolvian, y remitian à èl, por apelacion; y estas eran solas las criminales, porque de las civiles no se apelaba de sus Justicias ordinarias.’ Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 352. It is possible that Señor Carbajal may have read only a subsequent passage in the same chapter, where Torquemada, speaking of the tribunal of the tlacatecatl, says: ‘De este se apelaba, para el Tribunal, y Audiencia del Cihuacohuatl, que era Juez Supremo, despues del Rei.’ From what has gone before, it is, however, evident that the author here refers only to the criminal cases that were appealed from the court of the tlacatecatl. as does Las Casas,[485]Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxii. from whom Torquemada takes his information. It appears, however, reasonable to suppose that in some exceptional cases, as, for instance, where the title to large possessions was involved, or when the litigants were powerful nobles, the supreme judge may have taken cognizance of civil affairs. Whether the jurisdiction of the cihuacoatl was ever original, as well as final, as Prescott[486]Mex., vol. i., p. 29. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 127-8, also affirms, indirectly, that cases were sometimes laid in the first instance before the supreme judge, inasmuch as he first says that the cihuacoatl took cognizance of both civil and criminal cases, and afterwards, when speaking of the court of the tlacatecatl, he writes: ‘Se la causa era puramente civile, non v’era appellazione.’ The same applies to Brasseur de Bourbourg. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 580. asserts it to have been, I do not find stated by the earlier authorities, although this may have happened exceptionally, but in that case there could have been but one hearing, for the king, who was the only superior of the supreme judge, had no authority to reverse the decisions of the latter. The cihuacoatl was appointed by the king, and he in turn appointed the inferior judges. He held his office for life, and in addition to his regular judicial duties had charge of the most important affairs of government, and of the royal revenues. He was without a colleague, and must administer justice in person. Such was the respect paid to this exalted personage, that whoever had the audacity to usurp his power or insignia suffered death, his property was confiscated and his family enslaved.[487]Herein lies the only difference between Las Casas and Torquemada on the subject of the Cihuacoatl. The former writes: ‘Qualquiera que este oficio para si usurpara, ó lo concediera á otro, avia de morir por ello, y sus padres y deudos eran desnaturados del pueblo donde acaeciese hasta lo quarta generación. Allende que todos los bienes avian de ser confiscados, y aplicados para la republica.’ Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxii. Torquemada says: ‘era tan autoriçado este oficio, que el que lo vsurpara para si, ò lo comunicàra à otro en alguna parte del Reino, muriera por ello, y sus Hijos, y Muger fueran vendidos, por perpetuos esclavos, y confiscados sus bienes por Lei, que para esto havia.’ Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 352. Notwithstanding all other historians distinctly affirm that the cihuacoatl was, in the exercise of his functions perfectly independent of the king, Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 580, makes the following extraordinary statement: ‘Il jugeait en dernier ressort et donnait des ordres en lieu et place du souverain, chaque fois que celui-ci ne le faisait pas directement et par lui-même.’ This must be from one of the original manuscripts in the possession of M. l’Abbé.

The next court was supreme in civil matters and could only be appealed from to the cihuacoatl in cases of a criminal nature. It was presided over by three judges, the chief of whom was styled tlacatecatl, and from him the court took its name; his colleagues were called quauhnochtli and tlanotlac.[488]Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxii., spells these names tacatecatl, acoahunotl, and tlaylotlat; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 352, tlacateccatl, quauhnuchtli, and tlaylotlac; and Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 127, tlacatecatl, quauhnochtli, and tlanótlac, or tlaiíotlac, a defect in the impression makes it difficult to tell which. Scarcely two of the old writers follow the same system of orthography, and in future I shall follow the style which appears simplest, endeavoring only to be consistent with myself. Each of these had his deputies and assistants. Affairs of importance were laid in the first instance before this tribunal, but appeals from the inferior courts were also heard. Sentence was pronounced by a crier entitled tecpoyotl in the name of the tlacatecatl, and was carried into execution by the quauhnochtli with his own hands. The office of tecpoyotl was considered one of high honor because he declared the will of the king as represented by his judges.

The Tecuhtli and Centectlapixque

In each ward of the city there was a magistrate called tecuhtli who was annually elected by the inhabitants of his district; he judged minor cases in the first instance only, and probably the office somewhat resembled that of our police judge. Appeal lay from him to the tlacatecatl.[489]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 128, writes ‘Egiornalmente si portava al Cihuacoatl, od al Tlacatecatl per avvertirlo di tutto ciò, che occorreva, e ricever gli ordini da lui;’ but it would probably be only in cases of great importance that the reports of the tecuhtli would be carried to the cihuacoatl. It was the duty of the tecuhtlis to give a daily report of affairs that had been submitted to them, and of the judgments they had rendered thereon, to the tlacatecatl, who reviewed their proceedings. Whether the tlacatecatl could reverse the decision of a tecuhtli when no appeal had been made, is uncertain, but it appears improbable, inasmuch as a failure to exercise the right of appeal would imply recognition of justice in the judgment passed by the lower tribunal. In each ward, and elected in the same manner as the tecuhtlis, were officers whose title was centectlapixque, whose province it was to watch over the behavior and welfare of a certain number of families committed to their charge, and to acquaint the magistrates with everything that passed. Although the centectlapixques could not exercise judicial authority, yet it is probable that petty disputes were often submitted to them for arbitration, and that their arbitrament was abided by. In case the parties could not be brought to any friendly settlement, however, the centectlapixque immediately reported the matter to the tecuhtli of his district, and a regular trial ensued.

The tecuhtlis had their bailiffs, who carried their messages and served summonses. In addition to these there were constables styled topilli, who arrested prisoners and enforced order.[490]Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxii.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 355; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 127-8.

THE EIGHTY-DAY COUNCIL.

In Tezcuco, although the kingdom was divided into many provinces,[491]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 354, says that there were fifteen provinces subject to the king of Tezcuco. the higher courts of justice were placed in six of the principal cities only.[492]The English edition of Clavigero reads: ‘the judicial power was divided amongst seven principal cities,’ p. 354; but the original agrees with the other authorities: ‘nel Regno d’Acolhuacan era la giurisdizione compartita tra sei Città principali.’ Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 128. Each of these tribunals was presided over by two judges, who were very high magnates and usually relatives of the king, and from these an appeal lay to two supreme judges who resided at the capital.[493]Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxii. Torquemada, however, asserts that there were ‘en la Ciudad de Tetzcuco (que era la Corte) dentro de la Casa Real dos Salas de Consejo … y en cada Sala dos Jueces. Havia diferencia entre los dichos Jueces; porque los de la vna Sala eran de mas autoridad, que los de la otra; estos se llamaban Jueces maiores, y esotros menores; los maiores oìan de causas graves, y que pertenecian à la determinacion del Rei; los segundos, de otras, no tan graves, sino mas leves, y livianas.’ Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 354. The lower of these two probably either formed one of the six superior courts above mentioned, or corresponded with them in jurisdiction. According to Zurita, ‘chacune des nombreuses provinces soumises à ces souverains entretenait à Mexico, à Tezcuco et à Tlacopan, qui étaient les trois capitales, deux juges, personnes de sens choisies à cet effet, et qui quelquefois étaient parents des souverains,’ and adds: ‘les appels étaient portés devant douze autres juges supérieurs qui prononçaient d’après l’avis du souverain.’ Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., pp. 95, 100. These twelve judges were assisted by twelve sheriffs,[494]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 355, writes: ‘Tenia cada Sala de estas dichas otro Ministro, que hacia oficio de Alguacil Maior,’ &c., while other writers assign one to each judge, of whom there were two in each court. whose duty it was to arrest prisoners of exalted rank in their own district, or to go in search of offenders in other provinces. The peculiar badge of these officers was a certain ornamented mantle; wherever they went they were held in great awe and respect, as representatives of the king, and seldom encountered resistance in the exercise of their functions. There were also constables in attendance on the courts, who acted with great diligence in carrying messages or making arrests. Every ten or twelve days all the judges met in council with the king,[495]Clavigero differs on this point from other writers, in making this meeting occur every Mexican month of twenty days. Zurita, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., p. 101, writes: ‘Tous les douze jours il y avait une assemblée générale des juges présidée par le prince;’ to this the editor attaches the following note: ‘il est évident, comme on le verra page 106, qu’il y a ici une erreur, et que ces assemblées, dont les sessions duraient douze jours, ne se tenaient que tous les quatre-vingts jours.’ It is, however, the learned editor who is mistaken, because, as we have seen above, there were two distinct meetings of the judges; a lesser one every ten or twelve days, and a greater every eighty days, and it is of the latter that Zurita speaks on p. 106. when cases of importance were discussed, and either finally settled, or laid over for decision at a grand council which convened every four Mexican months, making in all eighty days. On these occasions all the judges, without exception, met together, the king presiding in person. All being seated according to their order of precedence, an orator opened the proceedings with a speech, in which he praised virtue and severely reprimanded vice; he reviewed all the events of the past eighty days, and commented very severely even upon the acts of the king himself. In this council all suits were terminated, the sentences being carried out on the spot,[496]‘Al que él sentenciava le arrojava una flecha de aquellas.’ Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., p. 57. ‘A capital sentence was indicated by a line traced with an arrow across the portrait of the accused.’ Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 33. and affairs of state and policy were discussed and transacted; it generally sat during eight or ten days.[497]It is probable that as matters of government, as well as legal affairs, were discussed at their Eighty-Day Council, it was not exclusively composed of judges, but that nobles and statesmen were admitted to membership. Torquemada is, however, the only writer who distinctly states this: ‘tenian Audiencia General, que la llamaban Napualtlatolli, como decir, Palabra ochentena, que era Dia, en el qual se juntaban todos los de la Ciudad, y los Asistentes de todas las Provincias, con todo el Pueblo, asi nobles, como Comunes, y Plebeios,’ &c. Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 168; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 244-5, says that the king was accompanied by all his sons and relatives, with their tutors and suites. In addition to these judges there were magistrates of a lower order in all the provinces, who took cognizance of cases of minor importance, and who also heard and considered those of greater consequence preparatory to laying them before the Eighty-Day Council.[498]Concerning this judicial system of Tezcuco, see: Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxii.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 168, tom. ii., pp. 351-5; Zurita, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., pp. 96, et seq.; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 128-9; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 134-6; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 302-5; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 28-9; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 595. The historian Ixtlilxochitl gives a somewhat different account of the Tezcucan tribunals, which, as it contains the only description given by the ancient writers of the halls in which the judges sat, I translate in full.

In the palace were two principal courtyards, the larger of which served as the market-place. The second courtyard was smaller than the first, and was situated more in the interior of the palace; in the centre of it a fire was kept continually burning. Here were the two most important tribunals in the kingdom. To the right of this courtyard, writes Ixtlilxochitl, was the supreme tribunal, which was called teohicpalpan, meaning, Tribunal of God. Here was a throne of gold, set with turquoises and other precious stones; before the throne stood a stool, upon which were a shield, a macana, and a bow with its quiver of arrows; upon these was placed a skull, surmounted by an emerald of a pyramidal shape, in the apex of which was fixed a plume of feathers and precious stones; at the sides, serving as carpets, were the skins of tigers and lions (tigres y leones), and mats (mantas) made of the feathers of the royal eagle, where a quantity of bracelets and anklets (grevas) of gold were likewise placed in regular order.[499]This sentence reads as follows in the original: ‘Á los lados serbian de alfombras unas pieles de tigres y leones, y mantas hechas de plumas de águila real, en donde asimismo estaban por su orden cantidad de braceletes, y grevas de oro.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 243. It is difficult to imagine why ‘braceletes, y grevas de oro’ should be placed upon the floor, but certainly the historian gives us to understand as much. Prescott, who affects to give Ixtlilxochitl’s description ‘in his own words,’ and who, furthermore, encloses the extract in quotation marks, gets over this difficulty by omitting the above-quoted sentence entirely. Mex., vol. i., p, 34; and Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 205, adopts the same convenient but somewhat unsatisfactory course. This latter author’s version of the whole matter is, however, like much other of his work, inextricably confused, when compared with the original. The walls were tapestried with cloth of all colors, made of rabbits’ hair, adorned with figures of divers birds, animals, and flowers.[500]‘Las paredes estaban entapizadas y adornadas de unos paños hechos de pelo de conejo, de todos colores, con figuras de diversas aves, animales y flores.’ This is rendered by Prescott: ‘The walls were hung with tapestry, made of the hair of different wild animals, of rich and various colors, festooned by gold rings, and embroidered with figures of birds and flowers.’ A few lines above, ‘la silla y espaldar era de oro,’ is construed into ‘a throne of pure gold.’ It seems scarcely fair to style the ancient Chichimec’s description one ‘of rather a poetical cast,’ at the same time making such additions as these. Attached to the throne was a canopy of rich plumage, in the centre of which was a glittering ornament of gold and precious stones.

The Tribunal of the King

The other tribunal was called that of the king; it also had a throne, which was lower than that of the Tribunal of God, and a canopy adorned with the royal coat of arms. Here the kings transacted ordinary business and gave public audience; but when they rendered decisions upon grave and important cases, or pronounced sentence of death, they removed to the Tribunal of God, placing the right hand upon the skull, and holding in the left the golden arrow which served as a sceptre, and on these occasions they put on the tiara (tiara) which they used, which resembled a half mitre. There were on the same stool three of these tiaras; one was of precious stones set in gold, another of feathers, and the third woven of cotton and rabbit-hair, of a blue color. This tribunal was composed of fourteen grandees of the kingdom, who sat in three divisions of the hall, according to their rank and seniority. In the first division was the king; in the second division were seated six grandees; the first of these six, on the right hand, was the lord of Teotihuacan, the second the lord of Acolman, the third the lord of Tepetlaoztoc; on the left side sat, first, the lord of Huexotla, second, the lord of Coatlichan, third, he of Chimalhuacan. In the third division of the hall, which was the exterior one, sat eight other lords, according to their rank and seniority; on the right side the first was the lord of Otompan, the second was the lord of Tollantzinco, the third the lord of Quauhchinanco, the fourth the lord of Xicotepec, and on the left side were, first, the lord of Tepechpan, second, the lord of Chiauhtla, third, the lord of Chiuhnauhtla, and fourth, he of Teiotocan.

There followed, also, another hall, which adjoined this on the eastern side, and was divided into two parts; in the inner and principal division, were eight judges, who were nobles and gentlemen, and four others who were of the citizen class;[501]Ixtlilxochitl, ubi supra, writes: ‘En los primeros puestos ocho jueces que eran nobles y caballeros, y los otros cuatro eran de los ciudadanos.’ Veytia says: ‘Los cuatro primeros eran caballeros de la nobleza de primer órden, los cuatro siguientes ciudadanos de Tezcuco.’ Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 199. these were followed by fifteen provincial judges, natives of all the cities and chief towns of Tezcuco; the latter took cognizance of all suits, civil or criminal, which were embraced in the eighty laws that Nezahualcoyotl established; the duration of the most important of these cases was never more than eighty days. In the other, or exterior, division of the hall, was a tribunal composed of four supreme judges, who were presidents of the councils; and there was a wicket, through which they entered and went out to communicate with the king.[502]Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix. p. 242-3. The whole of the above description is very difficult to translate literally, owing to the confused style in which it is written; and if in places it is somewhat unintelligible, the reader will recollect that I translate merely what Ixtlilxochitl says, and not what he may, or may not, have meant to say.

Court Proceedings

Besides these various tribunals for the general administration of justice, there were others that had jurisdiction in cases of a peculiar nature only. There was a court of divorce, and another which dealt only with military matters; by it military men were tried and punished, and it had also the power to confer rewards and honors upon the deserving; the especial jurisdiction of another tribunal extended over matters pertaining to art and science, while a fourth court had charge of the royal exchequer, of taxes and tributes, and of those employed in collecting them. Of some of these institutions I have already had occasion to speak. The mode of procedure, or daily routine, in the law courts of Mexico and Tezcuco was strict and formal. At sunrise, or as some say, at daybreak, the judges took their places in court, squatting upon mats spread for the purpose, usually upon an elevated platform. Here they administered justice until noon, when they partook of a meal supplied from the royal kitchen. When this was over and they had rested for a short space, business was resumed, and carried on during the greater part of the afternoon. Punctuality on the part of the judges was strictly enforced, and he who absented himself from court without good cause, such as illness, or royal permission, was severely punished. This order was observed every day, except when the presence of the judges was required at the public sacrifices or solemn festivities, at which time the courts of justice remained closed.[503]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 354; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxii;, Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 199; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 128; Zurita, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., p. 100; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 134.

Examination of Witnesses

Minor cases were conducted verbally, the parties producing their witnesses, who testified under oath for the complaint or the defence. The testimony, under oath, of the principals was also admitted as evidence; and one writer even asserts that the defendant could clear himself by his oath;[504]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 129. but it is plain that if such were the case conviction would be very rare. In cases of greater importance, especially in civil suits where the possession of real estate was involved, paintings, in which the property in dispute was represented, were produced as authentic documents, and the whole of the proceedings, such as the object of the claim, the evidence, the names of the parties and their respective witnesses, as well as the decision or sentence, were recorded in court by notaries, or clerks, appointed for that purpose.[505]Prescott, Mex., vol. i., p. 33, says: ‘The paintings were executed with so much accuracy, that, in all suits respecting real property, they were allowed to be produced as good authority in the Spanish tribunals, very long after the Conquest; and a chair for their study and interpretation was established at Mexico in 1553, which has long since shared the fate of most other provisions for learning in that unfortunate country.’ Boturini thus describes the paper used by the Aztecs: ‘El Papel Indiano se componìa de las pencas del Maguèy, que en lengua Nacional se llama Mètl, y en Castellano Pita. Las echaban à podrir, y lavaban el hilo de ellas, el que haviendose ablandado estendian, para componer su papel gruesso, ò delgado, que despues bruñian para pintar en èl. Tambien hacian papel de las hojas de Palma, y Yo tengo algunos de estos delgados, y blandos tanto como la seda.’ Catálogo, in Id., Idea, pp. 95-6. A witness in an Aztec court of law occupied a serious position. In the first place the judges are by all writers said to have been particularly skillful in cross-examination. They seem to have made it an especial study to harass witnesses with pertinent questions and minute details; in the next place the punishment for perjury was death, and perjury among these people consisted in making a false statement when under oath, without the possibility of being saved by a legal quibble; in addition to this, superstition attached great weight to the oath which every witness was obliged to take, and which consisted in touching the forefinger to the earth and then to the tongue, as if to say, as Las Casas expresses it: By the goddess Earth, who supports and affords me sustenance, I swear to speak truth. This oath was considered to be very sacred and binding, and is said to have been rarely violated. Whether counsel or advocates were employed is a disputed point, some writers asserting distinctly that they were, and others that they were not.[506]Veytia writes very positively on this point: ‘Habia tambien abogados y procuradores; á los primeros llamaban tepantlatoani, que quiere decir el que habla por otro, y á los segundos tlanemiliani, que en lo sustancial ejercian sus ministerios casi del mismo modo que en nuestros tribunales…. Daban términos á las partes para que sus abogados hablasen por ellas, y estos lo hacian del mismo modo que en nuestros tribunales.’ Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 207-8. Sahagun relates the qualities which were supposed by the Aztecs to constitute a good or bad procurador or solicitador, and describes their duties: ‘El procurador favorece à una banda de los pleyteantes, por quien en su negocio vuelve mucho y apela, teniendo poder, y llevando salario por ello. El buen procurador es vivo y solícito, osado, diligente, constante, y perseverante en los negocios, en los cuales no se deja vencer; sino que alega de su derecho, apela, tacha los testigos, ni se cansa hasta vencer á la parte contraria y triunfar de ella. El mal procurador es interesable, gran pedigüeño, y de malicia suele dilatar los negocios: hace alharacas, es muy negligente y descuidado en el pleito, y fraudulento de tal modo, que de entrambas partes lleva salario. El solicitador nunca para, anda siempre solícito y listo. El buen solicitador es muy cuidadoso, determinado, y solícito en todo, y por hacer bien su oficio, muchas veces deja de comer y de dormir, y anda de casa en casa solicitando los negocios, los cuales trata de buena tinta, y con temor ó recelo, de que por su descuido no tengan mal suceso los negocios. El mal solicitador es flojo y descuidado, lerdo, y encandilador para sacar dineros, y facilmente se deja cohechar, porque no hable mal el negocio ó que mienta, y así suele echar á perder los pleitos.’ Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 23-4. Clavigero takes the opposite side of the question: ‘Nei giudizj dei Messicani facevano la parti da per se stesse le loro allegazioni: almeno non sappiamo, che vi fossero Avvocati.’ Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 129. ‘No counsel was employed; the parties stated their own case, and supported it by their witnesses.’ Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 32. ‘L’office d’avocat était inconnu; les parties établissaient elles-mêmes leur cause, en se faisant accompagner de leurs témoins.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 581. Veytia states that the complainant and defendant were sometimes confronted with each other, and compelled to argue the case before the court, no other person being allowed to speak the while. The judges heard and passed sentence by a majority of votes,[507]The reader will have remarked in a previous note that Veytia assigns more judges to each court than any other writer. each giving his decision aloud. If the trial took place in an inferior court, a disagreement sent the matter on appeal to a higher court; if it took place in the first instance before a superior tribunal, it was appealed to the great council of the emperor. The same writer also says that where a serious public offense had been committed, the witnesses were examined, and sentence was immediately passed without giving the accused time to defend himself.[508]Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 208. We have already seen that the duration of suits was limited to eighty days, and generally they terminated much sooner than this, all possible expedition being always used. The better to avoid bribery and corruption, it was expressly forbidden for a judge to receive presents, no matter how trifling, and he who violated this rule was deposed from office, and otherwise punished with exceeding rigor.

The way in which the judges were paid for their services was peculiar. A certain portion of land was set apart for their exclusive benefit, which was cultivated and harvested by tenants, who doubtless were allowed to retain a part of the produce in return for their labor. These lands were not inherited by the son on the death of the father, but passed to the judge appointed in the place of the latter.[509]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 355-6; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 135; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 128-9. Veytia does not mention these lands; he says that the judges had no fixed salary, but were paid according to the king’s pleasure, more or less, in proportion to the size of their families, besides which the king made valuable presents when the Eighty-Day Council met, to those who had performed their duty to his satisfaction.[510]Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 200. The allowance was in all cases made amply sufficient, that there might be no excuse on the ground of poverty for a judge receiving presents or bribes. They held their office for life, and were selected from the higher classes, especially the superior judges, who were generally relatives of the king, or even members of the royal family. None were eligible for the office who were not sober, upright men, brought up in the temples, and who were well acquainted with court life and manners. A judge who became drunk, or received a bribe, was three times severely reprimanded by his fellow-judges; if the offense was repeated, his head was shaved publicly, a great disgrace among the Aztecs, and he was deprived of his office with ignominy. A judge making a false report to the king, or convicted of receiving a large bribe, or of rendering a manifestly unjust decision, was punished with death.[511]Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv., ccxii.; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 304, 313; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 135; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 423; Zurita, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., pp. 101-2. Torquemada says the unjust judge was warned twice, and shaved at the third offense. Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 356. See also Id., p. 385. All this machinery of the law was dispensed with in Tlascala, where all disputes and difficulties were promptly settled by certain old men appointed for that purpose.[512]Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcix., p. 136.

Anecdotes of Nezahualpilli

A love of impartial justice seems to have characterized all the Aztec monarchs, and, as we have seen, the laws they enacted to ensure this to their subjects were severe in the extreme. No favoritism was allowed; all, from the highest to the lowest were held amenable to the law. A story, illustrating this, is repeated by nearly all the old writers. In the reign of Nezahualpilli, the son of Nezahualcoyotl, who were accounted the two wisest kings of Tezcuco, a suit sprang up between a rich and powerful noble and a poor man of the people. The judge decided against the poor man, who thereby lost what little he had, and was in danger of having to sell himself as a slave to procure subsistence for his family. But suspicion of foul play having been aroused, the king ordered the matter to be thoroughly investigated, when it transpired that the judge had been guilty of collusion with the rich man; so the king commanded that the unjust judge should be hanged at once, and that the poor man’s property should be restored to him.

Neither were the rulers themselves, nor their families, exempt from observance of the law, and instances are not wanting where fathers have, Brutus-like, condemned their children to death, rather than allow the law to be violated, and the offender to go unpunished. Nezahualcoyotl caused four of his own sons to be publicly executed because they had sinned with their step-mothers, the wives of their father.[513]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 165. A very touching incident is narrated by Torquemada, showing to what an extent this love of impartial justice was carried by a Tezcucan sovereign.

Nezahualpilli, king of Tezcuco, had married two sisters, whom he dearly loved, and especially did he dote upon the younger, whose name was Xocotzincatzin. By her he had several children, the eldest being a son, named Huexotzincatzin, who was beloved by all who knew him, on account of his amiable disposition and noble qualities, and who was besides a very valiant young man and a great warrior. No wonder that he was the king’s pride, and beloved even more than his brothers and sisters, for his own and his mother’s sake. So much had Huexotzincatzin distinguished himself, that, although he was but a young man, his father determined to bestow upon him the office and title of tlacatecatl, which was a post of the highest honor and importance.[514]Torquemada translates tlacatecatl, Captain General, (Capitan General). We have already seen that it was the title of the presiding judge of the second Mexican court of justice, but it was probably in this case a military title, both because military promotion would be more likely to be conferred upon a renowned warrior than a judgeship, and because the prince is spoken of as a young man, while only men of mature years and great experience were entrusted with the higher judicial offices. For this purpose the king one day ordered that the prince be sent for and brought into his presence. With a light heart, and much elated, Huexotzincatzin, accompanied by his suite, and the nobles who were his tutors, set out for the royal palace. As he was about to enter, the prince met one of his father’s concubines, attended by her ladies. This concubine was a very beautiful and proud woman, yet withal of a free and easy carriage, that encouraged Huexotzincatzin, who perhaps did not know who she was, to address her in a familiar and disrespectful manner. The woman, who, the historian remarks, could not have been possessed of much sense, either because she felt offended at his conduct towards her, or because she dreaded the consequence if the king should discover what had happened, turned from the prince without a word, and entered the palace. The king’s concubines, as we have seen in a former chapter, were always accompanied by certain elderly women, whose duty it was to instruct them in discreet behavior and to watch continually over their actions. One of these women, who had been with the concubine at the time of her meeting with Huexotzincatzin, and had overheard the prince’s remarks, went straightway to the king, and informed him of all that had happened. The king immediately sent for his concubine, and inquired of her if the prince had spoken lewdly to her publicly and in the presence of the ladies and courtiers, or if he had intended his words to reach her ear alone; for Nezahualpilli would fain have discovered some excuse for his son, the punishment for speaking lewdly in public to the king’s concubines being, according to law, death; but the frightened woman replied that Huexotzincatzin had spoken openly to her, before all that were present. Then the king dismissed the concubine, and retired, mourning, into certain apartments which were called the ‘rooms of sorrow.’

PUNISHMENT OF THE KING’S SON.

When these things came to the ears of the friends and tutors of the prince, they were much troubled on his account, because the severity of the king, and his strict adherence to the law were as a proverb among the people, and their apprehensions increased when, upon arriving at the royal apartments, the prince was denied admission, although his attendants were ordered to appear at once before the king. There they were closely questioned by him, and although they would willingly have saved the prince from the consequences of his folly, yet they dared not speak anything but truth, for he who was convicted of wilfully deceiving the king, suffered death. All they could do was to make excuses for the prince, and ask pardon for his crime, and this they did with many prayers and entreaties, advancing, as extenuating circumstances, his youth, his previous good conduct, and his possible ignorance of the fact that the lady was his father’s concubine. The king listened patiently to the end, answering nothing, and then he commanded that Huexotzincatzin be forthwith arrested and placed in confinement. Later in that same day he pronounced sentence of death against his son. When it became known that Huexotzincatzin was to die, all the powerful nobles who were at court went in a body to the king and earnestly conjured him not to insist upon carrying out his sentence, telling him that it was barbarous and unnatural, and that future generations would hold in horror and hatred the memory of the man who had condemned his own son to death. Their prayers and arguments seemed, however, to render the old king only the more implacable, and he dismissed them, saying that if the law forbade such things, and if that law was inviolably observed throughout the kingdom, how could he justify his conduct to his subjects, were he to allow the same to be infringed upon in his own palace, and the offender to remain unpunished merely because he was his son; that it should never be said of him that he made laws for his subjects which did not apply to his own family.

When Xocotzincatzin, the prince’s mother, heard that he was condemned to death, she gathered the rest of her sons about her, and coming suddenly before her husband, she fell on her knees and besought him with many tears, to spare the life of her darling son, the first pledge of love that she, his favorite wife had given him. Finding all her entreaties fruitless, she then implored him for the sake of the love he had once borne her, to slay her and her other sons with Huexotzincatzin, since life without her first-born was unbearable. But the stern old king still sat to all appearance unmoved and immovable, and coldly directed the attendant ladies to convey the wretched mother to her apartments.

The execution of the prince was delayed in every possible manner by those who had charge of it, in the hope that the king might even yet relent; but Nezahualpilli having been informed of this, immediately ordered that the sentence should be carried out without further delay. So Huexotzincatzin died. As soon as the news of his son’s death was carried to the king, he shut himself up in certain apartments called the ‘rooms of sorrow,’ and there remained forty days, mourning for his first-born and seeing no one. The house of the late prince was then walled up, and none were allowed to enter it, and so all tokens of the unhappy young man were destroyed.[515]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 189-90.

Montezuma and the Farmer

Another anecdote, which is written in execrable Spanish by the native historian, Tezozomoc, may not be out of place here. It is told of the emperor Montezuma of Mexico, and the reader will at once recognize a resemblance between this and many other anecdotes with which he is familiar, where a bold and merited rebuke from a subject to his sovereign is received with respect and even favor.

It happened one summer, that the king, being wearied with the cares of government, went for rest and recreation to his country palace at Tacubaya. One day, when out shooting birds, he came to an orchard, and having told his attendants to remain outside, he entered alone. He succeeded in killing a bird, and as he was returning, bearing his game in his hand, he turned aside into a field where a remarkably fine crop of corn was growing. Having plucked a few ears, he went towards the house of the owner of the field, which stood hard by, for the purpose of showing him the ears that he had plucked, and of praising his crop, but as by law it was death to look upon the king’s face, the occupants of the house had fled, and there was no one therein. Now the owner of the field had seen the king pluck the corn from afar off, and, notwithstanding it was against the law, he ventured to approach the monarch in such a way as to make the meeting appear accidental. Making a deep obeisance, he thus addressed the king: “How is it, most high and mighty prince, that thou hast thus stolen my corn? Didst thou not thyself establish a law that he who should steal one ear of corn, or its value, should suffer death?” And Montezuma answered: “Truly I did make such a law.” Then said the farmer: “How is it then, that thou breakest thine own law?” And the king replied: “Here is thy corn, take back that which I have stolen from thee.” But the owner of the field began to be alarmed at his own boldness, and tried to excuse himself, saying that he had spoken merely in jest, for, said he: “Are not my fields, and myself, and my wife, and my children, all thine, to do with as thou wilt;” and he refused to take back the ears of corn. Then the king took off his mantle of net-work and precious stones, which was called xiuhayatl and was worth a whole city, and offered it to the farmer, who at first was afraid to accept so precious a gift, but Montezuma insisted, so he took the mantle, promising to preserve it with great care as a remembrance of the king. When Montezuma returned to his attendants, the precious mantle was at once missed, and they began to inquire what had become of it; which the king perceiving, he told them that he had been set upon by robbers, when alone, who had robbed him of his mantle, at the same time he ordered them, upon pain of death, to say nothing more about the matter. The next day, having arrived at his royal palace in Mexico, when all his great nobles were about him, he ordered one of his captains to repair to Tacubaya, and inquire for a certain Xochitlacotzin, whom they should at once bring to his presence, but under penalty of death they should not injure or abuse him in any way. When the king’s messengers told Xochitlacotzin their errand, he was greatly alarmed, and tried to escape, but they caught him, and telling him to fear nothing, for that the king was kindly disposed towards him, they brought him before Montezuma. The king, having bidden him welcome, asked him what had become of his mantle. At this the nobles who were present became much excited, but Montezuma quieted them, saying: “This poor man has more courage and boldness than any of you who are here, for he dared to speak the truth and tell me that I had broken my laws. Of such men have I greater need, than of those who speak only with honeyed words to me.” Then having inquired what principal offices were vacant, he ordered his attendant lords to shelter and take care of Xochitlacotzin, who was henceforth his relative and one of the chief men of the realm. Afterwards he who had so lately been a poor farmer was given a principal house of Olac for his own, and it was long the boast of his descendants that they were relatives of Montezuma.[516]Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., p. 146.

Punishment of Crimes

The Aztecs adopted numerous ways of punishing offenders against the law, as we shall see presently, but I do not think that imprisonment was largely resorted to. They had prisons, it is true, and very cruel ones, according to all accounts, but it appears that they were more for the purpose of confining prisoners previous to their trial, or between their condemnation and execution, than permanently, for punishment. These jails were of two classes, one called teilpiloyan for those imprisoned on a civil charge, another called quauhcalco,[517]These names are spelled tlelpiloia and quahucalco by Las Casas, and teïlpiloyan and quauhcalli, by Brasseur de Bourbourg. for prisoners condemned to death. The cells were made like cages, and the prison was so constructed as to admit very little light or air;[518]Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxii., says that the jails called quahucalco resembled the stocks; the other writers do not notice this difference. the food was scanty and of a bad quality, so that, as Las Casas expresses it, the prisoners soon became thin and yellow, and commenced at the prison to suffer the death that was afterwards adjudged them. Clavigero, however, asserts that those condemned to the sacrificial stone were well fed in order that they might appear in good flesh at the sacrifice.[519]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 138. A very close watch was kept upon the captives, so much so, indeed, that if through the negligence of the guard a prisoner of war escaped from the cage, the community of the district, whose duty it was to supply the prisoners with guards, was obliged to pay to the owner of the fugitive, a female slave, a load of cotton garments, and a shield.[520]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 138-9; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 353; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxii.; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 138. Mendieta says that these prisons were only used for persons awaiting trial on very grave charges; for, he writes, in the case of one held to answer on an ordinary charge, “it was sufficient for the minister of justice to place the prisoner in a corner with a few light sticks before him; indeed, I believe that to have merely drawn a line and told him not to pass it would have sufficed, even though he might have reason to believe that there was a heavy punishment in store for him, because to flee from justice, and escape, was an impossibility. At all events, I with my own eyes have seen a prisoner standing entirely unguarded save for the before-mentioned sticks.”[521]Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 138.

Like most semi-barbarous nations, the Aztecs were more prone to punish crime than to recompense virtue, and even when merit was rewarded, it was of the coarser and more material kind, such as valor in war or successful statesmanship. The greater part of their code might, like Dracon’s, have been written in blood—so severe were the penalties inflicted for crimes that were comparatively slight, and so brutal and bloody were the ways of carrying those punishments into execution. In the strongest sense of the phrase the Aztecs were ruled with a rod of iron; but that such severity was necessary I have no doubt, inasmuch as whatever form of government exists, be it good or bad, that form of government is the necessary one, or it could have no existence. All young states must adopt harsh laws to secure the peace and well-being of the community, while as yet the laws of habit and usage are unestablished; and as that community progresses and improves, it will of itself mold its system of government to fit itself. The code of Dracon was superseded by that of Solon when the improved state of the Athenian community warranted a mitigation of the severity of the former, and in like manner the laws of Montezuma and Nezahualcoyotl would have given place to others less harsh had Aztec civilization been allowed to progress.

Code of Laws

The laws of the several Aztec kingdoms were essentially the same; some slight differences existed, however, and in these instances the code of Tezcuco proves the most rigid and severe, while more of lenience is exhibited in that of Mexico. I have before remarked that the majority of writers treat of the legislation of Tezcuco, but, as in other matters, many authorities who should be reliable surmount the difficulty of distinguishing that which belongs to one system of jurisprudence from that which belongs to another, by speaking generally of the code that existed in Nueva España, or among ‘these people.’ Most of the subjected provinces adopted the laws of the state to which they became subject. But this was by no means obligatory, because as conquered nations were not compelled to speak the language of their conquerors, neither were they forced to make use of their laws.[522]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 137.Let us now see what these laws were.

Punishment of Theft

Theft was punished in various ways, and, it appears, not at all in proportion to the magnitude of the crime. Thus he who stole a certain number of ears of corn,[523]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 166, tom. ii., p. 381; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 225; Boturini, Idea, p. 27. The number of ears of corn varies according to the different writers from three or four to seven, except Las Casas, who makes the number twenty-one or over, stating, however, that this and some other laws that he gives are possibly not authentic. Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv. The Anonymous Conqueror writes: ‘quando altri entrauano nelle possessioni altrui per rubbare frutti, ò il grano che essi hanno, che per entrar in vn campo, e rubbare tre ò quattro mazzocche ò spighe de quel loro grano, lo faceuano schiauo del patrone di quel campo rubbato.’ Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 306. Clavigero agrees with the Anonymous Conqueror, that the thief of corn became the slave of the owner of the field from which he had stolen, and adds in a foot-note: ‘Torquemada aggiunge, che avea pena di morte; ma ciò fu nel Regno d’Acolhuacan, non già in quello di Messico.’ Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 133. suffered death, while he who broke into the temples and stole therefrom, was enslaved for the first offence and hanged for the second, and it is distinctly stated[524]Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii.; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 138. that in order to merit either of these punishments the theft must be an extensive one. In cases not specially provided for, it appears that a petty thief became the slave of the person from whom he had stolen; according to Ortega, however, the injured party had the privilege of refusing to accept the thief as a slave, in which case the latter was sold by the judges, and with the proceeds of the sale the complainant was reimbursed. The same writer states that in some cases a compromise could be effected by the offended party agreeing to be indemnified by the thief, in which case the latter paid into the treasury a sum equal to the amount stolen. This statement is somewhat obscure, inasmuch as it would be but poor satisfaction to the party robbed to see the equivalent of that robbery paid into the public treasury; but I understand the writer to mean that the loser had his loss made good, and that for the satisfaction of justice an equal amount was imposed as a fine upon the prisoner.[525]Ortega’s statement reads: ‘Casi siempre se castigaba con pena de muerte, á ménos de que la parte ofendida conviniese en ser indemnizada por el ladron, en cuyo caso pagaba este al fisco una cantidad igual á la robada.’ Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 225. Theft of a large amount was almost invariably punished with death, which was inflicted in various ways. Usually the culprit was dragged ignominiously through the streets and then hanged;[526]Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 33; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 166. sometimes he was stoned to death.[527]Explicacion de la Coleccion de Mendoza, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 112.He who robbed on the highway was killed by having his head smashed with a club;[528]Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., p. 246. he who was caught in the act of pilfering in the market-place, no matter how trivial the theft, was beaten to death with sticks on the spot by the assembled multitude, for this was considered a most heinous sin; but notwithstanding the fearful risk incurred, it is asserted that many were so light-fingered that it was only necessary for a market woman to turn her head away, and her stall would be robbed in a trice. There was a regular judicial tribunal established for the settling of disputes in the general government of the market-place, of which I have had occasion to speak before; but this tribunal does not appear to have troubled itself much with persons who were caught in the act of stealing, as it seems to have been tacitly allowed to the people assembled in the market-place to exercise lynch law upon the culprit.[529]Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 138; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 225; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 381. Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii., says that he who stole in the market-place was hanged there and then by order of the judges of the place, and in cap. cxv., he writes: ‘El que en el mercado algo hurtava, era ley que luego publicamente alli en el mismo mercado lo matasen á palos.’ Again in the same chapter he gives a law, for the authenticity of which he does not vouch, however, which reads as follows: ‘el que en el mercado hurtava algo, los mismos del mercado tenian licencia para lo matar á pedradas.’

Besides these general laws for the prevention of theft, there were others which prescribed special penalties for those who stole certain particular articles. For instance, Ortega tells us that the thief of silver or gold was skinned alive and sacrificed to Xipe, the tutelary divinity of the workers in precious metals, such a theft being considered a direct insult to the god.[530]Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 225. In some of these cases fines were imposed. Among a collection of laws given by Las Casas, for the authenticity of which he does not vouch, “because,” he says, “they were taken out of a little Indian book of no authority,” we find the following relating to theft: If any one stole the plants, called maguey, from which they manufactured more than twenty articles, and which were used for making syrup, he was compelled to pay as a fine as many cotton cloths as the judges might decree, and if he was unable to pay the fine imposed, or if he had stolen more than twenty plants, he was enslaved. Whoever stole a fishing-net or a canoe was punished in the same manner. Whoever stole corn to the amount of twenty ears or upward, died for it, and if he took a less quantity, he paid that which he was sentenced to pay. He that plucked the corn before it had formed seed, suffered death. Whoever stole a tecomatl, “which is a little gourd tied at the top with strips of red hide, and having feather tassels at the end, used by the lords for carrying a green powder, from which they take in smoke through the mouth, the powder being called in the island of Española ‘tabacos’—whoever stole one of these died for it.” He that stole precious stones, and more especially the stone called chalchiuite, no matter from whence he took it, was stoned to death in the market-place, because no man of the lower orders was allowed to possess this stone.[531]Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv.

In Mexico, a distinction seems to have been made between the thief who reaped the benefit of his crime and him who did not; in other words, if the stolen property was recovered intact from the thief he was only enslaved, but if he had already disposed of his plunder he suffered death.[532]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 381; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv. Whether the ultimate recovery of the property after it had passed from the thief’s hands, would answer the same end, we are not told, but if not, then it would appear that according to Aztec jurisprudence the culprit was punished not so much in proportion to the actual injury he inflicted upon others, as in accordance with the actual extent of the crime he committed. In Michoacan, the first theft was not severely punished, but for the second offence the thief was thrown down a precipice and his carcass left to the birds of prey.[533]Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. x.; Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., p. 51.

The murderer suffered death even though he should be a noble and his victim but a slave.[534]‘L’omicida pagava colla propria vita il suo delitto, quantunque l’ucciso fosse uno schiavo.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 130. The manner of putting the murderer to death is differently stated: ‘El homicidio, bien fuese ejecutado por noble ó plebeyo, bien por hombre ó muger, se castigaba con pena de muerte, depedazando al homicida.’ Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 226. ‘Al que mataba à otro, hacian degollar.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 166. ‘Al matador lo degollaban.’ Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 33. Other writers merely say that the murderer suffered death, without stating the manner of execution. See, Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii.; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 387; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 136. Diego Duran, in his inedited ‘History of New Spain,’ asserts that the murderer did not suffer death, but became the slave for life of the wife or relatives of the deceased. Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., pp. 240-1. In Michoacan, we are told by Herrera,[535]Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. x. that there was no punishment for murder, since, through fear, the crime was never committed. Beaumont allows that for a time there were no murders, but says that afterwards they became frequent, and then the criminal was dragged along the ground until he died.[536]Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., pp. 51-2. He who administered poison to another, thereby causing death, died for it, and the same punishment was awarded to him who furnished the poison.[537]Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 136; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 226; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii. In cap. ccxv., among his unauthenticated laws, we read that if the victim of poison was a slave, the person who caused his death was made a slave, in the place of suffering the extreme penalty, but the opposite to this is expressly stated by Clavigero and implied by Ortega.

The Fate of Traitors and Conspirators

Traitors, conspirators, and those who stirred up sedition among the people or created ill feeling between nations, were broken to pieces at the joints, their houses razed to the ground, their property confiscated, and their children and relations made slaves to the fourth generation. The lord of vassals who rebelled, unless taken captive in battle, was killed by having his head smashed with a club; the common rebel was tied to an oaken spit and roasted alive.[538]Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 307; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii.; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 33; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 106; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 138; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 421. Ixtlilxochitl writes that the children and relations of the traitor were enslaved till the fifth generation, and that salt was scattered upon his lands. Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., p. 245. ‘Il traditore del Re, o dello Stato, era sbranato, ed i suoi parenti, che consapevoli del tradimento non lo aveano per tempo scoperto, erano privati della libertà.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 130.

In Tezcuco, he who kidnapped a child and sold it into slavery, was hanged; in Mexico, the kidnapper was himself sold as a slave, and of the price he brought one half was given to the stolen child, or its parents, and the other half became the property of the purchaser; if several persons were implicated in the crime, they were all sold as slaves.[539]Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 387; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 382; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv., among the collection of unauthenticated laws so frequently mentioned heretofore, gives the following: ‘Si algunos vendieron algun niño por esclavo, y despues se sabe, todos los que entendieron en ello eran esclavos, y dellos davan uno al que lo compró, y los otros repartian entre la madre del niño y entre él que lo descubrió.’ In the same chapter, among another list of laws which, says Las Casas, ‘son tenidas todas por autenticas y verdaderas,’ we read: ‘Era ley, y con rigor guardada, que si alguno vendia por esclavo algun niño perdido, que se hiciese esclavo al que lo vendia, y su hacienda se partiese en dos partes, la una era para el niño, y la otra al que lo havia comprado, y si quizas lo avian vendido y eran muchos, á todos hacian esclavos.’

Laws Against Intoxication

Drunkenness was punished with excessive rigor; indeed, intoxicating liquor was not allowed to be drunk, except by express permission from the judges, and this license was only granted to invalids and persons over fifty years of age, who, it was considered, needed strong drink in order to warm their blood; and even they were only permitted to partake of a limited quantity, at each meal,[540]Zurita writes: ‘ils n’avaient droit d’en prendre que trois petites tasses à chaque repas.’ Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., p. 110; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. xvi. though according to the explanation of Mendoza’s collection old men of seventy years were allowed to drink as much as they pleased.[541]Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. i., pl. 72; Esplicacion, in Id., vol. v., pp. 112-13; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. xvi.; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 134. Moderate conviviality at weddings and public feasts, was not forbidden, and upon these occasions the young people were allowed to partake of the wine-cup sparingly;[542]‘Dans les noces publiques et les fêtes, les hommes âgés de plus de trente ans étaient ordinairement autorisés à en boire deux tasses.’ Zurita, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., p. 110; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 134; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. xvi. the same license was granted to those whose daily occupation necessitated great bodily exertion, such as masons, carpenters, and the like.[543]Ortega says that the privilege was also extended to private soldiers. Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 227. Zurita, however, writes ‘les guerriers regardaient comme un déshonneur d’en boire.’ Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., p. 111. Women in childbed were allowed to use strong drink as a stimulant, but only during the first days of their confinement. With these exceptions, the law against drinking was strictly enforced. The young man who became drunk was conveyed to the jail, and there beaten to death with clubs; the young woman was stoned to death. In some parts, if the drunkard was a plebeian, he was sold for a slave for the first offence, and suffered death for the second; at other times the offender’s hair was cut off in the public market-place, he was then lashed through the principal streets, and finally his house was razed to the ground, because, they said, one who would give up his reason to the influence of strong drink, was unworthy to possess a house, and be numbered among respectable citizens. Cutting off the hair was, as we shall see, a mode of punishment frequently resorted to by these people, and so deep was the degradation supposed to be attached to it, that it was dreaded almost equally with death itself. Should a military man, who had gained distinction in the wars, become drunk, he was deprived of his rank and honors, and considered thenceforth as infamous. Conviction of this crime rendered the culprit ineligible for all future emoluments, and especially was he debarred from holding any public office. A noble was invariably hanged for the first offence, his body being afterwards dragged without the limits of the town and cast into a stream used for that purpose only. But a mightier influence than mere fear of the penal law restrained the Aztec nobility and gentry from drinking to excess; this influence was social law. It was considered degrading for a person of quality to touch wine at all, even in seasons of festivity when, as I have said, it was customary and lawful for the lower classes to indulge to a certain extent. Wine-bibbing was looked upon as a coarse pleasure, peculiar exclusively to the common people, and a member of the higher orders, who was suspected of practicing the habit, would have forfeited his social position, even though the law had suffered him to remain unpunished.[544]Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii., ccxv.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 166, tom. ii., p. 386; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii, p. 33; Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. i., pl. 72; Esplicacion, in Id., vol. v., pp. 112-13; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Id., vol. ix., p. 246; Id., Relaciones, p. 387; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 226-7; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 134; Zurita, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., pp. 110-11; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. xvi. These heathens, however, seem to have recognized the natural incongruity existing between precept and practice, fully as much as the most advanced Christian.[545]See this vol. pp. 360-1.

He who employed witchcraft, charms, or incantations for the purpose of doing injury to the community or to individuals, was sacrificed to the gods, by having his breast opened and his heart torn out.[546]Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 386; Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 387; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 226.

Miscellaneous Laws

Whoever made use of the royal insignia or ensigns, suffered death, and his property was confiscated.[547]Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 246; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 130. The reader will recollect that the same penalty was inflicted upon him who should usurp the insignia or office of the Mexican cihuacoatl, or supreme judge. Whoever maltreated an ambassador, minister, or courier, belonging to the king, suffered death; but ambassadors and couriers were on their part forbidden to leave the high road, under pain of losing their privileges.[548]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 130. He who by force took possession of land not belonging to him, suffered death.[549]Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 387; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 226. He who sold the land of another, or that which he held in trust, without judicial authority, or permission from such as had power to grant it to him, was enslaved.[550]Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv. If a piece of land was fraudulently sold twice over, the first purchaser held it, and the vendor was punished.[551]Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 388. He who squandered his patrimony suffered death.[552]Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv., gives two laws on this point. To the first, which is among the collection of unauthenticated laws, adds: ‘Y si era plebeyo ó de baja suerte hacian lo esclavo.’ Ixtlilxochitl also gives two laws: ‘A los hijos de los señores si malbarataban sus riquezas, ó bien muebles que sus padres tenian, les daban garrote.’ Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 246. ‘Si algun principal mayorazgo fuese desbaratado, ó travieso, ó si entre dos de estos tales hubiese alguna diferencia sobre tierras ú otras cosas, el que no quisiese estarse quedo con la averiguacion que entre ellos se hiciese por ser soberbio y mal mirado, le fuesen quitados sus bienes y mayorazgo, y fuese puesto en depósito en alguna persona que diese cuenta de ello para el tiempo que le fuese pedido, de cual mayorazgo estubiese desposeido todo el tiempo que la voluntad del señor fuese.’ Relaciones, in Id., p. 387; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 385; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 134. The son that raised his hand against his father or mother, suffered death, and his children were prevented from inheriting the property of their grand-parents. In the same manner a father could disinherit a son who was cowardly or cruel.[553]Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 423. He who removed boundary-marks, died for it.[554]Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 386; Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 387. Those who disturbed the peace by engaging in petty fights and squabbles, without using weapons, were confined in jail for a few days, and obliged to make good whatever damage they had done; for, says Las Casas, they generally revenged themselves by breaking something. If any one was wounded in a brawl, he who made the assault had to defray all the expenses of curing the injured party. But those who fought in the market-place, were dealt with far more severely.[555]Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii. Slanderers were treated with great severity. In Mexico, he who wilfully calumniated another, thereby seriously injuring his reputation, was condemned to have his lips cut off, and sometimes his ears also. In Tezcuco, the slanderer suffered death. The false witness had the same penalty adjudged to him that would have been awarded to the accused, if convicted. So great a lover of truth was king Nezahualcoyotl, that he is said to have made a law prescribing the death penalty to historians who should record fictitious events.[556]Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 387; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 604; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 134; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 227-9; Chaves, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., p. 313; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 165. Whoever obtained goods on credit and did not pay for them, was enslaved, and the delinquent taxpayer met with the same punishment.[557]Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 502; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv.

Penalty for Adultery

Concerning the way in which adulterers were treated scarcely two of the ancient writers agree,[558]Concerning adultery see: Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii., ccxv.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 166, tom. ii., pp. 378, 380; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 246; Relaciones, in Id., p. 387; Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. i., pl. 72; Esplicacion, in Id., vol. v., p. 112; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 423; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 136-7; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 130-1; Bologne, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 211; Zurita, Rapport, in Id., série ii., tom. i., pp. 107-10; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 224; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 33; Duran, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. viii., pp. 242-3; Valades, Rhetorica Christiana, in Id., p. 129, note. and it is probable that the law on this point differed more or less in various parts of the Aztec kingdoms; indeed, we have Clavigero’s testimony that in some parts of the Mexican empire the crime of adultery was punished with greater severity than in others, and Las Casas and Mendieta both speak of several penalties attaching to the offence in different localities. According to what can be gathered on this point, it appears that adulterers taken in flagrante delicto, or under circumstances which made their guilt a moral certainty, were stoned to death. A species of trial was granted to the culprits, but if, as some writers assert, confession of guilt was extorted by torture,[559]Las Casas and Mendieta, as in preceding note. this trial must have been as much a mockery of justice as were the proceedings of most European courts of law at that period. The amount of evidence necessary to convict is uncertain. Veytia says that accusation by the husband was in itself sufficient proof.[560]‘Para la justificacion fuese bastante la denuncia del marido.’ Ibid.
(Las Casas and Mendieta, as in preceding note.) Las Casas and Torquemada, however, who are both far older authorities, tell us that no man or woman was punished for adultery upon the unsupported testimony of the husband, but that other witnesses, and the confession of the defendants were necessary to procure their conviction.[561]Las Casas writes: ‘A ninguna muger ni hombre castigavan por adulterio, si solo el marido della los acusaba, sino que havia de haver testigos y confesion dellos.’ Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv. Torquemada uses almost the same words. Usually if the condemned adulterers were of the lower orders, they were taken out into a public place and there stoned to death by the assembled multitude, and few of the old writers omit to remark that this manner of death was almost painless, since no sooner was the first stone thrown than the poor wretch was immediately covered with a pile of missiles, so great was the number of his executioners, and so eager was each to take a hand in the killing. Another common mode of execution consisted in placing the head of the condemned upon a stone, and smashing his skull by letting another stone fall upon it.[562]Father Francisco de Bologne says that this mode of punishment was only resorted to in the case of the man, and that the female adulterer was impaled. Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 211. The noble convicted of the same crime was not killed in this public manner, but was strangled in jail; and as a mark of respect to his rank, his head, after death, was adorned with plumes of green feathers, and the body was then burned. Adulterers who were found guilty merely upon circumstantial evidence also suffered death by strangulation. It was strictly forbidden for a husband to take the law into his own hands, and he who should seek to avenge his honor by slaying his wife or her paramour, even though he took them in the act of adultery, suffered death; in the same manner should the criminal endeavor to save himself by killing the injured husband, his fate was to be roasted alive before a slow fire, his body being basted with salt and water that death might not come to his relief too soon.[563]This statement is made by Ixtlilxochitl and Veytia, ubi sup. An adulterer could not escape the law on the plea of drunkenness,[564]Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii.; Mendieta, ubi sup. and, indeed, had such an excuse been held admissible, little would have been gained by exchanging the fate of the adulterer for that of the drunkard. The trespass of a married man with a free unmarried woman was not considered to constitute adultery, nor punished as such, so that the husband was not bound to so much fidelity as was exacted from the wife. I have before remarked that although the crime of adultery was punished in all parts of the Aztec empire, yet the penalty inflicted differed in point of severity and in manner of execution. Thus, in the province of Ixcatlan, if we may believe Clavigero, a woman accused of this crime was summoned before the judges, and if the proofs of her guilt were satisfactory, she was there and then torn to pieces, and her limbs were divided among the witnesses, while in Itztepec the guilty woman’s husband cut off her ears and nose, thus branding her as infamous for life.[565]Ibidem. Among the Miztecs, when extenuating circumstances could be proved, the punishment of death was commuted to mutilation of ears, nose, and lips. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xii.
(Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii.; Mendieta, ubi sup.) In some parts of the empire the husband who cohabited with his wife after it had been proved that she had violated her fidelity, was severely punished.[566]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 380; Clavigero, ubi sup.

Unnatural Crimes

Carnal connection with mother, sister, step-mother or step-sister, was punished by hanging; Torquemada says the same penalty was incurred by him who had connection with his mother-in-law, because they considered it a sin for a man to have access to both mother and daughter. Intercourse between brother-in-law and sister-in-law was, however, not criminal, and, indeed, it was customary for a man to raise up seed to his deceased brother by marrying his widow.[567]Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii., ccxv.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 377-8, 380; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 224. He who attempted to ravish a maiden, whether in the field, or in her father’s house, suffered death.[568]Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii.; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 136. In Michoacan, the ravisher’s mouth was split from ear to ear with a flint knife, and he was afterwards impaled.[569]Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. x.; Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., p. 51. In Mexico, those who committed sodomy were hanged; in Tezcuco, the punishment for unnatural crime was characteristically brutal. The active agent was bound to a stake, completely covered with ashes and so left to die; the entrails of the passive agent were drawn out through his anus, he also was then covered with ashes, and, wood being added, the pile was ignited.[570]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 166, tom. ii., p. 380; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv.; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 423; Ortega, in Id., p. 224; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 33; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 137; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 245. Carbajal Espinosa differs from these in saying: ‘al pasivo le arrancaban las entrañas, se llenaba su vientre de ceniza y el cadáver era quemado.’ Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 603. In Tlascala, the sodomite was not punished by law, but was scouted by society, and treated with scorn and contempt by all who knew him.[571]Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 193. Carli is therefore mistaken in saying this crime was punished with death. Cartas, p. 122. From the extreme severity of the laws enacted by the later sovereigns for the suppression of this revolting vice, and from the fact that persons were especially appointed by the judicial authorities to search the provinces for offenders of this class, it is evident that unnatural love had attained a frightful popularity among the Aztecs. Father Pierre de Gand, or, as he is sometimes known, de Mura, bears terrible testimony to this; he writes: “Un certain nombre de prêtres n’avaient point de femmes, sed eorum loco pueros quibus abutebantur. Ce péché était si commun dans ce pays, que, jeunes ou vieux, tous en étaient infectés; ils y étaient si adonnés, que mêmes des enfants de six ans s’y livraient.”[572]Lettre, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 197.

Las Casas relates that in several of the more remote provinces of Mexico unnatural vice was tolerated, if not actually permitted,[573]Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii. Clavigero writes: ‘Appresso tutte le Nazioni di Anahuac, fuorchè appresso i Panuchesi, era in abbominazione sì fatto delitto, e da tutte si puniva con rigore.’ This writer is very bitter against M. de Pauw for stating that this pederasty was common among the Mexicans, and adds: ‘ma della falsità di tal calunnia, che con troppa, ed assai biasimevole facilità addottarono parecchj Autori Europei, ci consta per la testimonianza di molti altri Autori imparziarli, e meglio informati.’ Clavigero does not, however, state who these ‘more impartial and better informed writers’ are. That the crime of sodomy was prevalent in Tabasco, we have the testimony of Oviedo, who writes that among the idols that the Christians saw there ‘dixeron que avian hallado entre aquellos çemís ó yolos, dos personas hechas de copey (que es un árbol assi llamado), el uno caballero ó cabalgando sobre el otro, en figura de aquel abominable y nefando pecado de sodomia, é otro de barro que tenia la natura asida con ambas manos, la qual tenia como çircunçiso … y no es este pecado entre aquellas mal aventuradas gentes despresçiado, ni sumariamente averiguado: antes es mucha verdad quanto dellos se puede deçir é culpar en tal caso.’ Hist. Gen., tom. i., p. 533. Zuazo, speaking of the Mexicans, says: ‘estas gentes tienen la tria peccatela que decia el Italiano: no creen en Dios; son casi todos sodomitas: comen carne humana.’ Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 365. and it is not improbable that in earlier times this was the case in the entire empire. Inexpressibly revolting as the sin must appear to a modern mind, yet we know that pederasty has obtained among peoples possessed of a more advanced civilization than the Aztecs. In ancient Greece this unnatural passion prevailed to such an extent that it was regarded as heroic to resist it. Plutarch, in his Life of Agesilaus, cannot praise too highly the self-control manifested by that great man in refraining from gratifying a passion he had conceived for a boy named Megabates, which Maximus Tyrius says deserves greater praise than the heroism of Leonidas; Diogenes Laertius, in his Life of Zeno, the founder of stoicism, the most austere of all ancient sects, praises that philosopher for being but little addicted to this vice; Sophocles, the Tragic Homer, and the Attic Bee, is said by Athenæus to have been especially addicted to it. Moralists were known to praise it as the bond of friendship, and it was spoken of as inspiring the enthusiasm of the heroic legion of Epaminondas. The defeat of the Romans by Hannibal at Cannæ was said to be caused by the jealousy of Juno, because a beautiful boy had been introduced into the temple of Jupiter. Las Casas tells us that pederasty was tolerated because they believed that their gods practiced it.[574]Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii. In precisely the same manner did the ancient Greeks make the popular religion bend to the new vice, and, by substituting Ganymede for Hebe as heavenly cup-bearer, make the head of all Olympus set an example of unnatural love.

Laws Respecting Chastity

The priest who violated his vow of chastity was banished; his house was demolished and his property confiscated.[575]Las Casas, among his unauthentic laws has one which prescribes death in this case, but in another list, which he says is composed of authentic laws, banishment and confiscation of property is given as the penalty. Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 380; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 423. Pimps were publicly disgraced in the market-place, by having their hair burnt off so close to the head that the drops of resin falling from the burning pitch-pine chips fell upon and seared the scalp; if the persons for whom the panderage was committed were of high rank, a greater penalty was inflicted upon the pander.[576]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 380; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii.; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 137. Ortega adds that their heads were rubbed with ashes; ‘se les untaba con ceniza caliente.’ Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 225.This was the law in Mexico; in Tezcuco, according to the historian of the Chichimecs, the pimp suffered death in all cases.[577]Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 246; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., p. 224.

Simple fornication was not punished, unless it was committed by a noble lady, or with a maiden consecrated to the service of the gods, in which cases it was death. Fornication with the concubine of another also went unpunished, unless they had been living a long time together, and were in consequence, according to custom, considered man and wife. If any one had connection with a slave, and the woman died during her pregnancy, or in giving birth to the child, then the offender became a slave; but if she was safely delivered, the child was free and was taken care of by the father.[578]Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 387; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 423; Duran, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., pp. 243-4; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 380; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv.; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 224-5. The woman who took any drug to procure an abortion, and she who furnished the drug, both suffered death.[579]Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii., ccxv.; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 136. If one woman sinned carnally with another, both died for it.[580]Las Casas, Ibid.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 380-1.
(Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii., ccxv.; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 136.) The man who went about the streets dressed as a woman, or the woman who dressed as a man, was slain.[581]Las Casas, Ibid.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 380; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 137-8; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 133.
(Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii., ccxv.; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 136.)

In this account are comprised nearly all the special laws of the Aztecs which have been preserved, with the exception of those relating to military matters, marriage, divorce, and slavery, all of which I have already had occasion to consider.

That the Aztec code was a severe and brutal one there can be no denial, but that it was more severe and brutal than was necessary, is, as I have before remarked, doubtful. We have already seen that a horrible death was the inevitable fate of those detected stealing in the market-place, yet we are told that did the owner of a stall but turn away his head for a moment, his wares would be pilfered. A people accustomed almost daily to see human blood poured out like water in sacrifice to their gods, must of necessity have been hardened to the sight of suffering, and upon such none but an execution of the most revolting description could create an impression of awe or fear. It appears remarkable that punishments involving only disgrace should have been adopted by such a people, yet it is doubtful whether slavery was not considered a lighter punishment than having the hair burned off in the public market. Some of the Aztec monarchs evinced a desire to be as lenient as the stubborn nature of their subjects would allow, but the yoke upon the people, if it were in any degree to control them, must at best be a heavy one; in short, despotism of the harshest was necessary and indispensable to them in their stage of civilization.

Nezahualcoyotl and the Boy

Nezahualcoyotl, king of Tezcuco, was especially merciful and considerate towards his subjects. For instance, he ordered that corn should be planted, at the expense of government, by the roadside, in order that none who were guilty of stealing from the fields, might excuse themselves on the ground of hunger.[582]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 381; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 225-6; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 133. It is related that this monarch went frequently among his people in disguise, for the purpose of discovering their grievances and general condition, and some of the adventures he met with on these occasions are as entertaining as any told by Sheherezade of the Good Caliph. I select one, not because it is the best, but because it points more particularly to Nezahualcoyotl’s benevolence and love of justice. During the reign of this monarch, owing to the immense consumption of wood, the use of oil and tallow being then unknown, the forests began to grow thin, and the king foreseeing that unless some precautions were taken, there would soon be a scarcity of wood in the kingdom, ordered that within certain limits no wood should be touched. Now it happened one day, when the king was abroad in disguise, and accompanied only by his brother Quauhtlehuanitzin, that they passed by the skirts of a forest wherein it was prohibited to cut or gather wood. Here they found a boy who was engaged in picking up the light chips and twigs that had been carried by the wind outside of the enclosure, because in this locality the inhabitants were very numerous, and had exhausted all the timber that was not reserved by law. Nezahualcoyotl, seeing that under the trees of the forest there lay a great quantity of fallen wood, asked the boy why he contented himself with dry leaves and scattered twigs when so great an abundance of fuel lay close at hand. The boy answered that the king had forbidden the people to gather wood in the forest, and therefore he was obliged to take whatever he could get. The king told him to go, nevertheless, into the forest and help himself to fuel, and none would be the wiser, for that he and his companion would say nothing of the matter. But the boy rebuked them, saying that they must be traitors to the king who would persuade him to do this thing, or that they sought to avenge themselves upon his parents by bringing misfortune upon their son, and he refused to enter the forbidden ground. Then was the king much pleased with the boy’s loyalty, and seeing the distress to which the people were reduced by the severity of the forest laws, he afterwards had them altered.[583]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 165. In the following works more or less mention is made of the system of jurisprudence that existed among the Nahua peoples. Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 31-5; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 593-605; Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 153; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 35-6, 53-4, 69-75, 96-7, 105, 205; Cortés, Aven. y Conq., pref., p. 13; Delaporte, Reisen, tom. x., pp. 264-7; Incidents and Sketches, pp. 60-1; Simon’s Ten Tribes, pp. 263-70; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., pp. 150-8; Chambers’ Jour., 1835, vol. iv., p. 253; Baril, Mexique, pp. 205-7; Touron, Hist. Gén., tom. iii., pp. 29-31; Soden, Spanier in Peru, tom. ii., p. 14.

Footnotes

[476] ‘El govierno y las leyes quasi no diferian, por manera que por lo que de unas partes dijeremos, y adonde tuvimos mayor noticia, se podra entender, y quiza sera mejor, decirlo en comun y generalmente.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxii. It is also stated that many Mexican cases, presenting more than ordinary difficulty, were tried in the Tezcucan law-courts; see Zurita, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., p. 95; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxii.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 354. Speaking of Mexico, Tezcuco, and Tlacopan, Zurita says: ‘Les lois et la procédure étaient les mêmes dans ces trois états, de sorte qu’en exposant les usages établis dans l’un d’eux, on fera connaître ce qui se passait dans les autres.’ Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., pp. 93-4.

[477] The title cihuacoatl, meaning ‘serpent-woman,’ appears incomprehensible as applied to a judge, but M. l’Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 579-80, sees reason to believe that the Mexicans, when they succeeded to the rights of the Toltec kings of Culhuacan, adopted also the titles of the court, and that the name cihuacoatl had been given to the prime minister in memory of Cihuacoatl, the sister of Camaxtli, who cared for the infancy of Quetzalcoatl. The learned Abbé translates cihuacoatl, serpent femelle, which is literally a serpent of the female sex. Molina, however, in his Vocabulario, gives ‘ciua’ as a substantive, meaning ‘women’ (mugeres), and ‘coatl’ as another substantive, meaning ‘serpent’ (culebra), the two as a compound he does not give. I translate the word ‘serpent-woman,’ because the sister of Camaxtli would more probably be thus distinguished among women, than among serpents as the ‘woman-serpent.’

[478] Although all other historians agree that the judgment of the cihuacoatl was final, the interpreter of Mendoza’s collection states that an appeal lay from the judges (he does not state which) to the king. Explicacion de la Coleccion de Mendoza, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 109. Prescott, Mex., vol. i., p. 29, attributes this to the changes made during Montezuma’s reign, the period which the Mendoza paintings represent, and Leon Carbajal, Discurso, p. 98, totally denies the truth of the statement.

[479] ‘Dalle sentenze da lui pronunziate o nel civile, o nel criminale, non si poteva appellare ad un altro tribunale,’ &c. Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 127.

[480] Mex., vol. i., p. 29.

[481] Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 580.

[482] Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 593.

[483] Discurso, p. 97.

[484] ‘Oìa de causas, que se debolvian, y remitian à èl, por apelacion; y estas eran solas las criminales, porque de las civiles no se apelaba de sus Justicias ordinarias.’ Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 352. It is possible that Señor Carbajal may have read only a subsequent passage in the same chapter, where Torquemada, speaking of the tribunal of the tlacatecatl, says: ‘De este se apelaba, para el Tribunal, y Audiencia del Cihuacohuatl, que era Juez Supremo, despues del Rei.’ From what has gone before, it is, however, evident that the author here refers only to the criminal cases that were appealed from the court of the tlacatecatl.

[485] Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxii.

[486] Mex., vol. i., p. 29. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 127-8, also affirms, indirectly, that cases were sometimes laid in the first instance before the supreme judge, inasmuch as he first says that the cihuacoatl took cognizance of both civil and criminal cases, and afterwards, when speaking of the court of the tlacatecatl, he writes: ‘Se la causa era puramente civile, non v’era appellazione.’ The same applies to Brasseur de Bourbourg. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 580.

[487] Herein lies the only difference between Las Casas and Torquemada on the subject of the Cihuacoatl. The former writes: ‘Qualquiera que este oficio para si usurpara, ó lo concediera á otro, avia de morir por ello, y sus padres y deudos eran desnaturados del pueblo donde acaeciese hasta lo quarta generación. Allende que todos los bienes avian de ser confiscados, y aplicados para la republica.’ Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxii. Torquemada says: ‘era tan autoriçado este oficio, que el que lo vsurpara para si, ò lo comunicàra à otro en alguna parte del Reino, muriera por ello, y sus Hijos, y Muger fueran vendidos, por perpetuos esclavos, y confiscados sus bienes por Lei, que para esto havia.’ Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 352. Notwithstanding all other historians distinctly affirm that the cihuacoatl was, in the exercise of his functions perfectly independent of the king, Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 580, makes the following extraordinary statement: ‘Il jugeait en dernier ressort et donnait des ordres en lieu et place du souverain, chaque fois que celui-ci ne le faisait pas directement et par lui-même.’ This must be from one of the original manuscripts in the possession of M. l’Abbé.

[488] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxii., spells these names tacatecatl, acoahunotl, and tlaylotlat; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 352, tlacateccatl, quauhnuchtli, and tlaylotlac; and Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 127, tlacatecatl, quauhnochtli, and tlanótlac, or tlaiíotlac, a defect in the impression makes it difficult to tell which. Scarcely two of the old writers follow the same system of orthography, and in future I shall follow the style which appears simplest, endeavoring only to be consistent with myself.

[489] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 128, writes ‘Egiornalmente si portava al Cihuacoatl, od al Tlacatecatl per avvertirlo di tutto ciò, che occorreva, e ricever gli ordini da lui;’ but it would probably be only in cases of great importance that the reports of the tecuhtli would be carried to the cihuacoatl.

[490] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxii.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 355; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 127-8.

[491] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 354, says that there were fifteen provinces subject to the king of Tezcuco.

[492] The English edition of Clavigero reads: ‘the judicial power was divided amongst seven principal cities,’ p. 354; but the original agrees with the other authorities: ‘nel Regno d’Acolhuacan era la giurisdizione compartita tra sei Città principali.’ Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 128.

[493] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxii. Torquemada, however, asserts that there were ‘en la Ciudad de Tetzcuco (que era la Corte) dentro de la Casa Real dos Salas de Consejo … y en cada Sala dos Jueces. Havia diferencia entre los dichos Jueces; porque los de la vna Sala eran de mas autoridad, que los de la otra; estos se llamaban Jueces maiores, y esotros menores; los maiores oìan de causas graves, y que pertenecian à la determinacion del Rei; los segundos, de otras, no tan graves, sino mas leves, y livianas.’ Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 354. The lower of these two probably either formed one of the six superior courts above mentioned, or corresponded with them in jurisdiction. According to Zurita, ‘chacune des nombreuses provinces soumises à ces souverains entretenait à Mexico, à Tezcuco et à Tlacopan, qui étaient les trois capitales, deux juges, personnes de sens choisies à cet effet, et qui quelquefois étaient parents des souverains,’ and adds: ‘les appels étaient portés devant douze autres juges supérieurs qui prononçaient d’après l’avis du souverain.’ Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., pp. 95, 100.

[494] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 355, writes: ‘Tenia cada Sala de estas dichas otro Ministro, que hacia oficio de Alguacil Maior,’ &c., while other writers assign one to each judge, of whom there were two in each court.

[495] Clavigero differs on this point from other writers, in making this meeting occur every Mexican month of twenty days. Zurita, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., p. 101, writes: ‘Tous les douze jours il y avait une assemblée générale des juges présidée par le prince;’ to this the editor attaches the following note: ‘il est évident, comme on le verra page 106, qu’il y a ici une erreur, et que ces assemblées, dont les sessions duraient douze jours, ne se tenaient que tous les quatre-vingts jours.’ It is, however, the learned editor who is mistaken, because, as we have seen above, there were two distinct meetings of the judges; a lesser one every ten or twelve days, and a greater every eighty days, and it is of the latter that Zurita speaks on p. 106.

[496] ‘Al que él sentenciava le arrojava una flecha de aquellas.’ Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., p. 57. ‘A capital sentence was indicated by a line traced with an arrow across the portrait of the accused.’ Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 33.

[497] It is probable that as matters of government, as well as legal affairs, were discussed at their Eighty-Day Council, it was not exclusively composed of judges, but that nobles and statesmen were admitted to membership. Torquemada is, however, the only writer who distinctly states this: ‘tenian Audiencia General, que la llamaban Napualtlatolli, como decir, Palabra ochentena, que era Dia, en el qual se juntaban todos los de la Ciudad, y los Asistentes de todas las Provincias, con todo el Pueblo, asi nobles, como Comunes, y Plebeios,’ &c. Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 168; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 244-5, says that the king was accompanied by all his sons and relatives, with their tutors and suites.

[498] Concerning this judicial system of Tezcuco, see: Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxii.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 168, tom. ii., pp. 351-5; Zurita, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., pp. 96, et seq.; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 128-9; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 134-6; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 302-5; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 28-9; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 595.

[499] This sentence reads as follows in the original: ‘Á los lados serbian de alfombras unas pieles de tigres y leones, y mantas hechas de plumas de águila real, en donde asimismo estaban por su orden cantidad de braceletes, y grevas de oro.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 243. It is difficult to imagine why ‘braceletes, y grevas de oro’ should be placed upon the floor, but certainly the historian gives us to understand as much. Prescott, who affects to give Ixtlilxochitl’s description ‘in his own words,’ and who, furthermore, encloses the extract in quotation marks, gets over this difficulty by omitting the above-quoted sentence entirely. Mex., vol. i., p, 34; and Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 205, adopts the same convenient but somewhat unsatisfactory course. This latter author’s version of the whole matter is, however, like much other of his work, inextricably confused, when compared with the original.

[500] ‘Las paredes estaban entapizadas y adornadas de unos paños hechos de pelo de conejo, de todos colores, con figuras de diversas aves, animales y flores.’ This is rendered by Prescott: ‘The walls were hung with tapestry, made of the hair of different wild animals, of rich and various colors, festooned by gold rings, and embroidered with figures of birds and flowers.’ A few lines above, ‘la silla y espaldar era de oro,’ is construed into ‘a throne of pure gold.’ It seems scarcely fair to style the ancient Chichimec’s description one ‘of rather a poetical cast,’ at the same time making such additions as these.

[501] Ixtlilxochitl, ubi supra, writes: ‘En los primeros puestos ocho jueces que eran nobles y caballeros, y los otros cuatro eran de los ciudadanos.’ Veytia says: ‘Los cuatro primeros eran caballeros de la nobleza de primer órden, los cuatro siguientes ciudadanos de Tezcuco.’ Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 199.

[502] Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix. p. 242-3. The whole of the above description is very difficult to translate literally, owing to the confused style in which it is written; and if in places it is somewhat unintelligible, the reader will recollect that I translate merely what Ixtlilxochitl says, and not what he may, or may not, have meant to say.

[503] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 354; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxii;, Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 199; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 128; Zurita, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., p. 100; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 134.

[504] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 129.

[505] Prescott, Mex., vol. i., p. 33, says: ‘The paintings were executed with so much accuracy, that, in all suits respecting real property, they were allowed to be produced as good authority in the Spanish tribunals, very long after the Conquest; and a chair for their study and interpretation was established at Mexico in 1553, which has long since shared the fate of most other provisions for learning in that unfortunate country.’ Boturini thus describes the paper used by the Aztecs: ‘El Papel Indiano se componìa de las pencas del Maguèy, que en lengua Nacional se llama Mètl, y en Castellano Pita. Las echaban à podrir, y lavaban el hilo de ellas, el que haviendose ablandado estendian, para componer su papel gruesso, ò delgado, que despues bruñian para pintar en èl. Tambien hacian papel de las hojas de Palma, y Yo tengo algunos de estos delgados, y blandos tanto como la seda.’ Catálogo, in Id., Idea, pp. 95-6.

[506] Veytia writes very positively on this point: ‘Habia tambien abogados y procuradores; á los primeros llamaban tepantlatoani, que quiere decir el que habla por otro, y á los segundos tlanemiliani, que en lo sustancial ejercian sus ministerios casi del mismo modo que en nuestros tribunales…. Daban términos á las partes para que sus abogados hablasen por ellas, y estos lo hacian del mismo modo que en nuestros tribunales.’ Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 207-8. Sahagun relates the qualities which were supposed by the Aztecs to constitute a good or bad procurador or solicitador, and describes their duties: ‘El procurador favorece à una banda de los pleyteantes, por quien en su negocio vuelve mucho y apela, teniendo poder, y llevando salario por ello. El buen procurador es vivo y solícito, osado, diligente, constante, y perseverante en los negocios, en los cuales no se deja vencer; sino que alega de su derecho, apela, tacha los testigos, ni se cansa hasta vencer á la parte contraria y triunfar de ella. El mal procurador es interesable, gran pedigüeño, y de malicia suele dilatar los negocios: hace alharacas, es muy negligente y descuidado en el pleito, y fraudulento de tal modo, que de entrambas partes lleva salario. El solicitador nunca para, anda siempre solícito y listo. El buen solicitador es muy cuidadoso, determinado, y solícito en todo, y por hacer bien su oficio, muchas veces deja de comer y de dormir, y anda de casa en casa solicitando los negocios, los cuales trata de buena tinta, y con temor ó recelo, de que por su descuido no tengan mal suceso los negocios. El mal solicitador es flojo y descuidado, lerdo, y encandilador para sacar dineros, y facilmente se deja cohechar, porque no hable mal el negocio ó que mienta, y así suele echar á perder los pleitos.’ Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 23-4. Clavigero takes the opposite side of the question: ‘Nei giudizj dei Messicani facevano la parti da per se stesse le loro allegazioni: almeno non sappiamo, che vi fossero Avvocati.’ Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 129. ‘No counsel was employed; the parties stated their own case, and supported it by their witnesses.’ Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 32. ‘L’office d’avocat était inconnu; les parties établissaient elles-mêmes leur cause, en se faisant accompagner de leurs témoins.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 581.

[507] The reader will have remarked in a previous note that Veytia assigns more judges to each court than any other writer.

[508] Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 208.

[509] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 355-6; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 135; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 128-9.

[510] Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 200.

[511] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv., ccxii.; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 304, 313; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 135; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 423; Zurita, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., pp. 101-2. Torquemada says the unjust judge was warned twice, and shaved at the third offense. Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 356. See also Id., p. 385.

[512] Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcix., p. 136.

[513] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 165.

[514] Torquemada translates tlacatecatl, Captain General, (Capitan General). We have already seen that it was the title of the presiding judge of the second Mexican court of justice, but it was probably in this case a military title, both because military promotion would be more likely to be conferred upon a renowned warrior than a judgeship, and because the prince is spoken of as a young man, while only men of mature years and great experience were entrusted with the higher judicial offices.

[515] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 189-90.

[516] Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., p. 146.

[517] These names are spelled tlelpiloia and quahucalco by Las Casas, and teïlpiloyan and quauhcalli, by Brasseur de Bourbourg.

[518] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxii., says that the jails called quahucalco resembled the stocks; the other writers do not notice this difference.

[519] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 138.

[520] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 138-9; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 353; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxii.; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 138.

[521] Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 138.

[522] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 137.

[523] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 166, tom. ii., p. 381; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 225; Boturini, Idea, p. 27. The number of ears of corn varies according to the different writers from three or four to seven, except Las Casas, who makes the number twenty-one or over, stating, however, that this and some other laws that he gives are possibly not authentic. Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv. The Anonymous Conqueror writes: ‘quando altri entrauano nelle possessioni altrui per rubbare frutti, ò il grano che essi hanno, che per entrar in vn campo, e rubbare tre ò quattro mazzocche ò spighe de quel loro grano, lo faceuano schiauo del patrone di quel campo rubbato.’ Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 306. Clavigero agrees with the Anonymous Conqueror, that the thief of corn became the slave of the owner of the field from which he had stolen, and adds in a foot-note: ‘Torquemada aggiunge, che avea pena di morte; ma ciò fu nel Regno d’Acolhuacan, non già in quello di Messico.’ Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 133.

[524] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii.; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 138.

[525] Ortega’s statement reads: ‘Casi siempre se castigaba con pena de muerte, á ménos de que la parte ofendida conviniese en ser indemnizada por el ladron, en cuyo caso pagaba este al fisco una cantidad igual á la robada.’ Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 225.

[526] Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 33; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 166.

[527] Explicacion de la Coleccion de Mendoza, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 112.

[528] Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., p. 246.

[529] Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 138; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 225; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 381. Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii., says that he who stole in the market-place was hanged there and then by order of the judges of the place, and in cap. cxv., he writes: ‘El que en el mercado algo hurtava, era ley que luego publicamente alli en el mismo mercado lo matasen á palos.’ Again in the same chapter he gives a law, for the authenticity of which he does not vouch, however, which reads as follows: ‘el que en el mercado hurtava algo, los mismos del mercado tenian licencia para lo matar á pedradas.’

[530] Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 225.

[531] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv.

[532] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 381; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv.

[533] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. x.; Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., p. 51.

[534] ‘L’omicida pagava colla propria vita il suo delitto, quantunque l’ucciso fosse uno schiavo.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 130. The manner of putting the murderer to death is differently stated: ‘El homicidio, bien fuese ejecutado por noble ó plebeyo, bien por hombre ó muger, se castigaba con pena de muerte, depedazando al homicida.’ Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 226. ‘Al que mataba à otro, hacian degollar.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 166. ‘Al matador lo degollaban.’ Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 33. Other writers merely say that the murderer suffered death, without stating the manner of execution. See, Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii.; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 387; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 136. Diego Duran, in his inedited ‘History of New Spain,’ asserts that the murderer did not suffer death, but became the slave for life of the wife or relatives of the deceased. Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., pp. 240-1.

[535] Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. x.

[536] Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., pp. 51-2.

[537] Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 136; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 226; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii. In cap. ccxv., among his unauthenticated laws, we read that if the victim of poison was a slave, the person who caused his death was made a slave, in the place of suffering the extreme penalty, but the opposite to this is expressly stated by Clavigero and implied by Ortega.

[538] Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 307; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii.; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 33; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 106; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 138; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 421. Ixtlilxochitl writes that the children and relations of the traitor were enslaved till the fifth generation, and that salt was scattered upon his lands. Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., p. 245. ‘Il traditore del Re, o dello Stato, era sbranato, ed i suoi parenti, che consapevoli del tradimento non lo aveano per tempo scoperto, erano privati della libertà.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 130.

[539] Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 387; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 382; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv., among the collection of unauthenticated laws so frequently mentioned heretofore, gives the following: ‘Si algunos vendieron algun niño por esclavo, y despues se sabe, todos los que entendieron en ello eran esclavos, y dellos davan uno al que lo compró, y los otros repartian entre la madre del niño y entre él que lo descubrió.’ In the same chapter, among another list of laws which, says Las Casas, ‘son tenidas todas por autenticas y verdaderas,’ we read: ‘Era ley, y con rigor guardada, que si alguno vendia por esclavo algun niño perdido, que se hiciese esclavo al que lo vendia, y su hacienda se partiese en dos partes, la una era para el niño, y la otra al que lo havia comprado, y si quizas lo avian vendido y eran muchos, á todos hacian esclavos.’

[540] Zurita writes: ‘ils n’avaient droit d’en prendre que trois petites tasses à chaque repas.’ Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., p. 110; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. xvi.

[541] Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. i., pl. 72; Esplicacion, in Id., vol. v., pp. 112-13; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. xvi.; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 134.

[542] ‘Dans les noces publiques et les fêtes, les hommes âgés de plus de trente ans étaient ordinairement autorisés à en boire deux tasses.’ Zurita, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., p. 110; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 134; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. xvi.

[543] Ortega says that the privilege was also extended to private soldiers. Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 227. Zurita, however, writes ‘les guerriers regardaient comme un déshonneur d’en boire.’ Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., p. 111.

[544] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii., ccxv.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 166, tom. ii., p. 386; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii, p. 33; Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. i., pl. 72; Esplicacion, in Id., vol. v., pp. 112-13; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Id., vol. ix., p. 246; Id., Relaciones, p. 387; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 226-7; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 134; Zurita, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. i., pp. 110-11; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. xvi.

[545] See this vol. pp. 360-1.

[546] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 386; Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 387; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 226.

[547] Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 246; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 130.

[548] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 130.

[549] Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 387; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 226.

[550] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv.

[551] Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 388.

[552] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv., gives two laws on this point. To the first, which is among the collection of unauthenticated laws, adds: ‘Y si era plebeyo ó de baja suerte hacian lo esclavo.’ Ixtlilxochitl also gives two laws: ‘A los hijos de los señores si malbarataban sus riquezas, ó bien muebles que sus padres tenian, les daban garrote.’ Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 246. ‘Si algun principal mayorazgo fuese desbaratado, ó travieso, ó si entre dos de estos tales hubiese alguna diferencia sobre tierras ú otras cosas, el que no quisiese estarse quedo con la averiguacion que entre ellos se hiciese por ser soberbio y mal mirado, le fuesen quitados sus bienes y mayorazgo, y fuese puesto en depósito en alguna persona que diese cuenta de ello para el tiempo que le fuese pedido, de cual mayorazgo estubiese desposeido todo el tiempo que la voluntad del señor fuese.’ Relaciones, in Id., p. 387; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 385; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 134.

[553] Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 423.

[554] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 386; Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 387.

[555] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii.

[556] Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 387; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 604; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 134; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 227-9; Chaves, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., p. 313; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 165.

[557] Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 502; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv.

[558] Concerning adultery see: Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii., ccxv.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 166, tom. ii., pp. 378, 380; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 246; Relaciones, in Id., p. 387; Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. i., pl. 72; Esplicacion, in Id., vol. v., p. 112; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 423; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 136-7; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 130-1; Bologne, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 211; Zurita, Rapport, in Id., série ii., tom. i., pp. 107-10; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 224; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 33; Duran, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. viii., pp. 242-3; Valades, Rhetorica Christiana, in Id., p. 129, note.

[559] Las Casas and Mendieta, as in preceding note.

[560] ‘Para la justificacion fuese bastante la denuncia del marido.’ Ibid.

[561] Las Casas writes: ‘A ninguna muger ni hombre castigavan por adulterio, si solo el marido della los acusaba, sino que havia de haver testigos y confesion dellos.’ Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv. Torquemada uses almost the same words.

[562] Father Francisco de Bologne says that this mode of punishment was only resorted to in the case of the man, and that the female adulterer was impaled. Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 211.

[563] This statement is made by Ixtlilxochitl and Veytia, ubi sup.

[564] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii.; Mendieta, ubi sup.

[565] Ibidem. Among the Miztecs, when extenuating circumstances could be proved, the punishment of death was commuted to mutilation of ears, nose, and lips. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xii.

[566] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 380; Clavigero, ubi sup.

[567] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii., ccxv.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 377-8, 380; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 224.

[568] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii.; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 136.

[569] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. x.; Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., p. 51.

[570] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 166, tom. ii., p. 380; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv.; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 423; Ortega, in Id., p. 224; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 33; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 137; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 245. Carbajal Espinosa differs from these in saying: ‘al pasivo le arrancaban las entrañas, se llenaba su vientre de ceniza y el cadáver era quemado.’ Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 603.

[571] Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 193. Carli is therefore mistaken in saying this crime was punished with death. Cartas, p. 122.

[572] Lettre, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 197.

[573] Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii. Clavigero writes: ‘Appresso tutte le Nazioni di Anahuac, fuorchè appresso i Panuchesi, era in abbominazione sì fatto delitto, e da tutte si puniva con rigore.’ This writer is very bitter against M. de Pauw for stating that this pederasty was common among the Mexicans, and adds: ‘ma della falsità di tal calunnia, che con troppa, ed assai biasimevole facilità addottarono parecchj Autori Europei, ci consta per la testimonianza di molti altri Autori imparziarli, e meglio informati.’ Clavigero does not, however, state who these ‘more impartial and better informed writers’ are. That the crime of sodomy was prevalent in Tabasco, we have the testimony of Oviedo, who writes that among the idols that the Christians saw there ‘dixeron que avian hallado entre aquellos çemís ó yolos, dos personas hechas de copey (que es un árbol assi llamado), el uno caballero ó cabalgando sobre el otro, en figura de aquel abominable y nefando pecado de sodomia, é otro de barro que tenia la natura asida con ambas manos, la qual tenia como çircunçiso … y no es este pecado entre aquellas mal aventuradas gentes despresçiado, ni sumariamente averiguado: antes es mucha verdad quanto dellos se puede deçir é culpar en tal caso.’ Hist. Gen., tom. i., p. 533. Zuazo, speaking of the Mexicans, says: ‘estas gentes tienen la tria peccatela que decia el Italiano: no creen en Dios; son casi todos sodomitas: comen carne humana.’ Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 365.

[574] Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii.

[575] Las Casas, among his unauthentic laws has one which prescribes death in this case, but in another list, which he says is composed of authentic laws, banishment and confiscation of property is given as the penalty. Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 380; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 423.

[576] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 380; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii.; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 137. Ortega adds that their heads were rubbed with ashes; ‘se les untaba con ceniza caliente.’ Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 225.

[577] Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 246; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., p. 224.

[578] Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 387; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 423; Duran, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., pp. 243-4; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 380; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxv.; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 224-5.

[579] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxiii., ccxv.; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 136.

[580] Las Casas, Ibid.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 380-1.

[581] Las Casas, Ibid.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 380; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 137-8; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 133.

[582] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 381; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 225-6; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 133.

[583] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 165. In the following works more or less mention is made of the system of jurisprudence that existed among the Nahua peoples. Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 31-5; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 593-605; Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 153; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 35-6, 53-4, 69-75, 96-7, 105, 205; Cortés, Aven. y Conq., pref., p. 13; Delaporte, Reisen, tom. x., pp. 264-7; Incidents and Sketches, pp. 60-1; Simon’s Ten Tribes, pp. 263-70; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., pp. 150-8; Chambers’ Jour., 1835, vol. iv., p. 253; Baril, Mexique, pp. 205-7; Touron, Hist. Gén., tom. iii., pp. 29-31; Soden, Spanier in Peru, tom. ii., p. 14.

Chapter XV • Nahua Arts and Manufactures • 12,300 Words

Metals Used and Manner of Obtaining Them—Working of Gold and Silver—Wonderful Skill in Imitating—Gilding and Plating—Working in Stone—Lapidary Work—Wood Carving—Manufacture of Pottery—Various Kinds of Cloth—Manufacture of Paper and Leather—Preparation of Dyes and Paints—The Art of Painting—Feather Mosaic Work—Leaf-Mats—Manner of Kindling Fire—Torches—Soap—Council of Arts in Tezcuco—Oratory and Poetry—Nezahualcoyotl’s Odes on the Mutability of Life and the Tyrant Tezozomoc—Aztec Arithmetical System.

Gold, silver, copper, tin, and lead were the metals known to and used by the Nahuas. The latter, however, is merely mentioned, and nothing is known about where it was obtained or for what purposes it was employed. We have only very slight information respecting the processes by which any of the metals were obtained. Gold came to the cities of Anáhuac chiefly from the southern Nahua provinces, through the agency of traders and tax-gatherers; silver and tin were taken from the mines of Taxco and Tzompanco; copper was obtained from the mountains of Zacatollan, the province of the Cohuixcas, and from Michoacan. Nuggets of gold and masses of native copper were found on the surface of the ground in certain regions; gold was chiefly obtained, however, from the sand in the bed of rivers by divers. It was kept, in the form of dust, in small tubes or quills, or was melted in small pots, by the aid of hollow bamboo blow-pipes used instead of bellows, and cast in small bars. Prescott tells us that these metals were also mined from veins in the solid rock, extensive galleries being opened for the purpose. Quicksilver, sulphur, alum, ochre, and other minerals were collected to a certain extent and employed by the natives in the preparation of colors and for other purposes.[584]‘Tambien las minas de plata y oro, cobre, plomo, oropel natural, estaño y otros metales, que todos los sacaron, labraron, y dejaron señales y memoria.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 110-11. To obtain gold ‘se metian al fondo del agua y sacaban las manos llenas de arena, para buscar luego en ella los granos, los que se guardaban en la boca.’ Diaz, Itinerario, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 299. In Michoacan ‘trabajaban minas de cobre.’ Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., p. 48. ‘The traces of their labors furnished the best indications for the early Spanish miners.’ Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 138-9; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 99-100; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 198 et seq. The use of iron, though that metal was abundant in the country, was unknown. Such metals as they had they were most skillful in working, chiefly by melting and casting, and by carving, but also to some extent by the use of the hammer. We have no details of the means employed to melt the harder metals, besides the rude blow-pipe and furnace mentioned in connection with gold.

For cutting implements copper was the only metal used, but it was hardened with an alloy of tin until it sufficed to cut the hardest substances nearly as well as steel.[585]‘Whether a man desire the rude mettall, or to haue it molten, or beaten out, and cunningly made into any kinde of Iewell, hee shall find them ready wrought.’ Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. iv. Gomara and Gama state that they mixed gold and silver, as well as tin, with copper, for the manufacture of gimlets, axes, and chisels. Conq. Mex., fol. 318; Dos Piedras, pt ii., p. 26. Clavigero states that in Zacatollan two kinds of copper were found, hard and soft, so that there was no need of any hardening process. Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iv., pp. 210-11. The pure and softer metal was used to make kettles and other vessels. Copper tools were, however, rare compared with those of stone, and seem to have been used chiefly in working wood where a sharp and enduring edge was required. Such tools usually took the form of axes and chisels. Sticks for working the ground, the nearest Nahua approach to the plow, were also often tipped with copper, as we have seen. Metal was not much used in making weapons, not being found in swords or arrow-heads, but employed with obsidian in spearheads and on the maza, or club. Both copper and tin dishes and plates are mentioned but were not in common use. In the manufacture of implements of copper and tin these metals were wrought by means of stone hammers and not cast.[586]‘Porras claveteadas de hierro, cobre y oro.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 332. ‘Nous avons eu entre les mains de beaux outils de cuivre rosette.’ Viollet-le-Duc, in Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 86-7. ‘Hazen muchas cosas, como los mejores caldereros del mundo.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. ix. Some had plates and other vessels of tin. Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 465. ‘Contuttociò si sa, che lavoravano bene il rame, e che piacquero assai agli Spagnuoli lo loro scuri, e le loro picche.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 196.Peter Martyr speaks of large copper stands or candlesticks which supported pine torches to light the courts of the better houses. Dec. v., tom. x. ‘Il existait de si grands vases d’argent qu’un homme pouvait à peine les entourer de ses bras.’ Baril, Mexique, p. 209; Brownell’s Ind. Races, p. 94; Edinburgh Review, July 1867.

Gold and Silver Smiths

No branch of Nahua art was carried to a higher degree of perfection than the ornamental working of gold and silver. The conquerors were struck with admiration on beholding the work of the native goldsmiths; they even in some cases frankly acknowledge that they admired the work more than the material, and saved the most beautiful specimens from the melting furnace, the greatest compliment these gold-greedy adventurers could pay to native art. Many of the finer articles were sent as presents and curiosities to European princes, who added their testimony to that of the conquerors, pronouncing the jewelry in many instances superior to the work of old-world artists. Azcapuzalco was the headquarters of the workers in gold and silver.[587]‘Todo variadizo, que en nuestra España los grandes Plateros tienen que mirar en ello.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 69. ‘Los Plateros de Madrid, viendo algunas Piezas, Brazaletes de oro, con que se armaban en guerra los Reyes, y Capitanes Indianos, confessaron que eran inimitables en Europa.’ Boturini, Idea, p. 78. ‘Non sarebbero verisimili le maraviglie di cotal arte, se oltre alla testimonianza di quanti le videro, non fossero state mandate in Europa in gran copia sì fatte rarità.’ ‘Finalmente erano tali sì fatte opere, che anche que’ Soldati spagnuoli, che si sentivano travagliati dalla sacra fame dell’oro, pregiavano in esse più l’arte, che la materia.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 195-6. The imitation of natural objects, particularly animals, birds, and fishes, was a favorite field for the display of this branch of Nahua talent. The conqueror Cortés tells us that Montezuma had in his collection a counterfeit in gold, silver, stones, or feathers, of every object under heaven in his dominions, so skillfully made, so far as the work in metal was concerned, that no smith in the world could excel them. This statement is repeated by every writer on the subject. Dr Hernandez, the naturalist, in preparing a treatise on Mexican zoology for Philip II., is said to have supplied his want of real specimens of certain rare species by a resort to these imitations.[588]Cortés, Cartas, pp. 109, 100-1. In the collection of Nezahualcoyotzin ‘no faltava alli ave, pez ni animal de toda esta tierra, que no estuvìese vivo, ó hecho figura y talle, en piedras de oro y pedrería.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 244. ‘There is no fourefooted beast, no foule, no fyshe, which their Artificers have once seene, but they are able to drawe, and cutte in mettall the likenesse and proportion thereof, euen to the lyfe.’ Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. x., iv. Eight gold shrimps of much perfection. Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 285; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, p. 56. The native artists are said to have fashioned animals and birds with movable heads, legs, wings, and tongues, an ape with a spindle in its hands in the act of spinning and in certain comic attitudes; and what particularly interested and surprised the Spaniards was the art—spoken of by them as a lost art—of casting the parts of an object of different metals each distinct from the rest but all forming a complete whole, and this, as the authorities say, without soldering. Thus a fish was molded with alternate scales of gold and silver, plates were cast in sections of the same metal, and loose handles were attached to different vessels.[589]‘Sacan un ave, como un papagayo que se le anda la lengua como si vivo la menease y tambien la cabeza y las alas. Un rostro de aguila lo mismo, una rana, y un pescado, señalada muchas escamas una de plata y otra de oro, todo de vaciado, que espanta à todos nuestros oficiales.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxiii. ‘Funden vna mona, que juegue pies y cabeça, y tenga en las manos vn huso, que parezca que hila, o vna mançana, que come. Esto tuuieron a mucho nuestros Españoles, y los plateros de aca no alcançan el primor.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 117. ‘Y lo que mas es, que sacaban de la fundicion vna pieça, la mitad de Oro, y la mitad de Plata.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 487; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 59; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 403-7. ‘Sacauan al mercado los oficiales deste arte, platos, ochauados de vn quarto de oro, y otro de plata, no soldados, sino fundidos, y en la fundicion pegado, cosa dificultosa de entender. Sacauan vna caldereta de plata, con excelentes labores, y su assa de vna fundicion, y lo que era de marauillar que la asa estaua suelta.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xv.

Gilding and Plating

After the Spaniards came, the native artisans had a new and wide field for the display of their skill, in imitating the numerous products of European art. A slight examination, often obtained by stealthily looking into the shop windows, enabled them to reproduce and not unfrequently to improve upon the finest articles of jewelry and plate.[590]‘Acaeciales á los principios estar un indio envuelto en una manta que no se le parecian si no los ojos, como ellos se ponen no muy cerca de una tienda de algun platero de los nuestros disimuladamente, como no pretendia mirar nada y el platero estar labrando de oro y de plata alguna joya ó pieza de mucho artificio y muy delicada, y de solo verle hacer alguna parte della irse á su casa y hacello tanto y mas perfecto y traello desde á poco en la mano para lo vender.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxiii. Zuazo, however, pronounces some of the native work inferior to the European. ‘Yo vi algunas piezas y no me parecieron tan primamente labradas como las nuestras.’ Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 362.

Clavigero says that vessels of copper or other inferior metal were gilded, by employing an unknown process in which certain herbs were used, and which would have made the fortune of a goldsmith in Spain and Italy. Oviedo also tells us that various ornamental articles were covered with thin gold plate.[591]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iv., p. 211; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., p. 520. To enumerate the articles manufactured by the Nahua gold and silver smiths, and included in the long lists of presents made by Montezuma and other chieftains to their conquerors is impracticable; they included finely modeled goblets, pitchers, and other vessels for the tables of the kings and nobility; frames for stone mirrors and rich settings for various precious stones; personal ornaments for the wealthy, and especially for warriors, including rings, bracelets, eardrops, beads, helmets and various other portions of armor; small figures in human form worn as charms or venerated as idols; and finally the most gorgeous and complicated decorations for the larger idols, and their temples and altars.[592]‘Vna rueda de hechura de Sol, tan grande como de vna carreta, con muchas labores, todo de oro muy fino, gran obra de mirar; … otra mayor rueda de plata, figurada la Luna, con muchos resplandores, y otras figuras en ella.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 26-7. ‘Espejos hechos de Margajita, que es vn metal hermosissimo, como plata muy resplandeciente y estos grandes como vn puño redondos como vna bola, engastados en oro.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. v., cap. v. ‘Doze zebratanas de fusta y plata, con que solia el tirar. Las unas pintadas y matizadas de aves, animales, rosas, flores, yarboles…. Las otras eran variadas, y sinzeladas con mas primor y sotileza que la pintura.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 135-6, 42; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 259; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxxii.

Little is known of the methods or implements by which the workers in gold accomplished such marvelous results. The authors tell us that they excelled particularly in working the precious metals by means of fire; and the furnaces already mentioned are pictured in several of the Aztec picture-writings as simple vessels, perhaps of earthen ware, various in form, heaped with lumps of metal, and possibly with wood and coal, from which the tongues of flame protrude, as the workman sits by his furnace with his bamboo blow-pipe. How they cast or molded the molten gold into numerous graceful and ornamental forms is absolutely unknown. The process by which these patient workers carved or engraved ornamental figures on gold and silver vessels by means of their implements of stone and hardened copper, although not explained, may in a general way be easily imagined. They worked also to some extent with the hammer, but as gold-beaters they were regarded as inferior workmen, using only stone implements. The art of working in the precious metals was derived traditionally from the Toltecs, and the gold and silversmiths formed in Mexico a kind of corporation under the divine guidance of the god Xipe.[593]‘Vnas fundidas, otras labradas de Piedra.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 557; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xv. ‘Y lo que mas las hace admirables, es que las obran y labran con solo fuego y con una piedra ó pedernal.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxiii. Hammered work inferior to that of European artisans. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 196. ‘Los oficiales que labran oro son de dos maneras, unos de ellos se llaman martilladores ó amajadores, porque estos labran oro de martillo majándolo con piedras ó con martillos, para hacerlo delgado como papel: otros se llaman tlatlaliani, que quiere decir, que asientan el oro ó alguna cosa en él, ó en la plata, estos son verdaderos oficiales ó por otro nombre se llaman tulteca; pero están divididos en dos partes, porque labran el oro cada uno de su manera.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. ix., p. 387, et seq. For pictures of furnaces and of some manufactured articles from the hieroglyphic MSS., see Ewbank, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 448, et seq. ‘They cast, also, vessels of gold and silver, carving them with their metallic chisels in a very delicate manner.’ Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 139-40.

Working in Stone

Stone was the material of most Nahua implements. For this purpose all the harder kinds found in the country were worked, flint, porphyry, basalt, but especially obsidian, the native iztli. Of this hard material, extensively quarried some distance north of Mexico, nearly all the sharp-edged tools were made. These tools, such as knives, razors, lancets, spear and arrow heads, were simply flakes from an obsidian block. The knives were double-edged and the best of them slightly curved at the point. The maker held a round block of iztli between his bare feet, pressed with his chest and hands on a long wooden instrument, one end of which was applied near the edge of the block, and thus split off knife after knife with great rapidity, which required only to be fitted to a wooden handle to be ready for use. The edge thus produced was at first as sharp as one of steel, but became blunted by slight use, when the instrument must be thrown away. Thus Las Casas tells us that ten or fifteen obsidian razors were required to shave one man’s beard. Stone knives seem rarely if ever to have been sharpened by grinding.[594]‘Siéntanse en el suelo y toman un pedazo de aquella piedra negra…. Aquel pedazo que toman es de un palmo ó poco mas largo, y de grueso como la pierna ó poco menos, y rollizo. Tienen un palo del grueso de una lanza y largo como tres codos ó poco mas, y al principio de este palo ponen pegado y bien atado un trozo de palo de un palmo, grueso como el molledo del brazo, y algo mas, y este tiene su frente llana y tajada, y sirve este trozo para que pese mas aquella parte. Juntan ambos piés descalzos, y con ellos aprietan la piedra con el pecho, y con ambas las manos toman el palo que dije era como vara de lanza (que tambien es llano y tajado) y pónenlo á besar con el canto de la frente de la piedra (que tambien es llana y tajada), y entonces aprietan hácia el pecho, y luego salta de la piedra una navaja con su punta y sus filos de ambas partes.’ Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 406; repeated in nearly the same words in Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 489-90; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxii., lxvi; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 60. Of obsidian were made the knives used in the sacrifice of human victims, and the lancets used in bleeding for medicinal purposes and in drawing blood in the service of the gods. For bleeding, similar knives are said to be still used in Mexico.[595]Tylor’s Researches, p. 194. ‘Tienen lancetas de azabache negro, y vnas nauajas de axeme, hechas como puñal, mas gordas en medio que á los filos, con que se jassan y sangran de la lengua, braços, y piernas.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 324-5; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 491. The use of stone in the manufacture of weapons has been mentioned in another chapter. Masks and even rings and cups were sometimes worked from obsidian and other kinds of stone. Axes were of flint, jade, or basalt, and were bound with cords to a handle of hard wood, the end of which was split to receive it.[596]Lenoir, Parallèle, pp. 64-5. ‘In the beginning of this so rare inuention, I gotte one of them, which Christophorus Colonus, Admirall of the Sea gaue mee. This stone was of a greene darkishe colour, fastened in most firme and harde woode, which was the handle or helue thereof. I stroke with all my force vpon Iron barres and dented the Iron with my strokes without spoyling or hurting of the stone in any part thereof. With these stones therefore they make their instruments, for hewing of stone, or cutting of timber, or any workemanship in gold or siluer.’ Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. iv. Torquemada says that agricultural implements were made of stone.[597]Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 231. Mirrors were of obsidian, or of margajita,—spoken of by some as a metal, by others as a stone,—often double-faced, and richly set in gold.[598]Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxii. See note 9 of this chapter.

The quarrying of stone for building and sculpture was done by means of wooden and stone implements, by methods unknown but adequate to the working of the hardest material. Stone implements alone seem to have been used for the sculpture of idols, statues, and architectural decorations. A better idea of the excellence of the Nahuas in the art of stone-carving may be formed from the consideration of antiquarian relics in another volume than from the remarks of the early chroniclers. Most of the sculptured designs were executed in soft material, in working which flint instruments would be almost as effective as those of steel; but some of the preserved specimens are carved in the hardest stone, and must have taxed the sculptor’s patience to the utmost even with hard copper chisels. The idols and hieroglyphics on which the native art was chiefly exercised, present purposely distorted figures and are a poor test of the artists’ skill; according to traditional history portrait-statues of the kings were made, and although none of these are known to have survived, yet a few specimens in the various collections indicate that the human face and form in true proportions were not beyond the scope of American art; and the native sculptors were, moreover, extremely successful in the modeling of animals in stone.[599]‘Sculptured images were so numerous, that the foundations of the cathedral in the plaza mayor, the great square of Mexico, are said to be entirely composed of them.’ Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 140-1. Two statues in likeness of Montezuma and his brother cut in the cliff at Chapultepec. Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. iii. The idols destroyed by Cortés ‘eran de manera de dragones espantables, tan grandes como becerros, y otras figuras de manera de medio hombre, y de perros grandes, y de malas semejanças.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 35. ‘Sapevano esprimere nelle loro statue tutti gli atteggiamenti, e positure, di cui è capace il corpo, osservavano esattamente le proporzioni, e facevano, dove si richiedeva, i più minuti, e dilicati intaglj.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 195. ‘Habia entre ellos grandes escultores de cantería, que labraban cuanto querian en piedra, con guijarros ó pedernales, tan prima y curiosamente como en nuestra Castilla los muy buenos oficiales con escodas y picos de acero.’ Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 403; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 486-8. Portrait-statues of the Tezcucan kings. Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 264; Id., Relaciones, p. 440. Statues of Montezuma and brother. Bustamante, in Cavo, Tres Siglos, tom. iii., p. 49.

Working of Precious Stones

The Nahuas were no less skillful in working precious stones than gold and silver. Their Toltec ancestors possessed the same skill and used to search for the stones at sunrise, being directed to the hidden treasure by the vapor which rose from the place that concealed it. All the stones found in the country were used for ornamental purposes, but emeralds, amethysts, and turquoises were most abundant. The jewels were cut with copper tools with the aid of a silicious sand. Single stones were carved in various forms, often those of animals, and set in gold, or sometimes formed into small cups or boxes. Pearls, mother of pearl, and bright-colored shells were used with the precious stones in the formation of necklaces, bracelets, ear-rings, and other decorations for the nobles or for the idols. Various articles of dress or armor were completely studded with gems tastefully arranged, and a kind of mosaic, with which wooden masks for the idols were often covered, attracted much attention among the Spaniards. Mirrors of rock crystal, obsidian, and other stones, brightly polished and encased in rich frames, were said to reflect the human face as clearly as the best of European manufacture.[600]‘Gli smeraldi erano tanto comuni, che non v’era Signore, che non ne avesse.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 206-7. ‘Esmaltan assi mesmo, engastan y labran esmeraldas, turquesas, y otras piedras, y agujeran perlas pero no tambien como por aca.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 117. ‘Ambar, cristal, y las piedras llamadas amatista perlas, y todo género de ellas, y demas que traían por joyas que ahora se usan.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 109-11, 117-18. ‘Un encalado muy pulido, que era de ver, y piedras de que estaban hechas, tambien labradas y pegadas, que parecia ser cosa de musaico.’ Id., p. 107. Shields adorned with ‘perlas menudas como aljofar, y no se puede dezir su artificio, lindeza, y hermosura.’ Sandals having ‘por suelas vna piedra blanca y azul, cosa preciosa y muy delgada.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. v., cap. v. Guariques of blue stones set in gold; a stone face surrounded with gold; a string of stone beads. ‘Dos mascaras de piedras menudas, como turquesas, sentadas sobre madera de otra musáyca.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., pp. 526-8, tom. iii., pp. 285, 305. Idol covered with mosaic work of mother of pearl, turquoises, emeralds, and chalcedonies. Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxxii. ‘Excellent glasses may bee made thereof by smoothing and polishing them, so that we all confessed that none of ours did better shewe the naturall and liuely face of a manne.’ Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. x. ‘Ils avaient des masques garnis de pierres précieuses, représentant des lions, des tigres, des ours, etc.’ Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 133. Emerald altar to the Miztec god. Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. i., pt ii., fol. 156. ‘Y lo de las piedras, que no basta juicio á comprehender con qué instrumentos se hiciese tan perfecto.’ Cortés, Cartas, p. 109.

Trees were felled with copper hatchets, hewn with the same instruments into beams, and dragged by slaves over rollers to the place where they were needed for building. Some of the chief idols, as for instance that of Huitzilopochtli, according to Acosta, were of wood, but wood-carving was not apparently carried to a high degree of perfection. Some boxes, furnished with lids and hinges, also tables and chairs, were made of wood, which was the chief material of weapons and agricultural implements. The authorities devote but few words to the workers in wood, who, however, after the conquest seem to have become quite skillful under Spanish instruction, and with the aid of European tools. Fire-wood was sold in the markets; and Las Casas also tells us that charcoal was burned.[601]Huitzilopochtli’s idol ‘era vna estatua de madera entretallada en semejança de vn hombre sentado en vn escaño azul.’ Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 324. Large chests ‘hechas de madera con sus tapaderas que se abren y cierran con unos colgadizos.’ Zuazo, Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 361-2. ‘I Falegnami lavoravano bene parecchie spezie di legni co’loro strumenti di rame, d’ quali se ne vedono alcuni anche oggidì.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 207, 194-5. ‘Los carpinteros y entalladores labraban la madera con instrumentos de cobre, pero no se daban á labrar cosas curiosas como los canteros.’ Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 403. ‘Labravan lazos, y animales tan curiosos que causaron admiracion à los primeros Españoles.’ Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 59. ‘With their Copper Hatchets, and Axes, cunnyngly tempered, they fell those trees, and hewe them smooth, taking away the chyppes, that they may more easily be drawne. They haue also certayne hearbes, with the which, in steed of broome, and hempe, they make ropes, cordes, and cables: and boaring a hole in one of the edges of the beame, they fasten the rope, then sette their slaues vnto it, like yoakes of oxen, and lastly insteede of wheels, putting round blocks vnder the timber, whether it be to be drawn steepe vp, or directly downe the hill, the matter is performed by the neckes of the slaues, the carpenters onely directing the carriage.’ Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. x. ‘Hazen caxas, escritorios, mesas, escriuanias, y otras cosas de mucho primor.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. ix. ‘They made cups and vases of a lackered or painted wood, impervious to wet and gaudily colored.’ Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 143.

Manufacture of Pottery

At Cholula the best pottery was made, but throughout the whole country nearly all the dishes used were of clay. Pots, kettles, vases, plates for domestic use, as well as censers and other utensils for the temple service, also idols, beads, and various ornaments were modeled from this material. The early Spaniards were enthusiastic in praising the native potters’ skill, but beyond the statement that vessels of earthen ware were glazed and often tastefully decorated, they give no definite information respecting this branch of manufactures. Many small earthen trumpets, or flageolets, capable of producing various sounds, and of imitating the cries of different birds, have been found in different parts of the Mexican Republic. Fortunately relics of pottery in every form are of frequent occurrence in the museums, and from the description of such relics in another volume the excellence of Aztec pottery may be estimated. Besides the earthen dishes, and vessels of metal and carved wood, some baskets were made, and drinking-cups or bowls of different sizes and shapes were formed from the hollow shells of gourds. These were known as xicalli, later jicaras, and tecomatl.[602]Molina, Diccionario, says, however that, the tecomatl was an earthen vase. See also p. 458 of this volume. Seashells were also used as dishes to some extent.[603]‘Siete sartas de quentas menudas de barro, redondas y doradas muy bien.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., pp. 526, 533. ‘I Pentolai facevano d’argilla non solo gli stoviglj necessarj per l’uso delle case, ma eziandío altri lavori di mera curiosità.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 207, tom. iv., pp. 211-2. ‘La loza tan hermosa, y delicada como la de Faenza en Italia.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. ii., vii. ‘Los incensarios con que incensaban eran de barro, à manera de cuchara, cuio remate era hueco, y dentro tenían metidas pelotillas del mismo barro, que sonaban como cascaveles, à los golpes del Incienso, como suenan las cadenas de nuestros incensarios.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 264. The jicara was of gold, silver, gourd-shells, or fish-shells.’Aunque estèn cien Años en el Agua, nunca la pintura se les borra.’ Id., p. 488. ‘Para coger la sangre tienen escudillas de calabaça.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 324-5. ‘Many sorts also of earthen vessels are sold there, as water pots, greate iuggs, chargers, gobblets, dishes, colenders, basens, frying pans, porringers, pitchers.’ Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. iv. ‘Vasos que llaman xicalli, y tecomatl, que son de vnos arboles, que se dan en tierras calientes.’ ‘À estas les dan vn barniz con flores, y animales de diversos colores, hermoseadas, que no se quita, ni se despinta aunque estè en el agua muchos días.’ Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 60.

The finer kinds of cloth were made of cotton, of rabbit-hair, of the two mixed, or of cotton mixed with feathers. The rabbit-hair fabrics were pronounced equal in finish and texture to silk, and cotton cloths were also fine and white. Fabrics of this better class were used for articles of dress by the rich, nobles, and priests; they were both woven and dyed in variegated colors. The cloths in the manufacture of which feathers were employed often served for carpets, tapestry, and bed-coverings. Maguey-fibre, and that of the palm-leaves icxotl and izhuatl were woven into coarse cloths, the maguey-cloth being known as nequen. This nequen and the coarser kinds of cotton were the materials with which the poorer classes clothed themselves. The palm and maguey fibres were prepared for use in the same manner as flax in other countries, being soaked in water, pounded, and dried. The same material served also for cords, ropes, and mats. A coarser kind of matting was, however, made of different varieties of reeds. All the work of spinning and weaving was performed by the women, forming indeed their chief employment. The spindle used in spinning, shown in many of the Aztec manuscripts, was like a top, which was set whirling in a shallow dish, the fibre being applied to its pointed upper extremity until the impetus was exhausted. All we know of the native process of weaving is derived from the native paintings, a sample of which from the Mendoza Collection, showing a woman engaged in weaving, may be seen in chapter xvii. of this volume.[604]‘Non aveano lana, nè seta comune, nè lino, nè canapa; ma supplivano alla lana col cotone, alla seta colla piuma, e col pelo del coniglio, e della lepre, ed al lino, ed alla canapa coll’ Icxotl, o palma montana, col Quetzalichtli, col Pati, e con altre spezie di Maguei.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 207-8, 210. ‘En todo el mundo no se podia hacer ni tejer otra tal, ni de tantas ni tan diversas y naturales colores ni labores.’ Cortés, Cartas, p. 101. ‘Una Vestidura del Gran Sacerdote Achcauhquitlinamacàni se embiò à Roma en tiempo de la Conquista, que dexò pasmada aquella Corte.’ Boturini, Idea, p. 77. The Olmecs used the hair of dogs and other animals. Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 154, 252-3. ‘Incredible matters of Cotton, housholde-stuffe, tapestry or arras hangings, garments, and couerlets.’ Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. iii. Humboldt states that silk made by a species of indigenous worms was an article of commerce among the Miztecs, in the time of Montezuma. Essai Pol., tom. ii., p. 454. ‘Hilan teniendo el copo en vna mano, y el huso en otra. Tuercen al reues que aca, estando el huso en vna escudilla. No tiene hueca el huso, mas hilan a prissa y no mal.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 318.

Making of Cloth and Paper

Paper, in Aztec amatl, used chiefly as a material on which to paint the hieroglyphic records to be described in a future chapter, was made for the most part of maguey-fibre, although the other fibres used in the manufacture of cloth were occasionally mixed with those of this plant. The material must have been pressed together when wet, and the product was generally very thick, more like a soft paste-board than our paper. The surface was smooth and well adapted to the painting which it was to bear. Certain gums are said to have been used for the more perfect coherence of the fibre, and the amatl was made in long narrow sheets suitable for rolling or folding. Humboldt describes certain bags of oval form, the work of a species of caterpillars, on the trees in Michoacan. They are white and may be separated into thin layers, which, as the author states, were used by the ancient inhabitants in the manufacture of a superior kind of paper.[605]Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. ii., pp. 454-5. Maguey-paper ‘resembling somewhat the Egyptian papyrus.’ Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 99-100. Some paper of palm-leaf, as thin and soft as silk. Boturini, Catálogo, in Id., Idea, pp. 95-6. Native paper called cauhamatl. Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., p. 65. They made paper of a certain species of aloe, steeped together like hemp, and afterwards washed, stretched, and smoothed; also of the palm icxotl, and thin barks united and prepared with a certain gum. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 189, tom. iv., p. 239. Torquemada speaks of a sheet 20 fathoms long, one wide, and as thick as the finger. Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 263.

The skins of animals killed by the Nahua hunters were tanned both with and without the hair, by a process of which the authorities say nothing, although universally praising its results. The leather was used in some cases as a sort of parchment for hieroglyphic writings, but oftener for articles of dress, ornament, or armor.[606]‘Habia oficiales de curtir cueros y muchos de adovarlos maravillosamente.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxii. ‘Cueros de Venado, Tigres, y leones … con pelo, y sin pelo, de todos colores.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 488. ‘Tan suaves que de ellos se vestian, y sacaban correas.’ Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 60; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 118. Cortés found the skins of some of his horses slain in battle ‘tan bien adobados como en todo el mundo lo pudieran hacer.’ Cartas, p. 183. Red skins resembling parchment. Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., p. 526. ‘No se puede bien dezir su hermosura, y hechura.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. v., cap. v. ‘Los tarascos curtian perfectamente las pieles de los animales.’ Payno, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. i., p. 721. ‘Des tapis de cuir maroquinés avec la dernière perfection.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 271.

Dyeing and Painting

In the preparation of dyes and paints, both mineral, animal, and vegetable colors were employed, the latter extracted from woods, barks, leaves, flowers, and fruits. In the art of dyeing they probably excelled the Europeans, and many of their dyes have since the conquest been introduced throughout the world. Chief among these was the cochineal, nochiztli, an insect fed by the Nahuas on the leaves of the nopal, from which they obtained beautiful and permanent red and purple colors for their cotton fabrics. The flower of the matlalxihuitl supplied blue shades; indigo was the sediment of water in which branches of the xiuhquilipitzahuac had been soaked; seeds of the achiotl boiled in water yielded a red, the French roucou; ochre, or tecozahuitl, furnished yellow, as did also the plant xochipalli, the latter being changed to orange by the use of nitre; other shades were produced by the use of alum; the stones chimaltizatl and tizatlalli being calcined, produced something like Spanish white; black was obtained from a stinking mineral, tlaliac, or from the soot of a pine called ocotl. In mixing paints they used chian-oil, or sometimes the glutinous juice of the tzauhtli. The numerous dye-woods of the tierra caliente, now the chief exports from that region, were all employed by the native dyers. It is probable that many of the secrets of this branch of Nahua art were never learned by the Spaniards.[607]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 189-90; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 652-3. Method of raising cochineal. Id., pp. 625-6. ‘En parcourant le palais de Montézuma les Castillans furent très-étonnés d’y voir des sacs de punaises dont on se servait à teindre et même à badigeonner les murs.’ Rosny, in Comité d’Arch. Amér., 1866-7, pp. 15-16. See p. 235 of this volume. They possessed the art of dyeing a fabric without impairing its strength, an art unknown to Europeans of the 18th century. Carli, Cartas, pt ii., pp. 95-7.

The Nahua paintings showed no great artistic merit, being chiefly noticeable for the excellence of the colors. Very few specimens have been preserved for modern examination, except the hieroglyphic paintings in which most of the figures are hideously and, as it is supposed, purposely distorted, and consequently no criterion of the artist’s skill. It is not known that the Nahuas ever attempted to paint natural scenery, except that they prepared maps of sections of their territory on which they rudely represented the mountains, rivers, and forests, indicating the lands of different owners or lords by the use of different colors. They sometimes made portraits of the kings and nobles, but the Spanish chroniclers admit that they exhibited much less skill in picturing the human form and face than in drawing animals, birds, trees, and flowers. Some modern critics of lively imagination have, however, detected indications of great artistic genius in the awkward figures of the picture-writings. Native painters, when Cortés arrived on the coast, painted his ships, men, horses, cannon, in fact everything new and strange in the white men’s equipment, and hurried with the canvas to Montezuma at the capital. Very little is known of ornamental painting on the walls of private dwellings, but that on the temples naturally partook to a great extent of a hieroglyphic character. The durability of the paintings on cloth and paper, especially when rubbed occasionally with oil, was remarked by many observers, as was also the skill displayed by the natives later under Spanish instruction.[608]‘Y pintores ha habido entre ellos tan señalados, que sobre muchos de los señalados donde quiera que se hallasen se podian señalar.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxii. The same author speaks of their skill in reducing or enlarging drawings. ‘Havia Pintores buenos, que retrataban al natural, en especial Aves, Animales, Arboles, Flores, y Verduras, y otras semejantes, que vsaban pintar, en los aposentos de los Reies, y Señores; pero formas humanas, asi como rostros, y cuerpos de Hombres, y Mugeres, no los pintaban al natural.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 487, tom. i., p. 388; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 404. ‘Dans leur grotesque et leur raccourci, on trouve encore cependant une délicatesse de pinceau, fort remarquable, une pureté et une finesse dans les esquisses, qu’on ne saurait s’empêcher d’admirer; on voit, d’ailleurs, un grand nombre de portraits de rois et de princes, qui sont évidemment faits d’après nature.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 653-4. ‘Wee sawe a Mappe of those countreyes 30. foote long, and little lesse in breadth, made of white cotton, wouen: wherein the whole playne was at large described.’ Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. x., iii., v.

FEATHER-MOSAIC.

The mixture of feathers with cotton and other fibres in the manufacture of clothing, tapestry, carpets, and bed-coverings has already been mentioned. For such fabrics plain colors from ducks and other aquatic birds were generally employed, brighter hues being occasionally introduced for ornamental purposes. Feathers also played an important part in the decoration of warriors’ armor, the tail-feathers of the bright-hued quetzal being the favorites. These were formed into brilliant plumes, often tipped with gold and set in precious stones. Beautiful fans were made of the same material. But the art which of all those practiced by the Nahuas most delighted and astonished the Europeans, was the use of feathers in the making of what has been called feather-mosaic. The myriads of tropical birds in which the forests of the tierra caliente abounded, chief among which were the quetzal, many varieties of the parrot kind, and the huitzilin, or humming-bird, supplied feathers, fine and coarse, of every desired color and shade. It was for this use chiefly that the royal and other collections of birds, already described, were so carefully kept. These captive birds were plucked each year at the proper season, and their plumage sorted according to color and quality. Some shades only to be obtained from the rarest birds, were for ordinary feather-work artificially produced by dyeing the white plumage of more common birds.

To prepare for work the amanteca, or artist, arranged his colors in small earthen dishes within easy reach of his hand, stretched a piece of cloth on a board before him, and provided himself with a pot of glue—called by Clavigero tzauhtli,—and a pair of very delicate pincers. The design he wished to execute was first sketched roughly on the cloth, and then with the aid of the pincers feather after feather was taken from its dish and glued to the canvas. The Spanish writers marvel at the care with which this work was done; sometimes, they say, a whole day was consumed in properly choosing and adjusting one delicate feather, the artist patiently experimenting until the hue and position of the feather, viewed from different points and under different lights, became satisfactory to his eye. When a large piece was to be done, many workmen assembled, a part of the work was given to each, and so skillfully was the task performed that the parts rarely failed at the end to blend into an harmonious whole; but if the effect of any part was unsatisfactory it must be commenced anew. By this method a great variety of graceful patterns were wrought, either fanciful, or taken from natural objects, flowers, animals, and even the human face, which latter the native artists are said to have successfully portrayed. Las Casas tells us they made these feather-fabrics so skillfully that they appeared of different colors according to the direction from which they were viewed. The Spaniards declare that the feather-pictures were fully equal to the best works of European painters, and are at a loss for words to express their admiration of this wonderful Nahua invention; specimens of great beauty have also been preserved and are to be seen in the museums. Besides mantles and other garments, tapestry, bed-coverings, and other ornamental fabrics for the use of the noble and wealthy classes, to which this art was applied, the feather-mosaic was a favorite covering for the shields and armor of noted warriors. By the same process masks were made representing in a manner true to nature the faces of fierce animals; and even the whole bodies of such animals were sometimes counterfeited, as Zuazo says, so faithfully as to deceive the ignorant observer. The Tarascos of Michoacan were reputed to be the most skillful in feather-work.[609]‘La Natura ad essi somministrava quanti colori fa adoperar l’Arte, e alcuni ancora, que essa non è capace d’imitare.’ The specimens made after the conquest were very inferior. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 197-9. ‘Hazense las mejores ymagines de pluma en la prouincia de Mechoacan en el pueblo de Pascaro.’ Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 285. ‘Vi ciertos follajes, pájaros, mariposas, abejones sobre unas varas temblantes, negras é tan delgadas, que apenas se veian, é de tal manera que realmente se hacian vivas á los que las miraban un poquito de lejos: todo lo demas que estaba cerca de las dichas mariposas, pájaros é abejones correspondia naturalmente á boscajes de yerbas, ramos é flores de diversas colores é formas.’ Zuazo, Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 360. ‘Figuras, y imagenes de Principes, y de sus idolos, tan vistosas, y tan acertadas, que hazian ventaja a las pinturas Castellanas.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xv. ‘Muchas cosas de Pluma, como Aves, Animales, Hombres, y otras cosas mui delicadas, Capas, y Mantas para cubrirse, y vestiduras para los Sacerdotes de sus Templos, Coronas, Mitras, Rodelas, y Mosqueadores.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 488-9; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 59; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 405-6; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxii. ‘Acontece les no comer en todo vn dia, poniendo, quitando y assentando la pluma, y mirando à una parte, y à otra, al sol, a la sombra,’ etc. Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 116-17. Mention of the birds which furnished bright-colored feathers. Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 68-9. ‘Ils en faisaient des rondaches et d’autres insignes, compris sous le nom d’ “Apanecayotl,” dont rien n’approchait pour la richesse et le fini.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 285; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 109. Mention of some specimens preserved in Europe. Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., p. 30.

The feather-workers were called amantecas from Amantla, the name of the ward of Mexico in which they chiefly lived. This ward adjoined that of Pochtlan, where lived the chief merchants called pochtecas, and the shrine of the amantecas’ god Ciotliahuatl, was also joined to that of the merchants’ god Iyacatecutli. The feather-workers and merchants were closely united, there was great similarity in all their idolatrous rites, and they often sat together at the same banquet.[610]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. ix., pp. 392-6.

Another art, similar in its nature to that of the feather-mosaics, was that of pasting leaves and flowers upon mats so as to form attractive designs for temporary use on the occasion of special festivals. The natives made great use of these flower-pictures after the conquest in the decoration of the churches for Catholic holidays.[611]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 489; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 59; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 405; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. l.

The Nahuas kindled a fire like their more savage brethren by friction between two pieces of wood, achiotl being the kind of wood preferred for this purpose. Boturini, followed by later writers, states that the use of the flint was also known. Once kindled, the flames were fanned by the use of a blow-pipe. For lights, torches of resinous wood were employed, especially the ocotl, which emitted a pleasing odor. The use of wicks with oil or wax was apparently unknown until after the coming of Europeans. Substitutes for soap were found in the fruit of the copalxocotl and root of the amolli.

The Council of Arts in Tezcuco

All the branches of art among the Nahuas were placed under the control of a council or academy which was instituted to favor the development of poetry, oratory, history, painting, and also to some extent of sculpture and work in gold, precious stones, and feathers. Tezcuco was the centre of all high art and refinement during the palmy days of the Chichimec empire, and retained its preëminence to a great extent down to the coming of the Spaniards; consequently its school of arts is better known than others that probably existed in other cities. It was called the Council of Music, although taking cognizance of other arts and sciences, chiefly by controlling the education of the young, since no teacher of arts could exercise his profession without a certificate of his qualifications from the council. Before the same body all pupils must be brought for examination. The greatest care was taken that no defective work of lapidary, goldsmith, or worker in feathers should be exposed for sale in the markets, and that no imperfectly instructed artists should be allowed to vitiate the public taste. But it was above all with literary arts, poetry, oratory, and historical paintings, that this tribunal, composed of the best talent and culture of the kingdom, had to do, and every literary work was subject to its revision. The members, nominated by the emperor of Tezcuco, held daily meetings, and seats of honor were reserved for the kings of the three allied kingdoms, although a presiding officer was elected from the nobility with reference to his literary acquirements. At certain sessions of the council, poems and historical essays were read by their authors, and new inventions were exhibited for inspection, rich prizes being awarded for excellence in any branch of learning.[612]Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 201-3; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 147; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., p. 244.

Oratory and Poesy

Speech-making is a prominent feature in the life of most aboriginal tribes, and in their fondness for oratory the Nahuas were no exceptions to the rule. Many and long addresses accompanied the installation of kings and all public officers; all diplomatic correspondence between different nations was carried on by orators; prayers to the gods were in aboriginal as in modern times elaborate elocutionary efforts; the departing and returning traveler was dismissed and welcomed with a speech; condolence for misfortune and congratulation for success were expressed in public and private by the friends most skillful in the art of speaking; social intercourse in feasts and banquets was but a succession of speeches; and parents even employed long discourses to impart to their children instruction and advice. Consequently children were instructed at an early age in the art of public speaking; some were even specially educated as orators. They were obliged to commit to memory, and taught to repeat as declamations, the speeches of their most famous ancestors, handed down from father to son for many generations. Specimens of the orations delivered by Nahua speakers on different occasions are so numerous in this and the following volume, that the reader may judge for himself respecting their merit. It is impossible, however, to decide how far these compositions have been modified in passing through Spanish hands, although it is probable, according to the judgment of the best critics, that they retain much of the original spirit of their reputed authors.[613]‘Avvegnachè i lor più celebri Aringatori non sieno da paragonarsi cogli Oratori delle Nazioni culte dell’Europa, non può peraltro negarsi, che i loro ragionamenti non fossero gravi, sodi, ed eleganti, come si scorge dagli avanzi che ci restano della loro eloquenza.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 174-5. ‘Les raisonnements y sont graves, les arguments solides, et pleins d’élégance.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii, p. 672; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 172-3. Montezuma’s speech to Cortés, in Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 285-6. ‘The Spaniards have given us many fine polished Indian orations, but they were certainly fabricated at Madrid.’ Adair, Amer. Ind., p. 202.

Poets, if somewhat less numerous, were no less honored than orators. Their compositions were also recited, or sung, before the Council of Music in Tezcuco, and the most talented bards were honored with prizes. The heroic deeds of warlike ancestors, national annals and traditions, praise of the gods, moral lessons drawn from actual events, allegorical productions with illustrations drawn from the beauties of nature, and even love and the charms of woman were the common themes. The emperor Nezahualcoyotl, the protector and promoter of all the arts and sciences, was himself a poet of great renown. Several of his compositions, or fragments of such, have been preserved; that is, the poems were written from memory in Aztec with Roman letters after the conquest, and translated into Spanish by Ixtlilxochitl, a lineal descendant of the royal poet. They have also been translated into other languages by various authors. The following will serve as specimens.[614]Four poems or fragments are given in Spanish, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., pp. 110-15. No. 1 has for its subject the tyrant Tezozomoc; No. 2 is an ode on the mutability of life; No. 3 is an ode recited at a feast, comparing the great kings of Anáhuac to precious stones; No. 4 was composed for the dedication of the author’s palace and treats of the unsatisfactory nature of earthly honors. Nos. 2 and 3 are also found in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., pp. 286-93. No. 2 is given in Prescott’s Mex., vol. iii., pp. 425-30, in Spanish and English verse. A French translation of No. 1 is given by Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 672-4, who also gives an additional specimen from Carochi’s grammar, in Aztec and Spanish. Nos. 1, 2, and 4 in French, in Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., pp. 411-17. No. 4 is to be found in Granados y Galvez, Tardes Amer., pp. 90-4. Nos. 1 and 4, in German, in Müller, Reisen, tom. iii., pp. 138-41, where are also two additional odes. No. 2 is also given in German by Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 146-51.

Nezahualcoyotl’s Odes

SONG OF NEZAHUALCOYOTL, KING OF TEZCUCO; ON THE MUTABILITY OF LIFE.

Now will I sing for a moment,
Since time and occasion offer,
And I trust to be heard with favor
If my effort proveth deserving;
Wherefore thus I begin my singing,
Or rather my lamentation.

O thou, my friend, and beloved,
Enjoy the sweet flowers I bring thee;
Let us be joyful together
And banish each care and each sorrow;
For although life’s pleasures are fleeting,
Life’s bitterness also must leave us.

I will strike, to help me in singing,
The instrument deep and sonorous;
Dance thou, while enjoying these flowers,
Before the great Lord who is mighty;
Let us grasp the sweet things of the present,
For the life of a man is soon over.

Fair Acolhuacán thou hast chosen
As thy dwelling-place and thy palace;
Thou hast set up thy royal throne there,
With thine own hand hast thou enriched it;
Wherefore it seems to be certain
That thy kingdom shall prosper and flourish.

And thou, O wise Prince Oyoyotzin,
Mighty monarch, and King without equal,
Rejoice in the beauty of spring-time,
Be happy while spring abides with thee,
For the day creepeth nearer and nearer
When thou shalt seek joy and not find it.

A day when dark Fate, the destroyer,
Shall tear from thine hand the proud sceptre,
When the moon of thy glory shall lessen,
Thy pride and thy strength be diminished,
The spoil from thy servants be taken,
Thy kingdom and honor go from thee.

Ah, then in this day of great sorrow
The lords of thy line will be mournful,
The princes of might will be downcast,
The pride of high birth will avail not;
When thou, their great Head, hast been smitten
The pains of grim Want will assail them.

Then with bitterness will they remember
The glory and fame of thy greatness,
Thy triumphs so worthy of envy,
Until, while comparing the present
With years that are gone now forever,
Their tears shall be more than the ocean.

The vassals that cluster about thee
And are as a crown to thy kingdom,
When thine arm doth no longer uphold them,
Will suffer the fate of the exile;
In strange lands their pride will be humbled,
Their rank and their name be forgotten.

The fame of the race that is mighty,
And worthy a thousand fair kingdoms,
Will not in the future be heeded;
The nations will only remember
The justice with which they were governed
In the years when the kingdom was threefold.

In Mexico, proudest of cities,
Reigned the mighty and brave Montezuma,
Nezahualcoyotl, the just one
Of blest Culhuacán was the monarch,
To strong Totoquíl fell the portion
Of Acatlapán, the third kingdom.

But yet thou shalt not be forgotten,
Nor the good thou hast ever accomplished;
For, is not the throne that thou fillest
The gift of the god without equal,
The mighty Creator of all things,
The maker of Kings and of Princes!

Nezahualcoyotl, be happy
With the pleasant things that thou knowest,
Rejoice in the beautiful garden,
Wreathe thy front with a garland of flowers,
Give heed to my song and my music,
For I care but to pleasure thy fancy.

The sweet things of life are but shadows;
The triumphs, the honors, what are they
But dreams that are idle and last not
Though clothed in a semblance of being?
And so great is the truth that I utter,
I pray thee to answer this question.

Cihuapán, the valiant, where is he,
And Quauhtzintecomtzin, the mighty,
The great Cohuahuatzin, where are they?
They are dead, and have left us no token,
Save their names, and the fame of their valor;
They are gone from this world to another.

I would that those living in friendship,
Whom the thread of strong love doth encircle,
Could see the sharp sword of the Death-god.
For, verily, pleasure is fleeting,
All sweetness must change in the future,
The good things of life are inconstant.

Ode on the Tyrant Tezozomoc by Nezahualcoyotl the King

Give ear unto the lamentation which I, Nezahualcoyotl the King, make within myself for the fate of the Empire, and set forth for an example unto others.

O King, unstable and restless, when thou art dead then shall thy people be overthrown and confounded; thy place shall be no more; the Creator, the All-powerful shall reign.

Who could have thought, having seen the palaces and the court, the glory and the power of the old King Tezozomoc, that these things could have an end? Yet have they withered and perished. Verily, life giveth naught but disappointment and vexation; all that is, weareth out and passeth away.

Who will not be sorrowful at the remembrance of the ancient splendor of this tyrant, this withered old man; who, like a thirsty willow, nourished by the moisture of his ambition and avarice, lorded it over the lowly meadows and flowery fields while spring-time lasted, but at length, dried up and decayed, the storms of winter tore him up by the roots and scattered him in pieces upon the ground.

But now, with this mournful song, I bring to mind the things that flourish for an hour, and present, in the fate of Tezozomoc, an example of the brevity of human greatness. Who, that listens to me, can refrain from weeping? Verily, the enjoyments and pleasures of life are as a bouquet of flowers, that is passed from hand to hand until it fades, withers, and is dead.

Hearken unto me, ye sons of kings and of princes, take good heed and ponder the theme of my mournful song, the things that flourish for an hour, and the end of the King Tezozomoc. Who is he, I say again, that can hear me and not weep? Verily, the enjoyments and pleasures of life are as a handful of flowers, blooming for a space, but soon withered and dead.

Let the joyous birds sing on and rejoice in the beauty of spring, and the butterflies enjoy the honey and perfume of the flowers, for life is as a tender plant that is plucked and withereth away.

Granados tells us that Nezahualcoyotl’s poems were all in iambic verse, resembling in style the works of Manilius, Seneca, Pomponius, Euripides, and Lilius. In one of his songs he compared the shortness of life and of its pleasures with the fleeting bloom of a flower, so pathetically as to draw tears from the audience, as Clavigero relates. Ixtlilxochitl narrates that a prisoner condemned to death obtained pardon by reciting a poem before the king. There is not much evidence that verses were ever written in rhyme, but the authors say that due attention was paid to cadence and metre, and that some unmeaning syllables were added to certain lines to accommodate the measure. By their system of combination a single word often sufficed for a line in the longest measure. Many of their poetical compositions were intended for the dramatic representations which have been spoken of elsewhere.[615]Boturini, Idea, pp. 90-7. The language of their poetry was brilliant, pure, and agreeable, figurative, and embellished with frequent comparisons to the most pleasing objects in nature. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 174-6. Nezahualcoyotl left sixty hymns composed in honor of the Creator of Heaven. Id., tom. i., pp. 232, 245-7; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 57-9; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 108, 171-5; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 639-40. ‘Cantauan lamentaciones, y endechas. Tenian pronosticos, especialmente que se auia de acabar el mundo, y los cantauan lastimosamente: y tambien tenian memoria de sus grandezas, en cantares y pinturas.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xvi.; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 275.

Aztec Arithmetical System

The Nahua system of numeration was very simple and comprehensive, there being no limit to the numbers that could be expressed by it. The following table will give a clear idea of the method as employed by the Aztecs:

One, ce, or cen.

Two, ome.

Three, yey, or ei.

Four, nahui.

Five, macuilli,—signifying the ‘clenched hand,’ one finger having been originally doubled, as is supposed, for each unit in counting from one to five.

Six, chico a ce.

Seven, chic ome.

Eight, chico ey.

Nine, chico nahui,—These names from six to nine are simply those from one to four, with a prefix whose meaning is not altogether clear, but which is said to be composed of chico, ‘at one side,’ and ihuan or huan, meaning ‘near another,’ ‘with,’ or simply ‘and.’ These names may consequently be interpreted perhaps, ‘one side (or hand) with one,’ ‘one hand with two,’ etc., or one two, etc., ‘with the other side.’

Ten, matlactli—that is the upper part of the body, or all the fingers of the hands.

Eleven, matlactli oc ce, ten and one.

Twelve, matlactli om ome, ten and two.

Thirteen, matlactli om ey, ten and three.

Fourteen, matlactli o nahui, ten and four. In these names oc, om, o, or on as Molina gives it, seems to be used as a connective particle, equivalent to ‘and,’ but I am not acquainted with its derivation.

Fifteen, caxtolli, a word to which the authorities give no derivative meaning.

Sixteen, caxtolli oc ce, fifteen and one, etc.

Twenty, cem pohualli, once twenty. The word pohualli means ‘a count,’ the number twenty being in a sense the foundation of the whole numerical system.

Twenty-one, cem pohualli oc ce, once twenty and one, etc.

Thirty, cem pohualli, ihuan (or om as Molina has it) matlactli, once twenty and ten.

Thirty-five, cem pohualli ihuan (or on) caxtolli, once twenty and fifteen, etc.

Forty, ome pohualli, twice twenty, etc.

One hundred, macuil pohualli, five times twenty.

Two hundred, matlactli pohualli, ten times twenty.

Four hundred, cen tzontli, once four hundred, ‘the hair of the head.’

Eight hundred, ome tzontli, twice four hundred.

One thousand, ome tzontli ihuan matlactli pohualli, twice four hundred and ten times twenty.

Eight thousand, xiquipilli, a purse or sack, already mentioned as containing eight thousand cacao-nibs.

Sixteen thousand, ome xiquipilli, twice eight thousand.

It will be seen from the table that the only numbers having simple names are one, two, three, four, five, ten, fifteen, twenty, four hundred, and eight thousand; all the rest are compounds of these constructed on the principle that when the smaller number follows the larger the sum of the two is expressed, but when the smaller precedes the larger, their product is indicated. Molina and Leon y Gama are the chief authorities on the Nahua arithmetical system. All the writers agree perfectly respecting its details, but differ considerably in orthography. Molina writes each compound name together as a single word, while Gama often separates a word into its parts as I have done in every case, following his spelling.

System of Numeration

The manner in which the numbers were written was as simple as the system itself. A point or small circle indicated a unit, and these points sufficed for the numbers from one to nineteen. Twenty was indicated by a flag, four hundred by a feather, and eight thousand by a purse. One character placed above another indicated that the product was to be taken; for instance, 160,000 might be expressed either by twenty purses, or by a flag over a purse. To avoid the excessive use of the unit points in writing large and fractional numbers, each flag, feather, and purse was divided into four quarters, and only those quarters which were colored were to be counted. Thus five might be expressed by five points or by a flag with but one quarter colored; three hundred and fifty-six would be indicated by a feather with three quarters colored, two complete flags, three quarters of another flag, and one point.

We have seen that twenties were used, much as dozens are by us, as the foundation of all numeration, but strangely enough these twenties took different names in counting different classes of articles. The regular name, as given in the table, is pohualli; in counting sheets of paper, tortillas, small skins, and other thin objects capable of being packed one above another in small parcels, each twenty was called pilli; in counting cloths and other articles usually formed into large rolls, quimilli was the name applied to twenty; and in counting persons, lines, walls, and other things ranged in order, the term tecpantli was sometimes employed. In reckoning birds, eggs, fruits, seeds, and round or plump objects, generally tetl, ‘a stone,’ was affixed to each one of the numerals in the table; pantli was in the same way added for objects arranged in regular order, and also for surface measurements; tlamantli likewise was joined to the numerals for articles sold in pairs or sets, as shoes, dishes, etc.; while ears of corn, cacao in bunches, and other bulky articles required the termination olotl.

Among all the Nahua nations, so far as known, the arithmetical system was practically the same, and was essentially decimal. Nearly all gave great prominence to the number twenty; the Huastec language had simple names for the numbers from one to ten, twenty, and one thousand; the Otomí approached still nearer our modern system by making one hundred also one of its fundamental numbers with an uncompounded name as well as a compounded one.[616]Molina, Vocabulario; Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt ii., pp. 128-47; Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iv., Sept., 1872; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 49-57; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 45-7; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 109-10.

Astrology, soothsaying, the interpretation of dreams, and of auguries such as the flight or song of birds, the sudden meeting of wild animals, or the occurrence of other unlooked-for events, were regarded by the Nahuas as of the greatest importance, and the practice of such arts was entrusted to the tonalpouhqui, ‘those who count by the sun,’ a class of men held in high esteem, to whom was attributed a perfect knowledge of future events. We have seen that no undertaking, public or private, of any importance, could be engaged in except under a suitable and propitious sign, and to determine this sign the tonalpouhqui was appealed to. The science of astrology was written down in books kept with great secrecy and mystery, altogether unintelligible to the common crowd, whose good or bad fortune was therein supposed to be painted. The details of the methods employed in the mysterious rites of divination are nowhere recorded, and the continual mention of the seer’s services throughout the chapters of this and the following volume render this paragraph on the subject sufficient here.

Authorities on Nahua Arts

In addition to the miscellaneous arts described in the preceding pages, separate chapters will be devoted to the Nahua calendar, hieroglyphics, architecture, and medicine.[617]My authorities for the matter in this chapter are: Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. ix., pp. 282-337, 387-96, tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 107-12, 117-18, 122, 131, 137; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. l., lxii-lxiii., lxv., cxxi., cxxxii., clxxii., ccxi.; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 403-7; Cortés, Cartas, pp. 29-34, 94, 100-1, 109, 183, 192; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 198, 285, 324; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., pp. 59-60; Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., pp. 48-50; Boturini, Idea, pp. 77-8, 90-7; Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. iv., dec. v., tom. i.-v., x., dec. viii., lib. iv.; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 39, 42, 60-2, 75, 116-18, 135-6, 318, 324-5, 342-3; Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. iii.; Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt ii., pp. 26, 128-47; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 232, 245-7, tom. ii., pp. 174-8, 189-99, 205-10, 224-8, tom. iv., pp. 210-11, 232, 239; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 37, 72, 146-7, 168, 228-31, tom. ii., pp. 263, 486-90, 557-8; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 243-4, 264; Id., Relaciones, pp. 327, 332, 440-1, 455; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. v., cap. iv., v., lib. vi., cap. xi., xvi., lib. vii., cap. ii., vii., ix., xv., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. ix.; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 133; Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 17, 41, 46, 49, 64, 171; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., pp. 520-1, 526-8, 533, tom. iii., pp. 259, 272, 285-92, 298-300, 305, 464-5, 499; Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. i., pt ii., fol. 156, 160-1; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 26-7, 68-9; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 154, 238, 252-3, tom. iii., pp. 201-3, 319; Zuazo, Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 360-2; Diaz, Itinerario, in Id., p. 299; Relacion de Algunas Cosas, in Id., pp. 378-9; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Id., pp. 204, 211; Hernandez, Nova Plant., p. 339; Granados y Galvez, Tardes Amer., pp. 90-4; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 99-100, 108-10, 138-45, 170-5, vol. iii., pp. 425-30; Ewbank, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 44-56; Müller, Reisen, tom. iii., pp. 125-8, 134; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 62, 99-102, 378, 431-2, 498, 588-9, 638-40, 652-3, 657-60, 666-7, 682-3, tom. ii., pp. 60, 69-70, 74, 103-4, 198, 230-1; Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. i., p. 721, tom. iv., Sept. 1872; Rosny, in Comité d’Arch. Amér., 1866-7, pp. 15-16; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 49-57; Tylor’s Researches, pp. 165, 194, 201, 267; Id., Anahuac, pp. 95-101, 107-9; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. ii., pp. 454, 485; Carli, Cartas, pt ii., pp. 94-7; Lenoir, Parallèle, pp. 48, 56, 62, 64-5; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 130, 271-2, 285-6, 288, tom. iii., pp. 648-54, 672-4; Id., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1858, tom. clix., pp. 77-85; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 44-7, 54-9; Cavo, Tres Siglos, tom. iii., p. 49; Viollet-le-Duc, in Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 86-7; Brownell’s Ind. Races, p. 94; Edinburgh Review, July, 1867; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 13-20, 24, 26-32, 144-51, 162-3, 181; Baril, Mexique, pp. 209-10; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., pp. 168-72, 244, 270, 411-17; Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. viii., pp. 110-15; West-Indische Spieghel, pp. 218, 220, 225-6, 238-9, 246, 250-1, 343; Chevalier, Mex., Ancien et Mod., pp. 19, 28, 36-7; Mill’s Hist. Mex., p. 150; Heredia y Sarmiento, Sermon, pp. 73, 83; Gage’s New Survey, pp. 110-11; Lafond, Voyages, tom. i., pp. 161-2; Touron, Hist. Gén., tom. iii., pp. 142, 146; Fransham’s World in Miniature, vol. ii., p. 9; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 221-2; Dapper, Neue Welt, pp. 248-50; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., pp. 435, 456; Dupaix, Rel., 2de Expéd., pp. 25, 28; Soden, Spanier in Peru, tom. ii., pp. 27-9; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 47; Monglave, Résumé, pp. 43, 52, 57; Delaporte, Reisen, tom. x., p. 268; Gordon, Hist. and Geog. Mem., p. 76; Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. ii., pp. 268-9, 450; Alzate y Ramirez, Mem. sobre Grana., MS.

Footnotes

[584] ‘Tambien las minas de plata y oro, cobre, plomo, oropel natural, estaño y otros metales, que todos los sacaron, labraron, y dejaron señales y memoria.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 110-11. To obtain gold ‘se metian al fondo del agua y sacaban las manos llenas de arena, para buscar luego en ella los granos, los que se guardaban en la boca.’ Diaz, Itinerario, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 299. In Michoacan ‘trabajaban minas de cobre.’ Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., p. 48. ‘The traces of their labors furnished the best indications for the early Spanish miners.’ Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 138-9; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 99-100; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 198 et seq.

[585] ‘Whether a man desire the rude mettall, or to haue it molten, or beaten out, and cunningly made into any kinde of Iewell, hee shall find them ready wrought.’ Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. iv. Gomara and Gama state that they mixed gold and silver, as well as tin, with copper, for the manufacture of gimlets, axes, and chisels. Conq. Mex., fol. 318; Dos Piedras, pt ii., p. 26. Clavigero states that in Zacatollan two kinds of copper were found, hard and soft, so that there was no need of any hardening process. Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iv., pp. 210-11.

[586] ‘Porras claveteadas de hierro, cobre y oro.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 332. ‘Nous avons eu entre les mains de beaux outils de cuivre rosette.’ Viollet-le-Duc, in Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 86-7. ‘Hazen muchas cosas, como los mejores caldereros del mundo.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. ix. Some had plates and other vessels of tin. Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 465. ‘Contuttociò si sa, che lavoravano bene il rame, e che piacquero assai agli Spagnuoli lo loro scuri, e le loro picche.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 196.Peter Martyr speaks of large copper stands or candlesticks which supported pine torches to light the courts of the better houses. Dec. v., tom. x. ‘Il existait de si grands vases d’argent qu’un homme pouvait à peine les entourer de ses bras.’ Baril, Mexique, p. 209; Brownell’s Ind. Races, p. 94; Edinburgh Review, July 1867.

[587] ‘Todo variadizo, que en nuestra España los grandes Plateros tienen que mirar en ello.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 69. ‘Los Plateros de Madrid, viendo algunas Piezas, Brazaletes de oro, con que se armaban en guerra los Reyes, y Capitanes Indianos, confessaron que eran inimitables en Europa.’ Boturini, Idea, p. 78. ‘Non sarebbero verisimili le maraviglie di cotal arte, se oltre alla testimonianza di quanti le videro, non fossero state mandate in Europa in gran copia sì fatte rarità.’ ‘Finalmente erano tali sì fatte opere, che anche que’ Soldati spagnuoli, che si sentivano travagliati dalla sacra fame dell’oro, pregiavano in esse più l’arte, che la materia.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 195-6.

[588] Cortés, Cartas, pp. 109, 100-1. In the collection of Nezahualcoyotzin ‘no faltava alli ave, pez ni animal de toda esta tierra, que no estuvìese vivo, ó hecho figura y talle, en piedras de oro y pedrería.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 244. ‘There is no fourefooted beast, no foule, no fyshe, which their Artificers have once seene, but they are able to drawe, and cutte in mettall the likenesse and proportion thereof, euen to the lyfe.’ Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. x., iv. Eight gold shrimps of much perfection. Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 285; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, p. 56.

[589] ‘Sacan un ave, como un papagayo que se le anda la lengua como si vivo la menease y tambien la cabeza y las alas. Un rostro de aguila lo mismo, una rana, y un pescado, señalada muchas escamas una de plata y otra de oro, todo de vaciado, que espanta à todos nuestros oficiales.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxiii. ‘Funden vna mona, que juegue pies y cabeça, y tenga en las manos vn huso, que parezca que hila, o vna mançana, que come. Esto tuuieron a mucho nuestros Españoles, y los plateros de aca no alcançan el primor.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 117. ‘Y lo que mas es, que sacaban de la fundicion vna pieça, la mitad de Oro, y la mitad de Plata.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 487; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 59; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 403-7. ‘Sacauan al mercado los oficiales deste arte, platos, ochauados de vn quarto de oro, y otro de plata, no soldados, sino fundidos, y en la fundicion pegado, cosa dificultosa de entender. Sacauan vna caldereta de plata, con excelentes labores, y su assa de vna fundicion, y lo que era de marauillar que la asa estaua suelta.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xv.

[590] ‘Acaeciales á los principios estar un indio envuelto en una manta que no se le parecian si no los ojos, como ellos se ponen no muy cerca de una tienda de algun platero de los nuestros disimuladamente, como no pretendia mirar nada y el platero estar labrando de oro y de plata alguna joya ó pieza de mucho artificio y muy delicada, y de solo verle hacer alguna parte della irse á su casa y hacello tanto y mas perfecto y traello desde á poco en la mano para lo vender.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxiii. Zuazo, however, pronounces some of the native work inferior to the European. ‘Yo vi algunas piezas y no me parecieron tan primamente labradas como las nuestras.’ Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 362.

[591] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iv., p. 211; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., p. 520.

[592] ‘Vna rueda de hechura de Sol, tan grande como de vna carreta, con muchas labores, todo de oro muy fino, gran obra de mirar; … otra mayor rueda de plata, figurada la Luna, con muchos resplandores, y otras figuras en ella.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 26-7. ‘Espejos hechos de Margajita, que es vn metal hermosissimo, como plata muy resplandeciente y estos grandes como vn puño redondos como vna bola, engastados en oro.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. v., cap. v. ‘Doze zebratanas de fusta y plata, con que solia el tirar. Las unas pintadas y matizadas de aves, animales, rosas, flores, yarboles…. Las otras eran variadas, y sinzeladas con mas primor y sotileza que la pintura.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 135-6, 42; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 259; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxxii.

[593] ‘Vnas fundidas, otras labradas de Piedra.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 557; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xv. ‘Y lo que mas las hace admirables, es que las obran y labran con solo fuego y con una piedra ó pedernal.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxiii. Hammered work inferior to that of European artisans. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 196. ‘Los oficiales que labran oro son de dos maneras, unos de ellos se llaman martilladores ó amajadores, porque estos labran oro de martillo majándolo con piedras ó con martillos, para hacerlo delgado como papel: otros se llaman tlatlaliani, que quiere decir, que asientan el oro ó alguna cosa en él, ó en la plata, estos son verdaderos oficiales ó por otro nombre se llaman tulteca; pero están divididos en dos partes, porque labran el oro cada uno de su manera.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. ix., p. 387, et seq. For pictures of furnaces and of some manufactured articles from the hieroglyphic MSS., see Ewbank, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 448, et seq. ‘They cast, also, vessels of gold and silver, carving them with their metallic chisels in a very delicate manner.’ Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 139-40.

[594] ‘Siéntanse en el suelo y toman un pedazo de aquella piedra negra…. Aquel pedazo que toman es de un palmo ó poco mas largo, y de grueso como la pierna ó poco menos, y rollizo. Tienen un palo del grueso de una lanza y largo como tres codos ó poco mas, y al principio de este palo ponen pegado y bien atado un trozo de palo de un palmo, grueso como el molledo del brazo, y algo mas, y este tiene su frente llana y tajada, y sirve este trozo para que pese mas aquella parte. Juntan ambos piés descalzos, y con ellos aprietan la piedra con el pecho, y con ambas las manos toman el palo que dije era como vara de lanza (que tambien es llano y tajado) y pónenlo á besar con el canto de la frente de la piedra (que tambien es llana y tajada), y entonces aprietan hácia el pecho, y luego salta de la piedra una navaja con su punta y sus filos de ambas partes.’ Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 406; repeated in nearly the same words in Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 489-90; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxii., lxvi; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 60.

[595] Tylor’s Researches, p. 194. ‘Tienen lancetas de azabache negro, y vnas nauajas de axeme, hechas como puñal, mas gordas en medio que á los filos, con que se jassan y sangran de la lengua, braços, y piernas.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 324-5; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 491.

[596] Lenoir, Parallèle, pp. 64-5. ‘In the beginning of this so rare inuention, I gotte one of them, which Christophorus Colonus, Admirall of the Sea gaue mee. This stone was of a greene darkishe colour, fastened in most firme and harde woode, which was the handle or helue thereof. I stroke with all my force vpon Iron barres and dented the Iron with my strokes without spoyling or hurting of the stone in any part thereof. With these stones therefore they make their instruments, for hewing of stone, or cutting of timber, or any workemanship in gold or siluer.’ Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. iv.

[597] Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 231.

[598] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxii. See note 9 of this chapter.

[599] ‘Sculptured images were so numerous, that the foundations of the cathedral in the plaza mayor, the great square of Mexico, are said to be entirely composed of them.’ Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 140-1. Two statues in likeness of Montezuma and his brother cut in the cliff at Chapultepec. Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. iii. The idols destroyed by Cortés ‘eran de manera de dragones espantables, tan grandes como becerros, y otras figuras de manera de medio hombre, y de perros grandes, y de malas semejanças.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 35. ‘Sapevano esprimere nelle loro statue tutti gli atteggiamenti, e positure, di cui è capace il corpo, osservavano esattamente le proporzioni, e facevano, dove si richiedeva, i più minuti, e dilicati intaglj.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 195. ‘Habia entre ellos grandes escultores de cantería, que labraban cuanto querian en piedra, con guijarros ó pedernales, tan prima y curiosamente como en nuestra Castilla los muy buenos oficiales con escodas y picos de acero.’ Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 403; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 486-8. Portrait-statues of the Tezcucan kings. Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 264; Id., Relaciones, p. 440. Statues of Montezuma and brother. Bustamante, in Cavo, Tres Siglos, tom. iii., p. 49.

[600] ‘Gli smeraldi erano tanto comuni, che non v’era Signore, che non ne avesse.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 206-7. ‘Esmaltan assi mesmo, engastan y labran esmeraldas, turquesas, y otras piedras, y agujeran perlas pero no tambien como por aca.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 117. ‘Ambar, cristal, y las piedras llamadas amatista perlas, y todo género de ellas, y demas que traían por joyas que ahora se usan.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 109-11, 117-18. ‘Un encalado muy pulido, que era de ver, y piedras de que estaban hechas, tambien labradas y pegadas, que parecia ser cosa de musaico.’ Id., p. 107. Shields adorned with ‘perlas menudas como aljofar, y no se puede dezir su artificio, lindeza, y hermosura.’ Sandals having ‘por suelas vna piedra blanca y azul, cosa preciosa y muy delgada.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. v., cap. v. Guariques of blue stones set in gold; a stone face surrounded with gold; a string of stone beads. ‘Dos mascaras de piedras menudas, como turquesas, sentadas sobre madera de otra musáyca.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., pp. 526-8, tom. iii., pp. 285, 305. Idol covered with mosaic work of mother of pearl, turquoises, emeralds, and chalcedonies. Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxxii. ‘Excellent glasses may bee made thereof by smoothing and polishing them, so that we all confessed that none of ours did better shewe the naturall and liuely face of a manne.’ Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. x. ‘Ils avaient des masques garnis de pierres précieuses, représentant des lions, des tigres, des ours, etc.’ Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 133. Emerald altar to the Miztec god. Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. i., pt ii., fol. 156. ‘Y lo de las piedras, que no basta juicio á comprehender con qué instrumentos se hiciese tan perfecto.’ Cortés, Cartas, p. 109.

[601] Huitzilopochtli’s idol ‘era vna estatua de madera entretallada en semejança de vn hombre sentado en vn escaño azul.’ Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 324. Large chests ‘hechas de madera con sus tapaderas que se abren y cierran con unos colgadizos.’ Zuazo, Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 361-2. ‘I Falegnami lavoravano bene parecchie spezie di legni co’loro strumenti di rame, d’ quali se ne vedono alcuni anche oggidì.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 207, 194-5. ‘Los carpinteros y entalladores labraban la madera con instrumentos de cobre, pero no se daban á labrar cosas curiosas como los canteros.’ Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 403. ‘Labravan lazos, y animales tan curiosos que causaron admiracion à los primeros Españoles.’ Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 59. ‘With their Copper Hatchets, and Axes, cunnyngly tempered, they fell those trees, and hewe them smooth, taking away the chyppes, that they may more easily be drawne. They haue also certayne hearbes, with the which, in steed of broome, and hempe, they make ropes, cordes, and cables: and boaring a hole in one of the edges of the beame, they fasten the rope, then sette their slaues vnto it, like yoakes of oxen, and lastly insteede of wheels, putting round blocks vnder the timber, whether it be to be drawn steepe vp, or directly downe the hill, the matter is performed by the neckes of the slaues, the carpenters onely directing the carriage.’ Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. x. ‘Hazen caxas, escritorios, mesas, escriuanias, y otras cosas de mucho primor.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. ix. ‘They made cups and vases of a lackered or painted wood, impervious to wet and gaudily colored.’ Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 143.

[602] Molina, Diccionario, says, however that, the tecomatl was an earthen vase. See also p. 458 of this volume.

[603] ‘Siete sartas de quentas menudas de barro, redondas y doradas muy bien.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., pp. 526, 533. ‘I Pentolai facevano d’argilla non solo gli stoviglj necessarj per l’uso delle case, ma eziandío altri lavori di mera curiosità.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 207, tom. iv., pp. 211-2. ‘La loza tan hermosa, y delicada como la de Faenza en Italia.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. ii., vii. ‘Los incensarios con que incensaban eran de barro, à manera de cuchara, cuio remate era hueco, y dentro tenían metidas pelotillas del mismo barro, que sonaban como cascaveles, à los golpes del Incienso, como suenan las cadenas de nuestros incensarios.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 264. The jicara was of gold, silver, gourd-shells, or fish-shells.’Aunque estèn cien Años en el Agua, nunca la pintura se les borra.’ Id., p. 488. ‘Para coger la sangre tienen escudillas de calabaça.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 324-5. ‘Many sorts also of earthen vessels are sold there, as water pots, greate iuggs, chargers, gobblets, dishes, colenders, basens, frying pans, porringers, pitchers.’ Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. iv. ‘Vasos que llaman xicalli, y tecomatl, que son de vnos arboles, que se dan en tierras calientes.’ ‘À estas les dan vn barniz con flores, y animales de diversos colores, hermoseadas, que no se quita, ni se despinta aunque estè en el agua muchos días.’ Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 60.

[604] ‘Non aveano lana, nè seta comune, nè lino, nè canapa; ma supplivano alla lana col cotone, alla seta colla piuma, e col pelo del coniglio, e della lepre, ed al lino, ed alla canapa coll’ Icxotl, o palma montana, col Quetzalichtli, col Pati, e con altre spezie di Maguei.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 207-8, 210. ‘En todo el mundo no se podia hacer ni tejer otra tal, ni de tantas ni tan diversas y naturales colores ni labores.’ Cortés, Cartas, p. 101. ‘Una Vestidura del Gran Sacerdote Achcauhquitlinamacàni se embiò à Roma en tiempo de la Conquista, que dexò pasmada aquella Corte.’ Boturini, Idea, p. 77. The Olmecs used the hair of dogs and other animals. Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 154, 252-3. ‘Incredible matters of Cotton, housholde-stuffe, tapestry or arras hangings, garments, and couerlets.’ Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. iii. Humboldt states that silk made by a species of indigenous worms was an article of commerce among the Miztecs, in the time of Montezuma. Essai Pol., tom. ii., p. 454. ‘Hilan teniendo el copo en vna mano, y el huso en otra. Tuercen al reues que aca, estando el huso en vna escudilla. No tiene hueca el huso, mas hilan a prissa y no mal.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 318.

[605] Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. ii., pp. 454-5. Maguey-paper ‘resembling somewhat the Egyptian papyrus.’ Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 99-100. Some paper of palm-leaf, as thin and soft as silk. Boturini, Catálogo, in Id., Idea, pp. 95-6. Native paper called cauhamatl. Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., p. 65. They made paper of a certain species of aloe, steeped together like hemp, and afterwards washed, stretched, and smoothed; also of the palm icxotl, and thin barks united and prepared with a certain gum. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 189, tom. iv., p. 239. Torquemada speaks of a sheet 20 fathoms long, one wide, and as thick as the finger. Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 263.

[606] ‘Habia oficiales de curtir cueros y muchos de adovarlos maravillosamente.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxii. ‘Cueros de Venado, Tigres, y leones … con pelo, y sin pelo, de todos colores.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 488. ‘Tan suaves que de ellos se vestian, y sacaban correas.’ Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 60; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 118. Cortés found the skins of some of his horses slain in battle ‘tan bien adobados como en todo el mundo lo pudieran hacer.’ Cartas, p. 183. Red skins resembling parchment. Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., p. 526. ‘No se puede bien dezir su hermosura, y hechura.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. v., cap. v. ‘Los tarascos curtian perfectamente las pieles de los animales.’ Payno, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. i., p. 721. ‘Des tapis de cuir maroquinés avec la dernière perfection.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 271.

[607] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 189-90; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 652-3. Method of raising cochineal. Id., pp. 625-6. ‘En parcourant le palais de Montézuma les Castillans furent très-étonnés d’y voir des sacs de punaises dont on se servait à teindre et même à badigeonner les murs.’ Rosny, in Comité d’Arch. Amér., 1866-7, pp. 15-16. See p. 235 of this volume. They possessed the art of dyeing a fabric without impairing its strength, an art unknown to Europeans of the 18th century. Carli, Cartas, pt ii., pp. 95-7.

[608] ‘Y pintores ha habido entre ellos tan señalados, que sobre muchos de los señalados donde quiera que se hallasen se podian señalar.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxii. The same author speaks of their skill in reducing or enlarging drawings. ‘Havia Pintores buenos, que retrataban al natural, en especial Aves, Animales, Arboles, Flores, y Verduras, y otras semejantes, que vsaban pintar, en los aposentos de los Reies, y Señores; pero formas humanas, asi como rostros, y cuerpos de Hombres, y Mugeres, no los pintaban al natural.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 487, tom. i., p. 388; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 404. ‘Dans leur grotesque et leur raccourci, on trouve encore cependant une délicatesse de pinceau, fort remarquable, une pureté et une finesse dans les esquisses, qu’on ne saurait s’empêcher d’admirer; on voit, d’ailleurs, un grand nombre de portraits de rois et de princes, qui sont évidemment faits d’après nature.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 653-4. ‘Wee sawe a Mappe of those countreyes 30. foote long, and little lesse in breadth, made of white cotton, wouen: wherein the whole playne was at large described.’ Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. x., iii., v.

[609] ‘La Natura ad essi somministrava quanti colori fa adoperar l’Arte, e alcuni ancora, que essa non è capace d’imitare.’ The specimens made after the conquest were very inferior. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 197-9. ‘Hazense las mejores ymagines de pluma en la prouincia de Mechoacan en el pueblo de Pascaro.’ Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 285. ‘Vi ciertos follajes, pájaros, mariposas, abejones sobre unas varas temblantes, negras é tan delgadas, que apenas se veian, é de tal manera que realmente se hacian vivas á los que las miraban un poquito de lejos: todo lo demas que estaba cerca de las dichas mariposas, pájaros é abejones correspondia naturalmente á boscajes de yerbas, ramos é flores de diversas colores é formas.’ Zuazo, Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 360. ‘Figuras, y imagenes de Principes, y de sus idolos, tan vistosas, y tan acertadas, que hazian ventaja a las pinturas Castellanas.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xv. ‘Muchas cosas de Pluma, como Aves, Animales, Hombres, y otras cosas mui delicadas, Capas, y Mantas para cubrirse, y vestiduras para los Sacerdotes de sus Templos, Coronas, Mitras, Rodelas, y Mosqueadores.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 488-9; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 59; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 405-6; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxii. ‘Acontece les no comer en todo vn dia, poniendo, quitando y assentando la pluma, y mirando à una parte, y à otra, al sol, a la sombra,’ etc. Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 116-17. Mention of the birds which furnished bright-colored feathers. Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 68-9. ‘Ils en faisaient des rondaches et d’autres insignes, compris sous le nom d’ “Apanecayotl,” dont rien n’approchait pour la richesse et le fini.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 285; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 109. Mention of some specimens preserved in Europe. Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., p. 30.

[610] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. ix., pp. 392-6.

[611] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 489; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 59; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 405; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. l.

[612] Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 201-3; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 147; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., p. 244.

[613] ‘Avvegnachè i lor più celebri Aringatori non sieno da paragonarsi cogli Oratori delle Nazioni culte dell’Europa, non può peraltro negarsi, che i loro ragionamenti non fossero gravi, sodi, ed eleganti, come si scorge dagli avanzi che ci restano della loro eloquenza.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 174-5. ‘Les raisonnements y sont graves, les arguments solides, et pleins d’élégance.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii, p. 672; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 172-3. Montezuma’s speech to Cortés, in Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 285-6. ‘The Spaniards have given us many fine polished Indian orations, but they were certainly fabricated at Madrid.’ Adair, Amer. Ind., p. 202.

[614] Four poems or fragments are given in Spanish, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., pp. 110-15. No. 1 has for its subject the tyrant Tezozomoc; No. 2 is an ode on the mutability of life; No. 3 is an ode recited at a feast, comparing the great kings of Anáhuac to precious stones; No. 4 was composed for the dedication of the author’s palace and treats of the unsatisfactory nature of earthly honors. Nos. 2 and 3 are also found in Doc. Hist. Mex., serie iii., tom. iv., pp. 286-93. No. 2 is given in Prescott’s Mex., vol. iii., pp. 425-30, in Spanish and English verse. A French translation of No. 1 is given by Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 672-4, who also gives an additional specimen from Carochi’s grammar, in Aztec and Spanish. Nos. 1, 2, and 4 in French, in Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., pp. 411-17. No. 4 is to be found in Granados y Galvez, Tardes Amer., pp. 90-4. Nos. 1 and 4, in German, in Müller, Reisen, tom. iii., pp. 138-41, where are also two additional odes. No. 2 is also given in German by Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 146-51.

[615] Boturini, Idea, pp. 90-7. The language of their poetry was brilliant, pure, and agreeable, figurative, and embellished with frequent comparisons to the most pleasing objects in nature. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 174-6. Nezahualcoyotl left sixty hymns composed in honor of the Creator of Heaven. Id., tom. i., pp. 232, 245-7; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 57-9; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 108, 171-5; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 639-40. ‘Cantauan lamentaciones, y endechas. Tenian pronosticos, especialmente que se auia de acabar el mundo, y los cantauan lastimosamente: y tambien tenian memoria de sus grandezas, en cantares y pinturas.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xvi.; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 275.

[616] Molina, Vocabulario; Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt ii., pp. 128-47; Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iv., Sept., 1872; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 49-57; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 45-7; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 109-10.

[617] My authorities for the matter in this chapter are: Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. ix., pp. 282-337, 387-96, tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 107-12, 117-18, 122, 131, 137; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. l., lxii-lxiii., lxv., cxxi., cxxxii., clxxii., ccxi.; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 403-7; Cortés, Cartas, pp. 29-34, 94, 100-1, 109, 183, 192; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 198, 285, 324; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., pp. 59-60; Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., pp. 48-50; Boturini, Idea, pp. 77-8, 90-7; Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. iv., dec. v., tom. i.-v., x., dec. viii., lib. iv.; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 39, 42, 60-2, 75, 116-18, 135-6, 318, 324-5, 342-3; Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. iii.; Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt ii., pp. 26, 128-47; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 232, 245-7, tom. ii., pp. 174-8, 189-99, 205-10, 224-8, tom. iv., pp. 210-11, 232, 239; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 37, 72, 146-7, 168, 228-31, tom. ii., pp. 263, 486-90, 557-8; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 243-4, 264; Id., Relaciones, pp. 327, 332, 440-1, 455; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. v., cap. iv., v., lib. vi., cap. xi., xvi., lib. vii., cap. ii., vii., ix., xv., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. ix.; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 133; Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 17, 41, 46, 49, 64, 171; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., pp. 520-1, 526-8, 533, tom. iii., pp. 259, 272, 285-92, 298-300, 305, 464-5, 499; Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. i., pt ii., fol. 156, 160-1; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 26-7, 68-9; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 154, 238, 252-3, tom. iii., pp. 201-3, 319; Zuazo, Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 360-2; Diaz, Itinerario, in Id., p. 299; Relacion de Algunas Cosas, in Id., pp. 378-9; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Id., pp. 204, 211; Hernandez, Nova Plant., p. 339; Granados y Galvez, Tardes Amer., pp. 90-4; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 99-100, 108-10, 138-45, 170-5, vol. iii., pp. 425-30; Ewbank, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 44-56; Müller, Reisen, tom. iii., pp. 125-8, 134; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 62, 99-102, 378, 431-2, 498, 588-9, 638-40, 652-3, 657-60, 666-7, 682-3, tom. ii., pp. 60, 69-70, 74, 103-4, 198, 230-1; Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. i., p. 721, tom. iv., Sept. 1872; Rosny, in Comité d’Arch. Amér., 1866-7, pp. 15-16; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 49-57; Tylor’s Researches, pp. 165, 194, 201, 267; Id., Anahuac, pp. 95-101, 107-9; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. ii., pp. 454, 485; Carli, Cartas, pt ii., pp. 94-7; Lenoir, Parallèle, pp. 48, 56, 62, 64-5; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 130, 271-2, 285-6, 288, tom. iii., pp. 648-54, 672-4; Id., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1858, tom. clix., pp. 77-85; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 44-7, 54-9; Cavo, Tres Siglos, tom. iii., p. 49; Viollet-le-Duc, in Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 86-7; Brownell’s Ind. Races, p. 94; Edinburgh Review, July, 1867; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 13-20, 24, 26-32, 144-51, 162-3, 181; Baril, Mexique, pp. 209-10; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., pp. 168-72, 244, 270, 411-17; Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. viii., pp. 110-15; West-Indische Spieghel, pp. 218, 220, 225-6, 238-9, 246, 250-1, 343; Chevalier, Mex., Ancien et Mod., pp. 19, 28, 36-7; Mill’s Hist. Mex., p. 150; Heredia y Sarmiento, Sermon, pp. 73, 83; Gage’s New Survey, pp. 110-11; Lafond, Voyages, tom. i., pp. 161-2; Touron, Hist. Gén., tom. iii., pp. 142, 146; Fransham’s World in Miniature, vol. ii., p. 9; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 221-2; Dapper, Neue Welt, pp. 248-50; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., pp. 435, 456; Dupaix, Rel., 2de Expéd., pp. 25, 28; Soden, Spanier in Peru, tom. ii., pp. 27-9; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 47; Monglave, Résumé, pp. 43, 52, 57; Delaporte, Reisen, tom. x., p. 268; Gordon, Hist. and Geog. Mem., p. 76; Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. ii., pp. 268-9, 450; Alzate y Ramirez, Mem. sobre Grana., MS.

Chapter XVI • The Aztec Calendar • 7,600 Words

Astronomical Knowledge of the Aztecs—Contradictions of Authors respecting the Calendar—Value of the Researches of Various Writers—The First Regular Calendar—The Mexican Cycle—The Civil Year—The Aztec Months—Names of the Days and their Signification—The Commencement of the Aztec Year—The Ritual Calendar—Gama’s Arrangement of the Months—The Calendar-Stone—The Four Destructions of the World—The Calendar of Michoacan—Reckoning of the Zapotecs.

Perhaps the strongest proof of the advanced civilization of the Nahuas was their method of computing time, which, for ingenuity and correctness, equaled, if it did not surpass, the systems adopted by contemporaneous European and Asiatic nations.

The Nahuas were well acquainted with the movements of the sun and moon, and even of some of the planets, while celestial phenomena, such as eclipses, although attributed to unnatural causes, were nevertheless carefully observed and recorded. They had, moreover, an accurate system of dividing the day into fixed periods, corresponding somewhat to our hours; indeed, as the learned Sr Leon y Gama has shown, the Aztec calendar-stone which was found in the plaza of the city of Mexico, was used not only as a durable register, but also as a sun-dial.

The Aztec Calendar

Although the system of the Aztec calendar as a whole is clear and easily understood, yet it is extremely difficult to describe with certainty many of its details, owing to the contradictory statements of nearly all the earlier writers, who visited Mexico and there in different localities picked up scraps of what they afterwards described as being the ‘calendar of the Mexicans,’ not taking into consideration that the many and distinct kingdoms surrounding the Aztec territory, although using essentially the same system, differed on many important points, such as the names of years, months, days, the season of beginning the year, etc. This difficulty increases when we attempt to make Mexican dates agree with our own. Even Boturini, who gathered his information in Mexico, makes many mistakes; and Veytia, although we must accord him the credit of having thoroughly studied the subject, and of having reduced it to a clear system, is at fault in many points. Of the older writers, such as Sahagun, Las Casas, Duran, Motolinia, and others, no one is explicit enough on all points to enable us to follow him; and such details as they unite in giving are mostly contradictory. Torquemada, who draws a great portion of his material from Motolinia, contradicts himself too frequently to be reliable. Leon y Gama, although he spent much labor in trying to clearly expound the system, has also fallen into some errors, attributable, perhaps, to his not having the valuable aid of Sahagun’s writings, and to his having placed too much trust in the writings of Torquemada and the manuscript of the Indian Cristóbal del Castillo, as is shown in the review of Gama’s work by Sr José Antonio Alzate in the Gacetas de Literatura. Baron von Humboldt’s description, valuable as it is on account of the extended comparisons which he draws between the Mexican, Asiatic and Egyptian calendars, is on that account too intricate to be easily understood. From all these descriptions Gallatin, McCulloh, and Müller, with perhaps a few others, have each given us a very good résumé, but without attempting to reconcile all the contradictions.

The first notice we have of any regular calendar is given by Ixtlilxochitl, who states that in the year 5097 from the creation of the world, an assembly of learned men met at the city of Huehuetlapallan, and determined the reckoning of the years, days, and months, leap years and intercalary days, in the order in which they were found at the time of the conquest.[618]Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., p. 322. ‘En un año que fué señalado con el geroglifico de un pedernal, que segun las tablas parece haber sido el de 3901 del mundo, se convocó una gran junta de astrólogos … para hacer la correcion de su calendario y reformar sus cómputos, que conocian errados segun el sistema que hasta entónces habian seguido.’ Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 32. Previous to this time it is said that the only reckoning kept was regulated by the yearly growth of the fresh grass and herbs from which the name of the Mexican year xihuitl, ‘new grass,’ is derived. It is also said that a rough computation of time was made by the moon, from its appearance to its disappearance, and that this period called metztli, ‘the moon,’ was divided into two equal parts, named respectively mextozolitzli, the time when the moon was awake or visible, and mecochiliztli, the sleep of the moon, or the time when it was invisible.[619]Id., pp. 31-2. Of the larger divisions of time, accounts are very conflicting. Two, three, four, and five ages are said by various writers to have existed, at the end of each of which the world was said to have been destroyed, and recreated at the beginning of the age next following. The common aboriginal belief was, however, that at the time of the conquest, the world had passed through three ages, and was then in the fourth. The first age, or ‘sun,’ as it is also called, was the Sun of Water, atonatiuh; the second, the Sun of Earth, tlalchitonatiuh; the third, the Sun of Air, ehecatonatiuh.[620]Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 205; Id., Relaciones, in Id., pp. 331-2, 459; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcix., p. 132; Ternaux-Compans, in Id., 1840, tom. lxxxvi., pp. 5-6; Boturini, Idea, p. 3; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 57; Brasseur de Bourbourg, S’il existe des Sources de l’Hist. Prim., pp. 26-7; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 164-7; Explicacion del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, in Id., pp. 134-6. ‘Cinco Soles que son edades … el primer Sol se perdio por agua…. El segundo Sol perecio cayendo el cielo sobre la tierra…. El Sol tercero falto y se consumio por fuego…. El quarto Sol fenecio con aire…. Del quinto Sol, que al presente tienen.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 297. ‘Le ciel et la terre s’étaient faits, quatre fois.’ Codex Chimalpopoca, in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 53. ‘Creyeron que el Sol habia muerto cuatro veces, ó que hubo cuatro soles, que habian acabado en otros tantos tiempos ó edades; y que el quinto sol era el que actualmente les alumbraba.’ Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt i., p. 94. ‘Hubo cinco soles en los tiempos pasados.’ Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 81, repeated literally by Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 79; Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., pp. 118-29; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 325; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 510-12. This is about all we know of any division of time, before the assembly at Huehuetlapallan which is said to have introduced the regular calendar.

The Mexican Cycle

The Aztec Cycle

The Mexican calendar contains the following divisions of time: The ‘age,’ consisting of two periods of fifty-two years each, was called huehuetiliztli; the ‘cycle,’ consisting of four periods of thirteen years each, was named xiuhmolpilli, xiuhmolpia or xiuhtlalpilli, meaning the ‘binding up of the years.’ Each period of thirteen years or, as it was called by the Spanish historians, ‘indiccion,’ was known as a tlalpilli, or ‘knot,’ and, as stated above, each single year was named xihuitl, or ‘new grass,’ The age was not used in the regular reckoning, and is only rarely mentioned to designate a long space of time. The numeral prefixed to the name of any year in the cycle, or xiuhmolpilli, never exceeded four, and to carry out this plan, four signs, respectively named tochtli, ‘rabbit,’ calli, ‘house,’ tecpatl, ‘flint,’ and acatl, ‘cane,’ were used. Thus the Aztecs commenced to count the first year of their first cycle with the name or hieroglyphic Ce Tochtli, meaning ‘one (with the sign of) rabbit;’ and the second year was Ome Acatl, ‘two, cane;’ the third, Yey Tecpatl, ‘three, flint;’ the fourth, Nahui Calli, ‘four, house;’ the fifth, Macuilli Tochtli, ‘five, rabbit;’ the sixth, Chicoace Acatl, ‘six, cane;’ the seventh, Chicome Tecpatl, ‘seven, flint;’ the eighth, Chico ey Calli, ‘eight, house;’ the ninth, Chico nahui Tochtli, ‘nine, rabbit;’ the tenth, Matlactli Acatl, ‘ten, cane;’ the eleventh, Matlactli occe Tecpatl, ‘eleven, flint;’ the twelfth, Matlactli omome Calli, ‘twelve, house;’ and the thirteenth, Matlactli omey Tochtli, ‘thirteen, rabbit.’ This numeration continued in the same manner, the second tlalpilli commencing again with ‘one, cane,’ the third tlalpilli with ‘one, flint,’ the fourth with ‘one, house,’ and so on to the end of the cycle of fifty-two years. It will easily be seen that during the fifty-two years none of these four signs could be accompanied by the same number twice, and therefore no confusion could arise. Instead, therefore, of saying an event happened in the year 1850, as we do in our reckoning, they spoke of it as happening, for instance, in the year of ‘three, rabbit’ in the twelfth cycle.[621]Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 296-7; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 256-7; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 397-8; Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt. i., p. 16 et seq.; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 42 et seq. Still, some confusion has been caused among different writers by the fact that the different nations of Anáhuac did not all commence their cycles with the same hieroglyphic sign. Thus the Toltecs commenced with the sign tecpatl, ‘flint;’ and the Mexicans, or Aztecs, with tochtli, ‘rabbit;’ while some again used acatl, ‘cane;’ and others calli, ‘house,’ as their first name.[622]‘No todos comenzaban á contar el ciclo por un mismo año: los tultecos lo empezaban desde Tecpatl: los de Teotihuacan desde Calli; los mexicanos desde Tochtli; y los tezcocanos desde Acatl.’ Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt i., p. 16; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 58. ‘So begannen die Aculhuas von Texcoco ihre Umläufe mit dem Zeichen Ce Tecpatl, die Mexicaner dagegen im Ce Tochtli.’ Müller, Reisen, tom. iii., p. 65; Boturini, Idea, p. 125. A cycle was represented in their paintings by the figures of tochtli, acatl, tecpatl, and calli, repeated each thirteen times and placed in a circle, round which was painted a snake holding its tail in its mouth, and making at each of the four cardinal points a kink with its own body, as shown in the plate on the opposite page, which served to divide the cycle into four tlalpillis.[623]‘Esto circulo redondo se dividia en cuatro partes…. La primera parte que pertenecia á Oriente llamabanle los trece años de las cañas, y asi en cada casa de los trece tenian pintada una caña, y el número del año corriente…. La segunda parte aplicaban al septentrion, que era de otras trece casas, á las cuales llamaban las trece casas del pedernal; y asi tenian pintado en cada casa un pedernal…. A la tercera … parte Occidental, llamabanle las trece casas, y asi verémos en cada parte de las trece una casilla pintada…. A la cuarta y última parte que era de otros trece años, llamabanla las trece casas del conejo; y asi en cada casa de aquellas verémos pintada una cabeza de conejo.’ Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. iii., appendix, cap. i. These four signs, rabbit, cane, flint, and house were also, according to Boturini, used to designate the four seasons of the year, the four cardinal points, and lastly, the four elements. Thus, for instance, tecpatl also signified south; calli, east; tochtli, north; and acatl, west. In the same manner tecpatl was used to designate fire; calli, earth; tochtli, air; and acatl, water.[624]Gemelli Careri gives these names in a different order, calling tochtli south, acatl east, tecpatl north, and calli west; further, tochtli earth, acatl water, tecpatl air, and calli fire. Gemelli Careri, in Churchill’s Col. Voyages, vol. iv., pp. 487-8; Boturini, Idea, pp. 54-8. The above are only figurative names, as the words for the cardinal points and also for the elements are entirely different in the Mexican language.

The civil year was again divided into eighteen months and five days. Each month had its particular name, but the five extra days were only designated as nemontemi or ‘unlucky days,’ and children born at this time, or enterprises undertaken, were considered unlucky. In hieroglyphical paintings these months were also placed in a circle, in the middle of which a face, representing either the sun or moon, was painted. This circle was called a xiuhtlapohualli, or ‘count of the year.’ Concerning the order in which these months followed one another, and the name of the first month, hardly two authors agree; in the same manner we find three or four various names given to many of the months. It would appear reasonable to suppose that the month immediately following the nemontemi, which were always added at the end of the year, would be the first, and the only difficulty here is to know which way the Aztecs wrote; whether from right to left or from left to right. On the circle of the month given by Veytia, and supposed to have been copied from an original, these five days are inserted between the months Panquetzaliztli and Atemoztli, and counting from left to right, this would make Atemoztli the first month, which would agree with Veytia’s statement. But Gama and others decidedly dissent from this opinion, and name other months as the first. I reserve further consideration of this subject for another place in this chapter, where in connection with other matters it can be more clearly discussed, and content myself with simply inserting here a table of the names of the months as enumerated by the principal authors, in order to show at a glance the many variations. I also append to it the different dates given for the first day of the year, in which there are as many contradictions as in the names and position of the months.

Names of Mexican Months According to Various Authors

Mexican Months

AUTHORS.	1.	2.	3.	4.	5.
Sahagun.	Atlacahualco, or Quavitleloa.	Tlacaxipeoaliztli.	Tozoztontli.	Veytocoztli.	Toxcatl.
Motolinia.
Acosta.
Gomara.	Tlacaxipeualiztli.	Tozçuztli.	Hueitozçuztli.	Toxcatl, or Tepupochuiliztli	Eçalcoaliztli.
Martin de Leon.[625]	Atlcahualo.	Tlacaxipehualiztli.	Toçoztontli.	Hueitoçoztontli.	Tochcatl.
Duran.	Xuchitzitzquilo, or Quauitlehua, or Atlmotzacuaga, or Xilomaniztly.	Tlacaxipehualiztli.	Tozoztontly.	Ochpaniztly, or Cueytozoztly.	Toxcatl.
Codex Vaticanus.	Atlcaualo.	Tlacaxipeualiztli.	Tocozintli.	Veitozcoztli.	Toxcatl.
Torquemada.	Atlacahualco, or Quahuitlehua.	Tlacaxipehualiztli.	Toçoztontli.	Hueytoçoztli.	Toxcatl.
Vetancvrt.	Atlachualco, or Quahuilchua.	Tlacaxipehualiztli.	Tocoztontli.	Hueytocoztli.	Teoxcalt.
Vetancvrt (Tlascaltec names).	Xilomatihuitztli.	Coylhuitl.
Gemelli Carreri.	Tlacaxipehualitztli.	Tozoztli.	Hueytozoztli.	Toxcatl.	Etzalcualiztli.
Laet.	Tlacaxipenaliztli.	Toxcactli.	Hueitozcuztli.	Toxcatl, or Tepupochuiliztli.	Ezalioalixtli.
Veytia.	Atemoztli.	Tititl.	Itzcalli.	Xilomaniztli.	Cohuailhuitl.
Lorenzana.	Atemoztli.	Tititl.	Yzcalli.	Xilomanizte.	Cohuailhuitl.
Clavigero.	Atlacahualco.	Tlacaxipehualiztli.	Tozoztontli.	Hueitozoztli.	Toxcatl.
Gama.[626]Humboldt and Gallatin repeat Leon y Gama.	Tititl, or Itzcalli.	Itzcalli, or Xochilhuitl.	Xilomanalixtli, or Atlcahualco, or Quahuitlehua, or Cihuailhuitl.	Tlacaxipehualiztli, or Cohuailhuitl.	Tozoztontli.
Klemm.	Acahualco.	Tlacaxipehualitztli.	Tozozontli.	Hueitozoptli.	Texcatl.
Mueller.	Tlacaxipehualiztli, or Cohuailhuitl.	Tozoztontli.	Huey Tozoztli.	Toxcatl, or Tepopochuiliztli.	Etzalqualiztli.
Brasseur de Bourbourg.	Atlacahualco.	Tlacaxipehualiztli.	Tozoztontli.	Huey-Tozoztli.	Toxcatl.
Carbajal Espinosa.	Atlacahualco.	Tlacaxipehualiztli.	Tozoztontli.	Hueitozoztli.	Toxcatl, or Coxcatl.
Codex Telleriano-Remensis.

Months (cont. 2)

AUTHORS.	6.	7.	8.	9.	10.
Sahagun.	Etzacualiztli.	Tecuilhuitontli.	Veytecuilhuitl.	Tlaxochimaco.	Xocohuetzl.
Motolinia.
Acosta.
Gomara.	Tecuilhuicintli.	Hueitecuilhuitl.	Miccailhuicintli.	Veymiccailhuitl.	Vchpaniztli, or Tenauatiliztli.
Martin de Leon.[625]	Etzalcualiztli.	Tecuilhuitontli.	Hueiteucyilhuitl.	Tlaxochimanco.	Xocotlhuetzi.
Duran.	Etzalcualiztly.	Tecuiluitontly, or Tlaxochimaco.	Hueytecuilhuitl.	Miccailhuitontly.	Tocotluetz.
Codex Vaticanus.	Hetzalqualiztl.	Tecuilvitontl.	Veitecuiluitl.	Miccailhuitl.	Veymiccailhuitl.
Torquemada.	Etzalqualiztli.	Tecuhilhuitontli.	Hueytecuhilhuitl.	Tlaxuchimaco, or Hueymiccaylhuitl.	Xocotlhuetzi.
Vetancvrt.	Etzaqualiztli.	Tecuylhuitontli.	Hueytecuyilhuitl.	Tlaxochimaco.	Xocotlhuetzi.
Vetancvrt (Tlascaltec names).				Micaylhuitzintli.	Hueymicaylhuitl.
Gemelli Carreri.	Ticuyilhuitl.	Hueytecuilhuitl.	Micaylhuitl.	Hueymicailhuitl.	Ochpaniztli.
Laet.	Tecuilhuicintli.	Huehtecuilhuitl.	Miccathuicintli.	Veimiccailhuitl.	Vchpaniztli, or Tenavatiliztli.
Veytia.	Tozcotzintli.	Hueytozcoztli.	Toxcatl.	Exolqualiztli.	Tecuilhuitzintli.
Lorenzana.	Tozcotzintli.	Huey Tozcoztli.	Toxcatl.	Ezalqualliztli.	Tecuilhuitzintli.
Clavigero.	Etzalcualiztli.	Tecuilhuitontli.	Hueitecuilhuitl.	Tlaxochimaco.	Xocohuetzi.
Gama.	Huey Tozoztli.	Toxcatl, or Tepopochuiliztli.	Etzalqualiztli.	Tecuilhuitzintli.	Hueytecuilhuitl.
Klemm.	Etzalqualitztli.
Mueller.	Tecuilhuitzintli.	Hueytecuilhuitl.	Miccailhuitzintly, or Tlalxochimaco.	Hueymiccailhuitl, or Xolotlhuetzin.	Ochpaniztli, or Tenahuatiliztli.
Brasseur de Bourbourg.	Etzacualiztli.	Tecuilhuitontli.	Huey Tecuilhuitl.	Tlaxochimaco.	Xocohuetzi.
Carbajal Espinosa.	Etzalcualiztli.	Teucuilhuitontli.	Hueituecuilhuitl.	Tlaxochimaco.	Xocotlhuetzi.
Codex Telleriano-Remensis.		Tecuiluitontl.	Veytecuiluitl.	Michaylhuitl.	Hueymiccaylhuitl.

Months (cont. 3)

AUTHORS.	11.	12.	13.	14.
Sahagun.	Ochpaniztli.	Teotleco.	Tepeilhuitl.	Quecholli.
Motolinea.				Panquetzaliztli.
Acosta.
Gomara.	Pachtli, or Heçoztli.	Hueipachtli, or Pachtli.	Quecholli.	Panqueçaliztli.
Martin de Leon.[625]	Ochpaniztli.	Teotlèco.	Tepeilhuitl.	Quechulli.
Duran.	Ochpaniztly.	Pachtontly.	Veypachtly, or Coailhuitl.	Quecholli.
Codex Vaticanus.	Ochpaniztl.	Pachtontl.	Veipachtli.	Quecholi.
Torquemada.	Uchpaniztli.	Teutleco.	Tepeilhuitl.	Quecholli.
Vetancvrt.	Ochpaniztli.	Teotleco.	Tepeylhuitl.	Quecholli.
Vetancvrt (Tlascaltec names).			Pachtzintli.
Gemelli Carreri.	Pachtli.	Hueypachtli.	Checiogli.	Panchetzaliztli.
Laet.	Pachtli, or Hecoztli.	Hueipachtli.	Quecholli.	Panquecaliztli.
Veytia.	Hueytecuilhuitl.	Micailhuitzintli.	Hueymicailhuitl.	Huepaniztli.
Lorenzana.	Huey Tecuilhuitl.	Mictailhutlzintli.	Hueymictailhuitl.	Ochpaniztli.
Clavigero.	Ochpaniztli.	Teotleco.	Tepeilhuitl.	Quecholli.
Gama.	Miccailhuitzintli, or Tlaxochimaco.	Hueymiccailhuitl, or Xocotlhuetzi.	Ochpaniztli, or Tenahuatiliztli.	Pachtli, or Ezoztli, or Teotleco.
Klemm.	Ochpanitztli.	Pachtli.		Tepeilhuitl.
Mueller.	Pachtli, or Ezoztli, or Teotleco.	Hueypachtli, or Pachtli, or Tepeilhuitl.	Quecholli.	Panquetzaliztli.
Brasseur de Bourbourg.	Ochpaniztli.	Teotleco.	Tepeilhuitl.	Quecholli.
Carbajal Espinosa.	Tlachpanaliztli.	Teotleco.	Tepeilhuitl.	Quecholli.
Codex Telleriano-Remensis.	Ochpaniztli.	Pactontly.	Veypactli.	Quecholi.

Months (cont. 4)

AUTHORS.	15.	16.	17.	18.	Commencement of the Mexican year, according to our reckoning.
Sahagun.	Panquetzaliztli.	Atemoztli.	Tititl.	Yzcalli.	2d February.
Motolinia.					Commencement of March.
Acosta.					26th February.
Gomara.	Hatemuztli.	Tititlh.	Izcalli.	Coauitleuac, or Ciuailhuilt.
Martin de Leon.[625]	Panquetzaliztli.	Atemuztli.	Tititl.	Ytzcali.	2d February.
Duran.	Panquetzaliztly.	Atemoztli.	Tititl.	Yzcalli, or Xilomaniztly, or Queuitleua.	1st March.
Codex Vaticanus.	Panquetzaliztli.	Atemoztli.	Tititl.	Yzcalli.	24th February.
Torquemada.	Panquetzaliztli.	Atemuztli.	Tititl.	Izcalli.	1st February.
Vetancvrt.	Panquetzaliztli.	Atemoztlique.	Titzotl.	Izcalli.	February.
Vetancvrt (Tlascaltec names).
Gemelli Carreri.	Atemoztli.	Tititl.	Izcagli.	Atlacoalo.	First year of century, 10th April.
Laet.	Hatemuztli.	Tititl.	Izcalli.	Coavitlevac.	March, or 26th of February.
Veytia.	Pachtzintli.	Hueypachtli.	Quecholli.	Panquetzaliztli.	2d February.
Lorenzana.	Pachtlizintli.	Hueypachtli.	Quecholli.	Panquetzalliztli.
Clavigero.	Panquetzaliztli.	Atemoztli.	Tititl.	Izcalli.	First year of century, 26th February.
Gama.	Hueypachtli, or Pachtli, or Tepeilhuitl.	Quecholli.	Panquetzaliztli.	Atemoztli.	9th January.
Klemm.			Tititl.	Izcalli.	26th February.
Mueller.	Atemoztli.	Tititl, or Itzcalli.	Itzcalli, or Xochilhuitl.	Xilomanaliztli, or Atlcahualco, or Quahuitlehua, or Cihuailhuitl.	20th March.
Brasseur de Bourbourg.	Panquetzaliztli.	Atemoztli.	Tititl.	Izcalli.
Carbajal Espinosa.	Panquetzaliztli.	Atemoztli.	Tititl.	Izcalli.	First year of century, 26th February.
Codex Telleriano-Remensis.	Panquetzaliztli.	Atemoztli.	Tititl.	Yzcatli.	24th February.

Names of the Aztec Month

Each month, as before stated, was represented by its proper hieroglyph, having a certain meaning, and generally referring to some feast or natural event, such as the ripening of fruit, or falling of rain, happening during the month, although in this case also there are many differences between authors regarding the meaning of the names.

The Aztec Year

Tititl, which according to Gama was the first month, is translated by Boturini as ‘our mother,’ or ‘mother of the gods,’ while Cabrera calls it ‘fire.'[627]‘Itetl, Ititl, barriga o vientre.’ Molina, Vocabulario. ‘Vientre, la madre, á excepcion del padre.’ Salva, Nuevo Dicc. ‘Titl … significa fuego. Tititl escrito en dos sílabas y seis letras nada significa en el idioma mexicano’ Cabrera, in Ilustracion Mex., tom. iv., p. 468. Itzcalli, according to Boturini, means ‘regeneration;’ the Codex Vaticanus translates it ‘skill;’ and Veytia, ‘the sprouting of the grass.'[628]‘Izcalia, abiuar, tornar en si, o resuscitar.’ Molina, Vocabulario. Atlcahualco means the ‘abating of the waters.’ The Tlascaltec name of this month, Xilomanaliztli, signifies the ‘offering of green maize.’ In other localities this month was also known by the name of Quahuitlehua, the ‘burning of the mountains,’ or rather of the trees on the mountains, previous to sowing.[629]‘Quiahuitl-ehua … significa la lluvia levanta.’ Cabrera, in Ilustracion Mex., tom. iv., p. 464. Tlacaxipehualiztli means the ‘flaying of the people;’ the other name of this month, Cohuailhuitl, is the ‘feast of the snake.’ Tozoztontli, Tozcotzintli, and Hueytozoztli are respectively the small and great fast or vigil; while some translate these words by ‘pricking of veins,’ ‘shedding of blood,’ or ‘great and small penance.'[630]‘Toçoliztli vela, el acto de velar o de no dormir.’ Molina, Vocabulario. Toxcatl is a ‘collar’ or ‘necklace.'[631]‘Garganta totuzcatlan, tuzquitl.’ Ib. Etzalqualiztli is translated by Boturini ‘bean stew,’ or ‘the eating of beans,’ while Veytia calls it ‘the eating of maize gruel.’ Tecuilhuitzintli and Hueytecuilhuitl mean respectively the small and great ‘feast of the Lord.’ Miccailhuitzintli is explained both as ‘the feast of dead children,’ and ‘the small feast of the dead;’ another name for this month is Tlaxochimaco, meaning ‘distribution of flowers.’ Hueymiccailhuitl is either ‘the feast of dead adults,’ or ‘the great feast of the dead.’ Xocotlhuetzin, another name for this month, means ‘the ripening of the fruit.’ Ochpaniztli is ‘the cleaning of streets.’ Teotleco, or ‘the arrival of the gods,’ was the next month, and was also named Pachtli, or Pachtontli, the latter being translated by ‘humiliation,’ and the former by ‘moss hanging from trees.’ Hueypachtli was ‘the great feast of humiliation,’ also called Tepeilhuitl, or ‘feast of the mountains.’ Quecholli means ‘peacock,’ but the interpreter of the Codex Telleriano-Remensis calls it the ‘serpent of the clouds.’ Panquetzaliztli is ‘the raising of flags and banners.’ Atemoztli, the last month, means the ‘drying up of the waters.'[632]For the various etymologies of the names of months, see: Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 190-97; Explicacion del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, in Id., pp. 129-34; Leon, Camino del Cielo, fol. 96-100; Boturini, Idea, pp. 50-52; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 64-5; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 66-83; Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 349-352; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 502-36; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 250-300. The plate on the preceding page shows the order of the months and the pictures by which they were represented.

Names of the Aztec Days

The Aztec Month

Each month contained twenty days, which were divided into four groups or weeks, as we may for convenience call them; and at the end of each group a public market or fair was held. There is no difference of opinion as to the names of the days or the order in which they follow one another, but it is very difficult, and in many cases impossible, to reconcile one with another the different hieroglyphic signs denoting these days given in the codices or in the various representations of the calendar. The names of the days are: Cipactli, a name of which it is almost impossible to give the correct meaning, it being variously represented as an animal’s head with open mouth armed with long tusks, as a fish with a number of flint knives on its back, as a kind of lizard with a very long tail curled up over its back, and in many other monstrous shapes. It is called the ‘sea-animal,’ the ‘sword-fish,’ the ‘serpent armed with harpoons,’ and other names. Ehecatl is ‘wind;’ Calli, ‘house;’ Cuetzpalin, ‘lizard;’ Coatl, ‘snake;’ Miquiztli, ‘death;’ Mazatl, ‘deer;’ Tochtli, ‘rabbit;’ Atl, ‘water;’ Itzcuintli, ‘dog;’ Ozomatli, ‘monkey;’ Malinalli, ‘brushwood,’ or ‘tangled grass;’ Acatl, ‘cane;’ Ocelotl, ‘tiger;’ Quauhtli, ‘eagle;’ Cozcaquauhtli, a species of vulture, known in Mexico as ‘rey de los zopilotes;’ Ollin, ‘movement;’ Tecpatl, ‘flint;’ Quiahuitl, ‘rain;’ and Xochitl, ‘flower.’ It will be seen that the days having the names or signs of the years,—namely: Tochtli, Calli, Tecpatl, and Acatl—stand first in each week. The five nemontemi had no particular name. The cut given above shows the method by which the Aztecs represented their month, with the hieroglyphic names of each day.[633]This order is varied by a few authors. Veytia gives the following entirely different system: ‘Si el año era del carácter Tecpatl, con este se señalaba el primer dia de cada mes, y seguian anotándose los demas con los geroglificos siguientes en el órden en que los he puesto; de manera que el vigésimo dia de cada mes se hallaba Ollin…. Si el año era del segundo geroglifico Calli, por este se comenzaba á contar, y á todos los dias primeros de cada mes se les daba este nombre.’ The same method he contends is followed also in those years of each tlalpilli which commence with Tochtli and Acatl. For cozcaquauhtli he uses the name temeztlatl, or metate. Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 76-80; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 294-5. Gemelli Careri states that Cipactli was not always the first day of the month. Churchill’s Col. Voyages, tom. iv., p. 489; Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. iii., appendix, cap. ii.; Ritos Antiguos, p. 22, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix.; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 36. Boturini adds to Ollin the word Tonatiuh, and translates it ‘movement of the sun.’ Idea, p. 45. Gama places Ollin between Atl and Itzcuintli. Dos Piedras, pt i., p. 26; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., tom. i., p. 59; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 463. See also hieroglyphics in Codex Telleriano-Remensis, pl. ix., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. i., and Codex Borgian, in Id., vol. iii., pl. 24; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 304. In Nicaragua where the Aztec language was spoken by a large portion of the population, the calendar and the names of the days were the same as Aztec, with but some slight differences in spelling. Oviedo gives the names of the days as follows: ‘Agat, oçelot, oate, coscagoate, olin, tapecat, quiaüit, sochit, çipat, acat, cali, quespal, coat, misiste, maçat, toste, at, izquindi, ocomate, malinal, acato…. Un año … tiene diez çempuales, é cada çempual es veynte dias.’ Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 52.

Intercalary Days

As three hundred and sixty-five days do not make the year complete, the Mexicans added the missing thirteen days at the end of the cycle of fifty-two years. But Gama asserts that they came still nearer to our more correct calculations, and added only twelve days and a half.[634]Sahagun, and after him several others, do not agree with this, but pretend that one day was added every fourth year, on which occasion a certain feast was celebrated, but Gama has clearly demonstrated that this is a mistake. ‘El año visiesto, que era de cuatro en cuatro años.’ Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 75. ‘Otra fiesta hacian de cuatro en cuatro años á honra del fuego, en la que ahugeraban las orejas á todos los niños; y la llamaban Pillabanaliztli, y en esta fiesta es verosimil, y hay congeturas que hacian su visiesto contando seis dias de nemontemi.’ Id., tom. iv., pp. 347-8.Boturini expresses the same opinion. ‘Determinaron cada quatro años añadir un dia mas, que recogiesse las horas, que se desperdiciaban, lo que supongo executaron contando dos veces uno de los Symbolos de el ultimo mes de el año, á la manera de los Romanos.’ Idea, p. 137. ‘El año de visiesto que era de quatro à quatro años.’ Leon, Camino del Cielo, fol. 100. ‘They order’d the bissextile, or leap-year, after this manner. The first year of the age began on the tenth of April, and so did the second and third, but the fourth or leap-year, on the ninth, the eighth on the eighth, the twelfth on the seventh, the sixteenth on the sixth, till the end of the age, which was on the twenty-eighth of March, when the thirteen days of the leap-years, till the tenth of April, were spent in rejoicing.’ Gemelli Careri, in Churchill’s Col. Voyages, vol. iv., p. 490. Veytia following Boturini adds one day every fourth year by repeating the last day. Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 110-20. ‘La correccion no se hacia hasta el fin del ciclo, en que se intercalaban juntos los 13 dias.’ Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt. i., p. 24. ‘Les Mexicains ont évidemment suivi le système des Perses: ils conservoient l’année vague jusqu’à ce que les heures excédantes formassent une demilunaison; ils intercaloient, par conséquent, treize jours toutes les ligatures ou cycles de cinquante-deux ans … à chaque année du signe tochtli, les Mexicains perdoient un jour; et, par l’effet de cette rétrogradation, l’année calli de la quatriéme indiction commençoit le 27 décembre, et finissoit au solstice d’hiver, le 21 décembre, en ne faisant pas entrer en ligne de compte les cinq jours inutiles ou complémentaires. Il en résulte que … treize jours intercalaires ramènent le commencement de l’année au 9 janvier.’ Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., pp. 60-1. ‘Non frammettevano un giorno ogni quattro anni, ma tredici giorni … ogni cinquanta due anni.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 62. ‘They waited till the expiration of fifty-two vague years, when they interposed thirteen days, or rather twelve and a half, this being the number which had fallen in arrear.’ Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 112; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 469. In this connection I also give the remarkable statement of Pedro de los Rios in his interpretation of the Codex Vaticanus: ‘Item, si ha da notare, che il loro bisesto andava solo in quattro lettere, anni, o segni che sono Canna, Pietra, Casa, e Coniglio, perchè come hanno bisesto delli giorni a fare di quattro in quattro anni un mese di quelli cinque giorni morti che avanzavano di ciascun anno, cosi avevano bisesto di anni perchè di cinquantadue in cinquantadue anni, che è una loro Età, aggiungevano un anno, il quale sempre veniva in una di queste lettere o segni perchè come ogni lettera o segno di questi vinti habbia tredici del suo genere che le servano, verbi gratiâ.’ Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 174-5. In the Explicacion del Codex Telleriano-Remensis we read: ‘Á 19 de Fevrero los cinco dias muertos que no avia sacrificios; estos eran los dias que sobravan de los de veynte en veynte del año: y siempre en cumpliendose los 365 dias, dexavan pasar estos, y luego tornavan a tomar el año en la letra que entrava.’ Id., p. 134. To this Lord Kingsborough adds in a note: ‘The Mexicans reckoned 365 days to their year; the last five of which had no sign or place appropriated to them in the calendar; since, if they had been admitted, the order of the signs would have been inverted, and the new year would not always have commenced with Ce Cipactli. These days, therefore, although included in the computation of the year, were rejected from the calendar, until at the expiration of four years an intercalation of twenty corresponding signs might be effected without producing any confusion in it. It would appear, however, that this intercalation did not actually take place till at the expiration of 52 years; for it is impossible, except on this supposition, to understand the intercalation of years mentioned in the Vatican MS. as occurring at the expiration of every period of 52 years, when an entire year was intercalated: but admitting the postponement of an intercalation of a month every four years during a period of 52 years, such an intercalation would then become quite intelligible; since thirteen Mexican months, of 20 days each, exactly constitute a ritual year of the Mexicans which contained 260 days, and was shorter than the civil year by 105 days; and this is the precise number of months of which the intercalation would have been postponed.’ Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., pp. 103-4. It has been frequently attempted to fix accurately the time when the Mexican year commenced according to our dates, but there is no agreement on this point between the old historians, as will be seen from the table given, and although many elaborate calculations have been made for the purpose of verifying the one or the other statement, the result is in no two cases the same. Gama calculated, and Humboldt and Gallatin confirmed his statement, that the first year of a Mexican cycle commenced on the 31st day of December, old style, or on the 9th day of January, new style, with the month Tititl and the day Cipactli.[635]Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt i., pp. 62-89; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 69-86. Veytia’s reason for commencing the year with Atemoztli is, that on the calendar circle which he saw, and of which I insert a copy, this was the month following the five nemontemi. This appears very reasonable, but nevertheless Gama and Gallatin’s calculations show it to be an error. See Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 74-5.

The Ritual Calendar

We come now to another mode of reckoning known as the ritual calendar, which, as its name implies, was used for adjusting all religious feasts and rites and everything pertaining thereto. The previously described reckoning was solar, while that of the ritual calendar was lunar. The periods into which it was divided were of thirteen days each, thus representing about half the time that the moon was visible. The year contained as many days as the solar calendar, but they were divided into entirely different periods. Thus, in reality there were no months at all, but only twenty weeks of thirteen days each; and these not constituting a full year, the same kind of reckoning was continued for one hundred and five days more, and at the end of a tlalpilli thirteen days were intercalated to make up for the lost days. The names of the days were the same as in the solar calendar but they were counted as follows. To the first day the number one was prefixed, to the second, two, to the third, three, and so on to thirteen; when the fourteenth name was again called one, the fifteenth, two, and so on to thirteen again, after which the same count was continued to the end of the year. But as in this reckoning it naturally happens that one name has the same number twice, accompanying signs were added to the regular names, which were called quecholli, ‘lords or rulers of the night.’ Of these there were nine, xiuhtecutli, tletl, ‘lord of the year, fire;’ tecpatl, ‘flint;’ xochitl, ‘flower;’ centeotl, ‘goddess of maize;’ miquiztli, ‘death;’ atl, ‘water,’ represented by the goddess Chalchihuitlicue; tlazolteotl, ‘goddess of love;’ tepeyollotli, a deity supposed to inhabit the centre of the mountains; quiahuitl, ‘rain,’ represented by the god Tlaloc.[636]Boturini gives the rulers of the night as follows: Xiuhteucyòhua, Señor de el Año; Ytzteucyòhua, Señor de el Fuego; Piltzinteucyòhua, Señor de los Niños; Cinteucyòhua, Señor de el Maiz; Mictlanteucyòhua, Señor de el Infierno; Chalchihuitlicueyòhua, Señor de el Agua; Tlazolyòhua, Señor de el Amor deshonesto; Tepeyoloyòhua, Señor de los Entrañas de los Montes; Quiauhteucyòhua, Señor de las Lluvias. Idea, p. 58. As stated above, one of these signs was understood to accompany the regular name of each day, commencing with the first day of the year; but they were never written or mentioned with the first two hundred and sixty days, but only with the last one hundred and five days, to distinguish them from the former.[637]Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt i., pp. 29-31, 52-3; Boturini, Idea, pp. 57-9; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 61. For the purpose of making this system more comprehensible, I insert a few months of the Mexican calendar, showing the solar and lunar system together, as arranged by Gama.

Solar and Lunar System

Months and days of our era		Months and days of the Mexican civil or solar calendar.		Days and weeks of the Mexican ritual, or lunar, calendar.		Accompanying signs, or ‘lords of the night.’
January	9	Tititl	1	1	Cipactli	Tletl	1
	10		2	2	Ehecatl	Tecpatl	2
	11		3	3	Calli	Xochitl	3
	12		4	4	Cuetzpalin	Centeotl	4
	13		5	5	Coatl	Miquiztli	5
	14		6	6	Miquiztli	Atl	6
	15		7	7	Mazatl	Tlazolteotl	7
	16		8	8	Tochtli	Tepeyollotli	8
	17		9	9	Atl	Quiahuitl	9
	18		10	10	Itzcuintli	Tletl	1
	19		11	11	Ozomatli	Tecpatl	2
	20		12	12	Malinalli	Xochitl	3
	21		13	13	Acatl	Centeotl	4
	22		14	1	Ocelotl	Miquiztli	5
	23		15	2	Quauhtli	Atl	6
	24		16	3	Cozcaquauhtli	Tlazolteotl	7
	25		17	4	Ollin	Tepeyollotli	8
	26		18	5	Tecpatl	Quiahuitl	9
	27		19	6	Quiahuitl	Tletl	1
	28		20	7	Xochitl	Tecpatl	2
	29	Itzcalli	1	8	Cipactli	Xochitl	3
	30		2	9	Ehecatl	Centeotl	4
	31		3	10	Calli	Miquiztli	5
February	1		4	11	Cuetzpalin	Atl	6
	2		5	12	Coatl	Tlazolteotl	7
	3		6	13	Miquiztli	Tepeyollotli	8
	4		7	1	Mazatl	Quiahuitl	9
	5		8	2	Tochtli	Tletl	1
	6		9	3	Atl	Tecpatl	2
	7		10	4	Itzcuintli	Xochitl	3
	8		11	5	Ozomatli	Centeotl	4
	9		12	6	Malinalli	Miquiztli	5
	10		13	7	Acatl	Atl	6
	11		14	8	Ocelotl	Tlazolteotl	7
	12		15	9	Quauhtli	Tepeyollotli	8
	13		16	10	Cozcaquauhtli	Quiahuitl	9
	14		17	11	Ollin	Tletl	1
	15		18	12	Tecpatl	Tecpatl	2
	16		19	13	Quiahuitl	Xochitl	3
	17		20	1	Xochitl	Centeotl	4
	18	Atlcahualco	1	2	Cipactli	Miquiztli	5
	19		2	3	Ehecatl	Atl	6
	20		3	4	Calli	Tlazolteotl	7
	21		4	5	Cuetzpalin	Tepeyollotli	8
	22		5	6	Coatl	Quiahuitl	9
	23		6	7	Miquiztli	Tletl	1
	24		7	8	Mazatl	Tecpatl	2
	25		8	9	Tochtli	Xochitl	3
	26		9	10	Atl	Centeotl	4
	27		10	11	Itzcuintli	Miquiztli	5
	28		11	12	Ozomatli	Atl	6
March	1		12	13	Malinalli	Tlazolteotl	7
	2		13	1	Acatl	Tepeyollotli	8
	3		14	2	Ocelotl	Quiahuitl	9
	4		15	3	Quauhtli	Tletl	1
	5		16	4	Cozcaquauhtli	Tecpatl	2
	6		17	5	Ollin	Xochitl	3
	7		18	6	Tecpatl	Centeotl	4
	8		19	7	Quiahuitl	Miquiztli	5
	9		20	8	Xochitl	Atl	6
	10	Tlacaxipehualiztli	1	9	Cipactli	Tlazolteotl	7
	11		2	10	Ehecatl	Tepeyollotli	8
	12		3	11	Calli	Quiahuitl	9
	13		4	12	Cuetzpalin	Tletl	1
	14		5	13	Coatl	Tecpatl	2
	15		6	1	Miquiztli	Xochitl	3
	16		7	2	Mazatl	Centeotl	4
	17		8	3	Tochtli	Miquiztli	5
	18		9	4	Atl	Atl	6
	19		10	5	Itzcuintli	Tlazolteotl	7
	20		11	6	Ozomatli	Tepeyollotli	8
	21		12	7	Malinalli	Quiahuitl	9
	22		13	8	Acatl	Tletl	1
	23		14	9	Ocelotl	Tecpatl	2
	24		15	10	Quauhtli	Xochitl	3
	25		16	11	Cozcaquauhtli	Centeotl	4
	26		17	12	Ollin	Miquiztli	5
	27		18	13	Tecpatl	Atl	6
	28		19	1	Quiahuitl	Tlazolteotl	7
	29		20	2	Xochitl	Tepeyollotli	8
	30	Tozoztontli	1	3	Cipactli	Quiahuitl	9
	31		2	4	Ehecatl	Tletl	1

The five nemontemi were counted in this calendar as other days, that is, they received the names which came in the regular order, but, nevertheless, they were believed to be unlucky days and had no accompanying signs.

The Aztec Calendar-Stone

The Calendar-Stone

Besides the preceding cuts of the Mexican calendar systems, as they were represented by Gemelli Careri, Veytia, and others, the calendar-stone is the most reliable source by which the extent of the astronomical science of the Aztecs can be shown. Gama, and after him Gallatin, give very accurate descriptions of this stone; I insert here a résumé from the latter author. On this stone there is engraved in high-relief a circle, in which are represented by certain hieroglyphics the sun and its several motions, the twenty days of the month, some principal fast-days, and other matters. The central figure represents the sun as it is usually painted by the Mexicans. Around it, outside of a small circle, are four parallelograms with the signs of the days, Nahui Ocelotl, Nahui Ehecatl, Nahui Quiahuitl, and Nahui Atl. Between the two upper and lower parallelograms are two figures, which Gama explains as being two claws, which are the hieroglyphics representing two eminent astrologers, man and wife. Gama further explains these four signs of the days in this place, as having reference to the four epochs of nature, of which the Aztec traditions speak. The first destruction of the sun is said to have taken place in the year Ce Acatl and on the day Nahui Ocelotl. The second sun was supposed to have died in the year Ce Tecpatl and on the day Nahui Ehecatl; the third destruction occurred also in the year Ce Tecpatl and on the day Nahui Quiahuitl; and lastly, the fourth destruction took place in the year Ce Calli, on the day Nahui Atl. But Mr Gallatin thinks that these four parallelograms had yet some other purpose; for on the twenty-second of May and on the twenty-sixth of July, which days are Nahui Ocelotl and Nahui Quiahuitl, if we accept the thirty-first of December as the first day of the Mexican cycle, the sun passed the meridian of the city of Mexico. But in this case the other two days, Nahui Ehecatl and Nahui Atl cannot be explained in connection with any other astronomical event. Between the lower parallelograms are two small squares, in each of which are five oblong marks, signifiying the number ten; and as the central figure is the ollin tonatiuh, or sun, the number ten in these two squares is supposed to mean the day Matlactli Ollin. Below this again are the hieroglyphics Ce Quiahuitl, and Ome Ozomatli. The day Matlactli Ollin in the first year of the cycle is the twenty-second of September; Ce Quiahuitl in the year Matlactli omey Acatl, which year is inscribed at the head of the stone, is our twenty-second of March; and Ome Ozomatli in the same year would be our twenty-second of June. Here are therefore designated three of the principal phenomena as they happened in the first year of the cycle, viz: two transits of the sun by the zenith and the autumnal equinox. In the year designated on the stone Matlactli omey Acatl, there are given the spring equinox and summer solstice. In a circle surrounding these figures are represented the twenty days of the months. From the central figure of the sun there runs upward, as far as the circle of days, a triangle, the upper and smallest angle of which points between the days Cipactli and Xochitl, thus confirming the idea that Cipactli was always the first day of the month. Gama, Gallatin, Humboldt, Dupaix, and others have given correct pictures of the stone as is proved by recent photographs; but in my cut the figures are reversed. It is a copy from Charnay, whose photographs were in 1875 the best authority accessible; and I failed to notice that this, unlike Charnay’s other plates, was a photo-lithograph reversed in printing. Not only did I fall into this error, but in my earlier editions charged other writers with having made a similar one. The cut does not otherwise mislead, but it must be noted that instead of running from left to right, the days really run from right to left. From the circle of days, four triangles, or rays, project, exactly dividing the stone into four quarters, each of which has ten visible squares, and, as the rays cover twelve more, there would be fifty-two in all. In each square are five oblong marks, which multiplied by fifty-two, give two hundred and sixty, or the first period of the Mexican ritual year. Outside of the circle of these squares the four quarters are each again divided by a smaller ray, and, as stated before, at the head of the stone, over the principal triangle is the sign of the year Matlactli omey Acatl. Round the outer edge are a number of other figures and hieroglyphics, which have not yet been deciphered, or whose interpretations by different writers present so many contradictions that they would have no value here.[638]Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 94-103; Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt i., pp. 89-114. Further description, and mention of the astronomical system will be found in Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 332-92, and tom. ii., pp. 1-99, 356-80; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 295-305; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxli.; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 49-76, tom. iv., pp. 282-309, 338-49, tom. ii., lib. vii., pp. 256-60, 264-5; Explanation of the Codex Vaticanus, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., pp. 196, 200; Boturini, Idea, pp. 42-59, 109-10, 122-4, 137-40, 153-5; Id., Catálogo, pp. 57-72; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 35-8; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 30-138; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 517-31; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 457-82; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 294-97; Gemelli Careri, in Churchill’s Col. Voyages, tom. iv., pp. 487-90; Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 57-115; Laet, Novus Orbis, pp. 241-2; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 110-27; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 41-3; Nebel, Viaje, pl. l.; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xviii.; Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., pp. 322-4; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 397-9; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 56-65; Müller, Reisen, tom. iii., pp. 63-90; McCulloh’s Researches in Amer., pp. 201-25; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 128-30; Tylor’s Researches, pp. 92-4; Id., Anahuac, p. 103; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., pp. 44-5; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 266-7; Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. viii., pp. 537-8; Baril, Mexique, pp. 194-5, 211-15; Morton’s Crania Amer., p. 150; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., pp. 445, 293; Macgregor’s Progress of Amer., vol. i., p. 22; Chambers’ Jour., 1835, vol. iv., p. 254; Lafond, Voyages, tom. i., p. 118; Touron, Hist. Gén., tom. iii., pp. 21-2, 24-5; Poinsett’s Notes Mex., pp. 111, 75-6; Simon’s Ten Tribes, pp. 149-57; Kendall’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 328; Prichard’s Nat. Hist. Man, tom. ii., p. 507; Cabrera, in Ilustracion Mex., tom. iv., pp. 461-70; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 93-4; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 92; Thompson’s Mex., p. 213; Falliés, Études Hist. sur les Civilisations, Paris, (n. d.) pp. 57-62.

Calendar of the Tarascos

The only information we have of the calendar used in Michoacan is furnished by Veytia, and this is only fragmentary. Enough is known, however, to show that their system was the same as that of the Aztecs. Instead of the four principal signs of the Aztecs, tecpatl, calli, tochtli, and acatl, in Mechoacan the names inodon, inbani, inchon, and intihui were used. Of the eighteen months only fourteen are mentioned by name. These are: Intacaci, Indehuni, Intecamoni, Interunihi, Intamohui, Inizcatolohui, Imatatohui, Itzbachaa, Intoxihui, Intaxihui, Intechaqui, Intechotahui, Inteyabchitzin, Intaxitohui. The five intercalary days were named intasiabire.[639]‘Los cuatro meses que faltan son los que corresponden á nuestro enero, febrero y marzo, porque al manuscrito le falta la primera hoja, y solo comienza desde el dia 22 de marzo, y concluye en 31 diciembre, confrontando sus meses con los nuestros.’ Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 138. ‘Il est dit que l’année commençait au 22 mars avec le premier jour In Thacari.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 467. The days of the month, divided into four equal parts by the above-mentioned four principal signs, were called: Inodon, Inicebi, Inettuni, Inbeari, Inethaati, Inbani, Inxichari, Inchini, Inrini, Inpari, Inchon, Inthahui, Intzini, Intzoniabi, Intzimbi, Inthihui, Inixotzini, Inichini, Iniabi, Intaniri.[640]Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 137-8; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 463, 467; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 104-5.

The Zapotecs in Oajaca, according to the description of Burgoa, used the same calendar as the Aztecs, with this difference, that the year always commenced on the twelfth day of March, and that the bissextile year was corrected every fourth year, by adding, instead of five, six intercalary days.[641]‘Dabanle diez y ocho meses de à 20. dias, y otro mas de cinco, y este al cabo de quatro años como nuestro Bisiesto lo variaban à seis dias, pos las seis horas que sobran cada año.’ Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. i., pt. ii., fol. 136.

Footnotes

[618] Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., p. 322. ‘En un año que fué señalado con el geroglifico de un pedernal, que segun las tablas parece haber sido el de 3901 del mundo, se convocó una gran junta de astrólogos … para hacer la correcion de su calendario y reformar sus cómputos, que conocian errados segun el sistema que hasta entónces habian seguido.’ Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 32.

[619] Id., pp. 31-2.

[620] Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 205; Id., Relaciones, in Id., pp. 331-2, 459; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcix., p. 132; Ternaux-Compans, in Id., 1840, tom. lxxxvi., pp. 5-6; Boturini, Idea, p. 3; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 57; Brasseur de Bourbourg, S’il existe des Sources de l’Hist. Prim., pp. 26-7; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 164-7; Explicacion del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, in Id., pp. 134-6. ‘Cinco Soles que son edades … el primer Sol se perdio por agua…. El segundo Sol perecio cayendo el cielo sobre la tierra…. El Sol tercero falto y se consumio por fuego…. El quarto Sol fenecio con aire…. Del quinto Sol, que al presente tienen.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 297. ‘Le ciel et la terre s’étaient faits, quatre fois.’ Codex Chimalpopoca, in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 53. ‘Creyeron que el Sol habia muerto cuatro veces, ó que hubo cuatro soles, que habian acabado en otros tantos tiempos ó edades; y que el quinto sol era el que actualmente les alumbraba.’ Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt i., p. 94. ‘Hubo cinco soles en los tiempos pasados.’ Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 81, repeated literally by Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 79; Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., pp. 118-29; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 325; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 510-12.

[621] Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 296-7; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 256-7; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 397-8; Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt. i., p. 16 et seq.; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 42 et seq.

[622] ‘No todos comenzaban á contar el ciclo por un mismo año: los tultecos lo empezaban desde Tecpatl: los de Teotihuacan desde Calli; los mexicanos desde Tochtli; y los tezcocanos desde Acatl.’ Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt i., p. 16; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 58. ‘So begannen die Aculhuas von Texcoco ihre Umläufe mit dem Zeichen Ce Tecpatl, die Mexicaner dagegen im Ce Tochtli.’ Müller, Reisen, tom. iii., p. 65; Boturini, Idea, p. 125.

[623] ‘Esto circulo redondo se dividia en cuatro partes…. La primera parte que pertenecia á Oriente llamabanle los trece años de las cañas, y asi en cada casa de los trece tenian pintada una caña, y el número del año corriente…. La segunda parte aplicaban al septentrion, que era de otras trece casas, á las cuales llamaban las trece casas del pedernal; y asi tenian pintado en cada casa un pedernal…. A la tercera … parte Occidental, llamabanle las trece casas, y asi verémos en cada parte de las trece una casilla pintada…. A la cuarta y última parte que era de otros trece años, llamabanla las trece casas del conejo; y asi en cada casa de aquellas verémos pintada una cabeza de conejo.’ Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. iii., appendix, cap. i.

[624] Gemelli Careri gives these names in a different order, calling tochtli south, acatl east, tecpatl north, and calli west; further, tochtli earth, acatl water, tecpatl air, and calli fire. Gemelli Careri, in Churchill’s Col. Voyages, vol. iv., pp. 487-8; Boturini, Idea, pp. 54-8. The above are only figurative names, as the words for the cardinal points and also for the elements are entirely different in the Mexican language.

[th]

[th]
[625] Boturini repeats Martin de Leon and Gemelli Carreri.

[626] Humboldt and Gallatin repeat Leon y Gama.

[th]

[th]
[625] Boturini repeats Martin de Leon and Gemelli Carreri.

[th]

[th]
[625] Boturini repeats Martin de Leon and Gemelli Carreri.

[th]

[th]
[625] Boturini repeats Martin de Leon and Gemelli Carreri.

[627] ‘Itetl, Ititl, barriga o vientre.’ Molina, Vocabulario. ‘Vientre, la madre, á excepcion del padre.’ Salva, Nuevo Dicc. ‘Titl … significa fuego. Tititl escrito en dos sílabas y seis letras nada significa en el idioma mexicano’ Cabrera, in Ilustracion Mex., tom. iv., p. 468.

[628] ‘Izcalia, abiuar, tornar en si, o resuscitar.’ Molina, Vocabulario.

[629] ‘Quiahuitl-ehua … significa la lluvia levanta.’ Cabrera, in Ilustracion Mex., tom. iv., p. 464.

[630] ‘Toçoliztli vela, el acto de velar o de no dormir.’ Molina, Vocabulario.

[631] ‘Garganta totuzcatlan, tuzquitl.’ Ib.

[632] For the various etymologies of the names of months, see: Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 190-97; Explicacion del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, in Id., pp. 129-34; Leon, Camino del Cielo, fol. 96-100; Boturini, Idea, pp. 50-52; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 64-5; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 66-83; Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 349-352; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 502-36; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 250-300.

[633] This order is varied by a few authors. Veytia gives the following entirely different system: ‘Si el año era del carácter Tecpatl, con este se señalaba el primer dia de cada mes, y seguian anotándose los demas con los geroglificos siguientes en el órden en que los he puesto; de manera que el vigésimo dia de cada mes se hallaba Ollin…. Si el año era del segundo geroglifico Calli, por este se comenzaba á contar, y á todos los dias primeros de cada mes se les daba este nombre.’ The same method he contends is followed also in those years of each tlalpilli which commence with Tochtli and Acatl. For cozcaquauhtli he uses the name temeztlatl, or metate. Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 76-80; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 294-5. Gemelli Careri states that Cipactli was not always the first day of the month. Churchill’s Col. Voyages, tom. iv., p. 489; Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. iii., appendix, cap. ii.; Ritos Antiguos, p. 22, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix.; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 36. Boturini adds to Ollin the word Tonatiuh, and translates it ‘movement of the sun.’ Idea, p. 45. Gama places Ollin between Atl and Itzcuintli. Dos Piedras, pt i., p. 26; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., tom. i., p. 59; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 463. See also hieroglyphics in Codex Telleriano-Remensis, pl. ix., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. i., and Codex Borgian, in Id., vol. iii., pl. 24; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 304. In Nicaragua where the Aztec language was spoken by a large portion of the population, the calendar and the names of the days were the same as Aztec, with but some slight differences in spelling. Oviedo gives the names of the days as follows: ‘Agat, oçelot, oate, coscagoate, olin, tapecat, quiaüit, sochit, çipat, acat, cali, quespal, coat, misiste, maçat, toste, at, izquindi, ocomate, malinal, acato…. Un año … tiene diez çempuales, é cada çempual es veynte dias.’ Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 52.

[634] Sahagun, and after him several others, do not agree with this, but pretend that one day was added every fourth year, on which occasion a certain feast was celebrated, but Gama has clearly demonstrated that this is a mistake. ‘El año visiesto, que era de cuatro en cuatro años.’ Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 75. ‘Otra fiesta hacian de cuatro en cuatro años á honra del fuego, en la que ahugeraban las orejas á todos los niños; y la llamaban Pillabanaliztli, y en esta fiesta es verosimil, y hay congeturas que hacian su visiesto contando seis dias de nemontemi.’ Id., tom. iv., pp. 347-8.Boturini expresses the same opinion. ‘Determinaron cada quatro años añadir un dia mas, que recogiesse las horas, que se desperdiciaban, lo que supongo executaron contando dos veces uno de los Symbolos de el ultimo mes de el año, á la manera de los Romanos.’ Idea, p. 137. ‘El año de visiesto que era de quatro à quatro años.’ Leon, Camino del Cielo, fol. 100. ‘They order’d the bissextile, or leap-year, after this manner. The first year of the age began on the tenth of April, and so did the second and third, but the fourth or leap-year, on the ninth, the eighth on the eighth, the twelfth on the seventh, the sixteenth on the sixth, till the end of the age, which was on the twenty-eighth of March, when the thirteen days of the leap-years, till the tenth of April, were spent in rejoicing.’ Gemelli Careri, in Churchill’s Col. Voyages, vol. iv., p. 490. Veytia following Boturini adds one day every fourth year by repeating the last day. Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 110-20. ‘La correccion no se hacia hasta el fin del ciclo, en que se intercalaban juntos los 13 dias.’ Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt. i., p. 24. ‘Les Mexicains ont évidemment suivi le système des Perses: ils conservoient l’année vague jusqu’à ce que les heures excédantes formassent une demilunaison; ils intercaloient, par conséquent, treize jours toutes les ligatures ou cycles de cinquante-deux ans … à chaque année du signe tochtli, les Mexicains perdoient un jour; et, par l’effet de cette rétrogradation, l’année calli de la quatriéme indiction commençoit le 27 décembre, et finissoit au solstice d’hiver, le 21 décembre, en ne faisant pas entrer en ligne de compte les cinq jours inutiles ou complémentaires. Il en résulte que … treize jours intercalaires ramènent le commencement de l’année au 9 janvier.’ Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., pp. 60-1. ‘Non frammettevano un giorno ogni quattro anni, ma tredici giorni … ogni cinquanta due anni.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 62. ‘They waited till the expiration of fifty-two vague years, when they interposed thirteen days, or rather twelve and a half, this being the number which had fallen in arrear.’ Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 112; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 469. In this connection I also give the remarkable statement of Pedro de los Rios in his interpretation of the Codex Vaticanus: ‘Item, si ha da notare, che il loro bisesto andava solo in quattro lettere, anni, o segni che sono Canna, Pietra, Casa, e Coniglio, perchè come hanno bisesto delli giorni a fare di quattro in quattro anni un mese di quelli cinque giorni morti che avanzavano di ciascun anno, cosi avevano bisesto di anni perchè di cinquantadue in cinquantadue anni, che è una loro Età, aggiungevano un anno, il quale sempre veniva in una di queste lettere o segni perchè come ogni lettera o segno di questi vinti habbia tredici del suo genere che le servano, verbi gratiâ.’ Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 174-5. In the Explicacion del Codex Telleriano-Remensis we read: ‘Á 19 de Fevrero los cinco dias muertos que no avia sacrificios; estos eran los dias que sobravan de los de veynte en veynte del año: y siempre en cumpliendose los 365 dias, dexavan pasar estos, y luego tornavan a tomar el año en la letra que entrava.’ Id., p. 134. To this Lord Kingsborough adds in a note: ‘The Mexicans reckoned 365 days to their year; the last five of which had no sign or place appropriated to them in the calendar; since, if they had been admitted, the order of the signs would have been inverted, and the new year would not always have commenced with Ce Cipactli. These days, therefore, although included in the computation of the year, were rejected from the calendar, until at the expiration of four years an intercalation of twenty corresponding signs might be effected without producing any confusion in it. It would appear, however, that this intercalation did not actually take place till at the expiration of 52 years; for it is impossible, except on this supposition, to understand the intercalation of years mentioned in the Vatican MS. as occurring at the expiration of every period of 52 years, when an entire year was intercalated: but admitting the postponement of an intercalation of a month every four years during a period of 52 years, such an intercalation would then become quite intelligible; since thirteen Mexican months, of 20 days each, exactly constitute a ritual year of the Mexicans which contained 260 days, and was shorter than the civil year by 105 days; and this is the precise number of months of which the intercalation would have been postponed.’ Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., pp. 103-4.

[635] Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt i., pp. 62-89; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 69-86. Veytia’s reason for commencing the year with Atemoztli is, that on the calendar circle which he saw, and of which I insert a copy, this was the month following the five nemontemi. This appears very reasonable, but nevertheless Gama and Gallatin’s calculations show it to be an error. See Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 74-5.

[636] Boturini gives the rulers of the night as follows: Xiuhteucyòhua, Señor de el Año; Ytzteucyòhua, Señor de el Fuego; Piltzinteucyòhua, Señor de los Niños; Cinteucyòhua, Señor de el Maiz; Mictlanteucyòhua, Señor de el Infierno; Chalchihuitlicueyòhua, Señor de el Agua; Tlazolyòhua, Señor de el Amor deshonesto; Tepeyoloyòhua, Señor de los Entrañas de los Montes; Quiauhteucyòhua, Señor de las Lluvias. Idea, p. 58.

[637] Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt i., pp. 29-31, 52-3; Boturini, Idea, pp. 57-9; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 61.

[638] Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 94-103; Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt i., pp. 89-114. Further description, and mention of the astronomical system will be found in Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 332-92, and tom. ii., pp. 1-99, 356-80; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 295-305; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxli.; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 49-76, tom. iv., pp. 282-309, 338-49, tom. ii., lib. vii., pp. 256-60, 264-5; Explanation of the Codex Vaticanus, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., pp. 196, 200; Boturini, Idea, pp. 42-59, 109-10, 122-4, 137-40, 153-5; Id., Catálogo, pp. 57-72; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 35-8; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 30-138; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 517-31; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 457-82; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 294-97; Gemelli Careri, in Churchill’s Col. Voyages, tom. iv., pp. 487-90; Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 57-115; Laet, Novus Orbis, pp. 241-2; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 110-27; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 41-3; Nebel, Viaje, pl. l.; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xviii.; Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., pp. 322-4; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 397-9; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 56-65; Müller, Reisen, tom. iii., pp. 63-90; McCulloh’s Researches in Amer., pp. 201-25; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 128-30; Tylor’s Researches, pp. 92-4; Id., Anahuac, p. 103; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., pp. 44-5; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 266-7; Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. viii., pp. 537-8; Baril, Mexique, pp. 194-5, 211-15; Morton’s Crania Amer., p. 150; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., pp. 445, 293; Macgregor’s Progress of Amer., vol. i., p. 22; Chambers’ Jour., 1835, vol. iv., p. 254; Lafond, Voyages, tom. i., p. 118; Touron, Hist. Gén., tom. iii., pp. 21-2, 24-5; Poinsett’s Notes Mex., pp. 111, 75-6; Simon’s Ten Tribes, pp. 149-57; Kendall’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 328; Prichard’s Nat. Hist. Man, tom. ii., p. 507; Cabrera, in Ilustracion Mex., tom. iv., pp. 461-70; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 93-4; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 92; Thompson’s Mex., p. 213; Falliés, Études Hist. sur les Civilisations, Paris, (n. d.) pp. 57-62.

[639] ‘Los cuatro meses que faltan son los que corresponden á nuestro enero, febrero y marzo, porque al manuscrito le falta la primera hoja, y solo comienza desde el dia 22 de marzo, y concluye en 31 diciembre, confrontando sus meses con los nuestros.’ Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 138. ‘Il est dit que l’année commençait au 22 mars avec le premier jour In Thacari.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 467.

[640] Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 137-8; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 463, 467; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 104-5.

[641] ‘Dabanle diez y ocho meses de à 20. dias, y otro mas de cinco, y este al cabo de quatro años como nuestro Bisiesto lo variaban à seis dias, pos las seis horas que sobran cada año.’ Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. i., pt. ii., fol. 136.

Chapter XVII • The Aztec Picture-Writing • 9,100 Words

Hieroglyphic Records—The Native Books—Authorities—Destruction of the Native Archives by Zumárraga and his Confrères—Picture-writings used after the Conquest for Confession and Law-Suits—Value of the Records—Documents sent to Spain in the Sixteenth Century—European Collections—Lord Kingsborough’s Work—Picture-writings retained in Mexico—Collections of Ixtlilxochitl, Siguënza, Gemelli Careri, Boturini, Veytia, Leon y Gama, Pichardo, Aubin, and the National Museum of Mexico—Process of Hieroglyphic Development—Representative, Symbolic, and Phonetic Picture-writing—Origin of Modern Alphabets—The Aztec System—Specimen from the Codex Mendoza—Specimen from Gemelli Careri—Specimen from the Boturini Collection—Probable future success of Interpreters—The Nepohualtzitzin.

The Nahua nations possessed an original hieroglyphic system by which they were able to record all that they deemed worthy of preservation. The art of picture-writing was one of those most highly prized and most zealously cultivated and protected, being entrusted to a class of men educated for the purpose and much honored. The written records included national, historic, and traditional annals, names and genealogical tables of kings and nobles, lists and tribute-rolls of provinces and cities, land-titles, law codes, court records, the calendar and succession of feasts, religious ceremonies of the temple service, names and attributes of the gods, the mysteries of augury and soothsaying, with some description of social customs, mechanical employments, and educational processes. The preparation and guardianship of records of the higher class, such as historical annals and ecclesiastical mysteries, were under the control of the highest ranks of the priesthood, and such records, comparatively few in number, were carefully guarded in the temple archives of a few of the larger cities. These writings were a sealed book to the masses, and even to the educated classes, who looked with superstitious reverence on the priestly writers and their magic scrolls. It is probable that the art as applied to names of persons and places or to ordinary records was understood by all educated persons, although by no means a popular art, and looked upon as a great mystery by the common people. The hieroglyphics were painted in bright colors on long strips of cotton cloth, prepared skins, or maguey-paper—generally the latter—rolled up or, preferably, folded fan-like into convenient books called amatl, and furnished often with thin wooden covers. The same characters were also carved on the stones of public buildings, and probably also in some cases on natural cliffs. The early authorities are unanimous in crediting these people with the possession of a hieroglyphic system sufficiently perfect to meet all their requirements.[642]‘Todas las cosas que conferimos me las dieron por pinturas, que aquella era la escritura que ellos antiguamente usaban: los gramáticos las declararon en su lengua, escribiendo la declaracion al pie de la pintura. Tengo aun ahora estos originales.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., p. iv. ‘Aunque no tenian escritura como nosotros tenian empero sus figuras y caracteres que todas las cosas qui querian, significaban; y destas sus libros grandes por tan agudo y sutil artificio, que podriamos decir que nuestras letras en aquello no les hicieron mucha ventaja.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxxxv. ‘Tenian sus figuras, y Hieroglyficas con que pintauan las cosas en esta forma, que las cosas que tenian figuras, las ponian con sus proprias ymagines, y para las cosas que no auia ymagen propria, tenian otros caracteres significatiuos de aquello, y con este modo figurauan quanto querian.’ Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 408. ‘Letras Reales de cosas pintadas, como eran las pinturas, en que leiò Eneas la destruicion de Troya.’ ‘Y esto que afirmo, es tomado de las mismas Historias Mexicanas, y Tetzcucanas, que son las que sigo en este discurso, y las que tengo en mi poder.’ Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 29, 149, also pp. 30-1, 36, 253, tom. ii., pp. 263, 544-6. ‘I haue heeretofore sayde, that they haue books whereof they brought many: but this Ribera saith, that they are not made for the vse of readinge…. What I should thinke in this variety I knowe not. I suppose them to bee bookes.’ Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. x., dec. iii., lib. viii. ‘Y entre la barbaridad destas naciones (de Oajaca) se hallaron muchos libros à su modo, en hojas, ò telas de especiales cortesas de arboles…. Y destos mesmos instrumentos he tenido en mis manos, y oydolos explicar à algunos viejos con bastante admiracion.’ Burgoa, Palestra Hist., pt i., p. 89. ‘Pintaban en vnos papeles de la tierra que dan los arboles pegados vnos con otros con engrudos, que llamaban Texamaltl sus historias, y batallas.’ Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 60. ‘Lo dicho lo comprueban claramente las Historias de las Naciones Tulteca y Chichimeca, figuradas con pinturas, y Geroglíficos, especialmente en aquel Libro, que en Tula hicieron de su origen, y le llamaron Teomaxtli, esto es, Libro divino.’ Lorenzana, in Cortés, Hist. N. España, pp. 6, 8-9. ‘It is now proven beyond cavil, that both Mexico and Yucatan had for centuries before Columbus a phonetic system of writing, which insured the perpetuation of their histories and legends.’ Brinton’s Myths. See also Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 203-4, 235, 287; Id., Relaciones, in Id., p. 325; Ritos Antiguos, p. 4, in Id.; Garcia, in Id., vol. viii., pp. 190-1; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 299; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 186, 209; Fuenleal, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 250; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 6-7, 251-2; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 68; Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., p. 1135.

Destruction of Aboriginal Records

Unfortunately the picture-writings, particularly those in the hands of priests—those most highly prized by the native scholar, those which would, if preserved, have been of priceless value to the students of later times—while in common with the products of other arts they excited the admiration of the foreign invaders, at the same time they aroused the pious fears of the European priesthood. The nature of the writings was little understood. Their contents were deemed to be for the most part religious mysteries, painted devices of the devil, the strongest band that held the people to their aboriginal faith, and the most formidable obstacle in the way of their conversion to the true faith. The destruction of the pagan scrolls was deemed essential to the progress of the Church, and was consequently ordered and most successfully carried out under the direction of the bishops and their subordinates, the most famous of these fanatical destroyers of a new world’s literature being Juan de Zumárraga, who made a public bonfire of the native archives. The fact already noticed, that the national annals were preserved together in a few of the larger cities, made the task of Zumárraga and his confrères comparatively an easy one, and all the more important records, with very few probable exceptions, were blotted from existence. The priests, however, sent some specimens, either originals or copies, home to Europe, where they attracted momentary curiosity and were then lost and forgotten. Many of the tribute-rolls and other paintings of the more ordinary class, with perhaps a few of the historical writings, were hidden by the natives and thus saved from destruction. Of these I shall speak hereafter.[643]‘Aunque por haverse quemado estos Libros, al principio de la conversion … no ha quedado, para aora, mui averiguado todo lo que ellos hicieron.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 544, tom. i., prólogo. Some of them burned by order of the monks, in the fear that in the matter of religion these books might prove injurious. Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxxxv. Royal archives of Tezcuco burned inadvertently by the first priests. Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 203. ‘Principalmente habiendo perecido lo mejor de sus historias entre las llamas, por no tenerse conocimiento de lo que significaban sus pinturas.’ Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt i., pp. 2, 5. ‘Por desgracia los misioneros confundieron con los objetos del culto idolátrico todos los geroglíficos cronológicos é históricos, y en una misma hoguera se consumia el ídolo … y el manuscrito.’ Alaman, Disertaciones, tom. ii., p. 154. See also Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 101; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 139-41; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 188; Bustamante, Mañanas, tom. ii., prólogo; Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., p. 226; Wilson’s Conq. Mex., p. 24.

After the zeal of the priests had somewhat abated, or rather when the harmless nature of the paintings was better understood, the natives were permitted to use their hieroglyphics again. Among other things they wrote down in this way their sins when the priests were too busy to hear their verbal confessions. The native writing was also extensively employed in the many lawsuits between Aztecs and Spaniards during the sixteenth century, as it had been employed in the courts before the conquest. Thus the early part of the century produced many hieroglyphic documents, not a few of which have been preserved, and several of which I have in my library. During the same period some fragments that had survived the general destruction were copied and supplied with explanations written with European letters in Aztec, or dictated to the priests who wrote in Spanish. The documents, copies, and explanations of this time are of course strongly tinctured with Catholic ideas wherever any question of religion is involved, but otherwise there is no reason to doubt their authenticity.[644]‘It is to this transition-period that we owe many, perhaps most, of the picture-documents still preserved.’ Tylor’s Researches, p. 97. ‘There was … until late in the last century, a professor in the University of Mexico, especially devoted to the study of the national picture-writing. But, as this was with a view to legal proceedings, his information, probably, was limited to deciphering titles.’ Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 106. ‘L’usage de ces peintures, servant de pièces de procès, c’est conservé dans les tribunaux espagnols long-temps après la conquête.’ Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 169-70.’Escriben toda la doctrina ellos por sus figuras y caracteres muy ingeniosamente, poniendo la figura que correspondia en la voz y sonido á nuestro vocablo. Asi como si dijeremos Amen, ponian pintada una como fuente y luego un maguey que en su lengua corresponde con Amen, porque llamada Ametl, y así de todo lo demas.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxxxv. See also Ritos Antiguos, p. 53, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix.; Ramirez, Proceso de Resid.; Carbajal, Discurso, p. 115; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 122.

Value of the Native Records

To discuss the historical value of such Aztec writings as have been preserved, or even of those that were destroyed by the Spaniards, or the accuracy of the various interpretations that have been given to the former, forms no part of my purpose in this chapter. Here I shall give a brief account of the preserved documents, with plates representing a few of them as specimens, and as clear an idea as possible of the system according to which they were painted. Respecting the theory, supported by a few writers, that the Aztecs had no system of writing except the habit common to all savage tribes of drawing rude pictures on the rocks and trees, that the statements of the conquerors on the subject are unfounded fabrications, the specimens handed down to us mere inventions of the priests, and their interpretations consequently purely imaginary, it is well to remark that all this is a manifest absurdity. On the use of hieroglyphics the authorities, as we have seen, all agree; on their destruction by the bishops they are no less unanimous; even the destroyers themselves mention the act in their correspondence, glorying in it as a most meritorious deed. The burning was moreover perfectly consistent with the policy of the Church at that time, and its success does not seem extraordinary when we consider the success of the priests in destroying monuments of solid stone. The use of the aboriginal records in the Spanish courts for a long period is undeniable. The priests had neither the motive nor the ability to invent and teach such a system. Respecting the historical value of the destroyed documents, it is safe to believe that they contained all that the Aztecs knew of their past. Having once conceived the idea of recording their annals, and having a system of writing adequate to the purpose, it is inconceivable that they failed to record all they knew. The Aztecs derived their system traditionally from the Toltecs, whose written annals they also inherited; but none of the latter were ever seen by any European, and, according to tradition, they were destroyed by a warlike Aztec king, who wished the glory of his own kingdom to overshadow that of all others, past, present, or future. If the hieroglyphics of the Nahua nations beyond the limits of Anáhuac differed in any respect from those of the Aztecs, such differences have not been recorded.[645]‘Au Mexique, l’usage des peintures et celui du papier de maguey s’étendoient bien au delà des limites de l’empire de Montezuma, jusqu’aux bords du lac de Nicaragua.’ ‘On voit que les peuples de l’Amèrique étoient bien éloignés de cette perfection qu’avoient atteinte les Égyptiens.’ Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 208, 193-4. ‘Clumsy as it was, however, the Aztec picture-writing seems to have been adequate to the demands of the nation.’ Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 97-8, 108. ‘The Mexicans may have advanced, but, we believe, not a great way, beyond the village children, the landlady (with her ale-scores), or the Bosjesmans.’ Quarterly Review, 1816, vol. xv., pp. 454, 449. ‘The picture writings copied into the monster volumes of Lord Kingsborough, we have denounced as Spanish fabrications.’ Wilson’s Conq. Mex., pp. 21-24. ‘Until some evidence, or shadow of evidence, can be found that these quasi records are of Aztec origin, it would be useless to examine the contradictions, absurdities and nonsense they present…. The whole story must be considered as one of Zumárraga’s pious frauds.’ Id., pp. 91-2. ‘Las pinturas, que se quemaron en tiempo del señor de México, que se decia Itzcóatl, en cuya época los señores, y los principales que habia entónces, acordaron y mandaron que se quemasen todas, para que no viniesen á manos del vulgo, y fuesen menospreciadas.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 140-1; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 209. See also Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 46-7; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 144; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 100; Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. i., p. 93.

European Collections

I have said that many hieroglyphic manuscripts, saved from the fires kindled by Zumárraga’s bigotry, or copied by ecclesiastical permission before serving as food for their purifying flames, were sent to Spain by the conquerors. After lying forgotten for a few centuries, attention was again directed to these relics of an extinct civilization, and their importance began to be appreciated; search was made throughout Europe, and such scattered remnants as survived their long neglect were gathered and deposited in public and private libraries. Eight or ten such collections were formed and their contents were for the most part published by Lord Kingsborough.

The Codex Mendoza was sent by the viceroy Mendoza to Charles V., and is now in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. It is a copy on European paper, coarsely done with a pen, and rolled instead of folded. Another manuscript in the Escurial Library is thought by Prescott to be the original of this codex, but Humboldt calls it also a copy. An explanation of the codex in Aztec and Spanish accompanies it, added by natives at the order of Mendoza. It has been several times published, and is divided in three parts, the first being historical, the second composed of tribute-rolls, and the third illustrative of domestic life and manners.[646]See Mexican MSS., in the list of authorities in vol. i. of this work, for the location of this and other codices in Kingsborough’s work. This codex was published also in Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv.; Thevenot, Col. de Voy., 1696, tom. ii.; and by Lorenzana, in Cortés, Hist. N. España. ‘D’après les recherches que j’ai faites, il paroît qu’il n’existe aujourd’hui en Europe que six collections de peintures mexicaines: celles de l’Escurial, de Bologne, de Veletri, de Rome, de Vienne et de Berlin.’ Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., p. 215. See also on the Codex Mendoza: Id., tom. ii., pp. 306-22; Robertson’s Hist. Amer., (Lond., 1777), vol. ii., p. 480; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 40, 103-4; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 22-3, 25; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 116-29; Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., p. 299.

The Codex Vaticanus (No. 3738) is preserved at Rome in the Vatican Library, and nothing is known of its origin further than that it was copied by Pedro de los Rios, who was in Mexico in 1566. It is divided into two parts, mythological and historical, and has a partial explanation in Italian. Another manuscript, (No. 3776) preserved in the same library, is written on skin, has been interpreted to some extent by Humboldt, and is supposed to pertain to religious rites. The Codex Telleriano-Remensis, formerly in the possession of M. Le Tellier, and now in the Royal Library at Paris, is nearly identical with the Codex Vaticanus (No. 3738), having only one figure not found in that codex, but itself lacking many. It has, however, an explanation in Aztec and Spanish.[647]Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 173, 231-47; Atlas, pl. 13, 14, 26, 55-6. 60, tom. ii., p. 118; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 23; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 116, 125, 132-43; Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., pp. 95, 155; Wilson’s Conq. Mex., p. 91. ‘The fiction of some Spanish monk.’ Quarterly Review, 1816, vol. xv., p. 448.

The Codex Borgian was deposited in the College of the Propaganda at Rome by Cardinal Borgia, who found it used as a plaything by the children in the Gustiniani family. It is written on skin, and appears to be a ritual and astrologic almanac very similar to the Vatican manuscript (No. 3776). It is accompanied by an interpretation or commentary by Fabrega. The Codex Bologna, preserved in the library of the Scientific Institute, was presented in 1665 to the Marquis de Caspi, by Count Valerio Zani. It is written on badly prepared skin, and appears to treat of astrology. A copy exists in the Museum of Cardinal Borgia at Veletri. Of the Codex Vienna nothing is known except that it was given in 1677 to the Emperor Leopold by the Duke of Saxe-Eisenach, and that its resemblance to the manuscripts at Rome and Veletri would indicate a common origin. Four additional manuscripts from the Bodleian Library at Oxford, and one belonging to M. de Fejérvary in Hungary, are published by Kingsborough. Nothing is known of the origin of these, nor has any interpretation been attempted, although the last-named seems to be historical or chronological in its nature.[648]Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 216-19, 248-56, with portions of the Borgian Codex in plates 15, 27, 37. Some pages of the Vienna Codex were published in Robertson’s Hist. Amer., (Lond., 1777), vol. ii., p. 482.

PICTURE-WRITINGS PRESERVED IN MEXICO.

I have said that many manuscripts, mostly copies, but probably some originals, were preserved from destruction, and retained in Mexico. Material is not accessible for a complete detailed history of these documents, nor does it seem desirable to attempt here to disentangle the numerous contradictory statements on the subject. The surviving remnants of the Tezcucan archives, with additions from various sources, were inherited by Ixtlilxochitl, the lineal descendant of Tezcuco’s last king, who used them extensively if not always judiciously in his voluminous historical writings. The collection of which these documents formed a nucleus may be traced more or less clearly to the successive possession of Sigüenza, the College of San Pedro y San Pablo, Boturini Benaduci, the Vice-regal Palace, Veytia, Ortega, Leon y Gama, Pichardo, Sanchez, and at last to the National Museum of the University of Mexico, its present and appropriate resting-place. Frequent interventions of government and private law-suits interrupted this line of succession, and the collection by no means passed down the line intact. Under the care of several of the owners large portions of the accumulation were scattered; but on the other hand, several by personal research greatly enlarged their store of aboriginal literature. While in Sigüenza’s possession the documents were examined by the Italian traveler Gemelli Careri, through whose published work one of the most important of the pictured records was made known to the world. This latter has been often republished and will be given as a specimen in this chapter.[649]Careri, Giro del Mondo, (Naples, 1699-1700), tom. vi.; Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., pp. 168-85, Atlas, pl. xxxii.; Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. iv.; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., p. 20; Prescott’s Hist. Conq. Mex., (Mex. 1846), tom. iii.; García y Cubas, Atlas; Simon’s Ten Tribes, frontispiece; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 127, pronounces it an imitation and not a copy of a Mexican painting, whose authenticity may be doubted. Clavigero studied the manuscripts in the Jesuit College of San Pedro y San Pablo in 1759.[650]Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 22-6. Boturini was a most indefatigable collector, his accumulation in eight years amounting to over five hundred specimens, some of them probably antedating the Spanish conquest. He published a catalogue of his treasures, which were for the most part confiscated by the government and deposited in the palace of the viceroy, where many of the documents are said to have been destroyed or damaged by dampness and want of care. Those retained by the collector were even more unfortunate, since the vessel on which they were sent to Europe was taken by an English pirate, and the papers have never since been heard of. Only a few fragments from the Boturini collection have ever been published, the most important of which, a history of the Aztec migration, has been often reproduced, and will be given in this chapter. The original was seen by Humboldt in the palace of the viceroy, and is now in the Mexican Museum.[651]Boturini, Catálogo, in Id., Idea; Aubin, in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. xxxiii.; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 159-60; Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 162-3, 226-8; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 16-17, 23-5; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 120-1; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. xxi., et seq., p. 116. That portion of the Codex Mendoza given in Cortés, Hist. N. España, was from a copy in the Boturini collection. The manuscript describing the Aztec migration was published in Kingsborough, Schoolcraft, Prescott, (Mex. 1846), Humboldt’s Atlas, Delafield’s Antiq. Amer., García y Cubas’ Atlas, and I have in my library two copies on long strips of paper folded in the original form.

The confiscated documents passed by order of the Spanish government into the hands of Veytia, or at least he was permitted to use them in the preparation of his history,[652]Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. xxii-xxiv., says they were not given to Veytia as Boturini’s executor, but simply entrusted to him for use in his work, and afterwards returned to the archives. and after his death and the completion of his work by Ortega, they passed, not without a lawsuit, into the possession of Leon y Gama, the astronomer.[653]Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex. (Mex., 1846), tom. iii., p. ii., says that Gama was Sigüenza’s heir. On the death of Gama a part of his manuscripts were sold to Humboldt to form the Berlin collection published by Kingsborough;[654]Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 163, 230-1. the rest came into the hands of Pichardo, Gama’s executor, who spent his private fortune in improving his collection, described by Humboldt as the richest in Mexico. Many of Pichardo’s papers were scattered during the revolution, and the remainder descended through his executor Sanchez to the Museum.[655]Bustamante, in Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt i., pp. ii-iii. It is not unlikely either that the French intervention in later years was also the means of sending some picture-writings to Europe. Of the documents removed from the Mexican collections on different occasions and under different pretexts, M. Aubin claims to have secured the larger part, which are now in his collection in Paris, with copies of such manuscripts as he has been unable to obtain in the original form.[656]See list of part of M. Aubin’s manuscripts in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. lxxvi-lxxviii.; also a very complete account of the different collections of Aztec picture-writings in the introductory chapter of Domenech, Manuscrit Pictographique.

Hieroglyphic Development

In order to form a clear idea of the Aztec system of picture-writing, it will be well to consider first the general principles of hieroglyphic development, which are remarkably uniform and simple, and which may best be illustrated by our own language, supposing it, for convenience, to be only a spoken tongue.

It is evident that the first attempt at expressing ideas with the brush, pencil, or knife, would be the representation of visible objects by pictures as accurately drawn as possible; a house, man, bird, or flower are drawn true to the life in all their details. But very soon, if a frequent repetition of the pictures were needed, a desire to save labor would prompt the artist to simplify his drawing, making only the lines necessary to show that a house, man, etc., were meant,—a retrograde movement artistically considered, but intellectually the first step towards an alphabet. The representation of actions and conditions, such as a house on fire, a dead man, a flying bird, or a red flower would naturally follow.

The three grades of development mentioned belong to what may be termed representative picture-writing. It is to be noted that this writing has no relation to language; that is, the signs represent only visible objects and actions without reference to the words by which the objects are named or the actions expressed in our language. The pictures would have the same meaning to a Frenchman or German as to the painter.

The next higher phase of the art is known as symbolic picture-writing. It springs from the need that would soon be experienced of some method by which to express abstract qualities or invisible objects. The symbolic system is closely analogous in its earlier stages to the representative, as when the act of swimming is symbolized by a fish, a journey by a succession of footprints, night by a black square, light by an eye, power by a hand, the connection between the picture and the idea to be expressed being more or less obvious. Such a connection, real or imaginary, must always be supposed to have existed originally, since it is not likely that purely arbitrary symbols would be adopted, but nearly all the symbols would be practically arbitrary and meaningless to a would-be interpreter ignorant of the circumstances which originated their signification.

We have seen that the symbolic and representative stages of development are in many respects very like one to the other, and there are many hieroglyphic methods between the two, which it is very difficult to assign altogether to either. For instance, when a large painted heart expresses the name of a chief ‘Big Heart;’ or when a peculiarly formed nose is painted to represent the man to whom it belongs; or when the outlines of the house, man, bird, or flower already mentioned are so very much simplified as to lose all their apparent resemblance to the objects represented. It is also to be noted that the symbolic writing, as well as the representative, is entirely independent of language.

Representative and Symbolic Writing

Picture-writing of the two classes described has been practiced more or less, probably, by every savage tribe. By its aid records of events, such as tribal migrations, and the warlike achievements of noted chiefs, may be and doubtless have been made intelligible to those for whose perusal they were intended. But the key to such hieroglyphics is the actual acquaintance of the nation with each character and symbol, and it cannot long survive the practice of the art. In only two ways can the meaning of such records be preserved,—the study of the art while actually in use by a people of superior culture, or its development into a hieroglyphic system of a higher grade. Neither of these conditions were fulfilled in the case of our Wild Tribes, but both were so to some extent, as we shall see, in the case of the Civilized Nations. Throughout the Pacific States rock-carvings and painted devices will be noted in a subsequent volume of this work; most of them doubtless had a meaning to their authors, although many may be attributed to the characteristic common to savages and children of whiling away time by tracing unmeaning sketches from fancy. All are meaningless now and must ever remain so. Full of meaning to the generation whose work they were, they served to keep alive in the following generation the memory of some distinguished warrior, or some element of aboriginal worship, but to the third generation they became nothing but objects of superstitious wonder. Even after coming into contact with Europeans the savage often indicates by an arrow and other figures carved on a forest-tree the number of an enemy and the direction they have taken, or leaves some other equally simple representative record.

The next and most important step in hieroglyphic development is taken when a phonetic element is introduced; when the pictures come into a relation, not before attained, with sounds or spoken language; when a picture of the human form signifies man, not homme or hombre; a painted house, house, not casa or maison. Of this phonetic picture-writing in its simplest form, the illustrated rebuses—children’s hieroglyphics—present a familiar example; as when charity is written by drawing in succession a chair, an eye, and a chest of tea, ‘chair-eye-tea.’ In pronouncing the whole word thus written, the sounds of the words represented by the pictures are used without the slightest reference to their meaning. To the Frenchman the same pictures ‘chaise-œil-thé’ would have no meaning.

In the example given the whole name of each word pictured is pronounced, but the number of words that could be produced by such combinations is limited, and the first improvement of the system would perhaps be to pronounce only the leading syllable or sound of the pictured word, and then charity might be painted ‘cha (pel)-ri (ng)-tee (th).’ By this system the same word might be written in a great many ways, and the next natural improvement would be the conventional adoption of certain easily pictured words to represent certain sounds, as ‘hat,’ ‘hand,’ or ‘ham,’ for the sound ha, or simply the aspirated h. The next development would be effected by simplifying the outlines of the numerous pictures employed, which have now become too complicated and bulky for rapid writing. For a time this process of simplification would still leave a rude resemblance to the original picture; but at last the resemblance would become very faint, or only imaginary, and perhaps some arbitrary signs would be added—in other words, a phonetic alphabet would be invented, the highest degree of perfection yet achieved in this direction.

To recapitulate briefly: picture-writing may be divided, according to the successive stages of its development, into three classes, representative, symbolic, and phonetic, no one of which except the last in its highest or alphabetic, and the first in its rudest, state, would be used alone by any people, but rather all would be employed together. In the representative stage a
might express a human hand, or as the system is perfected, a large, small, closed, black, or red hand; and finally ‘Big Hand,’ an Indian chief; and all this would be equally intelligible to American or Asiatic, savage or civilized, without respect to language.

Hieroglyphic Writing

Symbolic picture-writing indicates invisible or abstract objects, actions, or conditions, by the use of pictures supposed to be suggestive of them; the symbols are originally in a manner representative, and rarely, if ever, arbitrarily adopted. As a symbol the might express power, a blow, murder, the number one or five. These symbols are also independent of language.

Phonetic picture-writing represents not objects, but sounds by the picture of objects in whose names the sound occurs; first words, then syllables, then elementary sounds, and last—by modification of the pictures or the substitution of simpler ones—letters and an alphabet. According to this system the signifies successively the word ‘hand,’ the syllable ‘hand’ in handsome, the sound ‘ha’ in happy, the aspiration ‘h’ in head, and finally, by simplifying its form or writing it rapidly, the becomes and then the ‘h’ of the alphabet.

The process of development which I have attempted to explain by imaginary examples and illustrations in our own language, is probably applicable to a greater or less extent to all hieroglyphic systems; yet such hieroglyphics as have been preserved are of a mixed class, uniting in one word, or sentence, or document, all the forms, representative, symbolic, and phonetic; the Egyptians first spelled a word phonetically and then, to make the meaning clear, represented the word by a picture or symbol; the Chinese characters were originally pictures of visible objects, though they would not now be recognized as such, if the originals were not in existence. What proportion of the letters in modern alphabets are simplified pictures, or representative characters, and what arbitrary, it is of course impossible to determine; many of them, however, are known to be of the former class.[657]In the Egyptian development, a pictured mouth first signified the word ro, then the syllable ro, and finally the letter or sound r, although it is doubtful if they made much use of the third stage, except in writing some foreign words. Many of the Chinese pictures are double, one being determinative of sound, the other of sense; as if in English we should express the sound pear by a picture of the fruit of that name, the fruit pear by the same picture accompanied by a tree, the word pare by the same picture and a knife, the word pair by the picture and two points, etc. Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 177-9; Tylor’s Researches, pp. 98-101.

In the Aztec picture-writings all the grades or classes of pictures are found, except the last and highest—the alphabet. A very large part of the characters employed were representative; many conventional symbols are known; and the Aztecs undoubtedly employed phonetic paintings, though perhaps not very extensively in the higher grades of development.

Specimen from Codex Mendoza

The plate on the opposite page is a reproduction of a part of the Codex Mendoza from Kingsborough’s work. Its four groups describe the education of the Aztec child under the care of its parents. In the first group the father (fig. 3) is punishing his son by holding him over the fumes of burning chile (fig. 5); while the mother threatens her daughter with the same punishment. Figures 2 and 8 represent, like 11, 16, 20, 24, 30 and 34 in the other groups, the child’s allowance of tortillas at each meal. In the second group the son is punished by being stretched naked on the wet ground, having his hands tied, while the girl is forced to sweep, or, as she has no tear in her eye, perhaps is merely being taught to sweep instead of being punished. In the third group the father employs his boys in bringing wood (fig. 21) or reeds either on the back or in a canoe; and the mother teaches her daughter to make tortillas (fig. 27) and the use of the metate and other household utensils (figs. 23, 25, 26, 28). In the last group the son learns the art of fishing, and the daughter that of weaving.

Education of Aztec Children

Thus far all the pictures are purely representative; the remainder are more or less symbolic. The small circles (fig. 1, 10, 19, 29) are numerals, as explained in a preceding chapter, and indicate the age of the children, eleven, twelve, thirteen, and fourteen years respectively; the character issuing from the mouth of the parents is the symbol of speech, and indicates that the person to whom it is attached is speaking; the tears in the children’s eyes, are symbols of the weeping naturally caused by the punishment inflicted; and figure 14 is interpreted to be a symbol of night, indicating that the child was forced to sweep at night.[658]Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. i., pl. lxi. Explanation, vol. v., pp. 96-7. See p. 241 of this volume.

Many of the Aztec symbols are of clearly representative origin, as foot-prints, symbols of traveling; tongues, of speech; a man sitting on the ground, of an earthquake; painted drops, of water; and other signs for day, night, air, movement, etc., which are more or less clear. But of others, as the serpent, symbol of time, the origin is not affirmed. To define the extent to which the symbolic writing prevailed is very difficult, because many of the characters which were, originally at least, representative, would appear to the uninitiated purely arbitrary; and it is not improbable that many signs may have had a double meaning according to the connection in which they were employed. The system is capable of indefinite expansion in the hands of the priesthood for purposes of religious mystification; and the fact that the religious and astrologic documents seem to contain but few of the representative and phonetic signs by which other paintings are interpreted, lends some probability to the theory that the priests had a partially distinct symbolic system of their own. The Abbé Brasseur goes so far as to say that all the historical documents had a double meaning, one for the initiated, another for the masses. The use of symbols doubtless accounts for the difficulty experienced in the interpretation of the picture-writings which have been preserved, and for the variety of extravagant theories that have been founded on them.

The intermediate method already mentioned as coming between the purely representative and the symbolic, was very extensively employed by the Aztecs in writing the names of places and persons, nearly all of which were derived from natural objects. Examples of this method are: Itzcoatl, ‘stone (or obsidian) serpent;’ Chapultepec, ‘hill of the grasshopper;’ Tzompanco, ‘place of skulls;’ Chimalpopoca, ‘smoking shield;’ Acamapitzin, ‘hand holding reeds;’ Macuilxochitl, ‘five flowers;’ Quauhtinchan, ‘house of the eagle;’ all written by the simple pictures of the objects named. The picture expressing a person’s name was attached by a fine line to his head.

Aztec Phonetic Writing

The use of the phonetic element by the Aztecs was first noticed by the early missionaries in their efforts to teach Church forms. The natives, eager or obliged to learn the words so essential to their salvation but so new to their ear, aided their memory by writing phonetically in a rude way the strange words. Amen was expressed by the symbol of water, atl, joined to a maguey, metl, forming the sounds atl-metl or a-mĕ, sufficiently accurate for their purpose. Pater noster was likewise written with a flag, pantli, and a prickly pear, nochtli; or sometimes a stone, tetl, was introduced before and after the prickly pear, the whole reading pa(ntli)-te(tl)-noch(tli)-te(tl). Here it will be observed that the sound only of the objects employed is considered, with no reference to their meaning. The name Teocaltitlan is an excellent specimen of the syllabic-phonetic writing. It is written in one of the manuscripts of the Boturini collection by a pictured pair of lips, tentli, for the syllable te; footsteps, symbolic of a road, otli, for o; a house, calli, for cal; and teeth, tlantli, for tlan, ti being a common connective syllable. The termination coatl is a very frequent one in Aztec words, and is often written phonetically by a ‘pot,’ comitl, surmounted by the symbol of water, atl, co-atl; but coatl means ‘serpent’ and is also written representatively by a simple picture of that reptile. Matlatlan ‘net-place,’ is written by pictured teeth, tlantli, phonetic, and a net, matla, representative. Mixcoatl, ‘cloudy serpent,’ is expressed by the representative sign of a cloud, mixtli, and by the word coatl phonetically written as before explained. These examples suffice to illustrate the system. There is no evidence that the Aztecs ever reached the highest or alphabetic stage of hieroglyphics, and so far as is known they only used the syllabic method in writing names, and foreign words after the coming of the Spaniards. Still there is some reason to suspect that the phonetic element was much more in use than has been supposed, and that many characters which, hitherto considered by students as representative and symbolic signs, have yielded no meaning, may yet prove to be phonetic, and may throw much light on a complex and mysterious subject.[659]‘On trouve même chez les Mexicains des vestiges de ce genre d’hiéroglyphes que l’on appelle phonétiques, et qui annonce des rapports, non avec la chose, mais avec la langue parlée.’ Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., p. 191, also pp. 162-202. ‘But, although the Aztecs were instructed in all the varieties of hieroglyphical painting, they chiefly resorted to the clumsy method of direct representation.’ Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 97, also pp. 88-107. ‘It is to M. Aubin, of Paris, a most zealous student of Mexican antiquities, that we owe our first clear knowledge of a phenomenon of great scientific interest in the history of writing. This is a well-defined system of phonetic characters, which Clavigero and Humboldt do not seem to have been aware of.’ Tylor’s Researches, p. 95, also pp. 89-100. ‘Dans les compositions grossières, dont les auteurs se sont presque exclusivement occupés jusqu’ici, elle (l’écriture Aztèque) est fort semblable aux rébus que l’enfance mêle à ses jeux. Comme ces rébus elle est généralement phonétique, mais souvent aussi confusément idéographique et symbolique. Tels sont les noms de villes et de rois, cités par Clavigero, d’après Purchas et Lorenzana et d’après Clavigero, par une foule d’auteurs.’ Aubin, in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. xliv., xxx-lxxiv. See also on Aztec hieroglyphics and their explanation: Buschmann, Ortsnamen, tom. i., pp. 37-48; Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., (Mex. 1846), tom. iii.; Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt. ii., pp. 29-45; Ewbank, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 453-6; Mendoza, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. i., pp. 896-904; Ramirez, in Id., tom. iii., pp. 69-70; Boturini, Idea, pp. 5, 77-87, 96, 112-13; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 187-94; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 49-50; Carbajal, Discurso, p. 5; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 131-7; Chevalier, Mex., Ancien. et Mod., pp. 37-8, 58; Humboldt,Essai Pol., tom. i., pp. 77, 93; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 322; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 126, 165-68; Ramirez, Proceso de Resid.; Lenoir, Parallèle, pp. 13-16; Lubbock’s Pre-Hist. Times, p. 279; N. Amer. Review, 1839, vol. xlviii., p. 289, 1831, vol. xxxii., pp. 98-107; Amer. Quart. Review, June 1827, vol. i., p. 438.

Record of an Aztec Migration

On the two following pages is a copy of the painting already referred to as having been published by Gemelli Careri, Humboldt, Kingsborough, Prescott, and others, and which I take from the work of Ramirez as being probably the most reliable source.[660]In García y Cubas, Atlas, with an interpretation. This painting, preserved in the National Museum, is about twenty by twenty-seven inches, on maguey paper of the finest quality, now mounted on linen. I do not propose to attempt in this chapter any interpretation of the painting, to discuss the interpretations of others, or to investigate its historical importance. I simply present the document as an illustration of the Aztec picture-writing, with interpretations of some of the figures as given by Señor Ramirez, leaving to another volume all consideration of the old absurd theory that a part of the painting (fig. 1-6) pictures the flood, the preservation of Coxcox, the Aztec Noah, and the confusion of tongues.

The Aztec Migration

Picture-Writing from Gemelli Careri

The winding parallel lines, with frequent foot-prints, by which the different groups of figures are united, are symbols of a journey, and there is little doubt that the whole painting describes the migrations or wanderings of the Aztec people. The square at the right represents the place from which they started. Fig. 1, 2, perhaps express phonetically its name, but their interpretation is doubtful. It was evidently a watery region, probably a lake island in the valley of Mexico. Fig. 3 is a xiuhmolpilli, ‘bundle of grass,’ symbol of the Aztec cycle of fifty-two years; fig. 4 is a ‘curved mountain,’ or the city of Culhuacan, on the borders of the lake; fig. 5 is a bird speaking to the people (fig. 6), the tongues issuing from its mouth being, as I have said, the usual symbols of speech. It was a popular tradition among the Aztecs that the voice of a bird started them on their wanderings. The fifteen human forms (fig. 7, 12,) are the chiefs of the migrating tribes, whose names are hieroglyphically expressed by the figures connected with their heads. At their first stopping-place they completed another ‘sheaf’ of fifty-two years (fig. 8), and perhaps built a temple (fig. 11). The stay at Cincotlan (fig. 15) was ten years as indicated by the ten circles; fig. 17 is interpreted by Gemelli Careri Tocolco, ‘humiliation,’ and fig. 18, Oztotlan, ‘place of caves.’ At the next stopping-place fig. 20 represents a body wrapped in the Mexican manner for burial; his name as shown by the character over his head is that of the central figure in the group shown in fig. 7. As this name does not appear again, the meaning is perhaps that one of the tribes here became extinct. Fig. 25 is Tetzapotlan, ‘place of the tree tetzapotl.’ The generic name of the tree is tzapotl (modern zapote), but a particular species is tetzapotl, and the prefix te is phonetically expressed by the stone, tetl, at the base of the tree. Fig. 28 is Tzompanco, ‘place of skulls,’ representing supposably a skull impaled on a stick; fig. 29 is Apazco, ‘earthen vase;’ fig. 31, Quauhtitlan ‘place of the eagle,’ and here one of the chiefs of tribes, the right hand figure of group 7, separates from the rest to form a settlement at fig. 33. The time of stopping at each place and the completion of each fifty-two years are clearly indicated and need not be mentioned here. Fig. 34 is Azcapuzalco, ‘the anthill;’ fig. 83 is Chalco, ‘the chalchiuite-stone;’ fig. 36, Tlecohuatl, tletl-cohuatl, or ‘fire-serpent;’ fig. 39, Chicomoztoc,chicome-oztotl, ‘seven caves;’ the lower part of fig. 47 is the symbol of water; fig. 48, Teozomaco, ‘the monkey of stone.’ Fig. 50 is Chapultepec, ‘hill of the locust or grasshopper.’ After the arrival at Chapultepec a great variety of events, most of which can be identified with traditional occurrences in the early history of the Aztecs, are pictured. I shall not attempt to follow them. The route seems to continue towards fig. 80, Tlatelolco; but five tribes (fig. 53), all but one identical with those of the group in fig. 7, 12, return as fugitives or prisoners (fig. 51) to Culhuacan (fig. 54), the original starting-point. Fig. 61, and one of the characters of fig. 65, are the symbols of combat or war. Fig. 67 is Inixiuhcan, ‘birth-place,’ the picture representing a woman who has just given birth to a child. Fig. 74 is Tenochtitlan, ‘place of tenochtli,’ the tenochtli being a species of nopal represented in the figure, and being also the sign of the name of Tenoch, one of the original chiefs of the group in fig. 12, and also seen in the group in fig. 81. Six of the original tribes seem to have reached Tenochtitlan, afterwards Mexico, with the tribe that joined them at Chapultepec; nine having perished or been scattered on the way, which agrees with the historical tradition. The preceding brief sketch will give an idea of a document whose full description and interpretation, even if possible, would require much space and would not be appropriately included here.

Chronologic Record

The picture-writing shown on the following pages is the one already mentioned as having formed part of the Boturini collection, is equally important with the one already described, and is preserved like the former in the National Museum. This painting, like the other, describes a migration, indicated by the line of foot-prints. Starting from an island, a passage by boat is indicated to Culhuacan, ‘the curved mountain,’ on the mainland. In this painting we have not only the number of years spent in the migration, and at each stopping-place, but the years are named according to the system described in the last chapter, and the migration began in the year Ce Tecpatl. The character within that of Culhuacan is the name of Huitzilopochtli, the great Aztec god. Next we have in a vertical line the names of the eight tribes, hieroglyphically written, who started on the migration, the Chalcas, Matlaltzincas, Tepanecs, etc., agreeing with the tradition, except three which cannot be accurately interpreted. The first stopping-place after Culhuacan was Coatlicamac, the first figure in the lower column of the first page. Here they remained twenty-eight years from Ome Calli to Yey Tecpatl as indicated by the squares connected by a line. The last but one of these years completed the cycle and is represented by a picture showing the process of kindling fire by friction, instead of the bundle of grass as before. Between the groups of small squares are the hieroglyphic names of the stopping-places, which are in the following order, beginning with the second column of the first page, Coatlicamac, Tollan, Atlicalaquiam, Tlemaco, Atotonilco, Apazco, Tzompanco, Xaltocan, Acolhuacan, Ehecatepec, Tolpetlac, Coatitlan (where they first cultivated the maguey), Huixachtitlan (where they made pulque from the maguey), Tecpayocan, Pantitlan, ‘place of the flag,’ Amalinalpan, Azcapuzalco, Pantitlan, Acolnahuac, Popotla, ——, Atlacuihuayan (Tacubaya), Chapultepec, Acocolco, and Culhuacan (as prisoners). The migration is not brought down to the arrival in Tenochtitlan, but the chronology is perfectly recorded. Several of the names of places are indicated by the same hieroglyphic signs as in the other painting. It will be observed that there is nothing to locate the starting-place in the north-west. It was probably either on the lakes of Anáhuac, or in the south beyond what is now the isthmus of Tehuantepec. Both of these paintings will be noticed in the historical investigations to be given in volume V. of this work.

Picture-Record of the Aztec Migration from the Boturini Collection

The hieroglyphic paintings afford no test of the Aztec painter’s skill; in an artistic point of view the picture-writing had probably been nearly stationary for a long time before the conquest. The pictures were in most cases conventionally distorted; indeed, to permit different painters to exercise their skill and fancy in depicting the various objects required would have destroyed the value of the paintings as records. The first progressional steps had taught the native scribes to paint only so much of representative and symbolic objects as was necessary to their being understood; convenience and custom would naturally tend to fix the forms at an early period. Bold outlines, and bright contrasted colors were the desiderata; elegance was not aimed at. Hence no argument respecting the Aztec civilization can be drawn from the rude mechanical execution of these painted characters.

The American hieroglyphics contain no element to prove their foreign origin, and there is no reason to look upon them as other than the result of original native development. Whether enough of the painted records have been preserved to throw much additional light on aboriginal history, may well be doubted; but it is certain that great progress will be made in the art of interpreting such as have been saved, when able men shall devote their lives to a faithful study of this indigenous American literature as they have to the study of old-world hieroglyphics.[661]‘On distingue dans les peintures mexicaines des têtes d’une grandeur énorme, un corps excessivement court, et des pieds qui, par la longueur des doigts, ressemblent à des griffes d’oiseau…. Tout ceci indique l’enfance de l’art, mais il ne faut pas oublier que des peuples qui expriment leurs idées par des peintures … attachent aussi peu d’importance à peindre correctement que les savans d’Europe à employer une belle écriture dans leurs manuscrits.’ Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 198-200; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 653-4. Valades in 1579 gave an American phonetic alphabet, representing each letter by an object of whose name it was the initial in some language not the Aztec. Nothing is known of it. Id., tom. i., p. lxx. Borunda gives a Clave General de Geroglíficos Americanos, in Voz de la Patria, 1830, tom. iv., No. iii.—an extract in Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt ii., p. 33. Sr Eufemio Mendoza, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. i., p. 899, attaches some importance to Borunda’s efforts. On the difficulty of interpretation see Boturini, Idea, p. 116; Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., p. 87; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 149; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 201; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 107.

The NepohualTzitzin

I will in conclusion call attention to Boturini’s statement that knotted cords, similar to the aboriginal Peruvian quipus, but called in Aztec nepohualtzitzin, were also employed to record events in early times, but had gone out of use probably before the Aztec supremacy. This author even claims to have found one of these knotted records in a very dilapidated condition in Tlascala. His statement is repeated by many writers; if any information on the subject is contained in the old authorities, it has escaped my notice.[662]Boturini, Idea, pp. 85-7; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 6; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 194; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 656. Some additional references on hieroglyphics are: Id., pp. 244, 591-2, 650-6, tom. ii., p. 86; Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., pp. 293-5; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 407-8; Soden, Spanier in Peru, tom. ii., pp. 27-8; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., pp. 175-6; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 266-7; Dapper, Neue Welt, p. 300; Delafield’s Antiq. Amer., p. 42; Bonnycastle’s Span. Amer., vol. i., p. 52.

Footnotes

[642] ‘Todas las cosas que conferimos me las dieron por pinturas, que aquella era la escritura que ellos antiguamente usaban: los gramáticos las declararon en su lengua, escribiendo la declaracion al pie de la pintura. Tengo aun ahora estos originales.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., p. iv. ‘Aunque no tenian escritura como nosotros tenian empero sus figuras y caracteres que todas las cosas qui querian, significaban; y destas sus libros grandes por tan agudo y sutil artificio, que podriamos decir que nuestras letras en aquello no les hicieron mucha ventaja.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxxxv. ‘Tenian sus figuras, y Hieroglyficas con que pintauan las cosas en esta forma, que las cosas que tenian figuras, las ponian con sus proprias ymagines, y para las cosas que no auia ymagen propria, tenian otros caracteres significatiuos de aquello, y con este modo figurauan quanto querian.’ Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 408. ‘Letras Reales de cosas pintadas, como eran las pinturas, en que leiò Eneas la destruicion de Troya.’ ‘Y esto que afirmo, es tomado de las mismas Historias Mexicanas, y Tetzcucanas, que son las que sigo en este discurso, y las que tengo en mi poder.’ Torquemada,Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 29, 149, also pp. 30-1, 36, 253, tom. ii., pp. 263, 544-6. ‘I haue heeretofore sayde, that they haue books whereof they brought many: but this Ribera saith, that they are not made for the vse of readinge…. What I should thinke in this variety I knowe not. I suppose them to bee bookes.’ Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. x., dec. iii., lib. viii. ‘Y entre la barbaridad destas naciones (de Oajaca) se hallaron muchos libros à su modo, en hojas, ò telas de especiales cortesas de arboles…. Y destos mesmos instrumentos he tenido en mis manos, y oydolos explicar à algunos viejos con bastante admiracion.’ Burgoa, Palestra Hist., pt i., p. 89. ‘Pintaban en vnos papeles de la tierra que dan los arboles pegados vnos con otros con engrudos, que llamaban Texamaltl sus historias, y batallas.’ Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 60. ‘Lo dicho lo comprueban claramente las Historias de las Naciones Tulteca y Chichimeca, figuradas con pinturas, y Geroglíficos, especialmente en aquel Libro, que en Tula hicieron de su origen, y le llamaron Teomaxtli, esto es, Libro divino.’ Lorenzana, in Cortés, Hist. N. España, pp. 6, 8-9. ‘It is now proven beyond cavil, that both Mexico and Yucatan had for centuries before Columbus a phonetic system of writing, which insured the perpetuation of their histories and legends.’ Brinton’s Myths. See also Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 203-4, 235, 287; Id., Relaciones, in Id., p. 325; Ritos Antiguos, p. 4, in Id.; Garcia, in Id., vol. viii., pp. 190-1; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 299; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 186, 209; Fuenleal, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 250; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 6-7, 251-2; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 68; Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., p. 1135.

[643] ‘Aunque por haverse quemado estos Libros, al principio de la conversion … no ha quedado, para aora, mui averiguado todo lo que ellos hicieron.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 544, tom. i., prólogo. Some of them burned by order of the monks, in the fear that in the matter of religion these books might prove injurious. Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxxxv. Royal archives of Tezcuco burned inadvertently by the first priests. Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 203. ‘Principalmente habiendo perecido lo mejor de sus historias entre las llamas, por no tenerse conocimiento de lo que significaban sus pinturas.’ Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt i., pp. 2, 5. ‘Por desgracia los misioneros confundieron con los objetos del culto idolátrico todos los geroglíficos cronológicos é históricos, y en una misma hoguera se consumia el ídolo … y el manuscrito.’ Alaman, Disertaciones, tom. ii., p. 154. See also Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 101; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 139-41; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 188; Bustamante, Mañanas, tom. ii., prólogo; Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., p. 226; Wilson’s Conq. Mex., p. 24.

[644] ‘It is to this transition-period that we owe many, perhaps most, of the picture-documents still preserved.’ Tylor’s Researches, p. 97. ‘There was … until late in the last century, a professor in the University of Mexico, especially devoted to the study of the national picture-writing. But, as this was with a view to legal proceedings, his information, probably, was limited to deciphering titles.’ Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 106. ‘L’usage de ces peintures, servant de pièces de procès, c’est conservé dans les tribunaux espagnols long-temps après la conquête.’ Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 169-70.’Escriben toda la doctrina ellos por sus figuras y caracteres muy ingeniosamente, poniendo la figura que correspondia en la voz y sonido á nuestro vocablo. Asi como si dijeremos Amen, ponian pintada una como fuente y luego un maguey que en su lengua corresponde con Amen, porque llamada Ametl, y así de todo lo demas.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. ccxxxv. See also Ritos Antiguos, p. 53, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix.; Ramirez, Proceso de Resid.; Carbajal, Discurso, p. 115; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 122.

[645] ‘Au Mexique, l’usage des peintures et celui du papier de maguey s’étendoient bien au delà des limites de l’empire de Montezuma, jusqu’aux bords du lac de Nicaragua.’ ‘On voit que les peuples de l’Amèrique étoient bien éloignés de cette perfection qu’avoient atteinte les Égyptiens.’ Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 208, 193-4. ‘Clumsy as it was, however, the Aztec picture-writing seems to have been adequate to the demands of the nation.’ Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 97-8, 108. ‘The Mexicans may have advanced, but, we believe, not a great way, beyond the village children, the landlady (with her ale-scores), or the Bosjesmans.’ Quarterly Review, 1816, vol. xv., pp. 454, 449. ‘The picture writings copied into the monster volumes of Lord Kingsborough, we have denounced as Spanish fabrications.’ Wilson’s Conq. Mex., pp. 21-24. ‘Until some evidence, or shadow of evidence, can be found that these quasi records are of Aztec origin, it would be useless to examine the contradictions, absurdities and nonsense they present…. The whole story must be considered as one of Zumárraga’s pious frauds.’ Id., pp. 91-2. ‘Las pinturas, que se quemaron en tiempo del señor de México, que se decia Itzcóatl, en cuya época los señores, y los principales que habia entónces, acordaron y mandaron que se quemasen todas, para que no viniesen á manos del vulgo, y fuesen menospreciadas.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 140-1; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 209. See also Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 46-7; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 144; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 100; Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. i., p. 93.

[646] See Mexican MSS., in the list of authorities in vol. i. of this work, for the location of this and other codices in Kingsborough’s work. This codex was published also in Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv.; Thevenot, Col. de Voy., 1696, tom. ii.; and by Lorenzana, in Cortés, Hist. N. España. ‘D’après les recherches que j’ai faites, il paroît qu’il n’existe aujourd’hui en Europe que six collections de peintures mexicaines: celles de l’Escurial, de Bologne, de Veletri, de Rome, de Vienne et de Berlin.’ Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., p. 215. See also on the Codex Mendoza: Id., tom. ii., pp. 306-22; Robertson’s Hist. Amer., (Lond., 1777), vol. ii., p. 480; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 40, 103-4; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 22-3, 25; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 116-29; Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., p. 299.

[647] Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 173, 231-47; Atlas, pl. 13, 14, 26, 55-6. 60, tom. ii., p. 118; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 23; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 116, 125, 132-43; Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., pp. 95, 155; Wilson’s Conq. Mex., p. 91. ‘The fiction of some Spanish monk.’ Quarterly Review, 1816, vol. xv., p. 448.

[648] Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 216-19, 248-56, with portions of the Borgian Codex in plates 15, 27, 37. Some pages of the Vienna Codex were published in Robertson’s Hist. Amer., (Lond., 1777), vol. ii., p. 482.

[649] Careri, Giro del Mondo, (Naples, 1699-1700), tom. vi.; Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., pp. 168-85, Atlas, pl. xxxii.; Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. iv.; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., p. 20; Prescott’s Hist. Conq. Mex., (Mex. 1846), tom. iii.; García y Cubas, Atlas; Simon’s Ten Tribes, frontispiece; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 127, pronounces it an imitation and not a copy of a Mexican painting, whose authenticity may be doubted.

[650] Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 22-6.

[651] Boturini, Catálogo, in Id., Idea; Aubin, in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. xxxiii.; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 159-60; Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 162-3, 226-8; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 16-17, 23-5; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 120-1; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. xxi., et seq., p. 116. That portion of the Codex Mendoza given in Cortés, Hist. N. España, was from a copy in the Boturini collection. The manuscript describing the Aztec migration was published in Kingsborough, Schoolcraft, Prescott, (Mex. 1846), Humboldt’s Atlas, Delafield’s Antiq. Amer., García y Cubas’ Atlas, and I have in my library two copies on long strips of paper folded in the original form.

[652] Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. xxii-xxiv., says they were not given to Veytia as Boturini’s executor, but simply entrusted to him for use in his work, and afterwards returned to the archives.

[653] Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex. (Mex., 1846), tom. iii., p. ii., says that Gama was Sigüenza’s heir.

[654] Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 163, 230-1.

[655] Bustamante, in Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt i., pp. ii-iii.

[656] See list of part of M. Aubin’s manuscripts in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. lxxvi-lxxviii.; also a very complete account of the different collections of Aztec picture-writings in the introductory chapter of Domenech, Manuscrit Pictographique.

[657] In the Egyptian development, a pictured mouth first signified the word ro, then the syllable ro, and finally the letter or sound r, although it is doubtful if they made much use of the third stage, except in writing some foreign words. Many of the Chinese pictures are double, one being determinative of sound, the other of sense; as if in English we should express the sound pear by a picture of the fruit of that name, the fruit pear by the same picture accompanied by a tree, the word pare by the same picture and a knife, the word pair by the picture and two points, etc. Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 177-9; Tylor’s Researches, pp. 98-101.

[658] Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. i., pl. lxi. Explanation, vol. v., pp. 96-7. See p. 241 of this volume.

[659] ‘On trouve même chez les Mexicains des vestiges de ce genre d’hiéroglyphes que l’on appelle phonétiques, et qui annonce des rapports, non avec la chose, mais avec la langue parlée.’ Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., p. 191, also pp. 162-202. ‘But, although the Aztecs were instructed in all the varieties of hieroglyphical painting, they chiefly resorted to the clumsy method of direct representation.’ Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 97, also pp. 88-107. ‘It is to M. Aubin, of Paris, a most zealous student of Mexican antiquities, that we owe our first clear knowledge of a phenomenon of great scientific interest in the history of writing. This is a well-defined system of phonetic characters, which Clavigero and Humboldt do not seem to have been aware of.’ Tylor’s Researches, p. 95, also pp. 89-100. ‘Dans les compositions grossières, dont les auteurs se sont presque exclusivement occupés jusqu’ici, elle (l’écriture Aztèque) est fort semblable aux rébus que l’enfance mêle à ses jeux. Comme ces rébus elle est généralement phonétique, mais souvent aussi confusément idéographique et symbolique. Tels sont les noms de villes et de rois, cités par Clavigero, d’après Purchas et Lorenzana et d’après Clavigero, par une foule d’auteurs.’ Aubin, in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. xliv., xxx-lxxiv. See also on Aztec hieroglyphics and their explanation: Buschmann, Ortsnamen, tom. i., pp. 37-48; Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., (Mex. 1846), tom. iii.; Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt. ii., pp. 29-45; Ewbank, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 453-6; Mendoza, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. i., pp. 896-904; Ramirez, in Id., tom. iii., pp. 69-70; Boturini, Idea, pp. 5, 77-87, 96, 112-13; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 187-94; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 49-50; Carbajal, Discurso, p. 5; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 131-7; Chevalier, Mex., Ancien. et Mod., pp. 37-8, 58; Humboldt,Essai Pol., tom. i., pp. 77, 93; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 322; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 126, 165-68; Ramirez, Proceso de Resid.; Lenoir, Parallèle, pp. 13-16; Lubbock’s Pre-Hist. Times, p. 279; N. Amer. Review, 1839, vol. xlviii., p. 289, 1831, vol. xxxii., pp. 98-107; Amer. Quart. Review, June 1827, vol. i., p. 438.

[660] In García y Cubas, Atlas, with an interpretation.

[661] ‘On distingue dans les peintures mexicaines des têtes d’une grandeur énorme, un corps excessivement court, et des pieds qui, par la longueur des doigts, ressemblent à des griffes d’oiseau…. Tout ceci indique l’enfance de l’art, mais il ne faut pas oublier que des peuples qui expriment leurs idées par des peintures … attachent aussi peu d’importance à peindre correctement que les savans d’Europe à employer une belle écriture dans leurs manuscrits.’ Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 198-200; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 653-4. Valades in 1579 gave an American phonetic alphabet, representing each letter by an object of whose name it was the initial in some language not the Aztec. Nothing is known of it. Id., tom. i., p. lxx. Borunda gives a Clave General de Geroglíficos Americanos, in Voz de la Patria, 1830, tom. iv., No. iii.—an extract in Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt ii., p. 33. Sr Eufemio Mendoza, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. i., p. 899, attaches some importance to Borunda’s efforts. On the difficulty of interpretation see Boturini, Idea, p. 116; Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., p. 87; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 149; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 201; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 107.

[662] Boturini, Idea, pp. 85-7; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 6; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 194; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 656. Some additional references on hieroglyphics are: Id., pp. 244, 591-2, 650-6, tom. ii., p. 86; Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., pp. 293-5; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 407-8; Soden, Spanier in Peru, tom. ii., pp. 27-8; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., pp. 175-6; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 266-7; Dapper, Neue Welt, p. 300; Delafield’s Antiq. Amer., p. 42; Bonnycastle’s Span. Amer., vol. i., p. 52.

Chapter XVIII • Architecture and Dwellings of the Nahuas • 16,400 Words

Architecture of the Ancient Nations—General Features of Nahua Architecture—The Arch—Exterior and Interior Decorations—Method of Building—Inclined Planes—Scaffolds—The use of the Plummet—Building-Materials—Position and Fortification of Towns—Mexico Tenochtitlan—The Great Causeways—Quarters and Wards of Mexico—The Market-Place—Fountains and Aqueducts—Light-houses and Street-work—City of Tezcuco—Dwellings—Aztec Gardens—Temple of Huitzilopochtli—Temple of Mexico—Other Temples—Teocalli at Cholula and Tezcuco.

I shall describe in this chapter the cities, towns, temples, palaces, dwellings, roads, bridges, aqueducts, and other products of Nahua architectural and constructive art, as they were found and described by the Spaniards in the sixteenth century. Monuments of this branch of Nahua art chiefly in the form of ruined temples, or teocallis, are still standing and have been examined in detail by modern travelers. The results of these later observations will be given in Volume IV. of this work, and I have therefore thought it best to omit them altogether here. In order to fully comprehend the subject the reader will find it advantageous to study and compare the two views taken from different standpoints. It is for a general and doubtless exaggerated account of the grandeur and extent of the Nahua structures, rather than any details of their construction that we must look to the Spanish chronicles; and it is also to be noted that the descriptions by the conquerors are confined almost entirely to the lake region of Anáhuac, the buildings of other regions being dismissed with a mere mention. In this connection, therefore, the supplementary view in another volume will be of great value, since the grandest relics of Nahua antiquity have been found outside of Anáhuac proper, while the oft-mentioned magnificent temples and palaces of the lake cities have left no traces of their original splendor.

The Olmecs, Totonacs, and others of the earlier Nahua nations are credited by tradition with the erection of grand edifices, but the Toltecs, in this as in all other arts, far surpassed their predecessors, and even the nations that succeeded them. I have in a preceding chapter sufficiently explained the process by which this ancient people has been credited with all that is wonderful in the past, and it will be readily understood how a magnifying veneration for past glories, handed down from father to son with ever accumulating exaggeration, has transformed the Toltec buildings into the most exquisite fairy structures, incomparably superior to anything that met the Spanish gaze. With architectural as with other traditions, however, I have little or nothing to do in this chapter, but pass on to a consideration of this branch of art in later times.

Respect for the gods made it necessary that the temples should be raised above the ordinary buildings, besides which their height made them more conspicuous to the immense multitudes which frequently gathered about them on feast-days, rendering them also more secure from desecration and easier of defence when used as citadels of refuge, as they often were. But as the primitive ideas of engineering possessed by the Aztecs and their insufficient tools did not permit them to combine strength with slightness, the only way the required elevation could be attained was by placing the building proper upon a raised, solid, pyramidal substructure. The prevalence of earthquakes may also have had something to do with this solid form of construction. In the vicinity of the lake of Mexico, the swampy nature of the soil called for a broad, secure foundation; here, then, the substructure was not confined to the temples, but was used in building public edifices, palaces, and private dwellings.

Nahua Architecture

Another general feature of Nahua architecture was the small elevation of the buildings proper, compared with their extent and solidity. These rarely exceeded one story in height, except some of the chapels, which had two or even three stories, but in these cases the upper floors were invariably of wood.

Whether the Aztecs were acquainted with our arch, with a vertical key-stone, is a mooted point. Clavigero gives plates of a semi-spherical estufa constructed in this manner, and asserts, further, that an arch of this description was found among the Tezcucan ruins, but I find no authority for either picture or assertion. The relics that have been examined in modern times, moreover, seem to show conclusively that key-stone arches were unknown in America before the advent of the Europeans, though arches made of overlapping stones were often cut in such a manner as to resemble them. The chaplain Diaz, who accompanied Grijalva, mentions an ‘arc antique’ on the east coast, but gives no description of it. Nevertheless, as the ‘antique’ would in this connection imply a peculiar, if not a primitive, construction, it is not probable that the arch he saw had a key-stone.[663]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iv., p. 212; Diaz, Itinéraire, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 27; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 658.

As decorations, we find balconies and galleries supported by square or round pillars, which were often monoliths; but as they were adorned with neither capital nor base the effect must have been rather bare. Battlements and turrets, doubtless first used as means of defense, became later incorporated with decorative art. The bareness of the walls was relieved by cornices and stucco-work of various designs, the favorite figures being coiled snakes, executed in low relief, which probably had a religious meaning. Sometimes they were placed in groups, as upon the temple walls at Mexico, at other times one serpent twined and twisted round every door and window of an apartment until head and tail met. Carved lintels and door-posts were common, and statues frequently adorned the court and approaches. Glossy surfaces seem to have had a special attraction for the Nahuas, and they made floors, walls, and even streets, extremely smooth. The walls and floors were first coated with lime, gypsum, or ochre, and then polished.

No clear accounts are given of the method of erecting houses. Brasseur de Bourbourg thinks that because the natives of Vera Paz were seen by him to use scaffolds like ours, that these were also employed in Mexico in former times, and that stones were raised on inclined beams passing from scaffold to scaffold, which is not very satisfactory reasoning.[664]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 658.

However this may be, we are told by Torquemada that the Aztecs used derricks to hoist heavy timbers with.[665]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 274. Sahagun, in describing how the people raised a mast to the god of fire, says: ‘Atábanle diez maromas por la mitad de él … y como le iban levantando, ponianle unos maderos atados de dos en dos, y unos puntales sobre que descanzase.’ Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 143. Others, again, say that walls were erected by piling earth on both sides, which served both as scaffolds and as inclined planes up which heavy masses might be drawn or rolled,[666]Herrera, Hist. Gen., (Translation, Lond. 1726), vol. iii., p. 280. but although this was undoubtedly the method adopted by the Miztecs, it was too laborious and primitive to have been general,[667]Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 663; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 201-2. and certainly could not have been employed in building the three-story chapels upon Huitzilopochtli’s pyramid. The perfectly straight walls built by the Nahuas would seem to indicate the use of the plummet, and we are told that the line was used in making roads.[668]Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 63; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 201. Trees were felled with copper and flint axes, and drawn upon rollers to their destination,[669]‘With their Copper Hatchets, and Axes cunnyngly tempered, they fell those trees, and hewe them smooth … and boaring a hole in one of the edges of the beame, they fasten the rope, then sette their slaues vnto it … putting round blocks vnder the timber.’ Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. x.; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 141. a mode of transport used, no doubt, with other cumbrous material. The implements used to cut stone blocks seem to have been entirely of flint.[670]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 205; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 318.

Building Material

The wood for roofs, turrets, and posts, was either white or yellow cedar, palm, pine, cypress, or oyametl, of which beams and fine boards were made. Nails they had none; the smaller pieces must therefore have been secured by notches, lapping, or pressure.[671]Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. x., states that they bored holes in beams. They may therefore have known the use of wooden bolts, but this is doubtful. The different kinds of stone used in building were granite, alabaster, jasper, porphyry, certain ‘black, shining stones,’ and a red, light, porous, yet hard stone, of which rich quarries were discovered near Mexico in Ahuitzotl’s reign.[672]‘Le Tetzontli (pierre de cheveux), espèce d’amygdaloïde poreuse, fort dure, est une lave refroidie. On la trouve en grande quantité auprès de la petite ville de San-Agostin Tlalpan, ou de las Cuevas, à 4 l. S. de Mexico.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 381. After the overflow of the lake, which happened at this time, the king gave orders that this should be used ever after for buildings in the city.[673]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 202; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 663-4. Tecali, a transparent stone resembling alabaster, was sometimes used in the temples for window-glass.[674]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 8. Adobes, or sun-dried bricks, were chiefly used in the dwellings of the poorer classes, but burnt bricks and tiles are mentioned as being sold in the markets.[675]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 205. Cortés mentions a ‘suelo ladrillado’ at Iztapalapan, Cartas, p. 83, and Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xii., both adobes and ladrillos in speaking of building-material. Roofs were covered with clay, straw, and palm-leaves. Lime was used for mortar, which was so skillfully used, say the old writers, that the joints were scarcely perceptible,[676]Dávila Padilla, Hist. Fvnd. Mex., p. 75; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 665. ‘L’ignorante Ricercatore nega a’ Messicani la cognizione, e l’uso della calcina; ma consta per la testimonianza di tutti gli Storici del Messico, per la matricola de’ tributi, e sopratutto per gli edifizj antichi finora sussistenti, che tutte quelle Nacioni faceano della calcina il medecimo uso, che fanno gli Europei.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 205, tom. iv., pp. 212-13. Both Cortés, Cartas, p. 60, and Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. iv., mention walls of dry stone, which would show that mortar was sometimes dispensed with, in heavy structures; but Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 43, contradicts this instance. but probably this was partly owing to the fact that the walls were almost always either whitewashed, or covered with ochre, gypsum, or other substances.

Frequent wars and the generally unsettled state of the country, made it desirable that the towns should be situated near enough each other to afford mutual protection, which accounts for the great number of towns scattered over the plateau. The same causes made a defensible position the primary object in the choice of a site. Thus we find them situated on rocks accessible only by a difficult and narrow pathway, raised on piles over the water, or surrounded by strong walls, palisades, earth-works and ditches.[677]At Sienchimalen. Cortés, Cartas, p. 57. Although they fully understood the necessity of settling near lakes and rivers to facilitate intercourse, yet the towns on the sea-coast were usually a league or two from the shore, and, as they had no maritime trade, harbors were not sought for.[678]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., pp. 89-90.

The towns extended over a comparatively large surface, owing to the houses being low and detached, and each provided with a court and garden. The larger cities seem to have been layed out on a regular plan, especially in the centre, but the streets were narrow, indeed there was no need of wider ones as all transportation was done by carriers, and there were no vehicles. At intervals a market-place with a fountain in the centre, a square filled with temples, or a line of shady trees relieved the monotony of the long rows of low houses.

Mexico Tenochtitlan

The largest and most celebrated of the Nahua cities was Mexico Tenochtitlan.[679]Mexico is generally taken to be derived from Mexitl, or Mexi, the other name of Huitzilopochtli, the favorite god and leader of the Aztecs; many, however, think that it comes from mexico, springs, which were plentiful in the neighborhood. Tenochtitlan comes from teonochtli, divine nochtli, the fruit of the nopal, a species of wild cactus, and titlan, composed of tetl, stone or rock, and an, an affix to denote a place, a derivation which is officially accepted, as may be seen from the arms of the city. Others say that it is taken from Tenuch, one of the leaders of the Aztecs, who settled upon the small island of Pantitlan, both of which names would together form the word. ‘Ce nom, qui veut dire Ville de la Tuna…. Le fruit de cet arbre est appelé nochtli en mexicain, car le nom de tuna … est tiré de la langue des insulaires de l’île de Cuba…. On a aussi prétendu que le véritable nom de Mexico était Quauhnochtitlan, ce qui veut dire Figuier de l’Aigle…. D’autres, enfin, prétendent que ce figuier d’Inde n’était pas un nochtli proprement dit, mais d’une espèce sauvage qu’on appelle tenochtli, ou de celle que les naturels nomment teonochtli ou figure divine.’ ‘Elle avait pris du dieu Mexix celui de Mexico.’ Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcix., pp. 174-5. ‘Los Indios, dezian; y dizen oy Mexico Tenuchtitlan; y assi se pone en las Prouisiones Reales.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xiv. ‘Tenoxtitlàn, que significa, Tunal en piedra.’ Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 466. The natives ‘ni llaman Mexico, sino Tenuchtitlan.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 293. ‘Tenuchtitlan, que significa fruta de piedra.’ ‘Tambien dizen algunos, que tuuo esta ciudad nombre de su primer fundador, que fue Tenuch, hijo segundo de Iztacmixcoatl, cuyos hijos y decendientes poblaron … esta tierra…. Tampoco falta quien piense que se dixo de la grana, que llaman Nuchiztli, la qual sale del mesmo cardon nopal y fruta nuchtli…. Tambien afirman otros que se llama Mexico de los primeros fundadores que se dixeron Mexiti.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 113-15; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 180; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 168-9. ‘Tenochtitlan, c’est-à-dire, auprès des nopals du rocher.’ ‘Ti-tlan est pris pour le lieu.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 446-9. It seems that about the year 1325 the Aztecs, weary of their unsettled condition and hard pressed by the Culhuas, sought the marshy western shore of the lake of Mexico. Here, on the swamp of Tlalcocomocco, they came upon a stone, upon which it was said a Mexican priest had forty years before sacrificed a certain prince Copil. From this stone had sprung a nopal, upon which, at the time it was seen by the Mexican advance guard, sat an eagle, holding in his beak a serpent. Impelled by a divine power, a priest dived into a pool near the stone, and there had an interview with Tlaloc, god of waters,[680]He is also termed god of the earth in the fable. who gave his permission to the people to settle on the spot.[681]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 91-4, 289-91; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 443-9. Another legend relates that Huitzilopochtli appeared to a priest in a dream, and told him to search for a nopal growing out of a stone in the lake with an eagle and serpent upon it, and there found a city.[682]Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 465-7. See also Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 167-8. Nearly all the authors give the whole of the above meanings, without deciding upon any one.

The temple, at first a mere hut, was the first building erected, and by trading fish and fowl for stone, they were soon enabled to form a considerable town about it. Piles were driven into the soft bottom of the lake, and the intermediate spaces filled with stones, branches, and earth, to serve as a foundation for houses.[683]Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 313; Heredia y Sarmiento, Sermon, p. 95.

Each succeeding ruler took pains to extend and beautify the city. Later on, Tlatelulco,[684]It means islet, from tlatelli, island. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xiv. Veytia says it is a corruption of xaltelolco, sandy ground. Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 141; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 115. which had early separated from Mexico Tenochtitlan, was reunited to it by king Axayacatl, which greatly increased the size of the latter city. Tezcuco is said to have exceeded it in size and in the culture of its people, but from its important position, imposing architecture, and general renown, Mexico Tenochtitlan stood preëminent. A number of surrounding towns and villages formed the suburbs of the city, as Aztacalco, Acatlan, Malcuitlapilco, Atenco, Iztacalco, Zancopinco, Huitznahuac, Xocotitlan or Xocotlan, Coltonco, Necatitlan, Huitzitlan, etc.[685]Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. ii., p. 218; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 5. The circumference of the city has been estimated at about twelve miles, and the number of houses at sixty thousand, which would give a population of three hundred thousand.[686]The Anonymous Conqueror says two and a half to three leagues in circumference, which is accepted by most authors. Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 309. But as the embankment which formed a semi-circle round the town was three leagues in length, the circumference of the city would not have been less. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 4. Cortés says that it was as large as Seville or Cordova. Cartas, p. 103. Aylon, in Id., p. 43, places the number of houses as low as 30,000. Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. l., who is usually so extravagant in his descriptions, confines himself to ‘mas de cincuenta mil casas.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 113, 60,000, each of which contained two to ten occupants. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 291, places the number as high as 120,000, which may include outlying suburbs. The size and business of the markets, the remains of ruins to be seen round modern Mexico, and its fame, sustain the idea of a very large population. It was situated in the salty part of the lake of Mexico, fifteen miles west of its celebrated rival Tezcuco, about one mile from the eastern shore, and close to the channel through which the volumes of the sweet water lake pour into the briny waters of the lake of Mexico, washing, in their outward flow, the southern and western parts of the city. The waters have, however, evaporated considerably since the time of the Aztecs, and left the modern Mexico some distance from the beach.[687]See Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. ii., pp. 216-17, on former and present surroundings. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xiv.; Cortés, Cartas, p. 103.

CITIES OF ANÁHUAC.

Fifty other towns, many of them consisting of over three thousand dwellings, were scattered on and around the lake, the shallow waters of which were skimmed by two hundred thousand canoes.[688]Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 115. Four grand avenues, paved with a smooth, hard crust of cement,[689]‘Erano … di terra come mattonata.’ Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 309; Prescott’s Mex., vol. ii., p. 110. ran east, west, north, and south, crosswise, forming the boundary lines of four quarters; at the meeting-point of these was the grand temple-court. Three of these roads connected in a straight line with large causeways leading from the city to the lake shores; constructed by driving in piles, filling up the intervening spaces with earth, branches, and stones, and covering the surface with stone secured by mortar. They were broad enough to allow ten horsemen to ride abreast with ease, and were defended by drawbridges and breastworks.[690]‘Fueron hechas à mano, de Tierra, y Cespedes, y mui quajadas de Piedra; son anchas, que pueden pasar por cada vna de ellas, tres Carretas juntas, ò diez Hombres à Caballo.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 292; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. l.; Prescott’s Mex., vol. ii., p. 69; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. ii., p. 217. ‘Tan ancha como dos lanzas jinetas.’ Cortés, Cartas, p. 103. He mentions four causeways or entrances, but this must include either the branch which joins the southern road, or the aqueduct. ‘Pueden ir por toda ello ocho de caballo á la par.’ Id., p. 83.The view of Mexico published in the Luxemburg edition of Cortés, Cartas, points to four causeways besides the aqueduct, but little reliance can be placed on these fanciful cuts. Helps thinks, however, that there must have been more causeways than are mentioned by the conquerors. Span. Conq., vol. ii., pp. 456, 472. ‘Entrano in essa per tre strade alte di pietra & di terra, ciascuna larga trenta passi.’ Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 309. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 4. ‘Las puentes que tenian hechas de trecho á trecho.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 70.

The southern road, two leagues in length, commenced half a league from Iztapalapan, and was bordered on one side by Mexicaltzinco, a town of about four thousand houses, and on the other, first by Coyuhuacan with six thousand, and further on by Huitzilopochco with five thousand dwellings. Half a league before reaching the city this causeway was joined by the Xoloc road, coming from Xochimilco, the point of junction being defended by a fort named Acachinanco, which consisted of two turrets surrounded by a battlemented wall, eleven or twelve feet high, and was provided with two gates, through which the road passed.[691]‘Dos puertas, una por do entran y otra por do salen.’ Cortés, Cartas, p. 84, which means, no doubt, that passengers had to pass through the fort. He calls the second town along the road Niciaca, and the third Huchilohuchico. Brasseur de Bourbourg states that within the fort was a teocalli dedicated to Toci, on which a beacon blazed all night to guide travelers. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., pp. 209-10. But this is a mistake, for Tezozomoc, Hist. Mex., pt ii., p. 184, his authority for this, says that the beacon was at a hill ‘avant d’arriver à Acuchinanco.’ The northern road led from Tepeyacac, about a league off; the western, from Tlacopan, half a league distant; this road was bordered with houses as far as the shore.[692]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 292; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. l.; Cortés, Cartas, p. 84. The Anonymous Conqueror calls them two leagues, one league and a half, and a quarter of a league long respectively. Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 309; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 4, makes the shortest a league. A fourth causeway from Chapultepec served to support the aqueduct which supplied the city with water.[693]‘Habia otra algo mas estrecha para los dos acueductos.’ Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. ii., p. 217.

Quarters and Wards of Mexico

The names of the four quarters of the city, which were thus disposed according to divine command, were Tlaquechiuhcan, Cuecopan, or Quepopan, now Santa María, lying between the northern and western avenues; Atzacualco, now San Sebastian, between the eastern and northern; Teopan, now San Pablo, between the eastern and southern; and Moyotlan, or Mayotla, now San Juan, between the western and southern; these, again, were divided into a number of wards.[694]In Tezcuco the wards were each occupied by a distinct class of tradespeople, and this was doubtless the case in Mexico also, to a certain extent. ‘Cada Oficio se vsase en Barrios de por sì; de suerte, que los que eran Plateros de Oro, avian de estàr juntos, y todos los de aquel Barrio, lo avian de ser, y no se avian de mezclar otros con ellos; y los de Plata, en otro Barrio,’ etc. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 147; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 3; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. ii., p. 218. Owing to the position of the city in the midst of the lake, traffic was chiefly conducted by means of canals, which led into almost every ward, and had on one or both sides quays for the reception and landing of goods and passengers. Many of these were provided with basins and locks to retain the water within them;[695]‘Al rededor de la ciudad habia muchos diques y esclusas para contener las aguas en caso necesario … no pocas que tenian en medio una acequia entre dos terraplenes.’ Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. ii., pp. 218-19. while at the mouth were small buildings which served as offices for the custom-house officials. Bridges, many of which were upwards of thirty feet wide, and could be drawn up so as to cut off communication between the different parts, connected the numerous cross-streets and lanes, some of which were mere dry and paved canals.[696]‘Hay sus puentes de muy anchas y muy grandes vigas juntas y recias y bien labradas; y tales, que por muchas dellas pueden pasar diez de caballo juntos á la par.’ In case of necessity ‘quitadas las puentes de las entradas y salidas.’ With this facility for cutting off retreat, Cortés found it best to construct brigantines. Cartas, p. 103; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 187; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 73. ‘Otra Calle avia … mui angosta, y tanto, que apenas podian ir dos Personas juntas, son finalmente vnos Callejones mui estrechos.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 291; Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 309; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xiii.

The chief resort of the people was the levee which stretched in a semi-circle round the southern part of the city, forming a harbor from half to three quarters of a league in breadth. Here during the day the merchants bustled about the cargoes and the custom-houses, while at night the promenaders resorted there to enjoy the fresh breezes from the lake. The construction of this embankment was owing to an inundation which did serious harm during the reign of Montezuma I. This energetic monarch at once took steps to prevent a recurrence of the catastrophe, and called upon the neighboring towns to assist with people and material in the construction of an outer wall, to check and turn aside the waters of the fresh lake, which, after the heavy rains of winter, rushed in volumes upon the city as they sought the lower salt lake. The length of the levee was about three leagues, and its breadth thirty feet. In 1498, fifty-two years after its construction, it was further strengthened and enlarged.[697]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 157-8. It is here said to be four fathoms broad. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 231-2; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., p. 32; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt ii., p. 255, says: ‘Reste des … gegen 39,400 Fuss langen and 65 Fuss breiten Dammes aus Steinen in Lehm, zu beiden Seiten mit Pallisaden verbrämt.’

Although the Spaniards met with no very imposing edifices as they passed along to the central part of the city where the temple stood, yet they must have found enough to admire in the fine smooth streets, the neat though low stone buildings surmounted by parapets which but half concealed the flowers behind them, the elegantly arranged gardens, gorgeous with the flora of the tropics, the broad squares, the lofty temples, and the canals teeming with canoes.

Among the public edifices, the markets are especially worthy of note. The largest, in Mexico Tenochtitlan, was twice as large as the square of Salamanca, says Cortés, and was surrounded by porticoes, in and about which from sixty thousand to one hundred thousand buyers and sellers found room.[698]Cortés, Cartas, p. 103; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 116; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 299; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 608. The market-place at Tlatelulco was still larger, and in the midst of it was a square stone terrace, fifteen feet high and thirty feet long, which served as a theatre.[699]‘Cosi grande come sarebbe tre volte la piazza di Salamanca.’ Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 309; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 181.

Fountains and Aqueducts

The numerous fountains which adorned the city were fed by the aqueduct which brought water from the hill of Chapultepec, about two miles off, and was constructed upon a causeway of solid masonry five feet high and five feet broad, running parallel to the Tlacopan road.[700]The Anonymous Conqueror states that this road carried the aqueduct which was three quarters of a league in length. Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 309; Cortés, Cartas, p. 108; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 4; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 207; Prescott’s Mex., vol. ii., p. 114. This aqueduct consisted of two pipes of masonry, each carrying a volume of water equal in bulk to a man’s body,[701]‘Los caños, que eran de madera y de cal y canto.’ Cortés, Cartas, pp. 209, 108; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 304. Other writers make the pipes larger. ‘Tan gordos como vn buey cada vno.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 113. ‘Tan anchas como tres hombres juntos y mas.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. l. which was conducted by branch pipes to different parts of the town to supply fountains, tanks, ponds, and baths. At the different canal-bridges there were reservoirs, into which the pipes emptied on their course, and here the boatmen who made it a business to supply the inhabitants with water received their cargoes on the payment of a fixed price. A vigilant police watched over the distribution of the water and the care of the pipes, only one of which was in use at a time, while the other was cleansed.[702]Cortés, Cartas, p. 108, says ‘echan la dulce por unas canales tan gruesas como un buey, que son de la longura de las dichas puentes.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 207; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. l.; Prescott’s Mex., vol. ii., p. 114; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 664. The supply was obtained from a fine spring on the summit of Mount Chapultepec, which was guarded by two figures cut in the solid stone, representing Montezuma and his father, armed with lances and shields.[703]Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 113; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xiii. The present aqueduct was partly reconstructed by Montezuma II. on the old one erected by the first king of that name. Its inauguration was attended by imposing ceremonies, offerings of quails, and burning of incense.[704]Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 500-1; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 207; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 4.

During Ahuitzotl’s reign, an attempt was made to bring water into the city from an immense spring at Coyuhuacan. The lord of that place consented, as became a loyal vassal, to let the water go, but predicted disastrous consequences to the city from the overflow which would be sure to follow if the water were taken there. This warning, however, so enraged the king that he ordered the execution of the noble, and immediately levied men and material from the neighboring towns to build the aqueduct. The masons and laborers swarmed like ants and soon finished the work. When everything was ready, a grand procession of priests, princes, nobles, and plebeians marched forth to open the gates of the aqueduct and receive the waters into the city. Speeches were made, slaves and children were sacrificed, the wealthy cast precious articles into the rolling waters with words of thanks and welcome. But the hour of sorrow was at hand. The prediction of the dead lord was fulfilled; the waters, once loosed, could not be fettered again; a great part of the city was inundated and much damage was done. Then the distracted king called once more upon the neighboring towns to furnish men, but this time to tear down instead of to build up.[705]Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. ii., cap. xlviii., xlix.

LIGHTHOUSES AND STREET-WORK.

Among the arrangements for the convenience of the public may be mentioned lighthouses to guide the canoes which brought supplies to the great metropolis. These were erected at different points upon towers and heights; the principal one seems to have been on Mount Tocitlan, where a wooden turret was erected to hold the flaming beacon.[706]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 427, tom. iv., pp. 209-10; Tezozomoc, Hist. Mex., tom. ii., p. 184. The streets were also lighted by burning braziers placed at convenient intervals, which were tended by the night patrol. A force of over a thousand men kept the canals in order, swept the streets and sprinkled them several times a day.[707]Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 319; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 206, 460. Public closets were placed at distances along the canals.[708]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 7. ‘En todos los caminos que tenian hechos de cañas, ò paja, ò yervas, porque no los viessen los que passasen por ellos, y alli se metian, si tenian gana de purgar los vientres, porque no se les perdiesse aquella suciedad.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 70. The care of buildings also received the attention of the government, and every eleventh month was devoted to repairing and cleaning the temples, public edifices, and roads generally.[709]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 298. The authorities for the description of the city are: Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 309, and in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 390-2, with plans; Cortés, Cartas, pp. 43, 83-4, 102-9, 209; Id., Despatches, p. 333, plan; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 70-3; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i. pp. 91-4, 147, 157-8, 206-7, 288-98, 306-7, 460; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 465-8, 500-1; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 180-3, 187-8;Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. l.; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 113-16; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 283-4, 299, 305; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 141; Ortega, in Id., tom. iii., p. 319; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xiii., xiv., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xi.; Id., (Translation, Lond. 1725), vol. ii., p. 372, vol. iii., p. 194, view and plan; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcix., pp. 174-5; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 168-9; Heredia y Sarmiento, Sermon, pp. 95-6; Tezozomoc, Hist. Mex., tom. ii., p. 184; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 81, 238-9; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 443-9, tom. iii., pp. 231-2, 427, tom. iv., pp. 3-7, 209-10; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 310-14, 664, tom. ii., pp. 216-28, with plan; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 16-17, vol. ii., pp. 69, 76-86; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt ii., p. 255; Alaman, Disertaciones, tom. i., p. 184-8; Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. ii., pp. 310-14, 456, 471-2, 490-1, with plans; Carli, Cartas, pt i., pp. 35-6; Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. x. A number of towns on the lake were built on piles, in imitation of Mexico, chiefly for the sake of security. Thus, Iztapalapan stood half on land, half over the water, and Ayotzinco was founded entirely on piles, and had canals instead of streets.[710]Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. ii., p. 197; Prescott’s Mex., vol. ii., p. 69.

Other towns had recourse to strong walls and deep ditches to secure their protection. Tlascala especially was well defended from its ancient Aztec enemy, by a wall of stone and mortar[711]Cortés says ‘piedra seca.’ Cartas, p. 60, but this is contradicted by Bernal Diaz, who found it to be of stone and mortar. Hist. Conq., fol. 43. ‘Sin mezcla de cal ni barro.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. iv. which stretched for six miles across a valley, from mountain to mountain, and formed the boundary line of the republic. This wall was nine feet high, twenty feet broad,[712]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 150, gives the measurement at eight feet in height and eighteen in width. and surmounted by a breastwork a foot and a half in thickness, behind which the defenders could stand while fighting. The only entrance was in the centre, where the walls did not meet, but described a semi-circle, one overlapping the other, with a space ten paces wide and forty long between them.[713]Cortés, Cartas, p. 60; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 43; West-Indische Spieghel, pp. 225-6. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 150, with a cut. The other side also was defended by breastworks and ditches.[714]Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., p. 186. The city itself stood upon four hills, and was crossed by narrow streets,[715]Delaporte says that streets met on the hills. Reisen, tom. x., p. 256. the houses being scattered in irregular groups. In size it was even larger than Granada, says Cortés, which is not unlikely, for the market had accommodation for thirty thousand people, and in one of the temples four hundred Spaniards with their attendants found ample room.[716]Cortés, Cartas, p. 67; Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 308; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xii. At Huejutla there was a curious wall of masonry, the outside of which was faced with small blocks of tetzontli, each about nine inches in diameter on the face, which was rounded; the end of each block was pointed, and inserted in the wall.[717]Cortés, Cartas, p. 171. See Warden, Recherches, pp. 67-8, on fortifications. In Michoacan, some towns had walls of planks two fathoms high and one broad. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. iii.

The City of Tezcuco

The city next in fame and rank to Mexico Tenochtitlan was Tezcuco,[718]Meaning place of detention, because here the immigrating tribes used to halt, while deciding upon their settlement. Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 214. which Torquemada affirms contained one hundred and forty thousand houses within a circumference of from three to four leagues.[719]Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. xlix., says that it was nearly as large as Mexico. Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 115. Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 182, gives it a league in width and six in length. Peter Martyr, dec. viii., lib. iv., gives it 20,000 houses. Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 87-8, estimates it at 30,000 houses, and thinks that Torquemada must have included the three outlying towns to attain his figure. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 304. It was divided into six divisions, and crossed by a series of fine straight streets lined with elegant buildings. The old palace stood on the border of the lake upon a triple terrace, guarding the town, as it were; the newer structure, in the construction of which two hundred thousand men had been employed, stood at the northern end; it was a magnificent building and contained three hundred rooms. This city was the seat of refinement and elegance, and occupied relatively the same position in Mexico as Paris does in Europe.[720]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., pp. 89-90, 303-4; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 87-8; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 242-4. For further references to Mexican towns, forts, etc., see: Cortés, Cartas, pp. 24, 57-60, 67-8, 74-5, 92-3, 153, 171, 186, 196; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 43; Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 308; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., pp. 214, 242, 251-2, 257; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. xlix.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 251-2, 304, 449-50; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 26, 51, 115; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. v., cap. viii., lib. vi., cap. iv., xii., xvi., lib. vii., cap. iv., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. iii.; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 150, with cut; Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. iv., vii., dec. viii., lib. iv.; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 283; West-Indische Spieghel, pp. 221, 225-6; Bologne, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 212; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 236; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., p. 186; Delaporte, Reisen, tom. x., p. 256; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 87-8, 259, 663, tom. ii., pp. 51, 161; Warden, Recherches, pp. 67-8; Prescott’s Mex., vol. ii., p. 65; Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. ii., p. 296; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., pp. 240, 243.

Dwellings of the Richer Classes

The style of architecture for houses did not exhibit much variety; the difference between one house and another being chiefly in extent and material.[721]Las Casas states that when a warrior distinguished himself abroad he was allowed to build his house in the style used by the enemy, a privilege allowed to none else. Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxvi. The dwellings of the nobles were situated upon terraces of various heights, which in swampy places like Mexico, rested upon tiers of heavy piles.[722]‘I fondamenti delle case grandi della Capitale si gettavano a cagione della poca sodezza di quel terreno sopra un piano di grosse stanghe di cedro ficcate in terra.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 202. ‘Porque la humedad no les causase enfermedad, alzaban los aposentos hasta un estado poco mas ó menos, y así quedaban como entresuelos.’ Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 121. Speaking of Cempoalla, Peter Martyr says: ‘Vnto these houses or habitations they ascend by 10. or 12. steppes or stayres.’ Dec. iv., tom. vii. The floor of the palace at Mitla consisted of slabs of stone three feet thick, which rested on ten feet piles. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 26. Houses with elevated terraces were only allowed to chiefs. Tezozomoc, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 188. They were usually a group of buildings in the form of a parallelogram, built of stone or in Mexico of tetzontli, joined with fine cement, and finely polished and whitewashed.[723]Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. xlix. This mode of whitewashing the walls and polishing them with gypsum seems to have been very common in all parts of Mexico, for we repeatedly meet with mentions of the dazzling white walls, like silver, which the Spaniards noticed all through their march. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 251; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 202. Every house stood by itself, separated from its neighbor by narrow lanes, and enclosed one or more courts which extended over a large space of ground.[724]In Cempoalla, says Peter Martyr, ‘none may charge his neighbours wall with beames or rafters. All the houses are seperated the distance of 3. paces asunder.’ Dec. iv., lib. vii. Cortés, Cartas, p. 24, mentions as many as five courts. One story was the most common form, and there are no accounts of any palaces or private houses exceeding two stories.[725]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 291; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. l.; Prescott’s Mex., vol. ii., pp. 76-7; Chevalier, Mex., Ancien et Mod., p. 173. ‘N’avaient guère qu’un étage, à cause de la fréquence des tremblement de terre.’ Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., p. 173. Broad steps led up the terrace to two gates which gave entrance to the courts; one opening upon the main street, the other upon the back lane, or canal, that often lay beneath it. The terrace platform of the houses of chiefs often had a wide walk round it and was especially spacious in front, where there was occasionally a small oratorio facing the entrance. This style was particularly noticed on the east coast.[726]Cortés, Cartas, p. 24. The court was surrounded by numerous porticoes decorated with porphyry, jasper, and alabaster ornaments, which, again, led to various chambers, and halls, lighted by large windows. Two great halls and several reception-rooms were situated in front; the sleeping-chambers, kitchen, baths, and store-rooms were in the rear, forming at times quite a complicated labyrinth.[727]Chaves, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., p. 328. The palace at Tecpeque, says Las Casas, was a very labyrinth, in which visitors were liable to lose themselves without a guide. In the palace allotted to Cortés at Mexico he found comfortable quarters for 400 of his own men, 2000 allies, and a number of attendants. Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lii., l. ‘Auia salas con sus camaras, que cabia cada vno en su cama, ciento y cincuenta Castellanos.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. v. ‘Intorno d’una gran corti fossero prima grandissime sale & stantie, però v’era vna sala cosi grande che vi poteano star dentro senza dar l’un fastidio all’altro piu di tre mila persone.’ Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 309. The court was paved with flags of stone, tessellated marble, or hard cement, polished with ochre or gypsum,[728]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 200, 202; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 251. and usually contained a sparkling fountain; occasionally there was a flower-garden, in which a pyramidal altar gave an air of sanctity to the place.[729]Tezozomoc, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 188, says that chiefs were permitted to erect towers pierced with arrows in the courtyard. Prescott’s Mex., vol. ii., p. 120. The houses were often quite surrounded with trees. West-Indische Spieghel, p. 220. The stairway which led to the second story or to the roof, was often on the outside of the house, and by its grand proportions and graceful form contributed not a little to the good appearance of the house.[730]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 656. The roof was a flat terrace of beams, with a slight slope towards the back,[731]Tylor’s Anahuac, pp. 135-6. covered with a coat of cement or clay,[732]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 291. Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. l., says: ‘Encalados por encima, que no se pueden llover.’ ‘Couered with reede, thatch, or marish sedge: yet many of them are couered with slate, or shingle stone.’ Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. vii., dec. v., lib. x. and surrounded by a battlemented parapet, surmounted at times by small turrets.[733]Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. iv., dec. v., lib. x.; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. ii., p. 219. There were generally flowers in pots upon the roofs, or even a small garden; and here the members of the household assembled in the cool of the evening to enjoy the fresh air and charming prospect.[734]Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. ii., p. 314.Some houses had galleries, which, like most work added to the main structure, were of wood,[735]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 658. though supported upon columns of marble, porphyry, or alabaster. These pillars were either round or square, and were generally monoliths; they were without base or capital, though ornamented with figures cut in low relief. Buildings were further adorned with elegant cornices and stucco designs of flowers and animals, which were often painted with brilliant colors. Prominent among these figures was the coiling serpent before mentioned. Lintels and door-posts were also elaborately carved.[736]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 200-2; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., pp. 173-4; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 662-3, 665.

The interior displayed the same rude magnificence. The floors were covered with hard, smooth cement like the courtyard and streets, rubbed with ochre or gypsum, and polished.[737]‘Eran los Patios, y Suelos de ellos, de argamasa, y despues de encalados, cubrian la superficie, y haz, con Almagre, y despues bruñianlos, con vnos guijarros, y piedras mui lisas, y quedaban con tan buena tèz, y tan hermosamente bruñidos, que no podia estarlo mas vn Plato de Plata; pues como fuese de mañana, y el Sol començase à derramar, y esparcir la Lumbre de sus Raios, y començasen à reberverar en los Suelos, encendianlos de manera, que à quien llevaba tan buen deseo, y ansia de haber Oro, y Plata, le pudo parecer, que era Oro el Suelo; y es mui cierto, que los suelos de las Casas, y de los Patios (en especial, de los Templos, y de los Señores, y Personas Principales) se hacian, y adereçaban, en aquellos Tiempos, tales, que eran mui de vèr, y algunos de estos hemos visto tan lisos, y limpios, que sin asco se podia comer en ellos, sin Manteles, qualquier Manjar.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 251-2; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. xlix. The glossy walls were painted and hung with cotton or feather tapestry, to which Las Casas adds silver plating and jewels. The furniture was scanty. It consisted chiefly of soft mats and cushions of palm-leaves or fur, low tables, and small stools with palm-leaf backs. The beds were mats piled one upon another, with a block or a palm-leaf or cotton cushion for a pillow; occasionally they were furnished with coverlets and canopies of cotton or feather-work.[738]‘Toldillos encima.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 66. Vases filled with smoldering incense diffused their perfume through the chambers. The rooms which were used in winter were provided with hearths and fire-screens, and were lighted by torches.[739]Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. l.; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 318; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 66, 68; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. v., vii.; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., pp. 174-5; Cortés, Cartas, pp. 79, 174-5. Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 15-16, mentions stools of cane and reed; and firebugs which were used for lights. There were no doors, properly called such, to the houses, but where privacy was required, a bamboo or wicker-work screen was suspended across the entrance, and secured at night with a bar. To this was attached a string of shells, which the visitor rattled to call the host or his attendants to the entrance. The interior rooms were separated by hangings, which probably also served to cover the windows of ordinary dwellings,[740]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 381; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 201; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 662. ‘No ay puertas ni ventanas que cerrar, todo es abierto.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 318. although the transparent tecali stone, as before stated, answered the purpose of window-glass in certain parts of some of the temples.[741]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 8.

Houses of the Lower Classes

The houses of the poorer classes were built of adobe, wood, cane, or reeds and stones, mixed with mud, well plastered and polished,[742]Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xii.; Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. x.; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. xlix-l.; Prescott’s Mex., vol. ii., p. 76. and, in Mexico, raised on stone foundations, to prevent dampness,[743]Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. x. though the elevation was less than that of the houses of the richer people. They were generally of an oblong shape, were divided into several apartments, and occasionally had a gallery in front. They could not afford a central court, but had instead a flower or vegetable garden wherever space permitted. Terrace roofs were not uncommon in the towns, but more generally the houses of the poorer people were thatched with a kind of long thick grass, or with overlapping maguey-leaves.[744]Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 199; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 200; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 318; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 657; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 661-2.

Besides the oratory and storehouse with which most houses were provided, a temazcalli, or bath, was generally added to the dwelling. This, according to Clavigero, consisted of a hemisphere of adobe, having a slightly convex paved floor sunk a little below the level of the surrounding ground. The entrance was a small hole just large enough to admit a man. On the outside of the bath-house, and on the opposite side to the entrance, was a furnace made of stone or brick, separated from the interior by a thin slab of tetzontli, or other porous stone, through which the heat was communicated. On entering, the door was closed, and the suffocating vapors were allowed to escape slowly through a small opening in the top. The largest bath-houses were eight feet in diameter, and six feet in height. Some were mere square chambers without a furnace, and were doubtless heated and the fire raked out before the bather entered.[745]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 214-15, with cut; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 662, 671-2, with cut. The poorer had doubtless resort to public baths; they certainly existed in Tlascala. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xvi.; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., p. 240.

The storehouses and granaries which were attached to farms, temples, and palaces, were usually square buildings of oxametl-wood, with thatched roofs. The logs had notches near the ends to give them a secure hold. Two windows, or doors, one above the other, gave access to the interior, which was often large enough to contain many thousand bushels of grain.[746]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 155; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 635; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 564. For description of houses, see: Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 251-2, 291, tom. ii., pp. 381, 564; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xii., xvi., lib. vii., cap. v.; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 155, 200-2, 214-15, with cut; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. xlix.-lii.; Cortés, Cartas, p. 24; Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 309; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 66, 68; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 318; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 199; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 121; Tezozomoc, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 188; Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. iv., vii., dec. v., cap. x.; Chaves, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., p. 328; West-Indische Spieghel, p. 221; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 26, 222, 635, 656-8, iv., p. 8; Prescott’s Mex., vol. ii., pp. 76-7, 120; Chevalier, Mex., Ancien et Mod., p. 31; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., pp. 173-5, 240; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 661-3, 671-2, with cut, tom. ii., p. 219; Tylor’s Anahuac, pp. 135-6; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 15-16.

Aztec Gardens

Love of flowers was a passion with the Aztecs, and they bestowed great care upon the cultivation of gardens. The finest and largest of these were at Iztapalapan and Huastepec. The garden at Iztapalapan was divided into four squares, each traversed by shaded walks, meandering among fruit-trees, blossoming hedges, and borders of sweet herbs.[747]‘El anden, hácia la pared de la huerta, va todo labrado de cañas con unas vergas.’ Cortés, Cartas, p. 83. In the centre of the garden was an immense reservoir of hewn stone, four hundred paces square, and fed by navigable canals. A tiled pavement,[748]‘Un anden de muy buen suelo ladrillado.’ Cortés, Cartas, p. 83. wide enough for four persons walking abreast, surrounded the reservoir, and at intervals steps led down to the water, upon the surface of which innumerable water-fowl sported. A large pavilion, with halls and corridors, overlooked the grounds.[749]Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 283; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 636; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 156.

The Huastepec garden was two leagues in circuit, and was situated on a stream; it contained an immense variety of plants and trees, to which additions were continually made.[750]Cortés, Cartas, p. 196; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 157. The chinampas, or floating gardens, have been described elsewhere.[751]See this vol., p. 345.

The Mexicans required no solid roads for heavy traffic, since goods were carried upon the shoulders of slaves, but a number of pathways crossed the country in various directions, which underwent repair every year on the cessation of the rains. Here and there country roads crossed streams by means of suspension-bridges, or fixed structures mostly of wood, but sometimes of stone, with small spans. The suspension-bridges were made of ropes, twisted canes, or tough branches, attached to trees and connected by a netting. The Spaniards were rather fearful of crossing them, on account of their swinging motion when stepped upon and the gaping rents in them.[752]‘Hay sus puentes de muy anchas y muy grandes vigas juntas y recias y bien labradas; y tales, que por muchas dellas pueden pasar diez de caballo juntos á la par.’ Cortés, Cartas, p. 103. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 632, says that stone bridges were most common, which is doubtless a mistake. Speaking of swinging bridges, Klemm says: ‘Manche waren so fest angespannt, dass sie gar keine schwankende Bewegung hatten.’ Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., p. 75; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 169.

Almost the only specimen of Nahua architecture which has withstood the ravages of time until our day is the temple structure, teocalli, ‘house of God,’ or teopan, ‘place of God,’ of which Torquemada asserts there were at least forty thousand in Mexico. Clavigero regards this as a good deal below the real number, and if we consider the extremely religious character of the people, and accept the statements of the early chroniclers, who say that at distances of from a quarter to half a league, in every town and village, were open places containing one or more temples,[753]‘En los mismos patios de los pueblos principales habia otros cada doce ó quince teocallis harto grandes, unos mayores que otros.’ Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 64.’Entre quatro, ó cinco barrios tenian vn Adoratorio, y sus idolos.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 72. and on every isolated rock or hill, along the country roads, even in the fields, were substantial structures devoted to some idol, then Clavigero’s assertion may be correct.[754]Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 84-6; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 141; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxiv.; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 35.

The larger temples were usually built upon pyramidal parallelograms, square, or oblong, and consisted of a series of superimposed terraces with perpendicular or sloping sides.[755]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 26, 34, cuts; Herrera, Hist. Gen., (Translation, Lond. 1725), vol. ii., pp. 372, 378, cuts. The celebrated temple at Mexico forms a fair type of the latter kind and its detailed description will give the best idea of this class of edifices.

Temple of HuitziloPochtli, The Great Temple of Mexico, The Sacrificial Stone

Besides this there were several other temples and public oratories in the city, situated either in groups within a square, or scattered throughout the wards, and attended to by their special priests and servants. Torquemada thinks that their number equaled the days in the Aztec year, namely, three hundred and sixty, and Clavigero believes that there were two thousand chapels besides.[800]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 145; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 33. Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 120, says that there were 2000 idols, each of which is supposed to have had a separate chapel. Cavo, Tres Siglos, tom. i., p. 2; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxxii.; in cap. cxxiv., he adds that 100 of these were great temples.

The temples in other towns were pretty much like the foregoing, three being usually grouped around a central pyramid in a square, each with its idol and one or two braziers. Others were mounds of earth cased with stone, with one broad stairway in the centre of the western side, or with steps on three sides, sometimes at each corner.[801]Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 120. Some temple pyramids, says Dávila Padilla, formed a perfect cone, the casing being composed of large stones at the bottom; as the wall rose, the stones decreased in size; the summit was crowned with a precious stone. Hist. Fvnd. Mex., p. 75; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 72. The chapels on the platform were usually two or three stories in height, often provided with balconies, the whole edifice being plastered and polished.[802]‘Los grandes tenian tres sobrados encima de los altares, todos de terrados y bien altos.’ Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 64; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxiv.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 141.

Teocalli at Cholula and Tezcuco

The pyramid at Mexico, large as it was, did not equal that at Cholula, which Humboldt estimates at five thousand seven hundred and sixty feet in circumference and one hundred and seventy-seven feet in height. It consisted of four square terraces facing the cardinal points, which seem to have been composed of alternate layers of adobe and clay, and was surrounded by a double wall, according to Diaz. On the top stood the semi-spherical chapel of Quetzalcoatl, with its door made low so that all who entered should bend in humility.[803]Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxiv.; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., pp. 239-40; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 33-4. Bernal Diaz counted 120 steps, which scarcely agrees with the height of the pyramid. Hist. Conq., fol. 72. Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 390-1, mentions 60 steps only. ‘Alto bien mas de quarenta estados: fue hecho de Adove, y Piedra.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 281. Montanus adds that on the summit stood a square structure, supported by 28 pillars, within which were thousands of skulls; he mentions two chapels. Nieuwe Weereld, p. 236. It had 1508 steps; in the wall was a large diamond. West-Indische Spieghel, p. 238. This city contained, besides, a great number of smaller temples, the total equaling the number of days in the Mexican year.[804]Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. xlix. Some of these had two chapels, which would make the number of towers about 400. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. ii. The temple at Tezcuco was also several steps higher than the Mexican pyramid.[805]Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 245. The description of the temple as given by this writer is almost identical with that of the great temple at Mexico. Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 72; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 305. King Nezahualcoyotl, who is said to have believed in one supreme god, erected in his honor a nine-story building, to indicate the nine heavens, the roof of which was studded with stars and surmounted by three pinnacles; the interior was decorated with gold and feather-work and precious stones. The upper floor was a receptacle for musical instruments, from one of which, the chililitli, the edifice was named.[806]Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 257. The traditional temples of early times, very fairy creations according to the accounts of the natives, were far superior to the later ones; but these relations are little more than supernatural fables.[807]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 107-8. Further authorities on Mexican buildings: Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. iv-v., viii-xi., xiii-xviii., dec. iii., lib. i., cap. viii., lib. ii., cap. xi., xv.; Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. ii-iii., viii., x., dec. viii., lib. iv.; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 84-7, 121; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 155; Zuazo, Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 359, 362; West-Indische Spieghel, pp. 240-8; Munster, Cosmographia, p. 1410; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 80-5, 235-7, 242-3; Cortés, Aven. y Conq., pp. 120, 128-33; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., pp. 123-7, 172-5, 252-3, 258-9, 266; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 31-2, 75, 84-5, 97-9, 152-62; Monglave, Résumé, pp. 20-1, 24-5, 36-7; Touron, Hist. Gén., tom. iii., pp. 40-8; Cooper’s Hist. N. Amer., pt ii., p. 164; Lafond, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 106-7; Brownell’s Ind. Races, pp. 92-5; Ranking’s Hist. Researches, pp. 336-7; Domenech, Mexique, pp. 70-2; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 391; Dilworth’s Conq. Mex., pp. 64, 70-1; Lenoir, Parallèle, pp. 20-1; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 55-7; Chevalier, Mex., Ancien et Mod., pp. 30-3; Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., pp. 1033, 1123-4, 1133.

Footnotes

[663] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iv., p. 212; Diaz, Itinéraire, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 27; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 658.

[664] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 658.

[665] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 274. Sahagun, in describing how the people raised a mast to the god of fire, says: ‘Atábanle diez maromas por la mitad de él … y como le iban levantando, ponianle unos maderos atados de dos en dos, y unos puntales sobre que descanzase.’ Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 143.

[666] Herrera, Hist. Gen., (Translation, Lond. 1726), vol. iii., p. 280.

[667] Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 663; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 201-2.

[668] Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 63; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 201.

[669] ‘With their Copper Hatchets, and Axes cunnyngly tempered, they fell those trees, and hewe them smooth … and boaring a hole in one of the edges of the beame, they fasten the rope, then sette their slaues vnto it … putting round blocks vnder the timber.’ Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. x.; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 141.

[670] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 205; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 318.

[671] Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. x., states that they bored holes in beams. They may therefore have known the use of wooden bolts, but this is doubtful.

[672] ‘Le Tetzontli (pierre de cheveux), espèce d’amygdaloïde poreuse, fort dure, est une lave refroidie. On la trouve en grande quantité auprès de la petite ville de San-Agostin Tlalpan, ou de las Cuevas, à 4 l. S. de Mexico.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 381.

[673] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 202; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 663-4.

[674] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 8.

[675] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 205. Cortés mentions a ‘suelo ladrillado’ at Iztapalapan, Cartas, p. 83, and Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xii., both adobes and ladrillos in speaking of building-material.

[676] Dávila Padilla, Hist. Fvnd. Mex., p. 75; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 665. ‘L’ignorante Ricercatore nega a’ Messicani la cognizione, e l’uso della calcina; ma consta per la testimonianza di tutti gli Storici del Messico, per la matricola de’ tributi, e sopratutto per gli edifizj antichi finora sussistenti, che tutte quelle Nacioni faceano della calcina il medecimo uso, che fanno gli Europei.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 205, tom. iv., pp. 212-13. Both Cortés, Cartas, p. 60, and Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. iv., mention walls of dry stone, which would show that mortar was sometimes dispensed with, in heavy structures; but Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 43, contradicts this instance.

[677] At Sienchimalen. Cortés, Cartas, p. 57.

[678] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., pp. 89-90.

[679] Mexico is generally taken to be derived from Mexitl, or Mexi, the other name of Huitzilopochtli, the favorite god and leader of the Aztecs; many, however, think that it comes from mexico, springs, which were plentiful in the neighborhood. Tenochtitlan comes from teonochtli, divine nochtli, the fruit of the nopal, a species of wild cactus, and titlan, composed of tetl, stone or rock, and an, an affix to denote a place, a derivation which is officially accepted, as may be seen from the arms of the city. Others say that it is taken from Tenuch, one of the leaders of the Aztecs, who settled upon the small island of Pantitlan, both of which names would together form the word. ‘Ce nom, qui veut dire Ville de la Tuna…. Le fruit de cet arbre est appelé nochtli en mexicain, car le nom de tuna … est tiré de la langue des insulaires de l’île de Cuba…. On a aussi prétendu que le véritable nom de Mexico était Quauhnochtitlan, ce qui veut dire Figuier de l’Aigle…. D’autres, enfin, prétendent que ce figuier d’Inde n’était pas un nochtli proprement dit, mais d’une espèce sauvage qu’on appelle tenochtli, ou de celle que les naturels nomment teonochtli ou figure divine.’ ‘Elle avait pris du dieu Mexix celui de Mexico.’ Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcix., pp. 174-5. ‘Los Indios, dezian; y dizen oy Mexico Tenuchtitlan; y assi se pone en las Prouisiones Reales.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xiv. ‘Tenoxtitlàn, que significa, Tunal en piedra.’ Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 466. The natives ‘ni llaman Mexico, sino Tenuchtitlan.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 293. ‘Tenuchtitlan, que significa fruta de piedra.’ ‘Tambien dizen algunos, que tuuo esta ciudad nombre de su primer fundador, que fue Tenuch, hijo segundo de Iztacmixcoatl, cuyos hijos y decendientes poblaron … esta tierra…. Tampoco falta quien piense que se dixo de la grana, que llaman Nuchiztli, la qual sale del mesmo cardon nopal y fruta nuchtli…. Tambien afirman otros que se llama Mexico de los primeros fundadores que se dixeron Mexiti.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 113-15; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 180; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 168-9. ‘Tenochtitlan, c’est-à-dire, auprès des nopals du rocher.’ ‘Ti-tlan est pris pour le lieu.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 446-9.

[680] He is also termed god of the earth in the fable.

[681] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 91-4, 289-91; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 443-9.

[682] Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 465-7. See also Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 167-8. Nearly all the authors give the whole of the above meanings, without deciding upon any one.

[683] Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 313; Heredia y Sarmiento, Sermon, p. 95.

[684] It means islet, from tlatelli, island. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xiv. Veytia says it is a corruption of xaltelolco, sandy ground. Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 141; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 115.

[685] Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. ii., p. 218; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 5.

[686] The Anonymous Conqueror says two and a half to three leagues in circumference, which is accepted by most authors. Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 309. But as the embankment which formed a semi-circle round the town was three leagues in length, the circumference of the city would not have been less. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 4. Cortés says that it was as large as Seville or Cordova. Cartas, p. 103. Aylon, in Id., p. 43, places the number of houses as low as 30,000. Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. l., who is usually so extravagant in his descriptions, confines himself to ‘mas de cincuenta mil casas.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 113, 60,000, each of which contained two to ten occupants. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 291, places the number as high as 120,000, which may include outlying suburbs. The size and business of the markets, the remains of ruins to be seen round modern Mexico, and its fame, sustain the idea of a very large population.

[687] See Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. ii., pp. 216-17, on former and present surroundings. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xiv.; Cortés, Cartas, p. 103.

[688] Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 115.

[689] ‘Erano … di terra come mattonata.’ Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 309; Prescott’s Mex., vol. ii., p. 110.

[690] ‘Fueron hechas à mano, de Tierra, y Cespedes, y mui quajadas de Piedra; son anchas, que pueden pasar por cada vna de ellas, tres Carretas juntas, ò diez Hombres à Caballo.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 292; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. l.; Prescott’s Mex., vol. ii., p. 69; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. ii., p. 217. ‘Tan ancha como dos lanzas jinetas.’ Cortés, Cartas, p. 103. He mentions four causeways or entrances, but this must include either the branch which joins the southern road, or the aqueduct. ‘Pueden ir por toda ello ocho de caballo á la par.’ Id., p. 83.The view of Mexico published in the Luxemburg edition of Cortés, Cartas, points to four causeways besides the aqueduct, but little reliance can be placed on these fanciful cuts. Helps thinks, however, that there must have been more causeways than are mentioned by the conquerors. Span. Conq., vol. ii., pp. 456, 472. ‘Entrano in essa per tre strade alte di pietra & di terra, ciascuna larga trenta passi.’ Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 309. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 4. ‘Las puentes que tenian hechas de trecho á trecho.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 70.

[691] ‘Dos puertas, una por do entran y otra por do salen.’ Cortés, Cartas, p. 84, which means, no doubt, that passengers had to pass through the fort. He calls the second town along the road Niciaca, and the third Huchilohuchico. Brasseur de Bourbourg states that within the fort was a teocalli dedicated to Toci, on which a beacon blazed all night to guide travelers. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., pp. 209-10. But this is a mistake, for Tezozomoc, Hist. Mex., pt ii., p. 184, his authority for this, says that the beacon was at a hill ‘avant d’arriver à Acuchinanco.’

[692] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 292; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. l.; Cortés, Cartas, p. 84. The Anonymous Conqueror calls them two leagues, one league and a half, and a quarter of a league long respectively. Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 309; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 4, makes the shortest a league.

[693] ‘Habia otra algo mas estrecha para los dos acueductos.’ Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. ii., p. 217.

[694] In Tezcuco the wards were each occupied by a distinct class of tradespeople, and this was doubtless the case in Mexico also, to a certain extent. ‘Cada Oficio se vsase en Barrios de por sì; de suerte, que los que eran Plateros de Oro, avian de estàr juntos, y todos los de aquel Barrio, lo avian de ser, y no se avian de mezclar otros con ellos; y los de Plata, en otro Barrio,’ etc. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 147; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 3; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. ii., p. 218.

[695] ‘Al rededor de la ciudad habia muchos diques y esclusas para contener las aguas en caso necesario … no pocas que tenian en medio una acequia entre dos terraplenes.’ Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. ii., pp. 218-19.

[696] ‘Hay sus puentes de muy anchas y muy grandes vigas juntas y recias y bien labradas; y tales, que por muchas dellas pueden pasar diez de caballo juntos á la par.’ In case of necessity ‘quitadas las puentes de las entradas y salidas.’ With this facility for cutting off retreat, Cortés found it best to construct brigantines. Cartas, p. 103; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 187; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 73. ‘Otra Calle avia … mui angosta, y tanto, que apenas podian ir dos Personas juntas, son finalmente vnos Callejones mui estrechos.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 291; Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 309; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xiii.

[697] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 157-8. It is here said to be four fathoms broad. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 231-2; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., p. 32; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt ii., p. 255, says: ‘Reste des … gegen 39,400 Fuss langen and 65 Fuss breiten Dammes aus Steinen in Lehm, zu beiden Seiten mit Pallisaden verbrämt.’

[698] Cortés, Cartas, p. 103; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 116; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 299; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 608.

[699] ‘Cosi grande come sarebbe tre volte la piazza di Salamanca.’ Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 309; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 181.

[700] The Anonymous Conqueror states that this road carried the aqueduct which was three quarters of a league in length. Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 309; Cortés, Cartas, p. 108; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 4; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 207; Prescott’s Mex., vol. ii., p. 114.

[701] ‘Los caños, que eran de madera y de cal y canto.’ Cortés, Cartas, pp. 209, 108; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 304. Other writers make the pipes larger. ‘Tan gordos como vn buey cada vno.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 113. ‘Tan anchas como tres hombres juntos y mas.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. l.

[702] Cortés, Cartas, p. 108, says ‘echan la dulce por unas canales tan gruesas como un buey, que son de la longura de las dichas puentes.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 207; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. l.; Prescott’s Mex., vol. ii., p. 114; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 664.

[703] Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 113; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xiii.

[704] Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 500-1; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 207; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 4.

[705] Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. ii., cap. xlviii., xlix.

[706] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 427, tom. iv., pp. 209-10; Tezozomoc, Hist. Mex., tom. ii., p. 184.

[707] Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 319; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 206, 460.

[708] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 7. ‘En todos los caminos que tenian hechos de cañas, ò paja, ò yervas, porque no los viessen los que passasen por ellos, y alli se metian, si tenian gana de purgar los vientres, porque no se les perdiesse aquella suciedad.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 70.

[709] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 298. The authorities for the description of the city are: Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 309, and in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 390-2, with plans; Cortés, Cartas, pp. 43, 83-4, 102-9, 209; Id., Despatches, p. 333, plan; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 70-3; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i. pp. 91-4, 147, 157-8, 206-7, 288-98, 306-7, 460; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 465-8, 500-1; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 180-3, 187-8;Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. l.; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 113-16; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 283-4, 299, 305; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 141; Ortega, in Id., tom. iii., p. 319; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xiii., xiv., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xi.; Id., (Translation, Lond. 1725), vol. ii., p. 372, vol. iii., p. 194, view and plan; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcix., pp. 174-5; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 168-9; Heredia y Sarmiento, Sermon, pp. 95-6; Tezozomoc, Hist. Mex., tom. ii., p. 184; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 81, 238-9; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 443-9, tom. iii., pp. 231-2, 427, tom. iv., pp. 3-7, 209-10; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 310-14, 664, tom. ii., pp. 216-28, with plan; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 16-17, vol. ii., pp. 69, 76-86; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt ii., p. 255; Alaman, Disertaciones, tom. i., p. 184-8; Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. ii., pp. 310-14, 456, 471-2, 490-1, with plans; Carli, Cartas, pt i., pp. 35-6; Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. x.

[710] Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. ii., p. 197; Prescott’s Mex., vol. ii., p. 69.

[711] Cortés says ‘piedra seca.’ Cartas, p. 60, but this is contradicted by Bernal Diaz, who found it to be of stone and mortar. Hist. Conq., fol. 43. ‘Sin mezcla de cal ni barro.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. iv.

[712] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 150, gives the measurement at eight feet in height and eighteen in width.

[713] Cortés, Cartas, p. 60; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 43; West-Indische Spieghel, pp. 225-6. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 150, with a cut.

[714] Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., p. 186.

[715] Delaporte says that streets met on the hills. Reisen, tom. x., p. 256.

[716] Cortés, Cartas, p. 67; Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 308; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xii.

[717] Cortés, Cartas, p. 171. See Warden, Recherches, pp. 67-8, on fortifications. In Michoacan, some towns had walls of planks two fathoms high and one broad. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. iii.

[718] Meaning place of detention, because here the immigrating tribes used to halt, while deciding upon their settlement. Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 214.

[719] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. xlix., says that it was nearly as large as Mexico. Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 115. Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 182, gives it a league in width and six in length. Peter Martyr, dec. viii., lib. iv., gives it 20,000 houses. Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 87-8, estimates it at 30,000 houses, and thinks that Torquemada must have included the three outlying towns to attain his figure. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 304.

[720] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., pp. 89-90, 303-4; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 87-8; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 242-4. For further references to Mexican towns, forts, etc., see: Cortés, Cartas, pp. 24, 57-60, 67-8, 74-5, 92-3, 153, 171, 186, 196; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 43; Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 308; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., pp. 214, 242, 251-2, 257; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. xlix.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 251-2, 304, 449-50; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 26, 51, 115; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. v., cap. viii., lib. vi., cap. iv., xii., xvi., lib. vii., cap. iv., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. iii.; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 150, with cut; Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. iv., vii., dec. viii., lib. iv.; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 283; West-Indische Spieghel, pp. 221, 225-6; Bologne, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 212; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 236; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., p. 186; Delaporte, Reisen, tom. x., p. 256; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 87-8, 259, 663, tom. ii., pp. 51, 161; Warden, Recherches, pp. 67-8; Prescott’s Mex., vol. ii., p. 65; Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. ii., p. 296; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., pp. 240, 243.

[721] Las Casas states that when a warrior distinguished himself abroad he was allowed to build his house in the style used by the enemy, a privilege allowed to none else. Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lxvi.

[722] ‘I fondamenti delle case grandi della Capitale si gettavano a cagione della poca sodezza di quel terreno sopra un piano di grosse stanghe di cedro ficcate in terra.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 202. ‘Porque la humedad no les causase enfermedad, alzaban los aposentos hasta un estado poco mas ó menos, y así quedaban como entresuelos.’ Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 121. Speaking of Cempoalla, Peter Martyr says: ‘Vnto these houses or habitations they ascend by 10. or 12. steppes or stayres.’ Dec. iv., tom. vii. The floor of the palace at Mitla consisted of slabs of stone three feet thick, which rested on ten feet piles. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 26. Houses with elevated terraces were only allowed to chiefs. Tezozomoc, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 188.

[723] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. xlix. This mode of whitewashing the walls and polishing them with gypsum seems to have been very common in all parts of Mexico, for we repeatedly meet with mentions of the dazzling white walls, like silver, which the Spaniards noticed all through their march. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 251; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 202.

[724] In Cempoalla, says Peter Martyr, ‘none may charge his neighbours wall with beames or rafters. All the houses are seperated the distance of 3. paces asunder.’ Dec. iv., lib. vii. Cortés, Cartas, p. 24, mentions as many as five courts.

[725] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 291; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. l.; Prescott’s Mex., vol. ii., pp. 76-7; Chevalier, Mex., Ancien et Mod., p. 173. ‘N’avaient guère qu’un étage, à cause de la fréquence des tremblement de terre.’ Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., p. 173.

[726] Cortés, Cartas, p. 24.

[727] Chaves, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., p. 328. The palace at Tecpeque, says Las Casas, was a very labyrinth, in which visitors were liable to lose themselves without a guide. In the palace allotted to Cortés at Mexico he found comfortable quarters for 400 of his own men, 2000 allies, and a number of attendants. Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lii., l. ‘Auia salas con sus camaras, que cabia cada vno en su cama, ciento y cincuenta Castellanos.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. v. ‘Intorno d’una gran corti fossero prima grandissime sale & stantie, però v’era vna sala cosi grande che vi poteano star dentro senza dar l’un fastidio all’altro piu di tre mila persone.’ Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 309.

[728] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 200, 202; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 251.

[729] Tezozomoc, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 188, says that chiefs were permitted to erect towers pierced with arrows in the courtyard. Prescott’s Mex., vol. ii., p. 120. The houses were often quite surrounded with trees. West-Indische Spieghel, p. 220.

[730] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 656.

[731] Tylor’s Anahuac, pp. 135-6.

[732] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 291. Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. l., says: ‘Encalados por encima, que no se pueden llover.’ ‘Couered with reede, thatch, or marish sedge: yet many of them are couered with slate, or shingle stone.’ Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. vii., dec. v., lib. x.

[733] Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. iv., dec. v., lib. x.; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. ii., p. 219.

[734] Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. ii., p. 314.

[735] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 658.

[736] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 200-2; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., pp. 173-4; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 662-3, 665.

[737] ‘Eran los Patios, y Suelos de ellos, de argamasa, y despues de encalados, cubrian la superficie, y haz, con Almagre, y despues bruñianlos, con vnos guijarros, y piedras mui lisas, y quedaban con tan buena tèz, y tan hermosamente bruñidos, que no podia estarlo mas vn Plato de Plata; pues como fuese de mañana, y el Sol començase à derramar, y esparcir la Lumbre de sus Raios, y començasen à reberverar en los Suelos, encendianlos de manera, que à quien llevaba tan buen deseo, y ansia de haber Oro, y Plata, le pudo parecer, que era Oro el Suelo; y es mui cierto, que los suelos de las Casas, y de los Patios (en especial, de los Templos, y de los Señores, y Personas Principales) se hacian, y adereçaban, en aquellos Tiempos, tales, que eran mui de vèr, y algunos de estos hemos visto tan lisos, y limpios, que sin asco se podia comer en ellos, sin Manteles, qualquier Manjar.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 251-2; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. xlix.

[738] ‘Toldillos encima.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 66.

[739] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. l.; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 318; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 66, 68; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. v., vii.; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., pp. 174-5; Cortés, Cartas, pp. 79, 174-5. Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 15-16, mentions stools of cane and reed; and firebugs which were used for lights.

[740] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 381; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 201; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 662. ‘No ay puertas ni ventanas que cerrar, todo es abierto.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 318.

[741] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 8.

[742] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xii.; Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. x.; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. xlix-l.; Prescott’s Mex., vol. ii., p. 76.

[743] Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. x.

[744] Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 199; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 200; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 318; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 657; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 661-2.

[745] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 214-15, with cut; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 662, 671-2, with cut. The poorer had doubtless resort to public baths; they certainly existed in Tlascala. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xvi.; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., p. 240.

[746] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 155; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 635; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 564. For description of houses, see: Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 251-2, 291, tom. ii., pp. 381, 564; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xii., xvi., lib. vii., cap. v.; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 155, 200-2, 214-15, with cut; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. xlix.-lii.; Cortés, Cartas, p. 24; Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 309; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 66, 68; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 318; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 199; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 121; Tezozomoc, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 188; Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. iv., vii., dec. v., cap. x.; Chaves, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., p. 328; West-Indische Spieghel, p. 221; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 26, 222, 635, 656-8, iv., p. 8; Prescott’s Mex., vol. ii., pp. 76-7, 120; Chevalier, Mex., Ancien et Mod., p. 31; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., pp. 173-5, 240; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 661-3, 671-2, with cut, tom. ii., p. 219; Tylor’s Anahuac, pp. 135-6; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 15-16.

[747] ‘El anden, hácia la pared de la huerta, va todo labrado de cañas con unas vergas.’ Cortés, Cartas, p. 83.

[748] ‘Un anden de muy buen suelo ladrillado.’ Cortés, Cartas, p. 83.

[749] Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 283; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 636; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 156.

[750] Cortés, Cartas, p. 196; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 157.

[751] See this vol., p. 345.

[752] ‘Hay sus puentes de muy anchas y muy grandes vigas juntas y recias y bien labradas; y tales, que por muchas dellas pueden pasar diez de caballo juntos á la par.’ Cortés, Cartas, p. 103. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 632, says that stone bridges were most common, which is doubtless a mistake. Speaking of swinging bridges, Klemm says: ‘Manche waren so fest angespannt, dass sie gar keine schwankende Bewegung hatten.’ Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., p. 75; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 169.

[753] ‘En los mismos patios de los pueblos principales habia otros cada doce ó quince teocallis harto grandes, unos mayores que otros.’ Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 64.’Entre quatro, ó cinco barrios tenian vn Adoratorio, y sus idolos.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 72.

[754] Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 84-6; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 141; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxiv.; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 35.

[755] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 26, 34, cuts; Herrera, Hist. Gen., (Translation, Lond. 1725), vol. ii., pp. 372, 378, cuts.

[756] Tezozomoc, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 151-3.

[757] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 186; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt. ii., p. 37. Other authors give the number at 60,460, and the attendance at 6,000,000. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 257.

[758] ‘Recibia dentro de su hueco todo el suelo en que aora està edificada la Iglesia Maior, Casas del Marquès del Valle, Casas Reales, y Casas Arçobispales, con mucha parte de lo que aora es Plaça, que parece cosa increìble.’ Sahagun, quoted in Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 146. To-day the Cathedral stands upon the Plaza, and many houses occupy the spot; see Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. ii., pp. 226-7, 233-5. Opposite the south gate was the market and ‘en face du grand temple se trouvait le palais.’ Tezozomoc, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 152.

[759] ‘Dos cercas al rededor de cal, y canto.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 70-1.

[760] ‘Mayores que la plaça que ay en Salamanca.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 70. Cortés, Cartas, p. 106, states that a town of 500 houses could be located within its compass. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 144, Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 119, Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. li., and Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xvii., agree upon a length to each side of one cross-bow or musket shot, and this, according to Las Casas, cap. cxxxii., is 750 paces; in the same places he gives the length at four shots, or 3000 paces, an evident mistake, unless by this is meant the circumference. Hernandez estimates it at about 80 perches, or 1,420 feet. Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 197, who seems to have investigated the matter more closely, places it at 200 fathoms, which cannot be too high, when we consider that the court enclosed 77 or more edifices, besides the great temple. Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. ii., p. 226, gives a length of 250 varas.

[761] ‘Era todo cercado de piedra de manposterìa mui bien labrado.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 144. ‘Estaban mui bien encaladas, blancas, y bruñidas.’ Id., p. 141.

[762] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 27; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 661; Prescott’s Mex., vol. ii., p. 142. ‘Era labrada de piedras grandes a manera de culebras asidas las vnas a las otras.’ Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 333; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 63.

[763] Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 333, says an idol stood over each gate, facing the road. It is not stated by any author that the arsenals formed the gateway, but as they rose over the entrance, and nearly all mention upper and lower rooms, and as buildings of this size could not have rested upon the walls alone, it follows that the lower story must have formed the sides of the entrance. ‘A cada parte y puerta de las cuatro del patio del templo grande ya dicho habia una gran sala con muy buenos aposentos altos y bajos en rededor.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. li.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 146; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 120. Tezozomoc, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 152, mentions three gates. ‘À l’orient et à l’occident d’une petite porte et d’une grande vis-à-vis de l’escalier méridional.’

[764] ‘Y el mismo patio, y sitio todo empedrado de piedras grandes de losas blancas, y muy lisas: y adonde no auia de aquellas piedras, estaua encalado, y bruñido.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 70. The white stones had no doubt received that color from plaster. ‘Los patios y suelos eran teñidos de Almagre bruñido, y incorporado con la misma cal.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 141; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. xlix. The dimensions given by the different authors are extremely varied; the Anonymous Conqueror, as the only eye-witness who has given any measurements, certainly deserves credit for those that appear reasonable, namely the length and width; the height seems out of proportion.

[765] ‘Cento & cinquanta passi, ò poco piu di lunghezza, & cento quindici, ò cento & venti di larghezza.’ Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 307. This would give the length and breadth of the base in the text, assuming two and a half feet to the pace. With a decrease of two good paces for each of the four ledges which surround the pyramid, the summit measurement is arrived at. The terraces are stated by the same author to be two men’s stature in height, but this scarcely agrees with the height indicated by the 120 or 30 steps given. Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 70, counted 114 steps, and as most authors estimate each of these at a span, or nine inches in height, this would give an altitude of 86 feet. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 28-9, gives about 50 fathoms (perches, he calls them) by 43 to the base, and, allowing a perch to the ledges, he places the summit dimensions at 43 by 34 fathoms. The height he estimates at 19 fathoms, giving the height of each step as one foot. To prove that he has not over-estimated the summit dimensions, at least, he refers to the statements of Cortés, who affirms that he fought 500 Mexicans on the top platform, and of Diaz, who says that over 4,000 men garrisoned the temple. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 144-5, who follows Sahagun, states it to be 360 feet square at the base, and over 70 at the top; the steps he says are ‘vna tercia, y mas’ in height, which closely approaches a foot. Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. li., says:’Una torre triangular ó de tres esquinas de tierra y piedra maciza; y ancha de esquina á esquina de ciento y viente pasos ó cuasi … con un llano ó plaza de obra de setenta pies.’ In cap. cxxxii. he calls it 100 men’s stature in height. Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 119, says 50 fathoms square at the base and 18 at the top. Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 245, describes a temple which seems to be that of Mexico, and states it to be 80 fathoms square, with a height of 27 men’s stature. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xvii., places the dimensions as low as 30 varas square at the base and from 12 to 15 at the top. Of modern authors Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 659, gives the dimensions at 300 by 250 feet for the base, and 60 feet for the summit, after allowing from 5 to 6 feet for the ledges, a rather extraordinary computation; unless, indeed, we assume that the terraces were sloping, but there is no reliable cut or description to confirm such a supposition. Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., pp. 169-70, has 97 mètres for the square, and 37 for the height. Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 280-82, is positive that the height was certainly no less than 38 varas. Prescott, Mex., vol. ii., p. 144, remarks that there is no authority for describing the temple as oblong, except the contemptible cut of the Anonymous Conqueror. This may be just enough as regards the cut, but if he had examined the description attached to it, he would have found the dimensions of an oblong structure given. We must consider that the Anonymous Conqueror is the only eye-witness who gives any measurement, and, further, that as two chapels were situated at one end of the platform the structure ought to have been oblong to give the space in front a fair outline.

[766] ‘Alto come due stature d’vn huomo.’ Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 307.

[767] ‘Lasciano vna strada di larghezza di duo passi.’ Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 307. See note 87; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 64.

[768] The Anonymous Conqueror, Relatione, etc., ubi supra, Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxiv., Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 119, and Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 145, all say that there was no ledge on the west side, merely steps, but this is, doubtless, a careless expression, for 23 steps allotted to each terrace would scarcely have extended over a length of about 300 feet, the breadth of the pyramid. Nearly all agree upon the number of the steps, namely 114. Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 245, however, gives 160 steps; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 502-3, 60 steps; and Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 333, 30 steps, 30 fathoms wide, but the latter author has evidently mixed up the accounts of two different temples. Tezozomoc,Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 152, states that the temple had three stairways, with 360 steps in all, one for every day in the Mexican year. According to Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., p. 155, the steps are on the south corner, but there is no authority for this statement; in the cuts they appear on the north.

[769] ‘De tierra y piedra, mezclada con cal muy macizada.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xvii. ‘Por la parte de fuera iba su pared de piedra: lo de dentro henchíanlo de piedra todo, ó de barro y adobe; otros de tierra bien tapiada.’ Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 63-4. ‘Hecha de manposteria.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 144. The pyramid of Teotihuacan, which, according to some authors, has been a model for others, is built of clay mixed with small stones, covered by a heavy wall of tetzontli, which is coated with lime. Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 187. ‘Todas las piedras estauan assentadas de tal suerte, que la mezcla casi no parecia, sino todas las piedras vna.’ Dávila Padilla, Hist. Fvnd. Mex., p. 75. The whitewash may, however, have given it this solid appearance. ‘Todos aquellos Templos, y Salas; y todas sus paredes que los cercaban, estaban mui bien encaladas, blancas, y bruñidas.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 141. The mortar was mixed with precious stones and gold-dust. Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 60.

[770] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 659, states that three sides of the platform were protected by a balustrade of sculptured stone, and this is not unlikely when we consider the slippery nature of the floor and the dizzy height. See Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 141; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. xlix., cxxiv., and note 75 on polished floors. Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 664, states that the summit was paved with marble.

[771] ‘In alto dieci, ò dodici stature d’huomo.’ Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 307. This is followed by Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 29, who says 56 feet, or about 9 perches. No other dimensions are mentioned by the old chroniclers; Brasseur de Bourbourg, however, gives them a base of 20 feet square, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 659-60, but this becomes absurd when we consider the height of the buildings, and the accommodation required for the gigantic idols they contained. This author hazards the opinion that the chapels were placed close to the edge, to enable the people to see the idols from below, but there is no mention of any doors on the east side, and it is stated that the chapels were placed at this end so that the people in praying might face the rising sun. Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 119; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. li.

[772] ‘Que se mandaban por la parte de adentro, por unas escaleras de madera movedizas.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 245. Acosta states that the towers were ascended by 120 steps. Hist. de las Ynd., p. 334. The towers were made of ‘artesones.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 119. Brasseur de Bourbourg states that the outside of the walls was painted with various figures and monsters, but this seems to be a misinterpretation of Gomara, who places the paintings on the inside. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 660. Bernal Diaz says, besides, that the towers were ‘todas blanqueando.’ Hist. Conq., fol. 70.

[773] The eaves or the domes of the temples were decorated with fine red and white pillars, set with jet black stones and holding two figures of stone with torches in their hands, which supported a battlement in form of spiral shells; the torches were adorned with yellow and green feathers and fringes. Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 333; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 242.

[774] Most of the old authors say that Tlaloc occupied the second chapel, but as the next largest temple in the court is dedicated to this god, I am inclined to think, with Clavigero, that Tezcatlipoca shared the chief pyramid with Huitzilopochtli. Another reason for this belief is that Tezcatlipoca was held to be the half-brother of Huitzilopochtli, and their feasts were sometimes attended with similar ceremonies. Tezcatlipoca was also one of the highest if not the highest god, and, accordingly, entitled to the place of honor by the side of the favorite god of the Aztecs. Tlaloc, on the other hand, had nothing in common with Huitzilopochtli, and the only possible ground that can be found for his promotion to the chief pyramid is to be seen in the fable of the foundation of Mexico, in which Tlaloc, as the lord of the site, gives the Aztecs permission to settle there. We have, besides, the testimony of Bernal Diaz, who saw Tezcatlipoca, adorned with the tezcatl, or mirror ornament, seated in the left hand temple. Hist. Conq., fol. 71; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 281. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 660, thinks it possible that the second temple was occupied by different idols, in turn, according to the festival.

[775] ‘No eran mas altos que cinco palmos.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 119. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 29.

[776] Clavigero thinks that the stone was of jasper. Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 46, with cut. It is difficult to define the position of this stone; some place it before the idol within the chapel, others at the western extremity of the platform. Referring to the idols in the chapel, Sahagun says: ‘Delante de cada una de estas estaba una piedra redonda á manera de tajon que llaman texcatl, donde mataban los que sacrificaban á honra de aquel dios, y desde la piedra hasta abajo un regaxal de sangre de los que mataban en él’—he describes the stone as round. Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 198. And this I am inclined to accept as correct, especially as several points indicate that the stones stood inside the chapel. Their floor, we are told, were steeped in blood that must have flown from the victims; further, we know that the reeking heart was held up before or thrown at the feet of the idol, immediately after being torn out. The act of sacrifice was in itself a ceremony which could only have been performed before the idol. Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 334, and Solis, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. i., p. 397, place it in the middle of the platform. Prescott, Mex., vol. ii., p. 145, states that the stone (one only) stood near the head of the stairway, but this is most likely a hasty interpretation of Diaz’ vague account. There may, however, have been a large stone at this place, which was used for the great and general sacrifices. Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 70; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxiv. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 660-1, manages very dexterously to place the two stones before the chapel, and at the same time near the head of the steps. Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., p. 98, mentions one stone with a hollow in the middle.

[777] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxxii.; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 119.

[778] Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 71.

[779] Cortés, Cartas, p. 106. It is also stated that certain chapels in the streets were used for burial places by the lords. ‘Inde Straten waren veel Cappellen, die meest diendeden tot begravinghe van de groote Heeren.’ West-Indische Spieghel, p. 248.

[780] ‘Dezian, que era el Dios de las sementeras’ (called Centeotl). Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 71.

[781] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 29-30; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. ii., p. 228; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 145; on p. 141, he says, in contradiction: ‘Delante de los Altares en estos Templos avia vnos braseros hechos de piedra, y cal, de tres quartas en alto, de figura circular, ò redonda, y otros quadrados, donde de dia, y de noche ardia continuo fuego, tenian sus fogones, y braseros todas las Salas de los dichos Templos, donde encendian fuego, para calentarse los Señores, quando iban à ellos, y para los Sacerdotes.’ ‘Tan altos como tres palmos y cuatro.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxiv.

[782] Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 70.

[783] See note 119; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 65.

[784] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 30. Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. li., and Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 64, say that they face in all directions, which tends to prove that they must have faced the temple of the supreme and patron gods. ‘Estando encontrados, y puestos vnos contra otros,’ adds Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 141, 145. Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 119, states that they were turned against all points but the east, so as to differ from the chief temple. ‘Tenian la cara ácia el occidente.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 198. Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 334, states that the court held eight or nine temples facing all quarters.

[785] ‘Todos eran vnos; pero diferenciabanse en el asiento, y postura.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 145. ‘La cubierta … era de diversas, y varias formas, que aunque eran vnas de madera, y otras de paja, como de Centeno, eran mui primamente labradas, vnas coberturas piramidales, y quadradas, y otras redondas, y de otras formas.’ Ib. Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 118-19; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 662-3.

[786] ‘La menor dellas tiene çinqüenta escalones para subir al cuerpo de la torre.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 302; Cortés, Cartas, p. 106.

[787] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 145.

[788] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 147-50.

[789] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 201-7; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 149; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 32, calls it Hueitzompan.

[790] ‘En los escalones habia tambien un cráneo entre piedra y piedra.’ Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 287. But this is unlikely. See also Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 121.

[791] ‘Estos palos hazian muchas aspas por las vigas, y cada tercio de aspa o palo, tenia cinco cabeças ensartadas por las sienes.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 121-2. Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 334, places the masts a fathom apart, and twenty skulls upon each cross-pole, which is, to say the least, very close packing.

[792] At each end of the platform. Warden, Recherches, p. 66.

[793] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 32; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 121-2; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xviii.; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 333-5. The account of the latter author is so mixed up with that of the chief temple as to be of little value; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 242-3, follows him.

[794] Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 333, says that 8,000 to 10,000 persons could dance with joined hands in this place.

[795] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 48, with cut; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 154; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 283; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 662.

[796] Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 120; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 146-7; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. li.

[797] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 151; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 244.

[798] ‘Residen en el a la contina cinco mil personas, y todas duermen dentro, y comen a su costa del.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 120. ‘V’hauea vna guarnigione di dieci mila homini di guerra.’ Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 309.

[799] The authorities on the temple of Mexico are: Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 70-2; Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 307, 309, and in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 384-5, 394-5, with cuts; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 186, tom. ii., pp. 140-56; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 197-211; Cortés, Cartas, p. 106; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 118-22; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. xlix., li., cxxiv.; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 37; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 257-8, tom. ii., pp. 25-32, 46-8, with cuts made up from the various descriptions of Diaz and others; see his remarks, p. 26. Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 333-5; this author mixes up the descriptions of the chief temple and the Tzompantli, and represents this account as that of Huitzilopochtli’s sanctuary; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xvii., xviii.; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 63-5; Ortega, in Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 279-89; Tezozomoc, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 151-3, 193; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 245; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 302-3, 502-3; Dávila Padilla, Hist. Fvnd. Mex., p. 75; Solis, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. i., pp. 394-98; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 242; West-Indische Spieghel, p. 248; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 187; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 154-5; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 659-65; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 664, tom. ii., pp. 226-35, with cuts; Warden, Recherches, p. 66; Prescott’s Mex., vol. ii., pp. 142-5.

[800] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 145; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 33. Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 120, says that there were 2000 idols, each of which is supposed to have had a separate chapel. Cavo, Tres Siglos, tom. i., p. 2; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxxii.; in cap. cxxiv., he adds that 100 of these were great temples.

[801] Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 120. Some temple pyramids, says Dávila Padilla, formed a perfect cone, the casing being composed of large stones at the bottom; as the wall rose, the stones decreased in size; the summit was crowned with a precious stone. Hist. Fvnd. Mex., p. 75; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 72.

[802] ‘Los grandes tenian tres sobrados encima de los altares, todos de terrados y bien altos.’ Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 64; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxiv.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 141.

[803] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxiv.; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., pp. 239-40; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 33-4. Bernal Diaz counted 120 steps, which scarcely agrees with the height of the pyramid. Hist. Conq., fol. 72. Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 390-1, mentions 60 steps only. ‘Alto bien mas de quarenta estados: fue hecho de Adove, y Piedra.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 281. Montanus adds that on the summit stood a square structure, supported by 28 pillars, within which were thousands of skulls; he mentions two chapels. Nieuwe Weereld, p. 236. It had 1508 steps; in the wall was a large diamond. West-Indische Spieghel, p. 238.

[804] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. xlix. Some of these had two chapels, which would make the number of towers about 400. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. ii.

[805] Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 245. The description of the temple as given by this writer is almost identical with that of the great temple at Mexico. Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 72; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 305.

[806] Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 257.

[807] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 107-8. Further authorities on Mexican buildings: Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. iv-v., viii-xi., xiii-xviii., dec. iii., lib. i., cap. viii., lib. ii., cap. xi., xv.; Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. ii-iii., viii., x., dec. viii., lib. iv.; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 84-7, 121; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 155; Zuazo, Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 359, 362; West-Indische Spieghel, pp. 240-8; Munster, Cosmographia, p. 1410; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 80-5, 235-7, 242-3; Cortés, Aven. y Conq., pp. 120, 128-33; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., pp. 123-7, 172-5, 252-3, 258-9, 266; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 31-2, 75, 84-5, 97-9, 152-62; Monglave, Résumé, pp. 20-1, 24-5, 36-7; Touron, Hist. Gén., tom. iii., pp. 40-8; Cooper’s Hist. N. Amer., pt ii., p. 164; Lafond, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 106-7; Brownell’s Ind. Races, pp. 92-5; Ranking’s Hist. Researches, pp. 336-7; Domenech, Mexique, pp. 70-2; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 391; Dilworth’s Conq. Mex., pp. 64, 70-1; Lenoir, Parallèle, pp. 20-1; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 55-7; Chevalier, Mex., Ancien et Mod., pp. 30-3; Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., pp. 1033, 1123-4, 1133.

Chapter XIX • Medicine and Funeral Rites Among the Nahuas • 15,600 Words

Mexican Contributions to Medical Science—The Botanical Gardens—Longevity—Prevalent Diseases—Introduction of Small-pox and Syphilis—Medical Treatment—The Temazcalli—Aboriginal Physicians—The Aztec Faculty—Standard Remedies—Surgery—Superstitious Ceremonies in Healing—Funeral Rites of Aztecs—Cremation—Royal Obsequies—Embalming—The Funeral Pyre—Human Sacrifice—Disposal of the Ashes and Ornaments—Mourners—Funeral Ceremonies of the People—Certain Classes Buried—Rites for the Slain in Battle—Burial among the Teo-Chichimecs and Tabascans—Cremation Ceremonies in Michoacan—Burial by the Miztecs in Oajaca.

Writers on Mexico have paid but slight attention to aboriginal medical science, although the greatest benefit which Europe derived from that part of the New World came doubtless in the form of medicinal substances. Most of the additions to the world’s stock of remedies since the sixteenth century were indigenous to tropical America, and in few instances, if any, were their curative properties unknown or unfamiliar to the native doctors. Jalap, sarsaparilla, tobacco, with numerous gums and balsams, were among the simples of American origin. Dr Hernandez, physician to Phillip II., was sent to Mexico by his king to investigate the natural history of the country. The results of his researches, in which he was assisted by native experts, were published in a large work, which contains long lists of plants with their medicinal properties, and which has been much used by later writers. I shall not, however, attempt in this chapter to give any catalogue of medicinal plants.[808]Hernandez, Nova Plantarum, etc. The MSS., comprising 24 books of text and 11 books of plates, were sent to the Escurial in Spain, and from them abridged editions were published in Mexico, 1615, and Rome, 1651. The latter edition is the one in my collection. Sahagun also devotes considerable space to a description of herbs and their properties. Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., xi. The healing art was protected by royalty, and the numerous rare plants in the royal gardens, collected at great expense from all parts of the country, were placed at the disposal of the doctors in the large cities, who were ordered to experiment with each variety, that its curative or injurious properties might be utilized or shunned. Thus the court physicians derived from these constantly increasing collections all the advantages of travel through distant provinces.[809]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 157; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xi.; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 623-4.

The Nahuas were a healthy race; naturally so with their fine climate, their hardy training, active habits, frequent bathing, and temperate diet. The extraordinary statements respecting the great age attained by their kings in the earlier periods of Nahua history are of course absurdly exaggerated; but as centenarians are often met with among their descendants at the present day, there is no doubt that they were a long-lived race, and that those who did not attain a hundred years, succumbed for the most part to acute diseases.[810]‘É da maravigliare, che i Messicani, e massimamente i poveri, non fossero a molte malattie sottoposti atteso la qualità de’ loro alimenta.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 217;Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 88. Indigestion and its accompanying ills were unknown, and deformed people were so rare that Montezuma kept a collection of them as a curiosity. The diseases most prevalent were acute fevers, colds, pleurisy, catarrh, diarrhea, and, in the coast districts, intermittent fever, spasms, and consumption, aggravated by exposure.[811]‘Las principales enfermedades que corrian entre esta gente, eran de abundancia de colera, y flema, o otros malos humores, causados de mala comida, y falta de abrigo.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. x., cap. xxi.

Epidemics and Their Ravages

Deadly epidemics swept the country at intervals, the traditional accounts of which are so intermingled with fable that we can form no idea of their nature. One of the most fatal and wide-spread recorded was that brought on by famine, war, and the anger of the gods at the breaking-up of the Toltec empire.[812]Tezozomoc, Crón. Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 64; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 365. The matlazahuatl was a pestilence said to be confined entirely in its ravages to the natives, and which made great havoc even after the Spaniards came. It is thought by some to have attacked the people periodically in former times, and to have been similar in its nature to the yellow fever. While the Aztecs were shut up in their island home, a curious malady, consisting of a swelling of the eyelids, followed by a violent dysentery ending in death, or, as others say, by a swelling of the throat and body, attacked the nations on the main land, especially the Tepanecs. The popular tradition was that the fumes of roasted fish and insects wafted from the island to the shore, created a powerful longing for this new and, to them, unobtainable food, and that the pangs of an unsatisfied appetite originated the pestilence.[813]‘Hacia malparir las Mugeres, de antojo de comer de aquello que asaban … daban camazas á los Viejos de deseo de comer de aquello; y á las Mugeres se los hinchaban los brazos, las manos, y las piernas, que adolecian mucho, y morian con aquel deseo.’ Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. x. Torquemada qualifies this by ‘Esto dicho, pase por cuento.’ Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 93; Tezozomoc, Crón. Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 21-2, 64. Ixtlilxochitl relates that a catarrhic scourge fell upon the people during the unusually severe winter of 1450 and carried off large numbers, especially of the aged.[814]Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 250.

The vices introduced by the Spaniards, their oppression of the natives, and the consequent disregard of the ancient regulations respecting cleanliness and the use of liquors, prepared the way for new maladies. With the Spaniards came the small-pox, measles, and as some believe, the syphilis. Small-pox is said to have been introduced by a negro from one of Narvaez’ ships and spread with frightful rapidity over the whole country, destroying whole households who died and found no other graves than their houses. Measles were introduced some ten or eleven years later also from the Spanish ships. The yellow fever has never prevailed to any great extent among the natives.[815]Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 15; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 148. Respecting syphilitic diseases and their origin there has been much discussion. The first appearance of the malady has been attributed to the old world and the new, and to many localities in the former. But naturally neither continent, nor any nation has been willing to accept the so-regarded dishonor of inflicting on the world this loathsome plague. The discussion of the subject seems unprofitable and I shall not reopen it here. The testimony in the matter appears to me to prove that syphilis existed in Europe long before the discovery of America; but there are also some indications in the traditional history of the Nahua peoples that the disease in some of its forms was not unknown to the aboriginal Americans before their intercourse with foreigners.[816]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 117-19, tom. iv., pp. 303-28; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. x., cap. xxi.; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 148; Pauw, Rech. Phil., tom. i., pp. 46-9; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 99-101; Prescott’s Mex., vol. ii., pp. 434-5; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., pp. 66-71; Chevalier, Mex., Ancien et Mod., p. 53; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 182; Id., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1858, tom. clx., p. 280; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vii., p. 246.

Attentions to the Sick

Accustomed to look on death in its most terrible form in connection with their oft-recurring religious festivals, the people seem to have become somewhat callous to its dread presence, and to have met its approach with less fear of the dark and unknown hereafter than might have been expected from their superstitious nature. An attack of illness did not necessarily produce great anxiety, or an immediate recourse to the doctor’s services; but the common people resorted for the most part to simple home cures, which were the more effective as the curative properties of herbs and their modes of application were generally well known.[817]‘Both men, women, and children, had great knowledge in herbs…. They did spend little among Physicians.’ Gage’s New Survey, p. 111. ‘Casi todos sus males curan con yeruas.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 117. ‘No se guardauan de males contagiosos, y enfermedades, y bestialmente se dexavan morir.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xvi. The unconcern with which they regarded sickness did not result from want of affection, for the Aztecs are said to have been very attentive to their sick, and spent their wealth without stint to save the life of friends. Yet the Tlascaltecs, a hardier race, are reported by Motolinia to have been less attentive, and some other Teo-Chichimec tribes did not hesitate to kill a patient whose malady did not soon yield to their treatment, under pretense of putting him out of his misery, but really to get him off their hands. This work of charity was performed by thrusting an arrow down the throat of the invalid, and old people were especially the recipients of such favors.[818]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 119. ‘Si algun médico entre ellos (Tlascaltecs) fácilmente se puede haber, sin mucho ruido ni costa, van lo á ver, y si no, mas paciencia tienen que Job.’ Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 76.

The favorite remedy for almost every ill of the flesh was the vapor-bath, or temazcalli. No well-to-do citizen’s house was complete without conveniences for indulging in these baths, and the poorer families of each community owned one or more temazcalli in common. The reader is already sufficiently familiar with the general features of these baths, a confined space with facilities for converting water into steam being all that was required. Clavigero describes and pictures a very graceful structure for this purpose, for which, as it seems to involve the then-unknown principle of the arch, he probably drew somewhat upon his imagination. It is of adobes, semi-globular in form, about eight feet in diameter, six feet high, with a convex floor a little below the level of the ground. On one side was an opening sufficiently large to admit a man’s body, on the opposite side a square furnace separated from the interior by a slab of tetzontli, and at the top an air-hole. Most of the bath-houses, however, were simply square or oblong chambers with no furnace attached, in which case the fire had of course to be removed before the apartment was ready for use. When the apparatus was properly heated a mat was spread on the floor, and the patient entered, sometimes accompanied by an assistant, bearing a dish of water to be thrown on the floor and walls to produce steam, and a bunch of maize-leaves with which his body, and especially the part affected, was to be beaten. A plunge into cold water after a profuse perspiration was frequently but not always resorted to. As I have said, there were scarcely any maladies for which this treatment was not recommended, but it was regarded as particularly efficacious in the case of fevers brought on by costiveness, bites of venomous serpents and insects, bruises, and unstrung nerves, and to relieve the pains and purify the system of child-bearing women. The steam-baths were also much used to promote cleanliness and to refresh the weary bodies of those in good health.[819]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 214-16, with cuts, copied in Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 671-3; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. xi., pp. 286-7.

The beneficial effects of a change of climate upon invalids seem to have been appreciated, if we may credit Herrera, who states that Michoacan was much resorted to by the sick from all parts of the country.[820]Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. ix. For severe cases, the expenses of treating which could not be borne except by the wealthy classes, hospitals were established by the government in all the larger cities, endowed with ample revenues, where patients from the surrounding country were cared for by experienced doctors, surgeons, and nurses well versed in all the native healing arts.[821]‘En las Ciudades principales … habia hospitales dotadas de rentas y vasallos donde se resabian y curaban los enfermos pobres.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxli. ‘De cuando en cuando van por toda la provincia á buscar los enfermos.’ Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 131; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 165; Carbajal, Discurso, pp. 37-8. Medical practitioners were numerous, who attended patients for a small remuneration; the jealousy of Spanish physicians, however, brought them into disrepute soon after the conquest, and the healing art, like others, greatly degenerated. It is related that a famous medicine-man of Michoacan was summoned before the college of physicians in Mexico on the charge of being a quack. In reply to the accusation he asked his judges to smell a certain herb, which produced a severe hemorrhage, and then invited them to check the flow of blood. Seeing that they were unable to do this promptly, he administered a powder that immediately had the desired effect. “These are my attainments,” he exclaimed, “and this the manner in which I cure the ailings of my patients.”[822]Bustamante, in Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. xi., p. 282.

The Nahua Esculapius

The Esculapius of the Nahuas was embodied in the persons of Oxomococipactonatl and Tlatecuinxochicaoaca, who were traditionally the inventors of medicine and the first herbalists among the Toltecs. Soon after its invention the healing profession became one of the most highly honored, and its followers constituted a regular faculty, handing down their knowledge and practice from generation to generation, according to the Nahua caste-system, according to which the son almost invariably adopted the profession of his father, by whom he was educated. This system of education from early childhood under the father’s guidance, the opportunities for practice in the public hospitals, free access to the botanical gardens, and the numerous subjects for anatomical dissection supplied by sacrificial rites, certainly offered to the Nahua doctor abundant opportunities of acquiring great knowledge and skill. The profession was not altogether in the hands of the sterner sex; for female physicians were in high repute, especially on the eastern coast. In certain cases, as of childbirth, we find the patient attended by none but women, who administer medicines and baths and render other necessary assistance, even going so far as to cut out the infant in order to save the mother’s life.[823]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 185; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. ix., cap. vii.; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 211-12, 216-17; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 131.

Medicines were given in all the usual forms of draught, powder, injection, ointment, plaster, etc.; the material for which was gathered from the three natural kingdoms in great variety. Many of the herbs were doubtless obtained from the gardens, but large quantities were obtained in the forests of different provinces by wandering collectors who brought their herbs to the market-places for sale, or even peddled them, it is said, from house to house. Each ailment had its particular corrective, the knowledge of which was not entrusted to the memory alone, but was also recorded in painted books.[824]‘Hay calle de herbolarios donde hay todas las raíces y yerbas medicinales que en la tierra se hallan. Hay casas como de boticarios donde se venden las medicinas hechas, así potables como ungüentos emplastos.’ Cortés, Cartas, p. 104. They ‘possédaient des livres dans lesquels étaient consignées minutieusement toutes leurs observations relatives aux sciences naturelles.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 637-8. See also Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 116; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 300; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 117; Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 309. ‘Tenian siete, o ocho maneras de rayzes de yeruas y flores: de yeruas y arboles, que eran las que mas comunmente vsauan para curarse.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. x., cap. xxi. Doubtless many of the vegetable and other medicines employed were mere nostrums administered to give an exalted opinion of the doctor’s knowledge and skill rather than with any hope of effecting a cure.

Treatment of Various Diseases

Sahagun gives page after page of native recipes for every ailment of the human body, which cannot be reproduced here. Many of the remedies and methods of application are as absurd as any of those which have been noticed among the wild tribes. For diseases of the scalp a wash of urine, an ointment of soot, and an application of black clay were prescribed, together with vegetable specifics too numerous to mention. The white of an egg was much used in mixing remedies for wounds and bruises; a certain animal tapaiaxin was eaten for a swollen face; the broth of a boiled fowl was recommended for convalescents. Cataracts on the eye were rasped and scraped with certain roots; for bloodshot eyes the membrane was cut, raised with a thorn, and anointed with woman’s milk; clouded eyes were treated with lizard’s dung. Morning dew cured catarrh in newly born children. Hoarseness was treated by drinking honey, and an external application of India-rubber. Wounds in the lips must be sewn up with a hair; a certain insect pounded and hot pepper were among the remedies for toothache, and great care of the teeth was recommended. Stammering in children was supposed to be caused by too long suckling. Remedies for a cold were nearly as numerous as in our day. Copper-filings were applied to bubos, which may or may not have been syphilitic sores. For looseness of the bowels in infants, the remedy was given not only to the child but to the nurse. For a severe blow on the chest, urine in which lizards had been boiled must be drunk. The necessity of regulating the bowels to sustain health was well understood, and the doctor usually effected his purpose by injecting a herbal decoction from his mouth through the leg-bone of a heron. Purgatives in common use were jalap, pine-cones, tacuache, amamaxtla, and other roots; diuretics, axixpatli and axixtlacotl; emetics, mexochitl and neixcotlapatli. Izticpatli, and chatalhuic, are mentioned among the remedies for fevers. Balsams were obtained from the huitziloxitl by distillation, from the huaconex by soaking the bark in water, and from the maripenda, by boiling the fruit and tender stones. Oils were made from tlapatl, chile, chian, ocotl (a kind of pine), and the India-rubber tree. Octli, or wine, was often prescribed to strengthen the system, and was also mixed with other medicines to render them more palatable, for which latter purpose cacao was also much used.

Several stones possessed medicinal properties: the aztetl, held in the hand or applied to the neck, stopped bleeding at the nose; the xiuhtomoltetl, taken in the form of a powder, cured heartburn and internal heat. This latter stone fell from the clouds in stormy weather, sunk into the earth, and grew continually larger and larger, a solitary tuft of grass alone indicating to the collector its whereabouts. The bones of giants dug up at the foot of the mountains, were collected by their dwarfish successors, ground to powder, mixed with cacao, and drunk as a cure for diarrhea and dysentery. Persons suffering from fever, or wishing to allay carnal desires, ate jaguar’s flesh; while the skin, bones, and excrement of the same animal, burnt, powdered, and mixed with resin, formed an antidote for insanity. Certain horny-skinned worms, similarly powdered and mixed, were a specific for the gout, decayed teeth, and divers other ailments.

Superstitious Curative Rites

Surgery was no less advanced than other branches of the healing art, and Cortés himself had occasion to acknowledge the skill and speed with which they cured wounds. Snake-bites, common enough among a barefooted people, were cured by sucking and scarifying the wound, covering it with a thin transparent pellicle from the maguey-plant. Rubbing with snuff, together with heat, was another treatment, and the coanenepilli and coapatliwere also considered antidotes. Fractures were treated with certain herbs and gums, different kinds for different limbs, and bound up with splints; if the healing did not progress satisfactorily the bone was scraped before the operation of resetting. For painful operations of this nature it is possible that narcotics were administered, for at certain of the sacrifices it is related that the victims were sprinkled with yauhtli powder to render them less sensitive to pain. Mendieta states that a stupefying drink was given on similar occasions; and Acosta mentions that oliliuhqui was taken by persons who desired to see visions. This latter was a seed, which was also an ingredient of the teopatli, or divine medicine, composed besides of India-rubber gum, ocotl-resin, tobacco, and sacred water. This medicine could only be obtained from the priests. Blood-letting was much in vogue for various ills, the lancets used being iztli knives, porcupine-quills, or maguey-thorns. Ulli-marked papers were burned by the recovered patient as a thank-offering to the gods. Veterinary surgeons are mentioned by Oviedo as having been employed in the zoölogical gardens of Montezuma.[825]Acosta adds that the ashes of divers poisonous insects were mixed with the teopatli composition, which benumbed the part to which it was applied. ‘Aplicado por via de emplasto amortigua las carnes esto solo por si, quanto mas con tanto genero de ponçoñas, y como les amortiguaua el dolor, pareciales efecto de sanidad, y de virtud diuina.’ Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 370-1. For details of medical practice see Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 85-105, 109, tom. xi., pp. 212, 236-86, tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 214-15; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxli., ccxiii.; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 100, 139; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 274, 550, 558; Oviedo, Hist. Ind., tom. iii., p. 306; Peter Martyr, dec. v., tom. ii-iii.; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. x., cap. xxi., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xvii., dec. iv., lib. ix., cap. viii.; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 77, 212-16; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 189, tom. iii., pp. 638-40, tom. iv., p. 355.

The medicines, though prepared and applied by the doctors themselves, were not deemed sufficient for the patient; superstitious ceremonies were held to be indispensable to effect a cure, and to enhance the value of professional services. Evil beings and things had to be exorcised, the gods must be invoked, especially the patron deity, known chiefly by the name of Teteionan, who was esteemed the inventor of many valuable specifics, as the ocotl-oil and others, and confessions were extorted to ease the conscience and appease the offended deity. The affected parts were rubbed and pressed amid mutterings and strange gestures, and to work the more upon the simple-minded patient, they pretended to extract a piece of coal, bone, wood, or other object, the supposed cause of the ailment. A favorite treatment in certain prostrating cases was to form a figure of corn dough, which was laid upon a prickly maguey-leaf and placed in the road, with the view of letting the first passer-by carry away the disease—a charitable hope that seems to have afforded much relief to the afflicted. However absurd this jugglery may appear, it no doubt gave a powerful stimulus to the imagination, which must have aided the working of the medicine. In critical cases, chance was often consulted as to the fate of the sufferer. A handful of the largest grains or beans were thrown on the ground, and if any happened to fall upright it was regarded as a sure sign that the patient would die, and he received little or no attention after that; otherwise prescriptions and encouraging words were not spared. Sometimes a number of cord rings were thrown in the same manner, and if they fell in a heap, death was expected to result; but if any fell apart, a change for the better was looked for. To encounter a snake or lizard was held to be a sign of death for the person himself or for his sick friend. Although no curative process, probably, in the case of a serious illness was altogether free from superstitious rites, yet it is surprising that these played so unimportant a rôle. Among a people so addicted on every occasion to complicated ceremonies, the most complicated might naturally be sought in their efforts to combat disease; but it is just here that the least reliance seems to have been placed in supernatural agencies.[826]Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxli.; Id., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 234. ‘Lanzábanlos (unos cordeles como llavero) en el suelo, y si quedaban revueltos, decian que era señal de muerte. Y si alguno ó algunos salian extendidos, teníanlo por señal de vida, diciendo: que ya comenzaba el enfermo á extender los piés y las manos.’ Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 110;Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 130-1; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 491-2; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. ix., cap. vii.; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 216-17. Other authorities on medicine are: Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., p. 1133; Gage’s New Survey, p. 111; West-Indische Spieghel, p. 247; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 48, vol. ii., pp. 119-20, 137, 434-5; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 668-74; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., pp. 132-4; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 90-1; Chevalier, Mex., Ancien et Mod., p. 16; Baril, Mexique, p. 208; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, p. 51. I further have in my possession a very rare and curious medical work by Dr Monardes, treating of the various medicinal plants, etc., found in Mexico and Central America, printed in Seville in 1574.

Funeral Rites of Kings

The Aztecs were very particular about the disposal of their dead, and conducted funeral rites with the pomp that attended all their ceremonials. The obsequies of kings were especially imposing, and their description, embracing as it does nearly all the ceremonies used on such occasions by these nations, will present the most complete view of the proceedings.

Preparation for Future Existence

When the serious condition of the monarch became apparent, a veil[827]‘Ponen mascaras a Tezcatlipuca, o Vitzilopuchtli, o a otro idolo.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 309. As the idols wore masks, it is more likely that a veil was thrown over the face, than that another mask should have been put on. ‘Suivant une coutume antique attribuée à Topiltzin-Acxitl, dernier roi de Tollan, on mettait un masque au visage des principales idoles, et l’on couvrait les autres d’une voile.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 572. ‘Mettevan una maschera all’ Idolo di Huitzilopochtli, ed un’altra aquello di Tezcatlipoca.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 95. was thrown over the face of the patron god, to be removed on his death, and notice was sent to all the friendly princes, the grandees and nobles of the empire, to attend the obsequies; those who were unable to attend in person sent representatives to deliver their condolence and presents. As soon as the king had breathed his last, certain masters of ceremonies, generally old men whose business it was to attend on these occasions, and who were doubtless connected with the priesthood,[828]‘Ciertas mujeres y hombres que están salariados de público.’ Zuazo, Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 364. Brasseur de Bourbourg thinks that they were only employed by the common people. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 569. Tezozomoc states that princes dressed the body. Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 142. were summoned to prepare the body for the funeral. The corpse was washed with aromatic water, extracted chiefly from trefoil,[829]Zuazo says that the corpse was held on the knees of one of the male or female shrouders, while others washed it. Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 364. and occasionally a process of embalming was resorted to. The bowels were taken out and replaced by aromatic substances, but the method does not seem to have been very complete, and may only have been intended to serve while the body lay in state, for no remains of embalmed mummies have been found. The art was an ancient one, however, dating from the Toltecs as usual, yet generally known and practiced throughout the whole country. A curious mode of preserving bodies was used by the lord of Chalco who captured two Tezcucan princes, and, in order that he might feast his eyes upon their hated forms, had them dried and placed as light-holders in his ball-room.[830]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 151, 87; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 16; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 145, tom. ii., p. 99; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xiv. When the invited guests had arrived the body was dressed in many mantles, often to the number of fifteen or twenty, such as the king had worn on the most solemn occasions, and consequently richly embroidered and glittering with jewels.[831]The chapter on dress furnishes all the information respecting the royal wardrobe. It is not unlikely that princes assisted in robing the king, for such was the custom in Michoacan, and that the mantles brought by them were used for shrouding, but authors are not very explicit on this point. While some were shrouding the body, others cut papers of different colors into strips of various forms, and adorned the corpse therewith. Water was then poured upon its head with these words: “This is the water which thou usedst in this world;”[832]Brasseur de Bourbourg uses the expression ‘C’est cette eau que tu as reçue en venant au monde.’ Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 569. and a jug of water was placed among the shrouds, the priest saying: “This is the water wherewith thou art to perform the journey.” More papers were now delivered to the deceased in bunches, the priest explaining the import of each, as he placed it with the body. On delivering the first bunch he said: “With these thou art to pass between two mountains that confront each other.” The second bunch, he was told, would pass him safely over a road guarded by a large snake; the third would conduct him by a place held by an alligator, xochitonal; the fourth would protect and aid him in traversing the ‘eight deserts;’ other papers would facilitate the passage of the ‘eight hills,’ and still others afford protection against the cutting winds termed itzehecayan, which were so strong as to tear out rocks and cut like very razors; here the wearing-apparel buried with him would also be of great service. A little red dog was thereupon slain by thrusting an arrow down its throat, and the body placed by the side of the deceased, with a cotton string about its neck. The dog was to perform the part of Charon, and carry the king on his back across the deep stream called Chicunahuapan, ‘nine waters,'[833]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 527; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 94. Gomara says the dog served as guide: ‘vn perro que lo guiasse adonde auia de yr.’ Conq. Mex., fol. 309. a name which points to the nine heavens of the Mexicans.

It will thus be seen that the dead had a difficult road to travel before reaching their future abode, which was on the fifth day after the burial, and that they needed the articles of comfort and necessity, as food, dresses, and slaves, which affectionate friends provided for their use. The ideas entertained by the Nahuas respecting a future life belong to another department of my work, and will only be alluded to incidentally in this chapter. After the defunct had received his passports, he was covered with a mantle like that of the god which his condition and mode of death rendered appropriate, and decorated with its image. As most kings were warriors, he would be dressed in a mantle of Huitzilopochtli, and would, in addition, wear the mantle of his favorite god.[834]‘Le ponian los vestidos del Dios, que tenia por mas Principal en su Pueblo, en cuia Casa, ò Templo, ò Patio se havia de enterrar.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 521; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 93-5. Duran mentions an instance where a king was dressed in the mantles of four different gods. Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. xxxix.; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 309. A lock of hair was cut off and placed, with one that had been cut at his birth, as well as small idols, in a casket painted inside and out with the images of the patron deity. The casket used for this purpose in the case of some of the Chichimec kings is described to have been of emerald or other fine stone, three feet square, and covered by a gold lid set with precious stones. A mask either painted, or of gold, or of turquoise mosaic was placed over the face,[835]‘Sobre la mortaja le ponian vna mascara pintada.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 521. Perhaps he confounds the idol image on the robe with the mask, for it is unlikely that the mask should be placed upon the shroud. ‘Visage découvert.’ Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 201. Speaking of the obsequies of Tezozomoc of Azcapuzalco, Ixtlilxochitl says that a turquoise mask was put over his face, ‘conforme lo fisonomía de su rostro. Esto no se usaba sino con los monarcas de esta tierra; á los demas reyes les ponian una máscara de oro.’ Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 370. Veytia states that it was a gold mask ‘garnecida de turquezas.’ Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 5. The hair, says Gomara, ‘quedaua la memoria de su anima.’ Conq. Mex., fol. 309. and a chalchiuite, which was to serve for a heart, between the lips. According to Tezozomoc and Duran a statue was placed with the king, dressed in royal insignia by the hands of princes. The chiefs of the senate redressed it in other robes after painting it blue. It was then honored with addresses and presents, and again undressed, painted black, and arrayed in a robe of Quetzalcoatl; a garland of heron-feathers was placed upon its head, bracelets and jewelry about its body, a small gilded shield by its side, and a stick in the hand. This figure shared the honors given to the body and was burned with it.[836]Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 90, 98-9; Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. xxxix. ‘On plaçait sur le lit de parade la statue que l’on faisait toujours à l’image du roi.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 572. The only statue referred to by other authors is that made of the ashes after the cremation.

Royal Obsequies

The arrayed corpse was either laid upon a litter covered with rich cloths, or seated upon a throne, and watched over by a guard of honor, while princes and courtiers came to pay their last respects.[837]Some of the early Chichimec kings lay five days in state, and Tlaltecatzin, forty days, his body being buried on the eightieth day. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 61, 72, 87. They approached with great manifestations of grief, weeping, lamenting, clapping their hands, bending the body or exhibiting neglect of person, and addressed the defunct, referring to his present happiness, the loss his departure had caused, his goodness and bravery, and begged his acceptance of the presents they had brought. This performance was enacted by all, those of higher rank taking precedence and leaving offerings of ten slaves, a hundred robes, and other things, while others brought gifts of less value. Then came the women, and while they were leaving their presents of food, the aged courtiers intoned the funeral chant, the miccacuicatl. Addresses of condolence were also made to the royal family or the senate. The human sacrifices were inaugurated at this time by the immolation of the sacerdotal slave under whose charge the household idols stood.[838]Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 321, among others, calls this slave a priest. On the fifth day, before daybreak, a grand procession formed for the temple, preceded by an enormous paper banner, four fathoms in length, and richly adorned with feathers, on which the deeds of the defunct were doubtless inscribed, and attended by priests who wafted incense and chanted his glory, though in mournful strains, and without instrumental accompaniment.[839]Although Acosta says, ‘tañendo tristes flautas y atambores.’ Hist. de las Ynd., p. 322; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xviii. ‘On faisait deux grandes bannières de papier blanc.’ Chaves, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., p. 309. The corpse was borne upon the state litter by the most trusted of the noble servitors, while at the sides walked the chief lords and princes dressed in mourning, their attire consisting of long, square mantles of dark color, trailing on the ground, without any ornaments; some, however, were painted with figures of skulls, bones, and skeletons. Behind them came the ambassadors of absent princes, the grandees and nobles from all parts of the country, each carrying some insignia, weapons, or jewels to be offered on the pyre.[840]Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 370; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 6-7. Duran states that kings bore the corpse and that the mourners were dressed as water-goddesses. Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. xxxix., xl., tom. ii., cap. li. Acosta says that the arms and insignia were carried before the body by knights. Hist. de las Ynd., p. 321. In the procession were also a large number of slaves, all newly attired in the royal livery,[841]Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 90, 142, states that they were dressed in royal insignia and jewels, which is not very likely; a number of them, however, were loaded with the royal wardrobe, which fact may have given rise to this statement. and carrying clothes, implements, and other articles, according to the duties assigned them. On reaching the courtyard of the temple, the priest who directed the burning came to receive the procession, and conducted it to the altar devoted to cremation, all chanting the while a moral song, in which they reminded the mourners that as they were now carrying a senseless body to its last resting-place, so would they be carried; they also reminded them that good deeds alone would remain to keep their remembrance green, and pictured the glories in store for the deserving. These priests were called coacuiles, and their office was held to be of such importance that they prepared for it by fasting and confession. They appeared in the same idol dress as the dead king, though with more elaborate ornaments. We find them on one occasion as demons with faces at different parts of their dress, set with eyes of mirrors and gaping mouths; and at another time with blackened or dyed bodies and paper maxtlis, swinging the yellow sticks used to stir the ashes. According to Ixtlilxochitl, the high-priest of Cihuacoatl, who was supposed to gather the dead, came out to receive the procession.[842]Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 370; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), in Id., vol. v., pp. 200-1; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 322; Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. xl. ‘Salia el gran Sacerdote, con los otros Ministros, à recibirlo.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 521.

Cremation and Interment

The opinions as to the introduction of cremation are extremely varied, but it seems to have been practiced in very ancient times by the migrating tribes, who took this means to secure the remains of honored chiefs from desecration; their ashes could thus be carried along and serve as talismanic relics. Ixtlilxochitl gives an instance of this in the case of a Chichimec king who died in battle and whose body was burned, so that the ashes might be carried home with convenience and safety. Brasseur de Bourbourg also holds that cremation was an ancient Toltec custom, but the first recorded case is that of the last Toltec king, Topiltzin.[843]Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 332, 325, 327, 388. Others assert that the Toltecs who remained in the country after the destruction of their empire adhered to interment, as did the early Chichimecs. Veytia affirms that Ixtlilxochitl or Tezozomoc was the first to be deposited according to the forms instituted by Topiltzin and used by the Mexicans, namely, burning; Torquemada distinctly states that the Chichimecs used cremation, and Clavigero agrees with him.[844]‘El (the mode) que estos Chichimecas vsaron, fue quemarlos.’ Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 60, 72, 87; Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., pp. 369, 388; Id., Hist. Chich., pp. 214, 223, 261-2. Veytia, who introduces some arguments on this point, thinks that Tezozomoc introduced burning, yet he describes ceremonial cremations in the case of several kings before him. Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 3-4, tom. ii., p. 113; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 140, tom. ii., pp. 97-8. Veytia also thinks that the first Aztec kings were buried, but this is contrary to all other reliable accounts. The custom may not have been very general, for Sahagun states that during Itzcoatl’s reign it was resolved by the chiefs that all should be burned, indicating at the same time that cremation was then already in use. The later established usage was to burn all except those who died a violent death, or of incurable diseases, and those under seventeen years of age, who were all interred. The Tlascaltecs and Tarascos practiced burning like the Aztecs.[845]Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., pp. 165, 202. ‘La gente menuda comunmente se enterraua.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 308; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 200; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 528; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 4; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 129. ‘Sabia por las pinturas, que se quemaron en tiempo del señor de México que se decia Itzcóatl, en cuya época los señores, y los principales que habia entónces, acordaron y mandaron que se quemasen todas, para que no viniesen á manos del vulgo.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 140-1.

The altar devoted to the burning was doubtless one attached to the temple consecrated to the deity to whose abode the deceased was supposed to go. Chaves describes it as three feet in height and the same in width,[846]Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., p. 309. on which a heap of ocotl was piled. Upon this pyre the body was laid in full array, together with the dog, and, as the fire flared up, the mourners added insignia, jewels, weapons, food, and other tributes. Two of the demon-like coacuiles stirred the fire while others stood by chanting appropriate songs and sprinkling blessed water and incense upon the remains, as well as upon the mourners. Now began the sacrifice of those doomed to follow the deceased to the other world and there administer to his wants and pleasure. These were at first but few in number, but during the bloody dominion of the Aztecs they increased to several hundred, as at the funeral of Nezahualpilli, when two hundred males and one hundred females were immolated; they consisted chiefly of slaves and deformed beings from the royal retinue, and such as had been presented. Duran says that all slaves and deformed persons belonging to the household were killed, and Acosta goes so far as to state that the whole royal household was dispatched, including the favorite brother of the king; but this must be taken with a grain of allowance, for, at this rate, the nobles, who crowded the service of the monarch, even in menial positions, would soon have been exterminated. Some courtiers were, no doubt, expected to prove the sincerity of their life-long adulations by either offering themselves as victims, or submitting to a selection made from their number. Sometimes a chief would signify his preference for those among his concubines whom he wished to have with him, a mark of favor often received with great joy, for they would thus be sure of entering into the supreme heaven, where the warlike lords usually went, while they might otherwise be doomed to dark Mictlan. Self-immolation of wives was, accordingly, not uncommon, although not prescribed by law as in India. Brasseur says that captives were sacrificed, but Duran states that they were not offered except to the gods. Persons born during the last five days of the year—the unlucky days—were, however, reserved for royal obsequies.[847]Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 379, 388; Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. xxxix., xl.; Bologne, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., pp. 213-14; Solis, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. i., p. 432; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 202; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 573; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 8-9.

Disposition of the Remains

This array of victims was harangued by a relative of the deceased, who dilated on the happiness before them in being allowed to join their master, and admonished them to serve him as faithfully in the next world as they had done here. They were then consigned to the priests, who laid them upon a teponaztli,[848]Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 90; Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. xxxix., tom. ii., cap. li. cut open the breast and tore out the heart, which was thrown upon the pyre, while the bodies were cast upon another blazing hearth near by.[849]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 521; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 321. Camargo indicates that the bodies were thrown upon the same pyre together with the presents. Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 202. ‘Sacándoles los corazones, y la sangre de ellos en una batea ó gran xícara, con la cual rociavan á Huitzilopochtli, á quien le presentaron los corazones de todos los muertos.’ Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 90. Gomara and others state that the bodies were interred, but as the dog and the property were burned, it is not likely that the more important and useful human servants were buried.[850]Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 309; Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 370; Tezozomoc, ubi sup.

When the body had been thoroughly burned, the fire was quenched, the blood collected from the victims being used for this purpose, according to Duran, and the ashes, sprinkled with holy water, were placed with the charred bones, stones, and melted jewelry in the urn, or casket, which contained also the hair of the deceased. On the top of this was placed a statue of wood or stone, attired in the royal habiliments, and bearing the mask and insignia, and the casket was deposited at the feet of the patron deity, in the chapel.[851]‘La colocaron en el mismo lugar en que ardió la pira.’ Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 9. This author says that the mouth-stone of the deceased together with the mask, robes, and ornaments were taken off before the body was placed upon the pyre; this could only have been for the purpose of dressing the wooden statue therein; the stone was, however, placed inside the urn. Ixtlilxochitl, ubi sup. Brasseur de Bourbourg calls this bundle of bones tlaquimilolli, which he says was sacredly preserved, whether of kings or braves. Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1858, tom. clx., p. 268. In the case of Nauhyotl of Culhuacan, the bones were exhumed and placed in a statue, which was made in his honor, and deposited in a temple consecrated to him. Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. xxxix. On the return of the procession a grand banquet was given to the guests, ending, as usual, with a presentation of gifts. For four days the mourners paid constant visits to the shrine to manifest their sorrow and to present the offerings of food, clothes, or jewels, termed quitonaltia, ‘to give good luck.’ These were either placed by the urn or upon the altar of the god, and removed by the priests, who ate the food and sent the valuables to the temple treasury. These ceremonies closed with the sacrifice of ten to fifteen slaves, and then the casket was deposited in that part of the temple appointed for its permanent reception.[852]‘Al cuarto dia, al anochecer, cargaron los sacerdotes la arca de las cenizas y la estatua, y la colocaron en una especie de nicho, dentro del templo.’ Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 10. ‘Sous le pavé même du sanctuaire, devant la statue du dieu.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 574. Duran mentions that the ashes of one king were deposited at the foot of the stone of sacrifice. Hist. Indias, MS., tom. ii., cap. li.; Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 142; Cortés, Cartas, p. 106; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. li. Among the Chichimecs the royal casket often remained forty days on view in the palace, whence it was carried in procession to its final resting-place.[853]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 72, 87; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., pp. 15-16.

Nahua Sepulchres

In cases of interment the deceased was deposited in the grave, seated on a throne in full array, facing the north,[854]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vii., p. 257. with his property and victims around him. In early times, when the practice of interment was more general, the victims were few, if not dispensed with entirely, and consisted usually of two favorite concubines, placed one on each side of their master, who, it is said, were entombed alive, though it is more probable that they were stupefied by narcotic drinks, or clubbed, as in Michoacan. This practice of burying alive is ascribed to the Toltecs.[855]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 316, 331; Bologne, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., pp. 213-14; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., pp. 192, 202. The graves were usually large subterranean vaults of stone and lime, situated in the temple court, palace, or some favorite spot near the city, as Chapultepec. It is related that the temple pyramid in Mexico was the superstructure of royal graves, the remains being deposited on the summit, and the successor to the crown erecting upon this another platform. On destroying the temple, the Spaniards found several vaults, one beneath the other, with their valuable contents of jewelry.[856]‘La muerte se hacian enterrar en la más alta grada, é despues el subcessor subia otras dos gradas.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 503. ‘Los Príncipes necesitaban de gran sepultura, porque se llevaban tras sí la mayor parte de sus riquezas y familia.’ Solis, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. i., p. 432. ‘Io aiutai a cauar d’vna sepoltura tre mila Castigliani poco piu ò meno.’ Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 310. The Toltecs also buried their dead in and near the temples, and, according to some authors, the mounds at Teotihuacan, to the number of several hundred, which will be described in Vol. IV. of this work, are the graves of Toltec chiefs.[857]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 141; Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 327; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 189. The Chichimec kings were usually buried in round holes, five to six feet deep, situated in caves beneath the palace or in the mountains; in later times, however, they chose the temples.[858]Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 214; Id., Relaciones, pp. 335, 344; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 98.

Twenty days after the burial further offerings were made, together with a sacrifice of from four to five slaves; on the fortieth day two or three more died; on the sixtieth, one or two; while the final immolation consisting of ten to twelve slaves took place at the end of eighty days, and put an end to the mourning. Motolinia adds, however, that testimonials of sorrow accompanied by offerings continued to be made every eightieth day for the space of a year.[859]Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 31; Ritos Antiguos, p. 20, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix. Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 371, states that the sacrifices on the fourth day consisted of five to six slaves, on the tenth of one, on the eightieth of three. ‘Le cinquième on sacrifiait plusieurs esclaves, et cette immolation se répétait encore quatre fois, de dix en dix jours.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 574. Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. xiv., xxxix., mentions a fast of eighty days, at the end of which a statue was made, like one which he states was burned with the corpse, and to this exactly the same ceremonies were paid as to the defunct, the statue being burned with an equally large number of slaves as before. The fullest descriptions of royal obsequies are given in Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 521-3; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 3-11; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 95-8; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 309-10; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 571-4; Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. xxxix., xl., tom. ii., cap. xlviii.; Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 86-90, 99.

Plebeian Funeral Rites

The obsequies of the subjects were, of course, on a scale of much less grandeur, though the rich and nobles ventured to exhibit a certain pomp. The common man, after having been washed in aromatic waters, was dressed in his best garments; a cheap stone called the tentetl, ‘mouth-stone,’ was inserted between the lips; the passport papers for the dark journey were handed to him with the usual address; and by his side were placed the water, the dog, the insignia of his trade, as arms, spade, or the like—spindle or broom in the case of a woman—with the dresses and other things required for comfort. Lastly the mantle of the god which his condition in life and manner of death rendered appropriate, was placed upon him; thus, a warrior would wear the mantle of Huitzilopochtli with the image of the war god upon it; a merchant the mantle of Iyacatecutli; the artisan that of the patron deity of his trade. A drunkard would, in addition, be covered with the robe of the god of wine; a person who had died by drowning, with that of the water gods; the man executed for adultery, with that of the god of lasciviousness; and so on.[860]After describing the robing of drunkards and others, Gomara says: ‘Y finalmente a cada oficial dauan el traje del idolo de aquel oficio,’ which certainly indicates that a drowned or besotted artisan would wear the mantle due to his position in life as well as that due to his manner of death. Conq. Mex., fol. 309. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 93-4, uses the following expression: ‘Vestivanlo d’un abito corrispondente alla sua condizione, alle sue facoltà, ed alle circostanze della sua morte.’ According to Zuazo, the corpse was further decorated with feathers of various colors, and seated in a chair to receive the expressions of sorrow and respect of friends, and their humble offerings of flowers, food, or dresses. After a couple of hours a second set of shrouders removed the garments, washed the body again, re-dressed it in red mantles, with feathers of the same color, and left it to be viewed for an hour or more, according to the number of the visitors. A third time the body was washed, by a fresh corps of attendants, and arrayed, this time, in black garments, with feathers of the same sombre color. These suits were either given to the temple or buried with the body.[861]Zuazo, Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 364-5. Nobles had the large banner borne in their procession, and seem to have been allowed the use of sacrifices.[862]Camargo says, with reference to sacrifices and pompous ceremonies, ‘tout cela avait lieu, plus ou moins, à toutes les funérailles, selon la richesse du défunt.’ Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 202; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 63. According to Chaves the common people were also burned in their own premises or in the forest, a statement which Acosta and others indirectly confirm by saying that they had no regular burial-places, but their ashes were deposited in the yards of their houses, in the temple courts, in the mountains, or in the field. Upon the graves were placed flags, ornaments, and various offerings of food during the four days of mourning. Visits of condolence with attendant feasting extended over a period of several days, however.[863]Zuazo, Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 365; Chaves, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., p. 310; ‘Durauan las exequias diez dias.’ Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 321.’On passait vingt ou trente jours au milieu des fêtes et des festins.’ Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 202. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xviii.; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 93-5. People who had died a violent death, by lightning or other natural causes or of incurable diseases, such as leprosy, tumors, itch, gout, or dropsy, were not burned but interred in special graves. Branches or shoots of amaranth were placed upon their cheeks, the brow was rubbed with texutli, certain papers were laid over the brain, and in one hand was placed a wooden rod which was supposed to become green and throw out branches in the other world. The bodies of women who died in childbed were also buried; and the burial was attended by great difficulty, since warriors and sorcerers fought bravely to obtain possession of some part of her body, as has been stated in a preceding chapter.[864]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 529; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 186-91. See p. 269 of this volume.

A trader of the rank of pochteca, who died on a journey, was dressed in the garb of his class, with eyes painted black, red circles round the mouth, and with strips of paper all over his person. The body was then deposited in a cacaxtli, or square basket, well secured by cords, and carried to the top of a mountain, where it was fixed to a tree, or pole driven into the ground, and left to wither. The spirit was supposed to have entered the abode of the sun.[865]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. ix., p. 358. On the return of the caravan the death was reported to the guild, who broke the news to the family of the deceased. A puppet made of candlewood, and adorned with the usual paper ornaments, was left at the temple for a day, during which the friends mourned over it as if the body was actually before them. At midnight the puppet was burned in the quauhxicalco and the ashes buried in the usual manner. Funeral ceremonies were held for four days, after which the relatives washed the faces, that had remained untouched by water during the absence of the trader, and put an end to the mourning. The practice of paying honors to the dead in effigy was especially in vogue among the warrior class.[866]Sahagun intimates that the puppet was for those who were slain by enemies, but adds, afterwards, that a puppet was burned with the same ceremonies in the court of the house, if they died at home. Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iv., pp. 314-15; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 587; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 621-2. See this vol., p. 392.

Honors to the Slain in Battle

Besides funeral honors to individuals, ceremonies for all those who died in a battle or war were of frequent occurrence, as that ordered by the first Montezuma in memory of the slain in the campaign against Chalco. A procession of all the relatives and friends of the dead, headed by the fathers bearing decorated arms and armor, and terminated by the children, marched through the streets, dancing and chanting mournful songs in honor of those who had fallen fighting for their country and their gods, and for each other’s mutual consolation. Towards evening presents were distributed by the king’s officials, clothing to the common people, ornaments to the chiefs, and food to all. An effigy was then prepared, the details of whose dress and decoration are minutely described, and before it, placed in the cihuacalli, war songs were chanted, instruments were played, women danced and cried for four days; then the image was burned before the temple, the ceremony being called quitlepanquetzin, ‘burning the dead of the last war.’ Some of the ashes were scattered upon the relatives, who fasted for eighty days, the remaining ashes being in the meantime buried; but after the eighty days had passed they were dug up and carried to the hill of Yahualiuhcan, on the boundaries of Chalco, where they were left. Five days later a feast took place, during which the garments of the dead warriors were burned, more offerings were made, and as a final honor to the memory of the departed all became intoxicated with pulque. Very distinguished warriors were sometimes honored with the funeral rites of royalty.[867]Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 37-8, 86-7, 161-2; Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. xviii., tom. ii., cap. xlviii.; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 259-61, 407-8.

The ceremonies during the period of mourning were not the last honors paid to deceased friends. Every year during the four years that the souls were supposed to live in a preparatory state in the heavens,[868]Explicacion del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 130; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), in Id., p. 193. offerings of choice viands, wine, flowers, and reeds of perfume were placed before the casket or upon the grave; songs extolling the merits of the departed were sung, accompanied by dances, the whole closing with feasting and drinking. After this the dead were left to oblivion.[869]Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 31; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 523. These commemorations took place in the months of Tlaxochimaco and Xocotlhuetzin. The former was termed ‘the small festival of the dead,’ and seems to have been devoted to the common people and children, but at the celebration in the latter month great demonstrations were observed by all; and certain royal personages and warriors who had died for their country were awarded divine honors, their statues being placed among those of the gods, to whose presence they had gone. While the priests were burning incense and making other offerings to the dead, the people stood with blackened bodies on the roofs of their houses, and, facing north, prayed to their dead relatives, calling on them to visit their former homes.[870]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 298; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 193-4. ‘Los tres dias ultimos de este mes ayunavan todos los vivos á los muertos.’ Explicacion del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 130. See this vol., pp. 328, 331.

In the month of Quecholli another celebration took place, which seems to have been chiefly intended for warriors who had perished in battle. On the fifth day certain small arrows from five to nine inches in length, and torches, were tied in bundles of four each and placed upon the graves, together with a pair of sweet tamales. At sunset the bundles were set on fire, and the ashes interred with the dead. The shield of the dead, with arrow, mantle, and maxtli attached, was afterwards fastened to a stalk of maize of nine joints, mounted by two paper flags, one of which reached the length of the stalk. On the small flag was a cross, worked in red thread, and on the other an ornamentation of red and white thread, from the white part of which a dead humming-bird was suspended. Bunches of white aztatl feathers, tied in pairs, were also attached to the stalk by a thread covered with white hen-feathers. This was burned at the quauhxicalco.[871]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 163-4; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 281. Brasseur de Bourbourg says that this celebration was of a general character, and dilutes the meagre and doubtful information of his authority considerably. The arrows and food, ‘après qu’elles y avaient demeuré un jour et une nuit, on les enlevait et on brûlait le tout ensemble en l’honneur de Mixcohuatl et de ses compagnons d’armes.’ Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 234, tom. iii., pp. 528-9.

Funeral Rites of the Tarascos

Among the peoples whose funeral ceremonies differ from those described, may be mentioned the Teo-Chichimecs, who interred their dead, and danced and sang for several days after.[872]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 119. In Tabasco interment seems also to have prevailed, for Grijalva found a grave in the sand, containing a boy and a girl wrapped in cotton cloth and adorned with jewelry.[873]Diaz, Itinerario, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 304; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., p. 532. In Goazacoalco it was the custom to place the bones in a basket, as soon as the flesh was gone, and hang them up in a tree, so that the spirit of the defunct might have no trouble in finding them.[874]Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. ix., cap. vii.

Cremation of the Tarascan Kings

In Michoacan the funeral rites were of a very exacting character. When the king lay on his death-bed it was incumbent on all vassals and courtiers to attend at the palace, and those who stayed away were severely punished. While awaiting the final breath they were royally entertained, but none could enter the death-chamber. When the corpse was ready for shrouding, the lords entered to dress it in festive robes, each attending to a particular part of the attire; the emerald brooch was put between the lips, and the body was laid upon a litter covered with cloths of different colors. On one side of the body were placed a bow and quiver, on the other was a doll made up of fine mantles and dressed exactly like the king.[875]Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 310. ‘Esta figura se la ponian encima al Difunto.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 524. It is not likely, however, that a life-size figure, as Gomara calls it, or any figure, for that matter, should have been placed over the ornaments of the king and pressed upon the body. Beaumont says: ‘Lo cubrian con una manta, en que estaba pintado ó realzado el cadaver con los mismos adornos.’ Crón. Mechoacan, MS., p. 55. ‘Au-dessus on asseyait une poupée de la taille du défunt.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 83. While the courtiers were giving vent to lamentations and tendering their respects, the new king proceeded to select those among the servitors, who, according to the inviolable law of the country, were doomed to follow the dead prince. Seven of these were noble women, to whom various duties were assigned; one was appointed to carry the precious lip-ornament, another to keep the rest of the jewels, a third to be cup-bearer, and the others to attend at table and to cook. Among the male victims, who seem to have been slaves for the most part, every trade and profession was represented,[876]‘Matauan vno, y aun mas de cada oficio.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 311. as valets, hair-dressers, perfumers, fan-holders, chair-bearers, wood-cutters, boatmen, sweepers, doorkeepers, and artisans; also clowns, and some of the physicians who had failed to save the life of the monarch. Occasionally some enthusiast would offer to join his beloved master of his own accord, but this seems to have been prohibited; besides, the new king had, doubtless, selected all that were obnoxious to him, and could not afford to lose good servants. At midnight the litter was carried on the shoulders of the chief men to the temple, followed by vassals, warriors, and courtiers, some blowing trumpets, others chanting the glories of the dead. In the van of the procession were the victims, who had been bathed in aromatic waters and adorned with garlands stripped of their leaves and branches, and with yellow streaks over the face, who marched in files, sounding whistles, rattling bones, and beating tortoise-shell drums. Torch-bearers attended the party, and ahead went a number of men who swept the road, singing at the same time: “Lord, here thou hast to pass, see that thou dost not miss the road!”[877]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 525. The slaves, he says, ‘los embadurnaban todo el cuerpo, con vna tinta amarilla.’ ‘Yban las andas ó atahud en hombros de los tres principales.’ Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., p. 56. Four turns were made round the pyre before depositing the corpse upon it. While the flames shot up, and the funeral chants fell from the lips of the mourners, the victims were stupefied with drinks and clubbed; the bodies were thrown into holes behind the temple, by threes or fours, together with the ornaments and other belongings of the deceased. The ashes and valuables were gathered from the smoking pyre, and made into a figure, which was dressed in royal habiliments, with a mask for its face, a golden shield on its back, bows and arrows by its side; this was set upon a throne facing the east, the whole being placed in a large urn, which was deposited upon a bed of golden shields and silver articles in a grave with stone walls, lined with mats, about twelve feet square, and equally deep, situated at the foot of the temple. The urn was covered with a number of valuable mantles, and around it were placed various implements, food, drink, and boxes filled with feather-work and ornaments; the grave was finally bridged with varnished beams and boards, and covered with a coating of earth and clay. After the funeral, all who had taken an active part in the ceremonies went to bathe, in order to prevent any injury to their health,[878]‘Todos los que habian tocado el Caltzontzi y á los demas cuerpos se iban á bañar por preservarse de alguna enfermedad.’ Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., p. 57. and then assembled at the palace to partake of a sumptuous repast. At the close of the banquet a cotton cloth was given to each guest wherewith to wipe his face, but all remained seated for five days with lowered heads, without uttering a word, except the grandees, who went in turn by night to watch and mourn at the grave. During this period the mourning was general, no corn was ground, no fires lighted, no business transacted; the streets were deserted, and all remained at home, mourning and fasting. The obsequies of the people bore a general resemblance to the above, the ceremonies being regulated by the rank and means of the deceased. The graves were usually situated in the fields or on the slope of a hill.[879]Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., pp. 54-8; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 523-6; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 310-12; Gage’s New Survey, pp. 157-60, with a cut; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 82-6; Payno, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. i., pp. 717-19.

Sepulchres in Oajaca

Among the Miztecs, in Oajaca, where cremation does not seem to have obtained, compliments and addresses were presented to the corpse of a chief, just as if he were alive. A slave arrayed in the same splendid garments worn by his master, with mask, mitre, and other insignia, was placed before it; and while the funeral procession accompanied the body to burial, he represented the chief, and received the honors paid to royalty. At midnight four priests carried the body to the forest, where it was placed, in the presence of the mourners, in a cave, with the feet to the east, and surrounded with various weapons and implements. Two male and three female slaves, who had in the meantime been made drunk and strangled, were also placed in the grave, together with idols to serve as guides. Burgoa was told by the natives that devoted servants used to follow their lord alive into the grave. On the return of the funeral cortège, the slave who represented the deceased was sacrificed and deposited in a hole, which was left unclosed. The cave selected for the grave of the chief was supposed to be the gate to paradise. Burgoa found two of these resting-places. One was situated in a hill and lighted by loopholes from above. Along the sides were stone benches, like troughs, upon which lay the bejeweled skeletons, and here and there were niches occupied by idols. Another was a stone vault, with plastered walls, arranged like the former; a stone block closed the entrance.[880]Geog. Descrip., tom. i., pt ii., fol. 160-1, tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 320. Some authors state that when the flesh was consumed, the bones were taken out and placed in graves in the houses or in the temples; this may, however, only have applied to certain chiefs, for Burgoa found skeletons, as we have seen, in the caves which he explored. Every year, on the anniversary of the birth of the last defunct lord, not on that of his death, great ceremonies were held in his honor.[881]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 98-9; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xiii.; Explicacion del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 130; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), in Id., p. 193; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 22-4. Like the Aztecs, they believed that the soul wandered about for a number of years before entering into perfect bliss, and visited its friends on earth once a year.[882]‘Au douzième mois de l’année zapotèque.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 23. On the eve of that day the house was prepared as if for a festive occasion, a quantity of choice food was spread upon the table, and the inmates went out with torches in their hands, bidding the spirits enter. They then returned and squatted down round the table with crossed hands and eyes lowered to the ground, for it was thought that the spirits would be offended if they were gazed upon. In this position they remained till morning, praying their unseen visitors to intercede with the gods in their favor, and then arose, rejoiced at having observed due respect for the departed. The food, which the spirits were supposed to have rendered sacred by inhaling its virtue, was distributed among the poor, or deposited in some out-of-the-way place. During the day further ceremonies, accompanied by offerings, were made at the temples, and a table was spread for the priests.[883]Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 392-3; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 23-4. Additional references to funeral ceremonies are: Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 238, tom. ii., pp. 79, 231-2, 298; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., pp. 15, 25, 29; Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 89-91, 98-9, 141-2, 178-9; Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., pp. 1029-30, 1138-9; Gemelli Careri, in Churchill’s Col. Voyages, vol. iv., p. 514; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 261-2; D’Avity, L’Amérique, tom. ii., p. 69; Adair, Amer. Ind., p. 217; Touron, Hist. Gén., tom. iii., pp. 9-10; Delaporte, Reisen, tom. x., pp. 318-23; Lenoir, Parallèle, pp. 11-13, 28, 30; Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1824, tom. xxiv., pp. 137-8; Fransham’s World in Miniature, vol. ii., p. 19; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 666; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 64-5; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 234, 559-64, tom. ii., pp. 375, 604; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 424-5, tom. iii., pp. 407-8, 453, 520-3, 528-9, 569-74; Carli, Cartas, pt i., p. 107; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 456; Simon’s Ten Tribes, pp. 275-6; Monglave, Résumé, p. 32; Cooper’s Hist. N. Amer., vol. ii., p. 163; Baril, Mexique, p. 203; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., pp. 147-9; Ranking’s Hist. Researches, pp. 381-4; Brownell’s Ind. Races, p. 96; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 31, 49-53, 77, 184; Carbajal, Discurso, p. 37.

Physical Peculiarities

The Nahuas were physically a fine race. They are described by all the old writers as being tall,[884]Except the Zapotecs, who, Carbajal Espinosa says, were of low stature and broad-shouldered. Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 245. well-formed, and of an olive or light copper color; as having thick, black, coarse, though soft and glossy hair, regular teeth, low, narrow, retreating foreheads,[885]Gomara says they had wide foreheads. Conq. Mex., fol. 317. ‘La forma, ò figura de las Cabeças, comunmente las tienen proporcionadas à los cuerpos, y à los otros miembros de èl, y derechas; algunos las tienen empinadas, y las frentes quadradas, y llanas; otros (como son estos Mexicanos, y algunos del Pirù) las tenian, y tienen de mejor forma, algo de hechura de Martillo, ò Navio, que es la mejor forma de todas.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 582-3. ‘The Aztec skulls are described as being remarkable for the shortness of their axis, their large flattened occiput obliquely truncated behind, the height of the semicircular line of the temples, and the shortness and trapezoidal form of the parietal plane. They present an elevation or ridge along the sagittal suture; the base of the skull is very short, and the face slightly prognathic, as among the Mongol-Kalmucs. They bear a strong analogy to the skulls of a Peruvian Brachycephali delineated by Morton.’ Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 326. ‘The aboriginal Mexicans of our own time are of good stature and well proportioned in all their limbs. They have narrow foreheads, black eyes, white, well-set, regular teeth, thick, coarse and glossy black hair, thin beards, and are in general without any hair on their legs, thighs, or arms. Their skin is olive coloured, and many fine young women may be seen among them with extremely light complexions. Their senses are very acute, more especially that of sight, which they enjoy unimpaired to the most advanced age.’ Figuier’s Hum. Race, p. 455. For remarks on Mexican Crania, descriptions and measurements of skulls with cuts, see Morton’s Crania Amer., pp. 144-7, 152-7, 231-3, 257, and plates xvi-xviii.^a, lix.-lxi. black eyes, scant beards,[886]According to Herrera, Hist. Gen., (Lond. 1726,) vol. iv., p. 125, and Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 35, the Miztecs had long beards. and very little hair on their bodies. Their senses were very acute, especially that of sight, which they enjoyed unimpaired to the most advanced age.[887]‘En los Sentidos exteriores (como son los de el Vèr, Oìr, Oler, y Gustar) los alcançan admirables; porque vèn mui de lejos, y no vsan de Antojos, si no son mui pocos, despues que los han visto, en nuestros Españoles, y eso es en la vejez, y tienen comunmente los ojos buenos, y hermosos, oien mucho, huelen tambien qualquier cosa de mui lejos; lo mismo es el Gusto; el Sentido del tacto, comunmente es delicado, lo qual se verifica en ellos, porque qualquier cosa, que pueda lastimarlos, como es frio, calor, açotes, ù otra exterior afliccion, los aflige mui facilmente, y en mucho grado, y qualqueira enfermedad los adelgaça, mas presto los enflaquece, y mata, que à otra Nacion, asi Española, como otra alguna, como es notorio, à todos los que los conocemos, y son para sufrir mui poco trabajo.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 580.Their bodies they kept in training by constant exercise. They were wonderful runners and leapers, and, as we have seen, some of their athletic and acrobatic feats were looked upon by the conquerors as nothing short of the work of the devil. It was no unusual thing to meet with people who from their color could scarcely be distinguished from Europeans. The people of Michoacan enjoy the reputation of having been the tallest and handsomest among the Nahuas.[888]Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., p. 50; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 218; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 337, tom. iii., p. 332; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 57. The women of Jalisco found great favor in the eyes of the reverend Father Torquemada. He was shown one there, he says, who might be considered a miracle of beauty; indeed, so fair was her skin, so well-proportioned her body, and so regular her features, that the most skillful portrait-painter would have been put to it to do her justice.[889]He adds further: ‘Y esto (aunque no en tanto extremo) corre, mui en general, por todos estos Reinos, y en especial en aquel de Xalisco, en la Nacion, que llaman Coca, y Tecuex, que son los Tonaltecos, y por acà en la de Tlaxcalla, y otras muchas, que por escusar enfado, callo.’ Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 582; see also tom. i., p. 339. Deformed people were very uncommon; indeed, as we have seen, their rarity made them valuable as objects of curiosity, and kings and princes kept collections of them.[890]‘Sonovi così rari i deformi, che tutti quegli Spagnuoli, e Creogli, che nel 1768, vennero dal Messico in Italia, restarono allora, e sono anche oggidì maravigliati dall’osservare nelle Città di questa coltissima penisola un sì gran numero di ciechi, di gobbi, di zoppi, d’attratti ec.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iv., p. 163. See farther, concerning the physical peculiarities of the Nahuas and earlier peoples: Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 326, 336-7, 341, 344-5, 395; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., tom. ii., p. 12; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 37, 44, 95, 318; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 112, 119, 132; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 37, 51, 255, tom. ii., pp. 580-83; Cortés, Cartas, tom. i., p. 23; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 143-6, tom. ii., p. 5; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. x., cap. xix.; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 499; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 118-19, tom. iv., pp. 161-76; Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 304; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 282, tom. ii., pp. 187, 189, tom. iii., p. 35; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 90, 245, tom. ii., pp. 326, 487; Dupaix, Rel., 2de Expéd., p. 25; Gordon’s Hist. and Geog. Mem., pp. 71-2; Dillon’s Hist. Mex., p. 45; Macgregor’s Progress of Amer., vol. i., p. 21; Cooper’s Hist. N. Amer., vol. ii., p. 163.

Character of the Nahuas

The character of the Nahuas, although the statements of the best authors are nearly unanimous concerning it, is in itself strangely contradictory. We are told that they were extremely frugal in their habits, that wealth had no attractions for them, yet we find them trafficking in the most shrewd and careful manner, delighting in splendid pageants, gorgeous dresses, and rich armor, and wasting their substance in costly feasts; they were tender and kind to their children, and solicitous for their welfare, yet the punishments they inflicted upon their offspring were cruel in the extreme;[891]See this volume, p. 242. they were mild with their slaves, and ferocious with their captives; they were a joyous race, fond of feasting, dancing, jesting, and innocent amusements, yet they delighted in human sacrifices, and were cannibals; they possessed a well-advanced civilization, yet every action of their lives was influenced by gross superstition, by a religion inconceivably dark and bloody, and utterly without one redeeming feature; they were brave warriors, and terrible in war, yet servile and submissive to their superiors; they had a strong imagination and, in some instances, good taste, yet they represented their gods as monsters, and their religious myths and historical legends are absurd, disgusting, and puerile.

That the Nahuas were a most ingenious people is abundantly proven by their work as well as by the statements of those who knew them. It has been said that they were not inventive, but this Clavigero indignantly denies.[892]‘Vi sono molti, che accordano ai Messicani una grande abilità per l’imitazione; ma lor contrastano quella dell’ invenzione. Error volgare, che trovasi smentito nella Storia antica di questa Nazione.’ Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 120. It is certain that their power of imitation was very great,[893]See this volume, pp. 475-6. and that they were very quick to learn the new arts introduced among them by the Spaniards.[894]‘Los niños de los Indios no son molestos con obstinacion ni porfia à la Fè Catholica, como lo son los Moros y Indios; antes aprenden de tal manera las verdades de los Christianos, que no solamente salen con ellas, sino que las agotan, y es tanta su facilidad que parece que se las beuen. Aprenden mas presto que los niños Españoles; y con mas contento los Articulos de la Fè por su orden, y las demas oraciones de la doctrina Christiana, reteniendo en la memoria fielmente lo que se les enseña.’ Dávila Padilla, Hist. Fvnd. Mex., p. 139. ‘Il n’était rien que les Indiens n’apprissent avec une rapidité surprenante, et s’il arrivait quelque nouveau métier dont ils n’eussent aucune connaissance, ils s’appliquaient à le voir faire avec tant d’intelligence, que, malgré les soins de l’ouvrier à leur cacher son secret, ils le lui enlevaient au bout de quelques jours.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 728. They were generous and remarkably free from avarice.[895]‘Son muy ladrones, mentirosos, y holgazanes. La fertilidad de la tierra deue causar tanta pereza, o por no ser ellos codiciosos.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 317. ‘La liberalità e lo staccamento da qualsiasi interesse sono dei principali attributi del loro carattere. L’oro non ha presso i Messicani tutta quella stima, che gode presso altri. Danno senza dispiacere quello, che si procacciano con somma fatica. Questo loro staccamento dall’interesse, ed il poco amore, che portano a quei che gli governano, ii fa rifiutare quelle fatiche, a cui sono da essi costretti, e questa è appunto la tanto esagerata pigrizia degli Americani.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 121-2. ‘Estavan libres de la enfermedad de la codicia, y no pensauan en la vanidad del oro, y plata, ni hazian estimacion dello.’ Dávila, Teatro Ecles., tom. i., p. 18. ‘Segun lo que aquella edad permite, son inclinadissimos à ser liberales. Tanto monta que lo que se les da, se de à vno como à muchos: porque lo que vno recibe, se reparte luego entre todos.’ Dávila Padilla, Hist. Fvnd. Mex., p. 139.They are said to have been very temperate in their habits,[896]The most sober people known. Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 304. but judging from the vast number of dishes served up at the tables of the rich, and the stringent laws which were necessary to prevent drunkenness, this appears doubtful. Although terrible to their enemies, and naturally warlike, they were peaceable among themselves, and seldom quarreled. Las Casas says that when a difficulty arose between two of them, the disputants did not come at once to blows, but contented themselves with such personal abuse as: “Go to, thou hast bad eyes; thou art toothless;” or they threw handfuls of dirt in each other’s faces and then separated and washed themselves. On rare occasions they pushed and elbowed each other, or even had a scuffle, in which hair was pulled out, clothes were torn, and bloody noses received, but deadly weapons were never used, nor even worn except by soldiers on duty. The same writer relates that two women were put to death by order of the king of Tezcuco for fighting in the public market-place, a scandalous outrage upon public decency, the like of which had never been heard of before. He says, further, that when two young men became enamored of the same woman, or when one carried off the other’s mistress, the rivals were allowed to fight a duel for the possession of the woman. The combat did not take place, however, until the army went forth to war, when upon the first engagement they sought out each other, and fought with their weapons until one was vanquished.[897]Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., pp. 124-5. They seem to have been very strict and jealous in all matters relating to their women.[898]‘Son celosissimosmos, y assi las aporrean mucho.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 317. We have seen in a former chapter, that Nezahualcoyotl put his dearest son to death for speaking lewdly to his father’s concubine. See this volume, pp. 447, et seq.; see further concerning the character of the Mexicans, about whom the above remarks, though doubtless applicable to many other of the Nahua nations, are more particularly made: Esplicacion de la Coleccion de Mendoza, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 40; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 458-9; Dávila Padilla, Hist. Fvnd. Mex., pp. 139, 270; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. iii., p. 232; Gomara, Conq. Mex., pp. 317-18; Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., p. 8; Zorita, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 235; Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Id., vol. ix., p. 167; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. xliv., xlv., lxvii., cxl.; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 119-23, tom. iv., pp. 177-202; Soden, Spanier in Peru, tom. ii., p. 17; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., pp. 727-30, 810; Edinburgh Review, 1867; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 8-10; Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 90-3; Gordon’s Hist. and Geog. Mem., pp. 73-6; Chevalier, Mexique, pp. 53-4.

The Tlascaltecs were great lovers of liberty, and were always ready to fight for it; they were, besides, quick to take offence, otherwise they are said to have been of a peaceable, domestic disposition, content to stay at home and listen to or tell stories in their own families, an amusement of which they were very fond. They are further described as truthful, just, frugal, and industrious.[899]For the character of the Tlascaltecs see: Cortés, Cartas, p. 68; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., pp. 197-200, tom. xcix., pp. 136, 149, 151; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 76; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 87; Alcedo, Dicc., tom. v., p. 155; Heredia y Sarmiento, Sermon, p. 88; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 294; Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. i.; Pradt, Cartas, pp. 175-6; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. ii., pp. 121, 129, 511; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 186-7;Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., p. 230; Dillon, Hist. Mex., p. 7.

The Cholultecs, so celebrated for their pottery, are reported to have been very peaceful, industrious, and shrewd traders, yet brave withal, and capable of defending their rights.[900]Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 499; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 95; Pradt, Cartas, p. 176; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 130; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 259, tom. ii., pp. 121, 339. The Zapotecs were a fierce people, always at war with their neighbors.[901]Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xiv.; Dávila Padilla, Hist. Fvnd. Mex., p. 548; Delaporte, Reisen, tom. x., p. 183. The Miztecs are said by Herrera to have been the bravest people in all New Spain; the same writer asserts that they were lazy and improvident, while Espinosa speaks of them as an industrious race.[902]Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xiii.; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 244; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 35. The natives of Vera Cruz are spoken of as affable and shrewd.[903]Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 57. The people of Jalisco were witty and slothful, yet they willingly carried burdens for the Spaniards, Herrera tells us.[904]Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. ii. The Tarascos were exceedingly valorous, great liars, and industrious.[905]Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., pp. 51-2; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 337, tom. iii., p. 332; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 563; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 308; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. x.; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 218; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 56-7; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 291, tom. ii., p. 595; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 456.

Footnotes

[808] Hernandez, Nova Plantarum, etc. The MSS., comprising 24 books of text and 11 books of plates, were sent to the Escurial in Spain, and from them abridged editions were published in Mexico, 1615, and Rome, 1651. The latter edition is the one in my collection. Sahagun also devotes considerable space to a description of herbs and their properties. Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., xi.

[809] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 157; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xi.; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 623-4.

[810] ‘É da maravigliare, che i Messicani, e massimamente i poveri, non fossero a molte malattie sottoposti atteso la qualità de’ loro alimenta.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 217;Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 88.

[811] ‘Las principales enfermedades que corrian entre esta gente, eran de abundancia de colera, y flema, o otros malos humores, causados de mala comida, y falta de abrigo.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. x., cap. xxi.

[812] Tezozomoc, Crón. Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 64; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 365.

[813] ‘Hacia malparir las Mugeres, de antojo de comer de aquello que asaban … daban camazas á los Viejos de deseo de comer de aquello; y á las Mugeres se los hinchaban los brazos, las manos, y las piernas, que adolecian mucho, y morian con aquel deseo.’ Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. x. Torquemada qualifies this by ‘Esto dicho, pase por cuento.’ Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 93; Tezozomoc, Crón. Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 21-2, 64.

[814] Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 250.

[815] Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 15; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 148.

[816] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 117-19, tom. iv., pp. 303-28; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. x., cap. xxi.; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 148; Pauw, Rech. Phil., tom. i., pp. 46-9; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 99-101; Prescott’s Mex., vol. ii., pp. 434-5; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., pp. 66-71; Chevalier, Mex., Ancien et Mod., p. 53; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 182; Id., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1858, tom. clx., p. 280; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vii., p. 246.

[817] ‘Both men, women, and children, had great knowledge in herbs…. They did spend little among Physicians.’ Gage’s New Survey, p. 111. ‘Casi todos sus males curan con yeruas.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 117. ‘No se guardauan de males contagiosos, y enfermedades, y bestialmente se dexavan morir.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xvi.

[818] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 119. ‘Si algun médico entre ellos (Tlascaltecs) fácilmente se puede haber, sin mucho ruido ni costa, van lo á ver, y si no, mas paciencia tienen que Job.’ Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 76.

[819] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 214-16, with cuts, copied in Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 671-3; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. xi., pp. 286-7.

[820] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. ix.

[821] ‘En las Ciudades principales … habia hospitales dotadas de rentas y vasallos donde se resabian y curaban los enfermos pobres.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxli. ‘De cuando en cuando van por toda la provincia á buscar los enfermos.’ Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 131; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 165; Carbajal, Discurso, pp. 37-8.

[822] Bustamante, in Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. xi., p. 282.

[823] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 185; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. ix., cap. vii.; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 211-12, 216-17; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 131.

[824] ‘Hay calle de herbolarios donde hay todas las raíces y yerbas medicinales que en la tierra se hallan. Hay casas como de boticarios donde se venden las medicinas hechas, así potables como ungüentos emplastos.’ Cortés, Cartas, p. 104. They ‘possédaient des livres dans lesquels étaient consignées minutieusement toutes leurs observations relatives aux sciences naturelles.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 637-8. See also Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 116; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 300; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 117; Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 309. ‘Tenian siete, o ocho maneras de rayzes de yeruas y flores: de yeruas y arboles, que eran las que mas comunmente vsauan para curarse.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. x., cap. xxi.

[825] Acosta adds that the ashes of divers poisonous insects were mixed with the teopatli composition, which benumbed the part to which it was applied. ‘Aplicado por via de emplasto amortigua las carnes esto solo por si, quanto mas con tanto genero de ponçoñas, y como les amortiguaua el dolor, pareciales efecto de sanidad, y de virtud diuina.’ Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 370-1. For details of medical practice see Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 85-105, 109, tom. xi., pp. 212, 236-86, tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 214-15; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxli., ccxiii.; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 100, 139; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 274, 550, 558; Oviedo, Hist. Ind., tom. iii., p. 306; Peter Martyr, dec. v., tom. ii-iii.; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. x., cap. xxi., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xvii., dec. iv., lib. ix., cap. viii.; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 77, 212-16; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 189, tom. iii., pp. 638-40, tom. iv., p. 355.

[826] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxli.; Id., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 234. ‘Lanzábanlos (unos cordeles como llavero) en el suelo, y si quedaban revueltos, decian que era señal de muerte. Y si alguno ó algunos salian extendidos, teníanlo por señal de vida, diciendo: que ya comenzaba el enfermo á extender los piés y las manos.’ Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 110;Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 130-1; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 491-2; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. ix., cap. vii.; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 216-17. Other authorities on medicine are: Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., p. 1133; Gage’s New Survey, p. 111; West-Indische Spieghel, p. 247; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 48, vol. ii., pp. 119-20, 137, 434-5; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 668-74; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., pp. 132-4; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 90-1; Chevalier, Mex., Ancien et Mod., p. 16; Baril, Mexique, p. 208; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, p. 51. I further have in my possession a very rare and curious medical work by Dr Monardes, treating of the various medicinal plants, etc., found in Mexico and Central America, printed in Seville in 1574.

[827] ‘Ponen mascaras a Tezcatlipuca, o Vitzilopuchtli, o a otro idolo.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 309. As the idols wore masks, it is more likely that a veil was thrown over the face, than that another mask should have been put on. ‘Suivant une coutume antique attribuée à Topiltzin-Acxitl, dernier roi de Tollan, on mettait un masque au visage des principales idoles, et l’on couvrait les autres d’une voile.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 572. ‘Mettevan una maschera all’ Idolo di Huitzilopochtli, ed un’altra aquello di Tezcatlipoca.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 95.

[828] ‘Ciertas mujeres y hombres que están salariados de público.’ Zuazo, Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 364. Brasseur de Bourbourg thinks that they were only employed by the common people. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 569. Tezozomoc states that princes dressed the body. Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 142.

[829] Zuazo says that the corpse was held on the knees of one of the male or female shrouders, while others washed it. Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 364.

[830] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 151, 87; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 16; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 145, tom. ii., p. 99; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xiv.

[831] The chapter on dress furnishes all the information respecting the royal wardrobe. It is not unlikely that princes assisted in robing the king, for such was the custom in Michoacan, and that the mantles brought by them were used for shrouding, but authors are not very explicit on this point.

[832] Brasseur de Bourbourg uses the expression ‘C’est cette eau que tu as reçue en venant au monde.’ Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 569.

[833] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 527; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 94. Gomara says the dog served as guide: ‘vn perro que lo guiasse adonde auia de yr.’ Conq. Mex., fol. 309.

[834] ‘Le ponian los vestidos del Dios, que tenia por mas Principal en su Pueblo, en cuia Casa, ò Templo, ò Patio se havia de enterrar.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 521; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 93-5. Duran mentions an instance where a king was dressed in the mantles of four different gods. Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. xxxix.; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 309.

[835] ‘Sobre la mortaja le ponian vna mascara pintada.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 521. Perhaps he confounds the idol image on the robe with the mask, for it is unlikely that the mask should be placed upon the shroud. ‘Visage découvert.’ Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 201. Speaking of the obsequies of Tezozomoc of Azcapuzalco, Ixtlilxochitl says that a turquoise mask was put over his face, ‘conforme lo fisonomía de su rostro. Esto no se usaba sino con los monarcas de esta tierra; á los demas reyes les ponian una máscara de oro.’ Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 370. Veytia states that it was a gold mask ‘garnecida de turquezas.’ Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 5. The hair, says Gomara, ‘quedaua la memoria de su anima.’ Conq. Mex., fol. 309.

[836] Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 90, 98-9; Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. xxxix. ‘On plaçait sur le lit de parade la statue que l’on faisait toujours à l’image du roi.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 572. The only statue referred to by other authors is that made of the ashes after the cremation.

[837] Some of the early Chichimec kings lay five days in state, and Tlaltecatzin, forty days, his body being buried on the eightieth day. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 61, 72, 87.

[838] Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 321, among others, calls this slave a priest.

[839] Although Acosta says, ‘tañendo tristes flautas y atambores.’ Hist. de las Ynd., p. 322; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xviii. ‘On faisait deux grandes bannières de papier blanc.’ Chaves, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., p. 309.

[840] Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 370; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 6-7. Duran states that kings bore the corpse and that the mourners were dressed as water-goddesses. Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. xxxix., xl., tom. ii., cap. li. Acosta says that the arms and insignia were carried before the body by knights. Hist. de las Ynd., p. 321.

[841] Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 90, 142, states that they were dressed in royal insignia and jewels, which is not very likely; a number of them, however, were loaded with the royal wardrobe, which fact may have given rise to this statement.

[842] Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 370; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), in Id., vol. v., pp. 200-1; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 322; Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. xl. ‘Salia el gran Sacerdote, con los otros Ministros, à recibirlo.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 521.

[843] Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 332, 325, 327, 388.

[844] ‘El (the mode) que estos Chichimecas vsaron, fue quemarlos.’ Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 60, 72, 87; Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. ix., pp. 369, 388; Id., Hist. Chich., pp. 214, 223, 261-2. Veytia, who introduces some arguments on this point, thinks that Tezozomoc introduced burning, yet he describes ceremonial cremations in the case of several kings before him. Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 3-4, tom. ii., p. 113; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 140, tom. ii., pp. 97-8.

[845] Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., pp. 165, 202. ‘La gente menuda comunmente se enterraua.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 308; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 200; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 528; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 4; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 129. ‘Sabia por las pinturas, que se quemaron en tiempo del señor de México que se decia Itzcóatl, en cuya época los señores, y los principales que habia entónces, acordaron y mandaron que se quemasen todas, para que no viniesen á manos del vulgo.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 140-1.

[846] Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., p. 309.

[847] Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 379, 388; Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. xxxix., xl.; Bologne, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., pp. 213-14; Solis, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. i., p. 432; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 202; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 573; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 8-9.

[848] Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 90; Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. xxxix., tom. ii., cap. li.

[849] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 521; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 321. Camargo indicates that the bodies were thrown upon the same pyre together with the presents. Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 202. ‘Sacándoles los corazones, y la sangre de ellos en una batea ó gran xícara, con la cual rociavan á Huitzilopochtli, á quien le presentaron los corazones de todos los muertos.’ Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 90.

[850] Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 309; Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 370; Tezozomoc, ubi sup.

[851] ‘La colocaron en el mismo lugar en que ardió la pira.’ Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 9. This author says that the mouth-stone of the deceased together with the mask, robes, and ornaments were taken off before the body was placed upon the pyre; this could only have been for the purpose of dressing the wooden statue therein; the stone was, however, placed inside the urn. Ixtlilxochitl, ubi sup. Brasseur de Bourbourg calls this bundle of bones tlaquimilolli, which he says was sacredly preserved, whether of kings or braves. Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1858, tom. clx., p. 268. In the case of Nauhyotl of Culhuacan, the bones were exhumed and placed in a statue, which was made in his honor, and deposited in a temple consecrated to him. Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. xxxix.

[852] ‘Al cuarto dia, al anochecer, cargaron los sacerdotes la arca de las cenizas y la estatua, y la colocaron en una especie de nicho, dentro del templo.’ Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., p. 10. ‘Sous le pavé même du sanctuaire, devant la statue du dieu.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 574. Duran mentions that the ashes of one king were deposited at the foot of the stone of sacrifice. Hist. Indias, MS., tom. ii., cap. li.; Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 142; Cortés, Cartas, p. 106; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. li.

[853] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 72, 87; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., pp. 15-16.

[854] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vii., p. 257.

[855] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 316, 331; Bologne, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., pp. 213-14; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., pp. 192, 202.

[856] ‘La muerte se hacian enterrar en la más alta grada, é despues el subcessor subia otras dos gradas.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 503. ‘Los Príncipes necesitaban de gran sepultura, porque se llevaban tras sí la mayor parte de sus riquezas y familia.’ Solis, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. i., p. 432. ‘Io aiutai a cauar d’vna sepoltura tre mila Castigliani poco piu ò meno.’ Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 310.

[857] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 141; Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 327; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 189.

[858] Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 214; Id., Relaciones, pp. 335, 344; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 98.

[859] Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 31; Ritos Antiguos, p. 20, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix. Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 371, states that the sacrifices on the fourth day consisted of five to six slaves, on the tenth of one, on the eightieth of three. ‘Le cinquième on sacrifiait plusieurs esclaves, et cette immolation se répétait encore quatre fois, de dix en dix jours.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 574. Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. xiv., xxxix., mentions a fast of eighty days, at the end of which a statue was made, like one which he states was burned with the corpse, and to this exactly the same ceremonies were paid as to the defunct, the statue being burned with an equally large number of slaves as before. The fullest descriptions of royal obsequies are given in Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 521-3; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. iii., pp. 3-11; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 95-8; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 309-10; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 571-4; Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. xxxix., xl., tom. ii., cap. xlviii.; Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 86-90, 99.

[860] After describing the robing of drunkards and others, Gomara says: ‘Y finalmente a cada oficial dauan el traje del idolo de aquel oficio,’ which certainly indicates that a drowned or besotted artisan would wear the mantle due to his position in life as well as that due to his manner of death. Conq. Mex., fol. 309. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 93-4, uses the following expression: ‘Vestivanlo d’un abito corrispondente alla sua condizione, alle sue facoltà, ed alle circostanze della sua morte.’

[861] Zuazo, Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 364-5.

[862] Camargo says, with reference to sacrifices and pompous ceremonies, ‘tout cela avait lieu, plus ou moins, à toutes les funérailles, selon la richesse du défunt.’ Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 202; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 63.

[863] Zuazo, Carta, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 365; Chaves, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., p. 310; ‘Durauan las exequias diez dias.’ Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 321.’On passait vingt ou trente jours au milieu des fêtes et des festins.’ Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 202. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xviii.; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 93-5.

[864] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 529; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 186-91. See p. 269 of this volume.

[865] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. ix., p. 358.

[866] Sahagun intimates that the puppet was for those who were slain by enemies, but adds, afterwards, that a puppet was burned with the same ceremonies in the court of the house, if they died at home. Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iv., pp. 314-15; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 587; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 621-2. See this vol., p. 392.

[867] Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 37-8, 86-7, 161-2; Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. xviii., tom. ii., cap. xlviii.; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 259-61, 407-8.

[868] Explicacion del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 130; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), in Id., p. 193.

[869] Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 31; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 523.

[870] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 298; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 193-4. ‘Los tres dias ultimos de este mes ayunavan todos los vivos á los muertos.’ Explicacion del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 130. See this vol., pp. 328, 331.

[871] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 163-4; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 281. Brasseur de Bourbourg says that this celebration was of a general character, and dilutes the meagre and doubtful information of his authority considerably. The arrows and food, ‘après qu’elles y avaient demeuré un jour et une nuit, on les enlevait et on brûlait le tout ensemble en l’honneur de Mixcohuatl et de ses compagnons d’armes.’ Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 234, tom. iii., pp. 528-9.

[872] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 119.

[873] Diaz, Itinerario, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 304; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., p. 532.

[874] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. ix., cap. vii.

[875] Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 310. ‘Esta figura se la ponian encima al Difunto.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 524. It is not likely, however, that a life-size figure, as Gomara calls it, or any figure, for that matter, should have been placed over the ornaments of the king and pressed upon the body. Beaumont says: ‘Lo cubrian con una manta, en que estaba pintado ó realzado el cadaver con los mismos adornos.’ Crón. Mechoacan, MS., p. 55. ‘Au-dessus on asseyait une poupée de la taille du défunt.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 83.

[876] ‘Matauan vno, y aun mas de cada oficio.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 311.

[877] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 525. The slaves, he says, ‘los embadurnaban todo el cuerpo, con vna tinta amarilla.’ ‘Yban las andas ó atahud en hombros de los tres principales.’ Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., p. 56.

[878] ‘Todos los que habian tocado el Caltzontzi y á los demas cuerpos se iban á bañar por preservarse de alguna enfermedad.’ Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., p. 57.

[879] Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., pp. 54-8; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 523-6; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 310-12; Gage’s New Survey, pp. 157-60, with a cut; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 82-6; Payno, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. i., pp. 717-19.

[880] Geog. Descrip., tom. i., pt ii., fol. 160-1, tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 320.

[881] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 98-9; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xiii.; Explicacion del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 130; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), in Id., p. 193; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 22-4.

[882] ‘Au douzième mois de l’année zapotèque.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 23.

[883] Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 392-3; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 23-4. Additional references to funeral ceremonies are: Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 238, tom. ii., pp. 79, 231-2, 298; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., pp. 15, 25, 29; Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 89-91, 98-9, 141-2, 178-9; Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., pp. 1029-30, 1138-9; Gemelli Careri, in Churchill’s Col. Voyages, vol. iv., p. 514; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 261-2; D’Avity, L’Amérique, tom. ii., p. 69; Adair, Amer. Ind., p. 217; Touron, Hist. Gén., tom. iii., pp. 9-10; Delaporte, Reisen, tom. x., pp. 318-23; Lenoir, Parallèle, pp. 11-13, 28, 30; Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1824, tom. xxiv., pp. 137-8; Fransham’s World in Miniature, vol. ii., p. 19; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 666; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 64-5; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 234, 559-64, tom. ii., pp. 375, 604; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 424-5, tom. iii., pp. 407-8, 453, 520-3, 528-9, 569-74; Carli, Cartas, pt i., p. 107; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 456; Simon’s Ten Tribes, pp. 275-6; Monglave, Résumé, p. 32; Cooper’s Hist. N. Amer., vol. ii., p. 163; Baril, Mexique, p. 203; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., pp. 147-9; Ranking’s Hist. Researches, pp. 381-4; Brownell’s Ind. Races, p. 96; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 31, 49-53, 77, 184; Carbajal, Discurso, p. 37.

[884] Except the Zapotecs, who, Carbajal Espinosa says, were of low stature and broad-shouldered. Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 245.

[885] Gomara says they had wide foreheads. Conq. Mex., fol. 317. ‘La forma, ò figura de las Cabeças, comunmente las tienen proporcionadas à los cuerpos, y à los otros miembros de èl, y derechas; algunos las tienen empinadas, y las frentes quadradas, y llanas; otros (como son estos Mexicanos, y algunos del Pirù) las tenian, y tienen de mejor forma, algo de hechura de Martillo, ò Navio, que es la mejor forma de todas.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 582-3. ‘The Aztec skulls are described as being remarkable for the shortness of their axis, their large flattened occiput obliquely truncated behind, the height of the semicircular line of the temples, and the shortness and trapezoidal form of the parietal plane. They present an elevation or ridge along the sagittal suture; the base of the skull is very short, and the face slightly prognathic, as among the Mongol-Kalmucs. They bear a strong analogy to the skulls of a Peruvian Brachycephali delineated by Morton.’ Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 326. ‘The aboriginal Mexicans of our own time are of good stature and well proportioned in all their limbs. They have narrow foreheads, black eyes, white, well-set, regular teeth, thick, coarse and glossy black hair, thin beards, and are in general without any hair on their legs, thighs, or arms. Their skin is olive coloured, and many fine young women may be seen among them with extremely light complexions. Their senses are very acute, more especially that of sight, which they enjoy unimpaired to the most advanced age.’ Figuier’s Hum. Race, p. 455. For remarks on Mexican Crania, descriptions and measurements of skulls with cuts, see Morton’s Crania Amer., pp. 144-7, 152-7, 231-3, 257, and plates xvi-xviii.^a, lix.-lxi.

[886] According to Herrera, Hist. Gen., (Lond. 1726,) vol. iv., p. 125, and Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 35, the Miztecs had long beards.

[887] ‘En los Sentidos exteriores (como son los de el Vèr, Oìr, Oler, y Gustar) los alcançan admirables; porque vèn mui de lejos, y no vsan de Antojos, si no son mui pocos, despues que los han visto, en nuestros Españoles, y eso es en la vejez, y tienen comunmente los ojos buenos, y hermosos, oien mucho, huelen tambien qualquier cosa de mui lejos; lo mismo es el Gusto; el Sentido del tacto, comunmente es delicado, lo qual se verifica en ellos, porque qualquier cosa, que pueda lastimarlos, como es frio, calor, açotes, ù otra exterior afliccion, los aflige mui facilmente, y en mucho grado, y qualqueira enfermedad los adelgaça, mas presto los enflaquece, y mata, que à otra Nacion, asi Española, como otra alguna, como es notorio, à todos los que los conocemos, y son para sufrir mui poco trabajo.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 580.

[888] Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., p. 50; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 218; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 337, tom. iii., p. 332; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 57.

[889] He adds further: ‘Y esto (aunque no en tanto extremo) corre, mui en general, por todos estos Reinos, y en especial en aquel de Xalisco, en la Nacion, que llaman Coca, y Tecuex, que son los Tonaltecos, y por acà en la de Tlaxcalla, y otras muchas, que por escusar enfado, callo.’ Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 582; see also tom. i., p. 339.

[890] ‘Sonovi così rari i deformi, che tutti quegli Spagnuoli, e Creogli, che nel 1768, vennero dal Messico in Italia, restarono allora, e sono anche oggidì maravigliati dall’osservare nelle Città di questa coltissima penisola un sì gran numero di ciechi, di gobbi, di zoppi, d’attratti ec.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iv., p. 163. See farther, concerning the physical peculiarities of the Nahuas and earlier peoples: Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 326, 336-7, 341, 344-5, 395; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., tom. ii., p. 12; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 37, 44, 95, 318; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 112, 119, 132; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 37, 51, 255, tom. ii., pp. 580-83; Cortés, Cartas, tom. i., p. 23; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 143-6, tom. ii., p. 5; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. x., cap. xix.; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 499; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 118-19, tom. iv., pp. 161-76; Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 304; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 282, tom. ii., pp. 187, 189, tom. iii., p. 35; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 90, 245, tom. ii., pp. 326, 487; Dupaix, Rel., 2de Expéd., p. 25; Gordon’s Hist. and Geog. Mem., pp. 71-2; Dillon’s Hist. Mex., p. 45; Macgregor’s Progress of Amer., vol. i., p. 21; Cooper’s Hist. N. Amer., vol. ii., p. 163.

[891] See this volume, p. 242.

[892] ‘Vi sono molti, che accordano ai Messicani una grande abilità per l’imitazione; ma lor contrastano quella dell’ invenzione. Error volgare, che trovasi smentito nella Storia antica di questa Nazione.’ Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 120.

[893] See this volume, pp. 475-6.

[894] ‘Los niños de los Indios no son molestos con obstinacion ni porfia à la Fè Catholica, como lo son los Moros y Indios; antes aprenden de tal manera las verdades de los Christianos, que no solamente salen con ellas, sino que las agotan, y es tanta su facilidad que parece que se las beuen. Aprenden mas presto que los niños Españoles; y con mas contento los Articulos de la Fè por su orden, y las demas oraciones de la doctrina Christiana, reteniendo en la memoria fielmente lo que se les enseña.’ Dávila Padilla, Hist. Fvnd. Mex., p. 139. ‘Il n’était rien que les Indiens n’apprissent avec une rapidité surprenante, et s’il arrivait quelque nouveau métier dont ils n’eussent aucune connaissance, ils s’appliquaient à le voir faire avec tant d’intelligence, que, malgré les soins de l’ouvrier à leur cacher son secret, ils le lui enlevaient au bout de quelques jours.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 728.

[895] ‘Son muy ladrones, mentirosos, y holgazanes. La fertilidad de la tierra deue causar tanta pereza, o por no ser ellos codiciosos.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 317. ‘La liberalità e lo staccamento da qualsiasi interesse sono dei principali attributi del loro carattere. L’oro non ha presso i Messicani tutta quella stima, che gode presso altri. Danno senza dispiacere quello, che si procacciano con somma fatica. Questo loro staccamento dall’interesse, ed il poco amore, che portano a quei che gli governano, ii fa rifiutare quelle fatiche, a cui sono da essi costretti, e questa è appunto la tanto esagerata pigrizia degli Americani.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 121-2. ‘Estavan libres de la enfermedad de la codicia, y no pensauan en la vanidad del oro, y plata, ni hazian estimacion dello.’ Dávila, Teatro Ecles., tom. i., p. 18. ‘Segun lo que aquella edad permite, son inclinadissimos à ser liberales. Tanto monta que lo que se les da, se de à vno como à muchos: porque lo que vno recibe, se reparte luego entre todos.’ Dávila Padilla, Hist. Fvnd. Mex., p. 139.

[896] The most sober people known. Relatione fatta per vn gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortese, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 304.

[897] Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., pp. 124-5.

[898] ‘Son celosissimosmos, y assi las aporrean mucho.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 317. We have seen in a former chapter, that Nezahualcoyotl put his dearest son to death for speaking lewdly to his father’s concubine. See this volume, pp. 447, et seq.; see further concerning the character of the Mexicans, about whom the above remarks, though doubtless applicable to many other of the Nahua nations, are more particularly made: Esplicacion de la Coleccion de Mendoza, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 40; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 458-9; Dávila Padilla, Hist. Fvnd. Mex., pp. 139, 270; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. iii., p. 232; Gomara, Conq. Mex., pp. 317-18; Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., p. 8; Zorita, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 235; Tezozomoc, Crónica Mex., in Id., vol. ix., p. 167; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. xliv., xlv., lxvii., cxl.; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 119-23, tom. iv., pp. 177-202; Soden, Spanier in Peru, tom. ii., p. 17; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., pp. 727-30, 810; Edinburgh Review, 1867; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 8-10; Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 90-3; Gordon’s Hist. and Geog. Mem., pp. 73-6; Chevalier, Mexique, pp. 53-4.

[899] For the character of the Tlascaltecs see: Cortés, Cartas, p. 68; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., pp. 197-200, tom. xcix., pp. 136, 149, 151; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 76; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 87; Alcedo, Dicc., tom. v., p. 155; Heredia y Sarmiento, Sermon, p. 88; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 294; Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. i.; Pradt, Cartas, pp. 175-6; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. ii., pp. 121, 129, 511; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 186-7;Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., p. 230; Dillon, Hist. Mex., p. 7.

[900] Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 499; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 95; Pradt, Cartas, p. 176; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 130; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 259, tom. ii., pp. 121, 339.

[901] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xiv.; Dávila Padilla, Hist. Fvnd. Mex., p. 548; Delaporte, Reisen, tom. x., p. 183.

[902] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xiii.; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 244; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 35.

[903] Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 57.

[904] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. ii.

[905] Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., pp. 51-2; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 337, tom. iii., p. 332; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 563; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 308; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. x.; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 218; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 56-7; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 291, tom. ii., p. 595; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 456.

Chapter XX • Government, Social Classes, Property, and Laws of the Maya Nations • 11,600 Words

Introductory Remarks—Votan’s Empire—Zamná’s Reign—The Royal Families of Yucatan; Cocomes, Tutul Xius, Itzas, and Cheles—Titles and Order of Succession—Classes Of Nobles—The Quiché-Cakchiquel Empire in Guatemala—The Ahau Ahpop and Succession to the Throne—Privileged Classes—Government of the Provinces—The Royal Council—The Chiapanecs—The Pipiles—Nations of Nicaragua—The Maya Priesthood—Plebeian Classes—Slaves—Tenure of Lands—Inheritance of Property—Taxation—Debtors and Creditors—Laws and the Administration of Justice.

My reasons for dividing the Civilized Nations of our territory into two groups, the Nahuas and the Mayas, whose institutions are separately described, have been stated in the General View, to which a preceding chapter has been devoted. In the same place was given an outline sketch of the nations composing each group, and their mutual relations,[906]See pp. 81-123 of this volume, and especially pp. 114-23, on the Maya nations. which may serve as an introduction to the remainder of this volume. Without further preliminary remarks I may therefore enter at once upon the subject-matter of this second division of my topic, a description of Maya institutions, or the manners and customs of the civilized nations whose home was south of the isthmus of Tehuantepec. It will be evident to the reader from what has been said that this account must be not only much briefer, but also less complete and satisfactory than that of the Nahua nations. Concerning the Aztecs and kindred peoples about the lakes of the Mexican valley, as we have seen, a large amount of information has been preserved; I have consequently been able, in treating of the northern peoples, to take these nations of the valley as a nucleus, adding in their proper places such fragments of knowledge as are extant respecting tribes outside the limits of Anáhuac. In the south, fragmentary information is all we have; there is no nucleus round which to group it; the matter of the following chapters will, therefore, be very similar in its nature to what that of the preceding would have been, had I undertaken to describe the Tarascos, Totonacs, Zapotecs, etc., without the Aztecs. In this branch of my subject I shall follow as nearly as possible the same order as in the preceding, bringing together into one chapter, however, the topics before treated in several. I shall also include the civilized nations of Nicaragua in this division, although one at least of them was of Nahua blood and language. In the days of ancient Maya glory when Votan and his successors reigned over mighty and perhaps confederated empires in Chiapas, Guatemala, and Yucatan, the kings played rôles to a great extent mythical, being pictured by tradition as combining the character and powers of legislators, teachers, high-priests, and monarchs. Details of the system by which they governed are altogether wanting,[907]Although Brasseur de Bourbourg, on the authority of some of his original MSS. perhaps, states that Xibalba in the height of its glory was ruled by thirteen princes, two of whom were kings, the second being subordinate to the first; and also that there was a council of twelve, presided over by the king. He also mentions a succession of seventeen kings after Votan. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 127, 123, 95-7. but after a long term of prosperity this government in Guatemala and Chiapas became weakened and at last practically destroyed; the country was divided among petty chiefs, concerning whose rule even less is known than of that of their predecessors, but who not improbably based their forms of authority on the ideas handed down from Votan. From these governmental relics there sprung up in later years, under new and perhaps foreign leaders, the Quiché and Cakchiquel empires, of whose government some details are known, since these nations came into direct contact with the Spaniards at the conquest. Leaving these nations for the present, I will speak first of another branch of the primitive Maya empire.

Votan’s Maya Empire

Yucatan received its culture traditionally from Zamná, who came from abroad, governed the Mayas through a long life, and left the throne as an heritage to his successors. He was doubtless a companion or a descendant of Votan, and founded institutions similar to those of the western kingdoms whence he came. The government and institutions established in Yucatan met to a certain extent the same fate as those of Chiapas; that is, the country was finally split up by civil wars into numerous petty independent sovereignties; but this division was at a much later date than that of Votan’s western empire,—not long preceding the Spanish conquest—and the government of the independent chieftains was substantially that of their ancestors, many of whom claimed to be of the royal family founded by Zamná. Consequently some scraps of information are extant respecting the form of government, as well as other institutions, in Yucatan; and from these we may form a faint idea of the earlier institutions of Guatemala and Chiapas.

Zamná, like Votan, united in himself the qualities of ruler, law-giver, educator, and priest; he founded the city of Mayapan, and divided the whole country among the chiefs of the leading families who came with him, making them vassals of the king whom he left on the throne at Mayapan. The nobles of the royal family were of course the highest, a family which was perhaps that known later as the Cocomes, and which lasted to the coming of the Spaniards. Each of the vassal princes had to live in the capital during a certain part of every year; and Brasseur de Bourbourg, following Ordoñez, thinks that Mayapan may have formed a confederacy with Tulhá and Palenque in Chiapas.[908]Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 178-9; Ordoñez, Hist. del cielo y de la Tierra, MS.; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 78-80.

The Royal Families of Yucatan

Another royal family, the Tutul Xius, sprung up later and became very powerful as allies and vassals of the king reigning in Mayapan; and still another family, the Itzas, built up a strong government of theocratic nature at Chichen Itza. Then came Cukulcan with some new religious teachings—a famous personage bearing a striking resemblance in his traditional career and in the etymology of his name to the Quetzalcoatl of the Nahuas. Being finally called to the throne at Mayapan, he formed a confederacy, making the princes of the Tutul Xius and Itzas his associate monarchs, subordinate nominally in rank but practically independent except where mutual assistance was required. Cukulcan left the throne to the Cocomes, seven of whom ruled during a period of great prosperity, the succession being from father to son, down to about the eleventh century. Afterward the Cocomes, becoming tyrannical, were deposed from their high position, Mayapan destroyed, and a new confederacy established with the Tutul Xius at the head, Uxmal being at first their capital, the Itzas second, and the Cheles at Izamal third. The Tutul Xiu rule was no less glorious than that of the Cocomes. They rebuilt Mayapan and made it once more the capital, but the unfortunate city was again sacked, this time by foreigners—perhaps the Quichés—in the thirteenth century; and was finally destroyed in the middle of the fifteenth century by the vassal lords of the realm, who revolted, overthrew the Tutul Xiu dynasty, obtained their complete independence, and ruled each his petty province with sovereign power. This was their condition when the Spaniards came, but before that time by civil war, and by famine and pestilence also, as tradition tells us, the power of the rulers and the population of the country had been greatly diminished and the ancient Maya glory had departed forever. Shortly before the final destruction of the monarchy a portion of the Itzas had left Chichen and migrated southward to found a small but powerful nation in what is now the province of Peten, belonging politically to Guatemala. It is from traditionary accounts of the kingdom under the Tutul Xius, and from the meagre observations of the Spaniards in the sixteenth century that our slight knowledge of Maya institutions in the peninsula is gained.

The highest title of the king at Mayapan was Ahtepal, which signifies in the Maya tongue ‘Majestic,’ or ‘August.’ His power was absolute, but he rarely acted in matters of importance without consulting his lords, and, in accordance with their advice and that of the chief priests, he appointed all officials, secular and religious, in the kingdom, possessing moreover the right to organize all courts and to condemn to death any of his subjects. The succession to the throne was confined to the royal family, to the male line, and to the sons of noble wives; the eldest son seems to have been the acknowledged heir to the throne, and Landa tells us that if the king died during the childhood of his heir, then his eldest or most capable brother ruled not only during the son’s minority but during all his own life; and in case there were no brothers the priests and nobles chose a suitable person to reign.[909]‘Si moria el señor, aunque le succediesse el hijo mayor, eran siempre los demas hijos muy acatados, y ayudados y tenidos por señores.’ Landa, Relacion, p. 112. ‘Si quando el señor moria no eran los hijos para regir y tenia hermanos, regia de los hermanos el mayor o el mas desenbuelto y al heredero mostravan sus costumbres y fiestas para quando fuesse hombre y estos hermanos, aunque el eredero fuesse para regir, mandavan toda su vida, y sino avia hermanos, elegian los sacerdotes y gente principal un hombre sufficiente para ello.’ Id., p. 138. Brasseur de Bourbourg, in his French translation of this passage, gives a different meaning from what I deem the correct one as given in my text. He understands that the brother succeeded in any case. ‘Ce n’étaient pas ses fils qui succédaient au gouvernement, mais bien l’aîné de ses frères,’ and also that the person appointed by the priests if there was no brother, ruled only during the heir’s minority, ‘jusqu’à la majorité de l’héritier,’ all of which may be very reasonable, but certainly is not found in the Spanish text. One author speaks of the king as having the right to appoint a council which should name his successor, and Remesal mentions that in the province of Campeche, a woman who came in the direct line of succession received high honors, but the most capable of her male relatives ruled the state.[910]‘Organisait les conseils de la religion et de l’état qui devaient, après lui, nommer son successeur.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii, pp. 53-6; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, p. 256.

Court Etiquette in Yucatan

Whenever the king appeared in public, he was always attended by a large company and wore a long white flowing robe decorated with ornaments of gold and precious stones, bracelets, a magnificent collar, and sandals of gold. His crown was a plain golden circle somewhat wider on the forehead than behind, and surmounted with a plume of quetzal-feathers. This bird was reserved for the king and highest nobles, death being the penalty, according to Ordoñez, for one of lower rank who should capture the bird or wear its plumage. The monarch was borne on the shoulders of his nobles reclining in a palanquin, shaded by a feather canopy, and constantly fanned by attendants of high rank. Any person who came into the presence of the king or other high official, was expected to bring some gift proportioned to his means, and Herrera informs us that the highest mark of respect was to place the right hand, anointed with spittle, on the ground and then to rub it over the heart. Villagutierre mentions without description a kind of small throne among the Itzas, and states that the king of this southern realm bore the title of Canek, the name of the leader of their migration. Our only knowledge of the royal palaces of Yucatan is derived from their examination, when more or less in ruins, by modern explorers; consequently I refer the reader to the chapter on Maya buildings for a general description of these grand stone structures, and to another volume of this work for a detailed account with illustrative plates.

The nobility of the highest class belonged to members of the royal families, the Cocomes, Tutul Xius, Cheles, and Itzas, those of the reigning king’s own blood taking naturally the highest rank. Ahau was the ordinary title of the princes, and Halach Winikel, ‘most majestic men,’ was a high title among the Tutul Xius. From nobles of the royal families mentioned, governors of provinces, and all the highest officials were chosen. Their positions were nominally at the king’s disposal, but practically they descended hereditarily in the same manner as the royal power, the king interfering with new appointments only on extraordinary occasions. These rulers were almost absolute in matters concerning their own provinces, and exacted great honors, ceremonial attendance, and implicit obedience from all their subjects; but they were not exempt in matters of crime from the penalties of the law, and were obliged to reside during a part of each year in the capital, to render personal service to the monarch, and to take part in the supreme council by which he was guided in the administration of public affairs. They were, however, exempt from all tribute except that of personal service, and lived on the product of portions of the public domain assigned them. Cogolludo tells us that the nobles of Mayapan were also required to perform certain services in the temples, and to assist at the religious festivals. They not only had the exclusive right to the government of provinces, but also to the command of armies.

Nobles of a lower class, with the title Batab, governed cities, villages, or other subdivisions of provinces. They were not of royal blood, or at least were only connected with the reigning family through the female branch. Their position was also practically hereditary, although the heir could not assume his inherited rank without the royal sanction. No government officials received any salary, but they were obliged to maintain themselves and the poor and disabled of their respective communities from the products of their inherited estates.[911]‘Todos los señores tenian cuenta con visitar, respetar, alegrar a Cocom, acompañandole y festejandole y acudiendo a el con los negocios arduos.’ Landa, Relacion, p. 40. A kind of mayordomo called Caluac, whose badge of office was a thick short stick, was the agent through whom the lord performed the routine duties of his position. Ib. ‘Concertavan las cosas, y negocios principalmente de noche.’ Id., p. 112. ‘Fuè todo el Reyno de Yucatàn, y sus Provincias, con el Nombre de Mayapàn, desde que los Indios fueron à èl y le poblaron, sujeto à vn solo Rey, y Señor absoluto, con Govierno Monarquico. No durò esto poco tiempo, sino por muchos Años.’ Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 28. Among the Itzas Cortés was visited by ‘el Canek, con treinta y dos Principales.’ Id., p. 46. ‘Despues llamó el Canek à Consejo à todos sus Capitanes, y Principales.’ Id., p. 91. ‘Vno, como à modo, ò forma de Trono pequeño, en que èl solia estar.’ Id., p. 105. ‘Vna Corona de Plumas, de varios colores.’ Id., p. 349. Yucatan ‘regido de Señores Particulares, que es el Estado de los Reies: Governavanse por Leies, y costumbres buenas; vivian en Paz, y en Justicia, que es Argumento de su buen Govierno.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 345. Brasseur refers to Torquemada, tom. xi., cap. xix., on Yucatan Government, but that chapter relates wholly to Guatemala. ‘Quando los Señores de la Ciudad de Mayapàn dominaban, toda la tierra les tributaba.’ In later times they attached much importance to their royal blood. Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 179. ‘Dizese, que vn Señor de la Ciudad de Mayapàn, cabeça de el Reyno, hizo matar afrentosamente à vn hermano suyo, porque corrompió vna doncella.’ Id., p. 182. See also on the system of government in Yucatan: Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. iv., cap. vii., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. ii-iv.; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 16-17, 38, 46, 53-6, 72; Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 147; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 182-4; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, p. 27; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 262; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., pp. 45-6, 146; Fancourt’s Hist. Yuc., pp. 55-6, 115-16.

THE QUICHÉ-CAKCHIQUEL EMPIRES.

The most powerful kingdoms in Guatemala at the coming of the Spaniards were, that of the Quichés, whose capital was Gumarcaah, or Utatlan, near the site of the modern Santa Cruz del Quiché; and that of the Cakchiquels, capital Iximché, or Patinamit, near Tecpan Guatemala. These two nations were independent of and hostile to each other in the sixteenth century, but they had been united in one empire during the days of Guatemala’s greatest glory, their separation dated back only about a century, and their institutions were practically identical, although they were traditionally distinct tribes in the more remote past. The same remark may be made respecting the institutions of the other nations in Guatemala which were wholly or partially independent of the powers mentioned above. All the aboriginal powers had greatly deteriorated by wars, one with another, and their mutual hatred made their defeat by foreigners possible, as had been the case in the conquest of the Nahua nations farther north.

There is little doubt that the Quiché-Cakchiquel peoples were direct descendants of Votan’s subjects, but the line of traditional history that unites the two empires is broken at many points and cannot be satisfactorily followed. There are evidences also of foreign, chiefly Nahua, influences in the molding of Quiché institutions, exerted before or after the Toltec era in Anáhuac, probably at both periods. The traditional history of the Quiché empire for three or four centuries before the Conquest, rests almost entirely on manuscripts written in the native languages with the Roman alphabet, which have only been consulted by one modern writer. Into the labyrinth of this complicated record of wars and political changes I shall not attempt to enter, especially since the general nature of Quiché institutions does not seem to have been perceptibly modified by the events recorded.

An aristocratic monarchy, similar in nearly every feature to that I have described in Yucatan, seems to have been the basis of Quiché government from the first. All high positions, judicial, military, or sacerdotal, were hereditary and restricted to noble families, who traced their genealogy far back into the mythic annals of the nations. Between noble and plebeian blood the lines were sharply defined. The nobles were practically independent and superior in their own provinces, but owed tribute, allegiance, and military aid to the monarch. At the time of Guatemala’s highest prosperity and glory, when King Qikab from his throne in Utatlan ruled over all the country, the monarch, if we may credit the traditional account, made an effort to diminish the power of the nobles, by conferring military commands and other high positions on the ablest men of plebeian blood. Thus a new class of nobles, called Achihab was created. This newly conferred power became, acting with the alienation of the old hereditary nobility, too great to be restrained by the monarch who created it. The Achihab became ambitious and insubordinate; they were at last put down, but the dissolution of the empire into several states was the indirect result of their machinations.

SUCCESSION TO THE QUICHÉ THRONE.

Respecting the order of succession to the Quiché throne Torquemada and Juarros state that the king’s brother was the king elect, and the direct heir to the throne; the king’s oldest son was the senior captain and the next heir; and the latter’s first cousin, the nephew of the king, was junior captain and third heir. When the king died each heir was promoted one degree, and the vacant post of junior captain was filled by the nearest relative—whosenearest relative the authors neglect to say. Whoever may have been elevated to the vacant position the whole system as a regular order of succession would be a manifest absurdity. Brasseur de Bourbourg agrees with the authors cited and gives to the king, the elect, and the two captains the titles of Ahau Ahpop, Ahau Ahpop Camha, Nim Chocoh Cawek, and Ahau Ah Tohil, respectively; but when the last position was left vacant by the death of the king, the Abbé tells us that “it was conferred upon the eldest son of the new monarch,”—that is, upon the same man who held it before! Padre Ximenez implies perhaps that the crown descended from brother to brother, and from the youngest brother to a nephew who was a son of the oldest brother. I have no authorities by the aid of which to throw any light upon this confused subject; it is evident, however, that if the last-mentioned system, identical with that which obtained among some of the Nahua nations, be not the correct one, nothing whatever is known of the matter in question.[912]‘It was ordained that the eldest son of the king (that is, of the first king who founded the monarchy) should inherit the crown; upon the second son the title of Elect was conferred, as being the next heir to his elder brother; the sons of the eldest son received the title of Captain senior, and those of the second Captain junior. When the king died, his eldest son assumed the sceptre, and the Elect became the immediate inheritor; the Captain senior ascended to the rank of Elect, the Captain junior to that of Captain senior, and the next nearest relative to that of Captain junior.’ Juarros, Hist. Guat., pp. 188-9. ‘Luego el Capitan menor, entraba por maior, y metian otro en el que avia vacado del Capitan menor, que ordinariamente era el Pariente mas cercano.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 338-41. ‘Restait alors la charge d’Ahau-Ah-Tohil; elle était conférée au fils aîné du nouveau monarque.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 547, 103, 496. ‘Luego que el primero subió al reino, mandó el padre (the first king) que el segundo fuese capitain, y mandó por ley, que si fuesen cuatro, que el primero reinase, el segundo fuese como principe, el tercero capitan general, y el cuarto capitan segundo, y que muerto el primero, reinasen todos por su órden, si se alcanzasen en vida.’ Note, ‘Bien clara está la descendencia de padres á hijos de todos tres hermanos.’ Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., Escolios, pp. 195-6.

All the authorities state that this remarkable system of succession was established to prevent the power from coming into the hands of young and inexperienced men; and that an incompetent person in the regular line could not succeed to the throne, but retained throughout his life the rank to which he was born. It is not clearly explained how the heir’s competency was decided upon, but it seems probable that the matter was settled by the reigning king with the advice of his council of princes. The king’s children by his first wife were preferred above the rest, though all received high honors. At Rabinal the Ahau, or ruling prince, was regularly chosen by the nobles, from the royal family, but was not necessarily a son or brother of the last ruler. Among the Cakchiquels the succession alternated between two royal families. The king’s title was Ahpozotzil; the next heir from the other branch bore the title Ahpoxahil; their eldest sons, the elder of which became Ahpoxahil on the king’s death, had the titles Ahpop Qamahay and Galel Xahil. Inferior titles were Galel Qamahay, Atzih Winak, and Ahuchan Xahil, the bearers of which succeeded to the throne in default of nearer heirs. It will be noticed that this plan of succession is but little clearer than that attributed to the Quichés.[913]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 549-50, 534, with reference to Roman, Repub. de los Indios, tom. ii., cap. viii. Titles in Atitlan. Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 416. ‘Las Prouincias de Tazulatlan, gente belicosa y braua, si bien con pulicia, porque viuian en poblaciones formadas, y gouierno de Republica.’ Dávila, Teatro Ecles., tom. i., p. 148. Tazulatlan, or Tuzulutlan, was the province of Rabinal. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, p. 147.

Coronation in Guatemala

The ceremonies of coronation in the kingdom of Rabinal, and, so far as can be known, in the other kingdoms of Guatemala, consisted of an assemblage of all the nobles at the capital,—each being obliged to attend or send a representative—the presentation of gifts and compliments to the new king, a discourse of congratulation and advice addressed to him by one of the ancients, and finally a splendid feast which lasted several days and usually degenerated into a drunken orgy. The Quichés and Cakchiquels also bathed the new king and anointed his body with perfumes before seating him on the throne, which was a seat, not described, placed on a carpet or mat, and surmounted by four canopies of feather-work placed one above another, the largest at the top; the seats of the three lower princes already mentioned were also shaded by canopies, three, two, and one, respectively. Whenever he appeared in public the monarch was borne in a palanquin on the shoulders of the nobles who composed his council.[914]‘Aqui havia muy grandes, y sumptuosas comidas, y borracheras.’ ‘Sentaban al nuevo Electo en vna estera mui pintada.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 342, 338-45. ‘In one of the saloons stood the throne, under four canopies of plumage, the ascent to it was by several steps.’ Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 88. The twenty-four counsellors ‘carried the emperor on their shoulders in his chair of state whenever he quitted his palace.’ Id., p. 189. ‘No se diferenciaba el rey de Guatemala ó de Utatlán de los otros en el trage, sino en que él traia horadadas las orejas y narices, que se tenia por grandeza.’ Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 197, 196.

The machinery of government was carried on in the provinces by lieutenants of the king’s appointment, and the monarch was advised in all matters of state by a council of nobles. Juarros tells us that the supreme Quiché council was composed of twenty-four grandees, who enjoyed great privileges and honors, personally attended the king, and managed the administration of justice and the collection of the royal revenue, but were liable to severe punishment if they committed crime. Brasseur de Bourbourg speaks of a supreme council, giving the names of the princes that composed it, and also of an ordinary council whose members were called alchaoh, or ‘judges,’ and were entrusted with the collection of tribute. The other authorities, Torquemada and Ximenez, state that the councils were not permanent, but were summoned by the king and selected for their peculiar fitness to give advice upon the subject under consideration. The lieutenants had also their provincial councils to advise them in matters of local importance, but all cases of national import, or affecting in any way the nobles of high rank, were referred to the royal council. So great was the power of the nobles assembled in council, that they might, under certain conditions, depose a tyrannical sovereign and seat the next heir on the throne. No person unless of noble blood could hold any office whatever, even that of doorkeeper to the council-chamber, if we may credit Juarros; consequently the greatest pains was taken to insure a lineage free from any plebeian stain. A noble marrying a woman of the common people was degraded to her rank, took her name, and his estate was forfeited to the crown. Ximenez states that traveling officials visited from time to time the different provinces, to observe the actions of the regular judges, and to correct abuses.[915]‘Tenia el rey ciertos varones de gran autoridad y opinion, que eran como oidores, y conocian de todos los pleitos y negocios que se ofrecian;’ they collected the royal revenues and attended to the expenses of the royal family. ‘Tenia en cada pueblo grande sus cancillerias con sus oidores, que eran las cabezas de calpul; pero no era muy grande la comision que tenian.’ ‘Poderosos Señores, los quales esperaban su confirmacion de sus estados del dicho rey.’ ‘Aun en las cosas pequeñas y de poca importancia entraban en consulta.’ ‘Unos como alquaciles que servian de llamar y convocar al pueblo.’ Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 196-7, 201-2. The king’s lieutenants ‘tenian su jurisdicion limitada, la qual no era mas, que la que el Señor, ò Rei les concedia, reservando para si, y su Consejo las cosas graves.’ These lieutenants held their positions for life if they were qualified and obedient, but to hold them they must have been promoted from lower offices. ‘El consejo no era de qualesquiera Personas, sino de aquellas, que mas cursadas estaban en la misma cosa, de que se trataba.’ They sometimes called in the aid of foreign nations to depose a tyrant. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 339-40, 343, 386. ‘There was no instance of any person being appointed to a public office, high or low, who was not selected from the nobility.’ Juarros, Hist. Guat., pp. 190-1. Some members of the councils were priests when religious interests were at stake. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec iv., lib. viii., cap. x. ‘Les personnes ou officiers qui servaient le souverain à la cour se nommaient Lolmay, Atzihunac, Calel, Ahuchan. C’étaient les facteurs, les contador, et trésoriers.’ Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 418. ‘De l’assemblée des princes des maisons de Cawek, d’Ahau-Quiché et de Nihaïb, réunis avec le Galel-Zakik, et l’Ahau-Ah-Tzutuha, se composait le conseil extraordinaire du monarque.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 548-9. The king ‘constitua vingt-deux grandes dignités, auxquelles il éleva les membres de la haute aristocratie.’ Id., pp. 496-7.

THE QUICHÉ NOBILITY.

The following is the Abbé Brasseur’s account of the grades of nobility taken from the Quiché manuscript published under the title of Popol Vuh: “Three principal families having a common origin constituted the high nobility of Quiché, modeled on the ancient imperial family of the Toltecs. The first and most illustrious was the house of Cawek, the members of which composed the royal family proper; the second was that of Nihaïb; and the third that of Ahau Quiché. Each of these houses had its titles and charges perfectly distinct and fixed, which never left it, like the hereditary offices of the English court at the present time; and to each of these offices were attached fiefs, or particular domains, from which the titularies drew their revenue, their attendants, and their vassals, and a palace where they lived during their stay in the capital. The house of Cawek, or royal house proper, included only princes of the blood, like the eldest branch of the Bourbons in France. It was composed of nine chinamital, or great fiefs, whose names corresponded to those of the palaces occupied by these princes in the capital, and whose titles were as follows:—I. Ahau Ahpop, or ‘lord of the princes,’ title of the king, corresponding nearly to ‘king of kings,’ whose palace was called cuha; II. Ahau Ahpop Camha, or ‘lord of the princes and seneschal’ (camha, he who cares for the house, majordomo), whom the Spaniards called the second king, and whose palace was called tziquinaha, or ‘house of birds;’ III. Nim Chocoh Cawek, or ‘grand elect of Cawek;’ IV. Ahau Ah Tohil, or ‘lord of the servants of Tohil,’ priests of Tohil, the principal Quiché god; V. Ahau Ah Gucumatz, or ‘lord of the servants of Gucumatz,’ (priests of Quetzalcoatl); VI. Popol Winak Chituy, or president of the counsellors; VII. Lolmet Quehnay, the principal receiver of royal tributes, or minister of finance; VIII. Popol Winak Pahom Tzalatz Xcaxeba, or ‘grand master of the hall of the council of the game of ball;’ IX. Tepeu Yaqui, ‘chief or lord of the Yaquis’ (Toltecs, or Mexicans).

“The house of Nihaïb, the second in rank, had also nine chinamital, with names corresponding to their palaces, and titles as follows: I. Ahau Galel, ‘lord of the bracelets,’ or of those who have the right to wear them, and chief of the house of Nihaïb; II. Ahau Ahtzic Winak, ‘lord of those who give,’ or of those who made presents (especially to ambassadors, who were introduced by him); III. Ahau Galel Camha, ‘lord of the bracelets, and seneschal;’ IV. Nimah Camha, ‘grand seneschal;’ V. Uchuch Camha, ‘mother of the seneschals;’ VI. Nima Camha Nihaïb, ‘grand seneschal of Nihaïb;’ VII. Nim Chocoh Nihaïb, ‘grand elect of Nihaïb;’ VIII. Ahau Awilix, ‘lord of Awilix’ (one of the gods of the Quiché trinity); IX. Yacol Atam, ‘grand master of feasts.’

“The third house, that of Ahau Quiché, had only four chinamital with the following titles: I. Ahtzic Winak Ahau, ‘great lord of givers;’ II. Lolmet Ahau, ‘grand receiver;’ III. Nim Chocoh Ahau, ‘lord grand elect;’ IV. Ahau Gagawitz, ‘lord of Gagawitz’ (one of the gods of the Quiché trinity).”[916]Lists of the nobility. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, pp. 337-47; Id., Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 430-32.

Pipiles and Nicaraguans

Respecting the Chiapanecs, who are not generally considered as the descendants of the peoples who inhabited the country in Votan’s time, we have no knowledge of their government save a probably unfounded statement by García that they were ruled by two chiefs, elected each year by the priests, and never had a king.[917]‘Nunca tuvieron Rei, sino solo elegian los Sacerdotes cada Año dos Capitanes, que eran como Governadores, à quien todos obedecian, aunque era maior el respeto, i veneracion, que tenian à los Sacerdotes.’ García, Orígen de los Ind., p. 329; a statement repeated in Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, p. 27; and Heredia y Sarmiento, Sermon, p. 84. García refers to Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. xi., where the only statement on the subject is that ‘son muy respetados los principales.’ The Pipiles in Salvador, although traditionally among the partially civilized nations, seem to have been governed in the sixteenth century by local chieftains only, like most of the wild tribes already described. These chiefs handed down their power, however, to their sons or nearest relatives. Palacio tells us that to regulate marriages and the planting of crops was among the ruler’s duties. Squier concludes that all these petty chiefs were more or less allied politically, and acted together in matters affecting the common interests.[918]‘No doubt there were individual chiefs who possessed a power superior to the others, exercising a great influence over them, and perhaps arrogating a qualified authority.’ Squier’s Cent. Amer., pp. 331-4; Palacio, Carta, p. 78.

Nicaragua, when first visited by Europeans, was divided into many provinces, inhabited by several nations linguistically distinct one from another, one of them, at least, speaking the Aztec tongue; but in respect to their government and other institutions, the very meagre information preserved by Oviedo enables us to make little or no distinction between the different tribes. In many of the provinces we are told the people lived in communities, or little republics, governed by certain huehues, or ‘old men,’ who were elected by the people. These elective rulers themselves elected a captain-general to direct their armies in time of war, which official they had no hesitation in putting to death when he exhibited any symptoms of insubordination or acquired a power over the army which seemed dangerous to the public good. In other and probably in most provinces a chieftain, or teite, ruled the people of his domain with much the same powers and privileges as we have noticed in Yucatan and Guatemala. These teites had their petty vassals and lords to execute their orders, and to accompany them in public displays, but it seems they could claim no strictly personal services in their palaces from any but members of their own household. Peter Martyr speaks of a ‘throne adorned with rich and princely furniture.’ These rulers affected great state, and insisted on a strict observance of court etiquette. They would receive no message, however pressing the occasion, except through the regularly appointed officials; and one of them, in an interview with the Spaniards, would not condescend to open his royal mouth to the leader until a curtain was held between him and his foreign hearers. On several occasions they met the Spaniards in a procession of men and women gaily decked in all their finery, marching to the sound of shell trumpets, and bearing in their hands presents for the invaders. But even in the provinces nominally ruled by the teites, all legislative power was in the hands of a council called monexico, composed of old men, who were elected every four moons. Without the consent of the monexico the chief could take action in no public matter whatever, not even in war. The council could decide against the teite, but he had the right to assemble or dissolve it, and to be present at all its meetings. The decisions of the monexico were made known in the market-place by a crier, whose badge of office was a rattle. The lords also, in sending an ambassador or messenger on any public business, gave him a fan, bearing which credential he was implicitly trusted wherever he might go. Two members of the council were chosen as executive officers, and one of them must be always present in the market-place to regulate all dealings of the buyers and sellers. Squier says that the council-houses were called grepons, and its corridors or porticos galpons; Oviedo in one place terms the buildings galpones, and in another applies the name to a class of vassal chiefs.[919]Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 36-8, 52, 54, 104, 108, 110, tom. iii., p. 231; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., pp. 340-6; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; Peter Martyr, dec. vi., lib. iii.; Scherzer, Wanderungen, p. 64.

The Maya Priesthood

It is only of the priesthood as connected with the government, as an order of nobility, as a class of the community, that a mention is required here: In their quality of priests proper, religious teachers, oracles of the gods, leaders of ceremonious rites, confessors, and sacrificers, they will be treated of elsewhere. Their temporal power, directly exercised, or indirectly through their influence upon kings and chieftains, was perhaps even greater than we have found it among the Nahua nations. Votan, Zamná, Cukulcan, and all the other semi-mythical founders of the Maya civilization, united in their persons the qualities of high-priest and king, and from their time to the coming of the Spaniards ecclesiastical and secular authority marched hand in hand. In Yucatan, the Itzas at Chichen were ruled in the earlier times by a theocratic government, and later the high-priest of the empire, of the royal family of the Cheles, became king of Izamal, which became the sacred city and the headquarters of ecclesiastical dignitaries. The gigantic mounds still seen at Izamal are traditionally the tombs of both kings and priests. The office of chief priest was hereditary, the succession being from father to son—since priests and even the vestal virgins were permitted to marry—but regulated apparently by the opinions of kings and nobles, as well as of ecclesiastical councils. The king constantly applied to the high-priest for counsel in matters of state, and in turn gave rich presents to the head of the church; the security of the temples was also confided to the highest officers of the state. The rank of Ixnacan Katun, or superior of the vestals, was founded by a princess of royal blood.

In Guatemala the high-priests who presided over the temples of the Quiché trinity, Tohil, Awilix, and Gucumatz, were all princes of the three royal families; their titles have been given in the lists of the Quiché nobility; and one of the most powerful kings is said to have created two priestly titles for the family of Zakik, to each of which he attached a province for its support. Ximenez tells us that in Vera Paz the chief priest, next in power to the king, was elected from a certain lineage by the people. In the province of Chiquimula, Mictlan is described as a great religious centre, and a shrine much visited by pilgrims. Here the power was in the hands of a sacerdotal hierarchy, hereditary in one family, whose chief bore the title Teoti and was aided by an ecclesiastical council of five members, which controlled all the priesthood, and from whose number a successor to the Teoti was appointed by the chief of the Pipiles, or, as some authorities state, was chosen by lot.

Thus we see that while the priesthood had great power over even the highest secular rulers in all the Maya nations, yet the system by which the high-priests were members of the royal families, rendered their power a support to that of royalty rather than a cause of fear. The fear which kings experienced towards the priests seems consequently to have been altogether superstitious on account of their supernatural powers, and not a jealous fear of any possible rivalry. Ordinary priests were appointed by the higher authorities of the church, but whether the choice was confined to certain families, we are not informed. It is altogether probable, however, that such was the case in nations whose lowest secular officers must be of noble blood.[920]On the status of the priesthood see: Landa, Relacion, pp. 42, 54, 56, 114, 160, 354; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 198; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. x., lib. x., cap. ii.; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 56; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxxiii.; Palacio, Carta, pp. 62, 64; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 200-1; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 74, 79, tom. ii., pp. 6, 10, 19, 33, 40, 48, 114, 551-6.

Plebeians and Slaves

In the south as in the north, the status of the lower classes, or plebeians, has received no attention at the hands of the Spanish observers. We know that in Yucatan the nobles were obliged to support from their revenues such of the lower classes as from sickness, old age, or other disabling cause were unable to gain a livelihood. It has been seen also that none of plebeian blood could hold any office, the only exception noted being the attempt of one of the Quiché kings to humiliate the aristocracy by raising plebeian soldiers to the new rank of Achihab, ‘men’ or ‘heroes.’ The lower classes of freemen were doubtless for the most part farmers, each tilling the portion of land allotted him in the domain of a noble; and beyond the obligation to pay a certain tax from the product of their labor, and to render military service in case of necessity, they were probably independent, and often wealthy.[921]‘L’idée de la supériorité de caste est tellement évidente dans le Popol-Vuh, par example, que le peuple, c’est-à-dire la masse étrangère aux tribus quichées, n’est jamais désigné que sous des nommes d’animaux; ce sont les fourmis, les rats, les singes, les oiseaux, etc.’ Viollet-le-Duc., in Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 88. ‘Acostumbravan buscar en los pueblos los mancos y ciegos y que les davan lo necesario.’ Landa, Relacion, p. 40. ‘Y los señores dauan Gouernadores a los pueblos, a los quales encomendauan mucho la paz, y buen tratamiento de la genta menuda.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. ii. ‘Achih … signifie régulièrement héros, guerrier; il semble toutefois s’appliquer à ceux qui n’appartenaient point à l’aristocratie, mais à une classe intermédiaire entre la noblesse et les serfs ou paysans.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, pp. 92-3, 324-5; Id., Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 56-58. Among the Pipiles ‘los que no eran para la guerra, cultivaban las tierras millpas del cazique i papa i sacerdotes, i de las propias suyas davan un tanto para la gente de guerra.’ Palacio, Carta, p. 82. Beggars mentioned in Nicaragua. Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 264.

Lowest in the scale among the Mayas as elsewhere in America were the slaves. Slavery was an institution of all the nations in the sixteenth century, and had been traditionally for some centuries. In Yucatan, tradition speaks of a time when slavery was unknown; its introduction by a powerful Cocome king was one of the acts of oppression which brought about a revolution and deposed him from the throne. During the power of the Tutul Xius which followed, slavery is said to have been abolished, but must—if indeed the tradition be not altogether unfounded—have been re-introduced at a still later period.[922]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 35, 41, 70. ‘Cocom fue primero el que hizo esclavos pero por deste mal se siguio usar las armas con que se defendieron para que no fuessen todos esclavos.’ Landa, Relacion, p. 50. In the annals of other Maya nations no time seems to be noted when slaves were not held. This unfortunate class was composed chiefly of captives in war, or of those whose parents had been such; the condition was hereditary, but, in Yucatan at least, the children had the right to redeem themselves by settling on unoccupied lands and becoming tribute-payers. Foreign slaves were also brought into the country for sale; and Cortés speaks of Acalan, a city of Guatemala, as a place where an extensive trade in human kind was carried on.[923]‘En las guerras, que por su ambicion hazian vnos à otros, se cautiuaban, quedando hechos esclauos los vencidos, que cogian. En esto eran rigurosissimos, y los trataban con aspereza.’ Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 181-2; Carrillo, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iii., p. 267; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 70; Cortés, Cartas, p. 421; Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 144. In Nicaragua, Helps tells us that only the common captives were enslaved, the chiefs being killed and eaten. Span. Conq., vol. iii., p. 257. In Nicaragua a father might sell himself or his children into bondage, when hard pressed by necessity; but in such cases he seems to have had the right of redemption.[924]‘Acaesçe que venden los padres á los hijos, é aun cada uno se puede vender á sí proprio, si quiere é por lo que quisiere.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 51, 54; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856.) vol. ii., p. 345. Bienvenida says that in Yucatan as soon as the father dies the strongest of those who remain enslave the others. In Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 331.In Nicaragua and Yucatan the thief was enslaved by the owner of stolen property, until such time as he paid its value; he could even be sold to other parties, but it is added that he could only be redeemed in Nicaragua with the consent of the cacique. In Yucatan, if a slave died or ran away soon after his sale the purchaser was entitled to receive back a portion of the price paid.[925]Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 264; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 181-2; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, p. 34; Fancourt’s Hist. Yuc., p. 117.

Treatment of Slaves

Kidnapping, according to Las Casas, was common in Guatemala, but the laws against the offence were very severe. He who sold a free native into slavery was clubbed to death, his own wife and children were sold, and a large part of the price received went to fill the public exchequer.[926]Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., pp. 136, 144; Herrera, Gomara, and Pimentel, ubi sup. Pimentel concludes that slaves were more harshly treated in Yucatan than in Mexico; Gomara and Herrera state that no punishment was decreed to him who killed a slave in Nicaragua; but in Yucatan the killer of another’s slave must pay the full value of the property destroyed, and was also amenable to punishment if the murdered slave was his own. In Guatemala if a freeman had sexual intercourse with the female slave of another he had to pay the owner her full value or purchase for him another of equal value; but if the woman were a favorite of the owner, the penalty, though still pecuniary, was much increased. In the province of Vera Paz, as Las Casas states, if slaves committed fornication with women of their own condition, both parties were slain by having their heads broken between two stones, or by a stick driven down the throat, or by the garrote; the man, however, being sometimes sold for sacrifice. Among the Pipiles a freeman cohabiting with a slave was himself enslaved, unless pardoned by the high-priest for services rendered in war. In Yucatan, as it is expressly stated, and elsewhere probably, the master was permitted to use his female slaves as concubines, but the offspring of such connection could not inherit. Thomas Gage tells us of a town in Guatemala whose inhabitants in the olden time were all slaves and served the people of Amatitlan as messengers. The only distinguishing marks of slaves that are mentioned were the shearing of the hair in Yucatan, and marks of powdered pine charcoal, called tile, in Nicaragua.[927]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 387; Las Casas, ubi sup.; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. x., lib. x., cap. iv.; Palacio, Carta, pp. 80-2; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 70, 573; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., pp. 46-7; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 182; Gage’s New Survey, p. 414; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., p. 204.

Respecting the tenure of landed property among the Maya nations the little information extant applies chiefly to Yucatan. The whole country, as we have seen, was divided into many domains, or fiefs, of varying extent, ruled over by nobles, or lords, of different rank. Although each lord had, under the king, nearly absolute authority over his domain, yet he does not seem to have been regarded as in any sense the owner of the lands, or to have had a right to sell or in any way alienate them. A certain portion of these lands were set apart for the lord’s support, and were worked by his people in common; the rest of the land seems to have been divided among the people, the first occupant being regarded in a certain sense as its owner, and handing it down as an inheritance from generation to generation, but having no right to sell it, and being also obliged to contribute a certain part of its products to the lord of the domain. Cogolludo and Landa speak of the land as being common property, yet by this they probably do not mean to imply that any man had a right to trespass on the cultivated fields of another, but simply that unoccupied lands might be appropriated by any one for purposes of cultivation. Game, fish, and the salt marshes were likewise free to all, but the hunter, fisherman, or salt-maker must pay a tribute to the lords and to the king. In Nicaragua land could not be sold, and if the owner wished to change his residence he had to leave all his property to his relatives, since nothing could be removed.[928]‘Las tierras por aora es de comun, y assi el que primero las ocupa las possee.’ Landa, Relacion, p. 130. ‘Las tierras eran comunes, y assi entre los Pueblos no auia terminos, ò mojones, que las dividiessen: aunque si entre vna Provincia, y otra, por causa de las guerras.’ Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 180. Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 139, speaks of boundary marks between the property of different owners. ‘Les habitations était pour la plupart dispersées sans former de village.’ Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 45. ‘Leur qualité de seigneurs héréditaires ne les rendait pas, pour cela, maîtres du sol ni propriétaires des habitants.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 56-8. ‘Property was much respected (in Nicaragua); but … no man could put up his land for sale. If he wished to leave the district, his property passed to the nearest blood relation, or, in default, to the municipality.’ Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., p. 274; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 345; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.

Inheritance and Taxation

At a man’s death his property, in Yucatan, was divided between his sons equally, except that a son who had assisted his father to gain the property might receive more than the rest. Daughters inherited nothing, and only received what might be given from motives of kindness by the brothers. In default of sons, the inheritance went to the brothers or nearest male relatives. Minor heirs were entrusted to tutors who managed the estate, and from it received a recompense for their services. According to Oviedo, property in Nicaragua was inherited by the children, but if there were no children, it went to the relatives of both father and mother. Squier states that in the latter case all personal property was buried with the deceased.[929]‘Los indios no admittian las hijas a heredar con los hermanos sino era por via de piedad o voluntad.’ Landa, Relacion, pp. 136-8. ‘Mejorauan al que mas notablemente auia ayudado al padre, a ganar el hazienda.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 180; Carrillo, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iii., pp. 267-8; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 70; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, p. 36; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 50; Squier, in Palacio, Carta, p. 119.

Taxes and tribute paid by the people for the support of the kings and nobles consisted of the products of all the different industries. The merchant contributed from the wares in which he dealt; the farmer from the products of the soil, chiefly maize and cacao; the hunter and fisherman from the game taken in forest and stream. Cotton garments, copal, feathers, skins, fowl, salt, honey, and gold-dust composed a large part of the tribute, and slaves are also mentioned in the lists. Personal labor in working the lands of the lords, and in supplying his household with wood and water, was also an important element of taxation in the provinces. Officials were appointed to assess and collect taxes from all subjects. In Yucatan the tribute of the king and that of the local lords were kept separate and were attended to by different officials; but in Guatemala it is implied that all taxes were collected together and then distributed to the king and several classes of nobles according to their rank. In the ancient times those who lived in Mayapan were exempt from all taxation. In Nicaragua, we are told that the teite received no tribute or taxes whatever from his subjects, but in the case of a war or other event involving extraordinary expense, the council decided upon the amount of revenue needed, and chose by lot one of their number to assess and collect it. Taxation among the Mayas does not seem to have been oppressive, and the attempt to extort excessive tribute contributed largely to the overthrow of the Cocome power in the twelfth century.[930]‘Hanno abondanza di cottone, & ne fanno manti che sono come lenzuoli, e camisette senza maniche, e questo s’è il principal tributo che danno à suoi patroni.’ Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, fol. 99. ‘El tributo era mantas pequeñas de algodon, gallinas de la tierra, algun cacao, donde se cogia, y vna resina, que seruia de incienso en los Templos, y todo se dize era muy poco en cantidad.’ Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 179. ‘Allende de la casa hazian todo el pueblo a los señores sus sementeras, y se las beneficiavan y cogian en cantidad que le bastava a el y a su casa.’ Landa, Relacion, pp. 110-12, 130-2. ‘Sus mayordomos … que recibian los tributos, y los dauan a los señores.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. ii. Some authors speak of a tribute of virgins and of a coin called cuzcas.Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 262. ‘Jamais l’impôt n’était réparti par tête, mais par ville, village ou hameau.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 57-8, 33, 553. In Guatemala, ‘en lo tocante á las rentas del rey y Señores, habia este órden, que todo venia á un montón, y de allí le daban al rey su parte, despues daban á los Señores, segun cada uno era, y despues daban á los oficiales, y á quienes el rey hacia mercedes.’ Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 201-2. ‘Ils possédaient les esclaves mâles ou femelles que ces sujets leur payaient en tribut.’ Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., pp. 416-17; Id., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 45; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 345, 386; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 104; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 341; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 195.

A sale of property or other contract was legalized in Yucatan by the parties drinking before witnesses. A strict fulfillment of all contracts was required both by the law and by public sentiment. Heirs and relatives were liable, or at least assumed the liability, for debts; and often paid, as did the lords of the province, the pecuniary penalty incurred by some poor man, especially if the crime had been committed involuntarily or without malice.[931]Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 180-1; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 46; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 70-1; Carrillo, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iii., p. 268.

Administration of Justice

The administration of justice and the execution of the laws were among the Mayas entrusted to the officials that have been mentioned in what has been said respecting government. Serious crimes or other important matters affecting the interests of the king, of the state, or of the higher ranks of nobility, were referred directly to the royal council presided over by the monarch. The king’s lieutenants, or lords of royal blood who ruled over provinces, took cognizance of the more important cases of provincial interest; while petty local questions were decided by subordinate judges, one of whom was appointed in each village or hamlet. But even in the case of the local judges the advice of a council was sought on every occasion, and persons were appointed to assist both judges and parties to the suit in the character of advocates. Although these judges had the right to consult with the lord of their province, and the latter, probably, with the royal council, yet after a decision was rendered, there was apparently no right of appeal in any case whatever; but we are told that in Yucatan at least a royal commissioner traveled through the provinces and reported regularly on the manner in which the judges performed their duties, and on other matters of public import. Both judges and advocates might receive presents from all the parties to a suit, according to Cogolludo, and no one thought of applying for justice without bringing some gift proportioned to his means. In Guatemala, as Las Casas states, the judge received half the property of the convicted party; this is probably only to be understood as applying to serious crimes, which involved a confiscation of all property.

In Vera Paz the tax-collectors served also as constables, being empowered to arrest accused parties and witnesses, and to bring them before the judges. Very little is known of the order of procedure in the Maya courts, but great pains was apparently taken to ascertain all the facts bearing on the case, and to render exact justice to all concerned. Court proceedings, testimony, arguments, and decisions are said to have been altogether verbal, there being no evidence that written records were kept as they were by the Nahuas, although the Maya system of hieroglyphic writing cannot be supposed to have been in any respect inferior to that of the northern nations. Nothing in the nature of an oath was exacted from a witness, but to guard against false testimony in Yucatan a terrible curse was launched against the perjurer, and a superstitious fear of consequences was supposed to render falsehood impossible. In Guatemala so much was the perjurer despised that a fine and a reprimand from the judge were deemed sufficient punishment. Torture, if we may credit Las Casas, by tying the hands, beating with clubs, and the inhalation of smoke, was resorted to in Vera Paz to extort confession from a person suspected of adultery or other serious crimes. Great weight seems to have been attached to material evidence; for instance, it was deemed important to take the thief while in actual possession of the stolen property; and a woman to convict a man of rape must seize and produce in court some portion of his wearing-apparel. The announcement of the judge’s decision was, as I have said, delivered verbally, and sometimes, when the parties to the suit were numerous, Cogolludo informs us that all were invited to a banquet, during which the verdict was made known. As there was no appeal to a higher tribunal, so there seems to have been no pardoning power, and the judge’s final decision was always strictly enforced. Except a mention by Herrera that the Nicaraguan ministers of justice bore fans and rods, I find no account of any distinguishing insignia in the Maya tribunals.

Maya Punishments

Punishments inflicted on Maya criminals took the form of death, slavery, and pecuniary fines; imprisonment was of rare occurrence, and apparently never inflicted as a punishment, but only for the retention of prisoners until their final punishment was legally determined. Cogolludo states that culprits were never beaten, but Villagutierre affirms that, at least among the Itzas, they were both beaten and put in shackles; and the same author speaks of imprisonment for non-payment of taxes at Coban. The death penalty was inflicted by hanging, by beating with the garrote, or club, and by throwing the condemned over a precipice. Ximenez mentions burning in Guatemala; Oviedo speaks of impalements in Yucatan; those condemned to death in Nicaragua seem to have been sacrificed to the gods by having their hearts cut out; and throwing the body from a wall or precipice is the only method attributed to the Pipiles.

At a town in Yucatan called Cachi, Oviedo mentions a sharp mast standing in the centre of a square and used by the people for impaling criminals alive. The method of imprisonment, as described by Cogolludo, consisted in binding the hands behind the back, placing about the neck a collar of wood and cords, and confining the culprit thus shackled in a wooden cage. At Campeche a place of punishment is mentioned by Peter Martyr and Torquemada as having been seen by the early voyagers. Three beams or posts were fixed in the ground, to them were attached three cross-beams, and scattered about were blood-stained arrows and spears. This apparatus would indicate, if it was really a place of punishment, a method of inflicting the death-penalty not elsewhere mentioned; and a stone structure adjoining, covered with sculptured emblems of punishment is suggestive of ceremonial rites in connection with executions. The death sentence generally involved the confiscation of the criminal’s property and the enslaving of his family. All but the most heinous offences could be expiated by the payment of a fine consisting of slaves or other property, and the whole or a large part of this fine went to the judges, the lords, or the king.

Murder was punished in all the nations by death, but in Yucatan and Nicaragua if there were extenuating circumstances, such as great provocation or absence of malice, the crime was atoned by the payment of a fine. In Yucatan a minor who took human life became a slave; the killing of another’s slave called for payment of the value destroyed; the killing of one’s own slave involved a slight penalty or none at all. In Nicaragua no penalty was decided upon for the murder of a chief, such a crime being deemed impossible.

Theft was atoned by a return of the stolen property and the payment of a fine to the public treasury. In case the criminal could not pay the full value he was sold as a slave until such time as he might be able to redeem his freedom. In some cases the amount seems to have been paid with the price he brought as a slave, and in others he served the injured party. Fines, however, in most cases seem to have been paid by the relatives and friends of the guilty party, so that the number of persons actually enslaved was perhaps not very large. In Guatemala stolen articles of trifling value went with the fine to the public treasury, since the owner would not receive them. The incorrigible thief, when his friends refused to pay his fine, was sometimes put to death; and death was also the penalty for stealing articles of value from the temple. In Nicaragua the thief who delayed too long the payment of his fine was sacrificed to the gods; and in Salvador, banishment was the punishment for trifling theft, death for stealing larger amounts. Landa informs us that in Yucatan a noble who so far forgot his position as to steal had his face scarified, a great disgrace.

Criminal Code

Adultery was punished in Yucatan and Guatemala with death; in the latter if the parties were of the common people they were thrown from a precipice. Fornication was atoned by a fine, or if the affronted relatives insisted, by death. A woman who was unchaste was at first reprimanded, and finally, if she persevered in her loose conduct, enslaved. Rape in Guatemala was punished by death; an unsuccessful attempt at the same, by slavery. Marriage with a slave, as already stated, reduced the freeman to a slave’s condition; sexual connection with one’s own slave was not regarded as a crime. He who committed incest in Yucatan was put to death.

Treason, rebellion, inciting to rebellion, desertion, interference with the payment of royal tribute, and similar offences endangering the well-being of the nations, were sufficient cause for death.

In Guatemala he who kidnapped a free person and sold him into slavery, lost his life. For an assault resulting in wounds a fine was imposed. He who killed the quetzal, a bird reserved for the kings, was put to death; and the same fate was that of him who took game or fish from another’s premises, if the injured party was an enemy and insisted on so severe a penalty.

The Pipiles condemned a man to be beaten for lying; but the same offence in time of war demanded capital punishment, as did any disrespect shown for the sacred things of religion.

Ximenez states that in Guatemala the balam, or sorcerer, was burned; the same offence in Vera Paz, according to Torquemada, caused the guilty party to be beaten to death or hanged.

A strict payment of all just debts was enforced, and in Guatemala he who bought many things on credit and failed to pay for them was finally enslaved or even killed. Both here and in Nicaragua the borrower was obliged to return or pay for borrowed articles, and, if the articles were products of the soil, the lender might repay himself from the borrower’s field. He who injured another’s property, even servants in the lord’s palace who broke dishes or furniture, must make good all damage. In Yucatan, we are told that a man could not be taken for debt unaccompanied by crime. Some additional laws and regulations of the Maya nations will appear in their appropriate places in other chapters.[932]On the Maya laws see: Landa, Relacion, pp. 132-4, 176-8; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 196-200, 208; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 338-46, 386-92; Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., pp. 135-46; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 179-83; Palacio, Carta, pp. 80-2; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 229-30, tom. iv., pp. 50-1; Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. ii.; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 162; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. x., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; Juarros, Hist. Guat., pp. 191-2; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 263-4; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 59-61, 572-4; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 345; Id., Cent. Amer., p. 334; Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., pp. 417-18; Id., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., pp. 46-7; Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. iii., pp. 256-7; Fancourt’s Hist. Yuc., pp. 116-17; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 29-34.

Footnotes

[906] See pp. 81-123 of this volume, and especially pp. 114-23, on the Maya nations.

[907] Although Brasseur de Bourbourg, on the authority of some of his original MSS. perhaps, states that Xibalba in the height of its glory was ruled by thirteen princes, two of whom were kings, the second being subordinate to the first; and also that there was a council of twelve, presided over by the king. He also mentions a succession of seventeen kings after Votan. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 127, 123, 95-7.

[908] Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 178-9; Ordoñez, Hist. del cielo y de la Tierra, MS.; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 78-80.

[909] ‘Si moria el señor, aunque le succediesse el hijo mayor, eran siempre los demas hijos muy acatados, y ayudados y tenidos por señores.’ Landa, Relacion, p. 112. ‘Si quando el señor moria no eran los hijos para regir y tenia hermanos, regia de los hermanos el mayor o el mas desenbuelto y al heredero mostravan sus costumbres y fiestas para quando fuesse hombre y estos hermanos, aunque el eredero fuesse para regir, mandavan toda su vida, y sino avia hermanos, elegian los sacerdotes y gente principal un hombre sufficiente para ello.’ Id., p. 138. Brasseur de Bourbourg, in his French translation of this passage, gives a different meaning from what I deem the correct one as given in my text. He understands that the brother succeeded in any case. ‘Ce n’étaient pas ses fils qui succédaient au gouvernement, mais bien l’aîné de ses frères,’ and also that the person appointed by the priests if there was no brother, ruled only during the heir’s minority, ‘jusqu’à la majorité de l’héritier,’ all of which may be very reasonable, but certainly is not found in the Spanish text.

[910] ‘Organisait les conseils de la religion et de l’état qui devaient, après lui, nommer son successeur.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii, pp. 53-6; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, p. 256.

[911] ‘Todos los señores tenian cuenta con visitar, respetar, alegrar a Cocom, acompañandole y festejandole y acudiendo a el con los negocios arduos.’ Landa, Relacion, p. 40. A kind of mayordomo called Caluac, whose badge of office was a thick short stick, was the agent through whom the lord performed the routine duties of his position. Ib. ‘Concertavan las cosas, y negocios principalmente de noche.’ Id., p. 112. ‘Fuè todo el Reyno de Yucatàn, y sus Provincias, con el Nombre de Mayapàn, desde que los Indios fueron à èl y le poblaron, sujeto à vn solo Rey, y Señor absoluto, con Govierno Monarquico. No durò esto poco tiempo, sino por muchos Años.’ Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 28. Among the Itzas Cortés was visited by ‘el Canek, con treinta y dos Principales.’ Id., p. 46. ‘Despues llamó el Canek à Consejo à todos sus Capitanes, y Principales.’ Id., p. 91. ‘Vno, como à modo, ò forma de Trono pequeño, en que èl solia estar.’ Id., p. 105. ‘Vna Corona de Plumas, de varios colores.’ Id., p. 349. Yucatan ‘regido de Señores Particulares, que es el Estado de los Reies: Governavanse por Leies, y costumbres buenas; vivian en Paz, y en Justicia, que es Argumento de su buen Govierno.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 345. Brasseur refers to Torquemada, tom. xi., cap. xix., on Yucatan Government, but that chapter relates wholly to Guatemala. ‘Quando los Señores de la Ciudad de Mayapàn dominaban, toda la tierra les tributaba.’ In later times they attached much importance to their royal blood. Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 179. ‘Dizese, que vn Señor de la Ciudad de Mayapàn, cabeça de el Reyno, hizo matar afrentosamente à vn hermano suyo, porque corrompió vna doncella.’ Id., p. 182. See also on the system of government in Yucatan: Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. iv., cap. vii., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. ii-iv.; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 16-17, 38, 46, 53-6, 72; Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 147; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 182-4; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, p. 27; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 262; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., pp. 45-6, 146; Fancourt’s Hist. Yuc., pp. 55-6, 115-16.

[912] ‘It was ordained that the eldest son of the king (that is, of the first king who founded the monarchy) should inherit the crown; upon the second son the title of Elect was conferred, as being the next heir to his elder brother; the sons of the eldest son received the title of Captain senior, and those of the second Captain junior. When the king died, his eldest son assumed the sceptre, and the Elect became the immediate inheritor; the Captain senior ascended to the rank of Elect, the Captain junior to that of Captain senior, and the next nearest relative to that of Captain junior.’ Juarros, Hist. Guat., pp. 188-9. ‘Luego el Capitan menor, entraba por maior, y metian otro en el que avia vacado del Capitan menor, que ordinariamente era el Pariente mas cercano.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 338-41. ‘Restait alors la charge d’Ahau-Ah-Tohil; elle était conférée au fils aîné du nouveau monarque.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 547, 103, 496. ‘Luego que el primero subió al reino, mandó el padre (the first king) que el segundo fuese capitain, y mandó por ley, que si fuesen cuatro, que el primero reinase, el segundo fuese como principe, el tercero capitan general, y el cuarto capitan segundo, y que muerto el primero, reinasen todos por su órden, si se alcanzasen en vida.’ Note, ‘Bien clara está la descendencia de padres á hijos de todos tres hermanos.’ Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., Escolios, pp. 195-6.

[913] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 549-50, 534, with reference to Roman, Repub. de los Indios, tom. ii., cap. viii. Titles in Atitlan. Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 416. ‘Las Prouincias de Tazulatlan, gente belicosa y braua, si bien con pulicia, porque viuian en poblaciones formadas, y gouierno de Republica.’ Dávila, Teatro Ecles., tom. i., p. 148. Tazulatlan, or Tuzulutlan, was the province of Rabinal. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, p. 147.

[914] ‘Aqui havia muy grandes, y sumptuosas comidas, y borracheras.’ ‘Sentaban al nuevo Electo en vna estera mui pintada.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 342, 338-45. ‘In one of the saloons stood the throne, under four canopies of plumage, the ascent to it was by several steps.’ Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 88. The twenty-four counsellors ‘carried the emperor on their shoulders in his chair of state whenever he quitted his palace.’ Id., p. 189. ‘No se diferenciaba el rey de Guatemala ó de Utatlán de los otros en el trage, sino en que él traia horadadas las orejas y narices, que se tenia por grandeza.’ Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 197, 196.

[915] ‘Tenia el rey ciertos varones de gran autoridad y opinion, que eran como oidores, y conocian de todos los pleitos y negocios que se ofrecian;’ they collected the royal revenues and attended to the expenses of the royal family. ‘Tenia en cada pueblo grande sus cancillerias con sus oidores, que eran las cabezas de calpul; pero no era muy grande la comision que tenian.’ ‘Poderosos Señores, los quales esperaban su confirmacion de sus estados del dicho rey.’ ‘Aun en las cosas pequeñas y de poca importancia entraban en consulta.’ ‘Unos como alquaciles que servian de llamar y convocar al pueblo.’ Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 196-7, 201-2. The king’s lieutenants ‘tenian su jurisdicion limitada, la qual no era mas, que la que el Señor, ò Rei les concedia, reservando para si, y su Consejo las cosas graves.’ These lieutenants held their positions for life if they were qualified and obedient, but to hold them they must have been promoted from lower offices. ‘El consejo no era de qualesquiera Personas, sino de aquellas, que mas cursadas estaban en la misma cosa, de que se trataba.’ They sometimes called in the aid of foreign nations to depose a tyrant. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 339-40, 343, 386. ‘There was no instance of any person being appointed to a public office, high or low, who was not selected from the nobility.’ Juarros, Hist. Guat., pp. 190-1. Some members of the councils were priests when religious interests were at stake. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec iv., lib. viii., cap. x. ‘Les personnes ou officiers qui servaient le souverain à la cour se nommaient Lolmay, Atzihunac, Calel, Ahuchan. C’étaient les facteurs, les contador, et trésoriers.’ Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 418. ‘De l’assemblée des princes des maisons de Cawek, d’Ahau-Quiché et de Nihaïb, réunis avec le Galel-Zakik, et l’Ahau-Ah-Tzutuha, se composait le conseil extraordinaire du monarque.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 548-9. The king ‘constitua vingt-deux grandes dignités, auxquelles il éleva les membres de la haute aristocratie.’ Id., pp. 496-7.

[916] Lists of the nobility. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, pp. 337-47; Id., Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 430-32.

[917] ‘Nunca tuvieron Rei, sino solo elegian los Sacerdotes cada Año dos Capitanes, que eran como Governadores, à quien todos obedecian, aunque era maior el respeto, i veneracion, que tenian à los Sacerdotes.’ García, Orígen de los Ind., p. 329; a statement repeated in Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, p. 27; and Heredia y Sarmiento, Sermon, p. 84. García refers to Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. xi., where the only statement on the subject is that ‘son muy respetados los principales.’

[918] ‘No doubt there were individual chiefs who possessed a power superior to the others, exercising a great influence over them, and perhaps arrogating a qualified authority.’ Squier’s Cent. Amer., pp. 331-4; Palacio, Carta, p. 78.

[919] Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 36-8, 52, 54, 104, 108, 110, tom. iii., p. 231; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., pp. 340-6; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; Peter Martyr, dec. vi., lib. iii.; Scherzer, Wanderungen, p. 64.

[920] On the status of the priesthood see: Landa, Relacion, pp. 42, 54, 56, 114, 160, 354; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 198; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. x., lib. x., cap. ii.; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 56; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxxiii.; Palacio, Carta, pp. 62, 64; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 200-1; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 74, 79, tom. ii., pp. 6, 10, 19, 33, 40, 48, 114, 551-6.

[921] ‘L’idée de la supériorité de caste est tellement évidente dans le Popol-Vuh, par example, que le peuple, c’est-à-dire la masse étrangère aux tribus quichées, n’est jamais désigné que sous des nommes d’animaux; ce sont les fourmis, les rats, les singes, les oiseaux, etc.’ Viollet-le-Duc., in Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 88. ‘Acostumbravan buscar en los pueblos los mancos y ciegos y que les davan lo necesario.’ Landa, Relacion, p. 40. ‘Y los señores dauan Gouernadores a los pueblos, a los quales encomendauan mucho la paz, y buen tratamiento de la genta menuda.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. ii. ‘Achih … signifie régulièrement héros, guerrier; il semble toutefois s’appliquer à ceux qui n’appartenaient point à l’aristocratie, mais à une classe intermédiaire entre la noblesse et les serfs ou paysans.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, pp. 92-3, 324-5; Id., Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 56-58. Among the Pipiles ‘los que no eran para la guerra, cultivaban las tierras millpas del cazique i papa i sacerdotes, i de las propias suyas davan un tanto para la gente de guerra.’ Palacio, Carta, p. 82. Beggars mentioned in Nicaragua. Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 264.

[922] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 35, 41, 70. ‘Cocom fue primero el que hizo esclavos pero por deste mal se siguio usar las armas con que se defendieron para que no fuessen todos esclavos.’ Landa, Relacion, p. 50.

[923] ‘En las guerras, que por su ambicion hazian vnos à otros, se cautiuaban, quedando hechos esclauos los vencidos, que cogian. En esto eran rigurosissimos, y los trataban con aspereza.’ Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 181-2; Carrillo, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iii., p. 267; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 70; Cortés, Cartas, p. 421; Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 144. In Nicaragua, Helps tells us that only the common captives were enslaved, the chiefs being killed and eaten. Span. Conq., vol. iii., p. 257.

[924] ‘Acaesçe que venden los padres á los hijos, é aun cada uno se puede vender á sí proprio, si quiere é por lo que quisiere.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 51, 54; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856.) vol. ii., p. 345. Bienvenida says that in Yucatan as soon as the father dies the strongest of those who remain enslave the others. In Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 331.

[925] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 264; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 181-2; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, p. 34; Fancourt’s Hist. Yuc., p. 117.

[926] Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., pp. 136, 144; Herrera, Gomara, and Pimentel, ubi sup.

[927] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 387; Las Casas, ubi sup.; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. x., lib. x., cap. iv.; Palacio, Carta, pp. 80-2; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 70, 573; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., pp. 46-7; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 182; Gage’s New Survey, p. 414; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., p. 204.

[928] ‘Las tierras por aora es de comun, y assi el que primero las ocupa las possee.’ Landa, Relacion, p. 130. ‘Las tierras eran comunes, y assi entre los Pueblos no auia terminos, ò mojones, que las dividiessen: aunque si entre vna Provincia, y otra, por causa de las guerras.’ Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 180. Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 139, speaks of boundary marks between the property of different owners. ‘Les habitations était pour la plupart dispersées sans former de village.’ Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 45. ‘Leur qualité de seigneurs héréditaires ne les rendait pas, pour cela, maîtres du sol ni propriétaires des habitants.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 56-8. ‘Property was much respected (in Nicaragua); but … no man could put up his land for sale. If he wished to leave the district, his property passed to the nearest blood relation, or, in default, to the municipality.’ Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., p. 274; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 345; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.

[929] ‘Los indios no admittian las hijas a heredar con los hermanos sino era por via de piedad o voluntad.’ Landa, Relacion, pp. 136-8. ‘Mejorauan al que mas notablemente auia ayudado al padre, a ganar el hazienda.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 180; Carrillo, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iii., pp. 267-8; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 70; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, p. 36; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 50; Squier, in Palacio, Carta, p. 119.

[930] ‘Hanno abondanza di cottone, & ne fanno manti che sono come lenzuoli, e camisette senza maniche, e questo s’è il principal tributo che danno à suoi patroni.’ Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, fol. 99. ‘El tributo era mantas pequeñas de algodon, gallinas de la tierra, algun cacao, donde se cogia, y vna resina, que seruia de incienso en los Templos, y todo se dize era muy poco en cantidad.’ Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 179. ‘Allende de la casa hazian todo el pueblo a los señores sus sementeras, y se las beneficiavan y cogian en cantidad que le bastava a el y a su casa.’ Landa, Relacion, pp. 110-12, 130-2. ‘Sus mayordomos … que recibian los tributos, y los dauan a los señores.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. ii. Some authors speak of a tribute of virgins and of a coin called cuzcas.Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 262. ‘Jamais l’impôt n’était réparti par tête, mais par ville, village ou hameau.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 57-8, 33, 553. In Guatemala, ‘en lo tocante á las rentas del rey y Señores, habia este órden, que todo venia á un montón, y de allí le daban al rey su parte, despues daban á los Señores, segun cada uno era, y despues daban á los oficiales, y á quienes el rey hacia mercedes.’ Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 201-2. ‘Ils possédaient les esclaves mâles ou femelles que ces sujets leur payaient en tribut.’ Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., pp. 416-17; Id., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 45; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 345, 386; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 104; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 341; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 195.

[931] Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 180-1; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 46; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 70-1; Carrillo, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iii., p. 268.

[932] On the Maya laws see: Landa, Relacion, pp. 132-4, 176-8; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 196-200, 208; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 338-46, 386-92; Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., pp. 135-46; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 179-83; Palacio, Carta, pp. 80-2; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 229-30, tom. iv., pp. 50-1; Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. ii.; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 162; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. x., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; Juarros, Hist. Guat., pp. 191-2; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 263-4; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 59-61, 572-4; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 345; Id., Cent. Amer., p. 334; Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., pp. 417-18; Id., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., pp. 46-7; Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. iii., pp. 256-7; Fancourt’s Hist. Yuc., pp. 116-17; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 29-34.

Chapter XXI • Education and Family Matters Among the Mayas • 10,400 Words

Education of Youth—Public Schools of Guatemala—Branches of Study in Yucatan—Marrying Age—Degrees of Consanguinity allowed in Marriage—Preliminaries of Marriage—Marriage Ceremonies—The Custom of the Droit du Seigneur in Nicaragua—Widows—Monogamy—Concubinage—Divorce—Laws Concerning Adultery—Fornication—Rape—Prostitution—Unnatural Crimes—Desire for Children—Childbirth Ceremonies—Rite of Circumcision—Manner of Naming Children—Baptismal Ceremonies.

The Maya nations appear to have been quite as strict and careful in the education of youth as the Nahuas. Parents took great pains to instruct their children to respect old age, to reverence the gods, and to honor their father and mother.[933]They were taught, says Las Casas, ‘que honrasen á los padres y les fuesen obedientes; que no tuviesen codicia de muchos bienes; que no adulterasen con muger agena; que no fornicasen, ni llegasen á muger, sino á la que fuese suya; que no mirasen á las mugeres para codiciarlas, diciendo que no traspasasen umbral ageno; que si anduviesen de noche por el pueblo, que llevasen lumbre en la mano; que siguiesen su camino derecho, que no bajasen de camino, ni subiesen tampoco del; que á los ciegos no les pusiesen ofendiculo para que cayesen; á los lisiados no escarneciesen y de los locos no se riesen, porque todo aquello era malo; que trabajen y no estubiesen ociosos; y para esto desde niños les enseñavan como havian de hacer las sementeras y como beneficiallas y cogellas.’ Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 132. Brasseur de Bourbourg remarks that the respectful term of you instead of thou, is frequently used by children when addressing their parents, in the Popol Vuh. Popol Vuh, p. 96. The old people ‘eran tan estimados en esto que los moços no tratavan con viejos, sino era en cosas inevitables, y los moços por casar; con los casados sino muy poco.’ Landa, Relacion, p. 178. They were, besides, encouraged while mere infants to amuse themselves with warlike games, and to practice with the bow and arrow. As they grew older, the children of the poor people were taught to labor and assist their parents. The boys were in their childhood educated by the father, who usually taught them his own trade or calling; the girls were under the especial care of the mother, who, it is said, watched very closely over the conduct of her daughters, scarcely ever permitting them to be out of her sight. Children of both sexes remained under the immediate control of their parents until they were of an age to be married, and any disobedience or contumacy was severely punished, sometimes even with death. The boys in Guatemala slept under the portico of the house, as it was thought improper that they should observe the conduct and hear the conversation of married people.[934]‘Dormian en los portales no solo cuando hacian su ayuno, mas aun casi todo el año, porque no les era permitido tratar ni saber de los negocios de los casados, ni aun sabian cuando habian de casarse, hasta el tiempo que les presentaban las mugeres, porque eran muy sujetos y obedientes á sus padres. Cuando aquestos mancebos iban á sus casas a ver á sus padres … tenian su cuenta de que no hablasen los padres cosa que fuese menos honesta.’ Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 181. In Yucatan, also, the young people were kept separate from their elders. In each village was an immense whitewashed shed, under the shelter of which the youths of the place amused themselves during the day, and slept at night.[935]Landa, Relacion, p. 178.

The various little events in a child’s life which among all peoples, savage or civilized, are regarded as of so great importance by anxious mothers, such as its being weaned, its first step, or its first word, were celebrated with feasts and rejoicing; the anniversaries of its birthday were also occasions of much merry-making. The first article that a child made with its own hands was dedicated to the gods.[936]Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxix.; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 569. In Yucatan children went naked until they were four or five years old, when the boys were given a breech-clout to wear and a piece of cloth to sleep under; girls began at the same age to wear a petticoat reaching from the waist downward.[937]Landa, Relacion, p. 180. In Guatemala children were left naked till they were eight or ten years of age, at which time they were required to do light labor.[938]Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. xiv.; Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 195. As soon as a child reached the age of seven years, it was taken by its father to the priest, who foretold its future destiny and instructed it how to draw blood from its body, and perform other religious observances.[939]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 569.

Education of Children

The Mayas entrusted the more advanced education of youth entirely to the priesthood. In Guatemala the youths assisted the priests in their duties, and received, in turn, an education suited to their position in life. There were schools in every principal town, at which youths were instructed in all necessary branches by competent teachers. The principal of these was a seminary in which were maintained seventy masters, and from five to six thousand children were educated and provided for at the expense of the royal treasury.[940]Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 87; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 569. Girls were placed in convents, under the superintendence of matrons who were most strict in their guardianship. It is said that they entered when eight years old, and were not free until about to be married.[941]Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 194; Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 195; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 569.

In Yucatan, social distinctions seem to have been more sharply defined than in Guatemala. Here, the schools of learning were only open to the children of the nobility; a poor man was content to teach his son his own trade or profession. The children of the privileged classes were, however, very highly educated. The boys were initiated, we are told, into the mysteries and strange rites of their religion; they studied law, morals, music, the art of war, astronomy, astrology, divination, prophecy, medicine, poetry, history, picture-writing, and every other branch of knowledge known to their people. The daughters of the nobles were kept in strict seclusion, and were carefully instructed in all the accomplishments required of a Maya lady.[942]Landa, Relacion, pp. 42-4; Carrillo, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iii., p. 269; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 191; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 61-2.

In Yucatan, the young men usually married at the age of twenty years.[943]Dávila, Teatro Ecles., tom. i., p. 203; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 52; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv., says that in later times they married at twelve or fourteen. In Guatemala, Las Casas tells us that the men never married until they were thirty, notwithstanding he has previously made the extraordinary assertion that the great prevalence of unnatural lusts made parents anxious to get their children wedded as early as possible.[944]Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 135. Girls among the higher classes must have been married at a very early age in Guatemala, since it is related that when a young noble espoused a maiden not yet arrived at the age of puberty, her father gave him a female slave, to lie with him until the wife reached maturity. The children of this slave could not inherit his property, however.[945]Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 208. This is the same passage that Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 572, cites as Roman, Rep. Ind., tom. ii., cap. x.

The Guatemalans recognized no relationship on the mother’s side only, and did not hesitate to marry their own sister, provided she was by another father.[946]‘Los Indios de la Vera-Paz muchas veces, segun el Parentesco, que vsaban, era fuerça que casasen Hermanos con Hermanas, y era la raçon esta: Acostumbraban no casar los de vn Tribu, ò Pueblo, con las Mugeres del mismo Pueblo, y las buscaban, que fuesen de otro; porque no contaban por de su Familia, y Parentesco los Hijos que nacian en el Tribu ò Linage ageno, aunque la Muger huviese procedido de su mismo Linage; y era la raçon, porque aquel Parentesco se atribuìa à solo los Hombres. Por manera, que si algun Señor daba su Hija à otro de otro Pueblo, aunque no tuviese otro heredero este Señor, sino solos los Nietos, Hijos de su Hija, no los reconocia por Nietos, ni Parientes, en raçon de hacerlos herederos, por ser Hijos del otro Señor de otros Pueblos y asi se le buscaba al tal Señor, Muger que fuese de otro Pueblo, y no de el proprio. Y asi sucedia, que los Hijos de estas Mugeres, no tenian por Parientes à los Deudos de su Madre, por estàr en otro Pueblo, y esto se entiende, en quanto à casarse con ellas, que lo tenian por licito, aunque en lo demàs se reconocian. Y porque la cuenta de su Parentesco era entre solos los Hombres, y no por parte de las Mugeres. Y por esto no tenian impedimento, para casarse, con los tales Parientes; y asi se casaban con todos los grados de Consanguinidad, porque mas por Hermana tenian qualquiera Muger de su Linage, aunque fuese remotisima, y no tuviese memoria del grado, en que le tocaba, que la Hija de su propia Madre, como fuese havida de otro Marido, y por este error se casaban, con las Hermanas de Madre, y no de Padre.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 419. Thus, if a noble lady married an inferior in rank or even a slave, the children belonged to the order of the father, and not of the mother.[947]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 572. Torquemada adds that they sometimes married their sisters-in-law and step-mothers.[948]Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 419.

Degrees of Kindred

Among the Pipiles, of Salvador, an ancestral tree, with seven main branches, denoting degrees of kindred, was painted upon cloth, and within these seven branches, or degrees, none were allowed to marry, except as a recompense for some great public or warlike service rendered. Within four degrees of consanguinity none, under any pretext, might marry.[949]‘En lo que tocava al parentesco, tenian un arbol pintado, i en el siete ramos que signifacava siete grados de parentesco. En estos grados no se podia casar nadie, i esto se entendia por linea recta si no fuese que alguno huviese fecho algun gran fecho en armas, i havia de ser del tercero grado fuera; i por linea traversa tenia otro arbol con quatro ramos que significaban el quarto grado, en estos no se podia casar nadie…. Qualquiera que tenia quenta carnal con parienta en los grados susodichos morian por ello ambos.’ Palacio, Carta, p. 80; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. x.; Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 334. In Yucatan there was a peculiar prejudice against a man marrying a woman who bore the same name as his own, and so far was this fancy carried that he who did this was looked upon as a renegade and an outcast. Here, also, a man could not marry the sister of his deceased wife, his step-mother, or his mother’s sister, but with all other relatives on the maternal side, no matter how close, marriage was perfectly legitimate. A Yucatec noble who wedded a woman of inferior degree, descended to her social level, and was dispossessed of a part of his property, and deprived of his rank.[950]Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv.; Landa, Relacion, pp. 134-6, 140; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 61. In Nicaragua no one might marry within the first degree of relationship, but beyond that there was no restriction.[951]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 419; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 343.

The question of dowry was settled in Guatemala by the relatives of the young couple.[952]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 570. The Yucatec son-in-law served his father-in-law for four or five years, and the omission of such service was considered scandalous;[953]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 53. ‘Los dotes eran de vestidos, y cosas de poca sustancia, lo mas se gastaua en los combites.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv. while in Nicaragua the dower was usually paid in fruit or land.[954]Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 50; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 343.

Each of the Maya nations seems to have had a method of arranging marriages peculiar to itself. In Guatemala the whole affair was managed by the nearest relatives of the betrothed pair, who were kept in profound ignorance of the coming event, and did not even know each other until the day of the wedding. It seems incredible that the young men should have quietly submitted to having their wives picked out for them without being allowed any voice or choice in the matter. Yet we are told that so great was their obedience and submission to their parents, that there never was any scandal in these things. If this be the case, what a strange phenomenon Guatemalan society must have been, with no love affairs, no wooing permitted, and Cupid a banished boy. But, for all that, many a Guatemalan youth may have looked coldly upon his bride as he thought of another and, to him, fairer face, and many a loyal young wife may have been sometimes troubled with the vision of a comely form that she had admired before she saw her lord.

Preliminaries of Marriage

When a man of rank wished to marry his son, he sent a number of his friends with presents to the parents of the young girl upon whom his choice had fallen. If the presents were refused it was a sign that the offer of alliance was declined, and no farther steps were taken in the matter; but if they were accepted it showed that the match was thought a desirable one. In the latter case, a few days having elapsed, another embassy, bearing more costly gifts than before, was dispatched to the parents of the girl, who were again asked to give their consent to the marriage. Finally, a third deputation was sent, and this generally succeeded in satisfactorily arranging the affair. The two families then commenced to treat each other as relations, and to visit each other for the purposes of determining the day of the wedding and making preparations for the event. Among the lower classes the father usually demanded the bride of her parents in person.[955]Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 204-6; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 569-71. It was customary among the Pipiles of Salvador for the father of the boy, after having obtained the consent of the girl’s parents to the match, to take her to his house when she was twelve years of age, and his son fourteen, and there educate and maintain her as if she were his own child. In return he was entitled to her services and those of his son, until they were able to sustain themselves, and of a suitable age to marry. The parents of the couple then jointly made them a present of a house and gave them the means to start in life. Thereafter, if the young man met his father-in-law in the street, he crossed to the other side of the way, and the girl paid the same courtesy to her mother-in-law.[956]Palacio, Carta, p. 78; Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 321.

In the greater part of Nicaragua matches were arranged by the parents, but there were certain independent towns in which the girls chose their husbands from among the young men, while the latter were sitting at a feast.[957]Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 263; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 343.

I have already alluded to the fact that if in Guatemala or Yucatan a young man married into a rank lower than his own he lost caste in consequence, hence his parents were the more careful to select for him a bride from among the maidens of his own standing in society. Among the Mayas of Yucatan when the day appointed for a marriage ceremony arrived, the invited friends assembled at the house of the bride’s father, where the betrothed couple with their parents and the officiating priest were already waiting. For the joyful occasion a great feast was prepared, as it was customary to incur a large expense in food and wine for the entertainment of invited guests. When all were present, the priest called the bride and bridegroom with their parents before him and delivered to them an address concerning the duties of the wedded state. He then offered incense and certain prayers to the gods, concluding the ceremony by asking a blessing from heaven for the newly wedded couple.[958]‘Haziase vna platica de como se auia tratado, y mirado aquel casamiento, y que quadraua: hecha la platica el Sacerdote sahumaua la casa; y con oraciones bendezia a los nouios, y quedauan casados.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv. No ceremonies took place when a widow or widower was married; in such case a simple repast or the giving of food and drink one to another was deemed sufficient to solemnize the nuptials.[959]Ib.; Landa, Relacion, p. 142.

Marriage Ceremonies

It was customary in Guatemala, when all preliminaries of a marriage had been settled and the day fixed for the wedding, for the bridegroom’s father to send a deputation of old women and principal men to conduct the bride to his house. One of those sent for this purpose carried her upon his shoulders, and when they arrived at a certain designated point near the bridegroom’s home, she was met by other men also chosen by her father-in-law, who offered incense four or five times before her and sacrificed some quail or other birds to the gods, at the same time giving thanks for her safe arrival. As soon as she came to the house she was seated with much ceremony upon a couch covered with mats or rich carpets; immediately a number of singers began a song suited to the occasion; musicians played on their instruments; dancers came forth and danced before her.[960]‘Llegada á casa, luego la ponian y asentaban en un tálamo bien aderezado, y comenzaban grandes bailes y cantares y otros regocijos muchos, con que la fiesta era muy solemne.’ Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 206; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 570-1. The consent of the cacique had to be obtained to all marriages that were celebrated in his territory; before the ceremony the priest desired the young man and his bride to confess to him all the sins of their past life. No person was allowed to marry in Yucatan until the rite of baptism had been administered.[961]‘Sin él ninguno se casaba.’ Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 183; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 191; Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 196. In Guatemala, if the betrothed belonged to the higher classes of society, the cacique joined their hands and then tied the end of the man’s mantle to a corner of the woman’s dress, at the same time advising them to be faithful and loving toward each other. The ceremony ended, all partook of the wedding feast and the bride and bridegroom were carried to the house intended for them, upon the shoulders of some of those who had assisted at the marriage; they were then conducted to the bridal chamber and, as Ximenez tells us, received instructions from two of the most honored old women respecting certain marital duties.[962]‘A la noche, dos mugeres honradas y viejas metíanlos en una pieza, y enseñàbanlos como habian de haberse en el matrimonio.’ Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 206.

The marriage ceremonies of the Pipiles were simple and unique; matches were made by the cacique and carried into effect under his direction. At the appointed time the kinsfolk of the bride proceeded to the house of the bridegroom, whence he was borne to the river and washed. The relatives of the bride performed the same act of cleansing upon the person of the bride. The two parties with their respective charges then repaired to the house of the bride. The couple were now tied together by the ends of the blankets, in which they were enfolded naked and laid away—married.[963]Palacio says they were each wrapped in a new white mantle. ‘Ambos los enbolvian cada qual en su manta blanca nueva.’ Carta, p. 78. See also Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. x.; Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 333. After the ceremony an interchange of presents took place between the relatives of the newly married couple and they all feasted together.

Among the civilized nations of Nicaragua, when a match was arranged to the satisfaction of the parents, some fowls were killed, cacao was prepared, and the neighbors were invited to be present. The father, mother, or whoever gave away the bride, was asked in presence of the assembled guests whether or not she came as a virgin; if the answer was in the affirmative, and the husband afterwards found that she had been already seduced, he had the right to return her to her parents and she was looked upon as a bad woman; but if the parents answered that she was not a virgin, and the man agreed to take her for a wife, the marriage was valid.[964]‘Si la tomo por virgen, y la halla corrompida, desecha la, mas no de otra manera.’ Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 263; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 49.

When they were to be united the cacique took the parties with his right hand by the little fingers of their left hands and led them into the house set apart for marriages, leaving them, after some words of advice, in a small room, where there was a fire of candlewood. While the fire lasted they were expected to remain perfectly still, and not until it was burned out did they proceed to consummate the marriage. The following day if the husband made no objection in respect to the girl’s virginity, the relations and friends assembled and expressed their gratification with loud cries of joy, and passed the day in feasting and pleasure.[965]‘Los novios se están quedos, mirando cómo aquella poca tea se quema; é acabada, quedan casados é ponen en efetto lo demás.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 50. ‘En muriendose la lumbre, quedan casados.’ Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 263; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 343; Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., p. 273.

Droit de Seigneur

Notwithstanding the disgrace attached to a woman who had lost her virginity before marriage and concealed the fact, we are assured by Andagoya that in Nicaragua a custom similar to the European ‘droit du seigneur’ was practiced by a priest living in the temple, who slept with the bride during the night preceding her marriage.[966]‘La noche ántes habia de dormir con la novia uno que tenian por papa.’ Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., p. 414; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. v., cap. xii. Oviedo perhaps alludes to this custom when he says: ‘Muchos hay que quieren más las corrompidas que no las vírgenes.’ Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 50; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 472.

A widow was looked upon as the property of the family of her deceased husband, to whose brother she was invariably married, even though he might have a wife of his own at the time. If she had no brother-in-law, then she was united to the nearest living relative on her husband’s side.[967]‘Comunmente estas gentes compraban la muger, y aquellos dones que llevaban, era el precio, y así la muger jamas volvía á casa de sus padres aunque enviudase; porque luego el hermano del muerto la tomaba por muger aunque él fuese casado, y si el hermano no era para ello, un pariente tenia derecho á ella. Los hijos de las tales mugeres no tenian por deudos á los tales abuelos, ni á los demas deudos de las madres, porque la cuenta de su parentesco venia por linea de varones, y así no tenian impedimentos para casarse con los parientes de sus madres, esto se entiende para contraer matrimonio; que en lo demas amábanse y queríanse unos à otros.’ Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 207; Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 146; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 388; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 571-2. In Yucatan, the widow could not marry again until after a year from her husband’s death.[968]‘No se casavan despues de viudos un año, por no conocer hombre a muger en aquel tiempo, y a los que esto no guardavan, tenian por poco templados y que les vendria por esso algun mal.’ Landa, Relacion, p. 156.

Monogamy seems to have been the rule among the Maya nations, and many authors assert positively that polygamy did not exist. It was only in the border state of Chiapas that the custom is mentioned by Remesal. To compensate for this, concubinage was largely indulged in by the wealthy. The punishment for bigamy was severe, and consisted, in Nicaragua, of banishment and confiscation of the entire property for the benefit of the injured wife or husband, who was at liberty to marry again, a privilege which was not, however, accorded to women who had children. Landa tells us that the Chichen Itza kings lived in a state of strict celibacy, and Diaz relates that a tower was pointed out to him on the coast of Yucatan, which was occupied by women who had dedicated themselves to a single life.[969]Diaz, Itinéraire, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 13. ‘Todos toman muchas mugeres, empero vna es la legitima,’ says Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 263, in speaking of Nicaragua. ‘Comunmente cada uno tiene una sola muger, é pocos son los que tienen más, exçepto los prinçipales ó el que puede dar de comer á más mugeres; é los caçiques quantas quieren.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 37. The word ‘muger’ evidently means women who lived with the man, the wife and concubines, for, on p. 50, it is stated that only one legitimate wife was allowed. The punishment for bigamy helps to bear this out. Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 310, 499. ‘Nunca los yucataneses tomaron mas de una.’ Landa, Relacion, pp. 142, 341. This view is also taken by Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 193, who adds, however: ‘Contradize Aguilar en su informe lo de vna muger sola, diziendo, que tenian muchas;’ but this may refer to concubines. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 55, says: ‘La pluralité des femmes étant admises par la loi,’ and gives Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv., as his authority; but this author merely refers to concubinage as being lawful.

With their loveless marriages it was fortunate that divorce could be obtained on very slight grounds. In Yucatan, says Landa, the father would, after a final separation, procure one wife after another to suit the tastes of his son. If the children were still of tender age at the time the parents separated, they were left with the mother; if grown up, the boys followed the father, while the girls remained with the mother. It was not unusual for the husband to return to the wife after a while, if she was free, regardless of the fact that she had belonged to another in the meantime.[970]Landa, Relacion, pp. 138-40. ‘Tenian grandes pendencias, y muertes sobre ello,’ says Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv., referring to their married life. In Guatemala the wife could leave her husband on the same slight grounds as the man, and if she refused to return to him after being requested to do so, he was allowed to marry again; she was then considered free, and held of no little consequence. In Nicaragua the husband decided whether the children were to remain with him or the divorced wife.[971]Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 50; Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 146; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 572.

Intercourse of the Sexes

The Mayas seem to have dealt more leniently with adulterers than the Nahuas. In Guatemala, the married man who committed adultery with a maiden was, upon complaint of the girl’s relations, compelled to pay as a fine from sixty to one hundred rare feathers. It generally happened, however, that the friends of the woman were careful to keep the matter secret, as such a scandal would cause great injury to her future prospects. If a married man was known to sin with a married woman or a widow, both were for the first or even the second offence merely warned, and condemned to pay a fine of feathers; but if they persevered in their crime, then their hands were bound behind their backs, and they were forced to inhale the smoke of a certain herb called tabacoyay, which, although very painful, was not a fatal punishment. The single man who committed adultery with a married woman was obliged to pay to the parents of the latter the amount which her husband had paid for her; doubtless this fine was handed over to the injured husband, who, in such a case, repudiated his wife. It sometimes happened, however, that the husband did not report the matter to the authorities, but gave his unfaithful wife a bird of the kind which was used in sacrifices, and told her to offer it to the gods, and, with her companion in crime, to confess and be forgiven. Such a husband was regarded as a most virtuous and humane man.[972]Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., pp. 137-8. A noble lady taken in adultery was reprimanded the first time, and severely punished or repudiated for the second offence. In the latter case she was free to marry again.[973]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 572. It was a capital crime to commit adultery with a lord’s wife; if he who did so was a noble, they strangled him, but if he was a plebeian, they flung him down a precipice.[974]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 387. ‘Acontecio quexarse vn Indio contra vn Alcalde de su nacion, que sin pedimento suyo hauia castigado a su muger por ocho adulterios, y hechole pagar a el la condenacion, de manera que aliende de su afrenta, le lleuaua su dinero.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. viii. ‘Cuando queria que la muger se huia y se iba con otro, ó por sencillas se volvia en casa de sus padres, requeríala el marido que volviese, y si no queria, él se podia casar luego con otra, porque en este caso las mugeres eran poderosas y libres. Algunos sufrian un año aguardándolas; pero lo comun era casarse luego, porque no podian vivir sin mugeres, á causa de no tener quien les guisese de comer.’ Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 200.

Cogolludo says that among the Itzas the man and woman taken in adultery were put to death. The woman was taken beyond the limits of the town to a place where there were many loose stones. There she was bound to a post, and the priest who had judged her having cast the first stone, and the injured husband the second, the crowd that was never missing on such occasions joined so eagerly in the sport that the death of their target was a speedy one. The male adulterer, according to the same account, was also bound to a post, and shot to death in the same manner with arrows.[975]Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 699.

Adultery and Fornication

In Vera Paz, incorrigible adulterers were enslaved.[976]‘Quando las mugeres eran halladas en adulterio, la primera vez eran corregidas de palabra; y si no se enmendaban, repudiábanlas; y si era Señor, hermano ó pariente del Señor de la tierra, luego en dejándola, se podia casarse con quien quisiere. Los vasallos hacian tambien esto muchas veces, pero tenian un poco de mas paciencia, porque las corregian dos y cinco veces, y llamaban á sus parientes para que las reprehendiesen. Pero si eran incorregibles, denunciaban ellas delante del Señor, el cual las mandaba comparecer ante sí y hacianlas esclavas, y la misma pena se daba á las que no querian hacer vida con sus maridos.’ Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 208-9. In Nicaragua, the faithless wife was repudiated by her husband, and not allowed to marry again, but she had the right of retaining her dowry and effects. The adulterer was severely beaten with sticks, by the relations of the woman he had led astray. The husband appears to have taken no part in the matter.[977]Oviedo asserts that the husband avenged his own honor. The Friar asks: ‘¿Qué pena le dan al adúltero, que se echa con la muger de otro?’ The Indian answers: ‘El marido della riñe con él é le da de palos; pero no lo mata.’ Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 50. Squier, Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 343, says that the woman was also severely flogged, but this does not seem to have been the case. See Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 263; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., p. 273. In Yucatan, adultery was punished with death. According to Cogolludo, offenders of both sexes were shot to death with arrows; Landa tells us that the man was killed with a stone by the husband of his paramour, but the woman was punished with disgrace only. It is said that in more ancient times adulterers were impaled or disemboweled. But so great was the horror in which the Yucatecs held this crime, that they did not always wait for conviction, but sometimes punished a suspected person by binding him, stripping him naked, shaving off his hair, and thus leaving him for a time.[978]Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 182; Landa, Relacion, pp. 48, 176; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 46; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. ii.; Fancourt’s Hist. Yuc., p. 117. Among the Pipiles of Salvador he who made advances to a married woman, and did nothing worse, was banished, and his property was confiscated. The adulterer, if we may believe Palacio,[979]Carta, p. 80. was put to death; Squier says he became the slave of the dishonored husband.[980]Cent. Amer., p. 334.

Simple fornication was punished with a fine, to be paid in feathers of a certain rare bird, which, by the laws of Vera Paz at least, it was death to kill without express permission, as its plumage formed a most valuable article of trade with the neighboring provinces.[981]Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., pp. 137, 144; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 387. But if any complaint was raised, such as by a father in behalf of his daughter, or by a brother for his sister, the seducer was put to death, or at least made a slave.[982]Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 144; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 388. In Yucatan, death seems to have been the inevitable fate of the seducer.[983]Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 182.

In Guatemala and Salvador, consummated rape was punished with death. He who merely attempted rape was enslaved.[984]Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 144; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 388; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. x.; Palacio, Carta, p. 82; Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 334. In Nicaragua, the penalty for this crime was not so severe, since he who committed it was only obliged to compensate pecuniarily the parents of his victim; though if he could not do this he became their slave. He who ravished the daughter of his employer or lord was, however, always put to death.[985]Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 263; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 51; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 343. Incest is said to have been an unknown crime.[986]Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 51; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 343.

Public prostitution was tolerated, if not encouraged, among all the Maya nations. In every Nicaraguan town there were establishments kept by public women, who sold their favors for ten cocoa-nibs, and maintained professional bullies to protect and accompany them at home and abroad. Parents could prostitute their daughters without shame; and it is said, further, that during a certain annual festival, women, of whatever condition, could abandon themselves to the embrace of whomever they pleased, without incurring any disgrace.[987]Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., pp. 252, 316, tom. iv., pp. 37, 51; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 263-4; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 663; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., pp. 343-4; Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., p. 273. ‘Dado que e vido que en otras partes de las Indias usavan del nefando peccado en estas tales casas, en esta tierra (Yucatan) no e entendido que hiziessen tal, ni creo lo hazian, porque los llagados desta pestilencial miseria dizen que no son amigos de mugeres como eran estos, ca a estos lugares llevavan las malas mugeres publicas, y en ellos usavan dellas, y las pobres que entre esta gente acertava a tener este officio no obstante que recibian dellos gualardon, eran tantos los mocos que a ellas acudian que las traian acossadas y muertas.’ Landa, Relacion, p. 178. It was no unusual thing for parents of the lower orders to send their daughters on a tour through the land, that they might earn their marriage portion by prostitution.[988]Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viajes, tom. iii., p. 414; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. v., cap. xii.; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 344; Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., pp. 273-4.

Unnatural Vices

All the old writers appear anxious to clear the civilized aborigines from the charge of sodomy, yet the fact that no nation was without strict laws regarding this unnatural vice, combined with the admissions reluctantly made by the reverend fathers themselves, seems to show that pederasty certainly was not unknown. Thus, Las Casas says that sodomy was looked upon as a great and abominable sin in Vera Paz, and was not known until a god,[989]A demon, Las Casas calls him, but these monks spoke of all the New World deities as ‘demons.’ called by some Chin, by others Cavil, and again by others Maran, instructed them by committing the act with another deity. Hence it was held by many to be no sin, inasmuch as a god had introduced it among them. And thus it happened that some fathers gave their sons a boy to use as a woman; and if any other approached this boy he was treated as an adulterer. Nevertheless, if a man committed a rape upon a boy, he was punished in the same manner as if he had ravished a woman. And, adds the same writer, there were always some who reprehended this abominable custom.[990]Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 138. Before this he writes: ‘Y es aqui de saber, que tenian por grave pecado el de la sodomia como abajo dirémos, y comunmente los padres lo aborrecian y prohibian á los hijos. Pero por causa de que fuesen instruidos en la religion, mandavanles dormir en los templos donde los mozos mayores en aquel vicio á los niños corrompian. Y despues salidos de alli mal acostumbrados, dificil era librarlos de aquel vicio. Por esta causa eran los padres muy solicitos de casarlos quan presto podian, por los apartar de aquella corrupcion vilissima aunque casallos muchachos contra su voluntad y forzados, y solamente por aquel respeto lo hacian.’ Id., pp. 134-5. In Yucatan certain images were found by Bernal Diaz which would lead us to suppose that the natives were at least acquainted with sodomy,[991]Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 180. but here again the good father[992]‘Otro acerrimo infamador de estas naciones, que Dios Nuestro Señor haya, en cuya historia creo yo que tuvo Dios harto poca parte, dixo ser indicio notorio de que aquellas gentes eran contaminadas del vicio nefando por haver hallado en cierta parte de aquella tierra, hechos de barro ciertos idolos uno encima de otro. Como si entre nuestros pintores ó figulos no se finjan cada dia figuras feas y de diversos actos, que no hay sopecha por nadie obrarse, condenarlos todos por aquello, haciendolos reos de vicio tan indigno de se hablar, no carece de muy culpable temeridad, y asi lo que ariba dije tengo por la verdad, y lo demas por falsos testimonios dignos de divino castigo.’ Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 147. takes up the cudgels in behalf of his favorites. In Nicaragua sodomites were stoned to death.[993]Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 51; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 343.

The desire to possess children seems to have been very general, and many were the prayers and offerings made by disappointed parents to propitiate the god whose anger was supposed to have deferred their hopes. To further promote the efficacy of their prayers, the priest enjoined upon man and wife to separate for a month or two, to adhere to a simple diet, and abstain from salt.[994]‘Que comiesen el pan seco ó solo maiz, ó que estuviesen tantos dias en el campo metidos en alguna cueva.’ Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 193. Several superstitious observances were also regarded; thus, among the Pipiles, a husband should avoid meeting his father-in-law, or a wife her mother-in-law, lest issue fail them.[995]Palacio, Carta, p. 78. These observances tend the more to illustrate their longing to become parents, since the women are said to have been very prolific. The women were delivered with little difficulty or pain,[996]In Vera Paz ‘las mugeres paren como cabras, muchas vezes a solas, tendidas en el suelo: otras por los caminos, y luego se van a lauar al rio.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. xiv.; Landa, Relacion, p. 192. yet a midwife was called in, who attended to the mother’s wants, and facilitated parturition by placing a heated stone upon the abdomen. In Yucatan an image of Ixchel, the goddess of childbirth, was placed beneath the bed. Among the Pipiles and in Guatemala, the woman was confessed when any difficulty arose, and it not unfrequently happened that an officer of justice took advantage of such opportunities to obtain criminating evidence. If the wife’s confession alone did not have the desired effect, the husband was called upon to avow his sins; his maxtli was besides laid over the wife, and sometimes blood was drawn from his tongue and ears, to be scattered towards the four quarters with various invocations.[997]‘Le hazian dezir sus pecados i si no paria, hazia que se confesase el marido, i si no podia con esto, si havia dicho i confesado que conofia alguno, ivan á casa de aquel i traian de su casa la manta é pañetes i ceiñola á la preñada paraque pariese.’ Palacio, Carta, p. 76; Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 139. After delivery a turkey hen was immolated, and thanks rendered to the deity for the happy issue. The midwife thereupon washed the child, placed a bow and arrow in its hands, if a boy, a spindle, if a girl, and drew a mark upon its right foot, so that it might become a good mountaineer.

Childbirth and Circumcision

The birth of a son was celebrated with especial rejoicings, and extensive invitations issued for the feasts that took place on or about the day when the umbilical cord was to be cut,[998]It would seem that the child remained with the navel-string attached to it until a favorable day was selected for performing the ceremony of cutting it. ‘Echaban suertes para ver que dia seria bueno para cortar el ombligo.’ And further on: ‘Muchos tribus de indios de Centro-America conservan hasta hoy al nacimiento de un niño el uso de quemarle el ombligo; costumbre barbara de que mueron muchos niños.’ This would indicate that the cord was burned while attached to the infant. Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 193-4; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 448. a ceremony which seems to have borne the same festive character as baptism among the Nahuas and other nations. The ahgih, astrologer, was asked to name a favorable day for the rite. The cord was then laid upon an ear of maize to be cut off with a new knife and burned. The grains were removed from the cob and sown at the proper season; one half of the yield to be made into gruel and form the first food of the child aside from the mother’s milk, the other half to be sent to the ahgih, after reserving a few grains for the child to sow with his own hands when he grew up, and make an offering thereof to his god. At the same time a kind of circumcision may have been performed, a rite which could not, however, have been very general, if indeed it ever existed, for Cogolludo positively asserts that it never was practiced in Yucatan, and Landa thinks that the custom of slitting the foreskin, which the devout performed before the idol, may have given rise to the report. Palacio asserts that certain Indians in Salvador are known to have scarified themselves as well as some boys in the same manner.[999]In Cezori ‘ciertos Indios idolatraron en un monte en sus terminos, i entre ellos que uno se harpó i hendió su miembro, i que circuncidaron quatro muchachos de doze años para arriba al uso judaico, i la sangre que salio dellos la sacrificaron á un idolo.’ Palacio, Carta, p. 84. ‘Se harpavan el superfluo del miembro vergonçoso, dexandolo como las orejas, de lo qual se engaño el historiador general de las Indias, diziendo que se circumcidian.’ Landa, Relacion, pp. 162-3. ‘Ni aquellos Religiosos Dominicos, ni el Obispo de Chiapa, haziendo tan particular inquisicion, hazen memoria de auer hallado tal cosa … los Indios, ni estos tienen tradicion de que vsassen tal costumbre sus ascendientes.’ Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 191. ‘They are Circumcised, but not all.’ Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. i. Circumcision was ‘un usage général dans l’Yucatan, observé de temps immémorial: elle était pratiquée sur les petits enfants dès les premiers jours de leur naissance.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 51. This positive and isolated assertion of the Abbé must be founded upon some of his MSS., as usual.

Naming the Children

The naming of the child was the next important affair. Among the Pipiles it was taken to the temple on the twelfth day, over a road strewn with green branches,[1000]‘Cortarban ramos verdes en que pisase.’ Palacio, Carta, p. 76. and here the priest gave it the name of its grandfather or grandmother, after which offerings of cacao and fowl were presented to the idol, and some gifts to the minister. In Guatemala the child was named after the god to whom the day of its birth was dedicated, for it was not thought desirable to call it after the parents; other names were, however, applied afterwards, according to circumstances.[1001]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 568, refers only to the first-born. ‘Dabanle el nombre del Dia, en que havia nacido, ò segun lo que precediò en su Nacimiento.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 448. Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 193. Las Casas adds that the parents lost their name on the birth of the first son and daughter, the father being called ‘father of Ek,’ or whatever might be the name of the son, and the mother receiving the cognomen of ‘mother of Can,’ etc.[1002]Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxix. The Itzas gave their children a name formed of the combined names of the father and mother, that of the latter standing first; thus, in Canek, can is taken from the mother’s name, ek from the father’s. In Yucatan, the former home of this people, the custom was almost the same, except that na was prefixed to the names of the parents; thus, Na-Chan-Chel denoted son of Chel and Chan, but as the name of the father, according to Landa, was perpetuated in the son only, not in the daughter, it follows that the girl could not have been named in the same order; it is possible that the mother’s name was placed last, and served as surname in their case. In later years this name was not usually imposed until the time of baptism; but in earlier times a distinctive name was given by the priest at the time of taking the horoscope, shortly after birth. The name of the father was borne till the marriage day, the names of both parents being assumed after that event.[1003]‘A sus hijos y hijas siempre llamavan del nombre del padre y de la madre, el del padre como propio y de la madre apellativo.’ The pre-baptismal name was abandoned when the father’s name was assumed. Landa, Relacion, pp. 136, 194. Only the few who were destined to receive the baptism obtained the distinctive name. Medel, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., pp. 44-5; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 489.On the conclusion of the above ceremonies, the Guatemalan or Pipile infant and mother were taken to a fountain or river, near a fall if possible, to be bathed, and during the bath incense, birds, or cacao were offered to the water, apparently with a view of gaining the good will of the god of that element. The utensils which had served at the birth, such as warming stone, cups, and knife, were thrown into the water at the same time.[1004]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 448. Palacio, Carta, p. 76, states that this ceremony was performed after the twelfth day, and that the mother only was taken to be bathed. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. x., and Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 333; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 568.

The mothers were good and patient nurses, suckling their infants for over three years, for the habit of taking warm morning drinks, the exercise of grinding maize, and the uncovered bosom, all tended to produce large breasts and an abundant supply of milk. Otherwise the children received a hardy training, clothing being dispensed with, and the bare ground serving for a couch. When working, the mother carried them on her back; in Yucatan, however, they were usually borne across the hip, and for this reason a large number became bow-legged. Landa also mentions another deformity, that produced by head-flattening, which is to be noticed on the sculptures of the Maya ruins.[1005]‘Allanarles las frentes y cabeças.’ ‘Comunmente todos estevados, porque … van ahorcajados en los quadriles.’ Landa, Relacion, pp. 192-4, 112; Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 195.

Baptismal Ceremonies

It is related by all the old Spanish historians, that when the Spaniards first visited the kingdom of Yucatan they found there traces of a baptismal rite; and, strangely enough, the name given to this rite in the language of the inhabitants, was zihil, signifying ‘to be born again.’ It was the duty of all to have their children baptized, for, by this ablution they believed that they received a purer nature, were protected against evil spirits and future misfortunes. I have already mentioned that no one could marry unless he had been baptised according to their customs; they held, moreover, that an unbaptised person, whether man or woman, could not lead a good life, nor do anything well. The rite was administered to children of both sexes at any time between the ages of three and twelve years. When parents desired to have a child baptised they notified the priest of their intentions. The latter then published a notice throughout the town of the day upon which the ceremony would take place, being first careful to fix upon a day of good omen. This done, the fathers of the children who were to be baptised, selected five of the most honored men of the town to assist the priest during the ceremony. These were called chacs.[1006]Chác or Chaac, was the title given to certain laymen who were elected to assist the priest in some of his religious duties. Also the name of a divinity, protector of the water and harvests. See Landa, Relacion, p. 485. During the three days preceding the ceremony the fathers and assistants fasted and abstained from women. When the appointed day arrived, all assembled with the children who were to be baptised, in the house of the giver of the feast, who was usually one of the wealthiest of the parents. In the courtyard fresh leaves were strewn, and there the boys were ranged in a row in charge of their godfathers, while in another row were the girls with their godmothers. The priest now proceeded to purify the house with the object of casting out the devil. For this purpose four benches were placed one in each of the four corners of the courtyard, upon which were seated four of the assistants holding a long cord that passed from one to the other, thus enclosing part of the yard; within this enclosure were the children and those fathers and officials who had fasted. A bench was placed in the centre, upon which the priest was seated with a brazier, some ground corn, and incense. The children were directed to approach one by one, and the priest gave to each a little of the ground corn and incense, which, as they received it, they cast into the brazier. When this had been done by all, they took the cord and brazier, with a vessel of wine, and gave them to a man to carry outside the town, with injunctions not to drink any of the wine, and not to look behind him; with such ceremony the devil was expelled.[1007]Who was selected to take the wine, brazier, and cord outside the town, or what he did with it afterwards, we are not told. Cogolludo says: ‘Daban à vn Indio vn vaso del vino que acostumbraban beber, y embiabanle fuera del Pueblo con èl, mandandole, que ni lo bebiesse, ni mirasse atràs, con que creìan quedaba totalmente expulso el demonio.’ Hist. Yuc., p. 191. ‘En un vaso enviaban vino fuera del pueblo, con órden al indio que no lo bebiese ni mirase atras, y con esto pensaban que habian echado al demonio.’ Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 183; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv. The yard was then swept clean, and some leaves of a tree called cihom, and of another called copo, were scattered over it. The priest now clothed himself in long gaudy-looking robes, consisting, according to Landa, of a jacket of red feathers with flowers of various colors embroidered thereon; hanging from the ends were other long feathers, and on his head a coronet of plumes. From beneath the jacket long bands of cotton hung down to the ground. In his hand he held some hyssop fastened to a short stick. The chacs then put white cloths upon the children’s heads and asked the elder if they had committed any sins; such as confessed that they had, were then placed apart. The priest then ordered the people to sit down and be silent; he next blessed the boys, and offering up some prayers, purified them with the hyssop with much solemnity. The principal officer who had been elected by the fathers, now took a bone, and having dipped it in a certain water, moistened their foreheads, their features, and their fingers and toes.[1008]‘Esta agua hazian de ciertas flores y de cacao mojado y desleido con agua virgen que ellos dezian traida de los concavos de los arboles o de los montes.’ Landa, Relacion, p. 150. After they had been thus sprinkled with water the priest arose and removed the cloths from the heads of the children, and then cut off with a stone knife a certain bead that was attached to the head from childhood; they were then given by one of the assistants some flowers to smell, and a pipe through which they drew some smoke, after which they were each presented with a little food, and a vessel full of wine was brought as an offering to the gods, who were entreated to receive it as a thanksgiving from the boys; it was then handed to one of the officials, who had to drink it at one draught. A similar ceremony took place with the female children, at the conclusion of which their mothers divested them of a cord, which was worn during their childhood, fastened round the loins, having a small shell that hung in front. The removal of this signified that they could marry as soon as their parents permitted.[1009]‘Los varoncillos usavanles siempre poner pegada a la cabeça en los cabellos de la coronilla una contezuela blanca, y a las muchachas traian ceñidas por las renes muy abaxo con un cordel delgado y en el una conchuela asida que les venia a dar encima de la parte honesta, y destas dos cosas era entre ellos peccado y cosa muy fea quitarla de las mochachas antes del baptismo.’ Landa, Relacion, pp. 144, 146. The children were then dismissed, and their fathers distributed presents among those who had assisted at the ceremony. A grand banquet called emku, or ‘the descent of god,’ was then held, and during the nine succeeding days the fathers of the children fasted, and were not to approach their wives.[1010]Brasseur de Bourbourg says they feasted nine days: ‘Tous ensemble, prêtres et parents, festoyaient après cela, pendant neuf jours, les pères étant obligés, durant cet intervalle, de s’abstenir de leurs femmes.’ Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 52. He appears to have misunderstood Cogolludo, to whom he refers, since that author’s words are, ‘acabando la fiesta en banquetes, y en los nueve dias siguientes no auian de llegar à sus mugeres los padres de los niños.’ Hist. Yuc., p. 191. ‘Allende de los tres dias que se avia, como por ayuno, abstenido, se avia de abstener nueve mas y lo hazian inviolablemente.’ Landa, Relacion, p. 154. See further: Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 182-3; Dávila, Teatro Ecles., tom. i., p. 205; Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 272; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., pp. 44-5.

Domestic Discipline

The Nicaraguan husbands are said to have been so much under the control of their wives that they were obliged to do the housework while the women attended to the trading. The latter were, moreover, great shrews, and would on the slightest provocation drive their offending husbands out of the house; we are told that it was no unusual occurrence for the neighbors to be suddenly called in to appease some unfortunate man’s Xanthippe.[1011]Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viajes, tom. iii., p. 414; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii., lib. v., cap. xii.; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 39, 61, 103; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 472; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 263. In Guatemala ‘il est à remarquer ici que quand il s’agit simultanément d’hommes et de femmes dans le discours, les femmes ont presque toujours la préséance sur les hommes.’ ‘C’est peut-être en mémoire de la mère de Hun-Ahpu que les femmes-chefs en bien des contrées devaient leurs prérogatives.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, pp. 93-4. In Yucatan the women ‘son zelosas y algunas tanto que ponian las manos a las de quien tenian zelos, y tan colericas, enojadas, aunque harto mansas, que solian dar buelta de pelo algunas a los maridos con hazerlo ellos pocas vezes.’ Landa, Relacion, pp. 188, 190. The women of Yucatan had, however, their duties to perform. ‘Son grandes travajadoras y vividoras, porque dellas cuelgan los mayores y mas trabajos de la sustentacion de sus casas y educacion de sus hijos, y paga de sus tributos y con todo esso si es menester llevan algunas vezes mayor carga, labrando y sembrando sus mantenimientos. Son a maravilla grangeras, velando de noche el rato que de servir sus casas les queda, yendo a los mercados a comprar y vender sus cosillas.’… The women joined and aided one another in the work, as weaving, etc. ‘Elles avaient leurs saillies et leurs bons mots pour railler et conter des aventures et par moment aussi pour murmurer de leurs maris.’ Id., p. 190. The women of Yucatan were renowned for their modesty and conjugal faithfulness. Landa, one of the first bishops of Yucatan, relates an anecdote illustrating this trait. Alonso Lopez de Avila, during the war against Bacalar, took prisoner a very beautiful Indian girl. Struck by her beauty the captor endeavored by all means to induce her to gratify his desires, but in vain. She had promised her warrior-husband, who during those perilous times was constantly face to face with death, that none but he should ever call her wife; how then, while perhaps he yet lived, could she become another’s mistress. But such arguments did not quench the Spaniard’s lust, and as she remained steadfast, he ordered her to be cast among the bloodhounds, who devoured her—a martyr at the hands of the men who pretended to preach Jesus Christ, and him crucified.[1012]Landa, Relacion, p. 186.

Footnotes

[933] They were taught, says Las Casas, ‘que honrasen á los padres y les fuesen obedientes; que no tuviesen codicia de muchos bienes; que no adulterasen con muger agena; que no fornicasen, ni llegasen á muger, sino á la que fuese suya; que no mirasen á las mugeres para codiciarlas, diciendo que no traspasasen umbral ageno; que si anduviesen de noche por el pueblo, que llevasen lumbre en la mano; que siguiesen su camino derecho, que no bajasen de camino, ni subiesen tampoco del; que á los ciegos no les pusiesen ofendiculo para que cayesen; á los lisiados no escarneciesen y de los locos no se riesen, porque todo aquello era malo; que trabajen y no estubiesen ociosos; y para esto desde niños les enseñavan como havian de hacer las sementeras y como beneficiallas y cogellas.’ Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 132. Brasseur de Bourbourg remarks that the respectful term of you instead of thou, is frequently used by children when addressing their parents, in the Popol Vuh. Popol Vuh, p. 96. The old people ‘eran tan estimados en esto que los moços no tratavan con viejos, sino era en cosas inevitables, y los moços por casar; con los casados sino muy poco.’ Landa, Relacion, p. 178.

[934] ‘Dormian en los portales no solo cuando hacian su ayuno, mas aun casi todo el año, porque no les era permitido tratar ni saber de los negocios de los casados, ni aun sabian cuando habian de casarse, hasta el tiempo que les presentaban las mugeres, porque eran muy sujetos y obedientes á sus padres. Cuando aquestos mancebos iban á sus casas a ver á sus padres … tenian su cuenta de que no hablasen los padres cosa que fuese menos honesta.’ Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 181.

[935] Landa, Relacion, p. 178.

[936] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxix.; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 569.

[937] Landa, Relacion, p. 180.

[938] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. xiv.; Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 195.

[939] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 569.

[940] Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 87; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 569.

[941] Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 194; Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 195; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 569.

[942] Landa, Relacion, pp. 42-4; Carrillo, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iii., p. 269; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 191; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 61-2.

[943] Dávila, Teatro Ecles., tom. i., p. 203; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 52; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv., says that in later times they married at twelve or fourteen.

[944] Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 135.

[945] Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 208. This is the same passage that Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 572, cites as Roman, Rep. Ind., tom. ii., cap. x.

[946] ‘Los Indios de la Vera-Paz muchas veces, segun el Parentesco, que vsaban, era fuerça que casasen Hermanos con Hermanas, y era la raçon esta: Acostumbraban no casar los de vn Tribu, ò Pueblo, con las Mugeres del mismo Pueblo, y las buscaban, que fuesen de otro; porque no contaban por de su Familia, y Parentesco los Hijos que nacian en el Tribu ò Linage ageno, aunque la Muger huviese procedido de su mismo Linage; y era la raçon, porque aquel Parentesco se atribuìa à solo los Hombres. Por manera, que si algun Señor daba su Hija à otro de otro Pueblo, aunque no tuviese otro heredero este Señor, sino solos los Nietos, Hijos de su Hija, no los reconocia por Nietos, ni Parientes, en raçon de hacerlos herederos, por ser Hijos del otro Señor de otros Pueblos y asi se le buscaba al tal Señor, Muger que fuese de otro Pueblo, y no de el proprio. Y asi sucedia, que los Hijos de estas Mugeres, no tenian por Parientes à los Deudos de su Madre, por estàr en otro Pueblo, y esto se entiende, en quanto à casarse con ellas, que lo tenian por licito, aunque en lo demàs se reconocian. Y porque la cuenta de su Parentesco era entre solos los Hombres, y no por parte de las Mugeres. Y por esto no tenian impedimento, para casarse, con los tales Parientes; y asi se casaban con todos los grados de Consanguinidad, porque mas por Hermana tenian qualquiera Muger de su Linage, aunque fuese remotisima, y no tuviese memoria del grado, en que le tocaba, que la Hija de su propia Madre, como fuese havida de otro Marido, y por este error se casaban, con las Hermanas de Madre, y no de Padre.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 419.

[947] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 572.

[948] Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 419.

[949] ‘En lo que tocava al parentesco, tenian un arbol pintado, i en el siete ramos que signifacava siete grados de parentesco. En estos grados no se podia casar nadie, i esto se entendia por linea recta si no fuese que alguno huviese fecho algun gran fecho en armas, i havia de ser del tercero grado fuera; i por linea traversa tenia otro arbol con quatro ramos que significaban el quarto grado, en estos no se podia casar nadie…. Qualquiera que tenia quenta carnal con parienta en los grados susodichos morian por ello ambos.’ Palacio, Carta, p. 80; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. x.; Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 334.

[950] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv.; Landa, Relacion, pp. 134-6, 140; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 61.

[951] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 419; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 343.

[952] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 570.

[953] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 53. ‘Los dotes eran de vestidos, y cosas de poca sustancia, lo mas se gastaua en los combites.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv.

[954] Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 50; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 343.

[955] Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 204-6; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 569-71.

[956] Palacio, Carta, p. 78; Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 321.

[957] Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 263; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 343.

[958] ‘Haziase vna platica de como se auia tratado, y mirado aquel casamiento, y que quadraua: hecha la platica el Sacerdote sahumaua la casa; y con oraciones bendezia a los nouios, y quedauan casados.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv.

[959] Ib.; Landa, Relacion, p. 142.

[960] ‘Llegada á casa, luego la ponian y asentaban en un tálamo bien aderezado, y comenzaban grandes bailes y cantares y otros regocijos muchos, con que la fiesta era muy solemne.’ Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 206; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 570-1.

[961] ‘Sin él ninguno se casaba.’ Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 183; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 191; Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 196.

[962] ‘A la noche, dos mugeres honradas y viejas metíanlos en una pieza, y enseñàbanlos como habian de haberse en el matrimonio.’ Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 206.

[963] Palacio says they were each wrapped in a new white mantle. ‘Ambos los enbolvian cada qual en su manta blanca nueva.’ Carta, p. 78. See also Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. x.; Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 333.

[964] ‘Si la tomo por virgen, y la halla corrompida, desecha la, mas no de otra manera.’ Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 263; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 49.

[965] ‘Los novios se están quedos, mirando cómo aquella poca tea se quema; é acabada, quedan casados é ponen en efetto lo demás.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 50. ‘En muriendose la lumbre, quedan casados.’ Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 263; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 343; Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., p. 273.

[966] ‘La noche ántes habia de dormir con la novia uno que tenian por papa.’ Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., p. 414; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. v., cap. xii. Oviedo perhaps alludes to this custom when he says: ‘Muchos hay que quieren más las corrompidas que no las vírgenes.’ Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 50; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 472.

[967] ‘Comunmente estas gentes compraban la muger, y aquellos dones que llevaban, era el precio, y así la muger jamas volvía á casa de sus padres aunque enviudase; porque luego el hermano del muerto la tomaba por muger aunque él fuese casado, y si el hermano no era para ello, un pariente tenia derecho á ella. Los hijos de las tales mugeres no tenian por deudos á los tales abuelos, ni á los demas deudos de las madres, porque la cuenta de su parentesco venia por linea de varones, y así no tenian impedimentos para casarse con los parientes de sus madres, esto se entiende para contraer matrimonio; que en lo demas amábanse y queríanse unos à otros.’ Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 207; Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 146; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 388; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 571-2.

[968] ‘No se casavan despues de viudos un año, por no conocer hombre a muger en aquel tiempo, y a los que esto no guardavan, tenian por poco templados y que les vendria por esso algun mal.’ Landa, Relacion, p. 156.

[969] Diaz, Itinéraire, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 13. ‘Todos toman muchas mugeres, empero vna es la legitima,’ says Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 263, in speaking of Nicaragua. ‘Comunmente cada uno tiene una sola muger, é pocos son los que tienen más, exçepto los prinçipales ó el que puede dar de comer á más mugeres; é los caçiques quantas quieren.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 37. The word ‘muger’ evidently means women who lived with the man, the wife and concubines, for, on p. 50, it is stated that only one legitimate wife was allowed. The punishment for bigamy helps to bear this out. Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 310, 499. ‘Nunca los yucataneses tomaron mas de una.’ Landa, Relacion, pp. 142, 341. This view is also taken by Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 193, who adds, however: ‘Contradize Aguilar en su informe lo de vna muger sola, diziendo, que tenian muchas;’ but this may refer to concubines. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 55, says: ‘La pluralité des femmes étant admises par la loi,’ and gives Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv., as his authority; but this author merely refers to concubinage as being lawful.

[970] Landa, Relacion, pp. 138-40. ‘Tenian grandes pendencias, y muertes sobre ello,’ says Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv., referring to their married life.

[971] Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 50; Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 146; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 572.

[972] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., pp. 137-8.

[973] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 572.

[974] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 387. ‘Acontecio quexarse vn Indio contra vn Alcalde de su nacion, que sin pedimento suyo hauia castigado a su muger por ocho adulterios, y hechole pagar a el la condenacion, de manera que aliende de su afrenta, le lleuaua su dinero.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. viii. ‘Cuando queria que la muger se huia y se iba con otro, ó por sencillas se volvia en casa de sus padres, requeríala el marido que volviese, y si no queria, él se podia casar luego con otra, porque en este caso las mugeres eran poderosas y libres. Algunos sufrian un año aguardándolas; pero lo comun era casarse luego, porque no podian vivir sin mugeres, á causa de no tener quien les guisese de comer.’ Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 200.

[975] Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 699.

[976] ‘Quando las mugeres eran halladas en adulterio, la primera vez eran corregidas de palabra; y si no se enmendaban, repudiábanlas; y si era Señor, hermano ó pariente del Señor de la tierra, luego en dejándola, se podia casarse con quien quisiere. Los vasallos hacian tambien esto muchas veces, pero tenian un poco de mas paciencia, porque las corregian dos y cinco veces, y llamaban á sus parientes para que las reprehendiesen. Pero si eran incorregibles, denunciaban ellas delante del Señor, el cual las mandaba comparecer ante sí y hacianlas esclavas, y la misma pena se daba á las que no querian hacer vida con sus maridos.’ Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 208-9.

[977] Oviedo asserts that the husband avenged his own honor. The Friar asks: ‘¿Qué pena le dan al adúltero, que se echa con la muger de otro?’ The Indian answers: ‘El marido della riñe con él é le da de palos; pero no lo mata.’ Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 50. Squier, Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 343, says that the woman was also severely flogged, but this does not seem to have been the case. See Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 263; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., p. 273.

[978] Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 182; Landa, Relacion, pp. 48, 176; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 46; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. ii.; Fancourt’s Hist. Yuc., p. 117.

[979] Carta, p. 80.

[980] Cent. Amer., p. 334.

[981] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., pp. 137, 144; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 387.

[982] Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 144; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 388.

[983] Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 182.

[984] Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 144; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 388; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. x.; Palacio, Carta, p. 82; Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 334.

[985] Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 263; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 51; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 343.

[986] Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 51; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 343.

[987] Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., pp. 252, 316, tom. iv., pp. 37, 51; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 263-4; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 663; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., pp. 343-4; Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., p. 273. ‘Dado que e vido que en otras partes de las Indias usavan del nefando peccado en estas tales casas, en esta tierra (Yucatan) no e entendido que hiziessen tal, ni creo lo hazian, porque los llagados desta pestilencial miseria dizen que no son amigos de mugeres como eran estos, ca a estos lugares llevavan las malas mugeres publicas, y en ellos usavan dellas, y las pobres que entre esta gente acertava a tener este officio no obstante que recibian dellos gualardon, eran tantos los mocos que a ellas acudian que las traian acossadas y muertas.’ Landa, Relacion, p. 178.

[988] Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viajes, tom. iii., p. 414; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. v., cap. xii.; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 344; Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., pp. 273-4.

[989] A demon, Las Casas calls him, but these monks spoke of all the New World deities as ‘demons.’

[990] Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 138. Before this he writes: ‘Y es aqui de saber, que tenian por grave pecado el de la sodomia como abajo dirémos, y comunmente los padres lo aborrecian y prohibian á los hijos. Pero por causa de que fuesen instruidos en la religion, mandavanles dormir en los templos donde los mozos mayores en aquel vicio á los niños corrompian. Y despues salidos de alli mal acostumbrados, dificil era librarlos de aquel vicio. Por esta causa eran los padres muy solicitos de casarlos quan presto podian, por los apartar de aquella corrupcion vilissima aunque casallos muchachos contra su voluntad y forzados, y solamente por aquel respeto lo hacian.’ Id., pp. 134-5.

[991] Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 180.

[992] ‘Otro acerrimo infamador de estas naciones, que Dios Nuestro Señor haya, en cuya historia creo yo que tuvo Dios harto poca parte, dixo ser indicio notorio de que aquellas gentes eran contaminadas del vicio nefando por haver hallado en cierta parte de aquella tierra, hechos de barro ciertos idolos uno encima de otro. Como si entre nuestros pintores ó figulos no se finjan cada dia figuras feas y de diversos actos, que no hay sopecha por nadie obrarse, condenarlos todos por aquello, haciendolos reos de vicio tan indigno de se hablar, no carece de muy culpable temeridad, y asi lo que ariba dije tengo por la verdad, y lo demas por falsos testimonios dignos de divino castigo.’ Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 147.

[993] Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 51; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 343.

[994] ‘Que comiesen el pan seco ó solo maiz, ó que estuviesen tantos dias en el campo metidos en alguna cueva.’ Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 193.

[995] Palacio, Carta, p. 78.

[996] In Vera Paz ‘las mugeres paren como cabras, muchas vezes a solas, tendidas en el suelo: otras por los caminos, y luego se van a lauar al rio.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. xiv.; Landa, Relacion, p. 192.

[997] ‘Le hazian dezir sus pecados i si no paria, hazia que se confesase el marido, i si no podia con esto, si havia dicho i confesado que conofia alguno, ivan á casa de aquel i traian de su casa la manta é pañetes i ceiñola á la preñada paraque pariese.’ Palacio, Carta, p. 76; Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 139.

[998] It would seem that the child remained with the navel-string attached to it until a favorable day was selected for performing the ceremony of cutting it. ‘Echaban suertes para ver que dia seria bueno para cortar el ombligo.’ And further on: ‘Muchos tribus de indios de Centro-America conservan hasta hoy al nacimiento de un niño el uso de quemarle el ombligo; costumbre barbara de que mueron muchos niños.’ This would indicate that the cord was burned while attached to the infant. Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 193-4; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 448.

[999] In Cezori ‘ciertos Indios idolatraron en un monte en sus terminos, i entre ellos que uno se harpó i hendió su miembro, i que circuncidaron quatro muchachos de doze años para arriba al uso judaico, i la sangre que salio dellos la sacrificaron á un idolo.’ Palacio, Carta, p. 84. ‘Se harpavan el superfluo del miembro vergonçoso, dexandolo como las orejas, de lo qual se engaño el historiador general de las Indias, diziendo que se circumcidian.’ Landa, Relacion, pp. 162-3. ‘Ni aquellos Religiosos Dominicos, ni el Obispo de Chiapa, haziendo tan particular inquisicion, hazen memoria de auer hallado tal cosa … los Indios, ni estos tienen tradicion de que vsassen tal costumbre sus ascendientes.’ Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 191. ‘They are Circumcised, but not all.’ Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. i. Circumcision was ‘un usage général dans l’Yucatan, observé de temps immémorial: elle était pratiquée sur les petits enfants dès les premiers jours de leur naissance.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 51. This positive and isolated assertion of the Abbé must be founded upon some of his MSS., as usual.

[1000] ‘Cortarban ramos verdes en que pisase.’ Palacio, Carta, p. 76.

[1001] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 568, refers only to the first-born. ‘Dabanle el nombre del Dia, en que havia nacido, ò segun lo que precediò en su Nacimiento.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 448. Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 193.

[1002] Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxix.

[1003] ‘A sus hijos y hijas siempre llamavan del nombre del padre y de la madre, el del padre como propio y de la madre apellativo.’ The pre-baptismal name was abandoned when the father’s name was assumed. Landa, Relacion, pp. 136, 194. Only the few who were destined to receive the baptism obtained the distinctive name. Medel, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., pp. 44-5; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 489.

[1004] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 448. Palacio, Carta, p. 76, states that this ceremony was performed after the twelfth day, and that the mother only was taken to be bathed. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. x., and Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 333; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 568.

[1005] ‘Allanarles las frentes y cabeças.’ ‘Comunmente todos estevados, porque … van ahorcajados en los quadriles.’ Landa, Relacion, pp. 192-4, 112; Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 195.

[1006] Chác or Chaac, was the title given to certain laymen who were elected to assist the priest in some of his religious duties. Also the name of a divinity, protector of the water and harvests. See Landa, Relacion, p. 485.

[1007] Who was selected to take the wine, brazier, and cord outside the town, or what he did with it afterwards, we are not told. Cogolludo says: ‘Daban à vn Indio vn vaso del vino que acostumbraban beber, y embiabanle fuera del Pueblo con èl, mandandole, que ni lo bebiesse, ni mirasse atràs, con que creìan quedaba totalmente expulso el demonio.’ Hist. Yuc., p. 191. ‘En un vaso enviaban vino fuera del pueblo, con órden al indio que no lo bebiese ni mirase atras, y con esto pensaban que habian echado al demonio.’ Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 183; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv.

[1008] ‘Esta agua hazian de ciertas flores y de cacao mojado y desleido con agua virgen que ellos dezian traida de los concavos de los arboles o de los montes.’ Landa, Relacion, p. 150.

[1009] ‘Los varoncillos usavanles siempre poner pegada a la cabeça en los cabellos de la coronilla una contezuela blanca, y a las muchachas traian ceñidas por las renes muy abaxo con un cordel delgado y en el una conchuela asida que les venia a dar encima de la parte honesta, y destas dos cosas era entre ellos peccado y cosa muy fea quitarla de las mochachas antes del baptismo.’ Landa, Relacion, pp. 144, 146.

[1010] Brasseur de Bourbourg says they feasted nine days: ‘Tous ensemble, prêtres et parents, festoyaient après cela, pendant neuf jours, les pères étant obligés, durant cet intervalle, de s’abstenir de leurs femmes.’ Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 52. He appears to have misunderstood Cogolludo, to whom he refers, since that author’s words are, ‘acabando la fiesta en banquetes, y en los nueve dias siguientes no auian de llegar à sus mugeres los padres de los niños.’ Hist. Yuc., p. 191. ‘Allende de los tres dias que se avia, como por ayuno, abstenido, se avia de abstener nueve mas y lo hazian inviolablemente.’ Landa, Relacion, p. 154. See further: Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 182-3; Dávila, Teatro Ecles., tom. i., p. 205; Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 272; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., pp. 44-5.

[1011] Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viajes, tom. iii., p. 414; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii., lib. v., cap. xii.; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 39, 61, 103; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 472; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 263. In Guatemala ‘il est à remarquer ici que quand il s’agit simultanément d’hommes et de femmes dans le discours, les femmes ont presque toujours la préséance sur les hommes.’ ‘C’est peut-être en mémoire de la mère de Hun-Ahpu que les femmes-chefs en bien des contrées devaient leurs prérogatives.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, pp. 93-4. In Yucatan the women ‘son zelosas y algunas tanto que ponian las manos a las de quien tenian zelos, y tan colericas, enojadas, aunque harto mansas, que solian dar buelta de pelo algunas a los maridos con hazerlo ellos pocas vezes.’ Landa, Relacion, pp. 188, 190. The women of Yucatan had, however, their duties to perform. ‘Son grandes travajadoras y vividoras, porque dellas cuelgan los mayores y mas trabajos de la sustentacion de sus casas y educacion de sus hijos, y paga de sus tributos y con todo esso si es menester llevan algunas vezes mayor carga, labrando y sembrando sus mantenimientos. Son a maravilla grangeras, velando de noche el rato que de servir sus casas les queda, yendo a los mercados a comprar y vender sus cosillas.’… The women joined and aided one another in the work, as weaving, etc. ‘Elles avaient leurs saillies et leurs bons mots pour railler et conter des aventures et par moment aussi pour murmurer de leurs maris.’ Id., p. 190.

[1012] Landa, Relacion, p. 186.

Chapter XXII • Feasts and Amusements of the Mayas • 10,400 Words

Special Observances—Fixed Feasts—Sacrifice of Slaves—Monthly Feasts of the Yucatecs—Renewal of the Idols—Feast of the Chacs—Hunting Festival—The Tuppkak—Feast of the Cacao-Planters—War Feast—The Maya New Year’s Day—Feasts of the Hunters, Fishers, and Apiarists—Ceremonies in honor of Cukulcan—Feast of the Month of Mol—Feast of the Years Kan, Muluc, Ix, and Cauac—Yucatec Sacrifices—The Pit of Chichen—Sacrifices of the Pipiles—Feast of Victory—Feasts and Sacrifices in Nicaragua—Banquets—Dances—Musical Instruments—Games.

Though the information concerning the feasts, religious and otherwise, of the Maya nations, is not so full as that touching the Nahuas, yet there is no doubt that the former people were quite as fond of such matters as the latter.

The Quichés had many festivals and special observances, in some of which the whole people took part, while others were performed by private persons through excess of piety. They always made a sacrifice before commencing any work of importance. There were four special things for which they besought the gods; namely, long life, health, progeny, and the necessaries of life. They had particular oratories where they went upon occasions of great distress, and drew blood from several parts of their body. When they desired to have sons they sacrificed at fountains. They had oratories in thick groves, and if they found a spot where a large tree grew over a spring, they held the place to be divine, because two divinities met in the tree and in the pool.[1013]‘Los universales sacrificios se ofrecian ordinariamente cuando venian las fiestas, las cuales habia en unas provincias cinco, y en otras seis, ó se ofrecian por necesidad particular, por uno de estos dos respectos.’ Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 177; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxix.

Sacrificial Festivals

The religious feasts in which all the people took part were held on certain fixed days of the calendar. One of their most notable and solemn festivals was more a time of penance and vigil than of feasting. When the season of its celebration approached, the lord of a province with the principal men held a council and sent for a diviner, and advised with him concerning the day upon which the sacrifice should take place. The wise man at once began his sorceries, and cast lots in order to ascertain what day would be the most propitious. When the day was fixed, all men had from that time to sleep in houses apart from their wives during a period of sixty or eighty days, or even longer, according to the severity demanded. Upon each of these days every one had to offer sacrifice by drawing blood from his arms, thighs, tongue, and other parts of his body. This they did at certain hours of the day and night, and also burned incense. They could not bathe while the observances lasted. From the day when this lent began, the slaves who were to be sacrificed were allowed a certain freedom, and permitted to go about the town wheresoever they pleased. On the neck of each, however, was fastened a ring of gold, silver, or copper, through which a stick was passed, and as a further precaution against escape each was accompanied by a guard of three or four men. They were at liberty to enter any house, whether it was that of the supreme lord or of the poorest man, and wherever they applied for food or drink it was given them. The same liberty was accorded to the guard. When the day of sacrifice arrived, the high-priest attired himself in his finest vestments. These consisted of certain cloaks, with crowns of gold, silver, or other metal, adorned with precious stones. The idols were placed upon a frame ornamented with gold, silver, and gems, and decked with roses and other flowers. The slaves were then brought in procession to the temple yard amid songs, music, and dancing; and the idols were set upon altars, before which were the sacrificial stones. As the hour of sacrifice drew near, the supreme lord, and principal men with him, repaired to the room where the slaves were waiting; each then seized his slave by the hair and carried him before the god, crying with a loud voice: O God our Lord, remember thy servants, grant them health, offspring, and prosperity, so that they may increase and serve thee. Give us rain, O Lord, and seasonable weather to support us, that we may live, hearken to our prayers, aid us against our enemies, give us comfort and rest. On reaching the altar the sacrificing priest stood ready, and the lord placed the victim in his hands. He then, with his ministers, opened the breast with the sacrificial knife, tore out the heart and offered it to the idol, at the same time anointing it with the blood. Each idol had its holy table; the Sun, the Moon, the East, the West, the North, and the South had each one. The heads of the sacrificed were put on stakes. The flesh was seasoned, cooked, and partaken of as a holy thing. The high-priest and supreme lord were given the hands and feet, as the most delicate morsels, and the body was distributed among the other priests. All through the days of the sacrificing great liberty was permitted to the people, grand banquets were held, and drunken revels ensued.[1014]‘Aquel dia era libertado para hacer grandes banquetes y borracheras, y así se mataban infinitas aves, mucha caza y vinos muy diferentes, hacian muchas danzas y bailes en presencia de los ídolos. Duraban aquestas fiestas, tres, cinco y siete dias, segun lo que ordenaban los ministros, y lo decian cuando habian de comenzar. En estos dias, en cada tarde andaban en procesion con grandes cantos y músicas, llevando al ídolo por las calles y plazas, y donde habia lugar preeminente, hacian altares y ponian mesas, y allí paraban, y como nosotros representamos farsas, así ellos jugaban á la pelota delante de sus dioses.’ Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 187; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxvii.

Concerning the religious feasts and observances of the Yucatecs, Landa is the best and most complete authority, and I will therefore take from his work such scattered notices as he gives.

In the month of Chen they worked in fear and trembling, making new idols. And when these were finished, those for whom they were made gave presents of the best they had to those who had modeled and carved them. The idols were then carried from the building in which they had been made to a cabin made of leaves, where the priest blessed them with much solemnity and many fervent prayers, the artists having previously cleansed themselves from the grease with which they had been besmeared, as a sign of fasting, during the entire time that they remained at work. Having then driven out the evil spirit, and burned the sacred incense, the newly made images were placed in a basket, enveloped in a linen cloth, and delivered to their owners, who received them with every mark of respect and devotion. The priest then addressed the idol-makers for a few moments on the excellence and importance of their profession, and on the danger they would incur by neglecting the rules of abstinence while doing such sacred work. Finally, all partook of an abundant repast, and made amends for their long fast by indulging freely in wine.

In one of the two months called Chen and Yax, on a day determined by the priest, they celebrated a feast called ocna, which means the renovation of the temple in honor of the Chacs, whom they regarded as the gods of the fields. During this festival, they consulted the oracle of the Bacabs.[1015]The manner in which this was done will be described elsewhere in this chapter. This feast was celebrated every year. Besides this, the idols of baked clay and the braziers were renewed at this season, because it was customary for each idol to have its own little brazier, in which incense was burned before it; and, if it was necessary, they built the god a new dwelling, or renovated the old one, taking care to place on the walls an inscription commemorating these things, in the characters peculiar to them.

Festivals of Zac and Mac

In the month of Zac, on a day appointed by the priest, the hunters held a feast similar to that which, as we shall presently see, took place in the month of Zip. This was for the purpose of averting the anger of the gods from them and the seed they had sown, because of the blood which had been shed in the chase; for they regarded as abominable all spilling of blood, except in sacrifice.[1016]‘Ce qui, d’accord avec divers autres indices, annoncerait bien que l’effusion du sang, et surtout du sang humain, dans les sacrifices, était d’origine étrangère, nahuatl probablement.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Landa, Relacion, p. 247. They never went out to hunt without first invoking their gods and burning incense before them; and on their return from a successful hunt they always anointed the grim visages of the idols with the blood of the game. On another day of this month a great feast was held, which lasted for three days, attended with incense-burning, sacrifices, and general orgies. But as this was a movable feast, the priests took care to give notice of it in advance, in order that all might observe a becoming fast.

During the month of Mac, the old people celebrated a feast in honor of the Chacs, gods of the cornfields, and of another deity named Yzamna. Some days before this the following ceremony, called in their language tuppkak,[1017]Meaning ‘quenching of fire.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Landa, Relacion, p. 254. Yzamna is otherwise called Zamná. was observed. Having brought together all the reptiles and beasts of the field that could be procured in the country, they assembled with them in the court of the temple, in the corners of which were the chacs and the priests, to drive away the evil spirit, each having by his side a jug filled with water. Standing on end, in the centre, was an enormous bundle of dry and fine wood, which was set on fire after some incense had been burned. As the wood burned, the assembled crowd vied with each other in tearing out the hearts of the victims they had brought with them and casting them into the flames. If it had been impossible to procure such large game as jaguars, pumas, or alligators, they typified the hearts of these animals by incense, which they threw into the fire; but if they had them, they were immolated like the rest. As soon as all the hearts were consumed, the chacs[1018]This word chacs, which before was interpreted as the ‘gods of the cornfields,’ probably here means the priests of those deities. In a former chapter we have seen the word applied to those who assisted at the rite of baptism. put out the fire with the water contained in their pitchers. The object of this feast and of that which followed was to obtain an abundance of water for their cornfields during the year. This feast was celebrated in a different manner from others, because no one fasted before it, with the exception of the beadle (muñidor) of the occasion. On the day of the feast called tuppkak, the people and the priests met once more in the courtyard of the temple, where was erected a platform of stone, with steps leading up to it, the whole tastefully decorated with foliage. The priest gave some incense to the beadle, who burned in a brazier enough to exorcise the evil spirit. This done, the first step of the platform was with great solemnity smeared with mud taken from a well or cistern; the other steps were stained a blue color. As usual, they ended these ceremonies by eating and drinking and making merry, full of confidence in the efficacy of their rites and ceremonies for this year.

In the month of Muan the cacao-planters held a festival in honor of the gods Ekchuah, Chac, and Hobnil, who were their patron deities.[1019]‘Ekchuah, écrit ailleurs Echuah, était le patron des marchands et naturellement des cacaos, marchandise et monnaie à la fois.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Landa, Relacion, p. 261. To solemnize it, they all went to the plantation of one of their number, where they sacrificed a dog having a spot on its skin of the color of cacao. They burned incense to their idols, and made offerings of blue iguanas, feathers of a particular kind of bird, and game. After this they gave to each of the officials[1020]‘Officiales;’ this may mean officiating priests, or overseers on the plantations, or almost anything else. a branch of the cacao-plant. The sacrifice being ended, they all sat down to a repast, at which, it is said, no one was allowed to drink more than three glasses of wine. All then went into the house of him who had given the feast, and passed the time pleasantly together.

WAR-FEAST IN THE MONTH OF PAX.

In the month of Pax, a feast was held, called Pacumchac, which was celebrated by the nobles and priests of the villages, together with those of the great towns. Having assembled, they passed five nights in the temple of Cit Chac Coh,[1021]‘Cit paraît être une sorte de cochon sauvage; chac est le nom générique des dieux de la pluie, des campagnes, des fruits de la terre, etc. Coh est le puma ou lion américain; suivant d’autres, chac-coh est le léopard.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Landa, Relacion, p. 265. praying and offering incense. At the beginning of these five days, they went all together to the house of the general of their armies, whose title was Nacon, and carried him in state to the temple, where, having placed him on a seat, they burned incense before him as though he had been a god. But though they prayed during these five nights, they did not by any means fast in the day-time, but ate and drank plentifully, and executed a kind of grand war-dance, which they called holkan okot, which is to say, ‘dance of the warriors.’ The five days being passed, the real business of the feast began, which, as it concerned matters of war and victory, was a very solemn affair. It was commenced with ceremonies and sacrifices similar to those already described as taking place in the month of Mac. Then the evil spirit was expelled in the usual manner, after which were more prayers, offerings, and incensing. While all this was going on, the nobles once more took the Nacon upon their shoulders, and carried him in procession round the temple. On their return a dog was sacrificed, its heart being torn out and presented to the idol between two dishes. Every one present then shattered a large jug filled with some beverage, which completed this part of the festival. The usual banquet followed, after which the Nacon was again placed upon the shoulders of the nobles and carried to his house.

There, the nobles and priests partook of a grand banquet, at which all got drunk, except the Nacon; the people, meanwhile, returning to their homes. On the morrow, having slept off the effects of the wine, the guests of the Nacon received from him large presents of incense which had been previously blessed. He also took advantage of this opportunity to deliver a long discourse, in which he recommended his hearers to observe scrupulously in both town and country the feasts of the gods, in order to obtain a prosperous and abundant year. As soon as the Nacon had finished speaking, there was a general and noisy leave-taking, and the guests separated, and set out for their respective homes. There they occupied themselves in celebrating the festivals proper to the season, keeping them up sometimes until the month of Pop. These feasts were called Zabacilthan, and were observed as follows. The people of each place or district sought among the richest of their number for some who were willing to defray the expenses of the celebration, and recommended them to take the matter into consideration, because it was customary to make merry during the three last months of the year. This having been settled, all met in the house of one of these prominent men, after having driven away the evil spirit as usual. Copal was burned, offerings were made, and the wine-cup, which seems to have been the chief attraction on these occasions, was not neglected. And all through these three months, the excesses in which the people indulged were pitiful to see; cuts, bruises, and eyes inflamed with drink were plentiful amongst them; to gratify their passion for drink they cast themselves away.

The Maya New Year’s Day

During the last five days of the month of Cumhu, which were the last days of the year, the people seldom went out of their houses, except to place offerings in the temples, with which the priests bought incense to be burned in honor of the gods. They neither combed their hair nor washed themselves during these five days; neither men nor women cleansed themselves; they did no work of any kind lest some misfortune should befall them.

Festivities in Yucatan

The first day of the month of Pop, the Maya New Year’s Day, was a season of rejoicing, in which all the nation took part. To give more importance to the event, they renewed at this time all the articles which they used, such as plates, cups, baskets, clothes, and the dresses of the idols; they swept their houses and cast everything into the place where they put their rubbish; and no one dared to touch what was cast away, even though greatly in need of it. To prepare for this feast, princes, priests, and nobles, and all who wished to show their devotion, fasted and abstained from their wives for a longer or shorter period, some for three months preceding it, some for two, according to their ideas of propriety, but none for less than thirteen days. During this season of abstinence, they ate their meat unseasoned, which was considered severe discipline. At this time, also, they elected the officers who were to assist the priest at the ceremony. The priest prepared a number of little balls of fresh incense on small boards made for the purpose, for those who fasted to burn before the idols. Great care was taken not to break the fast after it had been once commenced; for if this were done it was thought that misfortune must inevitably ensue.

New Year’s Day having arrived, all the men assembled in the courtyard of the temple. Women could assist at no feast which was celebrated within the temple, except those who went to take part in particular dances; on other occasions, however, the women were allowed to be present. On the day in question the men came alone, adorned with paint, and cleansed from the grease with which they had been bedaubed during the days of penance. When all were assembled, with offerings of food and newly fermented wine, the priest purified the temple and seated himself in the centre of the court, clothed in his robes of office, and having by his side a brazier and the balls of incense before mentioned. After the evil spirit had been expelled, all present offered up prayers, while the assistants kindled the new fire for the year. The priest now cast one of the balls of incense into the brazier, and then distributed the remainder among the assembled worshipers. The nobles came first in the order of their rank, and as each received a ball from the priest, who gave it with great solemnity, he dropped it gently into the brazier and stood still until it was consumed. The inevitable banquet and orgies terminated the ceremonies. This was the manner in which they celebrated the birth of the new year. During the month, some of the most devout among them repeated the feast in their own homes, and this was particularly done by the nobles and priests, who were ever foremost in religious observances.

During the month of Uo the priests and sorcerers began to prepare for a festival called pocam, which was solemnized by the hunters and fishers on the seventh day of the next month, which was Zip. Having assembled, clothed in their ornaments, at the house of the prince, they expelled the evil spirit, and then uncovered their books and exposed them upon a carpet of green leaves and branches, which had been prepared for this purpose. They next invoked with reverence a deity named Cinchau Yzamna, who had been, they said, the first priest.[1022]‘Cinchau-Yzamná est une orthographe erroné, si l’on en juge après les leçons précédentes; c’est probablement une mauvaise abréviation de Kinich-Ahau-Ytzamná, donné, d’ailleurs, comme l’inventeur des lettres et de l’écriture, l’auteur de tous les noms imposés au Yucatan.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Landa, Relacion, pp. 284-5. To him they offered various gifts, and burned balls of incense in his honor. In the meantime others took a vessel and a little verdigris with some pure water, which had to be procured from a wood into whose recesses no woman had ever penetrated. They now cleaned the leaves of their books by moistening them; this done, the wisest among them opened a volume and examined the prospects of the coming year, which he declared aloud to all present. He concluded with a brief discourse, in which he advised them how to avoid coming evils. Jollity now reigned and the wine flowed freely—a consummation which many of the old priest’s hearers had doubtless been long looking forward to impatiently. The solemnities on this occasion were varied at times by performing a dance called okot uil.

On the following day the doctors and sorcerers with their wives came together in the house of one of their number. The priests, having driven away the evil spirit, brought to view their medicine-bags, in which they kept a number of charms, some little images of Ixchel, goddess of medicine, from whom the feast was named ihcil ixchel, and some small stones called am, which they used in their sorceries. Then with great devotion the doctors and sorcerers invoked the gods of medicine, Yzamna, Citbolontum, and Ahau Chamahez, while the priests burned incense, and the assistants painted themselves blue, the color of the books used by the priests. Bearing their medicine bags in their hands, they then joined in a dance called chantunyab, after which the men seated themselves in a row on one side, and the women on the other; a day was appointed for holding the feast during the ensuing year, and then the usual drunken orgies commenced. It is said that the priests abstained from wine on this occasion, perhaps because the women were present; but they took their share, nevertheless, and reserved it for a more private opportunity.

On another occasion the hunters, with their wives, assembled in the house of one of their number, and performed there certain ceremonies. The first proceeding was, of course, to expel the evil influence; then the priests, who were never absent from these meetings, placed in the middle of the room some incense, a brazier, and some blue coloring material. Next, the huntsmen prayed with great devotion to the gods of the chase, Acanum, Zuhuy Zipi, Tabai, and others, and cast incense into the brazier. While this was burning, each took an arrow and a deer’s head, which the priest’s assistants had painted blue; thus equipped, some danced, holding hands; others pierced their ears or their tongue, and passed through the holes which they made seven leaves of an herb called ac. Then priests and their assistants made offerings to the gods and joined in the dance. Finally, the festivities closed by all present becoming, to quote the words of Bishop Landa, ‘as drunk as baskets.’

The next day it was the turn of the fishermen to celebrate a feast, which they did in the same manner as the hunters, except that instead of a deer’s head, they smeared their fishing implements with color; neither did they pierce their ears, but cut round about them, and after doing this they executed a dance called chohom. Then they consecrated a large tree, which they left standing. After the feast had been duly celebrated in the towns, it was customary for the nobles and many of the people to go down to the coast on a grand fishing expedition. The patron divinities of the fishermen were Ahkak Nexoi, Ahpua, Ahcitz, and Amalcum.[1023]‘C’étaient là sans doute les dieux de la pêche, à propos desquels Cogolludo dit les paroles suivantes: “On dit aussi que bien après la conquête, les Indiens de la province de Titz imin, quand ils allaient pêcher le long de la côte de Choáca, avant de se mettre à la pêche, commençaient par des sacrifices et des oblations à leurs faux dieux, leur offrant des chandelles, des réaux d’argent et des cuzcas, qui sont leurs émeraudes, et d’autres pierres précieuses, en certain endroits, au ku et oratoires qui se voient encore dans les bras de mer (estuaires) et les lagunes salées qu’il y a sur cette côte vers le Rio de Lagartos.”‘ (Hist. Yuc., tom. iv., cap. iv.); Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Landa, Relacion, pp. 292-3.

Feast of the Apiarists

In the month of Tzoz, the apiarists prepared for a feast which was to take place in the next month, called Tzec, by a fast, which was, however, optional with all except the priests who were to officiate, and their assistants. The day of celebration having arrived, the participants came together in the house of him who gave the feast, and performed nearly the same ceremonies as the hunters and fishermen, except that they drew no blood from their bodies. The apiarists had for their patron deities the Bacabs, and particularly Hobnil. They made many propitiatory offerings at this time, especially to the four gods of abundance, to whom they presented four dishes adorned with figures of honey. The usual drunken bout was not omitted.

After the mysterious departure of Cukulcan,[1024]‘Cuculcan, écrit quelquefois Kukulcan, vient de kuk, oiseau qui paraît être le même que le quetzal; son déterminatif est kukul qui uni à can, serpent, fait exactement le même mot que Quetzal Cohuatl, serpent aux plumes vertes, ou de Quetzal.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Landa, Relacion, p. 35. the Maya Quetzalcoatl, from Yucatan, the people, convinced that he had gone to the abode of the gods, deified him, and built temples and instituted feasts in his honor. These latter were scrupulously observed throughout the entire country up to the time of the destruction of Mayapan; but after that event they were neglected by all the provinces but that of Mani.[1025]‘La province de Mani avait été colonisée par les Tutul-Xius, dont l’origine était toltèque ou nahuatl; les fêtes de Kukulcan se bornant à cette province après la destruction de Mayapan, ne laissent point de doute sur l’origine de ce personnage, et donnent lieu de penser que le reste du Yucatan, tout en vénérant jusqu’à un certain point ce mythe ou ce prophète, avait gardé au fond la religion qui avait précédé celle des Toltèques. Ce serait un point d’histoire d’une grande importance au point de vue philosophique. Nous trouverons plus loin d’autres indices du culte primitif des Mayas.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Landa, Relacion, pp. 300-1. In remembrance, however, of the respect shown of old to Cukulcan, these provinces sent annually, by turn, to Mani four or five magnificent feather banners, which were used in the ceremonies there. On the sixteenth day of the month of Xul, all the nobles and priests of Mani, being prepared by fast and penance for the occasion, came together, and with them came a considerable multitude of people. In the evening all set out in procession from the house of the lord, and, accompanied by a large number of professional actors, proceeded slowly towards the temple of Cukulcan, which had already been decorated in a suitable manner. Upon arriving they placed the banners on high in the temple, offered prayers, and going into the courtyard spread out their idols upon green leaves and branches; then they burned incense in many places, and made offerings of meat cooked without pepper or salt, bean-soup, and calabashes. After this, those who had observed the fast did not go home, but passed five days and five nights in the temple, praying, burning copal, and executing sacred dances. During this time the actors went from one house to another, representing their plays and receiving gifts from those whom they entertained. At the end of the five days they carried all their earnings to the temple and distributed them among the watchers there. Afterwards all returned to the prince’s palace, taking with them the banners and the idols. Thence each betook himself to his home. They said, and confidently believed, that Cukulcan descended from heaven on the last day of the feast and received personally the gifts which were presented to him. This festival was called chic kaban.

During the month of Yaxkin it was the custom to prepare for a general festival, called olohzabkamyax, held in the month of Mol, in honor of all the gods. At this feast, after the usual preliminary rites, they smeared with blue coloring matter the instruments used in every profession, from the sacred implements of the priests to the distaffs of the women, and even the doors of their houses. Children of both sexes were daubed in the same manner, but instead of coloring their hands they gave them each nine gentle raps on the knuckles. The little girls were brought to the feast by an old woman, who for that reason was called ixmol, conductress. The blows were given to the children in order that they might become skilled workmen in the profession of their fathers or mothers. The usual conclusion ensued.

During the month of Mol the apiarists had another festival similar to that of the month of Tzec, in order to induce their patron gods to cause the flowers to grow, from which the bees gathered honey.

Festival to Insure a Crop

The Mayas depended so much upon the produce of the soil for their sustenance that a failure of the crops was one of the heaviest misfortunes that could fall upon them. To avoid this they made four idols, named Chichac Chob, Ek Balam Chac, Ahcan Uolcab, and Ahbuluc Balam.[1026]‘Ek-balam-chac signifie tigre noir dieu des champs: ce sont du reste des noms donnés au tigre encore aujourd’hui. Ahcan est le serpent mâle en général. Ahbuluc-Balam signifie Celui des onze tigres.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Landa, Relacion, pp. 230-1. Having placed them in the temple, and, according to custom, burned incense before them, they presented them with two pellets of a kind of resin called kik, some iguanas, some bread, a mitre, a bouquet of flowers, and a stone upon which they set great value. Besides this, they erected a great wooden arch in the court, which they filled with wood, taking care to leave openings through which to pass backwards and forwards. The greater part of the men then took each a long stick of dry wood, and while a musician mounted on the top of the pile sang and beat a drum, all danced reverently and in good order, as they did so passing in and out the wood-pile. This they kept up until evening, when, leaving their sticks behind them, they went home to eat and rest. During the night they returned, and each taking his faggot, lit it and applied it to the pile, which burned fiercely and rapidly.[1027]‘Ne croirait-on pas lire la description de cette fête des Scythes, rapportée par Hérodote, et que M. Viollet-Leduc a insérée dans ses Antiquités mexicaines, formant l’introduction de l’ouvrage de M. Désiré Charnay: Cités et Ruines américaines, page 16.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Landa, Relacion, pp. 232-3. As soon as the heap was reduced to red-hot ashes, those who had danced gathered about it, and passed barefooted over the coals, some without injury, and some with; this they believed would avert misfortune and appease the anger of the gods.[1028]Landa, Relacion, pp. 230-2.

It was customary in all the towns of Yucatan to erect at the limits of each of the four quarters, east, west, north, and south, two heaps of stones, facing each other, and intended to be used during the celebration of two solemn festivals, which were as follows. In the year of which the dominical letter was kan, the sign was hobnil, and, according to the Yucatecs, these both ruled in the south. They made this year, of baked earth, an idol which they called Kanu Uayeyab, and having made it they carried it out to the heaps of stones which lay towards the south. They then selected a principal man of the place, and in his house they celebrated the feast. For this purpose they made another image, of the god Bolon Zacab,[1029]‘Bolon est l’adjectif numéral neuf, zacab, dont la racine est zac, blanc, est le nom d’une sorte de maïs moulu, dont on fait une espèce d’orgeat. Cette statue était-elle une image allégorique de cet orgeat offert en cette occasion?’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Landa, Relacion, pp. 212-13. and placed it in the chosen house, in a prominent place, so that all who arrived might see it. This done, the nobles, priests, and people came together, and set out by a road swept clean, ornamented with arches, and strewed with foliage, to the southern heaps of stones, where they gathered about the idol Kanu Uayeyab. The priest then incensed the god with forty-nine grains of maize, ground up and mixed with copal; the nobles next placed incense in the brazier, and burned it before the idol. The incense burned by the priest was called zacah, that used by the nobles, chahalté. When these rites were completed the head of a fowl was cut off and offered to the idol, which was now placed on a litter called kanté,[1030]‘Kanté, bois jaune; c’est probablement le cèdre.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Landa, Relacion, p. 213. and upon its shoulders were placed other little images, as signs of abundance of water and a good year, and these images were frightful to behold. Amid dances and general rejoicing the idol was carried towards the house where the statue of Bolon Zacab had been placed, and while the procession was on the road, the nobles and priests partook of a beverage made from four hundred and fifteen grains of roasted maize, which they called picula kakla. Arrived at their destination, they placed the image that they carried opposite the idol which they found there, and made many offerings of food and drink, which were afterwards divided among the strangers who were present, the officiating priest receiving only the leg of a deer. Some of the devotees drew blood from their bodies, scarified their ears, and anointed with the blood a stone idol named Kanal Acantun. They modeled a heart of dough of maize and of calabash-seeds, and offered it to the idol Kanu Uayeyab. And in this manner they honored both the idols during the entire time of the feast, burning before them incense of copal and ground maize, for they held it certain that misfortune would overwhelm them if they neglected these rites. Finally, the statue of Bolon Zacab was carried to the temple, and the other image to the western entrance of the town, where it remained until the next celebration of the feast.

Maya Festivals

The ceremonies of the new year, under the sign of muluc, were very similar to those just described, though held in honor of other deities. A dance performed upon a high scaffolding, attended with sacrifices of turkeys; another executed by the old people, holding little baked-clay images of dogs in their hands; and the sacrifice of a peculiarly marked dog, were, however, additional features. The same may be said of the new year under the sign of yx, and of the new year under the sign of cauac, when the rites which were performed were sufficiently like those which have gone before to need no further description.[1031]Landa, Relacion, pp. 210-32.

The gods of the Yucatecs required far fewer human lives at the hands of their worshipers than those of the Nahuas. The pages of Yucatec history are not marred by the constant blood-blots that obscure the Nahua record. An event which in Mexico would be the death-signal to a hecatomb of human victims, would in Yucatan be celebrated by the death of a spotted dog. The office of sacrificer which in Mexico was one of the highest honors to which a priest could attain, was in Yucatan regarded as unclean and degrading.[1032]‘La charge de Nacon était double; l’un était perpétuel et peu honorable, parce que c’était lui qui ouvrait la poitrine aux victimes humaines qu’on sacrifiait.’ Landa, Relacion, p. 161. ‘El oficio de abrir el pecho a los sacrificados, que en Mexico era estimado, aqui era poco honroso.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv. Nevertheless, the Yucatec religion was not free from human sacrifice, and although captives taken in war were used for this purpose, yet it is said that such was their devotion, that should a victim be wanting they would dedicate their children to the altar rather than let the gods be deprived of their due.[1033]Ib. But it seldom happened that more than one victim was sacrificed at a time, at least in earlier days, and even then he was not butchered as by the Nahuas, but was shot through the heart with arrows before being laid upon the sacrificial stone.[1034]Landa, Relacion, p. 166; Herrera, ubi sup.

Sacrifices at Chichen Itza

At Chichen Itza human sacrifices were made in a peculiar manner. In the centre of the city was an immense pit, containing water, and surrounded on all sides by a dense grove, which served to render the spot silent and solitary, in spite of its position. A circular staircase, rudely cut in the rock, descended to the edge of the water from the foot of an altar which stood upon the very brink of the pit.[1035]The present appearance of the pit is thus described by Stephens: ‘Setting out from the Castillo, at some distance we ascended a wooded elevation, which seemed an artificial causeway leading to the senote. The senote was the largest and wildest we had seen; in the midst of a thick forest, an immense circular hole, with cragged, perpendicular sides, trees growing out of them and overhanging the brink, and still as if the genius of silence reigned within. A hawk was sailing around it, looking down into the water, but without once flapping its wings. The water was of a greenish hue. A mysterious influence seemed to pervade it, in unison with the historical account that the well of Chichen was a place of pilgrimage, and that human victims were thrown into it in sacrifice. In one place, on the very brink, were the remains of a stone structure, probably connected with ancient superstitious rites; perhaps the place from which the victims were thrown into the dark well beneath.’ Yucatan, vol. ii., p. 324. At first, only animals and incense were offered here, as the teachings of Cukulcan forbade the sacrifice of human victims, but after the departure of the great Maya apostle the Yucatecs returned to the evil of their ways,[1036]We have seen that even the memory of Cukulcan was neglected in all the provinces of Yucatan but one. and the pit of Chichen was once more polluted with human bodies. At first one victim sufficed, but the number gradually increased, until, during the later years of Maya independence, hundreds were immolated at a time. If some calamity threatened the country, if the crops failed or the requisite supply of rain was wanting, the people hastened to the pit of horror, to offer prayers and to appease the wrath of the gods with gifts of human life. On the day of sacrifice, the victims, who were generally young virgins, were taken to the temple, clothed in the garments appropriate to the occasion, and conducted thence to the sacred pit, accompanied by a multitude of priests and priestesses of all ranks. There, while the incense burned on the altar and in the braziers, the officiating priest explained to them the things for which they were to implore the gods into whose presence they were about to be introduced. A long cord was then fastened round the body of each victim, and the moment the smoke ceased to rise from the altar, all were hurled into the gulf. The crowd, which had gathered from every part of the country to see the sacrifice, immediately drew back from the brink of the pit and continued to pray without cessation for some time. The bodies were then drawn up and buried in the neighboring grove.[1037]Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. i.; Medel, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 43; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 44-5.

The Pipiles had two idols, one in the figure of a man, called Quetzalcoatl, the other in the shape of a woman, called Itzqueye. Certain days of their calendar were specially set apart for each of the deities, and on these the sacrifices were made. Two very solemn sacrifices were held in each year, one at the commencement of summer, the other at the beginning of winter. At these, Herrera says, only the lords were present.[1038]Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. x. The sacrifice was made in the interior of the temple, and the victims were boys between the ages of six and twelve years, bastards, born among themselves. For a day and a night previous to the sacrifice, drums and trumpets were sounded and on the day following the people assembled. Four priests then came out from the temple, each bearing a small brazier with burning incense; together they turned in the direction of the sun, and kneeling down offered up incense and prayers; they then did the same toward the four cardinal points.[1039]‘Ivanse derechos todos quatro juntos á do sale el sol, i se hincavan de rodillas ante el, i le zaumavan diciendo palabras é invocaciones, i esto fecho se dividian hacia quatro partes, lest, oest, norte, sur, i predicavan sus rictos i ceremonias.’ Palacio, Carta, p. 68. Their prayers finished, they retired within four small chapels built at the four corners of the temple, and there rested. They next went to the house of the high-priest, and took thence the boy who was to be sacrificed and conducted him four times round the court of the temple, dancing and singing. When this ceremony was finished, the high-priest came out of his house, with the diviner and guardian of the sanctuary, and ascended the steps of the temple, with the cacique and principal men, who, however, remained at the door of the sanctuary. The four priests now seized the boy by the arms and legs, and the guardian of the temple coming out with little bells on his wrists and ankles, opened the left breast of the victim, tore out the heart, and handed it to the high-priest, who placed it in a small embroidered purse which he carried. The four priests received the blood of the victim in four jicaras, or bowls, made from the shell of a certain fruit, and descending one after the other to the courtyard, sprinkled the blood with their right hands in the direction of the cardinal points. If any blood remained over they returned it to the high-priest, who placed it with the purse containing the heart in the body of the victim through the wound that had been made, and the body was interred in the temple. This was the ceremony of sacrifice at the beginning of each of the two seasons.

Pipile Feast of Victory

When information was received from their war chief that he had gained a victory, the diviner ascertained to which of the gods sacrifice was to be made. If to Quetzalcoatl, the ceremony lasted fifteen days; if to Itzqueye, five days; and upon each day they sacrificed a prisoner. These sacrifices were made as follows: All those who had been in the battle returned home in procession, singing and dancing, bringing with them the captives who were to be sacrificed, their wrists and ankles decorated with feathers and chalchiuites, and their necks with strings of cacao-nibs. The high-priests and other ministers went out at the head of the populace to meet them with music and dancing, and the caciques and captains delivered over those who were to be sacrificed to the high-priest. Then they all went together to the courtyard of their teupa, or temple, where they continued dancing day and night during the time the sacrifices lasted. In the middle of the court was a stone bench on which the victim was stretched, four priests holding him by the feet and hands. The sacrificing priest then came forward, adorned with many feathers and loaded with little bells, holding in his hand a flint knife, with which he opened the breast of the victim, tore out the heart, brandished it toward the cardinal points, and finally threw it into the air with sufficient force to cause it to fall directly in the middle of the court, saying: “Receive, Oh God, this thank-offering for the victory.”[1040]‘Yua el sacristan y sacauale con la nauaja el coraçon, y arrojauale al dios, o a la diosa, y dezia, Toma el fruto desta vitoria.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. x. This sacrifice was public and beheld by all the people. The men drew blood from their private parts, and the women from their ears, tongue, and other parts of the body; as the blood flowed it was taken up with cotton and offered by the men to Quetzalcoatl, by the women to Itzqueye.

When the Pipiles were about to undertake any hunting or fishing expedition, they first made an offering to their gods. For this purpose they took a living deer,[1041]Brasseur de Bourbourg says: ‘cerf blanc.’ Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 557. and leading it to the temple yard, they there strangled and afterwards flayed it, saving the blood in a vessel. The liver, lungs, and stomach were chopped in small pieces, which were afterwards laid aside with the heart, head, and feet. The remainder of the deer was cooked by itself, and the blood likewise, and while this was being done the people danced. The high-priest with his assistant next took the head by the ears, and each of the four priests one of the feet, while the guardian of the sanctuary put the heart into a brazier and burnt it with copal and ulli to the god who was the protector of hunting. After the dance, the head and feet were scorched in the fire before the idol and given to the high-priest to be eaten. The flesh and blood were eaten by the other ministers of the temple before the idol, and the same was done with other animals sacrificed. The entrails of fish were burned before the idol.[1042]‘Le sacrifice du cerf blanc, d’abord un des plus augustes, devint, plus tard, l’offrande commune et exclusive des chasseurs qui désiraient se rendre favorables les dieux protecteurs de la chasse et des forêts.’ Id., p. 557; Palacio, Carta, pp. 74-6.

Sacrifices in Nicaragua

Among the civilized nations of Nicaragua, it would appear there were eighteen distinct festivals, corresponding with the eighteen months in their calendar.[1043]‘Echauan las fiestas que eran diez y ocho, como los meses subidos en el gradario, o sacrificadero que tenian los patios de los templos.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii. In the evidence taken by Fray Françisco de Bobadilla the number of festivals is given as twenty-one and eleven; I must therefore leave the reader to decide for himself which is correct. ‘Y.—En un año tenemos veynte é un dias de fiestas (é no juntos estos dias)…. F.—En el tiempo de aquellas onçe fiestas, que deçis que teneys cada año.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 47, 52. These were proclaimed by the priest, holding the instrument of sacrifice in his hand, from the steps leading to the sacrificial altar in the court of the temple. He made known who and how many were to be sacrificed, and whether they were to be prisoners taken in battle or individuals reared among themselves for the purpose.[1044]‘For there are two kindes of humane sacrifices with them: the one, of enemies taken in the warres, the other of such as are brought vp and maintained at home.’ Peter Martyr, dec. vi., lib. vi. When the victim was stretched upon the stone, the officiating priest walked three times round him, singing in a doleful tone; he then opened the victim’s breast, plucked out his heart, and daubed his face with the blood. He next dismembered the body and gave the heart to the high-priest, the feet and hands to the king, the thighs to him who had captured him, the entrails to the trumpeters, and the remainder to the people, that all might eat.[1045]‘And whosoeuer should haue no parte nor portion of the sacrificed enemie, would thinke he shoulde bee ill accepted that yeere.’ Ib. The heads of those sacrificed were set as trophies on trees appointed for the purpose.[1046]‘Euery King nourisheth his appointed trees in a fielde neere vnto him, obseruing the names of euery hostile country, where they hange the heads of their sacrificed enemies taken in the warres.’ Ib. If the person sacrificed had been bought, they buried the entrails, hands, and feet, in a gourd, and burned the heart and all the rest.[1047]Herrera gives a similar account of the disposal of the body, but adds: ‘Saluo que ponian la cabeça en los arboles.’ Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii. I think it improbable that the heads were treated in the same manner as those of their enemies. Peter Martyr says nothing distinctly of the disposal of the head, but, speaking of the sacrifice, says ‘they reuerence all parts thereof, and partly bury them beefore the dores of their temples, as the feete, handes, and bowels, which they cast together into a gourde, the rest (together with the hartes, making a great fire within the view of those hostile trees, with shril hyms, and applauses of the Priestes) they burne among the ashes of the former sacrifices, neuer thence remooued, lying in that fielde.’ Dec. vi., tom. vi. As it was lawful for a father to sell his own children, and each person himself, they therefore did not eat the flesh of such sacrifices because they were their own countrymen and relations. When they ate the flesh of foreigners sacrificed, they held exciting dances, and passed the days in drunken revels and smoking, but had no sexual intercourse with their wives while the festival lasted.[1048]‘En aquellas fiestas no trabaxamos ni entendemos en más de emborracharnos; pero no dormimos con nuestras mugeres, é aquellos dias, por quitar la ocasion, duermen ellas dentro en casa é nosotros fuera della: é al que en tales dias se echa con su muger, nuestros dioses les dan dolençia luego, de que mueren; é por esso ninguno lo osa haçer, porque aquellos dias son dedicados á nuestros dioses.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 52. At certain feasts they offered blood drawn from their own bodies, with which they rubbed the beard and lips of the idol.

The priests wore white cotton cloaks, some short and small, others hung from the shoulders to the heels, with bands having bags attached, in which they carried sharp stone knives, papers, ground charcoal, and certain herbs. The lay brothers bore in their hands little flags with the idol they held most in veneration painted thereon, and small purses containing powder and awls; the youths had bows and arrows, darts and shields. The idol, in form and appearance very frightful, was set upon a spear and carried by the eldest priest. The ascetics marched in file, singing, to the place of worship. They spread mantles and strewed roses and flowers, that the standards might not touch the ground. The procession halted; the singing ceased; they fell to prayer. The prelate clapped his hand; some drew blood from the tongue, others from the ears, from the privy member, or from whatever part their devotion led them. They took the blood on paper or on their fingers and smeared the idol’s face. In the meantime the youths danced, leaped about, and shook their weapons. Those who had gashed themselves, cured their wounds by an application of powdered charcoal and herbs that they carried for the purpose. In these observances they sprinkled maize with the blood from their privy parts, and it was distributed and eaten as blessed bread.[1049]Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; Peter Martyr, dec. vi., lib. vi., vii.; Squier, in Palacio, Carta, p. 116.

Banquets of the People

Like the Mexicans the Mayas had a great predilection for entertaining each other at banquets, and it is related of them that they often spent on one such occasion a sum that it had taken them many months to earn. Seasons of betrothal and marriage were always enlivened by sumptuous feasts. Whenever any contract had to be arranged, a feast was given and the act of eating and drinking together in public and before witnesses sufficed to make such contract valid.[1050]‘En las ventas, y contratos, no auia escritos que obligassen, ni cartas de papago, que satisfaciessen, pero quedaba el contrato valido con que bebiessen publicamente delante de testigos.’ Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 180-1. The lords and principal men gave feasts to each other, and as it was incumbent upon all the guests to return the compliment, there must have been a continual round of feasting. Cogolludo states that meat was eaten at banquets only, and this may in some measure account for the frequency with which they occurred, and the etiquette that required the invitation to be returned.

They observed a certain formality at their entertainments, seating themselves either in twos or fours. Each of the guests received a roasted fowl, some bread, and an abundance of cacao. When the meal was finished, presents were distributed to the guests, each being presented with a mantle, a small stool, and a handsome cup. Beautiful women acted as cup-bearers, and when one of these presented a cup of wine to a guest, she turned her back to him while he drank. The feast lasted until all were intoxicated, and then the wives led their drunken husbands home. When a marriage banquet, or one in commemoration of the deeds of their ancestors, was given, no return invitation was expected.[1051]Landa, Relacion, pp. 122-4. Their entertainments were usually enlivened by a company of dancers and musicians, who performed dramatic representations under the leadership of one who was called holpop, or master of the ceremonies; he gave instructions to the actors, directed the singers and musicians, and from him all had to take their cue. The actors were called balzam, a name corresponding to jester or mimic. As women were not permitted to take part in the mummeries, their places were supplied by men. Their movements during the play were grave and monotonous, yet they were clever in mimicry and caricature, which they frequently made use of as a means of reproving their chief men.[1052]‘Son graciosos en los motes, y chistes, que dizen à sus mayores, y Iuezes: si son rigurosos, ambiciosos, auarientos, representando los sucessos que con ellos les passan, y aun lo que vèn à su Ministro Doctrinero, lo dizen delante dèl, y à vezes con vna sola palabra.’ Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 187. The plays were generally of a historical character, having for their subject the great deeds of their ancestors; their songs consisted of ballads founded upon local traditions and legendary tales.[1053]See Carrillo, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iii., pp. 259, 261; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 65-7; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv.; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 47.

Music and Dances

A favorite dance of the Mayas was one called colomche; a large number of men took part in it, sometimes as many as eight hundred. These formed a ring, and were accompanied during their movements by a number of musicians. When the dancing began, two of the actors, still keeping step with the rest, came out from the ring, one holding in his hand a bunch of wands and dancing upright, while the other cowered down, still dancing. Then he who had the wands threw them with all his force at his companion, who with great dexterity parried them with a short stick. When the two had finished, they returned to their former position in the circle, and two others took their place and went through the same performance, the rest following in their turn. They had also war dances, in which large numbers joined, the performers holding small flags in their hands.[1054]Landa, Relacion, pp. 126, 128.

They had a variety of musical instruments, prominent among which was the tunkul, which was almost the same thing as the teponaztli of the Mexicans.[1055]‘El timbal yucateco (tankul ó tunkul,) es el instrumento mas notable de la música yucateca, y en general de la música americana, que acompañaban las danzas ó bailes sagrados, y el nombre maya de ese notable instrumento, nos revela hasta hoy el carácter sagrado de aquellas fiestas, pues el nombre de tunkul ó tankul, significa ligeramente la hora de la adoracion.’ Carrillo, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iii., p. 259. I have one of these instruments in my possession. They had other drums made of a hollow trunk and covered at one end with deer-skin, tortoise shells that they struck with deer’s horns, trumpets,—some of marine shells and others of hollow canes with a calabash at the end,—whistles and flutes made from bone and cane, besides various kinds of rattles.[1056]Landa, Relacion, pp. 124, 126; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv.; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 77, 186; Carrillo, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iii., p. 260; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 64-5. Landa says that in every village there was a large house or rather shed, for it was open on all sides, in which the young men met for amusement.[1057]Landa, Relacion, p. 178. Oviedo, who witnessed some dances and games among the Nicaraguans, thus describes one he saw at Tecoatega after the harvesting of the cacao. As many as sixty persons, all men, though a number of them represented women, took part in a dance. They were painted of various colors and patterns, and wore upon their heads beautiful tufts of feathers, and about their persons divers ornaments, while some wore masks like birds’ heads. They performed the dance going in couples and keeping at a distance of three or four steps between pair and pair. In the centre of a square was a high pole of more than sixty feet in height driven firmly into the ground; on the top was seated a gaudily painted idol which they called the god of the cacaguat, or cacao; round the top were fixed four other poles in the form of a square, and rolled upon it was a thick grass rope at the ends of which were bound two boys of seven or eight years of age. One of them had in one hand a bow and in the other a bunch of arrows; the other boy carried a beautiful feather fan and a mirror. At a certain step of the dance the boys came out from the square and the rope began to unroll; they went round and round in the air, always going further out and counterbalancing one another, the rope still unrolling. While they were descending, the sixty men proceeded with their dance to the sound of singers beating drums and tabors. The boys passed through the air with much velocity, moving their arms and legs to present the appearance of flying. When they reached the ground the dancers and singers gave some loud cheers and the festival was concluded.[1058]This is very similar to the Nahua game, described on page 295, et seq., of this volume. Another favorite amusement was a performance on a swinging bar. For this two tall forked posts were firmly planted in the ground; across them and resting in the forks a pole was strongly bound. This pole passed at right angles through a hole in the centre of a thick bar, made to revolve upon it and of very light wood; near the end of the bar were cross sticks for the performers to take hold of. A man placed himself at each end, and when the bar was set in motion they went tumbling round and round, to the delight of the spectators.[1059]Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 93-4, 111-12, pl. v., fig. i., ii.

Footnotes

[1013] ‘Los universales sacrificios se ofrecian ordinariamente cuando venian las fiestas, las cuales habia en unas provincias cinco, y en otras seis, ó se ofrecian por necesidad particular, por uno de estos dos respectos.’ Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 177; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxix.

[1014] ‘Aquel dia era libertado para hacer grandes banquetes y borracheras, y así se mataban infinitas aves, mucha caza y vinos muy diferentes, hacian muchas danzas y bailes en presencia de los ídolos. Duraban aquestas fiestas, tres, cinco y siete dias, segun lo que ordenaban los ministros, y lo decian cuando habian de comenzar. En estos dias, en cada tarde andaban en procesion con grandes cantos y músicas, llevando al ídolo por las calles y plazas, y donde habia lugar preeminente, hacian altares y ponian mesas, y allí paraban, y como nosotros representamos farsas, así ellos jugaban á la pelota delante de sus dioses.’ Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 187; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxvii.

[1015] The manner in which this was done will be described elsewhere in this chapter.

[1016] ‘Ce qui, d’accord avec divers autres indices, annoncerait bien que l’effusion du sang, et surtout du sang humain, dans les sacrifices, était d’origine étrangère, nahuatl probablement.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Landa, Relacion, p. 247.

[1017] Meaning ‘quenching of fire.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Landa, Relacion, p. 254. Yzamna is otherwise called Zamná.

[1018] This word chacs, which before was interpreted as the ‘gods of the cornfields,’ probably here means the priests of those deities. In a former chapter we have seen the word applied to those who assisted at the rite of baptism.

[1019] ‘Ekchuah, écrit ailleurs Echuah, était le patron des marchands et naturellement des cacaos, marchandise et monnaie à la fois.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Landa, Relacion, p. 261.

[1020] ‘Officiales;’ this may mean officiating priests, or overseers on the plantations, or almost anything else.

[1021] ‘Cit paraît être une sorte de cochon sauvage; chac est le nom générique des dieux de la pluie, des campagnes, des fruits de la terre, etc. Coh est le puma ou lion américain; suivant d’autres, chac-coh est le léopard.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Landa, Relacion, p. 265.

[1022] ‘Cinchau-Yzamná est une orthographe erroné, si l’on en juge après les leçons précédentes; c’est probablement une mauvaise abréviation de Kinich-Ahau-Ytzamná, donné, d’ailleurs, comme l’inventeur des lettres et de l’écriture, l’auteur de tous les noms imposés au Yucatan.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Landa, Relacion, pp. 284-5.

[1023] ‘C’étaient là sans doute les dieux de la pêche, à propos desquels Cogolludo dit les paroles suivantes: “On dit aussi que bien après la conquête, les Indiens de la province de Titz imin, quand ils allaient pêcher le long de la côte de Choáca, avant de se mettre à la pêche, commençaient par des sacrifices et des oblations à leurs faux dieux, leur offrant des chandelles, des réaux d’argent et des cuzcas, qui sont leurs émeraudes, et d’autres pierres précieuses, en certain endroits, au ku et oratoires qui se voient encore dans les bras de mer (estuaires) et les lagunes salées qu’il y a sur cette côte vers le Rio de Lagartos.”‘ (Hist. Yuc., tom. iv., cap. iv.); Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Landa, Relacion, pp. 292-3.

[1024] ‘Cuculcan, écrit quelquefois Kukulcan, vient de kuk, oiseau qui paraît être le même que le quetzal; son déterminatif est kukul qui uni à can, serpent, fait exactement le même mot que Quetzal Cohuatl, serpent aux plumes vertes, ou de Quetzal.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Landa, Relacion, p. 35.

[1025] ‘La province de Mani avait été colonisée par les Tutul-Xius, dont l’origine était toltèque ou nahuatl; les fêtes de Kukulcan se bornant à cette province après la destruction de Mayapan, ne laissent point de doute sur l’origine de ce personnage, et donnent lieu de penser que le reste du Yucatan, tout en vénérant jusqu’à un certain point ce mythe ou ce prophète, avait gardé au fond la religion qui avait précédé celle des Toltèques. Ce serait un point d’histoire d’une grande importance au point de vue philosophique. Nous trouverons plus loin d’autres indices du culte primitif des Mayas.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Landa, Relacion, pp. 300-1.

[1026] ‘Ek-balam-chac signifie tigre noir dieu des champs: ce sont du reste des noms donnés au tigre encore aujourd’hui. Ahcan est le serpent mâle en général. Ahbuluc-Balam signifie Celui des onze tigres.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Landa, Relacion, pp. 230-1.

[1027] ‘Ne croirait-on pas lire la description de cette fête des Scythes, rapportée par Hérodote, et que M. Viollet-Leduc a insérée dans ses Antiquités mexicaines, formant l’introduction de l’ouvrage de M. Désiré Charnay: Cités et Ruines américaines, page 16.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Landa, Relacion, pp. 232-3.

[1028] Landa, Relacion, pp. 230-2.

[1029] ‘Bolon est l’adjectif numéral neuf, zacab, dont la racine est zac, blanc, est le nom d’une sorte de maïs moulu, dont on fait une espèce d’orgeat. Cette statue était-elle une image allégorique de cet orgeat offert en cette occasion?’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Landa, Relacion, pp. 212-13.

[1030] ‘Kanté, bois jaune; c’est probablement le cèdre.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Landa, Relacion, p. 213.

[1031] Landa, Relacion, pp. 210-32.

[1032] ‘La charge de Nacon était double; l’un était perpétuel et peu honorable, parce que c’était lui qui ouvrait la poitrine aux victimes humaines qu’on sacrifiait.’ Landa, Relacion, p. 161. ‘El oficio de abrir el pecho a los sacrificados, que en Mexico era estimado, aqui era poco honroso.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv.

[1033] Ib.

[1034] Landa, Relacion, p. 166; Herrera, ubi sup.

[1035] The present appearance of the pit is thus described by Stephens: ‘Setting out from the Castillo, at some distance we ascended a wooded elevation, which seemed an artificial causeway leading to the senote. The senote was the largest and wildest we had seen; in the midst of a thick forest, an immense circular hole, with cragged, perpendicular sides, trees growing out of them and overhanging the brink, and still as if the genius of silence reigned within. A hawk was sailing around it, looking down into the water, but without once flapping its wings. The water was of a greenish hue. A mysterious influence seemed to pervade it, in unison with the historical account that the well of Chichen was a place of pilgrimage, and that human victims were thrown into it in sacrifice. In one place, on the very brink, were the remains of a stone structure, probably connected with ancient superstitious rites; perhaps the place from which the victims were thrown into the dark well beneath.’ Yucatan, vol. ii., p. 324.

[1036] We have seen that even the memory of Cukulcan was neglected in all the provinces of Yucatan but one.

[1037] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. i.; Medel, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 43; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 44-5.

[1038] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. x.

[1039] ‘Ivanse derechos todos quatro juntos á do sale el sol, i se hincavan de rodillas ante el, i le zaumavan diciendo palabras é invocaciones, i esto fecho se dividian hacia quatro partes, lest, oest, norte, sur, i predicavan sus rictos i ceremonias.’ Palacio, Carta, p. 68.

[1040] ‘Yua el sacristan y sacauale con la nauaja el coraçon, y arrojauale al dios, o a la diosa, y dezia, Toma el fruto desta vitoria.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. x.

[1041] Brasseur de Bourbourg says: ‘cerf blanc.’ Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 557.

[1042] ‘Le sacrifice du cerf blanc, d’abord un des plus augustes, devint, plus tard, l’offrande commune et exclusive des chasseurs qui désiraient se rendre favorables les dieux protecteurs de la chasse et des forêts.’ Id., p. 557; Palacio, Carta, pp. 74-6.

[1043] ‘Echauan las fiestas que eran diez y ocho, como los meses subidos en el gradario, o sacrificadero que tenian los patios de los templos.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii. In the evidence taken by Fray Françisco de Bobadilla the number of festivals is given as twenty-one and eleven; I must therefore leave the reader to decide for himself which is correct. ‘Y.—En un año tenemos veynte é un dias de fiestas (é no juntos estos dias)…. F.—En el tiempo de aquellas onçe fiestas, que deçis que teneys cada año.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 47, 52.

[1044] ‘For there are two kindes of humane sacrifices with them: the one, of enemies taken in the warres, the other of such as are brought vp and maintained at home.’ Peter Martyr, dec. vi., lib. vi.

[1045] ‘And whosoeuer should haue no parte nor portion of the sacrificed enemie, would thinke he shoulde bee ill accepted that yeere.’ Ib.

[1046] ‘Euery King nourisheth his appointed trees in a fielde neere vnto him, obseruing the names of euery hostile country, where they hange the heads of their sacrificed enemies taken in the warres.’ Ib.

[1047] Herrera gives a similar account of the disposal of the body, but adds: ‘Saluo que ponian la cabeça en los arboles.’ Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii. I think it improbable that the heads were treated in the same manner as those of their enemies. Peter Martyr says nothing distinctly of the disposal of the head, but, speaking of the sacrifice, says ‘they reuerence all parts thereof, and partly bury them beefore the dores of their temples, as the feete, handes, and bowels, which they cast together into a gourde, the rest (together with the hartes, making a great fire within the view of those hostile trees, with shril hyms, and applauses of the Priestes) they burne among the ashes of the former sacrifices, neuer thence remooued, lying in that fielde.’ Dec. vi., tom. vi.

[1048] ‘En aquellas fiestas no trabaxamos ni entendemos en más de emborracharnos; pero no dormimos con nuestras mugeres, é aquellos dias, por quitar la ocasion, duermen ellas dentro en casa é nosotros fuera della: é al que en tales dias se echa con su muger, nuestros dioses les dan dolençia luego, de que mueren; é por esso ninguno lo osa haçer, porque aquellos dias son dedicados á nuestros dioses.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 52.

[1049] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; Peter Martyr, dec. vi., lib. vi., vii.; Squier, in Palacio, Carta, p. 116.

[1050] ‘En las ventas, y contratos, no auia escritos que obligassen, ni cartas de papago, que satisfaciessen, pero quedaba el contrato valido con que bebiessen publicamente delante de testigos.’ Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 180-1.

[1051] Landa, Relacion, pp. 122-4.

[1052] ‘Son graciosos en los motes, y chistes, que dizen à sus mayores, y Iuezes: si son rigurosos, ambiciosos, auarientos, representando los sucessos que con ellos les passan, y aun lo que vèn à su Ministro Doctrinero, lo dizen delante dèl, y à vezes con vna sola palabra.’ Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 187.

[1053] See Carrillo, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iii., pp. 259, 261; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 65-7; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv.; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 47.

[1054] Landa, Relacion, pp. 126, 128.

[1055] ‘El timbal yucateco (tankul ó tunkul,) es el instrumento mas notable de la música yucateca, y en general de la música americana, que acompañaban las danzas ó bailes sagrados, y el nombre maya de ese notable instrumento, nos revela hasta hoy el carácter sagrado de aquellas fiestas, pues el nombre de tunkul ó tankul, significa ligeramente la hora de la adoracion.’ Carrillo, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iii., p. 259. I have one of these instruments in my possession.

[1056] Landa, Relacion, pp. 124, 126; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv.; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 77, 186; Carrillo, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iii., p. 260; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 64-5.

[1057] Landa, Relacion, p. 178.

[1058] This is very similar to the Nahua game, described on page 295, et seq., of this volume.

[1059] Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 93-4, 111-12, pl. v., fig. i., ii.

Chapter XXIII • Food, Dress, Commerce, and War Customs of the Mayas • 12,400 Words

Introduction of Agriculture—Quiché Tradition of the Discovery of Maize—Maize Culture—Superstitions of Farmers—Hunting and Fishing—Domestic Animals, Fowl, and Bees—Preservation and Cooking of Food—Meals—Drinks and Drinking-Habits—Cannibalism—Dress of the Mayas—Maxtlis, Mantles, and Sandals—Dress of Kings and Priests—Women’s Dress—Hair and Beard—Personal Decoration—Head-Flattening, Perforation, Tattooing, and Painting—Personal Habits—Commerce—Currency—Markets—Superstitions of Travelers—Canoes and Balsas—War—Military Leaders—Insignia—Armor—Weapons—Fortifications—Battles—Treatment of Captives.

The tierra caliente and the low forest-clad foothills of the Usumacinta region on the confines of Yucatan, Guatemala, Chiapas, and Tabasco, present claims as strong at least as those of any other locality to be considered the birth-place of American civilization. Here apparently Votan and Gucumatz, demi-gods or civilizers, won their first triumphs over the powers of barbarism. In the most remote times to which we are carried by vague tradition and mythic fable, gods with strangely human attributes, or men of wonderful supernatural powers, newly arrived in this land, took counsel one with another how they might subject to their power and reclaim from barbarism the native bands of savages, or ‘animals,’ who roamed naked through the forests, and subsisted on roots and wild fruits. The discussion of the tradition with reference to its historic signification, is foreign to my present purpose, but as the story includes the traditional origin of agriculture and the discovery of maize under the form of a new creation, it is an appropriate introduction to the present chapter on the food, dress, and commerce of the Maya nations. The story runs as follows in the aboriginal Quiché annals:[1060]This history, written with Roman characters, but in the Quiché language, in the early years of the Conquest, was quoted by Brasseur de Bourbourg as the MS. Quiché de Chichicastenango, in his Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 59-60; a translation into Spanish by Ximenez appeared in 1857, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 79-80; and a translation into French by Brasseur de Bourbourg in 1861, Popol Vuh, pp. 195-9. Brasseur’s rendering is followed for the most part in my text, but so far as this extract is concerned there are only slight verbal differences between the two translations.

Behold how they began to think of man, and to seek what must enter into the flesh of man. Then spake he who begets, and he who gives being, Tepeuh, Gucumatz, the creator and the former, and said: “Already the dawn is nigh; the work is finished; behold the support, the foster-father, is ennobled; the son of civilization, man, is honored, and humanity on the face of the earth.” They came, and in great numbers they assembled; in the shadows of the night they joined their wise counsel. Then sought they and consulted in sadness, meditating; and thus the wisdom of these men was manifest; they found and were made to see what must enter into the flesh of man; and the dawn was near.

Discovery of Maize

In Paxil, or Cayala (‘land of divided and stagnant waters’) as it is called, were the ears of yellow maize and of white. These are the names of the barbarians who went to seek food; the Fox, the Jackal, the Paroquet, and the Crow,—four barbarians who made known to them the ears of the white maize and of the yellow, who came to Paxil and guided them thither. There it was they obtained at last the food that was to enter into the flesh of man, of man created and formed; this it was that was his blood, that became the blood of man—this maize that entered into him by the provision of him who creates, of him who gives being.

And they rejoiced that they had at last arrived in this most excellent land, so full of good things, where the white and yellow maize did abound, also the cacao, where were sapotes and many fruits, and honey; all was overflowing with the best of food in this country of Paxil, or Cayala. There was food of every kind; there were large and small plants, to which the barbarians had guided them. Then they began to grind the yellow and white maize, and of them did Xmucané make nine drinks, which nourishment was the beginning of strength, giving unto man flesh and stature. Such were the deeds of the begetter and giver of being, Tepeuh, Gucumatz. Thereupon they began to speak of creating our first mother and our first father. Only yellow maize and white maize entered into their flesh, and these alone formed the legs and arms of man; and these were our first fathers, the four men who were formed, into whose flesh this food entered.

And from this time of its traditional discovery by Gucumatz, or Quetzalcoatl, down to the conquest by the Spaniards and even down to the present time, the yellow and white maize, in their several varieties, have been the chief reliance of the Maya as of the Nahua nations for daily food. Every year during the latter months of the dry season, from March to May, the farmer busied himself in preparing his milpa, or cornfield, which he did by simply cutting or uprooting the dense growth and burning it. The ashes thus produced were the only fertilizer ever employed, and even this was probably never needed in this land of tropical fertility. Just before the first rain fell, equipped with a sack of seed-maize on his shoulder and a sharpened stick in his hand, he made holes at regular intervals among the ashes, and in each deposited five or six grains, covering it with the same instrument, aided perhaps by the foot. In Yucatan the planters united in bands of twenty for mutual assistance, working together until the land of all the club was properly seeded. It was not customary to plant very large fields, but rather many in different localities, to guard against a possible partial failure of the crops from local causes. Hedges, ditches, and fences were constructed to enclose the milpas, so effective in the Lacandone country that the Spaniards’ horses were unable to leap them. The corn was carefully kept free from weeds while growing, and watched by boys after it had begun to ripen. In Nicaragua, where, Oviedo tells us, more attention was paid to agriculture than in any other region visited by him, the boys took their station in trees scattered over the field, or sometimes on raised covered scaffolds of wood and reeds, called barbacoas, where they kept up a continual shouting to drive away the birds. Irrigation was practiced when the rains were backward, and if we may credit Oviedo, by thus artificially forcing the crop in Nicaragua, well-filled corn was plucked only forty days after planting the seed. Villagutierre states that the Itzas spent most of their time in worship, dancing, and getting drunk, trusting to uncultivated fruits and the fertility of their soil for a subsistence, and contenting themselves with very small milpas.

Cultivation of the Soil

After maize, cacao was perhaps the crop to which most attention was paid. It grew in hot and shady localities, and where there was no natural shade, trees were set out for the purpose. It was called cacaguat in Nicaragua, and was gathered from February to April. Several varieties, of a somewhat inferior quality, grew wild, and were much used by the natives. The cultivation of beans, pepper, cotton, and of numerous native fruits, was carried on extensively, but we have no details respecting the methods employed.[1061]Landa, Relacion, p. 130; Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Id., p. 361. On the coast of Yucatan, ‘des racines dont ils font le pain, et qu’ils nomment maïs.’ Diaz, Itinéraire, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 8. The Lacandones applied themselves ‘al trabajo de sus Milpas, y Sementeras de Maiz, Chile, y Frixoles, entre que sembravan Piñas, Platanos, Batatas, Xicamas, Xacotes, Zapotes, y otras Frutas;’ their milpas were large, and were cleared with stone hatchets. Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 310-11. The Itzas had ‘mucha Grana, Cera, Algodòn, Achiote, Baynillas, y otras Legumbres.’ Id., pp. 353, 499. Many varieties of beans raised in Nicaragua. Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., p. 285. ‘Vi muchos destos perales en la provinçia de Nicaragua, puestos á mano en las heredades é plaças ó assientos de los indios, é por ellos cultivados. É son tan grandes árboles como nogales algunos dellos.’ Id., p. 353. Planting of maize, Id., pp. 265-6; tom. iv., pp. 104-5. See also on agriculture: Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, pp. 102-3; Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viajes, tom. iii., pp. 413-14; Cortés, Cartas, p. 405; Squier’s Cent. Amer., pp. 551, 556; Viollet-le-Duc, in Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 71; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 269; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., tom. i., p. 8. In connection with the planting and growth of the various cultivated plants, the Mayas entertained some peculiar superstitions. Far from understanding the simplest laws of nature, they recognized only supernatural agencies in the growth or blighting of their crops. In Yucatan, Cogolludo states that no meat was eaten while cotton was growing, from fear that it would fail to mature. The Nicaraguans, according to Dávila, ate no salt or pepper, nor did they drink any intoxicating beverage, or sleep with their women during the time of planting. Oviedo also observed certain bundles of sticks placed at the corners of each field, as well as leaves, stones, and cotton rags, scattered over the surface by ugly and deformed old hags, for some unknown but doubtless superstitious purpose. Palacio tells us that the Pipiles before beginning to plant gathered in small bowls specimens of all the seeds, which, after performing certain rites with them before the idol, they buried in the ground, and burned copal and ulli over them. Blood was drawn freely from different parts of the body, with which to anoint the idol; and, as Ximenez states, the blood of slain fowls was sprinkled over the land to be sown. In the case of cacao the finest grains of seed were exposed to the moonlight during four nights; and whatever the seed to be planted, the tillers of the soil must sleep apart from their wives and concubines for several days, in order that on the night before planting they might indulge their passions to the fullest extent; certain persons are even said to have been appointed to perform the sexual act at the very moment when the first seeds were deposited in the ground. Before beginning the operation of weeding, they burned incense at the four corners of the field, and uttered fervent prayers to the idols. When the corn was ripe they plucked the finest ears and offered them to the gods, to the priests, and sometimes also to the poor. At harvest time the corn was heaped up in the field, and was not moved until the grain itself gave the signal that it was ready; the signal was, as Brasseur states it, the springing up of a fresh blade, or, according to Ximenez, the falling of an ear from the heap.[1062]Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 190-1; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 183; Palacio, Carta, pp. 72-4; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., p. 285; Dávila, Teatro Ecles., tom. i., p. 233; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 565-6.

The home of the Mayas in nearly every part abounded in many varieties of game, and the authors report the natives to have been expert hunters and fishermen, but respecting the particular methods employed in capturing food from forest, ocean, and river, little information has been preserved. The people of Yucatan used the bow and arrow; were especially skillful at throwing a kind of arrow or dart by means of a piece of wood three fingers thick, pierced with a hole at one third its length; and, according to Cogolludo, they bred hunting dogs which were trained to follow and seize deer, tigers, and boars, as well as badgers, rabbits, armadillos, and iguanas. The latter animal was, as it still is, a favorite food. Tradition relates that the Tutul Xius when they first came to Yucatan used no weapons, but were famous for their skill in taking game by means of snares, traps, and similar devices. In Guatemala, a blow-pipe and earthen bullets were sometimes used to shoot birds. A portion of all game taken had to be given to the rulers of town and province, and also a large portion—half, Las Casas tells us, in Guatemala—must be offered to the god of hunting, or, in other words, furnished for the priests’ tables. Fish and turtles were the chief articles of food in some coast regions, and the Nicaraguans are described by Oviedo as expert fishermen, who took fish from ocean and river by means of rods, lines, and flies, also in cotton nets, and by pens and embankments in the tide waters. They are said to have had a plant, the baygua, a decoction of which being put in the water brought the fish senseless to the surface. The Itzas and probably others used the harpoon. Young alligators just hatched were esteemed as delicacies in Vera Paz, and large fleets of canoes were sent at the proper season to take them. The tapir was also a favorite article of food. Toads and other reptiles seem to have been eaten when other supplies were not at hand.[1063]In the province of Campeche the Spaniards were feasted on ‘Peacockes and crammed foule both of the Mountaynes, Woods, and Water, as Patryches, Quayles, Turtles, Duckes, Geese, and fourefooted wilde beastes, as Boores, Hartes, and Hares: besides Wolfes, Lyons, Tygers, and Foxes.’ Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. ii. ‘Juntanse tambien para la caça de L en L, mas o menos, y la carne del venado assan en parillas, porque no se les gaste, y venidos al pueblo, hazen sus presentes al señor, y distribuyen como amigos y el mesmo hazen en la pesca.’ Landa, Relacion, pp. 130-2, 46. In Vera Paz ‘tejones, que tienen buena carne, el bilab es mejor que carnero: venadillos vermejos, y otros bayos, y muchos otros que los Indios flechan, y comen algunos desollados, otros ahumados, y assados, en barbocoa, y en charque, y todo malguisado.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. xiii., xiv., ii. At Cozumel ‘el pescado es su casi principal manjar.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 22. See also Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., pp. 355, 424, 497, tom. iv., p. 33; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 187; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. 177; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. 63.

Use of Meat as Food

As an article of daily food, meat was comparatively little used; Cogolludo even goes so far as to say it was never eaten in Yucatan except at feasts. Besides the game-supply, dogs of a certain species were raised for food. They were of small size, without hair, could not bark, and when castrated became immensely fat. They were called xulos in Nicaragua, and tzomes in Yucatan, but were probably the same as the techichis already mentioned in Mexico. Turkeys, ducks, geese, and other fowl were domesticated; and pigs, rabbits, and hares are mentioned as having been bred. Multitudes of bees were kept for their honey and wax, and hives are spoken of by Las Casas without description. Gomara says the bees were small and the honey somewhat bitter. The only methods of making salt that I find particularly mentioned were to bake tide-washed earth, boiling down the brine made of the product, and also to boil the lye produced by leeching the ashes of a palm called xacxam. The former method was practiced in Guatemala, at great cost of labor and wealth, as Herrera says; the second is referred to Yucatan. Many roots were of course utilized for food, and a peculiar herb, called yaat, was mixed with lime and carried constantly in the mouth by the Nicaraguans on the march or journey, as a preventive of fatigue and thirst.[1064]Landa, Relacion, p. 118; Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 148; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 184, 187-8, 700; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 41, 311; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., pp. 206-7, 411, 497, 507, tom. iii., p. 227; Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. vi., ii., dec. vi., lib. iii.; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. i., lib. v., cap. v., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. viii.; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 23; Id., Hist. Ind., fol. 61-2; Cortés, Cartas, p. 449; Fancourt’s Hist. Yuc., p. 32.

Respecting the preservation and cooking of food, as well as the habits of the people in taking their daily meals, there are no differences to be recorded from what has been said of the Nahuas. The inevitable tortillas and tamales were the standard dish, made in the same way as at the north; meat was dried, salted, roasted, and stewed, with pepper for the favorite seasoning. Fruits were perhaps a more prominent article of food, and were eaten for the most part raw.[1065]Cortés, Cartas, p. 23, tells us that no bread was made in Yucatan, but that maize was eaten roasted. The best tortillas in Nicaragua were called tascalpachon. Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., pp. 267, 324, 355, 411, 513, 523, tom. iii., p. 227. See also Landa, Relacion, pp. 116-20, 135; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. xiii. Cogolludo informs us that the Yucatecs eat regularly once a day, just before sunset; and we are also told that they took great pains to keep their bright-colored table-cloths and napkins in a state of perfect cleanliness. In Nicaragua, they were accustomed to wash the hands and mouth after eating; and the chiefs, who sat in a circle on wooden benches and were served by the women, also washed at the commencement of the meal. The men and women eat always separately, the latter taking their food from the ground, or sometimes from a palm-leaf basket-work platter. Very little food sufficed for the Mayas and they could bear hunger for a long time, but like all the aboriginal inhabitants of America they eat plentifully when well supplied, taking no heed for a time in the future when food might be lacking.[1066]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 69; Landa, Relacion, p. 120; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 180; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 111.

Drinks Prepared from Maize

We have seen that in the beginning, according to the tradition, Xmucané invented nine drinks, which were prepared from maize. The exact composition of these famous beverages of antiquity is not given; but Landa speaks of at least six, in the preparation of which maize was used, at least as an ingredient. To make the first, the corn was half-boiled in lime-water, coarsely ground, and preserved in small balls, which were simply mixed with water for use; this beverage was much used on journeys, and was often the only provision, serving for food as well. The second was made of the same hulled corn ground fine and mixed in water so as to form a gruel, which was heated and thickened over the fire, and was a favorite drink taken hot in the morning. The third was parched corn ground, mixed in water, and seasoned with pepper or cacao. The fourth was composed of ground maize and cacao, and was designed especially for public festivals. For the fifth a grease, much like butter, was extracted from cacao and mixed with maize. The sixth was prepared from raw maize ground. The fermented liquor, made of maize and cacao, which was drunk by the Itzas, was called zaca. Native wines were made of honey and water, of figs, and of a great variety of fruits; that made of the native fruit called jacote, and one of red cherries, were very popular in Nicaragua. Chicha was a fermented drink made of pine-apple juice, honey or sugar, and water. Pulque made from the maguey is mentioned, but this plant does not seem to have played so important a rôle in the south as in the north; at least there is very little said of it. A very strong and stinking wine is also mentioned as being prepared from a certain root. Herrera tells us that the maize-wines resembled beer, and Andagoya that their intoxicating properties were not very lasting. Benzoni complains that the native wines failed to comfort the spirit, warm the stomach, and sooth to sleep like those of Castile. Chocolate and other drinks prepared from cacao were universal favorites, and were prepared both from wild and cultivated varieties. Oviedo states that in Nicaragua none but the rich and noble could afford to drink it, as it was literally drinking money. He describes the manner of preparing the cacao, coco, or cacaguat. It was picked from the trees from February to April, dried in the sun, roasted, ground in water, mixed with a quantity of bixa until it was of a bright blood-color, and the dried paste was preserved in cakes. With this paste the natives delighted to bedaub their faces. To prepare the drink, they do not seem to have employed heat, at least in this part of the country, but simply dissolved the paste in water, and poured it from one dish into another to raise a froth.

The Mayas seem to have been a people greatly addicted to the vice of drunkenness, which was much less disgraceful and less severely punished by the laws than among the Nahuas. It was quite essential to the thorough enjoyment of a feast or wedding to become intoxicated; the wife even handed the tempting beverages to her husband, modestly averted her head while he drank, kindly guided him home when the festivities were over, and even became intoxicated herself occasionally, if Landa may be believed. The same authority represents the natives of Yucatan as very brutal and indecent when drunk, and Oviedo says that he who dropped down senseless from drink in a banquet was allowed to remain where he fell, and was regarded by his companions with feelings of envy.[1067]Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 89, 98, 312; Landa, Relacion, pp. 116-20, 192; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. i., lib. v., cap. v., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. ix., lib. x., cap. iv.; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., pp. 267, 317-18, tom. iv., p. 95; Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, fol. 102-3, 109; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxvii.; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 40; Cortés’ Despatches, p. 4; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 51-2, 499.

Eating Human Flesh

The custom of eating the flesh of human victims who were sacrificed to the gods, was probably practiced more or less in all the Maya regions; but neither this cannibalism nor the sacrifices that gave rise to it were so extensively indulged in as by the Mexicans. Some authors, as Gomara, deny that human flesh was ever eaten in Yucatan, but others, as Herrera, Villagutierre, and Peter Martyr, contradict this, although admitting that cases of cannibalism were rare, and the victims confined to sacrificed enemies. Las Casas states that in Guatemala the hands and feet were given to the king and high-priest, the rest to other priests, and that none was left for the people. In Nicaragua the high-priest received the heart, the king the feet and hands, he who captured the victim took the thighs, the tripe was given to the trumpeters, and the rest was divided among the people. The head was not eaten. The edible portions were cut in small pieces, boiled in large pots, seasoned with salt and pepper, and eaten together with cakes of maize. At certain feasts also maize was sprinkled with blood from the genitals. According to Herrera some Spaniards were eaten in Yucatan, but Albornoz tells us that the natives of Honduras found the foreigners too tough and bitter to be eaten.[1068]In Yucatan: ‘These Barbarians eate onely their enemies, or such strangers as come vnto them, otherwise they abstaine from mans flesh.’ Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. vi. In Guatemala the heads and tripe were seasoned with wine. Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxvii.; Id., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 147; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 649, 651; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 62; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. iv., cap. vii., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vi., vii., lib. vii., cap. iii., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv.; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 37, 51-2, 56, 108; Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viajes, tom. iii., p. 420; Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, fol. 35, 104; Albornoz, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 486; Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. iii., p. 88; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, p. 23; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 191.

Dress of the Mayas

By reason of the warmer climate in the southern lands, or of a difference in the popular taste, somewhat less attention seems to have been paid to dress and personal adornment by the Mayas than by the Nahuas, or rather the Maya dress was much more simple and more uniform among the different classes of society; and, so far as can be determined from the very scanty information extant, there was only a very slight variation in the dress of the different nations—much less, indeed, than would naturally be expected between the tribes of the low Yucatan plains and of the Guatemalan highlands. Very little of the information that has been preserved, however, relates to the people of Guatemala. Men wore almost universally the garment known in Mexico as the maxtli, a long strip of cotton cloth, wound several times round the loins and passing between the legs. This strip was often twisted so as to resemble a cord, and the higher the class or the greater the wealth of the wearer, the greater the length of the cord and the number of turns about the body. Among the Itzas and other tribes of Yucatan, instead of passing this garment between the legs, its ends were often allowed to hang, one in front and the other behind, being in such cases more or less embroidered or otherwise decorated.[1069]The Itzas, men and women, wore ‘faxas’ 4 varas long and 1/3 vara wide. Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 312, 402, 498. At Campeche, a strip of cotton one hand wide, twisted and wound 20 or 30 times about the body. Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., pp. 512-13. This garment called mastate. Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 2. Ends embroidered and decorated with feathers. Landa, Relacion, p. 116. Almayzares, called in New Spain mastil; otherwise naked. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. i., lib. v., cap. v., dec. ii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; Cortés’ Despatches, p. 4. The Chiapanecs naked except this cloth about the loins. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, pp. 292, 302. In more modern times the maxtli seems to have been, in some cases at least, replaced by cotton drawers, fastened with a string round the waist, and having the legs rolled up to the middle of the thigh.[1070]Plate showing the costume of an Indian of the interior. Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pl. v. Trowsers of cotton in Salvador. Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 321. A large proportion of the Mayas, especially of the poorer classes, wore commonly no other garment than the one mentioned; but very few were without a piece of cotton cloth about four or five feet square, which was used as a covering at night and was often worn in the daytime, by tying two corners on the same side over the shoulders and allowing the cloth to hang down the back. The Spaniards uniformly apply the somewhat indefinite term ‘mantle’ to this garment. These mantles are still worn.[1071]Called tilmas or hayates, a yard and a half square. Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 187. Mantles called zuyen. Id., p. 2. ‘Mantas pintadas.’ Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 147. The only other garment mentioned, and one not definitely stated to have been worn except in Yucatan, was a kind of loose sleeveless shirt reaching to the knees. These shirts as well as the mantles were worn both white and dyed in brilliant and variegated colors.[1072]Cotton robes of bright colors. Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 551. ‘Tuniques.’ Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 52. ‘Sacks.’ Fancourt’s Hist. Yuc., pp. 284-5. ‘Camisetas de colores.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., p. 497. ‘Xaquetas de algodon.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 2. ‘Camisette senza maniche.’ Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, pp. 98, 104. I find no mention of other material than cotton used for clothing, except in the case of the Cakchiquels, who, according to Brasseur, wore both bark and maguey-fibre.[1073]Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 172. Mayas dress like the Mexicans. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.

There is nothing to indicate that the dress of nobles, priests, or kings, differed essentially from that of the common people, except in fineness of material or richness and profusion of ornaments. It is probable, however, that the higher classes were always clad in the garments which have been described, while a majority of the plebeians wore only the maxtli, which was sometimes only a single strip of cloth passing once round the waist and between the legs. As rulers and priests are often spoken of as dressed in ‘large white mantles’ or ‘flowing robes,’ it is probable that the mantle worn by them was much larger, as well as of finer stuff, than that described. Landa speaks of a priest in Yucatan who wore an upper garment of colored feathers, with strips of cotton hanging from its border to the ground. Palacio tells us of priestly robes in Salvador of different colors, black, blue, green, red, and yellow. According to Remesal the priests of Guatemala were filthy, abominable, and ugly, in fact very hogs in dress. In Nicaragua, Herrera describes white cotton surplices, and other priestly vestments, some small, others hanging from the shoulders to the heels, with hanging pockets, in which were carried stone lancets, with various herbs and powders, indispensable in the practice of sacerdotal arts. Ximenez represents the Guatemalan king’s dress as like that of the people, except that he had his ears and nose pierced, of which more anon.[1074]Landa, Relacion, pp. 148-50; Palacio, Carta, pp. 62-4; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, p. 137; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. x., dec. ii., lib. ii., cap. xvii.; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 197; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 54.

Dress of Women and Children

The women universally wore a skirt formed by winding a wide piece of cotton cloth round the body and fastening it at the waist. This garment reached from the waist to the knee, as worn by the plebeian women, but those of a higher class covered with it their legs as low as the ankles. In some parts of Nicaragua, especially on the islands, Herrera says that except this skirt, which was so scanty as hardly to merit a better name than breech-clout, the women were naked; but elsewhere they were always particular to cover their breasts from sight. This they accomplished in some cases by a piece of cloth round the neck, and fastened under the arms; but they alsooften wore a kind of chemise, or loose sack, with holes for the head and arms, and sometimes with short sleeves. The latter garment was always worn on feast-days by those who had it to wear. Andagoya mentions a sort of cape worn in Nicaragua, which had a hole for the head, and covered the breasts and half of the arms. Herrera speaks of a sack open at both ends, and tightened at the waist, worn in Nicaragua; and Landa mentions the same garment in Yucatan. The women, like the men, used a square mantle to sleep under, and carried it with them on journeys. Children were allowed to remain naked in Yucatan till they were four or five years old, and in Guatemala to the age of eight or nine years; but in Yucatan, Landa tells us, that a boy at the age of three years, had a white ornament tied in his hair, and a girl at the same age had a shell fastened by a string in such a manner as to cover certain parts of her person.[1075]‘L’étoffe rayée d’une ou de plusieurs couleurs que les femmes se roulent encore autour du corps en la serrant à la ceinture comme un jupon, descendant plus ou moins bas au-dessous du genou, se trouve être exactement la même que l’on voit aux images d’Isis et aux femmes égyptiennes des époques pharaoniques.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 67. Skirt from the waist to feet, called pic. Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 187-8, 699. ‘Ropas de algodon, que llaman naguas.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 2; Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viajes, tom. iii., p. 414; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv.; Landa, Relacion, pp. 184-6, 16, 144-6, 180.

It is very difficult to form any definite idea of the Maya methods of dressing the hair, save that all allowed it to grow long, and most persons separated it into tresses, winding some of them about the head and allowing others to hang down the back. Landa informs us that the Yucatecs burned the hair on the crown, allowing it to remain short there, but permitted the rest to grow as long as it would, binding it round the head except a queue behind. In Nicaragua, the forehead was shaved, and sometimes the whole head except a tuft at the crown. The women everywhere and men generally took great pains with the hair; the former often mixed feathers with their raven locks, which were dressed differently according as the owners were married or single, and particular care was devoted to the coiffure of a bride. All the authorities agree that the priests in Yucatan wore the hair long, uncombed, and often saturated with sacrificial blood. Plumes of feathers seem to have been their usual head-dress. Palacio and Herrera mention a colored head-dress, mitre, or diadem with hanging plumes worn by a priest in Salvador. Over the hair a piece of cloth was usually worn by females, in which the Abbé Brasseur finds a resemblance to the Egyptian calantica. A tuft of hair hanging over the face of children often made them cross-eyed; indeed, mothers are said to have arranged it with a view to this very effect, deemed by them a desirable thing, or to have attached to the forehead a small hanging plaster for the same purpose. The number of ‘bizcos’ treated by Dr Cabot, who accompanied Mr Stephens in his excursion through Yucatan, shows that though squinting eyes are still common in the country, the defect has at least lost its charm to the Maya mothers.[1076]‘Es lo mas dificultoso en los Indios el reduzirlos à cortarles el pelo.’ Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 498, 312. In Guatemala somewhat less attention seems to have been paid to the hair. ‘Trayanlo encrespado, ò rebujado en la cabeça como estopas, à causa de que no se lo peynauan.’ Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, p. 302; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 187, speaks of straw and palm-leaf hats, but he probably refers to his own time. Hair of priests filled with blood. Id., p. 5; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 3; Squier’s Cent. Amer., pp. 321, 551. In Nicaragua ‘traen rapadas las cabeças de la mitad adelante é los aladares por debaxo, é déxanse una coleta de oreja á oreja por detrás desde la coronilla.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 38, 108; Landa, Relacion, pp. 112-14, 184; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 68; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iii., lib. viii., cap. x. Aguilar wore a ‘corona y trença de cabellos, como los naturales.’ Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 62; Id., Conq. Mex., fol. 23; Palacio, Carta, p. 62.

No beard was worn, and the few hairs that made their appearance on the face were immediately extracted. According to Landa, mothers are said to have burned the faces of young children with hot cloths to prevent the growth of a beard in later years. After the Conquest many of the natives grew beards, which, though sometimes long, were always thin and coarse. Something like a beard is also to be seen on some of the sculptured faces among the Maya ruins. Oviedo met in Nicaragua a man about seventy years of age, who had a long flowing white beard.[1077]Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, p. 35; Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 341; Landa, Relacion, p. 114; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iii.; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 111.

The Mayas, when they covered the feet at all, wore a kind of sandal of coarse cloth, or more frequently of dry deer-skin. These sandals were simply pieces of skin, often double, covering and fitting somewhat the sole, and fastened by cotton strings from the ankle to the toes and perhaps also to the heel. I find no account of hand-coverings except in the Popol Vuh, where gloves are spoken of as being used in the game of ball.[1078]‘Traian sandalias de cañamo o cuero de venado por curtir seco.’ Landa, Relacion, p. 116. They generally went barefoot. Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 187. Sandals in Nicaragua called gutaras. Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 38-9; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 347; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. 77.

Disfigurement of the Physique

Having provided for their comfort by the use of the articles of dress already described, the Mayas, like most other American aborigines, deemed it essential to modify and improve their physique by artificial means. This they accomplished by head-flattening, teeth-filing, perforation of the ears, nose, and lips, tattooing, and painting; yet it is not probable that all these methods of disfigurement were practiced by all the natives. In Nicaragua, the heads of infants were flattened; the people believed that the custom had been originally introduced by the gods; that the compressed forehead was the sign of noble blood and the highest type of beauty; and besides that the head was thus better adapted to the carrying of burdens. In Yucatan, according to Landa, the same custom obtained. Four or five days after birth the child was laid with the face down on a bed and the head was compressed between two pieces of wood, one on the forehead and the other on the back of the head, the boards being kept in place for several days until the desired cranial conformation was effected. So great was the pressure that the child’s skull was sometimes broken. I find no account of forehead-flattening in Guatemala and Chiapas, though Mr Squier, following Fuentes’ unpublished history, says that among the Quichés, Cakchiquels, and Zutugils the back of the head was flattened by the practice of carrying infants tied closely to a straight board. Yet from the frequent occurrence of this cranial type in the sculptured profiles in Chiapas, Honduras, and Yucatan, there can be no doubt that in the most ancient times a flattened forehead was the ideal of manly beauty, and I think we have sufficient reason to believe that the artificial shaping of the skull was even more universally practiced in ancient than in modern times. The origin of the custom is a most interesting topic for study and speculation.[1079]Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 54; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iii.; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 345; Id., in Palacio, Carta, p. 106; Landa, Relacion, pp. 114, 180, 194.

The practice of filing the teeth prevailed to a certain extent among the women of Yucatan, whose ideal of dental charms rendered a saw-teeth arrangement desirable. The operation was performed by certain old women, professors of the art, by means of sharp gritty stones and water.[1080]Landa, Relacion, p. 182. The piercing of ears, nose, and lips was practiced among all the nations by both men and women apparently, except in Guatemala, where, Ximenez tells us, it was confined to the kings, who perforated the nose and ears as a mark of rank and power. We have no authority for supposing that persons of any class in Yucatan and Nicaragua were restrained from this mutilation of their faces, or from wearing in the perforated features any ornaments they could afford to purchase. Such ornaments were small sticks, bones, shells, and rings of amber or gold. Other ornaments besides those inserted in the ears, nose, and lips, were bracelets, rings, gold beads, and medals, shell necklaces, metallic and wooden wands, gilded masks, feathers and plumes, and pearls. Besides this piercing for ornamental purposes, it should be noted that perforation of cheeks and tongues, and scarifyings of other parts of body and limbs, were common in connection with religious rites and duties.[1081]A war party: ‘Agujeradas narizes, y orejas con sus narigeras, y orejeras de Cuzcas, y otras piedras de diuersos colores.’ Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 73. The Itzas wore in the nose ‘una baynilla olorosa,’and in the ears, ‘vn palo labrado.’ Id., p. 699. ‘Sartales de Caracoles colorados,’ much prized by the Itzas. Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 48. Small sticks in the ears, and little reeds or amber rings, or grains of vanilla, in the nose. Id., pp. 312, 402. A few silver and gold ear-ornaments. Id., pp. 497-9. On the peninsula of Yucatan, ‘trayan las orejas horadadas para çarcillos.’ Landa, Relacion, p. 114. The priest carried ‘un isopo en la mano de un palo corto muy labrado, y por barbas o pelos del isopo ciertas colas de unas culebras que son como caxcaveles.’ Id., pp. 149-50. Women pierced nose and ears. Id., p. 182. In Nicaragua ‘traen sajadas las lenguas por debaxo, é las orejas, é algunos los miembros viriles, é no las mugeres ninguna cosa destas, y ellos y ellas horadadas las orejas de grandes agujeros.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 38-9, tom. i., p. 497. King in Yucatan wore ‘des bracelets et des manchettes d’une élégance égale à la beauté de la matière.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 54. ‘Tecaüh, qui est le bijou que les chefs indiens portaient fréquemment à la lèvre inférieure ou au cartilage du nez.’ Id., p. 92. See also Cortés, Cartas, p. 3; Camargo,Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcix., p. 144; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. iv., cap. vii., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii., lib. vii., cap. ix., dec. iv., lib. iii., cap. iii., lib. x., cap. iii., iv.; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 60, 62; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 347; Id., Cent. Amer., p. 551; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 197; Diaz, Itinéraire, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., pp. 16, 25, 39; Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 147.

Tattooing and Painting

Tattooing was effected in Yucatan and Nicaragua by lacerating the body with stone lancets, and rubbing the wounds with powdered coal or black earths, which left indelible marks. Stripes, serpents, and birds seem to have been favorite devices for this kind of decoration. The process was a slow and painful one, and to submit to it was deemed a sign of bravery. The tattooing was done by professors who made this art a specialty. Cogolludo says the Itzas had the whole body tattooed, but Landa and Herrera tell us that neither in Yucatan nor in Nicaragua were the breasts of the women subjected to this decorative mutilation.[1082]‘Los oficiales dello labravan la parte que querian con tinta, y despues sejavanle delicadamente las pinturas, y assi con la sangre y tinta quedavan en el cuerpo las señales, y que se labran poco a poco por el tormento grande, y tambien se ponen despues malos, porque se les enconavan los labores, y haziase materia, y que con todo esso se mofavan de los que no se labravan.’ Landa, Relacion, pp. 120, 182; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 186, 699; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, p. 293; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 402, 498; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv.; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 38; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 47; Fancourt’s Hist. Yuc., pp. 121, 285; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., p. 205. Painting the face and body was universal, but little can be said respecting the details of the custom, save that red and black were apparently the favorite colors, and colored earths the most common material of the paints. Bixa was, however, much used for red, and cacao tinted with bixa to a blood-red hue was daubed in great profusion on the faces of the Nicaraguans. In Yucatan young men generally restricted themselves to black until they were married, indulging afterwards in varied and bright-colored figures. Black was also a favorite color for war-paint. Odoriferous gums were often mixed with the paints, especially by the women, which rendered the decoration durable, sticky, and most disagreeable to foreign olfactories. It appears that in Guatemala, and probably elsewhere, a coat of paint was employed, not only for ornamental purposes, but as a protection against heat and cold. At certain Nicaraguan feasts and dances the naked bodies were painted in imitation of the ordinary garments, cotton-fibre being mixed with the paint.[1083]Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, p. 302; Landa, Relacion, pp. 114-16, 178-80, 182, 184; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 6, 77; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 107, 402, 490, 499; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., pp. 297, 318, 498, tom. iv., p. 111; Cortés, Cartas, p. 422; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 62; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, pp. 71-2, 189.

Personal Habits

All were fond of perfumes, and besides the odoriferous substances mixed by the ladies in their paint, copal and other gums were burned on many occasions, not only in honor of the gods, but for the agreeable odor of the smoke; sweet-smelling barks, herbs, and flowers were also habitually carried on the person.[1084]‘Eran amigos de buenos olores y que por esto usan de ramilletes de flores y yervas olorosas, muy curiosos y labrados.’ Landa, Relacion, p. 114. ‘Des roseaux longs de deux palmes, et qui répandaient une excellente odeur quand on les brûlait.’ Diaz, Itinéraire, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 7; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iii.; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 68; Valois, Mexique, p. 206. All the Mayas, especially females, were rather neat than otherwise in their personal habits, taking great pains with their dress and so-called decorations. They bathed frequently in cold water and sometimes indulged in hot baths, perhaps in steam-baths; but of the latter very little is said, although Brasseur says it was used in Guatemala under the name of tuh. The women were very modest and usually took much pains to prevent the exposure of their persons, but in bathing and on certain other occasions both sexes appear to have been somewhat careless in this respect. In both Yucatan and Nicaragua mirrors were employed by the men, but the women required or at least employed no such aids.[1085]‘Se vañavan mucho, no curando de cubrirse de las mugeres, sino quando podia cubrir la mano.’ Landa, Relacion, p. 114. ‘Se lavan las manos y la boca despues de comer.’ Id., p. 120. The women stripped naked in the wells where they bathed; they took hot baths rather for health than cleanliness. Id., p. 184. The women ‘tienen poco secreto, y no son tan limpias en sus personas ni en sus cosas con quanto se lavan como los ermiños.’ Id., p. 192. ‘Los hombres haçen aguas puestos en cluquillas, é las mugeres estando derechas de piés á dó quiera que les viene la gana.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 38; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iii., iv.; Dávila, Teatro Ecles., tom. i., p. 203; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 263; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 263; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 68. Although such disfigurements as have been described, painting, tattooing, and perforation, are reported by all the authors, and were all doubtless practiced, yet one can hardly avoid forming the idea in reading the narratives of the conquerors, that such hideous mutilations were confined to certain classes and certain occasions, and that the mass of the people in every-day life presented a much less repulsive aspect.

I have already spoken of the tenure of landed property and the laws of inheritance among the Mayas. To the accumulation of wealth in the form of personal property they do not seem to have attached much importance. They were content for the most part with a supply of simple food for their tables, the necessary household utensils, and such articles of dress and ornament as were required by their social rank; with these and a sufficient surplus to entertain their friends in a fitting style, they took little care for the future. Yet traders were a class much honored, and their profession was a lucrative one. An active trade was carried on in each town, as also between different towns, provinces, and nations, in order that the people of each locality might be supplied with the necessary commodities both of home and foreign production. Few details have been preserved respecting the manner of conducting trade, but what is known on the subject indicates that the commercial system was identical with that of the Nahuas, to which a preceding chapter has been devoted. Commodities of every class, food, dress, ornaments, weapons, and implements, were offered for sale in the market-place, or plaza, of every village, where all transactions between buyers and sellers were regulated by an official who had full authority to correct abuses and punish offences against the laws of trade. Fairs were held periodically in all the larger towns, which were crowded by buyers and sellers from abroad. Traveling merchants traversed the country in every direction busied in the exchange and transport of varied local products. Yucatan did a large foreign trade with Tabasco and Honduras, from both of which regions large quantities of cacao were imported. Other international routes of commerce doubtless existed in different directions; we have seen that the Nahua merchants crossed the isthmus of Tehuantepec to traffic in Maya lands, and the southern merchants were doubtless not unrepresented in the northern fairs. Transportation was effected for the most part by carriers overland, and in many parts of the country, as in Yucatan, magnificent paved roads offered every facility to the traveler; quite an extensive coasting-trade was also carried on by water.

The ordinary mercantile transactions were effected by exchange, or barter, of one commodity for another; but where this was inconvenient cacao passed current as money among all the nations. Thus a rabbit in Nicaragua sold for ten cacao-nibs, and one hundred of these seeds would buy a tolerably good slave. Notwithstanding the comparatively small value of this cacao-money, Oviedo tells us that counterfeiting was sometimes attempted. According to Cogolludo, copper bells and rattles of different sizes, red shells in strings, precious stones, and copper hatchets often served as money, especially in foreign trade. Doubtless many other articles, valuable and of compact form were used in the same way. Landa speaks of net-work purses in which the money of the natives was carried.

Market Regulations

We are informed that in Yucatan articles of ordinary consumption, like food, were sold always at a fixed price, except maize, which varied slightly in price according to the yield. Maize was sold by the carga, or load, which was about one half of the Castilian fanega. In Nicaragua the matter of price was left altogether to the contracting parties. The Mayas of all nations were very strict in requiring the exact fulfilment of contracts, which, in Yucatan, as has been said, and in Guatemala also, according to Brasseur de Bourbourg, were legalized by the parties drinking together, the beverage being generally colored with certain leaves called max. In the Nicaraguan markets some extraordinary regulations were enforced. Men could not visit the market-place of their own towns, either to buy, sell, or for any other purpose; they even incurred the risk of receiving a sound beating, if they so much as peeped in to see what was going on. All the business was transacted by the women; but boys, into whose minds, by reason of their tender years, carnal thoughts were supposed not to have entered, might be present to assist the women, and even men from other towns or provinces, were welcome, provided they did not belong to a people of different language.

No peculiar ceremonies are mentioned as accompanying the setting-out or return of trading caravans, but some customs observed by travelers, a large proportion of whom were probably merchants, are recorded. In Yucatan all members of a household prayed often and earnestly for the safe return of the absent member; and the traveler himself, when he chanced to come in contact with a large stone which had been moved in opening the road, reverently laid upon it a green branch, brushing his knees with another at the same time as a preventive of fatigue. He also carried incense on his journey, and at each nightfall, wherever he might be, he stood on end three small stones, and on three other flat stones placed before the first he burned incense and uttered a prayer to Ekchua, god of travelers, whose name signifies ‘merchant.’ When the traveler was belated, and thought himself likely to arrive after dark at his proposed stopping-place, he deposited a stone in a hollow tree, and pulled out some hairs from his eyebrows, which he proceeded to blow towards the setting sun, hoping thereby to induce that orb to retard somewhat its movements. In Guatemala, small chapels were placed at short intervals on all the lines of travel, where each passer halted for a few moments at least, gathered a handful of herbs, rubbed with them his legs, spat reverently upon them, and placed them prayerfully upon the altar with a small stone and some trifling offering of pepper, salt, or cacao. The offering remained untouched, no one being bold enough to disturb the sacred token.[1086]The following are my authorities on the Maya commerce, many references to simple mentions of articles bought and sold and to the use of cacao as money being omitted. Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 203; Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., pp. 137, 147; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec i., lib. v., cap. v., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii., lib. v., cap. xii., lib. vii., cap. ix., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. iii., ix.; Landa, Relacion, pp. 32, 128-30, 156-8; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 181, 183; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 311; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., p. 316, tom. iii., p. 253, tom. iv., pp. 36-7, 49, 54, 104; Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. i.; Cortés, Cartas, p. 422; Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, fol. 102, 109; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 50-1, 71, 564; Id., Popol Vuh, p. 97; Squier’s Nicaragua (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 346; Id., Cent. Amer., p. 320; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 8; Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viajes, tom. iii., p. 414.

Maya Boats and Navigation

Oviedo states that in Nicaragua, or at least in certain parts of that country, the people had no canoes, but resorted to balsas when it became necessary to cross the water. The balsa in this region was simply a raft of five or six logs tied together at the ends with grass, and covered with cross-sticks. The author referred to saw a fleet of these aboriginal vessels which bore fifteen hundred warriors. On the coast of Yucatan and in the lakes of Peten, the natives had many canoes for use in war and commerce, and were very skillful in their management. These canoes were ‘dug-outs’ made from single trunks, capable of carrying from two to fifty persons, and propelled by paddles. Cogolludo tells us that canoes with sails were seen by Córdova during his voyage up the coast, and some modern writers speak of the famous canoe met by Columbus off the Honduras coast as having been fitted with sails; but in the latter case there seems to be no authority for the statement, and that sails were ever employed may well be considered doubtful. The boat seen by Columbus was eight feet wide, “as long as a galley,” bore twenty-five men, and an awning of mats in the centre protected the women and children. All the information we have respecting boats in Guatemala is the statement of Peter Martyr that the ‘dug-outs’ were also in use there, and of Juarros that the Lacandones had a large fleet of boats; Guatemala was a country, however, whose physical conformation would rarely call for navigation on an extensive scale. Villagutierre says that the Chiapanecs used gourd balsas, or ‘calabazas.'[1087]Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 4; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 2; Diaz, Itinéraire, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 21; Id., in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 292; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 353, 369, 489, 76; Peter Martyr, dec. viii., lib. v.; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 100; Juarros’ Hist. Guat., p. 271; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. i., lib. v., cap. v.; Folsom, in Cortés’ Despatches, pp. 3-4; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 226-7. See vol. i., p. 699, of this work.

Wars among the Maya nations were frequent,—more so probably during the century preceding the Spanish conquest, when their history is partially known, than in the more glorious days of the distant past,—but they were also, as a rule, of short duration, partaking more of the character of raids than of regular wars. One campaign generally decided the tribal or national dispute, and the victors were content with the victory and the captives taken. Landa and Herrera report that the nations of Yucatan learned the art of war from the Mexicans, having been an altogether peaceful people before the Nahua influence was brought to bear on them. The latter also suspects that the Yucatec war-customs, as observed by the Spaniards, may have been modified by the teaching of Guerrero and Aguilar, white men held for several years as prisoners before the invaders came; but neither theory seems to have much weight.

The profession of arms was everywhere an honorable one, but military preferment and promotion seem to have been somewhat more exclusively confined to the nobility than among the Nahuas. According to Landa, a certain number of picked men were appointed in each town, who were called holcanes, must be ready to take up arms whenever called for, and received a small amount of money for their services while in actual war. This is the only instance of a paid soldiery noted in the limits of our territory.[1088]Landa, Relacion, pp. 174, 48; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv., lib. iii., cap. iii. The Chiapanecs were among the boldest warriors. Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 178.

In Nicaragua Tapaligui was the most honorable title a man could win by bravery, and from the number of those who bore the title the war-captain was in most provinces appointed either by the monexico, or council, or by the cacique. This captain was for the most part independent of the civil ruler in time of war, but Boyle speaks of certain cities where the cacique himself commanded the army. The civil chief, however, if he possessed the requisite bravery, often accompanied the troops to the field to take command at the captain’s death, or appoint his successor.[1089]Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 38, 53; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 264; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 342; Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., p. 272. In Yucatan they had two war-captains, one of whom held his position by inheritance, while the other was chosen for a term of three years. The title of the latter was Nacon, and his office seems to have been attended with some inconveniences, since during the three years he could know no woman, eat no meat, indulge in no intoxication, and have but little to do with the public. Fish and iguana-flesh were allowed him, but it must be served on dishes used by no one but himself, and must not be served by women. In Vera Paz the captains were chosen from among the most distinguished braves, and seem to have held their position for life.[1090]Landa, Relacion, p. 172; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 202.

Insignia of Warriors

In Yucatan skins and feathers, worn according to fixed rules, not recorded, were among the most prominent insignia of warriors. The face was painted in various colors; and tattooing the hands was a privilege accorded to the brave. The Itzas fought naked, but painted face, body, and limbs black, the brave tattooing the face in stripes. Feather plumes are the only insignia mentioned in connection with Guatemalan warriors; but the grade of a Pipile’s prowess was indicated by the number of holes he had in ears, nose, and other features. All officers in the Nicaraguan armies had distinguishing marks, which they wore both in time of war and of peace; the Tapaligui was allowed to shave his head except on the crown, where the hair was left a finger long, with a longer tuft projecting from the centre. The arrangement of the feathers on the shield also indicated to the soldiers an officer’s rank.[1091]Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 38; Landa, Relacion, p. 172; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. iv., cap. viii., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii., lib. v., cap. x., lib. vii., cap. iii., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. x.; Palacio, Carta, pp. 70-2; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 391, 498-9; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 342; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 558-9; Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., p. 270.

The universal Maya armor was a thick quilted sack of cotton, which fitted closely over the body and arms, and reached generally to the middle of the thighs, although Alvarado found the Guatemalans clad in similar sacks reaching to the feet. In Yucatan, according to Landa, a layer of salt was placed between the thicknesses of cotton, making the garment very hard and impenetrable. As the Guatemalan armor is described as being three fingers thick and so heavy that the soldiers could with difficulty run or rise after falling, we may suppose that salt or some similar material was also used by the Quichés. Squier mentions, apparently without sufficient authority, short breeches worn to protect the legs. The Spaniards were not long in recognizing the advantages of the native cotton armor, and it was commonly adopted or added to their own armor of steel. The head-armor, when any was worn, seems to have been ordinarily a kind of cap, also of quilted cotton. Landa says that in Yucatan a few leaders wore wooden helmets; they are also mentioned by Gomara and Las Casas. Peter Martyr speaks of golden helmets and breast-plates as worn in Nicaragua. Shields were made of split reeds, were round in form, and were covered generally with skins and decorated with feathers, though a cotton covering was also used in Nicaragua.[1092]Cotton armor called in some places escaupiles. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. iii., cap. iii. Both white and colored. Id., dec. iii., lib. v., cap. x., lib. iv., cap. vi., dec. ii., lib. ii., cap. xvii., lib. iii., cap. i. Called by the Quichés achcayupiles. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 91; Landa, Relacion, p. 172; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 6; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 2; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 62; Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 148; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 484, tom. iv., p. 53; Alvarado, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 140; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 347.

Aboriginal Weapons

Bows and arrows, lances, and darts were used as weapons of war by all the Maya tribes, the projectiles being usually pointed with flint, but often also with fish-bone or copper. Arrows were carried in quivers and were never poisoned. The Yucatec bow, as Landa informs us, was a little shorter than the man who carried it, and was made of a very strong native wood; the string was made of the fibres of certain plants. The arrows were light reeds with a piece of hard wood at the end. Oviedo tells us of lances, or pikes, in Nicaragua, which were thirty spans long, and others in Yucatan fifteen spans long; Herrera says they were over twenty feet long in Guatemala, and that their heads were poisoned; though Oviedo denies that poison was used. In Nicaragua and Yucatan heavy wooden swords, called by the Mexicans macuahuitl, were used, but I find no special mention of these weapons in Guatemala. A line of sharp flints were firmly set along the two edges, and, wielded with both hands they were a most formidable weapon. Waldeck found in modern times the horn of a sawfish covered with skin and used as a weapon. He thinks the aboriginal weapon may have been fashioned after this natural model. Slings were extensively used in Yucatan, and also copper axes to some extent, but these are supposed to have been imported from Mexico, as no metals are found in the peninsula.[1093]Macanas used as weapons in Nicaragua. Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 53, 33, tom. i., pp. 511-12, tom. iii., pp. 231, 484. Crystal-pointed arrows used by the Itzas, and chiefs had short flint knives, with feathers on the handles. Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 495, 41, 92. Hardened rods, or pikes. Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 77, 2. Darts thrown from a ‘tiradera.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. ii., cap, xvii., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vi., lib. v., cap. x., lib. vii., cap. iii., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. ii. A bat was the sign of a Cakchiquel armory. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. 225. See also Maya weapons. Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 341, 347; Peter Martyr, dec. vi., lib. v.; Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., p. 258; Scherzer, Wanderungen, p. 63; Landa, Relacion, pp. 48, 170; Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 148; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 64, with cut; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 186, 194; Diaz, Itinéraire, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 25; Id., in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 295; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 2; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 127.

The Quichés, Cakchiquels, and other tribes inhabiting the high lands of Guatemala, chose the location of their towns in places naturally well nigh inaccessible, strengthening them besides with artificial fortifications in the shape of massive stone walls and deep ditches. Ruins of these fortified towns are very numerous and will be described elsewhere; a few words respecting Utatlan, the Quiché capital, and one of the most securely located and guarded cities, will suffice here. Standing on a level plateau, the city was bounded on every side by a deep ravine, believed to have been at some points artificial, and which could only be crossed at one place. Guarding this single approach a line of massive stone structures connected by ditches extends a long distance, and within this line of fortifications, at the entrance of the pass, is El Resguardo, a square-based pyramidical structure, one hundred and twenty feet high, rising in three terraces, and having its summit platform inclosed by a stone wall, covered with hard cement. A tower also rises from the summit. The Spaniards under Alvarado found their approach obstructed at various points in Guatemala by holes in which were pointed stakes fixed in the ground, and carefully concealed by a slight covering of turf; palisades, ditches, and walls of stone, logs, plants, or earth, were thrown across the road at every difficult pass; and large stones were kept ready to hurl or roll down upon the invaders. Numerous short pointed sticks were found on at least one occasion fixed upright in the ground, apparently a slight defense, but really a most formidable one, since the points were poisoned. Doubtless all these methods of defence had been practiced often before in their international wars against American foes. Strong defensive works are also mentioned in Chiapas, and Andagoya tells us of a town in Nicaragua fortified by a high and impenetrable hedge of cacti. In Yucatan the Spaniard’s progress was frequently opposed, at points favorable for such a purpose, by temporary trenches, barricades of stone, logs, and earth, and protected stations for bowmen and slingers; but in the selection of sites for their towns, notwithstanding the generally level surface of their country, facilities for defence seem to have been little or not at all considered. One, only, of the many ruined cities which have been explored, Tuloom, on the Eastern coast, stands on an eminence overlooking the ocean, in a very strong natural position; but strangely enough it is just here, where artificial defenses were least needed, that we find a massive wall surrounding the chief structures,—the only city wall standing in modern times, though Mayapan was traditionally a walled town, and a few slight traces of walls have been found about other cities.[1094]See vol. iv., chap. iv., v., for a full description of Maya ruins, with plates. See Landa, Relacion, p. 174; Alvarado, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., pp. 112, 117; Godoi, in Id., p. 158; Cortés, Cartas, pp. 425-6; Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 87; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., p. 534, tom. iii., pp. 477-8; Fuentes, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 243; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. iii., cap. iii., lib. x., cap. iii.; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 41; Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viajes, tom. iii., p. 407.

Declaration of War

The ambition of the native rulers to increase their dominions by encroachments upon their neighbors’ territory was probably the cause of most wars among the Maya nations; but raids were also undertaken occasionally, with no other object than that of obtaining victims for sacrifice. In the consultations preceding the declaration of war the priesthood had much to say, and played a prominent part in the accompanying ceremonies. In Salvador the high-priest with four subordinates decided on the war by drawing of lots and by various other sorceries, and even gave directions how the campaign was to be carried on. The high-priest was generally on the ground, in charge of certain idols, when an important battle was to be fought. Supplies were carried, in Yucatan at least, on the backs of women, and the want of adequate means of transportation is given as one reason why the Maya wars were usually of short duration. The Nicaraguan soldier, as Oviedo states, regarded a calabash of water and a supply of the herb yaat already mentioned, as the most indispensable of his supplies. Respecting their ceremonies before giving battle we only know that on one occasion in Yucatan they brought a brazier of burning perfume which they placed before the Spanish forces, with the intimation that an attack would be made as soon as the fire went out; and also that Alvarado noticed in Guatemala the sacrifice of a woman and a bitch as a preliminary of battle.

All fought bravely, with no apparent fear of death, endeavoring to capture the enemy alive, rather than to kill them, and at the same time to avoid being captured themselves by the sacrifice of life if necessary. In most nations it was deemed important to terrify the enemy by shouting, clanging of drums, sticks, and shells, and blowing of whistles. The armies of Yucatan are said to have exhibited somewhat better order in their military movements than those of other nations. They formed their forces into two wings, placing in the centre a squadron to guard the captain and high-priest. The Nicaraguans fought desperately until their leader fell, but then they always ran away. He who from cowardice failed to do his duty on the battle-field was by the Nicaraguan code disgraced, abused, insulted, stripped of his weapons, and discharged from the service, but was not often put to death. As has been stated in a preceding chapter treason and desertion were everywhere punished with death. All booty except captives belonged to the taker, and to return from a campaign without spoil was deemed a dishonor.

Pipile War Festival

Captives, if of noble blood or high rank, were sacrificed to the gods, and were rarely ransomed. The captor of a noble prisoner received high honors, but was punished if he accepted a ransom, the penalty being death in Nicaragua. The heads of the sacrificed captives were in Yucatan suspended in the branches of the trees, as memorials of victory, a separate tree being set apart for each hostile province. The bones, as Landa tells us, were kept by the captors, the jaw-bone being worn on the arm, as an ornament. We read of no actual torture of prisoners, but the Cakchiquels danced about the victim to be sacrificed, and loaded him with insults. Among the Pipiles it was left to the priests to decide whether the sacrifice should be in honor of a god or goddess; if the former, the festival lasted, according to Palacio, fifteen days; the captives were obliged to march in procession through the town, and one was sacrificed each day; if the feast was dedicated to a deity of the gentler sex, five days of festivities and blood sufficed. Prisoners of plebeian blood were enslaved, or only sacrificed when victims of higher rank were lacking. They were probably the property of the captors. At the close of a campaign in which no captives were taken, the Nicaraguan captains went together to the altar, and there wept ceremonial tears of sorrow for their want of success. The authorities record no details of the methods by which peace was ratified; the Yucatecs, however, according to Cogolludo, expressed to the Spaniards a desire for a suspension of hostilities, by throwing away their weapons, and by kissing their fingers, after touching them to the ground.[1095]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 386; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 5, 77, 130, 181; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii., dec. iv., lib. iii., cap. iii., lib. viii., cap. x., lib. x., cap. iv.; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 72-3, 76, 142, 281; Landa, Relacion, pp. 168, 174, 176; Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., pp. 144, 148; Palacio, Carta, pp. 70-2; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., pp. 276, 511-12, 523, tom. iii., pp. 230, 477, tom. iv., pp. 53-4; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 61, 264; Juarros’ Hist. Guat., p. 185, etc.; Peter Martyr, dec. viii., lib. v.; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 170, 198, 202-3; Alvarado, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., pp. 112, 138; Diaz, Itinéraire, in Id., pp. 17-18; Squier’s Cent. Amer., pp. 325, 333; Id., Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 342; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 544, 558-9; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 46; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 186; Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., p. 259; Fancourt’s Hist. Yuc., pp. 92, 116.

Footnotes

[1060] This history, written with Roman characters, but in the Quiché language, in the early years of the Conquest, was quoted by Brasseur de Bourbourg as the MS. Quiché de Chichicastenango, in his Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 59-60; a translation into Spanish by Ximenez appeared in 1857, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 79-80; and a translation into French by Brasseur de Bourbourg in 1861, Popol Vuh, pp. 195-9. Brasseur’s rendering is followed for the most part in my text, but so far as this extract is concerned there are only slight verbal differences between the two translations.

[1061] Landa, Relacion, p. 130; Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Id., p. 361. On the coast of Yucatan, ‘des racines dont ils font le pain, et qu’ils nomment maïs.’ Diaz, Itinéraire, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 8. The Lacandones applied themselves ‘al trabajo de sus Milpas, y Sementeras de Maiz, Chile, y Frixoles, entre que sembravan Piñas, Platanos, Batatas, Xicamas, Xacotes, Zapotes, y otras Frutas;’ their milpas were large, and were cleared with stone hatchets. Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 310-11. The Itzas had ‘mucha Grana, Cera, Algodòn, Achiote, Baynillas, y otras Legumbres.’ Id., pp. 353, 499. Many varieties of beans raised in Nicaragua. Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., p. 285. ‘Vi muchos destos perales en la provinçia de Nicaragua, puestos á mano en las heredades é plaças ó assientos de los indios, é por ellos cultivados. É son tan grandes árboles como nogales algunos dellos.’ Id., p. 353. Planting of maize, Id., pp. 265-6; tom. iv., pp. 104-5. See also on agriculture: Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, pp. 102-3; Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viajes, tom. iii., pp. 413-14; Cortés, Cartas, p. 405; Squier’s Cent. Amer., pp. 551, 556; Viollet-le-Duc, in Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 71; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 269; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., tom. i., p. 8.

[1062] Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 190-1; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 183; Palacio, Carta, pp. 72-4; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., p. 285; Dávila, Teatro Ecles., tom. i., p. 233; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 565-6.

[1063] In the province of Campeche the Spaniards were feasted on ‘Peacockes and crammed foule both of the Mountaynes, Woods, and Water, as Patryches, Quayles, Turtles, Duckes, Geese, and fourefooted wilde beastes, as Boores, Hartes, and Hares: besides Wolfes, Lyons, Tygers, and Foxes.’ Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. ii. ‘Juntanse tambien para la caça de L en L, mas o menos, y la carne del venado assan en parillas, porque no se les gaste, y venidos al pueblo, hazen sus presentes al señor, y distribuyen como amigos y el mesmo hazen en la pesca.’ Landa, Relacion, pp. 130-2, 46. In Vera Paz ‘tejones, que tienen buena carne, el bilab es mejor que carnero: venadillos vermejos, y otros bayos, y muchos otros que los Indios flechan, y comen algunos desollados, otros ahumados, y assados, en barbocoa, y en charque, y todo malguisado.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. xiii., xiv., ii. At Cozumel ‘el pescado es su casi principal manjar.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 22. See also Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., pp. 355, 424, 497, tom. iv., p. 33; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 187; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. 177; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. 63.

[1064] Landa, Relacion, p. 118; Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 148; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 184, 187-8, 700; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 41, 311; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., pp. 206-7, 411, 497, 507, tom. iii., p. 227; Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. vi., ii., dec. vi., lib. iii.; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. i., lib. v., cap. v., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. viii.; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 23; Id., Hist. Ind., fol. 61-2; Cortés, Cartas, p. 449; Fancourt’s Hist. Yuc., p. 32.

[1065] Cortés, Cartas, p. 23, tells us that no bread was made in Yucatan, but that maize was eaten roasted. The best tortillas in Nicaragua were called tascalpachon. Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., pp. 267, 324, 355, 411, 513, 523, tom. iii., p. 227. See also Landa, Relacion, pp. 116-20, 135; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. xiii.

[1066] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 69; Landa, Relacion, p. 120; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 180; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 111.

[1067] Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 89, 98, 312; Landa, Relacion, pp. 116-20, 192; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. i., lib. v., cap. v., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. ix., lib. x., cap. iv.; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., pp. 267, 317-18, tom. iv., p. 95; Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, fol. 102-3, 109; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxvii.; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 40; Cortés’ Despatches, p. 4; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 51-2, 499.

[1068] In Yucatan: ‘These Barbarians eate onely their enemies, or such strangers as come vnto them, otherwise they abstaine from mans flesh.’ Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. vi. In Guatemala the heads and tripe were seasoned with wine. Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxvii.; Id., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 147; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 649, 651; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 62; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. iv., cap. vii., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vi., vii., lib. vii., cap. iii., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv.; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 37, 51-2, 56, 108; Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viajes, tom. iii., p. 420; Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, fol. 35, 104; Albornoz, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 486; Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. iii., p. 88; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, p. 23; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 191.

[1069] The Itzas, men and women, wore ‘faxas’ 4 varas long and 1/3 vara wide. Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 312, 402, 498. At Campeche, a strip of cotton one hand wide, twisted and wound 20 or 30 times about the body. Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., pp. 512-13. This garment called mastate. Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 2. Ends embroidered and decorated with feathers. Landa, Relacion, p. 116. Almayzares, called in New Spain mastil; otherwise naked. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. i., lib. v., cap. v., dec. ii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; Cortés’ Despatches, p. 4. The Chiapanecs naked except this cloth about the loins. Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, pp. 292, 302.

[1070] Plate showing the costume of an Indian of the interior. Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pl. v. Trowsers of cotton in Salvador. Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 321.

[1071] Called tilmas or hayates, a yard and a half square. Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 187. Mantles called zuyen. Id., p. 2. ‘Mantas pintadas.’ Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 147.

[1072] Cotton robes of bright colors. Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 551. ‘Tuniques.’ Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 52. ‘Sacks.’ Fancourt’s Hist. Yuc., pp. 284-5. ‘Camisetas de colores.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., p. 497. ‘Xaquetas de algodon.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 2. ‘Camisette senza maniche.’ Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, pp. 98, 104.

[1073] Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 172. Mayas dress like the Mexicans. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.

[1074] Landa, Relacion, pp. 148-50; Palacio, Carta, pp. 62-4; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, p. 137; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. x., dec. ii., lib. ii., cap. xvii.; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 197; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 54.

[1075] ‘L’étoffe rayée d’une ou de plusieurs couleurs que les femmes se roulent encore autour du corps en la serrant à la ceinture comme un jupon, descendant plus ou moins bas au-dessous du genou, se trouve être exactement la même que l’on voit aux images d’Isis et aux femmes égyptiennes des époques pharaoniques.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 67. Skirt from the waist to feet, called pic. Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 187-8, 699. ‘Ropas de algodon, que llaman naguas.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 2; Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viajes, tom. iii., p. 414; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv.; Landa, Relacion, pp. 184-6, 16, 144-6, 180.

[1076] ‘Es lo mas dificultoso en los Indios el reduzirlos à cortarles el pelo.’ Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 498, 312. In Guatemala somewhat less attention seems to have been paid to the hair. ‘Trayanlo encrespado, ò rebujado en la cabeça como estopas, à causa de que no se lo peynauan.’ Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, p. 302; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 187, speaks of straw and palm-leaf hats, but he probably refers to his own time. Hair of priests filled with blood. Id., p. 5; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 3; Squier’s Cent. Amer., pp. 321, 551. In Nicaragua ‘traen rapadas las cabeças de la mitad adelante é los aladares por debaxo, é déxanse una coleta de oreja á oreja por detrás desde la coronilla.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 38, 108; Landa, Relacion, pp. 112-14, 184; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 68; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iii., lib. viii., cap. x. Aguilar wore a ‘corona y trença de cabellos, como los naturales.’ Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 62; Id., Conq. Mex., fol. 23; Palacio, Carta, p. 62.

[1077] Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, p. 35; Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 341; Landa, Relacion, p. 114; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iii.; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 111.

[1078] ‘Traian sandalias de cañamo o cuero de venado por curtir seco.’ Landa, Relacion, p. 116. They generally went barefoot. Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 187. Sandals in Nicaragua called gutaras. Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 38-9; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 347; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. 77.

[1079] Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 54; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iii.; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 345; Id., in Palacio, Carta, p. 106; Landa, Relacion, pp. 114, 180, 194.

[1080] Landa, Relacion, p. 182.

[1081] A war party: ‘Agujeradas narizes, y orejas con sus narigeras, y orejeras de Cuzcas, y otras piedras de diuersos colores.’ Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 73. The Itzas wore in the nose ‘una baynilla olorosa,’and in the ears, ‘vn palo labrado.’ Id., p. 699. ‘Sartales de Caracoles colorados,’ much prized by the Itzas. Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 48. Small sticks in the ears, and little reeds or amber rings, or grains of vanilla, in the nose. Id., pp. 312, 402. A few silver and gold ear-ornaments. Id., pp. 497-9. On the peninsula of Yucatan, ‘trayan las orejas horadadas para çarcillos.’ Landa, Relacion, p. 114. The priest carried ‘un isopo en la mano de un palo corto muy labrado, y por barbas o pelos del isopo ciertas colas de unas culebras que son como caxcaveles.’ Id., pp. 149-50. Women pierced nose and ears. Id., p. 182. In Nicaragua ‘traen sajadas las lenguas por debaxo, é las orejas, é algunos los miembros viriles, é no las mugeres ninguna cosa destas, y ellos y ellas horadadas las orejas de grandes agujeros.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 38-9, tom. i., p. 497. King in Yucatan wore ‘des bracelets et des manchettes d’une élégance égale à la beauté de la matière.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 54. ‘Tecaüh, qui est le bijou que les chefs indiens portaient fréquemment à la lèvre inférieure ou au cartilage du nez.’ Id., p. 92. See also Cortés, Cartas, p. 3; Camargo,Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcix., p. 144; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. iv., cap. vii., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii., lib. vii., cap. ix., dec. iv., lib. iii., cap. iii., lib. x., cap. iii., iv.; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 60, 62; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 347; Id., Cent. Amer., p. 551; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 197; Diaz, Itinéraire, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., pp. 16, 25, 39; Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 147.

[1082] ‘Los oficiales dello labravan la parte que querian con tinta, y despues sejavanle delicadamente las pinturas, y assi con la sangre y tinta quedavan en el cuerpo las señales, y que se labran poco a poco por el tormento grande, y tambien se ponen despues malos, porque se les enconavan los labores, y haziase materia, y que con todo esso se mofavan de los que no se labravan.’ Landa, Relacion, pp. 120, 182; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 186, 699; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, p. 293; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 402, 498; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv.; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 38; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 47; Fancourt’s Hist. Yuc., pp. 121, 285; Bussierre, L’Empire Mex., p. 205.

[1083] Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, p. 302; Landa, Relacion, pp. 114-16, 178-80, 182, 184; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 6, 77; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 107, 402, 490, 499; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., pp. 297, 318, 498, tom. iv., p. 111; Cortés, Cartas, p. 422; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 62; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, pp. 71-2, 189.

[1084] ‘Eran amigos de buenos olores y que por esto usan de ramilletes de flores y yervas olorosas, muy curiosos y labrados.’ Landa, Relacion, p. 114. ‘Des roseaux longs de deux palmes, et qui répandaient une excellente odeur quand on les brûlait.’ Diaz, Itinéraire, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 7; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iii.; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 68; Valois, Mexique, p. 206.

[1085] ‘Se vañavan mucho, no curando de cubrirse de las mugeres, sino quando podia cubrir la mano.’ Landa, Relacion, p. 114. ‘Se lavan las manos y la boca despues de comer.’ Id., p. 120. The women stripped naked in the wells where they bathed; they took hot baths rather for health than cleanliness. Id., p. 184. The women ‘tienen poco secreto, y no son tan limpias en sus personas ni en sus cosas con quanto se lavan como los ermiños.’ Id., p. 192. ‘Los hombres haçen aguas puestos en cluquillas, é las mugeres estando derechas de piés á dó quiera que les viene la gana.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 38; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iii., iv.; Dávila, Teatro Ecles., tom. i., p. 203; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 263; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 263; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 68.

[1086] The following are my authorities on the Maya commerce, many references to simple mentions of articles bought and sold and to the use of cacao as money being omitted. Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 203; Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., pp. 137, 147; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec i., lib. v., cap. v., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii., lib. v., cap. xii., lib. vii., cap. ix., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. iii., ix.; Landa, Relacion, pp. 32, 128-30, 156-8; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 181, 183; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 311; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., p. 316, tom. iii., p. 253, tom. iv., pp. 36-7, 49, 54, 104; Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. i.; Cortés, Cartas, p. 422; Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, fol. 102, 109; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 50-1, 71, 564; Id., Popol Vuh, p. 97; Squier’s Nicaragua (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 346; Id., Cent. Amer., p. 320; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 8; Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viajes, tom. iii., p. 414.

[1087] Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 4; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 2; Diaz, Itinéraire, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 21; Id., in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 292; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 353, 369, 489, 76; Peter Martyr, dec. viii., lib. v.; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 100; Juarros’ Hist. Guat., p. 271; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. i., lib. v., cap. v.; Folsom, in Cortés’ Despatches, pp. 3-4; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 226-7. See vol. i., p. 699, of this work.

[1088] Landa, Relacion, pp. 174, 48; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv., lib. iii., cap. iii. The Chiapanecs were among the boldest warriors. Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 178.

[1089] Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 38, 53; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 264; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 342; Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., p. 272.

[1090] Landa, Relacion, p. 172; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 202.

[1091] Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 38; Landa, Relacion, p. 172; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. iv., cap. viii., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii., lib. v., cap. x., lib. vii., cap. iii., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. x.; Palacio, Carta, pp. 70-2; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 391, 498-9; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 342; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 558-9; Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., p. 270.

[1092] Cotton armor called in some places escaupiles. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. iii., cap. iii. Both white and colored. Id., dec. iii., lib. v., cap. x., lib. iv., cap. vi., dec. ii., lib. ii., cap. xvii., lib. iii., cap. i. Called by the Quichés achcayupiles. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 91; Landa, Relacion, p. 172; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 6; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 2; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 62; Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 148; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 484, tom. iv., p. 53; Alvarado, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 140; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 347.

[1093] Macanas used as weapons in Nicaragua. Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 53, 33, tom. i., pp. 511-12, tom. iii., pp. 231, 484. Crystal-pointed arrows used by the Itzas, and chiefs had short flint knives, with feathers on the handles. Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 495, 41, 92. Hardened rods, or pikes. Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 77, 2. Darts thrown from a ‘tiradera.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. ii., cap, xvii., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vi., lib. v., cap. x., lib. vii., cap. iii., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. ii. A bat was the sign of a Cakchiquel armory. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. 225. See also Maya weapons. Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 341, 347; Peter Martyr, dec. vi., lib. v.; Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., p. 258; Scherzer, Wanderungen, p. 63; Landa, Relacion, pp. 48, 170; Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 148; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 64, with cut; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 186, 194; Diaz, Itinéraire, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 25; Id., in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 295; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 2; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 127.

[1094] See vol. iv., chap. iv., v., for a full description of Maya ruins, with plates. See Landa, Relacion, p. 174; Alvarado, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., pp. 112, 117; Godoi, in Id., p. 158; Cortés, Cartas, pp. 425-6; Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 87; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., p. 534, tom. iii., pp. 477-8; Fuentes, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 243; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. iii., cap. iii., lib. x., cap. iii.; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 41; Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viajes, tom. iii., p. 407.

[1095] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 386; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 5, 77, 130, 181; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii., dec. iv., lib. iii., cap. iii., lib. viii., cap. x., lib. x., cap. iv.; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 72-3, 76, 142, 281; Landa, Relacion, pp. 168, 174, 176; Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., pp. 144, 148; Palacio, Carta, pp. 70-2; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., pp. 276, 511-12, 523, tom. iii., pp. 230, 477, tom. iv., pp. 53-4; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 61, 264; Juarros’ Hist. Guat., p. 185, etc.; Peter Martyr, dec. viii., lib. v.; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 170, 198, 202-3; Alvarado, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., pp. 112, 138; Diaz, Itinéraire, in Id., pp. 17-18; Squier’s Cent. Amer., pp. 325, 333; Id., Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 342; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 544, 558-9; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 46; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 186; Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., p. 259; Fancourt’s Hist. Yuc., pp. 92, 116.

Chapter XXIV • Maya Arts, Calendar, and Hieroglyphics • 11,100 Words

Scarcity of Information—Use of Metals—Gold and Precious Stones—Implements of Stone—Sculpture—Pottery—Manufacture of Cloth—Dyeing—System of Numeration—Maya Calendar in Yucatan—Days, Weeks, Months, and Years—Indictions and Katunes—Perez’ System Of Ahau Katunes—Statements of Landa and Cogolludo—Intercalary Days and Years—Days and Months in Guatemala, Chiapas, and Soconusco—Maya Hieroglyphic System—Testimony of Early Writers on the Use of Picture-Writing—Destruction of Documents—Specimens which have Survived—The Dresden Codex—Manuscript Troano—Tablets of Palenque, Copan, and Yucatan—Bishop Landa’s Key—Brasseur de Bourbourg’s Interpretation.

Our knowledge of Maya arts and manufactures, so far as it depends on the statements of the early Spanish writers is very slight, and may be expressed in few words; especially as most of these arts seem to have been very nearly identical with those of the Nahuas, although many of them, at the time of the Conquest at least, were not carried to so high a grade of perfection as in the north. Some branches of mechanical art have indeed left material relics, which, examined in modern times, have extended our knowledge on the subject very far beyond what may be gleaned from sixteenth-century observations. But a volume of this work is set apart for the consideration of material relics with numerous illustrative plates, and although the temptation to use both information and plates from modern sources is particularly strong in some of the topics of this chapter and the following, a regard for the symmetry of the work, and the necessity of avoiding all repetition, cause me to confine myself here almost exclusively to the old authors, as I have done in describing the Nahua arts.

Knowledge of Metals

Iron was not known to the Mayas, and it is not quite certain that copper was mined or worked by them. The boat so often mentioned as having been met by Columbus off the coast, and supposed to have come from Yucatan, had on board crucibles for melting copper, and a large number of copper hatchets. Similar hatchets together with bells, ornaments, and spear and arrow points of the same metal were seen at various points, and were doubtless used to a considerable extent throughout Yucatan, Chiapas, and Guatemala. But there are no metallic deposits on the peninsula, and the copper instruments used there, or at least the material, must have been brought from the north, as it is indeed stated by several authors that they were. No metallic relics whatever have been found among the ruins of Yucatan, and only very few in other Maya regions. Copper implements are not mentioned by the early visitors to Nicaragua, and although that country abounds in ore of a variety easily worked, yet there is no evidence that it was used, and Squier’s statement that the Nicaraguans were skillful workers in this metal, probably rests on no stronger basis than the reported discovery of a copper mask at Ometepec. Godoi speaks of copper in Chiapas, and also of a metallic composition called cacao!

Small articles of gold, intended chiefly for ornamental purposes, were found everywhere in greater or less abundance by the Spaniards, the gold being generally described as of a low grade. Cortés speaks of the gold in Yucatan as alloyed with copper, and the same alloy is mentioned in Guatemala by Herrera, and in Nicaragua by Benzoni. The latter author says that gold was abundant in Nicaragua but was all brought from other provinces. He also states that there were no mines of any kind, but Oviedo, on the contrary, speaks of ‘good mines of gold.’ Articles of gold took the form of animals, fishes, birds, bells, small kettles and vases, beads, rings, bracelets, hatchets, small idols, bars, plates for covering armor, gilding or plating of wooden masks and clay beads, and settings for precious stones. Peter Martyr speaks of gold as formed in bars and stamped in Nicaragua, and Villagutierre of silver ‘rosillas’ in use among the Itzas. We have but slight information respecting the use of precious stones. Oviedo saw in Nicaragua a sun-dial of pearl set on jasper, and also speaks of wooden masks covered with stone mosaic and gold plates in Tabasco. Martyr tells us that the natives of Yucatan attached no value to Spanish counterfeited jewels, because they could take from their mines better ones of genuine worth.[1096]Two spindles with golden tissue. Cortés, Cartas, pp. 3, 422. Six golden idols, each one span long, in Nicaragua. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. v. 20 golden hatchets, 14 carats fine, weighing over 20 lbs. Id., lib. iv., cap. vi. Houses of goldsmiths that molded marvellously. Id., cap. vii. See also Id., dec. i., lib. v., cap. v. Little fishes and geese of low gold at Catoche. Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 4. Golden armor and ornaments at Tabasco River. Id., pp. 12-13. Idols of unknown metals among the Itzas. Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 495, 497. Gilded wooden mask, gold plates, little golden kettles. Diaz, Itinéraire, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x. pp. 16, 25. Vases of chiseled gold in Yucatan. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 69; Id., in Landa, Relacion, p. 32; Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, fol. 102; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 39, 95, tom. i., p. 520; Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. i., dec. vi., lib. ii., vi.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 354; Godoi, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 178; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 346. Respecting a copper mask from Nicaragua and two copper medals from Guatemala, see vol. iv. of this work.

Stone Carving

The few implements in common use among the Mayas, such as knives, chisels, hatchets, and metates, together with the spear and arrow heads already mentioned, were of flint, porphyry, or other hard stone. There is but little doubt that most of their elaborate sculpture on temples and idols was executed with stone implements, since the material employed was for the most part soft and easily worked. The carvings in the hard sapote-wood in Yucatan must have presented great difficulties to workmen without iron tools; but the fact remains that stone implements, with a few probably of hardened copper, sufficed with native skill and patience for all purposes. Villagutierre informs us that the Lacandones cut wood with stone hatchets. Cogolludo speaks of the remarkable facility which the natives displayed in learning the mechanical arts introduced by Spaniards, in using new and strange tools or adapting the native implements to new uses. All implements whether of the temple or the household, seem to have been ceremonially consecrated to their respective uses. Oviedo speaks of deer-bone combs used in Guatemala, and of another kind of combs the teeth of which were made of black wood and set in a composition like baked clay but which became soft on exposure to heat.

The early writers speak in general terms of idols of various human and animal forms, cut from all kinds of stone, and also from wood; Martyr also mentions an immense serpent in what he supposed to be a place of punishment in Yucatan, which was ‘compacted of bitumen and small stones.’ The Itzas constructed of stone and mortar the image of a horse, modeled on an animal left among them by Cortés. The Spanish authors say little or nothing of the sculpture of either idols or architectural decorations, except that it was elaborate, and often demon-like; but their observations on the subject would have had but little value, even had they been more extended, and fortunately architectural remains are sufficiently numerous and complete, at least in Yucatan, Honduras, and Chiapas, to supply information that, if not entirely satisfactory, is far more so than what we possess respecting other branches of Maya art. Brasseur de Bourbourg speaks of vases exquisitely worked from alabaster and agate in Yucatan; there is some authority for this in modern discoveries, but little or none, so far as I know, in the writings of the conquerors. Earthenware, shells, and the rind of the gourd were the material of Maya dishes. All speak of the native pottery as most excellent in workmanship, material, and painting, but give no details of its manufacture. Herrera, however, mentions a province of Guatemala, where very fine pottery was made by the women, and Palacio tells us that this branch of manufactures was one of the chief industries of Aguachapa, a town of the Pipiles.

All that is known of cloths and textile fabrics has been given in enumerating the various articles of dress; of any differences that may have existed between the Nahua and Maya methods of spinning and weaving cotton we know nothing. It is probable that the native methods have not been modified essentially in modern times among the same peoples. We are told that in Yucatan the wife of a god invented weaving, and was worshiped under the name of Ixazalvoh; while another who improved the invention by the use of colored threads was Yxchebelyax, also a goddess. Spinning and weaving was for the most part women’s work, and they are spoken of as industrious and skillful in the avocation. Bark and maguey-fibre were made into cloth by the Cakchiquels, and Oviedo mentions several plants whose fibre was worked into nets and ropes by the Nicaraguans. The numerous dye-woods which are still among the richest productions of the country in many parts, furnished the means of imparting to woven fabrics the bright hues of which the natives were so fond. Bright-colored feathers were highly prized and extensively used for decorative purposes. Garments of feathers are spoken of, which were probably made as they were in Mexico by pasting the plumage in various ornamental figures on cotton fabric.[1097]For slight notices of the various mechanical arts of the Mayas see the following authorities: Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., pp. 276, 350, 521, tom. iv., pp. 33, 36, 105-9; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 354, tom. ii., p. 346; Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 329; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 4, 13, 187, 196; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. ii., cap. xvii., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. ix., lib. x., cap. ii., xiv.; Landa, Relacion, pp. 116, 120, 128-9; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 100, 311-12, 495, 499-501; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa., p. 293; Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. ii., dec. vi., lib. iii.; Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, fol. 98, 102-3; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 203; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 268; Cortés, Cartas, p. 489; Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viajes, tom. iii., p. 416; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxiv.; Id., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., pp. 147-8; Palacio, Carta, p. 44; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., pp. 339, 346; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 212; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 69, 172, 563.

System of Numeration

The following table will give the reader a clear idea of the Maya system of numeration as it existed in Yucatan; the definitions of some of the names are taken from the Maya dictionary, and may or may not have any application to the subject:

System of Numeration in Yucatan

1	hun, ‘paper’
2	ca, ‘calabash’
3	ox, ‘shelled corn’
4	can, ‘serpent’ or ‘count’
5	ho, ‘entry’
6	uac
7	uuc
8	uaxac, ‘something standing erect’
9	bolon, bol, ‘to roll or turn’
10	lahun, lah, ‘a stone’
11	buluc, ‘drowned’
12	lachá, (lahun-ca), 10 + 2
13	oxlahun, 3 + 10
14	canlahun, 4 + 10
15	holhun, (ho-lahun), 5 + 10
16	uaclahun, 6 + 10, etc.
20	hunkal, kal, ‘neck,’ or a measure, 1 × 20
21	huntukal, 1 + 20
22	catukal, 2 + 20, etc.
28	uaxactukal, or hunkal catac uaxac, 8 + 20, or 20 + 8 catac, ‘and’
30	luhucakal, 2 × 20 – 10 (?)
31	buluctukal, 11 + 20
32	lahcatukal, 12 + 20
33	oxlahutukal, 13 + 20, etc.
40	cakal, 2 × 20
41	huntuyoxkal
42	catuyoxkal
50	lahuyoxkal
51	buluctuyoxkal
60	oxhal, 3 × 20
61	huntucankal
70	lahucankal
71	buluctucankal
80	cankal, 4 × 20
81	hutuyokal
82	catuyokal
90	lahuyokal
100	ho-kal, 5 × 20
101	huntu uackal
102	catu uackal
110	lahu uackal
115	holhu uackal
120	uackal, 6 × 20
130	lahu uuckal
131	buluc tu uuckal
140	uuckal, 7 × 20
141	huntu uaxackal
160	uaxackal, 8 × 20, etc.
200	lahuncal, 10 × 20
300	holhukal, 15 × 20
400	hunbak, 1 × 400
500	hotubak
600	lahutubak
800	cabak, 2 × 400
900	hotu yoxbak
1,000	lahuyoxbak or hunpic (modern)
1,200	oxbak, 3 × 400
1,250	oxbak catac lahuyoxkal, 3 × 400 + 50
2,000	capic (modern)
8,000	hunpic (ancient)
16,000	ca pic (ancient)
160,000	calab
1,000,000	kinchil or huntzotzceh
64,000,000	hunalau

Thus the Mayas seem to have had uncompounded names for the numerals from 1 to 11, 20, 400, and 8,000, and to have formed all numbers by the addition or multiplication of these. The manner in which the combinations were made seems clear up to the number 40. Thus we have 10 and 2, 10 and 3, etc., up to 19; 20 is hun-kal, 21 is hun-tu-kal, etc., indicating that tu, which I do not find in any dictionary, is simply ‘and’ or a sign of addition. The composition of lahu-ca-kal is clear only in the sense of ten from twice twenty; 40 is two twenties, 60 is three twenties, and so on regularly by twenties up to 400, for which a new word bak is introduced; after which the numbers proceed, twice 400, thrice 400, etc., to 8,000, pic, corresponding to the Nahua xiquipilli. But while the composition is intelligible so far as the multiples of 20 and 400 are concerned, it is far from clear in the case of the intermediate numbers. For instance, 40 is ca-kal, and forming 41, 42, etc., as 21 was formed from 20, we should have hun-tu-ca-kal, ca-tu-ca-kal, etc., instead of the names given, hun-tu-yox-kal, etc., or, interpreting this last name as the former were interpreted we should have 61 instead of 41. The same observation may be made respecting every number, not a multiple of 20, up to 400; that is, each number is less by 20 than the composition of its name would seem to indicate. If we gave to tu the meaning ‘towards,’ then hun-tu-yox-kal might be interpreted ‘1 (from 40) towards 60,’ or 41; but in such a case the word for 21, hun-tu-kal, must be supposed to be a contraction of hun-tu-ca-kal, ‘1 (from 20) towards 40.’ Other irregularities will be noticed by the reader in the numbers above 400. I have thought it best to call attention to what appears a strange inconsistency in this system of numeration, but which may present less difficulties to one better acquainted than I with the Maya language.[1098]Beltran de Santa Rosa María, Arte, pp. 195-208; Id., in Brasseur de Bourbourg, MS. Troano, tom. ii., pp. 92-9. ‘El modo de contar de los Indios es de cinco en cinco, y de quatro cincos hazen veinte.’ Landa, Relacion, p. 206; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv.

The Maya Calendar

Authorities on the Maya calendar of Yucatan, the only one of which any details are known, are Bishop Landa and Don Juan Pio Perez. The latter was a modern writer who devoted much study to the subject, was perfectly familiar with the Maya language, and had in his possession or consulted elsewhere many ancient manuscripts. There are also a few scattered remarks on the subject in the works of other writers.[1099]Landa, Relacion, pp. 202-316; Perez, Cronologia Antigua de Yuc., with French translation, in Id., pp. 366-429; English translation of the same in Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 434-59; original Spanish also in the Registro Yucateco; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 103-8, 163-4; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 137; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 65-6; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 104-14; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 462-7; Id., MS. Troano, tom. i., pp. 73-97.

The Maya day was called kin, or ‘sun’; malik ocok kin was the time just preceding sunrise; hatzcab was the time from sunrise to noon, which was called chunkin or ‘middle of the day’; tzelep kin was the declining sun, or about three o’clock P. M.; oc na kin was sunset. The night was akab, and midnight was chumuc akab. Other hours were indicated by the position of the sun in the daytime, and by that of some star—the morning star, the Pleiades, and the Gemini as Landa says—during the night.

[Image][F][=/2017/06/gut_42808_i-756.png=Days of the Maya Calendar[/image

The following table shows the names of the twenty days with the orthography of different writers, and the meaning of the names so far as known:

Names of Days

Kan	‘henequen string,’ ‘yellow,’ ‘serpent.’
Chicchán	chichan would be ‘small,’ a thing that grows or increases slowly.
Cimi (Quimi, Cimij)	preterite of cimil, ‘to die.’
Manik	possibly ‘passing wind.’
Lamat	possibly ‘abyss of water,’ found as lambat in Oajaca calendar.
Muluc	possibly ‘reunion,’ also in Chiapas calendar.
Oc	‘what may be held in the palm of the hand,’ ‘foot,’ ‘leg.’
Chuen	‘board,’ or name of a tree, perhaps chouen of Quiché calendar.
Eb	‘stairway’ or ‘ladder.’
Ben (Been)	perhaps Been, an ancient prince, or ‘to spend with economy.’
Ix (Hix, Gix)	possibly ‘roughness.’ The Quiché itz is ‘sorcerer.’
Men	‘builder.’
Cib (Quib)	‘wax’ or ‘copal.’
Caban
Ezanab (Ecnab, Edznab)
Cauac
Ahau (Ajau)	‘king,’ beginning of the period of 24 (or 20) years.
Ymix	Imox, in Quiché calendar is the Mexican Cipactli.
Ik (Yk)	‘wind’ or ‘breath.’
Akbal	In Quiché, ‘vase.'

The hieroglyphics by which the names of the days were expressed are shown in the accompanying cut in their proper order of succession,—Kan, Chicchan, etc., to Akbal; but it is to be noted that although this order was invariable, yet the month might begin with any one of the four days Kan, Muluc, Ix, and Cauac.

The month, made up as I have said of twenty days, was called u, or ‘moon,’ indicating perhaps that time was originally computed by lunar calculations. It was also called uinal, a word whose signification is not satisfactorily given. The year contained eighteen months, whose names with the hieroglyphics by which they were written, are shown in the cut on the opposite page, in their order, Pop, Uo, Zip, etc., to Cumhu.

Not only did the months succeed each other always in the same order, but Pop was always the first month of the year, which began on a date corresponding to July 16 of our calendar, a date which varies only forty-eight hours from the time when the sun passes the zenith—an approximation as accurate as could be expected from observations made without instruments.

Months of the Maya Calendar

[image][F]/2017/06/gut_42808_i-757.png=Months of the Maya Calendar][/Image]

The following table shows the names of the months, their meaning, and the day on which each began, according to our calendar:

Months and their Meanings

Pop (Poop, Popp) ‘mat'	July 16
Uo (Woo, Voo) ‘Frog'	Aug. 5
Zip (Cijp) name of a tree, ‘defect,’ ‘swollen'	Aug. 25
Tzoz (Zoc, Zotz) ‘bat'	Sept. 14
Tzec (Zeec) possibly ‘discourse,’ ‘skull'	Oct. 4
Xul ‘end'	Oct. 24
Yaxkin (Dze-Yaxkin, Tze Yaxkin) ‘beginning of summer'	Nov. 13
Mol (Mool) ‘to reunite’.	Dec. 3
Chen (Cheen) ‘well'	Dec. 23
Yax (Yaax) ‘green’ or ‘blue’ or ‘first'	Jan. 12
Zac (Zak) ‘clear,’ ‘white'	Feb. 1
Ceh (Qeh, Quej, Queh) ‘deer'	Feb. 21
Mac, ‘to close,’ ‘lid,’ a measure	Mar. 13
Kankin, ‘yellow sun'	Apr. 2
Muan (Moan) ‘showery day,’ the bird called ‘ara'	Apr. 22
Pax (Paax) a musical instrument	May 12
Kayab, ‘singing'	June 1
Cumhu (Cumkú) noise of an explosion, as of thunder	June 21[1100]Cogolludo omits the month Tzoz, and inserts a month Vaycab, Vtuz Kin, or Vlobol Kin, between Cumhu and Pop. He also in one place puts Cuchhaab in the place of Kan. Hist. Yuc., p. 185-6. See also Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 466-7; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 22. The Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg, in his attempted interpretation of the Manuscript Troano, gives the following curious etymologies of the names of these months. ‘Le vocable pop, que Beltran écrit long, poop, signifie la natte, “estera ò petate,” dit Pio Perez, qui donne encore à pop le sens d’un arbrisseau ou d’une plante qu’il ne décrit point, mais qui, fort probablement, doit être de la nature des joncs dont on fait les différentes espèces de nattes connues au Yucatan. En prenant ce vocable avec l’orthographe de Beltran, poop se composerait de po, primitif inusité, exprimant l’enflure, la vapeur, l’expansion par la chaleur d’une matière dans une enveloppe, et de op, briser, rompre pour sortir, crevasser par la force du feu…. Beltran ajoute que uo désigne en outre le têtard, une sorte de petit crapaud et un fruit indigène, appelé pitahaya aux Antilles … uo, au rapport du même auteur énonce l’idée des caractères de l’écriture, en particulier des voyelles…. Cet hiéroglyphe paraît assez difficile à expliquer. Sa section inférieure renferme un caractère qui semble, en raccourci, celui de la lettre h, et la section supérieure est identique avec le signe que je crois une variante du ti, localité, lieu. Ce qu’on pourrait interpréter par “le possesseur enfermé du lieu,” indice du têtard, de l’embryon dans son enveloppe. (?) L’ensemble de l’idée géologique, qui a présidé à la composition du calendrier maya, se poursuit dans les noms des mois, ainsi que dans ceux des jours. Après le marécage, déjà crevassé par le chaleur, apparaît le têtard, l’embryon de la grenouille, laissé au fond de la bourbe, symbole de l’embryon du feu volcanique couvant sous la terre glacée et qui ne tardera pas à rompre son enveloppe, ainsi qu’on le verra dans les noms des mois suivants…. Zip, analysé, donne Zi ip, bois à brûler qui se gonfle outre mesure, sens intéressant qui rappelle le grand arbre du monde, gonflé outre mesure par les gaz et les feux volcaniques, avant d’éclater…. J’inclinerais à penser que Landa a voulu exprimer par tzoz, non la chauve-souris zos, mais tzotz, la chevelure, vocable qui dans toutes les langues du groupe mexico-guatémalien indique symboliquement la chevelure de l’eau, la surface ondoyante, remuante de la mer, d’un lac ou d’une rivière: c’est à quoi semblent correspondre les signes de la glace qui se présentent dans l’image du mois Tzoz. Il s’agirait donc ici de la chevelure, de la surface des eaux gelées au-dessus de la terre et que la force du feu volcanique commence à rider, à faire grimacer, ainsi que l’énonce le nom du mois suivant…. Tzec…. Ce que l’auteur du calendrier a voulu exprimer, c’est bien probablement une tête de mort de singe, aux dents grimaçantes, image assez commune dans les fantaisies mythologiques de l’Amérique centrale et qu’on retrouve sculptée fréquemment dans les belles ruines de Copan…. Une intention plus profonde encore se révèle dans ces têtes de singes. Car si les danses et les mouvements de ces animaux symbolisent, dans le sens mystérieux du Popol Vuh, le soulèvement momentané des montagnes à la surface de la mer des Caraìbes, leurs têtes, avec l’expression de la mort, ne sauraient faire allusion, probablement, qu’à la disparition de ces montagnes sous les eaux, où elles continuèrent à grimacer, dans les récifs et les Ronfleurs, comme elles avaient fait grimacer la glace, en se soulevant.’ As it would occupy too much space to give the Abbé’s explanations of all the months, the above will suffice for specimens. See MS. Troano, tom. i., pp. 98-108.

Intercalary Days

The year was called haab, and consisted of the eighteen months already named,—which would make 360 days,—and of five supplementary, or intercalary days, to complete the full number of 365. These intercalary days were called xma kaba kin, or ‘nameless days,’ and also uayab or nayeb haab, u na haab, nayab chab, u yail kin, u yail haab, u tuz kin, or u lobol kin, which may mean ‘bed’ or ‘chamber’ of the year, ‘mother of the year,’ ‘bed of creation,’ ‘travail of the year,’ ‘lying days,’ or ‘bad days,’ etc. They were added at the end of each year, after the last day of Cumhu, and although they are called nameless, and were perhaps never spoken of by name, yet they were actually reckoned like the rest;—that is, if the last day of Cumhu was Akbal, the five intercalary days would be reckoned as Kan, Chicchan, Cimi, Manik, and Lamat, so that the new year, or the month of Pop, would begin with the day Muluc.

Besides this division of time into years, months, and days, there was another division carried along simultaneously with the first, into twenty-eight periods of thirteen days each,[1101]Landa says, however, ‘vingt-sept trezaines et neuf jours, sans compter les supplémentaires.’ Relacion, p. 235. which may for convenience be termed weeks, although the natives did not apply any name to the period of thirteen days, and perhaps did not regard it as a definite period at all, but used the number thirteen as a sacred number from some superstitious motives;[1102]The number 13 may come from the original reckoning by lunations, 26 days being about the time the moon is seen above the horizon in each revolution, 13 days of increase, and 13 of decrease. Perez, in Landa, Relacion, pp. 366-8. Or it may have been a sacred number before the invention of the calendar, being the number of gods of high rank. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Ib. yet its use produces some curious complications in the calendar, of which it is a most peculiar feature. The name of each day was preceded by a numeral showing its position in the week, and these numerals proceeded regularly from one to thirteen and then began again at one. Thus 1 Kan meant ‘Kan, the first day of the week’; 12 Cauac, ‘Cauac, the twelfth day of the week,’ etc. It is probable also that the days of the month were numbered regularly from 1 to 20, as events are spoken of as occurring on the 18th of Zip, etc., but the numeral relating to the week was the most prominent. The table shows the succession of days and weeks for several months:

Succession of Days and Weeks

Day of Week.	1	Day of Month.	Day of Week.	2	Day of Month.	Day of Week.	3	Day of Month.	Day of Week.	4	Day of Month.
Day of Week.	Pop.	Day of Month.	Day of Week.	Uo.	Day of Month.	Day of Week.	Zip.	Day of Month.	Day of Week.	Tzoz.	Day of Month.
1	Kan	1	8	Kan	1	2	Kan	1	9	Kan	1
2	Chicchán	2	9	Chicchán	2	3	Chicchán	2	10	Chicchán	2
3	Cimi	3	10	Cimi	3	4	Cimi	3	11	Cimi	3
4	Manik	4	11	Manik	4	5	Manik	4	12	Manik	4
5	Lamat	5	12	Lamat	5	6	Lamat	5	13	Lamat	5
6	Muluc	6	13	Muluc	6	7	Muluc	6	1	Muluc	6
7	Oc	7	1	Oc	7	8	Oc	7	2	Oc	7
8	Chuen	8	2	Chuen	8	9	Chuen	8	3	Chuen	8
9	Eb	9	3	Eb	9	10	Eb	9	4	Eb	9
10	Ben	10	4	Ben	10	11	Ben	10	5	Ben	10
11	Ix	11	5	Ix	11	12	Ix	11	6	Ix	11
12	Men	12	6	Men	12	13	Men	12	7	Men	12
13	Cib	13	7	Cib	13	1	Cib	13	8	Cib	13
1	Caban	14	8	Caban	14	2	Caban	14	9	Caban	14
2	Ezanab	15	9	Ezanab	15	3	Ezanab	15	10	Ezanab	15
3	Cauac	16	10	Cauac	16	4	Cauac	16	11	Cauac	16
4	Ahau	17	11	Ahau	17	5	Ahau	17	12	Ahau	17
5	Ymix	18	12	Ymix	18	6	Ymix	18	13	Ymix	18
6	Ik	19	13	Ik	19	7	Ik	19	1	Ik	19
7	Akbal	20	1	Akbal	20	8	Akbal	20	2	Akbal	20

Of the twenty days only four,—Kan, Muluc, Ix, and Cauac—could begin either a month or a year. Whatever the name of the first day of the first month, every month in the year began with the same day, accompanied, however, by a different numeral. The numeral of the first day for the first month being 1, that of the second would be 8, and so on for the other months in the following order: 2, 9, 3, 10, 4, 11, 5, 12, 6, 13, 7, 1, 8, 2, 9, 3. To ascertain the numeral for any month 7 must be added to that of the preceding month, and 13 subtracted from the sum if it be more than 13.

Succession of the Years

By extending the table of days and months over a period of years,—an extension which my space does not permit me to make in these pages,—the reader will observe that by reason of the intercalary days, and of the fact that 28 weeks of 13 days each make only 364 instead of 365 days, if the first year began with the day 1 Kan, the second would begin with 2 Muluc, the third with 3 Ix, the fourth with 4 Cauac, the fifth with 5 Kan, and so on in regular order; therefore the years were named by the day on which they began, 1 Kan, 2 Muluc, 3 Ix, etc., since the year would begin with any one of these combinations only once in 52 years. Thus the four names of the days Kan, Muluc, Ix, and Cauac served as signs for the years, precisely as the signs tochtli, calli, tecpatl, and acatl with their numerals served among the Aztecs. In the circle in which the Mayas are said to have inscribed their calendar, these four signs are located in the east, north, west, and south respectively, and are considered the ‘carriers of the years.’

It will be seen that, starting from 1 Kan, although every fifth year began with the day, or sign, Kan, yet the numeral 1 did not occur again in connection with any first day until thirteen years had passed away; so that 1 Kan or Kan alone not only named the year which it began, but also a period of thirteen years, which is spoken of as a ‘week of years’ or an ‘indiction.’ The first indiction of thirteen years beginning with 1 Kan, the second began with 1 Muluc, the third with 1 Ix, and the fourth with 1 Cauac.

After the indiction whose sign was 1 Cauac, the next would begin again with 1 Kan; that is 52 years would have elapsed, and this period of 52 years was called a Katun, corresponding with the Aztec cycle, as explained in a preceding chapter.

Thus we see that the four signs Kan, Muluc, Ix, and Cauac served to name certain days of the month; they also named the years of the indiction, since in connection with certain numerals they were the first days of these years; they further named the indictions of the Katun, of which with the numeral 1 they were also the first days; and finally they named, or may have named, the Katun itself which they begun, also in connection with the numeral 1. How the Katuns were actually named we are not informed. The completion of each Katun was regarded by the Mayas as a most critical and important epoch, and was celebrated with most imposing religious ceremonies. Also a monument is said to have been raised, on which a large stone was placed crosswise, also called katun as a memorial of the cycle that had passed. It is unfortunate that some of these monuments cannot be discovered and identified among the ruins. Thus far the Maya calendar is, after a certain amount of study, sufficiently intelligible; and is, except in its system of nomenclature, essentially identical with that of the Nahuas. The calendars of the Quichés, Cakchiquels, Chiapanecs, and the natives of Soconusco, are also the same so far as their details are known. The names of months and days in some of these calendars will be given in this chapter.

The Ahau Katunes

Another division of time not found in the Nahua calendar, was that into the Ahau Katunes. The system according to which this division was made is clear enough if we may accept the statements of Sr Perez; several of which rest on authorities that are unknown to all but himself. According to this writer, the Ahau Katun was a period of 24 years, divided into two parts; the first part of 20 years was enclosed in the native writings by a square and called amaytun, lamayte, or lamaytun; and the second, of the other four years, was placed as a ‘pedestal’ to the others, and therefore called chek oc katun, or lath oc katun. These four years were considered as intercalary and unfortunate, like the five supplementary days of the year, and were sometimes called a yail haab, ‘years of pain.’ This Katun of 24 years was called Ahau from its first day, and the natives began to reckon from 13 Ahau Katun, because it began on the day 13 Ahau, on which day some great event probably took place in their history. The day Ahau at which these periods began was the second day of such years as began with Cauac; and 13 Ahau, the first day of the first period, was the second of the year 12 Cauac; 2 Ahau was the second day of the year 1 Cauac, etc. If we construct a table of the years from 12 Cauac in regular order, we shall find that if the first period was 13 Ahau Katun because it began with 13 Ahau, the second, 24 years later, was 11 Ahau Katun, beginning with 11 Ahau; the third was 9 Ahau Katun, etc. That is, the Ahau Katunes, instead of being numbered 1, 2, 3, etc., in regular order was preceded by the numerals 13, 11, 9, 7, 5, 3, 1, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, and 2. 13 of these Ahau Katunes, making 312 years, constituted a great cycle, and we are told that it was by means of the Ahau Katunes and great cycles of 312 years that historical events were generally recorded.

Sr Perez states that the year 1392 of our era was the Maya year 7 Cauac, ‘according to all sources of information, confirmed by the testimony of Don Cosme de Burgos, one of the conquerors, and a writer (but whose observations have been lost).’ Therefore the 8 Ahau Katun began on the second day of that year; the 6 Ahau Katun, 24 years later, in 1416; the 4 Ahau in 1440; the 2, in 1464; the 13, in 1488; the 11, in 1512; the 9, in 1536; the 7, in 1560; the 5, in 1584; the 3, in 1608, etc. As a test of the accuracy of his system of Ahau Katunes, the author says that he found in a certain manuscript the death of a distinguished individual, Ahpulá, mentioned as having taken place in the 6th year of Ahau Katun, when the first day of the year was 4 Kan, on the day of 9 Ix, the 18th day of the month Zip. Now the 13 Ahau began in the year 12 Cauac, or 1488; the 6th year from 1488 was 1493, or 4 Kan; if the month of Pop began with 4 Kan, then the 3d month, Zip, began with 5 Kan, and the 18th of that month fell on 9 Ix, or Sept. 11. All this may be readily verified by filling out the table in regular order.

On the other hand we have Landa’s statement that the Ahau Katun was a period of 20 years; he gives however the same order of the numerals as Perez,—that is 13, 11, 9, 7, 5, 3, 1, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2. He also states that the year 1541 was the beginning of 11 Ahau; but if 11 Ahau was the second day of 1541, that year must have been 10 Cauac, and 1561, 20 years later, would have been 4 Cauac, the second day of which would have been 5 Ahau; which does not agree at all with the order of numerals. In fact no other number of years than 24 for each Ahau Katun will produce this order of numerals, which fact is perhaps the strongest argument in favor of Sr Perez’ system. Cogolludo also says that the Mayas counted their time by periods of 20 years called Katunes, each divided into 5 sub-periods of four years each. Sr Perez admits that other writers reckon the Ahau Katun as 20 years, but claims that they have fallen into error through disregarding the chek oc katun, or 4 unlucky years of the period. A Maya manuscript furnished and translated by Perez is published by Stephens and in Landa’s work, and repeatedly speaks of the Ahau Katun as a period of 20 years. Again, this is the very manuscript in which the death of Ahpulá was announced, and the date of that event is given as 6 years before the completion of 13 Ahau, instead of the sixth year of that period as stated in the calculations of Sr Perez; and besides, the date is distinctly given as 1536, instead of 1403, which dates will in nowise agree with the system explained, or with the date of 1392 given as the beginning of 8 Ahau. Moreover, as I have already said, several of the statements on which Perez bases his computations are unsupported by any authority save manuscripts unknown to all but himself. Such are the statements that the Ahau Katun began on the 2d day of a year Cauac; that 13 Ahau was reckoned as the first; and that 8 Ahau began in 1392. These facts, together with various other inaccuracies in the writings of Sr Perez are sufficient to weaken our faith in his system of the Ahau Katunes; and since the other writers give no explanations, this part of the Maya calendar must remain shrouded in doubt until new sources of information shall be found.[1103] The following quotation made by Sr Perez from a manuscript, contains all that is known respecting what was possibly another method of reckoning time. “There was another number which they called Ua Katun, and which served them as a key to find the Katunes, according to the order of its march, it falls on the days of the uayeb haab, and revolves to the end of certain years: Katunes 13, 9, 5, 1, 10, 6, 2, 11, 7, 3, 12, 8, 4.”

Bissextile Additions

We have seen that the Maya year by means of intercalary days added at the end of the month Cumhu was made to include 365 days. How the additional six hours necessary to make the length of the year agree with the solar movements were intercalated without disturbing the complicated order already described, is altogether a matter of conjecture. The most plausible theory is perhaps that a day was added at the end of every four years, this day being called by the same name and numeral as the one preceding it, or, in other words, no account being made of this day in the almanac, although it was perhaps indicated by some sign in the hieroglyphics of these days. The Nicaraguan calendar was practically identical with that of the Aztecs, even in nomenclature although there were naturally some slight variations in orthography. The following table shows the names of the months in several other Maya calendars, whose system so far as known is the same as that in Yucatan.

Names of Months

Quiché.[1104]The Quiché year, according to Basseta, began on December 24, of our calendar. Following an anonymous MS. history of Guatemala, the Cakchiquel year began on January 31; and the 1st of Parichè in 1707 was on January 21. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 466-7.		Cakchiquel.[1104]The Quiché year, according to Basseta, began on December 24, of our calendar. Following an anonymous MS. history of Guatemala, the Cakchiquel year began on January 31; and the 1st of Parichè in 1707 was on January 21. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 466-7.	Chiapas and Soconusco.[1105]
1	Nabe Tzih ‘1st word'	I Bota ‘rolls of mats'	Tzun
2	U Cab Tzih ‘2d word'	Qatic ‘common seed'	Batzul
3	Rox Tzih ‘3d word'	Izcal ‘sprouts'	Sisac
4	Che ‘tree'	Pariche ‘firewood'	Muetasac
5	Tecoxepual	Tocaxequal ‘seeding time'	Moc
6	Tzibe Pop ‘painted mat'	Nabey Tumuzuz ‘1st flying ants'	Olati
7	Zak ‘white'	Rucab Tumuzuz ‘2d flying ants'	Ulol
8	Chab ‘bow'	Cibixic ‘time of smoke'	Oquinajual
9	Huno Bix Gih ‘1st song of sun'	Uchum ‘resowing time'	Veh
10	Nabe Mam ‘1st old man'	Nabey Mam ‘1st old man'	Elech
11	U Cab Mam ‘2d old man'	Ru Cab Mam ‘2d old man'	Nichqum
12	Nabe Ligin Ga ‘1st soft hand'	Ligin Ka ‘soft hand'	Sbanvinquil
13	U Cab Ligin Ga ‘2d soft hand'	Nabey Togic ‘1st harvest'	Xchibalvinquil
14	Nabe Pach ‘1st generation'	Ru Cab Togic ‘2d harvest'	Yoxibalvinquil
15	U Cab Pach ‘2d generation'	Nabey Pach ‘1st generation'	Xchanibalvinquil
16	Tziquin Gih ‘time of birds'	Ru Cab Pach ‘2d generation'	Poin
17	Tzizi Lagan ‘to sew the standard'	Tziquin Gih ‘time of birds'	Mux
18	Cakam ‘time of red flowers'	Cakam ‘time of red flowers'	Yaxquin

Days in Guatemala and Chiapas

The names of the days in the same calendars are as follows:

Names of Days

Quiché and Cakchiquel.[1106]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 462-3.		Chiapas (Tzendal?) Soconusco.[1107]
1	Imox ‘sword-fish'	Imox or Mox
2	Ig ‘spirit’ or ‘breath'	Igh or Ygh
3	Akbal ‘chaos'	Votan
4	Qat ‘lizard'	Chanan or Ghanan
5	Can ‘snake'	Abah or Abagh
6	Camey ‘death'	Tox
7	Quieh ‘deer'	Moxic
8	Ganel ‘rabbit'	Lambat
9	Toh ‘shower'	Molo or Mulu
10	Tzy ‘dog'	Elab or Elah
11	Batz ‘monkey'	Batz
12	Ci or Balam, ‘broom,’ ‘tiger'	Evob or Enob
13	Ah ‘cane'	Been
14	Yiz or Itz ‘sorcerer'	Hix
15	Tziquin ‘bird'	Tziquin
16	Ahmak ‘fisher,’ ‘owl'	Chabin or Chahin
17	Noh ‘temperature'	Chic or Chiue
18	Tihax ‘obsidian'	Chinax
19	Caok ‘rain'	Cahogh or Cabogh
20	Hunahpu ‘shooter of blowpipe'	Aghual

I shall treat of the Maya hieroglyphics by giving first the testimony of the early writers respecting the existence of a system of writing in the sixteenth century; then an account of the very few manuscripts that have been preserved, together with illustrative plates from both manuscripts and sculptured stone tablets; to be followed by Bishop Landa’s alphabet, a mention of Brasseur de Bourbourg’s attempted interpretation of the native writings, and a few speculations of other modern writers on the subject. The statements of the early writers, although conclusive, are not numerous, and I will consequently translate them literally.

Landa says that “the sciences which they taught were—to read and write with their books and characters with which they wrote, and with the figures which signified (explained, or took the place of?) writings. They wrote their books on a large leaf, doubled in folds, and inclosed between two boards which they made very fine (decorated); and they wrote on both sides in columns, according to the folds; the paper they made of the roots of a tree, and gave it a white varnish on which one could write well; these sciences were known by certain men of high rank (only), who were therefore more esteemed although they did not use the art in public.” “These people also used certain characters or letters with which they wrote in their books their antiquities and their sciences; and by means of these and of figures and of certain signs in their figures they understood their things, and made them understood, and taught them. We found among them a great number of books of these letters of theirs, and because they had nothing in which there were not superstitions and falsities of the devil, we burned them all, at which they were exceedingly sorrowful and troubled.”[1108]Landa, Relacion, pp. 44, 316. According to Cogolludo, “in the time of their infidelity the Indians of Yucatan had books, made of the bark of trees, with a white and durable varnish, ten or twelve yards long, which by folding were reduced to a span. In these they painted with colors the account of their years, wars, floods, hurricanes, famines, and other events.” “The son of the only god, of whose existence, as I have said, they were aware, and whom they called Ytzamná, was the man, as I believe, who first invented the characters which served the Indians as letters, because they called the latter also Ytzamná.”[1109]Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 185, 196. The same author quotes Fuensalida to the effect that the Itza priests still kept in his time a record of past events in a book ‘like a history which they call Analte.’ Id., p. 507. The Itzas, as Villagutierre tells us, had “characters and figures painted on the bark of trees, each leaf, or tablet, being about a span long, as thick as a real de à ocho (a coin), folded both ways like a screen, which they called analtees.”[1110]Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 393-4. ‘Analtehes, ò Historias, es vna misma cosa.’ Id., p. 352. Mendieta states that the Mexicans had no letters, “although in the land of Champoton it is said that such were found, and that they understood each other by means of them, as we do by means of ours.”[1111]Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 143. Acosta says that in Yucatan “there were books of leaves, bound or folded after their manner, in which the learned Indians had their division of their time, knowledge of plants and animals and other natural objects, and their antiquities; a thing of great curiosity and diligence.”[1112]Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 407; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 187. The Maya priests “were occupied in teaching their sciences and in writing books upon them.”[1113]Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec, iv., lib. x., cap. ii. In Guatemala, according to Benzoni, “the thing of all others at which the Indians have been most surprised has been our reading and writing…. Nor could they imagine among themselves in what way white paper painted with black, could speak.”[1114]Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, fol. 109-10. Peter Martyr gives quite a long description of the native wood-bound books, which he does not refer particularly to Yucatan, although Brasseur, apparently with much reason, believes they were the Maya analtés rather than the regular Aztec picture writings. The description is as follows in the quaint English of the translator. “They make not their books square leafe by leafe, but extend the matter and substance thereof into many cubites. They reduce them into square peeces, not loose, but with binding, and flexible Bitumen so conioyned, that being compact of wooden table bookes, they may seeme to haue passed the hands of some curious workman that ioyned them together. Which way soeuer the book bee opened, two written sides offer themselues to the view, two pages appeare and as many lye vnder, vnlesse you stretch them in length: for there are many leaues ioyned together vnder one leafe. The Characters are very vnlike ours, written after our manner, lyne after lyne, with characters like small dice, fishookes, snares, files, starres, & other such like formes and shapes. Wherein they immitate almost the Egyptian manner of writing, and betweene the lines they paint the shapes of men, & beasts, especially of their kings & nobles…. They make the former wooden table bookes also with art to content and delight the beholder. Being shut, they seeme to differ nothing from our bookes, in these they set downe in writing the rites, and the customes of their laws, sacrifices, ceremonies, their computations, etc.”[1115]Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. viii., or Latin edition of Cologne, 1574, p. 354; also quoted in Brasseur de Bourbourg, MS. Troano, tom. i., pp. 2-3; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 77. Carli tells us that the inhabitants of Amatitlan in Guatemala were especially expert in making palm-leaf paper for writing. Cartas, pt ii., p. 104; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 470. References to modern authors who, except possibly Medel, have no other sources of information than those I have quoted, are as follows: ‘Dans le Yucathan, on m’a montré des espèces de lettres et de caractères dont se servent les habitants…. Ils employaient au lieu de papier l’écorce de certaines arbres, dont ils enlevaient des morceaux qui avaient deux aunes de long et un quart d’aune de large. Cette écorce était de l’épaisseur d’une peau de veau et se pliait comme un linge. L’usage de cette écriture n’était pas généralement répandu, et elle n’était connue que des prêtres et de quelques caciques.’ Medel, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., pp. 49-50; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 40; Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 552; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 191; Fancourt’s Hist. Yuc., p. 119; Carrillo, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iii., pp. 269-70; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 79.

Maya Hieroglyphic System

Respecting hieroglyphic records in Chiapas and Guatemala, we have the statement of Ordoñez that “Votan wrote a work upon the origin of the Indians,” and that he, Ordoñez, had a copy of the book in his possession; a complaint in the Quiché annals known as the Popol Vuh, that the ‘national book’ containing the ancient records of their people had been lost; and finally the reported discovery and destruction in Soconusco of archives on stone by Nuñez de la Vega in 1691. All this amounts to little save as indicating the ancient use of hieroglyphics by the followers of Votan, a fact sufficiently proven, as we shall see, by the engraved tablets of Palenque and Copan.[1116]Ordoñez, Hist. Cielo, etc., MS., and Nuñez de la Vega, Constit. Diæces., quoted by Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 71, 74; Id., Popol Vuh, p. 5; Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 208; Pineda, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. iii., pp. 345-6. The Nicaraguans at the time of the conquest had records painted in colors upon skin and paper, undoubtedly identical in their figures with those of the Nahuas, to whom the civilized people of Nicaragua were nearly related in blood and language. No specimens of these southern hieroglyphics have, however, been preserved. Oviedo and Herrera slightly describe the paintings and later writers have followed them.[1117]Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 36; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 8; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 472; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., pp. 347-8.

Maya Manuscripts

Of the aboriginal Maya manuscripts three specimens only, so far as I know, have been preserved. These are the Mexican Manuscript, No. 2, of the Imperial Library at Paris; the Dresden Codex; and the Manuscript Troano. Concerning the first we only know of its existence and the similarity of its characters to those of the other two and of the sculptured tablets. The document was photographed in 1864 by order of the French government, but I am not aware that the photographs have ever been given to the public. The Dresden Codex is preserved in the Royal Library of Dresden. A complete copy was published in Lord Kingsborough’s collection of Mexican antiquities, and fragments were also reproduced by Humboldt. It was purchased in Vienna by the librarian Götz in 1739, but beyond this nothing whatever is known of its history and origin. It was published by Kingsborough as an Aztec picture-writing, although its characters present little if any resemblance to those of its companion documents in the collection. Its form was also different from all the rest, since it is written on both sides of five leaves of maguey-paper. At the time of its publication, however, the existence of any but Aztec hieroglyphics in America was unknown. Mr Stephens in his antiquarian exploration of Central America, at once noticed the similarity of its figures to those of the sculptured hieroglyphics found there, but he used this similarity to prove the identity of the northern and southern nations, since it did not occur to him that the Aztec origin of the Dresden document was a mere supposition. Mr Brantz Mayer, fully aware of the differences between this and other reputed Mexican picture-writings, went so far as to pronounce it the only genuine Aztec document that he had seen. There can be no reasonable doubt, however, at this day, that the Maya and Nahua (or Maya and Aztec, since some authors will not agree with my use of the term Nahua) hieroglyphic systems were practically distinct, although it would be hardly wise to decide that they are absolutely without affinities in some of their details. The accompanying cut from Stephens’ work shows a small fragment of the Dresden Codex.[1118]Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. iii., No. 2; Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., pp. 268-71, pl. xvi. Mr Prescott, Mex., vol. i., pp. 104-5, says that this document bears but little resemblance to other Aztec MSS., and that it indicates a much higher stage of civilization; but he also fails to detect any stronger likeness to the bas-reliefs of Palenque, of which latter, however, he probably had a very imperfect idea. It cannot be interpreted, for ‘even if a Rosetta stone were discovered in Mexico, there is no Indian tongue to supply the key or interpreter.’ Mayer, Mex. as it Was, pp. 258-9. ‘Le Codex de Dresde, et un autre de la Bibliothèque Nationale à Paris, bien qu’offrant quelque rapport avec les Rituels, échappent à toute interprétation. Ils appartiennent, ainsi que les inscriptions de Chiappa et du Yucatan à une écriture plus élaborée, comme incrustée et calculiforme, dont on croit trouver des traces dans toutes les parties très-anciennement policées des deux Amériques.’ Aubin, in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. lxxi. See Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., pp. 342, 453-5; Id., Yucatan, tom. ii., pp. 292, 453.

Fragment of the Dresden Codex

The Manuscript Troano

The Manuscript Troano was found about the year 1865 in Madrid by the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg, and was reproduced in fac-simile by a chromo-lithographic process by the Commission Scientifique du Mexique, under the auspices of the French Government. Its name comes from that of its possessor in Madrid, Sr Tro y Ortolano, and nothing whatever is known of its origin; two or three other old American manuscripts are reported to have been brought to light in Spain since the publication of this. The original is written on a strip of maguey-paper about fourteen feet long and nine inches wide, the surface of which is covered with a whitish varnish, on which the figures are painted in black, red, blue, and brown. It is folded fan-like into thirty-five folds, presenting when shut much the appearance of a modern large octavo volume. The hieroglyphics cover both sides of the paper, and the writing is consequently divided into seventy pages, each about five by nine inches, having been apparently executed after the paper was folded, so that the folding does not interfere with the written matter. One of the pages as a specimen is shown in the following plate, an exact copy, save in size and color, of the original.

The regular lines of written characters are uniformly in black, while the pictorial portions, or what may perhaps be considered representative signs, are in red and brown, chiefly the former, and the blue appears for the most part as a background in some of the pages. A few of the pages are slightly damaged, and all the imperfections are, as it is claimed, faithfully reproduced in the published copy, which with the editor’s comments fills two quarto volumes in the series published by the Commission mentioned.[1119]Brasseur de Bourbourg, MS. Troano; Études sur le système graphique et la langue des Mayas, Paris, 1869-70, 4º, 2 vols., 70 colored plates.

Maya Inscriptions in Stone

The plates on the following pages from the works of Stephens and Waldeck I present as specimens of the Maya writing, as it is found carved in stone in Yucatan, Honduras, and Chiapas. For particulars respecting the ruins in connection with which they were discovered, I refer the reader to volume IV. of this work. Fig. 1 represents the hieroglyphics sculptured on the top of an altar at Copan, in Honduras, the thirty-six groups cover a space nearly six feet square. Fig. 2 is a tablet set in the interior wall of a building in Chichen, Yucatan. The tablet is placed over the doorways and extends the whole length of the room, forty-three feet; only a part, however, is shown in the cut. Fig. 3 is a full-size representation of the carving on a green stone, or chalchiuite, found at Ococingo, Chiapas. I take it from the English translation of Morelet’s Travels. Many of the monoliths of Copan have a line of hieroglyphics on their side. Plates representing specimens of these monuments will be given in Volume IV. Fig. 4 shows a portion of the hieroglyphic inscriptions on the famous ‘tablet of the cross’ at Palenque.[1120]Waldeck, Palenqué, pl. 21; Stephen’s Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 136-7, 140-2; Id., Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 300-1; Morelet’s Trav., p. 98; Vol. iv., pp. 91-2, 97-9, 234, and chap. vi., of this work.

Page of Manuscript Troano

Fig. 1.—Altar Inscription from Copan

Fig. 2.—Tablet from Chichen

Fig. 3.—Chalchiuite from Ococingo

Fig. 4.—Tablet from Palenque

Bishop Landa’s Alphabet

I have given on a preceding page in this chapter, the signs by which the natives of Yucatan expressed the names of their days and months, taken from the work of Bishop Landa. The same author has also preserved a Maya alphabet. On account of Landa’s failure to appreciate the importance of the native hieroglyphics, or to comprehend the system, and also very likely on account of his copyist’s carelessness—for the original manuscript of Landa’s work has not been found—the passage relating to the alphabet is very vague, unsatisfactory, and perhaps fragmentary; but it is of the very highest importance, since the alphabet here given in connection with the calendar signs already spoken of, furnish apparently the only ground for a hope that the veil of mystery which hangs over the Maya inscriptions may one day be lifted. I therefore give Landa’s description as nearly as possible in his own words, copying also the original Spanish in a note.

“Of their letters I give here (see alphabet on the next page) an A, B, C, since their heaviness (number and intricacy?) permits no more; because they use one character for all the aspirations of the letters, and another in the pointing of the parts (punctuation), and thus it goes on to infinity, as may be seen in the following example: lé means ‘a snare’ or to hunt with it; to write it with their characters, we having given them to understand (although we gave, etc.) that they are two letters, they wrote it with three, placing after the aspiration l the vowel e, which it has before it, and in this they do not err, although they make use, if they wish, of their curious method. Example:

e l e lé

Then at the end they attach the adjoined part. Ha which means ‘water,’ because the haché (sound of the letter h) has a, h, before it, they put it at the beginning with a, at the end in this manner:

They also write it in parts but in both ways. I would not put (all this) here, nor treat of it, except in order to give a complete account of the things of this people. Ma in katimeans ‘I will not’; they write it in parts after this manner.”[1121]The Spanish text is as follows: ‘De sus letras porne aqui un a, b, c, que no permite su pesadumbre mas porque usan para todas las aspiraciones de las letras de un caracter, y despues, al puntar de las partes otro, y assi viene a hazer in infinitum, como se podra ver en el siguiente exemplo. Lé, quiere dezir laço y caçar con el; para escrivirle con sus carateres, haviendoles nosotros hecho entender que son dos letras, lo escrivian ellos con tres, puniendo a la aspiracion de la l la vocal é, que antes de si trae, y en esto no hierran, aunque usense, si quisieren ellos de su curiosidad. Exemplo: e l e lé. Despues al cabo le pegan la parte junta. Ha que quiere dezir agua, porque la haché tiene a, h, antes de si la ponen ellos al principio con a, y al cabo desta manera: ha. Tambien lo escriven a partes pero de la una y otra manera, yo no pusiera aqui ni tratara dello sino por dar cuenta entera de las cosas desta gente. Ma in kati quiere dezir no quiero, ellos lo escriven a partes desta manera: ma i n ka ti.’ Landa, Relacion, pp. 316-22; also in Brasseur de Bourbourg, MS. Troano, tom. i., pp. 37-8.

ma i n ka ti

A A A A B B C(q?)

t È H H I Ca(?) K

L L M N O O P

Pp Cu Ku X X U(?) U

Z HA MA TO Sign of Aspiration.

Respecting this alphabet Landa adds: “this language lacks the letters that are missing here; and has others added from ours for other necessary things; and they already make no use of these characters, especially the young who have learned ours.” It will be noticed that there are several varying characters for the same letter, and several syllabic signs.

The characters of Landa’s alphabet, and the calendar signs can be identified more or less accurately and readily with some of those of the hieroglyphic inscriptions in stone, the Manuscript Troano, and the Dresden Codex. The resemblance in many cases is clear, in others very vague and perhaps imaginary, while very many others cannot apparently be identified. Although Landa’s key must be regarded as fragmentary, I believe there is no reason to doubt its authenticity. But one attempt has been made to practically apply this key to the work of deciphering the Maya documents, that of the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg. This writer, after a profound study of the subject, devotes one hundred and thirty-six quarto pages to a consideration of the Maya characters and their variations, and fifty-seven pages to the translation of a part of the Manuscript Troano. The translation must be pronounced a failure, especially after the confession of the author in a subsequent work that he had begun his reading at the wrong end of the document,[1122]Bibliothèque Mexico-Guatémalienne, Paris, 1871, p. xvii.—a trifling error perhaps in the opinion of the enthusiastic Abbé, but a somewhat serious one as it appears to scientific men. His preliminary examinations doubtless contain much valuable information which will lighten the labors and facilitate the investigations of future students; but unfortunately, such is their nature that condensation is impracticable. A long chapter, if not a volume, would be required to do them anything like justice, and they must be omitted here.

Brasseur de Bourbourg devoted his life to the study of American primitive history. In actual knowledge of matters pertaining to his chosen subject, no man ever equaled or approached him. Besides being an indefatigable student he was an elegant writer. In the last decade of his life he conceived a new and complicated theory respecting the origin of the American people, or rather the origin of Europeans and Asiatics from America, made known to the world in his Quatre Lettres. His attempted translation of the Manuscript Troano was made in support of this theory. By reason of the extraordinary nature of the views expressed, and the author’s well-known tendency to build magnificent structures on a slight foundation, his later writings were received for the most part by critics, utterly incompetent to understand them, with a sneer or, what seems to have grieved the writer more, in silence. Now that the great Américaniste is dead, while it is not likely that his theories will ever be received, his zeal in the cause of antiquarian science and the many valuable works from his pen will be better appreciated. It will be long ere another shall undertake with equal devotion and ability the well nigh hopeless task.

Interpretation of Maya Records

I close the chapter with a few quotations from modern writers respecting the Maya hieroglyphics and their interpretation. Tyler says “there is even evidence that the Maya nation of Yucatan, the ruins of whose temples and palaces are so well known from the travels of Catherwood and Stephens, not only had a system of phonetic writing, but used it for writing ordinary words and sentences.”[1123]Tylor’s Researches, pp. 100-1. Wuttke suggests that Landa’s alphabet originated after the Conquest, a suggestion, as Schepping observes, excluded by Mendieta’s statement, but “otherwise very probable in consideration of the phoneticism developed in Mexico shortly after the Conquest.”[1124]Wuttke and Schepping, in Spencer’s Descriptive Sociology, no. 2., div. ii., pt 1-B, p. 51. See note 16 of this chapter.And finally Wilson says, “while the recurrence of the same signs, and the reconstruction of groups out of the detached members of others, clearly indicate a written language, and not a mere pictorial suggestion of associated ideas, like the Mexican picture-writing.” “In the most complicated tablets of African hieroglyphics, each object is distinct, and its representative significance is rarely difficult to trace. But the majority of the hieroglyphics of Palenque or Copan appear as if constructed on the same polysynthetic principle which gives the peculiar and distinctive character to the languages of the New World. This is still more apparent when we turn to the highly elaborate inscriptions on the colossal figures of Copan. In these all ideas of simple phonetic signs utterly disappear. Like the bunch-words, as they have been called, of the American languages, they seem each to be compounded of a number of parts of the primary symbols used in picture-writing, while the pictorial origin of the whole becomes clearly apparent. In comparing these minutely elaborated characters with those on the tables, it is obvious that a system of abbreviation is employed in the latter. An analogous process seems dimly discernible in the abbreviated compound characters of the Palenque inscription. But if the inference be correct, this of itself would serve to indicate that the Central American hieroglyphics are not used as phonetic, or pure alphabetic signs; and this idea receives confirmation from the rare recurrence of the same group…. The Palenque inscriptions have all the characteristics of a written language in a state of development analogous to the Chinese, with its word-writing; and like it they appear to have been read in columns from top to bottom. The groups of symbols begin with a large hieroglyphic on the left-hand corner; and the first column occupies a double space. It is also noticeable that in the frequent occurrence of human and animal heads among the sculptured characters they invariably look toward the left; an indication, as it appears to me, that they are the graven inscriptions of a lettered people, who were accustomed to write the same characters from left to right on paper or skins. Indeed, the pictorial groups on the Copan statues seem to be the true hieroglyphic characters; while the Palenque inscriptions show the abbreviated hieratic writing. To the sculptor the direction of the characters was a matter of no moment; but if the scribe held his pen, or style, in his right hand, like the modern clerk, he would as naturally draw the left profile as we slope our current hand to the right. Arbitrary signs are also introduced, like those of the phonetic alphabets of Europe. Among these the T repeatedly occurs: a character which, it will be remembered, was also stamped on the Mexican metallic currency.”[1125]Wilson’s Pre-Historic Man, p. 378, et seq.

Footnotes

[1096] Two spindles with golden tissue. Cortés, Cartas, pp. 3, 422. Six golden idols, each one span long, in Nicaragua. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. v. 20 golden hatchets, 14 carats fine, weighing over 20 lbs. Id., lib. iv., cap. vi. Houses of goldsmiths that molded marvellously. Id., cap. vii. See also Id., dec. i., lib. v., cap. v. Little fishes and geese of low gold at Catoche. Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 4. Golden armor and ornaments at Tabasco River. Id., pp. 12-13. Idols of unknown metals among the Itzas. Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 495, 497. Gilded wooden mask, gold plates, little golden kettles. Diaz, Itinéraire, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x. pp. 16, 25. Vases of chiseled gold in Yucatan. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 69; Id., in Landa, Relacion, p. 32; Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, fol. 102; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 39, 95, tom. i., p. 520; Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. i., dec. vi., lib. ii., vi.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 354; Godoi, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 178; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 346. Respecting a copper mask from Nicaragua and two copper medals from Guatemala, see vol. iv. of this work.

[1097] For slight notices of the various mechanical arts of the Mayas see the following authorities: Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., pp. 276, 350, 521, tom. iv., pp. 33, 36, 105-9; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 354, tom. ii., p. 346; Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 329; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 4, 13, 187, 196; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. ii., cap. xvii., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. ix., lib. x., cap. ii., xiv.; Landa, Relacion, pp. 116, 120, 128-9; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 100, 311-12, 495, 499-501; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa., p. 293; Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. ii., dec. vi., lib. iii.; Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, fol. 98, 102-3; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 203; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 268; Cortés, Cartas, p. 489; Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viajes, tom. iii., p. 416; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxiv.; Id., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., pp. 147-8; Palacio, Carta, p. 44; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., pp. 339, 346; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 212; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 69, 172, 563.

[1098] Beltran de Santa Rosa María, Arte, pp. 195-208; Id., in Brasseur de Bourbourg, MS. Troano, tom. ii., pp. 92-9. ‘El modo de contar de los Indios es de cinco en cinco, y de quatro cincos hazen veinte.’ Landa, Relacion, p. 206; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv.

[1099] Landa, Relacion, pp. 202-316; Perez, Cronologia Antigua de Yuc., with French translation, in Id., pp. 366-429; English translation of the same in Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 434-59; original Spanish also in the Registro Yucateco; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 103-8, 163-4; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 137; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 65-6; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 104-14; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 462-7; Id., MS. Troano, tom. i., pp. 73-97.

[1100] Cogolludo omits the month Tzoz, and inserts a month Vaycab, Vtuz Kin, or Vlobol Kin, between Cumhu and Pop. He also in one place puts Cuchhaab in the place of Kan. Hist. Yuc., p. 185-6. See also Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 466-7; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 22. The Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg, in his attempted interpretation of the Manuscript Troano, gives the following curious etymologies of the names of these months. ‘Le vocable pop, que Beltran écrit long, poop, signifie la natte, “estera ò petate,” dit Pio Perez, qui donne encore à pop le sens d’un arbrisseau ou d’une plante qu’il ne décrit point, mais qui, fort probablement, doit être de la nature des joncs dont on fait les différentes espèces de nattes connues au Yucatan. En prenant ce vocable avec l’orthographe de Beltran, poop se composerait de po, primitif inusité, exprimant l’enflure, la vapeur, l’expansion par la chaleur d’une matière dans une enveloppe, et de op, briser, rompre pour sortir, crevasser par la force du feu…. Beltran ajoute que uo désigne en outre le têtard, une sorte de petit crapaud et un fruit indigène, appelé pitahaya aux Antilles … uo, au rapport du même auteur énonce l’idée des caractères de l’écriture, en particulier des voyelles…. Cet hiéroglyphe paraît assez difficile à expliquer. Sa section inférieure renferme un caractère qui semble, en raccourci, celui de la lettre h, et la section supérieure est identique avec le signe que je crois une variante du ti, localité, lieu. Ce qu’on pourrait interpréter par “le possesseur enfermé du lieu,” indice du têtard, de l’embryon dans son enveloppe. (?) L’ensemble de l’idée géologique, qui a présidé à la composition du calendrier maya, se poursuit dans les noms des mois, ainsi que dans ceux des jours. Après le marécage, déjà crevassé par le chaleur, apparaît le têtard, l’embryon de la grenouille, laissé au fond de la bourbe, symbole de l’embryon du feu volcanique couvant sous la terre glacée et qui ne tardera pas à rompre son enveloppe, ainsi qu’on le verra dans les noms des mois suivants…. Zip, analysé, donne Zi ip, bois à brûler qui se gonfle outre mesure, sens intéressant qui rappelle le grand arbre du monde, gonflé outre mesure par les gaz et les feux volcaniques, avant d’éclater…. J’inclinerais à penser que Landa a voulu exprimer par tzoz, non la chauve-souris zos, mais tzotz, la chevelure, vocable qui dans toutes les langues du groupe mexico-guatémalien indique symboliquement la chevelure de l’eau, la surface ondoyante, remuante de la mer, d’un lac ou d’une rivière: c’est à quoi semblent correspondre les signes de la glace qui se présentent dans l’image du mois Tzoz. Il s’agirait donc ici de la chevelure, de la surface des eaux gelées au-dessus de la terre et que la force du feu volcanique commence à rider, à faire grimacer, ainsi que l’énonce le nom du mois suivant…. Tzec…. Ce que l’auteur du calendrier a voulu exprimer, c’est bien probablement une tête de mort de singe, aux dents grimaçantes, image assez commune dans les fantaisies mythologiques de l’Amérique centrale et qu’on retrouve sculptée fréquemment dans les belles ruines de Copan…. Une intention plus profonde encore se révèle dans ces têtes de singes. Car si les danses et les mouvements de ces animaux symbolisent, dans le sens mystérieux du Popol Vuh, le soulèvement momentané des montagnes à la surface de la mer des Caraìbes, leurs têtes, avec l’expression de la mort, ne sauraient faire allusion, probablement, qu’à la disparition de ces montagnes sous les eaux, où elles continuèrent à grimacer, dans les récifs et les Ronfleurs, comme elles avaient fait grimacer la glace, en se soulevant.’ As it would occupy too much space to give the Abbé’s explanations of all the months, the above will suffice for specimens. See MS. Troano, tom. i., pp. 98-108.

[1101] Landa says, however, ‘vingt-sept trezaines et neuf jours, sans compter les supplémentaires.’ Relacion, p. 235.

[1102] The number 13 may come from the original reckoning by lunations, 26 days being about the time the moon is seen above the horizon in each revolution, 13 days of increase, and 13 of decrease. Perez, in Landa, Relacion, pp. 366-8. Or it may have been a sacred number before the invention of the calendar, being the number of gods of high rank. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Ib.

[th]

[th]
[1103] ‘Contaban sus eras, y edades, que ponian en sus libros de veinte en veinte años, y por lustros de quatro en quatro…. Llegando estos lustros a cinco, que ajustan veinte años, llamaban Katùn, y ponian vna piedra labrada sobre otra labrada, fixada con cal, y arena en las paredes de sus Templos, y casas de los Sacerdotes, como se vè oy en los edificios.’ Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 186. ‘Llaman a esta cuenta en su lengua Uazlazon Katun que quiere dezir la gerra de los Katunes.’ Landa, Relacion, p. 313. ‘Para cuenta de veintenas de años en calendarios de los indios yucatecos, lo mismo que las indicciones nuestras; pero de mas años que estas, eran trece ahaues que contenian 260 años, que era para ellos un siglo.’ Beltran de Santa Rosa María, Arte, p. 204. Brasseur de Bourbourg is disposed to reject the system of Sr Perez, but he in his turn makes several errors in his notes on the subject. In Landa, Relacion, pp. 402-13, 428. The Maya MS. referred to in the text is found with its translation in Id., pp. 420-9, and Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 465-9.

[1104] The Quiché year, according to Basseta, began on December 24, of our calendar. Following an anonymous MS. history of Guatemala, the Cakchiquel year began on January 31; and the 1st of Parichè in 1707 was on January 21. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 466-7.

[th]
[1104] The Quiché year, according to Basseta, began on December 24, of our calendar. Following an anonymous MS. history of Guatemala, the Cakchiquel year began on January 31; and the 1st of Parichè in 1707 was on January 21. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 466-7.

[th]
[1105] ‘Algunos de estos nombres estan en lengua zotzil, y los demas se ignora en qué idioma se hallan.’ Pineda, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. iii., p. 408; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 205-6.

[1106] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 462-3.

[th]
[1107] Brasseur de Bourbourg, ubi sup.; Boturini, Idea, p. 118; Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., pp. 356-7; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 104; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 105; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 137, makes Votan the first month; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 66; Pineda, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. iii., p. 344.

[1108] Landa, Relacion, pp. 44, 316.

[1109] Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 185, 196. The same author quotes Fuensalida to the effect that the Itza priests still kept in his time a record of past events in a book ‘like a history which they call Analte.’ Id., p. 507.

[1110] Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 393-4. ‘Analtehes, ò Historias, es vna misma cosa.’ Id., p. 352.

[1111] Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 143.

[1112] Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 407; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 187.

[1113] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec, iv., lib. x., cap. ii.

[1114] Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, fol. 109-10.

[1115] Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. viii., or Latin edition of Cologne, 1574, p. 354; also quoted in Brasseur de Bourbourg, MS. Troano, tom. i., pp. 2-3; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 77. Carli tells us that the inhabitants of Amatitlan in Guatemala were especially expert in making palm-leaf paper for writing. Cartas, pt ii., p. 104; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 470. References to modern authors who, except possibly Medel, have no other sources of information than those I have quoted, are as follows: ‘Dans le Yucathan, on m’a montré des espèces de lettres et de caractères dont se servent les habitants…. Ils employaient au lieu de papier l’écorce de certaines arbres, dont ils enlevaient des morceaux qui avaient deux aunes de long et un quart d’aune de large. Cette écorce était de l’épaisseur d’une peau de veau et se pliait comme un linge. L’usage de cette écriture n’était pas généralement répandu, et elle n’était connue que des prêtres et de quelques caciques.’ Medel, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., pp. 49-50; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 40; Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 552; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 191; Fancourt’s Hist. Yuc., p. 119; Carrillo, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iii., pp. 269-70; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 79.

[1116] Ordoñez, Hist. Cielo, etc., MS., and Nuñez de la Vega, Constit. Diæces., quoted by Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 71, 74; Id., Popol Vuh, p. 5; Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 208; Pineda, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. iii., pp. 345-6.

[1117] Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 36; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 8; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 472; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., pp. 347-8.

[1118] Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. iii., No. 2; Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., pp. 268-71, pl. xvi. Mr Prescott, Mex., vol. i., pp. 104-5, says that this document bears but little resemblance to other Aztec MSS., and that it indicates a much higher stage of civilization; but he also fails to detect any stronger likeness to the bas-reliefs of Palenque, of which latter, however, he probably had a very imperfect idea. It cannot be interpreted, for ‘even if a Rosetta stone were discovered in Mexico, there is no Indian tongue to supply the key or interpreter.’ Mayer, Mex. as it Was, pp. 258-9. ‘Le Codex de Dresde, et un autre de la Bibliothèque Nationale à Paris, bien qu’offrant quelque rapport avec les Rituels, échappent à toute interprétation. Ils appartiennent, ainsi que les inscriptions de Chiappa et du Yucatan à une écriture plus élaborée, comme incrustée et calculiforme, dont on croit trouver des traces dans toutes les parties très-anciennement policées des deux Amériques.’ Aubin, in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. lxxi. See Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., pp. 342, 453-5; Id., Yucatan, tom. ii., pp. 292, 453.

[1119] Brasseur de Bourbourg, MS. Troano; Études sur le système graphique et la langue des Mayas, Paris, 1869-70, 4º, 2 vols., 70 colored plates.

[1120] Waldeck, Palenqué, pl. 21; Stephen’s Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 136-7, 140-2; Id., Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 300-1; Morelet’s Trav., p. 98; Vol. iv., pp. 91-2, 97-9, 234, and chap. vi., of this work.

[1121] The Spanish text is as follows: ‘De sus letras porne aqui un a, b, c, que no permite su pesadumbre mas porque usan para todas las aspiraciones de las letras de un caracter, y despues, al puntar de las partes otro, y assi viene a hazer in infinitum, como se podra ver en el siguiente exemplo. Lé, quiere dezir laço y caçar con el; para escrivirle con sus carateres, haviendoles nosotros hecho entender que son dos letras, lo escrivian ellos con tres, puniendo a la aspiracion de la l la vocal é, que antes de si trae, y en esto no hierran, aunque usense, si quisieren ellos de su curiosidad. Exemplo: e l e lé. Despues al cabo le pegan la parte junta. Ha que quiere dezir agua, porque la haché tiene a, h, antes de si la ponen ellos al principio con a, y al cabo desta manera: ha. Tambien lo escriven a partes pero de la una y otra manera, yo no pusiera aqui ni tratara dello sino por dar cuenta entera de las cosas desta gente. Ma in kati quiere dezir no quiero, ellos lo escriven a partes desta manera: ma i n ka ti.’ Landa, Relacion, pp. 316-22; also in Brasseur de Bourbourg, MS. Troano, tom. i., pp. 37-8.

[1122] Bibliothèque Mexico-Guatémalienne, Paris, 1871, p. xvii.

[1123] Tylor’s Researches, pp. 100-1.

[1124] Wuttke and Schepping, in Spencer’s Descriptive Sociology, no. 2., div. ii., pt 1-B, p. 51. See note 16 of this chapter.

[1125] Wilson’s Pre-Historic Man, p. 378, et seq.

Chapter XXV • Buildings, Medicine, Burial, Physical Peculiarities, and Character of the Mayas • 9,100 Words

Scanty Information given by the Early Voyagers—Private Houses of the Mayas—Interior Arrangement, Decoration, and Furniture—Maya Cities—Description of Utatlan—Patinamit, the Cakchiquel Capital—Cities of Nicaragua—Maya Roads—Temples at Chichen Itza and Cozumel—Temples of Nicaragua and Guatemala—Diseases of the Mayas—Medicines used—Treatment of the Sick—Propitiatory Offerings and Vows—Superstitions—Dreams—Omens—Witchcraft—Snake-Charmers—Funeral Rites and Ceremonies—Physical peculiarities—Character.

A full résumé of the principles of Maya architecture, gathered from observations of ruins made by modern travelers, will be given in another part of this work.[1126]See vol. iv., pp. 267, et. seq. I shall, therefore, without regard to the inevitable scantiness and unsatisfactory nature of such information, confine myself in this chapter to the descriptions furnished by the old writers, who saw the houses and towns while they were occupied by those who built them and the temples before they became ruins, or at least were contemporaries of such observers.

The accounts given of the dwellings of the Mayas are very meagre. The early voyagers on the coast of Yucatan, such as Grijalva and Córdova, saw well-built houses of stone and lime, with sloping roofs thatched with straw or reeds; or, in some instances, with slates of stone;[1127]‘A todo lo largo tenian los vecinos de aquel lugar muchas casas, hecho el cimiento de piedra y lodo hasta la mitad de las paredes, y luego cubiertas de paja. Esta gente del dicho lugar, en los edificios y en las casas, parece ser gente de grande ingenio: y si no fuera porque parecia haber allí algunos edificios nuevos, se pudiera presumir que eran edificios hechos por Españoles.’ Diaz, Itinerario, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 286; see also Id., pp. 281, 287. ‘Las casas son de piedra, y ladrillo con la cubierta de paja, o rama. Y aun alguna de lanchas de piedra.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 23. ‘The houses were of stone or brick, and lyme, very artificially composed. To the square Courts or first habitations of their houses they ascended by ten or twelue steps. The roofe was of Reeds, or stalkes of Herbs.’ Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. v., p. 885; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 2-3; Bienvenida, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ii., p. 311; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., p. 507, tom. iii., p. 230; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 72; Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. i. but this is all they tell us, and, indeed, they had little opportunity for close examination; the natives of those parts were fierce and warlike, and little disposed to submit to invasion, so that the handful of adventurers had barely time to look hastily about them after effecting a landing before they were driven back wounded to their boats. Here, as elsewhere, too, the temples and larger buildings naturally attracted their sole attention, both because of their strangeness and of the treasures which they were supposed to or did contain. These men were soldiers, gold-hunters; they did not travel leisurely; they had no time to examine the architecture of private dwellings; they risked and lost their lives for other purposes. Bishop Landa, however, has something to say on the subject of Maya dwellings. The roof, he says, was covered with straw, which they had in great abundance, or with palm-leaves, which answered the purpose admirably. A considerable pitch was given to the roof, that the rain might run off easily. The house was divided in its length, that is, from side to side, by a wall, in which several doorways were left as a means of communication with the back room where they slept. The front room where guests were received was carefully whitewashed, or in the houses of nobles, painted in various colors or designs; it had no door but was open all the length of the front of the house, and was sheltered from sun and rain by the eaves which usually descended very low.[1128]‘C’est encore aujourd’hui de cette manière que se construisent à la campagne les maisons non seulement des indigènes, mais encore de la plupart des autres habitants du pays, au Yucatan et ailleurs.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Landa, Relacion, pp. 110-11.There was always a doorway in the rear for the use of all the inmates. The fact of there being no doors made it a point of honor among them not to rob or injure each other’s houses. The poor people built the houses of the rich.[1129]Landa, Relacion, p. 110. A new dwelling could not be occupied until it had been formally blessed and purged of the evil spirit.[1130]Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 184.

Nicaraguan Dwellings

In Nicaragua, the dwellings were mostly made of canes, and thatched with straw. In the large cities the houses of the nobles were built upon platforms several feet in height, but in the smaller towns the residences of all classes were of the same construction, except that those of the chiefs were larger and more commodious. Some, however, appear to have been built of stone.[1131]‘Their houses of bricke or stone, are couered with reedes, where there is a scarcitie of stones, but where Quarries are, they are couered with shindle or slate. Many houses haue marble pillars, as they haue with vs.’ Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. iii., dec. vi., lib. v.; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, p. 102. Of the dwellings in Guatemala, still less is said. Villagutierre mentions a Lacandone village in which were one hundred and three houses with sloping thatched roofs, supported upon stout posts. The front of each house was open, but the back and sides were closed with a strong stockade. The interior was divided into several apartments. Cogolludo says that their houses were covered with plaster, like those of Yucatan.[1132]Hist. Yuc., p. 700. ‘Las casas eran ciento y tres, de gruessos, y fuertes Maderos, en que se mantenian los Techos, que eran de mucha Paja, reziamente amarrada, y con su corriente, y descubiertos todos los Frontispicios, y tapados los costados, y espaldas, de Estacada, con sus Aposentos, donde las Indias cozinavan, y tenian sus menesteres.’ Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 311-12.

The house, or rather shed, near the Gulf of Dulce, in which Cortés stayed, had no walls, the roof resting upon posts.[1133]Cortés, Cartas, p. 447. In other parts of Guatemala he saw ‘large houses with thatched roofs.'[1134]Id., pp. 268, 426. Gage does not give a glowing account of their dwellings. “Their houses,” he writes, “are but poor thatched Cottages, without any upper rooms, but commonly one or two only rooms below, in the one they dress their meat in the middle of it, making a compass for fire, with two or three stones, without any other chimney to convey the smoak away, which spreading it self about the room, filleth the thatch and the rafters so with sut, that all the room seemeth to be a chimney. The next unto it, is not free from smoak and blackness, where sometimes are four or five beds according to the family. The poorer sort have but one room, where they eat, dress their meat and sleep.”[1135]New Survey, p. 318. Las Casas tells us that when the Guatemalans built a new house they were careful to dedicate an apartment to the worship of the household gods; there they burned incense and offered domestic sacrifices upon an altar erected for the purpose.[1136]Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxiv.

Household Furniture

Little is said about the interior appointment and decoration of dwellings. Landa mentions that in Yucatan they used bedsteads made of cane,[1137]Relacion, p. 110. and the same is said of Nicaragua by Oviedo, who adds that they used a small four-legged bench of fine wood for a pillow.[1138]‘Á la parte oriental, á siete ú ocho passos debaxo deste portal, está un echo de tres palmos alto de tierra, fecho de las cañas gruessas que dixe, y ençima llano é de diez ó doçe piés de luengo é de cinco ó seys de ancho, é una estera de palma gruessa ençima, é sobre aquella otras tres esteras delgadas é muy bien labradas, y ençima tendido el caçique desnudo é con una mantilla de algodon blanco é delgada revuelta sobre sí; é por almohada tenia un banquito pequeño de quatro piés, algo cóncavo, quellos llaman duho, é de muy linda é lisa madera muy bien labrado, por cabeçera.’ Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 109. In Guatemala, there was in each room a sort of bedstead large enough to accommodate four grown persons, and other small ones for the children.[1139]‘Y en cada Aposento vn Tapesco, sobre maderos fuertes, que en cada vno cabian quatro Personas; y otros Tapesquillos aparte, en que ponian las Criaturas.’ Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 312.Gage writes: They have ‘four or five beds according to the family…. Few there are that set any locks upon their doors, for they fear no robbing nor stealing, neither have they in their houses much to lose, earthen pots, and pans, and dishes, and cups to drink their Chocolatte, being the chief commodities in their house. There is scarce any house which hath not also in the yard a stew, wherein they bath themselves with hot water.’ New Survey, p. 318. Brasseur de Bourbourg gives a description of gorgeous furniture used in the houses of the wealthy in Yucatan, but unfortunately the learned Abbé has for his only authority on this point the somewhat apocryphal Ordoñez’ MS. The stools, he writes, on which they seated themselves cross-legged after the Oriental fashion, were of wood and precious metals, and were often made in the shape of some animal or bird; they were covered with deer-skins, tanned with great care, and embroidered with gold and precious stones. The interior-walls were sometimes hung with similar skins, though they were more frequently decorated with paintings on a red or blue ground. Curtains of finest texture and most brilliant colors fell over the doorways, and the stucco floors were covered with mats made of exquisite workmanship. Rich hued cloths covered the tables. The plate would have done honor to a Persian satrap. Graceful vases of chased gold, alabaster or agate, worked with exquisite art, delicate painted pottery, excelling that of Etruria, candelabra for the great odorous pine torches, metal braziers diffusing sweet perfumes, a multitude of petits riens, such as little bells and grotesquely shaped whistles for summoning attendants, in fact all the luxuries which are the result of an advanced civilization, were, according to Brasseur de Bourbourg, to be found in the houses of the Maya nobility.[1140]Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 68-9.

Maya Fortifications

Of the interior arrangement of the Yucatec towns we are told nothing except that the temples, palaces, and houses of the nobility were in the centre, with the dwellings of the common people grouped about them, and that the streets were well kept.[1141]Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. ii., iii. Some of them must, however, have been very large and have contained fine buildings. During Córdova’s voyage on the coast of Yucatan a city was seen which, says Peter Martyr, “for the hugenesse thereof they call Cayrus, of Cayrus the Metropolis of Ægipt: where they find turreted houses, stately tēples, wel paued wayes & streets where marts and faires for trade of merchandise were kept.”[1142]Dec. iv., lib. i. During Grijalva’s voyage a city, the same one perhaps, was seen, which Diaz, the chaplain of the expedition, says was as ‘large as the city of Seville.'[1143]Diaz, Itinerario, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 287. None of the Yucatec cities appear to have been located with any view to defense, or to to have been provided with fortifications of any description.[1144]See vol. iv. of this work, pp. 267-8. The towns of Guatemala, on the other hand, were very strongly fortified, both artificially and by the site selected. Juarros thus describes the city of Utatlan in Guatemala: “it was surrounded by a deep ravine that formed a natural fosse, leaving only two very narrow roads as entrances to the city, both of which were so well defended by the castle of Resguardo, as to render it impregnable. The centre of the city was occupied by the royal palace, which was surrounded by the houses of the nobility; the extremities were inhabited by the plebeians. The streets were very narrow, but the place was so populous, as to enable the king to draw from it alone, no less than 72,000 combatants, to oppose the progress of the Spaniards. It contained many very sumptuous edifices, the most superb of them was a seminary, where between 5 and 6000 children were educated; they were all maintained and provided for at the charge of the royal treasury; their instruction was superintended by 70 masters and professors. The castle of the Atalaya was a remarkable structure, which being raised four stories high, was capable of furnishing quarters for a very strong garrison. The castle of Resguardo was not inferior to the other; it extended 188 paces in front, 230 in depth, and was 5 stories high. The grand alcazar, or palace of the kings of Quiché, surpassed every other edifice, and in the opinion of Torquemada, it could compete in opulence with that of Montezuma in Mexico, or that of the Incas in Cuzco. The front of this building extended from east to west 376 geometrical paces, and in depth 728; it was constructed of hewn stone of different colors; its form was elegant, and altogether most magnificent; there were 6 principal divisions, the first contained lodgings for a numerous troop of lancers, archers, and other well disciplined troops, constituting the royal body guard; the second was destined to the accommodation of the princes, and relations of the king, who dwelt in it, and were served with regal splendour, as long as they remained unmarried; the third was appropriated to the use of the king, and contained distinct suits of apartments, for the mornings, evenings, and nights. In one of the saloons stood the throne, under four canopies of plumage, the ascent to it was by several steps; in this part of the palace were, the treasury, the tribunals of the judges, the armory, the gardens, aviaries, and menageries, with all the requisite offices appending to each department. The 4th and 5th divisions were occupied by the queens and royal concubines; they were necessarily of great extent, from the immense number of apartments requisite for the accommodation of so many females, who were all maintained in a style of sumptuous magnificence, gardens for their recreation, baths, and proper places for breeding geese, that were kept for the sole purpose of furnishing feathers, with which hangings, coverings, and other similar ornamental articles, were made. Contiguous to this division was the sixth and last; this was the residence of the king’s daughters and other females of the blood royal, where they were educated and attended in a manner suitable to their rank.”[1145]Juarros, Hist. Guat., pp. 87-8; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lii.; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 493; Palacio, Carta, pp. 123-4.

Patinamit, the Cakchiquel capital, was nearly three leagues in circumference. It was situated upon a plateau surrounded by deep ravines which could be crossed at only one point by a narrow causeway which terminated in two gates of stone, one on the outside and the other on the inside of the thick wall of the city. The streets were broad and straight, and crossed each other at right angles. The town was divided from north to south into two parts by a ditch nine feet deep, with a wall of masonry about three feet high on each side. This ditch served to divide the nobles from the commoners, the former class living in the eastern section, and the latter in the western.[1146]Juarros, Hist. Guat., pp. 383-4; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 520.

Peter Martyr says of the cities of Nicaragua: “Large and great streetes guarde the frontes of the Kinges courts, according to the disposition and greatnes of their village or towne. If the town consist of many houses, they haue also little ones, in which, the trading neighbours distant from the Court may meete together. The chiefe noble mens houses compasse and inclose the kinges streete on euery side: in the middle site whereof one is erected which the Goldesmithes inhabite.”[1147]Dec. vi., lib. vi.; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 263; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.

The Mayas constructed excellent and desirable roads all over the face of the country. The most remarkable of these were the great highways used by the pilgrims visiting the sacred island of Cozumel; these roads, four in number, traversed the peninsula in different directions, and finally met at a point upon the coast opposite the island.[1148]Lizana, in Landa, Relacion, p. 358; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 193; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 25, 46-7. Diego de Godoi, in a letter to Cortés, states that he and his party came to a place in the mountains of Chiapas, where the smooth and slippery rock sloped down to the edge of a precipice, and which would have been quite impassable had not the Indians made a road with branches and trunks of trees. On the side of the precipice they erected a strong wooden railing, and then made all level with earth.[1149]Godoi, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., pp. 171-2. At the Lake of Masaya in Nicaragua, Boyle noticed a ‘cutting in the solid rock, a mile long, and gradually descending to depth of at least three hundred feet! This is claimed as the work of a people which was not acquainted with blasting or with iron tools. Nature had evidently little hand in the matter, though a cleft in the rock may perhaps have helped the excavators. The mouth of this tunnel is about half a mile from the town.’ Ride, vol. ii., p. 11. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. vii., mentions the same thing in a very different manner: ‘La subida y baxada, tan derecha como vna pared, que como es de peña viua, tiene en ella hechos agujeros, adonde ponen los dedos de las manos, y de los pies.’

Maya Temples

Of the Maya temples very little is said. There was one at Chichen Itza which had four great staircases, each being thirty-three feet wide and having ninety-one steps, very difficult of ascent. The steps were of the same height and width as ours. On both sides of each stairway was a low balustrade, two feet wide, made of good stone, like the rest of the building. The edifice was not sharp-cornered, because from the ground upward between the balustrades the cubic blocks were rounded, ascending by degrees and elegantly narrowing the building. There was at the foot of each balustrade a fierce serpent’s head very strangely worked. On the top of the edifice there was a platform, on which stood a building forty-three feet by forty-nine feet, and about twenty feet high, having only a single doorway in the centre of each front. The doorways on the east, west and south, opened into a corridor six feet wide, which extended without partition walls round the three corresponding sides of the edifice; the northern doorway gave access to a corridor forty feet long and six and a third feet wide. Through the centre of the rear wall of this corridor a doorway opened into a room twelve feet nine inches by nineteen feet eight inches, and seventeen feet high; its ceiling was formed by two transverse arches supported by immense carved beams of zapote-wood, stretched across the room and resting, each at its centre, on two square pillars.[1150]For description of ruins of this building as they now exist, and cuts of staircase, ground plan, and ornamentation, see vol. iv., pp. 226-9. Bishop Landa thus describes it: ‘Este edificio tiene quatro escaleras que miran a las quatro partes del mundo: tienen de ancho a xxxiii pies y a noventa y un escalones cada una que es muerte subirlas. Tienen en los escalones la mesma altura y anchura que nosotros damos a los nuestros. Tiene cada escalera dos passamanos baxos a ygual de los escalones, de dos piez de ancho de buena canteria como lo es todo el edificio. No es este edificio esquinado, porque desde la salida del suelo se comiençan labrar desde los passemanos al contrario, como estan pintado unos cubos redondos que van subiendo a trechos y estrechando el edificio por muy galana orden. Avia quando yo lo vi al pie de cada passamano una fiera boca de sierpe de una pieça bien curiosamente labrada. Acabadas de esta manera las escaleras, queda en lo alto una plaçeta llana en la qual esta un edificio edificado de quatro quartos. Los tres se andan a la redonda sin impedimento y tiene cada uno puerta en medio y estan cerrados de boveda. El quarto del norte se anda por si con un corredor de pilares gruessos. Lo de en medio que avia de ser como el patinico que haze el orden de los paños del edificio tiene una puerta que sale al corredor del norte y esta por arriba cerrado de madera y servia de quemar los saumerios. Ay en la entrada desta puerta o del corredor un modo de armas esculpidas en una piedra que no pude bien entender. Tenia este edificio otros muchos, y tiene oy en dia a la redonda de si bien hechos y grandes, y todo en suelo del a ellos encalado que aun ay a partes memoria de los encalados tan fuerte es el argamasa de que alla los hazen. Tenia delante la escalera del norte algo aparte dos teatros de canteria pequeños de a quatro escaleras, y enlosados por arriba en que dizen representavan las farsas y comedias para solaz del pueblo. Va desde et patio en frente destos teatros una hermosa y ancha calçada hasta un poço como dos tiros de piedra. En este poço an tenido, y tenian entonces costumbre de echar hombres vivos en sacrificio a los dioses en tiempo de seca, y tenian no morian aunque no los veyan mas. Hechavan tambien otros muchas cosas, de piedras de valor y cosas que tenían depciadas…. Es poço que tiene largos vii estados de hondo hasta el agua, hancho mas de cien pies y redondo y de una peña tajada hasta el agua que es maravilla. Parece que tiene al agua muy verde, y creo lo causan las arboledas de que esta cercado y es muy hondo. Tiene en cima del junto a la boca un edificio pequeño donde halle yo idolos hechos a honra de todos los edificios principales de la tierra, casi como el Pantheon de Roma. No se si era esta invencion antigua o de los modernos para toparse con sus idolos quando fuessen con ofrendas a aquel poço. Halle yo leones labrados de bulto y jarros y otras cosas que no se como nadie dira no tuvieron herramiento esta gente. Tambien halle dos hombres de grandes estaturas labrados de piedra, cado uno de una pieça en carnes cubierta su honestidad como se cubrian los indios. Tenian las cabeças por si, y con zarcillos en las orejas como lo usavan los indios, y hecha una espiga por detras en el pescueço que encaxava en un agujero hondo para ello hecho en el mesmo pescueço y encaxado quedava el bulto cumplido.’ Relacion, pp. 342-6. The island of Cozumel was especially devoted to religious observances, and was annually visited by great numbers of pilgrims; there were therefore more religious edifices here than elsewhere. Among them is mentioned a square tower, with four windows, and hollow at the top; at the back was a room in which the sacred implements were kept; it was surrounded by an enclosure, in the middle of which stood a cross nine feet high, representing the God of rain.[1151]‘Vieron algunos adoratorios, y templos, y vno en particular, cuya forma era de vna torre quadrada, ancha del pie, y hueca en lo alto con quatro grandes ventanas, con sus corredores, y en lo hueco, que era la Capilla, estauan Idolos, y a las espaldas estaua vna sacristia, adonde se guardauan las cosas del seruicio del templo: y al pie deste estaua vn cercado de piedra, y cal, almenado y enluzido, y en medio vna Cruz de cal, de tres varas en alto, a la qual tenian por el Dios de la lluuia.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. iii., cap. i. ‘Junto à vn templo, como torre quadrada, donde tenian vn Idolo muy celebrado, al pie de ella auia vn cercado de piedra, y cal muy bien luzido, y almenado, en medio del qual auia vna Cruz de cal tan alta, como diez palmos,’ to which they prayed for rain. Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 200. It is doubtless the same structure of which Gomara writes: ‘El templo es como torre quadrada, ancha del pie, y con gradas al derredor, derecha de medio arriba, y en lo alto hueca, y cubierta de paja, con quatro puertas o ventanas con sus antepechos, o corredores. En aquello hueco, que parece capilla, assientan o pintan sus dioses.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 23. Other temples so closely resembled those of Mexico as to need no further description here.[1152]The pyramids are of different size: ‘aunque todos de vna forma. Son al modo de los que de la Nueua España refiere el Padre Torquemada en su Monarquia Indiana: leuantado del suelo vn terrapleno fundamento del edificio, y sobre èl vàn ascendiendo gradas en figuras piramidal, aunque no remata en ella, porque en lo superior haze vna placeta, en cuyo suelo estàn separada (aunque distantes poco) dos Capillas pequeñas en que estaban los Idolos (esto es en lo de Vxumual) y alli se hazian los sacrificios, assi de hombres, mugeres, y niños, como de las demàs cosas. Tienen algunos de ellos altura de mas de cien gradas de poco mas de medio pie de ancho cada vno.’ Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 193. Landa describes a pyramidal structure which differs from others: ‘Ay aqui en Yzamal un edificio entre los otros de tanta altura que espanta, el qual se vera en esta figura y en esta razon della. Tiene XX gradas de a mas de dos buenos palmos de alto y ancho cada un y terna, mas de cien pies de largo. Son estas gradas de muy grandes piedras labradas aunque con el mucho tiempo, y estar al agua, estan ya feas y maltratadas. Tiene despues labrado en torno como señala esta raya, redonda labrado de canteria una muy fuerte pared a la qual como estado y medio en alto sale una ceja de hermosas piedras todo a la redonda y desde ellas se torna despues a seguir la obra hasta ygualar con el altura de la plaça que se haze despues de la primera escalera. Despues de la qual plaça se haze otra buena placeta, y en ella algo pegado a la pared esta hecho un cerro bien alto con su escalera al medio dia, donde caen las escaleras grandes y encima esta una hermosa capilla de canteria bien labrada. Yo subi en lo alto desta capilla y como Yucatan es tierra llana se vee desde ella tierra quanto puede la vista alcançar a maravilla y se vee la mar. Estos edificios de Yzamal eran por todos XI o XII, aunque es este el mayor y estan muy cerca unos de otros. No oy memoria de los fundadores, y parecen aver sido los primeros. Estan VIII leguas de la mar en muy hermoso sitio, y buena tierra y comarca de gente.’ Relacion, pp. 328-30.

Nicaraguan Temples

The temples of Nicaragua were built of wood and thatched; they contained many low, dark rooms, where the idols were kept and the religious rites performed. Before each temple was a pyramidal mound, on the flat top of which the sacrifices were made in the presence of the whole people.[1153]Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 37; Peter Martyr, dec. vi., lib. v.

In Guatemala, Cortés saw temples like those of Mexico.[1154]Cortés, Cartas, p. 448. The temple of Tohil, at Utatlan, was, according to Brasseur de Bourbourg, a conical edifice, having in front a very steep stairway; at the summit was a platform of considerable size upon which stood a very high chapel, built of hewn stone, and roofed with precious wood. The walls were covered within and without with a very fine and durable stucco. Upon a throne of gold, enriched with precious stones, was seated the image of the god.[1155]Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 552. See also Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 402.

The particular diseases to which the Mayas were most subject are not enumerated, but there is no reason to doubt that they suffered from the same maladies as their neighbors the Nahuas. They seem to have been greatly afflicted with various forms of syphilis,[1156]‘Y en estas partes é Indias pocos chripstianos, é muy pocos digo, son los que han escapado deste trabajoso mat (buboes) que hayan tenido partiçipaçion carnal con las mugeres naturales desta generaçion de indias; porque á la verdad es propria plaga desta tierra, é tan usada á los indios é indias como en otras partes otras comunes enfermedades.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., p. 365. and in winter, with catarrh and fever.[1157]‘Comiença el inuierno de aquella tierra desde san Francisco, quando entran los Nortes, ayre frio, y que destiempla mucho a los naturales: y por estar hechos al calor, y traer poca ropa, les dan rezios catarros, y calenturas.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. iii., cap. iv. They were much troubled, also, with epidemics, which not unfrequently swept the country with great destruction.[1158]Landa, Relacion, pp. 60-2.

Treatment of the Sick

Medicinal practitioners were numerous. Their medicines, which were mostly furnished by the vegetable kingdom, were administered in the usual forms,[1159]Ay infinitos generos de cortezas, rayzes, y hojas de arboles, y gomas, para muchas enfermedades, con que los Indios curauan en su gentilidad, con soplos, y otras inuenciones del demonio.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. xiv.; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 234. and their treatment of patients involved the customary mummeries. Clysters were much used.[1160]‘Curan viejas los enfermos … y echan melezinas con vn cañuto, tomando la decoccion en la boca, y soplando. Los nuestros les hazian mil burlas, desuenteando al tiempo, que querian ellas soplar, o riendo del artificio.’ Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 264; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii. For syphilis they used a decoction of a wood called guayacan, which grew most plentifully in the province of Nagrando in Nicaragua.[1161]Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., p. 365. For rheumatism, coughs, colds, and other complaints of a kindred nature, they used various herbs, among them tobacco,[1162]‘Ay en esta terra mucha diuersidad de yeruas medicinales, con que se curan los naturales: y matan los gusanos, y con que restriñen la sangre, como es el Piciete, por otro nombre Tabaco, que quita dolores causados de frio, y tomado en humo es prouechoso para las reumas, asma, y tos; y lo traen en poluo en la boca los Indios, y los negros, para adormecer, y no sentir el trabajo.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. vii., cap. iii. and a kind of dough made of ‘stinking poisonous worms.'[1163]‘Hazen en el (Atiquizaya) vna massa de gusanos hediondos y ponçoñosos, que es marauillosa medicina para todo genero de frialdades, y otras indisposiciones.’ Id., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. x. Sores arising from natural causes they washed in a decoction of an herb called coygaraca, or poulticed it with the mashed leaves of another named mozot.[1164]Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., pp. 383-5. Wounds taken in battle they always treated with external applications.[1165]‘Curauan los heridos con poluos de yeruas, o carbon que lleuauan para esto.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii. Cacao, after the oil had been extracted was considered to be a sure preventive against poison.[1166]Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., p. 321.

When a rich man or a noble fell sick a messenger was dispatched with gifts to the doctor, who came at once and staid by his patient until he either got well or died. If the sickness was not serious the physician merely applied the usual remedies, but it was thought that a severe illness could only be brought on by some crime committed and unconfessed. In such cases, therefore, the doctor insisted upon the sick man making a clean breast of it, and confessing such sin even though it had been committed twenty years before. This done, the physician cast lots to see what sacrifices ought to be made, and whatever he determined upon was always given even though it amounted to the whole of the patient’s fortune.[1167]Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. viii., p. 234; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 191-2; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 184. In Yucatan the practitioner sometimes drew blood from those parts of the patient’s body in which the malady lay.[1168]Landa, Relacion, p. 160. Lizana mentions a temple at Izamal to which the sick were carried that they might be healed miraculously.[1169]‘Otro altar y templo sobre otro cuyo levantaron estos indios en su gentilidad á aquel su rey ó falso Dios Ytzmat-ul, donde pusieron la figura de la mano, que les servia de memoria, y dizen que alli le llevavan los muertos y enfermos, y que alli resucitavan y sanavan, tocandolos la mano; y este era el que está en la parte del puniente; y assi se llama y nombra Kab-ul que quiere dezir mano obradora.’ Lizana, in Landa, Relacion, p. 358. In Guatemala, as elsewhere, propitiatory offerings of birds and animals were made in ordinary cases of sickness, but if the patient was wealthy and dangerously ill he would sometimes strive to appease the anger of the gods and atone for the sins which he was supposed to have committed by sacrificing male or female slaves, or, in extraordinary cases, when the sick man was a prince or a great noble, he would even vow to sacrifice a son or a daughter in the event of his recovery; and although the scapegoat was generally chosen from among his children by female slaves, yet so fearful of death, so fond of life were they, that there were not wanting instances when legitimate children, and even only sons were sacrificed. And it is said, moreover, that they were inexorable as Jephthah in the performance of such vows, for it was held to be a great sin to be false to a bargain made with the gods.[1170]Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 191-2, 209-10.

Practice of Sorcery

The Mayas, like the Nahuas, were grossly superstitious. They believed implicitly in the fulfillment of dreams, the influence of omens, and the power of witches and wizards. No important matter was undertaken until its success had been foretold and a lucky day determined by the flight of a bird or some similar omen. Whether the non-fulfilment of the prediction was provided against by a double entendre, after the manner of the sibyls, we are not told. The cries or appearance of certain birds and animals were thought to presage harm to those who heard or saw them.[1171]Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 183-4. They as firmly believed and were as well versed in the black art as their European brethren of a hundred years later, and they appear to have had the same enlightened horror of the arts of gramarye, for in Guatemala, at least, they burned witches and wizards without mercy. They had among them, they said, sorcerers who could metamorphose themselves into dogs, pigs, and other animals, and whose glance was death to their victims. Others there were who could by magic cause a rose to bloom at will, and could bring whomsoever they wished under their control by simply giving him the flower to smell. Unfaithful wives, too, would often bewitch their husbands that their acts of infidelity might not be discovered.[1172]Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. viii., p. 144; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 55; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 264; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 184. All these things are gravely recounted by the old chroniclers, not as matters unworthy of credence, but as deeds done at the instigation of the devil to the utter damnation of the benighted heathen. Cogolludo, for instance, speaking of the performances of a snake-charmer, says that the magician took up the reptile in his bare hands, as he did so using certain mystic words, which he, Cogolludo, wrote down at the time, but finding afterwards that they invoked the devil, he did not see fit to reproduce them in his work. The same writer further relates that upon another occasion a diviner cast lots, according to custom, with a number of grains of corn, to find out which direction a strayed child had taken. The child was eventually found upon the road indicated, and the narrator subsequently endeavored to discover whether the devil had been invoked or not, but the magician was a poor simple fool, and could not tell him.[1173]Ib. Nor does there seem to have been any great difference between the credulity and superstition of conquerors and conquered in other respects. The Spanish Fathers, if we may judge from their writings, believed in the Aztec deities as firmly as the natives; the only difference seems to have been that the former looked upon them as devils and the latter as gods. When the Spaniards took notes in writing of what they saw, the Costa Ricans thought they were working out some magic spell; when the Costa Ricans cast incense towards the invaders telling them to leave the country or die,[1174]In Campeche the priests ‘lleuauan braserillos de barro en que echauan anime, que entre ellos dizen Copal, y sahumauan a los Castellanos, diziendoles que se fuessen de su tierra, porque los matarian.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. ii., cap. xvii. the Spaniards swore that the devil was in it, and crossed themselves as a counter-spell.

The Yucatecs observed a curious custom during an eclipse of the moon. At such times they imagined that the moon was asleep, or that she was stung and wounded by ants. They therefore beat their dogs to make them howl, and made a great racket by striking with sticks upon doors and benches; what they hoped to accomplish by this, we are not told.[1175]Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 183.

Funeral Rites

The Mayas disposed of the bodies of their dead by both burial and cremation. The former, however, appears to have been the most usual way. In Vera Paz, and probably in the whole of Guatemala, the body was placed in the grave in a sitting posture, with the knees drawn up to the face. The greater part of the dead man’s property was buried with him, and various kinds of food and drink were placed in the grave that the spirit might want for nothing on its way to shadow-land.[1176]Cogolludo says that a calabash filled with atole, some large cakes, and some maize bran, were deposited in the grave. The first, for the soul to drink on its journey; the second, for the dogs which the deceased had eaten during his life, that they might not bite him in the other world; and the last to conciliate the other animals that he had eaten. Hist. Yuc., p. 700. Just before death took place, the nearest relation, or the most intimate friend of the dying man, placed between his lips a valuable stone, which was supposed to receive the soul as soon as it passed from the body. As soon as he was dead, the same person removed the stone and gently rubbed the face of the deceased with it. This office was held to be a very important one, and the person who performed it preserved the stone with great reverence. When the lord of a province died, messengers were sent to the neighboring provinces to invite the other princes to be present at the funeral. While awaiting their arrival the body was placed in a sitting posture, in the manner in which it was afterwards to be interred,[1177]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 574, says that the body was embalmed; but Ximenez, from whom his account is evidently taken, is silent on this point. and clothed in a great quantity of rich clothing.[1178]Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 210, et seq., affirms that wealthy people, when they began growing old, set about collecting a vast number of clothes and ornaments in which to be buried. On the day of the funeral the great lords who had come to attend the ceremony, brought precious gifts and ornaments, and placed them by the side of or on the person of the corpse. Each provided also a male or female slave, or both, to be sacrificed over the grave of the deceased. The body was then placed in a large stone chest,[1179]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 575, says that the body was deposited in the grave seated upon a throne. and borne with great solemnity to its last resting-place, which was generally situated on the top of a hill. The coffin having been lowered into the grave with its ornaments, the doomed slaves were immolated, and also cast in along with the implements which they had used in life, that they might follow their accustomed pursuits in the service of their new master in the other world. Finally, the grave was filled up, a mound raised over it, and a stone altar erected above all, upon which incense was burned and sacrifices were made in memory of the deceased. The common people did not use coffins, but placed the body in a sitting posture and wrapped up in many cloths, in an excavation made in the side of the grave, burying with it many jars, pans, and implements. They raised a mound over the grave of a height in proportion to the rank of the defunct.[1180]Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 210-14; Palacio, Carta, p. 119; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 699-700.

Only the poorer classes of the Yucatecs buried their dead. These placed corn in the mouth of the corpse, together with some money as ferriage for the Maya Charon. The body was interred either in the house or close to it. Some idols were thrown into the grave before it was filled up. The house was then forsaken by its inmates, for they greatly feared the dead.[1181]Unless a great number of people were living in it, when they seem to have gathered courage from each other’s company, and to have remained. The books of a priest were buried with him, as were likewise the charms of a sorcerer.[1182]Landa, Relacion, p. 196; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv. The Itzas buried their dead in the fields, in their every-day clothes. On the graves of the males they left such implements as men used, on those of the females they placed grinding-stones, pans, and other utensils used by the women.[1183]Villagutierre, Hist. Cong. Itza, p. 313. In Nicaragua, property was buried with the possessor if he or she had no children; if the contrary was the case, it was divided among the heirs. Nicaraguan parents shrouded their children in cloths, and buried them before the doors of their dwellings.[1184]Palacio, Carta, p. 119; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 48. Among the Pipiles the dead were interred in the house they had lived in, along with all their property. A deceased high-priest was buried, clad in the robes and ornaments appertaining to his office, in a sepulchre or vault in his own palace, and the people mourned and fasted fifteen days.[1185]Palacio, Carta, p. 78; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 556.

Cremation or partial cremation seems to have been reserved for the higher classes. In Yucatan, an image of the dead person was made, of wood for a king, of clay for a noble. The back part of the head of this image was hollowed out, and a portion of the body having been burned, the ashes were placed in this hollow, which was covered with the skin of the occiput of the corpse. The image was then placed in the temple, among the idols, and was much reverenced, incense being burned before it, almost as though it had been a god. The remainder of the body was buried with great solemnity. When an ancient Cocome king died, his head was cut off and boiled. The flesh was then stripped off, and the skull cut in two crosswise. On the front part of the skull, which included the lower jaw and teeth, an exact likeness of the dead man was molded in some plastic substance. This was placed among the statues of the gods, and each day edibles of various kinds were placed before it, that the spirit might want for nothing in the other life, which, by the way, must have been a poor one to need such terrestrial aliment.[1186]Landa, Relacion, pp. 196-8; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv. When a great lord died in Nicaragua, the body was burned along with a great number of feathers and ornaments of different kinds, and the ashes were placed in an urn, which was buried in front of the palace of the deceased. As usual, the spirit must be supplied with food, which was tied to the body before cremation.[1187]Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 48-9. In the island of Ometepec the ancient graves are not surrounded by isolated stones like the calputs of the modern Indians, but are found scattered irregularly over the plain at a depth of three feet. Urns of burnt clay are found in these graves, filled with earth and displaced bones; and vases of the same material, covered with red paintings and hieroglyphics, stone points of arrows, small idols, and gold ornaments. Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 128-9.

Mourning for the Dead

According to the information we have on the subject, the mourning customs of the Mayas appear to have been pretty much the same everywhere. For the death of a chief or any of his family the Pipiles lamented for four days, silently by day, and with loud cries by night. At dawn on the fifth day the high-priest publicly forbade the people to make any further demonstration of sorrow, saying that the soul of the departed was now with the gods. The Guatemalan widower dyed his body yellow, for which reason he was called malcam. Mothers who lost a sucking child, withheld their milk from all other infants for four days, lest the spirit of the dead babe should be offended.[1188]Landa, Relacion, p. 196; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv.; Id. lib. viii., cap. x.; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 214; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 313; Palacio, Carta, pp. 76-8.

The Mayas, like the Nahuas, were mostly well-made, tall, strong, and hardy. Their complexion was tawny. The women were passably good-looking, some of them, it is said, quite pretty, and seem to have been somewhat fairer-skinned than the men. What the features of the Mayas were like, can only be conjectured. Their sculpture would indicate that a large hooked nose and a retreating forehead, if not usual, were at least regarded with favor, and we know that head-flattening was almost universal among them. Beards were not worn, and the Yucatec mothers burned the faces of their children with hot cloths to prevent the growth of hair. In Landa’s time some of the natives allowed their beard to grow, but, says the worthy bishop, it came out as rough as hog’s bristles. In Nicaragua it would seem that they did not even understand what a beard was; witness the following ‘pretie policy’ of Ægidius Gonsalus: “All the Barbarians of those Nations are beardlesse, and are terribly afraide, and fearefull of bearded men: and therefore of 25. beardlesse youthes by reason of their tender yeres, Ægidius made bearded men with the powlinges of their heades, the haire being orderly composed, to the end, that the number of bearded men might appeare the more, to terrifie them if they should be assailed by warre, as afterwarde it fell out.”[1189]Peter Martyr, dec. vi., lib. v. Squinting eyes were, as I have said before, thought beautiful in Yucatan.[1190]Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., p. 414; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iii.; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 111; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 23; Dávila, Teatro Ecles., tom. i., p. 170; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 700; Landa, Relacion, pp. 112-14; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 402; De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 329.

Character of the Mayas

Of all the Maya nations, the Yucatecs bear the best character. The men were generous, polite, honest, truthful, peaceable, brave, ingenious, and particularly hospitable, though, on the other hand, they were great drunkards, and very loose in their morals. The women were modest, very industrious, excellent housewives, and careful mothers, but, though generally of a gentle disposition, they were excessively jealous of their marital rights; indeed, Bishop Landa tells us that upon the barest suspicion of infidelity on the part of their husbands they became perfect furies, and would even beat their unfaithful one.[1191]Landa, Relacion, pp. 100, 122, 188-90; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 312, 516; Dávila, Teatro Ecles., tom. i., p. 203; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv.; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 180, 187-8; Gomara, Hist. Ynd., fol. 62; Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., pp. 147-8. The Guatemalans are spoken of as having been exceedingly warlike and valorous, but withal very simple in their tastes and manner of life.[1192]Gomara, Hist. Ynd., fol. 268; Dávila, Teatro Ecles., tom. i., p. 148; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 33; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. xlvi. Arricivita calls the Lacandones thieves, assassins, cannibals, bloody-minded men, who received the missionaries with great violence.[1193]Crónica Seráfica, pp. 25-6. The fact that the Lacandones strove to repel invasion, without intuitively knowing that the invaders were missionaries, may have helped the worthy padre to come to this decision, however. The Nicaraguans were warlike and brave, but at the same time false, cunning, and deceitful. Their resolute hatred of the whites was so great that it is said that for two years they abstained from their wives rather than beget slaves for their conquerors.[1194]Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii., dec. iv., lib. iii., cap. ii.; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 39.

Next after the collecting of facts in any one direction comes their comparison with other ascertained facts of the same category, by which means fragments of knowledge coalesce and unfold into science. This fascinating study, however, is no part of my plan. If in the foregoing pages I have succeeded in collecting and classifying materials in such a manner that others may, with comparative ease and certainty, place the multitudinous nations of these Pacific States in all their shades of savagery and progress side by side with the savagisms and civilizations of other ages and nations, my work thus far is accomplished. But what a flood of thought, of speculation and imagery rushes in upon the mind at the bare mention of such a study! Isolated, without the stimulus of a Mediterranean commerce, hidden in umbrageous darkness, walled in by malarious borders, and surrounded by wild barbaric hordes, whatever its origin, indigenous or foreign, there was found on Mexican and Central American table-lands an unfolding humanity, unique and individual, yet strikingly similar to human unfoldings under like conditions elsewhere. Europeans, regarding the culture of the conquered race first as diabolical and then contemptible, have not to this day derived that benefit from it that they might have done. It is not necessary that American civilization should be as far advanced as European, to make a perfect knowledge of the former as essential in the study of mankind as a knowledge of the latter; nor have I any disposition to advance a claim for the equality of American aboriginal culture with European, or to make of it other than what it is. As in a work of art, it is not a succession of sharply defined and decided colors, but a happy blending of light and shade, that makes the picture pleasing, so in the grand and gorgeous perspective of human progress the intermediate stages are as necessary to completeness as the dark spectrum of savagism or the brilliant glow of the most advanced culture.

Conclusion

This, however, I may safely claim; if the preceding pages inform us aright, then were the Nahuas, the Mayas, and the subordinate and lesser civilizations surrounding these, but little lower than the contemporaneous civilizations of Europe and Asia, and not nearly so low as we have hitherto been led to suppose. Whatever their exact status in the world of nations—and that this volume gives in esse and not in posse—they are surely entitled to their place, and a clear and comprehensive delineation of their character and condition fills a gap in the history of humanity. As in every individual, so in every people, there is something different from what may be found in any other people; something better and something worse. One civilization teaches another; if the superior teaches most, the inferior nevertheless teaches. It is by the mutual action and reaction of mind upon mind and nation upon nation that the world of intellect is forced to develop. Taking in at one view the vast range of humanity portrayed in this volume and the preceding, with all its infinite variety traced on a background of infinite unity, individuality not more clearly evidenced than a heart and mind and soul relationship to humanity everywhere, the wide differences in intelligence and culture shaded and toned down into a homogeneous whole, we can but arrive at our former conclusion, that civilization is an unexplained phenomenon whose study allures the thoughtful and yields results pregnant with the welfare of mankind.

Footnotes

[1126] See vol. iv., pp. 267, et. seq.

[1127] ‘A todo lo largo tenian los vecinos de aquel lugar muchas casas, hecho el cimiento de piedra y lodo hasta la mitad de las paredes, y luego cubiertas de paja. Esta gente del dicho lugar, en los edificios y en las casas, parece ser gente de grande ingenio: y si no fuera porque parecia haber allí algunos edificios nuevos, se pudiera presumir que eran edificios hechos por Españoles.’ Diaz, Itinerario, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 286; see also Id., pp. 281, 287. ‘Las casas son de piedra, y ladrillo con la cubierta de paja, o rama. Y aun alguna de lanchas de piedra.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 23. ‘The houses were of stone or brick, and lyme, very artificially composed. To the square Courts or first habitations of their houses they ascended by ten or twelue steps. The roofe was of Reeds, or stalkes of Herbs.’ Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. v., p. 885; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 2-3; Bienvenida, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ii., p. 311; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., p. 507, tom. iii., p. 230; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 72; Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. i.

[1128] ‘C’est encore aujourd’hui de cette manière que se construisent à la campagne les maisons non seulement des indigènes, mais encore de la plupart des autres habitants du pays, au Yucatan et ailleurs.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Landa, Relacion, pp. 110-11.

[1129] Landa, Relacion, p. 110.

[1130] Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 184.

[1131] ‘Their houses of bricke or stone, are couered with reedes, where there is a scarcitie of stones, but where Quarries are, they are couered with shindle or slate. Many houses haue marble pillars, as they haue with vs.’ Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. iii., dec. vi., lib. v.; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, p. 102.

[1132] Hist. Yuc., p. 700. ‘Las casas eran ciento y tres, de gruessos, y fuertes Maderos, en que se mantenian los Techos, que eran de mucha Paja, reziamente amarrada, y con su corriente, y descubiertos todos los Frontispicios, y tapados los costados, y espaldas, de Estacada, con sus Aposentos, donde las Indias cozinavan, y tenian sus menesteres.’ Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 311-12.

[1133] Cortés, Cartas, p. 447.

[1134] Id., pp. 268, 426.

[1135] New Survey, p. 318.

[1136] Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxiv.

[1137] Relacion, p. 110.

[1138] ‘Á la parte oriental, á siete ú ocho passos debaxo deste portal, está un echo de tres palmos alto de tierra, fecho de las cañas gruessas que dixe, y ençima llano é de diez ó doçe piés de luengo é de cinco ó seys de ancho, é una estera de palma gruessa ençima, é sobre aquella otras tres esteras delgadas é muy bien labradas, y ençima tendido el caçique desnudo é con una mantilla de algodon blanco é delgada revuelta sobre sí; é por almohada tenia un banquito pequeño de quatro piés, algo cóncavo, quellos llaman duho, é de muy linda é lisa madera muy bien labrado, por cabeçera.’ Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 109.

[1139] ‘Y en cada Aposento vn Tapesco, sobre maderos fuertes, que en cada vno cabian quatro Personas; y otros Tapesquillos aparte, en que ponian las Criaturas.’ Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 312.Gage writes: They have ‘four or five beds according to the family…. Few there are that set any locks upon their doors, for they fear no robbing nor stealing, neither have they in their houses much to lose, earthen pots, and pans, and dishes, and cups to drink their Chocolatte, being the chief commodities in their house. There is scarce any house which hath not also in the yard a stew, wherein they bath themselves with hot water.’ New Survey, p. 318.

[1140] Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 68-9.

[1141] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. ii., iii.

[1142] Dec. iv., lib. i.

[1143] Diaz, Itinerario, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 287.

[1144] See vol. iv. of this work, pp. 267-8.

[1145] Juarros, Hist. Guat., pp. 87-8; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lii.; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 493; Palacio, Carta, pp. 123-4.

[1146] Juarros, Hist. Guat., pp. 383-4; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 520.

[1147] Dec. vi., lib. vi.; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 263; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.

[1148] Lizana, in Landa, Relacion, p. 358; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 193; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 25, 46-7.

[1149] Godoi, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., pp. 171-2. At the Lake of Masaya in Nicaragua, Boyle noticed a ‘cutting in the solid rock, a mile long, and gradually descending to depth of at least three hundred feet! This is claimed as the work of a people which was not acquainted with blasting or with iron tools. Nature had evidently little hand in the matter, though a cleft in the rock may perhaps have helped the excavators. The mouth of this tunnel is about half a mile from the town.’ Ride, vol. ii., p. 11. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. vii., mentions the same thing in a very different manner: ‘La subida y baxada, tan derecha como vna pared, que como es de peña viua, tiene en ella hechos agujeros, adonde ponen los dedos de las manos, y de los pies.’

[1150] For description of ruins of this building as they now exist, and cuts of staircase, ground plan, and ornamentation, see vol. iv., pp. 226-9. Bishop Landa thus describes it: ‘Este edificio tiene quatro escaleras que miran a las quatro partes del mundo: tienen de ancho a xxxiii pies y a noventa y un escalones cada una que es muerte subirlas. Tienen en los escalones la mesma altura y anchura que nosotros damos a los nuestros. Tiene cada escalera dos passamanos baxos a ygual de los escalones, de dos piez de ancho de buena canteria como lo es todo el edificio. No es este edificio esquinado, porque desde la salida del suelo se comiençan labrar desde los passemanos al contrario, como estan pintado unos cubos redondos que van subiendo a trechos y estrechando el edificio por muy galana orden. Avia quando yo lo vi al pie de cada passamano una fiera boca de sierpe de una pieça bien curiosamente labrada. Acabadas de esta manera las escaleras, queda en lo alto una plaçeta llana en la qual esta un edificio edificado de quatro quartos. Los tres se andan a la redonda sin impedimento y tiene cada uno puerta en medio y estan cerrados de boveda. El quarto del norte se anda por si con un corredor de pilares gruessos. Lo de en medio que avia de ser como el patinico que haze el orden de los paños del edificio tiene una puerta que sale al corredor del norte y esta por arriba cerrado de madera y servia de quemar los saumerios. Ay en la entrada desta puerta o del corredor un modo de armas esculpidas en una piedra que no pude bien entender. Tenia este edificio otros muchos, y tiene oy en dia a la redonda de si bien hechos y grandes, y todo en suelo del a ellos encalado que aun ay a partes memoria de los encalados tan fuerte es el argamasa de que alla los hazen. Tenia delante la escalera del norte algo aparte dos teatros de canteria pequeños de a quatro escaleras, y enlosados por arriba en que dizen representavan las farsas y comedias para solaz del pueblo. Va desde et patio en frente destos teatros una hermosa y ancha calçada hasta un poço como dos tiros de piedra. En este poço an tenido, y tenian entonces costumbre de echar hombres vivos en sacrificio a los dioses en tiempo de seca, y tenian no morian aunque no los veyan mas. Hechavan tambien otros muchas cosas, de piedras de valor y cosas que tenían depciadas…. Es poço que tiene largos vii estados de hondo hasta el agua, hancho mas de cien pies y redondo y de una peña tajada hasta el agua que es maravilla. Parece que tiene al agua muy verde, y creo lo causan las arboledas de que esta cercado y es muy hondo. Tiene en cima del junto a la boca un edificio pequeño donde halle yo idolos hechos a honra de todos los edificios principales de la tierra, casi como el Pantheon de Roma. No se si era esta invencion antigua o de los modernos para toparse con sus idolos quando fuessen con ofrendas a aquel poço. Halle yo leones labrados de bulto y jarros y otras cosas que no se como nadie dira no tuvieron herramiento esta gente. Tambien halle dos hombres de grandes estaturas labrados de piedra, cado uno de una pieça en carnes cubierta su honestidad como se cubrian los indios. Tenian las cabeças por si, y con zarcillos en las orejas como lo usavan los indios, y hecha una espiga por detras en el pescueço que encaxava en un agujero hondo para ello hecho en el mesmo pescueço y encaxado quedava el bulto cumplido.’ Relacion, pp. 342-6.

[1151] ‘Vieron algunos adoratorios, y templos, y vno en particular, cuya forma era de vna torre quadrada, ancha del pie, y hueca en lo alto con quatro grandes ventanas, con sus corredores, y en lo hueco, que era la Capilla, estauan Idolos, y a las espaldas estaua vna sacristia, adonde se guardauan las cosas del seruicio del templo: y al pie deste estaua vn cercado de piedra, y cal, almenado y enluzido, y en medio vna Cruz de cal, de tres varas en alto, a la qual tenian por el Dios de la lluuia.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. iii., cap. i. ‘Junto à vn templo, como torre quadrada, donde tenian vn Idolo muy celebrado, al pie de ella auia vn cercado de piedra, y cal muy bien luzido, y almenado, en medio del qual auia vna Cruz de cal tan alta, como diez palmos,’ to which they prayed for rain. Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 200. It is doubtless the same structure of which Gomara writes: ‘El templo es como torre quadrada, ancha del pie, y con gradas al derredor, derecha de medio arriba, y en lo alto hueca, y cubierta de paja, con quatro puertas o ventanas con sus antepechos, o corredores. En aquello hueco, que parece capilla, assientan o pintan sus dioses.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 23.

[1152] The pyramids are of different size: ‘aunque todos de vna forma. Son al modo de los que de la Nueua España refiere el Padre Torquemada en su Monarquia Indiana: leuantado del suelo vn terrapleno fundamento del edificio, y sobre èl vàn ascendiendo gradas en figuras piramidal, aunque no remata en ella, porque en lo superior haze vna placeta, en cuyo suelo estàn separada (aunque distantes poco) dos Capillas pequeñas en que estaban los Idolos (esto es en lo de Vxumual) y alli se hazian los sacrificios, assi de hombres, mugeres, y niños, como de las demàs cosas. Tienen algunos de ellos altura de mas de cien gradas de poco mas de medio pie de ancho cada vno.’ Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 193. Landa describes a pyramidal structure which differs from others: ‘Ay aqui en Yzamal un edificio entre los otros de tanta altura que espanta, el qual se vera en esta figura y en esta razon della. Tiene XX gradas de a mas de dos buenos palmos de alto y ancho cada un y terna, mas de cien pies de largo. Son estas gradas de muy grandes piedras labradas aunque con el mucho tiempo, y estar al agua, estan ya feas y maltratadas. Tiene despues labrado en torno como señala esta raya, redonda labrado de canteria una muy fuerte pared a la qual como estado y medio en alto sale una ceja de hermosas piedras todo a la redonda y desde ellas se torna despues a seguir la obra hasta ygualar con el altura de la plaça que se haze despues de la primera escalera. Despues de la qual plaça se haze otra buena placeta, y en ella algo pegado a la pared esta hecho un cerro bien alto con su escalera al medio dia, donde caen las escaleras grandes y encima esta una hermosa capilla de canteria bien labrada. Yo subi en lo alto desta capilla y como Yucatan es tierra llana se vee desde ella tierra quanto puede la vista alcançar a maravilla y se vee la mar. Estos edificios de Yzamal eran por todos XI o XII, aunque es este el mayor y estan muy cerca unos de otros. No oy memoria de los fundadores, y parecen aver sido los primeros. Estan VIII leguas de la mar en muy hermoso sitio, y buena tierra y comarca de gente.’ Relacion, pp. 328-30.

[1153] Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 37; Peter Martyr, dec. vi., lib. v.

[1154] Cortés, Cartas, p. 448.

[1155] Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 552. See also Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 402.

[1156] ‘Y en estas partes é Indias pocos chripstianos, é muy pocos digo, son los que han escapado deste trabajoso mat (buboes) que hayan tenido partiçipaçion carnal con las mugeres naturales desta generaçion de indias; porque á la verdad es propria plaga desta tierra, é tan usada á los indios é indias como en otras partes otras comunes enfermedades.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., p. 365.

[1157] ‘Comiença el inuierno de aquella tierra desde san Francisco, quando entran los Nortes, ayre frio, y que destiempla mucho a los naturales: y por estar hechos al calor, y traer poca ropa, les dan rezios catarros, y calenturas.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. iii., cap. iv.

[1158] Landa, Relacion, pp. 60-2.

[1159] Ay infinitos generos de cortezas, rayzes, y hojas de arboles, y gomas, para muchas enfermedades, con que los Indios curauan en su gentilidad, con soplos, y otras inuenciones del demonio.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. xiv.; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 234.

[1160] ‘Curan viejas los enfermos … y echan melezinas con vn cañuto, tomando la decoccion en la boca, y soplando. Los nuestros les hazian mil burlas, desuenteando al tiempo, que querian ellas soplar, o riendo del artificio.’ Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 264; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.

[1161] Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., p. 365.

[1162] ‘Ay en esta terra mucha diuersidad de yeruas medicinales, con que se curan los naturales: y matan los gusanos, y con que restriñen la sangre, como es el Piciete, por otro nombre Tabaco, que quita dolores causados de frio, y tomado en humo es prouechoso para las reumas, asma, y tos; y lo traen en poluo en la boca los Indios, y los negros, para adormecer, y no sentir el trabajo.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. vii., cap. iii.

[1163] ‘Hazen en el (Atiquizaya) vna massa de gusanos hediondos y ponçoñosos, que es marauillosa medicina para todo genero de frialdades, y otras indisposiciones.’ Id., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. x.

[1164] Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., pp. 383-5.

[1165] ‘Curauan los heridos con poluos de yeruas, o carbon que lleuauan para esto.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.

[1166] Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., p. 321.

[1167] Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. viii., p. 234; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 191-2; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 184.

[1168] Landa, Relacion, p. 160.

[1169] ‘Otro altar y templo sobre otro cuyo levantaron estos indios en su gentilidad á aquel su rey ó falso Dios Ytzmat-ul, donde pusieron la figura de la mano, que les servia de memoria, y dizen que alli le llevavan los muertos y enfermos, y que alli resucitavan y sanavan, tocandolos la mano; y este era el que está en la parte del puniente; y assi se llama y nombra Kab-ul que quiere dezir mano obradora.’ Lizana, in Landa, Relacion, p. 358.

[1170] Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 191-2, 209-10.

[1171] Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 183-4.

[1172] Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., tom. viii., p. 144; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 55; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 264; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 184.

[1173] Ib.

[1174] In Campeche the priests ‘lleuauan braserillos de barro en que echauan anime, que entre ellos dizen Copal, y sahumauan a los Castellanos, diziendoles que se fuessen de su tierra, porque los matarian.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. ii., cap. xvii.

[1175] Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 183.

[1176] Cogolludo says that a calabash filled with atole, some large cakes, and some maize bran, were deposited in the grave. The first, for the soul to drink on its journey; the second, for the dogs which the deceased had eaten during his life, that they might not bite him in the other world; and the last to conciliate the other animals that he had eaten. Hist. Yuc., p. 700.

[1177] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 574, says that the body was embalmed; but Ximenez, from whom his account is evidently taken, is silent on this point.

[1178] Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 210, et seq., affirms that wealthy people, when they began growing old, set about collecting a vast number of clothes and ornaments in which to be buried.

[1179] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 575, says that the body was deposited in the grave seated upon a throne.

[1180] Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 210-14; Palacio, Carta, p. 119; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 699-700.

[1181] Unless a great number of people were living in it, when they seem to have gathered courage from each other’s company, and to have remained.

[1182] Landa, Relacion, p. 196; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv.

[1183] Villagutierre, Hist. Cong. Itza, p. 313.

[1184] Palacio, Carta, p. 119; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 48.

[1185] Palacio, Carta, p. 78; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 556.

[1186] Landa, Relacion, pp. 196-8; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv.

[1187] Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 48-9. In the island of Ometepec the ancient graves are not surrounded by isolated stones like the calputs of the modern Indians, but are found scattered irregularly over the plain at a depth of three feet. Urns of burnt clay are found in these graves, filled with earth and displaced bones; and vases of the same material, covered with red paintings and hieroglyphics, stone points of arrows, small idols, and gold ornaments. Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 128-9.

[1188] Landa, Relacion, p. 196; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv.; Id. lib. viii., cap. x.; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 214; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 313; Palacio, Carta, pp. 76-8.

[1189] Peter Martyr, dec. vi., lib. v.

[1190] Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., p. 414; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iii.; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 111; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 23; Dávila, Teatro Ecles., tom. i., p. 170; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 700; Landa, Relacion, pp. 112-14; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 402; De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 329.

[1191] Landa, Relacion, pp. 100, 122, 188-90; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 312, 516; Dávila, Teatro Ecles., tom. i., p. 203; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv.; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 180, 187-8; Gomara, Hist. Ynd., fol. 62; Las Casas, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., pp. 147-8.

[1192] Gomara, Hist. Ynd., fol. 268; Dávila, Teatro Ecles., tom. i., p. 148; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 33; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. xlvi.

[1193] Crónica Seráfica, pp. 25-6.

[1194] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii., dec. iv., lib. iii., cap. ii.; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 39.

Volume Three • Mythology

Chapter I • Speech and Speculation • 13,800 Words

Difference between Man and Brutes—Mind Language and Soul-Language—Origin of Language: A Gift of the Creator, a Human Invention, or an Evolution—Nature and Value of Myth—Origin of Myth: The Divine Idea, A Fiction of Sorcery, The Creation of a Designing Priesthood—Origin of Worship, of Prayer, of Sacrifice—Fetichism and the Origin of Animal-Worship—Religion and Mythology.

Hitherto we have beheld Man only in his material organism; as a wild though intellectual animal. We have watched the intercourse of uncultured mind with its environment. We have seen how, to clothe himself, the savage robs the beast; how, like animals, primitive man constructs his habitation, provides food, rears a family, exercises authority, holds property, wages war, indulges in amusements, gratifies social instincts; and that in all this, the savage is but one remove from the brute. Ascending the scale, we have examined the first stages of human progress and analyzed an incipient civilization. We will now pass the frontier which separates mankind from animal-kind, and enter the domain of the immaterial and supernatural; phenomena which philosophy purely positive cannot explain.

The primary indication of an absolute superiority in man over other animals is the faculty of speech; not those mute or vocal symbols, expressive of passion and emotion, displayed alike in brutes and men; but the power to separate ideas, to generate in the mind and embody in words, sequences of thought. True, upon the threshold of this inquiry, as in whatever relates to primitive man, we find the brute creation hotly pursuing, and disputing for a share in this progressional power. In common with man, animals possess all the organs of sensation. They see, hear, feel, taste, and smell. They have even the organs of speech; but they have not speech. The source of this wonderful faculty lies further back, obscured by the mists which ever settle round the immaterial. Whether brutes have souls, according to the Aristotelean theory of soul, or whether brute-soul is immortal, or of quality and destiny unlike and inferior to that of man-soul, we see in them unmistakable evidence of mental faculties. The higher order of animals possess the lower order of intellectual perceptions. Thus pride is manifested by the caparisoned horse, shame by the beaten dog, will by the stubborn mule. Brutes have memory; they manifest love and hate, joy and sorrow, gratitude and revenge. They are courageous or cowardly, subtle or simple, not merely up to the measure of what we commonly term instinct, but with evident exercise of judgment; and, to a certain point, we might even claim for them foresight, as in laying in a store of food for winter. But with all this there seems to be a lack of true or connected thought, and of the faculty of abstraction, whereby conceptions are analyzed and impressions defined.

Thought and Expression

They have also a language, such as it is; indeed, all the varieties of language common to man. What gesture-language can be more expressive than that employed by the horse with its ears and by the dog with its tail, wherein are manifestations of every shade of joy, sorrow, courage, fear, shame, and anger? In their brutish physiognomy, also, one may read the language of the emotions, which, if not so delicately pictured as in the face of man, is none the less distinctive. Nor are they without their vocal language. Every fowl and every quadruped possesses the power of communicating intelligence by means of the voice. They have their noise of gladness, their signal cry of danger, their notes of anger and of woe. Thus we see in brutes not only intelligence but the power of communicating intelligence. But intelligence is not thought, neither is expression speech. The language of brutes, like themselves, is soulless.

The next indication of man’s superiority over brutes, is the faculty of worship. The wild beast, to escape the storm, flies howling to its den; the savage, awe-stricken, turns and prays. The lowest man perceives a hand behind the lightning, hears a voice abroad upon the storm, for which the highest brute has neither eye nor ear. This essential of humanity we see primordially displayed in mythic phenomena; in the first struggle of spiritual manhood to find expression. Language is symbol significant of thought, mythology is symbol significant of soul. The one is the first distinctive sound that separates the ideal from the material, the other the first respiration of the soul which distinguishes the immortal from the animal. Language is thought incarnate; mythology, soul incarnate. The one is the instrument of thought, as the other is the essence of thought. Neither is thought; both are closely akin to thought; separated from either, in some form, perfect intellectual manhood cannot develop. I do not mean to say with some, that thought without speech cannot exist; unless by speech is meant any form of expression symbolical, emotional, or vocal, or unless by thought is meant something more than mere self-consciousness without sequence and without abstraction. There can be no doubt that speech is the living breath of thought, and that the exercise of speech reacts upon the mental and emotional faculties. In brutes is found neither speech nor myth; in the deaf and dumb, thought and belief are shadowy and undefined; in infants, thought is but as a fleeting cloud passing over the brain. Yet for all this, deaf mutes and children who have no adequate form of expression cannot be placed in the category of brutes. The invention of the finger-alphabet opened a way to the understanding of the deaf and dumb; but long before this is learned, in every instance, these unfortunates invent a gesture-language of their own, in which they think as well as speak. And could we but see the strangely contorted imagery which takes possession of a gesture-thinker’s brain, we should better appreciate the value of words. So, into the mouth of children words are put, round which thoughts coalesce; but evidences of ideas are discovered some time before they can be fully expressed by signs or sounds. Kant held the opinion that the mind of a deaf mute is incapable of development, but the wonderful success of our modern institutions has dissipated forever that idea.

The soul of man is a half-conscious inspiration from which perception and expression are inseparable. Nature speaks to it in that subtle sympathy by which the immaterial within holds converse with the immaterial without, in the soft whisperings of the breeze, in the fearful bellowings of the tempest. Between the soul and body there is the closest sympathy, an interaction in every relation. Therefore these voices of nature speaking to nature’s offspring, are answered back in various ways according to the various organisms addressed. The animal, the intellectual, the spiritual, whatsoever the entity consists of, responds, and responding expands and unfolds. Once give an animal the power to speak and mental development ensues; for speech cannot continue without ideas, and ideas cannot spring up without intellectual evolution. A dim, half-conscious, brutish thought there may be; but the faculty of abstraction, sequences of thought, without words either spoken or unspoken, cannot exist.

Origin of Language

It is not at all probable that a system of gesture-language was ever employed by any primitive people, prior or in preference to vocal language. To communicate by signs requires no little skill and implies a degree of artifice and forethought far beyond that required in vocal or emotional language. Long before a child arrives at the point of intelligence necessary for conveying thought by signs, it is well advanced in a vocal language of its own.

In mythology, language assumes personality and independence. Often the significance of the word becomes the essential idea. Zeus, from meaning simply sky, becomes god of the sky; Eos, originally the dawn, is made the goddess of the opening day. Not the idea but the expression of the idea becomes the deity. And so, by these creations of fancy, the imagination expands; in the embodiment of the idea, the mind enlarges with its own creation. Then yet bolder metaphors are thrown off like soap-bubbles, which no sooner take form in words than they are also deified. Thus soul and thought and speech act and react on one another, all the evolutions of conception seeking vent in sound or speculation; and thus language, the expression of mind, and mythology, the expression of soul, become the exponents of divine humanity.

But what then is Language, what is Myth, and whence are they? Broadly, the term language may be applied to whatever social beings employ to communicate passion or sentiment, or to influence one another; whatever is made a vehicle of intelligence, ideographic or phonetic, is language. In this category may be placed, as we have seen, gestures, both instinctive and artificial; emotional expression, displayed in form or feature; vocal sounds, such as the cries of birds, the howling of beasts. Indeed, language is everywhere, in everything. While listening to the rippling brook, the roaring sea, the murmuring forest, as well as to the still small voice within, we are but reading from the vocabulary of nature.

Thus construed, the principle assumes a variety of shapes, and may be followed through successive stages of development. In fact, neither form nor feature can be set in motion, or even left in a state of repose, without conveying intelligence to the observer. The countenance of man, whether it will or not, perpetually speaks, and speaks in most exquisite shades of significance, and with expression far more delicate than that employed by tongue or pen. The face is the reflex of the soul; a transparency which glows with light, divine or devilish, thrown upon it from within. It is a portrait of individual intelligence, a photograph of the inner being, a measure of innate intelligence. And in all pertaining to the actions and passions of mankind, what can be more expressive than the language of the emotions? There are the soft, silent wooings of love, the frantic fury of hate, the dancing delirium of joy, the hungry cravings of desire, the settled melancholy of dead hopes. But more definitely, language is articulate human speech or symbolic expression of ideas.

How man first learned to speak, and whence the power of speech was originally derived, are questions concerning which tradition is uncommunicative. Even mythology, which attempts the solution of supernatural mysteries, the explanation of all phenomena not otherwise accounted for, has little to say as to the genesis of this most potential of all human powers.

Many theories have been advanced concerning the origin of language. Some of them are exploded; others in various stages of modification remain, no two philologists thinking exactly alike. The main hypotheses are three; the subordinate ones are legion. Obviously, speech must be either a direct, completed gift of the Creator, with one or more independent beginnings; or a human invention; or an evolution from a natural germ.

Schleicher conceives primordial language to be a simple organism of vocal gestures; Gould Brown believes language to be partly natural and partly artificial; Adam Smith and Dugald Stewart give to man the creation and development of speech by his own artificial invention. According to Herodotus, the Phrygians and the Egyptians disputed over the question of the antiquity of their languages. Psammetichus thereupon confided two babes to the care of goats, apart from every human sound. At the end of two years they were heard to pronounce the word bekos, the Phrygian for bread. The Phrygians therefore claimed for their language the seniority.

Science of Philology

In ancient times it was thought that there was some one primeval tongue, a central language from which all the languages of the earth radiated. The Sythic, Ethiopic, Chinese, Greek, Latin, and other languages advanced claims for this seniority. Plato believed language to be an invention of the gods, and by them given to man. Orthodox religionists did not hesitate to affirm that Hebrew, the language of Paradise, was not only given in a perfected state to man, but was miraculously preserved in a state of purity for the chosen Israel. After the dispersion from Babel, such nations as relapsed into barbarism became barbaric in speech. And in the roots of every dialect of both the old world and the new, the Fathers were able to discern Hebrew analogies sufficient to confirm them in their dogma. Indeed other belief was heresy.

There were others who held that, when gesture-language and the language of the emotions were found insufficient for the growing necessities of man, by common consent, it was agreed that certain objects should be represented by certain sounds, and that so, when a word had been invented for every object, language was made.

Another doctrine, called by Mr. Wedgwood, its enthusiastic advocate, ‘onomatopœia,’ and by Professor Max Müller the ‘bow-wow’ theory, explains the origin of language in the effort of man to imitate the cries of nature. Thus, for dog the primitive languageless man would say bow-wow; to the rivulet, the wind, the birds and beasts, names were applied which as far as possible were but reproductions of the sounds made by these elements or animals.

Thus philology up to a comparatively late period was a speculation rather than a science. Philosophers sought to know whence language came rather than what language is. But when the great discovery concerning the Arian and Semitic families was made, comparative philologists went to work after the manner of practical investigators in other branches of study, by collecting, classifying and comparing vocabularies, and therefrom striking out a path backward to original trunks. Catalogues of languages were published, one in 1800 by Hervas, a Spanish Jesuit, containing three hundred dialects, followed by Adelung and Vater’s Mithridates, from 1806-17. But not until Sanscrit was made a subject of European study did it become apparent that affinities of tongues are subject to the laws that govern affinities of blood. Then it was that a similarity was discovered, not only between the Sanscrit and the Greek and Latin tongues, but between these languages and the Teutonic, Celtic, Iranic, and Indic, all of which became united in the great Arian family. At the same time, the ancient language of the Jews, the Arabic, and the Aramaic—which constitute the Semitic family—were found to be totally different from the Arian in their radical structure. From these investigations, philologists were no less convinced that the Indo-European languages were all of the same stock, than that the Semitic idioms did not belong to it. The doctrine of the Fathers therefore would not stand; for it was found that all languages were not derivations from the Hebrew, nor from any other known central tongue.

Then too, the subordination of tongues to the laws of evolution became apparent. It was discovered that language was in a state of constant change; that, with all its variations, human speech could be grouped into families, and degrees of relationship ascertained; and that, by the comparison of vocabularies, a classification at once morphological and genealogical could be made. Varieties of tongues, as numberless as the phases of humanity, could be traced back towards their beginnings and resolved into earlier forms. It was discovered that in the first order of linguistic development, words are monosyllabic. In this rudimentary stage, to which the Chinese, Tibetan, and perhaps the Japanese belong, roots, or sounds expressive only of the material or substantial parts of things, are used. In the second stage, called the polysynthetic, aggregative, or agglutinate, a modifying termination, significant of the relations of ideas or things to each other, is affixed or glued to the root. To the agglutinate languages belong the American and Turanian families. In the third, called the inflectional stage, which comprises only the Arian and Semitic families, the two elements are more perfectly developed, and it is only in this stage that language can attain the highest degree of richness and refinement.

Variations of Language

While these stages or conditions are recognized by all, it is claimed on one side that although settled languages retain their grammatical character, every agglutinate language must once have been monosyllabic, or radical, and every inflectional language once agglutinate; and on the other side it is averred that the assertion is incapable of proof, for no historical evidence exists of any one type ever having passed from one of these stages to another. Now if speech is a perfected gift of the Creator, how happens it that we find language in every stage of development or relapse, from the cluckings of Thlinkeets to the classic lines of Homer and of Shakspeare? In his physiological structure, so far as is known, Man is neither more nor less perfect now than in the days of Adam. How then if language is an organism, is it, unlike other organisms, subject to extreme and sudden change? In animated nature there are two principles; one fixed and finished as an organism, subject to perpetual birth and decay, but incapable of advancing or retrograding; the other, elemental life, the germ or centre of a future development. The one grows, the other unfolds. We have no evidence that instincts and organic functions were more or less perfect in the beginning than now. If therefore language is an instinct or an organism, a perfect gift of the Creator, how can it exist otherwise than in a concrete and perfect state like other instincts and organisms?

The absurdity that human speech is the invention of primitive man—that upon some grassy knoll a company of half-clad barbarians met, and without words invented words, without significant sounds produced sounds significant of every object, therein by mutual consent originating a language—may be set aside. Of all conjectures concerning the origin of language, the hypothesis that words are an artificial invention is the least tenable. And what is most surprising to us, at the present day, is that such men as Locke and Adam Smith and Dugald Stewart could for a moment have entertained the idea. Obviously, without language there could be no culture, and without culture, words never could have been invented. Words are the symbols of objects and ideas. Certain words may be arbitrarily selected, and, by the tacit agreement or general concurrence of society, may be made to signify certain things. And in this sense words may originate conventionally. But though words may have been conventionally selected, they were never selected by conventions. We then have the discoveries of modern philologists, not only to positively deny the infallibility of the common-origin theory, but to bring forward a number of other claimants for the greatest antiquity, as well entitled to a hearing as the Hebrew.

Universality of Speech

Diversity in the origin of speech does not of necessity imply diversity in the origin of race. Thus with a unity of race, circumstances may be conceived in which independent tongues may have arisen in different localities; whereas with a diversity of race, but one language hypothetically may have been given to all. A common origin is probable, a diversity of origin is possible; neither can be proved or disproved. The radical differences in the structure of the three great types, the monosyllabic, the agglutinate, and the inflectional; and the inherent heterogeneities of the several families of the same type, as of the Chinese and Siamese, of the American and Turanian, or even of the Arian and Semitic, would seem to present insurmountable obstacles to the theory of a common origin; while on the other hand the wonderful mutations of types and trunks, the known transformations of language, and the identifications by some philologists, of the same stock in each of the three progressional stages, render the theory of a unity of origin in language equally probable. Therefore the question of unity or diversity of tongues, as we speak of unity or diversity of race, can be of but little moment to us. Language shows the connection between nations widely separated, leads us back beyond tradition into the obscure past, follows the sinuosities of migrations, indicates epochs in human development, points towards the origin of peoples, serves as a guide in following the radiation of races from common centres. Yet a similarity in the sound, or even in the construction of two words, does not necessarily imply relationship. Two totally distinct languages may have borrowed the same word from a third language; which fact would never establish relationship between the borrowers. When like forms are found in different languages, in order to establish a relationship, historical evidence must be applied as a test, and the words followed up to their roots.

Stripped of technicalities, the question before us is reduced to a few simple propositions. All men speak; there never yet was found a nation without articulate language. Aside from individual and abnormal exceptions, no primitive tribe has ever been discovered, where part of the people spoke, and part were speechless. Language is as much a part of man, as any physical constituent; yet unlike physical organs, as the eye, the ear, the hand, language is not born with the individual. It is not in the blood. The Caucasian infant stolen by Apaches, cannot converse with its own mother when restored to her a few years after.

Therefore speech is not an independent, perfected gift of the Creator, but an incidental acquirement. Furthermore language is an attribute of society. It belongs to the people and not to the individual. The child before mentioned, if dropped by the Apaches among the bears and by them nurtured and reared, is doomed to mutism or bear-language. Man was made a social being; speech was made as a means of communicating intelligence between social beings; one individual alone never could originate, or even preserve a language.

But how then happens it, if man did not make it, and God did not give it him, that human speech is universal? With the organism of man the Creator implants the organs of speech. With the elemental and progressional life of man the Creator implants the germ of speech. In common with the element of progress and civilization, innate from the beginning, speech has developed by slow degrees through thousands of cycles and by various stages, marching steadily forward with the forward march of the intellect. Comparative philology, in common with all other sciences, accords to man a remote antiquity. Bunsen estimates that at least twenty thousand years are required for a language to pass from one rudimentary stage to another.

The mind receives impressions and the soul intuitions, and to throw them off in some form is an absolute necessity. Painful impressions tend to produce bodily contortions and dolorous sounds; pleasant impressions to illumine the features and to make musical the voice. And not only is this compressed emotion destined to find expression, but to impress itself upon others. Emotion is essentially sympathetic. Why certain objects are represented by certain sounds we can never know. Some think that between every word and the object or idea which it represents, there was in the first instance an intimate relationship. By degrees certain natural articulations became associated with certain ideas; then new names were suggested by some fancied analogy to objects already named. Everything else being equal, similar conditions and causations produce similar impressions and are expressed by similar sounds. Hence a certain uniformity between all human tongues; and a tendency in man to imitate the sounds in nature, the cries of animals, the melodies of winds and waters, accounts for the origin of many words.

From giving expression in some outward form to our inward emotion there is no escape. Let us now apply to the expression of feeling and emotion the same law of evolution which governs all social and intellectual phenomena, and from a language of exclamations, we have first the monosyllabic noun and verb, then auxilliaries—adverbs, adjectives, prepositions and pronouns—and finally inflections of parts of speech by which the finer shades of meaning may be expressed.

The spontaneous outbursts of feeling, or the metaphorical expressions of emotion, arising instinctively and acting almost simultaneously with the conception or impression made upon the mind, develop with time into settled forms of speech. Man speaks as birds fly or fishes swim. The Creator supplies the organs and implants the instinct. Speech, though intuitive, is more than intuition; for, as we have seen, speech is a social rather than an individual attribute. Darwin perceives in language not only a spontaneous generation, but a natural selection of grammatical forms; the best words, the clearest and shortest expressions, continually displacing the weaker. So words are made to fit occasions, and dropped as soon as better ones can be found.

Languages are not inherited, yet language is an inheritance. Language is not artificially invented, yet languages are but conventional agreements. Languages are not a concrete perfected gift of the Creator, yet the germ of language is ineradicably implanted in man, and was there implanted by none but man’s Creator. This then is Language: it is an acquisition, but an acquisition from necessity; it is a gift, but, when given, an undeveloped germ; it is an artifice, in so far as it is developed by the application of individual agencies.

Mythology

Here, for a while, we will leave Language and turn to Mythology, the mythos ‘fable’ and logos ‘speech’ of the Grecians.

Under analysis mythology is open to broad yet significant interpretations. As made up of legendary accounts of places and personages, it is history; as relating to the genesis of the gods, the nature and adventures of divinities, it is religion; placed in the category of science, it is the science of fable; of philosophy, the philosophy of intuitive beliefs. A mass of fragmentary truth and fiction not open to rationalistic criticism; a system of tradition, genealogical and political, confounding the subjective with the objective; a partition wall of allegories, built of dead facts cemented with wild fancies—it looms ever between the immeasurable and the measurable past.

Thick black clouds, portentous of evil, hang threateningly over the savage during his entire life. Genii murmur in the flowing river, in the rustling branches are felt the breathings of the gods, goblins dance in vapory twilight, and demons howl in the darkness.

In the myths of wild, untutored man, is displayed that inherent desire to account for the origin of things, which, even at the present time, commands the profoundest attention of philosophy; and, as we look back upon the absurd conceptions of our savage ancestry with feelings akin to pity and disgust, so may the speculations of our own times appear to those who shall come after us. Those weird tales which to us are puerility or poetry, according as we please to regard them, were to their believers history, science, and religion. Yet this effort, which continues from the beginning to the end, is not valueless; in it is embodied the soul of human progress. Without mythology, the only door at once to the ideal and inner life of primitive peoples and to their heroic and historic past would be forever closed to us. Nothing so reflects their heart-secrets, exposes to our view their springs of action, shadows forth the sources of their hopes and fears, exhibits the models after which they moulded their lives.

Within crude poetic imagery are enrolled their religious beliefs, are laid the foundations of their systems of worship, are portrayed their thoughts concerning causations and the destinies of mankind. Under symbolic veils is shrouded their ancient national spirit, all that can be known of their early history and popular ideas. Thus are explained the fundamental laws of nature; thus we are told how earth sprang from chaos, how men and beasts and plants were made, how heaven was peopled, and earth, and what were the relative powers and successive dynasties of the gods. Heroes are made gods; gods are materialized and brought down to men.

All Myths Founded on Fact

Of the value of mythology it is unnecessary here to speak. Never was there a time in the history of philosophy when the character, customs, and beliefs of aboriginal man, and everything appertaining to him, were held in such high esteem by scholars as at present. As the ultimate of human knowledge is approached, the inquirer is thrown back upon the past; and more and more the fact becomes apparent, that what is, is but a reproduction of what has been; that in the earlier stages of human development may be found the counterpart of every phase of modern social life. Higher and more heterogeneous as are our present systems of politics and philosophy, every principle, when tracked to its beginning, proves to have been evolved, not originated.

As there never yet was found a people without a language, so every nation has its mythology, some popular and attractive form for preserving historical tradition and presenting ethical maxims; and as by the range of their vocabularies we may follow men through all the stages of their progress in government, domestic affairs and mechanical arts, so, by beliefs expressed, we may determine at any given epoch in the history of a race their ideal and intellectual condition. Without the substance there can be no shadow, without the object there can be no name for it; therefore when we find a language without a word to denote property or chastity, we may be sure that the wealth and women of the tribe are held in common; and when in a system of mythology certain important metaphysical or æsthetic ideas and attributes are wanting, it is evident that the intellect of its composers has not yet reached beyond a certain low point of conception.

Moreover, as in things evil may be found a spirit of good, so in fable we find an element of truth. It is now a recognized principle of philosophy, that no religious belief, however crude, nor any historical tradition, however absurd, can be held by the majority of a people for any considerable time as true, without having in the beginning some foundation in fact. More especially is the truth of this principle apparent when we consider that in all the multitudinous beliefs of all ages, held by peoples savage and civilized, there exist a concurrence of ideas and a coincidence of opinion. Human conceptions of supernatural affairs spring from like intuitions. As human nature is essentially the same throughout the world and throughout time, so the religious instincts which form a part of that universal humanity generate and develop in like manner under like conditions. The desire to penetrate hidden surroundings and the method of attempting it are to a certain extent common to all. All wonder at the mysterious; all attempt the solution of mysteries; all primarily possess equal facilities for arriving at correct conclusions. The genesis of belief is uniform, and the results under like conditions analogous.

We may conclude that the purposes for which these fictitious narratives were so carefully preserved and handed down to posterity were two-fold—to keep alive certain facts and to inculcate certain doctrines.

Value of Mythology

Something there must have been in every legend, in every tradition, in every belief, which has ever been entertained by the majority of a people, to recommend it to the minds of men in the first instance. Error absolute cannot exist; false doctrine without an amalgam of verity speedily crumbles, and the more monstrous the falsity the more rapid its decomposition. Myths were the oracles of our savage ancestors; their creed, the rule of their life, prized by them as men now prize their faith; and, by whatever savage philosophy these strange conceits were eliminated, their effect upon the popular mind was vital. Anaxagoras, Socrates, Protagoras, and Epicurus well knew and boldly proclaimed that the gods of the Grecians were disreputable characters, not the kind of deities to make or govern worlds; yet so deep rooted in the hearts of the people were the maxims of the past, that for these expressions one heretic was cast into prison, another expelled from Athens, and another forced to drink the hemlock. And the less a fable presents the appearance of probability, the more grotesque and extravagant it is, the less the likelihood of its having originated in pure invention; for no extravagantly absurd invention without a particle of truth could by any possibility have been palmed off upon a people, and by them accepted, revered, recited, preserved as veritable incident or solution of mystery, and handed down to those most dear to them, to be in like manner held as sacred.

Therefore we may be sure that there never was a myth without a meaning; that mythology is not a bundle of ridiculous fancies invented for vulgar amusement; that there is not one of these stories, no matter how silly or absurd, which was not founded in fact, which did not once hold a significance. “And though I have well weighed and considered all this,” concluded Lord Bacon, nearly three hundred years ago, “and thoroughly seen into the levity which the mind indulges for allegories and illusions, yet I cannot but retain a high value for the ancient mythology.” Indeed, to ancient myths has been attributed the preservation of shattered fragments of lost sciences, even as some have alleged that we are indebted to the writings of Democritus and Aristotle for modern geographical discoveries.

That these ductile narratives have suffered in their transmission to us, that through the magnifying and refracting influences of time, and the ignorance and fanaticism of those to whom they were first recited, we receive them mutilated and distorted, there can be no doubt. Not one in a thousand of those aboriginal beliefs which were held by the people of the Pacific Coast at the time of its first occupation by foreigners, has been preserved. And for the originality and purity of such as we have, in many instances, no one can vouch. Certain writers who saw in the native fable probable evidence of the presence of an apostle, or a miraculous interposition in the affairs of benighted heathendom, could but render the narrative in accordance with their prepossessions. The desire of some to prove a certain origin for the Indians, and the contempt of others for native character, also led to imperfect or colored narrations. But happily, enough has been preserved in authentic picture-writings, and by narrators whose integrity and intelligence are above suspicion, to give us a fair insight into the native psychological structure and belief; and if the knowledge we have is but infinitesimal in comparison with what has been lost, we may thereby learn to prize more highly such as we have.

Again we come to the ever-recurring question—Whence is it? Whence arise belief, worship, superstition? Whence the striking likeness in all supernatural conceptions between nations and ages the most diverse? Why is it that so many peoples, during the successive stages of their progress, have their creation myth, their origin myth, their flood myth, their animal, and plant, and planet myths? This coincidence of evolution can scarcely be the result of accident. Mythologies, then, being like languages common to mankind, uniform in substance yet varying in detail, what follows with regard to the essential system of their supernatural conceptions? Is it a perfected gift of the Creator, the invention of a designing priesthood, or a spontaneous generation and natural development? So broad a question, involving as it does the weightiest matters connected with man, may scarcely expect exactly the same answer from any two persons. Origin of life, origin of mind, origin of belief, are as much problems to the profoundest philosopher of to-day, as they were to the first wondering, bewildered savage who wandered through primeval forests.

Origin of Belief

Life is defined by Herbert Spencer as “the coördination of actions, or their continuous adjustment;” by Lewes as “a series of definite and successive changes, both of structure and composition, which take place within an individual without destroying its identity;” by Schelling as “the tendency to individuation;” by Richeraud as “a collection of phenomena which succeed each other during a limited time in an organized body;” and by De Blainville as “the two-fold internal movement of composition and decomposition, at once general and continuous.” According to Hume, Mind is but a bundle of ideas and impressions which are the sum of all knowledge, and consequently, “the only things known to exist.” In the positive philosophy of Auguste Comte, intellectual development is divided into three phases; namely, the Supernatural, in which the mind seeks for supernatural causes; the Metaphysical, wherein abstract forces are set up in place of supernatural agencies; and the Positive, which inquires into the laws which engender phenomena. Martineau, commenting upon intuition and the mind’s place in nature, charges the current doctrine of evolution with excluding the element of life from developing organisms. Until the origin of mind, and the relation of mind to its environment is determined, the origin of the supernatural must remain unaccounted for. Yet we may follow the principle of worship back to very near its source, if we are unable entirely to account for it.

We have seen how the inability of brutes to form in the mind long sequences of thought, prevents speech; so, in primitive societies, when successions of unrecorded events are forgotten before any conception of general laws can be formed therefrom, polytheism in its grossest form is sure to prevail. Not until the earlier stages of progress are passed, and, from a multitude of correlative and oft-repeated experiences, general deductions made, can there be any higher religious conceptions than that of an independent cause for every consequence.

By some it is alleged that the religious sentiment is a divine idea perfected by the Creator and implanted in man as part of his nature, before his divergence from a primitive centre. Singularly enough, the Fathers of the Church referred the origin of fable as well as the origin of fact to the Hebrew Scriptures. Supported by the soundest sophistry, they saw in every myth, Grecian or barbarian, a biblical character. Thus the Greek Hercules was none other than the Hebrew Sampson; Arion was Jonah, and Deucalion Noah. Other mythological characters were supposed by them to have been incarnated fiends, who disappeared after working for a time their evil upon men.

There have been those who held myths to be the fictions of sorcery, as there are now those who believe that forms of worship were invented by a designing priesthood, or that mythology is but a collection of tales, physical, ethical and historical, invented by the sages and ancient wise men of the nation, for the purpose of overawing the wicked and encouraging the good. Some declare that religion is a factitious or accidental social phenomenon; others that it is an aggregation of organized human experiences; others that it is a bundle of sentiments which were originally projected by the imagination, and ultimately adopted as entities; others that it is a feeling or emotion, the genesis of which is due to surrounding circumstances.

Many believe all mythological personages to have been once real human heroes, the foundations of whose histories were laid in truth, while the structure was reared by fancy. The Egyptians informed Herodotus that their deities—the last of whom was Orus son of Osiris, the Apollo of the Grecians—were originally their kings. Others affirm that myths are but symbolic ideas deified; that they are but the embodiment of a maxim in the form of an allegory, and that under these allegorical forms were taught history, religion, law and morality.

Intermingled with all these hypotheses are elements of truth, and yet none of them appear to be satisfying explanations. All imply that religion, in some form, is an essential constituent of humanity, and that whatever its origin and functions, it has exercised from the earliest ages and does yet exercise the most powerful influence upon man; working like leaven in the lump, keeping the world in a ferment, stirring up men to action, banding and disrupting nations, uniting and dividing communities, and forming the nucleus of numberless societies and institutions.

Rise of the Primitive Priesthood

In every society, small and great, there are undoubtedly certain intellects of quicker than ordinary perception, which seize upon occasions, and by a skillful use of means obtain a mastery over inferior minds. It is thus that political and social, as well as ecclesiastical power arises. Not that the leader creates a want—he is but the mouth-piece or agent of pent-up human instincts. One of these instincts is dependence. That we are created subordinate, not absolute nor unrestrained, is a fact from which none can escape. Thraldom, constant and insurmountable, we feel we have inherited. Most naturally, therefore, the masses of mankind seek from among their fellows some embodiment of power, and ranging themselves under the banner of leaders, follow blindly whithersoever they are led. Perceiving the power thus placed in their hands, these born leaders of men are not slow to invent means for retaining and increasing it. To the inquiry of the child or unsophisticated savage, who, startled by a peal of distant thunder, cries, “What is that?” the explanation is given; “That is the storm-god speaking.” “I am afraid, protect me!” implores the supplicant. “I will, only obey,” is the reply. The answer is sufficient, curiosity is satisfied, and terror allayed; the barbarian teacher gains a devotee. In this manner, the superstructure of creeds, witchcrafts, priestcrafts, may have arisen; some gods may thus have been made, forms of worship invented, and intercourse opened with beings supernal and infernal. Then devotion advances and becomes an art; professors by practice become experts. Meanwhile, craft is economized; the wary Shamán rain-doctor—like the worthy clergyman of civilized orthodoxy, who refused to pray for rain “while the wind was in that quarter”—watches well the gathering ripeness of the cloud before he attempts to burst it with an arrow. And in the end, a more than ordinary skill in the exercise of this power, deifies or demonizes the possessor.

But whence arises the necessity for craft and whence the craft? The faculty of invention implies skill. Skill successfully to play upon the instincts of humanity can only be acquired through the medium of like instincts, and although the skill be empirical, the play must be natural. Craft alone will not suffice to satisfy the desire; the hook must be baited with some small element of truth before the most credulous will seize it. If religious beliefs are the fruits of invention, how shall we account for the strange coincidences of thought and worship which prevail throughout all myths and cults? Why is it that all men of every age, in conditions diverse, and in countries widely sundered, are found searching out the same essential facts? All worship; nearly all have their creation-myth, their flood-myth, their theory of origin, of distribution from primitive centres, and of a future state. In this regard as in many another, civilization is but an evolution of savagism; for almost every principle of modern philosophy there may be found in primitive times its parallel.

The nature and order of supernatural conceptions are essentially as follows: The first and rudest form of belief is Fetichism, which invests every phenomenon with an independent personality. In the sunshine, fire, and water, in the wind and rock and stream, in every animal, bird, and plant, there is a separate deity; for every effect there is a cause. Even Kepler, whose intellect could track the planets in their orbits, must needs assume a guiding spirit for every world. It is impossible for the mind to conceive of self-creative or self-existent forces.

In time the personalities of the fetich-worshiper become to some extent generalized. Homogeneous appearances are grouped into classes, and each class referred to a separate deity, and hence Polytheism. Pantheism then comes in and makes all created substance one with the creator; nature and the universe are God. From the impersonating of the forces of nature to the creation of imaginary deities there is but a step. Every virtue and vice, every good and evil becomes a personality, under the direct governance of which lie certain passions and events; and thus in place of one god for many individuals, each individual may have a multitude of his own personal gods. The theogony of Hesiod was but a system of materialized love and hate; while, on the other hand, the gods of Homer, although personating human passions, were likewise endowed with moral perceptions. In them the blind forces of nature are lighted up into a human-divine intelligence.

In Monotheism the distinct personalities, which to the savage underlie every appearance, become wholly generalized, and the origin of all phenomena is referred to one First Cause. The subtle and philosophic Greeks well knew that God to be God must be omnipotent, and omnipotency is indivisible. That the Aztecs could believe and practice the absurdities they did is less an object of wonder, than that the intellectual philosophers of Athens could have tolerated the gods of Homer. Indeed, the religion of the more cultivated Greeks appears to us monstrous, in proportion as they were superior to other men in poetry, art, and philosophy.

Theories Concerning the Origin of Worship

Comparative mythologists explain the origin of worship by two apparently oppugnant theories. The first is that whatever is seen in nature strange and wonderful, is deemed by primitive man an object worthy of worship. The other is, that upon certain noted individuals are fastened metaphorical names, symbolic of some quality alike in them and in the natural object after which they are called; that this name, which at the first was but the surname of an individual, after its possessor is dead and forgotten, lives, reverts to the plant or animal whence it came, becomes impersonal, and is worshiped by a conservative posterity. In other words, one theory fastens upon natural phenomena, human attributes, and worships nature under covering of those attributes, while the other worships in the natural object only the memory of a dead and forgotten man. I have no doubt that in both of these hypotheses are elements of truth.

In the earlier acts of worship the tendency is to assimilate the object worshiped and the character of the worshiper, and also to assign habitations to deities, behind man’s immediate environment. Every people has its heaven and hell; the former most generally located beyond the blue sky, and the latter in the dark interior caves of the earth. Man in nature reproduces himself; invests appearances with attributes analogous to his own. This likeness of the supernatural to the natural, of gods to man, is the first advance from fetichism, but as the intellect advances anthropomorphism declines. As one by one the nearest mysteries are solved by science, the emptiness of superstition becomes apparent, and the wonderless wonder is referred by the waking mind to general laws of causation; but still clinging to its first conceptions it places them on objects more remote. Man fixes his eyes upon the planets, discovers their movements, and fancies their controlling spirit also controls his destiny; and when released by reason from star-worship, as formerly from fetichism, again an advance is made, always nearing the doctrine of universal law.

In one tersely comprehensive sentence Clarke gives the old view of what were called natural religions: “They considered them, in their source, the work of fraud; in their essence, corrupt superstitions; in their doctrines, wholly false; in their moral tendency, absolutely injurious; and in their result, degenerating more and more into greater evil.”

Priestcraft and Propitiation

And this view seems to him alike uncharitable and unreasonable: “To assume that they are wholly evil is disrespectful to human nature. It supposes man to be the easy and universal dupe of fraud. But these religions do not rest on such a sandy foundation, but on the feeling of dependence, the sense of accountability, the recognition of spiritual realities very near to this world of matter, and the need of looking up and worshiping some unseen power higher and better than ourselves. We shall find them always feeling after God, often finding him. We shall see that in their origin they are not the work of priestcraft, but of human nature; in their essence not superstitions, but religions; in their doctrines true more frequently than false; in their moral tendency good rather than evil. And instead of degenerating toward something worse, they come to prepare the way for something better.”

The nearest case to deliberate invention of deities was, perhaps, the promulgation as objects of worship in primitive times of such abstractions as Hope (Spes), Fear (Pallor), Concord (Concordia), Courage (Virtus), etc. How far these gods were gods, however, in even the ordinary heathen sense of the word, is doubtful. In any case, they were but the extension of an old and existent principle—the personification of divine aspects or qualities; they added no more to what went before than a new Saint or Virgin of Loretto does to the Catholic Church.

“It was a favorite opinion with the Christian apologists, Eusebius and others,” says Gladstone, “that the pagan deities represented deified men. Others consider them to signify the powers of external nature personified. For others they are, in many cases, impersonations of human passions and propensities, reflected back from the mind of man. A fourth mode of interpretation would treat them as copies, distorted and depraved, of a primitive system of religion given by God to man. The Apostle St. Paul speaks of them as devils; by which he may perhaps intend to convey that, under the names and in connection with the worship of those deities, the worst influences of the Evil One were at work. This would rather be a subjective than an objective description; and would rather convey an account of the practical working of a corrupted religion, than an explanation of its origin or its early course. As between the other four, it seems probable that they all, in various degrees and manners, entered into the composition of the later paganism, and also of the Homeric or Olympian system. That system, however, was profoundly adverse to mere Nature-worship; while the care of departments or provinces of external nature were assigned to its leading personages. Such worship of natural objects or elemental powers, as prevailed in connection with it, was in general local or secondary. And the deification of heroes in the age of Homer was rare and merely titular. We do not find that any cult or system of devotion was attached to it.”

So humanly divine, so impotently great are the gods of Homer; so thoroughly invested with the passions of men, clothed in distinctive shades of human character; such mingled virtue and vice, love and hate, courage and cowardice; animal passions uniting with noble sentiments; base and vulgar thoughts with lofty and sublime ideas; and all so wrought up by his inimitable fancy into divine and supernatural beings, as to work most powerfully upon the nature of the people.

These concrete conceptions of his deities have ever been a source of consolation to the savage; for, by thus bringing down the gods to a nearer level with himself, they could be more materially propitiated, and their protection purchased with gifts and sacrifices. Thus the Greeks could obtain advice through oracles, the Hindoo could pass at once into eternal joys by throwing himself under the car of Juggernaut, while the latter-day offender seeks in the assistance of the departed to buy forgiveness with charities, and to compound crime by building churches.

Unrecorded Facts Soon Become Mythological

The difficulty is, that in attempting to establish any theory concerning the origin of things, the soundest logic is little else than wild speculation. Mankind progress unconsciously. We know not what problems we ourselves are working out for those who come after us; we know not by what process we arrive at many of our conclusions; much of that which is clear to ourselves is never understood by our neighbor, and never will be even known by our posterity. Events the most material are soon forgotten, or else are made spiritual and preserved as myths. Blot out the process by which science arrived at results, and in every achievement of science, in the steam engine, the electric telegraph, we should soon have a heaven-descended agency, a god for every machine. Where mythology ceases and history begins, is in the annals of every nation a matter of dispute. What at first appears to be wholly fabulous may contain some truth, whereas much of what is held to be true is mere fable, and herein excessive skepticism is as unwise as excessive credulity.

Historical facts, if unrecorded, are soon lost. Thus when Juan de Oñate penetrated New Mexico in 1596, Fray Marco de Niza, and the expedition of Coronado in 1540, appear to have been entirely forgotten by the Cibolans. Fathers Crespi and Junípero Serra, in their overland explorations of 1769, preparatory to the establishment of a line of Missions along the Californian seaboard, could find no traces, in the minds of the natives, of Cabrillo’s voyage in 1542, or of the landing of Sir Francis Drake in 1579; although, so impressed were the savages in the latter instance, that, according to the worthy chaplain of the expedition, they desired “with submission and fear to worship us as gods.” Nor can we think civilized memories—which ascribe the plays of Shakespeare to Bacon, and parcel out the Iliad of Homer among numberless unrecorded verse-makers—more tenacious. Frederick Augustus Wolf denies that a Homer ever existed; or, if he did, that he ever wrote his poem, as writing was at that time not generally known; but he claims that snatches of history, descending orally from one generation to another, in the end coalesced into the matchless Iliad and Odyssey. The event which so strongly impressed the father, becomes vague in the mind of the son, and in the third generation is either lost or becomes legendary. Incidents of recent occurrence, contemporary perhaps with the narration, are sometimes so misinterpreted by ignorance or distorted by prejudice, as to place the fact strangely at variance with the recital. Yet no incident nor action falls purposeless to the ground. Unrecorded it may be, unwitnessed, unheard by beings material; a thought-wave even, lost in space invisible, acting, for aught we know, only upon the author; yet so acting, it casts an influence, stamps on fleeting time its record, thereby fulfilling its destiny. Thus linger vapory conceits long after the action which created them has sunk into oblivion; undefined shadows of substance departed; none the less impressive because mingled with immortal imagery.

Turn now from outward events to inner life; from events grown shadowy with time, to life ever dim and mysterious alike to savage and sage. Everywhere man beholds much that is incomprehensible; within, around, the past, the future. Invisible forces are at work, invisible agencies play upon his destiny. And in the creations of fancy, which of necessity grow out of the influence of nature upon the imagination, it is not strange that mysteries darken, facts and fancies blend; the past and the future uniting in a supernatural present.

We are never content with positive knowledge. From the earliest workings of the mind, creations of fancy play as important a part in ethical economy as positive perceptions. Nor does culture in any wise lessen these fanciful creations of the intellect. In the political arena of civilized nations, wars and revolutions for the enforcement of opinion concerning matters beyond the reach of positive knowledge, have equaled if they have not exceeded wars for empire or ascendancy. In the social and individual affairs of life we are governed more by the ideal than by the real. On reaching the limits of positive knowledge, reason pauses, but fancy overleaps the boundary, and wanders forward in an endless waste of speculation.

Religious and Scientific Ultimates

The tendency of intellectual progress, according to the philosophy of Herbert Spencer, is from the concrete to the abstract, from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous, from the knowable to the unknowable. Primordially nothing was known; as superstitions and priestcraft grew rank, everything became known; there was not a problem in the natural or in the supernatural world unsolvable by religion. Now, when some elements of absolute knowledge are beginning to appear, we discover, not only that little is positively known, but that much of what has been hitherto deemed past controverting, is, under the present régime of thought, absolutely unknowable. Formerly ultimate religious knowledge was attained by the very novices of religion, and ultimate scientific knowledge was explained through their fanatical conceptions. Not only were all the mysteries of the material universe easily solved by the Fathers, but heaven was measured and the phenomena of hell minutely described. Now we are just beginning to comprehend that ultimate facts will probably ever remain unknowable facts, for when the present ultimate is attained, an eternity of undiscovered truth will still lay stretched out before the searcher. Until the finite becomes infinite, and time lapses into eternity, the realm of thought will remain unfilled. At present, and until the scope of the intellect is materially enlarged, such theories as the origin of the universe—held by atheists to be self-existent, by pantheists to have been self-created, and by theists to have been originated by an external agency—must remain, as they are now admitted to be, questions beyond even the comprehension of the intellect. Likewise scientific ultimates—such as the qualities of time and space, the divisibility of matter, the co-ordination of motion and rest, the correlation of forces, the mysteries of gravitation, light and heat—are found to be not only not solvable, but not conceivable. And, as with the external, so with the inward life; we cannot conceive the nature, nor explain the origin and duration, of consciousness. The endless speculations of biology and psychology only leave impressions at once of the strength and weakness of the mind of man; strong in empirical knowledge, impotent in every attempt rationally to penetrate the unfathomable. Nowhere in mythology do we find the world self-created or self-existent. Some external agency is ever brought in to perform the work, and in the end the structure of the universe is resolved into its original elements.

Primordial man finds himself surrounded by natural phenomena, the operations of which his intelligence is capable of grasping but partially. Certain appetites sharpen, at once, certain instincts. Hunger makes him acquainted with the fruits of the earth; cold with the skins of beasts. Accident supplies him with rude implements, and imparts to him a knowledge of his power over animals. But as instinct merges into intellect, strange powers in nature are felt; invisible agents wielding invisible weapons; realities which exist unheard and move unseen; outward manifestations of hidden strength. Humanity, divine, but wild and wondering, half-fed, half-clad, ranges woods primeval, hears the roar of battling elements, sees the ancient forest-tree shivered into fragments by heaven’s artillery, feels the solid earth rise up in rumbling waves beneath his feet. He receives, as it were, a blow from within the darkness, and flinging himself upon the ground he begs protection; from what he knows not, of whom he knows not. “Bury me not, O tumultuous heavens,” he cries, “under the clouds of your displeasure!” “Strike me not down in wrath, O fierce flaming fire!” “Earth, be firm!” Here, then, is the origin of prayer. And to render more effectual his entreaties, a gift is offered. Seizing upon whatever he prizes most, his food, his raiment, he rushes forth and hurls his propitiatory offering heavenward, earthward, whithersoever his frenzied fancy dictates. Or, if this is not enough, the still more dearly valued gift of human blood or human life is offered. His own flesh he freely lacerates; to save his own life he gives that of his enemy, his slave, or even his child. Hence arises sacrifice.

Origin and Progress of Priestcraft

And here also conjurings commence. The necessity is felt of opening up some intercourse with these mysterious powers; relations commercial and social; calamities and casualties, personal and public, must be traced to causes, and the tormenting demon bought off. But it is clearly evident that these elemental forces are not all of them inimical to the happiness of mankind. Sunshine, air and water, the benign influences in nature, are as powerful to create, as the adverse elements are to destroy. And as these forces appear conflicting, part productive of life and enjoyment, and part of destruction, decay, and death, a separation is made. Hence principles of good and evil are discovered; and to all these unaccountable forces in nature, names and properties are given, and causations invented. For every act there is an actor—for every deed a doer; for every power and passion there is made a god.

Thus we see that worship in some form is a human necessity, or, at least, a constant accompaniment of humanity. Until perfect wisdom and limitless power are the attributes of humanity, adoration will continue; for men will never cease to reverence what they do not understand, nor will they cease to fear such elements of strength as are beyond their control. The form of this conciliatory homage appears to arise from common human instincts; for, throughout the world and in all ages, a similarity in primitive religious forms has existed. It is a giving of something; the barter of a valuable something for a something more valuable. As in his civil polity all crimes may be compounded or avenged, so in his worship, the savage gives his pride, his property, or his blood.

At first, this spirit power is seen in everything; in the storm and in the soft evening air; in clouds and cataracts, in mountains, rocks, and rivers; in trees, in reptiles, beasts, and fishes. But when progressive man obtains a more perfect mastery over the brute creation, brute worship ceases; as he becomes familiar with the causes of some of the forces in nature, and is better able to protect himself from them, the fear of natural objects is lessened. Leaving the level of the brute creation he mounts upward, and selecting from his own species some living or dead hero, he endows a king or comrade with superhuman attributes, and worships his dead fellow as a divine being. Still he tunes his thoughts to subtler creations, and carves with skillful fingers material images of supernatural forms. Then comes idolatry. The great principles of causation being determined and embodied in perceptible forms, adorations ensue. Cravings, however, increase. As the intellect expands, one idol after another is thrown down. Mind assumes the mastery over matter. From gods of wood and stone, made by men’s fingers, and from suns and planets, carved by the fingers of omnipotence, the creature now turns to the Creator. A form of ideal worship supplants the material form; gods known and tangible are thrown aside for the unknown God. And well were it for the intellect could it stop here. But, as the actions of countless material gods were clear to the primitive priest, and by him satisfactorily explained to the savage masses; so, in this more advanced state men are not wanting who receive from their ideal god revelations of his actions and motives. To its new, unknown, ideal god, the partially awakened human mind attaches the positive attributes of the old, material deities, or invents new ones, and starts anew to tread the endless mythologic circle; until in yet a higher state it discovers that both god and attributes are wholly beyond its grasp, and that with all its progress, it has advanced but slightly beyond the first savage conception;—a power altogether mysterious, inexplicable to science, controlling phenomena of mind and matter.

Barbarians are the most religious of mortals. While the busy, overworked brain of the scholar or man of business is occupied with more practical affairs, the listless mind of the savage, thrown as he is upon the very bosom of nature, is filled with innumerable conjectures and interrogatories. His curiosity, like that of a child, is proverbial, and as superstition is ever the resource of ignorance, queer fancies and fantasms concerning life and death, and gods and devils float continually through his unenlightened imagination.

Ill-protected from the elements, his comfort and his uncertain food-supply depending upon them, primitive man regards nature with eager interest. Like the beasts, his forest companions, he places himself as far as possible in harmony with his environment. He migrates with the seasons; feasts when food is plenty, fasts in famine-time; basks and gambols in the sunshine, cowers beneath the fury of the storm, crawls from the cold into his den, and there quasi-torpidly remains until nature releases him. Is it therefore strange that savage intellect peoples the elements with supernatural powers; that God is everywhere, in everything; in the most trifling accident and incident, as well as in the sun, the sea, the grove; that when evil comes God is angry, when fortune smiles God is favorable; and that he speaks to his wild, untutored people in signs and dreams, in the tempest and in the sunshine. Nor does he withhold the still, small voice, which breathes upon minds most darkened, and into breasts the most savage, a spirit of progress, which, if a people be left to the free fulfillment of their destiny, is sure, sooner or later, to ripen into full development.

Origin of Fetichism

We will now glance at the origin of fetichism, which indeed may be called the origin of ideal religion, from the other standpoint; that which arises from the respect men feel for the memory of their departed ancestors.

The first conception of a dualty in man’s nature has been attributed to various causes; it may be the result of a combination of causes. There is the shadow upon the ground, separate, yet inseparable; the reflection of the form upon the water; the echo of the voice, the adventures of fancy portrayed by dreams. Self is divisible from and inseparably connected with this other self. Herefrom arise innumerable superstitions; it was portentous of misfortune for one’s clothes to be stepped on; no food must be left uneaten; nail clippings and locks of hair must not fall into the hands of an enemy. Catlin, in sketching his portraits, often narrowly escaped with his life, the Indians believing that in their likenesses he carried away their other self. And when death comes, and this other self departs, whither has it gone? The lifeless body remains, but where is the life? The mind cannot conceive of the total extinguishment of an entity, and so the imagination rears a local habitation for every departed spirit. Every phenomenon and every event is analyzed under this hypothesis. For every event there is not only a cause, but a personal cause, an independent agent behind every consequence. Every animal, every fish and bird, every rock and stream and plant, the ripening fruit, the falling rain, the uncertain wind, the sun and stars, are all personified. There is no disease without its god or devil, no fish entangled in the net, no beast or bird that falls before the hunter, without its special sender.

Savages are more afraid of a dead man than a live one. They are overwhelmed with terror at the thought of this unseen power over them. The spirit of the departed is omnipotent and omnipresent. At any cost or hazard it must be propitiated. So food is placed in the grave; wives and slaves, and horses and dogs, are slain, and in spirit sent to serve the ghost of the departed; phantom messengers are sent to the region of shadows from time to time; the messengers sometimes even volunteering to go. So boats and weapons and all the property of the deceased are burned or deposited with him. In the hand of the dead child is placed a toy; in that of the departed warrior, the symbolic pipe of peace, which is to open a tranquil entrance into his new abode; clothes, and ornaments, and paint, are conveniently placed, and thus a proper personal appearance guaranteed. Not that the things themselves are to be used, but the souls of things. The body of the chief rots, as does the material substance of the articles buried with it; but the soul of every article follows the soul of its owner, to serve its own peculiar end in the land of phantoms.

The Worship of Dead Ancestors

The Chinese, grown cunning with the great antiquity of their burial customs, which require money and food to be deposited for the benefit of the deceased, spiritualize the money, by making an imitation coin of pasteboard, while the food, untouched by the dead, is finally eaten by themselves.

But whence arises the strange propensity of all primitive nations to worship animals, and plants, and stones, things animate and inanimate, natural and supernatural? Why is it that all nations or tribes select from nature some object which they hold to be sacred, and which they venerate as deity? It is the opinion of Herbert Spencer that “the rudimentary form of all religion is the propitiation of dead ancestors, who are supposed to be still existing, and to be capable of working good or evil to their descendants.” It is the universal custom with savage tribes, as the character of their members becomes developed, to drop the real name of individuals and to fix upon them the attribute of some external object, by whose name only they are afterwards known. Thus a swift runner is called the ‘antelope,’ the slow of foot, the ‘tortoise,’ a merciless warrior, the ‘wolf,’ a dark-eyed maid may be likened to the ‘raven,’ a majestic matron to the ‘cypress.’ And so the rivulet, the rock, the dawn, the sun, and even elements invisible, are seized upon as metaphors and fastened upon individuals, according to a real or fancied resemblance between the qualities of nature and the character of the men. Inferiority and baseness, alike with nobleness and wise conduct, perpetuate a name. Even in civilized societies, a nickname often takes the place of the real name. Schoolboys are quick to distinguish peculiarities in their fellows, and fasten upon them significant names. A dull scholar is called ‘cabbage-head,’ the girl with red ringlets, ‘carrots.’ In the family there is the greedy ‘pig,’ the darling ‘duck,’ the little ‘lamb.’ In new countries, and abnormal communities, where strangers from all parts are promiscuously thrown together, not unfrequently men live on terms of intimacy for years without ever knowing each other’s real name. Among miners, such appellations as ‘Muley Bill,’ ‘Sandy,’ ‘Shorty,’ ‘Sassafras Jack,’ often serve all the purposes of a name. In more refined circles, there is the hypocritical ‘crocodile,’ the sly ‘fox,’ the gruff ‘bear.’ We say of the horse, ‘he is as fleet as the wind,’ of a rapid accountant, ‘he is as quick as lightning.’ These names, which are used by us but for the moment, or to fit occasions, are among rude nations permanent—in many instances the only name a person ever receives.

Sometimes the nickname of the individual becomes first a family name and then a tribal name; as when the chief, ‘Coyote,’ becomes renowned, his children love to call themselves ‘Coyotes.’ The chieftainship descending to the son and grandson of Coyote, the name becomes famous, the Coyote family the dominant family of the tribe; members of the tribe, in their intercourse with other tribes, call themselves ‘coyotes,’ to distinguish themselves from other tribes; the head, or tail, or claws, or skin, of the coyote ornaments the dress or adorns the body; the name becomes tribal, and the animal the symbol or totem of the tribe. After a few generations have passed, the great chieftain, Coyote, and his immediate progeny are forgotten; meanwhile the beast becomes a favorite with the people; he begins to be regarded as privileged; is not hunted down like other beasts; the virtues and exploits of the whole Coyote clan become identified with the brute; the affections of the people are centered in the animal, and finally, all else being lost and forgotten, the descendants of the chieftain, Coyote, are the offspring of the veritable beast, coyote.

Abstract Conceptions, Monsters, and Metaphors

Concerning image-worship and the material representation of ideal beings, Mr. Tylor believes that “when man has got some way in developing the religious element in him, he begins to catch at the device of setting up a puppet, or a stone, as the symbol and representative of the notions of a higher being which are floating in his mind.”

Primitive languages cannot express abstract qualities. For every kind of animal or bird or plant there may be a name, but for animals, plants, and birds in general, they have no name or conception. Therefore, the abstract quality becomes the concrete idea of a god, and the descendants of a man whose symbolic name was ‘dog,’ from being the children of the man become the children of the dog.

Hence also arise monsters, beings compounded of beast, bird, and fish, sphinxes, mermaids, human-headed brutes, winged animals; as when the descendant of the ‘hawk’ carries off a wife from the ‘salmon’ tribe, a totem representing a fish with a hawk’s head for a time keeps alive the occurrence and finally becomes the deity.

Thus realities become metaphors and metaphors realities; the fact dwindles into shadowy nothingness and the fancy springs into actual being. The historical incident becomes first indistinct and then is forgotten; the metaphorical name of the dead ancestor is first respected in the animal or plant, then worshiped in the animal or plant, and finally the nickname and the ancestor both are forgotten and the idea becomes the entity, and the veritable object of worship. From forgetfulness of primogenitor and metaphor, conceiving the animal to be the very ancestor, words are put into the animal’s mouth, the sayings of the ancestor become the sayings of the brute; hence mythological legends of talking beasts, and birds, and wise fishes. To one animal is attributed a miraculous cure, to another, assistance in time of trouble; one animal is a deceiver, another a betrayer; and thus through their myths and metaphors we may look back into the soul of savagism and into their soul of nature.

That this is the origin of some phases of fetichism there can be no doubt; that it is the origin of all religions, or even the only method by which animal and plant worship originates, I do not believe. While there are undoubtedly general principles underlying all religious conceptions, it does not necessarily follow, that in every instance the methods of arriving at those fundamental principles must be identical. As with us a child weeps over a dead mother’s picture, regarding it with fond devotion, so the dutiful barbarian son, in order the better to propitiate the favor of his dead ancestor, sometimes carves his image in wood or stone, which sentiment with time lapses into idolatry. Any object which strikes the rude fancy as analogous to the character of an individual may become an object of worship.

The interpretation of myth can never be absolute and positive; yet we may in almost every instance discover the general purport. Thus a superior god, we may be almost sure, refers to some potent hero, some primitive ruler, whom tradition has made superhuman in origin and in power; demigods, subordinate or inferior beings in power, must be regarded as legendary, referring to certain influential persons, identified with some element or incident in which the deified personage played a conspicuous part.

Although in mythology religion is the dominant element, yet mythology is not wholly made up of religion, nor are all primitive religions mythical. “There are few mistakes” says Professor Max Müller “so widely spread and so firmly established as that which makes us confound the religion and the mythology of the ancient nations of the world. How mythology arises, necessarily and naturally, I tried to explain in my former lectures, and we saw that, as an affection or disorder of language, mythology may infect every part of the intellectual life of man. True it is that no ideas are more liable to mythological disease than religious ideas, because they transcend those regions of our experience within which language has its natural origin, and must therefore, according to their very nature, be satisfied with metaphorical expressions. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man. Yet even the religions of the ancient nations are by no means inevitably and altogether mythological. On the contrary, as a diseased frame pre-supposes a healthy frame, so a mythological religion pre-supposes, I believe, a healthy religion.”

Fundamental Ideas of Religion

The universal secrets of supernatural beings are wrapped up in probable or possible fable; the elements of physical nature are impersonated in allegories, and arrayed in forms perceptible to the imagination; deities are sometimes introduced into the machinery of the supernatural in order to gratify that love for the marvelous which every attempt to explain the mysterious forces of nature creates in the ignorant mind. Yet it cannot truly be said that any form of religion, much less any religion was wholly invented. Fanatics sometimes originate doctrines, and the Church sets forth its dogmas, but there must be a foundation of truth or the edifice cannot stand. Inventions there undoubtedly have been and are, but inventions, sooner or later fall to the ground, while the essential principles underlying religion and mythology, though momentarily overcome or swept away, are sure to remain.

Every one of the fundamental ideas of religion is of indigenous origin, generating spontaneously in the human heart. It is a characteristic of mythology that the present inhabitants of the world descended from some nobler race. From the nobler impulses of fancy the savage derives his origin. His higher instincts teach him that his dim distant past, and his impenetrable future, are alike of a lighter, more ethereal nature; that his earthly nature is base, that that which binds him to earth is the lowest, vilest part of himself.

The tendency of positive knowledge is to overthrow superstition. Hence as science develops, many tenets of established religions, palpably erroneous, are dropped, and the more knowledge becomes real, the more real knowledge is denied. Superstition is not the effect of an active imagination, but shows rather a lack of imagination, for we see that the lower the stage of intelligence, and the feebler the imagination, the greater the superstition. A keen, vivid imagination, although capable of broader and more complicated conceptions, is able to explain the cruder marvels, and consequently to dispel the coarser phases of superstition, while the dull intellect accepts everything which is put upon it as true. Ultimate religious conceptions are symbolic rather than actual. Ultimate ideas of the universe are even beyond the grasp of the profoundest intellect. We can form but an approximate idea of the sphere on which we live. To form conceptions of the relative and actual distances and magnitudes of heavenly bodies, of systems of worlds, and eternities of space, the human mind is totally inadequate. If, therefore, the mind is unable to grasp material visible objects, how much less are we able to measure the invisible and eternal.

When therefore the savage attempts to solve the problem of natural phenomena, he first reduces broad conceptions to symbolic ideas. He moulds his deity according to the measure of his mind; and in forming a skeleton upon which to elaborate his religious instincts, proximate theories are accepted, and almost any explanation appears to him plausible. The potential creations of his fancy are brought within the compass of his comprehension; symbolic gods are moulded from mud, or carved from wood or stone; and thus by segregating an infinitesimal part of the vast idea of deity, the worshiper meets the material requirements of his religious conceptions. And although the lower forms of worship are abandoned as the intellect unfolds, the same principle is continued. We set up in the mind symbols of the ultimate idea which is too great for our grasp, and imagining ourselves in possession of the actual idea, we fall into numberless errors concerning what we believe or think. The atheistic hypothesis of self-existence, the pantheistic hypothesis of self-creation, and the theistic hypothesis of creation by an external agency are equally unthinkable, and therefore as postulates equally untenable. Yet underlying all, however gross or superstitious the dogma, is one fundamental truth, namely, that there is a problem to be solved, an existent mysterious universe to be accounted for.

Deep down in every human breast is implanted a religiosity as a fundamental attribute of man’s nature; a consciousness that behind visible appearances is an invisible power; underlying all conception is an instinct or intuition from which there is no escape, that beyond material actualities potential agencies are at work; and throughout all belief, from the stupidest fetichism to the most exalted monotheism, as part of these instinctive convictions, it is held that the beings, or being, who rule man’s destiny may be propitiated.

The first cry of nature is hushed. From time immemorial nations and peoples have come and gone, whence and whither no one knows; entering existence unannounced they disappear and leave no trace, save perhaps their impress on the language or the mythology of the world. Thus from historic fact blended with the religious sentiments springs the Mythic Idea.

Classification of Pacific States’ Myths

In the following chapters, I have attempted, as far as practicable, to classify the Myths of the Pacific States under appropriate heads. In making such a classification there is no difficulty, except where in one myth occur two or more divisions of the subject, in which case it becomes necessary, either to break the narrative, or make exceptions in the general rule of classifying. I have invariably adopted the latter alternative. The divisions which I make of Mythology are as follows: I. Origin and End of Things; II. Physical Myths; III. Animal Myths; IV. Gods, Supernatural Beings, and Worship; V. The Future State.

Chapter II • Origin and End of Things • 27,400 Words

Quiché Creation-Myth—Aztec Origin-Myths—The Papagos—Montezuma and the Coyote—The Moquis—The Great Spider’s Web of the Pimas—Navajo and Pueblo Creations—Origin of Clear Lake and Lake Tahoe—Chareya of the Cahrocs—Mount Shasta, the Wigwam of the Great Spirit—Idaho Springs and Water Falls—How Differences in Language Occurred—Yehl, the Creator of the Thlinkeets—The Raven and the Dog.

The Popol Vuh

Of all American peoples the Quichés, of Guatemala, have left us the richest mythological legacy. Their description of the creation as given in the Popol Vuh, which may be called the national book of the Quichés,[II-1]In Vienna in 1857, the book now best known as the Popol Vuh was first brought to the notice of European scholars, under the following title: Las Historias del Origen de los Indios de esta Provincia de Guatemala, traducidas de la Lengua Quiché al Castellano para mas Comodidad de los Ministros del S. Evangelio, por el R. P. F. Francisco Ximenez, cura doctrinero por el real patronato del Pueblo de S. Thomas Chuila.—Exactamente segun el texto español del manuscrito original que se halla en la biblioteca de la Universidad de Guatemala, publicado por la primera vez, y aumentado con una introduccion y anotaciones por el Dr C. Scherzer. What Dr Scherzer says in a paper read before the Vienna Academy of Sciences, Feb. 20th, 1856; and repeats in his introduction, about its author, amounts to this: In the early part of the 18th century Francisco Ximenez, a Dominican Father of great repute for his learning and his love of truth, filled the office of curate in the little Indian town of Chichicastenango in the highlands of Guatemala. Neither the time of his birth nor that of his death can be exactly ascertained, but the internal evidence of one of his works shows that he was engaged upon it in 1721. He left many manuscripts, but it is supposed that the unpalatable truths some of them contain with regard to the ill-treatment of the Indians by the colonial authorities sufficed, as previously in the case of Las Casas, to ensure their partial destruction and total suppression. What remains of them lay long hid in an obscure corner of the Convent of the Dominicans in Guatemala, and passed afterwards, on the suppression of all the religious orders, into the library of the University of San Carlos (Guatemala). Here Dr Scherzer discovered them in June 1854, and carefully copied, and afterwards published as above the particular treatise with which we are now concerned. This, according to Father Ximenez himself, and according to its internal evidence, is a translation of a literal copy of an original book, written by one or more Quichés, in the Quiché language, in Roman letters, after the Christians had occupied Guatemala, and after the real original Popol Vuh—National Book—had been lost or destroyed—literally, was no more to be seen—and written to replace that lost book. ‘Quise trasladar todas las historias á la letra de estos indios, y tambien traducirla en la lengua castellana.’ ‘Esto escribiremos ya en la ley de Dios en la cristiandad los sacaremos, porque ya no hay libro comun, original donde verlo, Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 1, 4, 5. ‘Voilà ce que nous écrirons depuis (qu’on a promulgué) la parole de Dieu, et en dedans du Christianisme; nous le reproduirons, parce qu’on ne voit plus ce Livre national,’ ‘Vae x-chi-ka tzibah chupan chic u chabal Dios, pa Christianoil chic; x-chi-k’-elezah, rumal ma-habi chic ilbal re Popol-Vuh,’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. 5. The evidence that the author was Quiché will be found in the numerous passages scattered through the narrative in which he speaks of the Quiché nation, and of the ancestors of that nation as ‘our people,’ ‘our ancestors,’ and so on. We pass now to what the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg has to say about the book. He says that Ximenes ‘discovered this document, in the last years of the 17th century.’ In 1855, at Guatemala, the abbé first saw Ximenez’ manuscript containing this work. The manuscript contained the Quiché text and the Spanish curate’s translation of that text. Brasseur de Bourbourg copied both at that time, but he was dissatisfied with the translation, believing it to be full of faults owing to the prejudices and the ignorance of the age in which it was made, as well as disfigured by abridgments and omissions. So in 1860 he settled himself among the Quichés and by the help of natives joined to his own practical knowledge of their language, he elaborated a new and literal translation, (aussi littérale qu’il a été possible de la faire). We seem justified then on the whole in taking this document for what Ximenez and its own evidence declare it to be, namely, a reproduction of an older work or body of Quiché traditional history, written because that older work had been lost and was likely to be forgotten, and written by a Quiché not long after the Spanish conquest. One consequence of the last fact would seem to be that a tinge of biblical expression has, consciously or unconsciously to the Quiché who wrote, influenced the form of the narrative. But these coincidences may be wholly accidental, the more as there are also striking resemblances to expressions in the Scandinavian Edda and in the Hindoo Veda. And even if they be not accidental, ‘much remains,’ adopting the language and the conclusion of Professor Max Müller, ‘in these American traditions which is so different from anything else in the national literatures of other countries, that we may safely treat it as the genuine growth of the intellectual soil of America.’ Chips from a German Workshop, vol. i., p. 328. For the foregoing, as well as further information on the subject see:—Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, pp. 5-31, 195-231; S’il existe des Sources de l’Hist. Prim., pp. 83-7; Hist. des Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 47-61; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 5-15; Scherzer, in Sitzungsberichte der Akademie der Wissenschaften Wien, 20th Feb., 1856; Helps’ Spanish Conquest, vol. iv., pp. 455-6. Professor Müller in his essay on the Popol Vuh, has in one or two places misunderstood the narrative. There was no such creation of man as that he gives as the second, while his third creation is the second of the original. Again, he makes the four Quiché ancestors to be the progenitors of all tribes both white and black; while they were the parents of the Quiché and kindred races only. The course of the legend brings us to tribes of a strange blood, with which these four ancestors and their people were often at war. The narrative is, however, itself so confused and contradictory at points, that it is almost impossible to avoid such things; and, as a whole, the views of Professor Müller on the Popol Vuh seem just and well considered. Baldwin, Ancient America, pp. 191-7, gives a mere dilution of Professor Müller’s essay, and that without acknowledgment. is, in its rude strange eloquence and poetic originality, one of the rarest relics of aboriginal thought. Although obliged in reproducing it to condense somewhat, I have endeavored to give not only the substance, but also, as far as possible, the peculiar style and phraseology of the original. It is with this primeval picture, whose simple silent sublimity is that of the inscrutable past, that we begin:—

And the heaven was formed, and all the signs thereof set in their angle and alignment, and its boundaries fixed towards the four winds by the Creator and Former, and Mother and Father of life and existence—he by whom all move and breathe, the Father and Cherisher of the peace of nations and of the civilization of his people—he whose wisdom has projected the excellence of all that is on the earth, or in the lakes, or in the sea.

Behold the first word and the first discourse. There was as yet no man, nor any animal, nor bird, nor fish, nor crawfish, nor any pit, nor ravine, nor green herb, nor any tree; nothing was but the firmament. The face of the earth had not yet appeared—only the peaceful sea and all the space of heaven. There was nothing yet joined together, nothing that clung to anything else; nothing that balanced itself, that made the least rustling, that made a sound in the heaven. There was nothing that stood up; nothing but the quiet water, but the sea, calm and alone in its boundaries: nothing existed; nothing but immobility and silence, in the darkness, in the night.[II-2]The original Quiché runs as follows: ‘Are u tzihoxic vae ca ca tzinin-oc, ca ca chamam-oc, ca tzinonic; ca ca zilanic, ca ca lolinic, ca tolona puch u pa cah. Vae cute nabe tzih, nabe uchan.—Ma-habi-oc hun vinak, hun chicop; tziquin, car, tap, che, abah, hul, civan, quim, qichelah: xa-utuquel cah qolic. Mavi calah u vach uleu: xa-utnquel remanic palo, u pah cah ronohel. Ma-habi nakila ca molobic, ca cotzobic: hunta ca zilobic; ca mal ca ban-tah, ca cotz ca ban-tah pa cah. X-ma qo-vi nakila qolic yacalic; xa remanic ha, xa lianic palo, xa-utuquel remanic; x-ma qo-vi nakilalo qolic. Xa ca chamanic, ca tzininic chi gekum, chi agab.’

This passage is rendered by the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg thus: ‘Voici le récit comme quoi tout était en suspens, tout était calme et silencieux; tout était immobile, tout était paisible, et vide était l’immensité des cieux. Voilà donc la première parole et le premier discours. Il n’y avait pas encore un seul homme, pas un animal, pas d’oiseaux, de poissons, d’écrevisses, de bois, de pierre, de fondrières, de ravins, d’herbe ou de bocages: seulement le ciel existait. La face de la terre ne se manifestait pas encore: seule la mer paisible était et tout l’espace des cieux. Il n’y avait encore rien qui fît corps, rien qui se cramponnât à autre chose: rien qui se balançât, qui fît (le moindre) frôlement, qui fît (entendre) un son dans le ciel. Il n’y avait rien qui existât debout; (il n’y avait) que l’eau paisible, que la mer calme et seule dans ses bornes; car il n’y avait rien qui existât. Ce n’était que l’immobilité et le silence dans les ténèbres, dans la nuit.’ Popol Vuh, p. 7.

And by Francisco Ximenez thus: ‘Este es su ser dicho cuando estaba suspenso en calma, en silencio, sin moverse, sin cosa sino vacio el cielo. Y esta es la primera palabra y elocuencia; aun no habia hombres, animales, pájaros, pescado, cangrejo, palo, piedra, hoya, barranca, paja ni monte, sino solo estaba el cielo; no se manifestaba la faz de la tierra; sino que solo estaba el mar represado, y todo lo del cielo; aun no habia cosa alguna junta, ni sonaba nada, ni cosa alguna se meneaba, ni cosa que hiciera mal, ni cosa que hiciera “cotz,” (esto es ruido en el cielo), ni habia cosa que estuviese parada en pié; solo el agua represada, solo la mar sosegada, solo ella represada, ni cosa alguna habia que estuviese; solo estaba en silencio, y sosiego en la obscuridad, y la noche.’ Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 5-6.

The QuichÉ Idea of Creation

Alone also the Creator, the Former, the Dominator, the Feathered Serpent—those that engender, those that give being, they are upon the water, like a growing light. They are enveloped in green and blue; and therefore their name is Gucumatz.[II-3]’Gucumatz, littéralement serpent emplumé, et dans un sens plus étendu, serpent revêtu de couleurs brillantes, de vert ou d’azur. Les plumes du guc ou quetzal offrent également les deux teintes. C’est exactment la même chose que quetzalcohuatl dans la langue mexicaine.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. des Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 50. Lo, now how the heavens exist, how exists also the Heart of Heaven; such is the name of God; it is thus that he is called. And they spake; they consulted together and meditated; they mingled their words and their opinion. And the creation was verily after this wise: Earth, they said, and on the instant it was formed; like a cloud or a fog was its beginning. Then the mountains rose over the water like great lobsters; in an instant the mountains and the plains were visible, and the cypress and the pine appeared. Then was the Gucumatz filled with joy, crying out: Blessed be thy coming, O Heart of Heaven, Hurakan, Thunderbolt. Our work and our labor has accomplished its end.

The earth and its vegetation having thus appeared, it was peopled with the various forms of animal life. And the Makers said to the animals: Speak now our name, honor us, us your mother and father; invoke Hurakan, the Lightning-flash, the Thunderbolt that strikes, the Heart of Heaven, the Heart of the Earth, the Creator and Former, Him who begets, and Him who gives being—speak, call on us, salute us! So was it said to the animals. But the animals could not answer; they could not speak at all after the manner of men; they could only cluck, and croak, each murmuring after his kind in a different manner. This displeased the Creators, and they said to the animals: Inasmuch as ye can not praise us, neither call upon our names, your flesh shall be humiliated; it shall be broken with teeth; ye shall be killed and eaten.

Again the gods took counsel together; they determined to make man. So they made a man of clay; and when they had made him, they saw that it was not good. He was without cohesion, without consistence, motionless, strengthless, inept, watery; he could not move his head, his face looked but one way; his sight was restricted, he could not look behind him; he had been endowed with language, but he had no intelligence, so he was consumed in the water.

Again is there counsel in heaven: Let us make an intelligent being who shall adore and invoke us. It was decided that a man should be made of wood and a woman of a kind of pith. They were made; but the result was in no wise satisfactory. They moved about perfectly well, it is true; they increased and multiplied; they peopled the world with sons and daughters, little wooden mannikins like themselves; but still the heart and the intelligence were wanting; they held no memory of their Maker and Former; they led a useless existence, they lived as the beasts live; they forgot the Heart of Heaven. They were but an essay, an attempt at men; they had neither blood, nor substance, nor moisture, nor fat; their cheeks were shrivelled, their feet and hands dried up; their flesh languished.

Destruction and Re-Creation of Man

Then was the Heart of Heaven wroth; and he sent ruin and destruction upon those ingrates; he rained upon them night and day from heaven with a thick resin; and the earth was darkened. And the men went mad with terror; they tried to mount upon the roofs and the houses fell; they tried to climb the trees and the trees shook them far from their branches; they tried to hide in the caves and dens of the earth, but these closed their holes against them. The bird Xecotcovach came to tear out their eyes; and the Camalotz cut off their head; and the Cotzbalam devoured their flesh; and the Tecumbalam broke and bruised their bones to powder. Thus were they all devoted to chastisement and destruction, save only a few who were preserved as memorials of the wooden men that had been; and these now exist in the woods as little apes.[II-4]A long rambling story is here introduced which has nothing to do with Creation, and which is omitted for the present.

Once more are the gods in counsel; in the darkness, in the night of a desolated universe do they commune together; of what shall we make man? And the Creator and Former made four perfect men; and wholly of yellow and white maize was their flesh composed. These were the names of the four men that were made: the name of the first was Balam-Quitzé; of the second, Balam-Agab; of the third Mahucutah; and of the fourth, Iqi-Balam.[II-5]Balam-Quitzé, the tiger with the sweet smile; Balam-Agab, the tiger of the night; Mahucutah, the distinguished name; Iqi-Balam, the tiger of the moon. ‘Telle est la signification littérale que Ximenez a donnée de ces quatre noms.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. 199.They had neither father nor mother, neither were they made by the ordinary agents in the work of creation; but their coming into existence was a miracle extraordinary, wrought by the special intervention of him who is preëminently The Creator. Verily, at last, were there found men worthy of their origin and their destiny; verily, at last, did the gods look on beings who could see with their eyes, and handle with their hands, and understand with their hearts. Grand of countenance and broad of limb the four sires of our race stood up under the white rays of the morning star—sole light as yet of the primeval world—stood up and looked. Their great clear eyes swept rapidly over all; they saw the woods and the rocks, the lakes and the sea, the mountains and the valleys, and the heavens that were above all; and they comprehended all and admired exceedingly. Then they returned thanks to those who had made the world and all that therein was: We offer up our thanks, twice—yea verily, thrice! We have received life; we speak, we walk, we taste; we hear and understand; we know both that which is near and that which is far off; we see all things, great and small, in all the heaven and earth. Thanks then, Maker and Former, Father and Mother of our life! we have been created; we are.

But the gods were not wholly pleased with this thing; Heaven they thought had overshot its mark; these men were too perfect; knew, understood, and saw too much. Therefore there was counsel again in heaven: What shall we do with man now? It is not good, this that we see; these are as gods; they would make themselves equal with us; lo, they know all things, great and small. Let us now contract their sight, so that they may see only a little of the surface of the earth and be content. Thereupon the Heart of Heaven breathed a cloud over the pupil of the eyes of men, and a veil came over it as when one breathes on the face of a mirror; thus was the globe of the eye darkened; neither was that which was far off clear to it any more, but only that which was near.

Then the four men slept, and there was counsel in heaven: and four women were made—to Balam-Quitzé was allotted Caha-Paluma to wife; to Balam-Agab, Chomiha; to Mahucutah, Tzununiha; and to Iqi-Balam, Cakixaha.[II-6]Caha-paluma, the falling water; Chomi-ha or Chomih-a, the beautiful house or the beautiful water; in the same way, Tzununiha may mean either the house or the water of the humming-birds; and Cakixaha, either the house or the water of the aras [which are a kind of parrot]. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. 205. Now the women were exceedingly fair to look upon; and when the men awoke, their hearts were glad because of the women.

The QuichÉs Set Out for Tulan-Zuiva

Next, as I interpret the narrative, there were other men created, the ancestors of other peoples, while the first four were the fathers of all the branches of the Quiché race. The different tribes at first, however, lived together amicably enough, in a primitive state; and increased and multiplied, leading happy lives under their bright and morning star, precursor of the yet unseen sun. They had as yet no worship save the breathing of the instinct of their soul, as yet no altars to the gods; only—and is there not a whole idyl in the simple words?—only they gazed up into heaven, not knowing what they had come so far to do![II-7]’Are ma-habi chi tzukun, qui coon; xavi chi cah chi qui pacaba qui vach; mavi qu’etaam x-e be-vi naht x-qui bano.’ ‘Alors ils ne servaient pas encore et ne soutenaient point (les autels des dieux); seulement ils tournaient leurs visages vers le ciel, et ils ne savaient ce qu’ils étaient venus faire si loin.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. 209. It is right to add, however, that Ximenez gives a much more prosaic turn to the passage: ‘No cabian de sustento, sino que levantaban las caras al cielo y no se sabian alejar.’ Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 84. They were filled with love, with obedience, and with fear; and lifting their eyes towards heaven, they made their requests:—

Hail! O Creator, O Former! thou that hearest and understandest us! abandon us not, forsake us not! O God, thou that art in heaven and on the earth, O Heart of Heaven, O Heart of Earth! give us descendants and a posterity as long as the light endure. Give us to walk always in an open road, in a path without snares; to lead happy, quiet, and peaceable lives, free of all reproach. It was thus they spake, living tranquilly, invoking the return of the light, waiting the rising of the sun, watching the star of the morning, precursor of the sun. But no sun came, and the four men and their descendants grew uneasy: We have no person to watch over us, they said, nothing to guard our symbols. So the four men and their people set out for Tulan-Zuiva,[II-8]Or as Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 87, writes it—Tulanzú, (las siete cuevas y siete barrancas). otherwise called the Seven-caves or Seven-ravines, and there they received gods, each man as head of a family, a god; though inasmuch as the fourth man, Iqi-Balam, had no children and founded no family, his god is not usually taken into the account. Balam-Quitzé received the god Tohil; Balam Agab received the god Avilix; and Mahucutah received the god Hacavitz; all very powerful gods, but Tohil seems to have been the chief, and in a general way, god of the whole Quiché nation. Other people received gods at the same time; and it had been for all a long march to Tulan.

Now the Quichés had as yet no fire, and as Tulan was a much colder climate than the happy eastern land they had left, they soon began to feel the want of it. The god Tohil who was the creator of fire had some in his possession; so to him, as was most natural, the Quichés applied, and Tohil in some way supplied them with fire.

But shortly after, there fell a great rain that extinguished all the fires of the land; and much hail also fell on the heads of the people; and because of the rain and the hail, their fires were utterly scattered and put out. Then Tohil created fire again by stamping with his sandal. Several times thus fire failed them, but Tohil always renewed it. Many other trials also they underwent in Tulan, famines and such things, and a general dampness and cold—for the earth was moist, there being as yet no sun.

Here also the language of all the families was confused so that no one of the first four men could any longer understand the speech of another. This also made them very sad. They determined to leave Tulan; and the greater part of them, under the guardianship and direction of Tohil, set out to see where they should take up their abode. They continued on their way amid the most extreme hardships for want of food; sustaining themselves at one time upon the mere smell of their staves, and by imagining that they were eating, when in verity and in truth, they ate nothing. Their heart, indeed, it is again and again said, was almost broken by affliction. Poor wanderers! they had a cruel way to go, many forests to pierce, many stern mountains to overpass and a long passage to make through the sea, along the shingle and pebbles and drifted sand—the sea being, however, parted for their passage.

Quiché Origin of the Sun

At last they came to a mountain that they named Hacavitz, after one of their gods, and here they rested—for here they were by some means given to understand that they should see the sun. Then indeed, was filled with an exceeding joy the heart of Balam-Quitzé, of Balam-Agab, of Mahucutah, and of Iqi-Balam. It seemed to them that even the face of the morning star caught a new and more resplendent brightness. They shook their incense pans and danced for very gladness: sweet were their tears in dancing, very hot their incense—their precious incense. At last the sun commenced to advance: the animals, small and great, were full of delight; they raised themselves to the surface of the water; they fluttered in the ravines; they gathered at the edge of the mountains, turning their heads together toward that part from which the sun came. And the lion and the tiger roared. And the first bird that sang was that called the Queletzu. All the animals were beside themselves at the sight; the eagle and the kite beat their wings, and every bird, both small and great. The men prostrated themselves on the ground, for their hearts were full to the brim.

And the sun, and the moon, and the stars were now all established. Yet was not the sun then in the beginning the same as now; his heat wanted force, and he was but as a reflection in a mirror; verily, say the histories, not at all the same sun as that of to-day. Nevertheless he dried up and warmed the surface of the earth, and answered many good ends.

Another wonder when the sun rose! The three tribal gods, Tohil, Avilix, and Hacavitz, were turned into stone, as were also the gods connected with the lion, the tiger, the viper, and other fierce and dangerous animals. Perhaps we should not be alive at this moment—continues the chronicle—because of the voracity of these fierce animals, of these lions, and tigers, and vipers; perhaps to-day our glory would not be in existence, had not the sun caused this petrification.

And the people multiplied on this Mount Hacavitz, and here they built their city. It is here also that they began to sing that song called Kamucu, ‘we see.’ They sang it, though it made their hearts ache, for this is what they said in singing: Alas! We ruined ourselves in Tulan, there lost we many of our kith and kin, they still remain there, left behind! We indeed have seen the sun, but they—now that his golden light begins to appear, where are they?

And they worshiped the gods that had become stone, Tohil, Avilix, and Hacavitz; and they offered them the blood of beasts, and of birds, and pierced their own ears and shoulders in honor of these gods, and collected the blood with a sponge, and pressed it out into a cup before them.

Toward the end of their long and eventful life Balam-Quitzé, Balam-Agab, Mahucutah, and Iqi-Balam were impelled, apparently by a supernatural vision, to lay before their gods a more awful offering than the life of senseless beasts. They began to wet their altars with the heart’s blood of human victims. From their mountain hold they watched for lonely travelers belonging to the surrounding tribes, seized, overpowered, and slew them for a sacrifice. Man after man was missing in the neighboring villages; and the people said: Lo! the tigers have carried them away—for wherever the blood was of a man slain, were always found the tracks of many tigers. Now this was the craft of the priests, and at last the tribes began to suspect the thing and to follow the tracks of the tigers. But the trails had been made purposely intricate, by steps returning on themselves and by the obliteration of steps; and the mountain region where the altars were was already covered with a thick fog and a small rain, and its paths flowed with mud.

The hearts of the villagers were thus fatigued within them, pursuing unknown enemies. At last, however, it became plain that the gods Tohil, Avilix and Hacavitz, and their worship, were in some way or other the cause of this bereavement: so the people of the villages conspired against them. Many attacks, both openly and by ruses, did they make on the gods, and on the four men, and on the children and people connected with them; but not once did they succeed, so great was the wisdom, and power, and courage of the four men and of their deities. And these three gods petrified, as we have told, could nevertheless resume a movable shape when they pleased; which indeed they often did, as will be seen hereafter.

At last the war was finished. By the miraculous aid of a horde of wasps and hornets, the Quichés utterly defeated and put to the rout in a general battle all their enemies. And the tribes humiliated themselves before the face of Balam-Quitzé, of Balam-Agab, and of Mahucutah: Unfortunates that we are, they said, spare to us at least our lives. Let it be so, it was answered, although you be worthy of death; you shall, however, be our tributaries and serve us, as long as the sun endure, as long as the light shall follow his course. This was the reply of our fathers and mothers, upon Mount Hacavitz; and thereafter they lived in great honor and peace, and their souls had rest, and all the tribes served them there.

The End of the QuichÉ Creation

Now it came to pass that the time of the death of Balam-Quitzé, Balam-Agab, Mahucutah, and Iqi-Balam drew near. No bodily sickness nor suffering came upon them; but they were forewarned that their death and their end was at hand. Then they called their sons and their descendants round them to receive their last counsels.

And the heart of the old men was rent within them. In the anguish of their heart they sang the Kamucu, the old sad song that they had sung when the sun first rose, when the sun rose and they thought of the friends they had left in Tulan, whose face they should see no more forever. Then they took leave of their wives, one by one; and of their sons, one by one; of each in particular they took leave; and they said: We return to our people; already the King of the Stags is ready, he stretches himself through the heaven. Lo, we are about to return; our work is done; the days of our life are complete. Remember us well; let us never pass from your memory. You will see still our houses and our mountains; multiply in them, and then go on upon your way and see again the places whence we are come.

So the old men took leave of their sons and of their wives; and Balam-Quitzé spake again: Behold! he said, I leave you what shall keep me in remembrance. I have taken leave of you—and am filled with sadness, he added. Then instantly the four old men were not; but in their place was a great bundle; and it was never unfolded, neither could any man find seam therein on rolling it over and over. So it was called the Majesty Enveloped; and it became a memorial of these fathers, and was held very dear and precious in the sight of the Quichés; and they burned incense before it.[II-9]The following passage in a letter from the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg, to Mr. Rafn of Copenhagen, bearing date 25th October, 1858, may be useful in this connection:—’On sait que la coutume toltèque et mexicaine était de conserver, comme chez les chrétiens, les reliques des héros de la patrie: on enveloppait leurs os avec des pierres précieuses dans un paquet d’étoffes auquel on donnait le nom de Tlaquimilolli; ces paquets demeuraient à jamais fermés et on les déposait au fond des sanctuaires où on les conservait comme des objects sacrés.’ Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, 1858, tom. iv., p. 268. One of these ‘bundles,’ was given up to the Christians by a Tlascaltec some time after the conquest. It was reported to contain the remains of Camaxtli, the chief god of Tlascala. The native historian, Camargo, describes it as follows: ‘Quand on défit le paquet où se trouvaient les cendres de l’idole Camaxtle, on y trouva aussi un paquet de cheveux blonds, … on y trouva aussi une émeraude, et de ses cendres on avait fait une pâte, en les pétrissant avec le sang des enfants que l’on avait sacrifiés.’ Hist. de Tlaxcallan; in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcix., p. 179.

Thus died and disappeared on Mount Hacavitz Balam-Quitzé, Balam-Agab, Mahucutah, and Iqi-Balam, these first men who came from the east, from the other side of the sea. Long time had they been here when they died; and they were very old, and surnamed the Venerated and the Sacrificers.

Such is the Quiché account of the creation of the earth and its inhabitants and of the first years of the existence of mankind. Although we find here described in the plainest and least equivocal terms a supreme, all-powerful Creator of all things, there are joined with him in a somewhat perplexing manner a number of auxiliary deities and makers. It may be that those whose faith the Popol Vuh represents, conceiving and speaking of their supreme god under many aspects and as fulfilling many functions, came at times, either unconsciously or for dramatic effect, to bring this one great Being upon their mythic stage, sustaining at once many of his different parts and characters. Or perhaps, like the Hebrews, they believed that the Creator had made out of nothing or out of his own essence, in some mysterious way, angels and other beings to obey and to assist him in his sovereign designs, and that these ‘were called gods.’ That these Quiché notions seem foolishness to us, is no argument as to their adaptation to the life and thoughts of those who believed them; for, in the words of Professor Max Müller, “the thoughts of primitive humanity were not only different from our thoughts, but different also from what we think their thoughts ought to have been.”[II-10]See Cox’s Mythology of the Aryan Nations, vol. i., p. 333.

Mexican Cosmogony

Yet whatever be the inconsistencies that obscure the Popol Vuh, we find them multiplied in the Mexican cosmogony, a tangled string of meagre and apparently fragmentary traditions. There appear to have been two principal schools of opinion in Anáhuac, differing as to who was the Creator of the world, as well as on other points—two veins of tradition, perhaps of common origin, which often seem to run into one, and are oftener still considered as one by historians to whom these heathen vanities were matters of little importance. The more advanced school, ascribing its inspiration to Toltec sources, seems to have flourished notably in Tezcuco, especially while the famous Nezahualcoyotl reigned there, and to have had very definite monotheistic ideas. It taught, as is asserted in unmistakable terms, that all things had been made by one God, omnipotent and invisible; and to this school were probably owing the many gentle and beautiful ideas and rites, mingled with the hard, coarse, and prosaic cult of the mass of the people.[II-11]Even supposing there were no special historical reasons for making this distinction, it seems convenient that such a division should be made in a country where the distinction of classes was so marked as in Mexico. As Reads puts the case, Martyrdom of Man, p. 177, ‘In those countries where two distinct classes of men exist, the one intellectual and learned, the other illiterate and degraded, there will be in reality two religions, though nominally there may be only one.’

The other school may be considered as more distinctively national, and as representing more particularly the ordinary Mexican mind. To it is to be ascribed by far the larger part of all we know about the Mexican religion.[II-12]’Les prêtres et les nobles de Mexico avaient péri presque tous lors de la prise de cette ville, et ceux qui avaient échappé au massacre s’étaient réfugiés dans des lieux inaccessibles. Ce furent donc presque toujours des gens du peuple sans éducation et livrés aux plus grossiéres superstitions qui leur firent les récits qu’ils nous ont transmis; Les missionnaires, d’ailleurs, avaient plus d’intérêt à connaître les usages qu’ils voulaient déraciner de la masse du peuple qu’à comprendre le sens plus élevé que la partie éclairée de la nation pouvait y attacher.’ Ternaux-Compans, Essai sur la Théogonie Mexicaine, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1840, tom. lxxxv., p. 274. According to the version of this school, Tezcatlipoca, a god whose birth and adventures are set forth hereafter, was the creator of the material heaven and earth, though not of mankind; and sometimes even the honor of this partial creation is disputed by others of the gods.

One Mexican nation, again, according to an ancient writer of their own blood, affirmed that the earth had been created by chance; and as for the heavens, they had always existed.[II-13]This last statement rests on the authority of Domingo Muñoz Camargo, a native of the city of Tlascala who wrote about 1585. See his Hist. de Tlaxcallan as translated by Ternaux Compans in the Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcix., p. 129. ‘Les Indiens ne croyaient pas que le monde eût été créé, mais pensaient qu’il était le produit du hazard. Ils disaient aussi que les cieux avaient toujours existé.”Estos, pues, alcanzaron con claridad el verdadero orígen y principio de todo el Universo, porque asientan que el cielo y la tierra y cuanto en ellos se halla es obra de la poderosa mano de un Dios Supremo y único, á quien daban el nombre de Tloque Nahuaque, que quiere decir, criador de todas las cosas. Llamábanle tambien Ipalnemohualoni, que quiere decir, por quien vivimos y somos, y fué la única deidad que adoraron en aquellos primitivos tiempos; y aun despues que se introdujo la idolatría y el falso culto, le creyeron siempre superior á todos sus dioses, y le invocaban levantando los ojos al cielo. En esta creencia se mantuvieron constantes hasta la llegada de los españoles, como afirma Herrera, no solo los mejicanos, sino tambien los de Michoacan.’ Veytia, Historia Antigua de Méjico, tom. i., p. 7. ‘Los Tultecas alcanzaron y supieron la creacion del mundo, y como el Tloque Nahuaque lo crió y las demas cosas que hay en él, como son plantas, montes, animales, aves, agua y peces; asimismo supieron como crió Dios al hombre y una muger, de donde los hombres descendieron y se multiplicaron, y sobre esto añaden muchas fábulas que por escusar prolijidad no se ponen aqui.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., p. 321. ‘Dios Criador, que en lengua Indiana llamò Tlòque Nahuàque, queriendo dàr à entender, que este Solo, Poderoso, y Clementissimo Dios.’ Boturini, Idea de una Hist., p. 79.’Confessauan los Mexicanos a vn supremo Dios, Señor, y hazedor de todo, y este era el principal que venerauan, mirando al cielo, llamandole criador del cielo y tierra.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. 15, p. 85. ‘El dios que se llamaba Titlacaâon, (Tezcatlipuca), decian que era criador del cielo y de la tierra y era todo poderoso.’ Sahagun, Hist. Ant. Mex., tom. i., lib. iii., p. 241. ‘Tezcatlipoca, Questo era il maggior Dio, che in que’ paesi si adorava, dopo il Dio invisibile, o Supremo Essere, di cui abbiam ragionato…. Era il Dio della Providenza, l’anima del Mondo, il Creator del Cielo e della Terra, ed il Signor di tutte le cose.’ Clavigero, Storia Antica del Messico, tom. ii., p. 7. ‘La creacion del cielo y de la tierra aplicaban á diversos dioses, y algunos á Tezcatlipuca y á Uzilopuchtli, ó segun otros, Ocelopuchtli, y de los principales de Mexico.’ Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 81.

Chimalpopoca Manuscript

From the fragments of the Chimalpopoca manuscript given by the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg we learn that the Creator—whoever he may have been—produced his work in successive epochs. In the sign Tochtli, the earth was created; in the sign Acatl was made the firmament, and in the sign Tecpatl the animals. Man it is added, was made and animated out of ashes or dust by God on the seventh day, Ehecatl, but finished and perfected by that mysterious personage Quetzalcoatl. However this account may be reconciled with itself or with others, it further appears that man was four times made and four times destroyed.[II-14]’Lorsque le ciel et la terre s’étaient faits, quatre fois déjà l’homme avait été formé … de cendres Dieu l’avait formé et animé.’ The Codex Chimalpopoca, or Chimalpopoca MS., after Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. des Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 53. This Codex Chimalpopoca, so called by the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg, is an anonymous manuscript in the Mexican language. What we really know of this much-talked-of document is little, and will be best given in the original form. The following is the first notice I find of this manuscript, with its appurtenances, being Boturini’s description of it as possessed at one time by him. Catálogo, pp. 17-18. ‘Una historia de los Reynos de Culhuàcan, y Mexico en lengua Nàhuatl, y papel Europèo de Autor Anonymo, y tiene añadida una Breve Relacion de los Dioses, y Ritos de la Gentilidad en lengua Castellana que escribiò el Bachiller Don Pedro Ponce, Indio Cazique Beneficiado, que fuè del Partido de Tzumpauàcan. Está todo copiado de letra de Don Fernando de Alba, y le falta la primera foja.’ With regard to the term Nahuatl used in this Catalogue, see Id., p. 85: ‘Los Manuscritos en lengua Nàhuatl, que en este Catálogo se citan, se entiende ser en lengua Mexicana!’ This manuscript, or a copy of it, fell into the hands of the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg in the city of Mexico, in the year 1850, Brasseur de Bourbourg, Bibliothèque Mexico-Guatémalienne, Introduction, p. xxi., and the learned Abbé describes it as follows:—’Codex Chimalpopoca (Copie du), contenant les Epoques, dites Histoire des Soleils et l’Histoire des Royaumes de Colhuacan et de Mexico, texte Mexicain (corrigé d’après celui de M. Aubin), avec un essai de traduction française en regard. gr. in 4^o—Manuscrit de 93 ff., copié et traduit par le signataire de la bibliothèque. C’est la copie du document marqué au n^o 13, § viii., du catalogue de Boturini, sous le titre de: Historia de los Reynos de Colhuacan y Mexico, etc. Ce document, où pour la première fois j’ai soulevé le voile énigmatique qui recouvrait les symboles de la religion et de l’histoire du Mexique est le plus important de tous ceux qui nous soient restés des annales antiques mexicaines. Il renferme chronologiquement l’histoire géologique du monde, par séries de 13 ans, à commencer de plus de dix mille ans avant l’ère chrétienne, suivant les calculs mexicains.’ Id., p. 47.

This may perhaps be looked upon as proceeding from what I have called for convenience the Toltecan school, though this particular fragment shows traces of Christian influence. What follows seems however to belong to a distinctively Mexican and ruder vein of thought. It is gathered from Mendieta, who was indebted again to Fray Andres de Olmos, one of the earliest missionaries among the Mexicans of whom he treats; and it is decidedly one of the most authentic accounts of such matters extant.

Aztec Creation-Myths

The Mexicans in most of the provinces were agreed that there was a god in heaven called Citlalatonac, and a goddess called Citlalicue;[II-15]Otherwise called, according to Clavigero, the god Ometeuctli, and the goddess Omecihuatl. Ternaux-Compans says: ‘Les noms d’Ometeuctli et d’Omecihuatl ne se trouvent nulle part ailleurs dans la mythologie mexicaine; mais on pourrait les expliquer par l’étymologie. Ome signifie deux en mexicain, et tous les auteurs sont d’accord pour traduire littéralement leur nom par deux seigneurs et deux dames.’ Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1840, tom. lxxxvi., p. 7. and that this goddess had given birth to a flint knife, Tecpatl. Now she had many sons living with her in heaven, who seeing this extraordinary thing were alarmed, and flung the flint down to the earth. It fell in a place called Chicomoztoc, that is to say the Seven Caves, and there immediately sprang up from it one thousand six hundred gods. These gods being alone on the earth—though as will hereafter appear, there had been men in the world at a former period—sent up their messenger Tlotli, the Hawk, to pray their mother to empower them to create men, so that they might have servants as became their lineage. Citlalicue seemed to be a little ashamed of these sons of hers, born in so strange a manner, and she twitted them cruelly enough on what they could hardly help: Had you been what you ought to have been, she exclaimed, you would still be in my company. Nevertheless she told them what to do in the matter of obtaining their desire: Go beg of Mictlanteuctli, Lord of Hades, that he may give you a bone or some ashes of the dead that are with him; which having received you shall sacrifice over it, sprinkling blood from your own bodies. And the fallen gods having consulted together, sent one of their number, called Xolotl,[II-16]Xolotl, ‘servant or page.’—Molina, Vocabulario en lengua Castellana Mexicana. Not ‘eye’ as some scholiasts have it. down to hades as their mother had advised. He succeeded in getting a bone of six feet long from Mictlanteuctli; and then, wary of his grisly host, he took an abrupt departure, running at the top of his speed. Wroth at this, the infernal chief gave chase; not causing to Xolotl, however, any more serious inconvenience than a hasty fall in which the bone was broken in pieces. The messenger gathered up what he could in all haste, and despite his stumble made his escape. Reaching the earth, he put the fragments of bone into a basin, and all the gods drew blood from their bodies and sprinkled it into the vessel. On the fourth day there was a movement among the wetted bones and a boy lay there before all; and in four days more, the blood-letting and sprinkling being still kept up, a girl was lifted from the ghastly dish. The children were given to Xolotl to bring up; and he fed them on the juice of the maguey.[II-17]Literally, in the earliest copy of the myth that I have seen, the milk of the thistle, ‘la leche de cardo,’ which term has been repeated blindly, and apparently without any idea of its meaning, by the various writers that have followed. The old authorities, however, and especially Mendieta, from whom I take the legend, were in the habit of calling the maguey a thistle; and indeed the tremendous prickles of the Mexican plant may lay good claim to the Nemo me impune lacessit of the Scottish emblem. ‘Maguey, que es el cardon de donde sacan la miel.’ Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 110. ‘Metl es un arbol ó cardo que en lengua de las Islas se llama maguey.’ Motolinia, Hist. de los Ind., in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 243. ‘Et similmente-cogliono le foglie di questo albero, ò cardo che si tengono là, come qua le vigne, et chiamanlo magueis.’ Relatione fatta per un Gentil’huomo del Signor Cortese, in Ramusio, Viaggi, tom. iii., fol. 307. Increasing in stature, they became man and woman; and from them are the people of the present day descended, who, even as the primordial bone was broken into unequal pieces, vary in size and shape. The name of this first man was Iztacmixcuatl, and the name of his wife Ilancueitl,[II-18]Motolinia in Icazbalceta, Col., tom. i., pp. 6-10, says this first man and woman were begotten between the rain and the dust of the earth—’engendrada de la lluvia y del polvo de la tierra’—and in other ways adds to the perplexity; so that I am well inclined to agree with Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 518, when he says these cosmogonical myths display marks of local origin and of the subsequent fusion of several legends into an incongruous whole. ‘Aus dieser Menge von Verschiedenheiten in diesen Kosmogonien ist ersichtlich, dass viele Lokalmythen hier wie in Peru unabhängig von einander entstanden die man äusserlich mit einander verband, die aber in mancherlei Widersprüchen auch noch später ihre ursprüngliche Unabhängigkeit zu erkennen geben.’ and they had six sons born to them, whose descendants, with their god-masters, in process of time moved eastward from their original home, almost universally described as having been towards Jalisco.

Now there had been no sun in existence for many years; so the gods being assembled in a place called Teotihuacan, six leagues from Mexico, and gathered at the time round a great fire, told their devotees that he of them who should first cast himself into that fire, should have the honor of being transformed into a sun. So one of them called Nanahuatzin—either as most say, out of pure bravery, or as Sahagun relates, because his life had become a burden to him through a syphilitic disease—flung himself into the fire. Then the gods began to peer through the gloom in all directions for the expected light and to make bets as to what part of heaven he should first appear in. And some said Here, and some said There; but when the sun rose they were all proved wrong, for not one of them had fixed upon the east.[II-19]Here, as elsewhere in this legend we follow Andres de Olmos’ account as given by Mendieta. Sahagun, however differs from it a good deal in places. At this point for example, he mentions some notable personages who guessed right about the rising of the sun:—’Otros se pusieron á mirar ácia el oriente, y digeron aquí, de esta parte ha de salir el Sol. El dicho de estos fué verdadero. Dicen que los que miraron ácia el Oriente, fueron Quetzalcoatl, que tambien se llama Ecatl, y otro que se llama Totec, y por otro nombre Anaoatlytecu, y por otro nombre Tlatavictezcatlipuca, y otros que se llaman Minizcoa,’or as in Kingsborough’s edition, Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 186. ‘Por otro nombre Anaoatl y Tecu, y por otro nombre Tlatavictezcatlipuca, y otros que se llaman Mimizcoa, que son inumerables; y cuatro mugeres, la una se llama Tiacapan, la otra Teicu, la tercera Tlacoeoa, la cuarta Xocoyotl.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 248. And in that same hour, though they knew it not, the decree went forth that they should all die by sacrifice.

How the Sun Was Placed in the Heavens

The sun had risen indeed, and with a glory of the cruel fire about him that not even the eyes of the gods could endure; but he moved not. There he lay on the horizon; and when the deities sent Tlotli their messenger to him, with orders that he should go on upon his way, his ominous answer was, that he would never leave that place till he had destroyed and put an end to them all. Then a great fear fell upon some, while others were moved only to anger; and among the latter was one Citli, who immediately strung his bow and advanced against the glittering enemy. By quickly lowering his head the Sun avoided the first arrow shot at him; but the second and third had attained his body in quick succession, when, filled with fury, he seized the last and launched it back upon his assailant. And the brave Citli laid shaft to string nevermore, for the arrow of the sun pierced his forehead.

Then all was dismay in the assembly of the gods, and despair filled their heart, for they saw that they could not prevail against the shining one; and they agreed to die, and to cut themselves open through the breast. Xolotl was appointed minister, and he killed his companions one by one, and last of all he slew himself also.[II-20]Besides differences of authorities already noticed, I may add that Sahagun describes the personage who became the sun—as well as him who, as we shall soon see, became the moon—as belonging before his transformation to the number of the gods, and not as one of the men who served them. Further, in recounting the death of the gods, Sahagun says that to the Air, Ecatl, Quetzalcoatl, was alloted the task of killing the rest; nor does it appear that Quetzalcoatl killed himself. As to Xolotl, he plays quite a cowardly part in this version; trying to elude his death, he transformed himself into various things, and was only at last taken and killed under the form of a fish called Axolotl. So they died like gods; and each left to the sad and wondering men who were his servants, his garments for a memorial. And these servants made up, each party, a bundle of the raiment that had been left to them, binding it about a stick into which they had bedded a small green stone to serve as a heart. These bundles were called tlaquimilloli, and each bore the name of that god whose memorial it was; and these things were more reverenced than the ordinary gods of stone and wood of the country. Fray Andres de Olmos found one of these relics in Tlalmanalco, wrapped up in many cloths, and half rotten with being kept hid so long.[II-21]This kind of idol answers evidently to the mysterious ‘Envelope’ of the Quiché myth. See also note 9.

Immediately on the death of the gods the sun began his motion in the heavens; and a man called Tecuzistecatl, or Tezcociztecatl, who, when Nanahuatzin leaped into the fire, had retired into a cave, now emerged from his concealment as the moon. Others say that instead of going into a cave, this Tecuzistecatl, had leaped into the fire after Nanahuatzin, but that, the heat of the fire being somewhat abated, he had come out less brilliant than the sun. Still another variation is, that the sun and moon came out equally bright, but this not seeming good to the gods, one of them took a rabbit by the heels and slung it into the face of the moon, dimming its lustre with a blotch whose mark may be seen to this day.

After the gods had died in the way herein related, leaving their garments behind as relics, those servants went about everywhere, bearing these relics like bundles upon their shoulders, very sad and pensive and wondering if ever again they would see their departed gods. Now the name of one of these deceased deities was Tezcatlipoca, and his servant having arrived at the sea coast, was favored with an apparition of his master in three different shapes. And Tezcatlipoca spake to his servant saying: Come hither, thou that lovest me so well, that I may tell thee what thou hast to do. Go now to the House of the Sun and fetch thence singers and instruments so that thou mayest make me a festival; but first call upon the whale, and upon the siren, and upon the tortoise, and they shall make thee a bridge to the sun.

Then was all this done; and the messenger went across the sea upon his living bridge, towards the House of the Sun, singing what he had to say. And the Sun heard the song, and he straitly charged his people and servants, saying: See now that ye make no response to this chant, for whoever replies to it must be taken away by the singer. But the song was so exceeding sweet that some of them could not but answer, and they were lured away, bearing with them the drum, teponaztli, and the kettle-drum, vevetl. Such was the origin of the festivals and the dances to the gods; and the songs sung during these dances they held as prayers, singing them always with great accuracy of intonation and time.

The Tezcucan Account of the Creation

In their oral traditions, the Tezcucans agreed with the usual Mexican account of creation—the falling of the flint from heaven to earth, and so on—but what they afterward showed in a picture, and explained to Fray Andres de Olmos as the manner of the creation of mankind, was this: The event took place in the land of Aculma, on the Tezcucan boundary at a distance of two leagues from Tezcuco and of five from Mexico. It is said that the sun, being at the hour of nine, cast a dart into the earth at the place we have mentioned and made a hole; from this hole a man came out, the first man and somewhat imperfect withal, as there was no more of him than from the arm-pits up, much like the conventional European cherub, only without wings. After that the woman came up out of the hole. The rest of the story was not considered proper for printing by Mendieta; but at any rate from these two are mankind descended. The name of the first man was Aculmaitl—that is to say, aculli, shoulder, and maitl, hand or arm—and from him the town of Aculma is said to take its name.[II-22]Besides the Chimalpopoca manuscript, the earliest summaries of the Mexican creation-myths are to be found in Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 77-81; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., p. 233, tom. ii., lib. vii., pp. 246-250; Boturini, Idea de una Hist., pp. 37-43; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 31-5, tom. ii., pp. 76-8; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 8-10. And this etymology seems to make it probable that the details of this myth are derived, to some extent, from the name of the place in which it was located; or that the name of the first man belonging to an early phase of the language, has been misunderstood, and that to the false etymology the details of the myth are owing.

As already stated there had been men on the earth previous to that final and perfect creation of man from the bone supplied by Mictlanteuctli, and wetted by the gods with their own blood at the place of the Seven Caves. These men had been swept away by a succession of great destructions. With regard to the number of these destructions it is hard to speak positively, as on no single point in the wide range of early American religion, does there exist so much difference of opinion. All the way from twice to five times, following different accounts, has the world been desolated by tremendous convulsions of nature. I follow most closely the version of the Tezcucan historian Ixtlilxochitl, as being one of the earliest accounts, as, prima facie, from its origin, one of the most authentic, and as being supported by a majority of respectable historians up to the time of Humboldt.

The Ages or Suns of the Mexicans

Of the creation which ushered in the first age we know nothing; we are only told by Boturini, that giants then began to appear on the earth. This First Age; or ‘sun,’ was called the Sun of the Water, and it was ended by a tremendous flood in which every living thing perished, or was transformed, except, following some accounts, one man and one woman of the giant race, of whose escape more hereafter. The Second Age, called the Sun of the Earth, was closed with earthquakes, yawnings of the earth, and the overthrow of the highest mountains. Giants, or Quinamés, a powerful and haughty race still appear to be the only inhabitants of the world. The Third Age was the Sun of the Air. It was ended by tempests and hurricanes, so destructive that few indeed of the inhabitants of the earth were left; and those that were saved, lost, according to the Tlascaltec account, their reason and speech, becoming monkeys.

The present is the Fourth Age. To it appear to belong the falling of the goddess-born flint from heaven, the birth of the sixteen hundred heroes from that flint, the birth of mankind from the bone brought from hades, the transformation of Nanahuatzin into the sun, the transformation of Tezcatecatl into the moon, and the death of the sixteen hundred heroes or gods. It is called the Sun of Fire, and is to be ended by a universal conflagration.[II-23]Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chichimeca in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 205-6. The same author, in his Relaciones, Ib. pp. 321-2, either through his own carelessness or that of a transcriber, transposes the second and third Ages. To see that it is an oversight of some sort, we have but to pass to the summary he gives at the end of these same Relaciones, Ib., p. 459, where the account is again found in strict agreement with the version given in the text. Camargo, Hist. de Tlax. in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., tom. xcix., 1843, p. 132, giving as we may suppose the Tlascaltec version of the general Mexican myth, agrees with Ixtlilxochitl as to the whole number of Ages, following, however, the order of the error above noticed in the Relaciones. The Tlascaltec historian, moreover, affirms that only two of these Ages are past, and that the third and fourth destructions are yet to come. M. Ternaux-Compans, Nouvelles Annales des Voy., tom. lxxxvi., 1840, p. 5, adopts this Tlascaltec account as the general Mexican tradition; he is followed by Dr. Prichard, Researches, vol. v., pp. 360-1. Dr. Prichard cites Bradford as supporting the same opinion, but erroneously, as Bradford, Am. Antiq., p. 328, follows Humboldt. Boturini, Idea de una Hist., p. 3. and Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 57, agree exactly with the text. The Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg also accepts the version of three past destructions. S’il existe des Sources de l’Hist. Prim., pp. 26-7. Professor J. G. Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 510-12, admits that the version of three past destructions and one to come, as given in the text, and in the order there given, ‘seems to be the most ancient Mexican version;’ though he decides to follow Humboldt, and adopts what he calls the ‘latest and fullest form of the myth.’ The Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano [Vaticano] contradicts itself, giving first two past destructions, and farther on four, Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 163-7; as does also the Explic. del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, Ib., pp. 134-6. Kingsborough himself seems to favor the idea of three past destructions and four ages in all; see Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., p. 171, note. Gomara, Hist. Mex., fol. 297-8; Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, parte i., pp. 94-5; Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., pp. 118-129; Prescott, Conq. of Mex., vol. i., p. 61; Gallatin, in Am. Ethnol. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 325—describe four past destructions and one yet to come, or five Ages, and the Chimalpopoca MS., see note 13, seems also to favor this opinion. Lastly, Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 81, declares that the Mexicans believe in five Suns, or Ages, in times past; but these suns were of inferior quality, so that the soil produced its fruits only in a crude and imperfect state. The consequence was that in every case the inhabitants of the world died through the eating of divers things. This present and sixth Sun was good, however, and under its influence all things were produced properly. Torquemada—who has, indeed, been all along appropriating, by whole chapters, the so long inedited work of Mendieta; and that, if we believe Icazbalceta, Hist. Ecles., Noticias del Autor., pp. xxx. to xlv., under circumstances of peculiar turpitude—of course gives also five past Ages, repeating Mendieta word for word with the exception of a single ‘la.’ Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 79.

Connected with the great flood of water, there is a Mexican tradition presenting some analogies to the story of Noah and his ark. In most of the painted manuscripts supposed to relate to this event, a kind of boat is represented floating over the waste of water, and containing a man and a woman. Even the Tlascaltecs, the Zapotecs, the Miztecs, and the people of Michoacan are said to have had such pictures. The man is variously called Coxcox, Teocipactli, Tezpi, and Nata; the woman Xochiquetzal and Nena.[II-24]Professor J. G. Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 568, remarks of these two personages: ‘Rein nordisch ist der chichimekische Coxcox, der schon bei der Fluthsage genannt wurde, der Tezpi der Mechoakaner. Das ist auch ursprünglich ein Wassergott und Fischgott, darum trägt er auch den Namen Cipactli, Fisch, Teocipactli, göttlicher Fisch, Huehuetonacateocipactli, alter Fischgott von unserem Fleisch. Darum ist auch seine Gattin eine Pflanzengöttin mit Namen Xochiquetzal d. h. geflügelte Blume.’

The Tower of Babel

The following has been usually accepted as the ordinary Mexican version of this myth: In Atonatiuh, the Age of Water, a great flood covered all the face of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof were turned into fishes. Only one man and one woman escaped, saving themselves in the hollow trunk of an ahahuete or bald cypress; the name of the man being Coxcox, and that of his wife Xochiquetzal. On the waters abating a little they grounded their ark on the Peak of Colhuacan, the Ararat of Mexico. Here they increased and multiplied, and children began to gather about them, children who were all born dumb. And a dove came and gave them tongues, innumerable languages. Only fifteen of the descendants of Coxcox, who afterward became heads of families, spake the same language or could at all understand each other; and from these fifteen are descended the Toltecs, the Aztecs, and the Acolhúas. This dove is not the only bird mentioned in these deluvial traditions, and must by no means be confounded with the birds of another palpably Christianized story. For in Michoacan a tradition was preserved, following which the name of the Mexican Noah was Tezpi. With better fortune than that ascribed to Coxcox, he was able to save, in a spacious vessel, not only himself and his wife, but also his children, several animals, and a quantity of grain for the common use. When the waters began to subside, he sent out a vulture that it might go to and fro on the earth and bring him word again when the dry land began to appear. But the vulture fed upon the carcasses that were strewed in every part, and never returned. Then Tezpi sent out other birds, and among these was a humming-bird. And when the sun began to cover the earth with a new verdure, the humming-bird returned to its old refuge bearing green leaves. And Tezpi saw that his vessel was aground near the mountain of Colhuacan and he landed there.

The Mexicans round Cholula had a special legend, connecting the escape of a remnant from the great deluge with the often-mentioned story of the origin of the people of Anáhuac from Chicomoztoc, or the Seven Caves. At the time of the cataclysm, the country, according to Pedro de los Rios, was inhabited by giants. Some of these perished utterly; others were changed into fishes; while seven brothers of them found safety by closing themselves into certain caves in a mountain called Tlaloc. When the waters were assuaged, one of the giants, Xelhua, surnamed the Architect, went to Cholula and began to build an artificial mountain, as a monument and a memorial of the Tlaloc that had sheltered him and his when the angry waters swept through all the land. The bricks were made in Tlamanalco, at the foot of the Sierra de Cocotl, and passed to Cholula from hand to hand along a file of men—whence these came is not said—stretching between the two places. Then were the jealousy and the anger of the gods aroused, as the huge pyramid rose slowly up, threatening to reach the clouds and the great heaven itself; and the gods launched their fire upon the builders and slew many, so that the work was stopped.[II-25]Boturini, Idea de una Hist., pp. 113-4; Id., Catálogo, pp. 39-40; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 129-30, tom. ii., p. 6; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), tav. vii., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 164-5; Gemelli Carreri, in Churchill’s Col. Voy., vol. iv., p. 481; Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 114-15, tom. ii., pp. 175-8; Tylor’s Anahuac, pp. 276-7; Gondra, in Prescott, Conquista de Mexico, tom. iii., pp. 1-10. A careful comparison of the passages given above will show that this whole story of the escape of Coxcox and his wife in a boat from a great deluge, and of the distribution by a bird of different languages to their descendants, rests on the interpretation of certain Aztec paintings, containing supposed pictures of a flood, of Coxcox and his wife, of a canoe or rude vessel of some kind, of the mountain Culhuacan, which was the Mexican Ararat, and of a bird distributing languages to a number of men. Not one of the earliest writers on Mexican mythology, none of those personally familiar with the natives and with their oral traditions as existing at the time of, or immediately after the conquest, seems to have known this legend; Olmos, Sahagun, Motolinia, Mendieta, Ixtlilxochitl, and Camargo, are all of them silent with regard to it. These facts must give rise to grave suspicions with regard to the accuracy of the commonly accepted version, notwithstanding its apparently implicit reception up to this time by the most critical historians. These suspicions will not be lessened by the result of the researches of Don José Fernando Ramirez, Conservator of the Mexican National Museum, a gentleman not less remarkable for his familiarity with the language and antiquities of Mexico than for the moderation and calmness of his critical judgments, as far as these are known. In a communication dated April, 1858, to Garcia y Cubas, Atlas Geográfico, Estadístico e Histórico de la Republica Mejicana, entrega 29, speaking of the celebrated Mexican picture there for the first time, as he claims, accurately given to the public—Sigüenza’s copy of it, as given by Gemelli Carreri, that given by Clavigero in his Storia del Messico, that given by Humboldt in his Atlas Pittoresque, and that given by Kingsborough being all incorrect—Señor Ramirez says:—’The authority of writers so competent as Sigüenza and Clavigero imposed silence on the incredulous, and after the illustrious Baron von Humboldt added his irresistible authority, adopting that interpretation, nobody doubted that “the traditions of the Hebrews were found among the people of America;” that, as the wise Baron thought, “their Coxcox, Teocipactli, or Tezpi is the Noah, Xisutrus, or Menou of the Asiatic families;” and that “the Cerro of Culhuacan is the Ararat of the Mexicans.” Grand and magnificent thought, but unfortunately only a delusion. The blue square No. 1, with its bands or obscure lines of the same color, cannot represent the terrestrial globe covered with the waters of the flood, because we should have to suppose a repetition of the same deluge in the figure No. 40, where it is reproduced with some of its principal accidents. Neither, for the same reason, do the human heads and the heads of birds which appear to float there, denote the submerging of men and animals, for it would be necessary to give the same explanation to those seen in group No. 39. It might be argued that the group to the left (of No. 1), made up of a human head placed under the head of a bird, represented phonetically the name Coxcox, and denoted the Aztec Noah; but the group on the right, formed of a woman’s head with other symbolic figures above it, evidently does not express the name Xochiquetzal, which is said to have been that of his wife…. Let us now pass on to the dove giving tongues to the primitive men who were born mute. The commas which seem to come from the beak of the bird there represented, form one of the most complex and varied symbols, in respect to their phonetic force, which are found in our hieroglyphic writing. In connection with animated beings they designate generically the emission of the voice…. In the group before us they denote purely and simply that the bird was singing or speaking—to whom?—to the group of persons before it, who by the direction of their faces and bodies show clearly and distinctly the attention with which they listened. Consequently the designer of the before-mentioned drawing for Clavigero, pre-occupied with the idea of signifying by it the pretended confusion of tongues, changed with his pencil the historic truth, giving to these figures opposite directions. Examining attentively the inexactitudes and errors of the graver and the pencil in all historical engravings relating to Mexico, it is seen that they are no less numerous and serious than those of the pen. The interpretations given to the ancient Mexican paintings by ardent imaginations led away by love of novelty or by the spirit of system, justify to a certain point the distrust and disfavor with which the last and most distinguished historian of the Conquest of Mexico (W. H. Prescott) has treated this interesting and precious class of historical documents.’ Señor Ramirez goes on thus at some length to his conclusions, which reduce the original painting to a simple record of a wandering of the Mexicans among the lakes of the Mexican valley—that journey beginning at a place ‘not more than nine miles from the gutters of Mexico,’—a record having absolutely no connection either with the mythical deluge, already described as one of the four destructions of the world, or with any other. The bird speaking in the picture, he connects with a well-known Mexican fable given by Torquemada, in which a bird is described as speaking from a tree to the leaders of the Mexicans at a certain stage of their migration, and repeating the work Tihui, that is to say, ‘Let us go.’ A little bird called the Tihuitochan, with a cry that the vulgar still interpret in a somewhat similar sense, is well known in Mexico, and is perhaps at the bottom of the tradition. It may be added that Torquemada gives a painted manuscript, possibly that under discussion, as his authority for the story. The boat, the mountain, and the other adjuncts of the picture are explained in a like simple way, as the hieroglyphics, for the most part, of various proper names. Our space here will not permit further details—though another volume will contain this picture and a further discussion of the subject—but I may remark in concluding that the moderation with which Señor Ramirez discusses the question, as well as his great experience and learning in matters of Mexican antiquity, seem to claim for his views the serious consideration of future students. But the half-finished structure, afterwards dedicated by the Cholultecs to Quetzalcoatl, still remains to show how well Xelhua, the giant, deserved his surname of the Architect.

The Mexican Deluge

Yet another record remains to us of a traditional Mexican deluge, in the following extract from the Chimalpopoca Manuscript. Its words seem to have a familiar sound; but it would hardly be scientific to draw from such a fragment any very sweeping conclusion as to its relationship, whether that be Quiché or Christian:—

When the Sun, or Age, Nahui-Atl came, there had passed already four hundred years; then came two hundred years, then seventy and six, and then mankind were lost and drowned and turned into fishes. The waters and the sky drew near each other; in a single day all was lost; the day Four Flower consumed all that there was of our flesh. And this year was the year Ce-Calli; on the first day, Nahui-Atl, all was lost. The very mountains were swallowed up in the flood and the waters remained, lying tranquil during fifty and two spring-times. But before the flood began, Titlacahuan had warned the man Nata and his wife Nena, saying: Make now no more pulque, but hollow out to yourselves a great cypress, into which you shall enter when, in the month Tozoztli, the waters shall near the sky. Then they entered into it, and when Titlacahuan had shut them in, he said to the man: Thou shalt eat but a single ear of maize, and thy wife but one also. And when they had finished eating, each an ear of maize, they prepared to set forth, for the waters remained tranquil and their log moved no longer; and opening it they began to see the fishes. Then they lit a fire, rubbing pieces of wood together, and they roasted fish. And behold the deities Citlallinicué and Citlallatonac looking down from above, cried out: O divine Lord! what is this fire that they make there? wherefore do they so fill the heaven with smoke? And immediately Titlacahuan Tetzcatlipoca came down, and set himself to grumble, saying: What does this fire here? Then he seized the fishes and fashioned them behind and before, and changed them into dogs.[II-26]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. des Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 425-7.

We turn now to the traditions of some nations situated on the outskirts of the Mexican Empire, traditions differing from those of Mexico, if not in their elements, at least in the combination of those elements. Following our usual custom, I give the following legend belonging to the Miztecs just as they themselves were accustomed to depict and to interpret it in their primitive scrolls:—[II-27]Fr. Gregorio Garcia, Origen de los Ind., pp. 327-9, took this narrative from a book he found in a convent in Cuilapa, a little Indian town about a league and a half south of Oajaca. The book had been compiled by the vicar of that convent, and—’escrito con sus Figuras, como los Indios de aquel Reino Mixteco las tenian en sus Libros, ò Pergaminos arrollados, con la declaracion de lo que significaban las Figuras, en que contaban su Origen, la Creacion del Mundo, i Diluvio General.’

The Flying Heroes of Mizteca

In the year and in the day of obscurity and darkness, yea even before the days or the years were, when the world was in a great darkness and chaos, when the earth was covered with water and there was nothing but mud and slime on all the face of the earth—behold a god became visible, and his name was the Deer, and his surname was the Lion-Snake. There appeared also a very beautiful goddess called the Deer, and surnamed the Tiger-Snake.[II-28]’Que aparecieron visiblemente un Dios, que tuvo por Nombre un Ciervo, i por sobrenombre Culebra de Leon; i una Diosa mui linda, i hermosa, que su Nombre fue un Ciervo, i por sobrenombre Culebra de Tigre,’ Garcia, Id., pp. 327-9. These two gods were the origin and beginning of all the gods.

Now when these two gods became visible in the world, they made, in their knowledge and omnipotence, a great rock, upon which they built a very sumptuous palace, a masterpiece of skill, in which they made their abode upon earth. On the highest part of this building there was an axe of copper, the edge being uppermost, and on this axe the heavens rested.

This rock and the palace of the gods were on a mountain in the neighborhood of the town of Apoala in the province of Mizteca Alta. The rock was called The Place of Heaven; there the gods first abode on earth, living many years in great rest and content, as in a happy and delicious land, though the world still lay in obscurity and darkness.

The father and mother of all the gods being here in their place, two sons were born to them, very handsome and very learned in all wisdom and arts. The first was called the Wind of Nine Snakes, after the name of the day on which he was born; and the second was called, in like manner, the Wind of Nine Caves. Very daintily indeed were these youths brought up. When the elder wished to amuse himself, he took the form of an eagle, flying thus far and wide; the younger turned himself into a small beast of a serpent shape, having wings that he used with such agility and sleight that he became invisible, and flew through rocks and walls even as through the air. As they went, the din and clamor of these brethren was heard by those over whom they passed. They took these figures to manifest the power that was in them, both in transforming themselves and in resuming again their original shape. And they abode in great peace in the mansion of their parents, so they agreed to make a sacrifice and an offering to these gods, to their father and to their mother. Then they took each a censer of clay, and put fire therein, and poured in ground beleño for incense; and this offering was the first that had ever been made in the world. Next the brothers made to themselves a garden, in which they put many trees, and fruit-trees, and flowers, and roses, and odorous herbs of different kinds. Joined to this garden they laid out a very beautiful meadow, which they fitted up with all things necessary for offering sacrifice to the gods. In this manner the two brethren left their parents’ house, and fixed themselves in this garden to dress it and to keep it, watering the trees and the plants and the odorous herbs, multiplying them, and burning incense of powder of beleño in censers of clay to the gods, their father and mother. They made also vows to these gods, and promises, praying that it might seem good to them to shape the firmament and lighten the darkness of the world, and to establish the foundation of the earth, or rather to gather the waters together so that the earth might appear—as they had no place to rest in save only one little garden. And to make their prayers more obligatory upon the gods, they pierced their ears and tongues with flakes of flint, sprinkling the blood that dropped from the wounds over the trees and plants of the garden with a willow branch, as a sacred and blessed thing. After this sort they employed themselves, postponing pleasure till the time of the granting of their desire, remaining always in subjection to the gods, their father and mother, and attributing to them more power and divinity than they really possessed.

Fray Garcia here makes a break in the relation—that he may not weary his readers with so many absurdities—but it would appear that the firmament was arranged and the earth made fit for mankind, who about that time must also have made their appearance. For there came a great deluge afterwards, wherein perished many of the sons and daughters that had been born to the gods; and it is said that when the deluge was passed the human race was restored as at the first, and the Miztec kingdom populated, and the heavens and the earth established.

This we may suppose to have been the traditional origin of the common people; but the governing family of Mizteca proclaimed themselves the descendants of two youths born from two majestic trees that stood at the entrance of the gorge of Apoala, and that maintained themselves there despite a violent wind continually rising from a cavern in the vicinity.

The Duel with the Sun

Whether the trees of themselves produced these youths, or whether some primeval Æsir, as in the Scandinavian story, gave them shape and blood and breath and sense, we know not. We are only told that soon or late the youths separated, each going his own way to conquer lands for himself. The braver of the two coming to the vicinity of Tilantongo, armed with buckler and bow, was much vexed and oppressed by the ardent rays of the sun, which he took to be the lord of that district striving to prevent his entrance therein. Then the young warrior strung his bow, and advanced his buckler before him, and drew shafts from his quiver. He shot there against the great light even till the going down of the same; then he took possession of all that land, seeing he had grievously wounded the sun, and forced him to hide behind the mountains. Upon this story is founded the lordship of all the caciques of Mizteca, and upon their descent from this mighty archer their ancestor. Even to this day, the chiefs of the Miztecs blazon as their arms a plumed chief with bow, arrows, and shield, and the sun in front of him setting behind gray clouds.[II-29]Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. i., fol. 128, 176.

Of the origin of the Zapotecs, a people bordering on these Miztecs, Burgoa says, with a touching simplicity, that he could find no account worthy of belief. Their historical paintings he ascribes to the invention of the devil, affirming hotly that these people were blinder in such vanities than the Egyptians and the Chaldeans. Some, he said, to boast of their valor made themselves out the sons of lions and divers wild beasts; others, grand lords of ancient lineage, were produced by the greatest and most shady trees; while still others of an unyielding and obstinate nature, were descended from rocks. Their language, continues the worthy Provincial, striking suddenly and by an undirected shot the very center of mythological interpretation—their language was full of metaphors; those who wished to persuade spake always in parables, and in like manner painted their historians.[II-30]Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., fol. 196-7.

In Guatemala, according to the relations given to Father Gerónimo Roman by the natives, it was believed there was a time when nothing existed but a certain divine Father called Xchmel, and a divine Mother called Xtmana. To these were born three sons,[II-31]One of the Las Casas MSS. gives, according to Helps, ‘trece hijos’ instead of ‘tres hijos;’ the latter, however, being the correct reading, as the list of names in the same manuscript shows, and as Father Roman gives it. See note 33. the eldest of whom, filled with pride and presumption, set about a creation contrary to the will of his parents. But he could create nothing save old vessels fit for mean uses, such as earthen pots, jugs, and things still more despicable; and he was hurled into hades. Then the two younger brethren, called respectively Hunchevan and Hunavan, prayed their parents for permission to attempt the work in which their brother had failed so signally. And they were granted leave, being told at the same time, that inasmuch as they had humbled themselves, they would succeed in their undertaking. Then they made the heavens, and the earth with the plants thereon, and fire and air, and out of the earth itself they made a man and a woman—presumably the parents of the human race.

According to Torquemada, there was a deluge some time after this, and after the deluge the people continued to invoke as god the great Father and the great Mother already mentioned. But at last a principal woman[II-32]This tradition, says the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. des Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 74-5, has indubitably reference to a queen whose memory has become attached to very many places in Guatemala, and Central America generally. She was called Atit, Grandmother; and from her the volcano of Atitlan, received the name Atital-huyu, by which it is still known to the aborigines. This Atit lived during four centuries, and from her are descended all the royal and princely families of Guatemala. among them, having received a revelation from heaven, taught them the true name of God, and how that name should be adored; all this, however, they afterward forgot.[II-33]Roman, República de los Indios Occidentales, part 1, lib. 2, cap. 15, after Garcia, Origen de los Ind., pp. 329-30; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. 235, after Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. ii., p. 140; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 53-4; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. des Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 74-5.

In Nicaragua, a country where the principal language was a Mexican dialect, it was believed that ages ago the world was destroyed by a flood in which the most part of mankind perished. Afterward the teotes, or gods, restocked the earth as at the beginning. Whence came the teotes, no one knows; but the names of two of them who took a principal part in the creation were Tamagostat and Cipattonal.[II-34]The first of these two names is erroneously spelt ‘Famagoztad’ by M. Ternaux-Compans, Mr. Squier, and the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg, the two latter perhaps led astray by the error of M. Ternaux-Compans, an error which first appeared in that gentleman’s translation of Oviedo. Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 40. Peter Martyr, dec. vi., cap. 4.

The Coyote of the Papagos

Leaving now the Central American region we pass north into the Papago country, lying south of the Gila, with the river Santa Cruz on the east and the Gulf of California on the west. Here we meet for the first time the coyote, or prairie wolf; we find him much more than an animal, something more even than a man, only a little lower than the gods. In the following Papago myth[II-35]This tradition was ‘gathered principally from the relations of Con Quien, the intelligent chief of the central Papagos.’ Davidson, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1865, pp. 131-3. he figures as a prophet, and as a minister and assistant to a certain great hero-god Montezuma, whom we are destined to meet often, and in many characters, as a central figure in the myths of the Gila valley:—

Legend of Montezuma

The Great Spirit made the earth and all living things, before he made man. And he descended from heaven, and digging in the earth, found clay such as the potters use, which, having again ascended into the sky, he dropped into the hole that he had dug. Immediately there came out Montezuma and, with the assistance of Montezuma, the rest of the Indian tribes in order. Last of all came the Apaches, wild from their natal hour, running away as fast as they were created. Those first days of the world were happy and peaceful days. The sun was nearer the earth than he is now; his grateful rays made all the seasons equal, and rendered garments unnecessary. Men and beasts talked together, a common language made all brethren. But an awful destruction ended this happy age. A great flood destroyed all flesh wherein was the breath of life; Montezuma and his friend the Coyote alone escaping. For before the flood began, the Coyote prophesied its coming, and Montezuma took the warning and hollowed out a boat to himself, keeping it ready on the topmost summit of Santa Rosa. The Coyote also prepared an ark; gnawing down a great cane by the river bank, entering it, and stopping up the end with a certain gum. So when the waters rose these two saved themselves, and met again at last on dry land after the flood had passed away. Naturally enough Montezuma was now anxious to know how much dry land had been left, and he sent the Coyote off on four successive journeys, to find exactly where the sea lay toward each of the four winds. From the west and from the south, the answer swiftly came: The sea is at hand. A longer search was that made towards the east, but at last there too was the sea found. On the north only was no water found, though the faithful messenger almost wearied himself out with searching. In the meantime the Great Spirit, aided by Montezuma, had again repeopled the world, and animals and men began to increase and multiply. To Montezuma had been allotted the care and government of the new race; but puffed up with pride and self importance, he neglected the most important duties of his onerous position, and suffered the most disgraceful wickedness to pass unnoticed among the people. In vain the Great Spirit came down to earth and remonstrated with his vicegerent, who only scorned his laws and advice, and ended at last by breaking out into open rebellion. Then indeed the Great Spirit was filled with anger, and he returned to heaven, pushing back the sun on his way, to that remote part of the sky he now occupies. But Montezuma hardened his heart, and collecting all the tribes to aid him, set about building a house that should reach up to heaven itself. Already it had attained a great height, and contained many apartments lined with gold, silver, and precious stones, the whole threatening soon to make good the boast of its architect, when the Great Spirit launched his thunder, and laid its glory in ruins. Still Montezuma hardened himself; proud and inflexible, he answered the thunderer out of the haughty defiance of his heart; he ordered the temple-houses to be desecrated, and the holy images to be dragged in the dust, he made them a scoff and byword for the very children in the village streets. Then the Great Spirit prepared his supreme punishment. He sent an insect flying away towards the east, towards an unknown land, to bring the Spaniards. When these came, they made war upon Montezuma and destroyed him, and utterly dissipated the idea of his divinity.[II-36]The legendary Montezuma, whom we shall meet so often in the mythology of the Gila valley, must not be confounded with the two Mexican monarchs of the same title. The name itself would seem, in the absence of proof to the contrary, to have been carried into Arizona and New Mexico by the Spaniards or their Mexican attendants, and to have become gradually associated in the minds of some of the New Mexican and neighboring tribes, with a vague, mythical, and departed grandeur. The name Montezuma became thus, to use Mr. Tylor’s words, that of the great ‘Somebody’ of the tribe. This being once the case, all the lesser heroes would be gradually absorbed in the greater, and their names forgotten. Their deeds would become his deeds, their fame his fame. There is evidence enough that this is a general tendency of tradition, even in historical times. The pages of Mr. Cox’s scholarly and comprehensive work, The Mythology of the Aryan Nations, teem with examples of it. In Persia, deeds of every kind and date are referred to Antar. In Russia, buildings of every age are declared to be the work of Peter the Great. All over Europe, in Germany, France, Spain, Switzerland, England, Scotland, Ireland, the exploits of the oldest mythological heroes figuring in the Sagas, Eddas, and Nibelungen Lied have been ascribed in the folk-lore and ballads of the people to Barbarossa, Charlemagne, Boabdil, Charles V., William Tell, Arthur, Robin Hood, Wallace, and St. Patrick. The connection of the name of Montezuma with ancient buildings and legendary adventures in the mythology of the Gila valley seems to be simply another example of the same kind.

Deluge of the Pimas

The Pimas,[II-37]I am indebted for these particulars of the belief of the Pimas to the kindness of Mr. J. H. Stout of the Pima agency, who procured me a personal interview with five chiefs of that nation, and their very intelligent and obliging interpreter, Mr. Walker, at San Francisco, in October, 1873. a neighboring and closely allied people to the Papagos, say that the earth was made by a certain Chiowotmahke, that is to say Earth-prophet. It appeared in the beginning like a spider’s web, stretching far and fragile across the nothingness that was. Then the Earth-prophet flew over all lands in the form of a butterfly, till he came to the place he judged fit for his purpose, and there he made man. And the thing was after this wise: The Creator took clay in his hands, and mixing it with the sweat of his own body, kneaded the whole into a lump. Then he blew upon the lump till it was filled with life and began to move; and it became man and woman. This Creator had a son called Szeukha, who, when the world was beginning to be tolerably peopled, lived in the Gila valley, where lived also at the same time a great prophet, whose name has been forgotten. Upon a certain night when the prophet slept, he was wakened by a noise at the door of his house, and when he looked, a great Eagle stood before him. And the Eagle spake: Arise, thou that healest the sick, thou that shouldest know what is to come, for behold a deluge is at hand. But the prophet laughed the bird to scorn and gathered his robes about him and slept. Afterwards the Eagle came again and warned him of the waters near at hand; but he gave no ear to the bird at all. Perhaps he would not listen because this Eagle had an exceedingly bad reputation among men, being reported to take at times the form of an old woman that lured away girls and children to a certain cliff so that they were never seen again; of this, however, more anon. A third time, the Eagle came to warn the prophet, and to say that all the valley of the Gila should be laid waste with water; but the prophet gave no heed. Then, in the twinkling of an eye, and even as the flapping of the Eagle’s wings died away into the night, there came a peal of thunder and an awful crash; and a green mound of water reared itself over the plain. It seemed to stand upright for a second, then, cut incessantly by the lightning, goaded on like a great beast, it flung itself upon the prophet’s hut. When the morning broke there was nothing to be seen alive but one man—if indeed he were a man; Szeukha, the son of the Creator, had saved himself by floating on a ball of gum or resin. On the waters falling a little, he landed near the mouth of the Salt River, upon a mountain where there is a cave that can still be seen, together with the tools and utensils Szeukha used while he lived there. Szeukha was very angry with the Great Eagle, who he probably thought had had more to do with bringing on the flood than appears in the narrative. At any rate the general reputation of the bird was sufficiently bad, and Szeukha prepared a kind of rope ladder from a very tough species of tree, much like woodbine, with the aid of which he climbed up to the cliff where the Eagle lived, and slew him.[II-38]For the killing of this Great Eagle Szeukha had to do a kind of penance, which was never to scratch himself with his nails, but always with a small stick. This custom is still observed by all Pimas; and a bit of wood, renewed every fourth day, is carried for this purpose stuck in their long hair. Looking about here, he found the mutilated and decaying bodies of a great multitude of those that the Eagle had stolen and taken for a prey; and he raised them all to life again and sent them away to repeople the earth. In the house or den of the Eagle, he found a woman that the monster had taken to wife, and a child. These he sent also upon their way, and from these are descended that great people called Hohocam, ‘ancients or grandfathers,’ who were led in all their wanderings by an eagle, and who eventually passed into Mexico.[II-39]With the reader, as with myself, this clause will probably call up something more than a mere suspicion of Spanish influence tinging the incidents of the legend. The Pimas themselves, however, asserted that this tradition existed among them long before the arrival of the Spaniards and was not modified thereby. One fact that seems to speak for the comparative purity of their traditions is that the name of Montezuma is nowhere to be found in them, although Cremony, Apaches, p. 102, states the contrary. One of these Hohocam named Sivano, built the Casa Grande on the Gila, and indeed the ruins of this structure are called after his name to this day. On the death of Sivano, his son led a branch of the Hohocam to Salt River, where he built certain edifices and dug a large canal, or acequia. At last it came about that a woman ruled over the Hohocam. Her throne was cut out of a blue stone, and a mysterious bird was her constant attendant. These Hohocam were at war with a people that lived to the east of them, on the Rio Verde, and one day the bird warned her that the enemy was at hand. The warning was disregarded or it came too late, for the eastern people came down in three bands; destroyed the cities of the Hohocam, and killed or drove away all the inhabitants.

Most of the Pueblo tribes call themselves the descendants of Montezuma;[II-40]Gregg’s Commerce of the Prairies, vol. i., p. 268. the Moquis, however, have a quite different story of their origin. They believe in a great Father living where the sun rises; and in a great Mother, whose home is where the sun goes down. The Father is the father of evil, war, pestilence, and famine; but from the Mother are all joys, peace, plenty, and health. In the beginning of time the Mother produced from her western home nine races of men in the following primary forms: First, the Deer race; second, the Sand race; third, the Water race; fourth, the Bear race; fifth, the Hare race; sixth, the Prairie-wolf race; seventh, the Rattle-snake race; eighth, the Tobacco-plant race; and ninth, the Reed-grass race. All these the Mother placed respectively on the spots where their villages now stand, and transformed them into the men who built the present Pueblos. These race-distinctions are still sharply kept up; for they are believed to be realities, not only of the past and present, but also of the future; every man when he dies shall be resolved into his primeval form; shall wave in the grass, or drift in the sand, or prowl on the prairie as in the beginning.[II-41]Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 85-6.

Cave-Origin of the Navajos

The Navajos, living north of the Pueblos, say that at one time all the nations, Navajos, Pueblos, Coyoteros, and white people, lived together, underground in the heart of a mountain near the river San Juan. Their only food was meat, which they had in abundance, for all kinds of game were closed up with them in their cave; but their light was dim and only endured for a few hours each day. There were happily two dumb men among the Navajos, flute-players who enlivened the darkness with music. One of these striking by chance on the roof of the limbo with his flute, brought out a hollow sound, upon which the elders of the tribes determined to bore in the direction whence the sound came. The flute was then set up against the roof, and the Raccoon sent up the tube to dig a way out; but he could not. Then the Moth-worm mounted into the breach, and bored and bored till he found himself suddenly on the outside of the mountain and surrounded by water. Under these novel circumstances, he heaped up a little mound and set himself down on it to observe and ponder the situation. A critical situation enough! for, from the four corners of the universe, four great white Swans bore down upon him, every one with two arrows, one under either wing. The Swan from the north reached him first, and having pierced him with two arrows, drew them out and examined their points, exclaiming as the result: He is of my race. So also, in succession, did all the others. Then they went away; and towards the directions in which they departed, to the north, south, east, and west, were found four great arroyos, by which all the water flowed off, leaving only mud. The worm now returned to the cave, and the Raccoon went up into the mud, sinking in it mid-leg deep, as the marks on his fur show to this day. And the wind began to rise, sweeping up the four great arroyos, and the mud was dried away. Then the men and the animals began to come up from their cave, and their coming up required several days. First came the Navajos, and no sooner had they reached the surface then they commenced gaming at patole, their favorite game. Then came the Pueblos and other Indians who crop their hair and build houses. Lastly came the white people, who started off at once for the rising sun and were lost sight of for many winters.

While these nations lived underground they all spake one tongue; but with the light of day and the level of earth, came many languages. The earth was at this time very small and the light was quite as scanty as it had been down below; for there was as yet no heaven, nor sun, nor moon, nor stars. So another council of the ancients was held and a committee of their number appointed to manufacture these luminaries. A large house or workshop was erected; and when the sun and moon were ready, they were entrusted to the direction and guidance of the two dumb fluters already mentioned. The one who got charge of the sun came very near, through his clumsiness in his new office, to making a Phaethon of himself and setting fire to the earth. The old men, however, either more lenient than Zeus or lacking his thunder, contented themselves with forcing the offender back by puffing the smoke of their pipes into his face. Since then the increasing size of the earth has four times rendered it necessary that he should be put back, and his course farther removed from the world and from the subterranean cave to which he nightly retires with the great light. At night also the other dumb man issues from this cave, bearing the moon under his arm, and lighting up such part of the world as he can. Next the old men set to work to make the heavens, intending to broider in the stars in beautiful patterns, of bears, birds, and such things. But just as they had made a beginning a prairie-wolf rushed in, and crying out: Why all this trouble and embroidery? scattered the pile of stars over all the floor of heaven, just as they still lie.

When now the world and its firmament had been finished, the old men prepared two earthen tinages or water-jars, and having decorated one with bright colors, filled it with trifles; while the other was left plain on the outside, but filled within with flocks and herds and riches of all kinds. These jars being covered and presented to the Navajos and Pueblos, the former chose the gaudy but paltry jar; while the Pueblos received the plain and rich vessel; each nation showing in its choice traits which characterize it to this day. Next there arose among the Navajos a great gambler, who went on winning the goods and the persons of his opponents till he had won the whole tribe. Upon this, one of the old men became indignant, set the gambler on his bowstring and shot him off into space—an unfortunate proceeding, for the fellow returned in a short time with firearms and the Spaniards. Let me conclude by telling how the Navajos came by the seed they now cultivate: All the wise men being one day assembled, a turkey-hen came flying from the direction of the morning star, and shook from her feathers an ear of blue corn into the midst of the company; and in subsequent visits brought all the other seeds they possess.[II-42]Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 89-90; and Eaton, Ib., pp. 218-9. The latter account differs a little from that given in the text, and makes the following addition: After the Navajos came up from the cave, there came a time when, by the ferocity of giants and rapacious animals, their numbers were reduced to three—an old man, an old woman, and a young woman. The stock was replenished by the latter bearing a child to the sun.

Origin-Myths of Southern California

Of some tribes, we do not know that they possess any other ideas of their origin than the name of their first ancestor, or the name of a creator or a tradition of his existence.

The Sinaloas, from Culiacan north to the Yaqui River, have dances in honor of a certain Viriseva, the mother of the first man. This first man, who was her son, and called Vairubi, they hold in like esteem.[II-43]Ribas, Hist., pp. 18, 40. The Cochimis, of Lower California, amid an apparent multiplicity of gods, say there is in reality only one, who created heaven, earth, plants, animals, and man.[II-44]Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., p. 139. The Pericues, also of Lower California, call the creator Niparaya, and say that the heavens are his dwelling-place. A sect of the same tribe add that the stars are made of metal, and are the work of a certain Purutabui; while the moon has been made by one Cucunumic.[II-45]Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., pp. 135-7.

The nations of Los Angeles County, California, believe that their one god, Quaoar, came down from heaven; and, after reducing chaos to order, put the world on the back of seven giants. He then created the lower animals, and lastly a man and a woman. These were made separately out of earth and called, the man Tobohar, and the woman Pabavit.[II-46]Hugo Reid, in Los Angeles Star.

Hugo Reid, to whom we are mainly indebted for the mythology of Southern California, and who is an excellent authority, inasmuch as his wife was an Indian woman of that country, besides the preceding gives us another and different tradition on the same subject: Two great Beings made the world, filled it with grass and trees, and gave form, life, and motion to the various animals that people land and sea. When this work was done, the elder Creator went up to heaven and left his brother alone on the earth. The solitary god left below, made to himself men-children, that he should not be utterly companionless. Fortunately also, about this time, the moon came to that neighborhood; she was very fair in her delicate beauty, very kind-hearted, and she filled the place of a mother to the men-children that the god had created. She watched over them, and guarded them from all evil things of the night, standing at the door of their lodge. The children grew up very happily, laying great store by the love with which their guardians regarded them; but there came a day when their heart saddened, in which they began to notice that neither their god-creator nor their moon foster-mother gave them any longer undivided affection and care, but that instead, the two great ones seemed to waste much precious love upon each other. The tall god began to steal out of their lodge at dusk, and spend the night watches in the company of the white-haired moon, who, on the other hand, did not seem on these occasions to pay such absorbing attention to her sentinel duty as at other times. The children grew sad at this, and bitter at the heart with a boyish jealousy. But worse was yet to come: one night they were awakened by a querulous wailing in their lodge, and the earliest dawn showed them a strange thing, which they afterwards came to know was a new-born infant, lying in the doorway. The god and the moon had eloped together; their Great One had returned to his place beyond the ether, and that he might not be separated from his paramour, he had appointed her at the same time a lodge in the great firmament; where she may yet be seen, with her gauzy robe and shining silver hair, treading celestial paths. The child left on the earth was a girl. She grew up very soft, very bright, very beautiful, like her mother; but like her mother also, O so fickle and frail! She was the first of woman-kind, from her are all other women descended, and from the moon; and as the moon changes so they all change, say the philosophers of Los Angeles.[II-47]Hugo Reid, Ib.

Central-Californian Creation-Myths

A much more prosaic and materialistic origin is that accorded to the moon in the traditions of the Gallinomeros of Central California.[II-48]Russian River Valley, Sonoma County. In the beginning, they say, there was no light, but a thick darkness covered all the earth. Man stumbled blindly against man and against the animals, the birds clashed together in the air, and confusion reigned everywhere. The Hawk happening by chance to fly into the face of the Coyote, there followed mutual apologies and afterwards a long discussion on the emergency of the situation. Determined to make some effort toward abating the public evil, the two set about a remedy. The Coyote gathered a great heap of tules, rolled them into a ball, and gave it to the Hawk, together with some pieces of flint. Gathering all together as well as he could, the Hawk flew straight up into the sky, where he struck fire with theflints, lit his ball of reeds, and left it there, whirling along all in a fierce red glow as it continues to the present; for it is the sun. In the same way the moon was made, but as the tules of which it was constructed were rather damp, its light has been always somewhat uncertain and feeble.[II-49]Powers’ Pomo, MS.

In northern California, we find the Mattoles,[II-50]Humboldt County. who connect a tradition of a destructive flood with Taylor Peak, a mountain in their locality, on which they say their forefathers took refuge. As to the creation, they teach that a certain Big Man began by making the naked earth, silent and bleak, with nothing of plant or animal thereon, save one Indian, who roamed about in a wofully hungry and desolate state. Suddenly there rose a terrible whirlwind, the air grew dark and thick with dust and drifting sand, and the Indian fell upon his face in sore dread. Then there came a great calm, and the man rose and looked, and lo, all the earth was perfect and peopled; the grass and the trees were green on every plain and hill; the beasts of the fields, the fowls of the air, the creeping things, the things that swim, moved everywhere in his sight. There is a limit set to the number of the animals, which is this: only a certain number of animal spirits are in existence; when one beast dies, his spirit immediately takes up its abode in another body, so that the whole number of animals is always the same, and the original spirits move in an endless circle of earthy immortality.[II-51]Powers’ Pomo, MS.

The Coyote of the Californians

We pass now to a train of myths in which the Coyote again appears, figuring in many important and somewhat mystical rôles—figuring in fact as the great Somebody of many tribes. To him, though involuntarily as it appears, are owing the fish to be found in Clear Lake. The story runs that one summer long ago there was a terrible drought in that region, followed by a plague of grasshoppers. The Coyote ate a great quantity of these grasshoppers, and drank up the whole lake to quench his thirst. After this he lay down to sleep off the effects of his extraordinary repast, and while he slept a man came up from the south country and thrust him through with a spear. Then all the water he had drunk flowed back through his wound into the lake, and with the water the grasshoppers he had eaten; and these insects became fishes, the same that still swim in Clear Lake.[II-52]Powers’ Pomo, MS.

The Californians in most cases describe themselves as originating from the Coyote, and more remotely, from the very soil they tread. In the language of Mr. Powers—whose extended personal investigations give him the right to speak with authority—”All the aboriginal inhabitants of California, without exception, believe that their first ancestors were created directly from the earth of their respective present dwelling-places, and, in very many cases, that these ancestors were coyotes.”[II-53]Powers’ Pomo, MS.

The Potoyantes give an ingenious account of the transformation of the first coyotes into men: There was an age in which no men existed, nothing but coyotes. When one of these animals died, his body used to breed a multitude of little animals, much as the carcass of the huge Ymir, rotting in Ginnunga-gap, bred the maggots that turned to dwarfs. The little animals of our story were in reality spirits, which, after crawling about for a time on the dead coyote, and taking all kinds of shapes, ended by spreading wings and floating off to the moon. This evidently would not do; the earth was in danger of becoming depopulated; so the old coyotes took counsel together if perchance they might devise a remedy. The result was a general order that, for the time to come, all bodies should be incinerated immediately after death. Thus originated the custom of burning the dead, a custom still kept up among these people. We next learn—what indeed might have been expected of animals of such wisdom and parts—that these primeval coyotes began by degrees to assume the shape of men. At first, it is true, with many imperfections; but, a toe, an ear, a hand, bit by bit, they were gradually builded up into the perfect form of man looking upward. For one thing they still grieve, however, of all their lost estate—their tails are gone. An acquired habit of sitting upright, has utterly erased and destroyed that beautiful member. Lost is indeed lost, and gone is gone for ever, yet still when in dance and festival, the Potoyante throws off the weary burden of hard and utilitarian care, he attaches to himself, as nearly as may be in the ancient place, an artificial tail, and forgets for a happy hour the degeneracy of the present in simulating the glory of the past.[II-54]Johnston, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 224-5.

The Californians tell again of a great flood, or at least of a time when the whole country, with the exception of Mount Diablo and Reed Peak, was covered with water. There was a Coyote on the peak, the only living thing the wide world over, and there was a single feather tossing about on the rippled water. The Coyote was looking at the feather, and even as he looked, flesh and bones and other feathers, came and joined themselves to the first, and became an Eagle. There was a stir on the water, a rush of broad pinions, and before the widening circles reached the island-hill, the bird stood beside the astonished Coyote. The two came soon to be acquainted and to be good friends, and they made occasional excursions together to the other hill, the Eagle flying leisurely overhead while the Coyote swam. After a time they began to feel lonely, so they created men; and as the men multiplied the waters abated, till the dry land came to be much as it is at present.

How the Golden Gate Was Opened

Now, also, the Sacramento River and the San Joaquin began to find their way into the Pacific, through the mountains which, up to this time, had stretched across the mouth of San Francisco Bay. No Poseidon clove the hills with his trident, as when the pleasant vale of Tempe was formed, but a strong earthquake tore the rock apart and opened the Golden Gate between the waters within and those without. Before this there had existed only two outlets for the drainage of the whole country; one was the Russian River, and the other the San Juan.[II-55]H. B. D. in Hesperian Mag., vol. iii., 1859, p. 326.

The natives in the vicinity of Lake Tahoe, ascribe its origin to a great natural convulsion. There was a time, they say, when their tribe possessed the whole earth, and were strong, numerous, and rich; but a day came in which a people rose up stronger than they, and defeated and enslaved them. Afterwards the Great Spirit sent an immense wave across the continent from the sea, and this wave engulfed both the oppressors and the oppressed, all but a very small remnant. Then the taskmasters made the remaining people raise up a great temple, so that they, of the ruling caste, should have a refuge in case of another flood, and on the top of this temple the masters worshiped a column of perpetual fire.

Half a moon had not elapsed, however, before the earth was again troubled, this time with strong convulsions and thunderings, upon which the masters took refuge in their great tower, closing the people out. The poor slaves fled to the Humboldt River, and getting into canoes paddled for life from the awful sight behind them. For the land was tossing like a troubled sea, and casting up fire, smoke, and ashes. The flames went up to the very heaven and melted many stars, so that they rained down in molten metal upon the earth, forming the ore that the white men seek. The Sierra was mounded up from the bosom of the earth; while the place where the great fort stood sank, leaving only the dome on the top exposed above the waters of Lake Tahoe. The inmates of the temple-tower clung to this dome to save themselves from drowning; but the Great Spirit walked upon the waters in his wrath, and took the oppressors one by one like pebbles, and threw them far into the recesses of a great cavern, on the east side of the lake, called to this day the Spirit Lodge, where the waters shut them in. There must they remain till a last great volcanic burning, which is to overturn the whole earth, shall again set them free. In the depths of their cavern-prison they may still be heard, wailing and moaning, when the snows melt and the waters swell in the lake.[II-56]Wadsworth, in Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. ii., 1858, pp. 356-8.

We again meet the Coyote among the Cahrocs of Klamath River in Northern California. These Cahrocs believe in a certain Chareya, Old Man Above, who made the world, sitting the while upon a certain stool now in the possession of the high-priest, or chief medicine-man. After the creation of the earth, Chareya first made fishes, then the lower animals, and lastly man, upon whom was conferred the power of assigning to each animal its respective duties and position. The man determined to give each a bow, the length of which should denote the rank of the receiver. So he called all the animals together, and told them that next day, early in the morning, the distribution of bows would take place. Now the Coyote greatly desired the longest bow; and, in order to be in first at the division, he determined to remain awake all night. His anxiety sustained him for some time; but just before morning he gave way, and fell into a sound sleep. The consequence was, he was last at the rendezvous, and got the shortest bow of all. The man took pity on his distress, however, and brought the matter to the notice of Chareya, who, on considering the circumstances, decreed that the Coyote should become the most cunning of animals, as he remains to this time. The Coyote was very grateful to the man for his intercession, and he became his friend and the friend of his children, and did many things to aid mankind as we shall see hereafter.[II-57]Powers’ Pomo, MS.

Mount Shasta the Wigwam of the Great Spirit

The natives in the neighborhood of Mount Shasta, in Northern California, say that the Great Spirit made this mountain first of all. Boring a hole in the sky, using a large stone as an auger, he pushed down snow and ice until they had reached the desired height; then he stepped from cloud to cloud down to the great icy pile, and from it to the earth, where he planted the first trees by merely putting his finger into the soil here and there. The sun began to melt the snow; the snow produced water; the water ran down the sides of the mountains, refreshed the trees, and made rivers. The Creator gathered the leaves that fell from the trees, blew upon them, and they became birds. He took a stick and broke it into pieces; of the small end he made fishes; and of the middle of the stick he made animals—the grizzly bear excepted, which he formed from the big end of his stick, appointing him to be master over all the others. Indeed this animal was then so large, strong, and cunning, that the Creator somewhat feared him, and hollowed out Mount Shasta as a wigwam for himself, where he might reside while on earth, in the most perfect security and comfort. So the smoke was soon to be seen curling up from the mountain, where the Great Spirit and his family lived, and still live, though their hearth-fire is alight no longer, now that the white man is in the land. This was thousands of snows ago, and there came after this a late and severe spring-time, in which a memorable storm blew up from the sea, shaking the huge lodge to its base. The Great Spirit commanded his daughter, little more than an infant, to go up and bid the wind to be still, cautioning her at the same time in his fatherly way, not to put her head out into the blast, but only to thrust out her little red arm and make a sign before she delivered her message. The eager child hastened up to the hole in the roof, did as she was told, and then turned to descend; but the Eve was too strong in her to leave without a look at the forbidden world outside and the rivers and the trees, at the far ocean and the great waves that the storm had made as hoary as the forests when the snow is on the firs. She stopped, she put out her head to look; instantly the storm took her by the long hair, and blew her down to the earth, down the mountain side, over the smooth ice and soft snow, down to the land of the grizzly bears.

Now the grizzly bears were somewhat different then from what they are at present. In appearance they were much the same it is true; but they walked then on their hind legs like men, and talked, and carried clubs, using the fore-limbs as men use their arms.

The Grizzly Family of Mount Shasta

There was a family of these grizzlies living at the foot of the mountain, at the place where the child was blown to. The father was returning from the hunt with his club on his shoulder and a young elk in his hand, when he saw the little shivering waif lying on the snow with her hair all tangled about her. The old Grizzly, pitying and wondering at the strange forlorn creature, lifted it up, and carried it in to his wife to see what should be done. She too was pitiful, and she fed it from her own breast, bringing it up quietly as one of her family. So the girl grew up, and the eldest son of the old Grizzly married her, and their offspring was neither grizzly nor Great Spirit, but man. Very proud indeed were the whole grizzly nation of the new race, and uniting their strength from all parts of the country, they built the young mother and her family a mountain wigwam near that of the Great Spirit; and this structure of theirs is now known as Little Mount Shasta. Many years passed away, and at last the old grandmother Grizzly became very feeble and felt that she must soon die. She knew that the girl she had adopted was the daughter of the Great Spirit, and her conscience troubled her that she had never let him know anything of the fate of his child. So she called all the grizzlies together to the new lodge, and sent her eldest grandson up on a cloud to the summit of Mount Shasta, to tell the father that his daughter yet lived. When the Great Spirit heard that, he was so glad that he immediately ran down the mountain, on the south side, toward where he had been told his daughter was; and such was the swiftness of his pace that the snow was melted here and there along his course, as it remains to this day. The grizzlies had prepared him an honorable reception, and as he approached his daughter’s home, he found them standing in thousands in two files, on either side of the door, with their clubs under their arms. He had never pictured his daughter as aught but the little child he had loved so long ago; but when he found that she was a mother, and that he had been betrayed into the creation of a new race, his anger overcame him; he scowled so terribly on the poor old grandmother Grizzly that she died upon the spot. At this all the bears set up a fearful howl, but the exasperated father, taking his lost darling on his shoulder, turned to the armed host, and in his fury cursed them. Peace! he said. Be silent for ever! Let no articulate word ever again pass your lips, neither stand any more upright; but use your hands as feet, and look downward until I come again! Then he drove them all out; he drove out also the new race of men, shut to the door of Little Mount Shasta, and passed away to his mountain, carrying his daughter; and her or him no eye has since seen. The grizzlies never spoke again, nor stood up; save indeed when fighting for their life, when the Great Spirit still permits them to stand as in the old time, and to use their fists like men. No Indian tracing his descent from the spirit mother and the grizzly, as here described, will kill a grizzly bear; and if by an evil chance a grizzly kill a man in any place, that spot becomes memorable, and every one that passes casts a stone there till a great pile is thrown up.[II-58]Joaquin Miller’s Life Amongst the Modocs, pp. 235-236, 242-6.

Let us now pass on, and going east and north, enter the Shoshone country. In Idaho there are certain famous Soda Springs whose origin the Snakes refer to the close of their happiest age. Long ago, the legend runs, when the cotton-woods on the Big River were no larger than arrows, all red men were at peace, the hatchet was everywhere buried, and hunter met hunter in the game-lands of the one or the other, with all hospitality and good-will. During this state of things, two chiefs, one of the Shoshone, the other of the Comanche nation, met one day at a certain spring. The Shoshone had been successful in the chase, and the Comanche very unlucky, which put the latter in rather an ill humor. So he got up a dispute with the other as to the importance of their respective and related tribes, and ended by making an unprovoked and treacherous attack on the Shoshone, striking him into the water from behind, when he had stooped to drink. The murdered man fell forward into the water, and immediately a strange commotion was observable there; great bubbles and spirts of gas shot up from the bottom of the pool, and amid a cloud of vapor there arose also an old white-haired Indian, armed with a ponderous club of elk-horn. Well the assassin knew who stood before him; the totem on the breast was that of Wankanaga, the father both of the Shoshone and of the Comanche nations, an ancient famous for his brave deeds, and celebrated in the hieroglyphic pictures of both peoples. Accursed of two nations! cried the old man, this day hast thou put death between the two greatest peoples under the sun; see, the blood of this Shoshone cries out to the Great Spirit for vengeance. And he dashed out the brains of the Comanche with his club, and the murderer fell there beside his victim into the spring. After that the spring became foul and bitter, nor even to this day can any one drink of its nauseous water. Then Wankanaga, seeing that it had been defiled, took his club and smote a neighboring rock, and the rock burst forth into clear bubbling water, so fresh and so grateful to the palate that no other water can even be compared to it.[II-59]Ruxton’s Adven. in Mex., pp. 244-6.

The Giants of the Palouse River

Passing into Washington, we find an account of the origin of the falls of Palouse River and of certain native tribes. There lived here at one time a family of giants, four brothers and a sister. The sister wanted some beaver-fat and she begged her brothers to get it for her—no easy task, as there was only one beaver in the country, and he an animal of extraordinary size and activity. However, like four gallant fellows, the giants set out to find the monster, soon catching sight of him near the mouth of the Palouse, then a peaceful gliding river with an even though winding channel. They at once gave chase, heading him up the river. A little distance up-stream they succeeded in striking him for the first time with their spears, but he shook himself clear, making in his struggle the first rapids of the Palouse, and dashed on up-stream. Again the brothers overtook him, pinning him to the river-bed with their weapons, and again the vigorous beast writhed away, making thus the second falls of the Palouse. Another chase, and, in a third and fatal attack, the four spear-shafts are struck again through the broad wounded back. There is a last stubborn struggle at the spot since marked by the great falls called Aputaput, a tearing of earth and a lashing of water in the fierce death-flurry, and the huge Beaver is dead. The brothers having secured the skin and fat, cut up the body and threw the pieces in various directions. From these pieces have originated the various tribes of the country, as the Cayuses, the Nez Percés, the Walla Wallas, and so on. The Cayuses sprang from the beaver’s heart, and for this reason they are more energetic, daring, and successful than their neighbors.[II-60]Wilkes’ Nar. in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 496.

In Oregon the Chinooks and neighboring people tell of a pre-human demon race, called Ulháipa by the Chinooks, and Sehuiáb by the Clallams and Lummis. The Chinooks say that the human race was created by Italapas, the Coyote. The first men were sent into the world in a very lumpish and imperfect state, their mouth and eyes were closed, their hands and feet immovable. Then a kind and powerful spirit called Ikánam, took a sharp stone, opened the eyes of these poor creatures, and gave motion to their hands and feet. He taught them how to make canoes as well as all other implements and utensils; and he threw great rocks into the rivers and made falls, to obstruct the salmon in their ascent, so that they might be easily caught.[II-61]Franchère’s Nar., p. 258; Cox’s Adven., vol. i., p. 317; Gibbs’ Chinook Vocab., pp. 11-13; Id., Clallam and Lummi Vocab., pp. 15-29; Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 139.

Farther north among the Ahts of Vancouver Island, perhaps the commonest notion of origin is that men at first existed as birds, animals, and fishes. We are told of a certain Quawteaht, represented somewhat contradictorily, as the first Aht that ever lived, thickset and hairy-limbed, and as the chief Aht deity, a purely supernatural being, if not the creator, at least the maker and shaper of most things, the maker of the land and the water, and of the animals that inhabit the one or the other. In each of these animals as at first created, there resided the embryo or essence of a man. One day a canoe came down the coast, paddled by two personages in the, at that time, unknown form of men. The animals were frightened out of their wits, and fled, each from his house, in such haste that he left behind him the human essence that he usually carried in his body. These embryos rapidly developed into men; they multiplied, made use of the huts deserted by the animals, and became in every way as the Ahts are now. There exists another account of the origin of the Ahts, which would make them the direct descendants of Quawteaht and an immense bird that he married—the great Thunder Bird, Tootooch, with which, under a different name and in a different sex, we shall become more familiar presently. The flapping of Tootooch’s wings shook the hills with thunder, tootah; and when she put out her forked tongue, the lightning quivered across the sky.

The Ahts have various legends of the way in which fire was first obtained, which legends may be reduced to the following: Quawteaht withheld fire, for some reason or other, from the creatures that he had brought into the world, with one exception; it was always to be found burning in the home of the cuttle-fish, telhoop. The other beasts attempted to steal this fire, but only the deer succeeded; he hid a little of it in the joint of his hind leg, and escaping, introduced the element to general use.

Not all animals, it would appear, were produced in the general creation; the loon and the crow had a special origin, being metamorphosed men. Two fishermen, being out at sea in their canoes, fell to quarreling, the one ridiculing the other for his small success in fishing. Finally the unsuccessful man became so infuriated by the taunts of his companion that he knocked him on the head, and stole his fish, cutting out his tongue before he paddled off, lest by any chance the unfortunate should recover his senses and gain the shore. The precaution was well taken, for the mutilated man reached the land and tried to denounce his late companion. No sound however could he utter but something resembling the cry of a loon, upon which the Great Spirit, Quawteaht, became so indiscriminatingly angry at the whole affair that he changed the poor mute into a loon, and his assailant into a crow. So when the mournful voice of the loon is heard from the silent lake or river, it is still the poor fisherman that we hear, trying to make himself understood and to tell the hard story of his wrongs.[II-62]Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 176-85, 203-14.

Nootka and Salish Creation-Myths

The general drift of many of the foregoing myths would go to indicate a wide-spread belief in the theory of an evolution of man from animals.[II-63]To the examples already given of this we may add the case of the Haidahs of Queen Charlotte Island, of whom Mr. Poole, Q. Char. Isl., p. 136, says: ‘Their descent from the crows is quite gravely affirmed and steadfastly maintained.’ Traditions are not wanting, however, whose teaching is precisely the reverse. The Salish, the Nisquallies, and the Yakimas of Washington, all hold that beasts, fishes, and even edible roots are descended from human originals. One account of this inverse Darwinian development is this: The son of the Sun—whoever he may have been—caused certain individuals to swim through a lake of magic oil, a liquid of such Circean potency that the unfortunates immersed were transformed as above related. The peculiarities of organism of the various animals, are the results of incidents of their passage; the bear dived, and is therefore fat all over; the goose swam high, and is consequently fat only up to the water-line; and so on through all the list.[II-64]Anderson, in Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 240.

Moving north to the Tacullies of British Columbia, we find the Musk-rat an active agent in the work of creation. The flat earth, following the Tacully cosmogony, was at first wholly covered with water. On the water a Musk-rat swam to and fro, seeking food. Finding none there, he dived to the bottom and brought up a mouthful of mud, but only to spit it out again when he came to the surface. All this he did again and again till quite an island was formed and by degrees the whole earth. In some unexplained way this earth became afterwards peopled in every part, and so remained, until a fierce fire of several days’ duration swept over it, destroying all life, with two exceptions; one man and one woman hid themselves in a deep cave in the heart of a mountain, and from these two has the world been since repeopled.[II-65]Harmon’s Jour., pp. 302-3.

Yehl, The Creator of the Thlinkeets

From the Tacully country we pass north and west to the coast inhabited by the Thlinkeets, among whom the myth of a great Bird, or of a great hero-deity, whose favorite disguise is the shape of a bird, assumes the most elaborate proportions and importance. Here the name of this great Somebody is Yehl, the Crow or Raven, creator of most things, and especially of the Thlinkeets. Very dark, damp, and chaotic was the world in the beginning; nothing with breath or body moved there except Yehl; in the likeness of a raven he brooded over the mist, his black wings beat down the vast confusion, the waters went back before him and the dry land appeared. The Thlinkeets were placed on the earth—though how or when does not exactly appear—while the world was still in darkness, and without sun or moon or stars. A certain Thlinkeet, we are further informed, had a wife and a sister. Of the wife he was devouringly jealous, and when employed in the woods at his trade of building canoes, he had her constantly watched by eight red birds of the kind called kun. To make assurance surer, he even used to coop her up in a kind of box every time he left home. All this while his sister, a widow it would appear, was bringing up certain sons she had, fine tall fellows, rapidly approaching manhood. The jealous uncle could not endure the thought of their being in the neighborhood of his wife. So he inveigled them one by one, time after time, out to sea with him on pretense of fishing, and drowned them there. The poor mother was left desolate, she went to the sea-shore to weep for her children. A dolphin—some say a whale—saw her there, and pitied her; the beast told her to swallow a small pebble and drink some sea-water. She did so, and in eight months was delivered of a child. That child was Yehl, who thus took upon himself a human shape, and grew up a mighty hunter and notable archer. One day a large bird appeared to him, having a long tail like a magpie, and a long glittering bill as of metal; the name of the bird was Kutzghatushl, that is, Crane that can soar to heaven. Yehl shot the bird, skinned it, and whenever he wished to fly used to clothe himself in its skin.

Now Yehl had grown to manhood, and he determined to avenge himself upon his uncle for the death of his brothers; so he opened the box in which the well-guarded wife was shut up. Instantly the eight faithful birds flew off and told the husband, who set out for his home in a murderous mood. Most cunning, however, in his patience, he greeted Yehl with composure, and invited him into his canoe for a short trip to sea. Having paddled out some way, he flung himself on the young man and forced him overboard: Then he put his canoe about and made leisurely for the land, rid as he thought of another enemy. But Yehl swam in quietly another way, and stood up in his uncle’s house. The baffled murderer was beside himself with fury, he imprecated with a potent curse a deluge upon all the earth, well content to perish himself so he involved his rival in the common destruction, for jealousy is cruel as the grave. The flood came, the waters rose and rose; but Yehl clothed himself in his bird-skin, and soared up to heaven, where he struck his beak into a cloud, and remained till the waters were assuaged.

Adventures of Yehl and Khanukh

After this affair Yehl had many other adventures, so many that “one man cannot know them all,” as the Thlinkeets say. One of the most useful things he did was to supply light to mankind—with whom, as appears, the earth had been again peopled after the deluge. Now all the light in the world was stored away in three boxes, among the riches of a certain mysterious old Chief, who guarded his treasure closely. Yehl set his wits to work to secure the boxes; he determined to be born into the chief’s family. The old fellow had one daughter upon whom he doted, and Yehl transforming himself into a blade of grass, got into the girl’s drinking-cup and was swallowed by her. In due time she gave birth to a son, who was Yehl, thus a second time born of a woman into the world. Very proud was the old chief of his grandson, loving him even as he loved his daughter, so that Yehl came to be a decidedly spoiled child. He fell a crying one day, working himself almost into a fit; he kicked and scratched and howled, and turned the family hut into a little pandemonium as only an infant plague can. He screamed for one of the three boxes; he would have a box; nothing but a box should ever appease him! The indulgent grandfather gave him one of the boxes; he clutched it, stopped crying, and crawled off into the yard to play. Playing, he contrived to wrench the lid off, and lo! the beautiful heaven was thick with stars, and the box empty. The old man wept for the loss of his stars, but he did not scold his grandson, he loved him too blindly for that. Yehl had succeeded in getting the stars into the firmament, and he proceeded to repeat his successful trick, to do the like by the moon and sun. As may be imagined, the difficulty was much increased; still he gained his end. He first let the moon out into the sky, and some time afterward, getting possession of the box that held the sun, he changed himself into a raven and flew away with his greatest prize of all. When he set up the blazing light in heaven, the people that saw it were at first afraid. Many hid themselves in the mountains, and in the forests, and even in the water, and were changed into the various kinds of animals that frequent these places.

There are still other feats of Yehl’s replete with the happiest consequences to mankind. There was a time, for instance, when all the fire in the world was hid away in an island of the ocean. Thither flew the indefatigable deity, fetching back a brand in his mouth. The distance, however, was so great that most of the wood was burned away and a part of his beak, before he reached the Thlinkeet shore. Arrived there, he dropped the embers at once, and the sparks flew about in all directions among various sticks and stones; therefore it is that by striking these stones, and by friction on this wood, fire is always to be obtained.

Light they now had, and fire; but one thing was still wanting to men; they had no fresh water. A personage called Khanukh[II-66]This Khanukh was the progenitor of the Wolf family of the Thlinkeets even as Yehl was that of the Raven family. The influence of this wolf-deity seems to have been generally malign, but except in connection with this water-legend, he is little mentioned in the Thlinkeet myths. kept all the fresh water in his well, in an island to the east of Sitka, and over the mouth of the well, for its better custody, he had built his hut. Yehl set out to the island in his boat, to secure the water, and on his way he met Khanukh himself, paddling along in another boat. Khanukh spoke first: How long hast thou been living in the world? Proudly Yehl answered: Before the world stood in its place, I was there. Yehl in his turn questioned Khanukh: But how long hast thou lived in the world? To which Khanukh replied: Ever since the time that the liver came out from below.[II-67]’Seit der Zeit, entgegnete Khanukh, als von unten die Leber herauskam.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 61. What is meant by the term ‘die Leber,’ literally the particular gland of the body called in English ‘the liver,’ I cannot say; neither Holmberg or any one else, as far as my knowledge goes, attempting any explanation. Then said Yehl: Thou art older than I. Upon this Khanukh, to show that his power was as great as his age, took off his hat, and there rose a dense fog, so that the one could no longer see the other. Yehl then became afraid, and cried out to Khanukh; but Khanukh answered nothing. At last when Yehl found himself completely helpless in the darkness, he began to weep and howl; upon which the old sorcerer put on his hat again, and the fog vanished. Khanukh then invited Yehl to his house, and entertained him handsomely with many luxuries, among which was fresh water. The meal over, host and guest sat down, and the latter began a long relation of his many exploits and adventures. Khanukh listened as attentively as he could, but the story was really so interminable that he at last fell asleep across the cover of his well. This frustrated Yehl’s intention of stealing the water while its owner slept, so he resorted to another stratagem: he put some filth under the sleeper, then waking him up, made him believe he had bewrayed himself. Khanukh, whose own nose abhorred him, at once hurried off to the sea to wash, and his deceiver as quickly set about securing the precious water. Just as All-father Odin, the Raven-god, stole Suttung’s mead, drinking it up and escaping in the form of a bird, so Yehl drank what fresh water he could, filling himself to the very beak, then took the form of a raven and attempted to fly off through the chimney of the hut. He stuck in the flue however, and Khanukh returning at that instant recognized his guest in the struggling bird. The old man comprehended the situation, and quietly piling up a roaring fire, he sat down comfortably to watch the choking and scorching of his crafty guest. The raven had always been a white bird, but so thoroughly was he smoked in the chimney on this occasion that he has ever since remained the sootiest of fowls. At last Khanukh watching the fire, became drowsy and fell asleep; so Yehl escaped from the island with the water. He flew back to the continent, where he scattered it in every direction; and wherever small drops fell there are now springs and creeks, while the large drops have produced lakes and rivers. This is the end of the exploits of Yehl; having thus done everything necessary to the happiness of mankind, he returned to his habitation, which is in the east, and into which no other spirit, nor any man can possibly enter.

The existing difference in language between the Thlinkeets and other people is one of the consequences of a great flood—perhaps that flood already described as having been brought on through the jealousy of the canoe-builder. Many persons escaped drowning by taking refuge in a great floating building. When the waters fell, this vessel grounded upon a rock, and was broken into two pieces; in the one fragment were left those whose descendants speak the Thlinkeet language, in the other remained all whose descendants employ a different idiom.

Chethl and Ahgishanakhou

Connected with the history of this deluge is another myth in which a great Bird figures. When the waters rose a certain mysterious brother and sister found it necessary to part. The name of the brother was Chethl, that is, Thunder or Lightning, and the name of the sister was Ahgishanakhou, which means the Underground Woman. As they separated Chethl said to her: Sister, you shall never see me again, but while I live you shall hear my voice. Then he clothed himself in the skin of a great bird, and flew towards the south-west. His sister climbed to the top of Mount Edgecomb, which is near Sitka, and it opened and swallowed her up, leaving a great hole, or crater. The world itself is an immense flat plate supported on a pillar, and under the world, in silence and darkness, this Under-ground Woman guards the great pillar from evil and malignant powers. She has never seen her brother since she left the upper world, and she shall never see him again; but still, when the tempest sweeps down on Edgecomb, the lightning of his eyes gleams down her crater-window, and the thundering of his wings re-echoes through all her subterranean halls.[II-68]Barrett-Lennard’s Trav., pp. 54-7; Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., pp. 14, 52-63; Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., pp. 93-100; Dall’s Alaska, pp. 421-22; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 452-5; Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., p. 405; Mayne’s B. C., p. 272.

The Koniagas, north of the Thlinkeets, have their legendary Bird and Dog—the latter taking the place occupied in the mythology of many other tribes by the wolf or coyote. Up in heaven, according to the Koniagas, there exists a great deity called Shljam Schoa. He created two personages and sent them down to the earth, and the Raven accompanied them carrying light. This original pair made sea, rivers, mountains, forests, and such things. Among other places they made the Island of Kadiak, and so stocked it that the present Koniagas assert themselves the descendants of a Dog.[II-69]Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 116; Lisiansky’s Voy., pp. 197-8; Dall’s Alaska, p. 405; Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 140.

The Aleuts of the Aleutian Archipelago seem to disagree upon their origin. Some say that in the beginning a Bitch inhabited Unalaska, and that a great Dog swam across to her from Kadiak; from which pair the human race have sprung. Others, naming the bitch-mother of their race Mahakh, describe a certain Old Man, called Iraghdadakh, who came from the north to visit this Mahakh. The result of this visit was the birth of two creatures, male and female, with such an extraordinary mixing up of the elements of nature in them that they were each half man, half fox. The name of the male creature was Acagnikakh, and by the other creature he became father of the human race. The Old Man however seems hardly to have needed any help to people the world, for like the great patriarch of Thessaly, he was able to create men by merely casting stones on the earth. He flung also other stones into the air, into the water, and over the land, thus making beasts, birds, and fishes. In another version of the narrative, the first father of the Aleuts is said to have fallen from heaven in the shape of a dog.[II-70]Choris, Voy. Pitt., pt. vii., p. 7; Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 165.

The Dog-Origin of the Hyperboreans

In the legends of the Tinneh, living inland, north-east of the Koniagas, the familiar Bird and Dog again appear. These legends tell us that the world existed at first as a great ocean frequented only by an immense Bird, the beating of whose wings was thunder, and its glance lightning. This great flying monster descended and touched the waters, upon which the earth rose up and appeared above them; it touched the earth, and therefrom came every living creature—except the Tinneh, who owe their origin to a Dog. Therefore it is that to this day a dog’s flesh is an abomination to the Tinneh, as are also all who eat such flesh. A few years before Captain Franklin’s visit they almost ruined themselves by following the advice of some fanatic reformer. Convinced by him of the wickedness of exacting labor from their near relations, the dogs, they got rid at once of the sin and of all temptation to its recommission, by killing every cur in their possession.

To return to the origin of the Tinneh, the wonderful Bird before mentioned made and presented to them a peculiar arrow, which they were to preserve for all time with great care. But they would not; they misappropriated the sacred shaft to some common use, and immediately the great Bird flew away never to return. With its departure ended the Golden Age of the Tinneh—an age in which men lived till their throats were worn through with eating, and their feet with walking.[II-71]Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 102, et seq.; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 173; Mackenzie’s Voy., p. cxviii.; Franklin’s Nar., vol. i., pp. 249-50.

Belonging to the Northern-Indian branch of the Tinneh we find a narrative in which the Dog holds a prominent place, but in which we find no mention at all of the Bird: The earth existed at first in a chaotic state, with only one human inhabitant, a woman who dwelt in a cave and lived on berries. While gathering these one day, she encountered an animal like a dog, which followed her home. This Dog possessed the power of transforming himself into a handsome young man, and in this shape he became the father by the woman of the first men. In course of time a giant of such height that his head reached the clouds, arrived on the scene and fitted the earth for its inhabitants. He reduced the chaos to order; he established the land in its boundaries, he marked out with his staff the position or course of the lakes, ponds, and rivers. Next he slew the Dog and tore him to pieces, as the four giants did the Beaver of the Palouse River, or as the creating Æsir did Aurgelmir. Unlike the four brothers, however, and unlike the sons of Bör, this giant of the Tinneh used the fragments not to create men or things, but animals. The entrails of the dog he threw into the water, and every piece became a fish; the flesh he scattered over the land, and every scrap became an animal; the bits of skin he sowed upon the wind, and they became birds. All these spread over the earth, and increased and multiplied; and the giant gave the woman and her progeny power to kill and eat of them according to their necessities. After this he returned to his place, and he has not since been heard of.[II-72]Hearne’s Journey, pp. 342-3.

Leaving now this division of our subject, more particularly concerned with cosmogony, it may not be amiss to forestall possible criticism as to the disconnected manner in which the various myths are given. I have but to repeat that the mythology with which we have to deal is only known in fragments, and to submit that a broken statue, or even a broken shard, of genuine or presumably genuine antiquity, is more valuable to science and even to poetry, than the most skillful ideal restoration.

Interpretation of Myths

Further, the absence of any attempt to form a connected whole out of the myths that come under our notice cannot but obviate that tendency to alter in outline and to color in detail which is so insensibly natural to any mythographer prepossessed with the spirit of a system. In advancing lastly the opinion that the disconnected arrangement is not only better adapted toward preserving the original myths in their integrity, but is also better for the student, I may be allowed to close the chapter with the second of the Rules for the Interpretation of Mythes given by so distinguished an authority as Mr. Keightley: “In like manner the mythes themselves should be considered separately, and detached from the system in which they are placed; for the single mythes existed long before the system, and were the product of other minds than those which afterwards set them in connection, not unfrequently without fully understanding them.”[II-73]Keightley’s Myth. of Ancient Greece and Italy, p. 14.

Footnotes

[II-1] In Vienna in 1857, the book now best known as the Popol Vuh was first brought to the notice of European scholars, under the following title: Las Historias del Origen de los Indios de esta Provincia de Guatemala, traducidas de la Lengua Quiché al Castellano para mas Comodidad de los Ministros del S. Evangelio, por el R. P. F. Francisco Ximenez, cura doctrinero por el real patronato del Pueblo de S. Thomas Chuila.—Exactamente segun el texto español del manuscrito original que se halla en la biblioteca de la Universidad de Guatemala, publicado por la primera vez, y aumentado con una introduccion y anotaciones por el Dr C. Scherzer. What Dr Scherzer says in a paper read before the Vienna Academy of Sciences, Feb. 20th, 1856; and repeats in his introduction, about its author, amounts to this: In the early part of the 18th century Francisco Ximenez, a Dominican Father of great repute for his learning and his love of truth, filled the office of curate in the little Indian town of Chichicastenango in the highlands of Guatemala. Neither the time of his birth nor that of his death can be exactly ascertained, but the internal evidence of one of his works shows that he was engaged upon it in 1721. He left many manuscripts, but it is supposed that the unpalatable truths some of them contain with regard to the ill-treatment of the Indians by the colonial authorities sufficed, as previously in the case of Las Casas, to ensure their partial destruction and total suppression. What remains of them lay long hid in an obscure corner of the Convent of the Dominicans in Guatemala, and passed afterwards, on the suppression of all the religious orders, into the library of the University of San Carlos (Guatemala). Here Dr Scherzer discovered them in June 1854, and carefully copied, and afterwards published as above the particular treatise with which we are now concerned. This, according to Father Ximenez himself, and according to its internal evidence, is a translation of a literal copy of an original book, written by one or more Quichés, in the Quiché language, in Roman letters, after the Christians had occupied Guatemala, and after the real original Popol Vuh—National Book—had been lost or destroyed—literally, was no more to be seen—and written to replace that lost book. ‘Quise trasladar todas las historias á la letra de estos indios, y tambien traducirla en la lengua castellana.’ ‘Esto escribiremos ya en la ley de Dios en la cristiandad los sacaremos, porque ya no hay libro comun, original donde verlo, Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 1, 4, 5. ‘Voilà ce que nous écrirons depuis (qu’on a promulgué) la parole de Dieu, et en dedans du Christianisme; nous le reproduirons, parce qu’on ne voit plus ce Livre national,’ ‘Vae x-chi-ka tzibah chupan chic u chabal Dios, pa Christianoil chic; x-chi-k’-elezah, rumal ma-habi chic ilbal re Popol-Vuh,’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. 5. The evidence that the author was Quiché will be found in the numerous passages scattered through the narrative in which he speaks of the Quiché nation, and of the ancestors of that nation as ‘our people,’ ‘our ancestors,’ and so on. We pass now to what the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg has to say about the book. He says that Ximenes ‘discovered this document, in the last years of the 17th century.’ In 1855, at Guatemala, the abbé first saw Ximenez’ manuscript containing this work. The manuscript contained the Quiché text and the Spanish curate’s translation of that text. Brasseur de Bourbourg copied both at that time, but he was dissatisfied with the translation, believing it to be full of faults owing to the prejudices and the ignorance of the age in which it was made, as well as disfigured by abridgments and omissions. So in 1860 he settled himself among the Quichés and by the help of natives joined to his own practical knowledge of their language, he elaborated a new and literal translation, (aussi littérale qu’il a été possible de la faire). We seem justified then on the whole in taking this document for what Ximenez and its own evidence declare it to be, namely, a reproduction of an older work or body of Quiché traditional history, written because that older work had been lost and was likely to be forgotten, and written by a Quiché not long after the Spanish conquest. One consequence of the last fact would seem to be that a tinge of biblical expression has, consciously or unconsciously to the Quiché who wrote, influenced the form of the narrative. But these coincidences may be wholly accidental, the more as there are also striking resemblances to expressions in the Scandinavian Edda and in the Hindoo Veda. And even if they be not accidental, ‘much remains,’ adopting the language and the conclusion of Professor Max Müller, ‘in these American traditions which is so different from anything else in the national literatures of other countries, that we may safely treat it as the genuine growth of the intellectual soil of America.’ Chips from a German Workshop, vol. i., p. 328. For the foregoing, as well as further information on the subject see:—Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, pp. 5-31, 195-231; S’il existe des Sources de l’Hist. Prim., pp. 83-7; Hist. des Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 47-61; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 5-15; Scherzer, in Sitzungsberichte der Akademie der Wissenschaften Wien, 20th Feb., 1856; Helps’ Spanish Conquest, vol. iv., pp. 455-6. Professor Müller in his essay on the Popol Vuh, has in one or two places misunderstood the narrative. There was no such creation of man as that he gives as the second, while his third creation is the second of the original. Again, he makes the four Quiché ancestors to be the progenitors of all tribes both white and black; while they were the parents of the Quiché and kindred races only. The course of the legend brings us to tribes of a strange blood, with which these four ancestors and their people were often at war. The narrative is, however, itself so confused and contradictory at points, that it is almost impossible to avoid such things; and, as a whole, the views of Professor Müller on the Popol Vuh seem just and well considered. Baldwin, Ancient America, pp. 191-7, gives a mere dilution of Professor Müller’s essay, and that without acknowledgment.

[II-2] The original Quiché runs as follows: ‘Are u tzihoxic vae ca ca tzinin-oc, ca ca chamam-oc, ca tzinonic; ca ca zilanic, ca ca lolinic, ca tolona puch u pa cah. Vae cute nabe tzih, nabe uchan.—Ma-habi-oc hun vinak, hun chicop; tziquin, car, tap, che, abah, hul, civan, quim, qichelah: xa-utuquel cah qolic. Mavi calah u vach uleu: xa-utnquel remanic palo, u pah cah ronohel. Ma-habi nakila ca molobic, ca cotzobic: hunta ca zilobic; ca mal ca ban-tah, ca cotz ca ban-tah pa cah. X-ma qo-vi nakila qolic yacalic; xa remanic ha, xa lianic palo, xa-utuquel remanic; x-ma qo-vi nakilalo qolic. Xa ca chamanic, ca tzininic chi gekum, chi agab.’

This passage is rendered by the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg thus: ‘Voici le récit comme quoi tout était en suspens, tout était calme et silencieux; tout était immobile, tout était paisible, et vide était l’immensité des cieux. Voilà donc la première parole et le premier discours. Il n’y avait pas encore un seul homme, pas un animal, pas d’oiseaux, de poissons, d’écrevisses, de bois, de pierre, de fondrières, de ravins, d’herbe ou de bocages: seulement le ciel existait. La face de la terre ne se manifestait pas encore: seule la mer paisible était et tout l’espace des cieux. Il n’y avait encore rien qui fît corps, rien qui se cramponnât à autre chose: rien qui se balançât, qui fît (le moindre) frôlement, qui fît (entendre) un son dans le ciel. Il n’y avait rien qui existât debout; (il n’y avait) que l’eau paisible, que la mer calme et seule dans ses bornes; car il n’y avait rien qui existât. Ce n’était que l’immobilité et le silence dans les ténèbres, dans la nuit.’ Popol Vuh, p. 7.

And by Francisco Ximenez thus: ‘Este es su ser dicho cuando estaba suspenso en calma, en silencio, sin moverse, sin cosa sino vacio el cielo. Y esta es la primera palabra y elocuencia; aun no habia hombres, animales, pájaros, pescado, cangrejo, palo, piedra, hoya, barranca, paja ni monte, sino solo estaba el cielo; no se manifestaba la faz de la tierra; sino que solo estaba el mar represado, y todo lo del cielo; aun no habia cosa alguna junta, ni sonaba nada, ni cosa alguna se meneaba, ni cosa que hiciera mal, ni cosa que hiciera “cotz,” (esto es ruido en el cielo), ni habia cosa que estuviese parada en pié; solo el agua represada, solo la mar sosegada, solo ella represada, ni cosa alguna habia que estuviese; solo estaba en silencio, y sosiego en la obscuridad, y la noche.’ Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 5-6.

[II-3] ’Gucumatz, littéralement serpent emplumé, et dans un sens plus étendu, serpent revêtu de couleurs brillantes, de vert ou d’azur. Les plumes du guc ou quetzal offrent également les deux teintes. C’est exactment la même chose que quetzalcohuatl dans la langue mexicaine.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. des Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 50.

[II-4] A long rambling story is here introduced which has nothing to do with Creation, and which is omitted for the present.

[II-5] Balam-Quitzé, the tiger with the sweet smile; Balam-Agab, the tiger of the night; Mahucutah, the distinguished name; Iqi-Balam, the tiger of the moon. ‘Telle est la signification littérale que Ximenez a donnée de ces quatre noms.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. 199.

[II-6] Caha-paluma, the falling water; Chomi-ha or Chomih-a, the beautiful house or the beautiful water; in the same way, Tzununiha may mean either the house or the water of the humming-birds; and Cakixaha, either the house or the water of the aras [which are a kind of parrot]. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. 205.

[II-7] ’Are ma-habi chi tzukun, qui coon; xavi chi cah chi qui pacaba qui vach; mavi qu’etaam x-e be-vi naht x-qui bano.’ ‘Alors ils ne servaient pas encore et ne soutenaient point (les autels des dieux); seulement ils tournaient leurs visages vers le ciel, et ils ne savaient ce qu’ils étaient venus faire si loin.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. 209. It is right to add, however, that Ximenez gives a much more prosaic turn to the passage: ‘No cabian de sustento, sino que levantaban las caras al cielo y no se sabian alejar.’ Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 84.

[II-8] Or as Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 87, writes it—Tulanzú, (las siete cuevas y siete barrancas).

[II-9] The following passage in a letter from the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg, to Mr. Rafn of Copenhagen, bearing date 25th October, 1858, may be useful in this connection:—’On sait que la coutume toltèque et mexicaine était de conserver, comme chez les chrétiens, les reliques des héros de la patrie: on enveloppait leurs os avec des pierres précieuses dans un paquet d’étoffes auquel on donnait le nom de Tlaquimilolli; ces paquets demeuraient à jamais fermés et on les déposait au fond des sanctuaires où on les conservait comme des objects sacrés.’ Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, 1858, tom. iv., p. 268. One of these ‘bundles,’ was given up to the Christians by a Tlascaltec some time after the conquest. It was reported to contain the remains of Camaxtli, the chief god of Tlascala. The native historian, Camargo, describes it as follows: ‘Quand on défit le paquet où se trouvaient les cendres de l’idole Camaxtle, on y trouva aussi un paquet de cheveux blonds, … on y trouva aussi une émeraude, et de ses cendres on avait fait une pâte, en les pétrissant avec le sang des enfants que l’on avait sacrifiés.’ Hist. de Tlaxcallan; in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcix., p. 179.

[II-10] See Cox’s Mythology of the Aryan Nations, vol. i., p. 333.

[II-11] Even supposing there were no special historical reasons for making this distinction, it seems convenient that such a division should be made in a country where the distinction of classes was so marked as in Mexico. As Reads puts the case, Martyrdom of Man, p. 177, ‘In those countries where two distinct classes of men exist, the one intellectual and learned, the other illiterate and degraded, there will be in reality two religions, though nominally there may be only one.’

[II-12] ’Les prêtres et les nobles de Mexico avaient péri presque tous lors de la prise de cette ville, et ceux qui avaient échappé au massacre s’étaient réfugiés dans des lieux inaccessibles. Ce furent donc presque toujours des gens du peuple sans éducation et livrés aux plus grossiéres superstitions qui leur firent les récits qu’ils nous ont transmis; Les missionnaires, d’ailleurs, avaient plus d’intérêt à connaître les usages qu’ils voulaient déraciner de la masse du peuple qu’à comprendre le sens plus élevé que la partie éclairée de la nation pouvait y attacher.’ Ternaux-Compans, Essai sur la Théogonie Mexicaine, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1840, tom. lxxxv., p. 274.

[II-13] This last statement rests on the authority of Domingo Muñoz Camargo, a native of the city of Tlascala who wrote about 1585. See his Hist. de Tlaxcallan as translated by Ternaux Compans in the Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcix., p. 129. ‘Les Indiens ne croyaient pas que le monde eût été créé, mais pensaient qu’il était le produit du hazard. Ils disaient aussi que les cieux avaient toujours existé.”Estos, pues, alcanzaron con claridad el verdadero orígen y principio de todo el Universo, porque asientan que el cielo y la tierra y cuanto en ellos se halla es obra de la poderosa mano de un Dios Supremo y único, á quien daban el nombre de Tloque Nahuaque, que quiere decir, criador de todas las cosas. Llamábanle tambien Ipalnemohualoni, que quiere decir, por quien vivimos y somos, y fué la única deidad que adoraron en aquellos primitivos tiempos; y aun despues que se introdujo la idolatría y el falso culto, le creyeron siempre superior á todos sus dioses, y le invocaban levantando los ojos al cielo. En esta creencia se mantuvieron constantes hasta la llegada de los españoles, como afirma Herrera, no solo los mejicanos, sino tambien los de Michoacan.’ Veytia, Historia Antigua de Méjico, tom. i., p. 7. ‘Los Tultecas alcanzaron y supieron la creacion del mundo, y como el Tloque Nahuaque lo crió y las demas cosas que hay en él, como son plantas, montes, animales, aves, agua y peces; asimismo supieron como crió Dios al hombre y una muger, de donde los hombres descendieron y se multiplicaron, y sobre esto añaden muchas fábulas que por escusar prolijidad no se ponen aqui.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., p. 321. ‘Dios Criador, que en lengua Indiana llamò Tlòque Nahuàque, queriendo dàr à entender, que este Solo, Poderoso, y Clementissimo Dios.’ Boturini, Idea de una Hist., p. 79.’Confessauan los Mexicanos a vn supremo Dios, Señor, y hazedor de todo, y este era el principal que venerauan, mirando al cielo, llamandole criador del cielo y tierra.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. 15, p. 85. ‘El dios que se llamaba Titlacaâon, (Tezcatlipuca), decian que era criador del cielo y de la tierra y era todo poderoso.’ Sahagun, Hist. Ant. Mex., tom. i., lib. iii., p. 241. ‘Tezcatlipoca, Questo era il maggior Dio, che in que’ paesi si adorava, dopo il Dio invisibile, o Supremo Essere, di cui abbiam ragionato…. Era il Dio della Providenza, l’anima del Mondo, il Creator del Cielo e della Terra, ed il Signor di tutte le cose.’ Clavigero, Storia Antica del Messico, tom. ii., p. 7. ‘La creacion del cielo y de la tierra aplicaban á diversos dioses, y algunos á Tezcatlipuca y á Uzilopuchtli, ó segun otros, Ocelopuchtli, y de los principales de Mexico.’ Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 81.

[II-14] ’Lorsque le ciel et la terre s’étaient faits, quatre fois déjà l’homme avait été formé … de cendres Dieu l’avait formé et animé.’ The Codex Chimalpopoca, or Chimalpopoca MS., after Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. des Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 53. This Codex Chimalpopoca, so called by the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg, is an anonymous manuscript in the Mexican language. What we really know of this much-talked-of document is little, and will be best given in the original form. The following is the first notice I find of this manuscript, with its appurtenances, being Boturini’s description of it as possessed at one time by him. Catálogo, pp. 17-18. ‘Una historia de los Reynos de Culhuàcan, y Mexico en lengua Nàhuatl, y papel Europèo de Autor Anonymo, y tiene añadida una Breve Relacion de los Dioses, y Ritos de la Gentilidad en lengua Castellana que escribiò el Bachiller Don Pedro Ponce, Indio Cazique Beneficiado, que fuè del Partido de Tzumpauàcan. Está todo copiado de letra de Don Fernando de Alba, y le falta la primera foja.’ With regard to the term Nahuatl used in this Catalogue, see Id., p. 85: ‘Los Manuscritos en lengua Nàhuatl, que en este Catálogo se citan, se entiende ser en lengua Mexicana!’ This manuscript, or a copy of it, fell into the hands of the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg in the city of Mexico, in the year 1850, Brasseur de Bourbourg, Bibliothèque Mexico-Guatémalienne, Introduction, p. xxi., and the learned Abbé describes it as follows:—’Codex Chimalpopoca (Copie du), contenant les Epoques, dites Histoire des Soleils et l’Histoire des Royaumes de Colhuacan et de Mexico, texte Mexicain (corrigé d’après celui de M. Aubin), avec un essai de traduction française en regard. gr. in 4^o—Manuscrit de 93 ff., copié et traduit par le signataire de la bibliothèque. C’est la copie du document marqué au n^o 13, § viii., du catalogue de Boturini, sous le titre de: Historia de los Reynos de Colhuacan y Mexico, etc. Ce document, où pour la première fois j’ai soulevé le voile énigmatique qui recouvrait les symboles de la religion et de l’histoire du Mexique est le plus important de tous ceux qui nous soient restés des annales antiques mexicaines. Il renferme chronologiquement l’histoire géologique du monde, par séries de 13 ans, à commencer de plus de dix mille ans avant l’ère chrétienne, suivant les calculs mexicains.’ Id., p. 47.

[II-15] Otherwise called, according to Clavigero, the god Ometeuctli, and the goddess Omecihuatl. Ternaux-Compans says: ‘Les noms d’Ometeuctli et d’Omecihuatl ne se trouvent nulle part ailleurs dans la mythologie mexicaine; mais on pourrait les expliquer par l’étymologie. Ome signifie deux en mexicain, et tous les auteurs sont d’accord pour traduire littéralement leur nom par deux seigneurs et deux dames.’ Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1840, tom. lxxxvi., p. 7.

[II-16] Xolotl, ‘servant or page.’—Molina, Vocabulario en lengua Castellana Mexicana. Not ‘eye’ as some scholiasts have it.

[II-17] Literally, in the earliest copy of the myth that I have seen, the milk of the thistle, ‘la leche de cardo,’ which term has been repeated blindly, and apparently without any idea of its meaning, by the various writers that have followed. The old authorities, however, and especially Mendieta, from whom I take the legend, were in the habit of calling the maguey a thistle; and indeed the tremendous prickles of the Mexican plant may lay good claim to the Nemo me impune lacessit of the Scottish emblem. ‘Maguey, que es el cardon de donde sacan la miel.’ Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 110. ‘Metl es un arbol ó cardo que en lengua de las Islas se llama maguey.’ Motolinia, Hist. de los Ind., in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 243. ‘Et similmente-cogliono le foglie di questo albero, ò cardo che si tengono là, come qua le vigne, et chiamanlo magueis.’ Relatione fatta per un Gentil’huomo del Signor Cortese, in Ramusio, Viaggi, tom. iii., fol. 307.

[II-18] Motolinia in Icazbalceta, Col., tom. i., pp. 6-10, says this first man and woman were begotten between the rain and the dust of the earth—’engendrada de la lluvia y del polvo de la tierra’—and in other ways adds to the perplexity; so that I am well inclined to agree with Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 518, when he says these cosmogonical myths display marks of local origin and of the subsequent fusion of several legends into an incongruous whole. ‘Aus dieser Menge von Verschiedenheiten in diesen Kosmogonien ist ersichtlich, dass viele Lokalmythen hier wie in Peru unabhängig von einander entstanden die man äusserlich mit einander verband, die aber in mancherlei Widersprüchen auch noch später ihre ursprüngliche Unabhängigkeit zu erkennen geben.’

[II-19] Here, as elsewhere in this legend we follow Andres de Olmos’ account as given by Mendieta. Sahagun, however differs from it a good deal in places. At this point for example, he mentions some notable personages who guessed right about the rising of the sun:—’Otros se pusieron á mirar ácia el oriente, y digeron aquí, de esta parte ha de salir el Sol. El dicho de estos fué verdadero. Dicen que los que miraron ácia el Oriente, fueron Quetzalcoatl, que tambien se llama Ecatl, y otro que se llama Totec, y por otro nombre Anaoatlytecu, y por otro nombre Tlatavictezcatlipuca, y otros que se llaman Minizcoa,’or as in Kingsborough’s edition, Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 186. ‘Por otro nombre Anaoatl y Tecu, y por otro nombre Tlatavictezcatlipuca, y otros que se llaman Mimizcoa, que son inumerables; y cuatro mugeres, la una se llama Tiacapan, la otra Teicu, la tercera Tlacoeoa, la cuarta Xocoyotl.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 248.

[II-20] Besides differences of authorities already noticed, I may add that Sahagun describes the personage who became the sun—as well as him who, as we shall soon see, became the moon—as belonging before his transformation to the number of the gods, and not as one of the men who served them. Further, in recounting the death of the gods, Sahagun says that to the Air, Ecatl, Quetzalcoatl, was alloted the task of killing the rest; nor does it appear that Quetzalcoatl killed himself. As to Xolotl, he plays quite a cowardly part in this version; trying to elude his death, he transformed himself into various things, and was only at last taken and killed under the form of a fish called Axolotl.

[II-21] This kind of idol answers evidently to the mysterious ‘Envelope’ of the Quiché myth. See also note 9.

[II-22] Besides the Chimalpopoca manuscript, the earliest summaries of the Mexican creation-myths are to be found in Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 77-81; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., p. 233, tom. ii., lib. vii., pp. 246-250; Boturini, Idea de una Hist., pp. 37-43; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 31-5, tom. ii., pp. 76-8; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 8-10.

[II-23] Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chichimeca in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 205-6. The same author, in his Relaciones, Ib. pp. 321-2, either through his own carelessness or that of a transcriber, transposes the second and third Ages. To see that it is an oversight of some sort, we have but to pass to the summary he gives at the end of these same Relaciones, Ib., p. 459, where the account is again found in strict agreement with the version given in the text. Camargo, Hist. de Tlax. in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., tom. xcix., 1843, p. 132, giving as we may suppose the Tlascaltec version of the general Mexican myth, agrees with Ixtlilxochitl as to the whole number of Ages, following, however, the order of the error above noticed in the Relaciones. The Tlascaltec historian, moreover, affirms that only two of these Ages are past, and that the third and fourth destructions are yet to come. M. Ternaux-Compans, Nouvelles Annales des Voy., tom. lxxxvi., 1840, p. 5, adopts this Tlascaltec account as the general Mexican tradition; he is followed by Dr. Prichard, Researches, vol. v., pp. 360-1. Dr. Prichard cites Bradford as supporting the same opinion, but erroneously, as Bradford, Am. Antiq., p. 328, follows Humboldt. Boturini, Idea de una Hist., p. 3. and Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 57, agree exactly with the text. The Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg also accepts the version of three past destructions. S’il existe des Sources de l’Hist. Prim., pp. 26-7. Professor J. G. Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 510-12, admits that the version of three past destructions and one to come, as given in the text, and in the order there given, ‘seems to be the most ancient Mexican version;’ though he decides to follow Humboldt, and adopts what he calls the ‘latest and fullest form of the myth.’ The Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano [Vaticano] contradicts itself, giving first two past destructions, and farther on four, Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 163-7; as does also the Explic. del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, Ib., pp. 134-6. Kingsborough himself seems to favor the idea of three past destructions and four ages in all; see Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., p. 171, note. Gomara, Hist. Mex., fol. 297-8; Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, parte i., pp. 94-5; Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., pp. 118-129; Prescott, Conq. of Mex., vol. i., p. 61; Gallatin, in Am. Ethnol. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 325—describe four past destructions and one yet to come, or five Ages, and the Chimalpopoca MS., see note 13, seems also to favor this opinion. Lastly, Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 81, declares that the Mexicans believe in five Suns, or Ages, in times past; but these suns were of inferior quality, so that the soil produced its fruits only in a crude and imperfect state. The consequence was that in every case the inhabitants of the world died through the eating of divers things. This present and sixth Sun was good, however, and under its influence all things were produced properly. Torquemada—who has, indeed, been all along appropriating, by whole chapters, the so long inedited work of Mendieta; and that, if we believe Icazbalceta, Hist. Ecles., Noticias del Autor., pp. xxx. to xlv., under circumstances of peculiar turpitude—of course gives also five past Ages, repeating Mendieta word for word with the exception of a single ‘la.’ Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 79.

[II-24] Professor J. G. Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 568, remarks of these two personages: ‘Rein nordisch ist der chichimekische Coxcox, der schon bei der Fluthsage genannt wurde, der Tezpi der Mechoakaner. Das ist auch ursprünglich ein Wassergott und Fischgott, darum trägt er auch den Namen Cipactli, Fisch, Teocipactli, göttlicher Fisch, Huehuetonacateocipactli, alter Fischgott von unserem Fleisch. Darum ist auch seine Gattin eine Pflanzengöttin mit Namen Xochiquetzal d. h. geflügelte Blume.’

[II-25] Boturini, Idea de una Hist., pp. 113-4; Id., Catálogo, pp. 39-40; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 129-30, tom. ii., p. 6; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), tav. vii., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 164-5; Gemelli Carreri, in Churchill’s Col. Voy., vol. iv., p. 481; Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 114-15, tom. ii., pp. 175-8; Tylor’s Anahuac, pp. 276-7; Gondra, in Prescott, Conquista de Mexico, tom. iii., pp. 1-10. A careful comparison of the passages given above will show that this whole story of the escape of Coxcox and his wife in a boat from a great deluge, and of the distribution by a bird of different languages to their descendants, rests on the interpretation of certain Aztec paintings, containing supposed pictures of a flood, of Coxcox and his wife, of a canoe or rude vessel of some kind, of the mountain Culhuacan, which was the Mexican Ararat, and of a bird distributing languages to a number of men. Not one of the earliest writers on Mexican mythology, none of those personally familiar with the natives and with their oral traditions as existing at the time of, or immediately after the conquest, seems to have known this legend; Olmos, Sahagun, Motolinia, Mendieta, Ixtlilxochitl, and Camargo, are all of them silent with regard to it. These facts must give rise to grave suspicions with regard to the accuracy of the commonly accepted version, notwithstanding its apparently implicit reception up to this time by the most critical historians. These suspicions will not be lessened by the result of the researches of Don José Fernando Ramirez, Conservator of the Mexican National Museum, a gentleman not less remarkable for his familiarity with the language and antiquities of Mexico than for the moderation and calmness of his critical judgments, as far as these are known. In a communication dated April, 1858, to Garcia y Cubas, Atlas Geográfico, Estadístico e Histórico de la Republica Mejicana, entrega 29, speaking of the celebrated Mexican picture there for the first time, as he claims, accurately given to the public—Sigüenza’s copy of it, as given by Gemelli Carreri, that given by Clavigero in his Storia del Messico, that given by Humboldt in his Atlas Pittoresque, and that given by Kingsborough being all incorrect—Señor Ramirez says:—’The authority of writers so competent as Sigüenza and Clavigero imposed silence on the incredulous, and after the illustrious Baron von Humboldt added his irresistible authority, adopting that interpretation, nobody doubted that “the traditions of the Hebrews were found among the people of America;” that, as the wise Baron thought, “their Coxcox, Teocipactli, or Tezpi is the Noah, Xisutrus, or Menou of the Asiatic families;” and that “the Cerro of Culhuacan is the Ararat of the Mexicans.” Grand and magnificent thought, but unfortunately only a delusion. The blue square No. 1, with its bands or obscure lines of the same color, cannot represent the terrestrial globe covered with the waters of the flood, because we should have to suppose a repetition of the same deluge in the figure No. 40, where it is reproduced with some of its principal accidents. Neither, for the same reason, do the human heads and the heads of birds which appear to float there, denote the submerging of men and animals, for it would be necessary to give the same explanation to those seen in group No. 39. It might be argued that the group to the left (of No. 1), made up of a human head placed under the head of a bird, represented phonetically the name Coxcox, and denoted the Aztec Noah; but the group on the right, formed of a woman’s head with other symbolic figures above it, evidently does not express the name Xochiquetzal, which is said to have been that of his wife…. Let us now pass on to the dove giving tongues to the primitive men who were born mute. The commas which seem to come from the beak of the bird there represented, form one of the most complex and varied symbols, in respect to their phonetic force, which are found in our hieroglyphic writing. In connection with animated beings they designate generically the emission of the voice…. In the group before us they denote purely and simply that the bird was singing or speaking—to whom?—to the group of persons before it, who by the direction of their faces and bodies show clearly and distinctly the attention with which they listened. Consequently the designer of the before-mentioned drawing for Clavigero, pre-occupied with the idea of signifying by it the pretended confusion of tongues, changed with his pencil the historic truth, giving to these figures opposite directions. Examining attentively the inexactitudes and errors of the graver and the pencil in all historical engravings relating to Mexico, it is seen that they are no less numerous and serious than those of the pen. The interpretations given to the ancient Mexican paintings by ardent imaginations led away by love of novelty or by the spirit of system, justify to a certain point the distrust and disfavor with which the last and most distinguished historian of the Conquest of Mexico (W. H. Prescott) has treated this interesting and precious class of historical documents.’ Señor Ramirez goes on thus at some length to his conclusions, which reduce the original painting to a simple record of a wandering of the Mexicans among the lakes of the Mexican valley—that journey beginning at a place ‘not more than nine miles from the gutters of Mexico,’—a record having absolutely no connection either with the mythical deluge, already described as one of the four destructions of the world, or with any other. The bird speaking in the picture, he connects with a well-known Mexican fable given by Torquemada, in which a bird is described as speaking from a tree to the leaders of the Mexicans at a certain stage of their migration, and repeating the work Tihui, that is to say, ‘Let us go.’ A little bird called the Tihuitochan, with a cry that the vulgar still interpret in a somewhat similar sense, is well known in Mexico, and is perhaps at the bottom of the tradition. It may be added that Torquemada gives a painted manuscript, possibly that under discussion, as his authority for the story. The boat, the mountain, and the other adjuncts of the picture are explained in a like simple way, as the hieroglyphics, for the most part, of various proper names. Our space here will not permit further details—though another volume will contain this picture and a further discussion of the subject—but I may remark in concluding that the moderation with which Señor Ramirez discusses the question, as well as his great experience and learning in matters of Mexican antiquity, seem to claim for his views the serious consideration of future students.

[II-26] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. des Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 425-7.

[II-27] Fr. Gregorio Garcia, Origen de los Ind., pp. 327-9, took this narrative from a book he found in a convent in Cuilapa, a little Indian town about a league and a half south of Oajaca. The book had been compiled by the vicar of that convent, and—’escrito con sus Figuras, como los Indios de aquel Reino Mixteco las tenian en sus Libros, ò Pergaminos arrollados, con la declaracion de lo que significaban las Figuras, en que contaban su Origen, la Creacion del Mundo, i Diluvio General.’

[II-28] ’Que aparecieron visiblemente un Dios, que tuvo por Nombre un Ciervo, i por sobrenombre Culebra de Leon; i una Diosa mui linda, i hermosa, que su Nombre fue un Ciervo, i por sobrenombre Culebra de Tigre,’ Garcia, Id., pp. 327-9.

[II-29] Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. i., fol. 128, 176.

[II-30] Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., fol. 196-7.

[II-31] One of the Las Casas MSS. gives, according to Helps, ‘trece hijos’ instead of ‘tres hijos;’ the latter, however, being the correct reading, as the list of names in the same manuscript shows, and as Father Roman gives it. See note 33.

[II-32] This tradition, says the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. des Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 74-5, has indubitably reference to a queen whose memory has become attached to very many places in Guatemala, and Central America generally. She was called Atit, Grandmother; and from her the volcano of Atitlan, received the name Atital-huyu, by which it is still known to the aborigines. This Atit lived during four centuries, and from her are descended all the royal and princely families of Guatemala.

[II-33] Roman, República de los Indios Occidentales, part 1, lib. 2, cap. 15, after Garcia, Origen de los Ind., pp. 329-30; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. 235, after Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. ii., p. 140; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 53-4; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. des Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 74-5.

[II-34] The first of these two names is erroneously spelt ‘Famagoztad’ by M. Ternaux-Compans, Mr. Squier, and the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg, the two latter perhaps led astray by the error of M. Ternaux-Compans, an error which first appeared in that gentleman’s translation of Oviedo. Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 40. Peter Martyr, dec. vi., cap. 4.

[II-35] This tradition was ‘gathered principally from the relations of Con Quien, the intelligent chief of the central Papagos.’ Davidson, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1865, pp. 131-3.

[II-36] The legendary Montezuma, whom we shall meet so often in the mythology of the Gila valley, must not be confounded with the two Mexican monarchs of the same title. The name itself would seem, in the absence of proof to the contrary, to have been carried into Arizona and New Mexico by the Spaniards or their Mexican attendants, and to have become gradually associated in the minds of some of the New Mexican and neighboring tribes, with a vague, mythical, and departed grandeur. The name Montezuma became thus, to use Mr. Tylor’s words, that of the great ‘Somebody’ of the tribe. This being once the case, all the lesser heroes would be gradually absorbed in the greater, and their names forgotten. Their deeds would become his deeds, their fame his fame. There is evidence enough that this is a general tendency of tradition, even in historical times. The pages of Mr. Cox’s scholarly and comprehensive work, The Mythology of the Aryan Nations, teem with examples of it. In Persia, deeds of every kind and date are referred to Antar. In Russia, buildings of every age are declared to be the work of Peter the Great. All over Europe, in Germany, France, Spain, Switzerland, England, Scotland, Ireland, the exploits of the oldest mythological heroes figuring in the Sagas, Eddas, and Nibelungen Lied have been ascribed in the folk-lore and ballads of the people to Barbarossa, Charlemagne, Boabdil, Charles V., William Tell, Arthur, Robin Hood, Wallace, and St. Patrick. The connection of the name of Montezuma with ancient buildings and legendary adventures in the mythology of the Gila valley seems to be simply another example of the same kind.

[II-37] I am indebted for these particulars of the belief of the Pimas to the kindness of Mr. J. H. Stout of the Pima agency, who procured me a personal interview with five chiefs of that nation, and their very intelligent and obliging interpreter, Mr. Walker, at San Francisco, in October, 1873.

[II-38] For the killing of this Great Eagle Szeukha had to do a kind of penance, which was never to scratch himself with his nails, but always with a small stick. This custom is still observed by all Pimas; and a bit of wood, renewed every fourth day, is carried for this purpose stuck in their long hair.

[II-39] With the reader, as with myself, this clause will probably call up something more than a mere suspicion of Spanish influence tinging the incidents of the legend. The Pimas themselves, however, asserted that this tradition existed among them long before the arrival of the Spaniards and was not modified thereby. One fact that seems to speak for the comparative purity of their traditions is that the name of Montezuma is nowhere to be found in them, although Cremony, Apaches, p. 102, states the contrary.

[II-40] Gregg’s Commerce of the Prairies, vol. i., p. 268.

[II-41] Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 85-6.

[II-42] Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 89-90; and Eaton, Ib., pp. 218-9. The latter account differs a little from that given in the text, and makes the following addition: After the Navajos came up from the cave, there came a time when, by the ferocity of giants and rapacious animals, their numbers were reduced to three—an old man, an old woman, and a young woman. The stock was replenished by the latter bearing a child to the sun.

[II-43] Ribas, Hist., pp. 18, 40.

[II-44] Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., p. 139.

[II-45] Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., pp. 135-7.

[II-46] Hugo Reid, in Los Angeles Star.

[II-47] Hugo Reid, Ib.

[II-48] Russian River Valley, Sonoma County.

[II-49] Powers’ Pomo, MS.

[II-50] Humboldt County.

[II-51] Powers’ Pomo, MS.

[II-52] Powers’ Pomo, MS.

[II-53] Powers’ Pomo, MS.

[II-54] Johnston, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 224-5.

[II-55] H. B. D. in Hesperian Mag., vol. iii., 1859, p. 326.

[II-56] Wadsworth, in Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. ii., 1858, pp. 356-8.

[II-57] Powers’ Pomo, MS.

[II-58] Joaquin Miller’s Life Amongst the Modocs, pp. 235-236, 242-6.

[II-59] Ruxton’s Adven. in Mex., pp. 244-6.

[II-60] Wilkes’ Nar. in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 496.

[II-61] Franchère’s Nar., p. 258; Cox’s Adven., vol. i., p. 317; Gibbs’ Chinook Vocab., pp. 11-13; Id., Clallam and Lummi Vocab., pp. 15-29; Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 139.

[II-62] Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 176-85, 203-14.

[II-63] To the examples already given of this we may add the case of the Haidahs of Queen Charlotte Island, of whom Mr. Poole, Q. Char. Isl., p. 136, says: ‘Their descent from the crows is quite gravely affirmed and steadfastly maintained.’

[II-64] Anderson, in Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 240.

[II-65] Harmon’s Jour., pp. 302-3.

[II-66] This Khanukh was the progenitor of the Wolf family of the Thlinkeets even as Yehl was that of the Raven family. The influence of this wolf-deity seems to have been generally malign, but except in connection with this water-legend, he is little mentioned in the Thlinkeet myths.

[II-67] ’Seit der Zeit, entgegnete Khanukh, als von unten die Leber herauskam.’ Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 61. What is meant by the term ‘die Leber,’ literally the particular gland of the body called in English ‘the liver,’ I cannot say; neither Holmberg or any one else, as far as my knowledge goes, attempting any explanation.

[II-68] Barrett-Lennard’s Trav., pp. 54-7; Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., pp. 14, 52-63; Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., pp. 93-100; Dall’s Alaska, pp. 421-22; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 452-5; Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., p. 405; Mayne’s B. C., p. 272.

[II-69] Baer, Stat. u. Ethn., p. 116; Lisiansky’s Voy., pp. 197-8; Dall’s Alaska, p. 405; Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 140.

[II-70] Choris, Voy. Pitt., pt. vii., p. 7; Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 165.

[II-71] Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 102, et seq.; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 173; Mackenzie’s Voy., p. cxviii.; Franklin’s Nar., vol. i., pp. 249-50.

[II-72] Hearne’s Journey, pp. 342-3.

[II-73] Keightley’s Myth. of Ancient Greece and Italy, p. 14.

Chapter III • Physical Myths • 7,000 Words

Sun, Moon, and Stars—Eclipses—The Moon Personified in the Land of the Crescent—Fire—How the Coyote Stole Fire for the Cahrocs—How the Frog Lost His Tail—How the Coyote Stole Fire for the Navajos—Wind and Thunder—The Four Winds and the Cross—Water, the First of Elemental Things—Its Sacred and Cleansing Power—Earth and Sky—Earthquakes and Volcanoes—Mountains—How the Hawk and Crow Built the Coast Range—The Mountains of Yosemite.

Fetichism seems to be the physical philosophy of man in his most primitive state. He looks on material things as animated by a life analogous to his own, as having a personal consciousness and character, as being severally the material body that contains some immaterial essence or soul. A child or a savage strikes or chides any object that hurts him, and caresses the gewgaw that takes his fancy, talking to it much as to a companion.

Vagaries Concerning Celestial Bodies

Let there be something peculiar, mysterious, or dangerous about the thing and the savage worships it, deprecates its wrath and entreats its favor, with such ceremonies, prayers, and sacrifices as he may deem likely to win upon its regard. In considering such cases mythologically, it will be necessary to examine the facts to see whether we have to deal with simple fetichism or with idolatry. That savage worships a fetich who worships the heaving sea as a great living creature, or kneels to flame as to a hissing roaring animal; but the Greeks in conceiving a separate anthropomorphic god of the sea or of the fire, and in representing that god by figures of different kinds, were only idolaters. The two things, however, are often so merged into each other that it becomes difficult or impossible to say in many instances whether a particular object, for example the sun, is regarded as the deity or merely as the representation or symbol of the deity. It is plain enough, however, that a tolerably distinct element of fetichism underlies much of the Indian mythology. Speaking of this mythology in the mass, the North American Review says: “A mysterious and inexplicable power resides in inanimate things. They, too, can listen to the voice of man, and influence his life for evil or for good. Lakes, rivers, and waterfalls are sometimes the dwelling-place of spirits, but more frequently they are themselves living beings, to be propitiated by prayers and offerings.”[III-1]North Am. Rev., vol. ciii., p. 1.

The explicit worship of the sun and more or less that of other heavenly bodies, or at least a recognition of some supernatural power resident in or connected with them, was widely spread through Mexico, as well among the uncivilized as among the civilized tribes. The wild Chichimecs or that portion of the wild tribes of Mexico to which Alegre applied this name, owned the sun as their deity, as did also the people of the Nayarit country.[III-2]Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 279; Apostólicos Afanes, p. 68.

In what we may call civilized Mexico, the sun was definitely worshiped under the name of Tonatiuh, the Sun in his substance, and under that of Naolin, the Sun in his four motions. He was sometimes represented by a human face surrounded with rays, at other times by a full-length human figure, while again he often seems to be confused or connected with the element fire and the god of fire. Sahagun, for instance, usually speaks of the festival of the month Itzcalli as appertaining to the god of fire, but in at least one place he describes it as belonging to the sun and the fire.[III-3]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 74-5, 200-18; Explicacion del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, parte ii., lam. x., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 139; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), tav. xxv. and xxxiii., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 178, 181-2; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 80-1; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 9, 11, 17, 34-5. The sun, it is tolerably certain, held, if not the highest place, one not far removed from that position in the Mexican pantheon. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Tylor, Squier, and Schoolcraft agree in considering sun-worship the most radical religious idea of all civilized American religions.[III-4]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. des Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 301; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Quatre Lettres, p. 156; Tylor’s Prim. Cult., vol. ii., pp. 259, 262-3; Squier’s Serpent Symbol, pp. 18-20; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 60, vol. iv., p. 639, vol. v., pp. 29-87, vol. vi., pp. 594, 626, 636. Professor Müller considers the sun-god and the supreme Mexican Teotl to be identical.[III-5]Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 474. Dr. Brinton, as we shall see when we come to notice the mythology of fire, while not denying the prominence of the sun-cult, would refer that cult to a basal and original fire-worship. Many interpreters of mythology see also the personification of the sun in others of the Mexican gods besides Tonatiuh. More especially does evidence seem to point strongly in this direction in the case of Quetzalcoatl, as will be seen when we come to deal with this god.

The Mexicans were much troubled and distressed by an eclipse of the sun. They thought that he was much disturbed and tossed about by something, and that he was becoming seriously jaundiced. This was the occasion of a general panic, women weeping aloud, and men howling and shouting and striking the hand upon the mouth. There was an immediate search for men with white hair and white faces, and these were sacrificed to the sun, amid the din and tumult of singing and musical instruments. It was thought that should the eclipse become once total, there would be an end of the light, and that in the darkness the demons would come down to the devouring of the people.[III-6]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vii., pp. 244-5. In Campeche, in 1834, M. Waldeck witnessed an eclipse of the moon during which the Yucatecs conducted themselves much as their fathers might have done in their gentile days, howling frightfully and making every effort to part the celestial combatants. The only apparent advance made on the old customs was the firing off of muskets, ‘to prove’ in the words of the sarcastic artist, ‘that the Yucatecs of to-day are not strangers to the progress of civilization.’ Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 14.

Eclipses, and Their Effect on Man

The Tlascaltecs, regarding the sun and the moon as husband and wife, believed eclipses to be domestic quarrels, whose consequences were likely to be fatal to the world if peace could not be made before things proceeded to an extremity. To sooth the ruffled spirit of the sun when he was eclipsed, a human sacrifice was offered to him of the ruddiest victims that could be found; and when the moon was darkened she was appeased with the blood of those white-complexioned persons commonly known as Albinos.[III-7]Camargo, Hist. de Tlaxcallan, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 193.

The idea of averting the evil by noise, in case of an eclipse either of the sun or moon, seems to have been a common one among other American tribes. Alegre ascribes it to the natives of Sonora in general. Ribas tells how the Sinaloas held that the moon in an eclipse was darkened with the dust of battle. Her enemy had come upon her, and a terrible fight, big with consequence to those on earth, went on in heaven. In wild excitement the people beat on the sides of their houses, encouraging the moon and shooting flights of arrows up into the sky to distract her adversary. Much the same as this was also done by certain Californians.[III-8]Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. ii., p. 218; Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 202; Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., pp. 296-300.

With regard to an eclipse of the moon the Mexicans seem to have had rather special ideas as to its effects upon unborn children. At such times, women who were with child became alarmed lest their infant should be turned into a mouse, and to guard against such an undesirable consummation they held a bit of obsidian, iztli, in their mouth, or put a piece of it in their girdle, so that the child should be born perfect and not lipless, or noseless, or wry-mouthed, or squinting, or a monster.[III-9]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 250. These ideas are probably connected with the fact that the Mexicans worshiped the moon under the name of Meztli, as a deity presiding over human generations. This moon-god is considered by Clavigero to be identical with Joaltecutli, god of night.[III-10]Explicacion del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, part. ii., lam. x., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 139; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), tav. xxvi., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 179; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vii., p. 250; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 9-17.

It is to the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg, however, that we must turn for a truly novel and cyclopean theory of Mexican lunolatry. He sees back to a time when the forefathers of American civilization lived in a certain Crescent Land in the Atlantic; here they practiced Sabaism. Through some tremendous physical catastrophe their country was utterly overwhelmed by the sea; and this inundation is considered by the abbé to be the origin of the deluge-myths of the Central-American nations. A remnant of these Crescent people saved themselves in the seven principal islands of the Lesser Antilles; these are, he explains, the seven mythical caves or grottoes celebrated in so many American legends as the cradle of the nations. The saved remnant of the people wept the loss of their friends and of their old land, making the latter, with its crescent shape, memorable forever by adopting the moon as their god. “It is the moon,” writes the great Américaniste, “male and female, Luna and Lunas, personified in the land of the Crescent, engulfed in the abyss, that I believe I see at the commencement of this amalgam of rites and symbols of every kind.”[III-11]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Quatre Lettres, pp. 155-6. I confess inability to follow the path by which the abbé has reached this conclusion; but I have indicated its whereabouts, and future students may be granted a further insight into this new labyrinth and the subtleties of its industrious Dædalus.

What the Mexicans Thought of Stars and Comets

The Mexicans had many curious ideas about the stars, some of which have come down to us. They particularly reverenced a certain group of three called mamalhoaztli, in, or in the neighborhood of, the sign Taurus of the zodiac. This name was the same as that of the sticks from which fire was procured: a resemblance of some kind being supposed to exist between them and these stars. Connected again with this was the burning by every male Mexican of certain marks upon his wrist, in honor of the same stars; it being believed that the man who died without these marks should, on his arrival in hades, be forced to draw fire from his wrist by boring upon it as on a fire-stick. The planet Venus was worshiped as the first light that appeared in the world, as the god of twilight, and, according to some, as being identical with Quetzalcoatl. This star has been further said to borrow its light from the moon, and to rise by four starts. Its first twinkle was a bad augury, and to be closed out of all doors and windows; on appearing for the third time, it began to give a steady light, and on the fourth it shone forth in all its clearness and brilliancy.

Comets were called each citlalinpopoca, or the smoking star; their appearance was considered as a public disaster, and as announcing pest, dearth, or the death of some prince. The common people were accustomed to say of one, This is our famine, and they believed it to cast down certain darts, which falling on any animal, bred a maggot that rendered the creature unfit for food. All possible precautions of shelter were of course taken by persons in positions exposed to the influence of these noxious rays. Besides the foregoing, there were many stars or groups of stars whose names were identical with those of certain gods; the following seem to belong to this class: Tonacatlecutli or Citlalalatonalli, the milky way; Yzacatecutli, Tlahvizcalpantecutli, Ceyacatl, Achitumetl, Xacupancalqui, Mixcoatl, Tezcatlipoca, and Contemoctli.[III-12]Explicacion delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, part. i., lam. ii., part. ii., lam. xiv., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 132, 140; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), tav. xvii., xxxi., Ib., vol. v., pp. 175, 181; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vii., pp. 250-252; Camargo, Hist. de Tlaxcallan, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 193; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 81. The word tecutli is of frequent occurrence as a termination in the names of Mexican gods. It signifies ‘lord’ and is written with various spellings. I follow that given by Molina’s Vocabulary.

I have already noticed a prevailing tendency to connect the worship of fire and that of the sun. The rites of a perpetual fire are found closely connected with a sun-cult, and, whichever may be the older, it is certain they are rarely found apart. “What,” says Tylor, “the sea is to Water-worship, in some measure the Sun is to Fire-worship.”[III-13]Tylor’s Prim. Cult., vol. ii., p. 259. Brinton would reverse this and give to fire the predominance: in short, he says, the sun “is always spoken of as a fire;” “and without danger or error we can merge the consideration of its worship almost altogether in this element.”[III-14]Brinton’s Myths, p. 143. This sounds rather extravagant and is hardly needed in any case; for sufficient reason for its deification can always be found in its mysterious nature and awful powers of destruction, as well as in its kind and constantly renewed services, if gratitude have any power in making a god. The mere guarding and holding sacred a particular fire probably originated in the importance of possessing an unfailing source of the element, and in the difficulty of its production if allowed to die out, among men not possessed of the appliances of civilization.

When we come to review the gods in general, those connected with fire will be pointed out as they appear; for the present, let it suffice to say that many American peoples had such gods, or had ceremonies suggesting their existence and recognition, or lastly, had legends of the origin or procurement of the fire they daily used on the altar or on the hearth. In the Pueblos of New Mexico, and more especially among the Pecos, sacred perpetual fires were kept up by special command of their traditionary god and ruler Montezuma; but these fires were not regarded as fetiches.[III-15]Ward, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1864, p. 193. The Mexican fire-god was known by the name of Xiuhtecutli, and by other names appertaining to the different aspects in which he was viewed. While preserving his own well-marked identity, he was evidently closely related also to the sun-god. Many and various, even in domestic life, were the ceremonies by which he was recognized; the most important ritual in connection with his service being, perhaps, the lighting of the new fire, with which, as we shall see, the beginning of every Mexican cycle was solemnized.[III-16]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., p. 16; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 56-7; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. des Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 491-2.

There are various fables scattered up and down among the various tribes regarding the origin or rather the procuring of fire. We know how the Quichés received it from the stamp of the sandal of Tohil; how, from the home of the cuttle-fish, a deer brought it to the Ahts in a joint of his leg; how from a distant island the great Yehl of the Thlinkeets fetched the brand in his beak that filled the flint and the fire-stick with seeds of eternal fire.

How the Cahrocs Obtained Fire

The Cahrocs hold that, when in the beginning the creator Chareya made fire, he gave it into the custody of two old hags, lest the Cahrocs should steal it. The Cahrocs, having exhausted every means to procure the treasure, applied for help to their old friend the Coyote; who, having maturely considered how the theft might best be accomplished, set about the thing in this way: From the land of the Cahrocs to the home of the old women he stationed a great company of animals, at convenient distances; the strongest nearest the den of the old beldames, the weakest farthest removed. Last of all he hid a Cahroc in the neighborhood of the hut, and, having left the man precise directions how to act, he trotted up to the door and asked to be let in out of the cold. Suspecting nothing, the crones gave him admittance; so he lay down in front of the fire, and made himself as comfortable as possible, waiting for the further action of his human accomplice without. In good time, the man made a furious attack on the house and the old furies rushed out at once to drive off the invader. This was the Coyote’s opportunity. Instantly he seized a half-burnt brand and fled like a comet down the trail; and the two hags, seeing how they had been outwitted, turned after him in immediate and furious chase. It had gone hard then with the hopes of the Cahrocs, if their four-legged Prometheus had trusted to his single speed; but just as he began to feel the pace tell on him, and just as the weird women thought they were about to recover the brand, the Cougar relieved him of it. Great was the satisfaction of our wise Coyote, as he sank down, clearing his sooty eyes and throat, and catching his breath, to see the great lithe cat leap away with the torch, and the hags gnash their choppy gums as they rushed by, hard in pursuit, on the dim trail of sparks. The Cougar passed the brand to the Bear, the Bear to his neighbor, and so on to the end. Down the long line of carriers, the panting crones plied their withered old legs in vain; only two mishaps occurring among all the animals that made up the file. The squirrel, last in the train but one, burned his tail so badly that it curled up over his back, and even scorched the skin above his shoulders. Last of all, the poor Frog, who received the brand when it had burned down to a very little piece, hopped along so heavily that his pursuers gained on him, gained fast and surely. In vain he gathered himself for every spring, in vain he stretched at every leap till the jarred muscles cracked again. He was caught. The smoke-dimmed eyes stood out from his head, his little heart thumped like a club against the lean fingers that closed upon his body—yet that wild croak was not the croak of despair. Once more for the hope of the Cahrocs! one more struggle for the Coyote that trusted him in this great thing! and with a gulp the plucky little martyr swallowed the fire, tore himself from the hands that held him, leaped into a river, and diving deep and long, gained his goal; but gained it a mournful wreck, the handsome tail, which, of all his race, only the tadpole should ever wear again, was utterly gone, left, like that of an O’Shanter’s mare, in the witch’s grasp; only the ghost of himself was left to spit out on some pieces of wood the precious embers preserved at so great a cost. And it is because the Frog spat out this fire upon these pieces of wood that it can always be extracted again by rubbing them hard together.[III-17]Powers’ Pomo, MS.

Fire, The Lightning, and Wind

The Navajos have a legend as to the procuring of fire, that has many analogies to the foregoing. They tell how, when they first gained the earth, they were without fire, and how the Coyote, the Bat, and the Squirrel agreed to procure it for them. The object of their desire seems to have been in the possession of the animals in general, in some distant locality. The Coyote, having attached pine splinters to his tail, ran quickly through the fire and fled with his lighted prize. Being keenly pursued, however, by the other animals, he soon tired; upon which the Bat relieved him, and dodging and flitting here and there, carried the splinters still farther. Then the Squirrel came to the assistance of the Bat, and succeeding him in his office, contrived to reach the hearths of the Navajos with the coveted embers.[III-18]Eaton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 218-19.

The natives of Mendocino county, California, believe that lightning is the origin of fire, that a primeval bolt hurled down by the Man Above fell upon certain wood, from which, consequently fire can always be extracted by rubbing two pieces together.[III-19]Powers’ Pomo, MS.

From fire let us turn for a moment to wind, whose phenomena, as might be expected, have not been allowed to pass wholly unnoticed by the mythologies with which we have to deal. When we come to examine ideas connected with death and with the soul of man and its future, we shall find the wind, or the air, often in use as the best name and figure for the expression of primitive conceptions of that mysterious thing, the vital essence or spirit. The wind too is often considered as a god, or at least as the breath of a god, and in many American languages the Great Spirit and the Great Wind are one and the same both in word and signification. The name of the god Hurakan, mentioned in Quiché myths, still signifies the Storm in many a language strange to his worshipers, while in Quiché it may be translated Spirit, or swiftly moving Spirit;[III-20]Brasseur de Bourbourg, S’il Existe des Sources de l’Hist. Prim. du Mexique, p. 101. and the name of the Mexican god Mixcoatl is said to be to this day the correct Mexican term for the whirlwind.[III-21]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 485; Brinton’s Myths, p. 51.

An interesting point here arises with regard to the division of the heavens into four quarters and the naming of these after the names of the wind. Dr. Brinton believes this fact to be at the bottom of the sacredness and often occurrence of the number four in so many early legends, and he connects these four winds and their embodiment in many quaternions of deities, with the sacredness of the cross and its use among widely separated nations, to whom its later Christian signification was utterly unknown.[III-22]Brinton’s Myths, pp. 66-98.

If we may suppose that the Great Spirit and the wind are often represented under the form of an enormous bird, we must connect with them, as their most inseparable attributes, the thunder and the lightning; the first, as we have so often seen, is the rustling or stridor of the wings of the bird, the second is the flashing of his eyes. The Raven of the Koniagas is not, however, as among most other tribes of the great Northwest, the author of these things; but their principal deity when he is angry sends down two dwarfs, who thunder and lighten according to his command.[III-23]Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 141. Of the god Hurakan, whom we have noticed as the etymon of the word hurricane, the Popol Vuh says: “The flash is the first sign of Hurakan; the second is the furrow of the flash; the third is the thunderbolt that strikes;”[III-24]Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 6; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. 9. and to the Mexican god, Tlaloc, are also attached the same three attributes.[III-25]Gama, Dos Piedras, pt. ii., p. 76.

Water as a Purifying Element

Turning to water, we find it regarded among many tribes as the first of elemental things. It is from a primeval ocean of water that the earth is generally supposed to come up. Water is obviously a first and chief nourisher of vegetable life, and an indispensable prerequisite of all fertility; from this it is but a short step to saying that it is the mother of those that live by the earth’s fertility. “Your mother, Chalchiuhtlicue, goddess of water,” is a phrase constantly found in the midwife’s mouth, in her address to the child, in the Mexican washing or baptismal service.[III-26]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 197.

The use of water more or less sanctified or set apart or made worthy the distinction ‘holy;’ the employment of this in a rite of avowed purification from inherent sin, at the time of giving a name—baptism, in one word—runs back to a period far pre-Christian among the Mexican, Maya, and other American nations; as ancient ceremonies to be hereafter described will show. That man sets out in this life-journey of his with a terrible bias toward evil, with a sad and pitiful liability to temptation, is a point upon which all religions are practically unanimous. How else could they exist? Were man born perfect he would remain perfect, otherwise the first element of perfection would be wanting; and perfection admits of no superlative, no greater, no god. Where there is a religion then, there is generally a consciousness of sin voluntary and involuntary. How shall I be cleansed? how shall my child be cleansed from this great wickedness? is the cry of the idolater as well as of the monotheist. Is it strange that the analogy between corporal and spiritual pollution should independently suggest itself to both? Surely not. Wash and be clean, is to all the world a parable needing no interpreter.[III-27]Singularly apt in this connection are the wise words that Carlyle, Past and Present Chartism, book i., p. 233, puts into the mouth of his mythical friend Sauerteig—’Strip thyself, go into the bath, or were it into the limpid pool and running brook, and there wash and be clean; thou wilt step out again a purer and a better man. This consciousness of perfect outer pureness, that to thy skin there now adheres no foreign speck of imperfection, how it radiates in on thee with cunning symbolic influences, to the very soul!… It remains a religious duty from oldest time in the East…. Even the dull English feel something of this; they have a saying, “cleanliness is near of kin to Godliness.”‘

The ceremonial use of water followed the Mexican through all his life; though for the present we shall only notice one more custom connected with it, the last of all. When a body was buried, a vase of clean, sweet water was let down into the tomb; bright, clear, life-giving and preserving water—hope and love, dumb and inarticulate, stretching vague hand toward a resurrection.

The Mexican rain and water god was Tlaloc, sender of thunder and lightning, lord of the earthly paradise, and fertilizer of earth; his wife was the Chalchiuhtlicue, already mentioned.[III-28]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 15-16. ‘Era conosciuta con altri nomi assai espressive, i quali o significavano i diversi effetti, che cagionano l’acque, o le diverse apparenze, colori, che formano col loro moto. I Tlascallesi la chiamavano Matlalcueje, cioè, vestita di gonna turchina.’ See also Müller, Reisen in Mex., tom. iii., p. 89. Like Tlaloc was Quiateot, the Nicaraguan rain-god, master of thunderbolts and general director of meteorological phenomena.[III-29]Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 46, 55.

The Navajos puffed tobacco smoke straight up toward heaven to bring rain, and those of them that carried a corpse to burial were unclean till washed in water.[III-30]Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 91; Bristol, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1867, p. 358. In a deep and lonely cañon near Fort Defiance there is a spring that this tribe hold sacred, approaching it only with much reverence and the performance of certain mystic ceremonies. They say it was once a boiling spring, and that even yet if approached heedlessly or by a bad Indian, its waters will seethe up and leap forth to overwhelm the intruder.[III-31]Backus, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 213.

The Zuñis had also a sacred spring; sacred to the rain-god, who, as we see by implication, is Montezuma the great Pueblo deity himself. No animal might taste of its sacred waters, and it was cleansed annually with vessels also sacred—most ancient vases that had been transmitted from generation to generation since times to which even tradition went not back. These vessels were kept ranged on the wall of the well. The frog, the rattlesnake, and the tortoise were depicted upon them, and were sacred to the great patron of the place, whose terrible lightning should consume the sacrilegious hand that touched these hallowed relics.[III-32]Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 39.

The Earth, The Sea, The Sky

We have seen how the Californian tribes believe themselves descended from the very earth, how the bodiless ancestor of the Tezcucans came up from the soil, how the Guatemaltecs, Papagos, and Pimas were molded from the clay they tread, and how the Navajos came to light from the bowels of a great mountain near the river San Juan. It seems long ago and often to have come into men’s mind that the over-arching heaven or something there and the all-producing earth are, as it were, a father and mother to all living creatures. The Comanches call on the earth as their mother, and on the Great Spirit as their father. The Mexicans used to pray: Be pleased, O our Lord, that the nobles who may die in the war be peacefully and pleasingly received by the sun and the earth, who are the father and mother of all.[III-33]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 43. It was probably, again, with some reference to the motherly function of the earth that the same people, when an earthquake came, took their children by the head or hand, and lifted them up saying: The earthquake will make them grow.[III-34]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. v., ap., pp. 21-2. Sometimes they specified a particular part of the earth as closer to them in this relation than other parts. It is said that on the tenth day of the month Quecholli, the citizens of Mexico and those of Tlatelolco were wont to visit a hill called Cacatepec, for they said it was their mother.[III-35]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 70.

As to the substance, arrangement, and so on of the earth and sky there remain one or two ideas not already given in connection with the general creation. The Tlascaltecs, and perhaps others of the Anáhuac peoples, believed that the earth was flat, and ending with the sea-shore, was borne up by certain divinities, who when fatigued relieved each other, and that as the burden was shifted from shoulder to shoulder earthquakes occurred. The sea and sky were considered as of one material, the sea being more highly condensed; and the rain was thought to fall not from clouds but from the very substance of heaven itself.[III-36]Camargo, Hist. de Tlaxcallan, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1834, tom. xcviii., p. 192. The Southern Californians believed that when the Creator made the world he fixed it on the back of seven giants, whose movements, as in the preceding myth, caused earthquakes.[III-37]Reid, in Los Angeles Star. The sky, according to certain of the Yucatecs, was held up by four brothers called each of them Bacab, in addition to their several names, which seem to have been Kan, Muluc, Ix, and Cauac. These four, God had placed at the four corners of the world when he created it, and they had escaped when all else were destroyed by flood.[III-38]Landa, Rel. de las Cosas de Yucatan, p. 206.

In the interior of the earth, in volcanoes, subterranean gods were often supposed to reside. The Koniagas, for example, held that the craters of Alaska were inhabited by beings mightier then men, and that these sent forth fire and smoke when they heated their sweat-houses or cooked their food.[III-39]Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 141.

The rugged majesty of hills and mountains has not been without its effect on the reverential mind of the American aborigines. Direct worship was unusual, but several incidents must have already informed the reader that a kind of sanctity is often attached to great elevations in nature. A predilection for hills and mounds as landmarks and fanes of tradition, and as places of worship, was as common among the Americans as among the people of the old world. The Choles of the province of Itza had a hill in their country that they regarded as the god of all the mountains, and on which they burned a perpetual fire.[III-40]Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. de Itza, pp. 151-2. The Mexicans, praying for rain, were accustomed to vow that they would make images of the mountains if their petitions were favorably received;[III-41]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 177. and, in other points connected with their religion to show, as has appeared and will appear both with them and with other people, their recognition of a divinity abiding on or hedging about the great peaks. What wonder, indeed, that to the rude and awe-struck mind, the everlasting hills seemed nearer and liker heaven than the common-place level of earth? and that the wild man should kneel or go softly there, as in the peculiar presence of the Great Spirit? This is hardly a new feeling, it seems an instinct and custom as old as religion. Where went Abraham in that awful hour, counted to him for righteousness through all the centuries? Where smoked the thunderings and lightnings that heralded the delivery of the Law, when the son of Amram talked with Jehovah face to face, as a man talketh with his friend? Whence saw a greater than Moses the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them? whence, in the all-nights that came after, did the prayers of the Christ ascend? and where stood he when his raiment became as no fuller on earth could white it; Moses and Elias talking with him, and Peter so sore afraid?

Hills and Mountain Ranges

Where hills were not found conveniently situated for purposes of worship, they seem to have been counterfeited after man’s feeble fashion: from high-place and mound, from pyramid and teocalli, since the morning stars sang together, the smoke of the altar and the censer has not ceased to ascend. But the day begins to broaden out, and the mists of the morning flee away; though the hills be not lowered, God is lifted up. Yet they have their glory and their charm still even to us, and to the savage they often appear as the result of a special and several creation. We remember how the Great Spirit made Mount Shasta as his only worthy abiding-place on earth; and I give here another legend of a much more trivial sort than the first, telling how, not Mount Shasta alone, but all the mountains of California were built and put into position:—[III-42]Powers’ Pomo, MS. This is a tradition of the Yocuts, a Californian tribe, occupying the Kern and Tulare basins, the middle San Joaquin, and the various streams running into Lake Tulare. At a time when the world was covered with water there existed a Hawk and a Crow and a very small Duck. The latter, after diving to the bottom and bringing up a beakful of mud, died; whereupon the Crow and the Hawk took each a half of the mud that had been brought up, and set to work to make the mountains. Beginning at a place called Teheechaypah Pass, they built northwards, the Hawk working on the eastern range and the Crow on the western. It was a long and weary toil, but in time the work was finished, and as they laid the last peak the workers met at Mount Shasta. Then the Hawk saw that there had been foul play somewhere, for the western range was bigger than his; and he charged the Crow with stealing some of his mud. But the smart bird laughed a hoarse guffaw in the face of his eastern brother, not even taking the trouble to disown the theft, and chuckled hugely over his own success and western enterprise. The honest Hawk was at his wits’ end, and he stood thinking with his head on one side for quite a long time; then in an absent kind of way he picked up a leaf of Indian tobacco and began to chew, and wisdom came with chewing. And he strengthened himself mightily, and fixed his claws in the mountains, and turned the whole chain in the water like a great floating wheel, till the range of his rival had changed places with his, and the Sierra Nevada was on the east and the Coast Range on the west, as they remain to this day.

This legend is not without ingenuity in its way but there is more of human interest in the following pretty story of the Yosemite nations, as to the origin of the names and present appearance of certain peaks and other natural features of their valley:—

Totokónula and Tisayac of Yosemite

A certain Totokónula was once chief of the people here: a mighty hunter and a good husbandman, his tribe never wanted food while he attended to their welfare. But a change came; while out hunting one day, the young man met a spirit-maid, the guardian angel of the valley, the beautiful Tisayac. She was not as the dusky beauties of his tribe, but white and fair, with rolling yellow tresses that fell over her shoulders like sunshine, and blue eyes with a light in them like the sky where the sun goes down. White, cloudlike wings were folded behind her shoulders, and her voice was sweeter than the song of birds; no wonder the strong chief loved her with a mad and instant love. He reached toward her, but the snowy wings lifted her above his sight, and he stood again alone upon the dome, where she had been.

No more Totokónula led in the chase or heeded the crops in the valley; he wandered here and there like a man distraught, ever seeking that wonderful shining vision that had made all else on earth stale and unprofitable in his sight. The land began to languish, missing the industrious directing hand that had tended it so long; the pleasant garden became a wilderness where the drought laid waste, and the wild beast spoiled what was left, and taught his cubs to divide the prey. When the fair spirit returned at last to visit her valley, she wept to see the desolation, and she knelt upon the dome, praying to the Great Spirit for succor. God heard, and stooping from his place, he clove the dome upon which she stood, and the granite was riven beneath her feet, and the melted snows of the Nevada rushed through the gorge, bearing fertility upon their cool bosom. A beautiful lake was formed between the cloven walls of the mountain, and a river issued from it to feed the valley for ever. Then sang the birds as of old, laving their bodies in the water, and the odor of flowers rose like a pleasant incense, and the trees put forth their buds, and the corn shot up to meet the sun and rustled when the breeze crept through the tall stalks.

Tisayac moved away as she had come, and none knew whither she went; but the people called the dome by her name, as it is indeed known to this day. After her departure the chief returned from his weary quest; and as he heard that the winged one had visited the valley, the old madness crept up into his eyes and entered, seven times worse than at the first, into his empty soul; he turned his back on the lodges of his people. His last act was to cut with his hunting-knife the outline of his face upon a lofty rock, so that if he never returned his memorial at least should remain with them forever. He never did return from that hopeless search, but the graven rock was called Totokónula, after his name, and it may be still seen, three thousand feet high, guarding the entrance of the beautiful valley.[III-43]Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. iv., pp. 197-9.

Leaving this locality and subject, I may remark that the natives have named the Póhono Fall, in the same valley, after an evil spirit; many persons having been swept over and dashed to pieces there. No native of the vicinity will so much as point at this fall when going through the valley, nor could anything tempt one of them to sleep near it; for the ghosts of the drowned are tossing in its spray, and their wail is heard forever above the hiss of its rushing waters.[III-44]Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. iv., p. 243.

Footnotes

[III-1] North Am. Rev., vol. ciii., p. 1.

[III-2] Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 279; Apostólicos Afanes, p. 68.

[III-3] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 74-5, 200-18; Explicacion del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, parte ii., lam. x., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 139; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), tav. xxv. and xxxiii., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 178, 181-2; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 80-1; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 9, 11, 17, 34-5.

[III-4] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. des Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 301; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Quatre Lettres, p. 156; Tylor’s Prim. Cult., vol. ii., pp. 259, 262-3; Squier’s Serpent Symbol, pp. 18-20; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 60, vol. iv., p. 639, vol. v., pp. 29-87, vol. vi., pp. 594, 626, 636.

[III-5] Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 474.

[III-6] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vii., pp. 244-5. In Campeche, in 1834, M. Waldeck witnessed an eclipse of the moon during which the Yucatecs conducted themselves much as their fathers might have done in their gentile days, howling frightfully and making every effort to part the celestial combatants. The only apparent advance made on the old customs was the firing off of muskets, ‘to prove’ in the words of the sarcastic artist, ‘that the Yucatecs of to-day are not strangers to the progress of civilization.’ Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 14.

[III-7] Camargo, Hist. de Tlaxcallan, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 193.

[III-8] Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. ii., p. 218; Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 202; Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., pp. 296-300.

[III-9] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 250.

[III-10] Explicacion del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, part. ii., lam. x., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 139; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), tav. xxvi., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 179; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vii., p. 250; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 9-17.

[III-11] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Quatre Lettres, pp. 155-6.

[III-12] Explicacion delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, part. i., lam. ii., part. ii., lam. xiv., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 132, 140; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), tav. xvii., xxxi., Ib., vol. v., pp. 175, 181; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vii., pp. 250-252; Camargo, Hist. de Tlaxcallan, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 193; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 81. The word tecutli is of frequent occurrence as a termination in the names of Mexican gods. It signifies ‘lord’ and is written with various spellings. I follow that given by Molina’s Vocabulary.

[III-13] Tylor’s Prim. Cult., vol. ii., p. 259.

[III-14] Brinton’s Myths, p. 143.

[III-15] Ward, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1864, p. 193.

[III-16] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., p. 16; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 56-7; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. des Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 491-2.

[III-17] Powers’ Pomo, MS.

[III-18] Eaton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 218-19.

[III-19] Powers’ Pomo, MS.

[III-20] Brasseur de Bourbourg, S’il Existe des Sources de l’Hist. Prim. du Mexique, p. 101.

[III-21] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 485; Brinton’s Myths, p. 51.

[III-22] Brinton’s Myths, pp. 66-98.

[III-23] Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 141.

[III-24] Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 6; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. 9.

[III-25] Gama, Dos Piedras, pt. ii., p. 76.

[III-26] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 197.

[III-27] Singularly apt in this connection are the wise words that Carlyle, Past and Present Chartism, book i., p. 233, puts into the mouth of his mythical friend Sauerteig—’Strip thyself, go into the bath, or were it into the limpid pool and running brook, and there wash and be clean; thou wilt step out again a purer and a better man. This consciousness of perfect outer pureness, that to thy skin there now adheres no foreign speck of imperfection, how it radiates in on thee with cunning symbolic influences, to the very soul!… It remains a religious duty from oldest time in the East…. Even the dull English feel something of this; they have a saying, “cleanliness is near of kin to Godliness.”‘

[III-28] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 15-16. ‘Era conosciuta con altri nomi assai espressive, i quali o significavano i diversi effetti, che cagionano l’acque, o le diverse apparenze, colori, che formano col loro moto. I Tlascallesi la chiamavano Matlalcueje, cioè, vestita di gonna turchina.’ See also Müller, Reisen in Mex., tom. iii., p. 89.

[III-29] Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 46, 55.

[III-30] Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 91; Bristol, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1867, p. 358.

[III-31] Backus, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 213.

[III-32] Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 39.

[III-33] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 43.

[III-34] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. v., ap., pp. 21-2.

[III-35] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 70.

[III-36] Camargo, Hist. de Tlaxcallan, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1834, tom. xcviii., p. 192.

[III-37] Reid, in Los Angeles Star.

[III-38] Landa, Rel. de las Cosas de Yucatan, p. 206.

[III-39] Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 141.

[III-40] Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. de Itza, pp. 151-2.

[III-41] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 177.

[III-42] Powers’ Pomo, MS. This is a tradition of the Yocuts, a Californian tribe, occupying the Kern and Tulare basins, the middle San Joaquin, and the various streams running into Lake Tulare.

[III-43] Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. iv., pp. 197-9.

[III-44] Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. iv., p. 243.

Chapter IV • Animal Mythology • 4,700 Words

Rôles Assigned to Animals—Auguries from their Movements—The Ill-omened Owl—Tutelary Animals—Metamorphosed Men—The Ogress-Squirrel of Vancouver Island—Monkeys and Beavers—Fallen Men—The Sacred Animals—Prominence of the Bird—An Emblem of the Wind—The Serpent, an Emblem of the Lightning—Not Specially connected With Evil—The Serpent of the Pueblos—The Water-Snake—Ophiolatry—Prominence of the Dog, or the Coyote—Generally though not always a Benevolent Power—How the Coyote let Salmon up the Klamath—Danse Macabre and Sad Death of the Coyote.

The reader must have already noticed the strange rôles filled by animals in the creeds of the Native Races of the Pacific States. Beasts and birds and fishes fetch and carry, talk and act, in a way that leaves even Æsop’s heroes in the shade; while a mysterious and inexplicable influence over human destiny is often accorded to them. It is of course impossible to say precisely how much of all this is metaphorical, and how much is held as soberly and literally true. Probably the proportion varies all the way from one extreme to the other among different nations, and among peoples of different stages of culture in the same nation. They spake only in part, these priests and prophets of barbaric cults, and we can understand only in part; we cannot solve the dark riddle of the past; we can oftenest only repeat it, and even that in a more or less imperfect manner.

The Mexicans had their official augurs and soothsayers, who divined much as did their brethren of classic times. The people also drew omen and presage from many things: from the howling of wild beasts at night; the singing of certain birds; the hooting of the owl; a weasel crossing a traveler’s path; a rabbit running into its burrow; from the chance movements of worms, beetles, ants, frogs, and mice; and so on in detail.[IV-1]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. v., pp. 1-14, ap. pp. 25-6.

The owl seems to have been in many places considered a bird of ill omen. Among all the tribes visited by Mr Lord, from the Fraser River to the Saint Lawrence, this bird was portentously sacred, and was a favorite decoration of the medicine-men. To come on an owl at an unusual time, in daylight for example, and to hear its mystic cry, were things not desirable of any that loved fulness of pleasure and length of days.[IV-2]Lord’s Naturalist in Vancouver Island, vol. ii., pp. 32-4. In California, by the tribes on the Russian River, owls were held to be devils or evil spirits incarnate.[IV-3]Powers’ Pomo, MS.

We often find an animal adopted in much the same way as a patron saint was selected by the mediæval knight. The Hyperborean lad, for example, when he reaches manhood, takes some beast or fish or bird to be his patron, and the spirit connected with that animal is supposed to guard him. Unlike most Indians, the Eskimo will have no hesitation in killing an animal of his tutelary species: he is only careful to wear a piece of its skin or bone, which he regards as an amulet, which it were to him a serious misfortune to lose. Prolonged ill luck sometimes leads a man to change his patron beast for another. The spirits connected with the deer, the seal, the salmon, and the beluga are regarded by all with special veneration.[IV-4]Dall’s Alaska, p. 145.

The Mexicans used to allot certain animals to certain parts of the body; perhaps in much the same way as astrologers and alchemists used to connect the stars of heaven with different substances and persons. The following twenty Mexican symbols were supposed to rule over the various members of the human body: The sign of the deer, over the right foot; of the tiger, over the left foot; of the eagle, over the right hand; of the monkey, over the left hand; of death—represented by a skull—over the skull; of water, over the hair; of the house, over the brow; of rain, over the eyes; of the dog, over the nose; of the vulture, over the right ear; of the rabbit, over the left ear; of the earthquake, over the tongue; of flint, over the teeth; of air, over the breath; of the rose, over the breast; of the cane, over the heart; of wind, over the lungs—as appears from the plate in the Codex Vaticanus, the Italian interpreter giving, however, “over the liver;” of the grass, over the intestines; of the lizard, over the loins; and of the serpent, over the genitals.[IV-5]Codex Vaticanus (Mex.), in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ii., plate 75; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 197, tav. lxxv.; Explanation of the Codex Vaticanus, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., pp. 222-3, plate lxxv. It will be seen that I have trusted more to the plate itself than to the Italian explanation. As to Kingsborough’s translation of that explanation, it is nothing but a gloss with additions to and omissions from the original.

The Humanity of Animals

Sometimes the whole life and being of a man was supposed to be bound up in the bundle with that of some animal. Thus, of the Guatemaltecs, old Gage quaintly enough writes: “Many are deluded by the Devil to believe that their life dependeth upon the life of such and such a beast (which they take unto them as their familiar spirit) and think that when that beast dieth they must die; when he is chased their hearts pant; when he is faint they are faint; nay it happeneth that by the devil’s delusion they appear in the shape of that beast.”[IV-6]Gage’s New Survey, p. 334.

Animals are sometimes only men in disguise; and this is the idea often to be found at the bottom of that sacredness which among particular tribes is ascribed to particular animals.

The Thlinkeet will kill a bear only in case of great necessity, for the bear is supposed to be a man that has taken the shape of an animal. We do not know if they think the same of the albatross, but they certainly will not kill this bird, believing, like mariners ancient and modern, that such a misdeed would be followed by bad weather.[IV-7]Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 30.

Among the natives seen by Mr Lord on Vancouver Island, ill-luck is supposed to attend the profane killing of the ogress-squirrel, and the conjurers wear its skin as a strong charm among their other trumpery. As tradition tells, there once lived there a monstrous old woman with wolfish teeth, and finger-nails like claws. She ate children, this old hag, wiling them to her with cunning and oily words, and many were the broken hearts and empty cradles that she left. One poor Rachel, weeping for her child and not to be comforted because it was not, cries aloud: Oh, Great Spirit, Great Medicine, save my son, in any way, in any form! And the great, good Father, looking down upon the red mother pities her; lo, the child’s soft brown skin turns to fur, and there slides from the ogress’s grip no child, but the happiest, liveliest, merriest little squirrel of all the west—but bearing, as its descendants still bear, those four dark lines along the back that show where the cruel claws plowed into it escaping.[IV-8]Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 52-4.

Where monkeys are found, the idea seems often to have occurred to men, to account for the resemblance of the monkey to the man by making of the first a fallen or changed form of the latter. We have already seen how the third Quiché destruction of the human race terminated thus; and how the hurricane-ended Sun of the Air in Mexican mythology, also left men in the apish state. The intelligence of beavers may have been the means of winning them a similar distinction. The Flathead says these animals are a fallen race of Indians, condemned for their wickedness to this form, but who will yet, in the fulness of time, be restored to their humanity.[IV-9]Cox’s Adven., vol. i., p. 253.

As we shall see more particularly, when we come to deal with the question of the future life, it was a common idea that the soul of the dead took an animal shape, sometimes inhabiting another world, sometimes this. The Thlinkeets, for example, believed that their shamáns used to have interviews with certain spirits of the dead that appeared to them in two forms, some as land animals, some as marine.[IV-10]Dall’s Alaska, pp. 422-3.

Sacredness of Certain Brutes

The Californians round San Diego will not eat the flesh of large game, believing such animals are inhabited by the souls of generations of people that have died ages ago; ‘eater of venison!’ is a term of reproach among them.[IV-11]Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 215.

The Pimos and Maricopas had, if Bartlett’s account be correct, some curious and unusual ideas regarding their future state; saying that the several parts of the body should be changed into separate animals; the head would perhaps take the form of an owl, the feet become wolves, and so on.[IV-12]Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 222. The Moquis supposed that at death they should be severally changed into animals—bears, deer, and such beasts; which indeed, as we have already seen, they believed to have been their original form.[IV-13]Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 86.

Different reasons are given by different tribes for holding certain animals sacred; some of these we have already had occasion to notice. Somewhat different from most, however, is that given by the Northern-Indian branch of the Tinneh, for not eating the flesh of foxes, wolves, ravens, and so on. This tribe are accustomed to abandon the bodies of their dead wherever they happen to fall, leaving them to the maws of kites or of any other animals of prey in the neighborhood; therefore nothing but the extremest necessity can force any member of the nation to make use of such animals as food.[IV-14]Hearne’s Journey, p. 341.

Certain natives of Guatemala in the province of Acalán, called by Villagutierre Mazotecas, kept deer in so tame a state that they were easily killed by the least active soldiers. These deer were held as sacred by the inhabitants; for tradition told them that their greatest god had visited them in this figure.[IV-15]Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 43. The Apaches greatly respect the bear, neither killing him nor tasting his flesh. They think that there are spirits of divine origin within or connected with the eagle, the owl, and all birds perfectly white. Swine, they hold to be wholly unclean.[IV-16]Charlton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 209. Some animals are sacred to particular gods: with the Zuñis, the frog, the turtle, and the rattlesnake were either considered as specially under the protection of Montezuma—here considered as the god of rain—or they were themselves the lesser divinities of water.[IV-17]Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., pp. 39-40, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii.

It is sometimes necessary to guard against being misled by names. Thus the natives of Nicaragua had gods whose name was that of a rabbit or a deer; yet these animals were not considered as gods. The identity of name went only to say that such and such were the gods to be invoked in hunting such and such animals.[IV-18]Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 54-5.

The Wind or Thunder Bird

The reader must have already noticed how important is the part assigned to birds in our mythology, especially in creation-myths. A great bird is the agent of the chief deity, perhaps the chief deity himself. The sweep of his wings is thunder; the lightnings are the glances of his eyes.[IV-19]Swinburne, Anactoria, has found an allied idea worthy of his sublime verse:—

’Cast forth of heaven, with feet of awful gold,
And plumeless wings that make the bright air blind,
Lightning, with thunder for a hound behind,
Hunting through fields unfurrowed and unsown—'
Chipewyans, Thlinkeets, Atnas, Koltschanes, Kenai, and other nations give this being great prominence in their legends.

Brinton believes this bird to be the emblem of the wind, to be “a relic of the cosmogonal myth which explained the origin of the world from the action of the winds, under the image of the bird, on the primeval ocean;”[IV-20]Brinton’s Myths, p. 205. The Norse belief is akin to this:—

’The giant Hrsuelgur,
At the end of heaven,
Sits in an eagle’s form;
‘Tis said that from his wings
The cold winds sweep
Over all the nations.'

Vafthrudvers maal; Grenville Pigott’s translation, in Scandinavian Mythology, p. 27.

Scott, Pirate, chap. v., in the ‘Song of the Tempest,’ which he translates from Norna’s mouth, shows that the same idea is still found in the Shetland Islands:—

’Stern eagle of the far north-west,
Thou that bearest in thy grasp the thunderbolt,
Thou whose rushing pinions stir ocean to madness, …
Cease thou the waving of thy pinions,
Let the ocean repose in her dark strength;
Cease thou the flashing of thine eyes,
Let the thunderbolt sleep in the armory of Odin.'
and his view is probably correct in many cases.

The savage is ever ready to be smitten by natural powers. Ignorant and agape with wonder, is it unnatural that he should regard, with a superstitious awe and respect, the higher and more peculiar animal gifts, relating them to like physical powers, and managing to mix and confuse the whole by a strange synthesis of philosophy? Birds flew, the winds flew; the birds were of the kith of the winds, and the winds were of the kin of the gods who are over all. Poor, weary, painted man, who could only toil dustily along, foot-sore and perhaps heart-sore, with strange longings that venison and bear-meat could not satisfy—was it very wonderful if the throbbing music and upward flight of the clear-throated and swift-winged were to him very mysterious and sacred things? “All living beings,” say the north-eastern Eskimos, “have the faculty of soul, but especially the bird.” From the flight and song of birds, the Mexican divined and shadowed forth the unborn shapes of the to-come. He died too, if he died in an odor of warlike sanctity, in the strong faith that his soul should ultimately take the form of a bird and twitter through the ages in the purple shadows of the trees of paradise.[IV-21]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., p. 265; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 5.

The Kailtas on the south fork of the Trinity in California, though they do not turn the soul into a bird, do say that as it leaves the body a little bird carries it up to the spirit-land.[IV-22]Powers’ Pomo, MS.

The Spaniards of Vizcaino’s expedition, in 1602, found the Californians of Santa Catalina Island venerating two great black crows, which, according to Señor Galan, were probably a species of bird known in Mexico as rey de los zopilotes, or king of turkey-buzzards; he adding that these birds are still the objects of respect and devotion among most Californian tribes.[IV-23]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 713: ‘The entire tribes of the Californian Indiania [sic] appear to have had a great devotion and veneration for the Condor or Yellow-headed Vulture.’ Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, May 25th, 1860. ‘Cathartes Californianus, the largest rapacious bird of North America.’ Baird’s Birds of N. Am., p. 5. ‘This bird is an object of great veneration or worship among the Indian tribes of every portion of the state.’ Reid, in Los Angeles Star.

As another symbol, sign, or type of the supernatural, the serpent would naturally suggest itself at an early date to man. Its stealthy, subtle, sinuous motion, the glittering fascination of its eyes, the silent deathly thrust of its channeled fangs—what marvel if the foolishest of men, like the wisest of kings, should say “I know it not; it is a thing too wonderful for me?” It seems to be immortal: every spring-time it cast off and crept from its former skin, a crawling unburnt phœnix, a new animal.

Schwartz, of Berlin, affirms, from deep research in Greek and German mythology, that the paramount germinal idea in this wide-spread serpent-emblem is the lightning, and Dr. Brinton develops the same opinion at some length.[IV-24]Brinton’s Myths, p. 112.

Tlaloc, the Aztec rain-god, held in his hand a serpent-shaped piece of gold, representing most probably the lightning. Hurakan, of the Quiché legends, is otherwise the Strong Serpent, he who hurls below, referring in all likelihood to storm powers as thunderer.[IV-25]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 46-71; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 14-15; Gama, Dos Piedras, pt. ii., pp. 76-7. This view being accepted, the lightning-serpent is the type of fruitfulness; the thunder storm being inseparably joined with the thick, fertilizing summer showers.[IV-26]Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 500. Born, too, in the middle heaven, of a cloud mother and of an Ixion upon whom science cannot yet place her finger, amid moaning breeze and threatening tempest, the lightning is surely also akin to the wind and to the bird that is their symbol. The amalgamation of these powers in one deity seems to be what is indicated by such names as Quetzalcoatl, Gucumatz, Cukulcan, all titles of the God of the Air in different American languages, and all signifying ‘Bird-Serpent.’

The Cross and the Four Winds

In a tablet on the wall of a room at Palenque is a cross surmounted by a bird, and supported by what appears to be the head of a serpent: “The cross,” says Brinton, “is the symbol of the four winds; the bird and serpent, the rebus of the air god, their ruler.”

It does not appear that savages attach any special significance of evil to the snake, though the prepossessions of early writers almost invariably blind them on this point.[IV-27]Tylor’s Prim. Cult., vol. ii., p. 217. This rule is not without its exceptions however; the Apaches hold that every rattlesnake contains the soul of a bad man or is an emissary of the Evil Spirit.[IV-28]Charlton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 209. The Piutes of Nevada have a demon-deity in the form of a serpent still supposed to exist in the waters of Pyramid Lake. The wind when it sweeps down among the nine islands of the lake drives the waters into the most fantastic swirls and eddies, even when the general surface of the lake is tolerably placid. This, say the Piutes, is the devil-snake causing the deep to boil like a pot; this is the old serpent seeking whom he may devour; and no native in possession of his five sober wits will be found steering toward those troubled waters at such a time.[IV-29]Virginia City Chronicle, in S. F. Daily Ev’g Post, of Aug. 12th, 1872.

In the Pueblo cities, among the Pecos especially, there existed in early times an immense serpent, supposed to be sacred, and which, according to some accounts, was fed with the flesh of his devotees. Gregg heard an “honest ranchero” relate how, one snowy morning, he had come upon this terrible reptile’s trail, “large as that of a dragging ox;” the ranchero did not pursue the investigation farther, not obtruding his science, such as it was, upon his religion. This serpent was supposed to be specially connected with Montezuma, and with rain phenomena: it is often called “the great water-snake.” It was described to Whipple “as being as large round as a man’s body; and of exceeding great length, slowly gliding upon the water, with long wavy folds” like the Nahant sea-serpent—to Möllhausen, as being a great rattlesnake, possessor of power over seas, lakes, rivers and rain; as thick as many men put together, and much longer than all the snakes in the world; moving in great curves and destroying wicked men. The Pueblo Indians prayed to it for rain and revered its mysterious powers.[IV-30]Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., pp. 271-2; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., pp. 38-9, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii.; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 170; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 164-5. Certain later travelers deny all the foregoing as ‘fiction and fable;’ meaning, probably, that they saw nothing of it, or that it does not exist at present. Wand, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1864, p. 193; Meline’s Two Thousand Miles, p. 256.

A people, called by Castañeda Tahus, apparently of Sinaloa in the neighborhood of Culiacan, regarded certain large serpents with sentiments of great veneration if not of worship.[IV-31]Castañeda, Voy. de Cibola, in Ternaux-Compans, Voyages, série i., tom. ix., p. 150. These reptiles seem also to have been regarded with considerable reverence in Yucatan. In 1517, Bernal Diaz noticed many figures of serpents in a temple he saw at Campeche. Juan de Grijalva, also, found at the same time many such figures at Champoton, among other idols of clay and wood.[IV-32]Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 3, 8.

We have already spoken of the Mexican Tlaloc and of the frequent appearance of the serpent in his worship; it does not appear, however, notwithstanding Mr Squier’s assertion to the contrary, that the serpent was actually worshiped either in Yucatan or Mexico. Bernal Diaz, indeed, says positively in one passage, speaking of a town called Tenayuca, that “they worshiped here, in their chief temple, three serpents;” but the stout soldier was not one to make fine distinctions between gods and their attributes or symbols; nor, even with the best intentions, was he or any other of the conquistadores in a position to do justice to the faith of ‘gentiles.'[IV-33]Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 136; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 105.

We shall hereafter find the serpent closely connected with Quetzalcoatl in many of his manifestations, as well as with others of the Mexican gods.

The Dog of American Mythology

From the serpent let us turn to the dog, with his relations the wolf and coyote, an animal holding a respectable place in American mythology. We have seen how many tribes derive, figuratively or literally, their origin from him, and how often he becomes legendarily important as the hero of some adventure or the agent of some deity. He is generally brought before us in a rather benevolent aspect, though an exception occurs to this in the case of the Chinooks at the mouth of the Columbia. With these the coyote figures as the chosen medium for the action of the Evil Spirit toward any given malevolent end—as the form taken by the Evil One to counteract some beneficence of the Good Spirit toward the poor Indian whom he loves.[IV-34]Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 218.

Very different from this is the character of that Coyote of the Cahrocs whose good deeds we have so often had occasion to set forth. One feat of his yet remains to be told—how he stocked the river with salmon. Chareya, the creator, had made salmon, but he had put them in the big-water, and made a great fish-dam at the mouth of the Klamath, so that they could not go up; and this dam was closed with something of the nature of a white man’s key, which key was given in charge to two old hags, not wholly unfamiliar to us, to keep and watch over it night and day, so that no Cahroc should get near it. Now fish being wanting to the Cahrocs, they were sorely pushed by hunger, and the voice of women and little children was heard imploring food. The Coyote determined to help them; he swore by the stool of Chareya that before another moon their lodges should drip with salmon, and the very dogs be satisfied withal. So he traveled down the Klamath many days’ journey till he came to the mouth of the river and saw the big-water and heard the thunder of its waves. Up he went to the hut of the old women, rapped, and asked hospitality for the night; and he was so polite and debonair that the crones could find no excuse for refusing him. He entered the place and threw himself down by the fire, warming himself while they prepared salmon for supper, which they ate without offering him a bite. All night long he lay by the fire pretending to sleep, but thinking over his plans and waiting for the event that should put him in possession of the mighty key that he saw hanging so high above his reach. In the morning one of the hags took down the key and started off toward the dam to get some fish for breakfast. Like a flash the Coyote leaped at her, hurling himself between her feet; heels over head she pitched, and the key flew far from her hands. Before she well knew what had hurt her the Coyote stood at the dam with the key in his teeth, wrenching at the fastenings. They gave way; and with a great roar the green water raced through, all ashine with salmon, utterly destroying and breaking down the dam, so that ever after fish found free way up the Klamath.

Coyotes Must Not Dance with Stars

The end of the poor Coyote was rather sad, considering his kindness of heart and the many services he had rendered the Cahrocs. Like too many great personages, he grew proud and puffed up with the adulation of flatterers and sycophants—proud of his courage and cunning, and of the success that had crowned his great enterprises for the good of mankind—proud that he had twice deceived and outwitted the guardian hags to whom Chareya had entrusted the fire and the salmon—so proud that he determined to have a dance through heaven itself, having chosen as his partner a certain star that used to pass quite close by a mountain where he spent a good deal of his time. So he called out to the star to take him by the paw and they would go round the world together for a night; but the star only laughed, and winked in an excessively provoking way from time to time. The Coyote persisted angrily in his demand, and barked and barked at the star all round heaven, till the twinkling thing grew tired of his noise and told him to be quiet and he should be taken next night. Next night the star came quite up close to the cliff where the Coyote stood, who leaping was able to catch on. Away they danced together through the blue heavens. Fine sport it was for a while; but oh, it grew bitter cold up there for a Coyote of the earth, and it was an awful sight to look down to where the broad Klamath lay like a slack bowstring and the Cahroc villages like arrow-heads. Woe for the Coyote! his numb paws have slipped their hold on his bright companion; dark is the partner that leads the dance now, and the name of him is Death. Ten long snows the Coyote is in falling, and when he strikes the earth he is “smashed as flat as a willow-mat”.—Coyotes must not dance with stars.[IV-35]Powers’ Pomo, MS.; Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., pp. 259-262, describes certain other Californians as worshiping for their chief god something in the form of a stuffed coyote.

Footnotes

[IV-1] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. v., pp. 1-14, ap. pp. 25-6.

[IV-2] Lord’s Naturalist in Vancouver Island, vol. ii., pp. 32-4.

[IV-3] Powers’ Pomo, MS.

[IV-4] Dall’s Alaska, p. 145.

[IV-5] Codex Vaticanus (Mex.), in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ii., plate 75; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 197, tav. lxxv.; Explanation of the Codex Vaticanus, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., pp. 222-3, plate lxxv. It will be seen that I have trusted more to the plate itself than to the Italian explanation. As to Kingsborough’s translation of that explanation, it is nothing but a gloss with additions to and omissions from the original.

[IV-6] Gage’s New Survey, p. 334.

[IV-7] Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., p. 30.

[IV-8] Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 52-4.

[IV-9] Cox’s Adven., vol. i., p. 253.

[IV-10] Dall’s Alaska, pp. 422-3.

[IV-11] Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 215.

[IV-12] Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 222.

[IV-13] Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 86.

[IV-14] Hearne’s Journey, p. 341.

[IV-15] Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 43.

[IV-16] Charlton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 209.

[IV-17] Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., pp. 39-40, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii.

[IV-18] Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 54-5.

[IV-19] Swinburne, Anactoria, has found an allied idea worthy of his sublime verse:—

’Cast forth of heaven, with feet of awful gold,
And plumeless wings that make the bright air blind,
Lightning, with thunder for a hound behind,
Hunting through fields unfurrowed and unsown—'

[IV-20] Brinton’s Myths, p. 205. The Norse belief is akin to this:—

’The giant Hrsuelgur,
At the end of heaven,
Sits in an eagle’s form;
‘Tis said that from his wings
The cold winds sweep
Over all the nations.'

Vafthrudvers maal; Grenville Pigott’s translation, in Scandinavian Mythology, p. 27.

Scott, Pirate, chap. v., in the ‘Song of the Tempest,’ which he translates from Norna’s mouth, shows that the same idea is still found in the Shetland Islands:—

’Stern eagle of the far north-west,
Thou that bearest in thy grasp the thunderbolt,
Thou whose rushing pinions stir ocean to madness, …
Cease thou the waving of thy pinions,
Let the ocean repose in her dark strength;
Cease thou the flashing of thine eyes,
Let the thunderbolt sleep in the armory of Odin.'

[IV-21] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., p. 265; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 5.

[IV-22] Powers’ Pomo, MS.

[IV-23] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 713: ‘The entire tribes of the Californian Indiania [sic] appear to have had a great devotion and veneration for the Condor or Yellow-headed Vulture.’ Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, May 25th, 1860. ‘Cathartes Californianus, the largest rapacious bird of North America.’ Baird’s Birds of N. Am., p. 5. ‘This bird is an object of great veneration or worship among the Indian tribes of every portion of the state.’ Reid, in Los Angeles Star.

[IV-24] Brinton’s Myths, p. 112.

[IV-25] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 46-71; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 14-15; Gama, Dos Piedras, pt. ii., pp. 76-7.

[IV-26] Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 500.

[IV-27] Tylor’s Prim. Cult., vol. ii., p. 217.

[IV-28] Charlton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 209.

[IV-29] Virginia City Chronicle, in S. F. Daily Ev’g Post, of Aug. 12th, 1872.

[IV-30] Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., pp. 271-2; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., pp. 38-9, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii.; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 170; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 164-5. Certain later travelers deny all the foregoing as ‘fiction and fable;’ meaning, probably, that they saw nothing of it, or that it does not exist at present. Wand, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1864, p. 193; Meline’s Two Thousand Miles, p. 256.

[IV-31] Castañeda, Voy. de Cibola, in Ternaux-Compans, Voyages, série i., tom. ix., p. 150.

[IV-32] Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 3, 8.

[IV-33] Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 136; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 105.

[IV-34] Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 218.

[IV-35] Powers’ Pomo, MS.; Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., pp. 259-262, describes certain other Californians as worshiping for their chief god something in the form of a stuffed coyote.

Chapter V • Gods, Supernatural Beings, and Worship • 15,000 Words

Eskimo Witchcraft—The Tinneh and the Koniagas—Kugans of the Aleuts—The Thlinkeets, the Haidahs, and the Nootkas—Paradise Lost of the Okanagans—The Salish, the Clallams, the Chinooks, the Cayuses, the Walla Wallas, and the Nez Percés—Shoshone Ghouls—Northern California—The Sun at Monterey—Ouiot and Chinigchinich—Antagonistic Gods of Lower California—Comanches, Apaches, and Navajos—Montezuma of the Pueblos—Moquis and Mojaves—Primeval Race of Northern California.

We now come to the broadest, whether or not it be the most important, branch of our subject, namely, the gods and spirits that men worship or know of. Commencing at the extreme north, we shall follow them through the various nations of our territory toward the south. Very wild and conflicting is the general mass of evidence bearing on a belief in supernatural existences. Not only from the nature of the subject is it allied to questions and matters the most abstruse and transcendental—in the expression of which the exactest dialectic terminology must often be at fault; much more the rude and stammering speech of savages—but it is also apt to call up prejudices of the most warping and contradictory kind in the minds of those through whose relation it must pass to us. However hopeless the task, I will strive to hold an equal beam of historical truth, and putting away speculations of either extreme, try to give the naked expression of the belief of the peoples we deal with—however stupid, however absurd—and not what they ought to believe, or may be supposed to believe, according to the ingenious speculations of different theorists.

Eskimo Shamanism

The Eskimos do not appear to recognize any supreme deity, but only an indefinite number of supernatural beings varying in name, power, and character—the evil seeming to predominate. They carry on the person a small ivory image rudely carved to represent some animal, as a kind of talisman; these are thought to further success in hunting, fishing and other pursuits, but can hardly be looked upon with any great reverence, as they are generally to be bought of their owners for a reasonable price. All supernatural business is transacted through the medium of shamáns;—functionaries answering to the medicine-men of eastern Indian tribes;—of these there are both male and female, each practising on or for the benefit of his or her own respective sex. The rites of their black art differ somewhat, according to Dall, from those of their Tinneh neighbors, and very much from those of the Tschuktschi and other Siberian tribes; and their whole religion may be summed up as a vague fear finding its expression in witchcraft.[V-1]Armstrong’s Nar., pp. 102, 193; Richardson’s Pol. Reg., pp. 319-20, 325; Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., pp. 358, 385; Dall’s Alaska, pp. 144-5.

The Tinneh, that great people stretching north of the fifty-fifth parallel nearly to the Arctic Ocean and to the Pacific, do not seem in any of their various tribes to have a single expressed idea with regard to a supreme power. The Loucheux branch recognize a certain personage, resident in the moon, whom they supplicate for success in starting on a hunting expedition. This being once lived among them as a poor ragged boy that an old woman had found and was bringing up; and who made himself ridiculous to his fellows by making a pair of very large snow-shoes; for the people could not see what a starveling like him should want with shoes of such unusual size. Times of great scarcity troubled the hunters, and they would often have fared badly had they not invariably on such occasions come across a new broad trail that led to a head or two of freshly killed game. They were glad enough to get the game and without scruples as to its appropriation; still they felt curious as to whence it came and how. Suspicion at last pointing to the boy and his great shoes, as being in some way implicated in the affair, he was watched. It soon became evident that he was indeed the benefactor of the Loucheux, and the secret hunter whose quarry had so often replenished their empty pots; yet the people were far from being adequately grateful, and continued to treat him with little kindness or respect. On one occasion they refused him a certain piece of fat—him who had so often saved their lives by his timely bounty! That night the lad disappeared, leaving only his clothes behind, hanging on a tree. He returned to them in a month, however, appearing as a man and dressed as a man. He told them that he had taken up his home in the moon; that he would always look down with a kindly eye to their success in hunting; but he added, that as a punishment for their shameless greed and ingratitude in refusing him the piece of fat, all animals should be lean the long winter through, and fat only in summer; as has since been the case.

Spirits with the Koniagas and Tinneh

According to Hearne, the Tinneh believe in a kind of spirits, or fairies, called nantena, which people the earth, the sea, and the air, and are instrumental for both good and evil. Some of them believe in a good spirit called Tihugun, ‘my old friend,’ supposed to reside in the sun and in the moon; they have also a bad spirit, Chutsain, apparently only a personification of death, and for this reason called bad.

They have no regular order of shamáns; any one when the spirit moves him may take upon himself their duties and pretensions, though some by happy chances, or peculiar cunning, are much more highly esteemed in this regard than others, and are supported by voluntary contributions. The conjurer often shuts himself in his tent and abstains from food for days till his earthly grossness thins away, and the spirits and things unseen are constrained to appear at his behest. The younger Tinneh care for none of these things; the strong limb and the keen eye, holding their own well in the jostle of life, mock at the terrors of the invisible; but as the pulses dwindle with disease or age, and the knees strike together in the shadow of impending death, the shamán is hired to expel the evil things of which the patient is possessed. Among the Tacullies, a confession is often resorted to at this stage, on the truth and accuracy of which depend the chances of a recovery. As Harmon says, “the crimes which they most frequently confess discover something of their moral character and therefore deserve to be mentioned;” but in truth I cannot mention them; both with women and with men a filthiness and bestiality worse than the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah defy the stomach of description. The same thing is true of the tedious and disgusting rites performed by the Tinneh shamáns over the sick and at various other emergencies. They blow on the invalid, leap about him or upon him, shriek, sing, groan, gesticulate, and foam at the mouth, with other details of hocus-pocus varying indefinitely with tribe and locality. The existence of a soul is for the most part denied, and the spirits with whom dealings are had are not spirits that were ever in or of men; neither are they regarded by men with any sentiment of love or kindly respect; fear and self-interest are the bonds—where any bonds exist—that link the Tinneh with powers supernal or infernal.[V-2]Hardisty, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, pp. 318-19; Jarvis’ Religion, Ind. N. Am., p. 91; Kennicott, in Whymper’s Alaska, p. 345; Mackenzie’s Voy., p. cxxviii.; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 178; Ross, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, pp. 306-7; Franklin’s Nar., vol. i., pp. 246-7; Harmon’s Jour., p. 300; Hooper’s Tuski, p. 317; Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., pp. 385-6; Dall’s Alaska, pp. 83-90; Whymper’s Alaska, pp. 231-2.

The Koniagas have the usual legion of spirits haunting water, earth, and air, whose wrath is only to be appeased by offerings to the shamáns; and sometimes, though very rarely, by human sacrifices of slaves. They have also a chief deity or spirit, called Shljam Schoá, and a power for evil called Eyak.[V-3]Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., pp. 140-1; Sauer, Billings’ Ex., p. 174.

Of the Aleuts, it is said that their rites showed a much higher religious development than was to be found among any of their neighbors; the labors of the Russian priests have, however, been successful enough among them to obliterate all remembrance of aught but the outlines of their ancient cult. They recognize a creator-god, but without worshiping him; he had made the world, but he did not guide it; men had nothing to do any longer with him, but only with the lesser kugans, or spirits, to whom the direction and care of earthly affairs have been committed. The stars and the sun and the moon were worshiped, or the spirits of them among others, and avenged themselves on those that adored them not. The offended sun smote the eyes of a scoffer with blindness, the moon stoned him to death, and the stars constrained him to count their number—hopeless task that always left the victim a staring maniac. The shamáns do not seem to have enjoyed that distinction among the Aleuts that their monopoly of mediation between man and the invisible world gave them among other nations. They were generally very poor, living in want and dying in misery; they had no part nor lot in the joys or sorrows of social life; never at feast, at wedding, or at a funeral was their face seen. They lived and wandered men forbid, driven to and fro by phantoms that were their masters and not their slaves. The Aleuts had no permanent idols, nor any worshiping-places built with hands; near every village was some sanctified high place or rock, sacred as a Sinai against the foot of woman or youth, and whoever profaned it became immediately mad or sick to death. Only the men and the old men visited the place leaving there their offerings of skins or feathers with unknown mysterious ceremonies.

The use of amulets was universal; and more than shield or spear to the warrior going to battle was a belt of sea-weed woven in magic knots. What a philosopher’s stone was to a Roger Bacon or a Paracelsus, was the tkhimkee, a marvelous pebble thrown up at rare intervals by the sea, to the Aleutian hunter. No beast could resist its attraction; he that carried it had no need to chase his prey, he had only to wait and strike as the animal walked up to its death. Another potent charm was grease taken from a dead man’s body; the spearhead touched with this was sure to reach a mortal spot in the whale at which it was hurled.

Aleutian Mystery-Dance

There are dim Aleutian traditions of certain religious night dances held in the month of December. Wooden idols, or figures of some kind, were made for the occasion and carried from island to island with many esoteric ceremonies. Then was to be seen a marvelous sight. The men and women were put far apart; in the middle of each party a wooden figure was set up; certain great wooden masks or blinders were put on each person, so contrived that the wearer could see nothing outside a little circle round his feet. Then every one stripped, and there upon the snow, under the moonlight, in the bitter Arctic night, danced naked before the image—say rather before the god, for as they danced a kugan descended and entered into the wooden figure. Woe to him or to her whose drift-wood mask fell, or was lifted, in the whirl of that awful dance; the stare of the Gorgon was not more fatal than a glance of the demon that possessed the idol; and for any one to look on one of the opposite sex, however it came about, he might be even counted as one dead. When the dance was over, the idols and the masks were broken and cast away. It may be added that such masks as this were needed, even by prophets in their interviews with the great spirits that know all mortal consequences; and that when a man died such a mask was put over his eyes—O naked and shivering soul, face to face with the darkest kugan of all we will shelter thee what we can.[V-4]D’Orbigny, Voy., pp. 579-80; Coxe’s Russ. Dis., p. 217; Dall’s Alaska, pp. 335, 389; See Bancroft’s Nat. Races, vol. i., p. 93.

The Thlinkeets are said not to believe in any supreme being. They have that Yehl, the Raven, and that Khanukh, the Wolf, whom we are already to some extent acquainted with; but neither the exact rank and character of these in the supernatural world, nor even their comparative rank, can be established above contradiction. Thus Yehl is said to be the creator of all beings and things, yet we have not forgotten how Khanukh wrung from the unwilling lips of him the confession: Thou art older that I. It is again said of Yehl that his power is unlimited; but alas, we have seen him helpless in the magic darkness raised by Khanukh, and howling as a frightened child might do in a gloomy corridor. The nature of Yehl is kind and he loves men, while the reverse is generally considered true of Khanukh; but Yehl, too, when his anger is stirred up sends sickness and evil fortune. Yehl existed before his birth upon earth; he cannot die nor even become older. Where the sources of the Nass are, whence the east-wind comes, is Nass-Shakieyehl, the home of Yehl; the east-wind brings news of him. By an unknown mother a son was born to him, who loves mankind even more than his father, and provides their food in due season. To conclude the matter, Yehl is, if not the central figure, at least the most prominent in the Thlinkeet pantheon, and the alpha and the omega of Thlinkeet philosophy and theology is summed up in their favorite aphorism: As Yehl acted and lived, so also will we live and do. After Yehl and Khanukh, the Thlinkeets believe in the brother and sister, Chethl and Ahgishanakhou, the Thunder or Thunder-bird, and the Under-ground Woman. Chethl is a kind of great northern rukh that snatches up and swallows a whale without difficulty, while his wings and eyes produce thunder and lightning as already described; his sister Ahgishanakhou sits alone below and guards the Irminsul that supports the world of the North-west.[V-5]In Holmberg’s account of these Thlinkeet supernatural powers, nothing is said of the sun or moon as indicating the possession of life by them or of any qualities not material. But Dunn, The Oregon Territory, p. 284, and Dixon, Voyage Round the World, pp. 189-90, describe at least some tribe or tribes of the Thlinkeets and many tribes of the Haidahs, that consider the sun to be a great spirit moving over the earth once every day, animating and keeping alive all creatures, and, apparently, as being the origin of all; the moon is a subordinate and night watcher.

The Thlinkeet ShamÁn

The Thlinkeets have no idols, unless the little images sometimes carried by the magicians for charming with may be called by that name; they have no worship nor priests, unless their sorcerers and the rites of them may be entitled to these appellations. These sorcerers or shamáns seem to be much respected; their words and actions are generally believed and acquiesced in by all; though the death of a patient or victim, or supposed victim, is sometimes avenged upon them by the relatives of the deceased. Shamánism is mostly hereditary; as a natural course of things the long array of apparatus, masks, dresses, and so on, is inherited by the son or grandson of the deceased conjurer. The young man must, however, prove himself worthy of his position before it becomes assured to him, by calling up and communicating with spirits. The future shamán retires into a lonely forest or up some mountain, where he lives retired, feeding only on the roots of the panax-horridum, and waiting for the spirits to come to him, which they are generally supposed to do in from two to four weeks. If all go well the meeting takes place, and the chief of the spirits sends to the neophyte a river-otter, in the tongue of which animal is supposed to be hid the whole power and secret of shamánism. The man meets the beast face to face, and four times, each time in a different fashion, he pronounces the syllable ‘Oh!’ Upon this the otter falls instantly, reaching out at the same time its tongue, which the man cuts off and preserves; hiding it away in a close place, for if any one not initiated should look on this talisman the sight would drive him mad. The otter is skinned by the new shamán and the skin kept for a sign of his profession, while the flesh is buried; it was unlawful to kill a river-otter save on such occasions as have been described. If, however, the spirits will not visit the would-be shamán, nor give him any opportunity to get the otter-tongue as described above, the neophyte visits the tomb of a dead shamán and keeps an awful vigil over night, holding in his living mouth a finger of the dead man or one of his teeth; this constrains the spirits very powerfully to send the necessary otter. When all these things have been done the shamán returns to his family emaciated and worn out, and his new powers are immediately put to the test. His reputation depends on the number of spirits at his command. The spirits are called yek, and to every conjurer a certain number of them are attached as familiars, while there are others on whom he may call in an emergency; indeed every man of whatever rank or profession is attended by a familiar spirit or demon, who only abandons his charge when the man becomes exceedingly bad. The world of spirits in general is divided into three classes: keeyek, tákeeyek, and tékeeyek. The first-class, ‘the Upper Ones,’ dwell in the north and seem to be connected with the northern lights; they are the spirits of the brave fallen in battle. The other two classes are the spirits of those that died a natural death, and their dwelling is called takankóu. The tákeeyek, ‘land-spirits,’ appear to the shamáns in the form of land animals. With regard to the tékeeyek, ‘sea-spirits’ which appear in the form of marine animals, there is some dispute among the Thlinkeets as to whether these spirits were ever the spirits of men like those of the other two classes, or whether they were merely the souls of sea animals.

The supreme feat of a conjurer’s power is to throw one of his liege spirits into the body of one who refuses to believe in his power; upon which the possessed is taken with swooning and fits. The hair of a shamán is never cut. As among the Aleuts, a wooden mask is necessary to his safe intercourse with any spirit; separate masks are worn for interviews with separate spirits. When a shamán sickens, his relatives fast for his recovery; when he dies, his body is not burned like that of other men, but put in a box which is set up on a high frame. The first night following his death his body is left in that corner of his hut in which he died. On the second night it is carried to another corner, and so on for four nights till it has occupied successively all the corners of the yourt, all the occupants of which are supposed to fast during this time. On the fifth day the body is tied down on a board, and two bones that the dead man had often used in his rites when alive are stuck, the one in his hair and the other in the bridge of his nose. The head is then covered with a willow basket, and the body taken to its place of sepulture, which is always near the sea-shore; no Thlinkeet ever passes the spot without dropping a little tobacco into the water to conciliate the manes of the mighty dead.[V-6]Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., pp. 52-73; Dall’s Alaska, pp. 421-3; Kotzebue’s New Voyage, vol. ii., p. 58; Dunn’s Oregon, p. 280; Bendel’s Alex. Arch., pp. 31-3. This last traveler gives us a variation of the history of Yehl and Khanukh, which is best presented in his own words:—’The Klinkits do not believe in one Supreme Being, but in a host of good and evil spirits, above whom are towering two lofty beings of godlike magnitude, who are the principal objects of Indian reverence. These are Yethl and Kanugh—two brothers; the former the benefactor and well-wisher of mankind, but of a very whimsical and unreliable nature; the latter the stern God of War, terrible in his wrath, but a true patron of every fearless brave. It is he who sends epidemics, bloodshed and war to those who have displeased him, while it seems to be the principal function of Yethl to cross the sinister purposes of his dark-minded brother. Yethl and Kanugh lived formerly on earth, and were born of a woman of a supernatural race now passed away, about the origin and nature of which many conflicting legends are told, hard to comprehend. When Yethl walked on earth and was quite young he acquired great skill in the use of the bow and arrow. He used to kill large birds, assume their shape and fly about. His favorite bird was the raven; hence its name, “Yethl,” which signifies “raven” in the Klinkit language. He had also the fogs and clouds at his command, and he would often draw them around him to escape his enemies. His brother’s name, Kanugh, signifies “wolf,” consequently “raven” and “wolf” are the names of the two gods of the Klinkits, who are supposed to be the founders of the Indian race.’

Solar Spirit of the Haidahs

The Haidahs believe the great solar spirit to be the creator and supreme ruler; they do not however confuse him with the material sun, who is a shining man walking round the fixed earth and wearing a “radiated” crown. Sometimes the moon is also connected in a confused indefinite way with the great spirit. There is an evil spirit who, according to Dunn, is provided with hoofs and horns, though nothing is said as to the fashion of them, whether orthodox or not. The Haidahs, at least those seen by Mr Poole on Queen Charlotte Island, have no worship, nor did they look upon themselves as in any way responsible to any deity for their actions. As with their northern neighbors, a belief in goblins, spectres, and sorcery seems to be the sum of their religion.

With some at least of the Haidahs there was in existence a rite of this sorcery attended by circumstances of more than ordinary barbarity and ferocity. When the salmon season is over and the provisions of winter have been stored away, feasting and conjuring begin. The chief—who seems to be the principal sorcerer, and indeed to possess little authority save from his connection with the preterhuman powers—goes off to the loneliest and wildest retreat he knows of or can discover in the mountains or forest, and half starves himself there for some weeks till he is worked up to a frenzy of religious insanity and the nawloks—fearful beings of some kind not human—consent to communicate with him by voices or otherwise. During all this observance, the chief is called taamish, and woe to the unlucky Haidah who happens by chance so much as to look on him during its continuance; even if the taamish do not instantly slay the intruder, his neighbors are certain to do so when the thing comes to their knowledge, and if the victim attempt to conceal the affair, or do not himself confess it, the most cruel tortures are added to his fate. At last the inspired demoniac returns to his village, naked save a bear-skin or a ragged blanket, with a chaplet on his head and a red band of alder-bark about his neck. He springs on the first person he meets, bites out and swallows one or more mouthfuls of the man’s living flesh wherever he can fix his teeth, then rushes to another and another, repeating his revolting meal till he falls into a torpor from his sudden and half-masticated surfeit of flesh. For some days after this he lies in a kind of coma, “like an over-gorged beast of prey,” as Dunn says; the same observer adding that his breath during that time is “like an exhalation from a grave.” The victims of this ferocity dare not resist the bite of the taamish; on the contrary, they are sometimes willing to offer themselves to the ordeal, and are always proud of its scars.[V-7]Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 253-9; Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 223; Bancroft’s Nat. Races, vol. i., pp. 170-71.

Nootka Gods

The Nootkas acknowledge the existence of a great personage called Quahootze, whose habitation is apparently in the sky, but of whose nature little is known. When a storm begins to rage dangerously the Nootkas climb to the top of their houses and looking upwards to this great god, they beat drums and chant and call upon his name, imploring him to still the tempest. They fast, as something agreeable to the same deity, before setting out on the hunt, and, if their success warrant it, hold a feast in his honor after their return. This festival is held usually in December, and it was formerly the custom to finish it with a human sacrifice, an atrocity now happily fallen into disuse; a boy, with knives stuck through the superficial flesh of his arms, legs, and sides, being exhibited as a substitute for the ancient victim.

Matlose is a famous hob-goblin of the Nootkas; he is a very Caliban of spirits; his head is like the head of something that might have been a man but is not; his uncouth bulk is horrid with black bristles; his monstrous teeth and nails are like the fangs and claws of a bear. Whoever hears his terrible voice falls like one smitten, and his curved claws rend a prey into morsels with a single stroke.

The Nootkas, like so many American peoples, have a tradition of a supernatural teacher and benefactor, an old man that came to them up the Sound long ago. His canoe was copper, and the paddles of it copper; every thing he had on him or about him was of the same metal. He landed and instructed the men of that day in many things; telling them that he came from the sky, that their country should be eventually destroyed, that they should all die, but after death rise and live with him above. Then all the people rose up angry, and took his canoe from him, and slew him; a crime from which their descendants have derived much benefit, for copper and the use of it have remained with them ever since. Huge images, carved in wood, still stand in their houses intended to represent the form and hold in remembrance the visit of this old man—by which visit is not improbably intended to be signified an avatar or incarnation of that chief deity, or great spirit, worshiped by many Californian tribes as ‘the Old Man above.’

The Ahts regard the moon and the sun as their highest deities, the moon being the husband and the sun the wife. To the moon chiefly, as the more powerful deity, they pray for what they require; and to both moon and sun, as to all good deities, their prayers are addressed directly and without the intervention of the sorcerers. Quawteaht—which seems to be a local Aht modification of Quahootze—who made most things that are in the world, was the first to teach the people to worship these luminaries who, over all and seeing all, are more powerful than himself, though more distant and less active. There is also that Tootooch, thunder-bird, of which so much has been already said.

The Nootkas, in general, believe in the existence of numberless spirits of various kinds, and in the efficacy of sorcery. As in neighboring nations, the shamán gains or renews his inspiration by fasting and solitary meditation in some retired place, re-appearing at the end of his vigil half-starved and half-insane, but filled with the black virtue of his art. He does not generally collect a meal of living human flesh like the taamish of the preceding family, but he is satisfied with what his teeth can tear from the corpses in the burial-places. Old women are admitted to a share in the powers of sorcery and prophecy and the interpretation of omens and dreams; the latter a most important function, as few days and nights pass over a Nootka house that do not give occasion by some vision or occurrence for the office of the sibyl or the augur.[V-8]Jewitt’s Nar., p. 83; Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., pp. 223-4; Mofras, Explor., tom. i., p. 345; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 136; Meares’ Voy., p. 270; Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. v., pp. 222-4; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 433-441, 455; Barrett-Lennard’s Trav., pp. 51-3; Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 40, 156-8, 167-75, 205-11; Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., p. 317. As illustrating strongly the Nootka ideas with regard to the sanctity of the moon and sun, as well as the connection of the sun with the fire, it may be well to call attention to the two following customs:—’El Tays [chief] no puede hacer uso de sus mugeres sin ver enteramente iluminado el disco de la luna.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 145. ‘Girls at puberty … are kept particularly from the sun or fire.’ Bancroft’s Nat. Races, vol. i., p. 197. In this connection it may be mentioned that Mr Lord, Naturalist, vol. ii., p. 257, saw among the Nootkas while at Fort Rupert, a very peculiar Indian “medicine,” a solid piece of native copper, hammered flat, oval it would appear from the description, and painted with curious devices, eyes of all sizes being especially conspicuous. The Hudson-Bay traders call it an “Indian copper,” and said it was only exhibited on extraordinary occasions, and that its value to the tribe was estimated at fifteen slaves or two hundred blankets. This “medicine” was preserved in an elaborately ornamented wooden case, and belonging to the tribe, not to the chief, was guarded by the medicine-men. Similar sheets of copper are described by Schoolcraft as in use among certain of the Vesperic aborigines: May they all be intended for symbols of the sun, such as that reverenced by the Peruvians?

Paradise Lost of the Okanagans

The Okanagans believe in a good spirit or master of life, called Elemehumkillanwaist or Skyappe; and in a bad spirit Kishtsamah or Chacha; both moving constantly through the air, so that nothing can be done without their knowledge. The Okanagans have no worship public or private, but before engaging in anything of importance they offer up a short prayer to the good spirit for assistance; again on state occasions, a pipe is passed round and each one smokes three whiffs toward the rising sun, the same toward the setting, and the same respectively toward the heaven above and the earth beneath. Then they have their great mythic ruler and heroine, Scomalt, whose story is intimately connected with a kind of Okanagan fall or paradise lost. Long ago, so long ago that the sun was quite young and very small and no bigger than a star, there was an island far out at sea called Samahtumiwhoolah, or the White Man’s Island. It was inhabited by a white race of gigantic stature, and governed by a tall fair woman called Scomalt; and she was a great and strong ‘medicine,’ this Scomalt. At last the peace of the island was destroyed by war, and the noise of battle was heard, the white men fighting the one with the other; and Scomalt was exceedingly wroth. She rose up and said: lo, now I will drive these wicked far from me; my soul shall be no longer vexed concerning them, neither shall they trouble the faithful of my people with their strivings any more. And she drove the rebellious together to the uttermost end of the island, and broke off the piece of land on which they were huddled, and pushed it out to sea to drift whither it would. This floating island was tossed to and fro many days and buffeted of the winds exceedingly, so that all the people thereon died save one man and one woman, who, seeing their island was ready to sink, made themselves a canoe and gat them away toward the west. After paddling day and night for many suns, they came to certain islands, whence steering through them, they came at last to where the mainland was, being the territory that the Okanagans now inhabit; it was, however, much smaller in those days, having grown much since. This man and woman were so sorely weather-beaten when they landed that they found their original whiteness quite gone, and a dusky reddish color in its place. All the people of the continent are descended from this pair, and the dingy skin of their storm-tossed ancestors has become a characteristic of the race. And even, as in time past the wrath of the fair Scomalt loosed the island of their ancestors from its mainland, and sent it adrift with its burden of sinful men, so in a time to come, the deep lakes, that like some Hannibal’s vinegar soften the rocks of the foundations of the world, and the rivers that run for ever and gnaw them away, shall set the earth afloat again; then shall the end of the world be, the awful itsowleigh.[V-9]Ross’ Adven., pp. 287-9.

The Salish tribes believe the sun to be the chief deity, and certain ceremonies, described by Mr Lord as having taken place on the death of a chief, seem to indicate that fire is in some way connected with the great light.[V-10]’The bravest woman of the tribe, one used to carrying ammunition to the warrior when engaged in fight, bared her breast to the person who for courage and conduct was deemed fit successor to the departed. From the breast he cut a small portion, which he threw into the fire. She then cut a small piece from the shoulder of the warrior, which was also thrown into the fire. A piece of bitter root, with a piece of meat, were next thrown into the fire, all these being intended as offerings to the Sun, the deity of the Flatheads.’ Tolmie, in Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 237-8. For references to the remaining matter of the paragraph see Id., vol. ii., pp. 237-43, 260. The chief is ex officio a kind of priest, presiding for the most part at the various observances by which the deity of the sun is recognized. There is the usual belief in sorcery and second sight, and individuals succeed, by force of special gifts for fasting and lonely meditation, in having themselves accounted conjurers—an honor of dubious profit, as medicine-men are constantly liable to be shot by an enraged relative of any one whose death they may be supposed to have brought about.

Deities of the Clallams

The Clallams, a coast tribe on the mainland opposite the south end of Vancouver Island, have a principal good deity called by various names, and an evil spirit called Skoocoom; to these some add a certain Teyutlma, ‘the genius of good fortune.’ The medicine-men of the tribe are supposed to have much influence both for good and evil with these spirits and with all the demon race, or sehuiáb as the latter are sometimes called. In this tribe the various conjurers are united by the bonds of a secret society, the initiation into which is attended by a good deal of ceremony and expense. Three days and three nights must the novice of the order fast alone in a mysterious lodge prepared for him, round which during all that time the brethren already initiated sing and dance. This period elapsed, during which it would seem that the old nature has been killed out of him, he is taken up like one dead and soused into the nearest cold water, where he is washed till he revives; which thing they call “washing the dead.” When his senses are sufficiently gathered to him, he is set on his feet; upon which he runs off into the forest, whence he soon reappears a perfect medicine-man, rattle in hand and decked out with the various trappings of his profession. He then parts all his worldly gear among his friends, himself henceforth to be supported only by the fees of his new calling.[V-11]Kane’s Wand., pp. 218-9; Gibbs’ Clallam and Lummi Vocab., p. 15.

Ikánam, the creator of the universe, is a powerful deity among the Chinooks, who have a mountain named after him from a belief that he there turned himself into stone. After him, or before him as many say, comes Italapas, the Coyote, who created men after an imperfect fashion,[V-12]This vol., pp. 95-96. taught them how to make nets and catch salmon, how to make a fire, and how to cook; for this the first fruits of the fishing season are always sacred to him, and his figure is to be found carved on the head of almost every Chinook canoe on the Columbia. They have a fire-spirit, an evil spirit, and a body of familiar spirits, tamanowas. Each person has his special spirit, selected by him at an early age, sometimes by fasting and other mortification of the flesh, sometimes by the adoption of the first object the child or young man sees, or thinks he sees, on visiting the woods. These spirits have a great effect on the imagination of the Chinooks, and their supposed directions are followed under pain of mysterious and awful punishments; people converse—”particularly when in the water”—with them, apparently talking to themselves in low monotonous tones. Some say that when a man dies his tamanowa passes to his son; but the whole matter is darkened with much mystery and secrecy; the name of one’s familiar spirit or guardian never being mentioned even to the nearest friend. A similar custom forbids the mention of a dead man’s name, at least till many years have elapsed after the bereavement.

The Chinook medicine-men are possessed of the usual powers of converse and mediation with the spirits good and evil; there are two classes of them, employed in all cases of sickness—the etaminuas, or priests, who intercede for the soul of the patient, and, if necessary, for its safe passage to the land of spirits—and the keelalles, or doctors, sometimes women, whose duty it is to administer medical as well as spiritual aid.[V-13]Wilkes’ Nar. in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., pp. 124-5; Cox’s Adven., vol. i., p. 317; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 125-6; Franchère’s Nar., p. 258; Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 354; Ross’ Adven., p. 96; Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 139, 246, 254; Tolmie, in Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 248; Gibbs’ Chinook Vocab., pp. 11, 13; Gibbs’ Clallam and Lummi Vocab., pp. 15, 29; Irving’s Astoria, pp. 339-40; Tylor’s Prim. Cult., vol. ii., p. 253.

With the Cayuses and the Walla-Wallas any one may become a medicine-man; among the Nez Percés the office belongs to an hereditary order. Women are sometimes trained to the profession, but they are not believed to hold such extreme powers as the males, nor are they murdered on the supposed exercise of some fatal influence. For, as with the Chinooks[V-14]Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 254: ‘The chiefs say, that they and their sons are too great to die of themselves, and although they may be sick, and decline, and die, as others do, yet some person, or some evil spirit instigated by some one, is the invisible cause of their death; and therefore when a chief, or chief’s son dies, the supposed author of the deed must be killed.’ so here, the reputation of sorcerer is at once the most terrible to others and the most dangerous to one’s self that one can have. His is a power of life, and death; his evil eye can wither and freeze a hated life if not as swiftly at least as surely as the stare of the Medusa; he is mortal, however—he can slay your friend or yourself, and death is bitter, but then how sweet an anodyne is revenge! There is no strong magic can avail when the heart’s blood trickles down the avenger’s shaft, no cunning enchantment that can keep the life in when his tomahawk crumbles the skull like a potsherd—and so it comes about that the conjurers walk everywhere with their life in their hand, and are constrained to be very wary in their exercise of their nefarious powers.[V-15]Alvord, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 652.

Shoshone Demons

The Shoshone legends people certain parts of the mountains of Montana with little imps or demons called ninumbees, who are about two feet long, perfectly naked, and provided each with a tail. These limbs of the evil one are accustomed to eat up any unguarded infant they may find, leaving in its stead one of their own baneful race. When the mother comes to suckle what she supposes to be her child, the fiendish changeling seizes her breast and begins to devour it; then, although her screams and the alarm thereby given soon force the malicious imp to make his escape, there is no hope further; she dies within the twenty-four hours, and if not well watched in the meantime, the little demon will even return and make an end of her by finishing his interrupted meal. There is another variety of these hobgoblins call pahonahs, ‘water-infants,’ who devour women and children as do their brother-fiends of the mountain, and complete the ring of ghoulish terror that closes round the Shoshone child and mother.[V-16]Stuart’s Montana, pp. 64-6.

The Californian tribes, taken as a whole, are pretty uniform in the main features of their theogonic beliefs. They seem, without exception, to have had a hazy conception of a lofty, almost supreme being; for the most part referred to as a Great Man, the Old Man Above, the One Above; attributing to him, however, as is usual in such cases, nothing but the vaguest and most negative functions and qualities. The real, practical power that most interested them, who had most to do with them and they with him, was a demon, or body of demons, of a tolerably pronounced character. In the face of divers assertions to the effect that no such thing as a devil proper has ever been found in savage mythology, we would draw attention to the following extract from the Pomo manuscript of Mr Powers—a gentleman who, both by his study and by personal investigation, has made himself one of the best qualified authorities on the belief of the native Californian, and whose dealings have been for the most part with tribes that have never had any friendly intercourse with white men:—”Of course the thin and meagre imagination of the American savages was not equal to the creation of Milton’s magnificent imperial Satan, or of Goethe’s Mephistopheles, with his subtle intellect, his vast powers, his malignant mirth; but in so far as the Indian fiends or devils have the ability, they are wholly as wicked as these. They are totally bad, they have no good thing in them, they think only evil; but they are weak and undignified and absurd; they are as much beneath Satan as the ‘Big Indians’ who invent them are inferior in imagination to John Milton.”[V-17]Powers’ Pomo, MS.

A definite location is generally assigned to the evil one as his favorite residence or resort; thus the Californians in the county of Siskiyou, give over Devil’s Castle, its mount and lake, to the malignant spirits, and avoid the vicinity of these places with all possible care.

Sacred Fires

The medicine-man of these people is a personage of some importance, dressing in the most costly furs; he is a non-combatant, not coming on the field till after the fight; among other duties, it is absolutely necessary for him to visit any camp from which the tribe has been driven by the enemy, there to chant the death-song and appease the angry spirit that wrought this judgment of defeat, for only after this has been done is it thought safe to light again the lodge-fires on the old hearths. Once lit these lodge-fires are never allowed to go out during times of peace; it would be a bad omen, and omens are everything with these men, and deducible from all things. The power of prophecy is thoroughly believed in, and is credited not only to special seers, but also to distinguished warriors going into battle; in the latter case, as far at least as their own several fate is concerned; this, according to Mr Miller, they often predict with startling accuracy.[V-18]Joaquin Miller’s Life amongst the Modocs, pp. 21, 116, 259-60, 360.

There is a strange sacredness mixed up with the sweat-house and its use, among the Cahrocs, the Eurocs, and many other tribes. The men of every village spend the winter and rainy season in its warm shelter; but squaws are forbidden to enter, under penalty of death, except when they are initiated into the ranks of the ‘medicines.’ So consistent are the Indians in this matter, that women are not allowed even to gather the wood that is to be burned in the sacred fire of a sweat-house; all is done by men, and that only with certain precautions and ceremonies. The sacred fire is lit every year in September by a ‘medicine’ who has gone out into the forest and fasted and meditated for ten days; and, till a certain time has elapsed, no secular eye must behold so much as the smoke of it under awful penalties. The flame once burning is never suffered to go out till the spring begins to render further heat unnecessary and inconvenient.

On one only occasion is the ban lifted from the head of women; when a female is being admitted to the medicine ranks, she is made to dance in the sweat-house till she falls exhausted. It does not appear, however, that even by becoming a medicine can she hope to see twice the interior of this lodge.

The admission of a man to the medicine is a much severer affair. He must retire to the forest for ten days, eating no meat the while, and only enough acorn-porridge to keep the life in him; the ten days past, he returns to the sweat-house and leaps up and down till he falls, just as the woman did.

The doctors or sorcerers are of two kinds, ‘root doctors’ and ‘barking doctors.’ To the barking doctor falls the diagnosis of a case of sickness. He, or she, squats down opposite the patient, and barks at him after the manner of an enraged cur, for hours together. If it be a poisoning case, or a case of malady inflicted by some conjurer, the barking doctor then goes on to suck the evil thing out through the skin or administer emetics, as may be deemed desirable. If the case, however, be one of less serious proportions, the ‘barker,’ after having made his diagnosis, retires, and the root-doctor comes in, who, with his herbs and simples and a few minor incantations, proceeds to cure the ailment. If a patient die, then the medicine is forced to return his fee; and if he refuse to attend on anyone and the person die, then he is forced to pay to the relatives a sum equal to that which was tendered to him as a fee in the beginning of the affair; thus like all professions, that of a medicine has its draw-backs as well as advantages.

Several Northern Californian tribes have secret societies which meet in a lodge set apart, or in a sweat-house, and engage in mummeries of various kinds, all to frighten their women. The men pretend to converse with the devil, and make their meeting-place shake and ring again with yells and whoops. In some instances, one of their number, disguised as the master fiend himself, issues from the haunted lodge, and rushes like a madman through the village, doing his best to frighten contumacious women and children out of their senses. This, it would seem, has been going on from time immemorial and the poor women are still gulled by it, and even frightened into more or less prolonged fits of wifely propriety and less easy virtue.

Californian Deities

The coast tribes of Del Norte County, California, live in constant terror of a malignant spirit that takes the form of certain animals, the form of a bat, of a hawk, of a tarantula, and so on—but especially delights in and affects that of a screech-owl. The belief of the Russian-River tribes and others is practically identical with this.

The Cahrocs have, as we already know, some conception of a great deity, called Chareya, the Old Man Above; he is wont to appear upon earth at times to some of the most favored sorcerers; he is described as wearing a close tunic, with a medicine-bag, and as having long white hair that falls venerably about his shoulders. Practically, however, the Cahrocs, like the majority of Californian tribes, venerate chiefly the coyote. Great dread is also had of certain forest-demons of nocturnal habits; these, say the Eurocs, take the form of bears and shoot arrows at benighted wayfarers.[V-19]Powers’ Pomo, MS.

Between the foregoing outlines of Californian belief and those connected with the remaining tribes, passing south, we can detect no salient difference till we reach the Olchones, a coast tribe between San Francisco and Monterey; the sun here begins to be connected, or identified by name, with that great spirit, or rather, that Big Man, who made the earth and who rules in the sky.[V-20]Beechey’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 78. So we find it again both around Monterey and around San Luis Obispo; the first fruits of the earth were offered in these neighborhoods to the great light, and his rising was greeted with cries of joy.[V-21]Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., vol. ci., pp. 316, 335.

Father Gerónimo Boscana[V-22]Father Boscana, one of the earliest missionaries to Upper California, left behind him the short manuscript history from which the tradition following in the text has been taken—through the medium of a now rare translation by Mr Robinson. Filled with the prejudices of its age and of the profession of its author, it is yet marvelously truthlike; though a painstaking care has evidently been used with regard to its most apparently insignificant details, there are none of those too visible wrenchings after consistency, and fillings up of lacunae which so surely betray the hand of the sophisticator in so many monkish manuscripts on like and kindred subjects. There are found on the other hand frank confessions of ignorance on doubtful points, and many naïve and puzzled comments on the whole. It is apparently the longest and the most valuable notice in existence on the religion of a nation of the native Californians, as existing at the time of the Spanish conquest, and more worthy of confidence than the general run of such documents of any date whatever. The father procured his information as follows. He says: ‘God assigned to me three aged Indians, the youngest of whom was over seventy years of age. They knew all the secrets, for two of them were capitanes, and the other a pul, who were well instructed in the mysteries. By gifts, endearments, and kindness, I elicited from them their secrets, with their explanations; and by witnessing the ceremonies which they performed, I learned by degrees, their mysteries. Thus, by devoting a portion of the nights to profound meditation, and comparing their actions with their disclosures, I was enabled after a long time, to acquire a knowledge of their religion.’ Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., p. 236. gives us the following relation of the faith and worship of the Acagchemem nations, in the valley and neighborhood of San Juan Capistrano, California. Part of it would fall naturally into that part of this work alloted to origin; but the whole is so intimately mixed with so much concerning the life, deeds, and worship of various supernatural personages that it has seemed better to fit its present position than any other. Of the first part of the tradition there are two versions—if indeed they be versions of the same tradition. We give first that version held by the serranos, or highlanders, of the interior country, three or four leagues inland from the said San Juan Capistrano:—

Before the material world at all existed there lived two beings, brother and sister, of a nature that can not be explained; the brother living above, and his name meaning the Heavens, the sister living below and her name signifying Earth. From the union of these two, there sprang a numerous offspring. Earth and sand were the first fruits of this marriage; then were born rocks and stones; then trees both great and small; then grass and herbs; then animals; lastly was born a great personage called Ouiot, who was a “grand captain.” By some unknown mother many children of a medicine race were born to this Ouiot. All these things happened in the north; and afterward when men were created they were created in the north; but as the people multiplied they moved toward the south, the earth growing larger also and extending itself in the same direction.

The Coyote of the Acagchemems

In process of time, Ouiot becoming old, his children plotted to kill him, alleging that the infirmities of age made him unfit any longer to govern them or attend to their welfare. So they put a strong poison in his drink, and when he drank of it a sore sickness came upon him; he rose up and left his home in the mountains and went down to what is now the sea-shore, though at that time there was no sea there. His mother, whose name is the Earth, mixed him an antidote in a large shell, and set the potion out in the sun to brew; but the fragrance of it attracted the attention of the Coyote, who came and overset the shell. So Ouiot sickened to death, and though he told his children that he would shortly return and be with them again, he has never been seen since. All the people made a great pile of wood and burnt his body there, and just as the ceremony began the Coyote leaped upon the body, saying that he would burn with it; but he only tore a piece of flesh from the stomach and ate it and escaped. After that the title of the Coyote was changed from Eyacque, which means Sub-captain, to Eno, that is to say, Thief and Cannibal.

When now the funeral rites were over, a general council was held and arrangements made for collecting animal and vegetable food; for up to this time the children and descendants of Ouiot had nothing to eat but a kind of white clay. And while they consulted together, behold a marvelous thing appeared before them, and they spoke to it saying: Art thou our captain, Ouiot. But the spectre said: Nay, for I am greater than Ouiot; my habitation is above, and my name is Chinigchinich. Then he spoke further, having been told for what they were come together: I create all things, and I go now to make man, another people like unto you; as for you I give you power, each after his kind, to produce all good and pleasant things. One of you shall bring rain, and another dew, and another make the acorn grow, and others other seeds, and yet others shall cause all kinds of game to abound in the land; and your children shall have this power for ever, and they shall be sorcerers to the men I go to create, and shall receive gifts of them, that the game fail not and the harvests be sure. Then Chinigchinich made man; out of the clay of the lake he formed him, male and female; and the present Californians are the descendants of the one or more pairs there and thus created.

So ends the known tradition of the mountaineers; we must now go back and take up the story anew at its beginning, as told by the playanos, or people of the valley of San Juan Capistrano. These say that an invisible all-powerful being, called Nocuma, made the world and all that it contains of things that grow and move. He made it round like a ball and held it in his hands, where it rolled about a good deal at first, till he steadied it by sticking a heavy black rock called tosaut into it, as a kind of ballast. The sea was at this time only a little stream running round the world, and so crowded with fish that their twinkling fins had no longer room to move; so great was the press that some of the more foolish fry were for effecting a landing and founding a colony, upon the dry land, and it was only with the utmost difficulty that they were persuaded by their elders, that the killing air and baneful sun and the want of feet must infallibly prove the destruction before many days of all who took part in such a desperate enterprise. The proper plan was evidently to improve and enlarge their present home; and to this end, principally by the aid of one very large fish, they broke the great rock tosaut in two, finding a bladder in the centre filled with a very bitter substance. The taste of it pleased the fish, so they emptied it into the water, and instantly the water became salt and swelled up and overflowed a great part of the old earth, and made itself the new boundaries that remain to this day.

Then Nocuma created a man, shaping him out of the soil of the earth, calling him Ejoni. A woman also the great god made, presumably of the same material as the man, calling her Aé. Many children were born to this first pair, and their descendants multiplied over the land. The name of one of these last was Sirout, that is to say, Handful of Tobacco, and the name of his wife was Ycaiut, which means Above; and to Sirout and Ycaiut was born a son, while they lived in a place north-east about eight leagues from San Juan Capistrano. The name of this son was Ouiot, that is to say Dominator; he grew a fierce and redoubtable warrior; haughty, ambitious, tyrannous, he extended his lordship on every side, ruling everywhere as with a rod of iron; and the people conspired against him. It was determined that he should die by poison; a piece of the rock tosaut was ground up in so deadly a way that its mere external application was sufficient to cause death. Ouiot, notwithstanding that he held himself constantly on the alert, having been warned of his danger by a small burrowing animal called the cucumel, was unable to avoid his fate; a few grains of the cankerous mixture were dropped upon his breast while he slept, and the strong mineral ate its way to the very springs of his life. All the wise men of the land were called to his assistance; but there was nothing for him save to die. His body was burned on a great pile with songs of joy and dances, and the nation rejoiced.

The First Medicine-Man

While the people were gathered to this end, it was thought advisable to consult on the feasibility of procuring seed and flesh to eat instead of the clay which had up to this time been the sole food of the human family. And while they yet talked together, there appeared to them, coming they knew not whence, one called Attajen, “which name implies man, or rational being.” And Attajen, understanding their desires, chose out certain of the elders among them, and to these gave he power; one that he might cause rain to fall, to another that he might cause game to abound, and so with the rest, to each his power and gift, and to the successors of each for ever. These were the first medicine-men.

Many years having elapsed since the death of Ouiot, there appeared in the same place one called Ouiamot, reputed son of Tacu and Auzar—people unknown, but natives; it is thought by Boscana, of “some distant land.” This Ouiamot is better known by his great name Chinigchinich, which means Almighty. He first manifested his powers to the people on a day when they had met in congregation for some purpose or other; he appeared dancing before them crowned with a kind of high crown made of tall feathers stuck into a circlet of some kind, girt with a kind of petticoat of feathers, and having his flesh painted black and red. Thus decorated he was called the tobet. Having danced some time, Chinigchinich called out the medicine-men, or puplems as they were called, among whom it would appear the chiefs are always numbered, and confirmed their power; telling them that he had come from the stars to instruct them in dancing and all other things, and commanding that in all their necessities they should array themselves in the tobet, and so dance as he had danced, supplicating him by his great name, that thus they might receive of their petitions. He taught them how to worship him, how to build vanquechs, or places of worship, and how to direct their conduct in various affairs of life. Then he prepared to die, and the people asked him if they should bury him; but he warned them against attempting such a thing: If ye buried me, he said, ye would tread upon my grave, and for that my hand would be heavy upon you; look to it, and to all your ways, for lo, I go up where the high stars are, where mine eyes shall see all the ways of men; and whosoever will not keep my commandments nor observe the things I have taught, behold disease shall plague all his body, and no food shall come near his lips, the bear shall rend his flesh, and the crooked tooth of the serpent shall sting him.

Sanctuaries of Refuge

The vanquech, or place of worship, seems to have been an unroofed inclosure of stakes, within which, on a hurdle, was placed the image of the god Chinigchinich. This image was the skin of a coyote or that of a mountain-cat stuffed with the feathers of certain birds, and with various other things, so that it looked like a live animal; a bow and some arrows were attached to it on the outside, and other arrows were thrust down its throat so that the feathers of them appeared at the mouth as out of a quiver. The whole place of the inclosure was sacred, and not to be approached without reverence; it does not seem that sacrifices formed any part of the worship there offered, but only prayer, and sometimes a kind of pantomime connected with the undertaking desired to be furthered—thus, desiring success in hunting one mimicked the actions of the chase, leaping and twanging one’s bow. Each vanquech was a city of refuge, with rights of sanctuary exceeding any ever granted in Jewish or Christian countries. Not only was every criminal safe there whatever his crime, but the crime was as it were blotted out from that moment, and the offender was at liberty to leave the sanctuary and walk about as before; it was not lawful even to mention his crime; all that the avenger could do was to point at him and deride him, saying: Lo, a coward, who has been forced to flee to Chinigchinich! This flight was rendered so much a meaner thing in that it only turned the punishment from the head of him that fled upon that of some of his relatives; life went for life, eye for eye, and tooth for tooth, even to the third and fourth generation, for justice’ sake.

Besides Chinigchinich they worshiped, or at any rate feared, a god called Touch; who inhabited the mountains and the bowels of the earth, appearing, however, from time to time in the form of various animals of a terrifying kind. Every child at the age of six or seven received, sent to him from this god, some animal as a protector. To find out what this animal or spirit in the shape of animal was, narcotic drinks were swallowed, or the subject fasted and watched in the vanquech for a given time, generally three days. He whose rank entitled him to wait for his guardian apparition in the sacred inclosure, was set there by the side of the god’s image, and on the ground before him was sketched by one of the wise men an uncouth figure of some animal. The child was then left to complete his vigil, being warned at the same time to endure its hardships with patience, in that any attempt to infringe upon its rules, by eating or drinking or otherwise, would be reported to the god by the sprawling figure the enchanter had drawn in the clay, and that in such a case the punishment of Chinigchinich would be terrible. After all this was over, a scar was made on the child’s right arm, and sometimes on the thick part of the leg also, by covering the part, “according to the figure required,” with a peculiar herb dried and powdered, and setting fire to it. This was a brand or seal required by Chinigchinich, and was besides supposed to strengthen the nerves and give “a better pulse for the management of the bow.”[V-23]See p. 113, of this volume, for a custom among the Mexicans not without analogies to this.

The Acagchemems, like many other Californian tribes,[V-24]See p. 134, of this volume. regard the great buzzard with sentiments of veneration, while they seem to have had connected with it several rites and ideas peculiar to themselves. They called this bird the panes, and once every year they had a festival of the same name, in which the principal ceremony was the killing of a buzzard without losing a drop of its blood. It was next skinned, all possible care being taken to preserve the feathers entire, as these were used in making the feathered petticoat and diadem, already described as part of the tobet. Last of all the body was buried within the sacred inclosure amid great apparent grief from the old women, they mourning as over the loss of relative or friend. Tradition explained this: the panes had indeed been once a woman, whom, wandering in the mountain ways, the great god Chinigchinich had come suddenly upon and changed into a bird. How this was connected with the killing of her anew every year by the people, and with certain extraordinary ideas held relative to that killing is, however, by no means clear; for it was believed that as often as the bird was killed it was made alive again, and more, and faith to move mountains—that the birds killed in one same yearly feast in many separate villages were one and the same bird. How these things were or why, none knew, it was enough that they were a commandment and ordinance of Chinigchinich, whose ways were not as the ways of men.[V-25]Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., pp. 242-301.

And There Was War in Heaven

The Pericues of Lower California were divided into two sects, worshiping two hostile divinities who made a war of extermination upon each other. The tradition explains that there was a great lord in heaven, called Niparaya, who made earth and sea, and was almighty and invisible. His wife was Anayicoyondi, a goddess who, though possessing no body, bore him in a divinely mysterious manner three children; one of whom, Quaayayp, was a real man and born on earth, on the Acaragui mountains. Very powerful this young god was, and a long time he lived with the ancestors of the Pericues, whom it is almost to be inferred that he created; at any rate we are told that he was able to make men, drawing them up out of the earth. The men at last killed this their great hero and teacher, and put a crown of thorns upon his head.[V-26]The Christian leaven, whose workings are evident through this narrative, ferments here too violently to need pointing out. Somewhere or other he remains lying dead to this day, and he remains constantly beautiful, neither does his body know corruption. Blood drips constantly from his wounds, and he can speak no more, being dead; yet there is an owl that speaks to him. And besides the before-spoken-of god Niparaya in heaven, there was another and hostile god called Wac or Tuparan. According to the Niparaya sect, this Wac had made war on their favorite god, and been by him defeated and cast forth of heaven into a cave under the earth, of which cave the whales of the sea were the guardians. With a perverse, though not unnatural obstinacy, the sect that held Wac or Tuparan to be their great god persisted in holding ideas peculiar to themselves with regard to the truth of the foregoing story; and their account of the great war in heaven and its results differed from the other, as differ the creeds of heterodox and orthodox everywhere; they ascribe, for example, part of the creation to other gods besides Niparaya.[V-27]See pp. 83-4, this volume. The Cochimis and remaining natives of the Californian peninsula seem to have held in the main much the same ideas with regard to the gods and powers above them as the Pericues held, and the sorcerers of all had the common blowings, leapings, fastings, and other mummeries that make these professors of the sinister art so much alike everywhere in our territory.[V-28]Venegas, Noticia de la Cal., tom. i., pp. 102-124; Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., pp. 135-141; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 314.

The natives of Nevada have ideas respecting a great kind Spirit of some kind, as well as a myth concerning an evil one; but they have no special class set apart as medicine-men.[V-29]Virginia City Chronicle, quoted in S. F. Daily Ev’g Post, of Oct. 12th, 1872; Browne’s Lower Cal., p. 188. The Utah belief seems to be as nearly as possible identical with that of Nevada.[V-30]De Smet’s Letters, p. 41.

The Comanches acknowledge more or less vaguely a Supreme Spirit, but seem to use the Sun and the Earth as mediators with and, in some sort, as embodiments of him. They have a recognized body of sorcerers called puyacantes, and various religious ceremonies and chants; for the most part of a simple kind, and directed to the Sun as the great source of life, and to the Earth as the producer and receptacle of all that sustains life. According to the Abbé Domenech, every Comanche wears a little figure of the sun attached to his neck, or has a picture of it painted on his shield; from the ears of each hang also two crescents, which may possibly represent the moon.[V-31]Parker, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 684; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., pp. 35-6, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii.; Barreiro, Ojeada sobre N. Mex., ap. p. 8; Filley’s Life and Adven., p. 82; Marcy’s Army Life, pp. 58, 64; Domenech, Jour. d’un Miss., pp. 13, 131, 469.

The Apaches recognize a supreme power in heaven under the name Yaxtaxitaxitanne, the creator and master of all things; but they render him no open service nor worship. To any taciturn cunning man they are accustomed to credit intercourse with a preternatural power of some kind, and to look to him as a sort of oracle in various emergencies. This is, in fact, their medicine-man, and in cases of illness he pretends to perform cures by the aid of herbs and ceremonies of various kinds.[V-32]Barreiro, Ojeada sobre N. Mex., ap. pp. 2-3; Henry, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 212.

The Navajos, having the usual class of sorcerers, call their good deity Whaillahay, and their evil one Chinday; the principal use of their good god seems to be to protect them from their evil one. In smoking they sometimes puff their tobacco-smoke toward heaven with great formality; this is said to bring rain; to the same end certain long round stones, thought to be cast down by the clouds in a thunderstorm, are used with various ceremonies.

The sun, moon, and stars are thought to be powers connected with rain and fine weather; while the god Montezuma of their Pueblo neighbors is unknown among them.[V-33]Crofutt’s Western World, Aug. 1872, p. 27; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., p. 42, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii.; Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 91; Bristol, in Ind. Aff. Rept., Special Com., 1867, p. 358; Brinton’s Myths, p. 158; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 402.

Montezuma of the Pueblos

All the Pueblo cities, though speaking different languages hold substantially the same faith. They seem to assent to the statement of the existence of a great and good spirit whose name is too sacred to be mentioned; but most say that Montezuma is his equal; and some, again, that the Sun is the same as or equal to Montezuma. There are, besides, the lesser divinities of water—Montezuma being considered in one aspect as the great rain-god, and as such often mentioned as being aided by or being in connection with a serpent. Over and above all these, the existence of a general class or body of evil spirits is taken for granted.

Many places in New Mexico claim to be the birthplace of the great leader, teacher, and god Montezuma. At any rate he is traditionally supposed to have appeared among the Pueblos before they had arrived at or built their present towns. Some traditions would make him either the ancestor or the creator of the same people; but the most regard him as a kind of semi or wholly divine priest, prophet, leader, and legislator. Under restrictions pointed out in a former note,[V-34]See pp. 77-8, note 36, this volume.we may fairly regard him as at once the Melchizedek, the Moses, and the Messiah of these Pueblo desert wanderers from an Egypt that history is ignorant of, and whose name even tradition whispers not. He taught his people to build cities with tall houses, to construct estufas, or semi-sacred sweat-houses, and to kindle and guard the sacred fire.

At Acoma, it is said by some, was established the first Pueblo, and thence the people marched southward, forming others. Acoma was one, and Pecos another. At this last, Montezuma planted a tree upside down, and said that, on his leaving them, a strange nation should oppress them for many years, years also in which there should be no rain, but that they were to persist in watching the sacred fire until the tree fell, when he would return, with a white race which should destroy their enemies; and then rain should fall again and the earth be fertile. It is said that this tree fell from its abnormal position, as the American army entered Santa Fé.

He Is Not Dead But Sleepeth

The watching of the fire, kept up in subterranean estufas, under a covering of ashes generally, and in the basin of a small altar, was no light task. The warriors took the post by turns, some said, for two successive days and nights, sans food, sans drink, sans sleep, sans everything. Others affirm that this watching was kept up till exhaustion and even death relieved the guard—the last not to be wondered at, seeing the insufferable closeness of the place and the accumulation of carbonic acid. The remains of the dead were, it was sometimes supposed, carried off by a monstrous serpent. This holy fire was believed to be the palladium of the city, and the watchers by it could well dream of that day, when, coming with the sun, Montezuma should descend by the column of smoke whose roots they fed, and should fill the shabby little estufa with a glory like that in a wilderness tabernacle they knew not of, where a more awful pillar of smoke shadowed the mystic cherubim. Hope dies hard, and the dim memories of a great past never quite fade away from among any people. No true-born British bard ever doubted of Arthur’s return from his kingly rest in Avalon, nor that the flash of Excalibar should be one day again as the lightning of death in the eyes of the hated Saxon. The herders on the shore of Lucerne know that were Switzerland in peril, the Tell would spring from his sleep as at the crack of doom. “When Germany is at her lowest then is her greatness nearest” say the weird old ballads of that land; for then shall the Great Kaiser rise from the vault in the Kyffhäuser—Barbarossa shall rise, though his beard be grown through the long stone table. Neither is the Frank without his savior: Sing, O troubadours, sing and strike the chords proudly! Who shall prevail while Charlemagne but sleeps in the shadow of the Untersberg?—And so our Pueblo sentinel climbing the housetop at Pecos, looking ever eastward from Santo Domingo on the Rio Grande; he too waits for the beautiful feet upon the mountains and the plumes of him—

Who dwelt up in the yellow sun,
And sorrowing for man’s despair,
Slid by his trailing yellow hair
To earth, to rule with love and bring
The blessedness of peace.[V-35]Joaquin Miller’s Californian.

The Pueblo chiefs seem to be at the same time priests; they perform the various simple rites by which the power of the sun and of Montezuma is recognized as well as the power—according to some accounts—of “the Great Snake, to whom by order of Montezuma they are to look for life;” they also officiate in certain ceremonies with which they pray for rain. There are painted representations of the Great Snake, together with that of a misshapen red-haired man declared to stand for Montezuma. Of this last there was also in 1845, in the pueblo of Laguna, a rude effigy or idol, intended, apparently, to represent only the head of the deity; it was made of tanned skin in the form of a brimless hat or cylinder open at the bottom. Half-way round, it was painted red; the other half was green. The green side was rudely marked to suggest a face: two triangles were cut for eyes; there was no nose; a circular leather patch served for a mouth, and two other patches in an appropriate situation suggested ears. Crowning the head was a small tuft of leather, said to be supplemented by feathers on festal occasions. A sorry image one would say, yet one looked upon by its exhibitors with apparently the greatest veneration; they kneeling in a most devoted manner, going through a form of prayer, and sprinkling it with a white powder. One of the worshipers said it was God and the brother of God; and the people bring it out in dry seasons, and, with dancing and other rites, invoke it for rain.

Christianity has now effaced the memory of most of the rites of the Pueblo religion, but Dr Ten Broeck noticed that many of the worshipers at the Christian church in Laguna carried little baskets in their hands containing images of domestic animals, or of beasts of the chase, molded in mud or dough; it being the custom, as it had been there from time immemorial, for those that had been successful in the chase, or in accumulating cattle, to bring such simulachres of their prosperity before the altar of God—probably, a modification produced by the poverty of the people of a rite as old as the altar of Abel, to wit, the offering of the firstlings and first-fruits to that Deity whose blessing had given the increase.

It has been affirmed, without much foundation or probability of truth, that the Pueblos worshiped fire and water.[V-36]Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., pp. 271-3; Davis’ El Gringo, pp. 142, 396; Simpson’s Overland Journ., pp. 21-3; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 164-5, 418, vol. ii., pp. 62-3, 401; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, pp. 170, 219, 284; Meline’s Two Thousand Miles on Horseback, pp. 202, 226; Ruxton’s Adven. in Mex., p. 193; Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 73; Ward, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1864, pp. 192-3; Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 30; Tylor’s Prim. Cult., vol. ii., p. 384; Brinton’s Myths, p. 190; Coronado, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 379. Fremont gives an account of the birth of Montezuma. His mother was, it is said, a woman of exquisite beauty, admired and sought after by all men, they making her presents of corn and skins and all that they had; but the fastidious beauty would accept nothing of them but their gifts. In process of time a season of drought brought on a famine and much distress; then it was that the rich lady showed her charity to be as great in one direction as it had been wanting in another. She opened her granaries and the gifts of the lovers she had not loved went to relieve the hungry she pitied. At last with rain, fertility returned to the earth; and on the chaste Artemis of the Pueblos its touch fell too. She bore a son to the thick summer shower and that son was Montezuma.

The Moquis know nothing of Montezuma; they believe in a Great Father, living where the sun rises, and in a great Mother, whose home is where the sun goes down. This Father is the father of evil, war, pestilence, and famine; but from the mother are all their joy, peace, plenty, and health.[V-37]Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 85-6.

Mojave Deities

The Mojaves tell of a certain Matevil, creator of heaven and earth, who was wont in time past to remain among them in a certain grand casa. This habitation was, however, by some untoward event broken down; the nations were destroyed; and Matevil departed eastward. Whence, in the latter days, he will again return to consolidate, prosper, and live with his people forever. This Matevil, or Mathowelia, has a son called Mastamho, who made the water and planted trees. There is also an Evil Spirit Newathie.[V-38]Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., pp. 42-3, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii.; Dodt, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, p. 129.

From a letter just received from Judge Roseborough, I am enabled to close this chapter with some new and valuable facts regarding the religious ideas of certain tribes—not accurately specified—of the north-west portion of Upper California. The learned judge has given unusual attention to the subject of which he writes, and his opportunities for procuring information must have been frequent during ten years of travel and residence in the districts of the northern counties of California:—

Among the tribes in the neighborhood of Trinity river is found a legend relating to a certain Wappeckquemow, who was a giant, and apparently the father and leader of a pre-human race like himself. He was expelled from the country that he inhabited—near the mouth of the Klamath—for disobeying or offending some great god, and a curse was pronounced against him, so that not even his descendants should ever return to that land. On the expulsion of these Anakim, the ancestors of the people to whom this legend belongs came down from the north-west, a direction of migration, according to Judge Roseborough, uniformly adhered to in the legends of all the tribes of north-west California. These new settlers, however, like their predecessors of the giant race, quarreled with the great god and were abandoned by him to their own devices, being given over into the hands of certain evil powers or devils. Of these the first is Omahá, who, possessing the shape of a grizzly bear, is invisible and goes about everywhere bringing sickness and misfortune on mankind. Next there is Makalay, a fiend with a horn like a unicorn; he is swift as the wind and moves by great leaps like a kangaroo. The sight of him is usually death to mortals. There is, thirdly, a dreadful being called Kalicknateck, who seems a faithful reproduction of the great thunder-bird of the north: thus Kalicknateck “is a huge bird that sits on the mountain-peak, and broods in silence over his thoughts until hungry; when he will sweep down over the ocean, snatch up a large whale, and carry it to his mountain-throne, for a single meal.”

Besides the before-mentioned powers of evil, these Trinity people have legends connected with other personages of the same nature, among whom are Wanuswegock, Surgelp, Napousney, and Nequiteh.

When white miners first came to work on the Trinity River, their advent caused, as may be imagined, much unsatisfactory speculation among the aborigines; some saying one thing of the whites and some another. At last an old seer of the Hoopah Valley settled the question by declaring that the new-comers were descendants of that banished Wappeckquemow, from whose heads the already-mentioned curse, forbidding their return, had been by some means lifted.

The Kitchen-Midden of the Hohgates

The coast people in northern California have a story about a mysterious people called Hohgates, to whom is ascribed an immense bed of mussel-shells and bones of animals still existing on the table-land of Point St George, near Crescent City. These Hohgates, seven in number, are said to have come to the place in a boat, to have built themselves “houses above-ground, after the style of white men”—all this about the time that the first natives came down the coast from the north. These Hohgates, living at the point mentioned, killed many elk on land, and many seals and sea-lions in fishing excursions from their boats; using for the latter purpose a kind of harpoon made of a knife attached to a stick, and the whole fastened to the boat with a long line. They also sailed frequently to certain rocks, and loaded their little vessels with mussels. By all this they secured plenty of food, and the refuse of it, the bones and shells and so on, rapidly accumulated into the great kjökken mödding still to be seen. One day, however, all the Hohgates being out at sea in their boat, they struck a huge sea-lion with their rude harpoon, and, unable or unwilling to cut or throw off their line, were dragged with fearful speed toward a great whirlpool, called Chareckquin, that lay far toward the north-west. It is the place where souls go, where in darkness and cold the spirits shiver for ever; living men suffer even from its winds—from the north-west wind, the bleak and bitter Charreck-rawek. And just as the boat reached the edge of this fearful place, behold, a marvelous thing: the rope broke and the sea-monster was swept down alone into the whirl of wind and water, while the Hohgates were caught up into the air; swinging round and round, their boat floated steadily up into the vast of heaven. Nevermore on earth were the Hohgates seen; but there are seven stars in heaven that all men know of, and these stars are the seven Hohgates that once lived where the great shell-bed near Crescent City now is.

Footnotes

[V-1] Armstrong’s Nar., pp. 102, 193; Richardson’s Pol. Reg., pp. 319-20, 325; Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., pp. 358, 385; Dall’s Alaska, pp. 144-5.

[V-2] Hardisty, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, pp. 318-19; Jarvis’ Religion, Ind. N. Am., p. 91; Kennicott, in Whymper’s Alaska, p. 345; Mackenzie’s Voy., p. cxxviii.; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 178; Ross, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, pp. 306-7; Franklin’s Nar., vol. i., pp. 246-7; Harmon’s Jour., p. 300; Hooper’s Tuski, p. 317; Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., pp. 385-6; Dall’s Alaska, pp. 83-90; Whymper’s Alaska, pp. 231-2.

[V-3] Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., pp. 140-1; Sauer, Billings’ Ex., p. 174.

[V-4] D’Orbigny, Voy., pp. 579-80; Coxe’s Russ. Dis., p. 217; Dall’s Alaska, pp. 335, 389; See Bancroft’s Nat. Races, vol. i., p. 93.

[V-5] In Holmberg’s account of these Thlinkeet supernatural powers, nothing is said of the sun or moon as indicating the possession of life by them or of any qualities not material. But Dunn, The Oregon Territory, p. 284, and Dixon, Voyage Round the World, pp. 189-90, describe at least some tribe or tribes of the Thlinkeets and many tribes of the Haidahs, that consider the sun to be a great spirit moving over the earth once every day, animating and keeping alive all creatures, and, apparently, as being the origin of all; the moon is a subordinate and night watcher.

[V-6] Holmberg, Ethn. Skiz., pp. 52-73; Dall’s Alaska, pp. 421-3; Kotzebue’s New Voyage, vol. ii., p. 58; Dunn’s Oregon, p. 280; Bendel’s Alex. Arch., pp. 31-3. This last traveler gives us a variation of the history of Yehl and Khanukh, which is best presented in his own words:—’The Klinkits do not believe in one Supreme Being, but in a host of good and evil spirits, above whom are towering two lofty beings of godlike magnitude, who are the principal objects of Indian reverence. These are Yethl and Kanugh—two brothers; the former the benefactor and well-wisher of mankind, but of a very whimsical and unreliable nature; the latter the stern God of War, terrible in his wrath, but a true patron of every fearless brave. It is he who sends epidemics, bloodshed and war to those who have displeased him, while it seems to be the principal function of Yethl to cross the sinister purposes of his dark-minded brother. Yethl and Kanugh lived formerly on earth, and were born of a woman of a supernatural race now passed away, about the origin and nature of which many conflicting legends are told, hard to comprehend. When Yethl walked on earth and was quite young he acquired great skill in the use of the bow and arrow. He used to kill large birds, assume their shape and fly about. His favorite bird was the raven; hence its name, “Yethl,” which signifies “raven” in the Klinkit language. He had also the fogs and clouds at his command, and he would often draw them around him to escape his enemies. His brother’s name, Kanugh, signifies “wolf,” consequently “raven” and “wolf” are the names of the two gods of the Klinkits, who are supposed to be the founders of the Indian race.’

[V-7] Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 253-9; Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 223; Bancroft’s Nat. Races, vol. i., pp. 170-71.

[V-8] Jewitt’s Nar., p. 83; Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., pp. 223-4; Mofras, Explor., tom. i., p. 345; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 136; Meares’ Voy., p. 270; Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. v., pp. 222-4; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 433-441, 455; Barrett-Lennard’s Trav., pp. 51-3; Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 40, 156-8, 167-75, 205-11; Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., p. 317. As illustrating strongly the Nootka ideas with regard to the sanctity of the moon and sun, as well as the connection of the sun with the fire, it may be well to call attention to the two following customs:—’El Tays [chief] no puede hacer uso de sus mugeres sin ver enteramente iluminado el disco de la luna.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 145. ‘Girls at puberty … are kept particularly from the sun or fire.’ Bancroft’s Nat. Races, vol. i., p. 197. In this connection it may be mentioned that Mr Lord, Naturalist, vol. ii., p. 257, saw among the Nootkas while at Fort Rupert, a very peculiar Indian “medicine,” a solid piece of native copper, hammered flat, oval it would appear from the description, and painted with curious devices, eyes of all sizes being especially conspicuous. The Hudson-Bay traders call it an “Indian copper,” and said it was only exhibited on extraordinary occasions, and that its value to the tribe was estimated at fifteen slaves or two hundred blankets. This “medicine” was preserved in an elaborately ornamented wooden case, and belonging to the tribe, not to the chief, was guarded by the medicine-men. Similar sheets of copper are described by Schoolcraft as in use among certain of the Vesperic aborigines: May they all be intended for symbols of the sun, such as that reverenced by the Peruvians?

[V-9] Ross’ Adven., pp. 287-9.

[V-10] ’The bravest woman of the tribe, one used to carrying ammunition to the warrior when engaged in fight, bared her breast to the person who for courage and conduct was deemed fit successor to the departed. From the breast he cut a small portion, which he threw into the fire. She then cut a small piece from the shoulder of the warrior, which was also thrown into the fire. A piece of bitter root, with a piece of meat, were next thrown into the fire, all these being intended as offerings to the Sun, the deity of the Flatheads.’ Tolmie, in Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 237-8. For references to the remaining matter of the paragraph see Id., vol. ii., pp. 237-43, 260.

[V-11] Kane’s Wand., pp. 218-9; Gibbs’ Clallam and Lummi Vocab., p. 15.

[V-12] This vol., pp. 95-96.

[V-13] Wilkes’ Nar. in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., pp. 124-5; Cox’s Adven., vol. i., p. 317; Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 125-6; Franchère’s Nar., p. 258; Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 354; Ross’ Adven., p. 96; Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 139, 246, 254; Tolmie, in Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 248; Gibbs’ Chinook Vocab., pp. 11, 13; Gibbs’ Clallam and Lummi Vocab., pp. 15, 29; Irving’s Astoria, pp. 339-40; Tylor’s Prim. Cult., vol. ii., p. 253.

[V-14] Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 254: ‘The chiefs say, that they and their sons are too great to die of themselves, and although they may be sick, and decline, and die, as others do, yet some person, or some evil spirit instigated by some one, is the invisible cause of their death; and therefore when a chief, or chief’s son dies, the supposed author of the deed must be killed.’

[V-15] Alvord, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 652.

[V-16] Stuart’s Montana, pp. 64-6.

[V-17] Powers’ Pomo, MS.

[V-18] Joaquin Miller’s Life amongst the Modocs, pp. 21, 116, 259-60, 360.

[V-19] Powers’ Pomo, MS.

[V-20] Beechey’s Voy., vol. ii., p. 78.

[V-21] Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., vol. ci., pp. 316, 335.

[V-22] Father Boscana, one of the earliest missionaries to Upper California, left behind him the short manuscript history from which the tradition following in the text has been taken—through the medium of a now rare translation by Mr Robinson. Filled with the prejudices of its age and of the profession of its author, it is yet marvelously truthlike; though a painstaking care has evidently been used with regard to its most apparently insignificant details, there are none of those too visible wrenchings after consistency, and fillings up of lacunae which so surely betray the hand of the sophisticator in so many monkish manuscripts on like and kindred subjects. There are found on the other hand frank confessions of ignorance on doubtful points, and many naïve and puzzled comments on the whole. It is apparently the longest and the most valuable notice in existence on the religion of a nation of the native Californians, as existing at the time of the Spanish conquest, and more worthy of confidence than the general run of such documents of any date whatever. The father procured his information as follows. He says: ‘God assigned to me three aged Indians, the youngest of whom was over seventy years of age. They knew all the secrets, for two of them were capitanes, and the other a pul, who were well instructed in the mysteries. By gifts, endearments, and kindness, I elicited from them their secrets, with their explanations; and by witnessing the ceremonies which they performed, I learned by degrees, their mysteries. Thus, by devoting a portion of the nights to profound meditation, and comparing their actions with their disclosures, I was enabled after a long time, to acquire a knowledge of their religion.’ Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., p. 236.

[V-23] See p. 113, of this volume, for a custom among the Mexicans not without analogies to this.

[V-24] See p. 134, of this volume.

[V-25] Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., pp. 242-301.

[V-26] The Christian leaven, whose workings are evident through this narrative, ferments here too violently to need pointing out.

[V-27] See pp. 83-4, this volume.

[V-28] Venegas, Noticia de la Cal., tom. i., pp. 102-124; Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., pp. 135-141; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 314.

[V-29] Virginia City Chronicle, quoted in S. F. Daily Ev’g Post, of Oct. 12th, 1872; Browne’s Lower Cal., p. 188.

[V-30] De Smet’s Letters, p. 41.

[V-31] Parker, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 684; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., pp. 35-6, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii.; Barreiro, Ojeada sobre N. Mex., ap. p. 8; Filley’s Life and Adven., p. 82; Marcy’s Army Life, pp. 58, 64; Domenech, Jour. d’un Miss., pp. 13, 131, 469.

[V-32] Barreiro, Ojeada sobre N. Mex., ap. pp. 2-3; Henry, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 212.

[V-33] Crofutt’s Western World, Aug. 1872, p. 27; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., p. 42, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii.; Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 91; Bristol, in Ind. Aff. Rept., Special Com., 1867, p. 358; Brinton’s Myths, p. 158; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 402.

[V-34] See pp. 77-8, note 36, this volume.

[V-35] Joaquin Miller’s Californian.

[V-36] Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., pp. 271-3; Davis’ El Gringo, pp. 142, 396; Simpson’s Overland Journ., pp. 21-3; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 164-5, 418, vol. ii., pp. 62-3, 401; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, pp. 170, 219, 284; Meline’s Two Thousand Miles on Horseback, pp. 202, 226; Ruxton’s Adven. in Mex., p. 193; Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 73; Ward, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1864, pp. 192-3; Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 30; Tylor’s Prim. Cult., vol. ii., p. 384; Brinton’s Myths, p. 190; Coronado, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 379. Fremont gives an account of the birth of Montezuma. His mother was, it is said, a woman of exquisite beauty, admired and sought after by all men, they making her presents of corn and skins and all that they had; but the fastidious beauty would accept nothing of them but their gifts. In process of time a season of drought brought on a famine and much distress; then it was that the rich lady showed her charity to be as great in one direction as it had been wanting in another. She opened her granaries and the gifts of the lovers she had not loved went to relieve the hungry she pitied. At last with rain, fertility returned to the earth; and on the chaste Artemis of the Pueblos its touch fell too. She bore a son to the thick summer shower and that son was Montezuma.

[V-37] Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 85-6.

[V-38] Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., pp. 42-3, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii.; Dodt, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, p. 129.

Chapter VI • Gods, Supernatural Beings, and Worship • 25,700 Words

Gods and Religious Rites of Chihuahua, Sonora, Durango, and Sinaloa—The Mexican Religion, received with different degrees of credulity by different classes of the people—Opinions of different Writers as to its Nature—Monotheism of Nezahualcoyotl—Present condition of the Study of Mexican Mythology—Tezcatlipoca—Prayers to Him in time of Pestilence, of War, for those in Authority—Prayer used by an Absolving Priest—Genuineness of the foregoing Prayers—Character and Works of Sahagun.

From the Pueblo cities let us now pass down into Mexico, glancing first at the northern and north-western neighbors of this great people that ruled on the plateau of Anáhuac. The Chihuahuans worshiped a great god called by them the ‘captain of heaven’ and recognized a lesser divinity as abiding in and inspiring their priests and medicine-men. They rendered homage to the sun; and when any comet or other phenomenon appeared in the heavens they offered sacrifice thereto; their sacrifice being much after the Mexican fashion—fruits, herbs, and such things as they had, together with blood drawn from their bodies by the pricks of a thorn.[VI-1]Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. iii., p. 22; Doc. Hist. Mex., série iv., tom. iii., p. 86.

Gods of Sonora and Durango

In Sonora—the great central heart of Mexico making its beatings more and more clearly felt as we approach it nearer—the vague feelings of awe and reverence with which the savage regards the unseen, unknown, and unknowable powers, begin at last to somewhat lose their vagueness and to crystallize into the recognition of a power to be represented and symbolized by a god made with hands. The offerings thereto begin also, more and more, to lose their primitive simple shape, and the blood, without which is no remission of sins, stains the rude altar that a more Arcadian race had only heaped with flowers and fruit. The natives of Sonora bring, says Las Casas, “many deer, wolves, hares, and birds before a large idol, with music of many flutes and other instruments of theirs; then cutting open the animals through the middle, they take out their hearts and hang them round the neck of the image, wetting it with the flowing blood. It is certain that the only offering made in all this province of Sonora was the hearts of brutes.”[VI-2]Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., tom. iii., cap. 168; Smith’s Relation of Cabeza de Vaca, p. 177. All this they did more especially in two great festivals they had, the one at seed-time, the other at harvest; and we have reason to rejoice that the thing was no worse, reason to be glad that the hearts of brave men and fair women, and soft children not knowing their right hand from their left, were not called for, as in the land of the eagle and cactus banner, to feed that devil’s Minotaur, superstition.

The people of Durango called the principal power in which they believed Meyuncame, that is to say, Maker of All Things; they had another god, Cachiripa, whose name is all we know of him. They had besides innumerable private idols, penates of all possible and impossible figures; some being stone, shaped by nature only. In one village they worshiped a great flint knife that their flint implements of every kind might be good and sure. They had gods of storm and gods of sunshine, gods of good and gods of evil, gods of everything in heaven above or in the earth beneath or in the waters under the earth. Their idols received bloody sacrifices, not always of beasts; a bowl containing beans and the cooked human flesh of an enemy was offered to them for success in war.[VI-3]Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, pp. 473-5; Doc. Hist. Mex., série iv., tom. iii., p. 48.

Much of the preceding paragraph belongs also to Sinaloa or cannot be exactly located more in the one province than in the other. The Sinaloas are said to have venerated above all the other gods one called Cocohuame, which is, being interpreted, Death. They worshiped also a certain Ouraba,[VI-4]Apparently the same as that Vairubi spoken of on p. 83 of this volume. which is Valor, offering him bows, arrows, and all kinds of instruments of war. To Sehuatoba, that is to say Pleasure, they sacrificed feathers, raiment, beads of glass, and women’s ornaments. Bamusehua was the god of water. In some parts, it is said, there was recognized a divine element in common herbs and birds. One deity—or devil, as Ribas calls him with the exquisite courtesy that distinguishes the theosophic historian—was the especial patron of a class of wizards closely resembling the shamáns and medicine-men of the north. No one seemed to know exactly the powers of this deity, but everyone admitted their extent by recognizing with a respectful awe their effects; effects brought about through the agency of the wizards, by the use of bags, rattles, magic stones, blowings, suckings, and all that routine of sorcery with which we are already familiar. This deity was called Grandfather or Ancestor.[VI-5]Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, pp. 16, 18, 40. ‘A uno de sus dioses llamaban Ouraba, que quiere decir fortaleza. Era como Marte, dios de la guerra. Ofrecíanle arcos, flechas y todo género de armas para el feliz éxito de sus batallas. A otro llamaban Sehuatoba, que quiere decir, deleite, á quien ofrecian plumas, mantas, cuentecillas de vidrio y adornos mugeriles. Al dios de las aguas llamaban Bamusehua. El mas venerado de todos era Cocohuame, que significa muerte.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. ii., p. 45. ‘They worship for their gods such things as they haue in their houses, as namely, hearbes, and birdes, and sing songs vnto them in their language.’ Coronado, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 363.

One Sinaloa nation, the Tahus, in the neighborhood of Culiacan, reared great serpents for which they had a good deal of veneration. They propitiated their gods with offerings of precious stones and rich stuffs, but they did not sacrifice men. With an altogether characteristic insinuation, the Abbé Domenech says, that though highly immoral in the main, they so highly respected women who devoted themselves to a life of celibacy, that they held great festivals in their honor—leaving the reader to suppose that the Tahus had a class of female religious who devoted themselves to a life of chastity and were respected for that reason; the truth is found to be, on referring to the author Castañeda—from whom apparently the abbé has taken this half truth and whole falsehood—that these estimable celibate women were the public prostitutes of the nation.[VI-6]’Ils célébraient de grandes fêtes en l’honneur des femmes qui voulaient vivre dans le célibat. Les caciques d’un canton se réunissaient et dansaient tous nus, l’un après l’autre, avec la femme qui avait pris cette détermination. Quand la danse était terminée, ils la conduisaient dans une petite maison qu’on avait décorée à cet effet, et ils jouissaient de sa personne, les caciques d’abord et ensuite tous ceux qui le voulaient. A dater de ce moment, elles ne pouvaient rien refuser à quiconque leur offrait le prix fixé pour cela. Elles n’étaient jamais dispensées de cette obligation, même quand plus tard elles se mariaient.’ Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 150-1. ‘Although these men were very immoral, yet such was their respect for all women who led a life of celibacy, that they celebrated grand festivals in their honour.’ And there he makes an end. Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 170.

The Mexican Religion and Its Historians

The Mexican religion, as transmitted to us, is a confused and clashing chaos of fragments. If ever the great nation of Anáhuac had its Hesiod or its Homer, no ray of his light has reached the stumbling feet of research in that direction; no echo of his harmony has been ever heard by any ear less dull than that of a Zumárraga. It is given to few men to rise above their age, and it is folly to expect grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles; yet it is hard to suppress wholly some feelings of regret, in poring upon those ponderous tomes of sixteenth and seventeenth century history that touch upon Mexican religion; one pities far less the inevitable superstition and childish ignorance of the barbarian than the senility of his Christian historian and critic—there was some element of hope and evidence of attainment in what the half-civilized barbarian knew; but from what heights of Athenian, Roman, and Alexandrian philosophy and eloquence, had civilization fallen into the dull and arrogant nescience of the chronicles of the clergy of Spain.

We have already noticed[VI-7]This volume, pp. 55-6. the existence of at least two schools of religious philosophy in Mexico, two average levels of thought, the one that of the vulgar and credulous, the other that of the more enlightened and reflective. It has resulted from this that different writers differ somewhat in their opinions with regard to the precise nature and essence of that religion, some saying one thing and some another. I cannot show this more shortly and—what is much more important in a subject like this—more exactly, than by quoting a number of these opinions:

“Turning from the simple faiths of savage tribes of America, to the complex religion of the half-civilized Mexican nation, we find what we might naturally expect, a cumbrous polytheism complicated by mixture of several national pantheons, and beside and beyond this, certain appearances of a doctrine of divine supremacy. But these doctrines seem to have been spoken of more definitely than the evidence warrants. A remarkable native development of Mexican theism must be admitted, in so far as we may receive the native historian Ixtlilxochitl’s account of the worship paid by Nezahualcoyotl, the poet-king of Tezcuco, to the invisible supreme Tloque-Nahuaque, he who has all in him, the cause of causes, in whose star-roofed pyramid stood an idol, and who there received no bloody sacrifice, but only flowers and incense. Yet it would have been more satisfactory, were the stories told by this Aztec panegyrist of his royal ancestors confirmed by other records. Traces of divine supremacy in Mexican religion are especially associated with Tezcatlipoca, ‘Shining Mirror,’ a deity who seems in his original nature the Sun-god, and thence by expansion to have become the soul of the world, creator of heaven and earth, lord of all things, Supreme Deity. Such conceptions may, in more or less measure, have arisen in native thought, but it should be pointed out that the remarkable Aztec religious formulas collected by Sahagun, in which the deity Tezcatlipoca is so prominent a figure, show traces of Christian admixture in their material, as well as of Christian influence in their style. In distinct and absolute personality, the divine Sun in Aztec theology was Tonatiuh[VI-8]I would call attention to the fact that Alvarado, the ruddy handsome Spanish captain, was called Tonatiuh by the Mexicans, just as Barnabas was called Jupiter, and Paul, Mercurius, by the people of Lystra—going to show how unfetish and anthropomorphic were the ideas connected with the sun-god by the Mexicans. whose huge pyramid-mound stands on the plain of Teotihuacan, a witness of his worship for future ages. Beyond this the religion of Mexico, in its complex system, or congeries of great gods, such as results from the mixture and alliance of the deities of several nations, shows the solar element rooted deeply and widely in other personages of its divine mythology, and attributes especially to the sun the title of Teotl, God.”[VI-9]Tylor’s Prim. Cult., vol. ii., p. 311.

Complexity of Aztec Theology

“It is remarkable,” says Professor J. G. Müller, “that the well-instructed Acosta should have known nothing about the adoration of a highest invisible God, under the name of Teotl. And yet this adoration has been reported in the most certain manner by others, and made evident from more exact statements regarding the nature of this deity. He has been surnamed Ipalnemoan, that is, He through whom we live, and Tloquenahuaque, that is, He who is all things through himself. He has been looked upon as the originator and essence of all things, and as especially throned in the high cloud-surrounded mountains. Rightly does Wuttke contend against any conception of this deity as a monotheistic one, the polytheism of the people being considered—for polytheism and monotheism will not be yoked together; even if a logical concordance were found, the inner spirits of the principles of the two would still be opposed to each other. Another argument stands also clearly out, in the total absence of any prayers, offerings, feasts, or temples to or in the honor of this god. From this it is evident that Teotl was not a god of the common people. Yet this, on the other hand, cannot justify us—the so-frequently-occurring statements of well-informed authorities being taken into account—in denying in toto all traces of a pantheistic monotheism, as this latter may easily spring up among cultivated polytheists as a logical result and outcome of their natural religion. Nezahualcoyotl, the enlightened king of Tezcuco, adored as the cause of causes, a god without an image. The chief of the Totonac aborigines of Cempoallan had, if we may credit the speech put in his mouth by Las Casas and Herrera, an idea of a highest god and creator. This abstract idea has also here, as in other parts of America, intertwined itself with the conception of a sun-god. Hence the Mexicans named the sun-god pre-eminently Teotl; and that enlightened king of Tezcuco, who built a temple of nine stories—symbolizing the nine heavens—in honor of the stars, called the sun-god his father.”[VI-10]Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 473-4. The so-often discussed resemblance in form and signification between the two Mexican words teotl and calli (see Molina, Vocabulario) and the two Greek words theos and kalia, is completely enough noticed by Müller. ‘Die Mexikanischen Völker haben einen Appellativnamen für Gott, Teotl, welcher, da die Buchstaben tl blosse aztekische Endung sind, merkwürdiger Weise mit dem indogermanischen theos, Deus, Deva, Dew, zusammenstimmt. Dieses Wort wird zur Bildung mancher Götternamen oder Kultusgegenstände gebraucht. Hieher gehören die Götternamen Tcotlacozanqui, Teocipactli, Teotetl, Teoyamiqui, Tlozolteotl. Der Tempel heisst Teocalli (vgl. Kalia, Hütte, Kalias, Capelle) oder wörtlich Haus Gottes—das göttliche Buch, Teoamoxtli, Priester Teopuixqui, oder auch Teoteuktli, eine Prozession, Teonenemi, Göttermarsch. Dazu kommen noch manche Namen von Städten, die als Kultussitze ausgezeichnet waren, wie das uns schon früher bekannt gewordene Teotihuacan. Im Plural wurden die Götter Teules genannt und eben so, wie uns Bernal Diaz so oft erzählt, die Gefährten des Cortes, welche das gemeine Volk als Götter bezeichnen wollte.’ Id., p. 472.

“To the most ancient gods,” says Klemm, “belonged the divinities of nature, as well as a highest being called Teotl, God. He was perfect, independent, and invisible, and consequently not represented by any image. His qualities were represented by expressions like these: He through whom we live, He who is all in himself. This god coincides very nearly with the Master of Life of the North Americans. In opposition to him is the evil spirit, the enemy of mankind, who often appears to and terrifies them. He is called Tlacatecololotl, that is to say, Rational Owl, and may possibly, like the Lame-foot of the Peruvians, be a survival from the times when the old hunter-nations inhabited the forests and mountains. Next to Teotl was Tezcatlipoca, that is to say, Shining Mirror; he was the god of providence, the soul of the world, and the creator of heaven and earth. Teotl was not represented by any image, and was probably not worshiped with offerings nor in any special temples; Tezcatlipoca was, however, so represented, and that as a youth, because time could have no power over his beauty and his splendor. He rewarded the righteous, and punished the ungodly with sickness and misfortune. He created the world, and mankind, and the sun, and the water, and he was himself in a certain degree the overseer thereof.”[VI-11]Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 114-5.

Tloque-Nahuaque

The Abbé Brasseur believes in the knowledge by the Mexicans and certain neighboring or related nations, of a Supreme God; but he thinks also that the names of great priests and legislators have often been used for or confounded with the one Name above every name. He says: “In the traditions that have reached us the name of the legislator is often confused with that of the divinity; and behind the symbolic veil that covers primitive history, he who civilized and brought to light in the Americans a new life, is designedly identified with the Father of the universal creation. The writers who treat of the history of the ancient American nations avow that, at the time of the landing of the Spaniards on the soil of the western continent, there was not one that did not recognize the existence of a supreme deity and arbiter of the universe. In that confusion of religious ideas, which is the inevitable result of ignorance and superstition, the notion of a unique immaterial being, of an invisible power, had survived the shipwreck of pure primitive creeds. Under the name Tloque-Nahuaque, the Mexicans adored Him who is the first cause of all things, who preserves and sustains all by his providence; calling him again, for the same reason, Ipalnemoaloni, He in whom and by whom we are and live. This god was the same as that Kunab-Ku, the Alone Holy, who was adored in Yucatan; the same again as that Hurakan, the Voice that Cries, the Heart of Heaven, found with the Guatemalan nations of Central America; and the same lastly as that Teotl, God, whom we find named in the Tzendal and Mexican books. This “God of all purity,” as he was styled in a Mexican prayer, was, however, too elevated for the thoughts of the vulgar. His existence was recognized, and sages invoked him; but he had neither temples nor altars—perhaps because no one knew how he should be represented—and it was only in the last times of the Aztec monarchy that Nezahualcoyotl, king of Tezcuco, dedicated to him a teocalli of nine terraces, without statues, under the title of the unknown god.”[VI-12]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. des Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 45-6.

Mr Gallatin says of the Mexicans: “Their mythology, as far as we know it, presents a great number of unconnected gods, without apparent system or unity of design. It exhibits no evidence of metaphysical research or imaginative powers. Viewed only as a development of the intellectual faculties of man, it is, in every respect, vastly inferior to the religious systems of Egypt, India, Greece, or Scandinavia. If imported, it must have been from some barbarous country, and brought directly from such country to Mexico, since no traces of a similar worship are found in the more northern parts of America.”[VI-13]Gallatin, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 352.

“The Aztecs,” writes Prescott, “recognized the existence of a Supreme Creator and Lord of the Universe. But the idea of unity—of a being, with whom volition is action, who has no need of inferior ministers to execute his purposes—was too simple, or too vast, for their understandings; and they sought relief as usual, in a plurality of deities, who presided over the elements, the changes of the seasons, and the various occupations of man. Of these, there were thirteen principal deities, and more than two hundred inferior; to each of whom some special day, or appropriate festival, was consecrated.”[VI-14]Prescott’s Conq. of Mex., vol. i., p. 57.

Primitive Worship

According to Mr Squier: “The original deities of the Mexican pantheon are few in number. Thus when the Mexicans engaged in a war, in defense of the liberty or sovereignty of their country, they invoked the War God, under his aspect and name Huitzlipochtli. When suddenly attacked by enemies, they called upon the same god, under his aspect and name of Paynalton, which implied God of Emergencies, etc. In fact, as already elsewhere observed, all the divinities of the Mexican, as of every other mythology, resolve themselves into the primeval God and Goddess.”[VI-15]Squier’s Serpent Symbol, p. 47.

“The population of Central America,” says the Vicomte de Bussierre, “although they had preserved the vague notion of a superior eternal God and creator, known by the name Teotl, had an Olympus as numerous as that of the Greeks and the Romans. It would appear—the most ancient, though, unfortunately, also the most obscure legends being followed—that during the civilized period which preceded the successive invasions of the barbarous hordes of the north, the inhabitants of Anáhuac joined to the idea of a supreme being the worship of the sun and the moon, offering them flowers, fruits, and the first fruits of their fields. The most ancient monuments of the country, such as the pyramids of Teotihuacan, were incontestably consecrated to these luminaries. Let us now trace some of the most striking features of these people. Among the number of their gods, is found one represented under the figure of a man eternally young, and considered as the symbol of the supreme and mysterious God. Two other gods there were, watching over mortals from the height of a celestial city, and charged with the accomplishment of their prayers. Air, earth, fire, and water had their particular divinities. The woman of the serpent, the prolific woman, she who never gave birth but to twins, was adored as the mother of the human race. The sun and the moon had their altars. Various divinities presided over the phenomena of nature, over the day, the night, the mist, the thunder, the harvest, the mountains, and so on. Souls, the place of the dead, warriors, hunters, merchants, fishing, love, drunkenness, medicine, flowers, and many other things had their special gods. A multitude of heroes and of illustrious kings, whose apotheosis had been decreed, took their place in this vast pantheon, where were besides seated two hundred and sixty divinities of inferior rank, to each of whom nevertheless one of the days of the year was consecrated. Lastly, every city, every family, every individual, had its or his celestial protector, to whom worship was rendered. The number of the temples corresponded to that of the gods; these temples were found everywhere, in the cities, in the fields, in the woods, along the roads, and all of them had priests charged with their service. This complicated mythology was common to all the nations of Anáhuac, even to those that the empire had been unable to subjugate and with which it was at war; but each country had its favorite god, such god being to it, what Huitzilopochtli, the god of war, was to the Aztecs.”[VI-16]Bussierre, L’Empire Mexicain, pp. 131-3.

The Mexican religion, as summed up by Mr Brantz Mayer,[VI-17]Brantz Mayer, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., p. 585; see also, Brantz Mayer’s Mexico as it was, p. 110. “was a compound of spiritualism and gross idolatry; for the Aztecs believed in a Supreme Deity, whom they called Teotl, God; or Ipalnemoani, He by whom we live; or Tloque Nahuaque, He who has all in himself; while their evil spirit bore the name of Tlaleatcololotl, the Rational Owl. These spiritual beings are surrounded by a number of lesser divinities, who were probably the ministerial agents of Teotl. These were Huitzilopochtli, the god of war, and Teoyaomiqui, his spouse, whose duty it was to conduct the souls of warriors who perished in defense of their homes and religion to the ‘house of the sun,’ the Aztec heaven. Huitzilopochtli, or Mextli, the god of war, was the special protector of the Aztecs; and devoted as they were to war, this deity was always invoked before battle, and recompensed after it by the offering of numerous captives taken in conflict.”

Mexican Religion, Greek and Roman

“The religion of the Mexicans,” writes Señor Carbajal Espinosa,[VI-18]Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. de Mexico, tom. i., pp. 468-9; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 3-4. plagiarizing as literally as possible from Clavigero, “was a tissue of errors and of cruel and superstitious rites. Similar infirmities of the human mind are inseparable from a religious system originating in caprice and fear, as we see even in the most cultured nations of antiquity. If the religion of the Mexicans be compared with that of the Greeks and Romans, it will be found that the latter is the more superstitious and ridiculous and the former the more barbarous and sanguinary. These celebrated nations of ancient Europe multiplied excessively their gods because of the mean idea that they had of their power; restricting their rule within narrow limits, attributing to them the most atrocious crimes, and solemnizing their worship with such execrable impurities as were so justly condemned by the fathers of Christianity. The gods of the Mexicans were less imperfect, and their worship although superstitious contained nothing repugnant to decency. They had some idea, although imperfect, of a Supreme Being, absolute, independent, believing that they owed him tribute, adoration, and fear. They had no figure whereby to represent him, believing him to be invisible, neither did they give him any other name, save the generic one, God, which is in the Mexican tongue teotl, resembling even more in sense than in pronunciation the theos of the Greeks; they used, however, epithets, in the highest degree expressive, to signify the grandeur and the power which they believed him endowed with, calling him Ipalnemoani, that is to say, He by whom we live, and Tloque-Nahuaque, which means, He that is all things in himself. But the knowledge and the worship of this Supreme Essence were obscured by the multitude of gods invented by superstition. The people believed furthermore in an evil spirit, inimical to mankind, calling him Tlacatecololotl, or Rational Owl, and saying that oftentimes he revealed himself to men, to hurt or to terrify them.”

“The Mexicans and the Tezcucans,” following Señor Pimentel, “recognized the existence of a Supreme Being, of a First Cause, and gave him that generic title Teotl, God, the analogy of which with the Theos of the Greeks, has been already noted by various authors. The idea of God is one of those that appear radical to our very existence…. With the Mexicans and Tezcucans this idea was darkened by the adoration of a thousand gods, invoked in all emergencies; of these gods there were thirteen principal, the most notable being the god of providence, that of war, and that of the wind and waters. The god of providence had his seat in the sky, and had in his care all human affairs. The god of the waters was considered as the fertilizer of earth, and his dwelling was in the highest of the mountains where he arranged the clouds. The god of war was the principal protector of the Mexicans, their guide in their wanderings from the mysterious country of Aztlan, the god to whose favor they owed those great victories that elevated them from the lowly estate of lake-fishermen up to the lordship of Anáhuac. The god of the wind had an aspect more benign…. The Mexicans also worshiped the sun and the moon, and even, it would appear, certain animals considered as sacred. There figured also in the Aztec mythology an evil genius called the Owl-man,[VI-19]Hombre Buho. since in some manner the good and the bad, mixed up here on earth, have to be explained. So the Persians had their Oromasdes and Arimanes, the first the genius of good, and the second of evil, and so, later, Manicheism presents us with analogous explanations.”[VI-20]Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 11-13.

The Nameless God

Solis, writing of Mexico and the Mexicans says: “There was hardly a street without its tutelary god; neither was there any calamity of nature without its altar, to which they had recourse for remedy. They imagined and made their gods out of their own fear; not understanding that they lessened the power of some by what they attributed to others…. But for all so many as were their gods, and so complete as was the blindness of their idolatry, they were not without the knowledge of a Superior Deity, to whom they attributed the creation of the heavens and the earth. This original of things was, among the Mexicans, a god without name; they had no word in their language with which to express him, only they gave it to be understood that they knew him, pointing reverently towards heaven, and giving to him after their fashion the attribute of ineffable, with that sort of religious uncertainty with which the Athenians venerated the Unknown God.”[VI-21]Solis, Hist. de la Conq. de Mex., tom. i., pp. 398-9, 431.

The interpreter of the Codex Telleriano-Remensis calls the Supreme God of the Mexicans by the name Tonacateotle.[VI-22]Gallatin, in Amer. Ethnol. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 350, identifies this god with Tezcatlipoca of whom he writes in the following terms: ‘Tezcatlipoca. A true invisible god, dwells in heaven, earth, and hell; alone attends to the government of the world, gives and takes away wealth and prosperity. Called also Titlacoa (whence his star Titlacahuan). Under the name of Necocyaotl, the author of wars and discords. According to Boturini, he is the god of providence. He seems to be the only equivalent for the Tonacatlecottle of the interpreters of the Codices.’ The interpreter says: “God, Lord, Creator, Governor of all, Tloque, Nauaq, Tlalticpaque, Teotlalale-Matlava-Tepeva—all these epithets they bestowed on their god Tonacateotle, who, they said, was the god that created the world; and him alone they painted with a crown as lord of all. They never offered sacrifices to this god for they said he cared not for such things. All the others to whom they sacrificed were men once on a time, or demons.”[VI-23]Explic. del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 135. I take this opportunity of cautioning the reader against Kingsborough’s translation of the above codex, as well as against his translation of the Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano: every error that could vitiate a translation seems to have crept into these two.

We have already seen from Herrera that “the Mexicans confessed to a Supreme God, Lord, and maker of all things, and the said God was the principal that they venerated, looking towards heaven, and calling him Creator of heaven and earth.”[VI-24]See this vol. p. 57, note 13. On pages 55 and 56, and in the note pertaining thereto, will also be found many references bearing on the matter under present discussion. In contradistinction to this it may be well to consider the following extract from the same author: “Such was the blindness of the Mexicans, even to the natural light, that they did not think like men of good judgment that all created things were the work and effect of some immense and infinite cause, the which only the First Cause and true God is…. And in Mexico alone (according to the common opinion) they had and adored two thousand gods, of whom the principal were Vizilipuztli and Tezcatlipucatl, who as supreme were set up in the height of the great temple, over two altars…. Tezcatlipucatl was the god of providence, and Vizilipuztli the god of war.”[VI-25]Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xviii., p. 253.

Speaking of Mexican temples[VI-26]Qües, Oviedo calls them, (spelled cues by most writers) the following explanation being given in glossary of Voces Americanas Empleadas por Oviedo, appended to the fourth volume of the Hist. Gen.: ‘Qü: templo, casa de oracion. Esta voz era muy general en casi toda América, y muy principalmente en las comarcas de Yucatan y Mechuacan.’ and gods, Oviedo says: “But Montezuma had the chief [temple], together with three other prayer-houses, in which he sacrificed in honor of four gods, or idols, that he had; of these they had one for god of war, as the Gentiles had Mars; to another they gave honor and sacrifice as god of the waters, even as the ancients gave to Neptune; another they adored for god of the wind, as the lost heathen adored Æolus; and another still they revered as their sovereign god, and this was the sun…. They had further other gods; making one of them god of the maize-fields, attributing to him the power of guarding and multiplying the same, as the fable-writing poets and ancients of antiquity did to Ceres. They had gods for everything, giving attributes to each according to their surmises, investing them with that godhead which they had not, and with which it was not right to invest any save only the true God.”[VI-27]Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 503.

Speaking in general terms of probably a large part of New Spain, Torquemada, says: “These idolaters did not deny that they had a god called Ypalnemoaloni, that is to say, Lord by whom we live, and his nature is that his existence is in himself:[VI-28]’Ypalnemoaloni, que quiere decir, Señor por quien se vive, y ai sèr en èl de Naturaleça.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. iii., p. 30. the which is most proper to God, who is in his essence life. But that in which these people erred was in distributing this divinity and attributing it to many gods; yet, in reality, and verily, they recognized a Supreme God, to whom all the others were inferior. But for the greatness of their sins, they lacked faith and ran into this error like the other nations that have done so.”

Acosta and Teotl

Acosta, as has been already noticed by Professor J. G. Müller, either never heard of or disbelieved in the existence of the name Teotl and of the ideas connected therewith by so many historians.[VI-29]See this vol. p. 183.—Not, be it remarked that Acosta denies the knowledge by the Mexicans of a Supreme God; he only denies the existence of any name by which the said deity was generally known. This is clear from the following extract from the Hist. Nat. Ind., p. 333: ‘First, although the darkenesse of infidelitie holdeth these nations in blindenesse, yet in many thinges the light of truth and reason works somewhat in them. And they commonly acknowledge a supreame Lorde and Author of all things, which they of Peru called Viracocha…. Him they did worship, as the chiefest of all, whom they did honor in beholding the heaven. The like wee see amongest them of Mexico.’ The said Acosta says: “If wee shall seeke into the Indian tongue for a word to answer to this name of God, as in Latin, Deus; in Greeke, Theos; in Hebrew, El; in Arabike, Alla; but wee shall not finde any in the Cuscan or Mexicaine tongues. So as such as preach, or write to the Indians, vse our Spanish name Dios, fitting it to the accent or pronounciation of the Indian tongues; the which differ much, whereby appeares the small knowledge they had of God, seeing they cannot so much as name him, if it be not by our very name: yet in trueth they had some little knowledge…. The Mexicaines almost in the same manner [as the Peruvians] after the supreame God, worshiped the Sunne: And therefore they called Hernando Cortez, Sonne of the Sunne, for his care and courage to compasse the earth. But they made their greatest adoration to an Idol called Vitzilipuztli, the which in all this region they called the most puissant and Lord of all things: for this cause the Mexicaines built him a Temple, the greatest, the fairest, the highest, and the most sumptuous of all others…. But heere the Mexicaines Idolatrie hath bin more pernicious and hurtfull than that of the Inguas, as wee shall see plainer heereafter, for that the greatest part of their adoration and idolatrie, was employed to Idols, and not to naturall things, although they did attribute naturall effects to these Idolls, as raine, multiplication of cattell, warre, and generation, even as the Greekes and Latins have forged Idolls of Phœbus, Mercurie, Jupiter, Minerva, and of Mars. To conclude, who so shall neerely looke into it, shall finde this manner which the Divell hath vsed to deceive the Indians, to be the same wherewith hee hath deceived the Greekes and Romans, and other ancient Gentiles, giving them to vnderstand that these notable creatures, the Sunne, Moone, Starres, and Elements, had power and authoritie to doe good or harme to men.”[VI-30]Acosta, Hist. Nat. Ind., pp. 334, 337-8.

Mendieta’s Euhemeristic Theory

Mendieta says: “It is to be noted for a general rule that, though these people, in all the continent of these Indias, from the farthest parts of New Spain to the parts of Florida, and farther still to the kingdoms of Peru, had, as has been said, an infinity of idols that they reverenced as gods, nevertheless, above all, they still held the sun as chiefest and most powerful. And they dedicated to the sun the greatest, richest, and most sumptuous of their temples. This should be the power the Mexicans called Ipalnemohuani, that is to say, ‘by whom all live,’ and Moyucuyatzin ayac oquiyocux ayac oquipic, that is to say, ‘he that no one created or formed, but who, on the contrary, made all things by his own power and will.’ … So many are the fictions and fables that the Indians invented about their gods, and so differently are these related in the different towns, that neither can they agree among themselves in recounting them, nor shall there be found any one who shall understand them. In the principal provinces of this New Spain, they had—after the sun, which was the common god of them all—each province, its particular and principal god, to which god above all others they offered their sacrifices; as the Mexicans to Uzilopuchtli—a name that the Spaniards not being able to pronounce called Ocholobos, ‘eight wolves’, or Uchilobos; as the Tezucans to Tezcatlipuca; as the Tlaxcalans to Camaxtli, and as the Cholulans to Quetzalcoatl; doubtless all these were famous men that performed some notable feats, or invented some new thing, to the honor and benefit of the state; or perhaps again these gave the people laws and a rule of life, or taught them trades, or to offer up sacrifices, or some other thing that appeared good and worthy to be rewarded with grateful acknowledgements…. The demon, the old enemy, did not content himself with the service that these people did him in the adoration of almost every visible creature, in making idols of them, both carven and painted, but he also kept them blinded with a thousand fashions of witchcrafts, parodies of sacraments, and superstitions.”[VI-31]Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 88, 91, 107.

“It is well to remark,” writes Camargo, “that although the Indians had a divinity for each thing, they were aware of the existence of a Supreme God that they named Tloque-Nahuaque, or He who contains all, regarding the same as superior to all the other gods.” This Tlascaltec author has also preserved us a native prayer couched in the following terms: “O, all-powerful gods, that inhabit the heavens, even as far as the ninth, where abides your master and ours, the great Tloque-Nahuaque (this name means, He that accompanies the other gods[VI-32]The interpretation of the title Tloque Nahuaque is not only irreconcilable with another given by the same author a few lines above in our text, but it is also at utter variance with those of all other authors with which I am acquainted. It may not be amiss here to turn to the best authority accessible in matters of Mexican idiom: Molina, Vocabulario, describes the title to mean, ‘He upon whom depends the existence of all things, preserving and sustaining them,’—a word used also to mean God, or Lord. ‘Tloque nauaque, cabe quien esta el ser de todas las cosas, conseruandolas y sustentandolas: y dizese de nro señor dios.’)—you that have all power over men forsake us not in danger. We invoke you, as well also as the sun Nauholin, and the moon, spouse of that brilliant luminary, the stars of heaven also, and the wind of the night and of the day.”[VI-33]Camargo, Hist. de Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 191, tom. xcix., p. 168.

According to the somewhat vague and incomplete account of Fray Toribio de Benavente, or Motolinia—the latter his adopted name and that by which he is best known—another of the original and early authorities in matter concerning the gentile Mexicans: “Tezcatlipoca was the god or demon that they held for greatest and to whom most dignity was attributed…. They had idols of stone, and of wood, and of baked clay; they also made them of dough and of seeds kneaded into the dough…. Some of them were shaped like men, … some were like women; … some were like wild beasts, as lions, tigers, dogs, deer, and such other animals as frequented the mountains and plains; … some like snakes of many fashions, large and coiling…. Of the owl and other night-birds, and of others as the kite, and of every large bird, or beautiful, or fierce, or preciously feathered—they had an idol. But the principal of all was the sun. Likewise had they idols of the moon and stars, and of the great fishes, and of the water-lizards, and of toads and frogs, and of other fishes; and these they said were the gods of the fishes…. They had for gods fire, water, and earth; and of all these they had painted figures…. Of many other things they had figures and idols, carved or painted, even of butterflies, fleas, and locusts.”[VI-34]Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col., tom. i., pp. 4, 33-34.

The Creed of Nezahualcoyotl

Nezahualcoyotl, king of Tezcuco, was he who—according to the no doubt somewhat partial account of his descendant Ixtlilxochitl—pushed the farthest into overt speech and act his contempt of the vulgar idolatry and his recognition of a high, holy, and to a great extent unknowable supreme power. This thoughtful monarch “found for false all the gods adored by the people of this land, saying that they were statues and demonshostile to the human race; for he was very learned in moral things, and he went to and fro more than any other, seeking if haply he might find light to affirm the true God and creator of all things, as has been seen in the discourse of his history, and as bear witness the songs that he composed on this theme. He said that there was only One, that this One was the maker of heaven and earth, that he sustained all he had made and created, and that he was where was no second, above the nine heavens; that no eye had ever seen this One, in a human shape nor in any shape whatever; that the souls of the virtuous went to him after death, while the souls of the bad went to another place, some most infamous spot of earth, filled with horrible hardships and sufferings. Never—though there were many gods representing many idols—did the king neglect an opportunity of saying when divinity was discussed, ‘yntloque in nauhaque y palne moalani,’ which sentence sums up his convictions as above expressed. Nevertheless he recognized the sun as his father and the earth as his mother.”[VI-35]Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chichimeca in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 261. ‘Tuvo por falsos á todos los dioses que adoraban los de esta tierra, diciendo que eran estatuas ó demonios enemigos del género humano; por que fue muy sabio en las cosas morales, y el que mas vaciló buscando de donde tomar lumbre para certificarse del verdadero Dios y criador de todas las cosas, como se ha visto en el discurso de su historia, y dan testimonio sus cantos que compuso en razon de esto como es el decir que habia uno solo, y que este era el hacedor del cielo y de la tierra, y sustentaba todo lo hecho y criado por él, y que estaba donde no tenia segundo, sobre los nueve cielos, que él alcanzaba, que jamas se habia visto en forma humana, ni otra figura, que con él iban á parar las almas de los virtuosos despues de muertos, y que las de los malos iban á otro lugar, que era el mas ínfimo de la tierra, de trabajos y penas horribles. Nunca jamas (aunque habia muchos ídolos que representaban muchos dioses) cuando se ofrecia tratar de deidad, ni en general ni en particular, sino que decia yntloque in nauhaque y palne moalani, que significa lo que està atras declarado. Solo decia que reconocia al sol por padre; y á la tierra por madre.’ See also the Relaciones of the same author, in the same volume, p. 454.

Now it is in the face of much that has been said denying or doubting Ixtlilxochitl’s account of the creed of Nezahualcoyotl that I have selected the passage above translated, from among other passages touching the same subject in the Historia Chichimeca and in the Relaciones. I have selected it not because it is the most clearly worded, or the most eloquent, or the most complete; but solely on account of the sentence with which it concludes: Nezahualcoyotl “recognized the sun as his father and the earth as his mother.” These few words occurring at the end of a eulogy of the great Tezcucan by a confessed admirer, these few words that have passed unnoticed amid the din and hubbub raised over the lofty creed to which they form the last article, these few words so insignificant apparently and yet so significant in their connection—should go far to prove the faithfulness of Ixtlilxochitl’s record, and the greater or less completeness of his portrait of his great ancestor. Were Ixtlilxochitl dishonest, would he ever have allowed such a pagan chord as this to come jangling into the otherwise perfect music of his description of a perfect sage and Christian, who believed in a God alone and all-sufficient, who believed in a creator of all things without any help at all, much less the help of his dead material creatures the sun and the earth? Let us admit the honesty of Ixtlilxochitl, and admit with him a knowledge of that Unknown God, whom, as did the Athenians, Nezahualcoyotl ignorantly worshiped; but let us not be blinded by a glitter of words—which we may be sure lose nothing in the repetition—as to the significance of that ‘ignorantly;’ let us never lose sight across the shadow of that obscure Athenian altar to the Unknown God, of the mighty columns of the Acropolis and the crest of the Athena Promachos. Nezahualcoyotl seems a fair type of a thoughtful, somewhat sceptical Mexican of that better-instructed class which is ever and everywhere the horror of hypocrites and fanatics, of that class never without its witnesses in all countries and at all times, of that class two steps above the ignorant laity, and one step above the learned priesthood, yet far still from that simple and perfect truth which shall one day be patent enough to all.

American Mythology

Turning from the discussion of a point so obscure and intangible as the monotheism of Nezahualcoyotl and the school of which he was the type, let us review the very palpable and indubitable polytheism of the Mexicans. It seems radically to differ little from other polytheisms better known, such as those of Greece, Rome, and Scandinavia; it seems to have been a jumble of personified powers, causes, and qualities, developed in the ordinary way from the mythical corruption of that florid hyperbolical style of speech natural to all peoples in days before the exact definition of words was either possible or necessary; just such a jumble as the Aryan polytheisms were in the days of the Euhemerists, and for too long after unfortunately; such a jumble as Aryan mythology was till the brothers Grimm led the van of the ripest talent and scholarship of the nineteenth century into the paths of ‘word-shunting,’ which led again into god or hero shunting, if the term may be invented. Unfortunately the philologic and mythologic material for such an exhaustive synthesis of the origin and relations of the American creeds as Mr Cox, for example, has given to the world on the Aryan legends, in his Mythology of the Aryan Nations, is yet far from complete; which fact indeed makes the raison d’être of works like the present. There is nothing for me at present but to gather, sift, and arrange, with such sifting and arrangement as may be possible, all accessible materials relating to the subject in hand; that done let more skilled workmen find and give them their place in the wall of science. For they have a place there, whether or no it be found to-day or to-morrow; a breach is there that shall be empty until they fit and fill it.

Tezcatlipoca seems to have been considered on the whole, and the patron-gods of different cities aside, as the most important of the Mexican gods. We have seen him identified in several of the preceding quotations with a supreme invisible god, and I now proceed, illustrating this phase of his character, to translate as closely as possible the various prayers given by Sahagun as addressed to this great deity under his various names, Titlacoan, Yautl, Telpuchtli, Tlamatzincatl, Moiocoiatzin, Iaotzin, Necociautl, Necaoalpilli, and others:—

O, thou almighty God, that givest life to men, and art called Titlacaoan, grant me in thy mercy everything needful to eat and to drink, and to enjoy of thy soft and delicate things; for in grievous toil and straitness I live in the world. Have mercy on me, so poor I am and naked, I that labor in thy service, and for thy service sweep, and clean, and put light in this poor house, where I await thine orders; otherwise let me die soon and end this toilful and miserable life, so that my body may find rest and a breathing-time.

In illness the people prayed to this deity as follows: O God, whose name is Titlacaoan, be merciful and send away this sickness which is killing me, and I will reform my life. Let me be once healed of this infirmity and I swear to serve thee and to earn the right to live; should I by hard toil gain something, I will not eat it nor employ it in anything save only to thine honor; I will give a feast and a banquet of dancing in this poor house.

But the sick man that could not recover, and that felt it so, used to grow desperate and blaspheme saying: O Titlacaoan, since thou mockest me, why dost thou not kill me?[VI-36]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., pp. 241-2.

Prayer in Time of Pestilence

Spare the Green and Take the Ripe

Then following is a prayer to Tezcatlipoca, used by the priest in time of pestilence: O mighty Lord, under whose wing we find defense and shelter, thou art invisible and impalpable even as night and the air. How can I that am so mean and worthless dare to appear before thy majesty? Stuttering and with rude lips I speak; ungainly is the manner of my speech as one leaping among furrows, as one advancing unevenly; for all this I fear to raise thine anger, and to provoke instead of appeasing thee; nevertheless thou wilt do unto me as may please thee. O Lord, that hast held it good to forsake us in these days, according to the counsel thou hast as well in heaven as in hades—alas for us, in that thine anger and indignation has descended in these days upon us; alas, in that the many and grievous afflictions of thy wrath have overgone and swallowed us up, coming down even as stones, spears, and arrows upon the wretches that inhabit the earth—this is the sore pestilence with which we are afflicted and almost destroyed. Alas, O valiant and all-powerful Lord, the common people are almost made an end of and destroyed; a great destruction and ruin the pestilence already makes in this nation; and, what is most pitiful of all, the little children that are innocent and understand nothing, only to play with pebbles and to heap up little mounds of earth, they too die, broken and dashed to pieces as against stones and a wall—a thing very pitiful and grievous to be seen, for there remain of them not even those in the cradles, nor those that could not walk nor speak. Ah, Lord, how all things become confounded; of young and old and of men and women there remains neither branch nor root; thy nation and thy people and thy wealth are leveled down and destroyed. O our Lord, protector of all, most valiant and most kind, what is this? Thine anger and thine indignation, does it glory or delight in hurling the stone and arrow and spear? The fire of the pestilence, made exceeding hot, is upon thy nation, as a fire in a hut, burning and smoking, leaving nothing upright or sound. The grinders of thy teeth are employed, and thy bitter whips upon the miserable of thy people, who have become lean and of little substance, even as a hollow green cane. Yea, what doest thou now, O Lord, most strong, compassionate, invisible, and impalpable, whose will all things obey, upon whose disposal depends the rule of the world, to whom all is subject—what in thy divine breast hast thou decreed? Peradventure hast thou altogether forsaken thy nation and thy people? Hast thou verily determined that it utterly perish, and that there be no more memory of it in the world, that the peopled place become a wooded hill and a wilderness of stones? Peradventure wilt thou permit that the temples, and the places of prayer, and the altars, built for thy service, be razed and destroyed and no memory of them be left? Is it indeed possible that thy wrath and punishment, and vexed indignation are altogether implacable and will go on to the end to our destruction? Is it already fixed in thy divine counsel that there is to be no mercy nor pity for us, until the arrows of thy fury are spent to our utter perdition and destruction? Is it possible that this lash and chastisement is not given for our correction and amendment, but only for our total destruction and obliteration; that the sun shall nevermore shine upon us, but that we must remain in perpetual darkness and silence; that nevermore thou wilt look upon us with eyes of mercy, neither little nor much? Wilt thou after this fashion destroy the wretched sick that cannot find rest nor turn from side to side, whose mouth and teeth are filled with earth and scurf? It is a sore thing to tell how we are all in darkness, having none understanding nor sense to watch for or aid one another. We are all as drunken and without understanding, without hope of any aid; already the little children perish of hunger, for there is none to give them food, nor drink, nor consolation, nor caress—none to give the breast to them that suck; for their fathers and mothers have died and left them orphans, suffering for the sins of their fathers. O our Lord, all-powerful, full of mercy, our refuge, though indeed thine anger and indignation, thine arrows and stones, have sorely hurt this poor people, let it be as a father or a mother that rebukes children, pulling their ears, pinching their arms, whipping them with nettles, pouring chill water upon them; all being done that they may amend their puerility and childishness. Thy chastisement and indignation have lorded and prevailed over these thy servants, over this poor people, even as rain falling upon the trees and the green canes, being touched of the wind, drops also upon those that are below. O most compassionate Lord, thou knowest that the common folk are as children, that being whipped they cry and sob and repent of what they have done. Peradventure, already these poor people by reason of thy chastisement weep, sigh, blame, and murmur against themselves; in thy presence they blame and bear witness against their bad deeds and punish themselves therefor. Our Lord most compassionate, pitiful, noble, and precious, let a time be given the people to repent; let the past chastisement suffice, let it end here, to begin again if the reform endure not. Pardon and overlook the sins of the people; cause thine anger and thy resentment to cease; repress it again within thy breast that it destroy no farther; let it rest there; let it cease, for of a surety none can avoid death nor escape to any place. We owe tribute to death; and all that live in the world are the vassals thereof; this tribute shall every man pay with his life. None shall avoid from following death, for it is thy messenger what hour soever it may be sent, hungering and thirsting always to devour all that are in the world and so powerful that none shall escape: then indeed shall every man be punished according to his deeds. O most pitiful Lord, at least take pity and have mercy upon the children that are in the cradles, upon those that cannot walk. Have mercy also, O Lord, upon the poor and very miserable, who have nothing to eat, nor to cover themselves withal, nor a place to sleep, who do not know what thing a happy day is, whose days pass altogether in pain, affliction, and sadness. Than this, were it not better, O Lord, if thou should forget to have mercy upon the soldiers and upon the men of war, whom thou wilt have need of sometime; behold it is better to die in war and go to serve food and drink in the house of the sun, than to die in this pestilence and descend to hades. O most strong Lord, protector of all, lord of the earth, governor of the world, and universal master, let the sport and satisfaction thou hast already taken in this past punishment suffice; make an end of this smoke and fog of thy resentment; quench also the burning and destroying fire of thine anger: let serenity come and clearness; let the small birds of thy people begin to sing and to approach the sun; give them quiet weather so that they may cause their voices to reach thy highness and thou mayest know them. O our Lord, most strong, most compassionate, and most noble, this little have I said before thee, and I have nothing more to say, only to prostrate and throw myself at thy feet, seeking pardon for the faults of this my prayer; certainly I would not remain in thy displeasure, and I have no other thing to say.

Prayer for Aid Against Poverty

The following is a prayer to the same deity, under his names Tezcatlipuca and Yoalliehecatl, for succor against poverty: O our Lord, protector most strong and compassionate, invisible, and impalpable, thou art the giver of life; lord of all, and lord of battles, I present myself here before thee to say some few words concerning the need of the poor people, the people of none estate nor intelligence. When they lie down at night they have nothing, nor when they rise up in the morning; the darkness and the light pass alike in great poverty. Know, O Lord, that thy subjects and servants, suffer a sore poverty that cannot be told of more than that it is a sore poverty and desolateness. The men have no garments nor the women to cover themselves with, but only certain rags rent in every part that allow the air and the cold to pass everywhere. With great toil and weariness they scrape together enough for each day, going by mountain and wilderness seeking their food; so faint and enfeebled are they that their bowels cleave to the ribs, and all their body reëchoes with hollowness; and they walk as people affrighted, the face and the body in likeness of death. If they be merchants, they now sell only cakes of salt and broken pepper; the people that have something despise their wares, so that they go out to sell from door to door and from house to house; and when they sell nothing they sit down sadly by some fence, or wall, or in some corner, licking their lips and gnawing the nails of their hands for the hunger that is in them; they look on the one side and on the other at the mouths of those that pass by, hoping peradventure that one may speak some word to them. O compassionate God, the bed on which they lie down is not a thing to rest upon, but to endure torment in; they draw a rag over them at night and so sleep; there they throw down their bodies and the bodies of children that thou hast given them. For the misery they grow up in, for the filth[VI-37]’Por la freza de la comida.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 39. of their food, for the lack of covering, their faces are yellow and all their bodies of the color of earth. They tremble with cold, and for leanness they stagger in walking. They go weeping, and sighing, and full of sadness, and all misfortunes are joined to them; though they stay by a fire they find little heat. O our Lord, most clement, invisible, and impalpable, I supplicate thee to see good to have pity upon them as they move in thy presence wailing and clamoring and seeking mercy with anguish of heart. O our Lord, in whose power it is to give all content, consolation, sweetness, softness, prosperity and riches, for thou alone art lord of all good—have mercy upon them for they are thy servants. I supplicate thee, O Lord, that thou prove them a little with tenderness, indulgence, sweetness, and softness, which indeed they sorely lack and require. I supplicate thee that thou will lift up their heads with thy favor and aid, that thou will see good that they enjoy some days of prosperity and tranquillity, so they may sleep and know repose, having prosperous and peaceable days of life. Should they still refuse to serve thee, thou afterwards canst take away what thou hast given; they having enjoyed it but a few days, as those that enjoy a fragrant and beautiful flower and find it wither presently. Should this nation, for whom I pray and entreat thee to do them good, not understand what thou hast given, thou canst take away the good and pour out cursing; so that all evil may come upon them, and they become poor, in need, maimed, lame, blind, and deaf: then indeed they shall waken and know the good that they had and have not, and they shall call upon thee and lean towards thee; but thou wilt not listen, for in the day of abundance they would not understand thy goodness towards them. In conclusion, I supplicate thee, O most kind and benificent Lord, that thou will see good to give this people to taste of the goods and riches that thou art wont to give, and that proceed from thee, things sweet and soft and bringing content, and joy, although it be but for a little while, and as a dream that passes. For it is certain that for a long time the people go sadly before thee, weeping and thoughtful, because of the anguish, hardship, and anxiety that fill their bodies and hearts, taking away all ease and rest. Verily, it is not doubtful that to this poor nation, needy and shelterless, happens all I have said. If thou answerest my petition it will be only of thy liberality and magnificence, for no one is worthy to receive thy bounty for any merit of his, but only through thy grace. Search below the dung-hills and in the mountains for thy servants, friends, and acquaintance, and raise them to riches and dignities. O our Lord, most clement, let thy will be done as it is ordained in thy heart, and we shall have nothing to say. I, a rude man and common, would not by importunity and prolixity disgust and annoy thee, detailing my sickness, destruction, and punishment. Whom do I speak to? Where am I? Lo I speak with thee, O King; well do I know that I stand in an eminent place, and that I talk with one of great majesty, before whose presence flows a river through a chasm, a gulf sheer down of awful depth; this also is a slippery place, whence many precipitate themselves, for there shall not be found one without error before thy majesty. I myself, a man of little understanding and lacking speech, dare to address my words to thee; I put myself in peril of falling into the gorge and cavern of this river. I, Lord, have come to take with my hands blindness to mine eyes, rottenness and shrivelling to my members, poverty and affliction to my body; for my meanness and rudeness this it is that I merit to receive. Live and rule for ever in all quietness and tranquillity, O thou that art our lord, our shelter, our protector, most compassionate, most pitiful, invisible, impalpable.

Prayer in Time of War

Prayer to the God of Battles

This following is a petition in time of war to the same principal god, under his name of Tezcatlipoca Yautlnecociautlmonenequi, praying favor against the enemy: O our Lord, most compassionate, protector, defender, invisible, impalpable, by whose will and wisdom we are directed and governed, beneath whose rule we live—O, Lord of battles, it is a thing very certain and settled that war begins to be arranged and prepared for. The god of the earth opens his mouth, thirsty to drink the blood of them that shall die in this strife. It seems that they wish to be merry, the sun and the god of the earth called Tlaltecutli; they wish to give to eat and drink to the gods of heaven and hades, making them a banquet with the blood and flesh of the men that have to die in this war. Already do they look, the gods of heaven and hades, to see who they are that have to conquer, and who to be conquered; who they are that have to slay, and who to be slain; whose blood it is that has to be drunken, and whose flesh it is that has to be eaten;—which things the noble fathers and mothers whose sons have to die, are ignorant of. Even so are ignorant all their kith and kin, and the nurses that gave them suck—ignorant also are the fathers that toiled for them, seeking things needful for their food and drink and raiment until they reached the age they now have. Certainly they could not foretell how those sons should end whom they reared so anxiously, or that they should be one day left captives or dead upon the field. See good, O our Lord, that the nobles who die in the shock of war be peacefully and agreeably received, and with bowels of love, by the sun and the earth that are father and mother of all. For verily thou dost not deceive thyself in what thou doest,[VI-38]’Porque á la verdad no os engañais con lo que haceis.’ See Sahagun, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 356, as the substitution of ‘engañeis’ for ‘engañais’ destroys the sense of the passage in Bustamante’s ed. of the same, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 43. to wit, in wishing them to die in war; for certainly for this didst thou send them into the world, so that with their flesh and their blood they might be for meat and drink to the sun and the earth. Be not wroth, O Lord, anew against those of the profession of war, for in the same place where they will die have died many generous[VI-39]By an error and a solecism of Bustamante’s ed. the words ‘gentes rojas’ are substituted for the adjective ‘generosos.’ See, as in the preceding note, Sahagun, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 357, and Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 43. and noble lords and captains, and valiant men. The nobility and generosity of the nobles and the great-heartedness of the warriors is made apparent, and thou makest manifest, O Lord, how estimable and precious is each one, so that as such he may be held and honored, even as a stone of price or a rich feather. O Lord, most clement, lord of battles, emperor of all, whose name is Tezcatlipoca, invisible and impalpable, we supplicate thee that he or they that thou wilt permit to die in this war may be received into the house of the sun in heaven, with love and honor, and may be placed and lodged between the brave and famous warriors already dead in war, to wit, the lords Quitzicquaquatzin, Maceuhcatzin, Tlacahuepantzin, Ixtlilcuechavac, Ihuitltemuc, Chavacuetzin, and all the other valiant and renowned men that died in former times—who are rejoicing with and praising our lord the sun, who are glad and eternally rich through him, and shall be for ever; they go about sucking the sweetness of all flowers delectable and pleasant to the taste. This is a great dignity for the stout and valiant ones that died in war; for this they are drunken with delight, keeping no account of night, nor day, nor years, nor times; their joy and their wealth is without end; the nectarous flowers they sip never fade, and for the desire thereof men of high descent strengthen themselves to die. In conclusion, I entreat thee, O Lord, that art our lord most clement, our emperor most invincible, to see good that those that die in this war be received with bowels of pity and love by our father the sun, and our mother the earth; for thou only livest and rulest and art our most compassionate lord. Nor do I supplicate alone for the illustrious and noble, but also for the other soldiers, who are troubled and tormented in heart, who clamor, calling upon thee, holding their lives as nothing, and who fling themselves without fear upon the enemy, seeking death. Grant them at least some small part of their desire, some rest and repose in this life; or if here, in this world, they are not destined to prosperity, appoint them for servants and officers of the sun, to give food and drink to those in hades and to those in heaven. As for those whose charge it is to rule the state and to be tlacateccatl or tlacochcalatl,[VI-40]’Es decir Comandantes ó Capitanes generales de ejército:’ Bustamante, in Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 44. make them to be fathers and mothers to the men of war that wander by field and mountain, by height and ravine—in their hand is the sentence of death for enemies and criminals, as also the distribution of dignities, the offices and the arms of war, the badges, the granting privileges to those that wear visors and tassels[VI-41]’Borlas,’ see Sahagun, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 358, given ‘bollas’ in Bustamante’s Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 45. on the head, and ear-rings, pendants, and bracelets, and have yellow skins tied to their ankles—with them is the privilege of appointing the fashion of the raiment that every one shall wear. It is to these also to give permission to certain to use and wear precious stones, as chalchivetes, turquoises, and rich feathers in the dances, and to wear necklaces and jewels of gold: all of which things are delicate and precious gifts proceeding from thy riches, and which thou givest to those that perform feats and valiant deeds in war. I entreat thee also, O Lord, to make grace of thy largess to the common soldiers, give them some shelter and good lodging in this world, make them stout and brave, and take away all cowardice from their heart, so that not only shall they meet death with cheerfulness, but even desire it as a sweet thing, as flowers and dainty food, nor dread at all the hoots and shouts of their enemies: this do to them as to thy friend. Forasmuch as thou art lord of battles, on whose will depends the victory, aiding whom thou wilt, needing not that any counsel thee—I entreat thee, O Lord, to make mad and drunken our enemies so that without hurt to us they may cast themselves into our hands, into the hands of our men of war enduring so much hardship and poverty. O our Lord, since thou art God, all-powerful, all-knowing, disposer of all things, able to make this land rich, prosperous, praised, honored, famed in the art and feats of war, able to make the warriors now in the field to live and be prosperous, if, in the days at hand, thou see good that they die in war, let it be to go to the house of the sun, among all the heroes that are there and that died upon the battle-field.

Prayer That a Ruler May Rule Well

That a Ruler May Not Abuse His Power

The following prayer is one addressed to the principal deity, under his name Tezcatlipoca Teiocoiani Tehimatini, asking favor for a newly elected ruler: To-day, a fortunate day, the sun has risen upon us, warming us, so that in it a precious stone may be wrought, and a handsome sapphire. To us has appeared a new light, has arrived a new brightness, to us has been given a glittering axe to rule and govern our nation—has been given a man to take upon his shoulders the affairs and troubles of the state. He is to be the image and substitute of the lords and governors that have already passed away from this life, who for some days labored, bearing the burden of thy people, possessing thy throne and seat, which is the principal dignity[VI-42]’Dignidad,’ Sahagun, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 359, misprinted ‘diligencia’ in Bustamante’s Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 46. of this thy nation, province, and kingdom; having and holding the same in thy name and person some few days. These have now departed from this life, put off their shoulders the great load and burden that so few are able to suffer. Now, O Lord, we marvel that thou hast indeed set thine eyes on this man, rude and of little knowledge, to make him for some days, for some little time, the governor of this state, nation, province, and kingdom. O our Lord, most clement, art thou peradventure in want of persons and friends?—nay verily, thou that hast thereof more than can be counted! Is it, peradventure, by error, or that thou dost not know him; or is it that thou hast taken him for the nonce, while thou seekest among many for another and a better than he, unwise, indiscrete, unprofitable, a superfluous man in the world. Finally, we give thanks to thy majesty for the favor thou hast done us. What thy designs therein are thou alone knowest; perhaps beforehand this office has been provided for: thy will be done as it is determined in thy heart; let this man serve for some days and times. It may be that he will fill this office defectively, giving unrest and fear to his subjects, doing things without counsel or consideration, deeming himself worthy of the dignity he has, thinking that he will remain in it for a long time, making a sad dream of it, making the occupation and dignity thou hast given him an occasion of pride and presumption, making little of everybody and going about with pomp and pageantry. Within a few days, thou wilt know the event of all, for all men are thy spectacle and theatre, at which thou laughest and makest thyself merry. Perhaps this ruler will lose his office through his childishness, or it will happen through his carelessness and laziness; for verily nothing is hidden from thee, thy sight makes way through stone and wood, and thine hearing. Or perhaps his arrogance, and the secret boasting of his thoughts will destroy him. Then thou wilt throw him among the filth and upon the dung-hills, and his reward will be blindness, and shrivellings, and extreme poverty till the hour of his death, when thou wilt put him under thy feet. Since this poor man is put in this risk and peril, we supplicate thee, who art our Lord, our invisible and impalpable protector, under whose will and pleasure we are, who alone disposes of and provides for all—we supplicate thee that thou see good to deal mercifully with him; inasmuch as he is needy, thy subject and servant, and blind; deign to provide him with thy light, that he may know what he has to think, what he has to do, and the road he has to follow, so as to commit no error in his office, contrary to thy disposition and will. Thou knowest what is to happen to him in this office both by day and night; we know, O our Lord, most clement, that our ways and deeds are not so much in our hands as in the hands of our ruler. If this ruler after an evil and perverse fashion, in the place to which thou hast elevated him, and in the seat in which thou hast put him—which is thine—where he manages the affairs of the people, as one that washes filthy things with clean and clear water, (yea in the same seat holds a similar cleansing office the ancient god, who is father and mother to thyself, and is god of fire, who stands in the midst of flowers, in the midst of the place bounded by four walls, who is covered with shining feathers that are as wings)—if this ruler-elect of ours do evil with which to provoke thine ire and indignation, and to awaken thy chastisement against himself, it will not be of his own will or seeking, but by thy permission or by some impulse from without; for which I entreat thee to see good to open his eyes to give him light; open also his ears and guide him, not so much for his own sake as for that of those whom he has to rule over and carry on his shoulders.[VI-43]This doubtful and involved sentence, with the contained clause touching the nature of the fire-god, runs exactly as follows in the two varying editions of the original: ‘Si alguna cosa aviesa ó mal heche hiciera en la dignidad que le habeis dado, y en la silla en que le habeis puesto, que és vuestra, donde està tratando los negocios populares, como quien lava cosas sucias con agua muy clara y muy limpia; en la qual silla y dignidad tiene el mismo oficio de lavar vuestro padre y madre de todos los Dioses, el Dios antiguo que és el Dios del fuego, que está en medio del albergue cerca de quatro paredes, y está cubierto con plumas resplandecientes que son como alas, lo que este electo hiciese mal hecho, con que provoque vuestra ira é indignacion, y despierte vuestro castigo contra si, no será de su albedrio ó de su querer, sino de vuestra permision, ó de algun otra sugestion vuestra, ó de otro; por lo cual os suplico tengais por bien de abrirle los ojos y darle lumbre y abrirle las orejas, y guiadle á este pobre electo, no tanto por lo que él és, sino principalmente por aquellos á quienes ha de regir y llevar á cuestas.’ Sahagun, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 360-361. ‘Si alguna cosa aviesa ó mal hecha hiciere, en la dignidad que le habeis dado, y en la silla en que lo habeis puesto que es vuestra, donde está tratando los negocios populares, como quien laba cosas sucias, con agua muy clara y muy limpia, en la cual silla y dignidad tiene el mismo oficio de labar vuestro padre y madre, de todos los dioses, el dios antiguo, que es el dios del fuego que está en medio de las flores, y en medio del albergue cercado de cuatro paredes, y está cubierto con plumas resplandecientes que son somo álas; lo que este electo hiciere mal hecho con que provoque vuestra ira é indignacion, y despierte vuestro castigo contra sí, no será de su alvedrio de ó su querer, sino de vuestra permision, ó de alguna otra sugestion vuestra, ó de otro; por lo cual os suplico tengais por bien de abirle los ojos, y darle luz, y abridle tambien las orejas, y guiad á este pobre electo; no tanto por lo que es él, sino principalmente por aquellos á quien ha de regir y llevar a cuestas.’ Bustamante’s Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 48. I supplicate thee, that now, from the beginning, thou inspire him with what he is to conceive in his heart, and the road he is to follow, inasmuch as thou hast made of him a seat on which to seat thyself, and also as it were a flute that, being played upon, may signify thy will. Make him, O Lord, a faithful image of thyself, and permit not that in thy throne and hall he make himself proud and haughty; but rather see good, O Lord, that quietly and prudently he rule and govern those in his charge who are common people: do not permit him to insult and oppress his subjects, nor to give over without reason any of them to destruction. Neither permit, O Lord, that he spot and defile thy throne and hall with any injustice or oppression, for in so doing he will stain also thine honor and fame. Already, O Lord, has this poor man accepted and received the honor and lordship that thou hast given him; already he possesses the glory and riches thereof; already thou hast adorned his hands, feet, head, ears, and lips, with visor, ear-rings, and bracelets, and put yellow leather upon his ankles. Permit it not, O Lord, that these decorations, badges, and ornaments be to him a cause of pride and presumption; but rather that he serve thee with humility and plainness. May it please thee, O our Lord, most clement, that he rule and govern this, thy seignory, that thou hast committed to him, with all prudence and wisdom. May it please thee that he do nothing wrong or to thine offense; deign to walk with him and direct him in all his ways. But if thou wilt not do this, ordain that from this day henceforth he be abhorred and disliked, and that he die in war at the hands of his enemies, that he depart to the house of the sun; where he will be taken care of as a precious stone, and his heart esteemed by the sun-lord; he dying in the war like a stout and valiant man. This would be much better than to be dishonored in the world, to be disliked and abhorred of his people for his faults or defects. O our Lord, thou that providest to all the things needful for them, let this thing be done as I have entreated and supplicated thee.

That a Ruler be Set Over the Nation

The next prayer, directed to the god under his name Tezcatlipoca Titlacaoamoquequeloa, is to ask, after the death of a ruler, that another may be given: O our Lord, already thou knowest how our ruler is dead, already thou hast put him under thy feet; he is gathered to his place; he is gone by the road that all have to go by, and to the house where all have to lodge; house of perpetual darkness, where there is no window, nor any light at all; he is now where none shall trouble his rest. He served thee here in his office during some few days and years, not indeed without fault and offense. Thou gavest him to taste in this world somewhat of thy kindness and favor, passing it before his face as a thing that passes quickly. This is the dignity and office that thou placedst him in, that he served thee in for some days, as has been said, with sighs, tears and devout prayers before thy majesty. Alas, he is gone now where our father and mother the god of hades is, the god that descended head foremost below the fire,[VI-44]See this volume p. 60. the god that desires to carry us all to his place, with a very importunate desire, with such a desire as one has that dies of hunger and thirst; the god that is moved exceedingly, both by day and night, crying and demanding that all go to him. There, with this god, is now our late-departed ruler; he is there with all his ancestors that were in the first times, that governed this kingdom, with Acamapichtli, with Tyzoc, with Avitzotl, with the first Mocthecuzoma, with Axayacatl, and with those that came last, as the second Mocthecuzoma and also Mocthecuzoma Ilhuicamina.[VI-45]Some of these names are differently spelt in Kingsborough’s ed., Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 362. ‘Uno de los quales fué Camapichtli, otro fué Tizocic, otro Avitzotl, otro el primero Motezuzoma, otro Axayaca, y los que ahora á la parte han muerto, como el segundo Motezuzoma, y tambien Ylhiycamina.’ All these lords and kings ruled, governed, and enjoyed the sovereignty and royal dignity, and throne and seat of this empire; they ordered and regulated the affairs of this thy kingdom—thou that art the universal lord and emperor, and that needest not to take counsel with another. Already had these put off the intolerable load that they had on their shoulders, leaving it to their successor, our late ruler, so that for some days he bore up this lordship and kingdom; but now he has passed on after his predecessors to the other world. For thou didst ordain him to go, and didst call him to give thanks for being unloaded of so great a burden, quit of so sore a toil, and left in peace and rest. Some few days we have enjoyed him, but now forever he is absent from us, never more to return to the world. Peradventure has he gone to any place whence he can return here, so that his subjects may see his face again? Will he come again to tell us to do this or that? Will he come again to look to the consuls or governors of the state? Peradventure will they see him any more, or hear his decree and commandment? Will he come any more to give consolation and comfort to his principal men and his consuls? Alas, there is an end to his presence, he is gone for ever. Alas, that our candle has been quenched, and our light, that the axe that shone with us is lost altogether. All his subjects and inferiors, he has left in orphanage and without shelter. Peradventure will he take care henceforward of this city, province, and kingdom, though this city be destroyed and leveled to the ground, with this seignory and kingdom? O our Lord, most clement, is it a fit thing that by the absence of him that died shall come to the city, seignory, and kingdom some misfortune, in which will be destroyed, undone, and affrighted the vassals that live therein? For while living, he who has died gave shelter under his wings, and kept his feathers spread over the people. Great danger runs this your city, seignory, and kingdom, if another ruler be not elected immediately to be a shelter thereto. What is it that thou art resolved to do? Is it good that thy people be in darkness? Is it good that they be without head or shelter? Is it thy will that they be leveled down and destroyed? Woe for the poor and the little ones, thy servants, that go seeking a father and mother, some one to shelter and govern them, even as little children that go weeping, seeking an absent father and mother, and that grieve, not finding them. Woe for the merchants, petty and poor, that go about by the mountains, deserts, and meadows, woe also to the sad toilers that go about seeking herbs to eat, roots and wood to burn, or to sell, to eke out an existence withal. Woe for the poor soldiers, for the men of war, that go about seeking death, that abhor life, that think of nothing but the field and the line where battle is given—upon whom shall they call? who shall take a captive? to whom shall they present the same? And if they themselves be taken captive, to whom shall they give notice, that it may be known in their land? Whom shall they take for father and mother, so that in such a case favor may be granted them? Since he whose duty it was to see to this, who was as father and mother to all, is already dead. There will be none to weep, to sigh for the captives, to tell their relatives about them. Woe for the poor of the litigants, for those that have lawsuits with those that would take their estates. Who will judge, make peace among, and clear them of their disputes and quarrels? Behold when a child becomes dirty, if his mother clean him not, he must remain filthy. And those that make strife between themselves, that beat, that knock down, who will keep peace between them? Those that for all this go weeping and shedding tears, who shall wipe away their tears and put a stop to their laments? Peradventure can they apply a remedy to themselves? Those deserving death, will they peradventure pass sentence upon themselves? Who shall set up the throne of justice? Who shall possess the hall of the judge, since there is no judge? Who will ordain the things that are necessary for the good of this city, seignory, and kingdom? Who will elect the special judges that have charge of the lower people, district by district? Who will look to the sounding of the drum and fife to gather the people for war? who will collect and lead the soldiers and dexterous men to battle? O our Lord and protector see good to elect and decide upon some person sufficient to fill your throne and bear upon his shoulders the sore burden of the ruling of the state, to gladden and cheer the common people, even as the mother caresses the child, taking it in her lap; who will make music to the troubled bees[VI-46]’Obejas,’ in Bustamante’s ed. Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 53; ‘abejas’ in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 364. so that they may be at rest? O our Lord, most clement, favor our ruler-elect, whom we deem fit for this office, elect and choose him so that he may hold this your lordship and government; give him as a loan your throne and seat, so that he may rule over this seignory and kingdom as long as he lives; lift him from the lowliness and humility in which he is, and put on him this honor and dignity that we think him worthy of; O our Lord, most clement, give light and splendor with your hand to this state and kingdom. What has been said I only come to propose to thy majesty; although very defectively, as one that is drunken, and that staggers, almost ready to fall. Do that which may best serve thee, in all and through all.

Prayer to be Rid of a Bad Ruler

What follows is a kind of greater excommunication, or prayer to get rid of a ruler that abused and misused his power and dignity: O our Lord, most clement, that givest shelter to every one that approaches, even as a tree of great height and breadth, thou that art invisible and impalpable; that art, as we understand, able to penetrate the stones and the trees, seeing what is contained therein. For this same reason thou seest and knowest what is within our hearts and readest our thoughts. Our soul in thy presence is as a little smoke or fog that rises from the earth. It cannot at all be hidden from thee, the deed and the manner of living of any one; for thou seest and knowest his secrets and the sources of his pride and ambition. Thou knowest that our ruler has a cruel and hard heart and abuses the dignity that thou hast given him, as the drunkard abuses his wine, as one drunken with a soporific;[VI-47]’Y como el loco de los beleños.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 54. that is to say that the riches, dignity, and abundance that for a little while thou hast given him, fill him with error, haughtiness, and unrest, and that he becomes a fool, intoxicated with the poison that makes him mad. His prosperity causes him to despise and make little of every one; it seems that his heart is covered with sharp thorns and also his face: all of which is made apparent by his manner of living, and by his manner of talking; never saying nor doing anything that gives pleasure to any one, never caring for any one, never taking counsel of any one; he ever lives as seems good to him and as the whim directs. O our Lord, most clement, protector of all, creator and maker of all, it is too certain that this man has destroyed himself, has acted like a child ungrateful to his father, like a drunkard without reason. The favors thou hast accorded him, the dignity thou hast set him in, have occasioned his perdition. Besides these, there is another thing, exceedingly hurtful and reprehensible: he is irreligious, never praying to the gods, never weeping before them, nor grieving for his sins, nor sighing; from this it comes about that he is as headstrong as a drunkard in his vices, going about like a hollow and empty person, wholly senseless; he stays not to consider what he is nor the office that he fills. Of a verity he dishonors and affronts the dignity and throne that he holds, which is thine, and which ought to be much honored and reverenced; for from it depends the justice and rightness of the judicature that he holds, for the sustaining and worthily directing of thy nation, thou being emperor of all. He should so hold his power that the lower people be not injured and oppressed by the great; from him should fall punishment and humiliation on those that respect not thy power and dignity. But all things and people suffer loss in that he fills not his office as he ought. The merchants suffer also, who are those to whom thou givest the most of thy riches, who overrun all the world, yea the mountains and the unpeopled places, seeking through much sorrow thy gifts, favors, and dainties, the which thou givest sparingly and to thy friends. Ah, Lord, not only does he dishonor thee as aforesaid, but also when we are gathered together to intone thy songs, gathered in the place where we solicit thy mercies and gifts, in the place where thou art praised and prayed to, where the sad afflicted ones and the poor gather comfort and strength, where very cowards find spirit to die in war—in this so holy and reverend place this man exhibits his dissoluteness and hurts devotion; he troubles those that serve and praise thee in the place where thou gatherest and markest thy friends, as a shepherd marks his flock.[VI-48]Both editors of Sahagun agree here in using the word ‘obejas.’ As sheep were unknown in Mexico it is too evident that other hands than Mexican have been employed in the construction of this simile. Since thou, Lord, hearest and knowest to be true all that I have now said in thy presence, there remains no more but that thy will be done, and the good pleasure of thy heart to the remedy of this affair. At least, O Lord, punish this man in such wise that he become a warning to others, so that they may not imitate his evil life. Let the punishment fall on him from thy hand that to thee seems most meet, be it sickness or any other affliction; or deprive him of the lordship, so that thou mayest give it to another, to one of thy friends, to one humble, devoted, and penitent; for many such thou hast, thou that lackest not persons such as are necessary for this office, friends that hope, crying to thee: thou knowest those for friends and servants that weep and sigh in thy presence every day. Elect some one of these that he may hold the dignity of this thy kingdom and seignory; make trial of some of these. And now, O Lord, of all the aforesaid things which is it that thou wilt grant? Wilt thou take from this ruler the lordship, dignity, and riches on which he prides himself, and give them to another who may be devout, penitent, humble, obedient, capable, and of good understanding? Or, peradventure, wilt thou be served by the falling of this proud one into poverty and misery, as one of the poor rustics that can hardly gather the wherewithal to eat, drink, and clothe himself? Or, peradventure, will it please thee to smite him with a sore punishment so that all his body may shrivel up, or his eyes be made blind, or his members rotten? Or wilt thou be pleased to withdraw him from the world through death, and send him to hades, to the house of darkness and obscurity, where his ancestors are, whither we have all to go, where our father is, and our mother, the god and the goddess of hell. O our Lord, most clement, what is it that thy heart desires the most? Let thy will be done. And in this matter in which I supplicate thee, I am not moved by envy nor hate; nor with any such motives have I come into thy presence. I am moved only by the robbery and ill-treatment that the people suffer, only by a desire for their peace and prosperity. I would not desire, O Lord, to provoke against myself thy wrath and indignation, I that am a mean man and rude; for it is to thee, O Lord, to penetrate the heart and to know the thoughts of all mortals.

Prayer Used by a Confessor of Sins

The following is a form of Mexican prayer to Tezcatlipoca, used by the officiating confessor after having heard a confession of sins from some one. The peculiarity of a Mexican confession was that it could not lawfully have place in a man’s life more than once; a man’s first absolution and remission of sins was also the last and the only one he had to hope for:—O our most compassionate Lord, protector and favorer of all, thou hast now heard the confession of this poor sinner, with which he has published in thy presence his rottenness and unsavoriness. Perhaps he has hidden some of his sins before thee, and if it be so he has irreverently and offensively mocked thy majesty, and thrown himself into a dark cavern and into a deep ravine;[VI-49]’Si es así ha hecho burla de V. M., y con desacato y grande ofensa, se ha arrojado á una cima, y en una profunda barranca.’ Bustamante’s ed. of Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 58. The same passage runs as follows in Kingsborough’s ed.: ‘Si és así ha hecho burla de vuestra magestad, y con desacato y grande ofensa de vuestra magestad será arrojado en una sima, y en una profunda barranca.’ Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 367. he has snared and entangled himself; he has made himself worthy of blindness, shrivelling and rotting of the members, poverty, and misery. Alas, if this poor sinner have attempted any such audacity as to offend thus before thy majesty, before thee that art lord and emperor of all, that keepest a reckoning with all, he has tied himself up, he has made himself vile, he has mocked himself. Thou thoroughly seest him, for thou seest all things, being invisible and without bodily parts. If he have done this thing, he has, of his own will, put himself in this peril and risk; for this is a place of very strict justice and very strait judgment. This rite is like very clear water with which thou washest away the faults of him that wholly confesses, even if he have incurred destruction and shortening of days; if indeed he have told all the truth, and have freed and untied himself from his sins and faults, he has received the pardon of them and of what they have incurred. This poor man is even as a man that has slipped and fallen in thy presence, offending thee in divers ways, dirting himself also and casting himself into a deep cavern, and a bottomless well.[VI-50]’Poca’ is misprinted for ‘poza’ in Bustamante’s ed., Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. v., p. 58. He fell like a poor and lean man, and now he is grieved and discontented with all the past; his heart and body are pained and ill at ease; he is now filled with heaviness for having done what he did; he is now wholly determined never to offend thee again. In thy presence, O Lord, I speak, that knowest all things, that knowest also that this poor wretch did not sin with an entire liberty of free will; he was pushed to it and inclined by the nature of the sign under which he was born. And since this is so, O our Lord, most clement, protector and helper of all, since also this poor man has gravely offended thee, wilt thou not remove thine anger and thine indignation from him? Give him time, O Lord; favor and pardon him, inasmuch as he weeps, sighs, and sobs, looking before him on the evil he has done, and on that wherein he has offended thee. He is sorrowful, he sheds many tears, the sorrow of his sins afflicts his heart; he is not sorry only, but terrified also at thoughts of them. This being so, it is also a just thing that thy fury and indignation against him be appeased and that his sins be thrown on one side. Since thou art full of pity, O Lord, see good to pardon and to cleanse him; grant him the pardon and remission of his sins, a thing that descends from heaven, as water very clear and very pure to wash away sins,[VI-51]’Cosa que desciende del cielo, como agua clarísima y purísima par lavar los pecados.’ Sahagun, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 368. See also Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 59.

‘The quality of mercy is not strain’d,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath.’—Merchant of Venice, act. iv. with which thou washest away all the stain and impurity that sin causes in the soul. See good, O Lord, that this man go in peace, and command him in what he has to do; let him go to do penance for and to weep over his sins; give him the counsels necessary to his well living.

Perils of False Confession

Exhortation to the Penitent

At this point the confessor ceases from addressing the god and turns to the penitent, saying: O my brother, thou hast come into a place of much peril, a place of travail and fear; thou hast come to a steep chasm and a sheer rock, where if any one fall he shall never come up again; thou hast come to the very place where the snares and the nets touch one another, where they are set one upon another, in such wise that no one may pass thereby without falling into some of them, and not only snares and nets but also holes like wells. Thou hast thrown thyself down the banks of the river and among the snares and nets, whence without aid it is not possible that thou shouldst escape. These thy sins are not only snares, nets, and wells, into which thou hast fallen, but they are also wild beasts that kill and rend both body and soul. Peradventure, hast thou hidden some one or some of thy sins, weighty, huge, filthy, unsavory, hidden something now published in heaven, earth, and hades, something that now stinks to the uttermost part of the world? Thou hast now presented thyself before our most clement Lord and protector of all, whom thou didst irritate, offend, and provoke the anger of, who to-morrow, or some other day, will take thee out of this world and put thee under his feet, and send thee to the universal house of hades, where thy father is and thy mother, the god and the goddess of hell, whose mouths are always open desiring to swallow thee and as many as may be in the world. In that place shall be given thee whatsoever thou didst merit in this world, according to the divine justice, and to what thou hast earned with thy works of poverty, misery, and sickness. In divers manners thou wilt be tormented and afflicted in the extreme, and wilt be soaked in a lake of intolerable torments and miseries; but here, at this time, thou hast had pity upon thyself in speaking and communicating with our Lord, with him that sees all the secrets of every heart. Tell therefore wholly all that thou hast done, as one that flings himself into a deep place, into a well without bottom. When thou wast created and sent into the world, clean and good thou wast created and sent; thy father and thy mother Quetzalcoatl formed thee like a precious stone, and like a bead of gold of much value; when thou wast born thou wast like a rich stone and a jewel of gold very shining and very polished. But of thine own will and volition thou hast defiled and stained thyself, and rolled in filth, and in the uncleanness of the sins and evil deeds that thou hast committed and now confessed. Thou hast acted as a child without judgment or understanding, that playing and toying defiles himself with a loathsome filth; so hast thou acted in the matter of the sins that thou hast taken pleasure in, but hast now confessed and altogether discovered before our Lord, who is the protector and purifier of all sinners. This thou shalt not take for an occasion of jesting, for verily thou hast come to the fountain of mercy, which is like very clear water, with which filthinesses of the soul are washed away by our Lord God, the protector and favorer of all that turn to him. Thou hast snatched thyself from hades, and hast returned again to come to life in this world, as one that comes from another. Now thou hast been born anew, thou hast begun to live anew, and our Lord God gives thee light and a new sun. Now once more thou beginnest to radiate and to shine anew like a very precious and clear stone, issuing from the belly of the matrix in which it was created. Since this is thus, see that thou live with much circumspection and very advisedly now and henceforward, all the time that thou mayest live in this world under the power and lordship of our Lord God, most clement, beneficent, and munificent. Weep, be sad, walk humbly, with submission, with the head low and bowed down, praying to God. Look that pride find no place within thee, otherwise thou wilt displease our Lord, who sees the hearts and the thoughts of all mortals. In what dost thou esteem thyself? At how much dost thou hold thyself? What is thy foundation and root? On what dost thou support thyself? It is clear that thou art nothing, canst do nothing, and art worth nothing; for our Lord will do with thee all he may desire and none shall stay his hand. Peradventure, must he show thee those things with which he torments and afflicts, so that thou mayest see them with thine eyes in this world? Nay verily, for the torments and horrible sufferings of his tortures of the other world are not visible, nor able to be seen by those that live here. Perhaps he will condemn thee to the universal house of hades; and the house where thou now livest will fall down and be destroyed, and be as a dung-hill of filthiness and uncleanness, thou having been accustomed to live therein with much satisfaction, waiting to know how he would dispose of thee, he our Lord and helper, the invisible, incorporeal and alone one. Therefore I entreat thee to stand up and strengthen thyself and to be no more henceforth as thou hast been in the past. Take to thyself a new heart and a new manner of living, and take good care not to turn again to thine old sins. Consider that thou canst not see with thine eyes our Lord God, for he is invisible and impalpable, he is Tezcatlipoca, he is Titlacaoa, he is a youth of perfect perfection and without spot. Strengthen thyself to sweep, to clean, and to arrange thy house; for if thou do not this, thou wilt reject from thy company and from thy house, and wilt offend much the very clement youth that is ever walking through our houses, and through our streets, enjoying and amusing himself—the youth that labors, seeking his friends, to comfort them and to comfort himself with them. To conclude, I tell thee to go and learn to sweep, and to get rid of the filth and sweepings of thy house, and to cleanse everything, thyself not the least. Seek out also a slave to immolate him before God; make a feast to the principal men, and let them sing the praises of our Lord. It is moreover fit that thou shouldst do penance, working a year or more in the house of God; there thou shalt bleed thyself, and prick thy body with maguey thorns; and, as a penance for the adulteries and other vilenesses that thou hast committed, thou shalt, twice every day, pass osier twigs through holes pierced in thy body, once through thy tongue, and once through thine ears. This penance shalt thou do not alone for the carnalities above mentioned, but also for the evil and injurious words with which thou hast insulted and affronted thy neighbors; as also for the ingratitude thou hast shown with reference to the gifts bestowed on thee by our Lord, and for thine inhumanity toward thy neighbors, neither making offerings of the goods that were given thee by God, nor sharing with the poor the temporal benefits given by our Lord. Thou shalt burden thyself to offer paper and copal; thou shalt give alms to the needy and the hungry, to those that have nothing to eat nor to drink nor to cover themselves with; even though thou thyself go without food to give it away and to clothe the naked: look to it, for their flesh is like thy flesh, and they are men as thou. Care most of all for the sick, they are the image of God.[VI-52]’Mayormente á los enfermos porque son imágen de dios.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 63. There remains nothing more to be said to thee; go in peace, and entreat God to aid thee to fulfill what thou art obliged to do; for he gives favor to all.

Prayer of a Ruler for Direction

The following prayer is one addressed to Tezcatlipoca by a recently elected ruler, to give thanks for his election and to ask favor and light for the proper performance of his office: O our lord, most clement, invisible and impalpable protector and governor, well do I know that thou knowest me, who am a poor man, of low destiny, born and brought up among filth, and a man of small reason and mean judgment, full of many defects and faults, a man that knows not himself, nor considers who he is. Thou hast bestowed on me a great benefit, favor, and mercy, without any merit on my part; thou hast lifted me from the dung-hill and set me in the royal dignity and throne. Who am I, my Lord, and what is my worth that thou shouldst put me among the number of those that thou lovest? among the number of thine acquaintance, of those thou holdest for chosen friends and worthy of all honor; born and brought up for thrones and royal dignities; to this end thou hast created them able, prudent, descended from noble and generous fathers; for this end they were created and educated; to be thine instruments and images they were born and baptized under the signs and constellations that lords are born under. They were born to rule thy kingdoms, thy word being within them and speaking by their mouth—according to the desire of the ancient god, the father of all the gods, the god of fire, who is in the pond of water among turrets surrounded with stones like roses, who is called Xiuhtecutli, who determines, examines, and settles the business and lawsuits of the nation and of the common people, as it were washing them with water; in the company and presence of this god the generous personages aforementioned always are. O most clement Lord, ruler, and governor, thou hast done me a great favor. Perhaps it has been through the intercession and through the tears shed by the departed lords and ladies that had charge of this kingdom.[VI-53]’Los pasados señores y señoras que tuvieron cargo de éste reino.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 71. It would be great madness to suppose that for any merit or courage of mine thou hast favored me, setting me over this your kingdom, the government of which is something very heavy, difficult, and even fearful; it is as a huge burden, carried on the shoulders, and one that with great difficulty the past rulers bore, ruling in thy name. O our Lord, most clement, invisible, and impalpable, ruler and governor, creator and knower of all things and thoughts, beautifier of thy creatures,[VI-54]’Adornador de las criaturas.’ Sahagun, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol v., p. 377. ‘Adornador de las almas.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 71. what shall I say more, poor me? In what wise have I to rule and govern this thy state, or how have I to carry this burden of the common people? I who am blind and deaf, who do not even know myself, nor know how to rule over myself. I am accustomed to walk in filth, my faculties fit me for seeking and selling edible herbs, and for carrying and selling wood. What I deserve, O Lord, is blindness for mine eyes and shriveling and rotting for my limbs, and to go dressed in rags and tatters; this is what I deserve and what ought to be given me. It is I that need to be ruled and to be carried on some one’s back. Thou hast many friends and acquaintances that may be trusted with this load. Since, however, thou has already determined to set me up for a scoff and a jeer to the world, let thy will be done and thy word fulfilled. Peradventure thou knowest not who I am; and, after having known me, wilt seek another and take the government from me; taking it again to thyself, hiding again in thyself this dignity and honor, being already angry and weary of bearing with me; and thou wilt give the government to another, to some close friend and acquaintance of thine, to some one very devout toward thee, that weeps and sighs and so merits this dignity. Or, peradventure, this thing that happened to me is a dream, or a walking in sleep. O Lord, thou that art present in every place, that knowest all thoughts, that distributest all gifts, be pleased not to hide from me thy words and thine inspiration. I do not know the road I have to follow, nor what I have to do, deign then not to hide from me the light and the mirror that have to guide me. Do not allow me to cause those I have to rule and carry on my shoulders to lose the road and to wander over rocks and mountains. Do not allow me to guide them in the tracks of rabbits and deer. Do not permit, O Lord, any war to be raised against me, nor any pestilence to come upon those I govern; for I should not know, in such a case, what to do, nor where to take those I have upon my shoulders; alas for me, that am incapable and ignorant. I would not that any sickness come upon me, for in that case thy nation and people would be lost, and thy kingdom desolated and given up to darkness. What shall I do, O Lord and creator, if by chance I fall into some disgraceful fleshly sin, and thereby ruin the kingdom? what do if by negligence or sloth I undo my subjects? what do if through my fault I hurl down a precipice those I have to rule? Our Lord, most clement, invisible and impalpable, I entreat thee not to separate thyself from me; visit me often; visit this poor house, for I will be waiting for thee therein. With great thirst I await thee and demand urgently thy word and inspiration, which thou didst breathe into thine ancient friends and acquaintances that have ruled with diligence and rectitude over thy kingdom. This is thy throne and honor, on either side whereof are seated thy senators and principal men, who are as thine image and very person. They give sentence and speak on the affairs of the state in thy name; thou usest them as thy flutes, speaking from within them and placing thyself in their faces and ears, opening their mouths so that they may speak well. In this place the merchants mock and jest at our follies, with which merchants thou art spending thy leisure, since they are thy friends and acquaintances; there also thou inspirest and breathest upon thy devoted ones, who weep and sigh in thy presence, sincerely giving thee their heart.[VI-55]The precise force of much of this sentence it is hard to understand. It seems to show, at any rate, that the merchants were supposed to be very intimate with and especially favored by this deity. The original runs as follows: ‘En este lugar burlan y rien de nuestras boberías los negociantes, con los quales estais vos holgados, porque son vuestros amigos y vuestros conocidos, y allí inspirais é insuflais á vuestros devotos, que lloran y suspiran en vuestra presencia y os dan de verdad su corazon.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 73. For this reason thou adornest them with prudence and wisdom, so that they may look as into a mirror with two faces, where every one’s image is to be seen;[VI-56]’Para que vean como en espejo de dos hazes, donde se representa la imágen de cada uno’. Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 73. for this thou givest them a very clear axe, without any dimness, whose brightness flashes into all places. For this cause also thou givest them gifts and precious jewels, hanging them from their necks and ears, even like material ornaments such as are the nacochtl, the tentetl, the tlapiloni or head-tassel, the matemecatl or tanned strap that lords tie round their wrists,[VI-57]Nacochtli, orejeras (ear-rings); Tentetl, beçote de indio (lip-ornament). Molina, Vocabulario. Molina gives also Matemecatl, to mean a gold bracelet or something of that kind; Bustamante translates the word in the same way, explaining that the strap mentioned in the text was used to tie the bracelet on. Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 74. the yellow leather bound on the ankles, the beads of gold, and the rich feathers. In this place of the good governing and rule of thy kingdom, are merited thy riches and glory, thy sweet and delightful things, calmness and tranquillity, a peaceable and contented life; all of which come from thy hand. In the same place, lastly, are also merited the adverse and wearisome things, sickness, poverty, and the shortness of life; which things are sent by thee to those that in this condition do not fulfill their duty. O our Lord, most clement, knower of thoughts and giver of gifts, is it in my hand, that am a mean man, to know how to rule? is the manner of my life in my hand, and the works that I have to do in my office? which indeed is of thy kingdom and dignity and not mine. What thou mayest wish me to do and what may be thy will and disposition, thou aiding me I will do. The road thou mayest show me I will walk in; that thou mayest inspire me with, and put in my heart, that I will say and speak. O our Lord, most clement, in thy hand I wholly place myself, for it is not possible for me to direct or govern myself; I am blind, darkness, a dung-hill. See good, O Lord, to give me a little light, though it be only as much as a fire-fly gives out, going about at night; to light me in this dream, in this life asleep that endures as for a day; where are many things to stumble at, many things to give occasion for laughing at one, many things like a rugged road that has to be gone over by leaps. All this has to happen in the position thou hast put me in, giving me thy seat and dignity. O Lord, most clement, I entreat thee to visit me with thy light, that I may not err, that I may not undo myself, that my vassals may not cry out against me. O our Lord, most pitiful, thou hast made me now the back-piece[VI-58]’Espaldar de vuestra silla.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 75. of thy chair, also thy flute; all without any merit of mine. I am thy mouth, thy face, thine ears, thy teeth, and thy nails. Although I am a mean man I desire to say that I unworthily represent thy person, and thine image, that the words I shall speak have to be esteemed as thine, that my face has to be held as thine, mine eyes as thine, and the punishment that I shall inflict as if thou hadst inflicted it. For all this I entreat thee to put thy spirit within me, and thy words, so that all may obey them and none contradict.[VI-59]’He that delivered this prayer before Tezcatlipoca, stood on his feet, his feet close together, bending himself towards the earth. Those that were very devout were naked. Before they began the prayer they offered copal to the fire, or some other sacrifice, and if they were covered with a blanket, they pulled the knot of it round to the breast, so that they were naked in front. Some spoke this prayer squatting on their calves, and kept the knot of the blanket on the shoulder.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 75.

Genuineness of the Foregoing Prayers

Character and Works of Sahagun

Adulteration of the Sahagun Mss

Now with regard to the measure of the genuineness of the prayers to Tezcatlipoca, just given, it seems evident that either with or without the conscious connivance of Father Bernardino de Sahagun, their historian, a certain amount of sophistication and adaptation to Christian ideas has crept into them; it appears to be just as evident, however, on the other hand, that they contain a great deal that is original, indigenous, and characteristic in regard to the Mexican religion. At any rate they purport to do so, and as evidence bearing on the matter, presented by a hearer and eye-witness at first hand, by a man of strongly authenticated probity, learning, and above all, of strong sympathy with the Mexican people, beloved and trusted by those of them with whom he came in contact, and admitted to the familiarity of a friend with their traditions and habits of thought—for all these reasons his evidence, however we may esteem it, must be heard and judged.[VI-60]Father Bernardino de Sahagun, a Spanish Franciscan, was one of the first preachers sent to Mexico; where he was much employed in the instruction of the native youth, working for the most part in the province of Tezcuco. While there, in the city of Tepeopulco, in the latter part of the sixteenth century, he began the work, best known to us as the Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva España, from which the above prayers have been translated, and from which we shall draw largely for further information. It would be hard to imagine a work of such a character constructed after a better fashion of working than his. Gathering the principal natives of the town in which he carried on his labors, he induced them to appoint him a number of persons, the most learned and experienced in the things of which he wished to write. These learned Mexicans being collected, Father Sahagun was accustomed to get them to paint down in their native fashion the various legends, details of history and mythology, and so on that he wanted; at the foot of the said pictures these learned Mexicans wrote out the explanations of the same in the Mexican tongue; and this explanation the Father Sahagun translated into Spanish: that translation purports to be what we now read as the Historia General. Here follows a translation of the Prologo of his work, in which he describes all the foregoing in his own way: “All writers labor the best that they can to make their works authoritative; some by witnesses worthy of faith, others by the writings of previous writers held worthy of belief, others by the testimony of the Sacred Scriptures. To me are wanting all these foundations to make authoritative what I have written in these twelve books [of the Historia General]. I have no other foundation, but to set down here the relation of the diligence that I made to know the truth of all that is written in these twelve books. As I have said in other prologues to this work, I was commanded in all holy obedience by my chief prelate to write in the Mexican language that which appeared to me to be useful for the doctrine, worship, and maintenance of Christianity among these natives of New Spain, and for the aid of the workers and ministers that taught them. Having received this commandment, I made in the Spanish language a minute or memorandum of all the matters that I had to treat of, which matters are what is written in the twelve books, … which were begun in the pueblo of Tepeopulco, which is in the province of Culhuacán or Tezcuco. The work was done in the following way. In the aforesaid pueblo, I got together all the principal men, together with the lord of the place, who was called Don Diego de Mendoza, of great distinction and ability, well experienced in things ecclesiastic, military, political, and even relating to idolatry. They being come together, I set before them what I proposed to do, and prayed them to appoint me able and experienced persons, with whom I might converse and come to an understanding on such questions as I might propose. They answered me that they would talk the matter over and give their answer on another day; and with this they took their departure. So on another day the lord and his principal men came, and having conferred together with great solemnity, as they were accustomed at that time to do, they chose out ten or twelve of the principal old men, and told me that with these I might communicate and that these would instruct me in any matters I should inquire of. Of these there were as many as four instructed in Latin, to whom I, some few years before, had myself taught grammar in the college of Santa Cruz, in Tlaltelolco. With these appointed principal men, including the four instructed in grammar, I talked many days during about two years, following the order of the minute I had already made out. On all the subjects on which we conferred they gave me pictures—which were the writings anciently in use among them—and these the grammarians interpreted to me in their language, writing the interpretation at the foot of the picture. Even to this day I hold the originals of these…. When I went to the chapter, with which was ended the seven years’ term of Fray Francisco Torál—he that had imposed the charge of this work upon me—I was removed from Tepeopulco, carrying all my writings. I went to reside at Santiago del Tlaltelolco. There I brought together the principal men, set before them the matter of my writings, and asked them to appoint me some able principal men, with whom I might examine and talk over the writings I had brought from Tepeopulco. The governor, with the alcaldes, appointed me as many as eight or ten principal men, selected from all the most able in their language, and in the things of their antiquities. With these and with four or five collegians, all trilinguists, and living for the space of a year or more secluded in the college, all that had been brought written from Tepeopulco was clearly emended and added to; and the whole was rewritten in small letters, for it was written with much haste. In this scrutiny or examination, he that worked the hardest of all the collegians was Martin Jacobita, who was then rector of the college, an inhabitant of the ward of Santa Ana. I, having done all as above said in Tlaltelolco, went, taking with me all my writings, to reside in San Francisco de México, where, by myself, for the space of three years, I examined over and over again the writings, emended them, divided them into twelve books, and each book into chapters and paragraphs. After this, Father Miguel Navarro being provincial, and Father Diego de Mendoza commissary-general in Mexico, with their favor I had all the twelve books clearly copied in a good hand, as also the Postilla and the Cantáres [which were other works on which Sahagun was engaged]. I made out also an Art of the Mexican language with a vocabulary-appendix. Now the Mexicans added to and emended my twelve books [of the Historia General] in many things while they were being copied out in full; so that the first sieve through which my work passed was that of Tepeopulco, the second that of Tlaltelolco, the third that of Mexico; and in all these scrutinies collegiate grammarians had been employed. The chief and most learned was Antonio Valeriano, a resident of Aztcapuzalco; another little less than the first, was Alonso Vegerano, resident of Cuauhtitlan; another was Martin Jacobita, above mentioned; another Pedro de Santa Buenaventura, resident of Cuauhtitlan; all expert in three languages, Latin, Spanish, and Indian [Mexican]. The scribes that made out the clear copies of all the works are Diego Degrado, resident of the ward of San Martin, Mateo Severino, resident of Xochimilco, of the part of Ullác. The clear copy being fully made out, by the favor of the fathers above mentioned and the expenditure of hard cash on the scribes, the author thereof asked of the delegate Father Francisco de Rivera that the work be submitted to three or four religious, so that they might give an opinion on it, and that in the provincial chapter, which was close at hand, they might attend and report on the matter to the assembly, speaking as the thing might appear to them. And these reported in the assembly that the writings were of much value and deserved such support as was necessary toward their completion. But to some of the assembly it seemed that it was contrary to their vows of poverty to spend money in copying these writings; so they commanded the author to dismiss his scribes, and that he alone with his own hand should do what copying he wanted done; but as he was more than seventy years old, and for the trembling of his hand not able to write anything, nor able to procure a dispensation from this mandate, there was nothing done with the writings for more than five years. During this interval, and at the next chapter, Father Miguel Navarro was elected by the general chapter for custos custodium, and Father Alonso de Escalona, for provincial. During this time the author made a summary of all the books and of all the chapters of each book, and prologues, wherein was said with brevity all that the books contained. This summary Father Miguel Navarro and his companion, Father Gerónimo de Mendieta, carried to Spain, and thus in Spain the things that had been written about this land made their appearance. In the mean time, the father provincial took all the books of the author and dispersed them through all the province, where they were seen by many religious and approved for very precious and valuable. After some years, the general chapter meeting again, Father Miguel Navarro, at the petition of the author, turned with censures to collect again the said books; which, from that collecting, came within about a year into the hands of the author. During that time nothing was done in them, nor was there any one to help to get them translated into the vernacular Spanish, until the delegate-general Father Rodrigo de Sequera came to these parts, saw and was much pleased with them, and commanded the author to translate them into Spanish; providing all that was necessary to their being re-written, the Mexican language in one column and the Spanish in another, so that they might be sent to Spain; for the most illustrious Señor Don Juan de Ovando, president of the Council of Indies, had inquired after them, he knowing of them by reason of the summary that the said Father Miguel Navarro had carried to Spain, as above said. And all the above-said is to show that this work has been examined and approved by many, and during many years has passed through many troubles and misfortunes before reaching the place it now has.” Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., Prólogo, pp. iii. vii. As to the date at which Sahagun wrote he says: ‘These twelve books and the Art and the vocabulary-appendix were finished in a clear copy in the year 1569; but not translated into Spanish.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. i., Introduccion, p. xv. The following scanty sketch of the life of Sahagun, is taken, after Bustamante, from the Menealógio Seráfico of Father Betancourt: ‘Father Bernardino Sahagun, native of Sahagun, took the robe in the convent of Salamanca, being a student of that university. He passed into this province [Mexico] in the year 1529, in the company of Father Antonio de Ciudad Rodrigo. While a youth he was endowed with a beauty and grace of person that corresponded with that of his soul. From his tenderest years he was very observant, self-contained, and given to prayer. Father Martin de Valencia held very close communion with him, owing to which he saw him many times snatched up into an ecstasy. Sahagun was very exact in his attendance in the choir, even in his old age, he never was absent at matins. He was gentle, humble, courteous in his converse with all. He was elected secondly with the learned Father Juan de Gaona, as professor at Tlaltelolco in the college of Santa Cruz; where he shone like a light on a candlestick, for he was perfect in all the sciences. His possession of the Mexican language was of a perfectness that has never to this day being equaled; he wrote many books in it that will be mentioned in the catalogue of authors. He had to strive with much opposition, for to some it did not seem good to write out in the language of the Mexicans their ancient rites, lest it should give occasion for their being persevered in. He watched over the honor of God against idolatry, and sought earnestly to impress the Christian faith upon the converted. He affirmed as a minister of much experience, that during the first twenty years [of his life in the province] the fervor of the natives was very great; but that afterward they inclined to idolatry, and became very lukewarm in the faith. This he says in the book of his Postillas that I have, in which I learnt much. During the first twenty years of his life [in the province] he was guardian of some convents; but after that he desired not to take upon himself any office or guardianship for more than forty years, so that he could occupy himself in preaching, confessing, and writing. During the sixty and one years that he lived in the province, for the most part in college, without resting a single day, he instructed the boys in civilization and good customs, teaching them reading, writing, grammar, music, and other things in the service of God and the state. This went on till the year 1590, when, the approach of death becoming apparent to every one, he entered the hospital of Mexico; where he died on the 23rd of October. There assembled to his funeral the collegians, trailing their becas, and the natives shedding tears, and the members of the different religious houses giving praises to God our Lord for this holy death, of which the martyrology treats—Gonzaga, Torquemada, Deza, Rampineo, and many others. In the library of Señor Eguiara, in the manuscript of the Turriana collection, I have read the article relating to Father Sahagun; in it a large catalogue of works that he wrote is given. I remember only the following: Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva España; Arte de gramática mexicana; Diccionario trilingue de español, latin, y mexicano; Sermones para todo el año en mexicano, (poséo aunque sin nombre de autor); Postillas ó commentarios al evangelio, para las misas solemnes de dia de precepto; Historia de los primeros pobladores franciscanos en Mexico; Salmodia de la vida de Cristo, de la virgen y de los santos, que usaban los indios, y preceptos para los casados; Escala espiritual, que fué la primera obra que se imprimió en Mexico en la imprenta que trajo Hernan Cortés de España.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., pp. vii.-ix. As to the manner in which the Historia General of Sahagun, ‘whom,’ says Prescott, Mex., vol. i., p. 67, ‘I have followed as the highest authority’ in matters of Mexican religion—at last saw the light of publication, I give Prescott’s account, Mex., vol. i., p. 88, as exact save in one point, for which see the correction in brackets:—’At length, toward the close of the last century, the indefatigable Muñoz succeeded in disinterring the long lost manuscript from the place tradition had assigned to it—the library of a convent at Tolosa, in Navarre, the northern extremity of Spain. With his usual ardor, he transcribed the whole work with his own hands, and added it to the inestimable collection, of which, alas! he was destined not to reap the full benefit himself. From this transcript Lord Kingsborough was enabled to procure the copy which was published in 1830, in the sixth volume of his magnificent compilation. [It was published in two parts, in the fifth and seventh volumes of that compilation, and the exact date of the publication was 1831.] In it he expresses an honest satisfaction at being the first to give Sahagun’s work to the world. But in this supposition he was mistaken. The very year preceding, an edition of it, with annotations, appeared in Mexico, in three volumes 8vo. It was prepared by Bustamante—a scholar to whose editorial activity his country is largely indebted—from a copy of the Muñoz manuscript which came into his possession. Thus this remarkable work, which was denied the honors of the press during the author’s lifetime, after passing into oblivion, reappeared, at the distance of nearly three centuries, not in his own country, but in foreign lands widely remote from each other, and that almost simultaneously…. Sahagun divided his history into twelve books. The first eleven are occupied with the social institutions of Mexico, and the last with the Conquest. On the religion of the country he is particularly full. His great object evidently was, to give a clear view of its mythology, and of the burdensome ritual which belonged to it. Religion entered so intimately into the most private concerns and usages of the Aztecs, that Sahagun’s work must be a text-book for every student of their antiquities. Torquemada availed himself of a manuscript copy, which fell into his hands before it was sent to Spain, to enrich his own pages—a circumstance more fortunate for his readers than for Sahagun’s reputation, whose work, now that it is published, loses much of the originality and interest which would otherwise attach to it. In one respect it is invaluable; as presenting a complete collection of the various forms of prayer, accommodated to every possible emergency, in use by the Mexicans. They are often clothed in dignified and beautiful language, showing that sublime speculative tenets are quite compatible with the most degrading practices of superstition. It is much to be regretted that we have not the eighteen hymns, inserted by the author in his book, which would have particular interest, as the only specimen of devotional poetry preserved of the Aztecs. The hieroglyphical paintings, which accompanied the text are also missing. If they have escaped the hands of fanaticism, both may reappear at some future day.’ As may have been noticed, the editions of Sahagun by both Bustamante and Kingsborough have been constantly used together and collated during the course of this present work. They differ, especially in many minor points of typography, Bustamante’s being the more carelessly edited in this respect. Notwithstanding, however, the opinion to the contrary of Mr Harrisse, Bustamante’s edition is on the whole the more complete; Kingsborough having avowedly omitted divers parts of the original which he thought unimportant or uninteresting—a fault also of Bustamante’s, but to a lesser extent. Fortunately what is absent in the one I have always found in the other; and indeed, as a whole, and all circumstances being considered, they agree tolerably well. The criticism of Mr Harrisse, just referred to, runs as follows, Bib. Am. Vet., p. 208, note 52: ‘Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva España; Mexico, 3 vols., 4to, 1829 (edited and castrated by Bustamente [Bustamante] in such a manner as to require for a perfect understanding of that dry but important work, the reading of the parts also published in vols. v. and vi. [v. and vii.], of Kingsborough’s Antiquities.)’ We are not yet done, however, with editions of Sahagun. A third edition of part of his work has seen the light. It is Bustamante himself that attempts to supersede a part of his first edition. He affirms, that book xii. of that first edition of his, as of course also book xii. of Kingsborough’s edition, is spurious and has been garbled and glossed by Spanish hands quite away from the original as written by Sahagun. Exactly how or when this corruption took place he does not show; but he leaves it to be inferred that it was immediately after the original manuscript had been taken from its author, and that it was done because that twelfth book, which treats more immediately of the Conquest, reflected too hardly on the Conquerors. Bustamante having procured, in a manner now to be given in his own words, a correct and genuine copy of the twelfth book, a copy written and signed by the hand of Sahagun himself, proceeded in 1840 to give it to the world under the extraordinary title of La Aparicion de Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe de Mexico, comprobada con la refutacion del argumento negativo que presenta D. Juan Bautista Muñoz, fundandose en el testimonio del P. Fr. Bernardino Sahagun; ó sea, Historia Original de este Escritor, que altera la publicada en 1829 en el equivocado concepto de ser la unica y original del dicho autor. All of which means to say that he, Bustamante, having already published in 1829-30, a complete edition of Sahagun’s Historia General, in twelve books, according to the best manuscript he could then find, has found the twelfth book of that history to be not genuine, has found the genuine original of said twelfth book, and now, in 1840, publishes said genuine twelfth book under the above extraordinary name, inasmuch as it contains some reference to what is supposed to be uppermost in every religious Mexican’s mind, to wit, the miraculous appearance of the Blessed Virgin to a certain native Mexican, la aparicion de nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de Mexico. Bustamante’s own account of all the foregoing, being translated from the above-mentioned Nra. Señora de Guadalupe, pp. iv., viii., xxiii., runs as follows: ‘As he [Sahagun] wrote with the frankness proper to truth, and as this was not pleasing to the heads of the then government, nor even to some of his brother friars, he was despoiled of his writings. These were sent to Spain, and ordered to be stored away in the archives of the convent of San Francisco de Tolosa de Navarra, so that no one should ever be able to read them; there they lay hid for more than two centuries. During the reign of Carlos iii., Señor Muñoz was commissioned to write the history of the New World. But he found himself without this work [of Sahagun’s] so necessary to his purpose; and he was ignorant of its whereabouts, till, reading the index of the Biblioteca Franciscana he came to know about it, and, furnished by the government with all powers, he took it out of the said monastery. Colonel D. Diego Garcia Panes having come to Madrid at the same time, to publish the works of Señor Veytia, this gentleman contracted a friendship with Muñoz who allowed him to copy the two thick volumes in which Sahagun’s work was written…. These two volumes, then, that Colonel Panes had copied, were what was held to be solely the work of Father Sahagun, and as such esteemed; still it does not appear to be proved by attestation that this was the author’s original autograph history. Had it been so, the circumstance would hardly have been left without definite mention, when the relation was given of the way in which the book was got hold of, and when the guarantee of the exactness of the copy was procured. I, to-day, possess an original manuscript, written altogether and signed by the hand of Father Sahagun; in which is to be noted an essential variation in certain of the chapters which I now present, from those that I before published in the twelfth book of his Historia General; which is the book treating of the Conquest. Sahagun wrote this manuscript in the year 1585, that is to say, five years before his death, and he wrote it without doubt under a presentiment of the alterations that his work would suffer. He had already made alterations therein himself, since he confesses (they are his words) that certain defects existed in them, that certain things had been put into the narrative of that Conquest that should not have been put there, while other things were left out that should not have been omitted. Therefore [says Bustamante], this autograph manuscript discovers the alterations that his writings underwent and gives us good reason to doubt the authenticity and exactness of the text seen by Muñoz…. During the revolution of Madrid, in May, 1808, caused by the entrance of the French and the removal of the royal family to Bayonne, the office of the secretary of the Academy of History was robbed, and from it were taken various bundles of the works of Father Sahagun. These an old lawyer of the court bought, and among them one entitled: Relacion de la conquista de esta Nueva España, como la contaron los soldados indios que se hallaron presentes. Convertióse en lengua española llana é inteligible y bien enmendada en este año de 1585. Unfortunately there had only remained [of the Relacion, etc., (?)] a single volume of manuscript, which Señor D. José Gomez de la Cortina, ex-count of that title, bought, giving therefor the sum of a hundred dollars. He allowed me the use of it, and I have made an exact copy of it, adding notes for the better understanding of the Conquest; the before-mentioned being altogether written, as I have said, and signed by the hands of Father Sahagun. This portion, which the said ex-count has certified to, induces us to believe that the other works of Sahagun, relating both to the Conquest and to the Aparicion Guadalupana have been adulterated because they did little honor to the first Conquerors. That they have at all come to be discussed with posterity, has been because a knowledge of them was generally scattered, and in such a way that it was no longer possible to keep them hidden; or, perhaps, because the faction interested in their concealment had disappeared. In proof of the authenticity and identity of this manuscript, we refer to Father Betancur in his Chronicle of the province of the Santo Evangelio de México, making a catalogue of the illustrious men thereof; speaking of Sahagun, he says on page 138: “The ninth book that this writer composed was the Conquest of Mexico by Cortés; which book afterward, in the year 1585, he re-wrote and emended; the [emended] original of this I saw signed with his hand in the possession of Señor D. Juan Francisco de Montemayor, president of the Royal Audiencia, who carried it to Spain with the intention of having it printed; and of this I have a translation wherein it is said that the Marquis of Villa-Manrique, viceroy of Mexico, took from him [Sahagun] the twelve books and sent them to his majesty for the royal chronicler.” Bustamante lastly gives a certificate of the authenticity of the manuscript under discussion and published by him. The certificate is signed by José Gomez de la Cortina, and runs as follows: ‘Mexico, 1st April, 1840. I certify that, being in Madrid in the year 1828, I bought from D. Lorenzo Ruiz de Artieda, through the agency of my friend and companion, D. José Musso Valiente, member of the Spanish Academies of language and of history, the original manuscript of Father Sahagun, of which mention is made in this work by his Excellency Señor D. Cárlos María Bustamante, as constated by the receipts of the seller, and by other documents in my possession.’ So much for Bustamante’s new position as a reëditor of a part of Sahagun’s Historia General; we have stated it in his own words, and in those of his own witnesses as brought forward by him. The changes referred to do not involve any matter bearing on mythology; it may be not out of place to say however, that the evidence in favor of Bustamante’s new views seems strong and truth-like.

Footnotes

[VI-1] Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. iii., p. 22; Doc. Hist. Mex., série iv., tom. iii., p. 86.

[VI-2] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., tom. iii., cap. 168; Smith’s Relation of Cabeza de Vaca, p. 177.

[VI-3] Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, pp. 473-5; Doc. Hist. Mex., série iv., tom. iii., p. 48.

[VI-4] Apparently the same as that Vairubi spoken of on p. 83 of this volume.

[VI-5] Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, pp. 16, 18, 40. ‘A uno de sus dioses llamaban Ouraba, que quiere decir fortaleza. Era como Marte, dios de la guerra. Ofrecíanle arcos, flechas y todo género de armas para el feliz éxito de sus batallas. A otro llamaban Sehuatoba, que quiere decir, deleite, á quien ofrecian plumas, mantas, cuentecillas de vidrio y adornos mugeriles. Al dios de las aguas llamaban Bamusehua. El mas venerado de todos era Cocohuame, que significa muerte.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. ii., p. 45. ‘They worship for their gods such things as they haue in their houses, as namely, hearbes, and birdes, and sing songs vnto them in their language.’ Coronado, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 363.

[VI-6] ’Ils célébraient de grandes fêtes en l’honneur des femmes qui voulaient vivre dans le célibat. Les caciques d’un canton se réunissaient et dansaient tous nus, l’un après l’autre, avec la femme qui avait pris cette détermination. Quand la danse était terminée, ils la conduisaient dans une petite maison qu’on avait décorée à cet effet, et ils jouissaient de sa personne, les caciques d’abord et ensuite tous ceux qui le voulaient. A dater de ce moment, elles ne pouvaient rien refuser à quiconque leur offrait le prix fixé pour cela. Elles n’étaient jamais dispensées de cette obligation, même quand plus tard elles se mariaient.’ Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 150-1. ‘Although these men were very immoral, yet such was their respect for all women who led a life of celibacy, that they celebrated grand festivals in their honour.’ And there he makes an end. Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 170.

[VI-7] This volume, pp. 55-6.

[VI-8] I would call attention to the fact that Alvarado, the ruddy handsome Spanish captain, was called Tonatiuh by the Mexicans, just as Barnabas was called Jupiter, and Paul, Mercurius, by the people of Lystra—going to show how unfetish and anthropomorphic were the ideas connected with the sun-god by the Mexicans.

[VI-9] Tylor’s Prim. Cult., vol. ii., p. 311.

[VI-10] Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 473-4. The so-often discussed resemblance in form and signification between the two Mexican words teotl and calli (see Molina, Vocabulario) and the two Greek words theos and kalia, is completely enough noticed by Müller. ‘Die Mexikanischen Völker haben einen Appellativnamen für Gott, Teotl, welcher, da die Buchstaben tl blosse aztekische Endung sind, merkwürdiger Weise mit dem indogermanischen theos, Deus, Deva, Dew, zusammenstimmt. Dieses Wort wird zur Bildung mancher Götternamen oder Kultusgegenstände gebraucht. Hieher gehören die Götternamen Tcotlacozanqui, Teocipactli, Teotetl, Teoyamiqui, Tlozolteotl. Der Tempel heisst Teocalli (vgl. Kalia, Hütte, Kalias, Capelle) oder wörtlich Haus Gottes—das göttliche Buch, Teoamoxtli, Priester Teopuixqui, oder auch Teoteuktli, eine Prozession, Teonenemi, Göttermarsch. Dazu kommen noch manche Namen von Städten, die als Kultussitze ausgezeichnet waren, wie das uns schon früher bekannt gewordene Teotihuacan. Im Plural wurden die Götter Teules genannt und eben so, wie uns Bernal Diaz so oft erzählt, die Gefährten des Cortes, welche das gemeine Volk als Götter bezeichnen wollte.’ Id., p. 472.

[VI-11] Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 114-5.

[VI-12] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. des Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 45-6.

[VI-13] Gallatin, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 352.

[VI-14] Prescott’s Conq. of Mex., vol. i., p. 57.

[VI-15] Squier’s Serpent Symbol, p. 47.

[VI-16] Bussierre, L’Empire Mexicain, pp. 131-3.

[VI-17] Brantz Mayer, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., p. 585; see also, Brantz Mayer’s Mexico as it was, p. 110.

[VI-18] Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. de Mexico, tom. i., pp. 468-9; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 3-4.

[VI-19] Hombre Buho.

[VI-20] Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 11-13.

[VI-21] Solis, Hist. de la Conq. de Mex., tom. i., pp. 398-9, 431.

[VI-22] Gallatin, in Amer. Ethnol. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 350, identifies this god with Tezcatlipoca of whom he writes in the following terms: ‘Tezcatlipoca. A true invisible god, dwells in heaven, earth, and hell; alone attends to the government of the world, gives and takes away wealth and prosperity. Called also Titlacoa (whence his star Titlacahuan). Under the name of Necocyaotl, the author of wars and discords. According to Boturini, he is the god of providence. He seems to be the only equivalent for the Tonacatlecottle of the interpreters of the Codices.’

[VI-23] Explic. del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 135. I take this opportunity of cautioning the reader against Kingsborough’s translation of the above codex, as well as against his translation of the Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano: every error that could vitiate a translation seems to have crept into these two.

[VI-24] See this vol. p. 57, note 13. On pages 55 and 56, and in the note pertaining thereto, will also be found many references bearing on the matter under present discussion.

[VI-25] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xviii., p. 253.

[VI-26] Qües, Oviedo calls them, (spelled cues by most writers) the following explanation being given in glossary of Voces Americanas Empleadas por Oviedo, appended to the fourth volume of the Hist. Gen.: ‘Qü: templo, casa de oracion. Esta voz era muy general en casi toda América, y muy principalmente en las comarcas de Yucatan y Mechuacan.’

[VI-27] Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 503.

[VI-28] ’Ypalnemoaloni, que quiere decir, Señor por quien se vive, y ai sèr en èl de Naturaleça.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. iii., p. 30.

[VI-29] See this vol. p. 183.—Not, be it remarked that Acosta denies the knowledge by the Mexicans of a Supreme God; he only denies the existence of any name by which the said deity was generally known. This is clear from the following extract from the Hist. Nat. Ind., p. 333: ‘First, although the darkenesse of infidelitie holdeth these nations in blindenesse, yet in many thinges the light of truth and reason works somewhat in them. And they commonly acknowledge a supreame Lorde and Author of all things, which they of Peru called Viracocha…. Him they did worship, as the chiefest of all, whom they did honor in beholding the heaven. The like wee see amongest them of Mexico.’

[VI-30] Acosta, Hist. Nat. Ind., pp. 334, 337-8.

[VI-31] Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 88, 91, 107.

[VI-32] The interpretation of the title Tloque Nahuaque is not only irreconcilable with another given by the same author a few lines above in our text, but it is also at utter variance with those of all other authors with which I am acquainted. It may not be amiss here to turn to the best authority accessible in matters of Mexican idiom: Molina, Vocabulario, describes the title to mean, ‘He upon whom depends the existence of all things, preserving and sustaining them,’—a word used also to mean God, or Lord. ‘Tloque nauaque, cabe quien esta el ser de todas las cosas, conseruandolas y sustentandolas: y dizese de nro señor dios.’

[VI-33] Camargo, Hist. de Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 191, tom. xcix., p. 168.

[VI-34] Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col., tom. i., pp. 4, 33-34.

[VI-35] Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chichimeca in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 261. ‘Tuvo por falsos á todos los dioses que adoraban los de esta tierra, diciendo que eran estatuas ó demonios enemigos del género humano; por que fue muy sabio en las cosas morales, y el que mas vaciló buscando de donde tomar lumbre para certificarse del verdadero Dios y criador de todas las cosas, como se ha visto en el discurso de su historia, y dan testimonio sus cantos que compuso en razon de esto como es el decir que habia uno solo, y que este era el hacedor del cielo y de la tierra, y sustentaba todo lo hecho y criado por él, y que estaba donde no tenia segundo, sobre los nueve cielos, que él alcanzaba, que jamas se habia visto en forma humana, ni otra figura, que con él iban á parar las almas de los virtuosos despues de muertos, y que las de los malos iban á otro lugar, que era el mas ínfimo de la tierra, de trabajos y penas horribles. Nunca jamas (aunque habia muchos ídolos que representaban muchos dioses) cuando se ofrecia tratar de deidad, ni en general ni en particular, sino que decia yntloque in nauhaque y palne moalani, que significa lo que està atras declarado. Solo decia que reconocia al sol por padre; y á la tierra por madre.’ See also the Relaciones of the same author, in the same volume, p. 454.

[VI-36] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., pp. 241-2.

[VI-37] ’Por la freza de la comida.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 39.

[VI-38] ’Porque á la verdad no os engañais con lo que haceis.’ See Sahagun, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 356, as the substitution of ‘engañeis’ for ‘engañais’ destroys the sense of the passage in Bustamante’s ed. of the same, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 43.

[VI-39] By an error and a solecism of Bustamante’s ed. the words ‘gentes rojas’ are substituted for the adjective ‘generosos.’ See, as in the preceding note, Sahagun, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 357, and Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 43.

[VI-40] ’Es decir Comandantes ó Capitanes generales de ejército:’ Bustamante, in Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 44.

[VI-41] ’Borlas,’ see Sahagun, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 358, given ‘bollas’ in Bustamante’s Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 45.

[VI-42] ’Dignidad,’ Sahagun, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 359, misprinted ‘diligencia’ in Bustamante’s Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 46.

[VI-43] This doubtful and involved sentence, with the contained clause touching the nature of the fire-god, runs exactly as follows in the two varying editions of the original: ‘Si alguna cosa aviesa ó mal heche hiciera en la dignidad que le habeis dado, y en la silla en que le habeis puesto, que és vuestra, donde està tratando los negocios populares, como quien lava cosas sucias con agua muy clara y muy limpia; en la qual silla y dignidad tiene el mismo oficio de lavar vuestro padre y madre de todos los Dioses, el Dios antiguo que és el Dios del fuego, que está en medio del albergue cerca de quatro paredes, y está cubierto con plumas resplandecientes que son como alas, lo que este electo hiciese mal hecho, con que provoque vuestra ira é indignacion, y despierte vuestro castigo contra si, no será de su albedrio ó de su querer, sino de vuestra permision, ó de algun otra sugestion vuestra, ó de otro; por lo cual os suplico tengais por bien de abrirle los ojos y darle lumbre y abrirle las orejas, y guiadle á este pobre electo, no tanto por lo que él és, sino principalmente por aquellos á quienes ha de regir y llevar á cuestas.’ Sahagun, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 360-361. ‘Si alguna cosa aviesa ó mal hecha hiciere, en la dignidad que le habeis dado, y en la silla en que lo habeis puesto que es vuestra, donde está tratando los negocios populares, como quien laba cosas sucias, con agua muy clara y muy limpia, en la cual silla y dignidad tiene el mismo oficio de labar vuestro padre y madre, de todos los dioses, el dios antiguo, que es el dios del fuego que está en medio de las flores, y en medio del albergue cercado de cuatro paredes, y está cubierto con plumas resplandecientes que son somo álas; lo que este electo hiciere mal hecho con que provoque vuestra ira é indignacion, y despierte vuestro castigo contra sí, no será de su alvedrio de ó su querer, sino de vuestra permision, ó de alguna otra sugestion vuestra, ó de otro; por lo cual os suplico tengais por bien de abirle los ojos, y darle luz, y abridle tambien las orejas, y guiad á este pobre electo; no tanto por lo que es él, sino principalmente por aquellos á quien ha de regir y llevar a cuestas.’ Bustamante’s Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 48.

[VI-44] See this volume p. 60.

[VI-45] Some of these names are differently spelt in Kingsborough’s ed., Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 362. ‘Uno de los quales fué Camapichtli, otro fué Tizocic, otro Avitzotl, otro el primero Motezuzoma, otro Axayaca, y los que ahora á la parte han muerto, como el segundo Motezuzoma, y tambien Ylhiycamina.’

[VI-46] ’Obejas,’ in Bustamante’s ed. Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 53; ‘abejas’ in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 364.

[VI-47] ’Y como el loco de los beleños.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 54.

[VI-48] Both editors of Sahagun agree here in using the word ‘obejas.’ As sheep were unknown in Mexico it is too evident that other hands than Mexican have been employed in the construction of this simile.

[VI-49] ’Si es así ha hecho burla de V. M., y con desacato y grande ofensa, se ha arrojado á una cima, y en una profunda barranca.’ Bustamante’s ed. of Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 58. The same passage runs as follows in Kingsborough’s ed.: ‘Si és así ha hecho burla de vuestra magestad, y con desacato y grande ofensa de vuestra magestad será arrojado en una sima, y en una profunda barranca.’ Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 367.

[VI-50] ’Poca’ is misprinted for ‘poza’ in Bustamante’s ed., Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. v., p. 58.

[VI-51] ’Cosa que desciende del cielo, como agua clarísima y purísima par lavar los pecados.’ Sahagun, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 368. See also Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 59.

‘The quality of mercy is not strain’d,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath.’—Merchant of Venice, act. iv.

[VI-52] ’Mayormente á los enfermos porque son imágen de dios.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 63.

[VI-53] ’Los pasados señores y señoras que tuvieron cargo de éste reino.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 71.

[VI-54] ’Adornador de las criaturas.’ Sahagun, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol v., p. 377. ‘Adornador de las almas.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 71.

[VI-55] The precise force of much of this sentence it is hard to understand. It seems to show, at any rate, that the merchants were supposed to be very intimate with and especially favored by this deity. The original runs as follows: ‘En este lugar burlan y rien de nuestras boberías los negociantes, con los quales estais vos holgados, porque son vuestros amigos y vuestros conocidos, y allí inspirais é insuflais á vuestros devotos, que lloran y suspiran en vuestra presencia y os dan de verdad su corazon.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 73.

[VI-56] ’Para que vean como en espejo de dos hazes, donde se representa la imágen de cada uno’. Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 73.

[VI-57] Nacochtli, orejeras (ear-rings); Tentetl, beçote de indio (lip-ornament). Molina, Vocabulario. Molina gives also Matemecatl, to mean a gold bracelet or something of that kind; Bustamante translates the word in the same way, explaining that the strap mentioned in the text was used to tie the bracelet on. Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 74.

[VI-58] ’Espaldar de vuestra silla.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 75.

[VI-59] ’He that delivered this prayer before Tezcatlipoca, stood on his feet, his feet close together, bending himself towards the earth. Those that were very devout were naked. Before they began the prayer they offered copal to the fire, or some other sacrifice, and if they were covered with a blanket, they pulled the knot of it round to the breast, so that they were naked in front. Some spoke this prayer squatting on their calves, and kept the knot of the blanket on the shoulder.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 75.

[VI-60] Father Bernardino de Sahagun, a Spanish Franciscan, was one of the first preachers sent to Mexico; where he was much employed in the instruction of the native youth, working for the most part in the province of Tezcuco. While there, in the city of Tepeopulco, in the latter part of the sixteenth century, he began the work, best known to us as the Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva España, from which the above prayers have been translated, and from which we shall draw largely for further information. It would be hard to imagine a work of such a character constructed after a better fashion of working than his. Gathering the principal natives of the town in which he carried on his labors, he induced them to appoint him a number of persons, the most learned and experienced in the things of which he wished to write. These learned Mexicans being collected, Father Sahagun was accustomed to get them to paint down in their native fashion the various legends, details of history and mythology, and so on that he wanted; at the foot of the said pictures these learned Mexicans wrote out the explanations of the same in the Mexican tongue; and this explanation the Father Sahagun translated into Spanish: that translation purports to be what we now read as the Historia General. Here follows a translation of the Prologo of his work, in which he describes all the foregoing in his own way: “All writers labor the best that they can to make their works authoritative; some by witnesses worthy of faith, others by the writings of previous writers held worthy of belief, others by the testimony of the Sacred Scriptures. To me are wanting all these foundations to make authoritative what I have written in these twelve books [of the Historia General]. I have no other foundation, but to set down here the relation of the diligence that I made to know the truth of all that is written in these twelve books. As I have said in other prologues to this work, I was commanded in all holy obedience by my chief prelate to write in the Mexican language that which appeared to me to be useful for the doctrine, worship, and maintenance of Christianity among these natives of New Spain, and for the aid of the workers and ministers that taught them. Having received this commandment, I made in the Spanish language a minute or memorandum of all the matters that I had to treat of, which matters are what is written in the twelve books, … which were begun in the pueblo of Tepeopulco, which is in the province of Culhuacán or Tezcuco. The work was done in the following way. In the aforesaid pueblo, I got together all the principal men, together with the lord of the place, who was called Don Diego de Mendoza, of great distinction and ability, well experienced in things ecclesiastic, military, political, and even relating to idolatry. They being come together, I set before them what I proposed to do, and prayed them to appoint me able and experienced persons, with whom I might converse and come to an understanding on such questions as I might propose. They answered me that they would talk the matter over and give their answer on another day; and with this they took their departure. So on another day the lord and his principal men came, and having conferred together with great solemnity, as they were accustomed at that time to do, they chose out ten or twelve of the principal old men, and told me that with these I might communicate and that these would instruct me in any matters I should inquire of. Of these there were as many as four instructed in Latin, to whom I, some few years before, had myself taught grammar in the college of Santa Cruz, in Tlaltelolco. With these appointed principal men, including the four instructed in grammar, I talked many days during about two years, following the order of the minute I had already made out. On all the subjects on which we conferred they gave me pictures—which were the writings anciently in use among them—and these the grammarians interpreted to me in their language, writing the interpretation at the foot of the picture. Even to this day I hold the originals of these…. When I went to the chapter, with which was ended the seven years’ term of Fray Francisco Torál—he that had imposed the charge of this work upon me—I was removed from Tepeopulco, carrying all my writings. I went to reside at Santiago del Tlaltelolco. There I brought together the principal men, set before them the matter of my writings, and asked them to appoint me some able principal men, with whom I might examine and talk over the writings I had brought from Tepeopulco. The governor, with the alcaldes, appointed me as many as eight or ten principal men, selected from all the most able in their language, and in the things of their antiquities. With these and with four or five collegians, all trilinguists, and living for the space of a year or more secluded in the college, all that had been brought written from Tepeopulco was clearly emended and added to; and the whole was rewritten in small letters, for it was written with much haste. In this scrutiny or examination, he that worked the hardest of all the collegians was Martin Jacobita, who was then rector of the college, an inhabitant of the ward of Santa Ana. I, having done all as above said in Tlaltelolco, went, taking with me all my writings, to reside in San Francisco de México, where, by myself, for the space of three years, I examined over and over again the writings, emended them, divided them into twelve books, and each book into chapters and paragraphs. After this, Father Miguel Navarro being provincial, and Father Diego de Mendoza commissary-general in Mexico, with their favor I had all the twelve books clearly copied in a good hand, as also the Postilla and the Cantáres [which were other works on which Sahagun was engaged]. I made out also an Art of the Mexican language with a vocabulary-appendix. Now the Mexicans added to and emended my twelve books [of the Historia General] in many things while they were being copied out in full; so that the first sieve through which my work passed was that of Tepeopulco, the second that of Tlaltelolco, the third that of Mexico; and in all these scrutinies collegiate grammarians had been employed. The chief and most learned was Antonio Valeriano, a resident of Aztcapuzalco; another little less than the first, was Alonso Vegerano, resident of Cuauhtitlan; another was Martin Jacobita, above mentioned; another Pedro de Santa Buenaventura, resident of Cuauhtitlan; all expert in three languages, Latin, Spanish, and Indian [Mexican]. The scribes that made out the clear copies of all the works are Diego Degrado, resident of the ward of San Martin, Mateo Severino, resident of Xochimilco, of the part of Ullác. The clear copy being fully made out, by the favor of the fathers above mentioned and the expenditure of hard cash on the scribes, the author thereof asked of the delegate Father Francisco de Rivera that the work be submitted to three or four religious, so that they might give an opinion on it, and that in the provincial chapter, which was close at hand, they might attend and report on the matter to the assembly, speaking as the thing might appear to them. And these reported in the assembly that the writings were of much value and deserved such support as was necessary toward their completion. But to some of the assembly it seemed that it was contrary to their vows of poverty to spend money in copying these writings; so they commanded the author to dismiss his scribes, and that he alone with his own hand should do what copying he wanted done; but as he was more than seventy years old, and for the trembling of his hand not able to write anything, nor able to procure a dispensation from this mandate, there was nothing done with the writings for more than five years. During this interval, and at the next chapter, Father Miguel Navarro was elected by the general chapter for custos custodium, and Father Alonso de Escalona, for provincial. During this time the author made a summary of all the books and of all the chapters of each book, and prologues, wherein was said with brevity all that the books contained. This summary Father Miguel Navarro and his companion, Father Gerónimo de Mendieta, carried to Spain, and thus in Spain the things that had been written about this land made their appearance. In the mean time, the father provincial took all the books of the author and dispersed them through all the province, where they were seen by many religious and approved for very precious and valuable. After some years, the general chapter meeting again, Father Miguel Navarro, at the petition of the author, turned with censures to collect again the said books; which, from that collecting, came within about a year into the hands of the author. During that time nothing was done in them, nor was there any one to help to get them translated into the vernacular Spanish, until the delegate-general Father Rodrigo de Sequera came to these parts, saw and was much pleased with them, and commanded the author to translate them into Spanish; providing all that was necessary to their being re-written, the Mexican language in one column and the Spanish in another, so that they might be sent to Spain; for the most illustrious Señor Don Juan de Ovando, president of the Council of Indies, had inquired after them, he knowing of them by reason of the summary that the said Father Miguel Navarro had carried to Spain, as above said. And all the above-said is to show that this work has been examined and approved by many, and during many years has passed through many troubles and misfortunes before reaching the place it now has.” Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., Prólogo, pp. iii. vii. As to the date at which Sahagun wrote he says: ‘These twelve books and the Art and the vocabulary-appendix were finished in a clear copy in the year 1569; but not translated into Spanish.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. i., Introduccion, p. xv. The following scanty sketch of the life of Sahagun, is taken, after Bustamante, from the Menealógio Seráfico of Father Betancourt: ‘Father Bernardino Sahagun, native of Sahagun, took the robe in the convent of Salamanca, being a student of that university. He passed into this province [Mexico] in the year 1529, in the company of Father Antonio de Ciudad Rodrigo. While a youth he was endowed with a beauty and grace of person that corresponded with that of his soul. From his tenderest years he was very observant, self-contained, and given to prayer. Father Martin de Valencia held very close communion with him, owing to which he saw him many times snatched up into an ecstasy. Sahagun was very exact in his attendance in the choir, even in his old age, he never was absent at matins. He was gentle, humble, courteous in his converse with all. He was elected secondly with the learned Father Juan de Gaona, as professor at Tlaltelolco in the college of Santa Cruz; where he shone like a light on a candlestick, for he was perfect in all the sciences. His possession of the Mexican language was of a perfectness that has never to this day being equaled; he wrote many books in it that will be mentioned in the catalogue of authors. He had to strive with much opposition, for to some it did not seem good to write out in the language of the Mexicans their ancient rites, lest it should give occasion for their being persevered in. He watched over the honor of God against idolatry, and sought earnestly to impress the Christian faith upon the converted. He affirmed as a minister of much experience, that during the first twenty years [of his life in the province] the fervor of the natives was very great; but that afterward they inclined to idolatry, and became very lukewarm in the faith. This he says in the book of his Postillas that I have, in which I learnt much. During the first twenty years of his life [in the province] he was guardian of some convents; but after that he desired not to take upon himself any office or guardianship for more than forty years, so that he could occupy himself in preaching, confessing, and writing. During the sixty and one years that he lived in the province, for the most part in college, without resting a single day, he instructed the boys in civilization and good customs, teaching them reading, writing, grammar, music, and other things in the service of God and the state. This went on till the year 1590, when, the approach of death becoming apparent to every one, he entered the hospital of Mexico; where he died on the 23rd of October. There assembled to his funeral the collegians, trailing their becas, and the natives shedding tears, and the members of the different religious houses giving praises to God our Lord for this holy death, of which the martyrology treats—Gonzaga, Torquemada, Deza, Rampineo, and many others. In the library of Señor Eguiara, in the manuscript of the Turriana collection, I have read the article relating to Father Sahagun; in it a large catalogue of works that he wrote is given. I remember only the following: Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva España; Arte de gramática mexicana; Diccionario trilingue de español, latin, y mexicano; Sermones para todo el año en mexicano, (poséo aunque sin nombre de autor); Postillas ó commentarios al evangelio, para las misas solemnes de dia de precepto; Historia de los primeros pobladores franciscanos en Mexico; Salmodia de la vida de Cristo, de la virgen y de los santos, que usaban los indios, y preceptos para los casados; Escala espiritual, que fué la primera obra que se imprimió en Mexico en la imprenta que trajo Hernan Cortés de España.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., pp. vii.-ix. As to the manner in which the Historia General of Sahagun, ‘whom,’ says Prescott, Mex., vol. i., p. 67, ‘I have followed as the highest authority’ in matters of Mexican religion—at last saw the light of publication, I give Prescott’s account, Mex., vol. i., p. 88, as exact save in one point, for which see the correction in brackets:—’At length, toward the close of the last century, the indefatigable Muñoz succeeded in disinterring the long lost manuscript from the place tradition had assigned to it—the library of a convent at Tolosa, in Navarre, the northern extremity of Spain. With his usual ardor, he transcribed the whole work with his own hands, and added it to the inestimable collection, of which, alas! he was destined not to reap the full benefit himself. From this transcript Lord Kingsborough was enabled to procure the copy which was published in 1830, in the sixth volume of his magnificent compilation. [It was published in two parts, in the fifth and seventh volumes of that compilation, and the exact date of the publication was 1831.] In it he expresses an honest satisfaction at being the first to give Sahagun’s work to the world. But in this supposition he was mistaken. The very year preceding, an edition of it, with annotations, appeared in Mexico, in three volumes 8vo. It was prepared by Bustamante—a scholar to whose editorial activity his country is largely indebted—from a copy of the Muñoz manuscript which came into his possession. Thus this remarkable work, which was denied the honors of the press during the author’s lifetime, after passing into oblivion, reappeared, at the distance of nearly three centuries, not in his own country, but in foreign lands widely remote from each other, and that almost simultaneously…. Sahagun divided his history into twelve books. The first eleven are occupied with the social institutions of Mexico, and the last with the Conquest. On the religion of the country he is particularly full. His great object evidently was, to give a clear view of its mythology, and of the burdensome ritual which belonged to it. Religion entered so intimately into the most private concerns and usages of the Aztecs, that Sahagun’s work must be a text-book for every student of their antiquities. Torquemada availed himself of a manuscript copy, which fell into his hands before it was sent to Spain, to enrich his own pages—a circumstance more fortunate for his readers than for Sahagun’s reputation, whose work, now that it is published, loses much of the originality and interest which would otherwise attach to it. In one respect it is invaluable; as presenting a complete collection of the various forms of prayer, accommodated to every possible emergency, in use by the Mexicans. They are often clothed in dignified and beautiful language, showing that sublime speculative tenets are quite compatible with the most degrading practices of superstition. It is much to be regretted that we have not the eighteen hymns, inserted by the author in his book, which would have particular interest, as the only specimen of devotional poetry preserved of the Aztecs. The hieroglyphical paintings, which accompanied the text are also missing. If they have escaped the hands of fanaticism, both may reappear at some future day.’ As may have been noticed, the editions of Sahagun by both Bustamante and Kingsborough have been constantly used together and collated during the course of this present work. They differ, especially in many minor points of typography, Bustamante’s being the more carelessly edited in this respect. Notwithstanding, however, the opinion to the contrary of Mr Harrisse, Bustamante’s edition is on the whole the more complete; Kingsborough having avowedly omitted divers parts of the original which he thought unimportant or uninteresting—a fault also of Bustamante’s, but to a lesser extent. Fortunately what is absent in the one I have always found in the other; and indeed, as a whole, and all circumstances being considered, they agree tolerably well. The criticism of Mr Harrisse, just referred to, runs as follows, Bib. Am. Vet., p. 208, note 52: ‘Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva España; Mexico, 3 vols., 4to, 1829 (edited and castrated by Bustamente [Bustamante] in such a manner as to require for a perfect understanding of that dry but important work, the reading of the parts also published in vols. v. and vi. [v. and vii.], of Kingsborough’s Antiquities.)’ We are not yet done, however, with editions of Sahagun. A third edition of part of his work has seen the light. It is Bustamante himself that attempts to supersede a part of his first edition. He affirms, that book xii. of that first edition of his, as of course also book xii. of Kingsborough’s edition, is spurious and has been garbled and glossed by Spanish hands quite away from the original as written by Sahagun. Exactly how or when this corruption took place he does not show; but he leaves it to be inferred that it was immediately after the original manuscript had been taken from its author, and that it was done because that twelfth book, which treats more immediately of the Conquest, reflected too hardly on the Conquerors. Bustamante having procured, in a manner now to be given in his own words, a correct and genuine copy of the twelfth book, a copy written and signed by the hand of Sahagun himself, proceeded in 1840 to give it to the world under the extraordinary title of La Aparicion de Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe de Mexico, comprobada con la refutacion del argumento negativo que presenta D. Juan Bautista Muñoz, fundandose en el testimonio del P. Fr. Bernardino Sahagun; ó sea, Historia Original de este Escritor, que altera la publicada en 1829 en el equivocado concepto de ser la unica y original del dicho autor. All of which means to say that he, Bustamante, having already published in 1829-30, a complete edition of Sahagun’s Historia General, in twelve books, according to the best manuscript he could then find, has found the twelfth book of that history to be not genuine, has found the genuine original of said twelfth book, and now, in 1840, publishes said genuine twelfth book under the above extraordinary name, inasmuch as it contains some reference to what is supposed to be uppermost in every religious Mexican’s mind, to wit, the miraculous appearance of the Blessed Virgin to a certain native Mexican, la aparicion de nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de Mexico. Bustamante’s own account of all the foregoing, being translated from the above-mentioned Nra. Señora de Guadalupe, pp. iv., viii., xxiii., runs as follows: ‘As he [Sahagun] wrote with the frankness proper to truth, and as this was not pleasing to the heads of the then government, nor even to some of his brother friars, he was despoiled of his writings. These were sent to Spain, and ordered to be stored away in the archives of the convent of San Francisco de Tolosa de Navarra, so that no one should ever be able to read them; there they lay hid for more than two centuries. During the reign of Carlos iii., Señor Muñoz was commissioned to write the history of the New World. But he found himself without this work [of Sahagun’s] so necessary to his purpose; and he was ignorant of its whereabouts, till, reading the index of the Biblioteca Franciscana he came to know about it, and, furnished by the government with all powers, he took it out of the said monastery. Colonel D. Diego Garcia Panes having come to Madrid at the same time, to publish the works of Señor Veytia, this gentleman contracted a friendship with Muñoz who allowed him to copy the two thick volumes in which Sahagun’s work was written…. These two volumes, then, that Colonel Panes had copied, were what was held to be solely the work of Father Sahagun, and as such esteemed; still it does not appear to be proved by attestation that this was the author’s original autograph history. Had it been so, the circumstance would hardly have been left without definite mention, when the relation was given of the way in which the book was got hold of, and when the guarantee of the exactness of the copy was procured. I, to-day, possess an original manuscript, written altogether and signed by the hand of Father Sahagun; in which is to be noted an essential variation in certain of the chapters which I now present, from those that I before published in the twelfth book of his Historia General; which is the book treating of the Conquest. Sahagun wrote this manuscript in the year 1585, that is to say, five years before his death, and he wrote it without doubt under a presentiment of the alterations that his work would suffer. He had already made alterations therein himself, since he confesses (they are his words) that certain defects existed in them, that certain things had been put into the narrative of that Conquest that should not have been put there, while other things were left out that should not have been omitted. Therefore [says Bustamante], this autograph manuscript discovers the alterations that his writings underwent and gives us good reason to doubt the authenticity and exactness of the text seen by Muñoz…. During the revolution of Madrid, in May, 1808, caused by the entrance of the French and the removal of the royal family to Bayonne, the office of the secretary of the Academy of History was robbed, and from it were taken various bundles of the works of Father Sahagun. These an old lawyer of the court bought, and among them one entitled: Relacion de la conquista de esta Nueva España, como la contaron los soldados indios que se hallaron presentes. Convertióse en lengua española llana é inteligible y bien enmendada en este año de 1585. Unfortunately there had only remained [of the Relacion, etc., (?)] a single volume of manuscript, which Señor D. José Gomez de la Cortina, ex-count of that title, bought, giving therefor the sum of a hundred dollars. He allowed me the use of it, and I have made an exact copy of it, adding notes for the better understanding of the Conquest; the before-mentioned being altogether written, as I have said, and signed by the hands of Father Sahagun. This portion, which the said ex-count has certified to, induces us to believe that the other works of Sahagun, relating both to the Conquest and to the Aparicion Guadalupana have been adulterated because they did little honor to the first Conquerors. That they have at all come to be discussed with posterity, has been because a knowledge of them was generally scattered, and in such a way that it was no longer possible to keep them hidden; or, perhaps, because the faction interested in their concealment had disappeared. In proof of the authenticity and identity of this manuscript, we refer to Father Betancur in his Chronicle of the province of the Santo Evangelio de México, making a catalogue of the illustrious men thereof; speaking of Sahagun, he says on page 138: “The ninth book that this writer composed was the Conquest of Mexico by Cortés; which book afterward, in the year 1585, he re-wrote and emended; the [emended] original of this I saw signed with his hand in the possession of Señor D. Juan Francisco de Montemayor, president of the Royal Audiencia, who carried it to Spain with the intention of having it printed; and of this I have a translation wherein it is said that the Marquis of Villa-Manrique, viceroy of Mexico, took from him [Sahagun] the twelve books and sent them to his majesty for the royal chronicler.” Bustamante lastly gives a certificate of the authenticity of the manuscript under discussion and published by him. The certificate is signed by José Gomez de la Cortina, and runs as follows: ‘Mexico, 1st April, 1840. I certify that, being in Madrid in the year 1828, I bought from D. Lorenzo Ruiz de Artieda, through the agency of my friend and companion, D. José Musso Valiente, member of the Spanish Academies of language and of history, the original manuscript of Father Sahagun, of which mention is made in this work by his Excellency Señor D. Cárlos María Bustamante, as constated by the receipts of the seller, and by other documents in my possession.’ So much for Bustamante’s new position as a reëditor of a part of Sahagun’s Historia General; we have stated it in his own words, and in those of his own witnesses as brought forward by him. The changes referred to do not involve any matter bearing on mythology; it may be not out of place to say however, that the evidence in favor of Bustamante’s new views seems strong and truth-like.

Chapter VII • Gods, Supernatural Beings, and Worship • 19,000 Words

Image of Tezcatlipoca—His Seats at the Street-corners—Various Legends about his Life on Earth—Quetzalcoatl—His Dexterity in the Mechanical Arts—His Religious Observances—The Wealth and Nimbleness of his Adherents—Expulsion from Tulla of Quetzalcoatl by Tezcatlipoca and Huitzilopochtli—The Magic Draught—Huemac, or Vemac, King of the Toltecs, and the Misfortunes brought upon him and his people by Tezcatlipoca in various disguises—Quetzalcoatl in Cholula—Differing Accounts of the Birth and Life of Quetzalcoatl—His Gentle Character—He drew up the Mexican Calendar—Incidents of his Exile and of his Journey to Tlapalla, as related and commented upon by various writers—Brasseur’s ideas about the Quetzalcoatl Myths—Quetzalcoatl considered a Sun-God by Tylor, and as a Dawn-Hero by Brinton—Helps—Domenech—The Codices—Long Discussion of the Quetzalcoatl Myths by J. G. Müller.

In the preceding chapter I have given only the loftier view of Tezcatlipoca’s nature, which even on this side cannot be illustrated without many inconsistencies. We pass now to relations evidencing a much meaner idea of his character, and showing him whom we have seen called invisible, almighty, and beneficent, in a new and much less imposing light. We pass, in fact, from the Zeus of Plato and Socrates to the Zeus of Hesiod and Homer.

Let us glance first at the fashion of his representation in the temples, though with little hope of seeing the particular fitness of many of the trappings and symbols with which his statue was decorated. His principal image, at least in the city of Mexico, was cut out of a very shining black stone, called iztli, a variety of obsidian—a stone valued, in consideration of its capabilities of cleavage, for making those long splinters, used as knives by the Aztecs, for sacrificial and other purposes. For these uses in worship, and perhaps indeed for its manifold uses in all regards, it was surnamed teotetl, divine stone. In places where stone was less convenient the image was made of wood. The general idea intended to be given was that of a young man; by which the immortality of the god was set forth. The ears of the idol were bright with ear-rings of gold and silver. Through his lower lip was thrust a little crystal tube, perhaps six inches long, and through the hollow of this tube a feather was drawn; sometimes a green feather, sometimes a blue, giving the transparent ornament the tint at one time of an emerald, at another of a turquoise. The hair—carved from the stone, we may suppose—was drawn into a queue and bound with a ribbon of burnished gold, to the end of which ribbon, hanging down behind, was attached a golden ear with certain tongues of ascending smoke painted thereon; which smoke was intended to signify the prayers of those sinners and afflicted that, commending themselves to the god, were heard by him. Upon his head were many plumes of red and green feathers. From his neck there hung down in front a great jewel of gold that covered all his breast. Bracelets of gold were upon his arms, and in his navel was set a precious green stone. In his left hand there flashed a great circular mirror of gold, bordered like a fan with precious feathers, green and azure and yellow; the eyes of the god were ever fixed on this, for therein he saw reflected all that was done in the world. This mirror was called itlachia, that is to say, the ‘looker-on,’ the ‘viewer.’ Tezcatlipoca was sometimes seated on a bench covered with a red cloth, worked with the likeness of many skulls, having in his right hand four darts, signifying, according to some, that he punished sin. To the top of his feet were attached twenty bells of gold, and to his right foot the fore-foot of a deer, to show the exceeding swiftness of this deity in all his ways. Hiding the shining black body, was a great cloak, curiously wrought in black and white, adorned with feathers, and fringed about with rosettes of three colors, red, white, and black. This god, whose decorations vary a little with different writers—variations probably not greater than those really existing among the different figures representing in different places the same deity—had a kind of chapel built to hold him on the top of his temple. It was a dark chamber lined with rich cloths of many colors; and from its obscurity the image looked out, seated on a pedestal, with a costly canopy immediately overhead, and an altar in front; not apparently an altar of sacrifice, but a kind of ornamental table, like a Christian altar, covered with rich cloth. Into this holy of holies it was not lawful for any but a priest to enter.

Worship of Tezcatlipoca

What most of all, however, must have served to bring the worship of Tezcatlipoca prominently before the people, were the seats of stone, built at the corners of the streets, for the accommodation of this god when he walked invisibly abroad. Mortal, born of woman, never sat thereon; not the king himself might dare to use them: sacred they were, sacred for ever, and always shadowed by a canopy of green boughs, reverently renewed every five days.[VII-1]Acosta, Hist. Nat. Ind., pp. 353-4; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 7; Duran, Hist. Ant. de la Nueva España, MS., quoted in Squier’s Notes to Palacio, Carta, note 27, pp. 117-8; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., p. 242; Explicacion del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, lam. ii. and xxvi., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 132, 144-5; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, tav. xlii., xlix., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 185, 188.

Lower and lower we must now descend from the idea of an almighty god, to take up the thread of various legends in which Tezcatlipoca figures in an anything but creditable light. We have already seen him described as one of those hero-gods whom the new-born Sun was instrumental in destroying;[VII-2]See this volume p. 62. and we may suppose that he then ascended into heaven, for we find him afterward descending thence, letting himself down by a rope twined from spider’s web. Rambling through the world he came to a place called Tulla, where a certain Quetzalcoatl—another, according to Sahagun, of the hero-gods just referred to—had been ruling for many years. The two engaged in a game of ball, in the course of which Tezcatlipoca suddenly transformed himself into a tiger, occasioning thereby a tremendous panic among the spectators, many of whom in the haste of their flight precipitated themselves down a ravine in the neighborhood into a river and were drowned. Tezcatlipoca then began to persecute Quetzalcoatl from city to city till he drove him to Cholula. Here Quetzalcoatl was held as chief god, and here for some time he was safe. But only for a few years; his indefatigable and powerful enemy forced him to retreat with a few of his adherents toward the sea, to a place called Tlillapa or Tizapan. Here the hunted Quetzalcoatl died, and his followers inaugurated the custom of burning the dead by burning his body.[VII-3]Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 82.

The foregoing, from Mendieta, gives us a glimpse, from one point of view, of that great personage Quetzalcoatl, of whom we shall know much more anon, and whom in the meantime we meet again and again as the opponent, or rather victim of Tezcatlipoca. Let us consider Sahagun’s version of the incidents of this strife:—

Quetzalcoatl

Quetzalcoatl was, from very ancient times, adored as a god in Tulla. He had a very high cu[VII-4]Temple; see this vol., p. 192, note 26. there, with many steps up to it, steps so narrow that there was not room for a whole foot on any of them. His image was always in a recumbent position and covered with blankets. The face of it was very ugly, the head large and furnished with a long beard. The adherents of this god were all devoted to the mechanical arts, dexterous in working the green stone called chalchiuite, and in founding the precious metals; all of which arts had their beginning and origin with the said Quetzalcoatl. He had whole houses made of chalchiuites, others made of silver, others of white and red shells, others of planks, others of turquoises, and others of rich feathers. His adherents were very light of foot and swift in going whither they wished, and they were called tlanquacemilhiyme. There is a mountain called Tzatzitepetl on which Quetzalcoatl used to have a crier, and the people afar off and scattered, and the people of Anáhuac, a hundred leagues distant, heard and understood at once whatever the said Quetzalcoatl commanded. And Quetzalcoatl was very rich; he had all that was needful both to eat and to drink; maize was abundant, and a head of it was as much as a man could carry clasped in his arms; pumpkins measured a fathom round; the stalks of the wild amarinth were so large and thick that people climbed them like trees. Cotton was sowed and gathered in of all colors, red, scarlet, yellow, violet, whitish, green, blue, blackish, grey, orange, and tawny; these colors in the cotton were natural to it, thus it grew. Further it is said that in that city of Tulla, there abounded many sorts of birds of rich and many-colored plumage, the xiuhtototl, the quetzaltototl, the zaquan, the tlauquechol, and other birds that sang with much sweetness. And this Quetzalcoatl had all the riches of the world, of gold and silver, of green stones called chalchiuites, and of other precious things, and a great abundance of cocoa-nut trees of divers colors. The vassals or adherents of Quetzalcoatl were also very rich and wanted for nothing; they were never hungry; they never lacked maize, nor ate the small ears of it, but burned them like wood to heat the baths. It is said lastly that Quetzalcoatl did penance by pricking his legs and drawing blood with the spines of the maguey and by washing at midnight in a fountain called xicapoya;[VII-5]Or perhaps xipacoya, as in Kingsborough’s ed. of Sahagun, Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 108. this custom the priests and ministers of the Mexican idols adopted.

There came at last a time in which the fortunes of Quetzalcoatl and of his people, the Toltecs, began to fail; for there came against them three sorcerers, gods in disguise, to wit Tezcatlipoca, Huitzilopochtli, and Tlacavepan, who wrought many deceits in Tulla. Tezcatlipoca especially prepared a cunning trick; he turned himself into a hoary-headed old man, and went to the house of Quetzalcoatl, saying to the servants there, I wish to see and speak to your master. Then the servants said, Go away, old man, thou canst not see our king, for he is sick, thou wilt annoy him and cause him heaviness. But Tezcatlipoca insisted, I must see him. Then the servants bid the sorcerer to wait, and they went in and told Quetzalcoatl how an old man without affirmed that he would see the king and would not be denied. And Quetzalcoatl answered, Let him come in, behold for many days I have waited for his coming. So Tezcatlipoca entered, and he said to the sick god-king, How art thou? adding further that he had a medicine for him to drink. Then Quetzalcoatl answered, Thou art welcome, old man, behold for many days I have waited for thee. And the old sorcerer spake again, How is thy body, and how art thou in health? I am exceedingly sick, said Quetzalcoatl, all my body is in pain, I cannot move my hands nor my feet. Then, answered Tezcatlipoca, behold this medicine that I have, it is good and wholesome and intoxicating; if thou will drink it, thou shalt be intoxicated and healed and eased at the heart, and thou shalt have in mind the toils and fatigues of death and of thy departure.[VII-6]’Y acordarseos há de los trabajos y fatigas de la muerte, ó de vuestra ida.’ Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 109. ‘Y acordarseos ha los trabajos y fatigas de la muerte, ó de vuestra vida.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., pp. 245-6. Where, cried Quetzalcoatl, have I to go? To Tullantlapallan, replied Tezcatlipoca, where there is another old man waiting for thee; he and thou shall talk together, and on thy return thence thou shalt be as a youth, yea, as a boy. And Quetzalcoatl hearing these words his heart was moved, while the old sorcerer, insisting more and more, said, Sir, drink this medicine. But the king did not wish to drink it. The sorcerer, however, insisted, Drink, my lord, or thou wilt be sorry for it hereafter; at least rub a little on thy brow and taste a sip. So Quetzalcoatl tried and tasted it, and drank, saying, What is this? it seems to be a thing very good and savory; already I feel myself healed and quit of mine infirmity; already I am well. Then the old sorcerer said again, Drink once more, my lord, since it is good; so thou shall be the more perfectly healed. And Quetzalcoatl drank again, he made himself drunk, he began to weep sadly, his heart was eased and moved to depart, he could not rid himself of the thought that he must go; for this was the snare and deceit of Tezcatlipoca. And the medicine that Quetzalcoatl drank was the white wine of the country, made from the magueys that are called teumetl.

Tezcatlipoca as a Peddler

So Quetzalcoatl, whose fortunes we shall hereafter follow more particularly, set out upon his journey; and Tezcatlipoca proceeded further guilefully to kill many Toltecs, and to ally himself by marriage with Vemac, who was the temporal lord of the Toltecs, even as Quetzalcoatl was the spiritual ruler of that people. To accomplish these things Tezcatlipoca took the appearance of a poor foreigner, and presented himself naked, as was the custom of such people, in the market-place of Tulla, selling green chilly pepper. Now the palace of Vemac, the great king, overlooked the market-place, and he had an only daughter, and the girl, looking by chance among the buyers and sellers, saw the disguised god. She was smitten through with love of him, and she began to sicken. Vemac heard of her sickness and he inquired of the women that guarded her as to what ailed his daughter. They told him as best they could, how for the love of a peddler of pepper, named Toveyo, the princess had lain down to die. The king immediately sent a crier upon the mountain Tzatzitepec to make this proclamation: O Toltecs, seek me out Toveyo that goes about selling green pepper, let him be brought before me. So the people sought everywhere for the handsome pepper vender; but he was nowhere to be found. Then, after they could not find him, he appeared of his own accord one day, at his old place and trade in the market. He was brought before the king, who said to him, Where dost thou belong to? and Toveyo answered, I am a foreigner come here to sell my green pepper. Why dost thou delay to cover thyself with breeches and with a blanket? said Vemac. Toveyo answered that in his country such things were not in fashion. Vemac continued, My daughter longs after thee, not willing to be comforted by any Toltec; she is sick of love and thou must heal her. But Toveyo replied, This thing can in no wise be, kill me first; I desire to die, not being worthy to hear these words, who get my living by selling green pepper. I tell thee, said the king, that thou must heal my daughter of this her sickness; fear not. Then they took the cunning god, and washed him, and cut his hair, and dyed all his body, and put breeches on him and a blanket; and the king Vemac said, Get thee in and see my daughter, there where they guard her. Then the young man went in and he remained with the princess and she became sound and well; thus Toveyo became the son-in-law of the king of Tulla.

Then behold all the Toltecs being filled with jealousy and offended, spake injurious and insulting words against king Vemac, saying among themselves, Of all the Toltecs can there not to be found a man, that this Vemac marries his daughter to a peddler? Now when the king heard all the injurious and insulting words that the people spake against him, he was moved, and he spoke to the people saying, Come hither, behold I have heard all these things that ye say against me in the matter of my son-in-law Toveyo; dissimulate then; take him deceitfully with you to the war of Cacatepec and Coatepec, let the enemy kill him there. Having heard these words the Toltecs armed themselves, and collected a multitude, and went to the war, bringing Toveyo along. Arrived where the fighting was to take place, they hid him with the lame and the dwarfs, charging them, as the custom was in such cases, to watch for the enemy, while the soldiers went on to the attack. The battle began; the Toltecs at once gave way; treacherously and guilefully deserting Toveyo and the cripples, leaving them to be slaughtered at their post, they returned to Tulla and told the king how they had left Toveyo and his companions alone in the hands of the enemy. When the king heard the treason he was glad, thinking Toveyo dead, for he was ashamed of having him for a son-in-law. Affairs had gone otherwise, however, with Toveyo from what the plotters supposed. On the approach of the hostile army he consoled his deformed companions, saying, Fear nothing; the enemy come against us. but I know that I shall kill them all. Then he rose up and went forward against them, against the men of Coatepec and Cacatepec; he put them to flight and slew of them without number. When this came to the ears of Vemac, it weighed upon and terrified him exceedingly. He said to his Toltecs, Let us now go and receive my son-in-law. So they all went out with king Vemac to receive Toveyo, bearing the arms or devises called quetzalapanecayutl, and the shields called xiuchimali. They gave these things to Toveyo, and he and his comrades received them with dancing and the music of flutes, with triumph and rejoicing. Furthermore, on reaching the palace of the king, plumes were put upon the heads of the conquerors, and all the body of each of them was stained yellow, and all the face red; this was the customary reward of those that came back victorious from war. And king Vemac said to his son-in-law, I am now satisfied with what thou hast done and the Toltecs are satisfied; thou hast dealt very well with our enemies, rest and take thine ease. But Toveyo held his peace.

Triumph of Tezcatlipoca

And after this, Toveyo adorned all his body with the rich feathers called tocivitl, and commanded the Toltecs to gather together for a festival, and sent a crier up to the top of the mountain, Tzatzitepec, to call in the strangers and the people afar off to dance and to feast. A numberless multitude gathered to Tulla. When they were all gathered Toveyo led them out, young men and girls, to a place called Texcalapa, where he himself began and led the dancing, playing on a drum. He sang too, singing each verse to the dancers, who sang it after him, though they knew not the song before hand. Then was to be seen there a marvelous and terrible thing. From sunset till midnight the beat of the countless feet grew faster and faster; the tap, tap, tap of the drum closed up and poured into a continual roll; the monotonous song rose higher, wilder, till it burst into a roar. The multitude became a mob, the revel a riot; the people began to press upon and hustle each other; the riot became a panic. There was a fearful gorge or ravine there, with a river rushing through it called the Texcaltlauhco; a stone bridge led over the river. Toveyo broke down this bridge as the people fled; grim corypheus of this fearful revel, he saw them tread and crush each other down, under-foot, and over into the abyss. They that fell were turned into rocks and stones; as for them that escaped, they did not see nor think that it was Toveyo and his sorceries had wrought this great destruction; they were blinded by the witchcraft of the god, and out of their senses like drunken men.

Far from being satisfied with the slaughter at Texcalapa, Tezcatlipoca proceeded to hatch further evil against the Toltecs. He took the appearance of a certain valiant man called Teguioa, and commanded a crier to summon all the inhabitants of Tulla and its neighborhood to come and help at a certain piece of work in a certain flower-garden (said to have been a garden belonging to Quetzalcoatl.). All the people gathered to the work, whereupon the disguised god fell upon them, knocking them on the head with a coa.[VII-7]Hoe of burnt wood. ‘Coa: palo tostado, empleado por los indios para labrar la tierra, á manera de hazada. (Lengua de Cuba.)’ Voces Americanas Empleadas Por Oviedo, appended to Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 596. Those that escaped the coa were trodden down and killed by their fellows in attempting to escape; a countless number was slain; every man that had come to the work was left lying dead among the trodden flowers.

Tezcatlipoca Dead

And after this Tezcatlipoca wrought another witchcraft against the Toltecs. He called himself Tlacavepan, or Acexcoch, and came and sat down in the midst of the market-place of Tulla, having a little manikin (said to have been Huitzilopochtli) dancing upon his hand. There was an instant uproar of all the buyers and sellers and a rush to see the miracle. The people crushed and trod each other down, so that many were killed there; and all this happened many times. At last the god-sorcerer cried out, on one such occasion, What is this? do you not see that you are befooled by us? stone and kill us. So the people took up stones and killed the said sorcerer and his little dancing manikin. But when the body of the sorcerer had lain in the market-place for some time it began to stink and to taint the air, and the wind of it poisoned many. Then the dead sorcerer spake again, saying, Cast this body outside the town, for many Toltecs die because of it. So they prepared to cast out the body, and fastened ropes thereto and pulled. But the talkative and ill-smelling corpse was so heavy that they could not move it. Then a crier made a proclamation, saying, Come all ye Toltecs, and bring ropes with you, that we may drag out and get rid of this pestilential carcass. All came accordingly, bringing ropes, and the ropes were fastened to the body, and all pulled. It was utterly in vain. Rope after rope broke with a sudden snap, and those that dragged on a rope fell and were killed when it broke. Then the dead wizard looked up and said, O Toltecs, a verse of a song is needed; and he himself gave them a verse. They repeated the verse after him, and, singing it, pulled all together, so that with shouts they hauled the body out of the city; though still not without many ropes breaking and many persons being killed as before. All this being over, those Toltecs that remained unhurt returned every man to his place, not remembering anything of what had happened, for they were all as drunken.

Other signs and wonders were wrought by Tezcatlipoca in his rôle of sorcerer. A white bird called Yztaccuixtli, was clearly seen flying over Tulla, transfixed with a dart. At night also, the sierra called Zacatepec burned, and the flames were seen from far. All the people were stirred up and affrighted, saying one to another, O Toltecs, it is all over with us now; the time of the end of Tulla is come; alas for us, whither shall we go?

Then Tezcatlipoca wrought another evil upon the Toltecs: he rained down stones upon them. There fell also, at the same time, a great stone from heaven called techcatl; and when it fell the god-sorcerer took the appearance of an old woman, and went about selling little banners in a place called Chapultepecuitlapilco, otherwise named Vetzinco. Many then became mad and bought of these banners and went to the place where was the stone Techcatl, and there got themselves killed; and no one was found to say so much as, What is this that happens to us? they were all mad.

Another woe Tezcatlipoca brought upon the Toltecs. All their victuals suddenly became sour, and no one was able to eat of them. The old woman, above mentioned, took up then her abode in a place called Xochitla[VII-8]Xochitla, garden; see Molina, Vocabulario. Perhaps that garden belonging to Quetzalcoatl, which had been already so fatal to the Toltecs. See this volume p. 246., and began to roast maize; and the odor of the roasted maize reached all the cities round about. The starving people set out immediately, and with one accord, to go where the old woman was. They reached her instantly, for here it may be again said, that the Toltecs were exceedingly light of foot, and arrived always immediately whithersoever they wished to go. As for the Toltecs that gathered to the sham sorceress, not one of them escaped, she killed them every one.[VII-9]Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 108-13; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., pp. 243-55. It will be seen that in almost all point of spelling the edition of Kingsborough is followed in preference to the, in such points very inaccurate, edition of Bustamante.

Image of Quetzalcoatl

Turning, without remark for the present, from Tezcatlipoca, of whose life on earth the preceding farrago of legends is all that is known, let us take up the same period in the history of Quetzalcoatl. The city of Cholula was the place in which this god was most honored, and towards which he was supposed to be most favorably inclined; Cholula being greatly given to commerce and handicraft, and the Cholulans considering Quetzalcoatl to be the god of merchandise. As Acosta tells: “In Cholula, which is a commonwealth of Mexico, they worshipt a famous idoll which was the god of marchandise, being to this day greatly given to trafficke. They called it Quetzaalcoalt. This idoll was in a great place in a temple very hie: it had about it, golde, silver, jewells, very rich feathers, and habites of divers colours. It had the forme of a man, but the visage of a little bird, with a red bill, and above a combe full of wartes, having ranckes of teeth, and the tongue hanging out. It carried vpon the head, a pointed myter of painted paper, a sithe in the hand, and many toyes of golde on the legges; with a thousand other foolish inventions, whereof all had their significations, and they worshipt it, for that hee enriched whome hee pleased, as Memnon and Plutus. In trueth this name which the Choluanos gave to their god, was very fitte, although they vnderstood it not: they called it Quetzaalcoalt, signifying colour of a rich feather, for such is the divell of covetousnesse.”[VII-10]Acosta, Hist. Nat. Ind., p. 354.

Motolinia gives the following confused account of the birth as a man, the life, and the apotheosis of this god. The Mexican Adam, called Iztacmixcoatl by some writers, married a second time.[VII-11]As to the first wife and her family see this vol. p. 60. This second wife, Chimamatl by name, bore him, it is said, an only son who was called Quetzalcoatl. This son grew up a chaste and temperate man. He originated by his preaching and practice the custom of fasting and self-punishment; and from that time many in that country began to do this penance. He never married, nor knew any woman, but lived restrainedly and chastely all his days. The custom of sacrificing the ears and the tongue, by drawing blood from these members, was also introduced by him; not for the service of the devil but in penitence for the sins of his speech and his hearing: it is true that afterward the demon misappropriated these rites to his own use and worship. A man called Chichimecatl fastened a leather strap on the arm of Quetzalcoatl, fixing it high up near the shoulder; Chichimecatl was from that time called Acolhuatl, and from him, it is said, are descended those of Colhua, ancestors of Montezuma and lords of Mexico and Coluacan. This Quetzalcoatl is now held as a deity and called the god of the air; everywhere an infinite number of temples has been raised to him, and everywhere his statue or picture is found.[VII-12]Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col., tom. i., pp. 10-11.

According to the account of Mendieta, tradition varied much as to the facts of the life of Quetzalcoatl. Some said he was the son of Camaxtli, god of hunting and fishing, and of Camaxtli’s wife Chimalma. Others make mention only of the name of Chimalma, saying that as she was sweeping one day she found a small green stone called chalchiuite, that she picked it up, became miraculously pregnant, and gave birth to the said Quetzalcoatl. This god was worshiped as a principal deity in Cholula, where, as well as in Tlaxcala and Huejotzingo, there were many of his temples. We have already had one legend from Mendieta,[VII-13]See this vol., p. 240. giving an account of the expulsion from Tulla and death of Quetzalcoatl; the following from the same source gives a different and more usual version of the said expulsion:—

Departure of Quetzalcoatl

Quetzalcoatl came from the parts of Yucatan (although some said from Tulla) to the city of Cholula. He was a white man, of portly person, broad brow, great eyes, long black hair, and large round beard; of exceedingly chaste and quiet life, and of great moderation in all things. The people had at least three reasons for the great love, reverence, and devotion with which they regarded him: first, he taught the silversmith’s art, a craft the Cholulans greatly prided themselves on; second, he desired no sacrifice of the blood of men or animals, but delighted only in offerings of bread, roses and other flowers, of perfumes and sweet odors; third, he prohibited and forbade all war and violence. Nor were these qualities esteemed only in the city of his chiefest labors and teachings; from all the land came pilgrims and devotees to the shrine of the gentle god. Even the enemies of Cholula came and went secure, in fulfilling their vows; and the lords of distant lands had in Cholula their chapels and idols to the common object of devotion and esteem. And only Quetzalcoatl among all the gods was preëminently called Lord; in such sort, that when any one swore, saying, By Our Lord, he meant Quetzalcoatl and no other; though there were many other highly esteemed gods. For indeed the service of this god was gentle, neither did he demand hard things, but light; and he taught only virtue, abhorring all evil and hurt. Twenty years this good deity remained in Cholula, then he passed away by the road he had come, carrying with him four of the principal and most virtuous youths of that city. He journeyed for a hundred and fifty leagues, till he came to the sea, in a distant province called Goatzacoalco. Here he took leave of his companions and sent them back to their city, instructing them to tell their fellow citizens that a day should come in which white men would land upon their coasts, by way of the sea in which the sun rises; brethren of his and having beards like his; and that they should rule that land. The Mexicans always waited for the accomplishment of this prophecy, and when the Spaniards came they took them for the descendants of their meek and gentle prophet, although, as Mendieta remarks with some sarcasm, when they came to know them and to experience their works, they thought otherwise.

Quetzalcoatl is further reported by Mendieta to have assisted in drawing up and arranging the Mexican Calendar, a sacred book of thirteen tables, in which the religious rites and ceremonies proper to each day were set forth, in connection with the appropriate signs. It is said that the gods having created mankind, bethought themselves that it would be well if the people they had made had some writings by which they might direct themselves. Now there were, in a certain cave at Cuernavaca, two personages of the number of the gods, and they were man and wife, he Oxomoco and she Cipactonal; and they were consulting together. It appeared good to the old woman that her descendant Quetzalcoatl should be consulted. The Cholulan god thought the thing of the calendar to be good and reasonable; so the three set to work. To the old woman was respectfully allotted the privilege of choosing and writing the first sign; she painted a kind of water-serpent called cipactli, and called the sign Ce Cipactli, that is “a serpent.” Oxomoco, in his turn wrote “two canes,” and then Quetzalcoatl wrote “three houses;” and so they went on till the whole thirteen signs of each table were written out in their order.[VII-14]Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 82, 86, 92-3, 97-8.

The Sun Calls Quetzalcoatl

Let us now take up again the narrative of Sahagun, at the point where Quetzalcoatl, after drinking the potion prepared by Tezcatlipoca, prepares to set off upon his journey. Quetzalcoatl, very heavy in heart for all the misfortunes that this rival god was bringing upon the Toltecs, burned his beautiful houses of silver and of shell, and ordered other precious things to be buried in the mountains and ravines. He turned the cocoa-nut trees into a kind of trees that are called mizquitl; he commanded all the birds of rich plumage, the quetzaltototl, and the xiuhtotl, and the tlauquechol, to fly away and go into Anáhuac, a hundred leagues distant. Then he himself set out upon his road from Tulla; he traveled on till he came to a place called Quauhtitlan, where was a great tree, high and very thick. Here the exile rested, and he asked his servants for a mirror, and looked at his own face. What thoughts soever were working in his heart, he only said, I am already old. Then he named that place Vevequauhtitlan, and he took up stones and stoned the great tree; and all the stones he threw sank into it, and were for a long time to be seen sticking there, from the ground even up to the topmost branches. Continuing his journey, having flute-players playing before him, he came to a place on the road where he was weary and sat down on a stone to rest. And looking toward Tulla, he wept bitterly. His tears marked and ate into the stone on which he sat, and the print of his hands, and of his back parts, was also found therein when he resumed his journey. He called that place Temacpalco. After that he reached a very great and wide river, and he commanded a stone bridge to be thrown across it; on that bridge he crossed the river, and he named the place Tepanoaya. Going on upon his way, Quetzalcoatl came to another place, where certain sorcerers met and tried to stop him, saying, Whither goest thou? why dost thou leave thy city? to whose care wilt thou commend it? who will do penance? Quetzalcoatl replied to the said sorcerers, Ye can in no wise hinder my going, for I must go. They asked him further, Whither goest thou? He said, To Tlapalla. They continued, But to what end goest thou? He said, I am called and the sun calls me. So the sorcerers said, Go then, but leave behind all the mechanical arts, the melting of silver, the working of precious stones and of masonry, the painting, feather-working, and other crafts. And of all these the sorcerers despoiled Quetzalcoatl. As for him, he cast into a fountain all the rich jewels that he had with him; and that fountain was called Cohcaapa, and it is so named to this day.

Quetzalcoatl continued his journey; and there came another sorcerer to meet him, saying, Whither goest thou? Quetzalcoatl said, To Tlapalla. The wizard said, Very well; but drink this wine that I have. The traveler answered, No: I cannot drink it; I cannot so much as taste it. Thou must drink, said the grim magician, were it but a drop; for to none of the living can I give it; it intoxicates all, so drink. Then Quetzalcoatl took the wine and drank it through a cane. Drinking, he made himself drunk; he slept upon the road; he began to snore; and when he awoke, he looked on one side and on the other, and tore his hair with his hands. And that place was called Cochtoca.

Quetzalcoatl going on upon his way and passing between the sierra of the volcano and the snowy sierra, all his servants, being hump-backed and dwarfs, died of cold in the pass between the said mountains. And Quetzalcoatl bewailed their death bitterly and sang with weeping and sighing. Then he saw the other snowy sierra, which is called Poyauhtecatl and is near Tecamachalco; and so he passed by all the cities and places, leaving many signs, it is said, in all the mountains and roads.[VII-15]See this vol. p. 243. It is said further that he had a way of crossing the sierras whereby he amused and rested himself at the same time: when he came to the top of a mountain he used to sit down, and so seated, let himself slide down the mountain-side to the bottom. In one place he built a court for ball-play, all of squared stone, and here he used to play the game called tlachtli.[VII-16]Tlachtli, juego de pelota con las nalgas; el lugar donde juegan assi. Molina, Vocabulario. Through the midst of this court he drew a line called the telcotl; and where that line was made the mountain is now opened with a deep gash. In another place he cast a dart at a great tree called a pochutl, piercing it through with the dart in such wise that the tree looked like a cross; for the dart he threw was itself a tree of the same kind.[VII-17]This last clause is to be found only in Bustamante’s ed.; see Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., p. 258. Some say that Quetzalcoatl built certain subterranean houses, called mictlancalco; and further, that he set up and balanced a great stone, so that one could move it with one’s little finger, yet a multitude could not displace it. Many other notable things remain that Quetzalcoatl did among many peoples; he it was that named all the places and woods and mountains. Traveling ever onward, he came at last to the sea-shore, and there commanded a raft to be made of the snakes called coatlapechtli. Having seated himself on this raft as in a canoe, he put out to sea, and no man knows how he got to Tlapallan.[VII-18]Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 114-5; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., pp. 255-9.

Torquemada gives a long and valuable account of Quetzalcoatl, gathered from many sources, which cannot be overlooked. It runs much as follows:—The name Quetzalcoatl means Snake-plumage, or Snake that has plumage—and the kind of snake referred to in this name, is found in the province of Xicalanco, which is on the frontier of the kingdom of Yucatan as one goes thence to Tabasco. This god Quetzalcoatl was very celebrated among the people of the city of Cholula, and held in that place for the greatest of all. He was, according to credible histories, high priest in the city of Tulla. From that place he went to Cholula, and not, as Bishop Bartolomé de las Casas says in his Apologia, to Yucatan; though he went to Yucatan afterwards, as we shall see. It is said of Quetzalcoatl that he was a white man, large bodied, broad-browed, great-eyed, with long black hair, and a beard heavy and rounded.[VII-19]’Era Hombre blanco, crecido de cuerpo, ancha la frente, los ojos grandes, los cabellos largos, y negros, la barba grande y redonda.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 47. He was a great artificer, and very ingenious. He taught many mechanical arts, especially the art of working the precious stones called chalchiuites, which are a kind of green stone highly valued, and the art of casting silver and gold. The people, seeing him so inventive, held him in great estimation, and reverenced him as king in that city; and so it came about that, though in temporal things the ruler of Tulla was a lord named Huemac,[VII-20]Spelled Vemac by Sahagun; see preceding pages of this chapter. yet in all spiritual and ecclesiastical matters Quetzalcoatl was supreme, and as it were chief pontiff.

Swiftness of the Servants of Quetzalcoatl

It is feigned by those that seek to make much of their god that he had certain palaces made of green stone like emeralds, others made of silver, others of shells, red and white, others of all kinds of wood, others of turquoise, and others of precious feathers. He is said to have been very rich, and in need of nothing. His vassals were very obedient to him, and very light of foot; they were called tlanquacemilhuique. When they wished to publish any command of Quetzalcoatl, they sent a crier up upon a high mountain called Tzatzitepec, where with a loud voice he proclaimed the order; and the voice of this crier was heard for a hundred leagues distance, and farther, even to the coasts of the sea: all this is affirmed for true. The fruits of the earth and the trees flourished there in an extraordinary degree, and sweet singing birds were abundant. The great pontiff inaugurated a system of penance, pricking his legs, and drawing blood and staining therewith maguey thorns. He washed also at midnight in a fountain called Xiuhpacoya. From all this, it is said, the idolatrous priests of Mexico adopted their similar custom.

Quetzalcoatl Leaves Marks on a Stone

While Quetzalcoatl was enjoying this good fortune with pomp and majesty, we are told that a great magician called Titlacahua [Tezcatlipoca], another of the gods, arrived at Tulla. He took the form of an old man, and went in to see Quetzalcoatl, saying to him, My lord, inasmuch as I know thine intent and how much thou desirest to set out for certain distant lands, also, because I know from thy servants that thou art unwell, I have brought thee a certain beverage, by drinking which thou shalt attain thine end. Thou shalt so make thy way to the country thou desirest, having perfect health to make the journey; neither shalt thou remember at all the fatigues and toils of life, nor how thou art mortal.[VII-21]This agrees ill with what is related at this point by Sahagun; see this vol. p. 242. Seeing all his projects thus discovered by the pretended old man, Quetzalcoatl questioned him, Where have I to go. Tezcatlipoca answered, That it was already determined with the supreme gods, that he had to go to Tlapalla, and that the thing was inevitable, because there was another old man waiting for him at his destination. As Quetzalcoatl heard this, he said that it was true, and that he desired it much; and he took the vessel and drank the liquor it contained. Quetzalcoatl was thus easily persuaded to what Tezcatlipoca desired, because he wished to make himself immortal and to enjoy perpetual life. Having swallowed the draught he became beside himself, and out of his mind, weeping sadly and bitterly. He determined to go to Tlapalla. He destroyed or buried all his plate and other property and set out. First he arrived at the place, Quauhtitlan, where the great tree was and where he, borrowing a mirror from his servants, found himself “already old.” The name of this place was changed by him to Huehuequauhtitlan, that is to say, “near the old tree, or the tree of the old man;” and the trunk of the tree was filled with stones that he cast at it. After that he journeyed on, his people playing flutes and other instruments, till he came to a mountain near the city of Tlalnepantla, two leagues from the city of Mexico, where he sat down on a stone and put his hands on it, leaving marks embedded therein that may be seen to this day. The truth of this thing is strongly corroborated by the inhabitants of that district; I myself have questioned them upon the subject, and it has been certified to me. Furthermore we have it written down accurately by many worthy authors; and the name of the locality is now Temacpalco, that is to say “in the palm of the hand.”

Journeying on to the coast and to the kingdom of Tlapalla, Quetzalcoatl was met by the three sorcerers, Tezcatlipoca and other two with him, who had already brought so much destruction upon Tulla. These tried to stop or hinder him in his journey, questioning him, Whither goest thou? He answered, To Tlapalla. To whom, they inquired, hast thou given the charge of thy kingdom of Tulla, and who will do penance there? But he said that that was no longer any affair of his and that he must pursue his road. And being further questioned as to the object of his journey, he said that he was called by the lord of the land to which he was going, who was the sun.[VII-22]At this part of the story Torquemada takes opportunity, parenthetically, to remark that this fable was very generally current among the Mexicans, and that when Father Bernardino de Sahagun was in the city of Xuchimilco, they asked him where Tlapalla was. Sahagun replied that he did not know, as indeed he did not (nor any one else—it being apparently wholly mythical), nor even understand their question, inasmuch as he had been at that time only a little while in the country—it being fifty years before he wrote his book [the Historia General]. Sahagun adds that the Mexicans made at that time divers trials of this kind, questioning the Christians to see if they knew anything of their antiquities. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 50. The three wizards seeing then the determination of Quetzalcoatl, made no further attempt to dissuade him from his purpose, but contented themselves with taking from him all his instruments and his mechanical arts, so that though he departed those things should not be wanting to the state. It was here that Quetzalcoatl threw into a fountain all the rich jewels that he carried with him; for which thing the fountain was called from that time Cozcaapan, that is to say, “The water of the strings or chains of jewels.” The same place is now called Coaapan, that is to say, “In the snake-water,” and very properly, because the word Quetzalcoatl means “feathered snake.” In this way he journeyed on, suffering various molestations from those sorcerers, his enemies, till he arrived at Cholula where he was received (as we in another part say),[VII-23]The passage of Torquemada referred to I condense as follows:—Certain people came from the north by way of Panuco. These were men of good carriage, well-dressed in long robes of black linen, open in front, and without capes, cut low at the neck, with short sleeves that did not come to the elbow; the same, in fact, as the natives use to this day in their dances. From Panuco they passed on very peaceably by degrees to Tulla, where they were well received by the inhabitants. The country there, however, was already too thickly populated to sustain the new-comers, so these passed on to Cholula where they had an excellent reception. They brought with them as their chief and head, a personage called Quetzalcoatl, a fair and ruddy complexioned man, with a long beard. In Cholula these people remained and multiplied, and sent colonies to people Upper and Lower Mizteca and the Zapotecan country; and these it is said raised the grand edifices, whose remains are still to be seen at Mictlan. These followers of Quetzalcoatl were men of great knowledge and cunning artists in all kinds of fine work; not so good at masonry and the use of the hammer, as in casting and in the engraving and setting of precious stones, and in all kinds of artistic sculpture, and in agriculture. Quetzalcoatl had, however, two enemies; Tezcatlipoca was one, and Huemac, king of Tulla the other; these two had been most instrumental in causing him to leave Tulla. And at Cholula, Huemac followed him up with a great army; and Quetzalcoatl, not wishing to engage in any war, departed for another part with most part of his people—going, it is said, to a land called Onohualco, which is near the sea, and embraced what are now called Yucatan, Tabasco, and Campeche. Then when Huemac came to the place where he had thought to find Quetzalcoatl, and found him not, he was wrath and laid waste and destroyed all the country, and made himself lord over it and caused also that the people worshipped him as a god. All this he did to obscure and blot out the memory of Quetzalcoatl and for the hate that he bore him. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 254-6. and afterward adored as god. Having lived twenty years in that city he was expelled by Tezcatlipoca. He set out for the kingdom of Tlapalla, accompanied by four virtuous youths of noble birth, and in Goatzacoalco, a province distant from Cholula toward the sea a hundred and fifty leagues, he embarked for his destination. Parting with his disciples, he told them that there should surely come to them in after times, by way of the sea where the sun rises, certain white men with white beards, like him, and that these would be his brothers and would rule that land.

After that the four disciples returned to Cholula, and told all that their master and god had prophesied when departing. Then the Cholulans divided their province into four principalities and gave the government to those four, and some four of their descendants always ruled in like manner over these tetrarchies till the Spaniard came; being, however, subordinate to a central power.

Quetzalcoatl Swept the Roads

This Quetzalcoatl was god of the air, and as such had his temple, of a round shape and very magnificent. He was made god of the air for the mildness and gentleness of all his ways, not liking the sharp and harsh measures to which the other gods were so strongly inclined. It is to be said further that his life on earth was marked by intensely religious characteristics; not only was he devoted to the careful observance of all the old customary forms of worship, but he himself ordained and appointed many new rites, ceremonies, and festivals for the adoration of the gods; and it is held for certain that he made the calendar. He had priests who were called quequetzalcohua, that is to say “priests of the order of Quetzalcoatl.” The memory of him was engraved deeply upon the minds of the people, and it is said that when barren women prayed and made sacrifices to him, children were given them. He was, as we have said, god of the winds, and the power of causing them to blow was attributed to him as well as the power of calming or causing their fury to cease. It was said further that he swept the road, so that the gods called Tlaloques could rain: this the people imagined because ordinarily a month or more before the rains began there blew strong winds throughout all New Spain. Quetzalcoatl is described as having worn during life, for the sake of modesty, garments that reached down to the feet, with a blanket over all, sown with red crosses. The Cholulans preserved certain green stones that had belonged to him, regarding them with great veneration and esteeming them as relics. Upon one of these was carved a monkey’s head, very natural. In the city of Cholula there was to be found dedicated to him a great and magnificent temple, with many steps, but each step so narrow that there was not room for a foot on it. His image had a very ugly face, with a large and heavily bearded head. It was not set on its feet but lying down, and covered with blankets. This, it is said, was done as a memorial that he would one day return to reign. For reverence of his great majesty, his image was kept covered, and to signify his absence it was kept lying down, as one that sleeps, as one that lies down to sleep. In awaking from that sleep, he was to rise up and reign. The people also of Yucatan reverenced this god Quetzalcoatl, calling him Kukulcan, and saying that he came to them from the west, that is from New Spain, for Yucatan is eastward therefrom. From him it is said the kings of Yucatan are descended, who call themselves Cocomes, that is to say “judges or hearers.”[VII-24]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 48-52.

Clavigero on Quetzalcoatl

Clavigero’s account is characteristically clear and comprehensible. It may be summed up as follows:—

Among the Mexicans and other nations of Anáhuac, Quetzalcoatl was accounted god of the air. He is said to have been sometime high-priest of Tulla. He is described as having been white—a large, broad-browed, great-eyed man, with long black hair and thick beard. His life was rigidly temperate and exemplary, and his industry was directed by the profoundest wisdom. He amassed great treasure, and his was the invention of gem-cutting and of metal-casting. All things prospered in his time. One ear of corn was a man’s load; and the gourds, or pumpkins, of the day were as tall as one’s body. No one dyed cotton then, for it grew of all colors; and all other things in like manner were perfect and abundant. The very birds in the trees sang such songs as have never since been heard, and flashed such marvelous beauties in the sun as no plumage of later times could rival. Quetzalcoatl had his laws proclaimed from the top of the hill Tzatzitepec, (mountain of outcry), near Tulla, by a crier whose voice was audible for three hundred miles.

All this, however, was put an end to, as far as Tulla was concerned, by Tezcatlipoca, who, moved perhaps by jealousy, determined to remove Quetzalcoatl. So the god appeared to the great teacher in the guise of an old man, telling him it was the will of the gods that he betake himself to Tlapalla, and administering at the same time a potion, the effect of which was to cause an intense longing for the said journey. Quetzalcoatl set out and, having performed many marvels on the way, arrived in Cholula. Here the inhabitants would not suffer him to go farther, but persuaded him to accept the government of their city; and he remained with them, teaching many useful arts, customs, and ceremonies and preaching against war and all other forms of cruelty. According to some, he at this time arranged the divisions of the seasons and the calendar.

Having lived twenty years in Cholula, he left, still impelled by the subtle draught, to seek this imaginary city of Tlapalla. He was no more seen of men, some said one thing and some another; but, however he might have disappeared, he was apotheosized by the Toltecs of Cholula, who raised him a great mound and built a sanctuary upon it. A similar structure was erected to his honor at Tulla. From Cholula his worship as god of the air spread over all the country; in Yucatan the nobles claimed descent from him.[VII-25]Clavigero, Hist. Ant. del Messico, pp. 11-13.

Brasseur on Quetzalcoatl

The ideas of Brasseur with regard to Quetzalcoatl have their roots in and must be traced back to the very first appearing of the Mexican religion, or of the religion or religions by which it was preceded; so that to arrive at those ideas I must give a summary of the abbé’s whole theory of the origin of that creed. He believes that in the seething and thundering of volcanoes a conception of divinity and of supernatural powers first sprang up in the mind of the ancestors of the Mexicans. The volcanoes were afterwards identified with the stars, and the most terrific of all, Nanahuatl or Nanahuatzin,[VII-26]See p. 60 of this volume. received the honors of apotheosis in the sun. Issued from the earth of the Crescent (Brasseur’s sunken island or continent in the Atlantic),[VII-27]See p. 112 of this volume. personified in the antique Quetzalcoatl, prototype of priests and of sacerdotal continence, he is thus his son and identifies himself with him; he (the divinity, Tylor’s “Great Somebody”) is the model of sages under the name of Hueman and the prototype of kings under that of Topiltzin. Strange thing to find united in one being, personalities so diverse! King, philosopher, priest par excellence, whose virtues serve as a rule to all the priests of the pagan antiquity, and, side by side with all that, incontinence and passion deified in this invalid, whose name even, “the syphilitic,” is the expression of the abuse he has made of the sex.

At the commencement of the religion two sects appear to have sprung up, or rather two manners of judging the same events. There was first a struggle, and then a separation; under the banner-names of Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca the rival schools fought for the most part—of course there were divers minor factions; but the foregoing were the principal and most important. There is every reason to believe that the religion that took Quetzalcoatl for symbol was but a reformation upon another more ancient, that had the moon for its object. It is the moon, male and female, Luna Lunus, personified in the earth of the Crescent, engulfed in the abyss, that I believe (it is always the abbé that speaks) I see at the commencement of the amalgam of rites and symbols of every kind, religion of enjoyments and material pleasures, born of the promiscuity of the men and women, taken refuge in the lesser Antilles after the cataclysm.

The religion that had taken the moon for point of departure, and in which women seem to have played the principal rôle, as priestesses, attacked formally, by this very fact, a more antique religion, a pre-diluvian religion that appears to have been Sabaism, entirely exempt from idolatry, and in which the sun received the chief homage. In the new religion, on the contrary, it was not the moon as a star, which was the real object of worship, it was the moon-land (lune-terre), it was the region of the Crescent, shrouded under the waves, whose death was wept and whose resurrection was afterward celebrated in the appearance of the isles—refuge of the shipwrecked of the grand catastrophe—of the Lesser Antilles; to the number of seven principal islands, sung, in all American legends, as the Seven Grottoes, cradle of nations.

This is the myth of Quetzalcoatl, who dies or disappears, and whose personality is represented at the outset in the isles, then successively, in all the countries whither the civilization was carried of which he was the flag. So far as I can judge at present, the priest who placed himself under the ægis of this grand name, labored solely to reform what there was of odious and barbarous in the cult of which the women had the chief direction, and under whose regime human blood flowed in waves. After the triumph of Quetzalcoatl, the men who bore his name took the direction of religion and society, which then made considerable progress in their hands.

But if we are to believe the same traditions, their preponderance had not a very long duration. The most restless and the most audacious among the partisans of the ancient order of things, raised the flag of revolt: they became the chiefs of a warlike faction, rival of the sacerdotal—a conquering faction, source of veritable royal dynasties and of the religion of the sun living and victorious, in opposition to the god entombed in the abyss. Quetzalcoatl, vanquished by Tezcatlipoca, then retired before a too-powerful enemy, and the Toltecs were dispersed among all nations. Those of them that remained coalesced with the victors, and from the accord of the aforementioned three cults, there sprang that monstrous amalgam of so many different ideas and symbols, such as is found to-day in what remains to us of the Mexican religion.

For me (and it is always the abbé that speaks), I believe I perceive the origin of the struggle, not alone in the diversity of races, but principally in the existence of two currents of contrary ideas, having had the same point of departure in the events of the great cataclysm of the Crescent Land, above referred to. Different manners of looking at these events and of commemorating them, seem to me to have marked from the beginning the starting point of two religions that lived, perhaps, side by side for centuries without the explosion of their disagreements, otherwise than by insignificant agitations. Before these two could take, with regard to each other, the proportions of a schism or a heresy, it was necessary that all the materials of which these religions are constituted had had time to elaborate themselves, and that the hieroglyphics which represented their origin had become sufficiently obscure for the priesthood to keep the vulgar from understanding them. For, if schism has brought on the struggle between and afterward the violent separation of families, this separation can not have taken place till after the entire creation of myths, the entire construction of these divine genealogies, of these poetic traditions, that are found scattered among all the peoples of the earth, but of which the complete whole does not exist, save in the history and religion of Mexico.[VII-28]This, in its astounding immensity, is the abbé’s theory: his suppositional Crescent Land was the cradle of all human races and human creeds. On its submergence the aforesaid races and creeds spread and developed through all the world to their respective present localities and phases. The Mexican branch of this development he considers the likest to and the most closely connected with the original.

Many Characters of Quetzalcoatl

Two orders of gods—the one order fallen from heaven into the abyss, becoming there the judges of the dead, and being personified in one of their number, who came to life again, symbolizing thus life and death—the other order surviving the cataclysm and symbolizing thus an imperishable life—such, at its origin, is the double character of the myth of Quetzalcoatl. But, in reality, this god he is the earth, he is the region swallowed up by the waters, he is the vanquished stifled under the weight of his adversary, under the force of the victorious wave; which adversary, which power in opposition to the first, joining itself to the fire on the blazing pile of Nanahuatl, is Tezcatlipoca, is Hercules, conqueror of enemies, is the god whose struggle is eternal as that of the ocean beating the shore, is he in whom the light becomes afterward personified, and who becomes thus the battle-flag of the opponents of Quetzalcoatl. To the dead god a victim is necessary, one that like him descends into the abyss. This victim was a young girl, chosen among those that were consecrated at the foot of the pyramid, and drowned; a custom long found as well in Egypt as at Chichen-Itza,[VII-29]In Yucatan. and in many other countries of the world. But to the god come to life again, to the god in whom fire was personified, and immortal life, to Quetzalcoatl when he became Huitzilopochtli, victims were sacrificed, by tearing out the heart—symbol of the jet of flame issuing from the volcano—to offer it to the conquering sun, symbol of Tezcatlipoca, who first demanded holocausts of human blood.[VII-30]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Quatre Lettres, pp. 154-7. Much of this last paragraph seems utterly incomprehensible and absurd, even viewed from the stand-point of the Abbé Brasseur himself. By no means certain, at all points, of having caught the exact meaning by its author, I give the original:—’Deux ordres de dieux, dont les uns, tombés du ciel dans l’abîme où ils deviennent les juges des morts, se personnifient en un seul qui ressuscite, symbole de la vie et de la mort; dont les autres survivent à la destruction, symbole de la vie impérissable; tel est le double caractère du mythe de Quetzal-Coatl, à son origine. Mais en réalité, ce dieu, c’est la terre, c’est la région ensevelie sous les eaux, c’est le vaincu étouffé sous le poids de son adversaire, sous l’effort de la vague victorieuse et celle-ci s’unissant au feu sur le bûcher de Nanahuatl, c’est Tezcatlipoca, c’est Hercule, vainqueur de ses ennemis, c’est le dieu dont la lutte est éternelle, comme celle de l’Océan battant le rivage, c’est celui en qui se personnifie ensuite la lumière et qui devient ainsi le drapeau des adversaires de Quetzal-Coatl. Au dieu mort, il fallait une victime, comme lui, descendue dans l’abîme: ce fut une jeune fille, choisie parmi celles qui lui étaient consacrées au pied de la pyramide, et qu’on noyait en la plongeant sous l’eau, coutume qu’on retrouva longtemps en Egypte, comme à Chichen-Itza, ainsi que dans bien d’autres pays du monde. Mais au dieu ressuscité, au dieu en qui se personnifiait le feu, la vie immortelle, à Quetzal-Coatl, devenu Huitzil-Opochtli, on sacrifia des victimes sans nombre, à qui l’on arrachait le cœur, symbole du jet de flamme sortant du volcan, pour l’offrir au soleil vainqueur, symbole de Tezcatlipoca qui, le premier, avait demandé des holocaustes de sang humain.’ Id., pp. 342-3.

Mr Tylor declares Quetzalcoatl to have been the Sun: “We may even find him identified with the Sun by name, and his history is perhaps a more compact and perfect series of solar myths than hangs to the name of any single personage in our own Aryan mythology. His mother, the Dawn or the Night, gives birth to him, and dies. His father Camaxtli is the sun, and was worshiped with solar rites in Mexico, but he is the old Sun of yesterday. The clouds, personified in the mythic race of the Mixcohuas, or “Cloud-Snakes” (the Nibelungs of the western hemisphere), bear down the old Sun and choke him, and bury him in their mountain. But the young Quetzalcoatl, the Sun of to-day, rushes up into the midst of them from below, and some he slays at the first onset, and some he leaves, rift with red wounds to die. We have the Sun boat of Helios, of the Egyptian Ra, of the Polynesian Maui. Quetzalcoatl, his bright career drawing toward its close, is chased into far lands by his kinsman Tezcatlipoca, the young Sun of to-morrow. He, too, is well known as a Sun God in the Mexican theology. Wonderfully fitting with all this, one incident after another in the life of Quetzalcoatl falls into its place. The guardians of the sacred fire tend him, his funeral pile is on the top of Orizaba, he is the helper of travelers, the maker of the calendar, the source of astrology, the beginner of history, the bringer of wealth and happiness. He is the patron of the craftsmen, whom he lights to his labor; as it is written in an ancient Sanskrit hymn, ‘He steps forth, the splendor of the sky, the wide-seeing, the far-aiming, the shining wanderer; surely enlivened by the sun, do men go to their tasks and do their work.’ Even his people, the Toltecs, catch from him solar qualities. Will it be even possible to grant to this famous race, in whose story the legend of Quetzalcoatl is the leading incident, anything more than a mythic existence?”[VII-31]Tylor’s Researches, pp. 155-6.

Brinton on Quetzalcoatl

Dr Brinton is of opinion “that there were in truth many Quetzalcoatls, for his high priest always bore his name, but he himself is a pure creation of the fancy, and all his alleged history is nothing but a myth. His emblematic name, the Bird-Serpent, and his rebus and cross at Palenque, I have already explained. Others of his titles were, Ehecatl, the air; Yolcuat, the rattlesnake; Tohil, the rumbler; Huemac, the strong hand; Nanihehecatl, lord of the four winds. The same dualism reappears in him that has been noted in his analogues elsewhere. He is both lord of the eastern light and the wind.

As the former, he was born of a virgin in the land of Tula or Tlapallan, in the distant Orient, and was high priest of that happy realm. The morning star was his symbol, and the temple of Cholula was dedicated to him expressly as the author of light. As by days we measure time, he was the alleged inventor of the calendar. Like all the dawn heroes, he too was represented as of white complexion, clothed in long white robes, and, as most of the Aztec gods, with a full and flowing beard. When his earthly work was done he too returned to the east, assigning as a reason that the sun, the ruler of Tlapallan, demanded his presence. But the real motive was that he had been overcome by Tezcatlipoca, otherwise called Yoalliehecatl, the wind or spirit of night, who had descended from heaven by a spider’s web and presented his rival with a draught pretended to confer immortality, but, in fact, producing uncontrollable longing for home. For the wind and the light both depart when the gloaming draws near, or when the clouds spread their dark and shadowy webs along the mountains, and pour the vivifying rain upon the fields.

In his other character, he was begot of the breath of Tonacateotl, god of our flesh or subsistence, or (according to Gomara) was the son of Iztac Mixcoatl, the white cloud serpent, the spirit of the tornado. Messenger of Tlaloc, god of rain, he was figuratively said to sweep the road for him, since in that country violent winds are the precursors of the wet seasons. Wherever he went all manner of singing birds bore him company, emblems of the whistling breezes. When he finally disappeared in the far east, he sent back four trusty youths who had ever shared his fortunes, ‘incomparably swift and light of foot,’ with directions to divide the earth between them and rule it till he should return and resume his power. When he would promulgate his decrees, his herald proclaimed them from Tzatzitepec, the hill of shouting, with such a mighty voice that it could be heard a hundred leagues around. The arrows which he shot transfixed great trees, the stones he threw leveled forests, and when he laid his hands on the rocks the mark was indelible. Yet as thus emblematic of the thunderstorm, he possessed in full measure its better attributes. By shaking his sandals he gave fire to men; and peace, plenty, and riches blessed his subjects. Tradition says he built many temples to Mictlantecutli, the Aztec Pluto, and at the creation of the sun that he slew all the other gods, for the advancing dawn disperses the spectral shapes of night, and yet all its vivifying power does but result in increasing the number doomed to fall before the remorseless stroke of death.

His symbols were the bird, the serpent, the cross and the flint, representing the clouds, the lightning, the four winds, and the thunderbolt. Perhaps, as Huemac, the Strong Hand, he was god of the earthquakes. The Zapotecs worshiped such a deity under the image of this number carved from a precious stone, calling to mind the ‘Kab ul,’ the Working Hand, adored by the Mayas, and said to be one of the images of Zamná their hero god. The human hand, ‘that divine tool,’ as it has been called, might well be regarded by the reflective mind as the teacher of the arts and the amulet whose magic power has won for man what vantage he has gained in his long combat with nature and his fellows.”[VII-32]Brinton’s Myths, pp. 180-3.

Analogues of Quetzalcoatl

Mr Helps sees in Quetzalcoatl the closest analogies with certain other great civilizers and teachers that made their appearance in various parts of the American continent:—”One peculiar circumstance, as Humboldt remarks, is very much to be noted in the ancient records and traditions of the Indian nations. In no less than three remarkable instances has superior civilization been attributed to the sudden presence among them of persons differing from themselves in appearance and descent.

Bohica, a white man with a beard, appeared to the Mozca Indians in the plains of Bogota, taught them how to build and to sow, formed them into communities, gave an outlet to the waters of the great lake, and, having settled the government civil and ecclesiastical, retired into a monastic state of penitence for two thousand years.

In like manner Manco Capac, accompanied by his sister, Mama Oello, descended amongst the Peruvians, gave them a code of admirable laws, reduced them into communities, and then ascended to his father, the Sun.

Amongst the Mexicans there suddenly appeared Quetzalcoatl (green-feathered snake), a white and bearded man, of broad brow, dressed in a strange dress; a legislator, who recommended severe penances, lacerating his own body with the prickles of the agave and the thorns of the cactus, but who dissuaded his followers from human sacrifice. While he remained in Anáhuac, it was a Saturnian reign; but this great legislator, after moving on to the plains of Cholula, and governing the Cholulans with wisdom, passed away to a distant country, and was never heard of more. It is said briefly of him that ‘he ordained sacrifices of flowers and fruits, and stopped his ears when he was spoken to of war.'”[VII-33]Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. i., pp. 286-7.

The Abbé Domenech considers the tradition of the lives of Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca to be a bit of simple and slightly veiled history, and also that there were several Quetzalcoatls. Let it be remembered in reading the abbé’s version of this matter that the names of places, peoples, and the dates he gives are in great part mythical and conjectural:—”After the enfranchisement of the Olmecs, a man named Quetzalcoatl arrived in the country, whom Garcia, Torquemada, Sahagun, and other Spanish writers took to be Saint Thomas. It was also at that time that the third age ended, and that the fourth began, called Sun of the fire, because it was supposed that it was in this last stage that the world would be destroyed by fire.

It is in this fourth period that the Mexican historian places the Toltecs’ arrival in New Spain, that is to say, about the third century before the Christian era. According to the Quichés’ traditions, the primitive portion of the Nahoas, or ancestors of the Toltecs, were in a distant East, beyond immense seas and lands. Amongst the families and tribes that bore with least patience this long repose and immobility, those of Canub, and of Tlocab may be cited, for they were the first who determined to leave their country. The Nahoas sailed in seven barks or ships, which Sahagun calls Chicomoztoc, or the seven grottos. It is a fact worthy of note, that in all ages the number seven was a sacred number among the American people, from one pole to the other. It was at Pánuco, near Tampico, that those strangers disembarked; they established themselves at Paxil, with the Votanites’ consent, and their state took the name of Huehue-Tlopallan. It is not stated from whence they came, but merely that they came out of the regions where the sun rises. The supreme command was in the hand of a chieftain, whom history calls Quetzalcohuatl, that is to say, Lord par excellence. To his care was confided the holy envelope, which concealed the divinity from the human gaze, and he alone received from it the necessary instructions to guide his people’s march. These kinds of divinities, thus enveloped, passed for being sure talismans, and were looked upon with the greatest respect and veneration. They consisted generally of a bit of wood, in which was inserted a little idol of green stone; this was covered with the skin of a serpent or of a tiger, after which it was rolled in numerous little bands of stuff, wherein it would remain wrapped for centuries together. Such is, perhaps, the origin of the medicine bags made use of, even in the present day, by the Indians of the Great Desert, and of which we shall speak in the second volume of this work.”

Of apparently another Quetzalcoatl, he writes: “The Toltecs became highly flourishing under the reign of Ceocatl Quetzalcohuatl, a Culhuacan prince, who preached a new religion, sanctioning auricular confession and the celibacy of the priests. He proscribed all kinds of warfare and human sacrifices. Tezcatlipoca put himself at the head of the dissatisfied party, and besieged Tollan, the residence of Ceocatl Quetzalcohuatl; but the latter refused to defend himself, in order to avoid the effusion of blood, which was prohibited by the laws of the religion he himself had established, and retired to Cholula, that had been constructed by his followers. From thence he went to Yucatan. Tezcatlipoca, his fortunate rival, after a long reign became in his turn the victim of the popular discontent, and fell in a battle that was given him by Ceocatl Quetzalcohuatl’s relatives. Those two kings are elevated to the rank of gods, and their worship was a perpetual subject of discord and civil war in all Anáhuac until the arrival of the Spaniards in the New World.”[VII-34]Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 32-3, 39.

The Codices on Quetzalcoatl

The interpreters of the different codices, or Mexican paintings represented in Kingsborough’s great work, give, as is their wont in all matters, a confused, imperfect, and often erroneous account of Quetzalcoatl:—”Quetzalcoatl is he who was born of the virgin, called Chalchihuitztli, which means the precious stone of penance or of sacrifice. He was saved in the deluge, and was born in Zivenaritzcatl where he resides. His fast was a kind of preparation for the arrival of the end of the world which they said would happen on the day of Four Earthquakes, so that they were thus in daily expectation of that event. Quetzalcoatl was he who they say created the world, and they bestowed on him the appellation of lord of the wind, because they said that Tonacatecotli, when it appeared good to him, breathed and begat Quetzalcoatl. They erected round temples to him, without any corners. They said that it was he (who was also the lord of the thirteen signs which are here represented), who formed the first man. He alone had a human body like that of men, the other gods were of an incorporeal nature.”[VII-35]Explicacion del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, parte ii., lam. ii., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 135-6.

“They declare that their supreme deity, or more properly speaking, demon Tonacatecotle, whom we have just mentioned, who by another name was called Citinatonali, … begot Quetzalcoatl, not by connection with a woman, but by his breath alone, as we have observed above, when he sent his ambassador, as they say, to the virgin of Tulla. They believed him to be the god of the air, and he was the first to whom they built temples and churches, which they formed perfectly round, without any angles. They say it was he who effected the reformation of the world by penance, as we have already said; since, according to their account, his father had created the world, and men had given themselves up to vice, on which account it had been so frequently destroyed. Citinatonali sent this his son into the world to reform it. We certainly must deplore the blindness of these miserable people, on whom Saint Paul says the wrath of God has to be revealed, inasmuch as his eternal truth was so long kept back by the injustice of attributing to this demon that which belonged to Him; for He being the sole creator of the universe, and He who made the division of the waters, which these poor people just now attributed to the Devil, when it appeared good to Him, dispatched the heavenly ambassador to announce to the virgin that she should be the mother of his eternal word; who, when He found the world corrupt, reformed it by doing penance and by dying upon the cross for our sins; and not the wretched Quetzalcoatl, to whom these miserable people attributed this work. They assigned to him the dominion over the other thirteen signs, which are here represented, in the same manner as they had assigned the preceding thirteen to his father. They celebrated a great festival on the arrival of his sign, as we shall see in the sign of Four Earthquakes, which is the fourth in order here, because they feared that the world would be destroyed in that sign, as he had foretold to them when he disappeared in the Red Sea; which event occurred on the same sign. As they considered him their advocate, they celebrated a solemn festival, and fasted during four signs.”[VII-36]Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, tav. xli., Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 184-5.

MÜLLER ON QUETZALCOATL.

J. G. Müller holds Quetzalcoatl to be the representative national god of the Toltecs, surviving under many misconceptions and amid many incongruities—bequeathed to or adopted into the later Mexican religion. The learned professor has devoted an unusual amount of care and research to the interpretation of the Quetzalcoatl myths; and as no other inquirer has shown therein at once so accurate and extensive an acquaintance with the subject and so calm and judicious a judgment, we give his opinion at length, and first his summing up of the fable-history of Quetzalcoatl:—

The Toltecs, a traditional pre-historic people, after leaving their original northern home Huehuetlapallan (that is Old-red-land) chose Tulla, north of Anáhuac as the first capital of their newly founded kingdom. Quetzalcoatl was their high-priest and religious chief at this place. Huemac, or Huematzin, conducted the civil government as the companion of Quetzalcoatl, and wrote the code of the nation. Quetzalcoatl is said to have been a white man (some gave him a bright red face), with a strong formation of body, broad forehead, large eyes, black hair, and a heavy beard. He always wore a long white robe; which, according to Gomara, was decorated with crosses; he had a mitre on his head and a sickle in his hand. At the volcano of Cotcitepec, or Tzatzitepec, near Tulla, he practised long and numerous penances, giving thereby an example to his priests and successors. The name of this volcano means “the mountain of outcry;” and when Quetzalcoatl gave laws, he sent a crier to the top of it whose voice could be heard three hundred miles off. He did what the founders of religions and cults have done in other countries: he taught the people agriculture, metallurgy, stone-cutting, and the art of government. He also arranged the calendar, and taught his subjects fit religious ceremonies; preaching specially against human sacrifices, and ordering offerings of fruits and flowers only. He would have nothing to do with wars, even covering his ears when the subject was mentioned. His was a veritable golden age, as in the time of Saturn; animals and even men lived in peace, the soil produced the richest harvests without cultivation, and the grain grew so large that a man found it trouble enough to carry one ear; no cotton was dyed, as it grew of all colors, and fruits of all kinds abounded. Everybody was rich and Quetzalcoatl owned whole palaces of gold, silver, and precious stones. The air was filled with the most pleasant aromas, and a host of finely feathered birds filled the world with melody.

But this earthly happiness came to an end. Tezcatlipoca rose up against Quetzalcoatl and against Huemac, in order to separate them, and to destroy their government. He descended from the sky on a rope of spider-web and commenced to work for his object with the aid of magic arts. He first appeared in the form of a handsome youth (and in the dress of a merchant), dressed as a merchant selling pepper-pods, and presented himself before the daughter of king Huemac. He soon seduced the princess, and thereby opened the road to a general immorality and a total collapse of the laws. He presented himself before Quetzalcoatl in the form of an old man, with the view of inducing him to depart to his home in Tlapalla. For this purpose he offered him a drink which he pretended would endow him with immortality. No sooner had Quetzalcoatl taken the drink, then he was seized with a violent desire to see his fatherland. He destroyed the palaces of gold, silver, and precious stones, transformed the fruit-trees into withered trunks, and ordered all song-birds to leave the country, and to accompany him. Thus he departed, and the birds entertained him during his journey with their songs.

Travels of Quetzalcoatl

He first traveled southward, and arrived in Quauhtitlan, in Anáhuac. In the vicinity of this town he broke down a tree by throwing stones, the stones remaining in the trunk. Farther south, in the same valley, near Tlalnepantla, or Tanepantla, he pressed hand and foot into a rock with such force that the impression has remained down to the latest centuries, in the same manner as the mark of the shoes of the horses of Castor and Pollux near Regillum. The Spaniards were inclined to ascribe these and similar freaks of nature to the Apostle Thomas.

Quetzalcoatl now turned toward the east, and arrived in Cholula, where he had to remain for a longer period, as the inhabitants intrusted him with the government of their state. The same order of things which had taken place in Tulla, his first residence, was here renewed. From this centre his rule spread far and wide; he sent colonists from Cholula to Huaxayacac, Tabasco and Campeche, and the nobility of Yucatan prided themselves on their descent from him; men having been found in our time who bear his name, just as the descendants of Votan bore the name of Votan in Chiapas. In Cholula itself he was adored, and temples were everywhere erected in his honor, even by the enemies of the Cholulans. After a residence of twenty years in Cholula, he proceeded on his journey toward Tlalpalla until he arrived at the river and in the province of Coatzacoalco, or Goasacoalco, Guasacualco, that is, Hiding-nook of the snake—south of Vera Cruz. He now sent the four youths, who had accompanied him from Cholula, back to the Cholulans, promising to return later on and renew the old government. The Cholulans placed the four youths at the head of their government, out of love for him. This hope of his return still existed among the Mexican nations at the time of Cortés’ arrival. In fact, Cortés was at first held to be the returning Quetzalcoatl, and a man was sacrificed to him, with whose blood the conqueror and his companions were marked. Father Sahagun was also asked, by everybody on his journey to Mexico, if he and his suite came from Tlapalla. According to Montezuma’s account to Cortés, Quetzalcoatl really did once return to Cholula, but after such a length of time that he found his subjects married to the native women, having children, and so numerous that a number of new districts had to be founded. This new race would not recognize their old chief, and refused to obey him. He thereupon departed angrily, threatening to return at another time and to subdue them by force. It is not remarkable that an expectation, which was a hope to the Cholulans, should be a dread to Montezuma and his subjects.

According to some accounts, Quetzalcoatl died in the Hiding-nook of the snakes, in the Goatzacoalco country; according to others, he suddenly disappeared toward the east, and a ship, formed of snakes wound together, brought him to Tlapalla.

A closer view and criticism of this tale, in the light of the analogy of mythological laws, shows us that Quetzalcoatl is the euhemerized religious ideal of the Toltecan nations. The similarity of this tale with those of Manco Capac, Botschika, Saturn, and others, is at once apparent. The opinion of Prescott, Wuttke, and many others, who held him for a deified man, founder of a religion and of a civilization, is confirmed by the latest version of the fable, in which Quetzalcoatl is represented in this character. Although euhemerism is an old idea with all people, as well as with the Americans—personification being the first step toward it—the general reasons which everywhere appear against the existence of such founders of a civilization must also be made to speak against this idea of Quetzalcoatl.

If a special value is placed upon the white face and the beard, it must be remembered that the beard, which is given to the Mexican priests, could not be omitted with Quetzalcoatl; and the mention by some of his having had a white face, and by others a red, might arouse a suspicion that Quetzalcoatl has been represented as a white man on account of his white robe.

The fable of Quetzalcoatl contains contradictions, the younger elements of which are a pure idealism of the more ancient. For instance, the statement that the earth produced everything spontaneously, without human labor, does not agree with the old version of the myth, according to which Quetzalcoatl taught agriculture and other industries requiring application and hard work. The sentimental love of peace has also been attributed to this god in later times, during a time when the Toltecs had lost the martial spirit of their victorious ancestors, and when the Cholulans, given to effeminacy, distinguished themselves more by cunning than by courage. The face of the god is represented, in the fable, as more beautiful and attractive, than it is depicted on the images. At the place where he was most worshiped, in Cholula, the statue of Quetzalcoatl stood in his temple, on the summit of the great pyramid. Its features had a gloomy cast, and differed from the beautiful face which is said to have been his on earth.

Quetzalcoatl and the Toltecs

The fable shows its later idealized elements in these points. In all other respects, the Toltecan peculiarities of the entire nation are either clearly and faithfully depicted in their hero, as in a personified ideal, or else the original attributes of the nature deity are recognizable. Where the Toltecs were, there was he also, or a hero identical with him; the Toltecs who journeyed southward are colonists sent by him; the Toltec capitals, Tulla and Cholula, are his residences; and as the laws of the Toltecs extended far and wide, so did the voice of his crier reach three hundred miles into the country. The arts and welfare of the Toltecs, their riches and religious feeling, even their later unwarlike peacefulness, all these attributes are transferred to Quetzalcoatl. The long robe of the Toltecs was also the dress of their hero; the necktie of the boys of his religious order is attached to his image; and, as his priests wore the mitre, he is also represented with it. He is, above all, depicted as the original model of the Toltec priests, the Tlamacazque (the order was called Tlamacazcojotl), whose chief, or superior, always bore the name of Quetzalcoatl. As these orders of his had to submit to the strictest observances—their members having to slit the tongue, ears and lips in honor of Quetzalcoatl, and the small boys being set apart for him by making an incision on their breasts—so he submitted, before all others, to these penances on the Tzatzitipec Mountain. These self-inflicted punishments must not be termed penances, as is often done, for they have no moral meaning, such as to do penance for committed sins, nor have they the mystic meaning of the East Indian idea of the end of the world (Weltabsterben) and the return to the pantheistic chaos (Urall and Urnichts); all this is foreign to the American religion. They are, on the contrary, blood-offerings, substitutes for the human sacrifices in the background, to obtain earthly blessings, and to avert earthly misfortunes. As Quetzalcoatl preached against human sacrifices, so his priests under the Aztec rule, were very reluctant to make them. After the great slaughter by Cortés, in Cholula, Montezuma proceeded to the great temple of Huitzilopochtli, made many human sacrifices, and questioned the god, who bade him to be of good heart, and assured him that the Cholulans had suffered so terribly merely on account of their reluctance to offer up human beings.

As the disappearance of the Toltecs toward the south and the south-east agrees with the disappearance of Quetzalcoatl, so we find many traits from the end of the last Toltec king reproduced in the end of the Toltec hero. After the defeat of king Tlolpintzin, he (Tlolpintzin) fled southward, toward Tlapalla. He made use of these words, in his last farewell to his friends: I have retired toward the east, but will return after 5012 years to avenge myself on the descendants of mine enemies. After having lived thirty years in Tlapalla, he died. His laws were afterward accepted by Nezalhualcoyotzin. The belief that Tlolpintzin stayed with Nezalhualcoyotzin, and some other brave kings, in the cave of Xicco, after death, like the three Tells of Switzerland, but would at some time come out and deliver his people, was long current among the Indians. Every one will notice how well this agrees with Montezuma’s account of the return of Quetzalcoatl.

Quetzalcoatl a Nature-Deity

Quetzalcoatl cannot, however, be a representative and a national god of the Toltecs, without having an original nature-basis for his existence as a god. It is everywhere the case among savages with their national god, that the latter is a nature-deity, who becomes gradually transformed into a national god, then into a national king, high-priest, founder of a religion, and at last ends in being considered a human being. The older and purer the civilization of a people is, the easier it is to recognize the original essence of its national god, in spite of all transformations and disguises. So it is here. Behind the human form of the god glimmers the nature shape, and the national god is known by, perhaps, all his worshipers as also a nature deity. From his powerful influence upon nature, he might also be held as the creator.

The pure human form of this god, as it appears in the fable, as well as in the image, is not the original, but the youngest. His oldest concrete forms are taken from nature, to which he originally belongs, and have maintained themselves in many attributes. All these symbolize him as the god of fertility, chiefly, as it is made apparent, by means of the beneficial influence of the air. All Mexican and European statements make him appear as the god of the air and of the wind; even the euhemeristic idea deifies the man Quetzalcoatl into a god of the air. All the Mexican tribes adored him at the time of the conquest as god of the air, and all accounts, however much they may differ on the particular points of his poetical life, agree, without exception, in this one respect, as the essential and chief point. Besides the symbols, which are merely attached to the image, there are three attributes, which represent as many original visible forms and exteriors of the god, in which he is represented and worshiped: the sparrow, the flint (Feuerstein), and the snake.

According to Herrera, the image of Quetzalcoatl had the body of a man, but the head of a bird, a sparrow with a red bill, a large comb, and with the tongue hanging far out of the mouth. The air-god of these northern people, parallel to Quetzalcoatl, the Aztec Huitzilopochtli, was represented with devices connected with the humming-bird, in remembrance of his former humming-bird nature. This is the northern element. The great spirit of the northern redskins also appear in his most esteemed form as a bird. The Latin Picus was originally a woodpecker (Specht), afterward anthropomorphized and even euhemerized, but he has ever the woodpecker by his side, in his capacity of human seer. Several Egyptian gods have human bodies and animal heads, especially heads of birds. Birds are not alone symbols of particular godlike attributes, as used in the anthropomorphic times, not mere messengers and transmitters of the orders of the gods, but they have originally been considered as gods themselves, with forms of godlike powers, especially in North America; and the exterior of the god of the air, the fructifying air, is naturally that of a bird, a singing-bird. The hieroglyphic sign among the Mexicans for the air is, therefore, the head of a bird with three tongues. Wherever Quetzalcoatl stayed and ruled, there birds filled the air, and song-birds gave indication of their presence; when he departed, he took them with him, and was entertained during the journey by their singing.

Quetzalcoatl and the Flint

A second form of Quetzalcoatl was the flint, which we have already learned to know as a symbol and hieroglyphic sign for the air. He was either represented as a black stone, or several small green ones, supposed to have fallen from heaven, most likely ærolites, which were adored by the Cholulans in the service of Quetzalcoatl. Bétancourt even explains the meaning of the name Quetzalcoatl, contrary to the usual definition, as “twin of a precious stone.” The fable of Quauhtitlan is also connected with this stone-worship; how Quetzalcoatl had overthrown a tree by means of stones which remained fixed in it. These stones were later on adored as holy stones of Quetzalcoatl. The stone at Tlalnepantla, into which he pressed his hand, must also have represented the god himself. Similar ancient stone-worships, of greater nature deities as well as fetiches, were found, in many instances, in Peru, in the pre-Inca times. In ancient Central America we meet with the worship of such green stones called chalchihuites. Votan was worshiped in the form of such a green stone, connected with the other two attributes. This attribute of Quetzalcoatl most likely belongs to the south.

The third form of Quetzalcoatl, which also belongs to the south, is the snake; he is a snake-god, or, at least, merged into an ancient snake-god. The snake is not, as far as I know, a direct symbol of the air, and this attribute is, therefore, not the one pertaining to him from the beginning; but the snake represents the season which, in conjunction with heat and rain, contains the fructifying influence of the atmosphere, spring, the rejuvenating year. However, the very name of the god signifies, according to the usual explanation given to it, “the feathered snake, the snake covered with feathers, the green feathered-snake, the wood-snake with rich feathers.” A snake has consequently been added to the human figure of this god. The other name, under which he is adored in Yucatan, is Cuculcan, a snake covered with godlike feathers. The entrance to his round temple in Mexico represented the jaw and fangs of a tremendous snake. Quetzalcoatl disappeared in Goatzacoalco, the Snake-corner (or nook), and a ship of snakes brought him to Tlapalla. His followers in Yucatan were called snakes, Cocome (plural of Coatl), while he himself bore the name of Cocolcan in this country as well as in Chiapas. The snake attribute signifies, in connection with Huitzilopochtli, also the beneficial influence of the atmosphere, the yearly renewed course of nature, the continual rejuvenation of nature in germs and blossoms. The northern celestial god, Odin, is in many ways connected with snakes, he transformed himself into a snake, and bore the by-name of Snake.

The relationship of Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl, as given in the fable, may be touched upon here. The driving away of the latter by Tezcatlipoca does not, as may be supposed, signify a contest between the Aztec religion and the preceding Toltecan. In such a case Huitzilopochtli, the chief of the Aztec gods, by whose adoration the contrast is painted in the deepest colors, would have been a much better representant.

Quetzalcoatl no doubt preached against human sacrifices, brought into such unprecedented swing by the Aztecs, yet the worshipers of this god adopted the sacrifice of human beings in an extensive way during the Aztec rule, to which period this part of the Quetzalcoatl fable necessarily owes its origin. At this time the contrast was so slight that Quetzalcoatl partook of the highest adoration of Aztecs, not only in Cholula, but in Mexico and everywhere. His priest enjoyed the highest esteem and his temple in Mexico stood by the side of that of Huitzilopochtli. Montezuma not only calls the Toltec hero a leader of his forefathers, but the Aztecs actually consider him as a son of Huitzilopochtli. The opposition of the two gods, Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca, has another reason: the difference lies not in their worship, but in their nature and being, in the natural phenomena which they represent. If the god of the beneficial atmosphere, the manifested god-power of the atmosphere of the fructifying seasons, is adored in Quetzalcoatl; then Tezcatlipoca is his opposite, the god of the gloomy lower regions destitute of life and germ, the god of drought, of withering, of death.

Quetzalcoatl and the Snake

Wherever, therefore, Quetzalcoatl rules, there are riches and abundance, the air is filled with fragrance and song-birds—an actual golden era; but when he goes southward with his song-birds, he is expelled by Tezcatlipoca, drought sets in, and the palaces of gold, silver, and precious stones, symbols of wealth, are destroyed. He promises, however, everywhere to return. A representation mentioned and copied by Humboldt, shows Tezcatlipoca in the act of cutting up the snake. This has not the meaning of the acts of Hercules, of Tonatiuh, of the great spirit of the Chippewas, of the German Siegfried, of the Celtic dragon-killers Tristan and Iwein, or of the other sun-gods, spring-gods, and culture-heroes, who fight and subdue the snake of the unfertile moisture; such an interpretation would be opposed to the nature of this god. On the contrary, the god of death and drought here fights the snake as the symbol of moisture, of the fertilization of the plant-life.

The question now arises: if Quetzalcoatl only received his snake attribute in the south, and this his name, what was his original northern and Toltecan name? We answer, coinciding with the views expressed by Ixtlilxochitl and others, who affirm that Quetzalcoatl and his worldly companion, Huemac, were one and the same person. The opposed opinion of Ternaux-Compans, who states that Quetzalcoatl must have been an Olmec, while Huemac was a Toltec, actually gives the key to the solution of the question. Both are right, Ixtlilxochitl and Ternaux, Huemac is the original Toltec name of the Toltec national god, ruler, and author of the holy books, the ancient name used by the Toltecs. As this people succumbed more and more to southern influences, and their ancient air-god in his sparrow form received in addition the snake attribute, on account of his rejuvenating influence upon nature, then, the new name of the more cultivated people soon appeared. The name may, therefore, be Olmec, but not the god; we may sooner suppose that the attributes of the Maya god, Votan, have been transferred to the Toltec god. Both names having thus a double origin; the legend which found two names, made also two persons of them, and placed them side by side. It is, however, easy to see that they are naturally one: Huemac has just as much a religious signification as Quetzalcoatl; as Huematzin, he wrote the divine book, containing all the earthly and heavenly wisdom of the Toltecs. Quetzalcoatl has, in the same degree, besides his religious position, the worldly one of ruler and founder of a civilization. As Quetzalcoatl possesses a divine nature, so does Huemac, to whom also are ascribed the three hundred years of life, and the impression of the hand in the rock.

Besides the attributes of the sparrow, flint, and snake, there are others which ascribe to Quetzalcoatl the same properties, but less prominently. As god of the air, he holds the wonderfully painted shield in his hand, a symbol of his power over the winds. As god of the fertilizing influence of the air, he holds, like Saturn, the sickle, symbol of the harvest—he it is that causes the grain to ripen. It used to be said that he prepared the way for the water-god, for in these regions, the rains are always preceded by winds. It was on account of this intimate connection with the rain, which had already procured him the snake attribute, that his mantle was adorned with crosses. We have already seen that such crosses represented the rain-god with the Mayas, and are symbols of the fructifying rain. Consequently they are well suited for the god who is only air-god in the sense of the air exercising its fructifying and invigorating influence upon the earth.

Quetzalcoatl and the Trade-Winds

Another question, which has already occurred to us, must here be considered. Why did this god come from the east, depart toward the east, and why should he be expected from the east? The Toltecs have, according to almost unanimous statements, come from the north, and even Quetzalcoatl commences his rule in the north, in Tulla, and proceeds gradually on his journey from the north to the south-east, just like the Toltecs, who traveled southward from Tulla. It is plain that he departs for the east, because this is his home, from which he came and will return. His eastern origin is, no doubt, based upon the direction of the eastern trade-winds, which carry rain and, with it, fertility to the interior of Central America. The rains began three or four weeks earlier in Vera Cruz, Tampico, and Tabasco than in Puebla and Mexico. Another reason, which has, however, a certain connection with the above, may be the relationship of the god of air and the sun-god, who often assumed an equal position in nature and in worship. We know that the founders of the Peruvian and Muyscan cults come from the east, because they are sun-gods. Quetzalcoatl is not such a deity, it is true, but the fertilizing air-god is also in other places closely connected with the fructifying sun, as, for example Huitzilopochtli, Odin, and Brama. The sun is his eye. This connection with the sun, Montezuma referred to when he spoke in the presence of Cortés of the departure of Quetzalcoatl for the regions from which the sun comes. As the sun is the eye of heaven, to whom the heart of the victim sacrificed to the god of heaven is presented, so it is at night with the moon, to whom the same tribute was paid at the feast of Quetzalcoatl. I merely refer to this here to show the connection of the air-god with the great heavenly bodies.

Several other significations are attached to the idea of an air-god. It is natural that the god of heavenly blessing should also be the god of wealth. All wealth depends originally upon the produce of the soil, upon the blessing of heaven, however worldly the opinion of the matter may be. Gold is merely the symbol of this wealth, like the golden shower of Zeus. The image of Quetzalcoatl was, therefore, according to Acosta, adorned with gold, silver, jewels, rich feathers, and gay dresses, to illustrate his wealth. For this reason he wore a golden helmet, and his sceptre was decorated with costly stones. The same view is also the basis of the myths of the ancients about snakes and dragons guarding treasures. The fact that the merchants of Cholula worshiped the god of wealth before all others, and as their chief deity, requires no explanation.

His worship in Cholula was conducted as follows: Forty days before the festival, the merchants bought a spotless slave, who was first taken to bathe in a lake called the Lake of the Gods, then dressed up as the god Quetzalcoatl, whom he had to represent for forty days. During this time he enjoyed the same adoration as was given to the god: he was set upon a raised place, presented with flowers, and fed on the choicest viands. He was, however, well guarded during the night, so that he might not escape. During his exhibition through the town, he danced and sang, and the women and children ran out of their houses to salute him and make him presents. This continued until nine days before the end of the forty days. Then two old priests approached him in all humility, saying, in deep voice: Lord, know that in nine days thy singing and dancing will cease, because thou must die! If he continued of good spirit, and inclined to dance and sing, it was considered a good omen, if the contrary, a bad one. In the latter case they prepared him a drink of blood and cacao, which was to obliterate the remembrance of the past conversation. After drinking this, it was hoped that he would resume his former good humor. On the day of the festival still greater honors were shown him, music sounded and incense was burnt. At last, at the midnight hour, he was sacrificed, the heart was torn out of his body, held up to the moon, and then thrown toward the image of the god. The body was cast down the steps of the temple, and served the merchants, especially the slave-dealers, for a sacrificial meal. This feast and sacrifice took place every year, but after a certain number of cycles, as in the divine year, Teoxihuitl, they were celebrated with much more pomp. Quetzalcoatl had, generally, his human sacrifices during the Aztec rule, as well as the other gods.

Quetzalcoatl as a Healing God

The power which reëstablishes the macrocosm, heals and rejuvenates the microcosm also: it is the general healing power. With the good weather thousands of invalids are restored, and refreshing rains not only revive the thirsty plains of the tropics, but man himself. Thus the air-god, the atmosphere, becomes a healing god. A Phœnician told Pausanius that the snake god, Æsculapius, signified the health-restoring air. If this god of heaven is also a snake-god, like Quetzalcoatl, the rejuvenating and reinvigorating power of nature is expressed in a clear parallelism.

The snake-god is also a healing god, and even the Greek Æsculapius cannot dispense with the snake. It is, thus, not to be wondered at that the sterile women of the Mexican peoples directed their prayers to Quetzalcoatl.[VII-37]Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 577-590. Some further notes regarding this god from a different point, may be found in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Palenqué, pp. 40 etc., 66 etc.

This concludes the able summing-up presented by Müller, and it is given as I give all theoretical matter, neither accepting nor rejecting it, as simply another ray of light bent in upon the god Quetzalcoatl, whose nature it is not proposed here to either explain or illustrate, but only to reproduce, as regarded from many sides by the earliest and closest observers.

Footnotes

[VII-1] Acosta, Hist. Nat. Ind., pp. 353-4; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 7; Duran, Hist. Ant. de la Nueva España, MS., quoted in Squier’s Notes to Palacio, Carta, note 27, pp. 117-8; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., p. 242; Explicacion del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, lam. ii. and xxvi., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 132, 144-5; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, tav. xlii., xlix., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 185, 188.

[VII-2] See this volume p. 62.

[VII-3] Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 82.

[VII-4] Temple; see this vol., p. 192, note 26.

[VII-5] Or perhaps xipacoya, as in Kingsborough’s ed. of Sahagun, Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 108.

[VII-6] ’Y acordarseos há de los trabajos y fatigas de la muerte, ó de vuestra ida.’ Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 109. ‘Y acordarseos ha los trabajos y fatigas de la muerte, ó de vuestra vida.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., pp. 245-6.

[VII-7] Hoe of burnt wood. ‘Coa: palo tostado, empleado por los indios para labrar la tierra, á manera de hazada. (Lengua de Cuba.)’ Voces Americanas Empleadas Por Oviedo, appended to Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 596.

[VII-8] Xochitla, garden; see Molina, Vocabulario. Perhaps that garden belonging to Quetzalcoatl, which had been already so fatal to the Toltecs. See this volume p. 246.

[VII-9] Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 108-13; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., pp. 243-55. It will be seen that in almost all point of spelling the edition of Kingsborough is followed in preference to the, in such points very inaccurate, edition of Bustamante.

[VII-10] Acosta, Hist. Nat. Ind., p. 354.

[VII-11] As to the first wife and her family see this vol. p. 60.

[VII-12] Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col., tom. i., pp. 10-11.

[VII-13] See this vol., p. 240.

[VII-14] Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 82, 86, 92-3, 97-8.

[VII-15] See this vol. p. 243.

[VII-16] Tlachtli, juego de pelota con las nalgas; el lugar donde juegan assi. Molina, Vocabulario.

[VII-17] This last clause is to be found only in Bustamante’s ed.; see Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., p. 258.

[VII-18] Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 114-5; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., pp. 255-9.

[VII-19] ’Era Hombre blanco, crecido de cuerpo, ancha la frente, los ojos grandes, los cabellos largos, y negros, la barba grande y redonda.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 47.

[VII-20] Spelled Vemac by Sahagun; see preceding pages of this chapter.

[VII-21] This agrees ill with what is related at this point by Sahagun; see this vol. p. 242.

[VII-22] At this part of the story Torquemada takes opportunity, parenthetically, to remark that this fable was very generally current among the Mexicans, and that when Father Bernardino de Sahagun was in the city of Xuchimilco, they asked him where Tlapalla was. Sahagun replied that he did not know, as indeed he did not (nor any one else—it being apparently wholly mythical), nor even understand their question, inasmuch as he had been at that time only a little while in the country—it being fifty years before he wrote his book [the Historia General]. Sahagun adds that the Mexicans made at that time divers trials of this kind, questioning the Christians to see if they knew anything of their antiquities. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 50.

[VII-23] The passage of Torquemada referred to I condense as follows:—Certain people came from the north by way of Panuco. These were men of good carriage, well-dressed in long robes of black linen, open in front, and without capes, cut low at the neck, with short sleeves that did not come to the elbow; the same, in fact, as the natives use to this day in their dances. From Panuco they passed on very peaceably by degrees to Tulla, where they were well received by the inhabitants. The country there, however, was already too thickly populated to sustain the new-comers, so these passed on to Cholula where they had an excellent reception. They brought with them as their chief and head, a personage called Quetzalcoatl, a fair and ruddy complexioned man, with a long beard. In Cholula these people remained and multiplied, and sent colonies to people Upper and Lower Mizteca and the Zapotecan country; and these it is said raised the grand edifices, whose remains are still to be seen at Mictlan. These followers of Quetzalcoatl were men of great knowledge and cunning artists in all kinds of fine work; not so good at masonry and the use of the hammer, as in casting and in the engraving and setting of precious stones, and in all kinds of artistic sculpture, and in agriculture. Quetzalcoatl had, however, two enemies; Tezcatlipoca was one, and Huemac, king of Tulla the other; these two had been most instrumental in causing him to leave Tulla. And at Cholula, Huemac followed him up with a great army; and Quetzalcoatl, not wishing to engage in any war, departed for another part with most part of his people—going, it is said, to a land called Onohualco, which is near the sea, and embraced what are now called Yucatan, Tabasco, and Campeche. Then when Huemac came to the place where he had thought to find Quetzalcoatl, and found him not, he was wrath and laid waste and destroyed all the country, and made himself lord over it and caused also that the people worshipped him as a god. All this he did to obscure and blot out the memory of Quetzalcoatl and for the hate that he bore him. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 254-6.

[VII-24] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 48-52.

[VII-25] Clavigero, Hist. Ant. del Messico, pp. 11-13.

[VII-26] See p. 60 of this volume.

[VII-27] See p. 112 of this volume.

[VII-28] This, in its astounding immensity, is the abbé’s theory: his suppositional Crescent Land was the cradle of all human races and human creeds. On its submergence the aforesaid races and creeds spread and developed through all the world to their respective present localities and phases. The Mexican branch of this development he considers the likest to and the most closely connected with the original.

[VII-29] In Yucatan.

[VII-30] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Quatre Lettres, pp. 154-7. Much of this last paragraph seems utterly incomprehensible and absurd, even viewed from the stand-point of the Abbé Brasseur himself. By no means certain, at all points, of having caught the exact meaning by its author, I give the original:—’Deux ordres de dieux, dont les uns, tombés du ciel dans l’abîme où ils deviennent les juges des morts, se personnifient en un seul qui ressuscite, symbole de la vie et de la mort; dont les autres survivent à la destruction, symbole de la vie impérissable; tel est le double caractère du mythe de Quetzal-Coatl, à son origine. Mais en réalité, ce dieu, c’est la terre, c’est la région ensevelie sous les eaux, c’est le vaincu étouffé sous le poids de son adversaire, sous l’effort de la vague victorieuse et celle-ci s’unissant au feu sur le bûcher de Nanahuatl, c’est Tezcatlipoca, c’est Hercule, vainqueur de ses ennemis, c’est le dieu dont la lutte est éternelle, comme celle de l’Océan battant le rivage, c’est celui en qui se personnifie ensuite la lumière et qui devient ainsi le drapeau des adversaires de Quetzal-Coatl. Au dieu mort, il fallait une victime, comme lui, descendue dans l’abîme: ce fut une jeune fille, choisie parmi celles qui lui étaient consacrées au pied de la pyramide, et qu’on noyait en la plongeant sous l’eau, coutume qu’on retrouva longtemps en Egypte, comme à Chichen-Itza, ainsi que dans bien d’autres pays du monde. Mais au dieu ressuscité, au dieu en qui se personnifiait le feu, la vie immortelle, à Quetzal-Coatl, devenu Huitzil-Opochtli, on sacrifia des victimes sans nombre, à qui l’on arrachait le cœur, symbole du jet de flamme sortant du volcan, pour l’offrir au soleil vainqueur, symbole de Tezcatlipoca qui, le premier, avait demandé des holocaustes de sang humain.’ Id., pp. 342-3.

[VII-31] Tylor’s Researches, pp. 155-6.

[VII-32] Brinton’s Myths, pp. 180-3.

[VII-33] Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. i., pp. 286-7.

[VII-34] Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 32-3, 39.

[VII-35] Explicacion del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, parte ii., lam. ii., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 135-6.

[VII-36] Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, tav. xli., Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 184-5.

[VII-37] Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 577-590. Some further notes regarding this god from a different point, may be found in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Palenqué, pp. 40 etc., 66 etc.

Chapter VIII • Gods, Supernatural Beings, and Worship • 23,000 Words

Various accounts of the Birth, Origin, and Derivation of the name of the Mexican War God, Huitzilopochtli, of his Temple, Image, Ceremonial, Festivals, and his deputy, or page, Paynal—Clavigero—Boturini—Acosta—Solis—Sahagun—Herrera—Torquemada—J. G. Müller’s Summary of the Huitzilopochtli Myths, their Origin, Relation, and Signification—Tylor—Codex Vaticanus—Tlaloc, God of Water, especially of Rain, and of Mountains—Clavigero, Gama, and Ixtlilxochitl—Prayer in the time of Drought—Camargo, Motolinia, Mendieta, and the Vatican Codex on the Sacrifices to Tlaloc—The Decorations of his Victims and the places of their Execution—Gathering Rushes for the Service of the Water God—Highway Robberies by the Priests at this time—Decorations and Implements of the Priests—Punishments for Ceremonial Offences—The Whirlpool of Pantitlan—Images of the Mountains in honor of the Tlaloc Festival—of the coming Rain and Mutilation of the Images of the Mountains—General Prominence in the cult of Tlaloc, of the Number Four, the Cross, and the Snake.

Birth of Huitzilopochtli

Huitzilopochtli, Huitziloputzli, or Vitziliputzli, was the god of war and the especially national god of the Mexicans. Some said that he was a purely spiritual being, others that a woman had borne him after miraculous conception. This legend, following Clavigero, ran as follows:

In the ancient city of Tulla, lived a most devout woman, Coatlicue by name. Walking one day in the temple as her custom was, she saw a little ball of feathers floating down from heaven, which, taking without thought, she put into her bosom. The walk being ended, however, she could not find the ball, and wondered much, all the more that soon after this she found herself pregnant. She had already many children, who now, to avert this dishonor of their house, conspired to kill her; at which she was sorely troubled. But, from the midst of her womb the god spoke: Fear not, O my mother, for this danger will I turn to our great honor and glory. And lo, Huitzilopochtli, perfect as Pallas Athena, was instantly born, springing up with a mighty war-shout, grasping the shield and the glittering spear. His left leg and his head were adorned with plumes of green; his face, arms, and thighs barred terribly with lines of blue. He fell upon the unnatural children, slew them all, and endowed his mother with their spoils. And from that day forth his names were Tezahuitl, Terror, and Tetzauhteotl, Terrible god.

This was the god who became protector of the Mexicans, who conducted them so many years in their pilgrimage, and settled them at last on the site of Mexico. And in this city they raised him that proud temple so much celebrated even by the Spaniards, in which were annually held their solemn festivals, in the fifth, ninth, and fifteenth months; besides those kept every four years, every thirteen years, and at the beginning of every century. His statue was of gigantic size, in the posture of a man seated on a blue-colored bench, from the four corners of which issued four huge snakes. His forehead was blue, but his face was covered with a golden mask, while another of the same kind covered the back of his head. Upon his head he carried a beautiful crest, shaped like the beak of a bird; upon his neck a collar consisting of ten figures of the human heart; in his right hand, a large, blue, twisted club; in his left, a shield, on which appeared five balls of feathers disposed in the form of a cross, and from the upper part of the shield rose a golden flag with four arrows, which the Mexicans pretended to have been sent to them from heaven to perform those glorious actions which we have seen in their history. His body was girt with a large golden snake, and adorned with various lesser figures of animals made of gold and precious stones, which ornaments and insignia had each their peculiar meaning. They never deliberated upon making war without imploring the protection of this god, with prayers and sacrifices; and offered up a greater number of human sacrifices to him than to any other of the gods.[VIII-1]Huitzilopochtli is derived from two words: huitzilin, the humming-bird, and opochtli, left—so called from the left foot of his image being decorated with humming-bird feathers. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 17-19.

A different account of the origin of this deity is given by Boturini, showing the god to have been a brave Mexican chief, who was afterward apotheosized:—

While the Mexicans were pushing their conquests and their advance toward the country now occupied by them, they had a very renowned captain, or leader, called Huitziton. He it was that in these long and perilous journeys through unknown lands, sparing himself no fatigue, took care of the Mexicans. The fable says of him that being full of years and wisdom he was one night caught up in sight of his army, and of all his people, and presented to the god Tezauhteotl, that is to say the Frightful God, who, being in the shape of a horrible dragon, commanded him to be seated at his right hand, saying: Welcome, O valiant captain; very grateful am I for thy fidelity in my service and in governing my people. It is time that thou shouldest rest, since thou art already old, and since thy great deeds raise thee up to the fellowship of the immortal gods. Return then to thy sons and tell them not to be afflicted if in future they cannot see thee as a mortal man; for from the nine heavens thou shalt look down propitious upon them. And not only that, but also, when I strip the vestments of humanity from thee, I will leave to thine afflicted and orphan people thy bones and thy skull so that they may be comforted in their sorrow, and may consult thy relics as to the road they have to follow: and in due time the land shall be shown them that I have destined for them, a land in which they shall hold wide empire, being respected of the other nations.

Huitziton did according to these instructions, and after a sorrowful interview with his people, disappeared, carried away by the gods. The weeping Mexicans remained with the skull and bones of their beloved captain, which they carried with them till they arrived in New Spain, and at the place where they built the great city of Tenochtitlan, or Mexico. All this time the devil spoke to them through this skull of Huitziton, often asking for the immolation of men and women, from which thing originated those bloody sacrifices, practiced afterwards by this nation with so much cruelty on prisoners of war. This deity was called, in early as well as in later times, Huitzilopochtli—for the principal men believed that he was seated at the left hand of Tezcatlipoca—a man derived from the original name Huitziton, and from the word mapoche, ‘left hand.'[VIII-2]Boturini, Idea de una Hist., pp. 60-1.

Image of Huitzilopochtli

Acosta gives a minute description of the image and temple of this god:—

“The chiefest idoll of Mexico was, as I have sayde, Vitziliputzli. It was an image of wood like to a man, set vpon a stoole of the colour of azure, in a brankard or litter, at every corner was a piece of wood in forme of a Serpent’s head. The stoole signified that he was set in heaven: this idoll hadde all the forehead azure, and had a band of azure vnder the nose from one eare to another: vpon his head he had a rich plume of feathers, like to the beake of a small bird, the which was covered on the toppe with golde burnished very browne: hee had in his left hand a white target, with the figures of five pine apples, made of white feathers, set in a crosse: and from above issued forth a crest of gold, and at his sides hee hadde foure dartes, which (the Mexicaines say) had beene sent from heaven to do those actes and prowesses which shall be spoken of: In his right hand he had an azured staffe, cutte in fashion of a waving snake. All those ornaments with the rest hee had, carried his sence as the Mexicaines doe shew; the name of Vitziliputzli signifies the left hand of a shining feather. I will speake heereafter of the prowde Temple, the sacrifices, feasts and ceremonies of this great idoll, being very notable things. But at this present we will only shew, that this idoll thus richly appareled and deckt, was set vpon an high Altare, in a small peece or boxe, well covered with linnen clothes, jewells, feathers and ornaments of golde, with many rundles of feathers, the fairest and most exquisite that could be found: hee had alwaies a curtine before him for the greater veneration. Ioyning to the chamber or chappell of this idoll, there was a peece of lesse worke, and not so well beautified, where there was another idoll they called Tlaloc. These two idolls were alwayes together, for that they held them as companions, and of equal power.

Temple of Huitzilopochtli

There was in Mexico, this Cu, the famous Temple of Vitziliputzli, it had a very great circuite, and within a faire Court. It was built of great stones, in fashion of snakes tied one to another, and the circuite was called Coatepantli, which is, a circuite of snakes: vppon the toppe of every chamber and oratorie where the Idolls were, was a fine piller wrought with small stones, blacke as ieate, set in goodly order, the ground raised vp with white and red, which below gave a great light. Vpon the top of the pillar were battlements very artificially made, wrought like snailes [caracoles], supported by two Indians of stone, sitting, holding candlesticks in their hands, the which were like Croisants garnished and enriched at the ends, with yellow and greene feathers and long fringes of the same. Within the circuite of this court, there were many chambers of religious men, and others that were appointed for the service of the Priests and Popes, for so they call the soveraigne Priests which serve the Idoll.

There were foure gates or entries, at the east, west, north, and south; at every one of these gates beganne a faire cawsey of two or three leagues long. There was in the midst of the lake where the cittie of Mexico is built, foure large cawseies in crosse, which did much beautify it; vpon every portall or entry, was a God or Idoll, having the visage turned to the causey, right against the Temple gate of Vitziliputzli. There were thirtie steppes of thirtie fadome long, and they divided from the circuit of the court by a streete that went betwixt them; vpon the toppe of these steppes there was a walke thirtie foote broad, all plaistered with chalke, in the midst of which walke was a Pallisado artificially made of very high trees, planted in order a fadome one from another. These trees were very bigge, and all pierced with small holes from the foote to the top, and there were roddes did runne from one tree to another, to the which were chained or tied many dead mens heades. Vpon every rod were twentie sculles, and these ranckes of sculles continue from the foote to the toppe of the tree. This Pallissado was full of dead mens sculls from one end to the other, the which was a wonderfull mournefull sight and full of horror. These were the heads of such as had beene sacrificed; for after they were dead, and had eaten the flesh, the head was delivered to the Ministers of the Temple, which tied them in this sort vntil they fell off by morcells; and then had they a care to set others in their places. Vpon the toppe of the temple were two stones or chappells, and in them were the two Idolls which I have spoken of, Vitziliputzli, and his companion Tlaloc. These Chappells were carved and graven very artificially, and so high, that to ascend vp to it, there was a staire of stone of sixscore steppes. Before these Chambers or Chappells, there was a Court of fortie foote square, in the midst thereof, was a high stone of five hand breadth, poynted in fashion of a Pyramide, it was placed there for the sacrificing of men; for being laid on their backes, it made their bodies to bend, and so they did open them and pull out their hearts, as I shall shew heereafter.”[VIII-3]Acosta, Hist. Nat. Ind., pp. 352-3, 361-3. Acosta gives a description of the wanderings of the Mexicans and how their god Vitziliputzli, directed and guided them therein, much as the God of Israel directed his people, across the wilderness to the Promised Land. Tradition also tells, how he himself revealed that manner of sacrifice most acceptable to his will:—some of the priests having overnight offended him, lo, in the morning, they were all dead men; their stomachs being cut open, and their hearts pulled out; which rites in sacrifice were thereupon adopted for the service of that deity, and retained until their rooting out by the stern Spanish husbandry, so well adapted to such foul and bloody tares. Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., pp. 1002-3.

Solis describes this temple also:—

The top of the truncated pyramid on which the idols of Huitzilopochtli and Tlaloc were placed was forty feet square, and reached by a stair of a hundred and twenty steps. On this platform, on either hand, at the head of the stairs, stood two sentinel-statues supporting great candlesticks of an extraordinary fashion. And first, from the jasper flags, rose a hump-backed altar of green stone. Opposite and beyond was the chapel wherein behind curtains sat Huitzilopochtli, on a throne supported by a blue globe. From this, supposed to represent the heavens, projected four staves with serpents’ heads, by which the priests carried the god when he was brought before the public. The image bore on its head a bird of wrought plumes whose beak and crest were of burnished gold. The feathers expressed horrid cruelty and were made still more ghastly by two stripes of blue one on the brow and the other on the nose. Its right hand leaned as on a staff upon a crooked serpent. Upon the left arm was a buckler bearing five white plumes, arranged in form of a cross; and the hand grasped four arrows venerated as heaven-descended. To the left of this was another chapel, that of Tlaloc. Now these two chapels and idols were the same in every particular. These gods were esteemed brothers—their attributes, qualities, powers, inclinations, service, prayers, and so on, were identical or interchangeable.[VIII-4]Solis, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. i., pp. 396-8. This writer says: ‘The Spanish soldiers called this idol Huchilobos, a corrupt pronunciation: so too Bernal Diaz del Castillo writes it. Authors differ much in describing this magnificent building. Antonio de Herrera follows Francisco Lopez de Gómara too closely. We shall follow Father Josef de Acosta and the better informed authors.’ Id., p. 395.

Huitzilopochtli and Camaxtli

Sahagun says of Huitzilopochtli, that, being originally a man, he was a sort of Hercules, of great strength and warlike, a great destroyer of towns and slayer of men. In war he had been a living fire, very terrible to his adversaries; and the devise he bore was a dragon’s head, frightful in the extreme, and casting fire out of its mouth. A great wizard he had been, and sorcerer, transforming himself into the shape of divers birds and beasts. While he lived, the Mexicans esteemed this man very highly for his strength and dexterity in war, and when he died they honored him as a god, offering slaves, and sacrificing them in his presence. And they looked to it that those slaves were well fed and well decorated with such ornaments as were in use, with ear-rings and visors; all for the greater honor of the god. In Tlaxcala also they had a deity, called Camaxtli, who was similar to this Huitzilopochtli.[VIII-5]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., p. i.

Gage, in a pretty fair translation of Herrera, describes this god with Tezcatlipoca. He says:—

“The gods of Mexico (as the Indians reported to the first Spaniards) were two thousand in number; the chiefest were Vitzilopuchtli, and Tezcatlipoca, whose images stood highest in the temple upon the altars. They were made of stone in full proportion as big as a giant. They were covered with a lawn called Nacar; they were beset with pearls, precious stones, and pieces of gold, wrought like birds, beasts, fishes, and flowers, adorned with emeralds, turquies, chalcedons, and other little fine stones, so that when the lawn was taken away, the images seemed very beautiful and glorious to behold. These two Indian idols had for a girdle great snakes of gold, and for collars or chains about their necks ten hearts of men made of gold; and each of them had a counterfeit visor with eyes of glass, and in their necks Death painted. These two gods were brethren, for Tezcatlipoca was the god of providence, and Vitzilopuchtli, god of the wars, who was worshiped and feared more than all the rest.”[VIII-6]Gage’s New Survey, pp. 116-7; Herrera, Hist. Gen., tom. i., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xvii.

Torquemada goes to some length into the legend and description of this god of war, Huitzilopochtli, or Mexitl:[VIII-7]’Pero los mismos Naturales afirman, que este Nombre tomaron de el Dios Principal, que ellos traxeron, el qual tenia dos Nombres, el uno Huitzilopuchtli, y el otro Mexitly, y este segundo, quiere decir Ombligo de Maguey.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 293.—

Huitzilopochtli, the ancient god and guide of the Mexicans, is a name variously derived. Some say it is composed of two words: huitzilin, ‘a humming-bird’, and tlahuipuchtli, ‘a sorcerer that spits fire.’ Others say that the second part of the name comes not from tlahuipuchtli, but from opuchtli, that is, ‘the left hand;’ so that the whole name, Huitzilopochtli, would mean ‘the shining-feathered left hand.’ For this idol was decorated with rich and resplendent feathers on the left arm. And this god it was that led out the Mexicans from their own land and brought them into Anáhuac.

Some held him to be a purely spiritual being, others affirmed that he had been born of a woman, and related his history after the following fashion: Near the city of Tulla there is a mountain called Coatepec, that is to say the Mountain of the Snake, where a woman lived, named Coatlicue, or Snake-petticoat. She was the mother of many sons called Centzunhuitznahua, and of a daughter whose name was Coyolxauhqui. Coatlicue was very devout and careful in the service of the gods, and she occupied herself ordinarily in sweeping and cleaning the sacred places of that mountain. It happened that one day, occupied with these duties, she saw a little ball of feathers floating down to her through the air, which she taking, as we have already related, found herself in a short time pregnant.[VIII-8]’Aconteciò, pues, vn dia, que estando barriendo, come acostumbraba, viò bajar por el Aire, una pelota pequeña, hecha de plumas, à manera de ovillo, hecho de hilado, que se le vino à los manos, la qual tomò, y metiò entre los Nahuas, ò Faldellin, y la carne, debajo de la faja que le ceñia el cuerpo (porque siempre traen fajado este genero de vestido) no imaginando ningun misterio, ni fin de aquel caso. Acabo de barrer, y buscò la pelota de pluma, para vèr de què podria aprovecharla en servicio de sus Dioses, y no la hallò. Quedò de esto admirada, y mucho mas de conocer en sì, que desde aquel punto se avia hecho preñada.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 41-2.

Dough Statue of Huitzilopochtli

Upon this all her children conspired against her to slay her, and came armed against her, the daughter Coyolxauhqui being the ringleader and most violent of all. Then, immediately, Huitzilopochtli was born, fully armed, having a shield called teuehueli in his left hand, in his right a dart, or long blue pole, and all his face barred over with lines of the same color. His forehead was decorated with a great tuft of green feathers, his left leg was lean and feathered, and both thighs and the arms barred with blue. He then caused to appear a serpent made of torches, teas, called xiuhcoatl; and he ordered a soldier named Tochaucalqui to light this serpent, and taking it with him, to embrace Coyolxauhqui. From this embrace the matricidal daughter immediately died, and Huitzilopochtli himself slew all her brethren and took their spoil, enriching his mother therewith. After this he was surnamed Tetzahuitl, that is to say, Fright, or Amazement, and held as a god, born of a mother, without a father—as the great god of battles, for in these his worshipers found him very favorable to them. Besides the ordinary image of this god, permanently set up in the great temple of Mexico, there was another, renewed every year, made of grains and seeds of various kinds. In one of the halls in the neighborhood of the temple the priests collected and ground up with great devotion a mass of seeds, of the amaranth and other plants, moistening the same with the blood of children, and making a dough thereof, which they shaped into a statue of the form and stature of a man. The priests carried this image to the temple and the altar, previously arranged for its reception, playing trumpets and other instruments, and making much noise and ado with dancing and singing at the head of the procession. All this during the night; in the morning the high-priest and the other priests blessed and consecrated the image, with such blessing and consecration as were in use among them. This done, and the people assembled, every person that could come at the image touched it wherever he could, as Christians touch a relic, and made offerings thereto, of jewels of gold and precious stones, each according to his means and devotion, sticking the said offerings into the soft fresh dough of which the idol was confected. After this ceremony no one was allowed to touch the image any more, nor to enter the place where it was, save only the high-priest. After that they brought out the image of the god Paynalton,[VIII-9]This Paynalton, or Paynal, was a kind of deputy-god, or substitute for Huitzilopochtli; used in cases of urgent haste and immediate emergency, where perhaps it might be thought there was not time for the lengthened ceremonies necessary to the invocation of the greater war deity. Sahagun’s account of Paynal is concise, and will throw light on the remarks of Torquemada, as given above in the text. Sahagun says, in effect: This god Paynal was a kind of sub-captain to Huitzilopochtli. The latter, as chief-captain, dictated the deliberate undertaking of war against any province; the former, as vicar to the other, served when it became unexpectedly necessary to take up arms and make front hurriedly against an enemy. Then it was that Paynal—whose name means ‘swift, or hurried,’—when living on earth set out in person to stir up the people to repulse the enemy. Upon his death he was deified and a festival appointed in his honor. In this festival, his image, richly decorated, was carried in a long procession, every one, bearer of the idol or not, running as fast as he could; all of which represented the promptness that is many times necessary to resist the assault of a foe attacking by surprise or ambuscade. Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., p. 2.—who is also a war god, being vicar or sub-captain of the said Huitzilopochtli—an image made of wood. It was carried in the arms of a priest who represented the god Quetzalcoatl, and who was decorated with ornaments rich and curious. Before this priest there marched another carrying [the image of] a great snake, large and thick, twisted and of many coils. The procession filed along at great length, and here and there at various temples and altars the priests offered up sacrifices, immolating human captives and quails. The first station, or stopping-place, was at the ward of Teotlachco. Thence the cortège passed to Tlatelulco (where I, Torquemada, am now writing this history); then to Popotlan; then to Chapultepec—nearly a league from, the city of Mexico; then to Tepetoca; then to Acachinanco; then back again to the temple whence it had set out; and then the image of Paynalton was put on the altar where stood that of Huitzilopochtli, being left there with the banner, called ezpaniztli, that had been carried before it during the march: only the great snake, mentioned above, was carried away and put in another place, to which it belonged. And at all these places where the procession appeared, it was received with incensings, sacrifices, and other ceremonies.

This procession finished, it having occupied the greater part of the day, all was prepared for a sacrifice. The king himself acted the part of priest; taking a censer, he put incense therein with certain ceremonies and incensed the image of the god. This done, they took down again the idol, Paynalton, and set out in march, those going in front that had to be sacrificed, together with all things pertaining to the fatal rite. Two or three times they made the circle of the temple, moving in horrid cortège, and then ascended to the top, where they slew the victims; beginning with the prisoners of war, and finishing with the fattened slaves, purchased for the occasion, rending out their hearts and casting the same at the feet of the idol.

Symbolic Death of Huitzilopochtli

All through this day the festivities and the rejoicings continued, and all the day and night the priests watched vigilantly the dough statue of Huitzilopochtli, so that no oversight or carelessness should interfere with the veneration and service due thereto. Early next day they took down said statue and set it on its feet in a hall. Into this hall there entered the priest, called after Quetzalcoatl, who had carried the image of Paynalton in his arms in the procession, as before related; there entered also the king, with one of the most intimate servants, called Tehua, of the god Huitzilopochtli, four other great priests, and four of the principal youths, called Telpochtlatoque, out of the number of those that had charge of the other youths of the temple. These mentioned, and these alone, being assembled, the priest named after Quetzalcoatl took a dart tipped with flint and hurled it into the breast of the statue of dough, which fell on receiving the stroke. This ceremony was styled, ‘killing the god Huitzilopochtli so that his body might be eaten.’ Upon this the priests advanced to the fallen image and one of them pulled the heart out of it, and gave the same to the king. The other priests cut the pasty body into two halves. One half was given to the people of Tlatelulco, who parted it out in crumbs among all their wards, and specially to the young soldiers—no woman being allowed to taste a morsel. The other half was allotted to the people of that part of Mexico called Tenochtlitlan; it was divided among the four wards, Teopan, Atzaqualco, Quepopan, and Moyotlan; and given to the men, to both small and great, even to the men-children in the cradle. All this ceremony was called teoqualo, that is to say, ‘god is eaten,’ and this making of the dough statue and eating of it was renewed once every year.[VIII-10]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 293, tom. ii., pp. 41-3, 71-3.

Closely as J. G. Müller studied the character of Quetzalcoatl, his examination of that of Huitzilopochtli, has been still more minute and was indeed the subject of a monograph published by him in 1847. A student of the subject cannot afford to overlook this study, and I translate the more important parts of it in the paragraphs which follow; not, indeed, either for or against the interests of the theory it supports, but for the sake of the accurate and detailed handling, rehandling, and grouping there, by a master in this department of mythological learning, of almost all the data relating to the matter in hand:—

Huitzilopochtli has been already referred to as an original god of the air and of heaven. He agrees also with Quetzalcoatl in a second capital point, in having become the anthropomorphic national god of the Aztecs, as Quetzalcoatl of the Toltecs. On their marches and in their wars, in the establishment of codes and towns, in happiness as well as in misfortune, the Aztecs were guided by his oracle, by the spirit of his being. As the Toltecs, especially in their later national character, differ from the Aztecs, so differ their two chief national gods. If the capital of the Toltecs, Cholula, resembled modern Rome in its religious efforts, so the god enthroned there was transformed into the human form of a high-priest, in whom this people saw his human ideal. In the same manner one might be led to compare the capital of the Aztecs with ancient Rome, on account of its warlike spirit, and therefore it was right to make the national god of the Aztecs a war god like the Roman Mars.

The Name Huitzilopochtli

We will commence with the name of the god, which, according to Sahagun, Acosta, Torquemada, and most of the writers, signifies ‘on the left side a humming-bird;’ from huitzilin, ‘a humming-bird,’ and opochtli, ‘left.’ In connecting the Aztec words, the ending is cut off. The image of the god had in reality, frequently, the feathers of the humming-bird on the left foot. The connection of this bird with the god is, in many ways, appropriate. It no doubt appeared to them as the most beautiful of birds, and as the most worthy representant of their chief deity. Does not its crest glitter like a crown set with rubies and all kinds of precious stones? The Aztecs have accordingly, in their way, called the humming-bird, ‘sun-beam,’ ‘or sun-hair;’ as its alighting upon flowers, is like that of a sun-beam. The chief god of the Caribs, Juluca, is also decorated with a band of its feathers round the forehead. The ancient Mexicans had, as their most noble adornment, state-mantles of the same feathers, so much praised by Cortés; and even at the present time the Aztec women adorn their ears with these plumes. This humming-bird decoration on the left foot of the god was not the only one; he had also a green bunch of plumage upon his head, shaped like the bill of a small bird. The shield in his left hand was decorated with white feathers, and the whole image was at times covered with a mantle of feathers. To the general virtues which make comprehensible the humming-bird attribute as a divine one, must be added the special virtue of bravery peculiar to this bird, which is specially suited to the war god. The English traveler Bullock tells how this bird distinguishes itself for its extraordinary courage, attacking others ten times its own size, flying into their eyes, and using its sharp bill as a most dangerous weapon. Nothing more daring can be witnessed than its attack upon other birds of its own species, when it fears disturbance during the breeding-season. The effects of jealousy transform these birds into perfect furies, the throat swells, the crest on their head, the tail, and the wings are expanded; they fight whistling in the air, until one of them falls exhausted to the ground. That such a martial spirit should exist in so small a creature shows the intensity of this spirit; and the religious feeling is the sooner aroused, when the instrument of a divine power appears in so trifling and weak a body. The small but brave and warlike woodpecker stood in a similar relation to Mars, and is accordingly termed picus martius.

This, the most common explanation of the name Huitzilopochtli, as ‘humming-bird, left side’ is not followed by Veytia, with whom Prichard agrees. He declares the meaning of the name to be ‘left hand,’ from huitzitoc, ‘hand,’ because Huitzilopochtli, according to the fable, after his death, sits on the left side of the god Tezcatlipoca, Now, Huitzilopochtli is in another place considered as the brother of this god; he also stands higher, and can therefore scarcely have obtained his name from his position with respect to the other deity. Besides, hand in Aztec is properly translated as maitl, or toma.

Over and above this attribute which gives the god his name, there are others which point towards the conception of a war god. Huitzilopochtli had, like Mars and Odin, the spear, or a bow, in his right hand, and in the left, sometimes a bundle of arrows, sometimes a round white shield, on the side of which were the four arrows sent him from heaven wherewith to perform the heroic deeds of his people. On these weapons depended the welfare of the state, just as on the ancile of the Roman Mars, which had fallen from the sky, or on the palladium of the warlike Pallas Athena.

By-names also point out Huitzilopochtli as war god; for he is called the terrible god, Tetzateotl, or the raging, Tetzahuitl. These names he received at his birth, when he, just issued from his mother’s womb, overthrew his adversaries.

Kindred of Huitzilopochtli

Not less do his connections indicate his warlike nature. His youngest brother, Tlacahuepancuextotzin, was also a war god, whose statue existed in Mexico, and who received homage, especially in Tezcuco. In still closer relationship to him stands his brother-in-arms, or, as Bernal Diaz calls him, his page, Paynalton, that is, ‘the fleet one;’ he was the god of the sudden war alarm, tumultus or general levée en masse; his call obliged all capable of bearing arms to rush to the defence. He is otherwise considered as the representant of Huitzilopochtli and subordinate to him, for he was only a small image, as Diaz says, and as the ending tondenotes. The statue of this little war-crier was always placed upon the altar of Huitzilopochtli, and sometimes carried round at his feast.

Other symbolic attributes establish Huitzilopochtli as the general national god of this warlike people, and symbolized his personal presence. On the march from the ancient home, the priests took their turn, in fours, to carry his wooden image, with the little flag fallen from heaven, and the four arrows. The litter, upon which the image was carried, was called the ‘chair of god,’ teoicpalli, and was a holy box, such as was used among the Etruscans and Egyptians, the Greeks and the Romans, in Ilium, among the Japanese, among the Mongols. In America, the Cherokees are also found with such an ark. The ark of the covenant carried by the Levites through the desert and in battle, was of a similar kind. Wherever the Aztecs halted for some time during their wanderings, they erected an altar or a sacrifice mound to their god, upon which they placed this god’s-litter with the image; which ancient observance they kept up, in later times, in their temples. By its side they erected a movable tent, tabernaculum, (Stiftshütte), in the open country, as is customary among nomadic people, such as the Mongols. The god, however, gave them the codes and usages of a cultured people, and received offerings of prisoners, hawks, and quails.

As the head of a sparrow on a human body points to the former worship of Quetzalcoatl under the form of a sparrow, so the humming-bird attribute on the image and in the name of Huitzilopochtli, points him out as an original animal god. The general mythological rule, that such animal attributes refer to an ancient worship of the god in question under the form of an animal, points this out in his case, and the special myth of Huitziton assists here in the investigation of the foundation of this original nature.

When the Aztecs still lived in Aztlan, a certain Huitziton enjoyed their highest esteem, as the fable tells. This Huitziton heard the voice of a bird, which cried “tihui,” that is ‘let us go.'[VIII-11]See this vol., p. 69, note. He thereupon asked the people to leave their home, which they accordingly did. When we consider the name Huitziton, the nature of the story, and the mythical time to which it refers, no doubt remains as to who this Huitziton is supposed to be. It is evident that he is none other than the little bird itself, which, in our later form of the myth, as an anthropomorphic fable, is separated from him; separated euhemeristically, just as the Latin Picus was separated from his woodpecker. This Picus, whose songs and flight were portentous, was represented as a youth with a woodpecker on his head, of which he made use for his seer-art; but was originally, as denoted by his name, nothing else than a woodpecker, which was adored on the wooden pillar from which it sent its sayings. This woodpecker placed itself upon the vexillum of the Sabines, and guided them to the region which has been named Picenum after it. As this bird guided its people to their new abode, like Huitziton, so many other animal gods have lead those who, in ancient times, sought new homes. Thus a crow conducted Battus to Cyrene; a dove led the Chalcidians to Cyrene; Apollo, in the form of a dolphin, took the Cretans to Pytho; Antinous founded a new settlement, to which a snake had pointed the way; a bull carried Cadmus to Thebes; a wolf led the Hirpinians. The original stock of the South American people, the Mbayas, received the divine order, through the bird Caracara, to roam as enemies in the territories of other people instead of settling down in a fixed habitation—this is an anti-culture myth. As the founding of towns favors the birth of myths like the preceding, so also does the founding of convents, the sites of which, according to the numerous fables of the Christian mediæval age, were pointed out by animals—one of the remnants of old heathenism then existing in the popular fancy. To resume the subject, Huitziton is, therefore, the humming-bird god, who, as oracular god, commanded the Aztecs to emigrate. His name signifies nothing else than ‘small humming-bird,’ the ending ton being a diminutive syllable, as in Paynalton. Thus the humming-bird was the bearer, at the time of the great flood, of the divine message of joy to the Tezpi of the Michoacans, a people related to the Aztecs. It had been let loose as the water receded, and soon returned with a small twig to the ark.[VIII-12]See this vol. p. 67. On the Catherine Islands [islands of Santa Catalina],[VIII-13]See this vol. p. 134. in California, crows were adored as interpreters of the divine will. From the above it is also self-evident that Huitziton and Huitzilopochtli were one, which is the conclusion arrived at by the learned researcher of Mexican languages and traditions, the Italian Boturini. The name, myth, and attributes of Huitzilopochtli point then to the humming-bird. Previous to the transformation of this god, by anthropomorphism, he was merely a small humming-bird, huitziton; by anthropomorphism, the bird became, however, merely the attribute, emblem or symbol, and name of the god—a name which changed with his form into ‘humming-bird on the left,’ or Huitzilopochtli.

The identity of the two, in spite of the different explanations of the name, is accepted by Veytia, who gives Huitzitoc as the name of the chief who led the Aztec armies during their last wanderings from Chicomoztoc, or the Seven Caves, into Anáhuac. Under his leadership the Aztecs were everywhere victorious, and for this reason he was placed, after his death, on the left side of the god Tezcatlipoca; since which time he was called Huitzilopochtli.

Huitziton and Paynalton

The identity of Huitziton and Huitzilopochtli, is also shown by other facts besides the name, the attribute, and the mythological analogy: the same important acts are ascribed to both. We have seen that Huitziton commanded the Aztecs to leave their home; according to another account of Acosta, this was done on the persuasion of Huitzilopochtli. If other Spanish authors state that this was done by instigation of the devil, they mean none other than Huitzilopochtli, using a mode of speech which had become an established one. This name became a common title of the devil in Germany, under the form of Vizliputzli, soon after the conquest of Mexico, as may be seen in the old popular drama of Faust. The fable further relates of Huitziton that he taught the Aztecs to produce fire by friction, during their wanderings. The gift of fire is usually ascribed to a culture-god. Huitzilopochtli was such a deity; he introduced dress, laws, and ceremonies among his people. The statement that Huitziton had at some time, given fire to the people, has no historical meaning; there is no people without fire, and a formerly told myth mentions that man made fire even before the existence of the present sun. The signification of the fable is a religious one, it is a myth in which the Aztecs ascribe the origin of all human culture to Huitziton their culture-god, afterward Huitzilopochtli.

Sacrifice Myths

This god wore also a band of human hearts and faces of gold and silver; while various bones of dead men, as well as a man torn in pieces, were depicted on his dress. These attributes like those of the Indian Schiwa and Kali, clearly point him out as the god to whom human sacrifices were made. It was extensively believed among the nations composing the Mexican Empire that human sacrifices had been introduced by the Aztecs within the last two centuries. Before that time only bloodless offerings had been made. A myth places the commencement of human sacrifices in the fourteenth century, in which the three first successive cases thereof are said to have occurred.

The Colhuas, the ruling nation at that time in the valley of Anáhuac, are said to have fought a battle with their enemies of Xochimilco, which was decided in favor of the Colhuas, owing to the impetuous attack made by the tributary Aztecs in their aid. While the Colhuas were presenting a large number of prisoners before their king, the Aztecs had only secured four, whom they kept secreted, but exhibited, in token of their bravery, a number of ears that they had cut from their slain enemies, boasting that the victory would have been much delayed had they lost time in making prisoners. Proud of their triumph, they erected an altar to Huitzilopochtli, in Huitzilopochco, and made known to their lord, the king of the Colhuas, that they desired to offer this god a costly and worthy sacrifice. The king sent them, by the hands of priests, a dead bird, which the messengers laid irreverently upon the altar, and departed. The Aztecs swallowed their chagrin, and set a fragrant herb with a knife of iztli beside the bird. As the king with his suite arrived at the festival, more for the sake of mocking the proceedings than to grace them, the four prisoners taken from the Xochimilcos were brought out, placed upon the stone of sacrifice, their breasts cut open with the iztli, and the palpitating heart torn out. This sacrifice brought consternation upon the Colhuas, they discharged the Aztecs from their service and drove them away. The Aztecs wandered for some time about the country, and then, at the command of their god, founded the town of Tenochtitlan, or Mexico, on a site where they had found a nopal (Opuntie) growing upon a rock.

At the second sacrifice a Colhua was the victim. An Aztec was hunting, on the shore of the lake, for an animal to offer his patron deity, when he met a Colhua called Xomimitl; he attacks him furiously, bears him down, and the defeated man is made to bleed upon the sacrifice stone.

Both myths are aitiological, and explained by the sacrifice system (Opferkultus). This is shown in the case of the four prisoners, of whom we shall learn more in the third story. The second story personifies the Aztec and the Colhua peoples in the two men, the second nation supplying the first with human sacrifices. With the sacrifice of Xomimitl, the parallelism of which to the four Xochimilcos cannot be overlooked by any one, the first temple of Huitzilopochtli, in Tenochtitlan, was inaugurated.

The third sacrifice shows still more closely the religious basis (Kultusgrundlage) of the myth. Here also, as in the former, we have to do with a Colhua. The Aztecs offered the Colhua king to show divine honors to his daughter and to apotheosize her into the mother of their national god, declaring that such was the will of the deity. The king, rejoicing at the honor intended for his daughter, let her go, and she was brought to Tenochtitlan with great pomp. No sooner, however, had she arrived than she was sacrificed, flayed, and one of the bravest youths dressed in her skin. The king was invited to the solemn act of the deification of his daughter, and only became aware of her death when the flame from the copal gum revealed to him the bloody skin about the youth placed at the side of the god. The daughter was, however, at once formally declared mother of Huitzilopochtli and of all the gods.

Teteionan

This aitiological cultus-myth is easily explained. The name of the daughter is Teteionan, whom we have learned to know as the gods’-mother, and as Tocitzin, ‘our grandmother.'[VIII-14]If some of the names and myths, mentioned or alluded to from time to time, by Müller and others, are yet unknown to the reader, he will remember the impossibility of any arrangement of these mixed and far-involved legends by which, without infinite verbiage, this trouble could be wholly obviated. In good time, and with what clearness is possible, the list of gods and legends will be made as nearly as may be complete. She was never the daughter of a human king, but has been transformed into one by euhemerism, somewhat as Iphigenia is to be considered as originally Artemis. The goddess Teteionan had her special festival in Mexico, when a woman, dressed as goddess, was sacrificed; while held on the back of another woman, her head was cut off, then she was flayed, and the skin carried by a youth, accompanied by a numerous retinue, as a present to Huitzilopochtli. Four prisoners of war were, moreover, previously sacrificed.

Similar to this story, told by Clavigero, is another, narrated by Acosta. According to the latter, Tozi was the daughter of the king of Culhuacan, and was made the first human sacrifice by order of Huitzilopochtli, who desired her for a sister. Tozi is, however, none other than Tocitzin, and is also shown to be ‘our grandmother.’ According to the Aztec version, the custom of dressing priests in the skin of sacrificed beings dates from her—such representations are often seen, especially in Humboldt; the Bâsle collection of Mexican antiquities possesses also the stone image of a priest dressed in a human skin. The fourth month, Tlacaxipehualitzli, this is, ‘to flay a man,’ derived its name from this custom, which is said to have been most frequent at this period of the year.

Goddesses, or beings representing goddesses, are sacrificed in both of these fables. We have met with human sacrifices among the Muyscas in Central America, and in connection with many deities of the Mexicans, in which the human victim represents the god to whom he is to be sacrificed. Slaves impersonating gods were also sacrificed among the northern Indians, the so-called Indios bravos. The person sacrificed is devoured by the god, is given over to him, is already part of him, is the god himself. Such was the case with the slave that personated Quetzalcoatl in the merchants’ festival in Cholula.

The critic is only able to admit the relative truth of the recentness of the period in which the origin of Mexican human sacrifices is placed by these three myths. We already know that human sacrifices are very ancient in all America, and that they have only been put aside at a few places by humane efforts; as in Peru to some extent by means of the Incas. We have met with them throughout all South America.

The statement so generally made that the Toltec Quetzalcoatl preached against human sacrifices, certainly implies the previous existence of such sacrifices. This statement about Quetzalcoatl also points out the way to the assimilation of the varying accounts, fables, and myths. In very ancient times human sacrifices predominated everywhere. The Toltecs, like the Incas, endeavored more or less to abolish them, and, even if not altogether successful, they reduced them considerably. The Aztecs reintroduced them. In the East Indies, these sacrifices date back to the era before the flood, and the Greeks there met with remains of anthropophagy, the basis thereof.

Brahmanism sought to exterminate these ancient sacrifices, and the Vedas forbid them, a prohibition which, in connection with the custom of pretending to sacrifice human beings, gives evidence of a former use of actual sacrifices. The later sect of Shiwaits again introduced them.

However ancient the national political phase of Huitzilopochtli may be, the nature phase is still older. This god, too, has a nature-basis which not only explains his being, but throws light upon his further unfolding as a national or war god. All searchers who do not begin with this basis, see nothing but inexplicable riddles and contradictions before them.

Two Mothers of Huitzilopochtli

This nature-basis is first seen in the myth about his birth. In the neighborhood of Tulla there was a place called Coatepec, where lived a god-fearing woman, called Coatlicue. One day, as she was going to the temple, according to her custom, a gaily colored ball of feathers fell down from heaven; she picked it up, and hid it in her bosom, intending to decorate the altar therewith. As she was on the point of producing it for this purpose, it could not be found. A few days afterward she was aware of being pregnant. Her children, the Centzunhuitznahuas, also noticed this, and, in order to avoid their own disgrace, they determined to kill her before she was delivered. Her sorrow was however, miraculously consoled by a voice that made itself heard from within her womb, saying: Fear not, O mother, I will save thee to thy great honor, and to my great fame! The brothers, urged on by their sister, were on the point of killing her, when, behold, even as the armed Athena sprang from her father’s head, Huitzilopochtli was born; the shield in his left hand, the spear in his right, the green plumage on his head, and humming-bird feathers on his left leg; his face, arms, and legs being, moreover, striped with blue. At once he slew his opponents, plundered their dwellings, and brought the spoils to his mother. From this he was called Terror and the Frightful God.

If we dissect this myth, we notice that another mother appears than the one formerly sacrificed in his honor, Teteionan. Two mothers present nothing remarkable in mythology, I have only to mention Aphrodite and Athena, who according to different accounts, had different fathers. So long as the formation of myths goes on, founded upon fresh conceptions of nature, somewhat different ideas (for wholly different, even here, the two mothers are not) from distinct points of view, are always possible. It is the anthropomorphism of the age that fixes on the one-sided conclusion. Teteionan is Huitzilopochtli’s mother, because she is the mother of all the gods. The mother, in this instance, is the Flora of the Aztecs, euhemerized into a god-fearing woman, Coatlicue, or Coatlantana, of whose worship in Coatepec and Mexico we have already spoken.

The second point prominent in the myth, is the close connection of Huitzilopochtli with the botanical kingdom. The humming-bird is the messenger of spring, sent by the south to the north, by the hot to the temperate region. It is the means of fructifying the flowers, its movements causing the transfer of the pollen from the stamens to the germ-shells. It sticks its long, thin little bill deep into the flower, and rummaging beneath the stamens, drinks the nectar of the flower, while promoting the act of plant-reproduction. In the Latin myth also, Mars stands in close connection with Flora: Juno gives him birth with Flora’s aid, without the assistance of Jupiter. In our mythology of the north, Thor is on a friendly footing with Nanna, the northern Flora. We are already acquainted also with a fable of the Pimas, according to which the goddess of maize became pregnant by a raindrop, and bore the forefather of the people, he who built the great houses.

Sisters of Huitzilopochtli

The question, why Huitzilopochtli should be the son of the goddess of plants, and what his real connection with the botanical kingdom consists in, is solved by examining his worship at the three ancient yearly feasts, which take place exactly at those periods of the year that are the most influential for the Mexican climate, the middle of May, the middle of August, and the end of December. As a rule, in the first half of May the rain begins. Previous to this, the greatest drought and torpidness reign; the plants appear feeble and drooping; nature is bare, the earth gray with dry, withered grass. After a few days of rain, however, the trees appear in a fresh green, the ground is covered with new herbs, all nature is reanimated. Trees, bushes, plants, develop their blossoms; a vapory fragrance rises over all. The fruit shoots from the cultivated field, the juicy, bright green of the maize refreshes the eye. Mühlenpfordt, who stayed a long time in these regions, gives this description of the season. Völker’s statement that rain and water stand as fructifying principles in the first rank in ancient physics, and that they meet us in innumerable myths, holds doubly good for the tropics. It requires little imagination to understand what a powerful impression transformed nature, with all its beauty and blessings, must produce in the soul of the child of nature. It is on this account that the ancient Tlaloc came to enjoy so high a regard among the Aztecs, nor has Quetzalcoatl disdained to adorn his mantle with the crosses of a rain-god. And so Huitzilopochtli’s first feast of the year, the festival of the arrival of the god, of the offering of incense, stands at the beginning of the season of the reinvigorating of nature by the rain. The pagan Germans used to say that Nerthus, Freya, Hulda, Bertha, Frieg, and other divinities, entered the country at this period. The Aztecs prepared especially for this feast an image of their chief god, made of edible plants and honey, of the same size as the wooden image; and the youths sang the deeds of their god before it, and hymns praying for rain and fertility. Offering of multitudes of quails, incense-burning, and the significant dance of priests and virgins, followed. The virgins, who on this day were called sisters of Huitzilopochtli, wore garlands of dry maize-leaves on their heads, and carried split reeds in their hands; by this representing the dry season. The priests, on the contrary, represented the quickened nature, having their lips smeared with honey.

Now although, according to Max von Wied, there were no bees in America before the arrival of the Europeans, the bees are here represented by humming-birds, also called honey or bee birds, which, hovering and humming like bees, gather their food from the tube-shaped flowers. This food consists of a small insect that lives on honey, and they feed their young by letting them suck at the tongue covered with this honey. The priests bore, further, another symbol of spring: each one held a staff in his hand, on which a flower of feathers was fixed, having another bunch of feathers fixed over it; thus too, Freya’s hawk-plumage denoted the advent of the fine season. A prisoner had been selected a year in advance as a victim, and was called ‘wise lord of the heaven,’ for he personated the god, and had the privilege of choosing the hour of the sacrifice; he did not die, like the other prisoners, on the sacrifice stone, but on the shoulders of the priests. The little children were consecrated to the god of their country, at this festival, by a small incision on the breast.

So also Mars appears as god of spring, he to whom the grass and the sacred spring time of the birth of animals (ver sacrum) were dedicated, whose chief festival and whose month are placed at the commencement of spring, at which time the Salii also sang their old religious songs, and a man personated the god. The Tyrian festival of the awaking of Hercules fell also in spring, for the same reason. Thus, in the myth of the birth of Huitzilopochtli, and in his first festival, spring, or the energy that produces spring, is made the basis of his being. His warlike attributes are appendages of the anthropomorphized national and war god.

The second great festival of the deity takes place in the middle of August. The rains which have lasted and refreshed up to this time, become intermittent, and the fine season approaches, during which the azure sky of the tropics pours its splendor and its beneficial warmth upon men, animals, and plants, scattered over a plain situated 8500 feet above the level of the sea. This is the twelfth month there, the month of ripe fruits. The idols in all temples and dwellings are decorated with flowers. It is now no longer the rain which is the blessing, but the blue sky which cherishes the variegated flower-world. For this reason the image of Huitzilopochtli was blue, his head was wound round with an azure ribbon, in his right hand he held an azure staff or club, and he sat on an azure stool, which, according to ancient accounts, represents heaven as his dwelling-place. His arms and legs had also blue stripes, and costly blue stones hung round his neck. The Egyptian god of fertility, Khem, was also represented in blue.

Death of Vegetation

The third festival of Huitzilopochtli takes place during the winter solstice, a period which plays a great rôle in all worships and myths. The best-known festival of this kind is the one held on the 25th of December throughout the Roman Empire, to celebrate the birth of Mithras, the invincible sun. The Chipewas in North America call December the month of the small spirit, and January that of the great spirit. The Mexican festival of this month represented the character of the entering season, and the new state of nature. The cold sets in, the mountains are covered with snow, the ground dries up, the plants search in vain for their nourishment, many trees lose their foliage—in a word, nature seems dead. And so it happened with their god. The priests prepared his image of various seeds kneaded with the blood of sacrificed children. Numerous religious purifyings and penances, washings with water, blood-lettings, fasts, processions, burning of incense, sacrifices of quails and human beings, inaugurated the festival. One of Quetzalcoatl’s priests then shot an arrow at this image of Huitzilopochtli, which penetrated the god who was now considered as dead. His heart was cut out, as with human victims, and eaten by the king, the representative of the god on earth. The body, however, was divided among the various quarters of the city, so that every man received a piece. This was called teoqualo ‘the god who is eaten.’

The meaning of the death of this god is, on the whole, evident; it corresponds with the death of vegetation; and a comparison of the myth of his birth, with the two other feasts of Huitzilopochtli, leads to the same conclusion. This third feast is, therefore, at the same time, a festival in honor of the brother of this god, Tezcatlipoca, the god of the under-world, of death, of drought, and of hunger, whose rule commences where that of his brother ends. The myth gives a similar form and sense to the death of Osiris, who is killed by Typhon, and the death of Dionysos and Hercules in the Phœnician colonies. Adonis lives with Aphrodite during one half of the year, and with Persephone the other half; the Indian Krishna leaves for the under-world; thus, too, Brahma and the Celtic sun-god, Hu, died yearly, and were yearly born again. The festival of the self-burning of the Tyrian Heracles is also of this kind; it takes place at the time of the dying off of vegetation, even if this should be in the summer.

As regards the custom of eating the god, this also occurs at another feast which is celebrated during this season, in honor of the gods of the mountains and the water. Small idols of seeds and dough were then prepared, their breasts were opened like those of human victims, the heart was cut out, and the body distributed for eating. The time at which this occurs, shows that it stands in necessary connection with the death of the god. When the god dies it must be as a sacrifice in the fashion of his religion, and when the anthropomorphized god dies, it is as a human sacrifice amid all the necessary usages pertaining thereto: he is killed by priests, the heart is torn out, and his body eaten at the sacrifice meal, just as was done with every human sacrifice. Could it be meant that the god, in being eaten, is imparted to, or incorporated with, the person eating him? This is no doubt so, though not in the abstract, metaphysical, Christian or moral sense, but only with regard to his nature-sense, (seiner Naturseite), which is the real essence of the god. He gives his body, in seed, to be eaten by his people, just as nature, dying at the approach of the winter, at this very period, has stored up an abundance of its gifts for the sustenance of man. It gives man its life-fruit, or its fruit of life as a host or holy wafer. As a rule, the god, during the time of sacrifice, regales with the offering those bringing sacrifices; and, the eating of the flesh of the slave, who so often represents the god to whom he is sacrificed, is the same as eating the god. We have heard of the custom among some nations of eating the ashes of their forefathers, to whom they give divine honors, in order to become possessors of their virtues. The Arkansas nation, west of the Mississippi, which worshiped the dog, used to eat dog-flesh at one of its feasts. Many other peoples solemnly slaughter animals, consume their flesh, and moreover pay divine honors to the remains of these animals. Here the eating of the god, in seeds, is made clear—this custom also existed among the Greeks. The division of the year-god by the ancients, in myth and religious system, has, for the rest, no other sense than has this distribution of the body of Huitzilopochtli. This is done with the sun-bull at the festival of the Persian Mithras, as at the feast, and in the myth of the Dionysos-Zagreus, of Osiris and Attys.

Yearly Life of the Plant-World

The three yearly festivals, as well as the myth of his birth, all tend to show the positive connection of Huitzilopochtli with the yearly life of the plant-world. The first festival is the arrival of the god, as the plant-world is ushered in, with its hymns praying for rain, its virgins representing the sisters of the god and the inimical drought, in the same sense as the brothers and sister, especially the latter, are his enemies in the myth of his birth, and, as Tezcatlipoca, the god of drought is his brother. Brothers and sisters not seldom represent parallel contrasts in mythology and worship. The second celebration presents the god as the botanical kingdom in its splendor, for which reason the Mexicans call the humming-bird the sunbeam, from the form assumed by the god at this time. The humming-bird, moreover, takes also his winter sleep, and thus the god dies in winter with the plants. The Greenlanders asked the younger Egede if the god of heaven and earth ever died, and, when answered in the negative, they were much surprised, and said that he must surely be a great god. This intimate connection with the plant-world is also shown in the birth-myth of Huitzilopochtli, who here appears as the son of the goddess of plants. It now becomes easier to answer the question of Wuttke: has the fable of this birth reference merely to the making a man out of a god already existing, or to the actual birth of the god? The Aztecs, it is true, were undecided on this point, some conceding to him a human existence on earth, others investing him with a consciousness of his nature being. We, however, answer this question simply, from the preceding: the birth of the god is annual, and the myth has therefrom invented one birth, said to have taken place at some period, while the anthropomorphism fables very prettily the transformation into a man. Of the former existence of a born god, the myth knows nothing, for it is only afterward that it raises the god into heaven. It has not, however, come to euhemerism in the case of Huitzilopochtli, though it has with Huitziton. In placing the god in the position of son to the plant-goddess, the myth separates his being from that of the mother, consequently, Huitzilopochtli is not the plant-world himself, however closely he may be related to it. This is made clearer by following up the birth-myth, which makes him out to be not only the son of Coatlicue, but also of the force causing her fructification. The variegated ball of feathers which fell from heaven, is none other than Huitzilopochtli himself, the little humming-bird, which is the means of fructifying the plants, and the virile, fructifying nature-force manifested by and issuing from him in the spring. He is also born with the feather-tuft, and this symbol of the fine season never leaves him in any of his forms, it remains his attribute.

The Tapuas in South America have, after a similar symbolism, the custom, at their yearly seed-sowing festivals, of letting some one hang a bunch of ostrich-feathers on his back, the feathers being spread over like a wheel. This feather-bunch is their symbol of the fructifying power which comes from heaven. Their belief that bread falls from heaven into this tuft of feathers is thus made clear. In this myth we find the natural basis of such a birth-myth. In our northern mythology, Neekris, the ball, is, in the same manner, the father of Nanna, the northern Flora. That this virile power of heaven is made to appear as a ball of feathers, suits the humming-bird god. The Esths also imagined their god of thunder, as the god of warmth, in the form of a bird. In the same sense, doves were consecrated to Zeus, in Dodona and Arcadia, and a flying bird is a symbol of heaven among the Chinese. This force may, however, be symbolized in another form, and give rise to a birth-myth of exactly the same kind. Thus, the daughter of the god Sangarius, in the Phrygian myth, hid in her bosom the fruit of an almond-tree, which had grown out of the seed of the child of the earth, Agdistis: the fruit disappeared, the daughter became pregnant and bore the beautiful boy Attes. According to Arnobius, it was the fruit of a pomegranate-tree, which fructified Nanna. Among the Chinese, a nymph, called Puzza, the nourisher of all living things, became pregnant by eating a lotus-flower, and gave birth to a great law-giver and conqueror. Danaë, again, becomes pregnant from the golden shower of Zeus—an easily understood symbolism. It is always the virile nature-power, either as seen in the sun, or in the azure sky (for which reason Huitzilopochtli is called the lord of the heaven, Ochibus or Huchilobos), which puts the variegated seed into the womb of the plant-world, ‘at the same time bringing himself forth again, and making himself manifest in the plant-world.’ This heavenly life-force no sooner finds an earthly mother-womb than its triumph is assured, even before birth, while developing its bud; just as the inner voice, in the myth, consoled the mother, and protected her against all her enemies. It is only after his birth that the myth holds Huitzilopochtli as a personal anthropomorphic god.

The Virile Nature-Power

This is the natural signification of Huitzilopochtli, which we have accepted as the basis of all other developments of the god, and for this universal reason, namely, that the most ancient heathen gods are nature-gods, mythologic rules being followed, and that the pagan religion is essentially a nature-worship as well as a polytheism. The special investigation and following up of the various virtues have led to the same result. But, as this view has not yet been generally accepted in regard to this god, a few words concerning the union of the anthropomorphic national aspect of Huitzilopochtli, with his natural one may be added. It has been thought necessary to make the martial phase of Huitzilopochtli the basis of the others, as with Mars. War is, from this point of view, a child of spring, because weapons are then resumed after the long winter armistice. This is not at all the case with Huitzilopochtli, because the rainy season, setting in in spring, when the arrival and birth of the god are celebrated, renders the soft roads of Mexico unsuitable for war expeditions. Wars were originally children of autumn, at which time the ripe fruits were objects of robbery. But the idea of a war and national god is easily connected with the basis of a fructifying god of heaven. This chief nature-god may either be god of heaven, as Huitzilopochtli, as the rain-giving Zeus is made the national god by Homer, to whom human sacrifices were brought in Arcadia down to a late period, or he may be a sun-god, like Baal, to whom prayers for rain were addressed in Phœnicia, to further the growth of the fruit, and who also received human sacrifices. The Celtic Hu is also an ethereal war god, properly sun-god, who received human sacrifices in honor of the victory of spring; none the less is Odin’s connection with war, battle, and war horrors; he is a fire-god, like Moloch and Shiva, to whom human sacrifices were made for fear of famine and failure of crops. The apparent basis of such a god has not to be considered so much as the point that the people ascribed to him the chief government of the course of the year. In such a case, the chief ruler also becomes the national god, the life of the nation depending immediately on the yearly course of nature. Is the nation warlike, then, the national god naturally becomes a war god as well. As anthropomorphism connects itself with the nature-god only at a later period, so does his worship as war god and national god. In the case of Mars, as well as of Picus and Faunus, the same succession is followed. Mars, for example, is called upon in a prayer which has been preserved by Cato, to protect shepherds and flocks, and to avert bad weather and misgrowth; Virgil refers to him as a god of plants. In the song of the Arvalian brothers, he is called upon as the protector of the flowers. Thus, in his case also, the nature side is the basis. The Chinese symbolism of the union of the two sides or phases, is expressed in such a manner as to make spears and weapons representations of the germs of plants. This union has already been illustrated among the Aztecs, in the humming-bird, the sunbeam which plays round the flowers, in whose little body the intensest war spirit burns. Among the Egyptians, the beetle was placed upon the ring of the warrior, with whom it signified world and production.

Snake Symbolism

It remains to speak of another attribute of Huitzilopochtli, the snake attribute. Huitzilopochtli is also a snake-god. We have already, when treating of the snake-worship of the Mayas, referred to the numerous snakes with which this god is connected by myth and image, and how this attribute was added to the original humming-bird attribute, in Coatepec, where the snake-goddess Coatlicue gave him birth. If the snake signifies, in one case, time, in another, world, and in another instance, water, or the yearly rejuvenation of germs and blossoms, the eternal circle of nature, domination, soothsaying—it is quite proper; for all these qualities are found united in the god. Still other qualities, not seemingly possessed by him, we pass over, such as a connection with the earth and with the healing power, to be found in other Mexican gods, or the evil principle, which is entirely wanting. Just as the snake changes its skin every year, and takes its winter sleep, so does Huitzilopochtli, whose mother, Flora, is, therefore, a snake-goddess. Even so the snake represents the seed-corn in the mysteries of Demeter. In the Sabazii it represents the fructifying Zeus and the blessing. It is also the symbol of productive power and heat, or of life, attribute of the life-endowing Shiva; among the Egyptians it represents the yearly rejuvenation of germs and blossoms. The snake Agathodæmon appears with ears of grain and poppies, as the symbol of fertility. If the god exhibits this nature of his, in spring, in the rain, then the snake is a suitable attribute. In India, snakes are genii of seas, and the Punjab, whose fertility is assured by the yearly inundations, has the name of snake lands (Nagakhanda), and claims an ancient worship. The sustaining water-god, Vishnu, also received the snake attribute. Among the Chinese, the water could be represented by a snake. The Peruvians call the boa constrictor the mother of nature.

The idea of the yearly renewal of nature is also connected with that of time forever young, and the Aztecs, therefore, encircle their cycle with a snake as the symbol of time. The more positive signification which the snake, placed by the side of the humming-bird, gives to Huitzilopochtli, is that of a soothsaying god, like the snake Python among the Greeks. The snake signified ‘king’ among the Egyptians, and this suits Huitzilopochtli also, who may properly enough be considered the real king of his people. If, as connected with Huitzilopochtli, the snake also represents the war god, on account of its spirited mode of attack, I cannot with certainty say, but the myth as well as the worship places it in this relation to the war goddess Athene. Although the idea of a national and a war god is not quite obscured in the snake attribute, yet the nature side is especially denoted by it, as in the southern countries, where snake worship prevailed; the reference to the southern nature of this god is quite evident in the snake attribute. In the north, moisture, represented by the snake, has never attained the cosmological import which it has in the hot countries of the south. There, the snake rather represents an anticosmogonic, or a bad principle.[VIII-15]Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 591-612.

Winter-Solstice Festival

Mr Tylor, without committing himself to any extent in details, yet agrees, as far as he goes, with Müller. He says: “The very name of Mexico seems derived from Mexitli, the national war-god, identical or identified with the hideous gory Huitzilopochtli. Not to attempt a general solution of the enigmatic nature of this inextricable compound parthenogenetic deity, we may notice the association of his principal festival with the winter solstice, when his paste idol was shot through with an arrow, and being thus killed, was divided into morsels and eaten, wherefore the ceremony was called the teoqualo, or ‘god-eating.’ This, and other details, tend to show Huitzilopochtli as originally a nature-deity, whose life and death were connected with the year’s, while his functions of war-god may be of later addition.”[VIII-16]Tylor’s Prim. Cult., vol. ii., p 279.

Of this festival of the winter solstice the date and further particulars are given by the Vatican Codex as follows:—

The name Panquetzaliztli, of the Mexican month that began on the first of December, means, being interpreted, ‘the elevation of banners.’ For, on the first day of December every person raised over his house a small paper flag in honor of this god of battle; and the captains and soldiers sacrificed those that they had taken prisoners in war, who, before they were sacrificed, being set at liberty, and presented with arms equal to their adversaries, were allowed to defend themselves till they were either vanquished or killed, and thus sacrificed. The Mexicans celebrated in this month the festival of their first captain, Vichilopuchitl. They celebrated at this time the festival of the wafer or cake. They made a cake of the meal of bledos, which is called tzoalli, and having made it, they spoke over it in their manner, and broke it into pieces. These the high priest put into certain very clean vessels, and with a thorn of maguey, which resembles a thick needle, he took up with the utmost reverence single morsels, and put them into the mouth of each individual, in the manner of a communion—and I am willing to believe that these poor people have had the knowledge of our mode of communion or of the preaching of the gospel; or perhaps the devil, most envious of the honor of God, may have led them into this superstition in order that by this ceremony he might be adored and served as Christ our Lord. On the twenty-first of December they celebrated the festival of this god—through whose instrumentality, they say, the earth became again visible after it had been drowned with the waters of the deluge: they therefore kept his festival during the twenty following days, in which they offered sacrifices to him.[VIII-17]Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), tav. lxxi.-ii., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 195-6.

Decorations of Tlaloc

The deity Tlaloc, or Tlalocateuchtli, whom we have several times found mentioned as seated beside Huitzilopochtli in the great temple, was the god of water and rain, and the fertilizer of the earth. He was held to reside where the clouds gather, upon the highest mountain-tops, especially upon those of Tlaloc, Tlascala, and Toluca, and his attributes were the thunderbolt, the flash, and the thunder. It was also believed that in the high hills there resided other gods, subaltern to Tlaloc—all passing under the same name, and revered not only as gods of water but also as gods of mountains. The prominent colors of the image of Tlaloc were azure and green, thereby symbolizing the various shades of water. The decorations of this image varied a good deal according to locality and the several fancies of different worshipers: the description of Gama, founded on the inspection of original works of Mexican religious art, is the most authentic and complete. In the great temple of Mexico, in his own proper chapel, called epeoatl, adjoining that of Huitzilopochtli, this god of water stood upon his pedestal. In his left hand was a shield ornamented with feathers; in his right were certain thin, shining, wavy sheets of gold representing his thunderbolts, or sometimes a golden serpent representing either the thunderbolt or the moisture with which this deity was so intimately connected. On his feet were a kind of half-boots, with little bells of gold hanging therefrom. Round his neck was a band or collar set with gold and gems of price; while from his wrists depended strings of costly stones, even such as are the ornaments of kings. His vesture was an azure smock reaching to the middle of the thigh, cross-hatched all over with ribbons of silver forming squares; and in the middle of each square was a circle also of silver, while in the angles thereof were flowers, pearl-colored, with yellow leaves hanging down. And even as the decoration of the vesture so was that of the shield; the ground blue, covered with crossed ribbons of silver and circles of silver: and the feathers of yellow and green and flesh-color and blue, each color forming a distinct band. The body was naked from mid-thigh down, and of a grey tint, as was also the face. This face had only one eye of a somewhat extraordinary character: there was an exterior circle of blue, the interior was white with a black line across it and a little semi-circle below the line. Either round the whole eye or round the mouth was a doubled band, or ribbon of blue; this, although unnoticed by Torquemada, is affirmed by Gama to have been never omitted from any figure of Tlaloc, to have been his most characteristic device, and that which distinguished him specially from the other gods. In his open mouth were to be seen only three grinders; his front teeth were painted red, as was also the pendant, with its button of gold, that hung from his ear. His head-adornment was an open crown, covered in its circumference with white and green feathers, and from behind it over the shoulder depended other plumes of red and white. Sometimes the insignium of the thunderbolt is omitted with this god, and Ixtlilxochitl represents him, in the picture of the month Etzalli, with a cane of maize in the one hand, and in the other a kind of instrument with which he was digging in the ground. In the ground thus dug were put maize leaves filled with a kind of food, like fritters, called etzalli; from this the month took its name.[VIII-18]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 14; Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt i., p. 101, pt ii., pp. 76-9.

Prayer to Tlaloc

Prayer for Rain

A prayer to this god has been preserved by Sahagun, in which it will be noticed that the word Tlaloc is used sometimes in the singular and sometimes in the plural:—

O our Lord, most clement, liberal giver and lord of verdure and coolness, lord of the terrestrial paradise, odorous and flowery, and lord of the incense of copal, woe are we that the gods of water, thy subjects, have hid themselves away in their retreat, who are wont to serve us with the things we need and who are themselves served with ulli and auchtli and copal. They have left concealed all the things that sustain our lives, and carried away with them their sister the goddess of the necessaries of life, and carried away also the goddess of pepper. O our Lord, take pity on us that live; our food goes to destruction, is lost, is dried up; for lack of water, it is as if turned to dust and mixed with spiders’ webs. Woe for the miserable laborers and for the common people; they are wasted with hunger, they go about unrecognizable and disfigured every one. They are blue under the eyes as with death; their mouths are dry as sedge; all the bones of their bodies may be counted as in a skeleton. The children are disfigured and yellow as earth; not only those that begin to walk, but even those in the cradle. There is no one to whom this torment of hunger does not come; the very animals and birds suffer hard want, by the drought that is. It is pitiful to see the birds, some dragging themselves along with drooping wings, others falling down utterly and unable to walk, and others still with their mouths open through this hunger and thirst. The animals, O our Lord, it is a grievous sight to see them stumbling and falling, licking the earth for hunger, and panting with open mouth and hanging tongue. The people lose their senses and die for thirst; they perish, none is like to remain. It is woeful, O our Lord, to see all the face of the earth dry, so that it cannot produce the herbs nor the trees, nor anything to sustain us—the earth that used to be as a father and mother to us, giving us milk and all nourishment, herbs and fruits that therein grew. Now is all dry, all lost; it is evident that the Tlaloc gods have carried all away with them, and hid in their retreat, which is the terrestrial paradise. The things, O Lord, that thou wert graciously wont to give us, upon which we lived and were joyful, which are the life and joy of all the world, and precious as emeralds or sapphires—all these things are departed from us. O our Lord, god of nourishment and giver thereof, most humane and most compassionate, what thing hast thou determined to do with us? Hast thou, peradventure altogether forsaken us? Thy wrath and indignation shall it not be appeased? Hast thou determined on the perdition of all thy servants and vassals, and that thy city and kingdom shall be left desolate and uninhabited? Peradventure, this has been determined, and settled in heaven and hades. O our Lord, concede at least this, that the innocent children, who cannot so much as walk, who are still in the cradle, may have something to eat, so that they may live, and not die in this so great famine. What have they done that they should be tormented and should die of hunger? No iniquity have they committed, neither know they what thing it is to sin; they have neither offended the god of heaven nor the god of hell. We, if we have offended in many things, if our sins have reached heaven and hades, and the stink thereof gone out to the ends of the earth, just it is that we be destroyed and made an end of; we have nothing to say thereto, nor to excuse ourselves withal, nor to resist what is determined against us in heaven and in hades. Let it be done; destroy us all, and that swiftly, that we may not suffer from this long weariness which is worse than if we burned in fire. Certainly it is a horrible thing to suffer this hunger; it is like a snake lacking food, it gulps down its saliva, it hisses, it cries out for something to devour. It is a fearful thing to see the anguish of it demanding somewhat to eat; this hunger is intense as burning fire, flinging out sparks. Lord, let the thing happen that many years ago we have heard said by the old men and women that have passed away from us, let the heavens fall on us and the demons of the air come down, the Izitzimites, who are to come to destroy the earth with all that dwell on it; let darkness and obscurity cover the whole world, and the habitation of men be nowhere found therein. This thing was known to the ancients, and they divulged it, and from mouth to mouth it has come down to us, all this that has to happen when the world ends and the earth is weary of producing creatures. Our Lord, such present end would be now dear to us as riches or pleasures once were—miserable that we are! See good, O Lord, that there fall some pestilence to end us quickly. Such plague usually comes from the god of hades; and if it came there would peradventure be provided some allowance of food, so that the dead should not travel to hades without any provision for the way. O that this tribulation were of war, which is originated by the sun, and which breaks from sleep like a strong and valiant one—for then would the soldiers and the brave, the stout and warlike men, take pleasure therein. In it many die, and much blood is spilt, and the battle-field is filled with dead bodies and with the bones and skulls of the vanquished; strewn also is the face of the earth with the hairs of the head of warriors that rot; but this they fear not, for they know that their souls go to the house of the sun. And there they honor the sun with joyful voices, and suck the various flowers with great delight; there all the stout and valiant ones that died in war are glorified and extolled; there also the little and tender children that die in war are presented to the Sun, very clean and well adorned and shining like precious stones. Thy sister, the goddess of food, provides for those that go thither, supplying them with provision for the way; and this provision of necessary things is the strength and the soul and the staff of all the people of the world, and without it there is no life. But this hunger with which we are afflicted, O our most humane Lord, is so sore and intolerable that the miserable common people are not able to suffer nor support it; being still alive they die many deaths; and not the people alone suffer but also all the animals. O our most compassionate Lord, lord of green things and gums, of herbs odorous and virtuous, I beseech thee to look with eyes of pity on the people of this thy city and kingdom; for the whole world down to the very beasts is in peril of destruction, and disappearance, and irremediable end. Since this is so, I entreat thee to see good to send back to us the food-giving gods, gods of the rain and storm, of the herbs and of the trees; so that they perform again their office here with us on the earth. Scatter the riches and the prosperity of thy treasures, let the timbrels of joy be shaken that are the staves of the gods of water, let them take their sandals of india-rubber that they may walk with swiftness. Give succor, O Lord, to our lord, the god of the earth, at least with one shower of water, for when he has water he creates and sustains us. See good, O Lord, to invigorate the corn, and the other foods, much wished for and much needed, now sown and planted; for the ridges of the earth suffer sore need and anguish from lack of water. See good, O Lord, that the people receive this favor and mercy at thine hand, let them see and enjoy of the verdure and coolness that are as precious stones; see good that the fruit and the substance of the Tlalocs be given, which are the clouds that these gods carry with them and that sow the rain about us. See good, O Lord, that the animals and herbs be made glad, and that the fowls and birds of precious feather, such as the quechotl and the caguan, fly and sing and suck the herbs and flowers. And let not this come about with thunderings and lightnings, symbols of thy wrath; for if our lords the Tlalocs come with thunder and lightning the whole people, being lean and very weak with hunger, would be terrified. If indeed some are already marked out to go to the earthly paradise by the stroke of the thunderbolt, let this death be restricted to them, and let no injury befall any of the other people in mountain or cabin; neither let hurt come near the magueys or the other trees and plants of the earth; for these things are necessary to the life and sustenance of the people, poor, forsaken, and cast-away, who can with difficulty get food enough to live, going about through hunger with the bowels empty and sticking to the ribs. O our Lord, most compassionate, most generous, giver of all nourishment, be pleased to bless the earth and all the things that live on the face thereof. With deep sighing and with anguish of heart I cry upon all those that are gods of water, that are in the four quarters of the world, east and west, north and south, and upon those that dwell in the hollow of the earth, or in the air, or in the high mountains, or in the deep caves, I beseech them to come and console this poor people and to water the earth; for the eyes of all that inhabit the earth, animals as well as men, are turned toward you, and their hope is set upon your persons. O our Lord, be pleased to come.[VIII-19]Sahagun, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 372-6; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., vol. ii., pp. 64-70.

Vengeance of Tlaloc

This is a prayer to Tlaloc. But it was not with prayers alone that they deprecated his wrath and implored his assistance; here as elsewhere in the Mexican religion sacrifices played an important part. When the rain failed and the land was parched by drought, great processions were made in which a number of hairless dogs, common to the country, and good to eat, were carried on decorated litters to a place devoted to this use. There they were sacrificed to the god of water by cutting out their hearts. Afterwards the carcasses were eaten amid great festivities. All these things the Tlascaltec historian, Camargo, had seen with his own eyes thirty years before writing his book. The sacrifices of men, which were added to these in the days of greatness of the old religion, he describes as he was informed by priests who had officiated thereat. Two festivals in the year were celebrated to Tlaloc, the greater feast and the less. Each of these was terminated by human sacrifices. The side of the victim was opened with a sharp knife; the high priest tore out the heart, and turning toward the east offered it with lifted hands to the sun, crushing it at the same time with all his strength. He repeated this, turning in succession towards the remaining three cardinal points; the other tlamacaxques, or priests, not ceasing the while to darken with clouds of incense the faces of the idols. The heart was lastly burned and the body flung down the steps of the temple. A priest, who had afterwards been converted to Christianity, told Camargo that when he tore out the heart of a victim and flung it down, it used to palpitate with such force as to clear itself of the ground several times till it grew cold. Tlaloc was held in exceeding respect and the priests alone had the right to enter his temple. Whoever dared to blaspheme against him was supposed to die suddenly or to be stricken of thunder; the thunderbolt, instrument of his vengeance, flashed from the sky even at the moment it was clearest. The sacrifices offered to him in times of drought were never without answer and result; for, as Camargo craftily insinuates, the priests took good care never to undertake them till they saw indications of coming rain; besides, he adds—introducing, in defiance of nec deus intersit, a surely unneeded personage, if we suppose his last statement true—the devil, to confirm these people in their errors, was always sure to send rain.[VIII-20]Camargo, Hist. de Tlaxcallan, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. 99, pp. 133, 135-7. Camargo, being a Tlascaltec, most of his writings have particular reference to his own province, but in this as in other places he seems to be describing general Mexican customs.

Children were also sacrificed to Tlaloc. Says Motolinia, when four years came together in which there was no rain, and there remained as a consequence hardly any green thing in the fields, the people waited till the maize grew as high as the knee, and then made a general subscription with which four slave children, of five or six years of age, were purchased. These they sacrificed in a cruel manner by closing them up in a cave, which was never opened except on these occasions.[VIII-21]The text, without saying directly that these unfortunate children were closed there alive, appears to infer it: ‘Cuando el maiz estaba á la rodilla, para un dia repartian y echaban pecho, con que compraban cuatro niños esclavos de edad de cinco á seis años, y sacrificábanlos á Tlaloc, dios del agua, poniéndolos en una cueva, y cerrábanla hasta otro año que hacian lo mismo. Este cruel sacrificio.’ Motolinia, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 45.

According to Mendieta, again, children were sometimes offered to this god by drowning. The children were put into a canoe which was carried to a certain part of the lake of Mexico where was a whirlpool, which is no longer visible. Here the boat was sunk with its living cargo. These gods had, according to the same author, altars in the neighborhood of pools especially near springs; which altars were furnished with some kind of roof, and at the principal fountains were four in number set over against each other in the shape of a cross—the cross of the rain god.[VIII-22]’Tambien tenian ídolos junto á los aguas, mayormente cerca de las fuentes, á do hacian sus altares con sus gradas cubiertas por encima, y en muchas principales fuentes cuatro altares de estos á manera de cruz unos enfrente de otros, y allí en el agua echaban mucho encienso ofrecido y papel.’ Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 87, 102.

The Vatican Codex says that in April a boy was sacrificed to Tlaloc and his dead body put into the maize granaries or maize fields—it is not clearly apparent which—to preserve the food of the people from spoiling.[VIII-23]’In questo mese ritornavano ad ornare li tempj, e le immagini come nello passato, ed in fine delli venti dí sacrificavano un putto al Dio dell’ acqua, e lo mettevano infra il maiz, a fine che non si guastasse la provisione di tutto l’ anno.’ Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, tav. lx., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 191. It is to Sahagun, however, that we must turn for the most complete and authentic account of the festivals of Tlaloc with their attendant sacrifices.

Sacrifices of Children

In the first days of the first month of the year, which month is called in some parts of Mexico, Quavitleloa, but generally Atlcaoalo, and begins on the second of our February, a great feast was made in honor of the Tlalocs, gods of rain and water. For this occasion many children at the breast were purchased from their mothers; those being chosen that had two whirls (remolinos) in their hair, and that had been born under a good sign; it being said that such were the most agreeable sacrifice to the storm gods, and most likely to induce them to send rain in due season. Some of these infants were butchered for this divine holiday on certain mountains, and some were drowned in the lake of Mexico. With the beginning of the festival, in every house, from the hut to the palace, certain poles were set up and to these were attached strips of the paper of the country, daubed over with india-rubber gum, said strips being called amateteuitl; this was considered an honor to the water-gods. And the first place where children were killed was Quauhtepetl, a high mountain in the neighborhood of Tlatelulco; all infants, boys or girls, sacrificed there were called by the name of the place, Quauhtepetl, and were decorated with strips of paper dyed red. The second place where children were killed was Yoaltecatl, a high mountain near Guadalupe. The victims were decorated with pieces of black paper, with red lines on it, and were named after the place, Yoaltecatl. The third death-halt was made at Tepetzingo, a well-known hillock that rose up from the waters of the lake opposite Tlatelulco; there they killed a little girl, decking her with blue paper, and calling her Quetzalxoch, for so was this hillock called by another name. Poiauhtla, on the boundary of Tlascala, was the fourth hill of sacrifice. Here they killed children, named as usual after the locality, and decorated with paper on which were lines of india-rubber oil. The fifth place of sacrifice was the no longer visible whirlpool or sink of the lake of Mexico, Pantitlan. Those drowned here were called Epcoatl, and their adornment epuepaniuhqui. The sixth hill of death was Cocotl,[VIII-24]’Whence is derived the name cocoles, by which the boys of the choir of the cathedral of Mexico are now known.’ Bustamante, note to Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 85. near Chalcoatenco; the infant victims were named after it and decorated with strips of paper of which half the number were red and half a tawny color. The mount Yiauhqueme, near Atlacuioaia, was the seventh station; the victims being named after the place and adorned with paper of a tawny color.

All these miserable babes before being carried to their death were bedecked with precious stones and rich feathers and with raiment and sandals wrought curiously; they put upon them paper wings (as if they were angels); they stained their faces with oil of india-rubber, and on the middle of each tiny cheek they painted a round spot of white. Not able yet to walk, the victims were carried in litters shining with jewels and awave with plumes; flutes and trumpets bellowed and shrilled round the little bedizened heads, all so unfortunate in their two whirls of hair, as they passed along; and everywhere as the litters were borne by, all the people wept. When the procession reached the temple near Tepetzinco, on the east, called Tozocan, the priests rested there all night, watching and singing songs, so that the little ones could not sleep. In the morning the march was again resumed; if the children wept copiously those around them were very glad, saying it was a sign that much rain would fall; while if they met any dropsical person on the road it was taken for a bad omen and something that would hinder the rain. If any of the temple ministers, or of the others called quaquavitli, or of the old men, broke off from the procession or turned back to their houses before they came to the place where the sacrifice was done, they were held for infamous and unworthy of any public office; thenceforward they were called mocauhque, that is to say, ‘deserters.'[VIII-25]Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 37-8; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 84-7.

Spoliation of Cæsar for the Church

More ludicrous than diabolical are the ceremonies of the next feast of Tlaloc. In the sixth Aztec month, the month Etzalqualixtli, there was held a festival in honor of the gods of water and rain. Before the commencement of this festival the idol priests fasted four days, and before beginning to fast they made a procession to a certain piece of water, near Citlaltepec, to gather tules; for at that place these rushes grew very tall and thick and what part of them was under water was very white. There they pulled them up, rolled them in bundles wrapped about with their blankets, and so carried them back on their shoulders. Both on going out for these rushes and on coming back with them, it was the custom to rob anyone that was met on the road; and as every one knew of this custom the roads were generally pretty clear of stragglers about this time. No one, not even a king’s officer returning to his master with tribute, could hope to escape on such an occasion, nor to obtain from any court or magistrate any indemnification for loss or injury so sustained in goods or person; and if he made any resistance to his clerical spoilers they beat and kicked and dragged him over the ground. When they reached the temple with their rushes they spread them out on the ground and plaited them, white with green, into as it were painted mats, sewing them firm with threads of maguey-root; of these mats they made stools, and chairs with backs. The first day of the fast arrived, all the idol ministers and priests retired to their apartments in the temple buildings. There retired all those called tlamacaztequioagues, that is to say, ‘priests that have done feats in war, that have captured three or four prisoners;’ these although they did not reside continually in the temple, resorted thither at set times to fulfil their offices. There retired also those called tlamacazcayiaque, that is, ‘priests that have taken one prisoner in war;’ these also, although not regular inmates of the cues, resorted thither, when called by their duties. There retired also those that are called tlamacazquecuicanime, ‘priest singers,’ who resided permanently in the temple building because they had as yet captured no one in war. Last of all those also retired that were called tlamacaztezcahoan, which means ‘inferior ministers,’ and those boys, like little sacristans, who were called tlamacatoton, ‘little ministers.’

Next, all the rush mats that had been made which were called aztapilpetlatl, ‘jaspered mats of rushes, or mats of white and green’ were spread round about the hearths (hogares) of the temple, and the priests proceeded to invest themselves for their offices. They put on a kind of jacket that they had, called xicolli, of painted cloth; on the left arm they put a kind of scarf, macataxtli; in the left hand they took a bag of copal, and in the right a censer, temaitl, which is a kind of sauce-pan or frying-pan of baked clay. Then they entered into the court-yard of the temple, took up their station in the middle of it, put live coals into their censers, added copal, and offered incense toward the four quarters of the world, east, north, west, and south. This done they emptied the coals from their incense-pans into the great brasiers that were always burning at night in the court, brasiers somewhat less in height than the height of a man, and so thick that two men could with difficulty clasp them.

Bathing in the Festival of Tlaloc

This over, the priests returned to the temple buildings, calmecac, and put off their ornaments. Then they offered before the hearth little balls of dough, called veutelolotli; each priest offering four, arranging them on the aforementioned rush mats, and putting them down with great care, so that they should not roll nor move; and if the balls of any one stirred, it was the duty of his fellows to call attention to the matter and have him punished therefor. Some offered instead of dough four little pies or four pods of green pepper. A careful scrutiny was also observed to see if any one had any dirt on his blanket, or any bit of thread or hair or feather, and that no one should trip or fall; for in such a case he had to be punished; and as a consequence every man took good heed to all his steps and ways during these four days. At the end of each day’s offerings, certain old men, called quaquacuiltin came, their faces dyed black, and their heads shaved, save only the crown of the head, where the hair was allowed to grow long, the reverse of the custom of the Christian priests. These old men daily collected the offerings that had been made, dividing them among themselves. It was further the custom with all the priests and in all the temples, while fasting these four days, to be wakened at midnight by the blast of horns and shells and other instruments; when all rose up and, utterly naked, went to where were certain thorns of maguey, cut for the purpose the day before, and with little lancets of stone they hacked their ears, staining the prepared thorns of maguey and besmearing their faces with the blood that flowed; each man staining maguey-thorns with his blood in number proportioned to his devotion, some five, others more, others less. This done all the priests went to bathe themselves, how cold soever it might be, attended by the music of marine shells and shrill whistles of baked clay. Every one had a little bag strapped to his shoulders, ornamented with tassels or strips of painted paper; in these bags was carried a sort of herb ground fine and made up with a kind of black dye into little longish pellets.[VIII-26]’En aquellas talegas llevaban una manera de harina hecha á la manera de estiercol de ratones, que ellos llamaban yyaqualli, que era conficionada con tinta y con polvos de una yerva que ellos llaman yietll; és como veleños de Castilla.’ Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 51. The general body of the priests marched along, each one carrying a leaf of maguey in which the thorns were stuck, as in a pincushion, which he had to use. Before these went a priest with his censer full of live coals and a bag of copal; and in advance of all these walked one carrying a board on his shoulder of about a span broad and two yards long, hollowed apparently in some way, and filled with little rollers of wood that rattled and sounded as the bearer went along shaking them.[VIII-27]Sahagun gives two different accounts of this instrument: ‘Una tabla tan larga como dos varas, y ancha como un palmo ó poco mas. Yvan dentro de estas tablas unas sonajas, y el que le llevaba iva sonando con ellas. Llamaban á esta tabla Axochicaoaliztli, ó Nacatlquoavitl.’ The second description is: ‘Una tabla de anchura de un palmo y de largura de dos brazas; á trechos ivan unos sonajas en esta tabla unos pedazuelos de madero rollizos y atados á la misma tabla, y dentro de ella ivan sonando los unos con los otros. Esta tabla se llamaba aiauhchicaoaztli.’ Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 51 and 53. All the priests took part in this procession, only four remaining behind to take care of the temple-building, or calmecac, which was their monastery. These four during the absence of the others remained seated in the calmecac and occupied themselves in devotion to the gods, in singing and in rattling with a hollow board of the sort mentioned above. At the piece of water where the priests were to bathe there were four houses, called axaucalli, ‘fog houses,’ set each toward one of the four quarters of the compass; in the ablutions of the first night one of these houses was occupied, on the second night another, and so on through all the four nights and four houses of the fog. Here also were four tall poles standing up out of the water. And the unfortunate bathers, naked from the outset as we remember, reached this place trembling and their teeth chattering with cold. One of their number mumbled a few words, which being translated mean: this is the place of snakes, the place of mosquitos, the place of ducks, and the place of rushes. This said, all flung themselves into the water and began to splash with their hands and feet, making a great noise and imitating the cries of various aquatic birds.[VIII-28]’Comenzaban á vocear y á gritar y a contrahacer las aves del agua, unos á los anades, otros á unas aves zancudas del agua que llama pipititi, otros á los cuervos marinos, otros á las garzotas blancas, otros á las garzas. Aquellas palabras que decia el satrapa parece que eran invocacion del Demonio para hablar aquellos lenguages de aves en al agua.’ Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 51. When the bathing was over, the naked priests took their way back accompanied by the music of pipes and shells. Half dead with cold and weariness they reached the temple, where drawing their mantles over them they flung themselves down in a confused heap on the rush mats, so often mentioned, and slept as best they could. We are told that some talked in their sleep, and some walked about in it, and some snored, and some sighed in a painful manner. There they lay in a tangled weary heap not rising till noon of the next day.

Religious Discipline

The first thing to be done on waking was to array themselves in their canonicals, take their censers, and to follow an old priest called Quaquacuilti to all the chapels and altars of the idols, incensing them. After this they were at liberty to eat; they squatted down in groups, and to each one was given such food as had been sent to him from his own house; and if any one took any of the portion of another, or even exchanged his for that of another, he was punished for it. Punishment also attended the dropping of any morsel while eating, if the fault were not atoned for by a fine. After this meal, they all went to cut down branches of a certain kind called acxoiatl, or, where these were not to be found, green canes instead, and to bring them to the temple in sheaves. There they sat down, every man with his sheaf, and waited for an arranged signal. The signal given, every one sprang up to some appointed part of the temple to decorate it with his boughs; and if any one went to a place not his, or wandered from his companions, or lagged behind them, they punished him—a punishment only to be remitted by paying to his accuser, within the four days of which we are now speaking, either a hen or a blanket or a breech-clout, or, if very poor, a ball of dough in a cup.

These four days over, the festival was come, and every man began it by eating etzalli, a kind of maize porridge, in his own house. For those that wished it there was general dancing and rejoicing. Many decked themselves out like merry-andrews and went about in parties carrying pots, going from house to house, demanding etzalli. They sang and danced before the door, and said, “If you do not give me some porridge, I will knock a hole in your house;” whereupon the etzalli was given. These revels began at midnight and ceased at dawn. Then indeed did the priests array themselves in all their glory: underneath was a jacket, over that a thin transparent mantle called aiauhquemitl, decorated with parrot-feathers set cross-wise. Between the shoulders they fastened a great round paper flower, like a shield. To the nape of the neck they attached other flowers of crumpled paper of a semi-circular shape; these hung down on both sides of the head like ears. The forehead was painted blue and over the paint was dusted powder of marcasite. In the right hand was carried a bag made of tiger-skin, and embroidered with little white shells which clattered as one walked. The bag seems to have been three-cornered; from one angle hung down the tiger’s tail, from another his two fore feet, from another his two hind feet. It contained incense made from a certain herb called yiauhtli.[VIII-29]’Yauhtlaulli or Yauitl, mayz moreno o negro.’ Molina, Vocabulario. There went one priest bearing a hollow board filled with wooden rattles, as before described. In advance of this personage there marched a number of others, carrying in their arms images of the gods made of that gum that is black and leaps, called ulli (india-rubber), these images were called ulteteu, that is to say ‘gods of ulli.’ Other ministers there were carrying in their arms lumps of copal, shaped like sugar loaves; each pyramid having a rich feather, called quetzal, stuck in the peak of it like a plume. In this manner went the procession with the usual horns and shells, and the purpose of it was to lead to punishment those that had transgressed in any of the points we have already discussed. The culprits were marched along, some held by the hair at the nape of the neck, others by the breech-clout; the boy offenders were held by the hand, or, if very small, were carried. All these were brought to a place called Totecco, where water was. Here certain ceremonies were performed, paper was burned in sacrifice, as were also the pyramids of copal and images of ulli, incense being thrown into the fire and other incense scattered over the rush mats with which the place was adorned. While this was going on those in charge of the culprits had not been idle, but were flinging them into the water. Great was the noise, it is said, made by the splash of one tossed in, and the water leaped high with the shock. As any one came to the surface or tried to scramble out he was pushed in or pushed down again—well was it then for him who could swim, and by long far diving keep out of the reach of his tormentors. For the others they were so roughly handled that they were often left for dead on the water’s edge, where their relatives would come and hang them up by the feet to let the water they had swallowed run out of them; a method of cure surely as bad as the malady.

The Four Balls

The shrill music struck up again and the procession returned by the way it had come; the friends of the punished ones carrying them. The monastery or calmecac reached, there began another four days’ fast, called netlacacaoaliztli; but in this the sharp religious etiquette of the first four days’ fast was not observed, or at least one was not liable to be informed upon or punished for a breach of such etiquette. The conclusion of this fast was celebrated by feasting. Again the priests decorated themselves in festal array. All the head was painted blue, the face was covered with honey (miel) mixed with a black dye. Over the shoulders were carried the incense-bags embroidered with little white shells—bags made of tiger-skins, as before described, for the chief priests, and of paper painted to imitate tiger-skin in the case of the inferior priests. Some of these satchels were fashioned to resemble the bird called atzitzicuilotl, others to resemble ducks. The priests marched in procession to the temple, and before all marched the priest of Tlaloc. He had on his head a crown of basketwork, fitting close to the temples below and spreading out above, with many plumes issuing from the middle of it. His face was anointed with melted india-rubber gum, black as ink, and concealed by an ugly mask with a great nose, and a wig attached which fell as low as the waist. All went along mumbling to themselves as if they prayed, till they came to the cu of Tlaloc. There they stopped and spread tule mats on the ground, and dusted them over with powdered tule-leaves mixed with yiauhtli incense. Upon this the acting priest placed four round chalchiuites, like little balls; then he took a small hook painted blue, and touched each ball with it; and as he touched each he made a movement as if drawing back his hand, and turned himself completely round. He scattered more incense on the mats, then he took the board with the rattles inside and sounded with it—perhaps a kind of religious stage thunder in imitation of the thunder of his god. Upon this every one retired to his house or to his monastery and put off his ornaments; and the unfortunates who had been ducked were carried at last to their own dwellings for the rest and recovery that they so sorely needed. That night the festivities burst out with a new glory, the musical instruments of the cu itself were sounded, the great drums and the shrill shells. Well watched that night were the prisoners who were doomed to death on the morrow. When it came they were adorned with the trappings of the Tlaloc gods—for it was said they were the images of these gods—and those that were killed first were said to be the foundation of the others, which seemed to be symbolized by those who had to die last being made to seat themselves on those who had been first killed.[VIII-30]’Comenzaban luego á matar á los captivos; aquellos que primero mataban decian que eran el fundamento de los que eran imagen de los Tlaloques, que ivan aderezados con los ornamentos de los mismos Tlaloques que (ivan aderezados) decian eran sus imagenes, y asi los que morian á la postre ivanse á sentar sobre los que primero habian muerto.’ Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 54.

The slaughter over, the hearts of the victims were put into a pot that was painted blue and stained with ulli in four places. Together with this pot offerings were taken of paper and feathers and precious stones and chalchiuites, and a party set out with the whole for that part of the lake where the whirlpool is, called Pantitlan. All who assisted at this offering and sacrifice were provided with a supply of the herb called iztauhiatl, which is something like the incense used in Spain, and they puffed it with their mouths over each other’s faces and over the faces of their children. This they did to hinder maggots getting into the eyes, and also to protect against a certain disease of the eyes called exocuillo-o-alixtli; some also put this herb into their ears, and others for a certain superstition they had held a handful of it clutched in the hand. The party entered a great canoe belonging to the king, furnished with green oars, or paddles, spotted with ulli, and rowed swiftly to the place Pantitlan, where the whirlpool was. This whirlpool was surrounded by logs driven into the bottom of the lake like piles—probably to keep canoes from being drawn into the sink. These logs being reached, the priests, standing in the bows of the royal vessel, began to play on their horns and shells. Conspicuous among them stood their chief holding the pot containing the hearts; he flung them far into the whirling hollow of water, and it is said that when the hearts plunged in, the waters were strangely moved and stirred into waves and foam. The precious stones were also thrown in, and the papers of the offering were fastened to the stakes with a number of the chalchiuites and other stones. A priest took a censer and put four papers called telhuitl into it, and burned them, offering them toward the whirlpool; then he threw them, censer and all, still burning into the sink. That done, the canoe was put about and rowed to the landing of Tetamacolco, and every one bathed there.

All this took place between midnight and morning, and when the light began to break the whole body of the priests went to bathe in the usual place. They washed the blue paint off their heads, save only on the forehead; and if there were any offences of any priest to be punished he was here ducked and half drowned as described above. Lastly all returned to their monasteries, and the green rush mats spread there were thrown out behind each house.[VIII-31]Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 49-55; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 111-124.

We have given the description of two great festivals of the Tlalocs—two being all that are mentioned by many authorities—there still remain, however, two other notable occasions on which they were propitiated and honored.

Images of the Mountains

In the thirteenth month, which was called Tepeilhuitl, and which began, according to Clavigero, on the 24th of October, it was the custom to cut certain sticks into the shape of snakes. Certain images as of children were also cut out of wood, and these dolls, called hecatotonti, together with the wooden snakes, were used as a foundation or centre round which to build up little effigies of the mountains; wherein the Tlalocs were honored as gods of the mountains, and wherein memorial was had of those that had been drowned, or killed by thunderbolts, or whose bodies had been buried without cremation—the dolls perhaps representing the bodies of these, and the snakes the thunderbolts. Having then these wooden dolls and snakes as a basis, they were covered with dough mixed from the seeds of the wild amaranth; over each doll certain papers were put; round one snake and one doll, set back to back, there appears next to have been bound a wisp of hay, (which wisp was kept from year to year and washed on the vigil of every feast), till the proper shape of a mountain was arrived at; over the whole was then daubed a layer of dough, of the kind already mentioned. We have now our image of the mountain with two heads looking opposite ways, sticking out from its summit. Round this summit there seem to have been stuck rolls of dough representing the clouds usually formed about the crests of high mountains. The face of the human image that looked out over these dough clouds was daubed with melted ulli; and to both cheeks of it were stuck little tortillas, or cakes of the everywhere-present dough of wild amaranth seeds. On the head of this same image was put a crown with feathers issuing from it.[VIII-32]This passage relating to the making of images of the mountains is such a chaotic jumble in the original that one is forced to use largely any constructive imagination one may possess to reproduce even a comprehensible description. I give the original; if any one can make rhyme or reason out of it by a closer following of the words of Sahagun, he shall not want the opportunity: ‘Al trece mes llamaban Tepeilhuitl. En la fiesta que se hacia en este mes cubrian de masa de bledos unos palos que tenian hechos como culebras, y hacian imagenes de montes fundadas sobre unos palos hechos á manera de niños que llamaban Hecatotonti: era la imagen del monte de masa de bledos. Ponianle delante junto unas masas rollizas y larguillas de masa de bledos á manera de bezos, y estos llamaban Yomiio. Hacian estas imagenes á honra de los montes altos donde se juntan las nubes, y en memoria de los que habian muerto en agua ó heridos de rayo, y de los que no se quemaban sus cuerpos sino que los enterraban. Estos montes hacianlos sobre unos rodeos ó roscas hechas de heno atadas con zacate, y guardabanlas de un año para otro. La vigilia de esta fiesta llevaban á lavar estas roscas al rio ó á la fuente, y quando las llevaban ivanlas tañendo con unos pitos hechos de barro cocido ó con unos caracoles mariscos. Lavabanlas en unas casas ú oratorias que estaban hechos á la orilla del agua que se llama Ayauh calli. Lavabanlas con unas ojas de cañas verdes; algunos con el agua que pasaba por su casa las lavaban. En acabandolas de lavar volvianlas á su casa con la misma musica; luego hacian sobre ellas las imagenes de los montes como está dicho. Algunos hacian estas imagenes de noche antes de amanecer cerca del dia; la cabeza de cada un monte, tenia dos caras, una de persona y otra de culebra, y untaban la cara de persona con ulli derretido, y hacian unas tortillas prequeñuelas de masa de bledos amarillos, y ponianlas en las mexillas de la cara de persona de una parte y de otra; cubrianlos con unos papeles que llamaban Tetcuitli; ponianlos unas coronas en las cabezas con sus penachos. Tambien á los imagenes de los muertos las ponian sobre aquellas roscas de zacate, y luego en amaneciendo ponian estas imagenes en sus oratorios, sobre unos lechos de espadañas ó de juncias ó juncos.’ Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 71-2. These images were made at night, and in the morning they were carried to their ‘oratories,’ and laid down on beds of rushes or reeds; then food was offered to them, small pies or tarts, a porridge of maize-flour and sugar, and the stewed flesh of fowls or of dogs. Incense was burned before them, being thrown into a censer shaped like a hand, as it were a great spoon full of burning coals. Those who could afford it sang and drank pulque in honor of their dead ones and of these gods.

Sacrifices to Tlaloc

In this feast four women and a man were killed in honor of the Tlalocs and of the mountains. The four women were named respectively, Tepoxch, Matlalquac, Xochetecatl, and Mayavel—this last was decorated to appear as the image of the magueyes. The man was called Milnaoatl; he stood for an image of ‘the snakes.’ These victims, adorned with crowns of paper stained with ulli, were borne to their doom in litters. Being carried to the summit of the cu, they were thrown one by one on the sacrificial stone, their hearts taken out with the flint and offered to Tlaloc, and their bodies allowed to slide slowly down the temple-steps to the earth—a too rapid descent being hindered by the priests. The corpses were carried to a place where the heads were cut off and preserved, spitted on poles thrust through the temples of each skull. The bodies were lastly carried to the wards from which they had set out alive, and there cut in pieces and eaten. At the same time the images of the mountains, which we have attempted to describe, were broken up, the dough with which they were covered was set out to dry in the sun, and was eaten, every day a piece. The papers with which the said images had been adorned were then spread over the wisps of hay, above mentioned, and the whole was fastened up in the rafters of the oratory that every one had in his house; there to remain till required for the next year’s feast of the same kind; on which occasion, and as a preliminary to the other ceremonies which we have already described in the first part of this feast, the people took down the paper and the wisp from their private oratories, and carried them to the public oratory called the acaucalli, left the paper there, and returned with the wisp to make of it anew the image of a mountain.[VIII-33]Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 71-3; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 159-162.

Killing Images of the Mountains

The fourth and last festival of Tlaloc which we have to describe, fell in our December and in the sixteenth Aztec month, called the month Atemuztli. About this time it began to thunder round the mountain-tops, and the first rains to fall there; the common people said, “Now come the Tlalocs,” and for love of the water they made vows to make images of the mountains—not, however, as it would appear, such images as have been described as appertaining to the preceding festival. The priests were very devout at this season and very earnest in prayer, expecting the rain. They took each man his incense-pan or censer, made like a great spoon with a long round hollow handle filled with rattles and terminating in a snake’s head, and offered incense to all the idols. Five days before the beginning of the feast the common people bought paper and ulli and flint knives and a kind of coarse cloth called nequen, and devoutly prepared themselves with fasting and penance to make their images of the mountains and to cover them with paper. In this holy season, although every one bathed, he washed no higher than the neck, the head was left unwashed; the men, moreover, abstained from their wives. The night preceding the great feast-day was spent wholly, flint knife in hand, cutting out paper into various shapes. These papers called tetevitl, were stained with ulli; and every householder got a long pole, covered it with pieces of this paper, and set it up in his court-yard, where it remained all the day of the festival. Those that had vowed to make images of the mountains invited priests to their houses to do it for them. The priests came, bearing their drums and rattles and instruments of music of tortoise-shell. They made the images—apparently like human figures—out of the dough of wild amaranth seed, and covered them with paper. In some houses there were made five of such images, in others ten, in others fifteen; they were figures that stood for such mountains as the clouds gather round, such as the volcano of the Sierra Nevada or that of the Sierra of Tlascala. These images being constructed, they were set in order in the oratory of the house, and before each one was set food—very small pies, on small platters, proportionate to the little image, small boxes holding a little sweet porridge of maize, little calabashes of cacao, and other small green calabashes containing pulque. In one night they presented the figures with food in this manner four times. All the night too they sang before them, and played upon flutes; the regular flutists not being employed on this occasion, but certain small boys who were paid for their trouble with something to eat. When the morning came, the ministers of the idols asked the master of the house for his tzotzopaztli, a kind of broad wooden knife used in weaving,[VIII-34]’Tzotzopaztli, palo ancho como cuchilla con que tupen y aprietan la tela que se texe.’ Molina, Vocabulario. and thrust it into the breasts of the images of the mountains, as if they were living men, and cut their throats and drew out the hearts, which they put in a green cup and gave to the owner of the house. This done, they took all the paper with which these images had been adorned, together with certain green mats that had been used for the same purpose, and the utensils in which the offering of food had been put, and burned all in the court-yard of the house. The ashes and the mutilated images seem then to have been carried to a public oratory called Aiauhcalco, on the shore of the lake. Then all who assisted at these ceremonies joined themselves to eat and drink in honor of the mutilated images, which were called tepieme. Women were allowed to join in this banquet provided they brought fifteen or twenty heads of maize with them; they received every one his or her share of food and pulque. The pulque was kept in black jars and lifted out to be drunk with black cups. This banquet over, the paper streamers were taken down from the poles set up in the court-yards of the houses and carried to certain places in the water that were marked out by piles driven in—we may remember that our whirlpool of Pantitlan, in the lake of Mexico, was one place so marked—and to the tops of the mountains, and left there as it would appear.[VIII-35]Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 80-1; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 176-9, 198, 210. Farther notice of Tlaloc and his worship will be found in the Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, tav. xxviii., lvii., lx., lxii., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 179, 190-2; Boturini, Idea, pp. 12-3, 99, 101; Amer. Ethnol. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 305; Motolinia, Hist. Ind., in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 32, 39, 42, 44-5; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 290, and tom. ii., pp. 45-6, 119, 121, 147, 151, 212, 251-4; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xv.; Gomara, Hist. Conq. Mex., fol. 216; Tylor’s Prim. Cult., vol. ii., pp. 235, 243; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 500-4 et passim.

In taking leave here of Tlaloc I may draw attention to the prominence in his cult of the number four, the cross, and the snake; and add that as lord of one of the three Aztec divisions of the future world, lord of the terrestrial paradise, we shall meet with him again in our examination of the Mexican ideas of a future life.

Footnotes

[VIII-1] Huitzilopochtli is derived from two words: huitzilin, the humming-bird, and opochtli, left—so called from the left foot of his image being decorated with humming-bird feathers. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 17-19.

[VIII-2] Boturini, Idea de una Hist., pp. 60-1.

[VIII-3] Acosta, Hist. Nat. Ind., pp. 352-3, 361-3. Acosta gives a description of the wanderings of the Mexicans and how their god Vitziliputzli, directed and guided them therein, much as the God of Israel directed his people, across the wilderness to the Promised Land. Tradition also tells, how he himself revealed that manner of sacrifice most acceptable to his will:—some of the priests having overnight offended him, lo, in the morning, they were all dead men; their stomachs being cut open, and their hearts pulled out; which rites in sacrifice were thereupon adopted for the service of that deity, and retained until their rooting out by the stern Spanish husbandry, so well adapted to such foul and bloody tares. Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., pp. 1002-3.

[VIII-4] Solis, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. i., pp. 396-8. This writer says: ‘The Spanish soldiers called this idol Huchilobos, a corrupt pronunciation: so too Bernal Diaz del Castillo writes it. Authors differ much in describing this magnificent building. Antonio de Herrera follows Francisco Lopez de Gómara too closely. We shall follow Father Josef de Acosta and the better informed authors.’ Id., p. 395.

[VIII-5] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., p. i.

[VIII-6] Gage’s New Survey, pp. 116-7; Herrera, Hist. Gen., tom. i., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xvii.

[VIII-7] ’Pero los mismos Naturales afirman, que este Nombre tomaron de el Dios Principal, que ellos traxeron, el qual tenia dos Nombres, el uno Huitzilopuchtli, y el otro Mexitly, y este segundo, quiere decir Ombligo de Maguey.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 293.

[VIII-8] ’Aconteciò, pues, vn dia, que estando barriendo, come acostumbraba, viò bajar por el Aire, una pelota pequeña, hecha de plumas, à manera de ovillo, hecho de hilado, que se le vino à los manos, la qual tomò, y metiò entre los Nahuas, ò Faldellin, y la carne, debajo de la faja que le ceñia el cuerpo (porque siempre traen fajado este genero de vestido) no imaginando ningun misterio, ni fin de aquel caso. Acabo de barrer, y buscò la pelota de pluma, para vèr de què podria aprovecharla en servicio de sus Dioses, y no la hallò. Quedò de esto admirada, y mucho mas de conocer en sì, que desde aquel punto se avia hecho preñada.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 41-2.

[VIII-9] This Paynalton, or Paynal, was a kind of deputy-god, or substitute for Huitzilopochtli; used in cases of urgent haste and immediate emergency, where perhaps it might be thought there was not time for the lengthened ceremonies necessary to the invocation of the greater war deity. Sahagun’s account of Paynal is concise, and will throw light on the remarks of Torquemada, as given above in the text. Sahagun says, in effect: This god Paynal was a kind of sub-captain to Huitzilopochtli. The latter, as chief-captain, dictated the deliberate undertaking of war against any province; the former, as vicar to the other, served when it became unexpectedly necessary to take up arms and make front hurriedly against an enemy. Then it was that Paynal—whose name means ‘swift, or hurried,’—when living on earth set out in person to stir up the people to repulse the enemy. Upon his death he was deified and a festival appointed in his honor. In this festival, his image, richly decorated, was carried in a long procession, every one, bearer of the idol or not, running as fast as he could; all of which represented the promptness that is many times necessary to resist the assault of a foe attacking by surprise or ambuscade. Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., p. 2.

[VIII-10] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 293, tom. ii., pp. 41-3, 71-3.

[VIII-11] See this vol., p. 69, note.

[VIII-12] See this vol. p. 67.

[VIII-13] See this vol. p. 134.

[VIII-14] If some of the names and myths, mentioned or alluded to from time to time, by Müller and others, are yet unknown to the reader, he will remember the impossibility of any arrangement of these mixed and far-involved legends by which, without infinite verbiage, this trouble could be wholly obviated. In good time, and with what clearness is possible, the list of gods and legends will be made as nearly as may be complete.

[VIII-15] Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 591-612.

[VIII-16] Tylor’s Prim. Cult., vol. ii., p 279.

[VIII-17] Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), tav. lxxi.-ii., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 195-6.

[VIII-18] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 14; Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt i., p. 101, pt ii., pp. 76-9.

[VIII-19] Sahagun, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 372-6; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., vol. ii., pp. 64-70.

[VIII-20] Camargo, Hist. de Tlaxcallan, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. 99, pp. 133, 135-7. Camargo, being a Tlascaltec, most of his writings have particular reference to his own province, but in this as in other places he seems to be describing general Mexican customs.

[VIII-21] The text, without saying directly that these unfortunate children were closed there alive, appears to infer it: ‘Cuando el maiz estaba á la rodilla, para un dia repartian y echaban pecho, con que compraban cuatro niños esclavos de edad de cinco á seis años, y sacrificábanlos á Tlaloc, dios del agua, poniéndolos en una cueva, y cerrábanla hasta otro año que hacian lo mismo. Este cruel sacrificio.’ Motolinia, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 45.

[VIII-22] ’Tambien tenian ídolos junto á los aguas, mayormente cerca de las fuentes, á do hacian sus altares con sus gradas cubiertas por encima, y en muchas principales fuentes cuatro altares de estos á manera de cruz unos enfrente de otros, y allí en el agua echaban mucho encienso ofrecido y papel.’ Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 87, 102.

[VIII-23] ’In questo mese ritornavano ad ornare li tempj, e le immagini come nello passato, ed in fine delli venti dí sacrificavano un putto al Dio dell’ acqua, e lo mettevano infra il maiz, a fine che non si guastasse la provisione di tutto l’ anno.’ Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, tav. lx., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 191.

[VIII-24] ’Whence is derived the name cocoles, by which the boys of the choir of the cathedral of Mexico are now known.’ Bustamante, note to Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 85.

[VIII-25] Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 37-8; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 84-7.

[VIII-26] ’En aquellas talegas llevaban una manera de harina hecha á la manera de estiercol de ratones, que ellos llamaban yyaqualli, que era conficionada con tinta y con polvos de una yerva que ellos llaman yietll; és como veleños de Castilla.’ Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 51.

[VIII-27] Sahagun gives two different accounts of this instrument: ‘Una tabla tan larga como dos varas, y ancha como un palmo ó poco mas. Yvan dentro de estas tablas unas sonajas, y el que le llevaba iva sonando con ellas. Llamaban á esta tabla Axochicaoaliztli, ó Nacatlquoavitl.’ The second description is: ‘Una tabla de anchura de un palmo y de largura de dos brazas; á trechos ivan unos sonajas en esta tabla unos pedazuelos de madero rollizos y atados á la misma tabla, y dentro de ella ivan sonando los unos con los otros. Esta tabla se llamaba aiauhchicaoaztli.’ Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 51 and 53.

[VIII-28] ’Comenzaban á vocear y á gritar y a contrahacer las aves del agua, unos á los anades, otros á unas aves zancudas del agua que llama pipititi, otros á los cuervos marinos, otros á las garzotas blancas, otros á las garzas. Aquellas palabras que decia el satrapa parece que eran invocacion del Demonio para hablar aquellos lenguages de aves en al agua.’ Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 51.

[VIII-29] ’Yauhtlaulli or Yauitl, mayz moreno o negro.’ Molina, Vocabulario.

[VIII-30] ’Comenzaban luego á matar á los captivos; aquellos que primero mataban decian que eran el fundamento de los que eran imagen de los Tlaloques, que ivan aderezados con los ornamentos de los mismos Tlaloques que (ivan aderezados) decian eran sus imagenes, y asi los que morian á la postre ivanse á sentar sobre los que primero habian muerto.’ Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 54.

[VIII-31] Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 49-55; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 111-124.

[VIII-32] This passage relating to the making of images of the mountains is such a chaotic jumble in the original that one is forced to use largely any constructive imagination one may possess to reproduce even a comprehensible description. I give the original; if any one can make rhyme or reason out of it by a closer following of the words of Sahagun, he shall not want the opportunity: ‘Al trece mes llamaban Tepeilhuitl. En la fiesta que se hacia en este mes cubrian de masa de bledos unos palos que tenian hechos como culebras, y hacian imagenes de montes fundadas sobre unos palos hechos á manera de niños que llamaban Hecatotonti: era la imagen del monte de masa de bledos. Ponianle delante junto unas masas rollizas y larguillas de masa de bledos á manera de bezos, y estos llamaban Yomiio. Hacian estas imagenes á honra de los montes altos donde se juntan las nubes, y en memoria de los que habian muerto en agua ó heridos de rayo, y de los que no se quemaban sus cuerpos sino que los enterraban. Estos montes hacianlos sobre unos rodeos ó roscas hechas de heno atadas con zacate, y guardabanlas de un año para otro. La vigilia de esta fiesta llevaban á lavar estas roscas al rio ó á la fuente, y quando las llevaban ivanlas tañendo con unos pitos hechos de barro cocido ó con unos caracoles mariscos. Lavabanlas en unas casas ú oratorias que estaban hechos á la orilla del agua que se llama Ayauh calli. Lavabanlas con unas ojas de cañas verdes; algunos con el agua que pasaba por su casa las lavaban. En acabandolas de lavar volvianlas á su casa con la misma musica; luego hacian sobre ellas las imagenes de los montes como está dicho. Algunos hacian estas imagenes de noche antes de amanecer cerca del dia; la cabeza de cada un monte, tenia dos caras, una de persona y otra de culebra, y untaban la cara de persona con ulli derretido, y hacian unas tortillas prequeñuelas de masa de bledos amarillos, y ponianlas en las mexillas de la cara de persona de una parte y de otra; cubrianlos con unos papeles que llamaban Tetcuitli; ponianlos unas coronas en las cabezas con sus penachos. Tambien á los imagenes de los muertos las ponian sobre aquellas roscas de zacate, y luego en amaneciendo ponian estas imagenes en sus oratorios, sobre unos lechos de espadañas ó de juncias ó juncos.’ Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 71-2.

[VIII-33] Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 71-3; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 159-162.

[VIII-34] ’Tzotzopaztli, palo ancho como cuchilla con que tupen y aprietan la tela que se texe.’ Molina, Vocabulario.

[VIII-35] Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 80-1; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 176-9, 198, 210. Farther notice of Tlaloc and his worship will be found in the Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, tav. xxviii., lvii., lx., lxii., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 179, 190-2; Boturini, Idea, pp. 12-3, 99, 101; Amer. Ethnol. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 305; Motolinia, Hist. Ind., in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 32, 39, 42, 44-5; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 290, and tom. ii., pp. 45-6, 119, 121, 147, 151, 212, 251-4; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xv.; Gomara, Hist. Conq. Mex., fol. 216; Tylor’s Prim. Cult., vol. ii., pp. 235, 243; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 500-4 et passim.

Chapter IX • Gods, Supernatural Beings, and Worship • 35,700 Words

The Mother or all-nourishing Goddess under various names and in various aspects—Her Feast in the Eleventh Aztec month Ochpaniztli—Festivals of the Eighth month, Hueytecuilhuitl, and of the Fourth, Hueytozoztli—The deification of women that died in child-birth—The Goddess of Water under various names and in various aspects—Ceremonies of the Baptism or lustration of children—The Goddess of Love, her various names and aspects—Rites of confession and absolution—The God of fire and his various names—His festivals in the tenth month Xocotlveti and in the eighteenth month Yzcali; also his quadriennial festival in the latter month—The great festival of every fifty-two years; lighting the new fire—The God of hades, and Teoyaomique, collector of the souls of the fallen brave—Deification of dead rulers and heroes—Mixcoatl, God of hunting and his feast in the fourteenth month, Quecholli—Various other Mexican deities—Festival in the second month, Tlacaxipehualiztli, with notice of the gladiatorial sacrifices—Complete synopsis of the festivals of the Mexican Calendar, fixed and movable—Temples and Priests.

Centeotl is a goddess, or according to some good authorities a god, who held, under many names and in many characters, a most important place in the divine world of the Aztecs, and of other Mexican and Central American peoples. She was goddess of maize, and consequently, from the importance in America of this grain, of agriculture, and of the producing earth generally. Many of her various names seem dependent on the varying aspects of the maize at different stages of its growth; others seem to have originated in the mother-like nourishing qualities of the grain of which she was the deity. Müller lays much stress on this aspect of her character: “The force which sustains life must also have created it. Centeotl was therefore considered as bringing children to light, and is represented with an infant in her arms. Nebel gives us such a representation, and in our Mexican museum at Basel there are many images in this form, made of burnt clay. Where agriculture rules, there more children are brought to mature age than among the hunting nations, and the land revels in a large population. No part of the world is so well adapted to exhibit this difference as America. Centeotl is consequently the great producer, not of children merely, she is the great goddess, the most ancient goddess.”[IX-1]Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 493.

The Mother-Nourisher

Centeotl was known, according to Clavigero, by the titles Tonacajohua, ‘she who sustains us;’ Tzinteotl, ‘original goddess;’ and by the further names Xilonen, Iztacacenteotl, and Tlatlauhquicenteotl. She was further, according to the same author, identical with Tonantzin, ‘our mother,’ and, according to Müller and many Spanish authorities, either identical or closely connected with the various deities known as Teteionan, ‘the mother of the gods,'[IX-2]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 16, 22, indeed says that Teteionan and Tocitzin are ‘certainly different.’ Cihuatcoatl, ‘the snake-woman,’ Tazi or Toci or Tocitzin, ‘our grandmother,’ and Earth, the universal material mother. Squier says of Tiazolteotl, that “she is Cinteotl the goddess of maize, under another aspect.”[IX-3]Squier’s Serpent Symbol, p. 47. A passage which makes the principal element of the character of Toci or Tocitzin that of Goddess of Discord may be condensed from Acosta, as follows: When the Mexicans, in their wanderings, had settled for a time in the territory of Culhuacan, they were instructed by their god Huitzilopochtli to go forth and make wars, and first to apotheosize, after his directions, a Goddess of Discord. Following these directions, they sent to the king of Culhuacan for his daughter to be their queen. Moved by the honor, the father sent his hapless daughter, gorgeously attired, to be enthroned. But the wiley, superstitious, and ferocious Mexicans slew the girl and flayed her, and clothed a young man in her skin, calling him ‘their goddess and mother of their god,’ under the name of Toccy, that is ‘grand mother.’ See also Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., p. 1004.

She was particularly honored by the Totonacs, with whom she was the chief divinity. They greatly loved her, believing that she did not demand human victims, but was content with flowers and fruits, the fat banana and the yellow maize, and small animals, such as doves, quails, and rabbits. More, they hoped that she would in the end utterly deliver them from the cruel necessity of such sacrifices, even to the other gods.

With very different feelings, as we shall soon see, did the Mexicans proper approach this deity, making her temples horrid with the tortured forms of human sacrifices. It shows how deep the stain of the blood was in the Mexican religious heart, how poisonous far the odor of it had crept through all the senses of the Aztec soul, when it could be believed that the great sustainer, the yellow waving maize, the very mother of all, must be fed upon the flesh of her own children.[IX-4]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 16-22; Explicacion del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, lam. xii., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 140; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, tav. xxx., Ib., p. 180; Humboldt, Essai Politique, tom. i., p. 217; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., p. 631. The sacrifices to Centeotl, if she be identical with the earth-mother, are illustrated by the statement of Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 81, that the Mexicans painted the earth-goddess as a frog with a bloody mouth in every joint of her body, (which frog we shall meet again by and by in a Centeotl festival) for they said that the earth devoured all things—a proof also, by the by, among others of a like kind which we shall encounter, that not to the Hindoos alone (as Mr J. G. Müller somewhere affirms), but to the Mexicans also, belonged the idea of multiplying the organs of their deities to express great powers in any given direction. The following note from the Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 179-80, illustrates the last point noticed, gives another form or relation of the goddess of sustenance, and also the origin of the name applied to the Mexican priests: ‘They feign that Mayaguil was a woman with four hundred breasts, and that the gods, on account of her fruitfulness, changed her into the Maguey, which is the vine of that country, from which they make wine. She presided over these thirteen signs; but whoever chanced to be born on the first sign of the Herb, it proved unlucky to him; for they say that it was applied to the Tlamatzatzguex, who were a race of demons dwelling amongst them, who according to their account wandered through the air, from whom the ministers of their temples took their denomination. When this sign arrived, parents enjoined their children not to leave the house, lest any misfortune or unlucky accident should befall them. They believed that those who were born in Two Canes, which is the second sign, would be long lived, for they say that that sign was applied to heaven. They manufacture so many things from this plant called the Maguey, and it is so very useful in that country, that the devil took occasion to induce them to believe that it was a god, and to worship and offer sacrifices to it.’

To make comprehensible various allusions it seems well here to sum up rapidly the characters given of certain goddesses identical with or resembling in various points this Centeotl. Chicomecoatl[IX-5]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 5-6; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethnol. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 341, 349-50, condensing from and commenting upon the codices Vaticanus and Tellerianus says: ‘Tonacacigua, alias Tuchiquetzal (plucking rose), and Chicomecouatl (seven serpents); wife of Tonacatlecotle; the cause of sterility, famine, and miseries of life…. Amongst Sahagun’s superior deities is found Civacoatl, the ‘serpent woman,’ also called Tonantzin, ‘our mother;’ and he, sober as he is in Scriptural allusions, calls her Eve, and ascribes to her, as the interpreters [of the codices] to Tonatacinga, all the miseries and adverse things of the world. This analogy is, if I am not mistaken, the only foundation for all the allusions to Eve and her history, before, during, and after the sin, which the interpreters have tried to extract from paintings which indicate nothing of the kind. They were certainly mistaken in saying that their Tonacacinga was also called Chicomecouatl, seven serpents. They should have said Civacoatl, the serpent woman. Chicomecoatl, instead of being the cause of sterility, famine, etc., is, according to Sahagun, the goddess of abundance, that which supplies both eating and drinking: probably the same as Tzinteotl, or Cinteotl, the goddess of maize (from centli, maize), which he does not mention. There is no more foundation for ascribing to Tonacacigua the name of Suchiquetzal.’ Gama, Dos Piedras, pt i., p. 39, says in effect: Cihuacounatl, or snake woman, was supposed to have given birth to two children, male and female, whence sprung the human race. It is on this account that twins are called in Mexico cocohua, ‘snakes,’ or in the singular cohuatl or coatl, now vulgarly pronounced coate. was, according to Sahagun, the Ceres of Mexico, and the goddess of provisions, as well of what is drunk as of what is eaten. She was represented with a crown on her head, a vase in her right hand, and on her left arm a shield with a great flower painted thereon; her garments and her sandals were red.

The first of the Mexican goddesses was, following the same authority, Cioacoatl, or Civacoatl, the goddess of adverse things, such as poverty, downheartedness, and toil. She appeared often in the guise of a great lady, wearing such apparel as was used in the palace; she was also heard at night in the air shouting and even roaring. Besides her name Cioacoatl, which means ‘snake-woman,’ she was known as Tonantzin, that is to say, ‘our mother.’ She was arrayed in white robes, and her hair was arranged in front, over her forehead, in little curls that crossed each other. It was a custom with her to carry a cradle on her shoulders, as one that carries a child in it, and after setting it down in the market-place beside the other women, to disappear. When this cradle was examined, there was found a stone knife in it, and with this the priests slew their sacrificial victims.

Medicine-Goddess

The goddess of Sahagun’s description most resembling the Toci of other writers, is the one that he calls ‘the mother of the gods, the heart of the earth, and our ancestor or grandmother (abuela).’ She is described as the goddess of medicine and of medicinal herbs, as worshiped by doctors, surgeons, blood-letters, of those that gave herbs to produce abortions, and also of the diviners that pronounced upon the fortune of children according to their birth. They worshiped her also that cast lots with grains of maize, those that augured by looking into water in a bowl, those that cast lots with bits of cord tied together, those that drew little worms or maggots from the mouth or eyes, those that extracted little stones from other parts of the body, and those that had sweat-baths, temazcallis, in their houses. These last always set the image of this goddess in the baths, calling her Temazcalteci, that is to say, ‘the grandmother of the baths.’ Her adorers made this goddess a feast every year, buying a woman for a sacrifice, decorating this victim with the ornaments proper to the goddess. Every evening they danced with this unfortunate, and regaled her delicately, praying her to eat as they would a great lady, and amusing her in every way that she might not weep nor be sad at the prospect of death. When the dreadful hour did come, having slain her, together with two others that accompanied her to death, they flayed her; then a man clothed himself in her skin, and went about all the city playing many pranks—by all of which her identity with Tozi seems sufficiently clear. This goddess was represented with the mouth and chin stained with ulli, and a round patch of the same on her face; on her head she had a kind of turban made of cloth rolled round and knotted behind. In this knot were stuck plumes which issued from it like flames, and the ends of the cloth fell behind over the shoulders. She wore sandals, a shirt with a kind of broad serrated lower border, and white petticoats. In her left hand she held a shield with a round plate of gold in the centre thereof; in her right hand she held a broom.[IX-6]Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 3-4; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 4-7.

The festival in which divers of the various manifestations of the mother-goddess were honored, was held in the beginning of the eleventh Aztec month, beginning on the 14th of September; Centeotl, or Cinteotl, or Centeutl, or Tzinteutl, is however represented therein as a male and not a female.

Sacrifice to the Mother-Goddess

Fifteen days before the commencement of the festival those that took part in it began to dance, if dancing it could be called, in which the feet and body were hardly moved, and in which the time was kept by raising and lowering the hands to the beat of the drum. This went on for eight days, beginning in the afternoon and finishing with the set of sun, the dancers being perfectly silent, arranged in four lines, and each having both hands full of flowers, cut branches and all. Some of the youths, indeed, too restless to bear the silence, imitated with their mouths the sound of the drum; but all were forced to keep, as well in motion as in voice, the exactest time and good order. On the expiration of these eight days the medical women, both old and young, divided themselves into two parties, and fought a kind of mock battle before the woman that had to die in this festival, to amuse her and keep tears away; for they held it of bad augury if this miserable creature gave way to her grief, and as a sign that many women had to die in childbirth. This woman who was called for the time being, ‘the image of the mother of the gods,’ led in person the first attack upon one of the two parties of fighters, being accompanied by three old women that were to her as mothers and never left her side, called respectively Aoa, Tlavitezqui, and Xocuauhtli.[IX-7]Or, according to Bustamante’s ed., Aba, Tlavitecqui, and Xoquauchtli.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 149. The fight consisted in pelting each other with handfuls of red leaves, or leaves of the nopal, or of yellow flowers called cempoalsuchitl, the same sort as had been carried by the actors in the preceding dance. These women all wore girdles, to which were suspended little gourds filled with powder of the herb called yietl. When the pelting-match was over, the woman that had to die was led back to the house where she was guarded; and all this was repeated during four successive days. Then the victim representing Toci, that is to say, ‘our grandmother or ancestor,’ for so was called the mother of the gods, was led for the last time through the market-place by the medical woman. This ceremony was called ‘the farewell to the market-place;’ for never more should she see it who this day passed through, decorated in such mournful frippery, surrounded by the pomp of such hollow mirth. She went sowing maize on every side as she walked, and having passed through the market she was received by the priests who took her to a house near the cu where she had to be killed. There the medical women and midwives consoled her: Daughter, be joyful and not sad, this night thou shalt sleep with the king. Then they adorned her with the ornaments of the goddess Toci, striving all the while to keep the fact of her death in the back-ground, that she might die suddenly and without knowing it. At midnight, in darkness, not so much as a cough breaking the silence, she was led to the holy temple-top, and caught up swiftly on the shoulders of a man. There was hardly a struggle; her bearer felt himself deluged with blood, while she was beheaded with all despatch, and flayed, still warm. The skin of the thighs was first taken off and carried, for a purpose to be presently revealed, to the cu of Centeotl, who was the son of Toci. With the remainder of the skin, next taken off, a priest clothed himself, drawing it on, it would appear from other records, like a glove; this priest who was a young man chosen for his bodily forces and size, thus clothed represented Toci, the goddess herself. The Toci priest, with this horrible jacket sticking to his sinewy bust, then came down from the temple amid the chanting of the singers of the cu. On each side of him went two persons, who had made a vow to help him in this service, and behind came several other priests. In front there ran a number of principal men and soldiers, armed with besoms of blood-stained grass, who looked back from time to time, and struck their shields as if provoking a fight; these he pretended to pursue with great fury, and all that saw this play (which was called cacacalli) feared and trembled exceedingly. On reaching the cu of Huitzilopochtli, the Toci priest spread out his arms and stood like a cross before the image of the war god; this he did four times and then went on to the cu of Centeotl, whither, as we remember, the skin of the thighs of the flayed woman had been sent. This skin of the thighs another young priest, representing the god Centeotl, son of Toci, had put on over his face like a mask. In addition to this loathsome veil, he wore a jacket of feathers and a hood of feathers attached to the jacket. This hood ran out into a peak of a spiral form falling behind; and the back-bone or spine of this spiral resembled the comb of a cock; this hood was called ytztlacoliuhqui, that is to say ‘god of frost.’

The Toci priest and the Centeotl priest next went together to the cu of Toci, where the first waited for the morning (for all this already described took place at night) to have certain trappings put on over his horrid under-vest. When the morning broke, amid the chanting of the singers, all the principal men, who had been waiting below, ran with great swiftness up the steps of the temple carrying their offerings. Some of these principal men began to cover the feet and the head of the Toci priest with the white downy inner feathers of the eagle; others painted his face red; others put on him a rather short shirt with the figure of an eagle wrought or woven into the breast of it, and certain painted petticoats; others beheaded quails and offered copal. All this done quickly, these men took their departure.

The Skin-Bearers

Then were brought forth and put on the Toci priest all his rich vestures, and a kind of square crown very wide above and ornamented with five little banners, one in each corner, and in the centre one higher than the others. All the captives that had to die were brought out and set in line, and he took four of them one after the other, threw them down on the sacrificial stone and took out their hearts; the rest of the captives he handed over to the other priests to complete the work he had begun. After this he set out with the Centeotl priest for the cu of the latter. In advance of these a little way there walked a party of their devotees, called ycuexoan, decorated with papers, girt for breech-clout with twisted paper, carrying at their shoulders a crumpled paper, round like a shield, and tassels of untwisted cotton. On either side also there went those that sold lime[IX-8]Lime was much used in the preparation of maize for making various articles of food. in the market, and the medical women, moving to the singing of the priests and the beat of drum. Having come to the place where heads were spitted at the cu of Centeotl, the Toci priest set one foot on the drum and waited there for the Centeotl priest. The two being come together it would seem that he who represented Centeotl now set out alone, with much haste and accompanied by many soldiers, for a place on the enemy’s frontier where there was a kind of small hut built. There at last was deposited and left the skin of the thighs of the sacrificed woman which had served such ghastly use. And often, it is said, it happened, this ceremony taking place on the border of a hostile territory, that the enemy sallied out against the procession, and there was fighting and many were slain.

After this the young man who represented the goddess Toci was taken to the house that is called Atempan. The king took his seat on a throne with a mat of eagle-skin and feathers under his feet, and a tiger-skin over the back of his seat, and there was a grand review of the army, and a distribution from the royal treasury of raiment, ornaments, and arms; and it was understood that those who received such arms had to die with them in war. This done, dancing was begun in the court-yard of the temple of Toci; and all who had received presents, as above, repaired thither. This dancing, as in the first part of the festival, consisted for the most part in keeping time to the beat of the drum with hands filled with flowers; so that the whole court looked like a living garden; and there was so much gold, for the king and all the princes were there, that the sun flashed through all as on water. This began at mid-day and went on for two days. On the evening of the second day, the priests of the goddess Chicomecoatl, clothed with the skins of the captives that had died in a former day, ascended a small cu called the table of Huitzilopochtli and sowed maize of all kinds, white and yellow and red, and calabash-seeds, upon the heads of the people that were below. The people tried to gather up these as they fell, and elbowed each other a good deal. The damsels, called cioatlamacazque, that served the goddess Chicomecoatl, carried each one on her shoulder, rolled in a rich mantle, seven ears of maize, striped with melted ulli and wrapped in white paper; their legs and arms were decorated with feathers sprinkled over with marcasite. These sang with the priest of their goddess. This done, one of the priests descended from the above-mentioned cu of Huitzilopochtli, carrying in his hand a large basket filled with powdered chalk and feather-down, which he set in a small chamber, or little cave, called coaxalpan, between the temple-stairs and the temple itself. This cavity was reached from below by four or five steps, and when the basket was put down there was a general rush of the soldiers to be first to secure some of the contents. Every one, as he got his hands filled, with much elbowing, returned running to the place whence he had set out. All this time the Toci priest had been looking on, and now he pretended to chase those that ran, while they pelted him back with the down and powdered chalk they had in their hands; the king himself running a little way and pelting him like the rest. After this fashion they all ran away from him and left him alone, except some priests, who followed him to a place called Tocititlan, when he took off the skin of the sacrificed woman and hung it up in a little hut that was there; taking care that its arms were stretched out, and that the head (or, surely, the neck—for have we not read that the head was cut off the woman on the fatal night which terminated her life?), was turned toward the road, or street. And this was the last of the ceremonies of the feast of Ochpaniztli.[IX-9]Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 69-70; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 148-56.

The Xilonen Festival

The intimate connection of the goddess Xilonen (from xilotl, a young or tender ear of maize) with Centeotl is shown by the fact that in the cu of Centeotl was killed the unfortunate woman who was decorated to resemble the goddess Xilonen. The festival of Xilonen commenced on the eleventh day of the eighth Mexican month, which month begins on the 16th of July. The victim was made to resemble the image of the goddess by having her face painted yellow from the nose downward, and her brow red. On her head was put a crown of paper with four corners, from the centre and top of which issued many plumes. Round her neck and over her breasts hung strings of precious stones, and over these was put a round medal of gold. Her garments and sandals were curiously wrought, the latter painted with red stripes. On her left arm was a shield, and in the right hand she held a stick, or baton, painted yellow. The women led her to death dancing round her, and the priests and the principal men danced before them, sowing incense as they went. The priest who was to act as executioner had on his shoulders a bunch of feathers held there in the grip of an eagle’s talons, artificial; another of the priests carried the hollow board filled with rattles, so often mentioned. At the foot of the cu of Centeotl, this latter stopped in front of the Xilonen woman, scattered incense before her, and rattled with his board, waving it from side to side. They ascended the cu, and one of the priests caught the victim up, twisting her backwards, her shoulders against his shoulders; on which living altar her heart was cut out through her breast, and put into a cup. After that there was more dancing, in which the women, old and young, took part in a body by themselves, their arms and legs decorated with red macaw feathers, and their faces painted yellow and dusted with marcasite. There was also a banquet of small pies called xocotamalli, during which to the old men and women license was given to drink pulque; the young, however, being restrained from the bacchanalian part of this enjoyment by severe and sometimes capital punishment.[IX-10]Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 60-1; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 135-9; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 75; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 269-71.

Lastly, the intimate connection or identity of Centeotl with the earth-mother, the all-nourisher, seems clearly symbolized in the feast of the fourth month of the Mexicans, which began on the 27th of April. In it they made a festival to the god of cereals, under the name of Centeotl, and to the goddess of provisions, called Chicomecoatl. First they fasted four days, putting certain rushes or water-flags beside the images of the gods, staining the white part of the bottom of each rush with blood drawn from their ears or legs; branches too, of the kind called acxoiatl, and a kind of bed or mattress of hay were put before the altars. A sort of porridge of maize called mazamorra was also made and given to the youths. Then all walked out into the country, and through the maize-fields, carrying stalks of maize, and other herbs called mecoatl. With these they strewed the image of the god of cereals that every one had in his house, and they put papers on it and food before it of various kinds; five chiquivites,[IX-11]Chiquiuitl, cesto ó canasta. Molina, Vocabulario. or baskets, of tortillas, and on the top of each chiquivitl a cooked frog, a basket of chian[IX-12]Chian, ó Chia, cierta semilla de que sacan azeite. Id. flour, which they call pinolli;[IX-13]Pinolli, la harina de mayz y chia, antes que la deslian. Id. and a basket of toasted maize mixed with beans. They cut also a joint from a green maize-stalk, stuffed the little tube with morsels of every kind of the above-mentioned food, and set it carefully on the back of the frog.[IX-14]Apparently the earth symbolized as a frog (see this vol. p. 351, note 4.) and bearing the fruits thereof on her back. This each one did in his own house, and in the afternoon all this offering of food was carried to the cu of the goddess of provisions, of the goddess Chicomecoatl, and eaten there in a general scramble, take who take could; symbolizing one knows not what, if not the laisser-faire and laisser-aller system of national commisariat much advocated by many political economists, savage and civilized.

Blessing the Seed-Maize

In this festival the ears of maize that were preserved for seed were carried in procession by virgins to a cu, apparently the one just mentioned, but which is here called the cu of Chicomecoatl and of Centeotl. The maidens carried on their shoulders not more than seven ears of corn apiece, sprinkled with drops of oil of ulli, and wrapped first in papers and then in a cloth. The legs and arms of these girls were ornamented with red feathers, and their faces were smeared with the pitch called chapopotli and sprinkled with marcasite. As they went along in this bizarre attire, the people crowded to see them pass, but it was forbidden to speak to them. Sometimes indeed an irrepressible youth would break out into words of admiration or love toward some fair pitch-besmeared face, but his answer came sharp and swift from one of the old women that watched the younger, in some such fashion as this: And so thou speakest, raw coward! thou must be speaking, eh? Think first of performing some man’s feat, and get rid of that tail of hair at the nape of thy neck that marks the coward and the good-for-nothing. It is not for thee to speak here; thou art as much a woman as I am; thou hast never come out from behind the fire! But the young lovers of Tenochtitlan were not without insolent springalls among them, much given to rude gibes, and retorts like the following: Well said, my lady, I receive this with thanks, I will do what you command me, will take care to show myself a man; but as for you, I value two cacao-beans more than you and all your lineage; put mud on your body, and scratch yourself; fold one leg over the other and roll in the dust; see! here is a rough stone, knock your face against it; and if you want anything more take a red-hot coal and burn a hole in your throat to spit through; for God’s sake, hold your peace.

This the young fellows said, writes Sahagun, to show their courage; and so it went, give and take, till the maize was carried to the cu and blessed. Then the folk returned to their houses and sanctified maize was put in the bottom of every granary, and it was said that it was the heart thereof, and it remained there till taken out for seed. These ceremonies were specially in honor of the goddess Chicomecoatl. She supplied provisions, she it was that had made all kinds of maize and frijoles, and whatsover vegetables could be eaten, and all sorts of chia; and for this they made her that festival with offerings of food, and with songs and dances, and with the blood of quails. All the ornaments of her attire were bright red and curiously wrought, and in her hands they put stalks of maize.[IX-15]Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 43-4; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 97-100; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 67; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 52-3, 60-1, 134, 152-3, 181, 255-6.

The Mexicans deified, under the name Cioapipilti, all women that died in child-bed. There were oratories raised to their honor in every ward that had two streets. In such oratories, called cioateucalli or ciateupan, there were kept images of these goddesses adorned with certain papers called amatetevitl. The eighth movable feast of the Mexican calendar was dedicated to them, falling in the sign Cequiahuitl, in the first house; in this feast were slain in their honor all lying in the jails under pain of death. These goddesses were said to move through the air at pleasure, and to appear to whom they would of those that lived upon the earth, and sometimes to enter into and possess them. They were accustomed to hurt children with various infirmities, especially paralysis and other sudden diseases. Their favorite haunt on earth was the cross-roads, and, on certain days of the year, people would not go out of their houses for fear of meeting them. They were propitiated in their temples and at the cross-roads by offerings of bread kneaded into various shapes—into figures of butterflies and thunderbolts for example—by offerings of small tamales, or pies, and of toasted maize. Their images, besides the papers above mentioned, were decorated by having the face, arms, and legs painted very white; their ears were made of gold; their hair was dressed like that of ladies, in little curls; the shirt was painted over with black waves; the petticoats were worked in divers colors; the sandals were white.

The Mother-Goddess and Woman in Child-Bed

The mother-goddess, under the form of the serpent-woman, Cioacoatl, or Ciuacoatl, or Cihuacoatl, or, lastly, Quilaztli, seems to have been held as the patroness of women in child-bed generally, and, especially, of those that died there. When the delivery of a woman was likely to be tedious and dangerous, the midwife addressed the patient saying: Be strong, my daughter; we can do nothing for thee. Here are present thy mother and thy relations, but thou alone must conduct this business to its termination. See to it, my daughter, my well-beloved, that thou be a strong and valiant and manly woman; be like her who first bore children, like Cioacoatl, like Quilaztli. And if still after a day and a night of labor the woman could not bring forth, the midwife took her away from all other persons and brought her into a closed room and made many prayers, calling upon the goddess Cioacoatl, and upon the goddess Yoalticitl,[IX-16]Yoalticitl, another name of the mother-goddess, of the mother of the gods, of the mother of us all, of our grandmother or ancestress; more particularly that form of the mother-goddess described, after Sahagun (this vol. p. 353), as being the patroness of medicine and of doctors and of the sweat-baths. Sahagun speaks in another passage of Yoalticitl (Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 453): ‘La madre de los Dioses, que és la Diosa de las medicinas y medicos, y és madre de todos nosotros, la cual se llama Yoalticitl, la qual tiene poder y autoridad sobre los Temazcales (sweat-baths) que llaman Xuchicalli, en el qual lugar esta Diosa vé las cosas secretas, y adereza las cosas desconcertadas en los cuerpos de los hombres, y fortifica las cosas tiernas y blandas.’ and upon other goddesses. If, notwithstanding all, however, the woman died, they gave her the title, mociaquezqui, that is ‘valiant woman,’ and they washed all her body, and washed with soap her head and her hair. Her husband lifted her on his shoulders, and, with her long hair flowing loose behind him, carried her to the place of burial. All the old midwives accompanied the body, marching with shields and swords, and shouting as when soldiers close in the attack. They had need of their weapons, for the body that they escorted was a holy relic which many were eager to win; and a party of youths fought with these Amazons to take their treasure from them: this fight was no play but a very bone-breaking earnest. The burial procession set out at the setting of the sun and the corpse was interred in the court-yard of the cu of the goddesses, or celestial women called Cioapipilti. Four nights the husband and his friends guarded the grave and four nights the youths, or rawest and most inexperienced soldiers, prowled like wolves about the little band. If, either from the fighting midwives or from the night-watchers, they succeeded in securing the body, they instantly cut off the middle finger of the left hand and the hair of the head; either of these things being put in one’s shield, made one fierce, brave, invincible in war, and blinded the eyes of one’s enemies. There prowled also round the sacred tomb certain wizards, called temamacpalitotique, seeking to hack off and steal the whole left arm of the dead wife; for they held it to be of mighty potency in their enchantments, and a thing that when they went to a house to work their malice thereon, would wholly take away the courage of the inmates, and dismay them so that they could neither move hand nor foot, though they saw all that passed.

The House of the Sun

The death of this woman in child-bed was mourned by the midwives, but her parents and relations were joyful thereat; for they said that she did not go to hades, or the under-ground world, but to the western part of the House of the Sun. To the eastern part of the House of the Sun, as the ancients said, were taken up all the soldiers that died in war. When the sun rose in the morning these brave men decorated themselves in their panoply of war, and accompanied him towards the mid-heaven, shouting and fighting, apparently in a sham or review battle, until they reached the point of noonday, which was called nepantlatonatiuh. At this point the heroines, whose home was in the west of heaven, the mocioaquezque, the valiant women, dead in child-bed, who ranked as equal with the heroes fallen in war, met these heroes and relieved them of their duty as guards of honor of the sun. From noon till night, down the western slope of light, while the forenoon escort of warriors were scattered through all the fields and gardens of heaven, sucking flowers till another day should call them anew to their duty, the women, in panoply of war, just as the men had been, and fighting like them with clashing shields and shouts of joy, bore the sun to his setting; carrying him on a litter of quetzales, or rich feathers, called the quetzal-apanecaiutl. At this setting-place of the sun the women were, in their turn, relieved by those of the under world, who here came out to receive him. For it was reported of old by the ancients that when night began in the upper world the sun began to shine through hades, and that thereupon the dead rose up from their sleep and bore his shining litter through their domain. At this hour too the celestial women, released from their duty in heaven, scattered and poured down through the air upon the earth, where, with a touch of the dear nature that makes the world kin, they are described as looking for spindles to spin with, and shuttles to weave with, and all the old furniture and implements of their house-wifely pride. This thing, says Sahagun, “the devil wrought to deceive withal, for very often, in the form of those women, he appeared to their bereaved husbands, giving them petticoats and shirts.”

Very beautiful was the form of address before burial used by the midwife to the dead woman who had taken rank among the mocioaquezque or mocioaquetza: O woman, strong and warlike, child well-beloved, valiant one, beautiful and tender dove, strong hast thou been and toil-enduring as a hero; thou hast conquered, thou hast done as did thy mother the lady Cioacoatl, or Quilaztli. Very valiantly hast thou fought, stoutly hast thou handled the shield and the spear that the great mother put in thine hand. Up with thee! break from sleep! behold it is already day; already the red of morning shoots through the clouds; already the swallows and all birds are abroad. Rise, my daughter, attire thyself, go to that good land where is the house of thy father and mother the Sun; thither let thy sisters, the celestial women, carry thee, they that are always joyful and merry and filled with delight, because of the Sun with whom they take pleasure. My tender daughter and lady, not without sore travail hast thou gotten the glory of this victory; a great pain and a hard penance hast thou undergone. Well and fortunately hast thou purchased this death. Is this, peradventure, a fruitless death, and without great merit and honor? Nay, verily, but one of much honor and profit. Who receives other such great mercy, other such happy victory as thou? for thou hast gained with thy death eternal life, a life full of joy and delight, with the goddesses called Cioapipilti, the celestial goddesses. Go now, my lady, my well-beloved; little by little advance toward them; be one of them, that they may receive thee and be always with thee, that thou mayest rejoice and be glad in our father and mother the Sun, and accompany him whithersoever he wish to take pleasure. O my lady, my well-beloved daughter, thou hast left us behind, us old people, unworthy of such glory; thou hast torn thyself away from thy father and mother, and departed. Not indeed of thine own will, but thou wast called; thou didst follow a voice that called. We must remain orphans and forlorn, old and luckless and poor; misery will glorify itself in us. O my lady, thou hast left us here that we may go from door to door and through the streets in poverty and sorrow; we pray thee to remember us where thou art, and to provide for the poverty that we here endure. The sun wearies us with his great heat, the air with its coldness, and the frost with its torment. All these things afflict and grieve our miserable earthen bodies; hunger is lord over us, and we can do nothing against it. My well-beloved, I pray thee to visit us since thou art a valorous woman and a lady, since thou art settled forever in the place of delight and blessedness, there to live and be forever with our Lord. Thou seest him with thine eyes, thou speakest to him with thy tongue, pray to him for us, entreat him that he favor us, and therewith we shall be at rest.[IX-17]Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 5, 35, vol. v., pp. 459-2; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 8-9, lib. ii., pp. 78-9; tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 185-191.

Chalchihuitlicue

Chalchihuitlicue or Chalchiuhcyeje is described by Clavigero as the goddess of water and the mate of Tlaloc. She had other names relating to water in its different states, as Apozonallotl and Acuecuejotl, which mean the swelling and fluctuation of water; Atlacamani, or the storms excited thereon; Ahuic and Aiauh, or its motion, now to one side, now to the other; and Xixiquipilihui, the alternate rising and falling of the waves. The Tlascaltecs called her Matlalcueje, that is ‘clothed in a green robe;’ and they gave the same name to the highest mountain of Tlascala, on whose summit are found those stormy clouds which generally burst over the city of Puebla. To that summit the Tlascaltecs ascended to perform their sacrifices, and offer up their prayers. This is the very same goddess of water to whom Torquemada gives the name of Hochiquetzal, and Boturini that of Macuilxochiquetzalli.[IX-18]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 16.

Of the accuracy of the assertions of this last sentence I am by no means certain; Boturini and Torquemada both describe their goddess of water without giving any support thereto. Boturini says that she was metaphorically called by the Mexicans the goddess of the Petticoat of Precious Stones—chalchihuites, as it would appear from other authorities, being meant—and that she was represented with large pools at her feet, and symbolized by certain reeds that grow in moist places. She was particularly honored by fishermen and others whose trade connected them with water, and great ladies were accustomed to dedicate to her their nuptials—probably, as will be seen immediately, because this goddess had much to do with certain lustral ceremonies performed on new-born children.[IX-19]Boturini, Idea, pp. 25-6.

Many names, writes Torquemada, were given to this goddess, but that of Chalchihuitlicue was the most common and usual; it meant to say, ‘petticoat of water, of a shade between green and blue,’ that is, of the color of the stones called chalchihuites.[IX-20]’The stones called chalchiuites by the Mexicans (and written variously chalchibetes, chalchihuis, and calchihuis, by the chroniclers) were esteemed of high value by all the Central American and Mexican nations. They were generally of green quartz, jade, or the stone known as madre de Esmeralda…. The goddess of water, amongst the Mexicans, bore the name of Chalchiuilcuye, the woman of the Chalchiuites, and the name of Chalchiuihapan was often applied to the city of Tlaxcalla, from a beautiful fountain of water found near it, “the color of which,” according to Torquemada, “was between blue and green.”‘ Squier in Palacio, Carta, p. 110, note 15. In the same work p. 53, we find mention made by Palacio of an idol apparently representing Chalchihuitlicue: ‘Very near here, is a little village called Coatan, in the neighborhood of which is a lake [“This lake is distant two leagues to the southward of the present considerable town of Guatepeque, from which it takes its name, Laguna de Guatepue“—Guatemala], situated on the flank of the volcano. Its water is bad; it is deep, and full of caymans. In its middle there are two small islands. The Indians regard the lake as an oracle of much authority…. I learned that certain negroes and mulattoes of an adjacent estate had been there [on the islands], and had found a great idol of stone, in the form of a woman, and some objects which had been offered in sacrifice. Near by were found some stones called chalchibites.’ She was the companion, not the wife of Tlaloc, for indeed as our author affirms, the Mexicans did not think so grossly of their gods and goddesses as to marry them.[IX-21]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 47.

Idol of Chalchihuitlicue

According to Sahagun, Chalchihuitlicue was the sister of the Tlalocs. She was honored because she had power over the waters of the sea and of the rivers to drown those that went down to them, to raise tempests and whirlwinds, and to cause boats to founder. They worshiped her all those that dealt in water, that went about selling it from canoes, or peddled jars of it in the market. They represented this goddess as a woman, painted her face yellow, save the forehead, which was often blue, and hung round her neck a collar of precious stones from which depended a medal of gold. On her head was a crown of light blue paper, with plumes of green feathers, and tassels that fell to the nape of her neck. Her ear-rings were of turquoise wrought in mosaic. Her clothing was a shirt, or upper body-garment, clear blue petticoats with fringes from which hung marine shells, and white sandals. In her left hand she held a shield, and a leaf of the broad round white water-lily, called atlacuezona.[IX-22]Atlacueçonan, ninfa del onenufar, flor de yerna de agua. Molina, Vocabulario. The Abbé Brasseur adds, on what authority I have not been able to find, that this leaf was ornamented with golden flags. Hist. des Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 324. He adds in a note to this passage, what is very true, that, ‘suivant Ixtlilxochitl, et après lui Veytia, la déesse des eaux aurait été adorée sous la forme d’une grenouille, faite d’une seule émeraude, et qui, suivant Ixtlilxochitl, existait encore au temps de la conquête de Mexico. La seule déesse adorée sous la forme unique d’une grenouille était la terre.’ (See this vol. p. 351, note 4.) Gomara, Hist. Conq. Mex., fol. 326, says that the figure of a frog was held to be the goddess of fishes: ‘Entre los ídolos … estaua el de la rama. A la cual tenian por diosa del pescado.’ Motolinia extends this last statement as follows. The Mexicans had idols he says, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 34, ‘de los pescados grandes y de los lagartos de agua, hasta sapos y ranas, y de otros peces grandes, y estos decian que eran los dioses del pescado. De un pueblo de la laguna de México llevaron unos ídolos de estos peces, que eran unos peces hechos de piedra, grandes; y despues volviendo por allí pidiéronles para comer algunos peces, y respondieron que habian llevado el dios del pescado y que no podian tomar peces.’ In her right hand she held as a sceptre a vessel in the shape of a cross, or of a monstrance of the Catholic Church. This goddess, together with Chicomecoatl, goddess of provisions, and Vixtocioatl, goddess of salt, was held in high veneration by kings and lords, for they said that these three supported the common people so that they could live and multiply.[IX-23]Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 5-6, 36; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 9-10, lib. ii., p. 81; Amer. Ethnol. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 342, 350.

Two Lustrations or Baptisms

Chalchihuitlicue was especially connected with certain ceremonies of lustration of children, resembling in many points baptism among Christians. It would seem that two of these lustrations were practiced upon every infant, and the first took place immediately upon its birth. When the midwife had cut the umbilical cord of the child, then she washed it, and while washing it said, varying her address according to its sex: My son, approach now thy mother, Chalchihuitlicue, the goddess of water; may she see good to receive thee, to wash thee, and to put away from thee the filthiness that thou takest from thy father and mother; may she see good to purify thine heart, to make it good and clean, and to instill into thee good habits and manners.

Then the midwife turned to the water itself and spoke: Most compassionate lady, Chalchihuitlicue, here has come into the world this thy servant, sent hither by our father and mother, whose names are Ometecutli and Omecioatl,[IX-24]See this vol., p. 58, note 15. who live on the ninth heaven, which is the place of the habitation of the gods. We know not what are the gifts that this infant brings with it; we know not what was given to it before the beginning of the world; we know not what it is, nor what mischief and vice it brings with it taken from its father and mother. It is now in thine hands, wash and cleanse it as thou knowest to be necessary; in thine hands we leave it. Purge it from the filthiness it inherits from its father and its mother, all spot and defilement let the water carry away and undo. See good, O our lady, to cleanse and purify its heart and life that it may lead a quiet and peaceable life in this world; for indeed we leave this creature in thine hands, who art mother and lady of the gods, and alone worthy of the gift of cleansing that thou has held from before the beginning of the world; see good to do as we have entreated thee to this child now in thy presence.

Then the midwife spake again; I pray thee to receive this child here brought before thee. This said, the midwife took water and blew her breath upon it, and gave to taste of it to the babe, and touched the babe with it on the breast and on the top of the head. Then she said: My well-beloved son, or daughter, approach here thy mother and father, Chalchihuitlicue and Chalchihuitlatonac; let now this goddess take thee, for she has to bear thee on her shoulders and in her arms through this world. Then the midwife dipped the child into water and said: Enter, my son, into the water that is called mamatlac and tuspalac; let it wash thee; let him cleanse thee that is in every place, let him see good to put away from thee all the evil that thou hast carried with thee from before the beginning of the world, the evil that thy father and thy mother have joined to thee. Having so washed the creature, the midwife then wrapped it up, addressing it the while as follows: O precious stone, O rich feather, O emerald, O sapphire, thou wert shaped where abide the great god and the great goddess that are above the heavens; created and formed thou wert by thy mother and father, Ometecutli and Omecioatl, the celestial woman and the celestial man. Thou hast come into this world, a place of many toils and troubles, of intemperate heat and intemperate cold and wind, a place of hunger and thirst, of weariness and of tears; of a verity we cannot say that this world is other than a place of weeping, of sadness, of vexation. Behold thy lot, weariness and weeping and tears. Thou hast come, my well-beloved, repose then and take here thy rest; let our Lord that is in every place provide for and support thee. And in saying all these things the midwife spake softly, as one that prays.

The second lustration or baptism, usually took place on the fifth day after birth, but in every case the astrologers and diviners were consulted, and if the signs were not propitious, the baptism was postponed till a day of good sign came. The ceremony, when the child was a boy, began by bringing to it a little shield, bow, and arrows; of which arrows there were four, one pointing toward each of the four points of the world. There were also brought a little shield, bow, and arrows, made of paste or dough of wild amaranth seeds, and a pottage of beans and toasted maize, and a little breech-clout and blanket or mantle. The poor in such cases had no more than the little shield, bow, and arrows, together with some tamales and toasted maize. When the child was a girl, there were brought to it, instead of mimic weapons, certain woman’s implements and tools for spinning and weaving, the spindle and distaff, a little shirt and petticoats. These things being prepared, suiting the sex of the infant, its parents and relatives assembled before sunrise. When the sun rose the midwife asked for a new vessel full of water; and she took the child in her hands. Then the by-standers carried all the implements and utensils already mentioned into the court-yard of the house, where the midwife set the face of the child toward the west, and spake to the child saying: O grandson of mine, O eagle, O tiger, O valiant man, thou hast come into the world, sent by thy father and mother, the great Lord and the great lady; thou wast created and begotten in thy house, which is the place of the supreme gods that are above the nine heavens. Thou art a gift from our son Quetzalcoatl, who is in every place; join thyself now to thy mother, the goddess of water, Chalchihuitlicue.

Then the midwife gave the child to taste of the water, putting her moistened fingers in its mouth, and said: Take this; by this thou hast to live on the earth, to grow and to flourish; through this we get all things that support existence on the earth; receive it. Then with her moistened fingers she touched the breast of the child, and said: Behold the pure water that washes and cleanses thine heart, that removes all filthiness; receive it; may the goddess see good to purify and cleanse thine heart. Then the midwife poured water upon the head of the child saying: O my grandson, my son, take this water of the Lord of the world, which is thy life, invigorating and refreshing, washing and cleansing. I pray that this celestial water, blue and light blue, may enter into thy body and there live; I pray that it may destroy in thee and put away from thee all the things evil and adverse that were given thee before the beginning of the world. Into thine hand, O goddess of water, are all mankind put, because thou art our mother Chalchihuitlicue. Having so washed the body of the child and so spoken, the midwife said: Wheresoever thou art in this child, O thou hurtful thing, begone, leave it, put thyself apart; for now does it live anew, and anew is it born; now again is it purified and cleansed; now again is it shaped and engendered by our mother the goddess of water.

Prayer to the Earth-Mother

All these things being done and spoken, the midwife lifted the child in both her hands toward heaven and said: O Lord, behold here thy creature that thou hast sent to this place of pain, of affliction, of anguish, to this world. Give it, O Lord, thy gifts and thine inspiration, forasmuch as thou art the great god, and hast with thee the great goddess. Then the midwife stooped again and set the child upon the earth, and raised it the second time toward heaven, saying: O our lady, who art mother of the heavens, who art called Citlalatonac,[IX-25]See note 24. ‘Entre los Dioses que estos ciegos Mexicanos fingieron tener, y ser maiores, que otros, fueron dos; vno llamado Ometecuhtli, que quiere decir, dos hidalgos, ò cavalleros; y el otro llamaron Omecihuatl, que quiere decir, dos mugeres: los quales, por otros nombres, fueron llamados, Citlalatonac, que quiere decir, Estrella que resplandece, ò resplandeciente; y el otro, Citlalicue, que quiere decir, Faldellin de la Estrella: … Estos dos Dioses fingidos de esta Gentilidad, creìan ser el vno Hombre, y el otro Muger; y como à dos naturaleças distintas, y de distintos sexos las nombraban, como por los nombres dichos parece. De estos dos Dioses, (o por mejor decir, Demonios) tuvieron creìdo estos naturales, que residian en vna Ciudad gloriosa, asentada sobre los once Cielos, cuio suelo era mas alto, y supremo de ellos; y que en aquella Ciudad goçaban de todos los deleites imaginables y poseìan todas las riqueças de el Mundo; y decian que desde alli arriba regian, y governaban toda esta maquina inferior del Mundo, y todo aquello que es visible, è invisible, influiendo en todas las Animas, que criaban todas las inclinaciones naturales, que vemos aver en todas las criaturas racionales, è irracionales; y que cuidaban de todo, como por naturaleça los convenia, atalaindo desde aquel su asiento las cosas criadas…. De manera, que segun lo dicho, está mui claro de entender, que tenian opinion, que los que regian, y governaban el Mundo, eran dos (conviene á saber) vn Dios, y vna Diosa, de los quales el vno que era el Dios Hombre, obraba en todo el genero de los Varones; y el otro, que era la Diosa, criaba, y obraba en todo el genero de las Mugeres.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 37. to thee I direct my voice and my cry; I pray thee to inspire with thy virtue, what virtue soever it may be, to give and to instil it into this creature. Then the midwife stooped again and set the child on the ground, and raised it the third time toward heaven, and said: O our Lord, god and goddess celestial, that are in the heavens, behold this creature; see good to pour into it thy virtue and thy breath, so that it may live upon the earth. Then a fourth and last time the midwife set the babe upon the ground, a fourth time she lifted it toward heaven, and she spake to the sun and said: O our Lord, Sun, Totonametl, Tlaltecutli, that art our mother and our father, behold this creature, which is like a bird of precious plumage, like a zaquan or a quechutl;[IX-26]Caquantototl, paxaro de pluma amarillo y rica. Molina, Vocabulario. According to Bustamante however, this bird is not one in anyway remarkable for plumage, but is identical with the tzacua described by Clavigero, and is here used as an example of a vigilant and active soldier. Bustamante (in a note to Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 194-5) writes: Tzacua, of this bird repeated mention has been made in this history, for the Indians used it for a means of comparison or simile in their speeches. It is an early-rising bird (madrugador), and has nothing notable in its plumage or in its voice, but only in its habits. This bird is one of the last to go to rest at night and one of the first to announce the coming sun. An hour before daybreak a bird of this species, having passed the night with many of his fellows on any branch, begins to call them, with a shrill clear note that he keeps repeating in a glad tone till some of them reply. The tzacua is about the size of a sparrow, and very similar in color to the bunting (calandria), but more marvellous in its habits. It is a social bird, each tree is a town of many nests. One tzacua plays the part of chief and guards the rest; his post is in the top of the tree, whence, from time to time, he flies from nest to nest uttering his notes; and while he is visiting a nest all within are silent. If he sees any bird of another species approaching the tree he sallies out upon the invader and with beak and wings compels a retreat. But if he sees a man or any large object advancing, he flies screaming to a neighboring tree, and, meeting other birds of his tribe flying homeward, he obliges them to retire by changing the tone of his note. When the danger is over he returns to his tree and begins his rounds as before, from nest to nest. Tzacuas abound in Michoacan, and to their observations regarding them the Indians are doubtless indebted for many hints and comparisons applied to soldiers diligent in duty. The quechutl, or tlauhquechol, is a large aquatic bird with plumage of a beautiful scarlet color, or a reddish white, except that of the neck, which is black. Its home is on the sea-shore and by the river banks, where it feeds on live fish, never touching dead flesh. See Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 87, 91-3. thine, O our Lord the Sun, he is; thou who art valiant in war and painted like a tiger in black and gray, he is thy creature and of thine estate and patrimony. For this he was born, to serve thee and to give thee food and drink; he is of the family of warriors and soldiers that fight on the field of battle.

Dedication of the Child to War

Then the midwife took the shield, and the bow and the dart that were there prepared, and spake to the Sun after this sort: Behold here the instruments of war which thou art served with, which thou delightest in; impart to this babe the gift that thou art wont to give to thy soldiers, enabling them to go to thine house of delights, where, having fallen in battle, they rest and are joyful and are now with thee praising thee. Will this poor little nobody ever be one of them? Have pity upon him, O clement Lord of ours.

During all the time of these ceremonies a great torch of candlewood was burning; and when these ceremonies were accomplished, a name was given to the child, that of one of his ancestors, so that he might inherit the fortune or lot of him whose name was so taken. This name was applied to the child by the midwife, or priestess, who performed the baptism. Suppose the name given was Yautl. Then the midwife began to shout and to talk like a man to the child: O Yautl, O valiant man, take this shield and this dart; these are for thy amusement, they are the delight of the sun. Then she tied the little mantle on its shoulders and girt the breech-clout about it. Now all the boys of the ward were assembled, and at this stage of the ceremony they rushed into the house where the baptism had taken place, and representing soldiers and forrayers, they took food that was there prepared for them, which was called ‘the navel-string,’ or ‘navel,’ of the child, and set out with it into the streets, shouting and eating. They cried O Yautl, Yautl, get thee to the field of battle, put thyself into the thickest of the fight; O Yautl, Yautl, thine office is to make glad the sun and the earth, to give them to eat and to drink; upon thee has fallen the lot of the soldiers that are eagles and tigers, that die in war, that are now making merry and singing before the sun. And they cried again: O soldiers, O men of war, come hither, come to eat of the navel of Yautl. Then the midwife, or priestess, took the child into the house, and departed, the great torch of candlewood being carried burning before her, and this was the last of the ceremony.[IX-27]Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 479-483, vol. vii., pp. 151-2; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 215-221. According to some authors, and I think Boturini for one, this baptism was supplemented by passing the child through fire. There was such a ceremony; however, it was not connected with that of baptism, but it took place on the last night of every fourth year, before the five unlucky days. On the last night of every fourth year, parents chose god-parents for their children born during the three preceding years, and these god-fathers and god-mothers passed the children over, or near to, or about the flame of a prepared fire (rodearlos por las llamas del fuego que tenian aparejado para esto, que en el latin se dice lustrare). They also bored the children’s ears, which caused no small uproar (Habia gran voceria de muchachos y muchachas por el ahugeramiento de las orejas) as may well be imagined. They clasped the children by the temples and lifted them up ‘to make them grow;’ wherefore they called the feast izcalli, ‘growing.’ They finished by giving the little things pulque in tiny cups, and for this the feast was called the ‘drunkenness of children.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 189-192. In the Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), tav. xxxi., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 181, there is given a description of the water baptism differing somewhat from that given in the text. It runs as follows: ‘They took some ficitle; and having a large vessel of water near them, they made the leaves of the ficitle into a bunch, and dipped it into the water, with which they sprinkled the child; and after fumigating it with incense, they gave it a name, taken from the sign on which it was born; and they put into its hand a shield and arrow, if it was a boy, which is what the figure of Xiuatlatl denotes, who here represents the god of war; they also uttered over the child certain prayers in the manner of deprecations, that he might become a brave, intrepid, and courageous man. The offering which his parents carried to the temple the elder priests took and divided with the other children who were in the temple, who ran with it through the whole city.’ Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 107, again describes this rite, in substance as follows: ‘They had a sort of baptism: thus when the child was a few days old, an old woman was called in, who took the child out into the court of the house where it was born, and washed it a certain number of times with the wine of the country, and as many times again with water; then she put a name on it, and performed certain ceremonies with the umbilical cord. These names were taken from the idols, or from the feasts that fell about that time, or from a beast or bird.’ See further Esplicacion de la Coleccion de Mendoza, pt iii., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 90-1; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 445, 449-458; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 85-9; Humboldt, Vues des Cordillères, tom. ii., pp. 311, 318; Gama, Dos Piedras, pt ii., pp. 39-41; Prescott’s Mex., vol. iii., p. 385; Brinton’s Myths, pp. 122, 130; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 652; Biart, La Terre Tempéreé, p. 274. Mr Tylor, speaking of Mexico, in his Anahuac, p. 279, says: ‘Children were sprinkled with water when their names were given to them. This is certainly true, though the statement that they believed that the process purified them from original sin is probably a monkish fiction.’ Farther reading, however, has shown Mr Tylor the injustice of this judgment, and in his masterly latest and greatest work (see Primitive Culture, vol. ii., pp. 429-36), he writes as follows: ‘The last group of rites whose course through religious history is to be outlined here, takes in the varied dramatic acts of ceremonial purification or lustration. With all the obscurity and intricacy due to age-long modification, the primitive thought which underlies these ceremonies is still open to view. It is the transition from practical to symbolic cleansing, from removal of bodily impurity to deliverance from invisible, spiritual, and at last moral evil. (See this vol. p. 119)…. In old Mexico, the first act of ceremonial lustration took place at birth. The nurse washed the infant in the name of the water-goddess, to remove the impurity of its birth, to cleanse its heart and give it a good and perfect life; then blowing on water in her right hand she washed it again, warning it of forthcoming trials and miseries and labors, and praying the invisible Deity to descend upon the water, to cleanse the child from sin and foulness, and to deliver it from misfortune. The second act took place some four days later, unless the astrologers postponed it. At a festive gathering, amid fires kept alight from the first ceremony, the nurse undressed the child sent by the gods into this sad and doleful world, bade it to receive the life-giving water, and washed it, driving out evil from each limb and offering to the deities appointed prayers for virtue and blessing. It was then that the toy instruments of war or craft or household labor were placed in the boy’s or girl’s hand (a custom singularly corresponding with one usual in China), and the other children, instructed by their parents, gave the new-comer its child-name, here again to be replaced by another at manhood or womanhood. There is nothing unlikely in the statement that the child was also passed four times through the fire, but the authority this is given on is not sufficient. The religious character of ablution is well shown in Mexico by its forming part of the daily service of the priests. Aztec life ended as it had begun, with the ceremonial lustration; it was one of the funeral ceremonies to sprinkle the head of the corpse with the lustral water of this life.’

The Aztec Venus

The goddess (or god, as some have it) connected by the Mexicans with carnal love was variously called Tlazolteotl, Ixcuina, Tlaclquani, with other names, and, especially it would appear in Tlascala, Xochiquetzal. She had no very prominent or honorable place in the minds of the people and was much more closely allied to the Roman Cloacina than to the Greek Aphrodite. Camargo, the Tlascaltec, gives much the most agreeable and pleasing account of her. Her home was in the ninth heaven, in a pleasant garden, watered by innumerable fountains, where she passed her time spinning and weaving rich stuffs, in the midst of delights, ministered to by the inferior deities. No man was able to approach her, but she had in her service a crowd of dwarfs, buffoons, and hunchbacks, who diverted her with their songs and dances, and acted as messengers to such gods as she took a fancy to. So beautiful was she painted that no woman in the world could equal her; and the place of her habitation was called Iamotamohuanichan, Xochitlycacan, Chitamihuany, Cicuhnauhuepaniuhcan, and Tuhecayan, that is to say ‘the place of Tamohuan, the place of the tree of flowers Xochitlihcacan, where the air is purest, beyond the nine heavens.’ It was further said, that whoever had been touched by one of the flowers that grow in the beautiful garden of Xochiquetzal should love to the end, should love faithfully.[IX-28]Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, 1843, tom. xcix., pp. 132-3. ‘On célébrait chaque année une fête solennelle en l’honneur de cette déesse Xochiquetzal, et une foule de peuple se réunissait dans son temple. On disait qu’elle était la femme de Tlaloc le dieu des eaux, et que Texcatlipuca la lui avait enlevée et l’avait transportée au neuvième ciel. Metlacueycati était la déesse des magiciennes. Tlaloc l’épousa quand Xochiquetzal lui eut été enlevée.’

Tlazolteotl Seduces Yáppan

Boturini gives a legend in which this goddess figures in a very characteristic way. There was a man called Yáppan, who, to win the regard of the gods made himself a hermit, leaving his wife and his relations, and retiring to a desert place, there to lead a chaste and solitary life. In that desert was a great stone or rock, called Tehuehuetl, dedicated to penitential acts, which rock Yáppan ascended and took up his abode upon like a western Simeon Stylites. The gods observed all this with attention, but doubtful of the firmness of purpose of the new recluse, they set a spy upon him in the person of an enemy of his, named Yáotl, the word yáotlindeed signifying ‘enemy.’ Yet not even the sharpened eye of hate and envy could find any spot in the austere continent life of the anchorite, and the many women sent by the gods to tempt him to pleasure were repulsed and baffled. In heaven itself the chaste victories of the lonely saint were applauded, and it began to be thought that he was worthy to be transformed into some higher form of life. Then Tlazolteotl, feeling herself slighted and held for naught, rose up in her evil beauty, wrathful, contemptuous, and said: Think not, ye high and immortal gods, that this hero of yours has the force to preserve his resolution before me, or that he is worthy of any very sublime transformation; I descend to earth, behold now how strong is the vow of your devotee, how unfeigned his continence!

That day the flowers of the gardens of Xochiquetzal were untended by their mistress, her singing dwarfs were silent, her messengers undisturbed by her behests, and away in the desert, by the lonely rock, the crouching spy Yáotl saw a wondrous sight: one shaped like a woman, but fairer than eye can conceive, advancing toward the lean penance-withered man on the sacred height. Ha! thrills not the hermit’s mortified flesh with something more than surprise, while the sweet voice speaks: My brother Yáppan, I the goddess Tlazolteotl, amazed at thy constancy, and commiserating thy hardships, come to comfort thee; what way shall I take, or what path, that I may get up to speak with thee? The simple one did not see the ruse, he came down from his place and helped the goddess up. Alas, in such a crisis, what need is there to speak further?—no other victory of Yáppan was destined to be famous in heaven, but in a cloud of shame his chaste light went down for ever. And thou, O shameless one, have thy fierce red lips had their fill of kisses, is thy Paphian soul satisfied withal, as now, flushed with victory, thou passest back to the tinkling fountains, and to the great tree of flowers, and to the far-reaching gardens where thy slaves await thee in the ninth heaven? Do thine eyes lower themselves at all in any heed of the miserable disenchanted victim left crouching, humbled on his desecrated rock, his nights and days of fasting and weariness gone for naught, his dreams, his hopes dissipated, scattered like dust at the trailing of thy robes? And for thee, poor Yáppan, the troubles of this life are soon to end; Yáotl, the enemy, has not seen all these things for nothing; he, at least, has not borne hunger and thirst and weariness, has not watched and waited in vain. O it avails nothing to lift the pleading hands, they are warm but not with clasping in prayer, and weary but not with waving the censer; the flint-edged mace beats down thy feeble guard, the neck that Tlazolteotl clasped is smitten through, the lips she kissed roll in the dust beside a headless trunk.

The gods transformed the dead man into a scorpion, with the forearms fixed lifted up as when he deprecated the blow of his murderer; and he crawled under the stone upon which he had abode. His wife, whose name was Tlahuitzin, that is to say ‘the inflamed,’ still lived. The implacable Yáotl sought her out, led her to the spot stained with her husband’s blood, detailed pitilessly the circumstances of the sin and death of the hermit, and then smote off her head. The gods transformed the poor woman into that species of scorpion called the alacran encendido, and she crawled under the stone and found her husband. And so it comes that tradition says that all reddish colored scorpions are descended from Tlahuitzin, and all dusky or ash-colored scorpions from Yáppan, while both keep hidden under the stones and flee the light for shame of their disgrace and punishment. Last of all the wrath of the gods fell on Yáotl for his cruelty and presumption in exceeding their commands; he was transformed into a sort of locust that the Mexicans call ahuacachapullin.[IX-29]Boturini, Idea, pp. 15, 63-8: ‘Pero, no menos indignados los Dioses del pecado de Yàppan, que de la inobediencia, y atrevimiento de Yàotl, le convirtieron en Langosta, que llaman los Indios Ahuacachapùllin, mandando se llamasse en adelante Tzontecomàma, que quiere dicir, Carga Cabeza, y en efecto este animal parece que lleva cargo consigo, propiedad de los Malsines, que siempre cargan las honras, que han quitado à sus Proximos.’

Confession

Sahagun gives a very full description of this goddess and her connection with certain rites of confession, much resembling those already described in speaking of Tezcatlipoca.[IX-30]See this vol. pp. 220-5. The goddess had according to our author, three names. The first was Tlazolteotl, that is to say ‘the goddess of carnality.’ The second name was Yxcuina, which signifies four sisters, called respectively, and in order of age, Tiacapan, Teicu, Tlaco, Xucotsi. The third and last name of this deity was Tlaclquani, which means ‘eater of filthy things,’ referring it is said to her function of hearing and pardoning the confessions of men and women guilty of unclean and carnal crimes. For this goddess, or these goddesses, had power not only to inspire and provoke to the commission of such sins, and to aid in their accomplishment, but also to pardon them, if they were confessed to certain priests who were also diviners and tellers of fortunes and wizards generally. In this confession, however, Tlazolteotl seems not to have been directly addressed, but only the supreme deity under several of his names. Thus the person whom, by a stretch of courtesy, we may call the penitent, having sought out a confessor from the class above mentioned, addressed that functionary in these words: Sir, I wish to approach the all-powerful god, protector of all, Yoalliehecatl, or Tezcatlipoca; I wish to confess my sins in secret. To this the wizard, or priest, replied: Welcome, my son; the thing thou wouldst do is for thy good and profit. This said, he searched the divining book, tonalamatl, to see what day would be most opportune for hearing the confession. That day come, the penitent brought a new mat, and white incense called copalli, and wood for the fire in which the incense was to be burned. Sometimes when he was a very noble personage, the priest went to his house to confess him, but as a general rule the ceremony took place at the residence of the priest. On entering this house the penitent swept very clean a portion of the floor and spread the new mat there for the confessor to seat himself upon, and kindled the wood. The priest then threw the copal upon the fire and said: O Lord, thou that art the father and the mother of the gods and the most ancient god,[IX-31]See this vol., pp. 212, 226. know that here is come thy vassal and servant, weeping and with great sadness; he is aware that he has wandered from the way, that he has stumbled, that he has slidden, that he is spotted with certain filthy sins and grave crimes worthy of death. Our Lord, very pitiful, since thou art the protector and defender of all, accept the penitence, give ear to the anguish of this thy servant and vassal.

At this point the confessor turned to the sinner and said: My son, thou art come into the presence of God, favorer and protector of all; thou art come to lay bare thy inner rottenness and unsavoriness; thou art come to publish the secrets of thine heart; see that thou fall into no pit by lying unto our Lord; strip thyself, put away all shame before him who is called Yoalliehecatl and Tezcatlipoca. It is certain that thou art now in his presence, although thou art not worthy to see him, neither will he speak with thee, for he is invisible and impalpable. See then to it how thou comest, and with what heart; fear nothing to publish thy secrets in his presence, give account of thy life, relate thine evil deeds as thou didst perform them; tell all with sadness to our Lord God, who is the favorer of all, and whose arms are open and ready to embrace and set thee on his shoulders. Beware of hiding anything through shame or through weakness.

Having heard these words the penitent took oath, after the Mexican fashion, to tell the truth. He touched the ground with his hand and licked off the earth that adhered to it;[IX-32]Other descriptions of this rite are given with additional details: ‘Usaban una ceremonia generalmente en toda esta tierra, hombres y mugeres, niños y niñas, que quando entraban en algun lugar donde habia imagenes de las idolos, una ó muchas, luego tocaban en la tierra con el dedo, y luego le llegaban á la boca ó á la lengua: á esto llamaban comer tierra, haciendolo en reverencia de sus Dioses, y todos los que salian de sus casas, aunque no saliesen del pueblo, volviendo á su casa hacian lo mismo, y por los caminos quando pasaban delante algun Cu ú oratorio hacian lo mismo, y en lugar de juramento usaban esto mismo, que para afirmar quien decia verdad hacian esta ceremonia, y los que se querian satisfacer del que hablaba si decia verdad, demandabanle hiciese esta ceremonia, luego le creian como juramento…. Tenian tambien costumbre de hacer juramento de cumplir alguna cosa á que se obligaban, y aquel á quien se obligaban les demandaba que hiciesen juramento para estar seguro de su palabra y el juramento que hacian era en esta forma: Por vida del Sol y de nuestra señora la tierra que no falte en lo que tengo dicho, y para mayor seguridad como esta tierra; y luego tocaba con los dedos en la tierra, llegabalos á la boca y lamialos; y asi comia tierra haciendo juramento.’ Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 95-6, 101; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. i., ap., pp. 212, 226; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 25. then he threw copal in the fire, which was another way of swearing to tell the truth. Then he set himself down before the priest and, inasmuch as he held him to be the image and vicar of god, he, the penitent, began to speak after this fashion: O our Lord who receivest and shelterest all, give ear to my foul deeds; in thy presence I strip, I put away from myself what shameful things soever I have done. Not from thee, of a verity, are hidden my crimes, for to thee all things are manifest and clear. Having thus said, the penitent proceeded to relate his sins in the order in which they had been committed, clearly and quietly, as in a slow and distinctly pronounced chant, as one that walked along a very straight way turning neither to the right hand nor to the left. When he had done the priest answered him as follows: My son, thou hast spoken before our Lord God, revealing to him thine evil works; and I shall now tell thee what thou hast to do. When the goddesses Civapipilti descend to the earth, or when it is the time of the festival of the four sister goddesses of carnality that are called Yxcuina, thou shalt fast four days afflicting thy stomach and thy mouth; this feast of the Yxcuina being come, at daybreak thou shalt do penance suitable to thy sins.[IX-33]Quite different versions of this sentence are given by Kingsborough’s and Bustamante’s editions respectively. That of Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 7, reads: ‘Quando decienden á la tierra las Diosas Ixcuiname, luego de mañana ó en amaneciendo, para que hagas la penitencia convenible por tus pecados.’ That of Bustamante, Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., p. 13, reads: ‘Cuando descienden á la tierra las diosas llamadas Civapipilti, ó cuando se hace la fiesta de las diosas de la carnalidad que se llaman Yxtuiname, ayunarás cuatro dias afligiendo tu estómago y tu boca, y llegado el dia de la fiesta de estas diosas Yxtuiname, luego de mañana ó en amaneciendo para que hagas la penitencia convenible por tus pecados.’ Through a hole pierced by a maguey-thorn through the middle of thy tongue thou shall pass certain osier-twigs called teucalzacatl or tlacotl, passing them in front of the face and throwing them over the shoulder one by one; or thou mayest fasten them the one to the other and so pull them through thy tongue like a long cord. These twigs were sometimes passed through a hole in the ear; and, wherever they were passed, it would appear by our author that there were sometimes used of them by one penitent to the number of four hundred, or even of eight hundred.

Penances

If the sin seemed too light for such a punishment as the preceding, the priest would say to the penitent: My son, thou shalt fast, thou shall fatigue thy stomach with hunger and thy mouth with thirst, and that for four days, eating only once on each day and that at noon. Or, the priest would say to him: Thou shalt go to offer paper in the usual places, thou shalt make images covered therewith in number proportionate to thy devotion, thou shalt sing and dance before them as custom directs. Or, again, he would say to him: Thou hast offended God, thou hast got drunk; thou must expiate the matter before Totochti, the god of wine; and when thou goest to do penance thou shalt go at night, naked, save only a piece of paper hanging from thy girdle in front and another behind; thou shalt repeat thy prayer and then throw down there before the gods those two pieces of paper, and so take thy departure.

This confession was held not to have been made to a priest, or to a man, but to God; and, inasmuch as it could only be heard once in a man’s life, and, as for a relapse into sin after it there was no forgiveness, it was generally put off till old age. The absolution given by the priest was valuable in a double regard; the absolved was held shriven of every crime he had confessed, and clear of all pains and penalties, temporal or spiritual, civil or ecclesiastical, due therefor. Thus was the fiery lash of Nemesis bound up, thus were struck down alike the staff of Minos and the sword of Themis before the awful ægis of religion. It may be imagined with what reluctance this last hope, this unique life-confession was resorted to; it was the one city of refuge, the one Mexican benefit of sanctuary, the sole horn of the altar, of which a man might once take hold and live, but no more again for ever.[IX-34]’De esto bien se arguye que aunque habian hecho muchos pecados en tiempo de su juventud, no se confesaban de ellos hasta la vejez, por no se obligar á cesar de pecar antes de la vejez, por la opinion que tenian, que el que tornaba á reincidir en los pecados, al que se confesaba una vez no tenia remedio.’ Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 6-8; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 10-16. Prescott writes, Mex., vol. i., p. 68: ‘It is remarkable that they administered the rites of confession and absolution. The secrets of the confessional were held inviolable, and penances were imposed of much the same kind as those enjoined in the Roman Catholic Church. There were two remarkable peculiarities in the Aztec ceremony. The first was, that, as the repetition of an offence, once atoned for, was deemed inexpiable, confession was made but once in a man’s life, and was usually deferred to a late period of it, when the penitent unburdened his conscience, and settled, at once, the long arrears of iniquity. Another peculiarity was, that priestly absolution was received in place of the legal punishment of offences, and authorized an acquittal in case of arrest.’ Mention of Tlazolteotl will be found in Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 309; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 62, 79; Herrera, Hist. Gen., tom. i., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xv.; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 21. They say that Yxcuina, who was the goddess of shame, protected adulterers. She was the goddess of salt, of dirt, and of immodesty, and the cause of all sins. They painted her with two faces, or with two different colors on the face. She was the wife of Mizuitlantecutli, the god of hell. She was also the goddess of prostitutes; and she presided over these thirteen signs, which were all unlucky, and thus they held that those who were born in these signs would be rogues or prostitutes. Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, (Vaticano), tav. xxxix., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 184; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Quatre Lettres, pp. 291-2, 301.

God of Fire

The Mexican god of fire as we have already noticed was usually called Xiuhtecutli. He had, however, other names such as Ixcozauhqui, that is to say, ‘yellow-faced;’ and Cuecaltzin, which means ‘flame of fire;’ and Huehueteotl, or ‘the ancient god.'[IX-35]See this vol., pp. 212, 226. His idol represented a naked man, the chin blackened with ulli, and wearing a lip-jewel of red stone. On his head was a parti-colored paper crown, with green plumes issuing from the top of it like flames of fire; from the sides hung tassels of feathers down to the ears. The ear-rings of the image were of turquoise wrought in mosaic. On the idol’s back was a dragon’s head made of yellow feathers and some little marine shells. To the ankles were attached little bells or rattles. On the left arm was a shield, almost entirely covered with a plate of gold, into which were set in the shape of a cross five chalchiuites. In the right hand the god held a round pierced plate of gold, called the ‘looking-plate,’ (mirador ó miradero); with this he covered his face, looking only through the hole in the golden plate. Xiuhtecutli was held by the people to be their father, and regarded with feelings of mingled love and fear; and they celebrated to him two fixed festivals every year, one in the tenth and another in the eighteenth month, together with a movable feast in which, according to Clavigero, they appointed magistrates and renewed the ceremony of the investiture of the fiefs of the kingdom. The sacrifices of the first of these festivals, the festival of the tenth month, Xocotlveti, were particularly cruel even for the Mexican religion.

Festival of the Fire God

The assistants began by cutting down a great tree of five and twenty fathoms long and dressing off the branches, removing all it would seem but a few round the top. This tree was then dragged by ropes into the city, on rollers apparently, with great precaution against bruising or spoiling it; and the women met the entering procession giving those that dragged cacao to drink. The tree, which was called xocotl, was received into the court of a cu with shouts; and there set up in a hole in the ground and allowed to remain for twenty days. On the eve of the festival Xocotlvetzi, they let this large tree or pole down gently to the ground, by means of ropes and trestles, or rests, made of beams tied two and two, probably in an X shape; and carpenters dressed it perfectly smooth and straight, and, where the branches had been left, near the top, they fastened with ropes a kind of yard or cross-beam of five fathoms long. Then was prepared, to be set on the very top of the pole or tree, a statue of the god Xiuhtecutli, made like a man out of the dough of wild amaranth seeds, and covered and decorated with innumerable white papers. Into the head of the image were stuck strips of paper instead of hair; sashes of paper crossed the body from each shoulder; on the arms were pieces of paper like wings, painted over with figures of sparrow-hawks; a maxtli of paper covered the loins; and a kind of paper shirt or tabard covered all. Great strips of paper, half a fathom broad and ten fathoms long, floated from the feet of the dough god half way down the tree; and into his head were struck three rods with a tamale or small pie on the top of each. The tree being now prepared with all these things, ten ropes were attached to the middle of it, and by the help of the above-mentioned trestles and a large crowd pulling all together, the whole structure was reared into an upright position and there fixed, with great shouting and stamping of feet.

Then came all those that had captives to sacrifice; they came decorated for dancing, all the body painted yellow (which is the livery color of the god), and the face vermilion. They wore a mass of the red plumage of the parrot, arranged to resemble a butterfly, and carried shields covered with white feathers and as it were the feet of tigers or eagles walking. Each one went dancing side by side with his captive. These captives had the body painted white, and the face vermilion, save the cheeks which were black; they were adorned with papers, much, apparently, as the dough image was, and they had white feathers on the head and lip-ornaments of feathers. At set of sun the dancing ceased; the captives were shut up in the calpulli, and watched by their owners, not being even allowed to sleep. About midnight every owner shaved away the hair of the top of the head of his slave, which hair, being fastened with red thread to a little tuft of feathers, he put in a small case of cane, and attached to the rafters of his house, that every one might see that he was a valiant man and had taken a captive. The knife with which this shaving was accomplished was called the claw of the sparrow-hawk. At daybreak the doomed and shorn slaves were arranged in order in front of the place called Tzompantli, where the skulls of the sacrificed were spitted in rows. Here one of the priests went along the row of captives taking from them certain little banners that they carried and all their raiment or adornment, and burning the same in a fire; for raiment or ornament these unfortunates should need no more on earth. While they were standing thus all naked and waiting for death, there came another priest, carrying in his arms the image of the god Paynal and his ornaments; he ran up with this idol to the top of the cu Tlacacouhcan where the victims were to die. Down he came, then up again, and as he went up the second time the owners took their slaves by the hair and led them to the place called Apetlac and there left them. Immediately there descended from the cu those that were to execute the sacrifice, bearing bags of a kind of stupefying incense called yiauhtli,[IX-36]’Il Jauhtli è una pianta, il cui fusto e lungo un cubito, le foglie somiglianti a quelle del Salcio, ma dentate, i fiori gialli, e la radice sottile. Così i fiori, come l’altre parti della pianta, hanno lo stesso odore e sapore dell’ Anice. È assai utile per la Medicina, ed i Medica Messicani l’adoperavano contro parecchie malattie; ma servivansi ancora d’essa per alcuni usi superstiziosi.’ This is the note given by Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 77, in describing this festival, and the incense used for stupefying the victims; see a different note however, in this vol., p. 339, in which Molina describes yiauhtli as ‘black maize.’ In some cases, according to Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 100, there was given to the condemned a certain drink that put them beside themselves, so that they went to the sacrifice with a ghastly drunken merriment. which they threw by handfuls into the faces of the victims to deaden somewhat their agonies in the fearful death before them. Each captive was then bound hand and foot and so carried up to the top of the cu where smouldered a huge heap of live coal. The carriers heaved their living burdens in; and the old narrative gives minute details about the great hole made in the sparkling embers by each slave, and how the ashy dust rose in a cloud as he fell. As the dust settled the bound bodies could be seen writhing and jerking themselves about in torment on their soft dull-red bed, and their flesh could be heard crackling and roasting. Now came a part of the ceremony requiring much experience and judgment; the wild-eyed priests stood grappling-hook in hand biding their time. The victims were not to die in the fire, the instant the great blisters began to rise handsomely over their scorched skins it was enough, they were raked out. The poor blackened bodies were then flung on the ‘tajon’ and the agonized soul dismissed by the sacrificial breast-cut (from nipple to nipple, or a little lower); the heart was then torn out and cast at the feet of Xiuhtecutli, god of fire.

Climbing for the God

This slaughter being over, the statue of Paynal was carried away to its own cu and every man went home to eat. And the young men and boys, all those called quexpaleque,[IX-37]’Cuexpalli, cabello largo que dexan a los muchachos en el cogote, quando los tresquilan.’ Molina, Vocabulario. because they had a lock of hair at the nape of the neck, came, together with all the people, the women in order among the men, and began at mid-day to dance and to sing in the court-yard of Xiuhtecutli; the place was so crowded that there was hardly room to move. Suddenly there arose a great cry, and a rush was made out of the court toward the place where was raised the tall tree already described at some length. Let us shoulder our way forward, not without risk to our ribs, and see what we can see: there stands the tall pole with streamers of paper and the ten ropes by which it was raised dangling from it. On the top stands the dough image of the fire god, with all his ornaments and weapons, and with the three tamales sticking out so oddly above his head. Ware clubs! we press too close; shoulder to shoulder in a thick serried ring round the foot of the pole stand the ‘captains of the youths’ keeping the youngsters back with cudgels, till the word be given at which all may begin to climb the said pole for the great prize at the top. But the youths are wild for fame; old renowned heroes look on; the eyes of all the women of the city are fixed on the great tree where it shoots above the head of the struggling crowd; glory to him who first gains the cross-beam and the image. Stand back, then, ye captains, let us pass! There is a rush, and a trampling, and despite a rain of blows, all the pole with its hanging ropes is aswarm with climbers, thrusting each other down. The first youth at the top seizes the idol of dough; he takes the shield and the arrows and the darts and the stick atalt for throwing the darts; he takes the tamales from the head of the statue, crumbles them up, and throws the crumbs with the plumes of the image down into the crowd; the securing of which crumbs and plumes is a new occasion for shouting and scrambling and fisticuffs among the multitude. When the young hero comes down with the weapons of the god which he has secured, he is received with far-roaring applause and carried up to the cu Tlacacouhcan, there to receive the reward of his activity and endurance, praises and jewels and a rich mantle not lawful for another to wear, and the honor of being carried by the priests to his house, amid the music of horns and shells. The festivity is over now; all the people lay hold on the ropes fastened to the tree, and pull it down with a crash that breaks it to pieces, together, apparently, with all that is left of the wild-amaranth-dough image of Xiuhtecutli.[IX-38]Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 8-9, 28, 63-6; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 16-19, lib. ii., pp. 62-4, 141-8; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 16, 76; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, (Vaticano), tav. lvi., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 190.

Another feast of the god of fire was held in the month Yzcalli, the eighteenth month; it was called motlaxquiantota, that is to say ‘our father the fire toasts his food.’ An image of the god of fire was made, with a frame of hoops and sticks tied together as the basis or model to be covered with his ornaments. On the head of this image was put a shining mask of turquoise mosaic, banded across with rows of green chalchiuites. Upon the mask was put a crown fitting to the head below, wide above, and gorgeous with rich plumage as a flower; a wig of reddish hair was attached to this crown so that the evenly cut locks flowed from below it, behind and around the mask, as if they were natural. A robe of costly feathers covered all the front of the image and fell over the ground before the feet, so light that it shivered and floated with the least breath of air till the variegated feathers glittered and changed color like water. The back of the image seems to have been left unadorned, concealed by a throne on which it was seated, a throne covered with a dried tiger-skin, paws and head complete. Before this statue new fire was produced at midnight by boring rapidly by hand one stick upon another; the spunk or tinder so inflamed was put on the hearth and a fire lit.[IX-39]’Esta estatua asi adornada no lejos de un lugar que estaba delante de ella, á la media noche sacaban fuego nuevo para que ardiese en aquel lugar, y sacabanlo con unos palos, uno puesto abajo, y sobre él barrenaban con otro palo, como torciendole entre las manos con gran prisa, y con aquel movimiento y calor se encendia el fuego, y alli lo tomaban con yesca y encendian en el hogar.’ Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 84; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 184. At break of day came all the boys and youths with game and fish that they had captured on the previous day; walking round the fire, they gave it to certain old men that stood there, who taking it threw it into the flames before the god, giving the youths in return certain tamales that had been made and offered for this purpose by the women. To eat these tamales it was necessary to strip off the maize-leaves in which they had been wrapped and cooked; these leaves were not thrown into the fire, but were all put together and thrown into water. After this all the old men of the ward in which the fire was, drank pulque and sang before the image of Xiuhtecutli till night. This was the tenth day of the month and thus finished that feast, or that part of the feast, which was called vauquitamalqualiztli.

On the twentieth and last day of the month was made another statue of the fire god, with a frame of sticks and hoops as already described. They put on the head of it a mask with a ground of mosaic of little bits of the shell called tapaztli,[IX-40]Or tapachtli as Bustamante spells it. ‘Tapachtli, cral, concha o venera.’ Molina, Vocabulario. composed below the mouth of black stones, banded across the nostrils with black stones of another sort, and the cheeks made of a still different stone called tezcapuchtli. As in the previous case there was a crown on this mask, and over all and over the body of the image costly and beautiful decorations of feather-work. Before the throne on which this statue sat there was a fire, and the youths offered game to and received cakes from the old men with various ceremonies; the day being closed with a great drinking of pulque by the old people, though not to the point of intoxication. Thus ended the eighteenth month; and with regard to the two ceremonies just described, Sahagun says, that though not observed in all parts of Mexico, they were observed at least in Tezcuco.

Fourth Year Festival

It will be noticed that the festivals of this month have been without human sacrifices; but every fourth year was an exception to this. In such a year on the twentieth and last day of this eighteenth month, being also, according to some, the last day of the year, the five Nemonteni, or unlucky days, being excepted, men and women were slain as images of the god of fire. The women that had to die carried all their apparel and ornaments on their shoulders, and the men did the same. Arrived thus naked where they had to die, men and women alike were decorated to resemble the god of fire; they ascended the cu, walked round the sacrificial stone, and then descended and returned to the place where they were to be kept for the night. Each male victim had a rope tied round the middle of his body which was held by his guards. At midnight the hair of the crown of the head of each was shaven off before the fire and kept for a relic, and the head itself was covered with a mixture of resin and hens’ feathers. After this the doomed ones burned or gave away to their keepers their now useless apparel, and as the morning broke they were decorated with papers and led in procession to die, with singing and shouting and dancing. These festivities went on till mid-day, when a priest of the cu, arrayed in the ornaments of the god Paynal, came down, passed before the victims, and then went up again. They were led up after him, captives first and slaves after, in the order they had to die in; they suffered in the usual manner. There was then a grand dance of the lords, led by the king himself; each dancer wearing a high-fronted paper coronet, a kind of false nose of blue paper, ear-rings of turquoise mosaic, or of wood wrought with flowers, a blue curiously flowered jacket, and a mantle. Hanging to the neck of each was the figure of a dog made of paper and painted with flowers; in the right hand was carried a stick shaped like a chopping-knife, the lower half of which was painted red and the upper half white; in the left hand was carried a little paper bag of copal. This dance was begun on the top of the cu and finished by descending and going four times round the court-yard of the cu; after which all entered the palace with the king. This dance took place only once in four years, and none but the king and his lords could take part in it. On this day the ears of all children born during the three preceding years were bored with a bone awl, and the children themselves passed near or through the flames of a fire as already related.[IX-41]See this vol., p. 376, note 27. There was a further ceremony of taking the children by the head and lifting them up “to make them grow;” and from this the month took its name, Yzcalli meaning ‘growth.'[IX-42]Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 33, 83-7; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 74-5, 183-92; Boturini, Idea, p. 138; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, (Vaticano), tav. lxxiv., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 196-7; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 82.

There was generally observed in honor of fire a custom called ‘the throwing,’ which was that no one ate without first flinging into the fire a scrap of the food. Another common ceremony was in drinking pulque to first spill a little on the edge of the hearth. Also when a person began upon a jar of pulque he emptied out a little into a broad pan and put it beside the fire, whence with another vessel he spilt of it four times upon the edge of the hearth; this was ‘the libation or the tasting.'[IX-43]Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 96; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., ap., p. 213.

The Great New Fire Festival

The most solemn and important of all the Mexican festivals was that called Toxilmolpilia or Xiuhmolpilli, the ‘the binding up of the years.’ Every fifty-two years was called a sheaf of years; and it was held for certain that at the end of some sheaf of fifty-two years the motion of the heavenly bodies should cease and the world itself come to an end. As the possible day of destruction drew near all the people cast their household gods of wood and stone into the water, as also the stones used on the hearth for cooking and bruising pepper. They washed thoroughly their houses, and last of all put out all fires. For the lighting of the new fire there was a place set apart, the summit of a mountain called Vixachtlan, or Huixachtla, on the boundary line between the cities of Itztapalapa and Colhuacan, about six miles from the city of Mexico. In the production of this new fire none but priests had any part, and the task fell specially upon those of the ward Copolco. On the last day of the fifty-two years, after the sun had set, all the priests clothed themselves with the dress and insignia of their gods, so as to themselves appear like very gods, and set out in procession for the mountain, walking very slowly, with much gravity and silence, as befitted the occasion and the garb they wore, “walking,” as they phrased it, “like gods.” The priest of the ward of Copolco, whose office it was to produce the fire, carried the instruments thereof in his hand, trying them from time to time to see that all was right. Then, a little before midnight, the mountain being gained, and a cu which was there builded for that ceremony, they began to watch the heavens and especially the motion of the Pleiades. Now this night always fell so that at midnight these seven stars were in the middle of the sky with respect to the Mexican horizon; and the priests watched them to see them pass the zenith and so give sign of the endurance of the world, for another fifty and two years. That sign was the signal for the production of the new fire, lit as follows. The bravest and finest of the prisoners taken in war was thrown down alive, and a board of very dry wood was put upon his breast; upon this the acting priest at the critical moment bored with another stick, twirling it rapidly between his palms till fire caught. Then instantly the bowels of the captive were laid open, his heart torn out, and it with all the body thrown upon and consumed by a pile of fire. All this time an awful anxiety and suspense held possession of the people at large; for it was said, that if anything happened to prevent the production at the proper time of the new fire, there would be an end of the human race, the night and the darkness would be perpetual, and those terrible and ugly beings the Tzitzimitles[IX-44]Or Izitzimites as on p. 327 of this vol. would descend to devour all mankind. As the fateful hour approached, the people gathered on the flat house-tops, no one willingly remaining below. All pregnant women, however, were closed into the granaries, their faces being covered with maize-leaves; for it was said that if the new fire could not be produced, these women would turn into fierce animals and devour men and women. Children also had masks of maize-leaf put on their faces, and they were kept awake by cries and pushes, it being believed that if they were allowed to sleep they would become mice.

Feast of the New Fire

From the crowded house-tops every eye was bent on Vixachtlan. Suddenly a moving speck of light was seen by those nearest, and then a great column of flame shot up against the sky. The new fire! and a great shout of joy went up from all the country round about. The stars moved on in their courses; fifty and two years more at least had the universe to exist. Every one did penance; cutting his ear with a splinter of flint and scattering the blood toward the part where the fire was; even the ears of children in the cradle were so cut. And now from the blazing pile on the mountain, burning brands of pine candle-wood were carried by the swiftest runners toward every quarter of the kingdom. In the city of Mexico, on the temple of Huitzilopochtli, before the altar, there was a fire-place of stone and lime containing much copal; into this a blazing brand was flung by the first runner, and from this place fire was carried to all the houses of the priests, and thence again to all the city. There soon blazed great central fires in every ward, and it was a thing to be seen the multitude of people that came together to get light, and the general rejoicings.

The hearth-fires being thus lit, the inhabitants of every house began to renew their household gods and furniture, and to lay down new mats, and to put on new raiment; they made everything new in sign of the new sheaf of years; they beheaded quails, and burned incense in their court-yard toward the four quarters of the world, and on their hearths. After eating a meal of wild amaranth seed and honey, a fast was ordered, even the drinking of water till noon being forbidden. Then the eating and drinking were renewed, sacrifices of slaves and captives were made, and the great fires renewed. The last solemn festival of the new fire was celebrated in the year 1507, the Spaniards being not then in the land; and through their presence, there was no public ceremony when the next sheaf of years was finished in 1559.[IX-45]Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 157, 191-3; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iv., ap., pp. 346-7, tom. ii., lib. vii., pp. 260-4; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 292-5; Boturini, Idea, pp. 18-21; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 62, 84-5; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 101; Acosta, Hist. de las Yndias, pp. 398-9. Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt i., pp. 51-55, differs somewhat from the text; he was unfortunate in never having seen the works of Sahagun.

Teoyaomique

Mictlan, the Mexican hades, or place of the dead, signifies either primarily, or by an acquired meaning, ‘northward, or toward the north,’ though many authorities have located it underground or below the earth. This region was the seat of the power of a god best known under his title of Mictlantecutli; his female companion was called Mictlancihuatl, made identical by some legends with Tlazolteotl, and by others apparently with the serpent-woman and mother goddess.[IX-46]This vol. p. 59. The interpretations of the codices represent this god as peculiarly honored in their paintings: They place Michitlatecotle opposite to the sun, to see if he can rescue any of those seized upon by the lords of the dead, for Michitla signifies the dead below. These nations painted only two of their gods with the crown called Altoutcatecoatle, viz., the God of heaven and of abundance and this lord of the dead, which kind of crown I have seen upon the captains in the war of Coatle. Explicacion del Codex Telleriano Remensis, pt ii., lam. xv., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 140. Miquitlantecotli signifies the great lord of the dead fellow in hell who alone after Tonacatecotle was painted with a crown, which kind of a crown was used in war even after the arrival of the Christians in those countries, and was seen in the war of Coatlan, as the person who copied these paintings relates, who was a brother of the Order of Saint Dominic, named Pedro de los Rios. They painted this demon near the sun; for in the same way as they believed that the one conducted souls to heaven, so they supposed that the other carried them to hell. He is here represented with his hands open and stretched toward the sun, to seize on any soul which might escape from him. Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), tav. xxxiv., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 182. The Vatican Codex says further—that these were four gods or principal demons in the Mexican hell. Miquitlamtecotl or Zitzimitl; Yzpunteque, the lame demon, who appeared in the streets with the feet of a cock; Nextepelma, scatterer of ashes; and Contemoque, he who descends head-foremost. These four have goddesses, not as wives, but as companions, which was the simple relation in which all the Mexican god and goddesses stood to one another, there having been—according to most authorities—in their olympus neither marrying nor giving in marriage. Picking our way as well as possible across the frightful spelling of the interpreter, the males and females seem paired as follows: To Miquitlamtecotl or Tzitzimitl, was joined as goddess, Miquitecacigua; to Yzpunteque, Nexoxocho; to Nextepelma, Micapetlacoli; and to Contemoque, Chalmecaciuatl. Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), tav. iii., iv., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 162-3; Boturini, Idea, pp. 30-1; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., ap. pp. 260-3; Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 116-17, says that this god was known by the further name of Tzontemoc and Aculnaoacatl. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 6, 17. Gallatin, Amer. Ethnol. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 350-1, says that ‘Mictlanteuctli is specially distinguished by the interpreters as one of the crowned gods. His representation is found under the basis of the statue of Teoyaomiqui, and Gama has published the copy. According to him, the name of that god means the god of the place of the dead. He presided over the funeral of those who died of diseases. The souls of all those killed in battle were led by Teoyaomiqui to the dwelling of the sun. The others fell under the dominion of Mictanteuctli.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 77, 148, 447, tom. ii., p. 428. Brasseur de Bourbourg mentions this god and his wife, bringing up several interesting points, for which, however, he must bear the sole responsibility: S’il Existe des Sources de l’Hist. Prim., pp. 98-9. ‘Du fond des eaux qui couvraient le monde, ajoute un autre document mexicain (Cod. Mex. Tell.-Rem., fol. 4, v.), le dieu des régions d’en bas. Mictlan-Teuctli fait surgir un monstre marin nommé Cipactli ou Capactli (Motolinia, Hist. Antig. de los Indios, part. MS. Dans ce document, au lieu de cipactli il y a capactli, qui n’est peut-être qu’une erreur du copiste, mais qui, peut-être aussi est le souvenir d’une langue perdue et qui se rattacherait au capac ou Manco-Capac du Pérou.): de ce monstre, qui a la forme d’un caïman, il crée la terre (Motolinia, Ibid.). Ne serait-ce pas là le crocodile, image du temps, chez les Égyptiens, et ainsi que l’indique Champollion (Dans Herapollon, i., 69 et 70, le crocodile est le symbole du couchant et des ténèbres) symbole également de la Région du Couchant, de l’Amenti? Dans l’Orcus mexicain, le prince des Morts, Mictlan-Teuctli, a pour compagne Mictecacihuatl, celle qui étend les morts. On l’appelle Ixcuina, ou la déesse au visage peint ou au double visage, parce qu’elle avait le visage de deux couleurs, rouge avec le contour de la bouche et du nez peint en noir (Cod. Mex. Tell.-Rem., fol. 18, v.). On lui donnait aussi le nom de Tlaçolteotl, la déesse de l’ordure, ou Tlaçolquani, la mangeuse d’ordure, parce qu’elle présidait aux amours et aux plaisirs lubriques avec ses trois sœurs. On la trouve personifiée encore avec Chantico, quelquefois représentée comme un chien, soit à cause de sa lubricité, soit à cause du nom de Chiucnauh-Itzcuintli ou les Neuf-Chiens, qu’on lui donnait également (Cod. Mex. Tell.-Rem., fol. 21, v.). C’est ainsi que dans l’Italie anté-pélasgique, dans la Sicile et dans l’île de Samothrace, antérieurement aux Thraces et aux Pélasges, on adorait une Zérinthia, une Hécate, déesse Chienne qui nourrissait ses trois fils, ses trois chiens, sur le même autel, dans la demeure souterraine; l’une et l’autre rappelaient ainsi le souvenir de ces hétaires qui veillaient au pied des pyramides, où elles se prostituaient aux marins, aux marchands et aux voyageurs, pour ramasser l’argent nécessaire à l’érection des tombeaux des rois. “Tout un calcul des temps, dit Eckstein (Sur les sources de la Cosmogonie de Sanchoniathon, pp. 101, 197), se rattache à l’adoration solaire de cette déesse et de ses fils. Le Chien, le Sirius, règne dans l’astre de ce nom, au zénith de l’année, durant les jours de la canicule. On connaît le cycle ou la période que préside l’astre du chien: on sait qu’il ne se rattache pas seulement aux institutions de la vieille Égypte, mais encore à celles de la haute Asie.” En Amérique le nom de la déesse Ixcuina se rattache également à la constellation du sud, où on la personnifie encore avec Ixtlacoliuhqui, autre divinité des ivrognes et des amours obscènes: les astrologues lui attribuaient un grand pouvoir sur les événements de la guerre, et, dans les derniers temps, on en faisait dépendre le châtiment des adultères et des incestueux (Cod. Mex. Tell.-Rem., fol. 16, v.).’ See also, Brinton’s Myths, pp. 130-7; Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt i., p. 12, pt ii., pp. 65-6.
(Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 157, 191-3; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iv., ap., pp. 346-7, tom. ii., lib. vii., pp. 260-4; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 292-5; Boturini, Idea, pp. 18-21; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 62, 84-5; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 101; Acosta, Hist. de las Yndias, pp. 398-9. Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt i., pp. 51-55, differs somewhat from the text; he was unfortunate in never having seen the works of Sahagun.) There has been discovered and there is now to be seen in the city of Mexico a huge compound statue, representing various deities, the most prominent being a certain goddess Teoyaomique, who, it seems to me, is almost identical with or at least a connecting link between the mother goddess and the companion of Mictlantecutli. Mr Gallatin says[IX-47]Amer. Ethnol. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 338-9. that the Mexican gods “were painted in different ways according to their various attributes and names: and the priests were also in the habit of connecting with the statue of a god or goddess, symbols of other deities which partook of a similar character. Gama has adduced several instances of both practices, in the part of his dissertation which relates to the statue of the goddess of death found buried in the great Square of Mexico of which he, and lately Mr Nebel, have given copies.[IX-48]Speaking of the great image in the Mexican museum of antiquities supposed by some to be this Mexican goddess of war, or of death, Teoyaomique, Mr Tylor says, Anahuac, pp. 222-3: ‘The stone known as the statue of the war-goddess is a huge block of basalt covered with sculptures. The antiquaries think that the figures on it stand for different personages, and that it is three gods—Huitzilopochtli the god of war, Teoyaomiqui his wife, and Mictlanteuctli the god of hell. It has necklaces of alternate hearts and dead men’s hands, with death’s head for a central ornament. At the bottom of the block is a strange sprawling figure, which one cannot see now, for it is the base which rests on the ground; but there are two shoulders projecting from the idol, which show plainly that it did not stand on the ground, but was supported aloft on the tops of two pillars. The figure carved upon the bottom represents a monster holding a skull in each hand, while others hang from his knees and elbows. His mouth is a mere oval ring, a common feature of Mexican idols, and four tusks project just above it. The new moon laid down like a bridge forms his forehead, and a star is placed on each side of it. This is thought to have been the conventional representation of Mictlanteuctli (Lord of the land of the dead), the god of hell, which was a place of utter and eternal darkness. Probably each victim as he was led to the altar could look up between the two pillars and see the hideous god of hell staring down upon him from above.’ Her name is Teoyaomiqui, which means, to die in sacred war, or ‘in defense of the gods,’ and she is the proper companion of Huitzilopochtli, the god of war. The symbols of her own attributes are found in the upper part of the statue: but those from the waist downwards relate to other deities connected with her or with Huitzilopochtli. The serpents are the symbols of his mother Cohuatlycue, and also of Cihuacohuatl, the serpent woman who begat twins, male and female, from which mankind proceeded: the same serpents and feathers are the symbol of Quezatlcohuatl, the precious stones designate Chalchihuitlycue, the goddess of water; the teeth and claws refer to Tlaloc and to Tlatocaocelocelotl (the tiger king): and together with her own attributes, the whole is a most horrible figure.”

Gama on the Compound Image

Of this great compound statue of Huitzilopochtli (for the most part under his name of Teoyaotlatohua), Teoyaomique, and Mictlantecutli, and of the three deities separately Leon y Gama treats, in substance as follows, beginning with Mictlantecutli:[IX-49]Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt i., pp. 41-4.—

The Chevalier Boturini mentions another of his names, Teoyaotlatohua, and says that as director and chief of sacred war he was always accompanied by Teoyaomique, a goddess whose business it was to collect the souls of those that died in war and of those that were sacrificed afterward as captives. Let these statements be put alongside of what Torquemada says, to wit, that in the great feast of the month Hueimiccailhuitl,[IX-50]The tenth month, so named by the Tlascaltecs and others. See Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 298. ‘Al decimo Mes del Kalendario Indiano llamaban sus Satrapas, Xocotlhuetzi, que quiere decir: Quando se cae, y acaba la Fruta, y debia de ser, por esta raçon, de que por aquel Tiempo se acababa, que cae en nuestro Agosto, è ià en todo este Mes se pasan las Frutas en tierra fria. Pero los Tlaxcaltecas, y otros lo llamaban Hueymiccailhuitl. que quiere decir: La Fiesta maior de los Difuntos; y llamavanla asi, porque este Mes solemniçaban la memoria de los Difuntos, con grandes clamores, y llantos, y doblados lutos, que la primera, y se teñian los cuerpos de color negro, y se tiznaban toda la cara; y asi, las ceremonias, que se hacian de Dia, y de Noche, en todos los Templos, y fuera de ellos, eran de mucha tristeça, segun que cada vno podia hacer su sentimiento; y en este Mes daban nombre de Divinos, à sus Reies difuntos, y à todas aquellas Personas señaladas, que havian muerto haçañosamente en las Guerras, y en poder de sus enemigos, y les hacian sus Idolos, y los colocaban, con sus Dioses, diciendo, que avian ido al lugar de sus deleites, y pasatiempos, en compañia de los otros Dioses.’ divine names were given to dead kings and to all famous persons who had died heroically in war, and in the power of the enemy; idols were made furthermore of these persons, and they were put with the deities; for it was said that they had gone to the place of delights and pleasures there to be with the gods. From all this it would appear that before this image, in which were closely united Teoyaotlatohua and Teoyaomique, there were each year celebrated certain rites in memory and honor of dead kings and lords and captains and soldiers fallen in battle. And not only did the Mexicans venerate in the temple this image of many gods, but the judicial astrologers feigned a constellation answering thereto and influencing persons born under it. In depicting this constellation Teoyaotlatohua Huitzilopochtli was represented with only half his body, as it were seated on a bench, and with his mouth open as if speaking. His head was decorated after a peculiar fashion with feathers, his arms were made like trunks of trees with branches, while from his girdle there issued certain herbs that fell downwards over the bench. Opposite this figure was Teoyaomique, naked save a thin robe,[IX-51]As the whole description becomes a little puzzling here, I give the original, Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, p. 42: ‘Enfrente de esta figura está Teoyaomique desnuda, y cubierta con solo un cendal, parada sobre una basa, ó porcion de pilastra; la cabeza separada del cuerpo, arriba del cuello, con los ojos vendados, y en su lugar dos viboras ó culebras, que nacen del mismo cuello. Entre estas dos figuras está un árbol de flores partido por medio, al cual se junta un madero con varios atravesaños, y encima de él una ave, cuya cabeza está tambien dividida del cuerpo. Se vé tambien otra cabeza de ave dentro de una jicara, otra de sierpe, una olla con la boca para abajo, saliendo de ella la materia que contenia dentro, cuya figura parece ser la que usaban para representar el agua; y finalmente ocupan el resto del cuadro [of the representation of the constellation above mentioned in the text] otros geroglíficos y figuras diferentes.’ and standing on a pedestal, apparently holding her head in her hands, at any rate with her head cut off, her eyes bandaged, and two snakes issuing from the neck where the head should have been. Between the god and the goddess was a flowering tree divided through the middle, to which was attached a beam with various crosspieces, and over all was a bird with the head separated from its body. There was to be seen also the head of a bird in a cup, and the head of a serpent, together with a pot turned upside down while the contents—water as it would appear by the hieroglyphics attached—ran out.

In this form were painted these two gods, as one of the twenty celestial signs, sufficiently noticed by Boturini, although as he confesses, he had not arranged them in the proper order. Returning to notice the office attributed to Teoyaomique, that of collecting the souls of the dead, we find that Cristóbal del Castillo says that all born under the sign which, with the god of war, this goddess ruled, were to become at an early age valorous soldiers; but that their career was to be short as it was brilliant, for they were to fall in battle young. These souls were to rise to heaven, to dwell in the house of the sun, where were woods and groves. There they were to exist four years, at the end of which time they were to be converted into birds of rich and beautiful plumage, and to go about sucking flowers both in heaven and on earth.

Mictecacihuatl

To the statue mentioned above there was joined with great propriety the image of another god, feigned to be the god of hell, or of the place of the dead, which latter is the literal signification of his name, Mictlantecutli. This image was engraved in demi-relief on the lower plane of the stone of the great compound statue; but it was also venerated separately in its own proper temple, called Tlalxicco, that is to say, ‘in the bowels or navel of the earth.’ Among the various offices attributed to this deity was that of burying the corpses of the dead, principally of those that died of natural infirmities; for the souls of these went to hell to present themselves before this Mictlantecutli and before his wife Mictecacihuatl, which name Torquemada interprets as ‘she that throws into hell.’ Thither indeed it was said that these dead went to offer themselves as vassals carrying offerings, and to have pointed out to them the places that they were to occupy according to the manner of their death. This god of hades was further called Tzontemoc, a term interpreted by Torquemada to mean ‘he that lowers his head;’ but it would rather appear that it should take its signification from the action indicated by the great statue, where this deity is seen as it were carrying down tied to himself the heads of corpses to bury them in the ground, as Boturini says. The places or habitations supposed to exist in hell, and to which the souls of the dead had to go, were nine; in the last of which, called Chicuhnauhmictlan, the said souls were supposed to be annihilated and totally destroyed. There was lastly given to this god a place in heaven, he being joined with one of the planets and accompanied by Teotlamacazqui; at his feet, there was painted a body that was half buried, or covered with earth from the head to the waist, while the rest stuck out uncovered. It only remains to be said that such was the veneration and religious feeling with which were regarded all things relating to the dead, that not only there were invented for them tutelary gods, much honored by frequent feasts and sacrifice; but the Mexicans elevated Death itself, dedicating to it a day of the calendar (the first day of the sixth ‘trecena’), joining it to the number of the celestial signs; and erecting to it a sumptuous temple called Tolnahuac, within the circuit of the great temple of Mexico, wherein it was particularly adored with holocausts and victims under the title Ce Miquiztli.[IX-52]Boturini, Idea, pp. 27-8, mentions the goddess Teoyaomique; on pp. 30-1, he notices the respect with which Mictlantecutli and the dead were regarded: ‘Me resta solo tratar de la decima tercia, y ultima Deidad esto es, el Dios del Infierno, Geroglifico, que explica el piadoso acto de sepultar los muertos, y el gran respeto, que estos antiguos Indios tenian à los sepulcros, creyendo, à imitacion de otras Naciones, no solo que alli asistian las almas de los Difuntos, … sino que tambien dichos Parientes eran sus Dioses Indigetes, ita dicti, quasi inde geniti, cuyos huessos, y cenizas daban alli indubitables, y ciertas señales de el dominio, que tuvieron en aquella misma tierra, donde se hallaban sepultados, la que havian domado con los sudores de la Agricultura, y aun defendian con los respetos, y eloquencia muda, de sus cadaveres…. Nuestros Indios en la segunda Edad dedicaron dos meses de el año llamados Micaylhuitl, y Hueymicaylhuitl à la Commemoracion de los Difuntos, y en la tercera exercitaron varios actos de piedad en su memoria, prueba constante de que confessaron la immortalidad de el alma.’ See further Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 529-30. Of the compound idol discussed above, Humboldt, Vues des Cordillères, tom. ii., pp. 153-7, speaks at some length. He says: ‘On distingue, à la partie supérieure, les têtes de deux monstres accolés et l’on trouve, à chaque face, deux yeux et une large gueule armée de quatre dents. Ces figures monstrueuses n’indiquent peut-être que des masques: car, chez les Mexicains, on étoit dans l’usage de masquer les idoles à l’époque de la maladie d’un roi, et dans toute autre calamité publique. Les bras et les pieds sont cachés sous une draperie entourée d’énormes serpens, et que les Mexicains designoient sous le nom de cohuatlicuye, vêtement de serpent. Tous ces accessoires, surtout les franges en forme de plumes, sont sculptés avec le plus grand soin. M. Gama, dans un mémoire particulier, a rendu très-probable que cette idole représente le dieu de la guerre, Huitzilopochtli, ou Tlacahuepancuexcotzin, et sa femme, appelée Teoyamiqui (de miqui, mourir, et de teoyao, guerre divine), parcequ’elle conduisoit les ames des guerriers morts pour la défense des dieux, à la maison du Soleil, le paradis des Mexicains, où elle les transformoit en colibris. Les têtes de morts et les mains coupées, dont quatre entourent le sein de la déesse, rappellent les horribles sacrifices (teoquauhquetzoliztli) célébrés dans la quinzième période de treize jours, après le solstice d’été, à l’honneur du dieu de la guerre et de sa compagne Teoyamiqui. Les mains coupées alternent avec la figure de certains vases dans lesquels on brûloit l’encens. Ces vases étoient appelés top-xicalli sacs en forme de calebasse (de toptli, bourse tissue de fil de pite, et de xicali, calebasse). Cette idole étant sculptée sur toutes ses faces, même par dessous (fig. 5), où l’on voit représenté Mictlanteuhtli, le seigneur du lieu des morts, on ne sauroit douter qu’elle étoit soutenue en l’air au moyen de deux colonnes sur lesquelles reposoient les parties marquées A et B, dans les figures 1 et 3. D’après cette disposition bizarre, la tête de l’idole se trouvoit vraisemblablement élevée de cinq à six mètres au-dessus du pavé du temple, de manière que les prêtres (Teopixqui) traînoient les malheureuses victimes à l’autel, en les faisant passer au-dessous de la figure de Mictlanteuhtli.’

Mixcoatl, God of Hunting

Mixcoatl is the god—or goddess according to some good authorities—of hunting. The name means ‘cloud-serpent’ and indeed seems common to a whole class of deities or heroes somewhat resembling the Nibelungs of northern European mythology.[IX-53]According to Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, 1858, tom. clx., pp. 267-8: ‘Les héros et demi-deux qui, sous le nom générique de Chichemèques-Mixcohuas, jouent un si grand rôle dans la mythologie mexicaine, et qui du vii^e au ix^e siècle de notre ère, obtinrent la prépondérance sur le plateau aztèque…. Les plus célèbres de ces héros sont Mixcohuatl-Mazatzin (le Serpent Nébuleux et le Daim), fondateur de la royauté à Tollan (aujourd’hui Tula), Tetzcatlipoca, spécialement adoré à Tetzeuco, et son frère Mixcohuatl le jeune, dit Camaxtli, en particulier adoré à Tlaxcallan, l’un et l’autre mentionnés, sous d’autres noms, parmi les rois de Culhuacan et considérés, ainsi que le premier, comme les principaux fondateurs de la monarchie toltèque. On ignore où ils reçurent le jour. Un manuscrit mexicain, [Codex Chimalpopoca], en les donnant pour fils d’Iztac-Mixcohuatl ou le Serpent Blanc Nébuleux et d’Iztac-Chalchiuhlicué ou la Blanche Dame azurée, fait allégoriquement allusion aux pays nébuleux et aquatiques où ils ont pris naissance; le même document ajoute qu’ils vinrent par eau et qu’ils demeurèrent un certain temps en barque. Peut-être que le nom d’Iztac ou Blanc, également donné à Mixcohuatl, désigne aussi une race différente de celle des Indiens et plus en rapport avec la nôtre.’ He is further supposed to be connected with the thunderstorm: “Mixcoatl, the Cloud-Serpent, or Iztac-Mixcoatl, the White or Gleaming Cloud-Serpent,” writes Brinton,[IX-54]Brinton’s Myths, p. 158. “said to have been the only divinity of the ancient Chichimecs, held in high honor by the Nahuas, Nicaraguans, and Otomís, and identical with Taras, supreme god of the Tarascos, and Camaxtli, god of the Teo-Chichimecs, is another personification of the thunderstorm. To this day this is the familiar name of the tropical tornado in the Mexican language. He was represented, like Jove, with a bundle of arrows in his hand, the thunderbolts. Both the Nahuas and Tarascos related legends in which he figured as father of the race of man. Like other lords of the lightning he was worshiped as the dispenser of riches and the patron of traffic; and in Nicaragua his image is described as being ‘engraved stones’ probably the supposed products of the thunder.”

In the fourteenth month, called Quecholli, and beginning, according to Clavigero, on the fourteenth of November, there was made with many obscure ceremonies, a feast to this god. On the sixth day of the month all assembled at the cu of Huitzilopochtli, where during four days they made arrows and darts for use in war and for general practice at a mark, mortifying at the same time their flesh by drawing blood, and by abstaining from women and pulque. This done they made, in honor of the dead, certain little mimic darts of a hand long, of which four seem to have been tied together with four splinters of candle-wood pine; these were put on the graves, and at set of sun, lit and burned, after which the ashes were interred on the spot. There were taken a maize-stalk of nine knots with a paper flag on the top that hung down to the bottom, together with a shield and dart belonging to the dead man, and his maxtli and blanket; the last two being attached to the maize-stalk. The hanging flag was ornamented on either side with red cotton thread, in the figure of an X; a piece of twisted white thread also hung down to which was suspended a dead humming-bird. Handfuls of the white feathers of the heron were tied two and two and fastened to the burdened maize-stalk, while all the cotton threads used were covered with white hen’s feathers, stuck on with resin. Lastly all these were burned on a stone block called the quaulixicalcalico.

In the court of the cu of Mixcoatl was scattered much dried grass brought from the mountains, upon which the old women-priests, or cioatlamacazque, seated themselves, each with a mat before her. All the women that had children came, each bringing her child and five sweet tamales; and the tamales were put on the mats before the old women, who in return took the children, tossed them in their arms and then returned them to their mothers.

Drive-Hunt of Mixcoatl

About the middle of the month was made a special feast to this god of the Otomís, to Mixcoatl. In the morning all prepared for a great drive-hunt, girding their blankets to their loins, and taking bows and arrows. They wended their way to a mountain-slope, anciently Zapatepec, or Yxillantonan, above the sierra of Atlacuizoayan, or as it is now called, according to Bustamante, Tacubaya. There they drove deer, rabbits, hares, coyotes, and other game together, little by little, every one in the meantime killing what he could; few or no animals escaping. To the most successful hunters blankets were given, and every one brought to his house the heads of the animals he had taken, and hanged them up for tokens of his prowess or activity.

There were human sacrifices in honor of this hunting god with other deities. The manufacturers of pulque bought, apparently two slaves who were decorated with paper and killed in honor of the gods Tlamatzincatl and Yzquitecatl; there were also sacrificed women supposed to represent the wives of these two deities. The calpixquis on their part led other two slaves to the death in honor of Mixcoatl and of Cohuatlicue his wife. On the morning of the last day but one of the month, all the doomed were brought out and led round the cu where they had to die; after mid-day they were led up the cu, round the sacrificial block, down again, then back to the calpulco, to be at once guarded and forced to keep awake for the night. At midnight their heads were shaven before the fire, and every one of them burned there what goods he had, little paper flags, cane tobacco-pipes[IX-55]Cañas de humo. Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 75; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 166. and drinking-vessels; the women threw into the flame their raiment, their ornaments, their spindles, little baskets, vessels in which the spindles were twirled, warping-frames, fuller’s earth, pieces of cane for pressing a fabric together, cords for fastening it up, maguey-thorns, measuring-rods, and other implements for weaving; and they said that all these things had to be given to them in the other world after their death. At daybreak these captives were carried or assisted up, each having a paper flag borne before him, to the several cues of the gods they were to die in honor of. Four that had to die, probably before Mixcoatl, were, each by four bearers, carried up to a temple, bound hand and foot to represent dead deer; while others were merely assisted up the steps by a youth at each arm, so that they should not faint nor fail; two other youths trailing or letting them down the same steps after they were dead. The preceding relates only to the male captives, the women being slain before the men, in a separate cu called the coatlan; it is said that as they were forced up the steps of it some screamed and others wept. In letting the dead bodies of these women down the steps again, it is also specially written, that they were not hurled down roughly, but rolled down little by little. At the place where the skulls of the dead were exposed, waited two old women called teixamique, having by them salt water and bread and a mess or gruel of some kind. The carcasses of the victims being brought to them, they dipped cane-leaves into the salt water and sprinkled the faces of them therewith, and into each mouth they put four morsels of bread moistened with the gruel or mess above-mentioned. Then the heads were cut off and spitted on poles; and so the feast ended.[IX-56]Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 73-6; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 162-7; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 148-9, 151-2, 280-1; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 79; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 483, 486, and elsewhere. Brasseur, as his custom is, euhemerizes this god, detailing the events of his reign, and theorizing on his policy, as soberly and believingly as if it were a question of the reign of a Louis XIV., or a Napoleon I.; see Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 227-35. Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 88, and others, make Camaxtle, the principal god of Tlascala, identical with Mixcoatl. The Chichimecs ‘had only one god called Mixcoatl and they kept this image or statue. They held to another god, invisible, without image, called Iooalliehecatl—that is to say, god invisible and impalpable, favoring, sheltering, all-powerful, by whose power all live, etc.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 64.

Macuilxochitl

In connection with the religious honors paid to the dead, it may be here said that the Mexicans had a deity of whom almost all we know is that he was the god of those that died in the houses of the lords or in the palaces of the principal men; he was called Macuilxochitl, ‘the chief that gives flowers, or that takes care of the giving of flowers.'[IX-57]This deity must not, it would seem, be confounded with another mentioned by Sahagun, viz., Coatlyace, or Coatlyate, or Coatlantonan, a goddess of whom we know little save the fact, incidentally mentioned, that she was regarded with great devotion by the dealers in flowers. See Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 42, and Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 95. The festival of this god fell among the movable feasts and was called Xochilhuitl, or ‘the festival of flowers.’ There were in it the usual preliminary fasting (that is to say, eating but once a day, at noon, and then only of a restricted diet), blood-letting, and offering of food in the temple; though there did not occur therein anything suggestive either of a god of flowers or of a god of the more noble dead. The image of this deity was in the likeness of an almost naked man, either flayed or painted of a vermilion color; the mouth and chin were of three tints, white, black, and light blue; the face was of a light reddish tinge. It had a crown of light green color, with plumes of the same hue, and tassels that hung down to the shoulders. On the back of the idol was a device wrought in feathers, representing a banner planted on a hill; about the loins of it was a bright reddish blanket, fringed with sea-shells; curiously wrought sandals adorned its feet; on the left arm of it was a white shield, in the midst of which were set four stones, joined two and two; it held a sceptre, shaped like a heart and tipped with green and yellow feathers.[IX-58]Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 10-11, 136; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 19-22, lib. iv., p. 305. Boturini, Idea de una Hist., pp. 14-15, speaks of a goddess called Macuilxochiquetzalli; by a comparison of the passage with note 28 of this chapter, it will I think be evident that the chevalier’s Macuilxochiquetzalli is identical not with Macuilxochitl, but with Xochiquetzal, the Aztec Venus. See further, on the relations of this goddess, Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 490-1: ‘Matlalcuéyé, qui donnait son nom au versant de la montagne du côté de Tlaxcallan, était regardée comme la protectrice spéciale des magiciennes. La légende disait qu’elle était devenue l’épouse de Tlaloc, après que Xochiquetzal eut été enlevée à ce dieu [see this vol. p. 378]. Celle-ci, dont elle n’était, après tout, qu’une personnification différente, était appelée aussi Chalchiuhlycué, ou le Jupon semé d’émeraudes, en sa qualité de déesse des eaux. Le symbole sous lequel on la représente, comme déesse des amours honnêtes, est celui d’un éventail composé de cinq fleurs, ce que rend encore le nom qu’on lui donnait “Macuil-Xochiquetzalli.”‘ Brasseur, it is to be remembered, distinguishes between Xochiquetzal as the goddess of honest love, and Tlazolteotl as the goddess of lubricity.

Ome Acatl was the god of banquets and of guests; his name signified ‘two canes.’ When a man made a feast to his friends, he had the image of this deity carried to his house by certain of its priests; and if the host did not do this, the deity appeared to him in a dream, rebuking him in such words as these: Thou bad man, because thou hast withheld from me my due honor, know that I will forsake thee and that thou shalt pay dearly for this insult. When this god was excessively angered, he was accustomed to mix hairs with the food and drink of the guests of the object of his wrath, so that the giver of the feast should be disgraced. As in the case of Huitzilopochtli, there was a kind of communion sacrament in connection with the adoration of this god of feasts: in each ward dough was taken and kneaded by the principal men into the figure of a bone of about a cubit long, called the bone of Ome Acatl. A night seems to have been spent in eating and in drinking pulque; then at break of day an unfortunate person, set up as the living image of the god, had his belly pricked with pins, or some such articles; being hurt thereby, as we are told. This done the bone was divided and each one ate what of it fell to his lot; and when those that had insulted this god ate, they often grew sick, and almost choked, and went stumbling and falling. Ome Acatl was represented as a man seated on a bunch of cyperus-sedges. His face was painted white and black; upon his head was a paper crown surrounded by a long and broad fillet of divers colors, knotted up at the back of the head; and again round and over the fillet, was wound a string of chalchiuite beads. His blanket was made like a net, and had a broad border of flowers woven into it. He bore a shield, from the lower part of which hung a kind of fringe of broad tassels. In the right hand he held a sceptre called the tlachielonique, or ‘looker,'[IX-59]The fire-god Xiuhtecutli used an instrument of this kind; see this vol. p. 385. because it was furnished with a round plate through which a hole was pierced, and the god kept his face covered with the plate and looked through the hole.[IX-60]Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 11-12; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 22-3; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 58, 240-1; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 22; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 492.

Ixtlilton, Healer of Children

Yxtliton, or Ixtlilton—that is to say ‘the little negro,’ according to Sahagun, and ‘the black-faced,’ according to Clavigero—was a god who cured children of various diseases.[IX-61]This god, who was also known by the title of Tlaltecuin, is the third Mexican god connected with medicine. There is first that unnamed goddess described on p. 353 of this vol.; and there is then a certain Tzaputlatena, described by Sahagun—Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 4; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 7-8—as the goddess of turpentine (see Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 494), or of some such substance, used to cure the itch in the head, irruptions on the skin, sore throats, chapped feet or lips, and other such things: ‘Tzaputlatena fué una muger, segun su nombre, nacida en el pueblo de Tzaputla, y por esto se llama la Madre de Tzaputla, porque fué la primera que inventó la resina que se llama uxitl, y es un aceyte sacado por artificio de la resina del pino, que aprovecha para sanar muchas enfermedades, y primeramente aprovecha contra una manera de bubas, ó sarna, que nace en la cabeza, que se llama Quaxococivistli; y tambien contra otra enfermedad es provechosa asi mismo, que nace en la cabeza, que es como bubas, que se llama Chaguachicioiztli, y tambien para la sarna de la cabeza. Aprovecha tambien contra la ronguera de la garganta. Aprovecha tambien contra las grietas de las pies y de los labios. Es tambien contra los empeines que nacen en la cara ó en las manos. Es tambien contra el usagre; contra muchas otras enfermedades es bueno. Y como esta muger debió ser la primera que halló este aceyte, contaronla entre las Diosas, y hacianla fiesta y sacrificios aquellos que venden y hacen este aceyte que se llama Uxitl.’ His ‘oratory’ was a kind of temporary building made of painted boards; his image was neither graven nor painted; it was a living man decorated with certain vestments. In this temple or oratory were kept many pans and jars, covered with boards, and containing a fluid which was called ‘black water.’ When a child sickened, it was brought to this temple and one of these jars was uncovered, upon which the child drank of the black water and was healed of its disease—the cure being probably most prompt and complete when the priests as well as the god knew something of physic. When one made a feast to this god—which seems to have been when one made new pulque—the man that was the image of Ixtlilton came to the house of the feast-giver with music and dancing, and preceded by the smoke of copal incense. The representative of the deity having arrived, the first thing he did was to eat and drink; there were more dances and festivities in his honor, in which he took part, and then he entered the cellar of the house, where were many jars of pulque that had been covered for four days with boards or lids of some kind. He opened one or many of these jars, a ceremony called ‘the opening of the first, or of the new wine,’ and himself with those that were with him drank thereof. This done, he went out into the court-yard of the house, where there were prepared certain jars of the above-mentioned black water, which also had been kept covered four days; these he opened, and if there was found therein any dirt, or piece of straw, or hair, or ash, it was taken as a sign that the giver of the feast was a man of evil life, an adulterer, or a thief, or a quarrelsome person, and he was affronted with the charge accordingly. When the representative of the god set out from the house where all this occurred, he was presented with certain blankets called yxguen, or ixquen, that is to say, ‘covering of the face,’ because when any fault had been found in the black water, the giver of the feast was put to shame.[IX-62]Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 12-13; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 24-5; Clavigero, Hist. Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 21.

Opuchtli, God of Fishing

Opuchtli, or Opochtli, ‘the left-handed,’ was venerated by fishermen as their protector and the inventor of their nets, fish-spears, oars, and other gear. In Cuitlahuac, an island of lake Chalco, there was a god of fishing called Amimitl, who, according to Clavigero, differed from the first-mentioned only in name. Sahagun says that Opuchtli was counted among the number of the Tlaloques, and that the offerings made to him were composed of pulque, stalks of green maize, flowers, the smoking-canes, or pipes called yietl, copal incense, the odorous herb yiauhtli, and parched maize. These things seem to have been strewed before him as rushes used to be strewed before a procession. There were used in these solemnities certain rattles enclosed in hollow walking-sticks. The image of this god was like a man, almost naked, with the face of that grey tint seen in quails’ feathers; on the head was a paper crown of divers colors, made like a rose, as it were, of leaves overlapping each other, topped by green feathers issuing from a yellow tassel; other long tassels hung from this crown to the shoulders of the idol. Crossed over the breast was a green stole resembling that worn by the Christian priest when saying mass; on the feet were white sandals; on the left arm was a red shield, and in the centre of its field a white flower with four leaves disposed like a cross; and in the left hand was a sceptre of a peculiar fashion.[IX-63]’Tenia en la mano izquierda una rodela teñida de colorado, y en el medio de este campo una flor blanca con quatro ojas á manera de cruz, y de los espacios de las ojas salian quatro puntas que eran tambien ojas de la misma flor. Tenia un cetro en la mano derecha como un caliz, y de lo alto de él salia como un casquillo de saetas.’ Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 13; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 26-7; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 20; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 60-1. ‘La pêche avait, toutefois, son génie particulier: c’était Opochtli, le Gaucher, personnification de Huitzilopochtli.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. des Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 494.

Xipe, or Totec, or Xipetotec, or Thipetotec, is, according to Clavigero, a god whose name has no meaning,[IX-64]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 22. This is evidently a blunder, however; Boturini explains Totec to mean ‘god our lord,’ and Xipe (or Oxipe, as he writes it) to signify ‘god of the flaying.’ ‘Tlaxipehualiztli, Symbolo del primer Mes, quiere decir Deshollamiento de Gentes, porque en su primer dia se deshollaban unos Hombres vivos dedicados al Dios Totéuc, esto es, Dios Señor nuestro, ò al Dios Oxipe, Dios de el Deshollamiento, syncope de Tloxipeùca.’ Boturini, Idea de una Hist., p. 51. Sahagun says that the name means ‘the flayed one.’ ‘Xipetotec, que quiere decir desollado.’ Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 14; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., p. 27. While Torquemada affirms that it means ‘the bald,’ or ‘the blackened one.’ ‘Tenian los Plateros otro Dios, que se llamaba Xippe, y Totec…. Este Demonio Xippe, que quiere decir, Calvo, ó Ateçado.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 58. Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 503, partially accepts all these derivations: ‘Xipe, le chauve ou l’écorché, autrement dit encore Totec ou notre seigneur.’ This god was further surnamed, according to the interpreter of the Vatican Codex, ‘the mournful combatant,’ or, as Gallatin gives it, ‘the disconsolate;’ see Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), tav. xliii., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 186; and Amer. Ethnol. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 345, 350. who was the deity of the goldsmiths, and who was much venerated by the Mexicans, they being persuaded that those that neglected his worship would be smitten with diseases; especially the boils, the itch, and pains of the head and eyes. They excelled themselves therefore in cruelty at his festival time, occurring ordinarily in the second month.

Sahagun describes this god as specially honored by dwellers on the sea-shore, and as having had his origin at Zapotlan in Jalisco. He was supposed to afflict people with sore eyes and with various skin-diseases, such as small-pox, abscesses, and itch. His image was made like a human form, one side or flank of it being painted yellow, and the other of a tawny color; down each side of the face from the brow to the jaw a thin stripe was wrought; and on the head was a little cap with hanging tassels. The upper part of the body was clothed with the flayed skin of a man; round the loins was girt a kind of green skirt. It had on one arm a yellow shield with a red border, and held in both hands a scepter shaped like the calix of a poppy and tipped with an arrow-head.[IX-65]Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 14; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 27-8; Boturini, Idea de Nueva Hist., p. 51.

Eating the Bodies of the Sacrificed

On the last day of the second month—or, according to some authors, of the first—Tlacaxipehualiztli, there was celebrated a solemn feast in honor at once of Xipetotec and of Huitzilopochtli. It was preceded by a very solemn dance at noon of the day before. As the night of the vigil fell, the captives were shut up and guarded; at midnight—the time when it was usual to draw blood from the ears—the hair of the middle of the head of each was shaven away before a fire. When the dawn appeared they were led by their owners to the foot of the stairs of the temple of Huitzilopochtli—and if they would not ascend willingly the priests dragged them up by the hair. The priests threw them down one by one on the back on a stone of three quarters of a yard or more high, and square on the top something more than a foot every way. Two assistants held the victim down by the feet, two by the hands, and one by the head—this last according to many accounts putting a yoke over the neck of the man and so pressing it down. Then the priest, holding with both hands a splinter of flint, or a stone resembling flint, like a large lance-head, struck across the breast therewith, and tore out the heart through the gash so made; which, after offering it to the sun and other gods by holding it up toward the four quarters of heaven, he threw into a wooden vessel.[IX-66]These human sacrifices were begun, according to Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 165-7, by the Mexicans, before the foundation of their city, while yet slaves of the Culhuas. These Mexicans had done good service to their rulers in a battle against the Xochimilcas. The masters were expected to furnish their serfs with a thank-offering for the war god. They sent a filthy rag and a rotten fowl. The Mexicans received and were silent. The day of festival came; and with it the Culhua nobles to see the sport—the Helots and their vile sacrifice. But the filth did not appear, only a coarse altar, wreathed with a fragrant herb, bearing a great flake of keen-ground obsidian. The dance began, the frenzy mounted up, the priests advanced to the altar, and with them they dragged four Xochimilca prisoners. There is a quick struggle, and over a prisoner bruised, doubled back supine on the altar-block gleams and falls the itzli, driven with a two-handed blow. The blood spurts like a recoil into the bent face of the high priest, who grabbles, grasps, tears out and flings the heart to the god. Another, another, another, and there are four hearts beating in the lap of the grim image. There are more dances but there is no more sport for the Culhuas: with lips considerably whitened they return to their place. After this there could be no more mastership, nor thought of mastership over such a people; there was too much of the wild beast in them; they had already tasted blood. And the Mexicans were allowed to leave the land of their bondage, and journey north toward the future Tenochtitlan. The blood was collected also in a vessel and given to the owner of the dead captive, while the body, thrown down the temple steps, was taken to the calpule by certain old men, called quaquacuiltin, flayed, cut into pieces, and divided for eating; the king receiving the flesh of the thigh, while the rest of the carcass was eaten at the house of the owner of the captive, though, as will appear by a remark hereafter,[IX-67]See this vol., p. 415. it is improbable that the captor or owner himself ate any of it. With the skin of these flayed persons, a party of youths called the tototecli clothed themselves, and fought in sham fight with another party of young men; prisoners being taken on both sides, who were not released without a ransom of some kind or other. This sham battle was succeeded by combats of a terribly real sort, the famous so-called gladiatorial fights of Mexico. On a great round stone, like an enormous mill-stone, a captive was tied by a cord, passing round his waist and through the hole of the stone, long enough to permit him freedom of motion everywhere about the block—set near or at a temple called yopico, of the god Totec, or Xipe.[IX-68]Further notice of this stone appears in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 94, or Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., ap., pp. 207-8: ‘El sesenta y dos edificio se llamaba Temalacatl. Era una piedra como muela de molino grande, y estaba agujereada en el medio como muela de molino. Sobre esta piedra ponian los esclavos y acuchillabanse con ellos: estaban atados por medio de tal manera que podian llegar hasta la circumferencia de la piedra, y dabanles armas con que peleasen. Era este un espectaculo muy frequente, y donde concurria gente de todas las comarcas á verle. Un satrapa vestido de un pellejo de oso ó Cuetlachtli, era alli el padrino de los captivos que alli mataban, que los llevaba á la piedra y los ataba alli, y los daba las armas, y los lloraba entre tanto que peleaban, y quando caian los entregaba al que les habia de sacar el corazon, que era otro satrapa vestido con otro pellejo que se llamaba Tooallaoan. Esta relacion queda escrita en la fiesta de Tlacaxipeoaliztli.’ With various ceremonies, more particularly described in the preceding volume, the bound man furnished with inferior weapons was made to fight with a picked Mexican champion—the latter holding up his sword and shield to the sun before engaging. If, as sometimes happened, the desperate though hampered and ill-armed captive—whose club-sword was, by a refinement of mockery, deprived of its jagged flint edging and set with feathers—slew his opponent, another champion was sent against him, and so on to the number of five, at which point, according to some, the captive was set free; though according to other authorities, he was not allowed so to escape, but champions were sent against him till he fell. Upon which a priest called the yooallaoa opened his breast, tore out his heart, offered it to the sun, and threw it into the usual wooden vessel; while the ropes used for binding to the fighting-stone were carried to the four quarters of the world, reverently with weeping and sighing. A second priest thrust a piece of cane into the gash in the victim’s breast and held it up stained with blood to the sun. Then the owner of the captive came and received the blood into a vessel bordered with feathers; this vessel he took with a little cane-and-feather broom or aspergillum and went about all the temples and calpules, giving to each of the idols, as it were to taste of the blood of his captive. The slain body was then carried to the calpulco—where, while alive, it had been confined the night before the sacrifice—and there skinned. Thence it was brought to the house of its owner, who divided and made presents of it to his superiors, relatives, and friends; not however tasting thereof himself, for, we are told, “he counted it as the flesh of his own body,” because from the hour that he took the prisoner “he held him to be his son, and the captive looked up to his captor as to a father.”

Relations Between Captor and Captive

The skins of the dead belonged to their captors, who gave them again to others to be worn by them for apparently twenty days, probably as a kind of penance—the persons so clothed collecting alms from everyone in the meantime and bringing all they got, each to the man that had given him the skin. When done with, these skins were hid away in a rotting condition in a certain cave, while the ex-wearers thereof washed themselves with great rejoicings. At the putting away of these skins there assisted numbers of people ill with the itch and such other diseases as Xipe inflicted—hoping thus to be healed of their infirmities, and it is said that many were so cured.[IX-69]Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 23, 37-43; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 51-3, 86-97; Explicacion del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, pt. i., lam. iii., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 133; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), tav. lxiii., in Id., vol. v., p. 191; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 154, 252-4; Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt. ii., pp. 50-4; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 78, note; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 481. We learn from Clavigero, Ibid., tom. i., pp. 281-2, that this great gladiatorial block was sometimes to an extraordinary extent a ‘stone of sacrifice’ to the executioners as well as to the doomed victim. In the last year of the reign of the last Montezuma, a famous Tlascaltec general, Tlahuicol, was captured by the merest accident. His strength of arm was such that few men could lift his maquahuil, or sword of the Mexican type, from the ground. Montezuma, too proud to use such an inglorious triumph, or perhaps moved by a sincere admiration of the terrible and dignified warrior, offered him his liberty, either to return to Tlascala, or to accept high office in Mexico. But the honor of the chief was at stake, as he understood it; and not even a favor would he accept from the hated Mexican; the death, the death! he said, and, if you dare, by battle on the gladiatorial stone. So they tied him, (by the foot says Clavigero), upon the temalacatl, armed with a great staff only, and chose out champions to kill him from the most renowned of the warriors; but the grim Tlascaltec dashed out the brains of eight with his club, and hurt twenty more, before he fell, dying like himself. They tore out his heart, as of wont, and a costlier heart to Mexico never smoked before the sun.
(Further notice of this stone appears in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 94, or Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., ap., pp. 207-8: ‘El sesenta y dos edificio se llamaba Temalacatl. Era una piedra como muela de molino grande, y estaba agujereada en el medio como muela de molino. Sobre esta piedra ponian los esclavos y acuchillabanse con ellos: estaban atados por medio de tal manera que podian llegar hasta la circumferencia de la piedra, y dabanles armas con que peleasen. Era este un espectaculo muy frequente, y donde concurria gente de todas las comarcas á verle. Un satrapa vestido de un pellejo de oso ó Cuetlachtli, era alli el padrino de los captivos que alli mataban, que los llevaba á la piedra y los ataba alli, y los daba las armas, y los lloraba entre tanto que peleaban, y quando caian los entregaba al que les habia de sacar el corazon, que era otro satrapa vestido con otro pellejo que se llamaba Tooallaoan. Esta relacion queda escrita en la fiesta de Tlacaxipeoaliztli.’)

The merchants of Mexico—a class of men who hawked their goods from place to place and wandered often far into strange countries to buy or sell—had various deities to whom they did special honor. Among these the chief, and often the only one mentioned, was the god Yiacatecutli, or Jacateuctli, or Iyacatecuhtli, that is ‘the lord that guides,’ otherwise called Yacacoliuhqui, or Jacacoliuhqui.[IX-70]This last name means, Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 57, being followed, ‘the hook-nosed;’ and it is curious enough that this type of face, so generally connected with the Hebrew race and through them with particular astuteness in trade, should be the characteristic of the Mexican god of trade: ‘Los mercaderes tuvieron Dios particular, al qual llamaron Iyacatecuhtli, y por otro nombre se llamò Yacacoliuhqui, que quiere decir: El que tiene la nariz aguileña, que propriamente representa persona que tiene viveça, ò habilidad, para mofar graciosamente, ò engañar, y es sabio, y sagàz (que es propia condicion de mercaderes.)’ This chief god of the merchants had, however, according to Sahagun, five brothers and a sister, also reverenced by traders, the sister being called Chalmecacioatl, and the brothers respectively Chiconquiavitl, Xomocuil, Nacxitl, Cochimetl, and Yacapitzaoac. The principal image of this god was a figure representing a man walking along a road with a staff; the face black and white; the hair tied up in a bundle on the middle of the top of the head with two tassels of rich quetzal-feathers; the ear-rings of gold; the mantle blue, bordered with a flowered fringe, and covered with a red net, through whose meshes the blue appeared; round the ankles leather straps from which hung marine shells; curiously wrought sandals on the feet; and on the arm a plain unornamented yellow shield, with a spot of light blue in the centre of its field. Practically, however, every merchant reverenced his own stout staff—generally made of a solid, knotless piece of black cane, called utatl—as the representative or symbol of this god Yiacatecutli; keeping it, when not in use, in the oratory or sacred place in his house, and invariably putting food before it preliminary to eating his own meal. When traveling the traders were accustomed nightly to stack up their staves in a convenient position, bind them about, build a fire before them,[IX-71]Without laying any particular stress on this lighting a fire before Yiacatecutli—perhaps here necessary as a camp-fire and probably, at any rate, a thing done before many other gods—it may be noticed that the fire god seems to be particularly connected with the merchant god and indeed with the merchants themselves. Describing a certain coming down or arrival of the gods among men, believed to take place in the twelfth Mexican month, Sahagun—after describing the coming, first of Tezcatlipoca, who, ‘being a youth, and light and strong, walked fastest,’ and then the coming of all the rest (their arrival being known to the priests by the marks of their feet on a little heap of maize flour, specially prepared for the purpose)—says that a day after all the rest of the gods, came the god of fire and the god of the merchants, together; they being old and unable to walk as fast as their younger divine brethren: ‘El dia siguiente llegaba el dios de los Mercaderes llamado Yiaiacapitzaoac, ó Yiacatecutli, y otro Dios llamado Hiscocauzqui (Yxcocauhqui), ó Xiveteuctli (Xiuhtecutli), que és el Dios del fuego á quien los mercaderes tienen grande devocion. Estos dos llegaban á la postre un dia despues de los otros, porque decian que eran viejos y no andaban tanto como los otros:’ Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 71, or Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 158. See also, for the connection of the fire god Xiuhtecutli with business, this vol. p. 226; and for the high position of the merchants themselves besides Tezcatlipoca see this vol., p. 228. and then offering blood and copal, pray for preservation and shelter from the many perils to which their wandering life made them especially subject.[IX-72]Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 14-16; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 29-33; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 20. The Nahuihehecatli, or Nauiehecatl, mentioned by the interpreters of the codices, as a god honored by the merchants, is either some air god like Quetzalcoatl, or, as Sahagun gives it, merely the name of a sign; see Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), tav. xxvii., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 179; also, pp. 139-40; Explicacion del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, lam. xii.; also, Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iv., pp. 304-5, and Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 135-6.

Napatecutli

Napatecutli, that is to say ‘four times lord,’ was the god of the mat-makers and of all workers in water-flags and rushes. A beneficent and helpful divinity, and one of the Tlalocs, he was known by various names, such as Tepahpaca Teaaltati, ‘the purifier or washer;’ Quitzetzelohua, or Tlaitlanililoni, ‘he that scatters or winnows down;’ Tlanempopoloa, ‘he that is large and liberal;’ Teatzelhuia, ‘he that sprinkles with water;’ and Amotenenqua, ‘he that shows himself grateful.’ This god had two temples in Mexico and his festival fell in the thirteenth month, by Clavigero’s reckoning. His image resembled a black man, the face being spotted with white and black, with tassels hanging down behind supporting a green plume of three feathers. Round the loins and reaching to the knees was girt a kind of white and black skirt or petticoat, adorned with little sea-shells. The sandals of this idol were white; on its left arm was a shield made like the broad leaf of the water-lily, or nenuphar; while the right hand held a sceptre like a flowering staff, the flowers being of paper; and across the body, passing under the left arm, was a white scarf, painted over with black flowers.[IX-73]Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 16-17; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 33-5; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 59-60; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 22.

The Mexicans had several gods of wine, or rather of pulque; of these the chief seems to have been Tezcatzoncatl, otherwise known as Tequechmecaniani ‘the strangler,’ and as Teatlahuiani ‘the drowner;’ epithets suggested by the effects of drunkenness. The companion deities of this Aztec Dionysus were called as a class by the somewhat extraordinary name of Centzontotochtin or ‘the four hundred rabbits’; Yiaulatecatl, Yzquitecatl, Acoloa, Thilhoa, Pantecatl (the Patecatl of the interpreters of the codices), Tultecatl, Papaztac, Tlaltecaiooa, Ometochtli (often referred to as the principal god of wine), Tepuztecatl, Chimapalnecatl, were deities of this class. The principal characteristic of the image of the Mexican god of drunkenness was, according to Mendieta and Motolinia, a kind of vessel carried on the head of the idol, into which vessel wine was ceremoniously poured. The feast of this god, like that of the preceding divinity, fell in the thirteenth month, Tepeilhuitl, and in his temple in the city of Mexico there served four hundred consecrated priests, so great was the service done this everywhere too widely and well known god.[IX-74]Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 7, 19, 90, 93; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 14, 39-40, lib. ii., pp. 200, 205; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 58, 152, 184, 416; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), tav. xxxv., and Explicacion del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, lam. xvi., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 141, 182; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 344, 350; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 87, 315; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 21. ‘Otros tenian figuras de hombres; tenian estos en la cabeza un mortero en lugar de mitra, y allí les echaban vino, por ser el dios del vino.’ Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 33. ‘Otros con un mortero en la cabeza, y este parece que era el dios del vino, y así le echaban vino en aquel como mortero.’ Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 88. ‘Papaztla ó Papaztac…. Este era uno de los tres pueblos de donde se sacaban los esclavos para el sacrificio que se hacia de dia, al idolo Centzentotochtin, Dios del vino en el mes nombrado Hueipachtli, ó tepeilhuitl en su templo propio que es el cuadragesimo cuarto edificio de los que se contenian en la area del mayor, como dice el Dr. Hernandez: “Templum erat dicatum vini deo, in cujus honorem tres captivos interdiu tamen, et nonnoctu jugulabant, quorum primum Tepuztecatl nuncupabant secundum toltecatl, tertium vero Papaztac quod fiebat quotanni circa festum Tepeilhuiltl.” Apud P. Nieremberg, pag. 144.’ Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt ii., p. 35. ‘Les buveurs et les ivrognes avaient cependant, parmi les Aztèques, plusieurs divinités particulières: la principale était Izquitecatl; mais le plus connu devait être Tezcatzoncatl, appelé aussi Tequechmecaniani, ou le Pendeur.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 493.

The Household Gods

The Mexicans had certain household gods called Tepitoton, or Tepictoton, ‘the little ones,’—small statues of which kings kept six in their houses, nobles four, and common folks two. Whether these were a particular class of deities or merely miniature images of the already described greater gods it is hard to say. Similar small idols are said to have adorned streets, cross-roads, fountains and other places of public traffic and resort.[IX-75]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 64; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 23. These were what the Spaniards called ‘oratorios’ in the houses of the Mexicans. In or before these oratories the people offered cooked food to such images of the gods as they had there. Every morning the good-wife of the house woke up the members of her family and took care that they made the proper offering, as above, to these deities. Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 95; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., ap. p. 211.

The Ceremonial Calendar

With these Tepitoton may be said to finish the list of Mexican gods of any repute or any general notoriety; so that it seems fit to give here a condensed and arranged résumé of all the fixed festivals and celebrations of the Aztec calendar, with its eighteen months of twenty days each, and its five supplementary days at the end of the year. There is some disagreement as to which of the months the year began with; but it will best suit our present purpose to follow the arrangement of Sahagun, the interpreters of the Codices, Torquemada, and Clavigero, in which the month variously called Atlcahualco, or Quahuitlehua, or Cihuailhuitl, or Xilomanaliztli, is the first.[IX-76]It is obviously of little consequence to mythology whether the Mexicans called the month Atlcahualco the first or the third month (or, as Boturini has it, the eighteenth,) so long as we know, with some accuracy, to what month and day of the month it corresponds in our own Gregorian calendar. For the complete discussion of this question of the calendar we refer readers to the preceding volume of this series. Gama was unfortunately unacquainted with the writings of Sahagun, and Bustamante (who edited the works both of Gama and Sahagun) remarks in a note to the writings of the astronomer: ‘Muchas veces he deplorado, que el sábio Sr. D. Antonio Leon y Gama no hubiese tenido á la vista para formar esta preciosa obra los manuscritos del P. Sahagun, que he publicado en los años de 1829 y 30 en la oficina de D. Alejandro Valdés, y solo hubiese leído la obra del P. Torquemada, discípulo de D. Antonio Valeriano, que lo fué de dicho P. Sahagun; pues la lectura del texto de éste, que acaso truncó, ó no entendió bien, podrian haberle dejado dudas en hechos muy interesantes á esta historia.’ See Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt i., pp. 45-89; Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 20-34, or Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 49-76; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 251-86; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 397; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 58-84; Explicacion del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, pt i., and Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), tav. lvii-lxxiv, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 129-34, 190-7; Boturini, Idea de una Hist., pp. 47-53; Gomara,Conq. Mex., fol. 294; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 646-8; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 502-37; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 57-114. The name Atlchualco, or Atlaooalo, or Atalcaoplo, means ‘the buying or scarcity of water;’ Quahuitlehua, or Quavitleloa, ‘the sprouting of trees;’ and Xilomanaliztli, ‘the offering of Xilotl (that is heads of maize, which were then presented to the gods to secure their blessing on the seed time).’ This first month beginning on the second of February according to Sahagun, the eighteenth according to Gama, and the twenty-sixth according to Clavigero, was consecrated to Tlaloc and the other gods of water, and in it great numbers of children were sacrificed.[IX-77]See this vol., pp. 332-4. In further honor of the Tlalocs there were also at this time killed many captives on the gladiatorial stone.

It was the second month, called Tlacaxiphualiztli,[IX-78]It is also surnamed Cohuailhuitl, ‘feast of the snake:’ see above. or ‘the flaying of men,’ that was specially famous for its gladiatorial sacrifices, sacrifices already described and performed to the honor of Xipe, or Xipetotec.[IX-79]There seems to be some confusion with regard to whether or not there were gladiatorial sacrifices in each of the first two months. Sahagun, however, appears to describe sacrifices of this kind, as occurring in both periods; those of the first month being in honor of the Tlalocs and those of the second in honor of Xipe. For a description of these rites see this vol. pp. 414-5.

The third month called Tozoztontli, ‘the lesser fast or penance,’ was inaugurated by the sacrifice on the mountains of children to the Tlalocs. Those also that traded in flowers and were called Sochimanque, or Xochimanqui, made a festival to their goddess, Coatlycue, or Coatlantona, offering her the first-fruits of the flowers of the year, of these that had grown in the precincts of the cu yapico, a cu as we have seen, consecrated to Tlaloc. Into a cave belonging to this temple there were also at this time cast the now rotten skins of the human beings that had been flayed in the preceding month. Thither, “stinking like dead dogs,” as Sahagun phrases it, marched in procession the persons that wore these skins and there they put them off, washing themselves with many ceremonies; and sick folk troubled with certain skin-diseases followed and looked on, hoping by the sight of all these things to be healed of their infirmities. The owners of the captives that had been slain had also been doing penance for twenty days, neither washing nor bathing during that time; and they now, when they had seen the skins deposited in the cave, washed and gave a banquet to all their friends and relatives, performing many ceremonies with the bones of the dead captives. All the twenty days of this month singing exercises, praising the god, were carried on in the houses called Cuicacalli, the performers not dancing but remaining seated.

The fourth month was called, in contradistinction to the third, Veitozoztli, or Hueytozoztli, that is to say, ‘the greater penance or letting of blood;’ because in it not only the priests but also the populace and nobility did penance, drawing blood from their ears, shins, and other parts of the body, and exposing at their doors leaves of sword-grass stained therewith. After this they performed certain already described ceremonies,[IX-80]See this vol., pp. 360-2. and then made, out of the dough known as tzoalli,[IX-81]’Le Tzohualli était un composé de graines légumineuses particulières au Mexique, qu’on mangeait de diverses manières.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 513. an image of the goddess Chicomecoatl, in the court-yard of her temple, offering before it all kinds of maize, beans, and chian, because she was the maker and giver of these things and the sustainer of the people. In this month, as well as in the three months preceding, little children were sacrificed, a cruelty which was supposed to please the water gods, and which was kept up till the rains began to fall abundantly.

The Month Toxcatl

The fifth month, called Toxcatl and sometimes Tepopochuiliztli,[IX-82]The name ‘Tepopochuiliztli’ signifies ‘smoke or vapor.’ As to the meaning of ‘Toxcatl’ writers are divided, Boturini interpreting it to mean ‘effort,’ and Torquemada ‘a slippery place.’ Acosta, Sahagun, and Gama agree, however, in accepting it as an epithet applied to a string of parched or toasted maize used in ceremonies to be immediately described, and Acosta further gives as its root signification ‘a dried thing.’ Consult, in addition to the references given in the note at the beginning of these descriptions of the feasts, Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 383; Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 45-9; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., pp. 100-11. was begun by the most solemn and famous feast of the year, in honor of the principal Mexican god, a god known by a multitude of names and epithets, among which were Tezcatlipoca, Titlacaoan, Yautl, Telpuchtli, and Tlamatzincatl. A year before this feast, one of the most distinguished of the captives reserved for sacrifice was chosen out for superior grace and personal appearance from among all his fellows, and given in charge to the priestly functionaries called calpixques. These instructed him with great diligence in all the arts pertaining to good breeding, according to the Mexican idea: such as playing on the flute, walking, speaking, saluting those he happened to meet, the use and carrying about of straight cane tobacco-pipes and of flowers, with the dexterous smoking of the one, and the graceful inhalation of the odor of the other. He was attended upon by eight pages, who were clad in the livery of the palace, and had perfect liberty to go where he pleased night and day; while his food was so rich that to guard against his growing too fat, it was at times necessary to vary the diet by a purge of salt and water. Everywhere honored and adored as the living image and accredited representative of Tezcatlipoca, he went about playing on a small shrill clay flute, or fife, and adorned with rich and curious raiment furnished by the king, while all he met did him reverence kissing the earth. All his body and face was painted—black, it would appear; his long hair flowed to the waist; his head was covered with white hens’ feathers stuck on with resin, and covered with a garland of the flowers called yzquisuchitl; while two strings of the same flowers crossed his body in the fashion of cross-belts. Earrings of gold, a necklace of precious stones with a great dependent gem hanging to the breast, a lip-ornament (barbote) of sea-shell, bracelets of gold above the elbow on each arm, and strings of gems called macuextli winding from wrist almost to elbow, glittered and flashed back the light as the doomed man-god moved. He was covered with a rich beautifully fringed mantle of netting, and bore on his shoulders something like a purse made of white cloth of a span square, ornamented with tassels and fringe. A white maxtli of a span broad went about his loins, the two ends, curiously wrought, falling in front almost to the knee. Little bells of gold kept time with every motion of his feet, which were shod with painted sandals called ocelunacace.

All this was the attire he wore from the beginning of his year of preparation; but twenty days before the coming of the festival, they changed his vestments, washed away the paint or dye from his skin, and cut down his long hair to the length, and arranged it after the fashion, of the hair of the captains, tying it up on the crown of the head with feathers and fringe and two gold-buttoned tassels. At the same time they married to him four damsels, who had been pampered and educated for this purpose, and who were surnamed respectively after the four goddesses, Xochiquetzal, Xilonen, Atlatonan, and Vixtocioatl.[IX-83]With three of these goddesses we are tolerably familiar, knowing them to be intimately connected with each other and concerned in the production, preservation, or support of life and of life-giving food. Of Atlatonan little is known, but she seems to belong to the same class, being generally mentioned in connection with Cinteotl. Her name means, according to Torquemada, ‘she that shines in the water.’ ‘Otra Capilla, ò Templo avia, que se llamaba Xiuhcalco, dedicado al Dios Cinteutl, en cuia fiesta sacrificaban dos Varones Esclavos, y una Muger, à los quales ponian el nombre de su Dios. Al vno llamaban Iztaccinteutl, Dios Tlatlauhquicinteutl, Dios de las Mieses encendidas, ò coloradas; y à la Muger Atlantona, que quiere decir, que resplandece en el Agua, à la qual desollaban, cuio pellejo, y cuero, se vestia vn Sacerdote, luego que acababa el Sacrificio, que era de noche.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 155; see also, Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 94; or Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., ap. p. 209. Five days before the great day of the feast,[IX-84]Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 382-3, gives an account of various other ceremonies which took place ten days before the great feast day, which account has been followed by Torquemada, Clavigero, and later writers, and which we reproduce from the quaint but in this case at least full and accurate translation of E. G.—a translation which, however, makes this chapter the 29th of the fifth book instead of the 28th as in the original: ‘Then came forth one of the chiefe of the temple, attired like to the idoll, carrying flowers in his hand, and a flute of earth, having a very sharpe sound, and turning towards the east, he sounded it, and then looking to the west, north and south he did the like. And after he had thus sounded towards the foure parts of the world (shewing that both they that were present and absent did heare him) hee put his finger into the aire, and then gathered vp earth, which he put in his mouth, and did eate it in signe of adoration. The like did all they that were present, and weeping, they fell flat to the ground, invocating the darknesse of the night, and the windes, intreating them not to leave them, nor to forget them, or else to take away their lives, and free them from the labors they indured therein. Theeves, adulterers, and murtherers, and all others offendors had great feare and heavinesse, whilest this flute sounded; so as some could not dissemble nor hide their offences. By this meanes they all demanded no other thing of their god, but to have their offences concealed, powring foorth many teares, with great repentaunce and sorrow, offering great store of incense to appease their gods. The couragious and valiant men, and all the olde souldiers, that followed the Arte of Warre, hearing this flute, demaunded with great devotion of God the Creator, of the Lorde for whome wee live, of the sunne, and of other their gods, that they would give them victorie against their ennemies, and strength to take many captives, therewith so honour their sacrifices. This ceremonie was doone ten dayes before the feast: During which tenne dayes the Priest did sound this flute, to the end that all might do this worship in eating of earth, and demaund of their idol what they pleased: they every day made their praiers, with their eyes lift vp to heaven, and with sighs and groanings, as men that were grieved for their sinnes and offences.’ the day of the feast being counted one, all the people, high and low, the king it would appear being alone excepted, went out to celebrate with the man-god a solemn banquet and dance, in the ward called Tecanman; the fourth day before the feast, the same was done in the ward in which was guarded the statue of Tezcatlipoca. The little hill, or island, called Tepetzinco, rising out of the waters of the lake of Mexico, was the scene of the next day’s solemnities; solemnities renewed for the last time on the next day, or that immediately preceding the great day, on another like island called Tepelpulco, or Tepepulco. There, with the four women that had been given him for his consolation, the honored victim was put into a covered canoe usually reserved for the sole use of the king; and he was carried across the lake to a place called Tlapitzaoayan, near the road that goes from Yztapalapan to Chalco, at a place where was a little hill called Acacuilpan, or Cabaltepec. Here left him the four beautiful girls, whose society for twenty days he had enjoyed, they returning to the capital with all the people; there accompanying the hero of this terrible tragedy only those eight attendants that had been with him all the year. Almost alone, done with the joys of beauty, banquet, and dance, bearing a bundle of his flutes, he walked to a little ill-built cu, some distance from the road mentioned above, and about a league removed from the city. He marched up the temple steps, not dragged, not bound, not carried like a common slave or captive; and as he ascended he dashed down and broke on every step one of the flutes that he had been accustomed to play on in the days of his prosperity. He reached the top;—by sickening repetition we have learned to know the rest; one thing only, from the sacrificial stone his body was not hurled down the steps, but was carried by four men down to the Tzompantli, to the place of the spitting of heads.

The Feast of Toxcatl

And the chroniclers say that all this signified that those who enjoyed riches, delights in this life, should at the end come to poverty and sorrow—so determined are these same chroniclers to let nothing escape without its moral.

In this feast of Toxcatl, in the cu called Huitznahuac, where the image of Huitzilopochtli was always kept, the priests made a bust of this god out of tzoalli dough, with pieces of mizquitl-wood inserted by way of bones. They decorated it with his ornaments; putting on a jacket wrought over with human bones, a mantle of very thin nequen, and another mantle called the tlaquaquallo, covered with rich feathers, fitting the head below and widening out above; in the middle of this stood up a little rod, also decorated with feathers and sticking into the top of the rod was a flint knife half covered with blood. The image was set on a platform made of pieces of wood resembling snakes and so arranged that heads and tails alternated all the way round; the whole borne by many captains and men of war. Before this image and platform a number of strong youths carried an enormous sheet of paper resembling pasteboard, twenty fathoms long, one fathom broad, and a little less than an inch thick; it was supported by spear-shafts arranged in pairs of one shaft above and one below the paper, while persons on either side of the paper held each one of these pairs in one hand. When the procession, with dancing and singing, reached the cu to be ascended, the snaky platform was carefully and cautiously hoisted up by cords attached to its four corners, the image was set on a seat, and those that carried the paper rolled it up and set down the roll before the bust of the god. It was sunset when the image was so set up; and the following morning every one offered food in his own house before the image of Huitzilopochtli there, incensing also such images of other gods as he had, and then went to offer quails’ blood before the bust set up on the cu. The king began, wringing off the heads of four quails; the priests offered next, then all the people; the whole multitude carrying clay fire-pans and burning copal incense of every kind, after which every one threw his live coals upon a great hearth in the temple-yard. The virgins painted their faces, put on their heads garlands of parched maize with strings of the same across their breasts, decorated their arms and legs with red feathers, and carried black paper flags stuck into split canes. The flags of the daughters of nobles were not of paper but of a thin cloth called canaoac, painted with vertical black stripes. These girls joining hands danced round the great hearth, upon or over which on an elevated place of some kind there danced, giving the time and step, two men, having each a kind of pine cage covered with paper flags on his shoulders, the strap supporting which passed, not across the forehead—the usual way for men to carry a burden—but across the chest as was the fashion with women. The priests of the temple, dancing on this occasion with the women, bore shields of paper, crumpled up like great flowers; their heads were adorned with white feathers, their lips and part of the face were smeared with sugar-cane juice which produced a peculiar effect over the black with which their faces were always painted. They carried in their hands pieces of paper called amasmaxtli, and sceptres of palm-wood tipped with a black flower and having in the lower part a ball of black feathers. In dancing they used this sceptre like a staff, and the part by which they grasped it was wrapped round with a paper painted with black lines. The music for the dancers was supplied by a party of unseen musicians, who occupied one of the temple buildings, where they sat, he that played on the drum in the centre, and the performers on the other instruments about him. The men and women danced on till night, but the strictest order and decency were preserved, and any lewd word or look brought down swift punishment from the appointed overseers.

Death of the Yxteucalli

This feast was closed by the death of a youth who had been during the past year dedicated to and taken care of for Huitzilopochtli, resembling in this the victim of Tezcatlipoca, whose companion he had indeed been, but without receiving such high honors. This Huitzilopochtli youth was entitled Yxteucalli, or Tlacabepan, or Teicauhtzin, and was held to be the image and representative of the god. When the day of his death came, the priests decorated him with papers painted over with black circles, and put a mitre of eagles’ feathers on his head, in the midst of whose plumes was stuck a flint knife, stained half way up with blood and adorned with red feathers. Tied to his shoulders, by strings passing across the breast, was a piece of very thin cloth about a span square, and over it hung a little bag. Over one of his arms was thrown a wild beast’s skin, arranged somewhat like a maniple; bells of gold jingled at his legs as he walked or danced. There were two peculiar things connected with the death of this youth; first he had absolute liberty of choice regarding the hour in which he was to die; and second, he was not extended upon any block or altar, but when he wished he threw himself into the arms of the priests, and had his heart so cut out. His head was then hacked off and spitted alongside of that of the Tezcatlipoca youth, of whom we have spoken already. In this same day the priests made little marks on children, cutting them, with thin stone knives, in the breast, stomach, wrists, and fleshy part of the arms; marks, as the Spanish priests considered, by which the devil should know his own sheep.[IX-85]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 100-11; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 263-6; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 70-3. The ceremonies of the ensuing monthly festivals have already been described at length.[IX-86]For the month Etzalqualiztli, see this volume, pp. 334-43; for the months Tecuilhuitzintli, Hueytecuilhuitl, and Tlaxochimaco, see vol. ii. of this work, pp. 225-8; for Xocotlhuetzin and Ochpaniztli, this volume, pp. 385-9, 354-9; for Teotleco, vol. ii., pp. 332-4; for Tepeilhuitl, Quecholli, Panquetzaliztli, and Atemoztli, this volume, pp. 343-6, 404-6, 297-300, 323-4, 346-8; for Tititl, vol. ii., pp. 337-8; for Itzcalli, this volume, pp. 390-3.

Miscellaneous Feasts

There were, besides, a number of movable feasts in honor of the higher gods, the celestial bodies, and the patron deities of the various trades and professions. Sahagun gives an account of sixteen movable feasts, many of which, however, contained no religious element.[IX-87]Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 194-7, 216. There are other scattered notices of these movable feasts, which will be referred to as they appear. The first was dedicated to the sun, to whom a ghostly deputation of eighteen souls was sent to make known the wants of the people, and implore future favors. The selected victims were ranged in order at the place of sacrifice, and addressed by the priest, who exhorted them to bear in mind the sacred nature of their mission, and the glory which would be theirs upon its proper fulfillment. The music now strikes up; amid the crash and din the victims one after another are stretched upon the altar; a few flashes of the iztli-knife in the practiced hand of the slayer, and the embassy has set out for the presence of the sun.[IX-88]Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxvi.

The sixth, seventh, and eleventh festivals were celebrated to Quetzalcoatl, Tezcatlipoca, and Huitzilopochtli respectively. The public and household idols of these gods were at such seasons decorated, and presented with offerings of food, quails, and incense. During the festival of the god of fire, the thirteenth of the movable feasts, various public officials were elected, and a great many grand banquets given. The atamalqualiztli, or ‘fast of bread and water,’ seems to have been one of the most important of the movable feasts. The people prepared for its celebration, which took place every eight years, by a rigid fast, broken only by a midday meal of water and unsalted bread. Those who offended the gods by neglecting to observe this fast were thought to expose themselves to an attack of leprosy. The people indulged in all sorts of amusements during the holiday season which succeeded the fast. The most interesting feature of the festivities was a bal masqué, which was supposed to be attended by all the gods. The chief honors of the day were, however, rendered to the Tlalocs, and round their effigy, which stood in the midst of a pond alive with frogs and snakes, the dancers whirled continually. It was a part of the ceremonies for a number of men called maxatecaz to devour the reptiles in the pond; this they did by each seizing a snake or a frog in his teeth, and swallowing it gradually as he joined in the dance; the one who first bolted his titbit cried out triumphantly, ‘Papa, papa!’

Every fourth year, called teoxihuitl, or ‘divine year,’ and at the beginning of every period of thirteen years, the feasts were more numerous and on a larger scale, the fasts more severe, and the sacrifices far greater in number than upon ordinary occasions.[IX-89]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 84; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 77-8, 195-218. The last five days of the year were, according to Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 331, devoted to religious ceremonies, as drawing of blood, sacrifices, and dances, but most other authors state that they were passed in quiet retirement. The entire series of festivals may be said to have closed with the solemn Toxilmolpilia, or ‘binding up of the years,’ which took place every fifty-two years, and marked the expiration and renewal of the world’s lease of existence.[IX-90]See this volume, pp. 393-6.

Footnotes

[IX-1] Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 493.

[IX-2] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 16, 22, indeed says that Teteionan and Tocitzin are ‘certainly different.’

[IX-3] Squier’s Serpent Symbol, p. 47. A passage which makes the principal element of the character of Toci or Tocitzin that of Goddess of Discord may be condensed from Acosta, as follows: When the Mexicans, in their wanderings, had settled for a time in the territory of Culhuacan, they were instructed by their god Huitzilopochtli to go forth and make wars, and first to apotheosize, after his directions, a Goddess of Discord. Following these directions, they sent to the king of Culhuacan for his daughter to be their queen. Moved by the honor, the father sent his hapless daughter, gorgeously attired, to be enthroned. But the wiley, superstitious, and ferocious Mexicans slew the girl and flayed her, and clothed a young man in her skin, calling him ‘their goddess and mother of their god,’ under the name of Toccy, that is ‘grand mother.’ See also Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., p. 1004.

[IX-4] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 16-22; Explicacion del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, lam. xii., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 140; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, tav. xxx., Ib., p. 180; Humboldt, Essai Politique, tom. i., p. 217; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., p. 631. The sacrifices to Centeotl, if she be identical with the earth-mother, are illustrated by the statement of Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 81, that the Mexicans painted the earth-goddess as a frog with a bloody mouth in every joint of her body, (which frog we shall meet again by and by in a Centeotl festival) for they said that the earth devoured all things—a proof also, by the by, among others of a like kind which we shall encounter, that not to the Hindoos alone (as Mr J. G. Müller somewhere affirms), but to the Mexicans also, belonged the idea of multiplying the organs of their deities to express great powers in any given direction. The following note from the Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 179-80, illustrates the last point noticed, gives another form or relation of the goddess of sustenance, and also the origin of the name applied to the Mexican priests: ‘They feign that Mayaguil was a woman with four hundred breasts, and that the gods, on account of her fruitfulness, changed her into the Maguey, which is the vine of that country, from which they make wine. She presided over these thirteen signs; but whoever chanced to be born on the first sign of the Herb, it proved unlucky to him; for they say that it was applied to the Tlamatzatzguex, who were a race of demons dwelling amongst them, who according to their account wandered through the air, from whom the ministers of their temples took their denomination. When this sign arrived, parents enjoined their children not to leave the house, lest any misfortune or unlucky accident should befall them. They believed that those who were born in Two Canes, which is the second sign, would be long lived, for they say that that sign was applied to heaven. They manufacture so many things from this plant called the Maguey, and it is so very useful in that country, that the devil took occasion to induce them to believe that it was a god, and to worship and offer sacrifices to it.’

[IX-5] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 5-6; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethnol. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 341, 349-50, condensing from and commenting upon the codices Vaticanus and Tellerianus says: ‘Tonacacigua, alias Tuchiquetzal (plucking rose), and Chicomecouatl (seven serpents); wife of Tonacatlecotle; the cause of sterility, famine, and miseries of life…. Amongst Sahagun’s superior deities is found Civacoatl, the ‘serpent woman,’ also called Tonantzin, ‘our mother;’ and he, sober as he is in Scriptural allusions, calls her Eve, and ascribes to her, as the interpreters [of the codices] to Tonatacinga, all the miseries and adverse things of the world. This analogy is, if I am not mistaken, the only foundation for all the allusions to Eve and her history, before, during, and after the sin, which the interpreters have tried to extract from paintings which indicate nothing of the kind. They were certainly mistaken in saying that their Tonacacinga was also called Chicomecouatl, seven serpents. They should have said Civacoatl, the serpent woman. Chicomecoatl, instead of being the cause of sterility, famine, etc., is, according to Sahagun, the goddess of abundance, that which supplies both eating and drinking: probably the same as Tzinteotl, or Cinteotl, the goddess of maize (from centli, maize), which he does not mention. There is no more foundation for ascribing to Tonacacigua the name of Suchiquetzal.’ Gama, Dos Piedras, pt i., p. 39, says in effect: Cihuacounatl, or snake woman, was supposed to have given birth to two children, male and female, whence sprung the human race. It is on this account that twins are called in Mexico cocohua, ‘snakes,’ or in the singular cohuatl or coatl, now vulgarly pronounced coate.

[IX-6] Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 3-4; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 4-7.

[IX-7] Or, according to Bustamante’s ed., Aba, Tlavitecqui, and Xoquauchtli.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 149.

[IX-8] Lime was much used in the preparation of maize for making various articles of food.

[IX-9] Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 69-70; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 148-56.

[IX-10] Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 60-1; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 135-9; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 75; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 269-71.

[IX-11] Chiquiuitl, cesto ó canasta. Molina, Vocabulario.

[IX-12] Chian, ó Chia, cierta semilla de que sacan azeite. Id.

[IX-13] Pinolli, la harina de mayz y chia, antes que la deslian. Id.

[IX-14] Apparently the earth symbolized as a frog (see this vol. p. 351, note 4.) and bearing the fruits thereof on her back.

[IX-15] Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 43-4; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 97-100; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 67; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 52-3, 60-1, 134, 152-3, 181, 255-6.

[IX-16] Yoalticitl, another name of the mother-goddess, of the mother of the gods, of the mother of us all, of our grandmother or ancestress; more particularly that form of the mother-goddess described, after Sahagun (this vol. p. 353), as being the patroness of medicine and of doctors and of the sweat-baths. Sahagun speaks in another passage of Yoalticitl (Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 453): ‘La madre de los Dioses, que és la Diosa de las medicinas y medicos, y és madre de todos nosotros, la cual se llama Yoalticitl, la qual tiene poder y autoridad sobre los Temazcales (sweat-baths) que llaman Xuchicalli, en el qual lugar esta Diosa vé las cosas secretas, y adereza las cosas desconcertadas en los cuerpos de los hombres, y fortifica las cosas tiernas y blandas.’

[IX-17] Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 5, 35, vol. v., pp. 459-2; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 8-9, lib. ii., pp. 78-9; tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 185-191.

[IX-18] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 16.

[IX-19] Boturini, Idea, pp. 25-6.

[IX-20] ’The stones called chalchiuites by the Mexicans (and written variously chalchibetes, chalchihuis, and calchihuis, by the chroniclers) were esteemed of high value by all the Central American and Mexican nations. They were generally of green quartz, jade, or the stone known as madre de Esmeralda…. The goddess of water, amongst the Mexicans, bore the name of Chalchiuilcuye, the woman of the Chalchiuites, and the name of Chalchiuihapan was often applied to the city of Tlaxcalla, from a beautiful fountain of water found near it, “the color of which,” according to Torquemada, “was between blue and green.”‘ Squier in Palacio, Carta, p. 110, note 15. In the same work p. 53, we find mention made by Palacio of an idol apparently representing Chalchihuitlicue: ‘Very near here, is a little village called Coatan, in the neighborhood of which is a lake [“This lake is distant two leagues to the southward of the present considerable town of Guatepeque, from which it takes its name, Laguna de Guatepue“—Guatemala], situated on the flank of the volcano. Its water is bad; it is deep, and full of caymans. In its middle there are two small islands. The Indians regard the lake as an oracle of much authority…. I learned that certain negroes and mulattoes of an adjacent estate had been there [on the islands], and had found a great idol of stone, in the form of a woman, and some objects which had been offered in sacrifice. Near by were found some stones called chalchibites.’

[IX-21] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 47.

[IX-22] Atlacueçonan, ninfa del onenufar, flor de yerna de agua. Molina, Vocabulario. The Abbé Brasseur adds, on what authority I have not been able to find, that this leaf was ornamented with golden flags. Hist. des Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 324. He adds in a note to this passage, what is very true, that, ‘suivant Ixtlilxochitl, et après lui Veytia, la déesse des eaux aurait été adorée sous la forme d’une grenouille, faite d’une seule émeraude, et qui, suivant Ixtlilxochitl, existait encore au temps de la conquête de Mexico. La seule déesse adorée sous la forme unique d’une grenouille était la terre.’ (See this vol. p. 351, note 4.) Gomara, Hist. Conq. Mex., fol. 326, says that the figure of a frog was held to be the goddess of fishes: ‘Entre los ídolos … estaua el de la rama. A la cual tenian por diosa del pescado.’ Motolinia extends this last statement as follows. The Mexicans had idols he says, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 34, ‘de los pescados grandes y de los lagartos de agua, hasta sapos y ranas, y de otros peces grandes, y estos decian que eran los dioses del pescado. De un pueblo de la laguna de México llevaron unos ídolos de estos peces, que eran unos peces hechos de piedra, grandes; y despues volviendo por allí pidiéronles para comer algunos peces, y respondieron que habian llevado el dios del pescado y que no podian tomar peces.’

[IX-23] Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 5-6, 36; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 9-10, lib. ii., p. 81; Amer. Ethnol. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 342, 350.

[IX-24] See this vol., p. 58, note 15.

[IX-25] See note 24. ‘Entre los Dioses que estos ciegos Mexicanos fingieron tener, y ser maiores, que otros, fueron dos; vno llamado Ometecuhtli, que quiere decir, dos hidalgos, ò cavalleros; y el otro llamaron Omecihuatl, que quiere decir, dos mugeres: los quales, por otros nombres, fueron llamados, Citlalatonac, que quiere decir, Estrella que resplandece, ò resplandeciente; y el otro, Citlalicue, que quiere decir, Faldellin de la Estrella: … Estos dos Dioses fingidos de esta Gentilidad, creìan ser el vno Hombre, y el otro Muger; y como à dos naturaleças distintas, y de distintos sexos las nombraban, como por los nombres dichos parece. De estos dos Dioses, (o por mejor decir, Demonios) tuvieron creìdo estos naturales, que residian en vna Ciudad gloriosa, asentada sobre los once Cielos, cuio suelo era mas alto, y supremo de ellos; y que en aquella Ciudad goçaban de todos los deleites imaginables y poseìan todas las riqueças de el Mundo; y decian que desde alli arriba regian, y governaban toda esta maquina inferior del Mundo, y todo aquello que es visible, è invisible, influiendo en todas las Animas, que criaban todas las inclinaciones naturales, que vemos aver en todas las criaturas racionales, è irracionales; y que cuidaban de todo, como por naturaleça los convenia, atalaindo desde aquel su asiento las cosas criadas…. De manera, que segun lo dicho, está mui claro de entender, que tenian opinion, que los que regian, y governaban el Mundo, eran dos (conviene á saber) vn Dios, y vna Diosa, de los quales el vno que era el Dios Hombre, obraba en todo el genero de los Varones; y el otro, que era la Diosa, criaba, y obraba en todo el genero de las Mugeres.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 37.

[IX-26] Caquantototl, paxaro de pluma amarillo y rica. Molina, Vocabulario. According to Bustamante however, this bird is not one in anyway remarkable for plumage, but is identical with the tzacua described by Clavigero, and is here used as an example of a vigilant and active soldier. Bustamante (in a note to Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 194-5) writes: Tzacua, of this bird repeated mention has been made in this history, for the Indians used it for a means of comparison or simile in their speeches. It is an early-rising bird (madrugador), and has nothing notable in its plumage or in its voice, but only in its habits. This bird is one of the last to go to rest at night and one of the first to announce the coming sun. An hour before daybreak a bird of this species, having passed the night with many of his fellows on any branch, begins to call them, with a shrill clear note that he keeps repeating in a glad tone till some of them reply. The tzacua is about the size of a sparrow, and very similar in color to the bunting (calandria), but more marvellous in its habits. It is a social bird, each tree is a town of many nests. One tzacua plays the part of chief and guards the rest; his post is in the top of the tree, whence, from time to time, he flies from nest to nest uttering his notes; and while he is visiting a nest all within are silent. If he sees any bird of another species approaching the tree he sallies out upon the invader and with beak and wings compels a retreat. But if he sees a man or any large object advancing, he flies screaming to a neighboring tree, and, meeting other birds of his tribe flying homeward, he obliges them to retire by changing the tone of his note. When the danger is over he returns to his tree and begins his rounds as before, from nest to nest. Tzacuas abound in Michoacan, and to their observations regarding them the Indians are doubtless indebted for many hints and comparisons applied to soldiers diligent in duty. The quechutl, or tlauhquechol, is a large aquatic bird with plumage of a beautiful scarlet color, or a reddish white, except that of the neck, which is black. Its home is on the sea-shore and by the river banks, where it feeds on live fish, never touching dead flesh. See Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 87, 91-3.

[IX-27] Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 479-483, vol. vii., pp. 151-2; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 215-221. According to some authors, and I think Boturini for one, this baptism was supplemented by passing the child through fire. There was such a ceremony; however, it was not connected with that of baptism, but it took place on the last night of every fourth year, before the five unlucky days. On the last night of every fourth year, parents chose god-parents for their children born during the three preceding years, and these god-fathers and god-mothers passed the children over, or near to, or about the flame of a prepared fire (rodearlos por las llamas del fuego que tenian aparejado para esto, que en el latin se dice lustrare). They also bored the children’s ears, which caused no small uproar (Habia gran voceria de muchachos y muchachas por el ahugeramiento de las orejas) as may well be imagined. They clasped the children by the temples and lifted them up ‘to make them grow;’ wherefore they called the feast izcalli, ‘growing.’ They finished by giving the little things pulque in tiny cups, and for this the feast was called the ‘drunkenness of children.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 189-192. In the Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), tav. xxxi., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 181, there is given a description of the water baptism differing somewhat from that given in the text. It runs as follows: ‘They took some ficitle; and having a large vessel of water near them, they made the leaves of the ficitle into a bunch, and dipped it into the water, with which they sprinkled the child; and after fumigating it with incense, they gave it a name, taken from the sign on which it was born; and they put into its hand a shield and arrow, if it was a boy, which is what the figure of Xiuatlatl denotes, who here represents the god of war; they also uttered over the child certain prayers in the manner of deprecations, that he might become a brave, intrepid, and courageous man. The offering which his parents carried to the temple the elder priests took and divided with the other children who were in the temple, who ran with it through the whole city.’ Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 107, again describes this rite, in substance as follows: ‘They had a sort of baptism: thus when the child was a few days old, an old woman was called in, who took the child out into the court of the house where it was born, and washed it a certain number of times with the wine of the country, and as many times again with water; then she put a name on it, and performed certain ceremonies with the umbilical cord. These names were taken from the idols, or from the feasts that fell about that time, or from a beast or bird.’ See further Esplicacion de la Coleccion de Mendoza, pt iii., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 90-1; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 445, 449-458; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 85-9; Humboldt, Vues des Cordillères, tom. ii., pp. 311, 318; Gama, Dos Piedras, pt ii., pp. 39-41; Prescott’s Mex., vol. iii., p. 385; Brinton’s Myths, pp. 122, 130; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 652; Biart, La Terre Tempéreé, p. 274. Mr Tylor, speaking of Mexico, in his Anahuac, p. 279, says: ‘Children were sprinkled with water when their names were given to them. This is certainly true, though the statement that they believed that the process purified them from original sin is probably a monkish fiction.’ Farther reading, however, has shown Mr Tylor the injustice of this judgment, and in his masterly latest and greatest work (see Primitive Culture, vol. ii., pp. 429-36), he writes as follows: ‘The last group of rites whose course through religious history is to be outlined here, takes in the varied dramatic acts of ceremonial purification or lustration. With all the obscurity and intricacy due to age-long modification, the primitive thought which underlies these ceremonies is still open to view. It is the transition from practical to symbolic cleansing, from removal of bodily impurity to deliverance from invisible, spiritual, and at last moral evil. (See this vol. p. 119)…. In old Mexico, the first act of ceremonial lustration took place at birth. The nurse washed the infant in the name of the water-goddess, to remove the impurity of its birth, to cleanse its heart and give it a good and perfect life; then blowing on water in her right hand she washed it again, warning it of forthcoming trials and miseries and labors, and praying the invisible Deity to descend upon the water, to cleanse the child from sin and foulness, and to deliver it from misfortune. The second act took place some four days later, unless the astrologers postponed it. At a festive gathering, amid fires kept alight from the first ceremony, the nurse undressed the child sent by the gods into this sad and doleful world, bade it to receive the life-giving water, and washed it, driving out evil from each limb and offering to the deities appointed prayers for virtue and blessing. It was then that the toy instruments of war or craft or household labor were placed in the boy’s or girl’s hand (a custom singularly corresponding with one usual in China), and the other children, instructed by their parents, gave the new-comer its child-name, here again to be replaced by another at manhood or womanhood. There is nothing unlikely in the statement that the child was also passed four times through the fire, but the authority this is given on is not sufficient. The religious character of ablution is well shown in Mexico by its forming part of the daily service of the priests. Aztec life ended as it had begun, with the ceremonial lustration; it was one of the funeral ceremonies to sprinkle the head of the corpse with the lustral water of this life.’

[IX-28] Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, 1843, tom. xcix., pp. 132-3. ‘On célébrait chaque année une fête solennelle en l’honneur de cette déesse Xochiquetzal, et une foule de peuple se réunissait dans son temple. On disait qu’elle était la femme de Tlaloc le dieu des eaux, et que Texcatlipuca la lui avait enlevée et l’avait transportée au neuvième ciel. Metlacueycati était la déesse des magiciennes. Tlaloc l’épousa quand Xochiquetzal lui eut été enlevée.’

[IX-29] Boturini, Idea, pp. 15, 63-8: ‘Pero, no menos indignados los Dioses del pecado de Yàppan, que de la inobediencia, y atrevimiento de Yàotl, le convirtieron en Langosta, que llaman los Indios Ahuacachapùllin, mandando se llamasse en adelante Tzontecomàma, que quiere dicir, Carga Cabeza, y en efecto este animal parece que lleva cargo consigo, propiedad de los Malsines, que siempre cargan las honras, que han quitado à sus Proximos.’

[IX-30] See this vol. pp. 220-5.

[IX-31] See this vol., pp. 212, 226.

[IX-32] Other descriptions of this rite are given with additional details: ‘Usaban una ceremonia generalmente en toda esta tierra, hombres y mugeres, niños y niñas, que quando entraban en algun lugar donde habia imagenes de las idolos, una ó muchas, luego tocaban en la tierra con el dedo, y luego le llegaban á la boca ó á la lengua: á esto llamaban comer tierra, haciendolo en reverencia de sus Dioses, y todos los que salian de sus casas, aunque no saliesen del pueblo, volviendo á su casa hacian lo mismo, y por los caminos quando pasaban delante algun Cu ú oratorio hacian lo mismo, y en lugar de juramento usaban esto mismo, que para afirmar quien decia verdad hacian esta ceremonia, y los que se querian satisfacer del que hablaba si decia verdad, demandabanle hiciese esta ceremonia, luego le creian como juramento…. Tenian tambien costumbre de hacer juramento de cumplir alguna cosa á que se obligaban, y aquel á quien se obligaban les demandaba que hiciesen juramento para estar seguro de su palabra y el juramento que hacian era en esta forma: Por vida del Sol y de nuestra señora la tierra que no falte en lo que tengo dicho, y para mayor seguridad como esta tierra; y luego tocaba con los dedos en la tierra, llegabalos á la boca y lamialos; y asi comia tierra haciendo juramento.’ Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 95-6, 101; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. i., ap., pp. 212, 226; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 25.

[IX-33] Quite different versions of this sentence are given by Kingsborough’s and Bustamante’s editions respectively. That of Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 7, reads: ‘Quando decienden á la tierra las Diosas Ixcuiname, luego de mañana ó en amaneciendo, para que hagas la penitencia convenible por tus pecados.’ That of Bustamante, Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., p. 13, reads: ‘Cuando descienden á la tierra las diosas llamadas Civapipilti, ó cuando se hace la fiesta de las diosas de la carnalidad que se llaman Yxtuiname, ayunarás cuatro dias afligiendo tu estómago y tu boca, y llegado el dia de la fiesta de estas diosas Yxtuiname, luego de mañana ó en amaneciendo para que hagas la penitencia convenible por tus pecados.’

[IX-34] ’De esto bien se arguye que aunque habian hecho muchos pecados en tiempo de su juventud, no se confesaban de ellos hasta la vejez, por no se obligar á cesar de pecar antes de la vejez, por la opinion que tenian, que el que tornaba á reincidir en los pecados, al que se confesaba una vez no tenia remedio.’ Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 6-8; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 10-16. Prescott writes, Mex., vol. i., p. 68: ‘It is remarkable that they administered the rites of confession and absolution. The secrets of the confessional were held inviolable, and penances were imposed of much the same kind as those enjoined in the Roman Catholic Church. There were two remarkable peculiarities in the Aztec ceremony. The first was, that, as the repetition of an offence, once atoned for, was deemed inexpiable, confession was made but once in a man’s life, and was usually deferred to a late period of it, when the penitent unburdened his conscience, and settled, at once, the long arrears of iniquity. Another peculiarity was, that priestly absolution was received in place of the legal punishment of offences, and authorized an acquittal in case of arrest.’ Mention of Tlazolteotl will be found in Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 309; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 62, 79; Herrera, Hist. Gen., tom. i., dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xv.; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 21. They say that Yxcuina, who was the goddess of shame, protected adulterers. She was the goddess of salt, of dirt, and of immodesty, and the cause of all sins. They painted her with two faces, or with two different colors on the face. She was the wife of Mizuitlantecutli, the god of hell. She was also the goddess of prostitutes; and she presided over these thirteen signs, which were all unlucky, and thus they held that those who were born in these signs would be rogues or prostitutes. Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, (Vaticano), tav. xxxix., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 184; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Quatre Lettres, pp. 291-2, 301.

[IX-35] See this vol., pp. 212, 226.

[IX-36] ’Il Jauhtli è una pianta, il cui fusto e lungo un cubito, le foglie somiglianti a quelle del Salcio, ma dentate, i fiori gialli, e la radice sottile. Così i fiori, come l’altre parti della pianta, hanno lo stesso odore e sapore dell’ Anice. È assai utile per la Medicina, ed i Medica Messicani l’adoperavano contro parecchie malattie; ma servivansi ancora d’essa per alcuni usi superstiziosi.’ This is the note given by Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 77, in describing this festival, and the incense used for stupefying the victims; see a different note however, in this vol., p. 339, in which Molina describes yiauhtli as ‘black maize.’ In some cases, according to Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 100, there was given to the condemned a certain drink that put them beside themselves, so that they went to the sacrifice with a ghastly drunken merriment.

[IX-37] ’Cuexpalli, cabello largo que dexan a los muchachos en el cogote, quando los tresquilan.’ Molina, Vocabulario.

[IX-38] Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 8-9, 28, 63-6; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 16-19, lib. ii., pp. 62-4, 141-8; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 16, 76; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, (Vaticano), tav. lvi., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 190.

[IX-39] ’Esta estatua asi adornada no lejos de un lugar que estaba delante de ella, á la media noche sacaban fuego nuevo para que ardiese en aquel lugar, y sacabanlo con unos palos, uno puesto abajo, y sobre él barrenaban con otro palo, como torciendole entre las manos con gran prisa, y con aquel movimiento y calor se encendia el fuego, y alli lo tomaban con yesca y encendian en el hogar.’ Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 84; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 184.

[IX-40] Or tapachtli as Bustamante spells it. ‘Tapachtli, cral, concha o venera.’ Molina, Vocabulario.

[IX-41] See this vol., p. 376, note 27.

[IX-42] Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 33, 83-7; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 74-5, 183-92; Boturini, Idea, p. 138; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano, (Vaticano), tav. lxxiv., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 196-7; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 82.

[IX-43] Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 96; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., ap., p. 213.

[IX-44] Or Izitzimites as on p. 327 of this vol.

[IX-45] Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 157, 191-3; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iv., ap., pp. 346-7, tom. ii., lib. vii., pp. 260-4; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 292-5; Boturini, Idea, pp. 18-21; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 62, 84-5; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 101; Acosta, Hist. de las Yndias, pp. 398-9. Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt i., pp. 51-55, differs somewhat from the text; he was unfortunate in never having seen the works of Sahagun.

[IX-46] This vol. p. 59. The interpretations of the codices represent this god as peculiarly honored in their paintings: They place Michitlatecotle opposite to the sun, to see if he can rescue any of those seized upon by the lords of the dead, for Michitla signifies the dead below. These nations painted only two of their gods with the crown called Altoutcatecoatle, viz., the God of heaven and of abundance and this lord of the dead, which kind of crown I have seen upon the captains in the war of Coatle. Explicacion del Codex Telleriano Remensis, pt ii., lam. xv., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 140. Miquitlantecotli signifies the great lord of the dead fellow in hell who alone after Tonacatecotle was painted with a crown, which kind of a crown was used in war even after the arrival of the Christians in those countries, and was seen in the war of Coatlan, as the person who copied these paintings relates, who was a brother of the Order of Saint Dominic, named Pedro de los Rios. They painted this demon near the sun; for in the same way as they believed that the one conducted souls to heaven, so they supposed that the other carried them to hell. He is here represented with his hands open and stretched toward the sun, to seize on any soul which might escape from him. Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), tav. xxxiv., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 182. The Vatican Codex says further—that these were four gods or principal demons in the Mexican hell. Miquitlamtecotl or Zitzimitl; Yzpunteque, the lame demon, who appeared in the streets with the feet of a cock; Nextepelma, scatterer of ashes; and Contemoque, he who descends head-foremost. These four have goddesses, not as wives, but as companions, which was the simple relation in which all the Mexican god and goddesses stood to one another, there having been—according to most authorities—in their olympus neither marrying nor giving in marriage. Picking our way as well as possible across the frightful spelling of the interpreter, the males and females seem paired as follows: To Miquitlamtecotl or Tzitzimitl, was joined as goddess, Miquitecacigua; to Yzpunteque, Nexoxocho; to Nextepelma, Micapetlacoli; and to Contemoque, Chalmecaciuatl. Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), tav. iii., iv., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 162-3; Boturini, Idea, pp. 30-1; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., ap. pp. 260-3; Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 116-17, says that this god was known by the further name of Tzontemoc and Aculnaoacatl. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 6, 17. Gallatin, Amer. Ethnol. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 350-1, says that ‘Mictlanteuctli is specially distinguished by the interpreters as one of the crowned gods. His representation is found under the basis of the statue of Teoyaomiqui, and Gama has published the copy. According to him, the name of that god means the god of the place of the dead. He presided over the funeral of those who died of diseases. The souls of all those killed in battle were led by Teoyaomiqui to the dwelling of the sun. The others fell under the dominion of Mictanteuctli.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 77, 148, 447, tom. ii., p. 428. Brasseur de Bourbourg mentions this god and his wife, bringing up several interesting points, for which, however, he must bear the sole responsibility: S’il Existe des Sources de l’Hist. Prim., pp. 98-9. ‘Du fond des eaux qui couvraient le monde, ajoute un autre document mexicain (Cod. Mex. Tell.-Rem., fol. 4, v.), le dieu des régions d’en bas. Mictlan-Teuctli fait surgir un monstre marin nommé Cipactli ou Capactli (Motolinia, Hist. Antig. de los Indios, part. MS. Dans ce document, au lieu de cipactli il y a capactli, qui n’est peut-être qu’une erreur du copiste, mais qui, peut-être aussi est le souvenir d’une langue perdue et qui se rattacherait au capac ou Manco-Capac du Pérou.): de ce monstre, qui a la forme d’un caïman, il crée la terre (Motolinia, Ibid.). Ne serait-ce pas là le crocodile, image du temps, chez les Égyptiens, et ainsi que l’indique Champollion (Dans Herapollon, i., 69 et 70, le crocodile est le symbole du couchant et des ténèbres) symbole également de la Région du Couchant, de l’Amenti? Dans l’Orcus mexicain, le prince des Morts, Mictlan-Teuctli, a pour compagne Mictecacihuatl, celle qui étend les morts. On l’appelle Ixcuina, ou la déesse au visage peint ou au double visage, parce qu’elle avait le visage de deux couleurs, rouge avec le contour de la bouche et du nez peint en noir (Cod. Mex. Tell.-Rem., fol. 18, v.). On lui donnait aussi le nom de Tlaçolteotl, la déesse de l’ordure, ou Tlaçolquani, la mangeuse d’ordure, parce qu’elle présidait aux amours et aux plaisirs lubriques avec ses trois sœurs. On la trouve personifiée encore avec Chantico, quelquefois représentée comme un chien, soit à cause de sa lubricité, soit à cause du nom de Chiucnauh-Itzcuintli ou les Neuf-Chiens, qu’on lui donnait également (Cod. Mex. Tell.-Rem., fol. 21, v.). C’est ainsi que dans l’Italie anté-pélasgique, dans la Sicile et dans l’île de Samothrace, antérieurement aux Thraces et aux Pélasges, on adorait une Zérinthia, une Hécate, déesse Chienne qui nourrissait ses trois fils, ses trois chiens, sur le même autel, dans la demeure souterraine; l’une et l’autre rappelaient ainsi le souvenir de ces hétaires qui veillaient au pied des pyramides, où elles se prostituaient aux marins, aux marchands et aux voyageurs, pour ramasser l’argent nécessaire à l’érection des tombeaux des rois. “Tout un calcul des temps, dit Eckstein (Sur les sources de la Cosmogonie de Sanchoniathon, pp. 101, 197), se rattache à l’adoration solaire de cette déesse et de ses fils. Le Chien, le Sirius, règne dans l’astre de ce nom, au zénith de l’année, durant les jours de la canicule. On connaît le cycle ou la période que préside l’astre du chien: on sait qu’il ne se rattache pas seulement aux institutions de la vieille Égypte, mais encore à celles de la haute Asie.” En Amérique le nom de la déesse Ixcuina se rattache également à la constellation du sud, où on la personnifie encore avec Ixtlacoliuhqui, autre divinité des ivrognes et des amours obscènes: les astrologues lui attribuaient un grand pouvoir sur les événements de la guerre, et, dans les derniers temps, on en faisait dépendre le châtiment des adultères et des incestueux (Cod. Mex. Tell.-Rem., fol. 16, v.).’ See also, Brinton’s Myths, pp. 130-7; Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt i., p. 12, pt ii., pp. 65-6.

[IX-47] Amer. Ethnol. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 338-9.

[IX-48] Speaking of the great image in the Mexican museum of antiquities supposed by some to be this Mexican goddess of war, or of death, Teoyaomique, Mr Tylor says, Anahuac, pp. 222-3: ‘The stone known as the statue of the war-goddess is a huge block of basalt covered with sculptures. The antiquaries think that the figures on it stand for different personages, and that it is three gods—Huitzilopochtli the god of war, Teoyaomiqui his wife, and Mictlanteuctli the god of hell. It has necklaces of alternate hearts and dead men’s hands, with death’s head for a central ornament. At the bottom of the block is a strange sprawling figure, which one cannot see now, for it is the base which rests on the ground; but there are two shoulders projecting from the idol, which show plainly that it did not stand on the ground, but was supported aloft on the tops of two pillars. The figure carved upon the bottom represents a monster holding a skull in each hand, while others hang from his knees and elbows. His mouth is a mere oval ring, a common feature of Mexican idols, and four tusks project just above it. The new moon laid down like a bridge forms his forehead, and a star is placed on each side of it. This is thought to have been the conventional representation of Mictlanteuctli (Lord of the land of the dead), the god of hell, which was a place of utter and eternal darkness. Probably each victim as he was led to the altar could look up between the two pillars and see the hideous god of hell staring down upon him from above.’

[IX-49] Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt i., pp. 41-4.

[IX-50] The tenth month, so named by the Tlascaltecs and others. See Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 298. ‘Al decimo Mes del Kalendario Indiano llamaban sus Satrapas, Xocotlhuetzi, que quiere decir: Quando se cae, y acaba la Fruta, y debia de ser, por esta raçon, de que por aquel Tiempo se acababa, que cae en nuestro Agosto, è ià en todo este Mes se pasan las Frutas en tierra fria. Pero los Tlaxcaltecas, y otros lo llamaban Hueymiccailhuitl. que quiere decir: La Fiesta maior de los Difuntos; y llamavanla asi, porque este Mes solemniçaban la memoria de los Difuntos, con grandes clamores, y llantos, y doblados lutos, que la primera, y se teñian los cuerpos de color negro, y se tiznaban toda la cara; y asi, las ceremonias, que se hacian de Dia, y de Noche, en todos los Templos, y fuera de ellos, eran de mucha tristeça, segun que cada vno podia hacer su sentimiento; y en este Mes daban nombre de Divinos, à sus Reies difuntos, y à todas aquellas Personas señaladas, que havian muerto haçañosamente en las Guerras, y en poder de sus enemigos, y les hacian sus Idolos, y los colocaban, con sus Dioses, diciendo, que avian ido al lugar de sus deleites, y pasatiempos, en compañia de los otros Dioses.’

[IX-51] As the whole description becomes a little puzzling here, I give the original, Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, p. 42: ‘Enfrente de esta figura está Teoyaomique desnuda, y cubierta con solo un cendal, parada sobre una basa, ó porcion de pilastra; la cabeza separada del cuerpo, arriba del cuello, con los ojos vendados, y en su lugar dos viboras ó culebras, que nacen del mismo cuello. Entre estas dos figuras está un árbol de flores partido por medio, al cual se junta un madero con varios atravesaños, y encima de él una ave, cuya cabeza está tambien dividida del cuerpo. Se vé tambien otra cabeza de ave dentro de una jicara, otra de sierpe, una olla con la boca para abajo, saliendo de ella la materia que contenia dentro, cuya figura parece ser la que usaban para representar el agua; y finalmente ocupan el resto del cuadro [of the representation of the constellation above mentioned in the text] otros geroglíficos y figuras diferentes.’

[IX-52] Boturini, Idea, pp. 27-8, mentions the goddess Teoyaomique; on pp. 30-1, he notices the respect with which Mictlantecutli and the dead were regarded: ‘Me resta solo tratar de la decima tercia, y ultima Deidad esto es, el Dios del Infierno, Geroglifico, que explica el piadoso acto de sepultar los muertos, y el gran respeto, que estos antiguos Indios tenian à los sepulcros, creyendo, à imitacion de otras Naciones, no solo que alli asistian las almas de los Difuntos, … sino que tambien dichos Parientes eran sus Dioses Indigetes, ita dicti, quasi inde geniti, cuyos huessos, y cenizas daban alli indubitables, y ciertas señales de el dominio, que tuvieron en aquella misma tierra, donde se hallaban sepultados, la que havian domado con los sudores de la Agricultura, y aun defendian con los respetos, y eloquencia muda, de sus cadaveres…. Nuestros Indios en la segunda Edad dedicaron dos meses de el año llamados Micaylhuitl, y Hueymicaylhuitl à la Commemoracion de los Difuntos, y en la tercera exercitaron varios actos de piedad en su memoria, prueba constante de que confessaron la immortalidad de el alma.’ See further Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 529-30. Of the compound idol discussed above, Humboldt, Vues des Cordillères, tom. ii., pp. 153-7, speaks at some length. He says: ‘On distingue, à la partie supérieure, les têtes de deux monstres accolés et l’on trouve, à chaque face, deux yeux et une large gueule armée de quatre dents. Ces figures monstrueuses n’indiquent peut-être que des masques: car, chez les Mexicains, on étoit dans l’usage de masquer les idoles à l’époque de la maladie d’un roi, et dans toute autre calamité publique. Les bras et les pieds sont cachés sous une draperie entourée d’énormes serpens, et que les Mexicains designoient sous le nom de cohuatlicuye, vêtement de serpent. Tous ces accessoires, surtout les franges en forme de plumes, sont sculptés avec le plus grand soin. M. Gama, dans un mémoire particulier, a rendu très-probable que cette idole représente le dieu de la guerre, Huitzilopochtli, ou Tlacahuepancuexcotzin, et sa femme, appelée Teoyamiqui (de miqui, mourir, et de teoyao, guerre divine), parcequ’elle conduisoit les ames des guerriers morts pour la défense des dieux, à la maison du Soleil, le paradis des Mexicains, où elle les transformoit en colibris. Les têtes de morts et les mains coupées, dont quatre entourent le sein de la déesse, rappellent les horribles sacrifices (teoquauhquetzoliztli) célébrés dans la quinzième période de treize jours, après le solstice d’été, à l’honneur du dieu de la guerre et de sa compagne Teoyamiqui. Les mains coupées alternent avec la figure de certains vases dans lesquels on brûloit l’encens. Ces vases étoient appelés top-xicalli sacs en forme de calebasse (de toptli, bourse tissue de fil de pite, et de xicali, calebasse). Cette idole étant sculptée sur toutes ses faces, même par dessous (fig. 5), où l’on voit représenté Mictlanteuhtli, le seigneur du lieu des morts, on ne sauroit douter qu’elle étoit soutenue en l’air au moyen de deux colonnes sur lesquelles reposoient les parties marquées A et B, dans les figures 1 et 3. D’après cette disposition bizarre, la tête de l’idole se trouvoit vraisemblablement élevée de cinq à six mètres au-dessus du pavé du temple, de manière que les prêtres (Teopixqui) traînoient les malheureuses victimes à l’autel, en les faisant passer au-dessous de la figure de Mictlanteuhtli.’

[IX-53] According to Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, 1858, tom. clx., pp. 267-8: ‘Les héros et demi-deux qui, sous le nom générique de Chichemèques-Mixcohuas, jouent un si grand rôle dans la mythologie mexicaine, et qui du vii^e au ix^e siècle de notre ère, obtinrent la prépondérance sur le plateau aztèque…. Les plus célèbres de ces héros sont Mixcohuatl-Mazatzin (le Serpent Nébuleux et le Daim), fondateur de la royauté à Tollan (aujourd’hui Tula), Tetzcatlipoca, spécialement adoré à Tetzeuco, et son frère Mixcohuatl le jeune, dit Camaxtli, en particulier adoré à Tlaxcallan, l’un et l’autre mentionnés, sous d’autres noms, parmi les rois de Culhuacan et considérés, ainsi que le premier, comme les principaux fondateurs de la monarchie toltèque. On ignore où ils reçurent le jour. Un manuscrit mexicain, [Codex Chimalpopoca], en les donnant pour fils d’Iztac-Mixcohuatl ou le Serpent Blanc Nébuleux et d’Iztac-Chalchiuhlicué ou la Blanche Dame azurée, fait allégoriquement allusion aux pays nébuleux et aquatiques où ils ont pris naissance; le même document ajoute qu’ils vinrent par eau et qu’ils demeurèrent un certain temps en barque. Peut-être que le nom d’Iztac ou Blanc, également donné à Mixcohuatl, désigne aussi une race différente de celle des Indiens et plus en rapport avec la nôtre.’

[IX-54] Brinton’s Myths, p. 158.

[IX-55] Cañas de humo. Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 75; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 166.

[IX-56] Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 73-6; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 162-7; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 148-9, 151-2, 280-1; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 79; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 483, 486, and elsewhere. Brasseur, as his custom is, euhemerizes this god, detailing the events of his reign, and theorizing on his policy, as soberly and believingly as if it were a question of the reign of a Louis XIV., or a Napoleon I.; see Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 227-35. Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 88, and others, make Camaxtle, the principal god of Tlascala, identical with Mixcoatl. The Chichimecs ‘had only one god called Mixcoatl and they kept this image or statue. They held to another god, invisible, without image, called Iooalliehecatl—that is to say, god invisible and impalpable, favoring, sheltering, all-powerful, by whose power all live, etc.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 64.

[IX-57] This deity must not, it would seem, be confounded with another mentioned by Sahagun, viz., Coatlyace, or Coatlyate, or Coatlantonan, a goddess of whom we know little save the fact, incidentally mentioned, that she was regarded with great devotion by the dealers in flowers. See Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 42, and Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 95.

[IX-58] Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 10-11, 136; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 19-22, lib. iv., p. 305. Boturini, Idea de una Hist., pp. 14-15, speaks of a goddess called Macuilxochiquetzalli; by a comparison of the passage with note 28 of this chapter, it will I think be evident that the chevalier’s Macuilxochiquetzalli is identical not with Macuilxochitl, but with Xochiquetzal, the Aztec Venus. See further, on the relations of this goddess, Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 490-1: ‘Matlalcuéyé, qui donnait son nom au versant de la montagne du côté de Tlaxcallan, était regardée comme la protectrice spéciale des magiciennes. La légende disait qu’elle était devenue l’épouse de Tlaloc, après que Xochiquetzal eut été enlevée à ce dieu [see this vol. p. 378]. Celle-ci, dont elle n’était, après tout, qu’une personnification différente, était appelée aussi Chalchiuhlycué, ou le Jupon semé d’émeraudes, en sa qualité de déesse des eaux. Le symbole sous lequel on la représente, comme déesse des amours honnêtes, est celui d’un éventail composé de cinq fleurs, ce que rend encore le nom qu’on lui donnait “Macuil-Xochiquetzalli.”‘ Brasseur, it is to be remembered, distinguishes between Xochiquetzal as the goddess of honest love, and Tlazolteotl as the goddess of lubricity.

[IX-59] The fire-god Xiuhtecutli used an instrument of this kind; see this vol. p. 385.

[IX-60] Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 11-12; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 22-3; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 58, 240-1; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 22; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 492.

[IX-61] This god, who was also known by the title of Tlaltecuin, is the third Mexican god connected with medicine. There is first that unnamed goddess described on p. 353 of this vol.; and there is then a certain Tzaputlatena, described by Sahagun—Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 4; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 7-8—as the goddess of turpentine (see Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 494), or of some such substance, used to cure the itch in the head, irruptions on the skin, sore throats, chapped feet or lips, and other such things: ‘Tzaputlatena fué una muger, segun su nombre, nacida en el pueblo de Tzaputla, y por esto se llama la Madre de Tzaputla, porque fué la primera que inventó la resina que se llama uxitl, y es un aceyte sacado por artificio de la resina del pino, que aprovecha para sanar muchas enfermedades, y primeramente aprovecha contra una manera de bubas, ó sarna, que nace en la cabeza, que se llama Quaxococivistli; y tambien contra otra enfermedad es provechosa asi mismo, que nace en la cabeza, que es como bubas, que se llama Chaguachicioiztli, y tambien para la sarna de la cabeza. Aprovecha tambien contra la ronguera de la garganta. Aprovecha tambien contra las grietas de las pies y de los labios. Es tambien contra los empeines que nacen en la cara ó en las manos. Es tambien contra el usagre; contra muchas otras enfermedades es bueno. Y como esta muger debió ser la primera que halló este aceyte, contaronla entre las Diosas, y hacianla fiesta y sacrificios aquellos que venden y hacen este aceyte que se llama Uxitl.’

[IX-62] Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 12-13; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 24-5; Clavigero, Hist. Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 21.

[IX-63] ’Tenia en la mano izquierda una rodela teñida de colorado, y en el medio de este campo una flor blanca con quatro ojas á manera de cruz, y de los espacios de las ojas salian quatro puntas que eran tambien ojas de la misma flor. Tenia un cetro en la mano derecha como un caliz, y de lo alto de él salia como un casquillo de saetas.’ Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 13; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 26-7; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 20; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 60-1. ‘La pêche avait, toutefois, son génie particulier: c’était Opochtli, le Gaucher, personnification de Huitzilopochtli.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. des Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 494.

[IX-64] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 22. This is evidently a blunder, however; Boturini explains Totec to mean ‘god our lord,’ and Xipe (or Oxipe, as he writes it) to signify ‘god of the flaying.’ ‘Tlaxipehualiztli, Symbolo del primer Mes, quiere decir Deshollamiento de Gentes, porque en su primer dia se deshollaban unos Hombres vivos dedicados al Dios Totéuc, esto es, Dios Señor nuestro, ò al Dios Oxipe, Dios de el Deshollamiento, syncope de Tloxipeùca.’ Boturini, Idea de una Hist., p. 51. Sahagun says that the name means ‘the flayed one.’ ‘Xipetotec, que quiere decir desollado.’ Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 14; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., p. 27. While Torquemada affirms that it means ‘the bald,’ or ‘the blackened one.’ ‘Tenian los Plateros otro Dios, que se llamaba Xippe, y Totec…. Este Demonio Xippe, que quiere decir, Calvo, ó Ateçado.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 58. Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 503, partially accepts all these derivations: ‘Xipe, le chauve ou l’écorché, autrement dit encore Totec ou notre seigneur.’ This god was further surnamed, according to the interpreter of the Vatican Codex, ‘the mournful combatant,’ or, as Gallatin gives it, ‘the disconsolate;’ see Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), tav. xliii., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 186; and Amer. Ethnol. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 345, 350.

[IX-65] Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 14; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 27-8; Boturini, Idea de Nueva Hist., p. 51.

[IX-66] These human sacrifices were begun, according to Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 165-7, by the Mexicans, before the foundation of their city, while yet slaves of the Culhuas. These Mexicans had done good service to their rulers in a battle against the Xochimilcas. The masters were expected to furnish their serfs with a thank-offering for the war god. They sent a filthy rag and a rotten fowl. The Mexicans received and were silent. The day of festival came; and with it the Culhua nobles to see the sport—the Helots and their vile sacrifice. But the filth did not appear, only a coarse altar, wreathed with a fragrant herb, bearing a great flake of keen-ground obsidian. The dance began, the frenzy mounted up, the priests advanced to the altar, and with them they dragged four Xochimilca prisoners. There is a quick struggle, and over a prisoner bruised, doubled back supine on the altar-block gleams and falls the itzli, driven with a two-handed blow. The blood spurts like a recoil into the bent face of the high priest, who grabbles, grasps, tears out and flings the heart to the god. Another, another, another, and there are four hearts beating in the lap of the grim image. There are more dances but there is no more sport for the Culhuas: with lips considerably whitened they return to their place. After this there could be no more mastership, nor thought of mastership over such a people; there was too much of the wild beast in them; they had already tasted blood. And the Mexicans were allowed to leave the land of their bondage, and journey north toward the future Tenochtitlan.

[IX-67] See this vol., p. 415.

[IX-68] Further notice of this stone appears in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 94, or Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., ap., pp. 207-8: ‘El sesenta y dos edificio se llamaba Temalacatl. Era una piedra como muela de molino grande, y estaba agujereada en el medio como muela de molino. Sobre esta piedra ponian los esclavos y acuchillabanse con ellos: estaban atados por medio de tal manera que podian llegar hasta la circumferencia de la piedra, y dabanles armas con que peleasen. Era este un espectaculo muy frequente, y donde concurria gente de todas las comarcas á verle. Un satrapa vestido de un pellejo de oso ó Cuetlachtli, era alli el padrino de los captivos que alli mataban, que los llevaba á la piedra y los ataba alli, y los daba las armas, y los lloraba entre tanto que peleaban, y quando caian los entregaba al que les habia de sacar el corazon, que era otro satrapa vestido con otro pellejo que se llamaba Tooallaoan. Esta relacion queda escrita en la fiesta de Tlacaxipeoaliztli.’

[IX-69] Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 23, 37-43; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 51-3, 86-97; Explicacion del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, pt. i., lam. iii., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 133; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), tav. lxiii., in Id., vol. v., p. 191; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 154, 252-4; Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt. ii., pp. 50-4; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 78, note; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 481. We learn from Clavigero, Ibid., tom. i., pp. 281-2, that this great gladiatorial block was sometimes to an extraordinary extent a ‘stone of sacrifice’ to the executioners as well as to the doomed victim. In the last year of the reign of the last Montezuma, a famous Tlascaltec general, Tlahuicol, was captured by the merest accident. His strength of arm was such that few men could lift his maquahuil, or sword of the Mexican type, from the ground. Montezuma, too proud to use such an inglorious triumph, or perhaps moved by a sincere admiration of the terrible and dignified warrior, offered him his liberty, either to return to Tlascala, or to accept high office in Mexico. But the honor of the chief was at stake, as he understood it; and not even a favor would he accept from the hated Mexican; the death, the death! he said, and, if you dare, by battle on the gladiatorial stone. So they tied him, (by the foot says Clavigero), upon the temalacatl, armed with a great staff only, and chose out champions to kill him from the most renowned of the warriors; but the grim Tlascaltec dashed out the brains of eight with his club, and hurt twenty more, before he fell, dying like himself. They tore out his heart, as of wont, and a costlier heart to Mexico never smoked before the sun.

[IX-70] This last name means, Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 57, being followed, ‘the hook-nosed;’ and it is curious enough that this type of face, so generally connected with the Hebrew race and through them with particular astuteness in trade, should be the characteristic of the Mexican god of trade: ‘Los mercaderes tuvieron Dios particular, al qual llamaron Iyacatecuhtli, y por otro nombre se llamò Yacacoliuhqui, que quiere decir: El que tiene la nariz aguileña, que propriamente representa persona que tiene viveça, ò habilidad, para mofar graciosamente, ò engañar, y es sabio, y sagàz (que es propia condicion de mercaderes.)’

[IX-71] Without laying any particular stress on this lighting a fire before Yiacatecutli—perhaps here necessary as a camp-fire and probably, at any rate, a thing done before many other gods—it may be noticed that the fire god seems to be particularly connected with the merchant god and indeed with the merchants themselves. Describing a certain coming down or arrival of the gods among men, believed to take place in the twelfth Mexican month, Sahagun—after describing the coming, first of Tezcatlipoca, who, ‘being a youth, and light and strong, walked fastest,’ and then the coming of all the rest (their arrival being known to the priests by the marks of their feet on a little heap of maize flour, specially prepared for the purpose)—says that a day after all the rest of the gods, came the god of fire and the god of the merchants, together; they being old and unable to walk as fast as their younger divine brethren: ‘El dia siguiente llegaba el dios de los Mercaderes llamado Yiaiacapitzaoac, ó Yiacatecutli, y otro Dios llamado Hiscocauzqui (Yxcocauhqui), ó Xiveteuctli (Xiuhtecutli), que és el Dios del fuego á quien los mercaderes tienen grande devocion. Estos dos llegaban á la postre un dia despues de los otros, porque decian que eran viejos y no andaban tanto como los otros:’ Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 71, or Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 158. See also, for the connection of the fire god Xiuhtecutli with business, this vol. p. 226; and for the high position of the merchants themselves besides Tezcatlipoca see this vol., p. 228.

[IX-72] Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 14-16; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 29-33; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 20. The Nahuihehecatli, or Nauiehecatl, mentioned by the interpreters of the codices, as a god honored by the merchants, is either some air god like Quetzalcoatl, or, as Sahagun gives it, merely the name of a sign; see Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), tav. xxvii., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 179; also, pp. 139-40; Explicacion del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, lam. xii.; also, Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iv., pp. 304-5, and Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 135-6.

[IX-73] Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 16-17; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 33-5; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 59-60; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 22.

[IX-74] Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 7, 19, 90, 93; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., pp. 14, 39-40, lib. ii., pp. 200, 205; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 58, 152, 184, 416; Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), tav. xxxv., and Explicacion del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, lam. xvi., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 141, 182; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 344, 350; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 87, 315; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 21. ‘Otros tenian figuras de hombres; tenian estos en la cabeza un mortero en lugar de mitra, y allí les echaban vino, por ser el dios del vino.’ Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 33. ‘Otros con un mortero en la cabeza, y este parece que era el dios del vino, y así le echaban vino en aquel como mortero.’ Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 88. ‘Papaztla ó Papaztac…. Este era uno de los tres pueblos de donde se sacaban los esclavos para el sacrificio que se hacia de dia, al idolo Centzentotochtin, Dios del vino en el mes nombrado Hueipachtli, ó tepeilhuitl en su templo propio que es el cuadragesimo cuarto edificio de los que se contenian en la area del mayor, como dice el Dr. Hernandez: “Templum erat dicatum vini deo, in cujus honorem tres captivos interdiu tamen, et nonnoctu jugulabant, quorum primum Tepuztecatl nuncupabant secundum toltecatl, tertium vero Papaztac quod fiebat quotanni circa festum Tepeilhuiltl.” Apud P. Nieremberg, pag. 144.’ Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt ii., p. 35. ‘Les buveurs et les ivrognes avaient cependant, parmi les Aztèques, plusieurs divinités particulières: la principale était Izquitecatl; mais le plus connu devait être Tezcatzoncatl, appelé aussi Tequechmecaniani, ou le Pendeur.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 493.

[IX-75] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 64; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 23. These were what the Spaniards called ‘oratorios’ in the houses of the Mexicans. In or before these oratories the people offered cooked food to such images of the gods as they had there. Every morning the good-wife of the house woke up the members of her family and took care that they made the proper offering, as above, to these deities. Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 95; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., ap. p. 211.

[IX-76] It is obviously of little consequence to mythology whether the Mexicans called the month Atlcahualco the first or the third month (or, as Boturini has it, the eighteenth,) so long as we know, with some accuracy, to what month and day of the month it corresponds in our own Gregorian calendar. For the complete discussion of this question of the calendar we refer readers to the preceding volume of this series. Gama was unfortunately unacquainted with the writings of Sahagun, and Bustamante (who edited the works both of Gama and Sahagun) remarks in a note to the writings of the astronomer: ‘Muchas veces he deplorado, que el sábio Sr. D. Antonio Leon y Gama no hubiese tenido á la vista para formar esta preciosa obra los manuscritos del P. Sahagun, que he publicado en los años de 1829 y 30 en la oficina de D. Alejandro Valdés, y solo hubiese leído la obra del P. Torquemada, discípulo de D. Antonio Valeriano, que lo fué de dicho P. Sahagun; pues la lectura del texto de éste, que acaso truncó, ó no entendió bien, podrian haberle dejado dudas en hechos muy interesantes á esta historia.’ See Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt i., pp. 45-89; Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 20-34, or Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 49-76; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 251-86; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 397; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 58-84; Explicacion del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, pt i., and Spiegazione delle Tavole del Codice Mexicano (Vaticano), tav. lvii-lxxiv, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 129-34, 190-7; Boturini, Idea de una Hist., pp. 47-53; Gomara,Conq. Mex., fol. 294; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 646-8; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 502-37; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 57-114.

[IX-77] See this vol., pp. 332-4.

[IX-78] It is also surnamed Cohuailhuitl, ‘feast of the snake:’ see above.

[IX-79] There seems to be some confusion with regard to whether or not there were gladiatorial sacrifices in each of the first two months. Sahagun, however, appears to describe sacrifices of this kind, as occurring in both periods; those of the first month being in honor of the Tlalocs and those of the second in honor of Xipe. For a description of these rites see this vol. pp. 414-5.

[IX-80] See this vol., pp. 360-2.

[IX-81] ’Le Tzohualli était un composé de graines légumineuses particulières au Mexique, qu’on mangeait de diverses manières.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 513.

[IX-82] The name ‘Tepopochuiliztli’ signifies ‘smoke or vapor.’ As to the meaning of ‘Toxcatl’ writers are divided, Boturini interpreting it to mean ‘effort,’ and Torquemada ‘a slippery place.’ Acosta, Sahagun, and Gama agree, however, in accepting it as an epithet applied to a string of parched or toasted maize used in ceremonies to be immediately described, and Acosta further gives as its root signification ‘a dried thing.’ Consult, in addition to the references given in the note at the beginning of these descriptions of the feasts, Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 383; Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., pp. 45-9; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., pp. 100-11.

[IX-83] With three of these goddesses we are tolerably familiar, knowing them to be intimately connected with each other and concerned in the production, preservation, or support of life and of life-giving food. Of Atlatonan little is known, but she seems to belong to the same class, being generally mentioned in connection with Cinteotl. Her name means, according to Torquemada, ‘she that shines in the water.’ ‘Otra Capilla, ò Templo avia, que se llamaba Xiuhcalco, dedicado al Dios Cinteutl, en cuia fiesta sacrificaban dos Varones Esclavos, y una Muger, à los quales ponian el nombre de su Dios. Al vno llamaban Iztaccinteutl, Dios Tlatlauhquicinteutl, Dios de las Mieses encendidas, ò coloradas; y à la Muger Atlantona, que quiere decir, que resplandece en el Agua, à la qual desollaban, cuio pellejo, y cuero, se vestia vn Sacerdote, luego que acababa el Sacrificio, que era de noche.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 155; see also, Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vii., p. 94; or Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., ap. p. 209.

[IX-84] Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 382-3, gives an account of various other ceremonies which took place ten days before the great feast day, which account has been followed by Torquemada, Clavigero, and later writers, and which we reproduce from the quaint but in this case at least full and accurate translation of E. G.—a translation which, however, makes this chapter the 29th of the fifth book instead of the 28th as in the original: ‘Then came forth one of the chiefe of the temple, attired like to the idoll, carrying flowers in his hand, and a flute of earth, having a very sharpe sound, and turning towards the east, he sounded it, and then looking to the west, north and south he did the like. And after he had thus sounded towards the foure parts of the world (shewing that both they that were present and absent did heare him) hee put his finger into the aire, and then gathered vp earth, which he put in his mouth, and did eate it in signe of adoration. The like did all they that were present, and weeping, they fell flat to the ground, invocating the darknesse of the night, and the windes, intreating them not to leave them, nor to forget them, or else to take away their lives, and free them from the labors they indured therein. Theeves, adulterers, and murtherers, and all others offendors had great feare and heavinesse, whilest this flute sounded; so as some could not dissemble nor hide their offences. By this meanes they all demanded no other thing of their god, but to have their offences concealed, powring foorth many teares, with great repentaunce and sorrow, offering great store of incense to appease their gods. The couragious and valiant men, and all the olde souldiers, that followed the Arte of Warre, hearing this flute, demaunded with great devotion of God the Creator, of the Lorde for whome wee live, of the sunne, and of other their gods, that they would give them victorie against their ennemies, and strength to take many captives, therewith so honour their sacrifices. This ceremonie was doone ten dayes before the feast: During which tenne dayes the Priest did sound this flute, to the end that all might do this worship in eating of earth, and demaund of their idol what they pleased: they every day made their praiers, with their eyes lift vp to heaven, and with sighs and groanings, as men that were grieved for their sinnes and offences.’

[IX-85] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 100-11; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 263-6; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 70-3.

[IX-86] For the month Etzalqualiztli, see this volume, pp. 334-43; for the months Tecuilhuitzintli, Hueytecuilhuitl, and Tlaxochimaco, see vol. ii. of this work, pp. 225-8; for Xocotlhuetzin and Ochpaniztli, this volume, pp. 385-9, 354-9; for Teotleco, vol. ii., pp. 332-4; for Tepeilhuitl, Quecholli, Panquetzaliztli, and Atemoztli, this volume, pp. 343-6, 404-6, 297-300, 323-4, 346-8; for Tititl, vol. ii., pp. 337-8; for Itzcalli, this volume, pp. 390-3.

[IX-87] Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 194-7, 216. There are other scattered notices of these movable feasts, which will be referred to as they appear.

[IX-88] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxvi.

[IX-89] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 84; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 77-8, 195-218. The last five days of the year were, according to Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 331, devoted to religious ceremonies, as drawing of blood, sacrifices, and dances, but most other authors state that they were passed in quiet retirement.

[IX-90] See this volume, pp. 393-6.

Chapter X • Gods, Supernatural Beings, and Worship • 12,200 Words

Revenues of the Mexican Temples—Vast number of the Priests—Mexican Sacerdotal System—Priestesses—The Orders of Tlamaxcacayotl and Telpochtiliztli—Religious Devotees—Baptism—Circumcision—Communion—Fasts and Penance—Blood-drawing—Human Sacrifices—The Gods of the Tarascos—Priests and Temple Service of Michoacan—Worship in Jalisco and Oajaca—Votan and Quetzalcoatl—Travels of Votan—The Apostle Wixepecocha—Cave near Xustlahuaca—The Princess Pinopiaa—Worship of Costahuntox—Tree Worship.

We have seen in the preceding volume that the number of religious edifices was very great; that in addition to the temples in the cities—and Mexico alone is said to have contained two thousand sacred buildings—there were “on every isolated hill, along the roads, and in the fields, substantial structures consecrated to some deity.” Torquemada estimates the whole number at eighty thousand.

Temple Revenues

The vast revenues needed for the support and repair of the temples, and for the maintenance of the immense army of priests that officiated in them, were derived from various sources. The greatest part was supplied from large tracts of land which were the property of the church, and were held by vassals under certain conditions, or worked by slaves. Besides this, taxes of wine and grain, especially first fruits, were levied upon communities, and stored in granaries attached to the temples. The voluntary contributions, from a cake, feather, or robe to slaves or priceless gems, given in performance of a vow, or at the numerous festivals, formed no unimportant item. Quantities of food were provided by the parents of the children attending the schools, and there were never wanting devout women eager to prepare it. In the kingdom of Tezcuco, thirty towns were required to provide firewood for the temples and palaces;[X-1]’Los Pueblos, que à los Templos de la Ciudad de Tetzcuco servian, con Leña, Carbon, y corteça de Roble, eran quince … y otros quince Pueblos … servian los otros seis meses del Año, con lo mismo, à las Casas Reales, y Templo Maior.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 164. in Meztitlan, says Chaves, every man gave four pieces of wood every five days; it is easy to believe that the supply of fuel must have been immense, when we consider that six hundred fires were kept continually blazing in the great temple of Mexico alone.[X-2]Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., p. 305. Whatever surplus remained of the revenues after all expenses had been defrayed, is said to have been devoted to the support of charitable institutions and the relief of the poor;[X-3]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 164-6; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxxix., cxli. ‘È da credersi, che quel tratto di paese, che avea il nome di Teotlalpan, (Terra degli Dei,) fosse così appellata, per esservi delle possesioni de’ Tempj.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 36. in this respect, at least the Holy Mother Church of contemporary Europe might have taken a lesson from her pagan sister in the New World.

Each temple had its complement of ministers to conduct and take part in the daily services, and of servants to attend to the cleansing, firing, and other menial offices. In the great temple at Mexico there were five thousand priests and attendants,[X-4]Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 120. the total number of the ecclesiastical host must therefore have been immense; Clavigero places it at a million, which does not appear improbable if we accept Torquemada’s statement that there were forty thousand temples as a basis for the computation. It should be remembered, however, that the sacerdotal body was not composed entirely of permanent members; some were merely engaged for a certain number of years, in fulfillment of a vow made by themselves or their parents; others were obliged to attend at intervals only, or at certain festivals, the rest of their time being passed in the pursuit of some profession, usually that of arms.[X-5]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 112; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 36-7.

The vast number of the priests, their enormous wealth, and the blind zeal of the people, all combined to render the sacerdotal power extremely formidable. The king himself performed the functions of high-priest on certain occasions, and frequently held some sacred office before succeeding to the throne. The heads of Church and State seem to have worked amicably together, and to have united their power to keep the masses in subjection. The sovereign took no step of importance without first consulting the high-priests to learn whether the gods were favorable to the project. The people were guided in the same manner by the inferior ministers, and this influence was not likely to decrease, for the priests as the possessors of all learning, the historians and poets of the nation, were intrusted with the education of the youth, whom they took care to mold to their purposes.

At the head of the Mexican priesthood were two supreme ministers; the Teotecuhtli or ‘divine lord,’ who seems to have attended more particularly to secular matters, and the Hueiteopixqui, who chiefly superintended religious affairs. These ministers were elected, ostensibly from among the priests most distinguished in point of birth, piety, and learning; but as the king and principal nobles were the electors, the preference was doubtless given to those who were most devoted to their interests, or to members of the royal family.[X-6]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 175-7; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 37. Sahagun calls them Quetzalcoatl Teoteztlamacazqui, who was also high-priest of Huitzilopochtli, and Tlaloctlamacazqui, who was Tlaloc’s chief priest; they were equals, and elected from the most perfect, without reference to birth. Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., pp. 276-7. There are two inconsistencies in this, the only strong contradiction of the statement of the above, as well as several other authors, who form the authority of my text: first, Sahagun calls the first high-priest Quetzalcoatl Teotectlamacazqui, a name which scarcely accords with the title of Huitzilopochtli’s high-priest; secondly, he ignores the almost unanimous evidence of old writers, who state that the latter office was hereditary in a certain district. ‘Al Summo Pontìfice llamaban en la lengua mexicana Tehuatecolt.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxxiii. ‘El mayor de todos que es superlado, Achcauhtli.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 323. But this was the title of the Tlascaltec high-priest. ‘A los supremos Sacerdotes … llamauan en su antigua lengua Papas.’ Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 336. See also Chaves, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., pp. 303-4. They were distinguished by a tuft of cotton, falling down upon the breast. Their robes of ceremony varied with the nature of the god whose festival they celebrated. In Tezcuco and Tlacopan, the pontifical dignity was always conferred upon the second son of the king. The Totonacs elected their pontiff from among the six chief priests, who seem to have risen from the ranks of the Centeotl monks; the ointment used at his consecration was composed partly of children’s blood. High as was the high-priest’s rank, he was not by any means exempt from punishment; in Ichatlan, for instance, where he was elected by his fellow-priests, if he violated his vow of celibacy he was cut in pieces, and the bloody limbs were given as a warning to his successor.[X-7]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 177, 180; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 41; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xv.; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxxiii.

Mexican Priesthood

Next in rank to the two Mexican high-priests was the Mexicatlteohuatzin, who was appointed by them, and seems to have been a kind of Vicar General. His duties were to see that the worship of the gods was properly observed throughout the kingdom, and to supervise the priesthood, monasteries, and schools. His badge of office was a bag of incense of peculiar shape. Two coadjutors assisted him in the discharge of his duties; the Huitzuahuacteohuatzin, who acted in his place when necessary, and the Tepanteohuatzin, who attended chiefly to the schools.[X-8]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 218-19. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 549-51, whose chief authority is Hernandez, and who is not very clear in his description, holds that the Mexicatlteohuatzin was the supreme priest, and that he also bore the title of Teotecuhtli, the rank of chief priest of Huitzilopochtli, and was the right hand minister of the king. Quetzalcoatl’s high-priest he places next in rank, but outside of the political sphere. On one page he states that the high-priest was elected by the two chief men in the hierarchy, and on another he distinctly implies that the king made the higher appointments in order to control the church. The sacrificing priest, whom he evidently holds to be the same as the high-priest, he invests with the rank of generalissimo, and heir to the throne. Conquered provinces retained control over their own religious affairs.[X-9]Carbajal states that a temple bearing the name of the people, or their chief town, was erected in the metropolis, and attended by a body of priests brought from the province. Discurso, p. 110. This may, however, be a misinterpretation of Torquemada, who gives a description of a building attached to the chief temple at Mexico, in which the idols of subjugated people were kept imprisoned, to prevent them from aiding their worshipers to regain their liberty. Among other dignitaries of the church may be mentioned the Topiltzin, who held the hereditary office of sacrificer, in which he was aided by five assistants;[X-10]Some authors seem to associate this office with that of the pontiff, but it appears that the high-priest merely inaugurated the sacrifices on special occasions. ‘Era esta vna dignidad suprema, y entre ellos tenida en mucho, la qual se heredaua como cosa de mayorazgo. El ministro que tenia oficio de matar … era tenido y reuerenciado como supreme Sacerdote, o Pontifice.’ Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 352. ‘Era como decir, el Sumo Sacerdote, al qual, y no à otro, era dado este oficio de abrir los Hombres por los pechos, … siendo comunmente los herederos, de este Patrimonio, y suerte Eclesiastica, los primogenitos.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 117. It is difficult to decide upon the interpretation of these sentences. The expression of his being ‘held or reverenced as pontiff’ certainly indicates that another priest held the office, so does the sentence, ‘it was inherited by the first-born’ of certain families. But the phrase, ‘el Sumo Sacerdote, al qual y no à otro, era dado este oficio,’ points very directly to the high-priest as the holder of the post. the Tlalquimiloltecuhtli, keeper of relics and ornaments; the Ometochtli, composer of hymns; the Tlapixcatzin, musical director; the Epcoaquacuiltzin, master of ceremonies; the treasurer; the master of temple properties; and a number of leaders of special celebrations. Besides these, every ward, or parish, had its rector, who performed divine service in the temple, assisted by a number of inferior priests and school-children. The nobles kept private chaplains to attend to the worship of the household gods, which everyone was required to have in his dwelling.[X-11]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 178-9; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 37-9; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 218-26; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 551. The statement of some writers indicate that the body of priests attached to the service of each god, was to a certain extent independent, and governed by its own rules. Thus in some wards the service of Huitzilopochtli was hereditary, and held in higher estimation than any other.

The distinguishing dress of the ordinary priests was a black cotton cloth, from five to six feet square, which hung from the back of the head like a veil. Their hair, which was never cut and frequently reached to the knees, was painted black and braided with cord; during many of their long fasts it was left unwashed, and it was a rule with some of the more ascetic orders never to cleanse their heads.[X-12]Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 323-4. He describes the dress as ‘vna ropa de algodon blanca estrecha, y larga, y encima vna manta por capa añudada al hombro…. Tiznaunse los dios festiuales, y quando su regla mandaua de negro las piernas,’ etc. Reed sandals protected their feet. They frequently dyed their bodies with a black mixture made of ocotl-root, and painted themselves with ochre and cinnabar. They bathed every night in ponds set apart for the purpose within the temple enclosure. When they went out into the mountains to sacrifice, or do penance, they anointed their bodies with a mixture called teopatli, which consisted of the ashes of poisonous insects, snakes, and worms, mixed with ocotl-soot, tobacco, ololiuhqui, and sacred water. This filthy compound was supposed to be a safeguard against snakebites, and the attack of wild beasts.[X-13]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 39-40; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 369-71. Brasseur de Bourbourg thinks that the teopatli was the ointment used at the consecration of the high-priest, but it is not likely that a preparation which served monks and invalids as body paint, would be applied to the heads of high-priests and kings. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 558. Every priestly adornment had, doubtless, its mystic meaning. The custom of painting the body black was first done in honor of the god of Hades. Boturini, Idea, p. 117.

Mexican Priestesses

Sacred offices were not occupied by males only; females held positions in the temples, though they were excluded from the sacrificial and higher offices. The manner in which they were dedicated to the temple school has been already described.[X-14]See vol. ii., pp. 242, et seq. Like the Roman vestals, their chief duty seems to have been to tend the sacred fires, though they were also required to place the meat offerings upon the altar, and to make sacerdotal vestments. The punishment inflicted upon those who violated their vow of chastity was death. They were divided into watches, and during the performance of their duties were required to keep at a proper distance from the male assistants, at whom they did not even dare to glance.[X-15]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 189-91; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 223-31; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 53-4. ‘Sustentábanse del trabajo de sus manos ó por sus padres y parientes.’ Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 107.

Of the several religious orders the most renowned for its sanctity was the Tlamaxcacayotl, which was consecrated to the service of Quetzalcoatl. The superior of this order, who was named after the god, never deigned to issue from his seclusion except to confer with the king. Its members, called tlamacaxqui, led a very ascetic life, living on coarse fare, dressing in simple black robes,[X-16]’Trahian en las cabeças coronas como frayles, poco cabello, aunque crezido hasta media oreja, y mas largo por el colodrillo hasta las espaldas, y a manera de trençado le atauan.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xvi. and performing all manner of hard work. They bathed at midnight, and kept watch until an hour or two before dawn, singing hymns to Quetzalcoatl; on occasions some of them would retire into the desert to lead a life of prayer and penance in solitude. Children dedicated to this order were distinguished by a collar called yanuati, which they wore till their fourth year, the earliest age at which they were admitted as novices. The females who joined these orders were not necessarily virgins, for it seems that married women were admitted.[X-17]Clavigero asserts that at the age of two the boy was consecrated to the order of tlamacazcayotl by a cut in the breast, and at seven he was admitted. Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 44; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 53.

The order of Telpochtiliztli, ‘congregation of young men,’ was composed of youths who lived with their parents, but met at sunset in a house set apart for them, to dance and chant hymns in honor of their patron god, Tezcatlipoca. Females also attended these meetings, and, according to report, strict decorum was maintained, at least while the services lasted.[X-18]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 220-4. Whether this decorum was preserved after the adjournment of the meeting, is a point which some writers are inclined to doubt.

Religious Devotees

Acosta makes mention of certain ascetics who dedicated themselves for a year to the most austere life; they assisted the priests at the hours of incensing, and drew much blood from their bodies in sacrifice. They dressed in white robes and lived by begging.[X-19]Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 341-2. Camargo refers to a similar class of penitents in Tlascala, who called themselves tlamaceuhque, and sought to obtain divine favor by passing from temple to temple at night, carrying pans of fire upon their heads; this they kept up for a year or two, during which time they led a very strict life.[X-20]Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcix., pp. 134-5. The Totonacs had a very strict sect, limited in number, devoted to Centeotl, to which none were admitted but widowers of irreproachable character, who had passed the age of sixty. It was they who made the historical and other paintings from which the high-priest drew his discourses. They were much respected by the people, and were applied to by all classes for advice, which they gave gravely, squatted upon their haunches and with lowered eyes. They dressed in skins, and ate no meat.[X-21]Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxxii.; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 90.

The children, who were all required, says Las Casas, to attend school between the ages of six and nine, rendered valuable assistance to the priests by performing the minor duties about the temple. Those of the lower school performed much of the outside labor, such as carrying wood and drawing water, while the sons of the nobility were assigned higher tasks in the interior of the building.[X-22]Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxxix.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 185-6.

The daily routine of temple duties was performed by bodies of priests, who relieved each other at intervals of a few hours or days. The service, which chiefly consisted of hymn-chanting and incense-burning, was performed four times each day, at dawn, noon, sunset, and midnight. At the midnight service the priests drew blood from their bodies and bathed themselves. The sun received offerings of quails four times during the day, and five times during the night.[X-23]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 39. According to Torquemada, the night service was partly devoted to the god of night. Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 227.The priests of Quetzalcoatl sounded the hours of these watches with shell-trumpets and drums. Thrice every morning the Totonac pontiff wafted incense toward the sun; after which the elder priests, who followed him in a file, according to rank, waved their censers three times before the principal idols, and once before the others; finally, incense was burned in honor of the pontiff himself. The copal that remained was distributed in heaps upon the various altars. Later in the day, the high-priest delivered a lecture before the priests and nobles.[X-24]Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxv.; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 224-5, 275; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 336, 343; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xv. Their prayers were standard compositions, learned by rote at school;[X-25]This was the answer given by Juan de Tovar, in his Hist. Ind., MS., to the doubts expressed by Acosta as to the authenticity of the long-winded prayers of the Mexicans, whose imperfect writing was not well adapted to reproduce orations. Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. i., p. 282. while reciting them, they assumed a squatting posture,[X-26]Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 93. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 24, certainly says: ‘Taceano le loro preghiere comunemente inginocchione,’ but we are told by Sahagun and others, that when they approached the deity with most humility, namely, at the confession, a squatting position was assumed; the same was done when they delivered orations. The greatest sign of adoration, according to Camargo, was to take a handful of earth and grass and eat it; very similar to the manner of taking an oath or greeting a superior, which consisted in touching the hand to the ground and then putting it to the lips. Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcix., p. 168. usually with the face toward the east; on occasions of great solemnity they prostrated themselves. A test was sometimes applied to ascertain whether the deity was disposed to respond to the prayers of the nation, when offered for a particular purpose. This was done by sprinkling snuff upon the altar, and if, shortly afterwards, the foot-print of an animal, particularly that of an eagle, was found impressed in the snuff, it was regarded as a mark of divine favor, and great was the shouting when the priest announced the augury.[X-27]Ib.

Many rites and ceremonies were found to exist among the civilized nations of America that were very similar to certain others observed by Jews and Christians in the old world. The innumerable speculators on the origin of the aboriginal inhabitants of the new world, or at least on the origin of their civilization, have not neglected to bring forward these coincidences—there is no good reason to suppose them anything else—in support of their various theories.

Baptism and Circumcision

The cleansing virtue of water would naturally suggest its adaptability to the purification of spiritual stains; the priests and ascetics, plunging at midnight, with their self-inflicted wounds unclosed, into the icy pool within the temple inclosure, had this end in view; there is therefore no cause to wonder that baptism developed into an established rite. The fact that infants were baptized immediately after birth, proves that these people believed, with the Christians and Jews, that sin is inherited; but this, to my thinking at least, does not necessarily show that any communication or connection of any kind ever took place or existed between the inhabitants of the old world and those of the new. They saw that life was not all happiness; they saw that a man’s suffering begins at his birth; they were peculiarly apt to regard every misfortune as a direct visitation of the offended gods, whose anger they continually deprecated by prayer and sacrifice; how, then, could they help but believe in the inherency of sin—in the visiting of the sins of the fathers upon the children—while the suffering entailed upon irresponsible infancy was continually before them?

The rite of circumcision has been the main-stay of the numerous theorists who have attempted to prove that the native Americans are descended from the Jews; but with the same evidence they may be proved to be descended from the Caffirs, the South Sea Islanders, the Ethiopians, the Egyptians, or from any Mohammedan people, who all either have practiced, or do now practice circumcision.[X-28]At the present day the rite of circumcision may be traced almost in an unbroken line from China to the Cape of Good Hope. Brinton thinks that the rite was probably a symbolic renunciation of the lusts of the flesh;[X-29]Myths, p. 147. but, as it would be difficult to find a more licentious race than the American, this supposition is unsatisfactory. After all, why need we grope among the recesses of an obscure cult for the meaning and origin of a custom which may have had no religious ideas connected with it? We know that several of the nations of the old world practiced circumcision merely for purposes of cleanliness and convenience, why not also the Americans?

A rite, analogous in some aspects to the Christian communion, was observed on certain occasions. Thus, in the fifteenth month, a dough statue of Huitzilopochtli was broken up and distributed among the men; this ceremony was called teoqualo, meaning ‘the god is eaten.’ At other times, sacred cakes of amaranth-seeds and honey, were stuck upon maguey-thorns and distributed. Mendieta states that tobacco was eaten in honor of Cihuacoatl. The Totonacs made a dough of first-fruits from the temple garden, ulli, and the blood of three infants sacrificed at a certain festival; of this the men above twenty-five years of age, and the women above sixteen, partook every six months; as the dough became stale, it was moistened with the heart’s blood of ordinary victims.[X-30]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 83; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 108-9; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxv.; Explicacion del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 133. The rite of confession has been already described.[X-31]See this volume, pp. 380-4.

Fasts and Penance

Fasting was observed as an atonement for sin, as well as a preparation for solemn festivals. An ordinary fast consisted in abstaining from meat for a period of from one to ten days, and taking but one meal a day, at noon; at no other hour might so much as a drop of water be touched. In the ‘divine year’ a fast of eighty days was observed. Some of the fasts held by the priests lasted one hundred and sixty days, and, owing to the insufficient food allowed and terrible mutilations practiced, these long feasts not unfrequently resulted fatally to the devotees. The high-priest sometimes set a shining example to his subordinates by going into the mountains and there passing several months, in perfect solitude, praying, burning incense, drawing blood from his body, and supporting life upon uncooked maize.[X-32]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 212-13; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 343; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., pp. 275-6.

In Teotihuacan, four priests undertook a four years’ penance, which, if strictly observed, entitled them to be regarded as saints forever after. A thin mantle and a breech-clout were all the dress allowed them, no matter what the weather might be; the bare ground was their only bed, a stone their softest pillow; their noonday and only meal was a two-ounce cake, and a small bowl of porridge made of meal and honey, except on the first of each month, when they were allowed to take part in the general banquets. Two of them watched every alternate night, drawing blood and praying. Every twentieth day they passed twenty sticks through the upper part of the ear; and these, Gomara solemnly assures us, were allowed to accumulate from month to month, so that at the end of the four years, the ear held four thousand three hundred and twenty sticks, which were burned in honor of the gods at the expiration of the time of penance.[X-33]Conq. Mex., fol. 336. Some of these sticks were thicker than a finger, ‘y largos, como el tamaño de vn braço.’ ‘Eran en numero de quatrocientas.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 102-3; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 51-2.

Blood-drawing was the favorite and most common mode of expiating sin and showing devotion. Chaves says that the people of Meztitlan drew blood every five days, staining pieces of paper with it, and offering them to the god.[X-34]Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., p. 305. The Mexican priests performed this sacrifice every five days. Explanation of the Codex Vaticanus, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., p. 225, ‘De la sangre que sacaban de las partes del Cuerpo en cada provincia tenian diferente costumbre.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxx. The instruments used in ordinary scarification were maguey-thorns, which were offered to the idol, and afterwards burned, but for more severe discipline iztli knives were used, and cords or sticks were passed through the tongue, ears, or genitals.

Human Sacrifices

The offering most acceptable to the Nahua divinities was human life, and without this no festival of any importance was complete. The origin of the rite of human sacrifice, as connected with sun-worship at least, dates back to the earliest times. It is mentioned in the story of the first appearance of the sun to the Mexicans, which relates how that luminary refused to proceed upon its daily circuit until appeased by the sacrifice of certain heroes who had offended it.[X-35]See this volume, p. 61. Some affirm that human sacrifice was first introduced by Tezcatlipoca; others again say that it was practiced before Quetzalcoatl’s time, which is likely enough, if, as we are told, that prophet not only preached against it as an abomination, but shut his ears with both hands when it was even mentioned. Written, or painted, records show its existence in 1091, though some native writers assert that it was not practiced until after this date. The nations that encompass the Aztecs ascribe the introduction of human sacrifice to the latter people; a statement accepted by most of the early historians, who relate that the first human victims were four Xochimilcos, with whose blood the newly erected altar of Huitzilopochtli was consecrated.[X-36]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 165-7. Torquemada, however, mentions one earlier sacrifice of some refractory Mexicans, who desired to leave their wandering countrymen and settle at Tula, contrary to the command of the god. Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 115-16, 50. ‘On prétend que cet usage vint de la province de Chalco dans celle de Tlaxcallan.’ Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 199; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Quatre Lettres, p. 343. ‘Quetzalcoatle was the first inventor of sacrifices of human blood.’ Explanation of the Codex Vaticanus, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., p. 201. It is conceded, however, by other writers, that Quetzalcoatl was opposed to all bloodshed. See this volume, p. 278. Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 628, thinks that the Aztecs introduced certain rites of human sacrifice, which they connected with others already existing in Mexico.

The number of human victims sacrificed annually in Mexico is not exactly known. Las Casas, the champion of the natives, places it at an insignificantly low figure, while Zumárraga states that twenty thousand were sacrificed in the capital alone every year. That the number was immense we can readily believe, when we read in Torquemada, Ixtlilxochitl, Boturini, and Acosta, that from seventy to eighty thousand human beings were slaughtered at the inauguration of the temple of Huitzilopochtli, and a proportionately large number at the other celebrations of the kind.[X-37]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 186. ‘Eran cada año estos Niños sacrificados mas de veinte mil por cuenta.’ Id., tom. ii., p. 120. A misconstruction of Zumárraga, who does not specify them as children. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 49, tom. i., p. 257; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 268; Boturini, Idea, p. 28. ‘Afirman que auia vez que passauan de cinco mil, y dia vuo que en diuersas partes fueron assi sacrificados mas de veynta mil.’ Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 356. Gomara states that the conquerors counted 136,000 skulls in one skull-yard alone. Conq. Mex., fol. 122.

The victims were mostly captives of war, and for the sole purpose of obtaining these wars were often made; a large proportion of the sacrificed, however, were of slaves and children, either bought or presented for the purpose, and condemned criminals. Moreover, instances are not wanting of devout people offering themselves voluntarily for the good of the people and the honor of the god.[X-38]’Non furono mai veduti i Messicani sacriücare i propj lor Nazionali, se non coloro, che per li loro delitti erano rei di morte.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iv., p. 299. A rather hasty assertion. The greater part of the victims died under the knife, in the manner so often described;[X-39]See vol. ii., p. 307. some, however, were, as we have seen in the preceding volume, burned alive; children were often buried, or immured alive, or drowned; in some cases criminals were crushed between stones. The Tlascaltecs frequently bound the doomed one to a pole and made his body a target for their spears and arrows.

It is difficult to determine what religious ideas were connected with the almost universal practice of anthropophagy. We have seen that several of the savage tribes ate portions of slain heroes, thinking thereby to inherit a portion of the dead man’s good qualities; the same reason might be assigned for the cannibalism of the Aztecs, were it not for the fact that they ate the flesh of sacrificed slaves and children as well as that of warriors and notable persons. Whatever may have been the original significance of the rite, it is most probable that finally the body, the essence of which served to regale the god, was regarded merely as the remains of a divine feast, and, therefore, as sacred food. It is quite possible, however, that religious anthropophagy gradually degenerated into an unnatural appetite for human flesh and nothing more.

I here close the review of the Aztec gods. Like most of its branches, this great centre of North American mythology rests on natural phenomena and anthropomorphic creations, with an occasional euhemeristic development or apotheosis, but is attended by a worship so sanguinary and monstrous that it stands out an isolated spectacle of the extreme to which fanatical zeal and blind superstition can go. A glance at the Greek and Roman mythology is sufficient to show how much purer was the Nahua conception of divine character. The Nahua gods did not, like those of Greece, play with vice, but rather abhorred it. Tezcatlipoca is the only deity that can be fairly compared with the fitful Zeus of Homer—now moved with extreme passion, now governed by a noble impulse, now swayed by brutal lust, now drawn on by a vein of humor. But the polished Greek, poetic, refined, full of ideas, exulting in his strong, beautiful, immoral gods, and making his art immortal by his sublime representations of them, presents a picture very different from the Aztec, phlegmatic, bloody-minded, ferocious, broken in body and in spirit by the excesses of his worship, overshadowed by countless terrors of the imagination, quaking continually before gods who feast on his flesh and blood. Nevertheless there was one bright spot, set afar off on the horizon, upon which the Aztec might look and hope. Like the Brahmans, the Buddhists, and the Jews, he looked forward to a new era under a great leader, even Quetzalcoatl, who had promised to return from the glowing east, bringing with him all the prosperity, peace, and happiness of his former reign. The Totonacs, also, knew of one in heaven who pleaded unceasingly for them with the great god, and who was ultimately to bring about a gentler era.

Worship in Michoacan

Worship in Michoacan, though on a smaller scale, was very similar to that in Mexico. The misty form of a Supreme Being that hovers through the latter, here assumes a more distinct outline, however. A First Cause, a Creator of All, a Ruler of the World, who bestows existence, and regulates the seasons, is recognized in the god Tucapacha; an invisible being whose abode is in the heaven above, an inconceivable being whom no image can represent, a merciful being to whom the people may hopefully pray.[X-40]Salazar y Olarte, Hist. Conq. Mex., p. 71; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. x. But the very beauty and simplicity of the conception of this god seem to have operated against the popularity of his worship. The people needed a less shadowy personification of their ideas, and this they found in Curicaneri, originally the patron divinity of the Chichimec rulers of the country, and by them exalted over Xaratanga, the former head god of the Tarascos. Brasseur de Bourbourg thinks Curicaneri to be identical with the sun, and gives as his reason that the Chichimecs presented their offerings first to that luminary and then to the inferior deities. There is another point that seems to favor this view. The insignia of Curicaneri and Xaratanga were carried by the priests in the van of the army to inspire courage and confidence of victory. Before setting out on the march a fire was lighted before the idol, and as the incense rose to heaven, the priest addressed the god of fire, imploring him to accept the offering and favor the expedition.[X-41]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 79-82. This author gives the name as Curicaweri. The image of Curicaneri was profusely adorned with jewels, each one of which represented a human sacrifice made in honor of the god.

The goddess Xaratanga, though second in rank, seems to have occupied the first place in the affections of the Tarascos, in spite of the myth which associates her name with the downfall of the native dynasty, saying that she transformed their princes into snakes, because they appeared drunk at her festivals, and thus afforded the Chichimecs an opportunity to seize the sceptre. The priests did their utmost, besides, to maintain her prestige, and they were successful, as we have seen from the position of the goddess by the side of Curicaneri, in the van of the army.

Among the inferior gods were Manovapa, son of Xaratanga, and Taras, from whom, says Sahagun, the Tarascos took their name, and who corresponded to the Mexican Mixcoatl. The Matlaltzincas worshiped Coltzin, suffocating before his image the few human beings offered to him. They reverenced very highly, also, a great reformer, Surites, a high-priest, who preached morality, and, inspired by a prophetic spirit, is said to have prepared the people for a better faith, which was to come from the direction of the rising sun. The festivals of the Peranscuaro, which corresponded to our Christmas, and the Zitacuarencuaro, or ‘resurrection,’ were instituted by Surites. These ideas, however, bear traces of having been ‘improved’ by the padres.

The priests of Michoacan exercised even a greater influence over the people than those of Mexico. In order to retain this power they appealed to the religious side of the people’s character by thundering sermons and solemn rites, and to their affections by practicing charity at every opportunity. The king himself, when he paid his annual visit to the high-priest to inaugurate the offering of first-fruits, set an example of humility by kneeling before the pontiff and reverently kissing his hand. The priests of Michoacan formed a distinct class, composed of three orders, at the head of which stood the high priest of Curicaneri.[X-42]’El Sumo Sacerdote Curinacanery.’ Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., p. 52. Those who served the goddess Xaratanga were called watarecha, and were distinguished by their shaven crowns, long black hair, and tunics bordered with red fringe.[X-43]’Guirnaldas de fluecos colorados,’ says Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. x. Marriage was one of their privileges.

The temple-service of Michoacan was much the same as in Mexico. Human sacrifices, which seem to have been introduced at a late period, were probably very numerous, since hundreds of human victims were immolated at the funeral of a monarch. The hearts of the sacrificed were eaten by the priests, says Beaumont, and this is not unlikely since the Otomí population of Michoacan sold flesh in the public market. During seasons of drought the Otomís sought to propitiate the rain gods by sacrificing a virgin on the top of a hill.[X-44]Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. x.; Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., pp. 52-3, 75; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., pp. 91-2; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 59, 64-5, 79-82; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 525; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 291-2, thinks that the sacrifices were introduced by surrounding tribes, and that cannibalism was unknown to the Tarascos. ‘Sacrificaban culebras, aves y conejos, y no los hombres, aunque fuesen cautivos, porque se servian de ellos, como de esclavos.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 138. See also vol. ii., pp. 620-1, of this work.

Worship in Jalisco

In Jalisco, several forms of worship appear, each with its special divinities. These were mostly genii of natural features. Thus, the towns about Chapala paid divine honors to the spirit of the lake, who was represented by a misshapen image with a miniature lake before it. The people of other places had idols mounted on rocks, or represented in the act of fighting with a wild animal or monster. In Zentipac and Acaponeta the stars were honored with offerings of the choicest fruit and flowers. Equally innocent were the offerings brought to Piltzinteolli, the ‘child god,’ whose youthful form was reared in several places. An instance of apotheosis occurred in Nayarit, where the skeleton of a king, enthroned in a cave, received divine honors.

Among the temples consecrated to the various idols, may be mentioned one in Jalisco, which was a square pyramid, decorated with breast-work and turrets, to which access was had by a staircase sixty feet in height. At each of the four corners was a hearth so arranged that the smoke from the sacred fire spread in a dense cloud over the temple. Another, at Teul, consisted of a stone building, five fathoms in length, by three in breadth, and gradually widening towards the top. Two entrances, one at the north corner, the other at the south, each with five steps, gave admission to the interior; close by were several piles, formed of the bones of the sacrificed.

The festivals which took place seem to have been disgraced not only by excesses of the most infamous character, but by the most horrible cruelties, if we are to believe Oviedo, who writes of furnaces filled with charred human remains. These sacrifices, however, if sacrifices they were, which were common in the north-eastern parts, where intercourse with Mexico had produced many changes, do not appear as we advance southward. Not only do they entirely vanish, but the chroniclers state that in Colima, which was reputed to have been at one time governed by a very wise prince, no outward worship of any kind could be found; moreover, they hint at an atheism having existed there, restricted only by moral precepts. But the reality of an oasis of this character, in the midst of the most degraded superstitions and the wildest fanaticism, is at the least, doubtful, and the work of the Fathers seems to be once more apparent.[X-45]Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., p. 232, tells of a Supreme Being in heaven, and with him an ever young virgin from whom all men descend; a belief which the child-god is said to have promulgated; but the account seems somewhat confused both as to place and authority. Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. iii., p. 197, and Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., p. 8, mention additional gods, but give no description. Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., pp. 269-70; Alcedo, Diccionario, tom. iii., p. 299; Tello, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. ii., p. 363; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 566; Gil, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. viii., pp. 496-8.

Worship in Oajaca

The worship of Oajaca bore even a stronger resemblance to that of Mexico than did that of Michoacan, and the assertion of some modern writers that both nations have a common origin seems fully borne out by the records of the old chroniclers. The array of gods was, if possible, greater, for almost every feature of the grand, wild scenery, every want, every virtue, even every vice, says Burgoa, had one or more patron deities, to whom offerings were made on the household altars. This was especially the case in the upper district of Mizteca and Zapoteca, where the rugged, cloud-capped peaks, dense forests, boiling cataracts, and stealthy streams, all tended to fill the crude mind of the native with a superstitious awe that must have vent. Through all this may be discerned the vague shape of a Supreme Being, bearing many titles, such as Piyetao Piyexoo, ‘one without being,’ Pitao Cozaana, ‘creator of beings,’ Wichaana, ‘creator of men and fishes,’ Coquiza-Chibataya Cozaanatao, ‘the sustainer and governor of all,’ and a multitude of other titles, which merely serve to show how indefinite was the position this Invisible One occupied in the minds of a people unable to rise to a definite conception of his eminence, and groveling before the hideous gnomes bred of their own imagination.[X-46]’Les dieux, de quelque nature qu’ils fussent, avaient dans la langue zapotèque le nom de “Pitao,” qui correspond à l’idée du grand-esprit, d’un esprit étendu.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 26-7.

When the disciples of Quetzalcoatl, the Toltec god and lawgiver, went forth at the command of their master to preach his doctrines, some are said to have wended their way to Oajaca, where they founded several centres of worship,[X-47]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 255-6, also refers to emigration of Toltec chiefs to found new states.and among them Achiuhtla, the headquarters of the Miztec religion, situated in the most rugged part of the mountains. Here, in a cave the interior of which was filled with idols, set up in niches upon stones dyed with human blood and smoke of incense, was a large transparent chalchiuite,[X-48]’Vna esmeralda tan grande como vn gruesso pimiento de esta tierra, tenia labrado encima vna auesita, ò pajarillo con grandissimo primor, y de arriba à baxo enroscada vna culebrilla con el mesmo arte, la piedra era tan transparente, que brillaba desde el fondo.’ Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt i., fol. 156. entwined by a snake whose head pointed toward a little bird perched on the apex. This relic, worshiped since time immemorial under the name of the ‘heart of the people,’ has all the chief attributes of Quetzalcoatl; the stone, the emblem of the air god, the snake and the bird; yet how mutilated the original myth, how much of its beautiful significance gone! Burgoa invests the relic with another attribute in making it the supporter of the earth, another Atlas in fact, whose movements produce earthquakes. This also accords with the character of Quetzalcoatl, who, under the name of Huemac, was supposed to produce earthquakes. The Zapotecs, besides, prayed to it for victory and wealth, and Quetzalcoatl as the ‘peace god,’ could doubtless influence the former, while the latter gift was always in his power.[X-49]Burgoa gives the relic in this instance a title which varies somewhat in the wording, although the former sense remains: ‘El Alma, y coraçon del Reyno.’ Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 396. Dávila Padilla, Hist. Fvnd. Mex., p. 639, mentions an idol among the Zapotecs in shape of a hand, which may have represented Huemac. In several other places were idols with the same name, as at Yangüistlan, Chalcatongo, and Coatlan, where the temples were caves, a fact worthy of note when we consider that Quetzalcoatl is stated by the myth to have erected temples to Mictlantecutli, the Mexican Pluto.[X-50]The Zapotecs had other temples also, fashioned like those of Mexico in superimposed terraces of stone-cased earth. Burgoa describes one which measured 2000 paces in circumference, and rose to a height of 88-90 feet; on each terrace stood an adobe chapel with a well attached for the storage of water. On the occasion of a great victory another terrace was added to the pile. Geog. Descrip., tom. i., pt ii., fol. 198.

Votan and Quetzalcoatl

The few authors, however, who have referred to this relic, nearly all hold it to represent Votan; the old writers doubtless because the name signifies ‘heart'[X-51]Cabrera, Teatro, in Rio’s Description, p. 37. in the Tzendal dialect of Chiapas, where he was the most prominent deity, the modern, because its attributes accord with those of this god. But Votan has so much in common with Quetzalcoatl that some writers are inclined to consider them identical, or at least related. Müller, however, declares him to be an original Maya snake-god, one of the thirteen chief snakes, to whom the bird attribute was given at a late period, borrowed, perhaps, from Quetzalcoatl. He is gradually anthropomorphized into one of the many leaders whose names have been given to the days of the month, Votan taking the third of the four names that designated days as well as years. Yet Professor Müller concedes that the god was brought from Cholula, and that certain special attributes of Quetzalcoatl may be recognized in the figures on the Palenque ruins, which probably refer to Votan; and further, that a phase of the myth seems to point to him as the grandson of Quetzalcoatl.[X-52]He also calls him the Miztec Cultur god. Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 486-90. Brasseur de Bourbourg, while accepting his identity with the ‘heart of the people,’ considers that the double aspect of the tradition allows us to suppose that there were several Votans, or that this name was accorded to deserving men who came after him. At times he seems to be a mythic creation, the mediator between man and God, the representation of wisdom and power; at times a prince and legislator who introduced a higher culture among his people. The analogy presented by traditions between Votan, Gucumatz, Cukulcan, and Quetzalcoatl, would lead us to believe that one individual united in his person all these appellations. Nevertheless, a comparison of the different traditions admits of two, Votan and Quetzalcoatl, the other names having the same signification as the latter.

It is certain, however, that from them, whether heroes, priests, rulers, or warriors, Central America received the culture which their successors brought to such perfection. The knowledge of one supreme being appears to have been among the first dogmas instilled into the minds of their people; but in the tradition presented to us, the hero’s name is often confounded with that of the divinities.[X-53]Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 44-5. Like Quetzalcoatl, Votan was the first historian of his people, and wrote a book on the origin of the race, in which he declares himself a snake, a descendant of Imos, of the line of Chan, of the race of Chivim.[X-54]Chan, ‘snake,’ was the name of a tribe of Lacandones, near Palenque, known also as Colhuas, Chanes, or Quinames. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. 109. The book referred to or a copy of it, written in the Tzendal or Quiché language, was in the possession of Nuñez de la Vega, Bishop of Chiapas, who published short extracts of it in his Constitut. Diœces, but seems to have had it burned, together with other native relics, in 1691, at Huehuetan. Previous to this, however, Ordoñez y Aguiar had obtained a copy of it, written in Latin characters, and gave a résumé of the contents in his Hist. del Cielo, MS. This author contradicts himself by stating, in one part of his MS., that the original was written by a descendant of Votan. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, pp. lxxxvii., cviii.; Tschudi’s Peruvian Antiq., p. 12; Cabrera, Teatro, in Rio’s Descrip., pp. 33-4. Cabrera, who bases his account of the myth on Ordoñez’ rendering, which he at times seems to have misunderstood and mutilated, thinks that Chivim refers to Tripoli, and it is the same as Hivim or Givim, the Phœnician word for snake, which, again, refers to Hivites, the descendants of Heth, son of Canaan. Votan’s expression, as given in his book, ‘I am a snake, a Chivim,’ signifies ‘I am a Hivite from Tripoli.’ Teatro, in Rio’s Descrip., p. 34, et seq. One of his titles was ‘lord of the hollow tree,’ the tepahuaste, or teponaztli.[X-55]Boturini, Idea, p. 115. It may be of interest to compare his name with Odon in the Michoacan calendar, and Oton, the Otomí god and chief. Humboldt was particularly struck with its resemblance to Odin, the Scandinavian god-hero. Vues, tom. i., p. 208; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. lxxvi.

From the confused tradition of the Tzendals, as rendered by Nuñez de la Vega and Ordoñez y Aguiar, it seems that Votan, proceeded by divine command to America and there portioned out the land.[X-56]Equivalent to laying the foundation for civilization. According to Ordoñez he was sent to people the continent; a view also taken by Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 150-1. Torquemada’s account of the spreading of the Toltecs southward, may throw some light on this subject. Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 256, et seq. He accordingly departed from Valum Chivim, passed by the ‘dwelling of the thirteen snakes,’ and arrived in Valum Votan,[X-57]Valum Chivim, Valum Votan, land of Chivim and Votan. See note 15. Cabrera considers two marble columns found at Tangier, with Phœnician inscriptions, a trace of his route; the dwellings of the thirteen snakes are thirteen islands of the Canary group, and Valum Votan, the Island of Santo Domingo. Teatro, in Rio’s Descrip., p. 34, et seq. Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 489, hints significantly at the worship of the snake-god Votan, on Santo Domingo Island, under the name of Vaudoux. Brasseur de Bourbourg’s ideas on this point have already been made pretty evident in the account of Quetzalcoatl’s myth. The thirteen snakes may mean thirteen chiefs of Xibalba. There is a ruin bearing the name of Valum Votan about nine leagues from Ciudad Real, Chiapas. Popol Vuh, p. lxxxviii. Ordoñez holds Valum Votan to be Cuba, whence he takes seven families with him. Cabrera, ubi sup. where he took with him several of his family to form the nucleus of the settlement. With them he passed through the island-strewn Laguna de Terminos, ascended the Usumacinta, and here, on one of its tributaries founded Nachan,[X-58]Ordoñez says the original Na-chan means ‘place of snakes.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 69. or Palenque, the future metropolis of a mighty kingdom, and one of the reputed cradles of American civilization. The Tzendal inhabitants bestowed upon the strange-looking new-comers the name Tzequiles, ‘men with petticoats,’ on account of their long robes, but soon exchanged ideas and customs with them, submitted to their rule, and gave them their daughters in marriage. This event is laid a thousand years before Christ.[X-59]A date which is confirmed by the Chimalpopoca MS. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. lxxxviii. One tradition makes the Tzequiles speak a Nahua dialect, but it is possible that Ordoñez confounds two epochs. Id., Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 70.

Travels of Votan

Ordoñez proceeds to say that Votan, after the establishment of his government, made four or more visits to his former home. On his first voyage he came to a great city, wherein a magnificent temple was in course of erection; this city Ordoñez supposed to be Jerusalem; he next visited an edifice which had been originally intended to reach heaven, an object defeated by a confusion of tongues; finally he was allowed to penetrate by a subterranean passage to the root of heaven.[X-60]In the traditions presented on pp. 67-8, 50, of this volume, will be found reference to Cholula as the place where the tower of Babel was built, and to the confusion of tongues, which tends to connect this myth with those of the neighboring country. Ordoñez’ orthodox ideas have probably added much to the native MS. from which he took his account, yet Nuñez de la Vega agrees with him in most respects. Cabrera, Teatro, in Rio’s Descrip., p. 84, considers the great city to be Rome, but agrees with his authorities that the latter edifice is the tower of Babel. A Tzendal legend relates that a subterranean passage, leading from Palenque to Tulhá, near Ococingo, was constructed in commemoration of the celestial passage, or ‘serpent hole,’ into which Votan in his quality of snake, was admitted. Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 72-3. On returning to Palenque, Votan found that several more of his nations had arrived; these he recognized as snakes, and showed them many favors, in return for which his supremacy was made secure, and he was at last apotheosized.[X-61]Cabrera has it that the new-comers are seven Tzequiles, or shipwrecked countrymen of Votan. The voyages and other incidents he considers confirmed by the sculptures on the Palenque ruins, which shows Votan surrounded by symbols of travel, indications of the places visited in the old and new world; he recognizes the attributes of Osiris in the idol brought over by Votan, with the intention of establishing its worship in the new world. Lastly, Votan and his families are Carthaginians. Teatro, in Rio’s Description, pp. 95, 34. Among the monuments left by the hero was a temple on the Huehuetan River, called ‘house of darkness,’ from its subterranean chambers, where the records of the nation were deposited under the charge of a fixed number of old men, termed tlapianes, or guardians, and an order of priestesses, whose superior was likewise the head of the male members. Here were also kept a number of tapirs, a sacred animal among the people.[X-62]The ruins of Huehuetan, ‘city of old men,’ are still to be seen. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 73-4; Tschudi’s Peruvian Antiq., pp. 11-15; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 10-21. Vega mentions that at Teopixca in Chiapas he found several families who bore the hero’s name and claimed to be descendants of his. This has little value, however, for we know that priests assumed the name of their god, and nearly all mythical heroes have had descendants, as Zeus, Herakles, and others. Boturini, Idea, p. 115.

The claims of Votan to be considered as the ‘heart of the people,’ are supported, according to the above accounts, chiefly by his name, which means ‘heart,’ and by the fact that a chalchiuite, of which stone the relic was made, was placed by the Mexicans and other peoples between the lips of deceased. The other attributes accord more with the character of Quetzalcoatl, as we have seen, and the tradition is very similar; its confusion goes to show that it is a mutilated version of the Toltec myth. If we accept Votan as a grandson of Quetzalcoatl we may also suppose that he was one of the disciples sent out by the prophet to spread his doctrines, and that his own name has been substituted for that of his master. This view is favored by the fact that Quetzalcoatl is identified with the snake-heroes of Yucatan and Guatemala, countries that lie beside and beyond Chiapas. Then, again, we find that Votan’s worship was known in Cholula, and that he landed in the very region where the former hero disappeared. However doubtful the preceding tradition may be, there is one among the Oajacans, which to me has all the appearance of a mutilated version of the myth of Quetzalcoatl, deformed still more by the orthodox Fathers. In very remote times, about the era of the apostles, according to the padres, an old white man, with long hair and beard, appeared suddenly at Huatulco, coming from the south-west by sea, and preached to the natives in their own tongue, but of things beyond their understanding. He lived a strict life, passing the greater part of the night in a kneeling posture, and eating but little. He disappeared shortly after as mysteriously as he had come, but left as a memento of his visit a cross, which he planted with his own hand, and admonished the people to preserve it sacredly, for one day they would be taught its significance.[X-63]A portion of this relic was sent to Pope Paul V., in 1613; the remainder was deposited in the cathedral for safe keeping. Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 350-2. Some authors describe a personage of the same appearance and character, coming from the same quarter, and appearing in the country shortly after, but it is doubtless the same old man, who, on leaving Huatulco, may have turned his steps to the interior. His voice is next heard in Mictlan,[X-64]The place of the dead, or hades, also called Yopaa, land of tombs. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 9. inveighing in gentle but firm accents against the pleasures of this world, and enjoining repentance and expiation. His life was in strict accordance with his doctrines, and never, except at confession, did he approach a woman. But the lot of Wixepecocha, as the Zapotecs call him, was that of most reformers. Persecuted by those whose vice and superstitions he attacked, he was driven from one province to another, and at last took refuge on Mount Cempoaltepec. Even here his pursuers followed him, climbing its craggy sides to lay hands upon the prophet. Just as they reached the summit, he vanished like a shadow, leaving only the print of his feet upon the rock.[X-65]Fray Juan de Ojedo saw and felt the indentation of two feet upon the rook, the muscles and toes as distinctly marked as if they had been pressed upon soft wax. The Mijes had this tradition written in characters on skin. Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 299.

The Apostle Wixepecocha

Among the points in this myth that correspond to the character of Quetzalcoatl may be noticed the appearance of the prophet from the south-west, which agrees with the direction of the moisture-bearing winds, the chief attribute of the Toltec god; the cross, which indicates not only the four winds, but the rain of which they are the bearers, attributes recognized by the Mexicans who decorated the mantle of the god with crosses; the long beard, the white face, and the dress, which all accord with the Toltec Quetzalcoatl. Like him Wixepecocha taught gentle doctrines of reform, like him he was persecuted and forced to wander from place to place, and at last disappeared, leaving his followers the hope of a better future. The doctrine of Wixepecocha, took root and flourished in the land he had consecrated with his toils and prayers, and, according to Brasseur de Bourbourg, Wiyatao, the pontiff of Zapotecapan, was vicar and successor of the ‘prophet of Monapostiac.'[X-66]A name given to Wixepecocha by the tradition, which adds that he was seen on the island of Monapostiac, near Tehuantepec, previous to his final disappearance. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 411. Quetzalcoatl also disappeared seaward.

The early padres saw in this personage none other than St. Thomas, the apostle, who had walked across to plant the cross and prepare the way for christianity. There is, or was until recently, a statue of him in the village of Magdalena, four leagues from Tehuantepec, which represented him with long white beard, and muffled up in a long robe with a hood, secured by a cord round the waist; he was seated in a reflective attitude, listening to the confession of a woman kneeling by his side.[X-67]He debarked near Tehuantepec, bearing a cross in his hand; Gondra, Rasgos y señales de la primera predicacion en el Nuevo-Mundo, MS.; Carriedo, Estudios, Hist. del Estado Oaxaqueño, tom. i., cap. i.; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 9-10. A similar statue is mentioned by Burgoa, as having existed in a cave not far from Xustlahuaca, in Mistecapan,[X-68]Brasseur de Bourbourg seems to place it at Chalcatongo. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 19; Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt i., fol. 170. where it stood near the entrance, on a marble monolith eleven feet in height. The approach to the cavern appears to have formerly led through a beautiful garden; within were masses of stalactite of the most fantastic and varied forms, many of which the people had fashioned into images of different kinds, and of the most artistic execution, says the padre, whose fancy was doubtless aided by the twilight within. Here lay the embalmed bodies of kings and pontiffs, surrounded by treasures, for this was a supposed entrance to the flowered fields of heaven. The temple cave at Mictlan bore a similar reputation, and served as a sepulchre for the Zapotec grandees. It consisted of four chief divisions, the largest forming the sanctuary proper, the second and third the tombs of kings and pontiffs, and the fourth a vestibule to an immense labyrinthine grotto, in which brave warriors were occasionally buried. Into this, the very ante-room of paradise, frenzied devotees would at times enter, and seek in its dark mazes for the abode of the gods; none ever returned from this dread quest, for the entrance was closed with a great stone, and doubtless many a poor wretch as he touched in his last feeble gropings the bones of those who had preceded him, felt the light come in upon his soul in spite of the thick darkness, and knew he had been deluded; but the mighty stone at the mouth of the cave told no secrets.[X-69]Escalera and Llana, Mej. Hist. Descrip., p. 330.

Gods of Oajaca

The prominence of the Plutonic element in the worship of Oajaca is shown by the fact that Pezelao, whose character corresponded to that of the Mexican Mictlantecutli, received high honors. The other conspicuous gods, as enumerated by Brasseur de Bourbourg, were Pitao-Cocobi, god of abundance, or of the harvest; Cociyo, the rain god; Cozaana, patron of hunters and fishermen; and Pitao-Xoo, god of earthquakes. Other deities controlled riches, misfortunes, auguries, poetic inspiration—even the hens had their patron divinity. As might be expected of a people who regarded even living kings and priests with adoration, apotheosis was common. Thus, Petela, an ancient Zapotec cacique whose name signified dog, was worshiped in the cavern of Coatlan. At one end of this subterranean temple a yawning abyss received the foaming waters of a mountain torrent, and into this slaves and captives, gaily dressed and adorned with flowers, were cast on certain occasions.[X-70]’Le tenian enterrado, seco, y embalsamado en su proporcion.’ The cave was supposed to connect with the city of Chiapas, 200 leagues distant. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xiv.

At another place was a white stone shaped like a nine-pin, supposed to be the embodiment of Pinopiaa, a saintly princess of Zapotecapan, whose corpse had been miraculously conveyed to heaven and returned in this form for the benefit of the devout.[X-71]’Piedra blanca, labrada al modo de vn acho de bolos … vn gruesso taladro.’ Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 362.

In Chiapas they worshiped Costahuntox, who was represented with ram’s horns on his head, and sat on a throne surrounded by thirteen grandees. In the district of Llanos, Yabalan, or Yahalan, and Canamlum were the chief gods. Even living beings held the position of deities, according to Diaz, who states that a fat old woman, dressed in richly decorated robes, whom the natives venerated as a goddess, led them against the Spanish invaders, but was killed.[X-72]Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 179; Salazar y Olarte, Hist. Conq. Mex., p. 137. There were many among the padres who held Yabalan to have been an immediate descendant of Noah’s son Ham, because the name signified ‘chief black man, or negro.’ Piñeda, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. iii., p. 419. Among the Mijes a green flat stone, with blood-red, lustrous rays, was held in much veneration. Although this is the only reference made by the chroniclers that may be connected with sun worship—which, by the way, could scarcely have claimed a very high position here, since the founder of the Miztec royal family is stated to have been victorious in a contest with the sun—it is worthy of note that the Zapotec word nuhu, fire, also denotes divinity, idol, everything sacred, the earth itself.[X-73]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 17; Dávila Padilla, Hist. Fvnd. Mex., pp. 638-9. In Chiapas are found a number of representations of heavenly bodies, sculptured, or drawn, and at Palenque a sun temple is supposed to have existed. Piñeda, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. iii., p. 419. The household idols had their names, history, and worship depicted on bark, and smoked or painted hides, in order to keep them always before the people, and insure to the youth a knowledge of their god. How firmly rooted idolatry was, and how slow the work of eradicating it must have been, to the padres, notwithstanding they destroyed every idol they could lay hands on, is shown by the fact that among the Guechecoros a statue of Cortés served as an object of worship.[X-74]They ‘worship his image in their own peculiar way, sometimes by cutting off a turkey’s head.’ ‘The natives are about as far advanced in christianity as they were at the time of the conquest.’ Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. ii., p. 542. Nagualism is one of the ancient forms of worship which still flourish, and consists in choosing an animal as the tulelary divinity of child, whose existence will be so closely connected with it, that the life of one depends on that of the other. Burgoa states that the priest selected the animal by divination; when the boy grew up he was directed to proceed to a mountain to offer sacrifice, and there the animal would appear to him. Others say that at the hour of the mother’s confinement, the father and friends drew on the floor of the hut the outline of various animals, effacing each figure as soon as they began the next, and the figure that remained at the moment of delivery represented the guardian of the infant; or, that the bird or beast first seen by the watchers after the confinement was accepted as the nagual. The bestowal of the sign of the day upon the infant as its name may perhaps be considered as a species of nagualism, since the name of animals often formed these signs.[X-75]Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 395; Ferry, Costal L’Indien, pp. 6-7.

Tree Worship

A form of worship particularly marked in this country was the veneration accorded to trees, as may be judged from the myth which attributes the origin of the Miztec, as well as a portion at least of the Zapotec people to two trees. This cult existed also in other parts of Mexico and Central America, where cypresses and palms growing near the temples, generally in groups of three, were tended with great care, and often received offerings of incense and other gifts. They do not, however, seem to have been dedicated to any particular god, as among the Romans, where Pluto claimed the cypress, and Victory the palm. One of the most sacred of these relics is a cypress standing at Santa María de Tule, the venerable trunk of which measures ninety feet in circumference, at a height of six feet from the ground.[X-76]Some consider it to be composed of three trunks which have grown together, and the deep indentations certainly give it that appearance; but trees of this species generally present irregular forms. Escalera and Llana, Méj. Hist. Descrip., pp. 224-5; Charnay, Ruines Amér., phot. xviii.

One of the chief offerings of the Zapotecs was the blood of the, to them sacred, turkey; straws and feathers smeared with blood from the back of the ear, and from beneath the tongue of persons, also constituted a large portion of the sacred offerings, and were presented in special grass vessels. Human sacrifices were not common with the Oajacan people, but in case of emergency, captives and slaves were generally the victims. The usual mode of offering them was to tear out the heart, but in some places, as at Coatlan, they were cast into an abyss. Herrera states that men were offered to the gods, women to goddesses, and children to inferior deities, and that their bodies were eaten, but the latter statement is doubtful.[X-77]Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xiv.; Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 282; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., p. 194. Pontelli, who claims to have paid a visit to the forbidden retreats of the mountain Lacandones, a few years ago, mentions, among other peculiarities, a stone of sacrifice, interlaced by serpents, and covered with hieroglyphics, on which the heart of human beings were torn out. Correo de Ultramar, Paris 1860; Cal. Farmer, Nov. 7, 1862.

Footnotes

[X-1] ’Los Pueblos, que à los Templos de la Ciudad de Tetzcuco servian, con Leña, Carbon, y corteça de Roble, eran quince … y otros quince Pueblos … servian los otros seis meses del Año, con lo mismo, à las Casas Reales, y Templo Maior.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 164.

[X-2] Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., p. 305.

[X-3] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 164-6; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxxix., cxli. ‘È da credersi, che quel tratto di paese, che avea il nome di Teotlalpan, (Terra degli Dei,) fosse così appellata, per esservi delle possesioni de’ Tempj.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 36.

[X-4] Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 120.

[X-5] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 112; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 36-7.

[X-6] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 175-7; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 37. Sahagun calls them Quetzalcoatl Teoteztlamacazqui, who was also high-priest of Huitzilopochtli, and Tlaloctlamacazqui, who was Tlaloc’s chief priest; they were equals, and elected from the most perfect, without reference to birth. Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., pp. 276-7. There are two inconsistencies in this, the only strong contradiction of the statement of the above, as well as several other authors, who form the authority of my text: first, Sahagun calls the first high-priest Quetzalcoatl Teotectlamacazqui, a name which scarcely accords with the title of Huitzilopochtli’s high-priest; secondly, he ignores the almost unanimous evidence of old writers, who state that the latter office was hereditary in a certain district. ‘Al Summo Pontìfice llamaban en la lengua mexicana Tehuatecolt.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxxiii. ‘El mayor de todos que es superlado, Achcauhtli.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 323. But this was the title of the Tlascaltec high-priest. ‘A los supremos Sacerdotes … llamauan en su antigua lengua Papas.’ Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 336. See also Chaves, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., pp. 303-4.

[X-7] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 177, 180; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 41; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xv.; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxxiii.

[X-8] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 218-19. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 549-51, whose chief authority is Hernandez, and who is not very clear in his description, holds that the Mexicatlteohuatzin was the supreme priest, and that he also bore the title of Teotecuhtli, the rank of chief priest of Huitzilopochtli, and was the right hand minister of the king. Quetzalcoatl’s high-priest he places next in rank, but outside of the political sphere. On one page he states that the high-priest was elected by the two chief men in the hierarchy, and on another he distinctly implies that the king made the higher appointments in order to control the church. The sacrificing priest, whom he evidently holds to be the same as the high-priest, he invests with the rank of generalissimo, and heir to the throne.

[X-9] Carbajal states that a temple bearing the name of the people, or their chief town, was erected in the metropolis, and attended by a body of priests brought from the province. Discurso, p. 110. This may, however, be a misinterpretation of Torquemada, who gives a description of a building attached to the chief temple at Mexico, in which the idols of subjugated people were kept imprisoned, to prevent them from aiding their worshipers to regain their liberty.

[X-10] Some authors seem to associate this office with that of the pontiff, but it appears that the high-priest merely inaugurated the sacrifices on special occasions. ‘Era esta vna dignidad suprema, y entre ellos tenida en mucho, la qual se heredaua como cosa de mayorazgo. El ministro que tenia oficio de matar … era tenido y reuerenciado como supreme Sacerdote, o Pontifice.’ Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 352. ‘Era como decir, el Sumo Sacerdote, al qual, y no à otro, era dado este oficio de abrir los Hombres por los pechos, … siendo comunmente los herederos, de este Patrimonio, y suerte Eclesiastica, los primogenitos.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 117. It is difficult to decide upon the interpretation of these sentences. The expression of his being ‘held or reverenced as pontiff’ certainly indicates that another priest held the office, so does the sentence, ‘it was inherited by the first-born’ of certain families. But the phrase, ‘el Sumo Sacerdote, al qual y no à otro, era dado este oficio,’ points very directly to the high-priest as the holder of the post.

[X-11] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 178-9; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 37-9; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 218-26; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 551.

[X-12] Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 323-4. He describes the dress as ‘vna ropa de algodon blanca estrecha, y larga, y encima vna manta por capa añudada al hombro…. Tiznaunse los dios festiuales, y quando su regla mandaua de negro las piernas,’ etc.

[X-13] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 39-40; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 369-71. Brasseur de Bourbourg thinks that the teopatli was the ointment used at the consecration of the high-priest, but it is not likely that a preparation which served monks and invalids as body paint, would be applied to the heads of high-priests and kings. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 558. Every priestly adornment had, doubtless, its mystic meaning. The custom of painting the body black was first done in honor of the god of Hades. Boturini, Idea, p. 117.

[X-14] See vol. ii., pp. 242, et seq.

[X-15] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 189-91; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 223-31; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 53-4. ‘Sustentábanse del trabajo de sus manos ó por sus padres y parientes.’ Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 107.

[X-16] ’Trahian en las cabeças coronas como frayles, poco cabello, aunque crezido hasta media oreja, y mas largo por el colodrillo hasta las espaldas, y a manera de trençado le atauan.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xvi.

[X-17] Clavigero asserts that at the age of two the boy was consecrated to the order of tlamacazcayotl by a cut in the breast, and at seven he was admitted. Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 44; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 53.

[X-18] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 220-4. Whether this decorum was preserved after the adjournment of the meeting, is a point which some writers are inclined to doubt.

[X-19] Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 341-2.

[X-20] Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcix., pp. 134-5.

[X-21] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxxii.; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 90.

[X-22] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxxix.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 185-6.

[X-23] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 39. According to Torquemada, the night service was partly devoted to the god of night. Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 227.

[X-24] Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxv.; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., pp. 224-5, 275; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 336, 343; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xv.

[X-25] This was the answer given by Juan de Tovar, in his Hist. Ind., MS., to the doubts expressed by Acosta as to the authenticity of the long-winded prayers of the Mexicans, whose imperfect writing was not well adapted to reproduce orations. Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. i., p. 282.

[X-26] Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 93. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 24, certainly says: ‘Taceano le loro preghiere comunemente inginocchione,’ but we are told by Sahagun and others, that when they approached the deity with most humility, namely, at the confession, a squatting position was assumed; the same was done when they delivered orations. The greatest sign of adoration, according to Camargo, was to take a handful of earth and grass and eat it; very similar to the manner of taking an oath or greeting a superior, which consisted in touching the hand to the ground and then putting it to the lips. Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcix., p. 168.

[X-27] Ib.

[X-28] At the present day the rite of circumcision may be traced almost in an unbroken line from China to the Cape of Good Hope.

[X-29] Myths, p. 147.

[X-30] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 83; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 108-9; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxv.; Explicacion del Codex Telleriano-Remensis, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 133.

[X-31] See this volume, pp. 380-4.

[X-32] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 212-13; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 343; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., pp. 275-6.

[X-33] Conq. Mex., fol. 336. Some of these sticks were thicker than a finger, ‘y largos, como el tamaño de vn braço.’ ‘Eran en numero de quatrocientas.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 102-3; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 51-2.

[X-34] Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., p. 305. The Mexican priests performed this sacrifice every five days. Explanation of the Codex Vaticanus, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., p. 225, ‘De la sangre que sacaban de las partes del Cuerpo en cada provincia tenian diferente costumbre.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxx.

[X-35] See this volume, p. 61.

[X-36] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 165-7. Torquemada, however, mentions one earlier sacrifice of some refractory Mexicans, who desired to leave their wandering countrymen and settle at Tula, contrary to the command of the god. Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 115-16, 50. ‘On prétend que cet usage vint de la province de Chalco dans celle de Tlaxcallan.’ Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 199; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Quatre Lettres, p. 343. ‘Quetzalcoatle was the first inventor of sacrifices of human blood.’ Explanation of the Codex Vaticanus, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., p. 201. It is conceded, however, by other writers, that Quetzalcoatl was opposed to all bloodshed. See this volume, p. 278. Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 628, thinks that the Aztecs introduced certain rites of human sacrifice, which they connected with others already existing in Mexico.

[X-37] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 186. ‘Eran cada año estos Niños sacrificados mas de veinte mil por cuenta.’ Id., tom. ii., p. 120. A misconstruction of Zumárraga, who does not specify them as children. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 49, tom. i., p. 257; Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 268; Boturini, Idea, p. 28. ‘Afirman que auia vez que passauan de cinco mil, y dia vuo que en diuersas partes fueron assi sacrificados mas de veynta mil.’ Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 356. Gomara states that the conquerors counted 136,000 skulls in one skull-yard alone. Conq. Mex., fol. 122.

[X-38] ’Non furono mai veduti i Messicani sacriücare i propj lor Nazionali, se non coloro, che per li loro delitti erano rei di morte.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iv., p. 299. A rather hasty assertion.

[X-39] See vol. ii., p. 307.

[X-40] Salazar y Olarte, Hist. Conq. Mex., p. 71; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. x.

[X-41] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 79-82. This author gives the name as Curicaweri.

[X-42] ’El Sumo Sacerdote Curinacanery.’ Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., p. 52.

[X-43] ’Guirnaldas de fluecos colorados,’ says Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. x.

[X-44] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. x.; Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., pp. 52-3, 75; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., pp. 91-2; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 59, 64-5, 79-82; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 525; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 291-2, thinks that the sacrifices were introduced by surrounding tribes, and that cannibalism was unknown to the Tarascos. ‘Sacrificaban culebras, aves y conejos, y no los hombres, aunque fuesen cautivos, porque se servian de ellos, como de esclavos.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 138. See also vol. ii., pp. 620-1, of this work.

[X-45] Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., p. 232, tells of a Supreme Being in heaven, and with him an ever young virgin from whom all men descend; a belief which the child-god is said to have promulgated; but the account seems somewhat confused both as to place and authority. Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. iii., p. 197, and Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., p. 8, mention additional gods, but give no description. Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., pp. 269-70; Alcedo, Diccionario, tom. iii., p. 299; Tello, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. ii., p. 363; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 566; Gil, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. viii., pp. 496-8.

[X-46] ’Les dieux, de quelque nature qu’ils fussent, avaient dans la langue zapotèque le nom de “Pitao,” qui correspond à l’idée du grand-esprit, d’un esprit étendu.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 26-7.

[X-47] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 255-6, also refers to emigration of Toltec chiefs to found new states.

[X-48] ’Vna esmeralda tan grande como vn gruesso pimiento de esta tierra, tenia labrado encima vna auesita, ò pajarillo con grandissimo primor, y de arriba à baxo enroscada vna culebrilla con el mesmo arte, la piedra era tan transparente, que brillaba desde el fondo.’ Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt i., fol. 156.

[X-49] Burgoa gives the relic in this instance a title which varies somewhat in the wording, although the former sense remains: ‘El Alma, y coraçon del Reyno.’ Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 396. Dávila Padilla, Hist. Fvnd. Mex., p. 639, mentions an idol among the Zapotecs in shape of a hand, which may have represented Huemac.

[X-50] The Zapotecs had other temples also, fashioned like those of Mexico in superimposed terraces of stone-cased earth. Burgoa describes one which measured 2000 paces in circumference, and rose to a height of 88-90 feet; on each terrace stood an adobe chapel with a well attached for the storage of water. On the occasion of a great victory another terrace was added to the pile. Geog. Descrip., tom. i., pt ii., fol. 198.

[X-51] Cabrera, Teatro, in Rio’s Description, p. 37.

[X-52] He also calls him the Miztec Cultur god. Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 486-90.

[X-53] Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 44-5.

[X-54] Chan, ‘snake,’ was the name of a tribe of Lacandones, near Palenque, known also as Colhuas, Chanes, or Quinames. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. 109. The book referred to or a copy of it, written in the Tzendal or Quiché language, was in the possession of Nuñez de la Vega, Bishop of Chiapas, who published short extracts of it in his Constitut. Diœces, but seems to have had it burned, together with other native relics, in 1691, at Huehuetan. Previous to this, however, Ordoñez y Aguiar had obtained a copy of it, written in Latin characters, and gave a résumé of the contents in his Hist. del Cielo, MS. This author contradicts himself by stating, in one part of his MS., that the original was written by a descendant of Votan. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, pp. lxxxvii., cviii.; Tschudi’s Peruvian Antiq., p. 12; Cabrera, Teatro, in Rio’s Descrip., pp. 33-4. Cabrera, who bases his account of the myth on Ordoñez’ rendering, which he at times seems to have misunderstood and mutilated, thinks that Chivim refers to Tripoli, and it is the same as Hivim or Givim, the Phœnician word for snake, which, again, refers to Hivites, the descendants of Heth, son of Canaan. Votan’s expression, as given in his book, ‘I am a snake, a Chivim,’ signifies ‘I am a Hivite from Tripoli.’ Teatro, in Rio’s Descrip., p. 34, et seq.

[X-55] Boturini, Idea, p. 115. It may be of interest to compare his name with Odon in the Michoacan calendar, and Oton, the Otomí god and chief. Humboldt was particularly struck with its resemblance to Odin, the Scandinavian god-hero. Vues, tom. i., p. 208; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. lxxvi.

[X-56] Equivalent to laying the foundation for civilization. According to Ordoñez he was sent to people the continent; a view also taken by Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 150-1. Torquemada’s account of the spreading of the Toltecs southward, may throw some light on this subject. Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 256, et seq.

[X-57] Valum Chivim, Valum Votan, land of Chivim and Votan. See note 15. Cabrera considers two marble columns found at Tangier, with Phœnician inscriptions, a trace of his route; the dwellings of the thirteen snakes are thirteen islands of the Canary group, and Valum Votan, the Island of Santo Domingo. Teatro, in Rio’s Descrip., p. 34, et seq. Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 489, hints significantly at the worship of the snake-god Votan, on Santo Domingo Island, under the name of Vaudoux. Brasseur de Bourbourg’s ideas on this point have already been made pretty evident in the account of Quetzalcoatl’s myth. The thirteen snakes may mean thirteen chiefs of Xibalba. There is a ruin bearing the name of Valum Votan about nine leagues from Ciudad Real, Chiapas. Popol Vuh, p. lxxxviii. Ordoñez holds Valum Votan to be Cuba, whence he takes seven families with him. Cabrera, ubi sup.

[X-58] Ordoñez says the original Na-chan means ‘place of snakes.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 69.

[X-59] A date which is confirmed by the Chimalpopoca MS. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. lxxxviii. One tradition makes the Tzequiles speak a Nahua dialect, but it is possible that Ordoñez confounds two epochs. Id., Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 70.

[X-60] In the traditions presented on pp. 67-8, 50, of this volume, will be found reference to Cholula as the place where the tower of Babel was built, and to the confusion of tongues, which tends to connect this myth with those of the neighboring country. Ordoñez’ orthodox ideas have probably added much to the native MS. from which he took his account, yet Nuñez de la Vega agrees with him in most respects. Cabrera, Teatro, in Rio’s Descrip., p. 84, considers the great city to be Rome, but agrees with his authorities that the latter edifice is the tower of Babel. A Tzendal legend relates that a subterranean passage, leading from Palenque to Tulhá, near Ococingo, was constructed in commemoration of the celestial passage, or ‘serpent hole,’ into which Votan in his quality of snake, was admitted. Brasseur de Bourbourg,Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 72-3.

[X-61] Cabrera has it that the new-comers are seven Tzequiles, or shipwrecked countrymen of Votan. The voyages and other incidents he considers confirmed by the sculptures on the Palenque ruins, which shows Votan surrounded by symbols of travel, indications of the places visited in the old and new world; he recognizes the attributes of Osiris in the idol brought over by Votan, with the intention of establishing its worship in the new world. Lastly, Votan and his families are Carthaginians. Teatro, in Rio’s Description, pp. 95, 34.

[X-62] The ruins of Huehuetan, ‘city of old men,’ are still to be seen. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 73-4; Tschudi’s Peruvian Antiq., pp. 11-15; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 10-21. Vega mentions that at Teopixca in Chiapas he found several families who bore the hero’s name and claimed to be descendants of his. This has little value, however, for we know that priests assumed the name of their god, and nearly all mythical heroes have had descendants, as Zeus, Herakles, and others. Boturini, Idea, p. 115.

[X-63] A portion of this relic was sent to Pope Paul V., in 1613; the remainder was deposited in the cathedral for safe keeping. Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 350-2.

[X-64] The place of the dead, or hades, also called Yopaa, land of tombs. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 9.

[X-65] Fray Juan de Ojedo saw and felt the indentation of two feet upon the rook, the muscles and toes as distinctly marked as if they had been pressed upon soft wax. The Mijes had this tradition written in characters on skin. Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 299.

[X-66] A name given to Wixepecocha by the tradition, which adds that he was seen on the island of Monapostiac, near Tehuantepec, previous to his final disappearance. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 411. Quetzalcoatl also disappeared seaward.

[X-67] He debarked near Tehuantepec, bearing a cross in his hand; Gondra, Rasgos y señales de la primera predicacion en el Nuevo-Mundo, MS.; Carriedo, Estudios, Hist. del Estado Oaxaqueño, tom. i., cap. i.; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 9-10.

[X-68] Brasseur de Bourbourg seems to place it at Chalcatongo. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 19; Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt i., fol. 170.

[X-69] Escalera and Llana, Mej. Hist. Descrip., p. 330.

[X-70] ’Le tenian enterrado, seco, y embalsamado en su proporcion.’ The cave was supposed to connect with the city of Chiapas, 200 leagues distant. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xiv.

[X-71] ’Piedra blanca, labrada al modo de vn acho de bolos … vn gruesso taladro.’ Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 362.

[X-72] Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 179; Salazar y Olarte, Hist. Conq. Mex., p. 137. There were many among the padres who held Yabalan to have been an immediate descendant of Noah’s son Ham, because the name signified ‘chief black man, or negro.’ Piñeda, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. iii., p. 419.

[X-73] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 17; Dávila Padilla, Hist. Fvnd. Mex., pp. 638-9. In Chiapas are found a number of representations of heavenly bodies, sculptured, or drawn, and at Palenque a sun temple is supposed to have existed. Piñeda, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. iii., p. 419.

[X-74] They ‘worship his image in their own peculiar way, sometimes by cutting off a turkey’s head.’ ‘The natives are about as far advanced in christianity as they were at the time of the conquest.’ Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. ii., p. 542.

[X-75] Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 395; Ferry, Costal L’Indien, pp. 6-7.

[X-76] Some consider it to be composed of three trunks which have grown together, and the deep indentations certainly give it that appearance; but trees of this species generally present irregular forms. Escalera and Llana, Méj. Hist. Descrip., pp. 224-5; Charnay, Ruines Amér., phot. xviii.

[X-77] Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xiv.; Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 282; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., p. 194. Pontelli, who claims to have paid a visit to the forbidden retreats of the mountain Lacandones, a few years ago, mentions, among other peculiarities, a stone of sacrifice, interlaced by serpents, and covered with hieroglyphics, on which the heart of human beings were torn out. Correo de Ultramar, Paris 1860; Cal. Farmer, Nov. 7, 1862.

Chapter XI • Gods, Supernatural Beings, and Worship • 20,100 Words

Maya Pantheon—Zamná—Cukulcan—The Gods of Yucatan—The Symbol of the Cross in America—Human Sacrifices in Yucatan—Priests of Yucatan—Guatemalan Pantheon—Tepeu and Hurakan—Avilix and Hacavitz—The Heroes of the Sacred Book—Quiché Gods—Worship of the Choles, Manches, Itzas, Lacandones, and others—Tradition of Comizahual—Fasts—Priests of Guatemala—Gods, Worship, and Priests of Nicaragua—Worship on the Mosquito Coast—Gods and Worship of the Isthmians—Phallic Worship in America.

The religion of the Mayas was fundamentally the same as that of the Nahuas, though it differed somewhat in outward forms. Most of the gods were deified heroes, brought more or less prominently to the front by their importance. Occasionally we find very distinct traces of an older sun-worship, which has succumbed to later forms, introduced, according to vague tradition, from Anáhuac. The generality of this cult is testified to by the numerous representations of sun-plates and sun-pillars found among the ruins of Central America.[XI-1]’Toda esta Tierra, con estotra, … tenia vna misma manera de religion, y ritos, y si en algo diferenciaba, era, en mui poco.’ ‘Lo mismo fue de las Provincias de Quatimala, Nicaragua, y Honduras.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 54, 191. Tylor thinks that ‘the civilizations of Mexico and Central America were originally independent, but that they came much in contact, and thus modified one another to no small extent.’ Anahuac, p. 191. ‘On reconnaît facilement que le culte y était partout basé sur le rituel toltèque, et que les formes mêmes ne différaient guère les unes des autres.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 559.

In Yucatan, Hunab Ku, ‘the only god’, called also Kinehahau, ‘the mouth or eyes of the sun’,[XI-2]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 42, calls him the sun. is represented as the Supreme Being, the Creator, the Invisible one, whom no image can represent.[XI-3]Representations of the sun, with whom he seems to be identified, are not impossible to these peoples if we may judge from the sun-plates with lapping tongues and other representations found on the ruins in Mexico and Central America. His spouse Ixazalvoh was honored as the inventor of weaving, and their son Zamná, or Yaxcocahmut, one of the culture-heroes of the people, is supposed to have been the inventor of the art of writing.[XI-4]’Porque à este le llamaban tambien Ytzamnà.’ Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 196, 192. The inquiries instituted by Las Casas revealed the existence of a trinity, the first person of which was Izona, the Great Father; the second was the Son of the Great Father, Bacab, born of the virgin Chibirias,[XI-5]The daughter of Ixchel, the Yucatec medicine goddess. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 43. He writes the virgin’s name as Chiribias. Ixchel seems to be the same as the Guatemalan Xmucané, mother of the gods.’ Id., Quatre Lettres, p. 243. scourged and crucified, he descended into the realms of the dead, rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; the third person of the trinity was Echuah, or Ekchuah, the Holy Ghost.[XI-6]Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxiii.; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 190; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, p. 246; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. iii., p. 133. Now, to accuse the reverend Fathers of deliberately concocting this and other statements of a similar character is to accuse them of acts of charlatanism which no religious zeal could justify. On the other hand, that this mysterious trinity, had any real existence in the original belief of the natives, is, to put it in its mildest form, exceedingly doubtful. It may be, however, that the natives, when questioned concerning their religion, endeavored to make it conform as nearly as possible to that of their conquerors, hoping by this means to gain the good will of their masters, and to lull suspicions of lurking idolatry.

Bacab, stated above to mean the Son of the Great Father, was in reality the name of four spirits who supported the firmament; while Echuah, or the Holy Ghost, was the patron god of merchants and travelers.

Zamná

The goddess Ixcanleox was held to be the mother of the gods, but as Cogolludo states that she had several names, she may possibly be identical with Ixazaluoh, the wife of Hunab Ku, whose name implies generation.[XI-7]’Celle de l’eau matrice d’embryon, ix-a-zal-uoh.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, MS. Troano, tom. ii., p. 258. The Mayas were not behind their neighbors in the number of their lesser and special divinities, so that there was scarcely an animal or imaginary creature which they did not represent by sacred images. These idols, or zemes,[XI-8]’Idolo, ò Zemì.’ Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 33. ‘Zemes which are the Images of their familiar and domesticall spirites.’ Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. vi. as they were called, were generally made of terra cotta, though sometimes they were of stone, gold, or wood. In the front rank of the circle of gods, known by the name of ku, were the deified kings and heroes, whom we often find credited with attributes so closely connected as to imply identity, or representation of varied phases of the same element.[XI-9]’Les dieux de l’Yucatan, disent Lizana et Cogolludo, étaient presque tous des rois plus ou moins bons que la gratitude ou la terreur avait fait placer au rang des divinités.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 20; Landa, Relacion, p. 158; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 198. The most popular names were Zamná and Cukulcan, both culture-heroes, and considered by some to be identical; a very probable supposition when we consider that Quetzalcoatl, who is admitted to be the same as Cukulcan, had the attribute of the strong hand, as well as Zamná. The tradition relates that some time after the fall of the Quinamean Empire, Zamná appeared in Yucatan, coming from the west, and was received with great respect wherever he stayed. Besides being the inventor of the alphabet, he is said to have named all points and places in the country. Over his grave rose a city called Izamal or Itzamat Ul, which soon became one of the chief centres of pilgrimage in the peninsula, especially for the afflicted, who sincerely believed that their prayers when accompanied by suitable presents would not fail to obtain a hearing. This class of devotees generally resorted to the temple where he was represented in the form of a hand, Kab Ul, or working hand, whose touch was sufficient to restore health.[XI-10]Lizana, in Landa, Relacion, p. 356; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 197; Brinton, Myths, p. 188, speaks of ‘Zamna, or Cukulcan, lord of the dawn and four winds,’ and connects him with Votan also. ‘Il y a toute apparence qu’il était de la même race (as Votan) et que son arrivée eut lieu peu d’années après la fondation de la monarchie palenquéenne.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 76, et seq. The hand in picture-writing signifies strength, power, mastery, and is frequently met with on Central American ruins, impressed in red color. Among the North American savages it was the symbol of supplication. Their doctors sometimes smeared the hand with paint and daubed it over the patient. Schoolcraft, in Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 476-8.

Professor Müller thinks it very uncertain whether the creating or working hand referred to the sun, as was the case among the northern tribes, but the account given of the following idol seems to me to make this not improbable. In the same city was an image of Kinich Kakmo, ‘face or eye of the sun’, whom Landa represents to be the offspring of the sun, but who subsequently became identified with that luminary and received divine honors in the very temple that he had erected to his father. He is represented in the act of sacrifice, pointing the finger toward a ray from the midday sun, as if to draw a spark wherewith to kindle the sacred fire. To this idol the people resorted in times of calamity and sickness, bringing offerings to induce oracular advice.[XI-11]Lizana, in Landa, Relacion, p. 360, translates the name as ‘Sol con rostro que sus rayos eran de fuego,’ Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 198, 178; Brasseur de Bourbourg, MS. Troano, p. 270; Id., Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 5-6; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 475. In the syllable mo of the hero’s name is found another reference to the sun, for moo is the Maya term for the bird ara, the symbol of the sun. There are many things which seem to me to identify this personage with Zamná, although other writers hold them to be distinct. Cogolludo, for instance, implies that Zamná was the only son of the sun, or Supreme Being, while Landa and others declare Kinich Kakmo to be the son of that luminary; both are placed on or about the same level and considered as healers, and the uplifted hand of the latter reminds us strongly of the Kab Ul. Another form in which we may recognize Zamná is the image of Itzamat Ul, or ‘the dew of heaven’, who is said to have been a great ruler, the son of god, and who cured diseases, raised the dead, and pronounced oracles. When asked his name, he replied, ytzencaan, ytzenmuyal.[XI-12]’El que recibe, y possee la gracia, ò rozio del Cielo.’ ‘No conocian otro Dios Autor de la vida, sino à este.’ Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 179. ‘Celui qui demande ou obtient la rosée ou la glace, ou rempli de l’eau en bras de glace, itz-m-a-tul.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, MS. Troano, tom. ii., p. 257; Landa, Relacion, pp. 284-5.

Cukulcan

The other culture-hero, Cukulcan, appeared in Yucatan from the west, with nineteen followers, two of whom were gods of fishes, two gods of farms, and one of thunder, all wearing full beard, long robes, and sandals, but no head-covering. This event is supposed to have occurred at the very time that Quetzalcoatl disappeared in the neighboring province of Goazacoalco, a conjecture which, in addition to the similarity of the names, character, and work of the heroes, forms the basis for their almost generally accepted identity. Cukulcan stopped at several places in Yucatan, but at last settled in Chichen Itza, where he governed for ten years, and framed laws. At the expiration of this period, he left without apparent reason to return to the country whence he had come. A grateful people erected temples at Mayapan and Chichen, to which pilgrims resorted from all quarters to worship him as a god, and to drink of the waters in which he had bathed. His worship, although pretty general throughout Yucatan at one time, was later on confined chiefly to the immediate scenes of his labors.[XI-13]After staying a short time at Potonchan, he embarked and nothing more was heard of him. The Codex Chimalpopoca states, however, that he died in Tlapallan, four days after his return. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 18. In another place this writer refers to three brothers, itzaob, ‘saintly man,’ who were probably sent by Quetzalcoatl to spread his doctrines, but who ultimately founded a monarchy. They also seem to throw a doubt on the identity of Cukulcan with Quetzalcoatl. ‘Il n’y a pas à douter, toutefois, que, s’il est le même que Quetzalcohuatl, la doctrine aura été la même.’ Id., pp. 10-1, 43. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 52, states that the Cocomes were his descendants, but as the hero never married, his disciples must rather be accepted as their ancestors. Landa, Relacion, pp. 35-9, 300-1; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. ii. Veytia connects him with St. Thomas. Hist. Antig. Mej., tom. i., pp. 195-8. Speaking of Cukulcan and his companions Las Casas says: ‘A este llamaron Dios de las fiebres ò Calenturas…. Los cuales mandaban que se confesasen las gentes y ayunasen; y que algunos ayunaban el viernes porque habia muerto aquel dia Bacab; y tiene por nombre aquel dia Himis.’ Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxiii. ‘Kukulcan, vient de kuk, oiseau qui paraît être le même que le quetzal; son déterminatif est kukul qui uni à can, serpent, fait exactement le même mot que Quetzal Cohuatl, serpent aux plumes vertes, ou de Quetzal.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Landa, Relacion, p. 35.

Besides Izamal and Chichen, there was a third great centre of worship in Yucatan, namely, the temple of Ahulneb, on Cozumel Island, said by some writers to have been the chief sanctuary, Chichen being second in importance. It consisted of a square tower of considerable size, within which was the gigantic terra-cotta statue of Ahulneb, dressed as a warrior, and holding an arrow in his hand. The statue was hollow and set up close against an aperture in the wall, by which the priest entered the figure to deliver the oracle; should the prediction not be fulfilled, which was scarcely likely as it was generally so worded that it might mean anything or nothing, the failure was ascribed to insufficient sacrifice or unatoned sin. So famous did this oracle become, and so great was the multitude of pilgrims continually flocking to it, that it was found necessary to construct roads leading from the chief cities of Yucatan, and even from Tabasco and Guatemala, to Polé, a town on the continent opposite the island. Before embarking, the genius of the sea was always propitiated by the sacrifice of a dog, which was slain with arrows amid music and dancing.[XI-14]Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 22; Landa, Relacion, p. 158; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 202; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 46-7. ‘Se tenian por santificados los que alla auian estado,’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv.

Yucatec Deities

The Bacabs were four brothers who supported the four corners of the firmament; they were also regarded as air gods. Cogolludo speaks of them as Zacal Bacab, Canal Bacab, Chacal Bacab, and Ekel Bacab, but they were also known by other names. Echuah was the patron-god of merchants and of roads; to him the traveler erected every night a rude altar of six stones, three laid flat, and three set upright, upon which he burned incense while he invoked the protection of the god. It was considered a religious duty by Yucatec wayfarers, when passing some prominent point on the road or spot where an image of Echuah stood, to add a stone or two to the heap already accumulated there, an act of devotion similar to that performed by the Romans in honor of Mercury. Yuncemil was Lord of Death, or, perhaps, the personification of death itself; this dread deity was propitiated with offerings of food.[XI-15]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 50, calls the god of death Rakalku. Baeza, in Registro Yuc., tom. i., pp. 168-9, mentions a transparent stone called zatzun, by means of which hidden things and causes of diseases could be discovered. Acat was God of Life; he it was that formed the infant in the womb. At Tihoo, the present Mérida, stood the magnificent temple of Yahau Kuna in which Baklum Chaam, the Priapus of the Mayas and their most ancient god was worshiped. Chac, or Chaac, a former king of Izamal, was honored as the god of fields, and fertility, and the inventor of agriculture. Some distance south-west of this city was the temple of Hunpictok, ‘commander of eight thousand lances’, a title given also to the general of the army.[XI-16]’Cette divinité paraît être la même que le Tihax des Quichés et Cakchiquels, le Tecpatl des Mexicains, la lance ou la flèche.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Landa, Relacion, p. 363. Abchuy Kak was another apotheosized warrior-prince, whose statue, dressed in royal robes, was borne in the van of the army by four of the most illustrious captains, and received an ovation all along the route. Yxchebelyax is mentioned as the inventor of the art of interweaving figures in cloth, and of painting. Xibalba, ‘he who disappears,’ was the name of the evil spirit. Exquemelin relates that nagualism obtained on the coast. The naked child was placed on a bed of ashes in the temple, and the animal whose footprint was noticed in the ashes, was adopted as the nagual, and to it the child offered incense as it grew up.[XI-17]Zee-Rovers, p. 64; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 178, 190-1, 196-7; Landa, Relacion, pp. 206-8; Lizana, in Id., pp. 356-64; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., pp. 40-4; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 17, 32; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, pp. 245-6; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 4-10, 20, 42-50.

Symbol of the Cross

One of the most remarkable emblems of Maya worship, in the estimation of the conquerors, was the cross, which has also been noticed in other parts of Central America and in Mexico,[XI-18]’Tra le Croci sono celebri quelle di Jucatan, della Mizteca, di Queretaro, di Tepique, e di Tianquiztepec.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 14. There were also crosses at Palenque, on San Juan de Ulloa, at Copan, in Nicaragua, and other places. ‘Die Tolteken haben nämlich die Verehrung des Kreuzes mit durchaus bewusster Beziehung desselben auf den Regen, von der alten Urbevölkerung aufgenommen.’ Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 498-9; Palacio, Carta, p. 88. although less prominently than here. Among the many conjectures as to its origin it is supposed that it was received from Spaniards who were wrecked on the coast before Córdova discovered Yucatan, as, for instance, the pious Aguilar, Cortés’ interpreter; but this would not account for the crosses that existed in other parts of Central America. The natives had a tradition, however, which placed the introduction of the cross a few years before the conquest. Among the many prophets who arose at that time was one who predicted the coming of a strange people from the direction of the rising sun, who would bring with them a monotheistic faith having the cross for its emblem. He admonished them to accept the new religion, and erected a cross as a token of his prophecy.[XI-19]This and other prophecies, which, if not mere fabrications, bear at least marks of mutilation and addition, may be found in Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. iii., pp. 132-3; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, pp. 245-6; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 99-100; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 603-6. Brinton thinks that they may refer to ‘the return of Zamná, or Kuckulcan, lord of the dawn and the four winds, worshipped at Cozumel … under the sign of the cross.’ Myths, p. 188. The report circulated by Aguilar of his people and of the cross, may have given the prophets a clue. Another tradition states that a very handsome man passed through the country and left the cross as a memento, and this many of the padres readily believed, declaring this personage to be none other than the wanderer St Thomas.[XI-20]’The formation of such an opinion by the Spaniards seems to shew almost conclusively, that the aborigines of the country did not retain any traditional history on the subject that would justify the simple belief, that Catholic Europeans had ever possessed influence enough among them to have established so important a feature in their superstitious observances.’ McCulloh, Researches in Amer., p. 327. ‘Afirmaban que por que habia muerto en ella un hombre mas replandeciente que el sol.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxiii.; Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. i. The opinion that it was introduced by early Christians, or old-world pagans, is, however, opposed by the argument that other more practical features of their culture would have left their mark at the same time. The symbol itself is so simple and suggestive of so many ideas that it seems to me most reasonable to suppose that the natives adopted it without foreign aid. At all events, as the cross was in use both as a religious emblem and an instrument of punishment long before the Christian era, it is surely unnecessary to account for its presence in America by theories invented for the occasion, or, in fact, in any way to connect it with Christianity. The most common signification attributed to the symbol is fertility or generation. A piece of wood fastened horizontally to an upright beam indicated the height of the overflow of the Nile. If the flood reached this mark, the crops flourished; should it fail to do so, famine was the result; thus, we are told, in Egypt the cross came to be worshipped as a symbol of life and generation, or feared as an image of decay and death. By other peoples and for other reasons it was closely connected with phallic rites, of which I shall speak elsewhere, or was connected with the worship of that great fertilizer and life-giver, the sun. Among the Chinese the cross signifies conception. The cross of Thor may possibly be an exception, and refer merely to his hammer or thunderbolt.[XI-21]Mr Godfrey Higgins, in his Celtic Druids, p. 126, says: ‘Few causes have been more powerful in producing mistakes in ancient history, than the idea, hastily taken up by Christians in all ages, that every monument of antiquity marked with a cross, or with any of those symbols which they conceived to be monograms of Christ, were of Christian origin…. The cross is as common in India as in Egypt, and Europe,’ Mr Maurice, in his Indian Antiquities, vol. ii., p. 361, writes: ‘Let not the piety of the Catholic Christian be offended at the preceding assertion that the cross was one of the most usual symbols among the hieroglyphics of Egypt and India.’ The emblem of universal nature is equally honored in the Gentile and Christian world. ‘In the cave at Elephanta, in India, over the head of the principal figure, again may be seen this figure (the cross), and a little in the front the huge Lingham (phallus).’

With the Mexicans the cross was a symbol of rain, the fertilizing element, or rather of the four winds, the bearers of rain, and as such it was one of Quetzalcoatl’s emblems. Chalchiuitlicue, the sister of the rain-gods, bore in her hands a cross-shaped vessel. The cross is to be found in Mexican MSS., and appears in that of Fejérvary with a bird, which, as an inhabitant of the air, may be said to accord with the character of the symbol. The Mexican name of the cross, tonacaquahuitl, ‘tree of one life, or flesh,’ certainly conveys the idea of fertility. It is nevertheless regarded by some writers merely as an astronomical sign.[XI-22]Constantio holds it to be a symbol of the solstices. Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., pp. 464-5; Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. ii., pp. 354-6; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 24; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 497-500; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. iii., pp. 133, 200-6, 299; McCulloh’s Researches, pp. 331-6; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., p. 143; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 63. Brinton refers to a statement that the Mexicans had cruciform graves, and supposes that this referred to four spirits of the world who were to carry the deceased to heaven, but there seems to be a mistake on both of these points. Myths, pp. 95-8; Gould’s Curious Myths, vol. ii., p. 79, et seq.; Cox’s Mythology of the Aryan Nations, vol. ii., pp. 369-72. Some of the crosses referred to lack the head piece, and being of this shape, T, resemble, somewhat, a Mexican coin. The first cross noticed by the Spaniards stood within the turreted court-yard of a temple on Cozumel Island; it was composed of lime and stone, and was ten spans (palmos) in height. To this cross the natives prayed for rain, and in times of drought went in procession to offer vahomche, as they called the symbol, quails and other propitiatory gifts. Another cross stood within the precincts of the Spanish cloister at Mérida, whither the pious monks had most likely brought it from Cozumel; it was about three feet high, six inches thick, and had another cross sculptured on its face.[XI-23]’No solo se hallò vna Cruz, sino algunas.’ Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 199-302; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 3; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. iii., cap. i.; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 24. Stephens found a cross at the church of Mejorada, in Mérida, which an old monk had dug out of the ruins of a church on Cozumel Island. ‘The connecting of the “Cozumel Cross” with the ruined church on the island completely invalidates the strongest proof offered at this day that the cross was ever recognized by the Indians as a symbol of worship.’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 377-8. Rather a hasty assertion when made in the face of so many old authorities. The sculptured cross at Palenque has the latin form; a bird is perched on its apex, and on either side stands a human figure, apparently priests, one of whom offers it a child.[XI-24]This seems to confirm the idea that it was worshiped, yet Constantio regards it as a representation of the birth of the sun in the winter solstice, and holds the ruin to which the cross belongs to be a sun temple. Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., pp. 464-5; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 498; Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 345-8. Squier, who denies that the Tonacaquahuitl was intended to represent a cross, thinks that the Palenque cross merely represents one of these trees with the branches placed crosswise. Palacio, Carta, pp. 120-1. Jones, Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 149, et seq., who identifies almost every feature of Central American worship with the Phœnician, asserts that the Palenque cross proves the Tyrian origin of the aborigines.

Human Sacrifices in Yucatan

The Yucatecs were as careful as the Mexicans to prepare for their numerous festivals by fasts marked by strict chastity and absence from salt and pepper.[XI-25]Cogolludo says, however: ‘Solian ayunar dos, y tres dias, sin comer cosa alguna.’ Hist. Yuc., p. 194. Scarification could not be omitted by the pious on these occasions, although women were not called upon to draw blood.[XI-26]These mutilations were at times very severe. ‘Otras vezes hazian un suzio y penoso sacrificio añudandose los que lo hazian en el templo, donde puestas en rengla, se hazian sendos aguzeros en los miembros viriles al soslayo por el lado, y hechos passavan toda la mas cantidad de hilo que podian, quedando assi todos asidos.’ Landa, Relacion, pp. 162-3. This author thinks that the practice of slitting the prepuce gave rise to the idea that circumcision existed in Yucatan. Yet their gods were not by any means so blood-thirsty as the Mexican, being generally appeased by the blood of animals, and human sacrifices were called for only on extraordinary occasions. Cukulcan, like his prototype Quetzalcoatl, doubtless opposed the shedding of human blood, but after his departure the practice certainly existed, and the pit at Chichen Itza, whose waters he had consecrated with his person, was among the first places to be polluted. The victims here were generally young virgins, who were charged when they should come into the presence of the gods to entreat them for the needed blessings. Medel relates that on one occasion the victim threatened to invoke the most terrible evils upon the people, instead of blessings, if they sacrificed her against her will; the perplexed priests thought it prudent to let the girl go, and select another and more tractable sacrifice in her place. The victims who died under the knife, or were tied to a tree and shot, were usually enslaved captives, especially those of rank, but when these failed, criminals and even children were substituted. All contributed to these sacrifices, either by presenting slaves and children, or by subscribing to the purchase money. While awaiting this doom the victims were well treated, and conducted from town to town amid great rejoicings; care was taken, however, that no sinful act should detract from their purity or value.[XI-27]Landa, Relacion, pp. 164-8; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 193-4; Medel, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 43; vol. ii., pp. 704-5, of this work. ‘For want of children they sacrifice dogges.’ Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. vi. ‘El numero de la gente sacrificada era mucho: y esta costumbre fue introduzida en Yucatan, por los Mexicanos.’ ‘Flechauan algunas vezes al sacrificado … desollauanlos, vestiase el sacerdote el pellejo, y baylauo, y enterrauan el cuerpo en el patio del templo.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iii., iv. Tradition relates that in a cave near Uxmal existed a well like that of Chichen, guarded by an old woman, the builder of the dwarf palace in that city, who sold the water for infants, and these she cast before the snake at her side. Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 425. Sometimes the body was eaten, says Landa, the feet, hands and head being given to the priests, the rest to the chiefs and others; but Cogolludo and Gomara insist that cannibalism was not practiced. The latter statement can not apply to the whole of the peninsula, however, for on a preceding page Cogolludo relates that Aguilar’s shipwrecked companions were sacrificed and eaten by the natives.[XI-28]Landa, Relacion, p. 165; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 25, 180; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 62.

Confession, which Cukulcan is said to have introduced, was much resorted to, the more so as death and disease were thought to be direct punishments for sin committed. Married priests were the regular confessors, but these were not always applied to for spiritual aid; the wife would often confess to her husband, or a husband to his wife, or sometimes a public avowal was made. Mental sins however, says Landa, were not confessed.[XI-29]Relacion, p. 154; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv. For description of baptismal rites, see vol. ii., pp. 682-4, of this work.

Priests of Yucatan

The priesthood of Yucatan were divided into different factions, some of which regarded Zamná and Cukulcan as their respective founders, while others remained true to more ancient leaders. According to Landa the high-priest was termed Ahkin Mai, or Ahau Can Mai, and held in great veneration, as one whose advice was followed by the kings and grandees. The revenues of the office, which passed as an inheritance to the son or nearest relative, consisted of presents from the king and of tributes collected by the priests. The ordinary priests bore the title of ahkin,[XI-30]’Que se deriva de un verbo kinyah, que significa “sortear ó echar suertes.”‘ Lizana, in Landa, Relacion, p. 362. and were divided into several classes. Some of them preached, made offerings, kept records, and instructed the sons of nobles and those destined for the priesthood in the various branches of education. The chilanes who construed the oracles of the gods, and accordingly exercised great influence, held the highest place in the estimation of the people, before whom they appeared in state, borne in litters. The sorcerers and medicine men foretold fortunes and cured diseases. The chacs were four old men elected at every celebration to assist the priests, from which it would seem that the priesthood was not a very numerous body. Nacon was the title of the sacrificer, an office held for life, but little esteemed; this title was also borne by the general of the army, who assisted at certain festivals. Marriage seems to have been permitted to all, and confessors were actually required to have wives, yet there were doubtless a large number who lived in a state of celibacy, devoted to their sacred duties. Their dress varied according to their rank, the high-priest being distinguished by a mitre in addition to his peculiar robe; the most usual dress was, however, a large white cotton robe[XI-31]’Longues robes noires.’ Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 168. and a turban formed by wreathing the unwashed hair round the head, and keeping it pasted in that position with blood. Connected with the sun worship was an order of vestals, formed by princess Zuhui Kak, ‘fire virgin,’ the daughter of Kinich Kakmo, superioress of the vestals. The members were all volunteers, who generally enrolled themselves for a certain time, at the expiration of which they were allowed to leave and enter the married state; some, however, remained for ever in the service of the temple, and were apotheosized. Their duty was to tend the sacred fire, the emblem of the sun, and to keep strictly chaste; those who broke their vows were shot to death with arrows.[XI-32]Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 198; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 6; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., pp. 39-41. Temples are described in vol. ii., pp. 791-3, of this work.

The chief account of Guatemalan worship is derived from the sacred book of the Quichés, the Popol Vuh, to which I have already referred in the opening pages of this volume, but the description given in it is so confused, the names and attributes of the gods so mixed, that no very reliable conclusions can be derived therefrom. This very confusion seems, however, to indicate that the imported names of Hurakan, Gucumatz, and others, were with their attributes attached to native heroes, who undergo the most varying fortunes and character, amid which now and then a glance is obtained at their original form.

Tepeu and Hurakan

The most ancient of the gods are two persons called Hun Ahpu Vuch and Hun Ahpu Utïu, or Xpiyacoc and Xmucane, Creator and Protector, Grandfather and Grandmother of the sun and moon, who are often confounded under either gender and represented with big noses, like tapirs, an animal sacred to these people. Brasseur identifies them with the Mexican Oxomoco and Cipactonal,[XI-33]’Célèbres dans toutes les traditions d’origine toltèque, comme les pères du soleil et de la magie.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 120. Tonacatlecutli and Tonacatepetl, Ometecutli and Omecihuatl, the female also with Centeotl and Toci, and places her in the Quiché calendar as Hun Ahpu, while the male heads the list of months under the name of Imox.[XI-34]’Hun-Ahpu-Vuch un Tireur de Sarbacane au Sarigue et Hun-Ahpu-Utïu un Tireur de Sarbacane au Chacal.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, pp. cxviii., cxix., pp. 2-5. They are also referred to as conjurers. Id., Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 54. Ximenez spells the latter name Hun-ahpu-uhú, and states that they are held as oracles. Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 4, 156-8, 82. Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxiv., refers to these beings as having been adored under the name of grandfather and grandmother before the deluge, but later on a woman appeared who taught them to call the gods by other names. This woman, Brasseur de Bourbourg holds to be the traditional and celebrated queen Atit, from whom Atitlan volcano obtained its name, and from whom the princely families of Guatemala have descended. The natives still recall her name, but as that of a phantom. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 74-5. He further finds considerable similarity between her and Aditi of the Veda. In his solution of the Antilles cataclysm he identifies Xmucane as the South American part of the continent and Xpiyacoc as North America. Quatre Lettres, pp. 223-4, 235-8. Garcia, Origen de los Ind., pp. 329-30, calls these first beings Xchmel and Xtmana, and gives them three sons, who create all things. In the younger of these we recognize the two legitimate sons of Hunhun Ahpu, who will be described later on as the patrons of the fine arts.Connected with them stands Tepeu, termed by the sacred book Dominator, He who Begets, and whose name means grand, majestic. Ximenez, by translating his name as buboes, or syphilis, connects him with Nanahuatzin, the Nahua hero who threw himself into the fire and rose as the sun.[XI-35]To be afflicted with buboes implied the possession of many women and consequently wealth and grandeur. Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 157; see this vol. p. 60; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. 3. Tepeu is more generally known under the name of Gucumatz, ‘feathered snake,’ which is universally identified with Quetzalcoatl, the Nahua air god. In this character he is said to transform himself every seven days into four forms, snake, eagle, tiger, a mass of coagulated blood, one after the other, and every seven days he visits heaven and hell alternately. He is also held to be the introducer of culture in Guatemala, though more, as one who directs man in his search for improvement, than as a culture-hero.[XI-36]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. 315, does not understand why Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 125, translates heaven and Xibalba as heaven and hell, but as both terms doubtless refer to provinces, or towns, it is better to retain the figurative name. Xibalba is, besides, derived from the same source as the Insomuch ‘demon’ of the Yucatecs. Brasseur translates: ‘Chaque sept (jours) il montait au ciel et en sept (jours) il faisait le chemin pour descendre à Xibalba;’ while Ximenez with more apparent correctness renders: ‘Siete dias se subia al cielo y siete dias se iba al infierno.’ In Quatre Lettres, p. 228, the Abbé explains Xibalba as hell. See also vol. ii., pp. 715-7, of this work. These two gods blending into one, often form a trinity with Hun Ahpu Vuch and Hun Ahpu Utïu, under the one name of Gucumatz, the Heart of Heaven. The assumption by this god of four forms may have reference to the divine quartette, and in the expression “they are enveloped in a mist of green and azure,” Brasseur de Bourbourg sees a reference to the sacred bundle containing the four first men and sacrifices, transformed into gods.[XI-37]Popol Vuh, p. cxvii.-cxx., 7, 9; see this vol., pp. 48-54. The occurrence of the number 4 in mythical and historical accounts of Mexico and Central America is very frequent.

Hurakan,[XI-38]’Parait venir des Antilles, où il désignait la tempête et le grondement de l’orage.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. 8. although connected with the above quartette in the enumeration of titles of the supreme deity, keeps aloof from the lower sphere in which these move at times, and is even invoked by Gucumatz, who calls him, among other names, Creator, he who begets and gives being. That he was held to be distinct, and worshiped as such by the Quichés, may be seen from the fact that they had one high-priest for Gucumatz, and another for Tohil, another name of Hurakan, who seems to have ranked a degree above the former.[XI-39]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 496. He represented the thunder and lightning, and his particular title seems to have been Heart of Heaven, under which were included the three phases of his attribute, the thunder, the lightning, and the thunderbolt, or, as stated in another place, the flash, the track of the lightning, and the thunderbolt,[XI-40]Garcilaso says: ‘C’est encore l’idée du Tonnerre, de l’Eclair et de la Foudre, contenus dans un seul Hurakan, le centre, le cœur du ciel, la tempête, le vent, le souffle.’ Comentarios Reales, lib. ii., cap. xxiii., lib. iii., cap. xxi., lib. iii.; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. ccxxxv., 9; Id., Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 51. another conception of a trinity. He is also called Centre of the Earth and is represented with thunder in his hand. The bird Voc was his messenger. Müller considers him a sun god, probably because of his title ‘Heart of Heaven,’ which determines nothing, while others hold him to be identical with the Tlalocs, the Mexican rain gods. He is doubtless the same as Tohil, the leader of the Quiché gods, who is represented by the sign of water, but whose name signifies rumble, clash.[XI-41]’Ximenez dit qu’il signifie Pluie, Averse: mais il confond ici le nom du dieu avec le signe. Toh, … est rendu par le mot paga, paie, pagar, payer. Mais le MS. Cakehiquel … dit que les Quichés reçurent celui de Tohohil, qui signifie grondement, bruit,’ etc. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. 214. He seems identical with the Maya Hunpictok. In him are also found united the three symbols of Quiché trinity, as will be seen shortly, and his priests address him: “Hail, Beauty of the Day, Hurakan, Heart of Heaven and of Earth! Thou who givest glory, riches and children! Thou Tohil, Avilix, Gagavitz, Bowels of Heaven, Bowels of Earth! Thou who dost constitute the four ends of Heaven!”[XI-42]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 553, tom. i., p. 128. He was also god of fire, and as such gave his people fire by shaking his sandals.[XI-43]Brinton, Myths, pp. 156-7, who holds Hurakan to be the Tlaloc, connects Tohil with Quetzalcoatl—ideas taken most likely from Brasseur de Bourbourg—states that he was represented by a flint. This must refer to his traditional transformation into a stone, for the Abbé declares that no description of his idol is given by the chroniclers. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 552. Now, although the Abbé declares Tohil to be the same as Quetzalcoatl, in the Popol Vuh, p. 214, and other places, he acknowledges that the tradition positively identifies him with Hurakan, and confirms this by explaining on p. cclxvii., that Tohil, sometimes in himself, sometimes in connection with the two other members of the trinity, combines the attributes of thunder, flash, and thunderbolt; further, he gives a prayer by the Tohil priests in which this god is addressed as Hurakan. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 553. Gucumatz, the acknowledged representative of Quetzalcoatl, is, besides, shown to be distinct from Tohil. Every point, therefore, tradition, name, attributes, connect Tohil and Hurakan, and identify them with Tlaloc. According to the version of Brasseur de Bourbourg, his temple at Utatlan, where he seems to have taken the place of an ancient god, was a truncated pyramid with extremely steep steps in the façade. On its summit was a temple of great height, built of cut stone, and with a roof of precious woods; the walls within and without were covered with fine, brilliant stucco of extreme hardness. In the midst of the most splendid surroundings sat the idol, on a throne set with precious stones. His priests perpetually prayed and burnt precious incense before him, relieving each other in bands of thirteen, so that while some attended to his service, the others fasted to prepare for it. The chief men of the kingdom also attended in bands of eighteen, to invoke his blessing for them and their provinces, nine fasting, while nine offered incense.[XI-44]Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 552-3. Tohil, and the other members of the trinity, Avilix and Hacavitz, or Gagavitz, who also represent the thunder, the lightning, and the thunderbolt, were the family gods given by the Creator to the founders of the Quiché race, and though they afterwards became stone, they could still assume other shapes in conformity with the supreme will. As family gods they had special temples in the palace of the princes, where their regular service was conducted, and three mountain peaks bearing their names, served to keep them before the people.[XI-45]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. cclxvii., 235; Id., Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 554. The turning into stone ‘veut dire que les trois principaux volcans s’éteignirent ou cessèrent de lancer leurs feux.’ Id., Quatre Lettres, p. 331. The flint with which Brinton identifies Tohil may, perhaps, be the black stone brought from the far east, and venerated in the temple of Kahba, ‘house of sacrifice,’ at Utatlan, but there is no confirmation by the chroniclers. It is, besides, stated that the worship of Kahba had greatly declined, but was again restored to something like its former glory by Gucumatz; Tohil, on the other hand, always stood high, and his high-priest belonged to a different family.[XI-46]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 497, 75; Id., Popol Vuh, p. cclxii.; see note 7. A similar stone existed in a temple situated in a deep ravine near Iximche, in whose polished face the gods made known their will. This stone was often used to determine the fate of those accused of crime; if the judges perceived no change in the stone the prisoner went free.[XI-47]Id., Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 521; Juarros’ Hist. Guat., p. 384.

Havalitz and Hacavitz

Adventures of Xquiq, Hun Ahpu, and Xbalanque

We now come to the heroes with whose adventures the Popol Vuh is chiefly occupied. From the union of the Grandfather and Grandmother who head the list of Quiché deities, proceeded two sons, Hunhun Ahpu and Vukab Hun Ahpu.[XI-48]’Hunhun-Ahpu signifie Chaque Tireur de Sarbacane; Vukub-Hun-Ahpu, Sept un Tireur de Sarbacane.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. cxxxv. Their chief name, Ahpu, ‘désigne la puissance volcanique.’ Id., Quatre Lettres, p. 225. They incur the suspicion and hatred of the princes of Xibalba, who plan their downfall and for this purpose invite them to their court, under the pretence of playing a game of ball with them. On their arrival they are subjected to various indignities and finally condemned to lose their heads. The head of Hunhun Ahpu is placed between the withered branches of a calabash-tree; but lo! a miracle takes place; the tree immediately becomes laden with fruit and the head turns into a calabash. Henceforth the tree is held sacred and the king commands that none shall touch it. Xquiq, however, a royal princess, Eve-like, disregards the injunction, and approaches to pluck the fruit. As she stretches forth her arm, Hunhun Ahpu spits into her hand, and Xquiq finds herself pregnant. Her father soon perceives her condition, and in a fury condemns her to death, telling the executioners to bring him the heart of his daughter to prove that they have done their duty. While being led to the wood Xquiq pleads earnestly for her life, and finally prevails upon her executioners to deceive her father by substituting for her heart the jelly-like resin of a tree, which she procures. Xquiq proceeds to Utatlan, to the Grandmother, Xmucane, and gives birth to the twins Hun Ahpu and Xbalanque,[XI-49]Hun Ahpu, a sarbacan shooter. ‘Xbalenque, de balam, tigre, jaguar; le que final est un signe pluriel, et le x qui précède, prononcez sh (anglais), est alternativement un diminutif ou un signe féminin.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. cxxxv. Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 146-7, 156, remarks the similarity of these personages to the God, son, and virgin of the Christians. who develop rapidly; their superior talents soon make their elder brothers jealous, and they attempt their destruction, but the twins anticipate their designs and transform them into apes. These brothers Hun Batz and Hun Chouen, were the sons of Hunhun Ahpu by Xbakiyalo, and were invoked as the patrons of the fine arts[XI-50]’Hun-Batz, Un Singe (ou un Fileur); Hun-Chouen, un qui se blanchit, ou s’embellit.’ They seem to correspond to the Mexican Ozomatli and Piltzintecutli. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, pp. cxxxv., 69, 117. The ba in Hun-Batz refers to something underground, or deep down, and Hun-Chouen ‘”Une Souris cachée” ou “un lac en sentinelle.”‘ Both names indicate the disordered condition and movement of a region (the Antilles). Id., Quatre Lettres, pp. 227-9.. Brasseur de Bourbourg explains this myth by saying that Hunhun Ahpu denotes the Nahua immigrants who by their superiority gain the women of the country, and whose children carry on a successful struggle with the aboriginal race. The continuance of the contest and the triumph of the Nahuas is described in the adventures of Hun Ahpu and Xbalanque. A rat reveals to them their origin, and the place where the ball-game implements of their father are hidden. They play a match with the Xibalba princes who had challenged their father, and are successful in this as well as several herculean tasks assigned to them, but are nevertheless burned.[XI-51]’Les deux frères, s’étant embrassés, s’élancent dans les flammes.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 137. The ashes, thrown into the water, are transformed into two handsome young men, and then into man-fishes, a reference, perhaps, to the arrival by sea of allies to help them. Again they make their appearance in Xibalba, this time as conjurers, and lay their plans so skillfully as to overthrow the Prince Vukub Cakix with his adherents, and obtain the apotheosis of their father and his adherents as sun, moon, and stars. Vukub Cakix, who represents the sun, may be taken as the representative of an older sun-worship replaced by the newer cult introduced by Hun Ahpu.[XI-52]Vukub Cakix, ‘seven aras,’ a type of the sun, although declared in one place to have usurped the solar attribute, seems to have been worshiped as the sun; his two sons, Zipacna and Cabrakan, represent respectively the creator of the earth and the earthquake, which confirms their father’s high position. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, pp. 31-9, cciv., ccliii. The burning of this hero agrees with that of the Mexican Nanahuatzin who by this act became a sun. In fact, Brasseur de Bourbourg considers the whole as a version of the Nahua myth. From another point of view Hun Ahpu, whose name, signifying ‘sarbacan-blower or air-shooter,’ suits the attribute of the air-god, may be considered as the morning wind dispersing the clouds and disclosing the splendors of the sun.[XI-53]The allegorical account of these events is related on pp. 31 to 192 of Popol Vuh, and Brasseur’s remarks are given on pages cxxxiv. to cxl. Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 164, states that Hun Ahpu discovered the use of cacao and cotton, which is but another indication of the introduction of culture. According to Las Casas, Xbalanque descends into hell, Xibalba, where he captures Satan and his chief men, and when the devil implores the hero not to bring him to the light, he kicks him back with the curse that all things rotten and abhorrent may cling to him. When he returns, his people do not receive him with due honor, and he accordingly leaves for other parts. Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxiv.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 53-4.

In the Quatre Lettres, the Abbé takes another view of the myth, and sees in it but a version of the convulsions that take place in the Antilles, the Seven Grottos of the Mexican myth, of which I have spoken in a preceding chapter. Hunhun Ahpu, Vukub Hun Ahpu, and the two legitimate sons of the former are volcanoes, and their plays, death, and transformation, are earthquakes, extinction, and upheavals. The burning of Hun Ahpu and Xbalanque and the scattering of their ashes upon the waters is the final catastrophe, the sinking of the Atlantides, or the seven islands; and as the brothers rise again in the form of beautiful young men, so do new islands take the place of those destroyed. The confirmation of this he finds in a tradition current on the islands, which speaks of certain upheavals similar to the above.[XI-54]Quatre Lettres, pp. 225-53; see this vol. 261-4.

Quiché Gods

The Quichés had a multitude of other gods and genii, who controlled the elements and exercised their influence upon the destinies of man. The places where they most loved to linger were dark quiet spots, in the undisturbed silence of the grotto, at the foot of some steep precipice, beneath the shade of mighty trees, especially where a spring trickled forth between its roots, and on the summit of the mountains; and here the simple native came to pour out his sorrow, and to offer his sacrifice. In some places this idea of seclusion was carried to such an extent that idols were kept hidden in subterranean chapels, that they might not be disturbed or the people become too familiar with them; another reason, however, was to prevent their being stolen by other villagers. The god of the road had sanctuaries, called mumah, all along the highways, especially at the junctions, and the traveler in passing never failed to rub his legs with a handful of grass, upon which he afterwards spat with great respect, and deposited it upon the altar together with a small stone, believing that this act of piety would give him renewed strength. He also left a small tribute from his stock of food or merchandise, which remained to decay before the idol, for none dared to remove it. This custom was also observed in Nicaragua.

The household gods were termed chahalha, ‘guardian of the house,’ and to them incense was burned and sacrifice made during the erection of a building; when finished, a corner in the interior was consecrated to their use. They seem to have been identified with the spirit of departed friends, for occasionally a corpse was buried beneath the house to insure their presence.[XI-55]On one occasion the people ‘égorgèrent chacun un de leurs fils, dont ils mirent les cadavres dans les fondations.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 561-4.

Among the more superstitious highlanders, the ancient worship has retained its hold upon the population to a great extent, in spite of the efforts of the padres. Scherzer tells us that the people of Istlavacan reverenced gods of reason, health, sowing, and others, under the names of Noj, Ajmak, Kanil, and Ik, who were generally embodied in natural features, as mountains, or big trees. They recognized an Ormuzd and an Ahriman in Kij, the god of light and good principle, opposed by Juiup, the god of earth and evil principle, who was represented by a rock, three feet high and one foot thick, supposed to be a distorted human face. The native priests generally took the horoscope, and appointed a nagual, or guardian spirit for their children, before the padres were allowed to baptize them. They are said to have sacrificed infants, scattering their heart’s blood upon a stone before the idol, and burying the body in the woods to avoid detection.[XI-56]Indianer von Istlávacan, pp. 11-3. The natives believed that they would have to share all the sufferings and emotions of their naguals. Gage’s New Survey, p. 334; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. iv., also refers to naguals, and states that the Honduras protégé made his compact with it in the mountains by offerings and blood-letting.

The Choles and Manches of Vera Paz, impressed with the wild features of their country, venerated the mountains, and on one called Escurruchan, which stood at the junction of several branches of their principal river, they kept up a perpetual fire to which passers-by added fuel, and at which sacrifices were offered. At another place the padres found a rough altar of stone and clay surrounded by a fence, where they burned torches of black wax and resinous wood, and offered fowls, and blood from their bodies, to mountains, cross-roads and pools in the river, whence came all means of existence and all increase.[XI-57]Espinosa, Chrón. Apost., pp. 344-5; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, p. 726; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 151-3.

Worship of a Horse

The chief idol of the Itzas was Hubo, who was represented by a hollow metal figure with an opening between the shoulders, through which human beings were passed, charged to implore the favors of the gods. A fire was then lighted beneath the figure, and while the victims were roasting alive, their friends joined in a dance around it, drowning the cries of the victims with shouts and rattling of drums. No women were allowed to join in the temple ceremonies. On the chief island in the lake of Peten, the conquerors found twenty-one stone temples with stone roofs, the chief of which formed a kind of pyramid of nine steps. In this was found a large chalchiuite, representing one of their two battle-gods, Pakoc and Hunchunchan, who gave oracles and were supposed to join the people in their dances. This familiarity evidently bred contempt, however, for it is related that when a prediction of the oracle was not fulfilled, the priest without hesitation castigated the idol. In the same temple stood a gypsum image in the form of the sun, adorned with rays, inlaid with nacar, and having a gaping mouth set with human teeth. The bones of a horse, which hung from the rafters, were adored as sacred relics. These were the remains of a wounded horse left by Cortés among the natives when on his way to Honduras. Having seen the Spaniards fire from its back, they believed that the animal produced the flash and report, and hence adored it as Tziminchac, god of thunder, and brought it flowers, flesh, and incense; but such offerings did not sustain life, and it was not long before the bones of the apotheosized charger were all that remained to his worshipers. In another place was a stone and lime imitation of this horse, seated on the floor on its haunches, which the natives adored in the same manner. This animal-worship was the more readily admitted, since their gods was supposed to assume such forms.[XI-58]’Tenian por sus Dioses à los Venados.’ Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 43.

Their idols were so numerous, say the conquerors, that it took over a hundred men a whole day to destroy those existing on the chief island alone; Cogolludo affirms that the priests had charge of all the idols.[XI-59]Hist. Yuc., pp. 699, 489-93, 509; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 100-2, 182, 500-2; Morelet, Voyage, tom. ii., p. 32; McCulloh’s Researches in Amer., p. 318. The chief god of the Cakchiquels, Chamalcan, or Chimalacan,[XI-60]’Cha-malcan serait donc Flèche ou Dard frotté d’ocre jaune,’ etc. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, pp. 248-9. had many of the attributes of Tohil, but took the form of a bat, the symbol of the royal house of Zotzil. Every seventh and thirteenth day of the month the priests placed before him blood-stained thorns, fresh white resin, bark and branches of pine, and a cat, the emblem of night, which were burned in his honor.[XI-61]Id., Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 173.

The purest form of sun-worship appears among the Lacandones, who adored the luminary without the intervention of an image, and sacrificed before it in the Mexican fashion. They had temples, however, the walls of which were decorated with hieroglyphs of the sun and moon, and with a figure in the act of praying to the sun.[XI-62]Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 475. In their want of idols they contrasted strongly with their neighbors. Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 74; Morelet, Voyage, tom. ii., p. 79. The Nahua tribe of the Pipiles also worshiped the sun, before which they prostrated themselves while offering incense and muttering invocations. Quetzalcoatl and the goddess Itzqueye were honored in the sacrifice,[XI-63]’C’est à eux qu’elles offraient presque tous leurs sacrifices.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 556; Palacio, Carta, pp. 66-70. which generally consisted of a deer. The relative importance of Quetzalcoatl and Itzqueye, may be seen from the statement that the festival held in honor of the former on certain occasions lasted fifteen days, while that in honor of the latter was but of five days duration. The chief centre of worship was at Mictlan, near Huixa Lake, where now is the village of Santa Maria Mita, founded, according to tradition, by an old man, who in company with an exceedingly beautiful girl issued from the lake, both dressed in long blue robes, the man also wearing a mitre. He seated himself upon a stone on the hill, while the girl pursued her way and disappeared, and here, by his order, was built the temple of Mictlan, round which stately palaces afterwards arose; he also organized the government of the place.[XI-64]’L’époque que les événements paraissent assigner à cette légende coïncide avec la période de la grande émigration toltèque et la fondation des divers royaumes guatémaliens.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 81; Id., Popol Vuh, p. cxxviii. Near the village of Coatan was a small lake which they regarded as oracular, into which none dared to peer least he should be smitten with dumbness and death. Palacio, Carta, p. 50.

Tradition of Comizahual

Among the vestiges of older worship we find the natives of Cerquin in Honduras,[XI-65]’Aujourd’hui de Gracias…. Il y a encore aujourd’hui un village du même nom, paroisse à 12 l. de Comayagua.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 106. venerating and praying for health to two idols, called respectively Great Father and Great Mother, which probably refer to the Grandfather and Grandmother of the Quichés. A faint idea of a Supreme Being, says Torquemada, was mixed up with the worship of the sun and stars, to which sacrifices were made. Their culture-tradition speaks of a beautiful white woman, called Comizahual, or ‘flying tigress,’ a reputed sorceress, as the introducer of civilization in Cerquin. She is said to have descended from heaven and to have been transported by an invisible hand to the city of Cealcoquin, where she built a palace adorned with monstrous figures of men and animals, and placed in the chief temple a stone having on each of its three sides three faces of strange and hideous aspect; by aid of this stone she conquered her enemies. She remained a virgin, yet three sons were born to her,[XI-66]’Aunque otros dicen, que eran sus Hermanos.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 336. among whom she divided the kingdom when she grew old. After arranging her affairs, she commanded her attendants to carry her on her bed to the highest part of the palace, whence she suddenly disappeared amid thunder and lightning, doubtless to resume her place among the gods; directly afterwards a beautiful bird was seen to fly upwards and disappear. The people erected a temple in her honor, where the priest delivered her oracles, and celebrated every year the anniversary of her disappearance with great feasts. Palacio refers to a stone, like the one with three faces, named Icelaca, in Cezori, which disclosed things past, present, and future, and before which the people sacrificed fowls, rabbits and various kinds of food, and smeared the face with blood drawn from the generative organs.[XI-67]Carta, pp. 82-4. As an instance of the respect entertained for the idols, Las Casas relates that on the Spaniards once profaning them with their touch, the natives brought censers with which they incensed them, and then carried them back to their altar with great respect, shedding their blood upon the road traversed by the idols. Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxx.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., 326; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. iv.

The religious fervor of the people is shown by the fact that whatever work they undertook they commenced by sanctifying it with prayers and offerings and by incensing their implements that they might acquire more efficacy; thus, before commencing to sow, the laborers killed a turkey whose blood they scattered over the field, and performed other ceremonies.[XI-68]See vol. ii. of this work, pp. 719-20. Simple in their mode of life, they did not importune the gods for vain luxuries: their prayers were for long life, health, children, and the necessaries of life. The first they hoped to obtain by scarifications and penances; to guard against disease, they sent the priest a bird, generally a quail, to sacrifice. When actually attacked by sickness confession was resorted to as a powerful means of propitiation, as was also the case on all important occasions to secure divine blessings and avert immediate danger. It is related by an old chronicler that when a party of travelers met a jaguar or puma, each one immediately commended himself to the gods and confessed in a loud voice the sins he had committed, imploring pardon. If the object of their terror still advanced upon them, they cried, “we have committed as many more sins, do not kill us!” and sat down, saying one to another, “one of us has done some grievous deed, and him the wild beast will kill!”[XI-69]Roman, Republica de los Indios, in Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 176-81; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 564-566; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxix.; Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 196.

Special Fasts

In their scarifications, those who drew the most blood, especially from the secret organs, were held to be the most pious. Among the Pipiles the women joined in drawing blood from the ears and tongue, and smearing it on cotton, offered it to Quetzalcoatl, and then to Itzcueye.[XI-70]The ancient Quichés ‘recueillirent leur sang avec des éponges,’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. 259. On extraordinary occasions, as in the event of a public calamity, the priests and chief men held a council to determine the propitiatory penance to be imposed on the people, and the kind of sacrifice to be offered; the Ahgih were called upon to trace magic circles and figures, and to cast grains, so as to determine the time when it should be made. The esteemed task of collecting the fuel for this celebration devolved upon a royal prince, who formed the boys of the district into bands to forage for the wood. The efforts of the people alone were not considered sufficient at such times to propitiate the gods; it required the sanctified presence and powerful influence of the high priest to secure remission of sins. This personage, whether king or pontiff, subjected himself to a very severe fast and penance during the twenty, or even hundred days determined upon. He removed to an arbor near the hidden sanctuary of the idols, and lived in entire solitude, subsisting on grains and fruit, touching no food prepared by fire, sacrificing the offerings brought him during the day, and drawing blood. The fast over, with its attendant separation of man and wife, bathing, painting in red, and other acts of penance, the nobles went in a body to the retreat of the idols, and having adorned them in the most splendid manner, conducted them in procession to the town, attended by the high priest and victims. In places where the idols were kept in the temples of the town, they marched with them round the city. The various rites closed with games of ball, played under the supervision of the idols, and with feasting and reveling.[XI-71]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 559-63; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxvii.; vol. ii. of this work, pp. 688.

The Popol Vuh ascribes the introduction of human sacrifices to Tohil, who exacted this offering from the first four men in return for the fire given to the Quichés, while Las Casas states that Xbalanque initiated them. Their knives of sacrifice, he says, had fallen from heaven, and were accordingly adored as ‘hands of God,’ and set in rich handles of gold or silver, ornamented with turquoises and emeralds. The ordinary sacrifices occurred several times a month, and among the Pipiles, the number and quality were indicated by the calendar and consisted chiefly of bastard boys from six to twelve years of age. Their most solemn offerings were made at the commencement and end of the rains, and were attended by the chief men only. Juarros states that human sacrifices were not offered by the Pipiles and that the attempt of caciques to introduce them resulted in an insurrection; and, although this will scarcely apply to later times, it seems that formerly the sacrifices were very few in number. The Cakchiquels are, however, said to have abstained from the rite. Cortés relates that at Acalá the fairest girls to be found were selected by the priests and brought up, in strict chastity, to be sacrificed, at the proper time, to the goddess of the place. The Itzas, who, when captives failed, took the fattest of their young men for victims, had several modes of immolation, as roasting the victims alive in the metal image; dispatching them with the knife on the stone of sacrifice, a large one of which was found at Taysal; impalement, followed by extraction of the heart, as at Prospero; and in earlier times shooting, as was done by their Yucatec ancestors. According to Cogolludo, three persons assisted at the sacrifices, the adkulel, master of ceremonies, the adkayom, and a virgin who must be the daughter of one of these; but Villagutierre mentions that the stone of sacrifice at the chief temple at Taysal, was surrounded by twelve seats for the attendant priests; and assistants to hold the victims were certainly required. Cannibalism seems to have attended all these sacrifices, the flesh being boiled and seasoned, and the choice bits reserved for the high priests and chiefs.[XI-72]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, pp. 226-7; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxiv., clxxvii.; Juarros’ Hist. Guat., p. 225; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 54; Palacio, Carta, p. 66; Squier, in Id., pp. 116-7; Cortés, Cartas, pp. 417-8; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 699; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 392, 502; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 268; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 40; see also, this vol. pp. 688-9, 706-10, 735; Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., pp. 184-5. Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 210, states, that in case of a severe illness, a father would not hesitate to sacrifice his son to obtain relief. The very fact of such a tale passing current, shows how little human life was valued.

The Priests of Guatemala

Each of the numerous tribes of Guatemala had a distinct and separate body of priests, who by means of their oracles exercised a decided influence on the state, and some, the Quichés for instance, were spiritually governed by independent pontiffs. The high priests of Tohil and Gucumatz, Ahau Ah Tohil and Ahau Ah Gucumatz, belonged to the royal house of Cawek, and held the fourth and fifth rank respectively among the grandees of the Empire; Ahau-Avilix, the high-priest of Avilix, was a member of the Nihaïb family; Ahau Gagavitz came of the Ahau Quiché house; and the two high-priests of the Kahba temple in Utatlan were of the Zakik house, and each had a province allotted him for his support. The Tohil priests were vowed to perpetual continence and austere penitence, and were not permitted to taste meat or bread.[XI-73]’Ils n’avaient pour toute nourriture que des fruits.’ MS., Quiché de Chichicastenango, in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 552-553, 496-7; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxxiii. The pontiff at Mictlan, in Salvador, who stood on nearly the same level as the king, bore the title of Teoti, ‘divine'[XI-74]Ternaux-Compans renders it tuti, Recueil de Doc., p. 29, while Squier gives it as tecti. Palacio, Carta, p. 62. But as an Aztec word, it ought to be written teoti. and was distinguished by a long blue robe, a diadem, and a baton like an episcopal cross; on solemn occasions he substituted a mitre of beautiful feathers for the diadem. Next to him came an ecclesiastical council composed of the Tehuamatlini, chief of the astrologers and learned priests, who acted as lieutenant of the high priest, and superintended the writings and divinations, and four other priests, teopixqui, who dressed in different colors. These ruled the rest of the priesthood, composed of keepers of properties, sacrificers, watchers, and the ordinary priests, termed teupas, who were all appointed by the high-priests from the sons of the ministers. When the high-priest died, the body was embalmed and placed in a crypt beneath the palace. After fifteen days of mourning, attended by fasts, the king and Tehuamatlini drew lots for his successor from among the four teopixqui, the vacancy in their ranks being filled by a son of the pontiff, or one of their own sons. The elected purified himself for the office by blood-letting and other observances, while the people celebrated his accession with feasting and dancing. In Vera Paz the chief priest was elected according to merit from a certain family by the people, and ranked next to the king.[XI-75]Palacio, Carta, pp. 62-6; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. x.; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 200-1; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 105, 555-6; Salazar y Olarte, Hist. Conq. Mex., pp. 315-6. As an instance of the lasting influence possessed by the priesthood over the people, Scherzer relates that at Istlávacan there were a few years ago as many as sixty priests, diviners, and medicine-men, Ahgih, Ahqixb, and Ahqahb, as they used to be termed, who exercised their offices among them. At Coban, says Villagutierre, a priest was so highly respected that the person who presumed to touch him was expected to fall dead immediately.[XI-76]Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 61; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, pp. cxviii., cclxvi.; Scherzer, Indianer von Istlávacan, p. 10.

Gods of the Nicaraguans

The Nahua impress, noticeable in the languages and customs of Nicaragua, is still more strongly marked in the mythology of that country.[XI-77]Gomara says with regard to this: ‘Religion de Nicaragua que casi es la mesma Mexicana.’ Hist. Ind., fol. 63. Instead of obliterating the older forms of worship, however, as it seems to have done in the northern part of Central America, it has here and there passed by many of the distinct beliefs held by different tribes, and blended with the chief element of a system which is traced to the Muyscas in South America. The inquiries instituted by a Spanish friar among different classes of people in the Nagrando district go to prove that Tamagostat[XI-78]The similarity of the name of tamachaz and tamagast, names given to angels and priests, is striking. The ending tat might also be regarded as a contraction of the Aztec tatli, father. Buschmann, Ortsnamen, pp. 164-5. and Cipattonal, male and female deities who inhabit the regions of the rising sun, were the supreme beings. They created all things, stars as well as mortals, and re-created what had been destroyed by the flood, in which work they were aided by Ecalchot, surnamed Huehue, ‘the aged,’ and Ciagat ‘the little.’ In Tamagostat Müller at once recognizes Fomagata, the ancient sun-god of the Muyscas, who after his dethronement by a newer solar deity became more particularly the fire-god of that people, but retained more of his original preëminence in the countries to which his worship spread, as in Nicaragua. This view is supported by the statement that he inhabited the heavens above, or rather the region of sunrise. His consort Cipattonal, Müller, judging from their relationship, holds to be the moon; her name seems however, to be derived from a Mexican source, probably from xipalli, ‘dark blue color,’ and tonalli, ‘sun,'[XI-79]Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. 163. which may be construed as referring to the sun in its blue element, or, as the fainter sun, to the moon. In either case the connection of the two is perfectly legitimate. Ecalchot, who is represented as a young man, yet is surnamed ‘the aged,’ seems to be the same as the Mexican Ehecatl, ‘wind, air,’ an element ever young, yet ever old, and Ciagat may mean ‘moisture;'[XI-80]’Ich bringe es in Verbindung mit dem Stammworte ciahua oder ciyahua befeuchten, bewässern.’ Ib. It is to be noticed that the Aztec h frequently changes into g, in these countries. both forming with the sun the fertilizing forces that create.[XI-81]Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 435-8, 503; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856), vol. ii., pp. 349-60; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 112; this author identifies Tamagostat and Cipaltona with the solar deities Oxomoc and Cipactonal of the Toltecs, but places them in rather an inferior position. Oviedo gives the names of these deities as Tamagostat or Tamagostad, Zipattoval or Zipattonal, Calchithuehue, and Chicoziagat,[XI-82]Oxomogo is also introduced, which tends to throw doubt on Brasseur’s identification of Jamagostad with this personage. ‘father.’ He further names Chiquinaut and Hecat as gods of the winds, which seems to be merely another version of Chicoziagat and Ehecatl.[XI-83]’Ehecatl oder verkürzt Ecatl … ist die Berichtigung für Oviedo’s Hecat.’ Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. 163; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 40-5, 52.

The Guatemalan trinity reappears in the character of Omeyateite and Omeyatezigoat[XI-84]In Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. iii., p. 40, they are written Homey-Atelïte and Homey-Ateciguat, but the above spelling corresponds better with other similar Aztec names in Nicaragua. Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 46.—easily recognizable in the Mexican Ometecutli and Omecihuatl—and their son Ruiatcot, the rain god,[XI-85]’Von quiahui oder quiyahui regnen: mit teotl Gott verbunden.’ Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. 167. who sends forth thunder, lightning and rain. They are also supposed to live where the sun rises, doubtless because that seems the abode of bliss, and as fertilizing forces they are regarded as creators, but not connected with the two before mentioned. Quiateot was the most prominent, if not the supreme, member of the trinity, for the other two, as representing the thunder and lighting, the forerunners, or parents, of the showers, do not seem to have been invoked when rain was wanted, or to have participated in the sacrifices of young boys and girls offered on such occasions.[XI-86]Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 46.

The Goddess of the Volcano

The Nicaraguans had other deities presiding over the elements, seasons, and necessaries of life. Thus, Macat and Toste, also written Mazat and Teotost,[XI-87]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 113. The latter seems to be the same as the Mexican Teotochtli, ‘rabbit god.’ the deer and rabbit, were gods of the chase. When a deer was killed, the hunter placed the head in a basket in his house, and regarded it as the representation of the god.[XI-88]’Y esso tenemos por el dios de los venados.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 55. Mixcoa was the god invoked by the traders, and those about to make purchases; Cacaguat was the patron of cacao-culture; Miquetanteot, god of hades, was evidently the same as Mictlantecutli of Mexico; there were, besides, others whose names have been given to the days of the month. In Martiari the chief deity was called Tipotani. In Nicaragua proper, they adored Tomaoteot, ‘the great god,’ whose son Teotbilche was sent down to mankind. This looks like another Christ-myth, especially when we read of attendant angels who had wings and flew about in heaven. The names of the two chief angels were Taraacazcati and Tamacaztobal.[XI-89]All probably derived from tlamacazqui, priest. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 112-4. This author, following Oviedo, Hist. Nic., spells the names somewhat differently. Buschmann, Ortsnamen, pp. 165-8; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 48, 52, 101. The Dirans revered in particular the goddess of the volcano Masaya; for her they placed food on the brink of the crater, into which they cast human beings, especially when she manifested her anger by earthquakes. On such occasions the chiefs and priests, who alone were permitted to look into the seething abyss, went to the summit and called upon the genius, who issued from the lake of fire in the form of an old woman and instructed them what to do. She is described as a naked, dark-skinned hag, with hanging breasts, scanty hair, long, sharp teeth, and sunken glaring eyeballs. The gods were invested with all the peculiarities of humanity, formed of flesh and blood, and lived on the food provided for man, besides blood and incense. They also appeared on earth dressed like the natives, but since the death of the cacique Xostoval these visits ceased.[XI-90]These remarks appear inconsistent with the statement that the spirit only of men ascended to heaven. Id., pp. 41-2. They were personified by idols of stone, clay, or wood, called teobat,[XI-91]’Téobat vient probablement de Téohuatl, être divin.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 113. whose forms their forefathers had transmitted; to them were brought offerings of food and other things, which were taken in at the door of the temple by boys serving there, for none except the consecrated were allowed to enter the sanctuary.[XI-92]’En toda la plaça, ni en el templo donde están, entran allí hombre ni muger en tanto que allí están, sino solamente los muchachos pequeños que les llevan é dan de comer.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 47. To encourage the piety that prompted these offerings, the priests never failed to remind the people of the punishment inflicted on the inhabitants of the ancient capital of Nagrando, who having given themselves up to the pursuit of pleasure, and neglected the gods, were one night swallowed up, not a vestige of their city being left.[XI-93]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 330. The most acceptable offering was, of course, human blood. At certain times the favorite idol was set on a spear and planted in an open place amid gorgeously adorned attendants holding banners, and flowers. Here the priests gashed their tongues, and other parts, smearing the face of the image with the blood that flowed, while the devout approached to whisper their desires into the ear of the idol. Songs, dances, and games attended these ceremonies.

Before each temple was a conic or pyramidal mound of adobe, called tescuit, or tezarit, ascended by an interior staircase.[XI-94]Peter Martyr describes this edifice as follows: ‘Within the viewe of their Temples there are diuers Bases or Pillers like the Pulpittes … which Bases consist of eight steppes or stayres in some places twelue, and in another fifteene.’ Dec. vi., lib. vi. From its summit, upon which there was room for about ten men to stand, the priest proclaimed the nature of the approaching festival, and the kind of sacrifice to be made, and here, upon a stone block, the victims, generally captives and slaves, had their hearts cut out, after which they were decapitated, the body to be cut up and prepared for the grand banquets, while the head, if that of a captive, was hung on a tree near the temple, a particular tree being reserved for each tribe from whom the victims were captured. The most prized victims were young boys and girls, who were brought up by the chiefs for the purpose and treated with great care and respect wherever they went, for they were supposed to become deified after death and to exercise great influence over the affairs of life. Women, who were held to be unworthy to perform any duty in connection with the temples, were immolated outside the temple ground of the large sanctuaries, and even their flesh was unclean food for the high-priest, who accordingly ate only of the flesh of males.[XI-95]Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 46-7, 53, 56, 93-4, 98, 101; Peter Martyr, dec. vi., lib. vii.; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 265-6; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec., iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; vol. ii., pp. 708-10, 715, of this work.

Fasts and baptismal rites, so prominent hitherto, do not appear to have been practiced in Nicaragua. A kind of sacrament was administered, however, by means of maize sprinkled with blood drawn from the generative organs, and confession was a recognized institution. The confessor was chosen from among the most aged and respected citizens; a calabash suspended from the neck was his badge of office. He was required to be a man of blameless life, unmarried, and not connected with the temple. Those who wished to confess went to his house, and there standing with humility before him unburdened their conscience. The confessor was forbidden to reveal any secret confided to him in his official capacity, under pain of punishment. The penance he imposed was generally some kind of labor to be performed for the benefit of the temple. Boys did not confess, but seem to have reserved the avowal of their peccadillos for maturer age.[XI-96]Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 55-6; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii., lib. v., cap. xii.; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 256.

Priests of Nicaragua

The office of high-priest was held by the caciques, who each in his turn left home and occupation and removed to the chief temple, there to remain for a year attending to religious matters and praying for the people. At the expiration of the term he received the honorable distinction of having his nose perforated. Subordinate duties were performed by boys. In the inferior temples other classes entered for a year’s penance, living like the chief in strict seclusion, except at festivals perhaps, seeing none but the boys who brought food from their homes. The ordinary priests were called tamagast[XI-97]Brasseur de Bourbourg says: ‘Tamagoz, c’est encore une autre corruption du mot tlamacazqui.’ Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 114. and lived on the offerings made to the idols, and perhaps by their own exertions, for the temples had no fixed revenues.[XI-98]Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 46-7, 53; Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., p. 414; vol. ii., p. 728, of this work. Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 265, states that the priests were all married, while Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii., asserts the contrary. The latter view seems more correct when we consider that women were not permitted to enter the temples, and that the high priest and devotees were obliged to leave their wives when they passed into the sanctuary. It is even probable that there was no distinct priesthood, since the temples had no revenues, and the temple service was performed in part at least by volunteers; to this must be added the fact, that although the confessor might not be connected with the temple, yet he ordered penance for its benefit. It must be considered, however, that without regular ministers it would have been difficult to keep up the routine of feasts and ceremonies, write the books of records, teach the children, and maintain discipline. They had sorcerers, texoxes, who sometimes caused the death of children by merely looking at them, and who could assume animal forms, for which reasons they were much feared by the people. To strengthen this belief they at times disguised themselves in skins of beasts.[XI-99]Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 57; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 101, 107. ‘Sous le nom de “Texoxé” on désignait les naguals, les génies mauvais de toute espèce, ainsi que les sorciers.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 113. In Honduras the idea of a Supreme Being and Creator was connected with a worship of the sun, moon, and stars, to which the people made sacrifices.[XI-100]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 63. Near Truxillo were three chief temples[XI-101]At Cape Honduras they consisted of long, narrow houses, raised above the ground, containing idols with heads of animals. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. v. in one of which was a chalchiuite in the form of a woman, to which the people prayed, and which answered them through the priests. Preparatory to any important undertaking, cocks, dogs, or even men, were sacrificed to secure the favor of the gods. In each of the sanctuaries presided a papa, or chief priest, to whom the education of the sons of the nobles was entrusted. These were unmarried men, distinguished by long hair reaching to the waist, though in some places they wound it round the head in plaits. Their sanctity and superior knowledge gave them great influence, and their advice was sought on all affairs of importance by the principal men, for none else dared to approach them. There were also sorcerers who could assume animal forms, in which guise they went about devouring men and spreading diseases.[XI-102]Id., and dec. iv., lib. i., cap. vi.; see vol. i., p. 740, of this work.

The Mosquito Pantheon

Among the barbarians of the Mosquito Coast, we find, of course, a much lower order of belief, and one which calls to mind the ghouls and ghosts of Californian mythology. The natives acknowledged a good spirit or principle, to which they gave no definite name[XI-103]’Es ist dafür das Wort God aus dem Englischen aufgenommen.’ Mosquitoland, Bericht, p. 142. and rendered no homage, for there was no necessity, they said, to pray to one who always did good; as for thanking him for mercies received, such an idea seems never to have occurred to them. In fact, they had neither temples nor idols, and the only ceremonies that partook of a religious character were the conjurations of their sukias, or sorceresses, who were constantly engaged in breaking the spells of evil spirits, with which the people’s fancy, excited by grewsome stories told round the camp-fire, had filled every dark and dismal place, every stream and mountain top. These gnomes were known by the name of Wulasha,[XI-104]Bard’s Waikna, p. 243. ‘Devils, the chief of whom they call the Woolsaw, or evil principle, witchcraft.’ Strangeways’ Mosquito Shore, p. 331. Young writes Oulasser. Narrative, p. 72. and were supposed to issue from their hiding-places, especially at night, to do all manner of evil; they were especially addicted to carrying off solitary wanderers; it was, therefore, say the chroniclers, almost impossible to induce a native to go out alone after dark.

Amid the underwood and fallen trees about the sources of rivers, big snakes were thought to dwell. These monsters were assisted by a resistless upward current and a strong wind which swept the unwary boatman within the reach of the red jaws and slimy folds. Patook, among other rivers, had this bad reputation, and a white man who despite the warnings of the natives started to explore its mysteries, returned in a few days with the story that his progress had been opposed by a big white cock. Leewa[XI-105]Bell, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., p. 254. was the name of the water spirit, who sucked the bather into pools and eddies and sent forth devastating waterspouts and hurricanes. Wihwin, a spirit having the appearance of a horse,[XI-106]A shape which assigns the story a comparatively recent date, unless a deer was originally meant.with tremendous teeth to devour human prey, haunted the hills during the summer, but retired with the winter to the sea, whence he originally issued. In mountain caves, guarded by fierce white boars, lived the patron deity of the warrees, the wild pigs of the country, of childish form but immense strength, who directed the movements of the droves. There were, besides, certain venomous lizards, who after biting a man ran immediately to the nearest water: if the wounded person did the same and succeeded in reaching the water first, he was saved, and the lizard died; otherwise the man was doomed.[XI-107]Bell, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., pp. 253-4; Young’s Narrative, p. 79. The Sukias who were called upon to exorcise these malignant beings on every occasion of sickness, or misfortune, were generally old hags, supposed to have a compact with the evil one, in whose name they exacted half their fee before commencing their enchantments. The Caribs held regular meetings or festivals to propitiate these spirits, and the Woolwas, who seem to have had many religious forms in common with the Nicaraguans, had “dances with the gods.”[XI-108]Froebel’s Cent. Amer., p. 137; see also vol. i., pp. 740-1, of this work.

Gods of the Isthmians

Among the Isthmians several forms of worship appear, that in the vicinity of Panamá resembling the system prevalent in Hayti and Cuba, says Gomara.[XI-109]Hist. Ind., fol. 255. The heavenly bodies seem to have been very generally adored, especially in the northern part of the Isthmus, where all good things were thought to come from the sun and moon, which were considered as man and wife; but no accounts are given of temples, or forms of worship, except that prayers were addressed to the sun.[XI-110]Id., fol. 89; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 20, 125.

The most prominent personage in the Isthmian pantheon was Dabaiba, a goddess who controlled the thunder and lightning, and with their aid devastated the lands of those who displeased her. In South America, thunder and lightning were held to be the instruments used by the sun to inflict punishment upon its enemies, which makes it probable that Dabaiba was a transformed sun-goddess. Pilgrims resorted from afar to her temple at Urabá, bringing costly presents and human victims, who were first killed and then burned, that the savory odors of roasting flesh might be grateful in the delicate nostrils of the goddess. Some describe her as a native princess, whose reign was marked by great wisdom and many miracles, and who was apotheosized after death. She was also honored as the mother of the Creator, the maker of the sun, the moon, and all invisible things, and the sender of blessings, who seems to have acted as mediator between the people and his mother, for their prayers for rain were addressed to him, although she is described as controlling the showers, and once when her worship was neglected she inflicted a severe drought upon the country.

When the needs of the people were very urgent, the chiefs and priests remained in the temple fasting and praying with uplifted hands; the people meanwhile observed a four-days fast, lacerating their bodies and washing their faces, which were at other times covered with paint. So strict was this fast that no meat or drink was to be touched until the fourth day, and then only a soup made from maize-flour. The priests themselves were sworn to perpetual chastity and abstinence, and those who went astray in these matters were burned or stoned to death. Their temples were encompassed with walls and kept scrupulously clean; golden trumpets, and bells with bone clappers summoned the people to worship.[XI-111]Peter Martyr, dec. vii., lib. x.; Irving’s Columbus, vol. iii., pp. 173-4; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 421.

In the province of Pocorosa the existence of a rain-god called Chipiripe was recognized, who inhabited the heaven above, whence he regulated celestial movements; with him lived a beautiful woman with one child. Nothing else was known respecting this divine family. This ignorance of the deity was further manifested by the absence of any form of worship; the moral laws were well defined, however, so that adultery and even lying were regarded as sinful.[XI-112]Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., p. 401; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. i., cap. xi., dec. ii., lib. iii., cap. v.Las Casas states that Chicune, ‘the beginning of all,’ who lived in heaven, was the one being to whom the people of Darien addressed their invocations and sacrifices, though a certain sect, or tribe, among them worshiped the water. In another chapter he declares that the Isthmians had little or no religion, for they had no temples and few or no gods or idols.[XI-113]Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxiv., ccxlii.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 63. According to Peter Martyr, the embalmed and bejeweled bodies of ancestors were worshiped in Comagre, and in Veragua gold was invested with divine qualities, so that the gathering of it was attended with fasting and penance.[XI-114]Dec. iii., lib. iv., dec. ii., lib. iii. Tuira, whom the Spanish writers declared to have been the devil himself, was a widely known being who communed with his servants, tequina, ‘masters,'[XI-115]A name applied in Cueba to all who excelled in an art. Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 126-7. in roofless huts kept for this purpose. Here the tequinas entered at night, and spoke in different voices, to induce the belief that the spirits were actually answering their questions; the result of the interview was communicated to their patrons. At times the evil one appeared in the guise of a handsome boy without hands[XI-116]’Las manos no se las vian.’ Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., p. 400. and with three-toed feet, and accompanied the sorcerers upon their expeditions to work mischief, and supplied them with a protecting ointment. Among the evil deeds imputed to these sorcerers was that of sucking the navel of sleeping people until they died.[XI-117]For further account of sorcerers, see vol. i., pp. 779-80. Gomara writes: ‘Tauira, que es el Diablo.’ Hist. Ind., fol. 255; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. ii., cap. x., lib. iii., cap. v., dec. iv., lib. i., cap. x. These men naturally took care to foster ideas that tended to sustain or increase their influence, and circulated, besides, most extravagant stories of supernatural events and beings. Once a terrible hurricane, blowing from the east, devastated the country and brought with it two birds with maiden faces, one of which was of a size so great that it seized upon men and carried them off to its mountain nest. No tree could support it, and where it alighted upon the rocks, the imprint of its talons were left. The other bird was smaller and supposed to be the offspring of the first. After trying several plans to kill these man-eating harpies, they hit upon the device of fixing a large beam in the ground, near the place where they usually alighted, leaving only one end exposed, on which was carved the image of a man. With the dawn of day the larger bird came swooping down upon the decoy and imbedded its claws so firmly in the beam that it could not withdraw them, and thus the people were enabled to kill it.[XI-118]Peter Martyr, dec. vii., lib. x.

The knowledge that the human mind, no matter how low its condition, can be capable of such puerile conceptions, must bring with it a sense of humiliation to the thinking man; and well were it for him could he comfort himself with the belief that such debasing superstitions were at least confined to humanity in its first and lowest stages; but this he cannot do. It is true that the belief of the civilized Aztec was far higher and nobler than that of the uncivilized Carib, but can he who has read the evidence upon which old women and young maidens were convicted of riding upon broomsticks to witches’ Sabbaths, by the most learned judges of the most learned law-courts of modern Europe, deny that the coarsest superstition and the highest civilization have hitherto gone hand in hand.

Phallic Worship

Before leaving this division it will be well to say a few words concerning the existence of Phallic Worship in America.

One of the first problems of the primitive man is creation. If analogies lead him to conceive it as allied to a birth, and the joint result of some unknown male and female energy, then the symbolization of this power is liable to take the gross form of phallic worship. Thus it is that among the earliest nations of which we possess any knowledge, the life-giving and vivifying principle of nature has been always symbolized by the human organs of generation. The Lingham of India, the Phallus of Greece, the Priapus of Rome, the Baal-Peor of the Hebrew records, and the Peor-Apis of Egypt, all have plainly the same significance. In most mythologies the sun, the principle of fire, the moon, and the earth, were connected with this belief; the sun and moon as the celestial emblems of the generative and productive powers of nature, fire and the earth as the terrestrial emblems. These were the Father and the Mother, and their most obvious symbols, as already stated, were the phallus and wares, or the Skuas and yoni of Hindustan.

It is unnecessary to multiply quotations respecting the basal though often veiled idea of One, underlying the polytheistic systems. The difficulty to the human mind of considering anything in another than human aspect, and our natural delight in analogies, leads, however, in many cases to the consideration in certain aspects of this deity as a duality or joint essence of the masculine and the feminine. Take the learned Cory’s summary of ancient mythology: “It recognizes, as the primary elements of all things, two independent principles, of the nature of male and female; and these, in mystic union, as the soul and body, constitute the Great Hermaphrodite Deity, The One, the universe itself, consisting still of the two separate elements of its composition, modified though combined in one individual…. If we investigate the Pantheons of the ancient nations, we shall find that each, notwithstanding the variety of names, acknowledged the same deities and the same system of Theology; and, however humble any of the deities may appear, each who has any claim to antiquity will be found ultimately, if not immediately, resolvable into one or other of the Primeval Principles, the Great God and Goddess of the Gentiles.”[XI-119]Ancient Fragments, introduction, p. 34. M. Pictet says of the primitive Celtic religion: “From a primitive duality, constituting the fundamental forces of the universe, there arises a double progression of cosmical powers, which, after having crossed each other by a mutual transition, at last proceed to blend in One Supreme Unity, as in their essential principles.” Says Sir William Jones: “We must not be surprised at finding, on a close examination, that the characters of all the Pagan deities, male and female, melt into each other, and at last into one or two, for it seems a well-founded opinion that the whole crowd of gods and goddesses in ancient Rome and modern Váránes, mean only the Powers of Nature, and principally those of the Sun, expressed in a variety of ways, and by a multitude of fanciful names.” On the Gods of Greece, Italy, and India, p. 273.

Rationale of Phallic Worship

To the moral ideal of the present age, an ideal derived from acquired habit, not from nature, phallic worship will doubtless appear repulsive and indelicate in the extreme. It was, nevertheless, the most natural form of worship that the primitive man could adopt; for him the symbol had no impure meaning, and was associated with none of the disgusting excesses by means of which, as he became more sophisticated, he converted his reverence of Nature into a worship of Lust.

What could be more natural than that he should symbolize the fecundating principle, the creative power, by the immediate cause of reproduction, or as he doubtless took it, of creation, the phallus. He recognized no impurity or licentiousness in the moderate and regular gratification of any natural appetite; nor did it seem to him that the organs of one species of enjoyment were naturally to be considered as subjects of shame and concealment more than those of another. As Payne Knight remarks of the ancient nations of the old world: “In an age, therefore, when no prejudices of artificial decency existed, what more just and natural image could they find, by which to express their idea of the beneficent power of the great Creator than that organ which endowed them with the power of procreation, and made them partakers, not only of the felicity of the Deity, but of his great characteristic attribute, that of multiplying his own image, communicating his blessings, and extending them to the generations yet unborn.” Nothing natural was to them offensively obscene. When the Egyptian matrons touched the phallus they did so with the pure wish of obtaining offspring. The gold lingam on the neck of the Hindoo wives was not an object of shame to them.

Relics of Phallic Worship

That the worship of the reciprocal principles of nature was recognized and practiced in America, there is in my mind no doubt. The almost universal prevalence of sun-worship, which is, as I have already intimated, closely connected with phallic rites, would alone go far to prove this, but an account of certain material relics and well known customs is still more satisfactory evidence.

In Yucatan, according to Stephens, “the ornaments upon the external cornice of several large buildings actually consisted of membra conjuncta in coitu, too plainly sculptured to be misunderstood. And, if this were not sufficient testimony, more was found in the isolated and scattered representations of the membrum virile, so accurate that even the Indians recognised the object, and invited the attention of Mr Catherwood to the originals of some of his drawings as yet unpublished.”

The sculptured pillars to be seen at Copan and other ruins in Central America, which are acknowledged to be connected with sun worship, are very similar to the sculptured phallus-pillars of the East.[XI-120]’This suggestion was first publicly made in a communication read,’ says Squier, Serpent Symbol, p. 49, ‘before the American Ethnological Society, by a distinguished member of that body; from which the following passages are extracted. After noticing several facts tending to show the former existence of Phallic worship in America, the author of the paper proceeds as follows:—”We come now to Central America. Upon a perusal of the first journey of our fellow-members, Messrs. Stephens and Catherwood, into Guatemala and the central territories of the Continent, I was forcibly struck with the monolithic idols of Copan. We knew nothing before, save of Mexican, Palenque, and Uxmal remains; and those of Copan appeared to me to be unlike them all, and probably of an older date. My reading furnishes me with but one parallel to those singular monolithic sculptures, and that was seen in Ceylon, in 1796, by Captain Colin McKenzie, and described in the 6th volume of the Asiatic Researches. As the description is short, I transcribe it: ‘The figure is cut out of stone in relievo; but the whole is sunk in a hollow, scooped out, so that it is defended from injury on the sides. It may be about fourteen feet high, the countenance wild, a full round visage, the eyes large, the nose round and long; it has no beard; nor the usual distinguishing marks of the Gentoo casts. He holds up both his hands, with the forefingers and thumbs bent; the head-dress is high, and seems ornamented with jewels; on the little finger of the left hand is a ring; on the arms bracelets; a belt high about the waist; the lower dress or drapery fixed with a girdle much lower than the Gentoo dress, from which something like tassels depend; a collar and ornaments on the neck and shoulders; and rings seem to hang low from the ears. No appearance of any arms or weapons.’ This was the nearest approximation I could make to the Copan idols; for idols I took them to be, from the fact that an altar was invariably placed before them. From a close inspection of Mr. Catherwood’s drawings, I found that though no single figure presented all the foregoing characteristics, yet in the various figures I could find every particular enumerated in the Ceylon sculpture. It then occurred to me that one of the most usual symbols of the Phallus was an erect stone, often in its rough state, sometimes sculptured, and that no other object of heathen worship was so often shadowed forth by a single stone placed on end, as the Phallus. That the worship of the Priapus, [Lingam] existed in Ceylon, has long since been satisfactorily established; and hence I was led to suspect that these monuments at Copan, might be vestiges of a similar idolatry. A further inspection confirmed my suspicions; for, as I supposed, I found sculptured on the American ruins the organs of generation, and on the back of one of the emblems relative to uterine existence, parturition, etc. I should, however, have wanted entire confidence in the correctness of my suspicions, had the matter rested here. On the return of Messrs. Stephens and Catherwood from their second expedition, every doubt of the existence of Phallic worship, especially in Yucatan, was removed.” Mr Squier is of the opinion that they may be considered as such, and the Abbé Brasseur takes the same view in making the plain cylindrical pillar found in so many places the representation of the volcano, the goddess of love, and whence it issues as the symbol of new life. On another page he terms the phallus the Crescent, the land whence the Nahuas originated, and the continent of America the body.[XI-121]Quatre Lettres, pp. 290, 301; Squier’s Serpent Symbol, pp. 47-50. Some of the pillars appear without ornament, as the picote at Uxmal, a round stone of irregular form, which stood in front of one of the ruins, but the worshipers of Priapus at Thespia and other places were content with a rude stone for an image in early times. In Mexico according to Gama, the presiding god of spring, Xopancalehuey Tlalloc, was often represented without a human body, having instead a pilaster or square column, upon a pedestal covered with various sculptured designs.[XI-122]Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, part i., p. 40. In Pánuco images of the generative organs were kept in the temples as objects of worship, and statues representing men and women performing the sexual act in various postures stood in the temple-courts.[XI-123]In Pánuco and other provinces ‘adorano il membro che portano gli huomini fra le gambe, & lo tengono nella meschita, & posto similmente sopra la piazza insieme con le imagini de rilieuo di tutti modi di piacere che possono essere fra l’huomo & la donna, & gli hanno di ritratto con le gambe di alzate in diuersi modi.’ Relatione fatta per un Gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortése, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 307. Near Laguna de Terminos, on the coast of Yucatan, Grijalva found images of men committing acts of indescribable beastliness, while close by lay the bodies of victims recently sacrificed in their honor.[XI-124]’Hallaron entre vnos arboles vn idolillo de oro y muchos de barro, dos hombres de palo, caualgando vno sobre otro, a fuer Sodoma, y otro de tierra cozida con ambas manos a lo suyo, que lo tenia retajado, como son casi todos los Indios de Yucatan.’ Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 58. The united symbols of the sexual organs were publicly worshiped in Tlascala, and in the month of Quecholli a grand festival was held in honor of Xochiquetzal, Xochitecatl, and Tlazolteotl, goddesses of sensual delights, when the prostitutes and young men addicted to sodomy were allowed to solicit custom on the public streets.[XI-125]See vol. ii., pp. 336-7, concerning this festival. On Zapatero Island, around Lake Nicaragua, and in Costa Rica, a number of idols have been found of which the disproportionately large membrum generationis virile in erectione was the most prominent feature. Palacio relates that at Cezori, in Honduras, the natives offered blood drawn from the organs of generation and circumcised boys before an idol called Icelaca, which was simply a round stone,[XI-126]’Un idolo de piedra redondo,’ which may mean a ‘cylindrical stone,’ as the translator of Palacio’s Carta has rendered it. with two faces and a number of eyes, and was supposed to know all things, past, present, and future.[XI-127]Palacio, Carta, p. 84. The frequent occurrence of the cross, which has served in so many and such widely separated parts of the earth as the symbol of the life-giving, creative, and fertilizing principle in nature, is, perhaps, one of the most striking evidences of the former recognition of the reciprocal principles of nature by the Americans; especially when we remember that the Mexican name for the emblem, tonacaquahuitl, signifies ‘tree of one life, or flesh.'[XI-128]Concerning the cross in America, see this vol. p. 468. Of two terra-cotta relics found at Ococingo, in the state of Chiapas, one would certainly attract the attention of any one who had investigated the subject of phallic worship or had seen the phallic amulets and ornaments of the old world.[XI-129]I refer to the left hand figure in the cut on p. 348, vol. iv., of this work. For examples of the amulets mentioned, see illustrations in Payne Knight’s Worship of Priapus. In the Museum at Mexico are two small images which were evidently used as ornaments. Each of these represents a human figure in a crouching posture, clasping with both hands an enormous phallus. Col. Brantz Mayer kindly showed me drawings of these made by himself. One of these figures is reproduced in another volume of this work.

Phallic Rites

The Pipiles abstained from their wives for four days previous to sowing, in order to indulge in the marital act to the fullest extent on the eve of that day, evidently with a view to initiate or urge the fecundating powers of nature. It is even said that certain persons were appointed to perform the sexual act at the moment of planting the first seed. During the bitter cold nights of the Hyperborean winter, the Aleuts, both men and women, joined hands in the open air and whirled perfectly naked round certain idols, lighted only by the pale moon. The spirit was supposed to hallow the dance with his presence. There certainly could have been no licentious element in this ceremony, for setting aside the discomfort of dancing naked with the thermometer at zero, we read that the dancers were blindfolded, and that decorum was strictly enforced. In Nicaragua, maize sprinkled with blood drawn from the genitals was regarded as sacred food.[XI-130]See vol. i., of this work, p. 93; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 48; See vol. ii., of this work, pp. 719-20. The custom of drawing blood from this part of the body was observed as a religious rite by almost every tribe from Mexico to Panamá, though this, of course, does not prove that it was in all cases connected with phallic worship. Circumcision is regarded by Squier as a phallic rite, but there is not sufficient testimony to support this view. Tezcatlipoca, the chief god of the Nahuas, who has been frequently identified with the sun, was adored as a love-god, according to Boturini, who adds that the Nahua Lotharios held disorderly festivals in his honor, to induce him to favor their designs.[XI-131]Boturini, Idea, p. 13; see also this volume, pp. 243-4. Orgies, characterized by the grossest licentiousness are met with at different places along the coast, as among the Nootkas, the Upper and Lower Californians, in Sinaloa, Nicaragua, and especially in Yucatan, where every festival ended in a debauch. During a certain annual festival held in Nicaragua, women, of whatever condition, could abandon themselves to the embrace of whomever they pleased, without incurring any disgrace.[XI-132]See vol. i., of this work, pp. 200, 414, 566-6; vol. ii., p. 676, and account of Yucatec feasts in chap. xxii. In citing these brutish orgies I do not presume, or wish to assert, that they were in any way connected with phallus worship, or indeed, that there was anything of a religious nature in them. Still, as they certainly were indulged in during, or immediately after the great religious festivals, and as we know how the phallic cult degenerated from its original purity into just such bestiality in Greece and Rome, I have thought it well to mention them. There is much truth in the following remarks on this point, by Mr. Brinton, though with his statement that the proofs of a recognition of the fecundating principle in Nature by the Americans are ‘altogether wanting,’ I cannot agree. He says: ‘There is no ground whatever to invest these debauches with any recondite meaning. They are simply indications of the thorough and utter immorality which prevailed throughout the race. And a still more disgusting proof of it is seen in the frequent appearance among diverse tribes of men dressed as women and yielding themselves to indescribable vices. There was at first nothing of a religious nature in such exhibitions. Lascivious priests chose at times to invest them with some such meaning…. The pretended phallic worship of the Natchez and of Culhuacan, cited by the Abbé Brasseur, rests on no good authority, and if true, is like that of the Huastecs of Panuco, nothing but an unrestrained and boundless profligacy which it were an absurdity to call a religion. That which Mr. Stephens attempts to show existed once in Yucatan, rests entirely by his own statement on a fancied resemblance of no value whatever, and the arguments of Lafitau to the same effect are quite insufficient. There is a decided indecency in the remains of ancient American art, especially in Peru, (Meyen) and great lubricity in many ceremonies, but the proof is altogether wanting to bind these with the recognition of fecundating principle throughout nature, or, indeed, to suppose for them any other origin than the promptings of an impure fancy. I even doubt whether they often referred to fire as the deity of sexual love. By a flight of fancy inspired by a study of oriental mythology, the worship of the reciprocal principle in America has been connected with that of the sun and moon, as the primitive pair from whose fecund union all creatures proceeded. It is sufficient to say if such a myth exists among the Indians—which is questionable—it justifies no such deduction; that the moon is often mentioned in their languages merely as the “night sun;” and that in such important stocks as the Iroquois, Athapascas, Cherokees, and Tupis, the sun is said to be a feminine noun; while the myths represent them more frequently as brother and sister than as man and wife; nor did at least the northern tribes regard the sun as the cause of fecundity in nature at all, but solely as giving light and warmth.’ Myths, pp. 149-50; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., pp. 416-17.

The feast of the Mexican month Xocotlhuetzin, ‘fall, or maturity of fruit,’ is to me a most striking evidence of the former existence of phallic worship, or at least recognition of the fecundating principle in nature. I will, however, leave the reader to draw his own conclusions. This feast of the ‘maturity of fruit’ was dedicated to Xiuhtecutli, god of fire, and, therefore, of fertility, or fecundity. The principal feature of the feast was a tall, straight tree, which was stripped of all itsbranches except those close to the top and set up in the court of the temple. Within a few feet of its top a cross-yard thirty feet long was fastened; thus a perfect cross was formed. Above all, a dough image of the god of fire curiously dressed was fixed. After certain horrible sacrifices had been made to the deity of the day, the people assembled about the pole, and the youth scrambled up for the image, which they broke in pieces and scattered upon the ground.[XI-133]For a full account of this feast see vol. ii., of this work, pp. 329-30. A great number of similar analogies may be detected in the rites and customs of the people, and it is almost reluctantly that I refrain from giving my views in full. I have made it my aim, however, to deal with facts, and leave speculation to others. Those who wish to thoroughly investigate this most interesting subject, cannot do better than study Mr Squier’s learned and exhaustive treatise on the Serpent Symbol.

Footnotes

[XI-1] ’Toda esta Tierra, con estotra, … tenia vna misma manera de religion, y ritos, y si en algo diferenciaba, era, en mui poco.’ ‘Lo mismo fue de las Provincias de Quatimala, Nicaragua, y Honduras.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 54, 191. Tylor thinks that ‘the civilizations of Mexico and Central America were originally independent, but that they came much in contact, and thus modified one another to no small extent.’ Anahuac, p. 191. ‘On reconnaît facilement que le culte y était partout basé sur le rituel toltèque, et que les formes mêmes ne différaient guère les unes des autres.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 559.

[XI-2] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 42, calls him the sun.

[XI-3] Representations of the sun, with whom he seems to be identified, are not impossible to these peoples if we may judge from the sun-plates with lapping tongues and other representations found on the ruins in Mexico and Central America.

[XI-4] ’Porque à este le llamaban tambien Ytzamnà.’ Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 196, 192.

[XI-5] The daughter of Ixchel, the Yucatec medicine goddess. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 43. He writes the virgin’s name as Chiribias. Ixchel seems to be the same as the Guatemalan Xmucané, mother of the gods.’ Id., Quatre Lettres, p. 243.

[XI-6] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxiii.; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 190; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, p. 246; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. iii., p. 133.

[XI-7] ’Celle de l’eau matrice d’embryon, ix-a-zal-uoh.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, MS. Troano, tom. ii., p. 258.

[XI-8] ’Idolo, ò Zemì.’ Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 33. ‘Zemes which are the Images of their familiar and domesticall spirites.’ Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. vi.

[XI-9] ’Les dieux de l’Yucatan, disent Lizana et Cogolludo, étaient presque tous des rois plus ou moins bons que la gratitude ou la terreur avait fait placer au rang des divinités.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 20; Landa, Relacion, p. 158; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 198.

[XI-10] Lizana, in Landa, Relacion, p. 356; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 197; Brinton, Myths, p. 188, speaks of ‘Zamna, or Cukulcan, lord of the dawn and four winds,’ and connects him with Votan also. ‘Il y a toute apparence qu’il était de la même race (as Votan) et que son arrivée eut lieu peu d’années après la fondation de la monarchie palenquéenne.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 76, et seq. The hand in picture-writing signifies strength, power, mastery, and is frequently met with on Central American ruins, impressed in red color. Among the North American savages it was the symbol of supplication. Their doctors sometimes smeared the hand with paint and daubed it over the patient. Schoolcraft, in Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 476-8.

[XI-11] Lizana, in Landa, Relacion, p. 360, translates the name as ‘Sol con rostro que sus rayos eran de fuego,’ Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 198, 178; Brasseur de Bourbourg, MS. Troano, p. 270; Id., Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 5-6; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 475. In the syllable mo of the hero’s name is found another reference to the sun, for moo is the Maya term for the bird ara, the symbol of the sun.

[XI-12] ’El que recibe, y possee la gracia, ò rozio del Cielo.’ ‘No conocian otro Dios Autor de la vida, sino à este.’ Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 179. ‘Celui qui demande ou obtient la rosée ou la glace, ou rempli de l’eau en bras de glace, itz-m-a-tul.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, MS. Troano, tom. ii., p. 257; Landa, Relacion, pp. 284-5.

[XI-13] After staying a short time at Potonchan, he embarked and nothing more was heard of him. The Codex Chimalpopoca states, however, that he died in Tlapallan, four days after his return. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 18. In another place this writer refers to three brothers, itzaob, ‘saintly man,’ who were probably sent by Quetzalcoatl to spread his doctrines, but who ultimately founded a monarchy. They also seem to throw a doubt on the identity of Cukulcan with Quetzalcoatl. ‘Il n’y a pas à douter, toutefois, que, s’il est le même que Quetzalcohuatl, la doctrine aura été la même.’ Id., pp. 10-1, 43. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 52, states that the Cocomes were his descendants, but as the hero never married, his disciples must rather be accepted as their ancestors. Landa, Relacion, pp. 35-9, 300-1; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. ii. Veytia connects him with St. Thomas. Hist. Antig. Mej., tom. i., pp. 195-8. Speaking of Cukulcan and his companions Las Casas says: ‘A este llamaron Dios de las fiebres ò Calenturas…. Los cuales mandaban que se confesasen las gentes y ayunasen; y que algunos ayunaban el viernes porque habia muerto aquel dia Bacab; y tiene por nombre aquel dia Himis.’ Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxiii. ‘Kukulcan, vient de kuk, oiseau qui paraît être le même que le quetzal; son déterminatif est kukul qui uni à can, serpent, fait exactement le même mot que Quetzal Cohuatl, serpent aux plumes vertes, ou de Quetzal.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Landa, Relacion, p. 35.

[XI-14] Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 22; Landa, Relacion, p. 158; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 202; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 46-7. ‘Se tenian por santificados los que alla auian estado,’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv.

[XI-15] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 50, calls the god of death Rakalku. Baeza, in Registro Yuc., tom. i., pp. 168-9, mentions a transparent stone called zatzun, by means of which hidden things and causes of diseases could be discovered.

[XI-16] ’Cette divinité paraît être la même que le Tihax des Quichés et Cakchiquels, le Tecpatl des Mexicains, la lance ou la flèche.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Landa, Relacion, p. 363.

[XI-17] Zee-Rovers, p. 64; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 178, 190-1, 196-7; Landa, Relacion, pp. 206-8; Lizana, in Id., pp. 356-64; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., pp. 40-4; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 17, 32; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, pp. 245-6; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 4-10, 20, 42-50.

[XI-18] ’Tra le Croci sono celebri quelle di Jucatan, della Mizteca, di Queretaro, di Tepique, e di Tianquiztepec.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 14. There were also crosses at Palenque, on San Juan de Ulloa, at Copan, in Nicaragua, and other places. ‘Die Tolteken haben nämlich die Verehrung des Kreuzes mit durchaus bewusster Beziehung desselben auf den Regen, von der alten Urbevölkerung aufgenommen.’ Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 498-9; Palacio, Carta, p. 88.

[XI-19] This and other prophecies, which, if not mere fabrications, bear at least marks of mutilation and addition, may be found in Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. iii., pp. 132-3; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, pp. 245-6; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 99-100; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 603-6. Brinton thinks that they may refer to ‘the return of Zamná, or Kuckulcan, lord of the dawn and the four winds, worshipped at Cozumel … under the sign of the cross.’ Myths, p. 188. The report circulated by Aguilar of his people and of the cross, may have given the prophets a clue.

[XI-20] ’The formation of such an opinion by the Spaniards seems to shew almost conclusively, that the aborigines of the country did not retain any traditional history on the subject that would justify the simple belief, that Catholic Europeans had ever possessed influence enough among them to have established so important a feature in their superstitious observances.’ McCulloh, Researches in Amer., p. 327. ‘Afirmaban que por que habia muerto en ella un hombre mas replandeciente que el sol.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxiii.; Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. i.

[XI-21] Mr Godfrey Higgins, in his Celtic Druids, p. 126, says: ‘Few causes have been more powerful in producing mistakes in ancient history, than the idea, hastily taken up by Christians in all ages, that every monument of antiquity marked with a cross, or with any of those symbols which they conceived to be monograms of Christ, were of Christian origin…. The cross is as common in India as in Egypt, and Europe,’ Mr Maurice, in his Indian Antiquities, vol. ii., p. 361, writes: ‘Let not the piety of the Catholic Christian be offended at the preceding assertion that the cross was one of the most usual symbols among the hieroglyphics of Egypt and India.’ The emblem of universal nature is equally honored in the Gentile and Christian world. ‘In the cave at Elephanta, in India, over the head of the principal figure, again may be seen this figure (the cross), and a little in the front the huge Lingham (phallus).’

[XI-22] Constantio holds it to be a symbol of the solstices. Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., pp. 464-5; Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. ii., pp. 354-6; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 24; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 497-500; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. iii., pp. 133, 200-6, 299; McCulloh’s Researches, pp. 331-6; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., p. 143; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 63. Brinton refers to a statement that the Mexicans had cruciform graves, and supposes that this referred to four spirits of the world who were to carry the deceased to heaven, but there seems to be a mistake on both of these points. Myths, pp. 95-8; Gould’s Curious Myths, vol. ii., p. 79, et seq.; Cox’s Mythology of the Aryan Nations, vol. ii., pp. 369-72. Some of the crosses referred to lack the head piece, and being of this shape, T, resemble, somewhat, a Mexican coin.

[XI-23] ’No solo se hallò vna Cruz, sino algunas.’ Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 199-302; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 3; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. iii., cap. i.; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 24. Stephens found a cross at the church of Mejorada, in Mérida, which an old monk had dug out of the ruins of a church on Cozumel Island. ‘The connecting of the “Cozumel Cross” with the ruined church on the island completely invalidates the strongest proof offered at this day that the cross was ever recognized by the Indians as a symbol of worship.’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 377-8. Rather a hasty assertion when made in the face of so many old authorities.

[XI-24] This seems to confirm the idea that it was worshiped, yet Constantio regards it as a representation of the birth of the sun in the winter solstice, and holds the ruin to which the cross belongs to be a sun temple. Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., pp. 464-5; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 498; Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 345-8. Squier, who denies that the Tonacaquahuitl was intended to represent a cross, thinks that the Palenque cross merely represents one of these trees with the branches placed crosswise. Palacio, Carta, pp. 120-1. Jones, Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 149, et seq., who identifies almost every feature of Central American worship with the Phœnician, asserts that the Palenque cross proves the Tyrian origin of the aborigines.

[XI-25] Cogolludo says, however: ‘Solian ayunar dos, y tres dias, sin comer cosa alguna.’ Hist. Yuc., p. 194.

[XI-26] These mutilations were at times very severe. ‘Otras vezes hazian un suzio y penoso sacrificio añudandose los que lo hazian en el templo, donde puestas en rengla, se hazian sendos aguzeros en los miembros viriles al soslayo por el lado, y hechos passavan toda la mas cantidad de hilo que podian, quedando assi todos asidos.’ Landa, Relacion, pp. 162-3. This author thinks that the practice of slitting the prepuce gave rise to the idea that circumcision existed in Yucatan.

[XI-27] Landa, Relacion, pp. 164-8; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 193-4; Medel, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 43; vol. ii., pp. 704-5, of this work. ‘For want of children they sacrifice dogges.’ Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. vi. ‘El numero de la gente sacrificada era mucho: y esta costumbre fue introduzida en Yucatan, por los Mexicanos.’ ‘Flechauan algunas vezes al sacrificado … desollauanlos, vestiase el sacerdote el pellejo, y baylauo, y enterrauan el cuerpo en el patio del templo.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iii., iv. Tradition relates that in a cave near Uxmal existed a well like that of Chichen, guarded by an old woman, the builder of the dwarf palace in that city, who sold the water for infants, and these she cast before the snake at her side. Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 425.

[XI-28] Landa, Relacion, p. 165; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 25, 180; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 62.

[XI-29] Relacion, p. 154; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iv. For description of baptismal rites, see vol. ii., pp. 682-4, of this work.

[XI-30] ’Que se deriva de un verbo kinyah, que significa “sortear ó echar suertes.”‘ Lizana, in Landa, Relacion, p. 362.

[XI-31] ’Longues robes noires.’ Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 168.

[XI-32] Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 198; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 6; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., pp. 39-41. Temples are described in vol. ii., pp. 791-3, of this work.

[XI-33] ’Célèbres dans toutes les traditions d’origine toltèque, comme les pères du soleil et de la magie.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 120.

[XI-34] ’Hun-Ahpu-Vuch un Tireur de Sarbacane au Sarigue et Hun-Ahpu-Utïu un Tireur de Sarbacane au Chacal.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, pp. cxviii., cxix., pp. 2-5. They are also referred to as conjurers. Id., Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 54. Ximenez spells the latter name Hun-ahpu-uhú, and states that they are held as oracles. Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 4, 156-8, 82. Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxiv., refers to these beings as having been adored under the name of grandfather and grandmother before the deluge, but later on a woman appeared who taught them to call the gods by other names. This woman, Brasseur de Bourbourg holds to be the traditional and celebrated queen Atit, from whom Atitlan volcano obtained its name, and from whom the princely families of Guatemala have descended. The natives still recall her name, but as that of a phantom. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 74-5. He further finds considerable similarity between her and Aditi of the Veda. In his solution of the Antilles cataclysm he identifies Xmucane as the South American part of the continent and Xpiyacoc as North America. Quatre Lettres, pp. 223-4, 235-8. Garcia, Origen de los Ind., pp. 329-30, calls these first beings Xchmel and Xtmana, and gives them three sons, who create all things. In the younger of these we recognize the two legitimate sons of Hunhun Ahpu, who will be described later on as the patrons of the fine arts.

[XI-35] To be afflicted with buboes implied the possession of many women and consequently wealth and grandeur. Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 157; see this vol. p. 60; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. 3.

[XI-36] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. 315, does not understand why Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 125, translates heaven and Xibalba as heaven and hell, but as both terms doubtless refer to provinces, or towns, it is better to retain the figurative name. Xibalba is, besides, derived from the same source as the Insomuch ‘demon’ of the Yucatecs. Brasseur translates: ‘Chaque sept (jours) il montait au ciel et en sept (jours) il faisait le chemin pour descendre à Xibalba;’ while Ximenez with more apparent correctness renders: ‘Siete dias se subia al cielo y siete dias se iba al infierno.’ In Quatre Lettres, p. 228, the Abbé explains Xibalba as hell. See also vol. ii., pp. 715-7, of this work.

[XI-37] Popol Vuh, p. cxvii.-cxx., 7, 9; see this vol., pp. 48-54. The occurrence of the number 4 in mythical and historical accounts of Mexico and Central America is very frequent.

[XI-38] ’Parait venir des Antilles, où il désignait la tempête et le grondement de l’orage.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. 8.

[XI-39] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 496.

[XI-40] Garcilaso says: ‘C’est encore l’idée du Tonnerre, de l’Eclair et de la Foudre, contenus dans un seul Hurakan, le centre, le cœur du ciel, la tempête, le vent, le souffle.’ Comentarios Reales, lib. ii., cap. xxiii., lib. iii., cap. xxi., lib. iii.; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. ccxxxv., 9; Id., Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 51.

[XI-41] ’Ximenez dit qu’il signifie Pluie, Averse: mais il confond ici le nom du dieu avec le signe. Toh, … est rendu par le mot paga, paie, pagar, payer. Mais le MS. Cakehiquel … dit que les Quichés reçurent celui de Tohohil, qui signifie grondement, bruit,’ etc. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. 214. He seems identical with the Maya Hunpictok.

[XI-42] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 553, tom. i., p. 128.

[XI-43] Brinton, Myths, pp. 156-7, who holds Hurakan to be the Tlaloc, connects Tohil with Quetzalcoatl—ideas taken most likely from Brasseur de Bourbourg—states that he was represented by a flint. This must refer to his traditional transformation into a stone, for the Abbé declares that no description of his idol is given by the chroniclers. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 552. Now, although the Abbé declares Tohil to be the same as Quetzalcoatl, in the Popol Vuh, p. 214, and other places, he acknowledges that the tradition positively identifies him with Hurakan, and confirms this by explaining on p. cclxvii., that Tohil, sometimes in himself, sometimes in connection with the two other members of the trinity, combines the attributes of thunder, flash, and thunderbolt; further, he gives a prayer by the Tohil priests in which this god is addressed as Hurakan. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 553. Gucumatz, the acknowledged representative of Quetzalcoatl, is, besides, shown to be distinct from Tohil. Every point, therefore, tradition, name, attributes, connect Tohil and Hurakan, and identify them with Tlaloc.

[XI-44] Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 552-3.

[XI-45] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. cclxvii., 235; Id., Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 554. The turning into stone ‘veut dire que les trois principaux volcans s’éteignirent ou cessèrent de lancer leurs feux.’ Id., Quatre Lettres, p. 331.

[XI-46] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 497, 75; Id., Popol Vuh, p. cclxii.; see note 7.

[XI-47] Id., Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 521; Juarros’ Hist. Guat., p. 384.

[XI-48] ’Hunhun-Ahpu signifie Chaque Tireur de Sarbacane; Vukub-Hun-Ahpu, Sept un Tireur de Sarbacane.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. cxxxv. Their chief name, Ahpu, ‘désigne la puissance volcanique.’ Id., Quatre Lettres, p. 225.

[XI-49] Hun Ahpu, a sarbacan shooter. ‘Xbalenque, de balam, tigre, jaguar; le que final est un signe pluriel, et le x qui précède, prononcez sh (anglais), est alternativement un diminutif ou un signe féminin.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. cxxxv. Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 146-7, 156, remarks the similarity of these personages to the God, son, and virgin of the Christians.

[XI-50] ’Hun-Batz, Un Singe (ou un Fileur); Hun-Chouen, un qui se blanchit, ou s’embellit.’ They seem to correspond to the Mexican Ozomatli and Piltzintecutli. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, pp. cxxxv., 69, 117. The ba in Hun-Batz refers to something underground, or deep down, and Hun-Chouen ‘”Une Souris cachée” ou “un lac en sentinelle.”‘ Both names indicate the disordered condition and movement of a region (the Antilles). Id., Quatre Lettres, pp. 227-9.

[XI-51] ’Les deux frères, s’étant embrassés, s’élancent dans les flammes.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 137.

[XI-52] Vukub Cakix, ‘seven aras,’ a type of the sun, although declared in one place to have usurped the solar attribute, seems to have been worshiped as the sun; his two sons, Zipacna and Cabrakan, represent respectively the creator of the earth and the earthquake, which confirms their father’s high position. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, pp. 31-9, cciv., ccliii.

[XI-53] The allegorical account of these events is related on pp. 31 to 192 of Popol Vuh, and Brasseur’s remarks are given on pages cxxxiv. to cxl. Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 164, states that Hun Ahpu discovered the use of cacao and cotton, which is but another indication of the introduction of culture. According to Las Casas, Xbalanque descends into hell, Xibalba, where he captures Satan and his chief men, and when the devil implores the hero not to bring him to the light, he kicks him back with the curse that all things rotten and abhorrent may cling to him. When he returns, his people do not receive him with due honor, and he accordingly leaves for other parts. Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxiv.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 53-4.

[XI-54] Quatre Lettres, pp. 225-53; see this vol. 261-4.

[XI-55] On one occasion the people ‘égorgèrent chacun un de leurs fils, dont ils mirent les cadavres dans les fondations.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 561-4.

[XI-56] Indianer von Istlávacan, pp. 11-3. The natives believed that they would have to share all the sufferings and emotions of their naguals. Gage’s New Survey, p. 334; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. iv., also refers to naguals, and states that the Honduras protégé made his compact with it in the mountains by offerings and blood-letting.

[XI-57] Espinosa, Chrón. Apost., pp. 344-5; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, p. 726; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 151-3.

[XI-58] ’Tenian por sus Dioses à los Venados.’ Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 43.

[XI-59] Hist. Yuc., pp. 699, 489-93, 509; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 100-2, 182, 500-2; Morelet, Voyage, tom. ii., p. 32; McCulloh’s Researches in Amer., p. 318.

[XI-60] ’Cha-malcan serait donc Flèche ou Dard frotté d’ocre jaune,’ etc. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, pp. 248-9.

[XI-61] Id., Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 173.

[XI-62] Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 475. In their want of idols they contrasted strongly with their neighbors. Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 74; Morelet, Voyage, tom. ii., p. 79.

[XI-63] ’C’est à eux qu’elles offraient presque tous leurs sacrifices.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 556; Palacio, Carta, pp. 66-70.

[XI-64] ’L’époque que les événements paraissent assigner à cette légende coïncide avec la période de la grande émigration toltèque et la fondation des divers royaumes guatémaliens.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 81; Id., Popol Vuh, p. cxxviii. Near the village of Coatan was a small lake which they regarded as oracular, into which none dared to peer least he should be smitten with dumbness and death. Palacio, Carta, p. 50.

[XI-65] ’Aujourd’hui de Gracias…. Il y a encore aujourd’hui un village du même nom, paroisse à 12 l. de Comayagua.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 106.

[XI-66] ’Aunque otros dicen, que eran sus Hermanos.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 336.

[XI-67] Carta, pp. 82-4. As an instance of the respect entertained for the idols, Las Casas relates that on the Spaniards once profaning them with their touch, the natives brought censers with which they incensed them, and then carried them back to their altar with great respect, shedding their blood upon the road traversed by the idols. Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxx.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., 326; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. iv.

[XI-68] See vol. ii. of this work, pp. 719-20.

[XI-69] Roman, Republica de los Indios, in Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 176-81; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 564-566; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxix.; Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 196.

[XI-70] The ancient Quichés ‘recueillirent leur sang avec des éponges,’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. 259.

[XI-71] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 559-63; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxvii.; vol. ii. of this work, pp. 688.

[XI-72] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, pp. 226-7; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxiv., clxxvii.; Juarros’ Hist. Guat., p. 225; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 54; Palacio, Carta, p. 66; Squier, in Id., pp. 116-7; Cortés, Cartas, pp. 417-8; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 699; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 392, 502; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 268; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 40; see also, this vol. pp. 688-9, 706-10, 735; Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., pp. 184-5. Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. 210, states, that in case of a severe illness, a father would not hesitate to sacrifice his son to obtain relief. The very fact of such a tale passing current, shows how little human life was valued.

[XI-73] ’Ils n’avaient pour toute nourriture que des fruits.’ MS., Quiché de Chichicastenango, in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 552-553, 496-7; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxxiii.

[XI-74] Ternaux-Compans renders it tuti, Recueil de Doc., p. 29, while Squier gives it as tecti. Palacio, Carta, p. 62. But as an Aztec word, it ought to be written teoti.

[XI-75] Palacio, Carta, pp. 62-6; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. x.; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 200-1; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 105, 555-6; Salazar y Olarte, Hist. Conq. Mex., pp. 315-6.

[XI-76] Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 61; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, pp. cxviii., cclxvi.; Scherzer, Indianer von Istlávacan, p. 10.

[XI-77] Gomara says with regard to this: ‘Religion de Nicaragua que casi es la mesma Mexicana.’ Hist. Ind., fol. 63.

[XI-78] The similarity of the name of tamachaz and tamagast, names given to angels and priests, is striking. The ending tat might also be regarded as a contraction of the Aztec tatli, father. Buschmann, Ortsnamen, pp. 164-5.

[XI-79] Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. 163.

[XI-80] ’Ich bringe es in Verbindung mit dem Stammworte ciahua oder ciyahua befeuchten, bewässern.’ Ib. It is to be noticed that the Aztec h frequently changes into g, in these countries.

[XI-81] Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 435-8, 503; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856), vol. ii., pp. 349-60; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 112; this author identifies Tamagostat and Cipaltona with the solar deities Oxomoc and Cipactonal of the Toltecs, but places them in rather an inferior position.

[XI-82] Oxomogo is also introduced, which tends to throw doubt on Brasseur’s identification of Jamagostad with this personage.

[XI-83] ’Ehecatl oder verkürzt Ecatl … ist die Berichtigung für Oviedo’s Hecat.’ Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. 163; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 40-5, 52.

[XI-84] In Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. iii., p. 40, they are written Homey-Atelïte and Homey-Ateciguat, but the above spelling corresponds better with other similar Aztec names in Nicaragua. Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 46.

[XI-85] ’Von quiahui oder quiyahui regnen: mit teotl Gott verbunden.’ Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. 167.

[XI-86] Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 46.

[XI-87] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 113. The latter seems to be the same as the Mexican Teotochtli, ‘rabbit god.’

[XI-88] ’Y esso tenemos por el dios de los venados.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 55.

[XI-89] All probably derived from tlamacazqui, priest. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 112-4. This author, following Oviedo, Hist. Nic., spells the names somewhat differently. Buschmann, Ortsnamen, pp. 165-8; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 48, 52, 101.

[XI-90] These remarks appear inconsistent with the statement that the spirit only of men ascended to heaven. Id., pp. 41-2.

[XI-91] ’Téobat vient probablement de Téohuatl, être divin.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 113.

[XI-92] ’En toda la plaça, ni en el templo donde están, entran allí hombre ni muger en tanto que allí están, sino solamente los muchachos pequeños que les llevan é dan de comer.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 47.

[XI-93] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 330.

[XI-94] Peter Martyr describes this edifice as follows: ‘Within the viewe of their Temples there are diuers Bases or Pillers like the Pulpittes … which Bases consist of eight steppes or stayres in some places twelue, and in another fifteene.’ Dec. vi., lib. vi.

[XI-95] Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 46-7, 53, 56, 93-4, 98, 101; Peter Martyr, dec. vi., lib. vii.; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 265-6; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec., iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.; vol. ii., pp. 708-10, 715, of this work.

[XI-96] Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 55-6; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii., lib. v., cap. xii.; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 256.

[XI-97] Brasseur de Bourbourg says: ‘Tamagoz, c’est encore une autre corruption du mot tlamacazqui.’ Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 114.

[XI-98] Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 46-7, 53; Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., p. 414; vol. ii., p. 728, of this work. Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 265, states that the priests were all married, while Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii., asserts the contrary. The latter view seems more correct when we consider that women were not permitted to enter the temples, and that the high priest and devotees were obliged to leave their wives when they passed into the sanctuary. It is even probable that there was no distinct priesthood, since the temples had no revenues, and the temple service was performed in part at least by volunteers; to this must be added the fact, that although the confessor might not be connected with the temple, yet he ordered penance for its benefit. It must be considered, however, that without regular ministers it would have been difficult to keep up the routine of feasts and ceremonies, write the books of records, teach the children, and maintain discipline.

[XI-99] Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 57; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 101, 107. ‘Sous le nom de “Texoxé” on désignait les naguals, les génies mauvais de toute espèce, ainsi que les sorciers.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 113.

[XI-100] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 63.

[XI-101] At Cape Honduras they consisted of long, narrow houses, raised above the ground, containing idols with heads of animals. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. v.

[XI-102] Id., and dec. iv., lib. i., cap. vi.; see vol. i., p. 740, of this work.

[XI-103] ’Es ist dafür das Wort God aus dem Englischen aufgenommen.’ Mosquitoland, Bericht, p. 142.

[XI-104] Bard’s Waikna, p. 243. ‘Devils, the chief of whom they call the Woolsaw, or evil principle, witchcraft.’ Strangeways’ Mosquito Shore, p. 331. Young writes Oulasser. Narrative, p. 72.

[XI-105] Bell, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., p. 254.

[XI-106] A shape which assigns the story a comparatively recent date, unless a deer was originally meant.

[XI-107] Bell, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., pp. 253-4; Young’s Narrative, p. 79.

[XI-108] Froebel’s Cent. Amer., p. 137; see also vol. i., pp. 740-1, of this work.

[XI-109] Hist. Ind., fol. 255.

[XI-110] Id., fol. 89; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 20, 125.

[XI-111] Peter Martyr, dec. vii., lib. x.; Irving’s Columbus, vol. iii., pp. 173-4; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 421.

[XI-112] Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., p. 401; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. i., cap. xi., dec. ii., lib. iii., cap. v.

[XI-113] Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. cxxiv., ccxlii.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 63.

[XI-114] Dec. iii., lib. iv., dec. ii., lib. iii.

[XI-115] A name applied in Cueba to all who excelled in an art. Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 126-7.

[XI-116] ’Las manos no se las vian.’ Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., p. 400.

[XI-117] For further account of sorcerers, see vol. i., pp. 779-80. Gomara writes: ‘Tauira, que es el Diablo.’ Hist. Ind., fol. 255; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. ii., cap. x., lib. iii., cap. v., dec. iv., lib. i., cap. x.

[XI-118] Peter Martyr, dec. vii., lib. x.

[XI-119] Ancient Fragments, introduction, p. 34. M. Pictet says of the primitive Celtic religion: “From a primitive duality, constituting the fundamental forces of the universe, there arises a double progression of cosmical powers, which, after having crossed each other by a mutual transition, at last proceed to blend in One Supreme Unity, as in their essential principles.” Says Sir William Jones: “We must not be surprised at finding, on a close examination, that the characters of all the Pagan deities, male and female, melt into each other, and at last into one or two, for it seems a well-founded opinion that the whole crowd of gods and goddesses in ancient Rome and modern Váránes, mean only the Powers of Nature, and principally those of the Sun, expressed in a variety of ways, and by a multitude of fanciful names.” On the Gods of Greece, Italy, and India, p. 273.

[XI-120] ’This suggestion was first publicly made in a communication read,’ says Squier, Serpent Symbol, p. 49, ‘before the American Ethnological Society, by a distinguished member of that body; from which the following passages are extracted. After noticing several facts tending to show the former existence of Phallic worship in America, the author of the paper proceeds as follows:—”We come now to Central America. Upon a perusal of the first journey of our fellow-members, Messrs. Stephens and Catherwood, into Guatemala and the central territories of the Continent, I was forcibly struck with the monolithic idols of Copan. We knew nothing before, save of Mexican, Palenque, and Uxmal remains; and those of Copan appeared to me to be unlike them all, and probably of an older date. My reading furnishes me with but one parallel to those singular monolithic sculptures, and that was seen in Ceylon, in 1796, by Captain Colin McKenzie, and described in the 6th volume of the Asiatic Researches. As the description is short, I transcribe it: ‘The figure is cut out of stone in relievo; but the whole is sunk in a hollow, scooped out, so that it is defended from injury on the sides. It may be about fourteen feet high, the countenance wild, a full round visage, the eyes large, the nose round and long; it has no beard; nor the usual distinguishing marks of the Gentoo casts. He holds up both his hands, with the forefingers and thumbs bent; the head-dress is high, and seems ornamented with jewels; on the little finger of the left hand is a ring; on the arms bracelets; a belt high about the waist; the lower dress or drapery fixed with a girdle much lower than the Gentoo dress, from which something like tassels depend; a collar and ornaments on the neck and shoulders; and rings seem to hang low from the ears. No appearance of any arms or weapons.’ This was the nearest approximation I could make to the Copan idols; for idols I took them to be, from the fact that an altar was invariably placed before them. From a close inspection of Mr. Catherwood’s drawings, I found that though no single figure presented all the foregoing characteristics, yet in the various figures I could find every particular enumerated in the Ceylon sculpture. It then occurred to me that one of the most usual symbols of the Phallus was an erect stone, often in its rough state, sometimes sculptured, and that no other object of heathen worship was so often shadowed forth by a single stone placed on end, as the Phallus. That the worship of the Priapus, [Lingam] existed in Ceylon, has long since been satisfactorily established; and hence I was led to suspect that these monuments at Copan, might be vestiges of a similar idolatry. A further inspection confirmed my suspicions; for, as I supposed, I found sculptured on the American ruins the organs of generation, and on the back of one of the emblems relative to uterine existence, parturition, etc. I should, however, have wanted entire confidence in the correctness of my suspicions, had the matter rested here. On the return of Messrs. Stephens and Catherwood from their second expedition, every doubt of the existence of Phallic worship, especially in Yucatan, was removed.”

[XI-121] Quatre Lettres, pp. 290, 301; Squier’s Serpent Symbol, pp. 47-50.

[XI-122] Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, part i., p. 40.

[XI-123] In Pánuco and other provinces ‘adorano il membro che portano gli huomini fra le gambe, & lo tengono nella meschita, & posto similmente sopra la piazza insieme con le imagini de rilieuo di tutti modi di piacere che possono essere fra l’huomo & la donna, & gli hanno di ritratto con le gambe di alzate in diuersi modi.’ Relatione fatta per un Gentil’huomo del Signor Fernando Cortése, in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 307.

[XI-124] ’Hallaron entre vnos arboles vn idolillo de oro y muchos de barro, dos hombres de palo, caualgando vno sobre otro, a fuer Sodoma, y otro de tierra cozida con ambas manos a lo suyo, que lo tenia retajado, como son casi todos los Indios de Yucatan.’ Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 58.

[XI-125] See vol. ii., pp. 336-7, concerning this festival.

[XI-126] ’Un idolo de piedra redondo,’ which may mean a ‘cylindrical stone,’ as the translator of Palacio’s Carta has rendered it.

[XI-127] Palacio, Carta, p. 84.

[XI-128] Concerning the cross in America, see this vol. p. 468.

[XI-129] I refer to the left hand figure in the cut on p. 348, vol. iv., of this work. For examples of the amulets mentioned, see illustrations in Payne Knight’s Worship of Priapus.

[XI-130] See vol. i., of this work, p. 93; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 48; See vol. ii., of this work, pp. 719-20.

[XI-131] Boturini, Idea, p. 13; see also this volume, pp. 243-4.

[XI-132] See vol. i., of this work, pp. 200, 414, 566-6; vol. ii., p. 676, and account of Yucatec feasts in chap. xxii. In citing these brutish orgies I do not presume, or wish to assert, that they were in any way connected with phallus worship, or indeed, that there was anything of a religious nature in them. Still, as they certainly were indulged in during, or immediately after the great religious festivals, and as we know how the phallic cult degenerated from its original purity into just such bestiality in Greece and Rome, I have thought it well to mention them. There is much truth in the following remarks on this point, by Mr. Brinton, though with his statement that the proofs of a recognition of the fecundating principle in Nature by the Americans are ‘altogether wanting,’ I cannot agree. He says: ‘There is no ground whatever to invest these debauches with any recondite meaning. They are simply indications of the thorough and utter immorality which prevailed throughout the race. And a still more disgusting proof of it is seen in the frequent appearance among diverse tribes of men dressed as women and yielding themselves to indescribable vices. There was at first nothing of a religious nature in such exhibitions. Lascivious priests chose at times to invest them with some such meaning…. The pretended phallic worship of the Natchez and of Culhuacan, cited by the Abbé Brasseur, rests on no good authority, and if true, is like that of the Huastecs of Panuco, nothing but an unrestrained and boundless profligacy which it were an absurdity to call a religion. That which Mr. Stephens attempts to show existed once in Yucatan, rests entirely by his own statement on a fancied resemblance of no value whatever, and the arguments of Lafitau to the same effect are quite insufficient. There is a decided indecency in the remains of ancient American art, especially in Peru, (Meyen) and great lubricity in many ceremonies, but the proof is altogether wanting to bind these with the recognition of fecundating principle throughout nature, or, indeed, to suppose for them any other origin than the promptings of an impure fancy. I even doubt whether they often referred to fire as the deity of sexual love. By a flight of fancy inspired by a study of oriental mythology, the worship of the reciprocal principle in America has been connected with that of the sun and moon, as the primitive pair from whose fecund union all creatures proceeded. It is sufficient to say if such a myth exists among the Indians—which is questionable—it justifies no such deduction; that the moon is often mentioned in their languages merely as the “night sun;” and that in such important stocks as the Iroquois, Athapascas, Cherokees, and Tupis, the sun is said to be a feminine noun; while the myths represent them more frequently as brother and sister than as man and wife; nor did at least the northern tribes regard the sun as the cause of fecundity in nature at all, but solely as giving light and warmth.’ Myths, pp. 149-50; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., pp. 416-17.

[XI-133] For a full account of this feast see vol. ii., of this work, pp. 329-30.

Chapter XII • Future State • 16,200 Words

Aboriginal Ideas of Future—General Conceptions of Soul—Future State of the Aleuts, Chepewyans, Natives at Milbank Sound, and Okanagans—Happy Land of the Salish and Chinooks—Conceptions Of Heaven and Hell of the Nez Percés, Flatheads, and Haidahs—The Realms of Quawteaht and Chayher—Beliefs of the Songhies, Clallams, and Pend d’Oreilles—The Future State of the Californian and Nevada Tribes, Comanches, Pueblos, Navajos, Apaches, Moquis, Maricopas, Yumas, and others—The Sun House of the Mexicans—Tlalocan and Mictlan—Condition of the Dead—Journey of the Dead—Future of the Tlascaltecs and other Nations.

The hope, or at least the expectation of immortality, is universal among men. The mind instinctively shrinks from the thought of utter annihilation, and ever clings to the hope of a future which shall be better than the present. But as man’s ideal of supreme happiness depends upon his culture, tastes, and condition in this life, we find among different people widely differing conceptions of a future. The intellectual Greek looked forward to the enjoyment of less gross and more varied pleasures in his Elysian Fields, than the sensual Mussulman, whose paradise was merely a place where bright-eyed houris could administer to his every want, or the fierce Viking whose Valhalla was a scene of continual gluttony and strife, of alternate hewing in pieces and swilling of mead.

Ideas of Future

It has been supposed by some that the idea of future punishment and reward was unknown to the Americans.[XII-1]’The preconceived opinions,’ says Brinton, ‘that saw in the meteorological myths of the Indian a conflict between the Spirit of Good and the Spirit of Evil, have with like unconscious error falsified his doctrine of a future life, and almost without an exception drawn it more or less in the likeness of a Christian heaven, hell, and purgatory…. Nowhere was any well-defined doctrine that moral turpitude was judged and punished in the next world. No contrast is discoverable between a place of torments and a realm of joy; at the worst, but a negative castigation awaited the liar, the coward, or the niggard.’ Myths, p. 242. This is certainly an error, for some of the Pacific Coast tribes had very definite ideas of future retribution, and almost all, in supposing that the manner of death influenced the future state of the deceased, implied a belief in future reward, at least. The slave, too, who was sacrificed on the grave of his master, was thought to earn by his devotion, enforced though it might be, a passport to the realms of eternal joy; had there been no less blissful bourne this prospective reward for fidelity would have been manifestly superfluous.

The future life of these people was sharply defined, and was of the earth, earthy. In its most common forms it was merely earth-life, more or less free from mortal ills. The soul was subject to the same wants as the body, and must be supplied by the same means. In fact, the pagan’s conception of heaven was much more clearly defined than the Christian’s, and the former must have anticipated a removal thither with a far less wondering and troubled mind than the latter.

In the Mexican heaven there were various degrees of happiness, and each was appointed to his place according to his rank and deserts in this life. The high-born warrior who fell gloriously in battle did not meet on equal terms the base-born rustic who died in his bed. Even in the House of the Sun, the most blissful abode of the brave, the ordinary avocations of life were not entirely dispensed with, and after their singing and dancing, the man took up his bow again, and the woman her spindle. The lower heavens possessed a less degree of splendor and happiness until the abode of the great mass of those who had lived an obscure life and died a natural death was reached. These pursued their avocations by twilight, or passed their time in a dreamy condition, or state of torpor. As slaves were often sacrificed over their master’s grave that they might serve in the next world, we must suppose that differences of rank were maintained there. The Tlascaltecs supposed that the common people were after death transformed into beetles and disgusting objects, while the nobler became stars and beautiful birds. But this condition was also influenced by the acts and conduct of friends of the deceased.

Sir John Lubbock[XII-2]Prehistoric Times, p. 139. does not believe with Wilson and other archæologists that the burial of implements with the dead was because of any belief that they would be of use to the deceased in a future state; but solely as a tribute of affection, an outburst of that spirit of sacrifice and offering so noticeable in all, from the most savage to the most civilized, in the presence of lost brotherhood, friendship, or love. In the first place the outfit in a great majority of cases is wholly unfit and inadequate, viewed in any rational scale of utility; they are not such as the dead warrior would procure, if by any means he were again restored to earth and to his friends. In the second place it was and is usual to so effectually mutilate the devoted arms and utensils, as to render them a mere mockery if they are intended for the future use of the dead. It is easy to classify this phenomenon in the same category with the deserting or destroying of the house of the deceased, the refusal to mention his name, and all the other rude contrivances by which the memory of their sorrow may be buried out of their sight.

This subject may be viewed in another light, however, by considering that these Indians sometimes impute spirits even to inanimate objects, and when the wife or the slave is slain, their spirits meet the chief in the future land. Do they not also break the bow and the spear that the ghostly weapons may seek above the hands of their sometime owner, not leaving him defenceless among the awful shades. The mutilation of the articles may perhaps be regarded as a symbolic killing, to release the soul of the object; the inadequacy of the supply may indicate that they were to be used only during the journey, or preparatory state, more perfect articles being given to the soul, or prepared by it, on entering the heaven proper.

The slaves sacrificed at the grave by the Aztecs and Tarascos were selected from various trades and professions and took with them the most cherished articles of the master, and the implements of their trade, wherewith to supply his wants. Passports were given for the different points along the road, and a dog as guide. Thus the souls of animals are shown to have entered heaven with man, and this is also implied by the belief that men were there transformed into birds and insects, and that they followed the chase. Another instance which seems to indicate that the souls of these earthly objects were used merely during the preparatory state, was the yearly feast given to departed souls during the period that this condition endured. After that they were left to oblivion. The Miztecs had the custom of inviting the spirits to enter and partake of the repast spread for them, and this food, the essence of which had been consumed by the unseen visitors, was regarded as sacred.[XII-3]See vol. ii., pp. 618, 623.

The Road to Heaven

The road to paradise was represented to be full of dangers—an idea probably suggested to them by the awful mystery of death. In the idea of this perilous journey, this road beset with many dangers—storms, monsters, deep waters, and whirlpools—we may trace a belief in future retribution, for though the majority of travelers manage to reach their destination having only suffered more or less maltreatment by the way, yet many a solitary, ill-provided wanderer is overwhelmed and prevented from doing so. In exceptional cases, the perils of this valley of the shadow of death are avoided by the intervention of a friendly deity who, Hermes-like, bears the weary soul straight to its rest. Among the Mexicans Teoyaomique, the consort of the war-god, performed this good office for the fallen warrior.

With the alternative of this not very attractive future before them, it is natural that the theory of metempsychosis should have found wide and ready acceptance, for with these people it did not mean purification from sin, as among the Brahmans; it was simply the return of the soul to the world, to live once more the old life, although at times in a different and superior sphere. The human form was, therefore, assumed more often than that of animals. The soul generally entered the body of a female relative to form the soul of the unborn infant; the likeness of the child to a deceased friend in features or peculiarities lent great weight to this belief. This reëmbodiment was not limited to individuals; the Nootkas, for instance, accounted for the existence of a distant tribe, speaking the same language as themselves, by declaring them to be the incarnated spirits of their dead. The preservation of the bones of the dead, seems in some cases to be connected with a belief in a resurrection of the body. The opinion underlying the various customs of preservation of remains, says Brinton, “was, that a part of the soul, or one of the souls, dwelt in the bones; that these were the seeds which, planted in the earth, or preserved unbroken in safe places, would, in time, put on once again a garb of flesh, and germinate into living human beings.”[XII-4]Myths, p. 257. Indeed, a Mexican creation-myth relates that man sprang from dead bones,[XII-5]See p. 59, this volume. and in Goatzacoalco the bones were actually deposited in a convenient place, that the soul might resume them.

Ideas of Soul

The most general idea of a soul seems to have been that of a double self, possessing all the essence and attributes of the individual, except the carnal embodiment, and independent of the body in so far as it was able to leave it, and revel in other scenes or spheres. It would accordingly appear to another person, by day or night, as a phantom, with recognizable form and features, and leave the impression of its visits in ideas, remembrances, or dreams. Every misty outline, every rustle, was liable to be regarded by the undiscriminating aborigine as a soul on its wanderings, and the ideas of air, wind, breath, shadow, soul, were often represented by the same word. The Eskimo word silla, signifies air, wind, and conveys the idea of world, mind; tarnak, means soul, shadow. The Yakima word for wind and life contains the same root; the Aztec ehecatl signifies wind, air, life, soul, shadow; in Quiché the soul bears the name of natub, shadow; the Nicaraguans think that it is yulia, the breath, which goes to heaven.[XII-6]Oviedo, Hist. Nic., in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. iii. p. 36; Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 74; Id., Ortsnamen, p. 159; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Gram. Quiché, p. 196; Brinton’s Myths, p. 49-52, 235. Some hold that man has several souls, one of which goes to heaven, the others remain with the body, and hover about their former home. The Mexicans and Quichés received a soul after death from a stone placed between the lips for that purpose, which also served for heart, the seat of the soul;[XII-7]Vol. ii., pp. 606, 799, of this work. this was buried with the remains. The custom of eating the flesh of brave enemies in order to inherit their virtues, points to a belief in the existence of another soul or vital quality in the corpse. Some Oregon tribes gave a soul to every member of the body. A plurality of souls is also implied by the belief in soul-wandering during sleep, for is not the body animate though the soul be separated from it? Yet the soul proper could not remain away from the body beyond a certain time, lest the weaker soul that remained should fail to sustain life.

With the many contradictions and vague statements before us, it must be admitted that the phrase “immortality of the soul” is often misleading. Tylor even considers it doubtful “how far the lower psychology entertains at all an absolute conception of immortality, for past and future fade soon into utter vagueness as the savage mind quits the present to explore them.”[XII-8]Prim. Cult., vol. ii., p. 22.

Metempsychosis

Some tribes among the Hyperboreans actually disbelieved in a future existence, while others held the doctrine of a future reward and punishment. The conceptions of a soul were well defined however; the Thlinkeets supposed it to enter the spirit-world, among the yeks, on being released from the body. The braves who had fallen in battle, or had been murdered, became keeyeks, ‘upper ones,’ and went to dwell in the north, where the aurora borealis, omen of war, flashes in reflection from the lights which illuminate their dances; so at least the Eskimos regard it.[XII-9]Dall’s Alaska, pp. 145, 422. Those who died a natural death became tákeeyeks, land-spirits, and tékeeyeks, sea-spirits, and dwelt in takankon, doubtless situated in the centre of the earth,[XII-10]Barrett-Lennard says, however: ‘Those that die a natural death are condemned to dwell for ages among the branches of tall trees.’ Trav., p. 54. ‘Careciese de algunas ideas religiosas, y viviese persuadido de la total aniquilacion del hombre con la muerte.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. cxviii. It is doubtful whether the latter class is composed of the spirits of men, or merely of marine animals. See this vol., p. 148. the road to which was watered, and made smooth by the tears of relatives, but if too much crying was indulged in, it became swampy and difficult to travel. The tákeeyeks and tékeeyeks appear to have attached themselves as guardian spirits to the living, and were under the control of the shamáns, before whom they came in the form of land and sea animals, to do their bidding and reveal the past and future.[XII-11]The Tinnehs do not regard these as the spirits of men. Dall’s Alaska, p. 88. The keeyeks were evidently above the conjuration of the sorcerers. The comforts of heaven, like the road to it, depended on earthly conditions; thus, the body was burned in order that it might be warm in its new home. Slaves, however, who were buried, were condemned to freeze, but the shamáns whose bodies were also left to moulder, had doubtless power to avoid such misery. All lived in heaven as on earth, earning their living in the same manner, to which end the implements and other articles burnt with them were brought into use; wealthy people appointed two slaves to be sacrificed at the pyre, upon whom devolved the duty of attending to their wants. The slaves carried their long-pending doom very philosophically, it is said.[XII-12]Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 54. ‘They have a confused notion of immortality.’ Id., p. 58. The Koniagas also used to kill a slave on the grave of wealthy men. Dall’s Alaska, p. 403. It appears, however, that the soul had the option of returning to this life, and as I have said, generally entered the body of a female relative to form the soul of a coming infant. If the child resembled a deceased friend or relation, this reëmbodiment was at once recognized, and the name of the dead person was given to it. Metempsychosis does not appear to have been restricted to relatives only, for the Thlinkeets were often heard to express a desire to be born again into families distinguished for wealth and position, and even to wish to die soon in order to attain this bliss the earlier.[XII-13]Dall’s Alaska, pp. 422-3; Holmberg, Ethno. Skiz., pp. 63-5. This belief in the transmigration of souls was widely spread, and accounts to some extent for the fearlessness with which the Hyperboreans contemplated death.[XII-14]The Chepewyans also held this theory, though they believed in a heaven of bliss and a state of punishment. Mackenzie’s Voy., p. cxix. The Tacullies and Sicannis asked the deceased whether he would return to life or not, and the shamán who put the question decided the matter by looking at the naked breast of the body through his fingers; he then raised his hand toward heaven, and blew the soul, which had apparently entered his fingers, into the air, that it might seek a body to take possession of; or the shamán placed his hands upon the head of one of the mourners and sent the spirit into him, to be embodied in his next offspring. The relative thus favored added the name of the deceased to his own. If these things were not done the deceased was supposed to depart to the centre of the earth to enjoy happiness, according to their estimate of it. The Kenai supposed that a soft twilight reigned perpetually in this place, and that its inhabitants pursued their avocations; while the living slept they worked. The soul did not, however, attain perfect rest until a feast had been given in its honor, attended by a distribution of skins.[XII-15]Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., pp. 409-10; Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., pp. 107-8, 111; Harmon’s Jour., pp. 299-300; Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 482.

Future of the Columbian Tribes

Dall, in speaking of the Tinnehs, to which family the Tacullies and Kenai belong, states that he found few who believed in the immortality of the soul, and none in future reward and punishment; any contrary assertion he characterizes as proceeding from ignorance or exaggeration. Other authors, however, in treating of tribes situated both in the extreme north, and in the center of this family, as the Loucheux and Chepewyans, declare that good and wicked were treated according to their deserts, the poor and rich often changing lots in the other life. Terrible punishment was sometimes inflicted upon the wicked in this world; thus, in Stickeen River stand several stone pillars, which are said to be the remains of an evil-doing chief and his family, whom divine anger placed there as a warning to others. According to Kennicott, the soul, whether good or bad, was received by Chutsain, the spirit of death, who was, for this reason probably, called the bad spirit.[XII-16]Whymper’s Alaska, p. 345; Mackenzie’s Voy., p. cxxviii.; Hardisty, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 318. ‘Nach dem Tode wurde nach ihren (Koniagas) Begriffen jeder Mensch ein Teufel; bisweilen zeigte er sich den Verwandten, und das hatte Glück zu bedeuten.’ Holmberg, Ethno. Skiz., p. 122; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 457-8. The Eskimos seem to have believed in a future state, for Richardson relates that a dying man whom he saw at Cumberland Inlet declared his joy at the prospect of meeting his children in the other world and there living in bliss. It is also a suggestive fact that implements and clothes were buried with the body, care being taken that nothing should press heavily upon it. The large destruction of property practiced by some Rocky Mountain tribes was for the purpose of obliterating the memory of the deceased.[XII-17]Vol. i., pp. 126-7, of this work; Dunn’s Oregon, p. 83; Silliman’s Jour., vol. xvi., p. 147; Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 67; Richardson’s Pol. Reg., p. 322. The Eskimos had no idea of ‘future reward and punishment.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 145. The Aleuts believed that the spirits of their relatives attended them as good genii, and invoked them on all trying occasions, especially in cases of vendetta.[XII-18]D’Orbigny’s Voy., p. 50. The Chepewyan story relates that the soul arrives after death at a river upon which floats a stone canoe. In this it embarks and is borne by the gentle current to an extensive lake in the midst of which is an enchanted island. While the soul is drifting toward it, the actions of its life are examined, and if the good predominate, the canoe lands it on the shore, where the senses revel in never-ending pleasures. But if the evil of its past life out-weigh the good, the stone canoe sinks, leaving the spirit-occupant immersed up to the chin, there eternally to float and struggle, ever beholding but never realizing the happiness of the good.[XII-19]Mackenzie’s Voy., p. cxix.; Dunn’s Oregon, p. 104. This pronounced belief in a future reward and punishment obtained among several of the Columbian tribes. The natives of Millbank Sound picture it as two rivers guarded by huge gates, and flowing out of a dark lake—the gloom of death. The good enter the stream to the right, which sparkles in constant sunshine, and supplies them with an abundance of salmon and berries; the wicked pass in to the left and suffer cold and starvation on its bleak, snow-clad banks.[XII-20]Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 272-3. The Okanagans call paradise, or the abode of the good spirit, elemehumkillanwaist, and hell, where those who kill and steal go, kishtsamah. The torments of the latter place are increased by an evil spirit in human form, but with tail and ears like a horse, who jumps about from tree to tree with a stick in his hand and belabors the condemned.[XII-21]Ross’ Adven., p. 288; Cox’s Adven., vol. ii., p. 158.

Some among the Salish and Chinooks describe the happy state as a bright land, called tamath by the latter, evidently situated in the direction of the sunny south, and abounding in all good things. Here the soul can revel in enjoyments, which, however, depend on its own exertions; the wealthy, therefore, take slaves with them to perform the menial duties. The wicked on the other hand are consigned to a desolate region under the control of an evil spirit, known as the Black Chief, there to be constantly tantalized by the sight of game, water and fire, which they can never reach. Some held that tamath was gained by a difficult road called otuihuti, which lay along the Milky Way, while others believed that a canoe took the soul across the water that was supposed to separate it from the land of the living.[XII-22]Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 235, 246-7; Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 124; Dunn’s Oregon, p. 120. The Salish and Pend d’Oreilles believed that the brave went to the sun, while the bad remained near earth to trouble the living, or ceased to exist. Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 239-40. But this is contradicted by other accounts.

The Nez Percés, Flatheads, and some of the Haidah tribes believed that the wicked, after expiating their crimes by a longer or shorter sojourn in the land of desolation, were admitted to the abode of bliss. The Haidahs called the latter place keewuck, ‘above,’ within which seems to have been a still brighter spot termed keewuckkow, ‘life above,’ the abode of perennial youth, whither the spirit of the fallen brave took its flight. Those who died a natural death were consigned with the wicked to seewukkow, the purgatorial department, situated in the forest, there to be purified before entering the happy keewuck.[XII-23]Macfie’s description leaves a doubt whether the keewuck and keewuckkow are names for the same heaven, or separate. Vanc. Isl., p. 457. The Queen Charlotte Islanders termed paradise ‘the happy hunting-ground,’ a rather strange idea when we consider that their almost sole avocation was fishing.[XII-24]Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., p. 320. The Nez Percés believed also in a purgatory for the living, and that the beavers were men condemned to atone their sins before they could resume the human form.[XII-25]Cox’s Adven., vol. i., p. 252; Dunn, Oregon, p. 318, says, ‘beavers are a fallen race of Indians.’ It seems to have been undecided whether the wives and young children shared the fate of the head of the family; the Flatheads expressed a belief in reunion, but that may have been after one or all had been purified in the intermediate state. Those who sacrificed slaves on the grave, sent them alike with the master that died gloriously on the battle-field, or obscurely in his bed.

Quawteaht and Chayher

The Ahts hold that the soul inhabits at once the heart and the head of man. Some say that after death it will return to the animal form from which its owner can trace his descent; others that, according to rank, disembodied souls will go to live with Quawteaht or with Chayher. Quawteaht inhabits a beautiful country somewhere up in the heavens, though not directly over the earth; a goodly land flowing with all manner of Indian milk and honey; no storms there, no snow nor frost to bind the rivers, but only warmth and sunshine and abundant game and fish. Here the chiefs live in the very mansion of Quawteaht, and the slain in battle live in a neighboring lodge, enjoying also in their degree, all the amenities of the place. And these are the only doors to this Valhalla of the Ahts; only lofty birth or a glorious death in battle can confer the right of entry here. The souls of those that die a woman’s death, in their bed, go down to the land of Chayher. Chayher is a figure of flesh without bones—thus reversing our pictorial idea of the grisly king of terrors—who is in the form of an old gray-bearded man. He wanders about in the night stealing men’s souls, when, unless the doctors can recover the soul, the man dies. The country of Chayher is also called chayher. It resembles a subterranean earth but is every way an inferior country: there are no salmon there and the deer are wretchedly small, while the blankets are so thin and narrow as to be almost useless for either warmth or decoration. This is why people burn blankets when burying their friends; they cannot bear that their friend be sent shivering to the world below. The dead Aht seems to have been allowed in some cases to roam about on earth in the form of a person or animal, doing both good and evil, a belief which induced many to make conciliatory offerings of food to the deceased. Some Chinook tribes were afraid to pronounce the names of their dead lest they should be attracted and carry off souls. This was especially feared at the sick-bed, and the medicine-man had to be constantly on guard with his familiars to frustrate such attempts.[XII-26]Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., p. 619; vol. i., p. 248, of this work. The Aht sorcerer even sent his own soul down to chayher to recover the truant, in which he generally succeeded, unless the spirit of the sick man had entered a house.[XII-27]The sorcerer is stated by one native to have brought the soul on a small stick and thrown it back into the head of its body. Sproat’s Scenes, p. 214. ‘The natives often imagine that a bad spirit, which loves to vex and torment, takes the place of the truant soul during its absence.’ Id., pp. 173-4; Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. v., p. 225. Some among the tribes believed that the soul issued from animals, especially sea-gulls and partridges, and would return to its original form. The Songhies said the hunter was transformed into a deer, the fisherman into a fish; and the Nootkas, that the spirit could reassume a human form if the celestial abode were not to its taste.[XII-28]Mayne’s B. C., p. 181; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 136; Meares’ Voy., p. 270; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., p. 457; Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 212-3.

Future of the Californians

In striking contrast to the preceding beliefs in futurity, and to that of the Clallams, who with universalistic feeling believe that the good spirit will receive all, without exception, in his happy hunting-ground, we are told that the Pend d’Oreilles had no conceptions whatever of soul or immortality, so that the missionaries found it difficult to explain these matters to them. It is certainly strange that a tribe surrounded by and in constant contact with others who held these ideas should have remained uninfluenced by them, especially as they were extremely superstitious and believed in guardian spirits and dreams.[XII-29]Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 212; Brinton’s Myths, pp. 233-4; see note 2. Disbelief in a future state is assigned to many tribes, which upon closer examination are shown to possess ideas of a life after this; such statements must, therefore, be accepted with caution. Among the Californians who are said to identify death with annihilation, are the Meewocs and the tribes of the Sacramento Valley, yet the latter are afraid to pronounce the name of a deceased person, lest he should rise from dark oblivion.[XII-30]Johnston, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 225. But these may be regarded as exceptions, the remainder had pretty definite ideas of futurity, heaven being generally placed in the west, whither the glorious sun speeds to rest. The Northern Californian regarded it as a great camping-ground, under the charge of the good spirit, where all meet after death, to enjoy a life free from want. But there were dangers upon the road which led to this bliss; for Omahá, the evil spirit, hovered near the dying man, ready to snatch and carry off the soul as soon as it should leave its earthly tenement. To prevent such a calamity, the friends who attended the burning of the body shouted and gesticulated to distract the Evil One’s attention and enable the heart, in which the soul resided, to leap out of the flames and escape to heaven. If the body was interred, they thought the devil would have more chance of capturing the heart, which would then be sent back to earth to annoy the living.[XII-31]Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. iii., pp. 438-9; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., p. 448. The natives near the mouth of Russian River burned their dead to prevent their becoming grizzlies, while those about Clear Lake supposed that the wicked alone were thus metamorphosed, or condemned to wander as spirits.[XII-32]Powers’ Pomo, MS. Others, however, who adhered to interment, sought to complete the ceremony before night, when the coyote, in which form the evil spirit probably appeared, begins to howl, and for three days they kept up noisy demonstrations and fires at the graves; after that the fate of the soul was no longer doubtful. If captured, the good spirit could redeem it with a big knife. It was the belief in some parts that the deceased remained in the grave during the three days, and then proceeded to heaven, where earth and sky meet, to become stars, chiefs assuming the most brilliant forms.[XII-33]Ib.; Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 140.

The bright rivers, sunny slopes, and green forests of the Euroc paradise are separated from the earth by a deep chasm, which good and wicked alike must cross on a thin, slippery pole. The former soon reach the goal, aided, doubtless, by the good spirit, as well as by the fire lighted on the grave by mourning friends, but the wicked man has to falter unaided along the shivering bridge; and many are the nights that pass before his friends venture to dispense with the beacon, lest the soul miss the path, and fall into the dark abyss. Nor does retribution end with the peril and anxiety of the passage, for many are liable to return to the earth as birds, beasts, and insects. When a Kailta dies, a little bird carries the soul to spirit-land, but its flight is impeded by the sins of the wicked, which enables a watching hawk to overtake and devour the soul.[XII-34]Powers’ Pomo, MS.; Miller’s Life amongst the Modocs, pp. 241, 249.

The Cahrocs have a more distinct conception of future reward and punishment, and suppose that the spirit on its journey comes to two roads, one strewn with flowers and leading to the bright western land beyond the great waters, across which good Chareya doubtless aids it; the other, bristling with thorns and briars, leading to a place full of deadly serpents, where the wicked must wander for ever.[XII-35]Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. viii., pp. 430-1. The Tolewahs place heaven behind the sun, wherever that is, and picture hell as a dark place where souls shiver for ever before the cold winds, and are harassed by fiends.[XII-36]Id., Pomo, MS.; this vol., p. 177. The Modocs believe in a spirit-land, evidently situated in the air above the earthly home, where souls hover about inciting the living to good or evil. Merit appears to be measured by bodily stature, for contemptible woman becomes so small here that the warrior, whose stature is in proportion to his powers, requires quite a number of females to supply his wants.[XII-37]Meacham, Religion of Indians.

The Ukiahs, Sanéls, and others sprinkle food about the favorite haunts of the dead. The mother, for instance, while chanting her mournful ditty over the grave of her dead babe sprinkles the nourishing milk in the air.[XII-38]Powers’ Pomo, MS.

Many of the Nevada tribes thought that several heavens await the soul, each with a degree of bliss in proportion to the merits of the dead person; but this belief was not well defined; nor was that of the Snakes, who killed the favorite horse, and even wife, for the deceased, that he might not be lonely.[XII-39]Vol. i., pp. 439-40, this work; Browne’s L. Cal., p. 188. The Allequas supposed that before the soul could enter the ever-green prairies to live its second life, free from want and sorrow, it had expiated its sins in the form of some animal, weak, or strong, bad or good, often passing from a lower to a higher grade, according to the earthly conduct of the deceased. By eating prairie-dogs and other game, some sought to gather souls, apparently with a view to increase the purity of their own and shorten the preparatory term.[XII-40]Meyer, Nach dem Sacramento, pp. 228-9; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., pp. 215-6. The San Diego tribes, on the other hand, who considered large game as the embodied spirits of certain generations, abstained from their flesh, evidently fearing that such fare would hasten their metamorphosis; but old men, whose term of life was nearly run, were not deterred by these fears.

Metempsychosis in California

Ideas of metempsychosis also appear in one of the songs of a Southern Californian tribe, which runs: As the moon dies to be reborn, so the soul of man will be renewed. Yet this people professed no belief in a future reward, or punishment. It is doubtless the same people, living near Monterey, of whom Marmier says, they supposed that the dead retired to certain verdant isles in the sea, while awaiting the birth of the infants whose souls they were to form. Others regarded these islands as paradise, and placed hell in a mountain chasm.[XII-41]La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 307; Marmier, Notice, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., p. 238; Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1844, tom. ci., pp. 335-6; Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., pp. 379-80.

Among the Acagchemems we meet with a peculiar pantheistic notion. Death was regarded as an invisible entity constituting the air, which also formed the soul of man, or his breath, whose particular seat was the heart. As man became decrepit, his soul was gradually absorbed in the element which had originated it, until it finally became merged and lost therein. But this was the belief of some only among the tribe. Others supposed that they would go to tolmec, the abode of the great Chinigchinich, situated below the earth, abounding in sensual pleasures, unembittered by sorrow, and where food and other wants were supplied without labor. Still others held that Chinigchinich sent the soul, or the heart, as they expressed it, to different places, according to the station in life and manner of death of the deceased. Thus, chiefs and medicine-men, whom Tacu, the eater of human flesh, honored by devouring, became heavenly bodies, while those who died by drowning, or in captivity, and could not be eaten by Tacu, went elsewhere. Souls of common people were consigned to some undefined, though evidently happy, place, since they were obliged to pass a probationary term on the borders of the sea, on mountains, in valleys, or forests, whence they came to commune with, or among, their widows or relatives, who often burned or razed the house to be saved from such visits.[XII-42]Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., pp. 316-24.

The Mojaves have more liberal ideas and admit all to share the joys of heaven. With the smoke curling upwards from the pyre, the soul rises and floats eastward to the regions of the rising sun, whither Matevil has gone before, and where a second earth-life awaits it, free from want and sorrow. But if its purity be sullied by crime, or stained with human blood, the soul is transformed into a rat and must remain for four days in a rat-hole to be purified before Matevil can receive it. According to some, Matevil dwells in a certain lofty mountain lying in the Mojave territory.[XII-43]’Ives legte dem Gebirge den Namen: “Berg der Todten” bei.’ Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. i., pp. 357-8. ‘All cowardly Indians (and bravery was the good with them) were tormented with hardships and failures, sickness and defeats. This hill, or hades, they never dared visit.’ Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, p. 233; Dodt, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, p. 129; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 43.

Future of Maricopas, Yumas, Apaches, Moquis

The Pimas also believe that the soul[XII-44]Estupec, the soul or heart, may be connected with eep, breath. Walker’s Pimas, MS. In Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 461, occurs the term angel, but the Pima chiefs whom I have questioned state that the term angel was not known to them. goes to the east, to the sun-house perhaps, there to live with Sehuiab, the son of the creator, but this Elysium is not perfect, for a devil called Chiawat is admitted there, and he greatly plagues the inmates.[XII-45]Walker’s Pimas, MS. The Maricopas are stated in one account to believe in a future state exactly similar to the life on earth, with all its social distinctions and wants, so that in order to enable the soul to assume its proper position among the spirits, all the property of the deceased, as well as a great part of that of his relatives, is offered up at the grave. But according to Bartlett they think the dead will return to their ancient home on the banks of the Colorado, and live on the sand hills. Here the different parts of the body will be transformed into animals, the head, for instance, becoming an owl, the hands, bats, the feet, wolves, and in these forms continue their ancient feuds with the Yumas, who expelled them from that country.[XII-46]Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 222; Cremony’s Apaches, pp. 104-5. ‘Cuando muere vá á vivir su corazon por el mar hácia el poniente: que algunos despues que mueren viven como tecolotes, y últimamente dijeron que ellos no saben bien estas cosas.’ Garcés, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série ii., tom. i., p. 239. The Yumas, however, do not conform to these views, but expect that the good soul will leave worldly strife for a pleasant valley hidden in one of the cañons of the Colorado, and that the wicked will be shut up in a dark cavern to be tantalized by the view of the bliss beyond their reach.[XII-47]Day, in Hesperian, vol. iii., p. 482.

The Apaches believe in metempsychosis and consider the rattlesnake as the form to be assumed by the wicked after death. The owl, the eagle, and perfectly white birds, were regarded as possessing souls of divine origin, and the bear was not less sacred in their estimation, for the very daughter of Montezuma, whom it had carried off from her father’s home, was the mother of its race.[XII-48]Henry, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 209. The Moquis, went so far as to suppose that they would return to the primeval condition of animals, plants, and inanimate objects.[XII-49]Ten Broeck, in Id., vol. iv., p. 86. The faith of the other Pueblo tribes in New Mexico was more in accordance with their cultured condition, namely, that the soul would be judged immediately after death according to its deeds. Food was placed with the dead, and stones were thrown upon the body to drive out the evil spirit. On a certain night, in August it seems, the soul haunted the hills near its former home to receive the tributes of food and drink which affectionate friends hastened to offer. Scoffers connected the disappearance of the choice viands with the rotund form of the priests.[XII-50]Id., p. 78; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 402; Whipple’s Rept., in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 59.

The Navajos expected to return to their place whence they originated, below the earth, where all kinds of fruits and cereals, germinated from the seeds lost above, grow in unrivaled luxuriance. Released from their earthly bonds the spirits proceed to an extensive marsh in which many a soul is bemired through relying too much on its own efforts, and failing to ask the aid of the great spirit; or, perhaps the outfit of live stock and implements offered at the grave has been inadequate to the journey. After wandering about for four days the more fortunate souls come to a ladder conducting to the under world; this they descend and are gladdened by the sight of two great spirits, male and female, who sit combing their hair. After looking on for a few suns imbibing lessons of cleanliness, perhaps, they climb up to the swamp again to be purified, and then return to the abode of the spirits to live in peace and plenty for ever. Some believe that the bad become coyotes, and that women turn into fishes, and then into other forms.[XII-51]Beadle, in Crofutt’s Western World, Aug., 1872, p. 27; Bristol, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1867, p. 358; Eaton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 218; Davis’ El Gringo, p. 418.

Among the Comanches we find the orthodox American paradise, in its full glory. In the direction of the setting sun lie the happy prairies, where the buffalo lead the hunter in the glorious chase, and where the horse of the pale-face aids those who have excelled in scalping and horse-stealing, to attain supreme felicity. At night they are permitted to revisit the earth, but must return before the break of day.[XII-52]Marcy’s Army Life, p. 57; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., pp. 54, 685. Food is left at the grave for a certain time; this would indicate that the soul proper, or its second form, remains with the body for a while. Id., pp. 78-9. In striking contrast to this idea stands the curious belief said to have been held by the Pericúis of Lower California. Their great spirit Niparaya hated war, and to deter his people from engaging therein, consigned all those slain in battle to Tuparan or Wac, a spirit who rising in rebellion against the peace-loving Niparaya was deprived of all luxuries, and imprisoned in a cave by the sea, guarded by whales. Yet a number openly professed themselves adherents of this personage. The Cochimís, who appear to have had nearly the same belief, declare that it was the bad spirits who sought to secure the soul and hold it captive in the cave. Whatever may be the correct version, their belief in a future state, says Baegert, is evident from the custom of putting sandals on the feet of the dead.[XII-53]Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 387; Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., pp. 136-7, 139.

The Realm of Mucchita

The souls of the Sonora Indians dwell in the caves and among the rocks of the cliffs, and the echoes heard there are their clamoring voices.[XII-54]Alger’s Future Life, p. 208. ‘Lo llevan á enterrar sentado y con sus mejores vestidos, poniendo á su lado competente porcion de sus ordinarios, alimentos.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. ii., p. 218. Ribas declares that in one part of Sinaloa a future state was ignored, yet he says that they acknowledged a supreme mother and her son, who was the first man.[XII-55]Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 18. In Nayarit we come upon the Mexican idea of different heavens, determined by the mode of death. Thus, children and those who were carried off by disease went to one place; those who died a violent death, to the air regions, where they became shooting stars. The others went to mucchita, placed somewhere in the district of Rosario, where they lived under the care of men with shaven heads. During the day they were allowed to consort with the living, in the form of flies, to seek food; but at night they returned to the mucchita to assume the human form and pass the time in dancing. At one time they could be released from this abode, but owing to the imprudence of one man, this privilege was lost. This person one day made a trip to the coast to procure salt, leaving his wife to take care of the house. After a short absence he returned, in time only to see her disappear in the mucchita, whither the spirits had beckoned her. His sorrow was boundless, for he loved his wife dearly. At last his tears and sighs touched the heart of the keeper of the souls, who told him to watch for his wife one night when she appeared in the dance, and wound her with an arrow: she would then recognize him and return home; but he warned him not to speak a loud word, or she would disappear forever. The man did as he was told, wounded his wife on the leg, and had the joy to see her return home. Musicians and singers were called in, and a grand feast was held to celebrate the event; but, overcome with excitement, the husband gave vent to a shout of joy. The next moment the warning of the keeper was verified—a ghastly corpse had taken the place of the wife. Since then no other soul has been allowed to rejoin the living.[XII-56]Apostólicos Afanes, pp. 22-4. It is curious to note in how many countries the doctrine of a future life has been connected with the legend of some hero who has died, descended into the under-world, and again risen to life. How closely does this American legend resemble the old story of Orpheus and Eurydice; the death and resurrection of the Egyptian Osiris; the Mithraic Mysteries of Persia, in which the initiated, in dumb show, died and rose again from the coffin; the Indian Mahadeva searching for the lifeless Sita, and made glad by his resuscitation; the recovery of Atys by Cybele among the Phrygians; the return of Kore to Demeter for half of every year in the Elusinian Mysteries; the mock murder and new birth of the impersonated Zagreus, in the Bacchic Mysteries; the Metamorphoses in the Celtic and Druidic Mysteries practiced in Gaul and Britain; all are different forms of but one idea.

Eicut and Yoátotowee

An equally devoted husband was the Neeshenam whose story is told by Mr Powers in the following legend:—”First of all things existed the moon. The moon created man, some say in the form of a stone, others say in the form of a simple, straight, hairless, limbless mass of flesh, like an enormous earth-worm, from which he gradually developed into his present shape. The first man thus created was called Eicut; his wife, Yoátotowee. In process of time Yoátotowee fell sick, and though Eicut nursed her tenderly, she gradually faded away before his eyes and died. He loved her with a love passing the love of brothers, and now his heart was broken with grief. He dug a grave for her close beside his camp-fire (for the Neeshenams did not burn the dead then), that he might daily and hourly weep above her silent dust. His grief knew no bounds. His life became a burden to him; all the light was gone out of his eyes, and all this world was black and dreary. He wished to die, that he might follow his beloved Yoátotowee. In the greatness of his grief he fell into a trance, there was a rumbling in the ground, and the spirit of the dead Yoátotowee arose out of her grave and came and stood beside him. When he awoke out of his trance and beheld his wife, he would have spoken to her, but she forbade him, for in what moment an Indian speaks to a ghost he dies. She turned away and set out to seek the spirit-land (oóshwooshe koom, literally, ‘the dance-house of ghosts.’) Eicut followed her, but the ghost turned and said, ‘why do you follow me? you are not dead.’ They journeyed on through a great country and a darksome—a land that no man has seen and returned to report—until they came to a river that separated them from the spirit-land. Over this river there was a bridge of one small rope, so very narrow that a spider could hardly cross over it. Here the spirit of Yoátotowee must bid farewell to her husband and go over alone into the spirit-land. But the great unspeakable grief of Eicut at beholding his wife leaving him forever overcame his love of life, and he called aloud after her. In that self-same instant he died—for no Indian can speak to a ghost and live—and together they entered the land of spirits. Thus Eicut passed away from the realm of earth, and in the invisible world became a good and quiet spirit, who constantly watches over and befriends his posterity still living on earth. But he and his wife left behind them two children, a brother and a sister; and to prevent incest the moon created another pair and from these two pairs are descended all the Neeshenams of to-day.”[XII-57]This legend is taken from a MS kindly presented to me by Mr. Stephen Powers, and is a corrected version of the legend entitled ‘Hilpmecone and Olégance’ contributed by the same gentleman to the Overland Monthly, January, 1874. pp. 30-1.

The Sun House and Tlalocan

The future abode of the Mexicans had three divisions to which the dead were admitted according to their rank in life and manner of death. Glorious as was the fate of the warrior who died in the cause of his country, on the battle-field, or in the hands of the enemy’s priests, still more glorious was the destiny that awaited his soul. The fallen Viking was carried by radiant Valkyries to Valhalla, but the Aztec hero was borne in the arms of Teoyaomique herself, the consort of Huitzilopochtli, to the bright plains of the sun-house, in the eastern part of the heavens, where shady groves, trees loaded with luscious fruit, and flowers steeped in honey, vied with the attractions of vast hunting-parks, to make his time pass happily. Here also awaited him the presents sent by affectionate friends below. Every morning when the sun set out upon his journey, these bright strong warriors seized their weapons[XII-58]’El que tenia rodela horadada de saetas no podia mirar al sol.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., p. 265. This may perhaps mean that the humbler warrior, whose inferior shield was more likely to be pierced, could not look upon the majestic face of the sun, just as he had been interdicted from regarding the face of his king. and marched before him, shouting and fighting sham battles. This continued until they reached the zenith, where the sun was transferred to the charge of the Celestial Women, after which the warriors dispersed to the chase or the shady grove. The members of the new escort were women who had died in war or child-bed, and lived in the western part of the Sun House. Dressed like the warriors in martial accoutrement,[XII-59]’When the midwife speaks to a woman who has died in childbed, she refers to the noble manner in which she has used the sword and shield, a figure of speech which is probably intended to represent the high estimation in which they held her.’ Id., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 189.they conducted the sun to his home, some carrying the litter of quetzal feathers in which he reclined, while others went in front shouting and fighting gaily. Arrived at the extreme west they transferred the sun to the dead of Mictlan, and went in quest of their spindles, shuttles, baskets, and other implements necessary for weaving or household work.[XII-60]’Descendian acá á la tierra.’ Ib. But it is just as likely that they used the weaving implements supplied to them at the grave, as those of the living. Brasseur de Bourbourg says that the inhabitants of this region had day when the inhabitants of the earth slept; but since the women resumed their work after the setting of the sun, it is more likely that they always had light up there, and that they never slept. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 497. The only other persons who are mentioned as being admitted to the Sun House, were merchants who died on their journey. After four years of this life the souls of the warriors pass into birds of beautiful plumage, which live on the honey of flowers growing in the celestial gardens or seek their sustenance on earth.[XII-61]The humming-bird, the emblem and attribute of the war-god, offered on the grave in the month of Quecholli, probably referred to this transformation. Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 164, lib. iv., pp. 264-5, tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 188-9, lib. ix., p. 358; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 530. ‘Nachher werden sie theils in Wolken verwandelt, theils in Kolibris.’ Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 661. The transformation into clouds seems to refer to the Tlascaltecs.

The second place of bliss was Tlalocan, the abode of Tlaloc, a terrestrial paradise, the source of the rivers and all the nourishment of the earth, where joy reigns and sorrow is unknown,[XII-62]Tlalocan is the name given by some old writers to the country between Chiapas and Oajaca. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 496; Brinton’s Myths, pp. 88-9. It may also be the place referred to under the names of Tamoancha, Xuchitlycacan. Explanation of the Codex Telleriano-Remensis, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., p. 127. where every imaginable product of the field and garden grows in profusion beneath a perpetual summer sky. This paradise appears to have been erected on the ideal reminiscences of the happy Tollan, the cradle of the race, where their fathers reveled in riches and splendor. To this place went those who had been killed by lightning, the drowned, those suffering from itch, gout, tumors, dropsy, leprosy and other incurable diseases. Children also, at least those who were sacrificed to the Tlalocs, played about in its gardens, and once a year they descended among the living in an invisible form to join in their festivals.[XII-63]Vol. ii., p. 336, this work. It is doubtful, however, whether this paradise was perpetual, for according to some authors the diseased stayed here but a short time, and then passed on to Mictlan; while the children, balked of their life by death or sacrifice, were allowed to essay it again.[XII-64]Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 97; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 82, 529. The remarks of the above authors with reference to those who die of diseases may, however, refer to sufferers from ordinary afflictions, who were from all doomed to Mictlan. In Explanation of the Codex Vaticanus, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., pp. 169-71, all who die of diseases and a violent death are consigned to Mictlan. Brinton’s Myths, pp. 246-7; Alger’s Future Life, pp. 475-6. Chevalier, Mex. Ancien et Mod., p. 91, who regards the sun as heaven, and Mictlan as hell, considers this an intermediate and incomplete paradise. Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., p. 264; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 5.

Mictlan

The third destination of the dead, provided for those who died of ordinary diseases or old age, and, accordingly, for the great majority, was Mictlan, ‘the place of the dead,’ which is described as a vast, pathless place, a land of darkness and desolation, where the dead after their time of probation are sunk in a sleep that knows no waking. In addressing the corpse they spoke of this place of Mictlan as a ‘most obscure land, where light cometh not, and whence none can ever return.'[XII-65]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., pp. 260-1, tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 176; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 529; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 571; Tezozomoc, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 329, 331. There are several points, however, given by Sahagun, as well as other writers, which tend to modify this aspect of Mictlan. The lords and nobles seem even here to have kept up the barriers which separated them from the contaminating touch of inferiors, and doubtless the good and respectable were classed apart from low miscreants and criminals, for there were nine divisions in Mictlan, of which Chicohnahuimictlan or Ninth-Mictlan, was the abode of the Aztec Pluto and his Proserpine. This name seems also to have been applied to the whole region, meaning then the nine Mictlans.[XII-66]Id., p. 329. ‘Le plus commun est Chiucnauh-Mictlan, les Neuf séjours des Morts.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 495; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 97; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., p. 263. The different idol-mantles in which the dead person was attired, determined by his profession and by his manner of death, would imply that different gods had control of these divisions.[XII-67]This seems also to be the idea of Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 308-9, although he makes the heavens distinct from one another, and includes the Sun House and Tlalocan in the list. Whatever distinction there may have been was kept up by the humbler or richer offerings of food, clothing, implements, and slaves, made at the time of the burial, at the end of eighty days, and on the first, second third, and fourth anniversary of the death; all of which went before Mictlantecutli before being turned over to the use of the person for whom they were destined.[XII-68]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 166, lib. iii., p. 263. In one place Sahagun states that four years were passed in traveling before the soul reached Mictlan, and on another page he distinctly implies that this term was passed within that region, when he says that the dead awoke from their sleep as the sun reached the western horizon, and rose to escort it through their land; Torquemada says that four days were occupied in the journey.[XII-69]Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 522. The fact that offerings and prayers were kept up for four days by the mourners, confirms this statement. Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., p. 263, tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 189. ‘Until souls had arrived at the destined place at the expiration of these four years, they had to encounter much hardship, cold, and toil.’ Explanation of the Codex Telleriano-Remensis, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., p. 96. The only way to reconcile these statements is by supposing that the soul passed from one division to another, until it finally, at the end of the four years, reached Mictlan proper, or Ninth-Mictlan, and attained repose. Their duties during this term consisting in escorting the sun, and working like their happier brethren in the Sun House, besides passing a certain time in sleep. The fact that the people besought the dead to visit them during the festival in their honor, implies that they were within Mictlan, though their liberty there, at that season, at least, was not so very restricted. ‘As they helped to escort the sun, we must suppose that they also enjoyed the blessings of sunshine while terrestrial beings slept, and the expression of Tezozomoc, a place where none knows whether it be night or day, a place of eternal rest,’ must refer to those only who have passed the time of probation, and lapsed into the final sleep. It may be however, that the sun was lustreless at night, for Camargo states that it slept after its journey.[XII-70]Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 193; Tezozomoc, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 331. ‘When the sun sets, it goes to give light to the dead.’ Explanation of the Codex Telleriano-Remensis, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., p. 128. If so, the dim twilight noticed among the northern people, or the moon, the deity of the night, must have replaced the obscured brightness of the sun, if lights indeed were needed, for the escort and the workers could scarcely have used artificial illumination. The route of the sun further indicates that Mictlan was situated in the antipodean regions, or rather in the centre of the earth, to which the term ‘dark and pathless regions’ also applies. This is the supposition of Clavigero, who bases it on the fact that Tlalxicco, the name of Mictlantecutli’s temple, signifies center or bowels of the earth.[XII-71]Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 6. Tlalxicco may be considered as hell proper, and distinct from Mictlan, and may have been ruled over by Tzontemoc who must then be regarded as distinct from Mictlantecutli. Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., p. 219. But Sahagun and others place it in the north, and support this assertion by showing that Mictlampa signified north.[XII-72]Mictlampaehecatl, the north-wind, is said to come from hell. Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vii., pp. 253, 256-7; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 81. The fact that the people turned the face to the north when calling upon the dead,[XII-73]Explanation of the Codex Vaticanus, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., pp. 218-9. is strongly in favor of this theory; the north is also the dark quarter. These apparently contradictory statements may be reconciled by supposing that Mictlan was situated in the northern part of the subterranean regions, as the home of the heroes was in the eastern part of the heavens.

As the warrior in the Sun House passes after four years of perfect enjoyment into a seemingly less happy state, so the Mictlan probationer appears to have abandoned his work for a condition of everlasting repose.[XII-74]’Despues de pasados cuatro años, el difunto se salía y se iba á los nueve infiernos … en este lugar del infierno que se llamaba Chicunamictla, se acababan y fenecian los difuntos.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., p. 263; see also note 8. At the end of four years the souls came to a place where they enjoyed a certain degree of repose. Explanation of the Codex Vaticanus, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., p. 218. This condition is already indicated by the very signification of the name Mictlan, ‘place of the dead,’ and by the preceding statements; it also implied by the myth of the creation of man, wherein the god-heroes say to Xolotl: Go beg of Mictlantecutli, Lord of Hades, that he may give thee a bone or some ashes of the dead that are with him.[XII-75]This vol., p. 59; see also, pp. 296-402.

The Journey of the Dead

I will now revert to the terrible four days’ journey,[XII-76]See note 12. Four was the most sacred number among the Mexicans as well as the other nations of America, and is derived from the adoration of the cardinal points. Brinton’s Myths, p. 67. The Central Americans believed that the soul arrived at its destination in four days after death. which those who were unfortunate enough to die a peaceful death had to perform before they could attain their negative happiness. Fully impressed with the idea of its hardships, the friends of the deceased held it to be a religious duty to provide him with a full outfit of food, clothing, implements, and even slaves, to enable him to pass safely through the ordeal. Idols were also deposited by his side, and if the dead man were a lord, his chaplain was sent to attend to their service. This maintenance of worship during the journey is also implied by the sprinkling of water upon the ashes with the words: Let the dead wash himself.[XII-77]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., p. 263. The officiating priests, laid, besides, passports with the body, which were to serve for various points along the road. The first papers passed him by two mountains, which, like the symplegades, threatened to meet and crush him in their embrace. The second was a pass for the road guarded by a big snake; the other papers took him by the green crocodile, Xochitonal, across eight deserts, and over eight hills. Then came the freezing itzehecaya, ‘wind of knives,’ which hurls stones and knives upon the traveler, who now more than ever finds the offerings of his friends of service. How the poor soul escaped this ordeal is not stated. Lastly he came to the broad river Chiconahuapan ‘nine waters,’ which could be crossed only upon the back of a dog of reddish color, which was killed for this purposes by thrusting an arrow down its throat, and was burnt with the corpse. According to Gomara, the dog served for a guide to Mictlan, but other authors state that it preceded its master, and when he arrived at the river, he found it on the opposite bank, waiting with a number of others for their owners. As soon as the dog recognized its master, it swam over, and bore him safely across the rushing current. A cotton string tied round its neck when placed upon the pyre may have served to distinguish it from other dogs, or as a passport.[XII-78]’Pour qu’il ne fût pas entraîné en traversant le Styx indien.’ Biart, Terre Tempérée, p. 280; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 309. ‘Los perros de pelo blanco y negro, no podian nadar y pasar el rio, porque dizque decia el perro de pelo negro: “yo me labé” y el perro de pelo blanco decia: “yo me he manchado de color prieto, y por eso no puedo pasaros” solamente el perro de pelo vermejo podia pasar.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., p. 263.The traveler was now taken before Mictlantecutli, to whom he presented the passports together with gifts consisting of candlewood, perfume-canes, soft threads of plain and colored cotton, a piece of cloth, a mantle and other articles of clothing, and was thereupon assigned to his sphere. Women underwent the same ordeal.[XII-79]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., pp. 260-4; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 528-30; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 5-6; vol. ii., pp. 603-19, of this work. Camargo mentions a paradise above the nine heavens, occupied by the goddess of love, where dwarfs, fools, and hunchbacks danced and sang for her amusement, but whether these beings were of human or divine origin is not stated.[XII-80]Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcix., pp. 192-3. At times the old chroniclers consider Mictlan as a place of punishment,[XII-81]’Tenian por cierto, que en el infierno habian de padecer diversas penas conforme á la calidad de los delitos.’ Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 83. ‘Entónces todos serán castigados conforme á sus obras.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vii., pp. 36-7; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 80. ‘Ils étaient plongés dans une obscurité profonde, livrés à leurs remords.’ Chevalier, Mex. Ancien et Mod., p. 91. but the priests in their homilies never appear to have urged repentance for the purpose of escaping future punishment, but merely to avoid earthly inflictions, visited upon them or their children.[XII-82]’Padecen por los pecados de sus padres.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 36. Their prayers and penances, says Acosta, were merely on account of corporal inflictions, for they certainly feared no punishment in the world to come, but expected that all would rest there. Hist. de las Ynd., p. 383. ‘In the destiny they assigned to the wicked, we discern similar traces of refinement; since the absence of all physical torture forms a striking contrast to the schemes of suffering so ingeniously devised by the fancies of the most enlightened nations. In all this, so contrary to the natural suggestions of the ferocious Aztec, we see the evidences of a higher civilization, inherited from their predecessors in the land.’ Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 62-3. The philanthropist whose whole life had been one continuous act of benevolence, the wise prince who had lived but for his country’s good, the saintly hermit, the pious priest who had passed his days in perpetual fasts, penance, and self-torture, all were consigned to Mictlan, together with the drunkard, the murderer, the thief, and none were exempt from the terrible journey, or from the long probation which ends in eternal sleep. They may have accounted to themselves for the manifest unfairness of this system by means of their belief in predestination, which taught that the sign under which a man was born determined to a great extent, if not entirely, his character, career, and consequently his future.[XII-83]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., p. 267, et seq. Mictlan cannot, therefore, be regarded as a hell; it is but a place of negative punishment, a Nirvâna, in which the soul is at last blown out and lost.[XII-84]The reader who thinks upon the subject at all, cannot help being struck by the remarkable resemblance in some points between these future abodes of the Mexicans and those of the ancient Greeks and Romans. The trembling soul has to pass over the same dreadful river, ferried by a brute Charon. In Hades as in Mictlan, the condition of the dead was a shadowy sort of apparent life, in which, mere ghosts of their former selves, they continued dreamily to perform the labors and carry on the occupations to which they had been accustomed on earth. In Greece as in Mexico, the shades of the dead were occasionally permitted to visit their friends on earth, summoned by a sacrifice and religious rites. Neither Elysium nor the glorious Sun House was the reward of the purely good so much as of the favorites of the gods. Such points of resemblance as these are, however, unnoticed by those who theorize concerning the origin of the Americans; they go farther for analogies, and perhaps fare worse.

The Future of the Tlascaltecs

The Tlascaltecs supposed that the souls of people of rank entered after death into the bodies of the higher animals, or even into clouds and gems, while common souls passed into lower animal forms.[XII-85]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 5; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 97. With the Mexicans they believed that little children who died were given another trial of earth-life.[XII-86]Alger’s Future Life, pp. 475-6. In Goatzacoalco the bones of the dead were so placed that the soul might have no difficulty in finding them.[XII-87]Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. ix., cap. vii. In the Aztec creation-myth we have seen that out of bone man was formed, and Brinton considers this, together with instances of the careful preservation of remains to be noticed in different parts of America, evidence of a widespread belief that the soul resided in the bones. This receives further confirmation in the Quiché legend which relates that the bones of certain heroes were ground to powder to prevent their removal.[XII-88]Myths, p. 258; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. 175.Yet the idea does not accord with the Mexican custom of placing a stone between the lips of the dead to serve as heart, and, doubtless, to hold the soul as the Quichés supposed. Either instance, however, implies a belief in several souls, although no reference is made to such plurality. The Tlascaltecs had guardian spirits which were embodied in the idols called tepictoton, and Camargo mentions angels who inhabited the air and influenced thunder, winds, and other phenomena, and who were doubtless the children of Tlalocan.[XII-89]Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 192; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 64. A devil they could scarcely have had, for evil mingled too liberally in the nature of most of the Mexican gods to admit of its personification by one alone. The nearest approach to our Satan was to be found in a phantom called Tlacatecolotl, the ‘owlish one'[XII-90]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., p. 81. ‘Tlacatecolotl, demonio o diablo.’ Molina, Diccionario. who roamed about doing mischief; to see an owl was accordingly held to be an evil sign, and much dreaded. Will o’ the wisps were regarded as transformed wizards and witches, or animals.[XII-91]Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 109. The Tlascaltecs supposed that the sparks which sped away from the craters of volcanoes were the souls of tyrants sent forth by the gods to torment the people.[XII-92]’The inhabitants suppose kinges (who, while they liued, gouerned amisse) to haue a temporary aboade there being companions with diuels amonge those flames, where they may purge the foule spots of their wickednesse.’ Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. ii.

Future of the Otomis, Miztecs, and Mayas

The Otomís believed that the soul died with the body,[XII-93]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 4: Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 96. while the Tarascos, according to Herrera, admitted a future judgment, with its accompaniments of heaven and hell, but to judge from their burial customs, with immolation of attendants, term of mourning, and so forth, it would appear that they had the same belief as the Aztecs.[XII-94]Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. x.; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 292; vol. ii., pp. 620-2, of this work.

The Miztecs placed the gates of paradise within the cavern of Chalcatongo, and the grandees of the kingdom were therefore eager to be buried within its precincts, in order to be near the abode of bliss. The Zapotecs placed the heavenly portals within the cave of Mictlan. Their heaven must accordingly have been situated within the earth, although the custom of placing the dead with their feet towards the east indicates that it lay toward the sunny morning land. The common people at least seem, like the Aztecs, to have been required to pass a probationary term before entering the holy place, and during this period they were permitted to visit their friends on earth once a year, and partake of the repast spread for them. The Zapotecs gave as a reason for interring the dead, that those who were burned failed to reach heaven.[XII-95]Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., fol. 230-1, tom. i., fol. 159-61; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 5; Explanation of the Codex Telleriano-Remensis, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., p. 96; Id., Codex Vaticanus, p. 218; vol. ii., pp. 622-3, of this work.

The Mayas believed in a place of everlasting delight, where the good should recline in voluptuous repose beneath the shade of the yaxché,[XII-96]’Le Yaxché, qui signifie arbre vert, est probablement le même que le tonacaste ou tonacazquahuitl, arbre au tronc puissant et élevé, au feuillage immense, mais menu et serré, dont la beauté et l’extrême fraîcheur lui ont fait donner le nom d’arbre de la vie.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Landa, Relacion, p. 200. indulging in dainty food and delicious drinks. Those who died by hanging were especially sure of admittance to this paradise, for their goddess Ixtab carried them thither herself, and many enthusiasts committed suicide with this expectation. The wicked, on the other hand, descended into Mitnal,[XII-97]An evident corruption of Mictlan. a sphere below this, where hunger and other torments awaited them. Cacao money was laid with the body to pay its way, and frequent offerings of food were made, but the funeral was not proceeded with until the fifth day, when the soul had entered its sphere. A trace of metempsychosis may be noticed in the superstitious belief that sorcerers transformed people into animals.[XII-98]’Dezian se lo (el difunto) avia llevado el diablo porque del pensavan les venian los males todos y especial la muerte.’ Landa, Relacion, p. 196, 198-202; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 192; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 62-3; Carrillo, in Mex. Soc. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iii., pp. 265-6.

Whether the Quichés believed in a future reward and punishment is uncertain, for on the one hand we are told that Xibalba, which implies a place of terror, was their hell, where ruled two princes bearing the suggestive names of One Death and Seven Deaths; while, on the other hand, the sacrifice of slaves and other objects, implies a negative punishment. A gentle, unwarlike tribe of Guatemala is said to have had a belief similar to that of the Pericuis, namely that a future life was accorded to those only who died a natural death, and, therefore, they left the bodies of the slain to beasts and vultures.[XII-99]Brinton’s Myths, p. 246; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, pp. lxxix.-lxxx., cxxviii.-cxxx; vol. ii., p. 799, of this work. The Pipiles appear to have looked forward to the same future abodes as the Mexicans, and to the same dreadful journey after death. During the four days and four nights that the soul was on the road, the mourners wailed deeply, probably with fear for its safety, but on the fifth day, when the priest announced that it had reached the goal, the lamentation ceased. During this time also, the mother whose infant had departed withheld the milk from all other children, lest the thirsty little wanderer should be angry, and smite the usurper.[XII-100]Palacio, Carta, pp. 76-8. The probationary routine of the spirits appears to have called them to the earth at intervals, for a legend of the isles of Lake Ilopango recounts that at certain times of the year spectre barks glide in silence over the tranquil waters of the lake, anointing every island from the least to the greatest, offering upon each to some bloody divinity of past times a human victim, an infant chosen by lot.[XII-101]Dollfus and Mont-Serrat, Voy. Géologique, p. 12.

Future of the Nicaraguans

The same view of futurity was taken by the Nicaraguans, who thought that the souls[XII-102]Yolia or yulia derived from yoli, to live is distinct from heart, yollotli. Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. 159. Yet the heart was evidently considered as the seat of the soul, for some Indians stated that ‘el coraçon va arriba,’ while others explained that by this was meant the breath. Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 44-5. of slain warriors went to the sunrise regions, the abode of Tamagostat and Cipattonal, who welcomed them with the title of ‘our children.’ But all the good, that is those who had obeyed and reverenced the gods, were admitted here, whether warriors or not, and strong must have been their faith in the bliss that awaited them, for the virgins, says Andagoya, who were cast as offerings into the seething lava streams of the volcano met their fate without fear.[XII-103]Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., p. 415. The wicked were doomed to annihilation in the abode of Miquetanteot.[XII-104]Corresponding to the Aztec Mictlantecutli. It is not quite clear whether all agreed upon total annihilation in this place. Infants who died before they were weaned returned to the house of their parents to be cared for, evidently in spirit form.[XII-105]’Han de resuçitar ó tornar á casa de sus padres, é sus padres los conoserán é criarán.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 41, 42-9; Brinton’s Myths, pp. 145, 235; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 113-4. The Mosquitos believe in one heaven only, and this is open to all; for it they prepare at the very beginning of life by tying a little bag of seeds round the neck of the infant, wherewith to pay the ferriage across the great river beyond which paradise lies.[XII-106]Bell adds that this ferriage money was provided lest the child ‘should die young.’ Offerings are also placed upon the grave. Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., pp. 254-5. In and about Veragua death means annihilation, and no food is left for the dead. In some places the dying are carried out to the woods and abandoned to wild beasts.[XII-107]’They suppose that men do naturally liue and die as other beastes do.’ Peter Martyr, dec. iii., lib. iv. In Costa Rica and Darien slaves and even wives are sacrificed that their souls may serve their lords in heaven.[XII-108]’Aquel humo iba donde estaba el ánima de aquel defunto … en el cielo, y que en el humo iba allá.’ Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., p. 402; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. i., lib. vii., cap. xvi., dec. ii., lib. iii., cap. v.; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 255; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 142.

Writing on the customs of Dabaiba, Peter Martyr says: ‘They are such simple men, that they know not how to call the soule, nor vnderstand the power thereof: whereupon, they often talk among themselues with admiration what that inuisible and not intelligible essence might bee, whereby the members of men and brute beastes should be moued: I know not what secret thing they say, should liue after the corporall life. That (I know not what) they beleeue that after this peregrination, if it liued without spott, and reserued that masse committed vnto it without iniury done to any, it shoulde goe to a certayne æternall felicity: contrary, if it shall suffer the same to be corrupted with any filthy lust, violent rapine, or raging furie, they say, it shall finde a thousande tortures in rough and vnpleasant places vnder the Center: and speaking these things, lifting vpp their the handes they shewe the heauens, and after that casting right hand down, they poynt to the wombe of the earth’! Their belief in a future punishment he further illustrates by relating that ‘the thicke spott seene in the globe of the Moone, at the full, is a mann, and they beleeue hee was cast out to the moyst, and colde Circle of the Moone, that hee might perpetually bee tormented betweene those two passions, in suffering colde, and moysture, for incest committed with his sister.'[XII-109]Dec. vii., lib. x.

The following myths, for which I am indebted to the kindness and industrious investigation of Mr Powers, having come to hand too late for insertion in their proper places I avail myself of the opportunity to give them here:—There dwells, say the Neeshenams, upon the hills and in the forests, a ghost named Bóhem Cülleh, which is at once man and woman. It is a bad spirit, but nevertheless a useful one to those who seek its aid, and these are mostly bad people. Sometimes in the night its wierd eldritch cry is heard in the forest, and then some woman about to be overtaken in dishonest childbirth goes out into the woods alone, with her shame and her pangs upon her, and having brought forth, presently returns, crying and lamenting that the wicked ghost met and overcame her and that she has conceived of the spirit. Or perhaps it is a man who has wrought an evil thing who makes this bad spirit responsible for his wickedness. Either a man or a woman wandering alone in the forest is exposed to the enticements of the ghost Bóhem Cülleh, to commit fornication with it.

The Coyote’s Elopement

‘The Coyote’s Elopement’ forms the subject of another Neeshenam tale. It is as follows—The coyote and the bat were one day gathering the soft-shelled nuts of the sugar pine, when there came along two women-deer (the only way they have of expressing ‘female deer’), who were the wives of pigeons. The coyote, upon this, took a handful of pitch and besmeared the bat’s eyes so that it could not see. The poor bat was totally blinded, but it called upon the wind to blow, and its eyes were opened a little, as we see them to-day. Meantime the rascally coyote eloped with the two women-deer. But it was not long before they came to a bridge so extremely narrow that they could not pass over it. Just then there came along a quail, and he took the two women-deer and led them across, leaving the bigamous coyote in the lurch. No sooner had they crossed than the sister of the pigeons took the quail away to his mother’s camp, and thus the women-deer were set at liberty, and recovered by their husbands, the pigeons.

“In this story,” says Mr Powers, “as in many others, we have something analogous to the were-wolves and swan-maidens of the medieval legends. It also illustrates the Indian belief in the common origin of all animals. Their favorite theory is, that the man originated from the coyote, and the woman from the deer. Wherefore this story probably gives us a glimpse of the first courtship recorded of the human race, when the animals had so developed, strictly in accordance with the Darwinian programme, that man was about to appear upon the scene. The failure of the coyote’s elopement delayed that auspicious event a little while.”

Another Neeshenam legend relates that there was once a medicine-man who possessed the wonderful faculty of turning himself into a bear for a brief season. When one of his patients was extremely ill, and, according to custom, he sucked him to extract the injurious matter, he would presently be seized with a spasm. Falling upon all fours, he would find his hands and feet sprawled along the ground in plantigrade fashion, his nails would grow long and sharp, a short tail would sprout forth, hair would spring up all over his body, in short he would become a raging, roaring bear. When the spasm had passed away, he would return to the human form.

According to yet another Neeshenam tradition, there lived long, long ago a very terrible old man, whose chief delight it was to kill and devour Indians. He had stone mortars in which he pounded the flesh to make it tender for eating. Far down on the Sacramento plains, thirty or forty miles away, he and his wife lived together, and around their wigwam the blood of Indians lay a foot deep. The Indians all made war on them and tried to kill them, but they could do nothing against them. Then at last the Old Coyote took pity on the Indians whom he had created, and he determined to kill this old man. He was accustomed to go into the great round dance-house when the Indians were assembled within it, and slay the chief. So the Old Coyote dug a deep hole just outside the door, and hid himself in it, armed with a big knife. The knife was just on a level with the ground, and when the old man came along, going into the dance-house, he saw it, and gave a kick at it, but did not notice the Coyote, who immediately jumped out of his hole, ran into the dance-house, and killed the old man.

This story, Mr Powers thinks probably refers to some long extinct race of cannibals who were superior in power to the present race. “To them,” he says, “may be assigned the stone mortars found in so many parts of California, which the Indians now living here confessedly did not make. Others account for these stone mortars by saying they were made by the chief of the spirits, Haylin Kakeeny, and his subordinates.”

Shasta Legends

The following queer legends are, on the indisputable authority of Mr Powers, of Shasta origin: The world was created by Old Groundmole, ídidoc, a huge animal that heaved creation into existence on its back, by rooting underneath somewhere. When the flood came it destroyed all animals except a squirrel, as large as a bear, which exists to this day on a mountain called by the Shastas, Wakwaynuma, near Happy Camp.

A long time ago there was a fire-stone in the distant east, white and glistening, like the purest quartz; and the coyote journeyed east, brought this fire-stone and gave it to the Indians, and that was the origin of fire.

Originally the sun had nine brothers, all, like himself, flaming hot with fire, so that the world was like to perish; but the coyote slew nine of the brothers, and thus saved mankind from burning up. The moon also had nine brothers, all like to himself, made of the coldest ice, so that in the night people went near to freeze to death. But the coyote went away out on the eastern edge of the world with a mighty big knife of flint stone, heated stones to keep his hands warm, then laid hold of the nine moons, one after another, and slew them likewise, and thus men got warm again.

When it rains, there is some Indian sick in heaven, weeping. Long, long ago there was a good young Indian on earth, and when he died all the Indians cried so much that a flood came on the earth and rose up to heaven, and drowned all people except one couple.

The Chénposels relate that there was once a man who loved two women, and wished to marry them. Now, these two women were magpies, atchatch, and they loved him not, but laughed his wooing to scorn. Then he fell into a rage and cursed these two women that were magpies and went far away to the north, and there he set the world on fire, made for himself a tule boat in which he escaped to sea, and was never heard of more. But the fire which he had kindled burned with a mighty burning. It ate its way south with terrible swiftness, licking up all things that are on earth—men, trees, rocks, animals, water, and even the ground itself. But the Old Coyote saw the burning and smoke from his place far in the south, and he ran with all his might to put it out. He took two little boys in a sack on his back, and ran north like the wind. So fast did he run that he gave out just as he got to the fire, and dropped the two little boys. But he took Indian sugar (honey dew) in his mouth, chewed it up, spat it on the fire and put it out. Now the fire was out, but the Coyote was very thirsty, but there was no water, so he took Indian sugar again, chewed it up, dug a hole in the bottom of the creek, covered up the sugar in it, and it turned to water, and the earth thus had water again. But the two little boys cried because they were lonely for there was nobody on earth. Then the Coyote made a sweat-house, and split up a great number of little sticks, which he laid in the sweat-house over night; in the morning they were all turned into men and women, so the two little boys had company, and the earth was repeopled.[XII-110]”It is possible,” concludes Mr Powers, “that this legend has dim reference to that great ancient cataclysm, or overflow of lava from the north, which has been demonstrated by Professor le Conte, in a paper read before the Californian Academy of Science.”

Sun-Myth of the Pallawonaps

I conclude with a sun-myth of the Pallawonaps, who lived on Kern River in Southern California:—Pokòh made all things. Long ago the sun was a man. The sun is bad and wishes to kill all things, but the moon is good. The sun’s rays are arrows, and he gives a bundle to every creature, more to the lion, fewer to the coyote, etc.; but to none does he give an arrow that will slay a man. The coyote wished to go to the sun, and he asked Pokòh the road. Pokòh pointed out to him a good road, and the coyote traveled on it all day, but the sun turned round, so he traveled in a circle, and came back at night to the place whence he had started in the morning. A second time he asked Pokòh, and a second time he came back in a circle. Then Pokòh told him to go straight to the eastern edge of the earth, and wait there until the sun came up. So the coyote went and sat down on the hole where the sun came up, with his back turned to the east, and kept pointing with his arrow in every direction, pretending he was going to shoot. The sun came up under him, and told him to get out of the way. But the coyote sat there until it became so warm that he was obliged to coil up his tail under him. Then he began to get thirsty, and asked the sun for water. The sun gave him an acorn-cup full, but this did not satisfy the coyote’s great thirst. Next his shoulders began to get warm, so he spat on his paws and rubbed his back with them. Then he said to the sun, Why do you come up here, meddling with me? But the sun said, I am not meddling with you; I am traveling where I have a right to travel. The coyote told him to go round some other way, that that was his road, but the sun insisted on going straight up. Then the coyote wanted to go up with him, so the good-natured sun took him along. Presently they came to a path with steps like a ladder, and as the sun went up he counted the steps; when they got up above the world, the coyote found it getting hot and wanted to jump down, but the distance was too great. By noon the sun was very hot and bright, and he told the coyote to shut his eyes. He did so, but he opened them quickly again, and so kept opening and shutting them all the afternoon, to see how fast the sun was sliding down. When the sun came down to the earth in the west, the coyote jumped off on to a tree, and so clambered down to the ground.[XII-111]This myth, Mr Powers thinks, has been belittled or corrupted from the ancient myth of the zodiac, and, in his opinion, argues for the Americans a civilized, or at least semi-civilized, Asiatic origin—a very far-fetched conclusion I should say.

Such are the Myths of the Farthest West, such the endeavors of these men unenlightened, according to our ideas of enlightenment, to define the indefinable, such the result of their ‘yearning after the gods.’ Most of their myths and beliefs are extravagant, childish, meaningless, to our understanding of them, but doubtless our myths would be the same to them. From the beginning of time men have grappled with shadows, have accounted for material certainties by immaterial uncertainties. Let us be content to gather and preserve these perishable phantoms now; they will be very curious relics in the day of the triumph of substance.

Footnotes

[XII-1] ’The preconceived opinions,’ says Brinton, ‘that saw in the meteorological myths of the Indian a conflict between the Spirit of Good and the Spirit of Evil, have with like unconscious error falsified his doctrine of a future life, and almost without an exception drawn it more or less in the likeness of a Christian heaven, hell, and purgatory…. Nowhere was any well-defined doctrine that moral turpitude was judged and punished in the next world. No contrast is discoverable between a place of torments and a realm of joy; at the worst, but a negative castigation awaited the liar, the coward, or the niggard.’ Myths, p. 242.

[XII-2] Prehistoric Times, p. 139.

[XII-3] See vol. ii., pp. 618, 623.

[XII-4] Myths, p. 257.

[XII-5] See p. 59, this volume.

[XII-6] Oviedo, Hist. Nic., in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. iii. p. 36; Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 74; Id., Ortsnamen, p. 159; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Gram. Quiché, p. 196; Brinton’s Myths, p. 49-52, 235.

[XII-7] Vol. ii., pp. 606, 799, of this work.

[XII-8] Prim. Cult., vol. ii., p. 22.

[XII-9] Dall’s Alaska, pp. 145, 422.

[XII-10] Barrett-Lennard says, however: ‘Those that die a natural death are condemned to dwell for ages among the branches of tall trees.’ Trav., p. 54. ‘Careciese de algunas ideas religiosas, y viviese persuadido de la total aniquilacion del hombre con la muerte.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. cxviii. It is doubtful whether the latter class is composed of the spirits of men, or merely of marine animals. See this vol., p. 148.

[XII-11] The Tinnehs do not regard these as the spirits of men. Dall’s Alaska, p. 88.

[XII-12] Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 54. ‘They have a confused notion of immortality.’ Id., p. 58. The Koniagas also used to kill a slave on the grave of wealthy men. Dall’s Alaska, p. 403.

[XII-13] Dall’s Alaska, pp. 422-3; Holmberg, Ethno. Skiz., pp. 63-5.

[XII-14] The Chepewyans also held this theory, though they believed in a heaven of bliss and a state of punishment. Mackenzie’s Voy., p. cxix.

[XII-15] Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., pp. 409-10; Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., pp. 107-8, 111; Harmon’s Jour., pp. 299-300; Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 482.

[XII-16] Whymper’s Alaska, p. 345; Mackenzie’s Voy., p. cxxviii.; Hardisty, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 318. ‘Nach dem Tode wurde nach ihren (Koniagas) Begriffen jeder Mensch ein Teufel; bisweilen zeigte er sich den Verwandten, und das hatte Glück zu bedeuten.’ Holmberg, Ethno. Skiz., p. 122; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 457-8.

[XII-17] Vol. i., pp. 126-7, of this work; Dunn’s Oregon, p. 83; Silliman’s Jour., vol. xvi., p. 147; Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 67; Richardson’s Pol. Reg., p. 322. The Eskimos had no idea of ‘future reward and punishment.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 145.

[XII-18] D’Orbigny’s Voy., p. 50.

[XII-19] Mackenzie’s Voy., p. cxix.; Dunn’s Oregon, p. 104.

[XII-20] Dunn’s Oregon, pp. 272-3.

[XII-21] Ross’ Adven., p. 288; Cox’s Adven., vol. ii., p. 158.

[XII-22] Parker’s Explor. Tour, pp. 235, 246-7; Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 124; Dunn’s Oregon, p. 120. The Salish and Pend d’Oreilles believed that the brave went to the sun, while the bad remained near earth to trouble the living, or ceased to exist. Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 239-40. But this is contradicted by other accounts.

[XII-23] Macfie’s description leaves a doubt whether the keewuck and keewuckkow are names for the same heaven, or separate. Vanc. Isl., p. 457.

[XII-24] Poole’s Q. Char. Isl., p. 320.

[XII-25] Cox’s Adven., vol. i., p. 252; Dunn, Oregon, p. 318, says, ‘beavers are a fallen race of Indians.’

[XII-26] Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., p. 619; vol. i., p. 248, of this work.

[XII-27] The sorcerer is stated by one native to have brought the soul on a small stick and thrown it back into the head of its body. Sproat’s Scenes, p. 214. ‘The natives often imagine that a bad spirit, which loves to vex and torment, takes the place of the truant soul during its absence.’ Id., pp. 173-4; Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. v., p. 225.

[XII-28] Mayne’s B. C., p. 181; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 136; Meares’ Voy., p. 270; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., p. 457; Sproat’s Scenes, pp. 212-3.

[XII-29] Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 212; Brinton’s Myths, pp. 233-4; see note 2.

[XII-30] Johnston, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 225.

[XII-31] Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. iii., pp. 438-9; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., p. 448.

[XII-32] Powers’ Pomo, MS.

[XII-33] Ib.; Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 140.

[XII-34] Powers’ Pomo, MS.; Miller’s Life amongst the Modocs, pp. 241, 249.

[XII-35] Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. viii., pp. 430-1.

[XII-36] Id., Pomo, MS.; this vol., p. 177.

[XII-37] Meacham, Religion of Indians.

[XII-38] Powers’ Pomo, MS.

[XII-39] Vol. i., pp. 439-40, this work; Browne’s L. Cal., p. 188.

[XII-40] Meyer, Nach dem Sacramento, pp. 228-9; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., pp. 215-6.

[XII-41] La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 307; Marmier, Notice, in Bryant, Voy. en Cal., p. 238; Fages, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1844, tom. ci., pp. 335-6; Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., pp. 379-80.

[XII-42] Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., pp. 316-24.

[XII-43] ’Ives legte dem Gebirge den Namen: “Berg der Todten” bei.’ Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. i., pp. 357-8. ‘All cowardly Indians (and bravery was the good with them) were tormented with hardships and failures, sickness and defeats. This hill, or hades, they never dared visit.’ Stratton’s Capt. Oatman Girls, p. 233; Dodt, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, p. 129; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner’s Rept., in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 43.

[XII-44] Estupec, the soul or heart, may be connected with eep, breath. Walker’s Pimas, MS. In Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 461, occurs the term angel, but the Pima chiefs whom I have questioned state that the term angel was not known to them.

[XII-45] Walker’s Pimas, MS.

[XII-46] Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 222; Cremony’s Apaches, pp. 104-5. ‘Cuando muere vá á vivir su corazon por el mar hácia el poniente: que algunos despues que mueren viven como tecolotes, y últimamente dijeron que ellos no saben bien estas cosas.’ Garcés, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série ii., tom. i., p. 239.

[XII-47] Day, in Hesperian, vol. iii., p. 482.

[XII-48] Henry, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 209.

[XII-49] Ten Broeck, in Id., vol. iv., p. 86.

[XII-50] Id., p. 78; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 402; Whipple’s Rept., in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 59.

[XII-51] Beadle, in Crofutt’s Western World, Aug., 1872, p. 27; Bristol, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1867, p. 358; Eaton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 218; Davis’ El Gringo, p. 418.

[XII-52] Marcy’s Army Life, p. 57; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., pp. 54, 685. Food is left at the grave for a certain time; this would indicate that the soul proper, or its second form, remains with the body for a while. Id., pp. 78-9.

[XII-53] Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 387; Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., pp. 136-7, 139.

[XII-54] Alger’s Future Life, p. 208. ‘Lo llevan á enterrar sentado y con sus mejores vestidos, poniendo á su lado competente porcion de sus ordinarios, alimentos.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. ii., p. 218.

[XII-55] Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 18.

[XII-56] Apostólicos Afanes, pp. 22-4.

[XII-57] This legend is taken from a MS kindly presented to me by Mr. Stephen Powers, and is a corrected version of the legend entitled ‘Hilpmecone and Olégance’ contributed by the same gentleman to the Overland Monthly, January, 1874. pp. 30-1.

[XII-58] ’El que tenia rodela horadada de saetas no podia mirar al sol.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., p. 265. This may perhaps mean that the humbler warrior, whose inferior shield was more likely to be pierced, could not look upon the majestic face of the sun, just as he had been interdicted from regarding the face of his king.

[XII-59] ’When the midwife speaks to a woman who has died in childbed, she refers to the noble manner in which she has used the sword and shield, a figure of speech which is probably intended to represent the high estimation in which they held her.’ Id., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 189.

[XII-60] ’Descendian acá á la tierra.’ Ib. But it is just as likely that they used the weaving implements supplied to them at the grave, as those of the living. Brasseur de Bourbourg says that the inhabitants of this region had day when the inhabitants of the earth slept; but since the women resumed their work after the setting of the sun, it is more likely that they always had light up there, and that they never slept. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 497.

[XII-61] The humming-bird, the emblem and attribute of the war-god, offered on the grave in the month of Quecholli, probably referred to this transformation. Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 164, lib. iv., pp. 264-5, tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 188-9, lib. ix., p. 358; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 530. ‘Nachher werden sie theils in Wolken verwandelt, theils in Kolibris.’ Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 661. The transformation into clouds seems to refer to the Tlascaltecs.

[XII-62] Tlalocan is the name given by some old writers to the country between Chiapas and Oajaca. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 496; Brinton’s Myths, pp. 88-9. It may also be the place referred to under the names of Tamoancha, Xuchitlycacan. Explanation of the Codex Telleriano-Remensis, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., p. 127.

[XII-63] Vol. ii., p. 336, this work.

[XII-64] Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 97; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 82, 529. The remarks of the above authors with reference to those who die of diseases may, however, refer to sufferers from ordinary afflictions, who were from all doomed to Mictlan. In Explanation of the Codex Vaticanus, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., pp. 169-71, all who die of diseases and a violent death are consigned to Mictlan. Brinton’s Myths, pp. 246-7; Alger’s Future Life, pp. 475-6. Chevalier, Mex. Ancien et Mod., p. 91, who regards the sun as heaven, and Mictlan as hell, considers this an intermediate and incomplete paradise. Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., p. 264; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 5.

[XII-65] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., pp. 260-1, tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 176; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 529; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 571; Tezozomoc, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 329, 331.

[XII-66] Id., p. 329. ‘Le plus commun est Chiucnauh-Mictlan, les Neuf séjours des Morts.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 495; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 97; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., p. 263.

[XII-67] This seems also to be the idea of Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 308-9, although he makes the heavens distinct from one another, and includes the Sun House and Tlalocan in the list.

[XII-68] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., p. 166, lib. iii., p. 263.

[XII-69] Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 522. The fact that offerings and prayers were kept up for four days by the mourners, confirms this statement. Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., p. 263, tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 189. ‘Until souls had arrived at the destined place at the expiration of these four years, they had to encounter much hardship, cold, and toil.’ Explanation of the Codex Telleriano-Remensis, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., p. 96.

[XII-70] Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 193; Tezozomoc, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 331. ‘When the sun sets, it goes to give light to the dead.’ Explanation of the Codex Telleriano-Remensis, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., p. 128.

[XII-71] Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 6. Tlalxicco may be considered as hell proper, and distinct from Mictlan, and may have been ruled over by Tzontemoc who must then be regarded as distinct from Mictlantecutli. Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., p. 219.

[XII-72] Mictlampaehecatl, the north-wind, is said to come from hell. Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vii., pp. 253, 256-7; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 81.

[XII-73] Explanation of the Codex Vaticanus, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., pp. 218-9.

[XII-74] ’Despues de pasados cuatro años, el difunto se salía y se iba á los nueve infiernos … en este lugar del infierno que se llamaba Chicunamictla, se acababan y fenecian los difuntos.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., p. 263; see also note 8. At the end of four years the souls came to a place where they enjoyed a certain degree of repose. Explanation of the Codex Vaticanus, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., p. 218.

[XII-75] This vol., p. 59; see also, pp. 296-402.

[XII-76] See note 12. Four was the most sacred number among the Mexicans as well as the other nations of America, and is derived from the adoration of the cardinal points. Brinton’s Myths, p. 67. The Central Americans believed that the soul arrived at its destination in four days after death.

[XII-77] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., p. 263.

[XII-78] ’Pour qu’il ne fût pas entraîné en traversant le Styx indien.’ Biart, Terre Tempérée, p. 280; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 309. ‘Los perros de pelo blanco y negro, no podian nadar y pasar el rio, porque dizque decia el perro de pelo negro: “yo me labé” y el perro de pelo blanco decia: “yo me he manchado de color prieto, y por eso no puedo pasaros” solamente el perro de pelo vermejo podia pasar.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., p. 263.

[XII-79] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., pp. 260-4; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 528-30; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 5-6; vol. ii., pp. 603-19, of this work.

[XII-80] Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcix., pp. 192-3.

[XII-81] ’Tenian por cierto, que en el infierno habian de padecer diversas penas conforme á la calidad de los delitos.’ Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 83. ‘Entónces todos serán castigados conforme á sus obras.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vii., pp. 36-7; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 80. ‘Ils étaient plongés dans une obscurité profonde, livrés à leurs remords.’ Chevalier, Mex. Ancien et Mod., p. 91.

[XII-82] ’Padecen por los pecados de sus padres.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., p. 36. Their prayers and penances, says Acosta, were merely on account of corporal inflictions, for they certainly feared no punishment in the world to come, but expected that all would rest there. Hist. de las Ynd., p. 383. ‘In the destiny they assigned to the wicked, we discern similar traces of refinement; since the absence of all physical torture forms a striking contrast to the schemes of suffering so ingeniously devised by the fancies of the most enlightened nations. In all this, so contrary to the natural suggestions of the ferocious Aztec, we see the evidences of a higher civilization, inherited from their predecessors in the land.’ Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 62-3.

[XII-83] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., p. 267, et seq.

[XII-84] The reader who thinks upon the subject at all, cannot help being struck by the remarkable resemblance in some points between these future abodes of the Mexicans and those of the ancient Greeks and Romans. The trembling soul has to pass over the same dreadful river, ferried by a brute Charon. In Hades as in Mictlan, the condition of the dead was a shadowy sort of apparent life, in which, mere ghosts of their former selves, they continued dreamily to perform the labors and carry on the occupations to which they had been accustomed on earth. In Greece as in Mexico, the shades of the dead were occasionally permitted to visit their friends on earth, summoned by a sacrifice and religious rites. Neither Elysium nor the glorious Sun House was the reward of the purely good so much as of the favorites of the gods. Such points of resemblance as these are, however, unnoticed by those who theorize concerning the origin of the Americans; they go farther for analogies, and perhaps fare worse.

[XII-85] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 5; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 97.

[XII-86] Alger’s Future Life, pp. 475-6.

[XII-87] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. ix., cap. vii.

[XII-88] Myths, p. 258; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. 175.

[XII-89] Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 192; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 64.

[XII-90] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., p. 81. ‘Tlacatecolotl, demonio o diablo.’ Molina, Diccionario.

[XII-91] Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 109.

[XII-92] ’The inhabitants suppose kinges (who, while they liued, gouerned amisse) to haue a temporary aboade there being companions with diuels amonge those flames, where they may purge the foule spots of their wickednesse.’ Peter Martyr, dec. v., lib. ii.

[XII-93] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 4: Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 96.

[XII-94] Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. x.; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 292; vol. ii., pp. 620-2, of this work.

[XII-95] Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., fol. 230-1, tom. i., fol. 159-61; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 5; Explanation of the Codex Telleriano-Remensis, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., p. 96; Id., Codex Vaticanus, p. 218; vol. ii., pp. 622-3, of this work.

[XII-96] ’Le Yaxché, qui signifie arbre vert, est probablement le même que le tonacaste ou tonacazquahuitl, arbre au tronc puissant et élevé, au feuillage immense, mais menu et serré, dont la beauté et l’extrême fraîcheur lui ont fait donner le nom d’arbre de la vie.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Landa, Relacion, p. 200.

[XII-97] An evident corruption of Mictlan.

[XII-98] ’Dezian se lo (el difunto) avia llevado el diablo porque del pensavan les venian los males todos y especial la muerte.’ Landa, Relacion, p. 196, 198-202; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 192; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 62-3; Carrillo, in Mex. Soc. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iii., pp. 265-6.

[XII-99] Brinton’s Myths, p. 246; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, pp. lxxix.-lxxx., cxxviii.-cxxx; vol. ii., p. 799, of this work.

[XII-100] Palacio, Carta, pp. 76-8.

[XII-101] Dollfus and Mont-Serrat, Voy. Géologique, p. 12.

[XII-102] Yolia or yulia derived from yoli, to live is distinct from heart, yollotli. Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. 159. Yet the heart was evidently considered as the seat of the soul, for some Indians stated that ‘el coraçon va arriba,’ while others explained that by this was meant the breath. Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 44-5.

[XII-103] Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., p. 415.

[XII-104] Corresponding to the Aztec Mictlantecutli. It is not quite clear whether all agreed upon total annihilation in this place.

[XII-105] ’Han de resuçitar ó tornar á casa de sus padres, é sus padres los conoserán é criarán.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 41, 42-9; Brinton’s Myths, pp. 145, 235; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 113-4.

[XII-106] Bell adds that this ferriage money was provided lest the child ‘should die young.’ Offerings are also placed upon the grave. Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., pp. 254-5.

[XII-107] ’They suppose that men do naturally liue and die as other beastes do.’ Peter Martyr, dec. iii., lib. iv.

[XII-108] ’Aquel humo iba donde estaba el ánima de aquel defunto … en el cielo, y que en el humo iba allá.’ Andagoya, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., p. 402; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. i., lib. vii., cap. xvi., dec. ii., lib. iii., cap. v.; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 255; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 142.

[XII-109] Dec. vii., lib. x.

[XII-110] ”It is possible,” concludes Mr Powers, “that this legend has dim reference to that great ancient cataclysm, or overflow of lava from the north, which has been demonstrated by Professor le Conte, in a paper read before the Californian Academy of Science.”

[XII-111] This myth, Mr Powers thinks, has been belittled or corrupted from the ancient myth of the zodiac, and, in his opinion, argues for the Americans a civilized, or at least semi-civilized, Asiatic origin—a very far-fetched conclusion I should say.

Volume Three • Languages

Chapter I • General Remarks • 4,400 Words

Native Languages in Advance of Social Customs—Characteristic Individuality of American Tongues—Frequent Occurrence of Long Words—Reduplications, Frequentatives, and Duals—Intertribal Languages—Gesture-Language—Slavé and Chinook Jargons—Pacific States Languages—The Tinneh, Aztec, and Maya Tongues—The Larger Families Inland—Language as a Test of Origin—Similarities in Unrelated Languages—Plan of this Investigation.

In nothing, perhaps, do the Native Races of the Pacific States show signs of age, and of progress from absolute primevalism, more than in their languages. Indeed, throughout the length and breadth of the two Americas aboriginal tongues display greater richness, more delicate gradations, and a wider scope, than from the uncultured condition in which the people were found, one would be led to suppose. Until recently, no attention has been given by scholars to these languages; now it is admitted that the more they are studied the more do new beauties appear, and that in their speech these nations are in advance of what their general rudeness in other respects would imply. Nor is there that difference in the construction of words and the scope of vocabularies between nations which we call civilized and those called savage, which, from the difference in their customs, industries, and polities we should expect to find; from which it is safe to infer that in progress, after the essential corporeal requirements are satisfied, the necessities of the intellect, of which speech is the very first, are not only met, but are developed and gratified beyond what the actual necessities of the body demand. That is, speech or no speech the body must be fed or the animal dies, but with the absolute necessities of the body supplied, the intellect and its supernumeraries shoot forward beyond their relative primeval state, leaving bodily comforts far behind. Hence, in the very outset of what we call progress, we see the intellect asserting its independence and developing those organs only which in their turn assist its own development. Again, under certain conditions, two nations having advanced materially and intellectually side by side up to a certain point, may from extrinsic or incidental causes become widely separate; one may go forward intellectually while the two remain together substantially; one may go forward materially while mentally there is no apparent difference. The causes which give rise to these strange inequalities we cannot fathom until we can minutely retrace the progress of the people for thousands of ages in their history; we only see, in the many examples round us, that such is the fact. A people well advanced in art and language may, from war or famine, become reduced to primeval penury and yet retain traces of its former culture in its speech, but by no possibility can rude and barbaric speech suddenly assume depth and richness from material prosperity; from all of which it is safe to conclude that language is the surest test of the age of a people, for the mind cannot expand without an improvement in speech, and speech improves only as it is forced slowly to develop under pressure of the mind.

Relationship of American Languages

The researches of the few philologists who have given American languages their study have brought to light the following facts. First, that a relationship exists among all the tongues of the northern and southern continents; and that while certain characteristics are found in common throughout all the languages of America, these languages are as a whole sufficiently peculiar to be distinguishable from the speech of all the other races of the world. Although some of these characteristics, as a matter of course, are found in some of the languages of the old world—more of them in the Turanian family than in any other—yet nowhere on the globe are uniformities of speech carried over vast areas and through innumerable and diversified races with such persistency, as in America; nowhere are tongues so dissimilar and yet so alike as here. In this general similarity would be a strong ground-work for a theory of common origin, either indigenous or foreign, but for the fact that while the languages of America appear distinct from all other languages of the world, and do indeed in certain respects bear a general resemblance one to another throughout, yet at the same time I may safely assert that on no other continent can there be found such a multitude of distinct languages which definitely approach one another in scarcely a single word or syllable as in America. It is as easy to prove from language that the nations of the New World were originally thrown together from different parts, and that by intermigrations, uniformity in customs and climate, and the lapse of long ages the people have become approximately brethren in speech, while their incessant wars have at the same time held them asunder and prevented a more particular uniformity, as it would be to prove a common origin and subsequent dispersion; without further light both theories are alike insusceptible of proof, as are, indeed, all hypotheses concerning the origin of the native races of this continent. Another fact which naturally becomes more apparent the more we investigate the subject, particularly as regards the nations inhabiting the western half of North America, is, that the innumerable diversities of speech found among these tribes constantly tend to disappear, tend to range themselves under broad divisions, coalescing into groups and families, thereby establishing more intimate relationship between some, and widening the distance between others. The numbers of tongues and dialects, which at the first appeared to be legion, by comparison and classification are constantly being reduced. Could we go back, even for a few thousand years, and follow these peoples through the turnings and twistings of their nomadic existence, we should be surprised at the rapid and complete changes constantly taking place; we should see throughout this broad continent the tide of human life ebbing and flowing like a mighty ocean, surging to and fro in a perpetual unrest, huge billows of humanity rolling over forest, plain, and mountain, nations driving out nations, absorbing, or annihilating, only to be themselves inevitably driven out, absorbed, or annihilated; we should see as a result of this interminable mixture, languages constantly being modified, some wholly or in part disappearing, some changing in a lesser degree, hardly one remaining the same for any considerable length of time. Even within the short period of our own observation, between the time of the first arrival of Europeans and the disappearance of the natives, many changes are apparent; while we are gazing upon them we see their boundaries oscillate, like the play of the threads in network. On the buffalo-hunting inland plains I have seen aggregations of tribes driven out from their old camping-ground, in some instances a thousand miles away, and their places occupied by others; in the narrower limits of the north-western mountains I have seen numerous tribes extirpated by their neighbors, a remnant only being kept as slaves. While such was the normal condition of the aborigines it is not difficult to perceive in some degree at least, the effect upon languages. Yet while American languages are indeed, as Whitney terms them, “the most changeful human forms of speech” there are yet found indestructible characteristic elements, affiliations which no circumstances of time or place can wholly obliterate.

Long Words in American Languages

One of these characteristic elements is the frequent occurrence of long words. Even the Otomí, the only language in America which can be called monosyllabic, consisting as it does, for the most part, of etymons of one syllable, contains some comparatively long words. This frequency of long words, the method of their construction, and the ease with which they are manufactured constitute a striking feature in the system of unity that pervades all American languages. The native of the New World expresses in a single word, accompanied perhaps by a grunt or a gesture, what a European would employ a whole sentence to elucidate. He crowds the greatest possible number of ideas into the most compact form possible, as though in a multitude of words he found weakness rather than strength—taking their several ideas by their monosyllabic equivalents, and joining them in one single expression. This rule is universal; and so these languages become as Humboldt expresses it “like different substances in analogous forms,” in which, as Gallatin observes, there is “an universal tendency to express in the same word, not only all that modifies or relates to the same object or action but both the action and the object, thus concentrating in a single expression a complex idea or several ideas, among which there is a natural connection.” This linguistic peculiarity is called by various names. Duponceau terms it the polysynthetic stage or system, Wilhelm von Humboldt the agglutinative, Lieber the holophrastic; others the aggregative, the incorporative, and so on. As an illustration of this peculiarity, take the Aztec word for letter-postage, amatlacuilolitquitcatlaxtlahuilli, which interpreted literally signifies, ‘the payment received for carrying a paper on which something is written.’ The Cherokees go yet further and express a whole sentence in a single word—a long one it is true, but yet one word—winitawtigeginaliskawlungtanawnelitisesti which translated forms the sentence, ‘they will by that time have nearly finished granting favors from a distance to thee and me.’ Other peculiarities common to all American languages might be mentioned, such as reduplications, or a repetition of the same syllable to express plurals; the use of frequentatives and duals; the application of gender to the third person of the verb; the direct conversion of nouns, substantive and adjective, into verbs, and their conjugation as such; peculiar generic distinctions arising from a separation of animate from inanimate beings, and the like.

The multiplicity of tongues, even within comparatively narrow areas, rendered the adoption of some sort of universal language absolutely necessary. This international language in America is for the most part confined to gestures, and nowhere has gesture-language attained a higher degree of perfection than here; and what is most remarkable, the same representatives are employed from Alaska to Mexico and even in South America. Thus each tribe has a certain gesture to indicate its name, which is understood by all others. A Flathead will make his tribe known by placing his hand upon his head; a Crow by imitating the flapping of the wings of a bird; a Nez Percé by pointing with his finger through his nose, and so on. Fire is generally indicated by blowing followed by a pretended warming of the hands, water by a pretended scooping up and drinking, trade or exchange by crossing the fore fingers, a certain gesture being fixed for everything necessary to carry on a conversation. Besides this natural gesture-language there is found in various parts an intertribal jargon composed of words chosen to fit emergencies, from the speech of the several neighboring nations; the words being altered, if necessary, in construction or pronunciation to suit all. Thus in the valley of the Yukon we find the Slavé jargon, and in the valley of the Columbia the Chinook jargon, which latter arose originally, not as is generally supposed conventionally between the French-Canadian and English trappers and the natives of the north-west solely for purposes of trade, but which originated among the tribes themselves spontaneously and before the advent of Europeans, though greatly modified and extended by subsequent European intercourse. Thus has been laid, no doubt, the foundation of many permanent languages and dialects; and thus we may easily perceive the powerful and continued effect of one language upon another.

As to the number of languages in America much difference of opinion exists. Hervás, before half the country was discovered, felt justified in classifying them all under seven families, while others find, on the Pacific side of the northern continent alone, over six hundred languages which thus far refuse to affiliate. The different dialects are countless; and yet, notwithstanding the formidable array of names which I have gathered at the end of this chapter, probably not one-fourth of their real number are or ever will be known to us.

Languages of the Pacific States

Many of the Pacific States’ languages bear resemblances to one another, and may therefore be brought more or less under groups and classes. These languages, however, resemble one another too slightly to be called dialects, and in the majority of cases no affiliations of any kind can be traced. But four great languages are found within our territory, or, if we exclude the Eskimo, which is not properly an American language, there remain but three, the Tinneh, the Aztec, and the Maya. Of the lesser tongues there are many more, as will appear further on. The Eskimos skirt the shores of the north polar ocean and belong more to the old world than to the new. The Tinneh, Athabasca, or Chepewyan family covers the northern end of the Rocky Mountain range, sending its branches in every direction, into Alaska, British Columbia, British America, Washington, Oregon, California, New Mexico, Texas, and Mexico. The Aztec language, whose seat is Central Mexico, is found also in Nicaragua and other parts of Central America. Traces moreover appear in some parts of Sonora, Sinaloa, Durango, Chihuahua, Texas, Arizona, California, Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, and Oregon. The Maya is the chief Central American tongue, but traces of it may be found as well in Mexico. Thus we see that while the cradle of the Tinneh tongue appears to be in the centre of British North America, its dialects extend westward and southward, lessening in intensity the further they are removed from the hypothetical original centre, suddenly dying out in some directions, fading gradually away in others, and breaking out at disconnected intervals in others. So with the Aztec language, whose primitive centre, so far as present appearances go, was the valley of Mexico; we find it extending south along the shores of the Pacific as far as Nicaragua, while northward its traces grow fainter and fainter until it disappears. And so it is with the Maya, which, covering as it does a less extent of territory, is more distinctly marked and consequently more easily followed.

In classifying the languages of the Pacific States, the marks of identification vary with different families. Thus the linguistic affiliations of the Tinneh family are founded not so much on certain recurring grammatical rules, as on the number of important words occurring under the same or slightly altered form. In the Aztec language the reverse of this is true; for although to some extent, in the establishing of relationships, we are governed by verbal similarities, yet we also find positive grammatical rules which carry with them much more weight than mere word likenesses.

For example, in the north, wherever Aztec traces are found, the Aztec substantive endings tl and tli are either abbreviated or changed according to a regular system into ti, te, t, de, re, ki, ke, ca, la, ri. Aztec numerals are used by these northern nations, but in greatly modified forms; personal pronouns are there found but little changed, while demonstrative, interrogative, and indefinite pronouns likewise show signs of Aztec origin. The ending ame, which, attached to the verb, designates the person acting, can be plainly traced; while among these same northern nations of which I am speaking, is found that certain system of Lautverschiebung or sound-shunting, originally discovered by Grimm in the Indo-Germanic family, and by Professor Max Müller called Grimm’s law.

In the pursuance of this investigation I noticed a two-fold curiosity which may be worthy of mention. Throughout the great Northwest, as well in most of the many Tinneh vocabularies as elsewhere, is found the Aztec word for stone, tetl, sometimes slightly changed but always recognizable, and to which the same meaning is invariably attached; while on the other hand the Tinneh word for fire, cun, or coon, appears in like manner in several of the Mexican languages, and I even noticed it in the vocabulary of a Honduras nation. This may be purely accidental, but both being important words I thought best to draw attention to the fact.

Inland and Coast Languages

The larger linguistic families are for the most part found inland, while along the sea-shore the speech of the people is broken into innumerable fragments. Particularly is this the case along the shores of the Northwest. South of Acapulco, as we have seen, the Aztec tongue holds the seaboard for some distance; but again farther south, as well as on the gulf coast, there is found a great diversity in languages and dialects. In California the confusion becomes interminable; as if Babel-builders from every quarter of the earth had here met to the eternal confounding of all; yet there are linguistic families even in California, principally in the northern part. It is not at all improbable that Malays, Chinese, or Japanese, or all of them, did at some time appear in what is now North America, in such numbers as materially to influence language, but hitherto no Asiatic nor European tongue, excepting always the Eskimo, has been found in America; nor have affinities with any other language of the world been discovered sufficiently marked to warrant the claim of relationship. Theorizers enough there have been and will be; for centuries to come half-fledged scientists, ignorant of what others have done or rather have failed to do, will not cease to bring forward wonderful conceptions, striking analogies; will not cease to speculate, linguistically, ethnologically, cosmographically and otherwise to their own satisfaction and to the confusion of their readers. The absurdity of these speculations is apparent to all but the speculator. No sooner is a monosyllabic language, the Otomí, discovered in America than up rises a champion, Señor Nájera, claiming the distinction for the Chinese, and with no other result than to establish both as monosyllabic, which was well enough known before. So the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg, who has given the subject more years of study and more pages of printed matter than any other writer, unless it be the half-crazed Lord Kingsborough, first attempts to prove that the Maya languages are derived from the Latin, Greek, English, German, Scandinavian, or other Aryan tongues; then that all these languages are but offshoots from the Maya itself, which is the only true primeval language. So much for intemperate speculation, which, whether learned or shallow, too often originates in doubt and ends in obscurity. In all these hypotheses, argument assumes the form of analogies drawn between the peoples with whom a relationship is attempted to be established—no difficult matter, truly, when we consider that all mankind are formed on one model, and that innumerable similarities must of necessity exist among all the races of the globe.

Accidental Word-Similarities

To show the futility of such attempts, let me give a few words, analogous both in signification and sound, selected from American, European, Asiatic, and other languages, between which it is now well established that no relationship exists. For the German ja we have the Shasta ya; for komm, the Comanche kim; for Kopf, the Cahita coba; for weinen, the Cora vyeine; for thun, the Tepehuana duni; for nichts, nein, the Chinook nixt, nix. For the Greek κόραξ, there is the Tarahumara colatschi; for ἔμαθον , μαθεῖν, the Cora muatê; for γυνή, the Cahita cuna. For the Latin hic, vas, we have the Tepehuana hic, vase; for mucor, the Cora mucuare; for lingua, the Moqui línga; for vallis, the Kalapooya wallâh; for toga, manus, the Kenai togaai, man. For the French casser, we find the Tarahumara cassníaler; for tâtonner, the Tepehuana tatame. For the Spanish hueco, the Tarahumara hoco; for tuétano, the Cora tûtana. For the Italian cosi, the Tarahumara cossi; for the Arabic âchar, the Tarahumara ajaré; for the Hawaiian po, the Sekumne po (night).

For the Sanscrit da, there is the Cora ta (give); for eké, the Miztec ec (one); for mâ, the Tepehuana mai (not) and the Maya ma (no); for masâ (month), the Pima mahsa (moon); for tschandra (moon), the Kenai tschane (moon); for pada (foot), the Sekumne podo (leg); for kamâ (love), the Shoshone kamakh (to love); for pâ, the Kizh paa (to drink). For the Malay tâna, we have the Tepehuana tani (to ask); for hurip, tabah, the Cora huri (to live), tabá (to beat); for hômah, the Shasta óma (house), and so on.

These examples I could increase indefinitely and show striking similarities in some few words between almost any two languages of the world. When there are enough of them similar in sound and signification in any two tongues to constitute a rule rather than exceptions, such languages are said to be related; but where, as in the above-cited instances, these similarities are merely accidental, to prove them related would prove too much, for then all the languages of the earth might be said to be related.

Classification of Languages

In treating of the languages of the Pacific States, commencing with those of the north and proceeding southward, I make it a rule to follow them wherever they lead, without restricting myself to place or nation. One nation may speak two languages; the same language may be spoken by a dozen nations, and if the evidence is such as to imply the existence of the same language, or traces of it, in Alaska and in Sonora, I can do no less than step from one place to the other in speaking of it. Besides the names and localities of languages and linguistic families, I shall endeavor to give some idea of their several peculiar characteristics, their grammatical construction, with such specimens of each as will enable the student to make comparisons and draw inferences. In the following table I have attempted a classification of these languages; but in some instances, from the lack of vocabularies taken before the intermixtures that followed the advent of Europeans, any classification can be but approximative.

Classification of the Aboriginal Languages of the Pacific States

Language Classification

	{		{		{	Naggeuktormute
	{		{		{	Kittear
	{		{	Northern	{	Kangmali-Innuin
	{		{	Eskimo	{	Nuwangmeun
	{		{		{	Nunatangmeun
	{		{		{	Kitegue
	{		{
	{		{		{	Malemute
	{		{		{	Anlygmute
	{	Eskimo	{		{	Chnagmute
	{		{		{	Pashtolik
	{		{	Southern	{	Kangjulit	{	Kuskoquigmute.
	{		{	Eskimo	{		{	Kuskoquigmute
	{		{	or	{	Magemute
	{		{	Koniagan	{	Agulmute
	{		{		{	Kejataigmute
	{		{		{	Aglegmute
	{		{		{	Chugatsch
	{		{		{	Kadiak
	{
	{	Aleut			{	Unalaska
	{				{	Atkha
Hyperboreans	{
	{				{	Yakutat
	{				{	Chilkat
	{				{	Hoodsinoo
	{				{	Takoo
	{	Thlinkeet			{	Auk
	{				{	Kaka
	{				{	Sitka
	{				{	Eeliknoo
	{				{	Stikeen
	{				{	Tungass
	{
	{		{		{	Sawessaw-tinneh or Chepewyan
	{		{		{	Tantsawhoot-tinneh or Coppermine River
	{		{		{	Horn Mountain
	{		{		{	Beaver
	{		{		{	Thlingcha-tinneh or Dog-Rib
	{		{	Eastern	{	Kawcho-tinneh or Hare
	{		{	Division	{	Ambawtawhoot-tinneh or Sheep
	{		{		{	Sarsis or Sursees
	{		{		{	Tsillawdawhoot-tinneh or Brush-wood
	{		{		{	Nagailer
	{		{		{	Slouacuss-tinneh
	{		{		{	Rocky Mountain
	{		{		{	Edchawtawoot-tinneh
	{		{
	{		{		{		{	Degothi-kutchin
	{		{		{		{	or Loucheux
	{		{		{		{	Vanta-kutchin
	{		{		{		{	Natche-kutchin
	{		{		{		{	Kukuth-kutchin
	{		{		{		{	Tutchone-kutchin
	{		{		{	Kutchin	{	Tathzey-kutchin
	{		{		{		{	Han-kutchin
	{		{		{		{	Artez-kutchin
	{		{	Western	{		{	Kutcha-kutchin
	{		{	Division	{		{	Tenan-kutchin
	{		{		{
	{		{		{		{	Junakachotana
	{		{		{		{	Jugelnut
	{		{		{		{	Ingalik
	{		{		{	Kenai	{	Inkalit
	{		{		{		{	Kenai
	{		{		{		{	Ugalenz
	{		{		{		{	Atnah or Nehanne
	{		{		{		{	Koltschane
	{		{
	{		{		{		{	Tautin or Talkotin
	{	Tinneh	{		{		{	Tsilkotin or Chilkotin
	{		{		{		{	Naskotin
	{		{		{		{	Thetliotin
	{		{		{	Tacully	{	Tsatsnotin
	{		{		{	or	{	Nulaautin
	{		{		{	Carrier	{	Ntshaautin
	{		{		{		{	Natliautin
	{		{	Central	{		{	Nikozliautin
	{		{	Division	{		{	Tatshiautin
	{		{		{		{	Babine
	{		{		{		{	Sicanni
	{		{		{
	{		{		{	Tlatskanai
	{		{		{	Qualhioqua
	{		{		{	Umpqua
	{		{		{		{	Lassics
	{		{		{		{	Wilacki
	{		{		{	Hoopah	{	Haynaggi
	{		{		{		{	Tolewah
	{		{		{		{	Tahahteen
	{		{		{		{	Siah
	{		{
	{		{		{		{	Apache proper
	{		{		{		{	Tonto
	{		{		{		{	Chiricagui
	{		{		{		{	Gileño
	{		{		{		{	Mimbreño
	{		{		{		{	Faraon
	{		{		{		{	Mescalero
	{		{	Southern	{	Apaches	{	Llanero
	{		{	Division	{		{	Lipan
	{		{		{		{	Vaquero
	{		{		{		{	Xicarilla
	{		{		{		{	Natage
	{		{		{		{	Piñaleno
	{		{		{		{	Coyotero
	{		{		{		{	Tejua
	{		{		{		{	Coppermine
	{		{		{		{	Navajo

	{	Haidah	{	Haidah
	{		{	Kaiganie
	{
	{		{	Nass
	{	Nass	{	Sebassa
	{		{	Hailtza
	{
	{	Bellacoola
	{	Chimsyan
	{
	{		{	Nootka
	{		{	Quackoll
	{		{	Cowichin
	{		{	Tlaoquatch
	{		{	Uclenu
	{		{	Quane
	{		{	Quactoe
	{		{	Koskiemo
	{		{	Quatsino
	{		{	Kycucut
	{		{	Aitizzaht
	{		{	Chicklezaht
	{		{	Ahazaht
	{		{	Eshquaht
	{		{	Klaizzaht
	{		{	Nitinaht
	{		{	Toquaht
	{		{	Seshaht
	{		{	Clayoquot
	{		{	Patcheena
	{		{	Soke
	{		{	Nimkish
Columbians	{	Nootka	{	Wickinninish
	{		{	Songhie
	{		{	Sanetch
	{		{	Comux
	{		{	Noosdalum
	{		{	Kwantlum
	{		{	Teet
	{		{	Nanaimo
	{		{	Taculta
	{		{	Ucleta
	{		{	Neculta
	{		{	Queehaniculta
	{		{	Newittee
	{		{	Saukaulutuck
	{		{	Makah
	{		{	Newchemass
	{		{	Shimiahmoo
	{		{	Nooksak
	{		{	Samish
	{		{	Skagit
	{		{	Snohomish
	{		{	Chimakum
	{		{	Clallum
	{		{	Toanhooch
	{
	{		{	Salish proper or Flathead
	{		{	Lummi
	{		{	Clallam
	{		{	Kullespelm or Pend d’Oreilles
	{		{	Shushwap
	{		{		{	Sugomenei
	{		{	Spokane	{	Snpoilschi
	{		{		{	Syk’eszilni
	{	Salish	{	Soaiatlpi
	{		{	Okanagan	{	St lakam
	{		{	Skitsuish, or Cœur d’Alêne
	{		{	Pisquouse
	{		{	Cowlitz
	{		{	Nsietshaw
	{		{		{	Chehalis proper
	{		{	Chehalis	{	Quaiantl
	{		{		{	Queniauitl
	{		{	Nisqually
	{	Kootenai
	{		{	Sahaptin proper or Nez Percé
	{		{	Walla Walla
	{		{	Palouse
	{	Sahaptin	{	Yakima
	{		{	Kliketat
	{		{	Tairtla
	{
	{	Waiilatpu	{	Cayuse
	{		{	Mollale
	{
	{		{	Chinook
	{		{	Wakiakum
	{	Chinook	{	Cathlamet
	{		{	Clatsop
	{		{	Multnomah
	{		{	Skilloot
	{		{	Watlala
	{
	{	Yamkally
	{	Calapooya
	{	Chinook Jargon

	{	Tototin
	{	Yakon
	{
	{		{	Lutuami or Klamath
	{	Klamath	{	Modoc
	{		{	Copah
	{
	{		{	Shasta
	{	Shasta	{	Palaik
	{		{	Watsahewah
	{
	{	Euroc
	{	Cahroc
	{	Oppegach
	{		{	Pataway
	{	Pataway or	{	Veeard
	{	Weitspeck	{	Weeyot
	{		{	Wishosk
	{
	{	Ehnek or Pehtsik
	{	Howteteoh
	{	Nabiltse
	{	Patawat
	{	Chillulah
	{	Wheelcutta
	{	Kailta
	{	Chimalaquai
	{
	{		{	Yuka
	{	Yuka	{	Tahtoo
	{		{	Wapo or Ashochemie
	{
	{		{	Ukiah
	{		{	Gallinomero
	{		{	Masallamagoon
	{		{	Gualala
	{		{	Matole
	{	Pomo	{	Kulanapo
	{		{	Sanél
	{		{	Yonios
	{		{	Choweshak
	{		{	Batemdakaie
	{		{	Chocuyem
Californians	{		{	Olamentke
	{		{	Kainamare
	{		{	Chwachamaju
	{
	{	Cushna
	{	Kinkla
	{	Yuba
	{	Sonoma
	{	Oleepa
	{	Yoloy or Yolo
	{	Nemshous
	{	Colusa
	{	Bashonee
	{	Veshanack
	{	Meidoo
	{	Neeshenam
	{
	{		{		{	Ochecamne
	{		{		{	Serouskumne
	{		{		{	Chupumne
	{		{		{	Omochumne
	{		{		{	Secumne
	{		{		{	Walagumne
	{		{		{	Cosumne
	{		{	Eastern	{	Sololumne
	{		{	Dialects	{	Turealumne
	{		{		{	Saywamine
	{		{		{	Newichumne
	{		{		{	Matchemne
	{	Sacramento	{		{	Sagayayumne
	{	Valley	{		{	Muthelemne
	{	Languages	{		{	Sopotatumne
	{		{		{	Talatiu
	{		{
	{		{		{	Puzlumne
	{		{		{	Yasumne
	{		{		{	Pujuni
	{		{	Western	{	Sekumne
	{		{	Dialects	{	Kisky
	{		{		{	Yalesumne
	{		{		{	Huk
	{		{		{	Yukal
	{		{		{	Tsamak
	{		{		{	Nemshaw
	{
	{	Napobatin
	{
	{		{	Napa
	{		{	Myacoma
	{	Napa	{	Calayomane
	{		{	Caymus
	{		{	Uluca
	{		{
	{
	{	Mustitul
	{	Tulkay
	{	Suisun
	{	Karquines
	{	Tomales
	{	Lekatuit
	{	Petaluma
	{	Guiluco
	{	Tulare
	{	Hawhaw
	{	Coconoon
	{	Yocut
	{	Matalan
	{	Salse
	{	Quirote
	{	Olhone
	{	Runsien
	{	Eslene
	{	Ismuracan
	{	Aspianaque
	{	Sakhone
	{	Chalone
	{	Katlendaruca
	{	Poytoqui
	{	Mutsun
	{	Thamien
	{	Chowchilla
	{	Meewoc
	{	Tatché
	{	San Miguel
	{	Santa Cruz

	{		{	Shoshone
	{	Shoshone	{	Wihinasht
	{		{	Bannack
	{		{	Shoshokee
	{
	{		{	Utah
	{		{	Uintaüte
	{		{	Goshute
	{		{	Piute
Shoshones	{	Utah	{	Pahute
	{		{	Paiulee
	{		{	Washoe
	{		{	Sampitche
	{		{	Mono
	{
	{	Comanche
	{	Moqui
	{	Kizh
	{	Netela
	{	Kechi
	{	Chemehuevi
	{	Cahuillo

	{		{	Kiwomi
	{	Queres	{	Cochitemi
	{		{	Acoma
	{
Pueblos	{	Tegua or Tezuque
	{	Picoris
	{	Jemez
	{	Zuñi

	{		{	Yuma
	{		{	Maricopa
	{		{	Cuchan
	{	Yuma	{	Mojave
	{		{	Diegeño
	{		{	Yampais
	{		{	Yavipais
	{
	{	Chevet
	{
New Mexicans	{	Cajuenche	{	Cajuenche
	{		{	Jalliquamai
	{
	{	Tamajab
	{
	{	Benemé	{	Tecuiche
	{		{	Teniqueche
	{
	{	Covaji
	{	Noche

	{	Cochimí	{	Laymon
	{		{	Ika
	{
	{		{	Cora
	{		{	Monqui
	{		{	Didiù
Lower	{	Guaicuri	{	Liyùe
Californians	{		{	Edù
	{		{	Uchitie
	{
	{	Pericú

	{	Pima Alto	{	Pápago
	{		{	Sobaipuris
	{
Pima	{	Pima Bajo

	{		{	Eudeve
	{		{	Teguis
	{		{	Teguima
	{		{	Coguinachie
	{	Ópata	{	Batuca
	{		{	Sahuaripa
	{		{	Himeri
	{		{	Guazaba
	{		{	Jova
	{
	{		{	Mayo
	{	Cahita	{	Yaqui
	{		{	Tehueco
	{
	{	Zoe
	{	Guazave
	{	Batuca
	{	Aibino
	{	Ocoroni
	{	Vocaregui
	{	Zuaque
	{	Comoporis
	{	Ahome
	{	Mocorito
	{	Petatlan
	{	Huite
	{	Ore
	{	Macoyahui
	{	Tauro
	{	Troes
	{	Nio
	{	Cahuimeto
	{	Tepave
	{	Ohuero
	{	Chicorata
	{	Basopa
	{
	{		{	Varogio
Northern	{	Tarahumara	{	Guazapare
Mexicans	{		{	Pachera
	{
	{	Concho
	{	Toboso
	{	Julime
	{	Piro
	{	Suma
	{	Chinarra
	{	Irritilia
	{	Tejano
	{	Tubar
	{
	{	Tepehuana
	{
	{		{	Topia
	{	Acaxée	{	Sabaibo
	{		{	Xixime
	{
	{	Zacatec
	{	Cazcane
	{	Mazapile
	{	Huitcole
	{	Guachichile
	{	Colotlan
	{	Tlaxomultec
	{	Tecuexe
	{	Tepecano

	{		{	Muutzicat
	{	Cora	{	Teakualitzigti
	{		{	Cora, or Ateakari
	{
	{	Aztec, Mexican, or Nahuatl
	{
	{	Otomí	{	Otomí
	{		{	Mazahua
	{
Central	{	Pame
Mexicans	{	Meco, or Serrano
	{	Yuê
	{	Yemê
	{	Olive
	{	Xanambre
	{	Pisone
	{	Tamaulipec
	{
	{	Tarasco
	{	Matlaltzinca
	{	Ocuiltec

	{		{	Tepuzculano
	{		{	Yangüistlan
	{		{	Miztec baja
	{		{	Miztec alta
	{		{	Cuixlahuac
	{	Miztec	{	Tlaxiaco
	{		{	Cuilapa
	{		{	Mictlantongo
	{		{	Tamazulapa
	{		{	Xaltepec
	{		{	Nochiztlan
	{
Southern	{	Chocho, or Chuchone
Mexicans	{	Amusgo
	{	Mazatec
	{	Cuicatec
	{	Chatino
	{	Tlapanec
	{	Chinantec
	{	Popoluca
	{
	{		{	Zaachilla
	{		{	Ocotlan
	{		{	Etla
	{	Zapotec	{	Netzicho
	{		{	Serrano de Itztepec
	{		{	Serrano de Cajonos
	{		{	Beni Xono
	{		{	Serrano de Miahuatlan
	{
	{	Mije
	{	Huave

	{		{	Tetikilhati
	{		{	Chakalmati
	{	Huastec	{	Ipapana
	{		{	Tatimolo, or Naolingo
	{
	{	Totonac
	{	Chiapanec
	{	Tloque
	{	Zotzil
	{	Zeldal-quelen
	{	Vebetlateca
	{	Mam
	{	Achie
	{	Guatemaltec
	{	Cuettac
	{	Hhirichota
	{	Pokonchi
Maya-Quiché	{	Caechicolchi
	{	Tlacacebastla
	{	Apay
	{	Poton
	{	Taulepa
	{	Ulua
	{	Quiché
	{	Cakchiquel
	{	Zutugil
	{	Chorti
	{	Alaguilac
	{	Caichi
	{	Ixil
	{	Zoque
	{	Coxoh
	{	Chañabal
	{	Chol
	{	Uzpantec
	{	Aguacatec
	{	Quechi
	{	Maya

	{	Carib
	{	Mosquito
	{	Poya
	{	Towka
	{	Seco
	{	Valiente
	{	Rama
	{	Cookra
	{	Woolwa
Mosquito	{	Toonglas
	{	Lenca
	{	Smoo
	{	Teguca
	{	Albatuina
	{	Jara
	{	Toa
	{	Gaula
	{	Motuca
	{	Fansasmav
	{	Sambo

	{	Coribici
Cent.	{	Chorotega
Amer.	{	Chontal
	{	Orotiña

	{	Blanco
Costa	{	Tiribi
Rica	{	Talamanca
	{	Chiripo
	{	Guatuso

	{	Nicoya
	{	Cerebaro
	{	Chiriquí
	{	Burica
	{	Veragua
	{	Paris
	{	Escoria
	{	Biruqueta
	{	Nata
	{	Urraca
	{	Chiru
	{	Chame
	{	Chicacotra
	{	Sangana
	{	Guarara
	{	Cutara
	{	Panamá
	{	Chuchura
	{	Chagre
	{	Chepo
	{	Cueba
	{	Quarecua
	{	Chiape
	{	Ponca
Isthmian	{	Pocora
	{	Zumanamá
	{	Coiba
	{	Ponca
	{	Chitarraga
	{	Acla
	{	Careta
	{	Darien
	{	Abieiba
	{	Abenamechey
	{	Dabaiba
	{	Birú
	{	Tule
	{	Cholo
	{	Doracho
	{	Cimarron
	{	Bayano
	{	Manzanillo, or San Blas
	{	Mandingo
	{	Cuna
	{	Cunacuna
	{	Choco
	{	Caomane
	{	Urabá
	{	Idiba
	{	Paya
	{	Goajiro
	{	Motilone
	{	Guaineta
	{	Cocina

Chapter II • Hyperborean Languages • 10,200 Words

Distinction Between Eskimo and American—Eskimo Pronunciation and Declension—Dialects of the Koniagas and Aleuts—Language of the Thlinkeets—Hypothetical Affinities—The Tinneh Family and its Dialects—Eastern, Western, Central, and Southern Divisions—Chepewyan Declension—Oratorical Display in the Speech of the Kutchins—Dialects of the Atnahs and Ugalenzes Compared—Specimen of the Koltshane Tongue—Tacully Gutturals—Hoopah Vocabulary—Apache Dialects—Lipan Lord’s Prayer—Navajo Words—Comparative Vocabulary of the Tinneh Family.

The national and tribal distinctions given in the first volume of this work will, for the most part, serve as divisions for languages and dialects; I shall not therefore repeat here the names and boundaries before mentioned, except so far as may be necessary in speaking of languages alone. As a rule those physical and social distinctions which indicate severalness among peoples, are followed, if indeed they are not governed by the severalness of dialects, that is, the diversities of language operate as powerfully as the aspects of nature or any other causes, in separating mankind into tribes and nations; hence it is that in the different divisions of humanity are found different dialects, and between dialects physical and geographical divisions.[II-1]See vol. i., p. 42 et seq. of this work.

Languages on the Arctic Seaboard

As I have said in another place the Eskimos are the anomalous race of the New World; and this is no less true in their language than in their physical characteristics. Obviously they are a polar people rather than an American or an Asiatic people.[II-2]’Ces deux langues … sont absolument la même que celle des Vogules, habitants de la Tartarie, et la même que celle des Lapons.’ Monglave, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. i., p. 65. ‘Les Esquimaux d’Amérique et les Tchoutchis de l’extrémité nord de l’Asie orientale … il est aisé de reconnaître qu’ils appartiennent à une même famille.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 330. ‘The whole arctic shore of North America is possessed by the Esquimaux and Greenlanders, who speak an original tongue called Karalit.’ McCulloh’s Researches in Amer., p. 36. ‘The Arctic region is mainly covered by dialects of a single language—the Eskimo.’ Latham’s Comp. Phil., vol. viii., p. 384. ‘Der Amerikanische Sprachtypus, die Eskimo-Sprache, reicht hinüber nach Asien.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 711. ‘Alle Eskimos sprechen im Wesentlichen dieselbe Sprache.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., p. 280. ‘The language of the Western Esquimaux so nearly resembles that of the tribes to the eastward.’ Beechey’s Voyage, vol. ii., p. 311; Sauer’s Billings’ Ex., p. 245; Kotzebue’s Voyage, vol. iii., p. 314; Franklin’s Nar., vol. i., p. 30; Dease and Simpson, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. viii., p. 222; Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 68. But Vater does not believe that the language extends across to Asia. ‘Dass sich wohl ein Einfluss der Eskimo-Sprache, aber nicht diese selbst über die zwischen Asien and Amerika liegenden Inseln erstreckt.’Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 458, 426. They cling to the seaboard; and while the distinction between them and the inland American is clearly drawn, as we descend the strait and sea of Bering, cross the Alaskan peninsula and follow the shores of the Pacific eastward and southward, gradually the Arctic dialect merges into that of the American proper. In our Hyperborean group, whose southern bound is the fifty-fifth parallel, the northern seaboard part is occupied wholly by Eskimos, the southern by a people called by some Eskimos and by others Koniagas, while further on the graduation is so complete and the transition from one to the other so imperceptible that it is often difficult to determine which are Indians and which Eskimos. In treating of their manners and customs, I separated the littoral Alaskans into two divisions, calling them Eskimos and Koniagas, but in their languages and dialects I shall speak of them as one. No philologist familiar with the whole territory has attempted to classify these Hyperborean tongues; different writers refer the languages of all to such particular parts as they happen to be familiar with. Thus the Russian priest Veniaminoff divides the Eskimo language into six dialects, all belonging to the Koniagas, on the Kadiak Islands and the adjacent territory. The fact is Veniaminoff dwelt in southern Alaska and in the Aleutian Isles, and knew nothing of the great inland nations to the north and west. To the people of Kadiak he gives two dialects, a northern and a southern, and carries the same language over to the main land adjacent.[II-3]Veniaminoff, Ueber die Sprachen des russ. Amer., in Erman, Archiv., tom. vii., No. 1, p. 126 et seq. The Russian explorer Sagoskin, to the Chnagmute dialect of Veniaminoff, unites the Kwichpagmute and Kuskoquigmute under the collective name of Kangjulit, of which with the Kadiak he makes a comparative vocabulary establishing their identity.[II-4]Sagoskin, Tagebuch, in Russ. Geog. Gesell., Denkschr., tom. i., p. 359 et seq. In like manner Baer classifies these northern languages, but confines himself almost exclusively to the coast above Kadiak Island.[II-5]’Alle diese Völkerschaften reden eine Sprache and gehören zu einem und demselben Stamme, der sich auch weiter nördlich längs der Küste … ausdehnt.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., p. 122.

Kotzebue says that a dialect of this same language is spoken by the natives of St Lawrence Island.[II-6]Kotzebue’s Voyage, vol. ii., p. 175. Yet if we may believe Mr Seemann, all these dialects are essentially different. The Eskimo language, he writes, “is divided into many dialects, which often vary so much that those who speak one are unable to understand the others. The natives of Kotzebue Sound for instance have to use an interpreter in conversing with their countrymen in Norton Sound; towards Point Barrow another dialect prevails, which however is not sufficiently distinct to be unintelligible to the Kotzebue people.”[II-7]Of the similarity between the Kadiak and Alaska idiom, Langsdorff says: ‘In a great degree the clothing and language of the Alaskans, are the same as those of the people of Kodiak.’ Voy., vol. ii., p. 236. Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., pp. 68-69.

Examples of the Eskimo Grammar

According to Vater and Richardson the Eskimo language as spoken east of the Mackenzie River appears to have a softer sound, as for instance, for the western ending tch the eastern tribes mostly use s and sometimes h. The German sound ch, guttural, is frequently heard among the western people. Nouns have six cases, the changes of which are expressed by affixed syllables.

These are in the singular mut, mik, mit, me, and kut, and in the plural nut, nik, nit, ne, and gut. Ga, go, ne, ait, anga, ara, etc., affixed to the nominative, denote a possessive case. As:—kivgah, a servant; kivganga, my servant; kivgane, his servant; etc. Arsu and arsuit are diminutive endings and soak, sudset, and sudsek augmentatives. Adjectives are also declinable. Nouns can be transposed into verbs by affixing evok and ovok, and the adjective is altered in the same manner.

The third person singular of the indicative is taken as the root of the verb, and by changing its termination it may be used as a noun. The infinitive is formed by the postposition nek. The verb has numerous inflections.

‘To be’ or ‘to have,’ both possessing a similar signification, are expressed by gi or vi—as nunagiva, it is his land.

Richardson gives the following declension of a noun, transitively and intransitively (?):

Tupek, A Tent

Tupek, a Tent

		SINGULAR.	DUAL.	PLURAL.
Nom.	tr.	tupek }
	intr.	turkib}	tuppak	turket
Gen.		turkib	tuppak	turket
Dat.	tr.	tuppek	tuppak	turket
	intr.	tuppermut	tuppangnut	tuppernut
Acc.	tr.	tuppak	tuppak	turkinut
	intr.	tuppernik	tuppangnit	turkit
Abl.	tr.	tuppermit	tuppangnit	tuppermit
	intr.	tuppermut	tuppangnut	turkinnut[II-8]Richardson’s Jour., vol. ii., p. 364 et seq.; Veniaminoff, in Erman, Archiv, tom. iii., No. i., pp. 142-43; Beechey’s Voyage, vol. ii., p. 366; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 458 et seq.; notes on the Chugatsh dialect at Prince William Sound in Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 374-6, and Portlock’s Voy., pp. 254-5.

Some claim that the languages of Kadiak and the Aleutian Islands are cognate, others deny any relationship. Stephen Glottoff, one of the first to visit Kadiak Island, states positively that the inhabitants of Unalaska and particularly a boy from the western Aleutian Isles could not understand the people of Kadiak.[II-9]’Er konnte die Sprache dieser Insulaner nicht … verstehen.’ Neue Nachrichten, p. 105. Captain Cook thought there existed a phonetic similarity between the speech of the Unalaskas and the people of Norton Sound, which opinion appears to be correct.[II-10]Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., p. 522. So disarranged have the aboriginal tongues in this vicinity become since the advent of the Russians that little dependence can be placed on latter-day investigations. Dall admits the speech of the two peoples to be dissimilar yet their language he believes to be one.[II-11]Dall’s Alaska, pp. 377-8. Vater, more cautious, thinks that there is perhaps some Eskimo influence noticeable among the Koniagas.[II-12]’Dass sich wohl ein Einfluss der Eskimo-Sprache aber nicht diese selbst über die zwischen Asien and Amerika liegenden Inseln erstreckt.’ Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., 458. Baer gives Admiral von Wrangell’s opinion, which also inclines towards such a connection, but he himself expresses the opposite belief, citing in support of this that the physical appearance of the Koniagas differs entirely from that of the Eskimo race.[II-13]’Der Bewohner von Unalaschka kann den von Kadjack gar nicht verstehen.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., pp. 123-289. Buschmann gives, as the result of careful investigations and comparisons, the opinion that the language of Unalaska is distinct from that of Kadiak, and supports it by the statements of travelers, as for instance that of the mate Saikoff, given in the Neue Nordische Beiträge, tom. iii., p. 284, who says that the two are totally different.

Atkha and Unalaska Dialects

Throughout the whole Aleutian Archipelago there are but two dialects, one of which is spoken on the peninsula, on Unalaska, and a few islands contiguous, while the other—by Veniaminoff called the Atkha dialect—extends thence over all the other Aleutian Isles. In neither dialect is there any distinction of gender; but to make up for this deficiency, besides the plural, a dual is used. Substantives have three cases:—adakch, the father; adam or adaganilyak, of the father; adaman, to the father; adakik or adakin, both fathers; adan, the fathers; adanik, to the fathers. Verbs are conjugated by means of terminals. They are divided into three classes, active, medium, and passive. Negation is expressed by the syllable oljuk added to the root of the verb; sometimes also by ljaka, ljaga, or gana. Sjukong, I take; sjunakching, I took; sjuljakakching, I take not; sjunag´oljuting, I took not; sjuda, take; sjuljagada, or sjuganachtchin, take not.

The eastern Aleuts enunciate very rapidly, without dividing their words distinctly, making it very difficult for a stranger to understand them. In Unalaska their speech is more drawling, while on Atkha Island the natives pronounce each word very distinctly. The western Aleuts and the people on Umnak also speak rather slowly—drawling.[II-14]’Dass … sich das aleutische Idiom … als ein eigner, von dem grossen eskimoischen ganz verschiedener Sprachtypus erweist.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 702 et seq. Veniaminoff’s examples are as follows: active, he took; medium, he took me; passive, he was born. In Erman, Archiv, tom. iii., No. 1, pp. 136-8; Veniaminoff, Sapiski ob Ostrovach Oonalashkinskacho Otjela, tom. ii., pp. 264-71. Dall states that the chief difference between the Atkha and Unalaska dialects consists in the formation of the plural of nouns. The former for this purpose employ the terminal letters s, sh, or ng. For diminutives the Atkhas use the ending kutshak and the Unalaskas dak.[II-15]Dall’s Alaska, p. 386; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 459-460.

On the next page I insert a vocabulary of Eskimo, Kuskoquigmute, Malemute, Aleut, and Kadiak tongues.

Comparative Vocabulary

	ESKIMO.	KUSKOQUIGMUTE.	MALEMUTE.	ALEUT.	KADIAK.
Man	tuak	yugut	enuk	toioch	sewk
Woman		agnak	okanok	aiyagar
Fire	ignik or ignuck	knik	iknik	kignak	knok
Fresh Water	emik
Salt Water	tarreoke
Water		mik	immik	taangak	taangak
Earth		nuni	nuneh	tshekak	noona
Stone	angmak
Dog	kenma or kooneack	annakhukkta	kiyukmuk	uikuk	pewatit
Knife	sequetat	chivichuk	chowik	omgazshizshik	tshangielk
Sun	baittsaach maisak or neiya	akhtah	shukeenyuk	akathak	madzshak
I	woonga	hwihka	wunga	keen	chooi
Thou		lpit	illewit	ingaan	chlput
Eat	ashadlooik or ishadlooweet	neega	nugerunger	kaangen	pittooaga
Yes	a	you	wah	aang	aang
No	naga, nau, tuum, nao, aunga	chashituk	peechuk	maselikan	pedok
One	tegara or adaitsuk	atauchik	atowsik	attakon	alcheluk
Two	milleitsungnet	malkhok	malruk	alluk	malogh
Three	pingettsatsungnet or pingeyook	païnaïvak	pinyusut	kankoon	pingaien
Four	tsetummat or setumet	t’chamik	setemat	shitshin	stamen
Five	tadglémat adreyeet or taleema	talimik	telemat	tshang	taliman
Six	arkbunna aghwinnak akkaooinelget	akhvinok	aghwinuleet	attoon	agovinligin
Seven	aitpa achwinnighipagha mullaroonik or bolruk	ainaäkhvanam	mahluditaghwinuleet	olung	malchongun
Eight	penayua penniyooik pegesset	pinaiviak	pinyusunilaghwinuleet	kamtshing	inglulgin
Nine	seetumna teeidimmik	chtamiakvanam	koolinotyluk	sitching	kollemgaien
Ten	tadleema or kólit	kullnuk	kooleet	hasuk	kollen
Eleven				attakathamatkich	alchtoch

Turn now to the Thlinkeets, who extend along the coast southward from Mount St Elias, as Holmberg says, to the Columbia River;[II-16]’Von St Eliasberge bis hinunter zum Columbia-Strome.’ Holmberg, Ethno. Skiz., p. 9. Chlebikoff, to the forty-first parallel; Vater, to Queen Charlotte Island;[II-17]’Sie erstrecken sich von Iakutat südlich bis zu den Charlotten-Inseln.’ Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 219. and Veniaminoff, to the Stikeen River; the latter affirming, at the same time, that there is but one dialect spoken among them all.[II-18]’Von Ltu bis Stachin, und hat fast nur einen Dialect.’ Veniaminoff, in Erman, Archiv, tom. vii., No. i., p. 128. The nations mentioned by Captain Bryant as speaking this language are the Chilkats, Sitkas, Hoodsinoos, Auks, Kakas, Elikinoos, Stikeens, and Tungass.[II-19]Bryant’s Jour., in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., p. 302. The Tungass language ‘as Mr. Tolmie conjectured, is nearly the same as that spoken at Sitga.’ Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 218.

Harshness of the Thlinkeet Tongue

From all accounts the Thlinkeets possess the most barbarous speech found anywhere in the Pacific States. Whether this arises from the huge block of wood with which the Thlinkeet matrons grace their under lip, which drives the sound from the throat through the teeth and nose before it reaches the ear of the listener, I do not pretend to say; but that it is hard, guttural, clucking, hissing, in short everything but labial, there is no doubt. All who have visited them, whether German, English, French, or Spanish, agree in this particular. Marchand describes it as excessively rude and wild. Most of their articulations are accompanied by a strong nasal aspiration, with strenuous efforts of the throat; particularly in producing the sound of a double r, which is heavy and hard. Many of their words commence with a strongly guttural k sound and this same sound is frequently heard three times in one word. Dr Roblet who accompanied Marchand, says that, notwithstanding all this, the language is very complete, possessing a multitude of words, the natives being at no loss to give a name to everything.[II-21]Marchand, Voyage, tom. ii., pp. 109-110. La Pérouse, who makes a similar report, gives as an example of its harshness the word khlrleies, hair.[II-22]La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 238. ‘Their language is harsh and unpleasant to the ear.’ Portlock’s Voy., p. 293. ‘It appears barbarous, uncouth, and difficult to pronounce.’ Dixon’s Voy., p. 172. ‘La dificil pronunciacion de sus vozes … pues las forman de la garganta con un movimiento de la lengua contra el paladar.’ Bodega y Quadra, Nav., MS., pp. 46-47. In Veniaminoff’s vocabulary are found such words as thlklunúk, healthy, and katlhth, ashes, literally unpronounceable. The frequently occurring sound tl has led several authors to suppose a relationship with the Aztec tongue; as for example Vater, who made a small comparative table which I insert to show directly the contrary to what he wished to prove.

Setting aside the tetl, te, stone, of which I have made previous mention, had the words been selected to prove a want of affinity between the two languages they could not have been more to the point. Buschmann asserts, moreover, that several of the Mexican words are mis-quoted.[II-23]’Von der ganzen Liste bleibt allein The, Stein als ähnlich.’ Buschmann, Pima u. Koloschen Sprache, p. 386. ‘Zwischen ihnen und der mexicanischen in Wörtern und Grammatik keine Verwandtschaft existirt … gänzlich vom Mex. verschieden sind.’ Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. 69. ‘Je n’ai trouvé aucune ressemblance entre les mots de cette langue et celle des … Mexicains.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 240.

Aztec and Thlinkeet Affinities

	AZTEC.	THLINKEET.
Mother	nantli	attli
Brother	teachcauh	achaik or achonoik
Face	xayacatl	kaga
Forehead	yxquatl	kakak
Strong	velitilizcotl	itlzin
Depth	vecatlyotl	kattljan
Stone	tetl	te
Earth	tlalli	tljaknak or tlatka
Duck	canauhtli	kauchu
Star	citlati	tlaachztl[II-24]Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 212-13; Holmberg, Ethno. Skiz., p. 16.

A few instances have been discovered by the same writer, where the Thlinkeet tongue appears to be verging towards the Tinneh. Among others he mentions the Thlinkeet words te, stone, zyyn, muskrat, comparing the latter with the Dogrib tzin; the Thlinkeet achschat, woman, wife, with the Umpqua sch’at; the Thlinkeet tjé, teik, road, with the Tacully tee.[II-25]Buschmann, Pima u. Koloschen Sprache, p. 388. La Pérouse pretends that they do not use and can hardly pronounce the letters b, f, j, d, p, and v. Most words commence with k, t, n, s, or m, the first named being the most frequently used; no word commences with an r.[II-26]La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., pp. 238-9. Veniaminoff again says that it would take thirty-eight letters or combinations to write the distinct sounds which are expressed in the Thlinkeet language. The personal pronouns are khat, or khatsh, I; bae, be, or belch, thou; b or bch, he; ban or bantch, we; iban or ibantch, you; as or astch or youtas or youastch, they. The verb ‘to do’ is conjugated as follows:

To Do in Thlinkeet

PRESENT INDICATIVE.	FIRST FUTURE.		SECOND FUTURE.
etakhani	ekbkazyani		enkbizini

IMPERFECT.		PERFECT.
etakhanegin		ekhbziní or ekhbzinnigin[II-27]Veniaminoff, Sapiski ob Ostrovach Oonalashkinskacho Otjela, tom. iii., pp. 149-51. No translation is given.

Vater has a Lord’s prayer communicated by Baranoff, director of the late Russian possessions in America. It reads as follows:

Thlinkeet Lord’s Prayer

Ais Father waan,our, wet who wwetu art tikeu;in the clouds; ikukastii honored be itssagi name bae;thine; faa let atkwakut come ikustigi kingdom ibee;thine, atkwakut be done attüitugati will bee thine ikachtekin as we linkitani in heaven zu tlekw.and on earth. Katuachawat Food uáan our zuikwülkinichat needful akech give uáan us itat;to-day; tamil absolve uáan us tschaniktschak debts aagi zu ours as also uáan we akut give tugati debtors ajat;ours; ilil not lead uan us zulkikagatii into temptation táat but anachut deliver uan us akalléelchwetach.from the evil Spirit. Tü. So.[II-28]Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 225.

Next come the Tinneh, a people whose diffusion is only equaled by that of the Aryan or Semitic nations of the old world. The dialects of the Tinneh language are by no means confined within the limits of the Hyperborean division. Stretching from the northern interior of Alaska down into Sonora and Chihuahua, we have here a linguistic line of more than four thousand miles in length extending diagonally over forty-two degrees of latitude; like a great tree whose trunk is the Rocky Mountain range, whose roots encompass the deserts of Arizona and New Mexico, and whose branches touch the borders of Hudson Bay[II-29]’Dimensionen, in welchen er ein ungeheures Gebiet im Innern des nördlichen Continents einnimmt, nahe an das Eismeer reicht, und queer das nordamerikanische Festland durchzieht: indem er im Osten die Hudsonsbai, im Südwesten in abgestossenen Stämmen am Umpqua-Flusse das stille Meer berührt.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 323. ‘This great family includes a large number of North American tribes, extending, from near the mouth of the Mackenzie, south to the borders of Mexico.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 428. ‘There are outlyers of the stock as far as the southern parts of Oregon. More than this, there are Athabascans in California, New Mexico and Sonora.’ Latham’s Comp. Phil., vol. viii., p. 393. ‘Dass er in seinem Hauptgürtel von der nördlichen Hudsonsbai aus fast die ganze Breite des Continents durchläuft; und dass er in abgesonderten, in die Ferne geschleuderten Gliedern, gen Süden nicht allein unter dem 46ten (Tlatskanai und Kwalhioqua) und 43ten Grade nördlicher Breite (Umpqua) das stille Meer berührt, sondern auch tief im Innern in den Navajos den 36ten Grad trifft … während er im Norden und Nordwesten den 65ten Grad und beinahe die Gestade des Polarmeers erreicht.’ Buschmann,Athapask. Sprachstamm, p. 313. See also vol. i., pp. 114, 143-9. and of the Arctic and Pacific oceans.[II-30]Gibbs, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 303. In the north, immense compact areas are covered by these dialects; towards the south the line holds its course steadily in one direction, while at the same time on either side are isolated spots, broken fragments as it were, of the Tinneh tongue, at wide distances in some cases from the central line. A reference to the classification given at the end of the preceding chapter, will show the separation of the Tinneh family into four divisions—the eastern, western, central and southern. The eastern division embraces the dialects spoken between Hudson Bay and the Mackenzie River; the western, those of the Kutchins and Kenai of interior Alaska and the Pacific Coast in the vicinity of Mount St Elias and Copper River; the central, those of the Tacullies of New Caledonia, the Umpquas of Oregon, and the Hoopahs of California; the southern, those of the Apaches of New Mexico, Arizona, and Northern Mexico.

Near the sources of a branch of the Saskatchewan River are the Sursees, who have been frequently classed with the Blackfeet, but Mackenzie had before this stated that they speak a dialect of the Tinneh.[II-31]’The Sarsees who are but few in number, appear from their language, to come on the contrary from the North-Westward, and are of the same people as the Rocky-Mountain Indians … who are a tribe of the Chepewyans.’ Mackenzie’s Voyages, pp. lxxi-lxxii. Umfreville who visited these people, compares their language to the cackling of hens, and says that it is very difficult for their neighbors to learn it.[II-32]Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 252; Gallatin, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., p. 19. The Sarsi, Sussees ‘speak a dialect of the Chippewyan (Athapascan), allied to the Tahkali.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 219.

Glance first at the dialects round Hudson Bay, and thence towards the west. The northern dialects are exceedingly difficult to pronounce, being composed largely of gutturals. Richardson compares some of the sounds to the Hottentot cluck, and Isbister calls them “harsh and guttural, difficult of enunciation and unpleasant to the ear.”[II-33]’They speak a copious language, which is very difficult to be attained.’ Mackenzie’s Voyages, p. 114. ‘As a language it is exceedingly meagre and imperfect.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. ii., pp. 3, 28. They differ mainly in accentuation and pronunciation, and it therefore does not require that philological research which is necessary with the farther outlying branches of the family to establish their connection. Richardson says that the Hare and Dog-rib dialects differ scarcely at all even in their accents; and again that the Sheep dialect is well understood by the Hare Indians. Latham affirms that the “Beaver Indian is transitional to the Slavé and Chepewyan proper.” Of the Coppermine people, Franklin writes that their language is “essentially the same with those of the Chipewyans.” Ross Cox says that the language of the Slowacuss and Nascud “bears a close affinity to that spoken by the Chepewyans and Beaver Indians.”[II-34]Richardson’s Jour., vol. ii., pp. 3, 7; Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 76. ‘Hare Indians, who also speak a dialect of the Chipewyan language.’ Id., p. 83. Rocky Mountain Indians differ but little from the Strongbow, Beaver, etc. Id., p. 85; Latham’s Comp. Phil., vol. viii., pp. 388, 391; Id., vol. iii., p. 393; Cox’s Adven., p. 323.

Dialects of the Tinneh Family

From a paper in the collection of M. Du Ponceau, cited by Mr Gallatin, there appears to be in the grammar of these northern dialects a dual as well as a plural. Thus dinné, a person; dinné you, a man; dinné you keh, two men; dinné you thlang, many men. Again we have sick keh, my foot; sick keh keh, my feet. The Chepewyan declension is as follows:

My two hats, sit sackhallé keh; thy two hats, nit sackhallé keh; his two hats, bit sackhaleé keh, or noneh bid tsakhalle keh; their two hats, hoot sackhallé keh; two pieces of wood, teitchin keh; much, or many pieces of wood, teitchin thlang; my son, see azé; my two sons, see azé keh; thy two sons, nee azé keh; his two sons, bee azé keh; their two sons, hoo bee azé keh; my children, see azé keh thlang, or siskainé. Thus we see that the dual ending is keh (which also means foot), and that of the plural, thlang. Possessive pronouns are: first person, si, sit or nee; second person, nit or nee; third person, his or their, bit, bee, noot, or hoo.

Conjugation of the Verb I Speak, Yaws’Thee

I speak, Yaws’thee

PRESENT.		IMPERFECT.
I speak,	yaws’thee	I spoke,	yawaylt’hee
Thou speakest,	yawnelt’hée	Thou spakest,	yayolt’hée
He speaks,	yawlt’hée	He spoke,	yalthee
We speak,	yawoult’hée	We spoke,	tayaolthee
You speak,	tayoult’hée	You spoke,	tayahelthee
They speak,	tayathee	They spoke,	tayolthee[II-35]Gallatin, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., pp. 215-16, 269.

At the end of this chapter may be found a comparative vocabulary, comprising words selected from these and other dialects, belonging to this family.

The Kutchin Dialects of the Yukon

Crossing over to the country drained by the Yukon, we find the great Kutchin nation and to their north-east the Kenai. The Kutchins, according to Jones, are “divided into about twenty-two different tribes, each speaking a dialect of the same language.” Hardisty affirms that “the Loucheux proper is spoken by the Indians of Peels River, thence traversing the mountains, westward down Rat River, the Tuk-kuth, and Van-tah-koo-chin, which extend to the Tran-jik-koo-chin, Na-tsik-koo-chin, and Koo-cha-koo-chin of the Youcon.”[II-36]Richardson’s Jour., pp. 377-413; Latham’s Native Races, pp. 293-4; Jones, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 320; Hardisty, in Id., p. 311. The connection of the Kutchin language with the Tinneh has been, by early travelers, denied, and this denial re-echoed by writers following them;[II-37]’They speak a language distinct from the Chipewyan,’ Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 83. ‘The similarity of language amongst all the tribes (Athabascans) that have been enumerated under this head (the Loucheux excepted) is fully established. It does not appear to have any distinct affinities with any other than that of the Kinai.’ Gallatin, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., p. 20. ‘The language of the latter (Loucheux) is entirely different from that of the other known tribes who possess the vast region to the northward of a line drawn from Churchill, on Hudson’s Bay, across the Rocky Mountains, to New Caledonia.’ Simpson’s Nar., p. 157. ‘The Degothees or Loucheux, called Quarrellers by the English, speak a different language.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 542. but later philological investigations have established the relationship beyond a question. Furthermore, to corroborate this fact there are persons, well acquainted with these people and their language, having lived in their country and traded with them for years, who are positive that the Kutchin is a dialect of the Tinneh. Some of them even affirm that the eastern Kutchin dialect bears a closer relationship to that of their neighbors, the Hares and Slavés, than do some of the dialects of the western Kutchins to each other, yet it is certain that all the Kutchin tribes of the Yukon and its tributaries understand one another, accentuation being the principal distinction between them.

A greater divergence from the stock language is observable in the dialect of the Tutchone Kutchin, which, with those of the Han Kutchin, the Slavé of Francis Lake and Fort Halkett, the Sicannis, the Abbato-tinneh of the Pelly and Macmillan Rivers, and the Nehanne of forts Liard and Simpson, might almost be called a dialectic division of the Tinneh language.[II-38]Hardisty, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 311.

Richardson, following Murray, cautiously traces these relationships in the following words: “More resemblances, he thinks, might be traced through the Mountain Indian speech (Naha-‘tdinnè or Dtchè-ta-ut’tinnè) than directly between the Kutchin and Dog-rib tongues. The Han-Kutchi of the sources of the Yukon, speak a dialect of the Kutcha-Kutchi language, yet they understand and are readily understood by the Indians of Frances Lake and the banks of the Pelly. Now these converse freely with the Naha- or Dtché-ta-ut’tinnè, and other Rocky Mountain tribes, whose language resembles the Dog-rib tongue, and who are, in fact, acknowledged members of the Chepewyan nation. Again, the Frances Lake Indians understand the Netsilley, or Wild Nation, who trade at Fort Halkett, on the River of the Mountains; these again are understood by the Sikanis; and the Sikanis by the Beaver Indians, whose dialect varies little from that of the Athabascans, the longest-known member of the ‘Tinnè nation.”[II-39]Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., pp. 400-1; Hooper’s Tuski, p. 270.

The Kutchins pride themselves on their oratorical powers, making long, windy, and allegorical speeches remarkable alike for native wit and eloquence. In public speaking their delivery is unique and effective; commencing in a low monotonous tone the voice slowly rises to a crescendo, then increases to a forte, and finally rolls forth in grand fortissimo, at which point, accompanied by striking gestures, it continues until sheer exhaustion compels the orator to pause for breath. The speech closes with a “most infernal screech,” as Hardisty calls it, which is supposed to be a clincher to the most abstruse argument.

It was among these people, in the vicinity of the junction of the Tananah with the Yukon River that the before-mentioned broken Slavé jargon originated. Before the arrival of foreigners, the necessity of a trade, or intertribal, language was felt and met, the dialect spoken on the Liard River forming the basis. With the arrival of Russians, French, and English successively, each one of these nationalities contributed of its words to form the general jargon. Dall says that it is in use among all western Eskimos who have intercourse with the Tinneh. The European element in their jargon is very slight, much less than in the Chinook jargon, from the fact that but few Europeans have ever come in contact with the inland tribes of Alaska even in an indirect way.

Following the Tinneh tongue southward from Central Alaska, we strike the Pacific seaboard at Cook’s Inlet and Prince William Sound, where we find the Kenai, with six or more dialects, stretching along the shores of the Ocean as far as Copper River. The word Kenai, or as they are sometimes called the Thnaina,[II-40]Holmberg, Ethno. Skiz., pp. 6-7; Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., p. 97; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 228; Dall’s Alaska, p. 430; Latham’s Nat. Races, p. 292. meaning men, in signification and sound is almost identical with the word Tinneh, Dinneh, Tinné, Dinay, Tinna, with many other variations applied to this family.[II-41]Buschmann, Athapask. Sprachstamm, p. 223; Krusentern, Woerter-Sammlung, p. xi. According to Sagoskin the Ingaliks, Unakatanas, and others of the Yukon and Nulato rivers call themselves Ttynaichotana.[II-42]’So nennen die Seeküstenbewohner Ulukag Mjuten Inkiliken, und diese letzten nennen sich selbst entweder nach dem Dorfe, oder im allgemeinen Ttynai-Chotana.’ Sagoskin, Tagebuch, in Russ. Geog. Gesell., Denkschr., p. 321. Veniaminoff, a high authority on matters coming under his immediate observation, draws erroneous conclusions from his comparisons of Kenai dialects. The Kenai language, he says, is divided into four dialects; the Kenai proper, the Atnah spoken by the Koltshanes and the people of Copper River, the Kuskoquim, and the Kwichpak.[II-43]Veniaminoff, in Erman, Archiv, tom. vii., No. i., p. 128. Baron von Wrangell is of the opinion that the Kenai are of Thlinkeet stock, affirming that although their idiom is different yet it comes from the same root;[II-44]’Ihre Sprache ist zwar von der der Koloschen verschieden, stammt aber von derselben Wurzel ab.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., p. 97. but Dall believes that it might be “more properly grouped with the Tinneh.”[II-45]Dall’s Alaska, p. 430. The dialect of the Ugalenzes, Buschmann confidently asserts, belongs to the Tinneh family, although its connection with the Kenai is not strongly marked, while slight traces of the Thlinkeet tongue are found in it, but not the least shadow of the Aztec as Vater imagined.[II-46]’Ich bleibe dabei stehn sie für eine athapaskische Sprache zu erklären.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 687. ‘Two tribes are found, on the Pacific Ocean, whose kindred languages, though exhibiting some affinities both with that of the Western Eskimaux and with that of the Athapascas, we shall, for the present, consider as forming a distinct family. They are the Kinai, in or near Cook’s Inlet or River, and the Ugaljachmutzi (Ougalachmioutzy) of Prince William’s Sound.’ Gallatin, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., p. 14. Long words are of frequent occurrence in the speech of the Ugalenzes; as for example, chakljtschejalsga, work; tekssekonachalek, enemy; kakujasliatenna, to divide; aukatschetohatle, to take away.

Kenai Linguistic Affiliations

The Atnah dialect has also been classed with the Thlinkeet by Baer, who inserts a small comparative vocabulary to show the similarity, but in it few similar words are found, while between the Atnah and the Ugalenze the connection is quite prominent, as for instance;

Atnah and the Ugalenze

	ATNAH.	UGALENZE.
Heaven	jaat	jaa
Ice	ttön	ttetz
Stone	ttzesch	ttza
Fox	nakattze	nakattze
Eagle	ttschkuläk	tkotschkalak
Blood	tell	tedlch
Fat	chchä	chche
Come here	any	anatschtja[II-47]’Dieses Volk gehört gleich den Ugalenzen zu einem und demselben Stamme mit den Koloschen…. Auch in der Sprache giebt es mehrere Wörter, die auf eine gemeinschaftliche Wurzel hindeuten.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., p. 99.

In like manner the Kenai dialect has been classed with the Thlinkeet;[II-48]’Gehört zu demselben Stamme wie die Galzanen oder Koltschanen, Atnaer und Koloschen. Dieses bezeugt nicht nur die noch vorhandene Aehnlichkeit einiger Wörter in den Sprachen dieser Völker (eine Aehnlichkeit, welche freilich in der Sprache der Koloschen kaum noch merkbar und fast gänzlich verschwunden ist).’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., p. 103. but here the preponderance of evidence is with the Tinneh. Buschmann claims it as his discovery that the Kenai belong to the Tinneh family.[II-49]’Die Kinai, Kenai oder Kenaizen wurden bisher schon als ein Hauptvolk und ihre Sprache als eine hauptsächliche des russischen Nordamerika’s betrachtet. Sie umziehen in ihren Wohnungen an jener Küste die grosse Kinai-Bucht oder den sogenannten Cooks-Fluss. Ihr Idiom galt bisher als eine selbstständige und ursprüngliche Sprache, Trägerinn mehrerer anderer. Nach meinen Entdeckungen ist es ein Glied des grossen athapaskischen Sprachstammes, und seine Verwandten im russischen Nordwesten sind andere Glieder desselben.’ Buschmann, Athapask. Sprachstamm, p. 223. The Kenai dialect is very difficult to pronounce, so much so that even the neighboring people with their harsh, nasal, and guttural idioms, find great trouble in enunciating it clearly. Some of the combinations of consonants are really very curious,[II-50]’Die Kenai-Sprache ist, wegen der Menge ihrer Gurgellaute, von allen Idiomen des russischen Amerika’s am schwierigsten auszusprechen. Selbst die Nachbarn der Kenajer, deren Sprachen schon ein sehr geschmeidiges Organ erfordern, sind nicht im Stande, Wörter des Kenajischen rein wiederzugeben.’ Veniaminoff, in Erman, Archiv, tom. vii., No. i., p. 128.—aljtnjan, earth; kyssynj, woman; mljchny, to drink; keljkatj, to eat; ktaaltatlni, to shoot; kydykntjassnissj, I hear; tschatscheeintschichku, do not be afraid; kazikatejityssny, I know not.

Baer makes the Ingalik cognate with Kenai, Atnah, and Thlinkeet;[II-51]Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., p. 119. an affinity is also detected between the Inkalit and the Kenai, Atnah, and Unalaska dialects;[II-52]’Sie sprechen eine Sprache, die ganz verschieden ist von der an der Seeküste gebräuchlichen Sprache der Aleuten von Kadjack; der Dialect der Inkaliten ist ein Gemisch aus den Sprachen der Kenayer, Unalaschken und Atnaer … auch die Anwigmüten und Magimüten sind Inkaliten.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., pp. 120-1. while Sagoskin numbers both the Ingalik and the Inkalit among the members of the Tinneh family.[II-53]’Der zwei Stämme des Volkes Ttynai, hauptsächlich der Inkiliken und der Inkaliten-jug-elnut.’ Sagoskin, Tagebuch, in Russ. Geog. Gesell., Denkschr., tom. i., p. 352; Whymper’s Alaska, p. 175. Like those of their neighbors these two dialects are harsh and difficult of pronunciation, as for instance in the Inkalit, tschugljkchuja, a fox.

From the earliest times it has been known that the Koltshanes could converse freely with the Atnahs and Kenai, and the relationship existing between these dialects has long been recognized.[II-54]’Die näher wohnenden gehören zu demselben Stamme wie die Atnaer und Kenayer und können sich mit ihnen, obgleich sie einen anderen Dialect sprechen, verständigen.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., p. 101. As a specimen of the Koltshane tongue, I present the following: tschiljkaje, eagle; nynkakit, earth; ssyljtschitan, cold; sstscheljssilj, warm; tschilje, man.

Central Tinneh Division

To the Tacullies of our central Tinneh division, whose language Hale separates into eleven dialects, Latham adds the Sicannis, and other writers the Umpquas and the Hoopahs.[II-55]Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 62; Mackenzie’s Voyages, p. 284. ‘Their language is very similar to that of the Chipewyans, and has a great affinity to the tongues spoken by the Beaver Indians and the Sicaunes. Between all the different villages of the Carriers, there prevails a difference of dialect, to such an extent, that they often give different names to the most common utensils.’ Harmon’s Jour., pp. 285-6, 379, 193, 196; Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 178. ‘Les Indiens de la côte ou de la Nouvelle Calédonie, les Tokalis, les Chargeurs (Carriers), les Schouchouaps, les Atnas, appartiennent tous à la nation des Chipeouaïans.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 337; Gallatin, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., p. 20. ‘A branch of the great Chippewyan (Athapascan) stock.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 202. The northern dialects of this division are represented as composed of words harsh and difficult to pronounce, while the southern dialects are softer and more sonorous, yet robust and emphatic. Mr Hale felt the necessity of adopting a peculiar style of orthography to represent the sounds of these words. The Greek chi he employed to reproduce the Tacully gutturals, which he says are somewhat deeper than the Spanish jota, probably nearly akin to the German ch in acht und achtzig. With t chi l he aims to convey a sound which “is a combination uttered by forcing out the breath at the side of the mouth between the tongue and the palate.”[II-56]Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 533. In the following words instead of the Greek chi, I write kh, and for t chi l, sch. Schling, dog; schluk, fish; sutschon, good; kwun, fire; kukh, house; schhell, mountain; tse, stone; kuschkai, run.

Hale is the only author who gives any information of the two tribes Tlatskanai and Kwalhioqua. The Kwalhioquas dwell on the north bank of the Columbia, near its mouth; but between them and the river there runs a wedge of Chinook territory. The former are to be found south of the river, on a narrow strip extending north and south. Being nearly related to the Tacully, these languages also belong to the Tinneh family. The only vocabulary obtainable is given by Mr Hale. Round the headwaters of the river Umpqua live the people of that name, speaking a language related to the two last mentioned, but which, if we may believe Mr Hale, is “much softer than the others.”

Vocabulary of Hoopah Dialects

Scouler, who has made a curious classification of the languages of north-western America, places the Umpqua in the same family with the Calapooya and Yamkally under the general name of Cathlascon.[II-57]Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 225; Hines’ Voy., p. 117. The southernmost dialect of this division is that of the Hoopahs, on Trinity River. Upon the authority of Mr Powers, “the Hoopa language is worthy of the people who speak it—copious in its vocabulary; robust, sonorous, and strong in utterance; of a martial simplicity and rudeness in construction.” Again he writes, “as the Hoopas remind one of the Romans among savages, so is their language something akin to the Latin in its phonetic characteristics: the idiom of camps—rude, strong, laconic. Let a grave and decorous Indian speak it deliberately, and every word comes out like the thud of a battering-ram against a wall. For instance let the reader take the words for ‘devil’ and ‘death’—keetoanchwa and cheechwit—and note the robust strength with which they can be uttered. What a grand roll of drums there is in that long, strong word, conchwilchwil.” Mr Powers gives the following declension: I, hwe; father, hoota; my father, hwehoota; you, nine; your father, nineta; mother, necho; death, cheechwit; your mother’s death, nincho cheechwit.[II-58]Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. ix., pp. 157-8; Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 422; Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., pp. 87-5. ‘Ich habe später die Hoopah Sprache wirklich für eine athapaskische angenommen.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 576.

On the western slope of Mount Shasta, there is the Wi-Lackee language, which bears a close likeness to the Hoopah; on Mad River is the Lassic and on Eel River the Siah, both probably Hoopah dialects, and on Smith River in Del Norte County, the Haynaggi, Tolewah and Tahahteen, also presumably Hoopah and Wi-Lackee dialects. The following comparative table of the numerals in the Tolewah, Hoopah, and Wi-Lackee dialects, will serve to illustrate their relationship.

Tolewah, Hoopah, and Wi-Lackee dialects

	TOLEWAH.	HOOPAH.	WI-LACKEE.
One	chla	chla	clyhy
Two	nacheh	nach	nocka
Three	tacheh	tach	tock
Four	tencheh	tinckh	tenckha
Five	swoila	chwola	tusculla
Six	ostáneh	hostan	cooslac
Seven	tsayteh	ochkit	coosnac
Eight	lanésh tnata	cahnem	coostac
Nine	chla ntuch	nocósta	coosténckha
Ten	neh sun	minchla	kwang enta

Speech of the Apache Tribes

In the southern and last division of the Tinneh family are found the great Apache and Navajo nations, with their many dialects. The Apaches may be said to inhabit or rather to roam over the country, commencing at the Colorado desert and extending east to the Rio Pecos, or from about 103° to 114° west long., and from Utah Territory into the states of Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Texas, or from about 38° to 30° north lat. Hardly two authors agree in stating the number and names of the different tribes belonging to this nation.[II-59]Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., p. 325. ‘Desde el Real de Chiguagua, cruzando al Poniente, hasta el rio Gila, y subiendo al Norte, hasta el Moqui, y Nuevo México, y Provincias de Texas y Quahuila; y revolviendo al Sur remata en el sobredicho Real.’ Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 338; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 177; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., pp. 212-3; ‘Extend from the black mountains in New México to the frontiers of Cogquilla.’ Pike’s Explor. Trav., (Phil. 1810,) appendix, p. 10; Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 83; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 446; Pope, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. ii., p. 13; Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 298; Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 8. ‘Se extienden en el vasto espacio de dicho continente, que comprenden los grados 30 á 38 de latitud Norte, y 264 á 277 de longitud de Tenerife.’ Cordero, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 369; Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., pp. 393, et seq. ‘Tota hæc regio, quam Novam Mexicanam vocant, ab omnibus pene lateribus ambitur ab Apachibus.’ Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 316; Venegas, Noticia de la Cal., tom. ii., 553; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 40. The names by which they are known among themselves are, according to Orozco y Berra:Vinni ettinen-ne, Segatajen-ne, Tjuiccujen-ne, Iccujen-ne, Yutajen-ne, Sejen-ne, Cuelcajen-ne, Lipajen-ne, for which the Mexicans have substituted, such words as Apaches, Tontos, Chiricaguis, Gileños, Mimbreños, Faraones, Mescaleros, Llaneros, Lipanes, and Navajos.[II-60]Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 369. ‘La nacion apache es una misma aunque con las denominaciones de Gileños, Carlanes, Chilpaines, Xicarillas, Faraones, Mescaleros, Natales, Lipanes, etc. varia poco en su idioma,’ Doc. Hist. Mex., série iv., tom. iii., p. 10. ‘Los Apaches se dividen en cinco parcialidades como son: Tontos ó Coyoteros, Chiricahues, Gileños, Faraones, Mescaleros, Llaneros, Lipanes, Xicarillas y otras.’ Barreiro, Ojeada, appendix, p. 7. Browne mentions the Gila Apaches, and as belonging to them Mimbrenas, Chiricahuas, Sierra Blancas, Pinal llanos, Coyoteros, Cominos, Tontos, and Mogallones.’ Apache Country, p. 290; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 177-8; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., p. 211. ‘The Apache; from which branch the Navajos, Apaches, Coyoteros, Mescaleros, Moquis, Yabipias, Maricopas, Chiricaquis, Chemeguabas, Yumayas (the last two tribes of the Moqui), and the Nijoras, a small tribe on the Gila.’ Ruxton’s Adven. Mex., p. 194; Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 298; 1858, pp. 205-6; 1854, p. 180; 1861, p. 122; 1862, p. 238; 1863, p. 108; 1864, p. 156; 1865, p. 506; 1869, p. 234; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 289. ‘Los apaches se dividen en nueve parcialidades ó tribus.’ Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., p. 251. ‘Since acquiring the Apache language, I have discovered that they (Lipans) are a branch of that great tribe, speaking identically the same language, with the exception of a few terms and names of things existing in their region and not generally known to those branches which inhabit Arizona and New Mexico.’ Cremony’s Apaches, p. 21. The nations that make up this great people are the Chiricaguis in north-eastern Sonora; Coyoteros in the Gila country; Faraones, west of New Mexico in the Sierras del Diablo, Chanate, and Pilares; Gileños at the eastern base of the Sierra de los Mimbres south of the Rio Gila; the people of the copper mines on both banks of the Rio Grande, ranging west to the Coyoteros and Pinaleños, and also into Chihuahua and Sonora, and at Lake Guzman west of Paso del Norte; the Lipanes, or Ipandes, in Texas; the Llaneros, north-east of Santa Fé, and northerly of the Rio Rojo de Natchitoches or Rio Pecos; Mescaleros, in the Sierras del Diablo, Chanate, Pilares, and on both banks of the Rio Tuerco, above its confluence with the Rio Grande; the Natages, or Natajes, in Texas near the Lipanes; the Pelones, in Coahuila; the Pinaleños, in the Sierras del Pinal and Blanca; the Tejuas, east of the Rio Grande, in the Gila country; the Tontos, in north-eastern Sonora, in the north-east near the Seris in the Pimeria Alta, and south of the Maricopas and the Rio Gila; the Vaqueros in the eastern part of New Mexico; the Mimbreños, in the Sierra de los Mimbres, west of Paso del Norte, and in the south-western end of New Mexico, on the northern boundary of Chihuahua.[II-61]Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 303, et seq. ‘El intermedio del Colorado y Gila, ocupan los yavipaistejua, y otros yavipais; al sur del Moqui son todos yavipais, que es lo mismo que apaches, donde se conoce el gran terreno que ocupa esta nacion.’ Garcés, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série ii., tom. i., p. 352; San Francisco Evening Bulletin, Feb. 18, 1864. Padilla mentions the following nations with the Apaches: ‘Apaches, Pharaones, Natagees, Gilas, Mescaleros, Cosninas, Quartelejos, Palomas, Xicarillas, Yutas, Moquinos.’ Conq. N. Galicia, MS., p. 785; Cortez, Hist. Apache Nations, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., pp. 118-20. ‘The Apaches, the Navahoes, and the Lipans, of Texas, speak dialects of the same language. The Jicarillas, (Hic-ah-ree-ahs) Mescaleros, Tontos, and Coyotens, are all bands of Apaches; and I am induced to think the Garoteros are also an offshoot from the Apache tribe.’ Lane, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 689. The Xicarillas, whose dialect forms the principal connecting link between the Apache language and the Tinneh family, live on the Rio de los Osos, west of the Rio Grande; also in the Moro Mountains and along the Cimarron.[II-62]’A distancia de cinco leguas, al mesmo rumbo (north of Taos), está una Nacion de Indios, que llaman Xicarillas.’ Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., p. 420; Davis, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 255. Xicarillas, Apache Indians of northern New Mexico. Their language shows affinity with the great Athabascan stock of languages. Buschmann, Spr. N. Mex. u. der Westseite des B. Nordamer., p. 274; Id., Spuren der Aztek. Spr., pp. 318-9; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 203. All the Apache tribes speak dialects but slightly varying from one another, and all can converse easily together. Different accentuations and some peculiar vocal appellations are, for the most part, all that constitute severalness in these dialects. Don José Cortéz states that “the utterance of the language is very violent, but it is not so difficult to speak as the first impression of it would lead one to suppose; for the ear, becoming accustomed to the sound, discovers a cadence in the words.” “It has great poverty, both of expression and words.” It appears as well that the harsh gutturals so constantly heard among the northern members of the Tinneh family, frequently occur in the Apache dialects.[II-63]Cortez, Hist. Apache Nations, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 120. ‘Hablan un mismo idioma, y aunque varia el acento y tal cual voz provincial, no influye esta diferencia que dejen de entenderse reciprocamente.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 339. Bartlett writes, “it sounds like a combination of Polish, Chinese, Choctaw, and Dutch. Grunts and gutturals abound, and there is a strong resemblance to the Hottentot click. Now blend these together, and as you utter the word, swallow it, and the sound will be a fair specimen of an Apache word.”[II-64]Bartlett’s Letter, in Literary World, April 24, 1852, pp. 298-9. ‘It abounds equally with guttural, hissing and indistinctly uttered mixed intonations…. It abounds in the sound of tz, so common in the Shemitic languages, of zl of d and the rough rr…. It may be suggested that its proper affinities are to be found in the Athpasca.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., pp. 202-3. Apache affiliations have been surmised by different writers, with nearly all their neighbors, and even with more distant nations. Arricivita hints at a possible relationship with the Otomí, because an Otomí muleteer told him that he could converse with the Apaches.[II-65]’Le preguntó que si acaso entendia la lengua de los Apaches, y satisfizo con que era la misma Otomite que él hablaba, y solo con la diferencia de que ellos variaban la significacion de muchos vocablos que en la suya querian decir otras cosas: pero por el contexto de las otras palabras, facilmente se entendian.’ Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 339. The Shoshone and Comanche dialects have also been referred to the Tinneh trunk, but in reality they belong to the Sonora vernacular, a discovery first made by Turner, and proved by Buschmann.

Apache Grammar

Col. Cremony, who was interpreter for the United States Mexican boundary commission, and hence conversant with the Apache language, gives some valuable grammatical notes. “Their verbs,” he says “express the past, present and future with much regularity, and have the infinitive, indicative, subjunctive and imperative moods, together with the first, second and third persons, and the singular, dual and plural numbers. Many of them are very irregular, and depend upon auxiliaries which are few. In all that relates to special individuality the language is exacting; thus, shee means I, or me; but shee-dah means I myself, or me myself; deemeans thee or thou; but dee-dah means you yourself especially and personally, without reference to any other being. When an Apache is relating his own personal adventures he never says shee for I, because that word, in some sense, includes all who were present and took any part in the affair but he uses the word shee-dah, to show that the act was wholly his own. The pronouns are: shee—I; shee-dah—I myself; dee—thee or thou; dee-dah, thee thyself; aghan—it, he, her, or they. The word to-dah means no, and all their affirmatives are negatived by dividing this word so as to place the first syllable in front and the second in the rear of the verb to be negatived. For example, ink-tah means, sit down, but to say, do not sit down, we must express it to-ink-tah-dah; nuest-chee-shee, come here; to-nuest-chee-shee-dah, do not come here; anah-zont-tee, begone; to-anah-zont-tee-dah, do not begone.”[II-66]Cremony’s Apaches, p. 239; Id., in Overland Monthly, Sept. 1868, pp. 306-7.

Conjugation of the Verb to be, Ah Ghontay

To Be, Ah Ghontay


PRESENT INDICATIVE.
I am,	tak she	We are,	tan-ah-hee-ah-aht-tee
Thou art,	tan-dee-ah-aht-tee	You are,	nah-hee-ah-aht-tee
He is,	tah-annah	They are,	aghan-day-aht-tee

IMPERFECT.
	I was,	tash-ee-ah-ash-ee
	Thou wast,	dee-ah-alt-een
	He was,	tah annah-kah-on-yah
	We were,	akannah sin-kah
	You were,	nah-hee-dah-a-kan nah-dash-shosh
	They were,	aghan-do-doh-ah-kah-gah-kah

FIRST FUTURE.
I shall be,	she-ah-dosh-´n-dahl	We shall be,	nah-he-do-gont-ee dahl
Thou wilt be,	dee-ay-goh-ay-dahl	You will be,	nah-he-nah-hat-han-dahl
He will be,	ando-ay-gah-ee-dahl	They will be,	nah-hayt-han-dahl

Conjugation of the Verb to Do, Ah Gosh Lah

To Do, Ah Gosh Lah


PRESENT INDICATIVE.
I do,	she-ash-lah	We do,	tah-nah-hee-ah-ghont-lah
Thou dost,	tan-dee-aghon-lah	You do,	nah-hee-ah-ghast-lah
He does	tah-pee-ay-il-lah	They do,	tah-goh-pee-ah-goh-lah

IMPERFECT.
I did,	tah-she-ash-lah	We did,	tah-nah-kee-and-lah
Thou didst,	dee-and-lah	You did,	nah-hee-alt-lah
He did,	pee-ind-lah	They did,	goh-pee-ah-goh-nind-lah

FIRST FUTURE.
	I shall do,	tash-ee-ah-dosh-leel
	Thou wilt do,	dee-ah-goh-dont-leel
	He will do,	tah-pee-aye-dahl-teel
	We shall do,	tah-nah-he-ah-go-dont-leel
	You will do,	nah-he-ah-dash-leel
	They will do,	go-pee-ah-guill-dah-leel

PRESENT SUBJUNCTIVE.
If I do,	she-ash-lah-nah-ah	If we do,	tah-nah-hee-ant-lah
If thou do,	dee-alt-in-dahl	If you do,	nah-hee-alt-lah
If he do,	tah-pee-ayilt-in-dahl	If they do, go-pee-ah-wilt-ee

IMPERATIVE.
	Do thou,	eah-and-lah

PRESENT PARTICIPLE.
	Doing,	ah-whee-lah

Conjugation of the Verb to Eat, Ish Shan

To Eat, Ish Shan


PRESENT INDICATIVE.
I eat,	she-ish-shan	We eat,	tah-nah-de-hit-tahn
Thou eatest,	deah-in-nah	You eat,	nah-he-naloh-in-day
He eats,	aghan-iz-yan	They eat,	goh-pee-goo-iz-yun

PERFECT.
	I have eaten,	she-ohz-yan
	Thou hast eaten,	dee-schlee-ohn-nah
	He has eaten,	aghan-ohnz-yan
	We have eaten,	tah-nah-hee-al-ke-dah-ohn-tan
	You have eaten,	nah-he-ahz-yan
	They have eaten,	goh-pee-go-yohnz-yan

FIRST FUTURE.
	I shall eat,	she-go-ish-shan
	Thou wilt eat,	dee-doh-in-mah-dahl
	He will eat,	aghandoh-iz-yan
	We shall eat,	tah-nah-hee-hin-tahn-dahl
	You will eat,	nah-he-goh-an-shan
	They will eat,	goh-pee-goh-iz-yan-dahl

IMPERATIVE.
Eat thou,	tan-dee-in-nah	Let them eat,	tah-goh-pee-niz-yan

Conjugation of the Verb to Sleep, IL Hoosh

To Sleep, Il Hoosh


PRESENT INDICATIVE.
I sleep,	she-ish-hoosh	We sleep,	tah-nah-he-il-hoosh
Thou sleepest,	dee-ilt-hoosh	You sleep,	nah-he-il-hoosh
He sleeps,	aghan-it-hoosh	They sleep,	go-pee-will-hoosh

PERFECT.
	I have slept,	she-al-kee-dah-ish-hash
	Thou hast slept,	dee-al-kee-dah-ish-hash
	He has slept,	aghando-ish-hash
	We have slept,	tah-nah-he-al-kee-dah-il-gash
	You have slept,	nah-he-al-kee-dah-al-hoosh
	They have slept,	go-pee-al-kee-dah-go-il-gash

FIRST FUTURE.
	I shall sleep,	she-do-ish-hoosht-tahl
	Thou wilt sleep,	dee-do-dohl-goosh
	He will sleep,	aghando-il-hoosht-dahl
	We shall sleep,	tah-nah-he-do-il-goosh-tahl
	You will sleep,	nah-he-doh-al-hoosh-tahl
	They will sleep,	go-pee-go-will-hoosh-tahl

IMPERATIVE.
	Sleep thou,	dee-ilh-hoosh
	Sleep you,	nah-hee-doh-al-hoosh
	Sleep they,	go-pee-go-il-hoosh

Conjugation of the Verb to Love, In Kay Go Isht Lee

To Love, In Kay Go Isht Lee


PRESENT INDICATIVE.
I love,	sheah-in-kay-go-isht-lee	We love,	tan-ah-hee-in-kay-go-it-lee
Thou lovest,	deah-vick-kay-go-int-lee	You love,	nah-he-vick-kay-at-lee
He loves,	aghan-ee-kay-go-it-lee	They love,	goh-pee-vick-kay-go-it-lee

IMPERFECT.
	I loved,	she-in-kay-go-isht-leeth-lay
	Thou lovedst,	dee-vick-kay-go-int-leeth-lee
	He loved,	aghan-vick-kay-go-it-leelth-lee
	We loved,	tan-ah-hee-vick-kay-int-leelth-lee
	You loved,	nah-he-vick-kay-at-leelth-lee
	They loved,	go-pee-vick-kay-go-leelth-lee

FIRST FUTURE.
	Thou wilt love,	dee-vick-kay-go-isht-lee-dahl
	He will love,	ghan-vick-kay-go-it-lee-dahl
	I shall love,	he-in-kay-go-isht-lee-dahl
	We shall love,	tah-nah-he-vick-kay-go-it-tlee-dahl
	You will love,	nah-he-vick-kay-at-tlee-dahl
	They will love,	goh-pee-vick-kay-go-it-tlee-dahl

IMPERFECT POTENTIAL.
	I should love,	she ‘dn-vick-kay-go-isht-leel-dahl
	Thou shouldst love,	dee ‘dn-vick-kay-go-isht-leel-dahl
	He should love,	aghan-vick-kay-ich-klee-dahl
	We should love,	tah-nah-he-vick-kay-go-in-klee-dahl
	You should love,	nah-he-vick-kay-go-in-klee-dahl
	They should love,	goh-pee-vick-kay-go-in-klee-dahl

IMPERATIVE.
	Love thou,	vick-kay-go-it-lee
	Love you,	nah-he-vick-kay-at-lee
	Let them love,	goh-pee-vick-kay-go-it-lee

Numerals

NUMERALS.
One	tash-ay-ay
Two	nah-kee
Three	kah-yay
Four	in-yeh
Five	asht-lay
Six	host-kon-nay
Seven	host-ee-day
Eight	hah-pee
Nine	‘n-ghost-ay
Ten	go-nay-nan-nay
Eleven	klats-ah-tah
Twelve	nah-kee-sah-tah
Thirteen	kah-yay-sah-tah
Fourteen	tin-sah-tah-hay
Fifteen	asht-lay-sah-tah-hay
Sixteen	host-kon-sah-tah-hay
Seventeen	host-ee-sah-tah-hay
Eighteen	tan-pee-sah-tah-hay
Nineteen	‘n-ghost-ah-sah-tah-hay
Twenty	natin-yay
Thirty	kah-tin-yay
Forty	tinsh-tin-yay
Fifty	asht-lah-tin-yay
Sixty	host-kon-tin-yay
Seventy	host-ee-tin-yay
Eighty	san-vee-tin-yay
Ninety	‘n-ghost-ah-tin-yay
One hundred	tah-len-too-ooh
One thousand	go-nay-nan-too-ooh
Two thousand	nah-tin-ee-too-ooh

The following sentences will serve as specimens to show the construction of this language.

Whence come you? hash-ee-ohn-dahl?

I come from afar, an-dah-she-oh-thal.

I am a friend, tah-in-joon-ay-ish-lee.

What do you want? ee-ya-althe-ee ‘n?

There are wood, water, and grass, tooh-tlo-chee-gon-lee.

Go and watch the enemy, niñ-dah-bin-naht-hah-aden-he.

Take notice of them, gon-joon-ay-go-hah-den-ee.

Of what nation are they? yah-indah-aht-ee?

Where is their camp? hah-ay-vee-goat-hah?

Note well their position, gon-joon-ay-go-nel-he-hayago-ah-tay-na-lee.

They are near by, goh-pee-ach-han-nay-she-go.

I do not believe it, too-vah-osht-lah-dah.

Show me the road, in-tin-dee-she-chee-toh-golt-chee.

Mine, shee.

It is mine, es-shee.

Thine, dee.

It is his or hers, ah-koon-pee.

It is not mine, too-she-dah.

It is not thine, too-in-dee-dah.

It is not his or hers, too-pee-dah.

These, tee-hay-ah.

Those, ah-wayh-hay-yah.

Speech in the Mescalero Dialect

As a further illustration, I give a speech made by General Carleton during an interview with the Mescaleros, which was translated and written down at the time by Col. Cremony.

Nah-heedn day nah goodnltay;Your people are bad; toogo take headah;they have not kept faith; bayay geah gontay;they are treacherous; schlee nahhah goh inay een;they have stolen our horses; nahgah godilt say;they have murdered our people; nahhannah gwinheay endah ah tay;they must make amends; too nahhan neet ee dah;they must cease troubling us; tah nakee ahendah adenh dee;they must obey our orders; nah schleen nahhannah weedah ayl;they must restore our animals; han eganday they must nahhannah goee dalt yeal;give up the murderers; enday nahhah hitjash they must give us toohayago andadah;hostages; alkeedah llaynah ildee;let them remember past times; eschlanay they werevaygo daht eel;numerous and powerful; saylth lee goh-pee; they held all the sierras; taat hooay takee they occupied all anah goh kah;the water-holes; tah golkahay takay ikay goon lee;they were masters of the plains; tash lainah too nelchedah.none made them afraid. Ako ahn day hahdah?Where are they now? Eeyah veeahkah tsay nogoshee ‘n nilt ee?Why do they hide behind rocks? Nakay eeah Where is their haddah? possession? Bahyay kay ‘n nilt ee?Why do they hide like coyotes? She aghan iltisch I will tell in dee;them why; taykay indah nash lee; they have been enemies to all other people; taykay ay they have made veeakah nah hindah; all other people their enemies; tahnahhe elchindah nah hee;they have made enemies of each other; tannahee eedaltsay ayveeahkah hee nahindah;they have lived by robbery and murder; too nah they have yah seedah;not worked; tah nalkoneeay vickaygo tee en nahseego;idleness breeds want; tee en nahseego chin nah hilt yeeay;want breeds hunger; chevilheeaygo hunger vilkonyeago takhoogo ont yeal;and idleness breed crime; yont hooaygo anaht eel;they have committed crimes; takhoogo ninis yah;the punishment has fallen on them; aghon ahltay koohaygo naht lee;their thousands have become hundreds;elchinalcheego vickeah golt seel;we speak harsh truths; nahee vah ahtee we speak so only for elchinahtee;their good; naschayhay too ahnah lahdah;we have no vengeance in our hearts; Elchinalcheego inklees andah ‘n june;Our talk is hard but good; nah kashee let them vanan an keeays;reflect upon it; anahtay kahdayah too wakhahdah;let them change their ways; innee nahl ash lah;let them cultivate the earth; ilk jeel eego andah ‘n june. let them be a strong but a good people.[II-67]Prepared at Fort Sumner, Bosque Redondo, on the Pecos River, New Mexico, in 1863, as certified by Brig. Gen. James H. Carleton, U. S. A., and the only Apache grammar known to exist at this date. Cremony’s Vocabulary and Grammar of the Mescalero Apache Language, MS.

Mr Dorr, writing in the Overland Monthly, makes an erroneous assertion that the Apache and Zuñi languages are the same, “differing only in accent, intonation, and cadence, they understand each other without difficulty. The Zuñi, or Apache language is very flexible and suave, and may at some time have been the Court language of the ancient races. It is often as expressive of fine shades of distinction as even the Greek itself. It preserves—in the adyta of its wonderful radicals—the traditional duality of the human race: its dual, as well as singular and plural, forms of speech.”[II-68]Dorr’s Ride with the Apaches, in Overland Monthly, vol. vi., p. 343.

Vater intimates a relationship between the Apaches and the Pawnees, and that chiefly on the ground of a similarity in the names Pawnees and Lipanes.[II-69]Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt. iii., p. 179.

Pimentel gives a Lord’s Prayer in the Lipan dialect, which will serve as a specimen of the language:

‘Cutall nezlló ezllá anel ti qui Llatá; setezdanela net agá nautela; nosesene nda tendajé lle agá tandé: tanzanenda agá atanclaju, senegui ti ezllza glezi, aj ullú ti lle lata; Lle tulatan nezllé ja lagé tatichi anizané tatichi en gucecen dé joullé vandaezhé lenegui ajullú da yé nachezonllé tenagé vandaezhec en ne zto agatenjá tendá tlez ti tezchupanen da glicóa genechi te najacengli Gaache lyé net.'[II-70]Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., p. 251, and in Coleccion Polidiómica Mexicana que contiene La Oracion Dominical; por la Sociedad Mex. Geog. y Estad., México, 1860.

Tinneh Vocabulary

The Navajos, or Apache Navajos, of New Mexico, like the northern Tinneh, call themselves Tennai, men. Their dialect approaches the Xicarilla Apache, and Mr Eaton even asserts that it is about the same.[II-71]’The Apaches call the Navajoes Yú-tah-kah. The Navajoes call themselves, as a tribe, Tenúai (man.) The appellation Návajo, was unquestionably given them by the Spaniards.’ Eaton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 217-8; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 229. ‘Gehört ebenfalls zur Familie der Apaches.’ Id., Reisen, tom. ii., p. 236. Pike mentions the Nanahaws, which name is probably intended for Navajos, as no other account can be found of such a people.

Comparative Vocabulary of the Tinneh Family

Comparative Vocabulary of the Tinneh

	STONE.	FIRE.	WATER.	DOG.	SUN.	KNIFE.
Apache	zeyzai	kou	toah	zeetzaian	skeemai	pesh
Apache Coppermine	tzi	con	t’hochon	klinchane	chigonakai	pes
Atnah	tzesch	tkchon	ttuu	tchlikja	noai
Beaver			too	tlee
Chepewyan	thaih	counn	tto	thling	sakh	bess
Dogrib	thai	cun	to	kling	ssa	paas
Hoopah	tsha	hoh	tahnahn	schlunh	hontsah	salstha
Inkilik		ttakuna	tu	klikhk	nooja	tschawyk
Inkalit	luohna	kchun	te	klikhk	nooi	tschawyk
Kenai	kaljniki	tasi	miljtni	chlika	channoo	kisjaki
Koltshane	tzi		tokatschj	liki	naaitschete
Kutchin	tchi	khon	tchu	tleine	r’seyé	r’si
Kwalhioqua						tschoho
Loucheux			tchu			tlay
Navajo	tsai	tcou	toe	kleechahee	chohaeha	pesh
North’n Ind.		odelchat	ictoo	anelwosh		pace
Apache Pinaleño	tschayer		to		yaheye	paysche
Sursee		coo		tley		marsh
Tacully	tse	coun	tou	sleing	tsa	téisch
Tenan Kutchin	utsih		chu	klankoyah	soh
Tlatskanai	zeyzay	khtane	to	schling	taosse	tekhe
Ugalenze	tza	takak	kaja	chaua	katakyl	zachlj
Umpqua	seh	khong	tkho	schlinge	scha	natlmi
Unakatana	luohna	khun	tu	klikhk	taltohna
Xicarilla		cone	ko	klinchaah
Apache Mescalero	teesch	kunh'	too-ooh	neechschlee	shoonnahaye	pesh


	MAN.	EYE.	ONE.	TWO.	THREE.
Apache	ailee	konda	tahse	nahkee	tai
Apache Coppermine	n’de	sleenda	tashte	naki	ta-i
Atnah	tkichlj	ssnega	schtschelkai	nateakcha	taakei
Beaver	tiné
Chepewyan	‘tinné	naw	slachy	nakhé	takke
Dogrib	tchelaqui	ztennhae	‘nthlaré	nakhké	khtarre
Hoopah	quaietai	hunnah	tlah	nahe	tahek
Inkilik	ttynnaij	noga	kissleka	inteka	tokak
Inkalit	tynni	noga	kissleka	inteka	toka
Kenai	tynni	ssnaga	zelkei	techa	tokchke
Koltshane	tschilje	tschintagi	ilite	lakeji	takei
Kutchin	tengi		tihlagga	nakhei	thieka
Kwalhioqua
Loucheux	tenghie
Navajo	tennai	hunnah	tathlai	naki	tanh
North’n Ind.	tinneh	naw	she	chellatelle	elthoi
Apache Pinaleño	payyahnay	chindar
Sursee		senourvoh	vttegar	vkkeer	tankey
Tacully	dinay	nah	etscha	nangkakh	taki
Tenan Kutchin	tinji	sintaga
Tlatskanai	khanae	nakhai	schlié	natoke	tage
Ugalenze	togoju	kalljag	tlchinke	gaatte	toolkoa
Umpqua	toene	naye	aitschla	nakhok	taak
Unakatana	tena lo	sunoga
Xicarilla	tinday	pindah
Apache Mescalero	enday	shindah	tash-ayay	nahkee	kahyay

Footnotes

[II-1] See vol. i., p. 42 et seq. of this work.

[II-2] ’Ces deux langues … sont absolument la même que celle des Vogules, habitants de la Tartarie, et la même que celle des Lapons.’ Monglave, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. i., p. 65. ‘Les Esquimaux d’Amérique et les Tchoutchis de l’extrémité nord de l’Asie orientale … il est aisé de reconnaître qu’ils appartiennent à une même famille.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 330. ‘The whole arctic shore of North America is possessed by the Esquimaux and Greenlanders, who speak an original tongue called Karalit.’ McCulloh’s Researches in Amer., p. 36. ‘The Arctic region is mainly covered by dialects of a single language—the Eskimo.’ Latham’s Comp. Phil., vol. viii., p. 384. ‘Der Amerikanische Sprachtypus, die Eskimo-Sprache, reicht hinüber nach Asien.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 711. ‘Alle Eskimos sprechen im Wesentlichen dieselbe Sprache.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., p. 280. ‘The language of the Western Esquimaux so nearly resembles that of the tribes to the eastward.’ Beechey’s Voyage, vol. ii., p. 311; Sauer’s Billings’ Ex., p. 245; Kotzebue’s Voyage, vol. iii., p. 314; Franklin’s Nar., vol. i., p. 30; Dease and Simpson, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. viii., p. 222; Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., p. 68. But Vater does not believe that the language extends across to Asia. ‘Dass sich wohl ein Einfluss der Eskimo-Sprache, aber nicht diese selbst über die zwischen Asien and Amerika liegenden Inseln erstreckt.’Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 458, 426.

[II-3] Veniaminoff, Ueber die Sprachen des russ. Amer., in Erman, Archiv., tom. vii., No. 1, p. 126 et seq.

[II-4] Sagoskin, Tagebuch, in Russ. Geog. Gesell., Denkschr., tom. i., p. 359 et seq.

[II-5] ’Alle diese Völkerschaften reden eine Sprache and gehören zu einem und demselben Stamme, der sich auch weiter nördlich längs der Küste … ausdehnt.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., p. 122.

[II-6] Kotzebue’s Voyage, vol. ii., p. 175.

[II-7] Of the similarity between the Kadiak and Alaska idiom, Langsdorff says: ‘In a great degree the clothing and language of the Alaskans, are the same as those of the people of Kodiak.’ Voy., vol. ii., p. 236. Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. ii., pp. 68-69.

[II-8] Richardson’s Jour., vol. ii., p. 364 et seq.; Veniaminoff, in Erman, Archiv, tom. iii., No. i., pp. 142-43; Beechey’s Voyage, vol. ii., p. 366; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 458 et seq.; notes on the Chugatsh dialect at Prince William Sound in Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 374-6, and Portlock’s Voy., pp. 254-5.

[II-9] ’Er konnte die Sprache dieser Insulaner nicht … verstehen.’ Neue Nachrichten, p. 105.

[II-10] Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., p. 522.

[II-11] Dall’s Alaska, pp. 377-8.

[II-12] ’Dass sich wohl ein Einfluss der Eskimo-Sprache aber nicht diese selbst über die zwischen Asien and Amerika liegenden Inseln erstreckt.’ Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., 458.

[II-13] ’Der Bewohner von Unalaschka kann den von Kadjack gar nicht verstehen.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., pp. 123-289.

[II-14] ’Dass … sich das aleutische Idiom … als ein eigner, von dem grossen eskimoischen ganz verschiedener Sprachtypus erweist.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 702 et seq. Veniaminoff’s examples are as follows: active, he took; medium, he took me; passive, he was born. In Erman, Archiv, tom. iii., No. 1, pp. 136-8; Veniaminoff, Sapiski ob Ostrovach Oonalashkinskacho Otjela, tom. ii., pp. 264-71.

[II-15] Dall’s Alaska, p. 386; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 459-460.

[II-16] ’Von St Eliasberge bis hinunter zum Columbia-Strome.’ Holmberg, Ethno. Skiz., p. 9.

[II-17] ’Sie erstrecken sich von Iakutat südlich bis zu den Charlotten-Inseln.’ Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 219.

[II-18] ’Von Ltu bis Stachin, und hat fast nur einen Dialect.’ Veniaminoff, in Erman, Archiv, tom. vii., No. i., p. 128.

[II-19] Bryant’s Jour., in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., p. 302. The Tungass language ‘as Mr. Tolmie conjectured, is nearly the same as that spoken at Sitga.’ Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 218.

[II-21] Marchand, Voyage, tom. ii., pp. 109-110.

[II-22] La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 238. ‘Their language is harsh and unpleasant to the ear.’ Portlock’s Voy., p. 293. ‘It appears barbarous, uncouth, and difficult to pronounce.’ Dixon’s Voy., p. 172. ‘La dificil pronunciacion de sus vozes … pues las forman de la garganta con un movimiento de la lengua contra el paladar.’ Bodega y Quadra, Nav., MS., pp. 46-47.

[II-23] ’Von der ganzen Liste bleibt allein The, Stein als ähnlich.’ Buschmann, Pima u. Koloschen Sprache, p. 386. ‘Zwischen ihnen und der mexicanischen in Wörtern und Grammatik keine Verwandtschaft existirt … gänzlich vom Mex. verschieden sind.’ Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. 69. ‘Je n’ai trouvé aucune ressemblance entre les mots de cette langue et celle des … Mexicains.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 240.

[II-24] Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 212-13; Holmberg, Ethno. Skiz., p. 16.

[II-25] Buschmann, Pima u. Koloschen Sprache, p. 388.

[II-26] La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., pp. 238-9.

[II-27] Veniaminoff, Sapiski ob Ostrovach Oonalashkinskacho Otjela, tom. iii., pp. 149-51. No translation is given.

[II-28] Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 225.

[II-29] ’Dimensionen, in welchen er ein ungeheures Gebiet im Innern des nördlichen Continents einnimmt, nahe an das Eismeer reicht, und queer das nordamerikanische Festland durchzieht: indem er im Osten die Hudsonsbai, im Südwesten in abgestossenen Stämmen am Umpqua-Flusse das stille Meer berührt.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 323. ‘This great family includes a large number of North American tribes, extending, from near the mouth of the Mackenzie, south to the borders of Mexico.’ Dall’s Alaska, p. 428. ‘There are outlyers of the stock as far as the southern parts of Oregon. More than this, there are Athabascans in California, New Mexico and Sonora.’ Latham’s Comp. Phil., vol. viii., p. 393. ‘Dass er in seinem Hauptgürtel von der nördlichen Hudsonsbai aus fast die ganze Breite des Continents durchläuft; und dass er in abgesonderten, in die Ferne geschleuderten Gliedern, gen Süden nicht allein unter dem 46ten (Tlatskanai und Kwalhioqua) und 43ten Grade nördlicher Breite (Umpqua) das stille Meer berührt, sondern auch tief im Innern in den Navajos den 36ten Grad trifft … während er im Norden und Nordwesten den 65ten Grad und beinahe die Gestade des Polarmeers erreicht.’ Buschmann,Athapask. Sprachstamm, p. 313. See also vol. i., pp. 114, 143-9.

[II-30] Gibbs, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 303.

[II-31] ’The Sarsees who are but few in number, appear from their language, to come on the contrary from the North-Westward, and are of the same people as the Rocky-Mountain Indians … who are a tribe of the Chepewyans.’ Mackenzie’s Voyages, pp. lxxi-lxxii.

[II-32] Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 252; Gallatin, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., p. 19. The Sarsi, Sussees ‘speak a dialect of the Chippewyan (Athapascan), allied to the Tahkali.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 219.

[II-33] ’They speak a copious language, which is very difficult to be attained.’ Mackenzie’s Voyages, p. 114. ‘As a language it is exceedingly meagre and imperfect.’ Richardson’s Jour., vol. ii., pp. 3, 28.

[II-34] Richardson’s Jour., vol. ii., pp. 3, 7; Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 76. ‘Hare Indians, who also speak a dialect of the Chipewyan language.’ Id., p. 83. Rocky Mountain Indians differ but little from the Strongbow, Beaver, etc. Id., p. 85; Latham’s Comp. Phil., vol. viii., pp. 388, 391; Id., vol. iii., p. 393; Cox’s Adven., p. 323.

[II-35] Gallatin, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., pp. 215-16, 269.

[II-36] Richardson’s Jour., pp. 377-413; Latham’s Native Races, pp. 293-4; Jones, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 320; Hardisty, in Id., p. 311.

[II-37] ’They speak a language distinct from the Chipewyan,’ Franklin’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 83. ‘The similarity of language amongst all the tribes (Athabascans) that have been enumerated under this head (the Loucheux excepted) is fully established. It does not appear to have any distinct affinities with any other than that of the Kinai.’ Gallatin, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., p. 20. ‘The language of the latter (Loucheux) is entirely different from that of the other known tribes who possess the vast region to the northward of a line drawn from Churchill, on Hudson’s Bay, across the Rocky Mountains, to New Caledonia.’ Simpson’s Nar., p. 157. ‘The Degothees or Loucheux, called Quarrellers by the English, speak a different language.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 542.

[II-38] Hardisty, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 311.

[II-39] Richardson’s Jour., vol. i., pp. 400-1; Hooper’s Tuski, p. 270.

[II-40] Holmberg, Ethno. Skiz., pp. 6-7; Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., p. 97; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 228; Dall’s Alaska, p. 430; Latham’s Nat. Races, p. 292.

[II-41] Buschmann, Athapask. Sprachstamm, p. 223; Krusentern, Woerter-Sammlung, p. xi.

[II-42] ’So nennen die Seeküstenbewohner Ulukag Mjuten Inkiliken, und diese letzten nennen sich selbst entweder nach dem Dorfe, oder im allgemeinen Ttynai-Chotana.’ Sagoskin, Tagebuch, in Russ. Geog. Gesell., Denkschr., p. 321.

[II-43] Veniaminoff, in Erman, Archiv, tom. vii., No. i., p. 128.

[II-44] ’Ihre Sprache ist zwar von der der Koloschen verschieden, stammt aber von derselben Wurzel ab.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., p. 97.

[II-45] Dall’s Alaska, p. 430.

[II-46] ’Ich bleibe dabei stehn sie für eine athapaskische Sprache zu erklären.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 687. ‘Two tribes are found, on the Pacific Ocean, whose kindred languages, though exhibiting some affinities both with that of the Western Eskimaux and with that of the Athapascas, we shall, for the present, consider as forming a distinct family. They are the Kinai, in or near Cook’s Inlet or River, and the Ugaljachmutzi (Ougalachmioutzy) of Prince William’s Sound.’ Gallatin, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., p. 14.

[II-47] ’Dieses Volk gehört gleich den Ugalenzen zu einem und demselben Stamme mit den Koloschen…. Auch in der Sprache giebt es mehrere Wörter, die auf eine gemeinschaftliche Wurzel hindeuten.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., p. 99.

[II-48] ’Gehört zu demselben Stamme wie die Galzanen oder Koltschanen, Atnaer und Koloschen. Dieses bezeugt nicht nur die noch vorhandene Aehnlichkeit einiger Wörter in den Sprachen dieser Völker (eine Aehnlichkeit, welche freilich in der Sprache der Koloschen kaum noch merkbar und fast gänzlich verschwunden ist).’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., p. 103.

[II-49] ’Die Kinai, Kenai oder Kenaizen wurden bisher schon als ein Hauptvolk und ihre Sprache als eine hauptsächliche des russischen Nordamerika’s betrachtet. Sie umziehen in ihren Wohnungen an jener Küste die grosse Kinai-Bucht oder den sogenannten Cooks-Fluss. Ihr Idiom galt bisher als eine selbstständige und ursprüngliche Sprache, Trägerinn mehrerer anderer. Nach meinen Entdeckungen ist es ein Glied des grossen athapaskischen Sprachstammes, und seine Verwandten im russischen Nordwesten sind andere Glieder desselben.’ Buschmann, Athapask. Sprachstamm, p. 223.

[II-50] ’Die Kenai-Sprache ist, wegen der Menge ihrer Gurgellaute, von allen Idiomen des russischen Amerika’s am schwierigsten auszusprechen. Selbst die Nachbarn der Kenajer, deren Sprachen schon ein sehr geschmeidiges Organ erfordern, sind nicht im Stande, Wörter des Kenajischen rein wiederzugeben.’ Veniaminoff, in Erman, Archiv, tom. vii., No. i., p. 128.

[II-51] Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., p. 119.

[II-52] ’Sie sprechen eine Sprache, die ganz verschieden ist von der an der Seeküste gebräuchlichen Sprache der Aleuten von Kadjack; der Dialect der Inkaliten ist ein Gemisch aus den Sprachen der Kenayer, Unalaschken und Atnaer … auch die Anwigmüten und Magimüten sind Inkaliten.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., pp. 120-1.

[II-53] ’Der zwei Stämme des Volkes Ttynai, hauptsächlich der Inkiliken und der Inkaliten-jug-elnut.’ Sagoskin, Tagebuch, in Russ. Geog. Gesell., Denkschr., tom. i., p. 352; Whymper’s Alaska, p. 175.

[II-54] ’Die näher wohnenden gehören zu demselben Stamme wie die Atnaer und Kenayer und können sich mit ihnen, obgleich sie einen anderen Dialect sprechen, verständigen.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., p. 101.

[II-55] Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 62; Mackenzie’s Voyages, p. 284. ‘Their language is very similar to that of the Chipewyans, and has a great affinity to the tongues spoken by the Beaver Indians and the Sicaunes. Between all the different villages of the Carriers, there prevails a difference of dialect, to such an extent, that they often give different names to the most common utensils.’ Harmon’s Jour., pp. 285-6, 379, 193, 196; Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 178. ‘Les Indiens de la côte ou de la Nouvelle Calédonie, les Tokalis, les Chargeurs (Carriers), les Schouchouaps, les Atnas, appartiennent tous à la nation des Chipeouaïans.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 337; Gallatin, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., p. 20. ‘A branch of the great Chippewyan (Athapascan) stock.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 202.

[II-56] Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 533.

[II-57] Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 225; Hines’ Voy., p. 117.

[II-58] Powers, in Overland Monthly, vol. ix., pp. 157-8; Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 422; Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., pp. 87-5. ‘Ich habe später die Hoopah Sprache wirklich für eine athapaskische angenommen.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 576.

[II-59] Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., p. 325. ‘Desde el Real de Chiguagua, cruzando al Poniente, hasta el rio Gila, y subiendo al Norte, hasta el Moqui, y Nuevo México, y Provincias de Texas y Quahuila; y revolviendo al Sur remata en el sobredicho Real.’ Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 338; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 177; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., pp. 212-3; ‘Extend from the black mountains in New México to the frontiers of Cogquilla.’ Pike’s Explor. Trav., (Phil. 1810,) appendix, p. 10; Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 83; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 446; Pope, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. ii., p. 13; Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 298; Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 8. ‘Se extienden en el vasto espacio de dicho continente, que comprenden los grados 30 á 38 de latitud Norte, y 264 á 277 de longitud de Tenerife.’ Cordero, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 369; Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., pp. 393, et seq. ‘Tota hæc regio, quam Novam Mexicanam vocant, ab omnibus pene lateribus ambitur ab Apachibus.’ Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 316; Venegas, Noticia de la Cal., tom. ii., 553; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 40.

[II-60] Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 369. ‘La nacion apache es una misma aunque con las denominaciones de Gileños, Carlanes, Chilpaines, Xicarillas, Faraones, Mescaleros, Natales, Lipanes, etc. varia poco en su idioma,’ Doc. Hist. Mex., série iv., tom. iii., p. 10. ‘Los Apaches se dividen en cinco parcialidades como son: Tontos ó Coyoteros, Chiricahues, Gileños, Faraones, Mescaleros, Llaneros, Lipanes, Xicarillas y otras.’ Barreiro, Ojeada, appendix, p. 7. Browne mentions the Gila Apaches, and as belonging to them Mimbrenas, Chiricahuas, Sierra Blancas, Pinal llanos, Coyoteros, Cominos, Tontos, and Mogallones.’ Apache Country, p. 290; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 177-8; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., p. 211. ‘The Apache; from which branch the Navajos, Apaches, Coyoteros, Mescaleros, Moquis, Yabipias, Maricopas, Chiricaquis, Chemeguabas, Yumayas (the last two tribes of the Moqui), and the Nijoras, a small tribe on the Gila.’ Ruxton’s Adven. Mex., p. 194; Ind. Aff. Rept., 1857, p. 298; 1858, pp. 205-6; 1854, p. 180; 1861, p. 122; 1862, p. 238; 1863, p. 108; 1864, p. 156; 1865, p. 506; 1869, p. 234; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 289. ‘Los apaches se dividen en nueve parcialidades ó tribus.’ Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., p. 251. ‘Since acquiring the Apache language, I have discovered that they (Lipans) are a branch of that great tribe, speaking identically the same language, with the exception of a few terms and names of things existing in their region and not generally known to those branches which inhabit Arizona and New Mexico.’ Cremony’s Apaches, p. 21.

[II-61] Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 303, et seq. ‘El intermedio del Colorado y Gila, ocupan los yavipaistejua, y otros yavipais; al sur del Moqui son todos yavipais, que es lo mismo que apaches, donde se conoce el gran terreno que ocupa esta nacion.’ Garcés, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série ii., tom. i., p. 352; San Francisco Evening Bulletin, Feb. 18, 1864. Padilla mentions the following nations with the Apaches: ‘Apaches, Pharaones, Natagees, Gilas, Mescaleros, Cosninas, Quartelejos, Palomas, Xicarillas, Yutas, Moquinos.’ Conq. N. Galicia, MS., p. 785; Cortez, Hist. Apache Nations, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., pp. 118-20. ‘The Apaches, the Navahoes, and the Lipans, of Texas, speak dialects of the same language. The Jicarillas, (Hic-ah-ree-ahs) Mescaleros, Tontos, and Coyotens, are all bands of Apaches; and I am induced to think the Garoteros are also an offshoot from the Apache tribe.’ Lane, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 689.

[II-62] ’A distancia de cinco leguas, al mesmo rumbo (north of Taos), está una Nacion de Indios, que llaman Xicarillas.’ Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., p. 420; Davis, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 255. Xicarillas, Apache Indians of northern New Mexico. Their language shows affinity with the great Athabascan stock of languages. Buschmann, Spr. N. Mex. u. der Westseite des B. Nordamer., p. 274; Id., Spuren der Aztek. Spr., pp. 318-9; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 203.

[II-63] Cortez, Hist. Apache Nations, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 120. ‘Hablan un mismo idioma, y aunque varia el acento y tal cual voz provincial, no influye esta diferencia que dejen de entenderse reciprocamente.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 339.

[II-64] Bartlett’s Letter, in Literary World, April 24, 1852, pp. 298-9. ‘It abounds equally with guttural, hissing and indistinctly uttered mixed intonations…. It abounds in the sound of tz, so common in the Shemitic languages, of zl of d and the rough rr…. It may be suggested that its proper affinities are to be found in the Athpasca.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., pp. 202-3.

[II-65] ’Le preguntó que si acaso entendia la lengua de los Apaches, y satisfizo con que era la misma Otomite que él hablaba, y solo con la diferencia de que ellos variaban la significacion de muchos vocablos que en la suya querian decir otras cosas: pero por el contexto de las otras palabras, facilmente se entendian.’ Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 339.

[II-66] Cremony’s Apaches, p. 239; Id., in Overland Monthly, Sept. 1868, pp. 306-7.

[II-67] Prepared at Fort Sumner, Bosque Redondo, on the Pecos River, New Mexico, in 1863, as certified by Brig. Gen. James H. Carleton, U. S. A., and the only Apache grammar known to exist at this date. Cremony’s Vocabulary and Grammar of the Mescalero Apache Language, MS.

[II-68] Dorr’s Ride with the Apaches, in Overland Monthly, vol. vi., p. 343.

[II-69] Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt. iii., p. 179.

[II-70] Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., p. 251, and in Coleccion Polidiómica Mexicana que contiene La Oracion Dominical; por la Sociedad Mex. Geog. y Estad., México, 1860.

[II-71] ’The Apaches call the Navajoes Yú-tah-kah. The Navajoes call themselves, as a tribe, Tenúai (man.) The appellation Návajo, was unquestionably given them by the Spaniards.’ Eaton, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 217-8; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 229. ‘Gehört ebenfalls zur Familie der Apaches.’ Id., Reisen, tom. ii., p. 236.

Chapter III • Columbian Languages • 10,800 Words

The Haidah, its Construction and Conjugation—The Nass Language and its Dialects—Bellacoola and Chimsyan Comparisons—The Nootka Languages of Vancouver Island—Nanaimo Ten Commandments and Lord’s Prayer—Aztec Analogies—Fraser and Thompson River Languages—The Neetlakapamuck Grammar and Lord’s Prayer—Sound Languages—The Salish Family—Flathead Grammar and Lord’s Prayer—The Kootenai—The Sahaptin Family—Nez Percé Grammar—Yakima Lord’s Prayer—Sahaptin State and Slave Languages—The Chinook Family—Grammar of the Chinook Language—Aztec Affinities—The Chinook Jargon.

Returned from the south, whither we were led by the Apache branch of the Tinneh family, let us examine the languages of our Columbian group. Next along the seaboard, south of the Thlinkeets, are the Haidahs and Kaiganies, whose language is spoken on the southern part of the Prince of Wales Archipelago, and on Queen Charlotte Island. This language is sometimes called Haidah, and sometimes Kaiganie,[III-1]’Die Kaigan-Sprache wird auf der Insel Kaigan und den Charlotten Inseln … gesprochen.’ Veniaminoff, in Erman, Archiv, tom. vii., No. 1., p. 128. and although many tribes belong to these nations, I find among them no dialectic difference, except that between the Haidahs of Queen Charlotte Island and the Kaiganies of the Prince of Wales Archipelago.

Marchand claims that this language is understood by the Thlinkeets and other eastern tribes;[III-2]’En parlant du langage de Tchinkîtâiné, j’ai rapporté d’avance les termes numériques employés aux îles de Queen-Charlotte, tels que le capitaine Chanal a pu les recueillir á Cloak-Bay; il observe que quelques-uns de ces termes sont communs aux autres parties de ces îsles qu’il a visitées, ainsi que quelques autres termes qu’il a pu saisir, et par lesquels les Naturels expriment les objets suivanes…. Cette similitude des termes numériques et d’autres termes, employés également par les diverses Tribus, séparées les unes des autres, qui occupent la partie de côtes des îles de Queen-Charlotte que le Capitaine Chanal a visitée, me semble démontrer, contre l’opinion hasardée du Rédacteur du Journal de Dixon, que ces Tribus communiquent habituellement entre elles: cette identité du langage pourroit encore prouver que les Peuplades qui habitent ces îles ont une origine commune.’ Marchand, Voyage, tom. ii., p. 216. Capt. Dixon thinks it is a distinct and separate tongue;[III-3]’There are at least two or three different languages spoken on the coast, and yet probably they are all pretty generally understood; though if we may credit the old Chief at Queen Charlotte’s Islands, his people were totally ignorant of that spoken by the inhabitants to the Eastward.’ Dixon’s Voy., p. 240. Scouler makes one large northern family, which he says spreads “from the Arctic Circle to the northern extremity of Quadra and Vancouver’s Island;”[III-4]Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. ii., pp. 218, 220. Radloff’s comparative researches incline him to the opinion that, although there may be a few similarities in words between this and other idioms, as, for example, the Thlinkeet, they are yet insufficient to prove identity.[III-5]Radloff, Sprache der Kaiganen, in Mél. Russes. tom. iii., liv. v., p. 575; Green, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. iii., p. 302.

The Haidah and Kaiganie

Some of those who have heard the Haidahs speak, say that their language is uncouth and difficult to articulate, abounding in consonants, and with a labial and dental pronunciation;[III-6]Dixon’s Voy., p. 240. others affirm that it does not possess the hard aspirated consonants so frequently found in the Thlinkeet language, that it is richer in vowels and softer, though, like the Thlinkeet, it is wanting in labials, in the dental r, and in the guttural l, while the Haidah has the clear l.[III-7]’Es fehlen dem Kaigáni (Haidah) jene harten aspirirten Consonanten, die dem Thlinkít so geläufig sind, es ist vocalreicher und weicher. Dagegen theilt es mit dem Thlinkít den Mangel der Labialen, des dentalen r, wie auch der Verbindung des l mit Dentalen, Gutturalen und Sibilanten, während jenem dagegen das reine l des Kaigani ganz fremd ist.’ Radloff, Sprache der Kaiganen, in Mél. Russes, tom. iii., liv. v., pp. 575-6. The Haidah language lacks the letters b, p, f, and the dental r; neither its substantives nor adjectives have any gender, and to express the feminine the word dshetta, woman, is added. Itlk dshetta, wife of the chief; ha, dog; ha dshetta, slut. Neither is there any particular expression for the plural. Kjéganei, my house; kjeganei tljönxl lágun, my three houses are good; tön dsha, thy wife; tön dsha s’töng hána, thy two wives are both pretty. Two exceptions have been mentioned;—gjeà, mast; gjeàng hlöhnhl, three masts; hätä, man (homo); hátei, men. Substantives are not declined, but remain unchanged in all cases. Hantl, water; hall hantl, bring water; tlu, boat; tlu tön gistasa, I give thee a boat; katt, deer; katt hutsu ziggin, I have a small deer; slei, hand; hall tön slei, give thy hand. Pronouns are either distinct words, or are prefixes to substantives and verbs. Prefixes also denote the possessive case. To the former class belong htlä, I; and tonga, thou. To the latter belong te, ti, de, di, zi, kje, teea, tl, t, mine, all of which are used in the first person singular. Second person singular, töng, tön, ten, thine; second person plural, töllöng, yours.

Of the conjugation of the verb, the following may serve as example: Present indicative—I am hungry, tekutke; thou art hungry, töng khúttus; he is hungry, law khúttung; we are hungry, itl khúttung; you are hungry, töllöng khúttus; they are hungry, únnas khúttung. Root words are not of great length. The larger part are words of one or two syllables; some are of three or four, but these are rare; nevertheless, words may be agglutinated to any length.[III-8]Id., pp. 569-607.

The Nass language is spoken with very slight differences by the Nass, Hailtzas, and Sebassas, who dwell around Observatory Inlet, Millbank Sound, and the islands of Pitt Archipelago, respectively. Harsh sounds and gutturals predominate.[III-9]Green, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., p. 302. ‘Náss … in custom and language, resemble the Sabassa.’ Dunn’s Oregon, p. 279. Buschmann, Spr. N. Mex. u. der Westseite des b. Nordamer., p. 398, et seq. The personal pronouns are—nookwa, I; cusho, thou; nesho, mine; cusho, thine; nookwintok, we; kycusko, ye; caigh qua, he; elee caigh qua, they.[III-10]Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. ix., p. 234.

Dunn gives a few sentences, which I insert as specimens: whealey lowels kussú, where are you going? howmithlem pooquialla iltsouk, do you understand our language? lowels, cah cúnter cah míllah, go shoot deer.[III-11]Dunn’s Oregon, p. 358.

Bellacoola and Chimsyan

In the immediate vicinity of the Nass are two other languages, the Bellacoola and Chimsyan, of which hardly anything is known. Tolmie supposes the Chimsyan to be related to the Tacully language, but Buschmann, on comparing the vocabularies, could not find the affinity. The Rev. Mr Good informs me that the Chimsyan tongue extends inland as far as Fraser and Stuart Lake.[III-12]Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. ix., p. 221. Compare the following words:

Bellacoola and Chimsyan

	BELLACOOLA.	CHIMSYAN.

I	untsh	newyo
Thou	eno	noone
Mine	untshil	nawhawae
We	unshto	neuhami
Ye	enooh	neumi
He	teechtil taigh	qua
They	teech til tin no mo taight	queet
Man	tlimsdah	tzib
Knife	teech tah	ilth-a-peesh
Water	kull ah	use
Stone	quils tolomick	loap
Sun	skin nuch	kium uk
Moon	tlooki	kium ugum aat uk
Good	teeah	aam
Bad	ushee	atuchk

The Hailtzas and the Bellacoolas have the following words in common;—watz, dog; poe, halibut; tlah, black bear; nun, grizzly bear.[III-13]Id., p. 230, et seq.

Languages of Vancouver Island

On Vancouver Island a multitude of dialects are spoken, and various and contradictory classifications have been made, none of which, in my opinion, are correct. From the evidence, dialetic diversity prevails to such an extent that almost every petty tribe has its idiom; so that, even if affinities do exist, sufficient to justify a classification into languages and dialects, so meagre is our knowledge that it is impossible in many instances to say which are languages and which dialects. Hence in my classification I cannot do better than to make of the Nootka one language, and give a list of the dialects on the island, with all the information concerning them at my command. Four languages of the island—the Quackoll in the north, the Cowichin on the east, the Clallam at the south, and the Makah on the west, are said to be “totally distinct from each other, both in sound, formation, and modes of expression.” The one last mentioned is said to bear some affinity to the language spoken at the mouth of the Columbia River,[III-14]Grant’s Vanc. Isl., in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., pp. 295-6. and is called by Sproat the Aht language, for which he claims in like manner that it “can be traced through all the tribes on the ocean coast, as far south as the mouth of the Columbia.” The Comux, which people he locates on the east coast between the Cowichins and Quackolls, migrated thither, he says, from the main land, and the tribes “do not readily understand one another’s language;” from all of which we may infer that in reality there is only one language, of which these four are the chief dialects.[III-15]Sproat’s Scenes, p. 311. Yet this is partially contradicted by Grant, who affirms that the Cowichins and Clallams can communicate with each other, though not very easily, but that the Makahs and Quackolls cannot converse with each other or with any of the other nations.[III-16]Grant’s Vanc. Isl., in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 295. Another authority, who certainly ought to be entitled to an opinion, having been a captive among these nations for some years, also intimates that in reality there was only one language dominant on the island. After enumerating the different tribes he concludes; “all of whom speak the same language. But the Newchemass who come from a great way Northward, and from some distance inland, speak quite a different language, although it is well understood by those of Nootka.”[III-17]’The inhabitants of Nootka Sound and the Tlaoquatch, who occupy the south-western points of the island, speak the same language.’ Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 224; Jewitt’s Nar., pp. 74-77; Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 220; Meares’ Voy., pp. 229-32; Douglas’ Report, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxiv., p. 246. At Point Discovery, Vancouver met people some of whom ‘understood a few words of the Nootka language.’ Voyage, vol. i., p. 228. ‘The distinct languages spoken by the Indians are few in number, but the dialects employed by the various tribes are so many, that, although the inhabitants of any particular district have no great difficulty in communicating with each other, …’ Mayne’s B. C., p. 244; Sproat’s Scenes, p. 311. The Rev. Mr Good divides and locates the languages of Vancouver Island and the opposite shore on the mainland as follows. The first language, he says, runs along the coast from Nitinaht to Nootka Sound; the second prevails from Sooke to Nanaimo, and across the Sound up to Bird Inlet on the main land, thence following up the Fraser River as far as Yale; this he names the Cowichin. On the island north of Cowichin he locates the Comux and adjoining it the Ucleta; finally starting at Fort Rupert and following the north coast of the island and also on the opposite shore of the main land is the Quackoll.

National differences appear to consist more in pronunciation than in grammatical construction. Thus the articulation of the Klaizzahts is hoarser and more guttural than that of the people of Nootka Sound.[III-18]Jewitt’s Nar., p. 75. Dialectic differences sometimes go so far that the several bands of the same tribe find difficulty in making themselves understood; as for instance the Nitinaht tribes when conversing with one another, have frequently to repeat their sentences differently accented to make them intelligible. The chief peculiarity of the Nitinaht dialect is the transmutation of the letters m and n, which are in universal use throughout the island, for which it substitutes b and d. Thus for mamook, to work, the Nitinahts say baboik; nismah, country, they pronounce dissibach, and so on.[III-19]Sproat’s Scenes, p. 132.

As compared with that of the Thlinkeets, the Nootka language is neither harsh nor disagreeable. Its most curious feature is the predominance of labials and dentals over gutturals. The Nootkas possess fine oratorical powers, lending assistance to their words by shaking their head, gesticulating forcibly, and even jumping at each other. A singular sound, and one which it is hardly possible to express by any combination of letters, happens in many of their words. Spreading the corners of the mouth to their widest extent, and raising the point of the tongue against the palate, they expel the air from the sides of the mouth, at the same time bringing the tongue down strongly, which obviously produces a sound altogether foreign to the English vocabulary. Captain Cook says of this sound, “it is formed, in a particular manner, by clashing the tongue partly against the roof of the mouth, with considerable force; and may be compared to a very coarse or harsh method of lisping,” and he attempts to give the sound by the letters lszthl. Many words end with this sound, and also with a tl, z, or ss;—as opulszthl, sun; onulszthl, moon; kahsheetl, dead; teeshcheetl, to throw a stone; kooomitz, a human skull; quahmiss, fish-roe. Captain Cook further remarks upon their language that it “can only be inferred, from their method of speaking, which is very slow and distinct, that it has few prepositions or conjunctions; and, as far as we could discover, is destitute of even a single interjection, to express admiration or surprize.”[III-20]’El idioma de estos naturales es tal vez el mas áspero y duro de los conocidos. Abundan mucho en él las consonantes, y las terminaciones en tl y tz, constando el intermedio y el principio de los vocablos de aspiraciones muy fuertes.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 147. ‘Their language is very guttural, and if it were possible to reduce it to our orthography, it would very much abound with consonants.’ Sparks’ Life of Ledyard, p. 72; Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 334-6.

Furthermore, I may add, there is no case, nor gender, nor tense, and number is expressed only in the personal pronoun and in the inflection of verbs. In the first persons singular and plural, verbs end in a or mah; in the second persons, huk or ayts; and in the third persons, in mah, win, or utlma. Sometimes these endings go over to the adverb which accompanies the verb, and they are subject to phonetic rules, according to which syllables are sometimes changed or left out altogether. We have wik, not; and kumotop, to understand; wikahkumotop or wimmutomah, I do not understand; the latter mode being a change for the sake of euphony. Plurals, and particularly frequentative plurals, are expressed by duplication: as mahte or mahs, house; mahtmahs, all the houses. Different classes of words appear to have different terminals: for example, instruments end with ik—hukkaik, a knife; hissik, a saw. Colors end in uk or ook—eyyohquk, green; kistokkuk, blue; klayhook, purple; kleesook, white; toopkook, black. Hissit, red, forms an exception. Trees and plants end in pt—kowwhipt, seewhipt, ootsmupt, klakkupt, etc. Verbs end in shitl, shetl, and chitl, although some exceptions occur. Another distinctive ending is up—châtayup, to cut off with a knife; kââsup, to hurt or wound; hyyusatyup, to diminish; ashsup, to break a string or cord; quoyup, to break a stick, etc.[III-21]Sproat’s Scenes, p. 124, et seq. As a specimen of the language, I give the first three of the Ten Commandments, and the Lord’s Prayer, in the dialect of the Nanaimos.[III-22]For a copy of which I am indebted to the late proprietor of the Overland Monthly of San Francisco.

Nanaimo Commandments

Nutsa

Owa tonowa quinet ta eesaila tseetsel seeam, ohi tanca tseetsel seeam.

Eesaila

Owa tanowa seeise ta seeathl sta ta stem nay quo tseetsel, sta ta stem aitna tomuck, e sta ta stem nay ta ka, kokoo taswa tseetsel seeam owa tanowa cappausom e stayweeil ta sta, ohi tanca tseetsel seeam. Towhat oyas kullstuck, tanca ouseete tanca quaquat e towhat ighstuck tanca e oyas shatlm tanswan squell oseete tanca igh lalamat.

Tleeugh

Owa tanowa heewaulim ta squish quo tseetsel seeam oseete tseetsel seeam quaquasaum towhat oyas sta.

Ta Kalhem ta Jesukit

Saulth man nay quo tseetsel igh telneemelth oyas stlay stuck ta statsn squish. Tel-neemelth ohi stlay tanowa sthee seeam nay toumuck tomuck. Igh taswa mestiu shatlm ta squell aitna tomuck sta ta tseetsel mestiu. Tana quial e muck squial mistook ta saulth saulthan. Igh tanowa nahi tataeuk whawa telneemelth e ta saulth kull squiaxits sta telneemelth nahi tataeuk whunem toumuck mestiu kull squiaxits whawa telneemelth. Igh telneemelth owanam ethlkalth ta kull, igh tanowa awistuck etha igh. Ohi tanowa oonans sthee seeam, tanowa ohi sthee quamqum telneemelth ohi cappausom high quo tanowa oyas oyas. Amen.

From certain interpretations placed upon the ancient Aztec manuscripts, it was by some inferred that the origin of that people must be sought in the north; hence speculative philologists have, from time to time, discovered many fancied resemblances between the language of the aboriginal Mexicans and those of various northern nations. Thus, in the speech of the Nootkas, a distinct phonetic resemblance, and the frequent occurrence of the ending tl were sufficient evidence to Vater and others that a relationship exists between the Aztecs and the Nootkas. Prescott, following his predecessors, fell into the same error. Humboldt, although struck with the similarities mentioned, yet pronounced them different tongues,[III-23]’En examinant avec soin des vocabulaires formés à Noutka et à Monterey, j’ai été frappé de l’homotonie et des désinences mexicaines de plusieurs mots, comme, par exemple, dans la langue des Noutkiens…. Cependant, en général, les langues de la Nouvelle-Californie et de l’île de Quadra, diffèrent essentiellement de l’aztèque.’ Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 321. ‘Sprachähnlichkeiten … hat man, wie auch nachher bey der Betrachtung der Mexikanischen Sprache aus einander gesetzt werden soll, an dieser Nordwest-Küste am Nutka-Sunde und bey den Völkern in der Nähe der Russischen Colonien gefunden.’ Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 76. ‘In the neighborhood of Nootka, tribes still exist whose dialects, both in the termination and general sound of the words, bear considerable resemblance to the Mexican.’ Prescott’s Mex., vol. iii., p. 399. while Buschmann, who has examined the subject more than all others combined, denies all such relationship.[III-24]’So gewinnt die Nutka-Sprache, durch eine reiche Zahl von Wörtern und durch grosse Züge ihres Lautwesens, einzig vor allen anderen fremden … in einem bedeutenden Theile eine täuschende Ähnlichkeit mit der aztekischen oder mexicanischen; und so wird die ihr schon früher gewidmete Aufmerksamkeit vollständig gerechtfertigt. Ihrer mexicanischen Erscheinung fehlt aber, wie ich von meiner Seite hier ausspreche, jede Wirklichkeit.’ Buschmann, Spr. N. Mex. u. der Westküste des b. Nordamer., p. 371.

Coming over to the main land we find, for the most part, in each of the many inlets and canals a separate language. Between these languages, from perpetual intertribal intercourse, it is impossible to determine, in some instances, what relationship, if any, exists. Several of the languages of the island we find also on the main land adjacent. The Clallams are found on both sides of Juan de Fuca Straits; and nearly related to the Cowichins, who are found as well on the main land near the mouth of Fraser River as on the island, are the Noosdalums of Hood Canal, one language being but a dialect of the other.

Languages of British Columbia

Respecting the languages spoken in the interior of British Columbia, the Rev. Mr Good, who has spent fifteen years among the inland nations, and who is fully conversant with their languages, gives me the following information: From Yale to Lillooet, on the Fraser River, thence from Bonaparte to Nicola River, the Neetlakapamuch, or Thompson River, language is spoken. From Douglas, along the Harrison River and lake, to its confluence with the Fraser, as far as Chilicothe, and again from Lillooet northward to Clinton, the Stlatelemuck, or Lillooet, language prevails. Next, from Bonaparte River northward to William Lake, to Shushwap Lake, around Lake Kamloops, and for some distance on the Thompson River, the Suwapamuck, or Shushwap, tongue prevails; and finally, from Nicola Lake to Kamloops, and southward as far as Columbia River, the Chitwout, or Similkameen, language is used. Mr Good further asserts that, although there are four distinct languages, they are nevertheless in some degree affiliated. From the same gentleman, I also obtained the following grammatical notes and specimens of the Neetlakapamuch tongue. Personal pronouns are—I, ens; thou, awee; he, cheneelt; we, nemeemult; you, aweepeeaps; they, chinkoast.

Conjugation of the Verb to Give

To Give in Neetlakapamuch

PRESENT INDICATIVE.
I give,	ens nahktinna	We give,	nemeemult nahktam
Thou givest,	awee nahktatta	You give,	aweepeeaps nahktattose
He gives,	cheneelt nahktass	They give,	chinkvast nahkteeiks
IMPERFECT.
	I gave,	huinahktlam
FIRST FUTURE.
	I shall give,	huinahkchin
IMPERATIVE.
Give me,	nahkchams	Give us,	nahkteea

Mamans inserted in a word, signifies a desire to do a thing; thus, winaskin means to go; and winasmamankin, I am wishing to go. The syllable weltin, affixed to a word, expresses that a thing has been done effectively;—tlokhtinnaweltin, I have fastened it well, or thoroughly. Tata is a negative preposition.

The Lord’s Prayer

Takamote nemeemult Our skatzazact Father whohakn who art nil in kakhtomew.heaven. Axseeas Good chutam to be done clas the squest name awee.thine. Eyah Good huntohs make haste stakums all asait cunamah men axclahaks come swonakum truly eah good tuksmite children of Jesu Jesus Cree Christ huntoseamal.make haste. Awee Thy kaseah will eah ah good chuwo done naanatomew,on earth, clah as seeatahah L’angels the angels archkhwamo do incheah there nilkahtomew.heaven. Takamose All nuk and stakum a every tseetlekut day nahkteea give nemeemult us stakums all as our skhlayans.food. Altla And quonquonstyea forgive nemeenult ustakamote all nemeemult our outkest,evil, tseeah as nemeemult we quonquonstama forgive takamote all tooal of saitcunama men aks who weetsikteese accomplish tekest any evil whoa to nemeemult.us. Atahmose Never tah let hoshaman the evil one as masteel lead nemeemult us axkhokestumtum to wish a to quonteese lay hold of akest.any evil. Kamult But akklokpistyip deliver nemeemult us takamote all too that a is kest evil wilkakow.far from us. Shutenmeenwawee Thine takamose all atomew.the world. Shutenmeenwawee Thine takamose all azozoht.strength. Shutenmeenwawee Thine takamose all asyameet.worship. Taeah Good asklakameemus evermore astinansouse,to come, asklakameemus evermore astinansouse.to come. Axseahs.Amen.

Puget Sound Dialects

Proceeding southward to Puget Sound, we have the Shimiahmoo, Nooksak, Lummi, Samish, Snohomish, and others; and around Cape Flattery, the Classet. The Makah, Classet, or Klaizzaht, I have spoken of already, in connection with the language of Vancouver Island, and it also appears that the Clallam, S’klalum, or as they call themselves, Nusklaiyum, is also connected with the Vancouver Island language.[III-25]They spoke the same language as the Nootkas. Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., p. 218. It is probably the same which Dr Scouler has called the Noosdalum. The Lummi, or Nukhlumi, and the Shimiahmoo have also some affinity with the Sanetch dialect of Vancouver Island, and the languages of the Skagits and Samish approach that of the Nisquallies. Yet while the Clallam and Lummi show certain affinities to the Nootka dialect, they nevertheless clearly belong to the Salish, or Flathead family.[III-26]’The affinities of the Clallam and Lummi are too obvious to require demonstration.’ Gibbs’ Clallam and Lummi Vocab., p. vii. ‘The Tsihaili-Selish languages reach the sea in the part opposite Vancouver’s Island. Perhaps they touch it to the north also.’ Latham’s Comp. Phil., vol. viii., p. 401; Gairdner, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 255.

Salish Dialects

We now come to the great interior Salish family, although I shall have occasion again to refer to the coast language in this vicinity. The northernmost Salish language is the Shushwap, or Atnah, which approaches near to its neighbor the Salish proper;[III-27]’Les Indiens de la côte ou de la Nouvelle Calédonie, les Tokalis, les Chargeurs (Carriers), les Schouchouaps, les Atnas appartiennent tous à la nation des Chipeouaïans.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 337. ‘The Atnah language has no affinity to any with which I am acquainted.’ Mackenzie’s Voyages, p. 258. then there are the Kullespelm, or Pend d’Oreille, the Spokane, the Soaiatlpi, and the Okanagan, which with others spoken on the Columbia show close affinities.

The Salish proper, or Flathead, is harsh and guttural. The letters b, d, f, r, v, do not exist in this language. The plural of substantives is formed in different ways: first, by duplicating the root—skoi, mother; skoikoi, mothers: second by duplicating and dropping a vowel from the root—skaltmigu, man; sklkaltmigu, men; esmòck, mountain; esmòkmck, mountains: third, by duplicating a consonant in the middle of the word—skòlchemùs, eyelid; skòlchammùs, eyelids: fourth, by prefixing the syllable ul—nackoèmen, thief; ulnakoèmen, thieves: and lastly there are divers formations, as es´schíte, tree; szlzlíl, trees, forest; s´m´èm, woman (mulier); pèlplgui, women. Diminutives are expressed by placing l before the root, as, s´m´èm, woman; slm´èm, small woman; lùk, wood; llùl´lk, a small piece of wood. Augmentatives are formed by prefixing the syllable kutn, or kuti, when the word commences with an s or l, thus, skagae, horse; kuti-skagae, a great horse; sm´ot, smoke; kuti-sm´ot, a great smoke. There are pronouns, personal, possessive, demonstrative, relative, interrogative, and indefinite. According to Mengarini the personal pronoun has two forms, absolute and copulative, the exact meaning attached to these terms not being explained.

Salish Personal Pronouns

	ABSOLUTE.	COPULATIVE.
I	koie	ko
Thou	anúi	ku
He	zuilz
We	kaémpile	kae
You	mpilèpstemp	p, or mp
They	zni´ilz

As examples of the others there are possessives—mine, in; thine, an; his, s; ours, kao; yours, mp; theirs, s: demonstratives—this, iè; that, zi: interrogative—who, suèt: and indefinite—some one, chnáksi.

Conjugation of the Verb to be Angry

Salish, To Be Angry

PRESENT INDICATIVE.
I am angry,	tnes aimt-i	We are angry,	kaes aimt-i
Thou art angry,	kues aimt-i	You are angry,	pes aimt-i
He is angry,	es aimt-i	They are angry,	es afimt-i
PERFECT.
	I have been angry,	tn-aimt or tnes aimt
FIRST FUTURE.
	I shall be angry,	nem tn aimt
IMPERATIVE.
	Be angry,	aimt sch
PRESENT SUBJUNCTIVE.
If I be angry,	tiks aimt-i	If we be angry,	kaeks aímt-i
If thou be angry,	kuks aimt-i	If you be angry,	pks aimt-i
If he be angry,	ks aimt-i	If they be angry,	ks aíimt-i
IMPERFECT SUBJUNCTIVE.
	If I were angry,	k neu tn aimt
OPTATIVE.
	If I might be angry,	komi tn aimt

Following is a Lord’s Prayer, the nationality not given:

Kae l’eu Our father u in heaven l’s’chichmáskat who ku l’zii, liveth, asku thy èst name kuks of thee gamènchltm; be loved; ku thou kl be chèltich Lord s esià of all sp’us; hearts; aszntèls ks thy will kólli be done iè this l on stóligu, earth, ezgail as l’s’chichmáskat. in heaven. Kae Us guizlilt give to-day iè tlgoa lu what kaesiapzínm. we need. Kaelkolgoèllilt Us forgive lu kae our gulguílt debts, ezgail as lu tkaempilè we kaes kolgoelltm, forgive (those) lu e épl who have gulguílt debts l with kaempilè. us. Kae Us olkschílilt assist ta not ka keskuèstm lu at any time receive tèie; evil; u but kai us gulguillilt preserve uninjured lu tel from teié. evil. Komi ezgail. Be it so.[III-28]Mengarini, Selish Gram.

The above is taken from the grammar of Mengarini, written in Latin; following is a Lord’s Prayer of the Pend d’Oreilles, from Father De Smet, who wrote in French:

Kyleeyou,Our father Itchitchemask,of heaven, askwees that your name kowaaskshamenshem be respected ailetzemilkou by all the yeelskyloog;earth; ntziezie reign telletzia in all spoo the oez.hearts. Assinteels That your will astskole,be done yelstoloeg on earth etzageel as also Itchichemask.in heaven. Hoogwitzilt Give us yettilgwa now lokaitssia all our petzim.necessaries. Knwaasksmeemiltem Forgive us klotayie the evil kloitskeyen which we have done, etzageel as kaitsskolgwelem we forgive klotoiye (the evil) kloitskwen to those who klielskyloog.us have offended. Koaxalock Accord to us shitem assistance takaakskwentem to evade klotaiye;evil; kowaaksgweeltem but deliver us klotaiye.from evil. Komieetzegeel.So be it.[III-29]’Nationes que radicaliter linguam Selicam loquuntur sunt saltem decem: Calispelm, (vulgo) Pends d’oreilles du Lac Inférieur. Slkatkomlchi, Pends d’oreilles du Lac Superieur. Selish, Têtes Platte. Sngomènei, Snpoilschi, Szk’eszilni, Spokanes. S´chizni, Cœurs d’alène. Sgoièlpi, Chaudières. Okinakein, Stlakam, Okanagan.’ Mengarini, Selish Gram., p. 120. ‘Their language is the same as the Spokeins’ and Flatheads’.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 307. ‘The Spokanes speak the same dialect as the Flatheads and Pend d’Oreilles.’ Chapman, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1866, p. 201; De Smet, Voy., p. 237. ‘The Flatheads are divided into numerous tribes, each having its own peculiar locality, and differing more or less from the others in language, customs, and manners.’ ‘The Spokan Indians are a small tribe, differing very little from the Indians at Colville either in their appearance, habits, or language.’ Kane’s Wand., pp. 173, 307. ‘The Pend’ d’Oreilles are generally called the Flatheads, the two clans, in fact, being united…. Still, the two races are entirely distinct, their languages being fundamentally different. The variety of tongues on the west side of the (Rocky) mountains is almost infinite, so that scarcely any two tribes understand each other perfectly. They have all, however, the common character of being very guttural; and, in fact, the sentences often appear to be mere jumbles of grunts and croaks, such as no alphabet could express in writing.’ Simpson’s Overland Jour., vol. i., p. 146.

Also belonging to this family are the languages spoken by the Skitsuish, Pisquouse, Nsietshaws, Nisquallies, and Chehalis. The Nsietshaw differs more than the others from the Salish proper, which is the stock language of this family, and particularly in not possessing any labials; the letters m and b being changed to w, and p to h. Thus, in the Chehalis and Nisqually languages, we have, numan, son; tomokh, earth; pansototsi, winter; which, in the Nsietshaw, are pronounced respectively, nuwon, tawekh and hansototsi. The Chehalis is spoken in three dialects, the Chehalis proper, the Quaiantl, and the Queniauitl.[III-30]Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., pp. 535-7.

The languages of the Salish Family, particularly that of the Chehalis, are rich in words, by means of which everything coming within their knowledge may find expression; they are not easily acquired by strangers; it is difficult for the different nations and tribes to make themselves understood to one another. This is owing principally to the many localisms in vogue among them, of which there is a good specimen in the Chehalis language. Thus, tolneuch means west-wind, off shore, toward the sea, or to the west. Now, if the Chehalis are leaving the shore in a canoe, and one of them wants to tell his mate to put her head off shore, he will say tolneuch, but if in a hurry, neuch neuch. Claathlum signifies east-wind, also ashore; this they transpose into clath clath.[III-31]Swan’s N. W. Coast, p. 315. The Clallum and Lummi languages have another peculiarity, which is a certain nasal sound at the commencement and ending of words like a strong nasal ns; also a broad asound as in far, path. The sounds of the letters v, r, z, are wanting.[III-32]Gibbs’ Clallam and Lummi Vocab., p. 7. The frequently occurring ending tl has also led to speculation, and to a search for Aztec affinities among these languages, but nothing except this phonetic similarity has been discovered. This tl ending is very common. Swan says that, “sometimes they will, as if for amusement, end all their words with tl; and the effect is ludicrous to hear three or four talking at the same time, with this singular sound, like so many sitting hens.'[III-33]’In the northern districts of the great chain of Rocky Mountains which were visited by Sir Alexander Mackenzie, there are several nations of unknown language and origin. The Atnah nation is one of them. Their dialect appears, from the short vocabulary given by that traveller, to be one of those languages which, in the frequent recurrence of peculiar consonants, bears a certain resemblance to the Mexican.’ Prichard’s Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., p. 550; Swan’s N. W. Coast, pp. 315-6. East of the Salish, the Kitunaha, Kootenai, or Coutanie language is spoken. Authorities differ widely in describing this language. Parker calls it “open and sonorous, and free from gutturals, which are common in the language of the surrounding tribes;” while Capt. Palliser affirms that it is “most guttural and unpronounceable by a European, every word appearing to be brought from their lowest extremities with difficulty.”[III-34]’Der Prinz bezeugt (Bd. ii., 511) dass der behauptete Mangel an Gurgellauten ein Irrthum ist; er bemerkt: dass die Sprache durch den ihr eignen “Zungenschnalz” für das Aussprechen schwierig werde, und dass sie eine Menge von Gutturaltönen habe. Man spreche die Wörter leise und undeutlich aus; dabei gebe es darin viele schnalzende Töne, indem man mit der Zungenspitze anstösst; auch gebe es darin viele dumpfe Kehllaute.’ Prinzschoschonischen Max zu Wied, in Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 661. ‘Their language bears no affinity whatever to that of any of the western nations. It is infinitely softer and more free from those unpronounceable gutturals so common among the lower tribes.’ Cox’s Adven., p. 233; Blakiston’s Rept., in Palliser’s Explor., p. 73; Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 307. The following Lord’s Prayer, taken by a Frenchman will give a better idea of the language than any description:

Katitoe Our father, naitle who art naite,in heaven, akiklenais may thy zedabitskinne name be great wilkane.and honored. Ninshalinne Be thou oshemake the master kapaik of all akaitlainam.hearts. InshazetluitéMay thy will younoamake be done on earth yekakaekinaitte.as it is in heaven. Komnakaike Grant us logenie this day niggenawaishne all our wants. naiosaem miaitéke. Kekepaime Forgive us nekoetjekoetleaitle all the evil we have ixzeai,done, iyakaikakaaike as we forgive iyazeaikinawash all the evil kokakipaimenaitle.done unto us. Amatikezawes Strengthen us itchkestshimmekakkowêlle against all evil, akatakzen.and deliver us from it. Shaeykiakakaaike.May it be so.[III-35]De Smet’s Oregon Miss., p. 409.

Sahaptin Languages

The languages of the Sahaptin family are spoken along the Lewis and Snake Rivers and their tributaries, as far as the foot of the Rocky Mountains. The Walla Walla, Palouse, Yakima, Kliketat, and Sahaptin proper, some of them widely divergent from the mother tongue, are of this family.[III-36]Tribes speaking the Kliketat language: Whulwhypum, Tait-inapum, Yakima, Walla Wallapum, Kyoose, Umatilla, Peloose, Wyampam; the Yakimas and Kliketats or Whulwhypum … speaking the Walla-Walla language, otherwise known as the Kliketat. Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 244, 232. ‘The Kyeuse resemble the Walla-Wallas very much…. Their language and customs are almost identical.’ Kane’s Wand., p. 280. The Pend d’Oreilles ‘speak the same language’ (Nez Percé.) Hutchins, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1863, p. 456. The Palouse Indians ‘speak the same language.’ Cain, in Id., 1860, p. 210. ‘The Wallah-Wallahs, whose language belongs to the same family.’ ‘The Wallah-Wallahs and Nez Perces speak dialects of a common language, and the Cayuses have abandoned their own for that of the latter.’ Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 416, 425; Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., pp. 213, 542. ‘The nation among which we now are call themselves Sokulks; and with them are united a few of another nation, who reside on a western branch, emptying itself into the Columbia a few miles above the mouth of the latter river, and whose name is Chimnapum. The language of both these nations differs but little from each other, or from that of the Chopunnish who inhabit the Kooskooskee and Lewis’s river.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 12. ‘The language of the Walla-Wallas differs from the Nez Percés’. Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 137. The Walla Walla differs from the Sahaptin proper not more than the Portuguese from the Spanish. Father Pandosy made a grammar of the Yakima language, under which he ranges the whole Sahaptin family, dividing it into dialects, as the Walla Walla, the Tairtla, the Roilroilpam, or Kliketat, and the Palouse.[III-37]Pandosy’s Yakama Lang., p. 9.

In the Nez Percé language, the following letters only are found: h, k, l, m, n, p, s, t, w, a, e, i, o, u, but the missionaries having introduced some new words, it was found necessary to add b, d, f, g, v, z. Agglutination is carried to a great length, and long words are very frequent. In fact, wherever a sentence can be expressed by joining one word to another, it is done, leaving out letters in places, for the sake of euphony. The following is a fair illustration: hitautualawihnankauna, he traveled past in a rainy night. Analysed, hi expresses the third person singular; tau a thing done at night; tuala, something done in the rain; wihnan, to travel on foot; kau is derived from the verb kokauna, to pass by; na expresses the indicative mood, aorist tense, direction from the speaker. The plural of substantives is formed by duplicating the first syllable: pitin, girl; pipitin, girls. Or when the word commences with a vowel, the vowel is sometimes repeated: atwai, old woman; aatwai, old women. Exceptions to this rule are made in words expressing family relations, the prefix ma being employed in such cases, as pika, mother; pikama, mothers. If p terminates the word, it is omitted, as askap, plural askama. To express gender, the words hama, male, and aiat, female, are employed, but the substantive remains unchanged. Nouns are declined either by changing their terminals, or by affixes:

Noun Declension in Sahaptin Languages

Nom.	a house	init
Gen.	of a house	ininm
Acc.	house	inina

1st Dat.	to or for a house	initph
2d Dat.	in on, or upon a house	initpa

1st Abl.	with a house	initki
2d Abl.	from a house	initpkinih
3d Abl.	for the purpose of a house	initain

Comparison—tahs, good; tahs kanmakanm, better; tahsni, best. Personal prounouns—in, I; im, thou; ipi, he, or she; nun, we; ima, ye; imma, they. Of the verb numerous variations are made. They are divided into three classes, neuter, active transitive, and active intransitive. The two neuter verbs are wash, to be; and witsasha, to become. Active intransitive verbs cannot be followed by any accusative.

Conjugation of the Verb to be

To Be, Nez Percé

PRESENT INDICATIVE.
	DIRECTION FROM.	DIRECTION TOWARDS.
I am,	in wash
Thou art,	im a wash	im a wam
He is, it is his,	ipi hiwash, ipnim ush	ipi hiwam
We are,	nun washih
You are,	ima ath washih	ima ath washinm
They are, it is theirs,	imma hiushih, imman aushih	imma hiushinm

RECENT PAST TENSE.
I have just been,	waka	wamka
Thou hast just been,	a waka	a wamka
He has just been,
it has just been his,	hiwaka, awaka	hiwamka
We have just been,	washeka	washinmka
You have just been,	ath washeka	ath washinmka
They have just been,
it has just been theirs,	kinsheka, ausheka	hiushinmka[III-38]Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 542, et seq.

Yakima, Walla Walla, and Palouse

The following grammatical notes will serve to illustrate the Yakima and some of the other languages of the Sahaptin family.

Sahaptin Family

SINGULAR.
Nom.	the horse	kussi-nan
Gen.	of the horse	kussi-nmi
Dat.	to the horse	kussi-ow
Acc.	the horse	kussi-nan
Voc.	O horse	na-kussi
Abl.	for the horse	kussi-ei

PLURAL.
Nom.	the horses	kussi-ma
Gen.	of the horses	kussi-ma mi
Dat.	to the horses	kussi-ma-miow
Acc.	the horses	kussi ma-man
Voc.	O horses	na-kussi-ma
Abl.	for the horses	kussi-ma-miei

In the Palouse and Walla Walla languages the affix nan is changed into na. Personal pronouns—I, ink, nes, nesh, or sh; of me, enmi; to me, enmiow; me, inak; for me, enmiei; we, namak, natés, nanam, aatés, or namtk; of us, néémi; to us néémiow; us, némanak; for us, néémiei. The Walla Wallas leaves off the k from the affix ak; thus, instead of inak, me, they say ina, and instead of namak, we, nama.

Walla Walla and Palouse

	YAKIMA.	WALLA WALLA AND PALOUSE.

He	penk	penk
Of him	pin-mink	pinmin
To him	pin-miwk	pinmiow
Him	pin-nim	pinminnan
For Him	pin-mikaiei	pinmiei
They	pmak	pma
Of Them	pe-mink	pamin
To them	pe-miwk	pamiwk
Them	pe-minak	pamanak
For them	pe-mikaiei	pamikaiei

In one dialect the terminal ak is changed into ei.

Conjugation of the Verb to Have

To Have, Palouse

PRESENT INDICATIVE.
I have,	nesh wa, or wash nesh
Thou hast,	mesh wa, or wash mesh
He has,	penk awa, or pinmink awa
We have,	natesh wa, or wash natesh
You have,	matesh wa, or wash matesh.
They have,	pa wa, or pemink awa

PERFECT AND PLUPERFECT.
I had, or have had,	nesh wacha

FIRST FUTURE.
I shall have,	nesh wata

As a specimen of agglutination there is the word ipinashapatawtrahliktamawarsha, he himself makes night disagreeably tiresome long wait; that is, he keeps one long waiting for him at night.

Yakima Lord’s Prayer

Neemi Our Psht,Father, imk thou nam who wamsh art Roiemich-nik;high on the side (heaven); shir well nam ‘manak thou p’a they (indef.) t-maknani should tarnei respect wanicht;the name; shir well ewianawitarnei should arrive emink thy miawarwit;chieftainship; shir well nammanak thee pa they twanenitarnei,should follow ichinak here techampa,earth (on) tenma,inhabitants (the) prw,will amakwsrimmanak thou as thyself pa they twanenishamsh follow roiemipama high of the (heaven) tenma.inhabitants (the). Nemanak Our (us) nim give us t-kwatak food kwalissim always maisr to-morrow maisr.to-morrow. Nemanak Our (us) laknanim forget chélwitit:sins: aateskwsri us as namak we t’normaman others laknánisha forget chélwitit sins anakwnkink have by which neémiow us pa have chelwitia.offended. R-t-to Strong anianim make nemanak our (us) temna;heart; t-kraw krial.that it fall not. Nemanak Us eikrenkem snatch chelwitknik bad from the side. Ekws So iwa it is neemi our temna.heart.[III-39]Pandosy’s Yakama Lang.

Court Language of the Sahaptins

The Nez Percés make use of two languages, one the native language proper, or, as a European might say, the court language, and the other a slave language, or jargon. They differ so much, that a stranger fully conversant with one cannot understand the other. This jargon originated, probably, from intermixing prisoners of war of different nationalities who were enslaved, and their languages mingled with each other, and with that of their conquerors. The pure-blooded Nez Percés all understand the jargon, learning it when children, together with their own proper language. Nor is this all. The jargon is more or less modified by each of the several languages, or dialects, in which it is spoken. The employés of the fur companies, who first came in contact with the Sahaptins, were greatly annoyed by this multiformity; as, for example, one Nez Percé coming to sell a beaver skin would say, tammecess taxpool, I wish to sell a beaver; another would say, towèyou weespoose, I wish to trade a beaver; and a third would say, e’towpa e’yechcœ, I wish to trade a beaver.

The following short vocabulary will show some of the differences between the Nez Percé language and the jargon:

Nez Percé and Jargon

	NEZ PERCÉ	JARGON.
Man	kewas	winch
Woman	eyatt	tealacky
Boy	tachnutsem	tuchnoot
Girl	tochanough	peten
No	waatown,	tsya
Knife	waltz	whapallmeh,
Horse	she came	koosy
Hair	tootanick	kookoo
Eyes	shelaw	Atchass.[III-40]Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., p. 313, et seq.

Professor Rafinesque, out of twenty-four Sahaptin words, claims to have found six bearing close affinities to the English, but Buschmann says that of these twenty-four, many are not Sahaptin at all.[III-41]Rafinesque, Atlantic Jour., p. 133, quoted in Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 615. ‘Ich habe diese Wörter Rafinesque’s zu einem Theil ganz verschieden von den Sahaptan gefunden.’ Ib. The Waiilatpu language, conterminous with the Sahaptin, is spoken in two dialects, the Cayuse and Mollale. The Cayuses mingle frequently with the Sahaptins, and therefore many words of the latter have been adopted into their tongue. They mostly understand and speak the Sahaptin, and frequently the Walla Walla, and this not from any relationship in the several languages, but from intercourse.[III-42]Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 561.

Like their neighbors, the Cayuses employ two languages; one in the transaction of the common affairs of life, and the other on high state occasions, such as when making speeches round the council fire, to determine questions of war and peace, as well as all other intertribal affairs. That is to say, the Sahaptins use their court language on all ordinary, as well as extraordinary occasions, keeping the jargon for their servants, while the Cayuses employ the baser tongue for common, and the higher for state occasions.

The Cayuses were eloquent speakers; their language abounded in elegant expressions, and they well knew how to make the most of it. When first known to Europeans, it was fast fading away, and subsequently merged into the Sahaptin; so fleeting are these native idioms.[III-43]’The Skyuse have two distinct languages: the one used in ordinary intercourse, the other on extraordinary occasions; as in war counsels, &c.’ Farnham’s Travels, p. 153. ‘The Cayuses have abandoned their own for that of the Nez Percés.’ Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 416, 425. ‘Their language bears some affinity to the Sahaptin or Nez-Percé language.’ Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 199; Coke’s Rocky Mts., p 295; Kane’s Wand., p. 279. ‘Their original language, now almost extinct … having affinity to that of the Carriers, of North Caledonia, and the Umpqua Indians of Southern Oregon.’ Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 249-50.

Difficulties of the Chinook

The Chinook language is spoken by the different tribes inhabiting the banks of the Lower Columbia and adjacent country. This family is divided into many dialects, which diverge from the mother tongue as we ascend the river; in fact, the upper tribes have mostly to employ an interpreter, when they communicate with those on the lower part of the river. The chief diversities of this language are the Chinook proper, the Wakiakum, Cathlamet, and Clatsop, and the various dialects mentioned by Lewis and Clarke as belonging to those inhabiting this region at the time of their expedition, but which cannot now be positively identified with any of the languages known to us. Two of the last-mentioned dialects, the Multnomah and the Skilloot, the explorers describe as belonging to the Chinook.[III-44]’The language of the bands farther up the river departed more and more widely from the Chinook proper, so that the lower ones could not have understood the others without an interpreter.’ Gibbs’ Chinook Vocab., p. 4. ‘The vocabulary given by Dr. Scouler as “Chenook” is almost altogether Chihalis. His “Cathlascon” … is Chinook.’ Id., p. 5. ‘Des Tchinooks, d’où est sortie la langue-mère de ces sauvages.’ Saint-Amant, Voyages, p. 381. ‘Cathlamahs speak the same language as the Chinnooks and Clatsops.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Travels, p. 424. Chinooks ‘in language … resemble the Clatsops, Cathlamahs, and indeed all the people near the mouth of the Columbia.’ Id., p. 426. ‘The Chinooks, Clatsops, Wahkiacums and Cathlamahs … resembled each other in person, dress, language.’ Irving’s Astoria, pp. 85, 336. Chinooks, Clatsops, Cathlamux, Wakicums, Wacalamus, Cattleputles, Clatscanias, Killimux, Moltnomas, Chickelis, … resemble one another in language. Ross’ Adven., pp. 87-88. ‘The Chinook language is spoken by all the nations from the mouth of the Columbia to the falls.’ Franchère’s Nar., p. 262. Among all the languages of north-western America, except perhaps that of the Thlinkeets, the Chinook is considered in its construction the most intricate; and in its pronunciation the most difficult. No words are to be found in the English vocabulary which can accurately describe it. To say that it is guttural, clucking, spluttering, and the like conveys but a faint conception of the sound produced by a Chinook in his frantic effort to unburden his mind of an idea. He does not appear to have yet discovered the use of the lips and tongue in speaking, but struggles with the lower part of the throat to produce sounds for the expression of his thoughts. Some declare that the speech of the Thlinkeets, whose language like that of the Chinook contains no labials, is melody in comparison to the croakings of the Chinooks. Ross says, that “to speak the Chinook dialect, you must be a Chinook.”[III-45]’The language spoken by these people is guttural, very difficult for a foreigner to learn, and equally hard to pronounce.’ Ross’ Adven., p. 101. ‘Decidedly the most unpronounceable compound of gutturals ever formed for the communication of human thoughts, or the expression of human wants.’ Cox’s Adven., vol. ii., p. 133. ‘I would willingly give a specimen of the barbarous language of this people, were it possible to represent by any combination of our alphabet the horrible, harsh, spluttering sounds which proceed from their throats apparently unguided either by the tongue or lip.’ Kane’s Wand., p. 182. ‘It is hard and difficult to pronounce, for strangers; being full of gutturals, like the Gaelic. The combinations thl, or tl, and lt, are as frequent in the Chinook as in the Mexican.’ Franchère’s Nar., p. 262. ‘After the soft languages and rapid enunciation of the islanders, the Chinooks presented a singular contrast in the slow, deliberate manner in which they seemed to choke out their words; giving utterance to sounds, some of which could scarcely be represented by combinations of known letters.’ Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 23. ‘It abounds with gutturals and “clucking” sounds, almost as difficult to analyse as to utter.’ Gibbs’ Chinook Vocab., p. 5. Indeed, they appear to have become tired of their own language and to have voluntarily abandoned it, for, to-day, the youthful Chinook speaks almost wholly Chehalis and the jargon. The employés of the fur companies, voyageurs, trappers and traders, who were accustomed to master with little difficulty the aboriginal tongues which they encountered, were completely nonplussed by the Chinook. A Canadian of Astor’s company is the only person known to have acquired it so as to speak it fluently. During a long illness he was nursed by the Chinooks, and during his convalescence devoted his entire time to perfecting himself in their tongue.[III-46]’The ancient Chenook is such a guttural, difficult tongue, that many of the young Chenook Indians can not speak it, but have been taught by their parents the Chehalis language and the Jargon.’ Swan’s N. W. Coast, p. 306; Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 562. ‘The very difficult pronunciation and excessively complicated form of the Chinook has effectually prevented its acquisition, even by missionaries and fur traders.’ Gibbs’ Chinook Vocab., p. 5.

Here the sounds of the letters f, r, v, and z do not exist, the pronunciation is generally very indistinct, and ç and s, k and g, d and t, are almost always confounded.

In the first person of the dual and plural of pronouns, the person present and addressed is either included or excluded according to the form used.

Personal pronouns in the Watlala dialect are:

Personal Pronouns, Watlala

SINGULAR.		DUAL.		PLURAL.
I	naika	We (two) (exc.)	ndaika	We (ex.)	nçtaika
		We (two) (incl.)	tkhaika	We (incl.)	olkhaika
Thou	maika	You (two)	mdaika	You	miçaika
He	iakhka	They (two)	içtakhka	They	tkhlaitçka

Of the possessive pronouns the following will serve as examples. They are joined to the noun itukutkhle, or itukwutkhle, house.

Possessive Pronouns, Watlala

SINGULAR.
	My house		kukwutkhl
	Thy house		meokwitkhl
	His house		iakwitkhl

		DUAL.	PLURAL.
Our house (exc.)		ndakwitkhl	ntçakwitkhl (exc.)
Our house (incl.)		tkhakwitkhl	olkhakwitkhl (incl.)
Your house		mdakwitkhl	mçakwitkhl
Their house		içtakwitkhl	tkhlakwitkhl

Conjugation of the Verb to be Cold

To Be Cold, Watlala

PRESENT INDICATIVE, SINGULAR.
I am cold,	naika tçinokhkeakh
Thou art cold,	maika tçiçomkeakh
He is cold,	iakhka tçikeakh

DUAL.
We (two) are cold (exc.),	ndaika tçiçontkeakh
We (two) are cold (incl.),	tkhaika tçiçtkeakh
You (two) are cold,	mdaika tçimokeakh
They (two) are cold,	ictakhka tçiçtkeakh

PLURAL.
We are cold (exc.),	ntçaika tçicontçkeakh
We are cold (incl.),	olkhaika tçilokeakh
You are cold,	mçaika tçiçomçkeakh
They are cold,	tkhlaitçka tçiçotkhlkeakh

IMPERFECT.
Yesterday I was cold,	takotkhl naika tçinotkeakh

FIRST FUTURE.
By and bye I shall be cold,	atkhlke naika tçiçonkhatka
I shall be cold,	naika onçkhatka tçiç

THE VERB TO KILL.
I kill thee,	aminowagua
I kill him,	tçinowagua
I kill you (dual),	omtkinowagua
I kill them (dual),	oçtkinowagua
I kill you (pl.),	omçkinowagua
I kill them,	otkhlkinowngua
You kill him,	omçkiwagua
You kill them,	otkhlkiwagua

Dialectic differences particularly among the upper Chinooks, or Watlalas, are found principally in words; grammatical forms being alike in both.[III-47]Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol., vi., p. 562, et seq. Kane remarks as a peculiarity that this language contains “no oaths, or any words conveying gratitude or thanks.”[III-48]Kane’s Wand., p. 183.

Calapooya Pronouns

Moving again southward to the Willamette Valley, I find the Calapooya language, and for the first time a soft and harmonious idiom. Although the guttural kh sometimes occurs, it is more frequently softened to h. The consonants are ç, or s, f, j, k, l, m, n, ng, p, or b, t, or d, q, and w. Unlike the Sahaptin and Chinook there are neither dual nor plural forms in the Calapooya language.

The personal pronouns are:

Calapooya Pronouns

I	tsi, or tsii
Thou	maha, or maa
He	koka, or kak
We	soto
You	miti
They	kinuk

My father	tsi simna
Thy father	maha kaham
His father	kok inifam
Our father	soto tufam
Your father	miti tifam
Their father	kinuk inifam

My mother	tsi sinni
Thy mother	maha kanni
His mother	kok ininnim
Our mother	soto tunnim
Your mother	miti tinnim
Their mother	kinuk ininnim

Conjugation of the Verb to be Sick, Ilfatin

To be Sick, Ilfatin

PRESENT NEUTER.
I am sick,	tsi ilfatin
Thou art sick,	intsi ilfatin
He is sick,	ilfatin
We are sick,	tsiti ilfaf
You are sick,	intsip ilfaf
They are sick,	kinuk in ilfaf

NEGATIVE.
I am not sick,	wangk tsik ilfatit

IMPERFECT.
I was sick yesterday,	ilfatin tsi kuyi
Thou wast sick yesterday,	imku ilfatin
He was sick yesterday,	hu ilfatin

FIRST FUTURE.
To-morrow I shall be sick,	midji taïlfit tsii

The following example will serve to illustrate the great changes verbs undergo in their conjugations;—ksitapatsitup maha, I love thee; tsitapintsuo kok, I love him; himtapintsiwata tsii kak, he loves me; hintsitapintsiwata tsii, dost thou love me?[III-49]Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 566, et seq.

The Yamkally is spoken at the sources of the Willamette River. A comparison of the Yamkally and Calapooya vocabularies shows a certain relationship between them.[III-50]’Yamkallie, Kallapuiah. Oregon Indians of the plains of the Wallamette, speaking a language related to that of the Cathlascons and Haeeltzuk.’ Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 202. ‘Gross die Verwandtschaft der Kalapuya und des Yamkallie; aber an verschiedenen Wörtern fehlt es nicht.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 628.

Columbian and Mexican Comparisons

I have said that certain affinities are discovered between the Waiilatpu and Mollale, and also between the Watlala and Chinook; in these, as well as in the Calapooya and Yamkally, Buschmann discovers faint traces of the Aztec language. Others have discovered a fancied relationship between the language of the Mexicans and those of more northern nations, but Mr Buschmann believes that, descending from the north, the peoples mentioned, whose lands are drained by the Columbia, are the first in which the Aztec, in dim shadows, makes its appearance. These similarities, he discovered not alone by direct comparisons with the Aztec, but also by detecting resemblances between these Columbian dialects and those of certain nations which he calls his Sonora group and its affiliations, all of which contain elements of the Aztec tongue. Yet Mr Buschmann does not therefrom claim any relationship between the Aztecs and Columbians, but only notices these few slight assimilations.[III-51]’Höchst merkwürdig sind einzelne unläugbare aztekische und zweitens einzelne sonorische Wörter, welche ich in diesen Sprachen aufgefunden habe.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 629.

Herewith is a comparative table, containing a few similar words:

Comparative Table, showing Similarities between the Columbian and Mexican Tongues.

Columbian and Mexican Tongues

ENGLISH.	WAIILATPU.	MOLLALE.	WATLALA.	CHINOOK.	CALAPOOYA.	AZTEC.	SONORA FAMILY.

Yes	i	ia	a	ah	he, aw		e, ha
Tooth	tenif				tanti	tlantli
Red			tkhlpal	tkhlpolpol		tlapalli
Wind			ikkhala	itskhakh	ikhala	ehecatl	heicala
Black			tkhlol	tkhlalukh		tlilli
Water			wematkhl	webatkhl		atl
I				naika	nëe		ne
Chief	iatoiang	iakant					iout, iauta

Analysis of the Chinook Jargon

The Chinook jargon is employed by the white people in their intercourse with the natives, as well as by the natives among themselves. It is spoken throughout Oregon, Washington Territory, on Vancouver Island, and extends inland into Idaho and some parts of Montana. It is more than probable that, like other languages de convenance, it formed itself gradually, first among the natives themselves, and that in the course of time, in order to facilitate their intercourse with the aborigines, trappers and traders adopted and improved it, until it was finally brought into its present state. Indeed, so great was the diversity of languages in this vicinity, and so intricate were they, that without something of this kind there could have been but little intercourse between the people.

A somewhat similar mixture I have already mentioned as existing in Alaska. Father Paul Le Jeune gives a short account of a jargon in use between the French and the Indians, in the north-eastern part of America, as early as the year 1633.[III-52]’This system of jargons began very early, and has, doubtless, led to many errors. As early as 1633, the Jesuit Father Paul Le Jeune wrote: “I have remarked, in the study of their language, that there is a certain jargon between the French and Indians, which is neither French nor Indian; and yet, when the French use it, they think they are speaking Indian, and the Indians using it, think they speak good French.”‘ Hist. Mag., vol. v., p. 345. In Europe a similar mixture, or patois, prevails to this day, the lingua franca, used by the many nationalities that congregate upon the shores of the Mediterranean. In China, and in the East Indies, the so-called pigeon English occupies the same place; and in various parts of Central and Southern America, neutral languages may be found. To show how languages spring up and grow, Vancouver, when visiting the coast in 1792, found in various places along the shores of Oregon, Washington, and Vancouver Island, nations that now and then understood words and sentences of the Nootka and other tongues, some of which had been adopted into their own language.

When Lewis and Clarke, in 1806, reached the coast, the jargon seems to have already assumed a fixed shape, as may be seen from the sentences quoted by the explorers. But not until the arrival of the expedition sent out by John Jacob Astor does it appear that either English or French words, of which it contains a large percentage, were incorporated. Very few, if any, of the words of which the jargon is composed, retain their original shape. The harsh, guttural, and unpronounceable native cackling was softened or omitted, thus forming a speech suited to all. In the same manner, some of the English sounds, like f and r, unpronounceable by the native, were dropped, or transferred into p and l, while all grammatical forms were reduced to the fewest and plainest rules possible.[III-53]Gibbs’ Chinook Dic., p. 6; San Francisco Evening Bulletin, June 15, 1866. ‘Chinook is a jargon which was invented by the Hudson’s Bay Company for the purpose of facilitating communication with the different Indian tribes. These were so numerous, and their languages so various, that the traders found it impossible to learn them all, and adopted the device of a judicious mixture of English, French, Russian, and several Indian tongues, which has a very limited vocabulary; but which, by the help of signs, is readily understood by all the natives, and serves as a common language.’ Milton and Cheadle’s N. W. Passage, p. 344. ‘The jargon so much in use all over the North Pacific Coast, among both whites and Indians, as a verbal medium of communicating with each other, was originally invented by the Hudson’s Bay Company, in order to facilitate the progress of their commerce with Indians.’ Stuart’s Dictionary of Chinook Jargon, p. 161. ‘Chinook is a jargon, consisting of not more than three or four hundred words, drawn from the French, English, Spanish, Indian, and the fancy of the inventor. It was contrived by the Hudson’s Bay Company for the convenience of trade.’ Brunot, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1871, p. 124. Sproat disputes the invention of the jargon, and says: ‘Such an achievement as the invention of a language, is beyond the capabilities of even a chief factor.’ Scenes, p. 139. ‘I think that, among the Coast Indians in particular, the Indian part of the language has been in use for years.’ Swan’s N. W. Coast, p. 307. Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 635, et seq. But even in this jargon, there are what may be called dialectic differences; for instance, many words used at the Dalles, are quite unintelligible at the mouth of the Columbia and at Puget Sound. It has often been asserted that the jargon was invented or originated by the Hudson’s Bay Company, but although the fur company undoubtedly greatly aided its development, and assisted in perfecting it, it is well known, first, that this jargon existed before the advent of Europeans, and secondly, that languages are not made in this way.

Mr Gibbs states the number of words to be nearly five hundred, and after a careful analysis of the language, has arrived at the following conclusion as to the number contributed by the several nationalities:

Contributions of Nationalities

Chinook and Clatsop	200	words
Chinook, having analogies with other languages	21	“
Interjections common to several	8	“
Nootka, including dialects	24	“
Chehalis, 32, and Nisqually, 7	39	“
Kliketat and Yakima	2	“
Cree	2	“
Chippeway (Ojibway)	1	“
Wasco (probably)	4	“
Calapooya (probably)	4	“
By direct onomatopœia	6	“
Derivation unknown, or undetermined	18	“
French, 90, Canadian, 4	94	“
English	67	“	[III-54]Gibbs’ Chinook Dic., pp. vii.-viii. ‘All the words thus brought together and combined in this singularly constructed speech are about two hundred and fifty in number.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 636. ‘Words undoubtedly of Japanese origin are still used in the jargon spoken on the coast called Chinook.’ Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 217.

As before mentioned, foreign words adopted into the jargon vocabulary are changed to suit the taste of the speaker, as in the word Français, being unable to pronounce the f, r, and n, for Frenchman they say pasaiuks, and for French, pasai. The few words formed by onomatopœia, are after this fashion;—tumtum, heart, an imitation of its beating; tintin, bell; tiktik, watch; liplip, to boil, from the sound of boiling water, and so on.

Neither article nor inflections are employed. Okok, this, at times takes the place of the English the. As a rule, plurals are not distinguished, but sometimes the word haiu, many, is used. Adjectives precede nouns, as in English—lasuai hakatshum, silk handkerchief; masatsi tilikum, bad people. The comparative is expressed, for example, in the sentence, I am stronger than thou, by wek maika skukum kakwa naika, thou not strong as I. Superlative—haias oluman okok kanem, very old that canoe. There are only two conjunctions, pi, derived from the French puis, which denotes and or then; and pos, from suppose, meaning if, in case that, provided that. The particle na is at times used as an interrogative.[III-55]Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 636, et seq.

The Lord’s Prayer in the Chinook jargon is as follows:

Nesika Our papa Father klaksta who mitlite stayeth kopa in saghalie,the above, kloshe good kopa in nesika our tumtum hearts (be) mika thy nem;name; kloshe good mika thou tyee chief kopa among konoway all tilikum;people; kloshe good mika thy tumtum will kopa upon illahie,earth, kahkwe as kopa in saghalie.the above. Potlatch Give konaway every sun day nesika our muckamuck.food. Spose If nesika we mamook do masahchie,ill, wake (be) not mika thou hyas very solleks,angry, pe and spose if klaksta any one masahchie evil kopa towards nesika,us, wake not nesika we solleks angry kopa towards klaska.them. Mahsh Send away siah far kopa from nesaika uskonaway all masahchie.evil.[III-56]Gibbs’ Chinook Dic., p. 44. Kloshe kahkwa.

Footnotes

[III-1] ’Die Kaigan-Sprache wird auf der Insel Kaigan und den Charlotten Inseln … gesprochen.’ Veniaminoff, in Erman, Archiv, tom. vii., No. 1., p. 128.

[III-2] ’En parlant du langage de Tchinkîtâiné, j’ai rapporté d’avance les termes numériques employés aux îles de Queen-Charlotte, tels que le capitaine Chanal a pu les recueillir á Cloak-Bay; il observe que quelques-uns de ces termes sont communs aux autres parties de ces îsles qu’il a visitées, ainsi que quelques autres termes qu’il a pu saisir, et par lesquels les Naturels expriment les objets suivanes…. Cette similitude des termes numériques et d’autres termes, employés également par les diverses Tribus, séparées les unes des autres, qui occupent la partie de côtes des îles de Queen-Charlotte que le Capitaine Chanal a visitée, me semble démontrer, contre l’opinion hasardée du Rédacteur du Journal de Dixon, que ces Tribus communiquent habituellement entre elles: cette identité du langage pourroit encore prouver que les Peuplades qui habitent ces îles ont une origine commune.’ Marchand, Voyage, tom. ii., p. 216.

[III-3] ’There are at least two or three different languages spoken on the coast, and yet probably they are all pretty generally understood; though if we may credit the old Chief at Queen Charlotte’s Islands, his people were totally ignorant of that spoken by the inhabitants to the Eastward.’ Dixon’s Voy., p. 240.

[III-4] Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. ii., pp. 218, 220.

[III-5] Radloff, Sprache der Kaiganen, in Mél. Russes. tom. iii., liv. v., p. 575; Green, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. iii., p. 302.

[III-6] Dixon’s Voy., p. 240.

[III-7] ’Es fehlen dem Kaigáni (Haidah) jene harten aspirirten Consonanten, die dem Thlinkít so geläufig sind, es ist vocalreicher und weicher. Dagegen theilt es mit dem Thlinkít den Mangel der Labialen, des dentalen r, wie auch der Verbindung des l mit Dentalen, Gutturalen und Sibilanten, während jenem dagegen das reine l des Kaigani ganz fremd ist.’ Radloff, Sprache der Kaiganen, in Mél. Russes, tom. iii., liv. v., pp. 575-6.

[III-8] Id., pp. 569-607.

[III-9] Green, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., p. 302. ‘Náss … in custom and language, resemble the Sabassa.’ Dunn’s Oregon, p. 279. Buschmann, Spr. N. Mex. u. der Westseite des b. Nordamer., p. 398, et seq.

[III-10] Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. ix., p. 234.

[III-11] Dunn’s Oregon, p. 358.

[III-12] Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. ix., p. 221.

[III-13] Id., p. 230, et seq.

[III-14] Grant’s Vanc. Isl., in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., pp. 295-6.

[III-15] Sproat’s Scenes, p. 311.

[III-16] Grant’s Vanc. Isl., in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxvii., p. 295.

[III-17] ’The inhabitants of Nootka Sound and the Tlaoquatch, who occupy the south-western points of the island, speak the same language.’ Scouler, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 224; Jewitt’s Nar., pp. 74-77; Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 220; Meares’ Voy., pp. 229-32; Douglas’ Report, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxiv., p. 246. At Point Discovery, Vancouver met people some of whom ‘understood a few words of the Nootka language.’ Voyage, vol. i., p. 228. ‘The distinct languages spoken by the Indians are few in number, but the dialects employed by the various tribes are so many, that, although the inhabitants of any particular district have no great difficulty in communicating with each other, …’ Mayne’s B. C., p. 244; Sproat’s Scenes, p. 311. The Rev. Mr Good divides and locates the languages of Vancouver Island and the opposite shore on the mainland as follows. The first language, he says, runs along the coast from Nitinaht to Nootka Sound; the second prevails from Sooke to Nanaimo, and across the Sound up to Bird Inlet on the main land, thence following up the Fraser River as far as Yale; this he names the Cowichin. On the island north of Cowichin he locates the Comux and adjoining it the Ucleta; finally starting at Fort Rupert and following the north coast of the island and also on the opposite shore of the main land is the Quackoll.

[III-18] Jewitt’s Nar., p. 75.

[III-19] Sproat’s Scenes, p. 132.

[III-20] ’El idioma de estos naturales es tal vez el mas áspero y duro de los conocidos. Abundan mucho en él las consonantes, y las terminaciones en tl y tz, constando el intermedio y el principio de los vocablos de aspiraciones muy fuertes.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 147. ‘Their language is very guttural, and if it were possible to reduce it to our orthography, it would very much abound with consonants.’ Sparks’ Life of Ledyard, p. 72; Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., pp. 334-6.

[III-21] Sproat’s Scenes, p. 124, et seq.

[III-22] For a copy of which I am indebted to the late proprietor of the Overland Monthly of San Francisco.

[III-23] ’En examinant avec soin des vocabulaires formés à Noutka et à Monterey, j’ai été frappé de l’homotonie et des désinences mexicaines de plusieurs mots, comme, par exemple, dans la langue des Noutkiens…. Cependant, en général, les langues de la Nouvelle-Californie et de l’île de Quadra, diffèrent essentiellement de l’aztèque.’ Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 321. ‘Sprachähnlichkeiten … hat man, wie auch nachher bey der Betrachtung der Mexikanischen Sprache aus einander gesetzt werden soll, an dieser Nordwest-Küste am Nutka-Sunde und bey den Völkern in der Nähe der Russischen Colonien gefunden.’ Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 76. ‘In the neighborhood of Nootka, tribes still exist whose dialects, both in the termination and general sound of the words, bear considerable resemblance to the Mexican.’ Prescott’s Mex., vol. iii., p. 399.

[III-24] ’So gewinnt die Nutka-Sprache, durch eine reiche Zahl von Wörtern und durch grosse Züge ihres Lautwesens, einzig vor allen anderen fremden … in einem bedeutenden Theile eine täuschende Ähnlichkeit mit der aztekischen oder mexicanischen; und so wird die ihr schon früher gewidmete Aufmerksamkeit vollständig gerechtfertigt. Ihrer mexicanischen Erscheinung fehlt aber, wie ich von meiner Seite hier ausspreche, jede Wirklichkeit.’ Buschmann, Spr. N. Mex. u. der Westküste des b. Nordamer., p. 371.

[III-25] They spoke the same language as the Nootkas. Vancouver’s Voy., vol. i., p. 218.

[III-26] ’The affinities of the Clallam and Lummi are too obvious to require demonstration.’ Gibbs’ Clallam and Lummi Vocab., p. vii. ‘The Tsihaili-Selish languages reach the sea in the part opposite Vancouver’s Island. Perhaps they touch it to the north also.’ Latham’s Comp. Phil., vol. viii., p. 401; Gairdner, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 255.

[III-27] ’Les Indiens de la côte ou de la Nouvelle Calédonie, les Tokalis, les Chargeurs (Carriers), les Schouchouaps, les Atnas appartiennent tous à la nation des Chipeouaïans.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 337. ‘The Atnah language has no affinity to any with which I am acquainted.’ Mackenzie’s Voyages, p. 258.

[III-28] Mengarini, Selish Gram.

[III-29] ’Nationes que radicaliter linguam Selicam loquuntur sunt saltem decem: Calispelm, (vulgo) Pends d’oreilles du Lac Inférieur. Slkatkomlchi, Pends d’oreilles du Lac Superieur. Selish, Têtes Platte. Sngomènei, Snpoilschi, Szk’eszilni, Spokanes. S´chizni, Cœurs d’alène. Sgoièlpi, Chaudières. Okinakein, Stlakam, Okanagan.’ Mengarini, Selish Gram., p. 120. ‘Their language is the same as the Spokeins’ and Flatheads’.’ Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 307. ‘The Spokanes speak the same dialect as the Flatheads and Pend d’Oreilles.’ Chapman, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1866, p. 201; De Smet, Voy., p. 237. ‘The Flatheads are divided into numerous tribes, each having its own peculiar locality, and differing more or less from the others in language, customs, and manners.’ ‘The Spokan Indians are a small tribe, differing very little from the Indians at Colville either in their appearance, habits, or language.’ Kane’s Wand., pp. 173, 307. ‘The Pend’ d’Oreilles are generally called the Flatheads, the two clans, in fact, being united…. Still, the two races are entirely distinct, their languages being fundamentally different. The variety of tongues on the west side of the (Rocky) mountains is almost infinite, so that scarcely any two tribes understand each other perfectly. They have all, however, the common character of being very guttural; and, in fact, the sentences often appear to be mere jumbles of grunts and croaks, such as no alphabet could express in writing.’ Simpson’s Overland Jour., vol. i., p. 146.

[III-30] Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., pp. 535-7.

[III-31] Swan’s N. W. Coast, p. 315.

[III-32] Gibbs’ Clallam and Lummi Vocab., p. 7.

[III-33] ’In the northern districts of the great chain of Rocky Mountains which were visited by Sir Alexander Mackenzie, there are several nations of unknown language and origin. The Atnah nation is one of them. Their dialect appears, from the short vocabulary given by that traveller, to be one of those languages which, in the frequent recurrence of peculiar consonants, bears a certain resemblance to the Mexican.’ Prichard’s Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., p. 550; Swan’s N. W. Coast, pp. 315-6.

[III-34] ’Der Prinz bezeugt (Bd. ii., 511) dass der behauptete Mangel an Gurgellauten ein Irrthum ist; er bemerkt: dass die Sprache durch den ihr eignen “Zungenschnalz” für das Aussprechen schwierig werde, und dass sie eine Menge von Gutturaltönen habe. Man spreche die Wörter leise und undeutlich aus; dabei gebe es darin viele schnalzende Töne, indem man mit der Zungenspitze anstösst; auch gebe es darin viele dumpfe Kehllaute.’ Prinzschoschonischen Max zu Wied, in Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 661. ‘Their language bears no affinity whatever to that of any of the western nations. It is infinitely softer and more free from those unpronounceable gutturals so common among the lower tribes.’ Cox’s Adven., p. 233; Blakiston’s Rept., in Palliser’s Explor., p. 73; Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 307.

[III-35] De Smet’s Oregon Miss., p. 409.

[III-36] Tribes speaking the Kliketat language: Whulwhypum, Tait-inapum, Yakima, Walla Wallapum, Kyoose, Umatilla, Peloose, Wyampam; the Yakimas and Kliketats or Whulwhypum … speaking the Walla-Walla language, otherwise known as the Kliketat. Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 244, 232. ‘The Kyeuse resemble the Walla-Wallas very much…. Their language and customs are almost identical.’ Kane’s Wand., p. 280. The Pend d’Oreilles ‘speak the same language’ (Nez Percé.) Hutchins, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1863, p. 456. The Palouse Indians ‘speak the same language.’ Cain, in Id., 1860, p. 210. ‘The Wallah-Wallahs, whose language belongs to the same family.’ ‘The Wallah-Wallahs and Nez Perces speak dialects of a common language, and the Cayuses have abandoned their own for that of the latter.’ Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 416, 425; Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., pp. 213, 542. ‘The nation among which we now are call themselves Sokulks; and with them are united a few of another nation, who reside on a western branch, emptying itself into the Columbia a few miles above the mouth of the latter river, and whose name is Chimnapum. The language of both these nations differs but little from each other, or from that of the Chopunnish who inhabit the Kooskooskee and Lewis’s river.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 12. ‘The language of the Walla-Wallas differs from the Nez Percés’. Parker’s Explor. Tour, p. 137.

[III-37] Pandosy’s Yakama Lang., p. 9.

[III-38] Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 542, et seq.

[III-39] Pandosy’s Yakama Lang.

[III-40] Ross’ Fur Hunters, vol. i., p. 313, et seq.

[III-41] Rafinesque, Atlantic Jour., p. 133, quoted in Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 615. ‘Ich habe diese Wörter Rafinesque’s zu einem Theil ganz verschieden von den Sahaptan gefunden.’ Ib.

[III-42] Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 561.

[III-43] ’The Skyuse have two distinct languages: the one used in ordinary intercourse, the other on extraordinary occasions; as in war counsels, &c.’ Farnham’s Travels, p. 153. ‘The Cayuses have abandoned their own for that of the Nez Percés.’ Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 416, 425. ‘Their language bears some affinity to the Sahaptin or Nez-Percé language.’ Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 199; Coke’s Rocky Mts., p 295; Kane’s Wand., p. 279. ‘Their original language, now almost extinct … having affinity to that of the Carriers, of North Caledonia, and the Umpqua Indians of Southern Oregon.’ Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 249-50.

[III-44] ’The language of the bands farther up the river departed more and more widely from the Chinook proper, so that the lower ones could not have understood the others without an interpreter.’ Gibbs’ Chinook Vocab., p. 4. ‘The vocabulary given by Dr. Scouler as “Chenook” is almost altogether Chihalis. His “Cathlascon” … is Chinook.’ Id., p. 5. ‘Des Tchinooks, d’où est sortie la langue-mère de ces sauvages.’ Saint-Amant, Voyages, p. 381. ‘Cathlamahs speak the same language as the Chinnooks and Clatsops.’ Lewis and Clarke’s Travels, p. 424. Chinooks ‘in language … resemble the Clatsops, Cathlamahs, and indeed all the people near the mouth of the Columbia.’ Id., p. 426. ‘The Chinooks, Clatsops, Wahkiacums and Cathlamahs … resembled each other in person, dress, language.’ Irving’s Astoria, pp. 85, 336. Chinooks, Clatsops, Cathlamux, Wakicums, Wacalamus, Cattleputles, Clatscanias, Killimux, Moltnomas, Chickelis, … resemble one another in language. Ross’ Adven., pp. 87-88. ‘The Chinook language is spoken by all the nations from the mouth of the Columbia to the falls.’ Franchère’s Nar., p. 262.

[III-45] ’The language spoken by these people is guttural, very difficult for a foreigner to learn, and equally hard to pronounce.’ Ross’ Adven., p. 101. ‘Decidedly the most unpronounceable compound of gutturals ever formed for the communication of human thoughts, or the expression of human wants.’ Cox’s Adven., vol. ii., p. 133. ‘I would willingly give a specimen of the barbarous language of this people, were it possible to represent by any combination of our alphabet the horrible, harsh, spluttering sounds which proceed from their throats apparently unguided either by the tongue or lip.’ Kane’s Wand., p. 182. ‘It is hard and difficult to pronounce, for strangers; being full of gutturals, like the Gaelic. The combinations thl, or tl, and lt, are as frequent in the Chinook as in the Mexican.’ Franchère’s Nar., p. 262. ‘After the soft languages and rapid enunciation of the islanders, the Chinooks presented a singular contrast in the slow, deliberate manner in which they seemed to choke out their words; giving utterance to sounds, some of which could scarcely be represented by combinations of known letters.’ Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 23. ‘It abounds with gutturals and “clucking” sounds, almost as difficult to analyse as to utter.’ Gibbs’ Chinook Vocab., p. 5.

[III-46] ’The ancient Chenook is such a guttural, difficult tongue, that many of the young Chenook Indians can not speak it, but have been taught by their parents the Chehalis language and the Jargon.’ Swan’s N. W. Coast, p. 306; Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 562. ‘The very difficult pronunciation and excessively complicated form of the Chinook has effectually prevented its acquisition, even by missionaries and fur traders.’ Gibbs’ Chinook Vocab., p. 5.

[III-47] Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol., vi., p. 562, et seq.

[III-48] Kane’s Wand., p. 183.

[III-49] Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 566, et seq.

[III-50] ’Yamkallie, Kallapuiah. Oregon Indians of the plains of the Wallamette, speaking a language related to that of the Cathlascons and Haeeltzuk.’ Ludewig’s Ab. Lang., p. 202. ‘Gross die Verwandtschaft der Kalapuya und des Yamkallie; aber an verschiedenen Wörtern fehlt es nicht.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 628.

[III-51] ’Höchst merkwürdig sind einzelne unläugbare aztekische und zweitens einzelne sonorische Wörter, welche ich in diesen Sprachen aufgefunden habe.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 629.

[III-52] ’This system of jargons began very early, and has, doubtless, led to many errors. As early as 1633, the Jesuit Father Paul Le Jeune wrote: “I have remarked, in the study of their language, that there is a certain jargon between the French and Indians, which is neither French nor Indian; and yet, when the French use it, they think they are speaking Indian, and the Indians using it, think they speak good French.”‘ Hist. Mag., vol. v., p. 345.

[III-53] Gibbs’ Chinook Dic., p. 6; San Francisco Evening Bulletin, June 15, 1866. ‘Chinook is a jargon which was invented by the Hudson’s Bay Company for the purpose of facilitating communication with the different Indian tribes. These were so numerous, and their languages so various, that the traders found it impossible to learn them all, and adopted the device of a judicious mixture of English, French, Russian, and several Indian tongues, which has a very limited vocabulary; but which, by the help of signs, is readily understood by all the natives, and serves as a common language.’ Milton and Cheadle’s N. W. Passage, p. 344. ‘The jargon so much in use all over the North Pacific Coast, among both whites and Indians, as a verbal medium of communicating with each other, was originally invented by the Hudson’s Bay Company, in order to facilitate the progress of their commerce with Indians.’ Stuart’s Dictionary of Chinook Jargon, p. 161. ‘Chinook is a jargon, consisting of not more than three or four hundred words, drawn from the French, English, Spanish, Indian, and the fancy of the inventor. It was contrived by the Hudson’s Bay Company for the convenience of trade.’ Brunot, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1871, p. 124. Sproat disputes the invention of the jargon, and says: ‘Such an achievement as the invention of a language, is beyond the capabilities of even a chief factor.’ Scenes, p. 139. ‘I think that, among the Coast Indians in particular, the Indian part of the language has been in use for years.’ Swan’s N. W. Coast, p. 307. Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 635, et seq.

[III-54] Gibbs’ Chinook Dic., pp. vii.-viii. ‘All the words thus brought together and combined in this singularly constructed speech are about two hundred and fifty in number.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 636. ‘Words undoubtedly of Japanese origin are still used in the jargon spoken on the coast called Chinook.’ Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 217.

[III-55] Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 636, et seq.

[III-56] Gibbs’ Chinook Dic., p. 44.

Chapter IV • Californian Languages • 7,900 Words

Multiplicity of Tongues—Yakon, Klamath, and Palaik Comparisons—Pitt River and Wintoon Vocabularies—Weeyot, Wishosk, Weitspek, and Ehnek Comparisons—Languages of Humboldt Bay—Potter Valley, Russian and Eel River Languages—Pomo Languages—Gallinomero Grammar—Trans-Pacific Comparisons—Chocuyem Lord’s Prayer—Languages of the Sacramento, San Joaquin, Napa and Sonoma Valleys—The Olhone and other Languages of San Francisco Bay—Runsien and Eslene of Monterey—Santa Clara Lord’s Prayer—Mutsun Grammar—Languages of the Missions Santa Cruz, San Antonio de Padua, Soledad, and San Miguel—Tatché Grammar—The Dialects of Santa Cruz and other Islands.

Notwithstanding the great diversity of tongues encountered in the regions of the north, the confusion increases ten-fold on entering California. Probably nowhere in America is there a greater multiformity of languages and dialects than here. Until quite recently, no attempt has been made to bring order out of this linguistic chaos, owing mainly to a lack of grammars and vocabularies. Within the last few years this want has, in a measure, been supplied, and I hope to be able to present some broader classifications than have hitherto been attempted. Through the researches of Mr Powers, who has kindly placed his materials at my disposal, and the valuable information communicated by Judge Roseborough, the dialects of northern California have been reduced to some sort of system, yet there remains the fact that, in central and southern California, hundreds of dialects have been permitted to die out, without leaving us so much as their name.[IV-1]Roseborough’s Letter to the Author, MS.; The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS. ‘The diversity of language is so great in California, that at almost every 15 or 20 leagues, you find a distinct dialect.’ Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., p. 240. ‘Il n’est peut-être aucun pays où les différens idiomes soient aussi multipliés que dans la Californie septentrionale.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 323. ‘One might spend years with diligence in acquiring an Indian tongue, then journey a three-hours’ space, and find himself adrift again, so multitudinous are the languages and dialects of California.’ Powers’ North. Cal. Ind., in Overland Monthly, vol. viii., p. 328. ‘The diversity is such as to preclude almost entirely all verbal communication.’ Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. iii., p. 159. ‘Languages vary from tribe to tribe.’ Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 106. ‘In California, there appears to be spoken two or more distinct languages.’ McCulloh’s Researches in Amer., p. 37; Kotzebue’s Voyage, vol. iii., p. 48; Id., New Voy., vol. ii., p. 98; Taylor, in Bancroft’s Handbook Almanac, 1864, p. 29.

In attempting the classification of Californian tongues, no little difficulty arises from the ambiguity of tribal names. So far as appearances go, some peoples have no distinctive name; others are known by the name of their chief alone, or their ranchería; the affiliation of chief, ranchería, and tribe being identical or distinct, as the case may be. Some writers have a common name for all tribes speaking the same, or dialects of the same, language; others name a people from each dialect. Last of all, there are nations and tribes that call themselves by one name, while their neighbors call them by another, so that the classifier, ethnologic or philologic, is apt to enumerate one people under two names, while omitting many.[IV-2]See vol. i., p. 325; Roseborough’s Letter to the Author, MS.; The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS.; Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. iii., p. 159

We have seen in the Columbian languages, as we approach the south, that they become softer and less guttural; this is yet more observable among Californians, whose speech, for the most part, is harmonious, pronounceable, and rich in vowels; and this feature becomes more and more marked as we proceed from northern to southern California. On this point, Mr Powers writes: “Not only are the California languages distinguished for that affluence of vowel sounds, which is more or less characteristic of all tongues spoken in warm climates; but most of them are also remarkable for their special striving after harmony. There are a few languages found in the northern mountains which are harsh and sesquipedalian, and some on the coast that are guttural beyond the compass of our American organs of speech; but with these few exceptions, the numerous languages of the state are beautiful above all their neighbors for their simplicity, the brevity of their words, their melody, and their harmonious sequences.”[IV-3]Powers’ Pomo, MS.

Rules of Euphony in California

Throughout California, much attention is paid to the euphony of words; and if, in the inevitable manufacturing process, a syllable does not sound well, or does not exactly harmonize according to the native ear, it is ruthlessly sacrificed. In many languages these elisions are made in accordance with fixed rules, while others, again, obey no other mandate but harmony.

Concerning the languages of northern California, Judge Roseborough writes: “In an ethnological view, the language of these various tribes is a subject of great interest. They seem to be governed by the geographical nature of the country, which has had much influence in directing the migrations and settlement of the various tribes in this state, where they have been found by the whites; and there have been in remote times at least three currents, or lines of migration, namely—first, one along the coast southward, dispersing more or less towards the interior as the nature of the country and hostile tribes permitted. In so broken and rough a country the migrations must have been slow, and the eddies numerous, leaving many fragments of aboriginal tribes here and there with language and customs wholly dissimilar. Second, that along the Willamette Valley, over the passes of the Calapooya, across the open lands of the Umpqua, southward through Rogue River Valley into Shasta and Scott valleys. As an evidence of this trace I may mention that all the tribes on this line, from the Calapooya mountains southward to the head of Shasta and Scott valleys, speak the same language, and were confederate in their wars with the tribes on Pitt River, who seem to have arrested their progress southward. In this connection I may mention two facts worthy of remark, namely, first, in this cataclysm of tribes, there have been some singular displacements; for instance, the similarity of language and customs of the Cumbatwas and other cognate tribes on Pitt River denotes a common origin with a small tribe found on Smith River, on the north-west coast: and secondly, the traditions of the Shastas settled in Shasta and Scott valleys, the advance of this line of migrations, show that a former tribe had been found in possession of those valleys and mountains, and had been driven out. The remains of their ancient villages, and the arrangements still visible in their excavations confirm the fact, and also the further fact that the expelled tribes were the same, or cognate to those which the whites found in occupation of the Sacramento Valley. For instance, in all of these ancient villages, there was one house of very large dimensions, used for feasts, ceremonious dances, etc., just as we found on the settlement of California, in the valley of Sacramento. The existing tribes in those mountains have no such domicil and no public houses. They say, when asked, that the villages were built and inhabited by a tribe that lived there before they came, and that those ancient dwellers worshiped the great snowy Mount Shasta, and always built their villages in places from which they could behold that mountain. Thirdly, another wave of migration evidently came southward along the Des Chutes River, upon the great plateau of the lakes, which conclusion is borne out by a similarity of languages and customs, as well as by traditions.”[IV-4]Roseborough’s Letter to the Author, MS.

In support of this theory, Judge Roseborough states that the languages spoken on Smith River, and extending thence forty miles along the coast, are radically and wholly different from those of the neighboring tribes. The former are harsh, guttural, irregular, and apparently monosyllabic, while on the other hand, the neighboring tribes inhabiting the coast southward to Humboldt Bay, and along the Klamath as far up as the mouth of the Trinity, speak a language very regular in its structure; copious in its capacity for expressing ideas and shades of thought, and not unpleasing to the ear, being free from harsh and guttural sounds. Of all the languages spoken in this part, that which prevails along the Klamath River, as far up as Happy Camp, and along the Salmon to its sources, is by far the most regular and musical. In fact, for its regular and musical accents it occupies among the Indian tongues of the continent the same preëminence that the Spanish does among the Caucasian languages. For instance, their proper nouns for persons and places are very euphoneous, as, euphippa, escassasoo, names of persons, and tahasoofca, cheenich, panumna, chimicanee, tooyook, savorum, names of noted localities along the river.

As an example of the copiousness and richness of the coast languages above Humboldt Bay, Judge Roseborough cites the following, for one, two, three, four, they say, kor, nihhi, naxil, chohnah; so for to-morrow they say, kohchamol; for the day after to-morrow, nahamohl; three days hence, naxamohl; four days hence, chohnahamol. Nor do they stop here; mare, being five, and marunimícha, fifteen; the fifteenth day from the present is, marunimîcháhamohl.

Mr George Bancroft in his Indianology erroneously asserts that the sound of our letter r does not occur in any of the aboriginal languages of America. A similar assertion has been made with regard to Asiatic tongues, that there is not a people from the peninsula of Hindostan to Kamchatka who make use of this sound. Although this idea is now exploded, evidence goes to show the rarity of the use of the letter r in these regions; yet, Judge Roseborough assures me that in these northern Californian dialects the sound of this letter is not only frequent, but is uttered with its most rolling, whirring emphasis; that such words as arrarra, Indian; carrook, or cahroc, up; eurook, or euroc, down; seearrook, across and up; micarra, the name of a village; tahasoofcarrah, that is to say the village of upper Tahasoofca, are brought forth with an intensity that a Frenchman could not exceed.

On both sides of the Oregon and Californian boundary line is spoken the Klamath language; adjoining it on the north is the Yakon, and on the south the Shasta and the Palaik. A dialect of the Klamath is also spoken by the Modocs. Herewith I give a short comparative table, and although no relationship between them is claimed, yet many of the words which I have selected are not without a similarity.[IV-5]’The Lutuami, Shasti and Palaik are thrown by Gallatin into three separate classes. They are without doubt mutually unintelligible. Nevertheless they cannot be very widely separated.’ Latham’s Comp. Phil., vol. viii., p. 407. The T-ka, Id-do-a, Ho-te-day, We-o-how, or Shasta Indians, speak the same language. Steele, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1864, p. 120. The Modocs speak the same language as the Klamaths. Palmer, in Id., 1854, p. 262; Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 218; Berghaus, Geographisches Jahrbuch, tom. iii., p. 48; Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, June 8, 1860. ‘A branch of the latter (Shoshone) is the tribe of Tlamath Indians.’ Ruxton’s Adven. Mex., p. 244.

Klamath Languages

	YAKON.	KLAMATH.	SHASTA.	PALAIK.
Man	kalt	hisuatsos	awatikoa	yaliu
Woman	tkhlaks	snawats	taritsi	omtewitsen
Mouth	qai	sum	au, or aof,	ap
Leg	sia	tsoks	halaway, or hatis,	atetewa
Water	kilo	ampo	atsa	as
Blood	pouts	poits	ime	ahati
Earth	onitstoh	kaela	tarak	kela
Stone	kelih	kotai	itsa	olisti
Wood	kukh	anko	awa	hau
Beaver	kaatsilawa	pum	tawai	pum
Dog	tskekh	watsak	hapso	watsaqa
Bird	kokoaia	lalak	tararakh	lauitsa
Salmon	tsutais	tsialus	kitari	tsialas
Great	haihaiat	moönis	kempe	wawa

The Wintoon, Euroc, and Cahroc

Along Pitt River and its tributaries are the Pitt River Indians and the Wintoons, of which languages short vocabularies are given.

Pitt River and Wintoon Languages

PITT RIVER.

Man	t’elyou	Hair	teee
Woman	emmetowchan	Eyes	ossa
House	teoomchee	Nose	yame
Tree (pine)	oswoo	Mouth	yanena
Water	oss	Teeth	etesä
Stone	alliste	Legs	säyä
Sun	tsool	Fire	mallis
Moon	tchool	Big	walswa
Crow	owwicha	Little	chowkootcha
Dog	chahoom	Dead	deoome
Deer	doshshe	Mountain	akoo
Bear	loehta	Fish	oll[IV-6]The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS.

WINTOON.

Yes	ummina	Warm	pela
Woman	darcus	Eyes	toomb
House	boss	Nose	sono
I, or me	net	Mouth	all
Water	mem	Teeth	see
Rain	luhay	Talk	teene
Sun	sash	To kill	kloma
Moon	chamitta	Large	bohama
Night	kenavina, or peno	To fight	cluckapooda
Dog	suco	Dead	menil
Deer	nope	North	wy
Bear	chilch, or weemer	South	nora[IV-7]Jackson’s Vocab. of the Wintoon Language, MS.; Powers’ Vocabularies, MS.

On the lower Klamath, the Euroc language prevails. As compared with the dialects of southern California, it is guttural; there being apparently in some of its words, or rather grunts, a total absence of vowels—mrprh, nose; chlh, earth; ynx, child. Among other sounds peculiar to it, there is that of the ll, so frequent in the Welsh language. Mr Powers says that, “in conversation they terminate many words with an aspiration which is imperfectly indicated by the letter h, a sort of catching of the sound, immediately followed by the letting out of the residue of breath, with a quick little grunt. This makes their speech harsh and halting; the voice often comes to a dead stop in the middle of a sentence.” He further adds that “the language seems to have had a monosyllabic origin, and, in fact, they pronounce many dissyllables as if they were two monosyllables.”

Along the upper Klamath, the Cahroc language is spoken, which is entirely distinct from that of the Eurocs. It is sonorous, and its intonation has even been compared with that of the Spanish, being not at all guttural like the Euroc. The r, when it occurs in such words as chareya, and cahroc, is strangely rolled. The language is copious; the people speaking it having a name for everything, and on seeing any article new to them, if a proper designation is not immediately at hand, they forthwith proceed to manufacture one.

Another guttural language is the Pataway, spoken on Trinity River. Its pronunciation is like the Euroc, and it has the same curious, abrupt stopping of the voice at the end of syllables terminating with a vowel, as Mr Powers describes it. Related to it is the Veeard of lower Humboldt Bay. The numerals in the latter language are: koh-tseh, one; dee-teh, two; dee-keh, three; deeh-oh, four; weh-sah, five; chilókeh, six; awtloh, seven; owit, eight; serókeh, nine; lokél ten.[IV-8]Powers’ Pomo, MS.

The language known as the Weitspek, spoken at the junction of the Trinity and Klamath rivers, is probably the same which Mr Powers has named the Pataway. It is also said to have the frequently occurring rolling r. The f, as in the Oregon languages, is wanting. Dialects of the Weitspek are the Weeyot and Wishosk, on Eel and Mad rivers. This language is understood from the coast range down to the coast between Cape Mendocino and Mad River.[IV-9]Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 422. ‘The junction of the rivers Klamath, or Trinity, gives us the locality of the Weitspek. Its dialects, the Weyot and Wishosk, extend far into Humboldt county, where they are probably the prevailing form of speech, being used on the Mad River, and the parts about Cape Mendocino. From the Weitspek they differ much more than they do from each other.’ Latham’s Comp. Phil., vol. viii., p. 40. ‘Weeyot und Wish-osk, unter einander verwandt.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 575. The Ehnek, or Pehtsik, language is spoken on Salmon River; thence in the region of the Klamath, are the Watsahewah, Howteteoh, and Nabiltse languages.[IV-10]Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., pp. 422-3.

Comparisons

Klamath Region Languages

	WEEYOT.	WISHOSK.	WEITSPEK.	EHNEK.

Man	ko éh	ko-éh	pagehk	ah wunsh
Arrow	sáhpe	tsahpé	nah qut	kha-wish
Water	merah tche	mer ah ché	pa ha	iss shah
Earth	let kuk	let kuk	chahk	steep
Dog	wyets	wy’ts	chishé	chish ee
Fire	mass	mess	mets	ah
Sun	taum	tahm	wá noush leh	kosh rah
One	koh tse	kohtsa	spinekoh	issah
Two	er ee ta	ritta	nun ehr	ach bok
Three	er ee ka	rihk	nak sa	kui rahk
Four	re aw wa	ri yah	toh hun ne	peehs
Five	wessa	wéhsah	mahr o tum	ti rah o

The Chillulah, Wheelcutta, and Kailta were spoken on Redwood Creek, but before the extinction of these people, their languages were merged into that of the Hoopahs by whom they were subjugated. The language of the Chimalquays of New River has also been absorbed by the Hoopah. Of the Chimalquays Powers hyperbolically remarks “their language was like the mountain city of California, beautiful in its simplicity, but frail.”[IV-11]Powers’ Pomo, MS.

The Pomo Family and Its Dialects

At Humboldt Bay a language called Patawat is mentioned, and in Round Valley the Yuka. The numerals in the latter tongue are—pongwe, one; opeh, two; malmeh, three; and omehet, four. In Potter Valley is the Tahtoo language which Mr Powers thinks may belong to the Pomo or the Yuka.[IV-12]Roseborouqh’s Letter to the Author, MS.; Powers’ Pomo, MS. In the Eel River and Russian River valleys as far as the mouth of Russian River and in Potter Valley, the different tribes known by the names of Ukiahs or Yokias, Sanèls, Gallinomeros, Masallamagoons, Gualalas, and Matoles, speak various dialects of the Pomo language, which obtains in Potter Valley and the dialects of which become more and more estranged according to the distance from the aboriginal centre. The Pomo men are good linguists; they readily acquire all the different dialects of their language, which in places differ to such an extent, that unless they are previously learned they cannot be understood. Pomo women are not allowed to learn any dialect but their own.

The following comparative table of numerals will illustrate the relationship of these tribes, among which I include the Kulanapo spoken near Clear Lake, and of which Mr Gibbs has also noticed an affinity to the Russian River and Eel River languages; also, the language spoken by the natives of the Yonios Ranchería in Marin County.[IV-13]Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., pp. 421-2; Powers’ Pomo, MS.; Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, March 30, 1860.

Comparative Table of Numerals

	POMO.	UKIAH.	SANÉL.	GALINOMERO.	KULANAPO.	YUNIO.
One	cha	taro	tate	cha	k’hah lih	kalli
Two	co	can	co	aco	kots	hotz
Three	sibbo	sibbo	sibboo	mesibbo	homeka	humka
Four	tack	duhan	ducho	meta	dol	caddol
Five	shal	native	mato	tooshuh	leh ma	lema
Six	padeh	tsadeh	tsadeh	lancha	tsa di	sav
Seven	copah	hoyneit	cóëmar	latco	ku la hots	kolaus
Eight	cowal	cogodol	cogodol	cométa	ko ka dohl	kadol
Nine	shalshal	némgoshum	númoshum	chaco	hah da rol shum	gin
Ten	sala	némpotec	návacotec	chasúto	hah da rul tek	hidelema

Gallinomero Grammar

On the Gallinomero dialect I make a few grammatical remarks. In conversation the Gallinomeros are rather slovenly and make use of frequent contractions and abbreviations like the English can’t and shan’t, which makes it difficult for a stranger to understand them. Another difficulty for the student is the convertibility of a number of letters, such as t into ch, sh into ch, i into ah, etc. Nouns have neither number, case, nor gender; the first being only occasionally indicated by a separate word—cha ataboónya, one man; aco ataboónja, two men. The genitive is formed by placing the words in juxtaposition—atópte meätega, the chief’s brother; the governed word being always prepositive. None of the remaining cases are distinguished; for example—chadúna bidácha, I see the river; bidácha hoalye, I go to the river, or, into the river; bidácha huodúna, I come out of the river; didácha toholeéna, I go away from the river; the accusative may be recognized as being placed immediately after the verb, but there are many exceptions to this rule. Sometimes the accusative is also marked by the ending ga or gen—chechoanoótugen, I strike the boy; but this is seldom used. Verbs are always regular. There are present, imperfect, and future tenses, and three forms of the imperative, all distinctly marked by tense endings.

Gallinomero Tenses

	Present Indicative.	Imperfect.	First Future.

Do,	tseena	tseeteéna	tseecúwa
Go,	hoalye	hoaleteéna	hoalecúwa
Break,	matsána	matsanteéna	matsancúwa
Kill,	matemána	matemanteéna	matemancúwa
See,	chadúna	chaduteéna	chaducúwa
Fight,	mehailme	mehailmooteéna	mehailmoocúwa

In some instances these endings are changed for the sake of euphony, certain letters being elided. The endings may really be called auxiliary verbs, attached to the principal verb. Thus the imperfect reads, literally, ‘would be I go do,’ the ending teena, being nothing but the word tseena, with the s omitted. In like manner the future is formed, as in tudáwa, to want, which is changed into cúwa.

There is nothing to denote number in the verb, as can be seen in the

Conjugation of the Verb to be

To Be, Gallinomero

I am,	ahwa	We are,	áyawa
Thou art,	ámawa	You are,	ámawa
He is,	hámowa	They are,	hámowa

Of the imperative, the following may serve as an example: hoáleluh, let me go; hoalin, go thou; hoálegun, let him go. The verb chadúna, to see, may signify either I see, or seeing, or to see, or it may be construed as a substantive—sight; or as an adjective in agglutination, as chadunatoboónya, a watchful man. Chanhódin is an auxiliary verb and is always prepositive. The pronouns are, ah, ahto, or ahmet, I; ama, thou; and wemo, waymo, hamo, or ámata, he. The first person of the pronoun is always omitted, except with the verb to be, and the second and third persons frequently. Pronominal adjectives are quite irregular, as owkey, from ah; maykey, from ama; wébakey, from wemo; and they are also used irregularly with nouns. Thus in medde, father; ahmen, or owkáhmen, or áhmedde, being equivalent to I father, my father. Here, also, euphony steps in and makes words sometimes wholly unrecognizable, as ahtótána, equivalent to méhand, and still more different, as mamówky, this is for me. Your father is máykemay; his father, wébamen. Thus it will be seen that medde is changed, or abbreviated, into men, and may. Sometimes the personal pronoun is agglutinated to the verb, and sometimes it is not;—chechoánomdo (chechoána meto), I strike you; meto tudáwa, I love you. As in many other Pacific States languages, we have here a reverential syllable, which in this language is always prefixed, whereas in others, for instance the Aztec, it is an affix. Speaking of persons related, or of things belonging, to the chief, the reverential me or jin, is always prefixed;—owkeybaì, my wife; maykeybaì, your wife; atópte meëtchen, the chief’s wife; shinna, head; metoshin, your head; webashin, his head; atópte jinshinna, the chief’s head. All adjectives are really substantives, and are used for both purposes. Thus, ootu, boy, also signifies little, or young. Adjectives are generally placed after nouns—majey codey, good day; but there are also many exceptions to this rule. Comparatives are expressed by the particle pala, more;—paleyabáta waymo ahmet, he is greater than I, pala becoming paléya, in composition. This is only used by the more intelligent class. A Gallinomero of the lower order would say, bata waymo ahmet, great he I. The principal characteristics of the language are euphony and brevity, to which all things else are subservient, but nevertheless, as I have shown already, agglutination is carried to the farthest extent.[IV-14]Powers’ Notes on Cal. Languages, MS.

Trans-Pacific Comparisons

As will be seen by the following comparative table, the Pomo language, or rather one of its dialects, the Kulanapo, shows some affinity to the Malay family of languages. Of one hundred and seventy words which I have compared, I find fifteen per cent. showing Malay similarities, and more could perhaps have been found if the several vocabularies had been made upon some one system. As it is, I have been obliged to use a Malay, a Tonga, and other Polynesian vocabularies, taken by different persons, at different times. Without attempting to establish any relationship between the Polynesians and Californians, I present these similarities merely as a fact; these analogies I find existing nowhere else in California, and between them and no other Trans-Pacific peoples.[IV-15]Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 428, et seq.; Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 342, et seq; Keppel’s Exped., vol. i., appendix, p. 14, et Seq.; Martin’s Tonga Isl., vol. ii.

Trans-pacific Comparisons

	KULANAPO.	MALAY.	DIALECT OF THE MALAY.
Woman	dah	do	Kayan
Mother	nihk	indi, ini	Sakarran
Husband	dah’k	laki, lake	Malay
Wife	bai le	bini	Malay
Head	kai yah	kapala	Malay
Hair	moo sooh	fooloo	Tonga
Neck	mi yah	gia	Tonga
Foot	kah mah	kaki	Malay
House	kah (calli, Aztec)	falle	Tonga
Sun	lah	láa	Tonga
Fire	poh (Copeh)	apoé	Millanow
Water	k’hah	vy, cawna	Tonga
Mountain	dah no	darud	Suntah
Black	keela keelick	kele	Polynesian
Bed	keh dah reh duk	dadara	Malay
Green	doh tor	ota	Polynesian
Dead	mu dal	mati	Malay
I	hah	au	Polynesian
One	k’hah lih	tasi	Polynesian
One	tchah (Yukai)	satu	Malay
Four	dol	tau	Polynesian
Five	leh ma	lima	Malay
Eat	ku hu	kai	Polynesian
Drink	mih	mea inoo	Tonga
To see	el lih (Chocuyem)	ilaw	Tonga
To go	le loom	aloo	Tonga
Bow	pah chee	pana	Malay
Tongue	lehn teep (Chocuyem)	lida	Malay
Leg	co yok (Chocuyem)	ku jak	Suntah

The similarities existing between the Japanese and Chinese, and the Californian languages, appearing from a careful comparison of the same one hundred and seventy words, are insufficient to establish any relationship; the few resemblances may be regarded as purely accidental. Of these words I insert the following, which are all between which I have been able to discover any likeness:

Japanese, Chinese and Californian Languages

Husband	Japanese	muko	Costaños	makho
Teeth	Chinese	chi	Copeh	see ih
Knife	Japanese	deba	Costaños	tepah
Fire	Chinese	ho	Choweshak	ho
Water	Japanese	sui	Costaños	see ee
Dog	Japanese	chin	Weitepek and Ehnek	chishe
Deer	Japanese	sh’ka	Copeh	siáh

The Choweshak and Batemdakaiee are mentioned as being spoken at the head of Eel River, and the Chocuyem in Marin County, near the Mission of San Rafael. On Russian River, there yet remain to be mentioned the Olamentke, and the Chwachamaju. All these may be properly classed as dialects nearly related to the Pomo family, and some of them may even be the same dialects under different names.[IV-16]’Die Indianer in Bodega verstehen nur mit Mühe die Sprache derjenigen welche in den Ebenen am Slawänka-Flusse leben; die Sprache der nördlich von Ross lebenden Stämme ist ihnen völlig unverständlich.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., p. 75. ‘Die Bodegischen Indianer verstehen die nördlichen nicht, sowohl die Sprache als die Art der Aussprache ist verschieden. Die Entferten und die Steppen-Indianer sprechen eine Menge Dialecte oder Sprachen, deren Eigenthümlichkeit und Verwandtschaft noch nicht bekannt sind.’ Kostromitonow, in Id., p. 80; Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 421. ‘Kulanapo und Yukai, verwandt: d. h. in dem beschränkten Grade, dass viele Wörter zwischen ihnen übereinstimmen, viele andere, z. B. ein guter Theil der Zahlwörter, verschieden sind…. Choweshak und Batemdakaiee sehr genau und im vollkommnen Maasse unter einander und wiederum beide ganz genau mit Yukai, und auch Kulanapo verwandt…. Wichtig ist es aber zu sagen, dass die Sprache Tchokoyem mit dem Olamentke der Bodega Bai und mit der Mission S. Raphael nahe gleich ist.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 575. ‘The Kanimares speak a different dialect from the Tamalos. The Sonoma Indians also speak different from Tamalos. The Sonomos speak a similar dialect as the Suisuns. The San Rafael Indians speak the same as the Tamalos.’ Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, March 30th, 1860.

Of the Chocuyem I give the following Lord’s Prayer:

Api maco su lilecoe, ma nénas mi aués omai mácono mi taucuchs oyópa mi tauco chaquenit opú neyatto chaquenit opu liletto. Tu maco muye genum ji naya macono sucuji sulia mácono masócte, chague mat opu ma suli mayaco. Macoi yangia ume omutto, ulémi mácono omu incapo. Nette esa Jesus.[IV-17]Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 391.

In Round Valley, northern California, there is the before-mentioned Yuka language, which is connected with the Wapo, or Ashochemie, spoken near Calistoga, and in the mountains leading thence to the Geysers.[IV-18]Powers’ Pomo, MS.

On Yuba and Feather rivers are the Meidoos and Neeshenams of whose language Powers says that “the Meidoo shades away so gradually into the Neeshenam that it is extremely difficult to draw a line anywhere. But it must be drawn somewhere, because a vocabulary taken down on Feather River will lose three fourths of its words before it reaches the Cosumnes. Even a vocabulary taken on Bear River will lose half or more of its words in going to the Cosumnes, which denotes, as is the fact, that the Neeshenam language varies greatly within itself. Indeed, it is probably less homogeneous and more thronged with dialects than any other tongue in California. Let an Indian go even from Georgetown to American Flat, or from Bear River to Auburn, and, with the exception of the numerals he will not at first understand above one word in four, or five, or six. But, with this small stock in common, and the same laws of grammar to guide them, they pick up each others dialects with amazing rapidity. It is these wide variations which have caused some pioneers to believe that there is one tongue spoken on the plains around Sacramento, and another in the mountains; whereas they are as nearly identical as the mountain dialects are. So long as the numerals remain the same, I count it one language; and so long as this is the case, the Indians generally learn each others dialects; but when the numerals change utterly, they often find it easier to speak the English together than to acquire another tongue. As to the southern boundary of the Neeshenam there is no doubt, for at the Cosumnes the language changes abruptly and totally.”

Languages of the Sacramento Valley

Along the banks of the Sacramento, two distinct linguistic systems are said to prevail. But to what extent all the languages mentioned in that vicinity are related, or can be classified, it is difficult to say; for not only is there great confusion in names, but what is more essential, vocabularies of most of them are wanting. On the eastern bank of the Sacramento and extending along Feather River, the Cosumnes, and other tributaries of the Sacramento, the following languages are mentioned: Ochecamne, Serouskumne, Chupumne, Omochumne, Siecumne, Walagumne, Cosumne, Sololumne, Turealumne, Saywamine, Newichumne, Matchemne, Sagayayumne, Muthelemne, Sopotatumne, and Talatiu. In all these dialects the word for water is kik, but in the dialects spoken on the west bank it is mómi. On the western bank are mentioned the dialects of the Pujuni, Puzlumne, Secumne, Tsamak, Yasumne, Nemshaw, Kisky, Yalesumne, Huk, and others.[IV-19]Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., pp. 222, 630; Wilkes’ Nar., in Id., vol. v., p. 201. Undoubtedly all these Sacramento Valley dialects are more or less related, but of them we have no positive knowledge except that the Secumne and Tsamak are closely related, while the Puzlumne and Talatiu also show many words in common, but cannot be said to affiliate.[IV-20]’Puzhune, Sekamne, Tsamak und Talatui … Sekumne und Tsamak sind nahe verwandt, die übrigen zeigen gemeinsames und fremdes.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 571. ‘Hale’s vocubulary of the Talatiu belongs to the group for which the name of Moquelumne is proposed, a Moquelumne Hill and a Moquelumne River being found within the area over which the languages belonging to it are spoken. Again, the names of the tribes that speak them end largely in mne, Chupumne, etc. As far south as Tuolumne County the language belongs to this division, viz., 1, the Mumaltachi; 2, Mullateco; 3, Apaugasi; 4, Lapappu; 5, Siyante, or Typoxi band, speak this language.’ Latham’s Comp. Phil., vol. viii., p. 414. In the mountains south of the Yuba, and also on some parts of the Sacramento the Cushna language obtains. On the latter river Wilkes mentions the Kinkla, of which he says that in comparison with the language of the northern nations it may be called soft, “as much so as that of the Polynesians.” Repetitions of syllables appear to be frequent as wai-wai, and hau-hau-hau.[IV-21]Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 201. In Napa Valley six dialects were spoken, the Myacoma, Calayomane, Caymus, Napa, Uluka, and Suscol.[IV-22]Montgomery’s Indianology of Napa County, MS. In Solano County the Guiluco language was spoken, of which the following Lord’s Prayer may serve as a specimen:

Allá igamé mutryocusé mi zahuá om mi yahuatail cha usqui etra shou mur tzecali ziam pac onjinta mul zhaiíge nasoyate chelegua mul znatzoitze tzecali zicmatan zchiitiilaa chalehua mesqui pihuatzite yteima omahuá. Emqui Jesus.[IV-23]Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 391.

Near the straits of Karquines, and also in the San Joaquin and Tulare valleys, the Tulare tongue prevailed. In this language, if we may believe M. Duflot de Mofras, the letters b, d, f, g, and r do not exist, the r being changed into l, as maria, malia. Many guttural sounds like kh, tsh, lm, tp, tsp, th, etc., are found, yet softer than the gutturals of the north. Notwithstanding the above statement M. de Mofras gives as a specimen of the Tulare language the following Lord’s Prayer, in which the r frequently occurs:

Appa macquen erinigmo tasunimac emracat, jinnin eccey macquen iunisínmac macquen quitti éné soteyma erinigmo: sumimac macquen hamjamú jinnan guara ayei: sunun macquen quit ti enesunumac ayacma: aquectsem unisimtac nininti equetmini: juriná macquen equetmini em men.

Specimens of Southern Languages

Of the languages spoken at the mission of Santa Inez the following Lord’s Prayer is given by M. de Mofras; and this is very likely in the true Tulare language in place of the one above.

Dios caquicoco upalequen alapa, quiaenicho opte: paquininigug quique eccuet upalacs huatahuc itimisshup caneche alapa. Ulamuhu ilahulalisahue. Picsiyug equepe ginsucutaniyug uquiyagmagin, canechequique quisagin sucutanagun utiyagmayiyug peux hoyug quie utic lex ulechop santequiyug ilautechop. Amen Jesus.[IV-24]Arroyo, Gram. de la lengua Tulareña, MS., quoted in Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 388, see also pp. 392-3. ‘Malgré le grand nombre de dialectes des Missions de la Californie, les Franciscains espagnols s’étaient attachés à apprendre la langue générale de la grande vallée de los Tulares, dont presque toutes les tribus sont originaires, et ils ont rédigés le vocabulaire et une sorte de grammaire de cette langue nommée el Tulareño.’ Id., p. 387.

The Tulare language is probably the same which was known under the name of Kahweyah in central California and may have some connection with the Cahuillo in the southern part of the state.[IV-25]Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, May 25, 1860.

Languages in the interior, of which but little more than the name and the region where they were spoken is known, are, on the Tuolumne River the Hawhaw and another which has no particular name; on the Merced River the Coconoon with a dialect extending to King River and to Tulare Lake.[IV-26]Johnston, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 407. ‘Die Sprachen der Coconoons und die vom King’s River sind nahe verwandt.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 564. Mr Powers makes of the tribes inhabiting Kern and Tulare valleys the Yocut nation, yocut signifying an aggregation of people, while myee, or nono, means man. “It is a singular fact,” observes this writer, “that in several of the northern languages kiya denotes dog, while in the Yocut, kiya is coyote.”

From Mr Powers I have also the following vocabularies, which have never before been published.

California Vocabularies

	CAHROC.	MEIDOO.	PALEGAWONÀP.
Man	awans	midoo	anghanil
Woman	asicitáwa	catee	coyeem
Sun	coosooda	pocum	tahl
Earth	soosaney	caweh	serwahl
Dog	cheshee	seyu	poongool
Water	ahs	momeh	pahl
Stone	ass	ohm	tuhnt
Fire	alih	sum	quoat
Head	huchwa	onum	koönte
Mouth	apman	cumbo	tawkunte
Hand	teeik	ma mah
Big	nuckishnuck	haylin
Little	neenums	wedaka
To eat	ohámt	pin
To give	tanneëh	meëy
To work	ickeeàht	tawale

	MEEWOC.	YOCUT.	NEESHENAM.
Man	Meewa	nono	neeshenam or maidee
Woman	Osuh	mokella	cülleh
Sun	Watoo	ope	ophy
Earth	Toleh	hoocheh	cow
Dog	Chookoo	chehca	sooh
Water	Kikuh	ilic	moh
Stone	Sawa	sileh	oam
Fire	Wookeh	osit	sah
Head	Hanna	oochuh	tsoll
Mouth	Awoh	samah	sim
Hand	Tissuh	poonose	mah
Big	Oyaneh	koteh	nem
Little	Toonchickche	colich	hunum
To eat	Sowuh	hateh	pap
To give		wahneh	meh
To work		tawhaleh	towhàn

Information regarding the languages spoken where the city of San Francisco now stands, and throughout the adjacent country, is meagre, and of a very indefinite character. On the shores of San Francisco Bay, there are the languages spoken by the Matalans, Salses, and Quirotes, which are dialects of one mother language.[IV-27]’Dans la baie de San Francisco on distingue les tribus des Matalans, Salsen et Quirotes, dont les langues dérivent d’une souche commune.’ Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., pp. 321-2; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt ii., p. 454. This language has by some been called the Olhone, and although other dialects are mentioned as belonging to it, it is generally stated that but one general language was spoken by all of them.[IV-28]’The tribe of Indians which roamed over this great valley, from San Francisco to near San Juan Bautista Mission … were the Olhones. Their language slightly resembled that spoken by the Mutsuns, at the Mission of San Juan Bautista, although it was by no means the same.’ Hall’s San José, p. 40. ‘In the single Mission Santa Clara more than twenty languages are spoken.’ Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 98; Kotzebue’s Voyage, vol. iii., p. 51; Beechey’s Voyage, vol. ii., p. 78; Choris, Voy. Pitt., pt iii., pp. 5-6; Conder’s Mex. Guat., vol. ii., pp. 94-5. Southward, near Monterey, there are more positive data. Here we find as the principal languages, the two spoken by the Runsiens and Eslenes; besides which, the Ismuracan and Aspianaque are mentioned.[IV-29]’La misma diferencia que se advierte en los usos y costumbres de una y otra nacion hay en sus idiomas.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 172.

Dialects of the Runsien and Eslene

But although they are called distinct languages, Taylor affirms that the Eslenes, Sakhones, Chalones, Katlendarukas, Poytoquis, Mutsunes, Thamiens, and many others, spoke different dialects of the Runsien language, and that over a stretch of country one hundred and seventy miles in length, the natives were all able to converse with greater or less facility with each other, and that although “their dialects were infinitesimal and puzzling, their vocal communications were intelligible enough when brought together at the different missions.” La Pérouse’s Achastliens and Ecclemachs are probably nothing more than other names for some of the above-mentioned dialects.[IV-30]’Each tribe has a different dialect; and though their districts are small, the languages are sometimes so different that the neighbouring tribes cannot understand each other. I have before observed that in the Mission of San Carlos there are eleven different dialects.’ Beechey’s Voyage, vol. ii., p. 73. ‘La langue de ces habitans (Ecclemachs) diffère absolument de toutes celles de leurs voisins; elle a même plus de rapport avec nos langues Européennes qu’avec celles de l’Amérique…. L’idiome de cette nation est d’ailleurs plus riche que celui des autres peuples de la Californie.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., pp. 324-326.’La partie septentrionale de la Nouvelle-Californie est habitée par les deux nations de Rumsen et Escelen. Elles parlent des langues entièrement différentes.’ Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 321. ‘Beyde Darstellungen derselben sind, wie man aus der so bestimmten Erklärung beider Schriftsteller, dass diese zwey Völker die Bevölkerung jener Gegend ausmachen, schliessen muss, ohne Zweifel unter verschiedenen Abtheilungen Eines Volkes aufgefasst, unter dessen Zweigen die Dialekte, ungeregelt, wie sie sind, leicht grosse Abweichungen von einander zeigen werden.’ Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt. iii., p. 202; Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, Feb. 22, Apr. 20, 1860.

Not only do all these before-mentioned languages show a relationship one with another, but there are faint resemblances detected between them and the Olhone language of San Francisco Bay. Furthermore, between the latter and the language spoken at La Soledad Mission, as well as that of the Olamentkes of Russian River, which I have already classed with the Pomo family, there are faint traces of relationship.[IV-31]’Es erhellt aber aus den Zahlwörtern und anderen Wörtern, dass die Sprache von la Soledad, der Runsien nahe gleich und der Achastlier ähnlich ist.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 561; Turner, in Hist. Mag., vol. i., p. 206.

Runsien and Mutsun Dialects

	MUTSUN.	LA SOLEDAD.	RUNSIEN.	ACHASTLIEN.
One	hemethscha	himítsa	enjalá	moukala
Two	usthrgin	utshe	ultis	outis
Three	capjan	hapkha	kappei	capes
Four	uthrit	utjit	ultizim	outiti
Five	parnes	paruash	hali izú	is
Father	appá	nikápa	appan
Mother	anan	nikána	aán
Daughter	ca	niká	kaana
Nose	us	us
Ears	ocho	otsho
Mouth	jai	hai

A further confirmation of this relationship is found in the statement of the first missionary Fathers, who traveled overland from Monterey to San Francisco, and who, although at that time totally unacquainted with these languages, recognized resemblances in certain words.[IV-32]’En estos indios reparé que entendian mas que otros los términos de Monterey y entendí muchos términos de lo que hablaban…. El diciéndome meapam tu eres mi padre, que es la misma palabra que usan los de Monterey.’ Palou, Noticias, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iv., tom. vii., pp. 62-3, 59, 65, 67, 69. The dialect spoken at the Mission of Santa Clara has been preserved to us only in the shape of the Lord’s Prayer which follows:

Appa macréne mé saura saraahtiga elecpuhmen imragat, sacan macréne mensaraah assueiy nouman ourun macari pireca numa ban saraathtiga poluma macréne souhaii naltis anat macréne neéna, ia annanit macréne nieena, ia annanit macréne macrec équetr maccari noumabaú mare annan, nou maroté, jassemper macréne in eckoué tamouniri innam tattahné icatrarca oniet macréne equets naccaritkoun oun och á Jésus.[IV-33]Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 392.

Mutsun Grammar

Of the Mutsun dialect I give the following grammatical notes. Words of this language do not contain the letters b, d, k, f, v, x, and the rolling r.

Declension of the Word Appa, Father

Appa in Mutsun

	SINGULAR.	PLURAL.
Nom.	appa	appagma
Gen.	appa	appagma
Dat.	appahuas	appagmahuas
Acc.	appase	apagamase
Voc.	appa	appagma
Abl.	appatsu, or appatca, or appame	appagmatsu, or appamatca, or appagmane

Conjugation of the Verb Ará, To Give

Ará, to Give


PRESENT INDICATIVE.
I give,	can ará	We give,	macse ará
Thou givest,	men ará	You give,	macam ará
He gives,	nunissia ará	They give,	nupcan ará

PAST.
	I gave (a very short time ago),	can itzs arán
	I gave (a long while ago),	can cus arás
	I gave (very long ago),	can hocs ará
	I gave (from time immemorial),	can munna arás
	I gave (without mentioning time),	can arán
	I gave (who knows when),	can arás
	I gave (sometime ago),	can araicun
	I gave (already),	can aragte

FUTURE.
	I shall give (soon),	can et (or iete) ará
	I shall give (after many days),	can iti ará
	I shall give (after many years),	can múnna ará
	I shall have given (perhaps),	can piñ arán

IMPERATIVE.
	Give me,	arat, or aratit
	Give thyself,	araia
	Give him,	arai, or arati
	Give them,	arais

SUBJUNCTIVE.
	That I give,	cat ará
	If I gave,	imatcum can ará, or cochop tucne can ará

The language abounds in adverbs, of which I give the following.

Mutsun Adverbs

This day	neppe tengis	To-morrow	aruta
Now	naha	Since	yete
Immediately	iñaha	Always	imi
Never	ecue et	Before	aru
Never more	ecue imi	Much	tolon
Good	miste, utin	Very much	tompe
Bad	equitseste	Little	cutis
Gently	chequen	Very little	cuti
Certainly	amane	Yes	gehe
No	ecue	Truly	asaha, eres
To-day	naha	Look	giré

Adjectives are declined the same as substantives when they are declined alone; but they differ in their declension from substantives when they are declined in connection with them, because then they do not change their terminations, but remain the same in all the cases. The rules of syntax are intricate and very difficult.

Father Comelias speaks of a language at the Mission of Santa Cruz, with numerous dialects, in fact so many, that the language changed nearly every two leagues, and being at times so divergent, that it was with difficulty neighboring people could understand one another.[IV-34]Comelias, in Cal. Farmer, April 5, 1860. In the vicinity of the Mission San Antonio de Padua, there is a language which has been variously named, Tatché, Telamé, and Sextapay. It appears to be a distinct language, and Taylor affirms that the people speaking it could not understand those of La Soledad Mission, thirty miles north.[IV-35]Taylor, in Id., April 27, 1860. In this language the letters b, d, r, do not appear; na expresses the article the, and also this. There are many different ways of expressing the plural of nouns. Some add the syllable il, el, l, or li, others insert ti, or t, while others again add leg, aten, ten, or teno, as may be seen in the following examples.[IV-36]’Quod quanquam hoc idioma ineloquens videatur et inelegans, in rei veritate non est ita: est valde copiosum, oblongum, abundans et eloquens.’ Arroyo de la Cuesta, Alphabs Rivulus Obeundus, preface, also, Arroyo de la Cuesta, Mutsun Grammar. On the cover of the manuscript is the following important note. ‘Copia de la lengua Mutsun en estilo Catalan á causa la escribió un Catalan. La Castellana usa de la fuerza de la pronunciacion de letras de otro modo en su alfabeto.’ The Catalans pronounce ch hard, and j like the Germans.

Mission San Antonio de Padua Language

	SINGULAR.	PLURAL.
Counsellor	tayito	tayilito
Flame	me^ache^alíya	me^ache^aliliya
Work	tácâto	taquele^ato
My enemy	zitcho^fn	zitcho^fne^al
Brother	citol	citolanél
Grass	ca^*tz	ca^*tza^onél
Man	tama	tamaten
Mouse	e^azzqui^*lmog	e^azzqui^lmoco^ten
Oven	aloconíya	alocotiníya
Prison	que^aluezúgne	que^aluezúgtine
Fat	cu^*pinit	cupinitleg
Woman	lixii	litzzin
Bone	ejacô	ejaclíto

Tatche Grammar

Cases do not appear to exist, the relations of the nouns being expressed by particles. Adjectives do not vary to show gender or degree. Personal pronouns are usually copulative and included in the verb, whether subjective or objective. Of the use of the possessive pronoun the following examples will give the clearest idea: Brother, citolo; my brother, cítol; thy brother, e^atsmitol; brothers, citolanélo; my brothers, citolanél; thy brothers, e^atsmitolanel; mother, epjo; thy mother, petsmipeg; house, ch^viconou; my house, ch^vícono^v; thy house, zimch^vicono; blood, akata; my blood, ekata; thy blood, cimekata; father, ecco; my father, tili; thy father, cimic; our father, tatilli; work, tácâto; my work, tácât; thy work, cimtácât; our work, zatúcât; your work, zugtácât; mine, zeé; thine, e^atsme^amée; this, na; that, pe^a.

Verbs have also a plural form. Ca^*lom, to teach; ca^*ólilom, to teach much, or, to teach many.

Tatche

	SINGULAR.	PLURAL.
To desire	quia^olep	quia^olilep
To drink	cácheme	cáchetem
To run	quenole	quenoltec
To say	maláco	maloltaco
To walk	qui^*tipa^v	qui^*lipa _v

VERB AND PRONOUN.
I teach,	‘eca^o*lom	Give me,	me^aya^oc
He teaches me,	quepa^oalác	Give us,	maítiltac
Speak thou to me,	pssia^oc	He gives us,	pe^aya^oc
Speak you to me,	pssitác	He gives us,	paitiltac
To give,	peyaco, pe^aíco
	I love thee,	‘epe^apa^omaqueca
	Thou lovest thyself,	mimo e^atame^apa^omapque^*co

The following are prepositions: by, zo; in ne^ape^a; to zui, zuiyo, zo; from, ze^ape^a; on, zui; within, zine^apa^v. A few examples of adverbs are—here, zopa _v; there, ne^apé; to-day, taha; to-morrow, tixjáy; yesterday, notcieyo.

Lord’s Prayer

Za tili,Our father, mo thou quixco art ne^ape^ain limaatnil.heaven. An zucueteyem Hallowed na the etsmatz:thy name: antsiejtsitia come na the ejtmilina.thy kingdom. An citaha Be done natsmalog thy will zui on lac^*earth quicha as ne^ap^ae in lima.heaven. Maⁱtiltac Give us taha to-day zizalamaget our food zizucanatel ziczia.our daily. Za manimtiltac Forgive us na the zanayl,Debts, quicha as na the kac we apaninitílico forgive them na the zananaol. Zi our debt. quetza commanatatelnec Let not za us alimeta fall zo into na the ziuxnia.temptation. Za no Us quissili from jom zig evil zumtaylitee.defend. Amen.[IV-37]Sitjar, Vocabulario de la M. de San Antonio. The orthography employed by Father Sitjar is very curious; accents, stars, small letters above or below the line, and various other marks are constantly used; but no explanation of these have been found in the MS. I have therefore, as far as possible, presented the original style of writing. See also Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., pp. 392-3.

San Miguel and Santa Cruz Vocabulary

Another distinct language is found at and near the Mission of San Miguel, but of it nothing but a short vocabulary taken by Mr Hale is known. The language spoken at San Gabriel and at San Fernando Rey, called Kizh, and the Netela used at San Juan Capistrano, I shall not describe here, but include them with the Shoshone family, to which they are related. The Chemehuevi and Cahuillo I also place among the Shoshone dialects, while the Diegeño and Comeya will be included in the Yuma family. It therefore only remains for me to speak of the languages of the islands near the coast of California. Of these, the principal, or mother language, was spoken on the island of Santa Cruz. The different tribes inhabiting the various islands all spoke dialects of one language, which was somewhat guttural. I insert a short vocabulary of the Santa Cruz Island language with that of the Mission of San Miguel.

San Miguel and Santa Cruz Island

	SAN MIGUEL.	SANTA CRUZ ISLAND.
Man	loaí, or loguai	alamuün
Woman	tlené	hemutch
Father	tata	ceske
Mother	apai	osloe
Head	tobuko	pispulaoah
Hair	teasakho	toffooll
Ears	tentkhito	pasthoo
Eyes	trugento	tisplesoose
Mouth	treliko	pasaotch
One	tohi	ismala
Two	kogsu	ischum
Three	tlobahi	maseghe
Four	kesa	scumoo
Five	oldrato	sietisma
Six	paiate	sietischum
Seven	tepa	sietmasshugh
Eight	sratel	malawah
Nine	teditrup	spah
Ten	trupa	kascum[IV-38]Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., pp. 633-4; Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, May 4, 1860.

Footnotes

[IV-1] Roseborough’s Letter to the Author, MS.; The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS. ‘The diversity of language is so great in California, that at almost every 15 or 20 leagues, you find a distinct dialect.’ Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., p. 240. ‘Il n’est peut-être aucun pays où les différens idiomes soient aussi multipliés que dans la Californie septentrionale.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 323. ‘One might spend years with diligence in acquiring an Indian tongue, then journey a three-hours’ space, and find himself adrift again, so multitudinous are the languages and dialects of California.’ Powers’ North. Cal. Ind., in Overland Monthly, vol. viii., p. 328. ‘The diversity is such as to preclude almost entirely all verbal communication.’ Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. iii., p. 159. ‘Languages vary from tribe to tribe.’ Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 106. ‘In California, there appears to be spoken two or more distinct languages.’ McCulloh’s Researches in Amer., p. 37; Kotzebue’s Voyage, vol. iii., p. 48; Id., New Voy., vol. ii., p. 98; Taylor, in Bancroft’s Handbook Almanac, 1864, p. 29.

[IV-2] See vol. i., p. 325; Roseborough’s Letter to the Author, MS.; The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS.; Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. iii., p. 159

[IV-3] Powers’ Pomo, MS.

[IV-4] Roseborough’s Letter to the Author, MS.

[IV-5] ’The Lutuami, Shasti and Palaik are thrown by Gallatin into three separate classes. They are without doubt mutually unintelligible. Nevertheless they cannot be very widely separated.’ Latham’s Comp. Phil., vol. viii., p. 407. The T-ka, Id-do-a, Ho-te-day, We-o-how, or Shasta Indians, speak the same language. Steele, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1864, p. 120. The Modocs speak the same language as the Klamaths. Palmer, in Id., 1854, p. 262; Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 218; Berghaus, Geographisches Jahrbuch, tom. iii., p. 48; Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, June 8, 1860. ‘A branch of the latter (Shoshone) is the tribe of Tlamath Indians.’ Ruxton’s Adven. Mex., p. 244.

[IV-6] The Shastas and their Neighbors, MS.

[IV-7] Jackson’s Vocab. of the Wintoon Language, MS.; Powers’ Vocabularies, MS.

[IV-8] Powers’ Pomo, MS.

[IV-9] Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 422. ‘The junction of the rivers Klamath, or Trinity, gives us the locality of the Weitspek. Its dialects, the Weyot and Wishosk, extend far into Humboldt county, where they are probably the prevailing form of speech, being used on the Mad River, and the parts about Cape Mendocino. From the Weitspek they differ much more than they do from each other.’ Latham’s Comp. Phil., vol. viii., p. 40. ‘Weeyot und Wish-osk, unter einander verwandt.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 575.

[IV-10] Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., pp. 422-3.

[IV-11] Powers’ Pomo, MS.

[IV-12] Roseborouqh’s Letter to the Author, MS.; Powers’ Pomo, MS.

[IV-13] Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., pp. 421-2; Powers’ Pomo, MS.; Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, March 30, 1860.

[IV-14] Powers’ Notes on Cal. Languages, MS.

[IV-15] Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 428, et seq.; Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 342, et seq; Keppel’s Exped., vol. i., appendix, p. 14, et Seq.; Martin’s Tonga Isl., vol. ii.

[IV-16] ’Die Indianer in Bodega verstehen nur mit Mühe die Sprache derjenigen welche in den Ebenen am Slawänka-Flusse leben; die Sprache der nördlich von Ross lebenden Stämme ist ihnen völlig unverständlich.’ Baer, Stat. u. Ethno., p. 75. ‘Die Bodegischen Indianer verstehen die nördlichen nicht, sowohl die Sprache als die Art der Aussprache ist verschieden. Die Entferten und die Steppen-Indianer sprechen eine Menge Dialecte oder Sprachen, deren Eigenthümlichkeit und Verwandtschaft noch nicht bekannt sind.’ Kostromitonow, in Id., p. 80; Gibbs, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 421. ‘Kulanapo und Yukai, verwandt: d. h. in dem beschränkten Grade, dass viele Wörter zwischen ihnen übereinstimmen, viele andere, z. B. ein guter Theil der Zahlwörter, verschieden sind…. Choweshak und Batemdakaiee sehr genau und im vollkommnen Maasse unter einander und wiederum beide ganz genau mit Yukai, und auch Kulanapo verwandt…. Wichtig ist es aber zu sagen, dass die Sprache Tchokoyem mit dem Olamentke der Bodega Bai und mit der Mission S. Raphael nahe gleich ist.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 575. ‘The Kanimares speak a different dialect from the Tamalos. The Sonoma Indians also speak different from Tamalos. The Sonomos speak a similar dialect as the Suisuns. The San Rafael Indians speak the same as the Tamalos.’ Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, March 30th, 1860.

[IV-17] Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 391.

[IV-18] Powers’ Pomo, MS.

[IV-19] Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., pp. 222, 630; Wilkes’ Nar., in Id., vol. v., p. 201.

[IV-20] ’Puzhune, Sekamne, Tsamak und Talatui … Sekumne und Tsamak sind nahe verwandt, die übrigen zeigen gemeinsames und fremdes.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 571. ‘Hale’s vocubulary of the Talatiu belongs to the group for which the name of Moquelumne is proposed, a Moquelumne Hill and a Moquelumne River being found within the area over which the languages belonging to it are spoken. Again, the names of the tribes that speak them end largely in mne, Chupumne, etc. As far south as Tuolumne County the language belongs to this division, viz., 1, the Mumaltachi; 2, Mullateco; 3, Apaugasi; 4, Lapappu; 5, Siyante, or Typoxi band, speak this language.’ Latham’s Comp. Phil., vol. viii., p. 414.

[IV-21] Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., p. 201.

[IV-22] Montgomery’s Indianology of Napa County, MS.

[IV-23] Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 391.

[IV-24] Arroyo, Gram. de la lengua Tulareña, MS., quoted in Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 388, see also pp. 392-3. ‘Malgré le grand nombre de dialectes des Missions de la Californie, les Franciscains espagnols s’étaient attachés à apprendre la langue générale de la grande vallée de los Tulares, dont presque toutes les tribus sont originaires, et ils ont rédigés le vocabulaire et une sorte de grammaire de cette langue nommée el Tulareño.’ Id., p. 387.

[IV-25] Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, May 25, 1860.

[IV-26] Johnston, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 407. ‘Die Sprachen der Coconoons und die vom King’s River sind nahe verwandt.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 564.

[IV-27] ’Dans la baie de San Francisco on distingue les tribus des Matalans, Salsen et Quirotes, dont les langues dérivent d’une souche commune.’ Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., pp. 321-2; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt ii., p. 454.

[IV-28] ’The tribe of Indians which roamed over this great valley, from San Francisco to near San Juan Bautista Mission … were the Olhones. Their language slightly resembled that spoken by the Mutsuns, at the Mission of San Juan Bautista, although it was by no means the same.’ Hall’s San José, p. 40. ‘In the single Mission Santa Clara more than twenty languages are spoken.’ Kotzebue’s New Voy., vol. ii., p. 98; Kotzebue’s Voyage, vol. iii., p. 51; Beechey’s Voyage, vol. ii., p. 78; Choris, Voy. Pitt., pt iii., pp. 5-6; Conder’s Mex. Guat., vol. ii., pp. 94-5.

[IV-29] ’La misma diferencia que se advierte en los usos y costumbres de una y otra nacion hay en sus idiomas.’ Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 172.

[IV-30] ’Each tribe has a different dialect; and though their districts are small, the languages are sometimes so different that the neighbouring tribes cannot understand each other. I have before observed that in the Mission of San Carlos there are eleven different dialects.’ Beechey’s Voyage, vol. ii., p. 73. ‘La langue de ces habitans (Ecclemachs) diffère absolument de toutes celles de leurs voisins; elle a même plus de rapport avec nos langues Européennes qu’avec celles de l’Amérique…. L’idiome de cette nation est d’ailleurs plus riche que celui des autres peuples de la Californie.’ La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., pp. 324-326.’La partie septentrionale de la Nouvelle-Californie est habitée par les deux nations de Rumsen et Escelen. Elles parlent des langues entièrement différentes.’ Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 321. ‘Beyde Darstellungen derselben sind, wie man aus der so bestimmten Erklärung beider Schriftsteller, dass diese zwey Völker die Bevölkerung jener Gegend ausmachen, schliessen muss, ohne Zweifel unter verschiedenen Abtheilungen Eines Volkes aufgefasst, unter dessen Zweigen die Dialekte, ungeregelt, wie sie sind, leicht grosse Abweichungen von einander zeigen werden.’ Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt. iii., p. 202; Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, Feb. 22, Apr. 20, 1860.

[IV-31] ’Es erhellt aber aus den Zahlwörtern und anderen Wörtern, dass die Sprache von la Soledad, der Runsien nahe gleich und der Achastlier ähnlich ist.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 561; Turner, in Hist. Mag., vol. i., p. 206.

[IV-32] ’En estos indios reparé que entendian mas que otros los términos de Monterey y entendí muchos términos de lo que hablaban…. El diciéndome meapam tu eres mi padre, que es la misma palabra que usan los de Monterey.’ Palou, Noticias, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iv., tom. vii., pp. 62-3, 59, 65, 67, 69.

[IV-33] Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 392.

[IV-34] Comelias, in Cal. Farmer, April 5, 1860.

[IV-35] Taylor, in Id., April 27, 1860.

[IV-36] ’Quod quanquam hoc idioma ineloquens videatur et inelegans, in rei veritate non est ita: est valde copiosum, oblongum, abundans et eloquens.’ Arroyo de la Cuesta, Alphabs Rivulus Obeundus, preface, also, Arroyo de la Cuesta, Mutsun Grammar. On the cover of the manuscript is the following important note. ‘Copia de la lengua Mutsun en estilo Catalan á causa la escribió un Catalan. La Castellana usa de la fuerza de la pronunciacion de letras de otro modo en su alfabeto.’ The Catalans pronounce ch hard, and j like the Germans.

[IV-37] Sitjar, Vocabulario de la M. de San Antonio. The orthography employed by Father Sitjar is very curious; accents, stars, small letters above or below the line, and various other marks are constantly used; but no explanation of these have been found in the MS. I have therefore, as far as possible, presented the original style of writing. See also Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., pp. 392-3.

[IV-38] Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., pp. 633-4; Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, May 4, 1860.

Chapter V • Shoshone Languages • 6,900 Words

Aztec-Sonora Connections with the Shoshone Family—The Utah, Comanche, Moqui, Kizh, Netela, Kechi, Cahuillo, and Chemehuevi—Eastern and Western Shoshone, or Wihinasht—The Bannack and Digger, or Shoshokee—The Utah and its Dialects—The Goshute, Washoe, Paiulee, Piute, Sampitche, and Mono—Popular Belief as to the Aztec Element in the North—Grimm’s Law—Shoshone, Comanche, and Moqui Comparative Table—Netela Stanza—Kizh Grammar—The Lord’s Prayer in two Dialects of the Kizh—Chemehuevi and Cahuillo Grammar—Comparative Vocabulary.

In this chapter I include all the languages of the Shoshone family, the Wihinasht or western Shoshone of Idaho and Oregon, the Utah with its many dialects, the Comanche or Yetan of Texas and New Mexico, the Moqui of Arizona, the Kizh, Netela, and Kechi of the San Fernando Mission, and their dialects, and the Cahuillo and Chemehuevi of south-eastern California. The six last mentioned do not properly belong to the Shoshone family, but on account of certain faint traces of Aztec, found alike in them and in all Shoshone idioms, I cannot do better than to speak of them in this connection. As regards this Aztec element, I do not mean to say that these languages are related to the Aztec language, in the same sense that other languages are spoken of as being related to each other, for this might lead those who are searching for the former habitation or fatherland of the Aztecs, to suppose that it has been found. This element consists simply in a number of words, identical or reasonably approximate to the like Aztec words, and in the similarity, perhaps, of a few grammatical rules. How this Aztec word-material crept into the languages of the Shoshones, whether by intercommunication, or Aztec colonization, we do not know. Nor do I wish to be understood as attempting to sustain the popular theory of an Aztec migration from the north; on the contrary, the evidence of language is all on the other side. Whether or not the Great Basin, or any part of the Northwest, was once occupied by the ancient Mexicans, it is certain that the Aztec language, as a base, is found nowhere north of central Mexico, so that these incidental or accidental word-analogies if they prove anything, indicate only a scattering from some primeval centre, other than the place where they are found, and tend to show that the language whose words are thus thinly sprinkled over so broad an area, could not have been the aboriginal stock language of the country.

Shoshone and Utah Dialects

The Shoshone and the Utah are the principal languages of the great interior basin; and these may be regarded as sisters of a common mother language, the Shoshone preponderating. Each has many dialects. The Shoshone language may be divided into eastern, or Shoshone proper, and western Shoshone, or Wihinasht. Of the former the Bannack, and the Digger, or Shoshokee, are the chief variations. The Utah dialects, more numerous, are the Goshute, Washoe, Paiulee, Piute, Sampitche, Mono, and a few others, which latter vary so little from some one of the others, that it is unnecessary to trace them as separate dialects. The Comanche dialects I shall not attempt to classify.[V-1]’The Shoshóni and Pánasht (Bonnaks) of the Columbia, the Yutes and Sampitches … the Commanches of Texas, and some other tribes along the northern frontier of Mexico, are said to speak dialects of a common language.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., pp. 218-9. ‘The great Shoshonee, or Snake, family: which comprehends the Shoshones proper … the Utahs … Pah-Utahs … the Kizh … the Netela … the Kechi … the Comanches.’ Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 76. ‘Shoshónies ou Serpents et de Soshocos ou Déterreurs de racines … parlent la même langue.’ De Smet, Voy., p. 126. ‘The Shoshone language is spoken mostly by all the bands of Indians in southeastern Nevada.’ Parker, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1866, p. 114. ‘Their language (Shoshones) is very different from that of either the Bannocks, or Pi-Utes.’ Campbell, in Id., p. 120. Goshautes speak the same language as Shoshones. Forney, in Id., 1859, p. 363. ‘The language is spoken by bands in the gold mine region of the Sacramento.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., p. 198. ‘Pai-uches speak the same language as the Yutas.’ Farnham’s Life in Cal., pp. 371, 375. ‘Pi-Edes, allied in language to the Utahs.’ Cooley, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1865, p. 18. Goships, or Gosha Utes ‘talk very nearly the Shoshonee language.’ Irish, in Id., p. 144. Shoshones and Comanches ‘both speak the same language.’ Sampiches. ‘Their language is said to be allied to that of the Snakes.’ Youtas. ‘Their language is by some thought to be peculiar.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 501. ‘Pueblan todas las partes de esta sierra por el sueste, sur sudoeste y oeste, gran número de gentes de la misma nacion, idioma etc.,’ which they call Timpanogotzis. Dominguez and Escalante, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série ii., tom. i., p. 467. ‘The language spoken by the Comanches is of great antiquity, and differs but little from that of the Incas of Peru.’ Maillard’s Hist. Tex., p. 249; Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., pp. 349, 351. Yam-pah. ‘This is what the Snakes call the Comanches, of which they are either the parents or descendants, for the two languages are nearly the same, and they readily understand each other, and say that they were once one people.’ ‘The Snake language is talked and understood by all the tribes from the Rocky mountains to California, and from the Colorado to the Columbia, and by a few in many tribes outside of these limits.’ Stuart’s Montana, pp. 58, 82. ‘The different bands of the Comanches and Shoshonies or Snakes, constitute another extensive stock, speaking one language.’ Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. ii., p. 251. ‘The vernacular language of the Yutas is said to be distantly allied to that of the Navajoes, but it has appeared to me much more guttural, having a deep sepulchral sound resembling ventriloquism.’ Id., vol. i., p. 300. ‘The Utahs, who speak the same language as the Kyaways.’ Conder’s Mex. Guat., vol. ii., p. 74; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 197. The Goshutes are of different language from the Shoshones. Douglas, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, p. 96. Diggers, ‘differ from the other Snakes somewhat in language.’ Wyeth, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., p. 206; Berghaus, in Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 371. The Kusi-Utahs, ‘in speaking they clipped their words … we recognized the sounds of the language of the Shoshonès.’ Remy and Brenchley’s Journey, vol. ii., p. 412; Thümmel, Mexiko, p. 359; Catlin’s N. Amer. Ind., vol. ii., p. 113. ‘Their native language (Comanches), in sound differs from the language of any other nation, and no one can easily learn to speak it. They have also a language of signs, by which they converse among themselves.’ French’s Hist. La., (N. Y. 1869), p. 156. ‘The primitive terms of the Comanches are short, and several are combined for the expression of complex ideas. The language is very barren of verbs, the functions of which are frequently performed by the aid of gestures and grimaces.’ Kennedy’s Texas, vol. i., p. 348. No grammar has ever been written of any of these languages. In all of them words are generally accented on the first syllable, except when a possessive pronoun is prefixed. Words of more than four syllables, generally have a secondary accent on the fifth, as in té-ith-tis-chi-hó-no, valley.[V-2]Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 77. A few words in these languages are found almost identical with like words of the Tinneh family, which have probably found their way into them by intercommunication. Of these the following are the principal ones, so far as designated by existing vocabularies:

Shoshone and Tinneh Similarities

Fire: Comanche, ku-ona; Shoshone, kuna; Chepewyan, counn, kon, kone; Utah, coon. Bow: Comanche, eth; Shoshone, atschö; Wihinasht, ati; Chepewyan, atheike. Cold: Comanche, etscho; Shoshone, ötschoin; Wihinasht, izíts; Chepewyan, edzah. Eye: Comanche, nachich; Chepewyan, nackhay.[V-3]Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., pp. 402-3.

In the Wihinasht, words occur sometimes in which an unusual number of vowels are combined—paöaíu, great; long words are also not infrequent, like pimatiyimwaiákin, salt.[V-4]Id., p. 645, et seq. A short comparative vocabulary to show the connection between these languages, is given further on.

Aztec Traces North of Mexico

Let us now consider the often discussed but ill understood question of the Aztec language in the north. Torquemada and Vetancvrt narrate the expedition of Juan de Oñate, who invaded New Mexico during the last years of the sixteenth century. Father Roque de Figueredo, who accompanied the expedition, says that while searching for a lost mule, at the Rio del Tizon, the Mexican muleteers met certain natives who addressed them in their own language, and who, on being asked whence they came, answered that they came from the north, where that language was spoken. Clavigero, who repeats the above, also asserts, that during the expedition made by the Spaniards, in 1606, to New Mexico, when north of the Rio del Tizon, they saw some large houses, and near them certain natives who spoke the Mexican language. Then we have the statement of Father Gerónimo de Zárate, that while searching for the Laguna de Copala, he was informed, among other things, that the country in its vicinity was densely peopled by men who spoke a language similar to that of his Aztec servants. Zárate was at this time at the Rio del Tizon, and the natives, who are close observers in such matters, assured the Spaniards that they detected in the speech of the servant certain words common to both his own and the language of the people of the Laguna de Copala. And again, in the region toward the east, Acosta says that “of late they have discovered a new land, which they call New Mexico, where they say is much people that speake the Mexican tongue.”

Vater, in his Mithridates, intimates that the Mexican language spread far northward, through the roamings of wild tribes, particularly the Chichimecs; but when we remember that the term Chichimec was applied by the early Spaniards to all the immense unknown nomadic hordes north and west, this mention carries with it but little weight. Mr Anderson, who accompanied Captain Cook to the north-west coast, in 1778, fancied he detected a resemblance between the Aztec and the language of the Nootkas. “From the few Mexican words,” he says, “I have been able to procure, there is the most obvious agreement, in the very frequent terminations of the vowels in l, tl, or z, throughout the language.” And remarks the editor, “may we not, in confirmation of Mr. Anderson’s remark, observe, that Opulszthl, the Nootka name of the Sun; and Vitziputzli, the name of the Mexican Divinity, have no very distant affinity in sound.” Now the absurdity of all idle speculations is apparent when we encounter such far-fetched comparisons as this. In the first place, there is no affinity in the sounds of the two words, and in the next place there is no such Aztec god—Huitzilopochtli probably being the god meant. Neither has this last word any resemblance to the sun; it is composed of the two words, huitzilin, an abbreviation of the Mexican huitzitzilin, which signifies ‘humming-bird,’ and opochtli, that is to say ‘left.’ Vater also draws analogies between the Aztec and the Nootka, and Ugalenze, which on close comparison do not hold good.

Regarding the affinity of the Aztec language with those of the Pueblos, Moquis, Apaches, Yumas, and others of New Mexico and Arizona, Ruxton ventures the assertion, “all these speak dialects of the same language…. They likewise all understand each other’s tongue. What relation this language bears to the Mexican is unknown; but my impression is, that it will be found to assimilate greatly, if not to be identical,”—in all of which assertions Mr Ruxton is greatly in error.

All this, as evidence, does not amount to much; it only indicates the origin of a popular belief which placed a Mexican language in various parts of the north, while at the same time it shows upon how slender a thread hangs this belief, and how the vaguest traditionary rumors come, by repetition, to be accredited as fixed facts.

Buschmann asks himself the question whether the Aztec words, in any considerable number, are not found in any other languages of the great Mexican empire—in the Zapotec, Miztec, Tarasco, Otomí, or Huastec—and the answer is no; he has discovered a few accidental word-similarities, such as may be found between the Aztec and other American languages, or between any two languages of the world, but nothing which, by any possibility, could denote relationship.

From another class of evidence we approach a little nearer the truth. Andres Perez de Ribas, missionary to Sinaloa writing about 1640, says, that while studying the language of his people, he noticed many Mexican words particularly radicals, and also words which appeared to have been originally Mexican, but which had been so altered that only one or two syllables in them could be recognized as Aztec.

Father Ortega, in 1732, wrote a vocabulary of the Cora language, in which he says, the people had incorporated in their language many words of the Mexican and some few of the Spanish languages, and this at a period so early that at the time of his writing they were regarded as belonging to the original language.

Hervas, whose work appeared in 1787, says that the Tarahumara language is full of Mexican words. Vater, writing early in the nineteenth century, affirms that the Cora is remarkable for its relation to the Mexican, and that the Tarahumara, which is a more polished language than its neighbors, contains some words similar to the Aztec. In his Mithridates, Vater notices a relationship between the Cora and the Aztec, furthermore asserting that the conjugations of the two are so alike as plainly to prove the connection.

Wilhelm von Humboldt left us a short manuscript grammar of the Cora and Tarahumara, in which he remarks that for languages which are related, the Cora and the Mexican have great differences in their sound-systems, and although these two languages certainly appear to be related, yet he is unwilling to assert that either is derived from the other. “There are more ways than one,” says the great philologist Wilhelm von Humboldt, “by which languages are connected. The impression left upon me by the Cora, is that it is a mixture of two different languages: one the Mexican, and the other some older and richer language, but rougher. In the grammar of the Cora there are found very many forms which strikingly call to mind the Mexican, yet at the same time there are many forms wholly different, made by rules directly opposite, among which are the pronouns.” He further remarks two other important differences between the Cora and the Mexican which are the absence of the reduplication of syllables and of the reverential forms.

Such was the attitude of the subject when Mr Buschmann took it up. From the prevailing impression of an Aztec origin in the north, but more particularly from certain remarks of Alexander von Humboldt concerning the probable passing of the ancient Mexicans through the regions of the north, he set himself to work to find this line of migration, and the exact relations of their language in various parts. Commencing at the Valley of Mexico he made a careful analysis of every western language north of that place of which he could obtain any material. The result of Mr Buschmann’s researches was the discovery of Aztec traces in certain parts, but nowhere did he find the Aztec language as a base.

Aztec Traces in Northern Mexico

More particularly were these Aztec words and word-analogies perceptible in four certain languages of north-western Mexico; in the Cora, spoken in the Nayarit district of Jalisco, commencing about fifteen leagues from the coast at the mouth of the Rio Tololotlan, and extending between the parallels 21°30′ and 20° back irregularly into the interior about twenty leagues; in the Tepehuana of northern Sinaloa, northern Durango, and southern Chihuahua, or as laid down on the map of Orozco y Berra, commencing near the twenty-third parallel about twenty leagues from the eastern shore of the Gulf of California, and extending over a horse-shoe shaped territory to about the twenty-seventh parallel; in the Tarahumara spoken immediately north of the Tepehuana in the states of Chihuahua and Sonora, in the centre of the Sierra Madre; and lastly in the Cahita spoken by the people inhabiting the eastern shore of the Gulf of California, between latitude 26° and 28° north, and extending back from the coast irregularly about forty leagues, being almost directly west of the Tarahumara, though not exactly contiguous. The name Cahita is applied by the missionaries only to the language, and not to the people speaking it. In the license prefixed to the Manual para administrar à los Indios del idioma Cahita los santos sacramentos compuesto por un Sacerdote de la Compañia de Jesus, printed in Mexico in 1740, it is called the common language of the missions of the province of Sinaloa, spoken by the Yaquis and the Mayos, the latter extending far into southern Sonora. In a vocabulary of the Cahita given by Ternaux-Compans, in the Nouvelles Annales, there are likewise found many Aztec words. Neither of these languages are related to the others, yet in all of them is a sprinkling of Aztec word-material. The Aztec substantive ending tl and tli, in the Cora are found changed in ti, te, and t; in the Tepehuana into de, re, and sci; in the Tarahumara into ki, ke, ca, and la; and in the Cahita, into ri. In all four of the languages substantive endings are dropped, first, in composition when the substantive is united with the possessive pronoun; secondly, before an affix; thirdly, in the Cora alone, before the ending of the plural; and before affixes in the formation of words. They are not dropped in verbs derived from substantives; and when two substantives are combined to form a word the Aztec terminal is dropped in the first, and also in the combination of a substantive and verb.

In the Cora, the ending tyahta has the same meaning as the Aztec local ending tla, or tlan, which signifies the locality of a thing; as, acotn, a fir-tree; (Aztec, ocotl) ocotyahta, a fir-forest; (Aztec, ocotlan). Another striking similarity between these four languages and the Aztec consists in the use of a postfix in the formation of substantives of locality and names of places. Then come the numerals, in which are found similarities in all their formations. The Aztec verb ca, to be, and even its irregular branch, catqui, is found disseminated throughout all these languages. In the Tarahumara dictionary of Steffel, and in the Cora dictionary of Ortega, Buschmann found the Aztec element even stronger than he had supposed, and he wondered how Gallatin, who had Tellechea’s grammar, could have allowed these similarities to escape his observations.

Aztec Material in the Aztec-Sonora Family

Of these four languages Buschmann makes what he calls his Sonora family; which term is somewhat a misnomer as applied to languages not related, and spoken more without than within the province of Sonora. Their only bond of union is this Aztec element, which may have found its way into them at different times and under different circumstances. The most peculiar feature of it all, is the departure which is made by these Aztec-Sonora languages, as from an original centre, and their several appearance, each stamped alike with Aztec marks while at the same time sustaining its own individuality, in different parts of the great northern regions. It is as though a handful of Aztec words had been thrown, at intervals, into the languages of each of these four peoples, and, after partial amalgamations of these foreign words with those of the aboriginal tongues, by some means the words so modified had found their way in greater or less quantities into the languages of other and remote tribes. It is at such times, when we obtain a glance from a distance at their shadowy history, that there arise in the mind visions of their illimitable unwritten past, and of the mighty turmoils and revolutions which must forever remain as they are, shrouded in the deepest mystery.

In these four Aztec-Sonora languages there are nearly two hundred Aztec words, and the words derived from them by the respective native idioms into which they were projected, swell the list to four times that number; and these, with other pure Aztec words in every stage of mutilation and transformation are found re-scattered throughout the before-mentioned Pueblo, Shoshone, and other languages of the north. But again, let me say, nowhere does the Aztec, or any of its affiliations appear as a base north of central Mexico.[V-5]’Que en casi todas ellas (que son muchas y varias) se hallan vocablos, principalmente los que llaman radicales, que o son de la lengua Mexicana, o se deriuan della, y retienen muchas de sus silabas, de que pudiera hazer aqui vn muy largo catalago. De todo lo qual se infieren dos cosas. La primera que casi todas estas Naciones comunicaron en puestas y lenguas con la Mexicana: y aunque los Artes y Gramaticas dellas son diferentes; pero en muchos de sus preceptos concuerdan.’ Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 20. ‘Pintaron esta laguna en tierra y muy poblada de gentes, y oyendo hablar á un indio, criado de un soldado, en el idioma mexicano, preguntaron si era de Copala, porque así hablaban los de alla … que distaba de allí diez jornadas pobladas.’ Zarate, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 83. ‘El Padre Fr. Roque d Figueredo haze del viage que hizo con D. Iuan de Oñate 500 leguas al Norte hallaremos que dice, que aviendoseles perdido vnas bestias, buscandolas el rio de Tizon arriba encontraron los mosos vn Indio que les hablò en lengua mexicana que preguntado de donde era, dixo ser del Reyno adentro … que està en las Provincias del Norte donde se habla en esta lengua Mexicana cuyo es vocablo.’ Vetancurt,Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 11. ‘In un viaggio, che fecero gli Spagnuoli l’anno 1606. dal Nuovo Messico fino al fiume, che eglino appellarono del Tizon, seicento miglia da quella Provincia verso Maestro, vi trovarono alcuni grandi edificj, e s’abbatterono in alcuni Indiani, che parlavano la lingua messicana.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iv., p. 29. Tarahumara ‘la cui lingua abbonda di parole Messicane.’ Hervás, Saggio Practico delle Lingue, p. 71. ‘Die Sprache (Cora) ist auch wegen ihres Verhältnisses zur Mexicanischen merkwürdig.’ ‘Die Sprache (Tarahumara) welche eine gewisse Ausbildung zeigt, hat manche dem Mexicanischen ähnliche Wörter,’ Vater, Litteratur der Grammatiken, Lexica und Wörter-Sammlungen aller Sprachen der Erde, pp. 52, 231; Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., p. 336; Ruxton’s Adven. Mex., p. 194.

Taking into consideration that some Aztec and Shoshone words are almost identical, and that the endings of others are almost exactly alike, it is not surprising if the acute ear of the natives detected phonetic resemblances. The connection between these languages may not be in one respect as positive as that between the languages which compose the great Aryan family on the Asiatic and European continents, but, on the other hand, it presents a somewhat analogous system, by means of which it becomes possible to establish a connection. I allude to Mr Grimm’s discovery of what has been termed ‘Lautverschiebung,’ or ‘Lautveränderung,’ anglicé ‘Sound-shunting.'[V-6]Max Müller simply names it ‘Grimm’s Law.’ Science of Language, series ii., p. 213, et seq.

This phenomenon consists of the changing, or shunting, of certain vowels or consonants in the words of one language, into certain other vowels and consonants in the same words of another language; and this not accidentally, but in accordance with fixed rules. Sound-shunting, originally discovered by Mr Grimm in the Aryan tongues, has also been found by Mr Buschmann in the languages of his Sonora family, where it is more particularly prominent in the word-endings. In a subsequent place I shall have occasion to refer again to this point, and particularly when speaking of the North Mexican languages, the Tarahumara, Tepehuana, Cora, and Cahita, where it can be clearly shown by comparison with the Aztec, that such shunting, or changing, has taken place. In the languages at present under consideration, the Shoshone, Utah, and Comanche, we have this shunting system illustrated in the substantives and adjective endings p, pa, pe, pi, be, wa, ph, pee, rp, and rpe; and more particularly in the Utah and Shoshone ts, tse, tsi, all of which may be referred to the Aztec endings tl, tli, and others. In the last-mentioned case the endings have been preserved in a purer form, while in the former the shunting or changing law is observed. As illustrating the connection between the languages under consideration and those before mentioned of Sonora and through them with the Aztec, I append on the next page a short vocabulary in which the similarities can be easily observed.[V-7]’Indem ich die Urtheile wegen der comanchischen und schoschonischen Verwandtschaft bestätige, erkläre ich die Yutah-Sprache für ein Glied des sonorischen Sprachstammes.’ ‘Noch ehe ich zur Wortvergleichung übergehe, kann ich die sonorische Natur der Sprache nach den beiden Elementen der aztekischen und sonorischen Gemeinschaft, und sogar ihre besondere Stellung zwischen der comanche-schoschonischen Ligue, durch blosse zwei, in ihr sich hervorthuende Substantiv-Endungen (ts und p) darlegen.’ ‘Die zwiefache Schoschonen Sprache und das Volk der Schoschonen sind das äusserste Glied meiner Entdeckungen: des grossen Bundes, durch ein mächtiges eignes Element zusammengehaltener Sprachen, von einem kleinen Erbtheil aztekischen Wortstoffes durchdrungen; welches ich, von Guadalaxara aus nordwärts suchend nach den Spuren des Azteken-Idioms und seines Volkes, angetroffen habe; sie bilden den Schlusstein meines sonorischen Baues.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., pp. 349, 351, 648, 391, 652, et seq.; Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 291-2.

The Moqui Language

The Moqui, as before observed, does not properly belong to the Shoshone family, but shows a connection with the Aztec. It is strange that two permanently located peoples, the Moquis and the Pueblos, both living in well-built towns not far apart, and both showing signs of a budding civilization, should speak languages totally different from each other; that one of these languages should show a connection with the Aztec and the other not; that neither is related to the tongue of the Shoshones, who nearly surround them; and, furthermore, that in six of the seven Moqui towns only, the Moqui language is spoken, while in the seventh, Harno, the Tegua, a language of one of the New Mexican Pueblos is spoken. The people of Harno can converse with the Moquis of the six other towns, but among themselves they never make use of the Moqui, always speaking the Tegua.[V-8]’They all speak the same language except Harno, the most northern town of the three, which has a language and some custom peculiar to itself.’ Marcy’s Army Life, p. 111. ‘In six of the seven Moqui pueblos, the same language is said to be spoken…. Those of San Juan … and one Moqui pueblo all speak the same language … Tay-waugh.’ Lane, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 689; Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 87. ‘The Moquis … do not all speak the same language. At Oraybe some of the Indians actually professed to be unable to understand what was said by the Mooshahneh chief, and the latter told me that the language of the two towns was different. At Tegua they say that a third distinct tongue is spoken…. The people … have abandoned the habit of visiting each other till the languages, which, with all Indian tribes, are subject to great mutations, have gradually become dissimilar.’ Ives’ Colorado Riv., p. 127. ‘Wie ich erfuhr, sollen die Moquis nicht alle eine und dieselbe Sprache haben, und die Bewohner einiger Städte nicht nur fremde Dialekte, sondern sogar fremde Sprachen reden.’ Möllhausen, Reisen, tom. ii., p. 239. Davis, referring to a MS. by Cruzate, a former Governor of New Mexico, maintains that the Moqui speak the Queres language, but at the same time he says ‘it is maintained by some that … four of the Moqui villages speak a dialect very nearly the same as that of the Navajos, while a fifth speaks that of San Juan, which is Tegua…. The distance from Picoris to the Moqui villages is about four hundred miles … yet these widely separated pueblos speak … the same language.’ El Gringo, pp. 116-7, 155. Comparisons of the vocabularies in Simpson, Davis, and Meline prove the Moqui to be a distinct language. Ward, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1864, p. 191.

Moqui Language

	SHOSHONE.	WIHINASHT.	UTAH.	COMANCHE.	MOQUI.
Foot	namps	kuki	namp	nahap	herkuck
Eye	pui, umboi	pui	puttyshoe	puile	pose
Water	pa	pa	pah	pa
Arm	puiró	putá	pooir	pur(e)	mahat
Dog	schari		sahreets	zari	poku
Tongue	aku	ego	ahoh	ehk	linga
Wife	wepee
Winter	tumu	tomó		tohane
Egg	nupáhw or nanki	anohó		uno io
Ear	nongkawa or masoaki	inaka	nink	nahkarke	nookawuck
Hand	mashitu	imai	masseer	mashpa	mocktay
Teeth	tangwa	tama	tong	tahnee	tahmah
One	chermti or shímutsi	singwáiu		semmus
Ten	paimanusch	síngwaloyu		matoëcut
Lip	timpa	tupa	timp	tupe
Sun	taba	tava	tap	tabih	tahwah
House	uinkán	noöí		kanuke
Stone	timpi	tipí		terp
Moon	mungá	muschhá	mahtots	mushe	mooyah
Head	pampi	pompi	tuts	páaph	quatah
Nose	mui	moöi	mahvetah	moopee	yakuck
God					tockill

	AZTEC.	TARAHUMARA.	TEPEHUANA.	CAHITA.	CORA.
Foot
Eye	yxtelolotli	pusiki	buy	pusi
Water	atl	bagui, pauguiki		baa
Arm
Dog	chichi
Tongue	nenetl
Wife	tenamic	upi		hubi
Winter			gu tomojo
Egg	nitla, tlemina		nono
Ear	nacaztli	nachcala	naxa	naca	naxaihti
Hand	maitl			mama	moamati
Teeth	tlantli	tamela	tatamo	tami	tameti
One	ce, cen, cem		senn	semi	ce
Ten	matlactli
Lip	tentli	chumi	tuní	teni	tenniti
Sun				taa
House	calli			cari
Stone	tetl
Moon	metztli	mecha	massade	mecha
Head	quaitl
Nose	yacatl	jachcala	daca	ieca
God	teotl

No grammar has been written of the Moqui language, and a few vocabularies are all we possess of it. Gov. Lane, speaking of the Pueblo languages collectively, writes: “All these languages are extremely guttural, and, to my ear, seemed so much alike, that I imagine they have sprung from the same parent stock.”[V-9]Lane, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 689.

Moqui Affiliations

Some claim a relationship between the Moquis and the Apaches and others, but no such connection has ever been established.[V-10]’The language of the Môquis, or the Môquinos, is said to differ but little from that of the Navajos.’ Hughes’ Doniphan’s Ex., p. 197. Speaking of all the Pueblo languages, including the Moqui: ‘All these speak dialects of the same language, more or less approximating to the Apache, and of all of which the idiomatic structure is the same. They likewise all understand each other’s tongue. What relation this language bears to the Mexican is unknown, but my impression is that it will be found to assimilate greatly, if not to be identical.’ Ruxton’s Adven. Mex., p. 194; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., p. 269. The only positive statement in this regard is made by Buschmann, who, by actual comparison of vocabularies, has determined its status.[V-11]’No analogy has yet been traced between the language of the old Mexicans and any tribe at the north in the district from which they are supposed to have come.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 283. ‘Reste der Mexikanischen Sprache fanden dagegen in den Sprachen dieser Völker die im Mexikanischen sehr geübten Missionäre nicht, sondern die Sprache von Moqui, und die der Yabipais, welche lange Bärte tragen, wesentlich unterschieden von dem Mexikanischen.’ Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 182. ‘Cependant la langue que parlent les Indiens du Moqui, les Yabipais, qui portent de longue barbes, et ceux qui habitent les plaines voisines du Rio Colorado, diffère essentiellement de la langue mexicaine.’ Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 305. ‘Doch reden die Moquis…. Sprachen ganz verschieden vom Aztekischen.’ Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt ii., p. 539. ‘Die Moqui-Sprache ist doch der mexikanischen befreundet! sie ist—dies ist meine Erfindung—ein Zweig des Idioms, welches dem Suchenden als ein Phantom statt des leibhaften nahuatl als sein Schattenbild, in dem alten Norden überall entgegentritt: ein Gebilde der sonorischen Zunge, bei welchem Namen ein kleines aztekisches Erbtheil sich von selbst versteht…. Ich erkläre die Moqui-Sprache für ein Glied meines Sonorischen Sprachstammes. Schon die auffallend vielen, manchmal in vorzüglich reiner Form erscheinenden, aztekischen Wörter bezeichnen die Sprache als eine sonorische; es kommt das zweite Kennzeichen hinzu: der Besitz gewisser ächt sonorischer Wörter. In einem grossen Theile erscheint die Sprache aber überaus fremdartig: um so mehr als sie auch von den 5 Pueblo-Sprachen, wie schon Simpson bemerkt hat, gänzlich verschieden ist…. Die Spuren der Subst. Endung pe, be u.ä. weisen der Moqui-Sprache ihren Platz unter der comanche-schoschonischen Familie des Sonora Idioms an. Dieses allgemeine Urtheil über die Sprache ist sicher.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., pp. 289-90. Among other connecting links he particularly mentions the substantive endings pe, be, and others, by means of which, he says, the Moqui attaches itself to the Shoshone-Comanche branch of the Sonora idioms. The comparative vocabulary before given will further illustrate their affiliation.[V-12]Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., pp. 128-30; Davis’ El Gringo, pp. 157-9.

Kizh and Netela Specimens

Returning to southern California, let us examine the three languages, Kizh, Netela, and Kechi, spoken near the missions of San Gabriel, San Juan Capistrano, and San Luis Rey, respectively, which are not only distantly related to each other, but show traces of the Sonora-Aztec idioms. Father Boscana, who has left us an accurate description of the natives at San Juan Capistrano, unfortunately devoted little attention to their language, and only gives us a few scattered words and stanzas. One of the latter reads as follows:

Quic noit noivam
Quic secat peleblich
Ybicnum majaar vesagnec
Ibi panal, ibi urusar,
Ibi ecbal, ibi seja, ibi calcel.

Which may be rendered thus:

I go to my home
That is shaded with willows.
These five they have placed,
This agave, this stone pot,
This sand, this honey, etc.[V-13]Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., p. 282.

But very little is known of the grammatical structure of these languages. In the Kizh, the plural is formed in various ways, as may be seen in the following examples:

Kizh

	SINGULAR.	PLURAL.
Man	woroit	wororoit
House	kitsh	kikitsh
Mountain	haikh	hahaikh
Wolf	ishot	ishishot
Good	tihorwait	tiriwait
Small	tshinui	tshitshínui
Black	yupikha	yupinot
Woman	tokor	totokor
Bow	paítkhuar	papaítkhuar
Bad	mohai	momohoi
White	arawatai	rawanot
Red	kwauokha	kwaukhonot

Declension with Pronoun

Kizh Declension

My father	ninak	Our father	ayoinak
Thy father	monak	Your father	asoinak
His father	anak
My house	nikin	Our house	eyoknga
Thy house	mukin	Your house	asoknga
His house	akinga	Their house	pomoknga

Of the Netela there are also the following few specimens of plural formation and pronouns;—suol, star; sulum, stars; nopulum, my eyes; nanakom, my ears; nikíwalom, my cheeks; natakalom, my hand; netémelum, my knees.

Declension with Pronoun

Netela Declension

My house	niki	Our house	tshomki
Thy house	om aki	Your house	omomomki
His house	poki	Their house	omp omki
My boat	nokh	Our boat	tshomikh
Thy boat	om omikh	Your boat	omom omikh
His boat	ompomikh	Their boat	ompomikh[V-14]Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., pp. 566-7; Buschmann, Kizh und Netela, pp. 512-13.

The Kizh appears also to have been spoken, in a slightly divergent dialect, at the Mission of San Fernando, as may be easily seen by comparing the following two versions of the Lord’s Prayer; the first in the language of San Fernando, and the latter in that spoken at San Gabriel.

Y yorac yona taray tucúpuma sagoucó motoanian majarmi moin main monó muismi miojor yiactucupar. Pan yyogin gimiamerin majarmi mifema coyó ogorná yio mamainay mii, yiarmá ogonug y yoná, y yo ocaynen coijarmea main ytomo mojay coiyamá huermi. Parima.

Yyonac y yogin tucupugnaisá sujucoy motuanían masarmí magin tucupra maimanó muísme mílléosar y ya tucupar jiman bxí y yoní masaxmí mítema coy aboxmi y yo mamaínatar momojaích milli y yaxma abonac y yo no y yo ocaihuc coy jaxmea main itan momosaích coy jama juexme huememesaích.

In like manner do the Netela and Kechi show a close affinity. The Netela Lord’s Prayer reads:

Chana ech tupana ave onench, otune a cuachin, chame om reino, libi yb chosonec esna tupána cham nechetepe, micate tom cha chaom, pepsum yg cai caychame, y i julugcalme cai ech. Depupnn opco chame chum oyote. Amen Jésus.

The Kechi is as follows:

Cham na cham mig tu panga auc onan moquiz cham to gai ha cua che nag omreina li vi hiche ca noc ybá heg gá y vi au qui gá topanga. Cham na cholane mim cha pan pituo mag ma jan pohi cala cai gui cha me holloto gai tom chame o gui chag cay ne che cal me tus so lli olo calme alla linoc chame cham cho sivo.[V-15]Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., pp. 393-4.

Although Mr Turner classed these languages with the Shoshone family, in reality they only form such a tie through their Sonora and Aztec connection.[V-16]’Belong to the great Shoshonee, or Snake family.’ Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 76. ‘The similarity which exists between many words in these two languages, and in the Shoshoni, is evident enough from a comparison of the vocabularies. The resemblance is too great to be attributed to mere casual intercourse, but it is doubtful whether the evidence which it affords will justify us in classing them together as branches of the same family.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 567. ‘The natives of St. Diego cannot understand a word of the language used in this mission, and in like manner, those in the neighborhood of St. Barbara, and farther north.’ Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., p. 240; Gleeson’s Hist. Cath. Church, p. 97. This is illustrated by Mr Buschmann in an extensive comparative vocabulary of the three languages, of which I shall give a brief extract on a subsequent page.[V-17]’Ich habe in dem Kizh … und in der Netela … zwei Glieder meines sonorischen Sprachstammes, ausgestattet mit Aztekischem Sprachstoff, entdeckt.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 546. ‘Bei der, genugsam von mir aufgezeigten Gemeinschaft der zwei californischen Idiome, so lautet mein Urtheil, hofft man auch hier vergebens auf ein genaues, glückliches Zutreffen eigenthümlicher Formen dieser Sprachen mit dem Comanche und Schoschonischen oder mit den südlicheren sonorischen Hauptsprachen, ein Zusammentreffen mit etwas recht Besonderem Einer Sprache mit einer anderen: so nahe liegen die Sprachen sich nie, sie sind alle fremd genug gegen einander.’ Buschmann, Kizh und Netela, p. 518.

Chemehuevi and Cahuillo Pronouns

The Chemehuevi and Cahuillo, the last two of this division, have also been classed as belonging to the Shoshone family, and some have even called them bands of Pah-Utes, but what has been said concerning the affiliation of the three last mentioned will apply to these with equal force. That they are distinct languages has already been stated by Padre Garcés, who describes them under the name of Chemegue cajuala, Chemegue sebita, Chemeguaba, and Chemegue, ascribing the same language to all of them in distinction from their neighbors. He includes with the Chemehuevi the Yavipai muca oraive or Moqui, who, although not speaking the same language, are still somewhat connected with them, through their Sonora and Aztec relations, which conjectures are singularly significant.[V-18]Garcés, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série ii., tom. i., p. 351. Orozco y Berra includes them as well as the Utahs and Moquis with the Apache family of languages, in support of which he cites Balbi, tableau xxxii. ‘Die Chimehwhuebes, Comanches und Cahuillos, also Stämme, die zwischen den Küsten der Südsee und Texas verbreitet sind, als Nebenstämme der Nation der Schoschone oder Schlangen-Indianer betrachtet werden können.’ Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. i., pp. 435-6. ‘The Chemehuevis are a band of Pah-Utahs … whose language … agrees most nearly with Simpson’s Utah, and Hale’s East Shoshonee.’ The Cahuillo ‘exhibits the closest affinity to the Kechi and Netela, especially the former. Its affinity to the Kizh is equally evident.’ Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 76. ‘Die Chemehuevi- und Cahuillo-Sprache sind einander so fremd, dass sie beinahe für alle Begriffe ganz andere Wörter besitzen; ihre Verschiedenheit ist so gross, dass man aus ihnen allein nicht ahnden sollte, sie seien beide gleichmässig sonorische Glieder.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 554. Grammatical remarks on these languages there are but few to offer. The accentuation is in neither very regular; in the Chemehuevi, it is generally on the second syllable, while in the Cahuillo it is mostly on the first.[V-19]Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 77. I give here the personal pronouns of the two languages.

Chemehuevi and Cahuillo

	CHEMEHUEVI.	CAHUILLO.
I	nuu	neh
Thou	háiïco	eh
He	einpá	peh
We		chémim
You		éhmim
They		íwim

To illustrate the Sonora and Aztec connection, I offer the following short comparative vocabulary.

Shoshone Languages

	CHEMEHUEVI.	CAHUILLO.	KECHI.	NETELA.	KIZH.
Water	pa	pal	pala	pala	bar
Sun	tabaputz	tamit	temet	temét	tamet
Day	tuwaruwit	tamyit		temé	oronga
Eye	puoui	napush	pusun-opush	nopulum	atshotshon
Three	paii	mepa	pai	pahe	pahe
I	nuu	neh	no	no	noma
House	cani	kish	kicha	niki	kitsh
Arrow	nu	hul	nohu	hul	nihun
Father	muo	nena	pehnah	nana	anak
Girl	naiitsit	inismal		nawitmal
Forehead	cobanim	nepush
Five	manu	momequadnun		mahar
Ear	nancaba	nanocka	nonak	nanakum	anana, najas
To die		muqush
Stone	timp	cow-wish		tot	tota
Black	shawagaré	tuliksh		yaöatkhnot	yupikha
Beard	mutza	nultaman		numus	aong, pehen
Hill	caib	ow-so-ni, or tu-qnush
To kill	pacai	meca		kakshitkhl
Woman		mukeadi

	AZTEC.	CAHITA.	TEPEHUANA.	TARAHUMARA.	CORA.
Water	atl	baa			atih
Sun		taa
Day
Eye		pusi	buy	pusiki
Three	yei	bahi
I	ne, ni
House	calli	cari	qui	caliki
Arrow	mitl		vu, or u
Father	tatli			nono
Girl
Forehead	ixquaitl		coba	covara
Five	macuilli	mammi
Ear	nacaztli	naca	naxa	nachcala	naxaihti
To die	miqui			mucu
Stone	tetl	teta	jodde	teéke	teteti,
Black	tlilli	chuculi	tucu	tschocameke	muaizitl
Beard
Hill				cagui
To kill	nomac miqui	ameya		mea	mea
Woman				muki	[V-20]Compiled from Buschmann, Turner, Hale, Molina, Ortega, and others.

Aztec Traces in Southern California

As regards the Sonora and Aztec relationship, we have here again the substantive endings p, b, t, in various forms, which, as before stated, may be compared with Aztec endings, changed according to certain linguistic laws. In the Cahuillo, as in the Kechi, prefixed possessive pronouns, before substantives representing parts of the human body, particularly that in the first person singular, n, are proof of the Sonora affiliation. In the same words, the Chemehuevi has the two pronouns ni and wi, which always carry with them the ending, m.[V-21]Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., pp. 553-4.

Footnotes

[V-1] ’The Shoshóni and Pánasht (Bonnaks) of the Columbia, the Yutes and Sampitches … the Commanches of Texas, and some other tribes along the northern frontier of Mexico, are said to speak dialects of a common language.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., pp. 218-9. ‘The great Shoshonee, or Snake, family: which comprehends the Shoshones proper … the Utahs … Pah-Utahs … the Kizh … the Netela … the Kechi … the Comanches.’ Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 76. ‘Shoshónies ou Serpents et de Soshocos ou Déterreurs de racines … parlent la même langue.’ De Smet, Voy., p. 126. ‘The Shoshone language is spoken mostly by all the bands of Indians in southeastern Nevada.’ Parker, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1866, p. 114. ‘Their language (Shoshones) is very different from that of either the Bannocks, or Pi-Utes.’ Campbell, in Id., p. 120. Goshautes speak the same language as Shoshones. Forney, in Id., 1859, p. 363. ‘The language is spoken by bands in the gold mine region of the Sacramento.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., p. 198. ‘Pai-uches speak the same language as the Yutas.’ Farnham’s Life in Cal., pp. 371, 375. ‘Pi-Edes, allied in language to the Utahs.’ Cooley, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1865, p. 18. Goships, or Gosha Utes ‘talk very nearly the Shoshonee language.’ Irish, in Id., p. 144. Shoshones and Comanches ‘both speak the same language.’ Sampiches. ‘Their language is said to be allied to that of the Snakes.’ Youtas. ‘Their language is by some thought to be peculiar.’ Wilkes’ Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., p. 501. ‘Pueblan todas las partes de esta sierra por el sueste, sur sudoeste y oeste, gran número de gentes de la misma nacion, idioma etc.,’ which they call Timpanogotzis. Dominguez and Escalante, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série ii., tom. i., p. 467. ‘The language spoken by the Comanches is of great antiquity, and differs but little from that of the Incas of Peru.’ Maillard’s Hist. Tex., p. 249; Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., pp. 349, 351. Yam-pah. ‘This is what the Snakes call the Comanches, of which they are either the parents or descendants, for the two languages are nearly the same, and they readily understand each other, and say that they were once one people.’ ‘The Snake language is talked and understood by all the tribes from the Rocky mountains to California, and from the Colorado to the Columbia, and by a few in many tribes outside of these limits.’ Stuart’s Montana, pp. 58, 82. ‘The different bands of the Comanches and Shoshonies or Snakes, constitute another extensive stock, speaking one language.’ Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. ii., p. 251. ‘The vernacular language of the Yutas is said to be distantly allied to that of the Navajoes, but it has appeared to me much more guttural, having a deep sepulchral sound resembling ventriloquism.’ Id., vol. i., p. 300. ‘The Utahs, who speak the same language as the Kyaways.’ Conder’s Mex. Guat., vol. ii., p. 74; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 197. The Goshutes are of different language from the Shoshones. Douglas, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1870, p. 96. Diggers, ‘differ from the other Snakes somewhat in language.’ Wyeth, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., p. 206; Berghaus, in Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 371. The Kusi-Utahs, ‘in speaking they clipped their words … we recognized the sounds of the language of the Shoshonès.’ Remy and Brenchley’s Journey, vol. ii., p. 412; Thümmel, Mexiko, p. 359; Catlin’s N. Amer. Ind., vol. ii., p. 113. ‘Their native language (Comanches), in sound differs from the language of any other nation, and no one can easily learn to speak it. They have also a language of signs, by which they converse among themselves.’ French’s Hist. La., (N. Y. 1869), p. 156. ‘The primitive terms of the Comanches are short, and several are combined for the expression of complex ideas. The language is very barren of verbs, the functions of which are frequently performed by the aid of gestures and grimaces.’ Kennedy’s Texas, vol. i., p. 348.

[V-2] Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 77.

[V-3] Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., pp. 402-3.

[V-4] Id., p. 645, et seq.

[V-5] ’Que en casi todas ellas (que son muchas y varias) se hallan vocablos, principalmente los que llaman radicales, que o son de la lengua Mexicana, o se deriuan della, y retienen muchas de sus silabas, de que pudiera hazer aqui vn muy largo catalago. De todo lo qual se infieren dos cosas. La primera que casi todas estas Naciones comunicaron en puestas y lenguas con la Mexicana: y aunque los Artes y Gramaticas dellas son diferentes; pero en muchos de sus preceptos concuerdan.’ Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 20. ‘Pintaron esta laguna en tierra y muy poblada de gentes, y oyendo hablar á un indio, criado de un soldado, en el idioma mexicano, preguntaron si era de Copala, porque así hablaban los de alla … que distaba de allí diez jornadas pobladas.’ Zarate, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 83. ‘El Padre Fr. Roque d Figueredo haze del viage que hizo con D. Iuan de Oñate 500 leguas al Norte hallaremos que dice, que aviendoseles perdido vnas bestias, buscandolas el rio de Tizon arriba encontraron los mosos vn Indio que les hablò en lengua mexicana que preguntado de donde era, dixo ser del Reyno adentro … que està en las Provincias del Norte donde se habla en esta lengua Mexicana cuyo es vocablo.’ Vetancurt,Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 11. ‘In un viaggio, che fecero gli Spagnuoli l’anno 1606. dal Nuovo Messico fino al fiume, che eglino appellarono del Tizon, seicento miglia da quella Provincia verso Maestro, vi trovarono alcuni grandi edificj, e s’abbatterono in alcuni Indiani, che parlavano la lingua messicana.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iv., p. 29. Tarahumara ‘la cui lingua abbonda di parole Messicane.’ Hervás, Saggio Practico delle Lingue, p. 71. ‘Die Sprache (Cora) ist auch wegen ihres Verhältnisses zur Mexicanischen merkwürdig.’ ‘Die Sprache (Tarahumara) welche eine gewisse Ausbildung zeigt, hat manche dem Mexicanischen ähnliche Wörter,’ Vater, Litteratur der Grammatiken, Lexica und Wörter-Sammlungen aller Sprachen der Erde, pp. 52, 231; Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., p. 336; Ruxton’s Adven. Mex., p. 194.

[V-6] Max Müller simply names it ‘Grimm’s Law.’ Science of Language, series ii., p. 213, et seq.

[V-7] ’Indem ich die Urtheile wegen der comanchischen und schoschonischen Verwandtschaft bestätige, erkläre ich die Yutah-Sprache für ein Glied des sonorischen Sprachstammes.’ ‘Noch ehe ich zur Wortvergleichung übergehe, kann ich die sonorische Natur der Sprache nach den beiden Elementen der aztekischen und sonorischen Gemeinschaft, und sogar ihre besondere Stellung zwischen der comanche-schoschonischen Ligue, durch blosse zwei, in ihr sich hervorthuende Substantiv-Endungen (ts und p) darlegen.’ ‘Die zwiefache Schoschonen Sprache und das Volk der Schoschonen sind das äusserste Glied meiner Entdeckungen: des grossen Bundes, durch ein mächtiges eignes Element zusammengehaltener Sprachen, von einem kleinen Erbtheil aztekischen Wortstoffes durchdrungen; welches ich, von Guadalaxara aus nordwärts suchend nach den Spuren des Azteken-Idioms und seines Volkes, angetroffen habe; sie bilden den Schlusstein meines sonorischen Baues.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., pp. 349, 351, 648, 391, 652, et seq.; Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 291-2.

[V-8] ’They all speak the same language except Harno, the most northern town of the three, which has a language and some custom peculiar to itself.’ Marcy’s Army Life, p. 111. ‘In six of the seven Moqui pueblos, the same language is said to be spoken…. Those of San Juan … and one Moqui pueblo all speak the same language … Tay-waugh.’ Lane, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 689; Ten Broeck, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., p. 87. ‘The Moquis … do not all speak the same language. At Oraybe some of the Indians actually professed to be unable to understand what was said by the Mooshahneh chief, and the latter told me that the language of the two towns was different. At Tegua they say that a third distinct tongue is spoken…. The people … have abandoned the habit of visiting each other till the languages, which, with all Indian tribes, are subject to great mutations, have gradually become dissimilar.’ Ives’ Colorado Riv., p. 127. ‘Wie ich erfuhr, sollen die Moquis nicht alle eine und dieselbe Sprache haben, und die Bewohner einiger Städte nicht nur fremde Dialekte, sondern sogar fremde Sprachen reden.’ Möllhausen, Reisen, tom. ii., p. 239. Davis, referring to a MS. by Cruzate, a former Governor of New Mexico, maintains that the Moqui speak the Queres language, but at the same time he says ‘it is maintained by some that … four of the Moqui villages speak a dialect very nearly the same as that of the Navajos, while a fifth speaks that of San Juan, which is Tegua…. The distance from Picoris to the Moqui villages is about four hundred miles … yet these widely separated pueblos speak … the same language.’ El Gringo, pp. 116-7, 155. Comparisons of the vocabularies in Simpson, Davis, and Meline prove the Moqui to be a distinct language. Ward, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1864, p. 191.

[V-9] Lane, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 689.

[V-10] ’The language of the Môquis, or the Môquinos, is said to differ but little from that of the Navajos.’ Hughes’ Doniphan’s Ex., p. 197. Speaking of all the Pueblo languages, including the Moqui: ‘All these speak dialects of the same language, more or less approximating to the Apache, and of all of which the idiomatic structure is the same. They likewise all understand each other’s tongue. What relation this language bears to the Mexican is unknown, but my impression is that it will be found to assimilate greatly, if not to be identical.’ Ruxton’s Adven. Mex., p. 194; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., p. 269.

[V-11] ’No analogy has yet been traced between the language of the old Mexicans and any tribe at the north in the district from which they are supposed to have come.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 283. ‘Reste der Mexikanischen Sprache fanden dagegen in den Sprachen dieser Völker die im Mexikanischen sehr geübten Missionäre nicht, sondern die Sprache von Moqui, und die der Yabipais, welche lange Bärte tragen, wesentlich unterschieden von dem Mexikanischen.’ Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 182. ‘Cependant la langue que parlent les Indiens du Moqui, les Yabipais, qui portent de longue barbes, et ceux qui habitent les plaines voisines du Rio Colorado, diffère essentiellement de la langue mexicaine.’ Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 305. ‘Doch reden die Moquis…. Sprachen ganz verschieden vom Aztekischen.’ Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt ii., p. 539. ‘Die Moqui-Sprache ist doch der mexikanischen befreundet! sie ist—dies ist meine Erfindung—ein Zweig des Idioms, welches dem Suchenden als ein Phantom statt des leibhaften nahuatl als sein Schattenbild, in dem alten Norden überall entgegentritt: ein Gebilde der sonorischen Zunge, bei welchem Namen ein kleines aztekisches Erbtheil sich von selbst versteht…. Ich erkläre die Moqui-Sprache für ein Glied meines Sonorischen Sprachstammes. Schon die auffallend vielen, manchmal in vorzüglich reiner Form erscheinenden, aztekischen Wörter bezeichnen die Sprache als eine sonorische; es kommt das zweite Kennzeichen hinzu: der Besitz gewisser ächt sonorischer Wörter. In einem grossen Theile erscheint die Sprache aber überaus fremdartig: um so mehr als sie auch von den 5 Pueblo-Sprachen, wie schon Simpson bemerkt hat, gänzlich verschieden ist…. Die Spuren der Subst. Endung pe, be u.ä. weisen der Moqui-Sprache ihren Platz unter der comanche-schoschonischen Familie des Sonora Idioms an. Dieses allgemeine Urtheil über die Sprache ist sicher.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., pp. 289-90.

[V-12] Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., pp. 128-30; Davis’ El Gringo, pp. 157-9.

[V-13] Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., p. 282.

[V-14] Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., pp. 566-7; Buschmann, Kizh und Netela, pp. 512-13.

[V-15] Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., pp. 393-4.

[V-16] ’Belong to the great Shoshonee, or Snake family.’ Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 76. ‘The similarity which exists between many words in these two languages, and in the Shoshoni, is evident enough from a comparison of the vocabularies. The resemblance is too great to be attributed to mere casual intercourse, but it is doubtful whether the evidence which it affords will justify us in classing them together as branches of the same family.’ Hale’s Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 567. ‘The natives of St. Diego cannot understand a word of the language used in this mission, and in like manner, those in the neighborhood of St. Barbara, and farther north.’ Boscana, in Robinson’s Life in Cal., p. 240; Gleeson’s Hist. Cath. Church, p. 97.

[V-17] ’Ich habe in dem Kizh … und in der Netela … zwei Glieder meines sonorischen Sprachstammes, ausgestattet mit Aztekischem Sprachstoff, entdeckt.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 546. ‘Bei der, genugsam von mir aufgezeigten Gemeinschaft der zwei californischen Idiome, so lautet mein Urtheil, hofft man auch hier vergebens auf ein genaues, glückliches Zutreffen eigenthümlicher Formen dieser Sprachen mit dem Comanche und Schoschonischen oder mit den südlicheren sonorischen Hauptsprachen, ein Zusammentreffen mit etwas recht Besonderem Einer Sprache mit einer anderen: so nahe liegen die Sprachen sich nie, sie sind alle fremd genug gegen einander.’ Buschmann, Kizh und Netela, p. 518.

[V-18] Garcés, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série ii., tom. i., p. 351. Orozco y Berra includes them as well as the Utahs and Moquis with the Apache family of languages, in support of which he cites Balbi, tableau xxxii. ‘Die Chimehwhuebes, Comanches und Cahuillos, also Stämme, die zwischen den Küsten der Südsee und Texas verbreitet sind, als Nebenstämme der Nation der Schoschone oder Schlangen-Indianer betrachtet werden können.’ Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. i., pp. 435-6. ‘The Chemehuevis are a band of Pah-Utahs … whose language … agrees most nearly with Simpson’s Utah, and Hale’s East Shoshonee.’ The Cahuillo ‘exhibits the closest affinity to the Kechi and Netela, especially the former. Its affinity to the Kizh is equally evident.’ Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 76. ‘Die Chemehuevi- und Cahuillo-Sprache sind einander so fremd, dass sie beinahe für alle Begriffe ganz andere Wörter besitzen; ihre Verschiedenheit ist so gross, dass man aus ihnen allein nicht ahnden sollte, sie seien beide gleichmässig sonorische Glieder.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 554.

[V-19] Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 77.

[V-20] Compiled from Buschmann, Turner, Hale, Molina, Ortega, and others.

[V-21] Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., pp. 553-4.

Chapter VI • The Pueblo, Colorado River, and Lower California Languages • 5,100 Words

Traces of the Aztec not found among the Pueblos of New Mexico and Arizona—The Five Languages of the Pueblos, the Queres, the Tegua, the Picoris, Jemez, and Zuñi—Pueblo Comparative Vocabulary—The Yuma and its Dialects, the Maricopa, Cuchan, Mojave, Diegeño, Yampais, and Yavipais—The Cochimí, Guaicurí, and Pericú, with their Dialects of Lower California—Guaicurí Grammar—Pater Noster in Three Cochimí Dialects—The Languages of Lower California wholly Isolated.

Having already mentioned some of the principal idioms spoken in the southern part of the Great Basin, as parts of the trunks to which they belong, or with which they affiliate, I shall devote the present chapter to such languages of New Mexico and Arizona as cannot be brought into the Tinneh or Sonora stocks, and to those of Lower California. Beginning with the several tongues of the Pueblos, thence proceeding westward to the Colorado River, and following its course southward to the Gulf of California, I shall include the languages of the southern extremity of California, and finally those of the peninsula. These languages are none of them cognate with any spoken in Mexico. Respecting those of the Pueblos which have long been popularly regarded as allied to southern tongues, it is now very certain that they are in no wise related to them, if we except the Aztec word-material found in the Moqui. From analogous manners and customs, from ancient traditions and time-honored beliefs, many have claimed that these New Mexican towns-people are the remains of aboriginal Aztec civilization, attempting meanwhile to explain away the adverse testimony of language, by amalgamation of the ancient tongue with those of other nations, or by absorption or annihilation; all of which, so far as arriving at definite conclusions is concerned, amounts to nothing. Analogies may be drawn between any nations of the earth; human beings are not so unlike but that in every community much may be found that is common to other communities, irrespective of distance and race, especially when the comparison is drawn between two peoples both just emerging from savagism. The facts before us concerning the Pueblo languages are these: although all alike are well advanced from primeval savagism, live in similar substantial houses, and have many common customs, yet their languages, though distinct as a whole from those of the more savage surrounding tribes, do not agree with each other. It is difficult to prove that the Aztec, although now perhaps extinguished, never was the tongue of New Mexico; on the other hand, it is impossible to prove that it was, and surely theorists go far out of their way in attempting to establish a people in a land where no trace of their language exists, or exists only in such a phase as proves conclusively that it could not possibly have ever been the basis of the language now spoken.

The Five Pueblo Languages

Five distinct languages, with numerous dialects, more or less deviating, are spoken by the Pueblos. By the inhabitants of Santo Domingo, San Felipe, Santa Ana, Silla, Laguna, Pojuate, Acoma, and Cochiti, the Queres language is spoken; in San Juan, Santa Clara, San Ildefonso, Pojuaque, Nambe, Tezuque, and also in Harno, one of the Moqui towns, the Tegua language prevails; in Taos, Picoris, Zandia, and Isleta, there is the Picoris language; in Jemez and Old Pecos, the Jemez; in Zuñi, the Zuñi language.[VI-1]’No one showing anything more than the faintest, if any, indications of a cognate origin with the other.’ Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., pp. 5, 128-9. ‘Classed by dialects, the Pueblos of New Mexico at the period of the arrival of the Spaniards spoke four separate and distinct languages, called the Tegua, the Piro, the Queres, and the Tagnos.’ ‘There are now five different dialects spoken by the Pueblos.’ No Pueblo can ‘understand another of a different dialect.’ ‘It does not follow that the groups by dialect correspond with their geographical grouping; for, frequently, those furthest apart speak the same, and those nearest speak different languages.’ Meline’s Two Thousand Miles, pp. 203-4; Lane, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 689. ‘The Pueblo Indians of Taos, Pecuris and Acoma speak a language of which a dialect is used by those of the Rio Abajo, including the Pueblos of San Felipe, Sandia, Ysleta, and Xeméz.’ Ruxton’s Adven. Mex., p. 194. ‘There are but three or four different languages spoken among them, and these, indeed, may be distantly allied to each other.’ ‘Those further to the westward are perhaps allied to the Navajoes.’ Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., p. 269. ‘In ancient times the several pueblos formed four distinct nations, called the Piro, Tegua, Queres, and Tagnos or Tanos, speaking as many different dialects or languages.’ Davis’ El Gringo, p. 116; see also pp. 155-6, on classification according to Cruzate. ‘The Jemez … speak precisely the same language as the Pecos.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 198; Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., pp. 90, et seq. ‘There are five different dialects spoken by the nineteen pueblos.’ These are so distinct that the Spanish language ‘has to be resorted to as a common medium of communication.’ Ward, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1864, p. 191; Buschmann, Spr. N. Mex. u. der Westseite des b. Nordamer., p. 280, et seq. The three principal dialects of Queres are the Kiwomi, Cochitemi, and Acoma. Of these the first two are very similar, in some cases almost identical, while the Acoma is more distinct.[VI-2]Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 90; Buschmann, Spr. N. Mex. u. der Westseite des b. Nordamer., p. 302. In the Queres the accent is almost invariably on the first syllable, and the words are in general rather short, although a few long words occur. Possessive pronouns appear to be affixed; they are ini, ni, ne, in, and i.

In the Tegua and Zuñi the personal pronouns are:

Tegua and Zuni Personal Pronouns

	TEGUA.	ZUÑI.
I	nah	hóo
Thou	uh	tóo
He	ihih	lóoko
She	ihih
We (incl.)	tahquireh	hóono
We (exc.)	nihyeuboh
You	nahih	ahchée
They	ihnah	lóoko

Pueblo Comparative Vocabulary

In the Tegua, although many monosyllabics appear, there are also a number of long words, such as pehgnahvicahmborih, shrub; haihiombotahrei, for ever; hahnguenaahnpih, to be; haihahgnuhai, great; heinginubainboyoh, nothing. In the Zuñi, long words appear to predominate—ákmeeashneekeeah, autumn; áhseeailahpalhtonnai, finger; lahtailoopeetsínnah, gold; téhleenahweeteekeeah, midnight;táhmchahpahnáhmnee, war-club, and others.[VI-3]Tusuque words ‘are monosyllabic, and suggest a connection with Asiatic stocks, in which this feature is prominent.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 406. ‘All these languages are extremely guttural and to my ear seemed so much alike that I imagine they have sprung from the same parent stock.’ Lane, in Id., vol. v., p. 689; Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 93 et seq.; Buschmann, New Mex. und Brit. N. Amer., p. 280 et seq. As will more clearly appear by the following comparative vocabulary, none of these languages are cognate; they have no affinity among themselves, nor with any other family or group. [VI-4]’Die Queres-Sprache ist trotz einiger Anklänge an andere eine ganz besondere Sprache, von der keine Verwandtschaft aufzufinden.’ Buschmann, Spr. N. Mex. u. der Westseite des b. Nordamer., p. 303. ‘Die Fremdheit der Tezuque-Sprache gegen alles Bekannte ist durch das Wortverzeichniss genugsam erwiesen.’ ‘Ich unterlasse es spielende aztekische oder Sonorische Aehnlichkeiten zu bezeichnen, da auch die Zuñi-Sprache diesen Idiomen ganz fremd ist.’ Id., pp. 296-7. Tanos, ‘one of the Moqui villages, at present speak the Tegua language, which is also spoken by several of the New Mexican Pueblo Indians, which leaves but little doubt us to the common origin of all the village Indians of this country and Old Mexico.’ Arny, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1871, p. 381. ‘These Indians claim, and are generally supposed, to have descended from the ancient Aztec race, but the fact of their speaking three or four different languages would tend to cast a doubt upon this point.’ Merriwether, in Id., 1854, p. 174. ‘The words in the Zuñi language very much resemble the English.’ Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. ii., p. 348; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., p. 285.

Queres and Jemez

	QUERES.	TEGUA.	PICORIS.	JEMEZ.	ZUÑI.
Sun		pah	hoolennah	pay	yattockkah
Moon		poyye	pannah	pahah
Star	shecat	adoyeah	hahheglannah	woonhah	moyatchuway
Earth	hahats	nah	pahhannah	dockah	oulocknannay
Man	hatssee	sayen	tahhahnenah	shuotish	oatse
Woman	naiatsay	ker	clayannah	steosh	ocare
Head	nashcanne	pumbah	pinemah	chitchous	oshuckquinnay
Eye	kannah	chay	chenay	saech	toonahway
Nose	karwishshe	shay	pooaenah	forsaech	nolinnay
Mouth	tseeikah	sho	clahmoenah	eaequah	aewahtinnay
Ear	kahupah	oyeo	taglayonay	washchish	lahschucktinnay
Hand	kahmoshtay	mah		mahtish	shoncheway
Dog	tish	cher	sodornah	cannu	watsetah
Fire	hahkanye	fah	pahannah	fwaah	mackke
Water	tseats	ogh	pohahoon	pah	keaoway

Colorado River Languages

In the region through which flows the Colorado, and between that river and the Gila, many different languages are mentioned by the early missionaries but at this time it is difficult to ascertain how far different names are applied to any one nation.

The missionaries themselves frequently did not know how to name the people; often they gave several names to one language, and several languages one name; many of the then existing dialects are known to have since become extinct, and many more have mysteriously disappeared, along with those who spoke them, so that in many instances, a century after their first mention no such language could be found. It seems seldom to have occurred to the missionaries and conquerors that the barbarous tongues of these heathen could ever be of interest or value to Christendom, still less lists of their words; so that vocabularies, almost the only valuable speech-material of the philologist, are exceedingly rare among the writings of the early missionary Fathers. If one half of their profitless homilies on savage salvation had been devoted to the simple gleaning of facts, science would have been the gainer, and the souls of the natives no whit less at peace. Of late, however, vocabularies of the dialects of this region have become numerous, and relationships are at length becoming permanently established.

The languages under consideration, on comparison, may nearly all be comprised in what may be called the Yuma family. The principal dialects which constitute the Yuma family are the Yuma, Maricopa, Cuchan, Mojave, and Diegueño, which last is spoken in southern California, and more particularly around the bay of San Diego. Among others mentioned are the Yavipais and Yampais.[VI-5]Cocomaricopa, Yuma, Jalchedun and Jamajab, speak the same language. Garcés, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série ii., tom. i., p. 350; Kino, Relacion, in Id., série iv., tom. i., pp. 292-3. ‘Opas, que hablan la lengua de los Yumas y Cocomaricopas … Corre la gentilidad de éstos y de su misma lengua por los rios Azul, Verde, Salado y otros que entran el Colorado.’ Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 416. ‘La lengua de todas estas naciones es una, Cocomaricopas, Yuma, Nijora, Quicamopa.’ Sedelmair, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 852. Cuchans, or Yumas, ‘speak the same dialect’ as the Maricopas. Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, p. 107; Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., pp. 101-3; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. i., p. 433. Yumas ‘no ser Nacion distinta de la Cocomaricopa, pues usan el mesmo Idioma.’ Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., p. 408; Gallatin, in Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 129; Cremony’s Apaches, p. 90. ‘The Pimos and Cocomaricopas … speaking different languages. Cutts’ Conq. of Cal., p. 189. Cosninos and Tontos, ‘leur langue aurait plus d’affinité avec celle des Mohaves et des Cuchans du Colorado.’ ‘Les Yumas, auxquels se joignent les Cocopas, les Mohaves, les Hawalcoes, et les Dieguenos. Chacune de ces tribus a une langue particulière, mais qui, jusqu’à un certain point, se rapproche de celles des tribus du même groupe.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Esquisses, pp. 28-9. ‘Gewiss ist, dass die Cocomaricópas und Yumas nur Dialecte einer und derselben Sprache reden.’ Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., p 211. ‘The Maricopas speak … a dialect of the Cocapa, Yuma, Mohave and Diegana tongue.’ Mowry, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1859, p. 361; Id., 1857, p. 302. Papagos, Pimos, and Maricopas. ‘These tribes speak a common language, which is conceded to be the ancient Aztec tongue.’ Davidson, in Id., 1865, p. 131. Pima and Maricopa. ‘Their languages are totally different, so much so that I was enabled to distinguish them when spoken.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 262. ‘Los opas, cocomaricopas, hudcoadan, yumas, cuhuanas, quiquimas, y otros mas allá del rio Colorado, se pueden tambien llamar pimas y contar por otras tantas tribus de esta nacion; pues la lengua de que usan es una misma con sola la diferencia del dilecto.’ Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., p. 554; Sonora, Rudo Ensayo, p. 103. ‘Yuma. Dialecto del Pima, lo tienen los Yumas, ó chirumas, gileños ó xileños, opas, cocopas, cocomaricopas, hudcoadanes, jamajabs ó cuesninas, ó cuismer ó cosninas ó culisnisnas ó culisnurs y los quicamopas. Cajuenche. Dialecto del pima, pertenecen á esta seccion los cucapá ó cuhanas, jallicuamai, cajuenches, quiquimas ó quihuimas, yuanes, cutganes, alchedomas, bagiopas, cuñai y quemeyá.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 353, 37;Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 264, et seq. ‘Die Yumas, deren Sprache von der Cocomericoopas … wenig verschieden ist.’ ‘Cocomericoopas, Yumas, Pimas … haben jede ihre besondere Sprache.’ Pfefferkorn, in Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 159. ‘Alike in other respects the Pima and Cocomaricopa Indians differ in language.’ Latham’s Comp. Phil., vol. viii., p. 421. Compared with that of their neighbors the language of the Diegueños is soft and harmonious, and as it contains all the sounds of the letters in the English alphabet, the people speaking it readily learn to pronounce the English and Spanish languages correctly.[VI-6]’Suave al parecer, y mas fácil que no la pima, pues tiene la suave vocal el la que falta á los pimas, repitiendo ellos la u hablan su idioma cantando.’ Sedelmair, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 852. ‘Soft and melodious.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 262; Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 101. The following Lord’s Prayer is a specimen of the dialect of the Diegueños.

Diegueño Lord’s Prayer

Nagua anall amaí tacaguach naguanetuuxp mamamulpo cayuca amaíbo mamatam meyayam canaao amat amaibo quexuic echasau naguaguí ñaña chonñaquin ñípil meñeque pachís echeyuchapo ñagua quexuíc ñaguaích ñacaguaihpo ñamechamel anipuch uch-guelích-cuíapo. Nacuíuch-pambo-cuchlích-cuíatpo-ñamat. Napuíjá.[VI-7]Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 395.

Of the other dialects the short vocabulary on the following page will give an illustration:

Lower Californian Languages

	CUCHAN.	MARICOPA.	MOJAVE.	DIEGUEÑO.
Man	épatch	eepáche	ipah	aycóotchet
Woman	seenyack	sinchayaíxhutch	sinyax	seen
House	eenouwa		ahba	awáh
Sun	n’yatch	n’yatz	n’yatz
Moon	hullyar	hullash	hullya
Fire	aawo	áhooch	awa
Water	ahá		ahha	ahá
Maize	terditch	terdítz	terdicha
Good	ahotk	ahotk	abhotk	han
I	n’yat	inyátz	n’yatz	n’yat
Go	n’yeemoom		n’yimoom
Sleep	aseemáh		esoma’om	[VI-8]Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 95, et seq.; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. ii., p. 118, et seq.

Then there are the Yampai and Yavipai, said to approach the Cuchan and Mojave;[VI-9]Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 14. the Chevet reported as a distinct tongue;[VI-10]’La Nacion Chevet … de muy distinto idioma de los que tienen las demas Naciones.’ Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 472. the Cajuenche said to be another language, and the Jalliquamai, a dialect of the Cajuenche.[VI-11]’La lengua de los cajuenches es muy distinta de la yuma.’ Jalliquamais ‘aunque parece el mismo idioma que el de los cajuenches, se diferencía mucho.’ Garcés, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série ii., tom. i., pp. 247, 251. The Tamajab is a strange language, described by Don José Cortez as “spoken with violent utterance and lofty arrogance of manner; and in making speeches, the thighs are violently struck with the palms of the hands.”[VI-12]’The Cucápas, Talliguamays, and Cajuenches speak one tongue; the Yumas, Talchedums, and Tamajabs have a distinct one.’ Cortez, Hist. Apache Nations, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 124.

There are further mentioned the Benemó with the dialects Tecuiche and Teniqueche, and lastly the Covaji and Noche, each a distinct tongue.[VI-13]Id., p. 125. The people speaking the Noche probably were the northern and eastern neighbors of the Diegueños, and may have been mentioned by some writers under other names. I have preferred to enumerate them here, because the names frequently occur in the reports of the earlier expeditions to the Yuma nations.

Three Stock Languages in Lower California

On the peninsula of Lower California, there are three distinct languages with many dialects, more or less related to each other. Some of these dialects appear so remote from the parent stock that the early missionaries believed them to be independent languages, and accordingly the number of tongues on the peninsula has been variously estimated, some saying four, others six; but careful comparisons refer them all to three stock languages. These are the Cochimí, with its principal dialects, the Laymon and Ika; the Guaicuri, with the Cora, Monqui, Didiú, Liyúe, Edú, and Uchiti dialects; and lastly the Pericú. Besides the above, there were also other dialectic differences in almost every mission, such as the variations of word-endings, and other minor points.[VI-14]’Nun dann fünf andere ganz verschiedene, und in dem bisher entdeckten Californien übliche Sprachen (welche seynd die Laymóna, in der Gegend der Mission von Loreto, die Cotschimì, in der Mission des heil. Xaverii und anderen gegen Norden, die Utschitì, und die Pericúa in Suden, und die annoch unbekannte welche die Völker reden, so P. Linck auf seiner Reis hat angetroffen) nebst einer Menge Absprossen oder Dialekten, auf Seit gesetzt, und von der Waïcurischen allein etwas anzumerken.’ Baegert, Nachr. von Cal., pp. 176-7. ‘Tres son (dice el Padre Taravàl) las Lenguas: la Cochimi, la Pericù y la de Loreto. De esta ultima salen dos ramos, y son: la Guaycùra, y la Uchiti; verdad es, que es la variacion tanta, que … juzgarà, no solo que hay quatro Lenguas, sino que hay cinco.’ Venegas, Noticia de la Cal., tom. i., pp. 63-7. Pericui, Guaicuri, Cochimí. ‘Ognuna di queste tre Nazioni aveva il suo linguaggio proprio.’ Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., p. 109. ‘Vehitls, Coras, Pericos, Guaicuras, Cantils, Cayeyus, y otros muchos.’ ‘Los de la baja peninzula … hablan distintos idiomas pero todos se entienden.’ Revillagigedo, Carta, MS., p. 7. Edues, Cochimies, et Periuches. ‘Ces trois tribus parlent neuf dialectes différents, dérivés de trois langues-matrices.’ Pauw, Rech. Phil., tom. i., p. 168. ‘Les unes parlant la Langue Monqui … les autres la Langue Laimone.’ Picolo, Mémoire, in Recueil de Voiages au Nord, tom. iii., p. 279. ‘Dreyerley Sprachen in Californien,’ ‘die de los Picos, dann die de los Waïcuros … und endlich die de los Laymónes.’ Ducrue, in Murr, Nachrichten, p. 392. ‘Die Pericu; die Waicura mit den Dialecten Cora, Uchidie und Aripe; die Laymon; die Cochima mit 4 verschiedenen Dialecten, worunter der von S. Francesco und Borgia; die Utschita; die Ika.’ Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 57. ‘Die Perícues, dann die Monquis oder Menguis, zu welchen die Familien der Guaycúras und Coras gehören, die Cochímas oder Colímiës, die Laimónes, die Utschitas oder Vehítis, und die Icas.’ Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., p. 212. See also tom. ii., pt ii., pp. 443-4; Taylor, in Browne’s L. Cal., pp. 53-4. ‘The Cochimi, Pericu, and Loretto languages; the former is the same as the Laymon, for the Laymones are the northern Cochimies; the Loretto has two dialects, that of the Guaycuru and the Uchiti.’ Prichard’s Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., p. 553. ‘The languages of old California were: 1. The Waikur, spoken in several dialects; 2. The Utshiti; 3. The Laymon; 4. The Cochimi North and the Pericu at the southern extremity of the peninsula; 5. A probably new form of speech used by some tribes visited by Link.’ Latham’s Comp. Phil., vol. viii., p. 423. Morrell mentions three languages, the Pericues, Menquis, and Cochimies. Nar., p. 198. Forbes, quoting Father Taraval, also speaks of three languages, Pericues, Monquis, and Cochimís. Cal., p. 21. ‘Solo habia dos idiomas distintos; el uno todo lo que comprehende la parte del Mediodía, y llamaban Ado; y el otro todo lo que abraza el Departamento del Norte y llamaban Cochimi.’ Californias, Noticias, carta i., p. 99; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 182, et seq.; Baegert, in Smithsonian Rept., 1864, p. 393. Orozco y Berra also accepts three, naming them, Pericu; Guaicura, with the dialects, Cora, Conchos, Uchita and Aripa; and the Cochimí with the dialects, Edú, Didú, and Northern Cochimi. Geografía, pp. 365-7; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., p. 207, et seq.; Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 469, et seq. In general these languages have been described as harsh and poverty-stricken. The missionaries complained of not being able to find terms with which to express many of the doctrines which they wished to inculcate; but from the grammatical notes left by Father Baegert and those of Ducrue contained in Murr’s Nachrichten, as well as from the various Pater Nosters at hand, it appears that these languages are not so very poor after all. Much there may have been wanting to the zealous Fathers, many burning words and soul-stirring expressions, which would have greatly assisted their efforts, but except that there is certainly no redundancy in these languages, they offer nothing very extraordinary.[VI-15]’La lingua Cochimi, la quale è la più distesa, è molto dificile, è piena d’aspirazioni, ed ha alcune maniere di pronunziare, che non è possibile di darle ad intendere…. La lingua Pericù è oggimai estinta…. La branca degli Uchiti, e quasi tutta quella de’ Cori si sono estinte.’ Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., pp. 110, 109. Edues and Didius, ‘sus palabras no eran de muy difícil pronunciacion, pero carecian enteramente de la f y s.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. iii., pp. 46-7. ‘Die Aussprache ist meistentheils gutturalis und narium.’ Ducrue, in Murr, Nachrichten, p. 392. Waïcuri. ‘Kann man von derselben sagen, dass sie im höchsten Grad wild sey und barbarisch … so bestehet derselben Barbarey in folgendem, und zwar—1. In einem erbärmlichen und erstaunlichen Mangel unendlich vieler Wörter … in dem Mangel und Abgang der Präpositionen, Conjunctionen, und Relativorum, das déve, oder tipitscheû, so wegen, und das tina, welches auf heisset ausgenommen…. Im Abgang des Comparativi und Superlativi, und der Wörter mehr und weniger, item, aller Adverbiorum, so wohl deren, welche von Adjectivis herkommen, als auch schier aller anderen…. Im Abgang des Modi Conjunctivi, mandativi und schier gar des optativi. Item, des verbi Passivi, oder an statt dessen, des verbi Reciproci, dessen sich die Spanier und Franzosen bedienen. Item, in Abgang der Declinationen, und zugleich der Artiklen der, die, das, etc.’ Baegert, Nachr. von Cal., pp. 177-83. See also, Smithsonian Rept., 1864, pp. 394-5. Following I give a few grammatical notes on the Guaicuri language. The sounds represented by the German letters, o, f, g, l, x, z, and s, excepting in tsh, do not appear. Possessive pronouns are shown in the following examples:

Possessive Pronouns, Lower California

My father	bedáre	My nose	minamù
Thy father	edáre	Thy nose	einamú
His father	tiáre	His nose	tinamù
Our father	kepedáre

Guaicuri Grammar

Of prepositions only two are mentioned—tina, on or upon; and déve, or tipítscheû, on account of, or for (propter). There is no article, and nouns are indeclinable. The conjunction tshie is always placed after the words to be connected. Verbs have only one mood and three tenses—the present, the perfect, and the future. The present is formed by the affix re or reke; the perfect by the affix rikíri, rujére, raúpe, or raúpere; and the future by adding in like manner me, méje, or éneme. If the action of several persons is to be expressed, the syllable ku or k is prefixed to the verb, or the first syllable is changed into ku.

Guaicuri Grammar

	SINGULAR.	PLURAL.
To fight	piabakè	kupiábake
To remember	umutù	kumutú
To speak	jake	kuáke

Some verbs have also a perfect passive participle in the form of a substantive—tschípake, to beat; tschipitschürre, a person who has been beaten. The personal pronouns are: be, I, me, to me, my; ei, thou, thee, to thee, thy; becùn, beticùn, ecûn, or eiticûn, mine, thine.

Conjugation of the Verb Amukíri, To Play

Amukíri

PRESENT INDICATIVE.
I play,	bè amukirire	We play,	catè amukírire
Thou playest,	eï amukirire	You play,	petè amukirire
He plays,	tutâu amukirire	They play,	tucáva amukirire

PERFECT.		FIRST FUTURE.
I have played,	bè amukiririkíri	I shall play,	bè amukírime

IMPERATIVE.
Play thou,	amukiri tei	Play you,	amukiri tu

OPTATIVE.
	Would that I had not played,	beri amukiririkirikára
	or,	beri amukirirujerára

I also add a Guaicuri Lord’s Prayer with literal translation.

Kepè;Our dáre father tekerekádatembàarched earth (heaven) daï,thou art, eïrì thee O that akátuikè-pu-me, acknowledge all will, tschakárrake-pu-me praise all will ti people tschie:and: ecùn thy gracia-ri grace O that atúme have will catèwe tekerekádatembàarched earth tschie:and: eïri thee O that jebarrakéme obey will ti people pùall jaûpe here datembà,earth, páe as eïthee jebarrakére,obey, aëna above kéa:are: kepecùn our búe food kepe us kên give jatúpe this untâiri:day: catèus kuitscharrakèforgive têi thou tschie and kepecùn our atacámara,evil, pàe as kuitscharrakère forgive catèwe tschie also cávape the atukiàra evil kepetujakè:us do: catèus tikakambàhelp têi thou tschie,and, cuvumeràdesire will not catèwe uësomething atukiára:evil: kepe us kakunjàprotect pe from atacára evil tschie.and. Amen.Amen.[VI-16]Baegert, Nachr. von Cal., pp. 175-94; Id., in Smithsonian Rept., 1864, pp. 394-393; also in Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., pp. 207-14; Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iv., pp. 31-40; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 188-92; Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., pp. 484-95.

Lord’s Prayers in Different Dialects

As regards the other two languages, the only materials at hand are some Lord’s Prayers in various dialects of the Cochimí, as used in the different missions. Of these I insert the following as samples of the dialects spoken—I. at the Mission of Santa Maria, II. at San Francisco de Borgia, and III. at San Ignacio:

I.
II.
III. Lahai-apa
Cahaí apá,
Ua-bappáFather our ambeing
ambeing
amma-bang heaven in mia:
miá,
miamú,who art: mimbangajua
mimbang-ajuá
ma mang-á-juáthy name val
val
huit vuit-maha:
vuit-mahá;
maja tegem all honored: amet mididivvaijua
amét mididuvaijuá
amat-ma-thadabajuáearth thy kingdom kukuem:
cucyém;
ucuem:come: jenmu-jua
jemmu-juá
kemmu-juáwill thine amabang
amabáng
ammabang heaven vihi mieng
vihí miéng
vahi-mang done be ametetenang
ametenáug
amatànang earth on luvihim.
luichim.
lauahim.as Thevap
Theváp
Teguap Bread yi-cue
yiecué
ibang gual ti-mi-ei-di-gua
ti-mi-eì-di-guá,
gúiang-avit-á-jua ibang-a-nang
ibang-anáng gna
ibang ánane Day na-kahit
cahit
pac-kagit: tevichip
tevichip
machi nuhigua
nuhiguá
pugijua aviuve ham:
aviuvehám
abadakegem, vichip
vichip
machi iyeg-ua na
iyeguá gna
uayecg-juá kaviu-vem
caviu vém
pac kabaya guem; cassetajuang
cassetasuàng
kazet-à juan inamenit nakum
mamenit guakúm
à juang-amuegnit

pacum guang
guang
guang tevisiec
tevisiec
mayi-acg na-kaviñaha.
gna cavignahà.
packanajam.[VI-17]Hervás, Saggio Pratico, p. 125; Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., pp. 496-7; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 193-4; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., p. 222; Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., pp. 395-6; Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., p. 265.

The dialect spoken at the Missions of San Francisco Xavier, San José de Comondú, and at Santa Gertrudis, differed considerably from the above as will be seen by the following Lord’s Prayer as used in the last mentioned places.

PennayùOur makenambà,father yaàwho ambayujùp heaven miya thou mò,art, buhùthy mombojuàname tammalàmen gkomendárecognize hi and nagodognòlove demuejueg gkajim:all; pennayulàas bogodognò gkajim, guihíand ambayujup heaven mabà yaàabove kæammet èearth decuinyi mò puegign:satisfy yaàm buhula thy mùjua will ambayujupmòheaven in de dahijua,done be, amet èearth on nò guilugui,this ji pagkajim.as. TamadàBread yaàthis ibòday tejuèg guiluguigui pamijich è mò, ibòday yanno puegin: guihi and tammàmen yaà gambuegjula kæpujui who have done ambinyijuàevil pennayula us dedaudugùjua,done have guilugui pagkajim:as: guìhi and yaà tagamueglà huì ambinyyjùa evil hi and doomòalthough puguegjuà, hi and doomòalthough pogounyim; tamuegjua, guihìalso usi mahel kæmmet earth è dicuin satisfyyumò, guihìand yaàwhat hui is mabinyìevil yaà, gambuegjuà pagkaudugum.[VI-18]Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., pp. 264-5; Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 497; Hervás, Saggio Pratico, p. 125; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 192-4; Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., pp. 395-6; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., pp. 221-2.

Clavigero does not give a translation of this Lord’s Prayer, but Hervás, who copies it in his Saggio Pratico, translates all words which he could find in a short vocabulary; Buschmann and others copy from him, and even at this time no complete translation is obtainable.

Lastly, I present a few sentences in the Laymon dialect, literally translated.

Tamma Man amayben years metañmany aguinañi lives not

Kenedabapa Father mine urap,eats, guang and lizi,drinks, quimib but tejunoey little.

Kenassa Sister maba thine guimma sleeps.

Kadagua The fish gadey sees iguimil but not decuiñi hears

Juetabajua Blood mine tahipeñi good not

Kotajua The stone kamang (is) great, gehua hard

Ibungajua Moon ganehmajen sun kaluhùgreater is.[VI-19]Ducrue, in Murr, Nachrichten, pp. 394-7.

The Cora Dialect in Lower California

None of the Lower Californian languages are in any way related to, or connected with, any other language. In Jalisco an idiom is spoken which is called the Cora, but Señor Pimentel after comparing it with the Cora of the peninsula as well as with others in Lower California, assures us that not the least connection exists between them.[VI-20]’Hay otra idioma llamado Cora en California, que es un dialecto del Guaicura ó Vaicura, diferente al que se habla en Jalisco.’ Pimentel, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. viii., p. 603. It has also been stated that the languages spoken on the peninsula north of La Paz are affiliated with the Yuma tongue, but this is not the case. As we have seen, the dialect of the Diegueños reaches the seacoast near San Diego, and again south of that point, and this being a Yuma dialect, it has perhaps given rise to the belief that the Lower Californian languages incline the same way.[VI-21]’All the Indian tribes of the peninsula seem to be affiliated with the Yumas of the Colorado, and with the Coras below La Paz.’ Taylor, in Browne’s L. Cal., p. 53. In South America there is a language called the Guaicuru, which has nothing in common with the Guaicuri of Lower California.[VI-22]’Beide Sprachen, die californische und die Südamerikanische Guaycura oder Guaycuru (Mbaya) von einander gänzlich verschieden sind.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 494.

Footnotes

[VI-1] ’No one showing anything more than the faintest, if any, indications of a cognate origin with the other.’ Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., pp. 5, 128-9. ‘Classed by dialects, the Pueblos of New Mexico at the period of the arrival of the Spaniards spoke four separate and distinct languages, called the Tegua, the Piro, the Queres, and the Tagnos.’ ‘There are now five different dialects spoken by the Pueblos.’ No Pueblo can ‘understand another of a different dialect.’ ‘It does not follow that the groups by dialect correspond with their geographical grouping; for, frequently, those furthest apart speak the same, and those nearest speak different languages.’ Meline’s Two Thousand Miles, pp. 203-4; Lane, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 689. ‘The Pueblo Indians of Taos, Pecuris and Acoma speak a language of which a dialect is used by those of the Rio Abajo, including the Pueblos of San Felipe, Sandia, Ysleta, and Xeméz.’ Ruxton’s Adven. Mex., p. 194. ‘There are but three or four different languages spoken among them, and these, indeed, may be distantly allied to each other.’ ‘Those further to the westward are perhaps allied to the Navajoes.’ Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., p. 269. ‘In ancient times the several pueblos formed four distinct nations, called the Piro, Tegua, Queres, and Tagnos or Tanos, speaking as many different dialects or languages.’ Davis’ El Gringo, p. 116; see also pp. 155-6, on classification according to Cruzate. ‘The Jemez … speak precisely the same language as the Pecos.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 198; Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., pp. 90, et seq. ‘There are five different dialects spoken by the nineteen pueblos.’ These are so distinct that the Spanish language ‘has to be resorted to as a common medium of communication.’ Ward, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1864, p. 191; Buschmann, Spr. N. Mex. u. der Westseite des b. Nordamer., p. 280, et seq.

[VI-2] Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 90; Buschmann, Spr. N. Mex. u. der Westseite des b. Nordamer., p. 302.

[VI-3] Tusuque words ‘are monosyllabic, and suggest a connection with Asiatic stocks, in which this feature is prominent.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 406. ‘All these languages are extremely guttural and to my ear seemed so much alike that I imagine they have sprung from the same parent stock.’ Lane, in Id., vol. v., p. 689; Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 93 et seq.; Buschmann, New Mex. und Brit. N. Amer., p. 280 et seq.

[VI-4] ’Die Queres-Sprache ist trotz einiger Anklänge an andere eine ganz besondere Sprache, von der keine Verwandtschaft aufzufinden.’ Buschmann, Spr. N. Mex. u. der Westseite des b. Nordamer., p. 303. ‘Die Fremdheit der Tezuque-Sprache gegen alles Bekannte ist durch das Wortverzeichniss genugsam erwiesen.’ ‘Ich unterlasse es spielende aztekische oder Sonorische Aehnlichkeiten zu bezeichnen, da auch die Zuñi-Sprache diesen Idiomen ganz fremd ist.’ Id., pp. 296-7. Tanos, ‘one of the Moqui villages, at present speak the Tegua language, which is also spoken by several of the New Mexican Pueblo Indians, which leaves but little doubt us to the common origin of all the village Indians of this country and Old Mexico.’ Arny, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1871, p. 381. ‘These Indians claim, and are generally supposed, to have descended from the ancient Aztec race, but the fact of their speaking three or four different languages would tend to cast a doubt upon this point.’ Merriwether, in Id., 1854, p. 174. ‘The words in the Zuñi language very much resemble the English.’ Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. ii., p. 348; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., p. 285.

[VI-5] Cocomaricopa, Yuma, Jalchedun and Jamajab, speak the same language. Garcés, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série ii., tom. i., p. 350; Kino, Relacion, in Id., série iv., tom. i., pp. 292-3. ‘Opas, que hablan la lengua de los Yumas y Cocomaricopas … Corre la gentilidad de éstos y de su misma lengua por los rios Azul, Verde, Salado y otros que entran el Colorado.’ Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 416. ‘La lengua de todas estas naciones es una, Cocomaricopas, Yuma, Nijora, Quicamopa.’ Sedelmair, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 852. Cuchans, or Yumas, ‘speak the same dialect’ as the Maricopas. Emory’s Rept. U. S. and Mex. Boundary Survey, p. 107; Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., pp. 101-3; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. i., p. 433. Yumas ‘no ser Nacion distinta de la Cocomaricopa, pues usan el mesmo Idioma.’ Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., p. 408; Gallatin, in Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 129; Cremony’s Apaches, p. 90. ‘The Pimos and Cocomaricopas … speaking different languages. Cutts’ Conq. of Cal., p. 189. Cosninos and Tontos, ‘leur langue aurait plus d’affinité avec celle des Mohaves et des Cuchans du Colorado.’ ‘Les Yumas, auxquels se joignent les Cocopas, les Mohaves, les Hawalcoes, et les Dieguenos. Chacune de ces tribus a une langue particulière, mais qui, jusqu’à un certain point, se rapproche de celles des tribus du même groupe.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Esquisses, pp. 28-9. ‘Gewiss ist, dass die Cocomaricópas und Yumas nur Dialecte einer und derselben Sprache reden.’ Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., p 211. ‘The Maricopas speak … a dialect of the Cocapa, Yuma, Mohave and Diegana tongue.’ Mowry, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1859, p. 361; Id., 1857, p. 302. Papagos, Pimos, and Maricopas. ‘These tribes speak a common language, which is conceded to be the ancient Aztec tongue.’ Davidson, in Id., 1865, p. 131. Pima and Maricopa. ‘Their languages are totally different, so much so that I was enabled to distinguish them when spoken.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 262. ‘Los opas, cocomaricopas, hudcoadan, yumas, cuhuanas, quiquimas, y otros mas allá del rio Colorado, se pueden tambien llamar pimas y contar por otras tantas tribus de esta nacion; pues la lengua de que usan es una misma con sola la diferencia del dilecto.’ Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., p. 554; Sonora, Rudo Ensayo, p. 103. ‘Yuma. Dialecto del Pima, lo tienen los Yumas, ó chirumas, gileños ó xileños, opas, cocopas, cocomaricopas, hudcoadanes, jamajabs ó cuesninas, ó cuismer ó cosninas ó culisnisnas ó culisnurs y los quicamopas. Cajuenche. Dialecto del pima, pertenecen á esta seccion los cucapá ó cuhanas, jallicuamai, cajuenches, quiquimas ó quihuimas, yuanes, cutganes, alchedomas, bagiopas, cuñai y quemeyá.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 353, 37;Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 264, et seq. ‘Die Yumas, deren Sprache von der Cocomericoopas … wenig verschieden ist.’ ‘Cocomericoopas, Yumas, Pimas … haben jede ihre besondere Sprache.’ Pfefferkorn, in Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 159. ‘Alike in other respects the Pima and Cocomaricopa Indians differ in language.’ Latham’s Comp. Phil., vol. viii., p. 421.

[VI-6] ’Suave al parecer, y mas fácil que no la pima, pues tiene la suave vocal el la que falta á los pimas, repitiendo ellos la u hablan su idioma cantando.’ Sedelmair, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 852. ‘Soft and melodious.’ Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 262; Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 101.

[VI-7] Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 395.

[VI-8] Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 95, et seq.; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. ii., p. 118, et seq.

[VI-9] Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 14.

[VI-10] ’La Nacion Chevet … de muy distinto idioma de los que tienen las demas Naciones.’ Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 472.

[VI-11] ’La lengua de los cajuenches es muy distinta de la yuma.’ Jalliquamais ‘aunque parece el mismo idioma que el de los cajuenches, se diferencía mucho.’ Garcés, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série ii., tom. i., pp. 247, 251.

[VI-12] ’The Cucápas, Talliguamays, and Cajuenches speak one tongue; the Yumas, Talchedums, and Tamajabs have a distinct one.’ Cortez, Hist. Apache Nations, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 124.

[VI-13] Id., p. 125.

[VI-14] ’Nun dann fünf andere ganz verschiedene, und in dem bisher entdeckten Californien übliche Sprachen (welche seynd die Laymóna, in der Gegend der Mission von Loreto, die Cotschimì, in der Mission des heil. Xaverii und anderen gegen Norden, die Utschitì, und die Pericúa in Suden, und die annoch unbekannte welche die Völker reden, so P. Linck auf seiner Reis hat angetroffen) nebst einer Menge Absprossen oder Dialekten, auf Seit gesetzt, und von der Waïcurischen allein etwas anzumerken.’ Baegert, Nachr. von Cal., pp. 176-7. ‘Tres son (dice el Padre Taravàl) las Lenguas: la Cochimi, la Pericù y la de Loreto. De esta ultima salen dos ramos, y son: la Guaycùra, y la Uchiti; verdad es, que es la variacion tanta, que … juzgarà, no solo que hay quatro Lenguas, sino que hay cinco.’ Venegas, Noticia de la Cal., tom. i., pp. 63-7. Pericui, Guaicuri, Cochimí. ‘Ognuna di queste tre Nazioni aveva il suo linguaggio proprio.’ Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., p. 109. ‘Vehitls, Coras, Pericos, Guaicuras, Cantils, Cayeyus, y otros muchos.’ ‘Los de la baja peninzula … hablan distintos idiomas pero todos se entienden.’ Revillagigedo, Carta, MS., p. 7. Edues, Cochimies, et Periuches. ‘Ces trois tribus parlent neuf dialectes différents, dérivés de trois langues-matrices.’ Pauw, Rech. Phil., tom. i., p. 168. ‘Les unes parlant la Langue Monqui … les autres la Langue Laimone.’ Picolo, Mémoire, in Recueil de Voiages au Nord, tom. iii., p. 279. ‘Dreyerley Sprachen in Californien,’ ‘die de los Picos, dann die de los Waïcuros … und endlich die de los Laymónes.’ Ducrue, in Murr, Nachrichten, p. 392. ‘Die Pericu; die Waicura mit den Dialecten Cora, Uchidie und Aripe; die Laymon; die Cochima mit 4 verschiedenen Dialecten, worunter der von S. Francesco und Borgia; die Utschita; die Ika.’ Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 57. ‘Die Perícues, dann die Monquis oder Menguis, zu welchen die Familien der Guaycúras und Coras gehören, die Cochímas oder Colímiës, die Laimónes, die Utschitas oder Vehítis, und die Icas.’ Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., p. 212. See also tom. ii., pt ii., pp. 443-4; Taylor, in Browne’s L. Cal., pp. 53-4. ‘The Cochimi, Pericu, and Loretto languages; the former is the same as the Laymon, for the Laymones are the northern Cochimies; the Loretto has two dialects, that of the Guaycuru and the Uchiti.’ Prichard’s Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., p. 553. ‘The languages of old California were: 1. The Waikur, spoken in several dialects; 2. The Utshiti; 3. The Laymon; 4. The Cochimi North and the Pericu at the southern extremity of the peninsula; 5. A probably new form of speech used by some tribes visited by Link.’ Latham’s Comp. Phil., vol. viii., p. 423. Morrell mentions three languages, the Pericues, Menquis, and Cochimies. Nar., p. 198. Forbes, quoting Father Taraval, also speaks of three languages, Pericues, Monquis, and Cochimís. Cal., p. 21. ‘Solo habia dos idiomas distintos; el uno todo lo que comprehende la parte del Mediodía, y llamaban Ado; y el otro todo lo que abraza el Departamento del Norte y llamaban Cochimi.’ Californias, Noticias, carta i., p. 99; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 182, et seq.; Baegert, in Smithsonian Rept., 1864, p. 393. Orozco y Berra also accepts three, naming them, Pericu; Guaicura, with the dialects, Cora, Conchos, Uchita and Aripa; and the Cochimí with the dialects, Edú, Didú, and Northern Cochimi. Geografía, pp. 365-7; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., p. 207, et seq.; Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 469, et seq.

[VI-15] ’La lingua Cochimi, la quale è la più distesa, è molto dificile, è piena d’aspirazioni, ed ha alcune maniere di pronunziare, che non è possibile di darle ad intendere…. La lingua Pericù è oggimai estinta…. La branca degli Uchiti, e quasi tutta quella de’ Cori si sono estinte.’ Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., pp. 110, 109. Edues and Didius, ‘sus palabras no eran de muy difícil pronunciacion, pero carecian enteramente de la f y s.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. iii., pp. 46-7. ‘Die Aussprache ist meistentheils gutturalis und narium.’ Ducrue, in Murr, Nachrichten, p. 392. Waïcuri. ‘Kann man von derselben sagen, dass sie im höchsten Grad wild sey und barbarisch … so bestehet derselben Barbarey in folgendem, und zwar—1. In einem erbärmlichen und erstaunlichen Mangel unendlich vieler Wörter … in dem Mangel und Abgang der Präpositionen, Conjunctionen, und Relativorum, das déve, oder tipitscheû, so wegen, und das tina, welches auf heisset ausgenommen…. Im Abgang des Comparativi und Superlativi, und der Wörter mehr und weniger, item, aller Adverbiorum, so wohl deren, welche von Adjectivis herkommen, als auch schier aller anderen…. Im Abgang des Modi Conjunctivi, mandativi und schier gar des optativi. Item, des verbi Passivi, oder an statt dessen, des verbi Reciproci, dessen sich die Spanier und Franzosen bedienen. Item, in Abgang der Declinationen, und zugleich der Artiklen der, die, das, etc.’ Baegert, Nachr. von Cal., pp. 177-83. See also, Smithsonian Rept., 1864, pp. 394-5.

[VI-16] Baegert, Nachr. von Cal., pp. 175-94; Id., in Smithsonian Rept., 1864, pp. 394-393; also in Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., pp. 207-14; Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iv., pp. 31-40; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 188-92; Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., pp. 484-95.

[VI-17] Hervás, Saggio Pratico, p. 125; Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., pp. 496-7; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 193-4; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., p. 222; Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., pp. 395-6; Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., p. 265.

[VI-18] Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., pp. 264-5; Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 497; Hervás, Saggio Pratico, p. 125; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 192-4; Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., pp. 395-6; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., pp. 221-2.

[VI-19] Ducrue, in Murr, Nachrichten, pp. 394-7.

[VI-20] ’Hay otra idioma llamado Cora en California, que es un dialecto del Guaicura ó Vaicura, diferente al que se habla en Jalisco.’ Pimentel, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. viii., p. 603.

[VI-21] ’All the Indian tribes of the peninsula seem to be affiliated with the Yumas of the Colorado, and with the Coras below La Paz.’ Taylor, in Browne’s L. Cal., p. 53.

[VI-22] ’Beide Sprachen, die californische und die Südamerikanische Guaycura oder Guaycuru (Mbaya) von einander gänzlich verschieden sind.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 494.

Chapter VII • The Pima, Ópata, and Ceri Languages • 4,200 Words

Pima Alto and Bajo—Pápago—Pima Grammar—Formation of Plurals—Personal Pronoun—Conjugation—Classification of Verbs—Adverbs, Prepositions, Conjunctions, and Interjections—Syntax of the Pima—Prayers in different Dialects—The Ópata and Eudeve—Eudeve Grammar—Conjugation of Active and Passive Verbs—Lord’s Prayer—Ópata Grammar—Declension—Possessive Pronoun—Conjugation—Ceri Language with its Dialects, Guaymi and Tepoca—Ceri Vocabulary.

Pima Grammar

From the Rio Gila southward, in Sonora and in certain parts of northern Sinaloa, is found the Pima language, spoken in many dialects, of which the principal divisions are the Pima alto and Pima bajo, or upper and lower Pima, and it has generally been considered one of the chief languages of northern Mexico. North of the thirty-second parallel, the Pápago is the dominant dialect of the Pima; in Sonora there are the Sobaipuri and others more or less divergent.[VII-1]’Estos se parten en altos y bajos … hasta los rios Xila y Colorado, aunque de otra banda de este hay muchos que hablan todavia el mismo idioma.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. ii., p. 216. ‘Los pimas bajos usan del mismo idioma con los altos, y estos con todas las demas parcialidades de indios que habitan los arenales y páramos de los pápagos, los amenos valles de Sobahipuris, las vegas de los rios Xila (á escepcion de los apaches) y Colorado, y aun el lado opuesto del último gran número de gentes, que á dicho del Padre Kino y Sedelmayr, no diferencian sino en el dialecto,’ Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., pp. 534-5. ‘Los opas, cocomaricopas, hudcoadan, yumas, cuhuanas, quiquimas, y otras mas allá del rio Colorado se pueden tambien llamar pimas y contar por otras tantas tribus de estar nacion; pues la lengua de que usan es una misma con sola la diferencia del dialecto.’ Id., p. 554. Sonora, Estado de la Provincia, in Id., pp. 618-19; Sonora, Papeles, in Id., p. 772. ‘Sobaypuris, y hablan en el idioma de los Pimas, aunque con alguna diferencia en la pronunciacion.’ Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., p. 396; Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 369. ‘El idioma es igual, y con respecto al de los pimas se diferencian en muy determinadas palabras.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 161; Zapata, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iv., tom. iii., p. 301, et seq. ‘Las naciones Pima, Soba y sobaipuris … es una misma y general el idioma que todos hablan, con poca diferencia de tal cual verbo y nombre’ ‘papabotas … de la misma lengua.’ Kino, Relacion, in Id., tom. i., pp. 292-3. Pimas ‘usan todos una misma lengua, pero especialmente al Norte que en todo se aventaja á los demas, mas abundente y con mas primores que al Poniente y Pimería baja; todos no obstante se entienden.’ Velarde, in Id., tom. i., p. 366. ‘El pima se divide en varios dialectos, de los cuales … el tecoripa y el sabagui.’ Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., p. 94. Orozco y Berra gives as dialects of the Pima, the Pápago, Sobaipuri, Yuma and Cajuenche. Geografía, pp. 58-9, 35-40, 345-53. Papàgos ‘die mit den Pimas dieselbe Sprache reden.’ Pfefferkorn, in Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 159. ‘Die Sprache der Sovaipure, als verwandt mit der Pima.’ Id., p. 161. ‘Aux Yumas … se rattachent aussi, quant à la langue … les Cocomaricopas et les tribus nombreuses qui, sous le nom de Pimos, s’étendent … de la même souche paraissent venir aussi les Papayes … mais dont la langue s’éloigne davantage de celle des Yumas.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Esquisses, p. 30. The Pima as compared with the languages of their northern and southern neighbors is represented as complete, full, and harmonious.[VII-2]’Esta lengua distingue par flexion el singular del plural de los nombres sustantivos; coloca de las preposiciones despues de sus regímenes y las conjunciones al fin de las preposiciones: la sintáxis es muy complicada y del todo distinta de la de las lenguas Europeas.’ Balbi, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 352; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 262. Although frequently classified with the Yuma, it is nevertheless a distinct tongue. It is closely connected with the Aztec-Sonora languages, which may be proven no less by its grammatical coincidences, than by the similarity of many of its words.[VII-3]’Sie ist unfraglich und deutlich ein Glied des sonorischen Sprachstammes; aber wieder sehr eigenthümliches, selbständiges und wichtiges Idiom.’ Buschmann, Pima-Sprache, p. 352. Family, Dohme…. Language, Pima…. Dialects, Opata, Heve, Nevome, Papagos, etc.’ Hist. Mag., vol. v., p. 236. ‘These tribes speak a common language, which is conceded to be the ancient Aztec tongue.’ Davidson, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1865, p. 131; Parker, in Id., 1869, p. 19. Following is an extract from a Pima grammar. The alphabet consists of the following letters: a, b, c, d, g, h, i, j, m, n, o, p, q, r, rh, s, t, u, v, x, y. Nearly all words end with a vowel. To form the plural, the first syllable of the singular noun is duplicated—hota, stone; hohota, stones. Exceptions to this rule occur in some few cases;—vinoy, snake; vipinoy, snakes; tuaia, girl; tusia, girls; sisi, brother; sisiki, brothers; tuvu, hare; tutuapa, hares. Gender is expressed by means of the words ubi, female, and ituoti, male. Derivatives expressing something which partakes of the nature of the primitive are formed with the affix magui;—xaivori, honey; xaivorimaqui, honeyed. For the same purpose the terminal kama is also used;—hadunikama, related to. Kama is also employed to form names of places and patronymics. Abstract words are formed with the word daga;—humatkama, man; humatkamadaga, mankind; stoa, white; stoadaga, whiteness. The particle parha, affixed to nouns implies a past condition;—nigaga, my land for planting; nigaga parha, the land for planting which was mine.

Personal Pronouns

Pima Personal Pronouns

SINGULAR.
FIRST PERSON.		SECOND PERSON.
Nom.	ani an’ani	Nom	api ap’api
Gen., Dat., and Abl.	ni	Gen., Dat., and Abl.	mu
Acc.	ni, nunu, nu	Acc.	mumu, mu
		Voc.	api

PLURAL.
Nom.	ati, at’ati	Nom., and Voc.	apimu
Gen., Dat., and Abl.,	ti	Gen., Dat., and Abl.	amu
Ac.,	ti, tutu, tu	Ac.	amumu, amu

THIRD PERSON.
He, or she,	hugai huka	They, those,	nugama, hukama

Conjugation of the Verb Aquiarida, To Count

Pima Aquiarida

PRESENT INDICATIVE.
I count,	ani haquiarida	We count,	ati haquiarida
Thou countest,	api haquiarida	You count,	apimu haquiarida
He counts,	hugai haquiarida	They count,	hugam haquiarida

IMPERFECT.		PERFECT.
I counted,	ani haquiarid cada	I have counted,	an’t’ haquiari

PLUPERFECT.
	I had counted,	an’t’haquiarid cada

FIRST FUTURE.
	I shall count,	ani aquiaridamucu, or an’t’io haquiari

SECOND FUTURE.
	I shall have counted,	an’t’ io haquiari

IMPERATIVE.
	Count thou,	haquiaridani, or hahaquiarida
	Count you,	haquiarida vorha, or gorha haquiarida

PRESENT SUBJUNCTIVE.
	If I count,	co’n’igui haquiaridana

PRESENT OPTATIVE.
	O that I may count,	dod’ an’ iki haquiaridana
	When I am counting (speaking of one person only),	haquiaridatu
	Speaking of two persons,	haquiaridada
	Having counted,	haquiaridac
	When I count, or after counting,	haquiaridaay
	He who counts,	haquiaridadama
	He who counted,	haquiaridacama
	He who has to count,	haquiaridaaguidama, or io haquiaridacama

Verbs are divided into many classes, such as singular, plural, frequentative, applicative, and compulsive. Plural-verbs—murha, to run, one person; vopobo, to run, many. Frequentatives are formed with the verb himu, to go; for example, vaita, to call; vaitahimu, to call frequently. Applicatives are made by changing the terminal vowel of the verb into i, and adding the terminal da—tubanu, to lower; tubanida, to lower something. Compulsive verbs are formed with the affix tuda—hukiaridatuda, to compel to count. A large number of adverbs are used, of which I give only a few specimens:

Pima Adverbs

Where	ua, ubai	Near here	iavu
Here	ia	High	tai
Here (moving)	ay	Yesterday	taco
Near	mia	How, as	xa, astu, xaco
Nearer	miacu	No	pima

PREPOSITIONS.
Before	vaita	Since	oiti
For	iquiti, vusio	With	bumata, buma
Upon	damana	Of	amidurhu
In	aba

CONJUNCTIONS.
And	upu, cosi	Or	aspumusi, aspi
But	posa	Then	bunoga
Because	coiva	Although	apcada

Substantives are generally placed after the adjectives. To signify possession the name of the possessor is simply prefixed—Pedro onnigga, wife of Pedro. Prepositions are affixed.[VII-4]Arte de la Lengua Névome, que se dice Pima; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., pp. 93-118; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 166-9; Coulter, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., pp. 248-50; Parry, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., pp. 461-2; Hist. Mag., vol. v., pp. 202-3; Buschmann, Pima-Sprache, pp. 357-69; Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 401. Of the different dialects there are four specimens, of which one differs to such an extent as to be hardly recognizable. Neither the names of these dialects nor the places where they were spoken are given with any of them by the authorities. The first which I give is by the missionary Father Pfefferkorn, and differs most from any of the others.

Diosch God ini my mam,dear, ami si I very schoic sorry am tat, wus towards in’my ipudakit.heart of Ant’I apotuta have done si very sia much pitana,ugly, apt’thou um me soreto punish wilt taikisa fire in pia no humac single tasch time pia not etonni burning tat.is.

The next, a Lord’s Prayer, is from a Doctrina Christiana:

T’oga ti dama ca tum’ ami da cama s’cuga m’aguna mu tuguiga, tubui divianna simu tuodidaga. Cosasi m’huga cugai kiti ti dama catum’ ami gusuda huco bupo gusudana ia duburh’ aba. Siari vugadi ti coadaga vutu ica tas’ aba cati maca. Vpu gat’ oanida pima s’cugati tuidiga cos’ as’ ati pima tuguitoa t’obaga to buy pima s’cuga tuidiga. Pima t’ huhuguida tudana vpu pima s’cuga tuidiga, co’ pi ti duguvonidani pima scuga ami durhu. Doda hapu muduna Jhs.

The next is a Lord’s Prayer from Hervás:

T’oca titauacatum ami dacama; scuc amu aca mu tukica; ta hui dibiana ma tuotidaca; cosassi mu cussuma amocacugai titamacatum apa hapa cussudana inatuburch apa mui siarim t’hukiacugai buto ca tu maca. Pim’ upu ca tukitoa pima scuca ta tuica cosas ati pima tukitoa t’oopa amidurch pima scuca tuitic; pim’ upu ca ta dakitoa co diablo ta hiatokidara; cupto ta itucuubundana pim scuc amidurch.

The fourth, also a Lord’s Prayer, is from the collection of the Mexican Geographical Society:

Chóga dáma cáta diácamá izquiáma ña meitilla tabus matúyaga cosamacai yí, dama cata gussada imidirraba Sulit ecuadaga butis maca vupuc chuan yiga cosismatito chavaga tiapisnisquantillos pinitiandaná copetullañi imisquiandura dodá maduná cetús.

From the same source I also take a Pápago Lord’s Prayer:

Pan toc momo tamcaschina apeta michucuyca Santo: anchut botonia ati chuyca: entupo hoyehui maetachui apo masima motepa cachitmo, mapotomal pami buemasitaapa, jummo tomae, boetoicusipua chuyechica, apomasi maza china sugocuita juann motupay assimi qui, jubo gibu matama cazi pachuichica, panchit borrapi. Amen.[VII-5]Pfefferkorn, in Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 164-5; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., pp. 113-15; Doctrina Christiana, in Arte de la Lengua Névome, p. 3.; Buschmann, Pima-Sprache, p. 353; Col. Polidiómica Mex., Oracion Dominical, pp. 34-5.

The Dialects of the Ópata Language

Wedged in between the Pima alto and the Pima bajo, is the Ópata, or Teguima, with its principal dialect the Eudeve. Although the Ópata and Eudeve have generally been enumerated as distinct languages, after careful comparison I think with the missionaries who were conversant with both, that it will be safe to call the one a dialect of the other. An anonymous author even says that the difference between them is not greater than between the Portuguese and Castilian, or between the French and the Provençal.[VII-6]’Á la Opata se pueden reducir los Edues y Jovas; aquellos, por diferenciar tan poco su lengua de la ópata, como la portuguesa de la castellana, ó la provenzal de la francesa.’ ‘La nacion Opata y Eudeve, que con muy poco diferencian en su idioma.’ Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., pp. 534, 494. ‘A las opatas se reducen los tovas y eudeves, poco diferentes en el idioma.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. ii., p. 216. Like the Pima, it is a branch of the Aztec-Sonora languages. As is most frequent on the Pacific Coast, classification differs greatly according to fancy; thus it is with the Ópata; its classifications have been many, and among others it has been placed with the Pima family. Many dialects are mentioned, but little is said of them. Of these there are the Teguis, Teguima, Coguinachi, Batuca, Sahuaripa, Himeri, Guazaba, and Jova.[VII-7]’É vero, che fra alcune di queste lingue si scorge una tale affinità, che da tosto a divedere, che esse son nate da una medesima madre, sicome l’Eudeve, l’Opata, e la Tarahumara nell’America settentrionale.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iv., p. 21; Hervás, Catálogo, tom. i., p. 333; Salmeron, Relaciones, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 68. ‘Auch von den, nachher anzuführenden Opata und Eudeve sieht man aus Pfefferkorn, dass sie von eben denselben Missionären bedient wurden, wie die Pima: gleichwohl sind die Sprachen derselben, so weit sich aus den V. U. schliessen lässt, sehr verschieden.’ Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 161. Eudeve ‘Ihre Verwandtschaft mit dem sonorischen Sprachstamme, als eines ächten Gliedes, mit erfreulicher Bestimmtheit beweisen.’ ‘Man kan sie (Opata) mit Ruhe und ohne viele Einschränkung als ein Glied in den sonorischen Sprachstamm einreihen.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., pp. 227, 235; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 343-5. The Ópata is represented as finished, easy to acquire, and abounding in eloquent expressions.[VII-8]’El idioma de los ópatas es muy arrogante ó elocuente en su espresion, fácil de aprender, y tiene muchas voces del castellano.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 154. Of the Eudeve dialect I insert a few grammatical remarks. In the alphabet are wanting the letters f, j, k, w, x, y, and l; vowels are pronounced as in the Spanish; nouns are declined without the aid of articles. Verbal nouns are frequently used;—hiósguadauh, painting or writing, from hiósguan, I write. Nouns as names of instruments are formed from the future active of verbs, designating the action performed by the said instrument;—métecan, I chop; future, métetze, by changing its last syllable into siven, forms métesiven—as a noun, meaning axe or chopper. In some cases the ending rina is used instead of siven;—bícusirina, flute, from bicudan, I whistle, and bihirina, shovel, from bihán, I scrape. Abstract nouns are formed with the particles ragua or súra—váde, joyously, váderagua, joy; déni, good, déniragua, goodness; dóhme, man or people; dóhmeragua, humanity. All verbs are used as nouns, and as such are declined as well as conjugated;—hiósguan, I write, also means writer; nemútzau, I bewitch, is also wizard. Adjective nouns ending with téri and ei signify quality;—bavitéri, elegant; aresumetéri, different or distinct; tasúquei, narrow. The ending ráve denotes plenitude;—sitoráve, full of honey; sitóri, honey; and ráve, full. Endings in e, o, u, signify possession;—esé, she that has petticoats; nóno, he that has a father, from nónogua, father; sutúu, he that has finger-nails, from sutú. Ca prefixed to a word reverses its meaning;—cúne, married; cacúne, not married. Sguari, affixed, denotes an augmentative;—dotzi, old man; dotzísguari, very old man.

Declension of the Word Siibi, Hawk

Declension of Hawk

Nom.	siibi	Acc.	siibíc
Gen.	siiibíque	Voc.	siibí
Dat.	siibt	Abl.	sibítze

The plural of nouns is usually formed by duplication;—dor, man or male, plural dódor; hóit, woman, hóhoit, women. Some exceptions to this rule occur;—as, doritzi, boy, plural vus, applied to both sexes, but when intended only for males, it is dódorus. In some cases females employ different words from those used by the male sex; for example, the father says to his son, noguàt, to his daughter, mórqua; the mother says to either, nótzgua; the son says to the father, nonógua; and the daughter, mósgua.

Eudeve Grammar

Personal pronouns are nee, I; nap, thou; id, at, or ar, he, or she; tamide, we; emet, or emíde, you; amét, or met, these or they. In joining pronouns with other words, elision takes place, the last letter or syllable of the pronouns being dropped.

Conjugation of the Verb Hiósguan, I Paint

Conjugation of hiósguan

PRESENT INDICATIVE.
ACTIVE.		PASSIVE.
I paint,	nee hiósguan	I am painted,	nee hiósguadauh
Thou paintest,	nap hiósguan	Thou art painted,	náp hiósguadauh
He paints,	id, or at hiósguan	He is painted,	id, or at hiósguadauh
We paint,	tamide hiósguame	We are painted,	tamide hiósguadagua
You paint,	emét hiósguame	You are painted,	emét hiósguadagua
They paint,	amet hiósguame	They are painted,	amet hiósguadagua

IMPERFECT.
I painted,	nee hiósguamru	I was painted,	nee hiósguadauhru

PERFECT.
I have painted,	nee hiósguari	I have been painted,	nee hiósguacauh
			or nee hiósguarit

PLUPERFECT.
I had painted,	nee hiósguariru	I had been painted,	nee hiósguacauhrutu

FIRST FUTURE.
I shall paint,	nee hiósguatze	I shall be painted,	nee hiósguatzidauh

	Paint thou,	hiósgua
	Paint ye,	hiósguavu
	I will see that I paint,	asmane hiósguatze
	I shall see that I be painted,	asmane hiósguatzidauh
	Even though you paint,	venésmana hiósguam
	I will that you paint,	nee eme hiósguaco naquém
	I will that thou be painted,	nee eme hiósguarico naquém
	Even though I may paint,	venésmane hiósguam
	Even though I may be painted,	venésmane hiósguadauh
	If I should paint,	nee hiósguatzern
	I should be painted,	nee hiósquatziudauhru

There are seven other kinds of verbs mentioned, such as frequentative, compulsive, applicative verbs, etc.

The numerals show more particularly a strong affinity to those of the Aztec language: 1. sei; 2. godum; 3. veidum; 4. nauoi; 5. marqui; 6. vusani; 7. seniovusáni; 8. gos návoi; 9. vesmácoi; 10. macoi.

The Lord’s Prayer

Tamo Nóno, tevíctze catzi, cannè teguà, uéhoa vitzua terádauh. Tomo canne venè hasém amo quéidagua. Amo canne hinádocauh iuhtépatz éndaugh, teníctze endahtevèn. Quécovi tamo bádagua óqui tame mic. Tame náventziuh tame piuidedo tamo canáde émca; ein tamide tamo. Ovi tamo náven tziuhdahteven. Cana tótzi Diablo tatacóritze tame huétudenta; nassa tame hipùr cadénitzeuai.[VII-9]Smith’s Gram. Heve Lang.; Hervás, in Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 165-6; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., pp. 154-67; Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., pp. 222-9.

ÓPATA GRAMMAR.

Of the Ópata, there exists a grammar written by Natal Lombardo, from which a few remarks are here given. The alphabet: a, b, ch, d, e, g, h, i, k, m, n, o, p, r, rh, s, t, th, tz, u, v, x, z. Most words end with a vowel. Long words are not rare, as chumikanahuinaguat, name of a plant; kuguesaguataguikide, spring (season); makoisenignabussanibegua, seventeen. Gender is expressed either by the addition of the word, male or female, or by distinct words. The plural is formed by duplication; the manner of duplicating varies; sometimes the first, and at others the last syllable being repeated, and very frequently letters changed;—Temachi, lad; plural, tetemachi; höre, squirrel; plural, hohore; uri, male; plural, urini; vatziguat, brother; plural, vapatziguat; maraguat, daughter; plural, mamaraguat, daughters. Ten declensions are described; they may be recognized by different endings of the genitive, which are: te, ri, si, gui, ni, tzi, ki, ku, ku, pi. The greater number of words belong to the first declension. In the 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 10th, the accusative and dative are the same as the genitive; in the 8th the genitive, which ends in ku, is formed from the accusative, while in the 9th, in which the genitive also ends in ku, the accusative and dative are like the nominative.

1st DECLENSION OF THE WORD TAT, THE SUN.

Tat

Nom.

tät

Gen.

tätte

Dat. or Acc.

tätta

2d DECLENSION OF THE WORD KUKU, THE QUAIL.

Kuku

Nom.

kuku

Gen.

kukuri

Dat. or Acc.

kukuri

8th DECLENSION OF THE WORD CHI, THE BIRD.

Chi

Nom.

chi

Gen.

chimiku

Dat. or Acc.

chimi

9th DECLENSION OF THE WORD TUTZI, THE TIGER.

Tutzi

Nom.

tutzi

Gen.

tutziku

Dat. or Acc.

tutzi

Abstract terms are formed by the affix ragua;—massi, father; massiragua, paternity; naideni, good; naideniragua, goodness. The word ahka is used for a like purpose;—uri, man; uriahka, humanity; tossai, white; tossaiahka, whiteness. To express a local noun, the syllable de is added;—denide, place of light; neomachide, difficult place. Suraua, guëua, ena, en, essa, and otze, signify much, and are used to form superlatives. Personal pronouns are:—ne, I; ta, we; ma, thou; emido, you; i or it, he or she; me, they. Possessive pronouns are:—no, mine; tamo, ours; amo, thine; emo, yours; are, araku, his; mereki, theirs.

Conjugation of the Verb ne Hio, I Paint

Ne Hio Conjugation

PRESENT INDICATIVE.
I paint,	ne hio	We paint,	ta, or tamido hio
Thou paintest,	ma hio	You paint,	emido hio
He paints,	i hio	They paint,	me hio

IMPERFECT.		PERFECT.
I painted,	ne hiokaru	I have painted,	ne hiosia, or ne hiove

PLUPERFECT.		FIRST FUTURE.
I had painted,	ne hiosiruta	I shall paint,	ne hiosea

SECOND FUTURE.
	I shall have painted,	ne hioseave

IMPERATIVE.
Paint thou,	hiotte	Paint you,	hiovu
Let him paint,	hioseai	Let them paint,	hioseame

	Painting,	hiopa, or hioko
	Having painted,	hiosaru, or hiositzi
	Having to paint,	hioseakoko, or hioseakiko
	He who shall paint,	hioseakame
	He who paints,	kiokame
	He who painted,	hiosi

As in the Eudeve, there are in this language many classes of verbs, differing mostly in endings of certain persons. Prepositions and adverbs exist in great number. Finally I give a few of the conjunctions;—guetza, although; vesé, and; nemake, also; naneguari, why, etc.

The Lord’s Prayer

Tamomas Of our father teguikaktzigua heaven in kakame he who is amo of thee tegua name santo holy ah,is, amo of thee reino kingdom tame to us makte,give, hinadoka thy will iguati here tevepa earth on ahnia be done teguikaktzi heaven in veri.so. Chiama Of all the days tamo of us guaka food veu now tame to us mak,give, tame to us neavere forgive tamo of us kainaideni bad ata as api also tamido neavere forgive tamo of us opagua,enemy, kai not tame to us taotidudare;fall let; kianaideni bad chiguadu of apita also kaktzia.[VII-10]Lombardo, in Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., pp. 407-445; Hervás, in Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 166; Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., pp. 229-236; Pimentel, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. x., pp. 288-313; Col. Polidiómica Mex., Oracion Dominical, p. 11.deliver.

Following is the Lord’s Prayer in the Jova dialect:

Dios Noiksa: Vantegueca cachi, sec jan itemijunalequa itemijunalequa motequán. Veda no parin, embeida mogitápejepa. Ennio ju güidade, naté, vite tevá, nate vanteguéca. Necho cuguírra, setata veté toomacá ento oreirá, en tobarurra, como ité yté topa oreira toon oreira seeján. Caa ton surratoga canecho jorrá sacu nuna dogüe seejan iguité caagüeta.

Supposed Ceri and Welsh Similarities

East of the Ópata and Pima bajo, on the shores of the gulf of California, and thence for some distance inland, and also on the island of Tiburon, the Ceri language with its dialects, the Guaymi and Tepoca, is spoken. Few of the words are known, and the excuse given by travelers for not taking vocabularies, is, that it was too difficult to catch the sound. It is represented as extremely harsh and guttural in its pronunciation, and well suited to the people who speak it, who are described as wild and fierce.[VII-11]’Posee un idioma gutural muy dificil de aprender.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 131. ‘Los guaimas … de la misma lengua.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. ii., p. 216. ‘Poco es la distincion que hay entre seri y upanguaima, … y unos y otros casi hablan un mismo idioma.’ Gallardo, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., pp. 889; Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Id., p. 535. It is, so far as known, not related to any of the Mexican linguistic families. As in many other languages, some have fancied they saw Welsh traces in it; one writer thought he detected similarities to Arabic, but neither of these speculations are worth anything. The Arabic relationship has been disproven by Señor Ramirez, who compared the two, and the statement regarding the Welsh is given on the hearsay of some sailors, who are said to have stated that they thought they discovered some Welsh sounds, when hearing the Ceris speak.[VII-12]’Por su idioma … se aparta completamente de la filiacion de las naciones que la rodean.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 42, 353-4. ‘Their language is guttural, and very different from any other idiom in Sonora. It is said that on one occasion, some of these Indians passed by a shop in Guaymas, where some Welsh sailors were talking, and on hearing the Welsh language spoken, stopped, listened, and appeared much interested; declaring that these white men were their brothers, for they had a tongue like their own.’ Stone, in Hist. Mag., vol. v., p. 166; Lavandera, quoted by Ramirez, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. ii., p. 148, and Ramirez, in Id., p. 149. I give here the only vocabulary which I have been able to find of this language:

Ceris Vocabulary

Woman	jidja	Horse	cai
Population	jiciri	Room (chamber)	migenman
Milk	junin	More	amen
Wine	amat	Less	tungurá
Good	tanjajipe	Little	jinás
Better	jipe

Footnotes

[VII-1] ’Estos se parten en altos y bajos … hasta los rios Xila y Colorado, aunque de otra banda de este hay muchos que hablan todavia el mismo idioma.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. ii., p. 216. ‘Los pimas bajos usan del mismo idioma con los altos, y estos con todas las demas parcialidades de indios que habitan los arenales y páramos de los pápagos, los amenos valles de Sobahipuris, las vegas de los rios Xila (á escepcion de los apaches) y Colorado, y aun el lado opuesto del último gran número de gentes, que á dicho del Padre Kino y Sedelmayr, no diferencian sino en el dialecto,’ Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., pp. 534-5. ‘Los opas, cocomaricopas, hudcoadan, yumas, cuhuanas, quiquimas, y otras mas allá del rio Colorado se pueden tambien llamar pimas y contar por otras tantas tribus de estar nacion; pues la lengua de que usan es una misma con sola la diferencia del dialecto.’ Id., p. 554. Sonora, Estado de la Provincia, in Id., pp. 618-19; Sonora, Papeles, in Id., p. 772. ‘Sobaypuris, y hablan en el idioma de los Pimas, aunque con alguna diferencia en la pronunciacion.’ Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., p. 396; Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 369. ‘El idioma es igual, y con respecto al de los pimas se diferencian en muy determinadas palabras.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 161; Zapata, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iv., tom. iii., p. 301, et seq. ‘Las naciones Pima, Soba y sobaipuris … es una misma y general el idioma que todos hablan, con poca diferencia de tal cual verbo y nombre’ ‘papabotas … de la misma lengua.’ Kino, Relacion, in Id., tom. i., pp. 292-3. Pimas ‘usan todos una misma lengua, pero especialmente al Norte que en todo se aventaja á los demas, mas abundente y con mas primores que al Poniente y Pimería baja; todos no obstante se entienden.’ Velarde, in Id., tom. i., p. 366. ‘El pima se divide en varios dialectos, de los cuales … el tecoripa y el sabagui.’ Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., p. 94. Orozco y Berra gives as dialects of the Pima, the Pápago, Sobaipuri, Yuma and Cajuenche. Geografía, pp. 58-9, 35-40, 345-53. Papàgos ‘die mit den Pimas dieselbe Sprache reden.’ Pfefferkorn, in Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 159. ‘Die Sprache der Sovaipure, als verwandt mit der Pima.’ Id., p. 161. ‘Aux Yumas … se rattachent aussi, quant à la langue … les Cocomaricopas et les tribus nombreuses qui, sous le nom de Pimos, s’étendent … de la même souche paraissent venir aussi les Papayes … mais dont la langue s’éloigne davantage de celle des Yumas.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Esquisses, p. 30.

[VII-2] ’Esta lengua distingue par flexion el singular del plural de los nombres sustantivos; coloca de las preposiciones despues de sus regímenes y las conjunciones al fin de las preposiciones: la sintáxis es muy complicada y del todo distinta de la de las lenguas Europeas.’ Balbi, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 352; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 262.

[VII-3] ’Sie ist unfraglich und deutlich ein Glied des sonorischen Sprachstammes; aber wieder sehr eigenthümliches, selbständiges und wichtiges Idiom.’ Buschmann, Pima-Sprache, p. 352. Family, Dohme…. Language, Pima…. Dialects, Opata, Heve, Nevome, Papagos, etc.’ Hist. Mag., vol. v., p. 236. ‘These tribes speak a common language, which is conceded to be the ancient Aztec tongue.’ Davidson, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1865, p. 131; Parker, in Id., 1869, p. 19.

[VII-4] Arte de la Lengua Névome, que se dice Pima; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., pp. 93-118; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 166-9; Coulter, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., pp. 248-50; Parry, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., pp. 461-2; Hist. Mag., vol. v., pp. 202-3; Buschmann, Pima-Sprache, pp. 357-69; Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 401.

[VII-5] Pfefferkorn, in Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 164-5; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., pp. 113-15; Doctrina Christiana, in Arte de la Lengua Névome, p. 3.; Buschmann, Pima-Sprache, p. 353; Col. Polidiómica Mex., Oracion Dominical, pp. 34-5.

[VII-6] ’Á la Opata se pueden reducir los Edues y Jovas; aquellos, por diferenciar tan poco su lengua de la ópata, como la portuguesa de la castellana, ó la provenzal de la francesa.’ ‘La nacion Opata y Eudeve, que con muy poco diferencian en su idioma.’ Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., pp. 534, 494. ‘A las opatas se reducen los tovas y eudeves, poco diferentes en el idioma.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. ii., p. 216.

[VII-7] ’É vero, che fra alcune di queste lingue si scorge una tale affinità, che da tosto a divedere, che esse son nate da una medesima madre, sicome l’Eudeve, l’Opata, e la Tarahumara nell’America settentrionale.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iv., p. 21; Hervás, Catálogo, tom. i., p. 333; Salmeron, Relaciones, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 68. ‘Auch von den, nachher anzuführenden Opata und Eudeve sieht man aus Pfefferkorn, dass sie von eben denselben Missionären bedient wurden, wie die Pima: gleichwohl sind die Sprachen derselben, so weit sich aus den V. U. schliessen lässt, sehr verschieden.’ Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 161. Eudeve ‘Ihre Verwandtschaft mit dem sonorischen Sprachstamme, als eines ächten Gliedes, mit erfreulicher Bestimmtheit beweisen.’ ‘Man kan sie (Opata) mit Ruhe und ohne viele Einschränkung als ein Glied in den sonorischen Sprachstamm einreihen.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., pp. 227, 235; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 343-5.

[VII-8] ’El idioma de los ópatas es muy arrogante ó elocuente en su espresion, fácil de aprender, y tiene muchas voces del castellano.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 154.

[VII-9] Smith’s Gram. Heve Lang.; Hervás, in Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 165-6; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., pp. 154-67; Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., pp. 222-9.

[VII-10] Lombardo, in Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., pp. 407-445; Hervás, in Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 166; Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., pp. 229-236; Pimentel, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. x., pp. 288-313; Col. Polidiómica Mex., Oracion Dominical, p. 11.

[VII-11] ’Posee un idioma gutural muy dificil de aprender.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 131. ‘Los guaimas … de la misma lengua.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. ii., p. 216. ‘Poco es la distincion que hay entre seri y upanguaima, … y unos y otros casi hablan un mismo idioma.’ Gallardo, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., pp. 889; Sonora, Descrip. Geog., in Id., p. 535.

[VII-12] ’Por su idioma … se aparta completamente de la filiacion de las naciones que la rodean.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 42, 353-4. ‘Their language is guttural, and very different from any other idiom in Sonora. It is said that on one occasion, some of these Indians passed by a shop in Guaymas, where some Welsh sailors were talking, and on hearing the Welsh language spoken, stopped, listened, and appeared much interested; declaring that these white men were their brothers, for they had a tongue like their own.’ Stone, in Hist. Mag., vol. v., p. 166; Lavandera, quoted by Ramirez, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. ii., p. 148, and Ramirez, in Id., p. 149.

Chapter VIII • North Mexican Languages • 5,900 Words

The Cahita and its Dialects—Cahita Grammar—Dialectic Differences of the Mayo, Yaqui, and Tehueco—Comparative Vocabulary—Cahita Lord’s Prayer—The Tarahumara and its Dialects—The Tarahumara Grammar—Tarahumara Lord’s Prayer in two Dialects—The Concho, The Toboso, The Julime, The Piro, The Suma, The Chinarra, The Tubar, The Irritila—Tejano—Tejano Grammar—Specimen of the Tejano—The Tepehuana—Tepehuana Grammar and Lord’s Prayer—Acaxée and its Dialects, The Topia, Sabaibo, and Xixime—The Zacatec, Cazcane, Mazapile, Huitcole, Guachichile, Colotlan, Tlaxomultec, Tecuexe, and Tepecano—The Cora and its Dialects, The Muutzicat, Teacuaeitzica, and Ateacari—Cora Grammar.

We now come to the four Aztec-Sonora languages before mentioned, the Cora, the Cahita, the Tepehuana, and the Tarahumara, and their neighbors. I have already said that notwithstanding the Aztec element contained in them, they are in no wise related to each other.

Numerous Languages in Sinaloa

In the northern part of Sinaloa, extending across the boundary into Sonora, the principal language is the Cahita, spoken in many dialects, of most of which nothing is transmitted to us. Numerous languages, which were perhaps only dialects, are named in this region, and by some classed with the Cahita, but the information regarding them is vague and contradictory. No vocabularies or other specimens of them can be obtained, nor can I find anywhere mention that any were ever written. Of these there are the Zoe, the Guazave, the Vacoregue, the Batucari, the Aibino, the Ocoroni, which are mentioned as related, as also the Zuaque and Tehueco, and the Comoporis and Ahome. There are also the Mocorito and Petatlan, both distinct; the Huite, the Ore, the Varogio, the Tauro, the Macoyahui, the Troe, the Nio, the Cahuimeto, the Tepague, the Ohuero, the Chicorata, the Basopa, and two distinct tongues spoken at the Mission San Andres de Conicari, and four at the Mission of San Miguel do Mocorito.[VIII-1]Mocorito, Petatlan and Ocoroni are ‘gentes de varias lenguas.’ Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 34. Ahome are ‘gente de diferente lengua llamada Zoe.’ Zoes ‘son de la misma lengua con los Guaçaues.’ Id., p. 145. ‘Comoporis los quales aunque eran de la misma lengua de los mansos Ahomes.’ Id., p. 153. ‘Huites de diferente lengua’ from the Cinaloas. Id., p. 207. Zuaques and Tehuecos ‘ser todos de una misma lengua.’ Batuca ‘de una lengua no dificil, y parecida mucho á la de Ocoroiri.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. ii., pp. 10, 186. ‘La lengua es ore.’ ‘Varogia y segun se ha reconocido es lo mismo que la taura, aunque varia algo principalmente en la gramática.’ ‘La lengua es particular macoyahui con que son tres las lenguas de este partido.’ In San Andres de Conicari ‘la lengua es particular y distinta de la de los demas pueblos si bien todos los demas de ellos entienden la lengua tepave, y aun la caita aunque no la hablan.’ ‘La lengua es particular que llaman troes.’ ‘La gente en su idioma es guazave.’ ‘La lengua es distinta y particular que llaman nio.’ ‘Conversan entre sí distintas las lenguas de cahuimetos y ohueras.’ ‘Lenguas que hablan entre sí y son chicurata y basopa.’ San Miguel de Mocorito ‘de cuatro parcialidades y distintas lenguas.’ Zapata, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iv., tom. iii., pp. 363-409. ‘Los misioneros … colocaban en las misiones de la lengua cahita á los sinaloas, hichucios, zuaques, biaras, matapanes y tehuecos.’ ‘El ahome y el comopori son dialectos muy diversos ó lenguas hermanas del guazave.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 35; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 154-7; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 175. The only dialects of the Cahita, regarding which a few notes exist, and which at the same time appear to have been the principal ones, according to the best authorities, are the Mayo, Yaqui, and Tehueco.[VIII-2]’La nacion Hiaqui y por consecuencia la Mayo y del Fuerte, … que en la sustancia son una misma y de una propia lengua.’ Cancio, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iv., tom. ii., p. 246. Mayo and Yaqui: ‘Su idioma por consiguìente es el mismo, con la diferencia de unas cuantas voces.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 82. Mayo ‘su lengua es la misma que corre en los rios de Çuaque y Hiaqui.’ Yaqui ‘que es la mas general de Cinaloa.’ Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, pp. 237, 287; Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 286. ‘La lengua cahita es dividida en tres dialectos principales, el mayo, yaqui y tehueco; ademas hay otros secundarios.’ Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 485. ‘Tres dialectos principales, el zuaque, la maya y el yaqui.’ Balbi, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 35; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Esquisses, p. 31. The Cahita language is copious, but will not readily express polite sentiments.[VIII-3]’Su idioma es muy franco, nada dificil de aprenderse, y susceptible de reducirse á las reglas gramaticales de cualquiera nacion civilizada.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 75. Father Ribas says that the Yaquis always speak very loudly and arrogantly, and that when he asked them to lower their voice, they answered: “Dost thou not see that I am a Yaqui?” which latter word signifies, ‘he who speaks loudly.'[VIII-4]’En hablar alto, y con brio singulares, y grandemente arrogantes.’ ‘No vès que soy Hiaqui: y dezianlo, porque essa palabra, y nombre, significa, el que habla a gritos.’ Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 285.

A grammar of the Cahita was written in the year 1737, of which I give here an extract. The alphabet consists of the following letters: a, b, ch, e, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, r, s, t, u, v, y, z, tz.

There are three declensions; two for nouns, and the third for adjectives. To the first belong those words which end in a vowel, and also the participles ending with me and u; to the second, those ending with a consonant. Nouns ending with a vowel, and adjectives, form the plural by appending an m to the singular;—tabu, rabbit; tabum, rabbits. Those ending with a consonant affix im, and those ending with t affix zim;—paros, hare; parosim, hares; uikit, bird; uikitzim, birds. The personal pronouns are: inopo, neheriua, neheri, nehe, ne, I; itopo, iteriua, itee, te, we; empo, eheriua, eheri, ehee, e, thou; empom, emeriua, emeri, emee, em, you; uahaa, uahariua, uahari, he; uameriua, uameri, uamee, im, they.

Conjugation of the Verb to Love

To Love, Cahita

PRESENT INDICATIVE.
I love,	ne eria	We love,	te eria
Thou lovest,	e eria	You love,	em eria
He loves,	eria	They love,	im eria

IMPERFECT.		PERFECT.
I loved,	ne eriai	I have loved,	ne eriak

PLUPERFECT.		FIRST FUTURE.
I had loved,	ne eriakai	I shall love,	ne erianake

SECOND FUTURE.
	I shall have loved,	ne eriasunake

IMPERATIVE.
	Love thou,	e eria, or e eriama
	Let him love,	eria, or eriama
	Love you,	em eriabu, or em eriamabu
	Let them love,	im eriabu, or im eriamabu

PRESENT SUBJUNCTIVE.
	If I love,	ne eriauaua, or eriana

OPTATIVE.
	O that I may love,	netziyo eriayo

PRESENT PARTICIPLE.
	Loving,	eriakari, eriayo, eriako, or eriakako

INFINITIVE PASSIVE.
	To be loved,	erianaketeka, or erianakekari

He who loves,	eriame	He who was loved,	eriau
He who has loved,	eriakame	He who had loved,	eriakau
He who will love,	erianakeme

Of the many prepositions I only insert the following:—

Cahita Prepositions

To	ui	Below	vetukuni, tukuni
In	tzi	Toward	venukutzi, patiua
With	ye	For	vetziu
Before	uepatzi, patzi	Within uahiua
Above vepa	Whence	kuni, uni

Cahita Conjunctions

CONJUNCTIONS.
Also	vetzi, suri, huneri, soko	As if	siua
Although	mautzi	Thus	huleni
But	vitzi, tepa	Besides	ioentoksoko, ientoik
Not even	tepesan	If	sok

The dialectic differences between the Mayo, Yaqui, and Tehueco are as follows;—the Yaquis and Mayos use the letter h, where the Tehuecos use s when it occurs in the middle of a word, and is followed by a consonant;—tuhta, by the Tehuecos is pronounced tusta. Other words also, by some are pronounced short, while others pronounce them long. The interjection of the vocative is with some hiua, and with others me. The pronoun nepo, the Yaquis use instead of inopo. The Mayos use the imperfect as before given; the Tehuecos end it with t, and the Yaquis with n. The pluperfect of the Tehuecos ends with k; that of the Yaquis with kam; that of the Maya with kai.

To illustrate dialectic differences, I insert a short comparative vocabulary, made up from a dictionary, a doctrina, and from words of the Mayo and two Yaqui dialects:

Mayo and Yaqui Dialects

	DICTIONARY.	DOCTRINA.	MAYO.	YAQUI.	YAQUI.
Father	achai	atzai	hechai	achay	achai
Our	itom	itom	itom	itom	itom
Be	katek	katek	katek	katek	katek
Respected	aioiore	ioiori	llori	llori	iori
Thine	em	em	em	em	em
Name	tehua	tehuam	tegam	teguam	teguam
Bread	buahuame	buaieu	buanakem	buailem	buaye
Daily	matzukve	makhukve	makehut	matehui	machuk
Give	amaka	amika	amika	amika	mika
To day	ieni	ieni	hene	ian	hien
Of	vetana	betana	betana	betana	betana

The Lord’s Prayer in the Cahita:

Itom Our atzai father teuekapo heaven in katekame he who is emtehuam thy name checheuasu very much ioioriua,be respected, itom ipeisana to us that he may come emiauraua thy kingdom emuarepo thy will imbuiapo earth in anua let it be done aman also teuekapo anua heaven in is done eueni.as. Makhukve Each day itom our buaieu bread ieni to-day itom to us amika,give, itome to us sok also alulutiria forgive itom us kaalanekau sins itome we sok also alulutiria we forgive eueni as itom our beherim enemies kate not sok and itom to us butia lead huena fall kutekom temptation uoti:in: emposi thou aman also itom us ioretua save katuri no good (bad) betana.of.

The Lord’s Prayer in the Yaqui dialect:

Ytoma chay teque canca tecame emteguam cheheguasullorima yem iton llejosama. Emllauragua embalepo ynim buiajo angua. Aman teguecapo anguaben matehui itom buallem yan sitoma mica. Sor y toma a hitaria cala ytom á hitaria y topo á litariame ytom begerim catuise ytom bulilae contegotiama, ca juena cuchi emposu juchi aman ytom lloretuane caturim betana. Amen Jesus.[VIII-5]Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., pp. 456-91, Hervás, in Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 157-8; Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., pp. 211-18; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 260-87; Col. Polidiómica Mex., Oracion Dominical, p. 49.

Grammar of the Tarahumara Language

East of the Cahita, in the states of Chihuahua, Sonora, and Durango, an uncivilized and barbarous people inhabit the Sierra Madre, who speak the Tarahumara tongue, which contains the same Aztec element as the Cahita, but is otherwise, as previously stated, a distinct language. The principal dialects are the Varogio, Guazapare and Pachera.[VIII-6]’Varogia y segun se ha reconocido es lo mismo que la taura aunque varia algo principalmente en la gramática.’ Guazapare ‘la lengua es la misma aunque ya mas parecida á la de los taraumares.’ Zapata, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iv., tom. iii., pp. 388, 390, 334, et seq.; Steffel, in Murr, Nachrichten, pp. 296-300; Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 592; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 363; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 34. The Tarahumara is a rather difficult language to acquire, mainly owing to its pronunciation. The final syllables of words are frequently omitted or swallowed, and sometimes even the first syllables or letters. The accentuation also differs much, nouns generally being accentuated on the penultimate, and verbs on the ultimate. The alphabet consists of the following letters: a, b, ch, e, g, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, r, s, t, u, v, y. These letters, and also the following grammatical remarks refer specially to the language as spoken in Chinipas. Other dialects have the letter h in place of j or r, and z for s. The plural of nouns is formed by duplicating a syllable;—mukí, woman; mumukí, women; or, in some cases an adverb, indicating the plural, is appended. Patronymics form the plural, by duplicating the last syllable. The particle gua also indicates the plural. The possessive case is formed by annexing the syllable ra to the thing possessed;—Pedro bukúra, house of Pedro. Comparatives are expressed by adding the terminal be;—gara, good; garabé, better; and superlatives by simply putting a heavier accent on the comparative terminal;—reré, low; rerebé, lower; rerebéé, lowest. Personal pronouns are: nejé, I; mujé, thou; senú, he; tamujé or ramujé, we; emejé or emé, you; güepuná, they.

Conjugation of the Verb to Count

To Count, Tarahumara

PRESENT INDICATIVE.
I count,	nejé tará	We count,	ramujé tará
Thou countest,	mujé tará	You count,	emejé tará
He counts,	senú tará	They count,	guepuná tará

PERFECT.		PLUPERFECT.
I have counted,	nejé taráca	I had counted,	nejé tarayéque

FIRST FUTURE.		SECOND FUTURE.
I shall count,	nejé tarára	I shall have counted,	nejé taragópera

IMPERATIVE.
Count thou,	tará	Let them count,	tarára
Count you,	tarási	Do not count,	caté tarási
Let us count,	tarayéque

PRESENT SUBJUNCTIVE.
If I count,	sonecá tarára	If we count,	sotamenecá tarára
If thou count,	somucá tarára	If they count,	sopucá tarára
If he count,	sosenucá tarára

IMPERFECT.
	If I did count,	sonecá tarareyéque

He who counts,	tarayámeque	They who have to count,	taraméri
Counting,	taroyó	He who has to count,	tarabéri
Having counted,	taraságo[VIII-7]Tellechea, Compendio Gram. del Idioma Tarahumar, pp. 2-3.

Of the different dialects there are five specimens, all Lord’s Prayers, a comparison of which will show their variations. The first is from Father Steffel:

Tamí Nonó, mamú reguí guamí gatíkí, tamí noinéruje mú reguá seliméa rekíjena, tamí neguáruje mú jelalikí henná guetschikí, mapú hatschíbe réguega quamí. Tamí nutútuje hipelâ, tamí guecáuje tamí guikelikí, matamé hatschíbe réguega tamí guecáuje putsé tamí guikejámeke, ké tá tamí sátuje, telegatígameke mechcá hulá. Amen.

The second is from Tellechea, who lived in Chinipas and at Zapópan:

Tamú nonó repá regiiegáchi atígameque muteguárarí santo níreboa, mu semárarí regiiegáchi atigá, tamú jurá muyerarí jenagiiichíqui mapú regiiegá eguarígua repá regiiegáchi. Sesenú ragiiê tamú nitugára, jipe ragiiê tamí nejá, tami cheligiie tamucheína yorí yomá matameregiiegiá, cheligué tamú ayoriguámeque uché mapú requí chàti ju mecá mu jurá, mapú tamí tayoràbua quéco.

The third is in the dialect spoken in the district of Mina:

Taminonó tehuastiqui tehuara santi riboa razihuachi tamuperá arimihuymira nahuichi chumiricá tehuanehuario teamonetellá sinerahué hiperahuí tamenejá. Seoriqui cahuillé chumaricá cahuillé quiamoqué tarubé chimerá chiniariqui mastí nahuchimoba. Amen Jesus.

Tarahumara Lord’s Prayers

For the next two no localities are given:

Tami nono guami repá reguegachi atiame: tá cheiquichi ju, màpu müreg uéga repá asagá mu atiqui: Jená ibi, guichimòba quima neogarae mu naguára; mu llelá litae guichimòba mü llolára guali mü cii mollenara, mi, repá reguegachi. Amen Jesus.

Hono tami niguëga matu ati crepa: guebrucá nilrera que mubreguá. Tami nagüibra que munetebrichi, nilrelra que mu el rabrichi gená güichimoba: mapu breguegal repa. Brami goguáme epilri bragüe brame jipeyá, brami güecagüe. Mata igui güicá mapu bregüega bramegé. Güecagüe mapu brami güique ta nobri brami guichavari que chitichi natabrichi. Habri brami guaini mane brisiga equimé. Amen Isuis.[VIII-8]Tellechea, Compendio Gram. del Idioma Tarahumar; also in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. iv., pp. 145-68, and in Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., pp. 366-400; Steffel, Tarahumarisches Wörterbuch, in Murr, Nachrichten, pp. 296-374; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 260-287; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 144-54; Col. Polidiómica Mex., Oracion Dominical, pp. 40-43.

Although in possession of Tellechea’s grammar, Gallatin denies the connection between the Tarahumara and the Aztec.[VIII-9]’Have no resemblance with the Mexican.’ Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 4. ‘This (the Tarahumara) has not in its words any affinity with the Mexican; and the people who speak it have a decimal arithmetic.’ Id., p. 203. ‘Ihre Aehnlichkeit mit dem Mexikanischen … ist doch gross genug.’ Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 143; Wilhelm von Humboldt, in Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., pp. 46-50. I give here some of their grammatical resemblances. These are, the incorporation of the noun with the verb in some cases; the combination of two verbs, the dropping of the original end-syllables when joining or incorporating several words together, the formation of the plural by duplication, and the traces of a reverential end syllable. All these are important points, and combined with the similarity—in some cases even identity—of a great number of words, they make the relationship or traces of the Aztec language in the Tarahumara incontestable.[VIII-10]Wilhelm von Humboldt, in Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., pp. 50.

Passing to the north-eastern part of Mexico I enter a totally unknown region, of whose languages mention is made, but nothing more. Neither vocabularies, nor grammars, nor any other specimens of them exist, and in most cases it is even difficult to fix the exact geographical location of the people who are reported to have spoken them. Of these I name first the Concho, which language is reported to have been a dialect of the Aztec, but this is denied by Hervás, who had his information from the missionary Palacios, although the latter admits that the people spoke the Aztec. Their location is stated to have been near the Rio Concho.[VIII-11]Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. ii., p. 58; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 324-5; Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 172. In the Bolson de Mapimi, the Toboso language is named. This people are reported to have understood the language of the Zacatecs and the Aztecs; and furthermore, to have had their own distinct tongue.[VIII-12]Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., p. 348; Pascual, in Hist. Doc. Mex., série iv., tom. iii., p. 201; Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 172; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 308-9. Other idioms mentioned near the same region are the Hualahuise, Julime, Piro, Suma, and Chinarra.[VIII-13]Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 309, 327; Col. Polidiómica Mex., Oracion Dominical, p. 36. Of the Piro I find the following Lord’s Prayer:

Quitatác nasaul e yapolhua tol húy quiamgiana mi quiamnarinú. Jaquie mugilley nasamagui hikiey quiamsamaé, mukiataxám, hikiey, hiquiquiamo quia inaé, huskilley nafoleguey, gimoréy, y apol y ahuléy, quialiey, nasan e pomo llekey, quiale mahimnague yo sé mahi kaná rrohoy, se teman quiennatehui mukilley, nani, nani emolley quinaroy zetasi, nasan quianatehuey pemcihipompo y, qui solakuey quifollohipuca. Kuey maihua atellan, folliquitey. Amen.

The Irritila, which was spoken by a number of tribes, called by the Spaniards the Laguneros, inhabiting the country near the Missions of Parras, is another extinct tongue.[VIII-14]Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 309. In Coahuila, the Tejano or Coahuiltec language is found. A short manual for the use of the priests was written in this language by Father García, and from it a few grammatical observations have been drawn by Pimentel.

Extract from the Coahuiltec Grammar

The letters used are a, c, ch, e, g, h, i, j, l, m, n, o, p, q, s, t, u, y, tz. The pronunciation is similar to that of some of the people who inhabit the Northwest Coast, as the Nootkas, Thlinkeets, and others. A kind of clicking sound produced with the tongue, which García designates by an apostrophe, thus—c’, q’, t’, p’, l’. The c’, and q’, are pronounced with a rasping sound from the root of the tongue; t’ with a click with the point of the tongue against the teeth, etc. There is no plural in the language except such as is expressed by the words many, all, and some. Pronouns are tzin, I; jamin, or am, thou; nami, mine; ja, thine; jami, ours. Interrogation is expressed by the letter e after the verb;—japtû pôé? are you a father? po being the verb. Negation is expressed by ojua, if it stands for ‘no’ alone, but if it is joined to a verb it is expressed by ajâmfollowing the verb, and if the verb ends with a vowel, by yajâm. The Tejano is divided into several dialects which vary chiefly in the different pronunciation of some words: as for che they say chi, or so for se, cue instead of co, etc. The following soul-winning dogma with the translation is given as a specimen of the language.

Mej t’ oajâm pitucuêj pînta pilapâm chojâi pilchê guatzamôjuajâmaté, pilâpajuáj sauj chojai: Mej t’ oajâm pitucuêj pilapôujpacô san paj guajátam atê; talôm apnán pan t’ oajâm tucuet apcué tucué apajái sanché guasáyajám: sajpám pinapsá pitachîjô, mai cuân tzam aguajtá, namo, namo t’ oajâm tucuém mâisájâc mem; t’ ájacat mem jatâlam ajam é?

And there in hell there is nothing to eat, nor any sleep, nor rest; there is no getting out of hell; the great fire of hell will never be finished. If thou hadst died with those sins, thou wouldst be already there in hell; then, why art thou not afraid?[VIII-15]Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., pp. 409-413.

The Tubar is another idiom which was spoken near the head-waters of the Rio Sinaloa. Ribas affirms that two totally distinct languages are spoken by this people. From a Lord’s Prayer preserved in this tongue Mr Buschmann after careful comparison has concluded that the Tubar is another member of the Aztec-Sonora group, showing, as it does, unmistakeable Aztec traces. I insert the Lord’s Prayer with translation.

Ite Our cañar father tegmuecarichin heaven in catemat art imit thy tegmuarat name militurabà teochigualac;be praised; imit thy huegmica kingdom carin iti us to bacachinassisaguin,come, imit thy avamunarir will echu here nañigualac be done imo as cuigan well as amo there nachic is done tegmuecarichin;heaven; ite our cokuatarit breadessemer taniguarit daily iabba to-day ite us micam;give; ite our tatacoli sins ikiri forgive atzomua as ikirirain we forgive ite us bacachin against cale evil kuegmua previously nañiguacantem have done caisa not ite us nosam lead baca in tatacoli sin bacachin of ackiròevil muetzerac deliver ite.[VIII-16]’Tienen estos indios dos lenguas totalmente distintas: la una, y que mas corre entre ellos, y demas gente, es de las que yo tengo en este partido, con que les hablo, y me entienden … la otra es totalmente distinta.’ Hervás, Catálogo, tom. i., p. 320. Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 118; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 139. ‘Zwar voll von Fremdheit und sehr für sich dasteht, aber doch als ein wirkliches sonorisches Glied, bei bestimmten Gemeinschaften mit den anderen und als vorzugsweise reich an aztekischen Stoff ausgestattet…. Ihre Ähnlichkeiten neigen abwechselnd gegen die Cora, Tarahumara, und Cahita, besonders gegen die beiden letzten, auch Hiaqui; der Tepeguana bleibt sie mehr fremd.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., pp. 164, 170-1.us.

The following is a Lord’s Prayer of the Tubar dialect spoken in the district of Mina in Chihuahua.

Hite cañac temo calichin catema himite muhará huiturabá santoñetará himitemoh acarí hay sesahui hitebacachin hitaramaré hechinemolac amo cuira pan amotemo calichin hítecocohatari éseme tan huaric. Llava hitemicahin tatacoli higuíli hite nachi higuiriray hitebacach in calquihuan nehun conten hitehohui caltehue cheraca tatacol bacachin hiqu ipó calquihuá ñahuité baquit ebacachin calaserac. Amen Jesus.[VIII-17]Col. Polidiómica Mex., Oracion Dominical, p. 47.

Tepehuana Grammar

In the state of Durango and extending into parts of Jalisco, Chihuahua, Coahuila and Sonora, is spoken the Tepehuana language.[VIII-18]Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 673; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 319; Museo Mex., tom. iii., p. 269; Zapata, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iv., tom. iii., pp. 310-315; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 34, 320; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 138; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., p. 43; Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 162; Hervás, Catálogo, tom. i., p. 327. Like the Tarahumara it is guttural and pronounced in a rather sputtering manner. The Tepehuanes speak very fast, and often leave off or swallow the end syllables, which occasioned much trouble to the missionaries, who on that account could not easily understand them. Another difficulty is the accentuation, as the slightest variation of accent will change the meaning of a word.[VIII-19]’La pronunciacion es muy gutural y basta el mas ligero cambio en ella para que cambien de sentido las palabras.’ Rinaldini, Gramatica, in Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., p. 46; Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 36. The following alphabet is used to represent the sound of the Tephuana, a, b, ch, d, e, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, sc, t, u, v, y. In the formation of words many vowels are frequently combined, as, ooo, bone; iiuie, to drink. Long words are of frequent occurrence as—soigulidadatudadamo, difficult; meit sciuguidodadaguitodadamoe, continually. The letter d appears to be very frequently used, as in the word—toddascidaraga, or doadidamodaraga, fright. To form the plural of words, the first syllable is duplicated. Personal pronouns are;—aneane, or ane, I; api, thou; eggue, he; atum, we; apum, you; eggama, they; in, mine; u, thine; di, or de, his; ut, ours; um, yours.

Conjugation of the Verb to Say

To Say, Tarahumara

PRESENT INDICATIVE.
I say,	aneane aguidi	We say,	atum aguidi
Thou sayest,	api aguidi	You say,	apum aguidi
He says,	eggue aguidi	They say, eggam aguidi

IMPERFECT.		PERFECT.
I said,	aneane aguiditade	I have said,	aguidianta or aneaneanta aguidi

FIRST FUTURE.		SECOND FUTURE.
I shall say,	aneane aguidiague	I shall have said,	aneane aquidiamokue

IMPERATIVE.
	Let me say,	aguidiana ane
	Say thou,	aguidiani, or aguidiana api
	Let him say,	aguidiana eggue
	Let us say,	aguiuiana atum
	Say you,	aguidiana apum, or aguidavoramoe
	Let them say,	aguidiana eggam

	I may say,	aneane aguidana
	I should say,	aneane aguidaguitade
	I should have said,	aneane aguidaguijatade
	If I should say,	aneane aguidaguiague

PARTICIPLE.
Saying,	aguidimi	Having said,	aguidati
He is saying,	aguidimijatade

In some places the ending of the imperfect indicative is kade instead of tade.

Conjunctions

CONJUNCTIONS.
And	amider
As if	appia na
Also	jattika, kat
And for that	ikaidiatut
Or	sciupu
Although	tumasci, tume
For which	ukaidi

The Lord’s Prayer

Utogga Our father atemo who in tubaggue heaven dama above santusikamoe sanctified be uggue he ututugaraga thy name duviana come uguiere thy kingdom api thou odduna do gutuguitodaraga thy will tami as well dubur earth dama above tubaggue.heaven. Udguaddaga Our food ud to us makane give scibi to-day ud to us joigudane forgive ud our sceadoadaraga sins addukate as joigude we forgive jut our jaddune debtors maitague not daguito tempt ud.[VIII-20]Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., pp. 46-68.us.

The roughest and most inaccessible part of the Sierra Madre, in the state of Durango, is the seat of the Acaxee language, which from this centre spreads, under different names and dialects, into the neighboring states. Among these dialects are mentioned the Topia, Sabaibo, Xixime, Hume, Mediotaquel and Tebaca.[VIII-21]Sabaibos ‘eran de la misma lengua y Nacion Acaxee.’ Ribas, Hist. de los Trivmphos, pp. 471, 491. Sabaibos ‘distinta nacion, aunque del mismo idioma’—Acaxee. Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 422. ‘Humes, nacion distinta de los xiximes aunque tienen una misma lengua.’ Alonso del Valle, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iv., tom. iii., p. 96. ‘Me parece que tienen afinidad las lenguas topia, acajee y tepehuana, las quales, como tambien la de Parras, son dialectos de la Zacateca.’ Hervás, Catálogo, tom. i., p. 327. ‘Im Norden von Tepehuana enthält die gebirgige Provinz Topia um den 25° N. Br. ausser der lingua Topia und der damit verwandten Acaxee, noch im Norden der letzteren die Xixime, Sicuraba, Hina und Iluime als Sprachen ebenso vieler verschiedener in der Nähe der Topia und Acaxee wohnenden Völkerschaften.’ Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 138-9. Castañeda mentions in these regions the Tahus, Pacasas, and Acaxas languages, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 150-3; Zapata, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iv., tom. iii., pp. 415-17; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 12-13, 319-20; Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., pp. 173-4. Some writers claim that the Acaxee with all its differences is related to the Mexican, while others, among them Balbi, make it a distinct tongue. As neither vocabularies nor other specimens of it exist, the real fact cannot be ascertained. The missionaries say that the Aztec language was spoken and understood in these parts. In Zacatecas is mentioned as the prevailing tongue the Zacatec, besides which some authors speak of the Cazcane as a distinct idiom, while others aver that the Cazcanes and Zacatecs were one people. Besides these there are adjoining them the Mazapile, Huitcole, and Guachichile, of none of which do I find any specimens or vocabularies.[VIII-22]’Indios cascanes que son los Zacatecas.’ ‘Xuchipila que entendian la lengua de los Zacatecos.’ Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., p. 234; Bernardez, Descrip. Zacatecas, p. 23. ‘Cazcanes, qui ad fines Zacatecarum degunt, lingua moribusque á caeteris diversi: Guachachiles itidem idiomate differentes; Denique Guamarœ, quorum idioma supra modum concisum, difficilime addiscitur.’ Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 281. ‘La lengua mexicana que es la generica de toda la Provincia.’ Arlegui, Chrón. Zacatecas, p. 52. ‘Sobre el Cascon ó Zacateco, no creo que hubiera sido ni aun dialecto del mexicano, sino que era el mismo mexicano hablado por unos rústicos que estropeaban las palabras y que les daban distínto acento.’ Huacbichiles, Tejuejue and Tlajomolteco ‘Sobre estos idiomas, ó si les considera dialectos, juzgo que no existieron.’ Romero Gil, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. viii., p. 499; Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 676; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 159. I also find mentioned in Zacatecas the Colotlan, and in Jalisco the Tlaxomulteca, Tecuexe, and Tepecano.[VIII-23]Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 61.

The Cora Language and Its Dialects

In that portion of the state of Jalisco which is known by the name of Nayarit, the Cora language is spoken. It is divided into three dialects; the Muutzicat, spoken in the heart of the mountains; the Teacuaeitzica, on the mountain slopes; and the Cora, or Ateacari, near the mouth of the Rio Nayarit, or Jesus María.[VIII-24]Apostólicos Afanes, cap. vii., p. 56. ‘Dentro de Reyno de la Galicia quedaron algunos otras Naciones como son los Cocas, Tequexes, Choras, Tecualmes y Nayaritas, y otras que despues de pacíficada la tierra han dejado de hablarse por que ya reducidos los de la lengua Azteca, que era la major nacion se han mixturado de suerte que ya todos las mas hablan solo una lengua en toda la Galicia excepta en la Provincia del Nayarit.’ Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., p. 8. ‘La lengua Cora, que es la del Nayar.’ Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 89; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 39, 281-2; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 131-2. The Aztec element, which is stronger and more apparent in the Cora than in any other of the three Aztec-Sonora languages, has been recognized by many of the earliest writers.[VIII-25]’La lengua mas comun del pais es la chota aunque muy interpolada y confundida hoy con la Mexicana.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. iii., p. 197. ‘Muchos vocablos de la lengua mexicana, y algunos de la castellana, los han corisado hacièndolos propios de su idioma tan antiguamente; que ya hoy en dia corren, y se tienen por Coras.’ Ortega, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. viii., p. 563. ‘No carezco totalmente de datos para creer que los indios nayares son pimas, ó al menos descendientes de ellos.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 39. ‘Es idioma hermano del azteca, tal vez fundado en algunas palabras que tienen la forma ó las raices del mexicano; nosotros creemos que estas semejanzas no provienen de comunidad de orígen de las dos lenguas, sino de las relaciones que esas tribus mantuvieron por espacio de mucho tiempo.’ Id., p. 282. ‘La core offrent très-peu d’affinité avec les autres langues américaines.’ Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 449. ‘Die Cora … bewährt ihre Verwandtschaft vornehmlich durch die unverkennbare Gleichheit einer nur diesen beiden Sprachen gemeinschaftlichen Formations-Weise des Verbum in seinen Personen und die Bezeichnung ihrer Beziehung auf ein leidendes Object, wie die Vergleichung des grammatischen Charakters beyder Sprachen deutlich zeigen wird.’ Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 87, 89. ‘Für verwandte Sprachen, wie sie allerdings scheinen, haben die Cora und die mexicanische grosse Verschiedenheiten in ihrem Lautsystem.’ Wilhelm von Humboldt, in Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., pp. 48-9. The Cora language is intricate and rather difficult to learn, as indeed are the other three.[VIII-26]’La lengua Cora … es tan dificil, que si no se está entre ellos muchos años, no se puede aprender y tiene de particular, que no se asemeja á otra de las naciones que tiene vecinas.’ Cavo, Tres Siglos, tom. ii., p. 117. Following are a few grammatical notes taken from Ortega’s vocabulary.

The letters of the alphabet are a, b, ch, e, h, i, k, m, n, o, p, r, t, u, v, x, y, z, tz. The pronunciation is hard; there is no established way of expressing the gender. The names of animated beings, as well as inanimate objects form the plural by the affixes te, eri or ri, tzi or zi, and also with the preposition mea, although there are some exceptions to this rule; for example;—zearate, bee; zearateri, bees; kanax, sheep; kanexeri, sheep; ukubihuame, orator; ukubihuametzi, orators; teatzahuateakame, he who is obedient, of which the plural is teatzahuateakametzi; kurute, crane; kurutzi, cranes; teaxka, scorpion; teaxkate, scorpions. Verbal nouns designating a person who performs an action, are formed by affixing to the verb the syllable kame, or huame;—hukabihuame, advocate (he who pleads); timuacheakame, lover, (he who loves); tichuikame, singer, (he who sings).

Cora Grammar and Lord’s Prayer

Personal pronouns are;—neapue, nea, I; apue, ap, thou; aehpu, aehp, he; iteammo, itean, we; ammo, an, you; aehmo, aehm, they; but in conjugating the following are used:—ne, I; pe or pa, thou; te, we; ze, you; me, they. Of the conjugation of the verb, it is only stated that there is no infinitive, and the following example of the present indicative is given:

Cora Present Indicative

I love,	nemuache	We love,	te muache
Thou lovest,	pemuache	You love,	ze muache
He loves,	muache	They love,	me muache

There are plural and singular verbs;—tachuite, to give a long thing; taihte, to give long things.

Prepositions are:—hetze, tzahta, in; keme, with, for; apoan, above; tihauze, before. The peculiarity of the Muutzicat dialect is the frequent use of the letter r, which is either appended, or placed in the middle of the word at pleasure;—for huihma, they say ruihma; for earit, erarit. The Teakuaeitzicai dialect has many distinct words not used in any of the others, so that at times they are not at all understood by those speaking the other dialects. As a specimen I insert the Lord’s Prayer:

Tayaoppa Our father tahapoa heaven petehbe be cherihuaca sanctified be eiia thy teaguarira;name; chemeahaubeni come tahemi to us eiia thy chianaca world cheaguasteni done be eiia thy jevira will iye as chianakatapoan earth tup up as tahapoa.heaven. Ta Our hamuit bread huima always tahetze us by rujeve wanting ihic to-day ta us taa;give;huatauniraca forgive ta our xanacat sin tetup as iteahmo we tatahuatauni we forgive titaxanakante our debtors ta us vaehre help teatkai that not havobereni let us fall xanakat sin hetze in huavaehreaka help tecai that not tahemi us rutahuaja reach tehai not eu what ene good che so enhuata be it. hua.[VIII-27]Ortega, Vocabulario, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. viii., pp. 561-602; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., pp. 71-88; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 131-8; Buschmann, Die Lautveränderung Aztek. Wörter in den Sonor. Spr.; Id., Gram. der Sonor. Spr.

Footnotes

[VIII-1] Mocorito, Petatlan and Ocoroni are ‘gentes de varias lenguas.’ Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 34. Ahome are ‘gente de diferente lengua llamada Zoe.’ Zoes ‘son de la misma lengua con los Guaçaues.’ Id., p. 145. ‘Comoporis los quales aunque eran de la misma lengua de los mansos Ahomes.’ Id., p. 153. ‘Huites de diferente lengua’ from the Cinaloas. Id., p. 207. Zuaques and Tehuecos ‘ser todos de una misma lengua.’ Batuca ‘de una lengua no dificil, y parecida mucho á la de Ocoroiri.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. ii., pp. 10, 186. ‘La lengua es ore.’ ‘Varogia y segun se ha reconocido es lo mismo que la taura, aunque varia algo principalmente en la gramática.’ ‘La lengua es particular macoyahui con que son tres las lenguas de este partido.’ In San Andres de Conicari ‘la lengua es particular y distinta de la de los demas pueblos si bien todos los demas de ellos entienden la lengua tepave, y aun la caita aunque no la hablan.’ ‘La lengua es particular que llaman troes.’ ‘La gente en su idioma es guazave.’ ‘La lengua es distinta y particular que llaman nio.’ ‘Conversan entre sí distintas las lenguas de cahuimetos y ohueras.’ ‘Lenguas que hablan entre sí y son chicurata y basopa.’ San Miguel de Mocorito ‘de cuatro parcialidades y distintas lenguas.’ Zapata, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iv., tom. iii., pp. 363-409. ‘Los misioneros … colocaban en las misiones de la lengua cahita á los sinaloas, hichucios, zuaques, biaras, matapanes y tehuecos.’ ‘El ahome y el comopori son dialectos muy diversos ó lenguas hermanas del guazave.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 35; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 154-7; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 175.

[VIII-2] ’La nacion Hiaqui y por consecuencia la Mayo y del Fuerte, … que en la sustancia son una misma y de una propia lengua.’ Cancio, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iv., tom. ii., p. 246. Mayo and Yaqui: ‘Su idioma por consiguìente es el mismo, con la diferencia de unas cuantas voces.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 82. Mayo ‘su lengua es la misma que corre en los rios de Çuaque y Hiaqui.’ Yaqui ‘que es la mas general de Cinaloa.’ Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, pp. 237, 287; Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 286. ‘La lengua cahita es dividida en tres dialectos principales, el mayo, yaqui y tehueco; ademas hay otros secundarios.’ Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 485. ‘Tres dialectos principales, el zuaque, la maya y el yaqui.’ Balbi, in Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 35; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Esquisses, p. 31.

[VIII-3] ’Su idioma es muy franco, nada dificil de aprenderse, y susceptible de reducirse á las reglas gramaticales de cualquiera nacion civilizada.’ Velasco, Noticias de Sonora, p. 75.

[VIII-4] ’En hablar alto, y con brio singulares, y grandemente arrogantes.’ ‘No vès que soy Hiaqui: y dezianlo, porque essa palabra, y nombre, significa, el que habla a gritos.’ Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 285.

[VIII-5] Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., pp. 456-91, Hervás, in Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 157-8; Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., pp. 211-18; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 260-87; Col. Polidiómica Mex., Oracion Dominical, p. 49.

[VIII-6] ’Varogia y segun se ha reconocido es lo mismo que la taura aunque varia algo principalmente en la gramática.’ Guazapare ‘la lengua es la misma aunque ya mas parecida á la de los taraumares.’ Zapata, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iv., tom. iii., pp. 388, 390, 334, et seq.; Steffel, in Murr, Nachrichten, pp. 296-300; Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 592; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 363; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 34.

[VIII-7] Tellechea, Compendio Gram. del Idioma Tarahumar, pp. 2-3.

[VIII-8] Tellechea, Compendio Gram. del Idioma Tarahumar; also in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. iv., pp. 145-68, and in Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., pp. 366-400; Steffel, Tarahumarisches Wörterbuch, in Murr, Nachrichten, pp. 296-374; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 260-287; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 144-54; Col. Polidiómica Mex., Oracion Dominical, pp. 40-43.

[VIII-9] ’Have no resemblance with the Mexican.’ Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 4. ‘This (the Tarahumara) has not in its words any affinity with the Mexican; and the people who speak it have a decimal arithmetic.’ Id., p. 203. ‘Ihre Aehnlichkeit mit dem Mexikanischen … ist doch gross genug.’ Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 143; Wilhelm von Humboldt, in Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., pp. 46-50.

[VIII-10] Wilhelm von Humboldt, in Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., pp. 50.

[VIII-11] Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. ii., p. 58; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 324-5; Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 172.

[VIII-12] Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., p. 348; Pascual, in Hist. Doc. Mex., série iv., tom. iii., p. 201; Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 172; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 308-9.

[VIII-13] Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 309, 327; Col. Polidiómica Mex., Oracion Dominical, p. 36.

[VIII-14] Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 309.

[VIII-15] Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., pp. 409-413.

[VIII-16] ’Tienen estos indios dos lenguas totalmente distintas: la una, y que mas corre entre ellos, y demas gente, es de las que yo tengo en este partido, con que les hablo, y me entienden … la otra es totalmente distinta.’ Hervás, Catálogo, tom. i., p. 320. Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 118; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 139. ‘Zwar voll von Fremdheit und sehr für sich dasteht, aber doch als ein wirkliches sonorisches Glied, bei bestimmten Gemeinschaften mit den anderen und als vorzugsweise reich an aztekischen Stoff ausgestattet…. Ihre Ähnlichkeiten neigen abwechselnd gegen die Cora, Tarahumara, und Cahita, besonders gegen die beiden letzten, auch Hiaqui; der Tepeguana bleibt sie mehr fremd.’ Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., pp. 164, 170-1.

[VIII-17] Col. Polidiómica Mex., Oracion Dominical, p. 47.

[VIII-18] Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 673; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 319; Museo Mex., tom. iii., p. 269; Zapata, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iv., tom. iii., pp. 310-315; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 34, 320; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 138; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., p. 43; Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 162; Hervás, Catálogo, tom. i., p. 327.

[VIII-19] ’La pronunciacion es muy gutural y basta el mas ligero cambio en ella para que cambien de sentido las palabras.’ Rinaldini, Gramatica, in Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., p. 46; Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 36.

[VIII-20] Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., pp. 46-68.

[VIII-21] Sabaibos ‘eran de la misma lengua y Nacion Acaxee.’ Ribas, Hist. de los Trivmphos, pp. 471, 491. Sabaibos ‘distinta nacion, aunque del mismo idioma’—Acaxee. Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 422. ‘Humes, nacion distinta de los xiximes aunque tienen una misma lengua.’ Alonso del Valle, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iv., tom. iii., p. 96. ‘Me parece que tienen afinidad las lenguas topia, acajee y tepehuana, las quales, como tambien la de Parras, son dialectos de la Zacateca.’ Hervás, Catálogo, tom. i., p. 327. ‘Im Norden von Tepehuana enthält die gebirgige Provinz Topia um den 25° N. Br. ausser der lingua Topia und der damit verwandten Acaxee, noch im Norden der letzteren die Xixime, Sicuraba, Hina und Iluime als Sprachen ebenso vieler verschiedener in der Nähe der Topia und Acaxee wohnenden Völkerschaften.’ Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 138-9. Castañeda mentions in these regions the Tahus, Pacasas, and Acaxas languages, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 150-3; Zapata, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iv., tom. iii., pp. 415-17; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 12-13, 319-20; Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., pp. 173-4.

[VIII-22] ’Indios cascanes que son los Zacatecas.’ ‘Xuchipila que entendian la lengua de los Zacatecos.’ Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., p. 234; Bernardez, Descrip. Zacatecas, p. 23. ‘Cazcanes, qui ad fines Zacatecarum degunt, lingua moribusque á caeteris diversi: Guachachiles itidem idiomate differentes; Denique Guamarœ, quorum idioma supra modum concisum, difficilime addiscitur.’ Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 281. ‘La lengua mexicana que es la generica de toda la Provincia.’ Arlegui, Chrón. Zacatecas, p. 52. ‘Sobre el Cascon ó Zacateco, no creo que hubiera sido ni aun dialecto del mexicano, sino que era el mismo mexicano hablado por unos rústicos que estropeaban las palabras y que les daban distínto acento.’ Huacbichiles, Tejuejue and Tlajomolteco ‘Sobre estos idiomas, ó si les considera dialectos, juzgo que no existieron.’ Romero Gil, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. viii., p. 499; Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 676; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 159.

[VIII-23] Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 61.

[VIII-24] Apostólicos Afanes, cap. vii., p. 56. ‘Dentro de Reyno de la Galicia quedaron algunos otras Naciones como son los Cocas, Tequexes, Choras, Tecualmes y Nayaritas, y otras que despues de pacíficada la tierra han dejado de hablarse por que ya reducidos los de la lengua Azteca, que era la major nacion se han mixturado de suerte que ya todos las mas hablan solo una lengua en toda la Galicia excepta en la Provincia del Nayarit.’ Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., p. 8. ‘La lengua Cora, que es la del Nayar.’ Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, p. 89; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 39, 281-2; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 131-2.

[VIII-25] ’La lengua mas comun del pais es la chota aunque muy interpolada y confundida hoy con la Mexicana.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. iii., p. 197. ‘Muchos vocablos de la lengua mexicana, y algunos de la castellana, los han corisado hacièndolos propios de su idioma tan antiguamente; que ya hoy en dia corren, y se tienen por Coras.’ Ortega, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. viii., p. 563. ‘No carezco totalmente de datos para creer que los indios nayares son pimas, ó al menos descendientes de ellos.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 39. ‘Es idioma hermano del azteca, tal vez fundado en algunas palabras que tienen la forma ó las raices del mexicano; nosotros creemos que estas semejanzas no provienen de comunidad de orígen de las dos lenguas, sino de las relaciones que esas tribus mantuvieron por espacio de mucho tiempo.’ Id., p. 282. ‘La core offrent très-peu d’affinité avec les autres langues américaines.’ Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 449. ‘Die Cora … bewährt ihre Verwandtschaft vornehmlich durch die unverkennbare Gleichheit einer nur diesen beiden Sprachen gemeinschaftlichen Formations-Weise des Verbum in seinen Personen und die Bezeichnung ihrer Beziehung auf ein leidendes Object, wie die Vergleichung des grammatischen Charakters beyder Sprachen deutlich zeigen wird.’ Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 87, 89. ‘Für verwandte Sprachen, wie sie allerdings scheinen, haben die Cora und die mexicanische grosse Verschiedenheiten in ihrem Lautsystem.’ Wilhelm von Humboldt, in Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., pp. 48-9.

[VIII-26] ’La lengua Cora … es tan dificil, que si no se está entre ellos muchos años, no se puede aprender y tiene de particular, que no se asemeja á otra de las naciones que tiene vecinas.’ Cavo, Tres Siglos, tom. ii., p. 117.

[VIII-27] Ortega, Vocabulario, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. viii., pp. 561-602; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., pp. 71-88; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 131-8; Buschmann, Die Lautveränderung Aztek. Wörter in den Sonor. Spr.; Id., Gram. der Sonor. Spr.

Chapter IX • The Aztec and Otomí Languages • 7,300 Words

Nahua or Aztec, Chichimec, and Toltec languages identical—Anáhuac the aboriginal seat of the Aztec Tongue—The Aztec the oldest language in Anáhuac—Beauty and Richness of the Aztec—Testimony of the Missionaries and early writers in its favor—Specimen From Paredes’ Manual—Grammar of the Aztec Language—Aztec Lord’s Prayer—The Otomí a Monosyllabic Language of Anáhuac—Relationship claimed with the Chinese and Cherokee—Otomí Grammar—Otomí Lord’s Prayer in different Dialects.

The Nahua, Aztec, or Mexican, is the language of Mexican civilization, spoken throughout the greater part of Montezuma’s empire, extending from the plateau of Anáhuac, or valley of Mexico, as a centre, eastward to the gulf of Mexico, and along its shores from above Vera Cruz east to the Rio Goatzacoalcos; westward to the Pacific, and upon its border from about the twenty-sixth to the sixteenth parallel, thus forming an irregular but continuous linguistic line from the gulf of California south-east, across the Mexican plateau to the gulf of Mexico, of more than four hundred leagues in extent. Again, it is found on the coast of Salvador, and in the interior of Nicaragua, and we have before seen its connection with the nations of the north. Within the limits of the ancient Mexican empire many other languages besides the Aztec were spoken, as for instance the Otomí, Huastec, Totonac, Zapotec, Miztec, and Tarasco, about twenty in all. It has been claimed by some that the languages of the Toltecs and Chichimecs were different from each other, and from the Aztec; it has even been intimated that traces of a language more ancient than any of these have been found. Pedro de los Rios mentions two words of a song used in the religious ceremonies at Cholula, tulanian hululaez—which he says belong to a language not understood by the Mexicans, and Alexander von Humboldt thinks they may be the remains of some pre-Mexican language.[IX-1]’Les Cholulains chantoient dans leur fêtes en dansant autour du téocalli, et que ce cantique commençoit par les mots Tulanian hululaez, qui ne sont d’aucune langue actuelle du Mexique. Dans tous les parties du globe, sur le dos des Cordillères, comme à l’île de Samothrace, dans la mer Egée, des fragmens de langues primitives se sont conservés dans les rites religieux.’ Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., p. 115. Others, and among them the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg, claim greater antiquity for the Maya, affirming that it was spoken in Mexico before the Nahua-speaking people reached that country.

From a careful examination of the early authorities, I can but entertain the opinion that the Toltec, Chichimec, and Aztec languages are one, that the Nahua, or Aztec, is the oldest known language of Anáhuac, and that contrary conclusions arrived at by certain later writers are merely speculative. All of the many different peoples mentioned as aboriginal in ancient Anáhuac are said to have spoken the Aztec, as the Ulmecs, Xicalancas, Tecpanecs, Colhuas, Acolhuas, Nahuas, etc. Ixtlilxochitl, the native Tezcucan historian, relates that by order of the ruler, Techotlalatzin, the Chichimecs dropped their own tongue and adopted that of the Aztecs.[IX-2]’Les Culhuas, les Tecpanèques, les Aculhuaques, les Chalmecas, les Ulmecas les Xicalancas … parlaient la même langue, quoique dans chaque province avec un autre dialecte; la principale différence consistait dans la prononciation.’ Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 138. ‘Les Ulmecas, les Xicalancas et les Zacatecas … avaient les mêmes mœurs et la même langue.’ Id., p. 137. ‘Car la langue de ce pays (Xalisco) est le chichimeque, et Marina parlait mexicain. On se servait, à la verité, aussi dans ce pays d’un Mexicain grossier et barbare, tandis que Marina le parlait avec beaucoup d’élégance.’ Id., tom. xcix., p. 143. Techotlalatzin ‘fue el primero que usó hablar la lengua nahua, que ahora se llama Mexicana, porque sus pasados nunca la usaron; y asi mandó que todos los de la nacion Chichimeca la hablasen, en especial todos los que tuviesen oficio y cargos de republica.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 217. ‘Los Mexicanos … son de los mismos de Colhua … por ser la lengua toda una.’ Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 5. ‘La lengua de los Mexicanos es la de los Nahuales.’ Id., p. 187. ‘La principal lengua de la Nueva España que es de nahuatl.’ Id., p. 231; see also pp. 10-11. ‘Los Tetzcucanos (llamados Aculhuaques) y los Mexicanos, … eran de vn Lenguage.’ ‘La propia, y antigua Lengua, de los Chichimecas Antiguos … es esta que aora corre, con comun Nombre de Mexicana.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 31, 33, 44. Tecpaneca, Otomí y Acolhua. ‘El lenguage de estas tres naciones era diverso, no lo era rigorosamente hablando el de la tecpaneca y aculhua, ni pueden llamarse tales y distintos de la lengua nahuatl ó mejicana, sino solamente en el dialecto y frasimos, al modo que el portuguez respecto del castellana. La Otomi se diferencia mas de la nahuatl.’ Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 44. Ulmecs; ‘su lengua era la Nahuatl que hoy llaman mejicana, y se tiene por madre; y esta fué de la nacion tolteca, y he oido decir á personas bien instruidas en este idioma, que en algunos pueblos que aun subsisten en nuestros dias conocidas por de la nacion ulmeca.’ Id., tom. i., p. 154. ‘Los Nahoas, eran los que hablaban la lengua mexicana, aunque no la pronunciaban tan clara, como los perfectos mexicanos; y estos Nahoas tambien se llamaban Chichimecas.’ ‘De estos Chichimecas unos habia que se decian Nahuazchichimecas llamándose de Nahóas y de Chichimecas porque hablaban algo la lengua de los Nahóas ó Mexicanos y la suya propia Chichimeca.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 120, 130, 147. ‘Lengua Nàhuatl … se entiende ser en lengua Mexicàna; aunque la que al presente hablan y hablaron en la Gentilidad los Mexicànos no es suya, sino aprehendida de las otras antecedentes Naciones, y mas bien se debia llamar Tultèca, porque esta Nacion la traxo desde su peregrinacion, haviendola perfeccionado en la tercera Edad.’ Boturini, Catálogo, p. 95. ‘Los tlaxcaltecos, que tienen la mesma lengua nahual de México y Tezcuco.’ Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 147. ‘Le nahuatl est sans nul doute une langue déjà ancienne dans l’Amérique centrale, et plus ancienne même que l’empire dont Montézuma fut le chef.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Lettre, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1855, tom. cxlvii., pp. 154, 153. ‘Io però non dubito, che la lingua propria dei Cicimechi antichi fosse la medesima degli Acolhui, e Nahuatlachi, cioe messicana.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 153. ‘Los Mexicanos, ó por mejor decir Aztlanecas, no es su natural lengua la que hablan ahora, … es la que aprendieron en Tezcuco.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 345. ‘Que el lenguage mexicano se usó por las antiquísimas naciones de los Toltecas y Chichimecas.’ Hervás, Catálogo, tom. i., p. 298. ‘Xochimilcas, Chalqueños, Tepanecas, Colhuas, Tlahuicas, Tlazcaltecas y Mexicanos … todas hablan un mismo idioma.’ Heredia y Sarmiento, Sermon, p. 86. ‘Mehr oder minder zahlreiche Sprachreste aus dem Mexikanischen Sprachstamme … sind Zeugen von der ehemaligen Verbreitung der Tolteken im Süden.’ Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 525. ‘Chichimecs … same family with the Toltecs, whose language they appear to have spoken.’ Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 14. ‘Die Chichimeken welche aztekisch reden.’ Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt ii., p. 364; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., pp. 34-5. ‘Dass sie Eines Ursprunges mit den Tolteken, … waren, beweist die allen gemeinschaftliche Sprache, welche noch die aztekische heisst.’ Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. 6. ‘The Aztecs, Acolhuas, and other kindred tribes … were of the same language … as the Toltecs.’ Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 203. ‘Lengua mexicana, llamada tolteca.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 86. ‘Toltecas y las siete tribus nahuatlacas tenian un mismo orígen y hablaban la misma lengua, que era el mexicano, nahuatl ó azteca; pero de ninguna manera succede esto respecto á los chichimecas, aunque hasta hoy por un error muy comun se cree lo contrario.’ Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 154; Grijalua, Crón. Augustin, fol. 32. ‘Les rares traditions qui nous sont restées de l’empire des Votanides, antérieurement à l’arrivée des Nahoas, ne donnent aucune lumière sur les populations qui habitaient, à cette époque, les provinces intérieures du Mexique…. Ce que nous pensons, toutefois, pouvoir avancer avec une conviction plus entière, c’est que la majeure partie des nations qui en dépendaient parlaient une seule et même langue.’ ‘Cette langue était suivant toute apparence le Maya ou Yucatèque.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 102; Heller, Reisen, p. 379, et seq.

Originality of the Aztec Tongue

Furthermore, internal evidence is all in favor of the originality of the Aztec tongue. Throughout the great empire of Anáhuac it was the dominant stock language. Towards the north, as we have seen, sprinklings of it are found in many places, but nowhere does it appear in that direction as a base. Far to the south, in Nicaragua, it is again found as the stock tongue, yet with a dialectic rather than an aboriginal appearance, so that the testimony of language is all in favor of the plateau of Anáhuac having been the primal centre of the Aztec tongue, rather than its having been introduced within any measurable epoch by immigration.

That the Mexican nation did its utmost to extend the language is certain. It was the court language of American civilization, the Latin of medieval and the French of modern times; it was used as the means of holding intercourse with non-Aztec speaking people, also by all ambassadors, and in all official communications; in all newly acquired and conquered territories it was immediately introduced as the official language, and the people were ordered to learn it. It, or its kindred dialects, can be said to have been the common vernacular in the whole interior of Anáhuac, and over a large part of the Aztec plateau, although within these limits other tongues were in vogue. Southward, it again appears along the shores of the Pacific Ocean. It was spoken as far as Guatemala, in the interior of which it appeared in the shape of various dialects more or less corrupted. It can also be traced into Tabasco, and even into Yucatan on the Atlantic coast. It is again encountered in the gulf of Amatique, whence lines extend connecting with the branches of the Aztec in Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. It is also possible that it may at one time have been used even east of the Mississippi, as will appear from the following statements of Acosta and Sahagun. The latter says that the Apalaches living east of the Mississippi extended their expeditions and colonies far into Mexico, and were proud to show to the first conquerors of their country the great highways on which they traveled. Acosta affirms that the Mexicans called these Apalaches, Tlatuices or mountaineers. Sahagun, speaking of them, says “they are Nahoas, and speak the Mexican language.”[IX-3]Acosta, Hist. Nat. Ind., p. 600; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. ix., cap. 9; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Palenqué, p. 39. This is by no means improbable, as the Aztec is found eastward in the present states of Tamaulipas and Coahuila, and thence the distance to the Mississippi is not so very far.[IX-4]Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. v., cap. v., lib. vi., cap. xii., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. ix., lib. iv., cap. vii., dec. iv., lib. ix., cap. xiii.; Dávila Padilla, Hist. Fvnd. Mex., p. 64. ‘Nicaragua sea y esté poblada de Nahuales, que son de la lengua de México.’ Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 10-11, 231; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 103, tom. iv., pp. 35-37, 108; Solis, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. i., p. 118. ‘Seine Herrschafft, Lands-Sprach, und Glaubens-Sect erstreckten sich einer seits biss zu dem Markflecken Tecoantepec, das ist zweyhundert, anderseits biss gehn Guatimala dass ist dreyhundert Meil sehr von der Statt Mexico.’ Hazart, Kirchengeschichte, tom. ii., p. 499. ‘Esta lengua mexicana es la general que corre por todas las provincias de esta Nueva España, puesto que en ella hay muy muchas y differentes lenguas particulares, de cada provincia, y en partes de cada pueblo, porque son innumerables.’ Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 552. ‘Sie haben viererley Sprach darinnen, unter welchen der Mexicaner am lieblichsten vnd gebräuchlichsten (in Nicaragua).’ West und Ost-Indischer Lustgart, p. 390; Grijalua, Crón. Augustin, p. 12. ‘La lengua general del pais, que era la Mejicana.’ Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., p. 89; Arnaya, Carta, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iv., tom. iii., p. 67. ‘Celui de Mexico est regardé comme le dialecte original.’ Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 138; Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., fol. 341; Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 252; Gottfried, Newe Welt, p. 285; Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 224; Chevalier, Mex. Ancien et Mod., p. 160; Museo Mex., tom. iii., p. 269; Palacio, Carta, p. 20; Squier, in Id., note iii., p. 100; Squier’s Monograph of Authors, p. ix.; Id., Cent. Amer., pp. 320, 327-9, 339, 413; Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 190; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. i., p. 285; Conder’s Mex. Guat., vol. ii., p. 178; Romero, Noticias para formar la Historia de Michoacan, p. 5; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., pp. 89-90; Baril, Mexique, p. 212; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Id., Esquisses, p. 24; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 3, 8; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 54-5; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 85; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 158; Anales del Ministerio de Fomento, 1854, tom. i.; Acosta, Hist. Nat. Ind., p. 584; Id., Hist. de las Ynd., p. 530.

The Aztec Language East of Mexico

Of all the languages spoken on the American continent, the Aztec is the most perfect and finished, approaching in this respect the tongues of Europe and Asia, and actually surpassing many of them by its elegance of expression. Although wanting the six consonants, b, d, f, r, g, s, it may still be called full and rich. Of its copiousness the Natural History of Dr Hernandez gives evidence, in which are described twelve hundred different species of Mexican plants, two hundred or more species of birds, and a large number of quadrupeds, reptiles, insects, and metals, each of which is given its proper name in the Mexican language.[IX-5]Hernandez, Nova Plant.Mendieta says that it is not excelled in beauty by the Latin, displaying even more art in its construction, and abounding in tropes and metaphors. Camargo calls it the richest of the whole land, and the purest, being mixed with no foreign barbaric element; Gomara says it is the best, most copious, and most extended in all New Spain; Dávila Padilla, that it is very elegant and graceful, although it contains many metaphors which make it difficult; Lorenzana, that it is very elegant, sweet, and complete; Clavigero, that it is copious, polite, and expressive; Brasseur de Bourbourg, that from the most sublime heights it descends to common things with a sonorousness and richness of expression peculiar only to itself. The missionaries found it ample for their purpose, as in it and without the aid of foreign words they could express all the shades of their dogmas, from the thunderings and anathemas of Sinai to the sublime teachings of the Christ.

Although the Spaniards usually employed the word Dios for God, the Aztecs offered one as fit, their Teotl, and Tloque Nahuaque, signifying invisible supreme being. The many written Aztec sermons, catechisms, and rituals also attest the copiousness of the tongue.[IX-6]See Juan de la Anunciacion, Doctrina Christiana muy cumplida, donde se contiene la exposicion de todo lo necessario para doctrinar a los Indios y administralles los Sanctos Sacramentos. Compuesta en lengua Castellana y Mexicana. Mex., 1575. Juan de la Anunciacion, Sermonario en lengua Mexicana. Mex., 1577. Joan Baptista, Advertencias para los Confesores de los Naturales. Mex., 1600. Rosales, Loa en Obsequio de la Aparicion de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, Poem, 1582. Ioan de Mijango, Espejo Diuino, en lengua Mexicana. Mex., 1607. Martin de Leon, Camino del Cielo, en lengua Mexicana. Mex., 1611. Martin de Leon, Manual breve y forma de administrar los Santos Sacramentos á los Indios. Mex., 1640. Carlos Celedonio Velasquez de Cardenas y Leon, Breve Practica, y Regimen del Confessionario de Indios en Mexicano. Mex., 1661. Ignacio de Paredes, Promptuario Manual Mexicano. Mex., 1759. Francisco de Avila, Platica para hazer a los Indios. Mex., 1717. Antonio Vasquez Gastelu, Confessionario Breve en lengua Mexicana, Catecismo Breve. Puebla, 1716, and 2d edition, 1826, 1838, also 1860. Lecciones Espirituales para las Tandas de Ejercicios. Puebla, 1841. Pequeno Catecismo en el idioma Mex. Puebla, 1819. Juan Romualdo Amaro, Doctrina. Mex. 1840. The Mexican, like the Hebrew and French, does not possess superlative nouns, and like the Hebrew and most of the living European languages, it has no comparatives, their place being supplied by certain particles. The Aztec contains more diminutives and augmentatives than the Italian, and is probably richer than any other tongue in the world in verbal nouns and abstracts, there being hardly a verb from which verbal nouns cannot be formed, or a substantive or adjective of which abstracts are not made. It is equally rich in verbs, for every verb is the root from which others of different meanings spring. Agglutination or aggregation is carried to its widest extent, and words of inordinate length are not uncommon. In agglutinating, end-syllables or letters are usually dropped, principally for the sake of euphony. A prayer to the Virgin of Guadalupe, which is to be found in the Promptuario Manual of Paredes, I insert here as a curious specimen of long words:

Specimen of Long Aztec Words

Tlahuemmanaliztli; ic momoztlê tictocemmacazque in Tlâtocacihuapilli Santa Maria de Guadalupe. Tlâtocacihuapillê, Notlazomahuiznantzinê, Santa Mariae, nican mixpantzinco ninomayahui, ninocnotlaza, ihuan mochi Noyollotica, Nanimatica nimitzhohuêcapanilhuia, nimitznomahuiztililia, nimitznotlazotilia, ihuan nimitznotlazocamachitia ipampa in nepapan in motetlaocolilitzin; ic in Tehuâtzin otinechmomacahuililitzino. Auh ocyecenca ipampa ca Tehuâtzin, Notzopelicanantziné, otinechmopiltzintitzino, ihuan, otinechmoconetitzinô. Auh ic ipampa in axcan ihuan yê mochipa nimitznocemmacatzinoa, Notetlaocolicanantzinê, inic in Tehuâtzin nimitznotlazotiliz, ihuan inic áic nimitznoyoltequipaehilhuiz. Auh in Tehuâtzin, nimitznotlátlauhtilia: in ma in nonemian, ihuan in nomiquian xinechmopalchuili, ma xinechmochimalcaltili, ihuan ma in motetlaocolilizcuexantzinco xinechmocalaquili; inic qualli ic ninemiz, ihuan nimiquiz; inic çatepan nimitznomahuizalhuiz, in ompa in Ilhuicac; in ompa in Dios Itlâtocatecpanchantzinco in Gloria. Amen.[IX-7]Paredes, Promptuario Manual Mexicano, p. xc.

A word of sixteen syllables, the name of a plant, occurs in Hernandez—mihuiittilmoyoiccuitlatonpicixochitl.[IX-8]Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. 24. Though the Aztecs made verses, no specimens of their poetry have been preserved except in a translated form. One, composed by the great Tezcucan, King Nezahualcoyotl, translated in full in the preceding volume, gives us an exalted idea of the advanced state of the language.[IX-9]’La mexicana no es menos galana y curiosa que la latina, y aun pienso que mas artizada en composicion y derivacion de vocablos, y en metáforas, cuya inteligencia y uso se ha perdido.’ Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 552. ‘La langue mexicaine est la plus riche de toute contrée: elle est aussi la plus pure, car elle n’est pas mélangée d’aucun mot étranger.’ Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcix., p. 136. ‘Lengua Mexicana y Nahuatl, que es la mejor, mas copiosa y mas estendida que ay en la nueva España.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 293; Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., fol. 1135. ‘La lengua Mexicana, que aunque es muy elegante y graciosa, tiene por su artificio y agudeza muchas metaforas, que la hazen dificultosa.’ Dávila Padilla, Hist. Fvnd. Mex., p. 31. ‘Malgrado la mancanza di quelle sei consonanti é una lingua copiosissima, assai pulita, e sommamente espressiva.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 171. ‘Es muy elegante este idioma, dulce, y muy abundante de Frases, y composiciones.’ Cortés, Hist. Nueva España, p. 5; Laet, Novus Orbis, pp. 240-1; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 635; Müller, Reisen, tom. iii., pp. 105-8. ‘Su lengua es la mejor y mas polida.’ (Tezcuco.) Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. x. ‘La mas elegante la Tezcucana como la Castellana en Toledo.’ Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 14; Boturini, Idea, p. 142; Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., pp. 382-3. ‘Esta lengua mas elegante y expressiva que la Latina, y dulce que la Toscana.’ Granados y Galves, Tardes Amer., p. 401. ‘La langue mexicaine est riche comme les autres langues indiennes; mais, comme elles, elle est matérielle et n’abonde pas en mots significatifs d’idées abstraites; comme elles, elle est synthétique dans sa structure, et n’en diffère, quant à ses formes, que par les détails qui n’affectent point son génie et son caractère. Elle abonde en particules intercalées,’ Du Ponceau, Mémoire, p. 255; Sonneschmid, Remarks on Mex. and the Mex. Lang., in Amer. Monthly Mag., vol. iii., p. 118; Lang’s Polynesian Nat., pp. 95-7. ‘The Mexican tongue abounded in expressions of reverence and courtesy. The style and appellations used in the intercourse between equals, would have been so unbecoming in the mouth of one in a lower sphere, when he accosted a person in higher rank, as to be deemed an insult.’ Robertson’s Hist. Amer., vol. ii., pp. 278-9. ‘The low guttural pronunciation of the Mexican, or Aztec.’ Ward’s Mex., vol. i., p. 31; Galicia Chimalpopocatl, Dissertacion, in Museo Mex., tom. iv., p. 517, et seq.; Heller, Reisen, p. 377. ‘Des hauteurs les plus sublimes, de la métaphysique, elle descend aux choses les plus vulgaires; avec une sonorité et une richesse d’expression qui n’appartiennent qu’à elle.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 103; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 108, vol. iii., p. 395. ‘The language of the Mexicans is to our apprehension harsh in the extreme.’ Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. i., p. 288.

The Mexican language employs the following letters: a, ç, ch, e, h, i, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, t, tl, tz, u, v, x, y, z. The pronunciation is soft and musical, and free from nasal sound. The a is clear; ch before a vowel is pronounced as in Spanish; but before a consonant, or when a terminal, it differs somewhat; e is clear; h is an aspirate, in general soft, being strong only when it precedes u. No word commences with the letter l; ll is pronounced as in English. The t is sometimes silent, but not when it comes between two l’s; tl in the middle of a word is soft, as in Spanish, but as a terminal it is pronounced tle, the e half mute; tz is similar to the Spanish s, but a little stronger; the v is by the women pronounced as in Spanish, but men give it a sound very similar to hu in Spanish; x is soft, like sh in English; z is like s in Spanish, but less hissing.

Agglutination in the Aztec Language

By compounding, the Mexicans make many long words, some even of sixteen syllables; but there are also some non-compounded words that are very long. Words are compounded by uniting a number of whole words, and not alone by simple juxtaposition, since, with much attention to brevity and euphony, letters and syllables are frequently omitted. For instance;—tlazotli, loved; mahuiztik; honorable, or reverend; teopixqui, priest; tatli, father; no, mine; of which is composed notlazomahuizteopixcatzin, that is to say, my very esteemed father and reverend priest. This also presents an example of the ending tzin, which simply signifies respect. Teopixqui is composed of teotl, God, and pia, to guard. There are two particles which may be appropriately called ligatures, as they serve to unite words in certain cases; they are ca and ti. Kualani, to irritate, to anger; itta, consider, reflect; nikualanicaitta, to observe with anger, angrily.

By reason of these compounded words, the meaning of a whole sentence is often contained in a single word, as;—tlalnepantla, in the middle of the earth, or, situated in the middle; popocatepetl, smoking mountain; atzcaputzalli, ant-hill, or, place where there are many people moving—alluding to a dense population; cuauhnahuac, (Cuernavaca) near to the trees; atlixco, above the water; tepetitlan, above the mountain, etc.

There are several ways of expressing the plural. As a rule, plurals are applied only to animate objects. Inanimate objects seldom change in the plural, as;—ce tetl, one stone; yei tetl, three stones; miec tetl, many stones. In exceptional cases the plural of inanimate objects is expressed by terminals. One of these exceptions is when the object is connected with persons, as;—zoquitl, mud; tizoquime, we are earth; but there are again exceptions to this rule, as for instance;—ilhuicame, the heavens; tepeme, mountains; zitlaltin, stars. Sometimes inanimate things also form the plural by doubling the first syllable;—tetla, place full of stones; tetetla, places full of stones; calli, house; cacalli, houses. These various terminations may be reduced to the following rules. Primitive words have the plural in me, tin, or que, as;—ichcatl, a sheep; ichcame, sheep; zolin, a quail, zoltin, quail; cocoxqui, sick; cocoxque, sick (plural); topile, constable; topileque, constables. Derivatives form the plural as follows: those called reverentials, ending with tzintli, have in the plural tzitzintin. Diminutives, ending in tontli, have in the plural totontin, and diminutives ending in ton and pil, augmentatives in pol, and reverentials in tzin, double the terminal, as;—tlacatzintli, person; tlacatzitzintin, persons; ichcatontli, a lamb; ichcatatontin, lambs; ichcapil, lamb; ichcapipil, lambs; chichiton, a little dog; chichitoton, little dogs; huehuetzin, old man; huehuetzitzin, old men.

Words into whose composition the possessive pronoun enters, whether primitive or derivative, have for the plural van or huan;—noichcahuan, my sheep; noichcatotonhuan, my little sheep. The words tlcatl, man, ciuatl, woman, and those which imply an official or professional position, form the plural simply by leaving off the last letters, as;—mexicatl, plural, mexicá; in which case, however, the ultimate syllable is accented. Some words, to form the plural, double the first syllable, and also use terminals, as;—teotl, God; teteo, gods; zolin, quail; zozoltin, quails; zitli, hare; ziziltin, hares. Telpochtli and ichpochtli, double the syllable po.

Some adjectives have several plurals, as;—miec, much; plural, miectin, miecintin, or miecin. Gender is expressed by adding the words oquichtli or ciuatl, male and female, except in such words as in themselves indicate the gender. A father speaking of his son says, nopiltzin, and a mother of her daughter, noconeuh.

Aztec Grammar

There are no regular declensions; in the vocative case, an e is added to the nominative, or words ending in tli or li, change the i into e. Those ending in tzin may change to tze or add an e, but the latter is only used by males. The genitive is denoted by the possessive pronoun or by the juxtaposition of the words, as;—teotl, God; tenahuatilli, emanating; teotenahuatilli, precept of God. The dative is indicated by verbs called applicatives; the accusative, by certain particles which accompany the verb, or by juxtaposition; as;—chihua, to have; tlaxcalli, bread; nitlaxcalchihua, I have bread. The ablative is indicated by certain particles and prepositions. Diminutives are formed by the terminals tontli and ton, as;—chichi, dog; chichiton, small dog; calli, house; cacontli, small house. Augmentatives take the syllable pol. The terminals tla, and la, serve as collectives;—xochitl, flower; xochitla, flower-bed. Words ending with otl are abstracts, as;—qualli, good; qualotl, goodness. Those ending with va (hua) and e indicate possession;—ilhuicatl, heaven; ilhuicahua, master of heaven, (applied to God). Comparatives and superlatives have no particular terminations, but their place is supplied by adverbs, as;—achi, ocachi, etc., which mean ‘more.’ Pedro is better than Juan, ocachiqualli in Pedro ihuan amo Juan; here the adverb is connected with quallo, good. Words derived from active, neuter, passive, reflective and impersonal verbs, having various significations, terminate in ni, oni, ya, ia, yan, can, yau, ian, tli, li, liztli, oca, ca, o, tl; as;—cochini, he who sleeps; tlaxcalchihuani, he who has bread; motlaloani, he who runs; chihualoni, practicable; neitoniloni, something producing perspiration; notlachiuaya, my instrument; amotlanequia, our will; tlacualoyan, eater; micoayan, place to sleep; itepatiayan, hospital; tlachihualli, created, produced; tetlazotlatiztli, love; nachihualoka, creation.

Personal pronouns are;—nehuatl, nehua, ne, I; tehuatl, tehua, te, thou; yehuatl, yehua, ye, he or somebody; tehuantin, tehua, we; amehuantin, amehuan, you; yehuantin, yehuan, they. Possessives;—no, mine; mo, thine; i, his; to, ours; amo, yours; in or im, theirs; te, belonging to others.

The above-mentioned possessives are used in compounded words, and change the final syllable of the word to which they are joined;—teotl, God; noteuh, my God; huehuetl, old man; amohuehuetcauh, our old man.

The verb has indicative, imperative, optative, and subjunctive moods—present, imperfect, perfect, pluperfect, and future tenses.

Conjugation of the Verb Temictia, To Kill

To Kill, Aztec

PRESENT INDICATIVE.
I kill,	nitemictia	We kill,	titemictiâ
Thou killest,	titemictia	You kill,	antemictiâ
He kills,	temictia	They kill,	temictiâ

IMPERFECT.		PERFECT.
I killed,	nitemictiaya	I have killed,	onitemicti
		We have killed,	otitemictiquê

PLUPERFECT.
	I had killed,	onitemictica

FIRST FUTURE.		SECOND FUTURE.
I shall kill,	nitemictiz	I shall have killed,	yeonitemictli
We shall kill,	titemictizquê

IMPERATIVE.
Kill thou,	maxictemicti	Kill you,	maxitemictican

OPTATIVE.
	Would that I might kill,	manitemictiani

PASSIVE FORMS.
	I am killed,	nimictilo
	I was killed,	onimictiloya

PASSIVE FORMS.
	I have been killed,	onimictiloc
	I had been killed,	onimitiloca
	I shall be killed,	nimictiloz
	I shall have been killed,	ye onimictiloc
	O that I may be killed,	manimictilo
	O that I had been killed,	manimictiloni
	I ought to be killed,	nimictilozquia
	He who is killed,	inmictilo

OTHER FORMS.
	If I had killed,	intlaonitcmictiani
	If I had not killed,	intlacamo onitemictiani
	If I should kill,	intlanitemictiz
	He who kills,	intemictia
	I come to kill,	onitemictico
	I will come to kill,	nitemictiquiuh
	May I come to kill,	manitemictiqui
	I went to kill,	onitemictito
	I will go to kill,	nitemictiuh
	May I go to kill,	manitemiciti

Aztec Irregular Verbs

There are but few irregular verbs in the Aztec language and the following are all that Pimentel could find;—ka and mani, to be; icac, to be on foot; onoc, to be lying down; yauh, to go; huallauh and huitz, to come;mazehualti, icnopilti, and ilhuilti, to obtain a benefit.

The following words are always used as affixes:

Affixes, Aztec

For	pal, pampa
Of, from	tech
Behind	icampa, tepotzco, cuitlapan
Toward	huic
Between	tzalan
With	huan, pa, copa, ca
In the midst	nepantla
Belonging to	tloc
Together	nahuac
Within	co, c
Above	icpac
On the other side	nalko, nal
Before	ixco, ixpan, ixtlan, ixtla
Upon, in time	pan
Underneath	tlan
Inside	itic, itec
Under	tzintlan

The Lord’s Prayer

Totatzine Our revered father ynilhuicac who heaven in timoyeztica,art, mayectenehualo be praised inmotocatzin,thy name, mahualauh may come inmotlatocayotzin thy kingdom machihualo be done intlalticpac earth above inmotlanequilitzin,thy will inyuhchichihualo as is done inilhuicac,heaven in, intotlaxcalmomoztlac our bread every day totech monequi to us is necessary maaxcan to-day xitechmomaquili,give us, maxitechmetlapopohuili forgive us intotlatlacol,our sins, iniuh as tiquintlapopolhuia we forgive intechtlatla those who calhuia,us offend, macamoxitechmomacahuili thou not us lead inicamo that not ipan in tihuetzizque we fall inteneyeyecoltiliztli:in temptation: çanye but xitechmomaquixtili deliver us inyhuicpa against inamoqualli.from not good. Maiuhmochihua.[IX-10]Pedro de Arenas, Vocabulario Manual de las Lenguas Castellana y Mexicana. Mex., 1583. Manuel Perez, Arte del Idioma Mexicano. Mex., 1713. Antonio Vasquez Gastelu, Arte de la Lengua Mexicana. Puebla, 1716, and 2d edition, 1838. Francisco de Avila, Arte de la Lengua Mexicana. Mex., 1717. Carlos de Tapia Zenteno, Arte Novissima de Lengua Mexicana. Mex., 1753. Horacio Carochi, Compendio del Arte de la Lengua Mexicana. Mex., 1759. Molina, Vocabulario. Mex., 1571. Rafael Sandoval, Arte de la Lengua Mexicana. Mex., 1810. Pedro de Arenas, Guide de la Conversation. Paris, 1862. Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 214-245; Pimentel, Cuadro, vol. i., pp. 164-216; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 85-106; Buschmann, Ortsnamen, pp. 20-37.

Many comparisons between the Aztec and the tongues of Asia and Europe have been made, and relationship claimed with almost every prominent language, but under analysis all these fancied affinities vanish. Similarities in words, in common with all tongues, are found between the Aztec and others, but at best they can be called only accidental. Still, a few remarkable word-analogies have been noticed, among the chief of which are the following. The Aztec like the Greek and Sanskrit, uses the privative preposition a, which in the Celtic has been changed to an, in Latin to in, or im, and in the German to un;—Greek, athanatos; Aztec, amiquini, immortal. Further, in the perfect tense, and sometimes in the imperfect, o is used in the Aztec, like the Sanskrit a, and the Greek e. But the most remarkable coincidence is the word teotl, which is as near as possible to the Greek Théos. Kingsborough and Mrs Simon see in the Aztec the language of the Jews; Jones that of the ancient Tyrians; Lang, that of the Polynesians. García makes comparisons with the Hebrew, Spanish, Phoenician, Egyptian, Japanese, and German, and for a relationship with these and many others he finds claimants. Until further light is thrown upon American philology, the Aztec must stand alone, as one of the independent languages of the world.[IX-11]’Es ist nicht möglich von einer Verwandtschaft der mexicanischen Sprache mit den Sprachen anderer Erdtheile zu reden.’ Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. 20; Garcia, Origen de los Ind., pp. 118-21, 187, 232-5, 241, 269; Jones’ Hist. Anc. Amer.; Simon’s Ten Tribes, pp. 163, 173; Lang’s Polynesian Nat., pp. 96-8, et seq; Quarterly Review, 1816, p. 415; Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., p. 229, et seq.

The Otomí, held to be next to the Aztec the most widely extended language in Mexico, was spoken by a rough and barbarous people who inhabit the mountains encircling the valley of Anáhuac, but more particularly those towards the north-west. Thence it extended into the present state of San Luis Potosí, was spoken throughout Querétaro and the larger part of Guanajuato, and in places in Michoacan, Vera Cruz, and Puebla.[IX-12]Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 17; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 282; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 118; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 113. From the Journal and Proceedings of the fourth Provincial Council, held in Mexico in the year 1771, it appears that the language was spoken in four dialects, varying so much that it was only with the greatest difficulty that the several tribes could hold intercourse.[IX-13]’Concòrdandose en que no se entienden los mismos Otomites de diversos Pueblos, aun Vecinos, de que diò una prueba concluyente el Obispo de Puebla, con el hecho de haver juntado quatro Curas estindantes de su sierra Otomì los que mutuamente se improbaban por hereticas, a disparatadòs sus esplicaciones de los Mysterios de nrã Religion.’ Concilio Provincial Mexicano, iv., 1771, Julio 31, MS. The only dialect of which particular notice has been taken is the Mazahua, spoken in the ancient province of Mazahuacan. Of the others the only specimens are a few Lord’s Prayers.

Hypothetical Otomí and Chinese Relationship

The Otomí claims attention in one particular; it is the only true monosyllabic language found in the Pacific States, and this alone has led many to claim relationship between it and the Chinese.

This Chinese relationship has been mainly advocated by Señor Nájera, a native Otomí, who in furtherance of his peculiar views wrote an excellent Otomí grammar, in an appendix to which he gives an extensive comparison between the two idioms. But, taking up the words which he declares to be similar, we are at once struck with important omissions on his part. The first is that he has not at all taken into consideration the difficulty of comparing monosyllabic languages, in which a word frequently has ten or more significations, distinguishable only by pronunciation and accentuation, and at times having scarcely these distinguishing features. Secondly, the words which he adduces to be similar, are wanting in the very essentials that constitute a relationship, for in most instances they are not even similar in sound, a requisite to which more attention ought to be paid in monosyllabic languages than in those which are polysyllabic. The few words that in reality are similar are probably only accidental resemblances, and the question of relationship between the Otomí and Chinese cannot be said to have been established as yet.[IX-14]Naxera, Dis. sobre la lengua Othomí; Warden, Recherches, in Antiq. Mex., pp. 125-9.

Mr Bringier branches out in another direction in search of a relationship, and fancies he finds it in the Cherokee, basing his whole argument on a hypothetical resemblance of perhaps half a dozen words, which in fact do not resemble each other at all.[IX-15]Bringier, Lettre, in Silliman’s Jour., vol. iii., pp. 35-6.

Like other monosyllabic tongues the Otomí is rather difficult to acquire, its pronunciation being rough, guttural, with frequently occurring nasals and aspirates.[IX-16]’La Otomí, lengua bárbara cuasi enteramente gutural, y que á pénas cede al estudio y á la mas séria aplicacion.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 90. ‘La Otomi, que se dilata casi tanto como la Mexicana, y en la difficultad, y obscuridad le haze grandes ventajas.’ Grijalua, Crón. Augustin, fol. 74. ‘Loro linguaggio è assai difficile, e pieno d’aspirazioni, che fanno parte nella gola, e parte nel naso ma peraltro è abbastanza copioso ed espressivo.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 148. ‘Une langue pleine d’aspirations nasales et gutturales.’ Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 255. ‘Die Sprache der Othomi zeichnet sich durch die Einsylbigkeit oder wenigstens Kürze ihrer meisten Wörter, durch Härte und Aspiration aus.’ Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 114. ‘Leur langue, rude comme eux, est monosyllabique: embrassant à la fois tous les sons, mais dénuée d’ornements, elle montre, néanmoins, dans sa simplicité quelque chose de majestueux qui rappelle les temps antiques.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 157. ‘Es dura, seca, ingrata á la lengua y mal al oido: todo lo de ella es rústico, vasto, sin pulidez.’ Naxera, Dis. sobre la lengua Othomí, p. 23. ‘Su lenguage es muy duro y corte.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. v., cap. xix.; Duponceau, Mémoire, pp. 68-71; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 33, tom. ii., p. 82; Müller, Reisen, tom. iii., p. 45; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 152; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt ii., p. 364; Conder’s Mex. Guat., vol. ii., p. 119.

Otomí Grammar

As before stated, many words having distinct meanings, are distinguished only by various sounds, or intonations of the same vowel; many words even having the same sound and intonations have different meanings. The words of this language are of one or two syllables; a few of them have three. In words compounded of more than one syllable, each syllable preserves its original meaning. The words whether noun or verb, are inflexible. Neither substantive nor adjective nouns have any gender. The same word may be a substantive, adjective, verb, and adverb, as in the following sentence;—na nho nho ye na nho he nho, which means, the goodness of man is good and becomes him well. Nouns have neither declension nor gender, which are expressed either by distinct words, or by ta, or tza, male, and nsu or nxu, female;—tayo, the dog; nxuyo, slut. The particle na has the property of the article and, prefixed to the noun, distinguishes the singular. In the plural, ya affixed, or e prefixed, is substituted. Adjectives are always placed before substantives;—ka ye, holy man. Comparatives are expressed by the words nra, more, and chu, less;—nho, good; nra nho, better. Superlatives are in like manner shown by the word tza, or tze, prefixed, meaning very much, excessively, exceedingly;—tza nho, best; tze ntzo, worst, or very bad. The particle ztzi, or ztzu, prefixed, marks a diminutive;—ztzi hensi, a small paper. In abstract nouns of quality the prefix na is changed into sa;—na nho yeh, a good man; sa nho, that which is good. Personal pronouns are;—nuga, nugaga, nugui, I; gui, ki, me, for me; nugué, nûy, thou; y, hi, to thee, for thee; nunu, he; bi, ba, ki, him, for him, to him; nugahé, nugagahé, nuguihé, we, or us; nuguégúi, nuguehu, nûygúi, nûyhu, you, to you; nuyu, they; ma, mine; ni, thine; na, his.

Verbs are conjugated with the assistance of particles, which designate tense and person. Every tense has three persons, also a singular, and a plural. The plural is always designated by the syllable hé, we; wi, gúi, or hu, you; yu, they. All nouns may also be verbs, for the Otomís, unable to segregate the abstract idea of existence from the thing existing, confound both and have no substantive verb;—nho, good; di nho, I good, or I am good.

Conjugation of the Verb Nee, I Will

Nee, I Will

PRESENT INDICATIVE.
I will,	di nee	We will,	di nee hé
Thou willest,	gui nee	You will,	gui nee gúi
He wills,	y nee	They will,	y nee yu

IMPERFECT.		PERFECT.
I willed,	di nee hma	I have willed,	xta nee, or da nee

PLUPERFECT.
	I had willed,	xta nee hma

FIRST FUTURE.		SECOND FUTURE.
I shall will,	ga nee	I shall have willed,	gua xte nee

IMPERATIVE.
Will thou,	nee	Will you,	nee gúi nee hu[IX-17]Yoaquin Lopez Yepes, Catecismo y Declaracion de la Doctrina Cristiana, en lengua Otomí. Francisco Perez, Catecismo de la Doctrina Cristiana, en lengua Otomí. Naxera, Disertacion sobre la lengua Othomi. Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 286-98; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 115-24; Pimentel, Cuadro, vol. i., pp. 120-50; Antonio Guadalupe Ramirez, Breve Compendio … Dispuesto en lengua Othomí. See also Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. iii., p. 355; Luis de Neve y Molina, Grammatica Della Lingua Otomí.

Otomí and Mazahua Lord’s Prayers

Lord’s Prayer

Ma My tàfather he we ni thou bùy house mahetsi heaven da call ne holy ansu thy ni name huhu name da thy will come ehe towards ga he us ni thy bùy house da thy will kha do ni thy hnee will ngùas gua here na the hày earth te as ngùalso mahètsi heaven ma the hme bread he us ta nàevery pa day ràgive he us nar one a pa day ya new ha and puni forgive he us ma our dupatè he debts tengùas di we puni he forgive u ma now ndupatèdebtors he ours ha and yo avoid gui the he permit he us ga do he us kha in na tzòbad cadi action ma but na pehe save us he hin no nhò.good. Do Thy kha.will do.

Other Lord’s Prayers

The same in another dialect.	Still another version of the same.
Go ma ta he
To guí bùy	Ma tà ki he
Hé tsi	Gue gui bùy
Da ma ka ni hu	Kha hetsi
Na di ni hne	Kha ni hu
Hày he heisi	Da di hnec
Ma hme he ta pa	Bi kho na hày
Sa da ke ni	Ba ña kha mahetsi
Ha pu ní ma thày he	Da da sê he
Ngù y pu ma thày tè he	Ma hme he
Ha yo he	Yo ga zo he gee tzò di.
He ga zà tzò di.

The grammar of the Mazahua dialect is very nearly the same as that of the Otomí, and I therefore insert the Lord’s Prayer only to illustrate the connection between the two languages.

Mi yho me Our father ki obuihui is ahezi heaven tanereho sanctified ni thy chuu name ta ehe come ni thou nahmuu kingdom ta cha do axoñihomue earth cho ? ni thy nane will makhe as anzi also ocha is done ahezi.heaven. Ti yak me Give us mi bech me our bread choyazmue,every day, ti chotkhe forgive me us mo our huezok me faults makhe anzi as also tigattotpue we forgive me mache i those who zokhegue offend me us pêkhecho not us gueguetme must tezoxkhemeyo lead in huezok hi sins tipe yeziz deliver one us macho yoñene from macho all tenxi higaho.[IX-18]Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., pp. 194-201.evil.

Footnotes

[IX-1] ’Les Cholulains chantoient dans leur fêtes en dansant autour du téocalli, et que ce cantique commençoit par les mots Tulanian hululaez, qui ne sont d’aucune langue actuelle du Mexique. Dans tous les parties du globe, sur le dos des Cordillères, comme à l’île de Samothrace, dans la mer Egée, des fragmens de langues primitives se sont conservés dans les rites religieux.’ Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., p. 115.

[IX-2] ’Les Culhuas, les Tecpanèques, les Aculhuaques, les Chalmecas, les Ulmecas les Xicalancas … parlaient la même langue, quoique dans chaque province avec un autre dialecte; la principale différence consistait dans la prononciation.’ Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 138. ‘Les Ulmecas, les Xicalancas et les Zacatecas … avaient les mêmes mœurs et la même langue.’ Id., p. 137. ‘Car la langue de ce pays (Xalisco) est le chichimeque, et Marina parlait mexicain. On se servait, à la verité, aussi dans ce pays d’un Mexicain grossier et barbare, tandis que Marina le parlait avec beaucoup d’élégance.’ Id., tom. xcix., p. 143. Techotlalatzin ‘fue el primero que usó hablar la lengua nahua, que ahora se llama Mexicana, porque sus pasados nunca la usaron; y asi mandó que todos los de la nacion Chichimeca la hablasen, en especial todos los que tuviesen oficio y cargos de republica.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 217. ‘Los Mexicanos … son de los mismos de Colhua … por ser la lengua toda una.’ Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 5. ‘La lengua de los Mexicanos es la de los Nahuales.’ Id., p. 187. ‘La principal lengua de la Nueva España que es de nahuatl.’ Id., p. 231; see also pp. 10-11. ‘Los Tetzcucanos (llamados Aculhuaques) y los Mexicanos, … eran de vn Lenguage.’ ‘La propia, y antigua Lengua, de los Chichimecas Antiguos … es esta que aora corre, con comun Nombre de Mexicana.’ Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 31, 33, 44. Tecpaneca, Otomí y Acolhua. ‘El lenguage de estas tres naciones era diverso, no lo era rigorosamente hablando el de la tecpaneca y aculhua, ni pueden llamarse tales y distintos de la lengua nahuatl ó mejicana, sino solamente en el dialecto y frasimos, al modo que el portuguez respecto del castellana. La Otomi se diferencia mas de la nahuatl.’ Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 44. Ulmecs; ‘su lengua era la Nahuatl que hoy llaman mejicana, y se tiene por madre; y esta fué de la nacion tolteca, y he oido decir á personas bien instruidas en este idioma, que en algunos pueblos que aun subsisten en nuestros dias conocidas por de la nacion ulmeca.’ Id., tom. i., p. 154. ‘Los Nahoas, eran los que hablaban la lengua mexicana, aunque no la pronunciaban tan clara, como los perfectos mexicanos; y estos Nahoas tambien se llamaban Chichimecas.’ ‘De estos Chichimecas unos habia que se decian Nahuazchichimecas llamándose de Nahóas y de Chichimecas porque hablaban algo la lengua de los Nahóas ó Mexicanos y la suya propia Chichimeca.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 120, 130, 147. ‘Lengua Nàhuatl … se entiende ser en lengua Mexicàna; aunque la que al presente hablan y hablaron en la Gentilidad los Mexicànos no es suya, sino aprehendida de las otras antecedentes Naciones, y mas bien se debia llamar Tultèca, porque esta Nacion la traxo desde su peregrinacion, haviendola perfeccionado en la tercera Edad.’ Boturini, Catálogo, p. 95. ‘Los tlaxcaltecos, que tienen la mesma lengua nahual de México y Tezcuco.’ Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 147. ‘Le nahuatl est sans nul doute une langue déjà ancienne dans l’Amérique centrale, et plus ancienne même que l’empire dont Montézuma fut le chef.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Lettre, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1855, tom. cxlvii., pp. 154, 153. ‘Io però non dubito, che la lingua propria dei Cicimechi antichi fosse la medesima degli Acolhui, e Nahuatlachi, cioe messicana.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 153. ‘Los Mexicanos, ó por mejor decir Aztlanecas, no es su natural lengua la que hablan ahora, … es la que aprendieron en Tezcuco.’ Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 345. ‘Que el lenguage mexicano se usó por las antiquísimas naciones de los Toltecas y Chichimecas.’ Hervás, Catálogo, tom. i., p. 298. ‘Xochimilcas, Chalqueños, Tepanecas, Colhuas, Tlahuicas, Tlazcaltecas y Mexicanos … todas hablan un mismo idioma.’ Heredia y Sarmiento, Sermon, p. 86. ‘Mehr oder minder zahlreiche Sprachreste aus dem Mexikanischen Sprachstamme … sind Zeugen von der ehemaligen Verbreitung der Tolteken im Süden.’ Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 525. ‘Chichimecs … same family with the Toltecs, whose language they appear to have spoken.’ Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 14. ‘Die Chichimeken welche aztekisch reden.’ Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt ii., p. 364; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., pp. 34-5. ‘Dass sie Eines Ursprunges mit den Tolteken, … waren, beweist die allen gemeinschaftliche Sprache, welche noch die aztekische heisst.’ Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. 6. ‘The Aztecs, Acolhuas, and other kindred tribes … were of the same language … as the Toltecs.’ Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 203. ‘Lengua mexicana, llamada tolteca.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 86. ‘Toltecas y las siete tribus nahuatlacas tenian un mismo orígen y hablaban la misma lengua, que era el mexicano, nahuatl ó azteca; pero de ninguna manera succede esto respecto á los chichimecas, aunque hasta hoy por un error muy comun se cree lo contrario.’ Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 154; Grijalua, Crón. Augustin, fol. 32. ‘Les rares traditions qui nous sont restées de l’empire des Votanides, antérieurement à l’arrivée des Nahoas, ne donnent aucune lumière sur les populations qui habitaient, à cette époque, les provinces intérieures du Mexique…. Ce que nous pensons, toutefois, pouvoir avancer avec une conviction plus entière, c’est que la majeure partie des nations qui en dépendaient parlaient une seule et même langue.’ ‘Cette langue était suivant toute apparence le Maya ou Yucatèque.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 102; Heller, Reisen, p. 379, et seq.

[IX-3] Acosta, Hist. Nat. Ind., p. 600; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. ix., cap. 9; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Palenqué, p. 39.

[IX-4] Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. v., cap. v., lib. vi., cap. xii., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. ix., lib. iv., cap. vii., dec. iv., lib. ix., cap. xiii.; Dávila Padilla, Hist. Fvnd. Mex., p. 64. ‘Nicaragua sea y esté poblada de Nahuales, que son de la lengua de México.’ Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 10-11, 231; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 103, tom. iv., pp. 35-37, 108; Solis, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. i., p. 118. ‘Seine Herrschafft, Lands-Sprach, und Glaubens-Sect erstreckten sich einer seits biss zu dem Markflecken Tecoantepec, das ist zweyhundert, anderseits biss gehn Guatimala dass ist dreyhundert Meil sehr von der Statt Mexico.’ Hazart, Kirchengeschichte, tom. ii., p. 499. ‘Esta lengua mexicana es la general que corre por todas las provincias de esta Nueva España, puesto que en ella hay muy muchas y differentes lenguas particulares, de cada provincia, y en partes de cada pueblo, porque son innumerables.’ Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 552. ‘Sie haben viererley Sprach darinnen, unter welchen der Mexicaner am lieblichsten vnd gebräuchlichsten (in Nicaragua).’ West und Ost-Indischer Lustgart, p. 390; Grijalua, Crón. Augustin, p. 12. ‘La lengua general del pais, que era la Mejicana.’ Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., p. 89; Arnaya, Carta, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iv., tom. iii., p. 67. ‘Celui de Mexico est regardé comme le dialecte original.’ Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 138; Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., fol. 341; Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 252; Gottfried, Newe Welt, p. 285; Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 224; Chevalier, Mex. Ancien et Mod., p. 160; Museo Mex., tom. iii., p. 269; Palacio, Carta, p. 20; Squier, in Id., note iii., p. 100; Squier’s Monograph of Authors, p. ix.; Id., Cent. Amer., pp. 320, 327-9, 339, 413; Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 190; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. i., p. 285; Conder’s Mex. Guat., vol. ii., p. 178; Romero, Noticias para formar la Historia de Michoacan, p. 5; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., pp. 89-90; Baril, Mexique, p. 212; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Id., Esquisses, p. 24; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 3, 8; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 54-5; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 85; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 158; Anales del Ministerio de Fomento, 1854, tom. i.; Acosta, Hist. Nat. Ind., p. 584; Id., Hist. de las Ynd., p. 530.

[IX-5] Hernandez, Nova Plant.

[IX-6] See Juan de la Anunciacion, Doctrina Christiana muy cumplida, donde se contiene la exposicion de todo lo necessario para doctrinar a los Indios y administralles los Sanctos Sacramentos. Compuesta en lengua Castellana y Mexicana. Mex., 1575. Juan de la Anunciacion, Sermonario en lengua Mexicana. Mex., 1577. Joan Baptista, Advertencias para los Confesores de los Naturales. Mex., 1600. Rosales, Loa en Obsequio de la Aparicion de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, Poem, 1582. Ioan de Mijango, Espejo Diuino, en lengua Mexicana. Mex., 1607. Martin de Leon, Camino del Cielo, en lengua Mexicana. Mex., 1611. Martin de Leon, Manual breve y forma de administrar los Santos Sacramentos á los Indios. Mex., 1640. Carlos Celedonio Velasquez de Cardenas y Leon, Breve Practica, y Regimen del Confessionario de Indios en Mexicano. Mex., 1661. Ignacio de Paredes, Promptuario Manual Mexicano. Mex., 1759. Francisco de Avila, Platica para hazer a los Indios. Mex., 1717. Antonio Vasquez Gastelu, Confessionario Breve en lengua Mexicana, Catecismo Breve. Puebla, 1716, and 2d edition, 1826, 1838, also 1860. Lecciones Espirituales para las Tandas de Ejercicios. Puebla, 1841. Pequeno Catecismo en el idioma Mex. Puebla, 1819. Juan Romualdo Amaro, Doctrina. Mex. 1840.

[IX-7] Paredes, Promptuario Manual Mexicano, p. xc.

[IX-8] Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. 24.

[IX-9] ’La mexicana no es menos galana y curiosa que la latina, y aun pienso que mas artizada en composicion y derivacion de vocablos, y en metáforas, cuya inteligencia y uso se ha perdido.’ Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 552. ‘La langue mexicaine est la plus riche de toute contrée: elle est aussi la plus pure, car elle n’est pas mélangée d’aucun mot étranger.’ Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcix., p. 136. ‘Lengua Mexicana y Nahuatl, que es la mejor, mas copiosa y mas estendida que ay en la nueva España.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 293; Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., fol. 1135. ‘La lengua Mexicana, que aunque es muy elegante y graciosa, tiene por su artificio y agudeza muchas metaforas, que la hazen dificultosa.’ Dávila Padilla, Hist. Fvnd. Mex., p. 31. ‘Malgrado la mancanza di quelle sei consonanti é una lingua copiosissima, assai pulita, e sommamente espressiva.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 171. ‘Es muy elegante este idioma, dulce, y muy abundante de Frases, y composiciones.’ Cortés, Hist. Nueva España, p. 5; Laet, Novus Orbis, pp. 240-1; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 635; Müller, Reisen, tom. iii., pp. 105-8. ‘Su lengua es la mejor y mas polida.’ (Tezcuco.) Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. x. ‘La mas elegante la Tezcucana como la Castellana en Toledo.’ Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 14; Boturini, Idea, p. 142; Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., pp. 382-3. ‘Esta lengua mas elegante y expressiva que la Latina, y dulce que la Toscana.’ Granados y Galves, Tardes Amer., p. 401. ‘La langue mexicaine est riche comme les autres langues indiennes; mais, comme elles, elle est matérielle et n’abonde pas en mots significatifs d’idées abstraites; comme elles, elle est synthétique dans sa structure, et n’en diffère, quant à ses formes, que par les détails qui n’affectent point son génie et son caractère. Elle abonde en particules intercalées,’ Du Ponceau, Mémoire, p. 255; Sonneschmid, Remarks on Mex. and the Mex. Lang., in Amer. Monthly Mag., vol. iii., p. 118; Lang’s Polynesian Nat., pp. 95-7. ‘The Mexican tongue abounded in expressions of reverence and courtesy. The style and appellations used in the intercourse between equals, would have been so unbecoming in the mouth of one in a lower sphere, when he accosted a person in higher rank, as to be deemed an insult.’ Robertson’s Hist. Amer., vol. ii., pp. 278-9. ‘The low guttural pronunciation of the Mexican, or Aztec.’ Ward’s Mex., vol. i., p. 31; Galicia Chimalpopocatl, Dissertacion, in Museo Mex., tom. iv., p. 517, et seq.; Heller, Reisen, p. 377. ‘Des hauteurs les plus sublimes, de la métaphysique, elle descend aux choses les plus vulgaires; avec une sonorité et une richesse d’expression qui n’appartiennent qu’à elle.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 103; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 108, vol. iii., p. 395. ‘The language of the Mexicans is to our apprehension harsh in the extreme.’ Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. i., p. 288.

[IX-10] Pedro de Arenas, Vocabulario Manual de las Lenguas Castellana y Mexicana. Mex., 1583. Manuel Perez, Arte del Idioma Mexicano. Mex., 1713. Antonio Vasquez Gastelu, Arte de la Lengua Mexicana. Puebla, 1716, and 2d edition, 1838. Francisco de Avila, Arte de la Lengua Mexicana. Mex., 1717. Carlos de Tapia Zenteno, Arte Novissima de Lengua Mexicana. Mex., 1753. Horacio Carochi, Compendio del Arte de la Lengua Mexicana. Mex., 1759. Molina, Vocabulario. Mex., 1571. Rafael Sandoval, Arte de la Lengua Mexicana. Mex., 1810. Pedro de Arenas, Guide de la Conversation. Paris, 1862. Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 214-245; Pimentel, Cuadro, vol. i., pp. 164-216; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 85-106; Buschmann, Ortsnamen, pp. 20-37.

[IX-11] ’Es ist nicht möglich von einer Verwandtschaft der mexicanischen Sprache mit den Sprachen anderer Erdtheile zu reden.’ Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. 20; Garcia, Origen de los Ind., pp. 118-21, 187, 232-5, 241, 269; Jones’ Hist. Anc. Amer.; Simon’s Ten Tribes, pp. 163, 173; Lang’s Polynesian Nat., pp. 96-8, et seq; Quarterly Review, 1816, p. 415; Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., p. 229, et seq.

[IX-12] Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 17; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 282; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 118; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 113.

[IX-13] ’Concòrdandose en que no se entienden los mismos Otomites de diversos Pueblos, aun Vecinos, de que diò una prueba concluyente el Obispo de Puebla, con el hecho de haver juntado quatro Curas estindantes de su sierra Otomì los que mutuamente se improbaban por hereticas, a disparatadòs sus esplicaciones de los Mysterios de nrã Religion.’ Concilio Provincial Mexicano, iv., 1771, Julio 31, MS.

[IX-14] Naxera, Dis. sobre la lengua Othomí; Warden, Recherches, in Antiq. Mex., pp. 125-9.

[IX-15] Bringier, Lettre, in Silliman’s Jour., vol. iii., pp. 35-6.

[IX-16] ’La Otomí, lengua bárbara cuasi enteramente gutural, y que á pénas cede al estudio y á la mas séria aplicacion.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 90. ‘La Otomi, que se dilata casi tanto como la Mexicana, y en la difficultad, y obscuridad le haze grandes ventajas.’ Grijalua, Crón. Augustin, fol. 74. ‘Loro linguaggio è assai difficile, e pieno d’aspirazioni, che fanno parte nella gola, e parte nel naso ma peraltro è abbastanza copioso ed espressivo.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 148. ‘Une langue pleine d’aspirations nasales et gutturales.’ Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 255. ‘Die Sprache der Othomi zeichnet sich durch die Einsylbigkeit oder wenigstens Kürze ihrer meisten Wörter, durch Härte und Aspiration aus.’ Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 114. ‘Leur langue, rude comme eux, est monosyllabique: embrassant à la fois tous les sons, mais dénuée d’ornements, elle montre, néanmoins, dans sa simplicité quelque chose de majestueux qui rappelle les temps antiques.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 157. ‘Es dura, seca, ingrata á la lengua y mal al oido: todo lo de ella es rústico, vasto, sin pulidez.’ Naxera, Dis. sobre la lengua Othomí, p. 23. ‘Su lenguage es muy duro y corte.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. v., cap. xix.; Duponceau, Mémoire, pp. 68-71; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 33, tom. ii., p. 82; Müller, Reisen, tom. iii., p. 45; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 152; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt ii., p. 364; Conder’s Mex. Guat., vol. ii., p. 119.

[IX-17] Yoaquin Lopez Yepes, Catecismo y Declaracion de la Doctrina Cristiana, en lengua Otomí. Francisco Perez, Catecismo de la Doctrina Cristiana, en lengua Otomí. Naxera, Disertacion sobre la lengua Othomi. Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 286-98; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 115-24; Pimentel, Cuadro, vol. i., pp. 120-50; Antonio Guadalupe Ramirez, Breve Compendio … Dispuesto en lengua Othomí. See also Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. iii., p. 355; Luis de Neve y Molina, Grammatica Della Lingua Otomí.

[IX-18] Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., pp. 194-201.

Chapter X • Languages of Central and Southern Mexico • 5,300 Words

The Pame and its Dialects—The Meco of Guanajuato and the Sierra Gorda—The Tarasco of Michoacan and its Grammar—The Matlaltzinca and its Grammar—The Ocuiltec—The Miztec and its Dialects—Miztec Grammar—The Amusgo, Chocho, Mazatec, Cuicatec, Chatino, Tlapanec, Chinantec, and Popoluca—The Zapotec and its Grammar—The Mije—Mije Grammar and Lord’s Prayer—The Huave of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec—Huave Numerals.

North-eastward of the Otomí, is a language called the Pame, spoken in three distinct dialects; the first in San Luis de la Paz, in the Sierra Gorda; the second, near the city of Maiz, in San Luis Potosí; and the third in Purísima Concepcion de Arnedo, and also in the Sierra Gorda. I have at hand only the Lord’s Prayer in three dialects; nor can I find mention of any vocabulary or grammar. It is described as difficult to acquire, principally on account of the many dialectic variations.[X-1]’Es mucha la dificultad del idioma, porque en treinta vecinos suele haber cuatro y cinco lenguas distintas, y tanto, que aun despues de mucho trato no se entienden sino las cosas muy ordinarias.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 282.

Pame and Meco Lord’s Prayer

First Dialect

Tata mícagon indis bonigemajá: indis unajá grotztacuz: Quii unibó: Nage eu nitazá, unibó ubonigí: Urroze paricagon uvinguí ambogón bucon gatigí bajir gomór, como icagon gumorbon quipicgo hicnangó: nenanguínandazó pacunimá: imorgo cabonjá pajanor. Amen Jesus.

Second Dialect

Caucan xugüenan, que humiju cantau impains, achscalijon gee nigiu yucant gee cumpó. Chaucat gee quimang, ac-gi cumpó acgi cantau impain. Senté caucan senda gunó yucant chiné iguadcatan caucan humunts, ac-gipain caucan hujuadptan á caucan humunts. Y mi negenk do guaik guning cacaa yeket vali ening, ac-ge-bo.

Third Dialect

Ttattahghuhggg ighegh ddih uhvoh hinh gghih qquihhmissches: ughgnjuhgh ttahghgihh innddisseh Qquihihihh uhggúho uhghg gühihh rrehhino, Ih qquih üghgghihghh wohlluhn ttáh ighschchahh, Assi uhggüghh commo ub vóhnnihghh. Uhnghehddi uhvrá hhvíhn qquihhphpohggühuhh, yhchihh uh vehvéhh ihghgühohgühuhh ih qqih ih chi wchveh ihhumhurhggühuhh uhhohddi nuch hêhôhuág. Assi commo ahpe hpâhhddi ihec âhggühuhh kuhmhûhrûhhg uhonnddi ahphpiggühúhh. Ih qquihngnahghnhêhrrggühuhh phpahagh, Ahnâhssuhqquih huhnhéhh. Mahhsséhh Uihbbráhrhr ihhehggühuhh. Ihghgôhttahhehrêh Ggéhssúhs.

It will be observed that the third dialect displays a most singular combination of letters. It is a manifest absurdity. Pimentel does not mention where he obtained it, nor does he intimate what sounds are produced from this huddling of consonants. I give it more as a curiosity than with the idea that philologists will ever derive any benefit from it.[X-2]Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., p. 267; Col. Polidiómica Mex., Oracion Dominical, pp. 31-3.

In the Sierra Gorda and in Guanajuato, another language is mentioned, called the Meco, or Serrano, of which no specimen but a Lord’s Prayer exists:

Mataíge gui bu majetzi, qui sundat too, da guê rit tû jû da ne pa quecque ni moc canáni, ne si dac-kaá na moccanzû; tanto na sinfai, tengû, majetzi. Mat tumeje tá, át mapa, rac-je pilla, ne si gi pungagé, mat-oigajé, tengû si didi pumjéé, too dit-tuc-je, nello gijega je gatac-je ratentacion; man-aa juêgaje, gat-tit-jov llaizoonfenni.[X-3]Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., p. 267.

Still less is said concerning the languages spoken in the state of Tamaulipas; of them nothing is known but the names, and it cannot be ascertained whether they are correctly classified or not, as no specimens exist. The languages which I find spoken of are the Yuê, Yemé, Olive, Janambre, Pisone, and a general one named Tamaulipeco.[X-4]Berlandier, Diario, p. 144; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 296.

The Tarasco, the principal language of Michoacan, can be placed almost upon an equality with the Aztec, as being copious and well finished. It is particularly sweet-sounding, and on this account has been likened to the Italian; possessing all the letters of the alphabet.

Each syllable usually contains one consonant and one vowel; the letter r is frequent.[X-5]Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 552. ‘Tarascum, quod hujus gentis proprium erat et vulgare, concisum atque elegans.’ Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 267. ‘La Tarasca, que corre generalmente en las Prouincias de Mechoacan, esta es muy facil por tener la mesma pronunciacion que la nuestra: yassi se escriue con el mesmo abecedario. Es muy copiosa, y elegante.’ Grijalua, Crón. Augustin, fol. 75; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. ix.; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., pp. 90-1; Acosta, Hist. Nat. Ind., p. 506. ‘La loro lingua è abbondante, dolce, e sonora. Adoperano spesso la R soave: le loro sillabe constano per lo più d’una sola consonante e d’una vocale.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 149. ‘Les Tarasques … célèbres … par l’harmonie de leur langue riche en voyelles.’ Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 255; Beaumont, Crón. de Mechoacan, p. 43; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt ii., p. 364; Romero, Noticias Michoacan, p. 5; Heredia y Sarmiento, Sermon, p. 83; Anales del Ministerio de Fomento, 1854, p. 185, et seq.; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 35; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 152. ‘Die Sprache in dieser Provinz wird für die reineste und zierlichste von ganz Neu-Spanien gehalten.’ Delaporte, Reisen, pp. 313-4; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 125. ‘Tarasca een nette en korte spraek, die eigentlijk alhier te huis hoort.’ Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 256. Ward, speaking of the Tarasco, has made the serious mistake of confounding it with the Otomí, and seems to think that they are both one and the same. Two languages could hardly be farther apart than these two. Mexico, vol. ii., p. 681. Raffinesque, the indefatigable searcher for foreign relationships with Mexican languages, claims to have discovered an affinity between the Tarasco, Italian, Atlantic, Coptic, Pelasgic, Greek, and Latin languages. He writes that he was ‘struck with its evident analogy’ with the above and with the ‘languages of Africa and Europe both in words and structure, in spite of a separation of some thousand years.’ In Priest’s Amer. Antiq., p. 314. From the different grammars I compile the following:

Tarasco Grammar

In the alphabet there is neither f, v, nor l; no words begin with the letters b, d, g, and r; k, has a sound distinct from that of c, being pronounced stronger. The letter s is often intercalated for euphony; it must be inserted between h and i, when a word ends with h, and the next begins with i. At the end of a word it signifies same, or self; hi, I; his, I myself. When a word ends in s and the next begins with h, the letter x is substituted for both. The letter x at the end of a word indicates the plural. Ph is never pronounced like f; the h after p only indicates an aspiration of the vowel which follows:—p-hica. Hati, third person singular of the pronoun used in conjugations, may be converted into ndi. The p immediately following m is converted into b. The r and t next following n are converted into d; and e and q next following n are converted into g. There are three kinds of nouns—rational, irrational, and inanimate. The last two are indeclinable in the singular. The plural of irrational animals is formed simply by the addition of the particle echa. Two other particles are used to express the plural of inanimate things;—uan, and harandeti, many, much. Five words of this species use, however, the particle echa in the plural; uata, mountain; ambocuta, street; ahchiuri, night; tzipaé, morning; hosqua, star.

Declension of the Word Father

Father

Singular		Plural
Nom.	tata	Nom.	tata ecba
Gen.	tataeueri, or hihchiuiremba	Gen.	tata echa eueri
Dat.	tata ni	Dat.	tata echa ni
Acus.	tata ni	Acus.	tsta echa ni
Voc.	tata e	Voc.	tata eche e
Abl.	tata ni himbo	Abl.	tata echa ni himbo

Conjugation of the Verb Pomi, To Touch

Pomi, To Touch

PRESENT INDICATIVE.
Active.		Passive.
I touch,	pohaca	I am touched,	pogahaca
Thou touchest,	pohacare	Thou art touched,	pogahacare
He touches,	pohati	He is touched,	pogahati
We touch,	pohacachuchi	We are touched,	pogahacachuchi
You touch,	pohacarechuchi	You are touched,	pogahacuchuchi
They touch,	potix	They are touched,	pogatix

IMPERFECT.
I touched,	pohambihca	I was touched,	pogahambihca

PERFECT.
I have touched,	poca	I was touched,	pogaca

PLUPERFECT.
I had touched,	pophihca	I had been touched,	pogaphica

FIRST FUTURE.
I shall touch,	pouaca	I shall be touched,	pagauaca

SECOND FUTURE.
	I shall have touched,	thuvin pouaca
	I shall have been touched,	thuvin pogauaca

IMPERATIVE.
Let me touch,	popa	Let us touch,	popacuche
Touch thou,	po	Touch you,	paue
Let him touch,	poue	Let them touch,	pauez

I might touch,	popiringa	I might be touched,	pogapiringa[X-6]Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., pp. 275-309; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 245-52; Moxo, Cartas Mejicanas, p. 68; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 126; Manuel de San Juan Crisostomo Nájera, Gram. Tarasca, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iv., pp. 664-684.

Lord’s Prayer

Tata Father huchaeueri our thukirehaca thou who art auándaro heaven in santo holy arikeue be said thucheueti thy hacangurikua name uuehtsini make us andarenoni arrive thucheueti thy irechekua kingdom ukeue be done thucheueti thy uekua will iskire as in auándaro heaven in umengahaca it is made istu as umengaue it be made ixu as echerendo.earth in. Huchaeueri Our curinda bread anganaripakua daily instcuhtsini give us iya to-day canhtsini and to us uepouachetsnsta forgive huchaeueri our hatzingakuareta fault iski as also hucha we uehpouacuhuantstahaca forgive huchaeueri our hatsingakuaecheni debtors ca and hastsini not us teruhtatzemani lead us terungutahperakua temptation himbo.but Euahpentstatsini deliver us caru also casingurita evil himbo.[X-7]Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 304; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 126-7; Araujo, Manual de las Santos Sacramentos en el Idioma de Michuacan.of.

Matlaltzinca Grammar

West of the valley of Anáhuac, in the ancient kingdom of Michoacan, and in the district which is now called Toluca, was an independent nation, the Matlaltzincas, whose language, of which there are several dialects, notwithstanding the assertion of some writers that it was connected with or related to the Tarasco, must still stand as an individual and distinct tongue. Comparisons may develop a few phonetic similarities, but otherwise the two do not approach one another in the least.[X-8]’Estos tolucas, y por otro nombre Matlatzincas, no hablaban la lengua mexicana, sino otra diferente y obscura … y su lengua propia de ellos, no carece de la letra R.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 129; Grijalua, Crón. Augustin, fol. 75; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Esquisses, p. 33.

There are twenty-one letters used in the Matlaltzinca language:—a, b, ch, d, e, g, h, i, k, m, n, o, p, q, r, t, tz, th, u, x, y, z. Compounded words are frequently used and are considered very elegant;—kimituhoritakimindutzitzi, to look for something to eat; kituteginchimuthohuinikuhumbi, I give a good example. Gender is expressed and there is also a declension. There is a singular, a dual, and a plural; the dual is designated by the preposition the;—huema, the man; thema, the two men. The plural is designated by the preposition ne;—nema, the men; but there are some inanimate substantives with which this latter preposition is not used.

The personal pronouns are:—kaki, I; kakuehui, kakuebi, kakuehebi, we two; kakohuiti, kakehebi, we; kahachi, thou; kachehui, you two; kachohui, you; inthehui, he; inthehuehui, they two; inthehue, they. Possessives:—niteyeh, mine; kaxniyeh, thine; niyeh inthehui, his.

Conjugation of the Verb to Love

To Love

PRESENT INDICATIVE.

SINGULAR.
	I love,	kitututochi
	Thou lovest,	kitutochi, or kikitutochi
	He loves,	kitutochi

DUAL.
	We two love,	kikuentutochi
	You two love,	kichentutochi
	They two love,	kikuentutochi

PLURAL.

	We love,	kikuchentutochi
	You love,	kichehentutochi
	They love,	kirontutochi

IMPERFECT.		PERFECT.

I loved,	kimitututochi	I have loved,	kitabutochi

FUTURE.
	I shall love,	kirutochi, or takimitututochi

IMPERATIVE.
	Let me love,	kutochi

PASSIVE.
I am loved,	kitochikikaki	We are loved,	kitochikakehebi
We two are loved,	kitochihuehuikakuebi

REFLEXIVE.
	I love myself,	kitutecochi

He who loves,	inmututochi	He who will love,	inkakatutochi

Lord’s Prayer

Kabotuntanki Father our kizhechori thou art above ypiytiy in heaven tharehetemeyuhbutohui sanctified beinituyuh thy name tapue come nitubeye thy kingdom tharetehehui do inunihami above the earthinkituhenahui thy will ipuzka as hetehehui it is done ypiytiy.in heaven. Achii To-day ripahkehbi give usinbotumehui our bread indahmutze every day dihemindikebi forgive us inbotubuchochi our faultpukuehentukahmindi as we forgive indorihuebikeh our debtors nuximenkarihechi let us not fallkehbi us muhe and dishedanita deliver kehbi us pinita frominbuti.[X-9]Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., pp. 499-539; Guevara, Arte Doctrinal, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. ix., pp. 197-260; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 126.evil.

A language spoken in Toluca, the Ocuiltec, is mentioned by Sahagun and Grijalua, about which, excepting the name only, no information can be obtained.[X-10]’Ocuiltecas, viven en el distrito de Toluca, en tierras y terminos suyos, son de la misma vida, y costumbre de los de la Toluca, aunque su lenguage es diferente.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 130.’Ocuilteca, que es lengua singular de aquel pueblo, y de solo ocho visitas, que tenia sujetas àsi, y assi somos solos, los que la sabemos.’ Grijalua, Crón. Augustin, fol. 75.

Dialects of the Miztec Language

Principally in the state of Oajaca, but also in parts of the present states of Puebla and Guerrero, the Miztec language is spoken even to this day. Of this language there are many dialects, of which the following are mentioned as chief;—the Tepuzculano, the Yangüistlan, the Miztec bajo, the Miztec alto, the Cuixlahuac, the Tlaxiaco, the Cuilapa, the Mictlantongo, the Tamazulapa, the Xaltepec, and the Nochiztlan. As related to the Miztec, the Chocho, or Chuchon, also an Oajaca idiom, is mentioned.[X-11]’Y aunque la lengua los haze generalmente à todos vnos en muchos partes la han diferenciado en sylabas, y modo de pronunciarlas, pero todos se comunican, y entienden.’ Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. i., fol. 127, 130; Grijalua, Crón. Augustin, p. 75; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Esquisses, pp. 34-6; Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 260; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xii-xiii.; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 189-96; Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., p. 137; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, p. 712. As the Miztecs are generally classed among the autochthones of Mexico, their language is considered as of great antiquity, being spoken of in connection with that of the Ulmecs and Xicalancas.[X-12]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 32. ‘Ein Volk, das zu den Autochthonen von Mexico gehört.’ Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. 18. Almost all of the old missionaries complained of the difficulty of acquiring this tongue and its many dialects, which necessitated often a threefold or fourfold study.[X-13]’Mistica, cuya entera pronunciacion se vale algunas vezes de las narizes, y tiene muchos equiuocos que la hazen de mayor dificultad.’ Dávila Padilla, Hist. Fvnd. Mex., p. 64. ‘La lengua dificultosissima en la pronunciacion, con notable variedad de terminos y vozes en vnos y otros Pueblos.’ Burgoa, Palestra, Hist., pt i., fol. 211. ‘Que como eran Demonios se valian de la maliciosa astucia de variar las vozes y vocablos en esta lengua, asi para los Palacios de los Caziques con terminos reuerenciales, como para los Idolos con parabolos, y tropos, que solos los satrapas los aprendian, y como era aqui lo mas corrupto.’ Id., Geog. Descrip., tom. i., fol. 156. ‘La lengua de aquella nacion, que es dificultosa de saberse, por la gran equiuocacion de los bocablos, para cuya distincion es necessario vsar de ordinario del sonido de la nariz y aspiracion del aliento.’ Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, p. 321. ‘Ser la Lengua dificultosa de aprender, por las muchas equiuocaciones que tiene.’ Dávila, Teatro Ecles., tom. i., p. 156.

The Miztec may be written by means of the following letters:—a, ch, d, e, h, i, j, k, m, n, ñ, o, s, t, u, v, x or ks, gs, y, z, dz, nd, tn, kh. The pronunciation is very clear; the h is aspirated; v is as in English; kh, nd, and tn, are nasal. Long words are of frequent occurrence. I give two of seventeen syllables each;—yodoyokavuandisasikandiyosanninahasahan, to walk stumbling; and yokuvuihuatinindiyotuvuihuatusindisahata, to conciliate the good graces of a person. Words are compounded or agglutinated in five different ways;—First, without changing either of the component words, as;—yutnù, tree; and kuihi, fruit; yutnukuihi, fruit-tree. Second, one of the component words changes, as;—huaha, good, and ñaha, no; ñahuaha, bad. Third, words which are first divided and cut up, are afterward, so to say, patched together again. Fourth, one word is intercalated with another; as;—yosinindi, I know; mani, an estimable thing; yosinimanindi, I love or esteem.

Miztec Grammar and Lord’s Prayers

There are many words in this language which express quite different things, according to the connection in which they are used, as;—yondakandi, I accompany somebody, means also I ask; yoyuhuindi, I counsel, signifies also, I go to receive somebody on the road; also, let us go; etc. Reverential terms are of frequent occurrence, necessitating almost a separate language when addressing superiors. For instance;—noho, teeth; yeknya yuchixa, teeth of a lord; dzitui, nose; dutuya, nose of a lord; dzoho, ears; tnahaya, ears of a lord. There is no regular plural, but plurality is expressed by the word ‘many,’ or the number. Personal pronouns are;—I, speaking to inferiors or equals, duhu, ndi; I, speaking with superiors, ñadzaña, ñadza, ñdza; thou, doho, ndo; thou, used by females speaking to their children, diya, nda; you, or your honor, disi, maini, ni; he, ta, tay, yukua; she, ña, (also used by women speaking of men); he or she, speaking respectfully, ya, iya; we, ndoo; you, doho; they, ta, tay, yukua. The pronouns, ndi, ndo, ta, are affixed to the verb; and the pronouns, duhu, doho, and tai, are prefixed; ñadzaña, is usually prefixed; ñadza or ndza, affixed; disi, and maini, are generally prefixed, ni is affixed; diya, is prefixed and ña, ndoo, and ya, are affixed.

Conjugation of the Verb to Sin

To Sin

PRESENT INDICATIVE.
I sin,	yodzatevuindi	He sins,	yodzatevuita
Thou sinnest,	yodzatevuindo	We sin,	yodzatevuindoo

IMPERFECT.		PLUPERFECT.
I sinned,	nidzatevuindi	I had sinned,	sanidzatevuindi

FIRST FUTURE.		SECOND FUTURE.
I shall sin,	dzatevuindi	I shall have sinned,	sadzatevuikandi

	IMPERATIVE.
Let me sin,	nadzatevuindi	Let us sin,	nadzatevuindoo
Sin thou,	dzatevui	Sin you,	chidzatevui
Let him, or them sin,	nadzatevuita

Verbal nouns are formed by prefixing the syllable sa, or sasi, to the present indicative of the verb. Regarding the dialects of the Miztec, Pimentel quotes the following from Father Reyes’ grammar. All the dialects may be grouped into two principal languages, which are those of Tepuzculula and Yangüitlan. That of Tepuzculula is the best understood throughout the district of Mizteca.

The Pater Noster in the Tepuzculula dialect is as follows.

Dzutundoo Our father yodzikani thou art andevui heaven nakakunahihuahandoo,let us praise,sananini thy name nakisi come santoniisini thy kingdom nakuvui be done ñuuñayevui (in the) world inini thy will dzavuatnaha as also yokuvui be done andevui.(in) heaven. Dzitandoo Our bread yutnaa yutnaa each daytasinisindo give us much huitno to-day dzaandoui forgive us kuachisindoo our sins dzavuatnaha as well asyodzandoondoo we forgive suhani debtor sindoo ours huasa not kivuiñahani lead us nukuitandodzondoo we will fallkuachi in sin tavuiñahani deliver you sañahuahua.from evil. Dzavua Sonakuvui.be it made.

For the purpose of illustrating the difference between the dialects, I insert two other Pater Nosters, the first of Miztec bajo, and the second of the alto dialect:

Dútundo hiadícani andívi ñacùú hii ña nániní: naquíxidíca satónixiní: nacúu ndúdu ínìní ñunahívi yóhò daguatnaha yo cúu ini andivi. Ditàndo itián itían taxinia nundi vichi: te dandooni cuachindi dagua tnaha dandoondi naa ni dativi nundi: te maza dáñani ntziuhu uncaguandi ña dativindi: te cuneguahanindi nuu nditaca ña unguaha. Duha na cuu Jesus.

Dzutuyo iyoxicani andivi nacui hii ñanánini. Naquixi xatòniixini. Nacúhui ndudzuinìni uñaiviyóhò, sahuatna yocúhui ini andivi. Dzitàyo itian itian taxini nundi vichi: sandoo-ni cuáchiyo, sahuatanha yo sandondi nanidzativi nundi taun-sayáhani ñacanacahuandi zadzativindi. Sacacunino ñahani nuu nditaca ña hunhua. Dzaa nacuu Iya Iesus.[X-14]Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., pp. 41-79; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt. iii., pp. 31-41; Catecismo del P. Ripaldo, traducida al Misteco; Catecismo en idioma Mixteco.

Another language, said to be connected with the Miztec is the Amusgo. Wedged in between the Miztec and Zapotec are several tongues, of which, excepting a few Lord’s Prayers, I find nothing mentioned but the names; it is not improbable that some of them were only dialects of either the Miztec or Zapotec. These are the Mazatec, Cuicatec, and Chinantec, which latter is described as a very guttural tongue, with a rather indistinct pronunciation, so that it is difficult to distinguish the vowels; further there are mentioned the Chatino, Tlapanec, and Popoluca.[X-15]Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, p. 712. Chinantec ‘con la dificultad de la pronunciacion, y vozes tan equiuocas que con vn mesmo termino mas blando ò mas reciò dicho significa disonante sentido.’ ‘Por que la locucion es entre dientes, violenta, y con los accentos de consonantes asperas, confusas las vocales, sin distincion vnas de otras que parecian bramidos, mas que terminos de locucion.’ Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. i., fol. 183., tom. ii., fol. 284, 286; Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., pp. 137, 141, 163, 187, 189, 197; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 187-197; Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 497. Orozco y Berra declares that the following names designate the Popoluca in different states. Thus the Chocho, Chochona, or Chuchon, is said by him to have been called—in Puebla, the Popoluca; in Guerrero, the Tlapanec; in Michoacan, the Teco; and in Guatemala, the Pupuluca.[X-16]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 135; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., p. 262. Of these languages I have the following Lord’s Prayers:

Chocho or Chuchon

Thañay theeñingarmhi athiytnuthu y ñay dithiñi achuua dinchaxiñi atatçu ndithetatçu caguñi, nchiyatheetatçu ngarmhi andaatatçu saçermhi y tçama caatuenesacaha cahau atzizhuqhee caa tuënesacaha di ëñihay a taanguyheene cagüñi, ditheethaxengaqhine tuënesacaha nchiyaquichuu, ditheetaanguyheene cagüquichuu … sacaha, thiytheecheëxengaqhine quichuu sacaha netçanga yhathamiñi çixitçeyasacaha yhee cheecaamiñi cheecaaqhi nemiñi caatuënesacaha caanenndiñaña andataazu.

Mazatec and Cuicatec Lord’s Prayers

Of the Mazatec there are two specimens, which do not appear to accord, thus showing how little regard was paid to names:

Nadminá Nainá ga tecni gahami, sandumí ili ga tirrubanajin nanguili. Cuaha catama janimali, jacunit dic nangui cunit gahami. Niño rrajinna tey quitaha najin; qntedchatahanajin gadchidtonajin jacunitgajin nedchata alejin chidtaga tedtunajin. Guquimit tacuntuajin, tued tinajin cuacha ca tama.

Tata nahan xi nacá nihaseno: chacuca, catoma ñieré; catichová rico manimajin. Catoma cuazuare, donjara batoó cor nanguí, bateco, nihasen: niotisla najin ri ganeihinixtin, tinto najin dehi; nicanuhi ri guitenajin donjara batoo, juirin ni canojin ri quiteisjajin, quiniquenahi najin ri danjin quis anda nongo niqueste. Meé.

Of the Cuicatec there are also two dialects:

Chidao, chicane cheti jubí chintuico ña; cobichi, jubi ña; chichií, chicobi no ns: ñendi ña; cobichi ñenoña. Duica ñahán, ñahán tando cheti jubi. Nondo ñecno; chi jubi, jubi; techi ni nons: má dinenino, ni chi canticono, dinen, tandonons; dineninono chi canti co ñehen nons, ata condicno; na tentac ioñ, ante danhi, dinenino ni chin que hé danhi.

Chida deco, chicanede vae chetingue cuivicu duchi dende cuichi nusun dende vue chetingue cui, tundube vedinun dende tica nañaa, tandu vae chetingue yn dingue deco de huehue techide deco guema yna dechecode deco ducue ticu tica, tandu nusun nadecheco deevioducue chichati cusa yati, tumandicude cuitao vendicuido nanguaedene ducue chiguetae.[X-17]Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., pp. 259-62.

Zapotec Grammar and Lord’s Prayer

The ancient kingdom of Zapotecapan, in which the Zapotec language was spoken, extended from the valley of Oajaca as far as Tehuantepec. The different dialects were, the Zaachilla, Ocotlan, Etla, Netzicho, Serrano de Ixtepec, Serrano de Cajones or Beni-Xono, and Serrano de Miahuatlan.[X-18]Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., pp. 190-9; Museo Mex., tom. ii., p. 554; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., p. 186; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 36; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 177; Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., fol. 312. The Zapotec is a more harmonious language than the Miztec, and is spoken with considerable elegance, metaphors and parables abounding.[X-19]’Su lenguage era tan metaforico, como el de los Palestinos, lo que querian persuadir, hablaban siempre con parabolas.’ Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. i., fol. 196. ‘La langue Zapotèque est d’une douceur et d’une sonorité qui rappelle l’Italien.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Esquisses, p. 35. Yet it is in some places pronounced indistinctly; so much so that Juan Córdova, the author of a grammar, complains that the letters a and o, e, y, and i, o and u, b and p, and t and r, are often confounded. The h is used only as an aspirate. The following letters of the alphabet represent the sounds of the Zapotec: a, b, ch, e, g, h, i, k, l, m, n, ñ, o, p, r, t, u, y, x, z, th. There are also five diphthongs: æ, œ, ei, ie, ou. The plural is expressed either by numerals or by adjectives;—pichina, deer; ziani pichina, many deer. Like the Aztec, Miztec, and others, the Zapotec has reverential terms. The personal pronouns are;—naa, ya, a, I; lohui, loy, looy, lo, thou; yobina, your honor (when speaking to superiors); nikani, nike, nikee, ni, ke, he or they; yobini or yobina, he, (speaking respectfully); taono, tono, tonoo, tona, no, noo, we; lato, to, you.

Possessives;—xitenia, mine; xitenilo, thine; xitenini, his; xitenitono or xitenino, ours; xitenito, yours. Interrogatives used with animate beings, are;—tuxa or tuia, tu or chu; and with inanimate things: xiikaxa, xiixa, xii; koota is used for either animate or inanimate objects.

There are four conjugations, which are distinguished by the particles with which they commence. The first uses, in the present, ta, in the past, ka, and in the future, ka; the second has te, pe, and ke; the third, ti, ko, ki; and if they are passives, ti, pi, ki, or ti, ko, and ka; the fourth uses to, pe, and ko.

Conjugation of the Verb to Dig

To Dig

PRESENT INDICATIVE.
I dig,	tanaya	We dig,	tieenano
Thou diggest,	tanalo	You dig,	tanato
He digs, or they dig,	tanani

IMPERFECT.		PERFECT.
I dug,	tanatia, konatia, or konaya	I have dug,	zianaya

PLUPERFECT.
	I had dug,	huayanaya, konakalaya, zianakalaya,
		or, huayanakalaya

FIRST FUTURE.
	I shall dig,	kanaya

IMPERATIVE.
	Dig thou,	kona
	Let us dig,	lakeyanano, or kolakieenano
	Dig you,	kolakana

OTHER FORMS.
	If I would dig,	nianalayaniaka
	If I have dug,	zianatilaya
	If I shall dig,	nikanaya

The following is an example of the differences between the dialects. Child in the Zaachilla is batoo; in the Ocotlan, metho; in the Etla, binnito; in the sierra, bitao; in the tierra caliente, bato.

The Pater Noster with literal translation taken from the Catecismo of Leonardo Levanto, reads as follows.

Bixoozetonoohe Father our kiiebaa heaven nachiibalo thou who art above nazitoo great ziikani has been done laalo thy name kellakookii kingdom xtennilo thine kita will come ziika ruarii here nitizigueelalo thy will ziika as raka is done kiaa,above, kiiebaa heaven laaniziika as gaka be done ruarii here layoo.earth. Xikonina The bread of all us kixee kixee to-morrow peneche give ziika also anna to-day chela and a not kozaanañaaziikalo lead us tonoo us niiani that ya we kezihuina:sin: peziilla deliver zika also tonoo us niiaxtenni of kiraa all kellahuechiie.evil. Gaga Will be done ziiga so ziika.[X-20]Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., pp. 321-60; Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 260, et seq.so.

Between the head waters of the Rio Nexapa and Goatzacoalco the Mije language is spoken. It is described as guttural and rough, and by some as poor in words, necessitating auxiliary gestures. The bishop of Oajaca, to whose diocese they belonged, in a letter to Archbishop Lorenzana stated that he had a people under him, who could only converse during daylight, for at night they could not see their gestures and without these were unable to understand each other.[X-21]’Expressa el Illm^o Señor Obispo de Oaxaca en su Pastoral, que en su Diocesis hay una Lengua, que solo de dia se entienden bien, y que de noche en apagándoles la luz, ya no se pueden explicar, porque con los gestos significan.’ Lorenzana y Buitron, Cartas Pastorales, p. 96, note 1. ‘Tambien su idioma tiene fuerça y energia.’ Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., fol. 271. ‘Lingua illorum, rudis et crassum quid sonans instar Allemanorum.’ Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 262; Barnard’s Tehuantepec, pp. 224-5; Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., pp. 155, 199-201; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., p. 143; Museo Mex., tom. ii., p. 555; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 176. The following alphabet is used by Pimentel in writing this language;—a, b, ch, e, h, i, k, m, n, ñ, o, p, t, u, v, x, y, tz. Two and more consonants frequently follow one another in the same syllable, as;—akx, epx, itzp, otzk, mma, mne, mpi, mto, mxu, etc. Vowels are also frequently double, as;—kôô, arms; teikkaa, and tinaak, stomach. In declensions the genitive is formed by prefixing the letter i;—xêuh, name; dios ixêuh, name of God. The plural is formed by the terminal toch;—toix, woman; toixtoch, women.

Pronouns

I	ôtz, n, nôtz
Thou	ix, mitz, mi, mim, n
Thou, speaking with reverence	mih
He	t, i
He, or they who	hudiiphee, hudii
He, or they who (affixed)	phee, hee
This, these	phee, hee, yaat
Who	pôn
We	ôôtz, n
They	yâó
Mine	nôtz
Thine	m, mitzm
His	i
Our, ours	ôôtzn, nôôtz, n

Mije Adverbs, Prepositions, and Conjunctions

Adverbs, Prepositions, and Conjunctions

Mije Adverbs

Here	ya
No	katii
Thence	heem
Always	xûma
Never	kahundiin
More	niik
Then	hueniit
When	ko
For, in, to, above, with	kûxm
Of	kûxmit, it
In, between	hoitp
In	huiñ
With	môôt
Inside, within	akuuk
Before	huindui
Why, what for	heekûxm
That	huen
As much, so that	ixtanôm
Not yet	katiinam
How, since	ixta

The Lord’s Prayer

Nteitôôtz Father our tzaphoitp in heaven mtzônaiphee who lives konuikx blessed itot be mitzm thyxêuh name momoikôôtz give us mitzm thy konkion kingdom itunot be done mitzm thy tzokn willya as naxhuiñin earth ixta as ituiñu is done tzaphoitp.in heaven. Oôtzn Our kaik bread opomopomit dailymomoikôôtz give us yoniit to-day etz and moyaknitokoikôôtzn forgive uspokpa sin ixta as ôôtz we niaknitokoi forgive ôôtzn our yachotmaatpa offender etz andkatii not ôôtz as ixmomatztuit lead heekuxm that katii not ôôtz as nkedai let us carryhuinonn temptation kûxn.in. Etz And mokohuankôôtz deliver nañihum all kaoiaphee evilkuxmit.[X-22]Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., pp. 173-88.from.

The language of the Huaves spoken on the isthmus of Tehuantepec, is, according to tradition, not indigenous to the country. It is related that these people came by water from a place down the coast, although the locality whence they came is not given.[X-23]’Y se dixo antes, que la nacion destos Indios huabes avian venido de tierras muy lexanas, de allà de la Costa del Sur, mas cerca de la Eclyptica vezindad del Perù, y segun las circunstancias de su lengua, y trato de la Provincia ò Reyno de Nicarahua.’ Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., fol. 396; ‘El huave, huavi, guave, llamado tambien en un antiguo MS. guazonteca ó huazonteca, se habla en el Estado de Oaxaca, Los huaves son originarios de Guatemala; unos les hacen de la filiacion de los peruanos, fundándose en la semejanza de algunas costumbres, mientras otros les suponen hermanos de los pueblos de Nicaragua. La segunda opinion nos parece la mas acertada, y aun nos atreveriamos á creer que el huave pertenece á la familia maya-quiché.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 44, 74. ‘Il paraît démontré, cependant, que la langue des Wabi a de grandes analogies avec quelqu’une de celles qu’on parlait à Nicaragua.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 36. I have only the following numerals as a specimen of the language.

numerals

One	anoeth	Ten	agax-poax
Two	izquieó	Eleven	agax-panocthx
Three	areux	Twelve	agax-pieuhx
Four	apequiú	Thirteen	agax-par
Five	acoquiaú	Fourteen	agax-papeux
Six	anaiú	Fifteen	agax-pacoigx
Seven	ayéiú	Twenty	nicumaio
Eight	axpecaú	Thirty	nieumiaomcaxpó
Nine	axqueyeú	One hundred	anoecacocmiau[X-24]Sivers, Mittelamerika, p. 290.

Footnotes

[X-1] ’Es mucha la dificultad del idioma, porque en treinta vecinos suele haber cuatro y cinco lenguas distintas, y tanto, que aun despues de mucho trato no se entienden sino las cosas muy ordinarias.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 282.

[X-2] Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., p. 267; Col. Polidiómica Mex., Oracion Dominical, pp. 31-3.

[X-3] Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., p. 267.

[X-4] Berlandier, Diario, p. 144; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 296.

[X-5] Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 552. ‘Tarascum, quod hujus gentis proprium erat et vulgare, concisum atque elegans.’ Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 267. ‘La Tarasca, que corre generalmente en las Prouincias de Mechoacan, esta es muy facil por tener la mesma pronunciacion que la nuestra: yassi se escriue con el mesmo abecedario. Es muy copiosa, y elegante.’ Grijalua, Crón. Augustin, fol. 75; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. ix.; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., pp. 90-1; Acosta, Hist. Nat. Ind., p. 506. ‘La loro lingua è abbondante, dolce, e sonora. Adoperano spesso la R soave: le loro sillabe constano per lo più d’una sola consonante e d’una vocale.’ Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 149. ‘Les Tarasques … célèbres … par l’harmonie de leur langue riche en voyelles.’ Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 255; Beaumont, Crón. de Mechoacan, p. 43; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt ii., p. 364; Romero, Noticias Michoacan, p. 5; Heredia y Sarmiento, Sermon, p. 83; Anales del Ministerio de Fomento, 1854, p. 185, et seq.; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 35; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 152. ‘Die Sprache in dieser Provinz wird für die reineste und zierlichste von ganz Neu-Spanien gehalten.’ Delaporte, Reisen, pp. 313-4; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 125. ‘Tarasca een nette en korte spraek, die eigentlijk alhier te huis hoort.’ Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 256. Ward, speaking of the Tarasco, has made the serious mistake of confounding it with the Otomí, and seems to think that they are both one and the same. Two languages could hardly be farther apart than these two. Mexico, vol. ii., p. 681. Raffinesque, the indefatigable searcher for foreign relationships with Mexican languages, claims to have discovered an affinity between the Tarasco, Italian, Atlantic, Coptic, Pelasgic, Greek, and Latin languages. He writes that he was ‘struck with its evident analogy’ with the above and with the ‘languages of Africa and Europe both in words and structure, in spite of a separation of some thousand years.’ In Priest’s Amer. Antiq., p. 314.

[X-6] Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., pp. 275-309; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 245-52; Moxo, Cartas Mejicanas, p. 68; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 126; Manuel de San Juan Crisostomo Nájera, Gram. Tarasca, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iv., pp. 664-684.

[X-7] Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 304; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 126-7; Araujo, Manual de las Santos Sacramentos en el Idioma de Michuacan.

[X-8] ’Estos tolucas, y por otro nombre Matlatzincas, no hablaban la lengua mexicana, sino otra diferente y obscura … y su lengua propia de ellos, no carece de la letra R.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 129; Grijalua, Crón. Augustin, fol. 75; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Esquisses, p. 33.

[X-9] Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., pp. 499-539; Guevara, Arte Doctrinal, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. ix., pp. 197-260; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 126.

[X-10] ’Ocuiltecas, viven en el distrito de Toluca, en tierras y terminos suyos, son de la misma vida, y costumbre de los de la Toluca, aunque su lenguage es diferente.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 130.’Ocuilteca, que es lengua singular de aquel pueblo, y de solo ocho visitas, que tenia sujetas àsi, y assi somos solos, los que la sabemos.’ Grijalua, Crón. Augustin, fol. 75.

[X-11] ’Y aunque la lengua los haze generalmente à todos vnos en muchos partes la han diferenciado en sylabas, y modo de pronunciarlas, pero todos se comunican, y entienden.’ Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. i., fol. 127, 130; Grijalua, Crón. Augustin, p. 75; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Esquisses, pp. 34-6; Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 260; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. xii-xiii.; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 189-96; Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., p. 137; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, p. 712.

[X-12] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 32. ‘Ein Volk, das zu den Autochthonen von Mexico gehört.’ Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. 18.

[X-13] ’Mistica, cuya entera pronunciacion se vale algunas vezes de las narizes, y tiene muchos equiuocos que la hazen de mayor dificultad.’ Dávila Padilla, Hist. Fvnd. Mex., p. 64. ‘La lengua dificultosissima en la pronunciacion, con notable variedad de terminos y vozes en vnos y otros Pueblos.’ Burgoa, Palestra, Hist., pt i., fol. 211. ‘Que como eran Demonios se valian de la maliciosa astucia de variar las vozes y vocablos en esta lengua, asi para los Palacios de los Caziques con terminos reuerenciales, como para los Idolos con parabolos, y tropos, que solos los satrapas los aprendian, y como era aqui lo mas corrupto.’ Id., Geog. Descrip., tom. i., fol. 156. ‘La lengua de aquella nacion, que es dificultosa de saberse, por la gran equiuocacion de los bocablos, para cuya distincion es necessario vsar de ordinario del sonido de la nariz y aspiracion del aliento.’ Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, p. 321. ‘Ser la Lengua dificultosa de aprender, por las muchas equiuocaciones que tiene.’ Dávila, Teatro Ecles., tom. i., p. 156.

[X-14] Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., pp. 41-79; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt. iii., pp. 31-41; Catecismo del P. Ripaldo, traducida al Misteco; Catecismo en idioma Mixteco.

[X-15] Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, p. 712. Chinantec ‘con la dificultad de la pronunciacion, y vozes tan equiuocas que con vn mesmo termino mas blando ò mas reciò dicho significa disonante sentido.’ ‘Por que la locucion es entre dientes, violenta, y con los accentos de consonantes asperas, confusas las vocales, sin distincion vnas de otras que parecian bramidos, mas que terminos de locucion.’ Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. i., fol. 183., tom. ii., fol. 284, 286; Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., pp. 137, 141, 163, 187, 189, 197; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 187-197; Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 497.

[X-16] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 135; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., p. 262.

[X-17] Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., pp. 259-62.

[X-18] Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., pp. 190-9; Museo Mex., tom. ii., p. 554; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., p. 186; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 36; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 177; Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., fol. 312.

[X-19] ’Su lenguage era tan metaforico, como el de los Palestinos, lo que querian persuadir, hablaban siempre con parabolas.’ Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. i., fol. 196. ‘La langue Zapotèque est d’une douceur et d’une sonorité qui rappelle l’Italien.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Esquisses, p. 35.

[X-20] Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., pp. 321-60; Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 260, et seq.

[X-21] ’Expressa el Illm^o Señor Obispo de Oaxaca en su Pastoral, que en su Diocesis hay una Lengua, que solo de dia se entienden bien, y que de noche en apagándoles la luz, ya no se pueden explicar, porque con los gestos significan.’ Lorenzana y Buitron, Cartas Pastorales, p. 96, note 1. ‘Tambien su idioma tiene fuerça y energia.’ Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., fol. 271. ‘Lingua illorum, rudis et crassum quid sonans instar Allemanorum.’ Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 262; Barnard’s Tehuantepec, pp. 224-5; Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., pp. 155, 199-201; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., p. 143; Museo Mex., tom. ii., p. 555; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 176.

[X-22] Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., pp. 173-88.

[X-23] ’Y se dixo antes, que la nacion destos Indios huabes avian venido de tierras muy lexanas, de allà de la Costa del Sur, mas cerca de la Eclyptica vezindad del Perù, y segun las circunstancias de su lengua, y trato de la Provincia ò Reyno de Nicarahua.’ Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., fol. 396; ‘El huave, huavi, guave, llamado tambien en un antiguo MS. guazonteca ó huazonteca, se habla en el Estado de Oaxaca, Los huaves son originarios de Guatemala; unos les hacen de la filiacion de los peruanos, fundándose en la semejanza de algunas costumbres, mientras otros les suponen hermanos de los pueblos de Nicaragua. La segunda opinion nos parece la mas acertada, y aun nos atreveriamos á creer que el huave pertenece á la familia maya-quiché.’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 44, 74. ‘Il paraît démontré, cependant, que la langue des Wabi a de grandes analogies avec quelqu’une de celles qu’on parlait à Nicaragua.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 36.

[X-24] Sivers, Mittelamerika, p. 290.

Chapter XI • The Maya-Quiché Languages • 6,800 Words

The Maya-Quiché, the Languages of the Civilized Nations of Central America—Enumeration of the Members of this Family—Hypothetical Analogies with Languages of the Old World—Lord’s Prayers in the Chañabal, Chiapanec, Chol, Tzendal, Zoque, and Zotzil—Pokonchi Grammar—The Mame or Zaklopahkap—Quiché Grammar—Cakchiquel Lord’s Prayer—Maya Grammar—Totonac Grammar—Totonac Dialects—Huastec Grammar.

The languages of the civilized nations of Central America, being all more or less affiliated, may be not improperly classified as the Maya-Quiché family, the Maya constituting the mother tongue. Commencing in the neighborhood of the river Goazacoalco, thence extending over Tabasco, Chiapas, Yucatan, Guatemala, and portions of Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua, it occupies the same relatively important position in the south as the Aztec farther north. Besides spreading out over this immense area, there are two branches still farther north, isolated from the mother tongue, yet conterminous to each other, the Huastec and the Totonac of Tamaulipas and Vera Cruz. Without including the last mentioned, probably the fullest enumeration of all these languages, is given by the Licenciado Diego García de Palacio, in a letter addressed to the King of Spain, in the year 1576. Omitting the Aztec, which he includes in his catalogue, his summary is substantially as follows. In Chiapas, the Chiapanec, Tloque, Zotzil, and Zeldal-Quelen; in Soconusco, a tongue which he designates as the mother language and another called the Vebetlateca; in Suchitepec and Guatemala, the Mame, Achi, Guatemaltec, Chinantec, Hutatec, and Chirichota; in Vera Paz, the Pokonchi, and Caechicolchi; in the valleys of Acacebastla and Chiquimula, the Tlacacebastla, and Apay; and in the valley of San Miguel, the Poton, Taulepa, and Ulua. Other authors mention, in Guatemala the Quiché, the Cakchiquel, the Zutugil, the Chorti, the Alaguilac, the Caichi, the Ixil, the Zoque, the Coxoh, the Chañabal, the Chol, the Uzpanteca, the Aguacateca, the Quecchi; and in Yucatan, the stock language, the Maya. Among all these languages thus enumerated by different authors, it is not at all unlikely that some have been mentioned twice under different names.[XI-1]Palacio, Carta, p. 20; Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 198; Registro Yucateco, tom. i., p. 166; Galindo, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. iii., pp. 95, 63; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 4-7; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pp. 8, 17; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 245; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. ii-xiv.; Laet, Novus Orbis, pp. 277, 317, 325; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 267; Heller, Reisen, p. 380; Galindo, in Antiq. Mex., p. 67; Norman’s Rambles, p. 238; Haefkens, Cent. Amer., p. 412; Prichard’s Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., p. 513; Behrendt’s Report, in Smithsonian Rept., 1867, p. 425; Squier’s Monograph, p. ix.; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 84. Most, if not all of them, are related to, if indeed they did not spring from one mother tongue, the Maya, of which a dialect, called the Tzendal is said to be the oldest language spoken in any of these countries. In fact, they all appear to be dialects and variations of some few tongues of yet greater antiquity, which again have sprung from the oldest of all, the Maya. This latter, I may say, forms the linguistic centre, from which all the others radiate, decreasing in consanguinity according to the distance from this centre, losing, by intermixture, and the adoption of foreign words, their aboriginal forms, until on reaching the outer edge of the circle, it becomes difficult to trace their connection with the source from which they sprang.[XI-2]The languages of the Maya family are spoken in the old provinces of Soconusco, Chiapas, Suchitepec, Vera Paz, Honduras, Izalcos, Salvador, San Miguel, Nicaragua, Xerez de Choluteca, Tegucigalpa, and Costa Rica, says the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg, MS. Troano, tom. ii., p. vi. ‘La plupart des langues de cette contrée, si multiples au premier aspect, se réduisent en réalité à un petit nombre. Ce sont des dialectes qui ne diffèrent les uns des autres que par le mélange de quelques mots étrangers, une certaine variété dans les finales ou dans la prononciation.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1855, tom. cxlvii., p. 155. ‘Il me paraît indubitable que la langue universelle des royaumes guatémaliens devait être, avant l’invasion des tribus que les Espagnols trouvèrent en possession de ces contrées, le maya d’Yucatan ou le tzendal qui lui ressemble beaucoup.’ Ib. ‘Lacandons … les Mames, Pocomames, etc., qui parlent encore aujourd’hui une langue presqu’en tout semblable à celle des Yucatèques.’ Id., p. 156. ‘Le Tzendal ou Tzeldal et un dialecte de la langue zotzile dont il diffère fort peu.’ Id., Palenqué, p. 34. ‘Toutes sont issues d’une seule souche, dont le maya paraît avoir gardé le plus grand nombre d’éléments. Le quiché, le cakchiquel, le mame, le tzendal, sont marqués eux-mêmes au sceau d’une très-haute antiquité, amplement partagée par le mexicain ou nahuatl malgré les différences que comporte sa grammaire; car si ses formes et sa syntaxe sont très-distinctes de celles du maya, on peut dire, néanmoins, que tous ces vocables sont composés de racines communes à tout le groupe. Id., MS. Troano, tom. ii., pp. vii., viii. ‘La langue primitive forme le centre; plus elle s’avance vers la circonférence, plus elle perd de son originalité la tangente, c’est-à-dire le point où elle rencontre un autre idiome, est l’endroit où elle s’altère pour former une langue mixte.’ Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 24, 42. ‘Les Taitzaes, les Cehatches, les Campims, les Chinamitas, les Locènes, les Ytzaes et les Lacandons. Toutes ces nations parlent la langue maya, excepté les Locènes, qui parlent la langue Chol.’ Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 50; Id., 1840, tom. lxxxviii., p. 6. ‘La de Yucatan, y Tabasco, que es toda vna.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 25; Solis, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 89. ‘Zoques, Celtales y Quèlenes, todos de lenguas diferentes.’ Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, pp. 264, 299; also in Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 269; Helps’ Span. Conq., tom. iii., p. 252; Squier, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1855, tom. cxlviii., p. 275; Id., 1857, tom. cliii., pp. 175, 177-8. The natives of the island of Cozumel ‘son de la lengua y costumbres de los de Yucatan.’ Landa, Relacion, p. 12; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 18-25, 55-56.

The Maya Language in Yucatan

The Maya, with its many affiliations, may be well compared in its grammatical construction and capacity to the Aztec. It has in this respect been likened to the ancient Greek which it is said to resemble in many points. Although monosyllabic words are of frequent occurrence, it has not, as is common to monosyllabic languages, many very harsh and guttural sounds, but is generally called soft and well-sounding. The dialects spoken on the coast of Yucatan and near Belize, are the purest and most elegant of the Maya family, and the greater the distance from this region, the greater are the variations from the pure Maya.[XI-3]’La simplicité originale de cette langue et la régularité merveilleuse de ses formes grammaticales, c’est la facilité avec laquelle elle se prête à l’analyse de chacun de ces vocables et à la dissection des racines dont ils sont dérivés.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, MS. Troano, tom. ii., pp. iii., vi., v. ‘The Maya tongue spoken in the northern parts of Yucatan, is remarkable for its extremely guttural pronunciation.’ Gordon’s Hist. and Geog. Mem., p. 73. ‘The whole of the native languages are exceedingly guttural in their pronunciation.’ Dunn’s Guatimala, p. 265. ‘Diese Sprache war wohlklingend und weich.’ Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 453; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 32; Squier, in Id., tom. cliii., p. 178. Some remarkable hypotheses, which, if proven, would revolutionize many existing theories, ethnologic and philologic, have latterly been brought forward by the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg. This gentleman, who has devoted himself to the study of ancient Central America and Mexico for many years, and who is fully conversant with the languages of Yucatan and Guatemala, the Maya and Quiché, claims to have discovered a close connection between the Maya, Quiché, Cakchiquel, Zutugil, and others, with most of the chief languages of Europe; prominent among which he places the Greek, but mentions also Latin, French, English, German, Flemish, Danish, and others. Although on examination many of the abbé’s so-called roots display similarities, both phonetic and in meaning, with some European words, still a large majority are evidently twisted to conform to the writer’s ideas, and it will require not alone further investigations, but unprejudiced studies, such as are not made for the purpose of proving any particular hypothesis, to substantiate his theories. Until such impartial comparisons are made, and a clearer light thrown upon the subject, these Central American languages must remain content to be treated as strangers to those of the old world.[XI-4]’Dans ces langues kakchiquèle, kichée et zutugile, les mots qui n’appartiennent pas au Maya, m’ont tout l’air d’être d’origine germanique, saxons, danois, flamands, anglais même.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1855, tom. cxlvii., pp. 156-7. ‘Je fus frappé, dès mon arrivée … de la similitude qu’une quantité de mots de leur langue offrait avec celles du nord de l’Europe.’ Id., Lettre à M. Rafn, in Id., tom. clx., 1858, pp. 263, 281-90. ‘The fundamental forms and words of the languages of these regions (except the Mexican) are intimately connected with the Maya or Tzendal and that all the words, that are neither Mexican nor Maya, belong to our languages of Northern Europe, viz., English, Saxon, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Flemish and German, some even appear to belong to the French and Persian, and altogether they are really very numerous and astounding.’ Id., Letter in the New York Tribune, November 21, 1855. Of the languages previously enumerated I have the following specimens.

The Lord’s Prayer in Chañabal, spoken in Comitan, in the state of Chiapas:

Tattic hayá culchahan tanlinubal á vihil jacué eg bagtic á guajan acotuc á guabal hichuc ili luhum jastal culchahan. Yipil caltzil eg güiniquil tic aquitic sva yabanhi soc culanperdon eg multic hichuc qucj ganticon guazt culanticon perdon machá hay smul sigilticon soc mi ztagua concoctic mulil mas lec coltayotic scab pucuj jachuc.

Chiapanec, Chol, and Tzendal

Lord’s Prayer in Chiapanec:

Pua manguemé nilumá cané nacapajó totomomo copamimé chambriomo chalaya guipumutamu; gadilojá istanacupu cajilucá nacopajó: cajilo baña yacameomo nuori may tarilu mindamu oguajime lla copomimemo taguajime nambucamuñeme cuqueme gadiluca si memu casimemu tagnagime nambucamuñeme copá tipusitumu bica tipucapuimu mujarimimuñame mangueme. Diusi mutarilú nitangame chacuillame caji Jesus.

Lord’s Prayer in Chol:

Tiat te lojon, aué tipuchan utzat alvilacaval trictic tolejón han gracia chulee viliç á pucical vafchec ti paniumil chee tipanchan. Laa cual ti juun pel quin, de vennomelojón gualee sutven lasvet baschee mue sutvenlaa y vetob laspibulob. Llastel ti lolontecl cotanon melojon y chachan jaipel y tiué nialoloion. Amen Jesus.

Lord’s Prayer in Tzendal, as spoken near the celebrated ruins of Palenque:

Tatic, ta nacalat tachulchan: chulalviluc te ajalalvilé: acatalúc te aguajualé: acapastayuc: te tuxacane tajich ta chulchan jichucnix ta valumilal. Ecuctae jujhan acabeyaotic te guag vixtum cuntic tajujun caal chaybeyaotic te multic achiotic chaybetic ate hay smul cagtojoltique soyoc mameaguac yalucotic ta mulil colta yaoticnax tastojol piscil te colae. Amen Jesus.

Lord’s Prayer in Zoque, as spoken in Tabasco, Chiapas, and parts of Oajaca:

Theshata tzapguesmue itupue yavecotzamué mis nei, yaminé mis yumihacui, ya tuque mis sunoycui, yecnasquesi tzapquesmuese. Tesané hoimuepe homepe tzihete yshoy, yatocoyates mis hescova hes jaziquet mis atocoipasé thesquesipue jatzi huitemistetzaeu hocysete cuijomue ticomaye ya cotzocamisthe mumuyatzipue quesi, tese yatuque. Amen Jesus.

Lord’s Prayer in Zotzil:

Totit ot-te nacal oi ta vinagel-utzilaluc á vi-acotal aguajualel-acopas huc á chul cano-echuc nox ta vinagel-eclusé ta valumil-acbeotic e cham-llocom llocomutic-ech xachaibeutic-cuie tag tojolic-ma á guae llalucuntic-ta altajoltic-ech xacolta utic nox ta stojol ti coloc. Amen Jesus.[XI-5]Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., pp. 231-45.

Pokonchi Grammar

Of the Pokonchi Language I have a short grammar, by Thomas Gage, which has also been used by Vater and Gallatin. Following are a few of its prominent features:

Nouns are declined by the aid of particles, of which there are two kinds, varying accordingly as the word to be declined commences with a consonant or with a vowel. For words commencing with a consonant the particles nu, a, ru, ca, ata, and quitacque are used; and for those commencing with a vowel, v, av, r, c, or q, ta, qu, and tacque. These particles are partly prefixed and partly affixed, as will appear in the following examples. So the word pat, house, and tat, father, are by Gage declined in the following manner.

Pokonchi

My house	nupat	Our house	capat
Thy house	apat	Your house	apatta
His house	rupat	Their house	quipattacque

My father	nutat	Our father	catat
Thy father	atat	Your father	atatta
His father	rutat	Their father	quitattacque

The declension of the word acun, son, and ixim, corn, are given by Gage, as follows:

Son and Corn

My son	vacun	Our son	cacun
Thy son	avacun	Your son	avacunta
His son	racun	Their son	cacuntaque

My corn	vixim	Our corn	quixim
Thy corn	avixim	Your corn	avicimta
His corn	rixim	Their corn	quiximtacque

Verbs in like manner change the particles, by means of which they are conjugated, accordingly as the word commences with a consonant or a vowel. For those commencing with a consonant the particles are;—nu, na, inru, inca, nata, inquitacque. Thus the word locoh, to love, is conjugated as follows:

Conjugation of the Verb Locoh, To Love

Locoh


PRESENT INDICATIVE.
I love,	nulocoh	We love,	incalocoh
Thou lovest,	nalocoh	You love,	nalocohto
He loves,	inrulucoh	They love,	inquilocohtacque

PRESENT PASSIVE.
I am loved,	quiloconhi	We are loved,	coloconhi
Thou art loved,	tiloconhi	You are loved,	tiloconhita
He is loved,	inroconhi	They are loved,	quiloconhitacque

PERFECT PASSIVE.
	I have been loved,	xinloconhi
	Thou hast been loved,	ixtiloconhi
	He has been loved,	ixloconhi
	We have been loved,	xoloconhi
	You have been loved,	ixtiloconhita
	They have been loved,	xiloconhi tacque

IMPERATIVE.
	Be thou loved,	tiloconhi
	Let him be loved,	chiloconho
	Let us be loved,	chicaloconho
	Be ye loved,	tiloconhota
	Let them be loved,	chiquiloconho taque

	I can love,	inchoinulocoh
	I will love,	inranulocoh
	I have been willing to love,	ixnulocoh
	I have been able to love,	ixcholixnulocoh
	I can love thee,	tichol nulocoh
	I will love thee,	tira nulocoh

Sometimes the verb I will is added to express the future;—inva, I will; nava, thou wilt; inra, he will.

Verbs beginning with a vowel have the following particles;—ino, nav, inr, inqu, or inc, nauta, inqu tacque, or inc tacque. Thus the verb eça, to deliver, is conjugated.

To Deliver

I deliver,	inveça	We deliver,	inqueça
Thou deliverest,	naveça	You deliver,	naveçata
He delivers,	inreça	They deliver,	inqueça tacque

Adjectives are indeclinable, and the plural of nouns cannot be distinguished from the singular, as;—kiro uinac, good man; kiro uinac, good men.

The following Lord’s Prayer comes from the same source:

Catat taxah vilcat; nimta incaharçihi avi; inchalita avihauripau cana. Invanivita nava yahvir vacacal, he invataxab. Chaye runa cahuhunta quih viic; naçachtamac, he inçachve quimac ximacquivi chiquih; macoacana chipam catacchyhi, coaveçata china unche tsiri, mani quiro, he inqui. Amen.[XI-6]Gage’s New Survey, pp. 465-477, et seq.

Mame Conjugation

Of the Mame, or Zaklohpakap, the following extract is from a grammar written by Diego de Reynoso. The letters used are: a, b, ch, e, h, i, k, l, m, n, o, p, t, u, v, x, y, z, tz. There are no special syllables or signs to express gender, but distinct words are used, as;—mama, old man; ahkimikeia, old woman; mamail, old age of a man; keiail, or ahkimikil, old age of a woman. The plural of animate beings is expressed by the particle e prefixed to the word;—vuinak, person; evuinak, persons; but it is considered as elegant also to affix the same e;—kiahol, son; ekiahole, sons. For inanimate things, either numerals or adjectives expressing the plural are used;—abah, stone; ikoh abah, many stones. Personal pronouns are;—ain, I; aia, thou; ahu or ahi, he; ao or aoio, we; ae or aeie, you; aehu or aehi, they.

Mame Grammer

Me, to me, in me	vuih
Thee, to thee, in thee	tiha
Him, to him, in him	tihu
Us, to us, in us	kiho
You, to you, in you	kihae
Them, to them, in them	kihaehu
Of me, by me	vuxm
By thee	tuma
By him	tumhi
By us	kumo
By you	kume
By them	kumhu
By myself	tipa
By himself	tiphi
By ourselves	kibo
By yourselves	kibe
By themselves	kibaehu or kibhu

Conjugation of the Verb to be

Mame, To Be

PRESENT INDICATIVE.
I am,	ain in, or ain inen	We are,	ao, or aoia
Thou art,	aia	You are,	ae, or aeie
He is,	ahu	They are,	aehu

IMPERFECT.		PERFECT.
I was,	ain took	I have been,	ain hi

PLUPERFECT.
	I had been,	ain tokem

FIRST FUTURE.		SECOND FUTURE.
I shall be,	in abenelem, or ain loiem	I shall have been,	ain lohi

IMPERATIVE.
	Be,	a u ia

Conjugation of the Verb Xtalem, To Love

Xtalem

PRESENT INDICATIVE.
I love,	ain tzum chim xtalem	We love,	tzum ko xtalem o
Thou lovest,	tzum xtalem a	You love,	tzum che xtalem e
He loves,	tzum xtalem hu	They love,	tzum che xtalem hu

IMPERFECT.
	I loved,	tzum tok chim xtalem

PERFECT.
	I have loved,	ini xtalim, uni xtale, ma chim xtalim,
		ma ni xtale, or ma uni xtale

PLUPERFECT.
	I had loved,	ixtok chim xtalim

FIRST FUTURE.
	I shall love,	uni xtalibetz, or ain chim xtalem

SECOND FUTURE.
	I shall have loved,	ain lo in xtalem

IMPERATIVE.
	Love thou,	ixtalin o ia
	Let him love,	ixtalin o hu
	Let us love,	ko ixtalin o
	Love you,	ixtalin ke ie
	Let them love,	ixtalin ke hu[XI-7]Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., pp. 84-110.

Of the Quiché, there is an abundance of material. The letters used are;—a, b, c, e, g, h, i, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, t, u, v, x, y, z, tz, tch. Gender is expressed by prefixing the noun ixok, woman, to the word, as;—coh, lion; ixok coh, lioness; mun, slave; ixok mun, female slave. The sound ish expressed by the letter x denotes inferiority, and is therefore frequently used to express the feminine of inferior beings. U in the Quichè and ru in the Cakchiquel are either possessive pronouns or denote the possession of the word which follows. The particles re and ri are at times used for the same purpose;—u chuch ahpop, the mother of the prince; qui quoxtum tinanit, the ramparts of the town. Before the vowels a, o, and u, they are changed to c; and before e and i, to qu. Derivatives are formed with the preposition ah, either prefixed or affixed to the primitive noun;—car, fish; ahcar, the fisherman; tzih, word; ahtzih, the speaker; etc. No positive rule can be given for the formation of the plural, as there are several different methods in use. The most common appears to be by the affixes ab, eb, ib, ob, ub;—beom, merchant; plural, beomab; ixok, woman; plural, ixokib; ahau, lord; plural, ahauab. In the Cakchiquel language the last letter b is omitted, as;—ixokib, women, in Quiché, is ixoki in Cakchiquel. With adjectives the syllables ak, tak, ic, tic, etc., are used instead;—nim, great; nimak ha, great houses; rihi, old; rihitak vinak, old people; utz, good; utzic va, good eatables. Adjectives are always placed before the substantives;—zak, white; zaki ha, white house. Substantives are formed from adjectives by adding one of the particles, al, el, il, ol, ul;—nim, great; nimal, the greatness; zak, white; zakil, the whiteness; utz, good; utzil, the goodness. These same substantives can be turned into adjectives again by adding the particle ah;—nimalah mak, great sin; utzilah achi, good man. In the same manner all substantives may be turned into adjectives by adding one of the particles alah, elah, ilah, olah, ulah, etc.; ahau, king or lord; ahaualah, royal.

To express the comparative, the present participle of the verb iqou, to surpass, which is iqouinak, is used, and sometimes also the word yalacuhinak, from yalacuh, to exceed. For example;—nim, great, comparative, iqouinak chi nim, he who surpasses in greatness; iqouinak chi nim u hebeliquiil ka xokahau Gapoh maria chiqui vi conohel ixokib, (literally) surpasses in great beauty our Lady the Virgin Mary all other women. The superlative is expressed by the syllable maih, very great or much; nim, great or greatly; tih, xoo, quï, much; all of which are placed before the word and are followed by the syllable chi;—maih chi nim, very great; maih chi hebel, very fine; maih chi tinamit, very great city; xoo qatan, very great heat; tih nima ha, very great house. The adverb lavolo or lolo is also used for the same purpose—lavolo or lolo cou ch’ a bana, hold it strong.

The names of colors are duplicated to express the superlative, as;—rax rax, very green; zak zak, very white.

The reverential syllables in use are lal and la—lal nu cahau, your excellency is my father; in alcual la, I am the son of your excellency.

Quiché Pronouns

Pronouns

Quiche Pronouns

I, or me	in, nu, nuv
Thou	at, a
He	are, ri, r’
Myself	xavi in
Thyself	xavi at
Himself	xavi are
We	oh
You	yx
They	e, he
Ourselves	xavi oh
Yourselves	xavi yx
Themselves	xavi e, he

When a noun commences with a consonant, nu, a, u, in the singular, and ka, y, qui, in the plural are used as possessive pronouns, but if it commences with a vowel, v, av’, r, are employed in the singular, and k’, yv’, c’, or qu’, in the plural.

Pronouns

My slave	nu mun
Thy slave	a mun
His slave	u mun
Our slaves	ka munib
Your slaves	y munib
Their slaves	oui munib

My wrath	v’ oyoual
Thy wrath	av’ oyoual
His wrath	r’ oyoual
Our wrath	k’ oyoual
Your wrath	yv’ oyoual
Their wrath	c’ oyoual

Interrogatives

Who	naki, achinak, apachinak
Who am I	apa-in-chinak
Who art thou	apa-at-chinak
Who is this	apachinak-ri
Who is it	naki-la
Who would it be	naki-lalo
Who are we	apa-oh-chinak
Who are you	apa-yx-chinak
Who are they	apa-e-chinak

The verb, to be, is expressed by either ux, or qo, or qohe. As an example of its conjugation I insert the indicative present.

To Be

I am,	in ux	or in qolic
Thou art,	at ux	” at qolic
He is,	are ux	” are qolic
We are,	oh ux	” oh qolic
You are,	yx ux	” yx qolic
They are,	e, or he ux	” e, or he qolic

Four different kinds of verbs are given in the grammar compiled by the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg, which he calls active, absolute, passive, and neuter. The following sentences are given as specimens of each kind. Active;—can nu logoh v’ ahtih, I love my master. Absolute;—qu’ i logon, or logonic, I love; qu’ i tzibanic, I write. Passive;—ta x-e tzonox rumal ahtzak, then they were interrogated by the creator. Neuter;—qu’ i cam, or qui cam, I die; qu’ in ul, I come; qu’ i be, I go; qu’ i var, I sleep.

Quiché Conjugations

Following I insert the conjugation of the active verb to love, in which the word logoh, love, commences with a consonant, and also the conjugation of the active verb oyohbeh, to wait, which commences with a vowel, thus showing the different particles used.

Conjugation of the Verb to Love

To Love

PRESENT INDICATIVE.
I love,	ca nu logoh	We love,	ca ka logoh
Thou lovest,	c’ a logoh	You love,	qu’ y logoh
He loves,	c’ u logoh	They love,	ca que logoh

PERFECT.
	I have loved,	x-in, xi-nu, or x-nu logoh, or nu logom

PLUPERFECT.
	I had loved,	nu, or x-nu logom-chic

FIRST FUTURE.
	I shall love,	ch’ in, x-ch’in chi nu, or x-chi nu logoh

PRESENT SUBJUNCTIVE.
	If I love,	ca nu logoh-tah
	If I had loved,	nu logom-chi-tah

PARTICIPLE.
	Loving,	logonel

Conjugation of the Verb Oyobeh, To Wait

To Wait

PRESENT INDICATIVE.
I wait,	ca v’oyobeh	We wait,	ca k’ oyobeh
Thou waitest,	c’ av’ oyobeh	You wait,	qu’ yv’ oyobeh
He waits,	ca r’ oyobeh	They wait,	ca c’ oyobeh

PERFECT.
	I have waited,	xi-v’ oyobeh, or av’ oyobem

SECOND FUTURE.
	I shall have waited,	chi v’, or xchi v oyobeh

PRESENT SUBJUNCTIVE.
	If I wait,	ca v’ oyobeh-tah

In the following three columns I give a specimen of the conjugation of the absolute, passive, and neuter verb.

Absolute, Passive and Neuter Verb

ABSOLUTE.		PASSIVE.
I love,	qu’i logon	I am loved,	qu’i logox
Thou lovest,	c’at logon	Thou art loved,	c’at logox
He loves,	ca logon	He is loved,	ca legox
We love,	koh logon	We are loved,	koh logox
You love,	qu’y logon	You are loved,	qu’ix logox
They love,	que logon	They are loved,	que logox

NEUTER.
I roll,	qu’i bol	We roll,	koh bol
Thou rollest,	c’at bol	You roll,	qu’ yx bol
He rolls,	ca bol	They roll,	que bol

ABSOLUTE.		PASSIVE.
I have loved,	x-i logon,	I was loved,	x-i logox,
	or in logoninak		or in logoxinak

NEUTER.
	I have arrived,	x-in ul, or in ulinak

FIRST FUTURE.
ABSOLUTE.		PASSIVE.
I shall love,	x-qui logon	I shall be loved,	x-qui logox

NEUTER.
	I shall arrive,	x-qu’in ul

There are further mentioned a reciprocal and a distributive verb.

Of the former the following is an example.

Reciprocal and Distributive Verbs

I love myself,	ca nu logoh uib
Thou lovest thyself,	c’a logoh rib
He loves himself,	c’u logoh rib
We love ourselves,	ca ka logoh kib
You love yourselves,	qu’y logoh yvib
They love themselves,	ca qui logoh quib

Of the second form this is an example.

Second Form

Thee I love,	cat nu logoh
He loves his father,	cu ri, or are logoh a cahau
You love us,	koh y logoh
Thee they love,	cat que logoh

The prepositions—ma, man, or mana, and mave, are negatives. When man, or mana, is used with a verb, the particle tah must be added;—man ca v’ il-tah, I do not see. Father Ximenez calls the following irregular verbs, qo, qoh, or qolic, pa, ux, or uxic; qaz, to live, and oh, or ho, to go.

The conjugation of the last mentioned is as follows.

Indicative Present

INDICATIVE PRESENT.
I go,	h’in	We go,	o’ho
Thou goest,	h’at	You go,	h’yx
He goes,	oh, or ho	They go,	h’e

The Zutugil and Cakchiquel appear to bear a closer relationship to each other, than the Cakchiquel and Quiché. Some of the principal differences between the three are the following. The plural of nouns which in the Quiché is formed by the affixes ab, eb, ob, ib, ub, is in the Cakchiquel designated by simply affixing the vowels of the above syllables, and in the Zutugil by the affixes ay, or i. The pronouns which in the Quiché and Cakchiquel are in, I, etc., are in the Zutugil doubled, as;—in-in, I, etc. The possessive pronouns differ in all three of the languages. The Quiché has vech, mine; avecha, thine; rech, his; kech, ours; yvech, yours; quech, theirs. In the Cakchiquel these are;—vichin, avichin, richin, kichin, yvichin, quichin, and the Zutugil changes the ch of the Cakchiquel into n;—vixin, avixin, rixin, kixin, yvixin, quixin. The dative in the Quiché is chuvech, to me, in the Cakchiquel chuvichin, and in the Zutugil, chuvixin. Reciprocal pronouns in the Quiché are vib, avib, rib, kib, yvib, and quib, and in the Zutugil they are vi, avi, ri, ki, yvi, qui. The verb ganeh, which also means to love, is in the Cakchiquel and Zutugil conjugated as follows.

To Love

I love,	tin ganeh	We love,	ti ka ganeh
Thou lovest,	tah ganeh	You love,	ty ganeh
He loves,	tu ganeh	They love,	ti qui ganeh

There are also many other words which differ in one or more letters in the three languages, but it appears that they are nevertheless so much alike that the different people speaking them can understand one another.

Quiché and Cakchiquel Lord’s Prayers

Lord’s Prayer in the Quiché:

Ka cachau chi cab lal qo-vi, r’auazirizaxic-tah bi la. Chi pe-tah ahauarem la. Chi ban-ta ahauam la, varal chuvi uleu queheri ca ban chi cah. Yah la chikech ka hutagihil va. Zacha la ka mak, queheri ca ka zacho qui mak rii x-e makun chike ruq m’oh ocotah la pa takchiibal mak, xata noh col-ta la pa itzel. Quehe ch’uxoc.

Lord’s Prayer in Cakchiquel:

Ka tata r’at qoh chi cah, r’auazirizaxic-tah a bi. Ti pe-ta-ok av’ ahauarem. Ti ban-tah av’ahoom vave chuvi uleu, quereri tan-ti ban chi cah. Ta yata-ok chike vacamic ka hutagihil vay. Ta zach-ta-qa-ok ka mak, quereri tan-ti ka zach qui mak riy x-e makun chike. Ruquin qa maqui-tah koh av’ocotah pa takchiibal mak, xatah koh a colo pan itzel. Quere ok t’ux.[XI-8]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Grammaire de la Langue Quiché; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., pp. 126-47.

Of the Maya Grammar, the following is a brief compendium:

The following alphabet is used to write the Maya language: a, b, c, ç, z, tz, ɔ, cti, ch, e, h, i, y, k, l, m, n, o, p, pp, t, th, u, x.

The letter ç is pronounced like the English z, or as if for example the word cambeç, were spelled cambez. The ɔ is pronounced as if spelled dj, ɔib is pronounced as if written djib, to write; h, not aspirated, and very frequently omitted; k, rather guttural; pp and p, sharp and with force; th, hard, at the same time approximating slightly the English tt. The gender of rational beings is denoted by the prefixes ah, for masculine, and ix, for feminine;—ah cambezah, master; ix cambezah, mistress. With animals the particles xibil, for males, and chupul, for females, is prefixed. An exception to this rule is the word pal;—xibil pal, the boy; and chupal pal, the girl. Nouns form the plural by adding the particle ob;—ich, eye; ich ob, eyes. Adjectives ending in nac, in the plural lose their two last syllables and substitute for them the syllable lac;—kakatnác, an idle thing; kaklác, idle things. When an adjective and substantive are joined together, the adjective is always placed before the substantive, but the plural is expressed only in the substantive;—man, uinic; good, utzul; utzúl uinicob, good men. To form the comparative, the last vowel of the adjective with the letter l added to it is affixed; frequently, the particle il is simply affixed;—further, the pronoun of the third person u or y is always prefixed, in the comparative;—tibil, a good thing; ú tibilil, a better thing; utz, good; yutzil, or yutzul, better; lob, bad; ulobol, or ulobil, worse; kaz, ugly; ukazal, or ukazil, uglier. The superlative is expressed by the particle hach, which is prefixed;—lob, bad; hachlob, very bad. Il added to nouns and adjectives serves to make them abstracts, uinic, man; uinicil, humanity.

Maya Conjugations

There are four kinds of pronouns used in the Maya, all of which are used in conjugating verbs. But the two last are also used, united with nouns, or as possessive pronouns, and never alone, or as absolute pronouns.

Pronouns

I	ten	We	tóon
Thou	tech	You	téex
He	lay	They	lóob

I	en	We	on
Thou	ech	You	ex
He	laylo	They	ob

I, mine	in	We, ours	ca
Thou, thine	a	You, yours	a-ex
He, his	ú	They, theirs	ú-ob

Mine	u	Ours	ca
Thine	au	Yours	au-ex
His	y	Theirs	y-ob

Reciprocal Pronouns

Myself	in-ba	Ourselves	ca-ba
Thyself	a-ba	Yourselves	a-ba-ex
Himself	ú-ba	Themselves	ú-ba-ob

Conjugation of the Auxillary Verb Teni, To be

Teni

INDICATIVE PRESENT.
I am,	ten	We are,	tóon
Thou art,	tech	You are,	téex
He is,	lay	They are,	lóob

IMPERFECT.
	I was,	ten cuchi

PERFECT.
	I have been,	ten hi

PLUPERFECT.
	I had been,	ten hi-ili cuchi

FIRST FUTURE.
	I shall be,	bin ten-ac

SECOND FUTURE.
	I shall have been,	ten hi-ili coshom

IMPERATIVE.
	Be,	ten-ac

PRESENT SUBJUNCTIVE.
	If I be,	ten-ac en

IMPERFECT SUBJUNCTIVE.
	If I were,	hi ten-ac

First Conjugation of the Verb Nacal, To Ascend

Nacal

PRESENT INDICATIVE.
I ascend,	nacal in cah	We ascend,	nacal ca cah
Thou ascendest,	nacal a cah	You ascend,	nacal a-cau-ex
He ascends,	nacal ú cah	They ascend,	nacal ú-cah-ob

IMPERFECT.		PERFECT.
I ascended,	nacal in cah-cuchi	I have ascended,	nac-en

PLUPERFECT.
	I had ascended,	nac-eu ili-cuehi

FIRST FUTURE.		SECOND FUTURE.
I shall ascend,	bin nacac-en	I shall have ascended,	nac-en ili-cuchom

IMPERATIVE.
	Ascend,	nacac-en

Second Conjugation Cambezah, To Instruct

Cambezah

PRESENT INDICATIVE.
I instruct,	cambezah in cah, or ten cambezic
Thou instructest,	cambezah á cah, ” tech cambezic
He instructs,	cambezah ú cah, ” lay cambezic
We instruct,	cambezah ca cah, ” tóon cambezic
You instruct,	cambezah á cah-ez, ” téex cambezic
They instruct,	cambezah ú cah-ob, ” lóob cambezic

IMPERFECT.
I instructed,	cambezah in cah cuchi

PERFECT.
I have instructed,	in cambezah

PLUPERFECT.
I had instructed,	in cambezah ili-cuchi

FIRST FUTURE.
I shall instruct,	bin in cambez

SECOND FUTURE.
I shall have instructed,	in cambezah ili-cochom

IMPERATIVE.
Let me instruct,	in cambez
Instruct thou,	cambez
Let him instruct,	ú cambez
Let us instruct,	ca cambez
Instruct you,	á cambez ex
Let them instruct, ú cambez ob

PRESENT SUBJUNCTIVE.
If I instruct,	ten in cambez

The third and fourth conjugations not differing from the above, I do not insert them.

The Lord’s Prayer

Cayum Our father ianeeh who art ti in càannob heaven cilichthantabac blessed be akaba:thy name; tac it may a come ahaulil thy kingdom c’us okol.over. Mencahac Be done a thine uolah will uai as ti on luun earth bai as ti in caanè.heaven. Zanzamal Daily uah bread ca us azotoon give heleae to-day caazaatez us forgive c’our ziipil sins he bik as c’we zaatzic forgive uziipil their sins ahziipiloobtoone to sinners ma ix not also appatic let c’us lubul fall ti in tuntah,temptation caatocoon us deliver ti from lob.[XI-9]Beltran de Santa Rosa María, Arte; Ruz, Catecismo Historico; Id., Cartilla; Id., Gram. Yucateca; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 252, et seq.; Heller, Reisen, p. 381, et seq.; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 4-24; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., pp. 5, 223, tom. ii., pp. 119, 229; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Grammaire, in Landa, Relacion, pp. 459-479; Id., in MS. Troano, tom. ii.evil.

To the two languages the Huaztec and Totonac spoken respectively in the states of Tamaulipas and Vera Cruz, great antiquity is ascribed. I include them both in this chapter, and classify them with the Maya family; the Huaztec because its relationship has already been satisfactorily established by Vater and his successors, and the Totonac on the statements of Sahagun and other good authorities.[XI-10]’Estos Totonaques … decian ser ellas de Guastelas.’ ‘Otros hay, que entienden la lengua Guasteca.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 131-2. ‘Im alten Centralamerika also waren die Sprachen der Totonaken, Otimier, Huasteken, Macahuer unter sich sowohl als auch mit der Sprache in Yucatan verwandt.’ Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 453; Mexikanische Zustände; tom. i., p. 143; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 251; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 245; Almaraz, Memorio, pp. 18, 20; Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. i., pp. 287-91; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 4; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1840, tom. lxxxviii., p. 7; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 106; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 18-20, 204. Of both of these languages I insert some grammatical notes. The Totonac is divided into four principal dialects, named respectively that of the Sierra Alta or Tetikilhati, that of Xalpan y Pontepec, or Chakahuaxti, the Ipapana and the Naolingo or Tatimolo. The following grammar refers specially to the last dialect.

Totonac Grammar

The letters used are a, ch, e, g, h, i, k, l, m, n, o, p, t, u, v, x, y, z, tz, lh. Compounded or agglutinated words are of frequent occurrence; they seem to be joined without any particular system, although it appears that the last letter is oftentimes omitted. The following shows the composition of a word;—lioxilhmagatlakachalikihuin, to go prophesying; composed of the particle li, the verb oxilha, the adverb magat, the substantive lakatin, and the verbs chaan and likihuin. There are no particular signs or letters to express the gender, but in most cases the words huixkana, male, and pozkat, female, are prefixed to words.

The plural for animated beings is formed by one of the following terminations;—n, in, nin, itni, nitni, an, na, ne, ni, no, nu;—oxga, youth; oxgan, youths; agapon, heaven; agaponin, heavens; pulana, captain; pulananin, captains; makan, hand; makanitni, hands; ztako, star; ztakonitni, stars; xanat, flower; xanatna, flowers; etc., etc.; in and itni are used when the word ends with a consonant, and nin and nitni when it ends with a vowel.

Personal Pronouns

I	akit
Me	kin
Thou	huix
He	amah, or huata
We	akin
Us	kila, or kinka
You	huixin
They	huatonin

Conjugation of the Verb Ik-Paxki-Y, I Love

I Love

PRESENT INDICATIVE.
I love,	ik-paxki-y	We love,	ik-paxki-yauh
Thou lovest,	paxki-a	You love,	paxki-yatit
He loves,	paxki-y	They love,	paxki-goy

IMPERFECT.
	I loved,	xak-paxki-y

PERFECT.
	I have loved,	ik-paxki-lh, or ik-paxki-nit

PLUPERFECT.
	I had loved,	xah-paxki-nit

FIRST FUTURE.
	I shall love,	nak-paxki-y

SECOND FUTURE.
	I shall have loved,	ik-paxki lh nahuan, or ik-paxki-nit nahuan

IMPERATIVE.
	Love,	ka-paxki

PRESENT SUBJUNCTIVE.
	If I love,	kak-paxki-lh

IMPERFECT.
	If I loved,	xax-paxki-lh

The difference between the three dialects may be seen:

Three Dialects

Heart	nako	alkonoko	lakatzin
World	kiltamako	katoxahuat	tankilatzon
Moon	malkoyo	papa	laxkipap
Maize	koxi	tapaxni	kizpa
Good	tzey	tlaan	kolhana
Truth	ztonkua	loloto	tikxliana
To believe	akaeniy	kanalay	katayahuay

The Lord’s Prayer in the dialect of Naolingo:

Kintlatkane Our father nak in tiayan heaven huil art takollalihuakahuanli ósanctified be mimaokxot thy name nikiminanin come ó mintakakchi thy kingdom tacholakahuanla be done ó minpahuat thy name cholei as kaknitiet world chalchix as nak in tiayan. O heaven. kinchouhkan Our bread lakalliya daily nikilaixkiuh give us yanohue to-day kakilamatzankaniuh forgive us kintakallitkan our faults chonlei óas we kitnan ourselves lamatzankaniyauh we forgive ó kintalakallaniyan our debtors ka and ala not kilamaktaxtoyauh us lead nali that yoyauh we be naka in liyogni.temptation. Chon So tacholakahuanla.be it done.

The descriptions or grammatical remarks of Vater and Pimentel, vary in many points. For instance, Vater says that the letters k and v are not used in this language, while Pimentel mentions them both as being used. The expression of the plural is also given differently by both, as are also several other points.[XI-11]Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., pp. 223-68; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 44-60.

Huaztec Grammar

From the grammar of Carlos de Tapia Zenteno, which was also used by Gallatin and Pimentel, I offer the following remarks on the Huaztec:

The letters used in writing this language are: a, b, ch, d, e, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, t, u, v, x, y, z, tz. The pronunciation is soft. Gender is denoted by the addition of the words imik, man, and uxum, woman;—tzalle, king; uxumtzalle, queen; tzejelinik, young man; tzejeluxum, young girl. The affix chick is used to express the plural;—atik, son; atikchick, sons; but there are a few exceptions to this rule. Diminutives are expressed by the preposition chichick, as;—te, tree; chichikte, small tree. In some cases the preposition tzakam, or the affix il, is used for this purpose. In the superlative the syllable le is used before the word, as;—pullik, great; lepullik, very great. Personal pronouns;—nana, I; tata, thou; jaja, he; huahua, we; xaxa, you; baba, they.

Conjugation of the Verb Tahjal, To Have

Tahjal

INDICATIVE PRESENT.

I have,	nana utahjal or intahjal	We have,	huahua yatahjal
Thou hast,	tata atahjal or ittahjal	You have,	xaxa yatahjal
He has,	taja, intahjal	They have,	baba tahjal

IMPERFECT.
	I had,	nana utahjalitz or intahjalitz

PERFECT.
	I have had,	nana utahjaitz or utahjamal, or utahjamalitz

PLUPERFECT.
	I had had,	nana utahjalak or utahjamalak, or utahjamalakitz

FIRST FUTURE.
	I shall have,	nana ku or kin, or kiatajah

IMPERATIVE.
	Have,	tata katahja

PRESENT SUBJUNCTIVE.
	If I have,	nana kutahja or kiatahja

IMPERFECT.
	If I had,	nana kin or intahjalak

INFINITIVE.
	To have,	tahjal

Verbal nouns and participles are formed by adding x or chix, to the infinitive, as;—tzobnal, to know; and tzobnax, he who knows. There are said to be several different dialects of this language in use. Following is the Pater Noster as given by Zenteno in his Doctrina, and as spoken in the mountains of the district of Tampico.

PailomêFather anitquahat art tiaeb,heaven quaquauhlu holy said anabi,thy name cachich come anatzalletal.thy kingdom. Katahan Be done analenal thy will têtitzabal,on the earth nuantiani as huatahab to have tiaeb.heaven. Ani And tacupiza thou give xahue to-day cailel each day yabacanil our bread ani and tacupaculamchi thou forgive antuhualabchic,sins antiani as huahua we tupaculamchial forgive tutomnanchixlomchik,debtors ani and ib not takuhila lead tincal that we ib not cucuallam fall us tin in exextalab.temptation. Timat But taculouh save us timbâ ana from ib no cuacua.holy (evil) Anitz so catahan.be it done.[XI-12]Zenteno, Lengua Huasteca; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 276-85; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., pp. 5-34.

Lord’s Prayer in the dialect spoken in the Department of San Luis Potosí:

Tatu puilom huahuá, itcuajat, ti eb chie pelit santo jajatz abi cachic atzale tal ti eb al huahua: catajatz taculbetal hantzaná titzabal hantini tiaeb ani cap ud patalaguicha tacubinanchi, xoque ani tacupaculanchi; cal igualab, ani ela tegui tacupalanchi cal y at guitzab ani il tacujila cugualan cal junhi fataxtalb, maxibtaculohu cal ban atax mal tajana guatalel.

Lord’s Prayer in the dialect spoken in another part of the district of Tampico:

Huaztec Lord’s Prayer

Pailon qüa que cuajat tiá el: tu cab tajal hanchaná enta bi ca chix hanti ca ilál cataja na aquiztal hanchana antich aval quinitine tiá el. An pan abalgüa ti patás hüicha ha, tu piza segue, tu placuanchi ni gualal anchaná jontinégüá y placuanchal in at qualablom, il tú en gila cu cualan anti atás cha lablal, tu en librari ti patas an ataz tabal, anchaná juntam. Anchanan catajan.[XI-13]Col. Polidiómica Mex., Oracion Dominical, p. 8-10.

Footnotes

[XI-1] Palacio, Carta, p. 20; Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 198; Registro Yucateco, tom. i., p. 166; Galindo, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. iii., pp. 95, 63; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 4-7; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pp. 8, 17; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 245; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. ii-xiv.; Laet, Novus Orbis, pp. 277, 317, 325; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 267; Heller, Reisen, p. 380; Galindo, in Antiq. Mex., p. 67; Norman’s Rambles, p. 238; Haefkens, Cent. Amer., p. 412; Prichard’s Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., p. 513; Behrendt’s Report, in Smithsonian Rept., 1867, p. 425; Squier’s Monograph, p. ix.; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 84.

[XI-2] The languages of the Maya family are spoken in the old provinces of Soconusco, Chiapas, Suchitepec, Vera Paz, Honduras, Izalcos, Salvador, San Miguel, Nicaragua, Xerez de Choluteca, Tegucigalpa, and Costa Rica, says the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg, MS. Troano, tom. ii., p. vi. ‘La plupart des langues de cette contrée, si multiples au premier aspect, se réduisent en réalité à un petit nombre. Ce sont des dialectes qui ne diffèrent les uns des autres que par le mélange de quelques mots étrangers, une certaine variété dans les finales ou dans la prononciation.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1855, tom. cxlvii., p. 155. ‘Il me paraît indubitable que la langue universelle des royaumes guatémaliens devait être, avant l’invasion des tribus que les Espagnols trouvèrent en possession de ces contrées, le maya d’Yucatan ou le tzendal qui lui ressemble beaucoup.’ Ib. ‘Lacandons … les Mames, Pocomames, etc., qui parlent encore aujourd’hui une langue presqu’en tout semblable à celle des Yucatèques.’ Id., p. 156. ‘Le Tzendal ou Tzeldal et un dialecte de la langue zotzile dont il diffère fort peu.’ Id., Palenqué, p. 34. ‘Toutes sont issues d’une seule souche, dont le maya paraît avoir gardé le plus grand nombre d’éléments. Le quiché, le cakchiquel, le mame, le tzendal, sont marqués eux-mêmes au sceau d’une très-haute antiquité, amplement partagée par le mexicain ou nahuatl malgré les différences que comporte sa grammaire; car si ses formes et sa syntaxe sont très-distinctes de celles du maya, on peut dire, néanmoins, que tous ces vocables sont composés de racines communes à tout le groupe. Id., MS. Troano, tom. ii., pp. vii., viii. ‘La langue primitive forme le centre; plus elle s’avance vers la circonférence, plus elle perd de son originalité la tangente, c’est-à-dire le point où elle rencontre un autre idiome, est l’endroit où elle s’altère pour former une langue mixte.’ Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 24, 42. ‘Les Taitzaes, les Cehatches, les Campims, les Chinamitas, les Locènes, les Ytzaes et les Lacandons. Toutes ces nations parlent la langue maya, excepté les Locènes, qui parlent la langue Chol.’ Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 50; Id., 1840, tom. lxxxviii., p. 6. ‘La de Yucatan, y Tabasco, que es toda vna.’ Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 25; Solis, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 89. ‘Zoques, Celtales y Quèlenes, todos de lenguas diferentes.’ Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, pp. 264, 299; also in Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 269; Helps’ Span. Conq., tom. iii., p. 252; Squier, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1855, tom. cxlviii., p. 275; Id., 1857, tom. cliii., pp. 175, 177-8. The natives of the island of Cozumel ‘son de la lengua y costumbres de los de Yucatan.’ Landa, Relacion, p. 12; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 18-25, 55-56.

[XI-3] ’La simplicité originale de cette langue et la régularité merveilleuse de ses formes grammaticales, c’est la facilité avec laquelle elle se prête à l’analyse de chacun de ces vocables et à la dissection des racines dont ils sont dérivés.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, MS. Troano, tom. ii., pp. iii., vi., v. ‘The Maya tongue spoken in the northern parts of Yucatan, is remarkable for its extremely guttural pronunciation.’ Gordon’s Hist. and Geog. Mem., p. 73. ‘The whole of the native languages are exceedingly guttural in their pronunciation.’ Dunn’s Guatimala, p. 265. ‘Diese Sprache war wohlklingend und weich.’ Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 453; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 32; Squier, in Id., tom. cliii., p. 178.

[XI-4] ’Dans ces langues kakchiquèle, kichée et zutugile, les mots qui n’appartiennent pas au Maya, m’ont tout l’air d’être d’origine germanique, saxons, danois, flamands, anglais même.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1855, tom. cxlvii., pp. 156-7. ‘Je fus frappé, dès mon arrivée … de la similitude qu’une quantité de mots de leur langue offrait avec celles du nord de l’Europe.’ Id., Lettre à M. Rafn, in Id., tom. clx., 1858, pp. 263, 281-90. ‘The fundamental forms and words of the languages of these regions (except the Mexican) are intimately connected with the Maya or Tzendal and that all the words, that are neither Mexican nor Maya, belong to our languages of Northern Europe, viz., English, Saxon, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Flemish and German, some even appear to belong to the French and Persian, and altogether they are really very numerous and astounding.’ Id., Letter in the New York Tribune, November 21, 1855.

[XI-5] Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., pp. 231-45.

[XI-6] Gage’s New Survey, pp. 465-477, et seq.

[XI-7] Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., pp. 84-110.

[XI-8] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Grammaire de la Langue Quiché; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., pp. 126-47.

[XI-9] Beltran de Santa Rosa María, Arte; Ruz, Catecismo Historico; Id., Cartilla; Id., Gram. Yucateca; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 252, et seq.; Heller, Reisen, p. 381, et seq.; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 4-24; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., pp. 5, 223, tom. ii., pp. 119, 229; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Grammaire, in Landa, Relacion, pp. 459-479; Id., in MS. Troano, tom. ii.

[XI-10] ’Estos Totonaques … decian ser ellas de Guastelas.’ ‘Otros hay, que entienden la lengua Guasteca.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 131-2. ‘Im alten Centralamerika also waren die Sprachen der Totonaken, Otimier, Huasteken, Macahuer unter sich sowohl als auch mit der Sprache in Yucatan verwandt.’ Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 453; Mexikanische Zustände; tom. i., p. 143; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 251; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 245; Almaraz, Memorio, pp. 18, 20; Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. i., pp. 287-91; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 4; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1840, tom. lxxxviii., p. 7; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., p. 106; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 18-20, 204.

[XI-11] Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. ii., pp. 223-68; Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt iii., pp. 44-60.

[XI-12] Zenteno, Lengua Huasteca; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 276-85; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., pp. 5-34.

[XI-13] Col. Polidiómica Mex., Oracion Dominical, p. 8-10.

Chapter XII • Languages of Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and the Isthmus of Darien • 3,700 Words

The Carib an Imported Language—The Mosquito Language—The Poya, Towka, Seco, Valiente, Rama, Cookra, Woolwa, and other Languages in Honduras—The Chontal—Mosquito Grammar—Love Song in the Mosquito Language—Comparative Vocabulary of Honduras Tongues—The Coribici, Chorotega, Chontal and Orotiña in Nicaragua—Grammar of the Orotiña or Nagradan—Comparison between the Orotiña and Chorotega—The Chiriquí, Guatuso, Tiribi, and others in Costa Rica—Talamanca Vocabulary—Diversity of Speech on the Isthmus of Darien—Enumeration of Languages—Comparative Vocabulary.

In Honduras there is a long list of tribal names, to each of which is attributed a distinct tongue. Vocabularies have been taken of three or four only, and one, spoken on the Mosquito coast, has had its grammatical structure reduced to writing. It is therefore impossible to make comparisons and therefrom to determine how far their number might be reduced by classification. The first which I introduce is generally conceded to have been imported. It is the Carib, spoken on the shores of the bay of Honduras and on the adjacent islands, and has been proven to be almost identically the same as the one spoken on the West India Islands. From Cape Honduras to the Rio San Juan, and extending inland as far as Black River, the Mosquito language is in general use. Of it I shall insert a few grammatical remarks. In the Poya Mountains a like-named tongue is spoken; on the headwaters of the Patook River is the Towka, and on the Rio Secos, the Seco. Further in the mountains, near the boundary of Nicaragua, and extending into that state are the Valiente and Rama, said to be both separate tongues; and in the interior of the state there are the Cookra and Woolwa, the latter spoken in the province of Chontales. Others mentioned are the Tonglas, the Lenca, the Smoo, the Teguaca, the Albatuina, the Jara, the Taa, the Gaula, the Motuca, the Fantasma, and the Sambo. Of these nothing but the names can be given. The oldest authorities mention, as a principal language the Chontal, the name of a people and language met in many variations in almost every state from Mexico to Nicaragua. As there are no specimens of this language existing, it is impossible to say whether one people and language extended through all this territory or whether certain wild tribes were designated by this general name, as, according to Molina’s Mexican dictionary, chontalli means stranger or foreigner; and popoluca, which seems to be also used like chontalli, is defined as barbarian, or man of another nation and language. I am therefore of the opinion that no such nations as Chontals or Popolucas exist, but that these names were employed by the more civilized nations to designate people speaking other and barbarous tongues.[XII-1]A classification has been made by Mr Squier, but in the absence of reliable data on which to base it, it cannot be accepted without reserve. He says: ‘it appears that Honduras was anciently occupied by at least four distinct families or groups.’ These he names: the Chorti or Sesenti, belonging to the Maya family, the Lenca, under the various names of Chontals and perhaps Xicaques and Poyas;—in the third he includes the various tribes intervening between the Lencas proper and the inhabitants of Cariay, or what is now called the Mosquito shore, such as the Toacas, Tonglas, Ramas, etc., and lastly in the fourth, the savages who dwelt on the Mosquito shore from near Carataska Lagoon southward to the Rio San Juan. Cent. Amer., pp. 252-3. See also Squier, in Palacio, Carta, note iii., pp. 100-5; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. i., pp. 399-403; Id., Cent. Amer., pp. 133-36; Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., p. 287; Squier, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1858, tom. clx., pp. 134-5; Palacio, Carta, p. 20. ‘Variis et diversis linguis utebantur, Chontalium tamen maxime erat inter eos communis.’ Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 337. ‘Tenian diferencias de lenguas, y la mas general es la de los Chontales.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. iii.; Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 62; Galindo, Notice of the Caribs, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. iii., p. 290-1; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 20. ‘Die Karaiben bedienen sich noch gegenwärtig ihrer ganz eigenthümlichen Sprache, welche bedeutend von allen übrigen abweicht, und von den anderen Indianerstämmen nicht verstanden wird.’ Mosquitoland, Bericht, pp. 19-20, 140; Bell’s Remarks on Mosquito Ter., in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., pp. 258-9; Wells’ Explor. Hond., pp. 552-3.

Mosquito Adjectives and Declensions

Of the Mosquito language, which is understood throughout the whole Mosquito Coast, and of which I here give a few grammatical remarks, Mr Squier remarks that “it is not deficient in euphony, although defective in grammatical power.”[XII-2]Bard’s Waikna, p. 363. ‘Die Sprache … der Sambos oder eigentlichen Mosquitos, am meisten ausgebildet, allgemein verbreitet und wird im ganzen Lande von allen Stämmen verstanden und gesprochen. Sie ist wohlklingend, ohne besondere Kehllaute aber ziemlich arm und unbeholfen.’ Mosquitoland, Bericht, p. 140. There is but one article, the numeral adjective kumi, one, used also for a and an. The adjectives are few in number, having no uniform termination, and are discovered only by their signification, except when participles, when they always terminate in ra or n. Adjectives form the comparative by adding kara to the positive and the superlative by adding poli except in two words, uia and silpe, which have distinct words for each degree of comparison, thus;—silpe, small; uria, smaller; katara, smallest; uia, much; kara, more; poli, most. Comparison is usually formed in the manner following;—yamne, good; yamne kara, better; yamne poli, best; konra, strong; konra kara, stronger; konra poli, strongest.

In composition, to express excess or diminution, comparison is sometimes formed in this manner;—Jan almuk, Samuel almuk apia: John is old, Samuel is not old.

Adjectives

Old	almuk	Bad	saura
Every	bane	Green	sane
Tight, close	bitne	Black	sixa
Spotted	bulne	Small	silpe
Greedy	slabla	Transparent	slilong
Dull	dimdim	Slippery	swokswaka
Circular	iwit	Sour	swane
Less	kausa	Damp	tauske
More	kara	Great	tara
Hot	lapta	Thin, flat	tanta
Rich	lela-kera	Thick	twotne
Round	marbra	Poor	umpira
Sharp	mata	Much	uia
White	pine	Smaller	uria
Red	paune	Weary	wet
Most, very	poli	Heavy	wira
Grey, light blue etc.	popotne	Chief	wita
New	raiaka	Good	yamne

The Perfect Tense Used as an Adjective

Perfect Tense Used as Adjective

Dry	lawan	Angry	palan, or luan
Lazy	shringwan	Fearful	sibrin
Slack, loose	langwan	Sore	latwan
Wet	buswan	Sick, troubled	warban
Dirty	klaklan	Dead	pruan
Generous	kupia-pine

The gender is commonly marked by adding waikna for the male and mairen for the female, or, for beasts, wainatka for the male, and mairen, as before, for the female. Thus;—lupia waikna, a son; lupia mairen, a daughter; bip wainatka, a bull; bip mairen, a cow. In nouns relating to the human species the plural is formed by adding nani to the singular; as;—waikna, a man; waikna nani, men; yapte, mother; yapte nani, mothers. Other nouns have the plural the same as the singular, although sometimes a plural is formed by adding ra to the singular;—inska, a fish; inskara, fishes.

There are four cases, distinguished by their terminations, the nominative, dative, accusative, and ablative.

Declension of the Word Aize, Father

Aize

	SINGULAR.		PLURAL.
Nom.	Father	aize	Fathers	aize-nani
Dat.	To father	aizera	To fathers	aize-nanira
Acc.	Father	aize	Fathers	aize-nani
Abl.	With father	aize-ne	With fathers	aize-ne-nani

WITH AFFIX KE.
	SINGULAR.		PLURAL.
Nom.	My father	aize-ke	My fathers	aizeke-nani
Dat.	To my father	aizekra	To my fathers	aizeke-nanira
Acc.	My father	aizeke	My fathers	aizeke-nani
Abl.	With my father	aize-ke-ne	With my fathers	aizeke ne nani

WITH AFFIX KAM.
	SINGULAR.		PLURAL.
Nom.	Thy father	aizekam	Thy fathers	aizekam-nani
Dat.	To thy father	aizekamra	To thy fathers	aizekam-nanira
Acc.	Thy father	aizekam	Thy fathers	aizekam-nani
Abl.	With thy father	aizekam-ne	With thy fathers	aizekam ne nani

	SINGULAR.		PLURAL.
Nom.	His people	ai upla	Their people	ai upla-nani
Dat.	To his people	ai uplara	To their people	ai upla-nanira
Acc.	His people	ai upla	Their people	ai upla-nani
Abl.	With his people	ai uplane	With their people	ai uplane-nani

To form the possessive case of nouns, the word dukia, signifying ‘belonging’, is added. The word, being subject to a declension peculiar to itself, is on that account not put as an affix in the usual declension of nouns.

Declension of the Word Dukia, Belonging, Possession

Dukia

	Belonging, possession	dukia
	Belonging to him, to them	ai dukiara
	Belonging to thee, to you	ai dukiamra
	In my possession, belonging to me	dukia-ne

SINGULAR.		PLURAL.
Of me, mine	yung dukia	Of us, ours	yung-nani dukia
Of thee, thine	man dukia	Of you, yours	man-nani dukia
Of him, his, hers, its	wetin dukia	Of them, theirs	wetin nani dukia

There are twelve pronouns, mostly declinable. Six of them are personal.

Pronouns

I	yung	Self	bui
Thou	man	Our	wan
He	wetin	He, his, her, hers, I, me, etc.	ai

Three are relative, and three adjective.

More Pronouns

ADJECTIVE.		RELATIVE.
This	baha	What	naki
That	naha	Which	ansa
Other	wala	Who	dia

The first three are declined alike; thus

DECLENSION OF THE WORD YUNG, I

Yung

	SINGULAR.		PLURAL.
Nom.	I	yung	We	yung-nani
Dat.	To me	yungra	To us	yung-nanira,
Acc.	Me	yung	Us	yung-nani
Abl.	In me	yung-ne	With us	yung-nani kera

Declension of the Word Man, Thou

Thou

	SINGULAR.		PLURAL.
Nom.	Thou	man	You	man nani
Dat.	To thee	manra	To you	man-nanira
Acc.	Thee	man	You	man-nani
Abl.	In thee	man-ne	With you	man-nani-kera

Declension of the Word Wetin, He

Wetin

	SINGULAR.		PLURAL.
Nom.	He	wetin	They	wetin-nani
Dat.	To him	wetinra	To them	wetin-nanira
Acc.	Him	wetin	Them	wetin nani
Abl.	In him	wetin-ne	With them	wetin-nani kera

Affixes are also joined to pronouns to increase, vary, or change their signification, such as sa, ne, ra, am, and others, as well as prepositions and adverbs.

There are but three interjections: alai! alas! kais! lo! and alakai! O dear!

Mosquito Adverbs and Prepositions

Adverbs are numerous, and admit of certain variations in their signification by the use of affixes, thus;—nara, here; narasa, here it is; lama, near; lamara, nearer.

Adverbs

Quickly	ane	Never	tara
When	ankia	Where	ansera
Every	bane	Together	aika-aika
Yesterday, the	eua-wala	There	bara
other day		There it is	barasa
Presently	kanara	Yonder	bukra
When	kanka	Near	lama
Again	kli	Nearer, close	lamara
Soon	mit	Further	liwara
To-day	naiua	Here	nara
Next, by and by	naika	Here it is	narasa
Already	put	No more	yulakane
Immediately	tiske	Yes	au
To-morrow	yunka	Anything	deradera
After to-morrow	yawanka	Sweetly	dumdum
No, not	apia	Exactly	kut
Only	baman	Strangely	pale
For nothing	barke	Very, truly	poli
Not, never	para	Enough	sipse
Not	sip	Truly	kosak
It is not	sipsa

There are twenty-eight prepositions. Some of them are also used as conjunctions; and some, like the adverb, admit of a variation.

Prepositions

At, near, about	baila	For	mata
To, there	bara	Beneath	maira
In	bela	Below	monunta
Into, within	belara	Under	monuntara
Against	dara	Behind	ninara
Beyond	kau	After	ninka
With	kera	Without, destitute	para
Through	krauan	Over, upon	pura
With, together	kuki	Upon, above	purara
In front	lalma	Before, anterior	pus
Opposite, before	lalmara	Without, exterior	skera
Unto, close	lama	Among	tilara
Without, outside	latara	With	wal
Between, centre	lilapos	From, out of	wina

CONJUNCTIONS.
Then	baha	Until	kut
Since	baha-wina	Now	mek
Like	bako	How	naki
Because, for	bamna	Next	naika
So thus	bun	But	sekuna
So it is	bunsa	Lest	sia
If	kaka	And, also	sin
Yet	kau	And	wal
Still	kause

Conjugation of the Veeb Kaia, To be

Kaia

PRESENT INDICATIVE.
I am,	yung ne	The same, only placing nani after
Thou art,	man kam	the pronouns.
He is,	wetin

PERFECT.		FUTURE.
I have been,	kare	I shall be,	kamne
Thou hast been,	karum	Thou wilt be,	kama
He has been,		He will be,	kabia

IMPERATIVE.
Be thou,	kama	Let us be,	kape
Let him be,	kabia	Be ye,	man-nani-kama
		Let them be,	wetin nani kabia

OTHER FORMS.
	I have not been,	kerus
	Thou hast not been,	kerum
	He has not been,	keruiskan
	I shall not be,	kamue-apia
	Thou wilt not be,	kama-apia
	He shall not be,	kabia-apia
	We shall not be,	yung-nani kamne-apia
	Ye shall not be,	man-nani kama-apia
	They shall not be,	wetin-nani kabia-apia
	Shall I not be?	kamne-apiake
	Wilt thou not be?	kama-apiake
	Shall he not be?	kabia-apiake

Conjugation of the Verb Daukaia, To Make

Kaia

PRESENT INDICATIVE.
SINGULAR.		PLURAL.
I make,	daukisne	We make,	yung-nani daukisne
Thou makest,	daukisma	You make,	man-nani daukisma
He makes,	daukisa, or danki	They make,	wetin-nani dauki, or dankisa

IMPERFECT.
	I did make,	daukatne
	Thou didst make,	daukatma
	He did make,	daukata

In the same way every tense forms the plural, having no difference in the terminations.

Plurals

PERFECT.		FUTURE.
I have made,	dankre	I shall make,	daukamne
Thou hast made,	daukrum	Thou wilt make,	daukama
He has made,	daukan	He will make,	daukbia

IMPERATIVE.
Make,	daux	Let us make,	daukpe
Let him make,	daukbia, or dautbiasika	Make ye,	man nani daux
		Let them make,	wetin nani daukbia or daukbiasika

OTHER FORMS.
	I make not,	daukrusne
	I did not make,	daukruskatne
	I have not made,	yung daukrus
	I shall not make,	daukamme-apia
	Make not,	daukparama, or man daukpara
	Let him not make,	daukiera, or wetin daukbiera
	Let us not make,	yung nani daukbiera
	Make ye not,	man nani daukpara, or daukparama
	Let them not make,	wetin nani daukbiera
	I may or can make,	yung shep daukisne
	I should make,	daukaiakatne
	I may have made,	yung shep daukre
	I might have made,	yung daukatnekrane
	I shall have made,	daukaiakamne
	Do I make?	daukisneke
	Do I not make?	daukrusneke
	Dost thou not make, or makest thou not?	daukrusmake
	Does he not make?	daukruske
	Shall I not make?	daukamne apiake
	If I make,	yung daukikaka
	If I had not made,	yung daukruskaka[XII-3]Mosquitoland, Bericht, pp. 241-68; Alex. Henderson’s Grammar, Moskito Lang., N. York, 1846.

Mosquito Love Song

As a specimen of this language I have the following love song:

Keker miren náne, warwar páser yamne krouekan. Coope nárer mi koolkun I doukser. Dear máne kuker cle wol proue. I sabbeáne wal moonter moppara. Keker misére yapte winegan. Koker sombolo barnar lippun, lippun, lippunke. Koolunker punater bin biwegan. Coope nárer tánes I doukser. Coope nárer mi koolkun I doukser.

Of this the translation is given as follows:

Dear girl, I am going far from thee. When shall we meet again to wander together on the sea-side? I feel the sweet sea-breeze blow its welcome on my cheek. I hear the distant rolling of the mournful thunder. I see the lightning flashing on the mountain’s top, and illuminating all things below, but thou art not near me. My heart is sad and sorrowful; farewell! dear girl, without thee I am desolate.[XII-4]Young’s Narrative, pp. 77-8.

Following is a comparative vocabulary of some of the other languages.[XII-5]Squier’s Cent. Amer., pp. 253-6; Id., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1858, clx., p. 135; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. i., pp. 400-1.

Languages of Honduras

	LENCA.
	GUAJIQUERO.	OPATORO.	INTIBUCAT.	SIMILATION.	WOOLWA.	XICAQUE.	CARIB.
Man		taho	amaske		all	jomé
Woman		move	napu	mab	yall	pitmé
Head	toro	tohoro	cagasí	toro	tunni	laipuco	waichie
Face	amptiga	amptiga	tije
Ear	yang	yan	yangaga	yoan	fora
Eye	saing	saringla	saring	saarim	miniktaka	non
Nose	napse	napseh	nepton	nepse	nágnitak	meguin
House	tahü	taoo	tahu		u	chef
Sun	gasi	gashi	gashi		maa	behapoy	wello
Fire	uga	ua	yuga	yuca	cukh	iqueamoos	wat
Water	guass	uash	guash	güas	uass	sur	dunna
Stone	caa	coa	tupan			pai
Dog	shui	shui	shushu	sui	sulo	soyo
White	shogo	shogo	shogo			sae
Black	sihiri	sihiri	seriga			tiltique
To eat	coorta	gorkin	gormal	ulanta	tecuting
To drink	supatch	talgui	talmal
One	ita	ita	itaska	eta	alaslach	pani	abama
Two	naa			pé	muyebu	matis	biama
Three	lagua			lágua	muyebas	contis	irwa
Four	aria			eslea	muyarunca	urupau	biamburi
Five	saihe	saihe		sai	muyesinca	casanpani	abanawajap
Ten	isis	siis		isis	muyhasluy	camaspus	sunwajp

Orotiña Conjugations

Besides the Aztec, which I have already spoken of in a previous chapter, there were four distinct languages spoken in Nicaragua:—The Coribici, Chorotega, Chontal, and Orotiña.[XII-6]’Ay en Nicaragua cinco lenguajes muy diferentes: Coribici, que loan mucho, Chorotega, que es la natural, y antigua: y assi estan en los que lo hablan los heredamientos, y el Cacao, que es la moneda, y riqueza dela tierra…. Chondal es grossero, y serrano. Orotiña, que dize mama, por lo que no otros (nosotros). Mexicano, que es la principal.’ Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 264. ‘A quatro ó çinco lenguas distintas é diverssas las unas de las otras. La prinçipal es la que llaman de Nicaragua, y es la mesma que hablan en México ó en Nueva España. La otra es la lengua que llaman de Chorotega, é la terçera es Chondal…. Otra hay ques del golpho de Orotiñaruba háçia la parte del Nordeste, ó otras lenguas hay adelante la tierra adentro.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 35, 37. Herrera, who has copied from Gomara almost literally, has made a very important mistake; he speaks of five languages and only mentions four. As Herrera mentions a place Chuloteca, some writers, and among them Mr Squier, have applied this name to a language, but seemingly without authority. Herrera’s copy reads: ‘Hablauan en Nicaragua, çinco lenguas diferentes, Coribizi, que lo hablan mucho en Chuloteca, que es la natural, y antigua, y ansi estauan en los que la hablauan…. Los de Chondal son grosseros, y serranos, la quarta es Orotina, Mexicana es la quinta.’ Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii. Purchas has copied Gomara more closely, and cites the five like him. Pilgrimes, vol. v., p. 887. Mr Squier makes the following division: Dirian, Nagrandan, Choluteca, Orotina, and Chondal. Those speaking the Aztec dialect he names Niquirans and also counts the Choluteca as a dialect of the same. Nicaragua, vol. ii., p. 310-12; Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. 132; Froebel, Cent. Amer., p. 59, et seq.; Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., p. 267, vol. ii., pp. 286-7; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 397; Palacio, Carta, p. 20. Of the Orotiña, which Mr Squier calls the Nagrandan, I have the following grammatical notes.

Neither articles nor prepositions are expressed. The plural is formed by the affix nu;—ruscu, bird; ruscunu, birds. Comparatives and superlatives are expressed by mah, better or more, and pooru or puru, best or most;—meheña, good; ma-meheña, better; puru-meheña, best. Diminutives, or deficiency, are expressed by ai or mai;—ai-meheña or mai-meheña, bad or lacking good.

Pronouns

I	icu
We, masc.	hechelu
We, fem.	hecheri
Thou	ica
You, m.	hechela
You, f.	hechelai
He	icau
She	icagui
They, m.	icanu
They, f.	icagunu
That	cagui
Those	caguinu
This, m.	cala
This, f.	hala
These, m.	cadchinulu
These, f.	cadchici
Mine, m.	cugani
Mine, f.	icagani
Yours, m.	cutani
Yours, f.	icatani
His	cagani

Conjugation of the Verb Sa, To be

PRESENT INDICATIVE.
SINGULAR.		PLURAL.
I am,	sá	We are,	so
Thou art,	sá	You are,	soa
He is,	sá	They are,	sula

IMPERFECT.
I was,	caná	We were,	cananá
Thou wast,	caná	You were,	cananoá
He was,	caná	They were,	lacananá

PERFECT.
I have been,	sá cá	We have been,	sá cuá
Thou hast been,	sachu	You have been,	sá cnahi
He has been,	sacá	They have been,	sa gahu

PLUPERFECT.
I had been,	mucasini	Plural the same
Thou hadst been,	mucanasini
He had been,	mucanasadini

FIRST FUTURE.
I shall be,	lamanambi	We shall be,	lamananna

SECOND FUTURE.
I shall have been,	malamana	We shall have been,	lamana

Conjugation of the Verb Aiha, Tiha, Ahiha, To Come

Aiha

PRESENT INDICATIVE.
SINGULAR.		PLURAL.
I come,	icunaha	We come,	hechelunagubi

IMPERFECT.
I came,	incunahalu	We came,	hechelunagubalú

PERFECT.
I have come,	icusanaha	We have come,	hechelusagualalu

PLUPERFECT.
I had come,	icuschisalu	We had come,	hechelunigualalu

FIRST FUTURE.
I shall come,	icugaha	We shall come,	hecheluguha

SECOND FUTURE.
I shall have come,	icuvihiluniha	We shall have come,	hechehivihiluingualalu

IMPERATIVE.
Come,	ahiyaica	Let us come,	ahiyohecheu
I should come,	icugahalu	We should come,	hechelugualalu
If I had come,	icumahaluvihilu	If we had come,	hechelumainueamaguíha[XII-7]Squier’s Nicaragua, vol. ii., pp. 315-319.

Of the Orotiña and Chorotega I also insert a short vocabulary.

Orotina and Chorotega

	OROTIÑA.	CHOROTEGA.		OROTIÑA.	CHOROTEGA.
Man	rahpa	nuho	Water	eeia	nimbu
Woman	rapaku	nahseyomo	Stone	esee, or esenu	nugo
Head	a’cu, or edi	goochemo	Wood	bara	nanguima
Face	enu	grote	To drink	mahuia	boprima
Ear	nau	nuhme	To go	aiyu, or icu	paya
Eye	setu	nahte	Dead	ganganu	gagame
Nose	ta’co	mungoo	White	mesha	andirume
Arm	pa’pu	deno	I	icu	saho
House	gua	nahngu	Thou, he	ica	sumusheta
Sun	ahca	numbu	We	hechelu	semehmu[XII-8]Id., pp. 320-23.
Fire	ahku	nahu

Nicaragua and Costa Rica Vocabularies

More scanty still is the information regarding the tongues of Costa Rica. Only one vocabulary is at hand of the languages spoken by the Blancos, Valientes, and Talamancas, who inhabit the east coast between the Rio Zent and the Boca del Toro. Besides these there are mentioned, as speaking separate tongues, the Chiripos, Guatusos, and Tiribis. Of the language of the Talamancas I give a few words.

Talamancas

Man	signa-kirinema	Water	dí-tzítá
Woman	signa-arágre	Stone	ák
Head	sa-za-kú	Wood	u-ruk
Face	sa-kar-kú	Dog	tschi-tschi
Ear	su-kú-ke	Good	buisi
Eye	su-wu-ákétéi	Bad	be-so-i
Nose	su-tshu-ko-tó	I	be-hé
Hand	sa-fra-tzin-sek	Thou	tschi-si
House	suhú	He	se-dé
Sun	kan-hué	We	sa-ta-war-ke
Moon	tu-lu	You	se-hetsch-te
Fire	tschú-ko	They	be-zo[XII-9]Wagner and Scherzer, Costa Rica, p. 562; Scherzer, Vocab., in Sitzungsberichte der Akad. der Wissensch., Wien, vol. xv., no. i., 1855, pp. 28-35.

Cholo, Tule, and Darien Languages

On the isthmus of Darien there is nothing to be mentioned but the names of tongues said to have been spoken there, and of specimens nothing but a few scanty vocabularies exist. Oviedo, speaking of Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and the ancient province of Tierra Firme, thinks there were as many as seventy-two distinct tongues spoken in that region. He specially mentions the Coiba, the Burica, and the Paris.[XII-10]’Pienso yo que son apartados del número de las septenta y dos.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., cap. xliii. ‘En tierra firme … ai mui diversas, i apartadas Lenguas.’ Oviedo, Proemio, in Barcia, Historiadores, tom. i., p. 12. ‘Ai entre ellos lenguas diferentes.’ Fernando Colon, in Barcia, Historiadores, tom. i., fol. 106. ‘Son trà lor diuerse lingue.’ Colombo, Hist. Ammeraglio, p. 405. Andagoya speaks of a distinct language in the province of Acla; another called the Cueva as spoken in the provinces of Comogre and Biruqueta, on Pearl Island, about the gulf of San Miguel, and in the province of Coiba; at Nombre de Dios the Chuchura; to each of the provinces of Tobreytrota, Nata, Chiru, Chame, Paris, Escoria, Chicacotra, Sangana, and Guarara, a distinct language is assigned.[XII-11]Andagoya, Relacion, in Navarrete, Col., tom. iii., p. 393, et seq.; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. i., cap. xi. Another tongue spoken of by an old writer is that of the Simerones.[XII-12]Baptista Antonio, Relation, in Hakluyt’s Voy., tom. iii., fol. 554. To the different surveying and exploring expeditions of later years we are indebted for a few notes on the languages spoken in Darien at this day. The Tules, Dariens, Cholos, Dorachos, Savanerics, Cunas, and Bayamos, are new names not mentioned by any of the older writers; of some of them vocabularies have been taken, but otherwise we are left in darkness.[XII-13]Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt ii., p. 707; Cullen’s Darien, p. 65; Fitzroy, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xx., p. 164; Latham, in Id., pp. 189-90; Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. i., p. 312; Bidwell’s Isthmus, pp. 33-38; De Puydt, Explor., in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxviii., p. 91.

Darien

	CHOLO.	TULE.	WAFER’S DARIEN VOCAB.
Water	payto	tee	doola
Fire	tuboor	cho
Sun	pesea	ipé
Moon	hedecho	nee	nee
Tree	pachru	chowala (pl.)
House	dhé	neka
Man	mochina	mastola
Woman	wuèna	pundola	poonah
Thunder	pá	marra
Dog		achu
Ear		uwa
Eye		ibia
Nose		an uchuu
Mouth		kagya
Father			tautah
Mother			naunah
Brother			roopah
Go			chaunah
Sleep			cotchah
Fine			mamaubah
One		quenchaqua	hean
Two		pocoa	dìv
Three		pagwa	tree
Four		pakegua	caher
Five		aptali	cooig
Ten		ambe	deh[XII-14]Cullen’s Darien, pp. 99-102; Latham, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xx., p. 190; Wafer’s New Voy., pp. 185-188.]

Although from a perusal of what has here been gathered we might wish to know more of the weird imaginings that floated through the minds of these peoples, and to follow further the interminable intermixture of tongues and dialects, spoken, grunted, and gestured between the Arctic Ocean and the Atrato River, we must content ourselves with what we have. I have gathered and given in this volume all that I have been able to find; and from the readiness with which the Americans were wont to adopt the dogmas and creeds of Europeans, supernatural conceptions supposedly superior to their own, and insist upon their being aboriginal, and from the rapid and bewildering changes that so quickly mar and destroy the original purity of tongues, there is little hope of our learning further from living lips, or of our ever being able to study these things from the scattered and degraded remnants of the people themselves.

Conclusion

He who carefully examines the Myths and Languages of the aboriginal nations inhabiting the Pacific States, cannot fail to be impressed with the similarity between them and the beliefs and tongues of mankind elsewhere. Here is the same insatiate thirst to know the unknowable, here are the same audacious attempts to tear asunder the veil, the same fashioning and peopling of worlds, laying out and circumscribing of celestial regions, and manufacturing, and setting up, spiritually and materially, of creators, man and animal makers and rulers, everywhere manifest. Here is apparent what would seem to be the same inherent necessity for worship, for propitiation, for purification, or a cleansing from sin, for atonement and sacrifice, with all the symbols and paraphernalia of natural and artificial religion. In their speech the same grammatical constructions are seen with the usual variations in form and scope, in poverty and richness, which are found in nations, rude or cultivated, everywhere. Little as we know of the beginning and end of things, we can but feel, as fresh facts are brought to light and new comparisons made between the races and ages of the earth, that humanity, of whatsoever origin it may be or howsoever circumstanced, is formed on one model, and unfolds under the influence of one inspiration.

Footnotes

[XII-1] A classification has been made by Mr Squier, but in the absence of reliable data on which to base it, it cannot be accepted without reserve. He says: ‘it appears that Honduras was anciently occupied by at least four distinct families or groups.’ These he names: the Chorti or Sesenti, belonging to the Maya family, the Lenca, under the various names of Chontals and perhaps Xicaques and Poyas;—in the third he includes the various tribes intervening between the Lencas proper and the inhabitants of Cariay, or what is now called the Mosquito shore, such as the Toacas, Tonglas, Ramas, etc., and lastly in the fourth, the savages who dwelt on the Mosquito shore from near Carataska Lagoon southward to the Rio San Juan. Cent. Amer., pp. 252-3. See also Squier, in Palacio, Carta, note iii., pp. 100-5; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. i., pp. 399-403; Id., Cent. Amer., pp. 133-36; Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., p. 287; Squier, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1858, tom. clx., pp. 134-5; Palacio, Carta, p. 20. ‘Variis et diversis linguis utebantur, Chontalium tamen maxime erat inter eos communis.’ Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 337. ‘Tenian diferencias de lenguas, y la mas general es la de los Chontales.’ Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. iii.; Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 62; Galindo, Notice of the Caribs, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. iii., p. 290-1; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 20. ‘Die Karaiben bedienen sich noch gegenwärtig ihrer ganz eigenthümlichen Sprache, welche bedeutend von allen übrigen abweicht, und von den anderen Indianerstämmen nicht verstanden wird.’ Mosquitoland, Bericht, pp. 19-20, 140; Bell’s Remarks on Mosquito Ter., in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxii., pp. 258-9; Wells’ Explor. Hond., pp. 552-3.

[XII-2] Bard’s Waikna, p. 363. ‘Die Sprache … der Sambos oder eigentlichen Mosquitos, am meisten ausgebildet, allgemein verbreitet und wird im ganzen Lande von allen Stämmen verstanden und gesprochen. Sie ist wohlklingend, ohne besondere Kehllaute aber ziemlich arm und unbeholfen.’ Mosquitoland, Bericht, p. 140.

[XII-3] Mosquitoland, Bericht, pp. 241-68; Alex. Henderson’s Grammar, Moskito Lang., N. York, 1846.

[XII-4] Young’s Narrative, pp. 77-8.

[XII-5] Squier’s Cent. Amer., pp. 253-6; Id., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1858, clx., p. 135; Froebel, Aus Amerika, tom. i., pp. 400-1.

[XII-6] ’Ay en Nicaragua cinco lenguajes muy diferentes: Coribici, que loan mucho, Chorotega, que es la natural, y antigua: y assi estan en los que lo hablan los heredamientos, y el Cacao, que es la moneda, y riqueza dela tierra…. Chondal es grossero, y serrano. Orotiña, que dize mama, por lo que no otros (nosotros). Mexicano, que es la principal.’ Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 264. ‘A quatro ó çinco lenguas distintas é diverssas las unas de las otras. La prinçipal es la que llaman de Nicaragua, y es la mesma que hablan en México ó en Nueva España. La otra es la lengua que llaman de Chorotega, é la terçera es Chondal…. Otra hay ques del golpho de Orotiñaruba háçia la parte del Nordeste, ó otras lenguas hay adelante la tierra adentro.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., pp. 35, 37. Herrera, who has copied from Gomara almost literally, has made a very important mistake; he speaks of five languages and only mentions four. As Herrera mentions a place Chuloteca, some writers, and among them Mr Squier, have applied this name to a language, but seemingly without authority. Herrera’s copy reads: ‘Hablauan en Nicaragua, çinco lenguas diferentes, Coribizi, que lo hablan mucho en Chuloteca, que es la natural, y antigua, y ansi estauan en los que la hablauan…. Los de Chondal son grosseros, y serranos, la quarta es Orotina, Mexicana es la quinta.’ Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii. Purchas has copied Gomara more closely, and cites the five like him. Pilgrimes, vol. v., p. 887. Mr Squier makes the following division: Dirian, Nagrandan, Choluteca, Orotina, and Chondal. Those speaking the Aztec dialect he names Niquirans and also counts the Choluteca as a dialect of the same. Nicaragua, vol. ii., p. 310-12; Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. 132; Froebel, Cent. Amer., p. 59, et seq.; Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., p. 267, vol. ii., pp. 286-7; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 397; Palacio, Carta, p. 20.

[XII-7] Squier’s Nicaragua, vol. ii., pp. 315-319.

[XII-8] Id., pp. 320-23.

[XII-9] Wagner and Scherzer, Costa Rica, p. 562; Scherzer, Vocab., in Sitzungsberichte der Akad. der Wissensch., Wien, vol. xv., no. i., 1855, pp. 28-35.

[XII-10] ’Pienso yo que son apartados del número de las septenta y dos.’ Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. ii., cap. xliii. ‘En tierra firme … ai mui diversas, i apartadas Lenguas.’ Oviedo, Proemio, in Barcia, Historiadores, tom. i., p. 12. ‘Ai entre ellos lenguas diferentes.’ Fernando Colon, in Barcia, Historiadores, tom. i., fol. 106. ‘Son trà lor diuerse lingue.’ Colombo, Hist. Ammeraglio, p. 405.

[XII-11] Andagoya, Relacion, in Navarrete, Col., tom. iii., p. 393, et seq.; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. i., cap. xi.

[XII-12] Baptista Antonio, Relation, in Hakluyt’s Voy., tom. iii., fol. 554.

[XII-13] Vater, Mithridates, tom. iii., pt ii., p. 707; Cullen’s Darien, p. 65; Fitzroy, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xx., p. 164; Latham, in Id., pp. 189-90; Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. i., p. 312; Bidwell’s Isthmus, pp. 33-38; De Puydt, Explor., in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xxxviii., p. 91.

[XII-14] Cullen’s Darien, pp. 99-102; Latham, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xx., p. 190; Wafer’s New Voy., pp. 185-188.]

Volume Four • Antiquites

Chapter I • Archæological Introduction • 4,500 Words

Showing location of Ancient Monuments

Monumental Archæology—Scope of the Volume—Treatment of the Subject—Sources of Information—Tangibility of Material Relics—Vagueness of Traditional and Written Archæology—Value of Monumental Relics, as conveying Positive Information respecting their Builders, as Corroborative or Corrective Witnesses, as Incentives to Research—Counterfeit Antiquities—Egyptian, Assyrian, and Persian monuments—Relics proving the Antiquity of Man—Exploration of American Ruins—Key to Central American Hieroglyphics—No more Unwritten History.

Treatment of the Subject

The present volume of the Native Races of the Pacific States treats of monumental archæology, and is intended to present a detailed description of all material relics of the past discovered within the territory under consideration. Two chapters, however, are devoted to a more general view of remains outside the limits of this territory—those of South America and of the eastern United States—as being illustrative of, and of inseparable interest in connection with, my subject proper. Since monumental remains in the western continent without the broad limits thus included are comparatively few and unimportant, I may without exaggeration, if the execution of the work be in any degree commensurate with its aim, claim for this treatise a place among the most complete ever published on American antiquities as a whole. Indeed, Mr Baldwin’s most excellent little book on Ancient America is the only comprehensive work treating of this subject now before the public. As a popular treatise, compressing within a small duodecimo volume the whole subject of archæology, including, besides material relics, tradition, and speculation concerning origin and history as well, this book cannot be too highly praised; I propose, however, by devoting a large octavo volume to one half or less of Mr Baldwin’s subject-matter, to add at least encyclopedic value to this division of my work.

There are some departments of the present subject in which I can hardly hope to improve upon or even to equal descriptions already extant. Such are the ruins of Yucatan, Guatemala, and Nicaragua, so ably treated by Messrs Stephens, Catherwood, and Squier. Indeed, not a few relics of great importance are known to the world only through the pen or pencil of one or another of these gentlemen, in which cases I am forced to draw somewhat largely upon the result of their investigations. Yet even within the territory mentioned, concerning Uxmal and Chichen Itza we have most valuable details in the works of M. M. Waldeck and Charnay; at Quirigua, Dr Scherzer’s labors are no less satisfactory than those of Mr Catherwood; and Mr Squier’s careful observations in Nicaragua are supplemented, to the advantage of the antiquarian public, by the scarcely less extensive investigations of Mr Boyle. In the case of Palenque, in some respects the most remarkable American ruin, we have, besides the exhaustive delineations of Waldeck and Stephens, several others scarcely less satisfactory or interesting from the pens of competent observers; and in a large majority of instances each locality, if not each separate relic, has been described from personal examination by several parties, each noting some particulars by the others neglected. By a careful study and comparison of information drawn from all available sources respecting the several points, the witnesses mutually corroborating or correcting one another’s statements, I expect to arrive in each case practically at the truth, and thus to compensate in a measure for that loss of interest inevitably incurred by the necessary omission of that personal experience and adventure by which antiquarian travelers are wont to impart a charm to their otherwise dry details.

Although necessarily to a great extent a compilation, this volume is none the less the result of hard and long-continued study. It embodies the researches of some five hundred travelers, stated not merely en résumé, but reproduced, so far as facts and results are concerned, in full. Very few of the many works studied are devoted exclusively or even chiefly to my subject; indeed most of them have but an occasional reference to antiquarian relics, which are described more or less fully among other objects of interest that come under the traveler’s eye; hence the possibility of condensing satisfactorily the contents of so many volumes in one, and of making this one fill on the shelves of the antiquary’s library the place of all, excepting, of course, the large plates of the folio works. Full references to, and quotations from, the authorities consulted are given in the notes, which thus become a complete index to all that has been written on the subject. These notes contain also bibliographical notices and historical details of the discovery and successive explorations of each ruin, and other information not without interest and value. That some few books containing archæological information may have escaped my notice, is quite possible, but none I believe of sufficient importance to seriously impair the value of the material here presented. In order to give a clear idea of the great variety of articles preserved from the past for our examination, the use of numerous illustrations becomes absolutely essential. Of the cuts employed many are the originals taken from the published works of explorers, particularly of Messrs Stephens and Squier, with their permission. As I make no claim to personal archæological research, save among the tomes on the shelves of my library, and as the imparting of accurate information is my only aim, the advantage of the original cuts over any copies that could be made, will be manifest to the reader. Where such originals could not be obtained I have made accurate copies of drawings carefully selected from what I have deemed the best authorities, always with a view to give the clearest possible idea of the objects described, and with no attempt at mere pictorial embellishment.

Confining myself strictly to the description of material remains, I have omitted, or reserved for another volume, all traditions and speculations of a general nature respecting their origin and the people whose handiwork they are, giving, however, in some instances, such definite traditions as seem unlikely to come up in connection with ancient history. This is in accordance with the general plan which I adopt in treating of the Native Races of this western half of North America, proceeding from the known to the unknown, from the near to the remote; dealing first with the observed phenomena of aboriginal savagism and civilization when first brought within the knowledge of Europeans, as I have done in the three volumes already before the public; then entering the labyrinthine field of antiquity from its least obstructed side, I devote this volume to material relics exclusively, thus preparing the way for a final volume on traditional and written archæology, to terminate with what most authors have given at the start,—the vaguest and most hopelessly complicated department of the whole subject,—speculations respecting the origin of the American people and of the western civilization.

In the descriptions which follow I proceed geographically from south to north for no reason more cogent than that of convenience. From the same motive, much more weighty however in this case, I follow the same order in my comparisons between remains in different parts of the continent, comparing invariably each ruin with others farther south and consequently familiar to the reader, rather than with more northern structures to be described later. It is claimed by some writers that the term antiquities is properly used only to designate the works of a people extinct or only traditionally known. This restriction of the term would exclude most of the monumental remains of the Pacific States, since a large majority of the objects described in the following pages are known to have been the work of the peoples found by Europeans in possession of the country, or of their immediate ancestors. I employ the term, however, in its more common application, including in it all the works of aboriginal hands presumably executed before native intercourse with Europeans, at dates varying consequently with that of the discovery of different localities.

Reality of Material Relics

Monumental archæology, as distinguished from written and traditional archæology, owes its interest largely to its reality and tangibility. The teachings of material relics, so far as they go, are irrefutable. Real in themselves they impart an air of reality to the study of the past. They stand before us as the actual work of human hands, affording no foothold for scepticism; they are the balance-wheels of tradition, resting-places for the mind wearied with the study of aboriginal fable, stepping-stones on which to cross the miry sloughs of mythic history. The ruins of a great city represent and recall vividly its original state and the populace that once thronged its streets; the towering mound or pyramid brings before the observer’s mind toiling bands of slaves driven to their unwelcome task by strong progressive masters; temples and idols are but remnants of religious systems, native fear, superstition, and faith; altars imply victims and sacrificial ceremonies; sculpture, the existence of art; kingly palaces are the result of a strong government, wars, and conquest; sepulchral deposits reveal thoughts of another life; and hieroglyphic inscriptions, even if their key be lost, imply events deemed worthy of record, and a degree of progress toward letters.

What the personal souvenir is to the memory of dead friends, what the ancestral mansion with its portraits and other relics is to family memories and pride of descent, what the ancient battle-ground with the monument commemorating early struggles for liberty is to national patriotism, what the familiar hill, valley, stream, and tree to recollection and love of home,—all this and more are material relics to the study of ages gone by. Destroy such relics in the case of the individual, the family, and the nation, and imagine the effect on our interest in a past, which is, however, in nearly every instance clearly recorded. What would be the consequence of blotting from existence the ruins that stand as monuments of a past but vaguely known even in the most favorable circumstances through the medium of traditionary and written annals? Traditional archæology, fascinating as its study is and important in its results, leaves always in the mind a feeling of uncertainty, a fear that any particular tradition may be in its present form, modified willfully or involuntarily in passing through many hands, a distortion of the original, or perhaps a pure invention; or if intact in form its primary signification may be altogether misunderstood. And even in the case of written annals, more definite and reliable of course than oral traditions, we cannot forget that back beyond a certain time impossible to locate in the distant past, history founds its statements of events on no more substantial basis than popular fable.

Counterfeit Antiquities

It is true that false reports may be made respecting the discovery or nature of ruined cities and other monuments; and relics may be collected and exhibited which have no claim whatever to antiquity. Indeed it is said that in some parts of Spanish America, Aztec, Chichimec, or Toltec relics, of any desired era since the creation, are manufactured to order by the ingenious natives and sold to the enthusiastic but unwary antiquarian. To similar imposition and like enthusiasm may be referred the long list of Roman, Greek, Scandinavian, Tyrian, and other old-world coins, medals, and inscriptions, whose discovery in the New World from time to time has been reported, and used in support of some pet origin-theory. Yet practically these counterfeit or fabulous antiquities do little harm; their falsity may in most cases be without difficulty detected, as will be apparent from several instances of the kind noted in the following pages. There are, as I have said, few ruins of any importance that have not been described by more than one competent and reliable explorer. The discovery of wonderful cities and palaces, or of movable relics which differ essentially from the well-authenticated antiquities of the same region, is not accepted by archæologists, or by the public generally, without more positive proof of genuineness than the representations of a single traveler whose reliability has not been fully proved.

The study of ancient monuments, in addition to its high degree of interest, is moreover of great practical value in the development of historical science, as a source of positive information, as a corroboration of annals otherwise recorded, and as an incentive to continued research. It contributes to actual knowledge by indicating the various arts that flourished among the peoples of antiquity, the germs of the corresponding arts of modern times. The monuments show not alone the precise degree of excellence in architecture and sculpture attained by the particular people whose work they are, but by an examination of their differences they throw much light on the origin and growth of these and other arts, while by comparison with the works of other peoples better known they serve to establish more or less clearly national affinities. And not only do they illustrate the state of the fine and useful arts, but also to a great extent public institutions and private customs. Temples, idols, and altars reveal much of religious rites and priestly power; weapons, of warfare; implements, of household habits; ornaments, of dress; tombs and sepulchral relics, of burial ceremonies, regard for the dead, and ideas respecting another life. When, in addition to their indirect teachings respecting the arts and institutions of their builders, antique monuments bear also inscriptions in written or legible hieroglyphic characters, their value is of course greatly increased; indeed under such circumstances they become the very highest historic authority.

It is, however, in connection with the other branches of the science, written and traditional, that material relics accomplish their most satisfactory results, their corroborative evidence being even more valuable than the positive information they convey. For instance, tradition relates wondrous tales of the wealth, power, and mighty deeds of a people that long ago occupied what is now a barren desert or a dense forest. These tales are classed with other aboriginal fables, interesting but comparatively valueless; but some wandering explorer, by chance or as the result of an apparently absurd and profitless research, discovers in the shade of the tangled thicket, or lays bare under the drifting desert-sands, the ruins of a great city with magnificent palace and temple; at once the mythic fable is transformed into authentic history, especially if the traditional statements of that people’s arts and institutions are confirmed by their relics.

Again, the written record of biblical tradition, unsatisfactory to some, when not supported by corroborative evidence, narrates with minute detail the history of an ancient city, including its conquest at a given date by a foreign king. The discovery in another land of that monarch’s statue or triumphal arch, inscribed with his name, title, and a list of his deeds, confirms or invalidates the scriptural account not only of that particular event but indirectly of other details of the city’s annals not recorded in stone. In America material relics acquire increased importance as corroborative and corrective witnesses, in comparison with those of the old world, from the absence of contemporary written annals. Beside constituting the only tangible supports of the more ancient triumphs of American civilization, they are the best illustrations of comparatively modern stages of art whose products have disappeared, and by no means superfluous in support of Spanish chroniclers in later times, “very many, or perhaps most of whose statements respecting the wonderful phenomena of the New World culture,” as I have remarked in a preceding volume, “without this incontrovertible material proof would find few believers among the sceptical students of the present day.”

Importance of Material Relics

The importance of monumental remains as incentives to historical study and research results directly from the interest and curiosity which their examination invariably excites. Gibbon relates that he was first prompted to write the annals of Rome’s decline and fall by the contemplation of her ruined structures. Few even of the most prosaic and matter-of-fact travelers can resist the impulse to reason and speculate on the origin of ruins that come under their notice, and the civilization to which they owe their existence; and there are probably few eminent archæologists but may trace the first development of a taste for antiquarian pursuits to the curiosity excited at the sight of some mysterious relic.

This irresistible desire to follow back remains of art to the artist’s hand and genius, prompted the oft-repeated and so long fruitless attempts to decipher the Egyptian hieroglyphics and the cuneiform inscriptions of Persia and Assyria. These efforts were at last crowned with success; the key to the mysterious wedges, and the Rosetta-stone were found, by which the tablets of Babylon, Ninevah, and the pyramids—the Palenque, Copan, and Teotihuacan of the old world—may be read. The palaces, monuments, and statues of ancient kings bear legible records of their lives, dominions, and succession. By the aid of these records definite dates are established for events in the history of these countries as early as two thousand years before the Christian era, and thus corroborations and checks are placed on the statements of biblical and profane history. But the art of interpreting these hieroglyphics is yet in its infancy, and the results thus far accomplished are infinitesimal in comparison with what may be reasonably anticipated in the future.

The Antiquity of the Human Race

So much for antique monuments and their teachings—alone and in connection with history and tradition—respecting the peoples to whom they owe their existence. Another and not less important value they have, in connection with geology and paleontology, in what they tell us about the age of the human race on the earth. Biblical tradition, as interpreted in former times, asserts the earth and its inhabitants to be about six thousand years old. Geology has enforced a new interpretation, which, so far as the age of the earth is concerned, is accepted by all latter-day scholars; and geology now lends a helping hand to her sister sciences in their effort to prove, what is not yet universally accepted as truth, that man’s antiquity far exceeds the limit which scripture is thought to establish.

Throughout the successive geologic strata of earthy matter that overlie the solid rocky foundations below, traces of man’s presence are found. It is in deposits of peat and alluvium that these traces are most clearly defined and with greatest facility studied. The extremely slow accumulation of these deposits and the great depth at which human remains appear, impress the mind of the observer with a vivid idea of their antiquity. Calculations based on the known rate of increase for a definite period fix the age of the lowest relics at from six thousand to one hundred thousand years according to the locality. But geology tells yet no definite tale in years, her chronology being on a grander scale, and these calculations are to scientific men the weakest proofs of man’s antiquity. As we penetrate, however, this superficial geologic formation, we find in the upper layers weapons and implements of iron; then, at a greater depth, of bronze; and lowest of all stone is the only durable material employed. In all parts of the world, so far as explorations have been made, this order of the ages, stone, bronze, iron, is observed; although they were certainly not contemporaneous in all regions. With the products of human skill, in its varying stages of development, are mingled the fossil trees and plants of different species which flourished and became locally extinct as the centuries passed away. So animal remains, no less abundant than the others, indicate successive changes in the fauna and its relations to human life, the animals pursued at different epochs for food, the introduction of domestic animals, and the transition from the chase to agriculture as a means of subsistence.

From a study of all these various relics of the past—human, animal, and vegetable—in connection with geologic changes, the student seeks to estimate approximately the date at which man first appeared upon the earth. He observes the slow accumulation of surface deposits and speculates on the time requisite to bury the works of man hundreds of feet deep in dilluvium. He studies savagism in its different phases as portrayed in a previous volume; notes how tenaciously the primitive man clings to old customs, how averse he is to change and improvement; and then reflects upon the centuries that would probably suffice for beings only a little above the beast to pass successively from the use of the shapeless stone and club to the polished stone spear and arrow and knife, to the partial displacement of stone by the fragment of crude metal, to the smelting of the less refractory ores and the mixture of metals to form bronze, and to a final triumph in the use of iron. He reflects farther that all this slow process of development precedes in nearly every part of the world the historic period; that its relics are found in the alluvial plains of the Nile, buried far below the monuments of Egyptian civilization, a civilization, moreover, which dates back at least two thousand years before Christ. Searching the peat-beds of Denmark, he brings to light fossil Scotch firs in the lower strata mingled with relics of the stone age; oak-trees above with implements of bronze; and beech-trunks in the upper deposits, corresponding with the iron age and also with the present forest-growth of the country. He tries to fix upon a period of years adequate to effect two complete changes in Danish forest-trees, bringing to his aid the fact that about the Christian era the Romans found that country covered as now with a luxurious growth of beech, and that consequently eighteen hundred years have wrought no change. Having thus established in his mind the epoch to which he must be carried by the relics of the alluvial deposits, he remarks that during all this period climate has not essentially changed, for the animal remains thus far discovered are all of species still existing in the same climatic zone.

But at the same time he finds in southern Europe abundant remains of polar animals which could only have lived when the everlasting snow and ice of a frigid clime covered the surface of those now sunny lands. Still finding rude stone implements, the work of human hands, mingled with these polar skeletons, he adds to the result of previous computations the time deemed necessary for so essential a climatic transformation, and, finally, he is driven to make still another addition, when he learns that in geologic strata much older than any yet considered, the bones and works of man have been discovered in several apparently well-authenticated instances lying side by side with the bones of mastodons and other ancient species which have long since disappeared from the face of the earth. With the innumerable data of which the foregoing is only an outline before him, the student of man’s antiquity is left to decide for himself whether or not he can satisfactorily compress within the term of sixty centuries all the successive periods of man’s development.

In our examination of relics in the thinly peopled Pacific States we shall find comparatively few works of human hands bearing directly on this branch of archæology; yet in the north-west regions, newest to modern civilization, the Californian miner’s deep-sunk shafts have brought to light implements and fossils of great antiquity and interest to the scientific world.

American Relics and Hieroglyphics

In America many years must elapse before explorations equaling in extent and thoroughness those already made in the old world can be hoped for. The ruins from whose examination the grandest results are to be anticipated lie in a hot malarious climate within the tropics, enveloped in a dense thicket of exuberant vegetation, presenting an almost impenetrable barrier to an exploration by foreigners of monuments in which the natives as a rule take no interest. It must be admitted, however, that even the most exhaustive examination of our relics cannot be expected to yield results as definite and satisfactory as those reached in the eastern continent. We have practically no written record, and our monuments must tell the tale of the distant past unaided.

Our hieroglyphic inscriptions are comparatively few and brief, and those found on the stones of the more ancient class of ruins as yet convey no meaning. By reason of the absence of a contemporary written language, the difficulties in the way of their interpretation are clearly much greater than those so brilliantly overcome in Assyria and Egypt. Only one systematic attempt has yet been made to decipher their signification, and that has thus far proved a signal failure; it is believed almost universally that future efforts will be equally unsuccessful, and that our annals as written in stone will forever remain wrapped in darkness. Yet not only was the interpretation of the cuneiform inscriptions long deemed an impossibility, but the very theory that any meaning was hidden in that complicated arrangement of wedges was pronounced absurd by many wise antiquaries. Let not therefore our New World task be abandoned in despair till the list of failures shall be swollen from one to seventy times seven.

It is believed that the antiquary’s zeal for all coming time will be brought to bear on no other objects than those which now claim our attention and search; that is, although new monuments will be brought to light from their present hiding-places, no additions will be made to their actual number. With the invention of printing and the consequent wide diffusion of national annals, the era of unwritten history ceased, and with it all future necessity of searching tangled forest and desert plain for monumental records of the present civilization. That the key of our written history can ever be lost, our civilization blotted out, ruined structures and vague traditions called anew into requisition for historic use, we believe impossible. Yet who can tell; for so doubtless thought the learned men and high-priests of Palenque, when with imposing pageant and sacrificial invocation to the gods in the presence of the assembled populace, the inscribed tablets had been set up in the niches of the temple; and proudly exclaimed the orator of the day, as the last tablet settled into its place, “Great are our gods, and goodly the inheritance they have bequeathed to their chosen people. Mighty is Votan, world-wide the fame of his empire, the great Xibalba; and the annals and the glory thereof shall endure through all the coming ages; for are they not here imperishably inscribed in characters of everlasting stone that all may read and wonder?”

Chapter II • Antiquities of the Isthmus, Costa Rica, Mosquito Coast, and Nicaragua • 12,200 Words

The Isthmus—Roman Coin and Galley—Huacas of Chiriquí—Incised Stone-carvings—Sculptured Columns—Human Remains—Golden Ornaments—Weapons—Implements—Pottery—Musical Instruments—Costa Rica—Stone Hammers—Ancient Plantations—Images of Gold—Terra Cottas—Axe of Quartz—Wonderful Hill—Paved Road—Stone Frog—Mosquito Coast—Granite Vases—Remarkable Reports—Animal Group—Rock-Paintings—Golden Figure—Home of the Sukia—Nicaragua—Authorities—Mounds—Sepulchres—Excavations—Weapons—Implements—Ornaments—Statues—Idols—Pottery—Metals.

The ancient Muiscas of Colombia, or New Granada, have left interesting relics of their antiquity, which, with some points of resemblance, present marked contrasts to the monuments of Peruvian civilization farther south, and of Maya, Quiché, and Aztec civilizations in North America.[II-1]A general view of South American antiquities is given in another chapter of this volume. In that part of Colombia, however, which is included within the limits of the Pacific States, extending from the gulf of Darien westward to Costa Rica, no such relics have yet come to light, except in the western provinces of Chiriquí and Veragua, notwithstanding the extensive explorations that have been made in various parts of the Isthmus in the interests of interoceanic communication.[II-2]I might except a Roman coin of the time of Cæsar Augustus, and a buried ship, or galley, of antique model, said to have been discovered in early times by the Spaniards in the vicinity of Panamá, and which figured somewhat largely in early speculations on the question of American origin. I need not say that the evidence for the authenticity of such a discovery is extremely unsatisfactory. See: García, Orígen de los Ind., p. 174, with quotation from Marineo, Sumario, (Toledo, 1546,) fol. 19—apparently the original authority in the matter—and a reference to other editions and works; Solórzano Pereyra, De Ind. Jure, tom. i., p. 93; Id. Política Ind., tom. i., p. 22; Horn, Orig. Amer., p. 13; Simon, Noticias Historiales, (Cuença, 1626,) lib. i., cap. x.

Chiriquí Rock-Sculptures

The province of Chiriquí lies on the Pacific side of the Isthmus, and it is in its central region about the town of David, that monuments of a past age have been unearthed.[II-3]Authorities on the Isthmian antiquities are not numerous. Mr Berthold Seemann claims to have been the first to discover stone sculptures near David in 1848, and he read a paper on them before the Archæological Institute of London in 1851. He also briefly mentions them in his Voy. Herald, vol. i., pp. 312-13, for which work drawings were prepared but not published. Some of the drawings were, however, afterwards printed in Bollaert’s Antiq. Researches in N. Granada, (Lond., 1860,) and a few cuts of inscribed figures also inserted with farther description by Seemann in Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, pp. 25-32. It is stated in the last-named work that M. Zeltner, French Consul at Panamá, whose private collection contained specimens from Chiriquí, published photographs of some of them with descriptive letter-press. Bollaert also wrote a paper on ‘The Ancient Tombs of Chiriquí,’ in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., pp. 151, 159. On various occasions from 1859 to 1865, travelers or residents on the Isthmus, chiefly parties connected with the Panamá railway, sent specimens, drawings, and descriptions to New York, where they were presented to the American Ethnological Society, or exhibited before and discussed by that body at its monthly meetings, an account of which may be found in the Hist. Mag., vol. iii., p. 240, vol. iv., pp. 47-8, 113, 144, 176-7, 239-41, 274, 338, vol. v., pp. 50-2, vol. vi., pp. 119, 154, vol. ix., p. 158. A report on the Chiriquí antiquities by Dr Merritt was printed by the same society. The above, with slight mentions in Cullen’s Darien, p. 38, from Whiting and Shuman’s Report on Coal Formations, April 1, 1851, and in Bidwell’s Isthmus, pp. 37-8, from Hay’s Report, in Powles’ N. Granada, are the only sources of information on the subject with which I am acquainted. These monuments are of three classes; the first consisting of rude figures cut on the surface of large boulders. The best known of this class, and in fact the only one definitely described, is the Piedra Pintal at Caldera, a few leagues from David, which is fifteen feet high, about sixteen in diameter, and somewhat flattened at the top. Top and sides are covered with curves, ovals, and concentric rings; while on the eastern side there are also fantastic figures, with others supposed to represent the sun, a series of varying heads, and scorpions. The figures are cut to a depth of about one inch, but on the parts most exposed to the weather are nearly effaced.

Incised Figures on the Rocks of Chiriquí

Incised Figures on the Rocks of Chiriquí.

Another lava boulder similarly incised found in the parish of San Miguel is pronounced by Mr Squier, from the examination of a drawing, to resemble stones seen by him in other parts of Central America. I copy Seemann’s cuts of several of the characters.[II-4]Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, pp. 25, 28-31; Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. i., pp. 312-13; Hist. Mag., vol. iv., p. 338. The second class includes a few stone columns, some of them ten or twelve feet high, found at David and in Veragua as well. These seem never to have been seen in situ, but scattered and sometimes used for building purposes by the present inhabitants. Their peculiarity is that the characters engraved on their surface are entirely different from those of the Piedra Pintal, being smaller and cut in low relief. Drawings of these possibly hieroglyphic signs, by which to compare them with those of Copan, Palenque, and Yucatan, are not extant. The third class comprises the huacas, or tombs, a large number of which have been opened, and a variety of deposited articles brought to light. The tombs themselves are of two kinds. Those of the first kind are mere pebble-heaps, or mounds, three or four feet high, and the only articles taken from them are three-legged stones for grinding corn, known in all Spanish America as metates. The other graves have rude boxes or coffins of flat stones, with, in a few instances, rude stone posts several feet in height. Graves of this class are found to contain golden ornaments, with trinkets and implements of stone and burned clay. In most of them no traces of human remains are met; and when human bones do occur, they usually crumble to dust on exposure to the air, one skull, however, described as broad in the middle and flat behind, having been secured, and a plaster cast exhibited to the American Ethnological Society.[II-5]Hist. Mag., vol. ix., p. 158.

Pottery of Chiriquí

The golden ornaments taken from the huacas of Chiriquí amount to many thousands of dollars in value. They are of small size, never exceeding a few inches in either dimension, are all cast and never soldered, and take the shape of men, animals, or birds. One represents a man holding a bird in each hand, with another on his forehead. The gold is described by Dr Davis as being from ten to twenty carats fine, with some copper alloy; but by another party the alloy is pronounced silver.[II-6]Id., vol. iii., p. 240, vol. iv., pp. 47-8, 239-40. Of stone are found ornaments, such as round agates pierced in the middle; weapons, including axes, chisel-heads, and arrow-heads, the latter of peculiar make, being pyramidal in form, with four cutting edges converging to a point, and in some instances apparently intended to fit loosely into a socket on the shaft; images, perhaps idols, in the shape of animals or men, but these are of comparatively rare occurrence;[II-7]Three statues presented by Messrs Totten and Center in 1860 were about two feet high, of a dark, hard stone, in human form with features and limbs distorted. Two of them had square tapering pedestals apparently intended to support the figures upright in the ground. Id., vol. iv., p. 144. and various articles of unknown use. One of the latter dug up at Bugabita is described as a “horizontal tablet, supported on ornamented legs, and terminating in the head of a monster—all neatly carved from a single stone,” being twenty inches long, eight inches high, and weighing twenty-five pounds. Another was conjectured to have served for grinding paints.[II-8]Id., vol. iv., pp. 239-40, 274. Articles of burned clay are more numerous in the huacas than those of other material. Small vases, jars, and tripods, some of the latter having their three legs hollow and containing small earthen balls which rattle when the vessels are moved, with musical instruments, compose this class of relics. The earthen ware has no indication of the use of the potter’s wheel; is found both glazed and unglazed; is painted in various colors, which, however, are not burned in, but are easily rubbed off when moist; and many of the articles are wholly uninjured by time. The specimens, or some part of each, are almost invariably molded to imitate some natural object, and the fashioning is often graceful and true to nature. Perhaps the most remarkable of these earthen specimens, and indeed of all the Chiriquí antiquities, are the musical wind-instruments, or whistles. These are of small dimensions, rarely exceeding four inches in length or diameter, with generally two but sometimes three or four finger-holes, producing from two to six notes of the octave. No two are exactly alike in form, but most take the shape of an animal or man, the mouth-hole being in the tail of the tiger and bird, in the foot of the peccary, in the elbow of the human figure. Some have several air-cavities with corresponding holes to produce the different notes, but in most, the holes lead to one cavity. One had a loose ball in its interior, whose motion varied the sounds. Several are blown like fifes, and nearly all have a hole apparently intended for suspending the instrument by a string.[II-9]Hist. Mag., vol. iv., pp. 144, 177, 240-1, 274. Other antiquities are reported to exist at various points of the Isthmus, which white men have never seen; instance a rocking stone in the mountains of Veragua.[II-10]Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. i., p. 314.

I close my somewhat scanty information concerning the antiquities of Chiriquí with the general remarks which their examination has elicited from different writers. Whiting and Shuman speak of the sculptured columns of Muerto Island as being similar to those in Yucatan described by Stephens;[II-11]Cullen’s Darien, p. 38. but it is hardly probable that this opinion rests on an actual comparison of the hieroglyphics. Dr Merritt deems the axe or chisel heads almost identical in form as well as material with specimens dug up in Suffolk County, England; some of the same implements resemble those seen by Mr Squier in actual use among the natives of other parts of Central America; while the arrow-heads and musical instruments are pronounced different in some respects from any others known, either ancient or modern. The incised characters represented in the cut on page 17, together with many others, if we may believe Mr Seemann, have a striking resemblance to those of Northumberland, England, as shown by Mr Tate.[II-12]Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, pp. 25-32; Tate’s Ancient British Sculptured Rocks. In some of the terra cottas, a likeness to vessels of Roman, Grecian, and Etruscan origin has been noted; the golden figures, in the opinion of Messrs Squier and May, being like those found further south in the country of the ancient Muiscas.[II-13]Bidwell’s Isthmus, p. 37; Hist. Mag., vol. iv., p. 176.

One point bearing on the antiquity of the Chiriquí relics is the wearing away by the weather of the incised sculptures, which appear to Mr Seemann to belong to a more ancient, less advanced civilization than those in low relief.[II-14]‘A much higher antiquity must be assigned to these hieroglyphics than to the other monuments of America.’ Voy. Herald, vol. i., p. 313.Another is the disappearance as a rule of human remains, which, however, as Dr Torrey remarks,[II-15]Hist. Mag., vol. v., p. 50. cannot in this climate and soil be regarded as an indication of great age; and, moreover, against the theory of a remote origin of these relics, and in favor of the supposition that all may be the work of the not distant ancestors of the people found by the Spaniards in possession of the country, we have the fact that gold figures similar to those found in the huacas were made, worn, and traded by the natives of the Isthmus at the time of its discovery and conquest;[II-16]Vol. i., chap. vii. of this work. that the animals so universally imitated in all objects whether of gold, stone, or clay, are all native to the country, with no trace of any effort to copy anything foreign; and that similar clay is still employed in the manufacture of rude pottery.[II-17]Merritt and Davis, in Hist. Mag., vol. iv., pp. 176, 274.

Costa Rican Relics

Costa Rica, adjoining Chiriquí on the west, is the first or most southern of the states which belong politically to North America, all the Isthmus provinces forming a part of Colombia, a state of the southern continent. Stretching from ocean to ocean with an average width of ninety miles, it extends north-westward in general terms some two hundred miles from the Boca del Drago and Golfo Dulce to the Rio de San Juan and the southern shores of Lake Nicaragua in 11° north latitude. Few as are the aboriginal monuments reported to exist within these limits, still fewer are those actually examined by travelers.

Terra Cottas from the Graves of Costa Rica.

Implements and Ornaments

Drs Wagner and Scherzer, who traveled extensively in this region in 1853-4, found in all parts of the state, but more particularly in the Turialba Valley, which is in the vicinity of Cartago, traces of old plantations of bananas, cacao, and palms, indicating a more systematic tillage of the soil, and consequently a higher general type of culture among the former than are found among the modern native Costa Ricans. The only other antiquities seen by these intelligent explorers were a few stone hammers thought to resemble implements which have been brought to light in connection with the ancient mines about Lake Superior; but the locality of these implements is not stated. Cabo Blanco, reported by Molina[II-18]In a work which I have not seen. That author’s Coup d’Œuil sur la République de Costa Rica, and Memoir on the Boundary Question, furnish no information on the subject. as containing the richest deposit of ancient relics, yielded nothing whatever to the diligent search of the German travelers; nor did their failure here leave them sufficient faith to continue their researches on the island of Chira, where, according to the same authority, there are to be found ruined aboriginal towns and tombs. At San José they were told of figures of gold alloyed with copper which had been melted at the government mint, and they briefly mention hieroglyphics on a few ancient ornaments nowhere described.[II-19]Wagner and Scherzer, Costa Rica, pp. 465-6, 471, 522-4, 561. Mr Squier describes five vessels of earthen ware or terra cotta obtained, in localities not mentioned, from Costa Rican graves. Four of these are shown in the accompanying cut. Fig. 1, symmetrically shaped, is entirely without decoration; Fig. 2 is a grotesque image supposed to have done duty originally as a rattle; Fig. 3 has hollow legs, each containing a small earthen ball, which rattles at each motion of the vase; and the top of Fig. 4 is artistically moulded, apparently after the model of a tortoise’s back. An axe of green quartz is also described, which to Mr Squier seemed to indicate a higher grade of skill in workmanship than any relic of the kind seen in Central America. The cutting edge is slightly curved, showing the instrument to have been used as an adze; the surface shown in the cut is highly polished, and the whole is penetrated by a small hole drilled from side to side parallel to the face where the notches appear. This implement seems to present a rude representation of a human figure whose arms are folded across its breast. Other implements similar in material but larger and of ruder execution, are said to be of not unusual occurrence in the sepulchres of this state.[II-20]Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., pp. 338-9, and plate.

Axe of Green Quartz.

Mr Boyle makes the general statement that gold ornaments and idols are constantly found, and that the ancient mines which supplied the precious metal are often seen by modern prospectors. Dr Merritt also exhibited specimens of gold, both wrought and unwrought, from the (ancient?) mines of Costa Rica, at a meeting of the American Ethnological Society in February, 1862.[II-21]Boyle’s Ride, vol. ii., p. 86; Hist. Mag., vol. vi., p. 119. While voyaging on the Colorado, the southern mouth of the Rio de San Juan, Mr Boyle was told by a German doctor, his traveling companion, of a wonderful artificial hill in that vicinity, but of whose exact locality the doctor’s ideas appeared somewhat vague. On this hill, according to his statement, was to be seen a pavement of slate tiles laid in copper; but the interesting specimens which he claimed to have collected in this neighborhood had been generously presented by him to museums in various parts of the world, and therefore he was unable to show any of them.[II-22]Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., pp. 25-6. Father Acuña, an enthusiastic antiquary of the Rich Coast, living at Paraiso near Cartago, reports an ancient road which he believes to have originally connected Cartago with the port of Matina, and to have formed part of a grand aboriginal system of highways from the Nicaraguan frontier to the Isthmus, with branches to various points along the Atlantic coast. The road is described as thirty-six feet wide, paved with rounded blocks of lava, and guarded at the sides with sloping walls three feet in height. Where the line of the road crossed deep ravines, bridges were not employed, but in their stead the ascent and descent were effected by means of massive steps cut in the rocky sides. Some relics found near this road were given to New York gentlemen. The priest also speaks of tumuli abounding in the products of a past age, which dot the plains of Terraba, once the centre, as he believes, of a populous American empire.[II-23]Meagher, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xx., p. 317. A channel which connects the Rio Matina with Moin Bay has been sometimes considered artificial, but Mr Reichardt pronounces it probably nothing more than a natural lagoon.[II-24]Reichardt, Cent. Amer., pp. 121-2. In the department of Guanacaste, near the gulf of Nicoya, was found the little frog in grey stone shown, full-sized, in the cut. The hole near the fore feet would seem to indicate that it was worn suspended on a string as an ornament.[II-25]Squier’s Nicaragua, p. 511.

Frog in Grey Stone.

Such is the meagre account I am able to give of Costa Rican monuments. True, neither this nor any others of the Central American states have been thoroughly explored, nor are they likely to be for many years, except at the few points where the world’s commerce shall seek new passages from sea to sea. The difficulties are such as would yield only to a denser population of a more energetic race than that now occupying the land. The only monuments of the aboriginal natives likely to be found are those buried in the ancient graves. The probability of bringing to light ruined cities or temples south of Honduras is extremely slight. It is my purpose, however, to confine myself to the most complete account possible of such remains as have been seen or reported, with very little speculation on probable discoveries in the future.

The Mosquito Coast

Our next move northward carries us to Cape Gracias á Dios on the Atlantic, and to the gulf of Fonseca on the Pacific, the inclosed territory of Nicaragua stretching some two hundred and fifty miles north-westward to the Wanks River and Rio Negro, widening in this distance from one hundred and fifty to about three hundred miles. Dividing this territory by a line along the central mountain ranges, or water-shed, into two nearly equal portions, the western or Pacific slope is the state of Nicaragua proper, while the eastern or Atlantic side is known as the Mosquito Coast. This latter region is almost entirely unexplored except along the low marshy shore, and the natives of the interior have always been independent of any foreign control.

In respect of ancient remains the Mosquito Coast has proved even more barren of results than Costa Rica. A pair of remarkable granite vases preserved in an English museum are said to have come from this region, but as no particulars of their discovery are given, it is of course possible, considering the former unsettled condition of all Central American boundary lines, not altogether remedied in later times, that there may be an error in locality. It is from ten to twelve inches in diameter and height, as nearly as can be ascertained from the drawing, and Humboldt remarks the similarity of its ornamentation to that found on some parts of the ruins of Mitla in Oajaca, described in a future chapter. One of the vases as represented in Humboldt’s drawing, is shown in the cut. The second vase is somewhat larger, more nearly uniform in size at top and bottom, with plain legs, only diamond-shaped ornaments on the body of the vessel, and handles which take the form of a head and tail instead of two heads as in the first specimen.[II-26]Pownal, in Archæologia, vol. v., p. 318, pl. xxvi.; Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., p. 205, pl. xiii.; (Ed. in folio, pl. xxxix.); Id., in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., pp. 27-8, tom. ii., suppl. pl. vii., fig. xi.

Granite Vase from the Mosquito Coast.

Christopher Columbus in a letter speaks of having seen on this coast, which he calls Cariay, a sculptured tomb in the forest as large as a house; and Mr Helps imagines the Spanish conquerors sailing up the coast and beholding amidst the trees white structures “bearing some likeness to truncated pyramids, and, in the setting sun, dark figures would be seen against the horizon on the tops of these pyramids;”[II-27]Colon, Carta, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. i., p. 307; Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. ii., p. 138. but as he is describing no particular voyage, some allowance may be made for the play of his imagination. Mr Boyle is enthusiastic over “the vast remains of a civilization long since passed away,” but far superior to that of Spain, including rocks cut down to human and animal shapes, artificial hills encased in masonry, streams turned from their courses, and hieroglyphic sculptures on the cliffs,—all in the Mosquito wilds. As a foundation for this, three men who descended the Rio Mico and Blewfields River from Libertad, Nicaragua, to the sea, claim to have beheld extraordinary ancient works. These took the form of a cliff cut away where the river passed through a narrow cañon, leaving a group of stone animals, among which was a colossal bear, standing erect on the brink of the precipice as if to guard the passage. The natives reported also to Mr Pim the existence of grand temples of the antiguos, with an immense image of the aboriginal god Mico (a monkey) on the banks of this river; but when subjected to cross-questioning, their wonderful stories dwindled to certain rude figures painted on the face of a cliff, which Mr Pim was unable to examine, but which seemed from the native description similar to the cliff-paintings at Nijapa Lake in Nicaragua, to be described on a future page.[II-28]Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., pp. 296-9; Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, p. 401.

Golden Image.

Colossal Bear and Golden Image

From a mound of earth fifteen feet in diameter, and five or six feet high, on an island in Duckwarra Lagoon, south of Cape Gracias á Dios, Mr Squier unearthed a crumbling human skeleton, at whose head was a rude burial vase containing chalcedony beads, two arrow-heads of the same material, and the human figure shown full-sized in the cut, fashioned from a piece of gold plate. Antonio, an intelligent Maya servant, could see no resemblance in this figure to any relics of his race in Yucatan. Two additional vases of coarse earthen ware were discovered, but contained no relics. On another occasion, during a moonlight visit to the ‘Mother of Tigers,’ a famed native sukia, or sorceress, on the Bocay, which is a branch of the Wanks, about fifty miles south-westward from Cape Gracias, Mr Squier claims to have seen a ruined structure, part of which is shown in the cut. The building was of two stories, but the upper walls had fallen, covering the ground with fragments. It is described as “built of large stones, laid with the greatest regularity, and sculptured all over with strange figures, having a close resemblance, if not an absolute identity” with those drawn by Catherwood. A short distance from the building stood an erect stone rudely sculptured in human form, facing east, as in the cut. There are, however, some reasons for doubting the accuracy of these Bocay discoveries, notwithstanding the author’s well-known skill and reliability as an antiquarian, since they were published under a nom de plume, and in a work perhaps intended by the writer as a fictitious narrative of adventures.[II-29]Bard’s (E. G. Squier) Waikna, or Adventures on the Mosquito Shore, pp. 216-17, 254, 258-60. The ‘King of the Mosquitos’ somewhat severely criticised the work, in which, by the way, His Royal Highness is not very reverently spoken of, as ‘a pack of lies, especially when it was notorious that the author had never visited the Mosquito Coast.’ Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, p. 271. ‘Le désert qui s’étend le long de la côte de la mer des Antilles, depuis le golfe Dulce jusqu’à l’isthme de Darien, n’a pas offert jusqu’à présent de vestiges indiquant que le peuple auquel on doit les monuments de Palenquè, de Quiragua, de Copan, ait émigré au sud de l’isthme.’ Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 301.

Home of the Sukia.

Mosquito Statue.

Across the dividing sierras, the Pacific slope, or Nicaragua proper, has yielded plentiful monuments of her former occupants, chiefly to the researches of two men, Messrs Squier and Boyle. The former confined his explorations chiefly to the region between the lakes and ocean, while the latter has also made known the existence of remains on the north-east of Lake Nicaragua, in the province of Chontales.[II-30]Squier’s Nicaragua; Boyle’s Ride Across a Continent. Mr E. G. Squier resided in Nicaragua as Chargé d’Affaires of the United States during the year 1849-50. On account of his position he was afforded facilities for research not enjoyed by other foreigners, and which his well-known antiquarian tastes and abilities prompted and enabled him to use to the best advantage during the limited time left from official duties. Besides the several editions of the work mentioned, Mr Squier’s accounts or fragments thereof have been published in periodicals in different languages; while other authors have made up almost wholly from his writings their brief descriptions of Nicaraguan antiquities. See Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 341; Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 128-35; Tiedemann, in Heidelberger Yahrb., 1851, pp. 81, 91, 170; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 463, 484, 498, 544; Andree, in Westland, tom. ii., pp. 3, 251; Heine, Wanderbilder, p. 181; Holinski, La Californie, p. 252; Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., p. 124. Frederick Boyle, F.R.G.S., visited the country in 1865-6, with the examination of antiquities as his main object. Both works are illustrated with plates and cuts; and both authors brought away interesting specimens which were deposited by the American in the Smithsonian Institution, and by the Englishman in the British Museum. ‘J’avoue n’avoir rien rencontré d’important dans mes lectures, en ce qui touche les états de Costa Rica et de Nicaragua.’ Dally, Races Indig., p. 12.

Classification of Relics

Although nothing like a thorough exploration of the state has ever been made, yet the uniformity of the remains discovered at different points enables us to form a clear idea of the character, if not of the full extent, of her antiquities, which for convenience in description may be classified as follows: I. Mounds, sepulchres, excavations, and other comparatively permanent works; II. Figures painted or cut on rocks or cliffs; III. Statues or idols of stone; IV. Stone weapons, implements, and ornaments; V. Pottery; VI. Articles of metal. Remarking that nowhere in Nicaragua have traces of ruined cities been found, nor even what may be regarded positively as the ruins of temples or other buildings, I proceed to describe the first class, or permanent monuments, beginning in the south-west, following the coast region and lake islands northward, and then returning to the south-eastern province of Chontales.

First on the south are the cemeteries of Ometepec Island, which is by some supposed to have been the general burial place of all the surrounding country. These cemeteries, according to Woeniger, are found in high and dry places, enclosed by a row of rough flat stones placed a few inches apart and projecting only slightly above the surface of the ground. Friederichsthal represents the sepulchres as three feet deep and scattered at irregular intervals over a plain. Boyle found both fixed cemeteries fenced with a line of heavy stones and also separate graves.[II-31]‘Nicht … von abgesonderten Steinen umgeben, sondern fanden sich, in einer Tiefe von drei Fuss, unregelmässig über die Ebene zerstreut.’ Friederichsthal, in Sivers, Mittelamerika, p. 128; ‘Les îles du lac, notamment Ométépé semblent avoir servi de sépultures à la population des villes environnantes, … car on y rencontre de vastes nécropoles ou villes des morts, ressemblant par leur caractère à celles des anciens Mexicains.’ Id. in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 297; in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 100; Woeniger, in Squier’s Nicaragua, pp. 509-10; Boyle’s Ride, vol. ii., p. 86.Thus no burial mounds proper seem to exist on the island. The ashes or unburned bones of the dead are found enclosed in large earthen vases, together with what may be considered as the most valued property of the deceased, or the most appropriate gifts of friends, in the shape of weapons, ornaments, vessels, and implements of stone, clay, and perhaps metal, all of which will be described in their turn. When the burial urn is found to contain unburned bones, its mouth is sometimes closed with the skull; in other cases one or more inverted earthen pans are used for that purpose.

El Baño at Masaya

On Zapatero, an island which lies just north of Ometepec, distributed over a level space covered with a dense growth of trees, are eight irregular heaps of loose unhewn stones, showing no signs of system either in the construction of each individual mound or in their arrangement with reference to each other.[II-32]Plan showing their relative position, in Squier’s Nicaragua, p. 477. An attempt to open one of the largest of the number led to no results beyond the discovery of an intermixture of broken pottery in the mass of stones. They are surrounded, as we shall see, by statues, and are believed by Mr Squier to be remains of the teocallis known to have served the Nicaraguans as temples at the time of the conquest.[II-33]‘On y trouve (sur les îles du lac) encore un grand nombre de débris de constructions antiques.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1855, tom. cxlvii., p. 135. At the foot of Mt Mombacho, a volcano south of Granada, was found a ruined cairn, or sepulchre, about twenty feet square, not particularly described, but similar to those which will be mentioned as occurring in the department of Chontales; others were said by the inhabitants to have been found in the same vicinity.[II-34]Boyle’s Ride, vol. ii., p. 42. In a steep-banked ravine near Masaya, the rocky sides of which present numerous sculptured figures, or hieroglyphics, a shelf some nine feet wide is cut in the perpendicular cliff which towers one hundred feet in height at its back. On this shelf is a rectangular excavation eight by four feet and eighteen inches deep, with regularly sloping and smoothly cut sides, surrounded by a shallow groove which leads to the edge of the precipice, presumably designed to carry off rain-water. This strange excavation is popularly known as El Baño, although hardly of sufficient size to have served as a bath; a rudely cut flight of steps leads up the cliff to the shelf, and two pentagonal holes penetrate the face of the cliff at its back horizontally to a great depth, but these may be of natural formation. Some kettle-shaped excavations are reported also along the shore of the lake, now and possibly of old used in tanning leather.[II-35]Squier’s Nicaragua, pp. 439-41. Mr Boyle speaks of the road by which water is brought up from the lake to the city by the women of Masaya, a deep cut in the solid rock, a mile long and descending to a depth of over three hundred feet, as a reputed work of aboriginal engineering, but as he seems himself somewhat doubtful of the fact, and as others do not so mention it, this may not properly be included in our list of ancient monuments.[II-36]Boyle’s Ride, vol. ii., pp. 10-11. In the cliff at Nijapa, an old crater-lake near Managua, is what has been regarded by the natives as a wonderful temple excavated from the solid rock by the labors of the Antiguos, their ancestors. Indeed its entrance bears a strong resemblance, when viewed from the opposite side of the lake, to the arched portals of a heathen temple, but, explored by both Squier and Boyle, it proved to be nothing more than a natural cavern.[II-37]Id., vol. ii., pp. 161-2; Squier’s Nicaragua, p. 396.

Across the lake northward from Managua the volcano of Momotombo, projecting into the waters, forms a bay in a locality once occupied traditionally by a rich and populous city. If we may credit the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg, its ruins are yet to be seen beneath the waters of the bay.[II-38]‘Ils montrent avec effroi les débris de la cité maudite, encore visibles sous la surface des eaux.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1855, tom. cxlvii., p. 149. Captain Belcher visited the country in 1838, and was told that a causeway formerly extended across from the main to the island of Momotombita, probably for the use of the priests of ancient faith, since the island is rich in idols. He even was able to see the remains of the causeway extending in the dry season some three hundred and sixty yards from the shore; but a closer examination convinced Mr Squier that the supposed ruins were simply a natural formation whose extreme hardness had resisted better than the surrounding strata the action of the waves.[II-39]Belcher’s Voyage, vol. i., p. 171; Squier’s Nicaragua, p. 299.

On the slope of a small bowl-shaped valley near Leon is what the natives call the Capilla de la Piedra, a natural niche artificially enlarged in the face of a large rock facing the amphitheatre. It is spacious enough to accommodate four or five persons, and a large flat stone like an altar stands just at the entrance. At Subtiava, an Indian pueblo near Leon, is a stone mound, sixty by two hundred feet, and ten feet high, very like those at Zapatero, except that in this case the stones about the edges present some signs of regularity in their arrangement. It is very probably the ruin of some old temple-mound, and even in modern days the natives are known to have secretly assembled to worship round this stone-heap the gods of their antiquity. Several low rectangular mounds were also seen but not examined at the base of the volcano of Orota, north-east of Leon.[II-40]Squier’s Nicaragua, pp. 306-8; Id., (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 335.

Chontal Burial Mounds

Returning to the south-eastern Chontal province, the only well-attested permanent monuments are burial mounds or cairns of stone, although the Chevalier Friederichsthal claims to have found here “remains of ancient towns and temples,” which, nevertheless, he does not attempt to describe, and Mr Squier mentions a traditionary ruined city near Juigalpa.[II-41]Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 100; Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1811, tom. xcii., p. 297; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 335. The cairns are found in the regions about the towns of Juigalpa and Libertad, although exploration would doubtless reveal their existence elsewhere in the province. At both the places named they occur in great numbers over a large area. “At Libertad,” says Mr Boyle, “graves were so plentiful we had only the embarrassment of choice. Every hill round was topped with a vine-bound thicket, springing, we knew, from the cairn of rough stone reverently piled above some old-world chieftain.” No farther description can be given of them than that they are rectangular embankments of unhewn stone, built, in some cases at least, with regularly sloping sides, and of varying dimensions, the largest reported being one hundred and twenty by one hundred and seventy-five feet, and five feet high. Being opened they disclose earthen burial urns containing, as at Ometepec, human remains, both burned and unburned, and a great variety of stone and earthen relics both within and without the cinerary vase. The burial deposit is oftenest found above, but sometimes also below, the original surface of the ground. These cairns appear to have somewhat more regularity, on the exterior at least, than the stone tumuli of Ometepec. A more thorough examination of both is necessary before it can be determined whether or not the Ometepec mounds are, as Mr Squier believes, the ruins of teocallis and not tombs, and whether some of the Chontal cairns may not be the ruins or foundations of ancient structures. There can be little doubt that the Nicaraguans employed the mound-temple in their worship, and it is somewhat remarkable if modern fanaticism has left no traces of them; yet it is probable that wood entered more largely into their construction than in more northern climes. Mr Boyle found one grave near Juigalpa differing from the usual Chontal method of interment, and agreeing more nearly with that practiced in Mexico and Ometepec; and Mr Pim mentions the occurrence of numerous graves in the province, of much smaller size and of different proportions, the largest being twenty by twelve feet, and eight feet high.[II-42]Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., pp. 159-61, 195-212, 291; Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, p. 126; On the buildings of the ancient Nicaraguans, see vols. ii. and iii. of this work; also Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 114; Peter Martyr, dec. vi., lib. v.; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., pp. 335-6.

Near Juigalpa was seen a hill whose surface was covered with stones arranged in circles, squares, diamonds, and rays about a central stone;[II-43]Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., pp. 154-5. also a hill of terrace-formation which from a distance seemed to be an aboriginal fortification.[II-44]Froebel, Aus Amer., tom. i., pp. 379-80; Id., Cent. Amer., pp. 119-20. In the same neighborhood is reported a series of trenches stretching across the country, one of them traced for over a mile, nine to twelve feet wide, widening at intervals into oval spaces from fifty to eighty feet in diameter, and these enlargements containing alternately two and four small mounds arranged in lines perpendicular to the general direction of the trench.[II-45]Livingston, in Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., pp. 334-5. “Several rectangular parallelograms outlined in loose stone,” in the vicinity of Libertad, are supposed by Mr Boyle to be Carib works, not connected with the Chontal burial system.[II-46]Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., p. 212.

Trench near Juigalpa.

I come secondly to the hieroglyphic figures cut or painted on Nicaraguan cliffs. These appear to belong for the most part to that lowest class of picture-writing common throughout the whole length of the North American continent, even in the territory of the most savage tribes. Doubtless many of these figures were executed in commemoration of events, and thus served temporarily as written records; but it is doubtful if the meaning of any of these inscriptions ever survived the generation which originated them, and certain that they are not understood by native or by antiquarian at the present day. It is not unlikely that some of them in Nicaragua may be rude representations of deities, and thus identified with the same gods preserved in stone, and with characters in the Aztec picture-writings; but the picture-writing of the Nicaraguan Nahuas, unlike that of their brethren of Anáhuac, was not committed to paper during the first years of the conquest, and has consequently been lost.

Cliff-Carvings at Masaya

At Guaximala a cave is mentioned having sculptures on the rocks at its entrance. The natives dared not cross the figured portal.[II-47]Heine, Wanderbilder, p. 181. In the ravine near Masaya, already spoken of as the locality of the excavation known as El Baño, the steep side-cliffs are covered with figures roughly cut in outline, and often nearly obliterated by the ravages of time. They are shown in Squier’s drawings on the following page, the order in which the groups occur being preserved.

Mr Squier detects among the objects thus rudely delineated, the sun twice represented, a shield, arrows or spears, the Xiuhatlatli of the Aztec paintings, which is an instrument for hurling spears, and a monkey. Besides the regular groups, isolated single figures are seen, among which the two characters shown in the accompanying cut are most frequently repeated. The same vicinity is reported to contain figures both painted and cut in other localities.[II-48]Squier’s Nicaragua, pp. 435-41; ‘Sur les parois du rocher on voit encore des dessins bizarres gravés et peints en rouge, tels que les donne M. Squier.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1855, tom. cxlvii., p. 147.

Rock-Sculptures at Masaya.

Cliff-Paintings at Nijapa

On the old crater-walls, five hundred feet in height at the lowest point, which inclose Lake Nijapa, a few miles south-west of Managua, are numerous figures painted in red. Portions of the walls have been thrown down by an earthquake, the débris at the water’s edge being covered with intricate and curious red lines; and most of those still in place have been so defaced by the action of wind and water that their original appearance or connection cannot be distinguished.

Feathered Serpent at Lake Nijapa.

Among the clearest of the paintings is the coiled feathered serpent shown in the cut. It is three feet in diameter, across the coil, and is painted forty feet up the perpendicular side of the precipice. This would seem to be identical with the Aztec Quetzalcoatl, or the Quiché Gucumatz, both of which names signify ‘plumed serpent.’ Of the remaining figures, shown in the cut on the following page, the red hand is of frequent occurrence here, and we shall meet it again farther north, especially in Yucatan. The central upper figure is thought by Mr Squier to resemble a character in the Aztec paintings; and among those thrown down the sun and moon are said to have been prominent.[II-49]Mr Boyle found the cliff-paintings to have suffered much since Mr Squier’s visit, thirteen years before; so much so that none could be made out except the winged snake and red hand. He also states that yellow as well as red pictures are here to be seen. Boyle’s Ride, vol. ii., pp. 160-1; Squier’s Nicaragua, pp. 391-6. In a letter, a fragment of which is published in the Annual of Scientific Discovery, 1850, p. 364, Mr Squier declares the paintings precisely in the style of the Mexican and Guatemalan MSS., closely resembling, some of the figures indeed identical with, those of the Dresden MS. Pim and Seemann, Dottings, p. 401, also noted the ‘coiled-up lizard’ and other pictures, calling the locality Asososca Lake. Scherzer, Wanderungen, p. 72, and Trav., vol. i., p. 77, mentions also sculptured figures on this crater-wall.

Rock-paintings of Nijapa.

In the Chontal province none of these pictorial remains are reported, yet Mr Boyle believes that many of the ornamental figures on pottery and stone vessels are hieroglyphic in their nature; founding this opinion on the frequent repetition of complicated groups, as for instance that in the cut, which is repeated four times on the circumference of a bowl.[II-50]Boyle’s Ride, vol. ii., pp. 142-3.

Chontal Hieroglyphic.

Stone Statues or Idols

Statues in stone, representing human beings generally, but in some cases animals and monsters also, have been found and described to the number of about sixty, constituting our third and the most interesting class of Nicaraguan relics. Ometepec, rich in pottery and other relics, and reported also to contain idols, has yielded to actual observation only the small animal couchant represented in the cut. It was secretly worshiped by the natives for many years, even in modern times, until this unorthodox practice was discovered and checked by zealous priests. This animal idol was about fourteen inches long and eight inches in height.[II-51]Squier’s Nicaragua, pp. 510-17. There were formerly many idols resembling those of Zapatero, but they have been buried or broken up. A group is reported still to be found near the foot of Mt Madeira, but not seen. Woeniger, in Id., p. 509. Froebel, Aus Amer., tom. i., p. 261.

Ometepec Idol.

Idols on Zapatero Island

The island of Zapatero has furnished some seventeen idols, which are found in connection with the stone-heaps already described, lying for the most part wholly or partially buried in the sand and enveloped in a dense shrubbery. It is not probable that any one of them has been found in its original position, yet such is their size and weight that they are not likely to have been moved far from their primitive locality. Indeed Mr Squier, with a large force of natives, transformed into zealous antiquarians by a copious dispensation of brandy, had the greatest difficulty in placing them in an upright position. An ancient crater-lake conveniently near at hand accounts satisfactorily for the almost entire absence of smaller idols, and would doubtless have been the receptacle of their larger fellow-deities, had the strength of the priestly iconoclasts been in proportion to their godly spirit, as was the case with Mr Squier’s natives. As it was they were obliged to content their religious zeal with overthrowing and defacing as far as possible these stone gods of the natives. There seems to be no regularity or system in the arrangement of the statues with respect to each other, and very little with respect to the stone mounds. It is probable, however, that, if the latter are indeed ruined teocallis, the statues stood originally round their base rather than on their summit. The idols of Zapatero, which is within the limits of the Niquiran or Aztec province, are larger and somewhat more elaborate in workmanship than those found elsewhere; and the genital organs appear on many of their number, indicating perhaps the presence here of the wide-spread phallic worship. The cuts show ten of the most remarkable of these monuments.

Idols of Zapatero.—Fig. 1, 2.

Fig. 1 is nine feet high and about three feet in diameter, cut from a solid block of black basalt. The head of the human figure crouching on its immense cylindrical pedestal forms a cross, a symbol not uncommon here or elsewhere in America. All the work, particularly the ornamental bands and the niches of unknown use or import in front, is gracefully and cleanly cut. Fig. 2 is a huge tiger eight feet high seated on a pedestal. The heads and other parts of different animals are often used in the adornment of partially human shapes both in stone work and pottery, but purely animal statues, intended as this apparently is, for idols, are rare. Fig. 3, an idol “of mild and benignant aspect” is shown in the leaning position in which it was found. Fig. 4, standing in the background, was raised from its fallen position to be sketched.

Idols of Zapatero.—Fig. 3, 4.

Idols of Zapatero.—Fig. 5.

Idols of Zapatero.—Fig. 6.

Fig. 5 represents a statue which, with its pedestal, is over twelve feet high. The well-carved head of a monster, two feet eight inches broad, surmounts the head of a seated human form, a common device in the fashioning of Nicaraguan gods. A peculiarity of this monument is that the arms are detached from the sides at the elbows; free-sculptured limbs being of rare occurrence in American aboriginal carvings. Fig. 6 is a slab three by five feet, bearing a human figure cut in high relief, the only sculpture of this kind discovered in Nicaragua. The tongue appears to hang upon the breast, and the eyes are merely two round holes. Fig. 7, on the following page, represents a crouching human form, on whose back is a tiger or other wild beast grasping the head in its jaws, a favorite method among these southern Nahua nations of representing in stone and clay the characteristics of what are presumably intended as beings to be worshiped. The expression of the features in the human face is described by Mr Squier as differing from any of the others found in this group. This idol and the following, with many other curious monuments of antiquity obtained by the same explorer, are now in the museum of the Smithsonian Institution at Washington.

Idols of Zapatero.—Fig. 7.

Fig. 8 is carved on a slab five feet long and eighteen inches wide, representing a person who holds to his abdomen what seems to be a mask or a human face.

Fig. 9 is of very rude execution and seemingly represents a human figure wearing an animal mask, which is itself surmounted by another human face. Two small cup-shaped smoothly cut holes are also noted in the head-dress. Fig. 10 is a stone three feet and a half high, but slightly modified by the sculptor’s art, which gave some semblance of the human form.

Idols of Zapatero.—Fig. 8, 9.

From the cuts given a good general idea of the Zapatero monuments may be obtained; of the others described, one is a man with a calm, mild expression of countenance, seated with knees at chin and hands on feet on a round-topped square pedestal which tapers towards the bottom.

Idols of Zapatero.—Fig. 10.

Idols at Granada

Two statues from Zapatero stand at the street-corners of Granada; one, known as the Chiflador, is much broken; the other has the crouching animal on the human head. Another from the same island stands by the roadside at Dirioma, near Granada, where it serves as a boundary mark. According to Mr Boyle this statue is of red granite, and it seemed to Mr Squier more delicately carved than those at Zapatero.[II-52]Squier’s Nicaragua, pp. 180, 470-90, 496; Id., (ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 336; Id., in Annual Scien. Discov., 1851, p. 388. ‘L’île de Zapatero a fourni des idoles qui sont comme des imitations grossières du fameux colosse de Memnon, type connu de cette impassibilité réfléchie que les Égyptiens donnaient à leurs dieux.’ Holinski, La Californie, p. 252. ‘There still exist on its surface some large stone idols.’ Scherzer’s Trav., vol. i., p. 31. ‘Statues d’hommes et d’animaux d’un effet grandiose, mais d’un travail qui annonce une civilisation moins avancée que celle de l’Yucatan ou du Guatémala.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1855, tom. cxlvii., p. 135; Boyle’s Ride, vol. ii., p. 122.

In the vicinity of the cairn already spoken of at the foot of Mount Mombacho, were found six statues with abundant fragments. One had what seemed a monkey’s head, with three female breasts and a phallus among the complicated sculptures below; a rudely cut animal bore some resemblance to a bear; a broken figure is said by the natives to have represented, when whole, a woman with a child on her back. One female figure, of which there is no drawing, is pronounced by Mr Boyle “very far the best-drawn statue we found in Nicaragua.” A sleeping figure with large ears, a natural face, absurd arms, and a phallus, with the life-sized corpse or sleeper of the cut complete the list.

Sleeping Statue of Mombacho.

Mr Boyle believes the statues of Mombacho, like other relics there found, to unite the styles of art of the Chontales and the Aztec natives of Ometepec; showing, besides the cairns, the simplicity of sculpture peculiar to the former, together with the superior skill in workmanship and the distinction of sex noticeable in the monuments of the latter.[II-53]Boyle’s Ride, vol. ii., pp. 42-7; Friederichsthal, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 100; Id., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 297.

Idols of Pensacola Island

Pensacola is one of the group of islands lying at the foot of Mt Mombacho in Lake Nicaragua. On this island the three statues shown in the following cuts have been dug up, having been buried there purposely by order of the catholic authorities in behalf of the supposed spiritual interests of the natives. Fig. 1 is cut from hard red sandstone; the human face is surmounted by a monster head, and by its side the open mouth and the fangs of a serpent appear. The limbs of this statue, unlike those of most Nicaraguan idols, are freely sculptured and detached so far as is consistent with safety.

Pensacola Idols.—Fig. 1.

Pensacola Idols.—Fig. 2.

Fig. 2 is an animal clinging to the back of a human being, concerning which Mr Squier remarks: “I never have seen a statue which conveyed so forcibly the idea of power and strength.” The back is ribbed or carved to represent overlapping plates like a rude coat of mail, and the whole is nine feet high and ten feet in circumference. Fig. 3 is the head and bust—the lower portion having been broken off—of a hideous monster, with hanging tongue and large staring eyes, large ears, and distended mouth, “like some gray monster just emerging from the depths of the earth at the bidding of the wizard-priest of an unholy religion,” not inappropriately termed ‘el diablo’ by the natives, when first it met their view.[II-54]Squier’s Nicaragua, pp. 448-57. The head of fig. 1 is the Mexican sign tochtli. The animal in fig. 2 may be intended for an alligator. Id., in Annual Scien. Discov., 1851, p. 387.

Pensacola Idols.—Fig. 3.

Momotombita Relics

Momotombita Island formerly contained some fifty statues standing round a square, and facing inward, if, as Mr Squier believes, we may credit the native report. All are of black basalt, and have the sex clearly marked, a large majority representing males.

Idols of Momotombita.—Fig. 1 and 2.

Fig. 1 is a statue noticeable for its bold and severe cast of features, and for what is conjectured to be a human heart held in the mouth, as is shown in the front view, Fig. 2. Fig. 3 was found at a street-corner at Managua, but had been brought originally from the island. Another, also from Momotombita, was found at Leon and afterwards deposited in the Smithsonian Institution. It evidently served as a support for some other object; the back is square and ribbed like the one at Pensacola, the eyes closed, and “the whole expression grave and serene.” The colossal head shown in the cut on the preceding page was among the other fragments found on the island, where two groups of relics are said to exist, only one of which has been explored.[II-55]Squier’s Nicaragua, pp. 285-7, 295-301, 402; Id., in Annual Scien. Discov., 1850, p. 363; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 341.

Idols of Momotombita.—Fig. 3.

Colossal Head from Momotombita.

Piedra de la Boca.

The Piedra de la Boca is a small statue, or fragment, with a large mouth, standing at a street-corner in Granada, having been brought from one of the lake islands. The natives still have some feelings of dependence on this idol in times of danger. Several rudely carved, well-worn images stood also at the street-corners of Managua in 1838.[II-56]Belcher’s Voyage, vol. i., p. 172; Squier’s Nicaragua, pp. 179, 402.

Idols of Subtiava

Idols of Subtiava.—Fig. 1.

Idols of Subtiava.—Fig. 2.

At the Indian pueblo of Subtiava near Leon many idols were dug up by the natives for Mr Squier, eight of them ranging from five and a half to eight feet in height and from four to five feet in circumference. The natives have always been in the habit of making offerings secretly to these gods of stone, and only a few months before Mr Squier’s visit a stone bull had been broken up by the priests. About the large stone mound before described are numerous fragments, but only one statue entire, which is shown in Fig. 1. It projects six feet four inches above ground and is cut from sandstone. At the lower extremity of the flap which hangs from the belt in front is noted a cup-like hole large enough to contain about a quart. Fig. 2, of the same material, is two feet six inches in height, and represents a female either holding a mask over her abdomen, or holding open the abdomen for the face to look out. Fig. 3 and 4 show a front and rear view of another statue, in which the human face, instead of being surmounted by, looks out from the jaws of some animal. The features of the face had been defaced apparently by blows with a hammer; the ornamentation was thought to resemble somewhat that of the Copan statues. Others mentioned and sketched at Subtiava have a general resemblance to these.[II-57]Squier’s Nicaragua, pp. 264-5, 301-7: ‘Some of the statues have the same elaborate head-dresses with others of Copan; one bears a shield upon his arm; another has a girdle, to which is suspended a head.’ Id., in Annual Scien. Discov., 1850, p. 363.

Idols of Subtiava.—Fig. 3 and 4.

Idols of Chontales

The Chontal statues are divided by Mr Boyle into two classes; the first of which includes idols, with fierce and distorted features, never found on the graves, but often near them; while the second is composed of portrait-statues, always distinguished by closed eyes and a calm, “simple, human air about their features, however irregularly modeled.” The latter are always found on or in the cairns under which bodies are interred, and are much more numerous than the idols proper. Unfortunately we have but few drawings in support of this theory. It is true that the two classes of features are noticeable elsewhere, as well as here, but the position of the statues does not seem to justify any such division into portraits and idols. Mr Boyle also believes the Chontal sculptures better modeled though less elaborate than those of the south-west.[II-58]If idols, to Mr Boyle they indicate a worship of ancestors, of which, however, there seems to be no historical evidence. Mr Pim suggests that the idols of mild expression may be those worshiped before, and those of more ferocious aspect after, the coming of the Aztecs.

Chontal Statues.—Fig. 1 and 2.

Fig. 3.

Fig. 1 is one of several statues found near Juigalpa; it is of the portrait class, and is remarkable for the wen over the eye and a cross on the breast. Fig. 2 is the head of another taken from a cairn near Libertad, and since used to prop up a modern wall. Fig. 3 is what Mr Pim terms a head-stone of one of the graves in the same locality. Many of the images have holes drilled through them; there is no distinction of sex, and here, as elsewhere, there is no attempt at drapery. Entire statues seem to be rare, but fragments very abundant. Mr Squier notes in all the Nicaraguan statues a general resemblance, but at the same time marked individuality, and deems it possible to identify many of them with the gods of the Mexican Pantheon.[II-59]The other Chontal statues more or less fully described are the following: A huge monolith, of which twelve feet six inches were unearthed, having a cross on the breast with two triangles, and the arms and legs doubled back; a head four feet eight inches in circumference, and one foot ten inches high; an idol four feet eight inches high, wearing on its head an ornamented coronet, resembling a circlet of overlapping oyster-shells, with a cross on the left shoulder and a richly carved belt; a stone woman thirty-seven inches high, having the left corner of the mouth drawn up so as to leave a round hole between the lips, and the arms crossed at right angles from the elbows; a very rude idol with pointed cap, holes for eyes, and a slit for a mouth, whose modern use is to grind corn; and lastly, a statue with beard and whiskers. Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., pp. 147-9, 158-64, 210-12, 242, 290-5; Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, pp. 126-8.

Nicaraguan Weapons

My fourth class includes weapons, implements, ornaments, and other miscellaneous articles of stone. There is a mention without description of arrow-heads and flint flakes dug up from the graves of Ometepec. Celts, much like those extant in European collections, are reported as of frequent occurrence; two of granite and one of basalt at Ometepec, and one of chipped flint at Zapatero, the latter being regular in outline, with a smooth sharp edge, believed by Mr Boyle to be of very rare form, and unique in America. Axes are also said to be numerous, there being specially mentioned one of basalt, broad and thin, from Ometepec; and a similar one, three or four inches wide, six inches long, and of a uniform thickness, not exceeding one third of an inch, from Zapatero.

Nicaraguan Weapons.—Fig. 1 and 2.

Nicaraguan Weapons.—Fig. 3 and 4.

Fig. 1 is a rude aboriginal weapon from a cairn near Libertad, called by Mr Pim a hatchet. Fig. 2 is an axe of syenite found by Mr Squier at Granada, where he states that similar relics are not uncommon. Fig. 3 is one of two very beautiful double-edged battle-axes from the Chontal cairns. It is of volcanic stone, twelve and a half inches long by seven and three fourths inches wide. Fig. 4 represents a flint axe from Zapatero Island as sketched by Mr Boyle. A knife ten inches long was also found by Pim in a Chontal grave.[II-60]Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., pp. 290-1, vol. ii., pp. 97, 144-5; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 339; Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, pp. 126-7.

Granite Vase from Brita.

Stone Implements and Ornaments

Stone vessels are rare, though a granite vase, eighteen inches high, as shown in the cut, was dug up at Brita, near Rivas; and two marble vases of very superior workmanship were found in a Libertad mound. One was of the tripod form and badly broken; the other was shaped like a can resting on a stand, with ornamental handles, and having its sides, not thicker than card-board, covered with grecs and arabesques.[II-61]Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., pp. 200-2, 209, vol. ii., pp. 45-6; Squier’s Nicaragua, pp. 515, 521; cut of the leg of a stone vase, Id., (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 339.

Metates occur often on both sides the lakes. The cut on the following page shows one dug up at Leon, being very similar to those still in use in the country, but more elaborate in its ornamentation. Those east of the lakes are flat instead of curved, but still superior to any now made, and in connection with them have been found the pestles with which maize was crushed.[II-62]Squier’s Nicaragua, pp. 256-7.

Nicaraguan Metate.

Broken pedestals and sculptured fragments whose original purpose is unknown occur frequently, and stone rattles were formerly found about Juigalpa. Beads of lava, basalt, and chalcedony, in collections suggestive of small necklaces, are numerous, particularly at Ometepec. Those of lava are often wonderfully wrought, about an inch long, ringed or grooved on the surface, pierced lengthwise with a hole only large enough to admit a fine thread, and yet the whole, of the most brittle material, not thicker than twine. Those of chalcedony are of larger size.[II-63]Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., pp. 150-2, 159, vol. ii., pp. 43, 98; Squier’s Nicaragua, pp. 521-2; Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, pp. 126-7.

The niche near Leon, known as the Capilla de la Piedra, had before its entrance a flat stone resembling an altar. At Zapatero Mr Squier found four stones also apparently intended for sacrificial purposes. One of these, an oval stone imbedded in the earth, and covered on its upper surface with inscribed characters, is shown in the cut. Near the Simon mine in Nueva Segovia, the north-eastern province of the state, was found by Mr Pim a broken font, the only relic of this region, on the exterior of which the following figure is carved, supposed to represent the sun. It has also the peculiarity of what seem intended for long moustaches.[II-64]Squier’s Nicaragua, pp. 307-8, 476, 488; Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, p. 128.

Altar from Zapatero.

Sun-sculpture in Nueva Segovia.

Burial Urns from Ometepec.

Nicaraguan Pottery

The fifth class embraces all articles of pottery, abundant throughout the whole extent of the state, but especially so on the lake islands, where the natives actually dig them from the earth to supply their present needs. None of the localities which have yielded other relics is without its deposit of earthen ware, either whole or in fragments. The fact that vessels unearthed by the natives, when unbroken, are wholly uninjured by their long rest under a damp tropical soil, indicates their excellence in material and construction. It is not indeed probable that in material or methods of manufacture the ancient differed essentially from the modern pottery; but in skill and taste the former was unquestionably far superior. Mr Squier pronounces the work equal to the best specimens of the Mexican and Peruvian potters. He finds no evidence of the use of the wheel; Mr Boyle, however, thinks it was employed, but rarely. The clay varies from brown to black, and the glazing, often sufficiently thick to be chipped off with a knife, is usually of a whitish or yellowish hue. The colors with which most articles are painted are both brilliant and durable, red being a favorite. In some cases the paint seems to have penetrated the substance of the pottery, as if applied before the clay was dry. The figures of the cut illustrate the two most common forms of the cinerary, or burial, urns, both from Ometepec, the former sketched by Mr Boyle and the latter by Mr Squier. The urns contain a black sticky earth supposed to represent traces of burned flesh, and often unburned bones, skull, or teeth, together with a collection of the smaller relics which have been described. The bones of animals, deer-horns, and boar-tusks, and bone implements rarely or never occur. Earthen basins of different material and color from the urns are often—always in the Chontal graves—found inverted one over another to close the mouth. The burial vases are sometimes thirty-six inches long by twenty inches high, painted usually on the outside with alternate streaks of black and scarlet, while serpents or other ornaments are frequently relieved on the surface. One or two handles are in most cases attached to each. Mr Squier believes a human skull to have been the model of the urns. Five of them at Libertad are noticed as lying uniformly east and west. It appears evident that many of the articles found in or about the graves had no connection with burial rites, some of them having undoubtedly been buried to keep them from the hands of the Spaniards. The figures of the cuts, from Mr Boyle, show two forms of vessels which are frequently repeated among an infinite variety of other shapes. The tripod vase with hollow legs is a common form, of which Fig. 1 is a fine specimen from Ometepec, five and three fourths inches high, and six inches in diameter, with a different face on each leg. Fig. 2 is a bowl from Zapatero which occurs in great numbers, of uniform shape and decoration, but of varying size, being ordinarily, however, ten inches in diameter and four and one fourth inches high. Both inside and outside are painted with figures which from their uniformity in different specimens are deemed by Mr Boyle to have some hidden hieroglyphic meaning. It is also remarked that vessels intended to be of the same size are exactly equal in every respect. Another common vessel is a black jar, glazed and polished, about four inches high and five and one fourth inches in diameter, made of light clay, and having a simple wavy ornament round the rim. Animals or parts of animals, particularly alligators, often form a part of the ornamentation of pottery, but complete animals in clay are rare, a rude clay stag being the only relic of the kind reported. The device of a beast springing on the back of a human form, so frequent among the statues or idols, also occurs in terra cotta. The four figures of the cut show additional specimens in terra cotta from Mr Squier, of which Fig. 2 is from Ometepec.[II-65]Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., pp. 150-1, 201, 209, vol. ii., pp. 45, 86, 90-7; Squier’s Nicaragua, pp. 299, 490, 509-10; Id., (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., pp. 335-8, 362; Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, p. 126; Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 128-9.

Ometepec Tripod Vase.—Fig. 1.

Bowl from Zapatero.—Fig. 2.

Nicaraguan Figures in Terra Cotta.

Relics of the Use of Metals

It only remains to speak of the sixth and last class of Nicaraguan relics; viz., articles of metal, which may be very briefly disposed of. The only gold seen by any of our authorities was “a drop of pure gold, one inch long, precisely like the rattles worn by Malay girls,” taken by Mr Boyle from a cinerary vase at Juigalpa. But all others mention small gold idols and ornaments which are reported to have been found, one of them weighing twenty-four ounces; so that there can be but little doubt that the ancient people understood to a limited extent the use of this precious metal, which the territory has never produced in large quantities. Copper, on the contrary, is said to be abundant and of a variety easily worked, and yet the only relic of this metal discovered is the copper mask, which Mr Squier supposes to represent a tiger’s face, shown in the cut. It was presented to him by a man who claimed to have obtained it from Ometepec. Mr Boyle believes, with reason as I think, that in a country abounding in the metal, the skill and knowledge requisite to produce the mask would most certainly have left other evidences of its possession. The authenticity of this mask, when considered as a Nicaraguan relic, may be regarded as extremely problematical.[II-66]Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., pp. 150-1, vol. ii., p. 87; Squier’s Nicaragua, pp. 509-11.

Copper Mask.

Nicaraguan antiquities, concerning which I have now given all the information in my possession, give rise to but little discussion or visionary speculation. Indeed there is little of the mysterious connected with them, as they do not necessarily carry us farther back into the past than the partially civilized people that occupied the country in the sixteenth century. Not one relic has appeared which may not reasonably be deemed their work, or which requires the agency of an unknown nation of antiquity. Yet supposing Nicaragua to have been long inhabited by a people of only slightly varying stages of civilization, any one of the idols described may have been worshiped thousands of years before the Spanish conquest. The relics are over three hundred years old; nothing in themselves proves them to be less than three thousand. Comparison with more northern relics and history may fix their age within narrower limits.

Footnotes

[II-1] A general view of South American antiquities is given in another chapter of this volume.

[II-2] I might except a Roman coin of the time of Cæsar Augustus, and a buried ship, or galley, of antique model, said to have been discovered in early times by the Spaniards in the vicinity of Panamá, and which figured somewhat largely in early speculations on the question of American origin. I need not say that the evidence for the authenticity of such a discovery is extremely unsatisfactory. See: García, Orígen de los Ind., p. 174, with quotation from Marineo, Sumario, (Toledo, 1546,) fol. 19—apparently the original authority in the matter—and a reference to other editions and works; Solórzano Pereyra, De Ind. Jure, tom. i., p. 93; Id. Política Ind., tom. i., p. 22; Horn, Orig. Amer., p. 13; Simon, Noticias Historiales, (Cuença, 1626,) lib. i., cap. x.

[II-3] Authorities on the Isthmian antiquities are not numerous. Mr Berthold Seemann claims to have been the first to discover stone sculptures near David in 1848, and he read a paper on them before the Archæological Institute of London in 1851. He also briefly mentions them in his Voy. Herald, vol. i., pp. 312-13, for which work drawings were prepared but not published. Some of the drawings were, however, afterwards printed in Bollaert’s Antiq. Researches in N. Granada, (Lond., 1860,) and a few cuts of inscribed figures also inserted with farther description by Seemann in Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, pp. 25-32. It is stated in the last-named work that M. Zeltner, French Consul at Panamá, whose private collection contained specimens from Chiriquí, published photographs of some of them with descriptive letter-press. Bollaert also wrote a paper on ‘The Ancient Tombs of Chiriquí,’ in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., pp. 151, 159. On various occasions from 1859 to 1865, travelers or residents on the Isthmus, chiefly parties connected with the Panamá railway, sent specimens, drawings, and descriptions to New York, where they were presented to the American Ethnological Society, or exhibited before and discussed by that body at its monthly meetings, an account of which may be found in the Hist. Mag., vol. iii., p. 240, vol. iv., pp. 47-8, 113, 144, 176-7, 239-41, 274, 338, vol. v., pp. 50-2, vol. vi., pp. 119, 154, vol. ix., p. 158. A report on the Chiriquí antiquities by Dr Merritt was printed by the same society. The above, with slight mentions in Cullen’s Darien, p. 38, from Whiting and Shuman’s Report on Coal Formations, April 1, 1851, and in Bidwell’s Isthmus, pp. 37-8, from Hay’s Report, in Powles’ N. Granada, are the only sources of information on the subject with which I am acquainted.

[II-4] Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, pp. 25, 28-31; Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. i., pp. 312-13; Hist. Mag., vol. iv., p. 338.

[II-5] Hist. Mag., vol. ix., p. 158.

[II-6] Id., vol. iii., p. 240, vol. iv., pp. 47-8, 239-40.

[II-7] Three statues presented by Messrs Totten and Center in 1860 were about two feet high, of a dark, hard stone, in human form with features and limbs distorted. Two of them had square tapering pedestals apparently intended to support the figures upright in the ground. Id., vol. iv., p. 144.

[II-8] Id., vol. iv., pp. 239-40, 274.

[II-9] Hist. Mag., vol. iv., pp. 144, 177, 240-1, 274.

[II-10] Seemann’s Voy. Herald, vol. i., p. 314.

[II-11] Cullen’s Darien, p. 38.

[II-12] Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, pp. 25-32; Tate’s Ancient British Sculptured Rocks.

[II-13] Bidwell’s Isthmus, p. 37; Hist. Mag., vol. iv., p. 176.

[II-14] ‘A much higher antiquity must be assigned to these hieroglyphics than to the other monuments of America.’ Voy. Herald, vol. i., p. 313.

[II-15] Hist. Mag., vol. v., p. 50.

[II-16] Vol. i., chap. vii. of this work.

[II-17] Merritt and Davis, in Hist. Mag., vol. iv., pp. 176, 274.

[II-18] In a work which I have not seen. That author’s Coup d’Œuil sur la République de Costa Rica, and Memoir on the Boundary Question, furnish no information on the subject.

[II-19] Wagner and Scherzer, Costa Rica, pp. 465-6, 471, 522-4, 561.

[II-20] Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., pp. 338-9, and plate.

[II-21] Boyle’s Ride, vol. ii., p. 86; Hist. Mag., vol. vi., p. 119.

[II-22] Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., pp. 25-6.

[II-23] Meagher, in Harper’s Mag., vol. xx., p. 317.

[II-24] Reichardt, Cent. Amer., pp. 121-2.

[II-25] Squier’s Nicaragua, p. 511.

[II-26] Pownal, in Archæologia, vol. v., p. 318, pl. xxvi.; Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., p. 205, pl. xiii.; (Ed. in folio, pl. xxxix.); Id., in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., pp. 27-8, tom. ii., suppl. pl. vii., fig. xi.

[II-27] Colon, Carta, in Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. i., p. 307; Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. ii., p. 138.

[II-28] Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., pp. 296-9; Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, p. 401.

[II-29] Bard’s (E. G. Squier) Waikna, or Adventures on the Mosquito Shore, pp. 216-17, 254, 258-60. The ‘King of the Mosquitos’ somewhat severely criticised the work, in which, by the way, His Royal Highness is not very reverently spoken of, as ‘a pack of lies, especially when it was notorious that the author had never visited the Mosquito Coast.’ Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, p. 271. ‘Le désert qui s’étend le long de la côte de la mer des Antilles, depuis le golfe Dulce jusqu’à l’isthme de Darien, n’a pas offert jusqu’à présent de vestiges indiquant que le peuple auquel on doit les monuments de Palenquè, de Quiragua, de Copan, ait émigré au sud de l’isthme.’ Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 301.

[II-30] Squier’s Nicaragua; Boyle’s Ride Across a Continent. Mr E. G. Squier resided in Nicaragua as Chargé d’Affaires of the United States during the year 1849-50. On account of his position he was afforded facilities for research not enjoyed by other foreigners, and which his well-known antiquarian tastes and abilities prompted and enabled him to use to the best advantage during the limited time left from official duties. Besides the several editions of the work mentioned, Mr Squier’s accounts or fragments thereof have been published in periodicals in different languages; while other authors have made up almost wholly from his writings their brief descriptions of Nicaraguan antiquities. See Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 341; Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 128-35; Tiedemann, in Heidelberger Yahrb., 1851, pp. 81, 91, 170; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 463, 484, 498, 544; Andree, in Westland, tom. ii., pp. 3, 251; Heine, Wanderbilder, p. 181; Holinski, La Californie, p. 252; Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., p. 124. Frederick Boyle, F.R.G.S., visited the country in 1865-6, with the examination of antiquities as his main object. Both works are illustrated with plates and cuts; and both authors brought away interesting specimens which were deposited by the American in the Smithsonian Institution, and by the Englishman in the British Museum. ‘J’avoue n’avoir rien rencontré d’important dans mes lectures, en ce qui touche les états de Costa Rica et de Nicaragua.’ Dally, Races Indig., p. 12.

[II-31] ‘Nicht … von abgesonderten Steinen umgeben, sondern fanden sich, in einer Tiefe von drei Fuss, unregelmässig über die Ebene zerstreut.’ Friederichsthal, in Sivers, Mittelamerika, p. 128; ‘Les îles du lac, notamment Ométépé semblent avoir servi de sépultures à la population des villes environnantes, … car on y rencontre de vastes nécropoles ou villes des morts, ressemblant par leur caractère à celles des anciens Mexicains.’ Id. in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 297; in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 100; Woeniger, in Squier’s Nicaragua, pp. 509-10; Boyle’s Ride, vol. ii., p. 86.

[II-32] Plan showing their relative position, in Squier’s Nicaragua, p. 477.

[II-33] ‘On y trouve (sur les îles du lac) encore un grand nombre de débris de constructions antiques.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1855, tom. cxlvii., p. 135.

[II-34] Boyle’s Ride, vol. ii., p. 42.

[II-35] Squier’s Nicaragua, pp. 439-41.

[II-36] Boyle’s Ride, vol. ii., pp. 10-11.

[II-37] Id., vol. ii., pp. 161-2; Squier’s Nicaragua, p. 396.

[II-38] ‘Ils montrent avec effroi les débris de la cité maudite, encore visibles sous la surface des eaux.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1855, tom. cxlvii., p. 149.

[II-39] Belcher’s Voyage, vol. i., p. 171; Squier’s Nicaragua, p. 299.

[II-40] Squier’s Nicaragua, pp. 306-8; Id., (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 335.

[II-41] Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 100; Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1811, tom. xcii., p. 297; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 335.

[II-42] Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., pp. 159-61, 195-212, 291; Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, p. 126; On the buildings of the ancient Nicaraguans, see vols. ii. and iii. of this work; also Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 114; Peter Martyr, dec. vi., lib. v.; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., pp. 335-6.

[II-43] Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., pp. 154-5.

[II-44] Froebel, Aus Amer., tom. i., pp. 379-80; Id., Cent. Amer., pp. 119-20.

[II-45] Livingston, in Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., pp. 334-5.

[II-46] Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., p. 212.

[II-47] Heine, Wanderbilder, p. 181.

[II-48] Squier’s Nicaragua, pp. 435-41; ‘Sur les parois du rocher on voit encore des dessins bizarres gravés et peints en rouge, tels que les donne M. Squier.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1855, tom. cxlvii., p. 147.

[II-49] Mr Boyle found the cliff-paintings to have suffered much since Mr Squier’s visit, thirteen years before; so much so that none could be made out except the winged snake and red hand. He also states that yellow as well as red pictures are here to be seen. Boyle’s Ride, vol. ii., pp. 160-1; Squier’s Nicaragua, pp. 391-6. In a letter, a fragment of which is published in the Annual of Scientific Discovery, 1850, p. 364, Mr Squier declares the paintings precisely in the style of the Mexican and Guatemalan MSS., closely resembling, some of the figures indeed identical with, those of the Dresden MS. Pim and Seemann, Dottings, p. 401, also noted the ‘coiled-up lizard’ and other pictures, calling the locality Asososca Lake. Scherzer, Wanderungen, p. 72, and Trav., vol. i., p. 77, mentions also sculptured figures on this crater-wall.

[II-50] Boyle’s Ride, vol. ii., pp. 142-3.

[II-51] Squier’s Nicaragua, pp. 510-17. There were formerly many idols resembling those of Zapatero, but they have been buried or broken up. A group is reported still to be found near the foot of Mt Madeira, but not seen. Woeniger, in Id., p. 509. Froebel, Aus Amer., tom. i., p. 261.

[II-52] Squier’s Nicaragua, pp. 180, 470-90, 496; Id., (ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 336; Id., in Annual Scien. Discov., 1851, p. 388. ‘L’île de Zapatero a fourni des idoles qui sont comme des imitations grossières du fameux colosse de Memnon, type connu de cette impassibilité réfléchie que les Égyptiens donnaient à leurs dieux.’ Holinski, La Californie, p. 252. ‘There still exist on its surface some large stone idols.’ Scherzer’s Trav., vol. i., p. 31. ‘Statues d’hommes et d’animaux d’un effet grandiose, mais d’un travail qui annonce une civilisation moins avancée que celle de l’Yucatan ou du Guatémala.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1855, tom. cxlvii., p. 135; Boyle’s Ride, vol. ii., p. 122.

[II-53] Boyle’s Ride, vol. ii., pp. 42-7; Friederichsthal, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 100; Id., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 297.

[II-54] Squier’s Nicaragua, pp. 448-57. The head of fig. 1 is the Mexican sign tochtli. The animal in fig. 2 may be intended for an alligator. Id., in Annual Scien. Discov., 1851, p. 387.

[II-55] Squier’s Nicaragua, pp. 285-7, 295-301, 402; Id., in Annual Scien. Discov., 1850, p. 363; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 341.

[II-56] Belcher’s Voyage, vol. i., p. 172; Squier’s Nicaragua, pp. 179, 402.

[II-57] Squier’s Nicaragua, pp. 264-5, 301-7: ‘Some of the statues have the same elaborate head-dresses with others of Copan; one bears a shield upon his arm; another has a girdle, to which is suspended a head.’ Id., in Annual Scien. Discov., 1850, p. 363.

[II-58] If idols, to Mr Boyle they indicate a worship of ancestors, of which, however, there seems to be no historical evidence. Mr Pim suggests that the idols of mild expression may be those worshiped before, and those of more ferocious aspect after, the coming of the Aztecs.

[II-59] The other Chontal statues more or less fully described are the following: A huge monolith, of which twelve feet six inches were unearthed, having a cross on the breast with two triangles, and the arms and legs doubled back; a head four feet eight inches in circumference, and one foot ten inches high; an idol four feet eight inches high, wearing on its head an ornamented coronet, resembling a circlet of overlapping oyster-shells, with a cross on the left shoulder and a richly carved belt; a stone woman thirty-seven inches high, having the left corner of the mouth drawn up so as to leave a round hole between the lips, and the arms crossed at right angles from the elbows; a very rude idol with pointed cap, holes for eyes, and a slit for a mouth, whose modern use is to grind corn; and lastly, a statue with beard and whiskers. Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., pp. 147-9, 158-64, 210-12, 242, 290-5; Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, pp. 126-8.

[II-60] Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., pp. 290-1, vol. ii., pp. 97, 144-5; Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 339; Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, pp. 126-7.

[II-61] Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., pp. 200-2, 209, vol. ii., pp. 45-6; Squier’s Nicaragua, pp. 515, 521; cut of the leg of a stone vase, Id., (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 339.

[II-62] Squier’s Nicaragua, pp. 256-7.

[II-63] Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., pp. 150-2, 159, vol. ii., pp. 43, 98; Squier’s Nicaragua, pp. 521-2; Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, pp. 126-7.

[II-64] Squier’s Nicaragua, pp. 307-8, 476, 488; Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, p. 128.

[II-65] Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., pp. 150-1, 201, 209, vol. ii., pp. 45, 86, 90-7; Squier’s Nicaragua, pp. 299, 490, 509-10; Id., (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., pp. 335-8, 362; Pim and Seemann’s Dottings, p. 126; Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 128-9.

[II-66] Boyle’s Ride, vol. i., pp. 150-1, vol. ii., p. 87; Squier’s Nicaragua, pp. 509-11.

Chapter III • Antiquities of Salvador and Honduras. Ruins of Copan • 12,300 Words

Salvador—Opico Remains—Mounds of Jiboa—Relics of Lake Guijar—Honduras—Guanaja—Wall—Stone Chairs—Roatan—Pottery—Olancho Relics—Mounds of Agalta and Abajo—Hacienda of Labranza—Comayagua—Stone Dog-idol—Terraced Mounds of Calamulla—Tumuli on Rio Chiquinquare—Earthen Vases of Yarumela—Fortified Plateau of Tenampua—Pyramids, Enclosures, and Excavations—Stone Walls—Parallel Mounds—Cliff-Carvings at Aramacina—Copan—History and Bibliography—Palacio, Fuentes, Galindo, Stephens, Daly, Ellery, Hardcastle, Brasseur de Bourbourg—Plan of Ruins Restored—Quarry and Cave—Outside Monuments—Enclosing Walls—The Temple—Courts—Vaults—Pyramid—Idols—Altars—Miscellaneous Relics—Human Remains—Lime—Colossal Heads—Remarkable Altars—General Remarks.

Antiquities of Salvador

Following the continent westward from Nicaragua, we have the state of Salvador on the Pacific side, stretching some one hundred and eighty miles from the gulf of Fonseca to the Rio de Paza, the Guatemalan boundary, and extending inland about eighty miles. Here, in the central province of San Vicente, a few miles southward from the capital city of the same name, I find the first well-authenticated instance in our progress northward of the occurrence of ruined edifices. But of these ruins we only know that they are the most imposing monuments in the state, covering nearly two square miles at the foot of the volcano of Opico, and that they consist of “vast terraces, ruins of edifices, and circular and square towers, and subterranean galleries, all built of cut stones. A single carving has been found here, on a block of stone eight feet long by four broad. It is in the true Mexican style, representing probably a prince or great warrior.”[III-1]Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 341; Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., pp. 123-4. Several mounds, considerable in size and regular in outline, were noted on the plain of Jiboa west of San Vicente; also similar ones near Sonsonato in the south-western portion of the state. In the north-west on the Guatemalan boundary, aboriginal relics are vaguely reported on the islands of Lake Guijar, but of them nothing is known.[III-2]‘Hier sollen sich gleichfalls noch ununtersuchte interessante indianische Monumente finden.’ Reichardt, Cent. Amer., p. 83. ‘Nothing positive is known concerning them.’ Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 341. Hassel says they are the remains of the old Indian town of Zacualpa. Mex. Guat., p. 368. And concerning Salvador monuments nothing further is to be said, although Mr Squier heard of ruins in that state rivaling in extent and interest the famous Copan.[III-3]Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 335.

On the other side of the continent, reaching also across to the Pacific at the gulf of Fonseca, north of Nicaragua, the Mosquito coast, and Salvador, is the state of Honduras. It extends over three hundred and fifty miles westward along the Atlantic shore, from Cape Gracias á Dios nearly to the narrowest point of the isthmus where America is a second time so nearly cut in twain by the gulfs of Honduras and Dulce. The mountain chains which skirt the valley of the Motagua on the south, known as the sierras of Grita, Espíritu Santo, Merendon, Copan, etc., form the boundary line between Honduras and Guatemala. The northern coast, closely resembling in its general character the Mosquito shore, has preserved along its marshy lagoons, so far as they have been explored, no traces of its early occupants. Yet on the coast islands some relics appear. On that of Guanaja, whence in 1502 Columbus first beheld the continent of North America, is reported a wall of considerable extent, only a few feet high, with three-legged stone chairs fixed at intervals in rude niches or fissures along its sides. Chair-shaped excavations in solid rock occur at several other points on the island, together with rudely molded but fantastically decorated vessels of earthen ware. The Guanaja remains are chiefly found in the vicinity of the Savanna Bight Kay.[III-4]Young’s Narrative, p. 48. Mr Young also saw, but does not describe, several ‘curious things’ besides these chairs where once the antiguos seated, perhaps, their gods of stone. On the neighboring island of Roatan fragments of aboriginal pottery and small stone idols are found scattered through the forest.[III-5]Sivers, Mittelamerika, p. 182. ‘I understand the adjacent island, Roatan, exhibits yet more proofs of having been inhabited by an uncivilized race.’ Young’s Narrative, p. 48. ‘Jusqu’à ce jour on n’y a découvert aucune ruine importante; mais les débris de poterie et de pierre sculptée qu’on a trouvés ensevelis dans ses forêts, suffisent pour prouver qu’elle n’était pas plus que les autres régions environnantes privée des bienfaits de la civilisation.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., pp. 612-3.

The eastern interior of Honduras, by reason of its gold mines, has been more extensively explored than the Mosquito region farther south; yet with respect to the departments of Olancho and Tegucigalpa I only find the statement by Mr Wells that “mounds containing specimens of ancient pottery are often met with by the vaqueros while exploring the gloomy depths of the forest, but these seldom survive the destructive curiosity of the natives;” this chiefly in the valleys of Agalta and Abajo, and on the hacienda of Labranza. The pottery takes the form of pans and jars to the number of ten to thirty in each mound; no idols or human remains having been reported.[III-6]Wells’ Explor. Hond., p. 553. Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 166-7, without reference to any particular locality, mentions pottery as frequently found in graves and among ruins, including pipe-heads, cigar-holders, drinking-cups, sacrificial vessels, and jugs.

Comayagua Relics

Still farther west, in the valley of Comayagua, midway between the oceans, about the head-waters of the rivers, to which the names Ulua, Goascoran, and Choluteca are applied as often as any others on the maps, there are abundant works of the former natives, made known, but unfortunately only described in part, by Mr Squier. These works chiefly occur on the terraces of the small branch valleys which radiate from that of Comayagua as a centre, in localities named as follows: Chapulistagua, Jamalteca, Guasistagua, Chapuluca, Tenampua, Maniani, Tambla, Yarumela, Calamulla, Lajamini, and Cururu. The ruins are spoken of in general terms as consisting of “large pyramidal, terraced structures, often faced with stones, conical mounds of earth, and walls of stone. In these, and in their vicinity, are found carvings in stone, and painted vases of great beauty.” Concerning most of the localities mentioned we have no further details, and must form an idea of their nature from the few that are partially described, since a similarity is apparent between all the monuments of the region.

Mastodon’s Tooth.

Earthen Vase of Yarumela.

About Comayagua, or Nueva Valladolid, we are informed that “hardly a step can be taken in any direction without encountering evidences of aboriginal occupation,” the only relic specified, however, being a stone idol of canine form now occupying a position in the walls of the church of Our Lady of Dolores. At Tambla, some leagues south-east of Comayagua, was found the fossil skeleton of a mastodon, whose tooth is shown in the cut, imbedded in a sandstone formation.[III-7]Squier’s Cent. Amer., pp. 132-3; Scherzer’s Trav., vol. ii., p. 95; Id., Wanderungen, p. 371; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 310; Harper’s Mag., vol. xix., p. 610, with a cut of the mastodon’s tooth. One of the stratified sandstone terraces of the sierra south-west of Comayagua forms a fertile table over three thousand feet above the level of the sea; and on its surface, in an area of ten or twelve acres inclosed by a spring-fed mountain stream, are the ruins of Calamulla, consisting simply of mounds. Of these, two are large, one about one hundred feet long, with two stages, having a flight of steps on the western slope. It shows clear traces of having been originally faced with flat stones, now for the most part removed. Most of the mounds are of earth in terraces, and some of rectangular outline have a small conical mound raised a few feet above the surface of their upper platform. Stone-heaps of irregular form also occur; perhaps places of sepulture; at least differing in their use from the tumuli of more regular outlines which may readily be imagined once to have supported superimposed structures of more perishable materials. The natives have traditions, probably unfounded, of subterranean chambers and galleries beneath this spot. In the same vicinity, near the banks of the Rio Chiquinguare, and about a league from the pueblo of Yarumela, is another group of mounds, lying partly in the forest and partly in lands now under native cultivation. These remains, although in a more advanced state of ruin, are very similar to those of the Calamulla group. It is noted, however, that the tumuli are carefully oriented, and that some have stone steps in the centre of each side. In one or two cases there even remained standing portions of cut-stone walls. Local tradition, which as a rule amounts to nothing in such cases, seems to indicate that these structures were already in a ruined state before the Spanish conquest. At the town of Yarumela, and presumably taken from the group described, were seen, besides a few curiously carved stones, six earthen vases of superior workmanship and design, one of which is represented in the cut, together with separate and enlarged portions of its ornamentation, which is both carved and painted. The flying deity painted in outline on one of its faces is pronounced by Mr Squier identical with one of the characters of the Dresden Codex.[III-8]Visit to the Guajiquero Ind., in Harper’s Mag., vol. xix., pp. 608-11. For account of the Dresden MS., see vol. ii. of this work.

Ruins of Tenampua

At Tenampua, or Pueblo Viejo, twenty miles south-east of Comayagua, near Flores, is a hill of white stratified sandstone, whose sides rise precipitously to a height of sixteen hundred feet above the level of the surrounding plain. The summit forms a level plateau one half a mile wide and one mile and a half long from east to west. On the eastern half chiefly, but also spreading over the whole surface of this lofty plateau, is the most extensive group of ancient works in the whole region, and in fact the only one of which we have a description at all in detail. As in the other localities of this part of the state, the group is made up for the most part of rectangular oriented mounds, some of stone, but most of earth, with a stone facing. The smaller mounds are apparently arranged in groups according to some system; they vary in size from twenty to thirty feet in height, having from two to four stages. The larger pyramidal tumuli are from sixty to one hundred feet long and of proportionate width and altitude, with in many cases a flight of steps in the centre of the side facing the west.

Enclosure at Tenampua.

Ruins of Tenampua

The structures that have been described are as follows, it being understood that they are but a part of the whole: A mound located on the very edge of the southern precipice commands a broad view over the whole plain of Comayagua, and its position suggests its possible aboriginal use as a station for fire-signals. Just north of this is an excavation, or perhaps a small natural valley, whose sides are faced with stone in steps leading up the slope on all four sides. In the centre of the eastern half of the plain, and consequently in the midst of the principal ruins, is what may be regarded as the chief structure of the group, commanding a view of all the rest. The annexed cut, made up from the description, will aid in giving a clear idea of the work. Two stone walls, an outer and an inner, about ten feet apart, each two feet thick, of which only a few feet in height remain standing, enclose a rectangular area of one hundred and eighty by three hundred feet. Cross-walls at regular intervals divide the space between the two into rectangular apartments now filled with earth to a depth of two feet. The walls terminate on the western side in two oblong terraced mounds between which is the only entrance to the enclosure; while on the opposite side in a corresponding position on the eastern wall is a mound equal in bulk to both the western ones combined. Within the inclosure is a large pyramidal mound in three stages, with a flight of steps on the west, situated just south of a central east and west line. From its south-west corner a line of imbedded stones runs to the southern wall; and between the pyramid and the gateway is a small square of stones. A similar mound, also provided with a stairway, is found in the north-east corner of the enclosure. The stones of which the walls and facings are made, indeed of all the stone work at Tenampua, are not hewn, but very carefully laid, no mention being made of mortar. All the structures are carefully oriented. At the south-east corner of the plateau is a second enclosure which has a gateway in the centre of each of its four equal sides, but whose dimensions are not given. This has in its area two mounds, each with a stairway. Elsewhere, its location on the plateau not being stated, is a raised terrace, or platform, three hundred and sixty feet long, containing one of the most remarkable features of the place, in the form of two parallel mounds one hundred and forty feet long, thirty-six feet wide at the base, ten feet high, and forty feet apart at their inner and lower edges. The outer sides have double walls like those of the chief enclosure, divided into three compartments, and having served apparently as the foundations of three separate buildings. The inner side of each mound slopes in three terraces, the lower ones being faced with large flat stones set upright. In a line with the centre between these parallels and at a distance of one hundred and twenty paces is a mound with a stairway on its southern slope, and at a distance of twenty-four paces on the same line, but in a direction not stated, are two large stones carefully placed with a space of one foot between them. The conjectural use of these parallels, like that of somewhat similar ones which we shall meet elsewhere, is for the accommodation of the ancient nobility or priesthood in their games or processions. On the west end of the plateau are two perpendicular excavations in the rock, twenty feet square and twelve feet deep, with a gallery three feet square leading northward from the bottom of each. The natives have an idea that these passages lead to the ruins of Chapulistagua, but they are probably of natural formation with artificial improvements, and of no great extent. The remains of a pyramid are found in the vicinity of the holes. Near the centre of the plateau, in a spot naturally low and marshy, are two large square excavations which may have been reservoirs. In addition to the works described are over three hundred mounds or truncated pyramids of different sizes, scattered over the surface of the plateau, to the location and arrangement of which, in the absence of a plan, we have no guide. They are covered with a heavy growth of timber, some of them supporting pine-trees two feet in diameter. Only one was opened and its interior found to consist simply of earth, except the upper terrace which was ashes and burned matter, containing fragments of pottery and of obsidian knives. The pottery is chiefly in the form of small flat pans and vases, all decorated with simple painted figures; and one small gourd-shaped vase, nearly entire, was filled with some black indurated matter so hard as not to be removable. As to the original purposes to which the structures of Tenampua were devoted, speculation points with much plausibility to religious ceremonies and temples in the case of the enclosures and larger pyramids; to sepulchral rites in that of the smaller mounds; while the strong natural position of the works on a plateau with high, precipitous, and at nearly every point inaccessible sides, indicates that defense was an important consideration with the builders. The supposed reservoirs favor this theory, which is rendered a certainty by the fortifications which protect the approach to the plateau at the only accessible points, on three narrow ridges connecting this hill with others of the range. These fortifications are walls of rough stone, from six to fifteen feet high and ten to twenty feet thick at the base, according to the weakness or strength of the location. Gullies on the slopes which might afford a cover for approaching foes are carefully filled with stones; and the walls themselves, which also have traces of towers at intervals, while presenting a perpendicular exterior, are terraced on the inside for the convenience of the defenders. Yet the poor thin soil, incapable of supporting a large number of people, indicates that it was not probably a fortified town, but that it must be regarded as a place sacred to the gods, to be defended to the last, and possibly a refuge for the people of the towns below in cases of extreme danger.[III-9]Squier’s Cent. Amer., pp. 134-9; Scherzer’s Trav., vol. ii., pp. 95; Id., Wanderungen, p. 371; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 310.

Cliff-Carvings of Aramacina

Southward from Comayagua, toward the Pacific shore, we find relics of former times near Aramacina, in the Goascoran region. Here the smooth vertical face of a sandstone ledge forms one side of a natural amphitheatre, and is covered, for a space of one hundred by fifteen feet, with engraved figures cut to a depth of two and a half inches, the incisions serving as convenient steps by which to mount the cliff. Some of the engravings have been destroyed by modern quarry-men; of those remaining some seem to be ornamental and arbitrary, while in others the forms of men and animals may be distinguished. They are pronounced by the observer identical in style with the inscriptions of Nicaragua and Salvador, of whose existence in the latter state we have no other intimation.[III-10]Atlantic Monthly, vol. vi., p. 49. Las Casas has the following on the province of Honduras at the time of the conquest: ‘Tenia Pueblos innumerables, y una vega de treinta leguas y mas, toda muy poblada … la ciudad de Naco que tenia sobre dos cientas mil animas, y muchos edificios de piedra, en especial los templos en que adoraban.’ Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lii.

But one group of antiquities in Honduras remains to be described,—Copan, the most wonderful of all, and one of the most famous of American ruins. The location is in a most fertile tobacco-producing region near the Guatemalan boundary, on the eastern bank of the Rio Copan, which flows northward to join the Motagua some fifty miles below the ruins, at a point something more than one hundred miles above its mouth in the bay of Honduras.[III-11]On the north bank of the Copan, in latitude 14° 45´, longitude 90° 52´, four leagues east of the Guatemalan line, twenty leagues above the junction of the Motagua, which is sixty-five leagues from the bay. Galindo, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., pp. 547-50. Latitude 14° 39´, longitude 91° 13´ west of Paris; six hundred and forty mètres above the sea level; forty-five leagues from San Salvador, fifty-eight leagues from Guatemala. Id., in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 76. ‘Thirty miles east of Chiquimula.’ Cyclopedia. Three hundred miles from the sea, (perhaps by the windings of the stream). By reason of accidental injury to the instruments the latitude and longitude could not be obtained. Situated on the east bank of the stream according to plan. Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. i., p. 132. ‘Until lately erroneously located in Guatemala, are many miles within the boundaries of Honduras, and but a few days’ travel from the original landing-place of the Spanish discoverers.’ Wells’ Explor. Hond., p. 552. Not to be confounded with Coban, metropolis of Vera Paz, one hundred and fifty miles west of Copan. Gallatin, in Amer. Ethnol. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 5.

Some rapids occur in the Copan River below the ruins, but in the season of high water it is navigable for canoes for a greater part of its course. The name Copan, so far as can be known, was applied to the ruins simply from their vicinity to an adjacent hamlet or Indian pueblo so named, which is located at the mouth of a small stream, called Sesesmil by Col. Galindo, which empties into the Copan a little higher up. This pueblo has greatly deteriorated in later times; formerly both town and province were rich and prosperous. Indeed, in the sixteenth century, in the revolt which broke out soon after the first conquest, the cacique of Copan resisted the Spanish forces long after the neighboring provinces had been subdued. Driven eventually to his chief town, he opposed barricades and ditches to the advancing foe, but was at last forced after a desperate struggle to yield to Hernando de Chaves in 1530. It was formerly supposed that the place where he made his brave stand against Chaves was identical with the ancient city since called Copan, its ruin dating from its fall in 1530. It is now believed, however, that there was no connection whatever between the two, and that, so far as the ruined city of antiquity is concerned, history is absolutely silent. This conclusion is based on the facts that Cortés in his famous march through Honduras in 1524, although passing within a few leagues of this place, heard nothing of so wonderful a city, as he could hardly have failed to do had it been inhabited at the time; that there is not the slightest resemblance between the ruined structures to be described in these pages and the town besieged by Chaves as reported in the chronicles of the period; and above all that the ruins are described by Palacio as being very nearly in their present state, with nothing but the vaguest traditions respecting their origin, only about forty years after the fall of the brave cacique, the latter fact, however, not having been known to those authors who have stated that Copan was inhabited at the conquest.[III-12]‘Copan was a colony of Tultecos.’ ‘The Spaniards found Copan inhabited, and in the summit of its perfection.’ Galindo, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., pp. 546, 549. On the expedition of Cortés referred to, see Alaman, Disertaciones, tom. i., pp. 203-25; Cogolludo, Hist. Yucathan, pp. 45-58; Cortés, Cartas, pp. 396-492; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 245-74; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. vii., cap. viii., to lib. viii., cap. vii.; Peter Martyr, dec. viii., lib. x.; Prescott’s Mex., vol. iii., pp. 278-99; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 588; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 39-50; Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. iii., pp. 33-57. Stephens seems to be in some doubt as to the identity of ancient and modern Copan, there being ‘circumstances which seem to indicate that the city referred to was inferior in strength and solidity of construction, and of more modern origin.’ Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 99-101. ‘The ruins of the city of that name and their position do not at all agree with the localities of the severe battle which decided the contest.’ ‘There is every appearance of these places (Copan and Quirigua) having been abandoned long before the Spanish conquest.’ Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 171. ‘Whatever doubts may have existed on the Subject, and as regards the high antiquity of the Ruins of Copan … they are set at Rest by this Account of Palacio. They were evidently very nearly in their present Condition, at the Time he wrote, three hundred Years ago.’ Squier’s Pref. to Palacio, Carta, p. 9. ‘Certain it is that the latter was a ruin long before the arrival of the Spaniards.’ Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 345.

Exploration of the Ruins

This region has never been really explored with a view to the discovery of ancient relics. The few visitors, of whose explorations I give the history and bibliography in full in the annexed note,[III-13]The Licenciado Diego García de Palacio, Oidor (Justice, not Auditor) of the Real Audiencia of Guatemala, in accordance with the duties of his office, traveled extensively in Guatemala and adjoining provinces, embodying the results of his observations on countries and peoples visited in a relation to King Felipe II. of Spain, dated March 8, 1576, which document is preserved in the celebrated Muñoz collection of MSS. It contains a description of the ruins of Copan which exists in print as follows; Palacio, Relacion, in Pacheco, Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. vi., pp. 37-9; Palacio, Carta dirijida al Rey, Albany, 1860, pp. 88-96, including an English translation by E. G. Squier; Palacios, Description, in Ternaux-Compans, Recueil de Doc., pp. 42-4, which is a somewhat faulty French translation; Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., pp. 38-40; Squier’s Cent. Amer., pp. 242-4; and it is mentioned by Señor J. B. Muñoz in a report on American antiquities, written as early as 1785, of which a translation is given in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Palenqué, pp. 7-8; Herrera, Hist. Gen., quotes, or rather takes from, Palacio’s relation extensively, but omits the portion touching Copan. This first account of the ruins is by no means the worst that has been written. Although naturally incomplete, it is evidently a bona-fide description by an actual visitor, written at a time when the ruins were very nearly in their present condition, and their origin wrapped in mystery, although the stirring events of 1530 were yet comparatively fresh in the memory of the natives. The next account is that in Fuentes y Guzman, Recopilacion Flórida de la Historia del Reino de Guatemala, MS., 1689. This work was never printed, although said to be in preparation for the press in 1856. Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. vii. Fuentes’ description of Copan was, however, given to the public in 1808, in Juarros, Compendio de la Hist. de la Ciudad de Guatemala, a work translated into English in 1823, under the title of A Statistical and Commercial Hist. of the Kingdom of Guatemala. From Juarros the account is taken by many writers, none, so far as I know, having quoted Fuentes in the original. Where the latter obtained his information is not known. His account is brief, and justly termed by Brasseur de Bourbourg, Palenqué, p. 14., ‘la description menteuse de Fuentes,’ since nothing like the relics therein mentioned have been found in later times. Yet it is possible that the original was mutilated in passing through Juarros’ hands. This description, given in full in my text, is repeated more or less fully in Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. i., p. 131; Warden, Recherches, p. 71; Conder’s Mex. Guat., vol. ii., pp. 299-300; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., pp. 470-1; Humboldt, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1827, tom. xxxv., p. 329; Hassel, Mex. Guat., pp. 385-6; Cortés, Adventuras, p. 321, and in many other works mentioned in connection with matter from later sources. Next we have the exploration of Colonel Juan Galindo, an officer in the Central American service, sometime governor of the province of Peten, made in April, 1835. An account of his observations was forwarded to the Société de Géographie of Paris, and published in the Bulletin of that Society, and also in the Literary Gazette of London. A communication on the subject was also published in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., pp. 545-50; and the information furnished to the French Geographical Society was published en résumé in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., pp. 73, 76. Ten drawings accompanied Galindo’s report, but have never been published, although the author announced the intention of the Central American government to publish his report in full with plates. He says, ‘je suis le seul qui ait examiné les ruines de Copan, et qui en ait fait la relation,’ but he knew nothing of Palacio’s visit. ‘Not being an artist, his account is necessarily unsatisfactory and imperfect, but it is not exaggerated.’ Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. i., p. 132. ‘Had an enquiring mind, but a very superficial Education.’ Squier’s Pref. to Palacio, Carta, p. 8. Most of Galindo’s account is also given with that of Juarros, in Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 96-9; also some information from the same source in Brownell’s Ind. Races, p. 52, and in Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., p. 267. In 1839 Messrs Stephens and Catherwood visited Copan. Mr Stephens, as I find by a careful examination of his book, spent thirteen days in his survey, namely, from November 17 to 30; while Mr Catherwood spent the larger part of another month in completing his drawings. The results of their labors appeared in 1841 and 1844 under the titles:—Stephens’ Incidents of Travel in Central America, vol. i., pp. 95-160, with twenty-one plates and seven cuts; Catherwood’s Views of Ancient Monuments in Central America, in folio, with large lithographic plates. Slight descriptions of the ruins, made up chiefly from Stephens, may be found as follows:—Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. iii., pp. 54-5; Willson’s Amer. Hist., pp. 76-9, with plan and cut; Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 64-74, 57, with plan and plates; Jones’ Hist. Anc. Amer., pp. 57-69, 116; Davis’ Antiq. Amer., pp. 4-5; Id., (Ed. 1847,) p. 30; Dally, Races Indig., pp. 12-13; Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., pp. 111-14, with cut; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 308; Tiedemann, Heidelb. Yahrb., 1851, p. 85; Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., pl. 9-12, the text being from Galindo and Juarros; Reichardt, Cent. Amer., pp. 91-2; Amérique Centrale, Colonization, pt. ii., p. 68; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 462-4, 483; Macgregor’s Progress of Amer., pp. 877-8; Frost’s Great Cities of the World, pp. 279-82, with cut. Dr Scherzer in 1856 started to explore Copan, but, owing to the political state of the country at the time, was unable to get nearer than Santa Rosa, where the padre said moreover that recent land-slides had much injured the effect of the ruins. This author gives, however, a brief account made up from Stephens, Galindo, and Juarros. Scherzer’s Trav., vol. ii., pp. 41, 86-7, 94-5. Id., Wanderungen, pp. 332, 366, 371. In September, 1856, the Jesuit Padre Cornette is said to have visited the ruins; M. César Daly, at a date not mentioned, prepared on the spot plans and drawings of the different structures which he intended to publish in the Revue Générale de l’Architecture, but whether or not they have ever appeared, I know not; the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg made two visits to Copan in 1863 and 1866; some slight additional information on the subject was communicated by Mr Center, on authority not given, at a meeting of the American Ethnological Society in February, 1860; and Mr Hardcastle, who had spent several weeks in exploring the ruins, furnished some farther notes at a meeting of the same society in April, 1862; and, finally, photographs were made of the ruins by M. Ellerly, director of the Alotepeque silver-mines. But these later explorations have not as yet afforded the public much information, except that the photographs mentioned, when compared by Brasseur de Bourbourg with Catherwood’s plates, show the latter as well as Stephens’ descriptions to be strictly accurate. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 96, tom. ii., p. 493; Id., Palenqué, pp. 8, 17; Hist. Mag., vol. v., p. 114, vol. vi., p. 154. have found enough of the wonderful in the monuments known to exist since the sixteenth century, without pushing their investigations back into the dense and almost impenetrable forest away from the immediate banks of the river. The difficulty attending antiquarian research in a country where the whole surface is covered with so dense a growth that progress in any direction is possible only foot by foot with the aid of the native machete, may be imagined. A hot climate, a moist and malarious atmosphere, venomous serpents and reptiles, myriads of diminutive demons in the form of insects, all do most vigorous battle against the advances of the foreign explorer, while the apathetic natives, whether of American or Spanish blood, feel not the slightest enthusiasm to unveil the mysterious works of the antiguos.

For what is known of Copan the world is indebted almost entirely to the works of the American traveler, Mr John L. Stephens, and of his most skilful artist-companion, Mr F. Catherwood;[III-14]The only unfavorable criticism of Mr Stephens’ work within my knowledge, is that ‘the Soul of History is wanting!’ ‘The Promethean spark by which the flame of historic truth should illuminate his work, and be viewed as a gleaming beacon from afar, to direct wanderers through the dark night of wonders, has found no spot to rest upon and to vivify!’ Jones’ Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 55. And we may thank heaven for the fault when we consider the effects of the said ‘Promethean spark’ in the work of the immortal Jones. and from the works of these gentlemen, with the slight notes to be gleaned from other sources, I proceed to give all that is known of what is commonly termed the oldest city on the American continent. I will begin by giving Juarros’ description in full, since few or none of the objects mentioned by him can be identified with any of those met in the following pages. “In the year 1700, the Great Circus of Copan, still remained entire. This was a circular space, surrounded by stone pyramids about six yards high, and very well constructed; at the bases of these pyramids were figures, both male and female, of very excellent sculpture, which then retained the colours they had been enamelled with; and, what was not less remarkable, the whole of them were habited in the Castilian costume. In the middle of this area, elevated above a flight of steps, was the place of sacrifice. The same author (Fuentes) relates that, at a short distance from the Circus, there was a portal constructed of stone, on the columns of which were the figures of men, likewise represented in Spanish habits, with hose, ruff round the neck, sword, cap, and short cloak. On entering the gateway there are two fine stone pyramids, moderately large and lofty, from which is suspended a hammock that contains two human figures, one of each sex, clothed in the Indian style. Astonishment is forcibly excited on viewing this structure, because, large as it is, there is no appearance of the component parts being joined together; and, although entirely of stone, and of an enormous weight, it may be put in motion by the slightest impulse of the hand. Not far from this hammock is the cave of Tibulca; this appears like a temple of great size, hollowed out of the base of a hill, and adorned with columns having bases, pedestals, capitals and crowns, all accurately adjusted according to architectural principles; at the sides are numerous windows faced with stone exquisitely wrought. All these circumstances lead to a belief that there must have been some intercourse between the inhabitants of the old and new world at very remote periods.”[III-15]Juarros’ Hist. Guat., pp. 56-7. That any such structure as the rocking hammock ever existed here is in the highest degree improbable; yet the padre at Gualan told Stephens that he had seen it, and an Indian had heard it spoken of by his grandfather. Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. i., p. 144.

Extent of the Ruins

The ruins are always spoken of as extending two miles along the bank of the river; yet all the structures described or definitely located by any visitor, are included in the much smaller area shown on Mr Stephens’ plan, with, however, the following exceptions: “A stone wall with a circular building and a pit, apparently for a reservoir,” is found about a mile up the river; the quarry which supplied material for all the structures and statues,—a soft grit interspersed with hard flinty lumps,—is in a range of hills two miles north of the river, where are scattered many blocks rejected by the ancient workers, one being seen on the very top of the range, and another, the largest noted, half-way between the quarry and its destination at the ruins; Fuentes’ wonderful cave of Tibulca is in the same range of hills, and may be identical with the quarry, or, as Col. Galindo thinks, with a natural cave in a mountain two leagues distant; one monument is mentioned at a distance of a mile across the river on the summit of a mountain two thousand feet high, but this does not appear to have been visited; and finally, the natives reported to Mr Hardcastle a causeway in the forest, several leagues in length. Yet although so very little is known of outside monuments, there can be no doubt that such exist, not improbably of great extent and interest; since, although heaps of ruins and fragments are vaguely reported in every direction, no attempt at a thorough examination has ever been made or indeed could be, except by removing the whole forest by a conflagration during the dry season.[III-16]‘The extent along the river, ascertained by monuments still found, is more than two miles.’ ‘Beyond the wall of enclosure were walls, terraces, and pyramidal elevations running off into the forest.’ Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 133, 139, 146-7. ‘Extended along the bank of its river a length of two miles, as evidenced by the remains of its fallen edifices.’ ‘Mounts of stone, formed by fallen edifices, are found throughout the neighbouring country.’ Galindo, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., pp. 547, 549-50. ‘La carrière … est à 2000 mètres au nord.’ ‘Là se trouve beaucoup de bois de sapin pétrifié.’ Id., in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 76. ‘The ground, being covered with ruins for many square miles, and much overgrown by a rank vegetation, would require months for a thorough examination.’ ‘No remains whatever on the opposite side of the river.’ Hardcastle, in Hist. Mag., vol. vi., p. 154. ‘Les plaines de Chapulco s’étendent entre Copan et le pied des montagnes de Chiquimula. Elles sont couvertes de magnifiques ruines.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 105.

Temple of Copan.

Ruins of Copan Restored

The plan on the opposite page shows the ruins in their actual state, according to Mr Stephens’ survey, together with a restoration to what seems to have been something like their original condition. The union of the two effects in one plate is, I believe, a sufficient reason for indulging to this extent in a fancy for restoration, justly condemned by antiquarians as a rule.[III-17]Plan in Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. i., p. 133, reproduced in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 57; and in Willson’s Amer. Hist., p. 76. Galindo’s drawings also included a plan. By reason of the disagreement between Stephens’ plan and text in the matter of dimensions, I have omitted the scale as useless. The southern wall of the enclosure, to accommodate the size of my page, I have placed some two hundred feet north of its true position. Those portions of the temple shaded by cross-lines are the portions still standing according to the survey.

Returning then to the limits of the plan, we find portions of a wall, a, a, a, which when entire, as indicated by the dotted lines, seems to have enclosed a nearly rectangular area, measuring in general terms 900 by 1600 feet. Whatever treasures of antiquity may be hid in the depths of the forest, there can be but little doubt that this enclosure embraced the leading structures or sacred edifices of the ancient town. These walls would seem at least twenty-five feet thick at the base, and are built, like all the Copan structures, of large blocks of cut stone, of varying but not expressly stated dimensions. They are built, in parts at least, in terraces or steps, and painted. Only one authority speaks of the use of mortar.[III-18]The southern wall in one place rises 30 or 40 feet in steps. Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. i., p. 134. ‘One wall eighty feet high and fifty feet thick for half its height, or more, and then sloping like a roof, was formed of stones often six feet by three or four, with mortar in the interstices.’ Hardcastle, in Hist. Mag., vol. vi., p. 154. Mr Center ‘mentioned a Cyclopean wall … undescribed in any publication, but reported to him by most credible witnesses, about 800 feet long, 40 feet high, —— feet thick, formed of immense hewn stone.’ Hist. Mag., vol. v., p. 114. Stones ‘cut into blocks.’ Galindo, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., p. 549. Before reaching the ruins ‘está señal de paredes gruesas.’ Palacio, in Pacheco, Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. vi., p. 37.

The Great Temple

In the north-west corner of the enclosure, nearly filling its northern half, is the chief structure which has been called the Temple. Its dimensions are 624 feet north and south by 809 feet east and west.[III-19]According to Stephens’ text, which states that the river or west side is 624 feet, and the whole line of survey, which cannot in this case mean anything but the circumference, is 2866 feet, thus leaving 809 feet each for the northern and southern sides. His plan, and consequently my own, makes the dimensions about 790 feet north and south by 600 east and west, the circuit being thus 2780 feet. ‘Not so large as the base of the great Pyramid of Ghizeh.’ Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 133. Galindo, Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., p. 547, makes the dimensions 750 feet east and west (He calls it north and south, but on the supposition that the ruins are on the north bank of the river instead of the east) by 600 feet north and south, a circumference of 2700 feet; or if his measurements be understood to be Spanish, their English equivalent would be about 690 by 552 feet, circuit 2484 feet. The same author, Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 76, gives 653 by 524, and 2354 feet; or if French measure be understood, its equivalent is 696 by 588, and 2568 feet. As large as Saint Peter’s at Rome. Davis’ Antiq. of Amer., pp. 4-5. From the remains the Temple in its original state is seen to have been an immense terrace, with sides sloped toward the land but perpendicular on the river, on the platform of which were both pyramidal elevations and sunken courts of regular rectangular outlines. The river wall, b, c, rises perpendicularly to a height, in its present ruined state, of from sixty to ninety feet, and the annexed cut gives its appearance from the opposite side of the river; but the original elevation of the terrace overlooking the river, judging from portions still intact, was about a hundred feet, some twenty-five or thirty feet of this elevation, at least at the northern end, being, however, the height of the original bank above the water; so that the terrace-platform of the whole Temple, d, d, d, must have been about seventy feet above the surface of the ground. The whole is built of cut stone in blocks a foot and a half wide by three to six feet long, and, without taking into account the excess of superimposed pyramids over sunken courts, must have required in round numbers over twenty-six million cubic feet of stone in its construction.[III-20]‘Broad terrace one hundred feet high, overlooking the river, and supported by the wall which we had seen from the opposite bank,’ cut showing a view of this wall from across the river. Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 104, 95-6, 139. Same cut in Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., p. 112. ‘Built perpendicularly from the bank of the river, to a height, as it at present exists, of more than forty yards.’ Galindo, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., p. 547. ‘Una torre ó terrapleno alto, que cae sobre el rio que por allé pasa.’ ‘Hay una escalera que baja hasta el rio por muchas gradas.’ Palacio, in Pacheco, Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. vi., p. 38. ‘The city-wall on the river-side, with its raised bank, … must then have ranged from one hundred and thirty to one hundred and fifty feet in height’ in imitation of ancient Tyre, the only city of antiquity with so high a wall on a river-bank. Jones’ Hist. Anc. Amer., pp. 63, 161-2.

The land sides on the north, east, and south, slope by steps of about eighteen inches each to a height of from thirty to 140 feet according as they are more or less fallen, extending also in some parts to the general level of the terrace-platform, and in others reaching in one incline to the top of the upper pyramids, E, E.[III-21]At the south-west corner a recess is mentioned which Mr Stephens believes to have been occupied by some large monument now fallen and washed away. Cent. Amer., vol. i., p. 134. On the main platform are two sunken rectangular courts, marked on the plan A and B, whose floors or pavements seem to be about forty feet above the surface of the ground, and thirty feet below the level of the terrace. The court A is ninety by 144 feet, and ascends on all sides in regular steps like a Roman amphitheatre. The west side ascends in two flights each of fifteen steps, separated by a terrace twelve feet wide, to the platform overlooking the river, on which, at i, are the ruins of what were apparently two circular towers. From a point half-way up the steps a passage or gallery m, n, just large enough to afford passage to a crawling man, leads horizontally through to the face of the river-wall, the opening in which, visible from the opposite bank, has given to the ruins the name among the natives of Las Ventanas. Just below the entrance to this gallery, at o, is a pit five feet square, and seventeen feet deep, from the bottom of which a passage leads into a vault five feet wide, ten feet long, and four feet high, which, according to Col. Galindo’s measurement, is twelve feet below the pavement of the court; the opening into this pit, at o, seems however to have been made by Galindo by excavation. The entrance to the court A is by the passage-way, C, C, from the north, the floor of which is on a level with that of the court. Similar steps lead up to the river-terrace on the west, while the pyramid D on the east rises to a height of 122 feet on the slope in steps or stages each six feet high and nine feet wide. The passage-way is thirty feet wide and over 300 feet long, and it seems probable that a flight of steps originally led up to the level of its entrance at p. The Court B is larger, but its steps are nearly all fallen, and it is now only remarkable for its altar, which will be described elsewhere.[III-22]This court may have been Fuentes’ circus, although the latter is represented as having been circular. The terrace between it and the river is stated by Stephens to be only 20 feet wide; according to the plan it is at least 50 feet. Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 142-4, 133, 140. The pavement of the court is 20 yards above the river; the gallery through the terrace is 4 feet high and 2½ feet wide; the vault below the court is 5½ by 10 by 6 feet, its length running north and south with 9° variation of the compass. Galindo, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., p. 547. ‘Una plaza muy bien fecha, con sus gradas á la forma que escriben del Coliseo romano, y por algunas partes tiene ochenta gradas, enlosada, y labrada por cierto en partes de muy buena piedra é con harto primor.’ The river-wall ‘háse caido y derrumbado un gran pedazo, y en lo caido se descubrieron dos cuevas debajo del dicho edificio,’ a statement that may possibly refer to the gallery and vault. Palacio, in Pacheco, Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. vi., pp. 37-8.

As I have said, all the steps and sides bear evident traces of having been originally painted. The whole structure is enveloped in a dense growth of shrubs and trees, which have been the chief agents in its ruin, penetrating every crevice with their roots and thus forcing apart the carefully laid superficial stones. Two immense ceiba-trees over six feet in diameter, with roots spreading from fifty to one hundred feet, are found on the summit of the lofty pyramid D.

Pyramids at Copan

Besides the temple, there are three small detached pyramids, I, F, G, the former fifty feet square and thirty feet high, between the last two of which there seems to have been a gateway, or entrance, to the enclosure. There are moreover the terraced walls v, v, of the plan, which require no additional description, but which extend for an unknown distance eastward into the forest. There are also shapeless heaps of fallen ruins scattered in every direction.[III-23]‘There was no entire pyramid, but, at most, two or three pyramidal sides, and these joined on to terraces or other structures of the same kind.’ Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. i., p. 139. The author intends to speak perhaps of the Temple only, but Mr Jones applies the words to Copan in general, and considers them a flat contradiction of the statement respecting the three detached pyramids. Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 63. ‘Les édifices sont tous tombés et ne montrent plus que des monceaux de pierres.’ Galindo, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 73. ‘Several hills, thirty or forty feet in height, and supporting ruins, appeared to have been themselves entirely built of stone.’ Hardcastle, in Hist. Mag., vol. vi., p. 154. ‘Unas ruinas y vestigios de gran poblazon, y de soberbios edificios.’ ‘Hay montes que parecen haber sido fechos á manos.’ Palacio, in Pacheco, Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. vi., p. 37. The latter sentence is incorrectly translated by M. Ternaux-Compans, ‘il y a des arbres que paraissent avoir été plantés de main d’homme.’ Recueil de Doc., p. 42. Mr Squier makes the same error: ‘Trees which appear to have been planted by the hands of men.’ Translation of Palacio, Carta, p. 91.

Sandaled feet at Copan.

Statues or Idols

Sculptured Obelisk

Next to the ruined Temple in importance, or even before it as an indication of the artistic skill of its builders, are the carved obelisks, statues, or idols, which are peculiar to this region, but remarkably similar to each other. Fourteen of these are more or less fully described, most of them standing and in good preservation, but several of this number, and probably many besides, fallen and broken. Their positions are shown on the plan by the numbers 1 to 14. It will be noticed that only one is actually within the structure known as the Temple, three standing at the foot of its outer terrace within the quadrangle H, and the remainder in a group at the southern part of the enclosure, two of the latter being at the foot of terraced walls. These statues are remarkable for their size and for their complicated and well-executed sculpture. Of the eight whose dimensions are given, the smallest, No. 13, is eleven feet eight inches high, three feet four inches wide and thick; and the largest, Nos. 2 and 3, are thirteen feet high, four feet wide, and three feet thick. The material is the same soft stone taken from the quarry which furnished the blocks for building the walls. As to their position, Nos. 3, 11, and 13 face toward the east; Nos. 1, 5, and 9, toward the west; and No. 10 toward the north; the others are either fallen or their position is not given. No. 1 is smaller at the bottom than at the top, and Col. Galindo mentions two others, on hills east and west of the city, which have a similar form; all the rest are of nearly uniform dimensions throughout their length. Several rest on pedestals from six to seven feet square, and No. 13 has also a circular stone foundation sixteen feet in diameter. In each a human face occupies a central position on the front, having in some instances something that may be intended to represent a beard and moustache. The faces are remarkably uniform in the expression of their features, generally calm and pleasant; but in the case of No. 11 the partially open lips, and eye-balls starting from their sockets, indicate a design on the part of the artist to inspire terror in the beholder of his work. The hands rest in nearly every instance back to back on the breast. The dress and decoration seem to indicate that some were intended for males, others for females; this and the presence or absence of beard are the only indications of sex observable. The feet are mostly dressed in sandals, as shown clearly in the cut from No. 7. Above and round the head is a complicated mass of the most elaborate ornamentation, which utterly defies verbal description. Mr Stephens notes something like an elephant’s trunk among the decorations of No. 8. The sides and usually the backs are covered with hieroglyphics arranged in square tablets, which probably contain, as all observers are impelled to believe, the names, titles, and perhaps history of the beings whose images in stone they serve to decorate. The backs of several, however, have other figures in addition to the supposed hieroglyphics, as in No. 8, where is a human form sitting cross-legged; and in No. 10, in which the characters seem to be human in a variety of strange contortions, although arranged in tablets like the rest; and No. 13 has a human face in the centre of the back as well as front. The sculpture is all in high relief, and was originally painted red, traces of the color being well preserved in places protected from the action of the weather. I give cuts of two of these carved obelisks, Nos. 3, and 6, to illustrate as fully as possible the general appearance of these most wonderful creations of American art, the details and full beauties of which can only be appreciated in the large and finely engraved plates of Catherwood.

Copan Statues.—No. 3.

Copan Statues.—No. 6.

Copan Altar.—No. 10.

Sacrificial Altars

Standing from six to twelve feet in front of nine of the fourteen statues, and probably of all in their primitive state, are found blocks of stone which, apparently, can only have been employed for making offerings or sacrifices in honor of the statues, whose use as idols is rendered nearly certain by the uniform proximity of the altars. The altars are six or seven feet square and four feet high, taking a variety of forms, and being covered with sculpture somewhat less elaborate than the statues themselves, often buried and much defaced. Two of them, belonging to Nos. 10 and 7, are shown in the accompanying cuts. The former is five and a half feet in diameter, and three feet high, with two grooves in the top; the latter seven feet square and four feet high, supposed to represent a death’s head. The top of the altar accompanying No. 9 is carved to represent the back of a tortoise; that of No. 13 consists of three heads strangely grouped. The grooves cut in the altars’ upper surface are strongly suggestive of flowing blood, and of slaughtered victims.[III-24]See Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 140, 138, 136-7, 134, 149, 158, 157, 156, 155, 153, 152, 150, 151, for description of the statues in their order from 1 to 14, with plates of all but 4, 6, and 12, showing the altars of 7, 10, and 13. Plates of 3, 5, 10, and 13 are copied from Stephens in Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., pl. ix-xi.; and of No. 13, from the same source, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 57. We have already seen the idea of Fuentes respecting these statues, clad in Spanish habits; that of the Licenciado Palacio is as follows: ‘Una estátua grande, de más que quatro varas de alto, labrada como un obispo vestido de pontificial, con su mitra bien labrada y anillos en las manos.’ In the plaza, which would seem to be the court A, where no statues were found by Stephens, were ‘seis estátuas grandísimas, las tres de hombres armados á lo mosáico, con liga gambas, é sembradas muchas labores por las armas; y las otras dos de mujeres con buen ropaje largo y tocaduras á lo romano; la otra, es de obispo, que parece tener en las manos un bulto, como cofrecito; decian ser de idolos, porque delante de cada una dellas habia una piedra grande, que tenia fecha una pileta con su sumidero, donde degollaban los sacrificados y corria la sangre.’ Palacio, in Pacheco, Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. vi., pp. 37-8. Galindo says ‘there are seven obelisks still standing and entire, in the temple and its immediate vicinity; and there are numerous others, fallen and destroyed, throughout the ruins of the city. These stone columns are ten or eleven feet high, and about three broad, with a less thickness; on one side were worked, in basso-relievo, (Stephens states, on the contrary, that all are cut in alto-relievo) human figures, standing square to the front, with their hands resting on their breast; they are dressed with caps on their heads, and sandals on their feet, and clothed in highly adorned garments, generally reaching half way down the thigh, but sometimes in long pantaloons. Opposite this figure, at a distance of three or four yards, was commonly placed a stone table or altar. The back and sides of the obelisk generally contain phonetic hieroglyphics in squares. Hard and fine stones are inserted (naturally?) in many obelisks, as they, as well as the rest of the works in the ruins, are of a species of soft stone, which is found in a neighbouring and most extensive quarry.’ Galindo, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., p. 548; and in Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., p. 97. A bust 1^m., 68 high, belonging to a statue fifteen to twenty feet high. Galindo, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 76. Pillars so loaded with attributes that some scrutiny is required to discover from the head in the centre that they represent a human form. An altar not infrequently found beside them would, if necessary, show their use. They are sun-pillars, such as are found everywhere in connection with an ancient sun-religion. Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 464.

Copan Altar.—No. 7.

I will next mention the miscellaneous relics found in connection with the ruins, beginning with the court A. The vault already spoken of, whose entrance is at o, was undoubtedly intended for burial purposes. Both on the floor of the vault and in two small niches at its sides were found human bones, chiefly in vessels of red pottery, which were over fifty in number. Lime was found spread over the floor and mixed with human remains in the burial vases; also scattered on the floor were oyster and periwinkle shells, cave stalactites, sharp-edged and pointed knives of chaya stone, and three heads, one of them “apparently representing death, its eyes being nearly shut, and the lower features distorted; the back of the head symmetrically perforated by holes; the whole of most exquisite workmanship, and cut out or cast from a fine stone covered with green enamel.” Another head, very likely one of the other two found in this vault, its locality, not, however, being specified, is two inches high, cut from green and white jade, hollow behind, and pierced in several places, probably for the introduction of a cord for its suspension. Its individual character and artistic workmanship created in Col. Galindo’s mind the impression that it was customary with this people to wear as ornaments the portraits of deceased friends.[III-25]Galindo, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., pp. 547-8; Id., in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 73, supplementary pl. vii., fig. 14. This head bears a remarkable resemblance to one given by Humboldt as coming from New Granada, shown in fig. 13, of the same plate. Stephens, Cent. Amer., vol. i., p. 144, gives the dimensions of the two niches as 1 foot 8 in. by 1 foot 9 in. by 2 feet 5 in.; the relics having been removed before his visit.

Colossal Head.

Two thirds of the distance up the eastern steps at u, is the colossal head of the cut, which is about six feet high. Two other immense heads are overturned at the foot of the same slope; another is half-way up the southern steps at w; while numerous fragments of sculpture are scattered over the steps and pavement in every direction. There are no idols or altars here, but six circular stones from one foot and a half to three feet in diameter, found at the foot of the western stairway of the passage C, C, may have supported idols or columns originally.[III-26]Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 103-4, 142-3, with cut. Cut also in Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., pl. x.

Altar in the Temple of Copan.

Altar of the Temple

In the court B, the only relic beside the statue No. 1 is a remarkable stone monument, generally termed an altar, at x. This is a solid block of stone six feet square and four feet high, resting on four globular stones, one under each corner. On the sides are carved sixteen human figures in profile, four on each side. Each figure is seated cross-legged on a kind of cushion which is apparently a hieroglyphic, among whose characters in two or three cases the serpent is observable. Each wears a breastplate, a head-dress like a turban,—no two being, however, exactly alike—and holds in one hand some object of unknown significance. The cut shows the north front of the altar. The two central figures on this side sit facing each other, with a tablet of hieroglyphics between them, and may readily be imagined to represent two kings or chiefs engaged in a consultation on important matters of state. According to Mr Stephens’ text the other fourteen figures are divided into two equal parties, each following its leader. But the plates represent all those on the east and west as facing the south, while those on the south look toward the west. The top is covered with hieroglyphics in thirty-six squares, as shown the cut on the preceding page. A peculiarity of this altar is that its sculpture, unlike that of all the other monuments of Copan, is in low relief.[III-27]Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 140-2, with plates; Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 57, 67-8. Plate. Mention of the altar with a comparison of the cross-legged chiefs to certain ornaments of Xochicalco. Tylor’s Anahuac, p. 190. The altar is described by Galindo as a very remarkable stone table in the temple, ‘two feet four inches high, and four feet ten inches square; its top contains forty-nine square tablets of hieroglyphics; and its four sides are occupied by sixteen human figures in basso-relievo, sitting cross-legged, on cushions carved in the stone, and bearing each in their hands something like a fan or flapper.’ Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., p. 548. To Mr Jones, possessed as that gentleman is with the ‘Soul of History,’ this altar is the ‘Rosetta-stone’ of American antiquity. The four supporting stones are eggs; serpents occur in the ornaments; the objects held in the hands of the lesser personages of the sides are spiral shells; the figures are seated cross-legged, or in the oriental style; one chief holds a sceptre, the other none. Now these interpretations are important to the author, since he claims that the serpent was the good demon of the Tyrians; a serpent entwining an egg is seen on Tyrian coins; the spiral shell was also put on Tyrian medals in honor of the discovery of the famous purple; the style of sitting is one practiced in Tyre; the chief representing Tyre holds no sceptre, because Tyre had ceased to be a nation at the time of the event designed to commemorate. The conclusion is clear: the altar was built in commemoration of an act of friendship between Tyre and Sidon, by which act the people of the former nation were enabled to migrate to America! Jones’ Hist. Anc. Amer., pp. 65-6, 156-62. More of this in a future treatise on origin.

Hieroglyphics on the Copan Altar.

Decorated Head at Copan.

Death’s Head at Copan.

Miscellaneous Relics

The head shown in the cut is one of the fragments lying on the ground at the foot of the terraces that inclose the quadrangle H. On the slopes of these terraces, particularly of the eastern slope of the pyramid e, half-way from top to bottom, are rows of death’s heads in stone. It is suggested that they represent the skulls of apes rather than of human beings, and that this animal, abundant in the country, may have been an object of veneration among the ancient people. One of the skulls is shown in the cut. The next cut pictures the head of an alligator carved in stone, found among the group of idols towards the south. Another is mentioned by Col. Galindo, as holding in its open jaws a figure, half human, half beast. A gigantic toad, standing erect, with human arms and tiger’s claws, was another of the relics discovered by the same explorer, together with round plain stones pierced by a hole in the centre. Mr Davis talks of an architrave of black granite finely cut; and M. Waldeck corrects a statement, in a work by Balbi, that marble beds are to be found here. The portrait in the cut is from the fragments found at the north-west corner of the temple near b.[III-28]Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 134-9, 156; Galindo, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., pp. 548-9; Id., in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 76; Davis’ Antiq. Amer., pp. 4-5; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 68-9. Palacio’s miscellaneous relics are, a large stone in the form of an eagle with a tablet of hieroglyphics a vara long on its breast; a stone cross three palms high, with a broken arm; and a supposed baptismal font in the plaza. Relacion, in Pacheco, Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. vi., p. 38.

Alligator’s Head at Copan.

Copan Portrait.

General Conclusions

Most of the general reflections and speculations on Copan indulged in by observers and students refer to other ruined cities in connection with this, and will be noted in a future chapter. It is to be remarked that besides pyramids and terraced walls, no traces whatever of buildings, public or private, remain to guide us in determining the material or style of architecture affected by the former people of this region. The absence of all traces of private dwellings we shall find universal throughout America, such structures having evidently been constructed of perishable materials; but among the more notable ruins of the Pacific States, Copan stands almost alone in its total lack of covered edifices. There would seem to be much reason for the belief that here grand temples of wood once covered these mighty mounds, which, decaying, have left no trace of their former grandeur.

Col. Galindo states that the method of forming a roof here was by means of large inclined stones. If this be a fact, it must have been ascertained from the sepulchral vault in the temple court, concerning the construction of which both he and Stephens are silent. The top of the gallery leading through the river-wall would indicate a method of construction by means of over-lapping blocks, which we shall find employed exclusively in Yucatan and Chiapas. No article of any metal whatever has been found; yet as only one burial deposit has been opened, it is by no means certain that gold or copper ornaments were not employed. That iron and steel were not used for cutting implements, is clearly proved by the fact that hard flinty spots in the soft stone of the statues are left uncut, in some instances where they interfere with the details of the sculpture. Indeed, the chay-stone points found among the ruins are sufficiently hard to work the soft material, and although in some cases they seem to have required the use of metal in their own making, yet when we consider the well-known skill of even the most savage tribes in the manufacture of flint weapons and implements, the difficulty becomes of little weight. How the immense blocks of stone of which the obelisks were formed, were transported from the quarry, several miles distant, without the mechanical aids that would not be likely to exist prior to the use of iron, can only be conjectured.

The absence of all implements of a warlike nature, extending even to the sculptured decorations of idol and altar, would seem to indicate a population quiet and peaceable rather than warlike and aggressive; for though it has been suggested that implements of war are not found here simply because it is a place sacred to religion, yet it does not appear that any ancient people has ever drawn so closely the line between the gods of war and the other divinities of the pantheon.[III-29]Jones’ Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 67; Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. i., p. 142; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 197.

Of the great artistic merit of the sculpture, particularly if executed without tools of metal, there can be no question. Mr Stephens, well qualified by personal observation to make the comparison, pronounces some of the specimens “equal to the finest Egyptian sculpture.”[III-30]Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 102-3, 151. ‘La sculpture monumentale des ruines de Copan peut rivaliser avec quelques produits similaires de l’Orient et de l’Occident européens. Mais la conception de ces monuments, l’originalité de leur ornementation suffit à plus d’un esprit pour éloigner toute idée d’origine commune.’ Dally, Races Indig., p. 13. Mr Foster believes the flattened forehead of the human profile on the altar-sides to indicate a similar cranial conformation in the builders of the city.[III-31]‘We have this type of skull delineated by artists who had the skill to portray the features of their race. These artists would not select the most holy of places as the groundwork of their caricatures. This form, then, pertained to the most exalted personages.’ Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 302, 338-9.

With respect to the hieroglyphics all that can be said is mere conjecture, since no living person even claims the ability to decipher their meaning. They have nothing in common with the Aztec picture-writing, which, consequently, affords no aid in their study. The characters do, however, appear similar to, if not identical with, some of those found at Palenque, in Yucatan, in the Dresden Codex, and in the Manuscript Troano. When the disciples of Brasseur de Bourbourg shall succeed in realizing his expectations respecting the latter document, by means of the Landa alphabet, we may expect the mystery to be partially lifted from Copan. It is hard to resist the belief that these tablets hold locked up in their mystic characters the history of the ruined city and its people, or the hope that the key to their significance may yet be brought to light; still, in the absence of a contemporary written language, the hope must be allowed to rest on a very unsubstantial basis.[III-32]‘The hieroglyphics displayed upon the walls of Copan, in horizontal or perpendicular rows, would indicate a written language in which the pictorial significance had largely disappeared, and a kind of word-writing had become predominant. Intermingled with the pictorial devices are apparently purely arbitrary characters which may be alphabetic.’ Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 322. They are conjectured to recount the adventures of Topiltzin-Acxitl, a Toltec king who came from Anáhuac and founded an empire in Honduras, or Tlapallan, at the end of the eleventh century. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 101-2. Like those of Palenque, and some characters of the Dresden MS. Squier’s Pref. to Palacio, Carta, p. 10. ‘No he hallado libros de sus antigüedades, ni creo que en todo este distrito hay más que uno, que yo tengo.’ Palacio, in Pacheco, Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. vi., p. 39. I have no idea what this one book spoken of may have been. The characters are apparently hieroglyphics, ‘but to us they are altogether unintelligible.’ Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 55-6, 66.

Origin of the Ruins

Concerning the age and origin of the Copan monuments, as distinguished from other American antiquities, there are few or no facts on which to base an opinion. The growth of trees on the works, and the accumulation of vegetable material can in this tropical climate yield but very unsatisfactory results in this direction. Copan is, however, generally considered the oldest of American cities; but I leave for the present the matter of comparison with more northern relics. Palacio claims to have found among the people a tradition of a great lord who came from Yucatan, built the city of Copan, and after some years returned and left the newly built town desolate; a tradition which he inclines to believe, because he says the same language is understood in both regions, and he had heard of similar monuments in Yucatan and Tabasco. Among the inhabitants of the region in later times, there is no difference of opinion whatever with respect to the origin of the ruins or their builders; they are unanimous in their adherence to the ‘quien sabe’ theory.

Footnotes

[III-1] Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 341; Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., pp. 123-4.

[III-2] ‘Hier sollen sich gleichfalls noch ununtersuchte interessante indianische Monumente finden.’ Reichardt, Cent. Amer., p. 83. ‘Nothing positive is known concerning them.’ Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 341. Hassel says they are the remains of the old Indian town of Zacualpa. Mex. Guat., p. 368.

[III-3] Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 335.

[III-4] Young’s Narrative, p. 48. Mr Young also saw, but does not describe, several ‘curious things’ besides these chairs where once the antiguos seated, perhaps, their gods of stone.

[III-5] Sivers, Mittelamerika, p. 182. ‘I understand the adjacent island, Roatan, exhibits yet more proofs of having been inhabited by an uncivilized race.’ Young’s Narrative, p. 48. ‘Jusqu’à ce jour on n’y a découvert aucune ruine importante; mais les débris de poterie et de pierre sculptée qu’on a trouvés ensevelis dans ses forêts, suffisent pour prouver qu’elle n’était pas plus que les autres régions environnantes privée des bienfaits de la civilisation.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., pp. 612-3.

[III-6] Wells’ Explor. Hond., p. 553. Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 166-7, without reference to any particular locality, mentions pottery as frequently found in graves and among ruins, including pipe-heads, cigar-holders, drinking-cups, sacrificial vessels, and jugs.

[III-7] Squier’s Cent. Amer., pp. 132-3; Scherzer’s Trav., vol. ii., p. 95; Id., Wanderungen, p. 371; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 310; Harper’s Mag., vol. xix., p. 610, with a cut of the mastodon’s tooth.

[III-8] Visit to the Guajiquero Ind., in Harper’s Mag., vol. xix., pp. 608-11. For account of the Dresden MS., see vol. ii. of this work.

[III-9] Squier’s Cent. Amer., pp. 134-9; Scherzer’s Trav., vol. ii., pp. 95; Id., Wanderungen, p. 371; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 310.

[III-10] Atlantic Monthly, vol. vi., p. 49. Las Casas has the following on the province of Honduras at the time of the conquest: ‘Tenia Pueblos innumerables, y una vega de treinta leguas y mas, toda muy poblada … la ciudad de Naco que tenia sobre dos cientas mil animas, y muchos edificios de piedra, en especial los templos en que adoraban.’ Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lii.

[III-11] On the north bank of the Copan, in latitude 14° 45´, longitude 90° 52´, four leagues east of the Guatemalan line, twenty leagues above the junction of the Motagua, which is sixty-five leagues from the bay. Galindo, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., pp. 547-50. Latitude 14° 39´, longitude 91° 13´ west of Paris; six hundred and forty mètres above the sea level; forty-five leagues from San Salvador, fifty-eight leagues from Guatemala. Id., in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 76. ‘Thirty miles east of Chiquimula.’ Cyclopedia. Three hundred miles from the sea, (perhaps by the windings of the stream). By reason of accidental injury to the instruments the latitude and longitude could not be obtained. Situated on the east bank of the stream according to plan. Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. i., p. 132. ‘Until lately erroneously located in Guatemala, are many miles within the boundaries of Honduras, and but a few days’ travel from the original landing-place of the Spanish discoverers.’ Wells’ Explor. Hond., p. 552. Not to be confounded with Coban, metropolis of Vera Paz, one hundred and fifty miles west of Copan. Gallatin, in Amer. Ethnol. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 5.

[III-12] ‘Copan was a colony of Tultecos.’ ‘The Spaniards found Copan inhabited, and in the summit of its perfection.’ Galindo, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., pp. 546, 549. On the expedition of Cortés referred to, see Alaman, Disertaciones, tom. i., pp. 203-25; Cogolludo, Hist. Yucathan, pp. 45-58; Cortés, Cartas, pp. 396-492; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 245-74; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. vii., cap. viii., to lib. viii., cap. vii.; Peter Martyr, dec. viii., lib. x.; Prescott’s Mex., vol. iii., pp. 278-99; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 588; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 39-50; Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. iii., pp. 33-57. Stephens seems to be in some doubt as to the identity of ancient and modern Copan, there being ‘circumstances which seem to indicate that the city referred to was inferior in strength and solidity of construction, and of more modern origin.’ Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 99-101. ‘The ruins of the city of that name and their position do not at all agree with the localities of the severe battle which decided the contest.’ ‘There is every appearance of these places (Copan and Quirigua) having been abandoned long before the Spanish conquest.’ Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 171. ‘Whatever doubts may have existed on the Subject, and as regards the high antiquity of the Ruins of Copan … they are set at Rest by this Account of Palacio. They were evidently very nearly in their present Condition, at the Time he wrote, three hundred Years ago.’ Squier’s Pref. to Palacio, Carta, p. 9. ‘Certain it is that the latter was a ruin long before the arrival of the Spaniards.’ Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 345.

[III-13] The Licenciado Diego García de Palacio, Oidor (Justice, not Auditor) of the Real Audiencia of Guatemala, in accordance with the duties of his office, traveled extensively in Guatemala and adjoining provinces, embodying the results of his observations on countries and peoples visited in a relation to King Felipe II. of Spain, dated March 8, 1576, which document is preserved in the celebrated Muñoz collection of MSS. It contains a description of the ruins of Copan which exists in print as follows; Palacio, Relacion, in Pacheco, Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. vi., pp. 37-9; Palacio, Carta dirijida al Rey, Albany, 1860, pp. 88-96, including an English translation by E. G. Squier; Palacios, Description, in Ternaux-Compans, Recueil de Doc., pp. 42-4, which is a somewhat faulty French translation; Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., pp. 38-40; Squier’s Cent. Amer., pp. 242-4; and it is mentioned by Señor J. B. Muñoz in a report on American antiquities, written as early as 1785, of which a translation is given in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Palenqué, pp. 7-8; Herrera, Hist. Gen., quotes, or rather takes from, Palacio’s relation extensively, but omits the portion touching Copan. This first account of the ruins is by no means the worst that has been written. Although naturally incomplete, it is evidently a bona-fide description by an actual visitor, written at a time when the ruins were very nearly in their present condition, and their origin wrapped in mystery, although the stirring events of 1530 were yet comparatively fresh in the memory of the natives. The next account is that in Fuentes y Guzman, Recopilacion Flórida de la Historia del Reino de Guatemala, MS., 1689. This work was never printed, although said to be in preparation for the press in 1856. Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., p. vii. Fuentes’ description of Copan was, however, given to the public in 1808, in Juarros, Compendio de la Hist. de la Ciudad de Guatemala, a work translated into English in 1823, under the title of A Statistical and Commercial Hist. of the Kingdom of Guatemala. From Juarros the account is taken by many writers, none, so far as I know, having quoted Fuentes in the original. Where the latter obtained his information is not known. His account is brief, and justly termed by Brasseur de Bourbourg, Palenqué, p. 14., ‘la description menteuse de Fuentes,’ since nothing like the relics therein mentioned have been found in later times. Yet it is possible that the original was mutilated in passing through Juarros’ hands. This description, given in full in my text, is repeated more or less fully in Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. i., p. 131; Warden, Recherches, p. 71; Conder’s Mex. Guat., vol. ii., pp. 299-300; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., pp. 470-1; Humboldt, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1827, tom. xxxv., p. 329; Hassel, Mex. Guat., pp. 385-6; Cortés, Adventuras, p. 321, and in many other works mentioned in connection with matter from later sources. Next we have the exploration of Colonel Juan Galindo, an officer in the Central American service, sometime governor of the province of Peten, made in April, 1835. An account of his observations was forwarded to the Société de Géographie of Paris, and published in the Bulletin of that Society, and also in the Literary Gazette of London. A communication on the subject was also published in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., pp. 545-50; and the information furnished to the French Geographical Society was published en résumé in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., pp. 73, 76. Ten drawings accompanied Galindo’s report, but have never been published, although the author announced the intention of the Central American government to publish his report in full with plates. He says, ‘je suis le seul qui ait examiné les ruines de Copan, et qui en ait fait la relation,’ but he knew nothing of Palacio’s visit. ‘Not being an artist, his account is necessarily unsatisfactory and imperfect, but it is not exaggerated.’ Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. i., p. 132. ‘Had an enquiring mind, but a very superficial Education.’ Squier’s Pref. to Palacio, Carta, p. 8. Most of Galindo’s account is also given with that of Juarros, in Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 96-9; also some information from the same source in Brownell’s Ind. Races, p. 52, and in Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., p. 267. In 1839 Messrs Stephens and Catherwood visited Copan. Mr Stephens, as I find by a careful examination of his book, spent thirteen days in his survey, namely, from November 17 to 30; while Mr Catherwood spent the larger part of another month in completing his drawings. The results of their labors appeared in 1841 and 1844 under the titles:—Stephens’ Incidents of Travel in Central America, vol. i., pp. 95-160, with twenty-one plates and seven cuts; Catherwood’s Views of Ancient Monuments in Central America, in folio, with large lithographic plates. Slight descriptions of the ruins, made up chiefly from Stephens, may be found as follows:—Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. iii., pp. 54-5; Willson’s Amer. Hist., pp. 76-9, with plan and cut; Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 64-74, 57, with plan and plates; Jones’ Hist. Anc. Amer., pp. 57-69, 116; Davis’ Antiq. Amer., pp. 4-5; Id., (Ed. 1847,) p. 30; Dally, Races Indig., pp. 12-13; Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., pp. 111-14, with cut; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 308; Tiedemann, Heidelb. Yahrb., 1851, p. 85; Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., pl. 9-12, the text being from Galindo and Juarros; Reichardt, Cent. Amer., pp. 91-2; Amérique Centrale, Colonization, pt. ii., p. 68; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 462-4, 483; Macgregor’s Progress of Amer., pp. 877-8; Frost’s Great Cities of the World, pp. 279-82, with cut. Dr Scherzer in 1856 started to explore Copan, but, owing to the political state of the country at the time, was unable to get nearer than Santa Rosa, where the padre said moreover that recent land-slides had much injured the effect of the ruins. This author gives, however, a brief account made up from Stephens, Galindo, and Juarros. Scherzer’s Trav., vol. ii., pp. 41, 86-7, 94-5. Id., Wanderungen, pp. 332, 366, 371. In September, 1856, the Jesuit Padre Cornette is said to have visited the ruins; M. César Daly, at a date not mentioned, prepared on the spot plans and drawings of the different structures which he intended to publish in the Revue Générale de l’Architecture, but whether or not they have ever appeared, I know not; the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg made two visits to Copan in 1863 and 1866; some slight additional information on the subject was communicated by Mr Center, on authority not given, at a meeting of the American Ethnological Society in February, 1860; and Mr Hardcastle, who had spent several weeks in exploring the ruins, furnished some farther notes at a meeting of the same society in April, 1862; and, finally, photographs were made of the ruins by M. Ellerly, director of the Alotepeque silver-mines. But these later explorations have not as yet afforded the public much information, except that the photographs mentioned, when compared by Brasseur de Bourbourg with Catherwood’s plates, show the latter as well as Stephens’ descriptions to be strictly accurate. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 96, tom. ii., p. 493; Id., Palenqué, pp. 8, 17; Hist. Mag., vol. v., p. 114, vol. vi., p. 154.

[III-14] The only unfavorable criticism of Mr Stephens’ work within my knowledge, is that ‘the Soul of History is wanting!’ ‘The Promethean spark by which the flame of historic truth should illuminate his work, and be viewed as a gleaming beacon from afar, to direct wanderers through the dark night of wonders, has found no spot to rest upon and to vivify!’ Jones’ Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 55. And we may thank heaven for the fault when we consider the effects of the said ‘Promethean spark’ in the work of the immortal Jones.

[III-15] Juarros’ Hist. Guat., pp. 56-7. That any such structure as the rocking hammock ever existed here is in the highest degree improbable; yet the padre at Gualan told Stephens that he had seen it, and an Indian had heard it spoken of by his grandfather. Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. i., p. 144.

[III-16] ‘The extent along the river, ascertained by monuments still found, is more than two miles.’ ‘Beyond the wall of enclosure were walls, terraces, and pyramidal elevations running off into the forest.’ Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 133, 139, 146-7. ‘Extended along the bank of its river a length of two miles, as evidenced by the remains of its fallen edifices.’ ‘Mounts of stone, formed by fallen edifices, are found throughout the neighbouring country.’ Galindo, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., pp. 547, 549-50. ‘La carrière … est à 2000 mètres au nord.’ ‘Là se trouve beaucoup de bois de sapin pétrifié.’ Id., in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 76. ‘The ground, being covered with ruins for many square miles, and much overgrown by a rank vegetation, would require months for a thorough examination.’ ‘No remains whatever on the opposite side of the river.’ Hardcastle, in Hist. Mag., vol. vi., p. 154. ‘Les plaines de Chapulco s’étendent entre Copan et le pied des montagnes de Chiquimula. Elles sont couvertes de magnifiques ruines.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 105.

[III-17] Plan in Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. i., p. 133, reproduced in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 57; and in Willson’s Amer. Hist., p. 76. Galindo’s drawings also included a plan. By reason of the disagreement between Stephens’ plan and text in the matter of dimensions, I have omitted the scale as useless. The southern wall of the enclosure, to accommodate the size of my page, I have placed some two hundred feet north of its true position. Those portions of the temple shaded by cross-lines are the portions still standing according to the survey.

[III-18] The southern wall in one place rises 30 or 40 feet in steps. Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. i., p. 134. ‘One wall eighty feet high and fifty feet thick for half its height, or more, and then sloping like a roof, was formed of stones often six feet by three or four, with mortar in the interstices.’ Hardcastle, in Hist. Mag., vol. vi., p. 154. Mr Center ‘mentioned a Cyclopean wall … undescribed in any publication, but reported to him by most credible witnesses, about 800 feet long, 40 feet high, —— feet thick, formed of immense hewn stone.’ Hist. Mag., vol. v., p. 114. Stones ‘cut into blocks.’ Galindo, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., p. 549. Before reaching the ruins ‘está señal de paredes gruesas.’ Palacio, in Pacheco, Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. vi., p. 37.

[III-19] According to Stephens’ text, which states that the river or west side is 624 feet, and the whole line of survey, which cannot in this case mean anything but the circumference, is 2866 feet, thus leaving 809 feet each for the northern and southern sides. His plan, and consequently my own, makes the dimensions about 790 feet north and south by 600 east and west, the circuit being thus 2780 feet. ‘Not so large as the base of the great Pyramid of Ghizeh.’ Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 133. Galindo, Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., p. 547, makes the dimensions 750 feet east and west (He calls it north and south, but on the supposition that the ruins are on the north bank of the river instead of the east) by 600 feet north and south, a circumference of 2700 feet; or if his measurements be understood to be Spanish, their English equivalent would be about 690 by 552 feet, circuit 2484 feet. The same author, Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 76, gives 653 by 524, and 2354 feet; or if French measure be understood, its equivalent is 696 by 588, and 2568 feet. As large as Saint Peter’s at Rome. Davis’ Antiq. of Amer., pp. 4-5.

[III-20] ‘Broad terrace one hundred feet high, overlooking the river, and supported by the wall which we had seen from the opposite bank,’ cut showing a view of this wall from across the river. Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 104, 95-6, 139. Same cut in Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., p. 112. ‘Built perpendicularly from the bank of the river, to a height, as it at present exists, of more than forty yards.’ Galindo, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., p. 547. ‘Una torre ó terrapleno alto, que cae sobre el rio que por allé pasa.’ ‘Hay una escalera que baja hasta el rio por muchas gradas.’ Palacio, in Pacheco, Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. vi., p. 38. ‘The city-wall on the river-side, with its raised bank, … must then have ranged from one hundred and thirty to one hundred and fifty feet in height’ in imitation of ancient Tyre, the only city of antiquity with so high a wall on a river-bank. Jones’ Hist. Anc. Amer., pp. 63, 161-2.

[III-21] At the south-west corner a recess is mentioned which Mr Stephens believes to have been occupied by some large monument now fallen and washed away. Cent. Amer., vol. i., p. 134.

[III-22] This court may have been Fuentes’ circus, although the latter is represented as having been circular. The terrace between it and the river is stated by Stephens to be only 20 feet wide; according to the plan it is at least 50 feet. Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 142-4, 133, 140. The pavement of the court is 20 yards above the river; the gallery through the terrace is 4 feet high and 2½ feet wide; the vault below the court is 5½ by 10 by 6 feet, its length running north and south with 9° variation of the compass. Galindo, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., p. 547. ‘Una plaza muy bien fecha, con sus gradas á la forma que escriben del Coliseo romano, y por algunas partes tiene ochenta gradas, enlosada, y labrada por cierto en partes de muy buena piedra é con harto primor.’ The river-wall ‘háse caido y derrumbado un gran pedazo, y en lo caido se descubrieron dos cuevas debajo del dicho edificio,’ a statement that may possibly refer to the gallery and vault. Palacio, in Pacheco, Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. vi., pp. 37-8.

[III-23] ‘There was no entire pyramid, but, at most, two or three pyramidal sides, and these joined on to terraces or other structures of the same kind.’ Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. i., p. 139. The author intends to speak perhaps of the Temple only, but Mr Jones applies the words to Copan in general, and considers them a flat contradiction of the statement respecting the three detached pyramids. Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 63. ‘Les édifices sont tous tombés et ne montrent plus que des monceaux de pierres.’ Galindo, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 73. ‘Several hills, thirty or forty feet in height, and supporting ruins, appeared to have been themselves entirely built of stone.’ Hardcastle, in Hist. Mag., vol. vi., p. 154. ‘Unas ruinas y vestigios de gran poblazon, y de soberbios edificios.’ ‘Hay montes que parecen haber sido fechos á manos.’ Palacio, in Pacheco, Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. vi., p. 37. The latter sentence is incorrectly translated by M. Ternaux-Compans, ‘il y a des arbres que paraissent avoir été plantés de main d’homme.’ Recueil de Doc., p. 42. Mr Squier makes the same error: ‘Trees which appear to have been planted by the hands of men.’ Translation of Palacio, Carta, p. 91.

[III-24] See Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 140, 138, 136-7, 134, 149, 158, 157, 156, 155, 153, 152, 150, 151, for description of the statues in their order from 1 to 14, with plates of all but 4, 6, and 12, showing the altars of 7, 10, and 13. Plates of 3, 5, 10, and 13 are copied from Stephens in Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., pl. ix-xi.; and of No. 13, from the same source, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 57. We have already seen the idea of Fuentes respecting these statues, clad in Spanish habits; that of the Licenciado Palacio is as follows: ‘Una estátua grande, de más que quatro varas de alto, labrada como un obispo vestido de pontificial, con su mitra bien labrada y anillos en las manos.’ In the plaza, which would seem to be the court A, where no statues were found by Stephens, were ‘seis estátuas grandísimas, las tres de hombres armados á lo mosáico, con liga gambas, é sembradas muchas labores por las armas; y las otras dos de mujeres con buen ropaje largo y tocaduras á lo romano; la otra, es de obispo, que parece tener en las manos un bulto, como cofrecito; decian ser de idolos, porque delante de cada una dellas habia una piedra grande, que tenia fecha una pileta con su sumidero, donde degollaban los sacrificados y corria la sangre.’ Palacio, in Pacheco, Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. vi., pp. 37-8. Galindo says ‘there are seven obelisks still standing and entire, in the temple and its immediate vicinity; and there are numerous others, fallen and destroyed, throughout the ruins of the city. These stone columns are ten or eleven feet high, and about three broad, with a less thickness; on one side were worked, in basso-relievo, (Stephens states, on the contrary, that all are cut in alto-relievo) human figures, standing square to the front, with their hands resting on their breast; they are dressed with caps on their heads, and sandals on their feet, and clothed in highly adorned garments, generally reaching half way down the thigh, but sometimes in long pantaloons. Opposite this figure, at a distance of three or four yards, was commonly placed a stone table or altar. The back and sides of the obelisk generally contain phonetic hieroglyphics in squares. Hard and fine stones are inserted (naturally?) in many obelisks, as they, as well as the rest of the works in the ruins, are of a species of soft stone, which is found in a neighbouring and most extensive quarry.’ Galindo, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., p. 548; and in Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., p. 97. A bust 1^m., 68 high, belonging to a statue fifteen to twenty feet high. Galindo, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 76. Pillars so loaded with attributes that some scrutiny is required to discover from the head in the centre that they represent a human form. An altar not infrequently found beside them would, if necessary, show their use. They are sun-pillars, such as are found everywhere in connection with an ancient sun-religion. Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 464.

[III-25] Galindo, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., pp. 547-8; Id., in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 73, supplementary pl. vii., fig. 14. This head bears a remarkable resemblance to one given by Humboldt as coming from New Granada, shown in fig. 13, of the same plate. Stephens, Cent. Amer., vol. i., p. 144, gives the dimensions of the two niches as 1 foot 8 in. by 1 foot 9 in. by 2 feet 5 in.; the relics having been removed before his visit.

[III-26] Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 103-4, 142-3, with cut. Cut also in Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., pl. x.

[III-27] Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 140-2, with plates; Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 57, 67-8. Plate. Mention of the altar with a comparison of the cross-legged chiefs to certain ornaments of Xochicalco. Tylor’s Anahuac, p. 190. The altar is described by Galindo as a very remarkable stone table in the temple, ‘two feet four inches high, and four feet ten inches square; its top contains forty-nine square tablets of hieroglyphics; and its four sides are occupied by sixteen human figures in basso-relievo, sitting cross-legged, on cushions carved in the stone, and bearing each in their hands something like a fan or flapper.’ Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., p. 548. To Mr Jones, possessed as that gentleman is with the ‘Soul of History,’ this altar is the ‘Rosetta-stone’ of American antiquity. The four supporting stones are eggs; serpents occur in the ornaments; the objects held in the hands of the lesser personages of the sides are spiral shells; the figures are seated cross-legged, or in the oriental style; one chief holds a sceptre, the other none. Now these interpretations are important to the author, since he claims that the serpent was the good demon of the Tyrians; a serpent entwining an egg is seen on Tyrian coins; the spiral shell was also put on Tyrian medals in honor of the discovery of the famous purple; the style of sitting is one practiced in Tyre; the chief representing Tyre holds no sceptre, because Tyre had ceased to be a nation at the time of the event designed to commemorate. The conclusion is clear: the altar was built in commemoration of an act of friendship between Tyre and Sidon, by which act the people of the former nation were enabled to migrate to America! Jones’ Hist. Anc. Amer., pp. 65-6, 156-62. More of this in a future treatise on origin.

[III-28] Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 134-9, 156; Galindo, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., pp. 548-9; Id., in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 76; Davis’ Antiq. Amer., pp. 4-5; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 68-9. Palacio’s miscellaneous relics are, a large stone in the form of an eagle with a tablet of hieroglyphics a vara long on its breast; a stone cross three palms high, with a broken arm; and a supposed baptismal font in the plaza. Relacion, in Pacheco, Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. vi., p. 38.

[III-29] Jones’ Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 67; Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. i., p. 142; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 197.

[III-30] Cent. Amer., vol. i., pp. 102-3, 151. ‘La sculpture monumentale des ruines de Copan peut rivaliser avec quelques produits similaires de l’Orient et de l’Occident européens. Mais la conception de ces monuments, l’originalité de leur ornementation suffit à plus d’un esprit pour éloigner toute idée d’origine commune.’ Dally, Races Indig., p. 13.

[III-31] ‘We have this type of skull delineated by artists who had the skill to portray the features of their race. These artists would not select the most holy of places as the groundwork of their caricatures. This form, then, pertained to the most exalted personages.’ Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 302, 338-9.

[III-32] ‘The hieroglyphics displayed upon the walls of Copan, in horizontal or perpendicular rows, would indicate a written language in which the pictorial significance had largely disappeared, and a kind of word-writing had become predominant. Intermingled with the pictorial devices are apparently purely arbitrary characters which may be alphabetic.’ Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 322. They are conjectured to recount the adventures of Topiltzin-Acxitl, a Toltec king who came from Anáhuac and founded an empire in Honduras, or Tlapallan, at the end of the eleventh century. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 101-2. Like those of Palenque, and some characters of the Dresden MS. Squier’s Pref. to Palacio, Carta, p. 10. ‘No he hallado libros de sus antigüedades, ni creo que en todo este distrito hay más que uno, que yo tengo.’ Palacio, in Pacheco, Col. Doc. Inéd., tom. vi., p. 39. I have no idea what this one book spoken of may have been. The characters are apparently hieroglyphics, ‘but to us they are altogether unintelligible.’ Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 55-6, 66.

Chapter IV • Antiquities of Guatemala and Belize • 12,300 Words

The State of Guatemala—a Land of Mystery—Wonderful Reports—Discoveries Comparatively Unimportant—Ruins of Quirigua—History and Bibliography—Pyramid, Altars, and Statues—Comparison with Copan—Pyramid of Chapulco—Relics at Chinamita—Temples of Micla—Cinaca-Mecallo—Cave of Peñol—Cyclopean Débris at Carrizal—Copper Medals at Guatemala—Esquimatha—Fortification of Mixco—Pancacoya Columns—Cave of Santa María—Mammoth Bones at Petapa—Rosario Aqueduct—Ruins of Patinamit, or Tecpan Guatemala—Quezaltenango, or Xelahuh—Utatlan, near Santa Cruz del Quiché—Zakuléu near Huehuetenango—Cakchiquel Ruins in the Region of Rabinal—Cawinal—Marvelous Ruins Reported—Stephens’ Inhabited City—Antiquities of Peten—Flores—San José—Casas Grandes—Tower of Yaxhaa—Tikal Palaces and Statues—Dolores—Antiquities Of Belize.

Guatemala

Above the isthmus of Honduras the continent widens abruptly, forming between the Rio Motagua and Laguna de Terminos on the Atlantic, the Rio Paza and bar of Ayutla on the Pacific, a territory which stretches some five hundred and fifty miles from north to south, with a nearly uniform width of two hundred miles from east to west. Dividing this territory into two nearly equal portions by a line drawn near the eighteenth parallel of latitude, the northern part, between the bay of Chetumal and Laguna de Terminos, is the peninsula of Yucatan; while that portion lying south of the dividing line constitutes the republic of Guatemala and the English province of Belize, which latter occupies a strip along the Atlantic from the gulf of Amatique northward. The Pacific coast of Guatemala for an average width of seventy miles is low and unhealthy, with few inhabitants in modern, as, judging from the absence of material relics, in ancient times. Then comes a highland tract which contains the chief towns and most of the white population of the modern republic; succeeded by the yet wilder and more mountainous regions of Totonicapan and Vera Paz, chiefly inhabited by comparatively savage and unsubdued aboriginal tribes; from which we descend, still going northward towards Yucatan, into the little-explored lake region of Peten. At the time of its conquest by the Spaniards, Guatemala was the seat of several powerful aboriginal kingdoms, chief among which were those of the Quichés and Cakchiquels. They fought long and desperately in defence of their homes and liberty, and when forced to yield before Spanish discipline and arms, the few survivors of the struggle either retired to the inaccessible fastnesses of the northern highlands, or remained in sullen forced submission to their conquerors in the homes of their past greatness—the aboriginal spirit still unbroken, and the native superstitious faith yielding only nominally to Catholic power and persuasion. Here and in the adjoining state of Chiapas the natives probably retain to the present day their original character with fewer modifications than elsewhere in the Pacific States.

By reason of the peculiar nature of the country, the grandeur of its mountain scenery, the existence of large tracts almost unknown to white men, the desperate struggles of its people for independence, their wild and haughty disposition, and their strange and superstitious traditions, Guatemala has always been a land of mystery, particularly to those who delight in antiquarian speculations. A residence at Rabinal in close contact with the native character in its purest state first started in the mind of the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg the train of thought that has since developed into his most startling and complicated theories respecting American antiquity; and Guatemala has furnished also many of the documents on which these theories rest. Few visitors have resisted the temptation to indulge in speculative fancies or to frame far-reaching theories respecting ancient ruins or possibly flourishing cities hidden from the explorer’s gaze in the depths of Guatemalan forests and mountains.

And yet this mysterious land, promising so much, has yielded to actual exploration only comparatively trifling results in the form of material relics of antiquity. The ruins scattered throughout the country are indeed numerous, but with very few exceptions, besides being in an advanced state of dilapidation, they are manifestly the remains of structures destroyed during the Spanish conquest. Important as proving the accuracy of the reported power and civilization of the Quichés and Cakchiquels, and indirectly of the Aztecs in Anáhuac, where few traces of aboriginal structures remain for our study, they are still unsatisfactory to the student who desires to push his researches back into the more remote American past.

Ruins of Quirigua

Beginning with the province of Chiquimula, bordering on Honduras and composed for the most part of the valley of the Motagua and its tributaries, the first ruin of importance, one of the exceptions noted above to the general character of Guatemalan antiquities, is found at Quirigua, fifty miles north-east of Copan, on the north side of the Motagua, about sixty miles above its mouth, and ten miles below Encuentros where the royal road, so called, from Yzabal to Guatemala crosses the river. The stream is navigable for small boats to a point opposite the ruins, which are in a cedar-forest on low moist ground nearly a mile from the bank.[IV-1]About five miles down the river from El Pozo de los Amates on the main road from Guatemala to Yzabal, in a forest of cedar and mahogany, about a mile from the left bank of the river, on the estate of the Señores Payes. Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., pp. 118-23. Stephens’ map locates Quirigua, however, on the south bank of the river. ‘Quirigua, village guatémalien, situé sur la route et à huit lieues environ du port de l’Isabal; les ruines qui en portent le nom existent à deux lieues de là sur la rive gauche du fleuve Motagua.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Palenqué, introd., p. 22. ‘Sur la rive gauche de la rivière de Motagua, à milles vares environ de cette rivière.’ Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1840, tom. lxxxviii., pp. 376-7. ‘Liegen in der Nähe des kleinen Dorfes Los Amates, 2 Stunden unterhalb Encuentros, am linken Ufer des Motagua, ¾ Stunde vom Flusse entfernt, mitten im Walde. Der Weg von Yzabal führt in einer Entfernung von 3 Stunden an dem Orte vorbei.’ Reichardt, Cent. Amer., p. 69. ‘Eine der unbekanntesten und merkwürdigsten Ruinenstätten Central-Amerika’s, nahe dem See von Isabal, in einer schwer zugänglichen Wildniss.’ Wagner and Scherzer, Costa Rica, p. x. ‘Quirigüa, c’est le nom d’une ville considérable, bâtie par les Aztèques à l’époque où florissait la magnifique Anahuac. Ses ruines mystérieuses sont aujourd’hui ensevelies à environ trois lieues du triste village qui porte son nom.’ Sue, Henri le Chancelier, pp. 110-11. Nearly two English miles from the river-bank. Scherzer, Quiriguá, p. 5. Mention in Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 276; Hesse, in Sivers, Mittelamerika, p. 256. Our only knowledge respecting this ancient city comes through Mr Catherwood and Dr Scherzer. The former, traveling with Mr Stephens, visited the locality in 1840 in company with the Señores Payes, proprietors of the estate on which the ruins stand, and by his description Quirigua first was made known to the world. Mr Stephens, on hearing Catherwood’s report, entered into negotiations with the owners of the land for its purchase, with a view to shipping the monuments to New York, their location on the banks of a navigable stream being favorable for the execution of such a purpose; but the interference of a European official so raised the market value of ancient real estate that it was found necessary to abandon the scheme. Dr Karl Scherzer’s visit was in 1854, and his account, published in the Transactions of the Royal Austrian Academy of Science, and also reprinted in pamphlet form, is the most extensive and complete extant.[IV-2]Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., pp. 118-24, with two plates. An account made up from Catherwood’s notes was, however, inserted in the Guatemalan newspaper El Tiempo by the proprietors of the Quirigua estate, and translated into French in Le Moniteur Parisien, from which it was reprinted in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1840, tom. lxxxviii., pp. 376-7; and in Amérique Cent., pt. ii., pp. 68-9, both French and Spanish text is given. The same description is also given in Valois, Mexique, pp. 202-3. Scherzer’s pamphlet on the subject bears the title Ein Besuch bei den Ruinen von Quiriguá im Staate Guatemala in Central-Amerika, (Wien, 1855,) and I have not found it quoted elsewhere. Baily’s Cent. Amer., pp. 65-6, also contains a brief account from a source not stated, and this is quoted nearly in full in Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. ii., pp. 138-9. The ruins are slightly mentioned in Macgregor’s Progress of Amer., vol. i., pp. 878-9, and in Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., pp. 114-17, where it is incorrectly stated that Mr Stephens personally visited Quirigua. Brasseur de Bourbourg says: ‘Nous les avons visitées en 1863, et nous possédons les dessins des plusieurs des monolithes qu’on y voit, faits par M. William Baily, d’Izabal.’ Palenqué, introd., p. 22. See also the additional references in Note 1. Nothing like a thorough exploration has been made even in comparison with those of Copan and other Central American ruins; but monuments and fragments thus far brought to light are found scattered over a space of some three thousand square feet, on the banks of a small creek which empties into the Motagua. The site is only very slightly elevated above the level of the river, and is consequently often flooded in times of high water; indeed, during a more than ordinary freshet in 1852, after Mr Catherwood’s visit, several idols were undermined and overthrown. No aboriginal name is known for the locality, Quirigua being merely that of a small village at the foot of Mount Mico, not far distant. There being no plan extant by which to locate the different objects to be mentioned in this old centre of civilization, I will give the slight descriptions obtainable, with very slight reference to their arrangement, beginning with the pyramid which seems to occupy a somewhat central position round which the other relics are grouped. Catherwood’s description of this structure is limited to the statement that it is “like those at Copan, with the steps in some places perfect,” and twenty-five feet high. Scherzer’s account only adds that it is constructed of neatly cut sandstone in regular oblong blocks, and is very much ruined, hardly more, in fact, than a confused mass of fragments, among which were found some pieces of fine white marble. But under this structure there is, it seems, a foundation, an artificial hill, or mound, of rough stones without mortar. The base is an irregular square, the dimensions of which are not stated, with a spur extending toward the south. The steps which lead up the sides to the super-imposed structure are only eight or nine inches high and six or seven inches in width, remaining intact only at a few points. In the upper part of the mound are two or three terraces, on the first of which several recesses, or niches, of no great extent are noticed; they are lined with small rough stones, plastered, and in a good state of preservation, details which indicated to the observer that these niches may be of more modern origin than the rest of the ruin. There are no traces of openings to show that the hill contained underground apartments; neither are there any sculptures on the hewn stones of the pyramid itself, nor any idols or carved fragments found on the surface of the mound.

Very near the foot of the mound Mr Catherwood found a moss-covered colossal head six feet in diameter, and a large altar, both relics being within an enclosure.[IV-3]The French version of Catherwood’s notes has it, ‘Au centre du cirque, dans lequel on descend par des degrés très-étroits, il y a une grande pierre arrondie, dont le contour présente beaucoup d’hiéroglyphes et d’inscriptions; deux têtes d’homme, de proportion plus grande que nature, parraissent soutenir cette table, laquelle est couverte de végétation dans la plus grande partie.’ Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1840, tom. lxxxviii., p. 377. Scherzer also describes several monuments near the pyramid, some of which may be identical with the ones mentioned by Catherwood, although he says nothing of an enclosure. The first is a stone of a long oval form like a human head, six feet high and thirty-five feet in circumference, the surface being covered with carved figures in demi-relief, which for some reason have been better preserved and present clearer outlines than other carvings at Quirigua. One of the most clearly defined of these sculptures represents a sitting female, whose legs and hands are wanting, but whose arms hang down to the ground. A prominent feature is her head-dress, sixteen inches high, the upper part of which is an idol’s head crowned with a diadem. The forehead is described as narrow, depressed above and projecting below. The features are indistinct, but the form of the head is of what Scherzer terms the Indian type. On the south side of this block, or altar, is the rude figure of a turtle five feet high. The top is covered with ornamental figures representing plants and fruits, all the varieties there delineated being such as still flourish in this region. The sides bear also faint indications of hieroglyphics. Dr Scherzer believes that the stone used in the construction of this altar must have been found on the spot, since by reason of its great size it could not have been brought from a distance with the aid of any mechanical appliances known to native art.[IV-4]‘Wahrscheinlich benutzten die Erbauer einen hier schon vorhandenen grossen Felsblock zu ihren Zwecken, denn der Transport eines Steines von solcher Grösse und Umfang mit den bewegenden Kräften welche diesen Völkern muthmasslich zu Gebote standen, wäre sonst kaum begreiflich.’ Scherzer, Quiriguá, p. 7. The second of these monuments is like a mill-stone, four feet in diameter and two feet thick, cut from harder material than the other objects. A tiger’s head nearly covers one side of the disk, and the rest of the surface, including the rim, is covered with hieroglyphics, several of these mysterious signs appearing on the animal’s forehead. The third of the relics found near the pyramid is a fragment eighteen feet long and five feet wide, the upper portion having disappeared. The human face appears at different points among its hieroglyphics and ornaments.

Statues of Quirigua

Three or four hundred yards northward from the mound, and at the foot of a ‘pyramidal wall,’ concerning which we have no information beyond the mention of its existence, is a group of sculptured idols, pillars, or obelisks, standing in the forest like those in the sacred enclosure at Copan. Indeed, they bear a strong resemblance to the latter, except in their greater height and less elaborate sculpture, which is also in lower relief. Twelve of them are definitely mentioned, the smallest of which is nine feet high, and the largest twenty-six feet above ground, increasing in size toward the top, leaning twelve feet out of the perpendicular, and requiring, of course, some six or eight feet below the surface to sustain its weight in such a position.[IV-5]‘Plus inclinée que la tour de Pise.’ Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1840, tom. lxxxviii., p. 376. They are from two to three feet thick and four to six feet wide. In most instances a human face, male or female, appears on the front or back or both; while the sides are covered for the most part with hieroglyphics, which are also seen on various parts of the dress and ornaments. One statue is, however, mentioned, which, although crowded with ornaments, has no character, apparently, of hieroglyphic nature. One of the idols, twenty-three feet high, stands on a stone foundation projecting some fifteen feet; and another, circular instead of rectangular in form, rests on a small mound, within a wall of stones enclosing a small circular area.[IV-6]Stephens’ text, Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 122, leaves it uncertain whether it is the statue or the altar afterwards mentioned which rests on the elevation. The French text, however, indicates that it is the former. In one the human figure has a head-dress of which an animal’s head forms a prominent part, while in yet another the head is half human and half animal. In both cases the aim of the artist would seem to have been to inspire terror, as in the case of some Nicaraguan idols already noticed. Mr Catherwood made sketches of two of the obelisks, including the leaning one, the largest of all; but as he could not clean them of moss in the limited time at his disposal, he makes no attempt to give the details of sculpture, and a reproduction of the plates is therefore not deemed necessary. The two monuments sketched by him could not be found at all by Dr Scherzer. The Quirigua idols have not, like those at Copan, altars in front of them, but several altars, or apparently such, were found buried in moss and earth, and not carefully examined by either of the explorers. They are usually of round or oval form, with hieroglyphically inscribed sides; and one of them, within the circular wall with steps, already mentioned as enclosing one of the statues,[IV-7]See Notes 6 and 3. is described as supported by two colossal heads. Many fragments were noticed which are not described; and here as elsewhere monuments superior to any seen were reported to exist by enthusiastic guides and natives; in which latter class of antiquities are eleven square columns higher than those mentioned, and also a female holding a child, and an alligator’s head in stone.[IV-8]Baily, Cent. Amer., pp. 65-6, sums up all the relics at Quirigua as follows: seven quadrilateral columns, twelve to twenty-five feet high, three to five feet at base; four pieces of an irregular oval shape, twelve by ten or eleven feet, not unlike sarcophagi; two large square slabs seven and a half by three feet and over three feet thick; all except the slabs being covered on all sides with elaborately wrought and well-defined sculptured figures of men, women, animals, foliage, and fanciful representations. All the columns are moreover of a single piece of stone. The material of all the stone work of Quirigua is a soft coarse-grained sandstone, not differing materially, so far as I can judge, from that employed at Copan. It is the prevalent formation at both localities, and may be quarried readily at almost any point in the vicinity.

Absolutely no traditions have been preserved respecting Quirigua in the days when its monuments were yet intact, when a large town, which has left no traces, must have stood in the immediate vicinity.[IV-9]Yet Scherzer thinks that ‘es ist nicht ganz unwahrscheinlich, dass die Monumente von Quiriguá noch zur Zeit der spanischen Invasion ihrer religiösen Bestimmung dienten, und dass auch eine Stadt in der Nähe noch bewohnt war.’ Quiriguá, p. 15, although there is no record of such a place in the annals of the conquest. The idols scattered over the surface of the ground, instead of being located on the pyramids, may indicate here as at Copan that the elevations served as seats for spectators during the religious ceremonies, rather than as temples or altars on which sacrifice was made. Both observers agree on the general similarity between the monuments of Quirigua and Copan,[IV-10]Although Baily, Cent. Amer., p. 66, says ‘they do not resemble in sculpture those of Palenque … nor are they similar to those of Copan…. They suggest the idea of having been designed for historical records rather than mere ornament.’ and the hieroglyphics are pronounced identical. Indeed, it seems altogether probable that they owe their existence to the same era and the same people. Mr Stephens notes, besides the greater size and lower relief of the Quirigua monuments, that they are “less rich in design, and more faded and worn, probably being of a much older date.” Dr Scherzer speaks of the greater plumpness of the sculptured figures, and has no faith in their great antiquity, believing that the low-relief carvings on so soft a material, would, when exposed in an atmosphere so moist, have been utterly obliterated in a thousand years.[IV-11]The sculpture presents no old-world affinities whatever. A certain coarseness of execution, implying inferior tools, distinguishes them from the coarsest Egyptian carvings. Both grouping and execution indicate a still “barbaric state of art, with no advanced idea of beauty, the patience and industry of the workmen being more remarkable than their ideas or skill.” Scherzer, Quiriguá, p. 11-12.

Chapulco and Chinamita

At Chapulco, a few leagues below Quirigua, on the opposite side of the Motagua, one traveler speaks of a quadrilateral pyramid with terraced sides, up which steps lead to the summit platform, where débris of hewn stone are enveloped in a dense vegetation. Also at Chinamita, some sixteen miles above Quirigua on the same side of the river, the same authority reports a large area covered with aboriginal relics, in the form of ruined stone structures, vases and idols of burned clay, and monoliths buried for the most part in the earth. Of course, with this meagre information, it is impossible to form any definite idea of what these ruins really are, and whether they should be classed with Quirigua and Copan, or with a more modern class of Guatemalan antiquities. The same remark will apply also to many of the localities of this state, of whose relics we have no description in detail.[IV-12]Hesse, in Sivers, Mittelamerika, p. 256.

At Micla, or Mimilla, some three leagues north of lake Guijar, or Uxaca, which is on the boundary between Guatemala and Salvador, traces of a sacred town with its cues and temples are spoken of as visible in 1576. They are represented as of the class erected by the Pipiles who occupied the region at the time of the conquest.[IV-13]Palacio, Carta, pp. 62.

Cinaca-Mecallo

Still farther south-west towards the coast, a few miles south, of Comapa, are the ruins of Cinaca-Mecallo, a name said to mean ‘knotted rope.’ The Rio Paza here forms the boundary line between the two states, and from its northern bank rises abruptly a mountain chain. On the summit, at a point commanding a broad view over a large portion of Salvador, is a plain of considerable extent, watered by several small mountain streams, which unite and fall over a precipice on the way to the river below. On the highest portion of this summit plain interesting works of the former inhabitants have been discovered by D. José Antonio Urrutia, padre in charge of the church at Jutiapa.[IV-14]Padre Urrutia published an account of his investigations at Cinaca-Mecallo in the Gaceta de Guatemala, according to Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 81. The most complete description, however, he gave in a letter to E. G. Squier, who published the same in his Cent. Amer., pp. 342-4. The substance of the letter may be found in Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., p. 124; and a French version in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1857, tom. cliii., pp. 182-6. The remains of Cinaca-Mecallo cover an oval area formerly surrounded by a wall, of which fragments yet remain sufficient to mark the line originally followed. Within this space are vestiges of streets, ruined buildings, and subterranean passages. Padre Urrutia makes special mention of four monuments. The first is what he terms a temple of the sun, an excavation in the solid rock opening towards the rising sun, and having at its entrance an archway known to the natives as ‘stone of the sun,’ formed of stone slabs closely joined. On these slabs are carved in low relief figures of the sun and moon, to which are added hieroglyphics painted on the stone with a very durable kind of red varnish. There are also some sculptured hieroglyphic signs on the interior walls of this artificial cavern. The second monument is a great slab covered with carved inscriptions, among which were noted a tree and a skull, emblematic, according to the padre’s views, of life and death. Next is mentioned the representation of a tiger or other wild animal cut on the side of a large rock. This monument is, it appears, some distance from the other ruins, and is conjectured by Urrutia to be a commemoration of some historical event, from the fact that the natives still celebrate past deeds of valor by dances, or scenic representations, in which they dress in imitation of different animals. Mr Squier suggests farther that the event thus commemorated may have been a conflict between the Pipiles and the Cakchiquels, in which the latter were driven permanently from this district. The fourth and last of these monuments is one of the subterranean passages which the explorer penetrated until he reached a kind of chamber where were some sculptured blocks. This underground apartment is celebrated among the natives as having been in modern times the resort of a famous robber chief, who was at last brought to bay and captured here in his stronghold. The material employed in all the Cinaca-Mecallo structures is a slate-like stone in thin blocks, joined by a cement which resembles in color and consistence molten lead. Some of the carved blocks were sent by the discoverer as specimens to the city of Guatemala. Outside the walls are tumuli of earth and small stones, with no sculptured fragments. These are supposed to be burial mounds, and to vary in size according to the rank and importance of the personages whose resting-places they mark.

Proceeding now north-eastward to the region lying within a circle of fifty miles about the city of Guatemala as a centre, we have a reported cave on the hacienda of Peñol, perhaps twenty-five miles east of Guatemala, which is said to have been explored for at least a distance of one mile, and is believed by the credulous natives to extend eleven leagues through the mountain to the Rio de los Esclavos. In this cavern, or at least on the same hacienda, if we may credit Fuentes, human bones of extraordinary size were found, including shin-bones about five feet in length. These human relics crumbled on being touched, but fragments were carefully gathered up and sent to Guatemala, since which time nothing is known of them.[IV-15]Juarros’ Hist. Guat., pp. 45, 308-9, taking the information from Fuentes, Recopilacion Florida, MS., tom. ii., lib. iv., cap. ii. Of course no importance is to be attached to these and similar reports. On the hacienda of Carrizal, some twenty miles north of Guatemala, we hear of cyclopean débris, or masses of great unhewn stones heaped one on another without cement, and forming gigantic walls, which cover a considerable extent of territory on the lofty heights that guard the approaches to the Motagua Valley.[IV-16]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 43-4.

Copper Medal at Guatemala.

Copper Medals and Fortifications

The immediate vicinity of Guatemala seems not to have yielded any antiquarian relics of importance. M. Valois reports the plain to be studded with mounds which the natives regard as the tombs of their ancestors, which others have searched for treasure, but which he believes to be ant-hills.[IV-17]Valois, Mexique, pp. 430-1. Ordoñez claims to have found here two pure copper medals, fac-similes one of the other, two inches in diameter and three lines thick, a little heavier than a Mexican peso fuerte, engraved on both sides, as shown in the cut, which I give herewith notwithstanding the fact that this must be regarded as a relic of doubtful authenticity. M. Dupaix noticed an indication of the use of the compass in the centre of one of the sides, the figures on the same side representing a kneeling, bearded, turbaned man, between two fierce heads, perhaps of crocodiles, which appear to defend the entrance to a mountainous and wooded country. The reverse presents a serpent coiled round a fruit-tree, and an eagle—quite as much like a dove or crow or other bird—on a hill. There are, besides, some ornamental figures on the rim, said to resemble those of Palenque, and, indeed, Ordoñez refers the origin of these medals to the founders of that city. He kept one of them and sent the other to the king of Spain in 1794.[IV-18]Dupaix, Rel. 3^me Expéd., p. 9, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. i., tom. iii., pl. vii., fig. 12, and in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 290, vol. vi., p. 470, vol. iv., pl. viii., fig. 12. Kingsborough’s translation incorrectly represents this relic as having been found at Palenque, although the original reads ‘lo encontró en Guatemala’ and the French ‘l’a trouvée à Guatemala.’ M. Lenoir, Parallèle, p. 72, thinks the engraved device may show some analogy with the astronomical traditions of the ancients, the serpent of the pole, the dragon, the constellation Ophis, the apples of the Hesperides, etc.; and the reverse may be the Mexican tradition of the creation, the Python, or the serpent killed by Cadmus!! Cabrera, Teatro Crítico, pp. 53-5, pl. i., who was the bearer of one of the medals to the king of Spain, speaks of it as made of brass, and pronounces it to be ‘a concise history of the primitive population of this part of North America.’ The bird, in his opinion, is an eagle with a serpent in its beak and claws. His application of this relic to history will be more appropriate when I come to treat of the origin of the Americans.

About 1860, a stone idol forty inches high was dug up in a yard of the city, where it had been buried fifty years before, having been brought by the natives from a point one hundred and fifty miles distant. Its discovery was mentioned at a meeting of the American Ethnological Society in 1861, by Mr Hicks. The same gentleman also spoke of the reported discovery of a great city in ruins in the province of Esquimatha, buried in a dense forest about fifty-six miles from the city.[IV-19]Hist. Mag., vol. vi., pp. 57-8.

A few leagues west of the city are the ruins of Mixco, a fortified town of the natives down to the time of the conquest, mentioned by several authorities but described by none. Fuentes, however, as quoted by Juarros, speaks of a cavern on a small ridge by the side of the ruins. The entrance was a Doric portico of clay about three feet wide and high. A flight of thirty-six stone steps leads down to a room one hundred and twenty feet square, followed by another flight still leading downward. This latter stairway no one has had the courage to fully explore, on account of the tremulous and insecure condition of the ground. Eighteen steps down this second flight, however, is an arched entrance on the right side, to a passage which, after a descent of six steps, has been explored for a distance of one hundred and forty feet. Furthermore, the author tells us there are some extravagant (!) accounts not worthy of implicit belief, and consequently not repeated by him. Hassel states that gigantic bones have been found here, and that the cave is natural, without any artificial improvements whatever.[IV-20]Juarros’ Hist. Guat., pp. 488-9. The ruins are situated on a rock commanding the junction of the rivers Pixcayatl and Motagua. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 524. Ruins of the ancient capital of the Cakchiquel kings. Hassel, Mex. Guat., pp. 333, 335. ‘Remarquable par les ruines de l’ancienne forteresse du même nom.’ Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., p. 266; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 470.

In this same valley, where the Pancacoya River enters the Xilotepec, Juarros speaks of “a range of columns curiously wrought, with capitals, mouldings, etc.; and a little farther on there are several round cisterns formed in the rock.” The cisterns are about four feet in diameter and three feet deep, and may have served originally, as the author remarks, for washing auriferous earths in the search for gold.[IV-21]Juarros’ Hist. Guat., pp. 487-8; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 333. The Santa María River, near its junction with the Motagua, is said to flow for a long distance underground, and at the entrance to its subterranean channel are reported some carvings, the work of human hands, but from superstitious fears the interior of this bewitched cave has never been explored.[IV-22]Hesse, in Sivers, Mittelamerika, p. 257.

Petapa, Rosario, and Patinamit

Petapa, twelve or fifteen miles southward from Guatemala on Lake Amatitlan is another of the localities where the old authors report the discovery of mammoth human bones, including a tooth as large as a man’s two fists. Such reports, where they have any other than an imaginary foundation, may probably result from the finding of animal bones, by which the good padres were deceived into the belief that they had come upon traces of the ancient giants reported in all the native traditions, which did not seem to them unworthy of belief, since they were told elsewhere that “there were giants on the earth in those days.”[IV-23]Fuentes, in Juarros’ Hist. Guat., p. 492; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 327.

At Rosario, eight or ten miles south of the same lake, we have a bare mention of a beautiful aqueduct in ruins.[IV-24]Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 281. Twenty-five or thirty miles west of the lake, at the western foot of the volcano of Fuego, Don José María Asmitia, a Guatemalan official of antiquarian tendencies, reports the discovery on his estate of a well-preserved aqueduct, constructed of hewn stone and mortar, together with nine stone idols each six feet in height. He proposed to make, at an early date, more thorough explorations in that vicinity. Like other explorers he had his theory, although he had not personally seen even the relics on his own estate; deriving the American culture from a Carthaginian source.[IV-25]Hesse, in Sivers, Mittelamerika, p. 257. Farther south on the Pacific lowlands, at a point called Calche, between Escuintla and Suchiltepeques, the Abbé Brasseur speaks of a pyramid cut from solid stone, which had been seen by many Guatemalans.[IV-26]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 507.

Ruins of Patinamit

Passing now north-westward to the region lying about Lake Atitlan, and noting that the town of Sololá on the northern lake-shore is said to be built on the ruins of the aboriginal Tecpan Atitlan,[IV-27]Reichardt, Cent. Amer., p. 72. we come to the ruins of the ancient Patinamit, ‘the city’, the Cakchiquel capital. It is near[IV-28]The distance is stated to be one fourth of a mile, one mile and a half, one league, and one league and a half by different writers. the modern town of Tecpan Guatemala, fifteen miles south-east of the lake, and forty miles north-west of Guatemala. The aboriginal town, to which Brasseur de Bourbourg would assign a very ancient, pre-Toltec origin, was inhabited down to the time when the conquistadores came, and was by them destroyed. With the state of the city as found and described by them, I have, of course, nothing to do in this volume, having simply to record the condition of the ruins as observed at subsequent periods, although in the descriptions extant the two phases of the city’s condition are considerably confounded. The remains are found on a level plateau having an area of several square miles, and surrounded by a ravine from one hundred to four hundred feet in depth, with precipitous sides. The plateau is accessible at one point only by a path artificially cut in the side of the barranca, twenty to thirty feet deep, and only wide enough to permit the passage of a single horseman. At the time of Mr Stephens’ visit nothing was visible but confused irregular masses, or mounds, of fallen walls, among which, however, could still be made out the foundations of two buildings, one of them fifty by one hundred feet. Two sculptured figures were pointed out by the natives, lying on the ground, on one of which the nose and eyes of some animal were discernible. Fuentes, who wrote in the century following the conquest, observed, during his examination of the city, more definite traces of its former grandeur. Two gates of chay-stone afforded entrance to the narrow passage which led up to the plateau; a coating, or layer, of clay covered the soil to a depth of two feet; and a trench six or eight feet deep, faced with stone and having also a breastwork of masonry three feet high, running north and south across the table, divided the city’s site into two portions, inhabited, as is suggested, respectively by the plebeian and aristocratic classes of its original citizens. The street-lines, crossing each other at right angles, were traceable, indicating that the city was regularly laid out in blocks. One of the structures whose foundations were then to be seen was a hundred yards square, besides which there remained the ruins of what is described as a palace, and of several houses. West of the city, on a mound six feet high, was “a pedestal formed of a shining substance, resembling glass.” Brasseur also mentions ‘vastes souterrains,’ which, as usual, he does not deign farther to describe. The modern town is built to a considerable extent, and its streets are paved, with fragments of the hewn stone from Patinamit, which have been carried piece by piece on the backs of natives up and down the sides of the barranca. The aborigines still look with feelings of superstitious respect on this memorial of their ancestral glory, and at times their faithful ears detect the chimes of bells proceeding from beneath the hill. A famous black stone was, in the days of aboriginal independence, an object of great veneration in the Cakchiquel religious rites connected with the fate of prisoners, its shrine being in the depths of a dark ravine near at hand. In Fuentes’ time it had been consecrated by the Catholic bishop and placed on the altar of the church. He describes it as of singular beauty and about eighteen inches square. Stephens found it still on the altar, the object of the people’s jealous veneration; and when his Spanish companion had, with sacrilegious hand, to the infinite terror of the parish priest, ripped open the cotton sack in which the relic was enveloped, there appeared only a plain piece of ordinary slate measuring ten by fourteen inches. Brasseur de Bourbourg, however, believes that the former visitors were both in error, and that the original black stone was never permitted to fall into the hands of the Spanish unbelievers.[IV-29]Juarros’ Hist. Guat., pp. 382-4; his authority being Fuentes, Recopilacion, MS., tom. i., lib. iii., cap. i., and lib. xv., cap. v.; Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., pp. 147, 149-53. Juarros’ account is also given in Conder’s Mex. Guat., vol. ii., pp. 270-1, in Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., p. 90, and in Stephens’ Cent. Amer., loc. cit. It is also used with that of Stephens to make up the description in Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 199-200. Slight mention also in Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 284; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Palenqué, p. 33; Id., Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 152, 493, 526. According to Brasseur’s statement, M. Daly made drawings at Patinamit, seen by the Abbé, and to be published. At Patzun, a native pueblo near Tecpan Guatemala, two mounds were noticed, but not opened.[IV-30]Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 146.

Quezaltenango, the aboriginal Xelahuh, is some twenty-five or thirty miles westward from Lake Atitlan. In the days of Quiché power this city was one of the largest and most powerful in the land. I find no evidence that any remains of the town itself are to be seen, though Wappäus speaks of such remains, even classing them with the most ancient type of Guatemalan antiquities. Two fortresses in this vicinity, however, Olintepec and Parrazquin, supposed to have guarded the approaches to Xelahuh, are said to have left some traces of their former strength.[IV-31]‘In the province of Quezaltenango, there are still to be met with the vestiges and foundations of many large fortresses, among which is the celebrated one of Parrazquin, situated on the confines of Totonicapan and Quezaltenango; and the citadel of Olintepeque, formed with all the intricacies of a labyrinth, and which was the chief defence of the important city of Xelahuh.’ Juarros’ Hist. Guat., pp. 485, 379. Slight mention also, probably resting on no other authority than the paragraph above quoted, in Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 247; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 341.

Ruins of Utatlan

El Sacrificatorio at Utatlan.

Thirty miles farther back in the mountains north-eastward from Quezaltenango, toward the confines of Vera Paz, was Utatlan, ‘road of the waters,’ in the native language Gumarcaah, the Quiché capital and stronghold, at the modern town of Santa Cruz del Quiché. This city was the richest and most magnificent found by the Spaniards south of Mexico, and at the time of its destruction by them was, unlike most aboriginal American towns, in its highest state of prosperity. Slight as are the ruins that remain, they are sufficient to show that the Spanish accounts of the city’s original splendor were not greatly exaggerated; this, with the contrasts which these ruins present in the absence of statues, sculpture, and hieroglyphics, and in other respects, when compared with those of Quirigua and Copan, constitutes their chief importance in archæological investigations. Like Patinamit, Utatlan stood on a plateau, or mesa, bounded by a deep ravine on every side, a part of which ravine is believed to be of artificial construction. The barranca can only be crossed and the site of the city reached at one point, from the south-east. Guarding this single approach, at the distance of about half a mile from the village of Santa Cruz, are the ruins of a long line of structures of carefully laid hewn stone, evidently intended as fortifications and connected one with another by a ditch. Within this line and more immediately guarding the passage, is an immense fortress, El Resguardo, one hundred and twenty feet high, in the form of a square-based pyramidal structure, with three ranges of terraces, and steps leading up from one to another. A stone wall, plastered with a hard cement, incloses the area of the summit platform, in the centre of which rises a tower furnished with steps, which were also originally covered with cement. Crossing the barranca from the fort Resguardo, we find the table which was the site of the ancient city covered throughout its whole extent with shapeless masses of ruins, among which the foundations of a few structures only can be definitely made out. The chief edifice, known as the grand castle, or palace, of the Quiché kings, and said to have been in round numbers eleven hundred by twenty-two hundred feet, occupied a central position. Its upper portions have been carried away and used in the construction of the modern town, but in 1810, if we may trust the cura of the parish, the building was still entire. The floors remain, covered with a hard and durable cement, and also fragments of the partition walls sufficient to indicate something of the original ground plan. A plaster of finer quality than that employed on the floors and pyramids, covers the inner walls, with evident traces of having been colored or painted. The ruins of a fountain appear in an open court-yard, also paved with cement. Another structure, El Sacrificatorio, still visible, is a pyramid of stone sixty-six feet square at the base and, in its present state, thirty-three feet high, the plan and elevation of which are shown in the cuts. Each side except the western is ascended by a flight of nineteen steps, each step eight inches wide and seventeen inches high. The western side is covered with stucco, laid on, as is ascertained by careful examination, in several successive coatings, each painted with ornamental figures, among which the body of a leopard only could be distinguished. The pyramid is supported by a buttress in each of the four corners, diminishing in size toward the top. The summit is in ruins, but our knowledge of the Quiché religious ceremonies, as set forth in the preceding volume of this work, leaves little doubt that this was a place of sacrifice and supported an altar. No sculpture has been found in connection with the ruins of Utatlan. Its absence is certainly remarkable; but it is to be noted that the natives of this region have always been of a haughty, unsubdued spirit, ardently attached to the memory of their ancestors; and the destruction or concealment of their idols with a view to keep them from the sacrilegious touch and gaze of the white man, would be in accordance with their well-known character. They have the greatest respect for the holy pyramid on the plateau, and at one time when the reported discovery of a golden image prompted the destruction of the palace in search of treasure, the popular indignation on the part of the natives presaged a serious revolt and compelled the abandonment of the scheme, not, however, until the walls had been razed. Flint arrow-heads are mentioned as of frequent occurrence among the débris of fortifications outside the barranca, and a Spanish explorer in 1834 found a sitting figure twelve inches high, and two heads of terra cotta exceedingly hard, smooth, and of good workmanship. One of the heads was solid, the other and the idol were hollow. The annexed cut shows the sitting figure. Under one of the buildings is an opening to what the natives represented as a subterranean passage leading by an hour’s journey to Mexico, but which only revealed to Mr Stephens, who entered it, the presence of a roof formed by overlapping stones. This form of arch will be described in detail when I come to speak of more northern ruins, where it is of frequent occurrence. That a long time must have passed between the erection of Copan and Utatlan, the civilization of the builders meantime undergoing great modifications, involving probably the introduction of new elements from foreign sources, is a theory supported by a careful study of the two classes of remains. For an account of Utatlan and other Guatemalan cities as they were in the time of their aboriginal glory, I refer the reader to Volume II. of this work.[IV-32]Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., pp. 171, 182-8. Mr Stephens gives, besides the engravings I have copied, and one of the other terra-cotta heads mentioned, a view of El Sacrificatorio, a ground plan showing the relative positions of the plateau, the barranca, and the projecting fortress, together with a view of El Resguardo and the other ruins in the distance. I do not reproduce them because they show no details not included in the description, which, moreover, is easily comprehended without the aid of cuts. A thorough exploration of Utatlan was made by Don Miguel Rivera y Maestre, a commissioner sent for the purpose by the Guatemalan government in 1834. His MS. report to the state authorities was seen by Mr Stephens and is described as being very full and accurate, but not containing any details outside of Stephens’ account. He does not state that his plans and views were obtained from Rivera y Maestre. Juarros, Hist. Guat., pp. 86-8, 487, follows Fuentes, who described the city chiefly from historical accounts of its original condition, although it seems that he also visited the ruins. Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lii., speaks of Utatlan’s ‘maravillosos edificios de cal y canto, de los cuales yo vide muchos.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 493, 120, tom. i., p. 124, speaks of Rivera y Maestre’s plans in Stephens’ work as incorrect, but rejoices in the prospect that M. César Daly will publish correct drawings. ‘Un des palais des rois de Quiché a 728 pas géométriques de longueur et 376 de largeur.’ Humboldt, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1827, tom. xxxv., p. 329. ‘En Utlatan habia muchos y muy grandes cues ó templos de sus Idolos, de maravillosos edificios, y yo vi algunos aunque muy arruinados.’ Zurita, in Palacio, Carta, pp. 123-4. See also accounts of these ruins made up from Stephens and Juarros, in Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 286, and Reichardt, Cent. Amer., p. 72; also mention in Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 470; Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., pp. 266, 274; Galindo, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., pp. 73-8; Revue Amér., 1826, tom. i., pp. 353-5; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 462. The cura at Santa Cruz del Quiché said he had seen human skulls of more than natural size, from a cave in a neighboring town.[IV-33]Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 192.

Utatlan Terra Cotta.

Ruins of Huehuetenango or Zakuléu

Sepulchral Urn from Huehuetenango.

North-westward from Utatlan, thirty or forty miles distant, in the province of Totonicapan, is the town of Huehuetenango, and near it, located like Utatlan on a ravine-guarded plain, are the ruins of Zakuléu, the ancient capital of the Mams, now known popularly as Las Cuevas. These remains are in an advanced state of dilapidation, hardly more than confused heaps of rubbish scattered over the plain, and overgrown with grass and shrubs. Two pyramidal structures of rough stones in mortar, formerly covered with stucco, can, however, still be made out. One of them is one hundred and two feet square and twenty-eight high, with steps, each four feet in height and seven feet wide. The top is small and square, and a long rough slab found at the base may, as Mr Stephens suggests, have been the altar thrown down from its former position on the platform. There are also several small mounds, supposed to be sepulchral, one of which was opened, and disclosed within an enclosure of rough stones and lime some fragments of bone and two vases of fine workmanship, whose material is not stated but is probably earthen ware. One of them is shown in the cut, and bears a striking resemblance to some of the burial vases of Nicaragua.[IV-34]See p. 63 of this volume. Another burial vault, not long enough, however, to contain a human being at full length, at the foot of one of the pyramids, was faced with cut stone, and from it the proprietor of the estate took a quantity of bones and the terra-cotta tripod shown in the cut. It has a polished surface and is one foot in diameter. At a point on the river where the banks had been washed away at the time of high water, some animal skeletons of extraordinary size were brought to light. Mr Stephens saw in the bank the imprint of one of these measuring twenty-five or thirty feet in length, and others were said to be yet larger.[IV-35]Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., pp. 228-32, with figures of two vases found at Huehuetenango in addition to those represented above. ‘On trouve un plan des plus incorrects dans le MS. de Fuentes.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 119, 504. Mention of the ruins in Id., Palenqué, p. 34. Huehuetenango, in Lat. 15° 28´ 15´´, Long. 91° 36´ 50´´. Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 288. Engravings of four vases copied from Stephens, in Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., p. 379, pl. 14.

Tripod from Huehuetenango.

Ruins in Rabinal Valley

Extending eastward from the region of Huehuetenango to that of Salama in the province of Vera Paz, a distance of nearly one hundred miles, there seems to be a line of ruins, occurring at frequent intervals, particularly in the valley of the Rabinal and about the town of that name. A map of Guatemala now before me locates seventeen of these ruins, and M. Brasseur de Bourbourg incidentally mentions many of them by name, none of them, however, being anywhere described in detail. It is much to be regretted that the last-named author, during a residence at Rabinal, did not more fully improve his opportunities for the examination of these remains, or, at least, that he has never made known to the world the result of his investigations. All the ruins along this line would seem to belong to the class of those occupied by the natives, chiefly Cakchiquels, at the time of the conquest, most of them being the remains of fortresses or fortified towns, built on strong natural positions at the river-mouths, guarding the entrance to fertile valleys.

Opposite the mouth of the River Rabinal, where the Pacalah empties into the Chixoy, or Usumacinta, are the ruins of Cawinal, visited by the Abbé Brasseur in 1856, and by him pronounced the finest in Vera Paz. They are situated on both sides of the stream in a fine mountain-girt valley, the approach to which was guarded by a long line of fortifications, pyramidal mounds, and watch-towers, whose remains may yet be seen. Among these structures is a pyramid of two terraces, forty feet high, ascended by a stairway of three flights, with the ruined walls of three small buildings on its summit. Near many of the old towns, especially in the Rabinal district, tumuli—cakhay, ‘red houses’—very like in form and material to those of the Mississippi Valley are said to be numerous.[IV-36]‘J’ai moi-même visité les ruines d’un grande nombre de ces villes et châteaux, dont les positions sont admirablement choisies pour la défense; il en existe sur presque toutes les hauteurs qui environnent la plaine de Rabinal. Elles sont, du reste, très-nombreuses dans toutes les provinces guatémaliennes et sont une preuve de l’étendue de leur antique population.’ The chief one is one league west of Rabinal. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 125. Ruins of Cawinal, Id., p. 149. Mention of tumuli, Id., tom. i., p. 15. Mention of ruins of Tzuruya, Tzutum, Nimpokom, Cakyug, Zamaneb, and Salama. Id., tom. ii., pp. 479, 505-6. Mention of Nebah, Uspantan, Rabinal, Cavinal, Xeocok, and Nimpokom. Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., pp. 288, 291. The ruins located by Sonnenstern, Mapa de Guat., 1859, proceeding from west to east, are as follows: Xolacul, Nebak, Hatzal, Suizul, Balbitz, Cavinal, Pacalay, Xokoc, Beleh Trak, Pikek, Xozintun, Trak Pocoma, Cakyug, Chocotoy, Chotocoy, Talam, Xubabal.

Besides the ruins actually seen and vaguely described, there are reports of others. The province is large and comparatively unexplored, its people wild and independent, and both have ever been to travelers the object of much mysterious conjecture, increasing in intensity as the northern region of Peten is approached. In 1850 Mr Squier wrote, “there has lately been discovered, in the province of Vera Paz, 150 miles north-east of Guatemala, buried in a dense forest, and far from any settlements, a ruined city, surpassing Copan or Palenque in extent and magnificence, and displaying a degree of art to which none of the structures of Yucatan can lay claim.”[IV-37]Annual Scien. Discov., 1850, pp. 363-4. The cura of Santa Cruz had once lived in Coban, some forty miles north of Rabinal, and four leagues from there he claimed to have seen an ancient city as large as Utatlan, its palace being still entire at the time of his visit.[IV-38]Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 193. One Leon de Pontelli claims to have traveled extensively in these parts in 1859, and to have discovered many ancient and remarkable ruins of great cities, at points impossible to locate, somewhere about the confines of Vera Paz and Peten. Pontelli is not regarded as a trustworthy explorer, and no positive information whatever is to be obtained from his account.[IV-39]Pontelli’s account with some plates was published in the Correo de Ultramar, Paris, 1860. I have not seen the original, but what purports to be a translation of it in the California Farmer, Nov. 7, 1862, is the veriest trash, containing nothing definite respecting the location or description of the pretended discoveries.

Not only are cities in ruins reported to exist, but also somewhere in this region, four days’ journey from Utatlan towards Mexico, an inhabited city in all its aboriginal magnificence is said to be visible, far out on the plain, from the summit of a lofty sierra. The cura of Santa Cruz before mentioned had gazed upon its glittering turrets and had heard from the natives traditions of its splendor, and the failure of all attempts on the part of white men to approach its walls for the purpose of a closer examination. One other man had the courage to climb the sierra, but on the day chosen for the ascent the city was rendered invisible by mists. The intelligence and general reliability of the good cura inclined Mr Stephens to put some faith in the accuracy of his report; others, however, not without reason, are sceptical about the matter.[IV-40]Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., pp. 195-7; Id., Yuc., vol. ii., p. 201. ‘Quant à l’existence d’une cité mystérieuse, habitué par des indigènes, qui vivraient au centre du Petén dans les mêmes conditions d’autrefois, c’est une croyance qu’il faut reléguer parmi les fantaisies de l’imagination. Ce conte a pris naissance au Yucatan, et les voyageurs en le recueillant, lui ont donné trop d’importance.’ Morelet, Voyage, tom. ii., p. 68. Mr Otis, on the authority of a late English explorer, believes the city to be a limestone formation which has misled. Hist. Mag., vol. vi., p. 120. ‘We must reject the notion of great cities existing here.’ Squier, in Id., vol. iv., p. 67. Its existence not improbable. Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, p. 263. Such reports unfounded. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 37.

Province of Peten

Leaving the lofty highlands of Vera Paz, we descend northward to the province of Peten, a comparatively low region whose central portion is occupied by several large lakes. It is in this lake region chiefly that antiquities have been brought to light by the few travelers who have penetrated this far-off country, less known, perhaps, than any other portion of Central America. The Spaniards found the Itzas, a Maya branch from Yucatan, established here, their capital, Tayasal, a city of no small pretensions to magnificence, being on an island now known as Remedios, in Lake Itza, or Peten, where the town of Flores is now situated. Flores is built indeed on the ruins of the aboriginal city, which, however, has left no relics of sculpture or architecture to substantiate the Spanish accounts of its magnificent structures, which included twenty-one adoratorios. Rude earthen figures and vessels are, however, occasionally exhumed; and M. Morelet heard of one vase of some hard transparent material, very beautifully formed and ornamented. This relic had passed into the hands of a Tabascan merchant. Sr Fajardo, commissioner to establish the boundary between Mexico and Guatemala, furnished to Sr I. R. Gondra drawings of some nacas, or small idols, found in the Peten graves. Sr Gondra pronounces them similar to those of Yucatan as represented by Stephens.[IV-41]Morelet, Voyage, tom. ii., pp. 65-8, 26. M. Morelet, by reason of sickness, was unable to make any personal explorations in Peten beyond the island. He has preserved, however, some native reports respecting the antiquities of the region. ‘On trouve dans tout ce pays des ruines d’anciens édifices, comme dans le Yucathan, et des idoles en pierre.’ Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 51. ‘Por aquellos montes ay muchos edificios antiguos grandiosos (como lo que oy se ven en Yucathàn) y en ellos muy grandes Idolos de piedra.’ Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 700. ‘It is doubtful if any monuments of note exist in the district, except on the islands, or in the immediate neighborhood of the lakes.’ Squier’s Cent. Amer., pp. 543-5. Mention in Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 295; Humboldt, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1827, tom. xxxv., p. 329. ‘Il n’existe dans cette île aucuns vestiges d’idoles ni de temples.’ Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 69-70. Many relics and remains of idols still to be found on the island. Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 359; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 470; Morelet’s Trav., pp. 240-2; Gondra, in Prescott, Mex., tom. iii., p. 98.

On the north side of the lake is the small town of San José, and a spot two days’ journey south-eastward from here—although this would, according to the maps, carry us back across the lake—is given as the locality of three large edifices buried in the forest, called by the natives Casas Grandes. All we know of them rests on the report of an Indian chief, who was induced by M. Morelet to depart from the characteristic reserve and secrecy of his race respecting the works of the antiguos; consequently the statement that the buildings are covered with sculptures in high relief, closely analogous to those of Palenque, must be accepted with some allowance.[IV-42]‘Les Indiens, on le sait, se montrent très réservés sur tout ce qui touche à leur ancienne nationalité: quoique ces ruines fussent connues d’un grand nombre d’entre eux, pas un n’avait trahi le secret de leur existence.’ Morelet, Voyage, tom. ii., pp. 66-7; Id., Trav., pp. 241-2; Squier, in Hist. Mag., vol. iv., p. 66; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 295.

Two days eastward of Lake Peten, on the route to Belize, is the lake of Yaxhaa, Yachá, or Yasja, one of the isles in which is said to be covered with débris of former structures. Col. Galindo, who visited the locality in 1831, is the only one who has written of the ruins from personal observation, and he only describes one structure, which he terms the most remarkable of all. This is a tower of five stories, each nine feet high, each of less length and breadth than the one below it, and the lower one sixty-six feet square. No doors or windows appear in the four lower stories, although Galindo, from the hollow sound emitted under blows, supposed them not to be solid. A stairway seven feet wide, of steps each four inches high, leads up to the base of the fifth story on the west, at which point, as on the opposite eastern side, is an entrance only high enough for a man to crawl through on hands and knees. This upper story is divided into three apartments communicating with each other by means of low doors, and now roofless, but presenting signs of having been originally covered with the overlapping arch. The whole structure is of hewn stone laid in mortar, and no traces of wood remain. It is evident that this building is entirely different from any other monuments which we have thus far met in our progress northward, and further north we shall meet few if any of a similar nature. So far as the data are sufficient to justify conclusions, this may safely be classed with the older remains at Copan and Quirigua, rather than with the more modern Quiché-Cakchiquel structures. There are no means of determining with any degree of accuracy whether these buildings of Yaxhaa were the work of the Itzas or of a more ancient branch of the Maya people.[IV-43]Galindo, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 68; Squier, in Hist. Mag., vol. iv., p. 66. Mr Squier says the tower is 22 feet square at the base, instead of 22 paces as Galindo gives it. He does not state the authority on which his description rests; it seems, however, in other respects to be simply a reproduction of Galindo’s account, which is also repeated in Squier’s Cent. Amer., pp. 544-5. Slight mention in Morelet, Voyage, tom. ii., p. 66; Id., Trav., p. 240; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 295.

Ruins of Tikal

About forty miles north-east from the eastern end of Lake Peten, in the foothills of the mountains, but in a locality inaccessible from the direction of the lake except in the dry season, from January to June, are the ruins of Tikal, a name signifying in the Maya language ‘destroyed palaces.’ So dry is the locality, however, during this dry season, that water must be carried in casks, or thirst quenched with the juice of a peculiar variety of reed that grows in the region. A more thorough search might reveal natural wells, which supplied water to the ancient inhabitants, as was the case further north in Yucatan. The ruined structures of Tikal are reported to extend over a space of at least a league, and they were discovered, although their existence had been previously reported by the natives, in 1848, by Governor Ambrosio Tut and Colonel Modesto Mendez. From the pen of the latter we have a written description accompanied by drawings.[IV-44]Col. Mendez, whom Gov. Tut preceded at Tikal by a day or two only, visited the ruins as commissioner of the Guatemalan government, to which, after a stay of four days, he made a report. This report, so far as I know, was never published in the original Spanish; but the MS. fell into the hands of Mr Hesse, Prussian envoy to the Central American governments, and was by him translated into German and published with the plates in the Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Erdkunde, 1853, tom. i., pt. iii., pp. 162-8. This translation, without the plates, and with some slight omissions of unimportant details respecting the journey, was also published in Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 247-54, 304-8, with notes by Messrs Hesse and Sivers. This is the source of my information. Mendez revisited Tikal in 1852, without obtaining any additional information of value so far as I know. The ruins are mentioned and more or less fully described, always from the same source, in Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 460-2; Buschmann, Ortsnamen, pp. 115-17; Ritter, in Gumprecht, tom. i., p. 3; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., pp. 247, 295. Unfortunately I have not been able to examine the drawings made by Sr Mendez, whose text is brief and, in some respects, unsatisfactory.

Tikal Palaces

The chief feature at Tikal is the occurrence of many palaces or temples of hewn stone in mortar, on the summit of hills usually of slight elevation. Five of these are specially mentioned, of which three are to some extent described. The first is on a hill about one hundred and forty feet high, natural like all the rest so far as known, but covered in many places with masonry. A stairway about seventy feet wide leads up to the summit, on which stands a lofty stone palace, or tower, seventy-two by twenty-four feet at the base and eighty-six feet high, facing the east. The walls of the lower portion, or what may be regarded as the first story, are plain and coated with a hard cement. There is a niche five or six feet deep in the front, covered on the interior with paintings and hieroglyphics, and furnished with wooden rings at the top, as if for the suspension of curtains. At this point an attempt to penetrate to the interior of the structure showed the lower story to be solid, filled with earth and stones. The upper story has an ornamented and sculptured front, and there are ruins of a fallen balcony, or more probably a staircase which formerly led up to the entrance. Nothing is said of the interior of the upper portion. The second structure is of the same dimensions as the first, and is built on a hill opposite, or eastward, which seems, however, to have no steps upon its sides. It is much damaged and fallen, but several of its rooms are well preserved, having the triangular-arched roof of overlapping stones, walls decorated with paintings and hieroglyphics, and corridors six and a half feet wide and over one hundred feet long, with windows, or air-holes, two and a half by four feet. The walls are nearly seven feet thick, and the top of the doorway at the entrance is of rough zapote beams. The third palace differs in no respect from the others, except that the zapote architrave of the chief entrance is carved in ornamental and hieroglyphic figures. In a kind of a court at the foot of the hill in front of the first palace were found eleven stone idols from five to six feet high. Three of the number stood on large round stone disks, or pedestals. About twenty of these disks, without idols, were also found, seven or eight of which bore indistinct medallion figures sculptured in low relief, and the rest were rough and apparently unfinished. Three oval stone disks were also dug out, as implied by Mendez’ text, from the excavation under the first palace, although it is difficult to explain the presence of sculptured relics in such a situation. One of the stones measured five and a half by four by five and a half feet, and bore on one side the figure of a woman with decorated robe. The second bore the outlines of a supposed god, and the third a figure which the explorer profoundly concludes to have represented an eagle or a snake, but which may perhaps be taken for some other insect. On the road, just before reaching the ruins, fragments of pottery were noticed, and Governor Tut had also seen the figure of a bull well cut from stone lying on the bank of a lagoon some eight miles distant. It is evident that at or near Tikal was formerly a large city, and when we consider the extent and importance of the ruins, the preceding description unaccompanied by plates may seem meagre and unsatisfactory. But after a perusal of the following chapter on the ruins of Yucatan, the reader will not fail to form a clear idea of those at Tikal; since all that we know of the latter indicates clearly their identity in style and in hieroglyphics with numerous monuments of the peninsula further north. It is therefore very probable that both groups are the work of the same people, executed at approximately the same epoch.

Colonel Mendez, while on his way to visit Tikal for the second time in 1852, accidentally discovered two other groups of ruins in the neighborhood of Dolores, south-eastward from Lake Peten and at about the same distance from the lake as Tikal. One group is south-east and eight miles distant from Dolores, and the other the same distance north-west. The former is called by the natives Yxtutz, and the latter Yxcum. There seem to have been made a description and some drawings of the Dolores remains, which I have not seen. Traces of walls are mentioned and monoliths sculptured in high relief, with figures resembling those at Copan and Quirigua rather than those at Tikal, although the hieroglyphics are pronounced identical with those of the latter monuments. Other relics are the figure of a woman dressed in a short nagua of feathers about the waist, fitting closely and showing the form of the leg; and a collection of sculptured blocks upon a round disk, on which are carved hieroglyphics and figures of the sun and moon with a prostrate human form before them.

Relics in Belize

Near by on the Belize River is a cave in which several idols were discovered, probably brought here by the natives for concealment.[IV-45]Hesse, in Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 254-5, 308-9; Buschmann, Ortsnamen, pp. 115-16; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 295; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 460. There are found in the early Spanish annals of this region some accounts of inhabited towns in this vicinity when the conquerors first came, of which these ruins may be the remains. I close the chapter on Guatemalan antiquities with two short quotations, embodying all I have been able to find respecting the ancient monuments of the English province of Belize, on the Atlantic coast eastward from Peten. “About thirty miles up the Balize River, contiguous to its banks are found, what in this country are denominated the Indian-hills. These are small eminences, which are supposed to have been raised by the aborigines over their dead; human bones, and fragments of a coarse kind of earthen-ware, being frequently dug from them. These Indian-hills are seldom discovered but in the immediate vicinity of rivers or creeks,” and were therefore, perhaps, built for refuge in time of floods. “The foot of these hills is regularly planted round with large stones, and the whole may perhaps be thought to bear a very strong resemblance to the ancient barrows, or tumuli, so commonly found in various parts of England.”[IV-46]Henderson’s Honduras, pp. 52-3; repeated in Squier’s Cent. Amer., pp. 596-7. “I learned from a young Frenchman that on this plantation (New Boston) are Indian ruins of the same character as those of Yucatan, and that idols and other antiquities have often been found there.”[IV-47]Froebel’s Cent. Amer., p. 167.

Footnotes

[IV-1] About five miles down the river from El Pozo de los Amates on the main road from Guatemala to Yzabal, in a forest of cedar and mahogany, about a mile from the left bank of the river, on the estate of the Señores Payes. Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., pp. 118-23. Stephens’ map locates Quirigua, however, on the south bank of the river. ‘Quirigua, village guatémalien, situé sur la route et à huit lieues environ du port de l’Isabal; les ruines qui en portent le nom existent à deux lieues de là sur la rive gauche du fleuve Motagua.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Palenqué, introd., p. 22. ‘Sur la rive gauche de la rivière de Motagua, à milles vares environ de cette rivière.’ Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1840, tom. lxxxviii., pp. 376-7. ‘Liegen in der Nähe des kleinen Dorfes Los Amates, 2 Stunden unterhalb Encuentros, am linken Ufer des Motagua, ¾ Stunde vom Flusse entfernt, mitten im Walde. Der Weg von Yzabal führt in einer Entfernung von 3 Stunden an dem Orte vorbei.’ Reichardt, Cent. Amer., p. 69. ‘Eine der unbekanntesten und merkwürdigsten Ruinenstätten Central-Amerika’s, nahe dem See von Isabal, in einer schwer zugänglichen Wildniss.’ Wagner and Scherzer, Costa Rica, p. x. ‘Quirigüa, c’est le nom d’une ville considérable, bâtie par les Aztèques à l’époque où florissait la magnifique Anahuac. Ses ruines mystérieuses sont aujourd’hui ensevelies à environ trois lieues du triste village qui porte son nom.’ Sue, Henri le Chancelier, pp. 110-11. Nearly two English miles from the river-bank. Scherzer, Quiriguá, p. 5. Mention in Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 276; Hesse, in Sivers, Mittelamerika, p. 256.

[IV-2] Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., pp. 118-24, with two plates. An account made up from Catherwood’s notes was, however, inserted in the Guatemalan newspaper El Tiempo by the proprietors of the Quirigua estate, and translated into French in Le Moniteur Parisien, from which it was reprinted in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1840, tom. lxxxviii., pp. 376-7; and in Amérique Cent., pt. ii., pp. 68-9, both French and Spanish text is given. The same description is also given in Valois, Mexique, pp. 202-3. Scherzer’s pamphlet on the subject bears the title Ein Besuch bei den Ruinen von Quiriguá im Staate Guatemala in Central-Amerika, (Wien, 1855,) and I have not found it quoted elsewhere. Baily’s Cent. Amer., pp. 65-6, also contains a brief account from a source not stated, and this is quoted nearly in full in Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. ii., pp. 138-9. The ruins are slightly mentioned in Macgregor’s Progress of Amer., vol. i., pp. 878-9, and in Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., pp. 114-17, where it is incorrectly stated that Mr Stephens personally visited Quirigua. Brasseur de Bourbourg says: ‘Nous les avons visitées en 1863, et nous possédons les dessins des plusieurs des monolithes qu’on y voit, faits par M. William Baily, d’Izabal.’ Palenqué, introd., p. 22. See also the additional references in Note 1.

[IV-3] The French version of Catherwood’s notes has it, ‘Au centre du cirque, dans lequel on descend par des degrés très-étroits, il y a une grande pierre arrondie, dont le contour présente beaucoup d’hiéroglyphes et d’inscriptions; deux têtes d’homme, de proportion plus grande que nature, parraissent soutenir cette table, laquelle est couverte de végétation dans la plus grande partie.’ Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1840, tom. lxxxviii., p. 377.

[IV-4] ‘Wahrscheinlich benutzten die Erbauer einen hier schon vorhandenen grossen Felsblock zu ihren Zwecken, denn der Transport eines Steines von solcher Grösse und Umfang mit den bewegenden Kräften welche diesen Völkern muthmasslich zu Gebote standen, wäre sonst kaum begreiflich.’ Scherzer, Quiriguá, p. 7.

[IV-5] ‘Plus inclinée que la tour de Pise.’ Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1840, tom. lxxxviii., p. 376.

[IV-6] Stephens’ text, Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 122, leaves it uncertain whether it is the statue or the altar afterwards mentioned which rests on the elevation. The French text, however, indicates that it is the former.

[IV-7] See Notes 6 and 3.

[IV-8] Baily, Cent. Amer., pp. 65-6, sums up all the relics at Quirigua as follows: seven quadrilateral columns, twelve to twenty-five feet high, three to five feet at base; four pieces of an irregular oval shape, twelve by ten or eleven feet, not unlike sarcophagi; two large square slabs seven and a half by three feet and over three feet thick; all except the slabs being covered on all sides with elaborately wrought and well-defined sculptured figures of men, women, animals, foliage, and fanciful representations. All the columns are moreover of a single piece of stone.

[IV-9] Yet Scherzer thinks that ‘es ist nicht ganz unwahrscheinlich, dass die Monumente von Quiriguá noch zur Zeit der spanischen Invasion ihrer religiösen Bestimmung dienten, und dass auch eine Stadt in der Nähe noch bewohnt war.’ Quiriguá, p. 15, although there is no record of such a place in the annals of the conquest.

[IV-10] Although Baily, Cent. Amer., p. 66, says ‘they do not resemble in sculpture those of Palenque … nor are they similar to those of Copan…. They suggest the idea of having been designed for historical records rather than mere ornament.’

[IV-11] The sculpture presents no old-world affinities whatever. A certain coarseness of execution, implying inferior tools, distinguishes them from the coarsest Egyptian carvings. Both grouping and execution indicate a still “barbaric state of art, with no advanced idea of beauty, the patience and industry of the workmen being more remarkable than their ideas or skill.” Scherzer, Quiriguá, p. 11-12.

[IV-12] Hesse, in Sivers, Mittelamerika, p. 256.

[IV-13] Palacio, Carta, pp. 62.

[IV-14] Padre Urrutia published an account of his investigations at Cinaca-Mecallo in the Gaceta de Guatemala, according to Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 81. The most complete description, however, he gave in a letter to E. G. Squier, who published the same in his Cent. Amer., pp. 342-4. The substance of the letter may be found in Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., p. 124; and a French version in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1857, tom. cliii., pp. 182-6.

[IV-15] Juarros’ Hist. Guat., pp. 45, 308-9, taking the information from Fuentes, Recopilacion Florida, MS., tom. ii., lib. iv., cap. ii. Of course no importance is to be attached to these and similar reports.

[IV-16] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 43-4.

[IV-17] Valois, Mexique, pp. 430-1.

[IV-18] Dupaix, Rel. 3^me Expéd., p. 9, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. i., tom. iii., pl. vii., fig. 12, and in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 290, vol. vi., p. 470, vol. iv., pl. viii., fig. 12. Kingsborough’s translation incorrectly represents this relic as having been found at Palenque, although the original reads ‘lo encontró en Guatemala’ and the French ‘l’a trouvée à Guatemala.’ M. Lenoir, Parallèle, p. 72, thinks the engraved device may show some analogy with the astronomical traditions of the ancients, the serpent of the pole, the dragon, the constellation Ophis, the apples of the Hesperides, etc.; and the reverse may be the Mexican tradition of the creation, the Python, or the serpent killed by Cadmus!! Cabrera, Teatro Crítico, pp. 53-5, pl. i., who was the bearer of one of the medals to the king of Spain, speaks of it as made of brass, and pronounces it to be ‘a concise history of the primitive population of this part of North America.’ The bird, in his opinion, is an eagle with a serpent in its beak and claws. His application of this relic to history will be more appropriate when I come to treat of the origin of the Americans.

[IV-19] Hist. Mag., vol. vi., pp. 57-8.

[IV-20] Juarros’ Hist. Guat., pp. 488-9. The ruins are situated on a rock commanding the junction of the rivers Pixcayatl and Motagua. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 524. Ruins of the ancient capital of the Cakchiquel kings. Hassel, Mex. Guat., pp. 333, 335. ‘Remarquable par les ruines de l’ancienne forteresse du même nom.’ Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., p. 266; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 470.

[IV-21] Juarros’ Hist. Guat., pp. 487-8; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 333.

[IV-22] Hesse, in Sivers, Mittelamerika, p. 257.

[IV-23] Fuentes, in Juarros’ Hist. Guat., p. 492; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 327.

[IV-24] Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 281.

[IV-25] Hesse, in Sivers, Mittelamerika, p. 257.

[IV-26] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 507.

[IV-27] Reichardt, Cent. Amer., p. 72.

[IV-28] The distance is stated to be one fourth of a mile, one mile and a half, one league, and one league and a half by different writers.

[IV-29] Juarros’ Hist. Guat., pp. 382-4; his authority being Fuentes, Recopilacion, MS., tom. i., lib. iii., cap. i., and lib. xv., cap. v.; Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., pp. 147, 149-53. Juarros’ account is also given in Conder’s Mex. Guat., vol. ii., pp. 270-1, in Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., p. 90, and in Stephens’ Cent. Amer., loc. cit. It is also used with that of Stephens to make up the description in Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 199-200. Slight mention also in Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 284; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Palenqué, p. 33; Id., Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 152, 493, 526. According to Brasseur’s statement, M. Daly made drawings at Patinamit, seen by the Abbé, and to be published.

[IV-30] Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 146.

[IV-31] ‘In the province of Quezaltenango, there are still to be met with the vestiges and foundations of many large fortresses, among which is the celebrated one of Parrazquin, situated on the confines of Totonicapan and Quezaltenango; and the citadel of Olintepeque, formed with all the intricacies of a labyrinth, and which was the chief defence of the important city of Xelahuh.’ Juarros’ Hist. Guat., pp. 485, 379. Slight mention also, probably resting on no other authority than the paragraph above quoted, in Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 247; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 341.

[IV-32] Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., pp. 171, 182-8. Mr Stephens gives, besides the engravings I have copied, and one of the other terra-cotta heads mentioned, a view of El Sacrificatorio, a ground plan showing the relative positions of the plateau, the barranca, and the projecting fortress, together with a view of El Resguardo and the other ruins in the distance. I do not reproduce them because they show no details not included in the description, which, moreover, is easily comprehended without the aid of cuts. A thorough exploration of Utatlan was made by Don Miguel Rivera y Maestre, a commissioner sent for the purpose by the Guatemalan government in 1834. His MS. report to the state authorities was seen by Mr Stephens and is described as being very full and accurate, but not containing any details outside of Stephens’ account. He does not state that his plans and views were obtained from Rivera y Maestre. Juarros, Hist. Guat., pp. 86-8, 487, follows Fuentes, who described the city chiefly from historical accounts of its original condition, although it seems that he also visited the ruins. Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. lii., speaks of Utatlan’s ‘maravillosos edificios de cal y canto, de los cuales yo vide muchos.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 493, 120, tom. i., p. 124, speaks of Rivera y Maestre’s plans in Stephens’ work as incorrect, but rejoices in the prospect that M. César Daly will publish correct drawings. ‘Un des palais des rois de Quiché a 728 pas géométriques de longueur et 376 de largeur.’ Humboldt, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1827, tom. xxxv., p. 329. ‘En Utlatan habia muchos y muy grandes cues ó templos de sus Idolos, de maravillosos edificios, y yo vi algunos aunque muy arruinados.’ Zurita, in Palacio, Carta, pp. 123-4. See also accounts of these ruins made up from Stephens and Juarros, in Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 286, and Reichardt, Cent. Amer., p. 72; also mention in Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 470; Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., pp. 266, 274; Galindo, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., pp. 73-8; Revue Amér., 1826, tom. i., pp. 353-5; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 462.

[IV-33] Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 192.

[IV-34] See p. 63 of this volume.

[IV-35] Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., pp. 228-32, with figures of two vases found at Huehuetenango in addition to those represented above. ‘On trouve un plan des plus incorrects dans le MS. de Fuentes.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 119, 504. Mention of the ruins in Id., Palenqué, p. 34. Huehuetenango, in Lat. 15° 28´ 15´´, Long. 91° 36´ 50´´. Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 288. Engravings of four vases copied from Stephens, in Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., p. 379, pl. 14.

[IV-36] ‘J’ai moi-même visité les ruines d’un grande nombre de ces villes et châteaux, dont les positions sont admirablement choisies pour la défense; il en existe sur presque toutes les hauteurs qui environnent la plaine de Rabinal. Elles sont, du reste, très-nombreuses dans toutes les provinces guatémaliennes et sont une preuve de l’étendue de leur antique population.’ The chief one is one league west of Rabinal. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 125. Ruins of Cawinal, Id., p. 149. Mention of tumuli, Id., tom. i., p. 15. Mention of ruins of Tzuruya, Tzutum, Nimpokom, Cakyug, Zamaneb, and Salama. Id., tom. ii., pp. 479, 505-6. Mention of Nebah, Uspantan, Rabinal, Cavinal, Xeocok, and Nimpokom. Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., pp. 288, 291. The ruins located by Sonnenstern, Mapa de Guat., 1859, proceeding from west to east, are as follows: Xolacul, Nebak, Hatzal, Suizul, Balbitz, Cavinal, Pacalay, Xokoc, Beleh Trak, Pikek, Xozintun, Trak Pocoma, Cakyug, Chocotoy, Chotocoy, Talam, Xubabal.

[IV-37] Annual Scien. Discov., 1850, pp. 363-4.

[IV-38] Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 193.

[IV-39] Pontelli’s account with some plates was published in the Correo de Ultramar, Paris, 1860. I have not seen the original, but what purports to be a translation of it in the California Farmer, Nov. 7, 1862, is the veriest trash, containing nothing definite respecting the location or description of the pretended discoveries.

[IV-40] Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., pp. 195-7; Id., Yuc., vol. ii., p. 201. ‘Quant à l’existence d’une cité mystérieuse, habitué par des indigènes, qui vivraient au centre du Petén dans les mêmes conditions d’autrefois, c’est une croyance qu’il faut reléguer parmi les fantaisies de l’imagination. Ce conte a pris naissance au Yucatan, et les voyageurs en le recueillant, lui ont donné trop d’importance.’ Morelet, Voyage, tom. ii., p. 68. Mr Otis, on the authority of a late English explorer, believes the city to be a limestone formation which has misled. Hist. Mag., vol. vi., p. 120. ‘We must reject the notion of great cities existing here.’ Squier, in Id., vol. iv., p. 67. Its existence not improbable. Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, p. 263. Such reports unfounded. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 37.

[IV-41] Morelet, Voyage, tom. ii., pp. 65-8, 26. M. Morelet, by reason of sickness, was unable to make any personal explorations in Peten beyond the island. He has preserved, however, some native reports respecting the antiquities of the region. ‘On trouve dans tout ce pays des ruines d’anciens édifices, comme dans le Yucathan, et des idoles en pierre.’ Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 51. ‘Por aquellos montes ay muchos edificios antiguos grandiosos (como lo que oy se ven en Yucathàn) y en ellos muy grandes Idolos de piedra.’ Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 700. ‘It is doubtful if any monuments of note exist in the district, except on the islands, or in the immediate neighborhood of the lakes.’ Squier’s Cent. Amer., pp. 543-5. Mention in Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 295; Humboldt, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1827, tom. xxxv., p. 329. ‘Il n’existe dans cette île aucuns vestiges d’idoles ni de temples.’ Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 69-70. Many relics and remains of idols still to be found on the island. Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 359; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 470; Morelet’s Trav., pp. 240-2; Gondra, in Prescott, Mex., tom. iii., p. 98.

[IV-42] ‘Les Indiens, on le sait, se montrent très réservés sur tout ce qui touche à leur ancienne nationalité: quoique ces ruines fussent connues d’un grand nombre d’entre eux, pas un n’avait trahi le secret de leur existence.’ Morelet, Voyage, tom. ii., pp. 66-7; Id., Trav., pp. 241-2; Squier, in Hist. Mag., vol. iv., p. 66; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 295.

[IV-43] Galindo, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 68; Squier, in Hist. Mag., vol. iv., p. 66. Mr Squier says the tower is 22 feet square at the base, instead of 22 paces as Galindo gives it. He does not state the authority on which his description rests; it seems, however, in other respects to be simply a reproduction of Galindo’s account, which is also repeated in Squier’s Cent. Amer., pp. 544-5. Slight mention in Morelet, Voyage, tom. ii., p. 66; Id., Trav., p. 240; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 295.

[IV-44] Col. Mendez, whom Gov. Tut preceded at Tikal by a day or two only, visited the ruins as commissioner of the Guatemalan government, to which, after a stay of four days, he made a report. This report, so far as I know, was never published in the original Spanish; but the MS. fell into the hands of Mr Hesse, Prussian envoy to the Central American governments, and was by him translated into German and published with the plates in the Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Erdkunde, 1853, tom. i., pt. iii., pp. 162-8. This translation, without the plates, and with some slight omissions of unimportant details respecting the journey, was also published in Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 247-54, 304-8, with notes by Messrs Hesse and Sivers. This is the source of my information. Mendez revisited Tikal in 1852, without obtaining any additional information of value so far as I know. The ruins are mentioned and more or less fully described, always from the same source, in Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 460-2; Buschmann, Ortsnamen, pp. 115-17; Ritter, in Gumprecht, tom. i., p. 3; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., pp. 247, 295.

[IV-45] Hesse, in Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 254-5, 308-9; Buschmann, Ortsnamen, pp. 115-16; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 295; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 460.

[IV-46] Henderson’s Honduras, pp. 52-3; repeated in Squier’s Cent. Amer., pp. 596-7.

[IV-47] Froebel’s Cent. Amer., p. 167.

Chapter V • Antiquities of Yucatan • 48,300 Words

Yucatan, the Country and the People—Abundance of Ruined Cities—Antiquarian Exploration of the State—Central Group—Uxmal—History and Bibliography—Waldeck, Stephens, Catherwood, Norman, Friederichsthal, and Charnay—Casa del Gobernador, Las Monjas, El Adivino, Pyramid, and Gymnasium—Kabah, Nohpat, Labná, and nineteen other Ruined Cities—Eastern Group; Chichen Itza and vicinity—Northern Group; Mayapan, Mérida, and Izamal—Southern Group; Labphak, Iturbide, and Macoba—Eastern Coast; Tuloom and Cozumel—Western Coast; Maxcanú, Jaïna, and Campeche—General Features of the Yucatan Relics—Pyramids and Stone Buildings—Limestone, Mortar, Stucco, and Wood—The Triangular Arch—Sculpture, Painting, and Hieroglyphics—Roads and Wells—Comparisons—Antiquity of the Monuments—Conclusions.

Physical Features of Yucatan

North of the bay of Chetumal on the Atlantic, the Laguna de Terminos on the gulf of Mexico, and latitude 17° 50´ in the interior, lies the peninsula of Yucatan, one of the few exceptions to the general direction of the world’s peninsulas, projecting north-eastwardly from the continent, its form approximately a parallelogram whose sides measure two hundred and fifty miles from north to south and two hundred from east to west. Its whole surface, so far as known to geographers, may be termed practically a level plain only slightly elevated above the level of the sea. The coast for the most part, and especially in the north, is low, sandy, and barren, with few indentations affording harbors, and correspondingly few towns and cities of any importance. Crossing the narrow coast region, however, we find the interior fertile and heavily wooded. While there are no mountains that deserve the name, yet there are not entirely wanting ranges of hills to break up and diversify by their elevation of from two hundred to five hundred feet the monotony of a dead level. Chief among these is the Sierra de Yucatan, so called, an offshoot of the southern Peten heights, branching out from the great central Cordillera. It stretches north-eastward nearly parallel with the eastern coast to within some twenty-five miles of Cape Catoche. Another line of hills on the opposite gulf coast extends from the mouth of the River Champoton, also north-eastward, toward Mérida, the capital of the state, about thirty miles south-west of which place it deflects abruptly at right angles from its former direction, and with one or two parallel minor ranges extends south-eastward at least half-way across the state. At some period geologically recent the waves of ocean and gulf doubtless beat against this elbow-shaped sierra, then the coast barrier of the peninsula; since the country lying to the north and west presents everywhere in its limestone formation traces of its comparatively late emergence from beneath the sea. The lack of water on the surface is a remarkable feature in the physical geography of Yucatan. There are no rivers, and the few small streams along the coast extend but few miles inland and disappear as a rule in the dry season. One small lake, whose waters are strongly impregnated with salt, is the only body of water in the broad interior, which is absolutely destitute of streams. From June to October of each year rain falls in torrents, and the sandy, calcareous soil seems to possess a wonderful property of retaining the stored-up moisture, since the ardent rays of the tropical sun beating down through the long rainless summer months, rarely succeed in parching any portion of the surface into any approach to the sterility of a desert. The summer temperature, although high, is modified by sea-breezes from the east and west; consequently the heat is less oppressive and the climate on the whole more healthful than in any other state of the American tierra caliente. The inhabitants, something over half a million in number, of whom a very large proportion are full-blooded natives of the Maya race, are a quiet and peaceful though brave people, living simply on the products of the soil and of the forest, and each community taking but little interest in the affairs of the world away from their own immediate neighborhood. They made a brave but vain resistance to the progress of foreign conquerors, and have since lived for the most part in quiet subjection to the power of a dominant race and the priests of a foreign faith, having lost almost completely the ambitious and haughty spirit for which they were once noted, and forgotten practically the greatness of their civilized ancestors. Since throwing off the power of Spain, they have passed through four or five revolutions,—a noteworthy record when compared with that of other Spanish American states—by which Yucatan has passed successively to and fro from the condition of an independent republic to that of a state in the Mexican Republic, to which it now belongs. Except the northern central portion, which contains the capital and principal towns, and which itself, outside of Mérida and the route to the coast, is only comparatively well known through the writings of a few travelers, and except also some of the ports along the coast visited occasionally by trading vessels of various nations, Yucatan is still essentially a terra incognita. It was more thoroughly explored by the Spanish soldiers and priests in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries than at any subsequent time. The eastern interior and the southern bordering on the Guatemalan province of Peten are especially unexplored, little or nothing being known of the latter district away from the trails that lead southward, one to Bacalar, the other to Lake Peten, trodden by the feet of few but natives during the last two centuries.

A Rich Antiquarian Field

Yucatan presents a rich field for antiquarian exploration, furnishing perhaps finer, and certainly more numerous, specimens of ancient aboriginal architecture, sculpture, and painting than have been discovered in any other section of America. The state is literally dotted, at least in the northern central, or best known, portions with ruined edifices and cities. I shall have occasion to mention, and describe more or less fully, in this chapter, such ruins in between fifty and sixty different localities.[V-1]‘Le sol de l’Yucatan est encore, aujourd’hui, parsemé d’innombrables ruines, dont la magnificence et l’étendue frappent d’étonnement les voyageurs; de toutes parts, ce ne sont que collines pyramidales, surmontées d’édifices superbes, des villes dont la grandeur éblouit l’imagination, tant elles sont multipliées et se touchent de près, sur les chemins publics: enfin on ne saurait faire un pas sans rencontrer des débris qui attestent à la fois l’immensité de la population antique du Maya et la longue prospérité dont cette contrée jouit sous ses rois.’ ‘Nulle terre au monde ne présente aujourd’hui un champ si fécond aux recherches de l’archéologue et du voyageur.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 20, 24. ‘A peine y a-t-il dans l’Yucatan une ville, une bourgade, une maison de campagne qui n’offre dans ses constructions des restes de pierres sculptées qui ont été enlevées d’un ancien édifice. On peut compter plus de douze emplacements couverts de vastes ruines.’ Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 300-1. ‘Elle est, pour ainsi dire, jonchée de ruines. Partout, dans cette partie de l’Amérique, la poésie des souvenirs parle à l’imagination.’ Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., p. 320. While these monuments, however, are the most extensive and among the best preserved within the limits of the Pacific States, they were yet among the last to be brought to the knowledge of the modern world. In the voyages, made early in the sixteenth century, which immediately preceded the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards, Córdova, Grijalva, and Cortés touched at various points along the Yucatan coast, and were amazed to find there on the borders of a new world which they had supposed to be occupied exclusively by barbarians, a civilized people who served their gods and kept their idols in lofty stone temples. But their stay was brief and they pursued their way northward, bent on the conquest of the richer realms of Montezuma. The excitement of the conquest and the new wonders beheld in Anáhuac blotted practically from the popular mind all memory of the southern tower-temples, although their discovery was recorded in the diaries of the expeditions, from which and from verbal descriptions accounts were inserted in the works of the standard historians of the Indies. Later, in the middle of the century, when the turn came for Yucatan to be overrun with soldiers, stone temples had become too familiar sights to excite much attention; yet the chroniclers of the time included in their annals some brief descriptions of the heathen temples destroyed by the Spanish invaders; and the Yucatan historians of the following century, Landa, Cogolludo, and Villagutierre Soto-Mayor, described and personally visited some of the ruins. These earlier accounts have been utilized in delineating the state of architectural art among the Mayas in a preceding volume, and they will also be used somewhat extensively as illustrative material in the following pages. Since these early times the ruins, shrouded by a dense tropical vegetation, have lain untenanted and unknown, save to the peaceful inhabitants of the northern and more thickly settled portions of the state, who have from time to time become aware of their existence accidentally while in search of water or a favorable locality for a milpa, or cornfield. Only a few of the forty-four ruined towns explored by Mr Stephens were known to exist by the people of Mérida, the state capital.

Exploration of Maya Ruins

Stephens and Catherwood

Since 1830 the veil has been lifted from the principal ruins of ancient Maya works by the researches of Zavala, Waldeck, Stephens, Catherwood, Norman, Friederichsthal, and Charnay. A general account of the antiquarian explorations and writings of these gentlemen is given in the appended note,[V-2]The earliest modern account of Yucatan Antiquities with which I am acquainted is that written by Sr Lorenzo de Zavala, Ambassador of the Mexican Government in France, and published in Antiquités Mexicaines, tom. i., div. ii., pp. 33-5. Sr Zavala visited Uxmal several years before 1834. His communication gives a tolerably good general idea of the ruins, but it is brief, unaccompanied by drawings, and relates only to one city. It is, therefore, of little value when compared with later and more extensive works on the subject, and is mentioned in this note only as being the earliest account extant. Yet long before Zavala’s visit, Padre Thomas de Soza, a Franciscan friar of the convent of Mérida, had observed the ruins during his frequent trips through the province, and he gave a slight account of them to Antonio del Rio, who mentioned it in his Descrip. of an Ancient City, pp. 6-8.

M. Frédéric de Waldeck, a French artist, visited Uxmal in 1835 during a short tour in the peninsula, and published the result of his labors in his Voyage Pittoresque et Archéologique dans la Province d’Yucatan, Paris, 1838, large folio, with 22 steel plates and lithographic illustrations. M. de Waldeck became in some way obnoxious to the Mexican Government, which threw some obstacles in his way, and finally confiscated his drawings, of which he had fortunately made copies. Waldeck in his turn abuses the government and the people, and has consequently been unfavorably criticised. His drawings and descriptions, however, tested by the work of later visitors under better auspices, are remarkable for their accuracy so far as they relate to antiquities. The few errors discoverable in his work may be attributed to the difficulty of exploring alone and unaided ruins enveloped in a dense tropical forest. ‘Supplied with pecuniary aid by a munificent and learned Irish peer.’ (Lord Kingsborough.) Foreign Quar. Rev., vol. xviii., p. 251. ‘Waldeck, aumentando ó disminuyendo antojadiza y caprichosamente sus obras, las hace participar, en todos sentidos, de las no muy acreditadas cualidades de verídico, imparcial y concienzudo que aquí le conocieron.’ M. F. P., in Registro Yucateco, tom. i., p. 362.

Mr. John L. Stephens, accompanied by Fred. Catherwood, artist, at the end of an antiquarian expedition through Central America, arrived at Uxmal in 1840, and began the work of surveying the city, but the sickness of Mr Catherwood compelled them to abandon the survey when but little progress had been made and return abruptly to New York. The results of their incomplete work were published in Stephens’ Cent. Amer., N. Y., 1841, vol. ii.

Mr B. M. Norman, a resident of New Orleans, made a flying visit to Yucatan from December to March, 1841-2, and published as a result Rambles in Yucatan, N. Y., 1843, illustrated with cuts and lithographs. According to the Registro Yucateco, tom. i., p. 372, this trip was merely a successful speculation on the part of Norman, who collected his material in haste from all available sources, in order to take advantage of the public interest excited by Stephens’ travels. However this may be, the work is not without value in connection with the other authorities. ‘The result of a hasty visit.’ Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 172. The work ‘n’est qu’une compilation sans mérite et sans intérêt.’ Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 150. ‘A valuable work.’ Davis’ Antiq. Amer., p. 12. ‘By which the public were again astonished and delighted.’ Frost’s Pict. Hist. Mex., p. 77. Norman’s work is very highly spoken of and reviewed at length, with numerous quotations and two plates, in the Democratic Review, vol. xi., pp. 529-38.

Mr Stephens arrived in New York on his return from his Central American tour in July, 1840, having left Yucatan in June. ‘About a year’ after his return he again sailed for Yucatan on October 9th and remained until the following June. This is all the information the author vouchsafes touching the date of his voyage, which was probably in 1841-2, Stephens and Norman being therefore in the country at the same time; the latter states, indeed, that they were only a month apart at Zayi. Stephens’ work is called Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, N. Y., 1843. (?) (Ed. quoted in this work, N. Y., 1858.) The drawings of this and of the previous expedition were published, with a descriptive text by Stephens, under the title of Catherwood’s Views of Ancient Monuments in Central America, N. Y., 1844, large folio, with 25 colored lithographic plates. Stephens’ account was noticed, with quotations, by nearly all the reviews at the time of its appearance, and has been the chief source from which all subsequent writers, including myself, have drawn their information. His collection of movable Yucatan relics was unfortunately destroyed by fire with Mr Catherwood’s panorama in New York. Critics are almost unanimous in praise of the work. ‘Malgré quelques imperfections, le livre restera toujours un ouvrage de premier ordre pour les voyageurs et les savants.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Esquisses, p. 7. ‘Stephens y Catherwood, por ejemplo, sin separarse de la verdad de los originales, los cópia el uno, y los describe el otro con exactitud, criterio y buena fé,’ M. F. P., in Registro Yucateco, tom. i., p. 362. ‘Ce que M. Stephens a montré talent, de science et de modestie dans ses narrations est au-dessus de toute appréciation.’ Dally, Races Indig., p. 14. Jones, Hist. Anc. Amer., criticises Stephens’ conclusions, and his criticisms will be somewhat noticed in their proper place. See also p. 82, note 14, of this volume.

The Baron von Friederichsthal, an attaché of the Austrian Legation, spent several months in an examination of Yucatan ruins, confining his attention to Chichen Itza and Uxmal. He had with him a daguerreotype apparatus, and with its aid prepared many careful drawings. As to the date of his visit it probably preceded those of Norman and Stephens, since a letter by him, written while on his return to Europe, is dated April 21, 1841. This letter is printed in the Registro Yucateco, tom. ii., pp. 437-43, and in the Dicc. Univ., tom. x., pp. 290-3. It contains a very slight general account of the ruins, which are spoken of as ‘hasta hoy desconocidas,’ with much rambling speculation on their origin. On his arrival in Europe Friederichsthal was introduced by Humboldt to the Académie Royale des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, before which society he read a paper on his discoveries on October 1, 1841, which paper was furnished by the author for the Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 297-314, where it was published under the title of Les Monuments de l’Yucatan. The author proceeded to Vienna where he intended to publish a large work with his drawings, a work that so far as I know has never seen the light. ‘M. de Friederichsthal a souvent été inquiété dans ses recherches; les ignorants, les superstitieux, les niais les regardaient comme dangereuses au pays.’ Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 304.

In 1858 M. Désiré Charnay visited Izamal, Chichen Itza, and Uxmal, taking with him a photographic apparatus. He succeeded in obtaining perfect views of many of the buildings, which were published under the title Cités et Ruines Américaines, Paris, 1863, in large folio. The text of the work is in octavo form and includes a long introduction by M. Viollet-le-Duc, French Government Architect, occupied chiefly with speculation and theories rather than descriptions. Charnay’s part of the text, although a most interesting journal of travels, is very brief in its descriptions, the author wisely referring the reader to the photographs, which are invaluable as tests of the correctness of drawings made by other artists both in Yucatan and elsewhere.

See also a general notice of the ruins in Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 176-7, and in Gottfriedt, Newe Welt, p. 611; full account in Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., pp. 125-50, from Stephens; and brief accounts, made up from the modern explorers, in Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., pp. 171-3, with cut of an idol from Catherwood; Prichard’s Researches, vol. v., pp. 346-8; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 147, 191-5, 269-72; Dally, Races Indig., pp. 14-15; Warden, Recherches, pp. 68-9; Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., pp. 36-50, from old Spanish authorities; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 460, 462; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. i., p. 12; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 267; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., pp. 144, 247; Baril, Mexique, pp. 128-30; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 20-31; Davis’ Antiq. Amer., pp. 512-30; Id., Ed. 1847, p. 31; Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., pp. 320-8; Mex. in 1842, p. 75; Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 227, 242-7, 303-4. details and notices of additional visitors to particular localities being reserved until I come to speak of those localities. It will be noticed that all the authors mentioned who write from actual observation, have confined their observations to from one to four of the principal ruins, whose existence was known previous to their visits, excepting Messrs Stephens and Catherwood. These gentlemen boldly left the beaten track and brought to the knowledge of the world about forty ruined cities whose very existence had been previously unknown even to the residents of the larger cities of the very state in whose territory they lie. With a force of natives to aid in clearing away the forest, Mr Stephens spent ten months in surveying, and Mr Catherwood in sketching with the aid of a daguerrean camera, the various groups of ruined structures. The accuracy of both survey and drawings is unquestioned. The visit of these explorers was the first, and has thus far proved in most cases the last. The wrecks of Maya architecture have been left to slumber undisturbed in their forest winding-sheet. “For a brief space the stillness that reigned around them was broken, and they were again left to solitude and silence. Time and the elements are hastening them to utter destruction. It has been the fortune of the author to step between them and the entire destruction to which they are destined; and it is his hope to snatch from oblivion these perishing, but still gigantic memorials of a mysterious people.” His hope has been fully realized, and his book may be regarded as a model, both as a journal of travel and personal adventure and as a record of antiquarian research. Mr Stephens is one of the very few travelers who have been able to gaze upon the noble monuments of a past civilization without being drawn into a maze of absurd reasoning and conjecture respecting their builders. His conclusions, if sometimes incorrect in the opinion of other antiquarians entitled to a hearing in the matter, are never groundless or rashly formed.

Notwithstanding the extent of Mr Stephens’ explorations, a very large part of Yucatan remains yet untrodden by the antiquary’s foot. This is especially true in the east, except on the immediate coast, and in the south toward Guatemala. That extensive ruins yet lie hidden in these unexplored regions, can hardly be doubted; indeed, it is by no means certain that the grandest cities, even in the settled and partially explored part of the peninsula, have yet been described; but the uniformity of such as have been brought to our knowledge does not lead us to expect new developments with respect to the nature, whatever may be proved of the extent, of the Maya antiquities.

By reason of the level surface of the peninsula, uncut by rivers, and unbroken by mountain ranges, the determination of the geographical position of its ruins is reduced to a statement of distances and bearings. The location of the chief cities is moreover indicated on the map which accompanies this volume.[V-3]The best map of Yucatan, showing not only the country’s geographical features, but the location of all its ruins, is the Carte du Yucatan et des régions voisines, compiled by M. Malte-Brun from the works of Owen, Barnett, Lawrence, Kiepert, García y Cubas, Stephens, and Waldeck, and published in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Palenqué, Paris, 1866, pl. i., ii. With respect to the order in which they are to be described there would be little ground for preference in favor of any particular arrangement, were they all equally well known. But this is not the case. Two or three of the principal cities have been carefully examined, described, and sketched, and as for the rest, only their points of contrast with the preceding have been pointed out. All that is known of most of the ruins would be wholly unintelligible at the commencement of my description, but will be found comparatively satisfactory further on. Thus I am not only obliged to describe the best-known ruins first, but fortunately these are also among the grandest and most typical of the whole, being, in fact, the very ones that would be selected for the purpose. To fully describe a few and point out contrasts in the rest is the only method of avoiding a very tiresome monotony in attempting to make known some hundreds of structures very like one to another in most of their details as well as in their general features. The similarity observed among the different monuments is a very great advantage to the antiquarian student, since it will enable me, if I mistake not, to give the reader in this chapter as clear an idea of the antiquities of Yucatan, notwithstanding their great number, as of any portion of the Pacific States.

Groups of Ruins

For convenience in description, then, I divide the ruins in the interior of the state into four groups; the central group,—placed first that I may begin my account with Uxmal—which, besides the extensive ruins of Uxmal, Kabah, and Labná, embraces relics of the past in at least nineteen other localities; the eastern group, including little besides the famous ruins at Chichen Itza; the northern group, in which I mention Izamal, Aké, Mérida, and Mayapan; and the southern group, comprising five or six ruined towns in the region of Iturbide. I shall finally treat of the antiquities discovered at various points on the eastern and western coasts.

The parallel ranges of hills already spoken of as extending half-way across the peninsula from north-west to south-east contain within their enclosed valleys the ruins of the first group, more numerous than in any other section of the state, and all comprised within a parallelogram whose sides would measure about thirty and forty miles respectively.

Ruins of Uxmal

Uxmal is the most north-western of the group, in latitude 20° 27´ 30´´, thirty-five miles south of Mérida, on a hacienda belonging, by a deed running back one hundred and forty years, thirty-five years ago,—and very likely still, as real estate rarely changes hands in Spanish American countries,—to the Peon family, and at one time cultivated by its owners as a cornfield.[V-4]Fray Diego Lopez Cogolludo visited Uxmal at some time before the middle of the seventeenth century, and describes the ruins to some extent in his Historia de Yucathan, Mad., 1688, pp. 176-7, 193-4, 197-8. Padre Thomas de Soza, about 1786, reported to Antonio del Rio stone edifices covered with stucco ornaments, known by the natives as Oxmutal, with statues of men beating drums and dancing with palms in their hands, which he had seen in his travels in Yucatan, and which are thought to be perhaps identical with Uxmal, although the monuments are reported as being located twenty leagues south of Mérida and may be quite as reasonably identified with some other group. Rio’s Description, pp. 6-7. Zavala’s visit to Uxmal at some date previous to 1834 has already been spoken of in note 2. His account is called Notice sur les Monuments d’Ushmal, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., pp. 33-5. M. de Waldeck left Mérida for Uxmal on May 6, 1835, arrived at the ruins on May 12, where he spent some eight days, and was interrupted in his work by the rainy season. Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 67-74, 93-104, and plates. Mr Stephens had Waldeck’s work with him at the time of his second visit. He says, Yucatan, vol. i., p. 297, ‘It will be found that our plans and drawings differ materially from his, but Mr Waldeck was not an architectural draughtsman;’ yet the difference is only to be noted in a few plates, and is not so material as Mr Stephens’ words would imply. Still, where differences exist, I give Mr Stephens the preference, because, having his predecessor’s drawings, his attention would naturally be called to all the points of Waldeck’s survey. Mr Stephens says further, ‘It is proper to say, moreover, that Mr Waldeck had much greater difficulties to encounter than we, … besides, he is justly entitled to the full credit of being the first stranger who visited these ruins and brought them to the notice of the public.’ Mr Stephens’ first visit was in June, 1840, during which he visited the ruins from the hacienda three times, on June 20, 21, and 22, while Mr Catherwood spent one day, the 21st, in making sketches. It was unfortunate that he was forced by Mr Catherwood’s illness to leave Uxmal, for at this time the ground had been cleared of the forest and was planted with corn; the occasion was therefore most favorable for a thorough examination. Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., pp. 413-35, with 3 plates. Mr Norman, according to his journal, reached the ruins, where he took up his abode, on February 25, 1842, and remained until March 4, devoting thus seven days or thereabouts to his survey. His account is accompanied by several lithographic illustrations. Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., pp. 154-67. Messrs Stephens and Catherwood arrived on their second visit on November 15, 1841, and remained until January 1, 1842, Mr Stephens meanwhile making two short trips away, one in search of ruins, the other to get rid of fever and ague. It is remarkable that they found no traces of Mr Friederichsthal’s visit, (Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 306-9,) which was probably in the same year. Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 163-325, vol. ii., pp. 264-73, with many plates and cuts. Padre Carrillo, cura of Ticul, with D. Vicente García Rejon, and D. José María Fajardo, visited the ruins in March, 1845, and an account of the visit, embodying but little information, was published by L. G., in Registro Yuc., tom. i., pp. 275-9. Another account of a visit in the same year was published by M. F. P., in Id., pp. 361-70. Mr Carl Bartholomaeus Heller spent two or three days at Uxmal, April 6 to 9, 1847. His account is found in Heller, Reisen, pp. 256-65. M. Charnay’s visit was in 1858, and his efforts to obtain photographic negatives and to fight the insects which finally drove him away, lasted eight days. Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 362-80, pl. xxxv-xlix. M. Brasseur de Bourbourg was at Uxmal in 1865, and made a report, accompanied by a plan, which was published in the Archives de la Com. Scien. du Mex., tom. ii., pp. 234, 254, as the author states in his Palenqué, Introd., p. 24. See further on Uxmal: Description quoted from Stephens with unlimited criticisms, italics, capitals, and exclamation points, in Jones’ Hist. Anc. Amer., pp. 86-105, 120; description from Waldeck and Stephens, with remarks on the city’s original state, in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 21-3, 585; and also slight accounts made up from one or more of the authorities already cited as follows: Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 462, 483; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 99-103, from Waldeck; Baril, Mexique, pp. 129-30, from Del Rio; Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 237-41; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 149-50, 193; Frost’s Great Cities, pp. 268-81; Id., Pict. Hist. Mex., p. 80; Album, Mex., tom. i., pp. 203-4, the last three including a moonlight view of the ruins, from Norman; Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., pp. 321-8, with plates from Waldeck; Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., pp. 131-7, with cuts, from Stephens; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 208, 212-13, 302, 330, 398-9, from Stephens; Willson’s Amer. Hist., pp. 82-6, with cuts, from Stephens; Armin, Das Heutige Mex., pp. 91-6, with cuts, from Stephens; Id., Das Alte Mex., p. 97; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 144; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. i., p. 12; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 51; Hermosa, Enciclopedia, Paris, 1857, pp. 176-7; Prescott’s Mex., vol. iii., pp. 412-13; Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., pp. 36-7, 44. The derivation and meaning of the name Uxmal,[V-5]Pronounced ooshmahl. like that of so many American cities of the past, is unknown; it is even uncertain whether this was the name of the city at all in the days of its original greatness, or only an appellation derived from that of the hacienda on which it stands, in comparatively modern times. Waldeck and some other writers take the latter view, identifying the ruins themselves with the city of Itzalane, ancient capital of the Itzas, although the authorities indicate only very vaguely that a city named Itzalane ever existed. Brasseur de Bourbourg, on the contrary, believes it to have been, under its present name of Uxmal, the capital of the Tutul Xius in the ninth century; Mr Stephens also believes that Uxmal was an inhabited city down to the days of the conquest.[V-6]Cogolludo sometimes writes the name Uxumual. ‘Il nous a été impossible de trouver une étymologie raisonnable à ce nom.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 21. ‘Le nom d’Uxmal signifie du temps passé. Il ne s’applique aux ruines que parce que celles-ci sont situées sur le terrain de la hacienda d’Uxmal.’ Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 68; Sivers, Mittelamerika, p. 237. Possibly derived from ox and mal, meaning ‘three passages’ in Maya. Heller, Reisen, p. 255. ‘It was an existing inhabited aboriginal town’ in 1556. Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., p. 272. Called Oxmutal by Soza, in Rio’s Description, p. 7. The ruins are situated in the foothills of one of the ranges mentioned, notwithstanding which fact the locality seems to be one of the most unhealthy in the state. Fever and ague, especially during the rainy season, and ravenous mosquitos have ever been the chief obstacles encountered by travelers. The vegetation, although dense and of the usual rapid growth, has been a lesser hindrance here than in many other localities, by reason of the ruins’ proximity to a hacienda and the frequent clearings made.[V-7]Lat. 30° 22´ 86´´ (!), Long. 4´ 33´´ west of Mérida. ‘Une couche très mince d’une terre ferrugineuse recouvre le sol, mais disparaît dans les environs où l’on n’aperçoit que du sable.’ Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 306. 2 miles (German) west of Jalacho, which lies near Maxcanú, on the road from Mérida to Campeche. Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 144. 20 leagues from Mérida, occupying an extent of several leagues. Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. i., p. 12. ‘A huit lieues de Mayapan … dans une plaine légèrement ondulée.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 21. ‘Le terrain d’Uxmal est plat dans toute l’étendue du plateau.’ ‘Sur le plateau d’une haute montagne.’ Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 68, 70.

The exact extent of the ruins it is of course impossible to determine, since the whole region abounds with mounds and heaps of débris scattered in every direction through the adjoining forest,[V-8]‘Sur un diamètre d’une lieue, le sol est couvert de débris, dont quelques-uns recouvrent des intérieurs fort bien conservés.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 363. and belonging originally to Uxmal or to some city in its immediate vicinity. A rectangular space, however, measuring in general terms something over one third of a mile from north to south and one fourth of a mile from east to west would include all the principal structures. The annexed plan will show their arrangement within the rectangle, as well as their ground forms and dimensions more clearly than many pages of descriptive text. Except in a few instances I have not attempted on the plan to represent the grades of the various terraces, which will be made clear in the text, but have indicated the extent of their bases by dotted lines and by the omission of the foliage which covers their sides and platforms as well as the surrounding country.[V-9]In the plan I have followed Stephens, Yucatan, vol. i., p. 165, who determined the position of all the structures by actual measurement, cutting roads through the undergrowth for this express purpose, and the accuracy of whose survey cannot be called in question. His plan is reproduced on a reduced scale in Willson’s Amer. Hist., p. 83. Plans are also given in Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pl. viii.; Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 155; and Charnay, Ruines Amér., introd. by Viollet-le-Duc, p. 62. These all differ very materially both from that of Stephens, and from each other; they are moreover very incomplete, and bear marks of having been carelessly or hastily prepared. ‘Disposée en échiquier, où se déployaient, à la suite les uns des autres, les palais et les temples.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 21. Besides the plans, general views of the ruins from nearly the same point (q on the plan looking southward) are given by Stephens, Yucatan, vol. i., p. 305, and by Charnay, Ruines Amér., phot. 49. Norman, Rambles in Yuc., frontispiece, gives a general view of the ruins by moonlight from a point and in a direction impossible to fix, which is copied in the Album Mex., tom. i., p. 203, in Frost’s Great Cities, p. 269, and in Id., Pict. Hist. Mex., p. 80. It makes a very pretty frontispiece, which is about all that can be said in its favor, except that it might serve equally well to illustrate any other group of American or old-world antiquities. It will be seen at a glance by the reader that none of the structures face exactly the cardinal points, and that no two of them face exactly in the same direction. It is customary for writers on American antiquities to speak of all the principal ruined palaces and temples as exactly oriented, and all the visitors to Uxmal, except Stephens, make the same statement respecting its structures, or so represent them on their plans. But in this case we are left in no uncertainty in the matter, for a photographic view of the southern ruins from the courtyard of the building C, agrees exactly with Stephens’ plan, and proves beyond question that the structures A and C, at least, cannot lie in the same direction.[V-10]Charnay, Ruines Amér., phot. 49. To prove that any of them face the cardinal points will require more careful examination than has yet been made.

Plan of Uxmal

Uxmal—Casa Del Gobernador.

In the southern central portion of the space comprised in the plan is the edifice at A, known as the Casa del Gobernador, or Governor’s House. It may be remarked here that the names by which the different structures are known have been given them, generally by the natives, but sometimes by visitors, in accordance with what they have fancied to have been their original use. There is only a very slight probability that in a few cases they may have hit upon a correct designation, although many of the names, like that of this building, are certainly sufficiently appropriate.[V-11]‘No habiendo tradicion alguna que testifique los nombres propios, que en un principio tuvieron los diferentes edificios que denuncian estas ruinas, es preciso creer que los que hoy llevan, son enteramente gratuitos.’ L. G., in Registro Yuc., tom. i., p. 275. Mr Jones is positive this must have been a temple rather than a palace. ‘Mr Stephens appears to be so strict a Spartan Republican, that every large, or magnificent building in the Ruined Cities, he considers to be a Palace,—he seems to have thought less of mind, than of matter.’ Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 96; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 97, calls it the Temple of Fire. The terraced mound that supports the Governor’s house demands our first attention. Its base, with its irregularities in form on the west and south, is shown on the plan by the dotted lines a, b, c, d: and measures on its perfect sides, ab, and bc, about six hundred feet. At a height of three feet from the ground a terrace, or promenade, mostly destroyed at the time of observation and not indicated on the plan, extends round the mound. From this rises the second terrace to a height of twenty feet, supporting a platform whose sides measure five hundred and forty-five feet. Somewhat west of the centre of this platform rises the third terrace, nineteen feet high and supporting the summit platform e, f, g, h, whose dimensions are about one hundred by three hundred and sixty feet, and whose height above the original surface of the ground is something over forty feet.[V-12]In stating the dimensions of this mound, as I shall generally do in describing Uxmal, I have followed Stephens’ text. His plan and both plans and text of all the other visitors vary more or less respecting each dimension. I had prepared tables of dimensions for each building from all the authorities, but upon reflection have thought it not worth while to insert them. Such tables would not enable the reader to ascertain the exact measurements, and moreover differences of a few feet cannot be considered practically important in this and similar cases. All the authorities agree on the general form and extent of this pyramidal mound. Most of them, however, refer only to the eastern front, and no one but Stephens notes the western irregularities. In giving the dimensions of the respective terraces some also refer to their bases, and others probably to their summits. Norman, Rambles in Yuc., pp. 156-7, states that the second and third terraces are each thirty feet high, while Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 372-3, makes the same fifteen and ten feet respectively. Waldeck’s plan makes the summit platform about 240 feet long. The material of the body of this mound is rough fragments of limestone thrown together without any order; the terraces are supported, however, at the sides by solid walls built of regular blocks of hewn limestone carefully laid in mortar nearly as hard as the rock. So far as can be determined from the drawings, these walls are not perpendicular, but incline slightly inward towards the top, and the corners are not square but carefully rounded. It is not improbable that the platforms were also paved originally with square blocks, as M. Charnay believes, although now covered with soil and vegetation. By means of an excavation, solid stone was found in the interior above the surface level, showing that the builders had taken advantage of a natural elevation as a labor-saving expedient in heaping up this massive artificial stone mound. There are no traces of stairways by which access was had to the second platform,[V-13]Jones, Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 120, says there was a stairway in the centre of each side. but a long inclined plane without steps, one hundred feet wide, on the southern side, apparently furnished the only means of ascent. From the second platform, however, a regular stairway of thirty-five steps, one hundred and thirty feet wide, leads up to the summit at i, being in the centre of the eastern side, or front.

Ground Plan of the Casa del Gobernador.

Section of the Casa del Gobernador.

The upper platform supports, and forms a promenade thirty feet wide round the Casa del Gobernador, which is a building three hundred and twenty-two feet long, thirty-nine feet wide, and twenty-six feet high,[V-14]Norman’s dimensions are 36×272 feet; Heller’s, 40×320 feet; Friederichsthal’s, 38×407 feet; and Waldeck’s, about 65×195 feet. built of stone and mortar. A central wall divides the interior longitudinally into two nearly equal corridors, which, divided again by transverse partition walls, form two parallel rows of rooms extending the whole length of the building. The arrangement of these rooms will be best understood by a reference to the accompanying ground plan from Mr Stephens.[V-15]Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., p. 175, reproduced in Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., p. 132, and Willson’s Amer. Hist., p. 84. The author speaks of the number of rooms as being 18, although the plan shows 24. He probably does not count the four small rooms corresponding with the recesses on the front and rear, as he also does not include their doors in his count. How he gets rid of the other two does not appear. Norman says 24 rooms, Charnay 21, and Stephens indicates 22 in the plan in Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 428. The two central apartments are about sixty feet long and twelve feet wide; the others, except the two in the recesses, are twelve by twenty-five feet. Those of the front corridor are twenty-three feet high, while in the rear they are only twenty-two, authorities differing somewhat, however, on this point. There are two doorways in the rear, one on each end, and thirteen on the front; with nine interior doorways exactly opposite the same number on the exterior. The rear, or western wall, except for a short distance at each end, is nine feet thick and perfectly solid, as was proved by an excavation; the transverse walls corresponding with the two recesses are of about the same thickness; and all the other walls are between two and three feet thick. The stone for the facings of the whole building is cut in smooth blocks nearly cubic in form and of varying but nowhere exactly stated dimensions; but the mass of the structure, as is proven by M. Charnay’s photograph, is an agglomeration of rough, irregular fragments of stone in mortar. The construction of the whole will be understood by a glance at the cut, which represents a section of the building at the central doorway in very nearly its true proportions, although the proper size and cubical form of the blocks are not observed.[V-16]Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 309, speaking of the Uxmal structures in general, says the blocks are usually 5×12 inches; Zavala, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 34, pronounces them from 25 to 28 centimètres in length, width, and thickness. At about mid-height of each room the side walls begin to approach each other, one layer of stones overlapping the one below it, until they are only one foot apart, when a number of blocks, longer than usual, are laid across the top, serving by means of the mortar which holds them in place and the weight of the superimposed masonry, as key-stones to this arch of the true American type. The projecting corners of the overlapping blocks are beveled off so that the ceiling presents two plane stone surfaces nearly forming an acute angle at the top. Above and between these arches all is solid masonry to the flat roof, giving to the apartments the air of galleries excavated in the solid mass, rather than enclosed by walls. The top of each doorway is formed by a stout beam of zapote-wood which has to bear the weight of the stone-work above. One of these lintels in the southern apartment, ten feet long, twenty-one inches wide, and ten inches thick, is elaborately carved; the rest, not only in this building, but in all at Uxmal, are plain.[V-17]This beam was taken to N. Y., where it shared the fate of Stephens’ other relics. Many of them are broken and fallen. It is to the breaking of these wooden lintels that is to be attributed nearly all the dilapidation observable about this ruin, especially over the outer doorways. Some special motive must have influenced the builders to use wood in preference to the more durable stone, and this motive may be supposed to have been the rarity and value of the zapote, which is said not to grow in this part of the state. The only traces preserved of the means by which these doorways were originally closed are the remains, on the inside of some of them near the top, of rings, or hooks, which may have served as hinges, or more probably for the support of a bar from which to suspend curtains. The dimensions of the doorways are not stated, but they are about ten feet high and seven feet wide. They are the only openings into or between the apartments, there being absolutely no windows, chimneys, or air-holes. Across the ceilings from side to side at about mid-height stretch small wooden beams, whose ends are built into the stone-work. The only suggestions respecting their use are that they served to support the ceilings while in process of construction, and that they served for the suspension of hammocks.[V-18]Stephens favors the former theory, Waldeck and Charnay the latter, insisting that the hammock is consequently an American invention. Norman goes so far as to say that the grooves worn by the hammock-ropes are still to be seen on some of these timbers. The inner surface of the rooms is that of the plain smooth stone blocks, except in one or two of them where a very thin coating of fine white plaster is noticed. There is no trace of painting, sculpture, or other attempt at decoration. The floors and roof are covered with a hard cement. Nothing further worthy of particular notice demands our attention in the interior of the Governor’s House, except the small apartments corresponding with the recesses near each end of the building. In these the sides of the ceiling instead of beginning to approach each other by means of overlapping blocks at mid-height of the room, begin at or near the floor, thus leaving no perpendicular walls whatever. The explanation of this seems to be, so far as can be judged from Catherwood’s drawing and Charnay’s photograph, that originally an open passage about twenty feet wide at the bottom, narrowing to two or three feet at the top, and twenty-four feet high, extended completely through the building from front to rear at each of the recesses, and that afterwards this passage was divided into two small apartments by three partition walls, a small door being left in the front and rear.[V-19]Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 97, speaks of real or false doors made of a single stone in connection with this building, but his examination of it was very slight. Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 177, speaks of interior decorations as follows: ‘Ay vn lienço en lo interior de la fabrica, que (aunque es muy dilatado) à poco mas de medio estado de vn hombre, corre por todo èl vna cornisa de piedra muy tersa, que haze vna esquina delicadissima, igual, y muy perfecta, donde (me acuerdo) avia sacado de la misma piedra, y quedado en ella vn anillo tan delgado, y vistoso, como puede ser vno de oro obrado con todo primor.’

South End of the Governor’s House.

Ornament of the Casa del Gobernador.—Fig. 1.

Ornament of the Casa del Gobernador.—Fig. 2.

The Elephant’s Trunk.—Fig. 3.

It now only remains to notice the exterior of the walls. A cornice just above the doorway, at something over one third of the height of the building, surrounds the entire structure, and another cornice is found near the top. Below the lower cornice the walls present the plain surface of the smoothly cut cubes of limestone, no traces of plaster or paint appearing. Above the cornice the walls are covered with elegant and complicated sculpture. The preceding cut[V-20]From Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., p. 174; also in Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., p. 132. Charnay’s photograph 48 shows the opposite or northern end in connection with another building. presents a view of the south end, and gives an idea of the sculptured portion of the wall, although it must be remembered that both the ends and rear are much less elaborately decorated than the front. The whole surface is divided into squares, or panels, filled alternately with frets, or grecques, and diamond lattice-work, with specially elaborate ornaments over each doorway, in connection with some of which are characters presumably hieroglyphic. The three cuts[V-21]From Stephens; one of them also in Baldwin’s Anc. Amer. show the ornamentation over the central front doorway. The first represents what seems to have been a human figure seated and surmounted by a lofty plumed head-dress. These human statues occurred in several places along the front, probably over each door, but few fragments remained to be seen by Europeans, and most of these have long since entirely disappeared. The second cut represents that part of the decoration extending above that before pictured to the upper cornice along the top of the wall. The central portion of this ornament is a curved projection, supposed, by more than one traveler, to be modeled after the trunk of an elephant, of which a profile view is shown in the third cut. It projects nineteen inches from the surface of the wall. This protruding curve occurs more frequently on this and other buildings at Uxmal than any other decoration, and usually with the same or similar accompaniments, which may be fancied to represent the features of a monster, of which this forms the nose. It occurs especially on the ornamented and rounded corners; being sometimes reversed in its position, and having, with few exceptions, the point broken off, probably by the natives, from superstitious motives, to prevent the long-nosed monster from walking abroad at night.[V-22]A cut of this hook is also given by Norman, and by Waldeck, who, Voy. Pitt., p. 74, attempts to prove its identity with an elephant’s trunk, and that it was not molded from a tapir’s snout. The ornaments are cut on square blocks, which are inserted in the wall, one block containing only a part of the ornamental design. Of course, a verbal description fails utterly in conveying any proper idea of this front, whose sculptured decorations, if less elaborate and complicated than some others in Yucatan, are surpassed by none in elegant grandeur. I append however, in a note, some quotations respecting this façade, and take leave of the Casa del Gobernador with a mention of the ‘red hand,’ whose imprint is found on stones in all parts of the building. Mr Stephens believes that it was made by the pressure of a small human hand, smeared with red paint, upon the surface of the wall.[V-23]Charnay, Ruines Amér., phot. 46, shows the whole eastern façade. Photograph 47 gives a view on a larger scale of the portion over the principal doorway. Stephens, Yucatan, vol. i., frontispiece, represents the same front in a large plate, and in his Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 434, is a plate showing a part of the same. Norman gives a lithograph of the front. Rambles in Yuc., p. 158. His enlarged portion of the front from Waldeck does not belong to the Governor’s House at all. ‘Couvert de bas-reliefs, exécutés avec une rare perfection, formant une suite de méandres et arabesques d’un travail non moins capricieux que bizarre.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 23. Decorated with ‘gros serpents entrelacés et d’anneaux en pierre.’ Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 308. ‘Chiefly the meander, or the Grecian square border, used in the embroidery of the mantles and robes of Attica.’ Jones’ Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 98. ‘The length of the upper platform (in English feet!!) is seen to correspond nearly with the number of days in the year, and the mysterious emblem of eternity, the serpent, is found extending its portentous length around the building.’ Frost’s Great Cities, p. 271. ‘Du haut de ses trois étages de pyramides, il se dresse comme un roi, dans un isolement plein de majestueuse grandeur.’ ‘L’ornementation se compose d’une guirlande en forme de trapèzes réguliers, de ces énormes têtes déjà décrites, courant du haut en bas de la façade, et servant de ligne enveloppante à des grecques d’un relief très-saillant, reliées entre elles par une ligne de petites pierres en carré diversement sculptées; le tout sur un fond plat de treillis de pierre. Le dessus des ouvertures était enrichi de pièces importantes, que divers voyageurs ont eu le soin d’enlever. Quatre niches, placées régulièrement, contenaient des statues, absentes aujourd’hui.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 372-3. ‘One solid mass of rich, complicated elaborately sculptured ornaments forming a sort of arabesque.’ ‘Perhaps it may with propriety be called a species of sculptured mosaic; and I have no doubt that all these ornaments have a symbolical meaning; that each stone is part of a history, allegory, or fable.’ Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 166, 173. ‘The ornaments were composed of small square pieces of stone, shaped with infinite skill, and inserted between the mortar and stone with the greatest care and precision. About two-thirds of the ornaments are still remaining upon the façade…. The ground-work of the ornaments is chiefly composed of raised lines, running diagonally, forming diamond or lattice-work, over which are rosettes and stars; and, in bold relief, the beautiful Chinese border.’ Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., pp. 158-9. ‘A travers ces grands méandres formés par l’appareil se montrent, ici encore, la tradition des constructions de bois par empilages, en encorbellement et le treillis. Cette construction est une des plus soignées parmi celles d’Uxmal.’ Viollet-le-Duc, in Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 70.

This magnificent palace, whose description I have given, may be regarded as a representative, in its general features and many of its details, of the ancient Maya structures, very few of which, however, are so well preserved as this. Consequently, over this type of ruins—long, low, narrow buildings, with flat roofs, divided into a double line of small rooms, with triangular-arched ceilings, plain interior walls, and cement floors; the whole supported by a stone mound, ascended by a broad stairway—I shall be able in future to pass more briefly, simply noting such points of contrast with the Casa del Gobernador as may occur. Still some of the other buildings of Uxmal have received more attention from visitors, and consequently will afford better illustrations of some of the common features than the one already described.

Uxmal—Casa de Tortugas.

On the north-west corner of the second platform of the same mound that supports the Governor’s House, and lying in a direction perpendicular to that building, is the small structure marked B on the plan, and known as the Casa de Tortugas, or Turtle House. It is ninety-four feet long, thirty-four feet wide, and, as nearly as can be estimated by Charnay’s photograph, about twenty feet high. The roof, in an insecure condition at the time of Mr Stephens’ first visit, had fallen in before the second, filling up the interior, concerning which consequently nothing is known. The central portion of the southern wall, corresponding with the three doorways on that side, had also fallen, and on the northern side was ready to fall, the wooden lintel of the only doorway being broken. At the time of Charnay’s visit neither the centre nor western end of the northern wall remained standing. The exterior walls below the lower cornice are plain, as in the Casa del Gobernador, but between the cornices, instead of the complicated sculpture of the former building, there appears a simple and elegant line of round columns standing close together and encircling the whole edifice. Each of these columns is composed of two or three pieces of stone one upon another, and although presenting outwardly a half-round surface, they are undoubtedly square on the side that is built into the wall. Above the upper cornice is a row of turtles, occurring at regular intervals, sculptured each on a square block which projects from the wall; hence the name of the building. It is noted as a remarkable circumstance that no stairway leads up the terrace to this building from the surface below, or from it to the Governor’s House above.[V-23]Charnay, Ruines Amér., phot. 46, shows the whole eastern façade. Photograph 47 gives a view on a larger scale of the portion over the principal doorway. Stephens, Yucatan, vol. i., frontispiece, represents the same front in a large plate, and in his Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 434, is a plate showing a part of the same. Norman gives a lithograph of the front. Rambles in Yuc., p. 158. His enlarged portion of the front from Waldeck does not belong to the Governor’s House at all. ‘Couvert de bas-reliefs, exécutés avec une rare perfection, formant une suite de méandres et arabesques d’un travail non moins capricieux que bizarre.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 23. Decorated with ‘gros serpents entrelacés et d’anneaux en pierre.’ Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 308. ‘Chiefly the meander, or the Grecian square border, used in the embroidery of the mantles and robes of Attica.’ Jones’ Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 98. ‘The length of the upper platform (in English feet!!) is seen to correspond nearly with the number of days in the year, and the mysterious emblem of eternity, the serpent, is found extending its portentous length around the building.’ Frost’s Great Cities, p. 271. ‘Du haut de ses trois étages de pyramides, il se dresse comme un roi, dans un isolement plein de majestueuse grandeur.’ ‘L’ornementation se compose d’une guirlande en forme de trapèzes réguliers, de ces énormes têtes déjà décrites, courant du haut en bas de la façade, et servant de ligne enveloppante à des grecques d’un relief très-saillant, reliées entre elles par une ligne de petites pierres en carré diversement sculptées; le tout sur un fond plat de treillis de pierre. Le dessus des ouvertures était enrichi de pièces importantes, que divers voyageurs ont eu le soin d’enlever. Quatre niches, placées régulièrement, contenaient des statues, absentes aujourd’hui.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 372-3. ‘One solid mass of rich, complicated elaborately sculptured ornaments forming a sort of arabesque.’ ‘Perhaps it may with propriety be called a species of sculptured mosaic; and I have no doubt that all these ornaments have a symbolical meaning; that each stone is part of a history, allegory, or fable.’ Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 166, 173. ‘The ornaments were composed of small square pieces of stone, shaped with infinite skill, and inserted between the mortar and stone with the greatest care and precision. About two-thirds of the ornaments are still remaining upon the façade…. The ground-work of the ornaments is chiefly composed of raised lines, running diagonally, forming diamond or lattice-work, over which are rosettes and stars; and, in bold relief, the beautiful Chinese border.’ Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., pp. 158-9. ‘A travers ces grands méandres formés par l’appareil se montrent, ici encore, la tradition des constructions de bois par empilages, en encorbellement et le treillis. Cette construction est une des plus soignées parmi celles d’Uxmal.’ Viollet-le-Duc, in Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 70.

At different points on the second, or grand, platform of the mound supporting the Casa del Gobernador are traces of structures which once stood there, but insufficient in every case, except in that of the Tortugas, to give any idea of their original nature. Standing at the foot of one of these old foundation walls three hundred feet long, fifteen feet wide, and three feet high, on the south side of the platform, at j, is a range of broken round columns, each five feet high and eighteen inches in diameter.[V-24]Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., p. 181; Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 156. From this rather meagre information Mr Jones proves, in a manner entirely satisfactory to himself, that the whole platform was surrounded in its original condition by a double row of columns, 230 in number, placed 10 feet apart, each 18 inches in diameter and 12 feet high, with a grand central column, 6 feet in diameter, and 60 feet high. Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 119.

On the same platform, about eighty feet eastward of the central stairway, at k, is a round stone standing eight feet above the ground in a leaning position. It is rudely formed, has no sculpture on its surface, and is surrounded by a small square enclosure two stones high. The natives call it picote, ‘stone of punishment,’ or ‘whipping-post.’ Its prominent and central position in front of the magnificent palace, indicates its great importance in the eyes of the ancient Mayas, and Mr Stephens thinks it may be a phallus, not without reason, since apparent traces of an ancient phallic worship will be found not unfrequently among the Yucatan ruins.[V-25]‘A shaft of gray limestone in an inclined position, measuring twelve feet in circumference and eight in height; bearing upon its surface no marks of form or ornament by which it might be distinguished from a natural piece.’ Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 156. ‘Une espèce de colonne dite pierre du châtiment, où les coupables devaient recevoir la punition de leurs fautes.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 372. ‘Una enorme columna de piedra, cuya forma semicónica le da el aire de un obelisco, aunque de base circular y sin adornos.’ M. F. P., in Registro Yuc., tom. i., p. 364.

Uxmal—Picote and Idol.

Sixty feet further eastward, at l, was a circular mound of earth and stones about sixty feet in height, opened by Mr Stephens, who brought to light a double-headed stone animal, three feet long and two feet high, which had been buried there, very probably for the purpose of concealment. Being too heavy for convenient removal, it was left standing in the same position as when buried, and has there been noticed by several subsequent observers. Its sculpture is rude, and but slightly damaged by time. It is shown in the cut on the next page, with the picote, the stairway, and the front of the Governor’s House in the distance.[V-26]‘Double-headed cat or lynx,’ cut from Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., p. 183; and Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., p. 133. ‘Un autel, au centre, soutenait un tigre à deux têtes, dont les corps reliés au ventre figurent une double chimère.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 372. ‘Rude carving of a tiger with two heads.’ Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 156. ‘En un mismo cuerpo contiene dos cabezas de tigre de tamaño regular, vueltas hácia fuera: su actitud es la misma que la en que generalmente se representa la esfinge de la fábula; y si su excavacion no fuera tan reciente, probablemente habria corrido la suerte de otras estátuas y objetos preciosos, que à nuestra vista y paciencia han sido sacados del pais para figurar en los museos extranjeros.’ M. F. P., in Registro Yuc., tom. i., pp. 364-5. Mr Heller, Reisen, p. 259, confounds this monument with the picote. One hundred and thirty feet from this two-headed idol, in a direction not stated, Mr Stephens found a structure twenty feet square at the base, from which were dug out two sculptured heads, apparently portraits. The only objects of interest which remain to be noticed in connection with this platform, or the mound-structure of which it forms a part, are two excavations, supposed to have been originally cisterns. The entrance, or mouth, to each is a circular opening, eighteen inches in diameter, lined with regular blocks of cut stone, and descending three feet, vertically, from the surface of the platform, before it begins to widen into a dome-shaped chamber. The dimensions of the chambers could not be ascertained because they were nearly filled with rubbish, but similar chambers are of frequent occurrence throughout the city of Uxmal and vicinity, several of which were found unencumbered with débris, and in perfect preservation. They were all dome-shaped, or rather of the shape of a well-formed hay-stack, as Mr Stevens expresses it, the bottoms being somewhat contracted. The walls and floor were carefully plastered. One of these cisterns measured ten and a half feet deep and seventeen and a half feet in diameter.[V-27]Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i. pp. 229-32. Sr Peon, proprietor of Uxmal, believed that these excavations were originally used as granaries, not deeming the plaster sufficiently hard to resist water. ‘Excavations … with level curbings and smoothly finished inside.’ Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 156.

Two-headed Idol at Uxmal.

Uxmal—Cisterns and Pyramid.

At the south-west corner of the Casa del Gobernador, and even intrenching on the terraces that support it, is the pyramid E, to which strangely enough no name has been given. It has in fact received but very slight attention; one short visit by Mr Stephens, during which he mounted to the summit with a force of Indians, being the only one recorded, although it is barely mentioned by others. This pyramid measures two hundred by three hundred feet at the base, and its height is sixty-five feet. At the top is a square platform, whose sides are each seventy-five feet. The area of this platform is flat, composed of rough stones, and has no traces whatever of ever having supported any building. Its sides, however, three feet high perpendicularly, are of hewn blocks of stone, and smooth with ornamented corners. Below this summit platform, for a distance of ten or twelve feet, the sides of the pyramid are faced with sculptured stone, the ornaments being chiefly grecques, like those on the Governor’s House, having one of the immense faces with projecting teeth at the centre of the western side. At this point Mr Stephens attempted an excavation in the hope of discovering interior apartments, but the only result was to prostrate himself with an attack of fever, which obliged him to quit Uxmal. Just below this sculptured upper border, some fifteen feet below the top, a narrow terrace extends round the four sides of the pyramid. Concerning the surface below this terrace, we only know that it is encased in stone, and would very probably reveal additional ornamentation if subjected to a more minute examination.[V-28]Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 253-6, with a view in the frontispiece. Although Stephens says the pyramid is only sixty-five feet high, it is noticeable that in Catherwood’s drawing it towers high above the roof of the Casa del Gobernador, which is at least sixty-eight feet in height. Norman, Rambles in Yuc., p. 157, calls this a pile of loose stones, about two hundred feet square at the base, and one hundred feet high, and covered on the sides and top with débris of edifices. Friederichsthal, Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 308, says the summit platform is seventy-seven feet square. The pyramid F, still farther south-west, is two hundred feet long and one hundred and twenty feet wide at the base, being about fifty feet high. These particulars, together with the fact that a stairway leads up the northern slope, to one of the typical Yucatan buildings, twenty by one hundred feet and divided into three apartments, are absolutely all that has been recorded of this structure, which, like its more imposing companion pyramid, has not been thought worthy of a name. The reader will be able to form a more consistent conjecture respecting its original appearance after reading a description in the following pages of the structure at D, which presents some points of apparent similarity to its more modest southern neighbor.[V-29]Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., p. 319. A distant view of this pyramid is included in Stephens’ general view, p. 305, and in Charnay’s photograph 49. Norman, in both plan and text, unites this pyramid at the base with that at E, and makes its height eighty feet. Rambles in Yuc., p. 157.

Uxmal—Casa de Palomas.

Northward from the last pyramid, and connected with it by a courtyard one hundred feet long and eighty-five feet wide, with ranges of undescribed ruins on the east and west, are the buildings at G, built round and enclosing a courtyard one hundred and eighty feet long and one hundred and fifty feet wide, entered through an archway in the centre of the northern and southern buildings. This courtyard has a picote in the centre, like that before the Governor’s House, but fallen. These buildings are in an advanced state of ruin and no details are given respecting any of them except the northern one, which presents one remarkable feature. Along the centre of the roof from east to west throughout the whole length of two hundred and forty feet, is a peculiar wall rising in peaks like saw-teeth. These are nine in number, each about twenty-seven feet long at the base, between fifteen and twenty feet high, and three feet thick. Each is pierced with many oblong openings arranged in five or six horizontal rows, one above another like the windows in the successive stories of a modern building, or like those of a pigeon house, or Casa de Palomas, by which name it is known. Traces yet remain which show that originally these strange elevations were covered with stucco ornaments, the only instance of stucco decorations in Uxmal. Of this group of structures, including the two courtyards and the pyramid beyond, notwithstanding their ruined condition, Mr Stephens remarks that “they give a stronger impression of departed greatness than anything else in this desolate city.”[V-30]Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 318-19, with view of the Casa de Palomas; cut also in Id., Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 426. ‘Une muraille dentelée de pignons assez élevés, percés d’une multitude de petites ouvertures, qui donnent à chacun la physionomie d’un colombier.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 371-2, phot. 49. ‘A wall of two hundred feet remains standing upon a foundation of ten feet. Its width is twenty-five feet; having ranges of rooms in both sides, only parts of which remain. This wall has an acute-angled arch doorway through the centre…. The top of this wall has numerous square apertures through it, which give it the appearance of pigeon-holes; and its edge is formed like the gable-end of a house, uniformly notched.’ Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 165, with plate showing one of the peaks of the wall.

Respecting the remains marked 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15, on the plan, north of the Pyramid and Casa de Palomas, and west of the Casa del Gobernador, all that can be said is embodied in the following quotation: “A vast range of high, ruined terraces, facing east and west, nearly eight hundred feet long at the base, and called the Campo Santo. On one of these is a building of two stories, with some remains of sculpture, and in a deep and overgrown valley at the foot, the Indians say, was the burial-place of this ancient city; but, though searching for it ourselves, and offering a reward to them for the discovery, we never found in it a sepulchre.”[V-31]Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., p. 320; Norman, Rambles in Yuc., p. 165, speaks of this part of the ruin as ‘an immense court or square, enclosed by stone walls, leading to the Nun’s House,’ C of the plan. He says, also, that some of the scattered mounds in this direction have been excavated and seem to have been intended originally for sepulchres.

Crossing over now to the eastward of the Governor’s House, we find a small group of ruins in the south-eastern corner of the rectangle. The one marked 6 on the plan is known as the Casa de la Vieja, or Old Woman’s House, so named from a statue that was found lying near its front. The building stands on the summit of a small pyramid and its walls were just ready to fall at the time of the survey. Of the other structures of the group, 5 and 7, no further information is given than that which may be gathered from the plan. Along the line marked 4, 4, 4, are slight traces of a continuous wall, indicating that Uxmal may have been a walled city, since no careful search has ever been made for such traces in other portions of the city’s circumference.[V-32]Mr Stephens, Yucatan, vol. i., p. 320, refers to his appendix for a mention of some of the relics found in this group. The reference is probably to a note on vestiges of the phallic worship on p. 434, which from motives of modesty the author gives in Latin.

Uxmal Gymnasium

To go from the Casa del Gobernador northward to the buildings at C and D, yet to be described, we pass between two parallel walls at H. These two parallel structures are solid masses of rough stones faced on all four sides with smoothly cut blocks, and were, so far as can be determined in their present condition, exactly alike. Each measures thirty by one hundred and twenty-eight feet on the ground, and they are seventy feet apart, their height not being given. The fronts which face each other were covered with sculptured decorations, now mostly fallen, including two entwined serpents; while from the centre of each of these façades projected originally a stone ring about four feet in diameter, fixed in the wall by means of a tenon. Both are broken, and the fragments for the most part lost. A similar building in a better state of preservation will be noticed among the ruins of Chichen Itza, in describing which a cut of one of the stone rings will be given. It is easy to imagine that the grand promenade between the northern and southern palaces, or temples, was along a line that passed between these walls, and that these sculptured fronts and rings were important in connection with religious rites and processions of priests. The chief entrance to the northern buildings is in a line with this passage, and it seems strange that we find no corresponding stairway leading up the southern terrace to the front of the Casa de Tortugas.[V-33]Mr Norman’s statements, Rambles in Yuc., p. 166, differ materially from those of Stephens, Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 298-9. He states that the walls are only twelve feet apart, that the eastern façade only has the entwined serpents, that the western is covered with hieroglyphics, that the structure contains rooms on a level with the ground, and implies that the western ring was still perfect at the time of his visit. This building is called by Charnay the Cárcel, or Prison.

Uxmal—Casa de Monjas.

Between two and three hundred yards north from the Casa del Gobernador, is the Casa de Monjas, or Nunnery, marked C on the plan. This is perhaps the most wonderful edifice, or collection of edifices, in Yucatan, if not the finest specimen of aboriginal architecture and sculpture in America. The supporting mound, whose base is indicated by the dotted lines m, n, o, p is in general terms three hundred and fifty feet square, and nineteen feet high, its sides very nearly facing the cardinal points. The southern, or front, slope of the mound, about seventy feet wide, rises in three grades, or terraces, three, twelve, and four feet high, and twenty, forty-five, and five feet wide, respectively, from the base. There are some traces of a wide central stairway leading up to the second terrace on this side, but none of the steps remain in place.

On this platform stand four of the typical Yucatan edifices built round a courtyard, with unequal intervals between them at the corners. The southern building is two hundred and seventy-nine feet long, twenty-eight feet wide, and eighteen feet high; the northern building, two hundred and sixty-four feet long, twenty-eight feet wide, and twenty-five feet high; the eastern, one hundred and fifty-eight by thirty-five feet, and twenty-two feet high; the western, one hundred and seventy-three by thirty-five feet, and twenty feet high.[V-34]In these dimensions I have followed Mr Stephens’ text, as usual in Uxmal, as far as possible. Although the Casa de Monjas has received more attention than any of the other structures, yet, strangely enough, no visitor gives all the dimensions of the buildings and terraces; hardly any two authors agree on any one dimension; and no author’s text agrees exactly with his plans. Yet the figures of my text may be considered approximately correct. I append, however, in this instance a table of variations as a curiosity.

Respecting the height of the buildings, except the northern, we have no figures from any reliable authority; but we know that both eastern and western are lower than the northern building and higher than the southern, whose rooms are 17 feet high on the inside, and moreover that the eastern is higher than the western.

(TABLE) The northern building stands on a terrace of its own, which rises about twenty feet above the general level of the main platform on which the others stand. The court formed by the four edifices measures two hundred and fifty-eight by two hundred and fourteen feet. It is two feet and a half lower than the foundations of the eastern, western, and southern buildings, and traces of low steps may yet be seen running the whole length of the sides. Its area is paved with stone, much worn by long usage. M. Waldeck, by diligent research or by an effort of his imagination, found that each of the forty-three thousand six hundred and sixty blocks composing the pavement was six inches square, and had the figure of a turtle sculptured on its upper surface. Stephens could find no traces of the turtles, and believes that the pavement was originally covered with cement.[V-35]M. Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pl. xii., presents a drawing of four of these turtles. ‘Covered with square blocks of stone.’ Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 163. ‘Each tortoise is in a square, and in the two external angles of each square is an Egg. The tortoise and the egg, are both National emblems.’ Jones’ Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 94. In the centre are the fragments of a rude column, picote, or phallus, like those found in connection with the Casa del Gobernador and Casa de Palomas. M. Charnay also found traces of a straight path with raised borders leading north and south across the centre, and also two of the dome-shaped cisterns already described.[V-36]Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 364, 368; Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 301, 308.

The situation of the four structures forming the quadrangle, and the division of each into apartments, are shown in the accompanying ground plan.[V-37]Plan in Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., p. 301; reproduced in Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., p. 136. Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pl. xii., also gives a ground plan, which, so far as the arrangement of rooms and doorways is concerned, differs very widely from that of Stephens, and must be regarded as very incorrect. M. Waldeck, during his short stay in Yucatan, seems to have devoted his chief attention to sketching the sculptured façades, a work which he accomplished accurately, but to have constructed his plans from memory and imagination after leaving the country. In the preparation of the present plan he had, to aid his fancy, the supposed occupation of these buildings in former times by nuns, and he has arranged the rooms with an eye to the convenience of the priests in keeping a proper watch and guard over the movements of those erratic demoiselles.

Ground Plan of the Nunnery.

Interior of Room—Casa de Monjas.

It will be noticed that the northern building of the Nunnery does not stand exactly in the same direction as the sides of the platform or of the other edifices, an arrangement which detracts somewhat from the symmetry of the group. Each of the four buildings is divided longitudinally into two parallel ranges of apartments, arranged very much like those of the Governor’s House, with doorways opening on the interior court. The only exterior doorways are on the front of the southern building and on the ends of the northern; these, however, only afford access to the outer range of rooms, which do not communicate with the interior. In only one instance do more than two rooms communicate with each other, and that is in the centre of the eastern building, where are two communicating apartments, the largest in the Nunnery, each thirteen by thirty-three feet, with an ante-room at each end measuring nine by thirteen feet. All the doorways of this suite are decorated with sculpture, the only instance of interior stone-carving in Uxmal. The cut on the next page shows the inside of one of the larger rooms of this suite, and also gives an excellent idea of the interior of all the structures of Yucatan.[V-38]Cut from Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., p. 309. For some reason the sculpture is not shown. Waldeck’s pl. xii. contains also a section showing the form of the arches and ceilings. The rooms of the Casa de Monjas, eighty-eight in number, like some in the Casa del Gobernador, are plastered with a thin coat of hard white material like plaster of Paris. Those of the southern building average twenty-four feet long, ten feet wide, and seventeen feet high. They all present the same general features of construction—angular-arched ceilings, wooden lintels, stone rings, or hinges, on the inside of the doorways, holes in the sloping ceilings for hammock-timbers, entire absence of any openings except the doors—that have been previously described.[V-39]‘Les linteux des portes sont en bois, comme partout à Uxmal.’ ‘Les intérieurs, de dimensions variées suivant la grandeur des édifices … deux murailles parallèles, puis obliquant, pour se relier par une dalle.’ ‘Les salles étaient enduites d’une couche de plâtre fin qui existe encore.’ ‘On remarque de chaque côté de l’ouverture, à égale distance du sol et du linteau de la porte, plantés dans la muraille de chaque côté des supports, quatre crochets en pierre.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 364-6. M. Waldeck speaks of the door-tops of the western building as being composed of nine pieces of stone, perpendicular on the outside, or visible, portions, but beveled and secured by a keystone within. ‘Fait de neuf pierres à coupe perpendiculaire, et point du tout à clef: je parle ici de l’aspect de cette partie du monument à l’extérieur; mais à l’intérieur, ces neuf pierres sont à clef, ce que l’absence d’enduit m’a permis de constater.’ Voy. Pitt., p. 100. ‘The height of the ceiling is uniform throughout.’ Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 161. Heller, Reisen, p. 257, gives the botanical name of the zapote-wood used for lintels as cavanilla, achras sapota. Waldeck calls the wood jovillo. Voy. Pitt., p. 97. Norman spells it zuporte. The platform on which the buildings stand forms a narrow promenade, only five or six feet in width, round each, both on the exterior and on the court. The entrance to the court is by a gateway, at v on the general plan, in the centre of the southern building. It is ten feet and eight inches wide and about fourteen feet high, the top being formed by the usual triangular arch, and the whole being similar to the passages through the Casa del Gobernador before the latter were walled up. Opposite this gateway, at w, a stairway ninety-five feet wide leads up to the upper terrace which supports the northern building. On each side of this stairway, at x, y, on the slope of the terrace, is a ruin of the usual construction, in which six small apartments may be traced. The dilapidation of these buildings is so great that it is impossible to ascertain whether they were independent structures or formed a part of the terrace itself, a mode of construction of which we shall find some specimens in Yucatan, and even at Uxmal. A noticeable peculiarity in the northern building is that, wherever the outer walls are fallen, the sculptured surface of an inner wall is disclosed, showing that the edifice in its present form was built over an older structure.

Nothing remains to be said respecting the general plan and construction of the Nunnery, or of the interior of the apartments which compose it: and I now come to the exterior walls. The sides and ends of each building are, like those already described, plain and unplastered below the cornice, which extends round the whole circumference just above the doorways. Above this cornice the whole surface, over twenty-four thousand square feet for the four buildings, is covered with elegant and elaborate sculptured decorations. The four interior façades fronting on the court are pronounced by all beholders the chef-d’œuvres of aboriginal decorative art in America, being more chaste and artistic, and at the same time less complicated and grotesque, than any other fronts in Yucatan. All have been carefully studied, sketched, or photographed. No two of them are alike, or even similar. The outer fronts received somewhat less care at the hands of the native builders, and consequently less attention from modern visitors, being moreover much more seriously affected by the ravages of time and the elements.

Southern Court Façade—Casa de Monjas.

Detail of Southern Court Façade.

I begin with the southern building, showing in the accompanying engraving the eastern third of its court façade, the other portions being precisely like that which is represented. Except over the doorways the space between the cornices is occupied by diamond lattice-work and vertical columns, small portions being left, however, entirely plain. Some of the columns have central moldings corresponding nearly in form to the cornices.[V-40]‘J’ai parlé, dans le texte du présent ouvrage, des prétendues colonnes trouvées dans l’Yucatan. Les trois balustres qu’on voit dans cette planche peuvent, déplacés comme ils l’étaient, avoir donné lieu à cette erreur. En effet, en divisant ces ornements en plusieurs morceaux, on y trouvera un fût droit et une espèce de chapiteau que, d’après des idées relatives assurément fort naturelles, on place volontiers à l’extrémité supérieure du fût, au lieu de le mettre au milieu.’ Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 103. ‘C’est un ensemble de colonnettes nouées dans le milieu trois par trois, séparées par des parties de pierres plates et les treillis qu’on rencontre si souvent; ce bâtiment est d’une simplicité relative, comparé à la richesse des trois autres.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 368. The central gateway is not shown in the engraving, but there is no special ornamentation in connection with it, its border being of lattice-work, according to Waldeck, or of plain blocks, according to Charnay, contrary to what might be expected over the only entrance to so grand a court. The next engraving shows a portion of the same façade on a larger scale, including the ornament which is repeated over each door. This ornament seems to represent a small house with a roof of thatch or tiles, having a human figure seated in a niche in the wall, which corresponds with the doorway of the house. This seated statue had disappeared before the visits of later explorers. That a statue once occupied the niche there can be no doubt. Whether M. Waldeck sketched it from actual observation or from the report of the natives, is not quite so clear. The last-named writer advances two original and somewhat remarkable theories respecting these small houses; first, that they may be taken as a representation of the houses actually occupied by the common people at the time Uxmal was built; and second, that they are identical with the Aztec sign calli, ‘house,’ from which he derives an argument respecting the probable age of the building, which will be noticed in its place. M. Charnay calls this front the Façade des Abeilles, or Bee front, while M. Waldeck terms the building the Temple of the Asterisms. The exterior, or southern, front of this building is similar to the northern, but somewhat plainer, having, however, the same houses and niches over the doorways.[V-41]My engravings are taken from Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pl. xv., xvii. They are reproduced in Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., p. 323, pl. 3, 6. The perfect accuracy of the engravings—except the seated statues—is proved by Charnay’s photographs 42, 49, which show the same front, as does the view in Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., p. 305. The southern front of this building is only shown in general views in Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 420; repeated in Armin, Das Heutige Mex., p. 92; and in Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 160, which give no details.

Eastern Court Façade—Casa de Monjas.

Detail of Eastern Court Façade.

The court façade of the eastern building, which has been called the Sun front, and also the Egyptian front, is perhaps more tasteful in its sculptured ornaments than either of the other three. The southern half of this façade is represented in the engraving. The ornaments over the central doorway and at the corners consist of the immense grotesque masks, with the curved projecting tusks noticed on the Casa del Gobernador; but the remaining surface is covered with regular diamond lattice-work, while in connection with each of the cornices is a line of stone blocks with rounded faces, resembling short columns. Over this lattice-work, but not entirely concealing it, are six peculiar and graceful ornaments, placed at regular intervals, four of them surmounting doorways. One of these, precisely like all the rest, is shown on an enlarged scale in the engraving. It consists of eight parallel horizontal bars, increasing in length as they approach the upper cornice, and each terminating at either end in a serpent’s or monster’s head with open jaws. A human face with a peculiar head-dress, large ear-pendants, and tongue hanging from the mouth, looks down from the centre of the upper bars. This face is fancied by Waldeck to represent the sun, and something in its surroundings strikes Charnay as partaking of the Egyptian style; hence the names that have been applied to this façade. M. Viollet-le-Duc attempts to prove the development of the architectural ideas embodied in the Maya edifices from an original structure of wood. His use of this claimed peculiarity will be more appropriately spoken of hereafter, but his illustration of the idea in connection with this eastern front, is certainly striking as shown in the annexed cut.[V-42]‘La décoration se compose d’une espèce de trophée en forme d’éventail, qui part du bas de la frise en s’élargissant jusqu’au sommet du bâtiment. Ce trophée est un ensemble de barres parallèles terminées par des têtes de monstres. Au milieu de la partie supérieure, et touchant à la corniche, se trouve une énorme tête humaine, encadrée à l’égyptienne, avec une corne de chaque côté. Ces trophées sont séparés par des treillis de pierre qui donnent à l’édifice une grande richesse d’effet. Les coins ont toujours cette ornementation bizarre, composée de grandes figures d’idoles superposées, avec un nez disproportionné, tordu et relevé, qui fait songer à la manière chinoise.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 366-7. The first of my engravings I take from Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., p. 306; the same front being shown also in Charnay’s photograph 38, in Waldeck’s pl. xv., and in Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., pl. 3. The second engraving is from Waldeck’s pl. xvi., given also in Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., pl. 5, in Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 156—where it is incorrectly stated to represent a portion of the Casa del Gobernador,—and corresponding with Charnay’s photograph 39. The third cut is from Viollet-le-Duc, in Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 65. M. Viollet-le-Duc explains the cut as follows: ‘Supposons des piles ou murs de refend A; si l’on pose à la tête des piles les premiers patins B, sur lesquels, à angle droit, on embrévera les traverses C, puis les secondes pièces B’, les deuxièmes traverses C’ en encorbellement égalemente embérvées, et ainsi de suite, on obtient, au droit des têtes de piles ou murs de refend, des parois verticales, et, dans le sens des ouvertures, des parois inclinées arrivant à porter les filières D avec potelets intercalés. Si, d’une pile à l’autre, on pose les linteaux E en arrière du nu des pièces BB’, et que sur ces linteaux on établisse des treillis, on obtiendra une construction de bois primitive, qui est évidemment le principe de la décoration de la façade de pierre du bâtiment.’ This façade is ‘the most chaste and simple in design and ornament, and it was always refreshing to turn from the gorgeous and elaborate masses on the other façades to this curious and pleasing combination.’ Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., p. 306. ‘The eastern façade is filled with elaborate ornaments, differing entirely from the others, and better finished.’ Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., pp. 161-2. ‘Les huit échelons dont la série forme un cône renversé, sont ornés, à chacune de leurs extrémités, d’une tête symbolique de serpent ou de dragon. La tête du Soleil qui touche à la corniche et repose sur le troisième échelon, offre deux rayons ascendants, indépendemment de ceux qui flamboient autour du masque, dont je n’ai pu deviner la signification. Les trois rayons qui se voient au dessus de la tête ont peut-être quelques rapports avec le méridien, celui du milieu indiquant le parfait équilibre.’ ‘Des sept masques solaires, un seul était intact.’ ‘L’ensemble de cette façade offre à l’heure de midi un caractère de grandeur dont il serait difficile de donner une idée.’ Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 102-3. The southern end of this building is shown in one of Charnay’s photographs, and, together with a small portion of the western front, in a drawing by Catherwood. These views show that the ends, and probably all of the rear, are made up of plain wall and lattice-work, with elaborate ornaments at each of the corners.[V-43]Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., p. 307, with plate; Charnay, Ruines Amér., phot. 43.

Trace of Original Structure in Wood.

Western Court Façade—Casa de Monjas.

I now pass on to the opposite, or western building, known as the Serpent Temple, whose court façade is shown in the engraving. At the time of the visits of Catherwood and Charnay a large portion of this front had fallen, and the standing portions only were represented in their drawings and photographs, no attempt being made in the former at restoration. In 1835, however, according to the testimony of both M. Waldeck and Sr Peon, proprietor of Uxmal, it was standing nearly intact; I have consequently preferred to reproduce Waldeck’s drawing of a portion of this façade, especially as the portions shown by Catherwood and Charnay agree almost exactly with this drawing and prove its accuracy. But slight justice can be done to this, the most magnificent and beautiful front in America, by an engraving on so small a scale as I am obliged to employ. Two serpents, each with a monster’s head between the open jaws of which a human face appears, and the tail of a rattlesnake placed near and above the head at either end of the building, almost entirely surround the front above the lower cornice, dividing the surface by the folds and interlacing of their bodies into square panels. That is, it seems to have been the aim of the builders to form these panels by the folds of these two mighty serpents, and the work is so described by all visitors, but it appears from an examination of the folds, as shown in the engraving, that the serpent whose head and tail are shown on the right only encloses really the first panel, and that each other panel is surrounded by the endless body of a serpent without head or tail. The scales or feathers on the serpent’s body are somewhat more clearly defined than is indicated in the engraving, as is proved by Charnay’s photograph. The surface of this wall is filled with grecques and lattice-work similar to those of the Governor’s House, but much more complicated; and each panel has one or more human faces among its decorations, while several of them have full-sized standing human figures. Over each doorway and on the rounded corners of the building, are the usual grotesque decorations, bearing some likeness to three distorted faces or masks placed one above another, and all furnished with the projecting curves, or hooks, previously compared to elephants’ trunks.[V-44]The illustrations of the Serpent front are in Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pl. xiii., xviii., which latter shows some of the detached faces, or masks; Charnay, Ruines Amér., phot. 40, 41, 44; and Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 302-3. Rattlesnakes are common in this region. The proprietor proposed to build this serpent’s head into a house in Mérida as a memorial of Uxmal. ‘Toward the south end the head and tail of the serpents corresponded in design and position with the portion still existing at the other.’ Id., vol. i., pp. 302-3. ‘The remains of two great serpents, however, are still quite perfect; their heads turned back, and entwining each other, they extend the whole length of the façade, through a chaste ground-work of ornamental lines, interspersed with various rosettes. They are put together by small blocks of stone, exquisitely worked, and arranged with the nicest skill and precision. The heads of the serpents are adorned with ppluming feathers and tassels.’ Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 162. ‘Son nom lui vient d’un immense serpent à sonnettes courant sur toute la façade, dont le corps, se roulant en entrelacs, va servir de cadre à des panneaux divers. Il n’existe plus qu’un seul de ces panneaux: c’est une grecque, que surmontent six croisillons, avec rosace à l’intérieur; une statue d’Indien s’avance en relief de la façade, il tient à la main un sceptre; on remarque au-dessus de sa tête un ornement figurant une couronne.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 367. ‘Un ornement, imité d’une sorte de pompon en passementerie terminé par une frange, se voit au-dessus de la queue du reptile. On découvre également dans la frise ces rosettes frangées comme celles signalées dans le bâtiment de l’est.’ Viollet-le-Duc, in Id., p. 69. ‘En voyant pour la première fois ce superbe édifice, je ne pus retenir un cri de surprise et d’admiration, tant les choses originales et nouvelles émeuvent l’imagination et les sens de l’artiste. J’ai cherché à rendre, dans ce qu’on vient de lire, mes premières impressions. Pourquoi n’avouerais-je pas qu’il s’y mêle un peu de vanité? Un pareil sentiment n’est-il pas excusable chez le voyageur qui révèle au monde civilisé des trésors archéologiques si longtemps ignorés, un style nouveau d’architecture, et une source abondante où d’autres, plus savants que lui, iront puiser un jour?’ Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 100. Respecting the ends and rear of this building nothing whatever has been recorded.

The northern building, standing on a terrace twenty feet above the platform which supports the other structures, and consequently overlooking them all, was very probably intended by the builders as the crowning feature of the Casa de Monjas. Its court façade was crowded with sculptured designs, grander, perhaps, and more imposing, but at the same time much less elegant and refined than those of the fronts already described. Apparently from no other motive than to obtain more space on which to exercise their talent for decorative art, and thus to render this front more striking, the builders extended the front wall at regular intervals above the upper cornice, forming thirteen turrets seventeen feet high and ten feet wide, placed generally above the doorways. These turrets, towering about eighty feet above the site of the city, and loaded with elaborate sculpture, must have been a prominent feature of the aboriginal Uxmal. Only four of the turrets remained standing at the time of Stephens’ visit, and the wall was otherwise much dilapidated. The only view is that given in Charnay’s photographs, none of the turrets being complete at the time of his visit. The background of the sculpture is divided into panels filled with grecques and ornamented lattice-work very similar to that of the Serpent front. Half the doorways are surmounted by niches like those in the southern façade; while over the alternate doorways and on all the corners are seen the immense mask ornaments with the elephant-trunk projection.[V-45]Cut of one of these projecting curves in Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 162. A peculiarity of this building not noticed by any authority, but clearly shown in Charnay’s photograph, is that not only are the corners rounded as in the other buildings, but the walls at the corners are not perpendicular either above or below the cornice, inclining inward toward the top at an angle of about seven degrees. Several human figures are noted among the decorations, of ruder execution than others at Uxmal, two of which seem to be playing on musical instruments resembling somewhat a guitar and harp; while a third is sitting with his hands crossed on his breast, and bound by cords.[V-46]‘The whole, loaded as it is with ornament, conveys the idea of vastness and magnificence rather than that of taste and refinement.’ Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., p. 304. ‘The northern front, no doubt, was the principal one, as I judge from the remains, as well as from the fact, that it is more elevated than the others.’ Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 161. Norman’s general view of the Nunnery includes a view of this northern front, but the decorations are omitted and the turrets also. ‘Chaque porte, de deux en deux, est surmontée d’une niche merveilleusement ouvragée que devaient occuper des statues diverses. Quant à la frise elle-même, c’est un ensemble extraordinaire de pavillons, où de curieuses figures d’idoles superposées ressortent comme par hasard de l’arrangement des pierres, et rappellent les têtes énormes sculptées sur les palais de Chichen-Itza. Des méandres de pierres finement travaillées leur servent de cadre et donnent une vague idée de caractères hiéroglyphiques: puis viennent une succession de grecques de grande dimension, alternées, aux angles, de carrés et de petites rosaces d’un fini admirable. Le caprice de l’architecte avait jeté çà et là, comme des démentis à la parfaite régularité du dessin, des statues dans les positions les plus diverses. La plupart ont disparu, et les têtes ont été enlevées à celles qui restent encore.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 364-5, phot. 36-7. ‘Les grosses têtes forment la principale décoration des dessus de portes; les treillis sont historiés, les encorbellements empilés supprimés.’ Viollet-le-Duc, in Id., p. 67.All that is known of the exterior front of this northern building is that among its decorations, which are comparatively plain and simple, are two naked male figures, the condition of whose genital organs indicates the existence of the same phallic rites of which traces have been already noted. With the additional remark that traces of bright-colored paint are still visible in sheltered portions of the sculptured façades, I conclude my description of the so-called Nunnery.[V-47]I append a few general quotations concerning the Nunnery: The court façades ‘ornamented from one end to the other with the richest and most intricate carving known in the art of the builders of Uxmal; presenting a scene of strange magnificence, surpassing any that is now to be seen among its ruins.’ Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., p. 300. ‘All these façades were painted; the traces of the colour are still visible, and the reader may imagine what the effect must have been when all this building was entire, and according to its supposed design, in its now desolate doorways stood noble Maya maidens, like the vestal virgins of the Romans, to cherish and keep alive the sacred fire burning in the temples.’ Id., p. 307. The bottoms of the caissons of the diamond lattice-work are painted red. The paint is believed to be a mixture in equal parts of carmine and vermilion, probably vegetable colors. Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 200-1; Zavala, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., pp. 33-4, describes a building supposed to be the Nunnery on account of the serpent ornament, which, however, is stated to be on the exterior front of the building. Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 177, describes the court and surrounding edifices, stating that the serpent surrounds all four sides. ‘Vn gran patio con muchos aposentos separados en forma de claustro donde viuian estas doncellas. Es fabrica digna de admiracion, porque lo exterior de las paredes es todo de piedra labrada, donde estàn sacadas de medio relieue figuras de hombres armados, diuersidad de animales, pajaros, y otras cosas.’ ‘Todos los quatro lienços de aquel gran patio (que se puede llamar plaça) los ciñe vna culebra labrada en la misma piedra de las paredes, que termina la cola por debaxo de la cabeça, y tiene toda ella en circuito quatrocientos pies.’ Jones, Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 93, accounts for the superiority of the sculpture on the court façades by supposing that it was executed at a later date; its protection from the weather would also tend to its better preservation.

House of Birds at Uxmal.

Uxmal Arch

Arch at Uxmal.

Immediately eastward of the Casa de Monjas are several ruined structures shown in the plan, standing on terraces somewhat lower than those last mentioned. Only one of these, and which one of the four or five shown on the plan is not stated, has been more than mentioned by any visitor. This one exception is the House of Birds. A portion of its front is shown in the preceding cut, which sufficiently explains the origin of the appellation. The interior is remarkable for containing two rooms which are larger than any others at Uxmal, measuring fourteen by fifty-two feet, and about twenty feet in height. One of these apartments has well-preserved traces of the paint which formerly covered walls and ceiling; and the other has an arch which differs somewhat from all others in this ancient city. Its peculiarity is that the overlapping blocks of stone, instead of lying horizontally as in other cases, are slightly inclined, as is shown in the cut, forming a nearer approach to the principle of the true arch with a key-stone than has been found elsewhere in Yucatan. It will also be noticed in the cut that the blocks, instead of being all in regular cubical form, are some of them cut elbow-shaped. This is a feature, which, if it exists in other buildings, has not been particularly noticed.[V-48]Although Zavala says, speaking of the Uxmal ruins in general: ‘Celles qui forment l’arête à partir de laquelle les plans des murs convergent pour déterminer la voûte prismatique dont j’ai déjà parlé, sont taillées en forme de coude dont l’angle est obtus.’ Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 34. ‘In the rear of, and within a few feet of the eastern range, are the remains of a similar range, which is now almost in total ruins. There appear to have been connecting walls, or walks, from this range to the Pyramid near by, as I judged from the rubbish and stones that can be traced from one to the other.’ Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 162. Cuts from Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 311, 430; one of them reproduced in Baldwin’s Anc. Amer.

Uxmal—Casa Del Adivino.

Still further eastward are the pyramid and building at D, on the plan, which have been called the Casa del Adivino, or Prophet’s House; the Casa del Enano, or Dwarf’s House; Tolokh-eis, or Holy Mountain, and Kingsborough’s Pyramid; the first three names originating from traditions among the natives respecting the former occupants of the buildings: the latter having been applied by M. Waldeck in honor of the Irish lord who aided in his explorations. Connecting the Casa del Adivino with the Nunnery are lines of low mounds, or terraces, possibly occupied in former times by buildings, forming a courtyard which measures eighty-five by one hundred and thirty-five feet, and in the centre of which, at z, is the usual rude column, or picote.

The supporting mound, or pyramid, in this case, from a base of one hundred and fifty-five by two hundred and thirty-five feet, rounded at the corners so as to form an oval rather than a rectangular figure,[V-49]So say Stephens’ text and plan, Viollet-le-Duc, and Charnay’s plan; but Stephens’ views, except that in Cent. Amer., Charnay’s photographs, and Waldeck’s plan and drawings, do not indicate an oval form. I am inclined to believe that the corners are simply rounded somewhat more than in the other Uxmal structures, and that the oval form indicated in the plan is not correct. rises with very steep sides to a height of eighty-eight feet, forming at the summit a platform twenty-two by eighty-two feet. The surface of this pyramid is faced with blocks of hewn stone laid in mortar. The interior is presumably of rough stones in mortar, although little or nothing is said on this point.[V-50]M. Viollet-le-Duc says it is ‘entièrement composé d’un blocage de maçonnerie revêtu de gros moellons parementés,’ in Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 70. Excavations prove that the structure is solid without interior galleries. The surface blocks are cubical, about two feet in dimensions at the base, if we may trust M. Waldeck’s drawing, but diminishing toward the top. They are not laid so as to break joints, yet so solid is the structure that the powerful leverage of growing roots has caused comparatively little damage. The eastern front is shown on the following page. A stairway one hundred and two feet on the slope, seventy feet wide at the base, but narrowing toward the summit, composed of ninety steps, each step being about a foot high and five or six inches wide, leads up this side. The slope of this stairway is so steep, being inclined at an angle of about eighty degrees, that visitors have found it very difficult to ascend and descend. Padre Cogolludo was the first to complain of the steep grade. He says: ‘I once did go up that of Uxumual, and when I would come down, I did repent me; because so narrow are the steps, and so many in number, that the edifice goes up exceeding straight, and being of no small height, the head swims, and there is even some peril in its descent.'[V-51]Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 193. ‘La subida principal está á la parte del oriente y se practica por medio de una grada, que á la altura referida, guarda, segun mi cálculo, el muy escaso declive de treinta pies á lo mas: esta circunstancia, como se deja entender, la hace en extremo pendiente y peligrosa. Si no me engaño, la grada á que me refiero, tiene de 95 á 100 escaloncitos de piedra labrada, pero tan angostos, que apénas pueden recibir la mitad del pié: la cubren muchos troncos de árboles, espinos, y, lo que es peor, una multitud de yerba, resbaladiza.’ The author, however, climbed the stairway barefooted. L. G., in Registro de Yuc., tom. i., p. 278. ‘Les côtés de la pyramide sont tellement lisses qu’on ne peut y monter même à l’aide des arbres et des broussailles qui poussent dans les interstices des pierres.’ Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 95. The eastern slope 70°, and the western 80°. Heller, Reisen, p. 256. Stairway has 180 steps, each 12 to 15 centimetres wide and high. Zavala, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 33. 100 steps, each 5 inches wide. Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 71. 100 steps, each 6 inches wide. Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 163. About 130 steps, 8 or 9 inches high. Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 421.

Casa del Adivino at Uxmal.

In the centre of the western slope of the Prophets Pyramid, toward the Nunnery, are certain structures, which M. Waldeck represents as projecting portions of the pyramid, or piers, the lower one forming a platform fifteen by forty feet, sixty feet up the slope; and the upper rising from this platform and forming a second, twenty by twenty-five feet, continuous with the main summit platform of the pyramid. The upper projection, or pier, has since proved to be a distinct building, with richly sculptured front,[V-52]‘Une espèce de petite chapelle en contre-bas tournée à l’ouest; ce petit morceau est fouillé comme un bijou; une inscription parait avoir été gravée, formant ceinture au-dessus de la porte.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 368. ‘Loaded with ornaments more rich, elaborate, and carefully executed, than those of any other edifice in Uxmal.’ Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., p. 313. one central door, and two plain rooms in the interior; the outer one seven by fifteen feet, and nineteen feet high; the inner, four by twelve feet, and eleven feet high. The lower pier may have been a similar structure, but it is completely in ruins below the central platform, except a few slight traces of rooms near the base. Mr Stephens is disposed to believe that a broad staircase of peculiar construction, supported by a triangular arch-like stairways that will be mentioned later in a few instances in connection with other Yucatan ruins—originally led up to the front of the building on the slope; otherwise it is difficult to imagine by what means these apartments could have been reached. The stones of these projecting portions are longer than elsewhere, and laid so as to break joints. On the summit platform stands a small building, twelve feet wide, seventy-two feet long, and about sixteen feet high, leaving a promenade five feet wide at its base. This building presents no feature with which the reader is not already perfectly familiar, except that it contains only one range of rooms, having no dividing interior wall. The interior is divided into three rooms, which do not communicate with each other, and are not plastered. The central room is seven by twenty-four feet, and its door is on the west, just opposite the platform formed by the projecting pier. The end rooms are seven by nineteen feet, and open on the promenade at either side of the eastern stairway.[V-53]In the matter of dimensions, the Casa del Adivino presents the same variations as the other structures—Stephens, Yucatan, being the authority followed. Waldeck makes the platform 45 by 91 feet 8 inches, and the building 81 feet 8 inches by 14 feet 8 inches. Zavala calls the building 8 metres square. According to Norman the pyramid measures 500 feet at the base, and is 100 feet high, the platform being 21 by 72 feet, and the building 12 by 60, and 20 feet high. Charnay pronounces the pyramid 75 to 80 feet high. Stephens, Cent. Amer., vol. ii., pp. 421-2, gives the dimensions as follows: Pyramid, 120 by 240 feet at base; platform, 4½ feet wide outside the building; building, 68 feet long; rooms, 9 feet wide, 18, 18, and 34 feet long. Friederichsthal’s dimensions: Pyramid, 120 by 192 feet and 25½ feet high; platform, 23⅓ by 89 feet; building, 12 by 73 feet, and 19¼ feet high. Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 307. Heller’s dimensions: Pyramid, 135 by 225 feet, and 105 feet high; platform, 20 by 70 feet; building, 12 by 60 feet, and 20 feet high.

Cut on the interior walls of the end rooms, seventy-two circular figures, two or three inches in diameter, have been observed. M. Waldeck, as usual, has a theory respecting these circles, or rather he has two in case one should prove unsatisfactory. He thinks they may have been made by prisoners to kill time, or they may have been a record of sacrifices consummated in this cu. The sculptured decorations of the exterior walls are described as elegant but simple. We have here the back-ground of ornamental lattice-work, and besides this the prominent feature is four full-length human figures standing on the west front, two on each side of the doorway, and overlooking the courtyard of the Casa de Monjas. They are the figures of males, and are naked, except a sort of helmet on the head, a scarf round the shoulders, and a belt round the waist. The arms are crossed high on the breast, and each hand holds something resembling a hammer. The genital organs are represented in their proper proportions, and were evidently intended by the sculptor as the prominent feature of the statues. All four had fallen from their places, even at the time of M. Waldeck’s visit, but this explorer by careful search collected sufficient fragments of the four, which are precisely alike, to reconstruct one. He intended to bring these fragments away with him, but his intentions being thwarted by the emissaries of the Mexican government, he buried the statue in a locality only known to himself.[V-54]‘Il est à remarquer que le pénis des statues était en érection, et que toutes ces figures étaient plus particulièrement mutilées dans cette partie du corps.’ Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 95-6. Plate xi. shows the statue and accompanying portion of the wall. ‘The emblems of life and death appear on the wall in close juxtaposition, confirming the belief in the existence of that worship practiced by the Egyptians, and all other eastern nations, and before referred to as prevalent among the people of Uxmal.’ Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., p. 314. ‘The western façade is ornamented with human figures similar to caryatides, finely sculptured in stone with great art.’ Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 164. It is astonishing how easy the meaning of these sculptures may be deciphered when the right person undertakes the task. For instance: ‘The translation of the above Sculpture seems as easy as if a Daniel had already read the handwriting on the wall! as thus—The human figure, in full life and maturity, together with the sex, presents mortality; over the figure the cross-bones are placed, portraying the figure’s earthly death; while the skull supported by expanding wings (and this Sculpture being placed above those of life and death,) presents the immortal Soul ascending on the wings of Time, above all earthly life, or the corruption of the grave!’ Jones’ Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 103. It remains to be stated that the decorations of this Prophet’s House, like that of the Nunnery, were originally painted in bright colors. Blue, red, yellow, and white, were found by M. Waldeck on the least exposed portions. There can be but little doubt that this pyramid was a temple where the sacrifices described in a preceding volume were celebrated. It has been customary with many writers to speak of it, as of all similar structures in America, as a Teocalli, the name of such temples in Anáhuac; but thus to apply an Aztec name to monuments in regions inhabited by people whose relation to the Aztecs or their ancestors is yet far from proved, is at least injudicious, since it tends to cause confusion when we come to consider the subject of aboriginal history.[V-55]Stephens, Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 312, 316, gives views of the east and west fronts, the former of which I have inserted in my description; and in Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 420, a view from the south, which is copied in Armin, Das Heutige Mex., p. 92, which last authority also gives what seems to be a restoration of the pyramid from Waldeck. Waldeck’s plates, ix., x., xi., relate to this structure; plate ix. is a view from a point above the whole and directly over the centre, including a ground plan of the summit building; plate x. is the western elevation of the pyramid and building with the eastern elevation of the latter; and plate xi. is a view of one of the statues as already mentioned. Charnay’s photograph 35 gives a western view of the whole, which is also included in photograph 38; it is to be noted that his plan places the Casa del Adivino considerably south of the Nunnery. Norman, Rambles in Yuc., p. 162, gives an altogether imaginary view of the pyramid and building, perhaps intended for the western front. ‘La base de la colline factice est revêtue d’un parement vertical avec une frise dans laquelle on retrouve l’imitation des rondins de bois, surmontés d’une sorte de balustrade presque entièrement détruite.’ Viollet-le-Duc, in Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 70. On the east front of the building are ‘deux portes carrées et deux petits pavillons couverts d’une espèce de toit reposant sur des pilastres.’ ‘Tel est ce monument, chef-d’œuvre d’art et d’élégance. Si j’étais arrivé un an plus tard à Uxmal, je n’aurais pas pu en donner un dessin complet; le centre avait été dégradé par suite de l’extraction de quelques pierres nécessaires à la solidité de cette partie de l’édifice.’ Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 96. Yet if the structure was as perfect and his examination as complete as he claims, it is very strange, to say the least, that he did not discover the apartments in the western projections. Zavala, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 33, says that the interior walls of this building are plastered. Stephens, Charnay, and Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 578-88, give the tradition of the Dwarf, which gives this temple one of its names. ‘The construction of these ornaments is not less peculiar and striking than the general effect. There were no tablets or single stones, each representing separately and by itself an entire subject; but every ornament or combination is made up of separate stones, on each of which part of the subject was carved, and which was then set in its place in the wall.’ ‘Perhaps it may, with propriety, be called a species of sculptured mosaic.’ Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 422.

Uxmal—Miscellaneous Relics.

All the principal structures of Uxmal have now been fully described, and as all conclusions and general remarks respecting this city will be deferred until I can include in such remarks all the ruins of the state, I take leave of Uxmal with a mention of a very few miscellaneous relics spoken of by different travelers.

No water has been found in the immediate vicinity of the city, the dependence having probably been on artificial reservoirs and aguadas, possibly also on subterranean springs, or senotes, whose locality is not known. There are several of these aguadas within a radius of a few miles of Uxmal. They resemble, in their present abandoned condition, small natural ponds, and their stagnant waters are thought to have much to do with the unhealthiness of the locality. They have no appearance of being artificial, but the inhabitants universally believe them to be so, and Mr Stephens, from his observations in other parts of the country, is inclined to agree with the general belief. I have already noticed the dome-shaped underground apartments which occur frequently among the ruins, and were probably used as cisterns, or reservoirs, for the storing up of water for the use of the city. Mr Norman states also that one of the numerous mounds, that occur in all directions, westward of the Nunnery, “is found to be an immense reservoir or cistern, having a double curb; the interior of which was beautifully finished with stucco, and in good preservation.” He further states that some of these mounds have been opened and “seemed to have been intended originally for sepulchres,” although Mr Stephens could find no traces of sepulchral relics.

M. Waldeck barely mentions the discovery of small fragments of flint artificially shaped, but beyond this there is no record of relics in the shape of implements. Traces of pottery are nearly as rare. Mr Norman says he found fragments of broken vases on the pyramid E of the plan; and Mr Stephens found similar fragments in one of the reservoirs on the platform of the Governor’s House, together with a nearly complete tripod vase, one foot in diameter, with enameled surface.

Mr Friederichsthal found on a low mound five stones lying, as he states, from north-west to south-west (?), the middle one of which was over twelve feet long and covered with carved figures.

A native reported to Sr Zavala that he had seen a stone table, painted red, located in a cellar, and indicating a place of sacrifice. This report would not be worth recording were it not for the fact that similar tables are of frequent occurrence in Chiapas, as will be seen in the following chapter.

The Abbé Domenech has something to say of Uxmal antiquities; he says that “carved figures representing Boudha of Java, seated on a Siva’s head, were found at Uxmal, in Yucatan.”[V-54]‘Il est à remarquer que le pénis des statues était en érection, et que toutes ces figures étaient plus particulièrement mutilées dans cette partie du corps.’ Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 95-6. Plate xi. shows the statue and accompanying portion of the wall. ‘The emblems of life and death appear on the wall in close juxtaposition, confirming the belief in the existence of that worship practiced by the Egyptians, and all other eastern nations, and before referred to as prevalent among the people of Uxmal.’ Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., p. 314. ‘The western façade is ornamented with human figures similar to caryatides, finely sculptured in stone with great art.’ Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 164. It is astonishing how easy the meaning of these sculptures may be deciphered when the right person undertakes the task. For instance: ‘The translation of the above Sculpture seems as easy as if a Daniel had already read the handwriting on the wall! as thus—The human figure, in full life and maturity, together with the sex, presents mortality; over the figure the cross-bones are placed, portraying the figure’s earthly death; while the skull supported by expanding wings (and this Sculpture being placed above those of life and death,) presents the immortal Soul ascending on the wings of Time, above all earthly life, or the corruption of the grave!’ Jones’ Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 103.

One and a half hour’s ride westward from Uxmal a mound surmounted with ruins, called Senuisacal, was seen at a distance; and about the same distance north-westward, not far from Muna, was found one of the typical buildings on a mound. This building was nearly entire, except that the outer walls above the cornice had fallen. Between this place and Uxmal, about five miles from the latter, is a mound with two buildings, to which the same description will apply. These ruins were seen by Mr Stephens during a hasty trip from Uxmal, unaccompanied by his artist companion. Ruins observed still further westward will be included in another group.[V-55]Stephens, Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 312, 316, gives views of the east and west fronts, the former of which I have inserted in my description; and in Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 420, a view from the south, which is copied in Armin, Das Heutige Mex., p. 92, which last authority also gives what seems to be a restoration of the pyramid from Waldeck. Waldeck’s plates, ix., x., xi., relate to this structure; plate ix. is a view from a point above the whole and directly over the centre, including a ground plan of the summit building; plate x. is the western elevation of the pyramid and building with the eastern elevation of the latter; and plate xi. is a view of one of the statues as already mentioned. Charnay’s photograph 35 gives a western view of the whole, which is also included in photograph 38; it is to be noted that his plan places the Casa del Adivino considerably south of the Nunnery. Norman, Rambles in Yuc., p. 162, gives an altogether imaginary view of the pyramid and building, perhaps intended for the western front. ‘La base de la colline factice est revêtue d’un parement vertical avec une frise dans laquelle on retrouve l’imitation des rondins de bois, surmontés d’une sorte de balustrade presque entièrement détruite.’ Viollet-le-Duc, in Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 70. On the east front of the building are ‘deux portes carrées et deux petits pavillons couverts d’une espèce de toit reposant sur des pilastres.’ ‘Tel est ce monument, chef-d’œuvre d’art et d’élégance. Si j’étais arrivé un an plus tard à Uxmal, je n’aurais pas pu en donner un dessin complet; le centre avait été dégradé par suite de l’extraction de quelques pierres nécessaires à la solidité de cette partie de l’édifice.’ Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 96. Yet if the structure was as perfect and his examination as complete as he claims, it is very strange, to say the least, that he did not discover the apartments in the western projections. Zavala, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 33, says that the interior walls of this building are plastered. Stephens, Charnay, and Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 578-88, give the tradition of the Dwarf, which gives this temple one of its names. ‘The construction of these ornaments is not less peculiar and striking than the general effect. There were no tablets or single stones, each representing separately and by itself an entire subject; but every ornament or combination is made up of separate stones, on each of which part of the subject was carved, and which was then set in its place in the wall.’ ‘Perhaps it may, with propriety, be called a species of sculptured mosaic.’ Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 422.

In describing the ruins outside of Uxmal which compose the central group, and which may for the most part be passed over rapidly from their similarity to each other and to those already described, I shall locate each by bearing and distance as accurately as possible, and all the principal localities are also laid down on the map. This matter of location is not, however, very important. The whole central region is strewn with mounds bearing ruined buildings; some of these have received particular attention from the natives and from travelers, and have consequently been named. I shall describe them by the names that have been so applied, but it must be noted that very few of these names are in any way connected with the aboriginal cities; they were mostly applied at first to particular structures, and later to the ruins in their immediate vicinity; consequently several of the small groups which have been honored with distinct names, may, in many instances, have formed a part of the same city.

At Sacbé,—meaning a ‘paved road of white stone,’ a name derived from such a paved way in the vicinity, which will be mentioned later,—four or five miles south-east of Uxmal, besides other ‘old walls’ is a group of three buildings. One of them is twelve and a half by fifty-three feet; none, however, present any peculiar feature, save that in one of the doorways two columns appear.[V-56]Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., p. 122, with plate showing front of one building.

Pyramid of Xcoch.

Nohpat Sculpture.

The Pyramid of Xcoch

Skulls and Crossbones at Nohpat

Somewhat less than ten miles eastward of Uxmal is the town of Nohcacab, ‘the great place of good land,’ preserving the name of an aboriginal town which formerly existed somewhere in this vicinity. In this village are several mounds; and a sculptured head, with specimens of pottery, has been dug up in the plaza. The surrounding country within a radius of a few miles abounds in ruins, two of which are particularly mentioned. The first is known as Xcoch, and consists of the pyramid shown in the cut. It is between eighty and ninety feet high, plainly visible from the Prophet’s House at Uxmal, but the buildings on its summit, like its sides, are almost completely in ruins, although traces of steps yet remain. Great and marvelous stories were told by the natives concerning a senote, or well, in this vicinity; and it proved indeed to be a most wonderful cavern with branching subterranean galleries, worn by the feet of ancient carriers of water; but it was entirely of natural formation, a single block of sculptured stone, with the worn paths being the only traces of man’s presence. The second of the ruins is that of Nohpat, ‘great lord,’ three miles from Nohcacab toward Uxmal, whose buildings are plainly visible from it, and of which it may, not improbably, have been a continuation or dependency. A mound, or pyramid, two hundred and fifty feet long at the base, and one hundred and fifty feet high on the slope, with a nearly perfect stairway on the southern side, supports a portion of a dilapidated building, which overlooks the numerous ruins scattered over the plain at its foot. A single corridor, or room, is left intact, and is only three feet and five inches wide. At the foot of the stairway is a platform with a picote, as at Uxmal, in its centre. There was also lying at the foot of the steps, the flat stone represented in the cut, measuring eleven and one third feet in length by three feet ten inches in width. The human figure in low relief on its surface is very rudely carved, and was moreover much defaced by the rains to which for many years it had been exposed. Near the pyramid another platform, two hundred feet square, and raised about twenty feet, supports buildings at right angles with each other, one of which has two stories built after a method which will be made clear in describing other ruins. The only others of the many monuments of Nohpat which throw any additional light on Yucatan antiquities, are those found on a level spot, whose shape is that of a right-angled triangle with a mound at each angle. Here are many scattered blocks and fragments, two of which united formed the statue shown in the cut on the next page. It is four and a quarter feet high and a foot and a half in diameter. The face seems to be represented as looking sideways or backward over the shoulder, and is surmounted by a head-dress in which the head of a wild beast may be made out, recalling slightly the idols which we have already seen in Nicaragua. Other statues might doubtless be reconstructed by means of a thorough search, but only the stone blocks shown in the cut are particularly mentioned. They are twenty-seven inches high and from sixteen to twenty-two inches wide, bearing alternately sculptured on their fronts the skull and cross-bones, symbols in later times—perhaps also when these carvings were made—of death. In its original condition Nohpat may not unlikely have been as grand a city as Uxmal, but it is almost completely in ruins.[V-57]On Xcoch and Nohpat see Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 348-58, 362-8, with cut of the pyramid, beside those given in the text. Cut of former ruin reproduced in Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., pp. 144-5. ‘Una infinita multitud de edificios enteramente arruinados, esparcidos sobre toda la extension del terreno que puede abrazar la vista. Esta como cadena de ruinas que desde Uxmal se prolonga con direccion al S.E. por mas de 4 millas, induce á creer que es la continuacion de esa inmensa ciudad.’ ‘Muchos edificios colosales enteramente arruinados, que, aunque compartidos casi del mismo modo que en Uxmal, indican, sin embargo, mayor antigüedad; porque siendo construidos con iguales materias, y con no menor solidez, las injurias del tiempo son mas evidentes sobre cuantos objetos se presentan á la vista. Aún se nota la configuracion y trazo de las rámpas, átrios y plazas, donde andan, como diseminados en grupos, restos de altares, multitud de piedras escuadradas talladas en medios relievos representando calaveras y canillas, trozos de columnas, y cornizas y estátuas caprichosas ó simbólicas.’ This visitor describes most of the monuments mentioned by Stephens. The picote, or phallus, together with a sculptured head, he brought away with him. M. F. P., in Registro Yuc., tom. i., pp. 365-7.

Statues at Nohpat.

Skull and Crossbones.

Ruins of Kabah

Interior Steps at Kabah.

In the same region, some five or six miles southward from Nohcacab, and perhaps ten or twelve miles south-eastward from Uxmal, is a most extensive group of ruins, probably the remains of an ancient city, known as Kabah. Sixteen different structures are located in a space about two thousand by three thousand feet, on Mr Stephens’ plan, which, however, was not formed by measurements, but by observation from the top of a pyramid. Norman is the only visitor, except Stephens and Catherwood, and his description amounts to nothing. I proceed to describe such of Kabah monuments as differ in construction and sculpture from those we have previously examined, and consequently throw additional light on Maya architecture.

A mound forms a summit platform, raised twenty feet, and measuring one hundred and forty-two by two hundred feet. Ascending the terrace from its south-western side, buildings of the ordinary type appear on the right and left; the former resting on the slope instead of on the summit of the terrace,—that is, the rear wall, of great thickness, rises perpendicularly from the base. In the centre of the platform is an enclosure seven feet high and twenty-seven feet square, formed of hewn stones, the lower tier of which was sculptured with a continuous line of hieroglyphics extending round the circumference. No picote, however, was found within the enclosure. Directly in front, or on the north-east side of the platform, a stairway of twenty steps, forty feet wide, leads up to a higher terrace, the arrangement being much like that of the northern building of the Casa de Monjas at Uxmal. But in this case the upper platform, instead of being long and narrow as usual, is nearly square, and supports a building of the same shape, whose front at the top of the stairway measures one hundred and fifty-one feet. The advanced state of ruin in which the whole structure was found, made it difficult to form an idea of its original plan, and Mr Stephens’ description in this case fails to present clearly the idea which he formed on the subject. The front portion of the edifice, however, which is the best preserved of all, has two double ranges of apartments, separated by a very thick wall, and all under the same roof. Two peculiarities were noted in these rooms. The inner rooms of the front range have their floors two feet and eight inches higher than the outer, and are entered from the latter by two stone steps; while in one case at least these steps are cut from a single block of stone, the lower step taking the form of a scroll, and the walls at the sides are covered with carvings, as shown in the cut. Over the rear wall of the front range rises a structure of hewn stone four feet thick and fifteen feet high, which, like the turrets over the northern building of the Nunnery and the Casa de Palomas at Uxmal, could only have been intended as an ornament, but which from the ground beneath presents every appearance of a second story. The exterior sculpture of this front, except a small portion at the northern end, has fallen, but enough remains to indicate that the decorations were most rich and elaborate, though uniform; and, unlike those of any structure yet met with, they covered the whole surface of the front, both above and below the central cornice. The cut shows the general appearance of these decorations.[V-58]‘The cornice running over the doorways, tried by the severest rules of art recognised among us, would embellish the architecture of any known era, and amid a mass of barbarism, of rude and uncouth conceptions, it stands as an offering by American builders worthy of the acceptance of a polished people.’ Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 387-95, with plates of the whole front, an enlarged portion of the same, and the interior of the room mentioned. Norman, Rambles in Yuc., p. 149, devotes a few lines to this building, but furnishes no details. This building is called by the natives Xcoↄpoop, or ‘straw hat doubled up.’

Sculptured Front at Kabah.

At a short distance from the ruin just described, in a north-easterly direction, is another group, the details of whose arrangement, in the absence of a carefully prepared plan, it is useless to attempt to describe, but three new features presented by these ruins require notice. First, one of them, from a base of one hundred and six by one hundred and forty-seven feet, is built in three receding stories. That is, the roof of each story, or range, forms a platform, or promenade, before the doors of the one above; or, in other words, the stories are built one above another on the slope of a pyramid. Second, an exterior staircase leads up from story to story. These staircases are supported by half of one of the regular triangular arches resting against the top of the wall of the buildings. The accompanying cut, although not representing this or any other particular building, is intended as a half section to illustrate the construction of the Maya structures in several stories, and that of the stairways which afford access to the upper stories; a being the solid mound, or terrace; bb, the apartments or corridors; d, the staircase; and c, an open passage under the half arch of overlapping stones that supports the stairway. In this Kabah building the stairway leading to the foot of the third story is not immediately over the lower one, but in another part of the edifice. The third peculiarity is a double one, and is noticed in some of the doorways; since here for the first time we find lintels of stone, supported each by a central column, about six feet high, of rude workmanship, with square blocks serving as pedestal and capital.[V-59]The front is as usual decorated with sculpture, but it is much fallen. Plate showing the front in Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., p. 397.

Yucatan Structure in Three Stories.

The Casa de Justicia, or Court House, is one hundred and thirteen feet long, divided into five rooms, each nine by twenty feet. The outer wall of this building is plain, except groups of three pillars each between the doorways, and four rows of short pilasters that surround it above the cornice, standing close together like the similar ornaments on the Casa de Tortugas at Uxmal.

Arch at Kabah.

The solitary arch shown in the cut stands on a mound by itself. Its span is fourteen feet, and its top fallen. “Darkness rests upon its history, but in that desolation and solitude, among the ruins around, it stood like the proud memorial of a Roman triumph.”[V-60]Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 398-400, with cuts of the Casa de Justicia and of the Arch; the latter being also in Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., p. 139. Kabah is not without its pyramid, which is one hundred and eighty feet square at the base, and eighty feet high, with traces of ruined apartments at the foot. In one of the buildings the two principal doorways are under the stairway which leads up to the second story, and over one of them was a wooden lintel ten feet long, composed of two beams and covered with carving that seemed to represent a human figure standing on a serpent. Mr Stephens carried these carved beams, which were in almost a perfect state of preservation, to New York, where they were burned. He considered them the most important relics in the country, although his drawing does not indicate them to be anything very remarkable, except as bearing a clearly cut and complicated carving, executed on exceedingly hard wood without implements of iron or steel. The building with the sculptured lintel, and another, stand on an immense terrace, measuring one hundred by eight hundred feet. One of the apartments has the red hand in bright colors imprinted in many places on its walls. A stucco ornament, painted in bright colors, much dilapidated, but apparently having represented two large birds facing each other, was found in a room of another building. In still another edifice, a room is described as constructed on a new and curious plan, having “a raised platform about four feet high, and in each of the inner corners was a rounded vacant place, about large enough for a man to stand in.” Another new feature was a doorway—the only one in the building to which it belonged—with sculptured stone jambs, each five feet eleven inches high, two feet three inches wide, and composed of two blocks one above the other. The sculptured designs are similar one to the other, each consisting of a standing and kneeling figure over a line of hieroglyphics. One of these decorated jambs is shown in the cut given on the following page. The weapon in the hands of the kneeling figure corresponds almost exactly with the flint-edged swords used by the natives of the country at the time of the conquest. This group of ruins, representing an aboriginal city probably larger and more magnificent even than Uxmal, was discovered by the workmen who made the road, or camino real, on which the ruins stand; but so little interest did the discovery excite in the minds of travelers over the road, that the knowledge of it did not reach Mérida.[V-61]Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 386-7, 402-14, with cuts and plates. Norman, Rambles in Yuc., pp. 148-9, thus describes these sculptured jambs, which he found where Stephens left them placed against the walls of the room: ‘They are about six feet high and two wide; the front facings of which are deeply cut, representing a caçique, or other dignitary, in full dress, (apparently a rich Indian costume,) with a profusion of feathers in his head-dress. He is represented with his arms uplifted, holding a whip; a boy before him in a kneeling position, with his hands extended in supplication; underneath are hieroglyphics. The room is small, with the ceiling slightly curved.’

Sculptured Door-Jamb at Kabah.

In this immediate vicinity, located on the road to Equelchacan, a place not to be found on any map that I have seen, some artificial caverns are reported, probably without any sufficient authority.[V-62]Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., p. 321; Baril, Mexique, p. 129; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 144. ‘Autour de cette grande ville (Uxmal), dans un rayon de plusieurs lieues, l’œil admirait les cités puissantes de Nohcacab, de Chetulul, de Kabah, de Tanchi, de Bokal et plus tard de Nohpat, dont les nobles omules se découpaient dans l’azur foncé du ciel, comme autant de fleurons dans la couronne d’Uxmal.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 21.

Ruins of Sanacté

Front of Building at Sanacté.

Southward and south-eastward of Kabah, all included within a radius of eight or ten miles, are ruins at Sanacté, Xampon, Chack, Sabacché, Zayi, and Labná, the last two being extensive and important. At Sanacté are two buildings, which stand in a milpa, or cornfield. One has a high ornamental wall on its top, and the front of another appears as represented in the cut. It will be noticed that in this, as in most of the structures in this region, the doorways have stone jambs, or posts, each of two pieces, instead of being formed simply by the blocks that compose the walls; the lintels are also generally of stone. At Xampon are the remains of a building that was built continuously round a rectangle eighty by one hundred and five feet; it is mostly fallen. In the immediate vicinity ruins of the ordinary type are mentioned under the names of Hiokowitz, Kuepak, and Zekilna. At Chack a two-storied building stands on a terrace, which is itself built on the summit of a natural stony hill. A very remarkable feature at Chack is the natural senote which supplies water to the modern as it did undoubtedly to the ancient inhabitants. It is a narrow passage, or succession of passages and small caverns, penetrating the earth for over fifteen hundred feet, much of the distance the descent being nearly vertical. At Sabacché is a building of a single apartment, whose front presents the peculiarity of four cornices, dividing the surface into four nearly equal portions, the lower cornice being as usual at the height of the top of the doorway. The first space above the doorway is plain, like that below; but the two upper spaces are divided by pilasters into panels, which are filled with diamond lattice-work. Three other buildings were visited, and one of them sketched by Catherwood, but they present no new features except that the red hand, common here as elsewhere, is larger than usual.[V-63]Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 30-8, 41-6, 124-6.

Ruins of Zayi

Casa Grande at Zayi.

At Zayi, situated in the midst of a beautiful landscape of rolling hills, the principal edifice, called the Casa Grande, is built in three receding stories, as already explained, extending round the four sides of the supporting mound, which rests on a slight natural elevation. The lower story is one hundred and twenty by two hundred and sixty-five feet; the second, sixty by two hundred and twenty feet; and the third, standing on the summit of the mound, is eighteen by one hundred and fifty feet. The cut shows the ground plan of the Casa Grande, much of which is fallen. A stairway thirty-two feet wide leads up to the third story on the front, and a narrower stairway to the second platform on the rear. Ten of the northern rooms in the second story are completely filled with stone and mortar, which for some unimaginable reason must have been put in while the structure was being built. This part of the building is known among the natives as the Casa Cerrada, or closed house. It will be noticed from the plan that the front and rear platforms are not exactly of the same width. With respect to the exterior walls, those of the lower range are nearly all fallen. The western portion of the front of the second range is shown in the cut on the following page. Ranges of pillars, or pilasters, compose the bulk of the ornamentation, both above and below the cornice. A strange if not very artistic and delicate decoration found elsewhere on this building, is the figure of a man standing on his hands with his legs spread apart. The lintels are of stone, and many of the doorways are of triple width, in which cases the lintel is supported by two rudely-formed columns, about six and a half-feet high, with square capitals, as shown in the following cut. The front of the third range appears to have been entirely plain. In another building near by “a high projection running along the wall” in the interior of an apartment is mentioned. Some five hundred yards directly south of the Casa Grande is a low, small, flat-roofed building, with a wide archway extending completely through it. It is much dilapidated, and hardly noticeable in itself, but from the centre of its flat roof rises the extraordinary structure shown in the cut, which is a perpendicular wall, two feet thick and thirty feet high, pierced with ranges of openings, or windows, which give it, as the discoverer remarks, the appearance of a New England factory. The stone of which it is constructed is rough, and it was originally covered with ornaments in stucco, a few of which still remain on the rear. The only other Zayi monument mentioned is an immense terrace about fifteen hundred feet square. Most of its surface was not explored, but one building was noticed and sketched in which the floor of the inner range of rooms is raised two feet and a half above that of the front range, being reached by steps, as was the case in the building at Kabah, already described. The interior wall was also decorated with a row of pilasters. The superstitious natives, like those I have spoken of at Utatlan in Guatemala, hear mysterious music every Good Friday, proceeding from among the ruins.[V-64]Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 16-28, with two plates in addition to the cuts I have given. Armin, Das Heutige Mex., pp. 79-80, with two cuts, from Stephens. ‘The summits of the neighboring hills are capped with gray broken walls for many miles around.’ Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., pp. 150-3, with view of front, copied in Democratic Review, vol. xi., pp. 536-7; Frost’s Pict. Hist. Mex., pp. 78-9; and Id., Great Cities, pp. 291-5.

Front of Casa Grande at Zayi.

Wall at Zayi.

Ruins of Labná

The ruins of Labná comprise some buildings equal in extent and magnificence to any in Yucatan, but all far gone in decay. In one case a mound forty-five feet in height supports a building twenty by forty-three feet, of the ordinary type, except that its southern front is a perpendicular wall, thirty feet high above the cornice over the doorways. This front has no openings like other similar walls already noticed, but was originally covered throughout its whole surface with colossal ornaments in stucco, of which but a few small fragments remained, the whole structure being, when examined, on the point of falling. Among the figures of which sufficient portions remain to identify their original form, are: a row of death’s heads, two lines of human figures in high relief, an immense seated human figure, a ball, or globe, supported by a man kneeling on one knee and by another standing at its side. All the figures were painted in bright colors still visible, and the whole structure appeared to its only visitors “the most curious and extraordinary” seen in the country. Another building, surrounding a courtyard, which was entered through a gateway, differed in its plan from those seen elsewhere, but the plan unfortunately is not given. Over each of the interior, or court, doorways, on one side at least, is a niche occupied by a painted stucco ornament supposed to represent the sun. Near by, a terrace four hundred feet long and one hundred and fifty feet wide supports a building of two receding stories with a front of two hundred and eighty-two feet. The upper story consists of a single line of apartments and its walls are perfectly plain. The lower story has a double line of rooms, and its front is elaborately sculptured, the chief peculiarity in this front being that it presents three distinct styles in as many portions of the wall. The opposite cut shows a corner of this wall in which the open mouth of an alligator or monster, from which looks out a human face, is a new and remarkable feature in Maya decoration. On the roof of the lower range is a narrow opening which leads vertically to a chamber like those found so frequently at Uxmal, except that this, instead of being dome-shaped, is like the ordinary rooms, with triangular-arched ceiling, being seven by eleven feet and ten feet high. Both sides and bottom are covered with cement, and there is nothing but its position in the mass of masonry, between the arches and over the interior apartments, to indicate that it was not originally used as a cistern for storing water. There is also in connection with the ruins of Labná an entrance to what may well be supposed to have been a subterranean senote like those noticed at Xcoch and Chack, but it could not be explored. It was noted that the natives about Labná, had much less superstitious fear respecting the spirits of the antiguos haunting the ruins than those of most other localities, although even they had no desire to explore the various apartments.

Corner at Labná.

At Tabi, a few leagues distant, is a heap of ruins, from which material had been taken for the construction of a modern church, and many sculptured fragments had been inserted in the walls of the hacienda buildings. A stream of water was pouring from the open mouth of a stone idol, possibly worshiped by the ancient inhabitants; “to such base uses,” etc. A cave near by was the subject of much marvelous report, but its exploration led to nothing in an antiquarian point of view.[V-65]Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 40-65, with plates. The cut given in the text is also given by Baldwin, Anc. Amer., as a frontispiece. Willson’s Amer. Hist., p. 86.

At Kewick, seven or eight miles southward of Labná, a large space is strewn with the remains of a ruined city, the casa real itself being built on the terrace of an ancient mound. One single stone, however, among these ruins demands the attention of the reader, familiar as he now is with the general features of ancient Maya art. This stone is one of those which compose the top layer, joining the sides of the ceiling in one of the apartments. Singled out for some inexplicable reason from its fellows, it bore a painting in bright colors, chiefly red and green, representing a grotesquely adorned human form surrounded by a line of hieroglyphics. The painting measured eighteen by thirty inches and was taken out from its place by Mr Stephens for the purpose of removal, but proved too heavy for that purpose. Two fronts were sketched by Mr Catherwood at Kewick; one had a line of pillars separated by diamond-shaped ornaments on each side of the doorway; the other was decorated also with a line of pillars, or pilasters, standing close together, as on the Casa de Tortugas at Uxmal.[V-66]Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 72-8, with two plates, and cut of painting. Willson’s Amer. Hist., pp. 86-7.

Xul, Sacacal, and Chacchob

Xul, a modern village near by, stands also on the site of an aboriginal town, and the cura’s residence is built of material from an ancient mound, many sculptured stones occupying prominent places in the walls; the church moreover contains sixteen columns from the neighboring ruins of Nohcacab. Two leagues from Xul where some ruins were seen, two apartments had red paintings on the plastered walls and ceilings. A row of legs, suggesting a procession, heads decorated with plumes, and human figures standing on their hands, all well-drawn and natural to the life, were still visible, and interesting even in their mutilated state. The rancho buildings at Nohcacab—a second place of the same name as the one already mentioned towards Uxmal—are also decorated with relics from the ‘old walls,’ but nothing of interest was seen in connection with the ruins themselves, except one room in which the ceiling formed an acute angle at the top instead of being united by a layer of horizontal stones as in other places.[V-67]Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 83-4, 87-94.

Some leagues further eastward, in the neighborhood of the town of Tekax, ruins are mentioned at Sacacal, Ticum, Santa María, and Chacchob. At Sacacal is a chamber with an opening at the top, as at Labná, only much larger; and this one has also three recesses, about two feet deep, in the sides. An apartment here has a painted stone in the top layer as at Kewick; and one building has its wall rounded instead of straight, although this is only on the exterior, the inner surface being straight as usual. The remains at Ticum were only reported to exist by the Cura of San José. At Santa María a high mound only was seen.[V-68]Id., vol. ii., pp. 235-43. At Chacchob ruins of the usual type are represented, by a Spanish writer in a Yucatan magazine, to be enclosed within a wall, straight from north to south, the rest of the circumference of over six thousand feet being semi-circular. The only entrance is in the centre of the straight side. A well occupies the centre of the enclosure, the chief pyramid is on the summit of a natural elevation, and in one room a door was noticed which was much wider at the top than at the bottom. On the edge of a wall eight hundred varas distant, grooves worn by the ropes formerly used in drawing water are still to be seen.[V-69]Un Curioso, in Registro Yuc., tom. i., pp. 207-8, 351.

Further north, in the north-eastern corner of the rectangle which contains our central group of ruins, are Akil and Mani, the relics of the former locality, so far as known, being chiefly built into the walls of modern buildings. Mani was a prominent city at the time of the conquest, and the modern village stands on the remains of the aboriginal town, mounds and other relics not described being yet visible. Mr Stephens here found some documents, dating back to the coming of the Spaniards, which are of great importance in connection with the question of the antiquity of the Yucatan ruins, and will be noticed when I come to speak of that point. The only monuments of the central group remaining to be mentioned are those of Chunhuhu, in the extreme south-western corner of the rectangle. These are very extensive, evidently the remains of a large city, and several of the buildings were sketched by Mr Catherwood, being of one story, and having grotesque human figures as a prominent feature in their exterior decoration. One is plastered on the outside, as Mr Stephens thinks all the Yucatan buildings may have been originally—that is, on the plain portions of their walls. One front has the frequently noticed line of close-standing pilasters, with full-length human figures at intervals, which stand with uplifted hands, as if supporting the weight of the upper cornice.[V-70]Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 249, 258-61, 130-5, with four plates illustrating the ruins of Chunhuhu. At Mani ‘a pillory of a conical shape, built of stones, and to the southward rises a very ancient palace.’ Soza, in Rio’s Description, p. 7. ‘On voit encore près de Mani les restes d’un édifice construit sur une colline. On appelle cette ruine le temple de las monjas del fuego.’ Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 48.

Ruins of Chichen Itza

The next, or eastern, group of Yucatan antiquities includes little beside the ruined city of Chichen Itza,[V-71]Authorities on Chichen Itza. Landa, Relacion, pp. 340-7,—Landa describing the ruins from personal observation, having been bishop of Mérida for several years, and died in the country in 1579; Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 300, 302, 304-6,—this author having visited Chichen in 1840, directed thereto by the advice of Mr Stephens, who had heard rumors of the existence of extensive remains; Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 282-324,—whose visit was from March 11 to 29, 1842, and whose description, as usual, is much more complete than that of other explorers; Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., pp. 104-28,—the corresponding survey having lasted from February 10 to 14, 1842; Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 339-46, phot. 26-34,—from an exploration in 1858. Thomas Lopez Medel is also mentioned in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., pp. 38, 43, as having visited Chichen by authority of the Guatemalan government. Other authors who publish accounts of Chichen, made up from the works of the preceding actual explorers, are as follows: Armin, Das Heutige Mex., pp. 80-3; Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., pp. 140-4; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 15; Frost’s Great Cities, pp. 282-91; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 186, 193; Willson’s Amer. Hist., pp. 79-82; Davis’ Antiq. Amer., p. 6; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 144; Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 179, cut; Democratic Review, vol. xi., pp. 534-6; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 174; Schott, in Smithsonian Rept., 1871, pp. 423-4. a city which was famous in the ancient traditionary annals of the Mayas, whose structures served both natives and Spaniards as fortifications at the time of the conquest, and whose ruins have been more or less known to the inhabitants of the country since that epoch. The ruins lie twenty miles west of Valladolid, the chief town of the eastern portion of the state, on a public road in plain view of all travelers by that route. In this case the original Maya name has been retained, Chichen meaning ‘mouth of wells,’ and Itza being the name of a branch of the Maya people, or of a royal family, which played a most prominent part in Yucatan history. The name Chichen comes probably from two great senotes which supplied the ancient city with water, and which differ from the complicated underground passages noted in other parts of the state, being immense natural pits of great depth, with nearly perpendicular sides, the only traces of artificial improvement being in the winding steps that lead down to the water’s surface, and slight remains of a wall about the edge of the precipice. So far as explored, the remains may be included in a rectangle measuring two thousand by three thousand feet, and their arrangement is shown in the plan on the next page, made by Mr Catherwood.[V-72]Plan from Stephens. The only other plan is that given by Norman, which, in distances and the arrangement of the buildings with respect to each other, presents not the slightest similarity with the probably accurate drawings of Stephens and Catherwood. ‘The ruins of Chichen lie on a hacienda, called by the name of the ancient city.’ ‘The first stranger who ever visited them was a native of New-York,’ Mr John Burke. First brought to the notice of the world by Friederichsthal. ‘The plan is made from bearings taken with the compass, and the distances were all measured with a line. The buildings are laid down on the plan according to their exterior form. All now standing are comprehended, and the whole circumference occupied by them is about two miles … though ruined buildings appear beyond these limits.’ ‘In all the buildings, from some cause not easily accounted for, while one varies ten degrees one way, that immediately adjoining varies twelve or thirteen degrees in another;’ still the plan shows no such arrangement. Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 282-3, 290, 312. The modern church ‘entièrement composée de pierres enlevées aux temples et aux palais dont j’allais étudier les ruines.’ The proprietor ‘me proposa la cession de sa propriété et des ruines pour la somme de deux mille piastres.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 336, 344-5. ‘A city which, I hazard little in saying, must have been one of the largest the world has ever seen. I beheld before me, for a circuit of many miles in diameter, the walls of palaces and temples and pyramids, more or less dilapidated.’ ‘No marks of human footsteps, no signs of previous visitors, were discernible; nor is there good reason to believe that any person, whose testimony of the fact has been given to the world, had ever before broken the silence which reigns over these sacred tombs of a departed civilization.’ Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., pp. 108-9. Thirty-three leagues from Valladolid, and twenty-five from Mérida. ‘Une grotte offre, à une profondeur de 52 pieds, un petit étang d’eau douce, auquel on descend par des degrés taillés dans le roc, et se prolongeant au-dessous de la surface de l’eau.’ Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 304-6.

Plan of Chichen-Itza

Chichen—Nunnery.

Perhaps the most remarkable of the Chichen edifices is that known as the Nunnery, marked H on the plan.[V-73]‘Le bijou de Chichen pour la richesse des sculptures.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 342. ‘The most strange and incomprehensible pile of architecture that my eyes ever beheld—elaborate, elegant, stupendous.’ Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 119. Norman calls the building House of the Caciques. Of course in this and other buildings I shall confine my description chiefly to points of contrast with ruins already mentioned, and well known to the reader. Supporting the Nunnery, instead of a pyramid, we have for the first time a solid mass of masonry one hundred and twelve by one hundred and sixty feet rising with perpendicular sides to a height of about thirty-two feet. On the summit, with a base one hundred and four feet long, is a building in two receding stories, of which the upper, whose summit was sixty-five feet above the ground, is almost entirely in ruins. The first story is better preserved, and its front was decorated with sculpture of which no drawings have been made. In the centre of the northern side a stairway fifty-six feet wide leads up, with thirty-nine steps, to the top of the solid basement, which forms a broad promenade round the superimposed building, and continues with fifteen additional steps to the roof of the first story. One room in this first story is forty-seven feet long; several contain niches in their walls, extending from floor to ceiling and bearing traces of having been covered with painted figures, some of them human with plumed heads; and some of the apparent doorways are false, or walled up, evidently from the date of their first construction. Attached to the eastern end of the solid structure is a projecting wing, shown in the plan, sixty feet long, thirty-five feet wide, and twenty-five feet high, consisting of only a single story, and divided into nine apartments, several of which are filled up with solid masonry. The lintels throughout the Nunnery are of stone, and the interior walls of the rooms are plastered. The exterior walls of this eastern wing are covered with rich sculpture, both above and below the cornice, but this sculpture presents no contrasts with that of Uxmal, or other cities, sufficiently striking to be verbally described. Only a few feet from the eastern end of the Nunnery, and indeed described by Charnay as wings of that edifice, are the two small buildings a and b of the plan. The former is thirteen by thirty-eight feet, and twenty feet high; the latter, sometimes known as the Iglesia, or Church, is fourteen by twenty-six feet, and thirty-one feet high, containing only one room. These structures present a most imposing appearance by reason of their great height in proportion to their ground dimensions.[V-74]‘L’édifice appelé la casa de las Monjas (la maison des nonnes) est long de 157 pieds, large de 86, haut de 47. Dans la partie inférieure, il n’y a pas de trace d’ouverture. L’étage supérieur a des chambres nombreuses; les linteaux des portes sont ornés d’hiéroglyphes.’ Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 305. ‘La porte (east front), surmontée de l’inscription du palais, possède en outre une ornementation de clochetons de pierre qui rappellent, comme ceux des coins de plusieurs édifices, la manière chinoise ou japonaise. Au-dessus, se trouve un magnifique médaillon représentant un chef la tête ceinte d’un diadème de plumes; quant à la vaste frise qui entoure le palais, elle est composée d’une foule de têtes énormes représentant des idoles, dont le nez est lui-même enrichi d’une figure parfaitement dessinée. Ces têtes sont séparées par des panneaux de mosaïque en croix, assez communs dans le Yucatan.’ ‘Le développement du palais et de la pyramide est d’environ soixante-quinze mètres.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 342-3. Photograph 30 shows the eastern front, and 29 the northern, of the wing; 26 the north side of the building a; 27 the eastern, and 28 the southern front of the Iglesia, b. ‘La façade (eastern) est même d’un beau caractère, et la composition de la porte avec le bas-relief qui la surmonte est pleine d’une grandeur sauvage, d’un effet saisissant. Mieux traités que dans les exemples précédents, l’appareil des parements est plus régulier, et il présente cette particularité très-remarquable, qu’il s’accorde exactement avec la décoration.’ Viollet-le-Duc, in Id., p. 60. East wing 32 by 50 feet, and 20 feet high. ‘Over the door-way … is a heavy lintel of stone, containing two double rows of hieroglyphics, with a sculptured ornament intervening. Above these are the remains of hooks carved in stone, with raised lines of drapery running through them … over which, surrounded by a variety of chaste and beautifully executed borders, encircled within a wreath, is a female figure in a sitting posture, in basso-relievo, having a head-dress of feathers, cords, and tassels, and the neck ornamented.’ Building a, 10×35×20 feet; building b, 13×22×36 feet. Main platform 75×100 feet. ‘On the eastern end of these rooms (in 1st story over the solid basement) is a hall running transversely, four feet wide … one side of which is filled with a variety of sculptured work, principally rosettes and borders, with rows of small pilasters; having three square recesses.’ Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., pp. 169-73, with view of eastern front of wing, and of north front of the whole structure. ‘Over the doorway (eastern front) are twenty small cartouches of hieroglyphics in four rows, five in a row.’ Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., p. 293, with plates of eastern front, northern front, and the Iglesia.

Chichen—Akab-Tzib.

The building G of the plan, instead of standing on an artificial mound, rests on the level plain, but the usual effect is produced by excavating the surface about it, thus giving it the appearance of resting on a raised foundation. It measures forty-eight by one hundred and forty-nine feet, and its outer walls are perfectly plain. The roof is reached by a stairway forty-five feet wide in the centre of the eastern front, while, corresponding with the stairway, on the western front is a solid projection thirty-four by forty-four feet, of unknown use. The floor of the inner range of rooms is one foot higher than that of the outer, and on the under surface of a lintel in one of the interior doorways is the sculptured design shown in the cut on the following page, surrounded by a row of hieroglyphics, of which only a small portion are included in the cut, but which are of the same type as those we have seen at Copan. The subject seems to be some mysterious incantation or other sacrificial rite, and the hieroglyphics, known as the ‘writing in the dark,’ in Maya akab-tzib, have given their name to the building.[V-75]Akab-Tzib and not Akatzeeb, as Stephens spells it. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 12; Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 291-2, with plate of front and of the sculptured lintel. ‘Those (rooms) fronting the south are the most remarkable, the inner doorways having each a stone lintel of an unusually large size, measuring thirty-two inches wide, forty-eight long, and twelve deep; having on its inner side a sculptured figure of an Indian in full dress, with cap and feathers, sitting upon a cushioned seat, finely worked; having before him a vase containing flowers, with his right hand extended over it, his left resting upon the side of the cushion—the whole bordered with hieroglyphics. The front part of this lintel contains two rows of hieroglyphics. 43×150×20 feet, walls 3 feet thick. Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., pp. 123-4. ‘Un énorme bâtiment près des Nonnes, mais totalemente dénué de sculptures.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 344.

Sculptured Lintel at Chichen.

Chichen—The Castle.

Serpent Balustrade at Chichen.

Carved Door-Jamb in the Castle.

In the northern part of the city, at B, is the Pyramid, or Castle, of Chichen. Its base is one hundred and ninety-seven by two hundred and two feet; its height about seventy-five feet; and its summit platform sixty-one by sixty-four feet. A stairway thirty-seven feet wide leads up the western slope to the platform, and on the north is another stairway of ninety steps forty-four feet wide, having solid balustrades which terminate at the bottom in two immense serpent’s heads ten feet long, with open mouths and protruding tongues as in the opposite cut. On the platform stands a building forty-three by forty-nine feet, and about twenty feet high, having only a single doorway in the centre of each front. These doorways have all wooden lintels elaborately carved, and the jambs,—probably of stone, although Norman says they are of wood—are also covered with sculpture. The upper portion of one of these sculptured jambs is represented in the cut, and the designs on the others are of a similar general character. The northern doorway, which seems to have been the principal entrance, is twenty feet wide and its lintel is supported by two columns, each eight feet and eight inches high, with projecting bases, and having their entire surface decorated, like the jambs at the sides, with sculptured figures. The interior plan of this building differs materially from any we have met; since the doorways on the east, west, and south open into a corridor six feet wide, which extends without partition walls round the three corresponding sides of the edifice; while the northern doorway gives access also to a corridor forty feet long and six and a third feet wide. Through the centre of the rear wall of this corridor a doorway leads into a room twelve feet nine inches by nineteen feet eight inches, and seventeen feet high. This room also differs widely from any before described, for its ceiling, instead of being formed by a single triangular arch running lengthways, has two transverse arches supported by immense carved zapote-beams stretched across the room, and which rest, each at its centre, on two square pillars whose dimensions are twenty-two inches on each side and nine feet in height. The cut shows the ground plan of this remarkable structure, the squares at a representing the feet of the interior pillars, and the circles at b, the pillars that support the lintel of the northern doorway.[V-76]Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 311-17, with plates of north front of the castle and its pyramid, and the interior of the room, besides the cut of the monsters’ heads given in my text. Bishop Landa gives a description probably intended for this edifice and even gives a plan of it. His account, except in mentioning four stairways, agrees very well with that of later visitors, and is as follows: ‘This edifice has four stairways facing the four parts of the world; they are 33 feet wide, each having 91 steps, very difficult of ascent. The steps have the same height and width as ours. Each stairway has two low balustrades, two feet wide, of good stonework like all the building. The edifice is not sharp-cornered, because from the ground upward between the balustrades the cubic blocks are rounded, ascending by degrees and elegantly narrowing the building. There was, when I saw it, at the foot of each balustrade a fierce serpent’s mouth very strangely worked. Above the stairways there is on the summit a small level platform in which is an edifice of four rooms. Three of them extend round without interruption, each having a door in the middle and being covered with an arch. The northern room is of peculiar form, and has a corridor of great pillars. The middle one, which must have been a kind of little court between the rooms, has a door which leads to the northern corridor and is closed with wood at the top, and served for burning perfumes. In the entrance of this door or corridor is a kind of coat of arms sculptured in stone, which I could not well understand.’ Landa, Relacion, pp. 342-4. 550 feet in circumference at the base, its sides facing the cardinal points. ‘The angles and sides were beautifully laid with stones of an immense size, gradually lessening, as the work approached the summit.’ Stairways on north and east 30 feet wide and narrowing toward the top. The south and west slopes also mount in steps, each four feet high. Monsters’ heads at foot of eastern stairway. Slope 100 feet; building 42 feet square; stone door-jambs have holes drilled through their inner angles; interior walls are plastered and painted with figures now very dim; roof perfectly flat and covered with soil. This author in his whole description evidently confounds the north with the east front. Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., pp. 115-17, with view of pyramid. Charnay’s phot. 32 gives a view of the Chateau. 120 feet high, 159 feet square at base; platform 60 feet square; 80 steps in the stairway. Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 304.

Ground Plan of the Castle.

Stone Ring at Chichen.

Painted Boat in the Gymnasium.

Chichen—The Gymnasium.

The building at A of the plan is called by the natives the Iglesia, by Norman the Temple, by Charnay the Cirque, and by Stephens the Gymnasium. The latter names were applied from the supposition that the structure served for a peculiar game of ball to which the Aztec kings, at least, if not the Mayas, were much addicted. Landa seems, however, entitled to the honor of having invented this theory, since he speaks of buildings in this part of Chichen devoted to amusements.[V-77]‘Tenia delante la escalera del corte (of the castle) algo aparte dos teatros de canteria pequeños de a quatro escaleras, y enlosados por arriba en que dizen representavan las farsas y comedias para solaz del pueblo.’ Landa, Relacion, p. 344. This structure is very similar to the one marked H on the plan of Uxmal. It consists of two parallel walls, thirty by two hundred and seventy-four feet, twenty-six feet high, and one hundred and twenty feet apart. The inner walls facing each other present a plain undecorated surface, but in the centre of each, about twenty feet from the ground, is fixed by means of a tenon, a stone ring four feet in diameter and thirteen inches thick, with a hole nineteen inches in diameter through the centre, surrounded by two sculptured serpents intertwined as in the following cut. M. Charnay found only one of these rings in place at the time of his visit. The south end of the eastern wall served as a base to superimposed buildings or ranges of apartments erected on it after the manner of all the Yucatan structures of more than one story. The upper range has a part of its exterior wall still standing, covered with sculpture, which includes, among other devices, a procession of tigers or lynxes. In the interior, massive sculptured pillars and door-posts, with carved zapote lintels appear, but what seemed to Mr Stephens “the greatest gem of aboriginal art which on the whole Continent of America now survives,” was the series of paintings in bright colors which cover the wall and ceiling of one of the chambers. The paintings are so much damaged and the plaster so scratched and fallen, that the connection of the whole cannot be made out, but detached subjects were copied, one of which is the boat represented in the cut, inserted here because of the rarity of all species of watercraft in our surviving relics of aboriginal decoration. The other paintings represent human figures in various postures and occupations, battles, processions, houses, trees, and other objects. Blue, red, yellow, and green are the colors employed, all the human figures moreover being tinted a reddish brown. It is, however, the supposed resemblance of these figures to some of the Aztec sculpture and picture-writings that gave this room and the one below it in the same building their great importance in Mr. Stephens’ eyes. We shall be better qualified to appreciate this resemblance after our study of Mexican antiquities in a future chapter. The lower room referred to has its inner surface exposed to the open air, the outer wall having fallen. It is covered with figures sculptured in bas-relief, also originally painted, of which a specimen is shown in the cut, consisting of human forms, each with plumed head-dress, and bearing in his hand what seems to be a bunch of spears or arrows, marching in a procession, or as the natives say, engaged in a dance. One hundred feet from the northern and southern ends of the parallel walls, and very probably connected with them in the uses to which they were by their builders applied, are the two small buildings at c and d of the plan. The southern building is eighty-one feet long, the northern only thirty-five, containing a single apartment. Both are much ruined, but each presents the remains of two sculptured columns, and one of them has carvings on the walls and ceilings of its chamber besides. A horizontal row of circular holes in the exterior walls are conjectured by M. Viollet-le-Duc to have held timbers which supported a kind of outer balcony or sun-shade.[V-78]Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 303-11. Plates giving a general view of the Gymnasium, the front of the building on the eastern wall, and the painted and sculptured figures. ‘Le monument se composait autrefois de deux pyramides perpendiculaires et parallèles, d’un développement de cent dix mètres environ, avec plate-forme disposée pour les spectateurs. Aux extrémités deux petits édifices semblables, sur une esplanade de six mêtres de hauteur, devaient servir aux juges, ou d’habitation aux guardiens du gymnase.’ Of the two chambers on the eastern wall, ‘la seconde, entière aujourd’hui, est couverte de peintures. Ce sont des guerriers et des prêtres, quelques-uns avec barbe noire et drapés dans de vastes tuniques, la tête ornée de coiffures diverses. Les couleurs employées sont le noir, le jaune, le rouge, et le blanc…. Dans le bas et en dehors du monument se trouve la salle dont nous donnons les bas-reliefs, qui sont certainement ce qu’il y a de plus curieux à Chichen-Itza. Toutes les figures en bas-relief, sculptées sur les murailles de cette salle, ont conservé le type de la race indienne existante.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 140-1. Phot. 33 and 34 show the sculptured procession of tigers and that of human figures, of which I have given a portion in my text. ‘On observera que les joints des pierres ne sont pas coupés conformément à l’habitude des constructeurs d’appareils, mais que les pierres, ne formant pas liaison, présentent plusieurs joints les uns au-dessus des autres, et ne tiennent que par l’adhérence des mortiers, qui les réunit au blocage intérieur. Par le fait, ces parements ne sont autre chose qu’une décoration, un revêtement collé devant un massif.’ Viollet-le-Duc, in Id., pp. 48-9. Walls stand on foundations about 16 feet high; columns two feet in diameter; walls 250×16×26 feet and 130 feet apart; building of southern wall (eastern, Norman having completely lost his reckoning at Chichen in the points of the compass) 24 feet high; rings two feet thick; line of rubbish in form of a curve connecting main and end walls (c and d). General view of the Temple and cut of the ring. Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., pp. 111-15. Walls 262×18×27 feet. Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 305.

Sculptured Design in the Gymnasium.

Red House at Chichen.

The building at E on the plan is called by the natives Chichanchob, or Red House; Charnay terms it the Prison. It’s front is shown in the cut, the whole being in an excellent state of preservation. The three doorways lead into a corridor extending the whole length of the building, forty-three feet, through which three corresponding doorways give access to three small apartments in the rear. Over these doorways, and running the whole length of the corridor, is a narrow stone tablet on which is sculptured a row of hieroglyphics, of which the first and best preserved portion is shown in the cut. Their similarity to, if not identity with, the characters at Copan, will be seen at a glance. There are traces of painting on the walls of the three rear rooms.[V-79]Cuts from Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 300-1. Terrace 55 by 62 feet; stairway 20 feet wide; building 23 by 43. Ib. ‘Foundations of about twenty feet in height, which were surrounded and sustained by well-cemented walls of hewn stone with curved angles’ 240 feet in circumference. Building 21 by 40 feet. ‘Across these halls were beams of wood, creased as if they had been worn by hammock-ropes.’ Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., pp. 124-5. Foundation only two mètres high, but photograph 31 shows this to be an error. Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 344. ‘Deux petits temples (E and D), ayant leur façade au sud et à l’est; le vestibule du premier est orné d’hiéroglyphes.’ Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 305. The building D presents nothing of particular interest.

Hieroglyphic Tablet at Chichen.

Chichen—The Caracol.

At F is the Caracol, or winding staircase, called also by Norman the Dome, a building entirely different in form and plan from any we have seen. Of the two supporting rectangular terraces, the lower is one hundred and fifty by two hundred and twenty-three feet, and the upper is fifty-five by eighty feet. A stairway of twenty steps, forty-five feet wide, leads up to the former, and another of sixteen steps, forty-two feet wide, to the latter. The lower stairway had a balustrade formed of two intertwined serpents. On the upper platform is the Caracol, a circular building twenty-two feet in diameter and about twenty-four feet high, its roof being dome-shaped instead of flat. The annexed section and ground plan illustrate its peculiar construction. Two narrow corridors, with plastered and painted walls, extend entirely round the circumference, and the centre is apparently a solid mass of masonry.[V-80]Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 298-300, with view of the building. This author is at fault so far as dimensions are concerned, since 4 and 5 feet, the width of the corridors, and 3¾ feet, half the diameter of the solid central mass, exceed 11 feet, half the diameter of the whole building, to say nothing of the two walls. ‘Bâti en manière de mur à limaçon.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 344. Top of first terrace, 30 feet high, 125 feet square; second terrace 50 feet square and 12 feet high; on this terrace is a pyramidical square 50 feet high, divided into rooms; on the centre of this square is the Dome—’three conic structures, one within the other, a space of six feet intervening; each cone communicating with the others by doorways, the inner one forming the shaft. At the height of about ten feet, the cones are united by means of transoms of zuporte. Around these cones are evidences of spiral stairs, leading to the summit.’ It is clear that either Stephens’ description or that of Norman is very incorrect. Norman compares this Dome to a ‘Greenan Temple’ in Donegal, Ireland. Rambles in Yuc., pp. 118-19, with a cut which agrees with Stephens’ cut and text. Tower 50 feet high, 36 feet in diameter; surrounding wall 756 feet in circumference and twenty-five feet high. Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 305.

The Caracol at Chichen.

The only remaining monument at Chichen which demands particular mention is that at C on the plan. Here occur large numbers, three hundred and eighty having been counted, of small square columns from three to six feet high, each composed of several separate pieces, one placed on another, standing in rows of from three to five abreast, round an open space some four hundred feet square, and also extending irregularly in other directions in connection with various mounds. The use of these columns is entirely unknown; but any structure which they may have supported must have been of wood, since absolutely no vestiges remain.[V-81]Four hundred and eighty bases of overthrown columns. ‘Des colonnades qui, bien que d’une construction lourde, surprennent par leur étendue.’ Friederichsthal, loc. cit., pp. 302, 300; Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 317-18, and view. Besides the monuments described, there are the usual heaps of ruins, mounds, fallen walls, and sculptured blocks, scattered over the plain for miles in every direction. Chichen was evidently a great capital and religious centre, and its ruins present, as the reader has doubtless noticed, very many points of contrast with those of the central or Uxmal group.[V-82]‘Had the Spaniards selected this for the site of their city of Valladolid, a few leagues distant, it is highly probable that not a vestige of the ancient edifices would now be seen.’ Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 174. ‘Lieu qui offre beaucoup l’apparence d’une ville sainte.’ Friederichsthal, loc. cit., p. 300. Dr Arthur Schott discourses, in the Smithsonian Rept., 1871, pp. 423-5, on a face, or mask, of ‘semiagatized xyolite, still bearing the marks of silicified coniferous wood, a fossil probably foreign to the soil of the peninsula.’ It was found at Chichen, and the Doctor thinks it may have some deep mythologic meaning, which he generously leaves to some other ethnologist to decipher. Norman, Rambles in Yuc., p. 127, states that the hewn blocks of stone at Chichen are uniformly 12 by 6 inches. M. Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 47, speaks of a reported silver collar bearing an inscription in Greek, Hebrew, and Phœnician letters, found in the ‘grottes cristallines de Chixhen.’ But even this enthusiastic antiquarian looks at this report with much distrust.

Ruins are mentioned by Mr Wappäus as existing at Tinum, a short distance north-west of Chichen; and are also indicated, on Malte-Brun’s map already referred to, at Espita, still farther north, and at Xocen, a few miles south of Valladolid. At Sitax, near Tinum, a vase, ‘something of the Etruscan shape,’ from some of the ruined cities, was seen by Mr Norman. At Coba, eastward from Valladolid, the curate of Chemax, in a report of his district prepared for the government, described slightly ranges of buildings in two stories. They are said to be built of stones, each of which measures six square yards; this is very likely an error, and no other peculiarities were spoken of worthy of mention. The same cura discovered on the hacienda of Kantunile far north-eastward toward the coast several mounds, and in one of them three skeletons, at whose head were two earthen vases. One of these was filled with the relics shown in the cuts on the following page, consisting of implements, ornaments, and two carved shells. The shell carvings are in low relief, and the arrow-heads, with which the other vase was nearly filled, were of obsidian, a material not known to exist in Yucatan, and which must consequently be supposed to have been brought from more northern volcanic states of Mexico, where it formed the usual material of knives and many other aboriginal implements and weapons. Besides these different articles, was a horn-handled penknife in the same vase, proving that this burial deposit was made subsequently to the coming of Europeans.[V-83]Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 144; Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 87; Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 340-4.

Northern Group

Relics at Ticul

I now come to the northern group of Yucatan Antiquities, which is separated from the Uxmal group by the low sierra before mentioned as running from north-west to south-east across this portion of the state. First in this group are the ruins of the ancient Ticul, on the hacienda of San Francisco close to the modern town of Ticul, and just across the sierra from Nohcacab. Here are thirty-six mounds, or pyramids, all visible from one of the highest when the trees are free from foliage. Most of the elevations support buildings, but these are so completely ruined that nothing can be known of the original city, save that it must have been of great extent. These ruined piles have served as quarries to supply building material at Ticul, which is almost entirely built of stone. Many relics are preserved in the town, but the only one particularly noticed is the earthen vase shown in the cut. It is five inches in diameter and four and a half inches high, and the reader will notice a similarity of style between the figures on its front and those carved on the burial relics of Kantunile previously shown. Between two of the mounds of San Francisco, a square stone wall filled with earth and stones was opened, and in it, under a large flat stone, was found a skeleton sitting with knees against the stomach and hands clasping the neck, facing the west. In connection with this skeleton were found a large earthen vase, or water-jar, empty, and a deer’s-horn needle, sharp at one end and having an eye at the other. Mr Norman calls this group of mounds Ichmul, supposes them all to be sepulchres, and says that several have been opened and disclosed sitting skeletons, with pots at their feet, and even interior rooms. M. Waldeck briefly mentions in many parts of his work the ruins of Tixualajtun, which may possibly be identical with Ticul, and which bear carved stones, indicating by their number and position in the walls an age of at least three thousand years.[V-84]Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 272-85; Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., pp. 146-7; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 22, 70, 73, 102-3, 111; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., p. 103; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 144.

Sepulchral Relics from Kantunile.

Earthen Vase from Ticul.

Mound at Mayapan.

Ruins of Mayapan

Circular Structure at Mayapan.

About ten miles northward of Ticul, and twenty-five miles southward of Mérida is the rancho of San Joaquin, included in the hacienda of Xcanchakan, on which are the remains of Mayapan, the ancient Maya capital. According to the traditional annals of the country Mayapan was destroyed by an enemy, in one of the many civil conflicts that desolated Yucatan, not much more than a century before the Spanish conquest. Numerous mounds, scattered blocks, and a few ruined buildings are all that remain to recall the city’s ancient splendor. The best preserved mound is that shown in the preceding cut, one hundred feet square at the base, and sixty feet high, with a stairway twenty-five feet wide in the centre of each side. The top is a plain stone platform, with no signs of its ever having supported any building. Most of the sculptured fragments contain only parts of ornamental designs and are fitted with tenons by which they were probably secured on the front walls, as at Uxmal. One building of the ordinary type was sufficiently entire to show the triangular ceiling. A circular building similar to that described at Chichen was also noticed. It is twenty-five feet in diameter, and twenty-four feet high, with only a single doorway facing the west. A single corridor only three feet wide runs entirely round the edifice, the outer wall being five feet thick, and the inner wall is a solid circular mass of stone and mortar nine feet in thickness. The interior walls of the corridor are plastered with several coats of stucco, and yet retain vestiges of yellow, blue, red, and white paint. The preceding cut shows the exterior of this structure, and also gives a good idea of the similar one at Chichen. On a terrace of the mound which supports this dome, are eight round columns, two and a half feet in diameter, and each composed of five stones placed one upon another. Among the sculptured blocks with which the country for miles around is strewn, are some which differ from those mentioned as parts of façade decorations. They are rudely carved, and each represents a subject complete in itself. Two of these, one four and the other three feet high, together with some of the decorative fragments alluded to, are shown in the cut on the opposite page. An idol was also found in one of the subterranean passages of a senote. The inhabitants of the locality report that the ruins extend over the plain within a circumference of three miles, and that the foundations yet remain of a wall that once surrounded the city.[V-85]Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 130-9, with cuts; Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., pp. 127-9, with cuts. Near the village of Telchaquillo. Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 144. Surrounded by a ditch that can be traced for three miles. Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 194-5. ‘Se dice que Mayapan … estaba murada, pero fué demolida hasta sus cimientos, y únicamente los grandes montones de piedras indican que fué una gran poblacion.’ Un Curioso, in Registro Yuc., tom. i., p. 206.

Mayapan—Sculptured Fragments.

Relics of Tihoo at Mérida

Mérida, the capital of Yucatan, was built by the Spanish conquerors on the ruins of the aboriginal city of Tihoo, the ancient mounds furnishing material to the builders of the modern town. Only very slight vestiges of Tihoo remain; yet in the lower cloisters of the Franciscan convent, which is known to have been erected over an ancient mound and building, the Spanish architects left one of the peculiar aboriginal arches intact, unless we suppose that they imitated such an arch in their own work, which is most unlikely. Bishop Landa describes and illustrates with a ground plan one of the largest and finest of the Tihoo structures, as it was in the sixteenth century. In most respects his description agrees exactly with the ruins of the grander class already mentioned. The supporting mound has two retreating terraces on all sides except the western, which side seems to have been perpendicular to its full height. Stairways running the whole length of the mound lead up to the eastern slopes, and on the summit platform is a courtyard surrounded by four buildings, like the Casa de Monjas at Uxmal. A gateway leads through the centre of both eastern and western buildings, and one of these gateways is represented by Landa as having a round arch, the other being of the ordinary form. The buildings are divided into a single range of small apartments opening on the court, except the southern, which has two large rooms, and in front of which was a gallery supported by a row of square pillars. A round building or room is also mentioned in connection with the western range. Landa also mentions several other structures, including the one over whose ruins the Franciscan convent was built. M. Waldeck mentions an excavation in a garden of the city, which is twenty-three by thirty feet, and fifteen feet deep, with double walls three and six feet thick, where the bones of a tapir and other bones were dug up. He also saw here several idols collected from different parts.[V-86]‘Los españoles poblaron aqui una ciudad, y llamaronla Mérida, por la estrañeza y grandeza de los edificios.’ As to the size of the pyramid mentioned it is ‘mas de dos carreras de caballo’—that is twice as far as a horse can run without taking breath—in extent. The cement is made with the juice of the bark of a certain tree, ‘El primero edificio de los quatro quartos nos dio el adelantado Montejo a nosotros hecho un monte aspero, limpiamosle y emos hecho en el con su propria piedra un razonable monesterio todo de piedra y una buena yglesia que llamamos la Madre de Dios.’ Landa, Relacion, pp. 330-8, with cut. ‘Entre aquel cerro, y otro como èl hecho à mano, que està à la parte Oriental de la Ciudad; se determinò fuesse fundada, y eran tan grandes, que con la piedra que auia en el que estaban, se obraron quantos edificios ay en la Ciudad, con que quedò todo el sitio llano, que es la Plaça mayor oy, y sus quadras en contorno, y con la del de la parte Oriental, se edifico nuestro Conuento por caerle cercano, despues se han hecho muchas casas, y todo el Conuento, y Iglesia de la Mejorada, que tambien es nuestro, y tiene material para otros muy muchos.’ Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 138. ‘Auia junto adonde està aora la Plaça entre otros cerros, vno que llamaban el grande de los Kues, adoratorio que era de Idolos lleno de arboleda.’ Id., p. 149. Tihoo was built by the Tutul-Xius, and had a celebrated temple to Baklum-Chaam, the Maya Priapus. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 8-9. ‘En el pátio del convento de S. Francisco está una cruz…. En la huerta del mismo convento se ven aun algunas piedras curiosamente labradas con cotas y morreones á la antigua romana, y púnica.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. ii., p. 112. The buildings were ‘construits en pierres de taille fort grandes. On ignore qui les a bâtis; il paraît que ce fut avant la naissance de Jésus-Christ, car il y avait au-dessus des arbres aussi gros que ceux qui croissaient au pied. Ces bâtiments ont cinq toises de hauteur, et sont construits en pierres sèches; au sommet de ces édifices sont quatre appartements divisés en cellules comme celles des moines; ils ont vingt pieds de long et dix de large; les jambages des portes sont d’un seul morceau, et le haut est voûté.’ Bienvenida, Lettre, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., pp. 310-11. ‘In different parts of the city are the remains of Indian buildings.’ Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 398. Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 259, says that Mérida is built on the ruins of Mayapan. Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 465, confounds Mérida with the ruins farther south, mentioned by Padre Soza. See mention in Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., pp. 45-8; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 23, 55-6; Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 37; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 174; Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 243-4; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 269; Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 94-8.

Pyramid and Columns of Aké

Some twenty-five miles east of Mérida, at a place called Aké, barely mentioned in the annals of the conquest as the locality where a battle was fought between the Spaniards and Mayas, are the ruins of an aboriginal city; ruins which, according to Mr Stephens, their only visitor, have a ruder, older, and more cyclopean air than any others seen. Some of the stones here employed are seven feet long. One remarkable feature is a pyramid, whose summit platform is fifty by two hundred and twenty-five feet, and supports thirty-six columns, each four feet square, and from fourteen to sixteen feet high. These columns are arranged in three parallel rows, ten feet apart from north to south, and fifteen feet from east to west. Each column is composed of several square stones. A stairway one hundred and thirty-seven feet wide, with steps seventeen inches high, and four feet five inches deep, leads up the southern slope. Of this mound Mr Stephens says: “It was a new and extraordinary feature, entirely different from any we had seen, and at the very end of our journey, when we supposed ourselves familiar with the character of American ruins, threw over them a new air of mystery.” Between Mérida and Mayapan is mentioned a stone wall, which crosses the road and extends far on either side into the forest. Near by is also an aguada, said by the inhabitants to be of artificial formation.[V-87]Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., p. 440-4, vol. i., p. 127, with plate; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 144. ‘Les monuments les plus anciens, dont les restes sont composés d’énormes blocs de pierres brutes, posés quelquefois les uns sur les autres, sans aucun ciment qui les unisse. Tels sont les édifices d’un lieu voisin de l’hacienda d’Aké, située à 27 milles à l’est-sud-est de Mérida.’ Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 300.

Cara Gigantesca at Izamal.

Ruins of Izamal

Izamal, something more than twenty miles further eastward, was a city of great importance in aboriginal times, as we shall see in the following volume. Two or three immense pyramids are all the vestiges that remain of its former greatness. The largest mound is between seven and eight hundred feet long, and between fifty and sixty feet high, and Mr Stephens “ascertained beyond all doubt” that it has interior chambers, concerning which he very strangely gives no further information. M. Charnay’s photograph shows that this mound was in two receding stages, on the slopes of the upper of which steps are still to be seen. The modern town is built on the site of the ancient city, and the mounds as elsewhere have furnished the material of the later structures. The upper portion of a pyramid facing the one already mentioned was leveled down, and on the lower platform was erected the Franciscan church and convent. Another smaller mound is in the courtyards of two private houses, and on its side near the base is the cara gigantesca, or gigantic face, shown in the cut. It is seven feet wide and seven feet eight inches high. The features were first rudely formed by small rough stones, fixed in the side of the mound by means of mortar, and afterward perfected with a stucco so hard that it has successfully resisted for centuries the action of air and water. There were signs of a row of similar stucco ornaments extending along the side of the mound; and either on this mound or another near by, M. Charnay photographed a similarly formed face, which is twelve feet high. These colossal stucco faces are the distinctive features of the ruins of Izamal, nothing of the kind appearing elsewhere in Yucatan, although a slight resemblance may be traced to the gigantic faces in stone at Copan. Bishop Landa describes one of the Izamal structures as it appeared in his time, and adds a plan to his description. He represents the supporting pyramid as being over one hundred feet high, with a very steep stairway and very high steps, being built in a semi-circular form on one side. According to his statement the edifices were eleven or twelve in number, standing near together. Lizana, another of the early writers on Yucatan, mentions five of the sacred mounds supporting buildings which were already in ruins in his time, and he also gives the Maya name of each temple with its meaning. It should be noted, moreover, that Izamal is, according to the annals of Yucatan, the burial place of Zamná, the great semi-divine founder of the ancient Maya power.[V-88]Stephens speaks of the ‘sternness and harshness of expression’ of the cara gigantesca. ‘A stone one foot six inches long protrudes from the chin, intended, perhaps, for burning copal on, as a sort of altar.’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 434-6, with plate. ‘Les alentours sont parsemés de pyramides artificielles, et deux, entre autres, sont les plus considérables de la péninsule.’ M. Charnay finds fault with Catherwood for representing the colossal head as in a desert with a raging tiger and savages armed with bows and arrows in the foreground. ‘A force de vouloir faire de la couleur locale, on fausse l’histoire, et on déroute la science.’ He pronounces the face ‘d’un genre cyclopéen. Ce sont de vastes entailles, espèces de modelages en ciment.’ Ruines Amér., pp. 319-22, phot. 23-5. ‘C’est une sorte de gros blocage dont les moellons, posés avec art par le sculpteur au milieu d’un mortier très-dur, ont formé les joues, la bouche, le nez, les yeux. Cette tête colossale est réellement une bâtisse enduite.’ ‘Les traits sont beaux, la bouche est bien faite, les yeux grands sans être saillants, le front, couvert d’un ornement, ne semble point fuyant. Cette tête était peinte comme toute l’architecture mexicaine.’ Viollet-le-Duc, in Id., pp. 46-7. Dr Schott pronounces Mr Stephens’ description unsatisfactory, especially his calling the face harsh and stern in expression. The features are feminine in their cast, and of the narrow rather than of the broad type. ‘The whole face exhibits a very remarkable regularity and conforms strictly to the universally accepted principles of beauty.’ ‘The head-dress in the shape of a mitre is encircled just above the forehead by a band, which is fastened in front by a triple locket or tassel.’ This author identities the face as that of Itzamatul, the semi-divine founder of Izamal, and explains the signification of each particular feature. His treatise is perhaps as intelligible and rational as most speculation on such topics, but it is to be noted that the Dr founds his conclusions on Clavigero’s description of the Toltecs! It would be hard to prove that the cara gigantesca does not represent this particular hero, and that the large ears are not emblems of wisdom. Dr Schott pronounces it ‘hazardous’ to attempt to connect this face with any other than Itzamatul, and I prefer to run no risks. Smithsonian Rept., 1869, pp. 389-93. Norman, Rambles in Yuc., p. 79, speaks of a well on the platform of one of the pyramids. ‘Dans ses flancs, la colline sacrée recélait de vastes appartements, des galeries et un temple souterrain, destinés, dit-on, aux mystères de la religion et à servir de nécropole aux cadavres des prêtres et des princes.’ The grave of Zamná was here, and his followers erected the pyramid. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 79. History of the pyramids, see Id., tom. ii., pp. 47-8. ‘On trouva dans un édifice en démolition une grande urne à trois anses, recouverte d’ornements argentés extérieurement, au fond duquel il y avait des cendres provenant d’un corps brûlé, parmi lesquelles nous trouvâmes des objets d’art en pierre.’ ‘Statues en demi-bosse, modelées en ciment que je dis se trouver dans les contreforts, et qui sont d’hommes de haute taille.’ Landa, Relacion, pp. 326-30, with plan. ‘Ay en este pueblo de Ytzamal cinco cuyos ó cerros muy altos, todos levantados de piedra seca, con sus fuerças y reparos, que ayudan á levantar la piedra en alto, y no se ven edificios enteros oy, mas los señales y vestigios están patentes en uno dellos de la parte de mediodia.’ One altar was in honor of their king or false god Ytzmat-ul, and had on it the figure of a hand, being called Kab-ul, or ‘working hand.’ Another mound and temple in the northern part of the city, the highest now standing, was called Kinich-Kakmó, or ‘sun with fiery rayed face.’ Another, on which the convent is founded, is Ppapp-Hol-Chac, ‘house of heads and lightnings.’ Another in the south called Hunpictok, ‘captain with an army of 8000 flints.’ Lizana, Devocionario, 1663, in Landa, Relacion, pp. 348-64.

Senote of Bolonchen

I now come to the southern group of Maya antiquities, over which I may pass rapidly, beginning with the ruins of Ytsimpte near the village of Bolonchen, some fifteen miles south of Chunhuhu, the most south-western ruin of the central group. By the kindness of the cura and the industry of the natives this ruined city was cleared of all obstacles in the shape of vegetation, and its thorough exploration was thus rendered easy; but unfortunately no corresponding results followed, since no new features whatever were discovered. Here are undoubtedly the remains of a great city, but most of the walls, and all of the sculptured decorations have fallen. Bolonchen means ‘nine wells,’ so named from a group of natural wells in the plaza. These fail for several months in the dry season, and then the inhabitants resort to a senote in the neighborhood, which, as one of the most wonderful in the peninsula, is shown, or rather one of its several passages is shown, in the cut. By a series of rude ladders water is brought from springs over fifteen hundred feet from the opening at the surface, and at a perpendicular depth of over four hundred feet.

Senote at Bolonchen.

Ground Plan of Labphak Structure.

Sculptured Tablet at Labphak.

Ruins of Labphak

Labphak is about twenty miles further south, and is one of the grandest of the Maya ruins, although the single brief exploration by Mr Stephens, its only visitor, is barely sufficient to excite our curiosity respecting its unknown wonders. Only one building was examined with care; this has three receding stories. The western front was carefully cleared, and, sketched by Mr Catherwood, resembling very closely the other three-storied structures before described. But at the last moment it was discovered that this was only the rear wall, and that the eastern front “presented the tottering remains of the grandest structure that now rears its ruined head in the forests of Yucatan.” The dimensions and arrangement of rooms of the lower story, differing from any that have been met further north, are shown in the accompanying ground plan, together with the stairways that lead up to the second story. Besides the grand central eastern staircase, there are two interior stairways, each in two flights, leading up to the platform of the second and third stories from the rooms of the western range. This is the first instance of interior stairs, but the method of their construction is not explained. The western wall of the third story has no doorways. On the platform of the second story stand two high buildings like towers, ornamented with stucco, and on the third platform two similar structures at the head of the stairway before the central entrance. These upper rooms have plain walls and ceilings. The lower ones present numerous imprints of the ever-present red hand, and one of them has a painted stone in the tier over the arch, as at Kewick. At the points marked a in the plan, are sculptured tablets of stone fixed in the exterior walls, one of which is shown in the cut. Each tablet is composed of several pieces of stone, and the sculptured figures are naturally much worn by exposure to the air and rain. Two circular openings to chultunes, or cisterns, like those at Uxmal and elsewhere, were found near by. Another Labphak structure formed a parallelogram, surrounding a courtyard, and presenting two peculiarities; the entrance to the court was by stairways leading over the flat roof of one of the ranges of buildings; and the ornamentation of the court façades was in stucco instead of sculptured stone. With this slight description I am obliged to leave this most interesting city, whose solitude, so far as I know, has remained undisturbed for thirty years and more since Messrs Stephens and Catherwood spent two days in the halls of its departed greatness. Now as then, “it remains a rich and almost unbroken field for the future explorer.”

At Iturbide, the south-western frontier town of modern Yucatan, there is a mound of ruins in the plaza, and also a well some four feet in diameter, and twenty-five feet deep, stoned with hewn blocks without mortar; its sides polished by long usage, and grooved by the ropes employed in drawing water. This well is considered the work of the antiguos, and another similar one was seen near by. In the outskirts of Iturbide the plain is dotted with the mounds and stone buildings of the ancient town of Zibilnocac. Thirty-three mounds were counted, but the walls of the buildings had all fallen except one, which presented the peculiarity of square elevations, or towers, with sculptured façades, at each end and in the middle. Its rooms also preserved traces of interesting paintings, representing processions of human figures whose flesh was colored red.

Aguadas of the South

At the rancho of Noyaxche, a few miles distant, is a seemingly natural pond, which, being explored by the proprietor during a very dry season, proved to have an artificial bottom of flat stones many layers thick, pierced in the centre with four wells, and round the circumference with over four hundred small pits, or cisterns. At Macoba, twelve or fifteen miles eastward is another similar aguada, and ruined buildings are also found, actually occupied by the natives as dwellings. Mankeesh is another locality in this region where extensive ruins are reported to exist. At the rancho of Jalal is an aguada similar to the one mentioned at Noyaxche, the forms of the wells and cisterns, pierced in its paved bottom being illustrated by the cut. Upwards of forty deep wells were discovered by the natives in the immediate neighborhood. Yakatzib is another place near by, where ruined buildings were seen. Becanchen is a town of six thousand inhabitants, and owes its existence to the discovery of a group of ancient wells, partially artificial, and a stream of running water. Fragments of ancient structures are built into the walls of the town.[V-89]Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 137-232, with plates and cuts; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 144; Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., pp. 101, 146-7; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 20-3.

Aguada at Jalal.

Only the monuments found on or near the coast of the peninsula remain to be noticed, and in describing them I shall begin in the south-east and follow the coast northward, then westward, and again southward to Lake Terminos. For a description of Maya structures, as found by the earliest Spanish voyagers on the eastern coast, I refer the reader to the chapter on Central American buildings in volume II. of this work.[V-90]On these east coast buildings seen by Córdova, Grijalva, and Cortés, see Diaz, Itinéraire, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., pp. 5-9; and in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 282-6; Cortés, Vida, in Id., p. 339; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., pp. 497, 505-7; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 352; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. iii., cap. i.; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 22-4; Id., Hist. Ind., fol. 60; Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. iii.; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 4; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 41; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 181; Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 241-4; Folsom, in Cortés, Despatches, p. 20. M. Waldeck, giving no authority for his statement, mentions the existence of ruined buildings at Espíritu Santo Bay, and at Soliman Point, but no description is given.[V-91]Voy. Pitt., p. 102.

Ruins of Tuloom

Plan of Tuloom.

Tuloom is the most important city of antiquity on the eastern coast, standing in about 20° 10´. It is undoubtedly one of the many aboriginal towns whose ‘towers’ excited so much wonder in the minds of the first European voyagers along this coast. It presents several marked contrasts with the other monuments that have been described, not only in the construction and arrangement of its edifices, but in its site, since it is built on a high bluff on the very border of the sea, commanding a view of wild and diversified natural scenery, differing widely from the somewhat monotonous plain that constitutes for the most part the surface of the peninsula. Tuloom has only been visited by Mr Stephens, and his exploration was nearly at the end of his long journey, when the keen edge of his antiquarian zeal was naturally somewhat blunted by fatigue, sickness, and a desire to return home. Moreover, countless hordes of mosquitos, with a persistent malignity unsurpassed in the annals of their race, scorning the aid even of their natural allies in the defense of Central American ruins, the garrapatas and fleas, proved victorious over antiquarian heroism, and drove the foreign invaders from their stronghold. The annexed cut is a ground plan of the ruins so far as explored, and we notice at once a novel feature in the wall A, A, that bounds them on three sides—the first well-authenticated instance which we have met of a walled Maya town. A precipitous cliff rising from the waters of the ocean makes a wall unnecessary on the eastern side, but on the other sides the wall is in excellent preservation, stretching six hundred and fifty feet from east to west, and fifteen hundred feet from north to south, from eight to thirteen feet thick, and built of rough flat stones without mortar. The height is not stated. On each of the inland corners at C, C, is a small structure, twelve feet square, with two doors, which may be considered a watch-tower, and which is shown in the cut on the next page. Five gateways, each five feet wide, at B, B, B, give access to the city. Within the walls the largest and most imposing structure is that at D, known as the Castle, which stands on the cliff overlooking the sea. A solid mass of masonry thirty feet square and about thirty feet in height, ascended on the western side by a massive stairway of the same width with solid balustrades, supports on its summit a building of the same size as the foundation, and about fifteen feet high. The doorway at the head of the stairway is wide, and its lintel is supported by two pillars. Over the doorway are niches in the wall, one of which contains fragments of a statue. The interior is divided into two corridors connected by a single doorway, the front one having what are described as ‘stone benches’ at the ends, and the rear range having a similar bench along one of its sides. The rear, or sea, wall is very thick and has no doorways, but several small openings of oblong shape form the nearest approach to windows found in Yucatan. The corridors have ceilings of the usual type, the doorways are furnished with stone rings for the support of doors, and the imprint of the red hand appears on the interior walls. Against each end of the solid foundation is built a wing in two stories, thirty-five feet long, making the whole length of the Castle one hundred feet. The upper story of each wing consists of two apartments, one of which is twenty by twenty-four feet. Two columns, ornamented with stucco, stand in the centre of the room, of which the ceiling has fallen, although a succession of holes along the top of the walls indicate that it had been flat and supported by timbers. The building north of the Castle, at E, contains a single room seven by twelve feet, with a raised step or bench at each end, and much defaced painted ornaments in stucco on its walls. Over the doorway on the outside is the figure we have met before, standing on the hands with legs spread apart. The building close to the Castle on the south has four columns in the centre of a room nineteen by forty feet, and also in another room are fragments of a sculptured tablet. A senote with artificial steps, which supplied water to the ancient inhabitants, is included within the enclosure at K. At H is a building remarkable for its roof, which differs radically from the usual Maya type. Four timbers fifteen feet long and six inches thick stretch across the room from wall to wall, and crossways on these timbers are placed smaller timbers ten feet long and three inches thick close together, and the whole covered with a thick layer of coarse pebbles in mortar. Several other buildings evidently had similar roofs originally, else it might be suspected that this one had undergone modern improvements, especially as an altar was found in it with traces of use at no very remote period. In this building also sea-shells take the place of stone rings at the sides of the doorways. One of the structures marked G on the plan has two stories. The front is decorated with stucco, and the doorway of the lower story occupies nearly the whole front, its top being supported by four pillars. The interior plan is similar to that of the Castle at Chichen Itza, since a corridor extends round three sides of a central apartment. The interior walls of both room and corridor are painted, and in the latter is an altar on which copal is supposed to have been burned. The second story, which has no stairway or other visible means of approach, differs from all other upper stories in Yucatan, in standing directly over the central lower room, instead of over a solid mass of masonry as elsewhere. Among other ruins near this, two stone tablets with indistinct traces of sculpture were noticed. The cut shows one of several small structures found at Tuloom outside the walls, and probably intended as altars or adoratorios. This building is twelve by fifteen feet and contains a single room where a copal altar appears. Tuloom was undoubtedly one of the cities seen by the early voyagers along this coast, and from the perfect state of preservation of many of the monuments, especially of the stucco ornament resembling a pine-apple shown in the last cut, Mr Stephens believes that the city was occupied long after the conquest of other parts of the peninsula. At Tancar, a few miles north of Tuloom, are many remains of small ancient edifices, much dilapidated and not described.[V-92]Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 387-409, with plates and cuts.

Watch-Tower at Tuloom.

Tuloom Relics.

Ruins on the Eastern Coast

Building at Cozumel.

The island of Cozumel has not been explored, by reason of the dense growth which covers its surface, but in a small clearing on the shore two buildings were discovered. One of them is shown in the preceding cut. It is sixteen feet square, with plain exterior walls formerly plastered and painted. A doorway in the centre of each side opens into a corridor only twenty inches wide, extending round a central chamber five by eight and a half feet, with one doorway. The other is similar but larger. One of the dome-shaped cisterns was also found on the island. Here is also a ruined Spanish church, which very probably furnished the cross with a crucified Christ, preserved in Mérida as an aboriginal relic, and much talked of by enthusiasts who formerly believed that Christianity was introduced into America long before the Spaniards came. On the main land opposite the island ruined stone buildings are also visible from the sea, as they were to Grijalva and Córdova in the sixteenth century. Pole, or Popole, is one of the localities somewhat further north where ruins are located on the maps.[V-93]‘They founde auncient towers there, and the ruines of such as hadde beene broken downe and destroyed, seeming very auncient: but one aboue the rest, whereto they ascended by 18 steppes or staires, as they ascende to famous, and renowned temples.’ Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. iii. Grijalva found a tower ‘xviii gradi de altura et tutta massiza al pede et tenia a torno clxxx piedi, et incima de essa era una torre piccola la quale era de statura de homini doi uno sopra laltro.’ Diaz, Itinerario, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 284, 287. See also the authorities referred to in note 89. Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 362-80, with cut; Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., p. 321; Gondra, in Album Mex., tom. i., p. 239; Mayer’s Mex., Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 169; Baril, Mexique, p. 129; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 145.

At Point Nisuc Mr Stephens locates ruins on his map, as does Malte-Brun at the mouth of the River Petampich a little further south, and the former also mentions stone buildings as visible on the barren island of Kancune. On the northern point of Mugeres Island, known to the early voyagers as Point, or Cape, Mugeres, are two small buildings of the usual type. One of them, fifteen by twenty-eight feet, resting on a solid foundation with perpendicular sides in which a narrow stairway was cut, is located on a cliff at the extreme point of the island.[V-94]Córdova found here in 1517 ‘torres de piedra con grados y capillas cubiertas de madera y paja en que por gentil orden estauan puestos muchos idolos, que parecian mugeres.’ Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 60; Cortés, Vida, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 339; Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 415-17, with plate.

At Cayo Ratones is a ruin according to Malte-Brun’s map; and Cape Catoche was the location of one of the cities seen by the Spaniards in the sixteenth century, this early discovery being perhaps the only authority for M. Waldeck’s statement that a ruined city may there be found.[V-95]Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 102. ‘Une ville entière offre ses ruines aux investigations des archéologues.’ Baril, Mexique, p. 129; Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., p. 321.

Northern Coast Relics

Following the coast westward, an ancient mound is seen at Yalahao, the map shows another at Emal, and Monte Cuyo is a lofty mound, reported to have no traces of buildings, visible from far out at sea. This latter may perhaps be identical with “a small Hill by the Sea, call’d the Mount,” mentioned by the old English voyager Dampier, who says: “I was never ashore here, but have met with some well acquainted with the Place, who are all of opinion that this Mount was not natural, but the Work of Men.”[V-96]Dampier’s Voyages, vol. ii., pt. ii., pp. 10-11; Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., p. 418. Two pyramids are reported further east, near the Rio Lagartos, but their existence rests on no very reliable authority.[V-97]‘Tout près du rio Lagarto se voient deux pyramides, au sommet desquelles croissent maintenant des arbres élevés et touffus.’ Baril, Mexique, p. 129; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 102.Two mounds, once covered with buildings, at the port of Silan, are the only other monuments to be mentioned on the northern coast. One of these latter is of great size, being four hundred feet long and fifty feet high. The padre could remember when the building on the other, known as the Castle, was still standing.[V-98]Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 427-30, with plate.

On or near the western coast are few monuments of antiquity worthy of note. At Maxcanú, some twenty-five miles north-west from Uxmal, a locality visited by Stephens during his trip toward the coast, are several mounds covered with ruins, which present no peculiarities. But in the interior of one of these mounds was found a gallery four feet wide and seven feet high, with triangular-arched ceiling, extending several hundred feet with many branches and angles. Before Mr Stephens’ visit this was supposed by the inhabitants of the region to be a subterranean passage, or cave, known as Satun Sat, or the Labyrinth. The presence of this gallery of course suggests the idea that others of the Yucatan pyramids may contain similar ones, and that their exploration might lead to important results. On the hacienda of Sijoh, a few leagues nearer the coast, is a large group of ruined mounds and buildings, presenting nothing new, except that the stones of one of them were much larger than usual, one being noticed that was three by six feet. In a kind of courtyard in the midst of these mounds are standing many huge stones, resembling in their situation and size the monoliths of Copan, but they bear no marks of sculpture, being rough and unhewn as if just taken from the quarry. The largest is fourteen feet high, four feet wide and a foot and a half thick. At Tankuché one apartment of a ruined building has its walls and ceiling decorated with paintings in bright colors, but the room was filled up with rubbish, and nothing definite could be made out respecting the designs, except in the case of one ornament which seemed to resemble a mask found at Palenque. Ruins are reported also at Becal, in the same region.[V-99]Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 189, 199-220; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 144. At the mouth of the Rio Jaïna a tumulus, with pottery and spear-heads on its surface, is mentioned by Waldeck and Norman, and perhaps at the same place under the name of Chuncana, ruins are indicated on Malte-Brun’s map.

Campeche Idol in Terra Cotta.

Monuments of Campeche

Relics at Campeche

Campeche Idols in Terra Cotta.

Further south, in the region extending from Campeche to Laguna de Terminos there is only the vaguest information respecting antiquities. The city of Campeche itself is said to be built over extensive artificial galleries, or catacombs, supposed to have been devoted by the ancient people to sepulchral uses; but I find no satisfactory description of these excavations. On the Rio Champoton, some leagues from the coast, ruins are reported concerning which nothing definite is known. From the tumulus mentioned, “and other places contiguous to ruins of immense cities, in the vicinity of Campeachy,” Mr Norman claims to have obtained “some skeletons and bones that have evidently been interred for ages, also a collection of idols, fragments, flint spear-heads, and axes; besides sundry articles of pottery-ware, well wrought, glazed, and burnt.” The cuts on the preceding pages show five of these idols, which are hollow and have small balls within to rattle at every movement. Padre Camacho is also said to have collected at Campeche a museum composed of many relics from different localities, many of them interesting but not particularly described.[V-100]‘The whole of Campeachy rests upon a subterraneous cavern of the ancient Mayas. It is now difficult to ascertain whether these quarries or galleries, which, according to the traditions of the country, are understood to be immense, served for the abode of the people who executed the work. Nothing reveals the marks of man’s sojournings here; not even the traces of smoke upon the vaults were visible. It is more probable that the greater part of this excavation was used as a depository for their dead. This supposition has been strengthened by the discovery of many openings of seven feet deep by twenty inches in breadth, dug horizontally in the walls of the caverns. These excavations, however, are few; and the galleries have been but little investigated and less understood.’ Mr Norman sent some of the skeletons discovered here to Dr Morton, who pronounced them to present many of the characteristics of the natives at the present time. Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., pp. 211-18, with plates. Sr Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex. (Mex. 1846) tom. iii., pp. 95-8, pl. xviii., gives engravings of four of these idols in Norman’s collection, erroneously stating that they are from Stephens’ work. ‘I have seen some of his (Norman’s) remarkable antiquities, as Penates, hieroglyphics,’ etc. Davis’ Antiq. Amer., p. 12. The above notice, given by Mr Norman is an almost literal translation of Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 10; as is also the account by I. R. Gondra, in Album Mex., tom. i., p. 162. Mention of the Champoton ruins in Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 102; Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., p. 321; Baril, Mexique, p. 128. Córdova in 1517 saw at Campeche ‘vn torrejoncillo de piedra quadrado y gradado, en lo alto del qual estaua vn ydolo con dos fieros animales alas hijadas, como que lo comian. Y vna sierpe de quarenta y siete pies larga, y gorda quanto vn buey, hecha de piedra como el ydolo.’ Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 61. ‘On ne rencontre ni dans l’île de Carmen ni sur les bords de la Lagune aucun tumulus, aucune ruine, aucun vestige enfin de l’industrie des temps passés.’ Description of the Camacho collection in Campeche, consisting of ‘figurines et des vases d’argile portant encore des traces de peinture et de vernis, des instruments de musique, de menus objets de parure, des haches, des fers de lance en silex ou en obsidienne.’ Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 226, 167-8. The Camacho Museum contains ‘Una numerosa colleccion de ídolos de barro y piedra…. Una urna cineraria que contiene los restos de un hombre…. Una coleccion de vasos, jarros, cántaros y fuentes de piedra y barro, adornados, muchos de ellos, con geroglíficos y con pinturas vivas, frescas y bien conservadas. Una colleccion de lanzas, flechas, dardos y demas instrumentos de guerra…. Casi todos estos instrumentos son de pedernal. Otra coleccion de flautas y otros instrumentos músicos, de barro. Otra id. de zarcillos, cuentas y adornos de piedra…. Otra id. de lozas sepulcrales…. Una multitud de fragmentos arquitectónicos.’ Registro Yuc., tom. i., pp. 373-4. ‘Le canton qui s’étend de la côte de la lagune de Jerm, vers le nord-est, offre sur-tout une suite presque continue de monticules et de villes, jusqu’au point où il atteint le sanctuaire de l’île de Cozumel.’ Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 299-300. ‘Une foule de ruines d’une grande importance.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 67.

Maya Calzadas

Besides the monuments that have been described, the remains of ancient paved roads, or calzadas, have been found in several different parts of the state. The traditionary history of the country represents the great cities and religious centres as connected, in the time of their original splendor and prosperity, by broad smooth paved ways, constructed for the convenience of the rulers in sending dispatches from place to place. These roads are even reported to have stretched beyond the limits of the peninsula, affording access to the neighboring kingdoms of Guatemala, Chiapas, and Tabasco. Modern discoveries lend some probability to these reports. Cozumel was one of these great religious centres from which roads led in every direction, and Cogolludo says that in his time “were to be seen vestiges of calzadas which cross the whole kingdom, said to end at its eastern border on the sea-shore.” The cura of Chemax, speaking of Coba, far eastward of Chichen toward the coast, says “there is a calzada, or paved road, of ten or twelve yards in width, running to the south-east to a limit that has not been discovered with certainty, but some aver that it goes in the direction of Chichen Itza.” Bishop Landa mentions “a fine broad calzada extending about two stone’s throw to a well” from one of the Chichen structures. Izamal was another much-frequented shrine, from which Lizana tells us “they had constructed four roads, or calzadas, towards the four winds, which reached the ends of the county, and even extended to Tabasco, Guatemala, and Chiapas; and even now are seen in many places portions and traces of these roads.” Landa also states that between Izamal and Mérida, “there are to-day signs of there having existed a very beautiful paved way.” In the same locality, running parallel to the modern road for several miles, M. Charnay found “a magnificent road, from seven to eight mètres wide, whose foundation is of immense stones surmounted by a concrete perfectly preserved, which is covered with a coating of cement two inches thick. This road is everywhere about a mètre and a half above the surface of the ground. The coating of cement seems as if put on yesterday;” the whole being buried, however, some sixteen inches deep in soil and vegetable accumulations. The Cura Carillo and party found in 1845 one of these paved roads four and a half varas wide, running parallel with the modern road south-eastward from Uxmal, and said by the natives to connect the latter city with Nohpat. It is perhaps the same calzada, in Maya Sacbé, ‘a road of white stone,’ that has given a name to the Sacbé ruins, and is described by Mr Stephens as “a broken platform or roadway of stone, about eight feet wide and eight or ten inches high, crossing the road, and running off into the woods on both sides,” reported to extend from Uxmal to Kabah.[V-101]Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 193; Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 341, 122, vol. i., p. 415; Landa, Relacion, pp. 344, 330; Lizana, in Id., p. 358; Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 321-2; Registro Yuc., tom. i., p. 366.

general RÉsumÉ.

Having now completed my detailed description of Maya antiquities in all parts of the peninsula where aboriginal relics have been seen or reported, I have thought it best to give in conclusion a general view of these antiquities, their peculiarities, the contrasts and similarities which they present among themselves and when compared with more southern monuments, together with such general remarks and conclusions as their examination may seem to warrant.

The comparatively level and uniform surface of the peninsula left the aboriginal builders little choice in the location of their cities and temples, yet a preference for a broken hilly region may be traced in the fact that the central, or Uxmal, group, the most crowded with ancient monuments, corresponds with the principal transverse ranges of the peninsula; likewise the eastern coast cities rest generally on elevated bluffs overlooking the sea. In the selection of sites, however, as in the construction of their cities, security against enemies seems to have been not at all, or at best very slightly, considered. None of the cities on the plains are located with any view to defence, or have any traces of fortifications to guard their approaches. Tuloom, on the eastern coast, was indeed surrounded by a strong wall on which watch-towers were placed; but of all the Yucatan cities this is best guarded by its natural position and would seem to have least need of artificial defences. Some slight remains of walls are seen at Uxmal and Mayapan, but insufficient to prove that these were walled cities. A wall more or less perfect is also reported at Chacchob. No structure has been found which partakes in any way of the nature of a fort, or which appears to have been erected with a view to military defense. It is true the numerous pyramids and their superimposed buildings would serve as a refuge for non-combattants, as well as property, and would afford facilities for defense in a hand-to-hand conflict, or perhaps against any attack by men armed with aboriginal weapons; but would in nowise serve as a protection to the dwellings or fields of the populace which must be supposed to have dotted the plains for a wide extent about the palaces of the nobility and temples of the gods.

In the laying out both of cities and of individual structures, no fixed plan was followed that can now be ascertained, except that a majority of the edifices face in general terms the cardinal points; that is, as nearly as these points would naturally be determined by observation of the rising and setting sun. The oft-repeated statement that all the temples and palaces were exactly oriented is altogether unsupported by facts.

The materials employed by the Maya builders were limestone, mortar, and wood. The limestone used is that which, covered with a few feet of sand or soil, forms the substratum of the whole peninsula. It is soft and easily worked, and may be readily quarried in any part of the state. Somewhat strangely, none of the quarries which supplied the stone for building, or for sculptured decorations and idols, have ever been found;—at least none such have been reported by any explorer.[V-102]‘La piedra margosa de que están formados tales edificios, es ademas generalmente considerada como un material muy inferior para la construccion.’ Friederichsthal, in Dicc. Univ., tom. x., p. 292. The blocks ‘ont une transparence troublée comme celle du gypse. Il est probable … que c’est du véritable carbonate calcaire.’ Zavala, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 34. ‘A soft coralline limestone of a comparatively recent geological formation, probably of the Tertiary period.’ Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 398. With very few exceptions, such as in the case of the city wall at Tuloom, the stone employed, whether rough or hewn, was laid in mortar. Cement was also used on roofs and floors; plaster on interior walls; and stucco in exterior decorations. Mortar, cement, plaster, and stucco were presumably composed of the same materials, lime and sand, mixed in different proportions according to the use for which it was designed. No satisfactory analysis seems to have been made of the mortar, nor is anything definite known respecting the method of its manufacture, or the source from which lime was obtained. That the material was of excellent quality is proved by the resistance it has offered for at least three centuries to tropical rains and the inroads of tropical vegetation. It is nearly as hard as the stone blocks which it holds together, and to its excellence the preservation of the Yucatan monuments is in great measure due.[V-103]‘La poca mezcla que se advierte en ellos, es fina, tersa y tan compacta por su particular beneficio, que tomada entre los dedos una pastilla, cuyo grueso es poco mayor que el de un peso fuerte, da sumo trabajo quebrantarla.’ L. G., in Registro Yuc., tom. i., p. 277. ‘Ces mortiers sont faits avec une chaux hydraulique presque pure, et ont une si complète adhérence, soit dans les massifs, soit même lorsqu’ils sont appliqués comme enduits, comme à Palenqué, qu’à peine si le marteau peut les entamer.’ Viollet-le-Duc, in Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 59-60.

Wood was employed by the Maya builders only for lintels, for timbers of unknown use stretched across the rooms from side to side of the ceilings, in one case at Chichen for beams to support the regular stone arches of the roof, and, at Tuloom only, for the support of a flat cement roof. The only wood mentioned is the zapote, native to some parts of the peninsula, extremely hard and heavy, but not resinous or particularly well fitted to resist decay or the ravages of worms. It seems remarkable that any portion of this woodwork should have survived even their three or four centuries of unquestioned age;—and, indeed, few or none of the lintels of outer doorways exposed to the weather have remained unbroken.

Having fixed upon a site for a proposed edifice, the Maya builder invariably erected an artificial elevation on which it might rest. And this peculiarity is observed, not only in Yucatan, but, as we shall see in many other portions of the Pacific States, no less universally in regions where natural hills abound than on level plains. In several places, however, the artificial structure rests on a natural hill of slight elevation, as at Chack and Zayi; in other cases advantage is taken of a small hill to save labor in the accumulation of material, as at Uxmal; and in one instance at Chichen the appearance of a mound is gained by excavating the surrounding earth. Buildings resting on the natural surface of the earth are unknown, as are also subterranean apartments or galleries of artificial construction, excepting only the reported catacombs under the city of Campeche. The bases of the foundation structures, or pyramids, are usually rectangular, the largest dimensions being fifteen hundred feet square at Zayi, while many have sides of three to eight hundred feet. They diminish in size towards the summit, from twenty to fifty feet high in the case of the larger mounds, and from sixty to ninety feet in some of the smaller ones. Most of the larger mounds have two or more terrace-platforms on their slope. The mass of the mound is composed of rough stones and fragments generally in mortar, making a coarse concrete; the outer surface is faced with hewn stones, not generally laid so as to form steps, as seems to have been the case at Copan, but so as to present a smooth surface on the slope. It is uncertain whether some of the larger terrace-platforms were paved with regular blocks or not. The corners are often rounded. Sculptured decorations occur in a few instances, as on the Pyramid at Uxmal; and at Izamal a row of faces in stucco adorn the base. A stairway always occupies the centre of one side, often of more than one side. Some of these stairways are over a hundred feet wide, and their steps are rarely arranged with any reference to convenience in mounting. Balustrades remain on some stairways, ornamented in a few instances by sculptured monsters’ heads. There is nothing to show that the surface of the slopes or the steps were covered with cement. The supporting stone structure of one building at Chichen and also of one at Tuloom has perpendicular instead of sloping sides. All the pyramids are truncated, none forming a point at the top, although there is one or more in every group of ruins whose summit platform presents no traces of ever having supported buildings of any kind. Interior galleries were explored in a mound at Maxcanú, and chambers in the body of that at Izamal were reported; others are solid so far as known, except that a few small chambers have been mentioned with a vertical entrance at the top, which may have been cisterns.

The edifices supported by the mounds are built either on the summit platform, or in receding ranges, one above another, on the slope. In the latter case these receding ranges form the nearest approach on the part of the Mayas to buildings of several stories, except in one instance at Tuloom, where one room is directly over another. In one building at Kabah the outer wall rises from the foot of the mound, and the inner from the summit. One building usually occupies the summit; but in several cases four of them enclose an interior courtyard. The buildings are long, low, and narrow. Thirty-one feet is the greatest height, thirty-nine the greatest width, and three hundred and twenty-two the greatest length. The roofs are flat and, like the floors, covered with cement. The walls are, in proportion to the dimensions of the buildings, very thick, usually from three to six feet, but sometimes nine feet. Like the pyramids, the buildings consist of a mass of concrete, stones and mortar, faced with hewn blocks of nearly cubical form, and of varying dimensions rarely exceeding eighteen inches, but found at Sijoh and Aké as large as three by six and seven feet. Only one building has been noted whose exterior walls are not perpendicular, but the corners are in most cases rounded.

The interior has generally two, often one, and rarely four parallel ranges of rooms, while in a few of the smaller buildings an uninterrupted corridor extends the whole length. Neither rooms nor corridors ever exceed twenty feet in width or height, while the ordinary width is eight to ten feet and the height fifteen to eighteen feet. Sixty feet is the greatest length noted. The walls of each room rise perpendicularly for one half their height, and then approach each other, by the stone blocks overlapping horizontally, to within about one foot, the intervening space being covered with a layer of wide flat stones, and the projecting corners being beveled off to form a straight, or rarely a curved, surface. In a few instances, as at Nohcacab, the sides of the ceiling form an acute angle at the top; and once, at Uxmal, the overlapping stones are inclined instead of lying horizontally, forming a slight, but the nearest, Maya approach to the true arch. This is the only kind of ceiling found in Yucatan, except one at Tuloom which is flat and supported by timbers stretched across from wall to wall. I have followed Stephens and applied the name of ‘triangular arch’ to this structure of overlapping stones, although the term may by a strict interpretation be liable to some criticism.[V-104]Jones says ‘The term “triangular Arch” cannot be admitted by the language of Architecture; he (Mr Stephens) might as well have written triangular semicircle, terms distinctly opposed to each other.’ Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 100. ‘Los techos, sin variacion alguna entre sí, representan una figura ojiva, muy conocida de los árabes, y repetidamente citada por el recomendable Victor Hugo en su obra de Nuestra Sra. de Paris.’ L. G., in Registro Yuc., tom. i., p. 277. ‘On dit en espagnol de boveda, qui n’exprime aucunement cette architecture toute particulière; boveda veut dire voûte, et ces intérieurs n’y ressemblent nullement; ce sont deux murs parallèles jusqu’à une hauteur de trois mètres, obliquant alors l’un vers l’autre, et terminés par une dalle de trente centimètres.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 342-3.

The tops of the few gateways discovered are constructed by means of the same arch as that employed in the ceilings. One solitary arch unconnected with any other structure has been noted at Kabah; and in the Castle at Chichen two interior arches rest on beams supported by stone columns instead of the usual perpendicular walls. In some of the buildings at Kabah and Chichen the floor of the inner range of rooms is higher than that of the outer, being reached by stone steps. Small round timbers extend from side to side of the ceiling in nearly all rooms, and at Tuloom stone benches are found along the sides and ends.

Rarely do more than two rooms communicate with each other. The doorways are on an average perhaps four feet wide and eight feet high, with square tops formed by zapote beams or stone lintels, which rest on stone jambs composed of two or three pieces, or are built into the regular wall of the building. At Chacchob a doorway is reported wider at the top than at the bottom. Many exterior doorways are wide and divided into two or more entrances by stone pillars supporting the lintels. Stone rings, or hooks, replaced at Tuloom by shells, near the top on the inside, and in a few cases at both top and bottom, are the only traces of the means by which the entrances were originally closed. Wooden lintels are almost exclusively employed at Uxmal, but elsewhere stone is more common; a few both of wood and stone are covered with carved devices, as are also some of the door-posts. Besides the doorways the rooms have no openings whatever, no chimneys, windows, or ventilators being found, if we except the oblong openings in the rear wall of the Castle at Tuloom.[V-105]Friederichsthal erroneously says the wooden lintels are always sculptured, and that each room has air-holes above the cornice, both square and round, from 3 to 5 inches in diameter. Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 311.

Respecting the rooms, aside from their decoration, nothing remains to be noticed except the casas cerradas, or rooms filled with solid masonry, and the interior stairways of unexplained construction at Labphak. Exterior stairways supported by a half arch lead up to the top of such of the buildings as have more than one story, and also to the summit of the few mounds that have perpendicular sides; in one case the entrance to the courtyard is by stairways leading over the roof of one of the enclosing edifices. The only important exceptions to the usual type of Yucatan buildings are the circular structures with conical roofs, at Chichen and Mayapan, and the gigantic walls composing the so-called gymnasiums at Chichen and Uxmal.

It will be noticed that the strength of these structures depended to a great extent on the excellence of the mortar by which the blocks were united, since the latter are not usually laid so as to break joints, although carefully placed so that the plummet line applied to such walls as are uninjured, rarely detects any departure from perfect regularity. A Maya custom of inserting projecting stones, or katunes, in the walls of their buildings as a record of time and in commemoration of great events is spoken of by many authors; and by certain stones which he identifies with the katunes, M. Waldeck computes the age of some of the ruins, but I am unable to tell which are the stones meant, unless they be those already mentioned as elephants’ trunks.

Besides the columns mentioned in connection with doorways, many others are found whose use in most cases is not understood. They are both round and square, and usually, if not always, composed of several pieces placed one upon another. Among them may be mentioned the row of round columns on the terrace of the Governor’s House at Uxmal, sixteen columns at Xul from the ruins of Nohcacab, thirty-six square columns on the summit platform of the pyramid at Aké, three hundred and eighty short pillars, also square, arranged round a square at Chichen, eight round pillars on the terrace of the round house at Mayapan, the reported line of square columns originally supporting a gallery at Mérida, and finally the monoliths of Sijoh, which latter may have been idols.

I now come to the interior and exterior decorations of the Yucatan buildings. In some apartments, particularly at Uxmal, the walls and ceilings present only the plain surface of the hewn blocks of stone. Most, however, are covered with a coating of fine white plaster, and in many this plastered surface is wholly or partially covered with paintings in bright colors. The paintings are much damaged in every case, but seem to have been executed with much care and skill. They are, apparently, never purely ornamental, but represent some definite objects, oftener than otherwise human beings in various attitudes and employments, battles, processions, and dances. In one or two localities, as at Kewick, a single stone is decorated with painting, while the rest of the surface is left plain. Niches in the walls of a room at Chichen, benches along the sides and ends at Tuloom, and a reported inner cornice at Zayi vary the usual interior monotony of the Maya apartments.

Interior sculptured decorations are of comparatively rare occurrence. A few of the lintels and jambs in each of the cities are covered with carvings; the steps leading up to the raised inner room at Kabah, together with the base of the walls at their sides, are sculptured; small circles are cut on the walls of the Casa del Adivino at Uxmal; a tablet of hieroglyphics stretches over the inner doorways of a corridor at Chichen; and a sculptured procession covers the wall and ceiling of a room on the Gymnasium wall at the same city. Hieroglyphic inscriptions are not very numerous, but are apparently identical in character with those we have seen at Copan. The only instance noted of interior decoration in stucco is that of the stucco birds in a room at Kabah, and a few stuccoed columns.

The exterior walls have almost invariably a cornice extending over the doorways round the whole circumference, and another near the roof. Several buildings have one or two additional cornices. Besides the cornices a very few fronts are plain; most are so below the lower cornice, but are decorated in their upper portions, as several are from top to bottom, with a mass of complicated sculptured designs, of which the reader has formed a clear idea by the drawings that have been presented. These ornaments, or the separate parts of each, are carved on the faces of cubical or rectangular blocks which are built into the face of the wall, each carved piece fitting most accurately into its place as part of a most elaborate whole. Some parts of the decoration are also joined to the walls by means of long tenons. In the human faces represented in profile among the ornamental carvings the flattened forehead, or contracted facial angle, is the most important feature noticed, and this is not as strongly marked as in many other regions of America. Excepting the phallus, which is prominent in many of the decorations, and which was probably a religious symbol, no ornaments of an obscene nature are noticed. Instead of stone, stucco is employed at Labphak in exterior decorations, and to a slight extent at Tuloom also. Over the front wall of some buildings, and from the centre of the roof of others, rises a lofty wall, sometimes in peaks, or turrets, apparently intended only as a basis for ornamentation. At Kabah this supplementary wall is plain and resembles from a distance a second story; on the Nunnery at Uxmal the ornamentation is in stone; but in other cases stucco is employed. Only one exterior wall, at Chunhuhu, is plastered; but all the exterior decorations are supposed to have been originally painted, traces of bright colors still remaining in sheltered positions.[V-106]Mr Jones believes that the ornaments on the Maya façades must have been sculptured after the stones in a rough state had been put in place, and not before, as Mr Stephens thinks. Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 92. The following is Mr Waldeck’s not very clear explanation of the mode of decorating these façades. ‘Voulaient-ils couvrir une façade d’ornements ou de figures symboliques, ils commençaient par peindre la muraille toute entière de la couleur qu’ils avaient choisie; presque toujours c’était le rouge qui formait le fond…. Cette première opération terminée, on posait sur le mur peint la marqueterie en pierre qui devait servir d’ornement et on la badigeonnait avec plus de soin que le fond. Le bleu était employé dans ce travail.’ Voy. Pitt., pp. 72-3. ‘In the Mayan delineations of the human countenance the contracted facial angle is as remarkable as in the paintings of the Aztecs.’ Prichard’s Researches, vol. v., p. 346. See Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 302. ‘On retrouve chez quelques-uns de ces Indiens les traits bien accentués de la race au front fuyant et au nez busqué, qui construisit les palais d’Uxmal, de Palenque, et de Chichen-Itza. Je fus frappé de cette analogie, quoique la similitude soit loin d’être parfaite, les artistes nationaux ayant exagéré vraisemblablement certains caractères qui constituaient alors l’idéal de la beauté.’ Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 147.

Maya Idols

The scarcity of idols among the Maya antiquities must be regarded as extraordinary. The double-headed animal and the statue of the Old Woman at Uxmal; the nude figure carved on a long flat stone and the small statue in two pieces, at Nohpat; the idol at Zayi reported as in use for a fountain; the rude unsculptured monoliths of Sijoh; the scattered and vaguely mentioned idols on the plains of Mayapan; and the figures in terra cotta collected by Norman at Campeche, complete the list; and many of these may have been originally merely decorations for buildings. That the inhabitants of Yucatan were idolators there is no possible doubt, and in connection with the magnificent shrines and temples erected by them, stone representatives of their deities carved with all their aboriginal art and rivaling or excelling the grand obelisks of Copan, might naturally be sought for. But in view of the facts it must be concluded that the Maya idols were small, and that such as escaped the destructive hands of the Spanish ecclesiastics, were buried by the natives, as the only means of preventing their desecration. Altars are as rare as idols; indeed, only at Tuloom are such relics definitely reported, and then they are of small size and of simple construction, merely hewn blocks on which copal was burned.

The almost complete lack of pottery, implements, and weapons is no less remarkable. Earthen relics, so abundant over nearly the whole surface of the Pacific States, even in the territory of the wildest tribes, where no ruined edifices are to be seen, are rarely met with in Yucatan and Chiapa, where the grandest ruins indicate the highest civilization. No trace of any metal has been found in Yucatan, although there is some historical evidence that copper implements were used by the Mayas to a slight extent in the sixteenth century, the material for which must have been brought from other parts of the country. Besides spear and arrow heads of flint or obsidian which have been found in small numbers in different parts of the state, and the implements included in the Camacho collection at Campeche already mentioned, there remains to be noticed “a collection of stone implements, gathered by Dr. J. W. Veile, in Yucatan,” spoken of by Mr Foster as resembling in many respects similar relics from the Mississippi Valley. “The material employed is porphyry. Some of them are less than two inches in length, and the edges are polished as if from use. At the first glance it would be said that many of these implements were too small for practical purposes, but when we reflect that the material out of which the ancient inhabitants of that region cut their basso-relievos, was a soft coralline limestone, I find, by experiment, that such a tool is almost as effective as one of steel. Some of the implements, however, are cylindrical in shape, with the convex surface brought to an edge, and the opposite side ground out like a gouge.”[V-107]Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 212-13. There can be little doubt that the Maya sculpture was executed with tools of stone, although with such implements the complicated carvings on hard zapote lintels must have presented great difficulties even to aboriginal patience and skill.

The Mayas as Artists

With respect to the artistic merit of the monuments of Yucatan, and the degree of civilization which they imply on the behalf of their builders, I leave the reader to form his own conclusion from the information which I have collected and presented as clearly as possible in the preceding pages. That they bear, as a whole, no favorable comparison with the works of the ancient Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Assyrians, and perhaps other old-world peoples must, I believe, be granted. Yet they are most wonderful when considered as the handiwork of a people since lapsed into a condition little above savagism. I append in a note some quotations designed to show the impression these monuments have made on explorers and students.[V-108]‘Depuis le cap Catoche jusqu’au pied de la Cordillère centrale, analogie frappante dans le caractère, l’ensemble et les proportions des diverses parties des ouvrages.’ ‘Quant à l’impression que fait éprouver l’examen de l’architecture de tous ces édifices, je dois ajouter que les idées fines de l’artiste ont évidemment été exécutées d’une manière qui ne les rend nullement.’ ‘Toutefois on rencontre, notamment à Uxmal, des preuves suffisantes qu’ils étaient parvenus à plus de dextérité dans quelques-unes de leurs sculptures. On reconnaît leur addresse à représenter les formes humaines, dans les idoles et les figures en argile…. Ces ouvrages sont supérieurs, sous tous les rapports de l’art, à tout ce que cette nation a produit.’ Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 303, 312. ‘Esa bella y elegante arquitectura, esos soberbios é imponentes adornos, superiores á todo lo que hasta hoy ha podido verse y concebirse.’ ‘Ruinas soberbias, que agobian la imaginacion y oprimen el entendimiento.’ Id., in Dicc. Univ., tom. x., p. 291. ‘The splendid temples and palaces still standing attest the power of the priests and of the nobles; no trace remains of the huts in which dwelt the mass of the nation.’ Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 174. Uxmal ‘the American Palmyra.’ Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 144. ‘El primer golpe de vista de su conjunto, es grandioso, es imponente. Examinandolos luego en detall, causa admiracion el distinto órden de arquitectura que se nota en cada edificio, la elegancia caprichosa de sus formas, la abundancia y riqueza del material que interior y exteriormente es todo de piedra de sillería, el lujo prodigioso de los adornos variados hasta lo infinito de un modo raro, original y nunca visto, y la perfeccion y maestría con que todo ha sido ejecutado.’ ‘Nótase en Uxmal … la infancia del arte en punto á estatuaria.’ M. F. P., in Registro Yuc., tom. i., pp. 363, 365. ‘En somme, les ruines d’Uxmal nous paraissent être la dernière expression de la civilisation américaine; nulle part un tel assemblage de ruines, maisons particulières, temples et palais.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 374. ‘La arquitectura de Uxmal brillante en su perspectiva, es complicada y simétrica en sus dibujos, robusta en sus cimientos y terraplenes, simbólica en sus geroglíficos y figuras humanas … y bastante delicada en sus cornizas y molduras.’ L. G., in Registro Yuc., tom. i., p. 277. ‘The sculpture at Uxmal is not only as fine, but distinctly of a Grecian character.’ Jones’ Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 107. ‘Plusieurs de ces constructions ne laissent rien à désirer au point de vue du bon goût et des règles de l’art.’ Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 193. M. Viollet-le-Duc’s conclusions and speculations are mostly directed to prove that the builders were of mixed race, white and yellow, Aryan and Turanian. He supports his theory by a study of the faces among the sculptured decorations, and by pointing out in the buildings traditions of structures in wood, and also the use of mortar, the use of wood and mortar being peculiar, as he claims, to different races. Charnay, Ruines Amér., introd. ‘These antiquities show that this section of the continent was anciently occupied by a people admirably skilled in the arts of masonry, building, and architectural decoration.’ Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., p. 101. ‘The builders of the ruins of the city of Chi-Chen and Uxmal excelled in the mechanic and fine arts. It is obvious that they were a cultivated, and doubtless a very numerous people.’ Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 175. ‘Ohne Zweifel zu den herrlichsten Amerikas gehören.—Welch riesenhafte Bauten für eine Nation, die alles mit steinernen Instrumenten arbeitete!’ Heller, Reisen, p. 260.

Antiquity of the Maya Monuments

Finally I have to consider the antiquity of the Yucatan monuments. As in the case of all ruined cities and edifices, the questions, when and by whom were they built? are of the most absorbing interest. In Yucatan the latter question presents no difficulties, and the former few, compared with those connected with other American ruins. It was formerly a favorite theory that the great American palaces and temples of ancient times, whose remains have astonished the modern world, were the work of civilized peoples that have become extinct, probably of some old-world people which long centuries ago settled on our coasts and flourished for a long period, but was at last forced to succumb to the native races whose descendants occupied the land at the coming of Europeans in the sixteenth century. The discussion of the origin of the American people and of the American civilization, as well as of the possible agency of old-world elements in the development of the latter, belongs to another part of my work; still it may be appropriately stated here that the theory of extinct civilized races in America, to which our ruined cities may be attributed, rests upon only the very vaguest and most unsubstantial foundation, while so far as the Yucatan cities are concerned it rests on no foundation at all.

The traditional history of the peninsula, which will be given in the following volume, represents Yucatan as constituting the mighty Maya empire, whose rulers, secular and religious, reared magnificent cities, palaces, and temples, and which flourished in great, if not its greatest, power down to within a little more than a century of the Spaniards’ coming. Then the empire was more or less broken up by civil wars, an era of dissension and comparative weakness ensued, some of the great cities were abandoned in ruins, but the edifices of most, and especially the temples, were still occupied by the disunited factions of the original empire. In this condition the Spaniards found and conquered the Maya people. They found the immense stone pyramids and buildings of most of the cities still used by the natives for religious services, although not for dwellings, as they had probably never been so used even by their builders. The conquerors established their own towns generally in the immediate vicinity of the aboriginal cities, procuring all the building material they needed from the native structures, destroying so far as possible all the idols, altars, and other paraphernalia of the Maya worship, and forcing the discontinuance of all ceremonies in honor of the heathen gods. A few cities escaped the damning blight of European towns in their vicinity, and kept up their rites in secret for some years later; such were Uxmal, Tuloom, and probably others of the best preserved ruins. All the early voyagers, conquistadores, and writers speak of the wonderful stone edifices found by them in the country, partly abandoned and partly occupied by the natives. To suppose that the buildings they saw and described were not identical with the ruins that have been described in these pages, that every trace of the former has disappeared, and that the latter entirely escaped the notice of the early visitors to Yucatan, is too absurd to deserve a moment’s consideration. That the Mayas were found worshiping in the temples of an extinct race is a position almost equally untenable. The Spaniards forced the Mayas to accept a new faith, utterly crushed out their ancient spirit by a long course of oppression, and then together with other Europeans resorted to the theory of an extinct old-world race to account for the wonderful structures which the ancestors of the degraded Mayas could not have reared. The Mayas are not, however, the only illustrations of a deteriorated race to be seen in Yucatan, as will be understood by comparing the present Spanish population of the peninsula with the proud Castilian conquerors of the sixteenth century.

Mr Stephens, to whom many of the Spanish and Maya documents relating to Yucatan history were unknown, sought carefully for proofs in support of his belief that the cities were constructed by “the same races who inhabited the country at the time of the Spanish conquest, or by some not very distant progenitors.” He was entirely successful in establishing the truth of his position, which rested on the statements of the historians with whose works he was acquainted, and on the following points, many of them discovered by himself, and whose only weakness is the fact that they were not really needed to justify his conclusions. 1st. The Maya arch in the foundations of the Franciscan convent at Mérida, built in 1547, with the historical statement that Mérida was built on the mounds of ancient Tihoo. 2d. The traditional destruction of Mayapan in 1420. 3d. The custom of the Spaniards to locate their towns near those of the natives, together with the almost uniform location of the ruins, near the modern towns. 4th. The skeletons and skulls dug up at Ticul were pronounced by Dr Morton to belong to the universal American type. 5th. Sr Peon’s deed to the Uxmal estate, dated in 1673, states that the natives still worshiped in the stone buildings; that a native then claimed the estate as having belonged to his ancestors; that at that time there were doors in the ruins which were opened and shut; and that water was then drawn from the aguadas. 6th. The sword in the hands of the kneeling sculptured figure at Kabah, which has already been mentioned as almost identical with an aboriginal Maya weapon. 7th. A map dated 1557 was found at Mani, on which Uxmal is designated by a different character from all the other surrounding towns, being the only one that is not surmounted by a cross. 8th. With the map was found a document in the Maya language, also dated 1557, announcing the arrival of certain officials with interpreters at, and their departure from, Uxmal. Now there never was a Spanish town of Uxmal, and the hacienda was not established until one hundred and forty-five years later. 9th. The gymnasiums at Chichen and Uxmal, agreeing with those traditionally described in connection with certain aboriginal games of ball. 10th. Many scattered resemblances to Aztec relics and customs. 11th. The European penknife discovered in a grave with aboriginal relics at Kantunile. 12th. The comparatively fresh appearance of the altars and other relics at Tuloom.[V-109]Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 93-9, 140, 274, 322-5, 413, vol. ii., pp. 264-73, 306, 343, 406.

It may then be accepted as a fact susceptible of no doubt that the Yucatan structures were built by the Mayas, the direct ancestors of the people found in the peninsula at the conquest and of the present native population. Respecting their age we only know the date of their abandonment—that is the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Nothing in the ruins themselves gives any clue to the date of their construction, and this is not the place to discuss the few vague historical traditions bearing on the subject. The data on which different writers have based their speculations, and claimed for these monuments greater or less antiquity are the following. 1st. The immense trees that are found growing on the ruins, and the accumulation of soil and vegetable matter on the roofs and terrace platforms; but to persons acquainted with the rapid growth of trees in tropical countries, these constitute no evidence of antiquity. 2d. The ignorance of the natives respecting the builders of the monuments; the investigations of Indian character in the preceding volumes of this work, however, show conclusively enough that two generations, to say nothing of three centuries, are amply sufficient to blot from the native mind everything definite concerning the past. 3d. Comparisons of the Yucatan ruins with different old-world remains; the argument being that if an American monument is more dilapidated than an Egyptian one, it must be older. 4th. And on the other hand, against a great antiquity, the destructiveness of the tropical vegetation and tropical rains. 5th. The softness of the building material. 6th. The perfect preservation in many places of wood and paint. 7th. The rapid decay of the ruins between the periods of the earliest and latest visits.

It will be at once noted that the preceding points all bear on the date of abandonment and not at all on the date of construction. Explorers may marvel, according to the view they take of the matter, either that the buildings have resisted for three or four hundred years the destructive agencies to which they have been exposed; or, that three or four short centuries have wrought so great ravages in structures so strongly built; still the fact remains that the buildings were abandoned three or four hundred years ago. M. Waldeck’s theory, by which he computes the antiquity of some of the ruins by certain stones peculiarly placed in the walls, or by the small houses—calli, or house, being one of the signs of the Aztec calendar—over the doorways of the Nunnery at Uxmal, like Mr Jones’ argument that the structures must have been reared before the invention of the arch, is mere idle speculation, utterly unfounded in fact or probability. The history of the Mayas indicates the building of some of the cities at various dates from the third to the tenth centuries. As I have said before, there is nothing in the buildings to indicate the date of their erection,—that they were or were not standing at the commencement of the Christian Era. We may see how, abandoned and uncared for, they have resisted the ravages of the elements for three or four centuries. How many centuries they may have stood guarded and kept in repair by the builders and their descendants we can only conjecture.[V-110]‘Dilato la fundacion de Uxmal á 150 ó 200 años ántes del de 1535, en que tuvo efecto la conquista del pais por los españoles.’ L. G., in Registro Yuc., tom. i., p. 276. ‘Aunque el mar de conjeturas que las cubre sea muy ancho, y de libre navegacion para todo el mundo, creo, sin embargo, que lo ménos ridículo y mas acertado es no engolfarse en él.’ M. F. P., in Id., p. 363. Cogolludo found in the Casa del Adivino at Uxmal traces of recent sacrificial offerings. Hist. Yuc., p. 193. ‘Fassen wir nun diess alles zusammmen, so haben wir in den Ruinen Uxmals echte Denkmäler tultekischer Kunst von einem Alter von ungefähr 800 Jahren.’ Heller, Reisen, p. 264. ‘Elles paraissent, en majeure partie, appartenir à l’architecture toltèque et dater d’au moins mille ans.’ Baril, Mexique, p. 128,. Friederichsthal, in Registro Yuc., tom. ii., pp. 437-43, and many others regard the Yucatan and other Central American ruins as the work of the Toltecs. See vol. ii., cap. ii., and vol. v. of this work on this point. Uxmal generally regarded as having been founded by Ahcuitok Tutul-Xiu between 870 and 894 A. D. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 22. Chichen seems older than the other ruins. The Maya MS. places its discovery between 360 and 432 A. D. Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., p. 323. ‘Uxmal is placed by us as the last built of all the Ancient Cities as yet discovered on the Western Continent.’ Jones’ Hist. Anc. Amer., pp. 104, 101. ‘Evidently the city of Chi-Chen was an antiquity when the foundations of the Parthenon at Athens, and the Cloaca Maxima at Rome, were being laid.’ The ruins of Yucatan ‘belong to the remotest antiquity. Their age is not to be measured by hundreds, but by thousands of years.’ Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., pp. 177-8. See Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 71, 97-8; Prescott’s Mex., vol. iii., pp. 412-13; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 398.

Footnotes

[V-1] ‘Le sol de l’Yucatan est encore, aujourd’hui, parsemé d’innombrables ruines, dont la magnificence et l’étendue frappent d’étonnement les voyageurs; de toutes parts, ce ne sont que collines pyramidales, surmontées d’édifices superbes, des villes dont la grandeur éblouit l’imagination, tant elles sont multipliées et se touchent de près, sur les chemins publics: enfin on ne saurait faire un pas sans rencontrer des débris qui attestent à la fois l’immensité de la population antique du Maya et la longue prospérité dont cette contrée jouit sous ses rois.’ ‘Nulle terre au monde ne présente aujourd’hui un champ si fécond aux recherches de l’archéologue et du voyageur.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 20, 24. ‘A peine y a-t-il dans l’Yucatan une ville, une bourgade, une maison de campagne qui n’offre dans ses constructions des restes de pierres sculptées qui ont été enlevées d’un ancien édifice. On peut compter plus de douze emplacements couverts de vastes ruines.’ Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 300-1. ‘Elle est, pour ainsi dire, jonchée de ruines. Partout, dans cette partie de l’Amérique, la poésie des souvenirs parle à l’imagination.’ Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., p. 320.

[V-2] The earliest modern account of Yucatan Antiquities with which I am acquainted is that written by Sr Lorenzo de Zavala, Ambassador of the Mexican Government in France, and published in Antiquités Mexicaines, tom. i., div. ii., pp. 33-5. Sr Zavala visited Uxmal several years before 1834. His communication gives a tolerably good general idea of the ruins, but it is brief, unaccompanied by drawings, and relates only to one city. It is, therefore, of little value when compared with later and more extensive works on the subject, and is mentioned in this note only as being the earliest account extant. Yet long before Zavala’s visit, Padre Thomas de Soza, a Franciscan friar of the convent of Mérida, had observed the ruins during his frequent trips through the province, and he gave a slight account of them to Antonio del Rio, who mentioned it in his Descrip. of an Ancient City, pp. 6-8.

M. Frédéric de Waldeck, a French artist, visited Uxmal in 1835 during a short tour in the peninsula, and published the result of his labors in his Voyage Pittoresque et Archéologique dans la Province d’Yucatan, Paris, 1838, large folio, with 22 steel plates and lithographic illustrations. M. de Waldeck became in some way obnoxious to the Mexican Government, which threw some obstacles in his way, and finally confiscated his drawings, of which he had fortunately made copies. Waldeck in his turn abuses the government and the people, and has consequently been unfavorably criticised. His drawings and descriptions, however, tested by the work of later visitors under better auspices, are remarkable for their accuracy so far as they relate to antiquities. The few errors discoverable in his work may be attributed to the difficulty of exploring alone and unaided ruins enveloped in a dense tropical forest. ‘Supplied with pecuniary aid by a munificent and learned Irish peer.’ (Lord Kingsborough.) Foreign Quar. Rev., vol. xviii., p. 251. ‘Waldeck, aumentando ó disminuyendo antojadiza y caprichosamente sus obras, las hace participar, en todos sentidos, de las no muy acreditadas cualidades de verídico, imparcial y concienzudo que aquí le conocieron.’ M. F. P., in Registro Yucateco, tom. i., p. 362.

Mr. John L. Stephens, accompanied by Fred. Catherwood, artist, at the end of an antiquarian expedition through Central America, arrived at Uxmal in 1840, and began the work of surveying the city, but the sickness of Mr Catherwood compelled them to abandon the survey when but little progress had been made and return abruptly to New York. The results of their incomplete work were published in Stephens’ Cent. Amer., N. Y., 1841, vol. ii.

Mr B. M. Norman, a resident of New Orleans, made a flying visit to Yucatan from December to March, 1841-2, and published as a result Rambles in Yucatan, N. Y., 1843, illustrated with cuts and lithographs. According to the Registro Yucateco, tom. i., p. 372, this trip was merely a successful speculation on the part of Norman, who collected his material in haste from all available sources, in order to take advantage of the public interest excited by Stephens’ travels. However this may be, the work is not without value in connection with the other authorities. ‘The result of a hasty visit.’ Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 172. The work ‘n’est qu’une compilation sans mérite et sans intérêt.’ Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 150. ‘A valuable work.’ Davis’ Antiq. Amer., p. 12. ‘By which the public were again astonished and delighted.’ Frost’s Pict. Hist. Mex., p. 77. Norman’s work is very highly spoken of and reviewed at length, with numerous quotations and two plates, in the Democratic Review, vol. xi., pp. 529-38.

Mr Stephens arrived in New York on his return from his Central American tour in July, 1840, having left Yucatan in June. ‘About a year’ after his return he again sailed for Yucatan on October 9th and remained until the following June. This is all the information the author vouchsafes touching the date of his voyage, which was probably in 1841-2, Stephens and Norman being therefore in the country at the same time; the latter states, indeed, that they were only a month apart at Zayi. Stephens’ work is called Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, N. Y., 1843. (?) (Ed. quoted in this work, N. Y., 1858.) The drawings of this and of the previous expedition were published, with a descriptive text by Stephens, under the title of Catherwood’s Views of Ancient Monuments in Central America, N. Y., 1844, large folio, with 25 colored lithographic plates. Stephens’ account was noticed, with quotations, by nearly all the reviews at the time of its appearance, and has been the chief source from which all subsequent writers, including myself, have drawn their information. His collection of movable Yucatan relics was unfortunately destroyed by fire with Mr Catherwood’s panorama in New York. Critics are almost unanimous in praise of the work. ‘Malgré quelques imperfections, le livre restera toujours un ouvrage de premier ordre pour les voyageurs et les savants.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Esquisses, p. 7. ‘Stephens y Catherwood, por ejemplo, sin separarse de la verdad de los originales, los cópia el uno, y los describe el otro con exactitud, criterio y buena fé,’ M. F. P., in Registro Yucateco, tom. i., p. 362. ‘Ce que M. Stephens a montré talent, de science et de modestie dans ses narrations est au-dessus de toute appréciation.’ Dally, Races Indig., p. 14. Jones, Hist. Anc. Amer., criticises Stephens’ conclusions, and his criticisms will be somewhat noticed in their proper place. See also p. 82, note 14, of this volume.

The Baron von Friederichsthal, an attaché of the Austrian Legation, spent several months in an examination of Yucatan ruins, confining his attention to Chichen Itza and Uxmal. He had with him a daguerreotype apparatus, and with its aid prepared many careful drawings. As to the date of his visit it probably preceded those of Norman and Stephens, since a letter by him, written while on his return to Europe, is dated April 21, 1841. This letter is printed in the Registro Yucateco, tom. ii., pp. 437-43, and in the Dicc. Univ., tom. x., pp. 290-3. It contains a very slight general account of the ruins, which are spoken of as ‘hasta hoy desconocidas,’ with much rambling speculation on their origin. On his arrival in Europe Friederichsthal was introduced by Humboldt to the Académie Royale des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, before which society he read a paper on his discoveries on October 1, 1841, which paper was furnished by the author for the Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 297-314, where it was published under the title of Les Monuments de l’Yucatan. The author proceeded to Vienna where he intended to publish a large work with his drawings, a work that so far as I know has never seen the light. ‘M. de Friederichsthal a souvent été inquiété dans ses recherches; les ignorants, les superstitieux, les niais les regardaient comme dangereuses au pays.’ Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 304.

In 1858 M. Désiré Charnay visited Izamal, Chichen Itza, and Uxmal, taking with him a photographic apparatus. He succeeded in obtaining perfect views of many of the buildings, which were published under the title Cités et Ruines Américaines, Paris, 1863, in large folio. The text of the work is in octavo form and includes a long introduction by M. Viollet-le-Duc, French Government Architect, occupied chiefly with speculation and theories rather than descriptions. Charnay’s part of the text, although a most interesting journal of travels, is very brief in its descriptions, the author wisely referring the reader to the photographs, which are invaluable as tests of the correctness of drawings made by other artists both in Yucatan and elsewhere.

See also a general notice of the ruins in Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 176-7, and in Gottfriedt, Newe Welt, p. 611; full account in Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., pp. 125-50, from Stephens; and brief accounts, made up from the modern explorers, in Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., pp. 171-3, with cut of an idol from Catherwood; Prichard’s Researches, vol. v., pp. 346-8; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 147, 191-5, 269-72; Dally, Races Indig., pp. 14-15; Warden, Recherches, pp. 68-9; Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., pp. 36-50, from old Spanish authorities; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 460, 462; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. i., p. 12; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 267; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., pp. 144, 247; Baril, Mexique, pp. 128-30; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 20-31; Davis’ Antiq. Amer., pp. 512-30; Id., Ed. 1847, p. 31; Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., pp. 320-8; Mex. in 1842, p. 75; Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 227, 242-7, 303-4.

[V-3] The best map of Yucatan, showing not only the country’s geographical features, but the location of all its ruins, is the Carte du Yucatan et des régions voisines, compiled by M. Malte-Brun from the works of Owen, Barnett, Lawrence, Kiepert, García y Cubas, Stephens, and Waldeck, and published in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Palenqué, Paris, 1866, pl. i., ii.

[V-4] Fray Diego Lopez Cogolludo visited Uxmal at some time before the middle of the seventeenth century, and describes the ruins to some extent in his Historia de Yucathan, Mad., 1688, pp. 176-7, 193-4, 197-8. Padre Thomas de Soza, about 1786, reported to Antonio del Rio stone edifices covered with stucco ornaments, known by the natives as Oxmutal, with statues of men beating drums and dancing with palms in their hands, which he had seen in his travels in Yucatan, and which are thought to be perhaps identical with Uxmal, although the monuments are reported as being located twenty leagues south of Mérida and may be quite as reasonably identified with some other group. Rio’s Description, pp. 6-7. Zavala’s visit to Uxmal at some date previous to 1834 has already been spoken of in note 2. His account is called Notice sur les Monuments d’Ushmal, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., pp. 33-5. M. de Waldeck left Mérida for Uxmal on May 6, 1835, arrived at the ruins on May 12, where he spent some eight days, and was interrupted in his work by the rainy season. Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 67-74, 93-104, and plates. Mr Stephens had Waldeck’s work with him at the time of his second visit. He says, Yucatan, vol. i., p. 297, ‘It will be found that our plans and drawings differ materially from his, but Mr Waldeck was not an architectural draughtsman;’ yet the difference is only to be noted in a few plates, and is not so material as Mr Stephens’ words would imply. Still, where differences exist, I give Mr Stephens the preference, because, having his predecessor’s drawings, his attention would naturally be called to all the points of Waldeck’s survey. Mr Stephens says further, ‘It is proper to say, moreover, that Mr Waldeck had much greater difficulties to encounter than we, … besides, he is justly entitled to the full credit of being the first stranger who visited these ruins and brought them to the notice of the public.’ Mr Stephens’ first visit was in June, 1840, during which he visited the ruins from the hacienda three times, on June 20, 21, and 22, while Mr Catherwood spent one day, the 21st, in making sketches. It was unfortunate that he was forced by Mr Catherwood’s illness to leave Uxmal, for at this time the ground had been cleared of the forest and was planted with corn; the occasion was therefore most favorable for a thorough examination. Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., pp. 413-35, with 3 plates. Mr Norman, according to his journal, reached the ruins, where he took up his abode, on February 25, 1842, and remained until March 4, devoting thus seven days or thereabouts to his survey. His account is accompanied by several lithographic illustrations. Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., pp. 154-67. Messrs Stephens and Catherwood arrived on their second visit on November 15, 1841, and remained until January 1, 1842, Mr Stephens meanwhile making two short trips away, one in search of ruins, the other to get rid of fever and ague. It is remarkable that they found no traces of Mr Friederichsthal’s visit, (Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 306-9,) which was probably in the same year. Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 163-325, vol. ii., pp. 264-73, with many plates and cuts. Padre Carrillo, cura of Ticul, with D. Vicente García Rejon, and D. José María Fajardo, visited the ruins in March, 1845, and an account of the visit, embodying but little information, was published by L. G., in Registro Yuc., tom. i., pp. 275-9. Another account of a visit in the same year was published by M. F. P., in Id., pp. 361-70. Mr Carl Bartholomaeus Heller spent two or three days at Uxmal, April 6 to 9, 1847. His account is found in Heller, Reisen, pp. 256-65. M. Charnay’s visit was in 1858, and his efforts to obtain photographic negatives and to fight the insects which finally drove him away, lasted eight days. Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 362-80, pl. xxxv-xlix. M. Brasseur de Bourbourg was at Uxmal in 1865, and made a report, accompanied by a plan, which was published in the Archives de la Com. Scien. du Mex., tom. ii., pp. 234, 254, as the author states in his Palenqué, Introd., p. 24. See further on Uxmal: Description quoted from Stephens with unlimited criticisms, italics, capitals, and exclamation points, in Jones’ Hist. Anc. Amer., pp. 86-105, 120; description from Waldeck and Stephens, with remarks on the city’s original state, in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 21-3, 585; and also slight accounts made up from one or more of the authorities already cited as follows: Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 462, 483; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 99-103, from Waldeck; Baril, Mexique, pp. 129-30, from Del Rio; Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 237-41; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 149-50, 193; Frost’s Great Cities, pp. 268-81; Id., Pict. Hist. Mex., p. 80; Album, Mex., tom. i., pp. 203-4, the last three including a moonlight view of the ruins, from Norman; Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., pp. 321-8, with plates from Waldeck; Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., pp. 131-7, with cuts, from Stephens; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 208, 212-13, 302, 330, 398-9, from Stephens; Willson’s Amer. Hist., pp. 82-6, with cuts, from Stephens; Armin, Das Heutige Mex., pp. 91-6, with cuts, from Stephens; Id., Das Alte Mex., p. 97; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 144; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. i., p. 12; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 51; Hermosa, Enciclopedia, Paris, 1857, pp. 176-7; Prescott’s Mex., vol. iii., pp. 412-13; Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., pp. 36-7, 44.

[V-5] Pronounced ooshmahl.

[V-6] Cogolludo sometimes writes the name Uxumual. ‘Il nous a été impossible de trouver une étymologie raisonnable à ce nom.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 21. ‘Le nom d’Uxmal signifie du temps passé. Il ne s’applique aux ruines que parce que celles-ci sont situées sur le terrain de la hacienda d’Uxmal.’ Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 68; Sivers, Mittelamerika, p. 237. Possibly derived from ox and mal, meaning ‘three passages’ in Maya. Heller, Reisen, p. 255. ‘It was an existing inhabited aboriginal town’ in 1556. Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., p. 272. Called Oxmutal by Soza, in Rio’s Description, p. 7.

[V-7] Lat. 30° 22´ 86´´ (!), Long. 4´ 33´´ west of Mérida. ‘Une couche très mince d’une terre ferrugineuse recouvre le sol, mais disparaît dans les environs où l’on n’aperçoit que du sable.’ Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 306. 2 miles (German) west of Jalacho, which lies near Maxcanú, on the road from Mérida to Campeche. Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 144. 20 leagues from Mérida, occupying an extent of several leagues. Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. i., p. 12. ‘A huit lieues de Mayapan … dans une plaine légèrement ondulée.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 21. ‘Le terrain d’Uxmal est plat dans toute l’étendue du plateau.’ ‘Sur le plateau d’une haute montagne.’ Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 68, 70.

[V-8] ‘Sur un diamètre d’une lieue, le sol est couvert de débris, dont quelques-uns recouvrent des intérieurs fort bien conservés.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 363.

[V-9] In the plan I have followed Stephens, Yucatan, vol. i., p. 165, who determined the position of all the structures by actual measurement, cutting roads through the undergrowth for this express purpose, and the accuracy of whose survey cannot be called in question. His plan is reproduced on a reduced scale in Willson’s Amer. Hist., p. 83. Plans are also given in Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pl. viii.; Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 155; and Charnay, Ruines Amér., introd. by Viollet-le-Duc, p. 62. These all differ very materially both from that of Stephens, and from each other; they are moreover very incomplete, and bear marks of having been carelessly or hastily prepared. ‘Disposée en échiquier, où se déployaient, à la suite les uns des autres, les palais et les temples.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 21. Besides the plans, general views of the ruins from nearly the same point (q on the plan looking southward) are given by Stephens, Yucatan, vol. i., p. 305, and by Charnay, Ruines Amér., phot. 49. Norman, Rambles in Yuc., frontispiece, gives a general view of the ruins by moonlight from a point and in a direction impossible to fix, which is copied in the Album Mex., tom. i., p. 203, in Frost’s Great Cities, p. 269, and in Id., Pict. Hist. Mex., p. 80. It makes a very pretty frontispiece, which is about all that can be said in its favor, except that it might serve equally well to illustrate any other group of American or old-world antiquities.

[V-10] Charnay, Ruines Amér., phot. 49.

[V-11] ‘No habiendo tradicion alguna que testifique los nombres propios, que en un principio tuvieron los diferentes edificios que denuncian estas ruinas, es preciso creer que los que hoy llevan, son enteramente gratuitos.’ L. G., in Registro Yuc., tom. i., p. 275. Mr Jones is positive this must have been a temple rather than a palace. ‘Mr Stephens appears to be so strict a Spartan Republican, that every large, or magnificent building in the Ruined Cities, he considers to be a Palace,—he seems to have thought less of mind, than of matter.’ Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 96; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 97, calls it the Temple of Fire.

[V-12] In stating the dimensions of this mound, as I shall generally do in describing Uxmal, I have followed Stephens’ text. His plan and both plans and text of all the other visitors vary more or less respecting each dimension. I had prepared tables of dimensions for each building from all the authorities, but upon reflection have thought it not worth while to insert them. Such tables would not enable the reader to ascertain the exact measurements, and moreover differences of a few feet cannot be considered practically important in this and similar cases. All the authorities agree on the general form and extent of this pyramidal mound. Most of them, however, refer only to the eastern front, and no one but Stephens notes the western irregularities. In giving the dimensions of the respective terraces some also refer to their bases, and others probably to their summits. Norman, Rambles in Yuc., pp. 156-7, states that the second and third terraces are each thirty feet high, while Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 372-3, makes the same fifteen and ten feet respectively. Waldeck’s plan makes the summit platform about 240 feet long.

[V-13] Jones, Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 120, says there was a stairway in the centre of each side.

[V-14] Norman’s dimensions are 36×272 feet; Heller’s, 40×320 feet; Friederichsthal’s, 38×407 feet; and Waldeck’s, about 65×195 feet.

[V-15] Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., p. 175, reproduced in Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., p. 132, and Willson’s Amer. Hist., p. 84. The author speaks of the number of rooms as being 18, although the plan shows 24. He probably does not count the four small rooms corresponding with the recesses on the front and rear, as he also does not include their doors in his count. How he gets rid of the other two does not appear. Norman says 24 rooms, Charnay 21, and Stephens indicates 22 in the plan in Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 428.

[V-16] Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 309, speaking of the Uxmal structures in general, says the blocks are usually 5×12 inches; Zavala, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 34, pronounces them from 25 to 28 centimètres in length, width, and thickness.

[V-17] This beam was taken to N. Y., where it shared the fate of Stephens’ other relics.

[V-18] Stephens favors the former theory, Waldeck and Charnay the latter, insisting that the hammock is consequently an American invention. Norman goes so far as to say that the grooves worn by the hammock-ropes are still to be seen on some of these timbers.

[V-19] Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 97, speaks of real or false doors made of a single stone in connection with this building, but his examination of it was very slight. Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 177, speaks of interior decorations as follows: ‘Ay vn lienço en lo interior de la fabrica, que (aunque es muy dilatado) à poco mas de medio estado de vn hombre, corre por todo èl vna cornisa de piedra muy tersa, que haze vna esquina delicadissima, igual, y muy perfecta, donde (me acuerdo) avia sacado de la misma piedra, y quedado en ella vn anillo tan delgado, y vistoso, como puede ser vno de oro obrado con todo primor.’

[V-20] From Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., p. 174; also in Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., p. 132. Charnay’s photograph 48 shows the opposite or northern end in connection with another building.

[V-21] From Stephens; one of them also in Baldwin’s Anc. Amer.

[V-22] A cut of this hook is also given by Norman, and by Waldeck, who, Voy. Pitt., p. 74, attempts to prove its identity with an elephant’s trunk, and that it was not molded from a tapir’s snout.

[V-23] Charnay, Ruines Amér., phot. 46, shows the whole eastern façade. Photograph 47 gives a view on a larger scale of the portion over the principal doorway. Stephens, Yucatan, vol. i., frontispiece, represents the same front in a large plate, and in his Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 434, is a plate showing a part of the same. Norman gives a lithograph of the front. Rambles in Yuc., p. 158. His enlarged portion of the front from Waldeck does not belong to the Governor’s House at all. ‘Couvert de bas-reliefs, exécutés avec une rare perfection, formant une suite de méandres et arabesques d’un travail non moins capricieux que bizarre.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 23. Decorated with ‘gros serpents entrelacés et d’anneaux en pierre.’ Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 308. ‘Chiefly the meander, or the Grecian square border, used in the embroidery of the mantles and robes of Attica.’ Jones’ Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 98. ‘The length of the upper platform (in English feet!!) is seen to correspond nearly with the number of days in the year, and the mysterious emblem of eternity, the serpent, is found extending its portentous length around the building.’ Frost’s Great Cities, p. 271. ‘Du haut de ses trois étages de pyramides, il se dresse comme un roi, dans un isolement plein de majestueuse grandeur.’ ‘L’ornementation se compose d’une guirlande en forme de trapèzes réguliers, de ces énormes têtes déjà décrites, courant du haut en bas de la façade, et servant de ligne enveloppante à des grecques d’un relief très-saillant, reliées entre elles par une ligne de petites pierres en carré diversement sculptées; le tout sur un fond plat de treillis de pierre. Le dessus des ouvertures était enrichi de pièces importantes, que divers voyageurs ont eu le soin d’enlever. Quatre niches, placées régulièrement, contenaient des statues, absentes aujourd’hui.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 372-3. ‘One solid mass of rich, complicated elaborately sculptured ornaments forming a sort of arabesque.’ ‘Perhaps it may with propriety be called a species of sculptured mosaic; and I have no doubt that all these ornaments have a symbolical meaning; that each stone is part of a history, allegory, or fable.’ Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 166, 173. ‘The ornaments were composed of small square pieces of stone, shaped with infinite skill, and inserted between the mortar and stone with the greatest care and precision. About two-thirds of the ornaments are still remaining upon the façade…. The ground-work of the ornaments is chiefly composed of raised lines, running diagonally, forming diamond or lattice-work, over which are rosettes and stars; and, in bold relief, the beautiful Chinese border.’ Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., pp. 158-9. ‘A travers ces grands méandres formés par l’appareil se montrent, ici encore, la tradition des constructions de bois par empilages, en encorbellement et le treillis. Cette construction est une des plus soignées parmi celles d’Uxmal.’ Viollet-le-Duc, in Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 70.

[V-24] Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., p. 181; Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 156. From this rather meagre information Mr Jones proves, in a manner entirely satisfactory to himself, that the whole platform was surrounded in its original condition by a double row of columns, 230 in number, placed 10 feet apart, each 18 inches in diameter and 12 feet high, with a grand central column, 6 feet in diameter, and 60 feet high. Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 119.

[V-25] ‘A shaft of gray limestone in an inclined position, measuring twelve feet in circumference and eight in height; bearing upon its surface no marks of form or ornament by which it might be distinguished from a natural piece.’ Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 156. ‘Une espèce de colonne dite pierre du châtiment, où les coupables devaient recevoir la punition de leurs fautes.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 372. ‘Una enorme columna de piedra, cuya forma semicónica le da el aire de un obelisco, aunque de base circular y sin adornos.’ M. F. P., in Registro Yuc., tom. i., p. 364.

[V-26] ‘Double-headed cat or lynx,’ cut from Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., p. 183; and Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., p. 133. ‘Un autel, au centre, soutenait un tigre à deux têtes, dont les corps reliés au ventre figurent une double chimère.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 372. ‘Rude carving of a tiger with two heads.’ Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 156. ‘En un mismo cuerpo contiene dos cabezas de tigre de tamaño regular, vueltas hácia fuera: su actitud es la misma que la en que generalmente se representa la esfinge de la fábula; y si su excavacion no fuera tan reciente, probablemente habria corrido la suerte de otras estátuas y objetos preciosos, que à nuestra vista y paciencia han sido sacados del pais para figurar en los museos extranjeros.’ M. F. P., in Registro Yuc., tom. i., pp. 364-5. Mr Heller, Reisen, p. 259, confounds this monument with the picote.

[V-27] Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i. pp. 229-32. Sr Peon, proprietor of Uxmal, believed that these excavations were originally used as granaries, not deeming the plaster sufficiently hard to resist water. ‘Excavations … with level curbings and smoothly finished inside.’ Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 156.

[V-28] Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 253-6, with a view in the frontispiece. Although Stephens says the pyramid is only sixty-five feet high, it is noticeable that in Catherwood’s drawing it towers high above the roof of the Casa del Gobernador, which is at least sixty-eight feet in height. Norman, Rambles in Yuc., p. 157, calls this a pile of loose stones, about two hundred feet square at the base, and one hundred feet high, and covered on the sides and top with débris of edifices. Friederichsthal, Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 308, says the summit platform is seventy-seven feet square.

[V-29] Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., p. 319. A distant view of this pyramid is included in Stephens’ general view, p. 305, and in Charnay’s photograph 49. Norman, in both plan and text, unites this pyramid at the base with that at E, and makes its height eighty feet. Rambles in Yuc., p. 157.

[V-30] Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 318-19, with view of the Casa de Palomas; cut also in Id., Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 426. ‘Une muraille dentelée de pignons assez élevés, percés d’une multitude de petites ouvertures, qui donnent à chacun la physionomie d’un colombier.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 371-2, phot. 49. ‘A wall of two hundred feet remains standing upon a foundation of ten feet. Its width is twenty-five feet; having ranges of rooms in both sides, only parts of which remain. This wall has an acute-angled arch doorway through the centre…. The top of this wall has numerous square apertures through it, which give it the appearance of pigeon-holes; and its edge is formed like the gable-end of a house, uniformly notched.’ Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 165, with plate showing one of the peaks of the wall.

[V-31] Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., p. 320; Norman, Rambles in Yuc., p. 165, speaks of this part of the ruin as ‘an immense court or square, enclosed by stone walls, leading to the Nun’s House,’ C of the plan. He says, also, that some of the scattered mounds in this direction have been excavated and seem to have been intended originally for sepulchres.

[V-32] Mr Stephens, Yucatan, vol. i., p. 320, refers to his appendix for a mention of some of the relics found in this group. The reference is probably to a note on vestiges of the phallic worship on p. 434, which from motives of modesty the author gives in Latin.

[V-33] Mr Norman’s statements, Rambles in Yuc., p. 166, differ materially from those of Stephens, Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 298-9. He states that the walls are only twelve feet apart, that the eastern façade only has the entwined serpents, that the western is covered with hieroglyphics, that the structure contains rooms on a level with the ground, and implies that the western ring was still perfect at the time of his visit. This building is called by Charnay the Cárcel, or Prison.

[V-34] In these dimensions I have followed Mr Stephens’ text, as usual in Uxmal, as far as possible. Although the Casa de Monjas has received more attention than any of the other structures, yet, strangely enough, no visitor gives all the dimensions of the buildings and terraces; hardly any two authors agree on any one dimension; and no author’s text agrees exactly with his plans. Yet the figures of my text may be considered approximately correct. I append, however, in this instance a table of variations as a curiosity.

Respecting the height of the buildings, except the northern, we have no figures from any reliable authority; but we know that both eastern and western are lower than the northern building and higher than the southern, whose rooms are 17 feet high on the inside, and moreover that the eastern is higher than the western.

Dimensions

	South			North			East			West			Court		Terrace
	Long.	Wide.	High.	Long.	Wide.	High.	Long.	Wide.	High.	Long.	Wide.	High.	Long.	Wide.	High.	Circum.
Stephens, Text	279			264		25	158			173			258	214	19
Stephens, 1st Plan	300	30		300	25		162	35		165	35		240	185		1520
Stephens, 2d Plan	279	25		260	25		160	35		165	35		220	195		1430
Waldeck, Text	227	27		227	27		176	34		176	34		227	172	15	1116
Waldeck, 1st Plan	235	27		235	25		210	40		210	40		222	205		1360
Waldeck, 2d Plan	264	28		225	27		174	34		174	34		234	180
Charnay, Text				351			210						262	262
Charnay, Plan	360	33		393	33		262	33		262	33		262	265
Norman	200	25	16	246	25	26	140	34	25	140	34	25			15	1100
Heller				260	24	25	150			170	34	25			18	1000

[V-35] M. Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pl. xii., presents a drawing of four of these turtles. ‘Covered with square blocks of stone.’ Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 163. ‘Each tortoise is in a square, and in the two external angles of each square is an Egg. The tortoise and the egg, are both National emblems.’ Jones’ Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 94.

[V-36] Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 364, 368; Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 301, 308.

[V-37] Plan in Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., p. 301; reproduced in Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., p. 136. Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pl. xii., also gives a ground plan, which, so far as the arrangement of rooms and doorways is concerned, differs very widely from that of Stephens, and must be regarded as very incorrect. M. Waldeck, during his short stay in Yucatan, seems to have devoted his chief attention to sketching the sculptured façades, a work which he accomplished accurately, but to have constructed his plans from memory and imagination after leaving the country. In the preparation of the present plan he had, to aid his fancy, the supposed occupation of these buildings in former times by nuns, and he has arranged the rooms with an eye to the convenience of the priests in keeping a proper watch and guard over the movements of those erratic demoiselles.

[V-38] Cut from Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., p. 309. For some reason the sculpture is not shown. Waldeck’s pl. xii. contains also a section showing the form of the arches and ceilings.

[V-39] ‘Les linteux des portes sont en bois, comme partout à Uxmal.’ ‘Les intérieurs, de dimensions variées suivant la grandeur des édifices … deux murailles parallèles, puis obliquant, pour se relier par une dalle.’ ‘Les salles étaient enduites d’une couche de plâtre fin qui existe encore.’ ‘On remarque de chaque côté de l’ouverture, à égale distance du sol et du linteau de la porte, plantés dans la muraille de chaque côté des supports, quatre crochets en pierre.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 364-6. M. Waldeck speaks of the door-tops of the western building as being composed of nine pieces of stone, perpendicular on the outside, or visible, portions, but beveled and secured by a keystone within. ‘Fait de neuf pierres à coupe perpendiculaire, et point du tout à clef: je parle ici de l’aspect de cette partie du monument à l’extérieur; mais à l’intérieur, ces neuf pierres sont à clef, ce que l’absence d’enduit m’a permis de constater.’ Voy. Pitt., p. 100. ‘The height of the ceiling is uniform throughout.’ Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 161. Heller, Reisen, p. 257, gives the botanical name of the zapote-wood used for lintels as cavanilla, achras sapota. Waldeck calls the wood jovillo. Voy. Pitt., p. 97. Norman spells it zuporte.

[V-40] ‘J’ai parlé, dans le texte du présent ouvrage, des prétendues colonnes trouvées dans l’Yucatan. Les trois balustres qu’on voit dans cette planche peuvent, déplacés comme ils l’étaient, avoir donné lieu à cette erreur. En effet, en divisant ces ornements en plusieurs morceaux, on y trouvera un fût droit et une espèce de chapiteau que, d’après des idées relatives assurément fort naturelles, on place volontiers à l’extrémité supérieure du fût, au lieu de le mettre au milieu.’ Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 103. ‘C’est un ensemble de colonnettes nouées dans le milieu trois par trois, séparées par des parties de pierres plates et les treillis qu’on rencontre si souvent; ce bâtiment est d’une simplicité relative, comparé à la richesse des trois autres.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 368.

[V-41] My engravings are taken from Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pl. xv., xvii. They are reproduced in Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., p. 323, pl. 3, 6. The perfect accuracy of the engravings—except the seated statues—is proved by Charnay’s photographs 42, 49, which show the same front, as does the view in Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., p. 305. The southern front of this building is only shown in general views in Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 420; repeated in Armin, Das Heutige Mex., p. 92; and in Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 160, which give no details.

[V-42] ‘La décoration se compose d’une espèce de trophée en forme d’éventail, qui part du bas de la frise en s’élargissant jusqu’au sommet du bâtiment. Ce trophée est un ensemble de barres parallèles terminées par des têtes de monstres. Au milieu de la partie supérieure, et touchant à la corniche, se trouve une énorme tête humaine, encadrée à l’égyptienne, avec une corne de chaque côté. Ces trophées sont séparés par des treillis de pierre qui donnent à l’édifice une grande richesse d’effet. Les coins ont toujours cette ornementation bizarre, composée de grandes figures d’idoles superposées, avec un nez disproportionné, tordu et relevé, qui fait songer à la manière chinoise.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 366-7. The first of my engravings I take from Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., p. 306; the same front being shown also in Charnay’s photograph 38, in Waldeck’s pl. xv., and in Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., pl. 3. The second engraving is from Waldeck’s pl. xvi., given also in Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., pl. 5, in Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 156—where it is incorrectly stated to represent a portion of the Casa del Gobernador,—and corresponding with Charnay’s photograph 39. The third cut is from Viollet-le-Duc, in Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 65. M. Viollet-le-Duc explains the cut as follows: ‘Supposons des piles ou murs de refend A; si l’on pose à la tête des piles les premiers patins B, sur lesquels, à angle droit, on embrévera les traverses C, puis les secondes pièces B’, les deuxièmes traverses C’ en encorbellement égalemente embérvées, et ainsi de suite, on obtient, au droit des têtes de piles ou murs de refend, des parois verticales, et, dans le sens des ouvertures, des parois inclinées arrivant à porter les filières D avec potelets intercalés. Si, d’une pile à l’autre, on pose les linteaux E en arrière du nu des pièces BB’, et que sur ces linteaux on établisse des treillis, on obtiendra une construction de bois primitive, qui est évidemment le principe de la décoration de la façade de pierre du bâtiment.’ This façade is ‘the most chaste and simple in design and ornament, and it was always refreshing to turn from the gorgeous and elaborate masses on the other façades to this curious and pleasing combination.’ Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., p. 306. ‘The eastern façade is filled with elaborate ornaments, differing entirely from the others, and better finished.’ Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., pp. 161-2. ‘Les huit échelons dont la série forme un cône renversé, sont ornés, à chacune de leurs extrémités, d’une tête symbolique de serpent ou de dragon. La tête du Soleil qui touche à la corniche et repose sur le troisième échelon, offre deux rayons ascendants, indépendemment de ceux qui flamboient autour du masque, dont je n’ai pu deviner la signification. Les trois rayons qui se voient au dessus de la tête ont peut-être quelques rapports avec le méridien, celui du milieu indiquant le parfait équilibre.’ ‘Des sept masques solaires, un seul était intact.’ ‘L’ensemble de cette façade offre à l’heure de midi un caractère de grandeur dont il serait difficile de donner une idée.’ Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 102-3.

[V-43] Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., p. 307, with plate; Charnay, Ruines Amér., phot. 43.

[V-44] The illustrations of the Serpent front are in Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pl. xiii., xviii., which latter shows some of the detached faces, or masks; Charnay, Ruines Amér., phot. 40, 41, 44; and Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 302-3. Rattlesnakes are common in this region. The proprietor proposed to build this serpent’s head into a house in Mérida as a memorial of Uxmal. ‘Toward the south end the head and tail of the serpents corresponded in design and position with the portion still existing at the other.’ Id., vol. i., pp. 302-3. ‘The remains of two great serpents, however, are still quite perfect; their heads turned back, and entwining each other, they extend the whole length of the façade, through a chaste ground-work of ornamental lines, interspersed with various rosettes. They are put together by small blocks of stone, exquisitely worked, and arranged with the nicest skill and precision. The heads of the serpents are adorned with ppluming feathers and tassels.’ Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 162. ‘Son nom lui vient d’un immense serpent à sonnettes courant sur toute la façade, dont le corps, se roulant en entrelacs, va servir de cadre à des panneaux divers. Il n’existe plus qu’un seul de ces panneaux: c’est une grecque, que surmontent six croisillons, avec rosace à l’intérieur; une statue d’Indien s’avance en relief de la façade, il tient à la main un sceptre; on remarque au-dessus de sa tête un ornement figurant une couronne.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 367. ‘Un ornement, imité d’une sorte de pompon en passementerie terminé par une frange, se voit au-dessus de la queue du reptile. On découvre également dans la frise ces rosettes frangées comme celles signalées dans le bâtiment de l’est.’ Viollet-le-Duc, in Id., p. 69. ‘En voyant pour la première fois ce superbe édifice, je ne pus retenir un cri de surprise et d’admiration, tant les choses originales et nouvelles émeuvent l’imagination et les sens de l’artiste. J’ai cherché à rendre, dans ce qu’on vient de lire, mes premières impressions. Pourquoi n’avouerais-je pas qu’il s’y mêle un peu de vanité? Un pareil sentiment n’est-il pas excusable chez le voyageur qui révèle au monde civilisé des trésors archéologiques si longtemps ignorés, un style nouveau d’architecture, et une source abondante où d’autres, plus savants que lui, iront puiser un jour?’ Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 100.

[V-45] Cut of one of these projecting curves in Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 162.

[V-46] ‘The whole, loaded as it is with ornament, conveys the idea of vastness and magnificence rather than that of taste and refinement.’ Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., p. 304. ‘The northern front, no doubt, was the principal one, as I judge from the remains, as well as from the fact, that it is more elevated than the others.’ Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 161. Norman’s general view of the Nunnery includes a view of this northern front, but the decorations are omitted and the turrets also. ‘Chaque porte, de deux en deux, est surmontée d’une niche merveilleusement ouvragée que devaient occuper des statues diverses. Quant à la frise elle-même, c’est un ensemble extraordinaire de pavillons, où de curieuses figures d’idoles superposées ressortent comme par hasard de l’arrangement des pierres, et rappellent les têtes énormes sculptées sur les palais de Chichen-Itza. Des méandres de pierres finement travaillées leur servent de cadre et donnent une vague idée de caractères hiéroglyphiques: puis viennent une succession de grecques de grande dimension, alternées, aux angles, de carrés et de petites rosaces d’un fini admirable. Le caprice de l’architecte avait jeté çà et là, comme des démentis à la parfaite régularité du dessin, des statues dans les positions les plus diverses. La plupart ont disparu, et les têtes ont été enlevées à celles qui restent encore.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 364-5, phot. 36-7. ‘Les grosses têtes forment la principale décoration des dessus de portes; les treillis sont historiés, les encorbellements empilés supprimés.’ Viollet-le-Duc, in Id., p. 67.

[V-47] I append a few general quotations concerning the Nunnery: The court façades ‘ornamented from one end to the other with the richest and most intricate carving known in the art of the builders of Uxmal; presenting a scene of strange magnificence, surpassing any that is now to be seen among its ruins.’ Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., p. 300. ‘All these façades were painted; the traces of the colour are still visible, and the reader may imagine what the effect must have been when all this building was entire, and according to its supposed design, in its now desolate doorways stood noble Maya maidens, like the vestal virgins of the Romans, to cherish and keep alive the sacred fire burning in the temples.’ Id., p. 307. The bottoms of the caissons of the diamond lattice-work are painted red. The paint is believed to be a mixture in equal parts of carmine and vermilion, probably vegetable colors. Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 200-1; Zavala, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., pp. 33-4, describes a building supposed to be the Nunnery on account of the serpent ornament, which, however, is stated to be on the exterior front of the building. Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 177, describes the court and surrounding edifices, stating that the serpent surrounds all four sides. ‘Vn gran patio con muchos aposentos separados en forma de claustro donde viuian estas doncellas. Es fabrica digna de admiracion, porque lo exterior de las paredes es todo de piedra labrada, donde estàn sacadas de medio relieue figuras de hombres armados, diuersidad de animales, pajaros, y otras cosas.’ ‘Todos los quatro lienços de aquel gran patio (que se puede llamar plaça) los ciñe vna culebra labrada en la misma piedra de las paredes, que termina la cola por debaxo de la cabeça, y tiene toda ella en circuito quatrocientos pies.’ Jones, Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 93, accounts for the superiority of the sculpture on the court façades by supposing that it was executed at a later date; its protection from the weather would also tend to its better preservation.

[V-48] Although Zavala says, speaking of the Uxmal ruins in general: ‘Celles qui forment l’arête à partir de laquelle les plans des murs convergent pour déterminer la voûte prismatique dont j’ai déjà parlé, sont taillées en forme de coude dont l’angle est obtus.’ Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 34. ‘In the rear of, and within a few feet of the eastern range, are the remains of a similar range, which is now almost in total ruins. There appear to have been connecting walls, or walks, from this range to the Pyramid near by, as I judged from the rubbish and stones that can be traced from one to the other.’ Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 162. Cuts from Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 311, 430; one of them reproduced in Baldwin’s Anc. Amer.

[V-49] So say Stephens’ text and plan, Viollet-le-Duc, and Charnay’s plan; but Stephens’ views, except that in Cent. Amer., Charnay’s photographs, and Waldeck’s plan and drawings, do not indicate an oval form. I am inclined to believe that the corners are simply rounded somewhat more than in the other Uxmal structures, and that the oval form indicated in the plan is not correct.

[V-50] M. Viollet-le-Duc says it is ‘entièrement composé d’un blocage de maçonnerie revêtu de gros moellons parementés,’ in Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 70.

[V-51] Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 193. ‘La subida principal está á la parte del oriente y se practica por medio de una grada, que á la altura referida, guarda, segun mi cálculo, el muy escaso declive de treinta pies á lo mas: esta circunstancia, como se deja entender, la hace en extremo pendiente y peligrosa. Si no me engaño, la grada á que me refiero, tiene de 95 á 100 escaloncitos de piedra labrada, pero tan angostos, que apénas pueden recibir la mitad del pié: la cubren muchos troncos de árboles, espinos, y, lo que es peor, una multitud de yerba, resbaladiza.’ The author, however, climbed the stairway barefooted. L. G., in Registro de Yuc., tom. i., p. 278. ‘Les côtés de la pyramide sont tellement lisses qu’on ne peut y monter même à l’aide des arbres et des broussailles qui poussent dans les interstices des pierres.’ Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 95. The eastern slope 70°, and the western 80°. Heller, Reisen, p. 256. Stairway has 180 steps, each 12 to 15 centimetres wide and high. Zavala, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 33. 100 steps, each 5 inches wide. Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 71. 100 steps, each 6 inches wide. Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 163. About 130 steps, 8 or 9 inches high. Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 421.

[V-52] ‘Une espèce de petite chapelle en contre-bas tournée à l’ouest; ce petit morceau est fouillé comme un bijou; une inscription parait avoir été gravée, formant ceinture au-dessus de la porte.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 368. ‘Loaded with ornaments more rich, elaborate, and carefully executed, than those of any other edifice in Uxmal.’ Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., p. 313.

[V-53] In the matter of dimensions, the Casa del Adivino presents the same variations as the other structures—Stephens, Yucatan, being the authority followed. Waldeck makes the platform 45 by 91 feet 8 inches, and the building 81 feet 8 inches by 14 feet 8 inches. Zavala calls the building 8 metres square. According to Norman the pyramid measures 500 feet at the base, and is 100 feet high, the platform being 21 by 72 feet, and the building 12 by 60, and 20 feet high. Charnay pronounces the pyramid 75 to 80 feet high. Stephens, Cent. Amer., vol. ii., pp. 421-2, gives the dimensions as follows: Pyramid, 120 by 240 feet at base; platform, 4½ feet wide outside the building; building, 68 feet long; rooms, 9 feet wide, 18, 18, and 34 feet long. Friederichsthal’s dimensions: Pyramid, 120 by 192 feet and 25½ feet high; platform, 23⅓ by 89 feet; building, 12 by 73 feet, and 19¼ feet high. Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 307. Heller’s dimensions: Pyramid, 135 by 225 feet, and 105 feet high; platform, 20 by 70 feet; building, 12 by 60 feet, and 20 feet high.

[V-54] ‘Il est à remarquer que le pénis des statues était en érection, et que toutes ces figures étaient plus particulièrement mutilées dans cette partie du corps.’ Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 95-6. Plate xi. shows the statue and accompanying portion of the wall. ‘The emblems of life and death appear on the wall in close juxtaposition, confirming the belief in the existence of that worship practiced by the Egyptians, and all other eastern nations, and before referred to as prevalent among the people of Uxmal.’ Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., p. 314. ‘The western façade is ornamented with human figures similar to caryatides, finely sculptured in stone with great art.’ Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 164. It is astonishing how easy the meaning of these sculptures may be deciphered when the right person undertakes the task. For instance: ‘The translation of the above Sculpture seems as easy as if a Daniel had already read the handwriting on the wall! as thus—The human figure, in full life and maturity, together with the sex, presents mortality; over the figure the cross-bones are placed, portraying the figure’s earthly death; while the skull supported by expanding wings (and this Sculpture being placed above those of life and death,) presents the immortal Soul ascending on the wings of Time, above all earthly life, or the corruption of the grave!’ Jones’ Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 103.

[V-55] Stephens, Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 312, 316, gives views of the east and west fronts, the former of which I have inserted in my description; and in Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 420, a view from the south, which is copied in Armin, Das Heutige Mex., p. 92, which last authority also gives what seems to be a restoration of the pyramid from Waldeck. Waldeck’s plates, ix., x., xi., relate to this structure; plate ix. is a view from a point above the whole and directly over the centre, including a ground plan of the summit building; plate x. is the western elevation of the pyramid and building with the eastern elevation of the latter; and plate xi. is a view of one of the statues as already mentioned. Charnay’s photograph 35 gives a western view of the whole, which is also included in photograph 38; it is to be noted that his plan places the Casa del Adivino considerably south of the Nunnery. Norman, Rambles in Yuc., p. 162, gives an altogether imaginary view of the pyramid and building, perhaps intended for the western front. ‘La base de la colline factice est revêtue d’un parement vertical avec une frise dans laquelle on retrouve l’imitation des rondins de bois, surmontés d’une sorte de balustrade presque entièrement détruite.’ Viollet-le-Duc, in Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 70. On the east front of the building are ‘deux portes carrées et deux petits pavillons couverts d’une espèce de toit reposant sur des pilastres.’ ‘Tel est ce monument, chef-d’œuvre d’art et d’élégance. Si j’étais arrivé un an plus tard à Uxmal, je n’aurais pas pu en donner un dessin complet; le centre avait été dégradé par suite de l’extraction de quelques pierres nécessaires à la solidité de cette partie de l’édifice.’ Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 96. Yet if the structure was as perfect and his examination as complete as he claims, it is very strange, to say the least, that he did not discover the apartments in the western projections. Zavala, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 33, says that the interior walls of this building are plastered. Stephens, Charnay, and Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 578-88, give the tradition of the Dwarf, which gives this temple one of its names. ‘The construction of these ornaments is not less peculiar and striking than the general effect. There were no tablets or single stones, each representing separately and by itself an entire subject; but every ornament or combination is made up of separate stones, on each of which part of the subject was carved, and which was then set in its place in the wall.’ ‘Perhaps it may, with propriety, be called a species of sculptured mosaic.’ Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 422.

[V-56] Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., p. 122, with plate showing front of one building.

[V-57] On Xcoch and Nohpat see Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 348-58, 362-8, with cut of the pyramid, beside those given in the text. Cut of former ruin reproduced in Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., pp. 144-5. ‘Una infinita multitud de edificios enteramente arruinados, esparcidos sobre toda la extension del terreno que puede abrazar la vista. Esta como cadena de ruinas que desde Uxmal se prolonga con direccion al S.E. por mas de 4 millas, induce á creer que es la continuacion de esa inmensa ciudad.’ ‘Muchos edificios colosales enteramente arruinados, que, aunque compartidos casi del mismo modo que en Uxmal, indican, sin embargo, mayor antigüedad; porque siendo construidos con iguales materias, y con no menor solidez, las injurias del tiempo son mas evidentes sobre cuantos objetos se presentan á la vista. Aún se nota la configuracion y trazo de las rámpas, átrios y plazas, donde andan, como diseminados en grupos, restos de altares, multitud de piedras escuadradas talladas en medios relievos representando calaveras y canillas, trozos de columnas, y cornizas y estátuas caprichosas ó simbólicas.’ This visitor describes most of the monuments mentioned by Stephens. The picote, or phallus, together with a sculptured head, he brought away with him. M. F. P., in Registro Yuc., tom. i., pp. 365-7.

[V-58] ‘The cornice running over the doorways, tried by the severest rules of art recognised among us, would embellish the architecture of any known era, and amid a mass of barbarism, of rude and uncouth conceptions, it stands as an offering by American builders worthy of the acceptance of a polished people.’ Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 387-95, with plates of the whole front, an enlarged portion of the same, and the interior of the room mentioned. Norman, Rambles in Yuc., p. 149, devotes a few lines to this building, but furnishes no details.

[V-59] The front is as usual decorated with sculpture, but it is much fallen. Plate showing the front in Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., p. 397.

[V-60] Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 398-400, with cuts of the Casa de Justicia and of the Arch; the latter being also in Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., p. 139.

[V-61] Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 386-7, 402-14, with cuts and plates. Norman, Rambles in Yuc., pp. 148-9, thus describes these sculptured jambs, which he found where Stephens left them placed against the walls of the room: ‘They are about six feet high and two wide; the front facings of which are deeply cut, representing a caçique, or other dignitary, in full dress, (apparently a rich Indian costume,) with a profusion of feathers in his head-dress. He is represented with his arms uplifted, holding a whip; a boy before him in a kneeling position, with his hands extended in supplication; underneath are hieroglyphics. The room is small, with the ceiling slightly curved.’

[V-62] Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., p. 321; Baril, Mexique, p. 129; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 144. ‘Autour de cette grande ville (Uxmal), dans un rayon de plusieurs lieues, l’œil admirait les cités puissantes de Nohcacab, de Chetulul, de Kabah, de Tanchi, de Bokal et plus tard de Nohpat, dont les nobles omules se découpaient dans l’azur foncé du ciel, comme autant de fleurons dans la couronne d’Uxmal.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 21.

[V-63] Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 30-8, 41-6, 124-6.

[V-64] Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 16-28, with two plates in addition to the cuts I have given. Armin, Das Heutige Mex., pp. 79-80, with two cuts, from Stephens. ‘The summits of the neighboring hills are capped with gray broken walls for many miles around.’ Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., pp. 150-3, with view of front, copied in Democratic Review, vol. xi., pp. 536-7; Frost’s Pict. Hist. Mex., pp. 78-9; and Id., Great Cities, pp. 291-5.

[V-65] Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 40-65, with plates. The cut given in the text is also given by Baldwin, Anc. Amer., as a frontispiece. Willson’s Amer. Hist., p. 86.

[V-66] Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 72-8, with two plates, and cut of painting. Willson’s Amer. Hist., pp. 86-7.

[V-67] Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 83-4, 87-94.

[V-68] Id., vol. ii., pp. 235-43.

[V-69] Un Curioso, in Registro Yuc., tom. i., pp. 207-8, 351.

[V-70] Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 249, 258-61, 130-5, with four plates illustrating the ruins of Chunhuhu. At Mani ‘a pillory of a conical shape, built of stones, and to the southward rises a very ancient palace.’ Soza, in Rio’s Description, p. 7. ‘On voit encore près de Mani les restes d’un édifice construit sur une colline. On appelle cette ruine le temple de las monjas del fuego.’ Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 48.

[V-71] Authorities on Chichen Itza. Landa, Relacion, pp. 340-7,—Landa describing the ruins from personal observation, having been bishop of Mérida for several years, and died in the country in 1579; Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 300, 302, 304-6,—this author having visited Chichen in 1840, directed thereto by the advice of Mr Stephens, who had heard rumors of the existence of extensive remains; Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 282-324,—whose visit was from March 11 to 29, 1842, and whose description, as usual, is much more complete than that of other explorers; Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., pp. 104-28,—the corresponding survey having lasted from February 10 to 14, 1842; Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 339-46, phot. 26-34,—from an exploration in 1858. Thomas Lopez Medel is also mentioned in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., pp. 38, 43, as having visited Chichen by authority of the Guatemalan government. Other authors who publish accounts of Chichen, made up from the works of the preceding actual explorers, are as follows: Armin, Das Heutige Mex., pp. 80-3; Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., pp. 140-4; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 15; Frost’s Great Cities, pp. 282-91; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 186, 193; Willson’s Amer. Hist., pp. 79-82; Davis’ Antiq. Amer., p. 6; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 144; Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 179, cut; Democratic Review, vol. xi., pp. 534-6; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 174; Schott, in Smithsonian Rept., 1871, pp. 423-4.

[V-72] Plan from Stephens. The only other plan is that given by Norman, which, in distances and the arrangement of the buildings with respect to each other, presents not the slightest similarity with the probably accurate drawings of Stephens and Catherwood. ‘The ruins of Chichen lie on a hacienda, called by the name of the ancient city.’ ‘The first stranger who ever visited them was a native of New-York,’ Mr John Burke. First brought to the notice of the world by Friederichsthal. ‘The plan is made from bearings taken with the compass, and the distances were all measured with a line. The buildings are laid down on the plan according to their exterior form. All now standing are comprehended, and the whole circumference occupied by them is about two miles … though ruined buildings appear beyond these limits.’ ‘In all the buildings, from some cause not easily accounted for, while one varies ten degrees one way, that immediately adjoining varies twelve or thirteen degrees in another;’ still the plan shows no such arrangement. Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 282-3, 290, 312. The modern church ‘entièrement composée de pierres enlevées aux temples et aux palais dont j’allais étudier les ruines.’ The proprietor ‘me proposa la cession de sa propriété et des ruines pour la somme de deux mille piastres.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 336, 344-5. ‘A city which, I hazard little in saying, must have been one of the largest the world has ever seen. I beheld before me, for a circuit of many miles in diameter, the walls of palaces and temples and pyramids, more or less dilapidated.’ ‘No marks of human footsteps, no signs of previous visitors, were discernible; nor is there good reason to believe that any person, whose testimony of the fact has been given to the world, had ever before broken the silence which reigns over these sacred tombs of a departed civilization.’ Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., pp. 108-9. Thirty-three leagues from Valladolid, and twenty-five from Mérida. ‘Une grotte offre, à une profondeur de 52 pieds, un petit étang d’eau douce, auquel on descend par des degrés taillés dans le roc, et se prolongeant au-dessous de la surface de l’eau.’ Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 304-6.

[V-73] ‘Le bijou de Chichen pour la richesse des sculptures.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 342. ‘The most strange and incomprehensible pile of architecture that my eyes ever beheld—elaborate, elegant, stupendous.’ Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 119. Norman calls the building House of the Caciques.

[V-74] ‘L’édifice appelé la casa de las Monjas (la maison des nonnes) est long de 157 pieds, large de 86, haut de 47. Dans la partie inférieure, il n’y a pas de trace d’ouverture. L’étage supérieur a des chambres nombreuses; les linteaux des portes sont ornés d’hiéroglyphes.’ Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 305. ‘La porte (east front), surmontée de l’inscription du palais, possède en outre une ornementation de clochetons de pierre qui rappellent, comme ceux des coins de plusieurs édifices, la manière chinoise ou japonaise. Au-dessus, se trouve un magnifique médaillon représentant un chef la tête ceinte d’un diadème de plumes; quant à la vaste frise qui entoure le palais, elle est composée d’une foule de têtes énormes représentant des idoles, dont le nez est lui-même enrichi d’une figure parfaitement dessinée. Ces têtes sont séparées par des panneaux de mosaïque en croix, assez communs dans le Yucatan.’ ‘Le développement du palais et de la pyramide est d’environ soixante-quinze mètres.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 342-3. Photograph 30 shows the eastern front, and 29 the northern, of the wing; 26 the north side of the building a; 27 the eastern, and 28 the southern front of the Iglesia, b. ‘La façade (eastern) est même d’un beau caractère, et la composition de la porte avec le bas-relief qui la surmonte est pleine d’une grandeur sauvage, d’un effet saisissant. Mieux traités que dans les exemples précédents, l’appareil des parements est plus régulier, et il présente cette particularité très-remarquable, qu’il s’accorde exactement avec la décoration.’ Viollet-le-Duc, in Id., p. 60. East wing 32 by 50 feet, and 20 feet high. ‘Over the door-way … is a heavy lintel of stone, containing two double rows of hieroglyphics, with a sculptured ornament intervening. Above these are the remains of hooks carved in stone, with raised lines of drapery running through them … over which, surrounded by a variety of chaste and beautifully executed borders, encircled within a wreath, is a female figure in a sitting posture, in basso-relievo, having a head-dress of feathers, cords, and tassels, and the neck ornamented.’ Building a, 10×35×20 feet; building b, 13×22×36 feet. Main platform 75×100 feet. ‘On the eastern end of these rooms (in 1st story over the solid basement) is a hall running transversely, four feet wide … one side of which is filled with a variety of sculptured work, principally rosettes and borders, with rows of small pilasters; having three square recesses.’ Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., pp. 169-73, with view of eastern front of wing, and of north front of the whole structure. ‘Over the doorway (eastern front) are twenty small cartouches of hieroglyphics in four rows, five in a row.’ Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., p. 293, with plates of eastern front, northern front, and the Iglesia.

[V-75] Akab-Tzib and not Akatzeeb, as Stephens spells it. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 12; Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 291-2, with plate of front and of the sculptured lintel. ‘Those (rooms) fronting the south are the most remarkable, the inner doorways having each a stone lintel of an unusually large size, measuring thirty-two inches wide, forty-eight long, and twelve deep; having on its inner side a sculptured figure of an Indian in full dress, with cap and feathers, sitting upon a cushioned seat, finely worked; having before him a vase containing flowers, with his right hand extended over it, his left resting upon the side of the cushion—the whole bordered with hieroglyphics. The front part of this lintel contains two rows of hieroglyphics. 43×150×20 feet, walls 3 feet thick. Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., pp. 123-4. ‘Un énorme bâtiment près des Nonnes, mais totalemente dénué de sculptures.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 344.

[V-76] Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 311-17, with plates of north front of the castle and its pyramid, and the interior of the room, besides the cut of the monsters’ heads given in my text. Bishop Landa gives a description probably intended for this edifice and even gives a plan of it. His account, except in mentioning four stairways, agrees very well with that of later visitors, and is as follows: ‘This edifice has four stairways facing the four parts of the world; they are 33 feet wide, each having 91 steps, very difficult of ascent. The steps have the same height and width as ours. Each stairway has two low balustrades, two feet wide, of good stonework like all the building. The edifice is not sharp-cornered, because from the ground upward between the balustrades the cubic blocks are rounded, ascending by degrees and elegantly narrowing the building. There was, when I saw it, at the foot of each balustrade a fierce serpent’s mouth very strangely worked. Above the stairways there is on the summit a small level platform in which is an edifice of four rooms. Three of them extend round without interruption, each having a door in the middle and being covered with an arch. The northern room is of peculiar form, and has a corridor of great pillars. The middle one, which must have been a kind of little court between the rooms, has a door which leads to the northern corridor and is closed with wood at the top, and served for burning perfumes. In the entrance of this door or corridor is a kind of coat of arms sculptured in stone, which I could not well understand.’ Landa, Relacion, pp. 342-4. 550 feet in circumference at the base, its sides facing the cardinal points. ‘The angles and sides were beautifully laid with stones of an immense size, gradually lessening, as the work approached the summit.’ Stairways on north and east 30 feet wide and narrowing toward the top. The south and west slopes also mount in steps, each four feet high. Monsters’ heads at foot of eastern stairway. Slope 100 feet; building 42 feet square; stone door-jambs have holes drilled through their inner angles; interior walls are plastered and painted with figures now very dim; roof perfectly flat and covered with soil. This author in his whole description evidently confounds the north with the east front. Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., pp. 115-17, with view of pyramid. Charnay’s phot. 32 gives a view of the Chateau. 120 feet high, 159 feet square at base; platform 60 feet square; 80 steps in the stairway. Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 304.

[V-77] ‘Tenia delante la escalera del corte (of the castle) algo aparte dos teatros de canteria pequeños de a quatro escaleras, y enlosados por arriba en que dizen representavan las farsas y comedias para solaz del pueblo.’ Landa, Relacion, p. 344.

[V-78] Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 303-11. Plates giving a general view of the Gymnasium, the front of the building on the eastern wall, and the painted and sculptured figures. ‘Le monument se composait autrefois de deux pyramides perpendiculaires et parallèles, d’un développement de cent dix mètres environ, avec plate-forme disposée pour les spectateurs. Aux extrémités deux petits édifices semblables, sur une esplanade de six mêtres de hauteur, devaient servir aux juges, ou d’habitation aux guardiens du gymnase.’ Of the two chambers on the eastern wall, ‘la seconde, entière aujourd’hui, est couverte de peintures. Ce sont des guerriers et des prêtres, quelques-uns avec barbe noire et drapés dans de vastes tuniques, la tête ornée de coiffures diverses. Les couleurs employées sont le noir, le jaune, le rouge, et le blanc…. Dans le bas et en dehors du monument se trouve la salle dont nous donnons les bas-reliefs, qui sont certainement ce qu’il y a de plus curieux à Chichen-Itza. Toutes les figures en bas-relief, sculptées sur les murailles de cette salle, ont conservé le type de la race indienne existante.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 140-1. Phot. 33 and 34 show the sculptured procession of tigers and that of human figures, of which I have given a portion in my text. ‘On observera que les joints des pierres ne sont pas coupés conformément à l’habitude des constructeurs d’appareils, mais que les pierres, ne formant pas liaison, présentent plusieurs joints les uns au-dessus des autres, et ne tiennent que par l’adhérence des mortiers, qui les réunit au blocage intérieur. Par le fait, ces parements ne sont autre chose qu’une décoration, un revêtement collé devant un massif.’ Viollet-le-Duc, in Id., pp. 48-9. Walls stand on foundations about 16 feet high; columns two feet in diameter; walls 250×16×26 feet and 130 feet apart; building of southern wall (eastern, Norman having completely lost his reckoning at Chichen in the points of the compass) 24 feet high; rings two feet thick; line of rubbish in form of a curve connecting main and end walls (c and d). General view of the Temple and cut of the ring. Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., pp. 111-15. Walls 262×18×27 feet. Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 305.

[V-79] Cuts from Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 300-1. Terrace 55 by 62 feet; stairway 20 feet wide; building 23 by 43. Ib. ‘Foundations of about twenty feet in height, which were surrounded and sustained by well-cemented walls of hewn stone with curved angles’ 240 feet in circumference. Building 21 by 40 feet. ‘Across these halls were beams of wood, creased as if they had been worn by hammock-ropes.’ Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., pp. 124-5. Foundation only two mètres high, but photograph 31 shows this to be an error. Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 344. ‘Deux petits temples (E and D), ayant leur façade au sud et à l’est; le vestibule du premier est orné d’hiéroglyphes.’ Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 305.

[V-80] Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 298-300, with view of the building. This author is at fault so far as dimensions are concerned, since 4 and 5 feet, the width of the corridors, and 3¾ feet, half the diameter of the solid central mass, exceed 11 feet, half the diameter of the whole building, to say nothing of the two walls. ‘Bâti en manière de mur à limaçon.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 344. Top of first terrace, 30 feet high, 125 feet square; second terrace 50 feet square and 12 feet high; on this terrace is a pyramidical square 50 feet high, divided into rooms; on the centre of this square is the Dome—’three conic structures, one within the other, a space of six feet intervening; each cone communicating with the others by doorways, the inner one forming the shaft. At the height of about ten feet, the cones are united by means of transoms of zuporte. Around these cones are evidences of spiral stairs, leading to the summit.’ It is clear that either Stephens’ description or that of Norman is very incorrect. Norman compares this Dome to a ‘Greenan Temple’ in Donegal, Ireland. Rambles in Yuc., pp. 118-19, with a cut which agrees with Stephens’ cut and text. Tower 50 feet high, 36 feet in diameter; surrounding wall 756 feet in circumference and twenty-five feet high. Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 305.

[V-81] Four hundred and eighty bases of overthrown columns. ‘Des colonnades qui, bien que d’une construction lourde, surprennent par leur étendue.’ Friederichsthal, loc. cit., pp. 302, 300; Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 317-18, and view.

[V-82] ‘Had the Spaniards selected this for the site of their city of Valladolid, a few leagues distant, it is highly probable that not a vestige of the ancient edifices would now be seen.’ Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 174. ‘Lieu qui offre beaucoup l’apparence d’une ville sainte.’ Friederichsthal, loc. cit., p. 300. Dr Arthur Schott discourses, in the Smithsonian Rept., 1871, pp. 423-5, on a face, or mask, of ‘semiagatized xyolite, still bearing the marks of silicified coniferous wood, a fossil probably foreign to the soil of the peninsula.’ It was found at Chichen, and the Doctor thinks it may have some deep mythologic meaning, which he generously leaves to some other ethnologist to decipher. Norman, Rambles in Yuc., p. 127, states that the hewn blocks of stone at Chichen are uniformly 12 by 6 inches. M. Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 47, speaks of a reported silver collar bearing an inscription in Greek, Hebrew, and Phœnician letters, found in the ‘grottes cristallines de Chixhen.’ But even this enthusiastic antiquarian looks at this report with much distrust.

[V-83] Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 144; Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 87; Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 340-4.

[V-84] Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 272-85; Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., pp. 146-7; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 22, 70, 73, 102-3, 111; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., p. 103; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 144.

[V-85] Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 130-9, with cuts; Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., pp. 127-9, with cuts. Near the village of Telchaquillo. Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 144. Surrounded by a ditch that can be traced for three miles. Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 194-5. ‘Se dice que Mayapan … estaba murada, pero fué demolida hasta sus cimientos, y únicamente los grandes montones de piedras indican que fué una gran poblacion.’ Un Curioso, in Registro Yuc., tom. i., p. 206.

[V-86] ‘Los españoles poblaron aqui una ciudad, y llamaronla Mérida, por la estrañeza y grandeza de los edificios.’ As to the size of the pyramid mentioned it is ‘mas de dos carreras de caballo’—that is twice as far as a horse can run without taking breath—in extent. The cement is made with the juice of the bark of a certain tree, ‘El primero edificio de los quatro quartos nos dio el adelantado Montejo a nosotros hecho un monte aspero, limpiamosle y emos hecho en el con su propria piedra un razonable monesterio todo de piedra y una buena yglesia que llamamos la Madre de Dios.’ Landa, Relacion, pp. 330-8, with cut. ‘Entre aquel cerro, y otro como èl hecho à mano, que està à la parte Oriental de la Ciudad; se determinò fuesse fundada, y eran tan grandes, que con la piedra que auia en el que estaban, se obraron quantos edificios ay en la Ciudad, con que quedò todo el sitio llano, que es la Plaça mayor oy, y sus quadras en contorno, y con la del de la parte Oriental, se edifico nuestro Conuento por caerle cercano, despues se han hecho muchas casas, y todo el Conuento, y Iglesia de la Mejorada, que tambien es nuestro, y tiene material para otros muy muchos.’ Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 138. ‘Auia junto adonde està aora la Plaça entre otros cerros, vno que llamaban el grande de los Kues, adoratorio que era de Idolos lleno de arboleda.’ Id., p. 149. Tihoo was built by the Tutul-Xius, and had a celebrated temple to Baklum-Chaam, the Maya Priapus. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 8-9. ‘En el pátio del convento de S. Francisco está una cruz…. En la huerta del mismo convento se ven aun algunas piedras curiosamente labradas con cotas y morreones á la antigua romana, y púnica.’ Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. ii., p. 112. The buildings were ‘construits en pierres de taille fort grandes. On ignore qui les a bâtis; il paraît que ce fut avant la naissance de Jésus-Christ, car il y avait au-dessus des arbres aussi gros que ceux qui croissaient au pied. Ces bâtiments ont cinq toises de hauteur, et sont construits en pierres sèches; au sommet de ces édifices sont quatre appartements divisés en cellules comme celles des moines; ils ont vingt pieds de long et dix de large; les jambages des portes sont d’un seul morceau, et le haut est voûté.’ Bienvenida, Lettre, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., pp. 310-11. ‘In different parts of the city are the remains of Indian buildings.’ Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 398. Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 259, says that Mérida is built on the ruins of Mayapan. Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 465, confounds Mérida with the ruins farther south, mentioned by Padre Soza. See mention in Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., pp. 45-8; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 23, 55-6; Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 37; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 174; Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 243-4; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 269; Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 94-8.

[V-87] Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., p. 440-4, vol. i., p. 127, with plate; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 144. ‘Les monuments les plus anciens, dont les restes sont composés d’énormes blocs de pierres brutes, posés quelquefois les uns sur les autres, sans aucun ciment qui les unisse. Tels sont les édifices d’un lieu voisin de l’hacienda d’Aké, située à 27 milles à l’est-sud-est de Mérida.’ Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 300.

[V-88] Stephens speaks of the ‘sternness and harshness of expression’ of the cara gigantesca. ‘A stone one foot six inches long protrudes from the chin, intended, perhaps, for burning copal on, as a sort of altar.’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 434-6, with plate. ‘Les alentours sont parsemés de pyramides artificielles, et deux, entre autres, sont les plus considérables de la péninsule.’ M. Charnay finds fault with Catherwood for representing the colossal head as in a desert with a raging tiger and savages armed with bows and arrows in the foreground. ‘A force de vouloir faire de la couleur locale, on fausse l’histoire, et on déroute la science.’ He pronounces the face ‘d’un genre cyclopéen. Ce sont de vastes entailles, espèces de modelages en ciment.’ Ruines Amér., pp. 319-22, phot. 23-5. ‘C’est une sorte de gros blocage dont les moellons, posés avec art par le sculpteur au milieu d’un mortier très-dur, ont formé les joues, la bouche, le nez, les yeux. Cette tête colossale est réellement une bâtisse enduite.’ ‘Les traits sont beaux, la bouche est bien faite, les yeux grands sans être saillants, le front, couvert d’un ornement, ne semble point fuyant. Cette tête était peinte comme toute l’architecture mexicaine.’ Viollet-le-Duc, in Id., pp. 46-7. Dr Schott pronounces Mr Stephens’ description unsatisfactory, especially his calling the face harsh and stern in expression. The features are feminine in their cast, and of the narrow rather than of the broad type. ‘The whole face exhibits a very remarkable regularity and conforms strictly to the universally accepted principles of beauty.’ ‘The head-dress in the shape of a mitre is encircled just above the forehead by a band, which is fastened in front by a triple locket or tassel.’ This author identities the face as that of Itzamatul, the semi-divine founder of Izamal, and explains the signification of each particular feature. His treatise is perhaps as intelligible and rational as most speculation on such topics, but it is to be noted that the Dr founds his conclusions on Clavigero’s description of the Toltecs! It would be hard to prove that the cara gigantesca does not represent this particular hero, and that the large ears are not emblems of wisdom. Dr Schott pronounces it ‘hazardous’ to attempt to connect this face with any other than Itzamatul, and I prefer to run no risks. Smithsonian Rept., 1869, pp. 389-93. Norman, Rambles in Yuc., p. 79, speaks of a well on the platform of one of the pyramids. ‘Dans ses flancs, la colline sacrée recélait de vastes appartements, des galeries et un temple souterrain, destinés, dit-on, aux mystères de la religion et à servir de nécropole aux cadavres des prêtres et des princes.’ The grave of Zamná was here, and his followers erected the pyramid. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 79. History of the pyramids, see Id., tom. ii., pp. 47-8. ‘On trouva dans un édifice en démolition une grande urne à trois anses, recouverte d’ornements argentés extérieurement, au fond duquel il y avait des cendres provenant d’un corps brûlé, parmi lesquelles nous trouvâmes des objets d’art en pierre.’ ‘Statues en demi-bosse, modelées en ciment que je dis se trouver dans les contreforts, et qui sont d’hommes de haute taille.’ Landa, Relacion, pp. 326-30, with plan. ‘Ay en este pueblo de Ytzamal cinco cuyos ó cerros muy altos, todos levantados de piedra seca, con sus fuerças y reparos, que ayudan á levantar la piedra en alto, y no se ven edificios enteros oy, mas los señales y vestigios están patentes en uno dellos de la parte de mediodia.’ One altar was in honor of their king or false god Ytzmat-ul, and had on it the figure of a hand, being called Kab-ul, or ‘working hand.’ Another mound and temple in the northern part of the city, the highest now standing, was called Kinich-Kakmó, or ‘sun with fiery rayed face.’ Another, on which the convent is founded, is Ppapp-Hol-Chac, ‘house of heads and lightnings.’ Another in the south called Hunpictok, ‘captain with an army of 8000 flints.’ Lizana, Devocionario, 1663, in Landa, Relacion, pp. 348-64.

[V-89] Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 137-232, with plates and cuts; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 144; Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., pp. 101, 146-7; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 20-3.

[V-90] On these east coast buildings seen by Córdova, Grijalva, and Cortés, see Diaz, Itinéraire, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., pp. 5-9; and in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 282-6; Cortés, Vida, in Id., p. 339; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., pp. 497, 505-7; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 352; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. iii., cap. i.; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 22-4; Id., Hist. Ind., fol. 60; Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. iii.; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 4; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 41; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 181; Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 241-4; Folsom, in Cortés, Despatches, p. 20.

[V-91] Voy. Pitt., p. 102.

[V-92] Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 387-409, with plates and cuts.

[V-93] ‘They founde auncient towers there, and the ruines of such as hadde beene broken downe and destroyed, seeming very auncient: but one aboue the rest, whereto they ascended by 18 steppes or staires, as they ascende to famous, and renowned temples.’ Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. iii. Grijalva found a tower ‘xviii gradi de altura et tutta massiza al pede et tenia a torno clxxx piedi, et incima de essa era una torre piccola la quale era de statura de homini doi uno sopra laltro.’ Diaz, Itinerario, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 284, 287. See also the authorities referred to in note 89. Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 362-80, with cut; Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., p. 321; Gondra, in Album Mex., tom. i., p. 239; Mayer’s Mex., Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 169; Baril, Mexique, p. 129; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 145.

[V-94] Córdova found here in 1517 ‘torres de piedra con grados y capillas cubiertas de madera y paja en que por gentil orden estauan puestos muchos idolos, que parecian mugeres.’ Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 60; Cortés, Vida, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 339; Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 415-17, with plate.

[V-95] Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 102. ‘Une ville entière offre ses ruines aux investigations des archéologues.’ Baril, Mexique, p. 129; Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., p. 321.

[V-96] Dampier’s Voyages, vol. ii., pt. ii., pp. 10-11; Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., p. 418.

[V-97] ‘Tout près du rio Lagarto se voient deux pyramides, au sommet desquelles croissent maintenant des arbres élevés et touffus.’ Baril, Mexique, p. 129; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 102.

[V-98] Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 427-30, with plate.

[V-99] Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 189, 199-220; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 144.

[V-100] ‘The whole of Campeachy rests upon a subterraneous cavern of the ancient Mayas. It is now difficult to ascertain whether these quarries or galleries, which, according to the traditions of the country, are understood to be immense, served for the abode of the people who executed the work. Nothing reveals the marks of man’s sojournings here; not even the traces of smoke upon the vaults were visible. It is more probable that the greater part of this excavation was used as a depository for their dead. This supposition has been strengthened by the discovery of many openings of seven feet deep by twenty inches in breadth, dug horizontally in the walls of the caverns. These excavations, however, are few; and the galleries have been but little investigated and less understood.’ Mr Norman sent some of the skeletons discovered here to Dr Morton, who pronounced them to present many of the characteristics of the natives at the present time. Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., pp. 211-18, with plates. Sr Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex. (Mex. 1846) tom. iii., pp. 95-8, pl. xviii., gives engravings of four of these idols in Norman’s collection, erroneously stating that they are from Stephens’ work. ‘I have seen some of his (Norman’s) remarkable antiquities, as Penates, hieroglyphics,’ etc. Davis’ Antiq. Amer., p. 12. The above notice, given by Mr Norman is an almost literal translation of Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 10; as is also the account by I. R. Gondra, in Album Mex., tom. i., p. 162. Mention of the Champoton ruins in Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 102; Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., p. 321; Baril, Mexique, p. 128. Córdova in 1517 saw at Campeche ‘vn torrejoncillo de piedra quadrado y gradado, en lo alto del qual estaua vn ydolo con dos fieros animales alas hijadas, como que lo comian. Y vna sierpe de quarenta y siete pies larga, y gorda quanto vn buey, hecha de piedra como el ydolo.’ Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 61. ‘On ne rencontre ni dans l’île de Carmen ni sur les bords de la Lagune aucun tumulus, aucune ruine, aucun vestige enfin de l’industrie des temps passés.’ Description of the Camacho collection in Campeche, consisting of ‘figurines et des vases d’argile portant encore des traces de peinture et de vernis, des instruments de musique, de menus objets de parure, des haches, des fers de lance en silex ou en obsidienne.’ Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 226, 167-8. The Camacho Museum contains ‘Una numerosa colleccion de ídolos de barro y piedra…. Una urna cineraria que contiene los restos de un hombre…. Una coleccion de vasos, jarros, cántaros y fuentes de piedra y barro, adornados, muchos de ellos, con geroglíficos y con pinturas vivas, frescas y bien conservadas. Una colleccion de lanzas, flechas, dardos y demas instrumentos de guerra…. Casi todos estos instrumentos son de pedernal. Otra coleccion de flautas y otros instrumentos músicos, de barro. Otra id. de zarcillos, cuentas y adornos de piedra…. Otra id. de lozas sepulcrales…. Una multitud de fragmentos arquitectónicos.’ Registro Yuc., tom. i., pp. 373-4. ‘Le canton qui s’étend de la côte de la lagune de Jerm, vers le nord-est, offre sur-tout une suite presque continue de monticules et de villes, jusqu’au point où il atteint le sanctuaire de l’île de Cozumel.’ Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 299-300. ‘Une foule de ruines d’une grande importance.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 67.

[V-101] Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 193; Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 341, 122, vol. i., p. 415; Landa, Relacion, pp. 344, 330; Lizana, in Id., p. 358; Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 321-2; Registro Yuc., tom. i., p. 366.

[V-102] ‘La piedra margosa de que están formados tales edificios, es ademas generalmente considerada como un material muy inferior para la construccion.’ Friederichsthal, in Dicc. Univ., tom. x., p. 292. The blocks ‘ont une transparence troublée comme celle du gypse. Il est probable … que c’est du véritable carbonate calcaire.’ Zavala, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 34. ‘A soft coralline limestone of a comparatively recent geological formation, probably of the Tertiary period.’ Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 398.

[V-103] ‘La poca mezcla que se advierte en ellos, es fina, tersa y tan compacta por su particular beneficio, que tomada entre los dedos una pastilla, cuyo grueso es poco mayor que el de un peso fuerte, da sumo trabajo quebrantarla.’ L. G., in Registro Yuc., tom. i., p. 277. ‘Ces mortiers sont faits avec une chaux hydraulique presque pure, et ont une si complète adhérence, soit dans les massifs, soit même lorsqu’ils sont appliqués comme enduits, comme à Palenqué, qu’à peine si le marteau peut les entamer.’ Viollet-le-Duc, in Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 59-60.

[V-104] Jones says ‘The term “triangular Arch” cannot be admitted by the language of Architecture; he (Mr Stephens) might as well have written triangular semicircle, terms distinctly opposed to each other.’ Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 100. ‘Los techos, sin variacion alguna entre sí, representan una figura ojiva, muy conocida de los árabes, y repetidamente citada por el recomendable Victor Hugo en su obra de Nuestra Sra. de Paris.’ L. G., in Registro Yuc., tom. i., p. 277. ‘On dit en espagnol de boveda, qui n’exprime aucunement cette architecture toute particulière; boveda veut dire voûte, et ces intérieurs n’y ressemblent nullement; ce sont deux murs parallèles jusqu’à une hauteur de trois mètres, obliquant alors l’un vers l’autre, et terminés par une dalle de trente centimètres.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 342-3.

[V-105] Friederichsthal erroneously says the wooden lintels are always sculptured, and that each room has air-holes above the cornice, both square and round, from 3 to 5 inches in diameter. Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., p. 311.

[V-106] Mr Jones believes that the ornaments on the Maya façades must have been sculptured after the stones in a rough state had been put in place, and not before, as Mr Stephens thinks. Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 92. The following is Mr Waldeck’s not very clear explanation of the mode of decorating these façades. ‘Voulaient-ils couvrir une façade d’ornements ou de figures symboliques, ils commençaient par peindre la muraille toute entière de la couleur qu’ils avaient choisie; presque toujours c’était le rouge qui formait le fond…. Cette première opération terminée, on posait sur le mur peint la marqueterie en pierre qui devait servir d’ornement et on la badigeonnait avec plus de soin que le fond. Le bleu était employé dans ce travail.’ Voy. Pitt., pp. 72-3. ‘In the Mayan delineations of the human countenance the contracted facial angle is as remarkable as in the paintings of the Aztecs.’ Prichard’s Researches, vol. v., p. 346. See Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 302. ‘On retrouve chez quelques-uns de ces Indiens les traits bien accentués de la race au front fuyant et au nez busqué, qui construisit les palais d’Uxmal, de Palenque, et de Chichen-Itza. Je fus frappé de cette analogie, quoique la similitude soit loin d’être parfaite, les artistes nationaux ayant exagéré vraisemblablement certains caractères qui constituaient alors l’idéal de la beauté.’ Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 147.

[V-107] Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 212-13.

[V-108] ‘Depuis le cap Catoche jusqu’au pied de la Cordillère centrale, analogie frappante dans le caractère, l’ensemble et les proportions des diverses parties des ouvrages.’ ‘Quant à l’impression que fait éprouver l’examen de l’architecture de tous ces édifices, je dois ajouter que les idées fines de l’artiste ont évidemment été exécutées d’une manière qui ne les rend nullement.’ ‘Toutefois on rencontre, notamment à Uxmal, des preuves suffisantes qu’ils étaient parvenus à plus de dextérité dans quelques-unes de leurs sculptures. On reconnaît leur addresse à représenter les formes humaines, dans les idoles et les figures en argile…. Ces ouvrages sont supérieurs, sous tous les rapports de l’art, à tout ce que cette nation a produit.’ Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1841, tom. xcii., pp. 303, 312. ‘Esa bella y elegante arquitectura, esos soberbios é imponentes adornos, superiores á todo lo que hasta hoy ha podido verse y concebirse.’ ‘Ruinas soberbias, que agobian la imaginacion y oprimen el entendimiento.’ Id., in Dicc. Univ., tom. x., p. 291. ‘The splendid temples and palaces still standing attest the power of the priests and of the nobles; no trace remains of the huts in which dwelt the mass of the nation.’ Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 174. Uxmal ‘the American Palmyra.’ Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 144. ‘El primer golpe de vista de su conjunto, es grandioso, es imponente. Examinandolos luego en detall, causa admiracion el distinto órden de arquitectura que se nota en cada edificio, la elegancia caprichosa de sus formas, la abundancia y riqueza del material que interior y exteriormente es todo de piedra de sillería, el lujo prodigioso de los adornos variados hasta lo infinito de un modo raro, original y nunca visto, y la perfeccion y maestría con que todo ha sido ejecutado.’ ‘Nótase en Uxmal … la infancia del arte en punto á estatuaria.’ M. F. P., in Registro Yuc., tom. i., pp. 363, 365. ‘En somme, les ruines d’Uxmal nous paraissent être la dernière expression de la civilisation américaine; nulle part un tel assemblage de ruines, maisons particulières, temples et palais.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 374. ‘La arquitectura de Uxmal brillante en su perspectiva, es complicada y simétrica en sus dibujos, robusta en sus cimientos y terraplenes, simbólica en sus geroglíficos y figuras humanas … y bastante delicada en sus cornizas y molduras.’ L. G., in Registro Yuc., tom. i., p. 277. ‘The sculpture at Uxmal is not only as fine, but distinctly of a Grecian character.’ Jones’ Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 107. ‘Plusieurs de ces constructions ne laissent rien à désirer au point de vue du bon goût et des règles de l’art.’ Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 193. M. Viollet-le-Duc’s conclusions and speculations are mostly directed to prove that the builders were of mixed race, white and yellow, Aryan and Turanian. He supports his theory by a study of the faces among the sculptured decorations, and by pointing out in the buildings traditions of structures in wood, and also the use of mortar, the use of wood and mortar being peculiar, as he claims, to different races. Charnay, Ruines Amér., introd. ‘These antiquities show that this section of the continent was anciently occupied by a people admirably skilled in the arts of masonry, building, and architectural decoration.’ Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., p. 101. ‘The builders of the ruins of the city of Chi-Chen and Uxmal excelled in the mechanic and fine arts. It is obvious that they were a cultivated, and doubtless a very numerous people.’ Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 175. ‘Ohne Zweifel zu den herrlichsten Amerikas gehören.—Welch riesenhafte Bauten für eine Nation, die alles mit steinernen Instrumenten arbeitete!’ Heller, Reisen, p. 260.

[V-109] Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 93-9, 140, 274, 322-5, 413, vol. ii., pp. 264-73, 306, 343, 406.

[V-110] ‘Dilato la fundacion de Uxmal á 150 ó 200 años ántes del de 1535, en que tuvo efecto la conquista del pais por los españoles.’ L. G., in Registro Yuc., tom. i., p. 276. ‘Aunque el mar de conjeturas que las cubre sea muy ancho, y de libre navegacion para todo el mundo, creo, sin embargo, que lo ménos ridículo y mas acertado es no engolfarse en él.’ M. F. P., in Id., p. 363. Cogolludo found in the Casa del Adivino at Uxmal traces of recent sacrificial offerings. Hist. Yuc., p. 193. ‘Fassen wir nun diess alles zusammmen, so haben wir in den Ruinen Uxmals echte Denkmäler tultekischer Kunst von einem Alter von ungefähr 800 Jahren.’ Heller, Reisen, p. 264. ‘Elles paraissent, en majeure partie, appartenir à l’architecture toltèque et dater d’au moins mille ans.’ Baril, Mexique, p. 128,. Friederichsthal, in Registro Yuc., tom. ii., pp. 437-43, and many others regard the Yucatan and other Central American ruins as the work of the Toltecs. See vol. ii., cap. ii., and vol. v. of this work on this point. Uxmal generally regarded as having been founded by Ahcuitok Tutul-Xiu between 870 and 894 A. D. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 22. Chichen seems older than the other ruins. The Maya MS. places its discovery between 360 and 432 A. D. Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., p. 323. ‘Uxmal is placed by us as the last built of all the Ancient Cities as yet discovered on the Western Continent.’ Jones’ Hist. Anc. Amer., pp. 104, 101. ‘Evidently the city of Chi-Chen was an antiquity when the foundations of the Parthenon at Athens, and the Cloaca Maxima at Rome, were being laid.’ The ruins of Yucatan ‘belong to the remotest antiquity. Their age is not to be measured by hundreds, but by thousands of years.’ Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., pp. 177-8. See Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 71, 97-8; Prescott’s Mex., vol. iii., pp. 412-13; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 398.

Chapter VI • Antiquities of Tabasco and Chiapas, Ruins of Palenque • 25,100 Words

Geographical Limits—Physical Geography—No Relics in Tabasco—Ruins of Palenque—Exploration and Bibliography—Name; Nachan, Culhuacan, Otolum, Xibalba—Extent, Location, and Plan—The Palace—The Pyramidal Structure—Walls, Corridors, and Courts—Stucco Bas-Reliefs—Tower—Interior Buildings—Sculptured Tablet—Subterranean Galleries—Temple of the Three Tablets—Temple of the Beau Relief—Temple of the Cross—Statue—Temple of the Sun—Miscellaneous Ruins and Relics—Ruins of Ococingo—Winged Globe—Wooden Lintel—Terraced Pyramid—Miscellaneous Ruins of Chiapas—Custepeques, Xiquipilas, Laguna Mora, Copanabastla, and Zitalá—Huehuetan—San Cristóval—Remains on the Usumacinta—Comparison between Palenque and the Cities of Yucatan—Antiquity of Palenque—Conclusion.

No Relics in Tabasco

The next step, as antiquarian investigation is pushed westward along the continental line, will lead us from the boundaries of Guatemala and Yucatan to the isthmus of Tehuantepec. The included territory, constituting the geographical basis of the present chapter, stretches on the Atlantic shore from the Laguna de Terminos to Laguna de Santa Ana, about one hundred and fifty miles, and on the Pacific a somewhat less distance from the bar of Ayutla to the bar of Tonalá The northern and smaller portion—all in the low and flat tierra caliente—is comprised in the state of Tabasco, with a part of El Carmen, a province belonging politically, I believe, to Yucatan; while in the south—a high and mountainous region, except a very narrow strip along the Pacific border—we have the state of Chiapas, with its south-eastern province of Soconusco, to the political possession of which Guatemala, no less than her neighbor, has always laid claim. Tabasco and Chiapas, like Yucatan, are states of the Mexican Republic, although they are situated in what it is more convenient to term Central America, and in a region treated in a preceding volume of this work as a part of the Maya territory. This chapter will consequently complete the description of southern, or Maya, antiquities, and bring us to the study of Nahua monuments in the north.

Tabasco, a part of the aboriginal Anáhuac Xicalanco, extends inland seventy-five miles on an average throughout its whole length. It is for the most part a low marshy plain—the American tierra caliente par excellence—of the usual tropical fertility, covered with an exuberant growth, but extremely unhealthy to all but natives, except while the winter winds render the navigation of the coast waters dangerous. This tract is traversed by two large rivers, flowing from the hilly country farther inland, the Tabasco and Usumacinta, under several different names, communicating with each other by many branches, and pouring, or rather creeping, into the gulf through many mouths. In the annual season of inundation from June to October, the whole country is involved in a labyrinth of streams and sloughs, and travel by land becomes impossible. The luxuriant tropical vegetation includes a variety of valuable dye-woods, the export of which constitutes the leading industry of the few towns located on the banks of the larger streams. On the immediate coast some large towns and temples were seen by the early voyagers, but I have no information that relics of any kind have been discovered in modern times. It is true that no careful explorations have been made, but the character of the country is not promising, so far as ruined cities and other architectural monuments are concerned. Indeed, it is not improbable that a large part of this region was covered by a body of water similar to the Laguna de Terminos, at a time when the great aboriginal Central American cities, now far inland, were founded. Moreover, as state boundaries are not very accurately laid down in the maps, and as the location of relics by travelers is in many cases vague, it is quite possible that some of the few miscellaneous monuments which I shall describe in this chapter, are really within the limits of Tabasco instead of Chiapas.

As we go southward from the gulf coast, and reach the boundary of Chiapas the face of the country changes rapidly from marshy flat to undulating hills of gradually increasing height toward the Pacific, retaining all the wonderful fertility and density of tropical forest growth without the pestilential malaria and oppressive heat of the plain below. Here is an earthly paradise, the charms of which have been enjoyed with enthusiastic delight by the few lovers of nature who have penetrated its solitudes.[VI-1]The physical features and natural beauties of this region are perhaps more vividly and eloquently described by the French traveler Morelet than by any other visitor. Voyage, tom. i., pp. 245-85; Travels, pp. 65-111. M. Morelet visited Palenque from the Laguna de Terminos, passing up the Usumacinta and its branches, while other visitors approached for the most part from the opposite direction. He gives, moreover, much closer attention to nature in its varied aspects than to artificial monuments of the past. ‘L’esprit est frappé par le rêve biblique de l’Éden, et l’œil cherche vainement l’Ève et l’Adam de ce jardin des merveilles: nul être humain n’y planta sa tente; sept lieues durant ces perspectives délicieuses se succèdent, sept lieues de ces magnifiques solitudes que bornent de trois côtés les horizons bleus de la Cordillère.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 412. ‘La nature toujours prodigue de ses dons, dans ce climat enchanteur, lui assurait en profusion, avec une éternelle fertilité, et une salubrité éprouvée durant une longue suite de siècles, tout ce qu’un sol fécond, sous un ciel admirable, peut fournir spontanément de productions nécessaires à l’entretien et au repos de la vie.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 82.

Exploration of Palenque

Bibliography of Palenque

The natural advantages of this region seem to have been fully appreciated by aboriginal Americans, for here they reared the temples and palaces of one of their grandest cities, or religious centres, which as a ruin under the name of Palenque has become famous throughout the world, as it was doubtless throughout America in the days of its pristine glory many centuries ago. Built on the heights just mentioned, which may be appropriately termed foothills of the lofty sierras beyond, its high places afforded a broad view over the forest-covered plain below to the waters of the gulf. A detailed account of the explorations by which the ruins of this city have been brought to light, and of the numerous books and reports resulting from such explorations, is given in the appended note.[VI-2]In 1746, while Padre Antonio de Solis was temporarily residing at Santo Domingo, a part of his curacy, the ruins were accidentally found by his nephews; although Stephens, Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 294, gives a report without naming his authority—probably Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. i., p. v., or Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 18., where the date is given as the middle of the century—which he does not credit, that they were found by a party of Spaniards in 1750. From one of the nephews, Ramon Ordoñez, then a schoolboy at San Cristóval, first heard of the ruins in which he took so deep an interest in later years. In 1773 Ordoñez sent his brother with one Gutierrez de la Torre and others to make explorations, and from their report wrote an account—probably the Memoria relativa à las ruinas de la Ciudad descubierta en las inmediaciones del pueblo de Palenque, a MS. in Brasseur’s collection, (Bib. Mex. Guat., p. 113,) from which these facts were gathered—which was forwarded in 1784 to Estacheria, President of the Guatemalan Audiencia Real. President Estacheria, by an order dated Nov. 28, 1784,—Expediente sobre el descubrimiento de una gran ciudad, etc., MS., in the Archives of the Royal Hist. Acad. of Madrid,—instructed José Antonio Calderon, Lieut. Alcalde Mayor of Santo Domingo, to make further explorations. Calderon’s report,—Informe de D. J. A. Calderon, etc., translated in substance in Brasseur, Palenqué, Introd., pp. 5-7,—is dated Dec. 15, 1764, so that the survey must have been very actively pushed, to bring to light as was claimed, over 200 ruined edifices in so short a time. Some drawings accompanied this report, but they have never been published. In Jan. 1785 Antonio Bernasconi, royal architect in Guatemala, was ordered to continue the survey, which he did between Feb. 25 and June 13, when he handed in his report, accompanied by drawings never published so far as I know. Bernasconi’s report with all those preceding it was sent to Spain, and from the information thus given, J. B. Muñoz, Royal Historiographer, made a report on American antiquities by order of the king.

In accordance with a royal cedula of March 15, 1786, Antonio del Rio was ordered by Estacheria to complete the investigations. With the aid of seventy-nine natives Del Rio proceeded to fall the trees and to clear the site of the ancient city by a general conflagration. His examination lasted from May 18 to June 2, and his report with many drawings was sent to Spain. Copies were, however, retained in Guatemala and Mexico, and one of these copies was in Brasseur’s collection under the title of Descripcion del terreno y poblacion antigua, etc. Another copy was found, part in Guatemala and the rest in Mexico, by a Dr M’Quy. It was taken to England, translated, and published by Henry Berthoud, together with a commentary by Paul Felix Cabrera, entitled Teatro Crítico Americano, all under the general title of Description of an Ancient City, etc., London, 1822. The work was illustrated with eighteen lithographic plates, by M. Fréd. Waldeck, ostensibly from Del Rio’s drawings; but it is elsewhere stated, Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. i., p. vi., that Del Rio’s drawings did not accompany the work at all. If this be true, the published plates must probably have been taken from the Latour-Allard copies of Castañeda’s drawings, of which I shall speak presently, and indeed a comparison with Kingsborough’s plates shows almost conclusively that such was in some cases at least their origin. Humboldt speaks of the Latour-Allard plate of the cross as differing entirely from that of Del Rio. This difference does not appear in my copies. It is possible that the plates in my copy of Del Rio’s work, the only one I have ever seen, are not the ones which originally appeared with the book. A French translation by M. Warden was published by the Société de Géographie, with a part of the plates; and a German translation by J. H. von Minutoli, with an additional commentary by the translator, appeared in Berlin, 1832, as Beschreibung einer alten Stadt, etc. This contained the plates, together with many additional ones illustrating Mexican antiquities from various sources. The German editor says that the whole English edition, except two copies of proof-sheets, was destroyed; but this would seem an error, since the work is often referred to by different writers, and the price paid for the copy consulted by me does not indicate great rarity. Stephens, Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 296, speaks of this as ‘the first notice in Europe of the discovery of these ruins,’—incorrectly, unless we understand printed notice, and even then it must be noticed that Juarros, Hist. Guat., 1808-18, pp. 18-19, gave a brief account of Palenque. Del Rio, in Brasseur’s opinion, was neither artist nor architect, and his exploration was less complete than those of Calderon and Bernasconi, whose reports he probably saw, notwithstanding the greater force at his disposal. ‘Sin embargo de sus distinguidas circunstancias, carecia de noticias historiales para lo que pedia la materia, y de actividad para lograr un perfecto descubrimiento.’ Registro Yuc., tom. i., p. 320. The original Spanish of Del Rio’s report, dated June 24, 1787 (?),—Informe dado par D. Antonio del Rio al brigadier D. José Estacheria, etc.—was published in 1855, in the Diccionario Univ. de Geog. etc., tom. viii., pp. 528-33. See also an extract from the same in Mosaico Mex., tom. ii., pp. 330-4. In Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 76, it is stated that Julio Garrido wrote a work on Palenque about 1805, which was not published. That is all I know of it.

From 1805 to 1808 Capt. Guillaume Dupaix, in company with Luciano Castañeda, draughtsman, and a company of Mexican soldiers, by order of Carlos IV., King of Spain, made three expeditions to explore the antiquities of southern Mexico. Dupaix’s MS. report, and 145 drawings by Castañeda, were deposited in the Mexican archives to be sent to Spain; but the revolution breaking out soon after, they were for some years forgotten. Copies of most of the drawings were obtained by M. Latour-Allard of Paris, passed through the hands of Humboldt, who did not publish them, and later into English hands. They were engraved in London, 1823, without any accompanying explanation, and M. Warden reproduced a part of them in a memoire to the French Geographical Society. These are certainly the plates in my copy of Del Rio, and I have but little doubt that they are the only ones that ever accompanied his published work. Bullock, Six Months’ Residence in Mex., p. 330, says he copied Castañeda’s drawings in Mexico, 1823, but he published none of them. In 1831, copies of the Latour-Allard copies, made by the artist Aglio, were published by Lord Kingsborough, in vol. iv. of his Mexican Antiquities, together with the Spanish text of Dupaix’s report, obtained from I know not what source, in vol. v., and a carelessly made English translation of the same in vol. vi. of the same work. In 1828, the original text and drawings were delivered by the Mexican authorities to M. Baradère—at least Sr Icaza, curator of the Mexican Museum, certified them to be the originals; but Sr Gondra, afterwards curator of the same institution, assured Brasseur that these also were only copies,—and were published—the text in Spanish and French—in 1843, in Antiquités Mexicaines. The faithfulness with which the descriptions and drawings of Dupaix and Castañeda were made, has never been called in question; but Castañeda was not a very skilful artist, as is admitted by M. Farcy in his introduction to Antiq. Mex., and many of his faults of perspective were corrected in the plates of that work. M. Farcy states that all previous copies of the plates were very faulty, including those of Kingsborough, although Humboldt, in a letter to M. Latour-Allard, testifies to the accuracy of the latter. A comparison of the two sets of plates shows much difference in the details of a few of them, and those of the official edition are doubtless superior. The French editors, while criticising Kingsborough’s plates more severely, as it seems, than they deserve, say nothing whatever of his text; yet both in the Spanish and translation it varies widely from the other, showing numerous omissions and not a few evident blunders. Stephens, seconded by Brasseur, objects to the slighting tone with which Dupaix’s editors speak of Del Rio’s report; also to their claim that only by government aid can such explorations be carried on. M. Waldeck says, Palenqué, p. vii., that he tried to prevent the publication of the plates in Kingsborough’s work on account of their inaccuracy, although how he could at that date pretend to be a judge in the matter does not appear. It is true that Castañeda’s drawings are not equal to those of Waldeck and Stephens, but they nevertheless give an excellent idea of the general features of all ruins visited. Morelet says of Dupaix’s report: ‘Ce document est encore aujourd’hui le plus curieux et le plus intéressant que nous possédons sur les ruines de Palenque.’ Voyage, tom. i., p. 268; Travels, p. 90. It was during the third expedition, begun in December, 1807, that Dupaix visited Palenque with a force of natives. His survey lasted several months. The results may be found as follows: Dupaix, 3ème expéd., in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. i., pp. 13-36, tom. iii., pl. xi.-xlvi., with an explanation by M. Lenoir, tom. ii., div. i., pp. 73-81; Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 294-339, vol. vi., pp. 473-83, vol. iv., pl. xii.-xlv. To economize space I shall refer to these works by the simple names of Dupaix, and Kingsborough, with the number of page or plate; and I shall, moreover, refer directly to Kingsborough only when differences may appear in text or plates.

Dr F. Corroy, a French physician of Tabasco, lived 20 years in the country and made several visits to Palenque, claiming to know more about the ruins than anyone else. An inscription on one of the entrances of the Palace, shown in Waldeck, pl. ix., reads ‘François Corroy de tercer viage en estas ruinas los dias 25 de Agosto. Unico historiador de hellos. Con su Esposa y Ija.’ He furnished some information from 1829 to 1832 to the French Geographical Society, and speaks of 14 drawings and a MS. history in his possession. Soc. Géog., Bulletin, tom. ix., No. 60, 1828, p. 198; Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 76. Col. Juan Galindo, at one time connected with the British Central American service, also Governor of Peten, and corresponding member of the London Geographical Society, sent much information, with maps, plans, and sketches to the French Société de Géographie. His letter dated April 27, 1831, describing the Palenque ruins, is printed in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., pp. 67-72, also an English translation in the Literary Gazette, No. 769, London, 1831, which was reprinted in the Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. iii., pp. 60-2. Lafond, Voyages, tom. i., p. 142, states that Nebel visited Palenque, and Müller, Urreligionen, p. 459-60, also implies that this traveler explored the ruins; but this is probably erroneous.

On April 12, 1832, M. Fréderic de Waldeck, the most indefatigable and successful explorer of Palenque, arrived at the ruined city, illustrative plates of which he had engraved ten years before for Del Rio’s work. This veteran artist—64 years of age at that time, according to Brasseur’s statement, Palenqué, p. vi., but 67 if we may credit the current report in the newspapers that he celebrated his 109th birthday in Paris on Dec. 7, 1874, being still hale and hearty—built a cabin among the ruins and spent two whole years in their examination,—Brasseur, Palenqué, p. vi., incorrectly says three years. ‘Deux ans de séjour sur les lieux,’ Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 68, translated ‘in a sojourn of twelve years,’ Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., p. 86,—his expenses being paid by a subscription which was headed by the Mexican Government. More than 200 drawings in water and oil colors were the result of his labors, and these drawings, more fortunate than those made the next year in Yucatan—see p. 145 of this volume—escaped confiscation, although Stephens erroneously states the contrary, and were brought to France. Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. vi. For various reasons Waldeck was unable to publish his proposed work, and over 30 years elapsed before the result of his labors was made public, except through communications dated Aug. 28, and Nov. 1, 1832, sent to the Geographical Society at Paris. Lafond, Voyages, tom. i., p. 142. I shall speak again of his work. Mr Friederichsthal visited Palenque in his Central American travels before 1841, but neither his text nor plates, so far as I know, have ever been published. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Palenqué, introd., p. 14. See pp. 146-7 of this vol.

In 1840, Messrs Stephens and Catherwood, after their exploration of the antiquities of Honduras and Guatemala, reached Palenque on May 9, remaining until June 4. Such are the dates given by Brasseur,—the only antiquarian except myself who has ever had the hardihood to explore Stephens’ writings for dates,—but the actual examination of the ruins lasted only from May 11 to June 1. The results are found in Stephens’ Yuc., vol. ii., pp. 280-365, with 31 plates and cuts from Catherwood’s drawings; and in Catherwood’s Views of Anc. Mon., N. York, 1844, 25 colored lithographs, with text by Mr Stephens. A French translation of Stephens’ description of Palenque is given in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Palenqué, pp. 14-27. Respecting the ability of these explorers, and the faithfulness of their text and drawings, there can be but one opinion. Their work in Chiapas is excelled only by that of the same gentlemen in Yucatan.—See p. 146 of this vol.—Without aid from any government, they accomplished in 20 days, at the height of the rainy season, the most unfavorable for such work, more satisfactory results, as Stephens justly claims, Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 299, than any of their predecessors—except Waldeck, whose drawings had not then been published.

An anonymous account of the ruins appeared in 1845 in the Registro Yucateco, tom. i., pp. 318-22. M. Morelet, of whom I have already spoken, spent a fortnight here in 1846. Voyages, tom. i., pp. 264-84; Travels, pp. 64-111, with cuts from other sources. In 1858, M. Désiré Charnay, ‘Chargé d’une mission par le ministre d’État, à l’effet d’explorer les ruines américaines,’ visited Palenque; but his photographic efforts were less successful here than elsewhere, and of the four views published in his Atlas, only one, that of the tablet of the cross, is of great value in testing the accuracy of preceding artists. His description, however, is interesting and valuable as showing the effects of time on the ruins since Stephens’ visit. Charnay, Ruines Amér., Paris, 1863, pp. 411-41, phot. 19-22; Remarks by M. Viollet-le-Duc, pp. 72-3.

In 1860, a commission appointed by the French government examined and reported upon Waldeck’s collection, which was found to contain ninety-one drawings relating exclusively to Palenque, and ninety-seven representing objects from other localities. The Palenque drawings were reported to be far superior to any others in existence, a somewhat too decided penchant aux restaurations being the only defect;—a defect, however, which is to a greater or less extent observable in the works of all antiquarians, several of Catherwood’s plates being confessedly restorations. In accordance with the report of the commission, the whole collection was purchased, and a sub-commission appointed to select a portion of the plates for publication. It was decided, however, to substitute for M. Waldeck’s proposed text some introductory matter to be written by the Abbé Brasseur, a man eminently qualified for the task, although at the time he had never personally visited Palenque. He afterwards, however, passed a part of the month of January, 1871, among the ruins. The work finally appeared in 1866, under the general title Monuments Anciens du Mexique, in large folio, with complicated sub-titles. It is made up as follows:—I. Avant Propos, pp. i.-xxiii., containing a brief notice of some of the writers on American Antiquities, and a complete account of the circumstances which led to the publication of this work; II. Introduction aux Ruines de Palenqué, pp. 1-27, a historical sketch of explorations, with translations of different reports, including that of Stephens nearly in full; III. Recherches sur les Ruines, etc., pp. 29-83, being for the most part speculations on the origin of American civilization, with which I have nothing to do at present; IV. Description des Ruines, etc., by M. Waldeck, pp. i.-viii; V. Fifty-six large lithographic plates, of which Nos. i., v.-xlii., and l., relate to Palenque, including a fine map of Yucatan and Chiapas. I shall refer to the plates simply by the name Waldeck and the number of the plate. By the preceding list of contents it will be seen that this is by far the most important and complete work on the subject ever published. The publishers probably acted wisely in rejecting Waldeck’s text as a whole, since his archæological speculations are always more or less absurd; but it would have been better to give his descriptive matter more in full; and fault may be justly found with the confused arrangement of the matter, the constant references to numbers not found in the plates, and with the absence of scales of measurement; the latter, although generally useless in the illustrations of an octavo volume, are always valuable in larger plates. In addition to the preceding standard authorities on Palenque, there are brief accounts, made up from one or more of those mentioned, and which I shall have little or no occasion to refer to in my description, as follows: Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., pp. 104-11; Priest’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 246-7; Conder’s Mex. Guat., vol. ii., pp. 157-69; McCulloh’s Researches in Amer., pp. 294-303; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 160-3; Armin, Das Heutige Mex., pp. 73, 85-91; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 148; Nott and Gliddon’s Indig. Races, pp. 184-5; D’Orbigny, Voyage, pp. 354, 356, plate, restoration from Dupaix; Fossey, Mexique, pp. 373, 564-6; same account in Escalera and Llana, Mej. Hist. Descrip., pp. 332-6; Lafond, Voyages, tom. i., pp. 139-44; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 86-9; Democratic Review, vol. i., p. 38; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 82-94; Davis’ Anc. Amer., pp. 4-8; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., pp. 464-5; Frost’s Pict. Hist., pp. 71-7; Willson’s Amer. Hist., pp. 74-6; Jones’ Hist. Anc. Amer., pp. 69-86, 127; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 462, 498; Mosaico Mex., tom. ii., p. 330, cut, restoration from Dupaix; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., p. 21; Revista Mex., tom. i., p. 498; Buschmann, Ortsnamen, pp. 117-20, 181; Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 180, cut, erroneously said to be a Yucatan altar; Littera, Taschenbuch der Deutschen, in Russland, pp. 54-5; Foreign Quar. Review, vol. xviii., pp. 250-51; Larenaudière, Mex. Guat., pp. 308-20, with plates from Stephens; Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., pp. 284-92. About the year 1564 a Dominican missionary, with a few Tzendal natives who had been converted to the true faith by his labors in their behalf, chose what he deemed a suitable location for future evangelical efforts, and founded the little town of Santo Domingo del Palenque, some seventy miles north-east of San Cristóval, the state capital, on a tributary of the Usumacinta, not over twenty miles, perhaps less, from the head of navigation for canoes. Nearly two centuries later a group of magnificent ruins, whose existence had been before utterly unknown, at least to any but natives, was accidentally discovered only a few leagues from the town in the midst of a dense forest. Since their discovery in the middle of the eighteenth century the ruins have been several times carefully explored both by public and private enterprise, and all their prominent features have been clearly brought to the knowledge of the world by means of illustrative plates and descriptive text. Waldeck and Stephens are the best and most complete authorities, but the reports of Antonio del Rio, Guillaume Dupaix, Juan Galindo, and Désiré Charnay afford also much valuable information, especially in connection with the two standard authorities mentioned. After a most careful study of all that has been written on the subject, I shall endeavor to give the reader a clear idea of ruined structures which have given rise to more faithful investigation and absurd speculation than any others on the continent.

Name of the Ancient City

The aboriginal name of the city represented by this group of ruins is absolutely unknown. Palenque, the name by which it is known, is, as we have seen, simply that of a modern village near by. The word palenqueis of Spanish origin and means a stockade or enclosure of palisades. How it came to be applied to the village of Santo Domingo is not explained, but there is not the slightest reason to suppose that it has any connection with the ruins.[VI-3]‘Une enceinte de bois et de pallisades.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Palenqué, p. 32; see also the Spanish dictionaries. ‘Tal vez es corrupcion de la palabra (aztec) palanqui, cosa podrida,’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 84. ‘Means lists for fighting.’ Davis’ Anc. Amer., p. 5. I remember also to have seen it stated somewhere that palenque is the name applied to the poles by which boatmen propel their boats on the waters of the tierra caliente. Sr Ordoñez, already mentioned, applies in his unpublished writings the name Nachan, ‘city of the Serpents,’ the same as the Aztec Culhuacan, to Palenque, but so far as can be known, without any authority whatever. This name has been adopted without question by several writers, and it is quite common to read of “the ruins of Culhuacan, improperly termed Palenque.”[VI-4]Humboldt, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., tom. xxxv., p. 327; Fossey, Mexique, p. 373; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 464; Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 19; D’Orbigny, Voyage, p. 354; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 69. Brasseur, however, changed his mind about the name in later works. Palenqué, p. 32. Domenech, Deserts, vol. i., p. 18, calls the name Pachan, probably by a typographical error. The old traditions of the primitive times when Votan’s great empire flourished, apply the name Xibalba not only to the empire but to a great city which was its capital. Palenque, as the greatest city of ancient times in this region which has left traces of its existence, may have been identical with Xibalba; the difficulty of disproving the identity is equaled only by that of proving it.[VI-5]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 111; Id., Popol Vuh, and Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., passim. The natives, here as elsewhere, have often applied to the city a name which simply indicates its ruined condition, calling it Otolum, ‘place of falling stones,’ a name also borne by the small stream on which the buildings stand. Waldeck writes it Ototiun, ‘stone house,’ which he derives from the native words otote and tinnich. Stephens calls the stream Otula. If there were any good reasons for abandoning the designation Palenque, and there certainly are none, Otolum would perhaps be the most appropriate name to take its place.[VI-6]‘Je prouve, en effet, dans mon ouvrage sur ces célèbres ruines, que ce sont les débris de la ville d’Ototiun.’ Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 111. ‘Otolum, c’est à dire Terre des pierres qui s’écroulent. C’est le nom de la petite rivière qui traverse les ruines. M. Waldeck, lisant ce nom de travers, en fait Ototiun, qui ne signifie rien.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 69. ‘I have restored to them the true name of Otolum, which is yet the name of the stream running through the ruins.’ Raffinesque, quoted in Priest’s Amer. Antiq., p. 246. The name Xhembobel-Moyos, from that of another modern village of this region, seems sometimes to have been used by the natives in connection with Palenque; and in a Tzendal manuscript the name Ghocan, ‘sculptured serpent,’ is said to be used in the same connection; while one author, drawing heavily on his imagination, speaks of the “immense city of Culhuacan or Huehuetlapallan,” thus identifying Palenque with the famous city whence the Toltecs started in their traditional migration to Anáhuac.[VI-7]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Palenqué, p. 32; Baril, Mexique, p. 27. By the Spanish inhabitants and most of the native population of Santo Domingo, the ruins are commonly spoken of as the Casas de Piedra.

Location of the Ruins

The structures that have attracted the attention of and been described by all the successive explorers, are generally the same, and in their descriptions less exaggeration is found in the earlier reports than might naturally be expected. In extent, however, the city has gradually dwindled in the successive reports from two hundred buildings stretching over a space of twenty miles, to less than the area of a modern town of humble pretensions. A few scattered mounds or fragments in the surrounding country, which very probably exist, but which have escaped the attention of modern travelers, eager to investigate the more wonderful central structures, are probably the only basis of the statements by the first explorers. The earlier visitors doubtless counted each isolated fragment of hewn stone, or other trace of the antiguos’ work, as representing an aboriginal edifice.[VI-8]Calderon gives a list of 206 buildings more or less in ruins. Bernasconi gives the city a circumference of 6 leagues and 1000 varas. Del Rio, Descrip., p. 4, gives the ruins an extent of 7 or 8 leagues from east to west, along the foot of a mountain range, but speaks of only 14 buildings in which traces of rooms were yet visible. According to Galindo the city extends 20 miles on the summit of the chain. Lond. Geog. Soc., vol. iii., p. 60. Waldeck, p. iii., says that the area is less than one square league. Mr Stephens, vol. ii., p. 355, pronounces the site not larger than the Park in New York city. Doubtless the condition of Palenque has changed materially for the worse since its discovery. The rapidity with which structures of solid stone are destroyed by the growth of a tropical forest, when once the roots have gained a hold, is noted with surprise by every traveler. In the work of destruction, moreover, nature has not been unaided by man, and few visitors have been content to depart without some relic broken from the walls. Del Rio, if we may credit his own words, seems to have attempted a wholesale destruction of the city; he says: “By dint of perseverance I effected all that was necessary to be done, so that ultimately there remained neither a window nor a doorway blocked up, a partition that was not thrown down, nor a room, corridor, court, tower, nor subterranean passage in which excavations were not effected from two to three varas in depth.”[VI-9]Descrip., p. 3.

Palenque,—for I shall hereafter apply this name exclusively to the ruins,—is situated about six or seven miles[VI-10]Stephens says eight miles, vol. ii., p. 287; Dupaix, a little over two leagues, p. 14; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 245, two and a half leagues—Travels, p. 64, two leagues; Charnay, p. 416, twelve kilometres. The maps represent the distance as somewhat less than eight miles. south-west of Santo Domingo, and some sixty-five miles north-east of San Cristóval. The topography of the region is not definitely marked out on the maps, and the nomenclature of the streams and mountains is hopelessly confused; but many parallel streams flow north-westward from the hills, and unite to form a branch of the Usumacinta sometimes called the Tulija. The Otolum on which the ruins stand seems to be a tributary from the north of one of the parallel streams. The location is consequently in a small valley high in the foothills, through which runs a mountain stream of small size during the dry season, but becoming a torrent when swollen by the rains.[VI-11]‘Built on the slope of the hills at the entrance of the steep mountains of the chain of Tumbala,’ on the Otolum, which flows into the Michol, and that into the Catasahà, or Chacamal, and that into the Usumacinta three or four leagues from Las Playas, which was formerly the shore of the great lake that covered the plain. ‘Les rues suivaient irrégulièrement le cours des ruisseaux qui en descendant, fournissaient en abondance de l’eau à toutes les habitations.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 82-84. ‘Mide al suroeste del pueblo dos leguas largas de extension.’ Dupaix, p. 14, translated in Kingsborough, vol. vi., p. 473, ‘occupied a space of ground seven miles and a half in extent.’ ‘Au nord-ouest du village indien de Santo Domingo de Palenqué, dans la ci-devant province de Tzendales.’ Humboldt, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., tom. xxxv., pp. 327-8. Galindo, Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 69, describes the location as on the summit of the range, and reached by stairways from the valley below. On a plain eight leagues long, which extends along the foot of the highest mountain chain. Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., p. 21. Petrifactions of marine shells from the ruins preserved in the Mexican Museum. Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., p. 6.

The present extent of the ruins, their distribution, and their relative size are shown in the accompanying plan, taken with slight changes to be mentioned in their proper place, from Waldeck.[VI-12]Waldeck, pl. vi. Stephens’ plan, vol. ii., p. 337, agrees in the main with this but is much less complete. Dupaix, p. 18, found only confused and scattered ruins, and declared it impossible to make a correct plan. The structures that have been described or definitely located by any author are numbered on the plan, the unnumbered ones being heaps of ruins whose existence is mentioned by all, and the exact location of which M. Waldeck in his long stay was able to fix. It will be seen that the buildings all face the cardinal points with a very slight variation. So thick is the forest on the site and over the very buildings that no one of the latter can be seen from its neighbor or from the adjoining hills. M. Morelet, on one occasion, lost his bearings in the immediate vicinity, and although he did not perhaps go a half-mile from the ruins, yet he had the greatest difficulty in returning, and coming from a contrary direction thought at first he had discovered new monuments of antiquity. When the trees are cut down, as they have been several times, only a few years are necessary to restore the forest to its original density, and each explorer has to begin anew the work of clearing.[VI-13]‘Tous les monuments de Palenqué sont orientés aux quatre points cardinaux, avec une variation de 12°.’ Waldeck, p. iii. ‘Orienté comme toutes les ruines que nous avons visitées.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 424. Others, without having made any accurate observations, speak of them as facing the cardinal points. See Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 276, etc., for the experience of that traveler in getting lost near the ruins.

Plan of Palenque

I begin with the largest of the structures, marked 1 on the plan, and commonly known as the Palace, although of course nothing is known of its original use. From a narrow level on the left bank of the stream rises an artificial elevation of pyramidal form, with quadrangular base measuring about two hundred and sixty by three hundred and ten feet, and something over forty feet in height, with sloping sides and traces of broad central stairways on the east and north.[VI-14]Dimensions from Stephens, vol. ii., p. 310. It is not likely that they are to be regarded as anything more than approximations to the original extent; the state of the pyramid rendering strictly accurate measurements impracticable. The authorities differ considerably. 273 feet long, 60 feet high. Waldeck, p. ii. 1080 feet in circumference, 60 feet high. Dupaix, p. 14. 20 yards high. Del Rio, Descrip., p. 4. 100×70 mètres and not over 15 feet high. Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 424. Circumference 1080 feet, height 60 feet, steps one foot high. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 85. 20 mètres high, area 3840 sq. mètres. Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 267; 20 feet high. Id. Travels, p. 88. Over 340 mètres long. Lafond, Voyages, tom. i., pp. 143-4. Waldeck, p. iii., is the only one who found traces of a northern stairway, and none of the general views show such traces. Charnay, p. 425, thought the eastern stairway was double, being divided by a perpendicular wall. Brasseur, Palenqué, p. 17, in a note to his translation of Stephens, says that author represents a stairway in his plate but does not speak of it in his text—an error, as may be seen on the following page of the translation or on p. 312 of the original. The translation ‘qui y montent de la térasse’ for ‘leading up to it on the terrace’ may account for the error.The sides were faced with regular blocks of hewn stone, but this facing has been so broken up and forced out of place by the roots of trees that the original outline is hardly distinguishable. Dupaix, both in text and drawings, divides the pyramid into three sections or stories by two projections of a few feet running horizontally round the sides; he puts a similar projection, or cornice, at the summit, and covers the whole surface of the sides with a polished coating of cement. That this state of things existed at the time of his exploration is possible, although not very probable; yet it is not unlikely that the slopes were originally covered with plaster, or even painted.

Mode of constructing Pyramid.

Origin of Pyramidal Structures

The material of which the bulk of the mound is composed is not very definitely stated by any visitor. I believe, however, that I have discovered a peculiarity in the construction of this pyramid, which may possibly throw some light on the origin of the pyramidal structure so universal among the civilized nations of the continent. I think that, perhaps with a view to raise this palace or temple above the waters of the stream, four thick walls, possibly more, were built up perpendicularly from the ground to the desired height; then, after the completion of the walls to strengthen them, or during the progress of the work to facilitate the raising of the stones, the interior was filled with earth, and the exterior graded with the same material, the whole being subsequently faced with hewn stone. My reasons for this opinion may be illustrated by the annexed cut. All the authorities by text and plates represent the pyramid with sloping stone-faced sides, much damaged by the trees. Two of them, Stephens and Waldeck, making excavations from the summit at different points, clearly imply that the interior, D, is of earth. The height is given by all the visitors down to Stephens, as from forty to sixty feet. Now Charnay, coming nearly twenty years later, found the eastern side a perpendicular wall, only fifteen feet high, and proves the accuracy of his statement by his photograph, which, as he says, cannot lie. I cannot satisfactorily account for the condition of the structure as found by him, except by supposing that the stone facing, loosened by the trees, had fallen from B to F, and that the earth which filled the sides at EE, had been washed away by the rain, leaving the perpendicular wall at B. We shall see later that it is utterly impossible to fix any definite date for the founding of Palenque; but it is doubtless to be referred to the earliest period of American civilization which has left definite architectural traces; and its claims are perhaps as strong as those of any other to be considered the oldest American city. If this pyramid was the first erected and took its shape as above indicated, its adoption as a type throughout the region penetrated by the religion and civilization of its builders, would be very natural, although the form would afterwards be more readily attained by means of a solid structure. I offer this as a conjectural theory to take its place by the side of many others on the subject, and at the least not more devoid of foundation than several of its companions.[VI-15]Stephens, vol. ii., p. 316; Waldeck, p. vi.; Charnay, p. 425, phot. 22. Dupaix’s plate xiii., fig. 20, showing a section of the whole, indicates that the interior may be filled with earth and small stones. It is not improbable that the builders may have taken advantage of a slight natural elevation as a foundation for their work.

Exterior of the Palace

Bas-Reliefs of the Palace

The summit platform of the pyramid supports the Palace, which covers its whole extent save a narrow passage round the edge, and the exterior dimensions of which are about one hundred and eighty by two hundred and twenty-eight feet and thirty feet high.[VI-16]Stephens, vol. ii., p. 310, except the height, which he gives at 25 feet. 144×240×36 feet. Dupaix, p. 15. 324 varas in circumference and 30 varas high. Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 296. 145×240×36 feet. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 86. The outer wall, a large portion of which has fallen, was pierced with about forty doorways, which were generally wider than the portions of the wall that separated them, giving the whole the appearance of a portico with wide piers. The doorways are eight and a half feet high and nine feet wide. The tops seem to have been originally flat, but the lintels have in every case fallen and disappeared, having been perhaps of wood; indeed, Charnay claims to have found the marks of one of these wooden lintels composed of two pieces, while Del Rio found a plain rectangular block of stone five by six feet, extending from one of the piers to another. The whole exterior was covered with a coat of hard plaster, and there are some traces of a projecting cornice which surrounded the building above the doorways, pierced at regular intervals with small circular holes, such as I have noticed in Yucatan, conjectured with much reason to have originally held poles which supported a kind of awning. Later visitors have found no part of the roof remaining in place; but Castañeda, who may have found some portion standing, represents it as sloping, plain, and plastered. From the interior construction and from the roofs of other Palenque buildings, it is probable that his drawing gives a correct idea of the Palace in this respect. Dupaix often speaks of the roofs at Palenque as being covered with large stone flags (lajas) carefully joined; other authors are silent respecting the arrangement of the stones in the roofs. Judging from the position of the grand stairway that leads up the side of the pyramid, and from the arrangement of the interior doorways, the chief entrance, or front, of the Palace, was on the east, towards the stream. It is from this side, although not so well preserved as some other portions, that general views have been taken.[VI-17]Waldeck thinks, on the contrary, that the principal entrance was originally on the north. General views are found in Stephens, vol. ii., p. 309; Dupaix, pl. xii., fig. 19; Kingsborough, pl. xii.; Waldeck, pl. viii.;Charnay, phot. 22. All but the last two are, more or less, restorations, but not—except Castañeda’s in a few respects—calculated to mislead. Stephens says that this cut is less accurate than others in his work, and Charnay calls his photograph a failure, although I have already made important use of the latter. Concerning the lintels, see Charnay, p. 427, and Del Rio, Descrip., pp. 9-11. Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 86, says the outside doors are 6 feet high. Doorways 4½ to 12 ft high, 1½ to 15 ft wide. Dupaix, p. 15. Of the piers that separated the doorways in this outer wall, only fifteen have been found standing, eight on the east and seven on the west, although their foundations may be readily traced throughout nearly the whole circumference. Each of the remaining piers, and probably of all in their original condition, contained on its external surface a bas-relief in stucco, and these reliefs with their borders occupied the whole space between the doorways. The cuts, fig. 1, 2, and 3, represent three of the best preserved of the reliefs, drawings of six only of them having been published. Most of the designs, like those shown in the cuts, were of human figures in various attitudes, and having a variety of dress, ornaments, and insignia. It will be noticed that the faces are all in profile, and the foreheads invariably flattened. This cranial form was doubtless the highest type of beauty or nobility in the eyes of the ancient artists; and of course the natural inference is that it was artificially produced by methods similar to those employed by the Mayas of more modern times. Yet many have believed that the builders of Palenque or the priests and leaders that directed the work were of a now extinct race, the peculiar natural conformation of whose forehead was artificially imitated by the descendants of their disciples. The many far-fetched explanations of these strange figures, which fertile imaginations have devised, would not, I believe, be instructive to the reader, who will derive more amusement and profit from his own conjectures. The resemblance of the head-dress in fig. 2 to an elephant’s trunk is, however, somewhat striking. We may be very sure that these figures placed in so prominent a position on the exterior walls of the grandest edifice in the city, were not merely ornamental and without significance; and it is almost equally certain that the three hieroglyphic signs over the top of each group would, if they could be read, explain their meaning. Some of the piers seem to have been covered entirely with hieroglyphics in stucco, but better preserved specimens of these inscriptions will be shown in connection with other buildings at Palenque. The stucco, or cement, from which the figures are molded, is the same as that with which the whole building was covered, and is nearly as hard as the stone itself. M. Charnay found evidence to convince him that the reliefs were put on after the regular coating of cement had become hardened; Dupaix believes that some of them were molded over a skeleton of small stones, in the same way perhaps as the gigantic faces at Izamal in Yucatan. Traces of color in sheltered portions make it evident that the piers were originally painted.[VI-18]Descriptions and drawings of the bas-reliefs. Dupaix, pp. 20, 37, 75-6, pl. xix-xxii. Kingsborough, vol. iv., pl. xxvi., shows one damaged group not given in Antiq. Mex.; Del Rio, Descrip., pp. 9-11, pl. viii., x., xi., xv., xvi. (as they are arranged in my copy—they are not numbered); Stephens, vol. ii., pp. 311, 316-17; Waldeck, p. v., pl. xii., xiii. See Charnay, p. 426, and this vol., p. 246. Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 274, 282, implies that all the stucco work had disappeared at the time of his visit; and he mentions a shell-fish common in the region which furnishes good lime and was probably used by the ancients. Waldeck concludes that the supposed elephant’s head may be that of a tapir, ‘quoiqu’il existe parmi ces mêmes ruines des figures de tapir bien plus ressemblantes.’ Voy. Pitt., p. 37.

Bas-Relief in Stucco.—Fig. 1.

Bas-Relief in Stucco.—Fig. 2.

Bas-Relief in Stucco.—Fig. 3.

Ground Plan of the Palace.

Plan of the Palace

Nothing further remains to be said of the exterior of the Palace; let us therefore enter the doorway at the head of the eastern stairway. The main building is found to consist of two corridors, formed by three parallel walls and covered by one roof, which extend entirely round the circumference of the platform, and enclose a quadrangular court measuring about one hundred and fifty by two hundred feet. This court also contains five or six buildings, some of them connected with the main edifice, others separate, which divide the court into four smaller ones. The whole arrangement of buildings and courts is clearly shown in the preceding ground plan. At b, is the chief entrance at the head of the eastern stairway; a, a, a, etc., are the standing piers with stucco bas-reliefs, which have been noticed already; A, A, B, B, etc., are the main corridors; C, D, E, F, G, the smaller enclosed buildings; 1, 2, 3, 4, the courts.[VI-19]The plan is reduced from Waldeck, pl. vii. Ground plans are also given in Stephens, vol. ii., p. 310, copied in Willson’s Amer. Hist., p. 75; Dupaix, pl. xi.; Kingsborough, vol. iv., pl. xiii.; and in Del Rio, Descrip., the latter being only a rough imperfect sketch. It is understood that a large portion of the outer and southern walls have fallen, so that the visitors differ somewhat in their location of doorways and some other unimportant details. Stephens’ plan makes the whole number of exterior doorways 50 instead of 40, and many doorways in the fallen walls he does not attempt to locate. I give the preference to Waldeck simply on account of his superior facilities.

The Palace Corridors

Entering at b, we find that the corridors extend uninterruptedly on the east and north, but are divided on the other sides, especially on the south, into compartments. In the inner as in the outer wall doorways are frequent, while the central wall has but few. The corridors are each nine feet wide and twenty feet high, the perpendicular walls being ten feet, and the sides of the ceiling inclining inward from that height until they nearly form an acute angle at the top. The cut represents a section of the two corridors in nearly their true proportions. The walls are from two to three feet thick, and so far as can be determined from the authorities, they are built entirely of hewn blocks of stone, without the interior filling of rubble which I have noticed in the Yucatan ruins. Indeed, with a thickness of three feet or less the use of rubble would have been almost impracticable. Floor, walls, and ceiling are covered with a coating of the same hard cement found on the exterior walls. The cut on the following page is a view from a point somewhat southward from b, and looking northward into the corridor; it gives an excellent idea of the present appearance of this portion of the Palace. The construction of the ceiling, both in the Palace and in other Palenque structures, is by means of the triangular arch of overlapping stones, as in Yucatan. A remarkable difference, however, is that the projecting corners of the blocks, instead of being beveled so as to leave a smooth stone surface, are left, and the smooth surface is obtained by filling the notches with cement.

Section of the Palace Corridors.

Palace Corridor at Palenque.

Elevation of Palace Corridor.

The doorway through the central wall at c, is eighteen feet high, and its top, instead of being flat like those in the outer wall, takes the form of a trefoil arch; depressions, or niches, of the same trefoil form, extend at regular intervals right and left from the doorway along the inclined face of the ceiling. The last cut gives a clear idea of the doorway and trefoil niches, but the artist who copied it from Catherwood’s plate for Morelet’s Travels, from which I take it, has erred in representing the niches as continuing downward on the perpendicular wall. Near the top of the perpendicular wall was a line of what seem to have been circular stucco medallions, perhaps portraits, at d, d, d, of the plan, which have for the most part fallen. Small circular holes, apparently left by the decay of beams that once stretched across the arch, occur at regular intervals between the niches of the ceiling. The cut shows a front elevation of the corridor from e of the plan looking eastward, and includes all the peculiarities found in any part of the corridors. The position of the medallions is shown, though they are really on the opposite side of the wall, and the shaded figures on the left of the cut are introduced from other parts of the Palace, to illustrate the different forms of niches which occur in the walls. The niches on the right are in their proper place. The three which are symmetrically placed at each side of this and some other doorways, are from eight to ten inches square, and have a cylinder two inches in diameter fixed upright within each. They would seem to have served in some way to support the doors. The shaped niches are of very frequent occurrence throughout the ruins, and have caused much speculation by reason of their resemblance to the Egyptian tau and to the cross. Some of them extend quite through the walls, and served probably for ventilation and the admission of light. Others of the same shape are of varying depths and of unknown use; they may have been niches for the reception of small idols, or possibly designed to hold the torches which lit up the corridors, since M. Waldeck claims to have found the marks of lamp-black on the tops of some of them.[VI-20]Plates illustrating the corridors may be found as follows: Waldeck, pl. ix., view of doorway c from b, showing two of the medallions, one of which is filled up with a portrait in stucco, and is probably a restoration; the view extends through the doorways c and d, across the court to the building C. The same plate gives also a view of the outer corridor lengthwise looking northward. Pl. x. gives an elevation of the east side of the inner corridor, and a section of both corridors. Pl. xi., fig. 1, shows the details of one of the shaped niches. Stephens, vol. ii., p. 313—sketch corresponding to Waldeck’s pl. ix., copied in Morelet’s Travels, and taken from the latter for my work. Dupaix, pl. xviii., fig. 25, shows the different forms of niches and windows found in the Palace, all of which are given in my cut. ‘A double gallery of eighty yards in length, sustained by massive pillars, opened before us.’ Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 265-6; Travels, p. 87. The square niches with their cylinders are spoken of by Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 71-2, as ‘gonds de pierre.’ ‘Quant aux ouvertures servant de fenêtres, elles sont petites et généralement d’une forme capricieuse, environnées, à l’intérieur des édifices, d’arabesques et de dessins en bas-relief, parfois fort gracieux.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 92. Principal walls 4 feet thick, others less. Dupaix, p. 15. Nothing remains to be said of the corridors of the main building, save that the interior like the exterior surface of the walls bears traces of red paint over the coating of plaster in certain sheltered portions.[VI-21]Paint the same as at Uxmal. Some was taken for analysis, but lost. Probably a mixture in equal parts of carmine and vermilion. Probably extracted from a fungus found on dead trees in this region, and which gives the same color. Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 100-1.

Court of the Palace

Passing through the doorway e we enter the court 1, the dimensions of which are about seventy by eighty feet, its pavement, like that of the other courts, being eight or ten feet below that of the corridors. This pavement is covered to a depth of several feet with débris, which has never been entirely cleared away by any explorer. The court is bounded on the north and east by the walls, or piers, of the inner corridor, and on the south and west by those of the interior buildings C and D. The piers, whose position and number are clearly indicated on the plan, are, except those on the north, yet standing, and each has its stucco bas-relief as on the eastern front. These reliefs are, however, much damaged, and no drawings of them have been made, or, at least, published. Broad stairways of five or six steps lead down to the level of the court pavement, at g, g, g, g, and a narrow stairway, h, affords access through an end door to the building E.[VI-22]Waldeck is the only authority for this narrow stairway, and his plan for the northern broad stairway.

Sculptured Group in the Palace Court.

The eastern stairway is thirty feet wide, and on each side of it, at i, i, on a surface about fifteen feet long by eleven feet high, formed by immense stone slabs inclined at about the same angle as the stairway itself, is sculptured in low relief a group of human figures in peculiar attitudes. The northern group is shown in the accompanying cut. Stephens pronounces the attitude of the figures one of pain and trouble. “The design and anatomical proportions of the figures are faulty, but there is a force of expression about them which shows the skill and conceptive power of the artist.”[VI-23]Dupaix, p. 21, says that the stone is granite, the figures 11 feet high, and the sculpture in high relief. ‘Peuplée de simulacres gigantesques à demi voilés par la végétation sauvage.’ Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 266. These figures, with the eastern side of the court, are represented in Dupaix, pl. xxiii-iv., fig. 29; Waldeck, pl. xiv-xvi. (according to a seated native on the steps, each step is at least 2 feet high); Stephens, pp. 314-15; Charnay, phot. xix., xx. My cut is a reduction from Waldeck. Stephens’ plate of this side of the court shows remains of stucco ornamentation and also a line of small circular holes over the doorways of the inner corridor. The opposite or western stairway is narrower than the eastern, and at its sides, at j, j, are two colossal human figures sculptured in a hard whitish stone, as shown in the cut, in which, however, the stairway is shown somewhat narrower than its true proportions. Waldeck sees in these figures a male and female whose features are of the Caucasian type. At the sides of the stairway, at k, k, k, stand three figures of smaller dimensions, sculptured on pilasters which occur at regular intervals. On the basement wall between the pilasters are found small squares of hieroglyphics.[VI-24]Waldeck, pl. xiv-v.; Stephens, vol. ii., pp. 314-15. One of the small sculptured pilasters in Dupaix, pl. xxv., fig. 32. In the centre of the court Waldeck found some traces of a circular basin.

Sculptured Figures in Palace Court.

Courts of the Palace

The western court, 2, measuring about thirty by eighty feet, has a narrow stairway of three steps at l, leading up to the central building C. At the ends of this stairway, at o, o, are two large blocks similar in position to those at j, j, but their sloping fronts bear no sculptured figures. As in the other court, however, there are some squares of hieroglyphics on the basement walls. The piers round this court, such as remain standing, bear each a stucco bas-relief.[VI-25]The only plate that shows any portion of the court 2, is Waldeck, pl. xviii., a view from the point n looking south-eastward. Two of the reliefs are shown, representing each a human figure sitting cross-legged on a low stool.

In the southern court, 3, stands the structure known as the Tower, marked G on the plan. Its base is about thirty feet square, and rests like the other buildings on the platform of the pyramid some eight or ten feet above the pavement of the courts. This base is solid, but has niches, or false doorways, on the sides. Above the base two slightly receding stories are still standing, with portions of a third, each with a doorway—whose lintel has fallen—in the centre of each side, and surrounded by two plain cornices. The walls are plain and plastered. The whole structure is of solid masonry, and the fact that large trees have grown from the top, presenting a broad surface to the winter winds, which have not been able to overturn the Tower, shows the remarkable strength of its construction. The height of the standing portion is about fifty feet above the platform of the pyramid. Respecting the interior arrangement of the Tower, I am unable to form a clear idea from the descriptions and drawings of the different visitors, notwithstanding the fact that Waldeck gives an elevation, section, and ground plan of each story. Stephens describes the structure as consisting of a smaller tower within the larger, and a very narrow staircase leading up from story to story. Waldeck deemed the Tower a chef d’œuvre, while to Stephens’ eyes it appeared unsatisfactory and uninteresting. Dupaix, without doubt erroneously, represents the doors as surmounted by regular arches with keystones.[VI-26]Del Rio, p. 11, calls the height 16 yards in four stories, also plate in frontispiece. Galindo, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 70, says it is somewhat fallen, but still 100 feet high. Id., in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. iii., p. 61. Dupaix, p. 16, says 75 feet in four stories, and his pl. xv-vi., fig. 22, make it 93 feet in three stories. Kingsborough’s text mentions no height, but his plates xvii-xviii., fig. 24, make it 108 feet in four stories. The other authorities mention no height, but from their plates the height would seem not far from 50 feet. See Waldeck, pl. xviii-xix., and all the general views of the Palace. Waldeck, p. iii., severely criticises Dupaix’s drawings. ‘Une tour de huit étages, dont l’escalier, en plusieurs endroits est soutenu sur des voûtes cintrées.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 86-7. ‘En el pátio occidental está la torre de tres cuerpos y medio: en el primero tiene cuatro puertas cerradas, y una que se abrió cuando el desmonte del capitan Rio, y se halló ser un retrete de poco mas de tres cuartas y lumbreras que se abrieron entónces.’ Registro Yucateco, tom. i., pp. 319-20. ‘Dominée par une tour quadrangulaire, dont il subsistait trois étages, separés l’un de l’autre par autant de corniches.’ Morelet, Voy., tom. i., p. 266. ‘It would seem to have been used as a modern oriental minaret, from which the priests summoned the people to prayer.’ Jones, p. 83.

Respecting the other interior buildings of the Palace, the construction of which is precisely the same as that of the main corridors, very little remains to be said, especially since their location and division into apartments are shown clearly in the plan. According to Waldeck, the central room of the building D had traces of rich ornamentation in stucco on its walls; and he also claims to have found here an acoustic tube of terra cotta, the mouth of which was concealed by an ornament of the same material, but of this extraordinary relic he gives no description. Stephens found in one of the holes in the ceiling the worm-eaten remains of a wooden pole, about a foot in length, the only piece of wood found in Palenque, and very likely not a part of the original building at all. Except this chamber, the building is mostly in ruins, although, as we have seen, the northern piers remain standing.[VI-27]Waldeck, p. iii. One of the figures in pl. xi. purports to be a cornice of this room, but may probably belong to the outer walls, since no other author speaks of interior cornices. Stephens, vol. ii., p. 315.

The roofs of some of the interior buildings seem to have been somewhat better preserved than those of the main corridors, so that the sloping roof, double cornice, and remains of stucco ornamentation were observable. In the western apartment of the building C, the walls have several, in one place as many as six, distinct coatings of plaster, each hardened and painted before the next was applied. There was also noticed a line of what appeared to be written characters in black, covered by a thin translucent coating.[VI-28]Stephens, vol. ii., p. 316; Waldeck, pl. xv., fig. 2, a cross-section of this building, showing a shaped niche in the end wall.

Sculptured Tablet in the Palace.—Fig. 1.

Sculptured Tablet in the Palace.—Fig. 2.

Sculptured Tablet

The building E has the interior walls of its two northern apartments decorated with painted and stucco figures in a very mutilated condition. In the wall of one of them, at the point p, is fixed an elliptical stone tablet, three feet wide and four feet high, the surface of which is covered by the sculptured device shown in the cut. With the exception of the figures in the court 1, already mentioned, this is the only instance of stone-carving in the Palace. It is cut in low relief, and is surrounded by an ornamental border of stucco. A table consisting of a plain rectangular stone slab resting on four blocks which served as legs, stood formerly on the pavement immediately under the sculptured tablet. Tables of varying dimensions, but of like construction, were found in several apartments of the Palace and its subterranean galleries, as shown in the plan at v, v, v. They are called tables, beds, or altars, by different writers. Waldeck says that this one was of green jasper; and Del Rio, that its edges and legs were sculptured, one of the latter having been carried away by him and sent to Spain. The first cut which I have given is taken from Waldeck’s drawing. The second cut, representing a portion of the same tablet, taken from Catherwood’s plate, for Morelet’s Travels, differs slightly in some respects—notably in the ornament suspended from the neck, represented by one artist as a face, and by the other as a cross. Of the subject Mr Stephens says: “The principal figure sits cross-legged on a couch ornamented with two leopards’ heads; the attitude is easy, the physiognomy the same as that of the other personages, and the expression calm and benevolent. The figure wears around its neck a necklace of pearls, to which is suspended a small medallion containing a face; perhaps intended as an image of the sun. Like every other subject of sculpture we had seen in the country, the personage had earrings, bracelets on the wrists, and a girdle round the loins. The head-dress differs from most of the others at Palenque in that it wants the plumes of feathers…. The other figure, which seems that of a woman, is sitting cross-legged on the ground, richly dressed, and apparently in the act of making an offering. In this supposed offering is seen a plume of feathers, in which the headdress of the principal person is deficient.” Waldeck deems the left-hand figure to be black, and recognizes in the profile an Ethiopian type. Del Rio sees in the subject homage paid to a river god; and Galindo believes the object offered to be a human head. Somebody imagines that the two animal heads are those of the seal.[VI-29]View of the building from the south-west, representing it as a detached structure, in Dupaix, pl. xiv., fig. 21. This author speaks of a peculiar method of construction in this building: ‘Su construccion varia algo del primero, pues el miembro que llamaremos arquitrabe es de una hechura muy particular, se forma de unas lajas grandísimas de un grueso proporcionado é inclinadas, formando con la muralla un angulo agudo.’ The plate indicates a high steep roof, or rather second story. It also shows a shaped window and two steps on this side. For plates and descriptions of the tablet see Stephens, vol. ii., p. 318; Waldeck, pp. iv., vi., pl. xvii.; Dupaix, pp. 16, 23, pl. xviii., fig. 26, pl. xxvi., fig. 33; Del Rio, p. 13, pl. xv.-xvii.; Galindo, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 70. Waldeck’s pl. xvi., fig. 3, is a ground plan showing more detail than the general plan; and pl. xi., fig. 3, is a study of the cornices (?) in the interior. The sculptured tablet probably represents Cuculkan, or Quetzalcoatl. Morelet’s Travels, p. 97. No doubt the medallion represented a sun, and the table beneath was an altar to the sun. Jones’ Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 83.

The stucco ornaments on the walls of the building F seem to have been richer and more numerous than elsewhere, but were found in a very dilapidated condition. In the room q, Stephens found traces of a stone tablet in the wall, and he also gives a sketch of a stucco bas-relief from the side of a doorway, representing a standing human figure in a very damaged state. A peculiar stucco ornament sketched by Castañeda is probably from the same room, and is perhaps identical with what Waldeck describes as a sanctuary with two birds perched on an elephant’s head, the latter, however, not appearing in the drawing.[VI-30]Stephens, vol. ii., p. 319; Dupaix, pl. xxvii., fig. 34; Del Rio, pl. iv.

Subterranean Galleries

Ornament over a Doorway.

Within the pyramid itself, and above the surface of the ground, although frequently spoken of as subterranean, are found apartments, or galleries, with walls of stone plastered but without ornament, of the same form and construction as the corridors above. Such as have been explored are at the south end of the pyramid and for the most part without the line of the Palace walls, with lateral galleries, however, extending under the corridors and affording communication with the upper apartments by means of stairways. The arrangement of the galleries and their entrances is made sufficiently clear by the fine lines at the bottom of the plan, yet perhaps very little is known of their original extent. The southernmost gallery receives a dim light by three holes or windows leading out to the surface of the pyramid; the other galleries are dark and damp, with water running over their pavements in the rainy season. The walls are much fallen and the galleries blocked up at several points. At the south-western corner an opening affords a means of egress near the surface of the ground; but this, as well as the windows mentioned, may be accidental or of modern origin and have formed no part of the original plan. These rooms are variously regarded as sleeping-rooms, dungeons, or sepulchres, according to the temperament of the observer. Whatever their use, they contain several of the low tables mentioned before, one of which is said to have been richly decorated with sculpture. M. Morelet occupied one of these lower rooms during his visit, as being more comfortable than the others, at least in the dry season. The chief entrance to the vaults seems to have been from one of the southern rooms of the building E, at the point r, through an opening in the floor. A narrow stairway by which the descent was made, is divided into two flights by a platform and doorway, surmounting which was the stucco device shown in the cut. Waldeck states that when he found this decoration it was partially covered with stalactites formed by trickling water. His explanation, by which he connects the figures with aboriginal astronomical signs and the division of time, is too long and too extremely conjectural to be repeated here. Stephens noticed this ornament but gives no drawing of it. It was sketched by Castañeda together with another somewhat similar one. Dupaix speaks of two doors in this stairway; Del Rio speaks of several landings, and says that he brought away a fragment of one of the ornamented steps. I suspect the visitors may have confounded this stairway with another at w, concerning which nothing is particularly said. Somewhere in connection with these stairways Dupaix found a tablet of hieroglyphics which he brought away with him, and concerning which he states the remarkable fact that on the reverse side of the tablet, built into the wall, were the same characters painted that were sculptured on the face. Openings through the pavement were found at several points, as in the court 1, and the building C, which led to no regular galleries, but to simple and small excavations in the earth, very likely the work of some early explorer or searcher for hidden treasure.[VI-31]Stephens, vol. ii., pp. 316, 318-19. Plan of galleries in Dupaix, pl. xvii., fig. 24. Stucco ornaments, pl. xxv., fig. 30, 31. Hieroglyphic tablet, pl. xxxix., fig. 41. Description, p. 28. Niche in the wall of the gallery, Waldeck, p. iv., pl. xi., fig. 2. Decoration over doorway (copied above), Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 105, pl. xxii.; also in Del Rio, pl. xiv.

The Palace Restored

Having now given all the information in my possession respecting the Palace, I present in the accompanying cut a restoration of the structure made by a German artist, but which I have taken the liberty to change in several respects. The reader will notice a few points in which the cut does not exactly agree with my description; such as the curved surface of the roofs, the height of the tower and its spire, the width of the western stairway in court 1, etc., yet it may be regarded as giving an excellent idea of what the Palace was in the days when its halls and courts were thronged with the nobility or priesthood of a great people. The view is from the north-east on the bank of the stream, and besides the palace includes the edifice No. 2 of the general plan.[VI-32]Cut from Armin, Das Heutige Mex., p. 73.

Restoration of the Palace.

The structure No. 2 shown in the last cut stands a short distance south-west from the Palace, and may be known as the Temple of the Three Tablets. The pyramid supporting it, of the same construction as the former so far as may be judged from outward examination, is said by Stephens to measure one hundred and ten feet on the slope, and seems to have had continuous steps all round its sides, now much displaced by the forest. The cut on the following page presents a view of this temple from the north-east as it appeared at the time of Catherwood’s visit, and illustrates very vividly the manner in which the ruins are enveloped in a tropical vegetation.

Temple of the Three Tablets.

Temple of the Three Tablets

Temple and Pyramid.—Fig. 1.

Temple of the Three Tablets.—Fig. 2.

The building, which stands on the summit platform but does not like the Palace cover its whole surface, is seventy-six feet long, twenty-five feet wide, and about thirty-five feet high. The front, or northern, elevation is shown in the cuts. Fig. 1 includes the temple with the supporting pyramid, and fig. 2 presents the building on a larger scale. Each of the four central piers on this front has its bas-relief in stucco, while the two lateral piers have each ninety-six small squares of hieroglyphics, also in stucco. The bas-reliefs represent single human figures, standing, and each bearing in its arms an infant, or in one instance some unknown object. They are all very much mutilated, and although drawings have been published, I do not think it necessary to reproduce them. The roof is divided into two sections, sloping at different angles; the lower slope was covered with painted stucco decorations, and had also five square solid projections, one over each doorway. The dividing line between the two slopes marks the height of the apartments in the interior, the upper portion being solid masonry. Along the ridge of the roof was a line of pillars, of stone and mortar, eighteen inches high and twelve inches apart, probably square, although nothing is said of their shape, and surmounted by a layer of projecting flat stones. Similar constructions may possibly have existed originally on some of the Palace roofs, since they would naturally be among the first to fall. Waldeck’s plate represents a small platform in front of the doorways, ascended by four lateral stairways. Respecting the two square projections below the piers at the side of the central doorway there is no information except their representation by Catherwood in the cut, fig. 2.

Ground plan—Temple of the Three Tablets.

Section—Temple of the Three Tablets.

The arrangement of the interior is shown in the accompanying ground plan. The central wall is four or five feet thick, and is pierced by three doorways, which afford access to three apartments in the rear. The front corridor has a small window at each end; Stephens speaks of two slight openings about three inches wide in each of the lateral apartments of the rear; and the plan indicates two similar openings in the central room, although he speaks of them as dark and gloomy. Castañeda’s drawing shows only one window at the end; it also represents the building as having a roof like the Palace, and as standing on a natural rocky hill in which some steps are cut, no bas-reliefs or other decorations appearing on the front. The interior walls are perfectly plain, and it is not even definitely stated that they are plastered. In the walls, however, at a, b, and c, of the ground plan, are fixed stone tablets one foot thick, each composed of several blocks, neatly joined and covered with sculptured hieroglyphics. Those in the central wall, at a and b, measure eight by thirteen feet, and contain each two hundred and forty squares of hieroglyphics in a very good state of preservation, while the one hundred and forty squares of the tablet in the rear apartment, three and a half by four feet, are much damaged by trickling water. Drawings of the hieroglyphics have been made by Waldeck and Catherwood only, although other visitors speak of them. I do not copy the drawings here, because, in the absence of any key to their meaning, the specimen which I shall present from another part of the ruins is as useful to the reader as the whole would be. The cut is a longitudinal section of this temple at the central wall, and shows the position of the tablets. Waldeck’s drawing represents the two lateral doorways as having flat tops. Brasseur tells us that, according to the statements of the natives, the tablets were used originally for educational purposes. M. Charnay found them still undisturbed in 1859.[VI-33]Stephens, vol. ii., pp. 339-43, with the cuts which I have given, and also plates of the four stucco reliefs, and the hieroglyphic tablets. Waldeck, pl. xxxiii.-xl., illustrating the same subjects as Catherwood’s plates, and giving also a transverse section of the building in pl. xxiii., fig. 4. Waldeck’s ground plan represents the building as fronting the north. Dupaix, pp. 24-5, pl. xxviii.-xxxii., including view of north front, ground plan, and the stucco reliefs, which latter M. Lenoir, Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., p. 78, incorrectly states to be sculptured in stone. Castañeda did not attempt to sketch the hieroglyphics, through want of ability and patience, as Stephens suggests. See Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 424; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 89; Baldwin, Anc. Amer., p. 107; Del Rio, Descrip., p. 16; Galindo, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 71. It is to be noticed that Stephens’ plan locates this temple nearer the Palace than the one I have copied. Dupaix states the distance to be 200 paces.

Ground plan—Temple of the Beau Relief.

The Beau Relief

Beau Relief in Stucco.

Some four hundred yards south of the Palace is a pyramid, only partly artificial if we may credit Dupaix, and rising with a steep slope of one hundred feet from the bank of the stream according to Stephens, on which is a small building, No. 3 of the plan, which we may call, with Waldeck, the Temple of the Beau Relief. This edifice was found by later visitors in an advanced state of ruin, and Catherwood’s drawings of it are much less satisfactory than in the case of other Palenque ruins; but both Dupaix and Waldeck found it in a tolerably good state of preservation, and were enabled to sketch and describe its principal features. This temple measured eighteen by twenty feet, apparently fronting the east, and is twenty-five feet high. It presents the peculiarity of an apartment in the pyramid, immediately under the upper rooms. The cut gives ground plans—No. 1 of the upper, and No. 2 of the lower rooms. The stairway which afforded communication between the two, is also shown. Catherwood’s drawing, however, represents the upper and lower apartments as alike in everything but height. On the rear, or western, wall, at a, was the Beau Relief in stucco, which gives a name to the temple, the finest specimen of stucco work in America, shown in the accompanying cut. It was sketched by Castañeda and Waldeck, in whose drawings some differences of detail appear. At the time of Stephens’ visit only the lower portions remained for study; yet he pronounced this “superior in execution to any other stucco relief in Palenque.” At the time of Charnay’s visit the last vestige of this beautiful relic had disappeared. Waldeck speaks of a tomb found in connection with this pyramid, which he had no time to explore, having made the discovery just before leaving the ruins.[VI-34]Stephens, vol. ii., p. 355, giving view, section, ground plan, and what remained of the Beau Relief. Waldeck, p. iii., pl. xli.-ii., with ground plans, sections, and Beau Relief as given above, and which the artist pronounces ‘digne d’être comparée aux plus beaux ouvrages du siécle d’Auguste.’ Drawings of the relief also in Dupaix, pl. xxxiii., fig. 37; Del Rio, Descrip., pl. ii.; Kingsborough, pl. xxxvi., fig. 37.

Temple of the Cross.

Temple of the Cross

Standing about one hundred and fifty yards a little south of east from the Palace, and on the opposite bank of the stream Otolum, is the building No. 4 of the plan, known as the Temple of the Cross, standing on a pyramid which measures one hundred and thirty-four feet on the slope. Mr Stephens locates this temple several hundred feet further south than I have placed it on the plan. Charnay describes the pyramid as partly natural but faced with stone. The temple is fifty feet long, thirty-one feet wide, and about forty feet high. The cut shows the front, or southern elevation. The construction of the lower portion is precisely like that of the other buildings which have been described. The two lateral piers were covered with hieroglyphics, and the central ones bore human figures, all in stucco. The lower slope of the roof was also covered with stucco decorations, among which were fragments of a head and two bodies, pronounced by Stephens to approach the Greek models in justness of proportion and symmetry. On the top, the roof formed a platform thirty-five feet long and about three feet wide, which supported the peculiar two-storied structure shown in the preceding cut, fifteen feet and ten inches high. This is a kind of frame, or open lattice, of stone blocks covered with a great variety of stucco ornaments. A layer of projecting flat stones caps the whole, and from the summit, one hundred feet perhaps above the ground, a magnificent view is afforded, which stretches over the whole forest-covered plain to Laguna de Terminos and the Mexican gulf. This superstructure, like some that I have described at Uxmal and elsewhere in Yucatan, would seem to have been added to the temple solely to give it a more imposing appearance. It could hardly have served as an observatory, since there are no facilities for mounting to the summit.[VI-35]Del Rio, Descrip., p. 17, says this pyramid is one of three which form a triangle, each supporting a square building 11×18 yards. Charnay locates this temple 300 mètres to the right of the Palace. Ruines Amér., p. 417. Waldeck, pl. xx., is a fine view of this temple and its pyramid as seen from the main entrance of the Palace. But according to this plate the structure on the roof is at least 10 feet wide instead of 2 feet 10 inches as Stephens gives it, and narrows slightly towards the top. This plate also shows two shaped windows in the west end. Stephens, vol. ii., pp. 344-8, elevation and ground plan as given in my text from Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., p. 106, and some rough sketches of parts of the interior. Dupaix, pl. xxxv., fig. 39, exterior view and ground plan. The view omits altogether the superstructure and locates the temple on a natural rocky cliff. Galindo, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 71, speaks of the top walls as 80 feet from the ground and pierced with square openings.

Ground plan—Temple of the Cross.

The interior arrangement is made clear by the adjoined plan. Within the central apartment of the rear, or northern, corridor, and directly opposite to the main doorway is an enclosure measuring seven by thirteen feet. From its being mentioned as an enclosure rather than a regular room by Stephens, it would seem probable that it does not reach the full height of the chamber, but has a ceiling, or covering, of its own. At any rate, it receives light only by the doorway. Besides a heavy cornice round the enclosure, the doorway was surmounted by massive and graceful stucco decorations, and at its sides on the exterior were originally two stone tablets bearing each a human figure sculptured in low relief, resembling in their general characteristics the more common stucco designs, but somewhat more elaborately draped and decorated. One of them wears a leopard-skin as a cloak. These tablets were sketched by both Waldeck and Catherwood in the village of Santo Domingo, whither they had been carried and set up in a modern house. Stephens understood them to come from another of the ruins yet to be mentioned, but the evidence indicates strongly that he was misinformed. Both Waldeck and Stephens entered into some negotiations with a view to remove these tablets; at the time of the former’s visit the condition of obtaining them was to marry one of the proprietresses; in Stephens’ time a purchase of the house in which they stood would suffice. Neither removed them.[VI-36]Waldeck, p. vii., pl. xxiii-iv.; Stephens, vol. ii., p. 352; Dupaix, pp. 24-5, pl. xxxvii-viii.; Galindo, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 71.

Tablet of the Cross.

Tablet of the Cross

Fixed in the wall at the back of the enclosure, and covering nearly its whole surface, was the tablet of the cross, six feet four inches high, ten feet eight inches wide, and formed of three stones. The central stone, and part of the western, bear the sculptured figures shown in the cut. The rest of the western, and all of the eastern stone, were covered with hieroglyphics. This cut is a photographic reduction of Waldeck’s drawing, the accuracy of which is proved by a careful comparison with Charnay’s photograph. The subject doubtless possessed a religious signification, and the location of the tablet may be considered a sacred altar, or most holy place, of the ancient Maya or Tzendal priesthood. Two men, probably priests, clad in the robes and insignia of their office, are making an offering to the cross or to a bird perched on its summit. This tablet has been perhaps the most fruitful theme for antiquarian speculation yet discovered in America, but a fictitious importance has doubtless been attached to it by reason of some fancied connection between the sculptured cross and the Christian emblem. All agree respecting the excellence of the sculpture. Of the two priests, Stephens says: “They are well drawn, and in symmetry of proportion are perhaps equal to many that are carved on the walls of the ruined temples in Egypt. Their costume is in a style different from any heretofore given, and the folds would seem to indicate that they were of a soft and pliable texture like cotton.” Stephens and other writers discover a possible likeness in the object offered to a new-born child. Of the hieroglyphics which cover the two lateral stones, the cut on the opposite page shows, as a specimen, the upper portion of the western stone, or what may be considered, perhaps, the beginning of the inscription. The large initial character, like an aboriginal capital letter, is a remarkable feature. In Dupaix’s time all parts of the tablet were probably in their place, and in good condition, but his artist only sketched, and that somewhat imperfectly, the cross and human figures, omitting the hieroglyphics. Waldeck and Stephens found and sketched the central stone in the forest on the bank of the stream, to which point it had been removed, according to the former, with a view to its removal to the United States, but according to the latter its intended destination had been the village of Santo Domingo. Stephens says he found the eastern stone entirely destroyed, though Charnay speaks of it as still in place nearly twenty years later; why Waldeck made no drawing of it does not appear.[VI-37]Dupaix, pp. 25-6, pl. xxxvi., fig. 40; Waldeck, p. vii., pl. xxi.-ii.; Stephens, vol. ii., pp. 345-7; Charnay, p. 419, phot. xxi., showing only the central stone. ‘Upon the top of the cross is seated a sacred bird, which has two strings of beads around its neck, from which is suspended something in the shape of a hand, probably intended to denote the manitas. This curious flower was the production of the tree called by the Mexicans macphalxochitl, or “flower of the hand.”‘ Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., p. 89. ‘Une grande croix latine, surmontée d’un coq, et portant au milieu une croix plus petite, dont les trois branches supérieures sont ornées d’une fleur de lotus.’ Baril, Mex., pp. 28-9. ‘Un examen approfondi de cette question m’a conduit à penser avec certitude que la croix n’était, chez les Palenquéens, qu’un signe astronomique.’ Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 24.

Maya Hieroglyphics

Hieroglyphics—Tablet of the Cross.

The Only Statue at Palenque

This temple is paved with large flags, through which is an opening made by Del Rio and noticed by later visitors. From this place Del Rio took a variety of articles which will be mentioned hereafter. On the southern slope of this pyramid Waldeck found two statues, exactly alike, one of which is represented in the cut on the opposite page, from Catherwood’s drawings in Stephens’ work. They are ten and one half feet high, of which two and a half feet, not shown in the cut, formed the tenon by which they were imbedded in the ground or in a wall. The figure stands on a hieroglyph which perhaps expresses the name of the individual or god represented. These statues are remarkable as being the only ones ever found in connection with the Palenque ruins; and even these are not statues proper, sculptured ‘in the round,’ since the back is of rough stone and was very likely imbedded originally in a wall. Waldeck believes they were designed to support a platform before the central doorway. One of them was broken in two pieces. After sketching the best preserved of them, Waldeck turned them face downward that they might escape the eye of parties who might have better facilities than he for removing them; but Catherwood afterwards discovered and sketched the one which remained entire. The resemblance of this figure to some Egyptian statues is remarked by all, though Stephens notes in the lower part of the dress “an unfortunate resemblance to modern pantaloons.” The space at the western base of the pyramid where various undescribed ruins are indicated on the plan, is described by Stephens as a level esplanade one hundred and ten feet wide and supported by a stone terrace wall which rises sixty feet on the slope from the bank of the stream.[VI-38]Stephens, vol. ii., pp. 344, 349; Waldeck, pl. xxv. ‘From the engraving, Egypt, or her Tyrian neighbour, would instantly claim it.’ Jones’ Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 127. Copy of the statue from Stephens, in Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 337.

Statue from Temple of the Cross.

Temple of the Sun.

Temple of the Sun

Peculiar Roof Structures

At the south-western base of the pyramid of the Cross, and almost in contact with it, rises another of smaller base, but nearly as high, with a still smaller companion on the north, respecting which latter no information is given. These pyramids, Nos. 5 and 6 of the plan, are located by Stephens directly south from the Temple of the Cross, as indicated by the dotted lines. The building No. 5, sometimes called, without any sufficient reason, the Temple of the Sun, is one of the best preserved and most remarkable for variety of ornamentation of all the Palenque structures, but is very similar in most respects to its neighbor of the cross, having the same stuccoed piers and roof. Its front elevation is shown in the cut, from Catherwood. Waldeck’s plate differs chiefly in representing the stucco ornaments in a more perfect state; but both are confessedly restorations to a certain extent. Here again we have stucco reliefs of human figures on the central, and hieroglyphics of the same material on the lateral piers. The roof bears a superstructure similar to that already described, composed of a frame of hewn stone blocks, supporting complicated decorations in cement, several of which are modeled to represent human figures looking from openings in the lattice-work. The stone frame-work entirely freed from its ornamentation, is shown in the cut from Waldeck, which presents both a front and end view. Brasseur believes that these roof structures were erected by some people that succeeded the original builders of the temples. It will be remembered that in Yucatan similar superimposed structures were found by Stephens and others, and are for the most part the only ones on which traces of stucco work are observable.

Roof Structure—Temple of the Sun.

The dimensions of this temple are twenty-eight by thirty-eight feet, and its ground plan, identical with the exception of an additional doorway with that of the Temple of the Cross, is shown in the cut. The central enclosure in the rear, as is clearly shown by the plates and description in this case, has a roof of its own. Its interior dimensions are, nine feet long, five feet wide, and eight feet high. It has on the exterior a double cornice and graceful ornaments, now mostly fallen, over the doorways, while at the sides stood two sculptured reliefs representing human figures, which although broken in many fragments, were sketched by Waldeck. The tablets in the village of Santo Domingo were understood by Stephens to have come from this apartment.

Ground plan—Temple of the Sun.

Fixed in the rear wall, occupying its whole extent, and receiving light only through the doorway, is the Tablet of the Sun, which measures eight by nine feet and is made of three slabs of stone. In 1842 it was still unbroken and in place, and was considered by Stephens to be the most perfect and interesting monument in Palenque. As in the Tablet of the Cross the sides are covered with squares of hieroglyphics; and in the central portion is an object to which two priests are in the act of making human offerings. This central object is a hideous face, or mask, with protruding tongue, standing on a kind of altar which is supported on the backs of two crouching human figures. Two other stooping men support the priests, who stand on their backs. The name Tablet of the Sun comes from the face with protruding tongue, which was sometimes regarded by the Aztecs as a symbol of the sun;—a very far-fetched derivation for the name.[VI-39]Waldeck’s plate xx. shows the pyramid No. 6 and indicates that his location of it on the plan is correct. Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 420-1, places No. 5 ‘à quelque distance de ce premier (Palace) édifice, presque sur la même ligne.’ Waldeck, pl. xxvi., front elevation; pl. xxvii., elevation of central chamber; pl. xxviii., central wall, roof structure (as given above), ground plan, sections; pl. xxix-xxx, Tablet of the Sun; pl. xxxi-ii, lateral stone tablets. Stephens, vol. ii., pp. 351-4, and frontispiece, gives elevation and ground plan as above, and also elevation of central chamber, a view of a corridor, and the Tablet of the Sun. Dupaix, p. 25, pl. xxxiv., fig. 38, describes a two storied building 10 by 19 varas, 12 varas high, standing on a low pyramid, which may probably be identical with this temple.

The stream on whose banks the ruins stand flows for a short distance through an artificial covered stone channel, or aqueduct, about six feet wide, and ten feet high, covered like all the corridors by an arch of overlapping blocks. It extends fifty-seven feet from north to south, and one hundred and sixty feet further south-eastward toward the Temple of the Cross, where the fallen roof blocks up the passage and renders further exploration impracticable. Such is the information obtained from the works of Waldeck and Stephens. The position of this structure is indicated on the plan by the dotted lines numbered 7, although Stephens locates it considerably further north. There is great confusion in the accounts of this so-called aqueduct. Bernasconi included in his report a description and drawing of a vault seven feet wide, twelve feet high, and two hundred and twenty-seven feet long, extending in a curved line from the Palace to the stream. Del Rio speaks of a “subterranean stone aqueduct of great solidity and durability, which passes under the largest building.” Dupaix states that a rapid stream, a few paces—Kingsborough’s edition has it over a league—west of the ruins, runs through a subterranean aqueduct five and one half feet wide, eleven feet high, and one hundred and sixty-seven feet long, built of stone blocks without mortar. The drawings of this structure, however, in Dupaix and Kingsborough’s works do not bear the slightest resemblance to each other, one picturing it as a bridge, and the other as a corridor, or possibly aqueduct, built above the surface of the ground. Galindo tells us that a stream rises two hundred paces east of the Palace and is covered for one hundred paces by a gallery, with traces of buildings, probably baths, extending fifty paces further. Waldeck describes the mouth of a subterranean passage as concealed by a small cataract in the stream. There seems to be little reason to doubt that all these conflicting accounts refer to the same structure. Charnay tells us that the conduit is two mètres high and wide, and that it is covered with immense stones.[VI-40]Stephens, vol. ii., p. 321; Waldeck, p. ii.; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Palenqué, introd., p. 7; Del Rio, Descrip., p. 5; Dupaix, p. 29, pl. xlvi., fig. 48; Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 310, pl. xlv., fig. 45; Galindo, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 71; Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 429.

Not far from the Temple of the Sun a small building eight feet square was found by Waldeck lifted bodily from the ground by the branches of a large tree.[VI-41]Waldeck, p. ii. On an eminence north of the Palace, at 9 of the plan, are the foundations of several buildings,—eleven in number, according to Dupaix, in whose time some of the arches were still standing. They extend in a line from east to west, and all front the south.[VI-42]Dupaix, p. 18; Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 424. On the summit of a high steep hill, or mountain, the slope of which begins immediately to the east of the Temple of the Cross, are the foundation stones of a building twenty-one feet square, at 8 of the plan. So thick is the forest that from this point none of the ruins below are visible, although the site of the village of Santo Domingo may be seen by climbing a lofty tree.[VI-43]Stephens, vol. ii., pp. 320-1; Waldeck, p. iii. Plate xx. also gives a view of the mountain from the Palace. A ‘monument qui paraîtrait avoir servi de temple et de citadelle, et dont les constructions altières commandaient au loin la contrée jusqu’aux rivages de l’Atlantique.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 84.

Conduit of a Bridge near Palenque.

Two bridges are indefinitely located in the vicinity of Palenque. One of them, said by Dupaix to be north of the Palace, is fifty-six feet long, forty-two feet wide, and eleven feet high, built of large hewn blocks without mortar. The conduit is nine feet wide, having a flat top constructed with a layer of wide blocks, and convex sides, as illustrated in the cut. The second bridge was found on the Tulija River some leagues west of the ruins, and only extends, according to Galindo, partly across the river, which is now about five hundred paces wide at that point.[VI-44]Dupaix, p. 28, pl. xliv., fig. 46; Kingsborough, p. 310, pl. xliv., fig. 43. The latter plate does not show any curve in the sides. Galindo, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 68; Id., in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. iii., p. 64. The Abbé Brasseur, during his visit to the ruins in 1871, claims to have discovered an additional temple, that of the Mystic Tree, containing hieroglyphic tablets.[VI-45]Bibliothèque Mexico-Guatémalienne, p. xxvii. Three thousand five hundred paces southward from the last house of Santo Domingo, on a stream supposed to be a branch of the Usumacinta, Waldeck found two pyramids. They are described as having been at the time in a perfect state of preservation, square at the base, pointed at the top, and thirty-one feet high, their sides forming equilateral triangles. Pyramids of this type rarely, if ever, occur in America, and it is unfortunate that the existence of these monuments is not confirmed by other explorers, since without such confirmation it must be considered very doubtful.[VI-46]Waldeck, p. ii. Seven leagues north from the ruins, Galindo found a circular cistern twenty feet in diameter, two feet high on the outside, and eight feet on the inside, occupied at the time of his visit by alligators.[VI-47]Galindo, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 68. According to Ordoñez, one of Del Rio’s companions discovered on the Rio Catasahà, two leagues from Palenque, a subterranean stone structure, which contained large quantities of valuable woods, stored as if for export.[VI-48]Ordoñez, MS., in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 92.

Palenque Altar for burning Copal.

Miscellaneous Relics

A few miscellaneous relics, found by visitors at different points in connection with the ruins of Palenque, and more or less fully described, remain to be noticed. Del Rio made an excavation under the pavement of the central chamber in the Temple of the Cross, and says: “at about half a yard deep, I found a small round earthen vessel, about one foot in diameter, fitted horizontally with a mixture of lime to another of the same quality and dimensions; these were removed, and the digging being continued, a quarter of a yard beneath, we discovered a circular stone, of rather larger diameter than the first articles, and on removing this from its position, a cylindrical cavity presented itself, about a foot wide and the third of a foot deep, containing a flint lance, two small conical pyramids with the figure of a heart in dark crystallized stone; … there were also two small earthen jars or ewers with covers containing small stones and a ball of vermilion…. The situation of the subterranean depository coincides with the centre of the oratory, and in each of the inner angles, near the entrance, is a cavity like the one before described,” containing two little jars. The same author also speaks of burnt bricks which seem to have been used sparingly.[VI-49]Del Rio, Descrip., pp. 18-20. Waldeck, having made a similar excavation in what he calls the temple of the Palace, perhaps the building C, found a gallery containing hewn blocks of stone, and earthen cups and vases with many little earthen balls of different colors. He also speaks of a fine fragment of terra cotta which he found in the court 1 where he also discovered just before leaving Palenque the entrance to other galleries of the pyramid. Waldeck also gives drawings of two images of human form in terra cotta, from Dr Corroy’s collection; also a face, or mask, in stucco from the cornice of the Temple of Death, whatever that building may have been.[VI-50]Waldeck, Palenqué, p. iv., pl. l.; Id., Voy. Pitt., p. 104, pl. xviii., fig. 3. Galindo found stones apparently for grinding maize, similar to the Mexican metate; also artificially shaped pebbles, similar, as he says, to those used by the modern Lacandones but smaller. Both Galindo and Dupaix speak of a circular granite stone, like a mill-stone, six feet in diameter and one foot thick, found on the side or at the foot of the Palace pyramid. Dupaix found at a distance of a league westward from the ruins, a square pillar fourteen feet in circumference, and about the same in height, with two short round pillars standing at its eastern foot. He also speaks of finding many small altars probably used originally for burning copal. One of them, four feet in circumference and sixteen inches high, is represented in the preceding cut.[VI-51]Galindo, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., pp. 70-2; Dupaix, pp. 28-9, pl. xlii-iii., xlv., fig. 44-5, 47. At the sale of a collection of antiquities in London, 1859, two of the objects sold are, erroneously in all probability, mentioned as relics from Palenque; one was “a mask, with open mouth, in hard red stone, the concave surface sculptured with a sitting figure of a Mexican chief, surrounded by various emblems,” price thirteen pounds; the other, “a Mexican deity, with grotesque human face sculptured out of a very large and massive piece of greenstone,” price twenty-five pounds. Mr Davis talks about “an idol of pure gold about six inches long.”[VI-52]Hist. Mag., vol. iii., p. 100, quoted from Athenæum; Davis’ Anc. Amer., p. 5. The two copper or bronze medals which I have already noticed as probably not authentic relics in my account of Guatemalan antiquities, have been considered by various writers, following Ordoñez without any apparent reason, as belonging to Palenque. The speculations to which they have given rise, and their attempted interpretations are splendid specimens of the trash, pure and simple, which has been written in unlimited quantities about primitive America.[VI-53]See this vol. p. 118; Melgar, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iii., pp. 109-18.

Ruins of Ococingo

Some thirty-five or forty miles southward from Palenque, on another of the parallel streams which unite to form a branch of the Usumacinta, is another important group of ruins, which may be called Ococingo, from the name of a modern village, five or six miles distant toward the west. The same traditions that tell us of Votan’s great Maya empire, and of Xibalba, allude also somewhat vaguely to another great capital called Tulhá. Juarros, perhaps following Ordoñez, applied this name to the ruins of Ococingo, and most authors have followed him in this respect. I need not say, however, that the only authority for this use of the name is the traditional existence in the shadowy past, of a Tulhá in this region. The natives call the ruins Tonila, which in the Tzendal tongue signifies ‘stone houses.’ Notwithstanding the importance of the ruins, very little is known of them. Stephens and Catherwood spent about half a day here just before their visit to Palenque; and Dupaix and Castañeda also visited this point. The accounts by these explorers are about all there is extant on the subject, but they are necessarily brief, and unfortunately neither in text nor drawings do they agree at all with each other. Both Waldeck and Brasseur visited Ococingo, but neither gives any description of the monuments.[VI-54]Stephens, vol. ii., pp. 255-61; Dupaix, pp. 10-13, pl. viii.-x.; Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 291-4, vol. vi., pp. 470-2, vol. iv., pl. ix.-x.; Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., pp. 23, 72-3; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 46-7, 104, pl. xix.-xxi.; Id., Palenqué, p. viii., pl. liv.; Brasseur, Palenqué, introd., pp. 2, 14, 15—he writes the name Toninà. Juarros, Hist. Guat., pp. 18-19, mere mention. Other authorities, containing no original information, are as follows: Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., p. 21; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 465; Baril, Mexique, p. 27; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 20; Wappäus, Mex. Guat., p. 147; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 461; Larenaudière, Mex. Guat., p. 320; Morelet’s Trav., pp. 97-8; Warden, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., p. 71.

Ruins of Ococingo

At the village of Ococingo Stephens noticed two sculptured figures brought from the ruins, which he pronounced “somewhat in the same style as those at Copan.” Castañeda also saw and sketched here two tablets, which may be the same. One of them measured forty-five by thirty-six by four inches, was of a grayish stone, and contained a single human figure, whose arms were bound behind the back with what resembles a modern rope. The other measuring thirty-six by twenty-seven inches, was of a yellow stone, and contained a standing and a squatting figure, surrounded by a border in which hieroglyphics appear. On the way from the village, Stephens noticed two well-carved figures lying on the ground; while Dupaix found several of them thrown down and broken, two of which were sketched. One of them represents a human bust with arms crossed on the breast, the lower portion of which seems to be a kind of tenon originally fixed in the ground; the other bears a slight resemblance to the only statue found at Palenque. This statue must have been removed by Dupaix, since it was afterwards seen by Waldeck in Vera Cruz. Both statues had lost their heads.[VI-55]Stephens, vol. ii., pp. 256, 258; Dupaix, pp. 10-12, pl. viii.-ix., fig. 13-16; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 46-7.

Terra-Cottas from Ococingo.

Engraved Chalchiuite from Ococingo.

Hieroglyphics from Ococingo.

In the possession of some French citizens of Vera Cruz, Waldeck found a collection of seven or eight terra-cottas of very fine workmanship and very curious form, which had been brought from Ococingo. Two of them are shown in the accompanying cuts.[VI-56]Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 46, 104, pl. xix-xxi. ‘Les figures de terre cuite qu’on trouve de temps à autre dans les champs voisins de ces ruines, sont bien modelées, et d’un style qui révèle un sentiment artistique assez élevé.’ The figure shown in the cut was carved in bas-relief on a hard and polished chalchiuite which was found in this vicinity. The design is represented full-sized, and its resemblance to one of the figures on the stone tablet in the Palace at Palenque will be apparent to the reader. Another similar stone bore the hieroglyphics shown in the preceding cut, which was also given in the second volume of this work as an illustration of the Maya system of writing. M. Warden speaks indefinitely of ancient monuments in this vicinity, in connection with which were stone figures representing warriors of great size.[VI-57]Morelet’s Travels, pp. 97-8, cuts probably from Catherwood’s drawings. Warden, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., p. 71.

This brings us to the ruins proper. They are situated a little north of east from the village, at a distance of five or six miles. Dupaix describes them as located on the slope of a hill, on the sides of which are some stone steps, and as consisting of five structures. The central building is nearly square, built of hewn stone, and covered with plaster, without exterior decorations. The drawing represents a double cornice, and a sloping roof, very similar to those of the interior Palace buildings at Palenque. There is only one door, on the west, and two square windows appear on each side. A few rods in front of this building, at the sides of the broad stairway leading up to it, and facing each other, are two other buildings of similar construction, but so small that the roof is pointed, its slopes forming four triangular surfaces. In the rear of the central structure, in positions corresponding to those of the buildings in front but at a greater distance, are two conical mounds of masonry covered with cement. Each is sixty feet high and two hundred feet in diameter, being pointed at the top; indeed, the only specimen of pointed stone pyramids seen by Dupaix in his explorations.[VI-58]Dupaix, pp. 12-13, pl. x., fig. 17.

Winged Globe from Ococingo.

Stephens also describes the ruins, or the principal ones at least, as located “on a high elevation,” but the elevation is an immense artificial pyramidal structure, built in five terraces. The surface was originally faced with stone and plastered, but was so broken up in places that Stephens was able to ascend to the third terrace on horseback. On the summit of this terraced hill is a pyramid, high and steep, which supports a stone building measuring thirty-five by fifty feet on the ground, built of hewn stone, and covered with stucco. This is perhaps identical with the central building sketched by Dupaix. The only exterior doorway is in the centre of the front, and is ten feet wide. The ground plan is very similar to those of the temples of the Cross and Sun at Palenque, except that the front corridor is divided by partition walls, while the rear corridor is uninterrupted except by an oblong enclosure, which, as at Palenque, seems to have been a kind of sanctuary. The dimensions of this enclosure are eleven by eighteen feet, and over the doorway on the outside is a stucco ornament which arrested Mr Stephens’ attention from its resemblance to the ‘winged globe’ of the Egyptian temples. A portion which was yet in place was sketched by Catherwood; the rest, which had fallen face downward, was too heavy for four men and a boy to overturn. Waldeck, however, either succeeded in raising the fragments, or, what is more likely, copied the standing part and restored the rest from his imagination, producing the drawing, a part of which is copied in the cut. The lintel of this inner doorway is of zapote-wood, and in perfect preservation. The entrance to this sanctuary was much obstructed by fallen fragments, and the natives, who had never dared to penetrate the mysterious recess, believed the passage to lead by a subterranean course to Palenque. Stephens succeeded in entering the room, and found its walls covered with stucco decorations, including two life-sized human figures and a monkey.

From the top of the first building was seen another of similar plan and construction, but in a more damaged condition. It probably stands on the same terraced foundation, although no definite information is given on this point. Two other buildings supported by pyramids were seen. Stephens also speaks of an open table, probably the former site of the city, protected on all sides by the terraced structures which overlook the country far around. There is also a high narrow causeway, partially artificial, extending from the ruins to a mountain range, and bearing on its summit a mound and the foundations of a building, or tower. Of these ruins Mr Stephens says “there was no place we had seen which gave us such an idea of the vastness of the works erected by the aboriginal inhabitants.”[VI-59]Stephens, vol. ii., pp. 258-62. Elevation, section, and ground plan, with fragment of the stucco ornament. The latter copied in Brasseur, Palenqué, introd., pp. 14-15. Waldeck, Palenqué, p. viii., pl. liv. ‘Dans l’intérieur de ses monuments, un caractère d’architecture assez semblable à celui des doubles galeries de Palenqué; seulement, j’ai remarqué que les combles étaient coniques et à angles saillants, comme des assises renversées.’ Id., Voy. Pitt., p. 46. Shows higher degree of art than Palenque. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 88.

Miscellaneous Ruins

I have found no very definite information about the antiquities of Chiapas, except the ruins of Palenque and Ococingo. In a statistical work on Chiapas and Soconusco by Emilio Pineda there are the following brief mentions of scattered monuments: In one of the hills near Comitan is a stone table; and a sun, sculptured in stone, serves as a boundary mark on the frontier. Remains are still visible of the cities which formerly stood in the valleys of Custepeques and Xiquipilas, including remains of giants; also of those at Laguna Mora, five leagues from the left bank of the river Chiapas, between the pueblo of Acalá, and the valley of Custepeques, believed to have been the towns of Tizapetlan and Teotilac, where Cortés hung the Aztec king Guatimozin and others; also those of Copanabastla, where columns are mentioned. There are, besides, some sepulchres of the Tzendal nobles, two of which are especially worthy of note. The first is between the pueblo of Zitalá and the hacienda of Boxtic, twenty-two leagues north-west of San Cristóval. “Its base is a parallelogram formed from a hill cut down on three sides, so that at the entrance one seems to be ascending an inclined plain; but further along is seen an elevation with grades, or terraces, chiefly on the sides which are cut away. On the summit plane is found an enormous cone, built of hewn blocks of slate, whose base is about two hundred varas in circumference. In the centre are the sepulchres, and in some of them human bones. The ascent to them is by steps, and the whole seems like a vast winding stairway, for which reason it is called Bololchun, meaning in the Tzendal tongue a ‘coiled snake.’ Similar to this, is another at the hacienda of San Gregorio, near the pueblo of Huistan, eight leagues east of the city of San Cristóval; but the latter has no supporting mound, but stands on the level of the ground. Here are two Egyptian pyramids, considering their form and purpose.” Walls of masonry are mentioned on the hill of Colmena, four leagues from Ocosucoautla; being nine feet thick, seven feet high, and enclosing a circular space forty-five feet in diameter. There is also a wall on the hill of Petapa, south of Ocosucoautla; but the most notable is that of Santoton, near Teopisca, seven leagues south-west of San Cristóval. Two parallel walls extend a long distance, having at one end a ditch, and at the other a high steep mound; within the walls was a town.[VI-60]Pineda, Descrip. Geog., in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. iii., pp. 346, 406-7.

Among the relics found at Huehuetan in Soconusco at the end of the seventeenth century, and publicly destroyed, are said to have been some sculptured stones; and we have a statement that the shapeless ruins of the city itself are still visible on a hill near the Pacific, at the modern town of Tlazoaloyan.[VI-61]Pineda, ubi sup.; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 74; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 21. The ruins of the aboriginal Tonalá, a town captured by Pedro de Alvarado, are said to be still seen on the banks of a laguna communicating with the sea, near the Tehuantepec frontier. The ancient Ghowel, or Huey Zacatlan, is supposed to have stood on the present site of San Cristóval, where some traces are reported. Dupaix mentions a human head, wearing a kind of helmet, cut from green porphyry. This relic was in the possession of Sr Ordoñez.[VI-62]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 633, tom. i., p. 75; Wappäus, Mex. Guat., p. 147; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., p. 20; Dupaix, 3d Exped., p. 8, pl. vii.

Brasseur states that the town of Chiapa de Indios, twelve leagues from San Cristóval, is “full of ruins;” and he thinks that obelisks, on one of which there is a tradition of an old king having inscribed his name, and other ruins like those at Copan and Quirigua will some time be brought to light in the forests about Comitan. Hermosa mentions two stones cut in the form of tongues, nine feet long and two feet wide, at Quixté, the location of which I am unable to find. Galindo speaks of some extraordinary and magnificent ruins in a cave somewhere on the left bank of the Usumacinta near the falls; and somewhat lower down, about three miles from Tenosique, a remarkable monumental stone, with inscribed characters. And finally, among the wonderful pretended discoveries of Leon de Pontelli, were the ruined cities of Ostuta and Copanahuaxtla, southward of Palenque, and in the vicinity of San Bartolomé.[VI-63]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 96; Id., Palenqué, p. 33; Hermosa, Manual Geog., pp. 88-9; Galindo, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. iii., p. 60; Id., in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 68; Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1857, tom. clv., pp. 221-2.

Comparisons

I have now presented to the reader all that is known of Palenque, and the few other relics of antiquity that have been found in Chiapas. Since the monuments described are nearly all found in one locality, a general résumé seems less necessary than in the chapter on Yucatan antiquities, where the remains of many cities, with numerous variations in detail, were described. Yet a brief consideration of the leading points of resemblance and contrast between the two groups is important. In Palenque, as in Yucatan, we have low, narrow buildings of stone and mortar, standing on the summit platforms of artificial pyramidal elevations faced with masonry. There are no traces of city walls or other fortifications. Galleries are found within the Palace pyramid, and that of the Beau Relief; they were also found in Yucatan at Maxcanú, reported at Izamal, and may very likely exist in other pyramids. The building-material, stone, mortar, and wood, were apparently the same in both groups of ruins, although at Palenque the wood has disappeared. Respecting the form and dimensions of the hewn blocks, our information is less complete than is desirable, especially in the case of Palenque. I believe, however, that no importance can be attached to Galindo’s remark that the blocks at Palenque are only two inches thick, and it is probable that the blocks used in both groups are of varying forms and dimensions, as indeed I am informed by a gentleman residing in San Francisco, who visited the ruins in 1860. Mortar, plaster, or stucco was used in greater profusion at Palenque, but there is no reason to suppose that it differed in composition or excellence; the bright-colored paints also, although better preserved in Yucatan, were, so far as can be known, everywhere the same in the Maya ruins.[VI-64]Galindo, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., p. 549. The stones that cover the arches in the Palace corridors, are three feet long; those of the court stairways are one and a half feet high and wide. Oxide of iron is mixed with the mortar. ‘No es decible la excelencia de este yeso que yo llamo estuco natural, pues no se indaga visiblemente en su composicion ó masa, arena ó mármol molido. A mas de su dureza y finura tiene un blanco hermoso.’ Quarries were seen one and a half leagues west of ruins. Dupaix, pp. 15-17, 20. Red, blue, yellow, black, and white, the colors used. Stephens, vol. ii., p. 311.

Interiors here as before consist for the most part of two narrow parallel corridors, with perpendicular walls for half their height, and covered by triangular arches of overlapping blocks of stone. Both walls and ceilings are covered with plaster, and both painted and stucco decorations occur on their surface. Poles originally stretched across from ceiling to ceiling, the poles themselves remaining in Yucatan, and the holes in which they were placed at Palenque. At the sides of many doorways on the interior are simple contrivances for supporting doors or curtains.[VI-65]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 87, following Castañeda, speaks of regular semi-circular arches at Palenque, and states that he has himself seen several such arches in other American ruins. It is very certain that no such arches exist at Palenque. Indeed, Dupaix himself, notwithstanding Castañeda’s drawings, says, p. 17, that semi-circular arches were not used, and Lenoir, Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 74, repeats the statement; although the latter on the same page speaks of the ‘voûtes cintrées’ as appearing among the ruins. Brasseur’s statement about arches in other ruins would be more satisfactory if he had seen fit to give further particulars. ‘This original mode of construction, which discloses the principle of the arch, was not wanting in grandeur or boldness of design, although the architects did not understand the science of curves, and stopped short, so to speak, on the verge of the discovery.’ Morelet’s Travels, p. 88; Id., Voyage, tom. i., pp. 265-6. The Palace, like those of the Yucatan structures which seem to have been intended partially for the residence of priests or lords, is built about an enclosed courtyard, but at Palenque the building is continuous instead of being composed of four separate structures as at Uxmal; and the court, unlike those in Yucatan, contains other structures. The strongest bond connecting Palenque to Uxmal, Kabah, and their sister cities, together with Copan, is the evident identity of the hieroglyphic characters inscribed on their tablets. Respecting this identity all writers are agreed, but the reader, with the specimens given in the preceding pages, will require no other authority on the subject.[VI-66]Hieroglyphics at Palenque are the same as those at Copan and Quirigua, although the intermediate country is now occupied by races of many different languages. Stephens, vol. ii., p. 343; but, as Brasseur says, Palenqué, introd., p. 22, ‘Toutes les langues qui se parlent dans les régions existant entre Copan et Palenqué ont la même origine; … à l’aide du maya et du quiché, je crois qu’on les entendrait toutes, avec quelque travail.’ Id., Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 89; Jones’ Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 102. See also this work, vol. ii., chap, xxiv., vol. iii., Languages, chap. xi. Both Palenque and Yucatan are also alike remarkable for the comparative absence of idols, statues, implements, and pottery; and, except in the matter of statues, Copan may be classed with them. The human faces sculptured or molded in profile in Yucatan and Chiapas exhibit the same flattened forehead, although the type is much more strongly marked at Palenque. The absence of all warlike subjects is remarkable in the stucco and sculptured figures at Palenque as in all the more ancient remains of Central America.

Together with the resemblances pointed out and others that will occur to the student of this and the preceding chapters, there are also strongly marked contrasts to be noted. In nearly every city of Yucatan there are one or more pyramids on the summits of which no traces of buildings appear, apparently designed for the performance of religious rites in sight of the assembled people, but possibly having served originally to support wooden structures; while at Palenque each pyramid seems to have borne its edifice of stone. The number of buildings apparently intended as temples, in comparison with those which may have served also as residences for priests or rulers, seems much greater at Palenque. Many of the pyramids in Yucatan had broad terraces on their sides; at Palenque none appear, although a terraced elevation has been noticed at Ococingo. Some of the Yucatan pyramids are built of a concrete of rough stones and mortar; some of those at Palenque are chiefly composed of earth, but our information is not sufficiently full on this point to warrant the conclusion that there is any uniform difference in the structure of the pyramids. The sides of the pyramids have in Chiapas no decorations either in stone or stucco, but such decorations in stucco may have existed and have left no trace. Coming now to the superimposed edifices we note that none are found of more than one story at Palenque, while in Yucatan two or three stories are of common occurrence. The walls at Palenque are much thinner, are built entirely of hewn stone, and lack, so far as the authorities go, the filling of rubble found in Yucatan. While the arch of overlapping stones is constructed in precisely the same manner, yet, as I have said, the projecting corners are beveled in Yucatan, while at Palenque a plain surface is produced by the aid of mortar. Doorways in the ruins of Yucatan have for the most part, except at Uxmal, stone lintels; in those of Palenque there is no very positive evidence of their use. In the former the principal exterior entrances have arched tops; in the latter no such structure appears. In the former the roof seems to have been flat, cemented, and plain; in the latter they were sloping, and decorated with stucco. In Yucatan columns occur occasionally both in doorways and elsewhere, but there are no windows; while in Chiapas small windows appear in most buildings, but no columns. Traces of a phallic worship are apparent in the Yucatan sculptured figures; at Palenque no such traces have been pointed out, and there is not among the many tablets or decorations in stucco, a single figure which would be offensive to the most prudish modesty. It is not necessary to speak of the exterior stairways, the isolated arch, the round buildings, the flat wooden roof, and other peculiar edifices which were found in Yucatan and have no counterpart at Palenque. The most marked contrast is in the use of stone and stucco for exterior ornamentation. No stone sculpture is seen on the outer walls of any Palenque building; while in Yucatan, except in superimposed ornamental roof-structures, stucco very rarely appears.[VI-67]‘Il serait facile de démontrer, par une comparaison raisonnée des ruines du Yucatan et de celles de Palenque, que les monuments dont elles perpétuent le souvenir avaient un même caractère architectonique; qu’ils étaient ordonnés selon les mêmes principes et construits d’après les mêmes règles de l’art.’ Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 270. Brasseur, Palenqué, introd., pp. 20, 24, notes a striking similarity between the arrangement of buildings at Palenque and Yucatan. He also speaks of a remarkable inferiority in the ruins of Palenque, compared to Chichen, Zayi, and Uxmal. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 88. Viollet-le-Duc, in Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 72-3, says the ruins do not resemble those of Yucatan, either in plan, construction, or decoration; and that the face of the priest in the Temple of the Cross is of a different race from the sculptured heads in Yucatan. ‘La sculpture … indique un art plus savant qu’au Yucatan; si les proportions du corps humain sont observées avec plus de soin et d’exactitude, on s’aperçoit que le faire est mou, rond, et qu’il accuse plutôt une période de décadence que l’âpreté des premiers temps d’un art.’ Id., p. 74, ‘Le caractère de la sculpture à Palenqué est loin d’avoir l’énergie de celle que nous voyons dans des édifices de l’Yucatan.’ Id., p. 97. ‘A pesar de tanta desnudez, no hemos reparado una postura, un gesto, ó algunas de aquellas del cuerpo, al descubierto que el pudor procura ocultar,’ Dupaix, p. 21. Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 72, thinks the tau-shaped figures may have been symbols of the phallic worship. Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., tom. xcii., pp. 300-3, says of the Yucatan ruins that ‘elles portent indubitablement des traces d’une identité d’origine avec les ruines de Palenqué,’ but remarks a difference in the sculptured and molded heads. Sivers, Mittelamerika, p. 238, says that the stone reliefs of Uxmal belong to a ruder primitive art; and that stucco was used at Palenque for want of suitable stone, and for the same reason greater attention was paid to the stone tablets at the latter ruins. See also Reichardt, Centro-Amerika, pp. 26-9; Prichard’s Researches, vol. v., pp. 345-6; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 197.

The resemblances in the different groups of ruins in Chiapas, Yucatan, and Honduras, are more than sufficient to prove intimate connection between the builders and artists. The differences pointed out prove just as conclusively that the edifices were not all erected and decorated by the same people, under the same laws and religious control, at the same epoch.

Antiquity of Palenque

And this brings me to the question of the age of Palenque, the date of its foundation and abandonment. It has already been shown that the Yucatan structures were built by the direct ancestors of the Mayas who occupied the peninsula at the time of the conquest; that they were not abandoned wholly until the coming of the Spaniards, although partially so during the two centuries preceding that event; that the reasons adduced for and against the great antiquity of the ruins by different authors, bear almost exclusively on the date of their abandonment rather than that of their erection; and that the latter date, so far as anything can be known of it, depends chiefly on traditional history, which indicates that the cities were built at different dates from the third to the tenth century. It is chiefly by comparison with the ruined cities of Yucatan that the age of Palenque must be determined, since there is no traditional history that relates definitely to this city, and it was doubtless abandoned before the Spaniards came; for it is hardly possible that a great inhabited city could have remained utterly unknown during the conquest of this part of the country, especially as Cortés is known to have passed within thirty miles of its site. In favor of great antiquity for Palenque, the growth of large trees on the ruins, the accumulation of vegetable mold in the courtyards, and the disappearance of all traces of wood, have been considered strong arguments; but they all bear on the date of abandonment rather than of building, as do the rapid crumbling of the ruins since their discovery, the remains of bright-colored paint, the destructiveness of tropical climate and vegetation, and the comparison with some European ruins of known age. The size of trees and accumulation of earth are known to be very uncertain tests of age in this region; indeed the clearings and excavations of the earlier explorers seem to have left few signs visible to those who came a few years later. The utter disappearance of wooden lintels is, however, a very strong argument that Palenque was abandoned some centuries earlier than the cities of the peninsula, where the lintels were found often in perfect preservation, although it cannot be conclusively shown that the same kind of wood was employed. When we add to this the more advanced state of ruin of the Palenque structures, and the utter silence of all later traditions respecting any great city or religious centre in this region, it seems safe to conclude that Palenque was abandoned, or left without repairs, as early as the twelfth or thirteenth century, and possibly earlier.

Foundation of Palenque

Respecting the date when the city was built, we have the resemblances to Yucatan ruins already noticed, which show beyond doubt that it was built—under different conditions, such as religion and government possibly—by a people of the same race and language, and not by an extinct race as has been sometimes imagined. The present deteriorated condition of the natives, and the flattened foreheads of the sculptured figures have been the strongest reasons for believing in an extinct race; but the former has been shown, I believe, in the three preceding volumes of this work to have no weight, and the peculiar cranial conformation may be much more simply and as satisfactorily explained by supposing that in ancient as in modern times the forehead was artificially flattened. Then we have the strong differences noticeable between Uxmal and Palenque, which lead us to conclude that these cities must have been built either at widely different epochs, or by branches of the Maya race which had long been separated, or by branches, which through the influence of foreign tribes lived under greatly modified institutions. It cannot be accurately determined to what extent the last two conditions prevailed, but from what is known of Maya history, and the uniformity of Maya institutions, I am inclined to attribute most of the architectural and sculptural differences noted to the lapse of time, and to allow a difference of a few centuries between the dates of building. I must confess my inability to judge from the degree of art displayed respectively in the peninsular ruins and those of Palenque, which are the older; I will go further, and while in a confessional mood, confess to a shade of skepticism respecting the ability of other writers to form a well-founded judgment in the matter. Authors are, however, unanimous in the opinion that Palenque was founded before any of the cities of Yucatan, an opinion which is supported to a certain extent by traditional history, which represents Votan’s empire in Chiapas and Tabasco as preceding chronologically the allied Maya empire in the peninsula. If the Yucatan cities flourished, as I have conjectured, between the third and tenth centuries, Palenque may be conjecturally referred to a period between the first and eighth centuries. I regard the theory that Palenque was built by the Toltecs after their expulsion from Anáhuac in the tenth century as wholly without foundation; and I believe that it would be equally impossible to prove or disprove that the Palace was standing at the birth of Christ. It must be added that Brasseur and some others regard the stucco decorations and especially the peculiar roof-structures as the work of a later people than the original builders, or at least, of a later epoch and grade of culture.[VI-68]M. Viollet-le-Duc, judging from the nature and degree of art displayed in the ruins, concludes that the civilized nations of America were of a mixed race, Turanian or yellow from the north-west, and Aryan or white from the north-east, the former being the larger and the earlier element. Stucco work implies a predominance of Turanian blood in the artists; traces of wooden structures in architecture belong rather to the white races. Therefore he believes that Palenque was built during the continuance of the Empire of Xibalba, probably some centuries before Christ, by a people in which yellow blood predominated, although with some Aryan intermixture; but that the Yucatan cities owe their foundation to the same people at a later epoch and under a much stronger influence of the white races. In Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 32, 45, 97, 103, etc. ‘Here were the remains of a cultivated, polished, and peculiar people, who had passed through all the stages incident to the rise and fall of nations; reached their golden age, and perished, entirely unknown. The links which connected them with the human family were severed and lost, and these were the only memorials of their footsteps upon earth.’ Arguments against an extinct race and Egyptian resemblances. Stephens, vol. ii., pp. 356-7, 436-57. Dupaix believes in a flat-headed race that has become extinct, p. 29. After writing his narrative he made up his mind that Palenque was antediluvian, or at least that a flood had covered it. Lenoir, p. 76. M. Lenoir says that according to all voyagers and students the ruins are not less than 3000 years old. Id., p. 73. ‘Catlin, Revue des Deux Mondes, March, 1867, p. 154, asserts that the ruined cities of Palenque and Uxmal have within themselves the evidences that the ocean has been their bed for thousands of years,’ but the material is soft limestone and presents no water lines. Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 398-9. The work of an extinct race. Escalera and Llana, Méj. Hist. Descrip., p. 333; Valois, Mexique, p. 197; Wappäus, Mex. Guat., p. 247. Judging by decay since discovery, bright paint, comparison with German ruins, etc., they cannot date back of the Conquest. Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 237-47. ‘All of them were the Work of the same People, or of Nations of the same Race, dating from a high antiquity, and in blood and language precisely the same Race, … that was found in Occupation of the Country by the Spaniards, and who still constitute the great Bulk of the Population.’ Squier, in Palacio, Carta, pp. 9-10. Copan and Quirigua preceded Palenque and Ococingo as the latter preceded the cities of Yucatan. Ib. ‘The sculptures and temples of Central America are the work of the ancestors of the present Indians,’ Tylor’s Researches, pp. 189, 184. In age the ruins rank as follows: Copan, Utatlan, Uxmal, Mitla, Palenque. Edinburgh Review, July, 1867. ‘Una antiguedad no ménos que antediluviana.’ Registro Yuc., tom. i., p. 322, ‘Approximative calculations, amounting to all but certainty … would carry its origin as far back as twenty centuries at least.’ Dem. Review, vol. i., p. 38. ‘Ces ruines étaient déjà fort anciennes avant même que les Toltèques songeassent à quitter Tula.’ Fossey, Mexique, p. 566. Founded by the Toltecs after they left Anahuac in the 11th century. They afterwards went to Yucatan. Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 269-70. Palenque much older than Yucatan according to the Katunes. Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 22-3, 103. Waldeck found a tree whose rings indicated an age of nearly 2000 years. Id., Palenqué, p. v. ‘Il est probable qu’elles appartiennent à la première période de la civilization américaine.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 85, 87, 89. Copan built first, Palenque second, and Uxmal third. Jones’ Hist. Anc. Amer., pp. 80, 72, 76. Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., p. 284, thinks it improbable that the foundation of Palenque dates back further than the 13th or 14th century; but he never saw the ruins and does not pretend to have any means of accurately determining their age.

Old World Resemblances

Respecting the vague resemblances in the Palenque monuments to old-world ruins, there is very little to be said. The earlier observers were not permitted by their religious faith to doubt that the builders must be connected with some race of the old world; they were, however, allowed to use their judgment to a certain extent in determining which should have the credit, and most of them discovered the strongest similarities to Egyptian antiquities, although Dupaix could find no likeness in the hieroglyphics. Later authorities are not disposed to admit a marked likeness to the monuments of any particular nation of Europe, Asia, or Africa, although finding vague and perhaps accidental similarities to those of many of the older nations. My acquaintance with old-world antiquities is not sufficiently thorough to give any weight to my individual opinion in the matter, and I have no space for the introduction of descriptive text and illustrative plates. I give in a note the opinions of some writers on the subject.[VI-69]‘Palenqué, dans quelques bas-reliefs, a des intentions assyriennes.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. iii. ‘The writing of the inscriptions … has no more relatedness to the Phœnician than to the Chinese writing;’ nor is there any resemblance in the architecture. Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., p. 174. Long arguments against any resemblance of the Central American cities to Egyptian monuments. Stephens, vol. ii., pp. 436-57; which Jones, Hist. Anc. Amer., pp. 106-37, labors to refute. No resemblance to Egyptian pyramids, except in being used as sepulchres. Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 186-7. ‘The Palenque architecture has little to remind us of the Egyptian, or of the Oriental. It is, indeed, more conformable, in the perpendicular elevation of the walls, the moderate size of the stones, and the general arrangement of the parts, to the European. It must be admitted, however, to have a character of originality peculiar to itself.’ Prescott’s Mex., vol. iii., pp. 407-8. ‘Un bas-relief représentant un enfant consacré à une croix, les têtes singulières à grands nez et à fronts rejetés en arrière, les bottines ou caligulæ à la romaine servant de chaussure; la ressemblance frappante des figures avec les divinités indiennes assises, les jambes croisées, et ces figures un peu roides, mais dessinées dans des proportions exactes, doivent inspirer un vif intérêt à quiconque s’occupe de l’histoire primitive du genre humain.’ Humboldt, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., tom. xxxv., p. 328. See also Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 19; Dupaix, p. 32, and elsewhere; Larenaudière, Mex. Guat., pp. 326-9; Scherzer, Quiriguá, p. 11.

Art Displayed at Palenque

I close my account of Maya antiquities with the following brief quotations respecting Palenque, and the degree of art exhibited in her ruined monuments. “These sculptured figures are not caricatures, but display an ability on the part of the artists to represent the human form in every posture, and with anatomical fidelity. Nor are the people in humble life here delineated. The figures are royal or priestly; some are engaged in offering up sacrifices, or are in an attitude of devotion; many hold a scepter, or other baton of authority; their apparel is gorgeous; their head-dresses are elaborately arrayed, and decorated with long feathers.”[VI-70]Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 338-9, 302. “Many of the reliefs exhibit the finest and most beautiful outlines, and the neatest combinations, which remind one of the best Indian works of art.”[VI-71]Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 161-3. “The ruins of Palenque have been perhaps overrated; these remains are fine, doubtless, in their antique rudeness; they breathe out in the midst of their solitude a certain imposing grandeur; but it must be affirmed, without disputing their architectural importance, that they do not justify in their details the enthusiasm of archæologists. The lines which make up the ornamentation are faulty in rectitude; the designs in symmetry; the sculpture in finish; I except, however, the symbolic tablets, the sculpture of which seemed to me very correct.” “I admire the bas-reliefs of Palenque on the façades of her old palaces; they interest me, move me, and fill my imagination; but let them be taken to the Louvre, and I see nothing but rude sketches which leave me cold and indifferent.”[VI-72]Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 273, 264. “The most remarkable remains of an advanced ancient civilization hitherto discovered on our continent.” “Their general characteristics are simplicity, gravity, and solidity.”[VI-73]Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 172; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 85. “While superior in the execution of the details, the Palenque artist was far inferior to the Egyptian in the number and variety of the objects displayed by him.”[VI-74]Prescott’s Mex., vol. iii., pp. 408-9.

Footnotes

[VI-1] The physical features and natural beauties of this region are perhaps more vividly and eloquently described by the French traveler Morelet than by any other visitor. Voyage, tom. i., pp. 245-85; Travels, pp. 65-111. M. Morelet visited Palenque from the Laguna de Terminos, passing up the Usumacinta and its branches, while other visitors approached for the most part from the opposite direction. He gives, moreover, much closer attention to nature in its varied aspects than to artificial monuments of the past. ‘L’esprit est frappé par le rêve biblique de l’Éden, et l’œil cherche vainement l’Ève et l’Adam de ce jardin des merveilles: nul être humain n’y planta sa tente; sept lieues durant ces perspectives délicieuses se succèdent, sept lieues de ces magnifiques solitudes que bornent de trois côtés les horizons bleus de la Cordillère.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 412. ‘La nature toujours prodigue de ses dons, dans ce climat enchanteur, lui assurait en profusion, avec une éternelle fertilité, et une salubrité éprouvée durant une longue suite de siècles, tout ce qu’un sol fécond, sous un ciel admirable, peut fournir spontanément de productions nécessaires à l’entretien et au repos de la vie.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 82.

[VI-2] In 1746, while Padre Antonio de Solis was temporarily residing at Santo Domingo, a part of his curacy, the ruins were accidentally found by his nephews; although Stephens, Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 294, gives a report without naming his authority—probably Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. i., p. v., or Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 18., where the date is given as the middle of the century—which he does not credit, that they were found by a party of Spaniards in 1750. From one of the nephews, Ramon Ordoñez, then a schoolboy at San Cristóval, first heard of the ruins in which he took so deep an interest in later years. In 1773 Ordoñez sent his brother with one Gutierrez de la Torre and others to make explorations, and from their report wrote an account—probably the Memoria relativa à las ruinas de la Ciudad descubierta en las inmediaciones del pueblo de Palenque, a MS. in Brasseur’s collection, (Bib. Mex. Guat., p. 113,) from which these facts were gathered—which was forwarded in 1784 to Estacheria, President of the Guatemalan Audiencia Real. President Estacheria, by an order dated Nov. 28, 1784,—Expediente sobre el descubrimiento de una gran ciudad, etc., MS., in the Archives of the Royal Hist. Acad. of Madrid,—instructed José Antonio Calderon, Lieut. Alcalde Mayor of Santo Domingo, to make further explorations. Calderon’s report,—Informe de D. J. A. Calderon, etc., translated in substance in Brasseur, Palenqué, Introd., pp. 5-7,—is dated Dec. 15, 1764, so that the survey must have been very actively pushed, to bring to light as was claimed, over 200 ruined edifices in so short a time. Some drawings accompanied this report, but they have never been published. In Jan. 1785 Antonio Bernasconi, royal architect in Guatemala, was ordered to continue the survey, which he did between Feb. 25 and June 13, when he handed in his report, accompanied by drawings never published so far as I know. Bernasconi’s report with all those preceding it was sent to Spain, and from the information thus given, J. B. Muñoz, Royal Historiographer, made a report on American antiquities by order of the king.

In accordance with a royal cedula of March 15, 1786, Antonio del Rio was ordered by Estacheria to complete the investigations. With the aid of seventy-nine natives Del Rio proceeded to fall the trees and to clear the site of the ancient city by a general conflagration. His examination lasted from May 18 to June 2, and his report with many drawings was sent to Spain. Copies were, however, retained in Guatemala and Mexico, and one of these copies was in Brasseur’s collection under the title of Descripcion del terreno y poblacion antigua, etc. Another copy was found, part in Guatemala and the rest in Mexico, by a Dr M’Quy. It was taken to England, translated, and published by Henry Berthoud, together with a commentary by Paul Felix Cabrera, entitled Teatro Crítico Americano, all under the general title of Description of an Ancient City, etc., London, 1822. The work was illustrated with eighteen lithographic plates, by M. Fréd. Waldeck, ostensibly from Del Rio’s drawings; but it is elsewhere stated, Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. i., p. vi., that Del Rio’s drawings did not accompany the work at all. If this be true, the published plates must probably have been taken from the Latour-Allard copies of Castañeda’s drawings, of which I shall speak presently, and indeed a comparison with Kingsborough’s plates shows almost conclusively that such was in some cases at least their origin. Humboldt speaks of the Latour-Allard plate of the cross as differing entirely from that of Del Rio. This difference does not appear in my copies. It is possible that the plates in my copy of Del Rio’s work, the only one I have ever seen, are not the ones which originally appeared with the book. A French translation by M. Warden was published by the Société de Géographie, with a part of the plates; and a German translation by J. H. von Minutoli, with an additional commentary by the translator, appeared in Berlin, 1832, as Beschreibung einer alten Stadt, etc. This contained the plates, together with many additional ones illustrating Mexican antiquities from various sources. The German editor says that the whole English edition, except two copies of proof-sheets, was destroyed; but this would seem an error, since the work is often referred to by different writers, and the price paid for the copy consulted by me does not indicate great rarity. Stephens, Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 296, speaks of this as ‘the first notice in Europe of the discovery of these ruins,’—incorrectly, unless we understand printed notice, and even then it must be noticed that Juarros, Hist. Guat., 1808-18, pp. 18-19, gave a brief account of Palenque. Del Rio, in Brasseur’s opinion, was neither artist nor architect, and his exploration was less complete than those of Calderon and Bernasconi, whose reports he probably saw, notwithstanding the greater force at his disposal. ‘Sin embargo de sus distinguidas circunstancias, carecia de noticias historiales para lo que pedia la materia, y de actividad para lograr un perfecto descubrimiento.’ Registro Yuc., tom. i., p. 320. The original Spanish of Del Rio’s report, dated June 24, 1787 (?),—Informe dado par D. Antonio del Rio al brigadier D. José Estacheria, etc.—was published in 1855, in the Diccionario Univ. de Geog. etc., tom. viii., pp. 528-33. See also an extract from the same in Mosaico Mex., tom. ii., pp. 330-4. In Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 76, it is stated that Julio Garrido wrote a work on Palenque about 1805, which was not published. That is all I know of it.

From 1805 to 1808 Capt. Guillaume Dupaix, in company with Luciano Castañeda, draughtsman, and a company of Mexican soldiers, by order of Carlos IV., King of Spain, made three expeditions to explore the antiquities of southern Mexico. Dupaix’s MS. report, and 145 drawings by Castañeda, were deposited in the Mexican archives to be sent to Spain; but the revolution breaking out soon after, they were for some years forgotten. Copies of most of the drawings were obtained by M. Latour-Allard of Paris, passed through the hands of Humboldt, who did not publish them, and later into English hands. They were engraved in London, 1823, without any accompanying explanation, and M. Warden reproduced a part of them in a memoire to the French Geographical Society. These are certainly the plates in my copy of Del Rio, and I have but little doubt that they are the only ones that ever accompanied his published work. Bullock, Six Months’ Residence in Mex., p. 330, says he copied Castañeda’s drawings in Mexico, 1823, but he published none of them. In 1831, copies of the Latour-Allard copies, made by the artist Aglio, were published by Lord Kingsborough, in vol. iv. of his Mexican Antiquities, together with the Spanish text of Dupaix’s report, obtained from I know not what source, in vol. v., and a carelessly made English translation of the same in vol. vi. of the same work. In 1828, the original text and drawings were delivered by the Mexican authorities to M. Baradère—at least Sr Icaza, curator of the Mexican Museum, certified them to be the originals; but Sr Gondra, afterwards curator of the same institution, assured Brasseur that these also were only copies,—and were published—the text in Spanish and French—in 1843, in Antiquités Mexicaines. The faithfulness with which the descriptions and drawings of Dupaix and Castañeda were made, has never been called in question; but Castañeda was not a very skilful artist, as is admitted by M. Farcy in his introduction to Antiq. Mex., and many of his faults of perspective were corrected in the plates of that work. M. Farcy states that all previous copies of the plates were very faulty, including those of Kingsborough, although Humboldt, in a letter to M. Latour-Allard, testifies to the accuracy of the latter. A comparison of the two sets of plates shows much difference in the details of a few of them, and those of the official edition are doubtless superior. The French editors, while criticising Kingsborough’s plates more severely, as it seems, than they deserve, say nothing whatever of his text; yet both in the Spanish and translation it varies widely from the other, showing numerous omissions and not a few evident blunders. Stephens, seconded by Brasseur, objects to the slighting tone with which Dupaix’s editors speak of Del Rio’s report; also to their claim that only by government aid can such explorations be carried on. M. Waldeck says, Palenqué, p. vii., that he tried to prevent the publication of the plates in Kingsborough’s work on account of their inaccuracy, although how he could at that date pretend to be a judge in the matter does not appear. It is true that Castañeda’s drawings are not equal to those of Waldeck and Stephens, but they nevertheless give an excellent idea of the general features of all ruins visited. Morelet says of Dupaix’s report: ‘Ce document est encore aujourd’hui le plus curieux et le plus intéressant que nous possédons sur les ruines de Palenque.’ Voyage, tom. i., p. 268; Travels, p. 90. It was during the third expedition, begun in December, 1807, that Dupaix visited Palenque with a force of natives. His survey lasted several months. The results may be found as follows: Dupaix, 3ème expéd., in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. i., pp. 13-36, tom. iii., pl. xi.-xlvi., with an explanation by M. Lenoir, tom. ii., div. i., pp. 73-81; Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 294-339, vol. vi., pp. 473-83, vol. iv., pl. xii.-xlv. To economize space I shall refer to these works by the simple names of Dupaix, and Kingsborough, with the number of page or plate; and I shall, moreover, refer directly to Kingsborough only when differences may appear in text or plates.

Dr F. Corroy, a French physician of Tabasco, lived 20 years in the country and made several visits to Palenque, claiming to know more about the ruins than anyone else. An inscription on one of the entrances of the Palace, shown in Waldeck, pl. ix., reads ‘François Corroy de tercer viage en estas ruinas los dias 25 de Agosto. Unico historiador de hellos. Con su Esposa y Ija.’ He furnished some information from 1829 to 1832 to the French Geographical Society, and speaks of 14 drawings and a MS. history in his possession. Soc. Géog., Bulletin, tom. ix., No. 60, 1828, p. 198; Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 76. Col. Juan Galindo, at one time connected with the British Central American service, also Governor of Peten, and corresponding member of the London Geographical Society, sent much information, with maps, plans, and sketches to the French Société de Géographie. His letter dated April 27, 1831, describing the Palenque ruins, is printed in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., pp. 67-72, also an English translation in the Literary Gazette, No. 769, London, 1831, which was reprinted in the Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. iii., pp. 60-2. Lafond, Voyages, tom. i., p. 142, states that Nebel visited Palenque, and Müller, Urreligionen, p. 459-60, also implies that this traveler explored the ruins; but this is probably erroneous.

On April 12, 1832, M. Fréderic de Waldeck, the most indefatigable and successful explorer of Palenque, arrived at the ruined city, illustrative plates of which he had engraved ten years before for Del Rio’s work. This veteran artist—64 years of age at that time, according to Brasseur’s statement, Palenqué, p. vi., but 67 if we may credit the current report in the newspapers that he celebrated his 109th birthday in Paris on Dec. 7, 1874, being still hale and hearty—built a cabin among the ruins and spent two whole years in their examination,—Brasseur, Palenqué, p. vi., incorrectly says three years. ‘Deux ans de séjour sur les lieux,’ Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 68, translated ‘in a sojourn of twelve years,’ Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., p. 86,—his expenses being paid by a subscription which was headed by the Mexican Government. More than 200 drawings in water and oil colors were the result of his labors, and these drawings, more fortunate than those made the next year in Yucatan—see p. 145 of this volume—escaped confiscation, although Stephens erroneously states the contrary, and were brought to France. Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. vi. For various reasons Waldeck was unable to publish his proposed work, and over 30 years elapsed before the result of his labors was made public, except through communications dated Aug. 28, and Nov. 1, 1832, sent to the Geographical Society at Paris. Lafond, Voyages, tom. i., p. 142. I shall speak again of his work. Mr Friederichsthal visited Palenque in his Central American travels before 1841, but neither his text nor plates, so far as I know, have ever been published. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Palenqué, introd., p. 14. See pp. 146-7 of this vol.

In 1840, Messrs Stephens and Catherwood, after their exploration of the antiquities of Honduras and Guatemala, reached Palenque on May 9, remaining until June 4. Such are the dates given by Brasseur,—the only antiquarian except myself who has ever had the hardihood to explore Stephens’ writings for dates,—but the actual examination of the ruins lasted only from May 11 to June 1. The results are found in Stephens’ Yuc., vol. ii., pp. 280-365, with 31 plates and cuts from Catherwood’s drawings; and in Catherwood’s Views of Anc. Mon., N. York, 1844, 25 colored lithographs, with text by Mr Stephens. A French translation of Stephens’ description of Palenque is given in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Palenqué, pp. 14-27. Respecting the ability of these explorers, and the faithfulness of their text and drawings, there can be but one opinion. Their work in Chiapas is excelled only by that of the same gentlemen in Yucatan.—See p. 146 of this vol.—Without aid from any government, they accomplished in 20 days, at the height of the rainy season, the most unfavorable for such work, more satisfactory results, as Stephens justly claims, Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 299, than any of their predecessors—except Waldeck, whose drawings had not then been published.

An anonymous account of the ruins appeared in 1845 in the Registro Yucateco, tom. i., pp. 318-22. M. Morelet, of whom I have already spoken, spent a fortnight here in 1846. Voyages, tom. i., pp. 264-84; Travels, pp. 64-111, with cuts from other sources. In 1858, M. Désiré Charnay, ‘Chargé d’une mission par le ministre d’État, à l’effet d’explorer les ruines américaines,’ visited Palenque; but his photographic efforts were less successful here than elsewhere, and of the four views published in his Atlas, only one, that of the tablet of the cross, is of great value in testing the accuracy of preceding artists. His description, however, is interesting and valuable as showing the effects of time on the ruins since Stephens’ visit. Charnay, Ruines Amér., Paris, 1863, pp. 411-41, phot. 19-22; Remarks by M. Viollet-le-Duc, pp. 72-3.

In 1860, a commission appointed by the French government examined and reported upon Waldeck’s collection, which was found to contain ninety-one drawings relating exclusively to Palenque, and ninety-seven representing objects from other localities. The Palenque drawings were reported to be far superior to any others in existence, a somewhat too decided penchant aux restaurations being the only defect;—a defect, however, which is to a greater or less extent observable in the works of all antiquarians, several of Catherwood’s plates being confessedly restorations. In accordance with the report of the commission, the whole collection was purchased, and a sub-commission appointed to select a portion of the plates for publication. It was decided, however, to substitute for M. Waldeck’s proposed text some introductory matter to be written by the Abbé Brasseur, a man eminently qualified for the task, although at the time he had never personally visited Palenque. He afterwards, however, passed a part of the month of January, 1871, among the ruins. The work finally appeared in 1866, under the general title Monuments Anciens du Mexique, in large folio, with complicated sub-titles. It is made up as follows:—I. Avant Propos, pp. i.-xxiii., containing a brief notice of some of the writers on American Antiquities, and a complete account of the circumstances which led to the publication of this work; II. Introduction aux Ruines de Palenqué, pp. 1-27, a historical sketch of explorations, with translations of different reports, including that of Stephens nearly in full; III. Recherches sur les Ruines, etc., pp. 29-83, being for the most part speculations on the origin of American civilization, with which I have nothing to do at present; IV. Description des Ruines, etc., by M. Waldeck, pp. i.-viii; V. Fifty-six large lithographic plates, of which Nos. i., v.-xlii., and l., relate to Palenque, including a fine map of Yucatan and Chiapas. I shall refer to the plates simply by the name Waldeck and the number of the plate. By the preceding list of contents it will be seen that this is by far the most important and complete work on the subject ever published. The publishers probably acted wisely in rejecting Waldeck’s text as a whole, since his archæological speculations are always more or less absurd; but it would have been better to give his descriptive matter more in full; and fault may be justly found with the confused arrangement of the matter, the constant references to numbers not found in the plates, and with the absence of scales of measurement; the latter, although generally useless in the illustrations of an octavo volume, are always valuable in larger plates. In addition to the preceding standard authorities on Palenque, there are brief accounts, made up from one or more of those mentioned, and which I shall have little or no occasion to refer to in my description, as follows: Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., pp. 104-11; Priest’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 246-7; Conder’s Mex. Guat., vol. ii., pp. 157-69; McCulloh’s Researches in Amer., pp. 294-303; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 160-3; Armin, Das Heutige Mex., pp. 73, 85-91; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 148; Nott and Gliddon’s Indig. Races, pp. 184-5; D’Orbigny, Voyage, pp. 354, 356, plate, restoration from Dupaix; Fossey, Mexique, pp. 373, 564-6; same account in Escalera and Llana, Mej. Hist. Descrip., pp. 332-6; Lafond, Voyages, tom. i., pp. 139-44; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 86-9; Democratic Review, vol. i., p. 38; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 82-94; Davis’ Anc. Amer., pp. 4-8; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., pp. 464-5; Frost’s Pict. Hist., pp. 71-7; Willson’s Amer. Hist., pp. 74-6; Jones’ Hist. Anc. Amer., pp. 69-86, 127; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 462, 498; Mosaico Mex., tom. ii., p. 330, cut, restoration from Dupaix; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., p. 21; Revista Mex., tom. i., p. 498; Buschmann, Ortsnamen, pp. 117-20, 181; Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 180, cut, erroneously said to be a Yucatan altar; Littera, Taschenbuch der Deutschen, in Russland, pp. 54-5; Foreign Quar. Review, vol. xviii., pp. 250-51; Larenaudière, Mex. Guat., pp. 308-20, with plates from Stephens; Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., pp. 284-92.

[VI-3] ‘Une enceinte de bois et de pallisades.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Palenqué, p. 32; see also the Spanish dictionaries. ‘Tal vez es corrupcion de la palabra (aztec) palanqui, cosa podrida,’ Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 84. ‘Means lists for fighting.’ Davis’ Anc. Amer., p. 5. I remember also to have seen it stated somewhere that palenque is the name applied to the poles by which boatmen propel their boats on the waters of the tierra caliente.

[VI-4] Humboldt, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., tom. xxxv., p. 327; Fossey, Mexique, p. 373; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 464; Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 19; D’Orbigny, Voyage, p. 354; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 69. Brasseur, however, changed his mind about the name in later works. Palenqué, p. 32. Domenech, Deserts, vol. i., p. 18, calls the name Pachan, probably by a typographical error.

[VI-5] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 111; Id., Popol Vuh, and Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., passim.

[VI-6] ‘Je prouve, en effet, dans mon ouvrage sur ces célèbres ruines, que ce sont les débris de la ville d’Ototiun.’ Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 111. ‘Otolum, c’est à dire Terre des pierres qui s’écroulent. C’est le nom de la petite rivière qui traverse les ruines. M. Waldeck, lisant ce nom de travers, en fait Ototiun, qui ne signifie rien.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 69. ‘I have restored to them the true name of Otolum, which is yet the name of the stream running through the ruins.’ Raffinesque, quoted in Priest’s Amer. Antiq., p. 246.

[VI-7] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Palenqué, p. 32; Baril, Mexique, p. 27.

[VI-8] Calderon gives a list of 206 buildings more or less in ruins. Bernasconi gives the city a circumference of 6 leagues and 1000 varas. Del Rio, Descrip., p. 4, gives the ruins an extent of 7 or 8 leagues from east to west, along the foot of a mountain range, but speaks of only 14 buildings in which traces of rooms were yet visible. According to Galindo the city extends 20 miles on the summit of the chain. Lond. Geog. Soc., vol. iii., p. 60. Waldeck, p. iii., says that the area is less than one square league. Mr Stephens, vol. ii., p. 355, pronounces the site not larger than the Park in New York city.

[VI-9] Descrip., p. 3.

[VI-10] Stephens says eight miles, vol. ii., p. 287; Dupaix, a little over two leagues, p. 14; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 245, two and a half leagues—Travels, p. 64, two leagues; Charnay, p. 416, twelve kilometres. The maps represent the distance as somewhat less than eight miles.

[VI-11] ‘Built on the slope of the hills at the entrance of the steep mountains of the chain of Tumbala,’ on the Otolum, which flows into the Michol, and that into the Catasahà, or Chacamal, and that into the Usumacinta three or four leagues from Las Playas, which was formerly the shore of the great lake that covered the plain. ‘Les rues suivaient irrégulièrement le cours des ruisseaux qui en descendant, fournissaient en abondance de l’eau à toutes les habitations.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 82-84. ‘Mide al suroeste del pueblo dos leguas largas de extension.’ Dupaix, p. 14, translated in Kingsborough, vol. vi., p. 473, ‘occupied a space of ground seven miles and a half in extent.’ ‘Au nord-ouest du village indien de Santo Domingo de Palenqué, dans la ci-devant province de Tzendales.’ Humboldt, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., tom. xxxv., pp. 327-8. Galindo, Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 69, describes the location as on the summit of the range, and reached by stairways from the valley below. On a plain eight leagues long, which extends along the foot of the highest mountain chain. Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., p. 21. Petrifactions of marine shells from the ruins preserved in the Mexican Museum. Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., p. 6.

[VI-12] Waldeck, pl. vi. Stephens’ plan, vol. ii., p. 337, agrees in the main with this but is much less complete. Dupaix, p. 18, found only confused and scattered ruins, and declared it impossible to make a correct plan.

[VI-13] ‘Tous les monuments de Palenqué sont orientés aux quatre points cardinaux, avec une variation de 12°.’ Waldeck, p. iii. ‘Orienté comme toutes les ruines que nous avons visitées.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 424. Others, without having made any accurate observations, speak of them as facing the cardinal points. See Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 276, etc., for the experience of that traveler in getting lost near the ruins.

[VI-14] Dimensions from Stephens, vol. ii., p. 310. It is not likely that they are to be regarded as anything more than approximations to the original extent; the state of the pyramid rendering strictly accurate measurements impracticable. The authorities differ considerably. 273 feet long, 60 feet high. Waldeck, p. ii. 1080 feet in circumference, 60 feet high. Dupaix, p. 14. 20 yards high. Del Rio, Descrip., p. 4. 100×70 mètres and not over 15 feet high. Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 424. Circumference 1080 feet, height 60 feet, steps one foot high. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 85. 20 mètres high, area 3840 sq. mètres. Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 267; 20 feet high. Id. Travels, p. 88. Over 340 mètres long. Lafond, Voyages, tom. i., pp. 143-4. Waldeck, p. iii., is the only one who found traces of a northern stairway, and none of the general views show such traces. Charnay, p. 425, thought the eastern stairway was double, being divided by a perpendicular wall. Brasseur, Palenqué, p. 17, in a note to his translation of Stephens, says that author represents a stairway in his plate but does not speak of it in his text—an error, as may be seen on the following page of the translation or on p. 312 of the original. The translation ‘qui y montent de la térasse’ for ‘leading up to it on the terrace’ may account for the error.

[VI-15] Stephens, vol. ii., p. 316; Waldeck, p. vi.; Charnay, p. 425, phot. 22. Dupaix’s plate xiii., fig. 20, showing a section of the whole, indicates that the interior may be filled with earth and small stones.

[VI-16] Stephens, vol. ii., p. 310, except the height, which he gives at 25 feet. 144×240×36 feet. Dupaix, p. 15. 324 varas in circumference and 30 varas high. Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 296. 145×240×36 feet. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 86.

[VI-17] Waldeck thinks, on the contrary, that the principal entrance was originally on the north. General views are found in Stephens, vol. ii., p. 309; Dupaix, pl. xii., fig. 19; Kingsborough, pl. xii.; Waldeck, pl. viii.;Charnay, phot. 22. All but the last two are, more or less, restorations, but not—except Castañeda’s in a few respects—calculated to mislead. Stephens says that this cut is less accurate than others in his work, and Charnay calls his photograph a failure, although I have already made important use of the latter. Concerning the lintels, see Charnay, p. 427, and Del Rio, Descrip., pp. 9-11. Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 86, says the outside doors are 6 feet high. Doorways 4½ to 12 ft high, 1½ to 15 ft wide. Dupaix, p. 15.

[VI-18] Descriptions and drawings of the bas-reliefs. Dupaix, pp. 20, 37, 75-6, pl. xix-xxii. Kingsborough, vol. iv., pl. xxvi., shows one damaged group not given in Antiq. Mex.; Del Rio, Descrip., pp. 9-11, pl. viii., x., xi., xv., xvi. (as they are arranged in my copy—they are not numbered); Stephens, vol. ii., pp. 311, 316-17; Waldeck, p. v., pl. xii., xiii. See Charnay, p. 426, and this vol., p. 246. Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 274, 282, implies that all the stucco work had disappeared at the time of his visit; and he mentions a shell-fish common in the region which furnishes good lime and was probably used by the ancients. Waldeck concludes that the supposed elephant’s head may be that of a tapir, ‘quoiqu’il existe parmi ces mêmes ruines des figures de tapir bien plus ressemblantes.’ Voy. Pitt., p. 37.

[VI-19] The plan is reduced from Waldeck, pl. vii. Ground plans are also given in Stephens, vol. ii., p. 310, copied in Willson’s Amer. Hist., p. 75; Dupaix, pl. xi.; Kingsborough, vol. iv., pl. xiii.; and in Del Rio, Descrip., the latter being only a rough imperfect sketch. It is understood that a large portion of the outer and southern walls have fallen, so that the visitors differ somewhat in their location of doorways and some other unimportant details. Stephens’ plan makes the whole number of exterior doorways 50 instead of 40, and many doorways in the fallen walls he does not attempt to locate. I give the preference to Waldeck simply on account of his superior facilities.

[VI-20] Plates illustrating the corridors may be found as follows: Waldeck, pl. ix., view of doorway c from b, showing two of the medallions, one of which is filled up with a portrait in stucco, and is probably a restoration; the view extends through the doorways c and d, across the court to the building C. The same plate gives also a view of the outer corridor lengthwise looking northward. Pl. x. gives an elevation of the east side of the inner corridor, and a section of both corridors. Pl. xi., fig. 1, shows the details of one of the shaped niches. Stephens, vol. ii., p. 313—sketch corresponding to Waldeck’s pl. ix., copied in Morelet’s Travels, and taken from the latter for my work. Dupaix, pl. xviii., fig. 25, shows the different forms of niches and windows found in the Palace, all of which are given in my cut. ‘A double gallery of eighty yards in length, sustained by massive pillars, opened before us.’ Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 265-6; Travels, p. 87. The square niches with their cylinders are spoken of by Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 71-2, as ‘gonds de pierre.’ ‘Quant aux ouvertures servant de fenêtres, elles sont petites et généralement d’une forme capricieuse, environnées, à l’intérieur des édifices, d’arabesques et de dessins en bas-relief, parfois fort gracieux.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 92. Principal walls 4 feet thick, others less. Dupaix, p. 15.

[VI-21] Paint the same as at Uxmal. Some was taken for analysis, but lost. Probably a mixture in equal parts of carmine and vermilion. Probably extracted from a fungus found on dead trees in this region, and which gives the same color. Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 100-1.

[VI-22] Waldeck is the only authority for this narrow stairway, and his plan for the northern broad stairway.

[VI-23] Dupaix, p. 21, says that the stone is granite, the figures 11 feet high, and the sculpture in high relief. ‘Peuplée de simulacres gigantesques à demi voilés par la végétation sauvage.’ Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 266. These figures, with the eastern side of the court, are represented in Dupaix, pl. xxiii-iv., fig. 29; Waldeck, pl. xiv-xvi. (according to a seated native on the steps, each step is at least 2 feet high); Stephens, pp. 314-15; Charnay, phot. xix., xx. My cut is a reduction from Waldeck.

[VI-24] Waldeck, pl. xiv-v.; Stephens, vol. ii., pp. 314-15. One of the small sculptured pilasters in Dupaix, pl. xxv., fig. 32.

[VI-25] The only plate that shows any portion of the court 2, is Waldeck, pl. xviii., a view from the point n looking south-eastward. Two of the reliefs are shown, representing each a human figure sitting cross-legged on a low stool.

[VI-26] Del Rio, p. 11, calls the height 16 yards in four stories, also plate in frontispiece. Galindo, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 70, says it is somewhat fallen, but still 100 feet high. Id., in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. iii., p. 61. Dupaix, p. 16, says 75 feet in four stories, and his pl. xv-vi., fig. 22, make it 93 feet in three stories. Kingsborough’s text mentions no height, but his plates xvii-xviii., fig. 24, make it 108 feet in four stories. The other authorities mention no height, but from their plates the height would seem not far from 50 feet. See Waldeck, pl. xviii-xix., and all the general views of the Palace. Waldeck, p. iii., severely criticises Dupaix’s drawings. ‘Une tour de huit étages, dont l’escalier, en plusieurs endroits est soutenu sur des voûtes cintrées.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 86-7. ‘En el pátio occidental está la torre de tres cuerpos y medio: en el primero tiene cuatro puertas cerradas, y una que se abrió cuando el desmonte del capitan Rio, y se halló ser un retrete de poco mas de tres cuartas y lumbreras que se abrieron entónces.’ Registro Yucateco, tom. i., pp. 319-20. ‘Dominée par une tour quadrangulaire, dont il subsistait trois étages, separés l’un de l’autre par autant de corniches.’ Morelet, Voy., tom. i., p. 266. ‘It would seem to have been used as a modern oriental minaret, from which the priests summoned the people to prayer.’ Jones, p. 83.

[VI-27] Waldeck, p. iii. One of the figures in pl. xi. purports to be a cornice of this room, but may probably belong to the outer walls, since no other author speaks of interior cornices. Stephens, vol. ii., p. 315.

[VI-28] Stephens, vol. ii., p. 316; Waldeck, pl. xv., fig. 2, a cross-section of this building, showing a shaped niche in the end wall.

[VI-29] View of the building from the south-west, representing it as a detached structure, in Dupaix, pl. xiv., fig. 21. This author speaks of a peculiar method of construction in this building: ‘Su construccion varia algo del primero, pues el miembro que llamaremos arquitrabe es de una hechura muy particular, se forma de unas lajas grandísimas de un grueso proporcionado é inclinadas, formando con la muralla un angulo agudo.’ The plate indicates a high steep roof, or rather second story. It also shows a shaped window and two steps on this side. For plates and descriptions of the tablet see Stephens, vol. ii., p. 318; Waldeck, pp. iv., vi., pl. xvii.; Dupaix, pp. 16, 23, pl. xviii., fig. 26, pl. xxvi., fig. 33; Del Rio, p. 13, pl. xv.-xvii.; Galindo, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 70. Waldeck’s pl. xvi., fig. 3, is a ground plan showing more detail than the general plan; and pl. xi., fig. 3, is a study of the cornices (?) in the interior. The sculptured tablet probably represents Cuculkan, or Quetzalcoatl. Morelet’s Travels, p. 97. No doubt the medallion represented a sun, and the table beneath was an altar to the sun. Jones’ Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 83.

[VI-30] Stephens, vol. ii., p. 319; Dupaix, pl. xxvii., fig. 34; Del Rio, pl. iv.

[VI-31] Stephens, vol. ii., pp. 316, 318-19. Plan of galleries in Dupaix, pl. xvii., fig. 24. Stucco ornaments, pl. xxv., fig. 30, 31. Hieroglyphic tablet, pl. xxxix., fig. 41. Description, p. 28. Niche in the wall of the gallery, Waldeck, p. iv., pl. xi., fig. 2. Decoration over doorway (copied above), Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 105, pl. xxii.; also in Del Rio, pl. xiv.

[VI-32] Cut from Armin, Das Heutige Mex., p. 73.

[VI-33] Stephens, vol. ii., pp. 339-43, with the cuts which I have given, and also plates of the four stucco reliefs, and the hieroglyphic tablets. Waldeck, pl. xxxiii.-xl., illustrating the same subjects as Catherwood’s plates, and giving also a transverse section of the building in pl. xxiii., fig. 4. Waldeck’s ground plan represents the building as fronting the north. Dupaix, pp. 24-5, pl. xxviii.-xxxii., including view of north front, ground plan, and the stucco reliefs, which latter M. Lenoir, Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., p. 78, incorrectly states to be sculptured in stone. Castañeda did not attempt to sketch the hieroglyphics, through want of ability and patience, as Stephens suggests. See Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 424; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 89; Baldwin, Anc. Amer., p. 107; Del Rio, Descrip., p. 16; Galindo, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 71. It is to be noticed that Stephens’ plan locates this temple nearer the Palace than the one I have copied. Dupaix states the distance to be 200 paces.

[VI-34] Stephens, vol. ii., p. 355, giving view, section, ground plan, and what remained of the Beau Relief. Waldeck, p. iii., pl. xli.-ii., with ground plans, sections, and Beau Relief as given above, and which the artist pronounces ‘digne d’être comparée aux plus beaux ouvrages du siécle d’Auguste.’ Drawings of the relief also in Dupaix, pl. xxxiii., fig. 37; Del Rio, Descrip., pl. ii.; Kingsborough, pl. xxxvi., fig. 37.

[VI-35] Del Rio, Descrip., p. 17, says this pyramid is one of three which form a triangle, each supporting a square building 11×18 yards. Charnay locates this temple 300 mètres to the right of the Palace. Ruines Amér., p. 417. Waldeck, pl. xx., is a fine view of this temple and its pyramid as seen from the main entrance of the Palace. But according to this plate the structure on the roof is at least 10 feet wide instead of 2 feet 10 inches as Stephens gives it, and narrows slightly towards the top. This plate also shows two shaped windows in the west end. Stephens, vol. ii., pp. 344-8, elevation and ground plan as given in my text from Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., p. 106, and some rough sketches of parts of the interior. Dupaix, pl. xxxv., fig. 39, exterior view and ground plan. The view omits altogether the superstructure and locates the temple on a natural rocky cliff. Galindo, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 71, speaks of the top walls as 80 feet from the ground and pierced with square openings.

[VI-36] Waldeck, p. vii., pl. xxiii-iv.; Stephens, vol. ii., p. 352; Dupaix, pp. 24-5, pl. xxxvii-viii.; Galindo, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 71.

[VI-37] Dupaix, pp. 25-6, pl. xxxvi., fig. 40; Waldeck, p. vii., pl. xxi.-ii.; Stephens, vol. ii., pp. 345-7; Charnay, p. 419, phot. xxi., showing only the central stone. ‘Upon the top of the cross is seated a sacred bird, which has two strings of beads around its neck, from which is suspended something in the shape of a hand, probably intended to denote the manitas. This curious flower was the production of the tree called by the Mexicans macphalxochitl, or “flower of the hand.”‘ Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., p. 89. ‘Une grande croix latine, surmontée d’un coq, et portant au milieu une croix plus petite, dont les trois branches supérieures sont ornées d’une fleur de lotus.’ Baril, Mex., pp. 28-9. ‘Un examen approfondi de cette question m’a conduit à penser avec certitude que la croix n’était, chez les Palenquéens, qu’un signe astronomique.’ Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 24.

[VI-38] Stephens, vol. ii., pp. 344, 349; Waldeck, pl. xxv. ‘From the engraving, Egypt, or her Tyrian neighbour, would instantly claim it.’ Jones’ Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 127. Copy of the statue from Stephens, in Squier’s Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 337.

[VI-39] Waldeck’s plate xx. shows the pyramid No. 6 and indicates that his location of it on the plan is correct. Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 420-1, places No. 5 ‘à quelque distance de ce premier (Palace) édifice, presque sur la même ligne.’ Waldeck, pl. xxvi., front elevation; pl. xxvii., elevation of central chamber; pl. xxviii., central wall, roof structure (as given above), ground plan, sections; pl. xxix-xxx, Tablet of the Sun; pl. xxxi-ii, lateral stone tablets. Stephens, vol. ii., pp. 351-4, and frontispiece, gives elevation and ground plan as above, and also elevation of central chamber, a view of a corridor, and the Tablet of the Sun. Dupaix, p. 25, pl. xxxiv., fig. 38, describes a two storied building 10 by 19 varas, 12 varas high, standing on a low pyramid, which may probably be identical with this temple.

[VI-40] Stephens, vol. ii., p. 321; Waldeck, p. ii.; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Palenqué, introd., p. 7; Del Rio, Descrip., p. 5; Dupaix, p. 29, pl. xlvi., fig. 48; Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 310, pl. xlv., fig. 45; Galindo, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 71; Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 429.

[VI-41] Waldeck, p. ii.

[VI-42] Dupaix, p. 18; Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 424.

[VI-43] Stephens, vol. ii., pp. 320-1; Waldeck, p. iii. Plate xx. also gives a view of the mountain from the Palace. A ‘monument qui paraîtrait avoir servi de temple et de citadelle, et dont les constructions altières commandaient au loin la contrée jusqu’aux rivages de l’Atlantique.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 84.

[VI-44] Dupaix, p. 28, pl. xliv., fig. 46; Kingsborough, p. 310, pl. xliv., fig. 43. The latter plate does not show any curve in the sides. Galindo, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 68; Id., in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. iii., p. 64.

[VI-45] Bibliothèque Mexico-Guatémalienne, p. xxvii.

[VI-46] Waldeck, p. ii.

[VI-47] Galindo, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 68.

[VI-48] Ordoñez, MS., in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 92.

[VI-49] Del Rio, Descrip., pp. 18-20.

[VI-50] Waldeck, Palenqué, p. iv., pl. l.; Id., Voy. Pitt., p. 104, pl. xviii., fig. 3.

[VI-51] Galindo, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., pp. 70-2; Dupaix, pp. 28-9, pl. xlii-iii., xlv., fig. 44-5, 47.

[VI-52] Hist. Mag., vol. iii., p. 100, quoted from Athenæum; Davis’ Anc. Amer., p. 5.

[VI-53] See this vol. p. 118; Melgar, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iii., pp. 109-18.

[VI-54] Stephens, vol. ii., pp. 255-61; Dupaix, pp. 10-13, pl. viii.-x.; Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 291-4, vol. vi., pp. 470-2, vol. iv., pl. ix.-x.; Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., pp. 23, 72-3; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 46-7, 104, pl. xix.-xxi.; Id., Palenqué, p. viii., pl. liv.; Brasseur, Palenqué, introd., pp. 2, 14, 15—he writes the name Toninà. Juarros, Hist. Guat., pp. 18-19, mere mention. Other authorities, containing no original information, are as follows: Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., p. 21; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 465; Baril, Mexique, p. 27; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 20; Wappäus, Mex. Guat., p. 147; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 461; Larenaudière, Mex. Guat., p. 320; Morelet’s Trav., pp. 97-8; Warden, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., p. 71.

[VI-55] Stephens, vol. ii., pp. 256, 258; Dupaix, pp. 10-12, pl. viii.-ix., fig. 13-16; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 46-7.

[VI-56] Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 46, 104, pl. xix-xxi. ‘Les figures de terre cuite qu’on trouve de temps à autre dans les champs voisins de ces ruines, sont bien modelées, et d’un style qui révèle un sentiment artistique assez élevé.’

[VI-57] Morelet’s Travels, pp. 97-8, cuts probably from Catherwood’s drawings. Warden, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., p. 71.

[VI-58] Dupaix, pp. 12-13, pl. x., fig. 17.

[VI-59] Stephens, vol. ii., pp. 258-62. Elevation, section, and ground plan, with fragment of the stucco ornament. The latter copied in Brasseur, Palenqué, introd., pp. 14-15. Waldeck, Palenqué, p. viii., pl. liv. ‘Dans l’intérieur de ses monuments, un caractère d’architecture assez semblable à celui des doubles galeries de Palenqué; seulement, j’ai remarqué que les combles étaient coniques et à angles saillants, comme des assises renversées.’ Id., Voy. Pitt., p. 46. Shows higher degree of art than Palenque. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 88.

[VI-60] Pineda, Descrip. Geog., in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. iii., pp. 346, 406-7.

[VI-61] Pineda, ubi sup.; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 74; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 21.

[VI-62] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 633, tom. i., p. 75; Wappäus, Mex. Guat., p. 147; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., p. 20; Dupaix, 3d Exped., p. 8, pl. vii.

[VI-63] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 96; Id., Palenqué, p. 33; Hermosa, Manual Geog., pp. 88-9; Galindo, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. iii., p. 60; Id., in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 68; Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1857, tom. clv., pp. 221-2.

[VI-64] Galindo, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. ii., p. 549. The stones that cover the arches in the Palace corridors, are three feet long; those of the court stairways are one and a half feet high and wide. Oxide of iron is mixed with the mortar. ‘No es decible la excelencia de este yeso que yo llamo estuco natural, pues no se indaga visiblemente en su composicion ó masa, arena ó mármol molido. A mas de su dureza y finura tiene un blanco hermoso.’ Quarries were seen one and a half leagues west of ruins. Dupaix, pp. 15-17, 20. Red, blue, yellow, black, and white, the colors used. Stephens, vol. ii., p. 311.

[VI-65] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 87, following Castañeda, speaks of regular semi-circular arches at Palenque, and states that he has himself seen several such arches in other American ruins. It is very certain that no such arches exist at Palenque. Indeed, Dupaix himself, notwithstanding Castañeda’s drawings, says, p. 17, that semi-circular arches were not used, and Lenoir, Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 74, repeats the statement; although the latter on the same page speaks of the ‘voûtes cintrées’ as appearing among the ruins. Brasseur’s statement about arches in other ruins would be more satisfactory if he had seen fit to give further particulars. ‘This original mode of construction, which discloses the principle of the arch, was not wanting in grandeur or boldness of design, although the architects did not understand the science of curves, and stopped short, so to speak, on the verge of the discovery.’ Morelet’s Travels, p. 88; Id., Voyage, tom. i., pp. 265-6.

[VI-66] Hieroglyphics at Palenque are the same as those at Copan and Quirigua, although the intermediate country is now occupied by races of many different languages. Stephens, vol. ii., p. 343; but, as Brasseur says, Palenqué, introd., p. 22, ‘Toutes les langues qui se parlent dans les régions existant entre Copan et Palenqué ont la même origine; … à l’aide du maya et du quiché, je crois qu’on les entendrait toutes, avec quelque travail.’ Id., Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 89; Jones’ Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 102. See also this work, vol. ii., chap, xxiv., vol. iii., Languages, chap. xi.

[VI-67] ‘Il serait facile de démontrer, par une comparaison raisonnée des ruines du Yucatan et de celles de Palenque, que les monuments dont elles perpétuent le souvenir avaient un même caractère architectonique; qu’ils étaient ordonnés selon les mêmes principes et construits d’après les mêmes règles de l’art.’ Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 270. Brasseur, Palenqué, introd., pp. 20, 24, notes a striking similarity between the arrangement of buildings at Palenque and Yucatan. He also speaks of a remarkable inferiority in the ruins of Palenque, compared to Chichen, Zayi, and Uxmal. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 88. Viollet-le-Duc, in Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 72-3, says the ruins do not resemble those of Yucatan, either in plan, construction, or decoration; and that the face of the priest in the Temple of the Cross is of a different race from the sculptured heads in Yucatan. ‘La sculpture … indique un art plus savant qu’au Yucatan; si les proportions du corps humain sont observées avec plus de soin et d’exactitude, on s’aperçoit que le faire est mou, rond, et qu’il accuse plutôt une période de décadence que l’âpreté des premiers temps d’un art.’ Id., p. 74, ‘Le caractère de la sculpture à Palenqué est loin d’avoir l’énergie de celle que nous voyons dans des édifices de l’Yucatan.’ Id., p. 97. ‘A pesar de tanta desnudez, no hemos reparado una postura, un gesto, ó algunas de aquellas del cuerpo, al descubierto que el pudor procura ocultar,’ Dupaix, p. 21. Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 72, thinks the tau-shaped figures may have been symbols of the phallic worship. Friederichsthal, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., tom. xcii., pp. 300-3, says of the Yucatan ruins that ‘elles portent indubitablement des traces d’une identité d’origine avec les ruines de Palenqué,’ but remarks a difference in the sculptured and molded heads. Sivers, Mittelamerika, p. 238, says that the stone reliefs of Uxmal belong to a ruder primitive art; and that stucco was used at Palenque for want of suitable stone, and for the same reason greater attention was paid to the stone tablets at the latter ruins. See also Reichardt, Centro-Amerika, pp. 26-9; Prichard’s Researches, vol. v., pp. 345-6; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 197.

[VI-68] M. Viollet-le-Duc, judging from the nature and degree of art displayed in the ruins, concludes that the civilized nations of America were of a mixed race, Turanian or yellow from the north-west, and Aryan or white from the north-east, the former being the larger and the earlier element. Stucco work implies a predominance of Turanian blood in the artists; traces of wooden structures in architecture belong rather to the white races. Therefore he believes that Palenque was built during the continuance of the Empire of Xibalba, probably some centuries before Christ, by a people in which yellow blood predominated, although with some Aryan intermixture; but that the Yucatan cities owe their foundation to the same people at a later epoch and under a much stronger influence of the white races. In Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 32, 45, 97, 103, etc. ‘Here were the remains of a cultivated, polished, and peculiar people, who had passed through all the stages incident to the rise and fall of nations; reached their golden age, and perished, entirely unknown. The links which connected them with the human family were severed and lost, and these were the only memorials of their footsteps upon earth.’ Arguments against an extinct race and Egyptian resemblances. Stephens, vol. ii., pp. 356-7, 436-57. Dupaix believes in a flat-headed race that has become extinct, p. 29. After writing his narrative he made up his mind that Palenque was antediluvian, or at least that a flood had covered it. Lenoir, p. 76. M. Lenoir says that according to all voyagers and students the ruins are not less than 3000 years old. Id., p. 73. ‘Catlin, Revue des Deux Mondes, March, 1867, p. 154, asserts that the ruined cities of Palenque and Uxmal have within themselves the evidences that the ocean has been their bed for thousands of years,’ but the material is soft limestone and presents no water lines. Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 398-9. The work of an extinct race. Escalera and Llana, Méj. Hist. Descrip., p. 333; Valois, Mexique, p. 197; Wappäus, Mex. Guat., p. 247. Judging by decay since discovery, bright paint, comparison with German ruins, etc., they cannot date back of the Conquest. Sivers, Mittelamerika, pp. 237-47. ‘All of them were the Work of the same People, or of Nations of the same Race, dating from a high antiquity, and in blood and language precisely the same Race, … that was found in Occupation of the Country by the Spaniards, and who still constitute the great Bulk of the Population.’ Squier, in Palacio, Carta, pp. 9-10. Copan and Quirigua preceded Palenque and Ococingo as the latter preceded the cities of Yucatan. Ib. ‘The sculptures and temples of Central America are the work of the ancestors of the present Indians,’ Tylor’s Researches, pp. 189, 184. In age the ruins rank as follows: Copan, Utatlan, Uxmal, Mitla, Palenque. Edinburgh Review, July, 1867. ‘Una antiguedad no ménos que antediluviana.’ Registro Yuc., tom. i., p. 322, ‘Approximative calculations, amounting to all but certainty … would carry its origin as far back as twenty centuries at least.’ Dem. Review, vol. i., p. 38. ‘Ces ruines étaient déjà fort anciennes avant même que les Toltèques songeassent à quitter Tula.’ Fossey, Mexique, p. 566. Founded by the Toltecs after they left Anahuac in the 11th century. They afterwards went to Yucatan. Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 269-70. Palenque much older than Yucatan according to the Katunes. Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 22-3, 103. Waldeck found a tree whose rings indicated an age of nearly 2000 years. Id., Palenqué, p. v. ‘Il est probable qu’elles appartiennent à la première période de la civilization américaine.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 85, 87, 89. Copan built first, Palenque second, and Uxmal third. Jones’ Hist. Anc. Amer., pp. 80, 72, 76. Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., p. 284, thinks it improbable that the foundation of Palenque dates back further than the 13th or 14th century; but he never saw the ruins and does not pretend to have any means of accurately determining their age.

[VI-69] ‘Palenqué, dans quelques bas-reliefs, a des intentions assyriennes.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. iii. ‘The writing of the inscriptions … has no more relatedness to the Phœnician than to the Chinese writing;’ nor is there any resemblance in the architecture. Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., p. 174. Long arguments against any resemblance of the Central American cities to Egyptian monuments. Stephens, vol. ii., pp. 436-57; which Jones, Hist. Anc. Amer., pp. 106-37, labors to refute. No resemblance to Egyptian pyramids, except in being used as sepulchres. Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 186-7. ‘The Palenque architecture has little to remind us of the Egyptian, or of the Oriental. It is, indeed, more conformable, in the perpendicular elevation of the walls, the moderate size of the stones, and the general arrangement of the parts, to the European. It must be admitted, however, to have a character of originality peculiar to itself.’ Prescott’s Mex., vol. iii., pp. 407-8. ‘Un bas-relief représentant un enfant consacré à une croix, les têtes singulières à grands nez et à fronts rejetés en arrière, les bottines ou caligulæ à la romaine servant de chaussure; la ressemblance frappante des figures avec les divinités indiennes assises, les jambes croisées, et ces figures un peu roides, mais dessinées dans des proportions exactes, doivent inspirer un vif intérêt à quiconque s’occupe de l’histoire primitive du genre humain.’ Humboldt, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., tom. xxxv., p. 328. See also Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 19; Dupaix, p. 32, and elsewhere; Larenaudière, Mex. Guat., pp. 326-9; Scherzer, Quiriguá, p. 11.

[VI-70] Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 338-9, 302.

[VI-71] Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 161-3.

[VI-72] Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 273, 264.

[VI-73] Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 172; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 85.

[VI-74] Prescott’s Mex., vol. iii., pp. 408-9.

Chapter VII • Antiquities of Oajaca and Guerrero • 18,200 Words

Nahua Antiquities—Home of the Zapotecs and Miztecs—Remains in Tehuantepec—Fortified Hill of Guiengola—Petapa, Magdalena, and Laollaga—Bridge at Chihuitlan—Cross of Guatulco—Tutepec—City of Oajaca and Vicinity—Tlacolula—Etla—Peñoles—Quilapan—Ruins of Monte Alban—Relics at Zachila—Cuilapa—Palaces of Mitla—Mosaic Work—Stone Columns—Subterranean Galleries—Pyramids—Fortifications—Comparison with Central American Ruins—Northern Monuments—Quiotepec—Cerro de las Juntas—Tuxtepec—Huahuapan—Yanguitlan—Antiquities of Guerrero.

Nahua Monuments

I now enter what has been classified in a preceding volume of this work as the home of the Nahua nations,—nations, most of which were at the time of the Spanish conquest, and during the preceding century, subjected to the allied powers of Anáhuac, and were more or less closely related to the nations of the central valley, in blood, language, or institutions. It has been seen, in what has been said on the subject,[VII-1]See vol. ii., chap. ii., of this work.that the dividing line between the Nahuas and Mayas, drawn across the isthmus of Tehuantepec, is not a very sharply defined one. Many analogies, linguistic, institutionary, and mythologic, were found between nations dwelling on different sides of the line; so in monumental relics, and in traditional history, we shall find many points of similarity; but on the whole, the resemblances will be so far outweighed by the differences, as “to indicate either a separate culture from the beginning, or what is more probable, and for us practically the same thing, a progress in different paths for a long time prior to the coming of the Europeans,” to repeat the words of a preceding chapter.

The relics to be described in the present chapter are those of the isthmus proper, and of that portion of the Mexican Republic above the isthmus which lies in general terms south of the eighteenth parallel of latitude, including the states of Oajaca and Guerrero, and stretching on the Pacific from Tonalá to the mouth of the Rio Zacatula, a distance of between five and six hundred miles. The province of Tehuantepec, belonging politically to the state of Oajaca, includes the central continental mountain chain, with the plains on the Pacific at its southern base, a region somewhat less fertile and attractive than those in which many of the ruins already described are situated. The two chief mountain ranges of the Mexican Republic, one skirting the Atlantic, the other the Pacific shore, draw near each other as the continent narrows, and meet in Tehuantepec. The southern portions of these two converging ranges, the broad mountain-girt valleys in the angle formed by their junction, and a narrow strip of tierra caliente on the southern coast, constitute the state of Oajaca, the home of the Miztecs, Zapotecs, and other tribes somewhat less civilized, powerful, and celebrated. The interior valleys are for the most part in the tierra templada, and include some of the best agricultural land in the country, with all the larger towns grouped round the capital as a centre. Guerrero is made up of the very narrow lowlands of the coast, the southern mountain range extending through its whole length from north-west to south-east, and the valley of the Zacatula further north. It is a region but little known to travelers, except along the great national highway, or trail, which leads from Acapulco, the most important port of the state, to the city of Mexico.

Ruins of Guiengola

Five or six leagues from the city of Tehuantepec, the capital of the province of the same name, and in the south-western corner of the province, have been found the remains of an aboriginal fortification or fortified town, which, according to the traditional annals of the country, was built by the Zapotecs, not very long before the Conquest, to resist the advance of the Aztec forces. The principal remains are on a lofty hill, the cerro of Guiengola, but the fortified territory is said to extend over an area measuring one and a half by over four leagues, the outer walls being visible throughout the entire circumference at every naturally accessible point. Besides the protecting walls there are remains of dwellings, all of stone without mortar, except a cornice on the larger walls. Three fortresses covered with a coating of hard plaster are mentioned. Ditches accompany the walls and add to the strength of the works. From a subterranean sepulchre were taken about two hundred pieces of pottery, including vases and imitations of various animals. The tombs had a coating of compact cement, and the skeletons found in them were lying face down. The preceding information I take from a very vague account written by Sr Arias and published in the Museo Mexicano. Arias visited the locality in 1833; he claims to have sent some very interesting relics, found at Guiengola and other localities in the vicinity of Tehuantepec, to the museum at Oajaca; but the man to whom they were entrusted probably disposed of them in a manner more profitable to himself, if less advantageous to the museum. Several natural caves are spoken of by Arias, and one of them, seventy feet deep, showed traces, according to the German traveler Müller, of having been formerly inhabited. The latter also found vestiges of dwellings scattered throughout the vicinity, and speaks of a well-preserved tumulus standing not long before his visit in a valley close by. It was thirty-three feet high, with a base of ninety by one hundred and five feet, and a summit platform sixty by seventy-five feet, reached by a stairway of twenty-five wide steps. At the side of this tumulus was a quadrilateral elevation covering an area of about two acres, and enclosed by a wall eight feet high and twelve feet thick. Whether these structures are identical with the ‘castles’ of Arias is uncertain. A correspondent of Hutchings’ Magazine in 1858 describes a wall of rough stones four feet thick and thirty feet high, said to extend nine miles. This writer speaks also of buildings with pillars in their centre, and of quarries from which the stone was originally taken. Some plans accompanied Arias’ report but were not published. Unsatisfactory as it certainly is, the preceding is all the information extant respecting these remains,[VII-2]Arias, Antigüedades Zapotecas, in Museo Mex., tom. i., pp. 246-8, Müller, Reisen, tom. ii., pp. 356-7; Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. ii., pp. 395; 539-41; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 359, with reference to Carriedo, Estudios hist. y estad. del Estado Oaxaqueño, tom. ii., append. i.; Garay, Reconocimiento, p. 110; Id., Survey, pp. 112-13; Id., Acct., pp. 79-81. or at least referred definitely to Guiengola by name; but some remains were described by Dupaix and sketched by Castañeda, at a point three leagues west of Tehuantepec, which undoubtedly belonged to this group, and were probably the same ruins which the other writers so vaguely mention. On the top of a high hill, surrounded by other grand ruins, are two pyramids of hewn stone and mortar. The first is fifty-five by one hundred and twenty feet at the base, and thirty by sixty-six feet at the summit. The main stairway, thirty feet wide, of forty steps, leads up the centre of the western slope; there are also narrower stairways on the north and south. The pyramid is built in four terraces, the walls of the lower one being perpendicular; and of all the rest sloping. The whole surface was covered with a brilliant cement of lime, sand, and red ochre. No remains whatever were found on the summit. A remarkable feature is noticed on the surface of the second story, from which project throughout the whole circumference, except where interrupted by the stairways, four ranges of flat stones, forming hundreds of small shelves. The only suggestions made respecting the possible use to which these shelves were devoted are that they supported torches or human skulls.

Pyramid near Tehuantepec.

The second pyramid is shown in the accompanying cut. The dimensions of the base and summit platform are about the same as those of the former pyramid, but the height is over fifty feet. The chief stairway, shown in the cut, is on the east, and narrower stairways also afford access to the summit on the north and south. The curved slope of the lower story constitutes a feature not found in American pyramids farther south, and rarely if at all in the north. The upper story has three projections, or cornices, on its perpendicular sides; and between them is set a row of blocks, said to be white marble, bearing sculptured designs in bas-relief. Three of these blocks with their sculptured figures, found by Castañeda at the foot of the pyramid, are shown in the cut. Of the building which appears on the summit nothing is known further than may be gathered from the cut. The sides of the pyramid were covered with cement, which was doubtless in a much more dilapidated condition than is indicated in the drawing.

Marble Tablets from Tehuantepec.

Near the pyramids, and perhaps used in connection with them as an altar, is a structure comprised of eight circular masses of stone and mortar, like mill-stones in shape, placed one above another, and diminishing in size towards the top. The base is ten feet and a half in diameter, and the summit about four feet and a half, the height being about twelve feet. Kingsborough’s translation, without any apparent authority, represents this monument as standing on a base sixty-six feet long and twelve feet high.

About a hundred paces in front of the second pyramid, stands a structure precisely similar to the lower story of that just described, twelve feet in diameter and three feet high. Both of these altar-like pyramids were built of regular blocks of stone, and covered with a hard white plaster. Dupaix suggests that the latter was a gladiatorial stone, or possibly intended for theatrical representations.[VII-3]Dupaix, 3d exped., pp. 6-7, pl. iii.-v., fig. 6-9; Kingsborough, vol. vi., p. 469, vol. iv., pl. iii.-v., fig. 6-9; Larenaudière, Mex. Guat., pl. viii., from Dupaix, showing second pyramid; Mayer’s Observations, pp. 25-6, with cut of the first altar representing its successive platforms as forming a spiral ascent.

Monuments of Tehuantepec

In the city of Tehuantepec, or in its immediate vicinity, Dupaix found a flint lance-head of peculiar shape, having three cutting edges, like a bayonet. Its dimensions were one and a half by six inches, and the end was evidently intended to be fixed in a socket on the shaft. Cuts of four terra-cotta idols, sent to the Mexican Museum probably by Arias, already mentioned, are given in a Mexican magazine, and also in a Spanish edition of Prescott’s work. Two of them wear horrible masks, the main feature of which is the projection from the mouth of six large tusks, like those of some fierce animal or monster. The same Arias speaks of a statue representing a naked woman, but broken in pieces; also a stone tablet covered with hieroglyphics. A small earthen bowl or censer, with a long handle, was presented to the American Ethnological Society, as coming from some point on the Tehuantepec interoceanic route.[VII-4]Dupaix, 3d exped., p. 6, pl. ii., fig. 5; cut of same lance-head in Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., p. 85, pl. xiv.; Museo Mexicano, tom. i., pp. 248-9, tom. iii., pp. 135-7; Hist. Mag., vol. iii., p. 240.

In the region of Petapa, a town forty or fifty miles north of Tehuantepec, a stalactite cave is mentioned by Brasseur, on the walls of which figures painted in black are seen, including the imprint of human hands like those on the Yucatan ruins except in color. A labyrinth of caves, with some artificial improvements, is also reported, where the remains of princes and nobles were formerly deposited, and where an arriero claims to have seen over one hundred burial urns, painted and ranged in order round the sides of the cave.[VII-5]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Voy. Tehuan., pp. 122-5. Only four leagues from Tehuantepec, near Magdalena, Burgoa speaks of a statue of Wixepecocha, the white-haired reformer and prophet of the Zapotecs, which Brasseur, without naming his authority, states to have been still visible a few years before he wrote.[VII-6]Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., cap. lxxii.; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 9-10. Lafond briefly mentions three pyramids on the isthmus without definitely locating them;—that of Tehuantepec, seventy-two feet high, that of San Cristóval near the former, and that of Altamia in a broad plain.[VII-7]Lafond, Voyage, tom. i., p. 139. At Laollaga, seven leagues from Tehuantepec in a direction not stated, Arias—very vaguely, as is the custom of Mexican and Central American explorers of local antiquities—describes a group of mounds, some of which are seventy or eighty varas square, built of stones—or stone adobes, as the author calls them—three feet long and half as thick. In connection with these mounds, flint and copper hatchets have been found, together with many anchor-shaped objects of what is spoken of as brass. A cave containing some relics was reported to exist in the same vicinity; and at another point, some fourteen leagues from the city, is a mound seventy-five feet high, on the side of which was discovered a black rock, covered with hieroglyphic characters.[VII-8]Museo Mex., tom. i., p. 248. At Chihuitlan, a day’s journey from the city, a bridge of aboriginal construction, stretches across a stream. The bridge is twelve feet long, six feet wide, and nine feet high above the water, having low parapets guarding the sides. The conduit is nine feet wide, and is formed by two immense stones, which meet in the centre. According to Castañeda’s drawing these two stones have curved surfaces, so that the whole approaches in form a regular arch. The whole structure is of the class known as cyclopean, built of large irregular stones, without mortar.[VII-9]Dupaix, 3d exped., p. 8, pl. vi., fig. 10; Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 289, vol. vi., p. 469, vol. iv., pl. vi., fig. 10; Lenoir, pp. 16, 71. Kingsborough calls the name of the locality of these remains Chilmitlan. His plate shows regular quadrilateral openings in the parapets, while in Castañeda’s plate they appear of irregular form, as if made by the removal of stones.

Respecting Tehuantepec antiquities, I have in addition to what has been said only brief mention by Garay of the following reported relics: On a cliff of the Cerro del Venado, is the sculptured figure of a deer, whence comes the name of the hill. Nine miles east of the same hill the Indians pointed out the location of a valley where they said were the remains of a large town of stone buildings. The Cerro de Coscomate, near Zanatepec, is said to have a sculptured image of the sun, with an inscription in unknown characters. And finally, relics have been found on the islands of Monapostiac, Tilema, and Arrianjianbaj; those on the first being in the form of earthen idols, while in the latter were the foundations of an aboriginal town.[VII-10]Garay, Reconocimiento, pp. 110-12; Id., Survey, pp. 113-15; Id., Acct., pp. 79-81.

At the port of Guatulco, south-west from Tehuantepec on the Oajacan coast, there may yet be seen, if Brasseur’s statement is to be credited, traces of the roads and buildings of the ancient city that stood in this locality, and transmitted its name to the modern town. Guatulco was likewise one of the many localities described by the early Catholic writers as containing a wonderful cross, left here probably by Saint Thomas during his sojourn in America. We are not very clearly informed as to the material of this relic, but we know, from the same authorities, that all the powers of darkness could not destroy it, not even the famous Englishman, Sir Francis Drake, who subjected it for three days to the fiercest flames without affecting its condition. Brasseur also tells us that the remains of Tututepec, a great aboriginal south-coast capital, are still to be seen three or four leagues from the sea, between the Rio Verde and Lake Chicahua.[VII-11]Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., p. 298; Florencia, Hist. Comp. Jesus, pp. 233-6, Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 39, 286, tom. i., p. 146.

Miscellaneous Remains

Passing now to the interior valleys about the capital city of Oajaca, where the chief remains of aboriginal works are found, I shall mention first a few miscellaneous relics of minor importance, or at least only slightly known to explorers,[VII-12]Besides remains attributed to particular localities, see Museo Mex., tom. iii., p. 135, cuts and descriptions of four earthen idols found in this state; Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. i., fol. 160, 166, 170, 197, tom. ii., fol. 275, 298, 319-21, 330, 344-5, 363, mention and slight description of burial places, caves, temples, etc., of the natives, some of them seen by the author; Mühlenpfordt, Mej., tom. ii., pp. 186, 195, 200, 206, 212, 215, slight mention of scattered relics; Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 218, cuts of three heads in Peñasco collection, said to have come from Oajaca. beginning with the city of Oajaca, where Dupaix found two ancient ornaments of great beauty. The first was a pentagon of polished transparent agate, about two inches in diameter and an inch and a half thick. The surface bore no marks of the instruments by which it was polished, and a hole was bored through the stone presumably for the insertion of a string. The second was a hexagonal piece of black touch-stone, of about the same dimensions, sprinkled with grains of gold or copper, and like the former brilliantly polished. The hole in this stone was bored in the form of a curve, by an unknown process which must have been accompanied by no little difficulty.[VII-13]Dupaix, 2d exped., pp. 28-9.

At Tlacolula, some twenty miles south-east of Oajaca, Mr Müller reports the opening of a mound twelve feet high and eight feet in diameter at the base. It was simply a heap of earth, and the only artificially wrought objects found in the excavations were an earthen tube two inches in diameter and nearly two feet long, closed at each end with a stone plug, found in a horizontal position somewhat above the natural surface of the ground, and a bowl-shaped ring of the same material lying in a vertical position over the tube near the centre of the mound, but separated from the first relic by a layer of earth.[VII-14]Müller, Reisen, tom. ii., p. 282, with cut of the ring. Remains of the ruined fortress of Quíyechapa are said to have been seen by travelers at a point some twenty-five leagues east of Oajaca.[VII-15]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 47. At Etla, two leagues northward from the capital, two subterranean tombs were opened, and found to contain what are supposed to have been earthen torch-bearers, or images in distorted human form, with a socket in the head which indicates their former use. Similar images found at Zachila will be noticed later in this chapter. A wooden fac-simile of the tomb is mentioned by Sr Gondra as preserved in the Mexican Museum.[VII-16]Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., p. 91. At Peñoles, seven leagues from Oajaca, a skull covered and preserved by a coating of limestone was found.[VII-17]Museo Mex., tom. i., p. 249. On the western boundary of this state, perhaps across the line in Guerrero, at Quilapan, formerly a great city of the Miztecs, an axe cast from red copper was found, one fourth of an inch thick, four inches long, and three and a half inches wide. From a mound opened in the same vicinity some fragments of statues and of pottery were taken.[VII-18]Dupaix, 3d exped., p. 6, pl. ii., 2d exped., p. 51. Fossey tells us that conical mounds in great numbers are scattered over the whole country between Oajaca, Zachila, and Cuilapa. The mounds are from fifteen to fifty feet high, and are formed in some cases of simple earth, in others of clay and stones. Human remains are found often in the centre together with stone and earthen figures. Those figures which are molded in human form agree in features with the Zapotec features of modern times. Copper mirrors and hatchets have also been found, according to this author, as well as golden ornaments and necklaces of gilded beads.[VII-19]Fossey, Mexique, pp. 375-6. No authority is given, and M. Fossey was not himself an antiquarian explorer. M. Charnay saw in the second valley of Oajaca as he came from Mexico the ruins of a temple, the building of which was begun by the Spaniards in the time of Cortés, on the site of an aboriginal temple. The ruined walls of the latter were of adobes, and served for scaffolding in the erection of the former, and both ruins now stand together. The whole valley was covered with tumuli, probably tombs, as the author thinks; but the natives would neither help to make excavations nor permit strangers to make them.[VII-20]Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 249-51.

In addition to the relics described in the few and unsatisfactory notes of the preceding pages, three important groups of antiquities in central Oajaca remain to be noticed: Monte Alban, Zachila, and Mitla; our information respecting the two former being also far from satisfactory.

Ruins of Monte Alban

Monte Alban is located immediately west of the city of Oajaca, or Antequera, at a distance of from half a mile to five miles according to different authorities. These differences in the statements of the distance perhaps result from the fact that some visitors estimate it in an air line, while others include the windings of the road which must be traveled over a mountainous country in order to reach the ruins, which seem to be located on a high hill or on a range of hills overlooking the town. Dupaix and Castañeda visited this place during their second expedition. Juan B. Carriedo made in 1833 a manuscript atlas of plans and drawings of the remains, which has never been published, but which is said to be preserved in the Mexican Museum. José María García explored Monte Alban in 1855, and his report with some drawings was published in the bulletin of the Mexican Geographical Society. Müller, the German traveler, visited the place in 1857 with one Ortega, and published a plan in his work. Finally we have Charnay’s description from an exploration in 1858 or 1859, unaccompanied, however, by photographic views.[VII-21]Dupaix, 2d exped., pp. 17-23, pl. xxi-viii., fig. 64-77; Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 247-51, vol. vi., pp. 444-6, vol. iv., pl. xix-xxv., fig. 64-77; Lenoir, pp. 16, 22, 49-51. Carriedo’s Atlas de una Fortaleza Zapoteca, etc., mentioned by Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., p. 94, and in Museo Mex., tom. i., p. 246. The editors of the latter magazine announced their intention to publish the drawings as soon as the plates could be engraved, but I have not seen the volume in which their purpose was carried out, if indeed it was ever carried out. García’s report in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. vii., pp. 270-1, with plates; Müller, Reisen, tom. ii., pp. 270-1, with plates; Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 250-3; Viollet-le-Duc, in Id., pp. 25-6, with cut. Other references to slight notices of Monte Alban, containing no original information are;—Larenaudière, Mex. Guat., pl. i., from Dupaix; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 340; Fossey, Mexique, pp. 370-1. This writer locates the ruins ¼ of a league from the city. Escalera and Llana, Mej., p. 332; Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., p. 91.

Plan of Ruins—Monte Alban.

Notwithstanding this array of authorities, which ought to give a clear idea of a single group of remains, the reader will find the following description very imperfect, since each of the visitors, as a rule, describes a different part of the ruins, and they do not often agree in their remarks on any one structure. The plan in the annexed cut is copied from that in Müller’s work, and shows all the remains marked on the original, except four small structures on a northern continuation of the hill, or spur, a, shown in the north-eastern part of the plan. As the plan indicates, the ruins are situated on a plateau of some three hundred by nine hundred yards along the summit of a range of high hills with precipitous ascent, rising from the banks of a stream which Müller calls the Rio Xoxo. The works mentioned as not included in the plan, are described by Müller as the remains of four walls which form a parallelogram. All he tells us of the works at d and f, is that the terraces are covered with walls and embankments parallel or at right angles to each other. The structure at c is described as a pyramidal elevation fifty feet high and two hundred and fifty varas square at the base, from the summit platform of which rise a smaller terrace, or mound, at the north-west corner, and various other embankments and ruined walls not particularly described, but indicated on the plan. The structures in the central portion of the main plateau, at h, are spoken of as parallel embankments about thirty feet high.

To the ruins thus far mentioned no one but Müller refers definitely, although others speak somewhat vaguely of the ruined embankments and walls that cover the whole surface of the plateau. Only the southern remains at e seem to have attracted the attention of all. These Müller briefly represents as an embankment fifty feet high, enclosing a quadrilateral space, on which embankment were two pyramids or mounds. One of the latter was proved by excavating to have no interior apartments or galleries; the other was penetrated at the base by galleries at right angles with each other, and leading to a central dome-shaped room, the top of which had fallen. García represents the square court as enclosed, not by a continuous embankment, but by four long mounds, having a slight space between them at the ends. The southern mound is the largest of the four, being about forty-five feet high, and, according to García’s plan, about twelve hundred feet long and three hundred feet wide. It seems, from the drawings, to be nothing but a simple heap of earth and rough stones, although the slopes of the sides and ends were doubtless regular originally, perhaps even faced with masonry, and there are traces of a stairway leading up to the summit platform from the court. On the summit of the mounds, and also in the court, are many conical mounds, four of which were particularly noticed. These mounds were the only remains on the plateau of Monte Alban which attracted the attention of Dupaix and Castañeda, and are represented by them as heaps of rough stones, in some cases with mortar, covered on the exterior with cement, and traversed at the base by galleries, the sides of which are faced with hewn blocks. García says the mounds are about twenty-four feet high; but Dupaix calls one forty feet, another sixty, and a third still higher.

One of the mounds stands at the head of the stairway from the court, and the gallery through it at the base is described by García as having a bend in the centre, being six feet high, wide enough for two persons, and according to the plate, surmounted by large inclined blocks of stone resting against each other and forming an angle at the summit. Dupaix describes one of the mounds as traversed from north to south by a gallery nine feet high and six feet wide, which makes a turn, or elbow, near the centre, thus forming a room about twelve feet square and of the same height. The two mounds may very likely be identical, for although Castañeda’s plate represents a regular curved arch, Kingsborough’s copy has the pointed arch of large stones. Another of these artificial stone hills, according to Dupaix, has in the centre a room eighteen feet square, and thirty feet high, with a semicircular or dome-like top, the surface being formed of hewn stone. From the centre of each side a gallery thirty feet long, seven and a half feet high, and four feet and a half wide, with a regular arch, leads to the open air. The whole is said to be built on a large rectangular base of masonry, the dimensions of which are not given. García mentions a similar mound, but speaks of the central room as being circular.

Sculptured Profile from Monte Alban.

Another of these structures, resembling at the time of Dupaix’s visit a natural hill covered with trees, is sixty feet high, and has a gallery seven and a half feet high and six feet wide, with arched top, extending seventy-eight feet, or nearly the whole diameter from south to north. The left hand, or western, wall of the gallery is composed of granite blocks, generally about twenty-eight by thirty-six inches and eighteen inches thick, on the surface of which are sculptured naked human figures in profile facing northward toward the interior of the mound. Four of these figures were sketched by Castañeda, and one of them, from whose head hangs something very like a Chinese queue, is shown in the cut. García locates this mound or another very similar one in the court, and he also sketched some of the figures, but very slight if any resemblance can be discovered between his drawings and those of Castañeda. Müller speaks of one of the tablets the sculptured design of which represents a woman giving birth to a ball. García states that human bones and fragments of pottery have been dug from these ruins, Dupaix found some bones, and M. Lenoir suggests that the figures in bas-relief were portraits of persons buried in the tombs. Dupaix mentions a fourth mound similar to the others, having an angular ceiling, and a pavement of lime and sand.

Charnay describes the plateau as being partially artificial, and as covering about one half a square league, covered with masses of stone and mortar, forts, esplanades, narrow subterranean passages, and immense sculptured blocks. The arches of the galleries, contrary to Dupaix’s statements, are formed by large inclined blocks. The grandest ruins are at the south end of the plateau; they are mostly square truncated pyramids, about twenty-five feet high, and having steep sides. Enormous masses of masonry represent what once were palaces, temples, and forts.[VII-22]See authorities in preceding note.

Aboriginal Coin from Monte Alban.

Relics at Monte Alban

Three smooth cubical stones, seven and a half feet high, four and a half feet wide, and eighteen inches thick, of granite, according to García, but of red porphyry, in the opinion of Müller, were found during the ascent of the hill, perhaps at b, or g, of the plan. Two of the stones were standing close together, while the third had fallen; all are supposed to have formed an altar or pedestal.[VII-23]Plate showing the stones in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. vii., p. 270. At the southern brink of the plateau Müller found a crumbling stone covered with hieroglyphics. On the slope of the hill, stones covered with sculptured hieroglyphics were noticed by Dupaix, also at the western base long cubes, some plain and others sculptured. One of the latter six feet long, four feet and a half wide, and eighteen inches thick, was sketched by Castañeda, together with a circular stone three varas and a half in circumference. His plates also include a semi-spherical mirror of copper-covered lava, three and a half inches in diameter, with beautifully polished surface and a hole drilled through the back; a copper chisel, seven inches long and one inch in diameter; and finally, the cast copper implement shown in the preceding cut, one of two hundred and seventy-six of the same form, but of slightly varying dimensions, which were found in an earthen jar dug up in this vicinity. The dimensions of the one shown in the cut are about eight by ten inches. Pieces of copper of this form were used by the Nahua peoples for money, and such was doubtless the purpose of these Oajacan relics. A precisely similar article from one of the Mexican ruins lies before me as I write. Charnay states that the plateau is covered with fragments of very fine pottery, on which a brilliant red glazing is observable. He states further, that an Italian explorer, opening some of the mounds, found necklaces of agate, fragments of worked obsidian, and even golden ornaments of fine workmanship.

Respecting these ruins Charnay says: “Monte Alban, in our opinion, is one of the most precious remains, and very surely the most ancient, of the American civilizations. Nowhere else have we found these strange profiles so strikingly original.” He pronounces the arch similar to that employed in Yucatan, but this opinion does not agree with his description on another page, where he represents the ceilings of the galleries as formed of large inclined blocks of stone. Viollet-le-Duc gives a cut indicating the latter form of arch; and I think there can be no doubt that Dupaix and Castañeda are wrong in representing semicircular arches. M. Viollet-le-Duc deems the sculpture different in type from that at Palenque but very similar to the Egyptian. He regards the works as fortifications and speaks of the galleries as penetrating the ramparts. Müller and García also deem the remains those of fortifications, while Ortega seeks to form them into a stately capital full of royal palaces, temples, and fine edifices. García tells us that these works were erected by a Zapotec king, with a view to resist the advance of the Miztecs; while Brasseur believes that here was the fortress of Huaxyacac built by the Aztecs about the year 1486, and garrisoned to keep the country in subjection.[VII-24]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 339-40.

It seems to me that the preceding description, imperfect as it is, is yet more than sufficient to prove that the structures on Monte Alban were never erected by any people as temporary works of defense. The choice of location shows, however, that facility of defense was one of the objects sought by the builders, and renders it very improbable that a city proper ever stood here, where, at least in modern times, there are no springs of water. On the other hand, the conical mounds as represented by Castañeda’s drawings seem in no way fitted for defensive works, and were almost certainly erected as tombs of Zapotec nobles or priests. The plateau was probably in aboriginal times a strongly fortified holy place, sacred to the rites of the native worship, but serving perhaps as a place of refuge to the dwellers in the surrounding country when threatened by an advancing foe. It is moreover very likely that in the period of civil strifes and foreign invasions which preceded the Spanish Conquest, these works were strengthened and occupied by the Zapotecs, and possibly by the Aztecs also in their turn, as a fortress.

Relics at Zachila

Zachila, ten or twelve miles, according to the maps, southward from Oajaca, was the site of a great Zapotec capital. A writer in a Mexican magazine mentions the base of an ancient pyramid as still visible near the church of the modern town. With the exception of this brief mention all our information respecting the antiquities of Zachila comes from the work of Dupaix; and this writer, so far as permanent monuments are concerned, only speaks generally of an immense group of mounds in conical form, built of earth and a few stones, and of the imprint of a gigantic foot probably marking the meridian somewhat south of the mounds. From excavations in these tumuli, stone and clay statues, or idols, were obtained, together with pottery, burnt bricks, pieces of human bones, and fragments of ruined walls. Of the objects taken from the tumuli or found in the vicinity, over twenty were described and sketched by Dupaix and Castañeda.

Stone Statue from Zachila.

1. A seated human figure with arms and legs crossed as shown in the cut. It is carved from a grayish yellow grindstone-like material, and is about a foot in height. It was found in a tomb together with some human bones. The rear view in the original shows the hair falling down the back and cut square across; while the belt about the waist is passed between the legs and is tied in a knot behind. 2. A seated human figure in granite, eighteen inches high. The arms, from elbow to wrist, are free from the body, and the hands rest on the knees. A string of beads or pearls is suspended from the neck, and a mask with fantastic figures in relief covers the face. In the top of the head is a hollow, and the image seems to have been designed, like many others in the same locality, for a vase or, perhaps, a torch-bearer. 3. A seated human figure, twenty-seven inches high, cut from white marble and painted red. The arms and body are concealed by a kind of semicircular cape. The hands appear below the cape, holding some indescribable object. A necklace of beads or pearls surrounds the neck, the face is apparently masked or at least the features are ideally fantastic, and an immense headdress, as large as all the rest of the figure, surmounts the whole in semicircular form. A serpent appears among the emblems of the head-dress.[VII-25]‘Elle représente un dieu dont les attributs caractérisent le principe actif de la nature qui produit les grains et les fruits. C’est le dieu qui crée, conserve et est en hostilité permanente avec le Génie destructeur qui gouverne aussi le monde. Son casque ou son diadème, ombragé d’un panache considérable et qui atteste son importance, est orné de la Grande couleuvre, nommée aussi par les astronomes modernes le serpent d’Ève, dont la présence dans le ciel annonce la saison des récoltes.’ Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., pp. 57-8. Cut also in Mayer’s Obs., p. 32, pl. iii., from the original which is preserved in Mexico. 4. A stone twenty-seven inches long, twelve inches high, and three inches thick, of very hard and heavy material. On one side, within a plain border, are four human figures in low relief, two on each side facing a kind of altar in the middle. All are squatting cross-legged, one has clearly a beard, and another has a bird—called by Dupaix an eagle, as is his custom respecting every bird-like sculpture—forming a part of his head-dress. The stone was badly broken, but seems to have been carried by the finder to Mexico.[VII-26]Plate also in Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., pp. 64-5, pl. xi. 5. A bird bearing considerable likeness to an eagle, holding a serpent in its beak and claws. This figure was sculptured in low relief on a block of hard sandstone three feet square, built into a modern wall. 6. A human face, much like what is in modern times drawn to represent the full moon, three feet in diameter, and also built into a wall. The material is a brilliant gray marble. 7. Three fragments with sculptured surfaces, one of which has among other figures several that seem to represent flowers. 8, 9. Two masked images, similar in some respects to No. 2, but of terra-cotta instead of stone. One of them is shown in the cut. They are about a foot and a half high, hollow, and present some indications, in the form of a socket at the back of the head, of having been intended to hold torches.[VII-27]Copies of plates in Mayer’s Obs., p. 32, pl. iii.; Id., Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., pp. 218-19. 10. A terra-cotta figure, about nine inches high, apparently representing a female clad in a very peculiar dress, as shown in the cut.[VII-28]Dupaix says of this image: ‘Elle participe un peu du style égyptien. Elle est couverte de trois vêtements qui croisent l’un sur l’autre symétriquement, et qui sont bordés de franges. La tête est ornée de tresses qui font deviner le sexe; les oreilles et le cou sont parés de bijoux; enfin toute cette figure est étrange.’ 2d exped., p. 49. This image in the opinion of M. Lenoir, Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., pp. 60-1, represents the Mexican goddess Toci, and the preceding one the god of war, Huitzilopochtli. These images are now in the Mexican Museum, and plates of them were published by Sr Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., pp. 90-5, pl. xvii., who by no means agrees with Lenoir’s conclusions identifying them with Aztec deities, although he agrees with Dupaix respecting their probable use as chandeliers. 11. An earthen cylinder, five inches in diameter and nine inches high, on the top of which is a head, possibly the caricature of a dog, from whose open jaws looks out a tolerably well-formed human face. 12-17. Six heads of animals or monsters in terra cotta. 18-23. Six earthen dishes of various forms, one of which, in the form of a platter, has within it a representation in clay of a human skull.

Terra-Cotta Image—Zachila.

A tomb is said to have been opened at Zachila in which were several tiers of earthen platters, each containing a skull. Some of the vessels have hollow legs with small balls, which rattle when they are moved.[VII-29]Authorities on antiquities of Zachila. Dupaix, 2d exped., pp. 44-51, pl. xlvii., fig. 95-116; Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 269-78, vol. vi., pp. 458-63, vol. iv., pl. xlvii.-li., fig. 96-117. Kingsborough also attributes fig. 118-19 to Zachila, but according to the official edition the relics represented by those numbers came from Tizatlan in Tlascala. Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., pp. 57-63. The aboriginal name of the place was Zaachillatloo. Dupaix, pp. 44-5. Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 47, speaks of a fortress visited by several travelers, built by Zaachila, the great Zapotec conqueror, on the top of a lofty rock 25 leagues east of Oajaca. Mention of ruins and two cuts of figures in Ilustracion Mej., tom. iii., pp. 367-8, 480; Escalera and Llana, Mej. Hist. Descrip., p. 226. At Cuilapa, some distance north-east of Zachila, the existence of tumuli is mentioned, but a German explorer, who visited the locality with a view to open some of them, is said to have been stoned and driven away by the infuriated natives, notwithstanding the fact that he was provided with authority from the local authorities.[VII-30]Escalera and Llana, Mej. Hist. Descrip., p. 226; Fossey, Mex., p. 376.

Mitla—Home of the Dead.

The finest and most celebrated group of ruins in Oajaca, probably the finest in the whole Nahua territory, is that at Mitla, about thirty miles slightly south of east from the capital, and eight or nine miles north-east of Tlacolula. Here was a great religious centre often mentioned in the traditional annals of the Zapotecs. The original name seems to have been Liobaa, or Yobaa, ‘the place of tombs,’ called by the Aztecs Miquitlan, Mictlan, or Mitla, ‘place of sadness,’ ‘dwelling of the dead,’ often used in the sense of ‘hell.'[VII-31]Liubá, ‘Sepultura;’ Miquitlan, ‘infierno ó lugar de tristeza.’ Dupaix, 2d exped., p. 30. Leoba, or Luiva, ‘sépulture;’ Miguitlan, ‘lieu de désolation, lieu de tristesse.’ Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., pp. 278-9. Yopaa, Lyoba, or Yobaa, ‘terre des tombes;’ Mictlan, ‘séjour des Morts.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 304-5, tom. iii., p. 9. Liobáá, ‘place of rest.’ Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. vii., p. 170. The buildings at Mitla were at least partially in ruins when the Spaniards came, but their dilapidation probably dated only from the fierce contests waged by the Zapotec kings against the Aztec powers in Anáhuac, during one or two centuries preceding the Conquest; and as we shall see later there is no reason whatever to doubt that the place was occupied by the Zapotec priesthood during the long period of that nation’s supremacy in Oajaca and the southern Anáhuac.[VII-32]‘Uno, llamado Mictlan, que quiere decir infierno ó lugar de muertos, á do hubo en tiempos pasados, (segun hallaron las muestras) edificios mas notables y de ver que en otra parte de la Nueva España. Hubo un templo del demonio y aposentos de sus ministros, maravillosa cosa á la vista, en especial una sala como de artesones, y la obra era labrada de piedra de muchos lazos y labores.’ Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 395-6; Burgoa, Descrip. Geog., tom. ii., fol. 259, etc.

The gloomy aspect of the locality accords well with the dread signification of its name. The ruins stand in the most desolate portion of central Oajaca, in a high, narrow valley, surrounded by bare and barren hills. The soil is a powdery sand, which supports no vegetation save a few scattered pitahayas, and is borne through the air in clouds of dust by the cold dry wind which is almost continually blowing. A stream with parched and shadeless banks flows through the valley, becoming a torrent in the rainy season, when the adjoining country is often flooded. No birds sing or flowers bloom over the remains of the Zapotec heroes, but venomous spiders and scorpions are abundant. Yet a modern village with few inhabitants stands amid the ruins, and the natives go through forms of worship in honor of a foreign deity in a modern church over the tombs of their ancestors’ kings and priests, whose faith they were long since forced to abandon.[VII-33]‘Du haut de la forteresse de Mitla, la vue plonge dans la vallée et se repose avec tristesse sur des roches pelées et des solitudes arides, image de destruction propre à relever l’effet des palais de Liobaa. Un torrent d’eau salée (?), qui se gonfle avec la tempête, coule au milieu des sables poudreux qu’il entraîne avec lui. Les rives sont sèches et sans ombrages; à peine voit-on de distance en distance quelques nopals nains, ou quelques poivriers du Pérou, aussi maigres que le terrain où ils ont pris racine. Seulement, du côté du village, la verdure sombre des magueys et des cactus donne au tableau l’aspect d’un jardin d’hiver planté de buis et de sapins.’ Fossey, Mexique, p. 371.

Exploration of Mitla

Most of the early Spanish chroniclers speak of Mitla and of the traditions connected with the place, but what may be called the modern exploration of the structures, as relics of antiquity, dates from the year 1802, when Don Luis Martin and Col. de la Laguna from Mexico visited and sketched the ruins. It was from Martin and from his drawings in the hands of the Marquis of Branciforte, that Humboldt obtained his information. In August 1806, Dupaix and Castañeda reached Mitla in their second exploring tour. In 1830, the German traveler Mühlenpfordt, during a residence in the country, made plans and drawings of the remains, copies of which were retained by Juan B. Carriedo and afterwards published in a Mexican periodical. Drawings were also made by one Sawkins in 1837, and published by Mr Brantz Mayer in a work on Zapotec antiquities. M. de Fossey was at Mitla in 1838, but his description is made up chiefly from other sources. Sr Carriedo, already mentioned, wrote for the Ilustracion Mejicana, a statement of the condition of the ruins in 1852, with measures which had been, or ought to be, taken by the government for their preservation. Mr Arthur von Tempsky spent part of a day at the ruins in February, 1854, publishing a description with several plates in the account of his Mexican travels which he named Mitla. José María García saw the ruins in October, 1855, as is stated in the bulletin of the Mexican Geographical Society, but no description resulted from his exploration. Finally Charnay came in 1859, and succeeded after many difficulties in obtaining a series of most valuable and interesting photographs.[VII-34]Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., pp. 278-85, pl. xvii-viii., fol. ed., pl. xlix-l; Id., in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., pp. 28-30, supl. pl. viii.; Id., Essai Pol., pp. 263-5. Humboldt speaks of Martin as ‘un architecte mexicain très-distingué.’ Dupaix, 2d exped., pp. 30-44, pl. xxix-xlvi., fig. 78-93; Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 255-68, vol. vi., pp. 447-56, vol. iv., pl. xxvii-xli., fig. 81-95; Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., pp. 16, 23-4, 52-7. Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., pref., p. 5, claims to have been for some time Director of road-construction in the state of Oajaca, and states his intention of publishing at some future time 18 or 20 large copper-plate engravings illustrating the antiquities of Mitla and others. These plates, so far as I know, have never been given to the public. Carriedo accompanied Mühlenpfordt, or Mihelenpforott as he writes the name, and published some of the drawings, perhaps all, in the Ilustracion Mejicana, tom. ii., pp. 493-8. Some of the German artists’ descriptive text is also quoted from I know not what source. Tempsky’s Mitla, pp. 250-3, with plates which must have been made up for the most part from other sources than the author’s own observations. García’s visit, Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. vii., pp. 271-2. Sawkin’s exploration, in Mayer’s Observations, p. 28, et seq., with plates. It will be shown later that Mr Sawkins’ drawings are without value to the archæological student. Fossey’s account, Mexique, pp. 365-70; Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 261-9, phot. ii-xviii.; Viollet-le-Duc, in Id., pp. 74-104, with cuts. After Charnay had completed, as he thought, the work of photographing the ruins, all his negatives were spoiled for want of proper varnish. He was therefore compelled to return alone, since he had exhausted the somewhat limited patience of his native assistants, and to work day and night to take a new set of pictures. Müller, Reisen, tom. ii., pp. 279-81, seems also to have made a personal exploration. Other references for Mitla containing no original information are as follows:—Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., pp. 117-22, with two cuts from Charnay and two from Tempsky, all given in my text. Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 173; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 85-6; Larenaudière, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., tom. xxxiv., pp. 121-2; Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., pp. 90-5, pl. xvii.; Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, pp. 251-3; Id., Mex. Aztec, vol. ii., pp. 213-16; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 157-60; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 270-1; Id., Travels, p. 92; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 462; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 14, vol. iii., pp. 404-6; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 463; Mexicanische Zustände, tom. i., pp. 403-4; Wappäus, Mex. Guat., p. 162; Lemprière, Mexique, p. 144; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 255; Hermosa, Manual Geog., p. 135; Escalera and Llana, Mex., pp. 327-32, 225, same as in Fossey; Lafond, Voyages, tom. i., p. 139; Bonnycastle’s Span. Amer., vol. i., p. 154, vol. ii., p. 233; D’Orbigny, Voyage, p. 356;Conder’s Mex. Guat., vol. ii., pp. 130-4; Dally, Races Indig., pp. 16-17; Macgillivray’s Life Humboldt, pp. 314-15; Mills’ Hist. Mex., p. 158; Mexico in 1842, p. 77; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 105; Larenaudière, Mex. Guat., pl. ii-vi., from Dupaix; Delafield’s Antiq. Amer., pp. 55, 59-60.

General Plan of Mitla.

The number of ruined edifices at Mitla is variously stated by different authors, according to their methods of counting; for instance, one explorer reckons four buildings enclosing a court as one palace, another as four. The only general plan ever published is that made by Mühlenpfordt, and published by Carriedo, from which the annexed cut was prepared.[VII-35]Charnay, phot. xvii., gives a general view of the ruins, from which, however, no clear idea can be formed of the arrangement of the structures. The buildings are named or numbered as follows by the different authors; Dupaix numbers them as they are marked on my plan; Carriedo and Mühlenpfordt unite Nos. 1 and 2 under the name of 1st Palace, making No. 3 No. 2, and No. 4 No. 3; Charnay’s 1st or grand palace is the northern building of No. 1; his 2d is the eastern building of the same; his 3d and 4th are the northern and western buildings respectively of No. 2. My No. 3 is called by him the House of the Curate, and No. 4 is only mentioned by him without name or number. Most of the visitors, however, say something of the bearing of some of the buildings from the others, and there are only very few instances where such remarks seem to differ from the plan I have given. The structures usually spoken of as palaces or temples, are four in number, marked 1, 2, 3, and 4; 5 and 7 are pyramids, mounds, or altars; and 6 shows the position of the houses in the modern village.

Ground Plan of Palace No. 1.

Grand Palace

I begin with the best preserved of all, palace No. 1 of the plan.[VII-36]At the Conquest the ruins covered an immense area, but they now consist of six palaces and three ruined pyramids. Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 261. The arrangement of its three buildings is shown in the accompanying ground plan, a reduction from Castañeda’s drawing. Three low oblong mounds, probably of rough stones, only five or six feet high, enclose on the east, north, and west, a court, E, whose dimensions are in general terms one hundred and twenty by one hundred and thirty feet, and each of the mounds supports a stone building. The walls of the northern building are still in a tolerable state of preservation; the eastern one has mostly fallen, and of that on the west only slight traces of the foundations remain. It is possible that originally there was a fourth mound, with or without its building, on the south.[VII-37]Dupaix’s ground plan, pl. xxix., fig. 78, represents such a southern building and mound, although very slight, if any, traces remained of the former at the time of his visit. Martin’s plan, given by Humboldt, shows two shorter mounds without buildings; while Carriedo’s plan locates no structure whatever south of the court, and I have omitted it in my plan.

The lateral buildings, d, j, are about nineteen by ninety-six feet on the ground. Of the northern building, the southern portion, A, is about thirty-six by a hundred and thirty feet, the northern portion, C, sixty-one feet square, and the whole not far from eighteen feet high, the walls being from four to nine feet in thickness.[VII-38]The dimensions are very nearly those of the plans of Martin and Castañeda, who differ only very slightly. The dimensions given by the different authorities are as follows: A. 12½×47½ varas, Castañeda; 13¼×46½ varas, Martin, in Humboldt; 40 mètres long, Charnay; 180 feet long, Tempsky; 132 feet long, Fossey. C. 22×22 varas, Castañeda and Martin; d, 7×35½ varas, Castañeda; 7½×34½ varas, Martin. Walls 1½ to 3½ varas thick, Castañeda; 1½ varas, Martin. Height 5 to 6 mètres, Humboldt; 14 feet, Fossey. The height of the inner columns, to be spoken of later, shows something respecting the original height of the walls. Other details will be readily learned from the plan. Three doorways open on the court from each building, and a broad stairway of few steps leads up to the doorways, at least on the north.

The southern wing of the northern building, A of the plan, may be first described, being the best known and one of the best preserved of all; and the structure of the walls naturally claims attention first. In Yucatan we have found a filling of rough stones and cement, faced on both exterior and interior with hewn blocks; at Palenque the walls are built entirely of hewn stone; at Mitla the mode of construction somewhat resembles that in Yucatan, but the filling seems to be clay, instead of cement, with an admixture of irregular stones, varying in quantity in different parts of the walls.[VII-39]Charnay, p. 264, describes the material of this filling as ‘terre battue, mêlée de gros cailloux.’ His photographs of walls where the facing has fallen show in some places a mass of large irregular stones, even laid with some regularity in a few instances; in other parts of the ruins there seem to be very few stones, but only a mass of earth or clay; and in still other parts the wall has every appearance of regular adobes. Dupaix, p. 35, says that sand and lime are mixed with the earth. ‘El macizo, ó grueso de las paredes se compone de una tierra mezclada y beneficiada con arena y cal.’ ‘De tierra preparada, hollada ó beneficiada cuando fresca y pastosa.’ Tempsky, p. 251, declares the material to be rough boulders in cement. Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., p. 283, speaks of ‘une masse d’argile qui paroît remplir l’intérieur des murs.’

Construction of Walls

The exterior facing of the wall is shown very clearly by the two following cuts, which represent the southern façade of the building, A, as seen from the court. The first cut I have reduced photographically from Charnay’s original photograph; the second, showing the rest of the façade, was taken from the same photograph for Mr Baldwin’s work. The facing is of stone blocks cut in different forms and sizes, placed against or in some cases slightly penetrating the inner filling. First, a double tier of very large blocks are placed as a base along the surface of the supporting mound, projecting two or three feet from the line of the wall, the stones of the upper tier sloping inward. On this base is erected a kind of frame-work of large hewn blocks with perfectly plain unsculptured fronts, which divide the surface of the wall into oblong panels of different dimensions. These panels are then filled with a peculiar mosaic work of small brick-shaped blocks of stone of different sizes, set in different positions, so as to form a great variety of regular patterns, usually spoken of as grecques.[VII-40]‘Los compartimientos divididos por unos tableros cuadrilongos, terminados por unas molduras cuadradas que sobresalen á la linea de la muralla, contienen en sus planos unas grecas de alto relieve de una bella invencion, pues sus dibujos presentan unos enlaces complicados arreglados á una exactisima geometría, con una grande union entre las piedras que los componen, las que son de varios gruesos, y configuraciones; ademas se advierte una perfecta nivelacion en toda esta admirable ensambladura.’ Dupaix, 2d exped., p. 31. A mosaic of soft sandstone cut in blocks 7×2⅛×1 inches, and all forming a smooth exterior surface. Tempsky’s Mitla, pp. 251-2, with a very faulty cut. The statement about the smooth surface is certainly erroneous, as is probably that respecting the size of the blocks. ‘Ces arabesques forment une sorte de mosaïque, composée de petites pierres carrées, qui sont placées avec beaucoup d’art, les unes à côté des autres.’ Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., p. 283; with cuts of three styles of this mosaic from Martin. ‘Briquettes de différentes grandeurs.’ The modern church is built of stone from the ruins. The natives carry away the blocks of mosaic in the belief that they will turn to gold. Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 252, 263-5. Phot. v-vi., view of southern façade. 22 different styles of grecques on this front. Fossey, Mexique, pp. 367-8. Cuts of 16 different styles in Ilustracion Mej., tom. ii., p. 501. No mortar seems to have been employed in this facing of stone; at least its use is not mentioned by any author, and Dupaix states expressly that it is not found. Some of the blocks used in the base, frame-work of the panels, and lintels of the doorways, are very large. One of the latter is described by different writers as from sixteen to nineteen feet long, and is said by Dupaix to be of granite. The only sculpture on the façade is found on these lintels, the surface of which is represented as carved into regular figures in low relief, corresponding with the mosaic in the panels. The doorways are about seven feet wide and eight feet high, and in the upper part of the piers that separate them are noticed four round holes, which may be supposed, as in other aboriginal structures, to have served for the support of an awning, although the natives have a tradition that they were originally occupied by stone heads of native deities.[VII-41]An Indian woman was reported to have one of the heads from these holes, built into the walls of her house, but it could not be found. Dupaix, 2d exped., p. 31. The only other peculiarity to be noticed in this front is, that instead of being perpendicular, it inclines slightly outward from the base, as do many of the walls at Mitla.[VII-42]Besides the photograph copied above, Charnay’s photographs, vii.-viii., present views from the east and west, showing that the same style of construction and ornamentation extends completely round the building. Dupaix’s plate xxx. represents this façade, but shows only a small portion of the stone-work. Kingsborough gives in its place a magnificent plate, 1×5 feet, showing the whole front restored in all its details; he gives also the plate from Antiq. Mex., but refers it to the palace No. 2. pl. xxxi., fig. 85. See description of the walls quoted from Burgoa, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. vii., pp. 170-3.

Façade of First Palace—Mitla.

Stone Columns

The interior of the building, A, has a pavement of flat stones covered with cement, which latter has mostly disappeared. The inner surface of the walls is of rough stones and earth, probably the same as the interior filling, and covered with a coat of plaster, a greater part of which remained in 1859, and is shown in Charnay’s photograph; there were also traces of red paint on these walls in Dupaix’s time. There are no windows, or other openings except the doorways; but on the northern wall, at mid-height, there is a niche, perhaps more than one, one or two feet deep, square in form, and enclosed by four blocks of stone. Extending in a line along the centre of this apartment, are six round stone pillars, g, g, of the plan, each about fourteen feet high, three feet in diameter, and cut from a single block of porphyry or granite. The tops are slightly smaller than the bases, and five or six feet of each stone, in addition to the height mentioned, are buried in the ground.[VII-43]5.8 mètres high; one third of the height buried in the ground. Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., p. 282. 4 varas above surface, 2 varas below, 1 vara diameter. Id., in Antiq. Mex., suppl. pl. viii. Of the material, Humboldt says: ‘Quelques personnes, très-instruites en minéralogie, m’ont dit que la pierre est un beau porphyre amphibolique; d’autres m’ont assuré que c’est un granite porphyritique.’ 12 feet high, 9½ feet in circumference. Fossey, Mex., pp. 367-8. About 14 feet high, Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 263; 5½ varas high, 1 vara in diameter, material granite, Dupaix, p. 31. Over 5 varas high. Burgoa, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. vii., p. 171. 12 feet high, 4 feet diameter. Tempsky’s Mitla, p. 253. 10 feet 10½ inches above ground, over 6 feet below, 3⅓ varas in circumference; material porphyry. Ilustracion Mej., tom. ii., pp. 495-6. So large that two men can hardly reach round them, 5 fathoms high. Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 395-6. Material a porous limestone. Viollet-le-Duc, in Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 78.

Interior—South wing of the First Palace.

The following cut I take from Baldwin’s work, for which it was copied from one of Tempsky’s plates. It is very faulty, as is proved by Charnay’s photograph taken from the same point of view, in representing the walls as if built of large rough stones without mortar, in putting a doorway in the central part of the northern wall, and in making the columns diminish in size towards the top much more than is actually the case.[VII-44]See Charnay, phot. x.

Mosaic Grecques at Mitla

Passing now to the northern wing of this building, C, the exterior walls are the same in style and construction as those of the southern wing just described, as is proved by the photographic views.[VII-45]Charnay, phot. vii.-viii. The court, C, is about thirty-one feet square, and its pavement was covered with cement, as that of the larger court, E, may have been originally. The ground plan shows the arrangement of the four apartments, b, b, b, b, although it is to be noted that other plans differ slightly from this in the northern and western rooms. The only entrance to the northern court and rooms is from the southern wing through the passage f, f, which is barely wide enough to admit one person. The interior façades, fronting on the court, are precisely like the southern façade of the southern wing, A, being made up of mosaic work in panels.[VII-46]Charnay, phot. xi. Plate in Tempsky’s Mitla, pp. 252-3, very incorrect, as are nearly all of this author’s illustrations. The interior walls of the small apartments, b, b, b, b, unlike those of the southern apartment, A, are formed of mosaic work in regular and graceful patterns, except a space of four or five feet at the bottom, which is covered with plaster and bears traces of a kind of fresco painting in bright colors. The mosaic grecques or arabesques of the upper portions are arranged, not in panels as on the exterior, but in three parallel bands of uniform and nearly equal width, extending round the whole circumference of each room. The cut is a fac-simile from Charnay’s photograph of one of these interiors, and gives an excellent idea of the three mosaic bands that extend entirely round each room.[VII-47]Charnay, phot. ix.

Grecques on Interior of Room at Mitla.

Roof Structures

I now have to speak of the roof which originally covered this building, since in the other buildings and palaces nothing will be found to throw any additional light on the subject. It seems evident that the columns in the southern wing were intended to support the roof, and if there were no contradictory evidence, the natural conclusion would be that the covering was of wooden beams stretching completely across the narrow apartments, and resting on the pillars of the wider ones, as we have seen to be the case at Tuloom, on the eastern coast of Yucatan.[VII-48]See p. 257 of this volume. Burgoa, in whose time it is not impossible that some of the roofs may have been yet in place, tells us that they were formed of large stone blocks, resting on the columns, and joined without mortar.[VII-49]Murguia, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. vii., pp. 170-3. ‘De grandes dalles, de plus de deux pieds d’épaisseur, reposant sur des piliers d’une hauteur de trois mètres, formaient le plafond de ces palais: au-dessus on voyait une corniche saillante ornée de sculptures capricieuses, dont l’ensemble formait comme une sorte de diadème posé sur le sommet de l’édifice.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 26, Burgoa. Humboldt states that the roof was supported by large sabino beams, and that three of these beams still remained in place (1802). According to Dupaix, both the roofs and floors in the northern wing were formed by a row of beams, or rather logs, of the ahuehuete, a kind of pine, a foot and a half in diameter, built into the top of the wall, and stretching from side to side. He does not inform us what traces he found to support his opinion. Mühlenpfordt[VII-50]As quoted in Ilustracion Mej., tom. ii., p. 496. found traces of a roof in one of the northern rooms sufficient to convince him that the original “consisted of round oak timbers, eight inches in diameter, placed across the room at a distance of eight inches one from another; these were first covered with mats, on which were placed stone flags, and over the latter a coat of lime; forming thus a solid and water-proof covering.” Fossey speaks of one worm-eaten beam, but probably obtained his information from Humboldt. Tempsky, notwithstanding the shortness of his exploration, made the remarkable discovery that one of the northern rooms was still covered by a flat roof of stone. He also found windows in some of the buildings. What would he not have found had he been able to remain a few hours longer at Mitla? Viollet-le-Duc judges from the quantity and quality of the débris in the south wing, that the roof could not have been of stone in large blocks, but was formed by large beams extending longitudinally from pillar to pillar, and supporting two transverse ranges of smaller timbers, laid close together from the centre to either wall, the whole being surmounted by a mass of concrete like that which constitutes the bulk of the walls; and finally covered with a coating of cement. I have no doubt that this author has given a correct idea of the original roof structure, although in attempting to explain in detail the exact position which—’il y a tout lieu de croire’—each timber occupied, it is possible that the distinguished architect has gone somewhat beyond his data.[VII-51]Viollet-le-Duc, in Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 78-9.

View from Court of Palace No. 1.

As I have said before, the western building of the palace No. 1—like the southern building, if any ever stood on the south of the court—has entirely fallen. Of the eastern building, d, there remain standing a small portion of the wall fronting on the court, including a doorway and its lintel, and also two of the five columns which occupied the centre of the building. The condition of this side structure seems not to have changed materially between Dupaix’s and Charnay’s visits, a period of over fifty years. The preceding cut, taken by Baldwin from Tempsky’s work, gives a tolerably correct idea of what remains of it, except that the lintel had a sculptured front. It is a view from the south side of the court, and includes an imperfect representation also of the northern façade.[VII-52]Charnay, phot. xii., p. 264; Dupaix, pp. 31-2, pl. xxxi., fig. 80.

The palaces of Mitla are differently numbered by different writers, and much that has been written of them is so vague or confused that is difficult to determine in many cases what particular structure is referred to; I believe, however, that the preceding pages include all that is known of the palace numbered 1 on my general plan. I close my account of this palace by presenting on the opposite page a cut copied for Baldwin’s work from one of Charnay’s photographs, a general view of the ruins. The cut is a distant view of the palace No. 1 from the south-west, and cannot be said to add very materially to our knowledge respecting this building.[VII-53]In the preceding pages it will be noticed that I have paid no attention to the plates and description by Mr J. G. Sawkins, from an exploration in 1837, as given by Col. Brantz Mayer in his Observations on Mexican History and Archæology, published among the Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge. My reasons for disregarding Sawkins’ authority are, that the said descriptions and plates are just sufficiently accurate to identify palace No. 1 with the one referred to, but otherwise constitute one of the most bare-faced frauds recorded in the annals of antiquarian exploration in America. The following points are more than sufficient to substantiate what I have said:—1st. Sawkins reverses the cardinal points, respecting which the other authorities agree, placing the principal building on the east of the court instead of the north, etc. To avoid repetition and confusion, I shall in the following remarks, however, correct this error and speak of each building in its proper location. 2d. Sawkins found five standing columns in the eastern building, d, four of which supported parts of a wall, while the other standing apart was taller than the rest; now the columns supporting the wall may have been the piers between the doorways—but only three of these were standing in 1806 (see Dupaix, pl. xxxi.); and the taller column standing apart agrees well enough with the truth, except that there were two of them standing in 1859. (See Charnay, Ruines Amér., phot. xii.) On the west our explorer correctly found everything obliterated, and the ‘crumbling and indistinct walls’ which he found on the south may have been part of palace No. 2. 3d. Coming now to the northern building, Sawkins found in the front 4 doorways, so narrow and low that only one person at a time could enter, and that only by stooping; during the next 20 years these doorways grew remarkably in size, and decreased in number, since Charnay’s photograph shows 3 doorways with standing human figures in two of them, not obliged to stoop or much pressed for elbow room, as may be seen in the copy I have given. 4th. Sawkins found all the adornments removed from this façade; they were perhaps replaced before Charnay’s visit. 5th. In the interior, A of the plan, Sawkins found niches in the end walls not seen by any other visitor. 6th. The six columns represented by Martin and Dupaix as standing in the centre of this apartment, had all been removed (!) at the time of Sawkins’ visit. It was a strange freak of the camera to picture them all in place 20 years later. 7th. But Charnay’s photographic apparatus had yet other repairs to make, for in the northern wing, C, the walls of the interior apartments had all disappeared, and even the interior surface of the outer walls, which enclosed the quadrangle, had no mosaic work, but the panels presented only 9 long recesses in three tiers on each side. Mr Sawkins’ plates are two in number; one of them presents a general view of this palace from the west, and although faulty, indicates that the artist may have actually visited Mitla; the other is a rear view of the northern building, gives a tolerably correct idea of the construction of the walls, and may possibly have been made up from the large plate in Kingsborough’s work. I have no more space to devote to Sawkins. He may have been already ‘shown up’ by some critic whose writings have escaped my notice. It is proper to add that as Col. Mayer apparently consulted only Humboldt’s description of Mitla, it is not at all strange that this zealous investigator and usually correct writer was deceived by a pretended explorer.

View of Palace

Distant View of Palace No. 1.

The Second Palace

The remaining palaces of Mitla, Nos. 2, 3, and 4, may be more briefly disposed of, since in the construction of their walls they are precisely the same as No. 1, but are not in so good a state of preservation. No. 2 is located south-west of No. 1, and almost in contact with it, so that both groups have been by some visitors described together under the name of First Palace. It consists of four buildings, built on low mounds like those of No. 1, from seven to nine feet high, about a square court. All four are precisely the same in their ground plan, which is identical with that of the western building in palace No. 1. The dimensions of the four buildings are also the same, according to Castañeda’s plan, being about eighteen by ninety-two English feet;[VII-54]Dupaix, pl. xxxii., fig. 81, where the dimensions are 6½×33½ varas. Carriedo’s, or Mühlenpfordt’s, plan, pl. ii., makes the court 114×135 feet, and the western building 128.9 feet on the inside; on page 495, and on another plan, it is implied that the eastern mound never bore any building. but Mühlenpfordt’s plan, so far as it can be understood, makes the eastern and western buildings about one hundred and forty feet long, the northern and southern being about twenty by one hundred feet, and the former somewhat larger than the latter.

The western building is the best preserved, being, so far as can be judged by human figures in Charnay’s photographs, about seventeen feet high. The eastern building has fallen, and only its foundation stones remain by which to trace its plan. Three doorways open on the court from each building, and in the rear wall opposite the doors square niches are seen. There are no traces of columns in any of the apartments; nor was any part of the roofs in place in 1806. The outer walls are composed, as in palace No. 1, of oblong panels of mosaic; whether any mosaic work is found in the interior, is not stated. The court is said by Mühlenpfordt to be covered with a coating of cement five or six inches in thickness, painted red as was also the exterior of the buildings. The same writer, and Müller, noted that the supporting mounds were double, or terraced, on the exterior;[VII-55]Ilustracion Mej., tom. ii., p. 495. and the latter, that one of the central doorways diminishes in width towards the top. If this, latter statement be true, it must be one of the doorways in the southern building, of which no photographic view was taken.[VII-56]Müller, Reisen, tom. ii., p. 280. Views of the southern façade of the northern building are given by Charnay, Dupaix, Mühlenpfordt, and Tempsky; of the court façade of the western building, by Charnay and Mühlenpfordt; and Charnay also took photographs of the western and southern façades of the latter building.[VII-57]Charnay, Ruines Amér., phot. xiii.-xvi.; Dupaix, p. 33, pl. xxxiii., fig. 82-3; Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 258-9, vol. vi., pp. 450-1, vol. iv., pl. xxx., fig. 84; Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., pp. 53, 16; Mühlenpfordt, in Ilustracion Mej., p. 500, pl. vi.; Tempsky’s Mitla, pp. 250-1.

Under the northern building of this palace there is a subterranean gallery in the form of a cross. The entrance to this gallery is said by several writers to have been originally in the centre of the court, but this seems to rest on no very good authority, and it is not unlikely that the entrance was always where it is now, at the base of the northern mound, as shown in the photograph and in other views. The centre of the cross may be supposed to be nearly under the centre of the apartment above, and the northern, eastern, and western arms are each, according to Castañeda’s drawings, about twelve feet long, five and a half feet wide, and six and a half feet high. The southern arm, leading out into the court is something over twenty feet long, and for most of its length only a little over four feet high; its floor is also several feet lower than that of the other arms, to the level of which latter four steps lead up. Nearly the whole depth of this gallery is probably in the body of the supporting mound rather than really subterranean. The top is formed of large blocks of stone, stretching across from side to side, and, according to Mühlenpfordt, plastered and polished. The floor was also covered, if we may credit Müller, with a polished coat of cement. The walls are panels of mosaic work like that found on the exterior walls above. Mühlenpfordt noticed that the mosaic work was less skillfully executed than on the upper walls, and therefore probably much older. The large dall that covers the crossing of the two galleries is supported by a circular pillar resting on a square base. According to Tempsky the natives call this the ‘pillar of death,’ believing that whoever embraces it must die shortly. The whole interior surface, sides, floor, and ceiling, are painted red. No relics of any kind have been found here. Fossey says that this gallery, or at least a gallery, leads from the palace to the eastern pyramid—meaning probably the western pyramid, No. 5 of the plan—and from that point still further westward, where it may be traced for a league to the farm of Saga, and extends, as the natives believe, some three hundred leagues. Tradition relates that the Zapotecs originally had their temples in natural caverns, which they gradually improved to meet their requirements, and over which they finally built these palaces. There are consequently many absurd rumors afloat respecting the extent of the subterranean passages, but nothing has ever been discovered to indicate the existence of natural caves or extensive artificial excavations at this point. At the time of Charnay’s visit the opening to the gallery had been closed up, and the natives would allow no one to remove the obstructions, on the ground that hidden treasure was the object sought.[VII-58]Dupaix, 2d exped., pp. 32-3, pl. xxxiv.-v., fig. 82; Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 259, vol. vi., p. 451, vol. iv., pl. xxxii.-iii., fig. 86-7, ground plan, and section showing mosaic work; Ilustracion Mej., tom. ii., pp. 495-500, pl. iv., v., ix. Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., pp. 278-82, places the gallery erroneously under the northern wing of palace No. 1, with an entrance in the floor of the column chamber. Murguia, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. vii., pp. 170-3, from Burgoa, about the caves on which the palaces were built. Müller, Reisen, tom. ii., p. 280; Tempsky’s Mitla, pp. 250-1; Fossey, Mex., p. 369; Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 264-5; Mayer’s Observations, p. 30, with cuts from Dupaix. Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., p. 53. ‘Un appartement souterrain qui a 27 mètres de long, et 8 de large.’ Humboldt, Essai Pol., p. 264.

Ground Plan—Palace No. 3.

Third Palace

Palace No. 3 of the plan is said to have no supporting mound, but to stand on the level of the ground. Its ground plan, according to Castañeda, the only authority, is shown in the cut. The whole structure, divided into three courts, is about two hundred and eighty-four feet long and one hundred and eight feet wide, the thickness of the walls, not shown in the plan, being five or six feet. Nearly all the walls have fallen except those of the buildings about the central court, B, which have been repaired, covered with a roof of tiles, and are occupied by the curate of the parish as a residence. In the western front a doorway has been cut, before which, supporting a balcony, or awning, stand two stone columns which were evidently brought from some other part of the ruins. Both on the exterior and court walls, the regular panels of mosaic work are seen in the upper portions; the lower parts have been repaired with adobes, and newly plastered in many places. The modern church, quite a large and imposing structure, stands either upon or adjacent to a part of this ancient palace.[VII-59]Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 263, phot. iii.-iv.; Dupaix, 2d exped., pp. 33, 35-6, pl. xxxvi., fig. 83; Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 259, vol. vi., p. 451, vol. iv., pl. xxxiv., fig. 88, this plan differs from the one given above in making the passage d straight. Ilustracion Mej., tom. ii., p. 496.

Ground Plan—Palace No. 4.

Fourth Palace, and Pyramids

The cut is a ground plan of palace No. 4, which is also said to stand on the original level of the ground. The walls are spoken of by all visitors as almost entirely in ruins, and as presenting no peculiarities of construction when compared with the other palaces. From one of the portions still standing, however, Mühlenpfordt copied some fragmentary paintings, representing processions of rudely pictured human figures, as shown in the accompanying cut. The same author speaks of similar paintings, very likely not the work of the original builders of Mitla, on the walls of some of the other buildings.[VII-60]Dupaix, pl. xxxvii., fig. 84; Kingsborough, vol. iv., pl. xxxv., fig. 89. The latter plan represents three doorways in each of the buildings fronting on the northern court, C. See also references of preceding note.

Painting on Doorway—Palace No. 4.

Two mounds, or groups of mounds, stand west and south of the other ruins at 5 and 7 of the plan. No. 5 was photographed by Charnay, and is described as built of adobes, ascended by a stone stairway, and bearing now a modern chapel. According to Castañeda’s drawing probably representing these pyramids, the principal structure had four stories, or terraces, and was about seventy-five feet high, measuring at the base about one hundred and twenty feet on its shortest sides from east to west. The stairway faces westward towards the court formed by the smaller mounds which have only two stories. Group No. 7 is represented by Castañeda as consisting like No. 5 of a large mound and three small ones, of two and one stories respectively, surrounding a court in whose centre is a block, or altar, which Dupaix thinks may conceal the entrance to a subterranean passage. Mühlenpfordt represents the arrangement of the mounds as on my plan, and thinks the smaller elevations may have borne originally buildings like the northern palaces. In one of these mounds, according to the last-mentioned author, a tomb was found. Dupaix also describes two tombs found under mounds, the locality of which is not specified. One of these tombs was in the form of a cross, with arms about three by nine feet, six feet high, covered with a roof of flat stones, and in its construction like the gallery under palace No. 2, except that the small brick-shaped blocks of which its sides are formed are not arranged in grecques, but laid so as to present a plain surface. The second tomb was of rectangular form, about four by eight feet in dimensions. In one of them some human remains, with fragments of fine blue stone were discovered.[VII-61]Dupaix, pp. 34, 39, pl. xxxlx-xl., xliii-iv., fig. 86-7, 91-2; Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 260-1, vol. vi., pp. 451-3, vol. iv., pl. xxxvii-ix., fig. 91-4; Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., pp. 55-6; Charnay, p. 263, phot. ii.; Mühlenpfordt, in Ilustracion Mej., tom. ii., p. 496; Fossey, Mexique, pp. 368-9, locates these pyramidal groups east and north, instead of south and west of palace No. 1. He also mentions a granite block, or altar, 4½ feet long and one foot thick.

Fortified Hill

At a distance of a league and a half eastward of the village, Dupaix described and Castañeda sketched a small plain square stone building, divided into four apartments, standing on the slope of a high rocky hill. On the plate there is also shown the entrance to a subterranean gallery not mentioned in Dupaix’s text.[VII-62]Dupaix, p. 34, pl. xxxviii., fig. 85; Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 259, vol. vi., p. 451, vol. iv., pl. xxxvi., fig. 90. Kingsborough’s plate represents the walls as mostly fallen. Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., p. 53. Three fourths of a league westward from the village is a hill some six hundred feet in height, with precipitous sides naturally inaccessible save on one side, toward Mitla. The summit platform, probably leveled by artificial means, is enclosed by a wall of stone about six feet thick, eighteen feet high, and over a mile in circumference, forming many angles, as is shown in the annexed plan. On the eastern and accessible side, the wall is double, the inner wall being higher than the outer; and the entrances are not only not opposite each other, but penetrate the walls obliquely. Heaps of loose stones, c, c, c, were found at various points in the enclosure, doubtless for use as weapons in a hand-to-hand conflict. Outside of the walls, moreover, large rocks, some three feet in diameter, were carefully poised where they might be easily started down the sides against the advancing foe. Within the fortress, at several places, d, e, f, g, are slight remains of adobe buildings, probably erected for the accommodation of the aboriginal garrison. All we know of this fortress is derived from the work of Dupaix and Castañeda.[VII-63]Dupaix, pp. 40-1, pl. xliv.-v., fig. 93-4, view of hill, and plan copied above. Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 265, vol. vi., p. 455, vol. iv., pl. xl.-i., fig. 95; Lenoir, p. 56. Dupaix’s plates are copied in Mosaico Mex., tom. ii., pp. 281-4, and Armin, Alte Mex., p. 290; Fossey, Mex., p. 370. Plate from Sawkins’ drawing, different from that of Castañeda, but of course unreliable, in Mayer’s Observations, p. 32, pl. iv.

Plan of Fortress near Mitla.

Dupaix claims to have found the quarries which furnished material for the Mitla structures, in a hill three-fourths of a league eastward from the ruins, called by the Zapotecs Aguilosoé, by the Spaniards Mirador. The stone is described as of such a nature that large blocks may be easily split off by means of wedges and levers, and many such blocks were scattered about the place; the removal of the stone to the site of the palaces, here as in the case of many other American ruins, must have been the chief difficulty overcome by the builders. Stone wedges, together with axes and chisels of hard copper, are said to have been found at Mitla, but are not particularly described.[VII-64]Dupaix, 2d exped., pp. 41-3; Tylor’s Anahuac, p. 139.

Head in Terra Cotta—Mitla.

A head in terra cotta, wearing a peculiar helmet, was sketched here by Castañeda, and is shown in the cut. Another terra-cotta image represented a masked human figure, squatting cross-legged with hands on knees. A large semicircular cape reaches from the neck to the ground, showing only the hands and feet in front. The whole is very similar to some of the figures at Zachila, already described, but the tube which may be supposed to have held a torch originally, projects above the head, and is an inch and a half in diameter. The only specimen of stone images or idols found in connection with the ruins, is shown in the cut. It represents a seated figure, carved from a hard red stone, and brilliantly polished. Its height is about four inches. Tempsky tells us that the children at Mitla offered for sale small idols of clay and sandstone, which had been taken from the inner palace walls.[VII-65]Dupaix, 2d exped., pp. 37-8, pl. xli.-ii., fig. 88-90; Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 254, vol. vi., p. 447, vol. iv., pl. xxvi., fig. 78-80; Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., pp. 23-4, 55; Tempsky’s Mitla, p. 254.

Stone Image from Mitla.

General Remarks

Comparisons

The ruins of Mitla resemble Palenque only in the long low narrow form of the buildings, since the low supporting mounds can hardly be said to resemble the lofty stone-faced pyramids of Chiapas. A stronger likeness may be discovered when they are compared with the structures of Yucatan; since in both cases we find long narrow windowless buildings, raised on low mounds, and enclosing a rectangular courtyard, walls of rubble, and facings of hewn stone. The contrasts are also strong, as seen in the mosaic grecques, the absence of sculpture, and the flat roofs, in some cases supported by columns; although in one city on the east coast of Yucatan flat roofs of wooden beams were found. Whether the mosaic work of Mitla indicates in itself an earlier or later development of aboriginal art than the elaborately sculptured façades of Uxmal, I am unable to decide; but the flat roof supported by pillars would seem to indicate a later architectural development than the overlapping arch. The influence of the builders of Palenque and the cities of Yucatan, was doubtless felt by the builders of Mitla. How the influence was exerted it is very difficult to determine; Viollet-le-Duc attributes these northern structures to a branch of the southern civilization separated from the parent stock after the foundation of the Maya cities in Yucatan. Most antiquarians have concluded that Mitla is less ancient than the southern ruins, and the condition of the remains, so far as it throws any light on the subject, confirms the conclusion. This is the last ruin that will be found in our progress northward, which shows any marked analogy with the Maya monuments, save in the almost universal use of supporting mounds or pyramids, of various forms and dimensions. It has already been shown that the Zapotec language has no likeness whatever to the Aztec, or to the Maya, and that so far as institutions are concerned, this people might almost as properly be classed with the Maya as with the Nahua nations. The Abbé Brasseur in one part of his writings expresses the opinion that Mitla was built by the Toltecs from Cholula, who introduced their religion in Oajaca in the ninth or tenth century. Mitla is also frequently spoken of as a connecting link between the Central American and Mexican remains; this, however, is merely a part of the old favorite theory of one civilized people originating in the far north, moving gradually southward, and leaving at each stopping-place traces of their constantly improving and developing culture. There seems to have been no tradition among the natives at the Conquest, indicating that Mitla was built by a people preceding the Zapotecs. On the contrary, Burgoa and other early Oajacan chroniclers mention the place frequently as a Zapotec holy place, devoted to the burial of kings, the residence of a certain order of the priesthood, who lived here to make expiatory sacrifices for the dead, and a place of royal mourning, whither the king retired on the death of a relative. Subterranean caverns were used for the celebration of religious rites before the upper temples were built. Charnay fancies that the palaces were built by a people that afterwards migrated southward. He noticed that the walls in sheltered places were covered with very rude paintings—a sample of which has been given—and suggests that these were executed by occupants who succeeded the original builders. It will be apparent to the reader that the ruins at Mitla bear no resemblance whatever to other Oajacan monuments, such as those at Guiengola, Monte Alban, and Quiotepec; and that they are either the work of a different nation, or what is much more probable, for a different purpose. I am inclined to believe that Mitla was built by the Zapotecs at a very early period of their civilization, at a time when the builders were strongly influenced by the Maya priesthood, if they were not themselves a branch of the Maya people.[VII-66]Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., fol. 257-60; Id., in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. vii., p. 170, et seq., pp. 271-2; Id., in Ilustracion Mej., tom. ii., p. 494; Id., in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 21-30. Brasseur says that the temple built over a subterranean labyrinth was called Yohopehelichi Pezelao, ‘supreme fortress of Pezelao.’ Built under Toltec influence. Id., tom. i., pp. 304-5, tom. iii., p. 9. Sacked by the Aztecs about 1494, and the priests carried as captives to Mexico. Id., tom. iii., p. 358; Tylor’s Anahuac, p. 139. Buildings of different age. Dupaix, 2d exped., pp. 34-5; Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 252-3, 265; Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., p. 279.

The mosaic work undoubtedly bears a strong resemblance to the ornamentation observed on Grecian vases and other old-world relics; but this analogy is far from indicating any communication between the artists or their ancestors, for, as Humboldt says, “in all zones men have been pleased with a rhythmic repetition of the same forms, a repetition which constitutes the leading characteristic of what we vaguely call grecques, meandres, and Arabesques.”[VII-67]Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., pp. 284-5. ‘Les palais funéraires de Mitla reproduisent en certains cas l’ordonnance des demeures chinoises.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. iii. The ruins of Mitla ‘nous paraissent appartenir à la civilisation quichée, quoique postérieurs à ceux de l’Yucatan. La perfection de l’appareil, les parements verticaux des salles avec leurs épines de colonnes portant la charpente du comple, l’absence complète d’imitation de la construction de bois dans la décoration extérieure ou intérieure, l’ornementation obtenue seulement par l’assemblage des pierres sans sculpture, donnent aux édifices de Mitla un caractère particulier qui les distingue nettement de ceux de l’Yucatan et qui indiquerait aussi une date plus récente.’ Viollet-le-Duc, in Id., pp. 100-1.

In the northern part of Oajaca, towards the boundary line of Puebla, remains have been found in several localities. Those near Quiotepec are extensive and important, but are only known by the description of one explorer, Juan N. Lovato, who visited the ruins as a commissioner from the government in January, 1844.[VII-68]Lovato’s report was published with two of the nine plates which originally accompanied it in the Museo Mex., tom. iii., p. 329-35, and, without the plates in Diccionario Univ., tom. ix., pp. 697-700. Müller, Reisen, tom. ii., pp. 251-4, gives an account which seems to have been made up mostly from Lovato’s report, although he may have personally visited the ruins. A short description, also from the Museo Mex., may be found in Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, vol. ii., p. 217, and Id., Observations, pp. 25-6. Lovato’s account contains many details, but the drawings which originally accompanied it were, with two exceptions, not published, and from the text only a general idea can be formed respecting the nature of the ruins. The following are such items of information as I have been able to extract from the report in question.

Ruins of Quiotepec

A hill about a mile long and a quarter of a mile wide at its base, and over a thousand feet high, known as the Cerro de las Juntas, stands at the junction of the rivers Quiotepec and Salado. At the eastern end, where the streams meet, the ascent is precipitous and inaccessible, but the other sides and the summit are covered with ruins. The slopes are formed into level platforms with perpendicular terrace walls of stone, of height and thickness varying according to the nature of the ground. In ascending the western slope, thirty-five of these terrace walls were encountered; on the southern slope there were fifty-seven, and on the northern eighty-eight, counting only those that were still standing. One of the walls at the summit is about three hundred and twenty feet long, sixty feet high, and five and a half feet thick.

Scattered over the hill on the terrace platforms, the foundations of small buildings, supposed to have been dwellings, were found in at least a hundred and thirty places. In connection with these buildings some tombs were found underground, box-shaped with walls of stone, containing human remains and some fragments of pottery. Tumuli in great numbers are found in all directions, probably burial mounds, although nothing but a few stone beads has been found in them. Other mounds were apparently designed for the support of buildings. At different points towards the summit of the hill are three tanks, or reservoirs, one of which is sixty feet long, twenty-four feet wide, and six feet deep, with traces of steps leading down into it. In the walls traces of beams are seen, supposed by the explorer to have supported the scaffolding used in their construction.

Temple Pyramid—Cerro de las Juntas.

Besides the terrace walls, foundations of dwellings, and the remains that have been mentioned, there are also many ruins of statelier edifices, presumably palaces and temples. Of these, the only ones described are situated at the summit on a small level plateau, of a hundred and twenty-two by two hundred and forty-eight feet. These consist of what are spoken of as a palace and a temple, facing each other, a hundred and sixty-six feet apart. Between the two are the bases of what was formerly a line of circular pillars, leading from one edifice to the other. The bases, or pedestals, are fourteen inches in diameter, five inches high, and about fourteen feet apart. The Temple faces north-east, and its front is shown in the accompanying cut. This is a form of the pyramidal structure very different from any that has been met before. Its dimensions on the ground are fifty by fifty-five feet. The Palace is described as thirty-nine feet high in front and thirty-three feet in the rear, and has a stairway of twenty steps about twenty-eight feet wide, leading up to the summit on the front. Judging by the plate, this so-called palace is a solid elevation with perpendicular sides, ornamented with three plain cornices, one end of which is occupied throughout nearly its whole width by the stairway mentioned. The material of the two structures is the stone of the hill itself cut in thin regular blocks, laid in what is described as mud, and covered, as is shown by traces still left in a few parts, with a coating of plaster. Both the structures, according to the plates, have a rather modern appearance, and differ widely from any other American monuments, but there seems to be no reason to doubt the reliability of Sr Lovato’s account, considering its official nature, and I cannot suppose that the Spaniards ever erected such edifices. The foundations and arches of three small apartments are vaguely spoken of as having been discovered by excavation in connection with the Palace, but whether they were on its summit or in the interior of the apparently solid mass, does not clearly appear, although Müller states that the latter was the case. On the summit of the Palace a copal-tree, one foot in diameter, was found. Five sculptured slabs were sketched by Müller at Quiotepec, but he does not state in what part of the ruins they were found. Each slab has a human figure in profile, surrounded by a variety of inexplicable attributes. The foreheads seem to be flattened, and four of the five have an immense curved tongue, possibly the well-known Aztec symbol of speech, protruding from the mouth. Somewhere in this vicinity, on the perpendicular banks of rock that form the channel of the Rio Tecomava, painted figures of a sun, moon, and hand, are reported, at a great height from the water.[VII-69]Museo Mex., tom. i., p. 136. Lovato’s exploration was made by the order of Gen. Leon, and the account furnished for publication by Sr J. M. Tornel. In describing the Temple, the three flights of stairs are said to have 10, 8, and 6 steps, respectively, which does not agree with the plate as copied above. Müller gives the number of small buildings, or dwellings, whose foundations are visible as 120 instead of 130; he also gives in his dimensions mètres instead of varas, which would increase them in English feet in the proportion of 92 to 109. He further states that the structures face the cardinal points.

Tuxtepec and Huahuapan

Near the town of Tuxtepec, some fifty miles eastward from Quiotepec, near the Vera Cruz boundary, there is said to be an artificial mound eighty-three feet high, known as the Castillo de Montezuma. A passage leads toward the centre, but nothing further is known of it, except that some stone idols are mentioned by another writer as having been dug from a mound in a town of the same name.[VII-70]Unda, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. i., p. 30; Museo Mex., tom. i., p. 250.

Sculptured Block from Huahuapan.

At Huahuapan, about fifty miles westward of Quiotepec, Dupaix found the sculptured block shown in the cut. It is four and a half feet long, and a foot and a half high; the material is a hard blue stone, and the sculpture in low relief seems to represent a kind of coat of arms, from which projects a hand grasping an object, a part of which bears a strong resemblance to the Aztec symbol of water. This relic was found in a hill called Tallesto, about a league east of the town.[VII-71]Dupaix, 2d exped., p. 14, pl. xix., fig. 55; Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 244, vol. vi., p. 442, vol. iv., pl. xvii., fig. 55; Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., p. 47.

In another hill, called Sombrerito, only half a league from the town, a laborer in 1831 plowed up an ancient grave, said to have contained human bones, fine pottery, with gold beads and rings. All the relics were buried again by the finder, except four of the rings, which came into the possession of the Bishop of Puebla, and two of which are shown in the cut. With some doubts respecting the authenticity of these relics I give the cuts for what they are worth. There are accounts and drawings of several rudely carved stone images from the same region.[VII-72]Museo Mex., tom. i., pp. 249, 401, with plates of the rings and 7 stone relics.

Gold Rings from Huahuapan.

At Yanguitlan, ten or fifteen miles south-east of Huahuapan, several relics were found, including a human head of natural size carved from red stone; two idols of green jasper, slightly carved in human likeness; three cutting implements of hard stone; and the two objects shown in the cuts on the opposite page. The first is a spear-head of gray flint, and the second a very curious relic of unknown use, and whose material and dimensions the finder has neglected to mention. It is of a red color, and is very beautifully wrought in two pieces, one serving as a cover for the other, apparently intended to be joined by a cord as represented in the cut. Among the uses suggested are those of a censer and a lantern.[VII-73]Dupaix, 2d exped., pp. 15-16, pl. xix.-xx., fig. 56-63; Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 244-5, vol. vi., pp. 442-3, vol. iv., pl. xvii.-xviii., fig. 56-63. Respecting the jasper figures M. Dupaix says: ‘Le nombre de celles qu’on trouve dans les sépultures de la nation zapotèque est infini. Elles ont deux à trois pouces de haut; elles sont presque toutes de forme triangulaire, quadrangulaire, ou prismatique, et sont sculptées en jaspe vert foncé, ayant invariablement la même attitude semblable à celle d’Iris ou d’Osiris, dont les petites idoles étaient destinées à accompagner les momies égyptiennes.’ The hole in the back part of each is drilled in a curved line. Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., pp. 47-8.

Relics from Yanguitlan.

Antiquities of Guerrero

Respecting the relics of the state of Guerrero, my only information is derived from a statistical work by Sr Celso Muñoz, contained in the report of Gov. Francisco O. Arce to the legislature of the state in 1872. This author mentions such relics in the district of Hidalgo, north of the Rio Zacatula towards the Mexican boundary, as follows: 1st. “The momoxtles, or tombs of the ancient Indians, which are found in almost all the towns, although they are constantly disappearing, and abound especially in the municipality of Cocula.” 2d. “Traces of ancient settlements of the aborigines, who either became extinct or migrated to other localities: such are seen on the hill of Huizteco, in the municipality of Tasco, in that of Tetipac el Viejo and of Coatlan el Viejo, of Tetipac, of Coculatepil, of Piedra Grande or San Gaspar, region of Iglesia Vieja, Cocula, and many others.” 3d. At Tepecoacuilco “there are traces very clearly defined of many foundations of houses; and in excavations that have been made there have been found many idols and flint weapons, especially lances, very well preserved, and other curious relics of Aztec times.” 4th. At Chontalcuatlan, there are traces of the ancient town on a hill called Coatlan el Viejo, where there is also said to be a block of porphyry one or two mètres in diameter, on the surface of which is sculptured a coiled serpent.[VII-74]Muñoz, Estadística del Distrito de Hidalgo, in Guerrero, Memoria presentada á la H. Legislatura, por el Gobernador, Fran. O. Arce, 1872, pp. 45, 150, 272.

Footnotes

[VII-1] See vol. ii., chap. ii., of this work.

[VII-2] Arias, Antigüedades Zapotecas, in Museo Mex., tom. i., pp. 246-8, Müller, Reisen, tom. ii., pp. 356-7; Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. ii., pp. 395; 539-41; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 359, with reference to Carriedo, Estudios hist. y estad. del Estado Oaxaqueño, tom. ii., append. i.; Garay, Reconocimiento, p. 110; Id., Survey, pp. 112-13; Id., Acct., pp. 79-81.

[VII-3] Dupaix, 3d exped., pp. 6-7, pl. iii.-v., fig. 6-9; Kingsborough, vol. vi., p. 469, vol. iv., pl. iii.-v., fig. 6-9; Larenaudière, Mex. Guat., pl. viii., from Dupaix, showing second pyramid; Mayer’s Observations, pp. 25-6, with cut of the first altar representing its successive platforms as forming a spiral ascent.

[VII-4] Dupaix, 3d exped., p. 6, pl. ii., fig. 5; cut of same lance-head in Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., p. 85, pl. xiv.; Museo Mexicano, tom. i., pp. 248-9, tom. iii., pp. 135-7; Hist. Mag., vol. iii., p. 240.

[VII-5] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Voy. Tehuan., pp. 122-5.

[VII-6] Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., cap. lxxii.; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 9-10.

[VII-7] Lafond, Voyage, tom. i., p. 139.

[VII-8] Museo Mex., tom. i., p. 248.

[VII-9] Dupaix, 3d exped., p. 8, pl. vi., fig. 10; Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 289, vol. vi., p. 469, vol. iv., pl. vi., fig. 10; Lenoir, pp. 16, 71. Kingsborough calls the name of the locality of these remains Chilmitlan. His plate shows regular quadrilateral openings in the parapets, while in Castañeda’s plate they appear of irregular form, as if made by the removal of stones.

[VII-10] Garay, Reconocimiento, pp. 110-12; Id., Survey, pp. 113-15; Id., Acct., pp. 79-81.

[VII-11] Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. ii., p. 298; Florencia, Hist. Comp. Jesus, pp. 233-6, Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 39, 286, tom. i., p. 146.

[VII-12] Besides remains attributed to particular localities, see Museo Mex., tom. iii., p. 135, cuts and descriptions of four earthen idols found in this state; Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., tom. i., fol. 160, 166, 170, 197, tom. ii., fol. 275, 298, 319-21, 330, 344-5, 363, mention and slight description of burial places, caves, temples, etc., of the natives, some of them seen by the author; Mühlenpfordt, Mej., tom. ii., pp. 186, 195, 200, 206, 212, 215, slight mention of scattered relics; Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 218, cuts of three heads in Peñasco collection, said to have come from Oajaca.

[VII-13] Dupaix, 2d exped., pp. 28-9.

[VII-14] Müller, Reisen, tom. ii., p. 282, with cut of the ring.

[VII-15] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 47.

[VII-16] Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., p. 91.

[VII-17] Museo Mex., tom. i., p. 249.

[VII-18] Dupaix, 3d exped., p. 6, pl. ii., 2d exped., p. 51.

[VII-19] Fossey, Mexique, pp. 375-6. No authority is given, and M. Fossey was not himself an antiquarian explorer.

[VII-20] Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 249-51.

[VII-21] Dupaix, 2d exped., pp. 17-23, pl. xxi-viii., fig. 64-77; Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 247-51, vol. vi., pp. 444-6, vol. iv., pl. xix-xxv., fig. 64-77; Lenoir, pp. 16, 22, 49-51. Carriedo’s Atlas de una Fortaleza Zapoteca, etc., mentioned by Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., p. 94, and in Museo Mex., tom. i., p. 246. The editors of the latter magazine announced their intention to publish the drawings as soon as the plates could be engraved, but I have not seen the volume in which their purpose was carried out, if indeed it was ever carried out. García’s report in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. vii., pp. 270-1, with plates; Müller, Reisen, tom. ii., pp. 270-1, with plates; Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 250-3; Viollet-le-Duc, in Id., pp. 25-6, with cut. Other references to slight notices of Monte Alban, containing no original information are;—Larenaudière, Mex. Guat., pl. i., from Dupaix; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 340; Fossey, Mexique, pp. 370-1. This writer locates the ruins ¼ of a league from the city. Escalera and Llana, Mej., p. 332; Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., p. 91.

[VII-22] See authorities in preceding note.

[VII-23] Plate showing the stones in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. vii., p. 270.

[VII-24] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 339-40.

[VII-25] ‘Elle représente un dieu dont les attributs caractérisent le principe actif de la nature qui produit les grains et les fruits. C’est le dieu qui crée, conserve et est en hostilité permanente avec le Génie destructeur qui gouverne aussi le monde. Son casque ou son diadème, ombragé d’un panache considérable et qui atteste son importance, est orné de la Grande couleuvre, nommée aussi par les astronomes modernes le serpent d’Ève, dont la présence dans le ciel annonce la saison des récoltes.’ Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., pp. 57-8. Cut also in Mayer’s Obs., p. 32, pl. iii., from the original which is preserved in Mexico.

[VII-26] Plate also in Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., pp. 64-5, pl. xi.

[VII-27] Copies of plates in Mayer’s Obs., p. 32, pl. iii.; Id., Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., pp. 218-19.

[VII-28] Dupaix says of this image: ‘Elle participe un peu du style égyptien. Elle est couverte de trois vêtements qui croisent l’un sur l’autre symétriquement, et qui sont bordés de franges. La tête est ornée de tresses qui font deviner le sexe; les oreilles et le cou sont parés de bijoux; enfin toute cette figure est étrange.’ 2d exped., p. 49. This image in the opinion of M. Lenoir, Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., pp. 60-1, represents the Mexican goddess Toci, and the preceding one the god of war, Huitzilopochtli. These images are now in the Mexican Museum, and plates of them were published by Sr Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., pp. 90-5, pl. xvii., who by no means agrees with Lenoir’s conclusions identifying them with Aztec deities, although he agrees with Dupaix respecting their probable use as chandeliers.

[VII-29] Authorities on antiquities of Zachila. Dupaix, 2d exped., pp. 44-51, pl. xlvii., fig. 95-116; Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 269-78, vol. vi., pp. 458-63, vol. iv., pl. xlvii.-li., fig. 96-117. Kingsborough also attributes fig. 118-19 to Zachila, but according to the official edition the relics represented by those numbers came from Tizatlan in Tlascala. Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., pp. 57-63. The aboriginal name of the place was Zaachillatloo. Dupaix, pp. 44-5. Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 47, speaks of a fortress visited by several travelers, built by Zaachila, the great Zapotec conqueror, on the top of a lofty rock 25 leagues east of Oajaca. Mention of ruins and two cuts of figures in Ilustracion Mej., tom. iii., pp. 367-8, 480; Escalera and Llana, Mej. Hist. Descrip., p. 226.

[VII-30] Escalera and Llana, Mej. Hist. Descrip., p. 226; Fossey, Mex., p. 376.

[VII-31] Liubá, ‘Sepultura;’ Miquitlan, ‘infierno ó lugar de tristeza.’ Dupaix, 2d exped., p. 30. Leoba, or Luiva, ‘sépulture;’ Miguitlan, ‘lieu de désolation, lieu de tristesse.’ Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., pp. 278-9. Yopaa, Lyoba, or Yobaa, ‘terre des tombes;’ Mictlan, ‘séjour des Morts.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 304-5, tom. iii., p. 9. Liobáá, ‘place of rest.’ Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. vii., p. 170.

[VII-32] ‘Uno, llamado Mictlan, que quiere decir infierno ó lugar de muertos, á do hubo en tiempos pasados, (segun hallaron las muestras) edificios mas notables y de ver que en otra parte de la Nueva España. Hubo un templo del demonio y aposentos de sus ministros, maravillosa cosa á la vista, en especial una sala como de artesones, y la obra era labrada de piedra de muchos lazos y labores.’ Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 395-6; Burgoa, Descrip. Geog., tom. ii., fol. 259, etc.

[VII-33] ‘Du haut de la forteresse de Mitla, la vue plonge dans la vallée et se repose avec tristesse sur des roches pelées et des solitudes arides, image de destruction propre à relever l’effet des palais de Liobaa. Un torrent d’eau salée (?), qui se gonfle avec la tempête, coule au milieu des sables poudreux qu’il entraîne avec lui. Les rives sont sèches et sans ombrages; à peine voit-on de distance en distance quelques nopals nains, ou quelques poivriers du Pérou, aussi maigres que le terrain où ils ont pris racine. Seulement, du côté du village, la verdure sombre des magueys et des cactus donne au tableau l’aspect d’un jardin d’hiver planté de buis et de sapins.’ Fossey, Mexique, p. 371.

[VII-34] Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., pp. 278-85, pl. xvii-viii., fol. ed., pl. xlix-l; Id., in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., pp. 28-30, supl. pl. viii.; Id., Essai Pol., pp. 263-5. Humboldt speaks of Martin as ‘un architecte mexicain très-distingué.’ Dupaix, 2d exped., pp. 30-44, pl. xxix-xlvi., fig. 78-93; Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 255-68, vol. vi., pp. 447-56, vol. iv., pl. xxvii-xli., fig. 81-95; Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., pp. 16, 23-4, 52-7. Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., pref., p. 5, claims to have been for some time Director of road-construction in the state of Oajaca, and states his intention of publishing at some future time 18 or 20 large copper-plate engravings illustrating the antiquities of Mitla and others. These plates, so far as I know, have never been given to the public. Carriedo accompanied Mühlenpfordt, or Mihelenpforott as he writes the name, and published some of the drawings, perhaps all, in the Ilustracion Mejicana, tom. ii., pp. 493-8. Some of the German artists’ descriptive text is also quoted from I know not what source. Tempsky’s Mitla, pp. 250-3, with plates which must have been made up for the most part from other sources than the author’s own observations. García’s visit, Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. vii., pp. 271-2. Sawkin’s exploration, in Mayer’s Observations, p. 28, et seq., with plates. It will be shown later that Mr Sawkins’ drawings are without value to the archæological student. Fossey’s account, Mexique, pp. 365-70; Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 261-9, phot. ii-xviii.; Viollet-le-Duc, in Id., pp. 74-104, with cuts. After Charnay had completed, as he thought, the work of photographing the ruins, all his negatives were spoiled for want of proper varnish. He was therefore compelled to return alone, since he had exhausted the somewhat limited patience of his native assistants, and to work day and night to take a new set of pictures. Müller, Reisen, tom. ii., pp. 279-81, seems also to have made a personal exploration. Other references for Mitla containing no original information are as follows:—Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., pp. 117-22, with two cuts from Charnay and two from Tempsky, all given in my text. Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 173; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 85-6; Larenaudière, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., tom. xxxiv., pp. 121-2; Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., pp. 90-5, pl. xvii.; Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, pp. 251-3; Id., Mex. Aztec, vol. ii., pp. 213-16; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 157-60; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 270-1; Id., Travels, p. 92; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 462; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 14, vol. iii., pp. 404-6; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 463; Mexicanische Zustände, tom. i., pp. 403-4; Wappäus, Mex. Guat., p. 162; Lemprière, Mexique, p. 144; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 255; Hermosa, Manual Geog., p. 135; Escalera and Llana, Mex., pp. 327-32, 225, same as in Fossey; Lafond, Voyages, tom. i., p. 139; Bonnycastle’s Span. Amer., vol. i., p. 154, vol. ii., p. 233; D’Orbigny, Voyage, p. 356;Conder’s Mex. Guat., vol. ii., pp. 130-4; Dally, Races Indig., pp. 16-17; Macgillivray’s Life Humboldt, pp. 314-15; Mills’ Hist. Mex., p. 158; Mexico in 1842, p. 77; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 105; Larenaudière, Mex. Guat., pl. ii-vi., from Dupaix; Delafield’s Antiq. Amer., pp. 55, 59-60.

[VII-35] Charnay, phot. xvii., gives a general view of the ruins, from which, however, no clear idea can be formed of the arrangement of the structures. The buildings are named or numbered as follows by the different authors; Dupaix numbers them as they are marked on my plan; Carriedo and Mühlenpfordt unite Nos. 1 and 2 under the name of 1st Palace, making No. 3 No. 2, and No. 4 No. 3; Charnay’s 1st or grand palace is the northern building of No. 1; his 2d is the eastern building of the same; his 3d and 4th are the northern and western buildings respectively of No. 2. My No. 3 is called by him the House of the Curate, and No. 4 is only mentioned by him without name or number.

[VII-36] At the Conquest the ruins covered an immense area, but they now consist of six palaces and three ruined pyramids. Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 261.

[VII-37] Dupaix’s ground plan, pl. xxix., fig. 78, represents such a southern building and mound, although very slight, if any, traces remained of the former at the time of his visit. Martin’s plan, given by Humboldt, shows two shorter mounds without buildings; while Carriedo’s plan locates no structure whatever south of the court, and I have omitted it in my plan.

[VII-38] The dimensions are very nearly those of the plans of Martin and Castañeda, who differ only very slightly. The dimensions given by the different authorities are as follows: A. 12½×47½ varas, Castañeda; 13¼×46½ varas, Martin, in Humboldt; 40 mètres long, Charnay; 180 feet long, Tempsky; 132 feet long, Fossey. C. 22×22 varas, Castañeda and Martin; d, 7×35½ varas, Castañeda; 7½×34½ varas, Martin. Walls 1½ to 3½ varas thick, Castañeda; 1½ varas, Martin. Height 5 to 6 mètres, Humboldt; 14 feet, Fossey. The height of the inner columns, to be spoken of later, shows something respecting the original height of the walls.

[VII-39] Charnay, p. 264, describes the material of this filling as ‘terre battue, mêlée de gros cailloux.’ His photographs of walls where the facing has fallen show in some places a mass of large irregular stones, even laid with some regularity in a few instances; in other parts of the ruins there seem to be very few stones, but only a mass of earth or clay; and in still other parts the wall has every appearance of regular adobes. Dupaix, p. 35, says that sand and lime are mixed with the earth. ‘El macizo, ó grueso de las paredes se compone de una tierra mezclada y beneficiada con arena y cal.’ ‘De tierra preparada, hollada ó beneficiada cuando fresca y pastosa.’ Tempsky, p. 251, declares the material to be rough boulders in cement. Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., p. 283, speaks of ‘une masse d’argile qui paroît remplir l’intérieur des murs.’

[VII-40] ‘Los compartimientos divididos por unos tableros cuadrilongos, terminados por unas molduras cuadradas que sobresalen á la linea de la muralla, contienen en sus planos unas grecas de alto relieve de una bella invencion, pues sus dibujos presentan unos enlaces complicados arreglados á una exactisima geometría, con una grande union entre las piedras que los componen, las que son de varios gruesos, y configuraciones; ademas se advierte una perfecta nivelacion en toda esta admirable ensambladura.’ Dupaix, 2d exped., p. 31. A mosaic of soft sandstone cut in blocks 7×2⅛×1 inches, and all forming a smooth exterior surface. Tempsky’s Mitla, pp. 251-2, with a very faulty cut. The statement about the smooth surface is certainly erroneous, as is probably that respecting the size of the blocks. ‘Ces arabesques forment une sorte de mosaïque, composée de petites pierres carrées, qui sont placées avec beaucoup d’art, les unes à côté des autres.’ Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., p. 283; with cuts of three styles of this mosaic from Martin. ‘Briquettes de différentes grandeurs.’ The modern church is built of stone from the ruins. The natives carry away the blocks of mosaic in the belief that they will turn to gold. Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 252, 263-5. Phot. v-vi., view of southern façade. 22 different styles of grecques on this front. Fossey, Mexique, pp. 367-8. Cuts of 16 different styles in Ilustracion Mej., tom. ii., p. 501.

[VII-41] An Indian woman was reported to have one of the heads from these holes, built into the walls of her house, but it could not be found. Dupaix, 2d exped., p. 31.

[VII-42] Besides the photograph copied above, Charnay’s photographs, vii.-viii., present views from the east and west, showing that the same style of construction and ornamentation extends completely round the building. Dupaix’s plate xxx. represents this façade, but shows only a small portion of the stone-work. Kingsborough gives in its place a magnificent plate, 1×5 feet, showing the whole front restored in all its details; he gives also the plate from Antiq. Mex., but refers it to the palace No. 2. pl. xxxi., fig. 85. See description of the walls quoted from Burgoa, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. vii., pp. 170-3.

[VII-43] 5.8 mètres high; one third of the height buried in the ground. Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., p. 282. 4 varas above surface, 2 varas below, 1 vara diameter. Id., in Antiq. Mex., suppl. pl. viii. Of the material, Humboldt says: ‘Quelques personnes, très-instruites en minéralogie, m’ont dit que la pierre est un beau porphyre amphibolique; d’autres m’ont assuré que c’est un granite porphyritique.’ 12 feet high, 9½ feet in circumference. Fossey, Mex., pp. 367-8. About 14 feet high, Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 263; 5½ varas high, 1 vara in diameter, material granite, Dupaix, p. 31. Over 5 varas high. Burgoa, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. vii., p. 171. 12 feet high, 4 feet diameter. Tempsky’s Mitla, p. 253. 10 feet 10½ inches above ground, over 6 feet below, 3⅓ varas in circumference; material porphyry. Ilustracion Mej., tom. ii., pp. 495-6. So large that two men can hardly reach round them, 5 fathoms high. Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 395-6. Material a porous limestone. Viollet-le-Duc, in Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 78.

[VII-44] See Charnay, phot. x.

[VII-45] Charnay, phot. vii.-viii.

[VII-46] Charnay, phot. xi. Plate in Tempsky’s Mitla, pp. 252-3, very incorrect, as are nearly all of this author’s illustrations.

[VII-47] Charnay, phot. ix.

[VII-48] See p. 257 of this volume.

[VII-49] Murguia, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. vii., pp. 170-3. ‘De grandes dalles, de plus de deux pieds d’épaisseur, reposant sur des piliers d’une hauteur de trois mètres, formaient le plafond de ces palais: au-dessus on voyait une corniche saillante ornée de sculptures capricieuses, dont l’ensemble formait comme une sorte de diadème posé sur le sommet de l’édifice.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., p. 26, Burgoa.

[VII-50] As quoted in Ilustracion Mej., tom. ii., p. 496.

[VII-51] Viollet-le-Duc, in Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 78-9.

[VII-52] Charnay, phot. xii., p. 264; Dupaix, pp. 31-2, pl. xxxi., fig. 80.

[VII-53] In the preceding pages it will be noticed that I have paid no attention to the plates and description by Mr J. G. Sawkins, from an exploration in 1837, as given by Col. Brantz Mayer in his Observations on Mexican History and Archæology, published among the Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge. My reasons for disregarding Sawkins’ authority are, that the said descriptions and plates are just sufficiently accurate to identify palace No. 1 with the one referred to, but otherwise constitute one of the most bare-faced frauds recorded in the annals of antiquarian exploration in America. The following points are more than sufficient to substantiate what I have said:—1st. Sawkins reverses the cardinal points, respecting which the other authorities agree, placing the principal building on the east of the court instead of the north, etc. To avoid repetition and confusion, I shall in the following remarks, however, correct this error and speak of each building in its proper location. 2d. Sawkins found five standing columns in the eastern building, d, four of which supported parts of a wall, while the other standing apart was taller than the rest; now the columns supporting the wall may have been the piers between the doorways—but only three of these were standing in 1806 (see Dupaix, pl. xxxi.); and the taller column standing apart agrees well enough with the truth, except that there were two of them standing in 1859. (See Charnay, Ruines Amér., phot. xii.) On the west our explorer correctly found everything obliterated, and the ‘crumbling and indistinct walls’ which he found on the south may have been part of palace No. 2. 3d. Coming now to the northern building, Sawkins found in the front 4 doorways, so narrow and low that only one person at a time could enter, and that only by stooping; during the next 20 years these doorways grew remarkably in size, and decreased in number, since Charnay’s photograph shows 3 doorways with standing human figures in two of them, not obliged to stoop or much pressed for elbow room, as may be seen in the copy I have given. 4th. Sawkins found all the adornments removed from this façade; they were perhaps replaced before Charnay’s visit. 5th. In the interior, A of the plan, Sawkins found niches in the end walls not seen by any other visitor. 6th. The six columns represented by Martin and Dupaix as standing in the centre of this apartment, had all been removed (!) at the time of Sawkins’ visit. It was a strange freak of the camera to picture them all in place 20 years later. 7th. But Charnay’s photographic apparatus had yet other repairs to make, for in the northern wing, C, the walls of the interior apartments had all disappeared, and even the interior surface of the outer walls, which enclosed the quadrangle, had no mosaic work, but the panels presented only 9 long recesses in three tiers on each side. Mr Sawkins’ plates are two in number; one of them presents a general view of this palace from the west, and although faulty, indicates that the artist may have actually visited Mitla; the other is a rear view of the northern building, gives a tolerably correct idea of the construction of the walls, and may possibly have been made up from the large plate in Kingsborough’s work. I have no more space to devote to Sawkins. He may have been already ‘shown up’ by some critic whose writings have escaped my notice. It is proper to add that as Col. Mayer apparently consulted only Humboldt’s description of Mitla, it is not at all strange that this zealous investigator and usually correct writer was deceived by a pretended explorer.

[VII-54] Dupaix, pl. xxxii., fig. 81, where the dimensions are 6½×33½ varas. Carriedo’s, or Mühlenpfordt’s, plan, pl. ii., makes the court 114×135 feet, and the western building 128.9 feet on the inside; on page 495, and on another plan, it is implied that the eastern mound never bore any building.

[VII-55] Ilustracion Mej., tom. ii., p. 495.

[VII-56] Müller, Reisen, tom. ii., p. 280.

[VII-57] Charnay, Ruines Amér., phot. xiii.-xvi.; Dupaix, p. 33, pl. xxxiii., fig. 82-3; Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 258-9, vol. vi., pp. 450-1, vol. iv., pl. xxx., fig. 84; Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., pp. 53, 16; Mühlenpfordt, in Ilustracion Mej., p. 500, pl. vi.; Tempsky’s Mitla, pp. 250-1.

[VII-58] Dupaix, 2d exped., pp. 32-3, pl. xxxiv.-v., fig. 82; Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 259, vol. vi., p. 451, vol. iv., pl. xxxii.-iii., fig. 86-7, ground plan, and section showing mosaic work; Ilustracion Mej., tom. ii., pp. 495-500, pl. iv., v., ix. Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., pp. 278-82, places the gallery erroneously under the northern wing of palace No. 1, with an entrance in the floor of the column chamber. Murguia, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. vii., pp. 170-3, from Burgoa, about the caves on which the palaces were built. Müller, Reisen, tom. ii., p. 280; Tempsky’s Mitla, pp. 250-1; Fossey, Mex., p. 369; Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 264-5; Mayer’s Observations, p. 30, with cuts from Dupaix. Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., p. 53. ‘Un appartement souterrain qui a 27 mètres de long, et 8 de large.’ Humboldt, Essai Pol., p. 264.

[VII-59] Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 263, phot. iii.-iv.; Dupaix, 2d exped., pp. 33, 35-6, pl. xxxvi., fig. 83; Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 259, vol. vi., p. 451, vol. iv., pl. xxxiv., fig. 88, this plan differs from the one given above in making the passage d straight. Ilustracion Mej., tom. ii., p. 496.

[VII-60] Dupaix, pl. xxxvii., fig. 84; Kingsborough, vol. iv., pl. xxxv., fig. 89. The latter plan represents three doorways in each of the buildings fronting on the northern court, C. See also references of preceding note.

[VII-61] Dupaix, pp. 34, 39, pl. xxxlx-xl., xliii-iv., fig. 86-7, 91-2; Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 260-1, vol. vi., pp. 451-3, vol. iv., pl. xxxvii-ix., fig. 91-4; Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., pp. 55-6; Charnay, p. 263, phot. ii.; Mühlenpfordt, in Ilustracion Mej., tom. ii., p. 496; Fossey, Mexique, pp. 368-9, locates these pyramidal groups east and north, instead of south and west of palace No. 1. He also mentions a granite block, or altar, 4½ feet long and one foot thick.

[VII-62] Dupaix, p. 34, pl. xxxviii., fig. 85; Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 259, vol. vi., p. 451, vol. iv., pl. xxxvi., fig. 90. Kingsborough’s plate represents the walls as mostly fallen. Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., p. 53.

[VII-63] Dupaix, pp. 40-1, pl. xliv.-v., fig. 93-4, view of hill, and plan copied above. Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 265, vol. vi., p. 455, vol. iv., pl. xl.-i., fig. 95; Lenoir, p. 56. Dupaix’s plates are copied in Mosaico Mex., tom. ii., pp. 281-4, and Armin, Alte Mex., p. 290; Fossey, Mex., p. 370. Plate from Sawkins’ drawing, different from that of Castañeda, but of course unreliable, in Mayer’s Observations, p. 32, pl. iv.

[VII-64] Dupaix, 2d exped., pp. 41-3; Tylor’s Anahuac, p. 139.

[VII-65] Dupaix, 2d exped., pp. 37-8, pl. xli.-ii., fig. 88-90; Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 254, vol. vi., p. 447, vol. iv., pl. xxvi., fig. 78-80; Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., pp. 23-4, 55; Tempsky’s Mitla, p. 254.

[VII-66] Burgoa, Geog. Descrip., fol. 257-60; Id., in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. vii., p. 170, et seq., pp. 271-2; Id., in Ilustracion Mej., tom. ii., p. 494; Id., in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 21-30. Brasseur says that the temple built over a subterranean labyrinth was called Yohopehelichi Pezelao, ‘supreme fortress of Pezelao.’ Built under Toltec influence. Id., tom. i., pp. 304-5, tom. iii., p. 9. Sacked by the Aztecs about 1494, and the priests carried as captives to Mexico. Id., tom. iii., p. 358; Tylor’s Anahuac, p. 139. Buildings of different age. Dupaix, 2d exped., pp. 34-5; Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 252-3, 265; Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., p. 279.

[VII-67] Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., pp. 284-5. ‘Les palais funéraires de Mitla reproduisent en certains cas l’ordonnance des demeures chinoises.’ Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. iii. The ruins of Mitla ‘nous paraissent appartenir à la civilisation quichée, quoique postérieurs à ceux de l’Yucatan. La perfection de l’appareil, les parements verticaux des salles avec leurs épines de colonnes portant la charpente du comple, l’absence complète d’imitation de la construction de bois dans la décoration extérieure ou intérieure, l’ornementation obtenue seulement par l’assemblage des pierres sans sculpture, donnent aux édifices de Mitla un caractère particulier qui les distingue nettement de ceux de l’Yucatan et qui indiquerait aussi une date plus récente.’ Viollet-le-Duc, in Id., pp. 100-1.

[VII-68] Lovato’s report was published with two of the nine plates which originally accompanied it in the Museo Mex., tom. iii., p. 329-35, and, without the plates in Diccionario Univ., tom. ix., pp. 697-700. Müller, Reisen, tom. ii., pp. 251-4, gives an account which seems to have been made up mostly from Lovato’s report, although he may have personally visited the ruins. A short description, also from the Museo Mex., may be found in Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, vol. ii., p. 217, and Id., Observations, pp. 25-6.

[VII-69] Museo Mex., tom. i., p. 136. Lovato’s exploration was made by the order of Gen. Leon, and the account furnished for publication by Sr J. M. Tornel. In describing the Temple, the three flights of stairs are said to have 10, 8, and 6 steps, respectively, which does not agree with the plate as copied above. Müller gives the number of small buildings, or dwellings, whose foundations are visible as 120 instead of 130; he also gives in his dimensions mètres instead of varas, which would increase them in English feet in the proportion of 92 to 109. He further states that the structures face the cardinal points.

[VII-70] Unda, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. i., p. 30; Museo Mex., tom. i., p. 250.

[VII-71] Dupaix, 2d exped., p. 14, pl. xix., fig. 55; Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 244, vol. vi., p. 442, vol. iv., pl. xvii., fig. 55; Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., p. 47.

[VII-72] Museo Mex., tom. i., pp. 249, 401, with plates of the rings and 7 stone relics.

[VII-73] Dupaix, 2d exped., pp. 15-16, pl. xix.-xx., fig. 56-63; Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 244-5, vol. vi., pp. 442-3, vol. iv., pl. xvii.-xviii., fig. 56-63. Respecting the jasper figures M. Dupaix says: ‘Le nombre de celles qu’on trouve dans les sépultures de la nation zapotèque est infini. Elles ont deux à trois pouces de haut; elles sont presque toutes de forme triangulaire, quadrangulaire, ou prismatique, et sont sculptées en jaspe vert foncé, ayant invariablement la même attitude semblable à celle d’Iris ou d’Osiris, dont les petites idoles étaient destinées à accompagner les momies égyptiennes.’ The hole in the back part of each is drilled in a curved line. Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., pp. 47-8.

[VII-74] Muñoz, Estadística del Distrito de Hidalgo, in Guerrero, Memoria presentada á la H. Legislatura, por el Gobernador, Fran. O. Arce, 1872, pp. 45, 150, 272.

Chapter VIII • Antiquities of Vera Cruz • 12,100 Words

Physical Features of the State—Exploration and Reports—Caxapa and Tuxtla—Negro Head—Relics from Island of Sacrificios—Eastern Slope Remains—Medelin—Xicalanco—Rio Blanco—Amatlan—Orizava—Cempoala—Puente Nacional—Paso de Ovejas—Huatusco—Fortifications and Pyramids of Centla—El Castillo—Fortress of Tlacotepec—Palmillas—Zacuapan—Inscription at Atliaca—Consoquitla Fort and Tomb—Calcahualco—Ruins of Misantla or Monte Real—District of Jalancingo—Pyramid of Papantla—Mapilca—Pyramid and Fountain at Tusapan—Ruins of Metlaltoyuca—Relics near Pánuco—Calondras, San Nicolas, and Trinidad.

Passing now to the eastern or gulf coast, I shall devote the present chapter to the antiquities of Vera Cruz, the ancient home of the Totonacs in the north, and the Xicalancas and Nonohualcos in the south. Vera Cruz, with an average width of seventy miles, extends from the Laguna de Santa Ana, the western boundary of Tabasco, to the mouth of the River Pánuco, a distance of about five hundred miles. Its territory is about equally divided lengthwise between the low malarious tierra caliente on the immediate gulf shore, and the eastern slope of the lofty sierra that bounds the Mexican plateau. Two or three much-traveled routes lead inland from the port of Vera Cruz towards the city of Mexico, and travelers make haste to cross this plague-belt, the lurking-place of the deadly vomito, turning neither to the right nor left to investigate the past or present. A railroad now completed renders the transit still more direct and rapid than before. Away from these routes the territory of this state is less known than almost any other portion of the Mexican Republic, although a portion of the southern Goatzacoalco region has been pretty thoroughly explored by surveyors of the Tehuantepec interoceanic routes, and by an unfortunate French colonization company that settled here early in the present century. The mountain slopes and plateaux twenty-five or thirty miles inland are, however, fertile and not unhealthy, having been crowded in ancient times with a dense aboriginal population, traces of whose former presence are found in every direction. Most of our information respecting the antiquities of this state is derived from the reports of Mexican explorers, only one or two of whom have in most cases visited each of the many groups of ruins. These explorers have as a rule fallen into a very natural, perhaps, but at the same time very unfortunate error in their descriptions; for after having displayed great energy and skill in the discovery and examination of a ruin, doubtless forming a clear idea of all its details, they usually compress these details into the space of a few paragraphs or a few pages, and devote the larger part of their reports to essays on the Toltec, Chichimec, or Olmec history—subjects on which they can throw no light. They neglect a topic of the deepest interest, concerning which their authority would be of the very greatest weight, for another respecting which their conclusions are for the most part valueless.

Relics at Sacrificios Island

The ruins of an aboriginal city are mentioned at Caxapa, between the volcano of Tuxtla and the coast in the southern part of the state.[VIII-1]Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., p. 32; Mexikanische Zustände, tom. i., p. 31. In the vicinity of Tuxtla, at the south-western base of the volcano, a colossal granite head, six feet high, was found by a laborer in 1862, while making a clearing for a milpa. The head was photographed, and a copy of the plate published by the Mexican Geographical Society, together with an accompanying text prepared by J. M. Melgar. A copy of the plate is given in the cut. The most noticeable peculiarity in this head is the negro cast of the features, and Señor Melgar devotes his article to the negro race, which as he supposes lived in America before the coming of the Spaniards.[VIII-2]Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. i., pp. 292-7, tom. iii., pp. 104-9, with two plates representing the colossal head, and several other relics from some locality not mentioned.

Ethiopian Head of Granite.

Earthen Vase—Isle of Sacrificios.

White Marble Vase—Vera Cruz.

On the island of Sacrificios, in the harbor of Vera Cruz, one author[VIII-3]Ottavio, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1833, tom. lix., p. 64. states that remains of the ancient temple are visible. This is probably an error, but numerous small relics have been dug up on the island. Many of the relics were articles of pottery, one of which of very peculiar form is shown in the cut from Waldeck. This, like most of the other articles found here, is preserved in the Museum of Mexico, and was sketched by Mayer and by Waldeck. Mr Tylor pronounces it not the work of the natives before the Conquest, in fact a fraud, “one of the worst cases I ever noticed.” There is no doubt of the accuracy of the drawing, and Sr Gondra assured Col. Mayer, as the latter informs me, that the relic is an authentic one.[VIII-4]Waldeck, Palenqué, pl. xlix.; Tylor’s Anahuac, pp. 230-1. Workmen engaged in laying the foundations of the modern fort found, at a depth of six feet, vases of hard material, which in the opinion of M. Baradère resembled vases that have been brought from Japan.[VIII-5]Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 35. Col. Mayer gives cuts of thirteen relics dug from a subterranean chamber or grave in 1828. Two of these were of white marble or alabaster, and one of them is shown in the cut. M. Dumanoir made an excavation also in 1841, finding a sepulchre containing well-preserved human skeletons, earthen vases painted and etched, idols, images, bracelets, teeth of dogs and wild beasts, and marble, or alabaster, urns. Plates of many of the relics have been published.[VIII-6]Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, pp. 93-7; Id., Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 272, with 3 cuts; Id., in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., p. 588, pl. vi., fig. 5, 6, 8, 11, 12; Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., pp. 82-4, pl. xv., plate of a vase.

Remains on the Eastern Slope

From the city of Vera Cruz two main routes of travel lead inland toward the city of Mexico. The first extends north-westward via Jalapa, and the second south-westward via Orizava. After crossing the first lofty mountain barrier which divides the coast from the interior plateaux, the roads approach each other and meet near Puebla. On the eastern slope, the roads with the mountain range, which at this point extends nearly north and south, form a triangle with equal sides of about eighty miles, at the angles of which are the cities of Vera Cruz, Jalapa, and Orizava, or more accurately points ten or fifteen miles above the two latter. This comparatively small triangular area, round which so many travelers have passed in their journey to Anáhuac, is literally covered with traces of its aboriginal population, in the shape of pottery, implements, foundation stones of dwellings, fortifications, pyramids, and graves. I quote the following from an article on the antiquities of Vera Cruz, written in 1869, for the Mexican Geographical Society, by Carlos Sartorius:

“On the eastern slope of the lofty volcanic range, from the Peak of Orizava to the Cofre de Perote, at an average elevation of two to five thousand feet above the level of the gulf, there exist innumerable traces of a very numerous indigenous population before the Conquest. History tells us nothing respecting this part of the country, distinguished for its abundant supply of water, its fertility, and its delightful and healthy climate.” “For an extent of fifteen to twenty leagues, from east to west, there was not a span of earth that was not cultivated, as is proved by numberless remains…. The whole country is formed into terraces by stone walls, which follow all the variations of the surface with the evident object of preventing the washing away of the soil. Sometimes the terraces are ten or twelve yards wide, at others hardly one yard. The small ravines called rayas served for innumerable water-tanks, built of rocks and clay, or of stone and mortar, these dams being also covered with a coating of hard cement. It is evident that a numerous population took advantage of every inch of land for cultivation, using the water gathered in the tanks during the rainy season for irrigation, possibly effected by hand by means of earthern vessels. In the more sterile portions of the land, on the top of hills which have no soil are seen the foundations of dwellings, all of stone without mortar, arranged in streets or in groups. They always form an oblong rectangle and face the cardinal points. They are found in clearing heavy forests as well as on open tracts, and the fact that oaks a mètre in diameter are found within the enclosure of the walls, proves that many centuries have passed since the population disappeared. In many parts are found groups of pyramids, of various sizes and degrees of preservation. The largest, of stone, are fifty feet and over in height, while the smallest are not over ten or twelve. The last seem to be tombs; at least several that we opened contained skeletons in a very decomposed state, with earthen utensils like those now made by the natives, arrow-heads of obsidian and bird-bone, doubtless the supplies given to the dead for their journey.” One contained an elegant burial urn, bearing ornamental figures in relief, containing ashes and fragments of human bones, and covered first with small pebbles, and then with stone flags. “The region which we subjected to our investigation comprehends the slope of the sierra to the coast between Orizava and Jalapa. At an elevation of four or five thousand feet there are many springs, which at a short distance form ravines in a soil composed of conglomerates or, further south, of lime. In their course the ravines unite and form points sometimes with vertical walls of considerable height. As the water-courses do not follow a straight line, but wind about, the erosion of the current above the meeting of the ravines destroys a great portion of the dividing ridge, so that above there remains only a narrow pass, the ridge afterwards assuming greater width until the end is reached. This play of nature occurs in the region of which we are speaking, at many points and with great uniformity, almost always at the same level of two thousand to twenty-five hundred feet. The natives selected these points, strong by nature, fortifying them by art so ingeniously as to leave no doubt as to their progress in military art…. Some of them are almost inaccessible, and can be reached only by means of ladders and ropes. They all have this peculiarity in common, that, besides serving for defense, they enclose a number of edifices destined for worship,—teocallis and traces of very large structures, such as residences, quarters, or perhaps palaces of the priests and rulers. In some of them there are springs and remains of large artificial tanks; in others, aqueducts of stone and mortar, to bring water from distant springs.” Sr Sartorius then proceeds to the description of particular ruins, of which more hereafter.[VIII-7]Sartorius, Fortificaciones Antiguas, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. i., pp. 818-27.

Traces of Aboriginal Population

Mr Hugo Finck, a resident for twenty-eight years in the region under consideration, in which he traveled extensively to collect botanical specimens, contributed the following general remarks to the Smithsonian Report for 1870: “There is hardly a foot of ground in the whole state of Vera Cruz [the author refers particularly to the region about Córdova, Huatusco, and Mirador] in which, by excavation, either a broken obsidian knife, or a broken piece of pottery is not found. The whole country is intersected with parallel lines of stones, which were intended during the heavy showers of the rainy season to keep the earth from washing away. The number of those lines of stones shows clearly that even the poorest land, which nobody in our days would cultivate, was put under requisition by them…. In this part of the country no trace of iron or copper tools has ever come under my notice. Their implements of husbandry and war were of hard stone, but generally of obsidian and of wood. The small mounds of stones near their habitations have the form of a parallelogram, and are not over twenty-seven inches high. Their length is from five to twelve yards, their width from two to four. On searching into them nothing is found. A second class of mounds is round, in the form of a cone, always standing singly. They are built of loose stones and earth, and of various sizes; some as high as five yards, with a diameter of from five to twenty yards. Excavation made in them brought to light a large pot of burned clay filled with ashes, but in general nothing is found. The third class of mounds, also built of loose stones and earth, have the form of a parallelogram, whose smaller sides look east and west, and are from five to six yards high, terminating at the top in a level space of from three to five yards in width, the base being from eight to twelve yards. They are found from fifteen to two hundred yards long. Sometimes several are united, forming a hollow square, which must have been used as a fortress. Others again have their outer surface made of masonry, but still the inside is filled up with loose stones and earth. Near river-beds, where stones are very abundant, these tumuli are largest. Principally in this latter class, idols, implements of husbandry and war are discovered, sometimes lying quite loose, and at others imbedded in hollow square boxes made of masonry. The last-described mounds form the transition to those constructions which are altogether built of solid masonry…. One peculiarity of the last-mentioned ruins is, that they are all constructed at the junction of two ravines, and used as fortresses, on account of their impregnability. Most of the larger barrancas have precipitous sides from three hundred to one thousand feet deep, which guarded the inhabitants on their flank, so that nothing more was required than to build a wall, leaving a small entrance in the middle, as a passage, which could be barricaded in time of war…. Such constructions can be seen to this day in tolerable good condition. The interior of these fortified inclosures is in general large, sometimes holding from four to five square miles, and could be put under cultivation in case of a siege. The wall is in general from four to five yards high, and has on the inside terraces with steps to lead to the top. At other places there is a series of semicircular walls, the front one lower than the following, and a passage between each to permit one person at a time to pass from one to the other. The innermost wall is sometimes perforated with loopholes through which arrows could be thrown. Quite a number of ruins are found inside the fortification, as mounds, altars, good level roads with a foundation of mortar. Most of these monuments have good preserved steps leading to the top. In some very small pots of burning clay are found filled with ashes.”[VIII-8]Finck, in Smithsonian Rept., 1870, pp. 373-5. Mr Tylor, in traveling northward towards Jalapa, speaks of ‘numerous remains of ancient Indian mound-forts or temples which we passed on the road.’ Anahuac, p. 312.

The preceding quotations are sufficient to give a clear idea of the ruins in their general features, and leave only such particular remains as have been made known through the labors of different explorers to be described. Some ten or twelve of the peculiar fortified places alluded to above have been more or less fully described, but as there is no even tolerably accurate topographical map of this region, it is utterly impossible to locate them. Each stream, ravine, bluff, hill, and mountain of all the labyrinth, has its local name; indeed, some of them seem to have two or three, but most of them have no place on the maps. It is consequently quite possible that the same ruins have been described under more than one name. I shall present each group as it is described by the explorer, giving when possible the distance and bearing from some point laid down on the map which accompanies this volume.

Amatlan and Orizava

Before treating of these ruins, however, I shall mention some miscellaneous relics, from the region under consideration, found at well-known towns, or in their vicinity. Colonel Albert S. Evans dug two terra-cotta images from a grave at Medellin, about eight miles south-west of Vera Cruz, in 1869. They seem to represent a male and female, and are now in the collection of Mr C. D. Voy, of Oakland, California. Near the same town, on the Rio Jamapa, are to be seen, Brasseur tells us, the ruins of one of the two ancient cities called Xicalanco; and also that the traces of an ancient city may yet be seen under the water between the city of Vera Cruz and the fort of San Juan de Ulloa.[VIII-9]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Palenqué, p. 33. ‘Chalchiuhcuecan, ou le pays des coquilles vertes. On voit encore des débris de la ville de ce nom, sous les eaux qui s’étendent de la ville de la Véra Cruz au château de San-Juan-de-Ulloa.’ Id., Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 143. Ruins of the ordinary type are reported outside the triangular area, in the Sierra de Matlaquiahuitl or del Gallego, running south from the Rio Jamapa to San Juan de la Punta. Sartorius, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. i., p. 820. About forty-five miles south-east of Córdova, between that town and the bridge over the Rio Blanco, Dupaix found a hard stone of dark blue color, artificially worked into an irregular spherical form, about six feet in diameter, and so carefully balanced that it could be made to vibrate by a slight touch. A number of small shallow holes were formed on the surface. A similar stone is placed two leagues to the eastward, and they are supposed by Dupaix to have served as boundary marks. Teololinga is the name by which the natives call them.[VIII-10]Dupaix, 1st exped., pp. 7-8, pl. viii., fig. 8; Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 214, vol. vi., p. 425, vol. iv., pl. iv., fig. 10; Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., p. 28. Kingsborough’s text represents this relic as 16 leagues from Orizava instead of Córdova. Also in the neighborhood of Córdova, at Amatlan de los Reyes, certain traces of a temple are vaguely mentioned by the same traveler; and on a wooded hillside near by is a cave, in which have been found fragments of carved stone and pottery, including a squatting trunk and legs, and a head carved from the same kind of stone that constitutes the walls of the cave. The latter relic is shown in the cut. The form of the head seems to have nothing in common with the ordinary aboriginal type.[VIII-11]Dupaix, 1st exped., p. 7, pl. vi., vii., fig. 6, 7; Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 213-14, vol. vi., pp. 424-5, vol. iv., pl. iv., fig. 8, 9; Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., pp. 22, 27-8.

Stone head from Amatlan.

Sacrificial Yoke from Orizava.

At Orizava two relics were seen, one of them a triangular stone five feet thick and ninety feet in circumference, used in modern times as the floor of a native’s cabin. On one of the triangular surfaces was incised in rude outline a colossal human figure twenty-seven feet high, standing with legs spread apart and arms outstretched. A girdle appears at the waist, plumes decorate the head, and the mouth is wide open. On one side a fish stands on its tail; on the other is a rabbit with ten small circles, very likely expressing some date after the Aztec manner,—ten tochtli. Some carvings not described were noticed on the edges also. The other relic was a kind of yoke carved from green jasper and supposed to have been used in connection with the Aztec sacrifices. It is shown in the cut according to Castañeda’s drawing. The original yoke was carried by Dupaix to Mexico and deposited in one of the antiquarian collections there, where it was afterwards sketched by Mayer and Gondra.[VIII-12]Dupaix, 1st exped., p. 5, pl. iv-v., fig. 4-5; Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 212-13, vol. vi., pp. 423-4; vol. iv., pl. iii., fig. 6-7; Lenoir, pp. 18, 22, 26-7. Near Jalapa, Rivera states that a serpent fifteen feet long and nine feet broad, may be seen carved in the rock.[VIII-13]Historia de Jalapa, Mex. 1869, tom. i., p. 7. Half a day’s journey from Vera Cruz towards Mexico, at a point which he calls Rinconado, Robert Tomson saw “a great pinacle made of lime and stone, fast by a riuer side, where the Indians were wont to doe their sacrifices vnto their gods.”[VIII-14]Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 453. About the location of Cempoala, a famous city in the time of the Conquest, there has been much discussion. Lorenzana says that the place “still retains the same name; it is situated four leagues from Vera Cruz, and the extent of its ruins indicates its former greatness.” Rivera tells us, however, that “to-day not even the ruins of this capital of the Totonac power remain,” although some human bones have been dug up about its site.[VIII-15]Note in Cortés, Despatches, p. 39; Rivera, Hist. Jalapa, Mex., 1869, tom. i., p. 39. Cempoala is located on some maps on the coast a few leagues north of Vera Cruz; there is also a town of the name in Mexico.

Pyramid near Puente Nacional.

Ruins at Puente Nacional

Passing now to the labyrinth of ruins within the triangular area extending from the peaks of Orizava and Perote to the coast, I begin with those in the vicinity of the Puente Nacional, where the road from Vera Cruz to Jalapa crosses the Rio de la Antigua. These remains are located on the summit of a forest-covered hill over a hundred feet high, on the bank of the river some two leagues from the bridge. They were discovered in 1819 or 1820 by a priest named Cabeza de Vaca, and in November, 1843, J. M. Esteva, to whom the priest related his discovery, made an exploration, and as a result published a description with two plates in the Museo Mexicano. On the uneven surface of the hill-top stands a pyramid of very peculiar form, shown in the cut, which is an ichnographic plan of the structure. It is built of stone and mortar, the former probably in hewn blocks, although the text is not clear on this point. The height varies from thirty-three to forty-two feet, according to the inequalities of the ground. The circumference is not far from three hundred English feet, while the summit platform measures about fifty-five by forty-four feet. On all sides except the eastern the slope is divided into six stories, or steps, about one foot wide and seven feet high at the base but diminishing towards the top, making the ascent much steeper than that of most aboriginal pyramids that we have met hitherto. The eastern side is all taken up by a stairway about sixty-three feet wide, consisting of thirty-four steps. This stairway, as is more clearly shown in Esteva’s view of this side than in my cut, is arranged in the form of a cross.

On the western base is the entrance to a gallery which penetrates the body of the pyramid; it was obstructed by fallen stones, but Esteva succeeded in exploring the passage far enough to convince himself that the interior was divided into several apartments. At some distance from the pyramid were noticed the foundations of a wall.[VIII-16]Esteva, in Museo Mex., tom. ii., pp. 465-7, with plan and view. Respecting the circumference of the structure, Esteva’s text says: ‘la media circunferencia de la base, tomada desde el escalon ó cuerpo A. B. C., (letters which do not appear in his plate) pues mas abajo no se podia tomar con esactitud, es de ciento cincuenta y seis piés castellanos.’ I have taken the circumference from the plan. The material Esteva states to be ‘cal, arena, y piedras grandes del rio,’ but the view indicates that hewn stone is employed, or at least that the whole structure is covered with a smooth coating of cement in perfect preservation. Esteva’s account is also published in the Diccionario Univ. de Geog., tom. x., pp. 166-8, and a slight description from the same source in Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., pp. 203-4.

Mr Lyon mentions the existence of ruins—which he did not visit—in this vicinity on the edge of a plateau, at the north side of the valley, about a mile and a half to the right of the road, and only a short distance from Paso de Ovejas. “All that remains are the traces of streets and inclosures, and an assemblage of pyramidical elevations of earth and stones of various sizes, some of them forty feet in height.” Sr Sartorius reports very extensive ruins on the right bank of the Antigua, some leagues west of Consoquitla, near Tuzamapa, from the material of which the ‘puente nacional’ was constructed. An old native also reported that a spiral stairway formerly led down to the bottom of the barranca. Whether the two groups of ruins last mentioned are identical with that described by Esteva, it is impossible to determine; quite likely they are distinct remains.[VIII-17]Lyon’s Journal, vol. ii., p. 209; Sartorius, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. i., p. 826. Mühlenpfordt, Mej., tom. ii., p. 89, also mentions the Paso de Ovejas remains.

Fortifications of Centla

Some twenty-five or thirty miles northward from Córdova, in the vicinity of Huatusco, and stretching northward from that town, is a line of fortified places, nearly every junction of two ravines bearing more or less extensive remains. One of the most extensive of these works is that known as Centla, a few leagues north-east of Huatusco. The ruins are said to have been discovered by rancheros in 1821. Ignacio Iberri saw them in 1826, but published no description. An explorer whose name is not given visited the locality in 1832, and furnished information from which Sr Gondra published an account, illustrated with plates, in 1837. Sr Sartorius made an exploration of Centla in 1833, but his description, also accompanied with plates, was not published until 1869.[VIII-18]Iberri, in Museo Mex., tom. iii., p. 23. Gondra’s account in Mosaico Mex., tom. ii., pp. 368-72, with two views and a plan. Sartorius’ description in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. i., pp. 821-2, tom. ii., p. 148, with two views apparently the same as by Gondra, an additional side and front view of a pyramid, and a plan which bears no likeness to Gondra’s, representing perhaps a different part of the ruins. According to this author the ruins were first made known in 1829 or 1830. The two accounts are very perplexing to the student, sometimes resembling each other so closely that one is ready to believe that Sartorius was the explorer from whom Gondra obtained his information and drawings, in other parts so different as to indicate that different ruins are referred to. I am inclined to believe that Gondra’s information did in part refer to some other ruin in the same region. Gondra’s account is also printed in Diccionario Univ. Geog., tom. ix., pp. 565-8. Brief mention in Rivera, Hist. Jalapa, Mex. 1869, tom. i., pp. 389-90.

Fortress of Centla

Two ravines, running from east to west, with precipitous sides from three hundred to a thousand feet high, approach so near to each other as to leave only space for a passage about three feet wide, and this narrow pass is made still stronger by protecting walls not particularly described. The barrancas then diverge and again converge, forming an oval table of about four hundred acres, across which, from east to west is excavated a ditch, or protected road, about seventeen feet wide and from eight to eleven feet deep, leading to the second narrow pass, where the ravines again approach each other.[VIII-19]Respecting the first narrow pass, the oval table, and the ditch, Sartorius says nothing. He mentions such a ditch, however, in connection with the ruins of Tlacotepec, as we shall see. It is quite possible that the features mentioned do not belong to Centla at all.

This second pass is about twenty-eight feet wide from the brink of the northern to that of the southern precipice.[VIII-20]10 varas according to Sartorius; Gondra says 15. This pass is fortified by defensive works of the strongest character, the plan of which is shown in the cut on the following page. The only entrance is through the narrow passage only three feet wide, shown by the arrows, beginning at the southern brink, passing between two stone pyramids, A, and E, D, C, and then along the northern brink to the plateau beyond, the issue into the latter being guarded additionally by three smaller pyramids. The chief pyramid on the right of the entrance is built of stone and mortar in three stories, or terraces, C, D and E, respecting the arrangement of which the plan[VIII-21]Copied from Sartorius, with the addition of the shading only. is not altogether satisfactory; but each story is reached by a stairway on the east, and on the summit are parapets pierced with loopholes for the discharge of weapons. This structure is also flanked on the south, where the descent for a short distance is less precipitous than elsewhere, by a terraced wall at B. The left hand fortification, A, is described by Gondra as a simple wall, but according to Sartorius and the plan it is also a pyramid, with stairway on the east and parapets on the summit. It has apparently only one story, and is lower than its companion, but its front has an additional protection in the form of a ditch eleven feet wide and five and a half feet deep, excavated in the solid rock, the position of which is shown by the dotted line a, a.[VIII-22]The views given by Gondra and Sartorius are of the pyramid A, from the east, and of the terrace walls at B, from the west. The latter also gives a view of the small pyramid b, from the north. The plan given by Gondra bears no resemblance to the other. It may represent ruins in other parts of the plateau; it may be a faulty representation made up from the explorer’s description of the works that have been described; or, what is, I think, more probable, it may refer to some other group of ruins in the vicinity. It represents a collection of pyramids and buildings, bounded on both the east and west by walls, one of which has an entrance close to the brink of the precipice, while the other had no opening till one was made by the modern settlers.

Fortifications of Centla.

Beyond the narrow fortified pass that has been described, the southern ravine again diverges and forms a semicircle before joining that on the north, forming thus a peninsular plateau a mile and a half long, and somewhat less than three quarters of a mile wide, covered with soil of great fertility, and divided in two parts by the waters of a spring, whose waters flow through the centre. Since its discovery this fertile table has been settled and cultivated by modern farmers, some twenty families of whom—whether native or Spanish is not stated—were living here in 1832. The whole surface was covered with traces of its former inhabitants, but most of the monuments in the cultivated portions have been destroyed by the settlers, who used the stones for buildings and fences. In other parts, covered with a forest at the time of exploration, extensive remains were found in good preservation, besides the fortresses at the entrance. Pyramids of different dimensions, standing singly and in groups, together with foundations of houses and sculptured fragments, were scattered in every direction enveloped in the forest growth.

Type of Pyramids at Centla.

The pyramids are all built of rough stones, clay, and earth, faced on the outside with hewn blocks from eighteen inches to two feet long, laid in mortar. The stone seems to have been brought from the bottom of the ravines, and it is said that no lime is procurable within a distance of fifteen or twenty miles. Sartorius gives a plate representing one of the pyramids, which he states to be a type of all those at Centla, and indeed of all in this region, and which is copied in the cut. The stairways are generally on the west, and the niches at the sides are represented as having arched tops and as occupied by idols. Some of the smaller mounds have been found to contain human skeletons lying north and south, and from one of them a farmer claimed to have dug a number of green stone beads. Sartorius claims to have found in connection with one of the pyramids an altar having a concavity on the top, and a canal leading to a receptacle at the foot of the mound; he also mentions a very elegant vase, six by four inches, found under a stone flag, near the altar. Gondra speaks of a large square or court, level and covered with a coat of hard polished cement; he also claims that six columns of stone and mortar were seen, twelve feet high, standing at the bottom of a ravine.

El Castillo at Huatusco.

Ruins at Huatusco

Dupaix in his first exploring tour visited Huatusco, and states that at a distance of half a league down the river from the modern town was found a group of ruins known as the Pueblo Viejo. These ruins were on the slope of a hill, and on the summit stood the pyramid shown in the cut, known as El Castillo. The height of this Castle is about sixty-six feet, and according to Dupaix’s text the base is two hundred and twenty-one feet square, but, according to Castañeda’s drawing, copied above, each side is not over seventy-five feet.[VIII-23]‘Ochenta varas en cuadro.’ Perhaps it should read feet instead of varas. The plate makes the front slightly over 24 varas. The foundation, or pyramid proper, is built in three stories, being about thirty-seven feet high. A broad stairway, with solid balustrade, leads up the western front. On the summit platform stands a building in three stories, with walls about eight feet thick, which, at least on the exterior, are not perpendicular but slope inward. The lower story has but one doorway, that at the head of the stairway; it forms a single hall, in the centre of which are three pillars, which sustained the beams of the floor above, pieces of the beams being yet visible. The two upper stories seem to have had no doors or windows. Dupaix says that on the summit was a platform three feet thick, yet as the roof was fallen, he probably had little or no authority for the statement. The interior of the whole structure was a rubble of stone and mortar, and the facing of hewn blocks regularly laid. The whole exterior surface, at least of the superimposed structure, was covered with a polished coating of plaster, and a peculiar ornament is seen in each side of the second story, in the form of a large panel, containing regular rows of round stones imbedded in the wall. El Castillo, if we may credit Dupaix’s account of it, must be regarded as a very important monument of Nahua antiquity, by reason of the edifice, in a tolerable state of preservation, found on the summit of the pyramid. These upper structures with interior apartments have in most instances entirely disappeared. In connection with these ruins Dupaix found a coiled serpent carved from hard stone; a fragment of terra-cotta with decorations in relief; and a fancifully modeled skull, the material of which is not stated.[VIII-24]Dupaix, 1st exped., pp. 8-9, pl. ix-xi., fig. 9-12; Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 215-16, vol. vi., pp. 425-6, vol. iv., pl. v-vi., fig. 11-15. The skull is mentioned and sketched only in Kingsborough’s edition. Lenoir, pp. 23, 29. Slight mention of these ruins from Dupaix, in Mosaico Mex., tom. ii., pp. 373-4; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., p. 157; Warden, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., pp. 67-8.

Fortress of Tlacotepec

Sartorius mentions a ‘castle,’ with towers and teocallis, situated on a frightful cliff between two barrancas, three leagues from Huatusco, distinct from Centla, and some leagues further southward.[VIII-25]Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. i., p. 821. Clavigero says that in his time the ancient fortress of Quauhtochco, or Guatusco, was still standing, surrounded with lofty walls of solid stone, which could only be entered by means of many high and narrow steps.[VIII-26]Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 150; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., p. 104. Sr Iberri applies the name El Castillo to the ruins visited by him in 1826, but it is evident from his slight description that he refers to Centla.[VIII-27]Museo Mex., tom. iii., p. 23. It is clear that at least two and probably more groups of remains are indicated by the different authorities cited.

The following are mentioned as the localities of undescribed ruins, several of them belonging to what seems to be a line of ancient fortifications extending northward from the vicinity of Huatusco: Cotastla, Matlaluca, Capulapa, Tlapala, Poxtla, Xicuintla, and Chistla.[VIII-28]Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. i., p. 822; Mosaico Mex., tom. ii., pp. 368, 372; Smithsonian Rept., 1870, p. 374. The fortress of Tlacotepec is located four leagues east of Jolutla, between the Rio de la Antigua and Paso de Ovejas, six thousand varas west of and a quarter of a league above the houses of the hacienda of Mirador, separated by a deep ravine from San Martin on the south—a location which might possibly be clear enough with the aid of a good map, or to a person perfectly familiar with the topography of the country. The position of the fortified plateau is similar to that of Centla, and a ditch, generally fourteen feet deep and from sixteen to eighteen feet wide, leads over the hills for several leagues to the entrance of the plateau. This ditch, however, seems only to be excavated in the earth, and disappears in several places where the solid rock is encountered.[VIII-29]This may possibly be the ditch referred to by Gondra in his account of Centla. At the terminus, towards the fortifications, the ditch widens into a rectangular excavation, one hundred and eight by two hundred and seventy-six feet, surrounded with an embankment formed of the earth thrown out. The defensive works which guard the passage between the ravines, and the extensive ruins of temples and dwellings on the plateau beyond, are described only by Sartorius, and his text, plan, and sketch, all fail to convey any clear notion respecting the arrangement and details of these remains. The following, however, are the principal features noted:—A wall twenty-eight feet high across the entrance to the plateau; two small towers in pyramidal form on the narrow pass; a building called the castle, apparently somewhat similar to the fortifications at Centla; a line of pyramids, serving as a second line of defense; a ditch excavated in the solid rock; another group of pyramids protected by a semicircular wall; an excavation apparently intended as a reservoir for water, covering two thousand square yards, the bottom of which is literally covered with fragments of pottery, and on the banks of which are the foundations of many dwellings; a number of temple pyramids, like the type at Centla shown in a preceding cut, one of them having the so-called blood-canal; an earthen receptacle at the foot of the altar, filled with earth, in which were found two human skulls; the foundations of an edifice two hundred yards long, having along its whole length “a corridor of cement with hewn stone at its sides, forming one or two steps;” a small pyramid formed from the living rock of the cliff, at the very edge of the precipice where the ravines meet; and finally, arrow-heads, lance-heads, and knives of obsidian, which are found at every step, and are even dug up from under the roots of large trees.[VIII-30]Sartorius, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. i., pp. 822-4, with plan and view, the latter giving no information.

Rock Inscription at Atliaca.

Remains About Mirador

A few leagues eastward from Tlacotepec on the same barranca, are two forts known as Palmillas, separated by a deep ravine. One of them was used by the Mexican forces under General Victoria in the war of independence; the other has the remains of an aqueduct which brought water from a point over a league distant.[VIII-31]Id., p. 824. At Zacuapan, near Mirador, and five leagues from Huatusco, according to Heller, are remains of the ordinary type, including terraced walls, parapets with loopholes, a plaza with plastered pavement in the centre of which stands a pyramid, a cubical structure or altar on the very verge of the precipice, and the usual scattered pottery and implements. Six miles south of Mirador the same traveler mentions some baths, on a rock near which is the inscription shown in the cut.[VIII-32]Heller, Reisen, pp. 61, 72-3, 76-7, with cut. Also in the vicinity of Mirador, at the junction of two tributaries of the Santa María, is the fortress of Consoquitla, similar to the others. A line of plastered pyramidal structures is mentioned, in one of the smallest of which was a tomb three by six feet lying north and south and covered with large stone flags. Within the tomb was a skeleton, together with earthen boxes filled with arrow-heads and bird-bones. Some large idols are also said to have been found here, and on the summit platform of some of the pyramids were the marks of upright beams, which seem to have supported wooden buildings.[VIII-33]Sartorius, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. i., pp. 825-6. Calcahualco, ‘ruined houses,’ is also on one of the tributaries of the Santa María. A parapeted wall fifty-five feet long protects the entrance, and could only be crossed by the aid of ropes or ladders. The wall seems to stand in an excavation, so that its top is about on a level with the original surface of the plateau. Within the fortifications is a large pyramid surrounded by smaller ones and by the foundations of houses; and another excavation, a hundred yards long and twenty-five in width, is vaguely mentioned as of unknown use. A mile and a half further south-east are some ruins in the bottom of a ravine. A wall nine feet high rises from the water’s edge, and on it stand a row of round monolithic columns, which seem to have supported a stone architrave.[VIII-34]Id., pp. 821, 824-5, with a sketch which amounts to nothing. Mr Tylor noticed some remains by the roadside, at the eastern foot of Orizava, as he was traveling towards San Antonio de Abajo.[VIII-35]Anahuac, p. 297.

Ruins of Misantla

Northward from the triangular area, the remains of which I have described, ruins seem to be no less abundant, and accounts of them no less unsatisfactory. The remains known by the name of Misantla, from a modern pueblo near by, are located some twenty-five or thirty miles north-eastward of Jalapa, near the headwaters of the Rio Bobos. They are sometimes called Monte Real, from the name of one of the hills in the vicinity. They were discovered accidentally by men searching for lost goats, and visited by Mariano Jaimes in 1836; in October of the same year, I. R. Gondra, from information furnished by the discoverers and Jaimes, and from certain newspaper accounts, wrote and published a very perplexing description, illustrated with a plan and two views. In the same or the following year J. I. Iberri made an official exploration of Misantla, or Monte Real, and his report, also illustrated with many plates, and rivaling that of Gondra in its unsatisfactory nature, was published in 1844. Not only are the two accounts individually to a great extent unintelligible, but neither they nor their accompanying illustrations seem to have any well-defined resemblance to each other.[VIII-36]Mosaico Mex., tom. i., pp. 102-5. Gondra’s account of the location is as follows: ‘En la serranía al Norte de Jalapa, y distante de aquella ciudad de diez á once leguas, se encuentra en el canton de Misantla el cerro llamado del Estillero, á cuya falda se descubre una montaña terminada por una meseta muy angosta, de cerca de legua y media de largo, y aislada por barrancos profundos y acantilados, y por despeñaderos inaccessibles; rodeada por los cerros del Estillero, Magdalenilla, el Chamuscado, el Camaron y el Conejo por la parte del Oeste; por el Monte Real ácia el Este, y lo restante por la elevada cuesta de Misantla…. La única parte algo accesible para subir á la meseta de la montaña donde se hallan las ruinas, está ácia la falda del Estillero…. Al comenzar la meseta, bajando por la falda del cerro del Estillero, lo primero que se observa es un paredon demolido hecho de gruesas piedras,’ etc. Gondra’s account was reprinted in the Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. ii., p. 220-3. Iberri’s account is found in the Museo Mex., tom. iii., pp. 21-4. Respecting the location he says:—’El cerro conocido de la Magdalena, degradando su altura en picos porfiríticos que afectan figuras cónicas ó piramidales, … forma un grupo de montañas sumamente escabrosas, que se dividen como rádios en ramas estrechadas por barrancas profundas y escarpadas de pórfido…. En una de estas ramas se hallan las referidas ruinas, cuya entrada está cerrada por un muro,’ etc. Account made up from Gondra, with cut probably from same source in Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, vol. ii., pp. 200-3; Id., Mex. as it Was, pp. 250-1. Slight mention by Mühlenpfordt, Mej., tom. ii., p. 88, who thinks the ruin may be identical with that of Tusapan. Same account in Mexicanische Zustände, tom. i., p. 142.

The site of the ruins seems to be a ravine-bounded plateau, somewhat similar to those already described, the approach to which is guarded by a wall. This wall extends not only across the pass, but down one of the slopes, which is not so steep as to be naturally inaccessible to an enemy. According to Iberri the wall is a natural vein of porphyry, artificially cut down in some parts, and built up by the addition of blocks of stone in others, measuring three yards high and two in width. The same explorer, after passing the wall and climbing with much difficulty to a point about two hundred and fifty feet higher, found a pyramid standing on a terraced hill, on the terraces of which were various traces of houses and fortifications. The pyramid was built of porphyry and basalt in blocks of different sizes, laid in mortar, was thirty-three feet square at the base and seventeen feet high, and had a narrow stairway on one side at least. On the summit platform were traces of apartments of rough stones and mortar; also a canal nine inches square, leading to the exterior. The first wall mentioned by Gondra in the approach to the ruins, was one of large stones in poor mortar, mostly fallen; it seemed to form a part of walls that bounded a plaza of nearly circular form, in the centre of which stood the pyramid. This edifice was forty-seven by forty-one feet at the base, twenty-eight feet high, and was built in three stories; the lower story had a central stairway on the front, the second had stairways on the sides, while on the third story the steps were in the rear. There are also some traces of a stairway on the front of the second story. The whole surface is covered with trees, one of which is described as being about fourteen feet high, and over eight feet in diameter. The only resemblance in the two views of this pyramid, is the representation of a tree on the summit in each; between the two plans there is not the slightest likeness; and so far as Iberri’s third figure is concerned, it seems to resemble nothing in heaven above, the earth beneath, or the waters under the earth. Both authors agree on the existence of many house-foundations of stone without mortar, extending the whole length of the plateau. According to Iberri these houses were eleven by twenty-two feet, some of them divided in several apartments, standing on the terraces of the hill, only a foot and a half apart, along regular streets about six feet wide. The walls are of hewn stone without mortar, and none remained standing over three feet high. Gondra represents the houses as extending in three and four straight and parallel rows for over two miles on the plateau, with a wall of masonry running the whole length on the south. At various points on the summit and slopes of the hill tombs are found, containing seated skeletons and relics of obsidian and pottery. One of these tombs, as represented by Gondra, is shown in the cut, in which the arched doorway has a very suspicious look.

Tomb at Misantla.

The miscellaneous relics found in connection with the ruins and in the tombs include pottery, metates, slabs with sculptured grecques, hieroglyphics, and human figures in relief, stone images of different sizes up to eighteen inches, representing human figures seated with elbows on the knees, and head raised; and finally an obsidian tube, a foot in diameter and eighteen inches long, very perfectly turned, together with similar earthen tubes with interior compartments. Such is all the information I am able to glean from the published accounts and plates respecting Misantla, in the vicinity of which town other groups of ruins are very vaguely mentioned.

In the same range of mountains, in the district of Jalancingo, walls of hewn stone, with well-preserved subterranean structures containing household idols, are mentioned as existing at Mescalteco; also some remains at Pueblo Viejo and Jorse, those of the latter including a remarkable stone statue of marble. This reported relic is said to have represented a naked woman clasping a bird in her arms. The lower parts of the woman are missing, and the bird much mutilated, but the prefect of Jalancingo says in his report, “it would be easy to complete the figure into Jupiter-swan fondling Leda.”[VIII-37]Mühlenpfordt, Mej., tom. ii., pp. 88-9; Mexikanische Zustände, tom. i., pp. 142-3.

Pyramid of Papantla.

Ruins of Papantla

About a hundred and fifty miles north-westward from Vera Cruz, fifty miles in the same direction from the ruins of Misantla, forty-five miles from the coast, and four or five miles south-west from the pueblo of Papantla, stands the pyramid shown in the cut, known to the world by the name of the pueblo, Papantla, but called by the Totonac natives of the region, El Tajin, the ‘thunderbolt.’ It was accidentally discovered in March, 1785, by one Diego Ruiz, who was exploring this part of the county in an official capacity, with a view to prevent the illegal raising of tobacco; and from his report a description and copper-plate engraving were prepared and published in the Gaceta de Mexico.[VIII-38]Gaceta de Mexico, July 12, 1785, tom. i., pp. 349-51. Location ‘por el rumbo del Poniente de este pueblo, á dos leguas de distancia, entre un espeso bosque.’ This original account was printed later in Diccionario Univ. Geog., tom. x., pp. 120-1; it was also translated into Italian, and printed in Marquez, Due Antichi Monumenti, Rome, 1804, p. 3, also accompanied by the plate. Humboldt described but did not visit the pyramid. He states that Dupaix and Castañeda explored and made drawings of it, but neither description nor plates appear in the work of these travelers.[VIII-39]Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 102-3; Id., Essai Pol., p. 274; Id., in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 12. Humboldt’s account translated by Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., pp. 39-40, says it is the forest that is called Tajin, that the ruin was discovered by hunters, and pronounces the plate in the Gaceta very faulty. The German artist Nebel visited Papantla about 1831, and made a fine and doubtless perfectly accurate drawing, from which the cut which I have given has been copied.[VIII-40]Nebel, Viage Pintoresco. The drawing is geometric rather than in perspective, and the author’s descriptive text in a few details fails to agree exactly with it. José M. Bausa gives a slight description in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. v., p. 411, without stating the source of his information. He locates the ruin 2½ leagues south-west of the pueblo. This author states that Carlos M. Bustamante published a good account of the ruin in 1828, in his Revoltijo de Nopalitos. Other accounts of Papantla made up from the preceding sources, are as follows:—Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, vol. ii., pp. 196-7, with cut after Nebel; Id., Mex. as it Was, pp. 248-9; Id., in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., p. 583, pl. xi.; Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., pp. 91-2; Conder’s Mex. Guat., tom. i., p. 227; Fossey, Mex., pp. 317-18; Hassel, Mex. Guat., pp. 238-9; Larenaudière, Mex. Guat., p. 45; De Bercy, Travels, tom. ii., p. 237; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 79-80; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., p. 88; Mexicanische Zustände, p. 142; Bingley’s Trav., pp. 259-60; Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 256; Armin, Heutige Mex., pp. 96-7, with cut; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 462; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 459; Priest’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 276-8; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 154; Wilson’s Mex. and its Religion, pp. 246-7.

The pyramid stands in a dense forest, apparently not on a naturally or artificially fortified plateau like the remains further south. Its base is square, measuring a little over ninety feet on each side, and the height is about fifty-four feet; the whole structure was built in seven stories, the upper story being partially in ruins.[VIII-41]The dimensions in Nebel’s text are, 120 feet square and 85 feet high, which must be an error, since the author says that the stairway in the plate may be used as a scale, each step being a foot; and measuring the structure by that scale it would be something over 90 feet square at the base and about 54 feet high. The Gaceta says that the base is 30 varas (83 English feet) square, and the steps in sight were 57 in number. Humboldt calls the pyramid 25 mètres (82 feet) square and 18 mètres (59 feet) high, or, in Essai Pol., 16 to 20 mètres. Bausa, Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. v., p. 411, calls the height 93 feet, with 53 steps. Except the upper story, which seems to have contained interior compartments, the whole structure was, so far as known, solid. The material of which it was built is sandstone, in regularly cut blocks laid in mortar—although Humboldt, perhaps on the authority of Dupaix, says the material is porphyry in immense blocks covered with hieroglyphic sculpture—the whole covered on the exterior surface with a hard cement three inches thick, which also bears traces of having been painted. According to the account in the Gaceta, the stones that form the tops of the many niches shown in the cut are from five and a half to seven feet long, four to five and a half wide, and four to nine inches thick. Respecting the stairway nothing can be said in addition to what is shown in the cut. It leads up the eastern slope, and is the only means of ascent to the summit. It is divided by solid balustrades into five divisions, only two of which extend uninterruptedly to the upper story, while the central division can hardly have been used at all as a stairway.[VIII-42]Bausa says the pyramid faces the north. The Gaceta account represents the stairway as 10 or 12 varas wide. The plate represents the lateral narrow stairways as single instead of double, and the niches as not extending entirely across the wide central stairway. Only six stories are shown in the plate, terminating in a summit platform on which stand two small altar-like structures at the head of the lateral stairways. Nebel speaks simply of a ‘double stairway.’ Humboldt agrees with the plate in the Gaceta.

The niches shown in my cut extend entirely round the circumference of each story, except where interrupted on the east by the stairways. Each niche is about three feet square and two feet deep, except those in the centre of the eastern front, which are smaller. Their whole number seems to have been three hundred and twenty-one, according to Nebel’s plate, without including those that may have occurred on the seventh story.[VIII-43]The Gaceta’s text says 342, but its own figures correctly added make the number 378 as is pointed out by Marquez; and the plate accompanying the same account makes the number 309. Fossey says 360 niches. Humboldt made the number 378, which he supposed to relate to the signs of the Toltec civil calendar.

Ruins of Mapilca

Only slight mention is made of any scattered or movable relics at Papantla. It is said that fragments of ruins are scattered over an area of half a league from the pyramid, but no exploration has been made. A small golden idol is reported by Gondra to have been found here, very like a terra-cotta image of Quetzalcoatl, from Culhuacan, of which a cut will be given in the next chapter. Bausa speaks of a stone trough found on the summit of the pyramid, ruins of houses in regular streets in the vicinity, and immense sculptured blocks of stone.

Sculptured Granite Block—Mapilca.

Mr Nebel also visited another locality where remains were discovered, south-eastward from Papantla towards the Tecolutla river, near the rancho of Mapilca. Here in a thick forest were several pyramids in a very advanced stage of dilapidation and not described. There were also seen immense blocks of granite scattered in the forest. The one sketched by Nebel and shown in the cut is twenty-one feet long, and covered with ornamental sculpture in low relief: it rested on a kind of pavement of irregular narrow stones. Another explorer, who saw the ruins in 1828, found the remains of twenty houses, one of them seventy paces long, with walls still standing to the height of ten feet. Most of them were only six feet high, and the small amount of débris indicated that only part of the original height was of stone.[VIII-44]Nebel, Viage Pintoresco; Cassel, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1830, tom. xlv., pp. 336-7; Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, vol. ii., p. 198; Id., Mex. as it Was, pp. 246-7.

Pyramid of Tusapan.

Ruins of Tusapan

On a low hill some forty miles west of Papantla, at the foot of the cordillera, enveloped in an almost impenetrable forest, is another group of ruins, called Tusapan, known only from the drawings and slight description of Nebel. The only structure which remains standing is shown in the cut. It consists of a pyramid thirty feet square at the base, and bearing a building in a tolerable state of preservation. Except the doorposts, lintels, and cornices, the whole structure is said to be built of irregular fragments of limestone; but if this be true, it is evident from the drawing that the whole was covered with a smooth coat of plaster. The building on the summit contains a single apartment twelve feet square, with a door at the head of the stairway. The apartment contains a block, or pedestal, which may have served for an altar, or to support an idol; and it has a pointed ceiling similar in form to the exterior. It is unfortunate that we have no further details respecting this ceiling, since it would be interesting to know if it was formed by overlapping stones as in the Maya ruins, particularly as this is one of the very few remaining specimens of the aboriginal arch in Nahua territory. From the large number of stone blocks and other débris found in the vicinity it is supposed that the pyramid represented in the cut was not the grandest at Tusapan. Several filled-up wells, and numerous fragments of stone images of human and animal forms much mutilated were also noticed.

Fountain in the Living Rock—Tusapan.

The water which supplied the aboriginal inhabitants of the place, seems to have come from a spring located on the side of a precipitous mountain; and at the base of the cliff, where the water reached the plain, was the very remarkable fountain shown in the cut, artificially shaped from the living rock. The cut is an exact fac-simile of Nebel’s plate, except that the surroundings, which add much to its interest, are necessarily omitted. I quote Nebel’s brief description in full. “Among the ruins of Tusapan is found the grotesque fountain here represented. The whole monument consists of a statue nineteen feet high, sculptured in the living rock. The clothing indicates clearly a woman, seated, resting her head on the left arm, which is supported by her knee. The head seems to be adorned with feathers and precious stones. Among the plumes behind is a hollow intended to receive the waters of a neighboring spring (which no longer exists). The water ran through the whole figure and out under the petticoats in the most natural manner, whence it was conducted in a canal of hewn stone to the town near by.”[VIII-45]Nebel, Viage Pintoresco; Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, vol. ii., pp. 199-200; Id., Mex. as it Was, pp. 247-8; Armin, Alte Mex., p. 43; Bausa, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. v., pp. 411-12, locates Tusapan 14 leagues south-west of Papantla.

Ruins of Metlaltoyuca

The Mesa de Metlaltoyuca is on the Tuxpan River, about twelve leagues south-west from the port of Tuxpan, twenty-two leagues north-east of Tulancingo, and probably in the state of Vera Cruz, although very near the boundary. The table-land is very extensive, and is covered throughout most of its extent by a thick forest. Juan B. Campo, Sub-Prefect of Huauchinango, discovered a group of ruins here, and gave a description of his discoveries in a report dated June 27, 1865.[VIII-46]The original of this report I have not seen; a translation, however, was published in the San Francisco Evening Bulletin, of Feb. 20, 1866. His account is very general, alluding to the ruins of a great city, whose streets were paved with polished stones, a fine stone palace plastered and painted, all surrounded by a wall fifteen feet thick and ten feet high, with a great gate, covered way, stone bastions, etc., etc. Immediately after the publication of Campo’s report, Ramon Almaraz, chief of a Mexican scientific commission, engaged with other engineers in surveying for a road in this region, spent five days in the exploration of the ruined city, preparing plans and other drawings, and also taking some photographic views. His report, very far from being full and satisfactory, illustrated with several plates, was published in the government reports for the year mentioned.[VIII-47]Mex., Mem. del Ministro del Fomento, 1865, p. 234, etc. It was also published in a separate pamphlet. Almaraz, Mem. acerca de los Terrenos de Metlaltoyuca, pp. 28-33. Mention by García y Cubas, a companion of Almaraz, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. i., p. 37.

Plan—Ruins of Metlaltoyuca.

The name, Metlaltoyuca, according to Galicia Chimalpopoca, signifies ‘place fortified with solid stones,’ but Sr Linares attributes to the word a different derivation, and makes it mean ‘land of the maguey.'[VIII-48]Chimalpopoca, in Almaraz, Mem., p. 28; Linares, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 3ra época, tom. i., p. 103. Almaraz says: “A succinct account of the ruins might be given by saying that they consist of pyramids built of hewn blocks of sandstone, partially covered with a good hydraulic cement, as will be seen by the chemical analysis which will be given,[VIII-49]The analysis is as follows:—quartzy sand, 31.00; silex, 13.00; aluminia and iron, 2.60; carbonate of lime, 48.00; magnesia, 2.50; moisture, 2.00; loss, 0.90. Almaraz, Mem., p. 30.and of some tumuli, and remains of edifices of slight elevation.” The arrangement of the remains is shown in the plan; only a few of the structures indicated on the plan are mentioned in the description, and of those few very little is said. The space covered by the ruins is in rectangular form, about two hundred and fifty by five hundred yards, and is located in the south-western portion of the mesa. The chief structure, a of the plan, stands at the north-west corner, and its northern and western walls, four hundred and eighty-five and one hundred and ninety-four feet respectively, meet at an angle of 87° 30´; on the other sides the walls are irregular, forming many angles, and in the interior there are walls which divided the enclosed area into several compartments. There are, according to the text, traces of walls, in some places five or six feet high, extending from the ends of the main structure and inclosing the other works, but not shown in the plan. Some steps and also water-tanks were found in connection with the corner walls. Campo also found two doors blocked up with stone slabs. There are several truncated pyramids, the largest of which, at b, is thirty-six feet high, and one hundred and thirty-one feet square at the base. It is built in six stories, and has traces of the buildings which formerly occupied its summit. All the structures are built of brick-shaped blocks of sandstone, very nicely cut, and laid in mud.[VIII-50]‘De las dimensiones que usan hoy para hacer los árboles de tierra.’ I am unable to say what such dimensions amount to in English measurement. On the surface of the cement, which covers all the buildings to a thickness of over an inch, painted figures are seen.

Section of a Mound—Metlaltoyuca.

A remarkable feature at Metlaltoyuca is the existence of the parallel mounds at c, of the plan. As nearly as can be ascertained from the drawings and text, they are about one hundred and forty feet long, twenty feet wide, and ten or twelve feet high. The interior is filled with loose stones and earth, and the surface is covered with somewhat irregular brick-shaped blocks, laid in mud or clay, and apparently covered with cement. The cut shows a transverse section of one of the mounds, and indicates a near approach to the principle of the regular key-stone arch, although as the interior was filled to the top, there is no evidence that the arch was intentionally self-supporting. Some traces of hieroglyphic paintings were found on the mortar which covered a part of these mounds.[VIII-51]A plate showing these paintings is given by Almaraz.

Something over two miles north-west of the ruins described, at the only point where the mesa is accessible on the northern side, is a double stone wall guarding the passage. The outer wall is three or four hundred yards long, thirteen feet high, and fifty feet thick at the base, diminishing towards the top. The inner wall is of smaller dimensions. The same system of defensive works is repeated on the opposite side of the mesa. The only movable relics found were, the figure of a female bearing a sculptured cross, a representation of a mummy closely wrapped as if for burial and having features of a different type from those ordinarily found in Aztec idols, and the form of a man with arms crossed and legs bent, sculptured on a slab, all of the same sandstone of which the buildings were constructed. According to Campo, another smaller group of remains has been seen farther south, towards the Mesa de Amistlan. Two idols of porous basalt and numerous arrow-heads of obsidian are reported at Guautla, twenty-five or thirty miles north-west of Metlaltoyuca.[VIII-52]Burkart, Mexiko, tom. i., p. 51.

Limestone Statue from Pánuco.

Relics at Pánuco

In the northern extremity of the state, in the region about Pánuco, small relics are said to be very abundant. A list of thirty specimens collected by Mr Francis Vecelli during a survey of the Pánuco River, some of them doubtless belonging to the state of Tamaulipas, across the river, is given by Mr Vetch in the Journal of the London Geographical Society. They are mostly of limestone and represent human figures, for the most part females, rudely sculptured and wearing peculiar head-dresses. The foreheads are represented as high and broad, the lips thick, and the cheek-bones high. The sculpture is rude, and nearly every one of the images has a long unshaped base or tenon, as if intended to be fixed in a wall. A front and rear view of one of these images are shown in the cut.[VIII-53]Vetch, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. vii., pp. 1-11, with plate. In the town itself, idols, heads, obsidian arrow-heads, and fragments of ancient pottery, some of it glazed, are often washed out by the heavy rains. Mr Lyon speaks of “several curious ancient toys and whistles, with one small terra cotta vase very beautifully carved with those peculiar flourishes introduced in the Mexican manuscripts,” also “an antique flute of a very compact red clay, which had once been polished and painted. It had four holes, and the mouth part was in the form of a grotesque head.” Flutes occur both single and double, with two, three, and four holes. Earthen representations of birds, toads, and other animals are frequently found either whole or in fragments. West of the town five or six mounds from thirty to forty feet high are vaguely mentioned.[VIII-54]Lyon’s Journal, vol. i., pp. 57-61. Buried in the ground in a ravine near the town, and resting on the stone walls of a dilapidated sepulchre, Mr Norman claims to have found a stone slab seven feet long, wider at one end than the other, but two feet and a half in average width, one foot thick, and bearing on one side the sculptured figure of a man. Dressed in a flowing robe, with girdle, sandal-ties on his feet, and a close-fitting cap on his head, he lies with crossed arms. The face is Caucasian in feature, and the work is very perfectly executed. For the authenticity of so remarkable a relic Mr Norman is hardly a sufficient authority. Two small images, probably of terra cotta, were presented by Mr Norman to the New York Historical Society.[VIII-55]Norman’s Rambles by Land and Water, pp. 145-51, 164; Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, tom. i., pp. 193-6.

At the Calondras Rancho, some twenty-five miles from Pánuco, a large oven-like chamber is reported on the slope of a hill, which contains large flat stones used for grinding maize. The ruins at Chacuaco, three leagues south of the town, are said to cover about three square leagues. Mr Norman also gives cuts of two clay vases from the same locality, one of them having a negro face, very likely of modern origin. San Nicolas, five leagues, and Trinidad six leagues south-west of Pánuco, are other places where ruins are reported to exist.[VIII-56]Lyon’s Journal, vol. i., pp. 61-2; Norman’s Rambles, pp. 149-50. Slight mention of relics in this region, in Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., p. 72; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 112-13.

Footnotes

[VIII-1] Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., p. 32; Mexikanische Zustände, tom. i., p. 31.

[VIII-2] Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. i., pp. 292-7, tom. iii., pp. 104-9, with two plates representing the colossal head, and several other relics from some locality not mentioned.

[VIII-3] Ottavio, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1833, tom. lix., p. 64.

[VIII-4] Waldeck, Palenqué, pl. xlix.; Tylor’s Anahuac, pp. 230-1.

[VIII-5] Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 35.

[VIII-6] Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, pp. 93-7; Id., Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 272, with 3 cuts; Id., in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., p. 588, pl. vi., fig. 5, 6, 8, 11, 12; Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., pp. 82-4, pl. xv., plate of a vase.

[VIII-7] Sartorius, Fortificaciones Antiguas, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. i., pp. 818-27.

[VIII-8] Finck, in Smithsonian Rept., 1870, pp. 373-5. Mr Tylor, in traveling northward towards Jalapa, speaks of ‘numerous remains of ancient Indian mound-forts or temples which we passed on the road.’ Anahuac, p. 312.

[VIII-9] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Palenqué, p. 33. ‘Chalchiuhcuecan, ou le pays des coquilles vertes. On voit encore des débris de la ville de ce nom, sous les eaux qui s’étendent de la ville de la Véra Cruz au château de San-Juan-de-Ulloa.’ Id., Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 143. Ruins of the ordinary type are reported outside the triangular area, in the Sierra de Matlaquiahuitl or del Gallego, running south from the Rio Jamapa to San Juan de la Punta. Sartorius, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. i., p. 820.

[VIII-10] Dupaix, 1st exped., pp. 7-8, pl. viii., fig. 8; Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 214, vol. vi., p. 425, vol. iv., pl. iv., fig. 10; Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., p. 28. Kingsborough’s text represents this relic as 16 leagues from Orizava instead of Córdova.

[VIII-11] Dupaix, 1st exped., p. 7, pl. vi., vii., fig. 6, 7; Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 213-14, vol. vi., pp. 424-5, vol. iv., pl. iv., fig. 8, 9; Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., pp. 22, 27-8.

[VIII-12] Dupaix, 1st exped., p. 5, pl. iv-v., fig. 4-5; Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 212-13, vol. vi., pp. 423-4; vol. iv., pl. iii., fig. 6-7; Lenoir, pp. 18, 22, 26-7.

[VIII-13] Historia de Jalapa, Mex. 1869, tom. i., p. 7.

[VIII-14] Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 453.

[VIII-15] Note in Cortés, Despatches, p. 39; Rivera, Hist. Jalapa, Mex., 1869, tom. i., p. 39. Cempoala is located on some maps on the coast a few leagues north of Vera Cruz; there is also a town of the name in Mexico.

[VIII-16] Esteva, in Museo Mex., tom. ii., pp. 465-7, with plan and view. Respecting the circumference of the structure, Esteva’s text says: ‘la media circunferencia de la base, tomada desde el escalon ó cuerpo A. B. C., (letters which do not appear in his plate) pues mas abajo no se podia tomar con esactitud, es de ciento cincuenta y seis piés castellanos.’ I have taken the circumference from the plan. The material Esteva states to be ‘cal, arena, y piedras grandes del rio,’ but the view indicates that hewn stone is employed, or at least that the whole structure is covered with a smooth coating of cement in perfect preservation. Esteva’s account is also published in the Diccionario Univ. de Geog., tom. x., pp. 166-8, and a slight description from the same source in Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., pp. 203-4.

[VIII-17] Lyon’s Journal, vol. ii., p. 209; Sartorius, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. i., p. 826. Mühlenpfordt, Mej., tom. ii., p. 89, also mentions the Paso de Ovejas remains.

[VIII-18] Iberri, in Museo Mex., tom. iii., p. 23. Gondra’s account in Mosaico Mex., tom. ii., pp. 368-72, with two views and a plan. Sartorius’ description in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. i., pp. 821-2, tom. ii., p. 148, with two views apparently the same as by Gondra, an additional side and front view of a pyramid, and a plan which bears no likeness to Gondra’s, representing perhaps a different part of the ruins. According to this author the ruins were first made known in 1829 or 1830. The two accounts are very perplexing to the student, sometimes resembling each other so closely that one is ready to believe that Sartorius was the explorer from whom Gondra obtained his information and drawings, in other parts so different as to indicate that different ruins are referred to. I am inclined to believe that Gondra’s information did in part refer to some other ruin in the same region. Gondra’s account is also printed in Diccionario Univ. Geog., tom. ix., pp. 565-8. Brief mention in Rivera, Hist. Jalapa, Mex. 1869, tom. i., pp. 389-90.

[VIII-19] Respecting the first narrow pass, the oval table, and the ditch, Sartorius says nothing. He mentions such a ditch, however, in connection with the ruins of Tlacotepec, as we shall see. It is quite possible that the features mentioned do not belong to Centla at all.

[VIII-20] 10 varas according to Sartorius; Gondra says 15.

[VIII-21] Copied from Sartorius, with the addition of the shading only.

[VIII-22] The views given by Gondra and Sartorius are of the pyramid A, from the east, and of the terrace walls at B, from the west. The latter also gives a view of the small pyramid b, from the north. The plan given by Gondra bears no resemblance to the other. It may represent ruins in other parts of the plateau; it may be a faulty representation made up from the explorer’s description of the works that have been described; or, what is, I think, more probable, it may refer to some other group of ruins in the vicinity. It represents a collection of pyramids and buildings, bounded on both the east and west by walls, one of which has an entrance close to the brink of the precipice, while the other had no opening till one was made by the modern settlers.

[VIII-23] ‘Ochenta varas en cuadro.’ Perhaps it should read feet instead of varas. The plate makes the front slightly over 24 varas.

[VIII-24] Dupaix, 1st exped., pp. 8-9, pl. ix-xi., fig. 9-12; Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 215-16, vol. vi., pp. 425-6, vol. iv., pl. v-vi., fig. 11-15. The skull is mentioned and sketched only in Kingsborough’s edition. Lenoir, pp. 23, 29. Slight mention of these ruins from Dupaix, in Mosaico Mex., tom. ii., pp. 373-4; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., p. 157; Warden, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., pp. 67-8.

[VIII-25] Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. i., p. 821.

[VIII-26] Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 150; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., p. 104.

[VIII-27] Museo Mex., tom. iii., p. 23.

[VIII-28] Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. i., p. 822; Mosaico Mex., tom. ii., pp. 368, 372; Smithsonian Rept., 1870, p. 374.

[VIII-29] This may possibly be the ditch referred to by Gondra in his account of Centla.

[VIII-30] Sartorius, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. i., pp. 822-4, with plan and view, the latter giving no information.

[VIII-31] Id., p. 824.

[VIII-32] Heller, Reisen, pp. 61, 72-3, 76-7, with cut.

[VIII-33] Sartorius, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. i., pp. 825-6.

[VIII-34] Id., pp. 821, 824-5, with a sketch which amounts to nothing.

[VIII-35] Anahuac, p. 297.

[VIII-36] Mosaico Mex., tom. i., pp. 102-5. Gondra’s account of the location is as follows: ‘En la serranía al Norte de Jalapa, y distante de aquella ciudad de diez á once leguas, se encuentra en el canton de Misantla el cerro llamado del Estillero, á cuya falda se descubre una montaña terminada por una meseta muy angosta, de cerca de legua y media de largo, y aislada por barrancos profundos y acantilados, y por despeñaderos inaccessibles; rodeada por los cerros del Estillero, Magdalenilla, el Chamuscado, el Camaron y el Conejo por la parte del Oeste; por el Monte Real ácia el Este, y lo restante por la elevada cuesta de Misantla…. La única parte algo accesible para subir á la meseta de la montaña donde se hallan las ruinas, está ácia la falda del Estillero…. Al comenzar la meseta, bajando por la falda del cerro del Estillero, lo primero que se observa es un paredon demolido hecho de gruesas piedras,’ etc. Gondra’s account was reprinted in the Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. ii., p. 220-3. Iberri’s account is found in the Museo Mex., tom. iii., pp. 21-4. Respecting the location he says:—’El cerro conocido de la Magdalena, degradando su altura en picos porfiríticos que afectan figuras cónicas ó piramidales, … forma un grupo de montañas sumamente escabrosas, que se dividen como rádios en ramas estrechadas por barrancas profundas y escarpadas de pórfido…. En una de estas ramas se hallan las referidas ruinas, cuya entrada está cerrada por un muro,’ etc. Account made up from Gondra, with cut probably from same source in Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, vol. ii., pp. 200-3; Id., Mex. as it Was, pp. 250-1. Slight mention by Mühlenpfordt, Mej., tom. ii., p. 88, who thinks the ruin may be identical with that of Tusapan. Same account in Mexicanische Zustände, tom. i., p. 142.

[VIII-37] Mühlenpfordt, Mej., tom. ii., pp. 88-9; Mexikanische Zustände, tom. i., pp. 142-3.

[VIII-38] Gaceta de Mexico, July 12, 1785, tom. i., pp. 349-51. Location ‘por el rumbo del Poniente de este pueblo, á dos leguas de distancia, entre un espeso bosque.’ This original account was printed later in Diccionario Univ. Geog., tom. x., pp. 120-1; it was also translated into Italian, and printed in Marquez, Due Antichi Monumenti, Rome, 1804, p. 3, also accompanied by the plate.

[VIII-39] Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 102-3; Id., Essai Pol., p. 274; Id., in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 12. Humboldt’s account translated by Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., pp. 39-40, says it is the forest that is called Tajin, that the ruin was discovered by hunters, and pronounces the plate in the Gaceta very faulty.

[VIII-40] Nebel, Viage Pintoresco. The drawing is geometric rather than in perspective, and the author’s descriptive text in a few details fails to agree exactly with it. José M. Bausa gives a slight description in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. v., p. 411, without stating the source of his information. He locates the ruin 2½ leagues south-west of the pueblo. This author states that Carlos M. Bustamante published a good account of the ruin in 1828, in his Revoltijo de Nopalitos. Other accounts of Papantla made up from the preceding sources, are as follows:—Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, vol. ii., pp. 196-7, with cut after Nebel; Id., Mex. as it Was, pp. 248-9; Id., in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., p. 583, pl. xi.; Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., pp. 91-2; Conder’s Mex. Guat., tom. i., p. 227; Fossey, Mex., pp. 317-18; Hassel, Mex. Guat., pp. 238-9; Larenaudière, Mex. Guat., p. 45; De Bercy, Travels, tom. ii., p. 237; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 79-80; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., p. 88; Mexicanische Zustände, p. 142; Bingley’s Trav., pp. 259-60; Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 256; Armin, Heutige Mex., pp. 96-7, with cut; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 462; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 459; Priest’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 276-8; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 154; Wilson’s Mex. and its Religion, pp. 246-7.

[VIII-41] The dimensions in Nebel’s text are, 120 feet square and 85 feet high, which must be an error, since the author says that the stairway in the plate may be used as a scale, each step being a foot; and measuring the structure by that scale it would be something over 90 feet square at the base and about 54 feet high. The Gaceta says that the base is 30 varas (83 English feet) square, and the steps in sight were 57 in number. Humboldt calls the pyramid 25 mètres (82 feet) square and 18 mètres (59 feet) high, or, in Essai Pol., 16 to 20 mètres. Bausa, Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. v., p. 411, calls the height 93 feet, with 53 steps.

[VIII-42] Bausa says the pyramid faces the north. The Gaceta account represents the stairway as 10 or 12 varas wide. The plate represents the lateral narrow stairways as single instead of double, and the niches as not extending entirely across the wide central stairway. Only six stories are shown in the plate, terminating in a summit platform on which stand two small altar-like structures at the head of the lateral stairways. Nebel speaks simply of a ‘double stairway.’ Humboldt agrees with the plate in the Gaceta.

[VIII-43] The Gaceta’s text says 342, but its own figures correctly added make the number 378 as is pointed out by Marquez; and the plate accompanying the same account makes the number 309. Fossey says 360 niches. Humboldt made the number 378, which he supposed to relate to the signs of the Toltec civil calendar.

[VIII-44] Nebel, Viage Pintoresco; Cassel, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1830, tom. xlv., pp. 336-7; Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, vol. ii., p. 198; Id., Mex. as it Was, pp. 246-7.

[VIII-45] Nebel, Viage Pintoresco; Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, vol. ii., pp. 199-200; Id., Mex. as it Was, pp. 247-8; Armin, Alte Mex., p. 43; Bausa, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. v., pp. 411-12, locates Tusapan 14 leagues south-west of Papantla.

[VIII-46] The original of this report I have not seen; a translation, however, was published in the San Francisco Evening Bulletin, of Feb. 20, 1866.

[VIII-47] Mex., Mem. del Ministro del Fomento, 1865, p. 234, etc. It was also published in a separate pamphlet. Almaraz, Mem. acerca de los Terrenos de Metlaltoyuca, pp. 28-33. Mention by García y Cubas, a companion of Almaraz, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. i., p. 37.

[VIII-48] Chimalpopoca, in Almaraz, Mem., p. 28; Linares, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 3ra época, tom. i., p. 103.

[VIII-49] The analysis is as follows:—quartzy sand, 31.00; silex, 13.00; aluminia and iron, 2.60; carbonate of lime, 48.00; magnesia, 2.50; moisture, 2.00; loss, 0.90. Almaraz, Mem., p. 30.

[VIII-50] ‘De las dimensiones que usan hoy para hacer los árboles de tierra.’ I am unable to say what such dimensions amount to in English measurement.

[VIII-51] A plate showing these paintings is given by Almaraz.

[VIII-52] Burkart, Mexiko, tom. i., p. 51.

[VIII-53] Vetch, in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. vii., pp. 1-11, with plate.

[VIII-54] Lyon’s Journal, vol. i., pp. 57-61.

[VIII-55] Norman’s Rambles by Land and Water, pp. 145-51, 164; Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, tom. i., pp. 193-6.

[VIII-56] Lyon’s Journal, vol. i., pp. 61-2; Norman’s Rambles, pp. 149-50. Slight mention of relics in this region, in Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., p. 72; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 112-13.

Chapter IX • Antiquities of the Central Plateaux • 33,600 Words

Anáhuac—Monuments of Puebla—Chila, Teopantepec, Tepexe, Tepeaca, San Antonio, Quauhquelchula, and Santa Catalina—Pyramid of Cholula—Sierra de Malinche—San Pablo—Natividad—Monuments of Tlascala—Los Reyes—Monuments of Mexico—Cuernavaca, Xochicalco, Casasano, Ozumba, Tlachialco, Ahuehuepa, and Mecamecan—Xochimilco, Tlahuac, Xico, Misquique, Tlalmanalco, and Culhuacan—Chapultepec, Remedios, Tacuba, and Malinalco—City of Mexico—Tezcuco—Tezcocingo—Teotihuacan—Obsidian Mines—Tula—Monuments of Querétaro—Pueblito, Canoas, and Ranas—Nahua Monuments.

The monuments of the Mexican tierra templada, of Anáhuac and the adjoining plateaux, next claim our attention. The territory in question is bounded on the south and east by that treated in the two preceding chapters—Oajaca and Guerrero on the south toward the Pacific, and Vera Cruz on the east toward the gulf. The present chapter will carry my antiquarian survey to a line drawn across the continent from Tampico to the mouth of the Zacatula river, completing what has been regarded as the home of the Nahua civilized nations, with the exception of the Tarascos in Michoacan, and leaving only a few scattered monuments to be described in the broad extent of the northern states of the republic. On most of the maps extant the territory whose monuments I have now to describe, is divided into the states of Mexico, Puebla, Tlascala, and Querétaro, to which have been added in later years Morelos and Hidalgo, formed chiefly, I believe, from the old state of Mexico. In my description, however, I shall pay but little attention to state lines, locating each group of antiquities by its distance and bearing from some well-known point. Respecting the physical features of this central Nahua region, enough has been said in the preceding volumes; I consequently begin at once the description of antiquarian relics, dealing first with those found in Puebla and Tlascala, starting in the south and proceeding northward.

Section of Chila Tomb.

Remains at Chila

At Chila, in the extreme southern part of Puebla, is a hill known as La Tortuga, on which is built an unterraced pyramid eighty-eight feet square at the base, fifty-five feet high, with a summit platform fifty feet square. It is built of hewn stone and covered, as it appears from Castañeda’s drawing, with cement. The exterior surface is much broken up by the trees that have taken root there. A stairway leads up the western front. Near the north-eastern corner of the mound is an entrance leading down by seven stone steps to a small tomb about eleven feet below the surface of the ground and not under the mound. At the foot of the steps is an apartment measuring five and a half feet long and high, and four feet wide, with a branch, or gallery, four feet long and a little less than three feet wide and high, in the centre of each of the three sides, thus giving the whole tomb in its ground plan the form of a cross. Its vertical section is shown in the cut. There is certainly a general resemblance to be noted in this tomb-structure to those at Mitla; the interior is lined with hewn blocks laid in lime mortar and covered with a fine white plaster, the plaster on the ceiling being eight or nine inches thick. The discovery of human bones in the lateral galleries leaves no doubt respecting the use to which the subterranean structure was devoted.[IX-1]Dupaix, 2d exped., p. 14, pl. xviii., fig. 53-4; Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 243, vol. vi., p. 442, vol. iv., pl. xvi., fig. 53-4; Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., p. 47.

At Tehuacan el Viejo, two leagues eastward of the modern town of Tehuacan, in the south-eastern part of the state, were found ruins of stone structures not particularly described.[IX-2]‘No subsisten de él sino unas grandes ruinas de templo y caserías de cal y canto, situadas en ladera de unos cerritos.’ Dupaix, 1st exped., p. 5; Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 211, vol. vi., p. 423. At San Cristóval Teopantepec, a little native settlement north-westward of the remains last mentioned, is another hill which bears a pyramid on its top. A road cut in the rocky sides leads up the hill, and on the summit, beside the pyramid, traces of smooth cement pavements and other undescribed remains were noticed. The pyramid itself from a base fifty feet square rises about sixty-seven feet in four receding stories with sides apparently sloping very slightly inward toward the top, the fourth story being moreover for the most part in ruins. The most remarkable feature of this structure is its stairway, which is different from any yet noticed, and similar to that of the grand teocalli of Mexico-Tenochtitlan as reported by the conquerors. It leads up diagonally from bottom to top of each story on the west, not, however, making it necessary to pass four times round the pyramid in order to reach the summit, as was the case in Mexico, since in this ruin the head of each flight corresponds with the foot of the one above, instead of being on the opposite side of the pyramid. The whole is built of stone and mortar, only the exterior facing being of regular blocks, and no covering of cement is indicated in Castañeda’s drawing.[IX-3]Dupaix, 1st exped., p. 4, pl. iii., fig. 3; Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 211, vol. vi., p. 422, vol. iv., pl. ii., fig. 5. ‘On y monte, du côté de l’ouest, par une rampe tracée de gauche à droite pour le premier étage, de droite à gauche pour le second, et ainsi de suite jusqu’au dernier.’ Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., p. 26; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., p. 157.

Tepexe and Tepeaca

At Tepexe el Viejo, on the Zacatula River, some sixteen leagues south-east of the city of Puebla, Dupaix discovered, in 1808, a structure which he calls a fortification. It was located on a rocky height, surrounded by deep ravines, and the rough nature of the ground, together with the serpents that infest the rocks, prevented him from making exact measurements. There are traces of exterior enclosing walls, and within the enclosed area stands a pyramid of hewn stone and lime mortar, in eight receding stories. A fragment of a circular stone was also found at Tepexe, bearing sculptured figures in low relief, which indicate that the monument may have borne originally some resemblance to the Aztec calendar-stone, to be mentioned hereafter. Another round stone bore marks of having been used for sharpening weapons.[IX-4]Dupaix, 3d exped., p. 5, pl. i., ii., fig. 1-3; Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 285-6, vol. vi., p. 467, vol. iv., pl. i., ii., fig. 1-3. According to Dupaix’s plate the sides and summit platform are covered with plaster. Kingsborough’s plate omits the coating of plaster and shows the remains of a ninth story. A scale attached to the latter plate would indicate that the pyramid has a base of 150 feet and is about 75 feet high. Lenoir, p. 69.

At Tepeaca and vicinity four relics were found:—1st. A bird’s, perhaps an eagle’s, head sculptured in low relief within a triple circle, together with other figures, on a slab about a foot square; apparently an aboriginal coat of arms. 2d. A stone head eighteen inches high, of a hard, reddish material; the features are very regular down to the mouth, below which all is deformed. 3d. A sculptured slab, built into a wall, shown only in Kingsborough’s plate. 4th. A feathered serpent coiled into a ball-like form, six feet in diameter. It was carved from a red stone, and also painted red, resting on a cubical pedestal of a light-colored stone.[IX-5]Dupaix, 1st exped., pp. 3-4, pl. i.-ii., fig. 1, 2; 2d exped., p. 51, pl. lxi., fig. 117; Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 209-10, vol. vi., pp. 421-2, vol. iv., pl. i., fig. 1-4; Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., pp. 22, 25-6, 63.

At San Antonio, near San Andres Chalchicomula, on the eastern boundary of the state, a pyramid stands on the summit of a rocky hill. The pyramid consists of three stories, with sides sloping at an angle of about forty-five degrees, is about twenty-five feet in height, and has a base fifty-five feet square. A stairway about ten feet wide, with solid balustrades, leads up the centre of the western front; and on the top, parts of the walls of a building still remained in 1805. This summit building was said to have been in a good state of preservation only twelve years before. The material is basalt, in blocks about two by five feet, according to Dupaix’s plate, laid in mortar, and all but the lower story covered with cement.[IX-6]Dupaix, 1st exped., p. 10, pl. xii., fig. 13; Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 217, vol. vi., p. 426, vol. iv., pl. vi., fig. 16; Lenoir, p. 30. Kingsborough’s plate makes the blocks of stone much smaller than the other, shows no plaster, and represents the walls of the summit building as still standing. Kingsborough also incorrectly translates ‘antes de San Andrés,’ ‘formerly San Andrés.’ Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., p. 157.

Stone Monster’s Head.

At Quauhquelchula, near Atlixco, in the western part of the state, Dupaix noticed four relics of antiquity. 1st. A rattlesnake eight feet and a half long, and about eight inches in diameter, sculptured in high relief on the flat surface of a hard brown stone. 2d. A hard veined stone of various colors, four feet high and ten feet and a half in circumference, carved into a representation of a monster’s head with protruding tusks, a front view of which is given in the cut. The rear is flat and bears a coat of arms, made up of four arrows or spears crossing a circle, with other inexplicable figures. 3d. Another coat of arms, three lances across a barred circle, carved in low relief on the face of a boulder. 4th. A human face, larger than the natural size, on the side of another boulder, and looking towards the town.[IX-7]Dupaix, 1st exped., pp. 12-13, pl. xvii-xxii., fig. 19-24; Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 219-20, vol. vi., pp. 427-8, vol. iv., pl. ix.-xi., fig. 21-4; Lenoir, pp. 31-3. At the town of Atlixco a very beautifully worked and polished almond-shaped agate was seen.[IX-8]Dupaix, p. 11, pl. xvii., fig. 18, not in Kingsborough.

Serpent-Cup—Santa Catalina.

On the hacienda of Santa Catalina, westward from Atlixco, was found the coiled serpent shown in the cut. The material is a black porous volcanic stone, and the whole seems to form a cup, to which the head of the serpent served as a handle. Another relic from this locality was a masked human figure of the same stone.[IX-9]Dupaix, 1st exped., p. 13, pl. xxiii.-iv., fig. 25-6; Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 220, vol. vi., p. 428, vol. iv., pl. xii., fig. 25-6; Lenoir, p. 33.

Pyramid of Cholula

About ten miles west of the city of Puebla de los Angeles, and in the eastern outskirts of the pueblo of Cholula, is the famous pyramid known throughout the world by the name of Cholula. The town at its base was in aboriginal times a large and flourishing city, and a great religious centre. The day of its glory was in the Toltec period, before the tenth century of our era, and tradition points for the building of the pyramid to a yet more remote epoch, when the Olmecs were the masters of the central plateaux. Several times during the religious contests that raged between the devotees of rival deities, the temple of Cholula was destroyed and rebuilt. Its final destruction dates from the coming of the Spaniards, who, under Hernan Cortés, after a fierce hand-to-hand conflict on the slopes of the pyramid, maddened by the desperate resistance of the natives, elated by victory, or incited by fanatical religious zeal and avarice, sacked and burned the magnificent structure on the top of the mound. Since the time of the Conquistador, after the fierce spirit of the Spaniards had expended its fury on this and other monuments reared in honor of heathen gods, the mound was allowed to remain in peace, save the construction of a winding road leading up to a modern chapel on the summit, where services are performed in which the great Quetzalcoatl has no share.[IX-10]On the building and history of the pyramid, see, among many others, Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 18-19, 155-6, 199-205; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., pp. 182-3.

Since 1744, when the historian Clavigero rode up its side on horseback, this pyramid has been visited by hundreds of travelers, few tourists having left Anáhuac without having seen so famous a monument of antiquity, so easily accessible from the cities of Mexico and Puebla. Humboldt’s description, made from a personal exploration in 1803, is perhaps the most complete that was ever published, and most succeeding visitors have deemed it best to quote his account as being better than any they could write from their own observations. Dupaix and Castañeda, and in later times Nebel, also examined and made drawings of Cholula. The four or five views of the mound that have been published differ greatly from each other, accordingly as the artist pictured the monument as he saw it or attempted to restore it more or less to its original form. Humboldt’s drawing, which has been more extensively copied than any other, contrary to what might be expected from his text, was altogether a restoration, and bore not the slightest resemblance to the original as he saw it, since Clavigero found it in 1744, “so covered with earth and shrubs that it seems rather a natural hill than an edifice,” and there is no reason to suppose that at a later date it assumed a more regular form.[IX-11]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 33-4; Humboldt, Essai Pol., pp. 239-40; Id., Vues, tom. i., pp. 96-124, pl. iii. (fol. ed. pl. vii., viii.); Id., in Antiq. Mex., suppl. pl. ii.; Dupaix, 1st exped., p. ii., pl. xvi., fig. 17; Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 218, vol. iv., pl. viii., fig. 20. It is to be noted that there is not the slightest resemblance between the two editions of Castañeda’s drawing. Nebel, Viage Pintoresco, with large colored plate. Other visitors to Cholula, whose accounts contain more or less original information, are:—Poinsett, 1822, Notes, pp. 57-9; Bullock, 1823, Mexico, pp. 111-15—no plate, although the author made a drawing; Ward, 1825, Mexico, vol. ii., p. 269; Beaufoy, 1826, Mexican Illustr., pp. 193-5, with cuts; Latrobe, 1834, Rambler in Mex., p. 275; Mayer, 1841, Mexico as it Was, p. 26; Mex. Aztec, vol. ii., p. 228, with cut; Id., in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., p. 582; Thompson, 1842, Recollections of Mex., p. 30; Tylor, 1856, Anahuac, pp. 274-7; Evans, 1869, Our Sister Republic, pp. 428-32, with cut. Still other references on the subject, containing for the most part nothing except what is gathered from the preceding works, are:—Robertson’s Hist. Amer. (8vo. ed. 1777), vol. i., p. 268; Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., pp. 37-45, pl. vi.; Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 70; Lafond, Voyages, tom. i., pp. 137-8; Armin, Heutige Mex., pp. 63, 68, 72; Wilson’s Mex. and her Religion, pp. 95-9; Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 256, etc., from Humboldt, with cut; Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., p. 90; Baril, Mex., p. 193; Beltrami, Mexique, tom. ii., pp. 283-8; DeBercy, L’Europe et L’Amér., tom. ii., p. 235, etc.; Brackett’s Brigade in Mex., pp. 154-5; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 76-7; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 301, et seq.; Calderon de la Barca’s Life in Mex., vol. ii., p. 97; Chevalier, Mex., pp. 55-6; Id., Mex. Ancien et Mod., pp. 174-9; Combier, Voyage, pp. 385-6; Dally, Sur les Races Indig., p. 17; Davis’ Anc. Amer., p. 9; Donnavan’s Adven., p. 98; D’Orbigny, Voyage, p. 331; Fossey, Mex., p. 111; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 246; Heller, Reisen, pp. 131-2; Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1835, tom. lxv., pp. 363-4; Delafield’s Antiq. Amer., p. 57; Jourdanet, Mexique, p. 20; Larenaudière, Mex. Guat., pp. 24, 45-6, plate from Dupaix; Löwenstern, Mexique, pp. 48-9; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., pp. 461-2; Marmier, Voyageurs, tom. iii., pp. 328-9; Mexico, Country, etc., p. 14; Mex. in 1842, pp. 80-1; Mexico, A Trip to, pp. 59-60; Mill’s Hist. Mex., p. 140; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pp. 232-3, 236; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 458-9, 581; Pagés, Nouveau Voy., tom. ii., pp. 385-7; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 60, vol. ii., pp. 6-8, 26, vol. iii., p. 380; Shepard’s Land of the Aztecs, p. 128; Saturday Mag., vol. v., pp. 175-6; Scherr, Trauerspiel, pp. 29-30; Stapp’s Prisoners of Perote, pp. 107-8; Thümmel, Mexiko, pp. 261-2; Tudor’s Nar., vol. ii., pp. 208-9; Vigneaux, Souv. Mex., p. 531; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., pp. 32, 36, 180, 182; Warden, Recherches, pp. 66-7; Willson’s Amer. Hist., pp. 60-1, 73; Yonge’s Mod. Hist., p. 38; Frost’s Pict. Hist., pp. 37-8; Hermosa, Manual Geog., pp. 140-1; Taylor’s Eldorado, vol. ii., p. 181; Wortley’s Trav., pp. 230-1, etc.; McCulloh’s Researches in Amer., p. 252; Gemelli Careri, in Churchill, Col. Voy., vol. iv., p. 519; Escalera and Llana, Méj. Hist. Descrip., pp. 205-6; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., p. 156; Alcedo, Diccionario, tom. i., p. 550; Democratic Review, vol. xxvii., p. 425, vol. xxvi., pp. 546-7, vol. xi., p. 612; Mansfield’s Mex. War, p. 207; Macgillivray’s Life Humboldt, pp. 292, 312-13; Conder’s Mex. Guat., vol. i., pp. 258-9, plate from Humboldt; Prichard’s Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., p. 509.

For the past two centuries, at least, the condition and appearance of the mound has been that of a natural conical hill, rising from the level of a broad valley, and covering with its circular base an area of over forty acres.[IX-12]‘The large mound of earth at Cholula which the Spaniards dignified with the name of temple, still remains, but without any steps by which to ascend, or any facing of stone. It appears now like a natural mount, covered with grass and shrubs, and possibly it was never anything more.’ Robertson’s Hist. Amer., vol. i., p. 269. ‘A le voir de loin, on seroit en effet tenté de le prendre pour une colline naturelle couverte de végétation.’ ‘Elle est très-bien conservée du côte de l’ouest, et c’est la face occidentale que présente la gravure que nous publions.’ Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 104-5. On closer examination, however, traces of artificial terraces are noted on the slopes, and excavations have proven that the whole mound, or at least a very large portion of it—for no excavation has ever been made reaching to its centre—is of artificial construction. By the careful surveys of Humboldt and others the original form and dimensions have been clearly made known. From a base about fourteen hundred and forty feet square, whose sides face the cardinal points, it rose in four equal stories to a height of nearly two hundred feet, having a summit platform of about two hundred feet square.[IX-13]The dimensions of base, height, and summit platform respectively, as given by different authorities, are as follows: 439×54×64¾ mètres, Humboldt; 530×66 varas, Nebel; 1069×204×165 feet, Mayer, according to a careful measurement by a U. S. official in 1847; 40 varas square by actual measurement! Dupaix; 1423×177×208 feet, Prescott; 1425×177×175 feet, Latrobe; 1301×162×177 feet, Poinsett; About 200 feet high, Tylor; 1310×205 feet, Wilson; 1335×172 feet, Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 345; 1355×170 feet, Ampère, Promenade, tom. ii., pp. 374-80; 1388×170 feet, summit 13285 sq. feet, Heller, Reisen, pp. 131-2; said to cover an area of over 43 acres and to be 179 feet high, but it seems much smaller and higher. Evans’ Our Sister Rep., pp. 428-32. Humboldt in 1803 found the four terraces tolerably distinct, especially on the western slope; Evans in 1870 found the lower terrace quite perfect, but the others traceable only in a few places without excavation.

The material of which the mound was constructed is adobes, or sun-dried bricks, generally about fifteen inches long, laid very regularly with alternate layers of clay. From its material comes the name Tlalchihualtepec, ‘mountain of unburnt bricks,’ which has been sometimes applied to Cholula. An old tradition relates that the adobes were manufactured at Tlalmanalco, and brought several leagues to their destination by a long line of men, who handed them along singly from one to another. Humboldt thought some of the bricks might have been slightly burned. Respecting the material which constitutes the alternate layers between the bricks, called clay by Humboldt, there seems to be some difference of opinion between different explorers. Col. Brantz Mayer, a careful investigator, says the adobes are interspersed with small fragments of porphyry and limestone; and Mr Tylor speaks of them as cemented with mortar containing small stones and pottery. Evans tells us that the material is adobe bricks and layers of lava, still perfect in many places. The historian Veytia by a personal examination ascertained the material to be “small stones of the kind called guijarros, and a kind of bricks of clay and straw,” in alternate layers.[IX-14]Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 155-6. Beaufoy claims to have found the pyramid faced with small thin hewn stones, one of which he carried away as a relic—a very wonderful discovery certainly, when we consider that other very trustworthy explorers, both preceding and following Beaufoy, found nothing of the kind. Mr Heller could not find the stone facing, but, as he says, he did find a coating of mortar as hard as stone, composed of lime, sand, and water.[IX-15]Heller, Reisen, pp. 131-2. Many visitors have believed that the pyramid is only partially artificial, the adobe-work having been added to a smaller natural hill. This is, however, a mere conjecture, and there are absolutely no arguments to be adduced for or against it. The truth can be ascertained only by the excavation of a tunnel through the mound at its base, or, at least, penetrating to the centre. It is very remarkable that such an excavation has never been made, either in the interests of scientific exploration or of treasure-seeking.

Bernal Diaz, at the time of the Conquest, counted a hundred and twenty steps in a stairway which led up the slope to the temple, but no traces of such a stairway have been visible in more modern times. There are traditions among the natives, as is usually the case in connection with every work of the antiguos, of interior galleries and apartments of great extent within the mound; such rumors are doubtless without foundation. The Puebla road cuts off a corner of the lower terrace, and the excavation made in building the road not only showed clearly the regular interior construction of the pyramid, but also laid bare a tomb, which contained two skeletons with two idols in basalt, a collection of pottery, and other relics not preserved or particularly described, although the remains of the tomb itself were examined by Humboldt. The sepulchre was square, with stone walls supported by cypress beams. The dimensions are not given, but the apartment is said to have had no traces of any outlet. Humboldt claims to have discovered a peculiar arrangement of the adobes about this tomb, by which the pressure on its roof was diminished.

It is very evident that the pyramid of Cholula contains nothing in itself to indicate its age, but from well-defined and doubtless reliable traditions, we may feel very sure that its erection dates back to an epoch preceding the tenth century, and probably preceding the seventh. Humboldt shows that it is larger at the base than any of the old-world pyramids, over twice as large as that of Cheops, but only slightly higher than that of Mycerinus. “The construction of the teocalli recalls the oldest monuments to which the history of the civilization of our race reaches. The temple of Jupiter Bélus, which the mythology of the Hindus seems to designate by the name of Bali, the pyramids of Meïdoùm and Dahchoùr, and several of the group of Sakharah in Egypt, were also immense heaps of bricks, the remains of which have been preserved during a period of thirty centuries down to our day.”[IX-16]Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 127-8.

The historical annals of aboriginal times, confirmed by the Spanish records of the Conquest, leave no doubt that the chief object of the pyramid was to support a temple; the discovery of the tomb with human remains may indicate that it served also for burial purposes. It is by no means certain, however, that the mound was in any sense a monument reared over the two bodies whose skeletons were found; for besides the position of the skeletons in a corner of the pyramid, indicating in itself the contrary, there is the possibility that the bodies were those of slaves sacrificed during the process of building, and deposited here from some superstitious motive. It will require the discovery of tombs near the centre of this immense mound to prove that it was erected with any view to use as the burial place of kings or priests.[IX-17]Foster, Pre-Hist. Races, p. 345, believes, on the contrary, that the pyramid was erected with the sole object of enshrining in an interior chamber of stone two corpses, showing that ‘the industry of the great mass of the population was at the absolute command of the few.’ Wilson, always a sceptic on matters connected with Mexican aboriginal civilization, pronounces the pyramid of Cholula “the finest Indian mound on this continent; where the Indians buried the bravest of their braves, with bows and arrows, and a drinking cup, that they might not be unprovided for when they should arrive at the hunting-grounds of the great spirit.” “It is sufficiently wasted by time to give full scope to the imagination to fill out or restore it to almost any form. One hundred years ago, some rich citizen constructed steps up its side, and protected the sides of his steps from falling earth by walls of adobe, or mud-brick; and on the west side some adobe buttresses have been placed to keep the loose earth out of the village street. This is all of mans labor that is visible, except the work of the Indians in shaving away the hill which constitutes this pyramid. As for the great city of Cholula, it never had an existence.”[IX-18]Wilson’s Mex. and its Relig., pp. 95, 99. See a restoration of Cholula, by Mothes, in Armin, Heutige Mex., pp. 63, 68, 72. At a short distance from the foot of the large pyramid, two smaller ones are mentioned by several visitors; one of which is doubtless a portion of the chief mound separated by the road that has been already mentioned. One of them is described by Beaufoy as having perpendicular sides, and built of adobes nine inches square and one inch thick; the second was much smaller and had a corn-patch on its summit. Cuts of the two small mounds are given by the same explorer. Bullock claims to have found on the top of one of the detached masses a ditch and wall forming a kind of figure-eight-formed enclosure one hundred feet long, in which were many human bones. Evans has a theory that the small mounds were formed of the material taken from the larger one in shaping its terraces. Latrobe says that many ruined mounds may be seen from the summit; in fact, that the whole surface of the surrounding plain is broken by both natural and artificial elevations. Ampère was led by his native guide, through a misunderstanding, to a flat-topped terraced hill, still bearing traces of a pavement, at a locality called Zapotecas.[IX-19]Ampère, Promenade, tom. ii., pp. 373, 380. ‘On découvre encore, du côté occidental, vis-a-vis du Cerro de Tecaxete et de Zapoteca, deux masses parfaitement prismatiques. L’une de ces masses porte aujourd’hui le nom d’Alcosac ou d’Istenenetl, l’autre celui du Cerro de la Cruz; la dernière, construite en pisé, n’est élevée que de 15 mètres.’ Humboldt, Essai Pol., pp. 240-1.

The only miscellaneous Cholulan relics of which I find a mention, are three described by Dupaix and sketched by Castañeda. They were, a stone head, said to have originally been the top of a column; a quadrangular block, with incised hieroglyphics on one of its faces; and a mask of green jasper, reported to have been dug from the pyramid.[IX-20]Dupaix, 1st exped., pp. 10-11, pl. xiii.-v., fig. 14-16; Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 218; vol. vi., p. 427, vol. iv., pl. viii., fig. 17-18; Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., pp. 23, 30.

Remains at Natividad

On the summit of the Sierra de Malinche, which forms the boundary between Puebla and Tlascala, the existence of ruined walls and pyramids, with fragments of stone images, is mentioned without description.[IX-21]Dupaix, 2d exped., p. 52. At San Pablo del Monte two kneeling naked females in stone, modestly covering the breasts with the hands, were sketched by Castañeda.[IX-22]Dupaix, 2d exped., pp. 52-3, pl. lx., lxii., fig. 118-19; Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 279, vol. vi., p. 464, vol. iv., pl. lii., fig. 120-1; Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., p. 63. Of an important group of remains in the vicinity of Natividad, between Puebla de los Angeles and Tlascala, a very unintelligible account has been written by Cabrera, for the Mexican Geographical Society. The ruins seem to cover a hill, different localities on the slopes of which are called Mixco, Xochitecatl, Tenexotzin, Hueyxotzin, and Cacaxtlan. The western slope has gigantic terraces, and among other relics five vertical stones called huitzocteme, supposed to have been used for sacrificial purposes. They are two varas high and three fourths of a vara wide. On the northern slope a concavity of stone and mud is mentioned, whose bottom is strewn with pottery and obsidian weapons. At Cacaxtlan, the site of the principal fortress in the wars between Tlascala and Mexico, are ditches and subterranean passages running in all directions. The chief ditch extends from north to south across the hill; it is about twenty-eight feet wide and eleven or twelve feet deep, with embankments formed of the earth thrown out. The subterranean passages are believed to penetrate the heights of Cacaxtlan. One has an opening among the rocks on the north, beginning at the cave of Ostotl; another begins on the east at San Miguel del Milagro, having for an entrance a square hole five or six yards deep, from the bottom of which it extends horizontally in a semicircular course; the third opening is on the south, and its top is supported by columns left in the volcanic stone; and finally, the fourth subterranean passage sends out vapor when it is about to rain. This is all I can glean from Cabrera’s account—in fact, rather more than I can fully understand.[IX-23]Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. ii., pp. 265-6. Dupaix found at Natividad two wooden teponastles, or aboriginal musical instruments, similar to the one found at Tlascala by the same explorer and shown in the accompanying cut. The former were, however, less elaborately carved; the latter was three feet long and five inches in diameter, the cut showing a side and end view. Other relics found by Dupaix in the city of Tlascala and vicinity, are the following:—a lance-head, nine inches long, of green flint; a small stone statue, nine or ten inches in height, representing a seated female, whose head bears a strong resemblance to some of the Palenque profiles; a mask of green agate a little smaller than the natural size of the face, pronounced by Dupaix the finest specimen of sculpture seen in America; an earthen vase called popocaxtli, used in ceremonies in honor of the dead, found in connection with some human bones; two mutilated human heads carved from a gray stone; and a masked, bow-legged idol of stone, twenty-four inches high, standing on a small pedestal, covering the breasts with the hands.[IX-24]Dupaix, 2d exped., pp. 53-5, pl. lxii.-vii., fig. 120-8; Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 279-81, vol. vi., pp. 464-5, vol. iv., pl. lii.-liv., fig. 121-5; Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., pp. 64-6.

Teponastle from Tlascala.

Aboriginal Bridges

At Pueblo de los Reyes, northward from Tlascala, on the road to San Francisco, two aboriginal bridges over a mountain stream were sketched by Castañeda. One is eleven feet high and thirty-seven feet wide; the other fifty-five feet high and thirty-three feet wide; each being over a hundred feet in length. They are built of large irregular stones in mortar. The conduits through which the stream passes are from four to six feet wide and high, one of them having a flat top, while in the other two large blocks meet and form an obtuse angle. On the top of the bridges at the sides are parapets of brick four or five feet high, pierced at intervals to allow water to run from the road; and at each of the four corners stands a circular, symmetrical, ornamental obelisk, or pillar, over forty feet high, of stone and mortar, covered with burned bricks. It is quite probable that the brick-work of these bridges, if not the whole structure, is to be referred to Spanish rather than to aboriginal times. Sr Almaraz sketched at Xicotepec, in the north, some fifty miles west of Papantla, a teponastle of iron-wood, gracefully carved and brilliantly polished.[IX-25]Dupaix, 2d exped., pp. 55-56, pl. lxviii.-ix., fig. 129-30; Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 282, vol. vi., p. 466, vol. iv., pl. lv., fig. 129-30; Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., pp. 66-7; Larenaudière, Mex. Guat., pl. vii., from Dupaix; Almaraz, Mem. Metlaltoyuca, p. 33, lithograph without description.

The famous wall that was found by Cortés, extending along the frontier of Tlascala, has been spoken of in another part of this work. Brasseur de Bourbourg tells us that many remains of this wall are still visible, and some other authors vaguely speak to the same effect; but as no modern traveler describes or locates these remains, I think it altogether likely that the statements referred to may be simply echoes of those made by the early writers, who represented the ruins of the wall as visible in the years immediately following the Conquest.[IX-26]‘On voit encore beaucoup de restes de cette grande muraille, conservés avec d’autant plus de soin qu’il s’y trouve des quartiers de roc de plus de vingt pieds d’épaisseur.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 135; Lorenzana, in Cortés, Hist. N. España, pp. vi.-vii.; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 104-5. Additional references to slight notices of ruins and relics in the region about Tlascala, containing no available information, are as follows: Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., pp. 135-7; Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. ii., p. 423; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pp. 238, 240. The Historical Magazine, vol. x., pp. 308-10, has an extract from a Mexican newspaper, in which reference is made to an official report of a prefect of the department, announcing the discovery of two magnificent cities. They were probably identical with some of the ruins already described in Vera Cruz.

Relics at Cuernavaca

Passing westward into the state of Mexico, and beginning again in the south, I find a notice in a Mexican government report, of ruins at Tejupilco, in the south-west, about sixty miles westward of Cuernavaca. The remains are noticed especially on the hill of Nanchititla, consisting of buildings standing on regular streets yet traceable, and built of very thin blocks, or slates, of stone without mortar. In the valley of San Martin Luvianos, in the same region, a subterranean apartment with polished sides of cement, discovered in 1841, contained quantities of carbonized maize.[IX-27]Mex., Anales del Ministerio de Fomento, 1854, tom. i., p. 691. At Zacualpan, midway between Cuernavaca and Tejupilco, and some leagues further south, flint spear-heads, stone masks, and other relics not specified are said by the same authority to have been found in a cave.[IX-28]Id., p. 694. A peculiarity of the aboriginal relics found by Dupaix at Cuernavaca and vicinity was that all consisted of sculptured figures on the surface of large naturally shaped boulders. The first was an immense lizard over eight feet long and a foot and a half thick, carved in high relief on the top of a rough block. Four small circular projections are seen on the side of the rock below the animal. On the southern face of another isolated boulder was sculptured in low relief the coat of arms shown in the cut, which, in its principal features of a circle on parallel arrows or lances, is very similar to others that have been mentioned.[IX-29]Pp. 467-9 of this volume. On the flag that projects from the upper part of the circle, a Maltese cross is seen, and the bird’s head above is pronounced of course by Dupaix to be that of an eagle.[IX-30]Respecting the figures within the circle, Dupaix, 1st exped., p. 14, says ‘la parte derecha dividida en dos cuarteles. En el superior aparece como un plano de ciudad á la orilla de un lago (cual puede ser la de Chalco).’ ‘Au-dessus est une tête, que Dupaix désigne comme celle d’un aigle, mais que je crois être une pièce d’armure, savoir, un casque ou morion.’ Lenoir, Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., p. 34. On the opposite, or northern, side of the same boulder are sculptured the figures shown in the cut. The left hand figure, thirteen inches high, may in connection with the small circles be a record of a date—thirteen calli. M. Lenoir, however, on account of the column shown within the building, believes the whole may be an emblem of phallic worship, the column being a phallus and the building its shrine or temple. The sculpture on both sides of this rock is described as having been executed with great care and clearness. Somewhat less than a league south of the city is another isolated rock, said to have served as a boundary mark to the ancient Quauhnahuac, ‘place of the eagle,’ of which the modern name Cuernavaca is a corruption. On the face of this rock is carved in rather high relief the figure represented in the cut, which, in consideration of the aboriginal meaning of the name, and the purpose served by the stone, may be regarded as an eagle. The material is a fine gray stone, the bird is thirty-five inches high, and the boulder, or its locality, is called by the natives Quauhtetl, ‘stone eagle.'[IX-31]‘Il semble porter, à la partie antérieure de l’aîle, le bâton augural, ce qui lui donnerait un caractère religieux. L’aigle, emblême du Mexique, était affecté à Vitzlipuztli, et cette seule circonstance donne de l’importance à cette représentation, qui a donné son nom au lieu où elle fut trouvée: Quautetl ou aigle de pierre. Dans toute l’Antiquité, l’aigle fut mis au rang des oiseaux sacrés. Il était affecté, en Grèce, à Jupiter, et en Égypte, à Osiris. C’était l’accipiter ou épervier qui, selon Ælien, était l’image, du dieu Horus, ou d’Apollon. A Thèbes, au solstice d’hiver, on plaçait cet oiseau sur l’autel d’Osiris; il était richement paré, mitré ou courronné du pschent, et portant sur l’épaule le bâton pastoral, dans la même position que l’aigle Mexicain que nous avons sous les yeux. Ceci est digne de remarque.’ Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., p. 35. On the Cuernavaca sculptures see Dupaix, 1st exped., pp. 13-14, pl. xxvii-xxx., fig. 29-32; Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 221-2., vol. vi., p. 429, vol. iv., pl. xiii-v., fig. 29-31; Mex., Anales del Ministerio de Fomento, 1854, tom. i., p. 549.

Coat of Arms—Cuernavaca.

Boulder-Sculptures at Cuernavaca.

Eagle of Cuernavaca.

Ruins of Xochicalco

The ruins of Xochicalco, doubtless the finest in Mexico, are about fifteen miles 13° west of south from Cuernavaca, and about seventy-five miles south-west from the city of Mexico. The first published description was written by Alzate y Ramirez, who visited the locality in 1777, and published his account with illustrative plates as a supplement to his Literary Gazette in November, 1791.[IX-32]Descripcion de las Antigüedades de Xochicalco, supplement to Gaceta de Literatura, Nov. 1791, also reprint of Id., tom. ii.; also preliminary mention in Id., February 8, 1791, tom. ii., p. 127. Dr Gamarra made a compendium of the MS. before its publication, and sent the same to Italy. An Italian translation of Alzate’s account was published with the original plates in Marquez, Due Antichi Monumenti, pp. 14-29, and re-translated from Marquez, in Dupaix, 1st exped., pp. 18-20. Humboldt made up his account from that of Alzate; Dupaix and Castañeda included Xochicalco in their first exploration; Nebel visited and sketched the ruins in 1831; and finally an account, perhaps the most complete extant, written from an exploration in 1835 by order of the Mexican government, was published in the Revista Mexicana.[IX-33]Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 129-37, (fol. ed. pl. ix.); Id., Essai Pol., pp. 189-90; Id., in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., pp. 15-17. ‘M. Humboldt, … n’a-t-il pas suivi à la lettre l’inexacte description de la pyramide de Xochicalco par le P. Alzate, et n’a-t-il pas fait dans le dessin qu’il donne de ce monument, une seconde édition des erreurs de son modèle?’ Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 69; Nebel, Viage Pintoresco, pl. ix.-x., xix.-xx.; Revista Mexicana, tom. i., pp. 539-50, reprinted in Diccionario Univ. Geog., tom. x., pp. 938-42; Dupaix, 1st exped., pp. 14-18, pl. xxxi.-ii., fig. 33-6; Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 222-4, vol. iv., pl. xv.-vi.; Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., pp. 35-6. Tylor pronounces Castañeda’s drawings grossly incorrect. Other accounts by visitors, are found in Latrobe’s Rambler, pp. 241-3; Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, pp. 180-7; Id., Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., pp. 283-5, with cuts; Id., in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., pp. 583-4, pl. xi.; Tylor’s Anahuac, pp. 183-95; Löwenstern, Mexique, pp. 208-12, 273-81. Other references to compiled accounts are:—Prescott’s Mex., vol. iii., pp. 403-4; Carbajal, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 203-4; Armin, Das Heutige Mex., pp. 98-9, cut; Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., pp. 89-90; Hartmann, Californien, tom. ii., p. 86; Fossey, Mex., pp. 302-3; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 329; Larenaudière, Mex. Guat., pp. 46-9, plate; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 78-9; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 460; Democratic Review, vol. xi., p. 612; Baril, Mexique, p. 70; Cortés’ Despatches, p. 244; Priest’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 276-7; Macgillivray’s Life of Humboldt, p. 308; Delafield’s Antiq. Amer., p. 58; Frost’s Pict. Hist. Mex., pp. 49-53, cut; Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 171; Frost’s Great Cities, pp. 295-300, cut; Conder’s Mex. Guat., vol. i., pp. 339-40;Illustrated London News, June 1, 1867, cut.

Ruins of Xochicalco

Xochicalco, the ‘hill of flowers,'[IX-34]Xochicalco, ‘castle of flowers,’ according to Diccionario Univ. Geog., tom. x., p. 938. is a natural elevation of conical form, with an oval base over two miles in circumference, rising from the plain to a height of nearly four hundred feet.[IX-35]Alzate’s barometrical observations, as reckoned by himself, made the height 289 feet; from the same observations Humboldt makes it 384; 279 feet, Dupaix; 369, Nebel; about 400, Tylor; about 333, Revista Mex. Mr Latrobe claims to have found traces of paved roads, of large stones tightly wedged together, one of them eight feet wide, leading in straight lines towards the hill from different directions. The account in the Revista mentions only one such causeway running towards the east. A ditch, more or less filled up and overgrown with shrubbery, is said to extend entirely round the base of the hill, but its depth and width are not stated; perhaps in the absence of more complete information its existence should be considered doubtful.

Subterranean Galleries—Xochicalco.

Very near the foot of the northern slope are the entrances to two tunnels or galleries, one of which terminates at a distance of eighty-two feet; at least, it was obstructed and could not be explored beyond that point. The second gallery, cut in the solid limestone of the hill, about nine feet and a half wide and high, has several branches running in different directions, some of them terminated by fallen débris, others apparently walled up intentionally. The floors are paved to the thickness of a foot and a half with brick-shaped blocks of stone, the walls are also in many places supported by masonry, and both pavement, walls, and ceiling are covered with lime cement, which retains its polish and shows traces in some parts of having had originally a coating of red ochre. The principal gallery, after turning once at a right angle, terminates at a distance of several hundred feet in a large apartment about eighty feet long, in which two circular pillars are left in the living rock to support the roof. The accompanying cut is Castañeda’s ground plan of the galleries and subterranean apartment, a being the entrance on the north; b the termination of main gallery; c, k, the branch gallery; eand d, obstructed passages; g, g, the room and f, f, the pillars. The scale of the plan is about fifty feet to the inch, but the dimensions, according to the scale, are doubtless inaccurate. According to the plan the galleries are only a little over four feet wide; and the apartment thirty-three by thirty-nine feet. Alzate’s plan agrees with it so far as it goes; the Revista gives no plan, and its description differs in some respects, so far as the arrangement of the galleries is concerned, from the cut.[IX-36]According to the Revista, the gallery leads south 193 feet (a, b, of plan 83 feet), then west 166 feet (not on plan), and terminates in what seems and is said by the natives to be an intentional obstruction. 83 feet from the entrance (a, c, of plan 16½ feet) a branch leads east 138 feet (c, k, of plan 81 feet) to the room. I have no doubt that these dimensions are more accurate than Dupaix’s. The Revista account of the room, so far as it is intelligible, agrees well enough with the plan. In the top of the room at the south-east corner, at h, is a dome-like structure, a vertical section of which is shown at j of the preceding cut, six feet in diameter and six feet high, lined with stone hewn in curved blocks, with a round hole about ten inches in diameter extending vertically upward from the top. It has been generally believed that this passage leads up to the pyramid on the top of the hill, to be described later; but it will be seen that if the hill be two miles in circumference, or even half that size, the galleries are not nearly long enough to reach the centre under the pyramid. Nebel fancied that the hole in the cupola was so situated that the rays of the sun twice a year would penetrate from above and strike an altar in the subterranean hall. The natives report other passages in the hill besides the one described, and believe that one of them leads to Chapultepec, near the city of Mexico.

The Hill of Flowers

Passing now from the interior to the outer surface of the ‘hill of flowers,’ we find it covered from top to bottom with masonry. Five terraces, paved with stone and mortar, and supported by perpendicular walls of the same material, extend in oval form entirely round the whole circumference of the hill, one above the other. Neither the width of the paved platforms nor the height of the supporting walls has been given by any explorer, but each terrace, with the corresponding intermediate slope, constitutes something over seventy feet of the height of the hill. The terrace platforms have sometimes been described, without any authority, as a paved way leading round and round the hill in a spiral course to the summit. Dupaix speaks of a road about eight feet wide, which leads to the summit, but no other explorer mentions any traces of the original means of ascent. Each terrace wall, while forming in general terms an ellipse, does not present a regular line, but is broken into various angles like the bastions of a fortification. The pavements all slope slightly towards the south-west, thus permitting the water to run off readily. According to the plans of Alzate and Castañeda there are two additional terraces where a spur projects from the hill at the north-eastern base. Latrobe is the only authority on the intermediate slopes between the terraces, which he says are occupied with platforms, bastions, and stages one above another. It is evident from all accounts that the whole surface of the hill, very likely shaped to some extent artificially, was covered with stone work, and that defense was one object aimed at by the builders. The Revista represents the terrace platforms as additionally fortified by the perpendicular supporting walls projecting upward above their level, forming what may perhaps be termed a kind of parapet.

On the summit is a level platform measuring two hundred and eighty-five by three hundred and twenty-eight feet.[IX-37]These are the dimensions given in the Revista, 100 by 87 mètres. Dupaix, 1st exped., p. 15, says 89 by 102 varas. According to Alzate, Humboldt, Dupaix, and other early authorities—except Nebel, who is silent on the subject—this plaza is surrounded by a wall. Dupaix says the wall is built of stones without mortar, is five feet and a half high, and two feet and nine inches thick. Alzate represents the wall as perpendicular only on the inner side, being in fact a projection of the upper terrace slope, forming a kind of parapet, and making the plaza a sunken area. Latrobe also speaks of the plaza as a hollow square, and Alzate’s representation is probably a correct one; for the author of the account in the Revista says that the wall described by previous visitors could not be found; and moreover, that there was no room for it on the north between the central pyramid and “one of the solid stone masses, or caballeros, that surround the platform,” the caballeros, which may perhaps in this connection be translated ‘parapets,’ being doubtless the same structures that the others describe as a wall.

Pyramid of Xochicalco

In this plaza, cultivated in later years as a cornfield, there are several mounds and heaps of stones not particularly described; and near the centre is a pyramid, or rather the lower story of one, with rectangular base, the sides of which, exactly or very nearly facing the cardinal points, measure sixty-five feet from east to west, and fifty-eight feet from north to south. The lower story, which in some parts is still standing to its full height, is divided into what may be termed plinth, frieze, and cornice, and is about sixteen feet high.[IX-38]Dimensions in English feet—length east and west, width north and south, and height of 1st story, always in the same order—according to different authorities:—64½ by — by 16 feet, Nebel, plate; 69 by 61 by —, Dupaix; — by 43 by 9½, Id., plate; 58 by 69 by 11, Alzate and Humboldt; 63 by 58 by 19, Revista Mex. The side shown in Dupaix’s plate as 43 feet may be the northern or southern, instead of the eastern or western, according as the stairway is on the north or west.

Pyramid of Xochicalco.

In the centre of one of the façades is an open space, something over twenty feet wide, bounded by solid balustrades, and probably occupied originally by a stairway, although it is said that no traces of steps have been found among the débris. The cut, from Nebel, shows the front of the pyramid on one side of the opening, being the eastern portion of the northern front, according to Nebel, who locates the stairway on the north, or the northern part of the western front, according to the Revista, which speaks of the opening as being on the west.

The pyramid, or at least its facing, is built of large blocks of granite or porphyry,[IX-39]‘Pórfido granítico,’ Revista Mex., p. 548. ‘Basalto porfírico,’ Nebel. Basalt, Löwenstern, Mex., pp. 209-10. ‘La calidad de piedra de esta magnífica arquitectura es de piedra vitrificable, y por la mayor parte de aquella piedra con que forman las muelas ó piedras para moler trigo: tambien hay de color blanquecino, siendo de notar, que en muchas leguas à la redonda no se halla semejante calidad de piedra.’ Alzate, p. 8. a kind of stone not found within a distance of many leagues. The blocks are of different sizes, the largest being about eleven feet long and three feet high, and few being less than five feet in length. They are laid without mortar, and so nicely is the work done that the joints are scarcely perceptible. The cut shows one of the façades, probably the northern, from Castañeda’s drawing, which corresponds almost exactly to that given by Alzate. So far as the details of the sculpture are concerned it is probably not very trustworthy. The preceding cut, from Nebel, is perhaps the only reliable drawing in this respect that has been published. The whole exterior surface seems to have been covered with sculptured figures in low relief, apparently executed after the stones were put in place, since one figure extends, with the greatest exactitude at the joints, over several blocks of stone.[IX-40]Kingsborough’s edition of Castañeda’s drawing bears not the slightest likeness to that in the Antiq. Mex., copied above. It is possible that the latter was made up at Paris from Alzate’s plate.

Pyramid of Xochicalco.

I translate from the Revista the following remarks about the sculptured figures: “At each angle, and on each side, is seen a colossal dragon’s head, from whose great mouth, armed with enormous teeth, projects a forked tongue; but in some the tongue is horizontal, while in others it falls vertically; in the first it points towards a sign which is believed to be that of water, and in the others towards different signs or emblems…. Some have pretended to see in these dragons images of crocodiles; but nothing certain can be known of these fantastic figures which have no model in nature…. On the two sides still standing there are two figures of men larger than the natural size, seated cross-legged in the eastern fashion, wearing necklaces of enormous pearls, rich ornaments, and a head-dress out of all proportion, with long flowing plumes. In one hand they hold a kind of sceptre, and the other is placed on the breast; a hieroglyphic of great size, placed in the middle of each side, separates the two figures, whose heads are turned, on the east side, one north and the other south, while on the north side both face the west. The frieze which surrounds this story presents a series of small human figures, also seated in the eastern manner, with the right hand crossed on the breast, and the left resting on a curved sword, whose hilt reminds us of ancient swords; a thing the more worthy of attention since no people descended from the Toltecs or Aztecs has made use of this kind of arms. The head-dress of these small figures, which closely resemble those mentioned before, is always disproportionately large, and this circumstance, which is found in all the Egyptian mythologic fables, is considered in the latter an emblem of power or divinity. With the human figures are seen various signs, some of which seem allegorical and others chronologic, so far as may be judged from their conformity with those employed in the Aztec paintings…. Another sign, apparently of a different nature, is often repeated among the figures; it is a dragon’s mouth, open and armed with teeth, as in the large reliefs, from which projects instead of a tongue a disk divided by a cross…. It has also been thought (Alzate) that dances are represented on the frieze of Xochicalco, but its perfect preservation makes such an error inexcusable, and figures seated with legs crossed and hands on a sword, exclude any idea of sacred or warlike dances, and suggest only mythologic or historical scenes. Over the frieze was a cornice adorned with very delicate designs in the form of oalmetas or meandres in the Greek style.” The cut shows one of the bas-reliefs on a larger scale than in the preceding illustrations. There is, as Nebel observes, a certain likeness between these sculptured designs and the stucco reliefs of Palenque, although in the architectural features of the monument, and of the base on which it rests, there seems to be no analogy whatever with any of the southern ruins.

Bas-Relief from Xochicalco.

On the summit of this lower structure a few sculptured foundation stones of a second story were found yet in place, the walls being two feet and three inches from the edge of the lower, except on the west, where the space is four feet and a half. According to the report of the inhabitants of the vicinity, the structure had originally five receding stories, similar to the first in outward appearance, which were all standing as late as 1755, making the whole edifice probably about sixty-five feet high. It is said to have terminated in a platform, on the eastern side of which stood a large block, forming a kind of throne, covered with hieroglyphic sculpture. The proprietors of neighboring sugar-works were the authors of the monument’s destruction, the stone being of a nature suitable for their furnaces, and none other being obtainable except at a great distance. Alzate puts on record the name of one Estrada as the inaugurator of this disgraceful work of devastation.[IX-41]‘El primer destruidor, comparable al zapatero que quemó el templo de Diana Efesina, fué un fulano Estrada; su atrevimiento permanezca en oprobio para con los amantes de la antigüedad.’ Alzate, p. 8. Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., p. 132, gives 1750 as the date when the five stories yet remained in place. Several restorations of the pyramid of Xochicalco have been attempted on paper, that by the artist Nebel being probably the only one that bears any likeness to the original; and even his sketch, so far as the sculptured designs are concerned, must be regarded as extremely conjectural, having as a foundation only a few scattered blocks and the reports of the ‘oldest inhabitant.’ At the Paris international exhibition in 1867 a structure was built and exhibited in the Champs de Mars, purporting to be a fac-simile of this monument; but judging from a cut published in a London paper, it might with equal propriety have been exhibited as a model of any other ruin in the new or old world.[IX-42]London Illustrated News, June 1, 1867. Alzate and Mayer also give restorations.

The second story seems to have had interior apartments, with three doorways at the head of the grand stairway. On the summit of the lower story, according to the Revista, is a pit, perhaps a covered apartment originally, measuring twenty-two feet square, and nearly filled with fragments of stone, some of them sculptured, which were not removed. It is of course possible that there exists some means of communication between this apartment and the subterranean galleries of the hill below.

East of the hill of Xochicalco, on the road to Miacatlan, an immense stone was said to have been found serving as a kind of cover to a hole, perhaps the entrance to a subterranean gallery, on the face of which was sculptured an eagle tearing a prostrate native Prometheus. It was broken up and most of the pieces carried away, but Alzate saw one fragment containing a part of the sculptured thigh, from which perhaps with the aid of his imagination and his knowledge of Grecian mythology the good padre prepared a drawing of the whole, which he published. Later visitors have not even seen a fragment of so wonderful a relic. Mr Tylor speaks of a small paved oval space somewhere in connection with the ruin, in which he found fragments of a clay idol. There are no springs of water on or near the hill.

The Revista says, “adjoining this hill is another higher one, also covered with terraces of stone-work in form of steps. A causeway of large marble flags led to the top, where there are still some excavations and among them a mound of large size. Nothing further in the way of monuments is to be seen on the lower (part of the?) hill except a granite block, which may be the great square stone mentioned by Alzate, which served to close the entrance to a subterranean gallery, situated east of the principal monument.” There are also some traces of one terrace indicated on Castañeda’s view of the larger hill. On the sculptured façades of the pyramid, all have found traces of color in sheltered places, and have concluded that the whole surface was originally painted red, except the author of the account in the Revista, who thinks that the groundwork of the reliefs only was covered with a colored varnish, as was the usage in Egypt. Löwenstern claims to have found in the vicinity of Xochicalco the foundation of many aboriginal dwellings.

A slight resemblance has been noted in some of the sculptured human figures, seated cross-legged, to the Maya sculptures and stucco reliefs of Central America; a few figures, like that of the rabbit, may present some analogies to Aztec sculptures, many specimens of which will be shown in the present chapter; the very fact of its being a pyramid in several stories, gives to Xochicalco a general likeness to all the more important American ruins; the terraces on the hill-slopes have their counterparts at Quiotepec and elsewhere; the absence of mortar between the façade-stones is a feature also of Mitla; still as a whole the monument of Xochicalco stands alone; both in architecture and sculpture it presents strong contrasts with Copan, Uxmal, Palenque, Mitla, Cholula, Teotihuacan, or the many pyramids of Vera Cruz. There is no definite tradition referring the origin of this monument to any particular pre-Aztec period, save the universal modern tradition among the natives referring everything wonderful to the Toltecs. It is not, moreover, improbable that the pyramid was built by a Nahua people during the Aztec period; for it must be remembered first that all the grand temples in Anáhuac—the Aztec territory proper—have disappeared since the Conquest, so that a comparison of such buildings with that of Xochicalco is impossible; and second, that the Aztecs were superior to the nations immediately surrounding them in war rather than art, so that it would be by no means surprising to find a grander temple in Cuernavaca than in the valley of Mexico. The Aztec sculpture on such monuments as have been found in the city of Mexico if different from, is not inferior to that at Xochicalco, and there is no reason whatever to doubt the ability of the Aztecs to build such a pyramid. Still there remains of course the possibility of a pre-Aztec antiquity for the building on the hill of flowers, and of Maya influence exerted upon its builders.[IX-43]‘A part ce monument, Mexico ne possède intact et debout aucun vestige de constructions antiques.’ Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 72. ‘No se puede poner en duda el destino absolutamente militar de estos trabajos, ni rehusarse á creer que tuvieron por objeto especial la defensa del monumento que encerraban, cuya importancia puede apreciarse, atendiendo á los medios empleados para su seguridad.’ ‘Todos los viageros convienen en la nobleza de la estructura y en la regularidad de proporciones del monumento. La inclinacion de las paredes, la elegancia del friso y la cornisa, son de un efecto notable.’ In the sculptures ‘se hallan proporciones regulares, y mucha espresion en las cabezas y en el adorno de las figuras; mientras que en las otras (Aztec) no se descubren sino vestígios de barbarie. Las estatuas aztecas, informes y desproporcionadas, en nada manifiestan la imitacion de la naturaleza; y si en ellas se observa frecuentemente una ejecucion algo correcta, con mas frecuencia se ven todavia cabezas desmedidas, narices ecsageradas y frentes deprimidas hasta la estravagancia.’ Revista Mex., tom. i., pp. 539, 542, 549. ‘Les naturels du village voisin de Tetlama possèdent une carte géographique construite avant l’arrivée des Espagnols, et à laquelle on a ajouté quelques noms depuis la conquête; sur cette carte, à l’endroit où est situé le monument de Xochicalco, on trouve la figure de deux guerriers qui combattent avec des massues, et dont l’un est nommé Xochicatli, et l’autre Xicatetli. Nous ne suivrons pas ici les antiquaires mexicains dans leurs discussions étymologiques, pour apprendre si l’un de ces guerriers a donné le nom à la colline de Xochicalco, ou si l’image des deux combattans désigne simplement une bataille entre deux nations voisines, ou enfin si la dénomination de Maison des fleurs a été donnée au monument pyramidal, parce que les Toltèques, comme les Péruviens, n’offroient à la divinité que des fruits, des fleurs et de l’encens.’ Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 135-6.

Remains in the South-East

Sculptured stone—Casasano.

In the south-eastern part of the state from Yahualica northward to Mecamecan, relics have been discovered, mostly by Dupaix, in several localities. At Yahualica, near Huautla, there are tombs, with stone images, human remains, pottery, and metates, also some metallic relics not described.[IX-44]Mex., Anales del Ministerio de Fomento, 1854, tom. i., p. 649. At Xonacatepec was seen a mask of about the natural size, carved very neatly from a whitish translucent stone.[IX-45]Dupaix, 2d exped., p. 13, pl. xvii., fig. 52; Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 243, vol. vi., p. 442, vol. iv., pl. xv., fig. 52; Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., p. 46. At the sugar plantation of Casasano, in the same region, a somewhat remarkable relic was a stone chest, of rectangular base, larger at the bottom than at the top, with a cover fitting like that of a modern chest. It was cut from a grayish stone, and when found by laborers engaged in digging a ditch, is said to have been filled with stone ornaments. At the same place was seen a circular stone, three feet in diameter and nine inches thick, sculptured in geometric figures on one side, as shown in the preceding cut.[IX-46]Dupaix, 1st exped., p. 13, pl. xxv.-vi., fig. 27-8; Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 221, vol. vi., pp. 428-9, vol. iv., pl. xii., fig. 27-8; Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., pp. 33-4.

Another similar stone of the same thickness, and about three feet and a half in diameter, was built into a modern wall at Ozumba. These geometrically carved circular blocks are of not infrequent occurrence on the Mexican plateaux; of their use nothing is known, but they seem to bear a vague resemblance to the Aztec calendar and sacrificial stones to be described later. Another class of circular blocks, from two to three feet in diameter, with curves and various ornamental figures sculptured on one face, are also of frequent occurrence. Several of this class will be mentioned and illustrated in connection with the relics of Xochimilco. Two of them were seen by Dupaix at Chimalhuacan Tlachialco, near Ozumba, together with two small idols of stone. At Ahuehuepa, in the same region, was a statue which had lost the head and the legs below the knees; a hieroglyphic device is seen on the breast, and a small cord passes round the waist, and is tied in a bow-knot in front. Two fragments of head-dresses carved in red stone were found at the same place. A few miles east of the village of Mecamecan is an isolated rock of gray granite, artificially formed into pyramidal shape as shown in the cut. It is about twelve feet high and fifty-five feet in circumference, having rudely cut steps, which lead up the eastern slope. Dupaix conjectures that this monument was intended for some astronomic use, and that the man sculptured on the side is engaged in making astronomical observations, the results of which are expressed by the other figures on the rock. The only possible foundation for the opinion is the resemblance of some of the signs to those by which the Aztecs expressed dates.[IX-47]Dupaix, 2d exped., pp. 11-13, pl. xv.-vii., fig. 44-51; Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 241-3, vol. vi., p. 441, vol. iv., pl. xiii.-xv., fig. 44-51; Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., pp. 45-6; Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., pp. 122-3—with a remark that ‘telescopic tubes’ have been found in Mississippi mounds and in Peru.

Pyramidal stone—Mecamecan.

Remains in Anáhuac, Remains in Xochimilco

Entering now the valley of Mexico, we find many localities on the banks, and islands of Lake Chalco where relics of the ancient inhabitants have been brought to light. At Xochimilco on the western shore of the lake, Dupaix mentions the following:—1st. A stone block with regular sides, on one of which about three feet square are sculptured two concentric circles, as large as the space permits, with smaller circles outside of the larger, at each corner of the block. 2d. A crouching monster of stone thirty inches high, which apparently served originally for a fountain or aqueduct, the water flowing through the mouth. 3d. A semi-spherical pedestal of limestone, broken in two pieces, three feet high, and decorated on the curved surface with oval figures radiating from the centre. 4th. A lizard thirty inches long, sculptured on a block which is built into a modern wall. 5th. A coat of arms, also on a block in a wall, consisting of a circle on parallel lances like some already described. Within the circle is a very perfect Maltese cross, hanging from the lower part is a fan-like plume, and elsewhere on the smooth faces of the stone are nine very peculiar knots or tassels. 6th. A kind of flat-fish three feet eight inches long, carved from a bluish gray stone. 7th. A coiled serpent in red porphyry, a foot and a half in diameter, and nine feet long if uncoiled. This relic is shown in the cut. 8th. Two death’s heads in stone. 9th. A rabbit in low relief on a fragment of stone. 10th. An animal in red stone on a cubic pedestal of the same material. 11th. A stone image of a seated female. 12th. An idol with a man’s head and woman’s breasts. 13th. Ten sculptured blocks, the faces of which are shown in the following cut, and which would seem to have served only for decorative purposes. Most of them have rough backs, evidently having been taken from ancient walls; and many of these and other similar blocks found in this region had tenons like that shown in fig. 9 of the cut. Fig. 7 shows one of the several death’s heads found at Xochimilco.

Coiled Serpent—Xochimilco.

Sculptured Stones—Xochimilco.

Sculptured Vase—Tlahuac.

At Tlahuac, or Cuitlahuac, were seen two circular stones something over three feet in diameter and half as thick, of black porous volcanic material. Each had a circular hole in the centre, rude incised figures on the faces, and a tenon at one point of the circumference. They strongly remind me of the rings in the walls of the so-called gymnasium at Chichen in Yucatan. Another relic was a cylindrical stone of a hard gray material, of the same dimensions as the preceding, but without a supporting tenon. The circular faces were plain, but the sides, or rim, were decorated with circles, bands, and points symmetrically arranged and sculptured in low relief. And finally there was found at Tlahuac the very beautiful vase of hard iron-gray stone shown in the cut. It is eight feet four inches in circumference on the outside, one foot nine inches in diameter on the inside, and elaborately sculptured in low relief on both the exterior and interior surface. In Kingsborough’s edition of Dupaix’s work it is stated that the two causeways which led to the town across the waters of Lake Chalco are still in good preservation, five or six yards wide and of varying height, according to the depth of the water. In the report of the Ministro de Fomento in 1854 there is also a mention of a dike built to keep the waters of the lake from Mexico. Another dike, serving also as a causeway at Tulyahualco is mentioned in the same report.

At Xico, on an island in Lake Chalco, there are some traces of an aboriginal city, in the shape of foundation walls of masonry, stone terraces, and what is very important if authentic, well-burned bricks of different forms and dimensions. In the Mexican government report referred to, the foundations of a palace are alluded to.

At Misquique, on another of the lake islands Dupaix found the following objects left by the antiguos:—1st. A sculptured monster’s head, with a tenon for insertion in a wall. 2d. A large granite vase, circular in form, four feet and a half in diameter, three feet and a half high, sculptured on the upper rim, painted on the inside, and polished on the outer surface. It rests on a cylindrical base, smaller than the vase itself, and is used in modern times as a baptismal font. 3d. A mill-stone shaped block, with a tenon, very similar to those found at Tlahuac, except that the sculptures on the face are evidently in low relief in this case. 4th. An animal called by Dupaix a coyote, sculptured on the face of a block. 5th. A cylindrical stone twenty-one inches in diameter and twenty-eight in height, round the circumference of which is sculptured, or apparently merely incised, a serpent. 6th. A square block with concentric circles and other figures, similar to those at Xochimilco. 7th. Another block with a spiral figure. 8th. A very finely formed head of gray veined stone, furnished with a tenon at the back of the neck. 9th. Three small and rudely formed images, one of green jasper and two of a red stone.

Animal in Stone—Tlalmanalco.

Tlalmanalco and Culhuacan

At Tlalmanalco were four small idols in human form, three of which were built into a modern wall; two heads, one of which is of chalchiuite; three of the ornamental blocks, one bearing clearly defined cross-bones; and the nondescript animal in gray stone shown in the cut. Also at Tlalmanalco, in the official report already several times cited, mention is made of three fallen pyramids, one of which was penetrated by a gallery, supposed to have been intended for burial purposes.

Terra-Cotta Idol—Culhuacan.

Culhuacan, on the north-eastern bank of the same lake, is a small village which retains the name of the city which once occupied the site, famous in the annals of Toltec times. Veytia tells us that in his time some vestiges of the ancient capital were still visible; and Gondra describes a clay idol found at Culhuacan, and shown in the cut, as an image of Quetzalcoatl, giving, however, no very clear reasons for his belief. This relic is fourteen inches high, thirteen inches wide, and is preserved in the Mexican Museum.[IX-48]Dupaix, 2d exped., pp. 3-11, pl. i.-xiv., fig. 1-43; Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 228-40, vol. vi., pp. 432-40, vol. iv., pl. i.-xii., fig. 1-43; Lenoir, Parallèle, pp. 37-45; Mexico, Anales del Ministerio de Fomento, 1854, tom. i., pp. 477, 486, 500, 502, 521; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 21; Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., pp. 66-9, pl. xii.

The relics discovered in Anáhuac at points westward from the lakes, I shall describe without specifying in my text the exact locality of each place referred to. At Chapultepec there is a tradition that statues representing Montezuma and Axayacatl were carved in the living rock of the cliff; and these rock portraits are said to have remained many years after the Conquest, having been seen by the distinguished Mexican scientist Leon y Gama. Brasseur de Bourbourg even claims to have seen traces of them, but this may perhaps be doubted. One was destroyed at the beginning of the eighteenth century by order of the over-religious authorities; but the other remained in perfect preservation until the year 1753, when it also fell a victim to anti-pagan barbarism. The immense cypresses or ahuehuetes that still stand at the foot of Chapultepec, ‘hill of the grasshopper,’ are said to have been large and flourishing trees before the coming of the Spaniards.[IX-49]Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt. ii., p. 80; Lyon’s Journal, vol. ii., p. 113; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 11; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 268; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 142; Thümmel, Mexiko, pp. 124-5; Ward’s Mexico, vol. ii., pp. 230-1; Latrobe’s Rambler, p. 176.

Hill of Otoncapolco

A few miles from the celebrated church of Nuestra Señora de los Remedios, is a terraced stone-faced hill, similar perhaps in its original condition to Xochicalco, except that the terraces are more numerous and only three or four feet high. Although, only a short distance from the capital in an easily accessible locality, only two writers have mentioned its existence—Alzate y Ramirez in 1792 and Löwenstern in 1838. The former calls the hill Otoncapolco, and his article in the Gaceta de Literatura is mainly devoted to proving that this was the point where Cortés fortified himself after the ‘noche triste,’ instead of the hill on which the church of Remedios stands, as others in Alzate’s time believed. The author, who visited the place with an artist, says, “I saw ruins, and hewn stones of great magnitude, all of which proves to the eye that this was a fortification, or as the historians say, a temple, because they thought that everything made by the Indians had some connection with idolatry; it is sure that in the place where the celebrated sanctuary stands, there is not found the slightest vestige of fortress or temple, while on the contrary, all this is observed at Otoncapolco.” This with the remark that this monument, although not comparable to Xochicalco, yet merits examination, is all the information Padre Alzate gives us; and Löwenstern adds but little to our knowledge of the monument. He found débris of sculptured stone, obsidian, vases, and pottery; also the ruins of a castle two-thirds up the slope, in connection with which was found a flat stone over six feet long, bearing a sculptured five-branched cross—a kind of coat of arms. The hill is from two hundred and sixty to three hundred and twenty-five feet high, has a square summit platform, and the whole surface of its slopes was covered with stone-work, now much displaced, in the shape of steps, or terraces, between three and four feet high. At one point the explorer found, as he believed, the entrance to a subterranean passage, into which he did not enter but inserted a pole about nine feet.[IX-50]Alzate y Ramirez, Gacetas, Oct. 2, 1792, reprint, tom. ii., pp. 457-9; Löwenstern, Mexique, pp. 260-5, and scattered remarks, pp. 273-81; Id., in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 107.

At Tacuba, the ancient Tlacopan, Bradford mentions the “ruins of an ancient pyramid, constructed with layers of unburnt brick,” and Löwenstern speaks of broken pottery and fragments of obsidian. The latter author also claims to have seen near the church of Guadalupe the foundations of many small dwellings which constituted an aboriginal city.[IX-51]Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., p. 78, with reference to Latrobe; Löwenstern, Mexique, pp. 258-60; Baril, Mexique, p. 70. At Malinalco, near Toluca, two musical instruments, tlamalhuilili, are mentioned. They were carved from hard wood and had skin stretched across one end, being three feet long and eighteen inches in diameter.[IX-52]Mexico, Anales del Ministerio de Fomento, 1854, tom. i., pp. 241-2. Mr Foster gives a cut of a tripod vase in the Chicago Academy of Sciences, which was dug up near San José. “It is very symmetrically moulded, and is ornamented by a series of chevrons or small triangles. This chevron mode of ornamentation appears to have been widely prevalent.”[IX-53]Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 244.

City of Mexico

In describing the relics which have been discovered from time to time in the city of Mexico, the ancient Aztec capital, I shall make no mention for the present of such objects, preserved in public and private antiquarian collections in that city, as have been brought from other parts of the state or republic. When the locality is known where any one of this class of relics was found I shall describe it when treating of antiquities in that locality. The many relics whose origin is unknown will be alluded to at the end of this chapter. Since all who have visited Mexico or written books about that country, almost without exception, have had something to say of antiquities and of the collections in the National Museum, as well as of the relics belonging strictly to the city, I shall economize space and avoid a useless repetition by deferring a list of such authorities to my account of the miscellaneous relics of the Mexican Republic at the end of the chapter, referring for my present purpose only to the more important authorities, or such as contain original information or illustrations.

No architectural monuments whatever remain within the city limits. The grand palaces of the Aztec monarchs, the palatial residences of the nobility, the abodes of wealth and fashion, like the humbler dwellings of the masses, have utterly disappeared; monuments reared in honor of the gods have not outlasted the structures devoted to trade; the lofty teocalli of the blood-thirsty Huitzilopochtli, like the shrines of lesser and gentler deities, has left no trace.

Movable relics in the shape of idols and sculptured stones are not numerous, although some of them are very important. No systematic search for such monuments has ever been made, and those that have been brought to light were accidentally discovered. Some sculptured blocks of the greatest antiquarian value have been actually seen in making excavations for modern improvements, and have been allowed to remain undisturbed under the pavements and public squares of a great city! There can be no doubt that thousands of interesting monuments are buried beneath the town. The treasures of the Plaza Mayor will perhaps be some day brought out of their retirement to tell their story of aboriginal times, but hundreds of Aztec divinities in stone will sleep on till doomsday. It is unfortunate that these gods of other days cannot regain for a time the power they used to wield, turn at least once in their graves, and shake the drowsy populace above into a realization of the fact that they live in the nineteenth century.

The three principal monuments of Mexico Tenochtitlan are the Calendar-Stone, the so-called Sacrificial Stone, and the idol called Teoyaomiqui. They were all dug up in the Plaza Mayor where the great teocalli is supposed to have stood, and where they were doubtless thrown down and buried from the sight of the natives at the time of the Conquest. In the years 1790 to 1792 the plaza was leveled and paved by order of the government, and in the excavations for this purpose and for drainage the three monuments were discovered, the Calendar-Stone and the idol very near the surface, and the third relic at a depth of twenty-five or thirty feet.

The Calendar-Stone was a rectangular parallelopipedon of porphyry, thirteen feet one inch and a half square, three feet three inches and a half thick, and weighing in its present mutilated state twenty-four tons. The sculptured portion on one side is enclosed in a circle eleven feet one and four-fifths inches in diameter. These are the dimensions given by Humboldt, who personally examined the stone, and agree almost exactly with those given by Leon y Gama, who examined and made drawings of the monument immediately after its discovery. Gama pronounced the material to be limestone, which provoked a sharp controversy between him and Padre Alzate, the latter calling the material, which he tested by means of acids, a volcanic rock. Humboldt’s opinion is of course decisive in such a matter. The centre of the circle does not exactly correspond with that of the square, and Gama concludes from this circumstance that the stone had a companion block which might be found near the place where this was found.[IX-54]4 by 4 by 1 mètres, circle 3.4 mètres in diameter. Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., p. 85, (or 3.04 mètres, 9 feet 6½ inches, according to Antiq. Mex.) ‘La nature de cette pierre n’est pas calcaire, comme l’affirme M. Gama, mais de porphyre trappén gris-noirâtre, à base de wacke basaltique. En examinant avec soin des fragments détachés, j’y ai reconnu de l’amphibole, beaucoup de cristaux très alongés de feldspath vitreux, et, ce qui est assez remarquable, des paillettes de mica. Cette roche, fendillée et remplie de petites cavités, est dépourvue de quarz, comme presque toutes les roches de la formation de trapp. Comme son poids actuel est encore de plus de quatre cent quatre-vingt-deux quintaux (24,400 kilogrammes).’ Id., in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 22, supl. pl. v.; Id., Vues, tom. i., p. 332, et seq., tom. ii., pp. 1, et seq., 84, pl. viii. (fol. ed., pl. xxiii.). 4½ by 4½ by 1 varas, diameter of circle a little over 4 varas. ‘La figura de esta piedra debió ser en su orígen un paralelepípedo rectángulo, lo que manifiesta bien (aunque la faltan algunos pedazos considerables, y en otros partes está bastante lastimada) por los ángulos que aun mantiene, los que demuestran las extremidades que permanecen menos maltratadas.’ Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt. i., pp. 92, 2-3; Id., Saggio Astron., Rome, 1804. p. 130. Reply to Alzate’s criticism, Id., pt. ii., pp. 24-5. See Alzate y Ramirez, Gacetas, tom. ii., p. 421. Original weight as it came from the quarry nearly 50 tons. Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 142. Dug up on Dec. 17, 1790. Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., pp. 47-54, pl. viii. 11 feet 8 inches in diameter. Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, pp. 126-8. 12 feet in diameter, of porous basalt. Bullock’s Mexico, pp. 333-4. ‘Basalto porfírico,’ circle 9 feet in diameter. Nebel, Viaje. 11 feet diameter. Fossey, Mexique, p. 217. 27 feet in circumference. Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., p. 109.

The Calendar-Stone

Aztec Calendar-Stone.

The stone has been for many years built into the wall of the cathedral at the base, where it is exposed to the view of all passers-by, and to the action of the elements. While lying uncovered in the plaza it was considerably mutilated by the natives, who took the opportunity of manifesting their horror of the ancient gods, by pelting with stones this relic of their paganism. Parts of the stone were also broken off when it was thrown down and buried by the conquistadores. Fortunately the sculptured portions have been but slightly injured, and are shown in the cut. The plates published by Gama, Humboldt, Nebel, Mayer, and others, are all tolerably accurate; except that they were drawn to represent the stone correctly on the plate or block, and of course reversed in printing. The origin of this error is probably to be found in the fact that nearly all have copied Gama’s plate. In my cut the error is corrected and the sculptured figures agree exactly with Charnay’s photograph.[IX-55]Charnay, Ruines Amér., phot. i. These figures are the symbols of the Aztec calendar, many of which are well understood, while others are of unknown or disputed signification. The calendar has been sufficiently explained in a preceding volume, and I shall not enter upon its elucidation here. The sculpture is in low relief, very accurately worked, and the circle which encloses it projects, according to Mayer, seven inches and a half, according to Gama and Nebel about three inches, and the rim of the circle is also adorned with sculptures not shown in the cut. Respecting the excellence of the sculpture Humboldt says: “the concentric circles, the divisions, and the subdivisions without number are traced with mathematical exactitude; the more we examine the details of this sculpture, the more we discover this taste for repetitions of the same forms, this spirit of order, this sentiment of symmetry, which, among half-civilized peoples, take the place of the sentiment of the beautiful.”

No stone like that from which the Calendar-Stone is hewn, is found within a radius of twenty-five or thirty miles of Mexico, and this may be regarded as the largest block which the natives are known to have moved over a long distance. Prescott tells us that the stone was brought from the mountains beyond Lake Chalco, and was dropped into the water while being transported across one of the causeways. There is no reason to attribute this monument to any nation preceding the Aztecs, although the calendar itself was the invention of an older people. Wax models of this and other relics, described by Mr Tylor as very inaccurate, are sold in Mexico; and a plaster cast, taken by Mr Bullock in 1823, was exhibited in London.[IX-56]Additional references on the Calendar-Stone:—Tylor’s Anahuac, pp. 238-9; Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. i., p. 117, cuts; Id., in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., p. 590, with plate; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 70, 94-103, 114.

Sacrificial Stone—Mexico.

The Sacrificial Stone

The Sacrificial Stone, so called, is a cylindrical block of porphyry, nine feet and ten inches in diameter, three feet seven and one fourth inches thick. This also was dug from the Plaza Mayor, was carried to the courtyard of the University, where it has lain ever since, much of the time half covered in the ground, and where different visitors have examined it. The cut, which I have copied from Col. Mayer’s drawing, shows the sculpture which covers one side of the stone, the other side being plain. The name of Sacrificial Stone, by which it is generally known, probably originated from the canal which leads from the centre to the edge, and which was imagined to have carried off the blood of sacrifices; but the reader will notice at once that this stone bears not the slightest resemblance to the altars on which the priests cut out the hearts of their human victims, as described in a preceding volume. Some authors, among whom is Humboldt, believe this to be the temalacatl, or gladiatorial stone, on which captives were doomed to fight against great odds until overcome and put to death. The bas-relief sculptures, the central concavity, the canal, and the absence of any means of securing the foot of the captive, are very strong arguments against this use of the cylinder. A smooth surface would certainly be desirable for so desperate a conflict, and the sculptured figures on the rim, or circumference, soon to be noticed, show that the plain side of the stone was not in its original position uppermost. Gama, the first to write about the monument, pointed out very clearly the objections to the prevailing ideas of its aboriginal purpose. He claimed that the stone was, like the one already described, a calendar-stone, on which was inscribed the system of feast-days. The strongest objection to this theory was the existence of the central concavity and canal, which, however, Gama considers not to have belonged to the monument at all, but to have been added by the ruder hands of those who wished to blot out the face of the sun which originally occupied the centre. Latrobe also says, “I have but little hesitation in asserting that the groove in the upper surface formed no part of the original design;” but Col. Mayer, who has carefully examined this relic, tells me that the canal presents no signs whatever of being more recent than the other carving, and it must be admitted that the Spaniards would hardly have adopted this method of mutilation. Tylor suggests that this was a sacrificial altar, but used for offerings of animals. Fossey speaks of it as a ‘triumphal stone.’ But in alluding to these theories I am departing somewhat from my purpose, which is to give all the information extant respecting each relic as it exists.

Sculpture on the Sacrificial Stone.

The whole circumference of the stone is covered with sculptured figures, consisting of fifteen groups. Each group contains two human figures, apparently warriors or kings, victor and vanquished, differing but little in position or insignia in the different groups, but accompanied by hieroglyphic signs, which may express their names or those of their nations. Two groups as sketched by Nebel are shown in the cut. According to Gama these sculptured figures represent by the thirty dancers the festivities celebrated twice each year on the occasion of the sun passing the zenith; and also commemorate, since the festivals were in honor of the Sun and of Huitzilopochtli, the battles and victories of the Aztecs, the hieroglyphics being the names of conquered provinces, and most of them legible.[IX-57]Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt. ii., pp. 46-73. Discovered December 17, 1791; 3 varas, 1 pulgada, 4½ lineas in diameter; 1 vara, 1 pulgada high; material a hard, dark-colored, fine grained stone, which admits of a fine polish. Humboldt gives the dimensions 3 mètres diameter, 11 décimètres high; he also says the groups are 20 in number. Vues, tom. i., pp. 315-24, (fol. ed. pl. xxi.); Id., in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., pp. 20-1, suppl. pl. iv., showing the rim. Nebel, Viaje, gives plates of upper surface,—showing, however, no groove—all the groups on the rim, and one group on a larger scale. He says the material is ‘basalto porfírico,’ and the dimensions 9×3 feet. Bullock, Mexico, pp. 335-6, says, 25 feet in circumference. He also took a plaster cast of this stone. A mass of basalt 9 feet in diameter, and 3 feet high, believed by the author to be in reality a sacrificial stone. Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, pp. 119-22; Id., Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. i., pp. 114-15; Id., in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., p. 586, with plates and cuts in each work. According to Fossey, Mexique, p. 214, the sculptured figures represent a warrior as victorious over 14 champions. ‘I think that it is the best specimen of sculpture which I have seen amongst the antiquities of Mexico.’ Thompson’s Mex., p. 122; Latrobe’s Rambler, pp. 171-2; Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 340, vol. iv., pl. unnumbered; Tylor’s Anahuac, p. 224; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., p. 108; Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. i., p. 85, with plate.

The idol of which the cut on the opposite page shows the front, was the first to be brought to light in grading the Plaza Mayor in August, 1790. It is an immense block of bluish-gray porphyry, about ten feet high and six feet wide and thick, sculptured on front, rear, top, and bottom, into a most complicated and horrible combination of human, animal, and ideal forms. No verbal description could give the reader any clearer idea of the details of this idol than he can gain from the cuts which I present, following Nebel for the front, and Gama for the other views. Gama first expressed the opinion, in which other authors coincide, that the front shown in the opposite cut represents the Aztec goddess of death, Teoyaomiqui, whose duty it was to bear the souls of dead warriors to the House of the Sun—the Mexican Elysion.[IX-58]See vol. iii., pp. 396-402, of this work, for a résumé of Gama’s remarks on this idol.

Huitzilopochtli, God of War.

Teoyaomiqui, Goddess of Death.

Mictlantecutli, God of Hell.

The Goddess of Death

The following cut is a rear view of the idol, and represents, according to Gama, Huitzilopochtli, god of war and husband of the divinity of gentler sex, whose emblems are carved on the front.[IX-59]Respecting the god Huitzilopochtli, see vol. iii., pp. 288-324, of this work. The bottom of this monument bears the sculptured design shown in the following cut, which is thought to represent Mictlantecutli, god of the infernal regions, the last of this cheerful trinity, goddess of death, god of war, and god of hell, three distinct deities united in one idol, according to the Aztec catechism. The sculptured base, together with the side projections, a, a, of the cut showing the front, prove pretty conclusively that this idol in the days when it received the worship and sacrifices of a mighty people, was raised from the ground or floor, and was supported by two pillars at the sides; or possibly by the walls of some sacred enclosure, the space left under the idol being the entrance. The next cut shows a profile view of the idol, and also a representation of the top. This idol also was removed to the University, and until 1821 was kept buried in the courtyard, that it might not kindle anew the aboriginal superstitions.[IX-60]3.0625 by 2 by 1.83 varas; of sandstone: ‘156 de las piedras arenarias que describe en su mineralogía el Señor Valmont de Bomare, dura, compacta, y dificil de extraer fuego de ella con el acero; semejante á la que se emplea en los molinos.’ Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt. i., pp. 1-3, 9-10, 34-44, with 5 plates. Reply to Alzate, Gacetas, tom. ii., p. 416, who pronounced the stone a kind of granite. Id., pt. ii., pp. 8-10. ‘Plus de trois mètres de hauteur et deux mètres de largeur.’ ‘La pierre qui a servi à ce monument, est une wakke basaltique gris bleuâtre, fendillée et remplie de feldspath vitreux.’ ‘En jetant les yeux sur l’idole figurée … telle qu’elle se présente … on pourrait d’abord être tenté de croire que ce monument est un teotetl, pierre divine, une espèce de bétyle, orné de sculptures, une roche sur laquelle sont gravés des signes hiéroglyphiques. Mais, lorsqu’on examine de plus près cette masse informe, on distingue, à la partie supérieure, les têtes de deux monstres accolés; et l’on trouve, à chaque face, deux yeux et une large gueule armée de quatre dents. Ces figures monstrueuses n’indiquent peut-être que des masques: car, chez les Mexicains, on étoit dans l’usage de masquer les idoles à l’époque de la maladie d’un roi, et dans toute autre calamité publique. Les bras et les pieds sont cachés sous une draperie entourée d’énormes serpents, et que les Mexicains désignoient sous le nom de cohuatlicuye, vêtement de serpent. Tous ces accessoires, surtout les franges en forme de plumes, sont sculptés avec le plus grand soin.’ Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., pp. 148-61, (fol. ed., pl. xxix.); Id., Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., pp. 25-7, suppl. pl. vi., fig. 9. 9 feet high. Nebel, Viaje, with large plate. Dug up for Bullock, who made a plaster cast in 1823. Bullock’s Mexico, pp. 337-42. Description with plates in Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. i., pp. 108-11; Id., Mex. as it Was, pp. 109-14; Id., in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., pp. 585-6, pl. viii. 5 feet wide and 3 feet thick. ‘The most hideous and deformed that the fancy can paint.’ Latrobe’s Rambler, pp. 171, 175-6; Tylor’s Anahuac, pp. 221-3; Fossey, Mexique, p. 214.

The Goddess Teoyaomiqui

Profile of Teoyaomiqui.

Top of the Idol.

A monument similar in form and dimensions to the Sacrificial Stone, was found in the Plaza Mayor during certain repairs that were being made, and although it was again covered up and allowed to remain, Sr Gondra made a drawing of the upper sculptured surface, which was published by Col. Mayer, and is copied in the cut. The surface presented the peculiarity of being painted in bright colors, yellow, red, green, crimson, and black, still quite vivid at the time of its discovery. Sr Gondra believed this to be the true gladiatorial stone, but the sculptured surface would hardly agree with this theory. Mayer notes as a peculiarity “the open hand which is sculptured on a shield and between the legs of some of the figures of the groups at the sides” not shown in the cut. Gama also speaks of a painted stone found in June, 1792, in the cemetery of the Cathedral, which was left in the ground, and which he says evidently formed the entrance to the temple of Quetzalcoatl.[IX-61]Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, pp. 123-4; Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt. ii., p. 73-4.

Stone buried in Plaza of Mexico.

Another relic found during the excavations in January, 1791, was a kind of tomb, six feet and a half long and three feet and a quarter wide, built of slabs of tetzontli, a porous stone much used for building-purposes in Mexico, filled with sand, which covered the skeleton of some animal like a coyote, together with clay vases and bells of cast bronze. It was perhaps the grave of some sacred animal. Gama also mentions an image of the water god Tlaloc, of a common black stone, three feet long and one foot wide; he also vaguely speaks of several other relics not particularly described, and even found some remains in digging the foundations of his own house.[IX-62]Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., p. 158; Id., in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 27; Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt. i., pp. 11-12, pt. ii., pp. 73-111.

Burial Vase—Tlatelulco.

Tlatelulcan Vase

The plaza of Tlatelulco is nearly as prolific in ancient monuments as the Plaza Mayor. Here was found the beautiful earthen burial vase shown in the cut. It is twenty-two inches high, fifteen inches and a half in diameter, covered with a circular lid, also shown in the cut, and when found was full of human skulls. The beauty of this vase can only be fully appreciated by a glance at the original, or at the sketch in Col. Mayer’s album made by himself from the original in the Museum at Mexico, and showing the brilliant colors, blue, red, and yellow, with which it is adorned. The author says, “in many respects, it struck me as belonging to a higher grade of art than anything in the Museum, except, perhaps, the obsidian carvings, and one or two of the vases.” Gondra mentions another burial casket, carved from basalt and of rectangular form.[IX-63]Mayer, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., p. 589, pl. vi.; Id., Mex. as it Was, pp. 100-1; Id., Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 274; Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., pp. 89-90, pl. xvi.

Head of Goddess Centeotl.

The head shown in the cut, taken from the Mosaico Mexicano, measures twenty-nine by thirty-six inches, and is carved from a block of serpentine, a stone rarely found in Mexico. It was dug up near the convent of Santa Teresa in 1830, and has been supposed to represent the Aztec Goddess Centeotl. The bottom being covered with sculpture, it seems that the monument is complete in its present state. Another serpentine image of somewhat peculiar form, is shown in an original sketch in the Album of Col. Mayer, who says, “it appears to have been a charm or talisman, and in many respects resembles the bronze figures which were found at Pompeii, and are preserved in the Secret Museum at Naples.” It was found at Tlatelulco, and is preserved in the Mexican Museum.[IX-64]Mosaico Mex., tom. iii., pp. 402-3, with plates; Calderon de la Barca’s Life in Mex., vol. i., p. 203; Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, pp. 85-8, 97; Id., in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., pl. v., fig. 3.

Miscellaneous Relics

Mr Bullock speaks of several relics not mentioned by any other visitor:—”In the cloisters behind the Dominican convent is a noble specimen of the great serpent-idol, almost perfect, and of fine workmanship. This monstrous divinity is represented in the act of swallowing a human victim, which is seen crushed and struggling in its horrid jaws.” The corner-stone of the Lottery Office he described as “the head of the serpent-idol,” not less than seventy feet long, when entire. Under the gateway of a house opposite the mint was a fine life-size recumbent statue found in digging a well. A house on a street corner on the south-east side of the plaza rested on an altar of black basalt, ornamented with the tail and claws of a reptile.[IX-64]Mosaico Mex., tom. iii., pp. 402-3, with plates; Calderon de la Barca’s Life in Mex., vol. i., p. 203; Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, pp. 85-8, 97; Id., in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., pl. v., fig. 3. Mayer dug up in the courtyard of the University two feathered serpents, of which he gives cuts, as well as of several other relics found within the city limits, including the ‘perro mudo,’ a stone image of one of the dumb dogs bred by the Aztecs, and a seated human figure known as the ‘indio triste.'[IX-65]Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, pp. 31-2, 85-8. ‘Indio triste’ also in Mosaico Mex., tom. iii., pp. 165-8.

Aztec Musical Instrument.

Mr Christy’s London collection of American antiquities contains, as we are told by Mr Tylor, a number of bronze hatchets, dug up in the city of Mexico.[IX-66]Anahuac, p. 138. Sr Gondra gives plates of nine Mexican musical instruments, one of which of very peculiar construction was found in the city, and is shown in the preceding cut. The top shaped like a coiled serpent is of burned clay, resting on the image of a tortoise carved from wood, and that on a base of tortoise-shell. The whole is about twelve inches high.[IX-67]Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., pp. 103-8, pl. xxi-ii. And finally I give a cut which represents part of a block built into the wall of the Convent of Concepcion, as sketched by Sr Chavero, who joins to his plate some remarks on the meaning of the hieroglyphic sculpture.[IX-68]Chavero, in Gallo, Hombres Ilustres, Mex. 1873, tom. i., p. 151.

Sculptured Block in Convent Wall.

Stone Basin from Tezcuco.

Ruins of Tezcuco

Tezcuco, the ancient rival of Mexico, across the lake eastward, formerly on the lake shore, but now by the retirement of the water left some miles inland, has, notwithstanding her ancient rank in all that pertained to art, left no monuments to compare with those taken from the Plaza Mayor of Mexico. But unlike the latter city Tezcuco yet presents traces, and traces only, of her aboriginal architectural structures. Fragments of building-material are found wherever excavations are made, and the material of the old city is said to have been extensively used in the construction of the modern, so that plain or sculptured stone blocks, shaped by the aborigines, are often seen in modern walls in different parts of the town. In the southern part of the city are the foundations of several large pyramids, apparently built of adobes, burnt bricks, and cement, since the materials named all occur among the débris. The foundations show the structures to have been originally about four hundred feet square, but of course supply no further information respecting their form. These pyramids were three in number at the time of Mayer’s visit, standing in a line from north to south, and strewn with fragments of pottery, idols, and obsidian knives. Tylor found traces, barely visible, of two large teocallis; he also speaks vaguely of some burial mounds, and states that there is a Mexican calendar-stone built into the wall of one of the churches. In the north-west part of the town Mayer found another shapeless heap of bricks, adobes, and pottery, overgrown with magueys. On the top were several large basaltic slabs, squared and lying north and south. The rectangular stone basin with sculptured sides shown in the cut, was found in connection with this heap and preserved in the Peñasco collection in Mexico. Also in this heap of débris, according to Mayer, Mr Poinsett found in 1825 an arched sewer or aqueduct built of small stone blocks laid in mortar, together with a ‘flat arch’ of very large blocks over a doorway. I find no mention of these remains in Mr Poinsett’s book. Bradford states that, “lying neglected under a gateway, an idol has been observed nearly perfect, and representing a rattlesnake,” painted in bright colors. Mr Latrobe found a stone idol, perhaps the same, in 1834, and Nebel gives a sketch of a most interesting relic, said to have come from Tezcuco, and shown in the cut. It was the custom of the Aztec priests at certain times to wear the skin of sacrificed victims.[IX-69]See vol. iii., pp. 355-7, 413-15, of this work. This figure seems to represent a priest thus clad. It is carved from basalt, and was half the natural size, the natural skin being painted a bright red, and the outer one a dirty white. A collection of Tezcucan relics seen by Tylor in 1856, contained, 1st. A nude female figure four or five feet high, well formed from a block of alabaster. 2d. A man in hard stone, wearing a mask which represents a jackals head. 3d. A beautiful alabaster box containing spherical beads of green jade, as large as pigeons’ eggs and brilliantly polished.[IX-70]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., pp. 303-5, speaks of ‘les murs gigantesques de ses palais, les statues mutilées, à demi enfoncés dans le sol, les blocs énormes de basalte et de porphyre sculptés, épars dans les champs de Tetzcuco.’ Bullock, Mexico, pp. 381-7, 399-400, says, ‘you pass by the large aqueduct for the supply of the town, still in use, and the ruins of several stone buildings of great strength…. Foundations of ancient buildings of great magnitude…. On entering the gates, to the right are seen those artificial tumuli, the teocalli of unburnt brick so common in most Indian towns.’ The site of the palace of the kings of Tezcuco extended 300 feet on sloping terraces with small steps; some terraces are still entire and covered with cement. It must have occupied some acres of ground, and was built of huge blocks of basalt 4 or 5 by 2½ or 3 feet. ‘The raised mounds of brick are seen on all sides, mixed with aqueducts, ruins of buildings of enormous strength, and many large square structures nearly entire…. Fragments of sculptured stones constantly occur near the church, the market-place, and palace.’ Both Brasseur and Bullock are somewhat given to exaggeration, and they also refer, probably, to other remains in the vicinity yet to be described. ‘The ruins of tumuli, and other constructions of unbaked bricks, intermingled with platforms and terraces of considerable extent, are still to be traced; and it is asserted, that many of the Spanish edifices are constructed out of the ruins of the Teocallis.’ Latrobe’s Rambler, pp. 184-5. Other authorities on Tezcuco: Nebel, Viaje; Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, p. 221; Id., Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., pp. 274-6; Id., in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., pl. v., fig. 7; Tylor’s Anahuac, pp. 96, 150, 236, 262-3, with cuts; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 76, 83, 110; Beaufoy, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. ii., pp. 70-1; Mexico, Anales del Ministerio de Fomento, 1854, tom. i., pp. 448-9, 719; Willson’s Amer. Hist., p. 73; Conder’s Mex. Guat., vol. i., p. 332; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 132.

Skin-clad Aztec Priest.

Hill of Tezcocingo

About three miles eastward from Tezcuco is the isolated rocky hill known as Tezcocingo, which rises with steep slopes in conical form to the height of perhaps six hundred feet above the plain. A portion of one side of the hill, beginning at a point probably on the south-eastern slope, is graded very much as if intended for a modern railroad, forming a level terrace round a part of the circumference. From the termination of the grading, an embankment with level summit, variously estimated at from sixty to two hundred feet high, connects this hill with another three quarters of a mile distant, the side of which is likewise graded into a terrace thirty feet wide and a mile and a half long, extending two thirds round the circumference; and then another embankment stretches away towards the mountains ten or fifteen miles distant, although no one seems to have recorded any attempt to explore its whole extent. The object of both grading and embankments was to support an aqueduct or pipe ten inches in diameter, which is still in very good preservation at several points. Waddy Thompson brought away a piece of the water-pipe as a relic, and he pronounces the material to be a very hard plaster made of lime and small portions of a soft red stone. “It is about two feet wide, and has a trough in the centre about ten inches wide. This trough is covered with a convex piece of the same plaster, which being placed upon it when the plaster was soft, seems to be all one piece, making together a tube of ten inches in diameter, through which the water flowed from the distant mountains to the basin, which it enters through a round hole about the size of one made with a two-inch auger. No plasterer of the present day can construct a more beautiful piece of work; it is in its whole extent as smooth as the plastering on a well-finished wall, and is as hard as stone.” Mayer tells us that the aqueduct was made of baked clay, the pipes being as perfect as when they were first laid. He also seems to imply that along the graded terraces the water was conducted in a ditch, or canal, instead of the regular pipes. But Tylor, on the other hand, says “the channel of the aqueduct was made principally of blocks of the same material [porphyry], on which the smooth stucco that had once covered the whole, inside and out, still remained very perfect.”

Montezuma’s Bath.

At the termination of the aqueduct on the eastern slope of Tezcocingo, on the brink of a precipitous descent of two hundred feet to the plain, is the work shown in the cut, from Mayer, hewn from the living rock of reddish porphyry, and popularly known as Montezuma’s Bath. There was of course no reason whatever to attach this name to it, for although it is possible, if not probable, that it may have been used for a bath, it is very certain that it never belonged to Montezuma, but rather to Nezahualcoyotl or some other of the Tezcucan kings.[IX-71]On Nezahualcoyotl’s country palace at Tezcocingo, see vol. ii., pp. 168-73, of this work. The circular basin in the centre is four feet and a half in diameter, and three feet deep, and the circular aperture through which it received water from the aqueduct, is shown in the cut, together with what seem to be seats cut in the rock. Respecting this monument Col. Mayer says: “Its true use, however, is perfectly evident to those who are less fanciful or antiquarian than the generality of visiters. The picturesque view from this spot, over a small plain set in a frame of the surrounding mountains and glens which border the eastern side of Tescocingo, undoubtedly made this recess a favorite resort for the royal personages at whose expense these costly works were made. From the surrounding seats, they enjoyed a delicious prospect over the lovely but secluded scenery, while, in the basin, at their feet, were gathered the waters of a neighboring spring, [implying that the basin and aqueduct were not connected] which, whilst refreshing them after their promenade on the mountain, gurgled out of its stony channel and fell in a mimic cascade over the precipitous cliff that terminated their path. It was to this shady spot that they no doubt retired in the afternoon, when the sun was hot on the west of the mountain, and here the sovereign and his court, in all probability, enjoyed the repose and privacy which were denied them amid the bustle of the city.”

Accounts of the other remains at Tezcocingo are somewhat confused. On the northern slope is another recess, bordered by seats cut in the living rock, and leading to a perpendicular cliff on which a calendar is said to have been carved, but destroyed by the natives in later days. Traces of a spiral road winding up to the summit were found by Mayer. Tylor reports a terrace round the hill near the top, some sculptured blocks on the summit, and a second circular bath. Bullock speaks of “ruins of a very large building—the cemented stones remaining in some places covered with stucco, and forming walks and terraces, but much encumbered with earth fallen from above…. As we descended our guide showed us in the rock a large reservoir for supplying with water the palace, whose walls still remained eight feet high; and as we examined farther, we found that the whole mountain had been covered with palaces, temples, baths and hanging gardens.” Beaufoy saw a mass of porphyry on the summit, which had been fashioned artificially and furnished with steps. The whole surface, overgrown with nopal-bushes, abounds in fragments of pottery, obsidian, cement, and stone.[IX-72]Bath 12 by 8 feet, with well in centre 5 feet in diameter and 4 feet deep, surrounded by a parapet 2½ feet high, ‘with a throne or chair, such as is represented in ancient pictures to have been used by the kings.’ Bullock’s Mexico, pp. 390-3. ‘His majesty used to spend his afternoons here on the shady side of the hill, apparently sitting up to his middle in water like a frog, if one may judge by the height of the little seat in the bath.’ Tylor’s Anahuac, pp. 152-3; Beaufoy’s Mex. Illustr., pp. 194-5; Id., in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. ii., p. 70. The aqueduct ‘is a work very nearly or quite equal in the labor required for its construction to the Croton Aqueduct.’ Thompson’s Mex., pp. 143-6; Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., pp. 276-8; Id., Mex. as it Was, pp. 86, 233-4, with the cut copied, another of the aqueduct, and a third representing an idol called the ‘god of silence;’ Ward’s Mexico, vol. ii., pp. 296-7; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 182-4; Löwenstern, Mexique, pp. 252-3; Vigne’s Travels, vol. i., p. 27; Frost’s Pict. Hist. Mex., pp. 54-8; Id., Great Cities, pp. 302-4.

Bosque Del Contador

North-westward from Tezcuco on the level plain is the Bosque del Contador, a grove of ahuehuetes, or cypresses, arranged in a double row and enclosing a square area of about ten acres, whose sides face the cardinal points. The trees are between five and six hundred in number, some of them forty to fifty feet in circumference, and are supposed to date from a time preceding the conquest. The ground on which they stand is firm and somewhat raised above the level of the surrounding plain, which itself is but little above the waters of the lake. The enclosed area, however, is soft, miry, and impassable. It is uncertain whether this area was originally an inland lake surrounded by trees, or an island grove in the waters of the lake. From the north-west corner of the square a double row of similar trees extends some distance westward, and near its termination is a dyke and a walled tank full of water; at the north-east corner, a rectangular mass of porphyry is said to project above the surface and to be surrounded by a ditch; and from this point some traces of a causeway may be seen extending towards the east. Small stone idols, articles of pottery, and various small relics have been dug up in and about this grove, which was not improbably a favorite promenade of the Chichimec, or Acolhuan monarchs.[IX-73]Tylor’s Anahuac, pp. 155-6; Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., pp. 278-9; Latrobe’s Rambler, pp. 190-1.

On the hacienda of Chapingo, about a league south of Tezcuco, an ancient causeway was found in excavating, at a depth of four feet below the surface, the cedar piles of which were in a good state of preservation. Under the causeway was the skeleton of a mastodon, and similar skeletons are said to have been found at other points in the valley of Mexico.[IX-74]Latrobe’s Rambler, p. 192.

Bridge at Huejutla.

At Huejutla, also in the vicinity of Tezcuco, a wall was still standing as late as 1834, which was nearly thirty feet high, between five and six feet thick, and built of stone and mortar. From bottom to top the wall was divided into five distinct divisions distinguished by the arrangement of the stones. The widest of these divisions was built of cylindrical and oval stones, the rounded ends of which projected symmetrically. The wall terminates on the east at a ravine, which is crossed by a bridge of a single span, twenty feet long and forty feet high. The span is an arch of peculiar construction, being formed of stone slabs, set on edge, and the interstices filled with mortar. The irregularities of the stones and the firmness of the mortar support the structure, forming a near approach to the regular arch as shown in the cut from Tylor. Its antiquity has been doubted, but the near approximation to the keystone arch seems to be the only argument against the theory that it was built by the natives, and as we have seen a very similar arch in the mounds of Metlaltoyuca, there seems to be no good reason to attribute it to the Spaniards. This is probably the bridge known as the Puente de los Bergantines, where Cortés is said to have launched his brigantines which rendered so efficient service in the siege of Mexico. The fact that it is set askew instead of crossing the ravine at right angles with the banks adds greatly to the difficulty of its construction. Near this place there are also some heaps of débris, which according to Bullock could be identified in 1823 as small adobe pyramids; and the foundations of a building and two reservoirs, one of the latter in good preservation and covered with rose-colored cement, were mentioned. Beaufoy tells us that in 1826 a serpent’s head carved in stone protruded from the ground near the modern church. A stone column, seven feet high, was among the relics seen; it had a well-carved pyramidal piece of hornblende on its top. Two idols of stone were brought away, one of them described by Latrobe as “an ugly monster of an idol in a sitting posture, deftly carved in a hard volcanic substance.”[IX-75]Bullock’s Mexico, pp. 395-9. This author also speaks of a ‘broad covered way between two huge walls which terminate near a river,’ on the road to Tezcuco. Beaufoy’s Mex. Illustr., pp. 196-7, cut of idol; Latrobe’s Rambler, pp. 184-5; Tylor’s Anahuac, pp. 153-4, with cut of bridge; Ward’s Mexico, vol. ii., p. 296; Mexico, Anales del Ministerio de Fomento, 1854, tom. i., p. 615; Conder’s Mex. Guat., vol. i., p. 335; Aubin, in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 355; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 78, 85; Beaufoy, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. ii., pp. 69-70.

Ruins of Teotihuacan

Not quite two miles north-east from the little village of San Juan, and about twenty-five miles in the same direction from Mexico, on the road to Otumba, are the ruins of Teotihuacan, ‘city of the gods,’ to which, according to Brasseur, the names Veitioacan, ‘city of signals,’ and Toltecat are sometimes applied in the native traditional annals.[IX-76]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 148-51. These monuments stand on a plain which slopes gently towards the south, and are included in a rectangular space of about a third of a mile from east to west and a mile and a half from north to south, extending from the Tulancingo road on the north to the Otumba road on the south, with, however, some small mounds outside of the limits mentioned. By reason of its nearness to Mexico, Teotihuacan, like Cholula, has naturally had hundreds of visitors in modern times, and is more or less fully described by all the early chroniclers. Humboldt, Bullock, Beaufoy, Ward, Latrobe, Mayer, Thompson, Tylor, and many other actual visitors have written accounts, which still others have quoted; but by far the most complete and reliable account, which is also the latest, is that given in the report of a scientific commission appointed by the Mexican government in 1864, accompanied by plates prepared from careful measurements and photographic views. I have used this report as my chief authority, carefully noting, however, all points respecting which other authorities differ.[IX-77]Almaraz, Apuntes sobre las Pirámides de San Juan Teotihuacan, in Id., Mem. de los Trabajos ejecutados por la Comision de Pachuca, 1864, pp. 349-58. Linares, Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 3ra época, tom. i., pp. 103-5, wrote an account which seems to be made up from the preceding. See also: Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 34-5; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., pp. 187-9; Id., Vues, tom. i., pp. 100-2; Id., in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., pp. 11-12; Bullock’s Mexico, pp. 411-18, with pl.; Beaufoy’s Mex. Illustr., pp. 189-93, with cut; Ward’s Mexico, vol. ii., pp. 214-15, 295; Latrobe’s Rambler, pp. 194-217; Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 279; Id., in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., p. 583; Thompson’s Mex., pp. 139-43; Tylor’s Anahuac, pp. 96, 141-4; García, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. viii., pp. 198-200. The preceding authorities are arranged chronologically: the following are additional references:—Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1831, tom. li., pp. 238-9; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 239-40, 247-9; Fossey, Mexique, pp. 315-16; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 15, 148-51, 197-8; Gemelli Careri, in Churchill’s Col. Voyages, vol. iv., p. 514; Bullock’s Across Mex., pp. 165-6; Löwenstern, Mexique, pp. 248-50, 272-81; Heller, Reisen, p. 157; Tudor’s Nar., vol. ii., pp. 277-9; Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., pp. 38-41; Chevalier, Mexique, p. 51; Nebel, Viaje, plates of terra-cotta heads; Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 254-5; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 80-1; Conder’s Mex. Guat., vol. i., pp. 336-9; Calderon de la Barca’s Life in Mex., vol. i., pp. 236-7; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 131; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 459; Prichard’s Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., p. 509; Delafield’s Antiq. Amer., pp. 56-7; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 186; McCulloh’s Researches in Amer., pp. 252-3; García y Cubas, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. i., p. 37; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., p. 155; Frost’s Pict. Hist. Mex., pp. 53-4; Id., Great Cities, pp. 298-303; Lafond, Voyages, tom. i., pp. 138-9; Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., pp. 24, 44-5; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 460; Willson’s Amer. Hist., p. 598; Mexico, Anales del Ministerio de Fomento, 1854, tom. i., pp. 530-1, 719; Baril, Mexique, p. 70; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 269; Beaufoy, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. ii., pp. 69-70; Shepard’s Land of the Aztecs, pp. 103-5; Vigne’s Travels, vol. i., p. 28; Album Mex., tom. i., pp. 117-18.

Plan of Teotihuacan.

The annexed cut, reduced from that of Almaraz, shows clearly, on a scale of about twenty-five hundred and fifty feet to an inch, the plan of the different monuments. I shall describe them in the following order:—1st. The Pyramid of the Moon, A of the plan; 2d. The Pyramid of the Sun, B; 3d. The Road of the Dead, CD; 4th. The Citadel, E; 5th. The scattered mounds and miscellaneous relics.

House of the Moon

The first pyramid, Metztli Itzacual, ‘house of the moon,’ [I find no word in Molina’s Vocabulary corresponding at all to Itzacual with the meaning of ‘house.’ It may be a compound of calli incorrectly written] the most northern of the remains, measures four hundred and twenty-six feet north and south, and five hundred and eleven feet east and west at the base, has a summit platform of about thirty-six by sixty feet, and is a hundred and thirty-seven feet high, the sides facing almost exactly the cardinal points.[IX-78]These are the dimensions given by Almaraz, except those of the summit platform, which are only an estimate by Beaufoy. The following are the dimensions as given by different authors: 130 by 156 by 42 mètres. Almaraz; 44 mètres high. Humboldt, according to measurements of Sr Oteyza; 360 by 480 by 150 feet. Gemelli Careri; —— by 645 by 170 feet. Heller; 130 by 156 by 44 mètres. Linares. Others take the dimensions generally from Humboldt. The slope of the sides, according to Beaufoy’s observations, is at an angle of about forty-five degrees. The pyramid, as seen from a little distance, bears much resemblance to a natural hill, being overgrown with shrubbery; still the regular original outlines and angles are much more apparent here than in the case of Cholula, already described, as is proven by the photographs taken by the Mexican commission. A terrace, three feet wide, is plainly visible at a height of sixty-nine feet from the base, but a close examination shows there were originally three of these terraces, dividing the pyramid into four stories, except on the east, which has no terrace, and where the commission mentioned claim to have found traces of a zigzag road leading up the slope, as shown in the plan. None but the authority referred to have discovered the zigzag path, and no other explorers note that the terraces were interrupted on one side of the pyramid. Humboldt states that the space between the terraces was divided into smaller grades, or steps, about three feet high, still visible, and also that there still remained parts of a stairway of large blocks of hewn stone. Mr Tylor also says, not referring to this pyramid particularly: “As we climbed up their sides, we could trace the terraces without any difficulty, and even flights of steps.” There is hardly any other American monument respecting which the best authorities differ so essentially.[IX-79]‘On les prendrait pour ces turgescences terrestres qu’on trouve dans les lieux jadis bouleversés par les feux souterrains.’ Fossey, Mexique, p. 315. Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 247-9, says the pyramid was round instead of rectangular, and that it had three terraces, although in Boturini’s time no traces of them remained. ‘It required a particular position whence to behold them, united with some little faith, in order to discover the pyramidal form at all.’ Tudor’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 277. ‘To say the truth, it was nothing but a heap of earth made in steps like the pyramids of Egypt; only that these are of stone.’ Gemelli Careri, in Churchill’s Col. Voyages, vol. iv., p. 514. ‘Ils formoient quatre assises, dont on ne reconnoit aujourd’hui que trois.’ ‘Un escalier construit en grandes pierres de taille, conduisoit jadis à leur cime.’ ‘Chacune des quatres assises principales étoit subdivisée en petits gradins d’un mètre de haut, dont on distingue encore les arrêtes.’ Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 188. Mayer, Mex. as it Was, p. 223, says that three stories are yet distinctly visible. ‘The line from base to summit was broken by three terraces, or perhaps four, running completely round them.’ Tylor’s Anahuac, pp. 142-3.

House of the Moon

The material of the structure has generally been described as a conglomerate of small irregular stones and clay, encased, according to Humboldt and most other writers, in a wall of the porous volcanic rock, tetzontli; or this facing covered with a coating of stucco, which is salmon-colored, light blue, streaked, and red, according to the views of different observers. The Mexican commissioners disagree with all previous explorers by doing away altogether with the facing of hewn stone, and representing the facing to consist of different conglomerates arranged in successive layers, as follows:—1st, small stones from eight to twelve inches in diameter, with mud, forming a layer of about thirty-two inches; 2d, fragments of volcanic tufa as large as a man’s fist, also in mud, to the thickness of sixteen inches; 3d, small grains of tetzontli, of the size of peas, with mud, twenty-eight inches thick; 4th, a very thin and smooth coat of pure lime mortar. These layers are repeated in the same order nine times, and are parallel to the slopes of the pyramid, which would make the thickness of the superficial facing about sixty feet. There have been no excavations sufficiently deep to show what may be the material in the centre. Almaraz states that a somewhat different order and thickness of the strata was observed in certain excavations, or galleries, to be described later; but none of these galleries are described as of sufficient depth to penetrate the facing of sixty feet, and the exact meaning of the report in question it is very difficult to determine. I give in a note, however, what others have said of the building-material.[IX-80]‘Leur noyau est d’argile mêlée de petites pierres: il est revêtu d’un mur épais de tezontli ou amygdaloïde poreuse.’ Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 101-2. ‘On y reconnoît, en outre, des traces d’une couche de chaux qui enduit les pierres par dehors.’ Id., Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 157. ‘In many places, I discovered the remains of the coating of cement with which they were incrusted in the days of their perfection.’ Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, p. 223. ‘Arcilla y piedras,’ covered with a conglomerate of tetzontli and mud, and a coating of polished lime, which has a blue tint. Linares, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 3ra época, tom. i., pp. 103-5. ‘En argile … avec révêtement en pierre.’ Chevalier, Mexique, p. 50. ‘No trace of regular stone work or masonry of any kind.’ Bullock’s Across Mex., p. 165. Originally covered with a white cement bearing inscriptions. Glennie, according to Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1831, tom. li., pp. 238-9. Built of clay and stone. Heller, Reisen, p. 157. Salmon-colored Stucco. Latrobe. Unhewn stones of all shapes and sizes. Thompson. Stones and pebbles, faced with porous stone. García. Adobes, stones, clay, and mortar, with a casing of hewn stone and smooth stucco. Tylor. A conglomerate of common volcanic stones and mud mortar with the faces smoothed. Beaufoy. Masses of falling stone and masonry, red cement, 8 or 10 inches thick, of lime and pebbles. Bullock. ‘It is true, that on many parts of the ascent masses of stone and other materials, strongly cemented together, announce the devices and workmanship of man; but on penetrating this exterior coating nothing further was perceptible than a natural structure of earth’ like any natural hill with many loose stones. An American engineer who had made excavations confirmed the idea that the pyramids were natural, although artificially shaped. Tudor’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 278.

The excavation, or gallery, already referred to, extends about twenty-five feet on an incline into the pyramid from an entrance on the southern slope, between the second and third terraces according to Mayer, about sixty-nine feet above the base according to Almaraz. It is large enough to permit the passage of a man on hands and knees, and at its inner termination are two square wells, walled with blocks of volcanic tufa three inches thick, or, as Mayer says, of adobes,—about five feet square, and one of them fifteen feet deep. No relics whatever have been found in connection with gallery or wells; Almaraz speaks of the former as simply excavations by treasure-hunters, and mentions only one well, without stating its location with respect to the gallery. Mr Löwenstern states that the gallery is a hundred and fifty-seven feet long, increasing in height to over six feet and a half, as it penetrates the pyramid; that the well is over six feet square, extending apparently down to the base and up to the summit; and that other cross galleries are blocked up by débris. Still lower on this slope, at the very base according to the plan, is a small mound like those scattered over the plain to be described later. Mr Bullock claims to have found on the summit, in 1823, walls of rough stones, eight feet high and three feet thick, forming a square enclosure fourteen by forty-seven feet, with a doorway on the south, and three windows on each side. This author’s unsupported statements may be taken always with some allowance for the play of his imagination.

House of the Sun

Some eight hundred and seventy-five yards south of the House of the Moon, between it and the Rio San Juan, at B of the plan, stands the Tonatiuh Itzacual, or ‘house of the sun,’ also called sometimes in tradition, according to Brasseur and Veytia, Tonacatecuhtli, ‘god of subsistence.’ In material, form, and construction, it is precisely the same, so far as my authorities go, as its northern companion; indeed, many of the remarks which I have quoted in the preceding description, were applied by the authors to both pyramids alike. Its dimensions are, however, considerably larger, and its sides vary about sixteen degrees from the cardinal points. It measures at the base seven hundred and thirty-five feet from east to west, and is two hundred and three feet high. Beaufoy estimated the size of the summit platform at sixty by ninety feet.[IX-81]Humboldt’s dimensions, according to Oteyza’s measurements are, 208 mètres (682 feet) long and 55 mètres (180 feet) high. 645 feet square, Bullock; 480 by 600 feet, Beaufoy; 182 feet square, García; 221 feet high, Mayer; 221 feet high, Thompson. Round, 297 varas in diameter, 270 varas (745 feet!) high, Veytia, according to Boturini’s measurements; 60 mètres high, Löwenstern; 720 by 480 by 185 feet, Gemelli Careri.

This pyramid is in better condition than the other, and the three terraces are plainly visible, although as before no one but Almaraz has discovered that they do not extend completely round the four sides, and the latter author states that the zigzag path on the eastern slope is much more clearly defined and makes more angles than that on the House of the Moon. Beaufoy found a path leading up the slope at the north-west corner, and Humboldt’s remarks about a stairway of stone blocks may apply to this pyramid as well as to the other. Bullock states that the second terrace is thirty-eight feet wide. There are no traces of buildings on the summit or of galleries in the interior, but this, like the other pyramid, has a small mound on one of its sides near the base, and this mound seems to have embankments connecting it with the road on the west. The House of the Sun is also surrounded on the north, south, and east, according to the report of the Mexican commission, by the embankment a, b, c, d, which is a hundred and thirty feet wide on the summit, and twenty feet high, with sloping sides, widening out at the extremities, a and d, into unequal rectangular platforms. It is certainly very remarkable that among the many visitors to Teotihuacan no one had found any traces of this embankment before 1864.

Twelve hundred and fifty yards still further south across the stream is the Texcalpa, ‘citadel,’ ‘palace,’ or ‘stone house,’ as it is called, or defined, by different writers. The Citadel is a quadrangular enclosure, whose sides measure twelve hundred and forty-six and thirteen hundred and thirty-eight feet respectively, or nine hundred and eighty-four feet square according to Linares, and are exactly parallel with those of the Pyramid of the Sun. The enclosing walls, or embankments, are two hundred and sixty-two feet thick and thirty-three feet high, except on the west side, where it is but sixteen feet high; their material not being mentioned, but presumably the same as that of the pyramids. A cross-embankment of smaller dimensions divides the square area into two unequal parts, and on its centre stands a smaller pyramid, said by Linares to be ninety-two feet high, in ruins, having traces of a stairway, or path, on its eastern slope. Two small mounds stand at the western base of the small pyramid, one is found in the western enclosure, and fourteen, averaging twenty feet in height, are symmetrically arranged on the summit of the main embankments, as shown in the plan. The Citadel in some of its features seems to bear a slight resemblance to the works at Tenampua, in Honduras, and at Monte Alban, in Oajaca.[IX-82]See pp. 74, 380, of this volume.

Path of the Dead

Just south of the House of the Moon a line of mounds, C D, forms nearly a circular enclosure about six hundred feet in diameter, with a small mound in the centre. From this area two parallel lines of mounds extend south 15° west, parallel also with the sides of the House of the Sun and Citadel, for two hundred and fifty rods to the Rio San Juan, forming an avenue two hundred and fifty feet wide, called by the natives, as in the Toltec traditions, Micaotli, ‘path of the dead.'[IX-83]Linares, Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 3ra época, tom. i., pp. 103-5, calls it Mijcahotle. Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 148-51, applies the name to the whole plain, called by the Spaniards Llano de los Cues. The mounds that form this avenue are of conical or semispherical form, and of different dimensions, the largest being over thirty feet in height. They are built of stone fragments, earth, and clay, and stand close together, so as to resemble in some parts a continuous embankment. Six cross-embankments divide the southern part of the Path of the Dead into compartments, three of which have a mound in their centre. Linares represents the avenue as extending four or five miles beyond the House of the Moon, to the Cerro de Tlaginga; and Mayer in his plan terminates it on the south at a point opposite the House of the Sun, where it is crossed by the modern path.

Mounds of Teotihuacan

Besides the mounds, or tlalteles that form the Path of the Dead, there are numerous others of the same form and material—being, so far as known, mere heaps of stone and earth—scattered over the plain, some of them in lines or groups, with an approach to regularity, and others with no apparent arrangement. They vary in height from four or five to twenty-five or thirty feet. Respecting these tlalteles I quote from Almaraz as follows: “In them many excavations have been made, causing most of the dilapidation which is noted; some of them executed for scientific purposes in search of archæological objects; others made by ignorant and rapacious persons, impelled by a hope of finding falsely reported treasures: Neither have there been wanting, and this is the cause of most of the destruction, persons of evil intentions who undertake to demolish the ruins in order to obtain the hewn blocks of porphyry which are used in the construction of their barbarous dwellings; and they do not even preserve the blocks, but break and destroy them; in this manner have perished relics truly precious. Almost under my eyes there were taken from one of the tlalteles eight hewn blocks four by three and a half feet; the outer faces were sculptured, representing a strange and grotesque figure, with the head of a serpent and of some other fierce animal, like a tiger or lion; they were curved on the outside, and all must have formed a circular monument seventeen feet in diameter; they were broken up without pity, although I was able to make a drawing of one of them. In the same tlaltel were other sculptured stones…. In the houses of San Juan de Teotihuacan are seen some of these sculptures built into the walls, and in the Ventilla, near the ruins, I have seen stones representing in my opinion a serpent…. Of all the objects of this class the most notable is a monolith found among the débris of a tlaltel, and of which I give a drawing [see next page.] It is a parallelopipedon ten feet and a half high, and five feet and a half wide and thick,” weighing, according to the author’s calculations, over fifteen tons. “I had an excavation made in one of the smallest, and found four walls meeting at right angles and forming a square; they are inclined, and within are found some steps which are parallel to it [the square]; in the upper part of these, begin four other walls also inclined, containing a little room:—I thought it was a tomb, although I have some doubts about its true object.”[IX-84]Almaraz, Apuntes, pp. 354-5, with plate. The people of the vicinity said that in one of the mounds there had been found a stone box containing a skull, beads, and various curious relics of beryl, serpentine, heliotrope, and obsidian. They also claimed to have found quantities of gold-dust and gold vases.

Monolith from a Teotihuacan Mound.

Humboldt speaks of hundreds of these mounds arranged in streets running exactly east and west and north and south from the pyramids. Mayer’s plan represents a square area partly enclosed by a line of tlalteles north-east of the House of the Moon. According to Latrobe, the mounds extend for miles towards Tezcuco; and Waddy Thompson is confident that they are the ruins of an ancient city nearly as large as Mexico. The Citadel he calls the public square of twenty acres with a stone building in the centre, and he also finds traces of several other smaller squares. The streets are marked by large piles of rock resembling—except in size—potato-hills, formed by falling buildings. In the opinion of this author it is simply absurd to suppose these heaps to have been formed as separate mounds. Thompson also found a number of circular niches two feet in diameter on the bank of a ravine west of the other remains.[IX-85]‘It is certain, that where they stand, there was formerly a great city, as appears by the vast ruins about it, and by the grots or dens, as well artificial as natural.’ Gemelli Careri, in Churchill’s Col. Voyages, vol. iv., p. 514. Ruins of streets and plazas. Linares, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 3ra época, tom. i., p. 104.

The Fainting-Stone at Teotihuacan.

Mayer found, near i of the plan—as nearly as can be determined by his plan, which differs considerably in detail from the one I have given—a globular mass of granite nineteen feet eight inches in circumference; also, near m, the stone block shown in the cut. It is ten feet and a half long, five feet wide, lies exactly east and west, and is found in the centre of a group of small mounds. The cut shows the sculpture on the face turned toward the south, that on the top and north being very indistinct. At b of the cut is a hollow described as three inches deep at the sides, and six at top and bottom. Notwithstanding Col. Mayer’s opinion to the contrary, it is most natural to regard this monument as an overturned pillar. The natives believe that whoever sits or reclines on this stone will immediately faint.[IX-86]Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, pp. 222-5, with cut. Thompson, Mex., p. 140, alluding probably to the same monument, locates it ‘a few hundred yards from the pyramids, in a secluded spot, shut closely in by two small hillocks,’ pronounces it undoubtedly a sacrificial stone, and estimates the weight at 25 tons. Beaufoy also speaks of an unsculptured sacrificial stone 11 by 4 by 4 feet. ‘Une fort grande pierre semblable à une tombe, couverte d’hiéroglyphes.’ Fossey, Mexique, p. 316. ‘A massive stone column half buried in the ground.’ Bullock’s Across Mex., p. 166.

Miscellaneous Relics

At the time of the Conquest statues of the sun and moon are reported to have been found on the summits of their respective pyramids. The gold plates which are said to have covered or decorated these idols were of course immediately appropriated by the Spanish soldiers, and the idols themselves broken by order of the priests. Gemelli Careri claims to have seen fragments of their arms and legs at the base of the pyramid, and Ramon del Moral assured Veytia that he had found the colossal head of the statue of the moon, and that the pedestal still remained in place; Veytia, however, could find no traces of such relics in 1757, although Ixtlilxochitl and Boturini both claim to have seen them.[IX-87]Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 239-40, 247-9; Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., p. 39; Gemelli Careri, p. 514. Bullock, Across Mex., p. 165, says he saw as late as 1864, on the summit of the House of the Moon, an altar of two blocks, covered with white plaster evidently recent, with an aperture in the centre of the upper block, supposed to have carried off the blood of victims. Mayer claims to have found well-defined traces of an ancient road covered with cement, between the ruins and the village. The whole surfaces of the pyramids, mounds, and much of the surrounding plain, are literally strewn with the fragments of pottery and obsidian; and small terra-cotta heads are offered to the visitor in great quantities for sale, by the natives, who pick them up among the ruins, or perhaps manufacture them when their search is not sufficiently fruitful. Many of these heads have been brought away and sketched, and they are very similar one to another. One of them, sketched by Mr Vetch, is shown in the cut.[IX-88]Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. vii., p. 10. ‘One may shut his eyes and drop a dollar from his hand, and the chances are at least equal that it will fall upon something of the kind.’ Thompson’s Mex., p. 140. Plates of 12 terra-cotta heads in Nebel, Viaje. Cuts of 8 heads, some the same as Nebel’s, in Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, p. 227.

Terra-Cotta Head—Teotihuacan.

The ruins of Teotihuacan, like the pyramid of Cholula, contain no internal evidences of their age. Its building is attributed in different records to the Toltecs, Olmecs, and Totonacs, in the very earliest period of Nahua supremacy. The name Teotihuacan is one of the very earliest preserved in Nahua annals, and there can be but little doubt that the pyramids are older than that of Cholula, or that they were built at least as early as the sixth century, the commencement of what is regarded as the Toltec era in Anáhuac. The pyramids themselves served, according to tradition, as places of sepulture, but not altogether for this purpose, for Teotihuacan is spoken of as a great centre of religious worship and priestly rites, a position it would not have held had it been simply a burial place. It is altogether probable that the houses of the Sun and Moon served the double purpose of tombs and shrines, although there is no proof that any temples proper ever stood on the summit as at Cholula. These structures are said to have served as models for the Aztec teocallis of later times. Don Lucas Alaman, a distinguished Mexican statesman and author, believed that the numerous terra-cotta heads already spoken of were relics distributed by the priests to the crowds of pilgrims that assembled at the shrines.[IX-89]Sr Antonio García y Cubas, a member of the commission whose description of Teotihuacan I have used as my chief authority, has since published an Ensayo de un Estudio comparativo entre las Pirámides Egípcias y Mexicanas, Mexico, 1871, which I have received since writing the preceding pages. He gives the same plan and view that I have used, also a plan of the Egyptian pyramids in the plain of Ghizeh, and a plate representing part of a human face in stone from Teotihuacan. The author made some additional observations subsequently to the exploration of the commission, and gives the following dimensions, which vary somewhat from those I have given, especially the height: Sun—232 by 220 by 66 mètres; summit, 18 by 32 mètres; slope, north and south 31° 3´, east and west 36°; direction, E. to W. southern side, 83° N.W.; direction, N. to S. eastern side, 7° N.E. Direction, ‘road of the dead’ 8° 45´ N.E.; line through centres of the two pyramids, 10° N.W. Moon—156 by 130 by 46 mètres; eastern slope, 31° 30, southern slope, 36°; summit, 6 by 6 mètres; direction, north side, 88° 30´ N.W., east side, 1° 30´ N.E. The author thinks the difference in height may result from the fact that the ground on which the pyramids stand slopes towards the south, and the altitude was taken in one case on the south, in the other on the north.

The following quotation contains the most important opinion advanced in the essay in question:—’The pyramids of Teotihuacan, as they exist to-day, are not in their primitive state. There is now a mass of loose stones, whose interstices covered with vegetable earth, have caused to spring up the multitude of plants and flowers with which the faces of the pyramids are now covered. This mass of stones differs from the plan of construction followed in the body of the monuments, and besides, the falling of these stones, which has taken place chiefly on the eastern face of the Moon, has laid bare an inclined plane perfectly smooth, which seems to be the true face of the pyramid. This isolated observation would not give so much force to my argument if it were not accompanied by the same circumstances in all the monuments.’ The slope of these regular smooth surfaces of the Moon is 47°, differing from the slope of the outer surface. The same inner smooth faces the author claims to have found not only in the pyramids, but in the tlalteles, or smaller mounds. Sr García y Cubas thinks that the Toltecs, the descendants of the civilized people that built the pyramids, covered up these tombs and sanctuaries, in fear of the depredations of the savage races that came after them.

Respecting miscellaneous remains at Teotihuacan the author says, ‘The river empties into Lake Tezcuco, with great freshets in the rainy season, its current becoming at such times very impetuous. Its waters have laid bare throughout an immense extent of territory, foundations of buildings and horizontal layers of a very fine mortar as hard as rock, all of which indicates the remains of an immense town, perhaps the Memphis of these regions. Throughout a great extent of territory about the pyramids, for a radius of over a league are seen the foundations of a multitude of edifices; at the banks of the river and on both sides of the roads are found the horizontal layers of lime; others of earth and mud, of tetzontli and of volcanic tufa, showing the same method of construction; on the roads between the pyramids and San Juan are distinctly seen traces of walls which cross each other at right angles.’ He also found excavations which seem to have furnished the material for all the structures.

As to the chief purpose for which the ensayo was written, the author claims the following analogies between Teotihuacan and the Egyptian pyramids: 1. The site chosen is the same. 2. The structures are oriented with slight variation. 3. The line through the centres of the pyramids is in the ‘astronomical meridian.’ 4. The construction in grades and steps is the same. 5. In both cases the larger pyramids are dedicated to the sun. 6. The Nile has a ‘valley of the dead,’ as in Teotihuacan there is a ‘street of the dead.’ 7. Some monuments of each class have the nature of fortifications. 8. The smaller mounds are of the same nature and for the same purpose. 9. Both pyramids have a small mound joined to one of their faces. 10. The openings discovered in the Moon are also found in some Egyptian pyramids. 11. The interior arrangement of the pyramids is analogous.

At Otumba few relics of antiquity seem to have been discovered; Mayer, however, gives a cut of a pillar ornamented with geometric sculptured figures, which is said to have been found by Mr Poinsett. At Tizayuca, a little north of the lake, a low hill is spoken of with a small hole in the top, whence issues continually a current of air; I know not whether there are evidences of anything artificial about this curious phenomenon of more than doubtful authenticity. The same authority also mentions some ruined buildings on the hacienda of San Miguel.[IX-90]Mexico, Anales del Ministerio de Fomento, 1854, tom. i., pp. 382-3; Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 282. Brasseur de Bourbourg tells us that the ruins of Quetzalcoatl’s temple at Tulancingo were visible long after the Conquest, and also speaks of a subterranean palace called Mictlancalco, and a stone cross discovered on Mount Meztitlan. Veytia also speaks of the cross of Meztitlan, sculptured together with a moon on a lofty and almost inaccessible cliff; and Chaves barely mentions relics of antiquity not described very definitely.[IX-91]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 258; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 171-5; Chaves, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., p. 300.

Obsidian Mines

At the Cerro de las Navajas, near Monte Jacal, about midway between Real del Monte and Tulancingo, are the mines or quarries from which the natives of Anáhuac are believed to have obtained the large quantities of obsidian used by them in the manufacture of their implements and weapons. The mines are described as openings three or four feet in diameter and one hundred and ten to one hundred and forty feet in extent, probably horizontal, with side drifts wherever the obsidian is of a desirable quality and most abundant. Large quantities of the material are found in fragments of different shapes and sizes, which throw some light on the manner in which the Aztecs manufactured their knives and other implements.[IX-92]Tylor’s Anahuac, pp. 96, 100, with cut of a knife or spear-head; Burkart, Mexico, tom. i., pp. 124-5. Löwenstern speaks of the obsidian mines of Guajolote, which he describes as ditches one or two mètres wide, and of varying depth; having only small fragments of the mineral scattered about. Mexique, p. 244. In the vicinity of Actopan, at Mixquiahuala, we are told in a Mexican government report already often quoted, that clay relics are frequently discovered.[IX-93]Mexico, Anales del Ministerio de Fomento, 1854, tom. i., p. 277. At Atotonilco el Grande, south of Guautla, Mr Burkart found pieces of obsidian of many-sided pyramidal form, from which knives had apparently been split off by the natives in ancient times. The art of working this intractable material has been practically lost in modern times.[IX-94]Burkart, Mexico, tom. i., p. 51.

At Zacualtipan, in the north-eastern portion of Mexico, a very peculiar monument is described, consisting of a house excavated from a single stone. A doorway on the south, with columns at its sides, leads to an apartment measuring about twelve by seven and a half feet, and ten feet and a half high. The room contains the remains of a kind of altar and a sculptured cross. A stone bench extends round the sides, being two feet high and one foot wide. This main room is connected by a doorway on the west with another very narrow one, in the south end of which is what is described as a kind of stone bed measuring three by six feet, all of the same stone. Another stone near by has a bath, so-called, and still another, known as Caparrosa, has an inscription painted in red. These remains are of so extraordinary a character, that in the absence of confirmation the report must be considered doubtful or erroneous. At Tecomal, north of Lolotla, a stone is mentioned six feet high, which has six steps leading up to the summit, where is an oval hole a yard and a half deep.[IX-95]Mexico, Anales del Ministerio de Fomento, 1854, tom. i., pp. 623-4, 719; Huasteca, Noticias, pp. 48-9, 69. At Monte Penulco Mr Latrobe speaks of some remains probably of Spanish origin, like many others that are attributed to the antiguos.[IX-96]Latrobe’s Rambler, p. 75.

Near San Juan de los Llanos, in the extreme north-eastern part of the state, some forty leagues from the city of Mexico, the existence of a ruined city was reported late in the eighteenth century on apparently good authority; but I find no later mention of it. The description bears some resemblance to that of Metlaltoyuca, discovered in 1865, just across the line in Vera Cruz, twenty-five or thirty miles north-east from San Juan. The two groups of remains may be identical, or the earlier report may refer to other monuments, many of which very probably exist yet undiscovered in that densely wooded district. The ruined city near San Juan was described in 1786, by Sr Cañete, as covering an area of one league by three fourths of a league, surrounded by walls of hewn stone laid without mortar, five to eight feet high and very thick. A street running from east to west was paved with volcanic stone, worn smooth, and guarded by battlements, or side walls. Several ruined temples, sculptured blocks of stone, stone metates and other implements, stone statues of men and animals—including a lion—were found here, but all of a rather coarse workmanship. A tall pine was growing on the summit of one of the temples, and there seemed to be some evidence that the town had been abandoned for want of a supply of water.[IX-97]J. F. R. Cañete, in Alzate y Ramirez, Gaceta de Literatura, Feb. 20, 1790; also in Id., reprint, tom. i., pp. 282-4. Sr Alzate y Ramirez, editor of the Gaceta, had also heard from other sources of ruins in the same vicinity.

Remains at Tula

Earthen Vase—Tula.

At Tula, north-west of the city of Mexico, the ancient Tollan, the Toltec capital, we are told that extensive ruins remained at the time of the Conquest,[IX-98]Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 13. but very few relics have survived to the present time, although some of the few that have been found here are of a somewhat extraordinary character. The cut shows both sides of an earthen vase from Tula, which, as Mayer says, is “of exquisitely grained and tempered material, and ornamented with figures in intaglio, resembling those found on the monuments in Yucatan.”[IX-99]Mayer, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., p. 588, pl. iii., fig. 1, 2.; Id., Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 268; Id., Mex. as it Was, pp. 107-8. Villa-Señor y Sanchez, one of the early Spanish writers, names Tula as one of the many localities where giants’ bones had been found.[IX-100]Theatro, tom. i., pp. 86-7. A commission from the Mexican Geographical Society, composed of Drs Manfred and Ord,—the latter an old resident of California, who takes a deep interest in the antiquities and history of the Pacific States—with Mr Porter C. Bliss,—whose large collection of Mexican works, with some curious relics of antiquity, has been lately added to my library—and Sr García y Cubas, made an exploration of Tula and vicinity in 1873, bringing to light some interesting monuments, of which an illustrated account was published in the Boletin of the society. The cut shows a very curious double column of basalt, somewhat over eight feet high. The sculptured knots are interpreted by the commissioners mentioned as the tlalpilli, or periods of thirteen years. None of them occur on the reverse of the column. Other relics discovered by this party included half of what seemed to be a kind of calendar-stone, a large animal in basalt or monster idol, and some hieroglyphic sculptures on the cliff of the Cerro de la Malinche. There were also found the three fragments shown in the cut, which are interesting as showing an aboriginal method of forming columns not elsewhere met with in America, a round tenon on one part fitting closely into a hole in the next. The largest of the three parts shown is four feet long and two and three fourths feet in diameter. The material is basalt and the sculpture is said to be well done. Most of the Tula relics were found at the Cerro del Tesoro, west of the modern village.[IX-101]Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 3ra época, tom. i., pp. 185-7, with 10 fig.

Basaltic Column—Tula.

Parts of a Column—Tula.

Gondra speaks of fine pieces of basalt and other stone, about nine feet long, recently discovered on the hacienda of Tlahuililpan near Tula, leaving it to be inferred that the blocks were artificially shaped if not sculptured.[IX-102]Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., p. 94. Another author says that on the same hacienda an idol six feet high has been found,[IX-103]Mexico, Anales del Ministerio de Fomento, 1854, tom. i., p. 263. and mentions some ruins of dwellings about Jacala in the Tula district, especially at Santa María de los Alamos and Cerro Prieto, and also a pillar in the middle of the Rio de Montezuma.[IX-104]Id., p. 334. Other remains vaguely reported to exist in this part of the state include a subterranean arch at Huehuetoca, between Mexico and Tula, built by the natives to keep the water from the capital; and a group of ruins at Chilcuautla, among which are those of a temple of stone and mortar, and a pyramid fifty-five feet long and seven feet high, with steps in a good state of preservation.[IX-105]Id., pp. 417, 299-300.

Still further north-west in the state of Querétaro, three groups of antiquities are reported, but very inadequately described. At Pueblito a league and a half south of the city of Querétaro, said to have been a favorite resort for Mexican tourists and invalids in the last century, there stood on a natural elevation, in 1777, the foundations of a large rectangular building. The walls were built of stones laid in clay, and were not, when visited, standing above the level of the ground, one or two feet having been, however, brought to light by excavation. On the east and west of the main building were two smaller ones, from which many idols and other relics, including round polished stones pierced through the centre, are said to have been taken. A pavement of clay is also spoken of in connection with these ruins. On the same elevation stood an artificial sugar-loaf-shaped mound, built of alternate layers of loose stones and mud, having at its summit a level mesa thirty-three feet in diameter. It is said that many idols, sculptured fragments, pedestals, architectural decorations, and flint arrow-heads from Pueblito, were sent to enrich collections in the city of Mexico. The only writer on the subject, Sr Morfi, attempts some descriptions of the sculpture, but as is usual with such accounts unaccompanied by cuts, they convey no idea whatever of the subjects treated. Certain adobe ruins of doubtful antiquity were also shown to the author mentioned.[IX-106]Morfi, Viage, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., pp. 312-14. Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. ii., p. 164, also speaks of some small mounds at Pueblito.

Canoas and Ranas

In the Sierra de Canoas, between thirty and forty miles north-east of Querétaro, is a steep hill known as Cerro de la Ciudad, the summit of which is very strongly fortified. A lithographic plate showing a general view of the hill is given in a Mexican government report, but I do not copy it because the view is too distant to show anything further than what has already been said; namely, that the hill is steep, and the summit covered with strong stone fortifications. Another plate shows simply the arrangement of the stones, which are brick-shaped blocks, whose dimensions are not given, laid in a mortar of reddish clay and lime. There are in all forty-five defensive works on the hill, including a wall about forty feet in height, and a rectangular platform with an area of five thousand square feet. Some large trees, one of them three hundred years old by its rings, are growing over the ruins. It is very unfortunate that we have no ground plan of these fortifications.[IX-107]Mexico, Mem. de la Sec. Justicia, 1873, pp. 216-17, two plates.

Two or three leagues north-west of the ruins last mentioned is the ranchería of Ranas, situated in a small valley enclosed by hills on every side, on the summits of most of which are still to be seen traces of an ancient population. The fortifications on these hills seem to resemble, so far as may be determined by the slight accounts extant, those of the barranca-girt peninsular plateaux of Vera Cruz. One hill-summit on the north has a pyramid sixty-five feet square at the base, with four stairways leading to the top. Near the pyramid is a burial mound, or cuicillo, in which with a human skeleton were found marine shells, pottery, and beads. The cuicillos are numerous throughout the whole region, and marine shells are of frequent occurrence in them. From a mound in the vicinity of San Juan Del Rio some idols were taken as well.[IX-108]Id., p. 217.

From an article read before the Mexican Geographical Society by Sr Ballesteros in 1872, I quote the following extracts: “What all down to the present time called cities (Canoas and Ranas), are only the fortified points which guarded the city proper, which was situated between the two at the point called Ranas, where was the residence of the monarch. In a region absolutely broken up and cut in all directions by enormous barrancas, caused by the sinking of whole mountains, the settlement could not be symmetrically laid out, but was scattered, as it is still found, in the bottom of ravines, on the slopes and tops of the hills for many leagues.” A small lake, and a perennial spring are supposed to have been the attractions of this locality in the eyes of the ancient people. “On all the hills about are still seen vestiges of their monuments, particularly what are called cuicillos, scattered in every direction from the pueblo of El Doctor to the banks of the streams that drain the valley opposite Zimapan, and even to that of Estorax. Although beforehand I believed that the capital was situated in the central part of Ranas, still this idea was rather vague; but now I think I may be sure of it, since I have found a place surrounded with little elevations, with all the signs of a circular plaza, with many remains of monuments, which have been destroyed through ignorance and greed. In my presence were destroyed the last remains of a cuicillo to found a house, the work not being checked by the presence of the bodies of a man and woman, whose skulls, which I wished to remove, were reduced to dust by the simple touch of the hand. This circumstance may serve to-day as a proof that the cuicillos are nothing but mortuary monuments erected over the sepulchres of persons of rank, more or less grand according to the power of the pueblo, or of the relatives of the deceased.” “The idea of a remote antiquity is proved by the presence of the remains of very large oaks which sprang up among the edifices, grew and died, and from the ashes of which others equally large have grown up and cover to-day the majestic remains with their shade.” “The summit of the hill on which it [the fortification] was founded is somewhat over a quarter of a league long, and between wall and wall there is room for three thousand men without crowding. The terrible sinking of the mountains cut down the cliffs, which are perpendicular on the north to a height of over eleven hundred feet. On the brow of the cliff was built the superimposed wall of stone, of a very considerable thickness, and terraced on the interior where the warriors were sheltered. On the highest part of the wall there is a kind of tower, the height of which from the bottom of the ravine is not less than sixteen hundred and fifty feet. The hill has only one entrance, but at the same time it has three projecting points which impeded the enemy from approaching in sufficient numbers to make an assault. At this same point is the tower which was perhaps the residence of the chief of the fortress, the view from which commanded the only two roads by which the enemies could approach.” “The two fortifications (Canoas and Ranas) are about two leagues distant one from the other, and throughout the whole extent are seen the remains of the settlement, which territory the natives still inhabit. That of Canoas guards the entrance of Zimapan by way of Santo Domingo and Maconí; and that of Ranas protects the approach to Cadereyta and Piñal de Amoles.”[IX-109]Ballesteros, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iv., pp. 774-8.

Miscellaneous Remains

I have now mentioned all the relics of antiquity that have been found in stated localities within the central Mexican region, which was to constitute the geographical basis of this chapter. Besides these relics, however, there are very many others in antiquarian collections, public or private, in different parts of the world, respecting which all that is known is that they are Mexican, that is, were brought from some part of the Mexican Republic, or even from the northern Central American states. Probably a larger part did actually originate in that part of the Republic which has been treated of in the present and the two preceding chapters. Very few, if any, came from the broad northern regions, whose few scattered remains will form the subject of the following chapter. Neither do the general remarks of different writers on Mexican antiquities refer, except very slightly, to any northern monuments; consequently I may introduce here better than elsewhere such miscellaneous matter as would naturally come at the close of my description of Nahua antiquities.

The Mexican Museum

The collections in the city of Mexico, embracing relics of aboriginal times gathered at different dates from all parts of the country, are described by travelers as very rich, but little cared for. The public collections were gradually united in the National Museum, where it is to be supposed they are still preserved and cared for under government auspices. M. de Waldeck at one time undertook the work of publishing lithographic plates of the relics in the Museum, but never completed it, and so far as I know no systematic catalogue has ever been given to the public. Every visitor to the city has had something to say of these monuments, but most have given their attention to the calendar-stone, and a few other well-known and famous objects. Many copies have been made by traveling artists, and such is the source whence many of the cuts in the preceding pages have been taken. Respecting the various private collections of Mexico, frequently changing hands, and scattered more or less to foreign lands at every succeeding revolution, I do not deem it important to notice them in this place, especially as I have no information about their present number and condition, or the effects of the French intervention.

M. de Fossey represents the Museum as containing “a hundred masks of obsidian, of serpentine, and of marble; a collection of vases of marble and clay; implements in clay, in wood, and in stone; metallic mirrors; amulets and ornaments in agate, coral, and shell,” all in great confusion.[IX-110]Fossey, Mexique, pp. 213-14. Mr Mayer gives perhaps the most complete account of the monuments gathered in this and some other collections in the city of Mexico, illustrated by many cuts besides those which I have had occasion to copy or to mention in describing the monuments of particular localities. I make some quotations from this author respecting miscellaneous objects. “In the city of Mexico I constantly saw serpents, carved in stone, in the various collections of antiquities. One was presented to me by the Conde del Peñasco, and the drawings below represent the figures of two ‘feathered serpents,’ which, after considerable labor I disinterred (I may say,) from a heap of dirt and rubbish, old boxes, chicken-coops, and decayed fruit, in the court-yard of the University.” “The carving with which they are covered is executed with a neatness and gracefulness that would make them, as mere ornaments, worthy of the chisel of an ancient sculptor.” “On the benches around the walls, and scattered over the floor, are numberless figures of dogs, monkeys, lizards, birds, serpents, all in seemingly inextricable confusion and utter neglect.” A mortar of basalt with a coiled serpent round the rim, and a beautifully cut human head of the same material. “In the adjoining cases [of the Museum] are all the smaller Mexican antiquities, which have been gathered together by the labor of many years, and arranged with some attention to system. In one department you find the hatchets used by the Indians; the ornaments of beads of obsidian and stone worn round their necks; the mirrors of obsidian; the masks of the same material, which they hung at different seasons before the faces of their idols; their bows and arrows, and arrow-heads of obsidian, some of them so small and beautifully cut, that the smallest birds might be killed without injuring their plumage. In another department are the smaller idols of the ancient Indians, in clay and stone, specimens of which, together with the small domestic altars and vases for burning incense, are exhibited in the following[7]
[IX-111] Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, pp. 31-2, 84-5, 87-106, 272-9; Id., Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., pp. 265-74; Id., in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., pl. i.-vii. drawings. Many of these figures were doubtless worn suspended around the neck, or hung on the walls of houses, as several are pierced with holes, through which cords have evidently passed. In the next place is a collection of Mexican vases and cups, most of which were discovered … in the Island of Sacrificios,” and have consequently been already mentioned. There follow cuts of an axe and two pipes; nine small clay idols; and seven musical instruments. Sixteen cuts of objects from the Peñasco collection are also given.[IX-111]

Bronze Bells—Christy Collection.

Mr Tylor tells us that the Uhde collection at Heidelberg is a far finer one than that in Mexico, except in the department of picture-writings; it contains a large number of stone idols and trinkets, pipes, and calendars. The Christy collection in London is particularly rich in small sculptured figures, many of them from Central America. It includes the squatting female figure carved from hard black basalt, fifteen inches high and seven and a half inches wide, described by Humboldt as an Aztec priestess;[IX-112]Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 51-6, plate of front and rear; Id., in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., pp. 9-10, suppl., pl. i. Remarks on the statue by Visconti, in Id., p. 32; Plates in Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., pl. xxviii., p. 48; Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. i., p. 389; and Delafield’s Antiq. Amer., p. 61. and also bronze needles and the bronze bells shown in the cut, which I take from Tylor. The same author also describes and illustrates various other relics seen by him in Mexican and European collections. These include stone and obsidian knives, spear-heads, and arrow-heads; heads and small idols in terra cotta; pottery, consisting of vases, altars, censers, rattles, flageolets, and whistles; and masks of obsidian, stone, wood, and terra-cotta. Respecting obsidian relics Mr Tylor says, “Anyone who does not know obsidian may imagine great masses of bottle-glass, such as our orthodox ugly wine bottles are made of, very hard, very brittle, and—if one breaks it with any ordinary implement—going, as glass does, in every direction but the right one.” “Out of this rather unpromising stuff the Mexicans made knives, razors, arrow- and spear-heads, and other things, some of great beauty. I say nothing of the polished obsidian mirrors and ornaments, nor even of the curious masks of the human face that are to be seen in collections, for these were only laboriously cut and polished with jewelers’ sand, to us a common-place process.” “We got several obsidian maces or lance-heads—one about ten inches long—which were taper from base to point, and covered with taper flutings; and there are other things which present great difficulties.” “The axes and chisels of stone are so exactly like those found in Europe that it is quite impossible to distinguish them. The bronze hatchet-blades are thin and flat, slightly thickened at the sides to give them strength, and mostly of a very peculiar shape, something like a , but still more resembling the section of a mushroom cut vertically through the middle of the stalk.”[IX-113]See p. 382, for a cut of a similar article. These supposed hatchets were, according to some authorities, coins. They are extremely light to be used as hatchets. “Many specimens are to be seen of the red and black ware of Cholula.” “The terra-cotta rattles are very characteristic. They have little balls in them which shake about, and they puzzled us much as the apple-dumpling did good King George, for we could not make out very easily how the balls got inside. They were probably attached very slightly to the inside, and so baked and then broken loose.” A cut is given of a brown lava mask from the Christy collection, which seems to have some sculptured figures on the inside.[IX-114]Tylor’s Anahuac, pp. 95-103, 110, 195, 225-6, 235-6.

Mosaic Knife—Christy Collection.

Mosaic Work

There are three very remarkable mosaic relics in the Christy collection, one of which is the knife represented in the cut, which I take from Waldeck’s fine colored plate, although most of the information respecting these relics comes from Tylor. The blade is of a semi-translucent chalcedony found in the volcanic regions of Mexico. The uncolored cut gives but a faint idea of the beauty of the handle, which is covered with a complicated mosaic work of a bright green turquoise, malachite, and both white and red shell. It is certainly most extraordinary to find a people still in the stone age, as is proved by the blade, able to execute so perfect a piece of work as the handle exhibits. Two masks of the same style of workmanship are preserved in the same collection. “The mask of wood is covered with minute pieces of turquoise—cut and polished, accurately fitted, many thousands in number, and set on a dark gum or cement. The eyes, however, are acute-oval patches of mother-of-pearl; and there are two small square patches of the same on the temples, through which a string passed to suspend the mask; and the teeth are of hard white shell. The eyes are perforated, and so are the nostrils, and the upper and lower teeth are separated by a transverse chink…. The face, which is well-proportioned, pleasing, and of great symmetry, is studded also with numerous projecting pieces of turquoise, rounded and polished.” The wood is the fragrant cedar or cypress of Mexico. The knife handle is “sculptured in the form of a crouching human figure, covered with the skin of an eagle, and presenting the well-known and distinctive Aztec type of the human head issuing from the mouth of an animal.” “The second mask is yet more distinctive. The incrustation of turquoise-mosaic is placed on the forehead, face, and jaws of a human skull…. The mosaic of turquoise is interrupted by three broad transverse bands, on the forehead, face, and chin, of a mosaic of obsidian similarly cut (but in larger pieces) and highly polished,—a very unusual treatment of this difficult and intractable material, the use of which in any artistic way, appears to have been confined to the Aztecs (with the exception, perhaps, of the Egyptians). The eye-balls are nodules of iron-pyrites, cut hemispherically and highly polished, and are surrounded by circles of hard white shell, similar to that forming the teeth of the wooden mask. The Aztecs made their mirrors of iron-pyrites polished, and are the only people who are known to have put this material to ornamental use.” These mosaic relics, and two similar but damaged masks at Copenhagen, are probably American, if not Aztec; but this cannot be directly proved; for while something is known of their European history, their origin cannot be definitely ascertained.[IX-115]Waldeck, Palenqué, p. viii., pl. xliv.; Tylor’s Anahuac, pp. 110, 337-9. Mr Tylor notes that in an old work, Aldrovandus, Musæum Metallicum, Bologna 1648, there were drawings of a knife and wooden mask with mosaic ornamentation, but of a different design.

Image of Huitzilopochtli.

The Aztec Huitzilopochtli

The image shown in the following cut is given by Sr Gondra as representing the Aztec deity Huitzilopochtli, although he gives no reason for the opinion; nor does he name the material, or dimensions of the relic. Sr Chavero also speaks of several images of the same god, in his possession or seen by him. They are of sandstone, granite, marble, quartz, and one of solid gold. Several had a well-defined beard.[IX-116]Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., p. 70, pl. xiii.; Chavero, in Gallo, Hombres Ilustres, tom. i., pp. 146-7; Gilliam’s Trav., pp. 44-5. Gondra gives plates of many weapons, implements of sculpture and sacrifice, funeral urns, and musical instruments. The macana, an Aztec aboriginal weapon, shown in the cut, is copied from one of his plates. The material is probably a basaltic stone.[IX-117]Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., pp. 82, 87, 99, 101, pl. xv.-xx.

An Aztec Macana.

In 1831 a report was made to the French Geographical Society on a collection of drawings of Mexican antiquities executed by M. Franck. This collection embraced drawings of about six hundred objects, most of them from the National Museum in Mexico; eighty in the museum of the Philosophical Society at Philadelphia; forty in the Peñasco collection in Mexico, and others belonging to Castañeda and other private individuals. They were classified as follows: one hundred and eighty figures of men and women; fifty-five human heads in stone or clay; thirty masks and busts; twenty heads of different animals; seventy-five vases; forty ornaments; six bas-reliefs; six fragments; thirty-three flageolets and whistles; and a miscellaneous collection of weapons, implements, and divers objects.[IX-118]Soc. Géog., Bulletin, tom. v., No. 95, p. 116, No. 98, p. 283, et seq.; Warden, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., pp. 36-40.

Musical Instruments

Aztec Flageolet.

Terra-Cotta Musical Instrument.

Sixteen specimens of Mexican relics, in the possession of M. Latour-Allard in Paris, are represented by Kingsborough unaccompanied by explanations. The objects are mostly sculptured heads, idols, and animals. Bullock also gives plates of six Mexican idols, about which nothing definite is said; Humboldt pictures an idol carried by him from Mexico to Berlin; and Nebel’s plates show about thirty miscellaneous relics, in addition to those that have been already mentioned. Humboldt also gives an Aztec hatchet of green feldspath or jade, which has incised figures on its surface. He remarks that he never has found this material ‘in place’ in Mexico, although axes made of it are common enough.[IX-119]Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. iv., unnumbered plates following those of Castañeda; Bullock’s Mexico, p. 326; Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., pp. 207, 146, (fol. ed. pl. xl., xxviii.); Id., in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., pp. 25-7, suppl., pl. vii., fig. 10, pl. vi., fig. 8; Nebel, Viaje. The two musical instruments shown in the cuts are taken from Waldeck’s plates. Their material is terra cotta.[IX-120]Waldeck, Palenqué, pl. lvi.; other miscellaneous relics, pl. iii.-v., xliii., xlv.-vi., lv. Other miscellaneous cuts and descriptions are given in the work of the German traveler Müller, and in the appendix to the German translation of Del Rio and Cabrera.[IX-121]Müller, Reisen, tom. ii., p. 292, et seq.; Cabrera, Beschreibung einer alten Stadt, appendix. José María Bustamante told Mr Lyon of an obsidian ring, carried away by Humboldt, which was perforated round the circumference so that a straw introduced at one side would traverse the circle and come out again at the same opening.[IX-122]Lyon’s Journal, vol. ii., p. 119. The two idols shown in the cut were copied by Kingsborough’s artist in the British Museum. The figures of the cut are one sixth of the original size.[IX-123]Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. iv. Prescott tells us that “a great collection of ancient pottery, with various other specimens of Aztec art, the gift of Messrs Poinsett and Keating, is deposited in the cabinet of the American Philosophical Society, at Philadelphia,” a list of the relics having been printed in the Transactions of that Society.[IX-124]Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 143; Amer. Phil. Soc., Transact., vol. iii., p. 510.

Aztec Idols—British Museum.

Phallic Relic in National Museum.

Hieroglyphic Sculptures

The preceding cut represents a serpentine relic preserved in the National Museum, and shown to Col. Mayer—from whose album I copy it—by Sr Gondra as a ‘cosa muy curiosa.’

Serpentine Hieroglyphic Block.

Four interesting sculptured stones are represented and their inscriptions interpreted by Sr Ramirez, in a Spanish edition of Prescott’s work. The first is a cylinder twenty-six inches long, eleven inches in diameter, representing a bundle of straight sticks bound with a double rope at each end. There are hieroglyphic sculptures on one side and both ends, which are interpreted by Sr Ramirez as a record of the feast which was celebrated at the last ‘binding up of the years’ in 1507. The second is a block of black lava thirteen and a half by twelve and a half inches, bearing a serpent carved in low relief. The third is a similar block somewhat larger, with a sculptured inscription, supposed to represent the date of November 28, 1456. The fourth monument is that shown in the cut. It is a block of green serpentine, measuring thirty-eight by twenty-six inches. According to the meaning attributed to the sculptures by Ramirez, the lower inscription is the year 8 Acatl, or 1487; the upper part shows the day 7 Acatl, or February 19. The left hand figure is supposed to represent Ahuitzotl, and that on the right Tizoc. The event commemorated by the whole sculpture is thought to be the dedication of the great temple of Mexico, begun by Tizoc and completed by Ahuitzotl. The same block is shown in one of Waldeck’s plates.[IX-125]Ramirez, Notas, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. ii., suppl., pp. 106-24; Waldeck, Palenqué, pl. liii. I may also notice a small collection of Mexican relics in my possession, obtained by Porter C. Bliss during his travels in the country. This collection includes a grotesque mask of clay; a head of terra-cotta, eight inches high and six inches wide, including head-dress; a small head carved from limestone; a wooden teponaztli; a copper coin or hatchet; five terra-cotta faces, whose dimensions are generally about two inches; six fragments of pottery, mostly ornamented with raised and indented figures—one with raised figures added after the vessel was completed, one with painted figures, one glazed, and one apparently engraved; and seven fragments, some of which seem to have been handles or legs of large vessels.

I close my description of Mexican Antiquities with the two following quotations, somewhat at variance with the matter contained in the preceding pages. “This, like other American countries, is of too recent civilization to exhibit any monuments of antiquity.”[IX-126]Bigland’s View of the World, vol. v., p. 523. “I am informed by a person who resided long in New Spain and visited almost every province of it, that there is not, in all the extent of that vast empire, any monument or vestige of any building more ancient than the conquest, nor of any bridge or highway, except some remains of the causeway from Guadaloupe to the gate of Mexico.”[IX-127]Robertson’s Hist. Amer., vol. i., p. 269. I give in a note a list of authorities which contain descriptions more or less complete of Mexican relics, but no information in addition to what has been presented.[IX-128]Ampère, Prom. en Amér., tom. ii., pp. 266-7, 287-92; Armin, Das Alte Mex., pp. 47-50; Andrews’ Illust. W. Ind., pp. 73-4; Beaufoy’s Mex. Illustr., pp. 198-9; Bonnycastle’s Span. Amer., vol. i., p. 52; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 108-13; Brownell’s Ind. Races, pp. 50-4; Calderon de la Barca’s Life in Mex., vol. i., p. 93, vol. ii., p. 136; Chambers’ Jour., 1834, vol. ii., pp. 374-5, 1838, vol. vi., pp. 43-4; Chevalier, Mexique, p. 10; Id., Mex. Ancien et Mod., pp. 50-3, 453-4; Conder’s Mex. Guat., vol. i., p. 272; Cortés’ Despatches, pp. 82-3, 265; Democratic Review, vol. xi., pp. 611-13; Davis’ Anc. Amer., pp. 6-7; Delafield’s Antiq. Amer., pp. 30, 56, 61; Domenech, Jour., pp. 289, 371; D’Orbigny, Voyage, p. 336; Edinburgh Review, July, 1867; Elementos de Geog. Civil, p. 29; Evans’ Our Sister Rep., pp. 330-3; Frost’s Pict. Hist. Mex., pp. 44-6; Gilliam’s Trav., pp. 95-9; Gordon’s Hist. and Geog. Mem., pp. 45-6; Id., Ancient Mex., vol. i., pp. 201-8; Gregory’s Hist. Mex., p. 17; Grone, Briefe, pp. 91-2, 96-7; Heller, Reisen, pp. 148-50; Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. i., pp. 288-90, vol. ii., p. 141; Hazart, Kirchen-Geschichte, tom. ii., p. 499; Hill’s Travels, vol. ii., pp. 238-42; Hist. Mag., vol. iv., p. 271; Kendall’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 328; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 5-6, 8, 17-19, 137-43, 153-63; Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., pp. 30, 44, 46-50, 53, 264, 326-7; Lang’s Polynesian Nat., pp. 218-24; Latrobe’s Rambler, pp. 168-76; Lemprière’s Notes in Mex., pp. 88-9; Linati, Costumes, pl. 29; Löwenstern, Mexique, p. 106, et seq., Lyon’s Journal, vol. ii., pp. 119-21; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., pp. 293, 295, 406, 446, 460; McSherry’s El Puchero, pp. 154-5; Mexique, Études Hist., p. 7; Mexico, Mem. de la Sec. Estado, 1835, pp. 42-4; Mexikanische Zustände, pp. 372-6; Mexico, Trip to, p. 66; Mexico, Stories of, pp. 87, 105; Mexico in 1842, pp. 86-7; Monglave, Résumé, pp. 5, 11-13, 57-8; Morton’s Crania Amer., p. 149; Moxó, Cartas Mej., pp. 86, 90-3, 132, 349-59; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 219; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., p. 229, tom. ii., pt. ii., pp. 295, 318-19, 352; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 45, 457-9, 463-4, 466-8, 498-9, 543-5, 549-62, 642-6; Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., pp. 277-80; Id., Rambles by Land and Water, pp. 199-210; Nott and Gliddon’s Indig. Races, pp. 184-7; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 9-10, 54-5; Prescott’s Mex., vol. iii., pp. 402-4; Prichard’s Researches, vol. v., pp. 345-8; Poinsett’s Notes Mex., pp. 73-6, 111; Priest’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 255-7; Ranking’s Hist. Researches, pp. 353-62, 401-3; Ruxton’s Adven. Mex., p. 47; Id., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1850, tom. cxxvi., pp. 45-6; Saturday Magazine, vol. vi., p. 42; Simon’s Ten Tribes, pp. 155, 157, 196, 283; Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. i., p. 37; Shuck’s Cal. Scrap-Book, p. 657; Tayac, in Comité d’Arch. Amér., 1866-7, p. 142; Taylor’s Eldorado, vol. ii., pp. 159-60; Thompson’s Mex., pp. 116-17, 213; Thümmel, Mexiko, pp. 134-5, 182-3, 246-7, 330; Tudor’s Nar., vol. ii., pp. 239-40, 253-5; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 72; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., pp. 186, 188, 192, 196; Wise’s Los Gringos, pp. 255-6; Willson’s Amer. Hist., pp. 73-4, 87-9; Wortley’s Trav., pp. 194-8; Young’s Hist. Mex., p. 21.

Nahua Monuments

No general view or résumé of Nahua monuments seems necessary here, nor are extensive concluding remarks called for, in addition to what has been said in connection with particular groups of monuments, and to the conclusions which the reader of the preceding pages will naturally form. The most important bearing of the monuments as a whole is as a confirmation of the Nahua civilization as it was found to exist in the sixteenth century, reported in the pages of the conquerors and early chroniclers, and as it has been exhibited in a preceding volume. That there were exaggerations in the reports that have come down to us is doubtless true, as it is very natural; but a people who could execute the works that have been described and pictured in this and the two preceding chapters, were surely far advanced in many of the elements of what is termed civilization. And all this they did, it must be remembered, while practically still in their ‘stone age;’ for although copper was used by them, it has been seen that implements of that metal but rarely occur in the list of relics described. It is doubtful if any known people ever advanced so far under similar circumstances—that is in their ‘stone age,’ or in the earlier stages of their ‘bronze age’—as did the Nahuas and Mayas of this continent.

Not only do the northern monuments confirm the reported culture existing at the Conquest, but they agree, so far as they go, with the traditional annals of Anáhuac during the centuries preceding the coming of the Spaniards. Teotihuacan and Cholula differ from any works of the later Nahua epochs; while Xochicalco and Mitla are far superior to any known works of the Aztecs proper. All remains sustain the traditions that the Aztecs were superior to their neighbors chiefly in the arts of war, and that the older inhabitants were more devoted to the arts of architecture and sculpture, if not more skillful in the practice of them, than their successors. Still, this must not be understood to indicate anything like a permanent deterioration, or the beginning of a backward march of civilization, whose march is ever onward, although making but little account of centuries or generations.

Nahua and Maya Relics

The comparison of Nahua with Maya monuments is a most interesting subject, into the details of which I do not propose to enter. In the use of the pyramidal structure, common to both branches of American civilized nations, and in a few sculptured emblems there is doubtless a resemblance; but this likeness is utterly insufficient to support what has been in the past a favorite theory among writers on the subject;—namely, that of a civilized people migrating slowly southward, and leaving behind them traces of a gradually improving but identical culture. The resemblances in question have in my opinion been greatly exaggerated, and are altogether outnumbered and outweighed by the marked contrasts, which, as they exist between the monuments of Yucatan and Chiapas, and those of Mexico and Vera Cruz, do not need to be pointed out to one who has studied the preceding descriptions. It is true that the best architectural specimens of Nahua art have been entirely destroyed, still there is no reason to doubt that if they could be partially restored they would resemble the structures of Vera Cruz, or at best, Xochicalco, rather than those of Uxmal and Palenque.

The differences between the northern and southern remains, while far more clearly marked than the resemblances, and constituting a much more forcible argument against than in favor of the theory that all American peoples are identical, must yet not be regarded as in any way conclusive in the matter; for it may be noticed that the likeness is very vague between the Nicaraguan idols of stone and those carved by the hands of the northern Aztecs. Yet the peoples were doubtless identical in blood and language, as the divinities which the respective artists attempted to symbolize in stone were the same. The reader will probably agree with me in the conclusion that, while a comparison of northern and southern monuments is far from proving or disproving the original identity of the Civilized Races of the Pacific States, yet it goes far to show, in connection with the evidence of language, tradition, and institutions, a Nahua and a Maya culture, progressing in separate paths,—though not without contact, friction, and intermingling,—during a long course of centuries.

Footnotes

[IX-1] Dupaix, 2d exped., p. 14, pl. xviii., fig. 53-4; Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 243, vol. vi., p. 442, vol. iv., pl. xvi., fig. 53-4; Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., p. 47.

[IX-2] ‘No subsisten de él sino unas grandes ruinas de templo y caserías de cal y canto, situadas en ladera de unos cerritos.’ Dupaix, 1st exped., p. 5; Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 211, vol. vi., p. 423.

[IX-3] Dupaix, 1st exped., p. 4, pl. iii., fig. 3; Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 211, vol. vi., p. 422, vol. iv., pl. ii., fig. 5. ‘On y monte, du côté de l’ouest, par une rampe tracée de gauche à droite pour le premier étage, de droite à gauche pour le second, et ainsi de suite jusqu’au dernier.’ Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., p. 26; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., p. 157.

[IX-4] Dupaix, 3d exped., p. 5, pl. i., ii., fig. 1-3; Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 285-6, vol. vi., p. 467, vol. iv., pl. i., ii., fig. 1-3. According to Dupaix’s plate the sides and summit platform are covered with plaster. Kingsborough’s plate omits the coating of plaster and shows the remains of a ninth story. A scale attached to the latter plate would indicate that the pyramid has a base of 150 feet and is about 75 feet high. Lenoir, p. 69.

[IX-5] Dupaix, 1st exped., pp. 3-4, pl. i.-ii., fig. 1, 2; 2d exped., p. 51, pl. lxi., fig. 117; Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 209-10, vol. vi., pp. 421-2, vol. iv., pl. i., fig. 1-4; Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., pp. 22, 25-6, 63.

[IX-6] Dupaix, 1st exped., p. 10, pl. xii., fig. 13; Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 217, vol. vi., p. 426, vol. iv., pl. vi., fig. 16; Lenoir, p. 30. Kingsborough’s plate makes the blocks of stone much smaller than the other, shows no plaster, and represents the walls of the summit building as still standing. Kingsborough also incorrectly translates ‘antes de San Andrés,’ ‘formerly San Andrés.’ Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., p. 157.

[IX-7] Dupaix, 1st exped., pp. 12-13, pl. xvii-xxii., fig. 19-24; Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 219-20, vol. vi., pp. 427-8, vol. iv., pl. ix.-xi., fig. 21-4; Lenoir, pp. 31-3.

[IX-8] Dupaix, p. 11, pl. xvii., fig. 18, not in Kingsborough.

[IX-9] Dupaix, 1st exped., p. 13, pl. xxiii.-iv., fig. 25-6; Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 220, vol. vi., p. 428, vol. iv., pl. xii., fig. 25-6; Lenoir, p. 33.

[IX-10] On the building and history of the pyramid, see, among many others, Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 18-19, 155-6, 199-205; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., pp. 182-3.

[IX-11] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 33-4; Humboldt, Essai Pol., pp. 239-40; Id., Vues, tom. i., pp. 96-124, pl. iii. (fol. ed. pl. vii., viii.); Id., in Antiq. Mex., suppl. pl. ii.; Dupaix, 1st exped., p. ii., pl. xvi., fig. 17; Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 218, vol. iv., pl. viii., fig. 20. It is to be noted that there is not the slightest resemblance between the two editions of Castañeda’s drawing. Nebel, Viage Pintoresco, with large colored plate. Other visitors to Cholula, whose accounts contain more or less original information, are:—Poinsett, 1822, Notes, pp. 57-9; Bullock, 1823, Mexico, pp. 111-15—no plate, although the author made a drawing; Ward, 1825, Mexico, vol. ii., p. 269; Beaufoy, 1826, Mexican Illustr., pp. 193-5, with cuts; Latrobe, 1834, Rambler in Mex., p. 275; Mayer, 1841, Mexico as it Was, p. 26; Mex. Aztec, vol. ii., p. 228, with cut; Id., in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., p. 582; Thompson, 1842, Recollections of Mex., p. 30; Tylor, 1856, Anahuac, pp. 274-7; Evans, 1869, Our Sister Republic, pp. 428-32, with cut. Still other references on the subject, containing for the most part nothing except what is gathered from the preceding works, are:—Robertson’s Hist. Amer. (8vo. ed. 1777), vol. i., p. 268; Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., pp. 37-45, pl. vi.; Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 70; Lafond, Voyages, tom. i., pp. 137-8; Armin, Heutige Mex., pp. 63, 68, 72; Wilson’s Mex. and her Religion, pp. 95-9; Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 256, etc., from Humboldt, with cut; Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., p. 90; Baril, Mex., p. 193; Beltrami, Mexique, tom. ii., pp. 283-8; DeBercy, L’Europe et L’Amér., tom. ii., p. 235, etc.; Brackett’s Brigade in Mex., pp. 154-5; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 76-7; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 301, et seq.; Calderon de la Barca’s Life in Mex., vol. ii., p. 97; Chevalier, Mex., pp. 55-6; Id., Mex. Ancien et Mod., pp. 174-9; Combier, Voyage, pp. 385-6; Dally, Sur les Races Indig., p. 17; Davis’ Anc. Amer., p. 9; Donnavan’s Adven., p. 98; D’Orbigny, Voyage, p. 331; Fossey, Mex., p. 111; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 246; Heller, Reisen, pp. 131-2; Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1835, tom. lxv., pp. 363-4; Delafield’s Antiq. Amer., p. 57; Jourdanet, Mexique, p. 20; Larenaudière, Mex. Guat., pp. 24, 45-6, plate from Dupaix; Löwenstern, Mexique, pp. 48-9; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., pp. 461-2; Marmier, Voyageurs, tom. iii., pp. 328-9; Mexico, Country, etc., p. 14; Mex. in 1842, pp. 80-1; Mexico, A Trip to, pp. 59-60; Mill’s Hist. Mex., p. 140; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pp. 232-3, 236; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 458-9, 581; Pagés, Nouveau Voy., tom. ii., pp. 385-7; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 60, vol. ii., pp. 6-8, 26, vol. iii., p. 380; Shepard’s Land of the Aztecs, p. 128; Saturday Mag., vol. v., pp. 175-6; Scherr, Trauerspiel, pp. 29-30; Stapp’s Prisoners of Perote, pp. 107-8; Thümmel, Mexiko, pp. 261-2; Tudor’s Nar., vol. ii., pp. 208-9; Vigneaux, Souv. Mex., p. 531; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., pp. 32, 36, 180, 182; Warden, Recherches, pp. 66-7; Willson’s Amer. Hist., pp. 60-1, 73; Yonge’s Mod. Hist., p. 38; Frost’s Pict. Hist., pp. 37-8; Hermosa, Manual Geog., pp. 140-1; Taylor’s Eldorado, vol. ii., p. 181; Wortley’s Trav., pp. 230-1, etc.; McCulloh’s Researches in Amer., p. 252; Gemelli Careri, in Churchill, Col. Voy., vol. iv., p. 519; Escalera and Llana, Méj. Hist. Descrip., pp. 205-6; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., p. 156; Alcedo, Diccionario, tom. i., p. 550; Democratic Review, vol. xxvii., p. 425, vol. xxvi., pp. 546-7, vol. xi., p. 612; Mansfield’s Mex. War, p. 207; Macgillivray’s Life Humboldt, pp. 292, 312-13; Conder’s Mex. Guat., vol. i., pp. 258-9, plate from Humboldt; Prichard’s Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., p. 509.

[IX-12] ‘The large mound of earth at Cholula which the Spaniards dignified with the name of temple, still remains, but without any steps by which to ascend, or any facing of stone. It appears now like a natural mount, covered with grass and shrubs, and possibly it was never anything more.’ Robertson’s Hist. Amer., vol. i., p. 269. ‘A le voir de loin, on seroit en effet tenté de le prendre pour une colline naturelle couverte de végétation.’ ‘Elle est très-bien conservée du côte de l’ouest, et c’est la face occidentale que présente la gravure que nous publions.’ Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 104-5.

[IX-13] The dimensions of base, height, and summit platform respectively, as given by different authorities, are as follows: 439×54×64¾ mètres, Humboldt; 530×66 varas, Nebel; 1069×204×165 feet, Mayer, according to a careful measurement by a U. S. official in 1847; 40 varas square by actual measurement! Dupaix; 1423×177×208 feet, Prescott; 1425×177×175 feet, Latrobe; 1301×162×177 feet, Poinsett; About 200 feet high, Tylor; 1310×205 feet, Wilson; 1335×172 feet, Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 345; 1355×170 feet, Ampère, Promenade, tom. ii., pp. 374-80; 1388×170 feet, summit 13285 sq. feet, Heller, Reisen, pp. 131-2; said to cover an area of over 43 acres and to be 179 feet high, but it seems much smaller and higher. Evans’ Our Sister Rep., pp. 428-32.

[IX-14] Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 155-6.

[IX-15] Heller, Reisen, pp. 131-2.

[IX-16] Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 127-8.

[IX-17] Foster, Pre-Hist. Races, p. 345, believes, on the contrary, that the pyramid was erected with the sole object of enshrining in an interior chamber of stone two corpses, showing that ‘the industry of the great mass of the population was at the absolute command of the few.’

[IX-18] Wilson’s Mex. and its Relig., pp. 95, 99. See a restoration of Cholula, by Mothes, in Armin, Heutige Mex., pp. 63, 68, 72.

[IX-19] Ampère, Promenade, tom. ii., pp. 373, 380. ‘On découvre encore, du côté occidental, vis-a-vis du Cerro de Tecaxete et de Zapoteca, deux masses parfaitement prismatiques. L’une de ces masses porte aujourd’hui le nom d’Alcosac ou d’Istenenetl, l’autre celui du Cerro de la Cruz; la dernière, construite en pisé, n’est élevée que de 15 mètres.’ Humboldt, Essai Pol., pp. 240-1.

[IX-20] Dupaix, 1st exped., pp. 10-11, pl. xiii.-v., fig. 14-16; Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 218; vol. vi., p. 427, vol. iv., pl. viii., fig. 17-18; Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., pp. 23, 30.

[IX-21] Dupaix, 2d exped., p. 52.

[IX-22] Dupaix, 2d exped., pp. 52-3, pl. lx., lxii., fig. 118-19; Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 279, vol. vi., p. 464, vol. iv., pl. lii., fig. 120-1; Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., p. 63.

[IX-23] Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. ii., pp. 265-6.

[IX-24] Dupaix, 2d exped., pp. 53-5, pl. lxii.-vii., fig. 120-8; Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 279-81, vol. vi., pp. 464-5, vol. iv., pl. lii.-liv., fig. 121-5; Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., pp. 64-6.

[IX-25] Dupaix, 2d exped., pp. 55-56, pl. lxviii.-ix., fig. 129-30; Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 282, vol. vi., p. 466, vol. iv., pl. lv., fig. 129-30; Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., pp. 66-7; Larenaudière, Mex. Guat., pl. vii., from Dupaix; Almaraz, Mem. Metlaltoyuca, p. 33, lithograph without description.

[IX-26] ‘On voit encore beaucoup de restes de cette grande muraille, conservés avec d’autant plus de soin qu’il s’y trouve des quartiers de roc de plus de vingt pieds d’épaisseur.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 135; Lorenzana, in Cortés, Hist. N. España, pp. vi.-vii.; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 104-5. Additional references to slight notices of ruins and relics in the region about Tlascala, containing no available information, are as follows: Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., pp. 135-7; Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. ii., p. 423; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pp. 238, 240. The Historical Magazine, vol. x., pp. 308-10, has an extract from a Mexican newspaper, in which reference is made to an official report of a prefect of the department, announcing the discovery of two magnificent cities. They were probably identical with some of the ruins already described in Vera Cruz.

[IX-27] Mex., Anales del Ministerio de Fomento, 1854, tom. i., p. 691.

[IX-28] Id., p. 694.

[IX-29] Pp. 467-9 of this volume.

[IX-30] Respecting the figures within the circle, Dupaix, 1st exped., p. 14, says ‘la parte derecha dividida en dos cuarteles. En el superior aparece como un plano de ciudad á la orilla de un lago (cual puede ser la de Chalco).’ ‘Au-dessus est une tête, que Dupaix désigne comme celle d’un aigle, mais que je crois être une pièce d’armure, savoir, un casque ou morion.’ Lenoir, Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., p. 34.

[IX-31] ‘Il semble porter, à la partie antérieure de l’aîle, le bâton augural, ce qui lui donnerait un caractère religieux. L’aigle, emblême du Mexique, était affecté à Vitzlipuztli, et cette seule circonstance donne de l’importance à cette représentation, qui a donné son nom au lieu où elle fut trouvée: Quautetl ou aigle de pierre. Dans toute l’Antiquité, l’aigle fut mis au rang des oiseaux sacrés. Il était affecté, en Grèce, à Jupiter, et en Égypte, à Osiris. C’était l’accipiter ou épervier qui, selon Ælien, était l’image, du dieu Horus, ou d’Apollon. A Thèbes, au solstice d’hiver, on plaçait cet oiseau sur l’autel d’Osiris; il était richement paré, mitré ou courronné du pschent, et portant sur l’épaule le bâton pastoral, dans la même position que l’aigle Mexicain que nous avons sous les yeux. Ceci est digne de remarque.’ Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., p. 35. On the Cuernavaca sculptures see Dupaix, 1st exped., pp. 13-14, pl. xxvii-xxx., fig. 29-32; Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 221-2., vol. vi., p. 429, vol. iv., pl. xiii-v., fig. 29-31; Mex., Anales del Ministerio de Fomento, 1854, tom. i., p. 549.

[IX-32] Descripcion de las Antigüedades de Xochicalco, supplement to Gaceta de Literatura, Nov. 1791, also reprint of Id., tom. ii.; also preliminary mention in Id., February 8, 1791, tom. ii., p. 127. Dr Gamarra made a compendium of the MS. before its publication, and sent the same to Italy. An Italian translation of Alzate’s account was published with the original plates in Marquez, Due Antichi Monumenti, pp. 14-29, and re-translated from Marquez, in Dupaix, 1st exped., pp. 18-20.

[IX-33] Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 129-37, (fol. ed. pl. ix.); Id., Essai Pol., pp. 189-90; Id., in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., pp. 15-17. ‘M. Humboldt, … n’a-t-il pas suivi à la lettre l’inexacte description de la pyramide de Xochicalco par le P. Alzate, et n’a-t-il pas fait dans le dessin qu’il donne de ce monument, une seconde édition des erreurs de son modèle?’ Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 69; Nebel, Viage Pintoresco, pl. ix.-x., xix.-xx.; Revista Mexicana, tom. i., pp. 539-50, reprinted in Diccionario Univ. Geog., tom. x., pp. 938-42; Dupaix, 1st exped., pp. 14-18, pl. xxxi.-ii., fig. 33-6; Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 222-4, vol. iv., pl. xv.-vi.; Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., pp. 35-6. Tylor pronounces Castañeda’s drawings grossly incorrect. Other accounts by visitors, are found in Latrobe’s Rambler, pp. 241-3; Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, pp. 180-7; Id., Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., pp. 283-5, with cuts; Id., in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., pp. 583-4, pl. xi.; Tylor’s Anahuac, pp. 183-95; Löwenstern, Mexique, pp. 208-12, 273-81. Other references to compiled accounts are:—Prescott’s Mex., vol. iii., pp. 403-4; Carbajal, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 203-4; Armin, Das Heutige Mex., pp. 98-9, cut; Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., pp. 89-90; Hartmann, Californien, tom. ii., p. 86; Fossey, Mex., pp. 302-3; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 329; Larenaudière, Mex. Guat., pp. 46-9, plate; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 78-9; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 460; Democratic Review, vol. xi., p. 612; Baril, Mexique, p. 70; Cortés’ Despatches, p. 244; Priest’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 276-7; Macgillivray’s Life of Humboldt, p. 308; Delafield’s Antiq. Amer., p. 58; Frost’s Pict. Hist. Mex., pp. 49-53, cut; Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 171; Frost’s Great Cities, pp. 295-300, cut; Conder’s Mex. Guat., vol. i., pp. 339-40;Illustrated London News, June 1, 1867, cut.

[IX-34] Xochicalco, ‘castle of flowers,’ according to Diccionario Univ. Geog., tom. x., p. 938.

[IX-35] Alzate’s barometrical observations, as reckoned by himself, made the height 289 feet; from the same observations Humboldt makes it 384; 279 feet, Dupaix; 369, Nebel; about 400, Tylor; about 333, Revista Mex.

[IX-36] According to the Revista, the gallery leads south 193 feet (a, b, of plan 83 feet), then west 166 feet (not on plan), and terminates in what seems and is said by the natives to be an intentional obstruction. 83 feet from the entrance (a, c, of plan 16½ feet) a branch leads east 138 feet (c, k, of plan 81 feet) to the room. I have no doubt that these dimensions are more accurate than Dupaix’s. The Revista account of the room, so far as it is intelligible, agrees well enough with the plan.

[IX-37] These are the dimensions given in the Revista, 100 by 87 mètres. Dupaix, 1st exped., p. 15, says 89 by 102 varas.

[IX-38] Dimensions in English feet—length east and west, width north and south, and height of 1st story, always in the same order—according to different authorities:—64½ by — by 16 feet, Nebel, plate; 69 by 61 by —, Dupaix; — by 43 by 9½, Id., plate; 58 by 69 by 11, Alzate and Humboldt; 63 by 58 by 19, Revista Mex. The side shown in Dupaix’s plate as 43 feet may be the northern or southern, instead of the eastern or western, according as the stairway is on the north or west.

[IX-39] ‘Pórfido granítico,’ Revista Mex., p. 548. ‘Basalto porfírico,’ Nebel. Basalt, Löwenstern, Mex., pp. 209-10. ‘La calidad de piedra de esta magnífica arquitectura es de piedra vitrificable, y por la mayor parte de aquella piedra con que forman las muelas ó piedras para moler trigo: tambien hay de color blanquecino, siendo de notar, que en muchas leguas à la redonda no se halla semejante calidad de piedra.’ Alzate, p. 8.

[IX-40] Kingsborough’s edition of Castañeda’s drawing bears not the slightest likeness to that in the Antiq. Mex., copied above. It is possible that the latter was made up at Paris from Alzate’s plate.

[IX-41] ‘El primer destruidor, comparable al zapatero que quemó el templo de Diana Efesina, fué un fulano Estrada; su atrevimiento permanezca en oprobio para con los amantes de la antigüedad.’ Alzate, p. 8. Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., p. 132, gives 1750 as the date when the five stories yet remained in place.

[IX-42] London Illustrated News, June 1, 1867. Alzate and Mayer also give restorations.

[IX-43] ‘A part ce monument, Mexico ne possède intact et debout aucun vestige de constructions antiques.’ Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 72. ‘No se puede poner en duda el destino absolutamente militar de estos trabajos, ni rehusarse á creer que tuvieron por objeto especial la defensa del monumento que encerraban, cuya importancia puede apreciarse, atendiendo á los medios empleados para su seguridad.’ ‘Todos los viageros convienen en la nobleza de la estructura y en la regularidad de proporciones del monumento. La inclinacion de las paredes, la elegancia del friso y la cornisa, son de un efecto notable.’ In the sculptures ‘se hallan proporciones regulares, y mucha espresion en las cabezas y en el adorno de las figuras; mientras que en las otras (Aztec) no se descubren sino vestígios de barbarie. Las estatuas aztecas, informes y desproporcionadas, en nada manifiestan la imitacion de la naturaleza; y si en ellas se observa frecuentemente una ejecucion algo correcta, con mas frecuencia se ven todavia cabezas desmedidas, narices ecsageradas y frentes deprimidas hasta la estravagancia.’ Revista Mex., tom. i., pp. 539, 542, 549. ‘Les naturels du village voisin de Tetlama possèdent une carte géographique construite avant l’arrivée des Espagnols, et à laquelle on a ajouté quelques noms depuis la conquête; sur cette carte, à l’endroit où est situé le monument de Xochicalco, on trouve la figure de deux guerriers qui combattent avec des massues, et dont l’un est nommé Xochicatli, et l’autre Xicatetli. Nous ne suivrons pas ici les antiquaires mexicains dans leurs discussions étymologiques, pour apprendre si l’un de ces guerriers a donné le nom à la colline de Xochicalco, ou si l’image des deux combattans désigne simplement une bataille entre deux nations voisines, ou enfin si la dénomination de Maison des fleurs a été donnée au monument pyramidal, parce que les Toltèques, comme les Péruviens, n’offroient à la divinité que des fruits, des fleurs et de l’encens.’ Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 135-6.

[IX-44] Mex., Anales del Ministerio de Fomento, 1854, tom. i., p. 649.

[IX-45] Dupaix, 2d exped., p. 13, pl. xvii., fig. 52; Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 243, vol. vi., p. 442, vol. iv., pl. xv., fig. 52; Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., p. 46.

[IX-46] Dupaix, 1st exped., p. 13, pl. xxv.-vi., fig. 27-8; Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 221, vol. vi., pp. 428-9, vol. iv., pl. xii., fig. 27-8; Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., pp. 33-4.

[IX-47] Dupaix, 2d exped., pp. 11-13, pl. xv.-vii., fig. 44-51; Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 241-3, vol. vi., p. 441, vol. iv., pl. xiii.-xv., fig. 44-51; Lenoir, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. i., pp. 45-6; Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., pp. 122-3—with a remark that ‘telescopic tubes’ have been found in Mississippi mounds and in Peru.

[IX-48] Dupaix, 2d exped., pp. 3-11, pl. i.-xiv., fig. 1-43; Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., pp. 228-40, vol. vi., pp. 432-40, vol. iv., pl. i.-xii., fig. 1-43; Lenoir, Parallèle, pp. 37-45; Mexico, Anales del Ministerio de Fomento, 1854, tom. i., pp. 477, 486, 500, 502, 521; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 21; Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., pp. 66-9, pl. xii.

[IX-49] Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt. ii., p. 80; Lyon’s Journal, vol. ii., p. 113; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 11; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 268; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 142; Thümmel, Mexiko, pp. 124-5; Ward’s Mexico, vol. ii., pp. 230-1; Latrobe’s Rambler, p. 176.

[IX-50] Alzate y Ramirez, Gacetas, Oct. 2, 1792, reprint, tom. ii., pp. 457-9; Löwenstern, Mexique, pp. 260-5, and scattered remarks, pp. 273-81; Id., in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 107.

[IX-51] Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., p. 78, with reference to Latrobe; Löwenstern, Mexique, pp. 258-60; Baril, Mexique, p. 70.

[IX-52] Mexico, Anales del Ministerio de Fomento, 1854, tom. i., pp. 241-2.

[IX-53] Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 244.

[IX-54] 4 by 4 by 1 mètres, circle 3.4 mètres in diameter. Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., p. 85, (or 3.04 mètres, 9 feet 6½ inches, according to Antiq. Mex.) ‘La nature de cette pierre n’est pas calcaire, comme l’affirme M. Gama, mais de porphyre trappén gris-noirâtre, à base de wacke basaltique. En examinant avec soin des fragments détachés, j’y ai reconnu de l’amphibole, beaucoup de cristaux très alongés de feldspath vitreux, et, ce qui est assez remarquable, des paillettes de mica. Cette roche, fendillée et remplie de petites cavités, est dépourvue de quarz, comme presque toutes les roches de la formation de trapp. Comme son poids actuel est encore de plus de quatre cent quatre-vingt-deux quintaux (24,400 kilogrammes).’ Id., in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 22, supl. pl. v.; Id., Vues, tom. i., p. 332, et seq., tom. ii., pp. 1, et seq., 84, pl. viii. (fol. ed., pl. xxiii.). 4½ by 4½ by 1 varas, diameter of circle a little over 4 varas. ‘La figura de esta piedra debió ser en su orígen un paralelepípedo rectángulo, lo que manifiesta bien (aunque la faltan algunos pedazos considerables, y en otros partes está bastante lastimada) por los ángulos que aun mantiene, los que demuestran las extremidades que permanecen menos maltratadas.’ Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt. i., pp. 92, 2-3; Id., Saggio Astron., Rome, 1804. p. 130. Reply to Alzate’s criticism, Id., pt. ii., pp. 24-5. See Alzate y Ramirez, Gacetas, tom. ii., p. 421. Original weight as it came from the quarry nearly 50 tons. Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 142. Dug up on Dec. 17, 1790. Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., pp. 47-54, pl. viii. 11 feet 8 inches in diameter. Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, pp. 126-8. 12 feet in diameter, of porous basalt. Bullock’s Mexico, pp. 333-4. ‘Basalto porfírico,’ circle 9 feet in diameter. Nebel, Viaje. 11 feet diameter. Fossey, Mexique, p. 217. 27 feet in circumference. Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., p. 109.

[IX-55] Charnay, Ruines Amér., phot. i.

[IX-56] Additional references on the Calendar-Stone:—Tylor’s Anahuac, pp. 238-9; Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. i., p. 117, cuts; Id., in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., p. 590, with plate; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 70, 94-103, 114.

[IX-57] Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt. ii., pp. 46-73. Discovered December 17, 1791; 3 varas, 1 pulgada, 4½ lineas in diameter; 1 vara, 1 pulgada high; material a hard, dark-colored, fine grained stone, which admits of a fine polish. Humboldt gives the dimensions 3 mètres diameter, 11 décimètres high; he also says the groups are 20 in number. Vues, tom. i., pp. 315-24, (fol. ed. pl. xxi.); Id., in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., pp. 20-1, suppl. pl. iv., showing the rim. Nebel, Viaje, gives plates of upper surface,—showing, however, no groove—all the groups on the rim, and one group on a larger scale. He says the material is ‘basalto porfírico,’ and the dimensions 9×3 feet. Bullock, Mexico, pp. 335-6, says, 25 feet in circumference. He also took a plaster cast of this stone. A mass of basalt 9 feet in diameter, and 3 feet high, believed by the author to be in reality a sacrificial stone. Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, pp. 119-22; Id., Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. i., pp. 114-15; Id., in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., p. 586, with plates and cuts in each work. According to Fossey, Mexique, p. 214, the sculptured figures represent a warrior as victorious over 14 champions. ‘I think that it is the best specimen of sculpture which I have seen amongst the antiquities of Mexico.’ Thompson’s Mex., p. 122; Latrobe’s Rambler, pp. 171-2; Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 340, vol. iv., pl. unnumbered; Tylor’s Anahuac, p. 224; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., p. 108; Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. i., p. 85, with plate.

[IX-58] See vol. iii., pp. 396-402, of this work, for a résumé of Gama’s remarks on this idol.

[IX-59] Respecting the god Huitzilopochtli, see vol. iii., pp. 288-324, of this work.

[IX-60] 3.0625 by 2 by 1.83 varas; of sandstone: ‘156 de las piedras arenarias que describe en su mineralogía el Señor Valmont de Bomare, dura, compacta, y dificil de extraer fuego de ella con el acero; semejante á la que se emplea en los molinos.’ Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt. i., pp. 1-3, 9-10, 34-44, with 5 plates. Reply to Alzate, Gacetas, tom. ii., p. 416, who pronounced the stone a kind of granite. Id., pt. ii., pp. 8-10. ‘Plus de trois mètres de hauteur et deux mètres de largeur.’ ‘La pierre qui a servi à ce monument, est une wakke basaltique gris bleuâtre, fendillée et remplie de feldspath vitreux.’ ‘En jetant les yeux sur l’idole figurée … telle qu’elle se présente … on pourrait d’abord être tenté de croire que ce monument est un teotetl, pierre divine, une espèce de bétyle, orné de sculptures, une roche sur laquelle sont gravés des signes hiéroglyphiques. Mais, lorsqu’on examine de plus près cette masse informe, on distingue, à la partie supérieure, les têtes de deux monstres accolés; et l’on trouve, à chaque face, deux yeux et une large gueule armée de quatre dents. Ces figures monstrueuses n’indiquent peut-être que des masques: car, chez les Mexicains, on étoit dans l’usage de masquer les idoles à l’époque de la maladie d’un roi, et dans toute autre calamité publique. Les bras et les pieds sont cachés sous une draperie entourée d’énormes serpents, et que les Mexicains désignoient sous le nom de cohuatlicuye, vêtement de serpent. Tous ces accessoires, surtout les franges en forme de plumes, sont sculptés avec le plus grand soin.’ Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., pp. 148-61, (fol. ed., pl. xxix.); Id., Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., pp. 25-7, suppl. pl. vi., fig. 9. 9 feet high. Nebel, Viaje, with large plate. Dug up for Bullock, who made a plaster cast in 1823. Bullock’s Mexico, pp. 337-42. Description with plates in Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. i., pp. 108-11; Id., Mex. as it Was, pp. 109-14; Id., in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., pp. 585-6, pl. viii. 5 feet wide and 3 feet thick. ‘The most hideous and deformed that the fancy can paint.’ Latrobe’s Rambler, pp. 171, 175-6; Tylor’s Anahuac, pp. 221-3; Fossey, Mexique, p. 214.

[IX-61] Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, pp. 123-4; Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt. ii., p. 73-4.

[IX-62] Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., p. 158; Id., in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 27; Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt. i., pp. 11-12, pt. ii., pp. 73-111.

[IX-63] Mayer, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., p. 589, pl. vi.; Id., Mex. as it Was, pp. 100-1; Id., Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 274; Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., pp. 89-90, pl. xvi.

[IX-64] Mosaico Mex., tom. iii., pp. 402-3, with plates; Calderon de la Barca’s Life in Mex., vol. i., p. 203; Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, pp. 85-8, 97; Id., in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., pl. v., fig. 3.

[IX-65] Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, pp. 31-2, 85-8. ‘Indio triste’ also in Mosaico Mex., tom. iii., pp. 165-8.

[IX-66] Anahuac, p. 138.

[IX-67] Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., pp. 103-8, pl. xxi-ii.

[IX-68] Chavero, in Gallo, Hombres Ilustres, Mex. 1873, tom. i., p. 151.

[IX-69] See vol. iii., pp. 355-7, 413-15, of this work.

[IX-70] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., pp. 303-5, speaks of ‘les murs gigantesques de ses palais, les statues mutilées, à demi enfoncés dans le sol, les blocs énormes de basalte et de porphyre sculptés, épars dans les champs de Tetzcuco.’ Bullock, Mexico, pp. 381-7, 399-400, says, ‘you pass by the large aqueduct for the supply of the town, still in use, and the ruins of several stone buildings of great strength…. Foundations of ancient buildings of great magnitude…. On entering the gates, to the right are seen those artificial tumuli, the teocalli of unburnt brick so common in most Indian towns.’ The site of the palace of the kings of Tezcuco extended 300 feet on sloping terraces with small steps; some terraces are still entire and covered with cement. It must have occupied some acres of ground, and was built of huge blocks of basalt 4 or 5 by 2½ or 3 feet. ‘The raised mounds of brick are seen on all sides, mixed with aqueducts, ruins of buildings of enormous strength, and many large square structures nearly entire…. Fragments of sculptured stones constantly occur near the church, the market-place, and palace.’ Both Brasseur and Bullock are somewhat given to exaggeration, and they also refer, probably, to other remains in the vicinity yet to be described. ‘The ruins of tumuli, and other constructions of unbaked bricks, intermingled with platforms and terraces of considerable extent, are still to be traced; and it is asserted, that many of the Spanish edifices are constructed out of the ruins of the Teocallis.’ Latrobe’s Rambler, pp. 184-5. Other authorities on Tezcuco: Nebel, Viaje; Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, p. 221; Id., Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., pp. 274-6; Id., in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., pl. v., fig. 7; Tylor’s Anahuac, pp. 96, 150, 236, 262-3, with cuts; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 76, 83, 110; Beaufoy, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. ii., pp. 70-1; Mexico, Anales del Ministerio de Fomento, 1854, tom. i., pp. 448-9, 719; Willson’s Amer. Hist., p. 73; Conder’s Mex. Guat., vol. i., p. 332; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 132.

[IX-71] On Nezahualcoyotl’s country palace at Tezcocingo, see vol. ii., pp. 168-73, of this work.

[IX-72] Bath 12 by 8 feet, with well in centre 5 feet in diameter and 4 feet deep, surrounded by a parapet 2½ feet high, ‘with a throne or chair, such as is represented in ancient pictures to have been used by the kings.’ Bullock’s Mexico, pp. 390-3. ‘His majesty used to spend his afternoons here on the shady side of the hill, apparently sitting up to his middle in water like a frog, if one may judge by the height of the little seat in the bath.’ Tylor’s Anahuac, pp. 152-3; Beaufoy’s Mex. Illustr., pp. 194-5; Id., in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. ii., p. 70. The aqueduct ‘is a work very nearly or quite equal in the labor required for its construction to the Croton Aqueduct.’ Thompson’s Mex., pp. 143-6; Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., pp. 276-8; Id., Mex. as it Was, pp. 86, 233-4, with the cut copied, another of the aqueduct, and a third representing an idol called the ‘god of silence;’ Ward’s Mexico, vol. ii., pp. 296-7; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 182-4; Löwenstern, Mexique, pp. 252-3; Vigne’s Travels, vol. i., p. 27; Frost’s Pict. Hist. Mex., pp. 54-8; Id., Great Cities, pp. 302-4.

[IX-73] Tylor’s Anahuac, pp. 155-6; Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., pp. 278-9; Latrobe’s Rambler, pp. 190-1.

[IX-74] Latrobe’s Rambler, p. 192.

[IX-75] Bullock’s Mexico, pp. 395-9. This author also speaks of a ‘broad covered way between two huge walls which terminate near a river,’ on the road to Tezcuco. Beaufoy’s Mex. Illustr., pp. 196-7, cut of idol; Latrobe’s Rambler, pp. 184-5; Tylor’s Anahuac, pp. 153-4, with cut of bridge; Ward’s Mexico, vol. ii., p. 296; Mexico, Anales del Ministerio de Fomento, 1854, tom. i., p. 615; Conder’s Mex. Guat., vol. i., p. 335; Aubin, in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 355; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 78, 85; Beaufoy, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. ii., pp. 69-70.

[IX-76] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 148-51.

[IX-77] Almaraz, Apuntes sobre las Pirámides de San Juan Teotihuacan, in Id., Mem. de los Trabajos ejecutados por la Comision de Pachuca, 1864, pp. 349-58. Linares, Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 3ra época, tom. i., pp. 103-5, wrote an account which seems to be made up from the preceding. See also: Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 34-5; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., pp. 187-9; Id., Vues, tom. i., pp. 100-2; Id., in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., pp. 11-12; Bullock’s Mexico, pp. 411-18, with pl.; Beaufoy’s Mex. Illustr., pp. 189-93, with cut; Ward’s Mexico, vol. ii., pp. 214-15, 295; Latrobe’s Rambler, pp. 194-217; Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 279; Id., in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., p. 583; Thompson’s Mex., pp. 139-43; Tylor’s Anahuac, pp. 96, 141-4; García, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. viii., pp. 198-200. The preceding authorities are arranged chronologically: the following are additional references:—Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1831, tom. li., pp. 238-9; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 239-40, 247-9; Fossey, Mexique, pp. 315-16; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 15, 148-51, 197-8; Gemelli Careri, in Churchill’s Col. Voyages, vol. iv., p. 514; Bullock’s Across Mex., pp. 165-6; Löwenstern, Mexique, pp. 248-50, 272-81; Heller, Reisen, p. 157; Tudor’s Nar., vol. ii., pp. 277-9; Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., pp. 38-41; Chevalier, Mexique, p. 51; Nebel, Viaje, plates of terra-cotta heads; Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 254-5; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 80-1; Conder’s Mex. Guat., vol. i., pp. 336-9; Calderon de la Barca’s Life in Mex., vol. i., pp. 236-7; Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 131; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 459; Prichard’s Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., p. 509; Delafield’s Antiq. Amer., pp. 56-7; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 186; McCulloh’s Researches in Amer., pp. 252-3; García y Cubas, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. i., p. 37; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., p. 155; Frost’s Pict. Hist. Mex., pp. 53-4; Id., Great Cities, pp. 298-303; Lafond, Voyages, tom. i., pp. 138-9; Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., pp. 24, 44-5; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 460; Willson’s Amer. Hist., p. 598; Mexico, Anales del Ministerio de Fomento, 1854, tom. i., pp. 530-1, 719; Baril, Mexique, p. 70; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 269; Beaufoy, in Antiq. Mex., tom. ii., div. ii., pp. 69-70; Shepard’s Land of the Aztecs, pp. 103-5; Vigne’s Travels, vol. i., p. 28; Album Mex., tom. i., pp. 117-18.

[IX-78] These are the dimensions given by Almaraz, except those of the summit platform, which are only an estimate by Beaufoy. The following are the dimensions as given by different authors: 130 by 156 by 42 mètres. Almaraz; 44 mètres high. Humboldt, according to measurements of Sr Oteyza; 360 by 480 by 150 feet. Gemelli Careri; —— by 645 by 170 feet. Heller; 130 by 156 by 44 mètres. Linares. Others take the dimensions generally from Humboldt.

[IX-79] ‘On les prendrait pour ces turgescences terrestres qu’on trouve dans les lieux jadis bouleversés par les feux souterrains.’ Fossey, Mexique, p. 315. Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 247-9, says the pyramid was round instead of rectangular, and that it had three terraces, although in Boturini’s time no traces of them remained. ‘It required a particular position whence to behold them, united with some little faith, in order to discover the pyramidal form at all.’ Tudor’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 277. ‘To say the truth, it was nothing but a heap of earth made in steps like the pyramids of Egypt; only that these are of stone.’ Gemelli Careri, in Churchill’s Col. Voyages, vol. iv., p. 514. ‘Ils formoient quatre assises, dont on ne reconnoit aujourd’hui que trois.’ ‘Un escalier construit en grandes pierres de taille, conduisoit jadis à leur cime.’ ‘Chacune des quatres assises principales étoit subdivisée en petits gradins d’un mètre de haut, dont on distingue encore les arrêtes.’ Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 188. Mayer, Mex. as it Was, p. 223, says that three stories are yet distinctly visible. ‘The line from base to summit was broken by three terraces, or perhaps four, running completely round them.’ Tylor’s Anahuac, pp. 142-3.

[IX-80] ‘Leur noyau est d’argile mêlée de petites pierres: il est revêtu d’un mur épais de tezontli ou amygdaloïde poreuse.’ Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 101-2. ‘On y reconnoît, en outre, des traces d’une couche de chaux qui enduit les pierres par dehors.’ Id., Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 157. ‘In many places, I discovered the remains of the coating of cement with which they were incrusted in the days of their perfection.’ Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, p. 223. ‘Arcilla y piedras,’ covered with a conglomerate of tetzontli and mud, and a coating of polished lime, which has a blue tint. Linares, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 3ra época, tom. i., pp. 103-5. ‘En argile … avec révêtement en pierre.’ Chevalier, Mexique, p. 50. ‘No trace of regular stone work or masonry of any kind.’ Bullock’s Across Mex., p. 165. Originally covered with a white cement bearing inscriptions. Glennie, according to Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1831, tom. li., pp. 238-9. Built of clay and stone. Heller, Reisen, p. 157. Salmon-colored Stucco. Latrobe. Unhewn stones of all shapes and sizes. Thompson. Stones and pebbles, faced with porous stone. García. Adobes, stones, clay, and mortar, with a casing of hewn stone and smooth stucco. Tylor. A conglomerate of common volcanic stones and mud mortar with the faces smoothed. Beaufoy. Masses of falling stone and masonry, red cement, 8 or 10 inches thick, of lime and pebbles. Bullock. ‘It is true, that on many parts of the ascent masses of stone and other materials, strongly cemented together, announce the devices and workmanship of man; but on penetrating this exterior coating nothing further was perceptible than a natural structure of earth’ like any natural hill with many loose stones. An American engineer who had made excavations confirmed the idea that the pyramids were natural, although artificially shaped. Tudor’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 278.

[IX-81] Humboldt’s dimensions, according to Oteyza’s measurements are, 208 mètres (682 feet) long and 55 mètres (180 feet) high. 645 feet square, Bullock; 480 by 600 feet, Beaufoy; 182 feet square, García; 221 feet high, Mayer; 221 feet high, Thompson. Round, 297 varas in diameter, 270 varas (745 feet!) high, Veytia, according to Boturini’s measurements; 60 mètres high, Löwenstern; 720 by 480 by 185 feet, Gemelli Careri.

[IX-82] See pp. 74, 380, of this volume.

[IX-83] Linares, Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 3ra época, tom. i., pp. 103-5, calls it Mijcahotle. Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 148-51, applies the name to the whole plain, called by the Spaniards Llano de los Cues.

[IX-84] Almaraz, Apuntes, pp. 354-5, with plate.

[IX-85] ‘It is certain, that where they stand, there was formerly a great city, as appears by the vast ruins about it, and by the grots or dens, as well artificial as natural.’ Gemelli Careri, in Churchill’s Col. Voyages, vol. iv., p. 514. Ruins of streets and plazas. Linares, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 3ra época, tom. i., p. 104.

[IX-86] Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, pp. 222-5, with cut. Thompson, Mex., p. 140, alluding probably to the same monument, locates it ‘a few hundred yards from the pyramids, in a secluded spot, shut closely in by two small hillocks,’ pronounces it undoubtedly a sacrificial stone, and estimates the weight at 25 tons. Beaufoy also speaks of an unsculptured sacrificial stone 11 by 4 by 4 feet. ‘Une fort grande pierre semblable à une tombe, couverte d’hiéroglyphes.’ Fossey, Mexique, p. 316. ‘A massive stone column half buried in the ground.’ Bullock’s Across Mex., p. 166.

[IX-87] Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 239-40, 247-9; Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., p. 39; Gemelli Careri, p. 514. Bullock, Across Mex., p. 165, says he saw as late as 1864, on the summit of the House of the Moon, an altar of two blocks, covered with white plaster evidently recent, with an aperture in the centre of the upper block, supposed to have carried off the blood of victims.

[IX-88] Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. vii., p. 10. ‘One may shut his eyes and drop a dollar from his hand, and the chances are at least equal that it will fall upon something of the kind.’ Thompson’s Mex., p. 140. Plates of 12 terra-cotta heads in Nebel, Viaje. Cuts of 8 heads, some the same as Nebel’s, in Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, p. 227.

[IX-89] Sr Antonio García y Cubas, a member of the commission whose description of Teotihuacan I have used as my chief authority, has since published an Ensayo de un Estudio comparativo entre las Pirámides Egípcias y Mexicanas, Mexico, 1871, which I have received since writing the preceding pages. He gives the same plan and view that I have used, also a plan of the Egyptian pyramids in the plain of Ghizeh, and a plate representing part of a human face in stone from Teotihuacan. The author made some additional observations subsequently to the exploration of the commission, and gives the following dimensions, which vary somewhat from those I have given, especially the height: Sun—232 by 220 by 66 mètres; summit, 18 by 32 mètres; slope, north and south 31° 3´, east and west 36°; direction, E. to W. southern side, 83° N.W.; direction, N. to S. eastern side, 7° N.E. Direction, ‘road of the dead’ 8° 45´ N.E.; line through centres of the two pyramids, 10° N.W. Moon—156 by 130 by 46 mètres; eastern slope, 31° 30, southern slope, 36°; summit, 6 by 6 mètres; direction, north side, 88° 30´ N.W., east side, 1° 30´ N.E. The author thinks the difference in height may result from the fact that the ground on which the pyramids stand slopes towards the south, and the altitude was taken in one case on the south, in the other on the north.

The following quotation contains the most important opinion advanced in the essay in question:—’The pyramids of Teotihuacan, as they exist to-day, are not in their primitive state. There is now a mass of loose stones, whose interstices covered with vegetable earth, have caused to spring up the multitude of plants and flowers with which the faces of the pyramids are now covered. This mass of stones differs from the plan of construction followed in the body of the monuments, and besides, the falling of these stones, which has taken place chiefly on the eastern face of the Moon, has laid bare an inclined plane perfectly smooth, which seems to be the true face of the pyramid. This isolated observation would not give so much force to my argument if it were not accompanied by the same circumstances in all the monuments.’ The slope of these regular smooth surfaces of the Moon is 47°, differing from the slope of the outer surface. The same inner smooth faces the author claims to have found not only in the pyramids, but in the tlalteles, or smaller mounds. Sr García y Cubas thinks that the Toltecs, the descendants of the civilized people that built the pyramids, covered up these tombs and sanctuaries, in fear of the depredations of the savage races that came after them.

Respecting miscellaneous remains at Teotihuacan the author says, ‘The river empties into Lake Tezcuco, with great freshets in the rainy season, its current becoming at such times very impetuous. Its waters have laid bare throughout an immense extent of territory, foundations of buildings and horizontal layers of a very fine mortar as hard as rock, all of which indicates the remains of an immense town, perhaps the Memphis of these regions. Throughout a great extent of territory about the pyramids, for a radius of over a league are seen the foundations of a multitude of edifices; at the banks of the river and on both sides of the roads are found the horizontal layers of lime; others of earth and mud, of tetzontli and of volcanic tufa, showing the same method of construction; on the roads between the pyramids and San Juan are distinctly seen traces of walls which cross each other at right angles.’ He also found excavations which seem to have furnished the material for all the structures.

As to the chief purpose for which the ensayo was written, the author claims the following analogies between Teotihuacan and the Egyptian pyramids: 1. The site chosen is the same. 2. The structures are oriented with slight variation. 3. The line through the centres of the pyramids is in the ‘astronomical meridian.’ 4. The construction in grades and steps is the same. 5. In both cases the larger pyramids are dedicated to the sun. 6. The Nile has a ‘valley of the dead,’ as in Teotihuacan there is a ‘street of the dead.’ 7. Some monuments of each class have the nature of fortifications. 8. The smaller mounds are of the same nature and for the same purpose. 9. Both pyramids have a small mound joined to one of their faces. 10. The openings discovered in the Moon are also found in some Egyptian pyramids. 11. The interior arrangement of the pyramids is analogous.

[IX-90] Mexico, Anales del Ministerio de Fomento, 1854, tom. i., pp. 382-3; Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 282.

[IX-91] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 258; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 171-5; Chaves, Rapport, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii., tom. v., p. 300.

[IX-92] Tylor’s Anahuac, pp. 96, 100, with cut of a knife or spear-head; Burkart, Mexico, tom. i., pp. 124-5. Löwenstern speaks of the obsidian mines of Guajolote, which he describes as ditches one or two mètres wide, and of varying depth; having only small fragments of the mineral scattered about. Mexique, p. 244.

[IX-93] Mexico, Anales del Ministerio de Fomento, 1854, tom. i., p. 277.

[IX-94] Burkart, Mexico, tom. i., p. 51.

[IX-95] Mexico, Anales del Ministerio de Fomento, 1854, tom. i., pp. 623-4, 719; Huasteca, Noticias, pp. 48-9, 69.

[IX-96] Latrobe’s Rambler, p. 75.

[IX-97] J. F. R. Cañete, in Alzate y Ramirez, Gaceta de Literatura, Feb. 20, 1790; also in Id., reprint, tom. i., pp. 282-4. Sr Alzate y Ramirez, editor of the Gaceta, had also heard from other sources of ruins in the same vicinity.

[IX-98] Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 13.

[IX-99] Mayer, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., p. 588, pl. iii., fig. 1, 2.; Id., Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 268; Id., Mex. as it Was, pp. 107-8.

[IX-100] Theatro, tom. i., pp. 86-7.

[IX-101] Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 3ra época, tom. i., pp. 185-7, with 10 fig.

[IX-102] Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., p. 94.

[IX-103] Mexico, Anales del Ministerio de Fomento, 1854, tom. i., p. 263.

[IX-104] Id., p. 334.

[IX-105] Id., pp. 417, 299-300.

[IX-106] Morfi, Viage, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., pp. 312-14. Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. ii., p. 164, also speaks of some small mounds at Pueblito.

[IX-107] Mexico, Mem. de la Sec. Justicia, 1873, pp. 216-17, two plates.

[IX-108] Id., p. 217.

[IX-109] Ballesteros, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iv., pp. 774-8.

[IX-110] Fossey, Mexique, pp. 213-14.

[7]
[IX-111] Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, pp. 31-2, 84-5, 87-106, 272-9; Id., Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., pp. 265-74; Id., in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., pl. i.-vii.

[IX-112] Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 51-6, plate of front and rear; Id., in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., pp. 9-10, suppl., pl. i. Remarks on the statue by Visconti, in Id., p. 32; Plates in Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., pl. xxviii., p. 48; Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. i., p. 389; and Delafield’s Antiq. Amer., p. 61.

[IX-113] See p. 382, for a cut of a similar article.

[IX-114] Tylor’s Anahuac, pp. 95-103, 110, 195, 225-6, 235-6.

[IX-115] Waldeck, Palenqué, p. viii., pl. xliv.; Tylor’s Anahuac, pp. 110, 337-9. Mr Tylor notes that in an old work, Aldrovandus, Musæum Metallicum, Bologna 1648, there were drawings of a knife and wooden mask with mosaic ornamentation, but of a different design.

[IX-116] Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., p. 70, pl. xiii.; Chavero, in Gallo, Hombres Ilustres, tom. i., pp. 146-7; Gilliam’s Trav., pp. 44-5.

[IX-117] Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., pp. 82, 87, 99, 101, pl. xv.-xx.

[IX-118] Soc. Géog., Bulletin, tom. v., No. 95, p. 116, No. 98, p. 283, et seq.; Warden, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., pp. 36-40.

[IX-119] Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. iv., unnumbered plates following those of Castañeda; Bullock’s Mexico, p. 326; Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., pp. 207, 146, (fol. ed. pl. xl., xxviii.); Id., in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., pp. 25-7, suppl., pl. vii., fig. 10, pl. vi., fig. 8; Nebel, Viaje.

[IX-120] Waldeck, Palenqué, pl. lvi.; other miscellaneous relics, pl. iii.-v., xliii., xlv.-vi., lv.

[IX-121] Müller, Reisen, tom. ii., p. 292, et seq.; Cabrera, Beschreibung einer alten Stadt, appendix.

[IX-122] Lyon’s Journal, vol. ii., p. 119.

[IX-123] Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. iv.

[IX-124] Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 143; Amer. Phil. Soc., Transact., vol. iii., p. 510.

[IX-125] Ramirez, Notas, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. ii., suppl., pp. 106-24; Waldeck, Palenqué, pl. liii.

[IX-126] Bigland’s View of the World, vol. v., p. 523.

[IX-127] Robertson’s Hist. Amer., vol. i., p. 269.

[IX-128] Ampère, Prom. en Amér., tom. ii., pp. 266-7, 287-92; Armin, Das Alte Mex., pp. 47-50; Andrews’ Illust. W. Ind., pp. 73-4; Beaufoy’s Mex. Illustr., pp. 198-9; Bonnycastle’s Span. Amer., vol. i., p. 52; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 108-13; Brownell’s Ind. Races, pp. 50-4; Calderon de la Barca’s Life in Mex., vol. i., p. 93, vol. ii., p. 136; Chambers’ Jour., 1834, vol. ii., pp. 374-5, 1838, vol. vi., pp. 43-4; Chevalier, Mexique, p. 10; Id., Mex. Ancien et Mod., pp. 50-3, 453-4; Conder’s Mex. Guat., vol. i., p. 272; Cortés’ Despatches, pp. 82-3, 265; Democratic Review, vol. xi., pp. 611-13; Davis’ Anc. Amer., pp. 6-7; Delafield’s Antiq. Amer., pp. 30, 56, 61; Domenech, Jour., pp. 289, 371; D’Orbigny, Voyage, p. 336; Edinburgh Review, July, 1867; Elementos de Geog. Civil, p. 29; Evans’ Our Sister Rep., pp. 330-3; Frost’s Pict. Hist. Mex., pp. 44-6; Gilliam’s Trav., pp. 95-9; Gordon’s Hist. and Geog. Mem., pp. 45-6; Id., Ancient Mex., vol. i., pp. 201-8; Gregory’s Hist. Mex., p. 17; Grone, Briefe, pp. 91-2, 96-7; Heller, Reisen, pp. 148-50; Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. i., pp. 288-90, vol. ii., p. 141; Hazart, Kirchen-Geschichte, tom. ii., p. 499; Hill’s Travels, vol. ii., pp. 238-42; Hist. Mag., vol. iv., p. 271; Kendall’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 328; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 5-6, 8, 17-19, 137-43, 153-63; Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., pp. 30, 44, 46-50, 53, 264, 326-7; Lang’s Polynesian Nat., pp. 218-24; Latrobe’s Rambler, pp. 168-76; Lemprière’s Notes in Mex., pp. 88-9; Linati, Costumes, pl. 29; Löwenstern, Mexique, p. 106, et seq., Lyon’s Journal, vol. ii., pp. 119-21; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., pp. 293, 295, 406, 446, 460; McSherry’s El Puchero, pp. 154-5; Mexique, Études Hist., p. 7; Mexico, Mem. de la Sec. Estado, 1835, pp. 42-4; Mexikanische Zustände, pp. 372-6; Mexico, Trip to, p. 66; Mexico, Stories of, pp. 87, 105; Mexico in 1842, pp. 86-7; Monglave, Résumé, pp. 5, 11-13, 57-8; Morton’s Crania Amer., p. 149; Moxó, Cartas Mej., pp. 86, 90-3, 132, 349-59; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 219; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., p. 229, tom. ii., pt. ii., pp. 295, 318-19, 352; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 45, 457-9, 463-4, 466-8, 498-9, 543-5, 549-62, 642-6; Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., pp. 277-80; Id., Rambles by Land and Water, pp. 199-210; Nott and Gliddon’s Indig. Races, pp. 184-7; Pimentel, Mem. sobre la Raza Indígena, pp. 9-10, 54-5; Prescott’s Mex., vol. iii., pp. 402-4; Prichard’s Researches, vol. v., pp. 345-8; Poinsett’s Notes Mex., pp. 73-6, 111; Priest’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 255-7; Ranking’s Hist. Researches, pp. 353-62, 401-3; Ruxton’s Adven. Mex., p. 47; Id., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1850, tom. cxxvi., pp. 45-6; Saturday Magazine, vol. vi., p. 42; Simon’s Ten Tribes, pp. 155, 157, 196, 283; Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. i., p. 37; Shuck’s Cal. Scrap-Book, p. 657; Tayac, in Comité d’Arch. Amér., 1866-7, p. 142; Taylor’s Eldorado, vol. ii., pp. 159-60; Thompson’s Mex., pp. 116-17, 213; Thümmel, Mexiko, pp. 134-5, 182-3, 246-7, 330; Tudor’s Nar., vol. ii., pp. 239-40, 253-5; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 72; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., pp. 186, 188, 192, 196; Wise’s Los Gringos, pp. 255-6; Willson’s Amer. Hist., pp. 73-4, 87-9; Wortley’s Trav., pp. 194-8; Young’s Hist. Mex., p. 21.

Chapter X • Antiquities of the Northern Mexican States • 14,200 Words

The Home of the Chichimecs—Michoacan—Tzintzuntzan, Lake Patzcuaro, Teremendo—Aniche and Jiquilpan—Colima—Armería and Cuyutlan—Jalisco—Tonala, Guadalajara, Chacala, Sayula, Tepatitlan, Zapotlan, Nayarit, Tepic, Santiago Ixcuintla, and Bolaños—Guanajuato—San Gregorio and Santa Catarina—Zacatecas—La Quemada and Teul—Tamaulipas—Encarnacion, Santa Barbara, Carmelote, Topila, Tampico, and Burrita—Nuevo Leon and Texas—Coahuila—Bolson de Mapimi, San Martero—Durango—Zape, San Agustin, and La Breña—Sinaloa and Lower California—Cerro de las Trincheras in Sonora—Casas Grandes in Chihuahua.

A somewhat irregular line extending across the continent from north-east to south-west, terminating at Tampico on the gulf and at the bar of Zacatula on the Pacific, is the limit which the progress northward of our antiquarian exploration has reached, the results having been recorded in the preceding chapters. The region that now remains to be traversed, excepting the single state of Michoacan, the home of the Tarascos, is without the limits that have been assigned to the Civilized Nations, and within the bounds of comparative savagism. The northern states of what is now the Mexican Republic were inhabited at the time of the Conquest by the hundreds of tribes, which, if not all savages, had at least that reputation among their southern brethren. To the proud resident of Anáhuac and the southern plateaux, the northern hordes were Chichimecs, ‘dogs,’ barbarians. Yet several of these so-called barbarian tribes were probably as far advanced in certain elements of civilization as some of the natives that have been included among the Nahuas. They were tillers of the soil and lived under systematic forms of government, although not apparently much given to the arts of architecture and sculpture. Only one grand pile of stone ruins is known to exist in the whole northern Chichimec region, and the future discovery of others, though possible, is not, I think, very likely to occur. Nor are smaller relics, idols and implements, very numerous, except in a few localities; but this may be attributed perhaps in great degree to the want of thorough exploration. A short chapter will suffice for a description of all the monuments south of United States territory, and in describing them I shall treat of each state separately, proceeding in general terms from south to north. A glance at the map accompanying this volume will show the reader the position of each state, and each group of remains, more clearly than any verbal location could do.

Tarascan Monuments

The civilized Tarascos of Michoacan have left but very few traces in the shape of material relics. Their capital and the centre of their civilization was on the shores and islands of Lake Patzcuaro, where the Spaniards at the time of the Conquest found some temples described by them as magnificent.[X-1]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 58. Beaumont tells us that the ruins of a ‘plaza de armas’ belonging traditionally to the Tarascos at Tzintzuntzan, the ancient capital, were still visible in 1776, near the pueblo of Ignatzio, two leagues distant. Five hundred paces west of the pueblo a wall, mostly fallen, encloses a kind of plaza, measuring four hundred and fourteen by nine hundred and thirty feet. The wall was about sixteen feet thick and eighteen in height, with terraces, or steps, on the inside. In the centre were the foundations of what the author supposes to have been a tower, and west of the enclosed area were three heaps of stones, supposed to be burial mounds. Two idols, one in human form, lacking head and feet, the other shaped like an alligator, were found here, carved from a stone called tanamo, much like the tetzontli. The same author says, “respecting the ruins of the palace of the Tarascan kings, according to the examination which I lately made of these curiosities, I may say that eastward of this city of Tzintzuntzan, on the slope of a great hill called Yaguarato, a hundred paces from the settlement, are seen on the surface of the ground some subterranean foundations, which extend from north to south about a hundred and fifty paces, and about fifty from east to west, where there is a tradition that the palace of the ancient kings was situated. In the centre of the foundation-stones are five small mounds, or cuicillos, which are called stone yacatas, and hewn blocks, over which an Indian guardian is never wanting, for even now the natives will not permit these stones to be removed.” “On the shores of Lake Siraguen are found ancient monuments of the things which served for the pleasure of the kings and nobles, with other ruined edifices, which occur in various places.”[X-2]Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., pp. 45-6. Ihuatzio, probably the true name of the town called by Beaumont Ignatzio, ‘recuerda por sus antiguedades (la Pirámide aun no destruida, que les servia de plaza de armas: otras Yácatas, ó sepulcros de sus Reyes: las reliquias de una torre que fabricó su primer fundador antes venir los Españoles, y la via, calle ó camino de Queréndaro, que comunicaba con la Capital) tristes memorias de la grandeza michuacana.’ Michuacan, Análisis Estad., por J. J. L., p. 166. Tzintzuntzan is on the south-eastern shore of the lake, some leagues northward from the modern Patzcuaro. Lyon in later times was told that the royal palace and other interesting remains were yet to be seen on the lake shores, but he did not visit them.[X-3]Lyon’s Journal, vol. ii., pp. 71-2. ‘Some relics of the Tarascan architecture are said to be found at this place, but we do not possess any authentic accounts or drawings of them.’ Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 291. Mention in Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 369; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 167.

Teremendo and Aniche

Another early writer, Villa-Señor y Sanchez, says that in 1712 he, with a companion, entered what seemed a cavern in a deep barranca at Teremendo, eight leagues south-west of Valladolid, or Morelia. “There were discovered prodigious aboriginal vaults, bounded by very strong walls, rendered solid by fire. In the centre of the second was a bench like the foot of an altar, where there were many idols, and fresh offerings of copal, and woolen stuffs, and various figures of men and animals.” It was found according to this author that the builders had constructed walls of loose stones of a kind easily melted, and then by fire had joined the blocks into a solid mass without the use of mortar, continuing the process to the roof. The outside of the structure was overgrown with shrubs and trees.[X-4]Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., pp. 70-1; mention in Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 154.

At Aniche, an island in Lake Patzcuaro, Mr Beaufoy discovered some hieroglyphic figures cut on a rock; and at Irimbo about fifty miles east of Morelia, he was shown some small mounds which the natives called fortifications, although there was nothing to indicate that such had been their use.[X-5]Beaufoy’s Mex. Illustr., p. 199. In the mountains south-east of Lake Chapala, in the region of Jiquilpan, Sr García reports the remains of an ancient town, and says further that opals and other precious stones well worked have been obtained here.[X-6]Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iv., p. 559. Humboldt pictures a very beautiful obsidian bracelet or ring, worked very thin and brilliantly polished; and another writer mentions some giants’ bones, all found within the limits of Michoacan.[X-7]Humboldt, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 30, suppl., pl. vii., fig. 13; Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. viii., p. 558.

At the time when official explorations were undertaken by Dupaix and Castañeda in the southern parts of New Spain, it seems that officials in some northern regions also were requested by the Spanish government to report upon such remains of antiquity as might be known to exist. The antiquarian genius to whom the matter was referred in Colima, then a department of Michoacan, but now an independent state, made a comprehensive report to the effect that he “had not been able to hear of anything except an infinite number of edifices of ruined towns,” and some bones and other remains apparently of little importance, which had been taken from excavations on the hacienda of Armería and Cuyutlan, and which seemed to have been destroyed and covered up by volcanic eruptions. If this archæologist had found more than ‘an infinite number’ of ruins, it might possibly have occurred to him to describe some of them.[X-8]Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iii., p. 277. Nothing more is known of Colima antiquities.

Pyramid of Tepatitlan

At Tonala, probably just across the Colima line northward in the state of Jalisco, the report sent in reply to the inquiry just spoken of, mentioned a hill which seemed to be for the most part artificial, and in which excavations revealed walls, galleries, and rooms. Similar works were said to be of frequent occurrence in that region. In digging for the foundations of the Royal Hospital at Guadalajara, “there was found a cavity, or subterranean vault, well painted, and several statues, especially one which represents an Indian woman in the act of grinding corn.” It was hollow, and probably of clay. Near Autlan, in the south-west, there were said to exist some traces of feet sculptured in the rock, one at the ford called Zopilote, and another on the road between Autlan and Tepanola. Near Chacala, still further south, “there is a tank, and near it a cross well carved, and on its foot certain ancient unknown letters, with points in five lines. On it was seen a most devoted crucifix. Under it are other lines of characters with the said points, which seemed Hebrew or Syriac.” This information comes from an old author, and is a specimen of the absurd reports of the Christian gospel having been preached at various points in these regions, which are still believed to a considerable extent by a certain class of the people of Mexico.[X-9]Gutierrez, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iii., pp. 277-80.

An author who wrote in 1778 states that between Guadalajara and Sayula, and four leagues north-east of the latter town, “there is a causeway of stone and earth, about half a league long, across the narrowest part of a marsh, or lagoon. There is a tradition that the gentiles built it in ancient times. On most parts of its shores this marsh has little heaps of pottery in fragments, very wide and thick, and there can still be found figures of large vessels, and also foundations and traces of small houses of stone. Tradition relates that the antiguos of different nations came here to make salt, and that they had several bloody fights, of which many traces appear in the shape of black transparent flints worked into arrow-points.”[X-10]Rico, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iii., p. 183.

Mr Löwenstern discovered near Tepatitlan, some fifty miles north-east of Guadalajara, a pyramid described as somewhat similar to those of Teotihuacan, but smaller, its exact dimensions not being given, but the height being estimated at from ninety to a hundred and thirty feet. It was built in three stories of earth, sand, and pebbles, and bore on its summit a dome-shaped mound. The pyramid at the base was encased with large stones; whether or not they were in hewn blocks is not stated, but the stones lying about indicated that the whole surface had originally borne a stone facing. The form of the base was quadrangular, but time and the cultivation of the whole surface as a cornfield, had modified the original form and given the structure an octagonal conformation with not very clearly defined angles. It requires additional evidence to prove that this supposed pyramid was not a natural hill like Xochicalco with some artificial improvement. The hill is called Cerrito de Montezuma, the custom of applying this monarch’s name to every relic of antiquity being even more common in the northern regions than in other parts of the country. The author of Cincinnatus’ Travels, mentions a ‘mound’ at Zapotlan, about fifty miles east of Guadalajara, which is five hundred feet high. He does not expressly state that it is artificial, and a gentleman familiar with the locality tells me that it is not generally so regarded, having the appearance of a natural grass-covered hill.[X-11]Löwenstern, Mexique, pp. 265-7, 280, 344; Id., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1840, tom. lxxxvi., pp. 119-20; Id., in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 104; Cincinnatus’ Travels, p. 259.

In the northern part of the state, in the region of Tepic, the Spaniards seem to have found grander temples, a more elaborate religious system, and a civilization generally somewhat more advanced than in most other parts of the north or north-west. Still no well-defined architectural monuments are reported on good authority in modern times. It is to the earlier writers that we must go for accounts of any extensive remains, and such accounts in all cases probably refer to the buildings which the Spaniards found still in use among the natives; and the old writers were ready to seize upon every scrap of rumor in this direction, that they might successfully trace the favorite southward course of the Aztecs to Anáhuac. Hervas says that “there have been found and still exist in Nayarit ruins of edifices which by their form seem to be Mexican, and the natives say that the Mexicans built them when they were in Nayarit.”[X-12]Hervás, Catálogo, tom. i., p. 311. This was another of the regions where some wandering apostle preached the gospel in aboriginal times, and the ‘cross of Tepic’ was one of the celebrated Christian relics. Some wonderful foot-prints in the stone are also among the reported relics.[X-13]Florencia, Origen de los Santuarios, p. 8; Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., pp. 217-19. A temple of hewn stone, situated on a rocky hill, ascended by a winding road, was found at Xuchipiltepetl by the Spanish explorers in 1841; and Villa-Señor describes a cave where the natives were wont to worship the skeleton of an ancient king gaily appareled and seated in state upon a throne.[X-14]Acazitli, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. ii., pp. 313-14; Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., pp. 269-70. Finally Prichard informs us that “near Nayarit are seen earthen mounds and trenches.”[X-15]Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., p. 515.

Santiago Ixcuintla

A writer in the Boletin of the Mexican Geographical Society describes the temple at Jalisco as it was found by the first Spaniards; and another in the Nouvelles Annales des Voyages states that the village of Jalisco, about a league from Tepic, is built on the ruins of the ancient city, and that “in making excavations there are found utensils of every kind, weapons and idols of the Mexican divinities.”[X-16]Gil, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. viii., p. 496; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1842, tom. xcv., p. 295; same account in Mofras, Explor., tom. i., p. 161. After all, the only definite account extant of relics found in this part of the state is that by Sr Retes. He says that the northern bank of the Rio Grande, or Tololotlan, contains numerous remains for three or four hundred miles, consisting chiefly of stone and clay images and pottery, and occurring for the most part on the elevated spots out of the reach of inundations. The part of this region that has been most explored, is the vicinity of Santiago Ixcuintla, twenty-five or thirty miles from the mouth of the river. On the slope of a hill four leagues north-west of Santiago, at the foot of Lake San Juan, was found a crocodile of natural size carved from stone, together with several dogs or sphinxes, and some idols, which the author deems similar to those of the Egyptians. Human remains have been found in connection with the other relics, and most of the latter are said to have been sent to enrich European collections by rich foreign residents of Tepic. The objects consist of idols in human and animal forms, axes, and lances, the pottery being in many cases brightly colored. The cut shows six of the thirty-eight relics pictured in the plates given by Retes. Fig. 1, 2, are the heads of small stone idols, the first head being only two inches in height. Fig. 3 is a head of what the author calls a sphinx. Fig. 4 is an earthen-ware mold for stamping designs on cloth or pottery; there are several of these represented in the collection. Fig. 5 is an earthen jar six inches high, of a material nearly as hard as stone. Many of the jars found are very similar to those now made and used in the same region. Fig. 6 is an earthen idol four inches high. Among the other objects is a flint lance-head with notches like saw-teeth on the sides.[X-17]Retes, in Museo Mex., 2da época, tom. i., pp. 3-6. Similar relics, but of somewhat ruder style and coarser material, have been found at a locality called Abrevadero, about eighteen miles south of Santiago towards Tepic.[X-18]Id., p. 6. At Bolaños, some distance east from Santiago, on a northern branch of the same river, Lyon obtained, by offering rewards to the natives, “three very good stone wedges or axes of basalt.” Bones of giants were reported at a distance of a day’s journey. At the same distance southward “there is said to be a cave containing several figures or idols in stone.”[X-19]Lyon’s Journal, vol. i., pp. 322-3.

Relics from Santiago, Jalisco.

Antiquities of Guanajuato

Respecting the antiquities of Guanajuato Sr Bustamante states that the only ones in the state are some natural caves artificially improved, as in the Cerro de San Gregorio, on the hacienda of Tupátaro; and some earthen mounds in the plains of Bajio, proved to be burial mounds. Under the earth and a layer of ashes the skeleton lies with its head covered by a little brazier of baked clay, and accompanied by arrows, fragments of double-edged knives, obsidian fragments, bird-bone necklaces strung on twisted bird-gut, smooth stones, some small semi-spheres of baked clay with a hole in the centre of each, and a few grotesque idols.[X-20]Bustamante, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. i., pp. 56-7.

Castillo describes a small human head, brought from the mines of Guanajuato, the material of which was a “concretion of quartz and chalcedony for the most part, sprinkled with fine grains of gold, and a little pyrites, of a whitish color, but partly stained red by the oxide of iron.” This head, it seems, was claimed by some to be a petrifaction, but the author is of a contrary opinion, although he believes there is nothing artificial about it except the mouth.[X-21]Castillo, in Id., 2da época, tom. iv., pp. 107-8. Finally Berlandier describes two pyramids near the pueblo of Santa Catarina, in the vicinity of the city of Guanajuato. They are square at the base, face the cardinal points, and are built of pieces of porphyry laid in clayey earth. The eastern pyramid is twenty-three feet high, thirty-seven feet square at the base, with a summit platform fifteen feet square. The corresponding dimensions of the western mound are eighteen, thirty-seven, and fifteen feet. They are only fifteen or twenty feet apart, and are joined by an embankment about five feet high.[X-22]Berlandier and Thovel, Diario, p. 25.

Ruins of Quemada

The most important and famous ruins of the whole northern region are those known to the world under the name of Quemada, in southern Zacatecas. The ruins are barely mentioned by the early writers as one of the probable stations of the migrating Aztecs; and the modern explorations which have resulted in published descriptions were made between 1826 and 1831, although Manuel Gutierrez, parish priest of the locality in 1805, wrote a slight account which has been recently published.[X-23]Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iii., pp. 278-9, preceded by an account quoted from Torquemada. Capt. G. F. Lyon visited Quemada in 1826, and published a full description, illustrated with three small cuts, in his journal.[X-24]Lyon’s Journal, vol. i., pp. 225-44. Gov. García of Zacatecas ordered Sr Esparza in 1830 to explore the ruins. The latter, however, by reason of other duties and a fear of snakes, was not able to make a personal visit, but obtained a report from Pedro Rivera who had made such a visit. The report was published in the same year.[X-25]Esparza, Informe, pp. 56-8. The same report also published in 1843, in the Museo Mex., tom. i., p. 185, et seq., with some remarks by the editor, who saw the ruins in 1831. The article also includes a quotation from Frejes, Conquista de Zacatecas, an attempt to clear up the origin and history of the ruined city, and a plate reduced from Nebel.

Mr Berghes, a German mining engineer, connected with the famous Veta Grande silver mines, made a survey of the ruins in 1831, for Gov. García, and from the survey prepared a detailed and presumably accurate plan of the works, which was afterwards published by Nebel, and which I shall copy in this chapter. Mr Burkart, another engineer, was the companion of Berghes, and also visited Quemada on several other occasions. His published account is accompanied by a plan agreeing very well with that of Berghes, but containing fewer details.[X-26]Burkart, Aufenthalt, tom. ii., pp. 97-105. Nebel visited Quemada about the same time.[X-27]Viaje. His Mexican trip began in 1831, Soc. Géog., Bulletin, tom. xv., No. 95, p. 141, and Burkart met him in Zacatecas some time before 1834. His plates are two in number, a general view of the ruins from the south-west, and an interior view of one of the structures, besides Berghes’ plan. His views, so far as I know, are the only ones ever published.[X-28]Other accounts containing no additional information, and made up, except one or two, from the authorities already mentioned:—Gil, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. viii., pp. 441-2; Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, pp. 240-6; Id., Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., pp. 317-23, Lyon’s description and Nebel’s plate; Id., in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., p. 581; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 90-5; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 492; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 204; Frost’s Pict. Hist. Mex., pp. 58-66; Id., Great Cities, pp. 304-12, cuts; Rio, Beschreib. einer alt. Stadt, appendix, pp. 70-5.

The location is about thirty miles southward of the capital city of Zacatecas, and six miles northward of Villanueva. The stream on which the ruins stand is spoken of by Burkart as Rio de Villanueva, and by Lyon as the Rio del Partido. The name Quemada, ‘burnt,’ is that of a neighboring hacienda, about a league distant towards the south-west. I do not know the origin of the name as applied to the hacienda, but there is no evidence that it has any connection with the ruins. The local name of the latter is Los Edificios. The only other name which I have found applied to the place is Tuitlan. Fr Tello, in an unpublished history of Nueva Galicia written about 1650, tells us that the Spaniards under Capt. Chirinos “found a great city in ruins and abandoned; but it was known to have had most sumptuous edifices, with grand streets and plazas well arranged, and within a distance of a quarter of a league four towers, with causeways of stone leading from one to another; and this city was the great Tuitlan, where the Mexican Indians remained many years when they were journeying from the north.”[X-29]Tello, Fragmentos, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. ii., p. 344. This ruined city was in the region of the modern town of Jerez, and without much doubt was identical with Quemada. Sr Gil applies the same name to the ruins. Others without any known authority attempt to identify Quemada with Chicomoztoc, ‘the seven caves’ whence the Aztecs set out on their migrations; or with Amaquemecan, the ancient Chichimec capital of the traditions. Gil rather extravagantly says, “these ruins are the grandest which exist among us after those of Palenque; and on examining them, it is seen that they were the fruit of a civilization more advanced than that which was found in Peru at the time of the Incas, or in Mexico at the time of Montezuma.”[X-30]Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. viii., pp. 441-2, 496; Frejes, in Museo Mex., tom. i., pp. 186-9; Lyon’s Journal, vol. i., p. 243.

Los Edificios of Quemada

The Cerro de los Edificios is a long narrow isolated hill, the summit of which forms an irregular broken plateau over half a mile in length from north to south, and from one hundred to two hundred yards wide, except at the northern end, where it widens to about five hundred yards. The height of the hill is given by Lyon as from two to three hundred feet, but by Burkart at eight to nine hundred feet above the level of the plain. In the central part is a cliff rising about thirty feet above the rest of the plateau. From the brow the hill descends more or less precipitously on different sides for about a hundred and fifty feet, and then stretches in a gentler slope of from two to four hundred yards to the surrounding plain. On the slope and skirting the whole circumference of the hill, except on the north and north-east, are traces of ancient roads crossing each other at different angles, and connected by cross roads running up the slope with the works on the summit. Berghes’ plan of Quemada is given on the following page, on which the roads spoken of are indicated by the dotted lines marked H, H, H, etc. This plan and Burkart’s plan and description are the only authorities for the existence of the roads running round the hill, Lyon and other visitors speaking only of those that diverge from it; but it is probable that Berghes’ survey was more careful and thorough than that of the others, and his plan should be accepted as good authority, especially as the other accounts agree with it so far as they go.[X-31]The explanation of the plan by the lettering given in Nebel’s work is as follows: A i., A ii., A iii., A iv. Temples and structures connected therewith. B. Enclosing walls. C. Walls supporting terraces. D. Pyramids in the interior of temples. E. Isolated Pyramids. F. Ruins of dwellings. G. Stairways. H. Ancient roads. J. Kind of a ‘plaza de armas.’ K. Fortifications. L. Small stairways leading to the court of the temple. M. A small altar. N. Ancient foundations. O. Batteries in the form of flat roofs (azotéas). P. Modern cross on the summit of the hill. Q. Well. R. Large hall with 11 columns to support the roof. S. Two columns. T. Rock. U. Stream.

Plan of the Ruins at Quemada.

One of the roads, which turns at a right angle round the south-western slope, has traces of having been enclosed or raised by walls whose foundations yet remain; and from it at a point near the angle a raised causeway ninety-three feet wide extends straight up the slope north-eastward to the foot of the bluff. The walls supposed to have raised those south-western roads are not spoken of by Burkart or shown on his plan; Lyon speaks of certain walls here which he considers those of an enclosed area of some six acres. From a point near the junction of the road and causeway three raised roads, paved with rough stones extend, according to Lyon, in perfectly straight lines S.W., S.S.W., and S.W. by S. The first terminates in an artificial mound across the river towards the hacienda of Quemada;[X-32]Rivera, pp. 56-8, says that the causeway leading toward the hacienda runs S.E. the second extends four miles to the Coyote Rancho; and the third is said by the natives to terminate at a mountain six miles distant. Two similar roads thirteen or fourteen feet wide extend from the eastern slope of the hill, one of them crossing a stream and terminating at a distance of two miles in a cuicillo, or heap of stones. Burkart found some evidence that the heap constituted the ruins of a regular structure or pyramid; and Rivera locates the cuicillo on the summit of the Sierra de Palomas. He also speaks of a road running west from the north-western part of the hill to the small hills of San Juan, on the Zacatecas road. Of the other roads radiating from the hill I have no farther information than the fact that they are laid down in the plan.[X-33]Frejes, in Museo Mex., tom. i., p. 186, speaks of ‘tres calzadas de seis varas de ancho que por líneas divergentes corren al mediodía algunas leguas hasta perderse de vista.’

At all points in the whole circumference where the natural condition of the slope is not in itself a sufficient barrier to those seeking access to the summit plateau, the brow of the hill is guarded by walls of stone, marked B on the plan for the northern portions, and indicated generally by the black lines in the south. Indeed the northern end of the mesa, where the approach is somewhat less precipitous than elsewhere, is continuously guarded by such a wall, from nine to twelve feet thick and high, enclosing an irregular triangular area with sides of about four hundred and fifty yards: this area being divided by another wall into two unequal portions.

The most numerous and extensive ruins are on the southern portion of the hill, where a larger part of the uneven surface is formed into platforms or terraces by means of walls of solid masonry. One of these supporting walls is double—that is, composed of two walls placed in contact side by side, one having been completed and plastered before the other was begun, the whole structure being twenty-one feet high and of the same thickness.[X-34]Lyon. According to the Museo Mex., tom. i., p. 187, it is 5 or 6 varas high and 10 thick. On the platforms thus formed are a great number of edifices in different degrees of dilapidation. Any attempt on my part to describe these edifices in detail from the information afforded by the authorities available could not be otherwise than confusing and unsatisfactory. There is probably no ruin in our territory, the verbal description of which would present so great difficulties, even if the accounts of the original explorers were perfectly comprehensive, as they are not; for perhaps more than three fourths of the structures shown on the plan are not definitely spoken of by any author. I will, however, give as clear a description as possible, referring the reader to the plan and to one view which I shall copy, the only satisfactory one ever published.

Near each end of the wide causeway already mentioned are two comparatively small masses of ruins. One of them appears to have been a square stone building thirty-one feet square at the base and of the same height; the others, now completely in ruins, may perhaps have been of similar dimensions, so far as may be judged by the débris. In the centre of the causeway, perhaps at F of the plan, although described as nearer the bluff, is a heap of stone over a star-shaped border or pavement. On the lower part of the mesa, at the extreme southern end and also near the head of the causeway, at A iv of the plan, is a quadrangular space measuring two hundred by two hundred and forty feet,[X-35]Burkart gives the dimensions as 194 by 232 Rhenish feet, somewhat larger than English feet; Rivera says 35 or 40 varas square. This author also noticed on the slope of the hill before reaching the steepest part, a pyramid about 20 feet high and 11 feet square, now truncated but apparently pointed in its original condition. This was probably the heap of stones mentioned above. and bounded, at least on the north and east, by a stone terrace or embankment four or five feet high and twenty feet wide, the width of which is probably to be included in the dimensions given.[X-36]Burkart implies that the terrace extends entirely round the square, forming a sunken basin 4 or 5 feet deep; and this is probably the case, as it agrees with the plan of some other structures on the hill. Mr Burkart states that near the inner edge of this terrace is a canal a foot deep and wide, covered with stone flags. On the outer edge of the terrace, on the eastern side, stands a wall eight feet thick and eighteen feet high. Mr Lyon thinks the other sides were always open, but Burkart speaks of the wall as having originally enclosed the square, and having been torn down on three sides, which seems much more probable. At one point on the eastern terrace stands a round pillar nineteen feet in circumference and of the same height as the wall, or eighteen feet. There are visible traces of nine other similar pillars, seemingly indicating the former presence of a massive column-supported portico.

Adjoining this enclosure on the east, with only a narrow passage intervening, is another, R of the plan, measuring according to Burkart’s measurement, which agrees very nearly with that of Berghes, one hundred by one hundred and thirty-eight feet,[X-37]Lyon says 137 by 154 feet; Rivera, 50 to 60 varas, with walls 8 to 9 varas high. with walls still perfect, eighteen feet high and eight feet thick, in connection with which no terraces are mentioned, although Rivera speaks of steps on the west. Within the walls, twenty-three feet from the sides and nineteen and a half from the ends, is a line of eleven pillars—Lyon says fourteen, and Rivera ten—each seventeen feet in circumference and of the same height as the walls. There can be little doubt that these columns once sustained a roof. Mr Berghes in one of his excavations in 1831 is said, by Nebel, to have found an ancient roof supported by a column, and showing exactly the method followed by the builders. The roof was made of large flat stones, covered with mortar and supported by beams. It is not quite clear how an excavation on the hill could show such a room, but there is little room to doubt that the roof-structure was similar to that described. Near this second enclosure—and west of it, as is said, but that would be hardly possible—Rivera speaks of a circular ruin sixteen and a half feet in diameter, with five steps leading up to the summit, on which some apartments were still traceable.

From the level platform in front of the two main structures described, a causeway, beginning with a stairway and guarded at the sides by walls for much of its length, leads northward up the slope. About three hundred yards in this direction, possibly at the point marked F on this causeway, is a pyramid in perfect preservation, about fifty feet square at the base, also fifty feet high, with a flat summit. Near this is another pyramid, only twelve feet square and eighteen feet high, but standing on a terrace fifty by one hundred feet. Two bowl-shaped circular pits, eight feet in diameter, with fragments of pottery and traces of fire; a square building ten by eight feet on the inside, with walls ten feet high; and a simple mound of stones eight feet high, are the miscellaneous remains noted in this part of the hill.

The most extensive and complicated ruins are found between the steep central height and the western brow of the hill, where there is a perpendicular descent of a hundred and fifty feet. On this central height itself there are no ruins, but passing nearly round its base are terraced roads twenty-five feet wide, with perpendicular walls only partially artificial. Of the extensive group of monuments on the platform of the south-western base of the central height, only the portion about A ii, of the plan, has been definitely described, and the description, although clear enough in itself, does not altogether agree with the plan. Here we have a square enclosure similar to the one already described in the south at A iv. Its sides are one hundred and fifty feet, bounded by a terrace three feet high and twelve feet wide, with steps in the centre of each side. Back of the terrace on the east, west, and south sides stand walls eight or nine feet in thickness and twenty feet high. The north side of the square is bounded by the steep side of the central cliff, in which steps or seats are cut in some parts in the solid rock, and in others built up with rough stones. In the centre of this side, and partially on the terrace, is a truncated pyramid, with a base of thirty-eight by thirty-five feet, and nineteen feet high, divided into several stories—five according to Nebel’s drawing, seven according to Lyon’s statement.[X-38]Burkart gives the dimensions of the pyramid as 30 feet square and 30 feet high; and of the altar in front as 6 feet square and 6 feet high.

In front of the pyramid, and nearly in the centre of the square, stands a kind of altar or small pyramid seven feet square and five feet high. A very clear idea of this square is given in the following cut from Nebel’s drawing. It presents an interior view from a point on the southern terrace. The pyramid in five stories, the central altar, the eastern terrace with its steps, and standing portions of the walls are all clearly portrayed. The view, however, disagrees very essentially with the plan in representing extensive remains northward from the enclosure on the upper slope, where, according to Berghes’ plan, no ruins exist. There is an entrance in the centre of the eastern wall, another in the western, and two on the south. These entrances do not seem to be in the form of doorways, but extend, according to the drawing, to the full height of the walls. That on the east is thirty feet wide and leads to an adjoining square with sides of two hundred feet and walls still perfect. The arrangement of these two adjoining squares is much like that of those at A iv in the south, but in the northern structures there are no pillars to be seen.

Interior of Los Edificios.

The opening through the western wall leads to the entrance to a cave, reported to be of great extent, but not explored by any visitor on account of the ruined condition of the passage leading to it—or, as Gutierrez says, because the wind issues constantly from the entrance with such force that no one can enter with lights. The mouth of the subterranean passage is on the brink of the western precipice; the walls were plastered, and the top supported by cedar beams. Strangely enough the structure at A iii, so clearly defined on the plan, is not described at all. It seems to be very similar to the enclosures described.

The ruins on the northern part of the plateau are similar in character to those in the south, but fewer in number. Among them are square terraced enclosures like those already mentioned; a pyramid with sloping sides, and eighteen feet square at the summit; a square building sixteen feet square at the base and sixteen feet high; and two parallel stone mounds thirty feet long.

On the lower southern slopes the foundation-stones of numerous buildings are found, and many parts of the adjoining plain are strewn with stones similar to those employed in the construction of the edifices above. There is now no water on the hill, but there are several tolerably perfect tanks, with a well, and what seem to be the remains of aqueducts.

The material of which all the works described are built is the gray porphyry of this and the neighboring hills, and Burkart states that the building-stone of Los Edificios was not quarried in the hill on which they stand, but brought from another across the valley. The nature of the stone permits it to be very easily fractured into slabs, and those employed in the buildings are of different sizes, but rarely exceeding two or three inches in thickness and not hewn. They are laid in a mortar of reddish clay mixed with straw, in which one visitor found a corn-husk. The mortar, according to Burkart, is of an inferior quality,—although others represent it as very good—and on the outer walls and in all exposed situations is almost entirely washed out. Except this washing-out of the mortar, time and the elements have committed but slight ravages at Quemada, the dilapidation of the buildings being due for the most part to man’s agency, since most of the buildings of the neighboring hacienda have been constructed of blocks taken from Los Edificios. Lyon found some evidence that the walls were originally plastered and whitened.

A large circular stone from ten to thirteen feet in diameter and from one to three in thickness, according to different observers, on the surface of which were sculptured representations of a hand and foot, was found at the western base of the hill, or as Burkart says, at the eastern base. The editor of the Museo Mexicano also speaks of a sculptured turtle bearing the figure of a reed, the Aztec acatl. No other miscellaneous relics whatever have been found. Nothing resembling inscriptions, hieroglyphics, or even architectural decorations, is found in any part of the ruins. Obsidian fragments, arrow and spear heads, knives, ornaments, heads and idols of terra cotta and stone, pottery whole or in fragments, human remains and burial deposits, some or all of which are strewn in so great abundance in the vicinity of most other American ruins, are here utterly wanting; or at least the only exceptions are a few bits of porphyry somewhat resembling arrow-heads, and some small bits of pottery found by Lyon in the circular pit on the summit.

The works which have been described naturally imply the existence in this spot at some time in the past of a great city of the plain, of which the Cerro de los Edificios was at once the fortified citadel and temple. The paved causeways may be regarded as the principal streets of the ancient city, on which the habitations of the people were built of perishable material, or as constructed for some purely religious purpose not now understood. Mr Burkart suggests that the land in the vicinity was once swampy, and the causeways were raised to ensure a dry road. An examination of their foundation should settle that point, as a simple pavement of flat stones on the surface of a marsh would not remain permanently in place. As simple roads, such structures were hardly needed by barefooted or sandaled natives, having no carriages or beasts of burden; and it seems most reasonable to believe that they had a connection with religious rites and processions, serving at the same time as main streets of a city.

The ruins of Quemada show but few analogies to any of the southern remains, and none whatever to any that we shall find further north. As a strongly fortified hill, bearing also temples, Quemada bears considerable resemblance to Quiotepec in Oajaca; and possibly the likeness would be still stronger if a plan of the Quiotepec fortifications were extant. The massive character, number, and extent of the monuments show the builders to have been a powerful and in some respects an advanced people, hardly less so, it would seem at first thought, than the peoples of Central America; but the absence of narrow buildings covered by arches of overlapping stones, and of all decorative sculpture and painting, make the contrast very striking. The pyramids, so far as they are described, do not differ very materially from some in other parts of the country, but the location of the pyramids shown in the drawing and plan within the enclosed and terraced squares seems unique. The pillars recall the roof structures of Mitla, but it is quite possible that the pillars at Quemada supported balconies instead of roofs; indeed, it seems improbable that these large squares were ever entirely covered. The walls of Los Edificios are higher as a rule than those of other American ruins, and the absence of windows and regular doorways is noticeable. The total want of idols in structures so evidently built, at least partially, for religious purposes, is also a remarkable feature, as is the absence of the usual pottery, implements, and weapons. The peculiar structure, several times repeated, of two adjoining quadrangular spaces enclosed, or partially so, by high walls, and one of them formed by a low terrace into a kind of square basin, containing something like an altar in its centre, is a feature not elsewhere noted. There can hardly be any doubt that these and other portions of the Edificios were devoted to religious rites.

While Quemada does not compare as a specimen of advanced art with Uxmal and Palenque, and is inferior so far as sculpture and decoration are concerned to most other Nahua architectural monuments, it is yet one of the most remarkable of American ruins, presenting strong contrasts to all the rest, and is well worthy of a more careful examination than it has ever yet received. Such an examination is rendered comparatively easy by the accessibility of the locality, and would, I have no doubt, be far from unprofitable in an antiquarian point of view. Los Edificios, like Copan and Palenque, have, so far as has yet been ascertained, no place in the traditional annals of the country, yet they bear no marks of very great antiquity; that is, there is more reason to class them with Xochicalco, Quiotepec, Monte Alban, and the fortified towns of Vera Cruz, than with the cities of Yucatan and Chiapas, or even the pyramids of Teotihuacan and Cholula.

At San Juan Teul, nearly a hundred miles southward from Quemada, the Spaniards found a grand aboriginal temple when they first came to this part of the country; and Frejes, an early writer, says, “there are ruins of a temple and of dwellings not far from the present pueblo.” There is, however, no later information respecting this group of remains. At a place called Tabasco, about fifty miles from Quemada, Esparza mentions the discovery of some stone axes. No other antiquities have been definitely reported in the state of Zacatecas, although Arlegui tells us that the early missionaries were much troubled, and hindered in their work of conversion by the constant discovery of idols and temples concealed in the mountains.[X-39]‘Tiene este pueblo [Teul] por cabeza un cerro al principio cuadrado como de peña tajada, y arriba otro cerro redondo, y encima del primero hay tanta capacidad que caben mas de veinte mil indios…. En este monte estaba una sala, en donde estaba su ídolo, que llamaban el Teotl … tiene más una pila de losas de junturas de cinco varas de largo y tres de ancho, y mas ancha de arriba que de abajo…. Esta pila tiene dos entradas; la una en la esquina que mira al Norte, con cinco gradas, y la otra que mira en esquina al Sur, con otras cinco: no lejos de esta pila, como dos tiros de arcabuz, están dos montecillos que eran los osarios de los indios que sacrificaban.’ Tello, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. ii., pp. 362-4; Id., in Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., p. 300; description of the temple, Gil, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. viii., p. 497; mention of ruins, Frejes, in Museo Mex., tom. i., p. 186; stone axes, Esparza, Informe, p. 7; concealed temples and idols, Arlegui, Chrón. Zacatecas, p. 95.

Aguascalientes and San Luis Potosí

I have no record of any relics of antiquity in the state of Aguascalientes: San Luis Potosí has hardly proved a more fruitful field of archæological research. Mayer gives a cut representing a stone axe from this state; Cabrera reports some ancient tombs, or cuicillos,—which he calls cuiztillos; the word being written differently by different authors, and as applied to different states—in the suburbs of the city of San Luis Potosí; and according to a newspaper report two idols and a sacrificial basin, cut from a concrete sandstone, were found in the sierra near the city and brought to New Orleans. One of the idols was of life size, had two faces and a hole for the insertion of a torch in its right hand; the basin was two feet in diameter, and held by intertwined serpents.[X-40]Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, p. 98; Cabrera, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iv., p. 24; Annual Scien. Discov., 1850, p. 361.

In southern Tamaulipas relics are quite abundant and of a nature very much the same as that of those which have already been described south of the Rio Pánuco, the boundary line between Tamaulipas and Vera Cruz. At Encarnacion, in the vicinity of Tampico, Mr Furber reports the stone idol shown in front and profile view in the cut. The sculpture is described as rude, and with the idol, three feet high, were dug up several implements and utensils.[X-41]Furber’s Twelve Months Volunteer, pp. 387-8. Near a small salt lake between Tula and Santa Barbara, Mr Lyon found a ruined pyramidal mound of hard earth or clay, faced with flat unhewn stones, with similar stones projecting and forming steps leading up the slope on one side. This pyramid is thirty paces in circumference at the base, and is divided by a terrace into two stories, the lower of which is twenty feet high, and the upper in its present state ten feet. Some stone and terra-cotta images have been taken from this mound, and another much smaller but similar structure is reported to exist somewhere in the same vicinity.[X-42]Lyon’s Journal, vol. i., pp. 141-2.

Idol from Tamaulipas.

On the Tamissee River, which flows into Tampico Bay, traces of ancient towns have been found in two localities near the Carmelote Creek. They consist of scattered hewn blocks of stone, covered with vegetable mold and overgrown with immense trees and rank vegetation. At one of these localities the remains include seventeen large earthen mounds, with traces of a layer of mortar at the bottom. In them have been found broken pottery, rudely carved images of natural size in sandstone, and idols and heads in terra cotta. Mr Norman gives cuts representing two of these heads.[X-43]Norman’s Rambles by Land and Water, pp. 169-70.

Topila Remains

In the south-western part of the state, in the Topila hills, near a creek of the same name, is a large group of remains at a locality known as Rancho de las Piedras. Mr Norman, who spent a week in their examination, is the only authority for these remains, and as he was obliged to work alone and unaided, his examination was necessarily superficial. Over an area several miles square the ground is strewn with hewn blocks of stone and fragments of pottery and obsidian. Many of the blocks bear decorative sculptured figures. A female face carved from a block of fine dark reddish sandstone, was brought away by Mr Norman and presented to the New York Historical Society. It is shown in the cut. The face is of life size, very symmetrical in its form, and of a Grecian type. Another monument sketched by the explorer was a stone turtle, six feet long, with a human head. The sculpture, especially of the turtle’s shell, is described as very fine; the whole rests on a large block of concrete sandstone, and is called by the finder the American Sphinx. This relic was somewhat damaged, but the features of the human face seemed of a Caucasian rather than a native type.

Stone Face—Topila Ruins.

Colossal Head—Topila Ruins.

The Topila ruins include twenty mounds, both circular and square, from six to twenty-five feet in height, built of earth and faced with uniform blocks of sandstone, eighteen inches square and six inches thick. The facings had for the most part fallen, and that invariably inward in the smaller mounds, indicating perhaps their original use as tombs. Many of the blocks are scattered through the forest in places where the mounds had entirely disappeared. Of all the mounds only one has any trace of a terrace, and in that one it is very faint; and there is no evidence that mortar was employed in laying the stones. The largest covered about two acres, and bore on its summit a wild fig-tree one hundred feet high. At its base is a circular wall of stone, the top of which is even with the surface of the ground—perhaps a well—and which is filled with stones and broken pottery. Its top is covered with a circular stone four feet and nine inches in diameter and seven inches thick, with a hole in its centre and some ornamental lines sculptured on its upper surface. Another round stone, twelve feet in diameter and three feet thick, on the front of which is carved a colossal human head, is shown in the cut. The author speaks vaguely of “vast piles of broken and crumbling stones, the ruins of dilapidated buildings, which were strewed over a vast space;” and his cuts of the relics which I have copied show in the background, not included in my copies, regular walls of hewn stone. Mr Norman regards this group as the remains of a great city, the site of which is now covered by a heavy forest. In another locality, seven miles further north-west on the Topila Creek, and a few miles from the Pánuco River, is another group of circular mounds, one of them twenty-five feet high, and the lower portions faced with flat hewn stones. Hewn blocks of various forms and sizes are also scattered about the locality, but none of them are sculptured.[X-44]Norman’s Rambles by Land and Water, pp. 121-37. Lyon tells us that “remains of utensils, statues, weapons, and even skeletons,” have been often found in digging for the foundations of new buildings in the vicinity of Tampico, or Tamaulipas. He made drawings, which he did not publish, of two very perfect basalt idols, and mentioned also some bone carvings and terra-cotta idols found in this region.[X-45]Lyon’s Journal, vol. i., pp. 21, 28, 114. Mention of Tamaulipas antiquities from Norman and Lyon, in Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., pp. 207-9; Id., in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., p. 581. Newspaper account of some relics of Christianity, in Cronise’s California, p. 30. In northern Tamaulipas I find only one mention of aboriginal monuments, and that at Burrita, about twenty miles east from Matamoras, respecting which locality Berlandier says, “on a small hill which is seen two or three hundred paces from the rancho of Burrita are found in abundance (as the rancheros say) the bones of ancient peoples.”[X-46]Berlandier and Thovel, Diario, p. 151.

Bolson de Mapimi, Burial Caves

Nuevo Leon, adjoining Tamaulipas on the west, is another of the states within whose limits no antiquities have been reported; and in Texas on the north almost the same absence of aboriginal remains is to be remarked, although one group of rock-inscriptions will be noted in a future chapter at Rocky Dell creek, in the north-western part of the state bordering on New Mexico. In the region bordering on the valley known as the Bolson de Mapimi, comprising parts of the states of Coahuila, Durango, and Chihuahua, the natives at some time in the past seem to have deposited their dead in natural caves, and several of these burial deposits of great extent have been discovered and reported. None of them are accurately located by any traveler or writer, nor is it possible to tell in which of the three states any one of them should be described. As antiquities, however, these burial caves do not require a long notice. The one of which most has been written is that discovered by Juan Flores in 1838. The entrance to the cave was at the foot of a hill, and within were seated round the walls over a thousand mummies “dressed in fine blankets, made of the fibres of lechuguilla, with sandals, made of a species of liana, on their feet, and ornamented with colored scarfs, with beads of seeds of fruits, polished bones, &c.,” as Wizlizenus says. Mühlenpfordt tells us that Flores to find this cave traveled eastward from the Rancho San Juan de Casta, which is eighty-six leagues northward from Durango. Another traveler heard of several of these caves, and that the remains found were of gigantic size. Mayer gives a report that in latitude 27° 28´ there are a multitude of caverns excavated from solid rock, bearing inscribed figures of animals and men, the latter dressed like the ancient Mexicans. Some of them were described by Fr Rotéa as fifteen by thirty feet, and identical probably with Chicomoztoc, the famous ‘seven caves.’ A writer in Silliman’s Journal, referring perhaps to the same cave, extends the number of mummies from a thousand to millions, and speaks of necklaces of marine shells. Mr Wilson locates one of these mummy-deposits on the western slope of a high mountain overlooking the ancient pueblo of Chiricahui, in Chihuahua probably. Several rows of bodies, dried and shrunken but not decayed, were exposed by an excavation for saltpetre. Each body sewn up in a strong well-woven cloth, and covered again with sewn palm-leaves, lay on its back on two sticks, with knees drawn up to chin, and feet toward the mouth of the cavern. The cave was a hundred feet in circumference and thirty or forty feet high, and the bottom for a depth of twenty feet, at least, was composed of alternate layers of bodies, and of earth and pebbles. The preservation is thought to be attributable to the dryness of the air and the presence of saltpetre. Parts of the mummies, of the wrapping-cloths, bone beads and beads of blue stone, with parts of a belt and tassels, were presented to the California Academy of Natural Sciences in July, 1864. Sr Avila describes two of these caves situated in the vicinity of San Lorenzo, about thirty-five leagues west of Parras, in Coahuila. One had to be entered from the top by means of ropes, and the other had some of its rocks artificially cut and painted. In both of these deposits bones were found instead of mummies, but they were as in the other cases wrapped in cloth and gaily decked with beads, sticks, and tassels. Hair was found on some of the heads, and a white hand was noticed frequently painted on the walls. Padre Alegre speaks of the existence of caves in this region, with human remains, and painted characters on the cliffs. Respecting the latter, Padre Ribas says “the cliffs of that hill and of the caves were marked with characters and a kind of letters, formed with blood, and in some places so high that nobody but the devil could have put them there, and so permanent that neither the rains nor winds had erased or diminished them.”[X-47]Wizlizenus’ Tour, pp. 69, 70. This author says the bodies are supposed to belong to the Lipans. Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 518; Severn’s Journal, vol. xxx., p. 38; Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, pp. 239-40; Id., Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 333; Silliman’s Jour., vol. xxxvi., p. 200; Cal. Acad. Nat. Sciences, vol. iii., pp. 160-1; Pac. Monthly, vol. xi., p. 783; Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1839, tom. lxxxi., pp. 126-7; Lemprière’s Notes in Mex., p. 135; Avila, in Album Mex., tom. i., pp. 465-8; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 418; Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 685.

Besides the burial caves, the only account I find of any antiquities in the state of Coahuila, is contained in the following quotation, of rather doubtful authenticity, perhaps, respecting some remains on the hacienda of San Martero, about twenty-six miles from Monclova. “The spot bears every appearance of having once been a populous city. Stone foundations are to be seen, covering many acres. Innumerable columns and walls rise up in every direction, composed of both limestone and sandstone. The columns are built in a variety of shapes, some round, others square, and bear every imprint of the work of human hands…. For miles in the vicinity, the basin is covered with broken pottery of burnt clay, fantastically painted and ornamented with a variety of inexplicable designs.”[X-48]Donnavan’s Adven., pp. 30-1.

Remains in La Breña

In Durango, besides the sepulchral deposits alluded to, Ribas in his standard and very rare work on the ‘triumphs of the faith’ in the northern regions, mentions the existence of idols, columns, and the ruins of habitations at Zape, in the central part of the state; and Larios tells us that in the vicinity of the church which was being built in his time, there were found at every step burial vases, containing ashes and human bones, stones of various colors, and, most wonderful of all, statues or images of men and animals, one resembling a priest.[X-49]Larios, in Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. ii., pp. 54-5; Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 583; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 318. At San Agustin, between the city of Durango and San Juan del Rio, Arlegui notes the existence of some bones of giants. The good padre did not rely in making his statement on mere reports, but saw with his own eyes a jaw-tooth which measured over eight inches square, and belonged to a jaw which must, according to his calculations, have measured nine feet and a half in the semicircle.[X-50]Arlegui, Chrón. Zacatecas, pp. 6, 67. In the volcanic region extending south-eastward from the city of Durango, known as La Breña, there are large numbers of very curious natural caves, the bottoms of which are covered with a thick layer of fine dust, containing much saltpetre. In this dust, Sr José Fernando Ramirez discovered various antiquarian relics, which he deposited in the National Museum of Mexico. The only one specially mentioned was a very small stone turtle, not over half an inch in diameter, very perfectly carved from a hard material. The region of La Breña has always been a land of mystery popularly supposed to contain immense concealed treasure, the localities of the deposits being marked by small heaps of stones which occurred frequently in out-of-the-way places not covered by the torrent of lava. Most of these stone heaps, perhaps altars or burial places of the ancient inhabitants, have been destroyed by the treasure-seekers, always without yielding the sought-for deposits of gold or silver. The only other relics of aboriginal times in La Breña are certain small cup-shaped excavations in the living rock, supposed to have been used originally for offerings to the deities worshiped by the natives.[X-51]Ramirez, Noticias Hist. de Durango, pp. 6-9; Id., in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. v., pp. 10-11.

I find no record of any ancient monuments in Sinaloa, and across the gulf in the state of Lower California, with the exception of some idols, said to have been brought to the priests by the natives they were attempting to convert, and a smooth stone about six feet long, bearing a kind of coat of arms and some inscribed characters,[X-52]Doc. Hist. Mex., série iv., tom. v., pp. 213, 254. the only accounts of antiquities relate to cave and cliff paintings and inscriptions, which have never been copied, and concerning which consequently not much can be said. Clavigero says that the Jesuits found, between latitude 27° and 28°, “several great caves excavated in living rock, and painted with figures of men and women decently clad, and of several kinds of animals. These pictures, though rude, represented distinctly the objects. The colors employed in them were obtained, as may be plainly seen, from the mineral earths which are found about the volcano of Virgenes.” The paintings were not the work of the natives found in possession of the country, at least so the Spaniards decided, and it was considered remarkable that they had remained through so many centuries fresh and uninjured by time. The colors were yellow, red, green, and black, and many designs were placed so high on cliffs that it seemed necessary to some of the missionaries to suppose the agency of the giants that were in ‘those days.’ Indeed, giants’ bones were found on the peninsula, as in all other parts of the country, and the natives are said to have had a tradition that the paintings were the work of giants who came from the north. Clavigero mentions one cave whose walls and roof formed an arch resting on the floor. It was about fifteen by eighty feet, and the pictures on its walls represented men and women dressed like Mexicans, but barefooted. The men had their arms raised and spread apart, and one woman wore her hair loose and flowing down her back, and also had a plume. Some animals were noted both native and foreign. One author says they bore no resemblance to Mexican paintings. A series of red hands are reported on a cliff near Santiago mission in the south, and also, towards the sea, some painted fishes, bows, arrows, and obscure characters. A rock-inscription near Purmo, thirty leagues from Santiago, seemed to the Spanish observer to contain Gothic, Hebrew, and Chaldean letters. From all that is known of the Lower California rock-paintings and inscriptions, there is no reason to suppose that they differ much from, or at least are superior to, those in the New Mexican region, of which we shall find so many specimens in the next chapter. It is not improbable that these ruder inscriptions and pictures exist in the southern country already passed over, to a much greater extent than appears in the preceding pages, but have remained comparatively unnoticed by travelers in search of more wonderful or perfect relics of antiquity.[X-53]Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., pp. 107-9; Doc. Hist. Mex., série iv., tom. v., pp. 213, 254; Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, Dec. 21, 1860, Nov. 22, 1861, Jan. 10, 1862; Hesperian, vol. iii., p. 530.

Cerro de Las Trincheras

Only one monument is known in Sonora, and that only through newspaper reports. It is known as the Cerro de las Trincheras, and is situated about fifty miles south-east of Altar. An isolated conical hill has a spring of water on its summit, also some heaps of loose stones. The sides of the cerro are encircled by fifty or sixty walls of rough stones; each about nine feet high and from three to six feet thick, occurring at irregular intervals of fifty to a hundred feet. Each wall, except that at the base of the hill, has a gateway, but these entrances occur alternately on opposite sides of the hill, so that to reach the summit an enemy would have to fight his way about twenty-five times round the circumference. One writer tells us that Las Trincheras were first found—probably by the Spaniards—in 1650; according to another, the natives say that the fortifications existed in their present state long before the Spaniards came; and finally Sr C. M. Galan, ex-governor of Sinaloa and Lower California, a gentleman well acquainted with all the north-western region, informs me that there is much doubt among the inhabitants of the locality whether the walls have not been built since the Spanish Conquest. Sonora also furnished its quota of giants’ bones.[X-54]San Francisco Evening Bulletin, July 16, 1864; Cal. Farmer, March 20, 1863, April 4, 1862; Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., pp. 626-7.

There are three or four localities in the state of Chihuahua where miscellaneous remains are vaguely mentioned in addition to the burial caves already referred to in the extreme south-east. Hardy reports a cave near the presidio of San Buenaventura, from which saltpetre is taken for the manufacture of powder, and in which some arrows have been found, with some curious shoes intended for the hoof of an animal, arranged to be tied on heel in front, with a view of misleading pursuers. The cave is very large, and the natives have a tradition of a subterranean passage leading northward to the Casas Grandes, over twenty miles.[X-55]Hardy’s Trav., p. 467. Lamberg mentions the existence of some remains at Corralitos, and announces his intention to explore them.[X-56]Lamberg, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. iii., p. 25. García Conde says that ancient works are found at various points in the state, specifying, however, only one of them, which consists of a spiral parapet wall encircling the sides of a hill from top to bottom, near the cañon of Bachimba.[X-57]García Conde, Ensayo sobre Chihuahua, p. 74.

Casas Grandes of Chihuahua

One celebrated group of ruins remains to be described in this chapter—the Casas Grandes of northern Chihuahua. These ruins are situated on the Casas Grandes River,—which, flowing northward, empties into a lake near the United States boundary,—about midway between the towns of Janos and Galeana, and one hundred and fifty miles north-west of the city of Chihuahua. They are frequently mentioned by the early writers as a probable station of the migrating Aztecs, but these early accounts are more than usually inaccurate in this case. Robertson found in a manuscript work a mention of the Casas Grandes as “the remains of a paltry building of turf and stone, plastered over with white earth or lime.”[X-58]Robertson’s Hist. Amer., vol. i., p. 269. Arlegui, in his Chrónica, speaks of them as “grand edifices all of stone well-hewn and polished from time immemorial.” So nicely joined were the blocks of stone that they seemed to have been ‘born so,’ without the slightest trace of mortar; but the author adds that they might have been joined with the juice of some herbs or roots.[X-59]Arlegui, Chrón. Zacatecas, pp. 104-5. Same in Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., pp. 484-5. Clavigero, who claims to have derived his information from parties who had visited the ruins,—since the hostile attitude of the Apaches at the time of his own residence in the country made a visit impracticable—was the first to give any definite idea of these monuments, although he also falls into several errors. He says: “This place is known by the name of Casas Grandes on account of a vast edifice still standing, which according to the universal tradition of the people was built by the Mexicans in their pilgrimage. This edifice is constructed according to the plan of those in New Mexico, that is composed of three stories and a terrace above them, without doors in the lower story. The entrance to the edifice is in the second story; so that a ladder is required.”[X-60]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 159; Heredia y Sarmiento, Sermon, pp. 89-90.

Sr Escudero examined the ruins in 1819, and describes them as “a group of rooms built with mud walls, exactly oriented according to the four cardinal points. The blocks of earth are of unequal size, but placed with symmetry, and the perfection with which they have lasted during a period which cannot be less than three hundred years shows great skill in the art of building. It is seen that the edifice had three stories and a roof, with exterior stairways probably of wood. The same class of construction is found still in all the independent Indian towns of Moqui, north-east from the state of Chihuahua. Most of the rooms are very small with doors so small and narrow that they seem like the cells of a prison.”[X-61]Escudero, Noticias Estad. del Estado de Chihuahua, pp. 234-5; repeated in García Conde, Ensayo sobre Chihuahua, p. 74; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 110-11. A writer in the Album Mexicano, who visited the Casas Grandes in 1842, wrote a description which is far superior to anything that preceded it.[X-62]Album Mex., tom. i., pp. 374-5. Mr Hardy visited the place, but his account affords very little information;[X-63]Hardy’s Trav., pp. 465-6. and Mr Wizlizenus gives a brief description evidently drawn from some of the earlier authorities and consequently faulty.[X-64]Wizlizenus’ Tour, pp. 59-60. Finally Mr Bartlett explored the locality in 1851, and his description illustrated with cuts is by far the most satisfactory extant. From his account and that in the Album most of the following information is derived.[X-65]Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., pp. 347-64. Other compiled accounts may be found in Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 339; Armin, Das Heutige Mex., pp. 269-70; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, pp. 312-13; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 525; Thümmel, Mexiko, p. 347; Ranking’s Hist. Researches, pp. 282-3; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 216; Willson’s Amer. Hist., p. 561; Gordon’s Ancient Mex., vol. i., p. 105; Gregory’s Hist. Mex., p. 71.

Casas Grandes—Chihuahua.

The ruined casas are about half a mile from the modern Mexican town of the same name, located in a finely chosen site, commanding a broad view over the fertile valley of the Casas Grandes or San Miguel river, which valley—or at least the river bottom—is here two miles wide. This bottom is bounded by a plateau about twenty-five feet higher, and the ruins are found partly on the bottom and partly on the more sterile plateau above. They consist of walls, generally fallen and crumbled into heaps of rubbish, but at some points, as at the corners and where supported by partition walls, still standing to a height of from five to thirty feet above the heaps of débris, and some of them as high as fifty feet, if reckoned from the level of the ground. The cuts on this and the opposite pages represent views of the ruins from three different standpoints, as sketched by Mr Bartlett.

Casas Grandes

Casas Grandes—Chihuahua.

The material of the walls is sun-dried blocks of mud and gravel, about twenty-two inches thick, and of irregular length, generally about three feet, probably formed and dried in situ. Of this material and method of construction more details will be given in the following chapter on the New Mexican region, where the buildings are of a similar nature. The walls are in some parts five feet thick, but were so much damaged at the time of Mr Bartlett’s visit that nothing could be ascertained, at least without excavation, respecting their finish on either surface. The author of the account in the Album states that the plaster which covers the blocks is of powdered stone, but this may be doubted. There is no doubt, however, that they were plastered on both interior and exterior, with a composition much like that of which the blocks were made; Escudero found some portions of the plaster still in place, but does not state what was its composition. The remains of the main structure, which was rectangular in its plan, extend over an area measuring about eight hundred feet from north to south, and two hundred and fifty from east to west.[X-66]Although the dimensions in the Album are given as 414 by 1380 feet, probably including some structures reckoned by Bartlett as detached. Within this area are three great heaps of ruined walls, but low connecting lines of débris indicate that all formed one edifice, or were at least connected by corridors. On the south the wall, or the heaps indicating its existence, is continuous and regular; of the northern side nothing is said; but on the east and west the walls are very irregular, with many angles and projections.

Ground Plan—Casas Grandes.

The ground plan of the whole structure could not be made out, at least in the limited time at Mr Bartlett’s disposal. He found, however, one row of apartments whose plan is shown in the cut. Each of the six shown is ten by twenty feet, and the small structure in the corner of each is a pen rather than a room, being only three or four feet high. In the Album, the usual dimensions of the rooms are given as about twelve and a half by sixteen and a half feet; one very perfect room, however, being a little over four feet square. Bartlett found many rooms altogether too small for sleeping apartments, some of great size, whose dimensions are not given, and several enclosures too large to have been covered by a roof, doubtless enclosed courtyards. One portion of standing wall in the interior had a doorway narrower at the top than at the bottom, and two circular openings or windows above it. The explorer of 1842 speaks of doorways long, square, and round, some of them being walled up at the bottom so as to form windows.

Not a fragment of wood or stone remained in 1851; nor could any holes in the walls be found which seemed to have held the original floor-timbers; and consequently there was no way of determining the number of stories. In 1842, however, a piece of rotten wood was found, over a window as it seems; and the people in the vicinity said they had found many beams. No traces of any stairway was, however, visible. No doubt the earlier accounts spoke of wooden stairways, or ladders, because such means of entrance were commonly used in similar and more modern buildings in New Mexico; later writers converted the conjectures of the first visitors into actual fact; hence the galleries of wood and exterior stairways spoken of by Wizlizenus and others.

It is difficult to determine where the idea originated that the structure had three stories; for the walls still standing in places to a height of fifty feet, notwithstanding the wear of three centuries at least, would certainly indicate six or seven stories rather than three. These high walls are always in the interior, and the outer walls are in no part of a sufficient height to indicate more than one story. The general idea of the structure in its original condition, formed from the descriptions and views, is that of an immense central pile—similar to some of the Pueblo towns of New Mexico, and particularly that of Taos, of which a cut will be given in the following chapter—rising to a height of six or seven stories, and surrounded by lower houses built about several courtyards, and presenting on the exterior a rectangular form. Notwithstanding the imperfect exploration of this ruin and its advanced state of dilapidation, the reader of the following chapter will not fail to understand clearly what this Casa Grande was like when still inhabited; for there is no doubt that this building was used for a dwelling as well as for other purposes, and this may be regarded as the first instance in the northward progress of our investigation where any remains of authentic aboriginal dwellings have been met.

Ground Plan—Casas Grandes.

Broken Pottery

About one hundred and fifty yards west of the main building and somewhat higher on the plateau, are seen the foundations of another structure of similar nature and material, indicating a line of small apartments built round an interior court, according to the ground plan shown in the cut, the whole forming a square with sides of about one hundred and fifty feet. There are some other heaps in the vicinity which may very likely represent buildings, of whose original forms, however, they convey no idea, besides some remains of what seemed to Mr Bartlett to be very evidently those of modern Spanish buildings. Between the two buildings described there are three mounds or heaps of loose stones each about fifteen feet high, which have not been opened. Escudero, followed by García Conde, states that throughout an extent of twenty leagues in length and ten leagues in width in the valleys of the Casas Grandes and Janos, mounds are found in great numbers—over two thousand, as estimated in the Album—and that such as have been opened have furnished painted pottery, metates, stone axes, and other utensils. One visitor thought that one of the mounds presented great regularity in its form and had a summit platform.

Pottery from Casas Grandes.

Pipe from Casas Grandes.

Escudero and Hardy report the existence of an aqueduct or canal which formerly brought water from a spring to the town. The following cut shows specimens of broken pottery found in connection with the ruins. The ornamentation is in black, red, or brown, on a white or reddish ground. The material is said to be superior in texture to any manufactured in later times by the natives of this region. The whole valley for miles around is strewn with such fragments. Unbroken specimens of pottery are not abundant, as is naturally the case in a country traversed continually by roving bands of natives to whom it is easier to pick up or dig out earthen utensils than to manufacture or buy them. Three specimens were however found by Mr Bartlett, and are shown in the cut. Mr Hardy also sketched a vase very similar to the first figure of the cut, and he speaks of “good specimens of earthen images in the Egyptian style, which are, to me at least, so perfectly uninteresting, that I was at no pains to procure any of them.” According to the Album, some idols had been found by the inhabitants among other relics, and the women claimed to have discovered a monument of antiquity which was of practical utility to themselves, as well as of interest to archæologists—namely, a jar filled with bear’s grease! The pipe shown in the cut, has a suspiciously modern look, although included in Bartlett’s plate of Chihuahuan antiquities.

Fortress at Casas Grandes

The inhabitants pointed out to Bartlett, on the top of a high mountain, some ten miles south-west of the ruins described, what they said was a stone fortress of two or three stories. Escudero describes this monument, which he locates at a distance of only two leagues, as a watch-tower or sentry-station on the top of a high cliff; and says that the southern slope of the hill has many lines of stones at irregular intervals, with heaps of loose stones at their extremities. This is probably, in the absence of more definite information the more credible account. The Album represents this monument as a fortress built of great stones very perfectly joined, though without the aid of mortar. The wall is said to be eighteen or twenty feet thick, and a road cut in the rock leads to the summit. At this time, 1842, the works were being destroyed for the stone they contained. Clavigero speaks of the hill works as “a fortress defended on one side by a high mountain, and on other sides by a wall about seven feet thick, the foundations of which yet remain. There are seen in this fortress stones as large as millstones; the beams of the roofs are of pine, and well worked. In the centre of the vast edifice is a mound, built as it seems, for the purpose of keeping guard and watching the enemy.” Clavigero evidently confounds the two groups of ruins, and from his error, and a similar one by others, come the accounts which represent the Casas Grandes as built of stone. He mentions obsidian mirrors among the relics dug up here, probably without any authority. The cut from Bartlett shows a stone metate found among the ruins.

Metate from Casas Grandes.

So far as any conclusions or comparisons suggested by this Chihuahuan ruin are concerned, they may best be deferred to the end of the following chapter. The Casas Grandes, and the ruins of the northern or New Mexican group, should be classed together. They were the work of the same people, at about the same epoch.

Footnotes

[X-1] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iv., p. 58.

[X-2] Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., pp. 45-6. Ihuatzio, probably the true name of the town called by Beaumont Ignatzio, ‘recuerda por sus antiguedades (la Pirámide aun no destruida, que les servia de plaza de armas: otras Yácatas, ó sepulcros de sus Reyes: las reliquias de una torre que fabricó su primer fundador antes venir los Españoles, y la via, calle ó camino de Queréndaro, que comunicaba con la Capital) tristes memorias de la grandeza michuacana.’ Michuacan, Análisis Estad., por J. J. L., p. 166.

[X-3] Lyon’s Journal, vol. ii., pp. 71-2. ‘Some relics of the Tarascan architecture are said to be found at this place, but we do not possess any authentic accounts or drawings of them.’ Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 291. Mention in Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 369; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 167.

[X-4] Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., pp. 70-1; mention in Hassel, Mex. Guat., p. 154.

[X-5] Beaufoy’s Mex. Illustr., p. 199.

[X-6] Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iv., p. 559.

[X-7] Humboldt, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. ii., p. 30, suppl., pl. vii., fig. 13; Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. viii., p. 558.

[X-8] Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iii., p. 277.

[X-9] Gutierrez, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iii., pp. 277-80.

[X-10] Rico, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iii., p. 183.

[X-11] Löwenstern, Mexique, pp. 265-7, 280, 344; Id., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1840, tom. lxxxvi., pp. 119-20; Id., in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. xi., p. 104; Cincinnatus’ Travels, p. 259.

[X-12] Hervás, Catálogo, tom. i., p. 311.

[X-13] Florencia, Origen de los Santuarios, p. 8; Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., pp. 217-19.

[X-14] Acazitli, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. ii., pp. 313-14; Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., pp. 269-70.

[X-15] Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., p. 515.

[X-16] Gil, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. viii., p. 496; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1842, tom. xcv., p. 295; same account in Mofras, Explor., tom. i., p. 161.

[X-17] Retes, in Museo Mex., 2da época, tom. i., pp. 3-6.

[X-18] Id., p. 6.

[X-19] Lyon’s Journal, vol. i., pp. 322-3.

[X-20] Bustamante, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. i., pp. 56-7.

[X-21] Castillo, in Id., 2da época, tom. iv., pp. 107-8.

[X-22] Berlandier and Thovel, Diario, p. 25.

[X-23] Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iii., pp. 278-9, preceded by an account quoted from Torquemada.

[X-24] Lyon’s Journal, vol. i., pp. 225-44.

[X-25] Esparza, Informe, pp. 56-8. The same report also published in 1843, in the Museo Mex., tom. i., p. 185, et seq., with some remarks by the editor, who saw the ruins in 1831. The article also includes a quotation from Frejes, Conquista de Zacatecas, an attempt to clear up the origin and history of the ruined city, and a plate reduced from Nebel.

[X-26] Burkart, Aufenthalt, tom. ii., pp. 97-105.

[X-27] Viaje. His Mexican trip began in 1831, Soc. Géog., Bulletin, tom. xv., No. 95, p. 141, and Burkart met him in Zacatecas some time before 1834.

[X-28] Other accounts containing no additional information, and made up, except one or two, from the authorities already mentioned:—Gil, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. viii., pp. 441-2; Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, pp. 240-6; Id., Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., pp. 317-23, Lyon’s description and Nebel’s plate; Id., in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., p. 581; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 90-5; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 492; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 204; Frost’s Pict. Hist. Mex., pp. 58-66; Id., Great Cities, pp. 304-12, cuts; Rio, Beschreib. einer alt. Stadt, appendix, pp. 70-5.

[X-29] Tello, Fragmentos, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. ii., p. 344.

[X-30] Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. viii., pp. 441-2, 496; Frejes, in Museo Mex., tom. i., pp. 186-9; Lyon’s Journal, vol. i., p. 243.

[X-31] The explanation of the plan by the lettering given in Nebel’s work is as follows: A i., A ii., A iii., A iv. Temples and structures connected therewith. B. Enclosing walls. C. Walls supporting terraces. D. Pyramids in the interior of temples. E. Isolated Pyramids. F. Ruins of dwellings. G. Stairways. H. Ancient roads. J. Kind of a ‘plaza de armas.’ K. Fortifications. L. Small stairways leading to the court of the temple. M. A small altar. N. Ancient foundations. O. Batteries in the form of flat roofs (azotéas). P. Modern cross on the summit of the hill. Q. Well. R. Large hall with 11 columns to support the roof. S. Two columns. T. Rock. U. Stream.

[X-32] Rivera, pp. 56-8, says that the causeway leading toward the hacienda runs S.E.

[X-33] Frejes, in Museo Mex., tom. i., p. 186, speaks of ‘tres calzadas de seis varas de ancho que por líneas divergentes corren al mediodía algunas leguas hasta perderse de vista.’

[X-34] Lyon. According to the Museo Mex., tom. i., p. 187, it is 5 or 6 varas high and 10 thick.

[X-35] Burkart gives the dimensions as 194 by 232 Rhenish feet, somewhat larger than English feet; Rivera says 35 or 40 varas square. This author also noticed on the slope of the hill before reaching the steepest part, a pyramid about 20 feet high and 11 feet square, now truncated but apparently pointed in its original condition. This was probably the heap of stones mentioned above.

[X-36] Burkart implies that the terrace extends entirely round the square, forming a sunken basin 4 or 5 feet deep; and this is probably the case, as it agrees with the plan of some other structures on the hill.

[X-37] Lyon says 137 by 154 feet; Rivera, 50 to 60 varas, with walls 8 to 9 varas high.

[X-38] Burkart gives the dimensions of the pyramid as 30 feet square and 30 feet high; and of the altar in front as 6 feet square and 6 feet high.

[X-39] ‘Tiene este pueblo [Teul] por cabeza un cerro al principio cuadrado como de peña tajada, y arriba otro cerro redondo, y encima del primero hay tanta capacidad que caben mas de veinte mil indios…. En este monte estaba una sala, en donde estaba su ídolo, que llamaban el Teotl … tiene más una pila de losas de junturas de cinco varas de largo y tres de ancho, y mas ancha de arriba que de abajo…. Esta pila tiene dos entradas; la una en la esquina que mira al Norte, con cinco gradas, y la otra que mira en esquina al Sur, con otras cinco: no lejos de esta pila, como dos tiros de arcabuz, están dos montecillos que eran los osarios de los indios que sacrificaban.’ Tello, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. ii., pp. 362-4; Id., in Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., p. 300; description of the temple, Gil, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. viii., p. 497; mention of ruins, Frejes, in Museo Mex., tom. i., p. 186; stone axes, Esparza, Informe, p. 7; concealed temples and idols, Arlegui, Chrón. Zacatecas, p. 95.

[X-40] Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, p. 98; Cabrera, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iv., p. 24; Annual Scien. Discov., 1850, p. 361.

[X-41] Furber’s Twelve Months Volunteer, pp. 387-8.

[X-42] Lyon’s Journal, vol. i., pp. 141-2.

[X-43] Norman’s Rambles by Land and Water, pp. 169-70.

[X-44] Norman’s Rambles by Land and Water, pp. 121-37.

[X-45] Lyon’s Journal, vol. i., pp. 21, 28, 114. Mention of Tamaulipas antiquities from Norman and Lyon, in Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., pp. 207-9; Id., in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., p. 581. Newspaper account of some relics of Christianity, in Cronise’s California, p. 30.

[X-46] Berlandier and Thovel, Diario, p. 151.

[X-47] Wizlizenus’ Tour, pp. 69, 70. This author says the bodies are supposed to belong to the Lipans. Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 518; Severn’s Journal, vol. xxx., p. 38; Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, pp. 239-40; Id., Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 333; Silliman’s Jour., vol. xxxvi., p. 200; Cal. Acad. Nat. Sciences, vol. iii., pp. 160-1; Pac. Monthly, vol. xi., p. 783; Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1839, tom. lxxxi., pp. 126-7; Lemprière’s Notes in Mex., p. 135; Avila, in Album Mex., tom. i., pp. 465-8; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 418; Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 685.

[X-48] Donnavan’s Adven., pp. 30-1.

[X-49] Larios, in Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. ii., pp. 54-5; Ribas, Hist. de los Triumphos, p. 583; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 318.

[X-50] Arlegui, Chrón. Zacatecas, pp. 6, 67.

[X-51] Ramirez, Noticias Hist. de Durango, pp. 6-9; Id., in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. v., pp. 10-11.

[X-52] Doc. Hist. Mex., série iv., tom. v., pp. 213, 254.

[X-53] Clavigero, Storia della Cal., tom. i., pp. 107-9; Doc. Hist. Mex., série iv., tom. v., pp. 213, 254; Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, Dec. 21, 1860, Nov. 22, 1861, Jan. 10, 1862; Hesperian, vol. iii., p. 530.

[X-54] San Francisco Evening Bulletin, July 16, 1864; Cal. Farmer, March 20, 1863, April 4, 1862; Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., pp. 626-7.

[X-55] Hardy’s Trav., p. 467.

[X-56] Lamberg, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. iii., p. 25.

[X-57] García Conde, Ensayo sobre Chihuahua, p. 74.

[X-58] Robertson’s Hist. Amer., vol. i., p. 269.

[X-59] Arlegui, Chrón. Zacatecas, pp. 104-5. Same in Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., pp. 484-5.

[X-60] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 159; Heredia y Sarmiento, Sermon, pp. 89-90.

[X-61] Escudero, Noticias Estad. del Estado de Chihuahua, pp. 234-5; repeated in García Conde, Ensayo sobre Chihuahua, p. 74; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 110-11.

[X-62] Album Mex., tom. i., pp. 374-5.

[X-63] Hardy’s Trav., pp. 465-6.

[X-64] Wizlizenus’ Tour, pp. 59-60.

[X-65] Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., pp. 347-64. Other compiled accounts may be found in Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 339; Armin, Das Heutige Mex., pp. 269-70; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, pp. 312-13; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 525; Thümmel, Mexiko, p. 347; Ranking’s Hist. Researches, pp. 282-3; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., p. 216; Willson’s Amer. Hist., p. 561; Gordon’s Ancient Mex., vol. i., p. 105; Gregory’s Hist. Mex., p. 71.

[X-66] Although the dimensions in the Album are given as 414 by 1380 feet, probably including some structures reckoned by Bartlett as detached.

Chapter XI • Antiquities of Arizona and New Mexico • 23,400 Words

Area enclosed by the Gila, Rio Grande del Norte, and Colorado—A Land of Mystery—Wonderful Reports and Adventures of Missionaries, Soldiers, Hunters, Miners, and Pioneers—Exploration—Railroad Surveys—Classification of Remains—Monuments of the Gila Valley—Boulder-Inscriptions—The Casa Grande of Arizona—Early Accounts and Modern Exploration—Adobe Buildings—View and Plans—Miscellaneous remains, Acequias, and Pottery—Other Ruins on the Gila—Valley of the Rio Salado—Rio Verde—Pueblo Creek—Upper Gila—Tributaries of the Colorado—Rock-Inscriptions, Bill Williams Fork—Ruined Cities of the Colorado Chiquito—Rio Puerco—Lithodendron Creek—Navarro Spring—Zuñi Valley—Arch Spring—Zuñi—Ojo del Pescado—Inscription Rock—Rio San Juan—Ruins of the Chelly and Chaco Cañons—Valley of the Rio Grande—Pueblo Towns, Inhabited and in Ruins—The Moqui Towns—The Seven Cities of Cíbola—Résumé, Comparisons, and Conclusions.

Crossing the boundary line between the northern and southern republics, and entering the territory of the Pacific United States, I shall present in the present chapter all that is known of antiquities in Arizona and New Mexico. An area approximating somewhat the form of a right-angle triangle, with a base of four hundred miles and a perpendicular of three hundred, includes all the remains in this region. The valley of the Rio Gila, with those of its tributary streams, is the southern boundary, or base, stretching along the thirty-third parallel of latitude; the Rio Grande del Norte, flowing southward between the one hundred and sixth and one hundred and seventh meridians, forms with its valley the eastern limit or perpendicular; while on the north and west the region is bounded by the Rio Colorado as a hypothenuse, albeit a very winding one. The latter river might, however, be straightened, thus improving materially the geometrical symmetry of my triangle, without interfering much with ancient remains, as will be seen when the relics of the Colorado section are described.

The face of the country is made up of fertile valleys, precipitous cañons, rugged mountains, and desert table-lands, the latter predominating and constituting a very large portion of the area. Arizona and New Mexico since first they became known to the outside world, have always had, as they still have, more or less of the mysterious connected with them. Here have been located for over three hundred years the wonderful peoples, marvelous cities, extensive ruins, mines of untold wealth, unparalleled natural phenomena, savages of the most bloodthirsty and merciless character, and other marvels, that from the narratives of adventurers and missionaries have found their way into romance and history. This was in a certain sense the last American stronghold of the mysterious as connected with the aborigines, where the native races yet dispute the progress of a foreign civilization.

And the wondrous tales of this border land between civilization and savagism, always exaggerated, had nevertheless much foundation in fact. The Pueblo tribes of New Mexico and the Moquis of Arizona are a wonderful people when we consider the wall of savagism which envelopes them; their towns of many-storied structures are better foundations than usually exist for travelers’ tales of magnificent cities; ruins are abundant, showing that the pueblo nations were in the past more numerous, powerful, and cultured, than Europeans have found them; rich mines are now worked, and yet richer ones are awaiting development; few greater natural curiosities have been seen in America than the cañon of the Colorado, with perpendicular sides in some places a mile in height; and the Apaches are yet on the war-path, making a trip through the country much more dangerous now than at the time when the Spaniards first visited it.

Although a large part of these states is still in the possession of the natives, and no official or scientific commission has made explorations which were especially directed to its antiquarian treasures, yet the labors of the priest, hunter, immigrant, Indian fighter, railroad surveyor, and prospector, have left few valleys, hills, or cañons, mountain passes or desert plains unvisited. While it is not probable that all even of the more important ruins have been seen, or described, we may feel very sure, here as in Yucatan, from the uniformity of such monuments as have been brought to light, that no very important developments remain to be made respecting the character, or type, of the New Mexican remains.

Exploration of New Mexico

This country was first visited by the Spaniards in the middle of the sixteenth century. The part known to them as New Mexico, and to which their efforts as conquistadores and missionaries were particularly directed, was the valley of the Rio Grande and its tributary streams, but the whole district was frequently crossed and recrossed by the padres down to the latter part of the seventeenth century. Reports of large cities and powerful nations far in the north reached Mexico through the natives as early as 1530; Cabeza de Vaca, ship-wrecked on the coast of the Mexican gulf, wandered through the regions south of and near New Mexico, in 1535-6; roused by the shipwrecked soldier’s tale, Fr Marco de Niza penetrated at least into Arizona from Sinaloa in 1539, and was followed by Vasquez de Coronado, who reached the Pueblo towns on the Rio Grande in 1540; Antonio de Espejo followed the course of the great river northward to the Pueblos in 1583, and in 1598 New Mexico was brought altogether under Spanish rule by Juan de Oñate. In 1680 the natives threw off the yoke by revolt, but were again subdued fifteen years later, and the Spaniards retained the power, though not always without difficulty until 1848, when the territory came into the possession of the United States. The archives of the missions are said to have been for the most part destroyed in the revolt of 1680, and consequently their history previous to that date is only known in outline; since 1680 the annals are tolerably clear and complete. The diaries of the Spanish pioneers have been, most of them, preserved in one form or another, and show that the authors visited many of the ruins that have attracted the attention of later explorers, and also that they found many of the towns inhabited that now exist only as ruins. Their accurate accounts of towns still standing and inhabited attest, moreover, their general veracity as explorers.

It is, however, to the explorations undertaken under the authority of the United States government, for the purpose of surveying a practicable route for an interoceanic railroad, and also to establish a boundary line between American and Mexican territory, that we owe nearly all our accurate descriptions of the ancient monuments of this group. These exploring parties, as well as the military expeditions during the war with Mexico, were accompanied by scientific men and artists, whose observations were made public in their official reports, together with illustrative plates. They generally followed the course of the larger rivers, but the ruins discovered by them show a remarkable similarity one to another, and consequently the reports of trappers and guides respecting remains of similar type on the smaller streams, may be generally accepted as worthy of more implicit confidence than can generally be accorded to such reports.

In this division of Pacific States antiquities, which may be spoken of as the New Mexican group, we shall find, 1st, the remains of ancient stone and adobe buildings in all stages of disintegration, from standing walls with roofs and floors to shapeless heaps of débris or simple lines of foundation-stones; 2d, anomalous structures of stone or earth, the purpose of which, either by reason of their advanced state of ruin or of the slight attention given them by travelers, is not apparent; 3d, traces of aboriginal agriculture in the shape of acequias and zanjas, or irrigating canals and ditches; 4th, pottery, always in fragments; 5th, implements and ornaments of stone and shell, not numerous; and 6th, painted or engraved figures on cliffs, boulders, and the sides of natural caverns.

Mouth of the Colorado

About the mouth of the Colorado there are no authentic remains of aboriginal work dating back beyond the coming of the Spaniards, although Mr Bartlett found just below the mouth of the Gila traces of cultivation, which seemed to him, judging from the growth of trees that covered them, not to be the work of the present tribes in the vicinity. I find also an absurd newspaper report—and no part of the Pacific States has been more prolific of such reports than that now under consideration—of a wonderful ruined city of hewn stone somewhere about the head of the Gulf of California. This city included numerous dwellings, circular walls of granite, sculptured hieroglyphics, and seven great pyramids, not unlike the famous Central American cities of Palenque and Copan. Some rude figures scratched or painted on the surface of a boulder, seen by a traveler, have been proved by experience to be ample foundation for such a rumor.[XI-1]Cal., Past, Pres. and Future, p. 145.

Boulder-Sculptures on the Gila.

Rock-Inscriptions of the Gila

Ascending the Rio Gila eastward from its junction with the Colorado, for some two hundred miles we find nothing that can be classed with ancient monuments except natural heaps of large boulders at two points, the flat sides of which are “covered with rude figures of men, animals, and other objects of grotesque forms, all pecked in with a sharp instrument.” The accompanying cut shows some of these boulder-sculptures as they were sketched by Bartlett in 1852. Some of them seemed of recent origin, while many were much defaced by exposure, and apparently of great age. The newer carvings in some cases extend over the older ones, and many are found on the under side of the rocks, where they must have been executed before they fell to their present position. The locality of the sculptured rocks is shown on the map; the first is about fifty miles east of Fort Yuma, and the second twenty miles west of the big bend of the Gila, both on the south bank. Two additional incised figures are given in the following cut from Froebel’s sketches, since the author thinks that Bartlett may have selected his specimens with a view to strengthen his theory that the figures are not hieroglyphics with a definite meaning.[XI-2]Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., pp. 195, 206; Froebel, Aus Amer., tom. ii., p. 468; Id., Cent. Amer., pp. 519-24; Emory’s Reconnoissance, pp. 82, 89-91, with plate.

Boulder-Sculptures on the Gila.

Between the Pima villages and the junction of the San Pedro with the Gila, stands the most famous ruin of the whole region—the Casa Grande, or Casa de Montezuma, which it is safe to say has been mentioned by every writer on American antiquity. Coronado during his trip from Culiacan to the ‘seven cities’ in 1540, visited a building called Chichilticale, or ‘red house,’ which is supposed with much reason to have been the Casa Grande. The only account of Coronado’s trip which gives any description of the building is that of Castañeda, who says, “Chichilticale of which so much had been said [probably by the guides or natives] proved to be a house in ruins and without a roof; which seemed, however, to have been fortified. It was clear that this house, built of red earth, was the work of civilized people who had come from far away.” “A house which had long been inhabited by a people who came from Cíbola. The earth in this country is red. The house was large; it seemed to have served as a fortress.”[XI-3]Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 40-1, 161-2. Two other accounts of the trip were written—one by Juan Jaramillo, which may be found in the same volume of Ternaux-Compans’ work; and the second by Coronado himself, an Italian translation of which appeared in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 359, et seq., and an English translation in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 373, et seq. For an abstract of the trip and discussion about the location of the route, see Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. ii.; Squier, in American Review for November, 1848; Whipple, et al., in Pac. R. R. Repts, vol. iii.; and Simpson, in Smithsonian Rept., 1859, p. 309, et seq. The last is the best article on the subject, and is accompanied by a map. All the accounts mention the fact that the expedition passed through Chichilticale, but only the one quoted describes the building.

Father Kino heard of the ruin while visiting the northern missions of Sonora in the early part of 1694. He was at first incredulous, but the information having been confirmed by other reports of the natives, he visited the Casa Grande later in the same year, and said mass within its walls. Since Kino was not accompanied at the time by Padre Mange, his secretary, who usually kept the diary of his expeditions, no definite account resulted from this first visit.[XI-4]“Lo apuntó en embrion por no haber ido yo á este descubrimento.” Mange, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iv., tom. i., pp. 259, 253, 362-4.

In 1697, however, Padre Kino revisited the place, in company this time with Mange, who in his diary of the trip wrote what may be regarded as the first definite description.[XI-5]In Doc. Hist. Mex., série iv., tom. i., pp. 282-3. Mange’s description is as follows:—’One of them is a large edifice, the principal room in the centre being four stories high, and those adjoining it on its four sides, three stories; with walls two varas thick, of strong argamasa y barro [that is, the material of which adobes are made] so smooth on the inside that they resemble planed boards, and so polished that they shine like Puebla pottery. The corners of the windows, which are square, are very straight and without supports or crosspieces of wood, as if made with a mold; the doors are the same, though, narrow, and by this it is known to be the work of Indians; it is 36 paces long by 21 wide, and is well built. At the distance of an arquebuse-shot are seen twelve other buildings half fallen, also with thick walls; and all the roofs burned out except one low room, which has round beams apparently of cedar, or sabino, small and smooth, and over them otates (reeds) of equal size, and a layer of hard mud and mortar, forming a very curious roof or floor. In the vicinity are seen many other ruins and stories, and heaps of rubbish which cover the ground for two leagues; with much broken pottery, plates, and ollas of fine clay painted in various colors and resembling the Guadalajara pottery of New Spain; hence it is inferred that the city was very large and the work of a civilized people under a government. This is verified by a canal which runs from the river over the plain, encircling the settlement, which is in the centre, three leagues in circumference, ten varas wide and four deep, carrying perhaps half the river, and thus serving as a defensive ditch as well as to supply water for the houses and to irrigate the surrounding fields.’

Casa Grande of the Gila

Padre Jacobo Sedelmair visited the Casa Grande in 1744, but in his narrative he copies Mange’s account. He went further, however, and discovered other ruins.[XI-6]Sedelmair, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 847. Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 108-10, takes this description from Sedelmair’s MS. in the Mexican archives, as being written by one who was ‘almost the discoverer,’ but it is a literal copy of Mange’s diary. Mange’s diary, so far as it relates to the Casa Grande, is translated in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 301; and Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., pp. 281-2.

Authorities on the Casa Grande

Lieut C. M. Bernal seems to have been military commandant in Kino’s expedition, and he also describes the ruin in his report.[XI-7]‘Y vimos toda la vivienda del edificio que es muy grande de quatro altos, cuadradas las paredes y muy gruesas como de dos varas de ancho del dicho barro blanco, y aunque estos jentiles lo han quemado distintas veces, se ven los quatro altos, con buenas salas, aposentos y ventanas curiosamente embarradas por dentro y fuera de manera que están las paredes encaladas y lisas con un barro algo colorado, las puertas muy parejas. Tambien hay inmediatas por fuera once casas algo menores fabricadas con la propia curiosidad de la grande y altas … y en largo distrito se ve mucha losa quebrada y pintada; tambien se vé una sequia maestra de diez varas de ancho y quatro de alto, y un bordo muy grueso hecho de la misma tierra que va á la casa por un llano.’ Bernal, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 804. Padres Garcés and Font made a journey in 1775-6, under Capt. Anza, to the Gila and Colorado valleys, and thence to the missions of Alta California and the Moqui towns. Both mention the ruin in their diaries, the latter giving quite a full account. I know not if Padre Font’s diary has ever been printed, but I have in my collection an English manuscript translation from the original in the archives at Guadalajara,—perhaps the same copy from which Mr Bartlett made the extracts which he printed in his work.[XI-8]Padre Garcés says, ‘on this river is situated the house which they call Moctezuma’s, and many other ruins of other edifices with very many fragments of pottery both painted and plain. From what I afterwards saw of the Moqui, I have formed a very different idea from that which I before entertained respecting these buildings,’ referring to Padre Font for more details. Doc. Hist. Mex., série ii., tom. i., p. 242. Font’s account is substantially as follows:—’We carefully examined this edifice and its ruins; the echnographical plan of which I here lay down [The plan does not accompany the translation, but I have the same plan in another MS. which I shall presently mention] and the better to understand it I give the following description and explanation. [Here follows an account of the building of the Casa by the Aztecs when the Devil led them through these regions on their way to Anáhuac]. The site on which this house is built is flat on all sides and at the distance of about one league from the river Gila, and the ruins of the houses which composed the town extend more than a league towards the East and the Cardinal points; and all this land is partially covered with pieces of pots, jugs, plates, &c., some common and others painted of different colours, white, blue, red,’ &c., very different from the work of the Pimas. A careful measurement made with a lance showed that ‘the house forms an oblong square, facing exactly the four Cardinal points … and round about it there are ruins indicating a fence or wall which surrounded the house and other buildings, particularly in the corners, where it appears that there has been some edifice like an interior castle or watch-tower, for in the angle which faces towards the S.W. there stands a ruin with its divisions and an upper story. The exterior place [plaza] extends from N. to S. 420 feet and from E. to W. 260 feet. The interior of the house consists of five halls, the three middle ones being of one size and the two extreme ones longer.’ The three middle ones are 26 by 10 feet, and the others 38 by 12 feet, and all 11 feet high. The inner doors are of equal size, two by five feet, the outer ones being of double width. The inner walls are four feet thick and well plastered, and the outer walls six feet thick. The house is 70 by 50 feet, the walls sloping somewhat on the outside. ‘Before the Eastern doorway, separate from the house there is another building,’ 26 by 18 feet, ‘without counting the thickness of the walls. The timber, it appears, was of pine, and the nearest mountain bearing pine is at the distance of 25 leagues; it likewise bears some mezquite. All the building is of earth, and according to appearances the walls are built in boxes [moldes] of different sizes. A trench leads from the river at a great distance, by which the town was supplied with water; it is now nearly buried up. Finally, it is perceptible that the Edifice had three stories, and if it be true what the Indians say it had 4, the last being a kind of subterranean vault. For the purpose of giving light to the rooms, nothing is seen but the doors and some round holes in the middle of the walls which face to the East and West, and the Indians said that the Prince whom they call the “bitter man” used to salute the sun through these holes (which are pretty large) at its rising and setting. No signs of stairs remain, and we therefore suppose that they must have been of wood, and that they were destroyed when the building was burnt by the Apaches.’ Font’s Journal, MS., pp. 8-10; also quoted in Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., pp. 278-80; also French translation in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 383-6. Font’s plan is not given with the translation, but in Beaumont’s Crónica de Mechoacan, a very important work never published, of which I have a copy made from the original for the Mexican Imperial Library of Maximilian, I find a description of the Casa Grande, which appears to have been quoted literally from Font’s diary, and which also contains the ground plan of the ruined edifice. I shall notice hereafter its variations from the plan which I shall copy.[XI-9]Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., pp. 504-8. See an abridged account from the same source in Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., p. 125; Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, pp. 462-3. A brief account was given in the Rudo Ensayo, written about 1761, and by Velarde in his notice of the Pimería, written probably toward the close of the eighteenth century; but neither of these descriptions contained any additional information, having been made up probably from the preceding.[XI-10]Sonora, Rudo Ensayo, pp. 18-9; same also in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., pp. 503-4; Velarde, Descrip. de la Pimería, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iv., tom. i., pp. 362-3. This author speaks of ‘algunas paredes de un gran estanque, hecho á mano de cal y canto.’ Similar account in Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. ii., pp. 211-12.

Finally the Casa Grande has been visited, sketched, and described by Emory and Johnston, connected with Gen. Kearny’s military expedition to California in 1846; by Bartlett with the Mexican Boundary Commission in 1852; and by Ross Browne in 1863.[XI-11]Emory’s Reconnoissance, pp. 81-3; Johnston’s Journal, in Id., pp. 567-600; Browne’s Apache Country, pp. 114-24; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., pp. 271-84. Other authorities, containing, I believe, no original information, are as follows: Humboldt, Essai Pol., pp. 297-8; Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., p. 82; Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 361; Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., p. 19; Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 396, with cut; Id., Observations, p. 15; Id., Mex. as it Was, p. 239; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 197; Conder’s Mex. Guat., vol. ii., pp. 68-9; Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 297; Cutts’ Conq. of Cal., pp. 186-8; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 381-4; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, pp. 309-14; Lafond, Voyages, tom. i., p. 135; Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., p. 12; Long’s Amer. and W. I., pp. 180-1; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., pp. 453; Mill’s Hist. Mex., pp. 192-3; Monglave, Résumé, p. 176; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., pp. 435-6; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 532; Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxxi., pp. 284-6, 261; Froebel, Aus Amer., tom. ii., pp. 451-2; Gordon’s Hist. and Geog. Mem., pp. 86-7; Id., Ancient Mex., vol. i., p. 104; Shuck’s Cal. Scrap-Book, p. 669; Robinson’s Cal., pp. 93-4; Velasco, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. xi., p. 96; Thümmel, Mexiko, p. 347; DeBercy, L’Europe et L’Amér., pp. 238-9; Ruxton, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1850, tom. cxxvi., pp. 40, 46, 52; San Francisco Chronicle, Jan. 15, 1875; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., pp. 299-300; Hughes’ Doniphan’s Ex., p. 219.

The descriptions of different writers do not differ very materially one from another, Bartlett’s among the later, and Font’s of the earlier accounts being the most complete. From all the authorities I make up the following description, although the extracts which I have already given include nearly all that can be said on the subject. The Casa Grande stands about two miles and a half south of the bank of the Gila;—that is all the early writers call the distance about a league; Bartlett and Emory say nothing of the distance, and Ross Browne says it is half an hour’s ride. The Gila valley in this region is a level bottom of varying width, with nearly perpendicular banks of earth. Opposite the ruin the bottom is about a mile wide on the southern bank of the river, and the ruin itself stands on the raised plateau beyond, surrounded by a thick growth of mesquite with an occasional pitahaya. The height and nature of the ascent from the bottom to the plateau at this particular point are not stated; but from the fact that acequias are reported leading from the river to the buildings, it would seem that the ascent must be very slight and gradual.

The appearance of the ruins in 1863 is shown in the cut as sketched by Ross Browne. Other sketches by Bartlett, Emory, and Johnston, agree very well with the one given, but none of them indicate the presence of the mesquite forest mentioned in Mr Bartlett’s text. The material of the buildings is adobe,[XI-12]Adobes are properly sun-dried bricks without any particular reference to the exact quality or proportions of the ingredients, many varieties of earth or clay being employed, according to the locality and the nature of the structure, with or without a mixture of straw or pebbles. But adobe is a very convenient word to indicate the material itself without reference to the form and size of its blocks or the exact nature of its ingredients; and such a use of the word seems allowable. that is, the ordinary mud of the locality mixed with gravel. Most writers say nothing of its color, although Bernal in 1697 pronounced it ‘white clay,’ and Johnston also says it is white, probably with an admixture of lime, which, as he states, is abundant in the vicinity. Mr Hutton, a civil engineer well acquainted with the ruins, assured Mr Simpson that the surrounding earth is of a reddish color, although by reason of the pebbles the Casa has a whitish appearance in certain reflections. This matter of color is of no great importance except to prove the identity of the building with Castañeda’s Chichilticale, which he expressly states to have been built of red earth.[XI-13]Smithsonian Rept., 1869, p. 326; Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 41, 161-2. The material instead of being formed into small rectangular or brick-shaped blocks, as is customary in all Spanish American countries to this day, seems in this aboriginal structure to have been molded—perhaps by means of wooden boxes—and dried where it was to remain in the walls, in blocks of varying size, but generally four feet long by two feet in width and thickness. The outer surface of the walls was plastered with the same material which constituted the blocks, and the inner walls were hard-finished with a finer composition of the same nature, which in many parts has retained its smooth and even polished surface. Adobe is a very durable building-material, so long as a little attention is given to repairs, but it is really wonderful that the walls of the Casa Grande have resisted, uncared for, the ravages of time and the elements for over three hundred years of known age, and of certainly a century—perhaps much more—of pre-Spanish existence.

Casa Grande of the Gila.

The buildings that still have upright walls are three in number, and in the largest of these both the exterior and interior walls are so nearly perfect as to show accurately not only the original form and size, but the division of the interior into apartments. Its dimensions on the ground are fifty feet from north to south, by forty feet from east to west. The outer wall is about five feet thick at the base, diminishing slightly towards the top, in a curved line on the exterior, but perpendicular on the inside.[XI-14]36 by 21 paces, Mange, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iv., tom. i., p. 283; 70 by 50 feet, outer walls 6 feet thick, inner 4 feet, Font’s Journal, MS., pp. 8-9; walls between 4 and 5 feet thick, Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 272; 60 feet square, Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 81. The interior is divided by partition walls, slightly thinner than the others, into five apartments, as shown in the accompanying ground plan taken from Bartlett. Font’s plan given by Beaumont agrees with this, except that additional doors are represented at the points marked with a dot, and no doorway is indicated at a. The three central rooms are each about eight by fourteen feet, and the others ten by thirty-two feet, as nearly as may be estimated from Bartlett’s plan and the statements of other writers.[XI-15]Central rooms, 26 by 10 feet; the others 38 by 12 feet. Font’s Journal, MS., p. 9. The doors in the centre of each façade are three feet wide and five feet high, and somewhat narrower at the top than at the bottom, except that on the western front, which is two by seven or eight feet. There are some small windows, both square and circular in the outer and inner walls. The following cut shows an elevation of the side and end, also from Bartlett.[XI-16]It will be noticed that although Mr Bartlett speaks of an entrance in the centre of each side, his plan shows none in the south. ‘Il n’existe point de portes au rez-de-chaussée.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 361.

Ground Plan of the Casa Grande.

Elevations of the Casa Grande.

Remains of floor timbers show that the main walls were three stories high, or, as the lower rooms are represented by Font as about ten English feet high, about thirty feet in height; while the central portion is eight or ten feet—probably one story—higher. Mr Bartlett judged from the mass of débris within that the main building had originally four stories; but as the earliest visitors speak of three and four stories—some referring to the central, others apparently to the outer portions—there would seem to be no satisfactory evidence that the building was over forty feet high, although it is possible that the outer and inner walls were originally of the same height. Respecting the arrangement of apartments in the upper stories, there is of course no means of judging, all the floors having fallen. There may, however, have been additional partition walls resting on the floors, and these may have helped to make up the débris noticed by Mr Bartlett. The floors were evidently supported by round timbers four or five inches in diameter, inserted in the walls and stretching across the rooms at regular intervals. The holes where the beams were placed, and in many cases the ends of the beams themselves are still visible. At the time of Padre Kino’s visit one floor in an adjoining ruin was still perfect, and was formed by cross-sticks placed upon the round floor-timbers and covered with a thick cake of mud, or adobe.[XI-17]Mange, Itinerario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iv., tom. i., pp. 282-3. No marks of any cutting instrument were noticed by any visitor except Mr Browne, who says “the ends show very plainly marks of the blunt instrument with which they were cut—probably a stone hatchet.”[XI-18]Browne’s Apache Country, p. 118. The timbers, of cedar, or sabino, show by their charred ends that the interior was ruined by fire; and Johnston found other evidences that the walls had been exposed to great heat.[XI-19]Johnston, in Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 598. Nothing seems more natural than that the building should have been burned by some band of Apaches. No traces of stairways have been found even by the earliest visitors; so that the original means of communication with the upper stories may be reasonably supposed to have been wooden ladders, still used by the Pueblo natives in buildings not very unlike what this must originally have been. Mr Bartlett and also Johnston found and sketched some rude figures painted in red lines on the smooth wall of one apartment, but which had disappeared at the time of Mr Browne’s visit.

The descriptions of successive explorers show clearly the gradually increasing effects of time and the elements on this ruin; from Browne’s sketch it would seem that the walls, undermined at the base by the yearly rains, as is always the case with neglected adobe structures, must soon fall; although I learned from a band of Arizona natives who visited San Francisco in 1873 that the Casa was still standing. When the adobe walls have once fallen, they will require but one or two seasons to crumble and become reduced to a shapeless mound of mud and gravel; as has been the case with most of the eleven other buildings reported here by the first comers, and the existence of which there is no reason to doubt.

Of the additional casas seen by Kino and others no particular description was given, save that Font describes one of them as measuring twenty-six by eighteen feet on the ground. Only two of them show any remains of standing walls, one on the south-west and the other on the north-east of the Casa Grande. The standing portions of the former seemed to indicate a structure similar in plan to the chief edifice, although much smaller; the latter is of still smaller dimensions and its remains convey no idea of its original form. “In every direction,” says Mr Bartlett, “as far as the eye can reach, are seen heaps of ruined edifices, with no portions of their walls standing,” and Mange, Kino, and Font observed also shapeless heaps covering the plain for a distance of two leagues.

Father Font found “ruins indicating a fence or wall which surrounded the house and other buildings,” mentioning a ruin in the south-west angle which had divisions and an upper story. This corner structure may be the same that has been mentioned as standing south-west of the Casa Grande, and Font very likely mistook the heaps of fallen houses for the remains of a wall, since no such wall was seen by Kino and Mange. The dimensions of this supposed wall, four hundred and twenty feet from north to south, and two hundred and sixty feet from east to west, were erroneously applied by Arricivita and Humboldt, followed by others, to the Casa Grande itself, an error which has given a very exaggerated idea of the size of that edifice.[XI-20]Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, pp. 462-3; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 297.

Traces of acequias are mentioned by all as occurring frequently in the vicinity, especially in the Gila bottom between the ruins and the Pima villages. No plan or accurate description of these irrigating works has been given. Probably they were simple shallow ditches in the ground, still traceable at some points. Mange describes the main canal as twenty-seven feet wide, ten feet deep, capable of carrying half the water of the Gila, and extending from the river for a circuit of three leagues round the ruins. Considering the general conformation of the bottom and plateau in this part of the Gila valley, it seems impossible that a canal ten, or even twenty, feet deep could have reached the level of the river, or that so grand an acequia should have escaped the notice of later explorers.

Miscellaneous Remains

The miscellaneous remains near the Casa Grande, besides the mounds formed by fallen houses, the irrigating ditches, and the fragments of pottery strewn over the adjacent country in the greatest profusion, are two in number. The first is a circular embankment, three hundred feet in circumference, situated about six hundred feet north-west from the chief ruin. Its height and material are not stated, but it is undoubtedly of the surrounding earth. Johnston considers it a filled-up well; while Bartlett pronounces the circle a simple corral, or enclosure for stock, although of course it could not have been built in aboriginal times for such a purpose. The second monument is only a few yards north of the circle, and is described by Johnston, the only one who mentions its existence, as a terrace measuring about three hundred by two hundred feet and five feet high. Resting on the terrace is a pyramid only eight feet high, but having a summit platform seventy-five feet square, affording from the top a broad view up and down the valley. A more complete survey of this pyramid would be very desirable, not that there is any reason to question Mr Johnston’s reliability as an explorer, but because, as will be seen, this mound, if it be not like the rest, formed by fallen adobe walls, together with the circular embankment, present a marked contrast to all other monuments of the New Mexican group.[XI-21]Johnston, in Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 598.

Sedelmair and Velarde speak rather vaguely of a reservoir, or tank, six leagues southward of the Gila, which was one hundred and ten by one hundred and sixty-five feet, with walls of adobe ‘or of masonry.'[XI-22]‘Habia tambien seis leguas distante del rio hácia el Sur, un algive de agua hecho á mano mas que cuadrado ó paralelo, grande de sesenta varas de largo y cuarenta de ancho; sus bordos parecian paredes ó pretil de argamasa ó cal y canto, segun lo fuerte y duro del material, y por sus cuatro ángulos tiene sus puertas por donde se conduce y se recoge el agua llovediza.’ Sedelmair, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 848. ‘Se ven algunas paredes de un gran estanque, hecho á mano de cal y canto, y una acequia de los mismos materiales.’ Velarde, in Id., série iv., tom. i., p. 362.

A few miles further up the river, westward from the Casa Grande, and on the opposite or northern side Padre Kino’s party saw a ruined edifice, and three men were sent across to examine it. They found some walls over three feet thick still standing, and other heaps of ruins in the vicinity showing that a large town had once stood on the site. Emory found there only a “pile of broken pottery and foundation stones of the black basalt, making a mound about ten feet” high.[XI-23]‘Paredes muy altas y anchas de mas de una vara, de un género de barro blanco muy fuerte, cuadrada, y muy grande.’ Bernal, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 801. ‘Paredes de dos varas de grueso, como un castillo y otras á sus contornos, pero todo de fábrica antigua.’ Mange, Itinerario, in Id., série iv., tom. i., p. 282; Sonora, Rudo Ensayo, p. 19; Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 83. Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 73, speaks of a circular depression in the earth at this point. Still farther west, near the Pima villages, Johnston found another circular enclosure, and also what he calls a mound, ninety by a hundred and fifty feet, and six feet high, having a low terrace of sixty by three hundred feet on the eastern side, all covered with loose basaltic rocks, dirt, and pottery. I consider it not impossible that this mound was formed by the walls of a building which assumed a symmetrical shape in falling.[XI-24]Johnston, in Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 600. Sedelmair speaks of a group of ruins on the southern bank of the river, twelve leagues below the Casa Grande; but no later writer mentions such remains.[XI-25]Sedelmair, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 847. There is no foundation whatever for the statement of Mofras that in this region ‘en faisant des fouilles on trouve encore des idoles, des poteries, des armes, et des miroirs en pierre poli nommées itzli.’ Explor., tom. ii., p. 361.

Remains in the Salado Valley

The principal tributary of the Gila from the north is the Rio Salado, or Salinas, the mouth of which is below the Casa Grande, and into which, near its mouth, flows the Rio Verde, or San Francisco. The Spaniards seem not to have ascended these streams; or at least not to have discovered any ruins in their valleys. The guides, however, reported to the missionaries the existence of ruins on the Rio Verde, in the north, similar to those on the Gila.[XI-26]Velarde, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iv., tom. i., p. 363. Sedelmair also discovered in 1744, the ruins of a large edifice and several smaller ones in the space between the Gila and Salado.[XI-27]Sedelmair, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv. p. 847. Velarde speaks of ruined buildings of three stories at the junction of the rivers Salado and Gila, and other remains at the junction of the Salado and Verde.[XI-28]Velarde, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iv., tom. i., pp. 348, 363. ‘De otros edificios de mas extencion, arte y simetria, he oido referir al Padre Ygnacio Xavier Keller, aunque no tengo presente en que paraje de sus Apostolicas carreras.’ Sonora, Rudo Ensayo, pp. 19-20.

A guide reported to Emory a casa in the Salado valley, complete except the floors and roof, of large dimensions, with glazed walls, and the imprint of a naked foot in the adobe.[XI-29]Emory’s Reconnoissance, pp. 87-8, 134; Johnston, in Id., p. 600; Cincinnatus’ Travels, p. 356. One of four stone axes shown in a cut to be given later, was found in this valley and sketched by Whipple.[XI-30]Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., pp. 45, 47. The Salado ruins between the Gila and Verde, on the south bank, about thirty-five miles from the mouth, were examined by Mr Bartlett. They are built on the plateau beyond the river bottom, and are exclusively of adobe. They are very numerous, but consist for the most part of shapeless heaps indicating the location of buildings and long lines of walls. In only two instances did portions of standing walls remain; being in one case the ruins of an adobe building over two hundred feet long and from sixty to eighty feet wide, facing the cardinal points, and, so far as could be judged by the débris, three or four stories high; the others were about two hundred yards distant, and represented a smaller structure. There are traces of a wall which appears to have surrounded the larger building. From the top of the principal pile, similar heaps of ruins may be seen in all directions, including a range of them running north and south at a distance of about a mile eastward. The latter were not visited, but were said by the natives to be similar in every respect to the others. A small circular enclosure, whose dimensions are not given, was seen among the ruins, and there were also excavations along the sides of some of the heaps, as if they had furnished the material for the original structures. In the river bottom irrigating canals are of frequent occurrence, one of them from twenty to twenty-five feet wide and four to five feet deep, formed by cutting down the bank of the plateau, along which it extends for many miles. The whole vicinity of the ruins, as in the Gila Valley, is strewn with fragments of earthen ware. These earthen ware fragments are of a very uniform character throughout the New Mexican region, and will be illustrated in another part of this chapter.[XI-31]Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., pp. 242-8, with a cut of one of the heaps of ruins. Möllhausen, Tagebuch, pp. 308-9. Cuts of many specimens of pottery from the Gila Valley, in Johnston, in Emory’s Reconnoissance, pp. 596, 600.

Trappers and natives report that these remains continue indefinitely up the valleys of both the Salado and Verde. Mr Leroux, who served as guide to several of the United States military expeditions, passed up the Verde valley in 1854 on his way from the Gila to the Colorado Chiquito, keeping a diary, a part of which has been printed.[XI-32]Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., pp. 14-15. He claims to have found the river banks covered in many places with ruins of stone buildings and broken pottery. The walls were of solid masonry still standing from ten to twenty feet high in two stories, three feet thick and from fifty to seventy-five feet long. Except in material the structures were not unlike the Casa Grande of the Gila, and were generally situated in the most fertile parts of the valley, surrounded by traces of acequias; although in one instance the ruins of a town were ten miles from the nearest water. A complete change of building material within so short a distance is somewhat extraordinary, but there is no other reason to doubt the accuracy of this report. These ruins are not very far from Prescott in the north, and Fort McDowell in the south, and I regret not having been able to obtain from officers in the Arizona service the information which they must have acquired respecting those remains, if they actually exist, during the past ten or fifteen years.[XI-33]Mr Leroux also reported to Bartlett the existence in the Verde valley of heaps of débris like those on the Salado. Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 247. Mention of Verde remains. Warden, Recherches, p. 79; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. ii., pp. 140-2; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 538. Pike, Explor. Trav., p. 336, says very absurdly, “Those walls are of a black cement which encreases in stability with age, and bids defiance to the war of time; the secret of its composition is now entirely lost.”

Pueblo Creek and the Upper Gila

Whipple describes some ruins discovered by him in 1854 on Pueblo Creek and other small streams which form the head waters of the Verde. They consist of what seem to have been two fortified settlements, and a third separate fortification. The first was an irregular stone enclosure on the top of a hill three or four hundred feet high. The walls were from eight to ten feet high, and the interior was divided by partition walls five feet thick into different compartments. On the slopes of the hill were traces of adobe walls with the usual abundance of broken pottery. The second was located in a fertile spot on a fork of the Pueblo Creek, and consisted of a mass of stones, six feet thick and several feet high, forming a square enclosure “five paces in the clear.” The third work is situated about eight miles further west, and commands what is known as Aztec Pass. It is an enclosure one hundred feet long, twenty-five feet wide at one end and twenty at the other, the walls being four feet thick and five feet in height. In the absence of any definite statement on the subject these northern fortifications are presumed to be of rough, or unhewn, stones without mortar.[XI-34]Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., pp. 91-4; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, pp. 348-9. Möllhausen was the artist connected with Whipple’s expedition.

Typical Plan of Gila Structures.

Plan of a Gila Structure.

Labyrinth on the Gila

Plan of Labyrinth on the Gila.

From the mouth of the San Pedro, which joins the Gila about forty miles eastward of the Casa Grande, up the Gila valley eastward, ruins of ancient edifices are frequently found on both banks of the river. Emory says “wherever the mountains did not impinge too close on the river and shut out the valley, they were seen in great abundance, enough, I should think, to indicate a former population of at least one hundred thousand; and in one place there is a long wide valley, twenty miles in length, much of which is covered with the ruins of buildings and broken pottery.” The remains consist uniformly of lines of rough amygdaloid stones rounded by attrition, no one of which remains upon another, apparently the foundations upon which were erected adobe walls that have altogether disappeared. The plan of the buildings as indicated by their foundations was generally rectangular; many of them were very similar to the modern Spanish dwellings, as shown in the accompanying cut; but a few were circular or of irregular form. One of them just below the junction of the Santo Domingo, on an isolated knoll, was shaped as in the following cut, with faces of from ten to thirty feet. Besides the traces of what seem to be dwellings, there were also observed, an enclosure or circular line of stones, four hundred yards in circumference; a similar circle ninety yards in circumference with a house in the centre; an estufa with an entrance at the top; some well-preserved cedar posts; and some inscribed figures on the cliffs of an arroyo, similar to those lower down the river, of which cuts have been given. The native Pimas reported to the Spaniards in early times the existence of a building far up the Gila, the labyrinthine plan of which they traced on the sand, as shown in the cut. Emory and Johnston found these traces of aboriginal towns in at least twelve places on the Gila above the San Pedro, the largest being at the mouth of a stream flowing from the south-east, probably the Santo Domingo. I find no mention of ruins on any of the smaller tributaries of the Gila above the Casa Grande, though it seems very probable that such ruins may exist, similar to those on the main stream. A painted stone, a beaver-tooth, and marine shells were the miscellaneous relics found by Johnston among the ruins, besides the usual large quantities of broken pottery. Emory speaks of a few ornaments, principally immense well-turned beads of the size of hens’ eggs, also fragments of agate and obsidian. The latter explorer gives a plate of rock-hieroglyphics of doubtful antiquity, and Froebel also sketched certain inscriptions on an isolated rock. Six or eight perfectly symmetrical and well-turned holes about ten inches deep and six or eight inches wide at the top were noticed, and supposed to have served for grinding corn.[XI-35]Emory’s Reconnoissance, pp. 63-9, 80, 133-4, with cuts and plates; Johnston, in Id., pp. 581-96; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 23, with cut illustrating the lines of foundation-stones. Froebel, Aus Amer., tom. ii., p. 421; Id., Cent. Amer., p. 488, with cut of hieroglyphics. Two plates of colored fragments of pottery, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., pp. 82-5, vol. vi., p. 68. Respecting the builders of the ruined structures, see Garcés, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série ii., tom. i., pp. 320, 329; Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 161-2; Sedelmair, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 847. Other references on Gila remains are: Sonora, Rudo Ensayo, p. 19, with cut of labyrinth; Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., pp. 375-6; Fremont, in Cal., Past, Pres. and Future, p. 144; Fremont and Emory’s Notes of Trav., p. 46; Prichard’s Researches, vol. v., pp. 422-3; Id., Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., pp. 514-15, 568; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 382-3; Cal. Farmer, Feb. 28, 1862; Cincinnatus’ Travels, pp. 355-7; Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxxi., pp. 293-4. I find an account going the rounds of the newspapers of a wonderful group of ruins ‘on the Gila some miles east of Florence,’ discovered by Lieut. Ward. They consist of very extensive fortifications, and other structures built of hewn stone, the walls being yet twelve feet high, and two towers standing 26 and 31 feet respectively. Copper and stone implements, golden ornaments and stone vases were found here. Finally, the whole account is doubtless a hoax.

Having presented all that is known of antiquities upon the Gila and its tributaries, I pass to the Colorado, the western and northern boundary of the New Mexican territory. The banks of the Colorado Cañon, for the river forms no valley proper, are for the most part unexplored, and no relics of antiquity are reported by reliable authorities; indeed, from the peculiar nature of this region, it is not likely that any ruins ever, will be found in the immediate vicinity of the river.[XI-36]A writer in the N. Y. Tribune,—see Hist. Mag., vol. x., suppl., p. 95—describes a pyramid on the Colorado River, without giving the locality. It is 104 feet square, 20 feet high, and has at present a summit platform. It seems, however, to have been originally pointed, judging from the débris. The material is hewn stone in blocks from 18 to 36 inches thick, those of the outer facing being out at an angle. This report is perhaps founded on some of the ruins on the Colorado Chiquito yet to be mentioned, or quite as probably it has no foundation whatever. ‘Upon the lower part of the Rio Colorado no traces of permanent dwellings have been discovered.’ Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 15. Arizona miners occasionally refer to the ruins of old Indian buildings on the Colorado, 40 miles above La Paz, on the eastern side, similar in character to those of the Gila. On Ehrenberg’s Map of Arizona, 1858, they are so located, and that is all that is known of them. San Francisco Evening Bulletin, July 14, 1864.

On Bill Williams’ Fork there is a newspaper report, resting on no known authority, of walls enclosing an area some eight hundred feet in circumference, still perfect to the height of six or eight feet.[XI-37]Cal. Farmer, March 27, 1863. The only other traces of the former inhabitants found on this stream are painted cave and cliff pictures or hieroglyphics. Two caves have their walls and the surrounding rocks thus decorated; they are about a mile apart, near the junction of the Santa María, and one of them is near a spring. Many of the inscriptions appear very ancient, and some were painted on cliffs very difficult of access. The cut shows a specimen from the sketches made by Möllhausen. The streak which crosses the cut in the centre, extends to the left beyond the other figures, and only half its length is shown. This streak is red with white borders; the other figures are red, purple, and white.[XI-38]Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 376; Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., pp. 106-7.

Rock-Paintings—Bill Williams’ Fork.

Tributaries of the Colorado

Leaving Bill Williams’ Fork, and passing the Pueblo Creek ruins already described, which are not far distant, I follow the routes of Sitgreaves, Ives, and Whipple, north-westward to the Colorado Chiquito, a distance of about one hundred miles, striking the river at a point a hundred miles above its supposed junction with the main Colorado. In this region we again find numerous ruined buildings with the usual scattered pottery, respecting which our knowledge is derived from the explorers just named. The ruins occur at all prominent points, both near the river and away from it towards the west, at intervals of eight or nine miles, the exact location not being definitely fixed. The material employed here is stone, and some of the houses were three stories high. A view of one ruin as sketched by Sitgreaves is shown in the cut. On a rocky eminence were found by Whipple stone enclosures, apparently for defense. According to Mr Sitgreaves the houses resembled in every particular, save that no adobe was used, the inhabited Pueblo towns of New Mexico. His description, like that of Möllhausen and Whipple, would doubtless be much more complete and satisfactory, had they not previously seen the Pueblo towns and other ruins further east. Some of the ruins are far from water, and Sitgreaves suggests that the lava sand blown from the neighboring mountains may have filled up the springs which originally furnished a supply.

Ruin on the Colorado Chiquito.

Vases from the Colorado Chiquito.

The cut from Whipple shows two vases found here, restored from fragments. This is one of the rarest kinds of pottery found in the region, and is said by Whipple not to be manufactured by any North American Indians of modern times. It is seldom colored, the ornamentation being raised or indented, somewhat like that on molded glassware, and of excellent workmanship. The material is light-colored and porous, and the vases are not glazed. The ordinary fragments of earthen ware found on this river will be represented in another part of this chapter. Some very rude and simple rock-inscriptions were noticed, and a newspaper writer states that the names of Jesuit priests who visited the place in the sixteenth century are inscribed on the rocks. Some additional and not very well-founded reports of antiquities are given in a note.[XI-39]Sitgreaves’ Report, Zuñi and Colorado Rivers, 1853, pp. 8-9; Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., pp. 81, 46-50; Ives’ Colorado Riv., p. 117, no details; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, pp. 306-8; Id., Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. ii., pp. 148-50, 164-5, 399-401; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 253, vol. vi., p. 68, plates of inscriptions; Hay, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. i., p. 29; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 146-7. A writer in the San Francisco Evening Bulletin, July 3, 1868, says that the most extensive ruins in Arizona or New Mexico are situated above the high falls of the Little Colorado, 20 miles north of the San Francisco Mountains. They extend for miles along the river, and include well-made walls of hewn stone now standing to the height of six or eight feet. Both streets and irrigating canals may be traced for miles. This writer speaks of the Jesuit inscriptions. According to an article in the San Francisco Herald of 1853, quoted in the Cal. Farmer of June 22, 1860, Capt. Joseph Walker found some remarkable ruins on the Colorado Chiquito in 1850. He speaks of ‘a kind of a citadel, around which lay the ruins of a city more than a mile in length.’ The streets were still traceable, running at right angles. The buildings were all of stone ‘reduced to ruins by the action of some great heat which had evidently passed over the whole country…. All the stones were burnt, some of them almost cindered, others glazed as if melted. This appearance was visible in every ruin he met with. A storm of fire seemed to have swept over the whole country and the inhabitants must have fallen before it.’ The central building with walls 15 or 18 feet long and 10 feet high, of hewn stone, stood on a rock 20 or 30 feet high, itself fused by the heat. The ruins seen by Walker were in all probability similar to those described by Sitgreaves, and the Captain, or the writer of this article, drew heavily on his imagination for many of his facts.

Remains on the Colorado Chiquito

At a bend in the river, about forty miles above the ruins last mentioned, are the remains of a rectangular stone building, measuring one hundred and twenty by three hundred and sixty feet, and standing on an isolated sandstone hill. The walls are mostly fallen, but some of the standing portions are ten feet thick, and seem to contain small apartments. Many pine timbers are scattered about in good preservation, and two posts twelve feet in height still remain standing.[XI-40]Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 76.

Some twenty-five miles still farther up the Rio Puerco flows into the Colorado Chiquito from the north-east, and at the junction of the two streams Möllhausen noticed some remains which he does not describe.[XI-41]Möllhausen’s Journey, vol. ii., p. 121. Twelve miles up the Puerco valley, on the banks of a small tributary, called Lithodendron Creek, were scattered fragments of pottery, and remains of stone houses, one of the walls extending several feet below the present surface of the ground. Still farther up the Puerco and five miles south of the river, at Navajo Spring, scattered pottery and arrow-heads are the only remaining trace of an aboriginal settlement, no walls being visible. On a neighboring hill, however, was noticed a circular depression in the earth forty paces in diameter. The cut from Möllhausen represents some of the aboriginal inscriptions on Puerco River.[XI-42]Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., pp. 73-4; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 255.

Rock-Inscriptions on Rio Puerco.

Remains on the Rio Zuñi

Forty or fifty miles farther south-east, the Colorado Chiquito receives the waters of the Rio Zuñi, flowing from the north-east in a course nearly parallel to that of the Puerco. Aboriginal inscriptions and pictures are found on the sandstone cliffs which border on the stream wherever a smooth surface is presented, but no buildings occur for a distance of about fifty miles, until we come to within eight miles of the Pueblo town of Zuñi, where the table-lands about Arch Spring are covered with ruins, which were seen, although not described, by Sitgreaves and Whipple. All the ruins of the Zuñi valley seem, however, to be of the same nature—stone walls laid in mud mortar, and in a very dilapidated condition. The cut from Whipple shows also a sample of the rock-inscriptions about Arch Spring.[XI-43]Sitgreaves’ Zuñi Ex., p. 6; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner, in Pac. R. R. Repts, vol. pp. 71, 39. Zuñi is a Pueblo town still inhabited, and I shall have something further to say of it in connection with the Pueblo towns of the Rio Grande and its tributaries, for the purpose of comparing the inhabited with the ruined structures.

Rock-Inscriptions at Arch Spring.

Zuñi Vases.

Two or three miles south-east of Zuñi, on the south side of the river, is an elevated level mesa, about a mile in width, bounded on every side by a precipitous descent of over a thousand feet to the plain below. The mesa is covered with a growth of cedar, and in one part are two sandstone pillars of natural formation, which from certain points of view seem to assume human forms. Among the cedars on the mesa, “crumbling walls, from two to twelve feet high, were crowded together in confused heaps over several acres of ground.” The walls were constructed of small sandstone blocks laid in mud mortar, and were about eighteen inches thick. They seemed, however, to rest on more ancient ruins, the walls of which were six feet in thickness. At various points on the winding path, by which only the top can be reached, there are stone battlements which guard the passage. A supposed altar was found in a secluded nook near the ruins, consisting of an oval excavation seven feet long, with a vertical shaft two feet high at one end, a flat rock, and a complicated arrangement of posts, cords, feathers, marine shells, beads, and sticks, only to be understood from a drawing, which I do not reproduce because the whole altar so-called is so evidently of modern origin and use. These ruins are commonly called Old Zuñi, and were doubtless inhabited when the Spaniards first came to the country.[XI-44]Whipple, et al., in Pac. R. R. Repts, vol. iii., pp. 69, 39-41, 45-6, with view of ruins; Möllhausen’s Journey, vol. ii., p. 96, cut of altar; Id., Reisen, tom. ii., pp. 196, 402; Id., Tagebuch, pp. 283-4, 278, with cut of altar; Simpson, in Smithsonian Rept., 1869, pp. 329-32; Davis’ El Gringo, p. 128; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 211-13; Barber and Howe’s Western States, p. 553; Shuck’s Cal. Scrap-Book, pp. 310-12. The cut from Whipple shows two vases found at what is called a sacred spring near Zuñi. Of the first the discoverer says: “the material is a light-colored clay, tolerably well burnt, and ornamented with lines and figures of a dark brown or chocolate color. A vast amount of labor has been spent on decorating the unique lip. A fine borderline has been drawn along the edge and on both sides of the deep embattled rim. Horned frogs and tadpoles alternate on the inner surface of the turrets, while one of the latter is represented on the outside of each. Larger frogs or toads are portrayed within the body of the vessel.” One of these figures is presented in the cut enlarged. The second vase is five inches deep, ten inches in diameter at the widest part, and eight inches at the lips. Both outer and inner surface bear a white glazing, and there are four projections of unknown use, one on each side. The decorations are in amber color, and the horned or tufted snakes, shown above the vase, are said to be almost unique in America.[XI-45]Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., pp. 45-6.

Ojo Del Pescado

At and near some springs called Ojo del Pescado, on the head-waters of this stream, some twelve miles above Zuñi, there are at least four or five ruined structures, or towns. They are similar in character to the other ruins. Two of them near the spring have an elliptical shape, as shown by the lines of foundation-stones, and are from eight hundred to a thousand feet in circumference. The houses seem to have been built around the periphery, forming a large interior court. These towns are so completely in ruins that nothing can be ascertained of the details of their construction, except their general form, and the fact that they were built of stones and mud. About a thousand yards down the river from the springs are ruins covering a space one hundred and fifty by two hundred yards, and in much better preservation than those mentioned, though of the same nature. The material was flat stones and cement, and the walls are standing in places to the height of two stories. Möllhausen tells us that the roofs and fire-places were still standing at the time of his visit. Simpson describes a ruin as being two miles below the spring, and which may possibly be the same last mentioned. The buildings were originally two stories high and built continuously about a rectangular area three hundred by four hundred feet. In the interior of the enclosed court was seen a square estufa, twelve by eighteen feet, and ten feet high, with the roof still perfect. The cut shows some of the rock-inscriptions at Ojo del Pescado.[XI-46]Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., pp. 95-7; Möllhausen’s Journey, vol. ii., p. 82; Id., Tagebuch, pp. 275-7; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 39. Col. Doniphan found in 1846 on the head-waters of the Piscao (Pescado, Zuñi?) the ruins of an ancient city, which formed a square surrounded by double walls of stone 14 feet apart. The space between the walls was divided into compartments 14 feet square, opening into the interior. The houses were three stories high, the lower story being partially subterranean. Large quantities of red cedar, apparently cut for firewood, were found in connection with the buildings. Hughes’ Doniphan’s Ex., pp. 197-8. Simpson explored the stream to its source, and found no ruins except three at Ojo del Pescado, which were probably the same on which Doniphan’s report was founded, although there is no resemblance in the descriptions.

Rock-Inscriptions—Ojo del Pescado.

El Moro, Or Inscription Rock

Inscriptions—El Moro.

Plan of El Moro.

About eighteen miles south-east of the sources of the Zuñi River, but belonging as properly in this valley as any other, is a sandstone rock known as Inscription Rock, or to the Spaniards as El Moro, from its form. It is between two and three hundred feet high, with steep sides, which on the north and east are perpendicular, smooth, white, and covered near the base with both Spanish and native inscriptions. Specimens of the latter, as copied by Simpson, are shown in the cut. The former were all copied by the same explorer, but of course have no connection with the subject of this volume: they date back to 1606, but make no reference to any town or ruins upon or about the rock. The ascent to the summit is on the south and is a difficult one. The cut shows a plan of El Moro made by Möllhausen, the locality of the inscriptions being at a and b. The summit area is divided by a deep ravine into two parts, on each of which are found ruins of large edifices. Those on the southern—or, according to Simpson, on the eastern—division, B of the plan, form a rectangle measuring two hundred and six by three hundred and seven feet, standing in some places from six to eight feet high. According to Simpson the walls agree with the cardinal points, but Whipple states the contrary. The walls are faced with sandstone blocks six by fourteen inches and from three to eight inches thick, laid in mud-mortar so as to break joints; but the bulk of the wall is a rubble of rough stones and mud. Two ranges of rooms may be traced on the north and west sides, and the rubbish indicates that there were also some apartments in the interior court. Two rooms measured each about seven by eight feet. A circular estufa thirty-one feet in diameter was also noticed, and there were cedar timbers found in connection with the ruined walls; one piece, fifteen inches long and four inches in diameter was found still in place, and bore, according to Whipple, no signs of cutting tools. The remains across the ravine, A of the plan, are of similar nature and material, and the north wall stands directly on the brink of a precipice, being complete to a height of eight feet. There is a spring furnishing but a small amount of water at the foot of the cliff at d. Fragments of pottery are abundant here as elsewhere.[XI-47]Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., pp. 93-109, pl. 60-1, views of cliff; pl. 65-74, inscriptions; pl. 63, ground plan of building; pl. 64, pottery; cut p. 100, plan of rock. Whipple, et al., in Pac. R. R. Repts, vol. iii., pp. 22, 52, 63-4, with plates; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, pp. 266-72, pl. of plan and pottery; Id., Journey, vol. ii., pp. 68-79, 52, pl.; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 208-9, 415-18; Davis’ El Gringo, pp. 422-3; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 147; Barber and Howe’s Western States, p. 561.

Ruins of Chelly Cañon

This completes my account of remains on the Colorado Chiquito, and I pass to the next and last tributary of the Colorado within the territory covered by this chapter—the San Juan, which flows in an eastwardly course along the boundary line between Arizona and New Mexico on the south, and Utah and Colorado on the north. The valley of the main San Juan has been but very slightly explored, but probably contains extensive remains, judging from what have been found on some of its tributaries. Padres Dominguez and Escalante went in 1776 from Santa Fé north-westward to Utah Lake, and noticed several ruins which it is impossible to locate, before crossing the Colorado. I shall have occasion in the following chapter to notice some important ruins lately discovered on the northern tributaries of the San Juan, in the southern part of Colorado and Utah.[XI-48]Dominguez and Escalante, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série ii., tom. i., pp. 400-2. A correspondent of the San Francisco Evening Bulletin, July 8, 1864, says that the San Juan valley is strewn with ruins for hundreds of miles, some buildings three stories high of solid masonry still standing. Davis, El Gringo, p. 417, had heard of some ruins on the northern bank of the San Juan, but none further north. ‘The valleys of the Rio de las Animas and San Juan are strewn with the ruins of cities, many of them of solid masonry. Stone buildings, three stories high, are yet standing, of Aztec architecture.’ Baker, in Cal. Farmer, June 19, 1863.

The two chief tributaries of the San Juan from the south are the Chelly and Chaco, flowing through deep cañons in the heart of the Navajo country. On both of these streams, particularly the latter, very important ruins have been discovered and described by Mr Simpson, who explored this region in 1849.

The Chelly cañon for a distance of about twenty-five miles is from one hundred and fifty to nine hundred feet wide, from three hundred to five hundred feet deep, and its sides are almost perpendicular. Simpson explored the cañon for eight miles from its mouth, which does not correspond with the mouth of the river. In a branch cañon of a character similar to that of the main stream he found several small habitations formed by building walls of stone and mortar in front of overhanging rocks. Some four miles up the main cañon he saw on a shelf fifty feet high and only accessible by means of ladders a small ruin of stone, much like those on the Chaco yet to be described. Seven miles from the mouth another ruin was discovered on the north side as shown in the cut. It was built partly on the bottom of the cañon, and partly like the one last mentioned, on a shelf fifty feet high with perpendicular sides. The walls measure forty-five by a hundred and forty-five feet, are about eighteen feet high in their present state, and are built of sandstone and mortar, having square openings or windows. A circular estufa was also found in connection with these cliff-dwellings. Fragments of pottery were not lacking, and specimens were sketched by Mr Simpson.[XI-49]Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., pp. 74-5, pl. 53-4. Other slight accounts made up from Simpson: Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 201; Annual Scien. Discov., 1850, p. 362; Barber and Howe’s Western States, pp. 559-60, with cut.

Ruin in the Chelly Cañon.

Eastward from the Chelly, at a distance of about a hundred miles, is the Chaco, a parallel tributary of the San Juan, on which are found ruins perhaps the most remarkable in the New Mexican group. Lieut. Simpson is the only one who has explored this valley, or at least who has left a record of his exploration. The ruins are eleven in number, situated with one exception on the north bank of the stream, within a distance of twenty-five miles in latitude 36° and longitude 108°.

Ruins of the Chaco

Ruins of the Pueblo Pintado.

Section of Wall—Chaco Ruins.

The cut shows a general view of the ruin called by the guide Pueblo Pintado, the first one discovered in coming from the south. The name of this ruin, like those of the others, is doubtless of modern origin, being Spanish, and there is little reason to believe that the native names of some of the others are those originally applied to the inhabited towns. The material of all the buildings is a fine hard gray sandstone, to which in some instances exposure to the air has imparted a reddish hue. The blocks are cut very thin, rarely exceeding three inches in thickness. They are laid without mortar very carefully, so as to break joints, and the chinks between the larger blocks are filled with stone plates, sometimes not over one fourth of an inch thick. In one instance, the Pueblo Peñasco Blanco, stones of different thickness are laid, in alternate layers, producing the appearance of a kind of mosaic work, executed with great care and skill, and forming a very smooth surface. The backing and filling of the walls are of irregular and various sized blocks laid in mud, no trace of lime being discoverable. The wall of the Pueblo Pintado was found by excavation to extend at least two feet below the surface of the ground. The walls are between two and three feet thick at the base, but diminish towards the top by a jog of a few inches on the inside at each successive story. The walls of the Pueblo Pintado are still standing in some parts to the height of twenty-five to thirty feet, and are shown by the marks of floor timbers to have had at least three stories. The flooring was supported by unhewn beams from six to eleven inches in diameter—but uniform in the same room—stretching across from wall to wall as in the Gila ruins. Over these beams were placed smaller transverse sticks, which in the Pueblo Pintado seem to have been placed some little distance apart; but in some other ruins where the flooring remained perfect, the transverse sticks were laid close together, the chinks were filled with small stones, and the whole covered with cedar strips, although there was evidence that a coating of mud or mortar was used in some instances; and there was one room where the floor was of smooth cedar boards seven inches wide and three fourths of an inch thick, squarely cut at the sides and ends, and apparently worn smooth by the friction of flat stones. The beams generally bore marks of having been cut off by the use of some blunt instrument. The cut illustrates the manner in which the walls diminish in thickness from story to story, a, a, a; the position of the beams, b, b, b; the transverse poles, c, c, c; and the flooring above, d, d, d.

Ruins of the Chaco Cañon

Ground Plan—Pueblo Hungo Pavie.

Ground Plan—Pueblo Bonito.

The Pueblo Bonito

The ground plan of the Chaco structures shows three tiers—but in one case at least four tiers—of apartments built round three sides of a courtyard, which is generally rectangular, in some cases has curved corners, and in one building—the Peñasco Blanco—approximates to the form of a circle. The fourth side of the court is in some ruins open, and in others enclosed by a wall extending in a curve from one extremity of the building to the other. The following cuts show the ground plans of two of the ruins, the Pueblo Hungo Pavie, ‘crooked nose,’ and Pueblo Bonito. The circumference of five of these buildings is respectively eight hundred and seventy-two, seven hundred, seventeen hundred, thirteen hundred, and thirteen hundred feet; the number of rooms still traceable on the ground floor of the same buildings is seventy-two, ninety-nine, one hundred and twelve, one hundred and twenty-four, and one hundred and thirty-nine. These apartments are from five feet square to eight by fourteen feet. A room in the Pueblo Chettro Kettle was seven and a half by fourteen feet, and ten feet high. The walls were plastered with a red mud, and several square or rectangular niches of unknown use were noticed. The supporting beams of the ceiling were two in number, and the transverse poles were tied at their ends with some wooden fibre, and covered with a kind of cedar lathing. Ropes hung from the timbers. A room in the Pueblo Bonito is shown in the cut.

Interior of Room—Pueblo Bonito.

This room is unplastered, and the sides are constructed in the same style as the outer walls. The transverse poles are very small, about an inch in diameter, laid close together, very regular, and resemble barked willow. It was another room in this ruin which had the smooth boards in connection with its ceiling.[XI-50]Dr Hammond, a companion of Simpson, describes this room as follows: ‘It was in the second of three ranges of rooms, on the north side of the ruins. The door opened at the base of the wall, towards the interior of the building; it had never been more than two feet and a half high, and was filled two-thirds with rubbish. The lintels were of natural sticks of wood, one and a half to two and a half inches in diameter, deprived of the bark, and placed at distances of two or three inches apart; yet their ends were attached to each other by withes of oak with its bark well preserved. The room was in the form of a parallelogram, about twelve feet in length, eight feet high, and the walls, as they stood at the time of observation, seven feet high. The floor was of earth, and the surface irregular. The walls were about two feet thick, and plastered within with a layer of red mud one fourth of an inch thick. The latter, having fallen off in places, showed the material of the wall to be sandstone. The stone was ground into pieces the size of our ordinary bricks, the angles not as perfectly formed, though nearly so, and put up in break-joints, having intervals between them, on every side, of about two inches. The intervals were filled with laminæ of a dense sandstone, about three lines in thickness, driven firmly in, and broken off even with the general plane of the wall—the whole resembling mosaic work. Niches, varying in size from two inches to two feet and a half square, and two inches to one and a half feet in horizontal depth, were scattered irregularly over the walls, at various heights above the floor. Near the place of the ceiling, the walls were penetrated, and the surfaces of them perpendicular to the length of the beam. They had the appearance of having been sawed off originally, except that there were no marks of the saw left on them; time had slightly disintegrated the surfaces, rounding the edges somewhat here and there. Supporting the floor above were six cylindrical beams, about seven inches in diameter, passing transversely of the room, and at distances of less than two feet apart—the branches of the trees having been hewn off by means of a blunt-edged instrument. Above, and resting on these, running longitudinally with the room, were poles of various lengths, about two inches in diameter, irregularly straight, placed in contact with each other, covering all the top of the room, bound together at irregular and various distances, generally at their ends, by slips apparently of palm-leaf or marquez, and the same material converted into cords about one-fourth of an inch in diameter, formed of two strands, hung from the poles at several points. Above, and resting upon the poles, closing all above, passing transversely of the room, were planks of about seven inches wide, and three-fourths of an inch in thickness. The width of the plank was uniform, and so was the thickness. They were in contact, or nearly so, admitting but little more than the passage of a knife blade between them, by the edges, through the whole of their lengths. They were not jointed; all their surfaces were level, and as smooth as if planed, excepting the ends; the angles as regular and perfect as could be retained by such vegetable matter—they are probably of pine or cedar—exposed to the atmosphere for as long a time as it is probable these have been. The ends of the plank, several of which were in view, terminated in lines perpendicular to the length of the plank, and the plank appears to have been severed by a blunt instrument. The planks—I examined them minutely by the eye and the touch, for the marks of the saw and other instruments—were smooth, and colored brown by time or by smoke. Beyond the plank nothing was distinguishable from within. The room was redolent with the perfume of cedar. Externally, upon the top, was a heap of stone and mud, ruins that have fallen from above, immovable by the instruments that we had along. The beams were probably severed by contusions from a dull instrument, and their surfaces ground plain and smooth by a slab of rock; and the planks, split or hewn from the trees, were, no doubt, rendered smooth by the same means.’ Hammond, in Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., pp. 131-3.

The doors by which the rooms communicate with each other and with the courtyard are very small, many of them not exceeding two and a half feet square. There are no doors whatever in the outer walls, and no windows except in the upper stories. The larger size of the windows and of the inner doors indicate that the rooms of the upper stories were larger than below. In some cases the walls corresponding to the second or third stories had no windows. In one case lower story windows were found walled up. The tops, or lintels, of the doors and windows were in some cases stone slabs, in others small timbers bound together with withes, and in a few they are reported to have been formed by overlapping stones very much like the Yucatan arch; a specimen is shown in the cut.

Arch of Overlapping Stones.

The highest walls still standing at the time of Simpson’s visit had floor-timbers, or their marks, for four stories, but it is not impossible that some of the buildings may have had originally five or six stories. The outer walls were in every case perpendicular to their full height, showing that the houses were not built in receding terraces, or stories, on the outside, as is the case with many of the inhabited Pueblo towns, and with the Casa Grande on the Gila. There can be no doubt that they were so terraced on the interior or court; at least in no instance were the inner walls sufficiently high to indicate a different arrangement, and it is hardly possible that all the ranges were of the same height, leaving without light most of the thousand rooms which they would contain if built on such a plan. There were no traces of stairways or chimneys seen. The whole number of apartments in the Pueblo Bonito, supposing it to have been built on the terrace plan, must have been six hundred and forty-one. The cut on the next page shows a restoration of one of the Chaco ruins, taken from Mr Baldwin’s work, and modeled after a similar one by Mr Kern, a companion of Simpson, although Mr Kern made an error of one story in the height. I have no doubt of the general accuracy of this restoration, and it may be regarded as nearly certain that access to the upper rooms was gained from the court by means of ladders, each story forming a platform before the doors of the one next above.

Each ruin has from one to seven circular structures, called estufas in the inhabited Pueblo towns, sunk in the ground and walled with stone. Several of these are shown in the two ground plans that have been given. They occur both in the courtyards and underneath the rooms. Some were divided into compartments, and one, in the Pueblo Bonito, was sixty feet in diameter and twelve feet deep, being built in two, and possibly three, stories.

Restoration of Pueblo Hungo Pavie.

Pottery—Chaco Cañon.

Near some of the larger buildings are smaller detached ruins, of which no particular description is given. In one place there is an excavation in the side of a cliff, enclosed by a front wall of stone and mortar. In another locality there is an isolated elliptical enclosure of stone and mortar, eight by sixteen feet, and divided into two compartments. Near one of the ruins, in the northern wall of the cañon, about twelve feet from the base, are three circular holes two feet in diameter, with smaller ones between them, all in a horizontal line, with a vertical line of still smaller holes leading up the cliff to one of the larger ones. Mr Simpson was unable to explore this singular excavation, and its use is unknown; it may be a room or fortress excavated from the solid rock. There are also some hieroglyphics on the face of the cliff under the holes. The quarries which furnished the stone for some of the buildings were found, but no description of them is given. Hieroglyphics on boulders were found at a few points. The pottery found among the Chaco ruins is illustrated by the cut. Black and red seem to be the only colors employed. The Chaco cañon, although wider than that of the Chelly, is bounded by precipitous sides, and the ruins are generally near the base of the cliff. The Pueblo Pintado is built on a knoll twenty or thirty feet high, about three hundred yards from the river. The buildings do not exactly face the cardinal points.[XI-51]Chaco ruins as discovered by Simpson: Pueblo Pintado, 403 feet circumference, 3 stories, 54 rooms on ground floor, pp. 34-6, pl. 20, 22, 41; view, specimens of masonry, and of pottery. Rock-inscriptions at Camp 9, p. 36, pl. 23-5. Pueblo Weje-gi, 13 miles from Pueblo Pintado, 700 feet in circumference, 99 rooms, walls 25 feet high, pp. 36-7, pl. 26-7; view and ground plan. Pueblo Una Vida, 15½ miles from Pueblo Pintado, circumference 994 feet, height 15 feet, 2 stories, 4 estufas, pp. 37-8, pl. 28-9; view and ground plan. Pueblo Hungo Pavie, 872 feet circumference, 30 feet high, 4 stories, 72 rooms, 1 estufa, p. 38, pl. 30-2; plan, pottery, and restoration (all copied above). Pueblo Chettro Kettle, circumference 1300 feet, 4 stories, 124 rooms, 6 estufas, pp. 38-40, pl. 33-5; plan, interior, hieroglyphics. Pueblo Bonito, circumference 1300 feet, 4 stories, 139 rooms traceable, 4 estufas, pp. 40-2, 131-3, pl. 36-38, 40-41; view, plan, interior, pottery, specimen of masonry. Pueblo Arroyo, 100 feet circumference, 2 undescribed ruins near it, p. 42. Pueblo Peñasco Blanco, on south side of river, 1700 feet circumference, 112 rooms, 3 stories, 7 estufas, pp. 42-3, pl. 41, fig. 2; specimen of masonry. Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., pp. 34-43, 131-3. Slight account from Simpson, in Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 199-200, 379-81, 385; Annual Scien. Discov., 1850, pp. 362-3; Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., pp. 86-9, cut; Barber and Howe’s Western States, pp. 556-9, cuts; Thümmel, Mexiko, pp. 347-8. A newspaper report of a ruin discovered by one Roberts may be as well mentioned here as elsewhere, although the locality given is 90 miles within the Arizona line, while the Chaco remains are in New Mexico. This city was built on a mesa with precipitous sides, and covered an area of 3 square miles, being enclosed by a wall of hewn sandstone, still standing in places 6 or 8 feet high. No remains of timber were found in the city, which must have contained originally 20,000 inhabitants. It was laid out in plazas and streets, and the walls bore sculptured hieroglyphics. San Francisco Chronicle, Dec. 12, 1872. See also Alta California, June 26, 1874. I give but few of these newspaper reports as specimens; a volume might be filled with them, without much profit.

Pueblo Remains on the Rio Grande

I now come to the last division of the present group, the perpendicular of our triangle, the Rio Grande del Norte and its tributaries. This valley, the New Mexico proper of the Spaniards, when first visited in the sixteenth century, was thickly inhabited by an agricultural semi-civilized people, dwelling in towns of stone and mud houses several stories in height. Respecting the number, names, and exact locality of these towns the early accounts are somewhat vague, but many of them can be accurately traced by means of an examination of authorities which would be out of place here. From the first discovery by Cabeza de Vaca, Marco de Niza, and Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, the general history of the country is clear; and we still find the same semi-civilized people living in similar towns under similar institutions, although they, like the towns in which they live, are greatly reduced in number. Some of the inhabited Pueblo towns are known by name, location, and history, to be identical with those which so excited the admiration of the Spaniards; and there is every reason to believe that all are so, except a few that may have been built during the Spanish domination. The inhabited Pueblo towns, or those inhabited during the nineteenth century, are about twenty in number, although authors disagree on this point, some calling Pueblos what others say are merely Mexican towns; but the distinction is not important for my present purpose.[XI-52]Davis’ list of Pueblo towns is as follows:—Taos, Picoris, Nambé, Tezuque, Pojuaque, San Juan, San Yldefonso, Santo Domingo, San Felipe, Santa Ana, Cochiti, Isleta, Silla, Laguna, Acoma, Jemez, Zuñi, Sandia, Santa Clara. El Gringo, p. 115. Barreiro, Ojeada, p. 15, adds Pecos, and omits San Juan. Simpson, Jour. Mil. Recon., p. 114, says that Cebolleta, Covero, and Moquino, are not properly Indian pueblos, but ordinary Mexican towns. The important fact is, that the Spaniard found no race of people in New Mexico which has since become extinct, nor any class of towns or buildings that differed from the Pueblo towns still inhabited.

Besides the towns still inhabited there are many of precisely the same materials and architecture, which are in ruins. Such are Pecos, Quivira, Valverde, San Lázaro, San Marcos, San Cristóbal, Socorro, Senacu, Abó, Quarra, Rita, Poblazon, old San Felipe, and old Zuñi. Some of these were abandoned by the natives at a very recent date; some have ruined Spanish buildings among the aboriginal structures; some may be historically identified with the towns conquered by the first European visitors. These facts, together with the absence of any mention of ruins by the first explorers, and the well-known diminution of the Pueblos in numbers and power, make it perfectly safe to affirm that the ruins all belong to the same class, the same people, and about the same epoch as the inhabited towns. This conclusion is of some importance since it renders it useless to examine carefully each ruin, and the documents bearing on its individual history, and enables the reader to form a perfectly clear idea of all the many structures by carefully studying a few.

While the Pueblo towns cannot be regarded as objects of great mystery, as the work of a race that has disappeared, or as a station of the Aztecs while on their way southward, yet they are properly treated as antiquities, since they were doubtless built by the native races before they come in contact with the Spaniards. They occupy the same position with respect to the subject of this volume as the remains in Anáhuac, excepting perhaps Cholula and Teotihuacan; or rather they have the same importance that the city of Tlacopan would have, had the Spaniards permitted that city to stand in possession of its native inhabitants.

Pueblo Towns of New Mexico

An account of the Pueblo buildings has been given in another volume of this work,[XI-53]See vol. i., pp. 533-8. and I cannot do better here than to quote from good authorities a description of the principal towns, both inhabited and in ruins. Of Taos Mr Abert says, “One of the northern forks of the Taos river, on issuing from the mountains, forms a delightful nook, which the Indians early selected as a permanent residence. By gradual improvement, from year to year, it has finally become one of the most formidable of the artificial strongholds of New Mexico. On each side of the little mountain stream is one of those immense ‘adobe’ structures, which rises by successive steps until an irregular pyramidal building, seven stories high, presents an almost impregnable tower. These, with the church and some few scattering houses, make up the village. The whole is surrounded by an adobe wall, strengthened in some places by rough palisades, the different parts so arranged, for mutual defence, as to have elicited much admiration for the skill of the untaught engineers.” Of the same town Davis says, “It is the best sample of the ancient mode of building. Here there are two large houses three hundred or four hundred feet in length, and about one hundred and fifty feet wide at the base. They are situated upon opposite sides of a small creek, and in ancient times are said to have been connected by a bridge. They are five and six stories high, each story receding from the one below it, and thus forming a structure terraced from top to bottom. Each story is divided into numerous little compartments, the outer tiers of rooms being lighted by small windows in the sides, while those in the interior of the building are dark, and are principally used as store-rooms…. The only means of entrance is through a trap-door in the roof, and you ascend, from story to story, by means of ladders upon the outside, which are drawn up at night.” The same writer gives the following cut of Taos.[XI-54]Abert’s New Mex., in Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 457; Davis’ El Gringo, pp. 141-2. See also Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., pp. 276-7. This author says there is a similar edifice in the pueblo of Picuris. Edwards’ Campaign, pp. 43-4; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 191-2. On the Arroyo Hondo 10 miles north of Taos, Mr Peters, Life of Carson, p. 437, speaks of the remains of the largest Aztec settlement in New Mexico, consisting of small cobble-stones in mud, pottery, arrow-heads, stone pipes, and rude tools.

Pueblo of Taos.

The houses of Laguna are “built of stone, roughly laid in mortar, and, on account of the color of the mortar, with which they are also faced, they present a dirty yellowish clay aspect. They have windows in the basement as well as upper stories; selenite, as usual, answers the purpose of window-lights.”[XI-55]Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., p. 114.

“High on a lofty rock of sandstone … sits the city of Acoma. On the northern side of the rock, the rude boreas blasts have heaped up the sand, so as to form a practical ascent for some distance; the rest of the way is through solid rock. At one place a singular opening, or narrow way, is formed between a huge square tower of rock and the perpendicular face of the cliff. Then the road winds round like a spiral stair way, and the Indians have, in some way, fixed logs of wood in the rock, radiating from a vertical axis, like steps…. At last we reached the top of the rock, which was nearly level, and contains about sixty acres. Here we saw a large church, and several continuous blocks of buildings, containing sixty or seventy houses in each block, (the wall at the side that faced outwards was unbroken, and had no windows until near the top: the houses were three stories high). In front each story retreated back as it ascended, so as to leave a platform along the whole front of the story: these platforms are guarded by parapet walls about three feet high.” Ladders are used for first and second stories but there are steps in the wall to reach the roof.[XI-56]Abert’s New Mex., in Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 470-1, with 3 views. The most ancient and extraordinary of all the Pueblos, on a table of 60 acres, 360 feet above the plain. Identical with Coronado’s Acuco. Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 202-3; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., pp. 277-8. Mr Gregg tells us that San Felipe is on “the very verge of a precipice several hundred feet high,” but Simpson states that “neither it nor Sandia is as purely Indian in the style of its buildings as the other pueblos.”[XI-57]Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., p. 277; Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., p. 121; view of San Felipe, in Abert’s New Mex., in Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 461.

Santo Domingo “is laid out in streets running perpendicularly to the Rio Grande. The houses are constructed of adobes, (blocks of mud, of greater or less dimensions, sun-dried;) are two stories in height, the upper one set retreatingly on the lower, so as to make the superior covering of the lower answer for a terrace or platform for the upper; and have roofs which are nearly flat. These roofs are made first of transverse logs which pitch very slightly outward, and are sustained at their ends by the side walls of the building; on these, a layer of slabs or brush is laid; a layer of bark or straw is then laid on these; and covering the whole is a layer of mud of six or more inches in thickness. The height of the stories is about eight or nine feet.”[XI-58]Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., pp. 13-4. ‘The houses of this town are built in blocks.’ ‘To enter, you ascend to this platform by the means of ladders;’ windows in the upper part of the lower story. Abert’s New Mex., in Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 462, with view; Möllhausen’s Journey, p. 231, with view; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 197.

“On my visit to the pueblo of Tesuque we entered a large square, around which the dwellings are erected close together, so as to present outwardly an unbroken line of wall to the height of three stories. Viewed from the inner square it presents the appearance of a succession of terraces with doors and windows opening upon them…. This general description is applicable to all the Pueblo villages, however they may differ in size, position, and nature of the ground—some being on bluffs, some on mesas, and most of those in the valley of the Rio Grande on level ground.”[XI-59]Meline’s Two Thousand Miles, pp. 206-7.

Zuñi, “like Santo Domingo, is built terrace-shaped—each story, of which there are generally three, being smaller, laterally, so that one story answers in part for the platform of the one above it. It, however, is far more compact than Santo Domingo—its streets being narrow, and in places presenting the appearance of tunnels, or covered ways, on account of the houses extending at these places over them. The houses are generally built of stone, plastered with mud,”—has an adobe Catholic church.[XI-60]Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., pp. 90-3. ‘It is divided into four solid squares, having but two streets, crossing its centre at right angles. All the buildings are two stories high, composed of sun-dried brick. The first story presents a solid wall to the street, and is so constructed, that each house joins, until one fourth of the city may be said to be one building. The second stories rise from this vast, solid structure, so as to designate each house, leaving room to walk upon the roof of the first story between each building.’ Hughes’ Doniphan’s Ex., p. 195; see also Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., pp. 67-8, with view; Möllhausen’s Journey, p. 97.

The Moqui Towns

The seven Moqui towns in Arizona, situated in an isolated mountainous region about midway between the Colorado Chiquito and the Chelly cañon, in latitude 35° 50´, and longitude 110° 30´, are very similar to the Pueblo towns of the Rio Grande. They were probably visited by the earliest Spanish explorers, and have a claim to as great an antiquity as any in the whole region. Lieut. Ives visited the Moquis in 1858, and his description is the best extant; from it I quote as follows: “I discovered with a spy-glass two of the Moqui towns, eight or ten miles distant, upon the summit of a high bluff overhanging the opposite side of the valley. They were built close to the edge of the precipice…. The outlines of the closely-packed structures looked in the distance like the towers and battlements of a castle.” “The face of the bluff, upon the summit of which the town was perched, was cut up and irregular. We were led through a passage that wound among some low hillocks of sand and rock that extended half-way to the top…. A small plateau, in the centre of which was a circular reservoir, fifty feet in diameter, lined with masonry, and filled with pure cold water. The basin was fed from a pipe connecting with some source of supply upon the summit of the mesa…. Continuing to ascend we came to another reservoir, smaller, but of more elaborate construction and finish…. Between the two the face of the bluff had been ingeniously converted into terraces. These were faced with neat masonry, and contained gardens, each surrounded with a raised edge so as to retain water upon the surface. Pipes from the reservoirs permitted them at any time to be irrigated. Peach trees were growing upon the terraces and in the hollows below. A long flight of stone steps, with sharp turns that could easily be defended, was built into the face of the precipice, and led from the upper reservoir to the foot of the town.” “The town is nearly square, and surrounded by a stone wall fifteen feet high, the top of which forms a landing extending around the whole. Flights of stone steps led from the first to a second landing, upon which the doors of the house open.” “The room was fifteen feet by ten; the walls were made of adobes; the partitions of substantial beams; the floor laid with clay. In one corner were a fireplace and chimney. Everything was clean and tidy. Skins, bows and arrows, quivers, antlers, blankets, articles of clothing and ornament, were hanging from the walls or arranged upon shelves. Vases, flat dishes, and gourds filled with meal or water were standing along one side of the room. At the other end was a trough divided into compartments, in each of which was a sloping stone slab two or three feet square for grinding corn upon. In a recess of an inner room was piled a goodly store of corn in the ear.”

“We learned that there were seven towns; that the name of that which we were visiting was Mooshahneh. A second smaller town was half a mile distant; two miles westward was a third…. Five or six miles to the north-east a bluff was pointed out as the location of three others, and we were informed that the last of the seven, Oraybe, was still further distant, on the trail towards the great river.” “Each pueblo is built around a rectangular court, in which we suppose are the springs that furnish the supply to the reservoirs. The exterior walls, which are of stone, have no openings, and would have to be scaled or battered down before access could be gained to the interior. The successive stories are set back, one behind the other. The lower rooms are reached through trap-doors from the first landing. The houses are three rooms deep, and open upon the interior court.” “He led the way to the east of the bluff on which Oraybe stands. Eight or nine miles brought the train to an angle formed by two faces of the precipice. At the foot was a reservoir, and a broad road winding up the steep ascent. On either side the bluffs were cut into terraces, and laid out into gardens similar to those seen at Mooshahneh, and, like them, irrigated from an upper reservoir. The whole reflected great credit upon Moquis ingenuity and skill in the department of engineering. The walls of the terraces and reservoirs were of partially dressed stone, well and strongly built, and the irrigating pipes conveniently arranged. The little gardens were neatly laid out.”[XI-61]Ives’ Colorado Riv., pp. 119-24, with plates.

Thus we see that a universal peculiarity of the Pueblo towns is that the lower stories are entered by ladders by way of the roof. Their location varies from the low valley to the elevated mesa and precipitous cliff; their height from one to seven stories, two stories and one terrace being a common form. Most of them recede in successive terraces at each story from the outside, but Tesuque, and perhaps a few others, are terraced from the interior court. The building material is sometimes adobe, but generally stone plastered with mud. The exact construction of the walls is nowhere stated, but they are presumably built of roughly squared blocks of the stone most accessible, laid in mud. With each town is connected an estufa, or public council-chamber and place of worship. This is in some cases partly subterranean, and its walls are covered with rude paintings in bright colors.[XI-62]‘Each pueblo contains an estufa, which is used both as a council-chamber and a place of worship, where they practice such of their heathen rites as still exist among them. It is built partly under ground, and is considered a consecrated and holy place. Here they hold all their deliberations upon public affairs, and transact the necessary business of the village.’ Davis’ El Gringo, p. 142. ‘In the west end of the town [S. Domingo] is an estuffa, or public building, in which the people hold their religious and political meetings. The structure, which is built of adobes, is circular in plan, about nine feet in elevation, and thirty-five feet in diameter, and, with no doors or windows laterally, has a small trap-door in the terrace or flat roof by which admission is gained.’ Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., p. 62. Estufa at Jemez, with plates of paintings. Id., pp. 21-2, pl. 7-11.

Pueblo of Pecos

Ruins of Pecos.

Of the ruined Pueblo towns no extended description is necessary, since they present no contrasts with those still inhabited which have been described. Pecos was formerly one of the most important, and was still inhabited in the early part of the present century. The cut copied from Emory for Mr Baldwin’s work, represents a portion of the ruins, which include Spanish and aboriginal structures, both of adobe. Emory noticed large well-hewn timbers. Davis says the ruins of the village cover two or three hundred yards, and include large blocks of stone, square and oblong, weighing over a ton, with marks of having been laid in mortar. Hughes speaks of the traces of a stone wall eight feet high, which once surrounded this Pueblo town. Kit Carson told Mr Meline that he found the town still inhabited in 1826. It was here that in former times was kept burning the everlasting fire which formed part of the religious rites in honor of their deity, or, according to the modern account, of Montezuma. There is no evidence, however, that the aborigines in ancient times had any deity, or monarch of that name; it is quite certain that they did not hear of the Aztec monarch Montezuma many centuries before he began to reign; just possible that they did hear of his fame a few years before the Spaniards came to New Mexico; but altogether probable that they first heard the name of Montezuma, of the Aztec people, and of their former migration southward, from the Spaniards themselves, or their native companions.[XI-63]Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 30, with plate; Abert’s New Mex., in Id., pp. 446-7, 483, with plate; Davis’ El Gringo, p. 55; Hughes’ Doniphan’s Ex., pp. 74-5; Meline’s Two Thousand Miles, pp. 255-8; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., pp. 270-3; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. ii., pp. 293-8; Cutt’s Conq. of Cal., p. 79; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 164-5, Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., p. 79, with cut.

With the Quivira located by Thomas Gage and other early writers and map-makers, “on the most Western part of America just over against Tartary,” as with the great city of Quivira which Francisco Vasquez de Coronado sought and has been popularly supposed to have found, I have at present nothing to do. It should be noted, however, that the latter Quivira was not one of the Pueblo towns of the Rio Grande, but a town of wigwams on the plains in the far north-east. The ruined town of Quivira or Gran Quivira, east of the Rio Grande, entirely distinct from that of Coronado, includes, like Pecos, a Spanish church among its ruins. The buildings are of hewn stone and of great extent. Gregg speaks of an aqueduct leading to the mountains eight or ten miles distant, the nearest water. This town was very likely, like many others, ruined at the revolt of 1680. Abó, Quarra, Laguna, and the rest, present no new features. There are, moreover, on the Puerco River—a tributary of the Rio Grande, and not that of the Colorado Chiquito already mentioned—many traces of Pueblo buildings which have no definite names.[XI-64]Gage’s New Survey, p. 162; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., pp. 164-5; Davis’ El Gringo, pp. 70, 123-7; Abert’s New Mex., in Emory’s Reconnoissance, pp. 488-9; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 182-3; Wizlizenus’ Tour, p. 25; Carleton’s Ruins of Abó, in Smithsonian Rept., 1854, pp. 300-15; Möllhausen, Flüchtling, tom. i., pp. 718-25, 229, 239, 267-72; Id., Reisen, tom. ii., pp. 296, 405-6; Froebel’s Cent. Amer., p. 301; Id., Aus Amer., tom. ii., pp. 150-2; Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxxi., pp. 298-9. Abert, in Emory’s Reconnoissance, pp. 466-7, 484, tells us that at Tezique the ruins of the ancient Indian town are partially covered with the buildings of the modern; also that at Poblazon, on the Puerco River, the principal ruins of stone are arranged in a square with sides of 200 yards, but other remains are scattered in the vicinity, including a circular and one elliptical enclosure. According to Gregg, Com. Prairies, vol. ii., p. 71, the inhabitants were driven from Valverde, on the Rio Grande, by the Navajos. Möllhausen, Journey, vol. ii., p. 55, speaks of ruins on rocky heights two miles from Laguna. ‘The ruins of what is usually called Old San Felipe are plainly visible, perched on the edge of the mésa, about a mile above the present town, on the west side of the river.’ Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., p. 121.

Seven Cities of Cíbola

Rock-Inscriptions—Rio Grande.

The cut shows some rock-inscriptions copied by Froebel in the valley of the Rio Grande. In the Sierra de los Mimbres, towards the source of the Gila, are some old copper mines, and connected with them an adobe fort with round towers at the corners, but I do not know that these works have ever been considered of aboriginal origin. In a newspaper I find the remarkable statement that “from the volcanic cones of the Cerrillos was furnished, a great part, if not all, the Chalchiuite, so much worn for ornament, and so highly prized by the ancient Mexicans…. The ancient excavations made in search of it are now distinctly visible, and seem to have been carried to the depth of two hundred feet or more.”[XI-65]Froebel, Aus Amer., tom. ii., pp. 166, 469; Johnston, in Cutts’ Conq. of Cal., p. 183; Newberry, in Cal. Farmer, April 10, 1863.

The ruins of Old Zuñi have already been described, and there is no reason to doubt that both these and the other remains on the Zuñi River, represent towns that were inhabited when the Spaniards first came northward. Indeed it is almost certain that they, together with the Pueblo town of Zuñi, represent Coronado’s famous ‘seven cities’ of Cíbola. Most writers have so decided, as Gallatin, Squier, Whipple, Turner, Kern, and Simpson.[XI-66]Abert, New Mex., in Emory’s Reconnoissance, pp. 489-92, identifies Cíbola with Acoma and the six adjoining Pueblo towns; and Morgan, in N. Amer. Review, April, 1869, with the Chaco ruins. The course and distance of Coronado’s march from the Gila agrees more exactly with Zuñi than with any other town; the location of the ‘seven cities’ within four leagues together, in a very narrow valley between steep banks, as also their position with respect to the Rio del Lino, Colorado Chiquito, correspond very well with the Zuñi ruins; Coronado’s Granada, on a high bluff, with a “narrow winding way,” was quite probably Old Zuñi; Cíbola is said to have been the first town reached in coming across the desert from the south-west, and the last left in returning; the positions of Tusayan, a province of seven villages, five days’ journey north-west from Cíbola, and of Acuco, five days eastward, agree very well with the location of the Moqui towns and of Acoma with respect to Zuñi. Finally we have Espejo’s statement that he visited the province of Zuñi, twenty-five leagues west of Acoma; that it was called Zuñi by the natives and Cíbola by the Spaniards; that Coronado had been there; and that he found there not only crosses and other emblems of Christianity, but three Christians even. Coronado left three men at Cíbola, and their statements to Espejo respecting the identity of Cíbola and Zuñi, must be regarded as conclusive.[XI-67]See Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 42, 69-71. ‘Veynte y quatro leguas de aqui, hazia el Poniente, dieron con vna Prouincia, que se nombra en lengua de los naturales Zuny, y la llaman los Espannoles Cibola, ay en ella gran cantidad de Indios, en la qual estuuo Francisco Vasquez Coronado, y dexo muchas Cruzes puestas, y otras sennales de Christianidad que siempre se estauan en pie. Hallaron ansi mesmo tres Indios Christianos que se auian quedado de aquella jornada, cuyos nombres eran Andres de Cuyoacan, Gaspar de Mexico, y Antonio de Guadalajara, los quales tenian casi oluidada su mesma lengua, y sabian muy bien la delos naturales, aunque a pocas bueltas que les hablaron se entendieron facilmente.’ Espejo, Viaje, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 387. Hakluyt says the narrative is from Mendoza, Hist. China, Madrid, 1586; but nothing of the kind appears in the Spanish edition of that work, 1596, or in the Italian edition of 1586.

general RÉsumÉ.

New Mexican antiquities, divided as at the beginning of the chapter into six classes, may be briefly considered, en résumé, as follows: 1st. “Remains of ancient stone and adobe buildings in all stages of disintegration, from standing walls with roofs and floors, to shapeless heaps of débris, or simple lines of foundation-stones.” This first class of remains has received most attention in the preceding pages, and little need be said in addition. It has been noted that adobe is the material used almost exclusively in the Gila and other southern valleys, as in Chihuahua, while further north stone is preferred. The most important fact to be noted is that all the ruins, without exception, are precisely identical in plan, architecture, and material with the Pueblo towns now inhabited or known to have been inhabited since the coming of the Spaniards. Many of them, particularly those of the Chaco cañon, may have been much grander structures and have displayed a higher degree of art than the modern towns, but they all belong to the same class of buildings.

2d. “Anomalous structures of stone or earth, the purpose of which, either by reason of their advanced state of ruin, or of the comparatively slight attention given them by travelers, is not apparent.” Such remains, which have been described as far as possible wherever they have appeared, are: I. Fortifications, like the stone enclosures on the Pueblo Creek and head-waters of the Rio Verde; and the battlements guarding the path of ascent to Old Zuñi. Many of the ruined towns were, moreover, effectually fortified by the natural position in which they were built. II. Mound-like structures and elevations. These include the low terraced pyramid reported on the Gila near the Casa Grande, and another of like nature on the north side of the river; the shapeless heaps of earth and stones in the Gila and Salinas valleys, most of which are doubtless the remains of fallen walls, but some of which may possibly have a different origin and design; and some small heaps of loose stones on the Gila at the mouth of the Santo Domingo. It is noticeable that no burial mounds, of so common occurrence in many parts of America, have been found here; and no pyramids or mounds presumably connected in any way with religious rites, indeed, nothing of the nature of temples or altars, save the estufas still in common use. III. Excavations. These are, a reservoir with stone walls measuring forty by sixty yards, reported by the early writers near the Casa Grande on the Gila; a circular depression forty paces in diameter on the north bank of the Gila, and a similar one at Navajo Spring near the Rio Puerco of the West; a triangular depression at the mouth of the Santo Domingo; quarries of sandstone near some of the Chaco ruins, and pits in the Salinas, whence the earth for building is supposed to have been taken; and the circular holes that penetrate the cañon walls of the Chaco. IV. Enclosures for various or unknown purposes. Such is the circular enclosure a hundred yards in circumference near the Casa Grande, and another north of the river; the structure indefinitely reported as a labyrinth up the Gila from the Casa Grande; a small round enclosure on the Salado; an elliptical enclosure of stone and mortar, eight by sixteen feet, and divided into two compartments, in the Chaco cañon; and the large and irregular lines of foundation-stones in the Gila Valley above the San Pedro. It will be observed that there is very little of the mysterious connected with these remains of the second class, and a great part of that little would probably disappear as a result of a more careful exploration.

3d. “Traces of aboriginal agriculture, in the shape of acequias and zanjas, or irrigating canals and ditches.” Such remains have been noticed in connection with many of the ruins, particularly in the south, and require no further remarks. So far as described, they are nothing but simple ditches dug in the surface of the ground, of varying depth and length. The earlier reports of canals with walled sides are very probably unfounded.

New Mexican Stone Axes.

4th. “Implements and ornaments.” These are not numerous, include no articles of any metal whatever, and do not differ materially from articles now in use among the Pueblo Indians. Such relics have been found scattered among the débris of the fallen walls, and not taken from regular excavations; consequently no absolute proof exists that they are the work of the builders, though there can be little room for doubt on that point. The wandering tribes that have occupied the country in modern times are much more likely to have sought for and carried away relics of the original inhabitants, than to have deposited among the ruins articles made by the modern Pueblo Indians. A detailed account of each relic would be useless, but among the articles that have been found are included,—I. Implements of stone. Metates, or corn-grinders, generally broken, were found at various points on the Gila, Salado, and among the ruins near Pecos. Stone axes, are shown in the cut from Whipple, of which No. 4 was found on the Salado, where implements called hoes, and a stone pestle, are also reported. A stone axe was also found on the Colorado Chiquito. Arrow-heads of obsidian were picked up at Old Zuñi, on the Colorado Chiquito, on the Rio Puerco of the west, and at Inscription Rock; of carnelian on the Colorado Chiquito; of agate and jasper on the Rio Puerco; and of quartz near Pecos and on Pueblo Creek. Ross Browne heard of bone awls having been dug up at the Casa Grande. II. Ornaments. Sea-shells were found at the Casa Grande, on the north bank of the Gila, and in the Salado valley; also on the Gila, a bead of blue marble finely turned, an inch and a quarter long; and another bead of the size of a hen’s egg; also a painted stone not described, and a beaver’s tooth. Several green stones, like amethysts, were found on the Salado; fragments of quartz crystal at the Casa Grande; of agate and obsidian among the Gila mines; and of obsidian on Pueblo Creek. Clay balls from the size of bullets to grape-shot, many of them stuck together, are reported on doubtful authority.[XI-68]Emory’s Reconnoissance, pp. 82, 133; Abert’s New Mex., in Id., p. 484; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., pp. 45, 47; Whipple, in Id., pp. 64, 69, 73, 76, 91; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., pp. 245-7; Browne’s Apache Country, p. 118; Cal. Farmer, June 22, 1860.

5th. Pottery, the most abundant class of relics, found strewn over the ground in the vicinity of every ruin in this group. It is always in fragments, no whole article of undoubted antiquity having ever been found. This is natural enough, perhaps, since only the surface has been examined, and the roaming tribes of Indians would not be likely to leave anything of use or value; excavation may in the future bring to light whole specimens. But although the absence of whole vessels is not strange, the presence of fragments in so great abundance is very remarkable, since no such tendency to their accumulation is noticed about the inhabited Pueblo towns. It would seem as if the inhabitants, forced to abandon their houses in haste, had deliberately broken all their very large stock of earthen ware, either to prevent its falling into the hands of enemies, or from some superstitious custom. The fragments are very like one to another in all parts of the New Mexican region, and in quality and ornamentation nearly identical with the ware still manufactured and used by the Pueblos. It has been noticed, however, that the older pottery is superior generally in material and workmanship to the modern; and also in the southern valleys it is found painted on the inside as well as outside, contrary as is said to the present usage. Very few fragments show anything like glazing. The painted ornamentation consists in most instances of stripes or angular, more rarely of curved, lines, in black, white, and red. Painted representations of any definite objects, animate or inanimate, are of very rare occurrence. Some specimens are, however, not painted, but decorated with considerable skill by means of raised or indented figures. I have given cuts of many specimens, and the thirty-five figures on the next page from different localities will suffice to explain the nature and uniformity of New Mexican pottery.[XI-69]Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., pp. 48-9; also Whipple, in Id., pp. 64-5, 69, 73, 76, 81. Of the cut given above, fig. 2, 5, 8, 9, 11, 13-4, 17, 21, 24, 28, 31-2, are from the Colorado Chiquito; fig. 22, 27, are from Zuñi, and modern; fig. 34, from the Cosnino caves, the ornaments having been put on after the vessel had hardened; fig. 25, 29, 30, 35, are not painted, but incrusted or indented. ‘It is a singular fact, that, although some of the most time-worn carvings upon rocks are of animals and men, ancient pottery contains no such representations. Upon one fragment, indeed, found upon Rio Gila, was pictured a turtle and a piece of pottery picked up near the same place was moulded into the form of a monkey’s head. These appeared to be ancient, and afforded exceptions to the rule.’ Id., p. 65. Cut of a fragment and comparison with one found in Indiana. Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 249-50.

New Mexican Pottery.

6th. “Painted or engraved figures on cliffs, boulders, and the sides of natural caverns.” These figures have been mentioned whenever they occurred, and some of them illustrated. There are additional paintings in a rocky pass between Albuquerque and Laguna, mentioned and copied by Möllhausen, and both paintings and sculptures in Texas at Sierra Waco, thirty miles east of El Paso, and at Rocky Dell Creek, in lat. 35°, 30´, long. 102°, 30´.[XI-70]Möllhausen’s Journey, vol. i., p. 264, vol. ii., p. 52, with pl.; Id., Tagebuch, pp. 168-70; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., pp. 170-6; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 161-2, 419-20. In another volume of this work,[XI-71]See vol. ii., p. 533, et seq. something has been said of hieroglyphic development, of the different classes of picture-records, and their respective value. The New Mexican rock-inscriptions and paintings, such of them as are not mere idle sketches executed without purpose by the natives to while away the time, belong to the lower classes of representative and symbolic picture-writing, and are utterly inadequate to preserve any definite record far beyond the generation that executed them. Most of them had a meaning to the artist and his tribe at the time they were made; it is safe to suppose that no living being to-day can interpret their meaning, and that they never will be understood. The similar figures painted on the walls of modern estufas,[XI-72]See Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., pp. 20-2, pl. 7-11. the natives will not, probably cannot, explain. Mr Froebel, in opposition to Mr Bartlett’s theory that the figures are meaningless, very justly says: “Many circumstances tend to disprove that these characters were originally nothing but the results of an early attempt at art. In the first place, the similarity of the style, in localities a thousand miles apart, and its extreme peculiarity, preclude every idea of an accidental similarity. One cannot imagine how the same recurring figures should have been used over and over again, unless they had a conventional character, and were intended to express something.”[XI-73]Froebel’s Cent. Amer., p. 521.

Conclusions

I conclude this division of my work by a few general remarks, embodying such conclusions respecting the New Mexican ruins as may be drawn from the ruins themselves, without reference to the mass of speculation, tradition, and so-called history, that has confused the whole subject since first the missionary padres visited and wrote of this region, and sought diligently, and of course successfully, for traditions respecting the Asiatic origin of the Americans, and the southern migration of the Aztecs from the mysterious regions of the Californias to Anáhuac. These conclusions are not lengthy or numerous, and apply with equal force to the Casas Grandes of Chihuahua, outside of the geographical limits of this chapter.

1. The ruined structures offer but little internal evidence of their age. There is not even the slight aid of forest growth found in nearly all other parts of America. The different buildings show very different degrees of dilapidation it is true, but to what extent in each case the ravages of time have been assisted by the roaming Apaches and other savages, it is impossible to decide. The Casas Grandes of Chihuahua are much more dilapidated than the similar Casa Grande of the Gila; but, although both are built of mud, a slight difference in the quality of the mud employed, with the more abundant rains of Chihuahua, would account for the better condition of the Gila remains, and prevent us from assigning necessarily a greater antiquity to those of Chihuahua. It is known as a historical fact that the southern buildings were not only in ruins at the coming of the Spaniards in the middle of the sixteenth century, but had been so long in that condition that the native knowledge respecting them had passed into the state of a tradition and a superstition. Certainly not less than a century would suffice for this. Of the northern ruins very many are known to have been inhabited and flourishing towns when the Spaniards came. That any were at that time in ruins is not proven, though possible.

2. The material relics of the New Mexican group bear no resemblance whatever to either Nahua or Maya relics in the south. It has been constantly stated and repeated by most writers, that all American aboriginal monuments, the works of the Mound-Builders of the Mississippi, the ruins of New Mexico and Arizona, the Casas Grandes of Chihuahua, the Edificios of Zacatecas, the pyramids of Anáhuac and the central plateaux, Mitla, Palenque, the cities of Yucatan, and finally Copan, all belong evidently to one class and present one type; that all are such as might reasonably be attributed to the same people in different periods of their civilization. It is even customary for travelers and writers to speak without hesitation of Aztec ruins and relics in Arizona, as if there were no longer any doubt on the subject. So far as the New Mexican link in the chain is concerned, I most emphatically deny the resemblance, on grounds which the reader of the preceding pages already fully understands. I can hardly conceive of structures reared by human hands differing more essentially than the two classes in question. In the common use of adobes for building-material; in the plain walls rising to a height of several stories; in the terrace structure, absence of doors in the lower story, and the entrance by ladders; in the absence of arched ceilings of overlapping blocks, of all pyramidal structures, of sculptured blocks, of all architectural decorations, of idols, temples, and every trace of buildings evidently designed for religious rites, of burial mounds and human remains; and in the character of the rock-inscriptions and miscellaneous relics, not to go farther into details, the New Mexican monuments present no analogies to any of the southern remains. I do not mean to express a decided opinion that the Aztecs were not, some hundreds or thousands of centuries ago, or even at a somewhat less remote period, identical with the natives of New Mexico, for I have great faith in the power of time and environment to work unlimited changes in any people; I simply claim that it is a manifest absurdity to suppose that the monuments described were the work of the Aztecs during a migration southward, since the eleventh century, or of any people nearly allied in blood and institutions to the Aztecs as they were found in Anáhuac.

3. Not only do the ruins of this group bear no resemblance to those of the south, but they represent in all respects buildings like those still inhabited by the Pueblo tribes and the Moquis, and do not differ more among themselves than do the dwellings of the peoples mentioned. Every one of them may be most reasonably regarded as the work of the direct ancestors of the present inhabitants of the Pueblo towns, who did not differ to any great extent in civilization or institutions from their descendants, though they may very likely have been vastly superior to them in power and wealth. Consequently there is not a single relic in the whole region that requires the agency of any extinct race of people, or any other nations—using the word in a somewhat wider signification than has sometimes been given to it in the preceding volumes—than those now living in the country. Not only do the remains not point in themselves to any extinct race, but if there were any traditional or other evidence indicating the past agency of such a race, it would be impossible to reconcile the traditional with the monumental evidence except by the supposition that the Pueblos are a foreign people who took possession of the abandoned dwellings of another race, whose institutions they imitated to the best of their ability; but I do not know that such a theory has ever been advanced. I am aware that this conclusion is sadly at variance with the newspaper reports in constant circulation, of marvelous cities, the remnants of an advanced but extinct civilization, discovered by some trapper, miner, or exploring expedition. I am also aware of the probability that many ruins in addition to those I have been able to describe, have been found by military officials, government explorers, and private individuals during the past ten years; and I hope that the appearance of this volume may cause the publication of much additional information on the subject,—but that any of the newly discovered monuments differ in type from those previously known, there is much reason to doubt. Very many of the newspaper accounts referred to relate to discoveries made by Lieut. Wheeler’s exploring party during the past two or three years. Lieut. Wheeler informs me that the reports, so far as they refer to the remains of an extinct people, are without foundation, and that his observations have led him to a conclusion practically the same as my own respecting the builders of the ruined Pueblo towns.

The Ancient Pueblo Towns

4. It follows that New Mexico, Arizona, and northern Chihuahua were once inhabited by agricultural semi-civilized tribes, not differing more among themselves than do the Pueblo tribes of the present time; the most fertile valleys of the region were cultivated by them, and were dotted by fine town-dwellings of stone and adobe, occupied in common by many families, similar but superior to the present Pueblo towns. At least a century, probably much longer, before the Spaniards made their appearance, the decline of this numerous and powerful people began, and it has continued uninterruptedly down to the present time, until only a mere remnant in the Rio Grande and Moqui towns is left. Before the Spaniards came all the southern towns, on the Gila and its tributaries, had been abandoned; since that time the decline of the northern nations, which the Spaniards found in a tolerably flourishing condition, is a matter of history. The reason of the decline this is hardly the place to consider, but it is doubtless to the inroads of outside warlike and predatory tribes like the Apaches that we must look for the chief cause. It is not impossible that natural changes in the surface of the region, such as the drying-up of springs, streams, or lakes, may have also contributed to the same effect. These changes, however, if such took place, were probably gradual in their operation; for the location of the ruins in what are still in most cases among the most fertile valleys, either in the vicinity of water, or at least of a dried-up stream, and their absence in every instance in the absolutely desert tracts, show pretty conclusively that the towns were not destroyed suddenly by any natural convulsion which radically changed the face of the country. It is not difficult to imagine how the agricultural Pueblo communities, weakened perhaps at first by some international strife which forced them to neglect the tillage of their land, and hard pressed by more than usually persistent inroads from bands of Apaches who plundered their crops and destroyed their irrigation-works, visited perchance by pestilence, or by earthquakes sent by some irate deity to dry up their springs, were forced year by year to yield their fair fields to the drifting sands, to abandon their southern homes and unite their forces with kindred northern tribes; till at last came the crowning blow of a foreign invasion, which has well nigh extinguished an aboriginal culture more interesting and admirable, if not in all respects more advanced, than any other in North America.

Footnotes

[XI-1] Cal., Past, Pres. and Future, p. 145.

[XI-2] Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., pp. 195, 206; Froebel, Aus Amer., tom. ii., p. 468; Id., Cent. Amer., pp. 519-24; Emory’s Reconnoissance, pp. 82, 89-91, with plate.

[XI-3] Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 40-1, 161-2. Two other accounts of the trip were written—one by Juan Jaramillo, which may be found in the same volume of Ternaux-Compans’ work; and the second by Coronado himself, an Italian translation of which appeared in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 359, et seq., and an English translation in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 373, et seq. For an abstract of the trip and discussion about the location of the route, see Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. ii.; Squier, in American Review for November, 1848; Whipple, et al., in Pac. R. R. Repts, vol. iii.; and Simpson, in Smithsonian Rept., 1859, p. 309, et seq. The last is the best article on the subject, and is accompanied by a map. All the accounts mention the fact that the expedition passed through Chichilticale, but only the one quoted describes the building.

[XI-4] “Lo apuntó en embrion por no haber ido yo á este descubrimento.” Mange, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iv., tom. i., pp. 259, 253, 362-4.

[XI-5] In Doc. Hist. Mex., série iv., tom. i., pp. 282-3. Mange’s description is as follows:—’One of them is a large edifice, the principal room in the centre being four stories high, and those adjoining it on its four sides, three stories; with walls two varas thick, of strong argamasa y barro [that is, the material of which adobes are made] so smooth on the inside that they resemble planed boards, and so polished that they shine like Puebla pottery. The corners of the windows, which are square, are very straight and without supports or crosspieces of wood, as if made with a mold; the doors are the same, though, narrow, and by this it is known to be the work of Indians; it is 36 paces long by 21 wide, and is well built. At the distance of an arquebuse-shot are seen twelve other buildings half fallen, also with thick walls; and all the roofs burned out except one low room, which has round beams apparently of cedar, or sabino, small and smooth, and over them otates (reeds) of equal size, and a layer of hard mud and mortar, forming a very curious roof or floor. In the vicinity are seen many other ruins and stories, and heaps of rubbish which cover the ground for two leagues; with much broken pottery, plates, and ollas of fine clay painted in various colors and resembling the Guadalajara pottery of New Spain; hence it is inferred that the city was very large and the work of a civilized people under a government. This is verified by a canal which runs from the river over the plain, encircling the settlement, which is in the centre, three leagues in circumference, ten varas wide and four deep, carrying perhaps half the river, and thus serving as a defensive ditch as well as to supply water for the houses and to irrigate the surrounding fields.’

[XI-6] Sedelmair, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 847. Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 108-10, takes this description from Sedelmair’s MS. in the Mexican archives, as being written by one who was ‘almost the discoverer,’ but it is a literal copy of Mange’s diary. Mange’s diary, so far as it relates to the Casa Grande, is translated in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 301; and Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., pp. 281-2.

[XI-7] ‘Y vimos toda la vivienda del edificio que es muy grande de quatro altos, cuadradas las paredes y muy gruesas como de dos varas de ancho del dicho barro blanco, y aunque estos jentiles lo han quemado distintas veces, se ven los quatro altos, con buenas salas, aposentos y ventanas curiosamente embarradas por dentro y fuera de manera que están las paredes encaladas y lisas con un barro algo colorado, las puertas muy parejas. Tambien hay inmediatas por fuera once casas algo menores fabricadas con la propia curiosidad de la grande y altas … y en largo distrito se ve mucha losa quebrada y pintada; tambien se vé una sequia maestra de diez varas de ancho y quatro de alto, y un bordo muy grueso hecho de la misma tierra que va á la casa por un llano.’ Bernal, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 804.

[XI-8] Padre Garcés says, ‘on this river is situated the house which they call Moctezuma’s, and many other ruins of other edifices with very many fragments of pottery both painted and plain. From what I afterwards saw of the Moqui, I have formed a very different idea from that which I before entertained respecting these buildings,’ referring to Padre Font for more details. Doc. Hist. Mex., série ii., tom. i., p. 242. Font’s account is substantially as follows:—’We carefully examined this edifice and its ruins; the echnographical plan of which I here lay down [The plan does not accompany the translation, but I have the same plan in another MS. which I shall presently mention] and the better to understand it I give the following description and explanation. [Here follows an account of the building of the Casa by the Aztecs when the Devil led them through these regions on their way to Anáhuac]. The site on which this house is built is flat on all sides and at the distance of about one league from the river Gila, and the ruins of the houses which composed the town extend more than a league towards the East and the Cardinal points; and all this land is partially covered with pieces of pots, jugs, plates, &c., some common and others painted of different colours, white, blue, red,’ &c., very different from the work of the Pimas. A careful measurement made with a lance showed that ‘the house forms an oblong square, facing exactly the four Cardinal points … and round about it there are ruins indicating a fence or wall which surrounded the house and other buildings, particularly in the corners, where it appears that there has been some edifice like an interior castle or watch-tower, for in the angle which faces towards the S.W. there stands a ruin with its divisions and an upper story. The exterior place [plaza] extends from N. to S. 420 feet and from E. to W. 260 feet. The interior of the house consists of five halls, the three middle ones being of one size and the two extreme ones longer.’ The three middle ones are 26 by 10 feet, and the others 38 by 12 feet, and all 11 feet high. The inner doors are of equal size, two by five feet, the outer ones being of double width. The inner walls are four feet thick and well plastered, and the outer walls six feet thick. The house is 70 by 50 feet, the walls sloping somewhat on the outside. ‘Before the Eastern doorway, separate from the house there is another building,’ 26 by 18 feet, ‘without counting the thickness of the walls. The timber, it appears, was of pine, and the nearest mountain bearing pine is at the distance of 25 leagues; it likewise bears some mezquite. All the building is of earth, and according to appearances the walls are built in boxes [moldes] of different sizes. A trench leads from the river at a great distance, by which the town was supplied with water; it is now nearly buried up. Finally, it is perceptible that the Edifice had three stories, and if it be true what the Indians say it had 4, the last being a kind of subterranean vault. For the purpose of giving light to the rooms, nothing is seen but the doors and some round holes in the middle of the walls which face to the East and West, and the Indians said that the Prince whom they call the “bitter man” used to salute the sun through these holes (which are pretty large) at its rising and setting. No signs of stairs remain, and we therefore suppose that they must have been of wood, and that they were destroyed when the building was burnt by the Apaches.’ Font’s Journal, MS., pp. 8-10; also quoted in Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., pp. 278-80; also French translation in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 383-6.

[XI-9] Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., pp. 504-8. See an abridged account from the same source in Padilla, Conq. N. Galicia, MS., p. 125; Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, pp. 462-3.

[XI-10] Sonora, Rudo Ensayo, pp. 18-9; same also in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., pp. 503-4; Velarde, Descrip. de la Pimería, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iv., tom. i., pp. 362-3. This author speaks of ‘algunas paredes de un gran estanque, hecho á mano de cal y canto.’ Similar account in Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. ii., pp. 211-12.

[XI-11] Emory’s Reconnoissance, pp. 81-3; Johnston’s Journal, in Id., pp. 567-600; Browne’s Apache Country, pp. 114-24; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., pp. 271-84. Other authorities, containing, I believe, no original information, are as follows: Humboldt, Essai Pol., pp. 297-8; Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., p. 82; Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 361; Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., p. 19; Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 396, with cut; Id., Observations, p. 15; Id., Mex. as it Was, p. 239; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 197; Conder’s Mex. Guat., vol. ii., pp. 68-9; Buschmann, Spuren der Aztek. Spr., p. 297; Cutts’ Conq. of Cal., pp. 186-8; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 381-4; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, pp. 309-14; Lafond, Voyages, tom. i., p. 135; Larenaudière, Mex. et Guat., p. 12; Long’s Amer. and W. I., pp. 180-1; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., pp. 453; Mill’s Hist. Mex., pp. 192-3; Monglave, Résumé, p. 176; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., pp. 435-6; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 532; Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxxi., pp. 284-6, 261; Froebel, Aus Amer., tom. ii., pp. 451-2; Gordon’s Hist. and Geog. Mem., pp. 86-7; Id., Ancient Mex., vol. i., p. 104; Shuck’s Cal. Scrap-Book, p. 669; Robinson’s Cal., pp. 93-4; Velasco, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. xi., p. 96; Thümmel, Mexiko, p. 347; DeBercy, L’Europe et L’Amér., pp. 238-9; Ruxton, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1850, tom. cxxvi., pp. 40, 46, 52; San Francisco Chronicle, Jan. 15, 1875; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., pp. 299-300; Hughes’ Doniphan’s Ex., p. 219.

[XI-12] Adobes are properly sun-dried bricks without any particular reference to the exact quality or proportions of the ingredients, many varieties of earth or clay being employed, according to the locality and the nature of the structure, with or without a mixture of straw or pebbles. But adobe is a very convenient word to indicate the material itself without reference to the form and size of its blocks or the exact nature of its ingredients; and such a use of the word seems allowable.

[XI-13] Smithsonian Rept., 1869, p. 326; Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 41, 161-2.

[XI-14] 36 by 21 paces, Mange, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iv., tom. i., p. 283; 70 by 50 feet, outer walls 6 feet thick, inner 4 feet, Font’s Journal, MS., pp. 8-9; walls between 4 and 5 feet thick, Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 272; 60 feet square, Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 81.

[XI-15] Central rooms, 26 by 10 feet; the others 38 by 12 feet. Font’s Journal, MS., p. 9.

[XI-16] It will be noticed that although Mr Bartlett speaks of an entrance in the centre of each side, his plan shows none in the south. ‘Il n’existe point de portes au rez-de-chaussée.’ Mofras, Explor., tom. ii., p. 361.

[XI-17] Mange, Itinerario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iv., tom. i., pp. 282-3.

[XI-18] Browne’s Apache Country, p. 118.

[XI-19] Johnston, in Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 598.

[XI-20] Arricivita, Crónica Seráfica, pp. 462-3; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 297.

[XI-21] Johnston, in Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 598.

[XI-22] ‘Habia tambien seis leguas distante del rio hácia el Sur, un algive de agua hecho á mano mas que cuadrado ó paralelo, grande de sesenta varas de largo y cuarenta de ancho; sus bordos parecian paredes ó pretil de argamasa ó cal y canto, segun lo fuerte y duro del material, y por sus cuatro ángulos tiene sus puertas por donde se conduce y se recoge el agua llovediza.’ Sedelmair, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 848. ‘Se ven algunas paredes de un gran estanque, hecho á mano de cal y canto, y una acequia de los mismos materiales.’ Velarde, in Id., série iv., tom. i., p. 362.

[XI-23] ‘Paredes muy altas y anchas de mas de una vara, de un género de barro blanco muy fuerte, cuadrada, y muy grande.’ Bernal, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 801. ‘Paredes de dos varas de grueso, como un castillo y otras á sus contornos, pero todo de fábrica antigua.’ Mange, Itinerario, in Id., série iv., tom. i., p. 282; Sonora, Rudo Ensayo, p. 19; Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 83. Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 73, speaks of a circular depression in the earth at this point.

[XI-24] Johnston, in Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 600.

[XI-25] Sedelmair, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 847. There is no foundation whatever for the statement of Mofras that in this region ‘en faisant des fouilles on trouve encore des idoles, des poteries, des armes, et des miroirs en pierre poli nommées itzli.’ Explor., tom. ii., p. 361.

[XI-26] Velarde, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iv., tom. i., p. 363.

[XI-27] Sedelmair, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv. p. 847.

[XI-28] Velarde, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iv., tom. i., pp. 348, 363. ‘De otros edificios de mas extencion, arte y simetria, he oido referir al Padre Ygnacio Xavier Keller, aunque no tengo presente en que paraje de sus Apostolicas carreras.’ Sonora, Rudo Ensayo, pp. 19-20.

[XI-29] Emory’s Reconnoissance, pp. 87-8, 134; Johnston, in Id., p. 600; Cincinnatus’ Travels, p. 356.

[XI-30] Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., pp. 45, 47.

[XI-31] Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., pp. 242-8, with a cut of one of the heaps of ruins. Möllhausen, Tagebuch, pp. 308-9. Cuts of many specimens of pottery from the Gila Valley, in Johnston, in Emory’s Reconnoissance, pp. 596, 600.

[XI-32] Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., pp. 14-15.

[XI-33] Mr Leroux also reported to Bartlett the existence in the Verde valley of heaps of débris like those on the Salado. Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 247. Mention of Verde remains. Warden, Recherches, p. 79; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. ii., pp. 140-2; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt. ii., p. 538. Pike, Explor. Trav., p. 336, says very absurdly, “Those walls are of a black cement which encreases in stability with age, and bids defiance to the war of time; the secret of its composition is now entirely lost.”

[XI-34] Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., pp. 91-4; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, pp. 348-9. Möllhausen was the artist connected with Whipple’s expedition.

[XI-35] Emory’s Reconnoissance, pp. 63-9, 80, 133-4, with cuts and plates; Johnston, in Id., pp. 581-96; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 23, with cut illustrating the lines of foundation-stones. Froebel, Aus Amer., tom. ii., p. 421; Id., Cent. Amer., p. 488, with cut of hieroglyphics. Two plates of colored fragments of pottery, in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., pp. 82-5, vol. vi., p. 68. Respecting the builders of the ruined structures, see Garcés, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série ii., tom. i., pp. 320, 329; Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 161-2; Sedelmair, Relacion, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 847. Other references on Gila remains are: Sonora, Rudo Ensayo, p. 19, with cut of labyrinth; Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. ii., pp. 375-6; Fremont, in Cal., Past, Pres. and Future, p. 144; Fremont and Emory’s Notes of Trav., p. 46; Prichard’s Researches, vol. v., pp. 422-3; Id., Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., pp. 514-15, 568; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 382-3; Cal. Farmer, Feb. 28, 1862; Cincinnatus’ Travels, pp. 355-7; Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxxi., pp. 293-4. I find an account going the rounds of the newspapers of a wonderful group of ruins ‘on the Gila some miles east of Florence,’ discovered by Lieut. Ward. They consist of very extensive fortifications, and other structures built of hewn stone, the walls being yet twelve feet high, and two towers standing 26 and 31 feet respectively. Copper and stone implements, golden ornaments and stone vases were found here. Finally, the whole account is doubtless a hoax.

[XI-36] A writer in the N. Y. Tribune,—see Hist. Mag., vol. x., suppl., p. 95—describes a pyramid on the Colorado River, without giving the locality. It is 104 feet square, 20 feet high, and has at present a summit platform. It seems, however, to have been originally pointed, judging from the débris. The material is hewn stone in blocks from 18 to 36 inches thick, those of the outer facing being out at an angle. This report is perhaps founded on some of the ruins on the Colorado Chiquito yet to be mentioned, or quite as probably it has no foundation whatever. ‘Upon the lower part of the Rio Colorado no traces of permanent dwellings have been discovered.’ Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 15. Arizona miners occasionally refer to the ruins of old Indian buildings on the Colorado, 40 miles above La Paz, on the eastern side, similar in character to those of the Gila. On Ehrenberg’s Map of Arizona, 1858, they are so located, and that is all that is known of them. San Francisco Evening Bulletin, July 14, 1864.

[XI-37] Cal. Farmer, March 27, 1863.

[XI-38] Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 376; Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., pp. 106-7.

[XI-39] Sitgreaves’ Report, Zuñi and Colorado Rivers, 1853, pp. 8-9; Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., pp. 81, 46-50; Ives’ Colorado Riv., p. 117, no details; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, pp. 306-8; Id., Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. ii., pp. 148-50, 164-5, 399-401; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iv., pp. 253, vol. vi., p. 68, plates of inscriptions; Hay, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. i., p. 29; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 146-7. A writer in the San Francisco Evening Bulletin, July 3, 1868, says that the most extensive ruins in Arizona or New Mexico are situated above the high falls of the Little Colorado, 20 miles north of the San Francisco Mountains. They extend for miles along the river, and include well-made walls of hewn stone now standing to the height of six or eight feet. Both streets and irrigating canals may be traced for miles. This writer speaks of the Jesuit inscriptions. According to an article in the San Francisco Herald of 1853, quoted in the Cal. Farmer of June 22, 1860, Capt. Joseph Walker found some remarkable ruins on the Colorado Chiquito in 1850. He speaks of ‘a kind of a citadel, around which lay the ruins of a city more than a mile in length.’ The streets were still traceable, running at right angles. The buildings were all of stone ‘reduced to ruins by the action of some great heat which had evidently passed over the whole country…. All the stones were burnt, some of them almost cindered, others glazed as if melted. This appearance was visible in every ruin he met with. A storm of fire seemed to have swept over the whole country and the inhabitants must have fallen before it.’ The central building with walls 15 or 18 feet long and 10 feet high, of hewn stone, stood on a rock 20 or 30 feet high, itself fused by the heat. The ruins seen by Walker were in all probability similar to those described by Sitgreaves, and the Captain, or the writer of this article, drew heavily on his imagination for many of his facts.

[XI-40] Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 76.

[XI-41] Möllhausen’s Journey, vol. ii., p. 121.

[XI-42] Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., pp. 73-4; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, p. 255.

[XI-43] Sitgreaves’ Zuñi Ex., p. 6; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner, in Pac. R. R. Repts, vol. pp. 71, 39.

[XI-44] Whipple, et al., in Pac. R. R. Repts, vol. iii., pp. 69, 39-41, 45-6, with view of ruins; Möllhausen’s Journey, vol. ii., p. 96, cut of altar; Id., Reisen, tom. ii., pp. 196, 402; Id., Tagebuch, pp. 283-4, 278, with cut of altar; Simpson, in Smithsonian Rept., 1869, pp. 329-32; Davis’ El Gringo, p. 128; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 211-13; Barber and Howe’s Western States, p. 553; Shuck’s Cal. Scrap-Book, pp. 310-12.

[XI-45] Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., pp. 45-6.

[XI-46] Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., pp. 95-7; Möllhausen’s Journey, vol. ii., p. 82; Id., Tagebuch, pp. 275-7; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 39. Col. Doniphan found in 1846 on the head-waters of the Piscao (Pescado, Zuñi?) the ruins of an ancient city, which formed a square surrounded by double walls of stone 14 feet apart. The space between the walls was divided into compartments 14 feet square, opening into the interior. The houses were three stories high, the lower story being partially subterranean. Large quantities of red cedar, apparently cut for firewood, were found in connection with the buildings. Hughes’ Doniphan’s Ex., pp. 197-8. Simpson explored the stream to its source, and found no ruins except three at Ojo del Pescado, which were probably the same on which Doniphan’s report was founded, although there is no resemblance in the descriptions.

[XI-47] Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., pp. 93-109, pl. 60-1, views of cliff; pl. 65-74, inscriptions; pl. 63, ground plan of building; pl. 64, pottery; cut p. 100, plan of rock. Whipple, et al., in Pac. R. R. Repts, vol. iii., pp. 22, 52, 63-4, with plates; Möllhausen, Tagebuch, pp. 266-72, pl. of plan and pottery; Id., Journey, vol. ii., pp. 68-79, 52, pl.; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 208-9, 415-18; Davis’ El Gringo, pp. 422-3; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 147; Barber and Howe’s Western States, p. 561.

[XI-48] Dominguez and Escalante, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série ii., tom. i., pp. 400-2. A correspondent of the San Francisco Evening Bulletin, July 8, 1864, says that the San Juan valley is strewn with ruins for hundreds of miles, some buildings three stories high of solid masonry still standing. Davis, El Gringo, p. 417, had heard of some ruins on the northern bank of the San Juan, but none further north. ‘The valleys of the Rio de las Animas and San Juan are strewn with the ruins of cities, many of them of solid masonry. Stone buildings, three stories high, are yet standing, of Aztec architecture.’ Baker, in Cal. Farmer, June 19, 1863.

[XI-49] Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., pp. 74-5, pl. 53-4. Other slight accounts made up from Simpson: Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 201; Annual Scien. Discov., 1850, p. 362; Barber and Howe’s Western States, pp. 559-60, with cut.

[XI-50] Dr Hammond, a companion of Simpson, describes this room as follows: ‘It was in the second of three ranges of rooms, on the north side of the ruins. The door opened at the base of the wall, towards the interior of the building; it had never been more than two feet and a half high, and was filled two-thirds with rubbish. The lintels were of natural sticks of wood, one and a half to two and a half inches in diameter, deprived of the bark, and placed at distances of two or three inches apart; yet their ends were attached to each other by withes of oak with its bark well preserved. The room was in the form of a parallelogram, about twelve feet in length, eight feet high, and the walls, as they stood at the time of observation, seven feet high. The floor was of earth, and the surface irregular. The walls were about two feet thick, and plastered within with a layer of red mud one fourth of an inch thick. The latter, having fallen off in places, showed the material of the wall to be sandstone. The stone was ground into pieces the size of our ordinary bricks, the angles not as perfectly formed, though nearly so, and put up in break-joints, having intervals between them, on every side, of about two inches. The intervals were filled with laminæ of a dense sandstone, about three lines in thickness, driven firmly in, and broken off even with the general plane of the wall—the whole resembling mosaic work. Niches, varying in size from two inches to two feet and a half square, and two inches to one and a half feet in horizontal depth, were scattered irregularly over the walls, at various heights above the floor. Near the place of the ceiling, the walls were penetrated, and the surfaces of them perpendicular to the length of the beam. They had the appearance of having been sawed off originally, except that there were no marks of the saw left on them; time had slightly disintegrated the surfaces, rounding the edges somewhat here and there. Supporting the floor above were six cylindrical beams, about seven inches in diameter, passing transversely of the room, and at distances of less than two feet apart—the branches of the trees having been hewn off by means of a blunt-edged instrument. Above, and resting on these, running longitudinally with the room, were poles of various lengths, about two inches in diameter, irregularly straight, placed in contact with each other, covering all the top of the room, bound together at irregular and various distances, generally at their ends, by slips apparently of palm-leaf or marquez, and the same material converted into cords about one-fourth of an inch in diameter, formed of two strands, hung from the poles at several points. Above, and resting upon the poles, closing all above, passing transversely of the room, were planks of about seven inches wide, and three-fourths of an inch in thickness. The width of the plank was uniform, and so was the thickness. They were in contact, or nearly so, admitting but little more than the passage of a knife blade between them, by the edges, through the whole of their lengths. They were not jointed; all their surfaces were level, and as smooth as if planed, excepting the ends; the angles as regular and perfect as could be retained by such vegetable matter—they are probably of pine or cedar—exposed to the atmosphere for as long a time as it is probable these have been. The ends of the plank, several of which were in view, terminated in lines perpendicular to the length of the plank, and the plank appears to have been severed by a blunt instrument. The planks—I examined them minutely by the eye and the touch, for the marks of the saw and other instruments—were smooth, and colored brown by time or by smoke. Beyond the plank nothing was distinguishable from within. The room was redolent with the perfume of cedar. Externally, upon the top, was a heap of stone and mud, ruins that have fallen from above, immovable by the instruments that we had along. The beams were probably severed by contusions from a dull instrument, and their surfaces ground plain and smooth by a slab of rock; and the planks, split or hewn from the trees, were, no doubt, rendered smooth by the same means.’ Hammond, in Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., pp. 131-3.

[XI-51] Chaco ruins as discovered by Simpson: Pueblo Pintado, 403 feet circumference, 3 stories, 54 rooms on ground floor, pp. 34-6, pl. 20, 22, 41; view, specimens of masonry, and of pottery. Rock-inscriptions at Camp 9, p. 36, pl. 23-5. Pueblo Weje-gi, 13 miles from Pueblo Pintado, 700 feet in circumference, 99 rooms, walls 25 feet high, pp. 36-7, pl. 26-7; view and ground plan. Pueblo Una Vida, 15½ miles from Pueblo Pintado, circumference 994 feet, height 15 feet, 2 stories, 4 estufas, pp. 37-8, pl. 28-9; view and ground plan. Pueblo Hungo Pavie, 872 feet circumference, 30 feet high, 4 stories, 72 rooms, 1 estufa, p. 38, pl. 30-2; plan, pottery, and restoration (all copied above). Pueblo Chettro Kettle, circumference 1300 feet, 4 stories, 124 rooms, 6 estufas, pp. 38-40, pl. 33-5; plan, interior, hieroglyphics. Pueblo Bonito, circumference 1300 feet, 4 stories, 139 rooms traceable, 4 estufas, pp. 40-2, 131-3, pl. 36-38, 40-41; view, plan, interior, pottery, specimen of masonry. Pueblo Arroyo, 100 feet circumference, 2 undescribed ruins near it, p. 42. Pueblo Peñasco Blanco, on south side of river, 1700 feet circumference, 112 rooms, 3 stories, 7 estufas, pp. 42-3, pl. 41, fig. 2; specimen of masonry. Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., pp. 34-43, 131-3. Slight account from Simpson, in Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 199-200, 379-81, 385; Annual Scien. Discov., 1850, pp. 362-3; Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., pp. 86-9, cut; Barber and Howe’s Western States, pp. 556-9, cuts; Thümmel, Mexiko, pp. 347-8. A newspaper report of a ruin discovered by one Roberts may be as well mentioned here as elsewhere, although the locality given is 90 miles within the Arizona line, while the Chaco remains are in New Mexico. This city was built on a mesa with precipitous sides, and covered an area of 3 square miles, being enclosed by a wall of hewn sandstone, still standing in places 6 or 8 feet high. No remains of timber were found in the city, which must have contained originally 20,000 inhabitants. It was laid out in plazas and streets, and the walls bore sculptured hieroglyphics. San Francisco Chronicle, Dec. 12, 1872. See also Alta California, June 26, 1874. I give but few of these newspaper reports as specimens; a volume might be filled with them, without much profit.

[XI-52] Davis’ list of Pueblo towns is as follows:—Taos, Picoris, Nambé, Tezuque, Pojuaque, San Juan, San Yldefonso, Santo Domingo, San Felipe, Santa Ana, Cochiti, Isleta, Silla, Laguna, Acoma, Jemez, Zuñi, Sandia, Santa Clara. El Gringo, p. 115. Barreiro, Ojeada, p. 15, adds Pecos, and omits San Juan. Simpson, Jour. Mil. Recon., p. 114, says that Cebolleta, Covero, and Moquino, are not properly Indian pueblos, but ordinary Mexican towns.

[XI-53] See vol. i., pp. 533-8.

[XI-54] Abert’s New Mex., in Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 457; Davis’ El Gringo, pp. 141-2. See also Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., pp. 276-7. This author says there is a similar edifice in the pueblo of Picuris. Edwards’ Campaign, pp. 43-4; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 191-2. On the Arroyo Hondo 10 miles north of Taos, Mr Peters, Life of Carson, p. 437, speaks of the remains of the largest Aztec settlement in New Mexico, consisting of small cobble-stones in mud, pottery, arrow-heads, stone pipes, and rude tools.

[XI-55] Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., p. 114.

[XI-56] Abert’s New Mex., in Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 470-1, with 3 views. The most ancient and extraordinary of all the Pueblos, on a table of 60 acres, 360 feet above the plain. Identical with Coronado’s Acuco. Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 202-3; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., pp. 277-8.

[XI-57] Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., p. 277; Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., p. 121; view of San Felipe, in Abert’s New Mex., in Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 461.

[XI-58] Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., pp. 13-4. ‘The houses of this town are built in blocks.’ ‘To enter, you ascend to this platform by the means of ladders;’ windows in the upper part of the lower story. Abert’s New Mex., in Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 462, with view; Möllhausen’s Journey, p. 231, with view; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 197.

[XI-59] Meline’s Two Thousand Miles, pp. 206-7.

[XI-60] Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., pp. 90-3. ‘It is divided into four solid squares, having but two streets, crossing its centre at right angles. All the buildings are two stories high, composed of sun-dried brick. The first story presents a solid wall to the street, and is so constructed, that each house joins, until one fourth of the city may be said to be one building. The second stories rise from this vast, solid structure, so as to designate each house, leaving room to walk upon the roof of the first story between each building.’ Hughes’ Doniphan’s Ex., p. 195; see also Whipple, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., pp. 67-8, with view; Möllhausen’s Journey, p. 97.

[XI-61] Ives’ Colorado Riv., pp. 119-24, with plates.

[XI-62] ‘Each pueblo contains an estufa, which is used both as a council-chamber and a place of worship, where they practice such of their heathen rites as still exist among them. It is built partly under ground, and is considered a consecrated and holy place. Here they hold all their deliberations upon public affairs, and transact the necessary business of the village.’ Davis’ El Gringo, p. 142. ‘In the west end of the town [S. Domingo] is an estuffa, or public building, in which the people hold their religious and political meetings. The structure, which is built of adobes, is circular in plan, about nine feet in elevation, and thirty-five feet in diameter, and, with no doors or windows laterally, has a small trap-door in the terrace or flat roof by which admission is gained.’ Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., p. 62. Estufa at Jemez, with plates of paintings. Id., pp. 21-2, pl. 7-11.

[XI-63] Emory’s Reconnoissance, p. 30, with plate; Abert’s New Mex., in Id., pp. 446-7, 483, with plate; Davis’ El Gringo, p. 55; Hughes’ Doniphan’s Ex., pp. 74-5; Meline’s Two Thousand Miles, pp. 255-8; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., pp. 270-3; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengeb., tom. ii., pp. 293-8; Cutt’s Conq. of Cal., p. 79; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 164-5, Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., p. 79, with cut.

[XI-64] Gage’s New Survey, p. 162; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., pp. 164-5; Davis’ El Gringo, pp. 70, 123-7; Abert’s New Mex., in Emory’s Reconnoissance, pp. 488-9; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 182-3; Wizlizenus’ Tour, p. 25; Carleton’s Ruins of Abó, in Smithsonian Rept., 1854, pp. 300-15; Möllhausen, Flüchtling, tom. i., pp. 718-25, 229, 239, 267-72; Id., Reisen, tom. ii., pp. 296, 405-6; Froebel’s Cent. Amer., p. 301; Id., Aus Amer., tom. ii., pp. 150-2; Gallatin, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxxi., pp. 298-9. Abert, in Emory’s Reconnoissance, pp. 466-7, 484, tells us that at Tezique the ruins of the ancient Indian town are partially covered with the buildings of the modern; also that at Poblazon, on the Puerco River, the principal ruins of stone are arranged in a square with sides of 200 yards, but other remains are scattered in the vicinity, including a circular and one elliptical enclosure. According to Gregg, Com. Prairies, vol. ii., p. 71, the inhabitants were driven from Valverde, on the Rio Grande, by the Navajos. Möllhausen, Journey, vol. ii., p. 55, speaks of ruins on rocky heights two miles from Laguna. ‘The ruins of what is usually called Old San Felipe are plainly visible, perched on the edge of the mésa, about a mile above the present town, on the west side of the river.’ Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., p. 121.

[XI-65] Froebel, Aus Amer., tom. ii., pp. 166, 469; Johnston, in Cutts’ Conq. of Cal., p. 183; Newberry, in Cal. Farmer, April 10, 1863.

[XI-66] Abert, New Mex., in Emory’s Reconnoissance, pp. 489-92, identifies Cíbola with Acoma and the six adjoining Pueblo towns; and Morgan, in N. Amer. Review, April, 1869, with the Chaco ruins.

[XI-67] See Castañeda, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. ix., pp. 42, 69-71. ‘Veynte y quatro leguas de aqui, hazia el Poniente, dieron con vna Prouincia, que se nombra en lengua de los naturales Zuny, y la llaman los Espannoles Cibola, ay en ella gran cantidad de Indios, en la qual estuuo Francisco Vasquez Coronado, y dexo muchas Cruzes puestas, y otras sennales de Christianidad que siempre se estauan en pie. Hallaron ansi mesmo tres Indios Christianos que se auian quedado de aquella jornada, cuyos nombres eran Andres de Cuyoacan, Gaspar de Mexico, y Antonio de Guadalajara, los quales tenian casi oluidada su mesma lengua, y sabian muy bien la delos naturales, aunque a pocas bueltas que les hablaron se entendieron facilmente.’ Espejo, Viaje, in Hakluyt’s Voy., vol. iii., p. 387. Hakluyt says the narrative is from Mendoza, Hist. China, Madrid, 1586; but nothing of the kind appears in the Spanish edition of that work, 1596, or in the Italian edition of 1586.

[XI-68] Emory’s Reconnoissance, pp. 82, 133; Abert’s New Mex., in Id., p. 484; Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., pp. 45, 47; Whipple, in Id., pp. 64, 69, 73, 76, 91; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., pp. 245-7; Browne’s Apache Country, p. 118; Cal. Farmer, June 22, 1860.

[XI-69] Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., pp. 48-9; also Whipple, in Id., pp. 64-5, 69, 73, 76, 81. Of the cut given above, fig. 2, 5, 8, 9, 11, 13-4, 17, 21, 24, 28, 31-2, are from the Colorado Chiquito; fig. 22, 27, are from Zuñi, and modern; fig. 34, from the Cosnino caves, the ornaments having been put on after the vessel had hardened; fig. 25, 29, 30, 35, are not painted, but incrusted or indented. ‘It is a singular fact, that, although some of the most time-worn carvings upon rocks are of animals and men, ancient pottery contains no such representations. Upon one fragment, indeed, found upon Rio Gila, was pictured a turtle and a piece of pottery picked up near the same place was moulded into the form of a monkey’s head. These appeared to be ancient, and afforded exceptions to the rule.’ Id., p. 65. Cut of a fragment and comparison with one found in Indiana. Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 249-50.

[XI-70] Möllhausen’s Journey, vol. i., p. 264, vol. ii., p. 52, with pl.; Id., Tagebuch, pp. 168-70; Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. i., pp. 170-6; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 161-2, 419-20.

[XI-71] See vol. ii., p. 533, et seq.

[XI-72] See Simpson’s Jour. Mil. Recon., pp. 20-2, pl. 7-11.

[XI-73] Froebel’s Cent. Amer., p. 521.

Chapter XII • Antiquities of the Northwest • 16,400 Words

General Character of North-western Remains—No Traces of Extinct or of Civilized Races—Antiquities of California—Stone Implements—Newspaper Reports—Taylor’s Work—Colorado Desert—Trail and Rock-Inscriptions—Burial Relics of Southern California—Bones of Giants—Mounds in the Saticoy Valley—New Almaden Mine—Pre-Historic Relics in the Mining Shafts—Stone Implements, Human Bones, and Remains of Extinct Animal Species—Voy’s Work—San Joaquin Relics—Merced Mounds—Martinez—Shell Mounds round San Francisco Bay, and their Contents—Relics from a San Francisco Mound—Antiquities of Nevada—Utah—Mounds of Salt Lake Valley—Colorado—Remains at Golden City—Extensive Ruins in Southern Colorado and Utah—Jackson’s Expedition—Mancos and St Elmo Cañons—Idaho and Montana—Oregon—Washington—Mounds on Bute Prairie—Yakima Earth-work—British Columbia—Deans’ Explorations—Mounds and Earth-works of Vancouver Island—Alaska.

Ruins of the New Mexican Pueblo type, described in the preceding chapter, extend across the boundary lines of New Mexico and Arizona, and have been found by travelers in southern Utah and Colorado; stone and bone implements similar to those used by the natives when the first Europeans came and since that time, are frequently picked up on the surface or taken from aboriginal graves in most parts of the whole northern region; a few scattered rock-inscriptions are reported in several of the states; burial mounds and other small earth-heaps of unknown use are seen in many localities; shell mounds, some of them of great size, occur at various points in the coast region, as about San Francisco Bay and on Vancouver Island, and they probably might be found along nearly the whole coast line; and the mining shafts of California have brought to light human remains, implements wrought by human hands, and bones of extinct animals, at great depths below the surface, evidently of great age. With the preceding paragraph and a short account of the ruins of Colorado, I might consistently dispose of the antiquities of the Northwest.

There has not been found and reported on good authority a single monument or relic which is sufficient to prove that the country was ever inhabited by any people whose claims to be regarded as civilized were superior to those of the tribes found by Europeans within its limits. It is true that some implements may not exactly agree with those of the tribes now occupying the same particular locality, and some graves indicate slight differences in the manner of burial, but this could hardly be otherwise in a country inhabited by so many nations whose boundaries were constantly changing. Yet I have often heard the Aztec relics of California and Oregon very confidently spoken of. It is a remarkable fact that to most men who find a piece of stone bearing marks of having been formed by human hands, the very first idea suggested is that it represents an extinct race, while the last conclusion arrived at is that the relic may be the work of a tribe still living in the vicinity where it was found.

Californian Relics

California has within her limits large quantities of native utensils and many burial deposits, some of which doubtless date back to the time when no European had yet set foot in the country. A complete description of such relics, illustrated with cuts of typical specimens from different sections of the state, would be of great value in connection with the account of the Californian tribes given in a preceding volume; but unfortunately the material for such description and cuts are utterly wanting, and will not be supplied for many years. Officers and assistants connected with the U. S. Coast Survey and other government exploring expeditions, are constantly, though slowly, gathering relics for the national collection, and a few individuals acting in an unofficial capacity have examined certain localities and described the aboriginal implements found therein through trustworthy mediums. But most of the discoveries in this direction are recorded only in newspaper accounts, which, in a large majority of cases, offer no guarantee of their authenticity or accuracy. Many are self-evident hoaxes; many others are doubtless as reliable as if published in the narrative of the most trust-worthy explorer or in the transactions of any learned society; but to decide upon the relative merits of the great bulk of these accounts is altogether impossible, to say nothing of the absence of drawings, which, after all, are the only satisfactory description of miscellaneous relics. I therefore deem it not advisable to fill the pages of a long chapter with a compilation of the almost innumerable newspaper items in my possession, useless for the most part to antiquarians, and comparatively without interest to the general reader. Dr Alex. S. Taylor has already made quite a complete compilation of the earlier accounts in Californian newspapers, which he published in the California Farmer in 1860-3. Without, as a rule, going into details, I shall present a brief résumé of what has been written about Californian relics of aboriginal times, giving in full only a few reports of undoubted authenticity.[XII-1]‘Since the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, down to the present moment, relics of a lost race have been exhumed from beneath the surface of terra firma in various parts of the continent. While every section of the United States has produced more or less of these ancient remnants, California has, perhaps, yielded more in proportion to the extent of territory, than any other part of the Union.’ Carpenter, in Hesperian, vol. v., p. 357.

Brasseur de Bourbourg tells us that in the distant north “was found anciently a city named Tula, the ruins of which are thought to have been found in the valley, still so little explored, of Tulares. The Americans have announced in their newspapers the discovery of these Californian ruins, but can one credit the reports?” Brasseur possibly alludes in the paragraph quoted to certain reports circulated about 1853, which announced the discovery, somewhere in the desert of the Colorado on the California side, of a ruined bridge of stone, where no river had run for ages, together with an immense pyramid, and other grand remains. These reports seem to have originated in the correspondence of a Placerville newspaper; but whether they were manufactured in the office of the paper, or were actually sent in by some roaming prospector of an inventive turn of mind, does not appear.[XII-2]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 179; San Francisco Evening Bulletin, Feb. 11, 1862; Cal. Farmer, Dec. 14, 1860.

Colorado Desert

Mr Blake found in the Colorado desert “several long, path-like discolorations of the surface, extending for miles in nearly straight lines, which were Indian trails. The only change which was produced appeared to be the removal or dimming of the polish on the pebbles. There was no break in the hard surface, and no dust. That the distinctness of the trail was made by the removing of the polish only, became evident from the fact that figures and Indian hieroglyphics were traced, or imprinted, on the surface adjoining the path, apparently by pounding or bruising the surface layer of the pebbles. These trails seemed very old, and may have endured for many generations.”[XII-3]Blake, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. v., p. 117. A writer in the Bulletin mentions a road which extends from the mouth of the Coahuila Valley of San Gorgonio Pass, beginning at Noble’s ranch, eastwardly across the desert in almost a straight line, to the mouth of the Colorado Cañon. The earth is worn deep, and along its course the surface is strewn with broken pottery. In many of the soft rocks the imprints of the feet of men and animals are still plainly visible. The road is not much over a foot wide, and from it branch off side paths leading to springs or other sources of water.[XII-4]San Francisco Evening Bulletin, Feb. 11, 1862. The only other remains in the desert of which I find any record are some rock-inscriptions at Pah Ute Creek, located about thirty miles west from the Mojave villages. Mr Whipple gives a drawing of the inscriptions, which bear a strong resemblance in their general character, as might be expected, to those which have been found in so many localities in the New Mexican region.[XII-5]Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 42.

The vertical face of a granite cliff at San Francisquito Pass, near a spring, was covered with carved characters, probably similar to those last described. One of the characters resembled a long chain, with a ball at one end, surrounded by rays like those employed in our representations of the sun; another was like in form to an anchor. Well-worn ancient foot-paths, old reservoirs, and other undescribed relics are reported in the vicinity of Owen’s lake and river.[XII-6]Blake, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. v., pp. 56-7; Cal. Farmer, March 28, 1862, Dec. 21, 1860. Also pottery, painted and carved cliff-inscriptions, and lines of large stones on the hill-tops. Alta California, July, 1860. Painted figures in blue, red, and white, are reported, together with some Spanish inscriptions of a date preceding 1820, in Painted Rock Valley, four days’ journey east by south from Tejon Pass, also in the cañada of the San Juan arroyo, which empties into the Salinas River near the mission of San Miguel. In the former case the figures are painted on a blue grayish rock, about twenty feet square and hollowed out in bowl shape.[XII-7]San Francisco Evening Bulletin, Feb. 11, 1862. ‘On the South Tule river, twelve miles from the valley, is what is called the Painted Rock—a smooth flat rock horizontally supported by perpendicular walls on either side about seven feet from the ground, with a surface of 200 square feet smooth and level on the walled sides on which is painted in no very artistic style, representations of animals, reptiles, and birds, and rude paintings of men, women, and children. The painting has without doubt been done by the present race of Indians. None of the Indians now living, however, have any knowledge or tradition by whom or when it was done. This rock and the remains of their habitations in many localities on the different streams, are the only indications of their long occupancy of this valley.’ Maltby (Indian Agent at Tule River), letter of Aug. 10, 1872, MS. Painted figures in a large cave near the hot springs of Tularcitos hills, east of Monterey; also on headwaters of the San Juan or Estrella creek. Cal. Farmer, April 5, 1860.

Burial Relics in the South

Relics from Southern California.

Mr Paul Schumacher, engaged in the service of the United States Coast Survey, has taken great interest in Californian aboriginal relics, which he has collected for the Smithsonian Institution at Washington. In the vicinity of San Luis Obispo, between points Sal and San Luis, he examined during the past year four graves or burial deposits, known as nipomo, walckhe, kesmali, temeteti. These graves furnished some three hundred human skeletons, or rather about that number were examined, and also quite a large number of domestic utensils, weapons, and ornaments. Among these relics great uniformity is observed, indicating that all the graves belonged to the same tribe of natives. Nine specimens are shown in the cut on the opposite page, made from Mr Schumacher’s drawings. Fig. 1, 2, and 9, represent large cooking-pots, globular or pear-shaped, and hollowed out of magnesian mica. The circular opening of fig. 9, having a small and narrow rim, measures only five inches in diameter, while the greatest diameter of the pot is eighteen inches. Near the edge of the opening this vessel is only a quarter of an inch thick, but the thickness increases regularly towards the bottom, where it is an inch and a quarter. Sandstone mortars of different dimensions, but of similar forms, were found in great abundance with the other utensils, one of the largest of which is shown in fig. 8. This is sixteen inches in diameter and thirteen in height. The smallest are only an inch and a half high, and three inches in diameter. The pestles are of the same material, and their form is shown in fig. 3. There was moreover, quite an assortment of what seem to be cups, measuring from one and a quarter to six inches in diameter, and neatly worked out of serpentine, the surface of which was brightly polished. Specimens are shown in fig. 5 and 7. Another similar one, the smallest found, was enclosed in three shells, in a very curious manner, as shown in fig. 6. In this enclosed cup was a quantity of what is described as paint; and traces of the same material were found in all the cups, indicating that they were not used to contain food. Fig. 4 represents a plate which is presumably of stone, although the cut would seem to indicate a shell. These domestic implements deposited by the aborigines with their dead were rarely broken, and when they were so, the breakage was caused in every instance by the pressure of the soil or other superimposed objects. One peculiar circumstance in connection with these relics was that some broken mortars and pestles were repaired by the use of asphaltum as a cement. All the relics collected by Mr Schumacher, as well as those which I have copied, are preserved in the National Museum at Washington.[XII-8]Schumacher, Some Articles found in Ancient Graves of California, MSS., presented by the author. The same explorer is now engaged in making an examination of the islands of the Santa Barbara Channel, where it is not improbable that many interesting relics may be discovered. Mr Taylor heard from a resident of San Buenaventura that “in a recent stay on Santa Rosa Island, in 1861, he often met with the entire skeletons of Indians in the caves. The signs of their rancherías were very frequent, and the remains of metates, mortars, earthen pots, and other utensils very common. The metates were of a dark stone, and made somewhat after the pattern of the Mexican. Extensive caves were often met with which seemed to serve as burial places of the Indians, as entire skeletons and numerous skulls were plentifully scattered about in their recesses.” Some very wonderful skulls are also reported as having been found on the islands, furnished with double teeth all the way round the jaw.[XII-9]Taylor’s Indianology, in Cal. Farmer, Jan. 17, 1862, March 9, 1860.

Miscellaneous Remains

Miscellaneous relics reported on authority varying from indifferent to bad at different points in the southern part of the state, are as follows: In 1819 an old lady saw a gigantic skeleton dug up by soldiers at Purísima on the Lompock rancho. The natives deemed it a god, and it was re-buried by direction of the padre. Taheechaypah pass and the mission of San Buenaventura are other localities where skeletons of extraordinary size have been found. The old natives at San Luis Rey have seen in the mountain passes tracks of men and animals in solid rock. These tracks were made, those of the men at least, by their fathers fleeing from some convulsion of nature which occurred not many generations back. Nine miles north of Santa Barbara on the Dos Pueblos rancho, some small mounds only two or three feet high have been seen on the point of the mesa overlooking the sea. Mr Carvalho claims to have dug from a small mound near Los Angeles the bones of a mastodon, including four perfect teeth, one of which weighed six pounds. Miss Saxon speaks of high mounds in the vicinity of rivers, said to have been once the site of villages so located for protection against floods.[XII-10]San Francisco Evening Bulletin, Jan. 22, 1864; Cal. Farmer, May 23, 1862, March 6, 1863; Carvalho’s Incid. of Trav., p. 249; Saxon’s Golden Gate, p. 126; Wimmel, Californien, p. 13.

In the plain at the mouth of the Saticoy River, twelve miles below San Buenaventura, and five or six miles from the sea, are reported two mounds, regular, rounded, and bare of trees. One of them is over a mile long and two hundred feet high, and the other about half as large. If the report of their existence is correct, there seems to be no evidence that they are of artificial formation, except their isolated position on the plain, and a native tradition that they are burial-places. One writer suggests that they are the graves of a people, or of their kings, whose cities are buried beneath the waters of the Santa Barbara Channel. The site of the cities presents some obstacles to exploration, and the details of their construction are not fully known. Twenty miles farther up the Saticoy is a group of small mounds, ten or twelve in number and five or six feet high. They “seem to have been water-worn or worked out by running water all around the mounds so as to isolate each one.” Near these mounds, on the Cayetano rancho, is a field of some five hundred acres, divided by parallel ridges of earth, and having distinct traces of irrigating ditches, supplied by a canal which extends two or three miles up the Sespe arroyo. It is said that the present inhabitants of this region, both native and Spanish, have no knowledge of the origin of these agricultural works.[XII-11]San Francisco Evening Bulletin, Feb. 11, 1862; Cal. Farmer, March 28, 1862, March 6, 1863.

It is said that the New Almaden quicksilver mines were worked by the natives for the purpose of obtaining vermilion, long before the coming of the Spaniards. The excavation made by the aboriginal miners was long supposed to be a natural cavern, extending about one hundred feet horizontally into the hill, until some skeletons, rude mining tools, and other relics of human presence revealed the secret.[XII-12]Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 209. ‘A quantity of round stones, evidently from the brook, was found in a passage with a number of skeletons; the destruction of life having been caused undoubtedly by the sudden caving in of the earth, burying the unskilled savages in the midst of their labors.’ Pioneer, vol. ii., p. 221.

In various localities about Monterey, in addition to the usual mortars and arrow-heads, holes in the living rock, used probably as mortars for pounding acorns and seeds, are reported by Taylor; and the Santa Cruz ‘skull cave’ is spoken of as ‘noted throughout the country’ for having furnished bones now preserved in the Smithsonian Institution.[XII-13]Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, April 20, 1860; Wimmel, Californien, pp. 27-8.

Remains from the Mines

One of the most interesting classes of Californian antiquities is that which includes aboriginal remains discovered in the mining counties, at considerable depths below the surface of the ground. The stone implements thus found are not in themselves particularly interesting, or different from those which have been found under other circumstances; nor do they include any specimens which indicate the former existence of any race more advanced than that found in the country by Europeans. But the chief importance of these antiquities consists in the great depth at which some of them have been found, and in the fact that they have been found in connection with the fossil bones of animals belonging to species now no longer existing in the country. The existence of the work of human hands buried hundreds of feet beneath the many successive layers of different rocks and earths, might not necessarily imply a greater age than one dating a few centuries before the coming of the Spaniards; although few would be willing to admit, probably, that natural convulsions so extensive have taken place at so recent an epoch. But when the work of human hands is shown to have been discovered in connection with the bones of mastodons, elephants, horses, camels, and other animals long since extinct, and that they have been so found there seems to be sufficient proof, it is hardly possible with consistency to deny that these implements date from a remote antiquity. Newspaper items describing relics of this class are almost numberless; a few of the specimens have fallen into the hands of scientific men, who have carefully examined and described them; but a great majority, even of such implements as have not been completely overlooked by the miner who dug or washed them from their deep resting-places, have been lost after exciting a momentary curiosity, and their important testimony lost to science. Mr C. D. Voy of Oakland has shown much energy and interest in the examination of stone implements and fossils from the mines. The relics themselves have of course been found in almost every instance by miners in their search for gold; but Mr Voy has personally visited most of the localities where such discoveries were reported, and seems to have taken all possible pains to verify the authenticity of the discoveries, having in many cases obtained sworn statements from the parties who made them. An unpublished manuscript written by this gentleman is entitled Relics of the Stone Age in California, and is illustrated with many photographs of specimens from his own and other collections. This work, kindly furnished me by Mr Voy, is probably the most complete extant on the subject, and from it I take the following descriptions. The author proceeds by counties, first describing the geology of each county, and then the relics of whose existence he has been able to learn, and the localities where they were found. Except a brief statement in a few cases of the depth at which stone remains were found, and of the strata that covered them, I shall not touch upon the geologic formation of the mining region. Nor does a particular or scientific description of the fossil remains come within the scope of my work. A brief account of the stone implements and the positions in which they have been discovered will suffice.

Stone Mortar—Kincaid Flat.

Tuolumne County

Of all the counties Tuolumne has apparently proved the richest in antiquarian remains. From the mining tunnels which penetrate Table Mountain there was taken in 1858 a stone mortar holding two quarts, at a depth of three hundred feet from the surface, lying in auriferous gravel under a thick strata of lava. In 1862 another mortar was found at a depth of three hundred and forty feet, one hundred and four of which were composed of lava, and eighteen hundred feet from the mouth of the tunnel. This relic is in Mr Voy’s collection, accompanied by a sworn statement of the circumstances of its finding. Dr Snell is said to have had in his possession in 1862 a pendant or shuttle of silicious slate, similar to others of which I shall give a cut; spear-heads six or eight inches long, and broken off at the hole where they were attached to the shaft; and a scoop, or ladle, of steatite. These relics were found under Table Mountain at the same depth as the preceding, together with fossil bones of the mastodon and other animals, and are preserved in the Smithsonian Institute and in the museum of Yale College. The cut represents a stone mortar and pestle, found at Kincaid Flat in clayey auriferous gravel, sixteen or twenty feet below the surface, where many other stone implements, with bones of the mastodon, elephant, horse, and camel, have been found at different times. A bow handle, or shuttle, of micaceous slate found here will be shown in another cut with similar relics from a different locality.[XII-14]‘In 1857, Dr. C. F. Winslow sent to the Boston Natural History Society, the fragment of a human cranium found in the “pay-dirt” in connection with the bones of the mastodon and elephant, one hundred and eighty feet below the surface of Table Mountain, California. Dr. Winslow has described to me all the particulars in reference to this “find,” and there is no doubt in his mind, that the remains of man and the great quadrupeds were deposited contemporaneously.’ Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 52-4.

At Shaw’s Flat, with bones of the mastodon, a stone bead of calc-spar, two inches long and the same in circumference, was taken from under a strata of lava at a point three hundred feet from the mouth of the tunnel. The granite mortar shown in the cut, holding about a pint, came from the same mining town.

Granite Mortar—Shaw’s Flat.

Granite Mortar—Gold Springs Gulch.

Granite Dish—Gold Springs Gulch.

At Blanket Creek, near Sonora, stone relics and bones of the mastodon were found together in 1855.[XII-15]Elephant’s tusk five or six feet long, found in 1860, ten feet below the surface, and fifteen inches above the ledge in auriferous sand; also, five years before, many human skeletons, one of which was twice the usual size, with stone mortars and pestles. Sonora Democrat, Dec. 1860; Cal. Farmer, Dec. 21, 1860; San Francisco Evening Bulletin, Jan. 22, 1864. Wood’s Creek was another locality where stone relics with fossil bones, including those of the tapir, are reported to have been dug out at a depth of twenty to forty feet. The mortar and pestle shown in the cut is one of many stone implements found, with fossil bones, at Gold Springs Gulch, in 1863, at a depth of sixteen feet in auriferous gravel, like the most of such relics. It is twelve and a half inches in diameter, weighs thirty pounds, and holds about two quarts. The cross-lines pecked in on the sides with some sharp instrument, are of rare occurrence if not unique. Among the other implements found here, are what Mr Voy describes as “discoidal stones, or perhaps spinal whorls. They are from three to four inches in diameter, and about an inch and a half thick, both sides being concave, with centre perforated. It has been suggested that these stones were used in certain hurling games.” They are of granite and hard sandstone. The author has heard of similar relics in Ohio, Denmark, and Chili. Another relic, found at the same place in 1862, with the usual bones under twenty to thirty feet of calcareous tufa, is a flat oval dish of granite, eighteen inches and a half in diameter, two or three inches thick, and weighing forty pounds. It is shown in the cut, and, like the preceding, is preserved in Mr Voy’s cabinet, now at the University of California. Texas Flat was another locality where fossil bones were found with fresh-water shells.[XII-16]Other reported relics in Tuolumne county are as follows:—A tooth of an animal of the elephant specie, twelve feet below surface, under an oak three feet in diameter, at Twist’s Ranch, near Mormon Creek, found in 1851. Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. ii., p. 248, with cut. ‘A tolerably well executed representation of a deer’s foot, about six inches long, cut out of slate, and a tube about an inch in diameter, and five inches in length, made of the same material, and a small, flat, rounded piece of some very hard flinty rock, with a square hole in the center. They are all highly polished, and perfectly black with age. What gives a peculiar interest to these relics is the fact that they were found thirty feet below the surface, and over the spot where they were found a huge pine, the growth of centuries, has reared its lofty head.’ These relics were found at Don Pedro’s Bar in 1861. Cal. Farmer, June 14, 1861, from Columbia Times, May, 1861. ‘An Indian arrow-head, made of stone, as at the present day, was lately picked up from the solid cement at Buckeye Hill, at a depth of 80 feet from the surface, and about one foot from the bed-rock.’ Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, Nov. 9, 1860; Hist. Mag., vol. v., p. 52; San Francisco Evening Bulletin, Oct. 6, 1864.

Calaveras County

Calaveras County has also yielded many interesting relics of a past age, of the same nature as those described in Tuolumne.[XII-17]‘An immense number of skulls were found by Captain Moraga in the vicinity of a creek, which, from that circumstance, was called Calaveras, or the river of skulls. The story was, that the tribes from the Sierras came down to the valley to fish for Salmon. To this the Valley Indians objected, and, as the conflict was irrepressible, a bloody battle was fought, and three thousand dead bodies were left to whiten the banks with their bones. The county in which the river rises assumed its name.’ Tuthill’s Hist. Cal., p. 303. The famous ‘Calaveras skull’ was taken from a mining shaft at Altaville, at a depth of one hundred and thirty feet beneath seven strata of lava and gravel.[XII-18]1, Black lava, 40 feet; 2, gravel, 3 feet; 3, light lava, 30 feet; 4, gravel, 5 feet; 5, light lava, 15 feet; 6, gravel, 25 feet; 7, dark brown lava, 9 feet; 8, (in which the skull was found) gravel, 5 feet; 9, red lava, 4 feet; 10, red gravel, 17 feet. Cal. Acad. Nat. Sciences, vol. iii., pp. 277-8. ‘This skull, admitting its authenticity, carries back the advent of man to the Pliocene Epoch, and is therefore older than the stone implements of the drift-gravel of Abbeville and Amiens, or the relics furnished by the cave-dirt of Belgium and France.’ Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 52-4. The evidence was sufficient to convince Prof. Whitney and other scientific men that this skull was actually found as claimed, although on the other hand some doubt and not a little ridicule have been expressed about the subject. Many stone mortars and mastodon-bones have been found about Altaville and Murphy’s, but not under lava.[XII-19]‘It was late in the month of August (the 19th), 1849, that the gold diggers at one of the mountain diggings called Murphy’s, were surprised, in examining a high barren district of mountain, to find the abandoned site of an antique mine. “It is evidently,” says a writer, “the work of ancient times.” The shaft discovered is two hundred and ten feet deep. Its mouth is situated on a high mountain. It was several days before preparations could be completed to descend and explore it. The bones of a human skeleton were found at the bottom. There were also found an altar for worship and other evidences of ancient labor…. No evidences have been discovered to denote the era of this ancient work. There has been nothing to determine whether it is to be regarded as the remains of the explorations of the first Spanish adventurers, or of a still earlier period. The occurrence of the remains of an altar, looks like the period of Indian worship.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., p. 105.

At San Andrés, in 1864, according to sworn statements in Mr Voy’s possession, large stone mortars were taken from a layer of cemented gravel six feet thick, lying under the following strata:—coarse sedimentary volcanic material, five feet; sand and gravel, one hundred feet; brownish volcanic ash, three feet; cemented sand, four feet; blueish volcanic sand, fifteen feet. At the Chili Gulch, near Mokelumne Hill, the skull of a rhinoceros is reported to have been found in 1863.[XII-20]Skulls obtained from a cave in Calaveras County, by Prof. Whitney, and sent to the Smithsonian Institute. They showed no differences from the present Indians, who probably used the cave as a burial place. Smithsonian Rept., 1867, p. 406. Petrified mammoth thigh-bone, three and a half feet long, two and a quarter feet in circumference, weighing fifty-four pounds, found at a depth of thirty-five feet, at Murphy’s Flat. Cal. Farmer, May 23, 1862, from San Andrés Independent. An arrastra or mill, such as is now used in grinding quartz, with a quantity of crushed stone five feet below surface near Porterfield. Id., Nov. 30, 1860, May 16, 1862. At Calaveritas large mortars two or three feet in diameter, with pestles, in the ancient bed of the river; at Vallecito human skulls in post-diluvial strata over fifty feet deep; at Mokelumne Hill obsidian spear-heads; at Murphy’s mammoth bones forty feet deep. Pioneer, vol. iii., p. 41; San Francisco Herald, Nov. 24, from Calaveras Chronicle.

Stone Hammers

Mortar from Shingle Springs.

Stone Hammer—Spanish Flat.

The mortar shown in the cut was found in gravel at a depth of ten feet, at Shingle Springs in El Dorado County. At Georgetown and vicinity there were found at different dates, large stone dishes very similar to that at Gold Springs Gulch, shown in a preceding cut; grooved stones like those at Spanish Flat, soon to be mentioned; and mortars resembling that at Kincaid Flat. At Spanish Flat were found several oval stones with grooves round their circumference, as shown in the preceding cut, and weighing from a pound and a half to two pounds. They were apparently used as hammers or weapons by fitting a withe handle round them at the groove. Many other mortars and stone implements were taken from the same locality, including two pendants, shuttles, or bow-handles, very well worked from greenstone, five or six inches long, and about one inch thick in the middle. These two relics, together with a similar one from Table Mountain before alluded to, are shown in the cut. At Diamond Spring mortars were found at a depth of a hundred feet, and both fossil bones and stone relics have been taken from time to time from the mines about Placerville.[XII-21]San Francisco Evening Bulletin, Jan. 22, 1864; Wimmel, Californien, p. 13.

Stone Implements—Spanish Flat.

In Placer County, mastodon bones are reported at Rockland, and stone mortars and other implements at Gold Hill and Forest Hill. One dish at the latter place was much like that at Gold Springs Gulch, shown in a preceding cut.[XII-22]‘An ancient skillet, made of lava, hard as iron, circular, with a spout and three legs, was washed out of a deep claim at Forest Hill, a few days since. It will be sent to the State Fair, as a specimen of crockery used in the mines several thousand years ago.’ Grass Valley National, Sept. 1861, in San Francisco Evening Bulletin, Jan. 22, 1864. Same implement apparently found at Coloma in 1851, 15 feet below the surface, under an oak-tree not less than 1000 years old. Carpenter, in Hesperian, vol. v., p. 358.

In Nevada County stone implements have been found at different dates, from ten to eighty feet below the surface, at Grass Valley, Buckeye Hill, Myer’s Ravine, Brush Creek, and Sweetland.[XII-23]‘J. E. Squire, informs me that a strange inscription is found on the rocks a short distance below Meadow Lake. The rocks appear to have been covered with a black coating, and the hieroglyphics or characters cut through the layer and into the rock. This inscription was, probably, not made by the present tribe inhabiting the lower part of Nevada County. It may have been done by Indians from the other side of the mountains, who came to the lake region near the summit to fish; or it may have still a stranger origin.’ Directory Nevada, 1857. A human fore-arm bone with crystallized marrow, imbedded in a petrified cedar 63 feet deep, at Red Dog. Grass Valley National, in San Francisco Evening Bulletin, Jan. 22, 1864.

Fossil bones of extinct animals and stone implements like those that have been described, and which I do not deem it necessary to mention particularly, since such mention would be but a repetition of what has been said, with a list of depths and localities, have been found, according to Mr Voy’s explorations, in Butte County at New York Flat, Oroville, Bidwell’s Bar, and Cherokee Flat; in Stanislaus about Knights Ferry; in Amador at Volcano, Little Grass Valley, Jackson, Pokerville, Forest Home, and Fiddletown; in Siskiyou at Trench Bar, on Scott River, at Yreka, and Cottonwood; in Trinity about Douglas City; in Humboldt, at Ferndale and Humboldt Point; in Merced at Snelling on Dry Creek; in Mariposa, at Horse Shoe Bend, Hornitos, Princetown,—a mortar thirty-six inches in diameter—Buckeye Ravine, Indian Gulch, and Bear Creek; in Fresno at Buchanan Hollow and Millerton; and at several points not specified in Tulare and Fresno.[XII-24]Two hand mills (mortars) taken from the bank of the Yuba River at a depth of 16 feet. ‘They are all made from a peculiar kind of stone, which has the appearance of a combination of granite and burr-stone.’ The pestles are usually of gneiss. Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, Dec. 14, 1860, May 9, 1862. At McGilvary’s, Trinity Co., was discovered in 1856, 10 feet below the surface, ‘an Indian skull encased in a sea shell, five by eight inches, inside of which were worked figures and representations, both singular and beautiful, inlaid with a material imperishable, resembling gold, which would not, in nice, ingenious workmanship, disgrace the sculptor’s art of the present day.’ San Francisco Evening Bulletin, Jan. 22, 1864, from Trinity Democrat, 1856. Slate tubes dug up near Oroville. Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, Nov. 2, 1860. A collar-bone taken from the gravel of the ‘great blue lead’ not less than 1000 feet below the forest-covered surface, in 1857. Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. ii., p. 417. Mammoth bones at Columbia, Stanislaus Co., 35 feet deep; and a hyena’s tooth at Volcano, Amador Co., at a depth of 60 feet. Pioneer, vol. iii., p. 41. Some 30 different instances of the discovery of fossil remains by miners have been noted in the California papers since 1851. Cal. Farmer, May 23, 1862; also four well-known cases of giant human remains. Id., March 20, 1863. An immense block of porphyry whose sides and top are carved with rude mystic figures, in the Truckee Valley. ‘I noticed one cluster of figures in a circle, having in its centre a rude representation of the sun, surrounded by about a dozen other figures, one of which exhibited a quite truthful representation of a crab, another like an anchor with a large ring, and still another representing an arrow passing through a ring.’ Marysville Democrat, April, 1861, in Cal. Farmer, June 14, 1861.

Relic from San Joaquin Valley.

Miscellaneous Mine Relics

The cut shows a stone relic discovered in digging a well in the San Joaquin Valley, imbedded in the gravel thirty feet below the surface. “The material is sienite and the instrument is ground and polished so as to display in marked contrast the pure white of the feldspar and the dark-green or black of the hornblende. It is in the form of a double-cone, one end terminating in a point, while the other end is blunted, where it is pierced with a hole which instead of being a uniform gauge, is rimmed out, the rimming having been started from the opposite sides. In examining this beautiful relic, one is led almost instinctively to believe that it was used as a plummet for the purpose of determining the perpendicular to the horizon. So highly-wrought a stone would hardly have been used as a sinker for a fishing-net: it may have been suspended from the neck as a personal ornament. When we consider its symmetry of form, the contrast of colors brought out by the process of grinding and polishing, and the delicate drilling of the hole through a material so liable to fracture, we are free to say it affords an exhibition of the lapidary’s skill superior to anything yet furnished by the Stone Age of either continent,” at least such is Mr Foster’s conclusion. Prof. Whitney states that he has two or three similar implements, and that they are generally regarded as sinkers for use in fishing.[XII-25]Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 54-6. Mr Taylor tells us that he saw in 1852, on a high mesa, probably a league in circumference, on or near the Merced River, thousands of small mounds, five or six feet high, and apparently of earth only.[XII-26]In Cal. Farmer, March 6, 1863. Capron says that on the plains of San Joaquin “are found immense mounds of earth, which present evidences of their great antiquity. It is supposed that they were thrown up, by the Indians, for observatories, from which to survey the floods, or as places of resort for safety when the plains became suddenly inundated, and the ranging hunters were caught far in the interior.”[XII-27]Capron’s Hist. Cal., p. 75. In the banks of a creek near Martinez, resting on yellow clay, under five feet of surface soil, a mortar and pestle were recently found by some boys, according to a local newspaper. The mortar was about sixty inches in circumference, and weighed nearly two hundred pounds. “It has the form of a slightly flattened well-rounded duck egg; and has evidently been artificially shaped in exterior form, as well as in the bowl, and looks as fresh as if it had but yesterday been turned off from the Indian sculptor’s hands, while the polish of the pestle is smooth and lustrous, as if it had been in daily use for the hundred or two years, at least, that it must have been lying under the inverted mortar, as shown by the level of five-feet accumulations of the valley-surface stratum of soil above the yellow clay upon which it was found, together with the partially-decomposed remains of a human frame.”[XII-28]Martinez Contra Costa Gazette.

Shell Mounds

San Francisco Relics

Relics from a Shell-Mound—San Francisco.

Only one class of Californian antiquities remains to be mentioned—the shell mounds. They are probably very numerous, and a thorough examination of their contents could hardly fail to be here as it has proved in Europe, a source of very important results in connection with ethnological studies. Little or nothing has been done in the way of such an examination, although a few mounds have been opened in excavating for roads or foundations of buildings. These few have yielded numerous stone, bone, and shell implements and ornaments, together with human remains, as is reported, but the relics have been for the most part lost or scattered, and submitted to no scientific examination and comparison. Dr Yates sent to the Smithsonian Institute, in 1869, a collection of relics taken from mounds in Alameda County. It is not expressly stated that these were shell mounds, although I have heard of the existence of several in that county. This collection included, “stone pestles, perforators or awls, sinkers, a phallus, spindles, a soapstone ladle, stone mortar and pestle, pipe bowls, shell and perforated stone ornaments, an ancient awl and serrated implements of bone.”[XII-29]Smithsonian Rept., 1869, p. 36. A very large shell mound is reported near San Pablo, in Contra Costa County. It is said to be almost a mile long and a half a mile wide, and its surface is covered with shrubbery. The shells composing this mound are those of the oyster, clam, and mussel, all having been exposed to the action of fire, and nearly all broken. Fragments of pottery made of red clay are found on the surface and near the top.[XII-30]Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 163-4. Many smaller shell mounds are reported in the vicinity of San Mateo, and one has been opened in making a road at Saucelito during the present year, furnishing many stone relics, of which I have no particular description. Quite a number of mounds are known to exist on the peninsula of San Francisco, several being in the vicinity of the silk factory on the San Bruno road. One of them covered an area of two acres, was at least twenty-five feet deep, and from it were taken arrow-heads, hammers, and many other relics. One of these shell mounds, near the old Bay View race track is being opened by Chinamen engaged in preparation for some building, as I write this chapter. Mr James Deans, of whose explorations I shall have more to say when treating of the antiquities of British Columbia, has brought me a large number of stone and bone relics taken from this deposit, the different classes of which are illustrated in the accompanying cut. Fig. 1 is an awl of deer-bone, and fig. 2 is another implement of the same material, curiously grooved at the end. These bone implements occur by thousands, being from three to eight inches in length. Fig. 3, 4, are perhaps stone sinkers, or as is thought by some, weights used in weaving, symmetrically formed, the former from diorite, the latter from sandstone, and not polished. Fig. 3 is four inches long, and an inch and a half in its greatest diameter. Hundreds of these pear-shaped weights are found in the mounds, but the end is usually broken off, as is the case with fig. 4. Fig. 5 is an implement carved from a black clayey slate, and has a brightly polished surface. It is four inches long, one inch in diameter at the larger end, and three quarters of an inch at the smaller. It is hollow, but the bore diminishes in size regularly from each end, until at a point about an inch and a half from the smaller end it is only a quarter of an inch in diameter. I have no idea what purpose this implement was used for, unless it served as a handle for a small knife or awl, or possibly as a pipe.

Such is the rather fragmentary and unsatisfactory information I am able to present respecting aboriginal relics in California. Doubtless there are many relics, and valuable scraps of information respecting the circumstances of their discovery, in the possession of individuals, of which no mention is made in this chapter—indeed, I expect to hear of a hundred such cases within a month after the appearance of this volume; but many years must necessarily elapse before a satisfactory and comprehensive account of the antiquities of our state can be written, and in the meantime there is a promising field for patient investigation. The difference, after all, between this chapter and many of those that precede it, in respect to thoroughness, is more apparent than real; that is, it results naturally from the nature of north-western remains. For if there were architectural monuments, pyramids, temples, and fortifications, or grand sculptured idols and decorations, in California and her sister states, there is no doubt that such monuments would have been ere this more thoroughly explored than those of Palenque; and on the other hand, respecting the only classes of antiquities found in the Northwest, there yet remains as much or more to learn in Mexico and Central America as in the Pacific United States.

Antiquities of Nevada

Respecting the antiquities of Nevada, I have only the following account of a ruined city in the south-eastern part of the state, discovered by what is spoken of as the ‘Morgan Exploring Expedition,’ and described by a correspondent of the New York Tribune. “On October fifteenth, in the centre of a large valley we discovered some Indian salt works, but there were no signs of their having been lately used. In the southern section of the same valley, was a curious collection of rocks, mounds and pillars, covering several acres in extent and resembling the ruins of an ancient city. We saw some remnants of what had once been arches, with keystones still perfect, and a number of small stone pillars constructed with a peculiar kind of red mortar or cement, set upright about twenty feet apart, as if they had been used to support an aqueduct for conveying water from a large stream half a mile distant, into the outskirts of the city. In some places the lines of streets were made distinctly visible by the great regularity of the stones. These streets were now covered with sand many feet deep, and seemed to run at right angles to each other. Some of the stones had evidently been cut into squares with hard tools, although their forms had been nearly destroyed by centuries of time. The impression forced upon our minds was that the place had been once inhabited by human beings somewhat advanced in civilization. Many traders noticed the existence of similar ruins in other sections of the country between the Rocky and Sierra Nevada Mountains. They may probably be the sites of once flourishing fields and habitations of the ancient Aztecs.”[XII-31]San Francisco Evening Bulletin, Oct. 19, 1869. It is just possible that the New Mexican type of ruins extends across into Nevada as it is known to into Utah and Colorado, and that a group of such remains was the foundation of the report quoted. It is quite as likely, however, that the report is groundless.

Salt Lake Valley

Mr Rae examined a group of burial mounds in the Salt Lake Valley, Utah, and took from them “flint spear heads, flint arrow-heads, stone implements and fragments of rude pottery.” These mounds had the appearance of natural sand-hills, as the people in the vicinity supposed them to be.[XII-32]Rae’s Westward by Rail, pp. 162-4. An article in the Salt Lake Telegraph is the only other authority that I find on these mounds, and this does not specify their locality. “The mounds, as they exist to-day, do not exhibit much uniformity, but this can be accounted for by the disintegrating action of rains and winds, to which they have been so long subject. Immediately north, south and west of the largest barrow, traces can be seen of others now all but obliterated, and the locality bears unmistakable evidences of once being the site of very extensive earthworks. In one mound or barrow only, the largest, were remains found, and they were exposed on or very near the surface of the sandy soil, in one or two large hollows near the centre. The other barrows were destitute, at least on the surface, but what there may be below it is hard to say. Of all the relics, except those of charred bone, which are comparatively plentiful, and some in a state of petrifaction, that of pottery is the most abundant, and to this day some of it retains a very perfect glaze. Much of it, however, is rough, and from the specimens we saw, the art does not appear to have attained to so high a degree of perfection as among the ancient nations that inhabited the Mississippi and Ohio valleys. The largest piece of pottery seen was not above three inches square, and it appeared, as did all the other pieces, to have formed a portion of some rounded vessel, probably a cinerary urn or something of that kind. Other articles were seen, such as a fragment of pearly shell, several other shells, a white cylindrical bead, a small ring probably a bead also, and a stone knife.” There were also several nicely shaped arrow-heads, of obsidian, agate, rock-crystal, carnelian, and flint. Granite mills are mentioned in addition to the other relics.[XII-33]Salt Lake Telegraph, quoted in San Francisco Evening Bulletin, Oct. 9, 1868. The same authority speaks of an extensive fortification or entrenched camp at the head of Coon’s Cañon, about twenty miles south-west of Salt Lake City. The works are now from four to eight feet high, and the places of entrance are distinctly marked.

Rock-Inscriptions—Utah.

Rock-Inscriptions

Remy and Brenchley note the finding of colored pottery at Cedar City, indicating “that the Mormon city is built on the site of a considerable city belonging to the Aztecs,” for there is no state anywhere in the north where the Aztecs did not live at some time or other. Whole specimens of pottery are not found, but the fragments are said to show a high degree of perfection; the same authors claim that furnaces for the manufacture of pottery are still seen, and further say: “At some miles to the north as well as to the south of Cedar,—to the north near Little Salt Lake, to the south near Harmony,—are to be seen great rocks covered over with glyphic inscriptions, some portions of which, sketched at random, are accurately represented in our engraving. These inscriptions or figures are coarsely executed; but they all represent objects easy of recognition, and for the most part copied from nature.”[XII-34]Remy and Brenchley’s Journey, vol. ii., pp. 364-5. From Carvalho I quote that “on Red Creek cañon, six miles north of Parowan there are very massive, abrupt granite rocks, which rise perpendicularly out of the valley to the height of many hundred feet. On the surface of many of them, apparently engraved with some steel instrument, to the depth of an inch, are numerous hieroglyphics, representing the human hand and foot, horses, dogs, rabbits, birds and also a sort of zodiac. These engravings present the same time-worn appearance as the rest of the rocks; the most elaborately engraved figures were thirty feet from the ground. I had to clamber up the rocks to make a drawing of them. These engravings evidently display prolonged and continued labor, and I judge them to have been executed by a different class of persons than the Indians, who now inhabit these valleys and mountains—ages seem to have passed since they were done. When we take into consideration the compact nature of the blue granite and the depth of the engravings, years must have been spent in their execution. For what purpose were they made? and by whom, and at what period of time? It seems physically impossible that those I have mentioned as being thirty feet from the valley, could have been worked in the present position of the rocks. Some great convulsion of nature may have thrown them up as they now are. Some of the figures are as large as life, many of them about one-fourth size.” The same author reports the remains of an adobe town a mile further down the cañon, with implements—remains said to have been found there by the first Mormons that came to the valley.[XII-35]Carvalho’s Incid. of Trav., pp. 206-7. Mr Foster quotes from a Denver paper an item recording the discovery of a mound in southern Utah, which yielded relics displaying great artistic skill;[XII-36]Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 152. and finally I take from Mr Schoolcraft’s work cuts showing inscriptions on a cliff in a locality not clearly specified.[XII-37]Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 493. Some remains in the south-eastern corner of the state I shall mention in connection with those of Colorado.

Rock-Inscriptions—Utah.

About half a mile west of Golden City, Jefferson County, Colorado, Mr Berthoud reports to the Smithsonian Institution the existence of some ancient remains, at the junction of two ravines. They consist of a central mound of granitic sand not over twelve inches high, with traces of five or six shallow pits about it; all surrounded by traces of a wall consisting of a circle of moss-covered rough stones partially imbedded in the soil. South of the central mound is also a saucer-shaped pit, measuring twelve feet in width and from fifteen to eighteen inches in depth. At this point buffalo-bones and fragments of antlers are plentiful, and pieces of flint with plates of mica have also been discovered.[XII-38]Smithsonian Rept., 1867, p. 403. Mr Farnham speaks of a ruined city covering an area of one mile by three fourths of a mile, with streets crossing at right angles, buildings of rough trap rock in cement, a mound in the centre, and much glazed pottery—all this on the north bank of the Colorado, four hundred miles up the river, and as likely to be in the territory of Colorado as anywhere.[XII-39]Farnham’s Life in Cal., pp. 316-17. Mr Foster quotes from a Denver newspaper a report of large granite blocks, of the nature of ‘dolmens’ standing in an upright position, on the summit of the Snowy Range;[XII-40]Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 152. and Taylor had heard through the newspapers of pyramids and bridges in this territory.[XII-41]Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, June 22, 1860.

There remain to be described in this part of the country only the remains of aboriginal structures in the south-western corner of Colorado and the south-eastern corner of Utah, remains which, although made known to the world only through a three or four days’ exploration by a party of three men, are of the greatest interest and importance. They are found in the valleys or cañons of the rivers Mancos and McElmo, northern tributaries of the San Juan, on the southern tributaries of which river are the ruins, already described, of the Chaco and Chelly cañons.

Jackson’s Expedition.

In September, 1874, Mr W. H. Jackson and Mr Ingersoll, connected with the United States Geological and Geographical Survey party, guided by Capt. John Moss, an old resident perfectly familiar with the country and its natives, descended both the cañons referred to, for the express purpose of examining ancient structures reported to exist there. Notwithstanding the brief duration of their exploration, as they understood their business and had a photographic apparatus along, their accounts are extremely complete and satisfactory. Mr Ingersoll published an account of the trip in the New York Tribune of Nov. 3, 1874; and Mr Jackson in the Bulletin of the Survey, printed by government.[XII-42]Bulletin of the U. S. Geol. and Geog. Survey of the Territories, 2d series, No. 1., Washington, 1875. The latter account was accompanied by fourteen illustrations, and Prof. J. V. Hayden, Geologist in charge of the Survey, has had the kindness to furnish me also with the original photographs made during the expedition.

The Rio Mancos rises in the Sierra La Plata, and flows south-westward, at first through a park-like valley, then cuts a deep cañon through the Mesa Verde, and finally traverses an open plain to join the San Juan. In the valley between the mountains and the mesa, there are abundant shapeless mounds of débris, which on examination are found to represent blocks of square buildings and circular enclosures all of adobe, very similar apparently to what we have seen in the Salado valley of Arizona. There is another resemblance to the southern remains in the shape of indented and painted pottery, strewn in great abundance about every mound, in fragments rarely larger than a dollar,—not a greenback, but a silver dollar, the former being no standard for archæological comparisons. I shall make no further mention of pottery; the reader may understand that in this whole region, as in Arizona and New Mexico, it is found in great quantities about every ruin that is to be mentioned.

Rio de Los Mancos

The cañon through the Mesa Verde is on an average two hundred yards wide, and from six hundred to a thousand feet deep, with sides presenting, as Mr Jackson says, “a succession of benches, one above the other, and connected by the steep slopes of the talus. Side-cañons penetrate the mesa, and ramify it in every direction, always presenting a perpendicular face, so that it is only at very rare intervals that the top can be reached.” Mr Ingersoll says: “Imagine East River a thousand or twelve hundred feet deep, and drained dry, the piers and slips on both sides made of red sandstone, and extending down to that depth, and yourself at the bottom, gazing up for human habitations far above you. In such a picture you would have a tolerable idea of this Cañon of the Rio Mancos.” For four or five miles after entering the cañon, the shapeless heaps of adobe débris were of frequent occurrence on the banks of the stream. The general characteristic was “a central mass considerably higher and more massive than the surrounding lines of subdivided squares. Small buildings, not more than eight feet square, were often found standing alone apparently.” The high central portion suggests a terraced structure like the Casa Grande of the Gila. One of the buildings on the bottom, measuring eight by ten feet, was of sandstone blocks, about seven by twelve inches, and four inches thick, laid in what seemed to be adobe mortar. Somewhat further down the adobe ruins were found often on projecting benches, or promontories of the cliff, some fifty feet above the stream. Here they were circular, with a depression in the centre, and generally in pairs. Cave-like crevices along the seams were often walled up in front, so as to enclose a space sometimes twelve feet long, but oftener forming “cupboard-like inclosures of about the size of a bushel-basket.” A small square, formed by rough stone slabs, set up endways in the earth, was also noticed.

Cliff House—Mancos Cañon.

The first stone building particularly described, and one of the most wonderful found during the trip, is that shown in the cut. The most wonderful thing about it was its position in the face of the cliff several hundred feet above the bottom, on a ledge ten feet wide and twenty feet long, accessible only by hard climbing with fingers and toes inserted in crevices, or during the upper part of the ascent by steps cut in the steep slope by the aborigines. The cliff above overhangs the ledge, leaving a vertical space of fifteen feet. The building occupies only half the length of the ledge, and is now twelve feet high in front, leaving it uncertain whether it originally reached the overhanging cliff, or had an independent roof. The ground plan shows a front room six by nine feet, and two rear rooms each five by seven, projecting on one side so as to form an L. There were two stories, as is shown by the holes in the walls and fragments of floor-timbers. A doorway, twenty by thirty inches and two feet above the floor, led from one side of the front room to the esplanade, and there was also a window about a foot square in the lower story, and a window or doorway in the second story corresponding to that below. Opposite this upper opening was a smaller one opening into a reservoir holding about two hogsheads and a half, and formed by a semicircular wall joining the cliff and the main wall of the house. A line of projecting wooden pegs led from the window down into the cistern. Small doorways afforded communication between the apartments. The front portion was built of square and smoothly faced sandstone blocks of different sizes, up to fifteen inches long and eight inches thick, laid in a hard grayish-white mortar, very compact and hard, but cracked on the surface like adobe mortars. The rear portions were of rough stones in mortar, and the partition walls were like the exterior front ones, and seemed to have been rubbed smooth after they were laid.

The interior of the front rooms was plastered with a coating of a firm cement an eighth of an inch thick, colored red, and having a white band eight inches wide extending round the bottom like a base-board. There were no other signs of decoration. The floor was the natural rock of the ledge, evened up in some places with cement. The lintel of the upper doorway or window was of small straight cedar sticks laid close together, and supporting the masonry above; the other lintels seem to be of stone. A very wonderful feature of this structure was that the front wall rests on the rounded edge of the precipice, sloping at an angle of forty-five degrees, and the esplanade, or platform, at the side of the house was also leveled up by three abutments resting on this slope, where “it would seem that a pound’s weight might slide them off.”

Towers on the Rio Mancos

Ground Plan—Mancos Tower.

Round Tower—Mancos Cañon.

The cut shows the ground plan of a round stone tower of peculiar form. The diameter is twenty-five feet, and that of the inner circle twelve feet,[XII-43]Ingersoll gives these dimensions as 33 and 22 feet respectively, and speaks of three equi-distant doorways, apparently alluding to the same structure. the walls being eighteen and twelve inches thick, standing in places fifteen feet high on the outside and eight feet on the inside. This tower stands in the centre of a group of faintly traced remains extending twenty rods in every direction. The stones of which it was built are irregular in size, laid in mortar, and chinked with small pieces. The cut presents a view of this tower. The next cut illustrates the small cliff-houses very common in the walls of the cañon. This and its companions are from fifty to a hundred feet above the trail; it is five by fifteen feet and six feet high, the blocks composing the walls being very regular and well laid. Some of these houses were mere walls in front of crevices in the cliff. So strong are the structures that in one place a part of the cliff had become detached by some convulsion, and stood inclined at quite an angle, taking with it a part of one of the walls, but without overthrowing it. Small apertures are so placed in all these cliff-structures as to afford a look-out far up and down the valley. Rude inscriptions are scratched on the cliff in many places, bearing a general resemblance to those farther south, of which I have given many illustrations.

Cliff-Dwelling—Mancos Cañon.

One of the most inaccessible of the cliff-buildings is shown in the cut. It is eight hundred feet high, and can only be reached by climbing to the top of the mesa, and creeping on hands and knees down a ledge only twenty inches wide. The masonry was very perfect, the blocks sixteen by three inches, ground perfectly smooth on the inside so as to require no plaster. The dimensions were about five by fifteen feet, and seven feet high. The aperture serving as doorway and window was twenty by thirty inches and had a stone lintel. Near by but higher on the ledge was another ruder building. These raised structures were invariably on the western side of the cañon, but those on the bottom were scattered on both sides of the river.

Cliff-Dwelling—Mancos Cañon.

On the bottom “the majority of the buildings were square, but many round, and one sort of ruin always showed two square buildings with very deep cellars under them and a round tower between them, seemingly for watch and defence. In several cases a large part of this tower was still standing.” One of these typical structures is shown in the following cut. It is twelve feet in diameter, twenty feet high, with walls sixteen inches thick. The window facing northward is eighteen by twenty-four inches. The two apartments adjoining the tower, the remains of which are shown in the cut, are about fifteen feet square. They seem to have been originally underground structures, or at least partially so.

Watch-Tower—Mancos Cañon.

At the outlet of the cañon the river turns westward, flowing for a time nearly parallel with the San Juan, which it joins very nearly at the corner of the four territories. Many groups of walls and heaps were visible in the distance down the valley, but the explorers left the river at this point and bore away to the right along the foot of the mesa until they reached Aztec Spring, very near the boundary line. “Immediately adjoining the spring, on the right, as we face it from below, is the ruin of a great massive structure of some kind, about one hundred feet square in exterior dimensions; a portion only of the wall upon the northern face remaining in its original position. The débris of the ruin now forms a great mound of crumbling rock, from twelve to twenty feet in height, overgrown with artimisia, but showing clearly, however, its rectangular structure, adjusted approximately to the four points of the compass. Inside this square was a circle, about sixty feet in diameter, deeply depressed in the centre, and walled. The space between the square and the circle appeared, upon a hasty examination, to have been filled in solidly with a sort of rubble-masonry. Cross-walls were noticed in two places; but whether they were to strengthen the walls or had divided apartments could only be conjectured. That portion of the outer wall remaining standing was some forty feet in length and fifteen in height. The stones were dressed to a uniform size and finish. Upon the same level as this ruin, and extending back, I should think, half a mile, were grouped line after line of foundations and mounds, the great mass of which was of stone, but not one remaining upon another. All the subdivisions were plainly marked, so that one might, with a little care, count every room or building in the settlement. Below the above group, some two hundred yards distant, and communicating by indistinct lines of débris, was another great wall, inclosing a space of about two hundred feet square. Only a small portion was well enough preserved to enable us to judge, with any accuracy, as to its character and dimensions; the greater portion consisting of large ridges flattened down so much as to measure some thirty or more feet across the base, and five or six feet in height. This better preserved portion was some fifty feet in length, seven or eight feet in height, and twenty feet thick, the two exterior surfaces of well-dressed and evenly-laid courses, and the centre packed in solidly with rubble-masonry, looking entirely different from those rooms which had been filled with débris, though it is difficult to assign any reason for its being so massively constructed. It was only a portion of a system extending half a mile out into the plains, of much less importance, however, and now only indistinguishable mounds. The town built about this spring was nearly a square mile in extent, the larger and more enduring buildings in the centre, while all about were scattered and grouped the remnants of smaller structures, comprising the suburbs.”

Cañon of the McElmo

Tower on the McElmo, Colorado.

Round Tower on the McElmo.

Four miles from the spring is the McElmo, a small stream, dry during a greater part of the year. At the point where the party struck this stream, portions of walls, and heaps of débris in rectangular order were scattered in every direction; among which two round towers were noticed, one of them with double walls, like that on the Mancos, but larger, being fifty feet in diameter. Following down the McElmo cañon aboriginal vestiges continue abundant, including cliff-dwellings like those that have been described, but only forty or fifty feet above the valley, and also the square tower shown in first cut. It stands on a square detached block of sandstone forty feet in height. The walls of this building were still fifteen feet high in some places, and there were also traces of walls about the base of the rock. Another double-walled round tower fifty feet in diameter found near the one last named is shown in the second cut.

Building on the McElmo—Utah.

RUINS ON THE McELMO.

Still further down the cañon, across the boundary line into Utah, ruins continue abundant. A red sandstone butte standing in the middle of the valley, one hundred feet high and three hundred long, has traces of masonry on its summit, apparently intended to form a level platform, and on one side, at mid-height, the structures shown in the cut. The upper wall is eighteen feet long and twelve feet high, and the blocks composing it are described as more regularly cut than any before seen. The only access to the summit of the butte was by climbing through the window of the building. Other remains, including many circular depressions of considerable depth, and a square tower with one round corner, are scattered about near the base of this butte, or cristone. The next cut shows one of the cave-dwellings near by, formed by walling up the front of a recess in the cliff.

Cave-Dwelling on the McElmo.

Aboriginal Tradition

The tradition relating to the whole, and particularly to this locality, obtained by Capt. Moss from one of the old men among the Moquis, is rendered by Mr Ingersoll as follows:—”Formerly the aborigines inhabited all this country we had been over as far west as the head waters of the San Juan, as far north as the Rio Dolores, west some distance into Utah, and south and south-west throughout Arizona, and on down into Mexico. They had lived there from time immemorial—since the earth was a small island, which augmented as its inhabitants multiplied. They cultivated the valley, fashioned whatever utensils and tools they needed, very neatly and handsomely out of clay and wood and stone, not knowing any of the useful metals, built their homes and kept their flocks and herds in the fertile river bottoms, and worshiped the sun. They were an eminently peaceful and prosperous people, living by agriculture rather than by the chase. About a thousand years ago, however, they were visited by savage strangers from the North, whom they treated hospitably. Soon these visits became more frequent and annoying. Then their troublesome neighbors—ancestors of the present Utes—began to forage upon them, and at last to massacre them and devastate their farms; so, to save their lives at least, they built houses high upon the cliffs, where they could store food and hide away till the raiders left. But one Summer the invaders did not go back to their mountains as the people expected, but brought their families with them and settled down. So driven from their homes and lands, starving in their little niches on the high cliffs, they could only steal away during the night, and wander across the cheerless uplands. To one who has traveled these steppes, such a flight seems terrible, and the mind hesitates to picture the suffering of the sad fugitives.

“At the christone they halted and probably found friends, for the rocks and caves are full of the nests of these human wrens and swallows. Here they collected, erected stone fortifications and watch-towers, dug reservoirs in the rocks to hold a supply of water, which in all cases is precarious in this latitude, and once more stood at bay. Their foes came, and for one long month fought and were beaten back, and returned day after day to the attack as merciless and inevitable as the tide. Meanwhile the families of the defenders were evacuating and moving south, and bravely did their protectors shield them till they were all safely a hundred miles away. The besiegers were beaten back and went away. But the narrative tells us that the hollows of the rocks were filled to the brim with the mingled blood of conquerors and conquered, and red veins of it ran down into the cañon. It was such a victory as they could not afford to gain again, and they were glad when the long fight was over to follow their wives and little ones to the South. There in the deserts of Arizona, on well-nigh unapproachable isolated bluffs, they built new towns, and their few descendants—the Moquis—live in them to this day, preserving more carefully and purely the history and veneration of their forefathers, than their skill or wisdom.” One watch-tower in this region was built on a block of sandstone that had rolled down and lodged on the very brink of a precipice overlooking the whole valley.

Ruined Pueblo on the Hovenweep.—Utah.

Hovenweep Ruins

From the McElmo Mr Jackson and his party struck off westward to a small stream called the Hovenweep, eight or ten miles distant. Here they found a ruined town, of which a general view is given in the cut. Mr Jackson’s description is as follows: “The stream referred to sweeps the foot of a rocky sandstone ledge, some forty or fifty feet in height, upon which is built the highest and better-preserved portions of the settlement. Its semicircular sweep conforms to the ledge; each little house of the outer circle being built close upon its edge. Below the level of these upper houses, some ten or twelve feet, and within the semicircular sweep, were seven distinctly-marked depressions, each separated from the other by rocky débris, the lower or first series probably of a small community-house. Upon either flank, and founded upon rocks, were buildings similar in size and in other respects to the large ones on the line above. As paced off, the upper or convex surface measured one hundred yards in length. Each little apartment was small and narrow, averaging six feet in width and eight feet in length, the walls being eighteen inches in thickness. The stones of which the entire group was built were dressed to nearly uniform size and laid in mortar. A peculiar feature here was in the round corners, one at least appearing upon nearly every little house. They were turned with considerable care and skill; being two curves, all the corners were solidly bound together and resisted the destroying influences the longest.” The following cut presents a ground plan of this Hovenweep Pueblo town, and terminates the account of one of the most interesting antiquarian explorations of modern times.

Ground Plan—Town on the Hovenweep.

I append a few brief quotations from the diary of Padres Dominguez and Escalante, who penetrated probably as far as Utah Lake in early times, referring to three places where ruins were seen, two of which cannot readily be located. On the Dolores River “on the southern bank of the river, on a height, there was anciently a small settlement of the same plan as those of the Indians of New Mexico, as is shown by the ruins which we examined.” A ruin is also located on this river at the southern bend, on the U. S. map of 1868. On the Rio de San Cosme, “we saw near by a ruin of a very ancient town, in which were fragments of metates, and pottery. The form of the town was circular as shown by the ruins now almost entirely leveled to the ground.” In the cañon of Santa Delfina “towards the south, there is quite a high cliff, on which we saw rudely painted three shields, and a spear-head. Lower down on the north side we saw another painting which represented in a confused manner two men fighting, for which reason we named it the Cañon Pintado.”[XII-44]Doc. Hist. Mex., série ii., tom. i., pp. 391-2, 434-5, 444-5.

In Idaho and Montana I have no record of ancient remains, save a cliff at Pend d’Oreille Lake, on which are painted in bright colors, images of men, beasts, and pictures of unknown import. The natives are said to regard the painted rock with feelings of great superstition and dread, regarding the figures as the work of a race that preceded their own in the country.[XII-45]Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. xii., p. 150; Id., in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 222.

Rock-Carvings—Columbia River.

In Oregon aboriginal remains, so far as reported, are hardly more abundant. The artist of the U. S. Exploring Expedition sketched three specimens of cliff-inscriptions on the Columbia River, which are shown in the cut. Mr Pickering thinks that the figures present some analogies to the sculptures reported by Humboldt on the Orinoco.[XII-46]Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., pp. 41-2. Mr Abbot noted “a few rude pictures of men and animals scratched on the rocks” of Mptolyas cañon.[XII-47]Abbot, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. vi., p. 94. Lord speaks of little piles of stones about natural pillars of conglomerate, on Wychus Creek, but these were doubtless the work of modern Snake Indians, who left the heaps in honor of the spirits represented by the pillars.[XII-48]Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 296. A gigantic human jaw is reported to have been dug up near Jacksonville in 1862;[XII-49]Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, March 20, 1863; San Francisco Evening Bulletin, Jan. 22, 1864. and finally Lewis and Clarke found a village of the Echeloots built “near a mound about thirty feet above the common level, which has some remains of houses on it, and bears every appearance of being artificial.”[XII-50]Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 369.

Antiquities of Washington

In Washington, besides some shell ornaments and arrow-heads of flint and other hard stone dug by Mr Lord from a gravel bank near the old Fort Walla Walla, and some rude figures mostly representing men carved and afterwards painted on a perpendicular rock between the Yakima and Pisquouse, pointed out by a native to Mr Gibbs,[XII-51]Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 102-3, 260; Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 411. there seem to be remains of antiquity in only two localities. The first are the mounds on Bute Prairie, south of Olympia. They were first found, or mentioned, by Wilkes in the U. S. Exploring Expedition, in 1841, who describes them as thousands in number arranged in fives like the ‘five spots’ on a playing card, formed by scraping together the surface earth, about thirty feet in diameter and six or seven feet high. Three of them were opened, but proved to contain nothing but a pavement of round stones in the centre and at the bottom, resting on the subsoil of red gravel. The natives said that the medicine men in later times were wont to gather herbs from their surface, as being more potent to work their cures than those growing elsewhere. Since Wilkes’ visit the newspapers have reported the discovery of a large mound at the south end of the prairie, twenty-five miles from Olympia, which is three hundred feet high and nine hundred feet in diameter at the base. These later reports state also that all the small mounds opened in recent times have been found to contain remains of pottery and “other curious relics, evidently the work of human hands.”[XII-52]U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 334, 441-2; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 151-2; Portland Herald, Sept. 27, 1872; San Francisco Morning Call, Sept. 28, 1872.

The second locality where remains are found is on the lower Yakima River, where Mr Stephens saw an earth-work consisting of two concentric circles of earth about three feet high with a ditch between them. The outer circle is eighty yards in diameter, and within the inner one are about twenty cellars, or excavations, thirty feet across and three feet deep, like the cellars of modern native houses scattered over the country without, however, any enclosing circles. These works are located on a terrace about fifteen feet high, bounded on either side by a gulley.[XII-53]Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 232-3; Id., in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., pp. 612-13; Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 408-9; Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, May 8, 1863.

In British Columbia, some sculptured stones are reported to have been found at Nootka Sound, in which a fancied resemblance to the Aztec Calendar-Stone was noticed; also during the voyage of the ‘Sutil y Mexicana,’ a wooden plank was found on the coast bearing painted figures, which I have copied in the cut, although I do not know that the plank has any claims to be considered a relic of antiquity.[XII-54]Buschmann, Spr. N. Mex. u. der Westseite des b. Nordamer., p. 333; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 73.

Painted Board—British Columbia.

Deans’ Explorations.

Other British Columbian antiquities consist of shell mounds, burial mounds, and earth-works, chiefly confined to Vancouver Island, and known to me through the investigations and writings of Mr James Deans. Mr Deans has lived long in the country, is perfectly familiar with it and its natives, and has given particular attention to the subject of antiquities. He makes no great pretensions as a writer, but has made notes of his discoveries from time to time, and has furnished his manuscripts for my use under the title of Ancient Remains in Vancouver Island and British Columbia. Like other explorers, he has not been able to resist the temptation to theorize without sufficient data on questions of ethnology and the origin of the American aborigines, but his speculations do not diminish the value of his explorations, and are far from being as absurd as those of many authors who are much better known.

Vancouver Island

Burial mounds on Vancouver Island are of two classes, according as they are constructed chiefly of sand and gravel or of stones. One of the first class opened by Mr Deans in 1871, will illustrate the construction of all. It was located on the second terrace from the sea, the terraces having nearly perpendicular banks of fifty and sixty feet respectively. By a carefully cut drift through the centre, it was ascertained to have been made in the following manner. First, a circle sixteen feet in diameter was marked out, and the top soil cleared off within the circle; then a basin-shaped hole, six feet in diameter, smaller at the bottom than at the top, was dug in the centre, in which the skull, face down, and the larger unburned bones were placed and covered with six inches of earth. On the layer of earth rested a large flat stone, on which were heaped up loose stones, the heap extending about a foot beyond the circumference of the central hole. Outside of this heap, on the surface, a space two feet wide extending round the whole circumference was sprinkled with ashes, and contained a few bones also. Outside of this space again, large stones two or three feet long were set up in the ground like pillars, five feet apart, round the circumference; and finally the earth dug from the central hole, or receptacle for the bones, was thrown into the outer circle, and gravel and sand added to the whole until the mound was five feet high, having a rounded form. Four smaller mounds, six and ten feet in diameter, were opened in the same group, showing the same mode of construction, but somewhat less order.

The second class, or stone mounds, which are much more numerous than those of earth, differ but little from the others in their construction, except that the final additions to the mound were of stones instead of earth, and the stones about the circumference were flat and set up close together. A piece of quartz sometimes accompanies the bones, but no other relics are found. When the skeleton is deposited face down, as is usually the case, the skull is placed toward the south, or when in a sitting position, it faces the south, seeming in some cases to have been burned where it sat. In a few instances the skeleton, when it was but little burned, was lying on the left side. The human bones invariably crumbled at a touch, and the author states that this method of burial is altogether unknown to the present inhabitants, who say their ancestors found them as they are.

The mounds are often overgrown with large pine, arbutus, or oak trees; in one case an oak had forced its way up through the stones in its growth, reached its full size, decayed, and the stones had fallen back over the stump. They are often in groups, and in such cases the central one is always most carefully constructed, and a remarkable circumstance is that sometimes the surrounding heaps contain only children’s bones. Of course this suggests a sacrifice of children or slaves at a chief’s funeral, although there may be some other explanation. Some stones weighing a ton are found over the human remains. Traces of cedar bark or boards are found in some of the cairns, in which the bones were apparently enclosed; and in a few others a small empty chamber was formed over the flat covering stone.

Near Comox, one hundred and thirty miles north-west of Victoria, a group of mounds were examined in 1872-3, and found to be built of sea sand and black mold, mixed with some shells. They were from five to fifty yards in circumference. In one by the side of a very large skull was deposited a piece of coal; and in another with a very peculiar flattened skull was a child’s tooth. Both these skulls are said to have been covered with baked clay, and are now in the collection of the Society of Natural History in Montreal. One mound in this vicinity is fifty feet high and of oval shape. In its centre only a few feet below the surface were found burnt skeletons of children not over twelve years old, which seemed to have been enclosed in a box of cedar—of which only a brown dust remains—and covered with two feet of stones and one foot of shells. There is a spring of fine water some fifty yards from this mound, of which, from superstitious motives no Indian will drink. One rectangular cairn, ten by twelve feet, was found, but even in this the central receptacle was circular. The body in this mound showed no signs of burning, the head pointed northward, and a pencil-shaped stone sharp at both ends was deposited with the human remains.

Shell mounds are described as very abundant throughout Vancouver Island, and also on the mainland, and all are composed of species of shells still common in the coast waters. One at Comox covers three acres, and is from two to fourteen feet deep. The relics discovered in mounds of this class include stone hammers; arrow-points of flint, slate, and of a hard green stone; spear-heads, knives, needles, and awls, of stone and bone, one of the knives being sixteen inches long and of whale-bone; bone wedges, sometimes grooved; and finally stone mortars, comparatively few in number, since acorns and seeds were not apparently a favorite article of food. Human skeletons also occur in the shell mounds. At Comox a skeleton is said to have been found with a bone knife broken off in one of the bones. A shell bracelet was taken from a mound at Esquimalt; and from another was dug a stone dish or paint-pot, carved to represent a man holding a mountain sheep. The man was the handle on one side, the sheep’s head on the other, and the cup was hollowed out in the sheep’s back. Mr Deans believes he can distinguish two distinct types of skulls in Vancouver Island—the ‘long-headed’ in the older cairns, and the ‘broad-headed’ in the shell mounds and modern graves: and this distinction is independent of artificial flattening, which it seems was practiced in a majority of cases on skulls of both types.

Earth-Works

In addition to the mounds, Mr Deans states that earth-works very similar to those found in the eastern states are found at many localities in British Columbia. Indeed, he has sent me several plans, cut from Squier’s work on the antiquities of New York, which by a simple change in the names of creeks and in the scale would represent equally well the north-western works. At Beacon Hill, near Victoria, a point one hundred feet high extends three hundred feet into the sea; an embankment with a ditch still six feet deep, stretches across on the land side and protects the approach; there are low mounds on the enclosed area, the remnants of ancient dwellings, and down the steep banks are heaps of shells, with ashes, bones of sea-fowl, deer, elk, and bears, among which are some spear and arrow points, needles, etc. On the summit of Beacon Hill, near by, are burial cairns of the usual type.

Another earth-work was examined by Mr Deans at Baines Sound and Deep Bay. This was an oval embankment surrounded at the base by a ditch, close to the water on the bay side, but now seventy yards from high-water mark on the side next the sound, although originally at the water edge. From the bottom of the ditch to the top of the embankment or mound is forty feet, and at the summit a parapet bank now four feet high encloses an area of over an acre. On the sound side is an opening from which a road runs down the slope of the mound and across the ditch by a kind of earthen bridge. Excavation showed a depth of nine feet of shells, ashes, and black loam. Many burial mounds are scattered about which have not been opened.

I am inclined to regard Mr Deans’ reports as trustworthy, although of course additional authorities are required before the accuracy of his observations respecting the burial mounds, and the existence of earthworks bearing a strong resemblance, as he claims, to those of the eastern states can be fully accepted. Respecting the mounds I quote in a note from Mr Forbes, the only other authority I have been able to find on the subject.[XII-55]‘In such localities, the general feature of the landscape is very similar to many parts of Devonshire, more especially to that on the eastern escarpment of Dartmoor, and the resemblance is rendered the more striking by the numerous stone circles, which lie scattered around…. These stone circles point to a period in ethnological history, which has no longer a place in the memory of man. Scattered in irregular groups of from three or four, to fifty or more, these stone circles are found, crowning the rounded promontories over all the South Eastern end of the Island. Their dimensions vary in diameter from three to eighteen feet; of some, only a simple ring of stones marking the outline now remains. In other instances the circle is not only complete in outline, but is filled in, built up as it were, to a height of three to four feet, with masses of rock and loose stones, collected from amongst the numerous erratic boulders, which cover the surface of the country, and from the gravel of the boulder drift which fills up many of the hollows. These structures are of considerable antiquity, and whatever they may have been intended for, have been long disused, for, through the centre of many, the pine, the oak, and the arbutus have shot up and attained considerable dimensions—a full growth. The Indians when questioned, can give no further account of the matter, than that, “it belonged to the old people,” and an examination, by taking some of the largest circles to pieces, and digging beneath, throws no light on the subject. The only explanation to be found, is in the hypothesis, that these were the dwellings of former tribes, who have either entirely disappeared, or whose descendants have changed their mode of living, and this supposition is strengthened by the fact that a certain tribe on the Fraser River, did, till very recently live, in circular beehive shaped houses, built of loose stones, having an aperture in the arched roof for entrance and exit, and that in some localities in upper California the same remains are found, and the same origin assigned to them.’ Forbes’ Vanc. Isl., p. 3.

In Alaska I find no record of any antiquities whatever, although many curious specimens of aboriginal art, made by the natives still inhabiting the country since the coming of Europeans, have been brought away by travelers. Cook saw in the country several artificial stone hillocks, which seemed to him of great antiquity, but he also noted that each native added a stone to burial heaps on passing; and Schewyrin and Durnew found on one of the Aleutian Islands three round copper plates bearing letters and leaf-work, said to have been thrown up by the sea; but I suppose there is no evidence that they were of aboriginal origin.[XII-56]Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., p. 521; Neue Nachrichten, p. 33.

Conclusion

Thus have I gone over the whole extent of the Pacific States from the southern isthmus to Bering Strait, carefully examining, so far as written records could enable me to do so, every foot of this broad territory, in search for the handiwork of its aboriginal inhabitants. Practically I have given in the preceding pages all that has been written on the subject. Before a perfect account of all that the Native Races have left can be written, before material relics can reveal all they have to tell about the peoples whose work they are, a long and patient work of exploration and study must be performed—a work hardly commenced yet even in the thickly populated centres of old world learning, and still less advanced naturally in the broad new fields and forests of the Far West. In this volume the general reader may find an accurate and comprehensive if not a very fascinating picture of all that aboriginal art has produced; the student of ethnological topics may found his theories on all that is known respecting any particular monument here spread before him, rather than on a partial knowledge derived by long study from the accounts in works to which he has access, contradicted very likely in other works not consulted,—and many a writer has subjected himself to ridicule by resting an important part of his favorite theory on a discovery by Smith, which has been proved an error or a hoax by Jones and Brown; the antiquarian student may save himself some years of hard labor in searching between five hundred and a thousand volumes for information to which he is here guided directly, even if he be unwilling to take his information at second hand; and finally, the explorer who proposes to examine a certain section of the country, may acquaint himself by a few hours’ reading with all that previous explorers have done or failed to do, and by having his attention specially called to their work will be able to correct their errors and supply what they have neglected.

If the work in this volume shall prove to have been sufficiently well done to serve, in the manner indicated above, as a safe foundation for systematic antiquarian research in the future, the author’s aim will be realized and his labor amply repaid.

Footnotes

[XII-1] ‘Since the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, down to the present moment, relics of a lost race have been exhumed from beneath the surface of terra firma in various parts of the continent. While every section of the United States has produced more or less of these ancient remnants, California has, perhaps, yielded more in proportion to the extent of territory, than any other part of the Union.’ Carpenter, in Hesperian, vol. v., p. 357.

[XII-2] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 179; San Francisco Evening Bulletin, Feb. 11, 1862; Cal. Farmer, Dec. 14, 1860.

[XII-3] Blake, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. v., p. 117.

[XII-4] San Francisco Evening Bulletin, Feb. 11, 1862.

[XII-5] Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. iii., p. 42.

[XII-6] Blake, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. v., pp. 56-7; Cal. Farmer, March 28, 1862, Dec. 21, 1860. Also pottery, painted and carved cliff-inscriptions, and lines of large stones on the hill-tops. Alta California, July, 1860.

[XII-7] San Francisco Evening Bulletin, Feb. 11, 1862. ‘On the South Tule river, twelve miles from the valley, is what is called the Painted Rock—a smooth flat rock horizontally supported by perpendicular walls on either side about seven feet from the ground, with a surface of 200 square feet smooth and level on the walled sides on which is painted in no very artistic style, representations of animals, reptiles, and birds, and rude paintings of men, women, and children. The painting has without doubt been done by the present race of Indians. None of the Indians now living, however, have any knowledge or tradition by whom or when it was done. This rock and the remains of their habitations in many localities on the different streams, are the only indications of their long occupancy of this valley.’ Maltby (Indian Agent at Tule River), letter of Aug. 10, 1872, MS. Painted figures in a large cave near the hot springs of Tularcitos hills, east of Monterey; also on headwaters of the San Juan or Estrella creek. Cal. Farmer, April 5, 1860.

[XII-8] Schumacher, Some Articles found in Ancient Graves of California, MSS., presented by the author.

[XII-9] Taylor’s Indianology, in Cal. Farmer, Jan. 17, 1862, March 9, 1860.

[XII-10] San Francisco Evening Bulletin, Jan. 22, 1864; Cal. Farmer, May 23, 1862, March 6, 1863; Carvalho’s Incid. of Trav., p. 249; Saxon’s Golden Gate, p. 126; Wimmel, Californien, p. 13.

[XII-11] San Francisco Evening Bulletin, Feb. 11, 1862; Cal. Farmer, March 28, 1862, March 6, 1863.

[XII-12] Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 209. ‘A quantity of round stones, evidently from the brook, was found in a passage with a number of skeletons; the destruction of life having been caused undoubtedly by the sudden caving in of the earth, burying the unskilled savages in the midst of their labors.’ Pioneer, vol. ii., p. 221.

[XII-13] Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, April 20, 1860; Wimmel, Californien, pp. 27-8.

[XII-14] ‘In 1857, Dr. C. F. Winslow sent to the Boston Natural History Society, the fragment of a human cranium found in the “pay-dirt” in connection with the bones of the mastodon and elephant, one hundred and eighty feet below the surface of Table Mountain, California. Dr. Winslow has described to me all the particulars in reference to this “find,” and there is no doubt in his mind, that the remains of man and the great quadrupeds were deposited contemporaneously.’ Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 52-4.

[XII-15] Elephant’s tusk five or six feet long, found in 1860, ten feet below the surface, and fifteen inches above the ledge in auriferous sand; also, five years before, many human skeletons, one of which was twice the usual size, with stone mortars and pestles. Sonora Democrat, Dec. 1860; Cal. Farmer, Dec. 21, 1860; San Francisco Evening Bulletin, Jan. 22, 1864.

[XII-16] Other reported relics in Tuolumne county are as follows:—A tooth of an animal of the elephant specie, twelve feet below surface, under an oak three feet in diameter, at Twist’s Ranch, near Mormon Creek, found in 1851. Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. ii., p. 248, with cut. ‘A tolerably well executed representation of a deer’s foot, about six inches long, cut out of slate, and a tube about an inch in diameter, and five inches in length, made of the same material, and a small, flat, rounded piece of some very hard flinty rock, with a square hole in the center. They are all highly polished, and perfectly black with age. What gives a peculiar interest to these relics is the fact that they were found thirty feet below the surface, and over the spot where they were found a huge pine, the growth of centuries, has reared its lofty head.’ These relics were found at Don Pedro’s Bar in 1861. Cal. Farmer, June 14, 1861, from Columbia Times, May, 1861. ‘An Indian arrow-head, made of stone, as at the present day, was lately picked up from the solid cement at Buckeye Hill, at a depth of 80 feet from the surface, and about one foot from the bed-rock.’ Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, Nov. 9, 1860; Hist. Mag., vol. v., p. 52; San Francisco Evening Bulletin, Oct. 6, 1864.

[XII-17] ‘An immense number of skulls were found by Captain Moraga in the vicinity of a creek, which, from that circumstance, was called Calaveras, or the river of skulls. The story was, that the tribes from the Sierras came down to the valley to fish for Salmon. To this the Valley Indians objected, and, as the conflict was irrepressible, a bloody battle was fought, and three thousand dead bodies were left to whiten the banks with their bones. The county in which the river rises assumed its name.’ Tuthill’s Hist. Cal., p. 303.

[XII-18] 1, Black lava, 40 feet; 2, gravel, 3 feet; 3, light lava, 30 feet; 4, gravel, 5 feet; 5, light lava, 15 feet; 6, gravel, 25 feet; 7, dark brown lava, 9 feet; 8, (in which the skull was found) gravel, 5 feet; 9, red lava, 4 feet; 10, red gravel, 17 feet. Cal. Acad. Nat. Sciences, vol. iii., pp. 277-8. ‘This skull, admitting its authenticity, carries back the advent of man to the Pliocene Epoch, and is therefore older than the stone implements of the drift-gravel of Abbeville and Amiens, or the relics furnished by the cave-dirt of Belgium and France.’ Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 52-4.

[XII-19] ‘It was late in the month of August (the 19th), 1849, that the gold diggers at one of the mountain diggings called Murphy’s, were surprised, in examining a high barren district of mountain, to find the abandoned site of an antique mine. “It is evidently,” says a writer, “the work of ancient times.” The shaft discovered is two hundred and ten feet deep. Its mouth is situated on a high mountain. It was several days before preparations could be completed to descend and explore it. The bones of a human skeleton were found at the bottom. There were also found an altar for worship and other evidences of ancient labor…. No evidences have been discovered to denote the era of this ancient work. There has been nothing to determine whether it is to be regarded as the remains of the explorations of the first Spanish adventurers, or of a still earlier period. The occurrence of the remains of an altar, looks like the period of Indian worship.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., p. 105.

[XII-20] Skulls obtained from a cave in Calaveras County, by Prof. Whitney, and sent to the Smithsonian Institute. They showed no differences from the present Indians, who probably used the cave as a burial place. Smithsonian Rept., 1867, p. 406. Petrified mammoth thigh-bone, three and a half feet long, two and a quarter feet in circumference, weighing fifty-four pounds, found at a depth of thirty-five feet, at Murphy’s Flat. Cal. Farmer, May 23, 1862, from San Andrés Independent. An arrastra or mill, such as is now used in grinding quartz, with a quantity of crushed stone five feet below surface near Porterfield. Id., Nov. 30, 1860, May 16, 1862. At Calaveritas large mortars two or three feet in diameter, with pestles, in the ancient bed of the river; at Vallecito human skulls in post-diluvial strata over fifty feet deep; at Mokelumne Hill obsidian spear-heads; at Murphy’s mammoth bones forty feet deep. Pioneer, vol. iii., p. 41; San Francisco Herald, Nov. 24, from Calaveras Chronicle.

[XII-21] San Francisco Evening Bulletin, Jan. 22, 1864; Wimmel, Californien, p. 13.

[XII-22] ‘An ancient skillet, made of lava, hard as iron, circular, with a spout and three legs, was washed out of a deep claim at Forest Hill, a few days since. It will be sent to the State Fair, as a specimen of crockery used in the mines several thousand years ago.’ Grass Valley National, Sept. 1861, in San Francisco Evening Bulletin, Jan. 22, 1864. Same implement apparently found at Coloma in 1851, 15 feet below the surface, under an oak-tree not less than 1000 years old. Carpenter, in Hesperian, vol. v., p. 358.

[XII-23] ‘J. E. Squire, informs me that a strange inscription is found on the rocks a short distance below Meadow Lake. The rocks appear to have been covered with a black coating, and the hieroglyphics or characters cut through the layer and into the rock. This inscription was, probably, not made by the present tribe inhabiting the lower part of Nevada County. It may have been done by Indians from the other side of the mountains, who came to the lake region near the summit to fish; or it may have still a stranger origin.’ Directory Nevada, 1857. A human fore-arm bone with crystallized marrow, imbedded in a petrified cedar 63 feet deep, at Red Dog. Grass Valley National, in San Francisco Evening Bulletin, Jan. 22, 1864.

[XII-24] Two hand mills (mortars) taken from the bank of the Yuba River at a depth of 16 feet. ‘They are all made from a peculiar kind of stone, which has the appearance of a combination of granite and burr-stone.’ The pestles are usually of gneiss. Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, Dec. 14, 1860, May 9, 1862. At McGilvary’s, Trinity Co., was discovered in 1856, 10 feet below the surface, ‘an Indian skull encased in a sea shell, five by eight inches, inside of which were worked figures and representations, both singular and beautiful, inlaid with a material imperishable, resembling gold, which would not, in nice, ingenious workmanship, disgrace the sculptor’s art of the present day.’ San Francisco Evening Bulletin, Jan. 22, 1864, from Trinity Democrat, 1856. Slate tubes dug up near Oroville. Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, Nov. 2, 1860. A collar-bone taken from the gravel of the ‘great blue lead’ not less than 1000 feet below the forest-covered surface, in 1857. Hutchings’ Cal. Mag., vol. ii., p. 417. Mammoth bones at Columbia, Stanislaus Co., 35 feet deep; and a hyena’s tooth at Volcano, Amador Co., at a depth of 60 feet. Pioneer, vol. iii., p. 41. Some 30 different instances of the discovery of fossil remains by miners have been noted in the California papers since 1851. Cal. Farmer, May 23, 1862; also four well-known cases of giant human remains. Id., March 20, 1863. An immense block of porphyry whose sides and top are carved with rude mystic figures, in the Truckee Valley. ‘I noticed one cluster of figures in a circle, having in its centre a rude representation of the sun, surrounded by about a dozen other figures, one of which exhibited a quite truthful representation of a crab, another like an anchor with a large ring, and still another representing an arrow passing through a ring.’ Marysville Democrat, April, 1861, in Cal. Farmer, June 14, 1861.

[XII-25] Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 54-6.

[XII-26] In Cal. Farmer, March 6, 1863.

[XII-27] Capron’s Hist. Cal., p. 75.

[XII-28] Martinez Contra Costa Gazette.

[XII-29] Smithsonian Rept., 1869, p. 36.

[XII-30] Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 163-4.

[XII-31] San Francisco Evening Bulletin, Oct. 19, 1869.

[XII-32] Rae’s Westward by Rail, pp. 162-4.

[XII-33] Salt Lake Telegraph, quoted in San Francisco Evening Bulletin, Oct. 9, 1868.

[XII-34] Remy and Brenchley’s Journey, vol. ii., pp. 364-5.

[XII-35] Carvalho’s Incid. of Trav., pp. 206-7.

[XII-36] Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 152.

[XII-37] Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 493.

[XII-38] Smithsonian Rept., 1867, p. 403.

[XII-39] Farnham’s Life in Cal., pp. 316-17.

[XII-40] Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 152.

[XII-41] Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, June 22, 1860.

[XII-42] Bulletin of the U. S. Geol. and Geog. Survey of the Territories, 2d series, No. 1., Washington, 1875.

[XII-43] Ingersoll gives these dimensions as 33 and 22 feet respectively, and speaks of three equi-distant doorways, apparently alluding to the same structure.

[XII-44] Doc. Hist. Mex., série ii., tom. i., pp. 391-2, 434-5, 444-5.

[XII-45] Stevens, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. xii., p. 150; Id., in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, p. 222.

[XII-46] Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., pp. 41-2.

[XII-47] Abbot, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. vi., p. 94.

[XII-48] Lord’s Nat., vol. i., p. 296.

[XII-49] Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, March 20, 1863; San Francisco Evening Bulletin, Jan. 22, 1864.

[XII-50] Lewis and Clarke’s Trav., p. 369.

[XII-51] Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 102-3, 260; Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., p. 411.

[XII-52] U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. iv., pp. 334, 441-2; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 151-2; Portland Herald, Sept. 27, 1872; San Francisco Morning Call, Sept. 28, 1872.

[XII-53] Stevens, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1854, pp. 232-3; Id., in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. vi., pp. 612-13; Gibbs, in Pac. R. R. Rept., vol. i., pp. 408-9; Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, May 8, 1863.

[XII-54] Buschmann, Spr. N. Mex. u. der Westseite des b. Nordamer., p. 333; Sutil y Mexicana, Viage, p. 73.

[XII-55] ‘In such localities, the general feature of the landscape is very similar to many parts of Devonshire, more especially to that on the eastern escarpment of Dartmoor, and the resemblance is rendered the more striking by the numerous stone circles, which lie scattered around…. These stone circles point to a period in ethnological history, which has no longer a place in the memory of man. Scattered in irregular groups of from three or four, to fifty or more, these stone circles are found, crowning the rounded promontories over all the South Eastern end of the Island. Their dimensions vary in diameter from three to eighteen feet; of some, only a simple ring of stones marking the outline now remains. In other instances the circle is not only complete in outline, but is filled in, built up as it were, to a height of three to four feet, with masses of rock and loose stones, collected from amongst the numerous erratic boulders, which cover the surface of the country, and from the gravel of the boulder drift which fills up many of the hollows. These structures are of considerable antiquity, and whatever they may have been intended for, have been long disused, for, through the centre of many, the pine, the oak, and the arbutus have shot up and attained considerable dimensions—a full growth. The Indians when questioned, can give no further account of the matter, than that, “it belonged to the old people,” and an examination, by taking some of the largest circles to pieces, and digging beneath, throws no light on the subject. The only explanation to be found, is in the hypothesis, that these were the dwellings of former tribes, who have either entirely disappeared, or whose descendants have changed their mode of living, and this supposition is strengthened by the fact that a certain tribe on the Fraser River, did, till very recently live, in circular beehive shaped houses, built of loose stones, having an aperture in the arched roof for entrance and exit, and that in some localities in upper California the same remains are found, and the same origin assigned to them.’ Forbes’ Vanc. Isl., p. 3.

[XII-56] Cook’s Voy. to Pac., vol. ii., p. 521; Neue Nachrichten, p. 33.

Chapter XIII • Works of the Mound-Builders • 12,300 Words

American Monuments beyond the Limits of the Pacific States—Eastern Atlantic States—Remains in the Mississippi Valley—Three Geographical Divisions—Classification of Monuments—Embankments and Ditches—Fortifications—Sacred Enclosures—Mounds—Temple-Mounds, Animal-Mounds, and Conical Mounds—Altar-Mounds, Burial Mounds, and Anomalous Mounds—Contents of the Mounds—Human Remains—Relics of Aboriginal Art—Implements and Ornaments of Metal, Stone, Bone, and Shell—Ancient Copper Mines—Rock-Inscriptions—Antiquity of the Mississippi Remains—Comparisons—Conclusions.

Treatment of Foreign Remains

I announced in an introductory chapter my intention to go in this volume beyond the geographical limits of my field of labor proper, the Pacific States, and to include a sketch of eastern and southern antiquities. I am not sure that this departure from my territory is strictly more necessary or appropriate in this than in the other departments of this work;—that is, that the material relics of the Mississippi Valley and South America have a more direct bearing on the institutions and history of the Native Races of the Pacific, than do the manners and customs, mythology, and language of the South American and eastern tribes. Yet there is this difference, that to have included the whole American continent in the preceding volumes would have required a new collection of material, additional time and research, and an increase of bulk in printed pages, each equal at least to what has been done; and I believe that the original scope of my work, and the bulk of that part of it devoted to the Native Races, is already sufficiently extensive. But in the department of antiquities, making the present volume of uniform size with others of the work, I have, I think, sufficient space and material to justify me in extending my researches beyond the Pacific States; and this seems to me especially desirable by reason of the fact that all the important archæological remains outside of what I term the Pacific States, may be included in the two groups to which my closing chapters are devoted, and the present volume may consequently present some claim to be considered a comprehensive work on American Antiquities.

My treatment of the subject in this and the following chapter will, however, differ considerably from that in those preceding. I have hitherto proceeded geographically from south to north, placing before the reader all the information extant, be it more or less complete, respecting every relic in each locality, and giving besides in every case the source whence the information was obtained. In this manner the notes become a complete bibliographical index to the whole subject, not an unimportant feature, I believe, of this work. In the broad eastern region bordering on the Mississippi and its tributaries, a region thickly inhabited, and thoroughly explored by antiquarians, or at least comparatively so, so numerous are the relics and the localities where they have been found, that to take them up one after another for detailed description would require at least a volume; and these relics, although of great importance, present so little variety in the absence of all architectural monuments, that such a detailed account could hardly fail to become monotonous to a degree unparalleled even in the pages of the present volume. Moreover, the books and other material in my possession, while amply sufficient, I think, to furnish a clear idea of the Mississippi and South American monuments, are of course inadequate to a continuation of the bibliographical feature referred to. For these reasons I deem it best to abandon the elaborate note-system hitherto followed, and shall present a general rather than a detailed view of material relics outside the Pacific States, formed from a careful study of what I believe to be the best authorities, and illustrated by the cuts given in Mr Baldwin’s work.[XIII-1]The chief authorities consulted for this chapter on the remains of the Mississippi Valley, are the following:

Squier and Davis, Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley. Washington, 1848. Squier’s Antiquities of the State of New York. Id., Observations on Aboriginal Monuments of the Mississippi Valley. New York, 1847. Id., Serpent Symbol.

Atwater’s Antiquities of Ohio, and other accounts in the Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transactions.

Schoolcraft’s Archives of Aboriginal Knowledge.

Warden, Recherches sur les Antiquités de l’Amérique du Nord.

Jones’ Antiquities of the Southern Indians.

Pidgeon’s Traditions of Decoodah.

Lapham’s Antiquities of Wisconsin. Washington, 1853.

Whittlesey’s Ancient Mining on the Shores of Lake Superior.

Bradford’s American Antiquities.

Foster’s Pre-Historic Races.

Id., Mississippi Valley.

Smithsonian Institution, Reports.

Tylor’s Researches.

American Ethnological Soc., Transactions.

Dickeson’s Amer. Numismatic Manual.

Bancroft, A. A., Antiquities of Licking County, Ohio. MS. The writer of this manuscript, my father, was for fifty years a resident of Licking County, where he has examined more or less carefully about forty enclosures and two hundred mounds.

The Mississippi Valley

Material relics of the aboriginal tribes are found in greater or less abundance throughout the Eastern United States and the Canadas. But those found in New England and the region east of the Alleghanies, extending southward to the Carolinas, may be dismissed in an account so general as the present with the remark that all are evidently the work of the Indian tribes found in possession of the country, many of them evidently and others probably having originated at a time subsequent to the coming of Europeans. But whatever may be decided respecting their antiquity, it may be regarded as absolutely certain that none of them point to the existence of any people of more advanced culture than the red race that came in contact with Europeans. They consist for the most part of traces of Indian villages or camps, burial grounds, small stone-heaps, scattered arrow-heads, and some other rude stone implements.

Classification of Remains

The great Mississippi Valley system of ancient works, consisting of mounds and embankments of earth and stone, erected by the race known as the Mound-builders, extends over a territory bounded in general terms as follows: on the north by the great lakes; on the east by western New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia in the north, but farther south extending to the Atlantic coast and including Florida, Georgia, and part of South Carolina; on the south by the Gulf of Mexico, including Texas according to the general statements of most writers, although I find no definite account of any remains in that state; on the west by an indefinite line extending from the head of Lake Superior through the states of Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Indian Territory, although there are reported some remains farther west, particularly on the upper Missouri, which have not been thoroughly explored. The map in the accompanying cut is intended only to show the reader at a glance the relative position of the states in the territory of the Mound-builders.

Map of the Territory of the Mound-Builders.

Throughout this broad extent of territory, but chiefly on the fertile river-terraces of the Mississippi and its tributaries, the works of the ancient inhabitants are found in great abundance, and may be classified for convenience in description as follows:—I. Embankments of earth or stone, and ditches, often forming enclosures, which are subdivided by their location into, 1st, fortifications, and 2d, sacred enclosures, or such as are supposed to have been connected with religious rites.

II. Mounds of earth or stone, of varying location, size, form, material, and contents; divided by their form into, 1st, ‘temple mounds,’ of regular outline and large dimensions, having flat summit platforms, and often terraced sides with graded ascents; 2d, ‘animal-mounds,’ or those resembling in their ground plan the forms of animals, birds, or even human beings; and 3d, conical mounds, which are again subdivided according to their contents into ‘altar-mounds’ or ‘sacrificial mounds,’ ‘burial mounds,’ and ‘anomalous mounds,’ or such as are of mixed or undetermined character.

III. Minor relics of aboriginal art, for the most part taken from the mounds, including implements and ornaments of metal, stone, shell, and bone.

IV. Ancient mines, and perhaps a few salt-wells which bear marks of having been worked by the aborigines.

V. Rock-inscriptions.

These different classes of remains, although sufficiently uniform in their general character to indicate that the Mound-builders were of one race, living under one grand system of institutions, still show certain variations in the relative predominance of each class in different sections of the territory. The Ohio River and its tributaries would seem to have been in a certain sense the centre of the Mound-builders’ power, for here the various forms of enclosures and mounds are most abundant and extensive, and their contents show the highest advancement of aboriginal art. This section, including chiefly the state of Ohio, but also parts of Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, Illinois, and Missouri, was the ground embraced in the explorations of Squier and Davis, by far the best authorities on eastern antiquities. In the northern region, on the great lakes, on which Lapham and Pidgeon are the prominent authorities, chiefly in Wisconsin, but also in Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, and Minnesota, animal-mounds are the prominent feature, the other classes of mounds, and the enclosures, being of comparatively rare occurrence. The animal-mounds occur in the central Ohio region only in a very few instances, and never, so far as is known, in the south. In the southern or gulf states the temple-mounds are more numerous in proportion to other classes than in the north, and enclosures disappear almost altogether. The southern antiquities have, however, been comparatively little explored, Mr Jones’ late work referring for the most part only to the state of Georgia.

Throughout the whole region traces of the tribes found by Europeans in possession of the country are found; and besides the three territorial divisions already indicated, it is noted that in the north-east, in western New York and Pennsylvania, the works of the Mound-builders merge so gradually into those of the later tribes, the only relics farther east, that it becomes well-nigh impossible to fix accurately the dividing line.

Remains in New York

In many parts of western New York traces are found of Indian fortified camps, surrounded by rows of holes in the ground, which once supported palisades, and in all respects similar to those in use among the Indians of the state in their wars against the whites. There are also found low embankments of earth, or very rarely of small stones, which form enclosures or cut off the approach to the weaker side of some naturally strong position. Such embankments are always on hills, lake or river terraces, or other high places, and are often protected on one or more sides by morasses or by streams with steep banks. Their strong natural position, with due regard to the water supply, carefully planned means of exit, and in many instances graded roads to the water, leaves no doubt of their original design as fortifications, places of refuge and of protection against enemies. The slight height of the embankments would suggest that they were thrown up to support palisades; indeed, traces of these palisades have been found in some cases. The practice of throwing up an embankment at the foot of palisades, although seemingly a very natural one, does not, however, seem to have been noticed among the Indian tribes of New York. In nearly all the enclosures remains of the typical Indian caches are found, with carbonized maize, and traces of wood and bark; and in and around them the sites of Indian lodges or towns are seen, indicated by the presence of decomposed and carbonaceous matter, together with burned stones, charcoal, ashes, bones, pottery, and Indian implements. These circumstances go far to prove that all the New York works, if not built by the Indians, were at least occupied by them after their abandonment by the Mound-builders, from some of whose works they do not differ much except in dimensions and regularity of form.

The enclosures vary in extent from three to four acres, the largest being sixteen acres. The embankments are from one to four feet high, generally accompanied by an exterior ditch;—the highest is seven or eight feet from bottom of ditch to top of embankment. Many such works in a country so long under cultivation have of course disappeared. Mr Squier ascertained the locality of one hundred of them in New York, and estimates the original number at not less than two hundred and fifty.

The works of the Mound-builders are almost exclusively confined to the fertile valleys still best fitted to support a dense population. The Mississippi and its tributaries have during the progress of the centuries worn down their valleys in three or four successive terraces, which, except the lowest, or latest formed, the ancient peoples chose as the site of their structures, giving the preference in rearing their grandest cities—for cities there must have been—to the terrace plains near the junction of the larger streams. On these plains and their surrounding heights, are found the ancient monuments, generally in groups which include all or many of the classes named above; for it is only for convenience in description that the classification is made; that is, the classification is by no means to any great extent a geographical one. I have already said that Ohio was the centre, apparently, of the Mound-builders’ power. Northward, eastward, and perhaps westward from this centre, the works diminish in extent, fortifications become a more prominent feature, and the remaining monuments approximate perceptibly to those of the more barbarous and later peoples. In fact, we find the modifications that might naturally be expected in a frontier country. Southward from the Ohio region down the Mississippi Valley, it is a common remark in the various writings on the subject, that the monuments increase gradually in magnitude and numbers. This statement seems to have originated, partially at least, in the old attempt to trace the path of Aztec migration southward. The only foundation for it is the fact that the class of mounds called temple-mounds are in the south more numerous in proportion to those of the other classes. The largest mound and the most extensive groups are in the north; while the complicated arrangement of sacred enclosures appears but rarely if at all towards the gulf. It is not impossible that more extensive explorations may show that the comparative numbers and size of the large temple-mounds have been somewhat exaggerated. Yet the claims in behalf of Nahua traces in the Mississippi region are much better founded than those that have been urged in other parts of the country; although we have seen that the chain is interrupted in the New Mexican country, and I can find no definite record of temple-mounds in Texas. The total number of mounds in the state of Ohio is estimated by the best authority at ten thousand, while the enclosures were at least fifteen hundred.

Fortifications

I begin with the embankments and enclosures. They are found, almost always in connection with mounds of some class, on the hills overlooking the valleys, and on the ravine-bounded terraces left by the current of rapid streams. The first, or oldest, terraces, with bold banks from fifty to a hundred feet high, furnish the sites of most of the works; on the lower intermediate terraces, whose banks range from ten to thirty feet in height, they are also found, though less frequently than above; while on the last-formed terrace below no monuments whatever have ever been discovered.

The embankments are simply earth, stones, or a mixture of the two, in their natural condition, thrown up from the material which is nearest at hand. There is no instance of walls built of stone that has been hewn or otherwise artificially prepared, of the use of mortar, of even rough stones laid with regularity, of adobes or earth otherwise prepared, or of material brought from any great distance. The material was taken from a ditch that often accompanies the embankment, from excavations or pits in the immediate vicinity, or is scraped up from the surface of the surrounding soil. There is nothing in the present appearance of these works to indicate any difference in their original form from that naturally given to earth-works thrown up from a ditch, with sides as nearly perpendicular as the nature of the material will permit. Of course, any attempt on the part of the builders to give a symmetrical superficial contour to the works would have been long since obliterated by the action of the elements; but nothing now remains to show that they attached any importance whatever to either material or contour. Stone embankments are rarely found, and only in localities where the abundance of the material would naturally suggest its use. In a few instances clay has been obtained at a little distance, or dug from beneath the surface.

Fortified Hills

Accordingly as they are found on the level plain, or on hill-tops or other strong positions, enclosures are divided into fortifications and sacred enclosures. Of the design of the first class there can be no doubt, and very little respecting many of the second class, although it is very probable that some of the latter had a different purpose, not now understood. Naturally some works occur which have some of the features of both classes. The fortifications are always of irregular form as determined by the nature of the ground.

Fortification—Butler Hill.

A fortification at Butler Hill, near Hamilton, Ohio, is shown in the cut. The summit of the hill is two hundred and fifty feet above the river, the enclosing wall is of earth and stones, five feet high, thirty-five feet thick at the base, and unaccompanied by a ditch, although there are some pits which furnished the material of the wall. Two mounds or heaps of rough stones are seen within the enclosure and one without, the stones of all showing marks of fire.

Fort Hill, Ohio.

The next cut shows a work at Fort Hill, Ohio, which seems to unite the characters of the two classes of enclosures. It measures twenty-eight hundred by eighteen hundred feet, and is on the second terrace. The wall along the creek side is of stones and clay, four feet high: the other main walls are six feet high and thirty-five feet thick, with an exterior ditch. The walls of the square enclosure at the side are of clay, present some marks of fire, and have no ditch. Mr Squier concludes that this was a fortified town rather than a fort like many others. The walls of the enclosure shown in the following cut, on Paint Creek, Ohio, are of stone, thirteen hundred feet in circumference, and have no ditch. The heaps of stones connected with this work have been exposed to excessive heat, either perhaps by being used as fire signals, or by the burning of wooden structures which they supported. In the works at Fort Ancient, on a mesa two hundred and thirty feet above the Miami River, the embankment is four miles long in an irregular line round the circumference, and in some parts eighteen or twenty feet high. There are also some signs of artificial terraces on the river side of the hill. A line of these defensive works is found in northern Ohio, with which very few regular mounds or sacred enclosures are connected. Pidgeon states that a single line of embankment may be traced for seventeen miles, and that there are three hundred and six miles of embankment fortifications in the state. It is quite probable that these embankments originally bore palisades. They vary in height from three to thirty feet, reckoning from the bottom of the ditch; but this gives only a very imperfect idea of their original dimensions, since in some localities the height has been much more reduced by time than in others, owing to the nature of the material. In hill fortifications the ditch is usually inside the wall, but when the defences guard the approach to a terrace-point, the ditch is always on the outside. The entrances to this class of enclosures are governed by convenience of exit, accessibility of water, and facilities for defence. They are usually guarded by overlapping walls as shown in the cuts that have been presented. Several of the larger fortifications, however, have a large number of entrances, generally at regular intervals, which it is very difficult to account for.

Fort near Bourneville.

Sacred Enclosures

Other enclosures are classed as sacred, or pertaining in some way to religious rites, because no other equally satisfactory explanation of their use can be given. That they were in no sense works of defence is evident from their position, almost invariably on the most level spot that could be selected and often overlooked by neighboring elevations. Unlike the fortifications they are regular in form, the square and circle predominating and generally found in conjunction, but the ellipse, rectangle, crescent, and a great variety of other forms being frequent, and several different forms usually occurring together. A square with one or more circles is a frequent combination. The angles and curves are usually if not always perfectly accurate, and the regular, or sacred, enclosures probably outnumber by many the irregular ones, although they are of lesser extent. Enclosed areas of one to fifty acres are common. The groups are of great extent; one at Newark, Ohio, covers an area of nearly four square miles. A remarkable coincidence was noticed by Mr Squier in the dimensions of the square enclosures, five or six of these having been found at long distances from each other, which measured exactly ten hundred and eighty feet square. Circles are, as a rule, smaller than the squares with which they are connected, two hundred to two hundred and fifty feet being a common size. The largest of the enclosures, with an area of some six hundred acres, are those reported in the far west and north-west by early travelers whose reports are not confirmed.

The embankment itself differs from those already described only in being, as a rule, somewhat lower and narrower, although at Newark one is thirty feet high, and in being constructed with less exceptions without the use of stones. The material as before was taken from the surface, ditches, or from pits, which latter are often described as wells, and may in some instances have served as such.

The following cut represents a group at Liberty, Ohio, typical of a large class in the Scioto Valley. The location is on the third terrace, the embankments of earth are not over four feet high, there is no ditch, and the earth seems to have been taken exclusively from pits, which, contrary to the usual custom, are within the enclosure. The square is one of those already spoken of as agreeing exactly in dimensions with others at a distance. Additional dimensions are shown in the cut. The enclosures, both square and round, usually include several mounds. One at Mound City, square with rounded corners, covering thirteen acres, has twenty-four sacrificial mounds within its walls. At Portsmouth, there are four concentric circles, cut by four broad avenues facing, with slight variation, the cardinal points, and having a large terraced and truncated mound in the centre. The banks of one enclosure near Newark measure thirty feet in height from the bottom of the ditch; the usual height is from three to seven feet.

Sacred Enclosures—Liberty.

Enclosure at Bourneville.

Works at Hopeton.

The circles often have an interior ditch; in some cases, as at Circleville and Salem, there are two circular embankments one within the other with a ditch between them; but there is only one instance of an exterior ditch, in the work at Bourneville, Ohio, shown in the first cut. The wall is from eight to ten feet high, and the ditch is shallow. The larger circles have generally a single entrance, which is usually, but not always, on the east. There are numerous small circles from thirty to fifty feet in diameter, found in connection with groups of large enclosures, which have very light embankments and no entrances. These may very likely be the remains of lodges or camps. The larger circles are almost invariably connected with squares or rectangles, which have similar embankments but no ditches. These have very commonly an entrance at each angle and one in the middle of each side, but the larger squares have often many more entrances.

View of Earth-works at Hopeton.

The second cut shows a group of sacred enclosures at Hopeton, Ohio, located on the third terrace. The walls of the rectangle are of a clayey loam, fifty feet thick and twelve feet high, without a ditch. The summit is wide enough for a wagon road. The walls of the circle are somewhat lower and composed of clay differing in color from that found in the vicinity. The two smaller circles have interior ditches. The cut gives a view of the same works as they appear from the east. The parallel embankments in the south are one hundred and fifty feet apart and extend half a mile to the bank of an old river bed. Two hundred paces north of the large circle, and not shown in the cuts, is another circle two hundred and fifty feet in diameter.

Cedar Bank Enclosures.

The enclosure shown in the next cut is that at Cedar Bank, near Chillicothe, Ohio, and seems to partake somewhat of the nature of a fortification. The west side is naturally protected by the river bank, and the other sides are enclosed by a wall and ditch, each forty feet wide and five to six feet high or deep. The bed of a small stream forms a natural ditch for one half of the eastern side. Within the enclosure in a line with the entrances is a raised platform four feet high, measuring one hundred and fifty by two hundred and fifty feet, with graded ways thirty feet wide, leading to the summit. The parallels outside the enclosure are three or four feet high. The earth-work in Randolph County, Indiana, is sufficiently explained by the cut. This work, like the preceding, would seem to have been constructed partially with a view to defence. The work shown in the next cut is part of a group in Pike County, Ohio. The circle is three hundred feet in diameter.

Parallel Embankments—Piketon.

Fortified Square—Indiana.

Earth-work in Pike County, Ohio.

Earth-Works

The different enclosures of a group are often connected by parallel embankments. Similar embankments protect the roads leading from fortified works to the river bank or other source of water. Many are not connected with any enclosures, though in their vicinity; and in such cases they are very slight, from seven hundred to eight hundred feet long, and sixty to eighty feet apart. Some of these parallels were very likely raised roads instead of enclosed ones, as on the Little Miami River, where the embankments extend about a quarter of a mile from two mounds, forming a semicircle round a third, being a rod wide and only three feet high. At Madison, Louisiana, there is a raised way three feet high, seventy-five feet wide, and two thousand seven hundred feet long, with broad excavations three feet in depth extending on both sides for about two thirds its length. Two parallel banks at Piketon, Ohio, are shown in the cut. They are ten hundred and eighty feet long, two hundred and three feet apart at one end, and two hundred and fifteen at the other; the height on the outside being from five to eleven feet, but on the inside twenty-two feet at one end. A modern carriage road now runs between the mounds. From the end of one of them a slight embankment extends twenty-five hundred and eighty feet to a group of mounds.

Ditches and Mounds

In the north ditches seem never to occur, except with embankments; but in the south, where embankments are rarely if ever found, ditches, or moats, are sometimes employed to enclose other works, especially in Georgia. Such a moat at Carterville communicates with the river, extends to a pond perhaps artificial, and has two reservoirs, each of an acre, connected with it. The mounds and other monuments are located between the river and the moat. I have already spoken of the pits which furnished earth for the various works, sometimes called wells; some wells of another class, found in the bed of streams and supplied with round covers, were found by Mr Squier to be the natural casts of septaria, or imbedded nodules of hard clay.

The mound or heap form is the one most common in American antiquities as in those of nearly the whole world. Mounds are found throughout the Mississippi region as before bounded, and beyond its limits in many directions they merge into the small stone heaps which are known to have been thrown up by the Indians at road-crossings and over graves. They are most numerous in the upper Mississippi and Ohio valleys, in the same region where the embankments also most abound. As I have said, the number in Ohio alone is estimated at more than ten thousand. They are almost always found in connection with embankments and other works of the different classes described, but they are also very numerous in regions where enclosures rarely or never occur, as in Wisconsin and in the gulf states. From the central region about the junction of the Mississippi, Missouri, and Ohio, they gradually diminish in numbers in every direction, and also in size except perhaps towards the south. They are found in valley and plain, on hill-side and hill-top; isolated and in groups; within and without enclosures; and at long distances from other works. By their location alone no satisfactory classification could possibly be made; still, when considered in connection with their contents and other circumstances, their location assumes importance. By their forms the tumuli are classified as temple-mounds, animal-mounds, and conical mounds.

Temple-Mounds

Temple-mounds always have level summit platforms, and are supposed to have once supported wooden structures, although no traces of such temples remain. A graded road straight or winding, of gentler slope than the sides of the mound, often leads to the top; and in many cases the sides have one or more terraces. One in Tennessee, four hundred and fifty feet in diameter and fifty feet high, has ten clearly marked terraces, except on the east. The bases assume a variety of forms, square, rectangular, octagonal, round, oval, etc., but the curves and angles are always extremely regular. In the north they are usually within enclosures, but in the south, where they are most numerous, they have no embankments and are often arranged in groups, the smaller about a larger central mound. In size the temple-mounds vary from a height of five feet and a diameter of forty feet to ninety feet in altitude and a base-area of eight acres. In respect to form, material, structure, contents, and probable use they admit of no subdivision. Like the embankments they are made of earth, or rarely of stones, simply heaped up, with little care in the choice of material and none at all in the order of deposit.

The largest mound of this, or in fact of any, class is that at Cahokia, Illinois. Its base measures seven hundred by five hundred feet. The height is ninety feet. On one end above mid-height is a terrace platform one hundred and sixty by three hundred and fifty feet, and the summit area is two hundred by four hundred and fifty feet, or nearly two acres, the base covering over eight acres. On the top a small conical mound was found, with some human bones, a deposit of doubtful antiquity. A mound is described at Lovedale, Kentucky, as being of octagonal base, five feet high, with sides of a hundred and fifty feet, three graded ascents, and two conical mounds on its summit. Mr Jones states that parapet embankments, round the edge of the summit, sometimes occur on the southern temple-mounds.

Temple-Mound—Marietta, Ohio.

At Marietta, Ohio, are four mounds like that shown in the cut, within a square enclosure. The height of this one is ten feet. The mound at Seltzerton, Mississippi, forty feet in height, covers nearly six acres, and has a summit area of four acres, on which are two conical mounds, also forty feet high and thirty feet in diameter. The base is surrounded with a ditch ten feet deep, an unusual feature. There are said to be large adobe blocks in the northern slope of this pyramid, and the same material is reported in other southern structures. These reports require additional confirmation.

The Messier Mound, in Early County, Georgia, differs in its location from most temple-mounds, standing on the summit of a natural hill which overlooks a broad extent of country. The artificial height is fifty-five feet, and the summit area sixty-six by one hundred and fifty-six feet. There are no traces of any means of ascent, and the slopes are very steep. A ditch extends in a semicircle from corner to corner at the southern end, and thence down the slope of the hill. An excavation of two acres, twenty-five feet deep on an average, seems to have furnished the earth for the mound. A round well, sixty feet in diameter and forty feet deep is found at one end of the excavation. A temple-mound in the Nacooche Valley, Georgia, is elliptical in form, and has a summit area of sixty by ninety feet.

An octagonal mound, forty-five feet high and one hundred and eighty feet in diameter at the top, is located on a hill-top opposite the city of Macon; it was formed of earth carried from the valley below. A temple-mound at Mason’s Plantation, on the Savannah River, has been partly washed away by the water, which reveals along the natural surface of the ground a stratum a foot thick of charcoal, baked earth, ashes, broken pottery, shells, and bones of animals and birds, with a few human bones. The mound, which is of the surrounding alluvial soil, would seem to have been erected over a spot long occupied as an encampment. This mound, and another near it, were originally enclosed by a moat which communicated with the river, and widened on one side into a broad lagoon.

On Plunkett Creek, Georgia, is a mound of stones which has the appearance of a temple-mound, having a summit area forty feet in diameter. Stone is rarely used in structures of this class; perhaps this was originally a conical mound. There seem to be few large mounds in the south unaccompanied by ditches, which seem here to have been introduced where embankments would have been preferred in the north.

In a late number of the Cincinnati Quarterly Journal of Science I find described, unfortunately only on newspaper authority, a remarkable temple-mound, near Springfield, Missouri, on a hill three hundred feet high. It is of earth and stones, sixty two feet high, five hundred feet in diameter at the base and one hundred and thirty at the summit. A ditch, two hundred feet wide and five feet deep, surrounds the base, and is crossed by a causeway, opposite which a stairway of roughly hewn stones leads up the northern slope. The top is covered by a platform of stone, in the centre of which lies a stone ten by twelve feet, and eleven inches thick, hollowed in the middle. This report without further confirmation must be considered a hoax—at least so far as the stone steps, pavement, and altar are concerned.

Mississippi Temple-Mounds.

The group of temple-mounds shown in the cut is in Washington County, Mississippi. Others similar in many respects to these are found at Madison, Louisiana.

Temple-mounds are homogeneous and never stratified in their construction, and contain no relics; that is, the object in their erection was simply to afford a raised platform, with convenient means of ascent.

Animal-mounds, the second class, are those that assume in their ground plan various irregular forms, sometimes those of living creatures, including quadrupeds, birds, reptiles, fishes, and in a few cases men. Mounds of this class are very numerous in the north-west, particularly in Wisconsin, and rarely occur further south, although there are a few excellent specimens in Ohio. They are most abundant in fertile valleys and rarely occur on the lake shore. Nine tenths of them are simple straight, curved, or crooked embankments of irregular form, slightly raised above the surface, bearing no likeness to any natural object. In many, fancied to be like certain animals, the resemblance is imaginary. Those shaped like a tapering club, with two knobs on one side near the larger end—a very common figure—are called ‘lizard-mounds;’ add two other protuberances on the opposite side and we have the ‘turtle-mounds.’ Yet a few bear a clear resemblance to quadrupeds, birds, and serpents, and all evidently belong to the same class and were connected with the religious ideas of the builders. They are not burial mounds, contain no relics, are but a few feet at the most above the ground, and are always composed of whitish clay, or the subsoil of the country. Their dimensions on the ground are considerable; rude effigies of human form are in some cases over one hundred feet long; quadrupeds have bodies and tails each from fifty to two hundred feet long; birds have wings of a hundred feet; ‘lizard-mounds’ are two and even four hundred feet in length; straight and curved lines of embankment reach over a thousand feet; and serpents are equally extensive. They are grouped without any apparent order together with conical mounds, occasional embankments, and few enclosures. They often form a line extending over a large tract. In some cases the animal form is an excavation instead of a mound, the earth being thrown up on the banks. An embankment in Adams County, Ohio, on the summit of a hill much like those often occupied by fortifications, is thought to resemble a monster serpent with curved body and coiled tail, five feet high, thirty feet wide in the middle, and over one thousand feet long if uncoiled. The jaws are wide open and apparently in the act of swallowing an oval mound measuring one hundred and sixty by eighty feet. On a hill overlooking Granville, Ohio, is a mound six feet high and a hundred and fifty feet long, thought to resemble the form of an alligator. Stones are rarely used with the earth in the construction of animal-mounds, and only in a few cases has the presence of ashes or other traces of fire been reported.

The third class of tumuli includes the conical mounds, mere heaps of earth and stones, so far as outward appearance is concerned, generally round, often oval, sometimes square with rounded corners, or even hexagonal and triangular, in their base-forms, and varying in height from a few inches to seventy feet, in diameter from three or four to three hundred feet. A height of from six to thirty feet and a diameter of forty to one hundred feet would probably include a larger part of them. Of course the height has been reduced and the base increased by the action of rains more or less in different localities according to the material employed. Mounds of this class never have summit platforms or any means of ascent. They are here as elsewhere in America much more numerous than other mounds. Although so like one to another in form, they differ widely in location and contents. They are found on hill-tops and in the level plain. In the former case they are either isolated, grouped round fortifications, or extend in long lines at irregular intervals for many miles, suggesting boundary lines or fire signals. In the valleys they stand alone, in groups, or in connection with sacred enclosures. The groups are sometimes symmetrical, as when a number of mounds are regularly arranged about a larger central one, or are so placed as to form squares, circles, and other regular figures; but often no systematic plan is observable. Also in connection with the enclosures part of them are symmetrically located with respect to entrances, angles, or temple-mounds; while others are scattered apparently without fixed order. There are few enclosures that do not have a mound opposite each entrance on the inside. A complete survey and restoration would probably show many mounds to belong to some regular system, that now appear isolated.

The material of the mounds requires no remark in addition to what has been said of other works. A large majority are simply heaps of the earth nearest at hand. Stone mounds, or those of mixed materials, are rare, and are chiefly confined to the hill-top structures. Most of the earth mounds are homogeneous in structure, but some are regularly and doubtless intentionally stratified. Some of them in the gulf states are composed of shells, in addition to the shell-mounds proper formed by the gradual deposit of refuse shells, the contents of which served as food.

Contents of the Mounds

The contents of the mounds should be divided into two great classes; those deposited by the Mound-builders, and those of modern Indian or European origin. The distinction is important, but difficult; and in this difficulty is to be found the origin of many of the extraordinary reports and theories. The Indians have always felt a kind of veneration for the mounds as for something of mysterious origin and purpose, and have used them as burial places. The Indian habit of burying with their dead such articles as were prized by them when living, is well known; as is also the value attached by them to trinkets obtained by purchase or theft from Europeans. Consequently articles of European manufacture, such as must have been obtained long before the country was to any great extent occupied by the whites, are often dug from the mounds and found elsewhere. The discovery of silver crosses, gun-barrels, and French dials, does not, however, as Mr Squier remarks, justify the conclusion that the Mound-builders “were Catholics, used fire-arms, or spoke French.” The mounds are usually opened by injudicious explorers or by treasure-seekers, who have paid little attention to the location of the relics found or the condition of the surrounding soil. Museums and private collections are full of spurious relics thus obtained. It is certain in some cases, and probable in many more, that the mounds have been ‘salted’ with specimens with a view to their early investigation. Yet many mounds have been opened by scientific men, who have brought to light curious relics, surely the work of the Mound-builders. Such relics are found in the centre of the mounds, on or near the original surface of the ground, with the surrounding material undisturbed. In the stratified mounds any disturbance in the soil is easily detected, but with difficulty in the others. Reports of unusual relics should be regarded as not authentic unless accompanied by most positive proof.

Neither the embankments of sacred enclosures, the temple-mounds, nor the animal-mounds, have been proved to contain any relics that may be attributed to the original builders. Many of the conical mounds do contain such relics, and by their contents or the lack of them, are divided into altar-mounds, burial mounds, and anomalous mounds.

Altar-mounds are always found within or near enclosures, and each one is found to contain something like an altar, made of burned clay or stone. The altars are generally of fine clay brought from some distance, burned hard sometimes to a depth of twenty inches. They were not burned before being put in place, but by the action of fires built upon or round them. Such as were very slightly burned had no relics. The stone altars are very rare, and are formed of rough slabs, and not hewn from a single block. They are square, rectangular, round, and oval; vary in size from two feet in diameter to fifteen by fifty feet, but are generally from five to eight feet; are rarely over twenty inches high; rest on or near the surface of the ground, in the centre of the mound; and have a basin-shaped concavity on the top. The basin is almost always filled with ashes, in which are the relics deposited by the Mound-builders. Relics are much more numerous in the altar than in the burial mounds, but as they are of the same class, both may best be spoken of together. These altars are probably the structures spoken of by early explorers and writers as hearths; there are reports that some of them were made of burnt bricks.

A peculiarity of the altar-mounds is that they are formed of regular strata of earth, gravel, sand, clay, etc., which are not horizontal, but follow the curve of the surface. The outer layer is commonly of gravel. This stratification renders it easy to detect any modern disturbance of the mounds, and makes the altar relics especially interesting and valuable for scientific purposes. Over the ashes in one altar-mound, were found plates of mica and some human bones. Skeletons are often found near the surface of these mounds, the strata above them being disturbed; in one case the Indians had penetrated to the centre and deposited a body on the altar itself. Sir John Lubbock inclines to the opinion that these were really sepulchral rather than sacrificial mounds, although he had not personally examined them. Whatever their use, they certainly constitute a clearly defined class distinct from all others, and the name altar-mounds is as appropriate as any other.

Burial Mounds

Unstratified mounds, never within enclosures and generally at some little distance from them, containing human remains in their centres and undoubtedly erected as places of sepulture, constitute the second class, and are called burial mounds. The custom of heaping up a mound over the dead was probably imitated for a long time by the tribes that followed the Mound-builders, so that the relics from these mounds are less satisfactory than those found on the altars. In the burial mounds that may be most confidently ascribed to the Mound-builders, the human remains are found in a situation corresponding to that of the altars. They are usually enclosed in a frame-work of logs, a covering of bark or coarse matting, or a combination of these, which have left only faint traces. Of the skeleton only small fragments remain, which crumble on exposure to the air. In some cases there are indications that the body was burned before burial. Each mound contains, as a rule, a single skeleton, generally but not always placed east and west. Where several skeletons are found together, they are sometimes placed in a circle with the heads towards the centre. The mounds never contain large numbers of skeletons, and cannot be regarded as cemeteries, but only as monuments reared over the remains of personages high in rank. Very few skulls or bones are recovered sufficiently entire to give any idea of the Mound-builders’ physique, and these few show no clearly defined differences from the modern Indian tribes. Four or five burial mounds are often found in a group, the smaller ones in such cases being grouped round a larger central one, generally in contact with its base. Mr Lapham sketched mounds in Wisconsin where the body is deposited in a central basin-shaped excavation in the ground very much like those in Vancouver Island already described.

Of the eastern burial deposits not connected with the mounds I shall say very little. It has already been stated that the mounds were in no sense cemeteries. Only a favored few of what must have been a dense population were honored by these sepulchral monuments. Obliged to seek elsewhere the general depositories of the dead, we find them of various classes in large numbers; but as yet very little has been done towards identifying any of them as the resting-places of the Mound-builders. There are many bone-pits, or trenches filled with human bones, in the mound region; but some of the modern Indians are well known to have periodically collected and deposited in pits the bones of their dead. Large numbers of bodies have been found in the caves of Kentucky and Tennessee, well preserved by the natural deposits of saltpetre, and wrapped in skins, bark, or feather-cloth; but the fact that such cloths were made and used by the southern tribes, renders the origin of these bodies uncertain. Besides the caves and trenches there are regular cemeteries, some of them very extensive. Seven of these are reported about Nashville, Tennessee, within a radius of ten miles, each being about a mile in extent. The graves are of flat stones, lie in ranges, and contain skeletons much decayed, with some relics. The coffins, or graves, vary from two to six feet in length, and the smallest have sometimes been mentioned as indicating a race of pigmies; it is evident, however, that in such graves bones were not deposited until the flesh had been removed. Sometimes there are traces of wooden coffins, in other cases there are only stones at the head and feet, and often there is no trace of any coffin. A few graves contain relics similar to those in the altar-mounds, and were covered with large forest trees when first seen by Europeans. Yet the comparatively well-preserved skeletons, and the presence in many cases of iron and relics clearly modern, render it well-nigh impossible to decide which, if any, of these cemeteries contain the remains of the Mound-builders.

Mound at Miamisburg.

Anomalous Mounds

Mounds of the third class are called anomalous, and include all that are not evidently either altar or burial mounds, or which have some of the peculiarities of both classes; for instance, in an elliptical mound an altar was found in one centre, and a skeleton in the other. Most prominent among them are the hill-top heaps of earth, or—oftener than in the plains below—of stone. These have as a rule few original burial deposits, and no relics; are often near fortifications; and in many cases bear the marks of fire. Their use cannot be accurately determined, but they are generally regarded as watch-towers and fire signal stations. Of course, comparatively few of the whole number of conical mounds have been explored, but so far as examined they seem to be about equally divided between the three classes. The mound shown in the cut is at Miamisburg, Ohio, and its class is not stated. It is sixty-eight feet high and eight hundred and fifty feet in circumference. Shell-mounds abounding in relics of aboriginal work are very numerous in the gulf states.

I shall pass briefly over the minor relics of aboriginal art since it is impossible in this volume to present illustrative cuts of the thousands of objects that have been found, or even of typical specimens. Such relics as are incontestably the work of the Mound-builders include articles of metal, stone, earthen ware, bone, and shell. They include implements and ornaments, besides which many are of unknown use. Most of the smaller specimens, whose use is unknown, are called by Mr Dickeson and others aboriginal coins; perhaps some of them did serve such a purpose.

The only metals found in the mounds are copper and silver, the latter only in very small quantities. A few gold trinkets have been reported, but the evidence is not conclusive that such were deposited by the Mound-builders. Iron ore and galena occur, but no iron or lead.

Copper is found in native masses, and also hammered into implements and ornaments. There is no evidence that this metal was ever obtained from ore by smelting; it was all doubtless worked cold from native masses by hammering. Concerning the locality where it was procured, there is little or no uncertainty. The abundant deposits of native copper about Lake Superior naturally suggest that region as the source of the copper supply; the discovery of anciently worked mines strengthens the supposition; and the finding among the mounds of copper mixed with silver in a manner only found at Lake Superior, makes the matter a certainty. The modern tribes also obtained some copper from the same localities. The Mound-builders were ignorant of the arts of casting, welding, and alloying. They had no means of hardening their copper tools, being in this respect less advanced than the Nahuas and Mayas. In fact copper implements are much more rare than ornaments of the same metal. The implements include axes, hatchets, adzes, knives, spear-heads, chisels, drills, etc. Ornaments are in the form of rings, gorgets, medals, bracelets, and beads, with a large variety of small articles of unknown use, some of them probably used as money. Very small models of larger implements like axes are often found, and were doubtless worn as ornaments.

Silver is of much rarer occurrence than copper, was obtained probably from the same region, and is almost invariably found in the form of sheets hammered out very thin and closely wrapped about small ornaments of copper or shell. So nicely is the wrapping done that it often resembles plating. The gold whose discovery has been reported has been in the form of beads and so-called coins. Mr Dickeson speaks confidently of gold, silver, copper, and galena money left by the Mound-builders. There is no evidence that the use of iron was known, except the extreme difficulty of clearing forests and carving stone with implements of stone and soft copper.

Aboriginal Pottery

Earthen Vases from the Mounds.

Specimens of aboriginal pottery are very abundant, although much less so within the mounds than elsewhere near the surface. Mr Squier says, “various though not abundant specimens of their skill have been recorded, which in elegance of model, delicacy, and finish, as also in fineness of material, come fully up to the best Peruvian specimens, to which they bear, in many respects, a close resemblance. They far exceed anything of which the existing tribes of Indians are known to have been capable.” The specimens in the mound-deposits are, with very few exceptions, broken. The material is usually a pure clay, sometimes with a slight admixture of pulverized quartz or colored flakes of mica, but such admixtures are much rarer than in modern specimens. Notwithstanding their great regularity of form and beauty of finish, none bear signs that the potter’s wheel was used in their construction, and no vessels are glazed by vitrification. They are decorated with various graceful figures, including those of living animals, cut in with sharp instruments. A few crucibles, capable of withstanding intense heat, have been found, also terra-cotta images of animals and men, and ornaments or coins in small quantities. Pottery-kilns are found in the south, but that they were the work of the Mound-builders has not been satisfactorily proven. Specimens of the finer class of vases are shown in the cut. The first is of pure clay with a slight silicious mixture. It is five and a half inches high and six and a half in diameter, not over one sixth of an inch in uniform thickness, pierced with four holes in the line round the rim, dark brown or umber in color, and highly polished. The decorative lines are cut in with a sharp instrument which left no ragged edges. The second vase is of somewhat smaller size and coarser material; but more elaborately ornamented and only one eighth of an inch in thickness.

Stone Implements

Stone implements are more abundant than those of any other material in the altar-mounds and elsewhere. They include arrow and spear heads, knives, axes, hatchets, chisels, and other variously formed cutting instruments, with hammers and pestles. These are made of quartz and other hard varieties of stone, all belonging to the mound region except the obsidian. There is no doubt that obsidian implements were used by the Mound-builders, and as this material is said not to be found nearer than Mexico and California, it is perhaps as likely that the implements were obtained by trade as that they were manufactured in the country. Neither the obsidian knives, nor other stone weapons, show any marked differences from those found in Mexico, Central America, and most other parts of the world. Lance and arrow heads, finished and in the rough, entire or more frequently broken by the action of fire, are taken by hundreds and thousands from the altar-mounds; several bushels of lance-heads of milky quartz were found in one mound. It is a remarkable fact, however, that no weapons whatever are found in burial mounds. Beads, rings, and other ornaments of stone are often found, with a variety of anomalous articles whose use is more or less imperfectly understood. Besides weapons and knives, pipes are the articles most abundant, and on which the Mound-builders expended most lavishly their skill, carving the bowls into a great variety of beautiful forms, at what must have been an immense outlay of labor. A remarkable peculiarity of their pipe-carvings is that accurate representations are given of different natural objects instead of the rude caricatures and monstrosities in which savage art usually delights. Nearly every beast, bird, and reptile indigenous to the country is truthfully represented, together with some creatures now only found in tropical climates, such as the lamantin and toucan. The pipes generally consist of a bowl rising from the centre of the convex side of a curved base, one end of which serves as a handle and the other is pierced for a stem. They are always cut from a single piece, the material being generally a hard porphyry, oftenest red, and strongly resembling in some cases the red pipe-stone of the Coteau des Prairies. The locality where this pipe material was obtained is unknown. Many of the sculptured figures show skillful workmanship and a high polish; I think that many of them are not inferior to the products of Nahua and Maya skill. Some rude stone images of unknown use have been found at various points, but I am not aware that any relics have been authentically reported from the altar-mounds which indicate that the ancient people were worshipers of idols. Mica is the mineral most common in both altar and burial mounds, where it occurs in plates cut into a great variety of forms. Some of them have been conjectured to have served as mirrors. Bushels are sometimes deposited in a single mound. Pieces of coal artificially formed are included by Dickeson among his aboriginal coins.

Bones of indigenous animals are found worked into daggers, awls, and similar implements; or as ornaments in the form of beads. Similar use was made of the teeth and talons of beasts and birds. Teeth of the bear, wolf, panther, alligator, and shark, have been found, some of the latter being fossils, together with large quantities of teeth resembling those of the whale, but not fully identified.

Five varieties of marine shells, all from the gulf shores, have been examined, with pearls whose size and numbers prove that they are not of fresh-water origin. Both are used for ornaments, chiefly in the form of beads. Pearls are also found in a few instances serving as eyes for animal and bird sculptures. Some articles of bone and shell have been mistaken for ivory and accredited with an Asiatic origin, through ignorance that their material is found on the shores of the gulf. Many articles found in the mounds, and not perhaps included in the preceding general description, are interesting, but could only be described in a detailed account, for which I have no space; but most relics not thus included are of doubtful authenticity, and a doubtful monument of antiquity should always be attributed to modern times.

Ancient Mines

The ancient miners have left numerous traces of their work in the region of Lake Superior. At one place a piece of pure copper weighing over five tons was found fifteen feet below the surface, under trees at least four hundred years old. It had been raised on skids, bore marks of fire, and some stone implements were scattered about. There is no evidence that the tribes found in possession of the country by the first French missionaries ever worked these mines, or had any tradition of a people that had worked them, although both they and their ancestors had copper knives hammered from lumps of the metal, which are very commonly found on the surface. All the traditions and Indian stories of ‘mines’ may most consistently be referred to these natural superficial deposits. The ancient mines were for the most part in the same localities where the best modern mines are worked. Most of them have left as traces only slight depressions in the surface, the finding of which is regarded by prospectors as a tolerably sure indication of a rich vein of copper. The cut represents a section of one of the veins of copper-bearing rock worked by the ancient miners. The mass of copper at a weighed about six tons. At the top a portion of the stone had been left across the vein as a support. Copper implements, including wedges used in mining as ‘gads,’ are found in and about the old mines; with hammers of stone, mostly grooved for withe handles. Some weigh from thirty to forty pounds and have two grooves; others again are not grooved at all. In one case remains of a handle of twisted cedar-roots were found, and much-worn wooden shovels often occur. There are no enclosures, mounds, or other traces of a permanent settlement of the Mound-builders in the mining region. It is probable that the miners came each summer from the south; in fact, it would have been impossible to work the mines in winter by their methods.

Section of an old Copper Mine.

Rock-Inscriptions

Nearly all the coins, medals, stone tablets, etc., that have been discovered within the region occupied by the Mound-builders, bearing inscriptions in regular apparently alphabetic characters, may be proved to be of European origin; and the few specimens that do not admit of such proof should of course be attributed to such an origin in the absence of conclusive evidence to the contrary. Rude delineations of men, animals, and other recognizable objects, together with many arbitrary, perhaps conventional, characters, are of frequent occurrence on the walls of caves, on perpendicular river-cliffs, and on detached stones. They are sometimes incised, but usually painted. Most bear a strong resemblance to the artistic efforts of modern tribes; and those which seem to bear marks of a greater antiquity, have by no means been identified as the work of the Mound-builders. These eastern rock-inscriptions do not call for additional remarks, after what has been said of similar carvings in other regions. Many of the figures have a meaning to those who make them, but that meaning, as in all writings of this class, perishes with the artist and his immediate times. Attempts by zealous antiquaries to penetrate the signification of particular inscriptions—as that on Dighton Rock, Massachusetts, and other well-known examples—have failed to convince any but the determined advocate of such theories as seem to derive support from the so-called translation. My father saw a stone tablet taken from a stone mound near Newark, covered with carved characters, which the clergyman of the town pronounced to be the ten commandments in ancient Hebrew. I have no doubt that the figures did closely resemble the ancient Hebrew in one respect at least—that is, in being equally unfamiliar to the clergyman.

Conclusions

Without taking up here the various theories respecting the origin, history, and disappearance of the Mound-builders, it may be well to express in a few brief conclusions what may be learned of this people by an examination of the monuments which they have left.

They were a numerous people, as is sufficiently proved by the magnitude and geographical extent of their works. They were probably one people, that is, composed of tribes living under similar laws, religion, and other institutions. Such variations as are observed in the monuments are only those that would naturally occur between central and frontier regions, although the animals-mounds of the north-west present some difficulties. The Mound-builders were an agricultural people. Tribes that live by hunting never build extensive public works, neither would the chase support a sufficiently large population for the erection of such works. Moreover, the location of the monuments in the most fertile sections goes far to confirm this conclusion. Some of the larger enclosures have been supposed,—only by reason of their size, however,—to have been cultivated fields; and evident traces of an ancient cultivation are found, although not clearly referable to the Mound-builders.

There is nothing to show an advanced civilization in the modern sense of the word, but they were civilized in comparison with the roving hunter-tribes of later times. They knew nothing of the use of metals beyond the mere hammering of native masses of copper and silver; they built no stone structures; they had seemingly made no approach to the higher grades of hieroglyphic writing. Their civilization as recorded by its material relics consisted of a knowledge of agriculture; considerable skill in the art of fortification; much greater skill than that of the Indians in the manufacture of pottery and the carving of stone pipes; the mathematical knowledge displayed in the laying-out of perfect circles and accurate angles, and in the correspondence in size between different works. Their earth-works show more perseverance than skill; no one of them necessarily implies the use of mechanical aids to labor; there is none that a large number of men might not construct by carrying earth in simple baskets.

All traces of their architecture have disappeared. It has been suggested that were the temples yet standing on their pyramidal foundations, they might compare favorably with those of Central America and Mexico. But the construction of wooden edifices with any pretensions to grandeur and symmetry, by means of stone and soft copper tools, seems absolutely impossible; at least such structures would require infinitely greater skill than that displayed by the Nahuas and Mayas, and it is more reasonable to suppose that the temples of the Mound-builders were rude wooden buildings.

The monuments imply a wide-spread religious system under a powerful priesthood; private devotion manifests itself on a scale less magnificent, and one involving less hard work. Of their rites we know nothing. The altar-mounds suggest sacrifice; burned human bones, human sacrifice. Gateways on the east, and the east and west direction of embankments and skeletons may connect worship with the sun; but all is conjecture. No idols, known to be such, have been found; the cemeteries, if any of them belong to the Mound-builders, show no uniform usage in burial. The ancient people lived under a system of government considerably advanced, more than likely in the hands of the priesthood, but of its details we know nothing. A social condition involving some form of slavery would be most favorable for the construction of such works.

The monuments described are not the work of the Indian tribes found in the country, nor of any tribes resembling them in institutions. Those tribes had no definite tradition even of past contact with a superior people, and it is only in the south among the little-known Natchez, that slight traces of a descent from, or imitation of, the Mound-builders appear. Most and the best authorities deem it impossible that the Mound-builders were even the remote ancestors of the Indian tribes; and while inclined to be less positive than most who have written on the subject respecting the possible changes that may have been effected by a long course of centuries, I think that the evidence of a race locally extinct is much stronger here than in any other part of the continent.

The monuments are not sufficient in themselves to absolutely prove or disprove the truth of any one of the following theories: 1st. An indigenous culture springing up among the Mississippi tribes, founded on agriculture, fostered by climate and other unknown circumstances, constantly growing through long ages, driving back the surrounding walls of savagism, but afterwards weakened by unknown causes, yielding gradually to savage hordes, and finally annihilated or driven in remnants from their homes southward. 2d. A colony from the southern peoples already started in the path of civilization, growing as before in power, but at last forced to yield their homes into the possession of savages. 3d. A migrating colony from the north, dwelling long in the land, gradually increasing in power and culture, constantly extending their dominion southward, and finally abandoning voluntarily or against their will, the north for the more favored south, where they modified or originated the southern civilization.

The last theory, long a very popular one, is in itself less consistent and receives less support from the relics than the others. The second, which has some points in common with the first, is most reasonable and best supported by monumental and traditional evidence. The temple-mounds strongly resemble in their principal features the southern pyramids; at least they imply a likeness of religious ideas in the builders. The use of obsidian implements shows a connection, either through origin, war, or commerce, with the Mexican nations, or at least with nations who came in contact with the Nahuas. There are, moreover, several Nahua traditions respecting the arrival on their coasts from the north-east, of civilized strangers. There is very little evidence that the Mound-builders introduced in the south the Nahua civilization, and none whatever that the Aztec migration started from the Mississippi Valley, but I am inclined to believe that there was actually a connection between the two peoples; that the Mound-builders, or those that introduced their culture, were originally a Nahua colony, and that these people may be referred to in some of the traditions mentioned. Without claiming to be able to determine exactly the relation between the Mound-builders and Nahuas, I shall have something further to say on this subject in another volume.

Antiquity of the Monuments

The works were not built by a migrating people, but by a race that lived long in the land. It seems unlikely that the results attained could have been accomplished in less than four or five centuries. Nothing indicates that the time did not extend to thousands of years, but it is only respecting the minimum time that there can be any grounds for reasonable conjecture. If we suppose the civilization indigenous, of course a much longer period must be assigned to its development than if it was introduced by a migration—or rather a colonization, for civilized and semi-civilized peoples do not migrate en masse. Moreover a northern origin would imply a longer duration of time than one from the south, where a degree of civilization is known to have existed.

How long a time has elapsed since the Mound-builders abandoned their works? Here again a minimum estimate only can be sought. No work is more enduring than an embankment of earth. There is no positive internal proof that they were not standing one, five, or ten thousand years ago. The evidences of an ancient abandonment of the works, or serious decline of the builders’ power, are as follows:—1st, the fact that none of them stand on the last-formed terrace of the rivers, most on the oldest terrace, and that those on the second bear in some cases marks of having been invaded by water. The rate of terrace-forming varies on different streams, and there are no sufficient data for estimating in years the time required for the formation of any one of the terraces, at least scientific men are careful not to give a definite opinion in the matter; but it is evident that each required a very long period, and the last one a much longer time than any of the others, on account of the gradual longitudinal leveling of the river-beds. 2d. The complete disappearance of all wooden structures, which must have been of great solidity. 3d. The advanced state of decomposition of human bones in a soil well calculated for their preservation. Skeletons are found in Europe well preserved at a known age of eighteen hundred years. 4th. The absence of the Mound-builders from the traditions of modern tribes. Nothing would seem more likely to be preserved in mythic or historic traditions than contact with a superior people, and the mounds would serve to keep the traditions alive. 5th. The fact that the monuments were covered in the seventeenth century with primitive forests, uniform with those which covered the other parts of the country. In this latitude the age of a forest tree may be much more accurately determined than in tropical climates; and trees from four to five hundred years old have been examined in many well-authenticated cases over mounds and embankments. Equally large trees in all stages of decomposition were found at their feet on and under the ground, so that the abandonment of the works must be dated back at least twice the actual age of the standing trees. It is a fact well known to woodsmen that when cultivated land is abandoned the first growth is very unlike the original forest, both in the species and size of the trees, and that several generations would be required to restore the primitive timber. Consequently a thousand years must have passed since some of the works were abandoned. The monuments of the Mississippi present stronger internal evidence of great antiquity than any others in America, although it by no means follows that they are older than Palenque and Copan. The height of the Mound-builders’ power should not, without very positive external evidence, be placed at a later date than the fifth or sixth century of our era.

Footnotes

[XIII-1] The chief authorities consulted for this chapter on the remains of the Mississippi Valley, are the following:

Squier and Davis, Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley. Washington, 1848. Squier’s Antiquities of the State of New York. Id., Observations on Aboriginal Monuments of the Mississippi Valley. New York, 1847. Id., Serpent Symbol.

Atwater’s Antiquities of Ohio, and other accounts in the Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transactions.

Schoolcraft’s Archives of Aboriginal Knowledge.

Warden, Recherches sur les Antiquités de l’Amérique du Nord.

Jones’ Antiquities of the Southern Indians.

Pidgeon’s Traditions of Decoodah.

Lapham’s Antiquities of Wisconsin. Washington, 1853.

Whittlesey’s Ancient Mining on the Shores of Lake Superior.

Bradford’s American Antiquities.

Foster’s Pre-Historic Races.

Id., Mississippi Valley.

Smithsonian Institution, Reports.

Tylor’s Researches.

American Ethnological Soc., Transactions.

Dickeson’s Amer. Numismatic Manual.

Bancroft, A. A., Antiquities of Licking County, Ohio. MS. The writer of this manuscript, my father, was for fifty years a resident of Licking County, where he has examined more or less carefully about forty enclosures and two hundred mounds.

Chapter XIV • Peruvian Antiquities • 3,200 Words

Two Epochs of Peruvian Civilization—Aboriginal Government, Religion, and Arts—Contrasts—The Huacas—Human Remains—Articles of Metal—Copper Implements—Gold and Silver Vases and Ornaments—Use of Iron unknown—Aboriginal Engineering—Paved Roads—Peruvian Pottery—Ruins of Pachacamac—Mausoleum of Cuelap—Gran-Chimú—Huaca of Misa—Temple of the Sun—Remains on the Island of Titicaca—Chavin de Huanta—Huanuco el Viejo—Cuzco—Monuments of Tiahuanaco—Island of Coati.

I conclude with a short chapter on Peruvian antiquities, made up for the most part from the work of Rivero and Tschudi, and illustrated with the cuts copied from that work for Mr Baldwin’s account.[XIV-1]Rivero and Tschudi, Antigüedades Peruanas, Viena, 1851, with atlas; Rivero, Antigüedades Peruanas, Lima, 1841; Rivero and Tschudi’s Peruvian Antiquities, N. Y., 1855; this translation is in many instances very faulty; Baldwin’s Ancient America, pp. 226-56. Ancient Peru included also modern Ecuador, Bolivia, and a large part of Chili; and the most remarkable monuments of antiquity are considered the works of a people preceding that found by Pizarro in possession of the country, and bearing very much the same relation to the subjects of the Incas as the ancient Mayas bore to the Quichés of Guatemala, or perhaps the Toltecs to the Aztecs. The Peruvians that came into contact with the Spaniards were superior in some respects to the Aztecs. At least equally advanced in the various mechanical and fine arts, except sculpture and architectural decoration, they lived under as perfect a system of government, and rendered homage to less bloodthirsty gods. They kept their records by means of quipus, or knotted strings, a method probably as useful practically as the Aztec picture-writing, but not so near an approach to an alphabet; while the more ancient nations have left nothing to compare with the hieroglyphic tablets of Central America, and the evidence is far from satisfactory that they possessed any advanced art in writing. It will be seen from the specimens to be presented that their architecture, though perhaps more massive than that of Mayas or Nahuas, is not on the whole of a superior character. The most marked contrasts are found in the occurrence in Peru of cyclopean structures, the use of larger blocks of stone, the comparative absence of the pyramidal foundations, of architectural and hieroglyphic sculpture, and the more extensive use of adobes as a building-material.

Metallic Relics

Peruvian Copper Implements.

Golden Vase from Peru.

Huaca is the Peruvian name for any venerated or holy structure, but is usually applied to the conical mounds of the country, mostly mounds of sepulture. Thousands of these have been opened and from them have been taken a great variety of relics, together with preserved mummies wrapped in native cloth. The relics include implements and ornaments of metal, stone, bone, shell, and wood. The Peruvians seem to have had a more abundant supply of metals than the civilized nations of North America, and to have been at least equally skillful in working them. The cuts show specimens of copper cutting implements, of which a great variety are found. Besides copper, they had gold and silver in much greater abundance than the northern artisans, and the arts of melting, casting, soldering, beating, inlaying, and carving these metals, were carried to a high degree of perfection. Every one has read the marvelous accounts, naturally exaggerated, but still with much foundation in truth, of the immense quantities of gold obtained by the Spaniards in Peru; of the room filled with golden utensils by the natives as a ransom for the Inca Atahuallpa. A golden vase is shown in the cut. Large quantities of gold have been taken in more modern times from the huacas, where it was doubtless placed in many cases to keep it from the hands of the conquerors. Most of the articles have of course gone to the melting-pot, but sufficient specimens have been preserved or sketched to show the degree of excellence to which the Peruvian smiths had attained. The following cut shows a silver vase. The search for treasure in the huacas still goes on, and is not always unrewarded. Tin, lead, and quicksilver are said to have been worked by the natives. Iron ore is very abundant in Peru, but the only evidence that iron was used is the difficulty of executing the native works of excavation and cutting stone without it, and the fact that the metal had a name in the native language. No traces of it have ever been found. The cut shows two copper tweezers.

Silver Vase from Peru.

Copper Implements from Peru.

Aboriginal Roads

Among the most remarkable Peruvian remains are the paved roads which crossed the country in every direction, especially from north to south. Two of the grandest highways extended from the region north of Quito southward to Cuzco, and according to some authors still farther to Chili. One runs over the mountains, the other chiefly through the plains. Their length is at least twelve hundred miles, and the grading of the mountain road presented, as Mr Baldwin believes, far greater difficulties than the Pacific Railroad. These roads are from eighteen to twenty-six feet wide, protected at the sides by a thick wall, and paved generally with stone blocks, but sometimes with a mixture of cement and fine stone—an aboriginal infringement on the ‘Macadam’ process. The highways followed a straight course, and turned aside for no obstacle. Ravines and marshes were filled up with masonry, and the solid rock of the mountains was cut away for many miles. But when rivers were encountered, light suspension bridges seem to have been resorted to instead of massive stone bridges. It is true that the most glowing accounts of these roads are found in the writings of the Conquistadores, and that only ruined portions now remain; but the reports of Humboldt and others, respecting the remains, leave little doubt of their former imposing character.

Peruvian Pottery.

Articles of pottery, of which three specimens are shown in the cuts, are at least equal in material and finish to those produced by Nahua and Maya potters. The finest specimens are vases found in sepulchral deposits, and many utensils designed for more common use are preserved by the present inhabitants, and are preferred for their solidity to the work of modern potters. Small images of human and animal forms in terra cotta, as in gold and silver, are of even more frequent occurrence than utensils. There is no evidence that the images were fashioned with a different purpose here and in the north; some were simply ornaments, a few probably portraits, others miniature deities, deposited from superstitious motives with the dead.

Peruvian Pottery.

City of the Incas

About twenty miles south of Lima, in the valley of Lurin, and overlooking the sea, are the ruins of Pachacamac, shown in the cut. This was a city of the Incas, that is, it belonged to the later period of Peruvian civilization. All the structures were built of adobes, and are much dilapidated. The Temple of the Sun stands on a hill six hundred feet high, the upper portion of which shows traces of having been divided into terraces over thirty feet high and five to eight feet wide. The adobe wall which surrounds the temple is from eight to eleven feet thick, and is only standing to the height of four to five feet. The ruined structures are very numerous, and on one of the inner walls some traces of red and yellow paint are visible.

Ruins of Pachacamac.

In the district of Santo Tomas in the north, at Cuelap, a grand and peculiar ruin is described by Sr Nieto in an official government report. A mass—of earth, probably, although not fully examined in the interior—is faced with a solid wall of hewn stone, and is thirty-six hundred feet long, five hundred and seventy feet wide, and one hundred and fifty feet in perpendicular height. On the summit stands another similar structure six hundred by five hundred feet and also one hundred and fifty feet high. The lower wall is pierced with three entrances to an inclined plane leading in a curved line to the summit, with sentry-boxes at intervals and on the summit. These passages are six feet wide at the base but only two at the top, and those of the second story are similar. In both stories there are chambers, in the walls of which and in the outer walls there are small niches containing skeletons. Some of the upper chambers are paved with large flat stones, on each of which lies a skeleton. The report of this immense structure is probably founded on fact but greatly exaggerated.

Ruins of Gran-Chimú

Adobe Walls at Gran-Chimú.

Decorations at Gran-Chimú.

The ruins of Gran-Chimú, in the vicinity of Truxillo, cover an area of three quarters of a league, and beyond these limits are seven or eight great enclosures with adobe walls, in some of which are conical mounds, or huacas, and some traces of buildings. The two principal structures, called palaces, are surrounded by walls one hundred and forty feet high, sixteen feet thick at the base, but tapering to three or four feet at the top. Round one of the palaces the wall is double, as shown by the section in the cut. The English translation of Rivero, instead of surrounding one of the palaces with a double wall like the original, represents one wall as being twice as high and thick as the other. These walls, like all the structures of Gran-Chimú, are of adobes nine by eighteen inches, resting on a foundation of rough stones laid in clay. In connection with the larger palace is a square containing apartments, the walls of which are a conglomerate of gravel and clay, smooth, and whitewashed on the interior. There are also plazas and streets regularly laid out, and a reservoir which by a subterranean aqueduct was supplied with water from the Rio Moche two miles distant. This palace—and by palace, a group of edifices within an enclosure, rather than a single edifice, seems to be meant—has two entrances, one in the middle of each long side. The second palace is one hundred and twenty five yards further east, and is also divided by squares and narrow streets. At one end is the huaca of Misa, surrounded by a low wall, pierced by galleries and rooms in which have been found mummies, cloths, gold and silver, implements, and a wooden idol with pieces of pearl-shell. All the inner walls are built of a mass of clay and gravel or of adobes. The cut shows specimens of the ornamentation, which seem to bear outwardly a slight resemblance to the mosaic work of Mitla, although the method of their construction is not explained. “Outside of these notable edifices, there is an infinite number of squares and small houses, some round and others square, which were certainly dwellings of the lower classes, and whose great extent indicates that the population must have been very large.” Among the ruins are many truncated conical mounds, or huacas, of fine gravel, from some of which interesting relics and large quantities of gold have been taken. The so-called Temple of the Sun is three quarters of a league east of the city near Moche, in connection with which are several adobe structures, one of them, perhaps the temple itself, so far as may be determined by Rivero’s vague account, made worse than vague in the English translation, is a regular pyramid of adobes. It is four hundred and fourteen by four hundred and thirty feet at the base, three hundred and forty-five feet wide on the summit, and over eighty feet high, built in terraces, pierced with a gallery through the centre, and affording a fine view of the sea and the city of Truxillo.

Ruins of Huanuco

Ruin at Titicaca.

The cut represents a ruin on the Island of Titicaca in the lake of the same name. These island remains are among the oldest of Peruvian antiquities, and all the structures are built of hewn stone. Respecting these ruins we only learn from the explorers that “though not very imposing” they are well preserved, “with windows and doors, with posts and thresholds of hewn stone also, these being wider below than above.” Another ruin on the same island is shown in the cut on the following page.

At Chavin de Huanta the structures are built of hewn stone very accurately joined without any mortar in sight on the outside, and a rubble of rough stones and clay on the inside. In a building spoken of as a fortress there is a covered way with rooms at its sides, all covered with sandstone blocks about twelve feet long. The walls are six feet thick, and in the interior is the opening to a subterranean passage which is said to lead under the river to another building. In the gallery human bones and some relics were found. The modern town is built mostly over the ruins of an ancient aqueduct, and a bridge over the stream is built of three immense stones, each over twenty feet long, taken from the fort. The ancient people were especially skillful in the construction of aqueducts, some of which were reported by the early writers as several hundred miles in length, and a few of which of less extent are still in actual use.

Ruins of Huanuco

El Mirador—Huanuco.

Ruins at Titicaca.

The cut represents the Mirador, or look-out, at Huanuco el Viejo. This structure measures about one hundred by one hundred and sixty feet at the base, and is about fifteen feet high, in a pyramidal form without terraces and furnished with a parapet wall enclosing the summit platform. The foundation is of rough stones, which form two steps projecting four or five feet, not clearly indicated in the cut. The walls or facings are of hewn blocks of limestone about four feet and a half long by a foot and a half thick. The blocks are very accurately cut and laid in cement. The interior is filled with gravel and clay, with a concavity in the centre popularly supposed to communicate by means of a subterranean gallery with the palace some half a mile distant. From a doorway in the parapet wall on the south an inclined plane—which seems often to have taken the place of a stairway in Peru—leads down to the ground. On the wall at each side of the entrance crouches an animal in stone, so much damaged that its kind cannot be determined.

Gateway at Huanuco.

Another noted ruin at Huanuco is that whose entrance is shown in the cut. The walls are of round stones irregularly laid in mortar, a kind of rubble called by the Peruvians pirca, but the gateway, shown in the cut, is built of hewn blocks three varas—as Rivero says, probably meaning feet—by one and a half. The lintel is one stone block eleven feet long, and the inclined posts are said to be of one piece, although the cut indicates that each is composed of four. The animals sculptured over the gateway at the sides are called monkeys by Rivero. Within the structure there are five similar gateways shown in the preceding cut and in the following ground plan. In the interior are rooms of cut stone, with niches in the walls, an aqueduct, and a reservoir. The quarries that supplied the stone for the Huanuco structures are still seen about half a mile away. Many traces of buildings of round stones in clay are found in the same vicinity.

Ground Plan—Huanuco.

Near Chupan, a tower is mentioned on the verge of a precipice overhanging the Rio Marañon. In the district of Junin there is a line or system of fortifications on the precipitous cliffs of a ravine, built mostly of micaceous slate. At Cuzco are some remains of the city of the Incas, and there is said to be some evidence that this city was founded on the ruins of another of an earlier epoch; the latter including part of the fortification of Ollantaytambo, built of stones cut in irregular forms, some of them of great size, and very neatly joined.

Monuments of Tiahuanaco

The ruins at Tiahuanaco, ten or twelve miles from Lake Titicaca, are considered among the most ancient in Peru. They include stones from fifteen to twenty feet high, some cut, others rough, standing in rows. All the structures were in a very dilapidated condition when the Spaniards came, and some very large stone statues in human form were found, with stone columns. One of the most interesting monuments is the monolithic doorway shown in the cut. The opening is seventy-six inches high and thirty-eight wide. Rivero and Tschudi represent the sculptured figures in the small squares as being profiles of the human face instead of those shown in Baldwin’s cut. There were several of these doorways. Several idols and some very large blocks of cut stone were dug up in 1846, and the latter used for mill-stones. The blocks are described as thirty feet long, eighteen feet wide, and six feet thick, being shaped so as to form a channel when one was placed upon another.

Doorway at Tiahuanaco.

A building on the Island of Coati, in Lake Titicaca, is shown in the cut. Rivero gives a view and plan of another large palace, consisting for the most part of a single line of low apartments built round three sides of a rectangular court, and bearing some resemblance, as Mr Baldwin remarks, to the Central American structures, except that it does not rest on a pyramidal foundation. Rock-inscriptions of the same rude class so often mentioned in the northern continent, occur also in Peru, although somewhat less frequently, so far as may be judged by the reports of explorers.

Ruin on the Island of Coati.

Conclusion

The contents of the preceding pages may be sufficient to show the reader that the resemblance between the southern and northern monuments, if any resemblance exists, is very faint. The Maya and Peruvian peoples may have been one in remote antiquity; if so, the separation took place at a period long preceding any to which we are carried by the material relics of the Votanic empire, and of the most ancient epoch of the southern civilization, or even by traditional annals and the vaguest myths. There seems to be a natural tendency even among antiquarians to attribute all American civilizations to a common origin, constantly moving back the date as investigation progresses. This tendency has much in common with that which so persistently traces American civilization to the old world, old-world culture to one centre, the human race to one pair, and the first pair to a special creation, performed at a definite time and point in Asia. Be the results of the tendency referred to true or false, it is evident that superstition has contributed more than science to the zeal that has supported them.

Footnotes

[XIV-1] Rivero and Tschudi, Antigüedades Peruanas, Viena, 1851, with atlas; Rivero, Antigüedades Peruanas, Lima, 1841; Rivero and Tschudi’s Peruvian Antiquities, N. Y., 1855; this translation is in many instances very faulty; Baldwin’s Ancient America, pp. 226-56.

Volume Five • Primative History

Preface to Volume V • 300 Words

This volume concludes the Native Races of the Pacific States. During the year in which it has been going through the press, I have received letters of encouragement from the most eminent scholars of Europe and America, and flattering commendations from learned societies. None but an author can know the value of such cheering words. This, my first attempt, was made in a new field; the scope of the work was very extensive; the system and machinery by which alone it could be accomplished were untried; and the subject was not one of great popular interest. It was not, therefore, without misgivings that I sent it forth.

That the work had been so planned as to embody practically all information extant on what I had come to regard as an important subject, and that the plan had been faithfully executed, I thoroughly believed. But that others would, to any great extent, share my opinion; that the subject would interest so many classes of readers; that mine would be so quickly and cordially recognized by men of science and letters throughout the world as a work worth doing and well done; and that it would be at once accorded a place in literature, I had not dared to hope. The leading journals of England, France, Germany, and the United States, have deemed the volumes as issued worthy of extended reviews; and criticism for the most part has been liberal, and just—save a tendency to what might seem, to a mind less prejudiced than mine, extravagant praise. Minor defects have been fairly pointed out; and in the few instances where fault has been found, either with the plan or its execution, one critic condemns what another approves, so that I am led to believe no serious error of judgment has been committed.

I cannot here make proper acknowledgments to all to whom they are due; but let those who have manifested their kind good-will, and those who have not, so long as they feel it, accept my grateful thanks.

San Francisco, November, 1875.

Chapter I • On the Origin of the Americans • 57,300 Words

Spirit of Inquiry in the Middle Ages—Unity of Origin—Flood Myths—Aboriginal Traditions of Origin—Culture-Heroes—China—Japan—Hindostan—Tartary—The Egyptian Theory—The Phœnicians—Votan’s Travels—The Carthaginians—The Hebrew Theory—The Mormon Story—The Visits of the Scandinavians—Celtic Origin—The Welsh—Scotch—Irish—The Greeks and Romans—The Story of Atlantis—the Autochthonic Theory.

When it first became known to Europe that a new continent had been discovered, the wise men, philosophers, and especially the learned ecclesiastics, were sorely perplexed to account for such a discovery. A problem was placed before them, the solution of which was not to be found in the records of the ancients. On the contrary, it looked as if old-time traditions must give way, the infallibility of revealed knowledge must be called in question, even the holy scriptures must be interpreted anew. Another world, upheaved, as it were, from the depths of the Sea of Darkness, was suddenly placed before them. Strange races, speaking strange tongues, peopled the new land; curious plants covered its surface; animals unknown to science roamed through its immense forests; vast seas separated it from the known world; its boundaries were undefined; its whole character veiled in obscurity. Such was the mystery that, without rule or precedent, they were now required to fathom.

And what were their qualifications to grapple with such a subject? Learning had been almost exclusively the property of the Church, and although from its fold many able writers and profound thinkers had been evolved, yet the teachings of science and the speculations of philosophy were ever held subordinate to the holy scriptures. Now and then it is true some gleams of important truth would flash up in the writings of some philosopher disconnected with the religious orders illuminating the path of intellectual progress, but such writings seldom made any permanent impress upon the literature of the age. It is to the priesthood almost exclusively we have to look for any advancement for many centuries in literature, science, and art. The universally adopted view of the structure of the universe was geocentric, of the world, anthropocentric. To explain such ordinary phenomena as that of day and night, preposterous schemes were invented, like that of Cosmas Indicopleustes, who asserted that in the northern parts of the flat earth there is an immense mountain, behind which the sun passes and thus produces night.[I-1]He affirms (in a work entitled Christian Topography) that, according to the true orthodox system of geography, the earth is a quadrangular plane, extending four hundred days’ journey east and west, and exactly half as much north and south; that it is inclosed by mountains, on which the sky rests; that one on the north side, huger than the others, by intercepting the rays of the sun, produces night; and that the plane of the earth is not set exactly horizontally, but with a little inclination from the north: hence the Euphrates, Tigris, and other rivers, running southward, are rapid; but the Nile, having to run up-hill, has necessarily a very slow current.’ Draper’s Conflict between Religion and Science, p. 65. Any assertion that seemed to clash with preconceived notions of the teachings of holy writ or the writings of the fathers was looked upon with doubt and disfavor. Indeed the bible was regarded as the all-sufficient manual of science, containing all that was necessary to be known, and to inquire further was thought to be prying into the secret things of the most high.[I-2]In answer to the question: ‘What was God doing before he made the heaven and the earth? for, if at any particular moment he began to employ himself, that means time, not eternity. In eternity nothing happens—the whole is present.’ St Augustine caustically remarks: ‘I will not answer this question by saying that he was preparing hell for pryers into his mysteries.’ The learning of the masses consisted not in the acquisition of knowledge, but in the blind and meaningless repetition of prescribed maxims, in forms of rhetoric, in anything except that which would enlighten the mind and impart true wisdom; it was, in short, a systematic course of leading men as far as possible away from the known, and leaving them lost and bewildered in a labyrinth of uncertainty and doubt.[I-3]The teachings of the Church were beyond controversy, the decisions of the Church were final; and not only in religion but in legislation and in science ‘the pervading principle was a blind unhesitating credulity.’ See Buckle’s Civilization, vol. i., p. 307. The Bishop of Darien once quoted Plato in the presence of Las Casas. “Plato,” Las Casas replied, “was a Gentile, and is now burning in hell, and we are only to make use of his doctrine as far as it is consistent with our holy Faith and Christian customs.” Helps’ Life of Las Casas, p. 120.

Science in the Middle Ages

When, therefore, the questions arose, whence were these new lands peopled? how came these strange animals and plants to exist on a continent cut off by vast oceans from the rest of the world? the wise men of the time unhesitatingly turned to the sacred scriptures for an answer. These left them no course but to believe that all mankind were descended from one pair. This was a premise that must by no means be disputed. The original home of the first pair was generally supposed to have been situated in Asia Minor; the ancestors of the people found in the New World must consequently have originally come from the Old World, though at what time and by what route was an open question, an answer to which was diligently sought for both in the sacred prophecies and in the historical writings of antiquity.[I-4]As an example of the intolerance displayed by these early writers, and of the bitterness with which they attacked those few thinkers who dared to theorize without letting theological dogmas stand in their way, I translate the following passage from García, who is one of the most comprehensive writers upon the origin of the Americans: ‘We would like not even to remember the unworthy opinions of certain veritable blasphemers, more barbarous than the Indians, which do not even deserve the name of opinions, but rather of follies: namely, that, perhaps, the first Indians might have been generated from the earth, or from its putrefaction, aided by the sun’s heat, as (Avicena allowing this production to be easy in men) Andres Cisalpino attempted to make credible, giving them less perfection than Empedocles, who said that men had been born like the wild amaranth, if we believe Marcus Varron…. Of the formation of man, though of straw and mud, the people of Yucatan, had light; which nonsense is not inferior to the attempts of those who made men by means of chemistry, or magic (described by Solorcano) giving it to be understood that there may be others besides the descendants of Adam, contrary to the teachings of scripture: for which reason Taurelo feels indignant against Cisalpino, whose attempt would be reprehensible even as a paradox. Not less scandalous was the error of the ignorant Paracelso, according to Reusnero and Kirchero, who left to posterity an account of the creation of two Adams, one in Asia, and another in the West Indies; an inexcusable folly in one who had (though corruptly) information of the Catholic doctrine. Not less erroneous is the opinion of Isaac de La Peyrere, who placed people on the earth before Adam was created, from whom, he said, descended the heathen; from Adam, the Hebrews; which folly was punished with eternal contempt by Felipe Priorio, Juan Bautista Morino, Juan Hilperto, and others, Danhavero giving it the finishing stroke by an epitaph, as Dicterico relates: although some of the parties named state that La Peyrere became repentant and acknowledged his error, and did penance, which the Orientals, from whom he took that absurdity, have not done. These, and others of the same nature, may not be held as opinions, but as evidences of blindness published by men of doubtful faith, wise, in their own esteem, and deceivers of the world, who, with lies and fraud, oppose the divine word, as St Clemens Alexandrinus says, closing their ears to truth, and blindfolding themselves with their vices, for whom contempt is the best reward.’ Orígen de los Ind., p. 248. García spent nine years in Peru, devoting himself to the study of three points: the history of the natives before the arrival of the Spaniards, the origin of the natives, and the question as to whether the apostles preached the gospel in America. On his return to Spain, he concluded to write only upon the second topic, leaving the others for a future time.

But if the more modern writers on this subject have been less hampered by unanswerable and impassable dogmas; if they have been able to believe that there may be some difficult questions upon which the Bible throws no light; if they have felt themselves free to discuss, without impiety, the possibility of all mankind not having sprung from one pair, their theories are scarcely less wild, their reasoning is but little sounder, their tendency to establish maxims by which any given problem may be solved is no more satisfactory.

Spirit of Inquiry

Theories in themselves are good things, for they lead us to facts; it is often through the doubtful or the false that we attain the truth; as Darwin says: “False facts are highly injurious to the progress of science, for they often long endure; but false views, if supported by some evidence, do little harm, as every one takes a salutary pleasure in proving their falseness; and when this is done, one path towards error is closed, and the truth is often at the same time opened.”[I-5]Descent of Man, vol. ii., p. 368. But the value of inquiry depends much upon the spirit in which it is made, and therefore it is that the manner in which most of the writers who have speculated on the origin of the Americans have conducted their researches, is greatly to be deplored. Their work does not impress one as being a steadfast striving to develop unstable postulates into proven facts, but rather as a reckless rushing, regardless of all obstacles, to a preconceived conclusion. They do not offer a theory as a suggestion of what might possibly be, but as a demonstration founded upon an unassailable basis. Each imagines that he has hit upon the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth; he asserts that the Aztecs were of Hebrew descent—that is settled; to prove this he clutches at the lightest straws in the way of analogies, and if the facts obstinately refuse to fit his theory, then—tant pis pour les faits—he warps them till they do fit.

But analogies, even when fairly drawn, are by no means conclusive evidence. So much depends upon the environment of a people, that a similarity in that particular is of itself sufficient to account for most of the resemblances which have been discovered between the customs, religion, and traditions of the Americans, and those of Old World nations.[I-6]The value of proof by analogy has been questioned by many eminent authors. Humboldt writes: ‘On n’est pas en droit de supposer des communications partout où l’on trouve, chez des peuples à demi barbares, le culte du soleil, ou l’usage de sacrifier des victimes humaines.’ Vues, tom. i., p. 257. ‘The instances of customs, merely arbitrary, common to the inhabitants of both hemispheres, are, indeed, so few and so equivocal, that no theory concerning the population of the New World ought to be founded upon them.’ As regards religious rites, ‘the human mind, even where its operations appear most wild and capricious, holds a course so regular, that in every age and country the dominion of particular passions will be attended with similar effects.’ Robertson’s Hist. Amer., vol. i., p. 269. Warden remarks that nations known to be distinct, to have had no intercourse, breed similar customs—these, therefore, grow from physical and moral causes. Recherches, p. 205. ‘In attempting to trace relations between them and the rest of mankind, we cannot expect to discover proofs of their derivation from any particular tribe or nation of the Old Continent.’ Prichard’s Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., p. 494. ‘To tell an inquirer who wishes to deduce one population from another that certain distant tribes agree with the one under discussion in certain points of resemblance, is as irrelevant as to tell a lawyer in search of the next of kin to a client deceased, that though you know of no relations, you can find a man who is the very picture of him in person—a fact good enough in itself, but not to the purpose.’ Latham’s Man and his Migrations, pp. 74-5.

For my own part I have no theory upon the subject—would have no theory. The problem of the origin of the American aborigines is, in my opinion, enveloped in as much obscurity now as it ever was; and when I consider the close proximity of the north-western and north-eastern extremities of America to Asia and Europe; the unthought of and fortuitous circumstances that may at any time have cast any people upon the American coasts; the mighty convulsions that may have changed the whole face of the earth during the uncounted years that man may have dwelt upon its surface; and lastly, the uncertainty, perhaps I might say improbability, of the descent of mankind from one pair;—when I think of all these things it seems to me that the peopling of America may have been accomplished in so many ways that no more hopeless task could be conceived than the endeavor to discover the one particular manner of it.

In the following résumé I wish neither to tear down nor to build up, but simply to give an account of what has been thought and written upon the subject, and to show, with as little criticism as possible, the foundation upon which each theory stands. Of the comparative value of the opinions the reader must be his own judge. Of the value of this discussion of the subject there is this to be said; as a curiosity, showing the color given to mind by its environment, showing the blind and almost frenzied[I-7]Certainly many of the writers must have been either fools or demented, if we judge them by their work and arguments. efforts of different men of different epochs, creeds, and culture, to fathom a hitherto unfathomable mystery,—this, together with the collateral light thrown upon the subject of aboriginal America, if there be no other advantage in it, will amply repay the investigation.

Descendants of Noah

The earliest writers required three propositions to be taken for granted:[I-8]Garcia, Origen de los Ind., pp. 7-12. First, that the entire human race are descended from one original pair, and from Noah through Shem, Ham, and Japheth; second, that America was peopled from one of three sources—Asia, Africa, or Europe; third, that all knowledge arises from one of four sources—knowledge pure and absolute, from a knowledge of causes; opinion more or less uncertain; divine faith, sure and infallible, based upon the holy scriptures as interpreted by the Church; human faith, dependent upon the statements of men. The first of these four sources of knowledge throws no light upon the subject; the third is equally useless here, since the scriptures are silent after the time of Noah, though, as we shall presently see, huge endeavors have been made to make them speak; as for the fourth, Europeans, even if they conjectured the possible existence of an undiscovered continent, were certain that it was not inhabited,[I-9]When De Gama established the globular form of the earth by his voyage round the Cape of Good Hope, in 1497-8, ‘the political consequences that at once ensued placed the Papal Government in a position of great embarrassment. Its traditions and policy forbade it to admit any other than the flat figure of the earth, as revealed in the Scriptures.’ In 1520 Magellan discovered the strait which now bears his name, and ‘henceforth the theological doctrine of the flatness of the earth was irretrievably overthrown.’ Draper’s Conflict, pp. 163-5. St Augustin affirmed that the world beyond the tropic of cancer was uninhabited. ‘Ea vero veterum sententia, perspicua atque inuicta, vt ipsis videbatur, ratione nitebatur. Nam vt quæque regio ad meridiem propius accedit, ita solis ardoribus magis expositam animaduerterant, idque adeo verum est, vt in eadem Italiæ prouincia Apuliam Liguria, & in nostra Hispania Bæticam Cantabria vsque adeo feruentiorem nota re liceat, vt per gradus vixdum octo grande frigoris & æstus discrimen sit.’ Acosta, De Natura Novi Orbis, fol. 27. ‘Lactantius Firmianus, and St. Austin, who strangely jear’d at as ridiculous, and not thinking fit for a Serious Answer the Foolish Opinion of Antipodes, or another Habitable World beyond the Equator: At which, Lactantius Drolling, says, what, Forsooth, here is a fine Opinion broach’d indeed; an Antipodes! heigh-day! People whose Feet tread with ours, and walk Foot to Foot with us; their Heads downwards, and yet drop not into the Sky! There, yes, very likely, the Trees loaden with Fruit grow downwards, and it Rains, Hails, and Snows upwards; the Roofs and Spires of Cities, tops of Mountains, point at the Sky beneath them, and the Rivers revers’d topsi-turvy, ready to flow into the Air out of their Channels.’ Ogilby’s America, pp. 6-7. The ancients believed a large portion of the globe to be uninhabitable by reason of excessive heat, which must have greatly deterred discovery. while the Americans were entirely ignorant of the part of the world from which they sprang.

Unity or Diversity of Origin

The first of the three propositions mentioned above, namely, that all mankind are descended from one original pair, seems to have been taken for granted by almost all the writers, ancient and modern, who have had some theory to sustain respecting the origin of the Americans.[I-10]Touching the question whether the Americans and the people of the old world are of common origin, see: Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 1-31; Tylor’s Anahuac, p. 104; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iv., pp. 14-24; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 1-31; Ramirez, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iv., p. 54; M’Culloh’s Researches on Amer., pp. 175-8; Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, p. 260; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 66-80; Prescott’s Mex., vol. iii., p. 389; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 237-49, 351, 354, 420-35; Charlevoix, quoted in Carver’s Trav., pp. 197-8; Fontaine’s How the World was Peopled, p. 17, et seq.; Crowe’s Cent. Amer., p. 61; Williams’ Enquiry into Tradition; Chevalier, Mexique, p. 134; Wilson’s Pre-Hist. Man, pp. 611-14, 485-6; Carli, Cartas, pt i., p. 16; Chamisso, in Kotzebue’s Voyage, vol. ii., pp. 405-6; Prichard’s Researches, vol. v., pp. 541-6; Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 22, 31. Innumerable other speculations have been made on this point, but in most cases by men who were but poorly qualified to deal with a subject requiring not only learning, but a determination to investigate fairly and without bias. Adair’s reasoning in this connection will serve to illustrate: ‘God employed six days, in creating the heavens, this earth, and the innumerable species of creatures, wherewith it is so amply furnished. The works of a being, infinitely perfect, must entirely answer the design of them: hence there could be no necessity for a second creation; or God’s creating many pairs of the human race differing from each other, and fitted for different climates; because, that implies imperfection, in the grand scheme, or a want of power, in the execution of it—Had there been a prior, or later formation of any new class of creatures, they must materially differ from those of the six days work; for it is inconsistent with divine wisdom to make a vain, or unnecessary repetition of the same act. But the American Indians neither vary from the rest of mankind, in their internal construction, nor external appearance, except in colour; which, as hath been shewn, is either entirely accidental, or artificial. As the Mosaic account declares a completion of the manifestation of God’s infinite wisdom and power in creation, within that space of time; it follows, that the Indians have lineally descended from Adam, the first, and the great parent of all the human species.’ Amer. Ind., pp. 11-12. To the works of those modern scientists, such as Lyell, Darwin, and others, who have treated of the unity of the human species at large, I need not refer the reader here. An excellent résumé of the subject will, however, be found in Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 353-67. The question of the unity of the human race, as considered without bias by modern scientific men, remains, however, undetermined; though it may be fairly said that the best of the argument is on the side of those who maintain the primitive diversity of man. It happens that those who are most earnest in upholding the biblical account of the creation, and consequently the unity of man, must, to be consistent, also uphold the biblical system of chronology, which teaches that man has not existed on the earth for more than six thousand years. This is unfortunate, since it is evident that the higher we believe the antiquity of man to be, the easier it is for us to admit the unity of origin of the strongly marked varieties that now exist.[I-11]‘We find on the earliest Egyptian monuments,’ says Sir John Lubbock, ‘some of which are certainly as ancient as 2400 B.C., two great distinct types, the Arab on the east and west of Egypt, the Negro on the south. These distinct types still predominate in Egypt and the neighbouring countries. Thus, then, says Mr. Poole, in this immense interval we do not find “the least change in the Negro or the Arab; and even the type which seems to be intermediate between them is virtually as unaltered. Those who consider that length of time can change a type of man, will do well to consider the fact that three thousand years give no ratio on which a calculation could be founded.”‘ Crawfurd, also says: the millions ‘”of African Negroes that have during three centuries been transported to the New World and its islands, are the same in colour as the present inhabitants of the parent country of their forefathers. The Creole Spaniards, who have for at least as long a time been settled in tropical America, are as fair as the people of Arragon and Andalusia, with the same variety of colour in the hair and eye as their progenitors. The pure Dutch Creole colonists of the Cape of Good Hope, after dwelling two centuries among black Caffres, and yellow Hottentots, do not differ in colour from the people of Holland.”‘ Pre-Hist. Times, pp. 587-8. We find ‘upon Egyptian monuments, mostly of the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries before the Christian Era, representations of individuals of numerous nations, African, Asiatic, and European, differing in physical characteristics as widely as any equal number of nations of the present age that could be grouped together; among these being negroes of the true Nigritian stamp, depicted with a fidelity as to color and features, hardly to be surpassed by a modern artist. That such diversities had been produced by natural means in the interval between that remote age and the time of Noah, probably no one versed in the science of anatomy and physiology will consider credible.’ Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 357.

The honor of peopling America has frequently been given to Noah and his immediate descendants. But even were we sure that the tradition recorded in the Bible of Noah’s strange doings is accurate in every respect, the narrative does not throw any definite light upon his subsequent proceedings, and we must invent wonders to add to wonders if we make anything more out of it. The subject cannot be discussed intelligently, but I will give some of the opinions that have been held on the subject.

Noah’s ark, says Ulloa, gave rise to a number of such constructions; and the experience gained during the patriarch’s aimless voyage emboldened his descendants to seek strange lands in the same manner. Driven to America and the neighboring islands by winds and currents, they found it difficult to return, and so remained and peopled the land. He thinks the custom of eating raw fish at the present day among some American tribes, was acquired during these long sea voyages. That they came by sea is evident, for the north, if, indeed, the continent be connected with the old world, must be impassable by reason of intense cold.[I-12]Noticias Americanas, pp. 391-5, 405-7. On pages 286-304, he has an argument, backed by geological evidences, to show that America is the oldest continent. Ulloa, although he would not for a moment allow that there could have been more than one general creation, does not attempt to account for the presence of strange animals and plants in America; and I may observe here that this difficulty is similarly avoided by all writers of his class.[I-13]‘Were we to admit,’ say some ethnologists, ‘a unity of origin of such strongly-marked varieties as the Negro and European, differing as they do in colour and bodily constitution, each fitted for distinct climates, and exhibiting some marked peculiarities in their osteological, and even in some details of cranial and cerebral conformation, as well as in their average intellectual endowments,—if, in spite of the fact that all these attributes have been faithfully handed down unaltered for hundreds of generations, we are to believe that, in the course of time, they have all diverged from one common stock, how shall we resist the argument of the transmutationist, who contends that all closely allied species of animals and plants have in like manner sprung from a common parentage?’ Lyell’s Antiq. of Man, pp. 433-4. Lescarbot cannot see why “Noah should have experienced any difficulty in reaching America by sea, when Solomon’s ships made voyages lasting three years.”[I-14]Lescarbot, Hist. Nouv. France, lib. i., cap. iii.

Noah’s Descendants

Villagutierre,[I-15]Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 26-8. on the contrary, thinks it more probable that Noah’s sons came to America by land; an opinion also held by Thompson, who believes, however, that the continents were not disconnected until some time after the flood, by which time America was peopled from the Old World.[I-16]Pamphleteer, 1815. Thompson calculates the spreading of Noah’s children up to the time of Peleg, when the Bible declares the earth to have been divided. He also shows that this division happened earlier than is generally supposed. Orrio remarks that many have supposed that Noah, in order to be able to people the New World as well as the Old, must, during his three hundred and fifty years of post-diluvian life, have had more children than are mentioned in the bible; but in his opinion there was no necessity for more progenitors, since one woman can in two hundred and ten years become the ancestor of one million six hundred and forty-seven thousand and eighty-six persons. He thinks that Ham was the father of the American race.[I-17]Orrio, Solucion, p. 41, et seq. Torquemada also believes Ham to have been the father of the race. Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 21-30. Montanus considers it quite in accordance with Noah’s character and mission that he should have attended to the peopling of the world during his long life.[I-18]Nieuwe Weereld, p. 37. L’Estrange is of opinion that Shem and his children, who were not among the builders of Babel, moved gradually eastward, and were, further, forced in that direction even to America, by the progeny of Japheth.[I-19]L’Estrange, Americans no Jewes. We read in one of the Abbé Domenech’s works,[I-20]Deserts, vol. i., p. 26. ‘The Peruvian language,’ writes Ulloa, ‘is something like the Hebrew, and Noah’s tongue was doubtless Hebrew.’ Noticias Americanas, p. 384. that Ophir, one of Noah’s descendants, went to Peru and settled there, ruling those who went with him. Sigüenza and Sister Agnes de la Cruz, conjectured that the Americans were descended from Naphtuhim, the son of Mizraim and grandson of Ham, whose descendants left Egypt for America shortly after the confusion of tongues.[I-21]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iv., p. 17. Piñeda thinks the same.[I-22]In Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iii., p. 343. Clavigero considers it proven by the native flood-myths and traditions of foreign origin that the Americans are descendants of Noah. He quotes the tradition of Votan,[I-23]See vol. iii. of this work, p. 450, et seq. who is declared to have been closely connected with the Babel-builders, the originator of that enterprise being his uncle.[I-24]Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iv., p. 15. Heredia y Sarmiento follows Clavigero. Sermones, p. 84.

Aboriginal Flood-Myths

Let us see, now, what these flood-myths are. This I may say first, however; some of them are doubtless spurious, and few have escaped the renovating touch of the Spanish priests and chroniclers, who throughout their writings seem to think it their bounden duty to make the ideas and history of the New World correspond to those of the Old. And what the old writers have added or invented, the modern writers are, in most cases, ready and glad to accept as genuine, without doubt or question. “It is impossible,” says Viscount Kingsborough, “when reading what Mexican Mythology records of the war in heaven, and of the fall of Zontemonque and the other rebellious spirits; of the creation of light by the word of Tonacatecutli, and of the division of the waters; of the sin of Yztlacoliuhqui, and his blindness and nakedness; of the temptation of Suchiquecal, and her disobedience in gathering roses from a tree, and the consequent misery and disgrace of herself and all her posterity,—not to recognise Scriptural analogies. But the Mexican tradition of the Deluge is that which bears the most unequivocal marks of having been derived from a Hebrew source.”[I-25]Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., p. 401. Priest, Amer. Antiq., pp. 142-3, thinks that an ivory image representing a mother and child found in Cincinnati, may have been taken to Britain by the Greeks or Romans, who knew of the prophecies concerning the Virgin and Child Jesus, and thence brought to America. See, also, concerning religious belief, baptism, circumcision, and other Christian-like rites in the New World: Tylor’s Anahuac, pp. 279-80; Prescott’s Mex., vol. iii., pp. 378-85; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., pp. 17-18; M’Culloh’s Researches on Amer., pp. 111-40; Latrobe’s Rambler, pp. 205-6.

We have seen in a preceding volume how, according to the common version of the Mexican flood-myth, Coxcox and his wife Xochiquetzal were the only human beings who escaped from the great deluge which covered the face of the earth in the Age of Water. How, when the waters went down, the ark in which they had saved themselves—the hollow trunk of a bald cypress—rested upon the Peak of Culhuacan; and how the dumb children that were born to the rescued pair were taught many languages by a dove. We have also read the reputed Tarasco legend of Tezpi, which so closely resembles the biblical legend of the deluge that it cannot be discussed as a native tradition at all, but must be regarded simply as the invention of some Spanish writer who thought it his mission to show that the Hebrew traditions were familiar to the Americans.[I-26]See vol. iii., pp. 66-9, and comments in accompanying notes. In Guatemala, among the Miztecs, and in Nicaragua there were also traditions of great and destructive deluges.[I-27]Id., pp. 72-5. The Pápagos tell of a mighty flood that destroyed all life on the earth, except the hero-god Montezuma and his friend the Coyote who had foretold the deluge. Each of these made for himself an ark, and when the waters subsided and they met on the small patch of dry land that first appeared, Montezuma dispatched the Coyote four times to find out exactly how the sea lay.[I-28]Id., p. 76. Very similar is the Pima legend which relates how the prophet who would not heed the thrice repeated warnings of the Eagle was destroyed by a flood, and how Szeukha, the son of the Creator, saved himself by floating on a ball of gum or resin.[I-29]Id., pp. 78-9. The Mattoles of California regard Taylor Peak as the point at which their forefathers took refuge from a destructive flood.[I-30]Id., p. 86. Other Californian tribes have a tradition of a deluge from which the Coyote, with his usual good-fortune, was the only living thing that escaped, if we except an eagle who was miraculously formed from a single feather that floated on the face of the waters.[I-31]Id., p. 88. Lake Tahoe was formed by a flood which destroyed all mankind but a very small remnant.[I-32]Id., p. 89. The Thlinkeets relate that many persons escaped the great deluge by taking refuge in a great floating building, which, when the waters fell, grounded upon a rock and was split in twain. From this moment men spake in various tongues, for there remained in one fragment of the divided ark those whose descendants speak the Thlinkeet language, and in the other those whose descendants employ a different idiom.[I-33]Id., p. 103. The Chipewyan deluge covered all the earth except the high mountain-tops, upon which many of the people saved themselves.[I-34]Mackenzie’s Voyages, p. cxviii. The Isthmians believed that the world was peopled by a man who with his wife and children escaped the great flood. The Peruvians had several flood-myths. One of them relates that the whole face of the earth was changed by a great deluge, attended by an extraordinary eclipse of the sun which lasted five days. All living things were destroyed except one man, a shepherd, with his family and flocks. It happened in this wise. Some time before the flood this shepherd, while tending his flock of llamas, remarked that the animals appeared to be oppressed with sadness, and that they passed the whole night in attentively watching the course of the stars. Filled with amazement, he interrogated the llamas as to the cause of their concern. Directing his attention to a group of six stars, massed closely together, they answered that that was a sign that the world would shortly be destroyed by a deluge, and counseled him, if he wished to escape the universal destruction, to take refuge with his family and flocks on the top of a neighboring mountain. Acting upon this advice, the shepherd hastily collected his llamas and children and proceeded with them to the summit of mount Ancasmarca, where a crowd of other animals had already sought safety. The warning had not come a moment too soon, for scarcely had they reached the mountain-top, when the sea burst its bounds and with a terrible roaring rushed over the land. But as the waters rose higher and higher, filling the valleys and covering the plains, behold, the mountain of refuge rose with it, floating upon its surface like a ship upon the waves. This lasted five days, during which time the sun hid himself and the earth was wrapped in darkness. On the fifth day the waters began to subside, and the stars shone out on the desolate world, which was eventually re-peopled by the descendants of the shepherd of Ancasmarca.

Peruvian Flood-Myths

According to another Peruvian legend, two brothers escaped from a great deluge which overwhelmed the world in much the same manner, by ascending a mountain which floated upon the flood. When the waters had retired, they found themselves alone in the world; and having consumed all their provisions, they went down into the valleys to seek for more food. Whether they were successful in their search, the tradition does not say; but if not, their surprise must indeed have been agreeable when on returning to the hut which they had built on the mountain, they found food ready prepared for them by unknown hands. Curious to know who their benefactor could be, they took counsel together and finally agreed that one should hide himself in the hut, while the other went into the valley. The brother who remained concealed himself carefully, and his patience was soon rewarded by seeing two aras with the faces of women,[I-35]‘Ou plutôt deux femmes, portant le nom d’Ara,’ says Brasseur de Bourbourg; I prefer, however, the original reading. The Ara is a kind of parroquet, common in South America, and so called because it continually repeats the cry ara, ara. Beings half bird, half woman, are as likely to figure in such a legend as the above as not. Besides, shortly afterwards the narrative speaks of ‘les deux oiseaux,’ referring to the aras. who immediately set about preparing a meal of bread and meats. But it was not long before the aras became aware of the presence of the concealed brother, and they instantly essayed flight; but the man seized one of them, and she afterwards became his wife. By her he had six children, three sons and three daughters, from whose union sprang the tribe of the Cañaris, whose descendants to this day hold the ara in great veneration.[I-36]For both of these flood-myths see: Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Landa, Relacion, pp. xxx-xxxii. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. v., lib. iii., cap. vi., gives a native tradition which relates that long before the time of the Incas there was a great deluge, from which some of the natives escaped by fleeing to the mountain-tops. The mountain tribes assert, however, that only six persons escaped this flood in a balsa.

“The Peruvians were acquainted with the Deluge, and believed that the rainbow was the sign that the earth would not again be destroyed by water.” This somewhat startling announcement is made by Lord Kingsborough, and he shows that there can be no reasonable doubt on the subject in an eminently characteristic manner. “This is plain,” he says, “from the speech which Mango Capac, the reputed founder of the Peruvian empire, addressed to his companions on beholding the rainbow rising from a hill; which is thus recorded by Balboa in the ninth chapter of the third part of his Miscellanea Antarctica: ‘They traveled on until a mountain, at present named Guanacauri, presented itself to their view, when on a certain morning, they beheld the rainbow rising above the mountain, with one extremity resting upon it, when Manco Capac exclaimed to his companions, This is a propitious sign that the earth will not be again destroyed by water.’ … Proof having been afforded in the passage quoted from the History of Balboa, that the Peruvians were acquainted with the history of the rainbow, as given in the ninth chapter of Genesis, it may be interesting to add, that according to the account of an anonymous writer, they believed the rainbow was not only a passive sign that the earth would not be destroyed by a second deluge, but an active instrument to prevent the recurrence of such a catastrophe: the latter curious notion proceeded upon the assumption that as the water of the sea (which, like the Jews, they believed to encircle the whole earth) would have a tendency to rise after excessive falls of rain, so the pressure of the extremities of the rainbow upon its surface would prevent its exceeding its proper level.”[I-37]Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 25.

The Tower of Babel

Many of these flood-myths are supplemented with an account of an attempt to provide against a second deluge, by building a tower of refuge, resembling more or less closely the biblical legend of the tower of Babel. Thus a Cholultec legend relates that all the giants who inhabited the country, save seven, were destroyed by a great flood, and adds that when the waters were assuaged, one of these seven began to build an artificial mountain. But the anger of the gods was aroused, and they slew many of the builders, so the work was stopped.[I-38]See vol. iii., p. 67. In like manner, in the Pápago legend to which I have referred, Montezuma, after he and the Coyote had been saved from the flood, so incensed the Great Spirit by his ingratitude and presumption, that an insect was sent flying to the east to bring the Spaniards, who, when they came, utterly destroyed Montezuma. After the deluge spoken of in the Lake Tahoe myth, the few who escaped built up a great tower, the strong making the weak do the work. This, it is distinctly stated, they did that they might have a place of refuge in case of another flood. But the Great Spirit was filled with anger at their presumption, and amidst thunderings and lightnings, and showers of molten metal, he seized the oppressors and cast them into a cavern.[I-39]See vol. iii., pp. 77, 89.

These myths have led many writers to believe that the Americans had a knowledge of the tower of Babel, while some think that they are the direct descendants of certain of the builders of that tower, who, after the confusion of tongues, wandered over the earth until they reached America.[I-40]According to Ixtlilxochitl, the Toltec tradition relates that after the confusion of tongues the seven families who spoke the Toltec language set out for the New World, wandering one hundred and four years over large extents of land and water. Finally they arrived at Huehue Tlapallan in the year ‘one flint,’ five hundred and twenty years after the flood. Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 322. See also another account, p. 450; Boturini, Crón. Mex., pt ii., pp. 5-8; Id., Idea, pp. 111-27; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 24, 145, 212-13; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 145; Hist. y Antig., in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. i., p. 284; Juarros, Hist. Guat., (Guat. 1857) tom. ii., pp. 55-6; Delafield’s Antiq. Amer., p. 34; Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 114-15; Prescott’s Mex., vol. iii., pp. 380-1; Davis’ Anc. Amer., p. 31; Tylor’s Anahuac, p. 277.

Many of the tribes had traditions through which they claim to have originally come from various directions to their ultimate settling-place in America. It will be readily seen that such traditions, even when genuine, are far too vague and uncertain to be of any value as evidence in any theory of origin. To each tribe its own little territory was the one important point in the universe; they had no conception of the real size of the world; most of them supposed that after a few days’ journey the traveler could if he chose jump off the edge of the earth into nothingness. What their traditions referred to as a ‘country in the far east,’ would probably mean a prairie two hundred miles away in that direction. Nevertheless, as these traditions have been thought to support this or that theory, it will be well to briefly review them here.[I-41]They had also, as we have seen in the third volume, a great many curious ideas as to the way in which man was created, and as in attempting to prove their theories many writers are apt to draw analogies in this particular, I give a brief résumé of the creation-myths here for the reader’s convenience: The grossest conceptions of the mystery of the beginning of man are to be found among the rude savages of the north, who, however, as they are quite content, in many instances, to believe that their earliest progenitor was a dog or a coyote, seem entitled to some sympathy from the latest school of modern philosophy, though it is true that their process of development was rather abrupt, and that they did not require very many links in their chain of evolution. But as we advance farther south, the attempts to solve the problem grow less simple and the direct instrumentality of the gods is required for the formation of man. The Aleuts ascribe their origin to the intercourse of a dog and a bitch, or, according to another version, of a bitch and a certain old man who came from the north to visit his brute-bride. From them sprang two creatures, male and female, each half man, half fox; and from these two the human race is descended. Others of the Aleuts believe that their canine progenitor fell from heaven. The Tinneh also owe their origin to a dog; though they believe that all other living creatures were called into existence by an immense bird. The Thlinkeet account of the creation certainly does not admit of much caviling or dispute concerning its chronology, method, or general probability, since it merely states that men were “placed on the earth,” though when, or how, or by whom, it does not presume to relate. According to the Tacully cosmogony, a musk-rat formed the dry land, which afterwards became peopled, though whether by the agency of that industrious rodent or not, is not stated. Darwinism is reversed by many of the Washington tribes, who hold that animals and even some vegetables are descended from man. The human essence from which the first Ahts were formed, was originally contained in the bodies of animals, who upon being suddenly stampeded from their dwellings left this mysterious matter behind them. Some of the Ahts contend, however, that they are the direct descendants of a shadowy personage named Quawteaht and a gigantic Thunder Bird. The Chinooks were created by a Coyote, who, however, did his work so badly and produced such imperfect specimens of humanity, that but for the beneficent intervention and assistance of a spirit called Ikánam the race must have ended as soon as it began. Some of the Washington tribes originated from the fragments of a huge beaver, which was slain and cut in pieces by four giants at the request of their sister who was pining away for some beaver-fat. The first Shasta was the result of a union between the daughter of the Great Spirit and a grizzly bear. The Cahrocs believe that Chareya, the Old Man Above, created the world, then the fishes and lower animals, and lastly man. The Potoyantes were slowly developed from Coyotes. The Big Man of the Mattoles created first the earth, bleak and naked, and placed but one man upon it; then, on a sudden, in the midst of a mighty whirlwind and thick darkness, he covered the desolate globe with all manner of life and verdure. One of the myths of Southern California attributes the creation of man and the world to two divine beings. The Los Angeles tribes believe their one god Quaoar brought forth the world from chaos, set it upon the shoulders of seven giants, peopled it with the lower forms of animal life, and finally crowned his work by creating a man and a woman out of earth. Still farther south, the Cochimís believe in a sole creator; the Pericúis call the maker of all things Niparaja, and say that the heavens are his dwelling-place; the Sinaloas pay reverence to Viriseva the mother of Vairubi, the first man. According to the Navajos, all mankind originally dwelt under the earth, in almost perpetual darkness, until they were released by the Moth-worm, who bored his way up to the surface. Through the hole thus made the people swarmed out on to the face of the earth, the Navajos taking the lead. Their first act was to manufacture the sun and the moon, and with the light came confusion of tongues. The Great Father and Mother of the Moquis created men in nine races from all manner of primeval forms. The Pima creator made man and woman from a lump of clay, which he kneaded with the sweat of his own body, and endowed with life by breathing upon it. The Great Spirit of the Pápagos made first the earth and all living things, and then men in great numbers from potter’s clay. The Miztecs ascribe their origin to the act of the two mighty gods, the male Lion Snake and the female Tiger Snake, or of their sons, Wind of the Nine Snakes and Wind of the Nine Caves. The Tezcucan story is that the sun cast a dart into the earth at a certain spot in the land of Aculma. From this hole issued a man imperfectly formed, and after him a woman, from which pair mankind are descended. The Tlascaltecs asserted that the world was the effect of chance, while the heavens had always existed. The most common Mexican belief was, that the first human beings, a boy and a girl, were produced from the blood-besprinkled fragments of the bone procured from hades by the sixteen hundred fallen gods sprung from the flint-knife of which the goddess Citlalicue had been delivered. According to the Chimalpopoca manuscript the creator produced his work in successive epochs, man being made on the seventh day from dust or ashes. In Guatemala there was a belief that the parents of the human race were created out of the earth by the two younger sons of the divine Father and Mother. The Quiché creation was a very bungling affair. Three times and of three materials was man made before his makers were satisfied with their work. First of clay, but he lacked intelligence; next of wood, but he was shriveled and useless; finally of yellow and white maize, and then he proved to be a noble work. Four men were thus made, and afterwards four women.

Origin of the Toltecs

The tradition of the Toltecs regarding their travels before they reached Huehue Tlapallan has been the theme of much speculation, especially as connected with their descent from the Babel builders. Ixtlilxochitl writes of this tradition as follows: They say that the world was created in the year Ce Tecpatl, and this time until the deluge they call Atonatiuh, which means the age of the sun of water, because the world was destroyed by the deluge. It is found in the histories of the Toltecs that this age and first world, as they term it, lasted seven hundred and sixteen years; that man and all the earth were destroyed by great showers and by lightnings from heaven, so that nothing remained, and the most lofty mountains were covered up and submerged to the depth of caxtolmoletltli, or fifteen cubits;[I-42]‘This nice agreement with the Mosaic account of the height which the waters of the Deluge attained above the summits of the highest mountains is certainly extraordinary; since we read in the twentieth verse of the seventh chapter of Genesis: “Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail, and the mountains were covered.”‘ Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 25. and here they add other fables of how men came to multiply again from the few who escaped the destruction in a toptlipetlacali; which word very nearly signifies a closed chest; and how, after multiplying, the men built a zacuali of great height, and by this is meant a very high tower, in which to take refuge when the world should be a second time destroyed. After this their tongue became confused, and, not understanding each other, they went to different parts of the world. The Toltecs, seven in number, with their wives, who understood each other’s speech, after crossing great lands and seas, and undergoing many hardships, finally arrived in America, which they found to be a good land, and fit for habitation; and they say that they wandered one hundred and four years in different parts of the earth before they arrived at Huehue Tlapallan, which they did in the year Ce Tecpatl, five hundred and twenty years—or five ages—after the flood.[I-43]Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 321-2.

Traditions of Quiché Origin

The Quiché traditions speak of a country in the far east,[I-44]‘Un orient lointain,’ says Brasseur de Bourbourg; but he must either mean what we call in English the Orient, the East, or contradict himself—which, by the way, he is very prone to do—because he afterwards asserts that Tula is the place ‘on the other side of the sea,’ from which the Quiché wanderers came to the north-west coast of America. to reach which immense tracts of land and water must be crossed. There, they say, they lived a quiet but uncivilized life, paying no tribute, and speaking a common language. There they worshiped no graven images, but observed with respect the rising sun and poured forth their invocations to the morning star. The principal names of the families and tribes at that time were, Tepeu, Oloman, Cohah, Quenech, and Ahau.[I-45]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 105-6. Afterwards, continue the traditions, they left their primitive country under the leadership of certain chiefs, and finally after a long journey reached a place called Tula. Where this Tula was is uncertain, but Brasseur de Bourbourg places it on the ‘other side of the sea,’ and asserts that it was the region from which the wanderers came, from time to time, to the north-western coasts of America, and thence southwards to Anáhuac and Central America.[I-46]Id., pp. 167-8.

The Yucatecs are said to have had a tradition that they came originally from the far east, passing through the sea, which God made dry for them.[I-47]Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 178; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 258. An Okanagan myth relates that they were descended from a white couple who had been sent adrift from an island in the eastern ocean, and who floated ashore on this land, which has grown larger since then. Their long exposure on the ocean bronzed them to the color of which their descendants now are.[I-48]Ross’ Adven., pp. 287-8. The Chilians assert that their ancestors came from the west. The Chepewyans have a tradition that they came from a distant land, where a bad people lived, and had to cross a large narrow lake, filled with islands, where ice and snow continually existed.[I-49]Warden, Recherches, p. 190. The Algonquins preserve a tradition of a foreign origin and a sea voyage. For a long time they offered an annual thank-offering in honor of their happy arrival in America.[I-50]Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 4; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., p. 19. According to Careri, the Olmec traditions relate that they came by sea from the east.[I-51]Warden, Recherches, p. 213.

American Culture-Heroes

The native traditions concerning the several culture-heroes of America have also been brought forward by a few writers to show that American civilization was exotic and not indigenous; but, though these traditions are far more worthy of serious consideration, and present a far more fascinating field for study than those which relate merely to the origin or travels of the people themselves, yet, strangely enough, they seem to have excited less comment and speculation than any of those far-fetched and trivial analogies with which all origin-theories abound.

Although bearing various names and appearing in different countries, the American culture-heroes all present the same general characteristics. They are all described as white, bearded men, generally clad in long robes; appearing suddenly and mysteriously upon the scene of their labors, they at once set about improving the people by instructing them in useful and ornamental arts, giving them laws, exhorting them to practice brotherly love and other Christian virtues, and introducing a milder and better form of religion; having accomplished their mission, they disappear as mysteriously and unexpectedly as they came; and finally, they are apotheosized and held in great reverence by a grateful posterity. In such guise or on such mission did Quetzalcoatl appear in Cholula, Votan in Chiapas, Wixepecocha in Oajaca, Zamná, and Cukulcan with his nineteen disciples, in Yucatan, Gucumatz in Guatemala,[I-52]The reader will recollect that the story of each of these heroes has been told at length in vol. iii. of this work. Viracocha in Peru,[I-53]The legend of Viracocha, or Ticeviracocha, as he is sometimes called, and his successor, is, according to Herrera, as follows: ‘Cuentan tambien los Indios, segun lo tienen por tradicion de sus antepassados, y parece por sus cantares, que en su antiguedad estuuieron mucho tiempo sin ver Sol, y que por los grandes votos, y plegarias que hazian â sus dioses, saliô el Sol de la laguna Titicaca, y de la Isla, que estâ en ella, que es en el Collao, y que pareciô luego por la parte de medio dia vn hõbre blanco de gran cuerpo, y de veneranda presencia, que era tan poderoso, que baxaua las sierras, crecia los valles, y sacaua fuentes de las piedras, al qual por su gran poder llamauan: Principio de todas las cosas criadas, y padre del Sol, porque dio ser a los hombres, y animales, y por su mano les vino notable beneficio, y que obrando estas marauillas, fue de largo hâzia el Norte, y de camino yua dando orden de vida â las gentes, hablando con mucho amor, amonestando que fuessen buenos, y se amassen vnos â otros, al qual hasta los vltimos tiempos de los Ingas llamauã Ticeuiracocha, y en el Collao Tuapaca, y en otras partes Arnauâ, y que le hizieron muchos Templos, y bultos en ellos â su semejança, â los quales sacrificauan. Dizen tambien, que passados algunos tiempos oyeron dezir â sus mayores, que pareciô otro hombre semejante al referido, que sanaua los enfermos, daua vista â los ciegos, y que en la prouincia de los Cañas, queriendo locamente apedrearle, lo vieron hincado de rodillas, alçadas las manos al Cielo, inuocando el diuino fauor, y que pareciô vn fuego del Cielo que los espantô tanto, que con grandes gritos, y clamores le pedian, que los librasse de aquel peligro, pues las venia aquel castigo por el pecado, que auian cometido, y que luego cessô el fuego, quedando abrasadas las piedras, y oy dia se ven quemadas, y tan liuianas, que aunque grandes se leuantan como corcho, y dizen, que desde alli se fue â la mar, y entrando en ella sobre su manto tendido nunca mas se vio, por lo qual le llamaron Viracocha, que quiere dezir espuma de la mar, nõbre que despues mudô signification, y que luego le hizieron vn Templo, en el pueblo de Cacha, y algunos Castellanos solo por su discurso han dicho, que este deuia de ser algun Apostol: pero los mas cuerdos lo tienen por vanidad, porque en todos estos Templos se sacrificaua al demonio, y hasta que los Castellanos entraron en los Reynos del Pirû, no fue oìdo, ni predicado el santo Euangelio, ni vista la Santissima señal de la Cruz.’ Hist. Gen., dec. v., lib. iii., cap. vi.; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 82.Sumé[I-54]Sumé was a white man with a thick beard, who came across the ocean from the direction of the rising sun. He had power over the elements, and could command the tempest. At a word from him the trees of the densest forest receded from their places to make a path for him; the most ferocious animals crouched submissive at his feet; the treacherous surface of lake and river presented a solid footing to his tread. He taught the people agriculture, and the use of maize. The Caboclos, a Brazilian nation, refused to listen to his divine teachings, and even sought to kill him with their arrows, but he turned their own weapons against them. The persecuted apostle then retired to the banks of a river, and finally left the country entirely. The tradition adds that the prints of his feet are still to be seen on the rocks and in the sand of the coast. Warden, Recherches, p. 189. and Paye-Tome[I-55]Paye-Tome was another white apostle. His history so closely resembles that of Sumé that it is probable they are the same person. Id. in Brazil, the mysterious apostle mentioned by Rosales, in Chili,[I-56]‘In former times, as they (the Chilians) had heard their fathers say, a wonderful man had come to that country, wearing a long beard, with shoes, and a mantle such as the Indians carry on their shoulders, who performed many miracles, cured the sick with water, caused it to rain, and their crops and grain to grow, kindled fire at a breath, and wrought other marvels, healing at once the sick, and giving sight to the blind,’ and so on. ‘Whence it may be inferred that this man was some apostle whose name they do not know.’ Quoted from Rosales’ inedited History of Chili, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., p. 419. and Bochica in Columbia.[I-57]Bochica, the great law-giver of the Muyscas, and son of the sun, a white man, bearded, and wearing long robes, appeared suddenly in the people’s midst while they were disputing concerning the choice of a king. He advised them to appoint Huncahua, which they immediately did. He it was who invented the calendar and regulated the festivals. After living among the Muyscas for two thousand years, he vanished on a sudden near the town of Hunca. Warden, Recherches, p. 187; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., p. 174, quoting Stevenson’s Travels in South America, vol. i., p. 397. Peruvian legends speak of a nation of giants who came by sea, waged war with the natives, and erected splendid edifices, the ruins of many of which still remain.[I-58]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 35; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 67-8; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 13. Besides these, there are numerous vague traditions of settlements or nations of white men, who lived apart from the other people of the country, and were possessed of an advanced civilization.

Christianity in America

The most celebrated of these are Quetzalcoatl and Votan. The speculations which have been indulged in regarding the identity of these mysterious personages, are wild in the extreme. Thus Quetzalcoatl has been identified by some with St Thomas, by others with the Messiah. Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora[I-59]In a work entitled Fenix del Occidente. and Luis Becerra Tanco,[I-60]Felicidad de Mej., Mex. 1685, fol. 55. in support of their opinion that he was no other than the apostle, allege that the hero-god’s proper name Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl closely resembles in sound and signification that of Thomas, surnamed Didymus; for to in the Mexican name, is an abbreviation of Thomas, to which pilcin, meaning ‘son’ or ‘disciple,’ is added; while the meaning of Quetzalcoatl is exactly the same as that of the Greek name Didymus, ‘a twin,’ being compounded of quetzalli a plume of green feathers, metaphorically signifying anything precious, and coatl, a serpent, metaphorically meaning one of two twins. Boturini tells us that he possessed certain historical memoranda concerning the preaching of the gospel in America by the ‘glorious apostle’ St Thomas. Another proof in his possession was a painting of a cross which he discovered near the hill of Tianguiztepetl, which cross was about a cubit in size and painted by the hands of angels a beautiful blue color, with various devices, among which were five white balls on an azure shield, ‘without doubt emblems of the five precious wounds of our Savior;’ and, what is more marvelous, although this relic had stood in an exposed position from the days of heathenism up to the time when it was discovered, yet the inclemencies of the weather had not been able to affect its gorgeous hues in the least. But this is not all. Boturini also possessed a painting of another cross, which was drawn, by means of a machine made expressly for the purpose, out of an inaccessible cave in Lower Mizteca, where it had been deposited in the pagan times. Its hiding-place was discovered by angelic music which issued from the mouth of the cave on every vigil of the holy apostle. Besides this, the saint has left the tracks of his holy feet in many parts of New Spain. There is also a tradition that at the time of his departure he left a prophecy that in a certain year his sons would come from the east to preach among the natives; which prophecy, Boturini, following the track of the native calendars, discovered to have been ‘verified to the letter.'[I-61]Boturini, Catálogo, in Idea, pp. 43, 50-2. Although the opinion that Quetzalcoatl was St Thomas, ‘appears to be rather hazardous, yet one cannot help being astonished at the extent of the regions traversed by St. Thomas; it is true that some writers do not allow of his having gone beyond Calamita, a town in India, the site of which is doubtful; but others assert that he went as far as Meliapour, on the other side of the Coromandel, and even unto Central America.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 50. ‘Apud Iaiaobæ Indos in Occidenti tradita per avos viget memoria S. Apostoli Thomæ, quam retinent a transitu ejus per illas plagas, cujus non levia extant indicia: præcipuè quædam semita in illis solitudinibus hactenus perseverat, in quâ non oritur herba nisi valdè humilis et parvula, cum utrumque latus herbescat ultra modum; eo itinere dicunt Apostolum incessisse, et inde profectum in Peruana regna. Apud Brasilienses quoque traditio est, ibi prædicasse. Apud alios barbaros, etiam in regionem Paraguay venisse, postquam descendit per fluvium Iguazu, deinde in Paranam per Aracaium, ubi observatur locus in quo sedit defessus Apostolus, et fertur prædixisse, ut a majoribus acceptum est, post se illuc adventuros homines qui posteris eorum annuntiarent fidem veri Dei, quod non leve solatium et animos facit nostræ religionis prædicatoribus, ingentes labores inter illos barbaros pro dilatione Ecclesiæ perpetientibus.’Nieremberg, Historiæ Naturæ, lib. xiv., cap. cxvii. After this who can doubt that St Thomas preached the gospel in America?

Foremost—as being most modern—among those who have thought it possible to identify Quetzalcoatl with the Messiah, stands Lord Kingsborough, a writer and enthusiast of whom I shall speak further when I come to the supposed Hebraic origin of the Americans. To this point he has devoted an incredible amount of labor and research, to give any adequate idea of which would require at least more space than I think, as a question of fact, it deserves. In the first place it is founded mainly upon obscure passages in the Prophet and other parts of Holy Writ, as compared with the equally obscure meanings of American names, religious rites, ancient prophecies, conceptions of divinity, etc. Now, the day is past when the earnest seeker after facts need be either afraid or ashamed to assert that he cannot accept the scriptures as an infallible authority upon the many burning questions which continually thrust themselves, as it were, upon the present generation for immediate and fair consideration; nor need his respect for traditions and opinions long held sacred be lessened one iota by such an assertion. It is needless to state that the analogies which Lord Kingsborough finds in America in support of his theory are based upon no sounder foundation.[I-62]Following are a few points of Lord Kingsborough’s elaborate argument: ‘How truly surprising it is to find that the Mexicans, who seem to have been quite unacquainted with the doctrines of the migration of the soul and the metempsychosis, should have believed in the incarnation of the only son of their supreme god Tonacatecutle. For Mexican mythology speaking of no other son of that god except Quecalcoatle, who was born of Chimalman the Virgin of Tula, without connection with man, and by his breath alone, (by which may be signified his word or his will, announced to Chimalman by word of mouth of the celestial messenger, whom he dispatched to inform her that she should conceive a son,) it must be presumed that Quecalcoatle was his only son. Other arguments might be adduced to show, that the Mexicans believed that Quecalcoatle was both god and man, that he had previously to his incarnation existed from all eternity, that he had created both the world and man, that he descended from heaven to reform the world by penance, that he was born with the perfect use of reason, that he preached a new law, and, being king of Tula, was crucified for the sins of mankind, as is obscurely insinuated by the interpreter of the Vatican Codex, plainly declared in the traditions of Yucatan, and mysteriously represented in the Mexican paintings.’ If the promise of the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary,—The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God—be couched in the language of ancient prophecy, ‘it is not improbable that the head of the dragon which forms the crest of three of the female figures (in one of the Mexican pieces of sculpture), as it may also be presumed it did of the fourth when entire, (if it be not a symbol which Chimalman borrowed from her son’s name,) was intended to denote that she had been overshadowed by the power of Huitzilopuchtli, whose device, as we are informed by Sahagun in the first chapter of the first book of his History of New Spain, was the head of a dragon.’ Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., pp. 507-8. See, more especially, his elaborate discussion of Quetzalcoatl’s crucifixion and identity with the Messiah, vol. viii., pp. 5-51. As we have seen in a preceding volume, Quetzalcoatl is compared with the heathen deities of the old world, as well as with the Messiah of the Christians. See vol. iii., chap. vii.

Votan the Culture-Hero

Votan, another mysterious personage, closely resembling Quetzalcoatl in many points, was the supposed founder of the Maya civilization. He is said to have been a descendant of Noah and to have assisted at the building of the Tower of Babel. After the confusion of tongues he led a portion of the dispersed people to America. There he established the kingdom of Xibalba and built the city of Palenque.[I-63]See vol. iii., p. 450, et seq.

Let us turn now from these wild speculations, with which volumes might be filled, but which are practically worthless, to the special theories of origin, which are, however, for the most part, scarcely more satisfactory.

Beginning with eastern Asia, we find that the Americans, or in some instances their civilization only, are supposed to have come originally from China, Japan, India, Tartary, Polynesia. Three principal routes are proposed by which they may have come, namely: Bering Strait, the Aleutian Islands, and Polynesia. The route taken by no means depends upon the original habitat of the emigrants; thus the people of India may have emigrated to the north of Asia, and crossed Bering Strait, or the Chinese may have passed from one to the other of the Aleutian Islands until they reached the western continent. Bering Strait is, however, the most widely advocated, and perhaps most probable, line of communication. The narrow strait would scarcely hinder any migration either east or west, especially as it is frequently frozen over in winter. At all events it is certain that from time immemorial constant intercourse has been kept up between the natives on either side of the strait; indeed, there can be no doubt that they are one and the same people. Several writers, however, favor the Aleutian route.[I-64]Though the presumption may be in favor of communication by Bering Strait, yet the phenomena in the present state of our knowledge, favors the Aleutian route. Latham’s Comp. Phil., p. 384. The Aleutian archipelago is ‘probably the main route by which the old continent must have peopled the new. Behring’s Straits, though … they were doubtless one channel of communication, just as certainly as if their place had been occupied by solid land, were yet, in all likelihood, only of subordinate utility in the premises, when compared with the more accessible and commodious bridge towards the south.’ Simpson’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 225. ‘There is no improbability that the early Asiatics reached the western shores of America through the islands of the Pacific.’ The trace of the progress of the red and partially civilized man from Oriental Asia was left on these islands. Willson’s Amer. Hist., pp. 92-3. The first discoveries were made along the coast and from island to island; the American immigrants would have come by the Aleutian Isles. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 10. To come by Aleutian islands presents not nearly so great a difficulty as the migrations among Pacific Islands. Prescott’s Mex., vol. iii., p. 374. Immigration from Asia ‘appears to have taken place mostly by the Aleuthian islands.’ Smith’s Human Species, p. 238.

Diffusion of Animals

But there is a problem which the possibility of neither of these routes will help to solve: How did the animals reach America? It is not to be supposed that ferocious beasts and venomous reptiles were brought over by the immigrants, nor is it more probable that they swam across the ocean. Of course such a question is raised only by those who believe that all living creatures are direct descendants of the animals saved from the flood in Noah’s ark; but such is the belief of the great majority of our authors. The easiest way to account for this diffusion of animals is to believe that the continents were at one time united, though this is also asserted, with great show of probability, by authors who do not think it necessary to find a solid roadway in order to account for the presence of animals in America, or even to believe that the fauna of the New World need ever in any way have come from the Old World. Again, some writers are inclined to wonder how the tropical animals found in America could have reached the continent via the polar regions, and find it necessary to connect America and Africa to account for this.[I-65]Some of the early writers were of course ignorant of the existence of any strait separating America from Asia; thus Acosta—who dares not assume, in opposition to the Bible, that the flood did not extend to America, or that a new creation took place there—accounts for the great variety of animals by supposing that the new continent is in close proximity to if not actually connected with the Old World at its northern and southern ends, and that the people and animals saved in the ark spread gradually by these routes over the whole land. Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 68-73, 81; West und Ost Indischer Lustgart, pt i., pp. 8-9. See also Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 38-42; Gottfriedt, Newe Welt, p. 4; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 26-8. Clavigero produces instances to show that upheavals, engulfings, and separations of land have been quite common, and thinks that American traditions of destructions refer to such disasters. He also shows that certain animals could have passed only by a tropic, others only by an arctic road. He accordingly supposes that America was formerly connected with Africa at the latitude of the Cape Verde islands, with Asia in the north, and perhaps with Europe by Greenland. Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iv., pp. 27-44. The great objection to a migration by way of the cold latitude of Bering Strait, says a writer in the Historical Magazine, vol. i., p. 285, is that tropic animals never could have passed that way. He apparently rejects or has never heard of the theory of change in zones. See farther, concerning joining of continents, and communication by Bering Strait: Warden, Recherches, pp. 202, 221; Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. ii., p. 68, et seq.; Snowden’s Hist. N. and S. Amer., p. 198; Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, Sept. 12, 1862; Priest’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 62-3, 82-3; Valois, Mexique, p. 197; Adair’s Amer. Ind., p. 219. Bradford denies emphatically that there ever was any connection between America and Asia. ‘It has been supposed,’ he writes, ‘that a vast tract of land, now submerged beneath the waters of the Pacific Ocean, once connected Asia and America…. The arguments in favor of this opinion are predicated upon that portion of the Scriptures, relating to the “division” of the earth in the days of Peleg, which is thought to indicate a physical division,—upon the analogies between the Peruvians, Mexicans and Polynesians … and upon the difficulty of accounting in any other manner for the presence of some kinds of animals in America.’ After demolishing these three bases of opinion, he adds: ‘this conjectured terrestrial communication never existed, a conclusion substantiated, in some measure, by geological testimony.’ Amer. Antiq., pp. 222-8. Mr Bradford’s argument, in addition to being thoughtful and ingenious, is supported by facts, and will amply repay a perusal.

The theory that America was peopled, or, at least partly peopled, from eastern Asia, is certainly more widely advocated than any other, and, in my opinion, is moreover based upon a more reasonable and logical foundation than any other. It is true, the Old World may have been originally peopled from the New, and it is also true that the Americans may have had an autochthonic origin, but, if we must suppose that they have originated on another continent, then it is to Asia that we must first look for proofs of such an origin, at least as far as the people of north-western America are concerned. “It appears most evident to me,” says the learned Humboldt, “that the monuments, methods of computing time, systems of cosmogony, and many myths of America, offer striking analogies with the ideas of eastern Asia—analogies which indicate an ancient communication, and are not simply the result of that uniform condition in which all nations are found in the dawn of civilization.”[I-66]Exam. Crit., tom. ii., p. 68. Prescott’s conclusions are, first: “That the coincidences are sufficiently strong to authorize a belief, that the civilization of Anahuac was, in some degree, influenced by that of Eastern Asia. And, secondly, that the discrepancies are such as to carry back the communication to a very remote period; so remote, that this foreign influence has been too feeble to interfere materially with the growth of what may be regarded, in its essential features, as a peculiar and indigenous civilization.”[I-67]Mex., vol. iii., p. 418. “If, as I believe,” writes Dr Wilson, “the continent was peopled from Asia, it was necessarily by younger nations. But its civilization was of native growth, and so was far younger than that of Egypt.”[I-68]Prehist. Man, p. 615. That “immigration was continuous for ages from the east of Asia,” is thought by Col. Smith to be “sufficiently indicated by the pressure of nations, so far as it is known in America, being always from the north-west coasts, eastward and southward, to the beginning of the thirteenth century.”[I-69]Human Species, p. 238. “That America was peopled from Asia, the cradle of the human race, can no longer be doubted,” says Dupaix; “but how and when they came is a problem that cannot be solved.”[I-70]Rel., 2de expéd., p. 28. Emigration from eastern Asia, of which there can be no doubt, only “took place,” says Tschudi, “in the latter part of the fifth century of the Christian era; and while it explains many facts in America which long perplexed our archæologists, it by no means aids us in determining the origin of our earliest population.”[I-71]Peruvian Antiq., p. 24. America was probably first peopled from Asia, but the memory of that ancient migration was lost. Asia was utterly unknown to the ancient Mexicans. The original seats of the Chichimecs were, as they thought, not far to the north-west. They placed Aztlan not in a remote country, but near Michoacan. Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 158-9, 174. There are strong resemblances in all things with Asiatic nations; less in language than other respects, but more with Asia than with any other part of the world. Anatomical resemblances point the same way. Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 196-203. The Americans most probably came from Asia soon after the dispersion and confusion of tongues; but there has been found no clear notice among them of Asia, or of their passage to this continent. Nor in Asia of any such migration. The Mexican histories do not probably go so far back. Venegas, Noticia de la Cal., tom. i., pp. 72-3. If a congregation of twelve representatives from Malacca, China, Japan, Mongolia, Sandwich Islands, Chili, Peru, Brazil, Chickasaws, Comanches, &c., were dressed alike, or undressed and unshaven, the most skillful anatomist could not from their appearance separate them. Fontaine’s How the World was Peopled, pp. 147-9, 244-5. The people of Asia seem to have been the only men who could teach the Mexicans and Peruvians to make bronze, and could not teach them to smelt and work iron, one thousand or one thousand five hundred years before the Spanish Conquest. Tylor’s Researches, p. 209. It is almost proved that long before Columbus, Northern India, China, Corea, and Tartary, had communication with America. Chateaubriand, Lettre aux Auteurs, p. 87. See also: Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 345; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 20; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 23-4; Simpson’s Nar., vol. i., p. 190; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. ii., pp. 250-1; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 426-7; Saint-Amant, Voyages, p. 245; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., pp. 290, 295-6; Warden, Recherches, pp. 118-36; Macgregor’s Progress of Amer., vol. i., p. 24; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., p. 230; Dodge, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 590; Whymper’s Alaska, pp. 278-85; Prichard’s Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., p. 519; Mitchill, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 325-32; Vigne’s Travels, vol. ii., p. 36; Latham’s Man and his Migrations, p. 122; Sampson, in Hist. Mag., vol. v., p. 213. Robertson’s Hist. Amer., vol. i., pp. 280-1; Snowden’s Hist. N. and S. Amer., p. 200; Stratton’s Mound-Builders, MS.; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 208, 215-16, 432; Pickering’s Races of Man, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., pp. 287-8; Carver’s Trav., pp. 209-13; Kennedy’s Probable Origin; Davis’ Discovery of New Eng.; Hellwald, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 334. Herrera argued that as there were no natives in America of a color similar to those of the politer nations of Europe, they must be of Asiatic origin; that it is unreasonable to suppose them to have been driven thither by stress of weather; that the natives for a long time had no king, therefore no historiographer, therefore they are not to be believed in this statement, or in any other. The clear conclusions drawn from these pointed arguments is, that the Indian race descended from men who reached America by the nearness of the land. ‘Y asi mas verisimilmente se concluye que la generacion, y poblacion de los Indios, ha procedido de hombres que passaron a las Indias Ocidentales, por la vezindad de la tierra, y se fueron estendiendo poco a poco;’ but from whence they came, or by what route the royal historiographer offers no conjecture. Hist. Gen., dec. i., lib. i., cap. vi. “After making every proper allowance,” says Gallatin, “I cannot see any possible reason that should have prevented those, who after the dispersion of mankind moved towards the east and northeast, from having reached the extremities of Asia, and passed over to America, within five hundred years after the flood. However small may have been the number of those first emigrants, an equal number of years would have been more than sufficient to occupy, in their own way, every part of America.”[I-72]Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 179. There are, however, writers who find grave objections to an Asiatic origin, the principal of which are the absence of the horse, the “paucity and the poverty of the lactiferous animals, and the consequent absence of pastoral nations in the New World.” For, adds a writer in the Quarterly Review, “we can hardly suppose that any of the pastoral hordes of Tartars would emigrate across the strait of Behring or the Aleutian Islands without carrying with them a supply of those cattle on which their whole subsistence depended.”[I-73]Quarterly Review, vol. xxi., pp. 334-5. The communication between Anáhuac and the Asiatic continent was merely the contact of some few isolated Asiatics who had lost their way, and from whom the Mexicans drew some notions of science, astrology, and some cosmogonic traditions; and these Asiatics did not return home. Chevalier, Mexique, pp. 59, 56-8; Viollet-le-Duc, in Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 87-9; Fossey, Mexique, pp. 120-1; Democratic Review, vol. xi., p. 617; Lafond, Voyages, p. 133.

Theory of Origin from Chinese • The Country of Fusang

The theory that western America was originally peopled by the Chinese, or at least that the greater part of the New World civilization may be attributed to this people, is founded mainly on a passage in the work of the Chinese historian Li yan tcheou, who lived at the commencement of the seventh century of our era. In this passage it is stated that a Chinese expedition discovered a country lying twenty thousand li to the east of Tahan, which was called Fusang.[I-74]Deguignes writes: ‘Les Chinois ont pénétré dans les pays très-éloignés du côté de l’orient; j’ai examiné leur mesures, et elles m’ont conduit vers les côtes de la Californie; j’ai conclu de-là qu’ils avoient connu l’Amérique l’an 458 J. C.’ He also attributes Peruvian civilization to the Chinese. Recherches sur les Navigations des Chinois du côté de l’Amérique, in Mémoires de l’Académie des Inscriptions, tom. xvii. Paravey, in 1844, attempted to prove that the province of Fousang was Mexico. Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 51. ‘In Chinese history we find descriptions of a vast country 20,000 le to the eastward across the great ocean, which, from the description given, must be California and Mexico.’ Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, Sept. 12, 1862. ‘L’histoire postérieure des Chinois donne à penser qu’ils ont eu autrefois des flottes qui ont pu passer au Mexique par les Phillippines.’ Farcy, Discours p. 46, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. i. Tahan is generally supposed to be Kamchatka, and Fusang the north-west coast of America, California, or Mexico. As so much depends upon what Li yan tcheou has said about the mysterious country, it will be well to give his account in full; as translated by Klaproth, it is as follows: In the first of the years young yuan, in the reign of Fi ti of the dynasty of Thsi, a cha men (buddhist priest), named Hoeï chin, arrived at King tcheou from the country of Fusang; of this land he says: Fusang is situated twenty thousand li[I-75]A Chinese li is about one third of a mile. to the east of the country of Tahan, and an equal distance to the east of China. In this place are many trees called fusang,[I-76]‘Fou sang, en chinois et selon la prononciation japonaise Fouts sôk, est l’arbrisseau que nous nommons Hibiscus rosa chinensis,’ Klaproth, Recherches sur le pays de Fou Sang, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1831, tom. li., p. 55, note. Others suppose the fusang to be the maguey, and, indeed, it was used for much the same purposes. It was, however, most probably, the mulberry; fu-soh, the Japanese equivalent for the Chinese fusang, being compounded of fu, to aid, and soh, the mulberry, a tree which abounds in a wild state in the province of Yesso, and which has been cultivated by royal command in other parts of Japan, where, as the reader will presently see, Fusang was probably situated. Mr Brooks, Japanese Consul in San Francisco, also tells me that Fu Sang is a name used in Chinese poetry to mean Japan. In Japan it is also thus used, and also used in trade marks, as ‘first quality of Fu Sang silk cocoons,’ meaning Japanese cocoons. whose leaves resemble those of the Thoung (Bignonia tomentosa), and the first sprouts those of the bamboo. These serve the people of the country for food. The fruit is red and shaped like a pear. The bark is prepared in the same manner as hemp, and manufactured into cloth and flowered stuffs. The wood serves for the construction of houses, for in this country there are neither towns nor walled habitations. The inhabitants have a system of writing and make paper from the bark of the fusang. They possess neither arms nor troops and they never wage war. According to the laws of the kingdom, there are two prisons, one in the north, the other in the south; those who have committed trifling faults are sent to the latter, those guilty of graver crimes to the former, and detained there until by mitigation of their sentence they are removed to the south.[I-77]I follow Deguignes in this sentence; Klaproth has it: ‘Ceux qui peuvent recevoir leur grace sont envoyés à la première (méridionale), ceux au contraire auxquels on ne veut pas l’accorder sont détenus dans la prison du nord.’ Recherches, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1831, tom. li., p. 55. The male and female prisoners are allowed to marry with each other and their children are sold as slaves, the boys when they are eight years of age, the girls when they are nine. The prisoners never go forth from their jail alive. When a man of superior mark commits a crime, the people assemble in great numbers, seat themselves opposite the criminal, who is placed in a ditch, partake of a banquet, and take leave of the condemned person as of one who is about to die. Cinders are then heaped about the doomed man. For slight faults, the criminal alone is punished, but for a great crime his children and grandchildren suffer with him; in some extraordinary cases his sin is visited upon his descendants to the seventh generation.

The name of the king of this country is Yit khi; the nobles of the first rank are called Toui lou; those of the second, ‘little’ Toui lou; and those of the third, Na tu cha. When the king goes out, he is accompanied by tambours and horns. He changes the color of his dress at certain times; in the years of the cycle kia and y, it is blue; in the years ping and ting, it is red; in the years ou and ki, it is yellow; in the years keng and sin, it is white; and lastly, in those years which have the characters jin and kouei, it is black.

The cattle have long horns, and carry burdens, some as much as one hundred and twenty Chinese pounds. Vehicles, in this country, are drawn by oxen, horses, or deer. The deer are raised in the same manner that cattle are raised in China, and cheese is made from the milk of the females.[I-78]Deguignes translates: ‘des habitants élèvent des biches comme en Chine, et ils en tirent du beurre.’ A kind of red pear is found there which is good at all seasons of the year. Grape-vines are also plentiful.[I-79]‘Il y a dans l’original To Phou thao. Deguignes ayant décomposé le mot Phou tao, traduit: “on y trouve une grande quantité de glayeuls et de pêches.” Cependant le mot Phou seul ne signifie jamais glayeul, c’est le nom des joncs et autres espèces de roseaux de marais, dont on se sert pour faire des nattes. Thao est en effet le nom de la pêche, mais le mot composé Phou tao signifie en chinois la vigne.’ Klaproth, Recherches, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1831, tom. li., pp. 57-8. There is no iron, but copper is met with. Gold and silver are not valued. Commerce is free, and the people are not given to haggling about prices.

This is the manner of their marriages: When a man wishes to wed a girl, he erects his cabin just before the door of hers. Every morning and evening he waters and weeds the ground, and this he continues to do for a whole year. If by the end of that time the girl has not given her consent to their union, his suit is lost and he moves away; but if she is willing, he marries her. The marriage ceremony is almost the same as that observed in China. On the death of their father or mother, children fast for seven days; grandparents are mourned for by a fast of five days, and other relations by a fast of three days’ duration. Images of the spirits of the dead[I-80]‘Les images des Esprits,’ &c.; Id., p. 59. are placed on a kind of pedestal, and prayed to morning and evening.[I-81]‘Deguignes traduit: ‘Pendant leurs prières ils exposent l’image du défunt.’ Le texte parle de chin ou génies et non pas des ames des défunts.’ Id. Mourning garments are not worn.

The king does not meddle with affairs of government until he has been three years upon the throne.

In former times the religion of Buddha was unknown in this country, but in the fourth of the years ta ming, in the reign of Hiao wou ti of the Soung dynasty (A.D. 458), five pi khieou or missionaries, from the country Ki pin, went to Fusang and there diffused the Buddhist faith. They carried with them sacred books and images, they introduced the ritual, and inculcated monastic habits of life. By these means they changed the manners of the people.

Such is the account given by the historian Li yan tcheou of the mysterious land. Klaproth, in his critique on Deguignes’ theory that America was known to the Chinese, uses the distances given by the monk Hoeï chin to show that Fusang, where the laws and institutions of Buddha were introduced, was Japan, and that Tahan, situated to the west of the Vinland of Asia, as Humboldt aptly calls Fusang,[I-82]‘C’est une analogie curieuse qu’offre le pays à vignes de Fousang (l’Amérique chinoise de Deguignes) avec le Vinland des premières découvertes scandinaves sur les côtes orientales de l’Amérique.’ Exam. Crit., tom. ii., p. 63, note. was not Kamchatka but the island of Tarakai, wrongly named on our maps, Saghalien. The circumstance that there were grape-vines and horses in the discovered country is alone sufficient, he says, to show that it was not situated on the American continent, since both these objects were given to the New World by the Spaniards. M. Gaubil also contradicts Deguignes’ theory. “Deguignes’ paper,” he writes to one of his confrères in Paris, “proves nothing; by a similar course of reasoning it might be shown that the Chinese reached France, Italy, or Poland.”[I-83]Nouv. Jour. Asiatique, 1832, p. 335, quoted by Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. ii., pp. 65-6.

Chinese Expedition to America

Certain allusions to a Chinese colony, made by Marco Polo and Gonzalo Mendoza, led Horn, Forster, and other writers to suppose that the Chinese, driven from their country by the Tartars about the year 1270, embarked to the number of one hundred thousand in a fleet of one thousand vessels, and having arrived on the coast of America, there founded the Mexican empire. As Warden justly remarks, however, it is not probable that an event of such importance would be passed over in silence by the Chinese historians, who rendered a circumstantial account of the destruction of their fleet by the Tartars about the year 1278 of our era, as well as of the reduction of their country by the same people.[I-84]Warden, Recherches, p. 123.

The strongest proof upon which the Chinese theory rests, is that of physical resemblance, which, on the extreme north-western coast of America, is certainly very strong.[I-85]It is enough to look at an Aleut to recognize the Mongol. Wrangel, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1853, tom. cxxxvii., p. 213. ‘The resemblance between north-west coast Indians and Chinese is rather remarkable.’ Deans’ Remains in B. Col., MS. ‘I have repeatedly seen instances, both men and women, who in San Francisco could readily be mistaken for Chinese—their almond-shaped eyes, light complexion and long braided black hair giving them a marked similarity…. An experience of nearly nine years among the coast tribes, with a close observation and study of their characteristics, has led me to the conclusion that these northern tribes (B. Col. and surrounding region) are the only evidence of any exodus from the Asiatic shore ever having reached our borders.’ Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, July 25, 1862. Grant, Ocean to Ocean, p. 304, says that the Chinese and Indians resemble one another so much that were it not for the queue and dress they would be difficult to distinguish. ‘The Pacific Indian is Mongolian in size and complexion, in the shape of the face, and the eyes,’ and he wants many of the manly characteristics of the Eastern Indians. Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 148, says of the Yucatan Indians, ‘leur teint cuivré et quelquefois jaunâtre présente un ensemble de caractères qui rapproche singulièrement leur race de celle des tribus d’origine mongole.’ This point of physical resemblance is, however, denied by several writers; thus Kneeland, Wonders, p. 53, says that though Americans have generally been accepted as Mongolians, yet if placed side by side with Chinese, hardly any resemblance will be found in physical character, except in the general contour of their faces and in their straight black hair; their mental characteristics are entirely opposite. Adair writes: ‘Some have supposed the Americans to be descended from the Chinese: but neither their religion, laws, customs, &c., agree in the least with those of the Chinese: which sufficiently proves that they are not of that line.’ He goes on to say that distance, lack of maritime skill, etc., all disprove the theory. He also remarks that the prevailing winds blow with little variation from east to west, and therefore junks could not have been driven ashore. Amer. Ind., pp. 12-13. ‘Could we hope that the monuments of Central and South America might attract the attention and excite the interest of more American scholars than hitherto, the theory of the Mongol origin of the Red-men would soon be numbered among exploded hypotheses.’ Nott and Gliddon’s Indig. Races, p. 188. ‘MM. Spix et Martius ont remarqué la ressemblance extraordinaire qui existe entre la physionomie des colons Chinois et celle des Indiens. La figure des Chinois est, il est vrai, plus petite. Ils ont le front plus large, les lèvres plus fines, et en général les traits plus délicats et plus doux que ceux des sauvages de l’Amérique. Cependant, en considérant la conformation de leur tête, qui n’est pas oblongue, mais angulaire, et plutôt pointue, leur crâne large, les sinus frontaux proéminents, le front bas, les os des joues très saillants, leurs yeux petits et obliques, le nez proportionnellement petit et épaté, le peu de poils garnissant leur menton et les autres parties du corps, leur chevelure moins longue et plate, la couleur jaunâtre ou cuivrée de leur peau, on retrouve les traits physiques communs aux deux races.’ Warden, Recherches, p. 123. The Americans certainly approach the Mongols and Malays in some respects, but not in the essential parts of cranium, hair, and profile. If we regard them as a Mongol branch, we must suppose that the slow action of climate has changed them thus materially during a number of centuries. Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 289. I think there can be no doubt of the presence of Mongol blood in the veins of the inhabitants of that region, though it is probably Tartar or Japanese rather than Chinese. Indeed, when we consider that the distance across Bering Strait is all that intervenes between the two continents, that this is at times completely frozen over, thus practically connecting America and Asia, and that, both by sea and by ice, the inhabitants on both sides of the strait are known to have had communication with each other from time immemorial, a lack of resemblance, physical and otherwise, would be far more strange than its presence. In spite of what may be said to the contrary, there can be no doubt that the Mongolian type grows less and less distinct as we go south from Alaska, though, once grant the Mongols a footing on the continent, and the influence of their religion, languages, or customs may, for all we know, have extended even to Cape Horn.

Mongolian Analogies

Analogies have been found, or thought to exist, between the languages of several of the American tribes, and that of the Chinese. But it is to Mexico, Central America, and, as we shall hereafter see, to Peru, that we must look for these linguistic affinities, and not to the north-western coasts, where we should naturally expect to find them most evident.[I-86]This will be best shown by referring to Warden’s comparison of American, Chinese, and Tartar words. Recherches, pp. 125-6. The Haidahs, are said, however, to have used words known to the Chinese. Deans’ Remains in B. Col., MS. Mr Taylor writes: ‘The Chinese accent can be traced throughout the Indian (Digger) language,’ and illustrates his assertion with a comparative vocabulary of Indian and Chinese. Cal. Farmer, Sept. 12, 1862. The Chinese in California ‘are known to be able to converse with them (the Indians) in their respective languages.’! Cronise’s California, p. 31. The similarity between the Otomí and Chinese has been remarked by several writers.[I-87]Warden, Recherches, pp. 127-9, gives a long list of these resemblances. See also Ampère, Prom. en Amér., tom. ii., p. 301; Prescott’s Mex., vol. iii., p. 396; Faliés, Études Hist. sur les Civilisations, tom. i., pp. 380-1. Molina found (in Chili?) inscriptions resembling Chinese. M’Culloh’s Researches on Amer., pp. 171-2. Bossu found some similarity between the language of the Natchez of Louisiana, and the Chinese. Nouveaux Voyages aux Indes Occidentales, tom. i., let. xviii.; cited by Warden, Recherches, p. 121. The last mentioned author also quotes a long list of analogies between the written language of the Chinese and the gesture language of the northern Indians, from a letter written by Wm Dunbar to the Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, and comments thereon. Recherches, p. 176. Of the value of these philological proofs the reader may judge by the following fair sample: ‘the Chinese call a slave, shungo; and the Naudowessie Indians, whose language from their little intercourse with the Europeans is the least corrupted, term a dog, shungush. The former denominate one species of their tea, shousong; the latter call their tobacco, shousassau.’ Carver’s Trav., p. 214. The supposition of Asiatic derivation is assumed by Smith Barton on the strength of certain similarities of words, but Vater remarks, these prove only partial migrations. Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 290. ‘On the whole, more analogies (etymol.) have been found with the idioms of Asia, than of any other quarter. But their amount is too inconsiderable to balance the opposite conclusion inferred by a total dissimilarity of structure.’ Prescott’s Mex., vol. iii., p. 396. Barton, New Views, gives a comparative vocabulary to show that Asiatic traces have been discovered in the languages of South as well as North America. Latham, Man and His Migrations, p. 185, has proofs that ‘the Kamskadale, the Koriak, the Aino-Japanese, and the Korean are the Asiatic languages most like those of America.’ ‘Dans quatre-vingt-trois langues américaines examinées par MM. Barton et Vater, on en a reconnu environ cent soixante-dix dont les racines semblent être les mêmes; et il est facile de se convaincre que cette analogie n’est pas accidentelle, qu’elle ne repose pas simplement sur l’harmonie imitative, ou sur cette égalité de conformation dans les organes, qui rend presque identiques les premiers sons articulés par les enfans. Sur cent soixante-dix mots qui ont des rapports entre eux, il y en a trois cinquièmes qui rappellent le mantchou, le tungouse, le mongol et le samojède, et deux cinquièmes qui rappellent les langues celtique et tschoude, le basque, le copte et le congo.’ Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 27-8. Prichard, Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., pp. 512-13, thinks that the Otomí monosyllabic language may belong to Chinese and Indo-Chinese idioms; but Latham, Varieties of Man, p. 408, doubts its isolation from other American tongues, and thinks that it is either anaptotic or imperfectly agglutinate. A few customs are mentioned as being common to both Chinese and Americans, but they show absolutely nothing, and are scarcely worth recounting. For instance, Bossu, speaking of the Natchez, says, “they never pare their finger nails, and it is well known that in China long nails on the right hand are a mark of nobility.”[I-88]Nouveaux Voyages aux Indes Occidentales, tom. i., lettre xviii. Cited by Warden, Recherches, p. 121. “It appears plainly” to Mr Carver “that a great similarity between the Indian and Chinese is conspicuous in that particular custom of shaving or plucking off the hair, and leaving only a small tuft on the crown of the head.”[I-89]Trav., p. 213. M. du Pratz has “good grounds to believe” that the Mexicans came originally from China or Japan, especially when he considers “their reserved and uncommunicative disposition, which to this day prevails among the people of the eastern parts of Asia.”[I-90]Hist. of Louisiana, London 1774. Architectural analogy there is none.[I-91]Speaking of the ruins of Central America, Stephens says: ‘if their (the Chinese) ancient architecture is the same with their modern, it bears no resemblance whatever to these unknown ruins.’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 438.

Buddhism in the New World

The mythological evidence upon which this and other east-Asiatic theories of origin rest, is the similarity between the more advanced religions of America and Buddhism. Humboldt thinks he sees in the snake cut in pieces the famous serpent Kaliya or Kalinaga, conquered by Vishnu, when he took the form of Krishna, and in the Mexican Tonatiuh, the Hindu Krishna, sung of in the Bhagavata-Purana.[I-92]Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., p. 236. Speaking of the Popol Vuh, Viollet-le-Duc says: ‘Certains passages de ce livre ont avec les histoires héroïques de l’Inde une singulière analogie.’ In Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 40. See also, Brasseur de Bourbourg, Quatre Lettres, pp. 212-13, 236-42. Count Stolberg,[I-93]Geschichte der Religion Jesu Christi, tom. i., p. 426. Quoted in Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., p. 256. is of opinion that the two great religious sects of India, the worshipers of Vishnu and those of Siva, have spread over America, and that the Peruvian cult is that of Vishnu when he appears in the form of Krishna, or the sun, while the sanguinary religion of the Mexicans is analogous to that of Siva, in the character of the Stygian Jupiter. The wife of Siva, the black goddess Kali or Bhavani, symbol of death and destruction, wears, according to Hindu statues and pictures, a necklace of human skulls. The Vedas ordain human sacrifices in her honor. The ancient cult of Kali, continues Humboldt, presents, without doubt, a marked resemblance to that of Mictlancihuatl, the Mexican goddess of hell; “but in studying the history of the peoples of Anáhuac, one is tempted to regard these coincidences as purely accidental. One is not justified in supposing that there must have been communication between all semi-barbarous nations who worship the sun, or offer up human beings in sacrifice.”[I-94]Vues, tom. i., p. 257. Tschudi, again, writes: ‘As among the East Indians, an undefined being, Bramah, the divinity in general, was shadowed forth in the Trimurti, or as a God under three forms, viz., Bramah, Vishnu, and Sciva; so also the Supreme Being was venerated among the Indians of Mexico, under the three forms of Ho, Huitzilopoctli, and Tlaloc, who formed the Mexican Trimurti. The attributes and worship of the Mexican goddess Mictanihuatl preserve the most perfect analogy with those of the sanguinary and implacable Kali; as do equally the legends of the Mexican divinity Teayamiqui with the formidable Bhavani; both these Indian deities were wives of Siva-Rudra. Not less surprising is the characteristic likeness which exists between the pagodas of India and the Teocallis of Mexico, while the idols of both temples offer a similitude in physiognomy and posture which cannot escape the observation of any one who has been in both countries. The same analogy is observed between the oriental Trimurti and that of Peru; thus Con corresponds to Bramah, Pachacamac to Vishnu, and Huiracocha to Siva. The Peruvians never dared to erect a temple to their ineffable God, whom they never confounded with other divinities; a remarkable circumstance, which reminds us of similar conduct among a part of the inhabitants of India as to Bramah, who is the Eternal, the abstract God. Equally will the study of worship in the two hemispheres show intimate connection between the existence and attributes of the devadasis (female servants of the Gods) and the Peruvian virgins of the Sun.

All these considerations, and many others, which from want of space we must omit, evidently prove that the greater part of the Asiatic religions, such as that of Fo, in China, of Buddha, in Japan, of Sommono-Cadom, in India, the Lamaism of Thibet, the doctrine of Dschakdschiamuni among the Mongols and Calmucs; as well as the worship of Quetzalcoatl, in Mexico, and of Manco-Capac, in Peru, are but so many branches of the same trunk; whose root the labors of archæology and modern philosophy have not been able to determine with certainty, notwithstanding all the discussion, perseverance, sagacity, and boldness of hypothesis, among the learned men who have been occupied in investigating the subject.’ After remarking upon the marvelous analogy between Christianity and Buddhism as found to exist by the first missionaries to Thibet, he goes on: ‘Not less, however, was the surprise of the first Spanish ecclesiastics, who found, on reaching Mexico, a priesthood as regularly organized as that of the most civilized countries. Clothed with a powerful and effective authority which extended its arms to man in every condition and in all the stages of his life, the Mexican priests were mediators between man and the Divinity; they brought the newly born infants into the religious society, they directed their training and education, they determined the entrance of the young men into the service of the State, they consecrated marriage by their blessing, they comforted the sick and assisted the dying.’ Finally, Tschudi finds it necessary to ‘insist on this point, that Quetzalcoatl and Mango Capac were both missionaries of the worship of Bramah or Buddha, and probably of different sects.’ Peruvian Antiq., pp. 17-20. Domenech, Deserts, vol. i., p. 52, has this passage, nearly word for word the same as Tschudi, but does not mention the latter author’s name. There is ‘a remarkable resemblance between the religion of the Aztecs and the Buddhism of the Chinese.’ Gentleman’s Magazine; quoted in Washington Standard, Oct. 30, 1869. In Quetzalcoatl may be recognized one of the austere hermits of the Ganges, and the custom of lacerating the body, practiced by so many tribes, has its counterpart among the Hindoos. Priest’s Amer. Antiq., p. 211. Quetzalcoatl, like Buddha, preached against human sacrifice. Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., p. 265.

Phallic Relics

Humboldt, who inclines strongly toward the belief that there has been communication between America and southern Asia, is at a loss to account for the total absence on the former continent of the phallic symbols which play such an important part in the worship of India.[I-95]‘Il est très-remarquable aussi que parmi les hiéroglyphes mexicains on ne découvre absolument rien qui annonce le symbole de la force génératrice, ou le culte du lingam, qui est répandu dans l’Inde et parmi toutes les nations qui ont eu des rapports avec les Hindoux.’ Vues, tom. i., p. 275. But he remarks that M. Langlès[I-96]Recherches Asiatiques, tom. i., p. 215. observes that in India the Vaichnava, or votaries of Vishnu, have a horror of the emblem of the productive force, adored in the temples of Siva and his wife Bhavani, goddess of abundance. “May not we suppose,” he adds, “that among the Buddhists exiled to the north-east of Asia, there was also a sect that rejected the phallic cult, and that it is this purified Buddhism of which we find some slight traces among the American peoples.”[I-97]Vues, tom. i., p. 276. I think I have succeeded in showing, however, in a previous volume that very distinct traces of phallic worship have been found in America.[I-98]See vol. iii., p. 501, et seq.; see also Brasseur de Bourbourg, Quatre Lettres, pp. 202-8. An ornament bearing some resemblance to an elephant’s trunk, found on some of the ruined buildings and images in America, chiefly at Uxmal, has been thought by some writers to support the theory of a south-Asiatic origin. Others have thought that this hook represents the elongated snout of the tapir, an animal common in Central America, and held sacred in some parts. The resemblance to either trunk or snout can be traced, however, only with the aid of a very lively imagination, and the point seems to me unworthy of serious discussion.[I-99]See vol. iv., p. 163, for cut of this ornament. ‘D’abord j’ai été frappé de la ressemblance qu’offrent ces étranges figures des édifices mayas avec la tête de l’éléphant. Cet appendice, placé entre deux yeux, et dépassant la bouche de presque toute sa longueur, m’a semblé ne pouvoir être autre chose que l’image de la trompe d’un proboscidien, car le museau charnu et saillant du tapir n’est pas de cette longueur. J’ai observé aussi que les édifices placés à l’Est des autres ruines offrent, aux quatre coins, trois têtes symboliques armées de trompes tournées en l’air; or, le tapir n’a nullement la faculté d’élever ainsi son museau allongé; cette dernière considération me semble décisive.’ Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 74. ‘There is not the slightest ground for supposing that the Mexicans or Peruvians were acquainted with any portion of the Hindoo mythology; but since their knowledge of even one species of animal peculiar to the Old Continent, and not found in America, would, if distinctly proved, furnish a convincing argument of a communication having taken place in former ages between the people of the two hemispheres, we cannot but think that the likeness to the head of a rhinoceros, in the thirty-sixth page of the Mexican painting preserved in the collection of Sir Thomas Bodley; the figure of a trunk resembling that of an elephant, in other Mexican paintings; and the fact, recorded by Simon, that what resembled the rib of a camel (la costilla de un camello) was kept for many ages as a relic, and held in great reverence, in one of the provinces of Bogota,—are deserving of attention. Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 27. ‘On croit reconnoître, dans le masque du sacrificateur (in one of the groups represented in the Codex Borgianus) la trompe d’un éléphant ou de quelque pachyderme qui s’en rapproche par la configuration de la tête, mais dont la mâchoire supérieure est garnie de dents incisives. Le groin du tapir se prolonge sans doute un peu plus que le museau de nos cochons; mais il y a bien loin de ce groin du tapir à la trompe figurée dans le Codex Borgianus. Les peuples d’Aztlan, originaires d’Asie, avoient-ils conservé quelques notions vagues sur les éléphans, ou, ce qui me paroît bien moins probable, leurs traditions remontoient-elles jusqu’à l’époque où l’Amérique étoit encore peuplée de ces animaux gigantesques, dont les squelettes pétrifiés se trouvent enfouis dans les terrains marneux, sur le dos même des Cordillères mexicaines? Peut-être aussi existe-t-il, dans la partie nord-ouest du nouveau continent, dans des contrées qui n’ont été visitées ni par Hearne, ni par Mackensie, ni par Lewis, un pachyderme inconnu, qui, par la configuration de sa trompe, tient le milieu entre l’éléphant et le tapir.’ Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 254-5. The same must be said of attempts to trace the mound-builders to Hindustan,[I-100]Squier’s Observations on Memoirs of Dr Zestermann, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., April, 1851; Atwater, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 196-267. not because communication between America and southern Asia is impossible, but because something more is needed to base a theory of such communication upon than the bare fact that there were mounds in one country and mounds in the other.

It is very positively asserted by several authors that the civilization of Peru was of Mongolian origin.[I-101]In this, as in all other theories, but little distinction is made between the introduction of foreign culture, and the actual origin of the people. It would be absurd, however, to suppose that a few ships’ crews, almost, if not quite, without women, cast accidentally ashore in Peru in the thirteenth century, should in the fifteenth be found to have increased to a mighty nation, possessed of a civilization quite advanced, yet resembling that of their mother country so slightly as to afford only the most faint and far-fetched analogies. It is not, however, supposed to have been brought from the north-western coasts of America, or to have come to this continent by any of the more practicable routes of communication, such as Bering Strait or the Aleutian Islands. In this instance the introduction of foreign culture was the result of disastrous accident.

Mongol Civilization in Peru

In the thirteenth century, the Mongol emperor, Kublai Khan, sent a formidable armament against Japan. The expedition failed, and the fleet was scattered by a violent tempest. Some of the ships, it is said, were cast upon the coast of Peru, and their crews are supposed to have founded the mighty empire of the Incas, conquered three centuries later by Pizarro. Mr John Ranking, who leads the van of theorists in this direction, has written a goodly volume upon this subject, which certainly, if read by itself, ought to convince the reader as satisfactorily that America was settled by Mongols, as Kingsborough’s work that it was reached by the Jews, or Jones’ argument that the Tyrians had a hand in its civilization.

That a Mongol fleet was sent against Japan, and that it was dispersed by a storm, is matter of history, though historians differ as to the manner of occurrence and date of the event; but that any of the distressed ships were driven upon the coast of Peru can be but mere conjecture, since no news of such an arrival ever reached Asia, and, what is more important, no record of the deliverance of their fathers, no memories of the old mother-country from which they had been cut off so suddenly, seemingly no knowledge, even, of Asia, were preserved by the Peruvians. Granted that the crews of the wrecked ships were but a handful compared with the aboriginal population they came among, that they only taught what they knew and did not people the country, still, the sole foundation of the theory is formed of analogous customs and physical appearance, showing that their influence and infusion of blood must have been very widely extended. If, when they arrived, they found the natives in a savage condition, as has been stated, this influence must, indeed, have been all-pervading; and it is ridiculous to suppose that the Mongol father imparted to his children a knowledge of the arts and customs of Asia, without impressing upon their minds the story of his shipwreck and the history of his native country, about which all Mongols are so precise.

But our theorists scorn to assign the parts of teachers to the wrecked Mongolians. Immediately after their arrival they gave kings to the country, and established laws. Ranking narrates the personal history and exploits of all these kings, or Incas, and even goes so far as to give a steel-engraved portrait of each; but then he also gives a “description of two living unicorns in Africa.” The name of the first Inca was Mango, or Manco, which, says Ranking, was also the name of the brother and predecessor of Kublai Khan, he who sent out the expedition against Japan. The first Inca of Peru, he believes was the son of Kublai Khan, and refers the reader to his “portrait of Manco Capac,[I-102]Manco ‘afterwards received from his subjects the title of “Capac,” which means sole Emperor, splendid, rich in virtue.’ Ranking’s Hist. Researches, p. 56. He cites for this, Garcilasso de la Vega, book i., chap. xxvi., a work on which he relies for most of his information. that he may compare it with the description of Kublai,” given by Marco Polo. The wife of Manco Capac was named Coya Mama Oella Huaco; she was also called Mamamchic, “as the mother of her relations and subjects.” Purchas mentions a queen in the country of Sheromogula whose name was Manchika.[I-103]A relation of two Russe Cossacks trauailes, out of Siberia to Catay, &c., in Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iii., p. 798. Thus, putting two and two together, Ranking arrives at the conclusion that “the names of Mango and his wife are so like those in Mongolia, that we may fairly presume them to be the same.”[I-104]Ranking’s Hist. Researches, pp. 171-2.

Peruvian and Asiatic Analogies

Let us now briefly review some other analogies discovered by this writer. The natives of South America had little or no beard, the Mongols had also little hair on the face. The Llatu, or head-dress of the Incas had the appearance of a garland, the front being decorated with a flesh-colored tuft or tassel, and that of the hereditary prince being yellow; it was surmounted by two feathers taken from a sacred bird. Here again we are referred to the portraits of the Incas and to those of Tamerlane and Tehanghir, two Asiatic princes, “both descended from Genghis Khan.” The similarity between the head-dresses, is, we are told, “striking, if allowance be made for the difficulty the Incas would experience in procuring suitable muslin for the turban.” The plumes are supposed to be in some way connected with the sacred owl of the Mongols, and yellow is the color of the imperial family in China. The sun was held an especial object of adoration, as it “has been the peculiar god of the Moguls, from the earliest times.” The Peruvians regarded Pachacamac as the Sovereign Creator; Camac-Hya was the name of a Hindu goddess; haylli was the burden of every verse of the songs composed in praise of the Sun and the Incas. “Ogus, Ghengis’ ancestor, at one year of age, miraculously pronounced the word Allah! Allah! which was the immediate work of God, who was pleased that his name should be glorified by the mouth of this tender infant.”[I-105]Quoted by Ranking, Hist. Researches, p. 183, from Abul Ghazi Bahadur, History of the Turks, Moguls, and Tartars, vol. i., p. 11. Thus Mr Ranking thinks “it is highly probable that this (haylli) is the same as the well-known Hallelujah.” Resemblances are found to exist between the Peruvian feast of the sun, and other similar Asiatic festivals. In Peru, hunters formed a circle round the quarry, in the country of Genghis they did the same. The organization of the army was much the same in Peru as in the country of the Khans; the weapons and musical instruments were also very similar. In the city of Cuzco, not far from the hill where the citadel stood, was a portion of land called colcampata, which none were permitted to cultivate except those of royal blood. At certain seasons the Incas turned up the sod here, amid much rejoicing and many ceremonies. “A great festival is solemnized every year, in all the cities of China, on the day that the sun enters the fifteenth degree of Aquarius. The emperor, according to the custom of the ancient founders of the Chinese monarchy, goes himself in a solemn manner to plough a few ridges of land. Twelve illustrious persons attend and plough after him.”[I-106]Du Halde, Empire of China, vol. i., p. 275. Quoted by Ranking, Hist. Researches, p. 197-8. In Peruvian as in Chinese architecture, it is noticeable that great care is taken to render the joints between the stones as nearly imperceptible as possible. A similarity is also said to exist between the decorations on the palaces of the Incas and those of the Khans. The cycle of sixty years was in use among most of the nations of eastern Asia, and among the Muyscas of the elevated plains of Bogota. The quipu, or knotted reckoning cord was in use in Peru, as in China. Some other analogies might be cited, but these are sufficient to show upon what foundation this theory rests. I may mention here that the Incas possessed a cross of fine marble, or jasper, highly polished, and all of one piece. It was three fourths of an ell in length and three fingers in thickness, and was kept in a sacred chamber of the palace and held in great veneration. The Spaniards enriched this cross with gold and jewels and placed it in the cathedral at Cuzco; had it been of plain wood they would probably have burnt it with curses on the emblem of ‘devil-worship.’ To account for this discovery, Mr Ranking says: There were many Nestorians in the thirteenth century in the service of the Mongols. The conqueror of the king of eastern Bengal, A.D. 1272, was a Christian. The Mongols, who were deists, treated all religions with respect, till they became Mohammedans. It is very probable that a part of the military sent to conquer Japan, were commanded by Nestorian officers. The mother of the Grand Khan Mangu, who was brother to Kublai, and possibly uncle to Manco Capac, the first Inca, was a Christian, and had in her service William Bouchier, a goldsmith, and Basilicus, the son of an Englishman born in Hungary. It is therefore highly probable that this cross accompanied Manco Capac.[I-107]Concerning the Mongolian origin of the Peruvians, see: Ranking’s Hist. Researches. Almost all other writers who have touched on this subject, are indebted to Mr Ranking for their information and ideas. See also Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. ii., p. 67, et seq.; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., pp. 293-4; Forster’s Voyage Round the World. Grotius thinks that the Peruvians must be distinct from other American people, since they are so acute, and believes them, therefore, to be descended from the Chinese. Wrecks of Chinese junks have been found on the coast. Both adore the sun, and call the king the ‘son of the sun.’ Both use hieroglyphics which are read from above downwards. Manco Capac was a Chinaman who gave these settlers a government founded on the Chinese system. Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 32-3. De Laet, replying to these arguments, considers that the acuteness of the Peruvians does not approach that of the Chinese. Nowhere in Peru have the cunning and artistic works of Chinese artificers been seen. The Chinese junks were too frail to withstand a storm that could drive them across the Pacific. And if the voyage were intentional they would have sought nearer land than the coasts of Mexico or Peru. The religion of the two countries differs materially; so does their writing. Manco Capac was a native Peruvian who ruled four hundred years before the coming of the Spaniards. Novus Orbis, in Id., pp. 33-4. Mr Cronise, in his Natural Wealth of California, p. 28, et seq., is more positive on this subject than any writer I have yet encountered. I am at a loss to know why this should be, because I have before me the works that he consulted, and I certainly find nothing to warrant his very strong assertions. I quote a few passages from his work. ‘The investigations of ethnologists and philologists who have studied the Hindoo, Chinese, and Japanese annals during the present century, have brought to light such a chain of evidence as to place beyond doubt that the inhabitants of Mexico and California, discovered by the Spaniards, were of Mongolian origin.’ Hindoo, Chinese, and Japanese annals all agree that the fleet of Kublai Khan, son of Genghis Khan, was wrecked on the coast of America. ‘There are proofs clear and certain, that Mango Capac, the founder of the Peruvian nation, was the son of Kublai Khan … and that the ancestors of Montezuma, of Mexico, who were from Assam, arrived about the same time…. Every custom of the Mexicans, described by their Spanish conquerors, proves their Asiatic origin…. The strange hieroglyphics found in so many places in Mexico, and from California to Canada, are all of Mongolian origin’…. ‘Humboldt, many years ago, conjectured that these hieroglyphics were of Tartar origin. It is now positively known that they are…. The armor belonging to Montezuma, which was obtained by Cortez and is now in the museum at Madrid, is known to be of Asiatic manufacture, and to have belonged to one of Kublai Khan’s generals.’ It is unnecessary to multiply quotations, or to further criticise a work so grossly misleading. The following unique assertion is a fair specimen of Mr Cronise’s vagaries when treading on unfamiliar ground: ‘”Alta,” the prefix which distinguishes Upper from Lower California, is a word of Mongolian origin, signifying “gold.”‘ The most superficial knowledge of Spanish or of the history of California, would have told Mr Cronise that ‘alta’ simply means ‘high,’ or ‘upper,’ and that the name was applied to what was originally termed ‘New’ California, in contradistinction to ‘Baja’ or ‘Lower’ California.

Peruvian Giants

I have stated above that the Peruvians preserved no record of having come originally from China. They had a tradition, however, concerning certain foreigners who came by sea to their country, which may be worth repeating; Garcilasso de la Vega gives this tradition as he himself heard it in Peru. They affirm, he says, in all Peru, that certain giants came by sea to the cape now called St Helen’s, in large barks made of rushes. These giants were so enormously tall that ordinary men reached no higher than their knees; their long, disheveled hair covered their shoulders; their eyes were as big as saucers, and the other parts of their bodies were of correspondingly colossal proportions. They were beardless; some of them were naked, others were clothed in the skins of wild beasts; there were no women with them. Having landed at the cape, they established themselves at a spot in the desert, and dug deep wells in the rock, which at this day continue to afford excellent water. They lived by rapine, and soon desolated the whole country. Their appetites and gluttony were such that it is said one of them would eat as much as fifty ordinary persons. They massacred the men of the neighboring parts without mercy, and killed the women by their brutal violations. At last, after having for a long time tyrannized over the country and committed all manner of enormities, they were suddenly destroyed by fire from heaven, and an angel armed with a flaming sword. As an eternal monument of divine vengeance, their bones remained unconsumed, and may be seen at the present day. As for the rest, it is not known from what place they came, nor by what route they arrived.[I-108]This relation, says Ranking, ‘has naturally enough been considered by Robertson and others as a ridiculous fable; and any reader would be inclined to treat it as such, were it not accounted for by the invasion of Japan, and the very numerous and convincing proofs of the identity of the Mongols and the Incas.’ Hist. Researches, p. 55. He thinks that the giants were the Mongolian invaders, mounted upon the elephants which they brought with them. ‘The elephants,’ he says, ‘would, no doubt, be defended by their usual armor on such an extraordinary occasion, and the space for the eyes would appear monstrous. The remark about the beards, &c., shows that the man and the elephant were considered as one person. It is a new and curious folio edition of the Centaurs and Lapithæ; and we cannot wonder that, on such a novel occasion, Cape St. Helen’s did not produce an American Theseus.’ Id., pp. 53-4.

There is also a native account of the arrival of Manco Capac, in which he figures simply a culture-hero. The story closely resembles those told of the appearance and acts of the apostles Cukulcan, Wixepecocha, and others, and need not be repeated here.[I-109]See Ranking’s Hist. Researches, p. 56, et seq.; Warden, Recherches, pp. 187-9.

The Chinese from Peru

Mr Charles Wolcott Brooks, Japanese consul in San Francisco, a most learned gentleman, and especially well versed in Oriental lore, has kindly presented me with a MS. prepared by himself, in which are condensed the results of twenty-five years’ study of the history of the eastern Asiatic nations, and their possible communication with American continent.[I-110]Origin of the Japanese Race, and their Relation to the American Continent, MS. He recognizes many striking analogies between the Chinese and the Peruvians, but arrives at a conclusion respecting the relation between the two nations, the exact reverse of that discussed in the preceding paragraphs. His theory is that the Chinese came originally from Peru, and not the Peruvians from China. He uses, to support his argument, many of the resemblances in customs, etc., of which Ranking and others have availed themselves to prove an exactly opposite theory, and adds that, as in those early times the passage of the Pacific could only have been made under the most favorable circumstances and with the assistance of fair winds, it would be impossible, owing to the action of the SE. and NE. trade-winds for such a passage to have been made, either intentionally or accidentally, from China to Peru, while on the other hand, if a large craft were placed before the wind and set adrift from the Peruvian coast, there is a strong probability that it would drive straight on to the southern coast of China.[I-111]See report of a lecture read by Charles Wolcott Brooks before the California Academy of Science, in Daily Alta California, May 4, 1875; San Francisco Evening Bulletin, same date.

Japanese Wrecks on the American Coast

A Japanese origin or at least a strong infusion of Japanese blood, has been attributed to the tribes of the north-west coasts. There is nothing improbable in this; indeed, there is every reason to believe that on various occasions small parties of Japanese have reached the American continent, have married the women of the country, and necessarily left the impress of their ideas and physical peculiarities upon their descendants. Probably these visits were all, without exception, accidental; but that they have occurred in great numbers is certain. There have been a great many instances of Japanese junks drifting upon the American coast, many of them after having floated helplessly about for many months. Mr Brooks gives forty-one particular instances of such wrecks, beginning in 1782, twenty-eight of which date since 1850.[I-112]See report of paper submitted by Mr Brooks to the California Academy of Sciences, in San Francisco Evening Bulletin, March 2, 1875. In this report the details and date of each wreck are given. The author of the paper assures me that he has records of over one hundred such disasters. Every one of these wrecks, when examined, proved to be Japanese, and not one Chinese. See also Irving’s Bonneville’s Adven., p. 427; Smith’s Human Species, p. 239; Roquefeuil, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1823, tom. xviii., pp. 248-9; Anderson, in Hist. Mag., vol. vii., pp. 80-1; Lassepas, Baja Cal., pp. 45-6. Only twelve of the whole number were deserted. In a majority of cases the survivors remained permanently at the place where the waves had brought them. There is no record in existence of a Japanese woman having been saved from a wreck. A great many Japanese words are to be found in the Chinook jargon, but in all cases abbreviated, as if coming from a foreign source, while the construction of the two languages is dissimilar.[I-113]Id. Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 216-7. ‘Looking only at the forms and endings of the words, their ring and sounds when uttered, we could not but notice the striking similarity, in these respects, between the proper names as found on the map of Japan, and many of the names given to places, rivers, etc., in this country.’ (America.) Rockwell, in Hist. Mag., n. s., vol. iii., p. 141. The reasons for the presence of Japanese and the absence of Chinese junks are simple. There is a current of cold water setting from the Arctic ocean south along the east coast of Asia, which drives all the Chinese wrecks south. The Kuro Siwo, or ‘black stream,’ commonly known as the Japan current, runs northwards past the eastern coast of the Japan islands, then curves round to the east and south, sweeping the whole west coast of North America, a branch, or eddy, moving towards the Sandwich Islands. A drifting wreck would be carried towards the American coast at an average rate of ten miles a day by this current. To explain the frequent occurrence of these wrecks Mr Brooks refers to an old Japanese law. About the year 1630, the Japanese government adopted its deliberate policy of exclusion of foreigners and seclusion of its own people. To keep the latter from visiting foreign countries, and to confine their voyages to smooth water and the coasting trade, a law was passed ordering all junks to be built with open sterns and large square rudders unfit to stand any heavy sea. The January monsoons from the north-east are apt to blow any unlucky coaster which happens to be out straight into the Kuro Siwo, the huge rudders are soon washed away, and the vessels, falling into the trough of the sea, roll their masts overboard. Every January there are numbers of these disasters of which no record is kept. About one third of these vessels, it seems, drift to the Sandwich Islands, the remainder to North America, where they scatter along the coast from Alaska to California. How many years this has been going on can only be left to conjecture. The information given by Mr Brooks is of great value, owing to his thorough acquaintance with the subject, the intelligent study of which has been a labor of love with him for so many years. And his theory with regard to the Japanese carries all the more weight, in my opinion, in that he does not attempt to account for the similarities that exist between that people and the Americans by an immigration en masse, but by a constant infusion of Japanese blood and customs through a series of years, sufficient to modify the original stock, wherever that came from.

I have already stated that traces of the Japanese language have been found among the coast tribes. There is also some physical resemblance.[I-114]There were in California at the time of the Conquest, Indians of various races, some of the Japanese type. Vallejo, Hist. Cal., MS., tom. i., p. 3; Vallejo, Remin. Cal., MS., p. 6. The Aleutian Islanders resemble the Japanese in various respects. Simpson’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 228. Priest, Amer. Antiq., p. 214, thinks that Quetzalcoatl may be regarded as a Japanese, as comparatively white and bearded. Viollet-le-Duc points out some striking resemblances between the temples of Japan and Central America.[I-115]Introduction to Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 28-31. It is asserted that the people of Japan had a knowledge of the American continent and that it was marked down on their maps. Montanus tells us that three ship-captains named Henrik Corneliszoon, Schaep, and Wilhelm Byleveld, were taken prisoners by the Japanese and carried to Jeddo, where they were shown a sea chart, on which America was drawn as a mountainous country adjoining Tartary on the north.[I-116]Nieuwe Weereld, p. 39. Of course the natives have the usual tradition that strangers came among them long before the advent of the Europeans.[I-117]Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 217.

The theory that America, or at least the north-western part of it, was peopled by the ‘Tartars’ or tribes of north-western Asia, is supported by many authors. There certainly is no reason why they should not have crossed Bering Strait from Asia, the passage is easy enough; nor is there any reason why they should not have crossed by the same route to Asia, and peopled the north-western part of that continent. The customs, manner of life, and physical appearance of the natives on both sides of the straits are almost identical, as a multitude of witnesses testify, and it seems absurd to argue the question from any point. Of course, Bering Strait may have served to admit other nations besides the people inhabiting its shores into America, and in such cases there is more room for discussion.[I-118]See: Ampère, Prom. en Amér., tom. ii., pp. 300-4; Atwater, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 212-14, 338-42; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 38-42; Priest’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 58-9; Religious Cer. and Cust., vol. iii., pp. 4-10; Robertson’s Hist. Amer., vol. i., pp. 277-81; Vigne’s Travels, vol. ii., pp. 37-8; Gage’s New Survey, p. 162; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 7-9; Farcy, Discours, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. i., p. 45; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., pp. 79-80; Adair’s Amer. Ind., pp. 12-13; Norman’s Rambles by Land and Water, pp. 215-16; Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., p. 267; Vater, Ueber Amer. Bevölkerung, pp. 155-69, cited in Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., p. 175; Laplace, Circumnav., tom. vi., p. 156; Warden, Recherches, pp. 201-2; Josselyn’s Two Voyages; Williamson’s Observations on Climate; Hill’s Antiq. of Amer.; Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 392-3, 450; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 334-5; Volney’s View; Bossu, Nouveaux Voy.; Slight’s Indian Researches; Carver’s Trav., pp. 187-96, 208-19; Fontaine’s How the World was Peopled, pp. 241-5; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, cap. ccix., quoted in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., pp. 398-9; Delafield’s Antiq. Amer., pp. 13-104; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., pp. 293-4; Monglave, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. i., p. 60; Heylyn’s Cosmog., p. 947; Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 174.

The Egyptian Theory

We may now consider that theory which supposes the civilized peoples of America to be of Egyptian origin, or, at least, to have derived their arts and culture from Egypt. This supposition is based mainly on certain analogies which have been thought to exist between the architecture, hieroglyphics, methods of computing time, and, to a less extent, customs, of the two countries. Few of these analogies will, however, bear close investigation, and even where they will, they can hardly be said to prove anything. I find no writer who goes so far as to affirm that the New World was actually peopled from Egypt; we shall, therefore, have to regard this merely as a culture-theory, the original introduction of human life into the continent in no way depending upon its truth or fallacy.

The architectural feature which has attracted most attention is the pyramid, which to some writers is of itself conclusive proof of an Egyptian origin. The points of resemblance, as given by those in favor of this theory, are worth studying. García y Cubas claims the following analogies between Teotihuacan and the Egyptian pyramids: the site chosen is the same; the structures are oriented with slight variation; the line through the centre of the pyramids is in the ‘astronomical meridian;’ the construction in grades and steps is the same; in both cases the larger pyramids are dedicated to the sun; the Nile has a ‘valley of the dead,’ as at Teotihuacan there is a ‘street of the dead;’ some monuments of each class have the nature of fortifications; the smaller mounds are of the same nature and for the same purpose; both pyramids have a small mound joined to one of their faces; the openings discovered in the Pyramid of the Moon are also found in some Egyptian pyramids; the interior arrangement of the pyramids is analogous.[I-119]Ensayo de un Estudio comparativo.

Egyptian and American Pyramids

The two great pyramids of Teotihuacan, dedicated to the sun and moon, are surrounded by several hundreds of small pyramids. Delafield remarks that the pyramids of Gizeh, in Egypt, are also surrounded by smaller edifices in regular order, and closely correspond in arrangement to those of Teotihuacan.[I-120]Delafield’s Antiq. Amer., p. 57. The construction of these two pyramids recalls to Mr Ranking’s mind that of “one of the Egyptian pyramids of Sakhara, which has six stories; and which, according to Pocock, is a mass of pebbles and yellow mortar, covered on the outside with rough stones.”[I-121]Ranking’s Hist. Researches, p. 356. In some few instances human remains have been found in American pyramids, though never in such a position as to convey the idea that the structure had been built expressly for their reception, as was the case in Egypt. It is but fair to add, however, that no pyramid has yet been opened to its centre, or, indeed, in any way properly explored as to its interior, and that a great many of them are known to have interior galleries and passages, though these were not used as sepulchres. In one instance, at Copan, a vault was discovered in the side of a pyramidal structure; on the floor, and in two small niches, were a number of red earthen-ware vessels, containing human bones packed in lime; scattered about were shells, cave stalactites, and stone knives; three heads were also found, one of them “apparently representing death, its eyes being nearly shut, and the lower features distorted; the back of the head symmetrically perforated by holes; the whole of most exquisite workmanship, and cut or cast from a fine stone covered with green enamel.”[I-122]See vol. iv., pp. 88, 95-6, for further description, also plan of Copan ruins, p. 85, for location of vault. Jones, commenting on the above, remarks: ‘This last sentence brings us to a specimen of Gem engraving, the most ancient of all the antique works of Art. Not only is the death “Chamber” identical with that of Egypt, but also the very way of reaching it—viz., first, by ascending the pyramidal base, and then descending, and so entering the Sepulchre! This could not be accidental,—the builders of that pyramidal Sepulchre must have had a knowledge of Egypt.’ Hist. Anc. Amer., pp. 116-17. Stephens, who in his first volume of travels in Central America, p. 144, describes this vault, writes in vol. ii., pp. 439-40: ‘The pyramids of Egypt are known to have interior chambers, and, whatever their other uses, to have been intended and used as sepulchres. These (American pyramids), on the contrary, are of solid earth and stone. No interior chambers have ever been discovered, and probably none exist.’ Mr Jones criticises Mr Stephens very severely for this apparent contradiction, but it is customary with Mr Jones to tilt blindly at whatever obstructs his theories. Stephens doubtless refers in this passage to such chambers as would lead one to suppose that the pyramid was built as a token of their presence. Löwenstern is very positive that the Mexican pyramid was not intended for sepulchral purposes. Mexique, p. 274. Clavigero is of the same opinion: ‘quelli degli Egizj erano per lo più vuoti; quelli de’ Messicani massiccj; questi servivano di basi a’ loro Santuarj; quelli di sepolcri de’ Re.’ Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iv., pp. 19-20. Foster, on the other hand, writes: ‘There are those who, in the truncated pyramids, see evidences of Egyptian origin. The pyramids, like the temple-mounds, were used for sepulchres, but here the analogy ends.’ Pre-Hist. Races, p. 187. In the great pyramid of Cholula, also, an excavation made in building the Puebla road, which cut off a corner of the lower terrace, not only disclosed to view the interior construction of the pyramid, but also laid bare a tomb containing two skeletons and two idols of basalt, a collection of pottery, and other relics. The sepulchre was square, with stone walls, supported with cypress beams. The dimensions are not given, but no traces of any outlet were found.[I-123]See vol. iv., p. 474. There are, besides, traditions among the natives of the existence of interior galleries and apartments of great extent within this mound. Thus we see that in some instances the dead were deposited in pyramids, though there is not sufficient evidence to show that these structures were originally built for this purpose.

Architectural Analogies

Herodotus tells us that in his time the great pyramid of Cheops was coated with polished stone, in such a manner as to present a smooth surface on all its sides from the base to the top; in the upper part of the pyramid of Cephren the casing-stones have remained in their places to the present day. No American pyramid with smooth sides has as yet been discovered, and of this fact those who reject the Egyptian theory have not failed to avail themselves.[I-124]Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 440. It is nevertheless probable that many of the American pyramids had originally smooth sides, though, at the present day, time and the growth of dense tropical vegetation have rendered the very shape of the structures scarcely recognizable.[I-125]The reader can compare the various accounts of pyramidal structures given in vol. iv. on this point. See heading ‘pyramid,’ in Index. It is further objected that while the American pyramids exhibit various forms, all are truncated, and were erected merely to serve as foundations for other buildings, those of Egypt are of uniform shape, “rising and diminishing until they come to a point,”[I-126]Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 439. and are not known to have ever served as a base for temple or palace. It is, however, not certain, judging from facts visible at the present day, that all the Egyptian pyramids did rise to a point. Again, it is almost certain that the American pyramid was not always used as a foundation for a superimposed building, but that it was frequently complete in itself. In many of the ruined cities of Yucatan one or more pyramids have been found upon the summit of which no traces of any building could be discovered, although upon the pyramids by which these were surrounded portions of superimposed edifices still remained. There is, also, some reason to believe that perfect pyramids were constructed in America. As has been seen in the preceding volume, Waldeck found near Palenque two pyramids, which he describes as having been at the time in a state of perfect preservation, square at the base, pointed at the top, and thirty-one feet high, their sides forming equilateral triangles. Delafield[I-127]Antiq. Amer., p. 56. remarks that a simple mound would first suggest the pyramid, and that from this the more finished and permanent structure would grow; which is true enough. But if we are to believe, as is stated, that the American pyramids grew from such beginnings as the Mississippi mounds, then what reason can there be in comparing the pyramids of Teotihuacan with those of Gizeh in Egypt. For if the Egyptian colonists, at the time of their emigration to America, had advanced no further toward the perfect pyramid than the mound-building stage, would it not be the merest coincidence if the finished pyramidal structures in one country, the result of centuries of improvement, should resemble those of the other country in any but the most general features? Finally, pyramidal edifices were common in Asia as well as in Northern Africa, and it may be said that the American pyramids are as much like the former as they are like the latter.[I-128]Humboldt reviews the points of resemblance and comes to the conclusion that they afford no foundation upon which to base a theory of Egyptian origin. Vues, tom. i., pp. 120-4. ‘There is much in the shape, proportions and sculptures of this pyramid (Xochicalco) to connect its architects with the Egyptians.’ Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, p. 186. Bradford finds that some ‘of the Egyptian pyramids, and those which with some reason it has been supposed are the most ancient, are precisely similar to the Mexican Teocalli.’ But he only sees Egyptian traces in this; he shows that similar pyramidal structures have been found in very many parts of the world; and he believes the Americans to have originated from many sources and stocks. See Amer. Antiq., p. 423.

In its general features, American architecture does not offer any strong resemblances to the Egyptian. The upholders of the theory find traces of the latter people in certain round columns found at Uxmal, Mitla, Quemada, and other places; in the general massiveness of the structures; and in the fact that the vermilion dye on many of the ruins was a favorite color in Egypt.[I-129]See vol. iv., chap. v., vii., and x. Quoting from Molina, Hist. Chili, tom. i., notes, p. 169, M’Culloh writes: ‘Between the hills of Mendoza and La Punta, upon a low range of hills, is a pillar of stone one hundred and fifty feet high, and twelve in diameter.’ ‘This,’ he adds, ‘very much reminds us of the pillar and obelisks of ancient Egypt.’ Researches, pp. 171-2. Jones, Hist. Anc. Amer., pp. 122-3, is very confident about the obelisk. He asks: ‘What are the Obelisks of Egypt? Are they not square columns for the facility of Sculpture? And of what form are the isolated columns at Copan? Are they not square, and for the same purpose of facility in Sculpture with which they are covered, and with workmanship “as fine as that of Egypt?”… The columns of Copan stand detached and solitary,—the Obelisks of Egypt do the same, and both are square (or four-sided) and covered with the art of the Sculptor. The analogy of being derived from the Nile is perfect,—for in what other Ruins but those of Egypt, and Ancient America, is the square sculptured Column to be found?’ Humboldt, speaking of a ruined structure at Mitla, says: “the distribution of the apartments of this singular edifice, bears a striking analogy to what has been remarked in the monuments of Upper Egypt, drawn by M. Denon, and the savans who compose the institute of Cairo.”[I-130]Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 265. Notwithstanding certain points of resemblance, says Prescott, ‘the Palenque architecture has little to remind us of the Egyptian, or of the Oriental. It is, indeed, more conformable, in the perpendicular elevation of the walls, the moderate size of the stones, and the general arrangement of the posts, to the European. It must be admitted, however, to have a character of originality peculiar to itself.’ Mex., vol. iii., pp. 407-8.

Sculpture and Hieroglyphics

Between American and Egyptian sculpture, there is, at first sight, a very striking general resemblance. This, however, almost entirely disappears upon close examination and comparison. Both peoples represented the human figure in profile, the Egyptians invariably, the Americans generally; in the sculpture of both, much the same attitudes of the body predominate, and these are but awkwardly designed; there is a general resemblance between the lofty head-dresses worn by the various figures, though in detail there is little agreement.[I-131]There is a plate showing an Aztec priestess in Delafield’s Antiq. Amer., p. 61, which, if correctly drawn, certainly presents a head-dress strikingly Egyptian. The same might almost be said of a cut in vol. iv. of this work, p. 562 , and, indeed, of several other cuts in the same volume. Mr Stephens, Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 441, gives, for the sake of comparison, a plate representing two specimens of Egyptian sculpture; one from the side of the great monument at Thebes known as the Vocal Memnon, and the other from the top of the fallen obelisk at Carnac. ‘I think,’, he writes, ‘by comparison with the engravings before presented, it will be found that there is no resemblance whatever. If there be any at all striking, it is only that the figures are in profile, and this is equally true of all good sculpture in bas-relief.’ He happens, however, here, to have selected two Egyptian subjects which almost find their counterparts in America. In the preceding volume of this work, p. 333 , is given a cut of what is called the ‘tablet of the cross’ at Palenque. In this we see a cross, and perched upon it a bird, to which (or to the cross) two human figures in profile, apparently priests, are making an offering. In Mr Stephens’ representation from the Vocal Memnon we find almost the same thing, the differences being, that instead of an ornamented Latin cross, we have here a crux commissa, or patibulata; that instead of one bird there are two, not on the cross but immediately above it; and that the figures, though in profile and holding the same general positions, are dressed in a different manner, and are apparently binding the cross with the lotus instead of making an offering to it; in Mr Stephens’ representation from the obelisk of Carnac, however, a priest is evidently making an offering to a large bird perched upon an altar, and here, again, the human figures occupy the same position. The hieroglyphs, though the characters are of course different, are, it will be noticed, disposed upon the stone in much the same manner. The frontispiece of Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., described on p. 352, represents the tablet on the back wall of the altar, casa No. 3, at Palenque. Once more here are two priests clad in all the elaborate insignia of their office, standing one on either side of a table, or altar, upon which are erected two batons, crossed in such a manner as to form a crux decussata, and supporting a hideous mask. To this emblem they are each making an offering. These are the points of analogy and they are sufficiently prominent to account for the idea of resemblance which has been so often and so strongly expressed. But while sculpture in Egypt is for the most part in intaglio, in America it is usually in relief. In the former country, the faces are expressionless, always of the same type, and, though executed in profile, the full eye is placed on the side of the head; in the New World, on the contrary, we meet with many types of countenance, some of which are by no means lacking in expression.

If there were any hope of evidence that the civilized peoples of America were descendants, or derived any of their culture from the ancient Egyptians, we might surely look for such proof in their hieroglyphics. Yet we look in vain. To the most expert decipherer of Egyptian hieroglyphics, the inscriptions at Palenque are a blank and unreadable mystery, and they will perhaps ever remain so.[I-132]Delafield, it is true, discerns a distinct analogy between the hieroglyphs of Egypt and America. And the evidence he adduces is absurd enough. ‘Hieroglyphic writings,’ he says, ‘are necessarily of three kinds, viz: phonetic, figurative, and symbolical.’ He then goes on to show at great length, that both in Egypt and in America all three of these systems were used: hence, the resemblance. Antiq. Amer., pp. 42-7. ‘Les monumens du Palenque présentent des inscriptions hiéroglyphiques qui ne paraissent pas différer des hiéroglyphes de l’ancienne Thèbes.’ Giordan, Tehuantepec, p. 57. Jomard pronounces an inscription found at Grave Creek to be Lybian. Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 411-12. Says M’Culloh: ‘The Game of the Flyers, we notice in this place, as M. Denon in the plates to his Travels in Egypt, has given the copy of some figures taken from the Egyptian hieroglyphics, which have every appearance of a similar design with this Mexican amusement or ceremony.—The similarity of device will be best seen, by comparing the plate given by Clavigero, with the (lxiii. plate) of Denon’s Atlas, &c.’ Researches on Amer., pp. 170-1. Priest, Amer. Antiq., p. 122, gives a comparative table of Lybian characters, and others, which he affirms to have been found at Otolum, or Palenque: the whole statement is, however, too apocryphal to be worthy of further notice. See, also, a long letter from Prof. Rafinesque to Champollion, ‘on the Graphic Systems of America, and the Glyphs of Otolum, or Palenque, in Central America,’ in Id., pp. 123-9. The hieroglyphics of Palenque and Tula encourage the idea that they were founded by an Egyptian colony. Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 19.

Resemblances have been found between the calendar systems of Egypt and America, based chiefly upon the length and division of the year, and the number of intercalary and complementary days. This, however, is too lengthy a subject to be fully discussed here. In a previous volume I have given a full account of the American systems, and must perforce leave it to the reader to compare them with the Egyptian system.[I-133]In a letter by Jomard, quoted by Delafield, we read: ‘I have also recognized in your memoir on the division of time among the Mexican nations, compared with those of Asia, some very striking analogies between the Toltec characters and institutions observed on the banks of the Nile. Among these analogies there is one which is worthy of attention. It is the use of the vague year of three hundred and sixty-five days, composed of equal months, and of five complementary days, equally employed at Thebes and Mexico, a distance of three thousand leagues. It is true that the Egyptians had no intercalation, while the Mexicans intercalated thirteen days every fifty-two years. Still farther: intercalation was proscribed in Egypt, to such a point that the kings swore, on their accession, never to permit it to be employed during their reign. Notwithstanding this difference, we find a very striking agreement in the length of the duration of the solar year. In reality, the intercalation of the Mexicans being thirteen days on each cycle of fifty-two years, comes to the same thing as that of the Julian calendar, which is one day in four years; and consequently supposes the duration of the year to be three hundred and sixty-five days, six hours. Now such was the length of the year among the Egyptians, since the sothic period was at once one thousand four hundred and sixty solar years, and one thousand four hundred and sixty-one vague years; which was, in some sort, the intercalation of a whole year of three hundred and seventy-five days every one thousand four hundred and sixty years. The property of the sothic period—that of bringing back the seasons and festivals to the same point of the year, after having made them pass successively through every point—is undoubtedly one of the reasons which caused the intercalation to be proscribed, no less than the repugnance of the Egyptians for foreign institutions. Now it is remarkable that the same solar year of three hundred and sixty-five days, six hours, adopted by nations so different, and perhaps still more remote in their state of civilization than in their geographical distance, relates to a real astronomical period, and belongs peculiarly to the Egyptians…. The fact of the intercalation (by the Mexicans) of thirteen days every cycle, that is, the use of a year of three hundred and sixty-five days and a quarter, is a proof that it was either borrowed from the Egyptians, or that they had a common origin.’ Antiq. Amer., pp. 52-3. ‘On the 26th of February, the Mexican century begins, which was celebrated from the time of Nabonassor, seven hundred and forty-seven years before Christ, because the Egyptian priests conformably to their astronomical observations had fixed the beginning of their month Toth and the commencement of their year at noon on that day; this was verified by the Meridian of Alexandria, which was erected three centuries after that epoch. Hence it has been contended there could exist no doubt of the conformity of the Mexican with the Egyptian calendar, for although the latter assigned twelve months of thirty days each to the year, and added five days besides, in order that the circle of three hundred and sixty-five days should recommence from the same point; yet, notwithstanding the deviation from the Egyptian mode in the division of the months and days, they yet maintained that the Mexican method was conformable thereto, on account of the superadded five days; with this only difference, that upon these the Americans attended to no business, and therefore termed them Nemontemi or useless, whereas the Egyptians celebrated, during that epoch, the festival of the birth of their gods, as attested by Plutarch de Feide, and Osiride. Upon the other hand it is asserted, that though the Mexicans differed from the Egyptians by dividing their year into eighteen months, yet, as they called the month Mextli Moon, they must have formerly adopted the lunar month, agreeable to the Egyptian method of dividing the year into twelve months of thirty days; but to support this assertion no attempt has been made to ascertain the cause why this method was laid aside. The analogy between the Mexican and the Egyptian calendars is thus assumed to be undeniable. Besides what has been here introduced, the same is attempted to be proved in many other works which I pass over to avoid prolixity, and therefore only mention that they may be found in Boturini, in La Idea del Universo, by the abbé don Lorenza de Hervas, published in the Italian language, in Clavigero’s dissertations, and in a letter addressed to him by Hervas, which he added to the end of his second volume.’ Cabrera, Teatro, in Rio’s Description, pp. 103-5. See also: Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 344, 348; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iv., p. 20; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 295.

Of course a similarity of customs has to be found to support this theory, as in the case of others. Consequently our attention is drawn to embalmment, circumcision, and the division of the people into castes, which is not quite true of the Americans; some resemblance is found, moreover, between the religions of Egypt and America, for instance, certain animals were held sacred in both countries; but all such analogies are far too slender to be worth anything as evidence; there is scarcely one of them that would not apply to several other nations equally as well as to the Egyptians.

The Phœnician Theory

Turning now to Western Asia, we find the honor of first settling America given to the adventurous Phœnicians. The sailors of Carthage are also supposed by some writers to have first reached the New World, but as the exploits of colony and mother-country are spoken of by most writers in the same breath, it will be the simplest plan to combine the two theories here. They are based upon the fame of these people as colonizing navigators more than upon any actual resemblances that have been found to exist between them and the Americans. It is argued that their ships sailed beyond the Pillars of Hercules to the Canary Islands, and that such adventurous explorers having reached that point would be sure to seek farther. The records of their voyages and certain passages in the works of several of the writers of antiquity are supposed to show that the ancients knew of a land lying in the far west.[I-134]I follow, chiefly, M. Warden’s résumé of these accounts, as being the fullest and clearest. Recherches, p. 406, et seq.

Voyages of the Phœnicians

The Phœnicians were employed about a thousand years before the Christian era, by Solomon, king of the Jews, and Hiram, king of Tyre, to navigate their fleets to Ophir and Tarshish. They returned, by way of the Mediterranean, to the port of Joppa, after a three-years’ voyage, laden with gold, silver, precious stones, ivory, cedar, apes, and peacocks. Several authors have believed that they had two distinct fleets, one of which went to the land since known as America, and the other to India. Huet, bishop of Avranches,[I-135]Hist. du Commerce, cap. viii. and other authors, are persuaded that Ophir was the modern Sofala, situated about 21° S. lat., and that Tarshish comprised all the western coast of Africa and Spain, but particularly the part lying about the mouth of the Bœtis or Guadalquivir. According to Arius Montanus, Genebrardus, Vatable, and other writers, Ophir is the island of Hispaniola. It is said that Christopher Columbus was induced to adopt this idea by the immense caverns which he found there, from which he supposed that Solomon must have obtained his gold. Postel and others have believed that the land of Ophir was Peru.[I-136]Acosta compares the gold of Ophir with that of Hispaniola. He entertains the opinion that Tarshish and Ophir are distant imaginary places and not distinct countries, but imagines them to be somewhere in the East Indies. ‘Cur autem in Orientali potius India quam in hac Occidentali Ophir fuisse existimem, illud caput est, quod ad nostrum Peru non nisi infinito circuitu tota India Orientali & Sinarum regione enauigata Salomonia clasis peruenire poterar.’ De Novi Orbis, p. 36. Ophir is supposed to be in India or Africa. Robertson’s Hist. Amer., vol. i., p. 7. Crowe, Cent. Amer., p. 65, considers the probability of Ophir and Tarshish being on the west coast of America. The Phœnician ‘Ophir, or Ofor, which means, in their ancient language, the Western country, was Mexico and Central America, the land of gold.’ Fontaine’s How the World was Peopled, pp. 259-60. On p. 162, he says that the best authorities, Volney, Bochart, Michaelis, and Forster, suppose Ophir to have been situated on the Persian Gulf. The Phœnician Ophir was Hayti, for Columbus thought that he could trace the furnaces in which the gold had been refined. Carver’s Trav., p. 192. Kingsborough, Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., pp. 184-5, considers the position of Ophir, but is undecided as to its position. Ens, West und Ost Indischer Lustgart, pp. 5-8, disagreeing with Vatablus and Stephanus, can find no resemblance to Ophir in Hayti or Peru, and comes to the conclusion that Ophir lay somewhere in the Old World, most likely in the East Indies. This seems to be a plagiarism of Acosta. See also Gottfriedt, Newe Welt, p. 3. Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. ii., pp. 40-5, discusses the position of Ophir in Veragua. Piñeda, De Rebus Salomonis, believes Ophir to have been America. Warden, Recherches, p. 196. See also Id., pp. 106-7. Horn[I-137]De Origine Gentium Americanarum, lib. ii., cap. vi., vii., viii. claims that the Phœnicians made three remarkable voyages to America; the first, under the direction of Atlas, son of Neptune; the second, when they were driven by a tempest from the coast of Africa to the most remote parts of the Atlantic ocean, and arrived at a large island to the west of Libya; and the third, in the time of Solomon, when the Tyrians went to Ophir to seek for gold. According to those who believe that there were two distinct fleets, that of Solomon and that of Hiram, the first set out from Eziongeber, sailed down the Red Sea, doubled Cape Comorin, and went to Taproban (Ceylon), or some other part of India; this voyage occupied one year. The other fleet passed through the Mediterranean, stopping at the various ports along the coasts of Europe and Africa, and finally, passing out through the straits of Gades, continued its voyage as far as America, and returned after three years to its starting-place, laden with gold.

The Periplus of Hanno, a Carthaginian navigator of uncertain date, contains an account of a voyage which he made beyond the Pillars of Hercules, with a fleet of sixty ships and thirty thousand men, for the purpose of founding the Liby-Phœnician towns. He relates that setting out from Gades, he sailed southwards. The first city he founded was Thumiaterion,[I-138]‘Sur le cap Mollabat, au pied duquel on bâti ensuite le vieux Tanger.’ Gosselin, cited by Warden, Recherches, p. 107, note 8. near the Pillars of Hercules, probably in the neighborhood of Marmora. He then doubled the promontory of Soloeis,[I-139]‘Le cap Spartel, qui forme l’extrémité occidentale du détroit.’ Id., note 9. which Rennel considers to be the same as Cape Cantin, but other commentators to be the same as Cape Blanco, in 33° N. latitude. A little to the south of this promontory five more cities were founded. After passing the mouth of the river Lixus, supposed by Rennel to be the modern St Cyprian, he sailed for two days along a desolate coast, and on the third day entered a gulf in which was situated a small island, which he named Kerne, and colonized. After continuing his voyage for some days, and meeting with various adventures, he returned to Kerne, whence he once more directed his course southward, and sailed along the coast for twelve days. Two days more he spent in doubling a cape, and five more in sailing about a large gulf. He then continued his voyage for a few days, and was finally obliged to return from want of provisions. The authenticity of the Periplus has been doubted by many critics, but it appears probable from the testimony of several ancient authors that the voyage was actually performed. But be the account true or false, I certainly can discover in it no ground for believing that Hanno did more than coast along the western shore of Africa, sailing perhaps as far south as Sierra Leone.[I-140]The Greek text of the Periplus is printed in Hudson’s Geographiæ veteris Scriptores Græci Minores. It was also published by Falconer, with an English translation and many notes—8vo., Lond. 1797. Many remarks upon Hanno’s voyage are made by Compomanes, Antigüedad Marítima de la República de Cartago, Madrid 1756; Bougainville, Mémoires de l’Académie des Inscriptions, tom. xxvi., xxviii.; Gosselin, Recherches sur la Géographie des Anciens; Rennell, Geography of Herodotus, vol. ii., pp. 409-43, 8vo.; and Heeren, Researches on the Ancient Nations of Africa, vol. i., pp. 492-501.

Voyages of the Phœnicians

Diodorus Siculus relates that the Phœnicians discovered a large island in the Atlantic Ocean, beyond the Pillars of Hercules, several days’ journey from the coast of Africa. This island abounded in all manner of riches. The soil was exceedingly fertile; the scenery was diversified by rivers, mountains, and forests. It was the custom of the inhabitants to retire during the summer to magnificent country houses, which stood in the midst of beautiful gardens. Fish and game were found in great abundance. The climate was delicious, and the trees bore fruit at all seasons of the year. The Phœnicians discovered this fortunate island by accident, being driven on its coast by contrary winds. On their return they gave glowing accounts of its beauty and fertility, and the Tyrians, who were also noted sailors, desired to colonize it. But the senate of Carthage opposed their plan, either through jealousy, and a wish to keep any commercial benefit that might be derived from it for themselves, or, as Diodorus relates, because they wished to use it as a place of refuge in case of necessity.

Several authors, says Warden, have believed that this island was America, among others, Huet, bishop of Avranches. “The statement of Diodorus,” he writes, “that those who discovered this island were cast upon its shores by a tempest, is worthy of attention; as the east wind blows almost continually in the torrid zone, it might well happen that Carthaginian vessels, surprised by this wind, should be carried against their will to the western islands.” Aristotle tells the same story. Homer, Plutarch, and other ancient writers, mention islands situated in the Atlantic, several thousand stadia from the Pillars of Hercules, but such accounts are too vague and mythical to prove that they knew of any land west of the Canary Islands. Of course they surmised that there was land beyond the farthest limits of their discovery; they saw that the sea stretched smoothly away to the horizon, uncut by their clumsy prows, no matter how far they went; they peopled the Sea of Darkness with terrors, but they hazarded all manner of guesses at the nature of the treasure which those terrors guarded. Is it not foolish to invent a meaning and a fulfillment to fit the vague surmises of these ancient minds? Are we to believe that Seneca was inspired by a spirit of prophecy because we read these lines in the second act of his Medea:

”Venient annis
Sæcula seris, quibus Oceanus
Vincula rerum laxet, et ingens
Pateat tellus, Thetysque[I-141]Or Tiphysque.novos
Detegat orbes; nec sit terris
Ultima Thule.”

Or that Silenus knew of the continent of America because Ælianus makes him tell Midas, the Phrygian, that there was another continent besides Europe, Asia, and Africa? A continent whose inhabitants are larger and live longer than ordinary people, and have different laws and customs. A country where gold and silver are so plentiful that they are esteemed no more than we esteem iron. Are we to suppose that St Clement had visited America when he wrote, in his celebrated epistle to the Corinthians that there were other worlds beyond the ocean? Might we not as well argue that America was certainly not known to the ancients, or Tacitus would never have written: “Trans Sueones aliud mare, pigrum ac propè immotum ejus cingi cludique terrarum orbem hinc fides.” Would the theological view of the flat structure of the earth have gained credence for a moment, had antipodes been discovered and believed in?

Votan’s Travels

The mysterious traveler, Votan, is once more made to do service for the theorist here. In his somewhat doubtful manuscript, entitled “Proof that I am a Serpent,” Votan asserts that he is a descendant of Imox, of the race of Chan, and derives his origin from Chivim. “He states that he conducted seven families from Valum Votan to this continent and assigned lands to them; that he is the third of the Votans; that, having determined to travel until he arrived at the root of heaven, in order to discover his relations the Culebras (Serpents), and make himself known to them, he made four voyages to Chivim;[I-142]‘Which is expressed by repeating four times from Valum-Votan to Valum-Chivim, from Valum-Chivim to Valum-Votan.’ Cabrera, Teatro, in Rio’s Description, p. 34. ‘Valum-Votan, ou Terre de Votan, serait suivant Ordoñez l’île de Cuba. Mais dans mon dernier voyage, en contournant les montagnes qui environnent le plateau élévé où est situé Ciudad-Real de Chiapas, j’ai visité de grandes ruines qui portent le nom de Valum-Votan, à deux lieues environ du village de Teopixca, situé à 7 l. de Cuidad-Real, et où Nuñez de la Vega dit avoir encore trouvé, en 1696, les familles du nom de Votan.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. lxxxviii. that he arrived in Spain, and that he went to Rome; that he saw the great house of God building;[I-143]Brasseur’s account, which is, he says, taken from certain preserved fragments of Ordoñez’ Hist. del Cielo, differs at this point; it reads: ‘il alla à Valum-Chivim, d’où il passa à la grande ville, où il vit la maison de Dieu, que l’on était occupé à bâtir.’ This ‘house of God,’ he remarks in a note, was, ‘suivant Ordoñez et Nuñez de la Vega, le temple que Salomon était occupé à bâtir à Jérusalem.’ After this, he goes on, Votan went ‘à la cité antique, où il vit, de ces propres yeux, les ruines d’un grand édifice que les hommes avaient érigé par le commandement de leur aïeul commun, afin de pouvoir par là arriver au ciel.’ In another note he remarks, ‘Ordoñez commentant ce passage y trouve tout naturellement la tour de Babel: mais il s’indigne contre les Babyloniens, de ce qu’ils avaient eu la mauvaise foi de dire à Votan que la tour avait été bâtie par ordre de leur aïeul commun (Noé): “Il faut remarquer ici, dit-il, que les Babyloniens n’ont fait que tromper Votan, en lui assurant que la tour avait été construite par ordre de leur aïeul Noé, afin d’en faire un chemin pour arriver au ciel: jamais certainement le saint patriarche n’eut la moindre part dans la folie arrogante de Nemrod” (Mémoire MS. sur Palenqué.) Nuñez de la Vega rapporte la même tradition sur Votan et ses voyages (Constitut. Diœces, in Præamb., n. 34).’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. lxxxviii. that he went by the road which his brethren the Culebras had bored; that he marked it, and that he passed by the houses of the thirteen Culebras. He relates that in returning from one of his voyages, he found seven other families of the Tzequil nation, who had joined the first inhabitants, and recognized in them the same origin as his own, that is, of the Culebras. He speaks of the place where they built their first town, which, from its founders, received the name of Tzequil; he affirms the having taught them refinement of manners in the use of the table, table-cloth, dishes, basins, cups, and napkins; that, in return for these, they taught him the knowledge of God and of his worship; his first ideas of a king and obedience to him; and that he was chosen captain of all these united families.”[I-144]Cabrera, Teatro, in Rio’s Description, p. 34. I have followed Cabrera’s account because, unfortunately, Ordoñez’ work is not to be had. Brasseur gives a fuller account of Votan’s adventures than Cabrera, but he professes to draw his information from fragments of Ordoñez’ writings, and it is impossible to tell whether his extra information is the result of his own imagination or of that of his equally enthusiastic original. The learned Abbé relates that the men with whom Votan conversed concerning the tower of Babel, assured him ‘que cet édifice était le lieu où Dieu avait donné à chaque famille un langage particulier. Il affirme qu’à son retour de la ville du temple de Dieu, il retourna une première et une seconde fois à examiner tous les souterrains par où il avait déjà passé, et les signes qui s’y trouvaient. Il dit qu’on le fit passer par un chemin souterrain qui traversait la terre et se terminait à la racine du ciel. A l’égard de cette circonstance, il ajoute que ce chemin n’était autre qu’un trou de serpent où il entra parce qu’il était un serpent.’ Popol Vuh, p. lxxxix. See farther, concerning Votan: Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 165; Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 208; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 150-1; Boturini, Idea, p. 115; Levy, Nicaragua, p. 4; Tschudi’s Peruvian Antiq., pp. 11-15; Priest’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 248-9; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 43-5, 68-76; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 10-7. This last is merely a literal copy of Tschudi, to whom, however, no credit is given.

The Tzendal Traditions

Cabrera supposes Chivim to be the same as Hivim or Givim, which was the name of the country from which the Hivites, descendants of Heth, son of Canaan, were expelled by the Philistines some years before the departure of the Hebrews from Egypt. Some of these settled about the base of Mount Hermon, and to them belonged Cadmus and his wife Harmonia. It is probably owing to the fable of their transformation into snakes, related by Ovid in his Metamorphoses, that the word Givim in the Phœnician language signifies a snake.[I-145]‘Ordoñez tire un argument du mot chivim, qu’il écrit aussi hivim, pour rappeler le chivim du pays des Hévéens de la Palestine, d’où il fait sortir les ancêtres de Votan. Dans la langue tzendale, qui était celle du livre attribué à Votan, la racine du mot chivin pourrait être chib ou chiib, qui signifie patrie, ou ghib qui veut dire armadille.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. lxxxviii., note. Tripoli of Syria, a town in the kingdom of Tyre, was anciently called Chivim. “Under this supposition, when Votan says he is Culebra, because he is Chivim, he clearly shows, that he is a Hivite originally of Tripoli in Syria, which he calls Valum Chivim, where he landed, in his voyages to the old continent. Here then, we have his assertion, I am Culebra, because I am Chivim, proved true, by a demonstration as evident, as if he had said, I am a Hivite, native of Tripoli in Syria, which is Valum Chivim, the port of my voyages to the old continent, and belonging to a nation famous for having produced such a hero as Cadmus, who, by his valour and exploits, was worthy of being changed into a Culebra (snake) and placed among the gods; whose worship, for the glory of my nation and race, I teach, to the seven families of the Tzequiles, that I found, on returning from one of my voyages, united to the seven families, inhabitants of the American continent, whom I conducted from Valum Votan, and distributed lands among them.”[I-146]Cabrera, Teatro, in Rio’s Description, pp. 47-53. It seems that the supposed Phœnician descent of the Americans has served as an excuse for the tyranny their conquerors exercised over them. ‘Cursed be Canaan!’ said Noah, ‘A servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.’ Montanus says that it is a mistake to term the Phœnicians descendants of Canaan, for they are a Semitic people. Nieuwe Weereld, p. 25.

The most enthusiastic supporter of the Phœnician, or Tyrian, theory, is Mr George Jones. This gentleman has devoted the whole of a goodly volume to the subject, in which he not only sustains, but conclusively proves, to his own satisfaction, whatever proposition he pleases. It is of no use to question, he demolishes by anticipation all possible objections; he “will yield to none,” he says, “in the conscientious belief in the truth of the startling propositions, and the consequent historic conclusions.” The sum of these propositions and conclusions is this: that after the taking of the Tyrian capital by Alexander, B.C. 332, a remnant of the inhabitants escaped by sea to the Fortunate Islands, and thence to America. The author does not pretend that they had any positive foreknowledge of the existence of a western continent; though he believes “that from their knowledge of astronomy, they may have had the supposition that such might be the case, from the then known globular character of the earth.” But they were mainly indebted for the success of their voyage to the favoring east winds which bore them, in the space of a month straight to the coast of Florida.[I-147]‘The strong Galleys, with sails and oars, and always before the constant East-Wind and onward wave-current, would accomplish ten miles an hour by day, and during the night, without the Rowers, six miles an hour, and, equally dividing the twenty-four hours, would make a run of 192 miles per day. Nautical proofs will show that in the above calculation the power of the Trade-Winds [i. e. the East-Winds] are underrated. The distance from Teneriffe to Florida is about 3300 miles, which by the foregone data they would traverse in seventeen and a quarter days. The Voyage may therefore with safety be said to have been accomplished during an entire month, and that, consequently the first landing of a branch of the human family in Ancient America would be in the last month of Autumn, three hundred and thirty-two years before the Christian Æra.’ “There arrived in joyous gladness, and welcomed by all the gifts of nature,—like an heir to a sudden fortune, uncertain where to rest,—the Tyrians left the shore of Florida and coasted the gulf of Mexico, and so around the peninsula of Yucatan and into the Bay of Honduras; they thence ascended a river of shelter and safety, and above the rapids of which they selected the site of their first city,—now occupied by the ruins, altars, idols, and walls of Copan!”

The more effectually to preserve the secret of their discovery and place of refuge, they subsequently destroyed their galleys and passed a law that no others should be built. At least, this is Mr. Jones’ belief—a belief which, to him, makes the cause “instantly apparent” why the new-found continent was for so many centuries unknown to Asiatics or Europeans. It is possible, however, the same ingenious author thinks, that, upon a final landing, they burned their ships as a sacrifice to Apollo, “and having made that sacrifice to Apollo, fanatical zeal may have led them to abhor the future use of means, which, as a grateful offering, had been given to their deity. Thence may be traced the gradual loss of nautical practice, on an enlarged scale; and the great continent now possessed by them, would also diminish by degrees the uses of navigation.”[I-148]It would be impossible to give here the entire evidence with which Mr Jones supports his theory. Suffice it to say that the analogies he adduces are far-fetched in the extreme, and that his premises are to a great extent grounded upon certain vague utterances of Isaiah the prophet. His unbounded dogmatism, were it less strongly marked, would render his work offensive and unreadable to those who disagree with his opinions; as it is, it is simply ludicrous. I cannot better express my opinion of the book than by using the words of the distinguished Américaniste Dr Müller: ‘Ganz ohne Werth soll die in London 1843 erschienene Schrift eines Engländers, George Jonas, über die Urgeschichte des alten America sein.’ Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 3.

Mr Jones’ Reasoning

Jones ingeniously makes use of the similarities which have been thought to exist between the American and Egyptian pyramids, and architecture generally, to prove his Tyrian theory. The general character of the American architecture is undoubtedly Egyptian, he argues; but the resemblance is not close enough in detail to allow of its being actually the work of Egyptian hands; the ancient cities of America were therefore built by a people who had a knowledge of Egyptian architecture, and enjoyed constant intercourse with that nation. But some of the ruins are Greek in style; the mysterious people must also have been familiar with Greek architecture. Where shall we find such a people? The cap exactly fits the Tyrians, says Mr Jones, let them wear it. Unfortunately, however, Mr Jones manufactures the cap himself and knows the exact size of the head he wishes to place it on. He next goes on to prove “almost to demonstration that Grecian artists were authors of the sculpture, Tyrians the architects of the entire edifices,—while those of Egypt were authors of the architectural bases.” The tortoise is found sculptured on some of the ruins at Uxmal; it was also stamped upon the coins of Grecian Thebes and Ægina. From this fact it is brought home at once to the Tyrians, because the Phœnician chief Cadmus, who founded Thebes, and introduced letters into Greece, without doubt selected the symbols of his native land to represent the coin of his new city. The tortoise is, therefore, a Tyrian emblem.[I-149]Jones’ Hist. Anc. Amer., pp. 168-72.

The American ruins in some places bear inscriptions written in vermilion paint; the Tyrians were celebrated for a purple dye. Carved gems have been found in American tombs; the Tyrians were also acquainted with gem-carving. The door-posts and pillars of Solomon’s temple were square;[I-150]According to Mr Jones, Solomon’s temple was built by Tyrian workmen. square obelisks and columns may also be found at Palenque. But it is useless to multiply quotations; the absurdity of such reasoning is blazoned upon the face of it.

At Dighton, on the bay of Narraganset, is, or was, an inscription cut in the rock, which has been confidently asserted to be Phœnician. Copies of this inscription have been frequently made, but they differ so materially that no two of them would appear to be intended for the same design.[I-151]Gebelin affirms enthusiastically: ‘”que cette inscription vient d’arriver tout exprès du nouveau monde, pour confirmer ses idées sur l’origine des peuples, et que l’on y voit, d’une manière évidente, un monument phénicien, un tableau qui, sur le devant, désigne une alliance entre les peuples américains et la nation étrangère, arrivant, par des vents du nord, d’un pays riche et industrieux.”‘ Humboldt, however, commenting upon this, writes: ‘J’ai examiné avec soin les quatre dessins de la fameuse pierre de Taunton River…. Loin d’y reconnoître un arrangement symétrique de lettres simples ou de caractères syllabiques, je n’y vois qu’un dessin à peine ébauché, et analogue à ceux que l’on a trouvés sur les rochers de la Norwège.’ Vues, tom. i., pp. 181-2. ‘The history of this inscription is scarcely surpassed, in the interest it has excited, or the novel phases it has exhibited at successive epochs of theoretical speculation, by any Perusinian, Eugubine, or Nilotic riddle. When the taste of American antiquaries inclined towards Phœnician relics, the Dighton inscription conformed to their opinions; and with changing tastes it has proved equally compliant. In 1783 the Rev. Ezra Stiles, D.D., President of Yale College, when preaching before the Governor and State of Connecticut, appealed to the Dighton Rock, graven, as he believed, in the old Punic or Phœnician character and language: in proof that the Indians were of the accursed seed of Canaan, and were to be displaced and rooted out by the European descendants of Japhet!… So early as 1680 Dr. Danforth executed what he characterized as “a faithful and accurate representation of the inscription” on Dighton Rock. In 1712 the celebrated Dr. Cotton Mather procured drawings of the same, and transmitted them to the Secretary of the Royal Society of London, with a description, printed in the Philosophical Transactions for 1741, referring to it as “an inscription in which are seven or eight lines, about seven or eight feet long, and about a foot wide, each of them engraven with unaccountable characters, not like any known character.” In 1730, Dr. Isaac Greenwood, Hollisian Professor at Cambridge, New England, communicated to the Society of Antiquaries of London a drawing of the same inscription, accompanied with a description which proves the great care with which his copy was executed. In 1768, Mr. Stephen Sewall, Professor of Oriental Languages at Cambridge, New England, took a careful copy, the size of the original, and deposited it in the Museum of Harvard University; and a transcript of this was forwarded to the Royal Society of London, six years later, by Mr. James Winthrop, Hollisian Professor of Mathematics. In 1786 the Rev. Michael Lort, D.D., one of the Vice-Presidents of the Society of Antiquaries of London, again brought the subject, with all its accumulated illustrations, before that learned society; and Colonel Vallency undertook to prove that the inscription was neither Phœnician nor Punic, but Siberian. Subsequently, Judge Winthrops executed a drawing in 1788; and again we have others by Judge Baylies and Mr. Joseph Gooding in 1790, by Mr. Job Gardner in 1812; and finally, in 1830, by a Commission appointed by the Rhode Island Historical Society, and communicated to the Antiquaries of Copenhagen with elaborate descriptions: which duly appear in their Antiquitates Americanæ, in proof of novel and very remarkable deductions.’ Wilson’s Prehist. Man, pp. 403-5. See also Pidgeon’s Trad., p. 20.

Inscribed Tablets

In the mountains which extend from the village of Uruana in South America to the west bank of the Caura, in 7° lat., Father Ramon Bueno found a block of granite on which were cut several groups of characters, in which Humboldt sees some resemblance to the Phœnician, though he doubts that the worthy priest whose copy he saw performed his work very carefully.[I-152]‘Il est assez remarquable que, sur sept caractères, aucun ne s’y trouve répété plusieurs fois.’ Vues, tom. i., pp. 183-4, with cut of part of inscription.

The inscribed stone discovered at Grave Creek Mound has excited much comment, and has done excellent service, if we judge by the number of theories it has been held to elucidate. Of the twenty-two characters which are confessedly alphabetic, inscribed upon this stone, ten are said to correspond, with general exactness, with the Phœnician, fifteen with the Celtiberic, fourteen with the old British, Anglo Saxon or Bardic, five with the old northern, or Runic proper, four with the Etruscan, six with the ancient Gallic, four with the ancient Greek, and seven with the old Erse.[I-153]See Schoolcraft, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 386-97, for full account of this stone, with cuts. See also Wilson’s Prehist. Man, pp. 408, et seq. An inscribed monument supposed to be Phœnician was discovered by one Joaquin de Costa, on his estate in New Granada, some time since.[I-154]For this statement I have only newspaper authority, however. ‘Die “Amerika,” ein in Bogota, Neu Granada, erschienenes Journal, kündigt eine Entdeckung an, die so seltsam ist, dass sie der Bestätigung bedarf, ehe man ihr Glauben schenken kann. Don Joaquim de Costa soll danach auf einem seiner Güter ein steinernes Monument entdeckt haben, das von einer kleinen Colonie Phönizier aus Sidonia im Jahre 9 oder 10 der Regierung Hiranus, eines Zeitgenossen Salomons, ungefähr zehn Jahrhunderte vor der christlichen Aera errichtet wurde. Der Block hat eine Inschrift von acht Linien, die in schönen Buchstaben, aber ohne Trennung der Worte oder Punctation geschrieben sind. In der Uebersetzung soll die Inschrift besagen, dass jene Männer des Landes Canarien sich im Hafen Apiongaber (Bay-Akubal) einschifften und nach zwölfmonatiger Fahrt von dem Lande Egypten (Afrika) durch Strömungen fortgeführt, in Guayaquil in Peru landeten. Der Stein soll, wie es heisst, die Namen der Reisenden tragen.’Hamburg Reform, Oct. 24, 1873. See farther, concerning inscriptions: Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 29; Stratton’s Mound-Builders, MS., p. 13; Priest’s Amer. Antiq., p. 121. The cross, the serpent, and the various other symbols found among the American ruins, have all been regarded by different authors as tending to confirm the Phœnician theory; chiefly because similar emblems have been found in Egypt, and the Phœnicians are known to have been familiar with Egyptian arts and ideas.[I-155]See particularly Melgar, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iii., p. 112, et seq.; and Jones’ Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 154, et seq.; Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., pp. 185-6. Melgar, who thinks there can be no doubt that the Phœnicians built Palenque, supposes the so-called Palenque medal[I-156]See vol. iv. of this work, p. 118 . to represent Hercules in the Garden of the Hesperides, attacked by the dragon. Two thousand three hundred years before the worship of Hercules was known in Greece, it obtained in Phœnicia, whither it was brought from Egypt, where it had flourished for over seventeen thousand years.[I-157]Melgar, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iii., pp. 110-11.

The Carthaginian Theory

García quotes a number of analogies, giving, after his fashion, the objections to each by the Spaniards. The builders of the Central American cities, he says, are reported by tradition to have been of fair complexion and bearded. The Carthaginians, in common with the Indians, practiced human sacrifices to a great extent; they worshiped fire and water, adopted the names of the animals whose skins they wore, drank to excess, telegraphed by means of fires, decked themselves in all their finery on going to war, poisoned their arrows, offered peace before beginning battle, used drums, shouted in battle, were similar in stratagems and exercised great cruelty to the vanquished. The objections are that the language of the Indians is not corrupt Carthaginian; that they have many languages, and could not have sprung from any one nation; Satan prompted the Indians to learn various languages in order to prevent the extension of the true faith. But why are the Indians beardless if they descended from the Carthaginians? Their beards have been lost by the action of the climate as the Africans were changed in color. Then why do they not lose their hair as well, and why do not the Spaniards lose their beard? They may in time. And so he goes on through page after page.[I-158]See farther, concerning Phœnician and Carthaginian theories: Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 28-9, 255; Hill’s Antiq. Amer.; Melgar, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iii., p. 111; Lescarbot, Hist. Nouv. France; Dally, Races Indig., pp. 5, 8; Religious Cer. and Cust., vol. iii., pp. 3-4; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 9-21; Vigne’s Travels, vol. ii., pp. 41-56; Sheldon, in Am. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 366-8; Lizana, Devocionario, in Landa, Relacion, p. 354; Levy, Nicaragua, pp. 10, 208; Kennedy’s Probable Origin; Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., pp. 171-4, 200, 207; Du Pratz, Hist. Louisiane, tom. iii., pp. 75-86; Chateaubriand, Lettre aux Auteurs, p. 87; Stratton’s Mound-Builders, M.S.; Carver’s Trav., pp. 188, 191-2; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 16-22, 27-8; De Costa, Pre-Columbian Disc. Amer., p. xiv.; Ritos Antiguos, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 10; Revue Amér., tom. i., p. 3; Farcy, Discours, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. i., pp. 43-4: West und Ost Indischer Lustgart, p. 4; Drake’s Aborig. Races, pp. 20-2; García, Orígen de los Ind., pp. 41-77, 192-239; Priest’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 250-1, 333-4; Adair’s Amer. Ind., p. 16; Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 84; Fontaine’s How the World was Peopled, pp. 254-61.

The theory that the Americans are of Jewish descent has been discussed more minutely and at greater length than any other. Its advocates, or at least those of them who have made original researches, are comparatively few; but the extent of their investigations and the multitude of parallelisms they adduce in support of their hypothesis, exceed by far anything we have yet encountered.

Of the earlier writers on this subject, García is the most voluminous. Of modern theorists Lord Kingsborough stands preëminently first, as far as bulky volumes are concerned, though Adair, who devotes half of a thick quarto to the subject, is by no means second to him in enthusiasm—or rather fanaticism—and wild speculation. Mrs Simon’s volume, though pretentious enough to be original, is neither more nor less than a re-hash of Kingsborough’s labors.

García,[I-159]Orígen de los Ind., pp. 79-128. who affirms that he devoted more attention to this subject than to all the rest of his work,[I-160]‘Yo hice grande diligencia en averiguar esta verdad, y puedo afirmar, que he trabajado mas en ello, que en lo que escrivo en toda la Obra; i asi de lo que acerca de esta he hallado, pondre tales fundamentos al edificio, i maquina de esta sentencia, i opinion, que puedan mui bien sufrir su peso.’ Id., p. 79. deals with the Hebrew theory by the same systematic arrangement of ‘opinions,’ ‘solutions,’ ‘objections,’ ‘replies,’ etc., that is found all through his book. A condensed résumé of his argument will be necessary.

Ten Lost Tribes of Israel

The opinion that the Americans are descended from the ten lost tribes of Israel, he says, is commonly received by the unlettered multitude, but not by the learned; there are, however, some exceptions to this rule. The main support of the opinion is found in the fourth book of Esdras, according to which these tribes, having been carried into captivity by Salmanassar, separated from the other tribes and went into a new region, where man had never yet lived, through which they journeyed for a year and a half, until they came to a land which they called Arsareth, where they settled and have dwelt ever since.

The most difficult question is: how did they get to America? to which the most reasonable answer seems to be, that they gradually crossed northern Asia until they came to the straits of Anian,[I-161]Anian was the name given to the strait which was supposed to lie between Asia and America, and which, after its actual discovery, was named Bering Strait. The unknown northern regions of America were also called Anian. over which they passed into the land of Anian, whence they journeyed southward by land through New Mexico into Mexico and Peru.[I-162]The worthy Father’s geographical knowledge was somewhat vague; thus in the next section he writes: ‘Tambien pudieron ir las diez Tribus desde la Tierra, que dice Esdras, à la China…. De la China pudieron ir por Mar à la Tierra de Nueva-España, para donde no es mui larga la navegacion, viniendo por el Estrecho, ò Canal, que està, entre la China, i el Reino de Annian, i de Quivira.’ Origen de los Ind., p. 81. That they were able to make such a long journey is amply attested by parallel undertakings, of which we have historical proof. It is argued that they would not travel so far and through so many inhabited countries without finding a resting-place; but we read in the Scriptures that when they left the country of the Medes, whither they had been carried by Salmanassar, they determined to journey beyond all the gentile nations until they came to an uninhabited land. It is true some learned men assert that they are still to be found in the cities of the Medes, but a statement that disagrees with the book of Esdras is unworthy of belief; though of course some of them may have remained; besides, must not Mexico be included in the direct declaration of God that he would scatter the Jews over all the earth? The opinion that the Americans are of Hebrew origin is further supported by similarities in character, dress, religion, physical peculiarities, condition, and customs. The Americans are at heart cowardly, and so are the Jews; the history of both nations proves this.[I-163]Among several instances given by García to show the cowardice of the Jews, is this: ‘dice la Sagrada Escritura, por grande incarecimiento, que no les quiso llevar Moises por la Tierra de Philistim, conociendo su pusilanimidad, i cobardia, porque no temiesen, viendo los Enemigos, que venian en su seguimiento, i de cobardes se bolviesen à Egipto.’ With regard to the cowardice of the Americans, he writes: ‘Cuenta la Historia, que entrò Cortès, en la Conquista de Nueva-España con 550 Españoles, i de estos eran los 50 Marineros: i en Mexico tuvo, quando lo ganò, 900 Españoles, 200,000 Indios, 80 Caballos: murieron de los Nuestros 50, i de los Caballos 6. Entrò Piçarro en el Perù con pocos mas de 200 Españoles, con los quales, i con 60 Caballos tuvo Victoria contra el Rei Atanualpa.’ Not only at the time of the Conquest, he adds, did the Americans scatter and run on the discharge of a musket, but even at the present day, when they are familiar with firearms, they do the same. Orígen de los Ind., pp. 85-6. The Jews did not believe in the miracles of Christ, and for their unbelief were scattered over the face of the earth, and despised of all men; in like manner the people of the New World did not readily receive the true faith as preached by Christ’s catholic disciples, and are therefore persecuted and being rapidly exterminated. Another analogy presents itself in the ingratitude of the Jews for the many blessings and special favors bestowed on them by God, and the ingratitude shown by the Americans in return for the great kindness of the Spaniards. Both Jews and Americans are noted for their want of charity and kindness to the poor, sick, and unfortunate; both are naturally given to idolatry; many customs are common to both, such as raising the hands to heaven when making a solemn affirmation, calling all near relatives brothers, showing great respect and humility before superiors, burying their dead on hills and high places without the city, tearing their clothing on the reception of bad tidings, giving a kiss on the cheek as a token of peace, celebrating a victory with songs and dances, casting out of the place of worship women who are barren, drowning dogs in a well, practicing crucifixion. Both were liars, despicable, cruel, boastful, idle, sorcerers, dirty,[I-164]Immediately afterwards he says that the Jews and Americans were alike, because they both bathed frequently. swindlers, turbulent, incorrigible, and vicious. The dress of the Hebrews was in many points like that of the Americans. Both are fit only for the lowest kind of labor. The Jews preferred the flesh-pots of Egypt and a life of bondage to heavenly manna and the promised land; the Americans liked a life of freedom and a diet of roots and herbs, better than the service of the Spaniards with good food.[I-165]This scarcely seems to be a parallelism, and certainly would not be, had the worthy Father written, as he well might: ‘freedom and the hardships of the desert,’ instead of ‘manna and the promised land’. The Jews were famous for fine work in stone, as is shown by the buildings of Jerusalem, and a similar excellence in this art is seen in the American ruins. The Mexicans have a tradition of a journey undertaken at the command of a god, and continued for a long time under the direction of certain high-priests, who miraculously obtained supplies for their support; this bears a striking resemblance to the Hebrew story of the wandering in the desert.

The Jews in America • Jewish Analogies

It has been argued, in opposition to the Hebrew theory, that the Jews were physically and intellectually the finest race in the world, while the Americans are probably the lowest. But in answer to this it may be stated that the finest among the Jews belonged to the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, which were not among the so-called lost tribes; though, even if we admit that the ten tribes were physically and intellectually equal to these two, may we not fairly suppose that their temperament and physique would be changed by dwelling for a length of time in the different environment of America. True, Dr San Juan attempts to prove that the good effect of the manna on which the Israelites lived for forty years, was such that it would take four thousand years to obliterate it; but though this might hold true in the case of those Jews who went to Spain and other temperate climes, it would probably be different with those who came to America; it is, besides, likely that the change in the race was a special act of God.[I-166]To show García’s style and logic, which are, indeed, but little different from the style and reasoning of all these ancient writers, I translate literally, and without embellishment of any kind, his attempts to prove that whatever differences exist at the present day between the Jew and the American, are due to the special act of God. ‘It was divinely ordained that men should be scattered throughout all countries, and be so different from one another in disposition and temperament, in order that by their variety men should become possessed of a different and distinct genius; of a difference in the color of the face and in the form of the body; just as animals are various, and various the things produced by the earth, various the trees, various the plants and grasses, various the birds; and finally, various the fish of the sea and of rivers: in order that men should see in this how great is the wisdom of Him that created them. And although the variety and specific difference existing in these irrational and senseless beings causes in them a specific distinction, and that in men is only individual, or accidental and common; the Most High desired that this variety and common difference should exist in the human species, as there could be none specific and essential, so that there should be a resemblance in this between man and the other created beings: of which the Creator himself wished that the natural cause should be the arrangement of the earth, the region of the air, influence of the sky, waters, and edibles. By which the reader will not fail to be convinced that it was possible for the Indians to obtain and acquire a difference of mental faculties, and of color of face and of features, such as the Jews had not.’ Orígen de los Ind., p. 105. In answer to the assertion that the Americans are an inferior race, it may be said that there are many exceptions to this rule; for instance, the people of Mexico and Michoacan were very ingenious, and excelled in painting, feather-work, and other arts.

Again, it is objected that while the Jews were skilled in letters, and indeed are said by some to have discovered the art of writing, the Americans had no such knowledge of letters as they would have possessed had they been of Hebrew origin. But the same objection would apply to their descent from any race of Europe, Asia, or Africa. It is urged that the Americans, if of Jewish descent, would have preserved the Hebrew ceremonies and laws. It is, however, well known that the ten tribes from whom they are supposed to be descended were naturally prone to unbelief and backsliding; it is not strange, therefore, that when freed from all restraint, they should cease to abide by their peculiarly strict code. Moreover, many traces of their old laws and ceremonies are to be found among them at the present day. For instance, both Jews and Americans gave their temples into the charge of priests, burned incense, anointed the body, practiced circumcision,[I-167]‘Y finalmente, si nos dixeren, que solos aquellos siete generos de Gentes, que he nombrado, que son Colcos, Egypcios, Etiopes, Fenices, Syros de Palestina, i Syros de los Rios Termodon, i Pantenio, i sus vecinos los Macrones fueron los que vsaron en el Mundo la circuncision…. A Herodoto, i à los que alegaren lo referido, se responde, que sin duda los Hebreos fueron los primeros que la vsaron, por mandado de Dios.’ Orígen de los Ind., p. 110. kept perpetual fires on their altars, forbade women to enter the temples immediately after giving birth, and husbands to sleep with their wives for seven days during the period of menstruation, prohibited marriage or sexual intercourse between relatives within the second degree, made fornication with a slave punishable, slew the adulterer, made it unlawful for a man to dress like a woman, or a woman like a man, put away their brides if they proved to have lost their virginity, and kept the ten commandments.

Another objection is, that the Americans do not speak Hebrew. But the reason for this is that the language has gradually changed, as has been the case with all tongues. Witness the Hebrew spoken by the Jews at the present time, which is much corrupted, and very different from what it originally was. There do actually exist, besides, many Hebraic traces in the American languages.[I-168]See Orígen de los Ind., pp. 119-23, for examples of linguistic resemblances. And even if this were not so, may we not suppose that the Devil prompted the Americans to learn new and various languages, that they might be prevented in after years from hearing the Catholic faith? though fortunately the missionaries learned all these strange tongues, and thus cheated the Evil One.

Acosta questions the authority of Esdras, but, answers García, although the book of Esdras is certainly apocryphal, it is nevertheless regarded by the Church as a higher authority than the Doctors. Acosta urges, moreover, that Esdras, even if reliable, states distinctly that the ten tribes fled from the Gentiles for the express purpose of keeping their law and religion, while Americans are given to idolatry; which is all very true, but might not the Jews have set out with these good resolutions, and have afterwards changed their minds?

Such is the manner of García’s argument; and turning now to Lord Kingsborough’s magnificent folios, do we find anything more satisfactory? Scarcely. The Spanish father’s impartiality and profound research does not appear in Kingsborough; and moreover, we find that the work of the former is much more satisfactorily arranged than that of the latter. García does not pretend to give his own opinions, but merely aims to present fairly, with all their pros and cons, the theories of others. Kingsborough has a theory to prove, and to accomplish his object he drafts every shadow of an analogy into his service. But though his theory is as wild as the wildest, and his proofs are as vague as the vaguest, yet Lord Kingsborough cannot be classed with such writers as Jones, Ranking, Cabrera, Adair, and the host of other dogmatists who have fought tooth and nail, each for his particular hobby. Kingsborough was an enthusiast—a fanatic, if you choose—but his enthusiasm is never offensive. There is a scholarly dignity about his work which has never been attained by those who have jeered and railed at him; and though we may smile at his credulity, and regret that such strong zeal was so strangely misplaced, yet we should speak and think with respect of one who spent his lifetime and his fortune, if not his reason, in an honest endeavor to cast light upon one of the most obscure spots in the history of man.

Kingsborough’s Arguments

The more prominent of the analogies adduced by Lord Kingsborough may be briefly enumerated as follows:

Hebrew and American Analogies

The religion of the Mexicans strongly resembled that of the Jews, in many minor details, as will be presently seen, and the two were practically alike, to a certain extent, in their very foundation; for, as the Jews acknowledged a multitude of angels, archangels, principalities, thrones, dominions, and powers, as the subordinate personages of their hierarchy, so did the Mexicans acknowledge the unity of the Deity in the person of Tezcatlipoca, and at the same time worship a great number of other imaginary beings. Both believed in a plurality of devils subordinate to one head, who was called by the Mexicans Mictlantecutli, and by the Jews Satan. Indeed, it seems that the Jews actually worshiped and made offerings to Satan as the Mexicans did to their ‘god of hell.’ It is probable that the Toltecs were acquainted with the sin of the first man, committed at the suggestion of the woman, herself deceived by the serpent, who tempted her with the fruit of the forbidden tree, who was the origin of all our calamities, and by whom death came into the world.[I-169]Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., pp. 19-20, vol. vi., p. 536. We have seen in this chapter that Kingsborough supposes the Messiah and his story to have been familiar to the Mexicans. There is reason to believe that the Mexicans, like the Jews, offered meat and drink offerings to stones.[I-170]Id., vol. viii., p. 21. There are striking similarities between the Babel, flood, and creation myths of the Hebrews and the Americans.[I-171]Id., pp. 25-7, 30-1. Both Jews and Mexicans were fond of appealing in their adjurations to the heaven and the earth.[I-172]Id., p. 39. Both were extremely superstitious, and firm believers in prodigies.[I-173]Id., p. 58. The character and history of Christ and Huitzilopochtli present certain analogies.[I-174]Id., pp. 67, 218-19, 240. It is very probable that the Sabbath of the seventh day was known in some parts of America.[I-175]Id., p. 135. The Mexicans applied the blood of sacrifices to the same uses as the Jews; they poured it upon the earth, they sprinkled it, they marked persons with it, and they smeared it upon walls and other inanimate things.[I-176]Id., p. 154. No one but the Jewish high-priest might enter the Holy of Holies. A similar custom obtained in Peru.[I-177]‘Y el Ynga Yupangue entraba solo, y él mismo por su mano sacrificaba las ovejas y corderos.’ Betanzos, Historia de los Ingas, lib. i., cap. xi., quoted in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 156. Both Mexicans and Jews regarded certain animals as unclean and unfit for food.[I-178]Id., pp. 157, 236, 389, vol. vi., pp. 273-5. Some of the Americans believed with some of the Talmudists in a plurality of souls.[I-179]Id., vol. viii., p. 160. That man was created in the image of God was a part of the Mexican belief.[I-180]Id., p. 174. It was customary among the Mexicans to eat the flesh of sacrifices of atonement.[I-181]Id., p. 176. There are many points of resemblance between Tezcatlipoca and Jehovah.[I-182]Id., pp. 174-82. He presents a most elaborate discussion of this point. See also vol. vi., pp. 512, 523. Ablutions formed an essential part of the ceremonial law of the Jews and Mexicans.[I-183]Id., vol. viii., p. 238. The opinions of the Mexicans with regard to the resurrection of the body, accorded with those of the Jews.[I-184]Id., p. 248. The Mexican temple, like the Jewish, faced the east.[I-185]Id., p. 257. “As amongst the Jews the ark was a sort of portable temple in which the Deity was supposed to be continually present, and which was accordingly borne on the shoulders of the priests as a sure refuge and defence from their enemies, so amongst the Mexicans and the Indians of Michoacan and Honduras an ark was held in the highest veneration, and was considered an object too sacred to be touched by any but the priests. The same religious reverence for the ark is stated by Adair to have existed among the Cherokee and other Indian tribes inhabiting the banks of the Mississippi, and his testimony is corroborated by the accounts of Spanish authors of the greatest veracity. The nature and use of the ark having been explained, it is needless to observe that its form might have been various, although Scripture declares that the Hebrew ark was of the simplest construction.” And again: “it would appear from many passages of the Old Testament, that the Jews believed in the real presence of God in the ark, as the Roman Catholics believe in the real presence of Christ in the sacrament, from whom it is probable the Mexicans borrowed the notion that He, whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain, and whose glory fills all space, could be confined within the precincts of a narrow ark and be borne by a set of weak and frail priests. If the belief of the Mexicans had not been analogous to that of the ancient Jews, the early Spanish missionaries would certainly have expressed their indignation of the absurd credulity of those who believed that their omnipresent god Huitzilopochtli was carried in an ark on priests’ shoulders; but of the ark of the Mexicans they say but little, fearing, as it would appear, to tread too boldly on the burning ashes of Mount Sinai.”[I-186]Id., p. 258, vol. vi., p. 236.

The Yucatec conception of a Trinity resembles the Hebrew.[I-187]Id., pp. 164-6. It is probable that Quetzalcoatl, whose proper name signifies ‘feathered serpent,’ was so called after the brazen serpent which Moses lifted up in the wilderness, the feathers perhaps alluding to the rabbinical tradition that the fiery serpents which god sent against the Israelites were of a winged species.[I-188]Id., p. 208. ‘Representations of the lifting up of serpents frequently occur in Mexican paintings: and the plagues which Moses called down upon the Egyptians by lifting up his rod, which became a serpent, are evidently referred to in the eleventh and twelfth pages of the Borgian Manuscript. An allusion to the passage of the Red Sea … seems also to be contained in the seventy-first page of the Lesser Vatican MS.; and the destruction of Pharaoh and his host, and the thanksgiving of Moses, may perhaps be signified by the figure on the left, in the same page, of a man falling into a pit or gulf, and by the hand on the right stretched out to receive an offering.’

The Mexicans, like the Jews, saluted the four cardinal points, in their worship.[I-189]Id., p. 222. There was much in connection with sacrifices that was common to Mexicans and Jews.[I-190]Id., p. 232, et seq. Kingsborough reasons at some length on this point. It is possible that the myth relating to Quetzalcoatl’s disappearance in the sea, indicates a knowledge of the book of the prophet Jonah.[I-191]Id., p. 361.

The Mexicans say that they wrestled at times with Quetzalcoatl, even as Jacob wrestled with God.[I-192]Id., p. 406. In various religious rites and observances, such as circumcision,[I-193]Id., pp. 272-3, 333-5, 392-3; vol. viii., pp. 121-2, 142-3, 391. confession,[I-194]Id., vol. vi., pp. 300-1; vol. viii., p. 137. and communion,[I-195]Id., vol. vi., p. 504, vol. viii., p. 18. there was much similarity. Salt was an article highly esteemed by the Mexicans, and the Jews always offered it in their oblations.[I-196]Id., vol. vi., p. 125. Among the Jews, the firstling of an ass had to be redeemed with a lamb, or if unredeemed, its neck was broken. This command of Moses should be considered in reference to the custom of sacrificing children which existed in Mexico and Peru.[I-197]Id., p. 45. The spectacle of a king performing a dance as an act of religion was witnessed by the Jews as well as by Mexicans.[I-198]Id., p. 142. As the Israelites were conducted from Egypt by Moses and Aaron who were accompanied by their sister Miriam, so the Aztecs departed from Aztlan under the guidance of Huitziton and Tecpatzin, the former of whom is named by Acosta and Herrera, Mexi, attended likewise by their sister Quilaztli, or, as she is otherwise named Chimalman or Malinalli, both of which latter names have some resemblance to Miriam, as Mexi has to Moses.[I-199]Id., p. 246. Duran sustains the theory that the Indians are the descendants of the lost ten tribes of Israel. After giving several reasons founded on the Scriptures, he refers to the traditions obtained by him from the old people of the country. They related that their ancestors, whilst suffering many hardships and persecutions, were prevailed upon by a great man, who became their chief, to flee from that land into another, where they might have rest; they arrived at the sea-shore, and the chief struck the waters with a rod he had in his hands; the sea opened, and the chief and his followers marched on, but were soon pursued by their enemies; they crossed over in safety, and their enemies were swallowed up by the sea; at any rate, their ancestors never had any further account of their persecutors. Another tradition transmitted from generation to generation, and recorded in pictures, is, that while their first ancestors were on their journey to the promised land, they tarried in the vicinity of certain high hills; here a terrible earthquake occurred, and some wicked people who were with them were swallowed up by the earth opening under their feet. The same picture that Father Duran saw, showed that the ancestors of the Mexican people transmitted a tradition, relating that during their journey a kind of sand (or hail) rained upon them. Father Duran further gives an account furnished him by an old Indian of Cholula (some 100 years old) concerning the creation of the world: The first men were giants who, desirous of seeing the home of the sun, divided themselves into two parties, one of which journeyed to the west, and the other to the east, until they were stopped by the sea; they then concluded to return to the place they started from, called Vztacculemjueminian; finding no way to reach the sun, whose light and beauty they highly admired, they determined to build a tower that should reach the heavens. They built a tower; but the Lord became angry at their presumption, and the dwellers of heaven descended like thunderbolts and destroyed the edifice; the giants on seeing their work destroyed, were much frightened, and scattered themselves throughout the earth. Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. i. In the Mexican language amoxtli signifies flags or bulrushes, the derivation of which name, from atl, water, and moxtli, might allude to the flags in which Moses had been preserved.[I-200]Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., p. 246. The painting of Boturini seems actually to represent Huitzilopochtli appearing in a burning bush in the mountain of Teoculhuacan to the Aztecs.[I-201]Id., p. 248. The same writer also relates that when the Mexicans in the course of their migration had arrived at Apanco, the people of that province were inclined to oppose their further progress, but that Huitzilopochtli aided the Mexicans by causing a brook that ran in the neighborhood to overflow its banks. This reminds us of what is said in the third chapter of Joshua of the Jordan overflowing its banks and dividing to let the priests who bore the ark pass through.[I-202]Id., p. 253. As Moses and Aaron died in the wilderness without reaching the land of Canaan, so Huitziton and Tecpatzin died before the Mexicans arrived in the land of Anáhuac.[I-203]Id., p. 254. The Mexicans hung up the heads of their sacrificed enemies; and this also appears to have been a Jewish practice, as the following quotation from the twenty-fifth chapter of Numbers will show: “And the Lord said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the Lord against the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel.”[I-204]Id., p. 312. In a Mexican painting in the Bodleian library at Oxford is a symbol very strongly resembling the jaw-bone of an ass from the side of which water seems to flow forth, which might allude to the story of Samson slaying a thousand of the Philistines with such a bone, which remained miraculously unbroken in his hands, and from which he afterwards quenched his thirst.[I-205]Id., p. 361. They were fond of wearing dresses of scarlet and of showy colors, as were also the Jews. The exclamation of the prophet, “Who is this that cometh from Bozrah?” and many other passages of the Old Testament might be cited to show that the Jews entertained a great predilection for scarlet.[I-206]Id., p. 382. It is impossible, on reading what Mexican mythology records of the war in heaven and of the fall of Tzontemoc and the other rebellious spirits; of the creation of light by the word of Tonacatecutli, and of the division of the waters; of the sin of Ytztlacoliuhqui, and his blindness and nakedness; of the temptation of Suchiquecal, and her disobedience in gathering roses from a tree, and the consequent misery and disgrace of herself and all her posterity,—not to recognize Scriptural analogies.[I-207]Id., p. 401. Other Hebrew analogies Lord Kingsborough finds in America, in the dress, insignia, and duties of priests; in innumerable superstitions concerning dreams, apparitions, eclipses, and other more common-place events; in certain festivals for rain; in burial and mourning ceremonies; in the diseases most common among the people; in certain regularly observed festivals; in the dress of certain nations; in established laws; in physical features; in architecture; in various minor observances, such as offering water to a stranger that he might wash his feet, eating dust in token of humility, anointing with oil, and so forth; in the sacrifice of prisoners; in manner and style of oratory; in the stories of giants; in the respect paid to God’s name; in games of chance; in marriage relations; in childbirth ceremonies; in religious ideas of all sorts; in respect paid to kings; in uses of metals; in treatment of criminals, and punishment of crimes; in charitable practices; in social customs; and in a vast number of other particulars.[I-208]To enter into details on all these subjects would require volumes as large, and I may add, as unreadable, as those of Lord Kingsborough. The reader who wishes to investigate more closely, will find all the points to which I have referred in volumes vi. and viii. of the noble writer’s work, Mexican Antiquities. Mr James Adair, ‘a trader with the Indians, and resident in their country for forty years,’ very warmly advocates the Hebrew theory. As his intercourse with the Americans was confined to the wild tribes, the genuine ‘red men’ inhabiting the south-eastern states of North America, his argument and analogies differ in many points from those of Kingsborough and García, who treated chiefly of the civilized nations of Mexico and Central America. Here are some of his comparisons: ‘The Israelites were divided into Tribes and had chiefs over them, so the Indians divide themselves: each tribe forming a little community within the nation—And as the nation hath its particular symbol, so hath each tribe the badge from which it is denominated.’ If we go from nation to nation among them we shall not find one individual who doth not distinguish himself by his family name. Every town has a state house or synedrion, the same as the Jewish sanhedrim, where almost every night the headmen meet to discuss public business. The Hebrew nation were ordered to worship Jehovah the true and living God, who by the Indians is styled Yohewah. The ancient heathens, it is well known, worshiped a plurality of Gods: but these American Indians pay their religious devoir to Loak Ishtohoollo Aba, The Great Beneficent Supreme Holy Spirit of Fire. They do not pay the least perceptible adoration to images. Their ceremonies in their religious worship accord more nearly with the Mosaic institutions, which could not be if they were of heathen descent. The American Indians affirm, that there is a certain fixed time and place, when and where every one must die, without the possibility of averting it; such was the belief also of the ancient Greeks and Romans, who were much addicted to copying the rites and customs of the Jews. Their opinion that God chose them out of all the rest of mankind as his peculiar and beloved people, fills both the white Jew and the red American, with that steady hatred against all the world, which renders them hated and despised by all. We have abundant evidence of the Jews believing in the ministration of angels, during the Old Testament dispensation, their frequent appearances and their services on earth, are recorded in the oracles, which the Jews themselves receive as given by divine inspiration, and St Paul in his epistle addressed to the Hebrews speaks of it as their general opinion that “angels are ministering spirits to the good and righteous on earth.” The Indian sentiments and traditions are the same. They believe the higher regions to be inhabited by good spirits, relations to the Great Holy One, and that these spirits attend and favor the virtuous. The Indian language and dialects appear to have the very idiom and genius of the Hebrew. Their words and sentences are expressive, concise, emphatical, sonorous, and bold, and often both in letters and signification synonymous with the Hebrew language. They count time after the manner of the Hebrews, reckoning years by lunar months like the Israelites who counted by moons. The religious ceremonies of the Indian Americans are in conformity with those of the Jews, they having their Prophets, High Priests, and others of religious order. As the Jews had a sanctum sanctorum or most holy place, so have all the Indian nations. The dress also of their High Priests is similar in character to that of the Hebrews. The festivals, feasts, and religious rites of the Indian Americans have also a great resemblance to that of the Hebrews. The Indian imitates the Israelite in his religious offerings. The Hebrews had various ablutions and anointings according to the Mosaic ritual—and all the Indian nations constantly observe similar customs from religious motives. Their frequent bathing, or dipping themselves and their children in rivers, even in the severest weather, seems to be as truly Jewish as the other rites and ceremonies which have been mentioned. The Indian laws of uncleanness and purification, and also the abstaining from things deemed unclean are the same as those of the Hebrews. The Indian marriages, divorces and punishments of adultery, still retain a strong likeness to the Jewish laws and customs on these points. Many of the Indian punishments resemble those of the Jews. Whoever attentively views the features of the Indian, and his eye, and reflects on his fickle, obstinate, and cruel disposition will naturally think of the Jews. The ceremonies performed by the Indians before going to war, such as purification and fasting, are similar to those of the Hebrew nation. The Israelites were fond of wearing beads and other ornaments, even as early as the patriarchal age, and in resemblance to these customs the Indian females continually wear the same, believing it to be a preventive against many evils. The Indian manner of curing the sick is very similar to that of the Jews. Like the Hebrews, they firmly believe that diseases and wounds are occasioned by divine anger, in proportion to some violation of the old beloved speech. The Hebrews carefully buried their dead, so on any accident they gathered their bones, and laid them in the tombs of their forefathers: thus, all the numerous nations of Indians perform the like friendly office to every deceased person of their respective tribe. The Jewish records tell us that the women mourned for the loss of their deceased husbands, and were reckoned vile by the civil law if they married in the space of at least ten months after their death. In the same manner all the Indian widows, by an established strict penal law, mourn for the loss of their deceased husbands; and among some tribes for the space of three or four years. The surviving brother by the Mosaic law, was to raise seed to a deceased brother, who left a widow childless to perpetuate his name and family. The American law enforces the same rule. When the Israelites gave names to their children or others they chose such appellatives as suited best their circumstances and the times. This custom is a standing rule with the Indians. Amer. Ind.

Hebrew Relics

Relics unmistakeably Hebrew have been very rarely found in America. I know of only two instances of such a discovery, and in neither of these cases is it certain or even probable that the relic existed in America before the Conquest. The first and best known instance is related by Ethan Smith, according to Priest,[I-209]Amer. Antiq., pp. 68-70. as follows:

“Joseph Merrick, Esq., a highly respectable character in the church at Pittsfield, gave the following account: That in 1815, he was levelling some ground under and near an old wood-shed, standing on a place of his, situated on Indian Hill. He ploughed and conveyed away old chips and earth, to some depth. After the work was done, walking over the place, he discovered, near where the earth had been dug the deepest, a black strap, as it appeared, about six inches in length, and one and a half in breadth, and about the thickness of a leather trace to a harness. He perceived it had, at each end, a loop, of some hard substance, probably for the purpose of carrying it. He conveyed it to his house, and threw it into an old tool box. He afterwards found it thrown out at the door, and again conveyed it to the box.

“After some time, he thought he would examine it; but in attempting to cut it, found it as hard as bone; he succeeded, however, in getting it open, and found it was formed of two pieces of thick raw-hide, sewed and made water tight with the sinews of some animal, and gummed over; and in the fold was contained four folded pieces of parchment. They were of a dark yellow hue, and contained some kind of writing. The neighbors coming in to see the strange discovery, tore one of the pieces to atoms, in the true Hun and Vandal style. The other three pieces Mr. Merrick saved, and sent them to Cambridge, where they were examined, and discovered to have been written with a pen, in Hebrew, plain and legible. The writing on the three remaining pieces of parchment, was quotations from the Old Testament.”[I-210]‘See Deut., chap. vi., from 4th to 9th verse, inclusive; also, chap. xi., verse 13 to 21, inclusive; and Exodus, chap. xiii., 11 to 16, inclusive, to which the reader can refer, if he has the curiosity to read this most interesting discovery…. It is said by Calmet, that the above texts are the very passages of Scripture which the Jews used to write on the leaves of their phylacteries. These phylacteries were little rolls of parchment, whereon were written certain words of the law. These they wore upon their forehead, and upon the wrist of the left arm.’ Id.

Hebrew Tablets

The other discovery was made in Ohio, and was seen by my father, Mr A. A. Bancroft, who thus describes it: “About eight miles south-east of Newark there was formerly a large mound composed of masses of free-stone, which had been brought from some distance and thrown into a heap without much placing or care. In early days, stone being scarce in that region, the settlers carried away the mound piece by piece to use for building-purposes, so that in a few years there was little more than a large flattened heap of rubbish remaining. Some fifteen years ago, the county surveyor (I have forgotten his name), who had for some time been searching ancient works, turned his attention to this particular pile. He employed a number of men and proceeded at once to open it. Before long he was rewarded by finding in the centre and near the surface a bed of the tough clay generally known as pipe-clay, which must have been brought from a distance of some twelve miles. Imbedded in the clay was a coffin, dug out of a burr-oak log, and in a pretty good state of preservation. In the coffin was a skeleton, with quite a number of stone ornaments and emblems, and some open brass rings, suitable for bracelets or anklets. These being removed, they dug down deeper, and soon discovered a stone dressed to an oblong shape, about eighteen inches long and twelve wide, which proved to be a casket, neatly fitted and completely water-tight, containing a slab of stone of hard and fine quality, an inch and a half thick, eight inches long, four inches and a half wide at one end, and tapering to three inches at the other. Upon the face of the slab was the figure of a man, apparently a priest, with a long flowing beard, and a robe reaching to his feet. Over his head was a curved line of characters, and upon the edges and back of the stone were closely and neatly carved letters. The slab, which I saw myself, was shown to the episcopalian clergyman of Newark, and he pronounced the writing to be the ten Commandments in ancient Hebrew.”[I-211]Antiquities of Licking County, Ohio, MS.

Brasseur de Bourbourg, although he rejects Kingsborough’s theory, thinks that some Jews may have reached America; he recognizes a Jewish type on certain ruins, and calls attention to the perfectly Jewish dress of the women at Palin and on the shores of Lake Amatitlan. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 17. Customs and relics seem to show that the Americans are of Hebrew descent, and that they came by way of the Californias. Giordan, Tehuantepec, p. 57. The theory of descent from the ten tribes is not to be despised. On the north-west there are many beliefs and rites which resemble the Jewish; circumcision obtains in Central America, and women wear Jewish costumes. Father Ricci has seen Israelites in China living according to Moses’ laws, and Father Adam Schall knew Israelites who had kept the Old Testament laws, and who knew nothing of the death of the Savior. This shows that the ten tribes took this direction, and as an emigration from Asia to America is perfectly admissible, it is likely that the Jews were among the number who crossed, probably by the Aleutian islands. Rossi, Souvenirs, pp. 276-7. Jones, as might be expected, ‘will not yield to any man in the firm belief that the Aborigines of North America (but North America only) and the ancient Israelites are identical, unless controverted by the stern authority of superior historical deductions.’ Hist. Anc. Amer., pp. 2, 11-26, 188-90. Parker does not accept the Jewish theory, chiefly because of the great variety of distinct languages in America, but he points out several resemblances between north-west tribes and Jews. Explor. Tour, pp. 194-8. Meyer finds many reasons for regarding the wild tribes of the north as Jews; such as physical peculiarities; numerous customs; the number of languages pointing to a Babylonian confusion of tongues. Most Indians have high-priests’ temples, altars, and a sacred ark which they carry with them on their wanderings. They count by four seasons, celebrate new-moon and arbor festivals, and offer first fruits. In September, when the sun enters the sign of the scales, they hold their feast of atonement. The name Iowa he thinks is derived from Jehova. They work with one hand and carry their weapons in the other. The pillars of cloud and pillars of fire which guided the Israelites, may be volcanoes on the east coast of Asia, by whose aid the ten tribes reached America. Nach dem Sacramento, pp. 241-5. If the Toltecs were Jews, they must have visited the Old World in the year 753 of the Roman era, to obtain the Christian dogmas apparent in their cult. Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 45. The Navajo tradition that they came out of the water a long way to the north; their peaceful, pastoral manner of life; their aversion to hogs’ flesh; their belief that they will return to the water whence they came, instead of going to hunting-grounds like other tribes; their prophets who prophesy and receive revelation; their strict fast-days, and keenness in trade; their comparatively good treatment of women—are Jewish similarities, stronger than any tribes can present. ‘Scalping appears to have been a Hebrew custom…. The most striking custom of apparently Hebraic origin, is the periodical separation of females, and the strong and universal idea of uncleanness connected therewith.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., pp. 60, 62. The Tartars are probably descended from the ten tribes; they boast of being Jews, are divided into tribes, and practice circumcision. The separation of women at certain times, and the expression Hallelujah Yohewah, are proofs of Jewish descent; scalping is mentioned in Bible (68th Psalm, ver. 21). Crawford’s Essay. According to various manuscripts the Toltecs are of Jewish descent. Having crossed the Red Sea, they abandoned themselves to idolatry, and fearing Moses’ reprimand, they separated from the rest and crossed the ocean to the Seven Caves, and there founded Tula. Juarros, Hist. Guat., tom. ii., pp. 7-8. Juarez, Municipalidad de Leon, p. 10, states that Leon de Cordova is of the same opinion. Em. de Moraez, a Portuguese, in his History of Brazil, thinks nothing but circumcision wanting to form a perfect resemblance between the Jews and Brazilians. He thinks that America was wholly peopled by Jews and Carthaginians. Carver’s Trav., pp. 188-9. Catlin thinks the North Americans are a mixed race, who have Jewish blood in them. The mixture is shown by their skulls, while many customs are decidedly Jewish. Probably part of tribes scattered by Christians have come over and intermarried. He gives analogies in monotheism, sanctuaries, tribeship, chosen people belief, marriage by gifts, war, burial, ablutions, feasts, sacrifices, and other customs. Any philological similarity is unnecessary and superfluous. The Jew element was too feeble to influence language. Catlin’s N. Amer. Ind., vol. ii., pp. 231-5. Melgar gives a list of the Chiapanec calendar names, and finds fourteen agree with suitable Hebrew words. He concludes, therefore, that ancient intercourse with the Old World is proven. Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iii., p. 108. Jarvis, Religion Ind. N. Amer., pp. 71-87, compares words in Hebrew and American languages. Ethan Smith, Views of the Hebrews, presents eleven arguments in favor of the Jewish theory. Beatty, Journal of Two Months’ Tour in America, gives a number of reasons why the Hebrew theory should be correct. See further, for general review of this theory: Crowe’s Cent. Amer., pp. 64-8; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 46-9; Simon’s Ten Tribes, which is, however, merely a cheap abridgement of Kingsborough; Dally, Races Indig., pp. 5-6; Thorowgood’s Jewes in America; Worsley’s Amer. Ind., pp. 1-185; L’Estrange,Americans no Jewes; Spizelius, Elevatio Relationis, a criticism on Menasse Ben Israel’s Hope of Israel; Tschudi’s Peruvian Antiq., pp. 8-11.

In opposition to the Hebrew theory we read that Wolff, the Jew traveler, found no Jewish traces among the tribes of North America. Fontaine’s How the World was Peopled, p. 157. ‘The strong trait in Hebrew compound words, of inserting the syllable el or a single letter in the names of children, derived from either the primary or secondary names of the deity, does not prevail in any Indian tribes known to me. Neither are circumstances attending their birth or parentage, which were so often used in the Hebrew children’s names, ever mentioned in these compounds. Indian children are generally named from some atmospheric phenomenon. There are no traces of the rites of circumcision, anointing, sprinkling, or washing, considered as consecrated symbols. Circumcision was reported as existing among the Sitkas, on the Missouri; but a strict examination proved it to be a mistake.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 61. The Rev. T. Thorowgood in 1650, published a work entitled Jewes in America, or Probabilities that the Americans are of that Race. This was answered in 1651, by Sir Hamon L’Estrange, in a book entitled, Americans no Jewes. L’Estrange believes that America was peopled long before the dispersion of the Jews, which took place 1500 years after the flood. A strong mixture of Jewish blood would have produced distinct customs, etc., which are not to be found. The native traditions as to origin are to be regarded as dreams rather than as true stories. The analogous customs and rites adduced by Thorowgood, L’Estrange goes on, are amply refuted by Acosta and other writers. The occasional cannibalism of the Jews was caused by famine, but that of the Americans was a regular institution. The argument that the Americans are Jews because they have not the gospel, is worthy only of ridicule, seeing that millions of other pagans are in the same condition. Of the Hebrew theory Baldwin, who devotes nearly two pages to it, writes: ‘this wild notion, called a theory, scarcely deserves so much attention. It is a lunatic fancy, possible only to men of a certain class, which in our time does not multiply.’ Anc. Amer., p. 167. Tschudi regards the arguments in favor of the Jewish theory as unsound. Peruvian Antiq., p. 11. Acosta thinks that the Jews would have preserved their language, customs, and records, in America as well as in other places. Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 79-80. Macgregor argues that the Americans could not have been Jews, for the latter people were acquainted with the use of iron as far back as the time of Tubal Cain; they also used milk and wheaten bread, which the Americans could and would have used if they had once known of them. Progress of Amer., vol. i., p. 24. Montanus believes that America was peopled long before the time of the dispersion of the Jewish tribes, and raises objections to nearly every point that has been adduced in favor of a Hebrew origin. Nieuwe Weereld, p. 26, et seq. Torquemada gives Las Casas’ reasons for believing that the Americans are of Jewish descent, and refutes them. Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 22-7. The difference of physical organization is alone sufficient to set aside the question of Jewish origin. That so conservative a people as the Jews should have lost all the traditions, customs, etc., of their race, is absurd. Democratic Review, vol. xi., p. 617. Rafinesque advances, as objections to Jew theory, that the ten tribes are to be found scattered over Asia; that the Sabbath would never have fallen into disuse if they had once introduced it into America; that the Hebrew knew the use of iron, had plows, and employed writing; that circumcision is practiced only in one or two localities in America; that the sharp, striking Jewish features are not found in Americans; that the Americans eat hogs and other animals forbidden to the Jews; that the American war customs, such as scalping, torturing, cannibalism, painting bodies and going naked, are not Jewish in the least; that the American languages are not like Hebrew. Priest’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 76-9.

Mormon Doctrine of Origin

The account given by the Book of Mormon, of the settlement of America by the Jews, is as follows:[I-212]I translate freely from Bertrand, Mémoires, p. 32, et seq., for this account.

After the confusion of tongues, when men were scattered over the whole face of the earth, the Jaredites, a just people, having found favor in the sight of the Eternal, miraculously crossed the ocean in eight vessels, and landed in North America, where, they built large cities and developed into flourishing and highly civilized nations. But their descendants did evil before the Lord, in spite of repeated prophetic warnings, and were finally destroyed for their wickedness, about fifteen hundred years after their arrival, and six hundred before the birth of Christ.

These first inhabitants of America were replaced by an emigration of Israelites, who were miraculously brought from Jerusalem in the first year of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah. For some time they traveled in a south-easterly direction, following the coast of the Red Sea; afterwards they took a more easterly course, and finally arrived at the borders of the Great Ocean. Here, at the command of God, they constructed a vessel, which bore them safely across the Pacific Ocean to the western coast of South America, where they landed. In the eleventh year of the reign of this same Zedekiah, when the Jews were carried captive to Babylon, some descendants of Judah came from Jerusalem to North America, whence they emigrated to the northern parts of South America. Their descendants were discovered by the first emigrants about four hundred years afterwards.

The first emigrants, almost immediately after their arrival, separated themselves into two distinct nations. The people of one of these divisions called themselves Nephites, from the prophet Nephi, who had conducted them to America. These were persecuted, on account of their righteousness, by the others, who called themselves Lamanites, from Laman, their chief, a wicked and corrupt man. The Nephites retreated to the northern parts of South America, while the Lamanites occupied the central and southern regions. The Nephites possessed a copy of the five books of Moses, and of the prophets as far as Jeremiah, or until the time when they left Jerusalem. These writings were engraved on plates of brass. After their arrival in America they manufactured similar plates, on which they engraved their history and prophetic visions. All these records, kept by men inspired of the Holy Ghost, were carefully preserved, and transmitted from generation to generation.

God gave them the whole continent of America as the promised land, declaring that it should be a heritage for them and for their children, provided they kept his commandments. The Nephites, blessed by God, prospered and spread east, west, and north. They dwelt in immense cities, with temples and fortresses; they cultivated the earth, bred domestic animals, and worked mines of gold, silver, lead, and iron. The arts and sciences flourished among them, and as long as they kept God’s commandments, they enjoyed all the benefits of civilization and national prosperity.

Nephites and Lamanites

The Lamanites, on the contrary, by reason of the hardness of their hearts, were from the first deserted of God. Before their backsliding they were white and comely as the Nephites; but in consequence of the divine curse, they sank into the lowest barbarism. Implacable enemies of the Nephites, they waged war against that people, and strove by every means in their power to destroy them. But they were gradually repulsed with great loss, and the innumerable tumuli which are still to be seen in all parts of the two Americas, cover the remains of the warriors slain in these bloody conflicts.

The second colony of Hebrews, mentioned above, bore the name of Zarahemla. They also had many civil wars, and as they had not brought any historical records with them from Jerusalem, they soon fell into a state of atheism. At the time when they were discovered by the Nephites they were very numerous, but lived in a condition of semi-barbarism. The Nephites, however, united themselves with them, and taught them the sacred Scriptures, so that before long the two nations became as one. Shortly afterwards the Nephites built several vessels, by means of which they sent expeditions towards the north, and founded numerous colonies. Others emigrated by land, and in a short time the whole of the northern continent was peopled. At this time North America was entirely destitute of wood, the forests having been destroyed by the Jaredites, the first colonists, who came from the tower of Babel; but the Nephites constructed houses of cement and brought wood by sea from the south; taking care, besides, to cultivate immense plantations. Large cities sprang up in various parts of the continent, both among the Lamanites and the Nephites. The latter continued to observe the law of Moses; numerous prophets arose among them; they inscribed their prophecies and historical annals on plates of gold or other metal, and upon various other materials. They discovered also the sacred records of the Jaredites, engraved on plates of gold; these they translated into their own language, by the help of God and the Urim Thummim. The Jaredite archives contained the history of man from the creation of the world to the building of the tower of Babel, and from that time to the total destruction of the Jaredites, embracing a period of thirty-four or thirty-five centuries. They also contained the marvelous prophecies which foretold what would happen in the world until the end of all things, and the creation of a new heaven and a new earth.

The Book of Mormon

The Nephites were informed of the birth and death of Christ by certain celestial and terrestrial phenomena, which had long before been predicted by their prophets. But in spite of the numerous blessings which they had received, they fell at length from grace, and were terribly punished for their ingratitude and wickedness. A thick darkness covered the whole continent; earthquakes cast mountains into valleys; many towns were swallowed up, and others were destroyed by fire from heaven. Thus perished the most perverse among the Nephites and Lamanites, to the end that the blood of the saints and prophets might no longer cry out from the earth against them. Those who survived these judgments received a visit from Christ, who, after his ascension, appeared in the midst of the Nephites, in the northern part of South America. His instructions, the foundation of a new law, were engraved on plates of gold, and some of them are to be found in the Book of Mormon; but by far the greater part of them will be revealed only to the saints, at a future time.

When Christ had ended his mission to the Nephites, he ascended to heaven, and the apostles designated by him went to preach his gospel throughout the continent of America. In all parts the Nephites and Lamanites were converted to the Lord, and for three centuries they lived a godly life. But toward the end of the fourth century of the Christian era, they returned to their evil ways, and once more they were smitten by the arm of the Almighty. A terrible war broke out between the two nations, which ended in the destruction of the ungrateful Nephites. Driven by their enemies towards the north and north-west, they were defeated in a final battle near the hill of Cumorah,[I-213]In the State of New York. where their historical tablets have been since found. Hundreds of thousands of warriors fell on both sides. The Nephites were utterly destroyed, with the exception of some few who either passed over to the enemy, escaped by flight, or were left for dead on the field of battle. Among these last were Mormon and his son Moroni, both upright men.

Mormon had written on tablets an epitome of the annals of his ancestors, which epitome he entitled the Book of Mormon. At the command of God he buried in the hill of Cumorah all the original records in his possession, and at his death he left his own book to his son Moroni, who survived him by some years, that he might continue it. Moroni tells us in his writings that the Lamanites eventually exterminated the few Nephites who had escaped the general slaughter at the battle of Cumorah, sparing those only who had gone over to their side. He himself escaped by concealment. The conquerors slew without mercy all who would not renounce Christ. He tells, further, that the Lamanites had many dreadful wars among themselves, and that the whole land was a scene of incessant murder and violence. Finally, he adds that his work is a complete record of all events that happened down to the year 420 of the Christian era, at which time, by divine command, he buried the Book of Mormon in the hill of Cumorah, where it remained until removed by Joseph Smith, September 22, 1827.[I-214]The discovery was in this wise: ‘Près du village de Manchester, dans le comté d’Ontario, État de New York, se trouve une éminence plus considérable que celle des environs, et qui est devenue célèbre dans les fastes de la nouvelle Église sous le nom de Cumorah. Sur le flanc occidental de cette colline, non loin de son sommet, et sous une pierre d’une grande dimension, des lames d’or se trouvaient déposées dans un coffre de pierre. Le couvercle en était aminci vers ses bords, et relevé au milieu en forme de boule. Après avoir dégagé la terre, Joseph (Smith) souleva le couvercle à l’aide d’un levier, et trouva les plaques, l’Urim-Thummim, et le pectoral. Le coffre était formé de pierres reliées entre elles aux angles par du ciment. Au fond se trouvaient deux pierres plates placées en croix, et sur ces pierres les lames d’or et les autres objets. Joseph voulait les enlever, mais il en fut empêché par l’envoyé divin, qui l’informe que le temps n’était pas encore venu, et qu’il fallait attendre quatre ans à partir de cette époque. D’après ses instructions, Joseph se rendit tous les ans le même jour au lieu du dépôt, pour recevoir de la bouche du messager céleste, des instructions sur la manière dont le royaume de Dieu devait être fondé et gouverné dans les derniers jours…. Le 22 septembre 1827, le messager des cieux lui laissa prendre les plaques, l’Urim-Thummim et le pectoral, à condition qu’il serait responsable, et en l’avertissant qu’il serait retranché, s’il venait à perdre ces objets par sa négligence, mais qu’il serait protégé s’il faisait tous ses efforts pour les conserver.’ Bertrand, Mémoires, pp. 23-5.

Scandinavian Theory

Much has been written to prove that the north-western part of America was discovered and peopled by Scandinavians long before the time of Columbus. Although a great part of the evidence upon which this belief rests, is unsatisfactory and mixed up with much that is vague and undoubtedly fabulous, yet it seems to be not entirely destitute of historical proof. Nor is there any improbability that such daring navigators as the Northmen may have visited and colonized the coasts of Greenland, Labrador, and Newfoundland. I find in this opinion an almost exact parallel to the so-called ‘Tartar theory.’ It is true the distance between Europe and north-eastern America is much greater than that between Asia and north-western America, but would not the great disparity between the maritime enterprise and skill of the Northmen and Asiatics, make the North Atlantic as navigable for the former as Bering Strait for the latter? It is certain that Iceland was settled by the Northmen from Norway at a very early date; there is little reason to doubt that Greenland was in turn colonized from Iceland in the tenth century; if this be conceded, then the question whether the Northmen did actually discover the country now known as America, certainly ceases to wear any appearance of improbability, for it would be unreasonable to suppose that such renowned sailors could live for a great number of years within a short voyage of a vast continent and never become aware of its existence. It would be absurd, however, to believe that the entire continent of America was peopled by Northmen, because its north-eastern borders were visited or even colonized by certain adventurous sea-rovers.

All that is known of the early voyages of the Northmen, is contained in the old Icelandic Sagas. The genuineness of the accounts relating to the discovery of America has been the subject of much discussion. Mr B. F. De Costa, in a carefully studied monograph on the subject, assures us that there can be no doubt as to their authenticity, and I am strongly inclined to agree with him. It is true that no less eminent authors than George Bancroft and Washington Irving have expressed opinions in opposition to De Costa’s views, but it must be remembered that neither of these distinguished gentlemen made a very profound study of the Icelandic Sagas, indeed Irving directly states that he “has not had the means of tracing this story to its original sources;” nor must we forget that neither the author of the ‘Life of Columbus,’ nor he of the ‘History of the Colonization of the United States,’ could be expected to willingly strip the laurels from the brow of his familiar hero, Christopher Columbus, and concede the honor of the ‘first discovery’ to the northern sea-kings, whose exploits are so vaguely recorded.[I-215]Though the question of the Scandinavian discoveries would seem to merit considerable attention from one who wrote a ‘colonial history’ of America, yet Mr George Bancroft disposes of the entire subject in a single page: ‘The story of the colonization of America by Northmen,’ he writes, ‘rests on narratives, mythological in form, and obscure in meaning; ancient, yet not contemporary. The chief document is an interpolation in the history of Sturleson, whose zealous curiosity could hardly have neglected the discovery of a continent. The geographical details are too vague to sustain a conjecture; the accounts of the mild winter and fertile soil are, on any modern hypothesis, fictitious or exaggerated; the description of the natives applies only to the Esquimaux, inhabitants of hyperborean regions, the remark which should define the length of the shortest winter’s day, has received interpretations adapted to every latitude from New York to Cape Farewell; and Vinland has been sought in all directions, from Greenland and the St. Lawrence to Africa.’ Bancroft’s History, vol. i., pp. 5-6. Irving says that as far as he ‘has had experience in tracing these stories of early discoveries of portions of the New World, he has generally found them very confident deductions drawn from very vague and questionable facts. Learned men are too prone to give substance to mere shadows, when they assist some preconceived theory. Most of these accounts, when divested of the erudite comments of their editors, have proved little better than the traditionary fables, noticed in another part of this work, respecting the imaginary islands of St. Borondon, and of the Seven Cities.’ Columbus, vol. iii., p. 434. All of which would certainly be true enough of most theories, but that it was erroneous as far as the Northmen’s visits are concerned, has, I think, been conclusively shown in later years.

The Icelandic Sagas

De Costa’s defence of the genuineness of the accounts referred to is simple and to the point. “Those who imagine,” he writes, “that these manuscripts, while of pre-Columbian origin, have been tampered with and interpolated, show that they have not the faintest conception of the state of the question. The accounts of the voyages of the Northmen to America form the framework of Sagas which would actually be destroyed by the elimination of the narratives. There is only one question to be decided, and that is the date of these compositions.” “That these manuscripts,” he adds, “belong to the pre-Columbian age, is as capable of demonstration as the fact that the writings of Homer existed prior to the age of Christ. Before intelligent persons deny either of these points they must first succeed in blotting out numberless pages of well-known history. The manuscripts in which we have versions of all the Sagas relating to America is found in the celebrated Codex Flatöiensis, a work that was finished in the year 1387, or 1395 at the latest. This collection, made with great care, and executed in the highest style of art, is now preserved in its integrity in the archives of Copenhagen. These manuscripts were for a time supposed to be lost, but were ultimately found safely lodged in their repository in the monastery library of the island of Flatö, from whence they were transferred to Copenhagen with a large quantity of other literary material collected from various localities. If these Sagas which refer to America were interpolations, it would have early become apparent, as abundant means exist for detecting frauds; yet those who have examined the whole question do not find any evidence that invalidates their historical statements. In the absence, therefore, of respectable testimony to the contrary, we accept it as a fact that the Sagas relating to America are the productions of men who gave them in their present form nearly, if not quite, an entire century before the age of Columbus.”[I-216]‘It might also be argued, if it were at all necessary, that, if these Sagas were post-Columbian compositions drawn up by Icelanders who were jealous of the fame of the Genoese navigator, we should certainly be able to point out something either in their structure, bearing, or style, by which it would be indicated. Yet such is not the case. These writings reveal no anxiety to show the connection of the Northmen with the great land lying at the west. The authors do not see anything at all remarkable or meritorious in the explorations, which were conducted simply for the purpose of gain. Those marks which would certainly have been impressed by a more modern writer forging a historical composition designed to show an occupation of the country before the time of Columbus, are wholly wanting. There is no special pleading or rivalry, and no desire to show prior and superior knowledge of the country to which the navigators had from time to time sailed. We only discover a straightforward, honest endeavor to tell the story of certain men’s lives. This is done in a simple, artless way, and with every indication of a desire to mete out even handed justice to all. And candid readers who come to the subject with minds free from prejudice, will be powerfully impressed with the belief that they are reading authentic histories written by honest men.’ Pre-Columbian Disc. Amer., pp. xli.-xlii.

The accounts of the voyages as given in the original manuscripts are too numerous and prolix to be reproduced in their entirety here; but I will endeavor to give a résumé of them, following, to a great extent, an ‘abstract of the historical evidence for the discovery of America by the Scandinavians in the tenth century,’ given in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society.[I-217]Vol. viii., p. 114, et seq.

Eric the Red, in the spring of 986,[I-218]The exact dates in these relations I cannot vouch for; but the several authors who have written on the subject differ by only a year or two. emigrated from Iceland to Greenland, and founded a settlement there. One of his companions was Heriulf Bardson, whose son, Biarne, was at that time absent on a trading voyage to Norway. Biarne, on his return to Iceland, resolved “still to spend the following winter, like all the preceding ones, with his father,” and to that end set sail for Greenland. But, owing to the northerly winds and fogs, and to the fact that neither he nor any of his followers had ever navigated these seas before, Biarne lost his way. When the weather cleared up they found themselves in sight of a strange land, which they left to larboard. After two days’ sail they again sighted land; and once more standing out to sea, they, after three days, saw land a third time, which proved to be an island. Again they bore away, and after four days’ sailing reached Greenland.

Voyages of the Northmen

Some time after this, Leif, a son of Eric the Red, having heard of Biarne’s discoveries, bought his ship, manned it with a crew of thirty men, and set out from Greenland, about the year 1000. The first land they sighted was that which Biarne had seen last; this they named Helluland.[I-219]‘Helluland, from Hella, a flat stone, an abundance of which may be found in Labrador and the region round about.’ De Costa’s Pre-Columbian Disc. Amer., p. 28. ‘From data in the Landnama and several other ancient Icelandic geographical works, we may gather that the distance of a day’s sailing was estimated at from twenty-seven to thirty geographical miles (German or Danish, of which fifteen are equal to a degree; each of these accordingly equal to four English sea-miles). From the island of Helluland, afterwards called Little Helluland, Biarne sailed to Heriulfsnes (Ikigeit) in Greenland, with strong south-westerly gales, in four days. The distance between that cape and Newfoundland is about 150 miles, which will correspond, when we take into consideration the strong gales. In modern descriptions it is stated that this land partly consists of naked, rocky flats, where no tree, not even a shrub, can grow, and which are therefore usually called Barrens; thus answering completely to the hellur of the ancient Northmen, from which they named the country.’ Abstract of Hist. Evid., in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. viii., p. 123. They put out to sea and soon came to another land, which they named Markland.[I-220]‘Markland was situate to the south-west of Helluland, distant about three days’ sail, or about from eighty to ninety miles. It is therefore Nova Scotia, of which the descriptions given by later writers answer to that given by the ancient Northmen of Markland.’ Id. Again they stood out to sea, and after two days came to an island. They then sailed westward, and afterwards went on shore at a place where a river, issuing from a lake, fell into the sea. Bringing their ship up the river, they anchored in the lake. Here they settled for a time, and finding vines in the country, they named it Vinland.[I-221]‘Vinland was situate at the distance of two days’ sail, consequently about from fifty-four to sixty miles, in a south-westerly direction from Markland. The distance from Cape Sable to Cape Cod is stated in nautical works as being W. by S. about seventy leagues, that is, about fifty-two miles. Biarne’s description of the coasts is very accurate, and in the island situate to the eastward (between which and the promontory that stretches to eastward and northward Leif sailed) we recognize Nantucket. The ancient Northmen found there many shallows (grunnsæ fui mikit); modern navigators make mention at the same place “of numerous riffs and other shoals,” and say “that the whole presents an aspect of drowned land.”‘ Id., pp. 121-2. ‘The leading evidences serve to attest that Vinland was the present very marked seaboard area of New England. The nautical facts have been carefully examined by Professors Rafn and Magnusen, and the historical data adapted to the configuration of the coast which has Cape Cod as its distinguishing trait. All this seems to have been done with surprising accuracy, and is illustrated by the present high state of the arts in Denmark and Germany.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., p. 111. In the spring they returned to Greenland.

This expedition to Vinland was much talked of, and Thorwald, Leif’s brother, thought that the new country had not been thoroughly enough explored. Then Leif lent his ship to Thorwald, who set out for Vinland about the year 1002. There he and his crew wintered, and about the year 1004 they set sail to the eastward. On this voyage Thorwald was killed by the natives. At his request his followers returned to Vinland and buried his remains there. In 1005 they sailed again to Greenland, bearing the sad news of his brother’s death to Leif.

Thorstein, Eric’s third son, soon afterwards set out in the same ship for Vinland, to fetch his brother’s body. He was accompanied by his wife Gudrida, and twenty-five strong men, but after tossing about on the ocean during the whole summer, they finally landed again on the Greenland coast, where Thorstein died during the winter.

The next voyage to Vinland was made by one Thorfinn Karlsefne, a man of noble lineage, who occupied his time in merchant voyages and was thought a good trader. In the summer of 1006 he fitted out his ship in Iceland for a voyage to Greenland, attended by one Snorre Thorbrandson and a crew of forty men. At the same time another ship was fitted out for the same destination by Biarne Grimolfson and Thorhall Gamlason, and manned with a crew of forty men also. All being ready, the two ships put out to sea, and both arrived safely at Ericsfiord in Greenland, where Leif and Gudrida, the widow of Leif’s late brother, Thorstein, dwelt. Here Thorfinn fell in love with the fair Gudrida, and with Leif’s consent, married her that winter.

The discovery of Vinland was much talked of among the settlers, for they all believed that it was a good country, and that a voyage there would be very profitable; and Thorfinn was urged and at length persuaded to undertake the adventure. Accordingly, in the spring of 1007 he fitted out his ship, and Biarne Grimolfson and Thorhall Gamlason did the same with theirs. A third ship, commanded by one Thorward, also joined the expedition. And on Thorward’s ship a man named Thorhall, ‘commonly called the hunter,’ who had been the huntsman of Eric in the summer, and his steward in the winter, also went.

The Northmen and Skrellings

As this is probably the most important of all the Northmen’s voyages to America, I will give it in full: “They sailed first to the Westerbygd, and afterwards to Biarney. From thence they sailed in a southerly direction to Helluland, where they found many foxes. From thence they sailed again two days in a southerly direction to Markland, a country overgrown with wood, and plentifully stocked with animals. Leaving this, they continued sailing in a S.W. direction for a long time, having the land to starboard, until they at length came to Kialarnes,[I-222]‘Kialarnes (from Kiölr, a keel, and nes, a cape, most likely so named on account of its striking resemblance to the keel of a ship, particularly of one of the long ships of the ancient Northmen) must consequently be Cape Cod, the Nauset of the Indians, which modern geographers have sometimes likened to a horn, and sometimes to a sickle or sythe.’ Id., p. 122. where there were trackless deserts and long beaches and sands, called by them Furdustrandir. When they had past these, the land began to be indented by inlets. They had two Scots with them, Hake and Hekia, whom Leif had formerly received from the Norwegian King Olaf Tryggvason, and who were very swift of foot. They put them on shore, recommending them to proceed in a S.W. direction, and explore the country. After the lapse of three days they returned bringing with them some grapes and some ears of wheat, which grew wild in that region. They continued their course until they came to a place where a firth penetrated far into the country. Off the mouth of it was an island past which there ran strong currents, which was also the case farther up the firth. On the island there were an immense number of eyderducks, so that it was scarcely possible to walk without treading on their eggs. They called the island Straumey (Stream-Isle), and the firth Straumfiördr (Stream-Firth).[I-223]‘The Straumfiördr of the ancient Northmen is supposed to be Buzzard’s Bay, and Straumey, Martha’s Vineyard; although the account of the many eggs found there would seem more precisely to correspond to the island which lies off the entrance of Vineyard Sound, and which at this day is for the same reason called Egg Island.’ Id. They landed on the shore of this firth, and made preparations for their winter residence. The country was extremely beautiful. They confined their operations to exploring the country. Thorhall afterwards wished to proceed in a N. direction in quest of Vineland. Karlsefne chose rather to go to the S.W. Thorhall, and along with him eight men, quitted them, and sailed past Furdustrandir and Kialarnes, but they were driven by westerly gales to the coast of Ireland, where, according to the accounts of some traders, they were beaten and made slaves. Karlsefne, together with Snorre and Biarne, and the rest of the ships’ companies, in all 151 (CXXXI.) men, sailed southwards, and arrived at the place, where a river falls into the sea from a lake. Opposite to the mouth of the river were large islands. They steered into the lake, and called the place Hóp (í Hópe). On the low grounds they found fields of wheat growing wild, and on the rising grounds vines. While looking about one morning they observed a great number of canoes. On exhibiting friendly signals the canoes approached nearer to them, and the natives in them looked with astonishment at those they met there. These people were sallow-coloured or ill-looking, had ugly heads of hair, large eyes, and broad cheeks. After they had gazed at them for a while, they rowed away again to the S.W. past the cape. Karlsefne and his company had erected their dwelling-houses a little above the bay; and there they spent the winter. No snow fell, and the cattle found their food in the open field. One morning early, in the beginning of 1008, they descried a number of canoes coming from the S.W. past the cape. Karlsefne having held up a white shield as a friendly signal, they drew nigh and immediately commenced bartering. These people chose in preference red cloth, and gave furs and squirrel skins in exchange. They would fain also have bought swords and spears, but these Karlsefne and Snorre prohibited their people from selling them. In exchange for a skin entirely gray the Skrellings took a piece of cloth of a span in breadth, and bound it round their heads. Their barter was carried on this way for some time. The Northmen then found that their cloth was beginning to grow scarce, whereupon they cut it up in smaller pieces, not broader than a finger’s breadth; yet the Skrellings gave as much for these smaller pieces as they had formerly given for the larger ones, or even more. Karlsefne also caused the women to bear out milk soup, and the Skrellings relishing the taste of it, they desired to buy it in preference to everything else, so they wound up their traffic by carrying away their bargains in their bellies. Whilst this traffic was going on, it happened that a bull, which Karlsefne had brought along with him, came out of the wood and bellowed loudly. At this the Skrellings got terrified and rushed to their canoes, and rowed away southwards. About this time Gudrida, Karlsefne’s wife, gave birth to a son, who received the name of Snorre. In the beginning of the following winter the Skrellings came again in much greater numbers; they showed symptoms of hostility, setting up loud yells. Karlsefne caused the red shield to be borne against them, whereupon they advanced against each other, and a battle commenced. There was a galling discharge of missiles. The Skrellings had a sort of war slings. They elevated on a pole a tremendously large ball, almost the size of a sheep’s stomach, and of a bluish colour; this they swung from the pole upon land over Karlsefne’s people, and it descended with a fearful crash. This struck terror into the Northmen, and they fled along the river. Freydisa came out and saw them flying; she thereupon exclaimed, ‘How can stout men like you fly from these miserable caitifs, whom I thought you could knock down like cattle? If I had only a weapon, I ween I could fight better than any of you.’ They heeded not her words. She tried to keep pace with them, but the advanced state of her pregnancy retarded her. She however followed them into the wood. There she encountered a dead body. It was Thorbrand Snorrason; a flat stone was sticking fast in his head. His naked sword lay by his side. This she took up, and prepared to defend herself. She uncovered her breasts, and dashed them against the naked sword. At this sight the Skrellings became terrified, and ran off to their canoes. Karlsefne and the rest now came up to her and praised her courage. Karlsefne and his people were now become aware that, although the country held out many advantages, still the life that they would have to lead here would be one of constant alarm from the hostile attacks of the natives. They therefore made preparations for departure, with the resolution of returning to their own country. They sailed eastward, and came to Streamfirth. Karlsefne then took one of the ships, and sailed in quest of Thorhall, while the rest remained behind. They proceeded northwards round Kialarnes, and after that were carried to the north-west. The land lay to larboard of them. There were thick forests in all directions, as far as they could see, with scarcely any open space. They considered the hills at Hope and those which they now saw as forming part of one continuous range. They spent the third winter at Streamfirth. Karlsefne’s son Snorre was now three years of age. When they sailed from Vineland they had a southerly wind, and came to Markland, where they met with five Skrellings. They caught two of them (two boys), whom they carried away along with them, and taught them the Norse language, and baptised them; these children said that their mother was called Vethilldi and their father Uvæge; they said that the Skrellings were ruled by chieftains (kings), one of whom was called Avalldamon, and the other Valdidida; that there were no houses in the country, but that the people dwelled in holes and caverns. Biarne Grimolfson was driven into the Irish Ocean, and came into waters that were so infested by worms, that their ship was in consequence reduced to a sinking state. Some of the crew, however, were saved in the boat, as it had been smeared with seal-oil tar, which is a preventive against the attack of worms. Karlsefne continued his voyage to Greenland, and arrived at Ericsfiord.”

During the same summer that Karlsefne returned from Vinland, a ship arrived at Greenland from Norway, commanded by two brothers, Helge and Finnboge. And Freydisa, she who had frightened the Skrellings, went to them and proposed they should make a voyage to Vinland, and she offered to go with them on condition that an equal share of what they obtained there should be hers; and they agreed to this. It was arranged between the brothers and Freydisa that each should have thirty fighting men, besides women. But Freydisa secretly brought away five men more than the allotted number. They reached Vinland and spent the winter there. During their stay Freydisa prevailed on her husband to slay the two brothers and their followers; the women that were with them she killed with her own hand. In the spring of the next year they returned to Greenland.[I-224]See Abstract of Hist. Evid., in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. viii., p. 114, et seq., and De Costa’s Pre-Columbian Disc. Amer., p. 11, et seq.

In the latter part of the tenth century,[I-225]In the year 983, according to Abstract of Hist. Evid., in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. viii., p. 125. De Costa makes it 928. Pre-Columbian Disc. Amer., p. 86. one Are Marson, of Iceland, was driven by storms to Hvitramannaland, or Land of the Whitemen. This country, which was also called Great Ireland, has been thought to be “probably that part of the Coast of North America which extends southwards from Chesapeak Bay, including North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.”[I-226]‘Professor Rafn in, what seems to the author, his needless anxiety to fix the locality of the White-man’s land in America, says that, as this part of the manuscript is difficult to decipher, the original letters may have got changed, and vi inserted instead of xx, or xi, which numerals would afford time for the voyager to reach the coast of America, in the vicinity of Florida. Smith in his Dialogues, has even gone so far as to suppress the term six altogether, and substitutes, “by a number of days sail unknown.” This is simply trifling with the subject. In Grönland’s Historiske Mindesmœrker, chiefly the work of Finn Magnussen, no question is raised on this point. The various versions all give the number six, which limits the voyage to the vicinity of the Azores. Schöning, to whom we are so largely indebted for the best edition of Heimskringla, lays the scene of Marson’s adventure at those islands, and suggests that they may at that time have covered a larger extent of territory than the present, and that they may have suffered from earthquakes and floods, adding, “It is likely, and all circumstances show, that the said land has been a piece of North America.” This is a bold, though not very unreasonable hypothesis, especially as the volcanic character of the islands is well known. In 1808, a volcano rose to the height of 3,500 feet. Yet Schöning’s suggestion is not needed. The fact that the islands were not inhabited when discovered by the Portuguese does not, however, settle anything against Schöning, because in the course of five hundred years, the people might either have migrated, or been swept away by pestilence. Grönland’s Historiske Mindesmœrker, (vol. i., p. 150), says simply, that “It is thought that he (Are Marson) ended his days in America, or at all events in one of the larger islands of the west. Some think that it was one of the Azore islands.”‘ De Costa’s Pre-Columbian Disc. Amer., p. 87. Here, also, one Biörn Asbrandson is said to have ended his days.[I-227]Abstract of Hist. Evid., in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. viii., p. 125; De Costa’s Pre-Columbian Disc. Amer., p. 89, et seq.

I do not propose to give here all that has been said about these voyages, as it would not be pertinent to the question which we are reviewing, namely, the origin of the Americans. Indeed, the entire subject of the Northmen’s voyages and colonization, might almost be said to be without our province, as it is not asserted that they were actually the first inhabitants of the New World.

The relics that have been thought to prove their former presence in the continent, are neither numerous nor important. One of these is the Dighton Rock, of which I have had occasion to speak before, in connection with the Phœnician theory.[I-228]See Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., pp. 110, et seq., for plate and discussion of Dighton Rock. In 1824, a stone engraved with Runic characters was found on the island of Kingiktorsoak, on the western coast of Greenland.[I-229]It bore the following inscription: Elligr. Sigvaps: son: r. ok. Bjanne. Tortarson: ok: Enripi. osson: laugardag. in: fyrir gagndag Holpu: varda te. ok rydu: M. C. XXXV; or, Erling Sighvatssonr, ok Bjarne Pordarson, ok Endridi oddsson laugardaginn fyrir gagndag hlodu varda pessa ok ruddu 1135; ‘c’est-à-dire: Erling Sigvatson, Bjarne Thordarson, et Endride Oddson érigèrent ces monceaux de pierres le samedi avant le jour nommé Gagndag (le 25 avril) et ils nettoyèrent la place en 1135.’ Warden, Recherches, p. 152.

Scandinavian Theory

Priest is strongly inclined to believe that a glass bottle about the size of a common junk bottle, “having a stopple in its nuzzle,” an iron hatchet edged with steel, the remains of a blacksmith’s forge, and some ploughed-up crucibles, all found in the town of Pompey, Onondaga County, New York, are of Scandinavian origin.[I-230]‘We have noticed the discovery of a place called Estotiland, supposed to be Nova Scotia, in 1354, the inhabitants of which were Europeans, who cultivated grain, lived in stone houses, and manufactured beer, as in Europe at that day. Now, from the year 1354, till the time of the first settlements made in Onondaga county, by the present inhabitants, is about 400 years. Is it not possible, therefore, that this glass bottle, with some kind of liquor in it, may have been derived from this Estotiland, having been originally brought from Europe; as glass had been in use there, more or less, from the year 664, till the Scandinavians colonized Iceland, Greenland, and Estotiland, or Newfoundland.’ Priest’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 260-1.

Brasseur de Bourbourg has found many words in the languages of Central America which bear, he thinks, marked Scandinavian traces; little can be proven by this, however, since he finds as many other words that as strongly resemble Latin, Greek, English, French, and many other languages. The learned Abbé believes, moreover, that some of the ancient traditions of the Central American nations point to a north-east origin.[I-231]‘Malgré les réclamations que mes suppositions soulevèrent de divers côtés et les sourires incrédules qu’elles appelèrent sur les lèvres de plusieurs de nos savants dont je respecte et honore les connaissances, je persiste plus que jamais dans l’opinion que j’exprimais alors; plus j’avance dans mes études américaines plus je demeure convaincu des relations qui existèrent, antérieurement à Christophe Colomb, entre le Nouveau-Monde et les contrées situées à l’orient de l’autre côté de l’océan Atlantique, et plus je suis persuadé que les Scandinaves ont dû, à une période même plus reculée que celle dont vos (Prof. Rafn’s) intéressants mémoires rapportent le souvenir, émigrer vers le continent américain.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1858, tom. clx., pp. 261-92. Viollet-le-Duc is struck with the similarity that existed between the religious customs and ideas of the ancient Northmen and of the Quichés as expressed in the Popol Vuh.[I-232]‘Il est impossible de ne point être frappé de l’analogie qui existe entre les idées bramaniques sur la divinité et les passages du Popol-Vuh cités plus haut. Mais si nous consultons les traditions beaucoup plus récentes, conservées même après l’établissement du christianisme en Suède, nous trouverons encore, entre les coutumes religieuses des populations de ces contrées et celles qui nous sont retracées dans le Popol-Vuh, plus d’un rapport.’ Viollet-le-Duc, in Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 41-2. See farther concerning emigration to America from north-western Europe: Mitchill, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 341, et seq.; Priest’s Amer. Antiq., scattered notices, pp. 88-9, 234-329; Robertson’s Hist. Amer., vol. i., pp. 278-80; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., pp. 110-11, 120-4; Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1855, tom. cxlvii., pp. 157-8; Viollet-le-Duc, in Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 11, 18-19, 23-4, 42-3; Warden, Recherches, pp. 146-54; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 28-30, 117; Tschudi’s Peruvian Antiq., pp. 3-7, 21-2; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. i., pp. 197-8; Davis’ Discovery of New England by the Northmen; Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., pp. 279-85; Davis’ Anc. Amer., pp. 13-31; Tylor’s Anahuac, pp. 278-9; M’Culloh’s Researches on Amer., pp. 21-2; Brinton’s Abbé Brasseur, in Lippincott’s Mag., vol. i., p. 79, et seq.; Smith’s Human Species, p. 237; Deuber, Geschichte der Schiffahrt; Hermes, Entdeckung von Amer., pp. 1-134; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 399-400; Hill’s Antiq. of Amer.; Wilson’s Prehist. Man, pp. 394-420; Kruger’s Discov. Amer., pp. 1-134; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 53-64, 404, 411-12; Beaufoy’s Mex. Illustr., p. 322; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 18-22; Id., Popol Vuh, pp. li.-liv., lxxxix.-xcii.; Hist. Mag., vol. ix., pp. 364-5;Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., p. 15; Humboldt’s Exam. Crit., tom. ii., pp. 83-104, 105-20; Irving’s Columbus, vol. iii., pp. 432-40; Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., p. 239; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 164-71; Rafinesque, The American Nations; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Quatre Lettres, p. 17; Williamson’s Observations on Climate; Zesterman’s Colonization of America by Northwestern Europeans; Farcy, Discours, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. i., pp. 48-9; Simpson’s Nar., p. 159; Schoolcraft, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 391-6.

A Welsh Colony in America

We come now to the theory that the Americans, or at least part of them, are of Celtic origin. In the old Welsh annals there is an account of a voyage made in the latter half of the twelfth century,[I-233]About 1169-70. by one Madoc, a son of Owen Gwynedd, prince of North Wales. The story goes, that after the death of Gwynedd, his sons contended violently for the sovereignty. Madoc, who was the only peaceable one among them, determined to leave his disturbed country and sail in search of some unknown land where he might dwell in peace. He accordingly procured an abundance of provisions and a few ships and embarked with his friends and followers. For many months they sailed westward without finding a resting-place; but at length they came to a large and fertile country, where, after sailing for some distance along the coast in search of a convenient landing-place, they disembarked, and permanently settled. After a time Madoc, with part of his company, returned to Wales, where he fitted out ten ships with all manner of supplies, prevailed on a large number of his countrymen to join him, and once more set sail for the new colony, which, though we hear no more about him or his settlement, he is supposed to have reached safely.[I-234]‘All this is related in old Welsh annals preserved in the abbeys of Conway and Strat Flur…. This emigration of Prince Madog is mentioned in the preserved works of several Welsh bards who lived before the time of Columbus. It is mentioned by Hakluyt, who had his account of it from writings of the bard Guttun Owen. As the Northmen had been in New England over one hundred and fifty years when Prince Madog went forth to select a place for his settlement, he knew very well there was a continent on the other side of the Atlantic, for he had knowledge of their voyages to America; and knowledge of them was also prevalent in Ireland. His emigration took place when Henry II. was king of England, but in that age the English knew little or nothing of Welsh affairs in such a way as to connect them with English history very closely.’ Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., p. 286. See also Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. ii., pp. 142-9; Farcy, Discours, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. i., pp. 49-50. ‘Before wee passed these ilands, under the lee of the bigger iland, we anchored, the wind being at north-east, with intent to refresh ourselves with the fowles of these ilands. They are of divers sorts, and in great plentie, as pengwins, wilde duckes, gulles, and gannets; of the principall we purposed to make provisions, and those were the pengwins; which in Welsh, as I have beene enformed, signifieth a white head. From which derivation, and many other Welsh denominations given by the Indians, or their predecessors, some doe inferre that America was first peopled with Welsh-men; and Montezanna, king, or rather emperour of Mexico, did recount unto the Spaniards, at their first comming, that his auncestors came from a farre countrie, and were white people. Which, conferred with an auncient cronicle, that I have read many yeares since, may be conjectured to bee a prince of Wales, who many hundreth yeares since, with certaine shippes, sayled to the westwards, with intent to make new discoveries. Hee was never after heard of.’ Hawkins’ Voy., in Hakluyt Soc., p. 111.

The Americans of Welsh Origin

The exact location of Madoc’s colony has only been guessed at. Baldwin says it is supposed that he settled ‘somewhere in the Carolinas.’ Caradoc, in his history of Wales,[I-235]Written in Welsh, translated into English by Humphrey Llwyd, and published by Dr David Powel in 1584. has no doubt that the country where Madoc established his colony was Mexico; this he thinks is shown by three facts: first, the Mexicans believed that their ancestors came from a beautiful country afar off, inhabited by white people; secondly, they adored the cross; and thirdly, several Welsh names are found in Mexico. Peter Martyr affirms that the aborigines of Virginia, as well as those of Guatemala, celebrate the memory of an ancient and illustrious hero, named Madoc. Harcourt, in the preface to the account of his voyage to Guiana,[I-236]Dedicated to Prince Charles, and published in 1613. says that that part of America was discovered and possessed by the Welsh prince, Madoc. Herbert, according to Martyr, says that the land discovered by the prince was Florida or Virginia.[I-237]See Warden, Recherches, pp. 154-7. Catlin is inclined to believe that Madoc entered the Mississippi at Balize and made his way up the river, or that he landed somewhere on the Florida coast. He thinks the colonists pushed into the interior and finally settled on the Ohio river; afterwards, being driven from that position by the aboriginal tribes, they advanced up the Missouri river to the place where they have been known for many years by the name of Mandans, “a corruption or abbreviation, perhaps, of Madawgwys, the name applied by the Welsh to the followers of Madawc.” The canoes of the Mandans, Mr Catlin tells us, which are altogether different from those of all other tribes, correspond exactly to the Welsh coracle,[I-238]They are ‘made of raw-hides, the skins of buffaloes, stretched underneath a frame made of willows or other boughs, and shaped nearly round, like a tub; which the woman carries on her head from her wigwam to the water’s edge, and having stepped into it, stands in front, and propels it by dripping her paddle forward, and drawing it to her, instead of paddling by the side.’ Catlin’s Amer. Ind., vol. ii., p. 261. the peculiarity of their physical appearance was such that when he first saw them he “was under the instant conviction that they were an amalgam of a native, with some civilized race,” and the resemblance that exists between their language and Welsh, is, in his opinion, very striking.[I-239]See comparative vocabulary. Id. There have been several reports that traces of the Welsh colony and of their language have been discovered among the native tribes, but none of them seem entitled to full credit. The best known report of this kind, and the one that claims, perhaps, the most respectful consideration, is that of the Rev. Morgan Jones, written in 1686, and published in the Gentleman’s Magazine for the year 1740. In 1660 the reverend gentleman, with five companions, was taken prisoner by the Tuscarora tribe, who were about to put him to death when he soliloquized aloud in Welsh; whereupon they spared him and his companions, and treated them very civilly. After this Mr Jones stayed among them for four months, during which time he conversed with them familiarly in the Welsh language, “and did preach to them in the same language three times a week.”[I-240]As a good deal of importance has been attached to it, it will be as well to give Jones’ statement in full; it is as follows: ‘These presents certify all persons whatever, that in the year 1660, being an inhabitant of Virginia, and chaplain to Major General Bennet, of Mansoman County, the said Major General Bennet and Sir William Berkeley sent two ships to Port Royal, now called South Carolina, which is sixty leagues southward of Cape Fair, and I was sent therewith to be their minister. Upon the 8th of April we set out from Virginia, and arrived at the harbor’s mouth of Port Royal the 19th of the same month, where we waited for the rest of the fleet that was to sail from Barbadoes and Bermuda with one Mr. West, who was to be deputy governor of said place. As soon as the fleet came in, the smallest vessels that were with us sailed up the river to a place called the Oyster Point; there I continued about eight months, all which time being almost starved for want of provisions: I and five more traveled through the wilderness till we came to the Tuscarora country. There the Tuscarora Indians took us prisoners because we told them that we were bound to Roanock. That night they carried us to their town and shut us up close, to our no small dread. The next day they entered into a consultation about us, and, after it was over, their interpreter told us that we must prepare ourselves to die next morning, whereupon, being very much dejected, I spoke to this effect in the British [Welsh] tongue: “Have I escaped so many dangers, and must I now be knocked on the head like a dog!” Then presently came an Indian to me, which afterward appeared to be a war captain belonging to the sachem of the Doegs (whose original, I find, must needs be from the Old Britons), and took me up by the middle, and told me in the British [Welsh] tongue I should not die, and thereupon went to the emperor of Tuscarora, and agreed for my ransom and the men that were with me. They (the Doegs) then welcomed us to their town, and entertained us very civilly and cordially four months, during which time I had the opportunity of conversing with them familiarly in the British [Welsh] language, and did preach to them in the same language three times a week, and they would confer with me about any thing that was difficult therein, and at our departure they abundantly supplied us with whatever was necessary to our support and well doing. They are settled upon Pontigo River, not far from Cape Atros. This is a brief recital of my travels among the Doeg Indians.

Morgan Jones,
the son of John Jones, of Basateg, near Newport, in the County
of Monmouth. I am ready to conduct any Welshman or others
to the country.

New York, March 10th, 1685-6.’ Gentleman’s Mag., 1740.

A certain Lieutenant Roberts states that in 1801 he met an Indian chief at Washington, who spoke Welsh “as fluently as if he had been born and brought up in the vicinity of Snowdon.” He said it was the language of his nation, the Asguaws, who lived eight hundred miles north-west of Philadelphia. He knew nothing of Wales, but stated that his people had a tradition that their ancestors came to America from a distant country, which lay far to the east, over the great waters. Amongst other questions, Lieutenant Roberts asked him how it was that his nation had preserved their original language so perfect; he answered that they had a law which forbade any to teach their children another tongue, until they were twelve years old.[I-241]Chambers’ Jour., vol. vi., p. 411.

Another officer, one Captain Davies, relates that while stationed at a trading-post, among the Illinois Indians, he was surprised to find that several Welshmen who belonged to his company, could converse readily with the aborigines in Welsh.[I-242]‘These accounts are copied from manuscripts of Dr. W. O. Pughe, who, together with Edward Williams (the bard of Glamorgan), made diligent inquiries in America about forty years ago, when they collected upwards of one hundred different accounts of the Welsh Indians.’ Id. ‘It is reported by travellers in the west, that on the Red River … very far to the southwest, a tribe of Indians has been found, whose manners, in several respects, resemble the Welch…. They call themselves the McCedus tribe, which having the Mc or Mac attached to their name, points evidently to a European origin, of the Celtic description…. It is well authenticated that upwards of thirty years ago, Indians came to Kaskaskia, in the territory, now the state of Illinois, who spoke the Welch dialect, and were perfectly understood by two Welchmen then there, who conversed with them.’ Priest’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 230-2. Warden tells a story of a Welshman named Griffith, who was taken prisoner by the Shawnee tribe about the year 1764. Two years afterwards, he and five Shawnees, with whom he was traveling about the sources of the Missouri, fell into the hands of a white tribe, who were about to massacre them when Griffith spoke to them in Welsh, explaining the object of their journey; upon this they consented to spare him and his companions. He could learn nothing of the history of these white natives, except that their ancestors had come to the Missouri from a far distant country. Griffith returned to the Shawnee nation, but subsequently escaped and succeeded in reaching Virginia.[I-243]Recherches, p. 157. Griffiths related his adventures to a native of Kentucky, and they were published in 1804, by Mr Henry Toulmin, one of the Judges of the territory of Mississippi. See Stoddard’s Sketches of Louisiana, p. 475; Philadelphia Medical and Physical Journal, vol. i., 1805.There are many other reports of a similar kind, but these will be sufficient to show on what manner of foundation the Welsh theory rests, and to justify in a measure the outspoken opinion of Mr Fiske, that “Welch Indians are creatures of the imagination.”[I-244]Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 305.

Scotch and Irish Theories

Lord Monboddo, a Scotchman, who wrote in the seventeenth century, quotes several instances to show that the language of the native Highlanders was spoken in America. In one of the English expeditions to discover the North Pole, he relates, there were an Eskimo and a Scotchman, who, after a few days practice, were able to converse together readily. He also states “that the Celtic language was spoken by many of the tribes of Florida, which is situated at the north end of the gulf of Mexico; and that he was well acquainted with a gentleman from the Highlands of Scotland, who was several years in Florida, in a public character, and who stated that many of the tribes with whom he had become acquainted, had the greatest affinity with the Celtic in their language.”[I-245]We read farther: ‘But what is still more remarkable, in their war song he discovered, not only the sentiments, but several lines, the very same words as used in Ossian’s celebrated majestic poem of the wars of his ancestors, who flourished about thirteen hundred years ago. The Indian names of several of the streams, brooks, mountains and rocks of Florida, are also the same which are given to similar objects, in the highlands of Scotland.’ All this, could we believe it, would fill us with astonishment; but the solution of the mystery lies in the next sentence: ‘This celebrated metaphysician (Monboddo) was a firm believer in the anciently reported account of America’s having been visited by a colony from Wales long previous to the discovery of Columbus.’ Priest’s Amer. Antiq., p. 230. It is this being a ‘firm believer’ in a given theory that makes so many things patent to the enthusiast which are invisible to ordinary men.

Claims have also been put in for an Irish discovery of the New World; St Patrick is said to have sent missionaries to the ‘Isles of America,'[I-246]Monastikon Britannicum, pp. 131-2, 187-8, cited in De Costa’s Pre-Columbian Disc. Amer., p. xviii. and early writers have gravely discussed the probability of Quetzalcoatl having been an Irishman. There is no great improbability that the natives of Ireland may have reached, by accident or otherwise, the north-eastern coasts of the new continent, in very early times, but there is certainly no evidence to prove that they did.[I-247]See Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., pp. 188-90; De Costa’s Pre-Columbian Disc. Amer., pp. xviii.-xx.

The nations of southern Europe have not been entirely forgotten by the theorists on the question of origin. Those who have claimed for them the honor of first settling or civilizing America, are not many, however; nor is the evidence they adduce of a very imposing nature.

Lafitau supposes the Americans to be descended from the ancient inhabitants of the Grecian archipelago, who were driven from their country by the subjects of Og, King of Bashan. In every particular, he says, the people of the New World resemble the Hellenes and Pelagians. Both were idolators; used sacred fire; indulged in Bacchanalian revels; held formal councils; strong resemblances are to be found in their marriage customs, system of education, manner of hunting, fishing, and making war, in their games and sports, in their mourning and burial customs, and in their manner of treating the sick.[I-248]Mœurs des Sauvages Amériquains Comparées aux Mœurs des Premiers Temps. Paris, 1724. García knew a man in Peru who knew of a rock on which was what looked very much like a Greek inscription. The same writer says that the Athenians waged war with the inhabitants of Atlantis, and might therefore have heard of America. That the Greeks were navigators in very early times is shown by Jason’s voyage in search of the Golden Fleece. Both Greeks and Americans bored their ears and sang the deeds of their ancestors; besides which, many words are common to both peoples.[I-249]García, Orígen de los Ind., pp. 189-92. Like García, Mr Pidgeon also knew a man—a farmer of Montevideo, in Brazil—who in 1827 discovered in one of his fields a flat stone, upon which was engraven a Greek inscription, which, as far as it was legible, read as follows: “During the dominion of Alexander, the son of Philip, King of Macedon, in the sixty-third Olympiad, Ptolemaios.” Deposited beneath the stone were found two ancient swords, a helmet, and a shield. On the handle of one of the swords was a portrait of Alexander; on the helmet was a beautiful design representing Achilles dragging the corpse of Hector round the walls of Troy. “From this discovery, it is evident”—to Mr Pidgeon—”that the soil of Brazil was formerly broken by Ptolemaios, more than a thousand years before the discovery by Columbus.”[I-250]Pidgeon’s Trad., p. 16. Brasseur de Bourbourg seeks to identify certain of the American gods with Greek deities.[I-251]Landa, Relacion, pp. lxx.-lxxx. Jones finds that the sculpture at Uxmal very closely resembles the Greek style.[I-252]Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 107. In the Greeks of Homer I find the customs, discourse, and manners of the Iroquois, Delawares, and Miamis. The tragedies of Sophocles and Euripides paint to me almost literally the sentiments of the red-men, respecting necessity, fatality, the miseries of human life, and the rigour of blind destiny. Volney’s View of the Climate and Soil of the United States of America. London, 1804.

The vastness of some of the cities built by the civilized Americans, the fine roads they constructed, their fondness for gladiatorial combats, and a few unreliable accounts that Roman coins have been found on the continent, constitute about all the evidence that is offered to show that the Romans ever visited America.[I-253]See Priest’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 385-90; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 255; Scenes in Rocky Mts., pp. 199-202; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 6; Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., pp. 184, 527-8.

The Ancient Atlantis

The story of Atlantis, that is, of a submerged, lost land that once lay to the west of Europe, is very old. It was communicated to Solon, according to Plutarch, by the Egyptian priests of Psenophis, Sonchis, Heliopolis, and Saïs; and if we may believe Plato, Solon did not hear of the events until nine thousand Egyptian years after their occurrence. Plato’s version is as follows:

“Among the great deeds of Athens, of which recollection is preserved in our books, there is one which should be placed above all others. Our books tell that the Athenians destroyed an army which came across the Atlantic Sea, and insolently invaded Europe and Asia; for this sea was then navigable, and beyond the strait where you place the Pillars of Hercules there was an island larger than Asia (Minor) and Libya combined. From this island one could pass easily to the other islands, and from these to the continent which lies around the interior sea. The sea on this side of the strait (the Mediterranean) of which we speak, resembles a harbor with a narrow entrance; but there is a genuine sea, and the land which surrounds it is a veritable continent. In the island of Atlantis reigned three kings with great and marvelous power. They had under their dominion the whole of Atlantis, several other islands, and some parts of the continent. At one time their power extended into Libya, and into Europe as far as Tyrrhenia, and, uniting their whole force, they sought to destroy our countries at a blow; but their defeat stopped the invasion and gave entire independence to all the countries this side of the Pillars of Hercules. Afterward, in one day and one fatal night, there came mighty earthquakes and inundations, which ingulfed that warlike people; Atlantis disappeared beneath the sea, and then that sea became inaccessible, so that navigation ceased on account of the quantity of mud which the ingulfed island left in its place.”[I-254]See Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., p. 177; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 394-5.

It is only recently that any important signification has been attached to this passage. It was previously regarded rather as one of those fabulous accounts in which the works of the writers of antiquity abound, than as an actual statement of facts. True, it had been frequently quoted to show that the ancients had a knowledge more or less vague of the continent of America, but no particular value was set upon the assertion that the mysterious land was ages ago submerged and lost in the ocean. But of late years it has been discovered that traditions and records of cataclysms similar to that referred to by the Egyptian priests, have been preserved among the American nations; which discovery has led several learned and diligent students of New World lore to believe that after all the story of Atlantis, as recorded by Plato, may be founded upon fact, and that in bygone ages there did actually exist in the Atlantic Ocean a great tract of inhabited country, forming perhaps part of the American continent, which by some mighty convulsion of nature was suddenly submerged and lost in the sea.

Brasseur de Bourbourg’s Theories

Foremost among those who have held and advocated this opinion stands the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg. This distinguished Américaniste goes farther than his fellows, however, in that he attempts to prove that all civilization originated in America, or the Occident, instead of in the Orient, as has always been supposed. This theory he endeavors to substantiate not so much by the Old World traditions and records as by those of the New World, using as his principal authority an anonymous manuscript written in the Nahua language, which he entitles the Codex Chimalpopoca. This work purports to be on the face of it a ‘History of the Kingdoms of Culhuacan and Mexico,’ and as such it served Brasseur as almost his sole authority for the Toltec period of his Histoire des Nations Civilisées. At that time the learned Abbé regarded the Atlantis theory, at least so far as it referred to any part of America, as an absurd conjecture resting upon no authentic basis.[I-255]Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 6. In a later work, however, he more than retracts this assertion; from a sceptic he is suddenly transformed into a most devout and enthusiastic believer, and attempts to prove by a most elaborate course of reasoning that that which he before doubted is indubitably true. The cause of this sudden change was a strange one. As, by constant study, he became more profoundly learned in the literature of ancient America, the Abbé discovered that he had entirely misinterpreted the Codex Chimalpopoca. The annals recorded so plainly upon the face of the mystic pages were intended only for the understanding of the vulgar; the stories of the kings, the history of the kingdoms, were allegorical and not to be construed literally; deep below the surface lay the true historic record—hidden from all save the priests and the wise men of the West—of the mighty cataclysm which submerged the cradle of all civilization.[I-256]‘Imaginez un livre entier écrit en calembours, un livre dont toutes les phrases, dont la plupart des mots ont un double sens, l’un parfaitement net et distinct de l’autre, et vous aurez, jusqu’à un certain point, l’idée du travail que j’ai entre les mains. C’est en cherchant l’explication d’un passage fort curieux, relatif à l’histoire de Quetzal-Coatl, que je suis arrivé à ce résultat extraordinaire. Oui, Monsieur, si ce livre est en apparence l’histoire des Toltèques et ensuite des rois de Colhuacan et de Mexico, il présente, en réalité, le récit du cataclysme qui bouleversa le monde, il y a quelques six ou sept mille ans, et constitua les continents dans leur état actuel. Ce que le Codex Borgia de la Propagande, le Manuscrit de Dresde et le Manuscrit Troano étaient en images et en hiéroglyphes, le Codex Chimalpopoca en donne la lettre; il contient, en langue nahuatl, l’histoire du monde, composée par le sage Hueman, c’est-à-dire par la main puissante de Dieu dans le grand Livre de la nature, en un mot, c’est le Livre divin lui-même, c’est le Teo-Amoxtli.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg. Quatre Lettres, p. 24. Excepting a dozen, perhaps, of the kings who preceded Montezuma, it is not a history of men, but of American nature, that must be sought for in the Mexican manuscripts and paintings. The Toltecs, so long regarded as an ancient civilized race, destroyed in the eleventh century by their enemies, are really telluric forces, agents of subterranean fire, the veritable smiths of Orcus and of Lemnos, of which Tollan was the symbol, the true masters of civilization and art, who by the mighty convulsions which they caused communicated to men a knowledge of minerals.[I-257]Id., p. 39.

I know of no man better qualified than was Brasseur de Bourbourg to penetrate the obscurity of American primitive history. His familiarity with the Nahua and Central American languages, his indefatigable industry, and general erudition, rendered him eminently fit for such a task, and every word written by such a man on such a subject is entitled to respectful consideration. Nevertheless, there is reason to believe that the Abbé was often rapt away from the truth by excess of enthusiasm, and the reader of his wild and fanciful speculations cannot but regret that he has not the opportunity or ability to intelligently criticise by comparison the French savant’s interpretation of the original documents. At all events it is certain that he honestly believed in the truth of his own discovery; for when he admitted that, in the light of his better knowledge, the Toltec history, as recorded in the Codex Chimalpopoca, was an allegory—that no such people as the Toltecs ever existed, in fact—and thereby rendered valueless his own history of the Toltec period, he made a sacrifice of labor, unique, I think, in the annals of literature.

Brasseur’s theory supposes that the continent of America occupied originally the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, and extended in the form of a peninsula so far across the Atlantic that the Canary islands may have formed part of it. All this extended portion of the continent was many ages ago engulfed by a tremendous convulsion of nature, of which traditions and written records have been preserved by many American peoples.[I-258]In the Codex Chimalpopoca, Brasseur reads that ‘à la suite de l’éruption des volcans, ouverts sur toute l’étendue du continent américain, double alors de ce qu’il est aujourd’hui, l’éruption soudaine d’un immense foyer sous-marin, fit éclater le monde et abîma, entre un lever et un autre de l’étoile du matin, les régions les plus riches du globe.’ Quatre Lettres, p. 45. Yucatan, Honduras, and Guatemala, were also submerged, but the continent subsequently rose sufficiently to rescue them from the ocean. The testimony of many modern men of science tends to show that there existed at one time a vast extent of dry land between Europe and America.[I-259]Id., p. 108.

It is not my intention to enter the mazes of Brasseur’s argument here; once in that labyrinth there would be small hope of escape. His Quatre Lettres are a chaotic jumble of facts and wild speculations that would appal the most enthusiastic antiquarian; the materials are arranged with not the slightest regard for order; the reader is continually harassed by long rambling digressions—literary no-thoroughfares, as it were, into which he is beguiled in the hope of coming out somewhere, only to find himself more hopelessly lost than ever; for mythological evidence, the pantheons of Phœnicia, Egypt, Hindostan, Greece, and Rome, are probed to their most obscure depths; comparative philology is as accommodating to the theorist as ever, which is saying a great deal; the opinions of geologists who never dreamed of an Atlantis theory, are quoted to show that the American continent formerly extended into the Atlantic in the manner supposed.

I have presented to the reader the bare outline of what Brasseur expects to prove, without giving him the argument used by that learned writer, for the reason that a partial résumé of the Quatre Lettres would be unfair to the Abbé, while an entire résumé would occupy more space than I can spare. I will, however, deviate from the system I have hitherto observed, so far as to express my own opinion of the French savant’s theory.

Were the original documents from which Brasseur drew his data obtainable, we might, were we able to read and understand them, know about how far his enthusiasm and imagination have warped his calmer judgment; as it is, the Atlantis theory is certainly not proved, and we may therefore reasonably decline to accept it. In my opinion there is every reason to believe that his first interpretation of the Codex Chimalpopoca was the true one, and that the ‘double meaning’ had no existence save in his own distorted fancy.[I-260]See farther, concerning Atlantis: Brasseur de Bourbourg, MS. Troano, tom. i., pp. 29-32, 199; Irving’s Columbus, vol. i., pp. 24, 38, vol. iii., pp. 419, 492-4, 499-512; Baril, Mexique, p. 190; Dally, Races Indig., p. 7; Farcy, Discours, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. i., pp. 41-2; De Costa’s Pre-Columbian Disc. Amer., p. xiii.; Heylyn’s Cosmog., pp. 943-4; Sanson d’Abbeville, Amérique, pp. 1-3; Willson’s Amer. Hist., pp. 90-1; Warden, Recherches, pp. 97-113; Carli, Cartas, pt i., p. 1; Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Landa, Relacion, pp. xviii.-cxii.; Davis’ Anc. Amer., p. 13; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. i., pp. 28-30, 213-15; Wilson’s Prehist. Man, pp. 392-3; Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., pp. 181-4; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 394-9; Larrainzar, Dictamen, pp. 8-25; Stratton’s Mound-Builders, MS.; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 216-22; Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., pp. 174-84; Mitchill, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 340; Faliés, Études Hist. sur les Civilisations, tom. i., pp. 185-93, 218;M’Culloh’s Researches on Amer., pp. 26-32; Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. i., pp. 42, 130-206, tom. ii., pp. 46, 163-214; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., pp. 14-18, 22; Monglave, in Antiq. Mex., pp. 57-60; Cabrera, Teatro, in Rio’s Description, p. 126; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 5-6; Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. v., pp. 799-801; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 29; West und Ost Indischer Lustgart, pt i., pp. 4-5; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 18-19; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iv., p. 31; Despréaux, in Museo Mex., tom. ii., pp. 84-6; Major’s Prince Henry, p. 83; Rafinesque, in Priest’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 123-4; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 42-6, 413-14; Fontaine’s How the World was Peopled, pp. 256-7; Herrera, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., cap. ii.; Smith’s Human Species, p. 83; Soc. Géog., Bulletin, tom. iv., p. 235.

Autochthonic Origin

It only remains now to speak of the theory which ascribes an autochthonic origin to the Americans. The time is not long past when such a supposition would have been regarded as impious, and even at this day its advocates may expect discouragement if not rebuke from certain quarters.[I-261]Davis, Anc. Amer., p. 12, thinks that a portion of the animals of the original creation migrated west. ‘If this idea,’ he says, ‘is new to others, I hope it may be considered more reasonable than the infidel opinion, that men and animals were distinct creations from those of Asia.’ ‘Think you,’ he adds sagely, ‘they would have transported venomous serpents from the old to the new world?’ It is, nevertheless, an opinion worthy of the gravest consideration, and one which, if we may judge by the recent results of scientific investigation, may eventually prove to be scientifically correct. In the preceding pages it will have been remarked that no theory of a foreign origin has been proven, or even fairly sustained. The particulars in which the Americans are shown to resemble any given people of the Old World are insignificant in number and importance when compared with the particulars in which they do not resemble that people.

As I have remarked elsewhere, it is not impossible that stray ships of many nations have at various times and in various places been cast upon the American coast, or even that adventurous spirits, who were familiar with the old-time stories of a western land, may have designedly sailed westward until they reached America, and have never returned to tell the tale. The result of such desultory visits would be exactly what has been noticed, but erroneously attributed to immigration en masse. The strangers, were their lives spared, would settle among the people, and impart their ideas and knowledge to them. This knowledge would not take any very definite shape or have any very decided effect, for the reason that the sailors and adventurers who would be likely to land in America under such circumstances, would not be thoroughly versed in the arts or sciences; still they would know many things that were unknown to their captors, or hosts, and would doubtless be able to suggest many improvements. This, then, would account for many Old World ideas and customs that have been detected here and there in America, while at the same time the difficulty which arises from the fact that the resemblances, though striking, are yet very few, would be satisfactorily avoided. The foreigners, if adopted by the people they fell among, would of course marry women of the country and beget children, but it cannot be expected that the physical peculiarities so transmitted would be perceptible after a generation or two of re-marrying with the aboriginal stock. At the same time I think it just as probable that the analogies referred to are mere coincidences, such as might be found among any civilized or semi-civilized people of the earth. It may be argued that the various American tribes and nations differ so materially from each other as to render it extremely improbable that they are derived from one original stock, but, however this may be, the difference can scarcely be greater than that which apparently exists between many of the Aryan branches.[I-262]Concerning unity or variety of the American races, see: Prichard’s Researches, vol. i., p. 268, vol. v., pp. 289, 374, 542; Morton’s Crania Amer., p. 62; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 197-98; Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., pp. 66-7; Maury, in Nott and Gliddon’s Indig. Races, p. 81; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 83; Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 21-36; Willson’s Amer. Hist., p. 89; Jones’ Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 4; Smith’s Human Species, p. 251; Catlin’s N. Amer. Ind., vol. ii., p. 234; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 3-4.

Conclusions

Hence it is many not unreasonably assume that the Americans are autochthones until there is some good ground given for believing them to be of exotic origin.[I-263]‘I am compelled to believe that the Continent of America, and each of the other Continents, have had their aboriginal stocks, peculiar in colour and in character—and that each of these native stocks has undergone repeated mutations, by erratic colonies from abroad.’ Catlin’s N. Amer. Ind., vol. ii., p. 232; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 224-5, thinks it consonant with the Bible to suppose ‘distinct animal creations, simultaneously, for different portions of the earth.’ A commentator on Hellwald who advocates autochthon theory remarks that: ‘the derivation of these varieties from the original stock is philosophically explained on the principle of the variety in the offspring of the same parents, and the better adaptation and consequent chance of life.’ Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 345. ‘That theory is probably, in every point of view, the most tenable and exact which assumes that man, like the plant, a mundane being, made his appearance generally upon earth when our planet had reached that stage of its development which unites in itself the conditions of the man’s existence. In conformity with this view I regard the American as an autochthon.’ The question of immigration to America has been too much mixed with that of the migration in America, and only recently has the opinion made progress that America has attained a form of civilization by modes of their own. Neither the theory of a populating immigration or a civilizing immigration from the old world meet any countenance from the results of the latest investigations. Hellwald, in Id., p. 330. All tribes have similarities among them which make them distinct from old world. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 23. Dr. Morton says the study of physical conformation alone, excludes every branch of the Caucasian race from any obvious participation in the peopling of this continent, and believes the Indians are all of one race, and that race distinct from all others. Mayer’s Observations, p. 11. We can never know the origin of the Americans. The theory that they are aborigines is contradicted by no fact and is plausible enough. Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 177-8. The supposition that the Red Man is a primitive type of a human family originally planted in the western continent presents the most natural solution of the problem. The researches of physiologists, antiquaries, philologists, tend this way. The hypothesis of an immigration, when followed out, is embarrassed with great difficulties and leads to interminable and unsatisfying speculations. Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 251. God has created several couples of human beings differing from one another internally and externally, and these were placed in appropriate climates. The original character is preserved, and directed only by their natural powers they acquired knowledge and formed a distinct language. In primitive times signs and sounds suggested by nature were used, but with advancement, dialects formed. It requires the idea of a miracle to suppose that all men descend from one source. Kames, in Warden, Recherches, p. 203. ‘The unsuccessful search after traces of an ante-Columbian intercourse with the New World, suffices to confirm the belief that, for unnumbered centuries throughout that ancient era, the Western Hemisphere was the exclusive heritage of nations native to its soil. Its sacred and sepulchral rites, its usages and superstitions, its arts, letters, metallurgy, sculpture, and architecture, are all peculiarly its own.’ Wilson’s Prehist. Man, p. 421. Morton concludes ‘that the American Race differs essentially from all others, not excepting the Mongolian; nor do the feeble analogies of language, and the more obvious ones in civil and religious institutions and the arts, denote anything beyond casual or colonial communication with the Asiatic nations; and even these analogies may perhaps be accounted for, as Humboldt has suggested, in the mere coincidence arising from similar wants and impulses in nations inhabiting similar latitudes.’ Crania Amer., p. 260. ‘I am firmly of opinion that God created an original man and woman in this part of the globe, of different species from any in the other parts.’ Romans’ Concise Natural Hist. of E. and W. Florida. ‘Altamirano, the best Aztec scholar living, claims that the proof is conclusive that the Aztecs did not come here from Asia, as has been almost universally believed, but were a race originated in America, and as old as the Chinese themselves, and that China may even have been peopled from America.’ Evans’ Our Sister Rep., p. 333. Swan believes that ‘whatever was the origin of different tribes or families, the whole race of American Indians are native and indigenous to the soil.’ N.W. Coast, p. 206. To express belief, however, in a theory incapable of proof appears to me idle. Indeed, such belief is not belief; it is merely acquiescing in or accepting a hypothesis or tradition until the contrary is proved. No one at the present day can tell the origin of the Americans; they may have come from any one, or from all the hypothetical sources enumerated in the foregoing pages, and here the question must rest until we have more light upon the subject.

Footnotes

[I-1] He affirms (in a work entitled Christian Topography) that, according to the true orthodox system of geography, the earth is a quadrangular plane, extending four hundred days’ journey east and west, and exactly half as much north and south; that it is inclosed by mountains, on which the sky rests; that one on the north side, huger than the others, by intercepting the rays of the sun, produces night; and that the plane of the earth is not set exactly horizontally, but with a little inclination from the north: hence the Euphrates, Tigris, and other rivers, running southward, are rapid; but the Nile, having to run up-hill, has necessarily a very slow current.’ Draper’s Conflict between Religion and Science, p. 65.

[I-2] In answer to the question: ‘What was God doing before he made the heaven and the earth? for, if at any particular moment he began to employ himself, that means time, not eternity. In eternity nothing happens—the whole is present.’ St Augustine caustically remarks: ‘I will not answer this question by saying that he was preparing hell for pryers into his mysteries.’

[I-3] The teachings of the Church were beyond controversy, the decisions of the Church were final; and not only in religion but in legislation and in science ‘the pervading principle was a blind unhesitating credulity.’ See Buckle’s Civilization, vol. i., p. 307. The Bishop of Darien once quoted Plato in the presence of Las Casas. “Plato,” Las Casas replied, “was a Gentile, and is now burning in hell, and we are only to make use of his doctrine as far as it is consistent with our holy Faith and Christian customs.” Helps’ Life of Las Casas, p. 120.

[I-4] As an example of the intolerance displayed by these early writers, and of the bitterness with which they attacked those few thinkers who dared to theorize without letting theological dogmas stand in their way, I translate the following passage from García, who is one of the most comprehensive writers upon the origin of the Americans: ‘We would like not even to remember the unworthy opinions of certain veritable blasphemers, more barbarous than the Indians, which do not even deserve the name of opinions, but rather of follies: namely, that, perhaps, the first Indians might have been generated from the earth, or from its putrefaction, aided by the sun’s heat, as (Avicena allowing this production to be easy in men) Andres Cisalpino attempted to make credible, giving them less perfection than Empedocles, who said that men had been born like the wild amaranth, if we believe Marcus Varron…. Of the formation of man, though of straw and mud, the people of Yucatan, had light; which nonsense is not inferior to the attempts of those who made men by means of chemistry, or magic (described by Solorcano) giving it to be understood that there may be others besides the descendants of Adam, contrary to the teachings of scripture: for which reason Taurelo feels indignant against Cisalpino, whose attempt would be reprehensible even as a paradox. Not less scandalous was the error of the ignorant Paracelso, according to Reusnero and Kirchero, who left to posterity an account of the creation of two Adams, one in Asia, and another in the West Indies; an inexcusable folly in one who had (though corruptly) information of the Catholic doctrine. Not less erroneous is the opinion of Isaac de La Peyrere, who placed people on the earth before Adam was created, from whom, he said, descended the heathen; from Adam, the Hebrews; which folly was punished with eternal contempt by Felipe Priorio, Juan Bautista Morino, Juan Hilperto, and others, Danhavero giving it the finishing stroke by an epitaph, as Dicterico relates: although some of the parties named state that La Peyrere became repentant and acknowledged his error, and did penance, which the Orientals, from whom he took that absurdity, have not done. These, and others of the same nature, may not be held as opinions, but as evidences of blindness published by men of doubtful faith, wise, in their own esteem, and deceivers of the world, who, with lies and fraud, oppose the divine word, as St Clemens Alexandrinus says, closing their ears to truth, and blindfolding themselves with their vices, for whom contempt is the best reward.’ Orígen de los Ind., p. 248. García spent nine years in Peru, devoting himself to the study of three points: the history of the natives before the arrival of the Spaniards, the origin of the natives, and the question as to whether the apostles preached the gospel in America. On his return to Spain, he concluded to write only upon the second topic, leaving the others for a future time.

[I-5] Descent of Man, vol. ii., p. 368.

[I-6] The value of proof by analogy has been questioned by many eminent authors. Humboldt writes: ‘On n’est pas en droit de supposer des communications partout où l’on trouve, chez des peuples à demi barbares, le culte du soleil, ou l’usage de sacrifier des victimes humaines.’ Vues, tom. i., p. 257. ‘The instances of customs, merely arbitrary, common to the inhabitants of both hemispheres, are, indeed, so few and so equivocal, that no theory concerning the population of the New World ought to be founded upon them.’ As regards religious rites, ‘the human mind, even where its operations appear most wild and capricious, holds a course so regular, that in every age and country the dominion of particular passions will be attended with similar effects.’ Robertson’s Hist. Amer., vol. i., p. 269. Warden remarks that nations known to be distinct, to have had no intercourse, breed similar customs—these, therefore, grow from physical and moral causes. Recherches, p. 205. ‘In attempting to trace relations between them and the rest of mankind, we cannot expect to discover proofs of their derivation from any particular tribe or nation of the Old Continent.’ Prichard’s Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., p. 494. ‘To tell an inquirer who wishes to deduce one population from another that certain distant tribes agree with the one under discussion in certain points of resemblance, is as irrelevant as to tell a lawyer in search of the next of kin to a client deceased, that though you know of no relations, you can find a man who is the very picture of him in person—a fact good enough in itself, but not to the purpose.’ Latham’s Man and his Migrations, pp. 74-5.

[I-7] Certainly many of the writers must have been either fools or demented, if we judge them by their work and arguments.

[I-8] Garcia, Origen de los Ind., pp. 7-12.

[I-9] When De Gama established the globular form of the earth by his voyage round the Cape of Good Hope, in 1497-8, ‘the political consequences that at once ensued placed the Papal Government in a position of great embarrassment. Its traditions and policy forbade it to admit any other than the flat figure of the earth, as revealed in the Scriptures.’ In 1520 Magellan discovered the strait which now bears his name, and ‘henceforth the theological doctrine of the flatness of the earth was irretrievably overthrown.’ Draper’s Conflict, pp. 163-5. St Augustin affirmed that the world beyond the tropic of cancer was uninhabited. ‘Ea vero veterum sententia, perspicua atque inuicta, vt ipsis videbatur, ratione nitebatur. Nam vt quæque regio ad meridiem propius accedit, ita solis ardoribus magis expositam animaduerterant, idque adeo verum est, vt in eadem Italiæ prouincia Apuliam Liguria, & in nostra Hispania Bæticam Cantabria vsque adeo feruentiorem nota re liceat, vt per gradus vixdum octo grande frigoris & æstus discrimen sit.’ Acosta, De Natura Novi Orbis, fol. 27. ‘Lactantius Firmianus, and St. Austin, who strangely jear’d at as ridiculous, and not thinking fit for a Serious Answer the Foolish Opinion of Antipodes, or another Habitable World beyond the Equator: At which, Lactantius Drolling, says, what, Forsooth, here is a fine Opinion broach’d indeed; an Antipodes! heigh-day! People whose Feet tread with ours, and walk Foot to Foot with us; their Heads downwards, and yet drop not into the Sky! There, yes, very likely, the Trees loaden with Fruit grow downwards, and it Rains, Hails, and Snows upwards; the Roofs and Spires of Cities, tops of Mountains, point at the Sky beneath them, and the Rivers revers’d topsi-turvy, ready to flow into the Air out of their Channels.’ Ogilby’s America, pp. 6-7. The ancients believed a large portion of the globe to be uninhabitable by reason of excessive heat, which must have greatly deterred discovery.

[I-10] Touching the question whether the Americans and the people of the old world are of common origin, see: Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 1-31; Tylor’s Anahuac, p. 104; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iv., pp. 14-24; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 1-31; Ramirez, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iv., p. 54; M’Culloh’s Researches on Amer., pp. 175-8; Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, p. 260; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 66-80; Prescott’s Mex., vol. iii., p. 389; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 237-49, 351, 354, 420-35; Charlevoix, quoted in Carver’s Trav., pp. 197-8; Fontaine’s How the World was Peopled, p. 17, et seq.; Crowe’s Cent. Amer., p. 61; Williams’ Enquiry into Tradition; Chevalier, Mexique, p. 134; Wilson’s Pre-Hist. Man, pp. 611-14, 485-6; Carli, Cartas, pt i., p. 16; Chamisso, in Kotzebue’s Voyage, vol. ii., pp. 405-6; Prichard’s Researches, vol. v., pp. 541-6; Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 22, 31. Innumerable other speculations have been made on this point, but in most cases by men who were but poorly qualified to deal with a subject requiring not only learning, but a determination to investigate fairly and without bias. Adair’s reasoning in this connection will serve to illustrate: ‘God employed six days, in creating the heavens, this earth, and the innumerable species of creatures, wherewith it is so amply furnished. The works of a being, infinitely perfect, must entirely answer the design of them: hence there could be no necessity for a second creation; or God’s creating many pairs of the human race differing from each other, and fitted for different climates; because, that implies imperfection, in the grand scheme, or a want of power, in the execution of it—Had there been a prior, or later formation of any new class of creatures, they must materially differ from those of the six days work; for it is inconsistent with divine wisdom to make a vain, or unnecessary repetition of the same act. But the American Indians neither vary from the rest of mankind, in their internal construction, nor external appearance, except in colour; which, as hath been shewn, is either entirely accidental, or artificial. As the Mosaic account declares a completion of the manifestation of God’s infinite wisdom and power in creation, within that space of time; it follows, that the Indians have lineally descended from Adam, the first, and the great parent of all the human species.’ Amer. Ind., pp. 11-12. To the works of those modern scientists, such as Lyell, Darwin, and others, who have treated of the unity of the human species at large, I need not refer the reader here. An excellent résumé of the subject will, however, be found in Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 353-67.

[I-11] ‘We find on the earliest Egyptian monuments,’ says Sir John Lubbock, ‘some of which are certainly as ancient as 2400 B.C., two great distinct types, the Arab on the east and west of Egypt, the Negro on the south. These distinct types still predominate in Egypt and the neighbouring countries. Thus, then, says Mr. Poole, in this immense interval we do not find “the least change in the Negro or the Arab; and even the type which seems to be intermediate between them is virtually as unaltered. Those who consider that length of time can change a type of man, will do well to consider the fact that three thousand years give no ratio on which a calculation could be founded.”‘ Crawfurd, also says: the millions ‘”of African Negroes that have during three centuries been transported to the New World and its islands, are the same in colour as the present inhabitants of the parent country of their forefathers. The Creole Spaniards, who have for at least as long a time been settled in tropical America, are as fair as the people of Arragon and Andalusia, with the same variety of colour in the hair and eye as their progenitors. The pure Dutch Creole colonists of the Cape of Good Hope, after dwelling two centuries among black Caffres, and yellow Hottentots, do not differ in colour from the people of Holland.”‘ Pre-Hist. Times, pp. 587-8. We find ‘upon Egyptian monuments, mostly of the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries before the Christian Era, representations of individuals of numerous nations, African, Asiatic, and European, differing in physical characteristics as widely as any equal number of nations of the present age that could be grouped together; among these being negroes of the true Nigritian stamp, depicted with a fidelity as to color and features, hardly to be surpassed by a modern artist. That such diversities had been produced by natural means in the interval between that remote age and the time of Noah, probably no one versed in the science of anatomy and physiology will consider credible.’ Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, p. 357.

[I-12] Noticias Americanas, pp. 391-5, 405-7. On pages 286-304, he has an argument, backed by geological evidences, to show that America is the oldest continent.

[I-13] ‘Were we to admit,’ say some ethnologists, ‘a unity of origin of such strongly-marked varieties as the Negro and European, differing as they do in colour and bodily constitution, each fitted for distinct climates, and exhibiting some marked peculiarities in their osteological, and even in some details of cranial and cerebral conformation, as well as in their average intellectual endowments,—if, in spite of the fact that all these attributes have been faithfully handed down unaltered for hundreds of generations, we are to believe that, in the course of time, they have all diverged from one common stock, how shall we resist the argument of the transmutationist, who contends that all closely allied species of animals and plants have in like manner sprung from a common parentage?’ Lyell’s Antiq. of Man, pp. 433-4.

[I-14] Lescarbot, Hist. Nouv. France, lib. i., cap. iii.

[I-15] Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 26-8.

[I-16] Pamphleteer, 1815. Thompson calculates the spreading of Noah’s children up to the time of Peleg, when the Bible declares the earth to have been divided. He also shows that this division happened earlier than is generally supposed.

[I-17] Orrio, Solucion, p. 41, et seq. Torquemada also believes Ham to have been the father of the race. Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 21-30.

[I-18] Nieuwe Weereld, p. 37.

[I-19] L’Estrange, Americans no Jewes.

[I-20] Deserts, vol. i., p. 26. ‘The Peruvian language,’ writes Ulloa, ‘is something like the Hebrew, and Noah’s tongue was doubtless Hebrew.’ Noticias Americanas, p. 384.

[I-21] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iv., p. 17.

[I-22] In Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iii., p. 343.

[I-23] See vol. iii. of this work, p. 450, et seq.

[I-24] Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iv., p. 15. Heredia y Sarmiento follows Clavigero. Sermones, p. 84.

[I-25] Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., p. 401. Priest, Amer. Antiq., pp. 142-3, thinks that an ivory image representing a mother and child found in Cincinnati, may have been taken to Britain by the Greeks or Romans, who knew of the prophecies concerning the Virgin and Child Jesus, and thence brought to America. See, also, concerning religious belief, baptism, circumcision, and other Christian-like rites in the New World: Tylor’s Anahuac, pp. 279-80; Prescott’s Mex., vol. iii., pp. 378-85; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., pp. 17-18; M’Culloh’s Researches on Amer., pp. 111-40; Latrobe’s Rambler, pp. 205-6.

[I-26] See vol. iii., pp. 66-9, and comments in accompanying notes.

[I-27] Id., pp. 72-5.

[I-28] Id., p. 76.

[I-29] Id., pp. 78-9.

[I-30] Id., p. 86.

[I-31] Id., p. 88.

[I-32] Id., p. 89.

[I-33] Id., p. 103.

[I-34] Mackenzie’s Voyages, p. cxviii.

[I-35] ‘Ou plutôt deux femmes, portant le nom d’Ara,’ says Brasseur de Bourbourg; I prefer, however, the original reading. The Ara is a kind of parroquet, common in South America, and so called because it continually repeats the cry ara, ara. Beings half bird, half woman, are as likely to figure in such a legend as the above as not. Besides, shortly afterwards the narrative speaks of ‘les deux oiseaux,’ referring to the aras.

[I-36] For both of these flood-myths see: Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Landa, Relacion, pp. xxx-xxxii. Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. v., lib. iii., cap. vi., gives a native tradition which relates that long before the time of the Incas there was a great deluge, from which some of the natives escaped by fleeing to the mountain-tops. The mountain tribes assert, however, that only six persons escaped this flood in a balsa.

[I-37] Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 25.

[I-38] See vol. iii., p. 67.

[I-39] See vol. iii., pp. 77, 89.

[I-40] According to Ixtlilxochitl, the Toltec tradition relates that after the confusion of tongues the seven families who spoke the Toltec language set out for the New World, wandering one hundred and four years over large extents of land and water. Finally they arrived at Huehue Tlapallan in the year ‘one flint,’ five hundred and twenty years after the flood. Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 322. See also another account, p. 450; Boturini, Crón. Mex., pt ii., pp. 5-8; Id., Idea, pp. 111-27; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 24, 145, 212-13; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 145; Hist. y Antig., in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. i., p. 284; Juarros, Hist. Guat., (Guat. 1857) tom. ii., pp. 55-6; Delafield’s Antiq. Amer., p. 34; Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 114-15; Prescott’s Mex., vol. iii., pp. 380-1; Davis’ Anc. Amer., p. 31; Tylor’s Anahuac, p. 277.

[I-41] They had also, as we have seen in the third volume, a great many curious ideas as to the way in which man was created, and as in attempting to prove their theories many writers are apt to draw analogies in this particular, I give a brief résumé of the creation-myths here for the reader’s convenience: The grossest conceptions of the mystery of the beginning of man are to be found among the rude savages of the north, who, however, as they are quite content, in many instances, to believe that their earliest progenitor was a dog or a coyote, seem entitled to some sympathy from the latest school of modern philosophy, though it is true that their process of development was rather abrupt, and that they did not require very many links in their chain of evolution. But as we advance farther south, the attempts to solve the problem grow less simple and the direct instrumentality of the gods is required for the formation of man. The Aleuts ascribe their origin to the intercourse of a dog and a bitch, or, according to another version, of a bitch and a certain old man who came from the north to visit his brute-bride. From them sprang two creatures, male and female, each half man, half fox; and from these two the human race is descended. Others of the Aleuts believe that their canine progenitor fell from heaven. The Tinneh also owe their origin to a dog; though they believe that all other living creatures were called into existence by an immense bird. The Thlinkeet account of the creation certainly does not admit of much caviling or dispute concerning its chronology, method, or general probability, since it merely states that men were “placed on the earth,” though when, or how, or by whom, it does not presume to relate. According to the Tacully cosmogony, a musk-rat formed the dry land, which afterwards became peopled, though whether by the agency of that industrious rodent or not, is not stated. Darwinism is reversed by many of the Washington tribes, who hold that animals and even some vegetables are descended from man. The human essence from which the first Ahts were formed, was originally contained in the bodies of animals, who upon being suddenly stampeded from their dwellings left this mysterious matter behind them. Some of the Ahts contend, however, that they are the direct descendants of a shadowy personage named Quawteaht and a gigantic Thunder Bird. The Chinooks were created by a Coyote, who, however, did his work so badly and produced such imperfect specimens of humanity, that but for the beneficent intervention and assistance of a spirit called Ikánam the race must have ended as soon as it began. Some of the Washington tribes originated from the fragments of a huge beaver, which was slain and cut in pieces by four giants at the request of their sister who was pining away for some beaver-fat. The first Shasta was the result of a union between the daughter of the Great Spirit and a grizzly bear. The Cahrocs believe that Chareya, the Old Man Above, created the world, then the fishes and lower animals, and lastly man. The Potoyantes were slowly developed from Coyotes. The Big Man of the Mattoles created first the earth, bleak and naked, and placed but one man upon it; then, on a sudden, in the midst of a mighty whirlwind and thick darkness, he covered the desolate globe with all manner of life and verdure. One of the myths of Southern California attributes the creation of man and the world to two divine beings. The Los Angeles tribes believe their one god Quaoar brought forth the world from chaos, set it upon the shoulders of seven giants, peopled it with the lower forms of animal life, and finally crowned his work by creating a man and a woman out of earth. Still farther south, the Cochimís believe in a sole creator; the Pericúis call the maker of all things Niparaja, and say that the heavens are his dwelling-place; the Sinaloas pay reverence to Viriseva the mother of Vairubi, the first man. According to the Navajos, all mankind originally dwelt under the earth, in almost perpetual darkness, until they were released by the Moth-worm, who bored his way up to the surface. Through the hole thus made the people swarmed out on to the face of the earth, the Navajos taking the lead. Their first act was to manufacture the sun and the moon, and with the light came confusion of tongues. The Great Father and Mother of the Moquis created men in nine races from all manner of primeval forms. The Pima creator made man and woman from a lump of clay, which he kneaded with the sweat of his own body, and endowed with life by breathing upon it. The Great Spirit of the Pápagos made first the earth and all living things, and then men in great numbers from potter’s clay. The Miztecs ascribe their origin to the act of the two mighty gods, the male Lion Snake and the female Tiger Snake, or of their sons, Wind of the Nine Snakes and Wind of the Nine Caves. The Tezcucan story is that the sun cast a dart into the earth at a certain spot in the land of Aculma. From this hole issued a man imperfectly formed, and after him a woman, from which pair mankind are descended. The Tlascaltecs asserted that the world was the effect of chance, while the heavens had always existed. The most common Mexican belief was, that the first human beings, a boy and a girl, were produced from the blood-besprinkled fragments of the bone procured from hades by the sixteen hundred fallen gods sprung from the flint-knife of which the goddess Citlalicue had been delivered. According to the Chimalpopoca manuscript the creator produced his work in successive epochs, man being made on the seventh day from dust or ashes. In Guatemala there was a belief that the parents of the human race were created out of the earth by the two younger sons of the divine Father and Mother. The Quiché creation was a very bungling affair. Three times and of three materials was man made before his makers were satisfied with their work. First of clay, but he lacked intelligence; next of wood, but he was shriveled and useless; finally of yellow and white maize, and then he proved to be a noble work. Four men were thus made, and afterwards four women.

[I-42] ‘This nice agreement with the Mosaic account of the height which the waters of the Deluge attained above the summits of the highest mountains is certainly extraordinary; since we read in the twentieth verse of the seventh chapter of Genesis: “Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail, and the mountains were covered.”‘ Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 25.

[I-43] Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 321-2.

[I-44] ‘Un orient lointain,’ says Brasseur de Bourbourg; but he must either mean what we call in English the Orient, the East, or contradict himself—which, by the way, he is very prone to do—because he afterwards asserts that Tula is the place ‘on the other side of the sea,’ from which the Quiché wanderers came to the north-west coast of America.

[I-45] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 105-6.

[I-46] Id., pp. 167-8.

[I-47] Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 178; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 258.

[I-48] Ross’ Adven., pp. 287-8.

[I-49] Warden, Recherches, p. 190.

[I-50] Domenech’s Deserts, vol. ii., p. 4; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., p. 19.

[I-51] Warden, Recherches, p. 213.

[I-52] The reader will recollect that the story of each of these heroes has been told at length in vol. iii. of this work.

[I-53] The legend of Viracocha, or Ticeviracocha, as he is sometimes called, and his successor, is, according to Herrera, as follows: ‘Cuentan tambien los Indios, segun lo tienen por tradicion de sus antepassados, y parece por sus cantares, que en su antiguedad estuuieron mucho tiempo sin ver Sol, y que por los grandes votos, y plegarias que hazian â sus dioses, saliô el Sol de la laguna Titicaca, y de la Isla, que estâ en ella, que es en el Collao, y que pareciô luego por la parte de medio dia vn hõbre blanco de gran cuerpo, y de veneranda presencia, que era tan poderoso, que baxaua las sierras, crecia los valles, y sacaua fuentes de las piedras, al qual por su gran poder llamauan: Principio de todas las cosas criadas, y padre del Sol, porque dio ser a los hombres, y animales, y por su mano les vino notable beneficio, y que obrando estas marauillas, fue de largo hâzia el Norte, y de camino yua dando orden de vida â las gentes, hablando con mucho amor, amonestando que fuessen buenos, y se amassen vnos â otros, al qual hasta los vltimos tiempos de los Ingas llamauã Ticeuiracocha, y en el Collao Tuapaca, y en otras partes Arnauâ, y que le hizieron muchos Templos, y bultos en ellos â su semejança, â los quales sacrificauan. Dizen tambien, que passados algunos tiempos oyeron dezir â sus mayores, que pareciô otro hombre semejante al referido, que sanaua los enfermos, daua vista â los ciegos, y que en la prouincia de los Cañas, queriendo locamente apedrearle, lo vieron hincado de rodillas, alçadas las manos al Cielo, inuocando el diuino fauor, y que pareciô vn fuego del Cielo que los espantô tanto, que con grandes gritos, y clamores le pedian, que los librasse de aquel peligro, pues las venia aquel castigo por el pecado, que auian cometido, y que luego cessô el fuego, quedando abrasadas las piedras, y oy dia se ven quemadas, y tan liuianas, que aunque grandes se leuantan como corcho, y dizen, que desde alli se fue â la mar, y entrando en ella sobre su manto tendido nunca mas se vio, por lo qual le llamaron Viracocha, que quiere dezir espuma de la mar, nõbre que despues mudô signification, y que luego le hizieron vn Templo, en el pueblo de Cacha, y algunos Castellanos solo por su discurso han dicho, que este deuia de ser algun Apostol: pero los mas cuerdos lo tienen por vanidad, porque en todos estos Templos se sacrificaua al demonio, y hasta que los Castellanos entraron en los Reynos del Pirû, no fue oìdo, ni predicado el santo Euangelio, ni vista la Santissima señal de la Cruz.’ Hist. Gen., dec. v., lib. iii., cap. vi.; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 82.

[I-54] Sumé was a white man with a thick beard, who came across the ocean from the direction of the rising sun. He had power over the elements, and could command the tempest. At a word from him the trees of the densest forest receded from their places to make a path for him; the most ferocious animals crouched submissive at his feet; the treacherous surface of lake and river presented a solid footing to his tread. He taught the people agriculture, and the use of maize. The Caboclos, a Brazilian nation, refused to listen to his divine teachings, and even sought to kill him with their arrows, but he turned their own weapons against them. The persecuted apostle then retired to the banks of a river, and finally left the country entirely. The tradition adds that the prints of his feet are still to be seen on the rocks and in the sand of the coast. Warden, Recherches, p. 189.

[I-55] Paye-Tome was another white apostle. His history so closely resembles that of Sumé that it is probable they are the same person. Id.

[I-56] ‘In former times, as they (the Chilians) had heard their fathers say, a wonderful man had come to that country, wearing a long beard, with shoes, and a mantle such as the Indians carry on their shoulders, who performed many miracles, cured the sick with water, caused it to rain, and their crops and grain to grow, kindled fire at a breath, and wrought other marvels, healing at once the sick, and giving sight to the blind,’ and so on. ‘Whence it may be inferred that this man was some apostle whose name they do not know.’ Quoted from Rosales’ inedited History of Chili, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., p. 419.

[I-57] Bochica, the great law-giver of the Muyscas, and son of the sun, a white man, bearded, and wearing long robes, appeared suddenly in the people’s midst while they were disputing concerning the choice of a king. He advised them to appoint Huncahua, which they immediately did. He it was who invented the calendar and regulated the festivals. After living among the Muyscas for two thousand years, he vanished on a sudden near the town of Hunca. Warden, Recherches, p. 187; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., p. 174, quoting Stevenson’s Travels in South America, vol. i., p. 397.

[I-58] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 35; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 67-8; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, p. 13.

[I-59] In a work entitled Fenix del Occidente.

[I-60] Felicidad de Mej., Mex. 1685, fol. 55.

[I-61] Boturini, Catálogo, in Idea, pp. 43, 50-2. Although the opinion that Quetzalcoatl was St Thomas, ‘appears to be rather hazardous, yet one cannot help being astonished at the extent of the regions traversed by St. Thomas; it is true that some writers do not allow of his having gone beyond Calamita, a town in India, the site of which is doubtful; but others assert that he went as far as Meliapour, on the other side of the Coromandel, and even unto Central America.’ Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 50. ‘Apud Iaiaobæ Indos in Occidenti tradita per avos viget memoria S. Apostoli Thomæ, quam retinent a transitu ejus per illas plagas, cujus non levia extant indicia: præcipuè quædam semita in illis solitudinibus hactenus perseverat, in quâ non oritur herba nisi valdè humilis et parvula, cum utrumque latus herbescat ultra modum; eo itinere dicunt Apostolum incessisse, et inde profectum in Peruana regna. Apud Brasilienses quoque traditio est, ibi prædicasse. Apud alios barbaros, etiam in regionem Paraguay venisse, postquam descendit per fluvium Iguazu, deinde in Paranam per Aracaium, ubi observatur locus in quo sedit defessus Apostolus, et fertur prædixisse, ut a majoribus acceptum est, post se illuc adventuros homines qui posteris eorum annuntiarent fidem veri Dei, quod non leve solatium et animos facit nostræ religionis prædicatoribus, ingentes labores inter illos barbaros pro dilatione Ecclesiæ perpetientibus.’Nieremberg, Historiæ Naturæ, lib. xiv., cap. cxvii.

[I-62] Following are a few points of Lord Kingsborough’s elaborate argument: ‘How truly surprising it is to find that the Mexicans, who seem to have been quite unacquainted with the doctrines of the migration of the soul and the metempsychosis, should have believed in the incarnation of the only son of their supreme god Tonacatecutle. For Mexican mythology speaking of no other son of that god except Quecalcoatle, who was born of Chimalman the Virgin of Tula, without connection with man, and by his breath alone, (by which may be signified his word or his will, announced to Chimalman by word of mouth of the celestial messenger, whom he dispatched to inform her that she should conceive a son,) it must be presumed that Quecalcoatle was his only son. Other arguments might be adduced to show, that the Mexicans believed that Quecalcoatle was both god and man, that he had previously to his incarnation existed from all eternity, that he had created both the world and man, that he descended from heaven to reform the world by penance, that he was born with the perfect use of reason, that he preached a new law, and, being king of Tula, was crucified for the sins of mankind, as is obscurely insinuated by the interpreter of the Vatican Codex, plainly declared in the traditions of Yucatan, and mysteriously represented in the Mexican paintings.’ If the promise of the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary,—The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God—be couched in the language of ancient prophecy, ‘it is not improbable that the head of the dragon which forms the crest of three of the female figures (in one of the Mexican pieces of sculpture), as it may also be presumed it did of the fourth when entire, (if it be not a symbol which Chimalman borrowed from her son’s name,) was intended to denote that she had been overshadowed by the power of Huitzilopuchtli, whose device, as we are informed by Sahagun in the first chapter of the first book of his History of New Spain, was the head of a dragon.’ Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., pp. 507-8. See, more especially, his elaborate discussion of Quetzalcoatl’s crucifixion and identity with the Messiah, vol. viii., pp. 5-51. As we have seen in a preceding volume, Quetzalcoatl is compared with the heathen deities of the old world, as well as with the Messiah of the Christians. See vol. iii., chap. vii.

[I-63] See vol. iii., p. 450, et seq.

[I-64] Though the presumption may be in favor of communication by Bering Strait, yet the phenomena in the present state of our knowledge, favors the Aleutian route. Latham’s Comp. Phil., p. 384. The Aleutian archipelago is ‘probably the main route by which the old continent must have peopled the new. Behring’s Straits, though … they were doubtless one channel of communication, just as certainly as if their place had been occupied by solid land, were yet, in all likelihood, only of subordinate utility in the premises, when compared with the more accessible and commodious bridge towards the south.’ Simpson’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 225. ‘There is no improbability that the early Asiatics reached the western shores of America through the islands of the Pacific.’ The trace of the progress of the red and partially civilized man from Oriental Asia was left on these islands. Willson’s Amer. Hist., pp. 92-3. The first discoveries were made along the coast and from island to island; the American immigrants would have come by the Aleutian Isles. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 10. To come by Aleutian islands presents not nearly so great a difficulty as the migrations among Pacific Islands. Prescott’s Mex., vol. iii., p. 374. Immigration from Asia ‘appears to have taken place mostly by the Aleuthian islands.’ Smith’s Human Species, p. 238.

[I-65] Some of the early writers were of course ignorant of the existence of any strait separating America from Asia; thus Acosta—who dares not assume, in opposition to the Bible, that the flood did not extend to America, or that a new creation took place there—accounts for the great variety of animals by supposing that the new continent is in close proximity to if not actually connected with the Old World at its northern and southern ends, and that the people and animals saved in the ark spread gradually by these routes over the whole land. Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 68-73, 81; West und Ost Indischer Lustgart, pt i., pp. 8-9. See also Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 38-42; Gottfriedt, Newe Welt, p. 4; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 26-8. Clavigero produces instances to show that upheavals, engulfings, and separations of land have been quite common, and thinks that American traditions of destructions refer to such disasters. He also shows that certain animals could have passed only by a tropic, others only by an arctic road. He accordingly supposes that America was formerly connected with Africa at the latitude of the Cape Verde islands, with Asia in the north, and perhaps with Europe by Greenland. Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iv., pp. 27-44. The great objection to a migration by way of the cold latitude of Bering Strait, says a writer in the Historical Magazine, vol. i., p. 285, is that tropic animals never could have passed that way. He apparently rejects or has never heard of the theory of change in zones. See farther, concerning joining of continents, and communication by Bering Strait: Warden, Recherches, pp. 202, 221; Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. ii., p. 68, et seq.; Snowden’s Hist. N. and S. Amer., p. 198; Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, Sept. 12, 1862; Priest’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 62-3, 82-3; Valois, Mexique, p. 197; Adair’s Amer. Ind., p. 219. Bradford denies emphatically that there ever was any connection between America and Asia. ‘It has been supposed,’ he writes, ‘that a vast tract of land, now submerged beneath the waters of the Pacific Ocean, once connected Asia and America…. The arguments in favor of this opinion are predicated upon that portion of the Scriptures, relating to the “division” of the earth in the days of Peleg, which is thought to indicate a physical division,—upon the analogies between the Peruvians, Mexicans and Polynesians … and upon the difficulty of accounting in any other manner for the presence of some kinds of animals in America.’ After demolishing these three bases of opinion, he adds: ‘this conjectured terrestrial communication never existed, a conclusion substantiated, in some measure, by geological testimony.’ Amer. Antiq., pp. 222-8. Mr Bradford’s argument, in addition to being thoughtful and ingenious, is supported by facts, and will amply repay a perusal.

[I-66] Exam. Crit., tom. ii., p. 68.

[I-67] Mex., vol. iii., p. 418.

[I-68] Prehist. Man, p. 615.

[I-69] Human Species, p. 238.

[I-70] Rel., 2de expéd., p. 28.

[I-71] Peruvian Antiq., p. 24. America was probably first peopled from Asia, but the memory of that ancient migration was lost. Asia was utterly unknown to the ancient Mexicans. The original seats of the Chichimecs were, as they thought, not far to the north-west. They placed Aztlan not in a remote country, but near Michoacan. Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 158-9, 174. There are strong resemblances in all things with Asiatic nations; less in language than other respects, but more with Asia than with any other part of the world. Anatomical resemblances point the same way. Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 196-203. The Americans most probably came from Asia soon after the dispersion and confusion of tongues; but there has been found no clear notice among them of Asia, or of their passage to this continent. Nor in Asia of any such migration. The Mexican histories do not probably go so far back. Venegas, Noticia de la Cal., tom. i., pp. 72-3. If a congregation of twelve representatives from Malacca, China, Japan, Mongolia, Sandwich Islands, Chili, Peru, Brazil, Chickasaws, Comanches, &c., were dressed alike, or undressed and unshaven, the most skillful anatomist could not from their appearance separate them. Fontaine’s How the World was Peopled, pp. 147-9, 244-5. The people of Asia seem to have been the only men who could teach the Mexicans and Peruvians to make bronze, and could not teach them to smelt and work iron, one thousand or one thousand five hundred years before the Spanish Conquest. Tylor’s Researches, p. 209. It is almost proved that long before Columbus, Northern India, China, Corea, and Tartary, had communication with America. Chateaubriand, Lettre aux Auteurs, p. 87. See also: Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 345; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 20; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 23-4; Simpson’s Nar., vol. i., p. 190; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. ii., pp. 250-1; Macfie’s Vanc. Isl., pp. 426-7; Saint-Amant, Voyages, p. 245; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., pp. 290, 295-6; Warden, Recherches, pp. 118-36; Macgregor’s Progress of Amer., vol. i., p. 24; Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. i., p. 230; Dodge, in Ind. Aff. Rept., 1869, p. 590; Whymper’s Alaska, pp. 278-85; Prichard’s Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., p. 519; Mitchill, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 325-32; Vigne’s Travels, vol. ii., p. 36; Latham’s Man and his Migrations, p. 122; Sampson, in Hist. Mag., vol. v., p. 213. Robertson’s Hist. Amer., vol. i., pp. 280-1; Snowden’s Hist. N. and S. Amer., p. 200; Stratton’s Mound-Builders, MS.; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 208, 215-16, 432; Pickering’s Races of Man, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., pp. 287-8; Carver’s Trav., pp. 209-13; Kennedy’s Probable Origin; Davis’ Discovery of New Eng.; Hellwald, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 334. Herrera argued that as there were no natives in America of a color similar to those of the politer nations of Europe, they must be of Asiatic origin; that it is unreasonable to suppose them to have been driven thither by stress of weather; that the natives for a long time had no king, therefore no historiographer, therefore they are not to be believed in this statement, or in any other. The clear conclusions drawn from these pointed arguments is, that the Indian race descended from men who reached America by the nearness of the land. ‘Y asi mas verisimilmente se concluye que la generacion, y poblacion de los Indios, ha procedido de hombres que passaron a las Indias Ocidentales, por la vezindad de la tierra, y se fueron estendiendo poco a poco;’ but from whence they came, or by what route the royal historiographer offers no conjecture. Hist. Gen., dec. i., lib. i., cap. vi.

[I-72] Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 179.

[I-73] Quarterly Review, vol. xxi., pp. 334-5. The communication between Anáhuac and the Asiatic continent was merely the contact of some few isolated Asiatics who had lost their way, and from whom the Mexicans drew some notions of science, astrology, and some cosmogonic traditions; and these Asiatics did not return home. Chevalier, Mexique, pp. 59, 56-8; Viollet-le-Duc, in Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 87-9; Fossey, Mexique, pp. 120-1; Democratic Review, vol. xi., p. 617; Lafond, Voyages, p. 133.

[I-74] Deguignes writes: ‘Les Chinois ont pénétré dans les pays très-éloignés du côté de l’orient; j’ai examiné leur mesures, et elles m’ont conduit vers les côtes de la Californie; j’ai conclu de-là qu’ils avoient connu l’Amérique l’an 458 J. C.’ He also attributes Peruvian civilization to the Chinese. Recherches sur les Navigations des Chinois du côté de l’Amérique, in Mémoires de l’Académie des Inscriptions, tom. xvii. Paravey, in 1844, attempted to prove that the province of Fousang was Mexico. Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 51. ‘In Chinese history we find descriptions of a vast country 20,000 le to the eastward across the great ocean, which, from the description given, must be California and Mexico.’ Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, Sept. 12, 1862. ‘L’histoire postérieure des Chinois donne à penser qu’ils ont eu autrefois des flottes qui ont pu passer au Mexique par les Phillippines.’ Farcy, Discours p. 46, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. i.

[I-75] A Chinese li is about one third of a mile.

[I-76] ‘Fou sang, en chinois et selon la prononciation japonaise Fouts sôk, est l’arbrisseau que nous nommons Hibiscus rosa chinensis,’ Klaproth, Recherches sur le pays de Fou Sang, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1831, tom. li., p. 55, note. Others suppose the fusang to be the maguey, and, indeed, it was used for much the same purposes. It was, however, most probably, the mulberry; fu-soh, the Japanese equivalent for the Chinese fusang, being compounded of fu, to aid, and soh, the mulberry, a tree which abounds in a wild state in the province of Yesso, and which has been cultivated by royal command in other parts of Japan, where, as the reader will presently see, Fusang was probably situated. Mr Brooks, Japanese Consul in San Francisco, also tells me that Fu Sang is a name used in Chinese poetry to mean Japan. In Japan it is also thus used, and also used in trade marks, as ‘first quality of Fu Sang silk cocoons,’ meaning Japanese cocoons.

[I-77] I follow Deguignes in this sentence; Klaproth has it: ‘Ceux qui peuvent recevoir leur grace sont envoyés à la première (méridionale), ceux au contraire auxquels on ne veut pas l’accorder sont détenus dans la prison du nord.’ Recherches, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1831, tom. li., p. 55.

[I-78] Deguignes translates: ‘des habitants élèvent des biches comme en Chine, et ils en tirent du beurre.’

[I-79] ‘Il y a dans l’original To Phou thao. Deguignes ayant décomposé le mot Phou tao, traduit: “on y trouve une grande quantité de glayeuls et de pêches.” Cependant le mot Phou seul ne signifie jamais glayeul, c’est le nom des joncs et autres espèces de roseaux de marais, dont on se sert pour faire des nattes. Thao est en effet le nom de la pêche, mais le mot composé Phou tao signifie en chinois la vigne.’ Klaproth, Recherches, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1831, tom. li., pp. 57-8.

[I-80] ‘Les images des Esprits,’ &c.; Id., p. 59.

[I-81] ‘Deguignes traduit: ‘Pendant leurs prières ils exposent l’image du défunt.’ Le texte parle de chin ou génies et non pas des ames des défunts.’ Id.

[I-82] ‘C’est une analogie curieuse qu’offre le pays à vignes de Fousang (l’Amérique chinoise de Deguignes) avec le Vinland des premières découvertes scandinaves sur les côtes orientales de l’Amérique.’ Exam. Crit., tom. ii., p. 63, note.

[I-83] Nouv. Jour. Asiatique, 1832, p. 335, quoted by Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. ii., pp. 65-6.

[I-84] Warden, Recherches, p. 123.

[I-85] It is enough to look at an Aleut to recognize the Mongol. Wrangel, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1853, tom. cxxxvii., p. 213. ‘The resemblance between north-west coast Indians and Chinese is rather remarkable.’ Deans’ Remains in B. Col., MS. ‘I have repeatedly seen instances, both men and women, who in San Francisco could readily be mistaken for Chinese—their almond-shaped eyes, light complexion and long braided black hair giving them a marked similarity…. An experience of nearly nine years among the coast tribes, with a close observation and study of their characteristics, has led me to the conclusion that these northern tribes (B. Col. and surrounding region) are the only evidence of any exodus from the Asiatic shore ever having reached our borders.’ Taylor, in Cal. Farmer, July 25, 1862. Grant, Ocean to Ocean, p. 304, says that the Chinese and Indians resemble one another so much that were it not for the queue and dress they would be difficult to distinguish. ‘The Pacific Indian is Mongolian in size and complexion, in the shape of the face, and the eyes,’ and he wants many of the manly characteristics of the Eastern Indians. Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 148, says of the Yucatan Indians, ‘leur teint cuivré et quelquefois jaunâtre présente un ensemble de caractères qui rapproche singulièrement leur race de celle des tribus d’origine mongole.’ This point of physical resemblance is, however, denied by several writers; thus Kneeland, Wonders, p. 53, says that though Americans have generally been accepted as Mongolians, yet if placed side by side with Chinese, hardly any resemblance will be found in physical character, except in the general contour of their faces and in their straight black hair; their mental characteristics are entirely opposite. Adair writes: ‘Some have supposed the Americans to be descended from the Chinese: but neither their religion, laws, customs, &c., agree in the least with those of the Chinese: which sufficiently proves that they are not of that line.’ He goes on to say that distance, lack of maritime skill, etc., all disprove the theory. He also remarks that the prevailing winds blow with little variation from east to west, and therefore junks could not have been driven ashore. Amer. Ind., pp. 12-13. ‘Could we hope that the monuments of Central and South America might attract the attention and excite the interest of more American scholars than hitherto, the theory of the Mongol origin of the Red-men would soon be numbered among exploded hypotheses.’ Nott and Gliddon’s Indig. Races, p. 188. ‘MM. Spix et Martius ont remarqué la ressemblance extraordinaire qui existe entre la physionomie des colons Chinois et celle des Indiens. La figure des Chinois est, il est vrai, plus petite. Ils ont le front plus large, les lèvres plus fines, et en général les traits plus délicats et plus doux que ceux des sauvages de l’Amérique. Cependant, en considérant la conformation de leur tête, qui n’est pas oblongue, mais angulaire, et plutôt pointue, leur crâne large, les sinus frontaux proéminents, le front bas, les os des joues très saillants, leurs yeux petits et obliques, le nez proportionnellement petit et épaté, le peu de poils garnissant leur menton et les autres parties du corps, leur chevelure moins longue et plate, la couleur jaunâtre ou cuivrée de leur peau, on retrouve les traits physiques communs aux deux races.’ Warden, Recherches, p. 123. The Americans certainly approach the Mongols and Malays in some respects, but not in the essential parts of cranium, hair, and profile. If we regard them as a Mongol branch, we must suppose that the slow action of climate has changed them thus materially during a number of centuries. Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 289.

[I-86] This will be best shown by referring to Warden’s comparison of American, Chinese, and Tartar words. Recherches, pp. 125-6. The Haidahs, are said, however, to have used words known to the Chinese. Deans’ Remains in B. Col., MS. Mr Taylor writes: ‘The Chinese accent can be traced throughout the Indian (Digger) language,’ and illustrates his assertion with a comparative vocabulary of Indian and Chinese. Cal. Farmer, Sept. 12, 1862. The Chinese in California ‘are known to be able to converse with them (the Indians) in their respective languages.’! Cronise’s California, p. 31.

[I-87] Warden, Recherches, pp. 127-9, gives a long list of these resemblances. See also Ampère, Prom. en Amér., tom. ii., p. 301; Prescott’s Mex., vol. iii., p. 396; Faliés, Études Hist. sur les Civilisations, tom. i., pp. 380-1. Molina found (in Chili?) inscriptions resembling Chinese. M’Culloh’s Researches on Amer., pp. 171-2. Bossu found some similarity between the language of the Natchez of Louisiana, and the Chinese. Nouveaux Voyages aux Indes Occidentales, tom. i., let. xviii.; cited by Warden, Recherches, p. 121. The last mentioned author also quotes a long list of analogies between the written language of the Chinese and the gesture language of the northern Indians, from a letter written by Wm Dunbar to the Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, and comments thereon. Recherches, p. 176. Of the value of these philological proofs the reader may judge by the following fair sample: ‘the Chinese call a slave, shungo; and the Naudowessie Indians, whose language from their little intercourse with the Europeans is the least corrupted, term a dog, shungush. The former denominate one species of their tea, shousong; the latter call their tobacco, shousassau.’ Carver’s Trav., p. 214. The supposition of Asiatic derivation is assumed by Smith Barton on the strength of certain similarities of words, but Vater remarks, these prove only partial migrations. Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 290. ‘On the whole, more analogies (etymol.) have been found with the idioms of Asia, than of any other quarter. But their amount is too inconsiderable to balance the opposite conclusion inferred by a total dissimilarity of structure.’ Prescott’s Mex., vol. iii., p. 396. Barton, New Views, gives a comparative vocabulary to show that Asiatic traces have been discovered in the languages of South as well as North America. Latham, Man and His Migrations, p. 185, has proofs that ‘the Kamskadale, the Koriak, the Aino-Japanese, and the Korean are the Asiatic languages most like those of America.’ ‘Dans quatre-vingt-trois langues américaines examinées par MM. Barton et Vater, on en a reconnu environ cent soixante-dix dont les racines semblent être les mêmes; et il est facile de se convaincre que cette analogie n’est pas accidentelle, qu’elle ne repose pas simplement sur l’harmonie imitative, ou sur cette égalité de conformation dans les organes, qui rend presque identiques les premiers sons articulés par les enfans. Sur cent soixante-dix mots qui ont des rapports entre eux, il y en a trois cinquièmes qui rappellent le mantchou, le tungouse, le mongol et le samojède, et deux cinquièmes qui rappellent les langues celtique et tschoude, le basque, le copte et le congo.’ Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 27-8. Prichard, Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., pp. 512-13, thinks that the Otomí monosyllabic language may belong to Chinese and Indo-Chinese idioms; but Latham, Varieties of Man, p. 408, doubts its isolation from other American tongues, and thinks that it is either anaptotic or imperfectly agglutinate.

[I-88] Nouveaux Voyages aux Indes Occidentales, tom. i., lettre xviii. Cited by Warden, Recherches, p. 121.

[I-89] Trav., p. 213.

[I-90] Hist. of Louisiana, London 1774.

[I-91] Speaking of the ruins of Central America, Stephens says: ‘if their (the Chinese) ancient architecture is the same with their modern, it bears no resemblance whatever to these unknown ruins.’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 438.

[I-92] Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., p. 236. Speaking of the Popol Vuh, Viollet-le-Duc says: ‘Certains passages de ce livre ont avec les histoires héroïques de l’Inde une singulière analogie.’ In Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 40. See also, Brasseur de Bourbourg, Quatre Lettres, pp. 212-13, 236-42.

[I-93] Geschichte der Religion Jesu Christi, tom. i., p. 426. Quoted in Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., p. 256.

[I-94] Vues, tom. i., p. 257. Tschudi, again, writes: ‘As among the East Indians, an undefined being, Bramah, the divinity in general, was shadowed forth in the Trimurti, or as a God under three forms, viz., Bramah, Vishnu, and Sciva; so also the Supreme Being was venerated among the Indians of Mexico, under the three forms of Ho, Huitzilopoctli, and Tlaloc, who formed the Mexican Trimurti. The attributes and worship of the Mexican goddess Mictanihuatl preserve the most perfect analogy with those of the sanguinary and implacable Kali; as do equally the legends of the Mexican divinity Teayamiqui with the formidable Bhavani; both these Indian deities were wives of Siva-Rudra. Not less surprising is the characteristic likeness which exists between the pagodas of India and the Teocallis of Mexico, while the idols of both temples offer a similitude in physiognomy and posture which cannot escape the observation of any one who has been in both countries. The same analogy is observed between the oriental Trimurti and that of Peru; thus Con corresponds to Bramah, Pachacamac to Vishnu, and Huiracocha to Siva. The Peruvians never dared to erect a temple to their ineffable God, whom they never confounded with other divinities; a remarkable circumstance, which reminds us of similar conduct among a part of the inhabitants of India as to Bramah, who is the Eternal, the abstract God. Equally will the study of worship in the two hemispheres show intimate connection between the existence and attributes of the devadasis (female servants of the Gods) and the Peruvian virgins of the Sun.

All these considerations, and many others, which from want of space we must omit, evidently prove that the greater part of the Asiatic religions, such as that of Fo, in China, of Buddha, in Japan, of Sommono-Cadom, in India, the Lamaism of Thibet, the doctrine of Dschakdschiamuni among the Mongols and Calmucs; as well as the worship of Quetzalcoatl, in Mexico, and of Manco-Capac, in Peru, are but so many branches of the same trunk; whose root the labors of archæology and modern philosophy have not been able to determine with certainty, notwithstanding all the discussion, perseverance, sagacity, and boldness of hypothesis, among the learned men who have been occupied in investigating the subject.’ After remarking upon the marvelous analogy between Christianity and Buddhism as found to exist by the first missionaries to Thibet, he goes on: ‘Not less, however, was the surprise of the first Spanish ecclesiastics, who found, on reaching Mexico, a priesthood as regularly organized as that of the most civilized countries. Clothed with a powerful and effective authority which extended its arms to man in every condition and in all the stages of his life, the Mexican priests were mediators between man and the Divinity; they brought the newly born infants into the religious society, they directed their training and education, they determined the entrance of the young men into the service of the State, they consecrated marriage by their blessing, they comforted the sick and assisted the dying.’ Finally, Tschudi finds it necessary to ‘insist on this point, that Quetzalcoatl and Mango Capac were both missionaries of the worship of Bramah or Buddha, and probably of different sects.’ Peruvian Antiq., pp. 17-20. Domenech, Deserts, vol. i., p. 52, has this passage, nearly word for word the same as Tschudi, but does not mention the latter author’s name. There is ‘a remarkable resemblance between the religion of the Aztecs and the Buddhism of the Chinese.’ Gentleman’s Magazine; quoted in Washington Standard, Oct. 30, 1869. In Quetzalcoatl may be recognized one of the austere hermits of the Ganges, and the custom of lacerating the body, practiced by so many tribes, has its counterpart among the Hindoos. Priest’s Amer. Antiq., p. 211. Quetzalcoatl, like Buddha, preached against human sacrifice. Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., p. 265.

[I-95] ‘Il est très-remarquable aussi que parmi les hiéroglyphes mexicains on ne découvre absolument rien qui annonce le symbole de la force génératrice, ou le culte du lingam, qui est répandu dans l’Inde et parmi toutes les nations qui ont eu des rapports avec les Hindoux.’ Vues, tom. i., p. 275.

[I-96] Recherches Asiatiques, tom. i., p. 215.

[I-97] Vues, tom. i., p. 276.

[I-98] See vol. iii., p. 501, et seq.; see also Brasseur de Bourbourg, Quatre Lettres, pp. 202-8.

[I-99] See vol. iv., p. 163, for cut of this ornament. ‘D’abord j’ai été frappé de la ressemblance qu’offrent ces étranges figures des édifices mayas avec la tête de l’éléphant. Cet appendice, placé entre deux yeux, et dépassant la bouche de presque toute sa longueur, m’a semblé ne pouvoir être autre chose que l’image de la trompe d’un proboscidien, car le museau charnu et saillant du tapir n’est pas de cette longueur. J’ai observé aussi que les édifices placés à l’Est des autres ruines offrent, aux quatre coins, trois têtes symboliques armées de trompes tournées en l’air; or, le tapir n’a nullement la faculté d’élever ainsi son museau allongé; cette dernière considération me semble décisive.’ Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 74. ‘There is not the slightest ground for supposing that the Mexicans or Peruvians were acquainted with any portion of the Hindoo mythology; but since their knowledge of even one species of animal peculiar to the Old Continent, and not found in America, would, if distinctly proved, furnish a convincing argument of a communication having taken place in former ages between the people of the two hemispheres, we cannot but think that the likeness to the head of a rhinoceros, in the thirty-sixth page of the Mexican painting preserved in the collection of Sir Thomas Bodley; the figure of a trunk resembling that of an elephant, in other Mexican paintings; and the fact, recorded by Simon, that what resembled the rib of a camel (la costilla de un camello) was kept for many ages as a relic, and held in great reverence, in one of the provinces of Bogota,—are deserving of attention. Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 27. ‘On croit reconnoître, dans le masque du sacrificateur (in one of the groups represented in the Codex Borgianus) la trompe d’un éléphant ou de quelque pachyderme qui s’en rapproche par la configuration de la tête, mais dont la mâchoire supérieure est garnie de dents incisives. Le groin du tapir se prolonge sans doute un peu plus que le museau de nos cochons; mais il y a bien loin de ce groin du tapir à la trompe figurée dans le Codex Borgianus. Les peuples d’Aztlan, originaires d’Asie, avoient-ils conservé quelques notions vagues sur les éléphans, ou, ce qui me paroît bien moins probable, leurs traditions remontoient-elles jusqu’à l’époque où l’Amérique étoit encore peuplée de ces animaux gigantesques, dont les squelettes pétrifiés se trouvent enfouis dans les terrains marneux, sur le dos même des Cordillères mexicaines? Peut-être aussi existe-t-il, dans la partie nord-ouest du nouveau continent, dans des contrées qui n’ont été visitées ni par Hearne, ni par Mackensie, ni par Lewis, un pachyderme inconnu, qui, par la configuration de sa trompe, tient le milieu entre l’éléphant et le tapir.’ Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 254-5.

[I-100] Squier’s Observations on Memoirs of Dr Zestermann, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., April, 1851; Atwater, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 196-267.

[I-101] In this, as in all other theories, but little distinction is made between the introduction of foreign culture, and the actual origin of the people. It would be absurd, however, to suppose that a few ships’ crews, almost, if not quite, without women, cast accidentally ashore in Peru in the thirteenth century, should in the fifteenth be found to have increased to a mighty nation, possessed of a civilization quite advanced, yet resembling that of their mother country so slightly as to afford only the most faint and far-fetched analogies.

[I-102] Manco ‘afterwards received from his subjects the title of “Capac,” which means sole Emperor, splendid, rich in virtue.’ Ranking’s Hist. Researches, p. 56. He cites for this, Garcilasso de la Vega, book i., chap. xxvi., a work on which he relies for most of his information.

[I-103] A relation of two Russe Cossacks trauailes, out of Siberia to Catay, &c., in Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iii., p. 798.

[I-104] Ranking’s Hist. Researches, pp. 171-2.

[I-105] Quoted by Ranking, Hist. Researches, p. 183, from Abul Ghazi Bahadur, History of the Turks, Moguls, and Tartars, vol. i., p. 11.

[I-106] Du Halde, Empire of China, vol. i., p. 275. Quoted by Ranking, Hist. Researches, p. 197-8.

[I-107] Concerning the Mongolian origin of the Peruvians, see: Ranking’s Hist. Researches. Almost all other writers who have touched on this subject, are indebted to Mr Ranking for their information and ideas. See also Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. ii., p. 67, et seq.; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., pp. 293-4; Forster’s Voyage Round the World. Grotius thinks that the Peruvians must be distinct from other American people, since they are so acute, and believes them, therefore, to be descended from the Chinese. Wrecks of Chinese junks have been found on the coast. Both adore the sun, and call the king the ‘son of the sun.’ Both use hieroglyphics which are read from above downwards. Manco Capac was a Chinaman who gave these settlers a government founded on the Chinese system. Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 32-3. De Laet, replying to these arguments, considers that the acuteness of the Peruvians does not approach that of the Chinese. Nowhere in Peru have the cunning and artistic works of Chinese artificers been seen. The Chinese junks were too frail to withstand a storm that could drive them across the Pacific. And if the voyage were intentional they would have sought nearer land than the coasts of Mexico or Peru. The religion of the two countries differs materially; so does their writing. Manco Capac was a native Peruvian who ruled four hundred years before the coming of the Spaniards. Novus Orbis, in Id., pp. 33-4. Mr Cronise, in his Natural Wealth of California, p. 28, et seq., is more positive on this subject than any writer I have yet encountered. I am at a loss to know why this should be, because I have before me the works that he consulted, and I certainly find nothing to warrant his very strong assertions. I quote a few passages from his work. ‘The investigations of ethnologists and philologists who have studied the Hindoo, Chinese, and Japanese annals during the present century, have brought to light such a chain of evidence as to place beyond doubt that the inhabitants of Mexico and California, discovered by the Spaniards, were of Mongolian origin.’ Hindoo, Chinese, and Japanese annals all agree that the fleet of Kublai Khan, son of Genghis Khan, was wrecked on the coast of America. ‘There are proofs clear and certain, that Mango Capac, the founder of the Peruvian nation, was the son of Kublai Khan … and that the ancestors of Montezuma, of Mexico, who were from Assam, arrived about the same time…. Every custom of the Mexicans, described by their Spanish conquerors, proves their Asiatic origin…. The strange hieroglyphics found in so many places in Mexico, and from California to Canada, are all of Mongolian origin’…. ‘Humboldt, many years ago, conjectured that these hieroglyphics were of Tartar origin. It is now positively known that they are…. The armor belonging to Montezuma, which was obtained by Cortez and is now in the museum at Madrid, is known to be of Asiatic manufacture, and to have belonged to one of Kublai Khan’s generals.’ It is unnecessary to multiply quotations, or to further criticise a work so grossly misleading. The following unique assertion is a fair specimen of Mr Cronise’s vagaries when treading on unfamiliar ground: ‘”Alta,” the prefix which distinguishes Upper from Lower California, is a word of Mongolian origin, signifying “gold.”‘ The most superficial knowledge of Spanish or of the history of California, would have told Mr Cronise that ‘alta’ simply means ‘high,’ or ‘upper,’ and that the name was applied to what was originally termed ‘New’ California, in contradistinction to ‘Baja’ or ‘Lower’ California.

[I-108] This relation, says Ranking, ‘has naturally enough been considered by Robertson and others as a ridiculous fable; and any reader would be inclined to treat it as such, were it not accounted for by the invasion of Japan, and the very numerous and convincing proofs of the identity of the Mongols and the Incas.’ Hist. Researches, p. 55. He thinks that the giants were the Mongolian invaders, mounted upon the elephants which they brought with them. ‘The elephants,’ he says, ‘would, no doubt, be defended by their usual armor on such an extraordinary occasion, and the space for the eyes would appear monstrous. The remark about the beards, &c., shows that the man and the elephant were considered as one person. It is a new and curious folio edition of the Centaurs and Lapithæ; and we cannot wonder that, on such a novel occasion, Cape St. Helen’s did not produce an American Theseus.’ Id., pp. 53-4.

[I-109] See Ranking’s Hist. Researches, p. 56, et seq.; Warden, Recherches, pp. 187-9.

[I-110] Origin of the Japanese Race, and their Relation to the American Continent, MS.

[I-111] See report of a lecture read by Charles Wolcott Brooks before the California Academy of Science, in Daily Alta California, May 4, 1875; San Francisco Evening Bulletin, same date.

[I-112] See report of paper submitted by Mr Brooks to the California Academy of Sciences, in San Francisco Evening Bulletin, March 2, 1875. In this report the details and date of each wreck are given. The author of the paper assures me that he has records of over one hundred such disasters. Every one of these wrecks, when examined, proved to be Japanese, and not one Chinese. See also Irving’s Bonneville’s Adven., p. 427; Smith’s Human Species, p. 239; Roquefeuil, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1823, tom. xviii., pp. 248-9; Anderson, in Hist. Mag., vol. vii., pp. 80-1; Lassepas, Baja Cal., pp. 45-6.

[I-113] Id. Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., pp. 216-7. ‘Looking only at the forms and endings of the words, their ring and sounds when uttered, we could not but notice the striking similarity, in these respects, between the proper names as found on the map of Japan, and many of the names given to places, rivers, etc., in this country.’ (America.) Rockwell, in Hist. Mag., n. s., vol. iii., p. 141.

[I-114] There were in California at the time of the Conquest, Indians of various races, some of the Japanese type. Vallejo, Hist. Cal., MS., tom. i., p. 3; Vallejo, Remin. Cal., MS., p. 6. The Aleutian Islanders resemble the Japanese in various respects. Simpson’s Nar., vol. ii., p. 228. Priest, Amer. Antiq., p. 214, thinks that Quetzalcoatl may be regarded as a Japanese, as comparatively white and bearded.

[I-115] Introduction to Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 28-31.

[I-116] Nieuwe Weereld, p. 39.

[I-117] Lord’s Nat., vol. ii., p. 217.

[I-118] See: Ampère, Prom. en Amér., tom. ii., pp. 300-4; Atwater, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 212-14, 338-42; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 38-42; Priest’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 58-9; Religious Cer. and Cust., vol. iii., pp. 4-10; Robertson’s Hist. Amer., vol. i., pp. 277-81; Vigne’s Travels, vol. ii., pp. 37-8; Gage’s New Survey, p. 162; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 7-9; Farcy, Discours, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. i., p. 45; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., pp. 79-80; Adair’s Amer. Ind., pp. 12-13; Norman’s Rambles by Land and Water, pp. 215-16; Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., p. 267; Vater, Ueber Amer. Bevölkerung, pp. 155-69, cited in Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., p. 175; Laplace, Circumnav., tom. vi., p. 156; Warden, Recherches, pp. 201-2; Josselyn’s Two Voyages; Williamson’s Observations on Climate; Hill’s Antiq. of Amer.; Ixtlilxochitl, Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 392-3, 450; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 334-5; Volney’s View; Bossu, Nouveaux Voy.; Slight’s Indian Researches; Carver’s Trav., pp. 187-96, 208-19; Fontaine’s How the World was Peopled, pp. 241-5; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, cap. ccix., quoted in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., pp. 398-9; Delafield’s Antiq. Amer., pp. 13-104; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., pp. 293-4; Monglave, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. i., p. 60; Heylyn’s Cosmog., p. 947; Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 174.

[I-119] Ensayo de un Estudio comparativo.

[I-120] Delafield’s Antiq. Amer., p. 57.

[I-121] Ranking’s Hist. Researches, p. 356.

[I-122] See vol. iv., pp. 88, 95-6, for further description, also plan of Copan ruins, p. 85, for location of vault. Jones, commenting on the above, remarks: ‘This last sentence brings us to a specimen of Gem engraving, the most ancient of all the antique works of Art. Not only is the death “Chamber” identical with that of Egypt, but also the very way of reaching it—viz., first, by ascending the pyramidal base, and then descending, and so entering the Sepulchre! This could not be accidental,—the builders of that pyramidal Sepulchre must have had a knowledge of Egypt.’ Hist. Anc. Amer., pp. 116-17. Stephens, who in his first volume of travels in Central America, p. 144, describes this vault, writes in vol. ii., pp. 439-40: ‘The pyramids of Egypt are known to have interior chambers, and, whatever their other uses, to have been intended and used as sepulchres. These (American pyramids), on the contrary, are of solid earth and stone. No interior chambers have ever been discovered, and probably none exist.’ Mr Jones criticises Mr Stephens very severely for this apparent contradiction, but it is customary with Mr Jones to tilt blindly at whatever obstructs his theories. Stephens doubtless refers in this passage to such chambers as would lead one to suppose that the pyramid was built as a token of their presence. Löwenstern is very positive that the Mexican pyramid was not intended for sepulchral purposes. Mexique, p. 274. Clavigero is of the same opinion: ‘quelli degli Egizj erano per lo più vuoti; quelli de’ Messicani massiccj; questi servivano di basi a’ loro Santuarj; quelli di sepolcri de’ Re.’ Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iv., pp. 19-20. Foster, on the other hand, writes: ‘There are those who, in the truncated pyramids, see evidences of Egyptian origin. The pyramids, like the temple-mounds, were used for sepulchres, but here the analogy ends.’ Pre-Hist. Races, p. 187.

[I-123] See vol. iv., p. 474.

[I-124] Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 440.

[I-125] The reader can compare the various accounts of pyramidal structures given in vol. iv. on this point. See heading ‘pyramid,’ in Index.

[I-126] Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 439.

[I-127] Antiq. Amer., p. 56.

[I-128] Humboldt reviews the points of resemblance and comes to the conclusion that they afford no foundation upon which to base a theory of Egyptian origin. Vues, tom. i., pp. 120-4. ‘There is much in the shape, proportions and sculptures of this pyramid (Xochicalco) to connect its architects with the Egyptians.’ Mayer’s Mex. as it Was, p. 186. Bradford finds that some ‘of the Egyptian pyramids, and those which with some reason it has been supposed are the most ancient, are precisely similar to the Mexican Teocalli.’ But he only sees Egyptian traces in this; he shows that similar pyramidal structures have been found in very many parts of the world; and he believes the Americans to have originated from many sources and stocks. See Amer. Antiq., p. 423.

[I-129] See vol. iv., chap. v., vii., and x. Quoting from Molina, Hist. Chili, tom. i., notes, p. 169, M’Culloh writes: ‘Between the hills of Mendoza and La Punta, upon a low range of hills, is a pillar of stone one hundred and fifty feet high, and twelve in diameter.’ ‘This,’ he adds, ‘very much reminds us of the pillar and obelisks of ancient Egypt.’ Researches, pp. 171-2. Jones, Hist. Anc. Amer., pp. 122-3, is very confident about the obelisk. He asks: ‘What are the Obelisks of Egypt? Are they not square columns for the facility of Sculpture? And of what form are the isolated columns at Copan? Are they not square, and for the same purpose of facility in Sculpture with which they are covered, and with workmanship “as fine as that of Egypt?”… The columns of Copan stand detached and solitary,—the Obelisks of Egypt do the same, and both are square (or four-sided) and covered with the art of the Sculptor. The analogy of being derived from the Nile is perfect,—for in what other Ruins but those of Egypt, and Ancient America, is the square sculptured Column to be found?’

[I-130] Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 265. Notwithstanding certain points of resemblance, says Prescott, ‘the Palenque architecture has little to remind us of the Egyptian, or of the Oriental. It is, indeed, more conformable, in the perpendicular elevation of the walls, the moderate size of the stones, and the general arrangement of the posts, to the European. It must be admitted, however, to have a character of originality peculiar to itself.’ Mex., vol. iii., pp. 407-8.

[I-131] There is a plate showing an Aztec priestess in Delafield’s Antiq. Amer., p. 61, which, if correctly drawn, certainly presents a head-dress strikingly Egyptian. The same might almost be said of a cut in vol. iv. of this work, p. 562 , and, indeed, of several other cuts in the same volume. Mr Stephens, Cent. Amer., vol. ii., p. 441, gives, for the sake of comparison, a plate representing two specimens of Egyptian sculpture; one from the side of the great monument at Thebes known as the Vocal Memnon, and the other from the top of the fallen obelisk at Carnac. ‘I think,’, he writes, ‘by comparison with the engravings before presented, it will be found that there is no resemblance whatever. If there be any at all striking, it is only that the figures are in profile, and this is equally true of all good sculpture in bas-relief.’ He happens, however, here, to have selected two Egyptian subjects which almost find their counterparts in America. In the preceding volume of this work, p. 333 , is given a cut of what is called the ‘tablet of the cross’ at Palenque. In this we see a cross, and perched upon it a bird, to which (or to the cross) two human figures in profile, apparently priests, are making an offering. In Mr Stephens’ representation from the Vocal Memnon we find almost the same thing, the differences being, that instead of an ornamented Latin cross, we have here a crux commissa, or patibulata; that instead of one bird there are two, not on the cross but immediately above it; and that the figures, though in profile and holding the same general positions, are dressed in a different manner, and are apparently binding the cross with the lotus instead of making an offering to it; in Mr Stephens’ representation from the obelisk of Carnac, however, a priest is evidently making an offering to a large bird perched upon an altar, and here, again, the human figures occupy the same position. The hieroglyphs, though the characters are of course different, are, it will be noticed, disposed upon the stone in much the same manner. The frontispiece of Stephens’ Cent. Amer., vol. ii., described on p. 352, represents the tablet on the back wall of the altar, casa No. 3, at Palenque. Once more here are two priests clad in all the elaborate insignia of their office, standing one on either side of a table, or altar, upon which are erected two batons, crossed in such a manner as to form a crux decussata, and supporting a hideous mask. To this emblem they are each making an offering.

[I-132] Delafield, it is true, discerns a distinct analogy between the hieroglyphs of Egypt and America. And the evidence he adduces is absurd enough. ‘Hieroglyphic writings,’ he says, ‘are necessarily of three kinds, viz: phonetic, figurative, and symbolical.’ He then goes on to show at great length, that both in Egypt and in America all three of these systems were used: hence, the resemblance. Antiq. Amer., pp. 42-7. ‘Les monumens du Palenque présentent des inscriptions hiéroglyphiques qui ne paraissent pas différer des hiéroglyphes de l’ancienne Thèbes.’ Giordan, Tehuantepec, p. 57. Jomard pronounces an inscription found at Grave Creek to be Lybian. Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 411-12. Says M’Culloh: ‘The Game of the Flyers, we notice in this place, as M. Denon in the plates to his Travels in Egypt, has given the copy of some figures taken from the Egyptian hieroglyphics, which have every appearance of a similar design with this Mexican amusement or ceremony.—The similarity of device will be best seen, by comparing the plate given by Clavigero, with the (lxiii. plate) of Denon’s Atlas, &c.’ Researches on Amer., pp. 170-1. Priest, Amer. Antiq., p. 122, gives a comparative table of Lybian characters, and others, which he affirms to have been found at Otolum, or Palenque: the whole statement is, however, too apocryphal to be worthy of further notice. See, also, a long letter from Prof. Rafinesque to Champollion, ‘on the Graphic Systems of America, and the Glyphs of Otolum, or Palenque, in Central America,’ in Id., pp. 123-9. The hieroglyphics of Palenque and Tula encourage the idea that they were founded by an Egyptian colony. Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 19.

[I-133] In a letter by Jomard, quoted by Delafield, we read: ‘I have also recognized in your memoir on the division of time among the Mexican nations, compared with those of Asia, some very striking analogies between the Toltec characters and institutions observed on the banks of the Nile. Among these analogies there is one which is worthy of attention. It is the use of the vague year of three hundred and sixty-five days, composed of equal months, and of five complementary days, equally employed at Thebes and Mexico, a distance of three thousand leagues. It is true that the Egyptians had no intercalation, while the Mexicans intercalated thirteen days every fifty-two years. Still farther: intercalation was proscribed in Egypt, to such a point that the kings swore, on their accession, never to permit it to be employed during their reign. Notwithstanding this difference, we find a very striking agreement in the length of the duration of the solar year. In reality, the intercalation of the Mexicans being thirteen days on each cycle of fifty-two years, comes to the same thing as that of the Julian calendar, which is one day in four years; and consequently supposes the duration of the year to be three hundred and sixty-five days, six hours. Now such was the length of the year among the Egyptians, since the sothic period was at once one thousand four hundred and sixty solar years, and one thousand four hundred and sixty-one vague years; which was, in some sort, the intercalation of a whole year of three hundred and seventy-five days every one thousand four hundred and sixty years. The property of the sothic period—that of bringing back the seasons and festivals to the same point of the year, after having made them pass successively through every point—is undoubtedly one of the reasons which caused the intercalation to be proscribed, no less than the repugnance of the Egyptians for foreign institutions. Now it is remarkable that the same solar year of three hundred and sixty-five days, six hours, adopted by nations so different, and perhaps still more remote in their state of civilization than in their geographical distance, relates to a real astronomical period, and belongs peculiarly to the Egyptians…. The fact of the intercalation (by the Mexicans) of thirteen days every cycle, that is, the use of a year of three hundred and sixty-five days and a quarter, is a proof that it was either borrowed from the Egyptians, or that they had a common origin.’ Antiq. Amer., pp. 52-3. ‘On the 26th of February, the Mexican century begins, which was celebrated from the time of Nabonassor, seven hundred and forty-seven years before Christ, because the Egyptian priests conformably to their astronomical observations had fixed the beginning of their month Toth and the commencement of their year at noon on that day; this was verified by the Meridian of Alexandria, which was erected three centuries after that epoch. Hence it has been contended there could exist no doubt of the conformity of the Mexican with the Egyptian calendar, for although the latter assigned twelve months of thirty days each to the year, and added five days besides, in order that the circle of three hundred and sixty-five days should recommence from the same point; yet, notwithstanding the deviation from the Egyptian mode in the division of the months and days, they yet maintained that the Mexican method was conformable thereto, on account of the superadded five days; with this only difference, that upon these the Americans attended to no business, and therefore termed them Nemontemi or useless, whereas the Egyptians celebrated, during that epoch, the festival of the birth of their gods, as attested by Plutarch de Feide, and Osiride. Upon the other hand it is asserted, that though the Mexicans differed from the Egyptians by dividing their year into eighteen months, yet, as they called the month Mextli Moon, they must have formerly adopted the lunar month, agreeable to the Egyptian method of dividing the year into twelve months of thirty days; but to support this assertion no attempt has been made to ascertain the cause why this method was laid aside. The analogy between the Mexican and the Egyptian calendars is thus assumed to be undeniable. Besides what has been here introduced, the same is attempted to be proved in many other works which I pass over to avoid prolixity, and therefore only mention that they may be found in Boturini, in La Idea del Universo, by the abbé don Lorenza de Hervas, published in the Italian language, in Clavigero’s dissertations, and in a letter addressed to him by Hervas, which he added to the end of his second volume.’ Cabrera, Teatro, in Rio’s Description, pp. 103-5. See also: Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 344, 348; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iv., p. 20; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. vi., p. 295.

[I-134] I follow, chiefly, M. Warden’s résumé of these accounts, as being the fullest and clearest. Recherches, p. 406, et seq.

[I-135] Hist. du Commerce, cap. viii.

[I-136] Acosta compares the gold of Ophir with that of Hispaniola. He entertains the opinion that Tarshish and Ophir are distant imaginary places and not distinct countries, but imagines them to be somewhere in the East Indies. ‘Cur autem in Orientali potius India quam in hac Occidentali Ophir fuisse existimem, illud caput est, quod ad nostrum Peru non nisi infinito circuitu tota India Orientali & Sinarum regione enauigata Salomonia clasis peruenire poterar.’ De Novi Orbis, p. 36. Ophir is supposed to be in India or Africa. Robertson’s Hist. Amer., vol. i., p. 7. Crowe, Cent. Amer., p. 65, considers the probability of Ophir and Tarshish being on the west coast of America. The Phœnician ‘Ophir, or Ofor, which means, in their ancient language, the Western country, was Mexico and Central America, the land of gold.’ Fontaine’s How the World was Peopled, pp. 259-60. On p. 162, he says that the best authorities, Volney, Bochart, Michaelis, and Forster, suppose Ophir to have been situated on the Persian Gulf. The Phœnician Ophir was Hayti, for Columbus thought that he could trace the furnaces in which the gold had been refined. Carver’s Trav., p. 192. Kingsborough, Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., pp. 184-5, considers the position of Ophir, but is undecided as to its position. Ens, West und Ost Indischer Lustgart, pp. 5-8, disagreeing with Vatablus and Stephanus, can find no resemblance to Ophir in Hayti or Peru, and comes to the conclusion that Ophir lay somewhere in the Old World, most likely in the East Indies. This seems to be a plagiarism of Acosta. See also Gottfriedt, Newe Welt, p. 3. Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. ii., pp. 40-5, discusses the position of Ophir in Veragua. Piñeda, De Rebus Salomonis, believes Ophir to have been America. Warden, Recherches, p. 196. See also Id., pp. 106-7.

[I-137] De Origine Gentium Americanarum, lib. ii., cap. vi., vii., viii.

[I-138] ‘Sur le cap Mollabat, au pied duquel on bâti ensuite le vieux Tanger.’ Gosselin, cited by Warden, Recherches, p. 107, note 8.

[I-139] ‘Le cap Spartel, qui forme l’extrémité occidentale du détroit.’ Id., note 9.

[I-140] The Greek text of the Periplus is printed in Hudson’s Geographiæ veteris Scriptores Græci Minores. It was also published by Falconer, with an English translation and many notes—8vo., Lond. 1797. Many remarks upon Hanno’s voyage are made by Compomanes, Antigüedad Marítima de la República de Cartago, Madrid 1756; Bougainville, Mémoires de l’Académie des Inscriptions, tom. xxvi., xxviii.; Gosselin, Recherches sur la Géographie des Anciens; Rennell, Geography of Herodotus, vol. ii., pp. 409-43, 8vo.; and Heeren, Researches on the Ancient Nations of Africa, vol. i., pp. 492-501.

[I-141] Or Tiphysque.

[I-142] ‘Which is expressed by repeating four times from Valum-Votan to Valum-Chivim, from Valum-Chivim to Valum-Votan.’ Cabrera, Teatro, in Rio’s Description, p. 34. ‘Valum-Votan, ou Terre de Votan, serait suivant Ordoñez l’île de Cuba. Mais dans mon dernier voyage, en contournant les montagnes qui environnent le plateau élévé où est situé Ciudad-Real de Chiapas, j’ai visité de grandes ruines qui portent le nom de Valum-Votan, à deux lieues environ du village de Teopixca, situé à 7 l. de Cuidad-Real, et où Nuñez de la Vega dit avoir encore trouvé, en 1696, les familles du nom de Votan.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. lxxxviii.

[I-143] Brasseur’s account, which is, he says, taken from certain preserved fragments of Ordoñez’ Hist. del Cielo, differs at this point; it reads: ‘il alla à Valum-Chivim, d’où il passa à la grande ville, où il vit la maison de Dieu, que l’on était occupé à bâtir.’ This ‘house of God,’ he remarks in a note, was, ‘suivant Ordoñez et Nuñez de la Vega, le temple que Salomon était occupé à bâtir à Jérusalem.’ After this, he goes on, Votan went ‘à la cité antique, où il vit, de ces propres yeux, les ruines d’un grand édifice que les hommes avaient érigé par le commandement de leur aïeul commun, afin de pouvoir par là arriver au ciel.’ In another note he remarks, ‘Ordoñez commentant ce passage y trouve tout naturellement la tour de Babel: mais il s’indigne contre les Babyloniens, de ce qu’ils avaient eu la mauvaise foi de dire à Votan que la tour avait été bâtie par ordre de leur aïeul commun (Noé): “Il faut remarquer ici, dit-il, que les Babyloniens n’ont fait que tromper Votan, en lui assurant que la tour avait été construite par ordre de leur aïeul Noé, afin d’en faire un chemin pour arriver au ciel: jamais certainement le saint patriarche n’eut la moindre part dans la folie arrogante de Nemrod” (Mémoire MS. sur Palenqué.) Nuñez de la Vega rapporte la même tradition sur Votan et ses voyages (Constitut. Diœces, in Præamb., n. 34).’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. lxxxviii.

[I-144] Cabrera, Teatro, in Rio’s Description, p. 34. I have followed Cabrera’s account because, unfortunately, Ordoñez’ work is not to be had. Brasseur gives a fuller account of Votan’s adventures than Cabrera, but he professes to draw his information from fragments of Ordoñez’ writings, and it is impossible to tell whether his extra information is the result of his own imagination or of that of his equally enthusiastic original. The learned Abbé relates that the men with whom Votan conversed concerning the tower of Babel, assured him ‘que cet édifice était le lieu où Dieu avait donné à chaque famille un langage particulier. Il affirme qu’à son retour de la ville du temple de Dieu, il retourna une première et une seconde fois à examiner tous les souterrains par où il avait déjà passé, et les signes qui s’y trouvaient. Il dit qu’on le fit passer par un chemin souterrain qui traversait la terre et se terminait à la racine du ciel. A l’égard de cette circonstance, il ajoute que ce chemin n’était autre qu’un trou de serpent où il entra parce qu’il était un serpent.’ Popol Vuh, p. lxxxix. See farther, concerning Votan: Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 165; Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 208; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 150-1; Boturini, Idea, p. 115; Levy, Nicaragua, p. 4; Tschudi’s Peruvian Antiq., pp. 11-15; Priest’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 248-9; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 43-5, 68-76; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 10-7. This last is merely a literal copy of Tschudi, to whom, however, no credit is given.

[I-145] ‘Ordoñez tire un argument du mot chivim, qu’il écrit aussi hivim, pour rappeler le chivim du pays des Hévéens de la Palestine, d’où il fait sortir les ancêtres de Votan. Dans la langue tzendale, qui était celle du livre attribué à Votan, la racine du mot chivin pourrait être chib ou chiib, qui signifie patrie, ou ghib qui veut dire armadille.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. lxxxviii., note.

[I-146] Cabrera, Teatro, in Rio’s Description, pp. 47-53. It seems that the supposed Phœnician descent of the Americans has served as an excuse for the tyranny their conquerors exercised over them. ‘Cursed be Canaan!’ said Noah, ‘A servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.’ Montanus says that it is a mistake to term the Phœnicians descendants of Canaan, for they are a Semitic people. Nieuwe Weereld, p. 25.

[I-147] ‘The strong Galleys, with sails and oars, and always before the constant East-Wind and onward wave-current, would accomplish ten miles an hour by day, and during the night, without the Rowers, six miles an hour, and, equally dividing the twenty-four hours, would make a run of 192 miles per day. Nautical proofs will show that in the above calculation the power of the Trade-Winds [i. e. the East-Winds] are underrated. The distance from Teneriffe to Florida is about 3300 miles, which by the foregone data they would traverse in seventeen and a quarter days. The Voyage may therefore with safety be said to have been accomplished during an entire month, and that, consequently the first landing of a branch of the human family in Ancient America would be in the last month of Autumn, three hundred and thirty-two years before the Christian Æra.’

[I-148] It would be impossible to give here the entire evidence with which Mr Jones supports his theory. Suffice it to say that the analogies he adduces are far-fetched in the extreme, and that his premises are to a great extent grounded upon certain vague utterances of Isaiah the prophet. His unbounded dogmatism, were it less strongly marked, would render his work offensive and unreadable to those who disagree with his opinions; as it is, it is simply ludicrous. I cannot better express my opinion of the book than by using the words of the distinguished Américaniste Dr Müller: ‘Ganz ohne Werth soll die in London 1843 erschienene Schrift eines Engländers, George Jonas, über die Urgeschichte des alten America sein.’ Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 3.

[I-149] Jones’ Hist. Anc. Amer., pp. 168-72.

[I-150] According to Mr Jones, Solomon’s temple was built by Tyrian workmen.

[I-151] Gebelin affirms enthusiastically: ‘”que cette inscription vient d’arriver tout exprès du nouveau monde, pour confirmer ses idées sur l’origine des peuples, et que l’on y voit, d’une manière évidente, un monument phénicien, un tableau qui, sur le devant, désigne une alliance entre les peuples américains et la nation étrangère, arrivant, par des vents du nord, d’un pays riche et industrieux.”‘ Humboldt, however, commenting upon this, writes: ‘J’ai examiné avec soin les quatre dessins de la fameuse pierre de Taunton River…. Loin d’y reconnoître un arrangement symétrique de lettres simples ou de caractères syllabiques, je n’y vois qu’un dessin à peine ébauché, et analogue à ceux que l’on a trouvés sur les rochers de la Norwège.’ Vues, tom. i., pp. 181-2. ‘The history of this inscription is scarcely surpassed, in the interest it has excited, or the novel phases it has exhibited at successive epochs of theoretical speculation, by any Perusinian, Eugubine, or Nilotic riddle. When the taste of American antiquaries inclined towards Phœnician relics, the Dighton inscription conformed to their opinions; and with changing tastes it has proved equally compliant. In 1783 the Rev. Ezra Stiles, D.D., President of Yale College, when preaching before the Governor and State of Connecticut, appealed to the Dighton Rock, graven, as he believed, in the old Punic or Phœnician character and language: in proof that the Indians were of the accursed seed of Canaan, and were to be displaced and rooted out by the European descendants of Japhet!… So early as 1680 Dr. Danforth executed what he characterized as “a faithful and accurate representation of the inscription” on Dighton Rock. In 1712 the celebrated Dr. Cotton Mather procured drawings of the same, and transmitted them to the Secretary of the Royal Society of London, with a description, printed in the Philosophical Transactions for 1741, referring to it as “an inscription in which are seven or eight lines, about seven or eight feet long, and about a foot wide, each of them engraven with unaccountable characters, not like any known character.” In 1730, Dr. Isaac Greenwood, Hollisian Professor at Cambridge, New England, communicated to the Society of Antiquaries of London a drawing of the same inscription, accompanied with a description which proves the great care with which his copy was executed. In 1768, Mr. Stephen Sewall, Professor of Oriental Languages at Cambridge, New England, took a careful copy, the size of the original, and deposited it in the Museum of Harvard University; and a transcript of this was forwarded to the Royal Society of London, six years later, by Mr. James Winthrop, Hollisian Professor of Mathematics. In 1786 the Rev. Michael Lort, D.D., one of the Vice-Presidents of the Society of Antiquaries of London, again brought the subject, with all its accumulated illustrations, before that learned society; and Colonel Vallency undertook to prove that the inscription was neither Phœnician nor Punic, but Siberian. Subsequently, Judge Winthrops executed a drawing in 1788; and again we have others by Judge Baylies and Mr. Joseph Gooding in 1790, by Mr. Job Gardner in 1812; and finally, in 1830, by a Commission appointed by the Rhode Island Historical Society, and communicated to the Antiquaries of Copenhagen with elaborate descriptions: which duly appear in their Antiquitates Americanæ, in proof of novel and very remarkable deductions.’ Wilson’s Prehist. Man, pp. 403-5. See also Pidgeon’s Trad., p. 20.

[I-152] ‘Il est assez remarquable que, sur sept caractères, aucun ne s’y trouve répété plusieurs fois.’ Vues, tom. i., pp. 183-4, with cut of part of inscription.

[I-153] See Schoolcraft, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 386-97, for full account of this stone, with cuts. See also Wilson’s Prehist. Man, pp. 408, et seq.

[I-154] For this statement I have only newspaper authority, however. ‘Die “Amerika,” ein in Bogota, Neu Granada, erschienenes Journal, kündigt eine Entdeckung an, die so seltsam ist, dass sie der Bestätigung bedarf, ehe man ihr Glauben schenken kann. Don Joaquim de Costa soll danach auf einem seiner Güter ein steinernes Monument entdeckt haben, das von einer kleinen Colonie Phönizier aus Sidonia im Jahre 9 oder 10 der Regierung Hiranus, eines Zeitgenossen Salomons, ungefähr zehn Jahrhunderte vor der christlichen Aera errichtet wurde. Der Block hat eine Inschrift von acht Linien, die in schönen Buchstaben, aber ohne Trennung der Worte oder Punctation geschrieben sind. In der Uebersetzung soll die Inschrift besagen, dass jene Männer des Landes Canarien sich im Hafen Apiongaber (Bay-Akubal) einschifften und nach zwölfmonatiger Fahrt von dem Lande Egypten (Afrika) durch Strömungen fortgeführt, in Guayaquil in Peru landeten. Der Stein soll, wie es heisst, die Namen der Reisenden tragen.’Hamburg Reform, Oct. 24, 1873. See farther, concerning inscriptions: Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 29; Stratton’s Mound-Builders, MS., p. 13; Priest’s Amer. Antiq., p. 121.

[I-155] See particularly Melgar, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iii., p. 112, et seq.; and Jones’ Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 154, et seq.; Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., pp. 185-6.

[I-156] See vol. iv. of this work, p. 118 .

[I-157] Melgar, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iii., pp. 110-11.

[I-158] See farther, concerning Phœnician and Carthaginian theories: Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 28-9, 255; Hill’s Antiq. Amer.; Melgar, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iii., p. 111; Lescarbot, Hist. Nouv. France; Dally, Races Indig., pp. 5, 8; Religious Cer. and Cust., vol. iii., pp. 3-4; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 9-21; Vigne’s Travels, vol. ii., pp. 41-56; Sheldon, in Am. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 366-8; Lizana, Devocionario, in Landa, Relacion, p. 354; Levy, Nicaragua, pp. 10, 208; Kennedy’s Probable Origin; Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., pp. 171-4, 200, 207; Du Pratz, Hist. Louisiane, tom. iii., pp. 75-86; Chateaubriand, Lettre aux Auteurs, p. 87; Stratton’s Mound-Builders, M.S.; Carver’s Trav., pp. 188, 191-2; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 16-22, 27-8; De Costa, Pre-Columbian Disc. Amer., p. xiv.; Ritos Antiguos, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 10; Revue Amér., tom. i., p. 3; Farcy, Discours, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. i., pp. 43-4: West und Ost Indischer Lustgart, p. 4; Drake’s Aborig. Races, pp. 20-2; García, Orígen de los Ind., pp. 41-77, 192-239; Priest’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 250-1, 333-4; Adair’s Amer. Ind., p. 16; Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 84; Fontaine’s How the World was Peopled, pp. 254-61.

[I-159] Orígen de los Ind., pp. 79-128.

[I-160] ‘Yo hice grande diligencia en averiguar esta verdad, y puedo afirmar, que he trabajado mas en ello, que en lo que escrivo en toda la Obra; i asi de lo que acerca de esta he hallado, pondre tales fundamentos al edificio, i maquina de esta sentencia, i opinion, que puedan mui bien sufrir su peso.’ Id., p. 79.

[I-161] Anian was the name given to the strait which was supposed to lie between Asia and America, and which, after its actual discovery, was named Bering Strait. The unknown northern regions of America were also called Anian.

[I-162] The worthy Father’s geographical knowledge was somewhat vague; thus in the next section he writes: ‘Tambien pudieron ir las diez Tribus desde la Tierra, que dice Esdras, à la China…. De la China pudieron ir por Mar à la Tierra de Nueva-España, para donde no es mui larga la navegacion, viniendo por el Estrecho, ò Canal, que està, entre la China, i el Reino de Annian, i de Quivira.’ Origen de los Ind., p. 81.

[I-163] Among several instances given by García to show the cowardice of the Jews, is this: ‘dice la Sagrada Escritura, por grande incarecimiento, que no les quiso llevar Moises por la Tierra de Philistim, conociendo su pusilanimidad, i cobardia, porque no temiesen, viendo los Enemigos, que venian en su seguimiento, i de cobardes se bolviesen à Egipto.’ With regard to the cowardice of the Americans, he writes: ‘Cuenta la Historia, que entrò Cortès, en la Conquista de Nueva-España con 550 Españoles, i de estos eran los 50 Marineros: i en Mexico tuvo, quando lo ganò, 900 Españoles, 200,000 Indios, 80 Caballos: murieron de los Nuestros 50, i de los Caballos 6. Entrò Piçarro en el Perù con pocos mas de 200 Españoles, con los quales, i con 60 Caballos tuvo Victoria contra el Rei Atanualpa.’ Not only at the time of the Conquest, he adds, did the Americans scatter and run on the discharge of a musket, but even at the present day, when they are familiar with firearms, they do the same. Orígen de los Ind., pp. 85-6.

[I-164] Immediately afterwards he says that the Jews and Americans were alike, because they both bathed frequently.

[I-165] This scarcely seems to be a parallelism, and certainly would not be, had the worthy Father written, as he well might: ‘freedom and the hardships of the desert,’ instead of ‘manna and the promised land’.

[I-166] To show García’s style and logic, which are, indeed, but little different from the style and reasoning of all these ancient writers, I translate literally, and without embellishment of any kind, his attempts to prove that whatever differences exist at the present day between the Jew and the American, are due to the special act of God. ‘It was divinely ordained that men should be scattered throughout all countries, and be so different from one another in disposition and temperament, in order that by their variety men should become possessed of a different and distinct genius; of a difference in the color of the face and in the form of the body; just as animals are various, and various the things produced by the earth, various the trees, various the plants and grasses, various the birds; and finally, various the fish of the sea and of rivers: in order that men should see in this how great is the wisdom of Him that created them. And although the variety and specific difference existing in these irrational and senseless beings causes in them a specific distinction, and that in men is only individual, or accidental and common; the Most High desired that this variety and common difference should exist in the human species, as there could be none specific and essential, so that there should be a resemblance in this between man and the other created beings: of which the Creator himself wished that the natural cause should be the arrangement of the earth, the region of the air, influence of the sky, waters, and edibles. By which the reader will not fail to be convinced that it was possible for the Indians to obtain and acquire a difference of mental faculties, and of color of face and of features, such as the Jews had not.’ Orígen de los Ind., p. 105.

[I-167] ‘Y finalmente, si nos dixeren, que solos aquellos siete generos de Gentes, que he nombrado, que son Colcos, Egypcios, Etiopes, Fenices, Syros de Palestina, i Syros de los Rios Termodon, i Pantenio, i sus vecinos los Macrones fueron los que vsaron en el Mundo la circuncision…. A Herodoto, i à los que alegaren lo referido, se responde, que sin duda los Hebreos fueron los primeros que la vsaron, por mandado de Dios.’ Orígen de los Ind., p. 110.

[I-168] See Orígen de los Ind., pp. 119-23, for examples of linguistic resemblances.

[I-169] Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., pp. 19-20, vol. vi., p. 536.

[I-170] Id., vol. viii., p. 21.

[I-171] Id., pp. 25-7, 30-1.

[I-172] Id., p. 39.

[I-173] Id., p. 58.

[I-174] Id., pp. 67, 218-19, 240.

[I-175] Id., p. 135.

[I-176] Id., p. 154.

[I-177] ‘Y el Ynga Yupangue entraba solo, y él mismo por su mano sacrificaba las ovejas y corderos.’ Betanzos, Historia de los Ingas, lib. i., cap. xi., quoted in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 156.

[I-178] Id., pp. 157, 236, 389, vol. vi., pp. 273-5.

[I-179] Id., vol. viii., p. 160.

[I-180] Id., p. 174.

[I-181] Id., p. 176.

[I-182] Id., pp. 174-82. He presents a most elaborate discussion of this point. See also vol. vi., pp. 512, 523.

[I-183] Id., vol. viii., p. 238.

[I-184] Id., p. 248.

[I-185] Id., p. 257.

[I-186] Id., p. 258, vol. vi., p. 236.

[I-187] Id., pp. 164-6.

[I-188] Id., p. 208. ‘Representations of the lifting up of serpents frequently occur in Mexican paintings: and the plagues which Moses called down upon the Egyptians by lifting up his rod, which became a serpent, are evidently referred to in the eleventh and twelfth pages of the Borgian Manuscript. An allusion to the passage of the Red Sea … seems also to be contained in the seventy-first page of the Lesser Vatican MS.; and the destruction of Pharaoh and his host, and the thanksgiving of Moses, may perhaps be signified by the figure on the left, in the same page, of a man falling into a pit or gulf, and by the hand on the right stretched out to receive an offering.’

[I-189] Id., p. 222.

[I-190] Id., p. 232, et seq. Kingsborough reasons at some length on this point.

[I-191] Id., p. 361.

[I-192] Id., p. 406.

[I-193] Id., pp. 272-3, 333-5, 392-3; vol. viii., pp. 121-2, 142-3, 391.

[I-194] Id., vol. vi., pp. 300-1; vol. viii., p. 137.

[I-195] Id., vol. vi., p. 504, vol. viii., p. 18.

[I-196] Id., vol. vi., p. 125.

[I-197] Id., p. 45.

[I-198] Id., p. 142.

[I-199] Id., p. 246. Duran sustains the theory that the Indians are the descendants of the lost ten tribes of Israel. After giving several reasons founded on the Scriptures, he refers to the traditions obtained by him from the old people of the country. They related that their ancestors, whilst suffering many hardships and persecutions, were prevailed upon by a great man, who became their chief, to flee from that land into another, where they might have rest; they arrived at the sea-shore, and the chief struck the waters with a rod he had in his hands; the sea opened, and the chief and his followers marched on, but were soon pursued by their enemies; they crossed over in safety, and their enemies were swallowed up by the sea; at any rate, their ancestors never had any further account of their persecutors. Another tradition transmitted from generation to generation, and recorded in pictures, is, that while their first ancestors were on their journey to the promised land, they tarried in the vicinity of certain high hills; here a terrible earthquake occurred, and some wicked people who were with them were swallowed up by the earth opening under their feet. The same picture that Father Duran saw, showed that the ancestors of the Mexican people transmitted a tradition, relating that during their journey a kind of sand (or hail) rained upon them. Father Duran further gives an account furnished him by an old Indian of Cholula (some 100 years old) concerning the creation of the world: The first men were giants who, desirous of seeing the home of the sun, divided themselves into two parties, one of which journeyed to the west, and the other to the east, until they were stopped by the sea; they then concluded to return to the place they started from, called Vztacculemjueminian; finding no way to reach the sun, whose light and beauty they highly admired, they determined to build a tower that should reach the heavens. They built a tower; but the Lord became angry at their presumption, and the dwellers of heaven descended like thunderbolts and destroyed the edifice; the giants on seeing their work destroyed, were much frightened, and scattered themselves throughout the earth. Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. i.

[I-200] Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., p. 246.

[I-201] Id., p. 248.

[I-202] Id., p. 253.

[I-203] Id., p. 254.

[I-204] Id., p. 312.

[I-205] Id., p. 361.

[I-206] Id., p. 382.

[I-207] Id., p. 401.

[I-208] To enter into details on all these subjects would require volumes as large, and I may add, as unreadable, as those of Lord Kingsborough. The reader who wishes to investigate more closely, will find all the points to which I have referred in volumes vi. and viii. of the noble writer’s work, Mexican Antiquities. Mr James Adair, ‘a trader with the Indians, and resident in their country for forty years,’ very warmly advocates the Hebrew theory. As his intercourse with the Americans was confined to the wild tribes, the genuine ‘red men’ inhabiting the south-eastern states of North America, his argument and analogies differ in many points from those of Kingsborough and García, who treated chiefly of the civilized nations of Mexico and Central America. Here are some of his comparisons: ‘The Israelites were divided into Tribes and had chiefs over them, so the Indians divide themselves: each tribe forming a little community within the nation—And as the nation hath its particular symbol, so hath each tribe the badge from which it is denominated.’ If we go from nation to nation among them we shall not find one individual who doth not distinguish himself by his family name. Every town has a state house or synedrion, the same as the Jewish sanhedrim, where almost every night the headmen meet to discuss public business. The Hebrew nation were ordered to worship Jehovah the true and living God, who by the Indians is styled Yohewah. The ancient heathens, it is well known, worshiped a plurality of Gods: but these American Indians pay their religious devoir to Loak Ishtohoollo Aba, The Great Beneficent Supreme Holy Spirit of Fire. They do not pay the least perceptible adoration to images. Their ceremonies in their religious worship accord more nearly with the Mosaic institutions, which could not be if they were of heathen descent. The American Indians affirm, that there is a certain fixed time and place, when and where every one must die, without the possibility of averting it; such was the belief also of the ancient Greeks and Romans, who were much addicted to copying the rites and customs of the Jews. Their opinion that God chose them out of all the rest of mankind as his peculiar and beloved people, fills both the white Jew and the red American, with that steady hatred against all the world, which renders them hated and despised by all. We have abundant evidence of the Jews believing in the ministration of angels, during the Old Testament dispensation, their frequent appearances and their services on earth, are recorded in the oracles, which the Jews themselves receive as given by divine inspiration, and St Paul in his epistle addressed to the Hebrews speaks of it as their general opinion that “angels are ministering spirits to the good and righteous on earth.” The Indian sentiments and traditions are the same. They believe the higher regions to be inhabited by good spirits, relations to the Great Holy One, and that these spirits attend and favor the virtuous. The Indian language and dialects appear to have the very idiom and genius of the Hebrew. Their words and sentences are expressive, concise, emphatical, sonorous, and bold, and often both in letters and signification synonymous with the Hebrew language. They count time after the manner of the Hebrews, reckoning years by lunar months like the Israelites who counted by moons. The religious ceremonies of the Indian Americans are in conformity with those of the Jews, they having their Prophets, High Priests, and others of religious order. As the Jews had a sanctum sanctorum or most holy place, so have all the Indian nations. The dress also of their High Priests is similar in character to that of the Hebrews. The festivals, feasts, and religious rites of the Indian Americans have also a great resemblance to that of the Hebrews. The Indian imitates the Israelite in his religious offerings. The Hebrews had various ablutions and anointings according to the Mosaic ritual—and all the Indian nations constantly observe similar customs from religious motives. Their frequent bathing, or dipping themselves and their children in rivers, even in the severest weather, seems to be as truly Jewish as the other rites and ceremonies which have been mentioned. The Indian laws of uncleanness and purification, and also the abstaining from things deemed unclean are the same as those of the Hebrews. The Indian marriages, divorces and punishments of adultery, still retain a strong likeness to the Jewish laws and customs on these points. Many of the Indian punishments resemble those of the Jews. Whoever attentively views the features of the Indian, and his eye, and reflects on his fickle, obstinate, and cruel disposition will naturally think of the Jews. The ceremonies performed by the Indians before going to war, such as purification and fasting, are similar to those of the Hebrew nation. The Israelites were fond of wearing beads and other ornaments, even as early as the patriarchal age, and in resemblance to these customs the Indian females continually wear the same, believing it to be a preventive against many evils. The Indian manner of curing the sick is very similar to that of the Jews. Like the Hebrews, they firmly believe that diseases and wounds are occasioned by divine anger, in proportion to some violation of the old beloved speech. The Hebrews carefully buried their dead, so on any accident they gathered their bones, and laid them in the tombs of their forefathers: thus, all the numerous nations of Indians perform the like friendly office to every deceased person of their respective tribe. The Jewish records tell us that the women mourned for the loss of their deceased husbands, and were reckoned vile by the civil law if they married in the space of at least ten months after their death. In the same manner all the Indian widows, by an established strict penal law, mourn for the loss of their deceased husbands; and among some tribes for the space of three or four years. The surviving brother by the Mosaic law, was to raise seed to a deceased brother, who left a widow childless to perpetuate his name and family. The American law enforces the same rule. When the Israelites gave names to their children or others they chose such appellatives as suited best their circumstances and the times. This custom is a standing rule with the Indians. Amer. Ind.

[I-209] Amer. Antiq., pp. 68-70.

[I-210] ‘See Deut., chap. vi., from 4th to 9th verse, inclusive; also, chap. xi., verse 13 to 21, inclusive; and Exodus, chap. xiii., 11 to 16, inclusive, to which the reader can refer, if he has the curiosity to read this most interesting discovery…. It is said by Calmet, that the above texts are the very passages of Scripture which the Jews used to write on the leaves of their phylacteries. These phylacteries were little rolls of parchment, whereon were written certain words of the law. These they wore upon their forehead, and upon the wrist of the left arm.’ Id.

[I-211] Antiquities of Licking County, Ohio, MS.

Brasseur de Bourbourg, although he rejects Kingsborough’s theory, thinks that some Jews may have reached America; he recognizes a Jewish type on certain ruins, and calls attention to the perfectly Jewish dress of the women at Palin and on the shores of Lake Amatitlan. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 17. Customs and relics seem to show that the Americans are of Hebrew descent, and that they came by way of the Californias. Giordan, Tehuantepec, p. 57. The theory of descent from the ten tribes is not to be despised. On the north-west there are many beliefs and rites which resemble the Jewish; circumcision obtains in Central America, and women wear Jewish costumes. Father Ricci has seen Israelites in China living according to Moses’ laws, and Father Adam Schall knew Israelites who had kept the Old Testament laws, and who knew nothing of the death of the Savior. This shows that the ten tribes took this direction, and as an emigration from Asia to America is perfectly admissible, it is likely that the Jews were among the number who crossed, probably by the Aleutian islands. Rossi, Souvenirs, pp. 276-7. Jones, as might be expected, ‘will not yield to any man in the firm belief that the Aborigines of North America (but North America only) and the ancient Israelites are identical, unless controverted by the stern authority of superior historical deductions.’ Hist. Anc. Amer., pp. 2, 11-26, 188-90. Parker does not accept the Jewish theory, chiefly because of the great variety of distinct languages in America, but he points out several resemblances between north-west tribes and Jews. Explor. Tour, pp. 194-8. Meyer finds many reasons for regarding the wild tribes of the north as Jews; such as physical peculiarities; numerous customs; the number of languages pointing to a Babylonian confusion of tongues. Most Indians have high-priests’ temples, altars, and a sacred ark which they carry with them on their wanderings. They count by four seasons, celebrate new-moon and arbor festivals, and offer first fruits. In September, when the sun enters the sign of the scales, they hold their feast of atonement. The name Iowa he thinks is derived from Jehova. They work with one hand and carry their weapons in the other. The pillars of cloud and pillars of fire which guided the Israelites, may be volcanoes on the east coast of Asia, by whose aid the ten tribes reached America. Nach dem Sacramento, pp. 241-5. If the Toltecs were Jews, they must have visited the Old World in the year 753 of the Roman era, to obtain the Christian dogmas apparent in their cult. Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 45. The Navajo tradition that they came out of the water a long way to the north; their peaceful, pastoral manner of life; their aversion to hogs’ flesh; their belief that they will return to the water whence they came, instead of going to hunting-grounds like other tribes; their prophets who prophesy and receive revelation; their strict fast-days, and keenness in trade; their comparatively good treatment of women—are Jewish similarities, stronger than any tribes can present. ‘Scalping appears to have been a Hebrew custom…. The most striking custom of apparently Hebraic origin, is the periodical separation of females, and the strong and universal idea of uncleanness connected therewith.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., pp. 60, 62. The Tartars are probably descended from the ten tribes; they boast of being Jews, are divided into tribes, and practice circumcision. The separation of women at certain times, and the expression Hallelujah Yohewah, are proofs of Jewish descent; scalping is mentioned in Bible (68th Psalm, ver. 21). Crawford’s Essay. According to various manuscripts the Toltecs are of Jewish descent. Having crossed the Red Sea, they abandoned themselves to idolatry, and fearing Moses’ reprimand, they separated from the rest and crossed the ocean to the Seven Caves, and there founded Tula. Juarros, Hist. Guat., tom. ii., pp. 7-8. Juarez, Municipalidad de Leon, p. 10, states that Leon de Cordova is of the same opinion. Em. de Moraez, a Portuguese, in his History of Brazil, thinks nothing but circumcision wanting to form a perfect resemblance between the Jews and Brazilians. He thinks that America was wholly peopled by Jews and Carthaginians. Carver’s Trav., pp. 188-9. Catlin thinks the North Americans are a mixed race, who have Jewish blood in them. The mixture is shown by their skulls, while many customs are decidedly Jewish. Probably part of tribes scattered by Christians have come over and intermarried. He gives analogies in monotheism, sanctuaries, tribeship, chosen people belief, marriage by gifts, war, burial, ablutions, feasts, sacrifices, and other customs. Any philological similarity is unnecessary and superfluous. The Jew element was too feeble to influence language. Catlin’s N. Amer. Ind., vol. ii., pp. 231-5. Melgar gives a list of the Chiapanec calendar names, and finds fourteen agree with suitable Hebrew words. He concludes, therefore, that ancient intercourse with the Old World is proven. Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, 2da época, tom. iii., p. 108. Jarvis, Religion Ind. N. Amer., pp. 71-87, compares words in Hebrew and American languages. Ethan Smith, Views of the Hebrews, presents eleven arguments in favor of the Jewish theory. Beatty, Journal of Two Months’ Tour in America, gives a number of reasons why the Hebrew theory should be correct. See further, for general review of this theory: Crowe’s Cent. Amer., pp. 64-8; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 46-9; Simon’s Ten Tribes, which is, however, merely a cheap abridgement of Kingsborough; Dally, Races Indig., pp. 5-6; Thorowgood’s Jewes in America; Worsley’s Amer. Ind., pp. 1-185; L’Estrange,Americans no Jewes; Spizelius, Elevatio Relationis, a criticism on Menasse Ben Israel’s Hope of Israel; Tschudi’s Peruvian Antiq., pp. 8-11.

In opposition to the Hebrew theory we read that Wolff, the Jew traveler, found no Jewish traces among the tribes of North America. Fontaine’s How the World was Peopled, p. 157. ‘The strong trait in Hebrew compound words, of inserting the syllable el or a single letter in the names of children, derived from either the primary or secondary names of the deity, does not prevail in any Indian tribes known to me. Neither are circumstances attending their birth or parentage, which were so often used in the Hebrew children’s names, ever mentioned in these compounds. Indian children are generally named from some atmospheric phenomenon. There are no traces of the rites of circumcision, anointing, sprinkling, or washing, considered as consecrated symbols. Circumcision was reported as existing among the Sitkas, on the Missouri; but a strict examination proved it to be a mistake.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. iii., p. 61. The Rev. T. Thorowgood in 1650, published a work entitled Jewes in America, or Probabilities that the Americans are of that Race. This was answered in 1651, by Sir Hamon L’Estrange, in a book entitled, Americans no Jewes. L’Estrange believes that America was peopled long before the dispersion of the Jews, which took place 1500 years after the flood. A strong mixture of Jewish blood would have produced distinct customs, etc., which are not to be found. The native traditions as to origin are to be regarded as dreams rather than as true stories. The analogous customs and rites adduced by Thorowgood, L’Estrange goes on, are amply refuted by Acosta and other writers. The occasional cannibalism of the Jews was caused by famine, but that of the Americans was a regular institution. The argument that the Americans are Jews because they have not the gospel, is worthy only of ridicule, seeing that millions of other pagans are in the same condition. Of the Hebrew theory Baldwin, who devotes nearly two pages to it, writes: ‘this wild notion, called a theory, scarcely deserves so much attention. It is a lunatic fancy, possible only to men of a certain class, which in our time does not multiply.’ Anc. Amer., p. 167. Tschudi regards the arguments in favor of the Jewish theory as unsound. Peruvian Antiq., p. 11. Acosta thinks that the Jews would have preserved their language, customs, and records, in America as well as in other places. Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 79-80. Macgregor argues that the Americans could not have been Jews, for the latter people were acquainted with the use of iron as far back as the time of Tubal Cain; they also used milk and wheaten bread, which the Americans could and would have used if they had once known of them. Progress of Amer., vol. i., p. 24. Montanus believes that America was peopled long before the time of the dispersion of the Jewish tribes, and raises objections to nearly every point that has been adduced in favor of a Hebrew origin. Nieuwe Weereld, p. 26, et seq. Torquemada gives Las Casas’ reasons for believing that the Americans are of Jewish descent, and refutes them. Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 22-7. The difference of physical organization is alone sufficient to set aside the question of Jewish origin. That so conservative a people as the Jews should have lost all the traditions, customs, etc., of their race, is absurd. Democratic Review, vol. xi., p. 617. Rafinesque advances, as objections to Jew theory, that the ten tribes are to be found scattered over Asia; that the Sabbath would never have fallen into disuse if they had once introduced it into America; that the Hebrew knew the use of iron, had plows, and employed writing; that circumcision is practiced only in one or two localities in America; that the sharp, striking Jewish features are not found in Americans; that the Americans eat hogs and other animals forbidden to the Jews; that the American war customs, such as scalping, torturing, cannibalism, painting bodies and going naked, are not Jewish in the least; that the American languages are not like Hebrew. Priest’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 76-9.

[I-212] I translate freely from Bertrand, Mémoires, p. 32, et seq., for this account.

[I-213] In the State of New York.

[I-214] The discovery was in this wise: ‘Près du village de Manchester, dans le comté d’Ontario, État de New York, se trouve une éminence plus considérable que celle des environs, et qui est devenue célèbre dans les fastes de la nouvelle Église sous le nom de Cumorah. Sur le flanc occidental de cette colline, non loin de son sommet, et sous une pierre d’une grande dimension, des lames d’or se trouvaient déposées dans un coffre de pierre. Le couvercle en était aminci vers ses bords, et relevé au milieu en forme de boule. Après avoir dégagé la terre, Joseph (Smith) souleva le couvercle à l’aide d’un levier, et trouva les plaques, l’Urim-Thummim, et le pectoral. Le coffre était formé de pierres reliées entre elles aux angles par du ciment. Au fond se trouvaient deux pierres plates placées en croix, et sur ces pierres les lames d’or et les autres objets. Joseph voulait les enlever, mais il en fut empêché par l’envoyé divin, qui l’informe que le temps n’était pas encore venu, et qu’il fallait attendre quatre ans à partir de cette époque. D’après ses instructions, Joseph se rendit tous les ans le même jour au lieu du dépôt, pour recevoir de la bouche du messager céleste, des instructions sur la manière dont le royaume de Dieu devait être fondé et gouverné dans les derniers jours…. Le 22 septembre 1827, le messager des cieux lui laissa prendre les plaques, l’Urim-Thummim et le pectoral, à condition qu’il serait responsable, et en l’avertissant qu’il serait retranché, s’il venait à perdre ces objets par sa négligence, mais qu’il serait protégé s’il faisait tous ses efforts pour les conserver.’ Bertrand, Mémoires, pp. 23-5.

[I-215] Though the question of the Scandinavian discoveries would seem to merit considerable attention from one who wrote a ‘colonial history’ of America, yet Mr George Bancroft disposes of the entire subject in a single page: ‘The story of the colonization of America by Northmen,’ he writes, ‘rests on narratives, mythological in form, and obscure in meaning; ancient, yet not contemporary. The chief document is an interpolation in the history of Sturleson, whose zealous curiosity could hardly have neglected the discovery of a continent. The geographical details are too vague to sustain a conjecture; the accounts of the mild winter and fertile soil are, on any modern hypothesis, fictitious or exaggerated; the description of the natives applies only to the Esquimaux, inhabitants of hyperborean regions, the remark which should define the length of the shortest winter’s day, has received interpretations adapted to every latitude from New York to Cape Farewell; and Vinland has been sought in all directions, from Greenland and the St. Lawrence to Africa.’ Bancroft’s History, vol. i., pp. 5-6. Irving says that as far as he ‘has had experience in tracing these stories of early discoveries of portions of the New World, he has generally found them very confident deductions drawn from very vague and questionable facts. Learned men are too prone to give substance to mere shadows, when they assist some preconceived theory. Most of these accounts, when divested of the erudite comments of their editors, have proved little better than the traditionary fables, noticed in another part of this work, respecting the imaginary islands of St. Borondon, and of the Seven Cities.’ Columbus, vol. iii., p. 434. All of which would certainly be true enough of most theories, but that it was erroneous as far as the Northmen’s visits are concerned, has, I think, been conclusively shown in later years.

[I-216] ‘It might also be argued, if it were at all necessary, that, if these Sagas were post-Columbian compositions drawn up by Icelanders who were jealous of the fame of the Genoese navigator, we should certainly be able to point out something either in their structure, bearing, or style, by which it would be indicated. Yet such is not the case. These writings reveal no anxiety to show the connection of the Northmen with the great land lying at the west. The authors do not see anything at all remarkable or meritorious in the explorations, which were conducted simply for the purpose of gain. Those marks which would certainly have been impressed by a more modern writer forging a historical composition designed to show an occupation of the country before the time of Columbus, are wholly wanting. There is no special pleading or rivalry, and no desire to show prior and superior knowledge of the country to which the navigators had from time to time sailed. We only discover a straightforward, honest endeavor to tell the story of certain men’s lives. This is done in a simple, artless way, and with every indication of a desire to mete out even handed justice to all. And candid readers who come to the subject with minds free from prejudice, will be powerfully impressed with the belief that they are reading authentic histories written by honest men.’ Pre-Columbian Disc. Amer., pp. xli.-xlii.

[I-217] Vol. viii., p. 114, et seq.

[I-218] The exact dates in these relations I cannot vouch for; but the several authors who have written on the subject differ by only a year or two.

[I-219] ‘Helluland, from Hella, a flat stone, an abundance of which may be found in Labrador and the region round about.’ De Costa’s Pre-Columbian Disc. Amer., p. 28. ‘From data in the Landnama and several other ancient Icelandic geographical works, we may gather that the distance of a day’s sailing was estimated at from twenty-seven to thirty geographical miles (German or Danish, of which fifteen are equal to a degree; each of these accordingly equal to four English sea-miles). From the island of Helluland, afterwards called Little Helluland, Biarne sailed to Heriulfsnes (Ikigeit) in Greenland, with strong south-westerly gales, in four days. The distance between that cape and Newfoundland is about 150 miles, which will correspond, when we take into consideration the strong gales. In modern descriptions it is stated that this land partly consists of naked, rocky flats, where no tree, not even a shrub, can grow, and which are therefore usually called Barrens; thus answering completely to the hellur of the ancient Northmen, from which they named the country.’ Abstract of Hist. Evid., in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. viii., p. 123.

[I-220] ‘Markland was situate to the south-west of Helluland, distant about three days’ sail, or about from eighty to ninety miles. It is therefore Nova Scotia, of which the descriptions given by later writers answer to that given by the ancient Northmen of Markland.’ Id.

[I-221] ‘Vinland was situate at the distance of two days’ sail, consequently about from fifty-four to sixty miles, in a south-westerly direction from Markland. The distance from Cape Sable to Cape Cod is stated in nautical works as being W. by S. about seventy leagues, that is, about fifty-two miles. Biarne’s description of the coasts is very accurate, and in the island situate to the eastward (between which and the promontory that stretches to eastward and northward Leif sailed) we recognize Nantucket. The ancient Northmen found there many shallows (grunnsæ fui mikit); modern navigators make mention at the same place “of numerous riffs and other shoals,” and say “that the whole presents an aspect of drowned land.”‘ Id., pp. 121-2. ‘The leading evidences serve to attest that Vinland was the present very marked seaboard area of New England. The nautical facts have been carefully examined by Professors Rafn and Magnusen, and the historical data adapted to the configuration of the coast which has Cape Cod as its distinguishing trait. All this seems to have been done with surprising accuracy, and is illustrated by the present high state of the arts in Denmark and Germany.’ Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., p. 111.

[I-222] ‘Kialarnes (from Kiölr, a keel, and nes, a cape, most likely so named on account of its striking resemblance to the keel of a ship, particularly of one of the long ships of the ancient Northmen) must consequently be Cape Cod, the Nauset of the Indians, which modern geographers have sometimes likened to a horn, and sometimes to a sickle or sythe.’ Id., p. 122.

[I-223] ‘The Straumfiördr of the ancient Northmen is supposed to be Buzzard’s Bay, and Straumey, Martha’s Vineyard; although the account of the many eggs found there would seem more precisely to correspond to the island which lies off the entrance of Vineyard Sound, and which at this day is for the same reason called Egg Island.’ Id.

[I-224] See Abstract of Hist. Evid., in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. viii., p. 114, et seq., and De Costa’s Pre-Columbian Disc. Amer., p. 11, et seq.

[I-225] In the year 983, according to Abstract of Hist. Evid., in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. viii., p. 125. De Costa makes it 928. Pre-Columbian Disc. Amer., p. 86.

[I-226] ‘Professor Rafn in, what seems to the author, his needless anxiety to fix the locality of the White-man’s land in America, says that, as this part of the manuscript is difficult to decipher, the original letters may have got changed, and vi inserted instead of xx, or xi, which numerals would afford time for the voyager to reach the coast of America, in the vicinity of Florida. Smith in his Dialogues, has even gone so far as to suppress the term six altogether, and substitutes, “by a number of days sail unknown.” This is simply trifling with the subject. In Grönland’s Historiske Mindesmœrker, chiefly the work of Finn Magnussen, no question is raised on this point. The various versions all give the number six, which limits the voyage to the vicinity of the Azores. Schöning, to whom we are so largely indebted for the best edition of Heimskringla, lays the scene of Marson’s adventure at those islands, and suggests that they may at that time have covered a larger extent of territory than the present, and that they may have suffered from earthquakes and floods, adding, “It is likely, and all circumstances show, that the said land has been a piece of North America.” This is a bold, though not very unreasonable hypothesis, especially as the volcanic character of the islands is well known. In 1808, a volcano rose to the height of 3,500 feet. Yet Schöning’s suggestion is not needed. The fact that the islands were not inhabited when discovered by the Portuguese does not, however, settle anything against Schöning, because in the course of five hundred years, the people might either have migrated, or been swept away by pestilence. Grönland’s Historiske Mindesmœrker, (vol. i., p. 150), says simply, that “It is thought that he (Are Marson) ended his days in America, or at all events in one of the larger islands of the west. Some think that it was one of the Azore islands.”‘ De Costa’s Pre-Columbian Disc. Amer., p. 87.

[I-227] Abstract of Hist. Evid., in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour., vol. viii., p. 125; De Costa’s Pre-Columbian Disc. Amer., p. 89, et seq.

[I-228] See Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., pp. 110, et seq., for plate and discussion of Dighton Rock.

[I-229] It bore the following inscription: Elligr. Sigvaps: son: r. ok. Bjanne. Tortarson: ok: Enripi. osson: laugardag. in: fyrir gagndag Holpu: varda te. ok rydu: M. C. XXXV; or, Erling Sighvatssonr, ok Bjarne Pordarson, ok Endridi oddsson laugardaginn fyrir gagndag hlodu varda pessa ok ruddu 1135; ‘c’est-à-dire: Erling Sigvatson, Bjarne Thordarson, et Endride Oddson érigèrent ces monceaux de pierres le samedi avant le jour nommé Gagndag (le 25 avril) et ils nettoyèrent la place en 1135.’ Warden, Recherches, p. 152.

[I-230] ‘We have noticed the discovery of a place called Estotiland, supposed to be Nova Scotia, in 1354, the inhabitants of which were Europeans, who cultivated grain, lived in stone houses, and manufactured beer, as in Europe at that day. Now, from the year 1354, till the time of the first settlements made in Onondaga county, by the present inhabitants, is about 400 years. Is it not possible, therefore, that this glass bottle, with some kind of liquor in it, may have been derived from this Estotiland, having been originally brought from Europe; as glass had been in use there, more or less, from the year 664, till the Scandinavians colonized Iceland, Greenland, and Estotiland, or Newfoundland.’ Priest’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 260-1.

[I-231] ‘Malgré les réclamations que mes suppositions soulevèrent de divers côtés et les sourires incrédules qu’elles appelèrent sur les lèvres de plusieurs de nos savants dont je respecte et honore les connaissances, je persiste plus que jamais dans l’opinion que j’exprimais alors; plus j’avance dans mes études américaines plus je demeure convaincu des relations qui existèrent, antérieurement à Christophe Colomb, entre le Nouveau-Monde et les contrées situées à l’orient de l’autre côté de l’océan Atlantique, et plus je suis persuadé que les Scandinaves ont dû, à une période même plus reculée que celle dont vos (Prof. Rafn’s) intéressants mémoires rapportent le souvenir, émigrer vers le continent américain.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1858, tom. clx., pp. 261-92.

[I-232] ‘Il est impossible de ne point être frappé de l’analogie qui existe entre les idées bramaniques sur la divinité et les passages du Popol-Vuh cités plus haut. Mais si nous consultons les traditions beaucoup plus récentes, conservées même après l’établissement du christianisme en Suède, nous trouverons encore, entre les coutumes religieuses des populations de ces contrées et celles qui nous sont retracées dans le Popol-Vuh, plus d’un rapport.’ Viollet-le-Duc, in Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 41-2. See farther concerning emigration to America from north-western Europe: Mitchill, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 341, et seq.; Priest’s Amer. Antiq., scattered notices, pp. 88-9, 234-329; Robertson’s Hist. Amer., vol. i., pp. 278-80; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., pp. 110-11, 120-4; Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1855, tom. cxlvii., pp. 157-8; Viollet-le-Duc, in Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 11, 18-19, 23-4, 42-3; Warden, Recherches, pp. 146-54; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 28-30, 117; Tschudi’s Peruvian Antiq., pp. 3-7, 21-2; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. i., pp. 197-8; Davis’ Discovery of New England by the Northmen; Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., pp. 279-85; Davis’ Anc. Amer., pp. 13-31; Tylor’s Anahuac, pp. 278-9; M’Culloh’s Researches on Amer., pp. 21-2; Brinton’s Abbé Brasseur, in Lippincott’s Mag., vol. i., p. 79, et seq.; Smith’s Human Species, p. 237; Deuber, Geschichte der Schiffahrt; Hermes, Entdeckung von Amer., pp. 1-134; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 399-400; Hill’s Antiq. of Amer.; Wilson’s Prehist. Man, pp. 394-420; Kruger’s Discov. Amer., pp. 1-134; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 53-64, 404, 411-12; Beaufoy’s Mex. Illustr., p. 322; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 18-22; Id., Popol Vuh, pp. li.-liv., lxxxix.-xcii.; Hist. Mag., vol. ix., pp. 364-5;Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., p. 15; Humboldt’s Exam. Crit., tom. ii., pp. 83-104, 105-20; Irving’s Columbus, vol. iii., pp. 432-40; Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., p. 239; Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., pp. 164-71; Rafinesque, The American Nations; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Quatre Lettres, p. 17; Williamson’s Observations on Climate; Zesterman’s Colonization of America by Northwestern Europeans; Farcy, Discours, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. i., pp. 48-9; Simpson’s Nar., p. 159; Schoolcraft, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 391-6.

[I-233] About 1169-70.

[I-234] ‘All this is related in old Welsh annals preserved in the abbeys of Conway and Strat Flur…. This emigration of Prince Madog is mentioned in the preserved works of several Welsh bards who lived before the time of Columbus. It is mentioned by Hakluyt, who had his account of it from writings of the bard Guttun Owen. As the Northmen had been in New England over one hundred and fifty years when Prince Madog went forth to select a place for his settlement, he knew very well there was a continent on the other side of the Atlantic, for he had knowledge of their voyages to America; and knowledge of them was also prevalent in Ireland. His emigration took place when Henry II. was king of England, but in that age the English knew little or nothing of Welsh affairs in such a way as to connect them with English history very closely.’ Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., p. 286. See also Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. ii., pp. 142-9; Farcy, Discours, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. i., pp. 49-50. ‘Before wee passed these ilands, under the lee of the bigger iland, we anchored, the wind being at north-east, with intent to refresh ourselves with the fowles of these ilands. They are of divers sorts, and in great plentie, as pengwins, wilde duckes, gulles, and gannets; of the principall we purposed to make provisions, and those were the pengwins; which in Welsh, as I have beene enformed, signifieth a white head. From which derivation, and many other Welsh denominations given by the Indians, or their predecessors, some doe inferre that America was first peopled with Welsh-men; and Montezanna, king, or rather emperour of Mexico, did recount unto the Spaniards, at their first comming, that his auncestors came from a farre countrie, and were white people. Which, conferred with an auncient cronicle, that I have read many yeares since, may be conjectured to bee a prince of Wales, who many hundreth yeares since, with certaine shippes, sayled to the westwards, with intent to make new discoveries. Hee was never after heard of.’ Hawkins’ Voy., in Hakluyt Soc., p. 111.

[I-235] Written in Welsh, translated into English by Humphrey Llwyd, and published by Dr David Powel in 1584.

[I-236] Dedicated to Prince Charles, and published in 1613.

[I-237] See Warden, Recherches, pp. 154-7.

[I-238] They are ‘made of raw-hides, the skins of buffaloes, stretched underneath a frame made of willows or other boughs, and shaped nearly round, like a tub; which the woman carries on her head from her wigwam to the water’s edge, and having stepped into it, stands in front, and propels it by dripping her paddle forward, and drawing it to her, instead of paddling by the side.’ Catlin’s Amer. Ind., vol. ii., p. 261.

[I-239] See comparative vocabulary. Id.

[I-240] As a good deal of importance has been attached to it, it will be as well to give Jones’ statement in full; it is as follows: ‘These presents certify all persons whatever, that in the year 1660, being an inhabitant of Virginia, and chaplain to Major General Bennet, of Mansoman County, the said Major General Bennet and Sir William Berkeley sent two ships to Port Royal, now called South Carolina, which is sixty leagues southward of Cape Fair, and I was sent therewith to be their minister. Upon the 8th of April we set out from Virginia, and arrived at the harbor’s mouth of Port Royal the 19th of the same month, where we waited for the rest of the fleet that was to sail from Barbadoes and Bermuda with one Mr. West, who was to be deputy governor of said place. As soon as the fleet came in, the smallest vessels that were with us sailed up the river to a place called the Oyster Point; there I continued about eight months, all which time being almost starved for want of provisions: I and five more traveled through the wilderness till we came to the Tuscarora country. There the Tuscarora Indians took us prisoners because we told them that we were bound to Roanock. That night they carried us to their town and shut us up close, to our no small dread. The next day they entered into a consultation about us, and, after it was over, their interpreter told us that we must prepare ourselves to die next morning, whereupon, being very much dejected, I spoke to this effect in the British [Welsh] tongue: “Have I escaped so many dangers, and must I now be knocked on the head like a dog!” Then presently came an Indian to me, which afterward appeared to be a war captain belonging to the sachem of the Doegs (whose original, I find, must needs be from the Old Britons), and took me up by the middle, and told me in the British [Welsh] tongue I should not die, and thereupon went to the emperor of Tuscarora, and agreed for my ransom and the men that were with me. They (the Doegs) then welcomed us to their town, and entertained us very civilly and cordially four months, during which time I had the opportunity of conversing with them familiarly in the British [Welsh] language, and did preach to them in the same language three times a week, and they would confer with me about any thing that was difficult therein, and at our departure they abundantly supplied us with whatever was necessary to our support and well doing. They are settled upon Pontigo River, not far from Cape Atros. This is a brief recital of my travels among the Doeg Indians.

Morgan Jones,
the son of John Jones, of Basateg, near Newport, in the County
of Monmouth. I am ready to conduct any Welshman or others
to the country.

New York, March 10th, 1685-6.’ Gentleman’s Mag., 1740.

[I-241] Chambers’ Jour., vol. vi., p. 411.

[I-242] ‘These accounts are copied from manuscripts of Dr. W. O. Pughe, who, together with Edward Williams (the bard of Glamorgan), made diligent inquiries in America about forty years ago, when they collected upwards of one hundred different accounts of the Welsh Indians.’ Id. ‘It is reported by travellers in the west, that on the Red River … very far to the southwest, a tribe of Indians has been found, whose manners, in several respects, resemble the Welch…. They call themselves the McCedus tribe, which having the Mc or Mac attached to their name, points evidently to a European origin, of the Celtic description…. It is well authenticated that upwards of thirty years ago, Indians came to Kaskaskia, in the territory, now the state of Illinois, who spoke the Welch dialect, and were perfectly understood by two Welchmen then there, who conversed with them.’ Priest’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 230-2.

[I-243] Recherches, p. 157. Griffiths related his adventures to a native of Kentucky, and they were published in 1804, by Mr Henry Toulmin, one of the Judges of the territory of Mississippi. See Stoddard’s Sketches of Louisiana, p. 475; Philadelphia Medical and Physical Journal, vol. i., 1805.

[I-244] Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 305.

[I-245] We read farther: ‘But what is still more remarkable, in their war song he discovered, not only the sentiments, but several lines, the very same words as used in Ossian’s celebrated majestic poem of the wars of his ancestors, who flourished about thirteen hundred years ago. The Indian names of several of the streams, brooks, mountains and rocks of Florida, are also the same which are given to similar objects, in the highlands of Scotland.’ All this, could we believe it, would fill us with astonishment; but the solution of the mystery lies in the next sentence: ‘This celebrated metaphysician (Monboddo) was a firm believer in the anciently reported account of America’s having been visited by a colony from Wales long previous to the discovery of Columbus.’ Priest’s Amer. Antiq., p. 230. It is this being a ‘firm believer’ in a given theory that makes so many things patent to the enthusiast which are invisible to ordinary men.

[I-246] Monastikon Britannicum, pp. 131-2, 187-8, cited in De Costa’s Pre-Columbian Disc. Amer., p. xviii.

[I-247] See Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., pp. 188-90; De Costa’s Pre-Columbian Disc. Amer., pp. xviii.-xx.

[I-248] Mœurs des Sauvages Amériquains Comparées aux Mœurs des Premiers Temps. Paris, 1724.

[I-249] García, Orígen de los Ind., pp. 189-92.

[I-250] Pidgeon’s Trad., p. 16.

[I-251] Landa, Relacion, pp. lxx.-lxxx.

[I-252] Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 107. In the Greeks of Homer I find the customs, discourse, and manners of the Iroquois, Delawares, and Miamis. The tragedies of Sophocles and Euripides paint to me almost literally the sentiments of the red-men, respecting necessity, fatality, the miseries of human life, and the rigour of blind destiny. Volney’s View of the Climate and Soil of the United States of America. London, 1804.

[I-253] See Priest’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 385-90; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 255; Scenes in Rocky Mts., pp. 199-202; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 6; Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., pp. 184, 527-8.

[I-254] See Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., p. 177; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 394-5.

[I-255] Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 6.

[I-256] ‘Imaginez un livre entier écrit en calembours, un livre dont toutes les phrases, dont la plupart des mots ont un double sens, l’un parfaitement net et distinct de l’autre, et vous aurez, jusqu’à un certain point, l’idée du travail que j’ai entre les mains. C’est en cherchant l’explication d’un passage fort curieux, relatif à l’histoire de Quetzal-Coatl, que je suis arrivé à ce résultat extraordinaire. Oui, Monsieur, si ce livre est en apparence l’histoire des Toltèques et ensuite des rois de Colhuacan et de Mexico, il présente, en réalité, le récit du cataclysme qui bouleversa le monde, il y a quelques six ou sept mille ans, et constitua les continents dans leur état actuel. Ce que le Codex Borgia de la Propagande, le Manuscrit de Dresde et le Manuscrit Troano étaient en images et en hiéroglyphes, le Codex Chimalpopoca en donne la lettre; il contient, en langue nahuatl, l’histoire du monde, composée par le sage Hueman, c’est-à-dire par la main puissante de Dieu dans le grand Livre de la nature, en un mot, c’est le Livre divin lui-même, c’est le Teo-Amoxtli.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg. Quatre Lettres, p. 24.

[I-257] Id., p. 39.

[I-258] In the Codex Chimalpopoca, Brasseur reads that ‘à la suite de l’éruption des volcans, ouverts sur toute l’étendue du continent américain, double alors de ce qu’il est aujourd’hui, l’éruption soudaine d’un immense foyer sous-marin, fit éclater le monde et abîma, entre un lever et un autre de l’étoile du matin, les régions les plus riches du globe.’ Quatre Lettres, p. 45.

[I-259] Id., p. 108.

[I-260] See farther, concerning Atlantis: Brasseur de Bourbourg, MS. Troano, tom. i., pp. 29-32, 199; Irving’s Columbus, vol. i., pp. 24, 38, vol. iii., pp. 419, 492-4, 499-512; Baril, Mexique, p. 190; Dally, Races Indig., p. 7; Farcy, Discours, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. i., pp. 41-2; De Costa’s Pre-Columbian Disc. Amer., p. xiii.; Heylyn’s Cosmog., pp. 943-4; Sanson d’Abbeville, Amérique, pp. 1-3; Willson’s Amer. Hist., pp. 90-1; Warden, Recherches, pp. 97-113; Carli, Cartas, pt i., p. 1; Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Landa, Relacion, pp. xviii.-cxii.; Davis’ Anc. Amer., p. 13; Malte-Brun, Précis de la Géog., tom. i., pp. 28-30, 213-15; Wilson’s Prehist. Man, pp. 392-3; Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. vi., pp. 181-4; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 394-9; Larrainzar, Dictamen, pp. 8-25; Stratton’s Mound-Builders, MS.; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 216-22; Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., pp. 174-84; Mitchill, in Amer. Antiq. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 340; Faliés, Études Hist. sur les Civilisations, tom. i., pp. 185-93, 218;M’Culloh’s Researches on Amer., pp. 26-32; Humboldt, Exam. Crit., tom. i., pp. 42, 130-206, tom. ii., pp. 46, 163-214; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. i., pp. 14-18, 22; Monglave, in Antiq. Mex., pp. 57-60; Cabrera, Teatro, in Rio’s Description, p. 126; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 5-6; Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. v., pp. 799-801; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 29; West und Ost Indischer Lustgart, pt i., pp. 4-5; Montanus, Nieuwe Weereld, pp. 18-19; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iv., p. 31; Despréaux, in Museo Mex., tom. ii., pp. 84-6; Major’s Prince Henry, p. 83; Rafinesque, in Priest’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 123-4; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 42-6, 413-14; Fontaine’s How the World was Peopled, pp. 256-7; Herrera, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. i., cap. ii.; Smith’s Human Species, p. 83; Soc. Géog., Bulletin, tom. iv., p. 235.

[I-261] Davis, Anc. Amer., p. 12, thinks that a portion of the animals of the original creation migrated west. ‘If this idea,’ he says, ‘is new to others, I hope it may be considered more reasonable than the infidel opinion, that men and animals were distinct creations from those of Asia.’ ‘Think you,’ he adds sagely, ‘they would have transported venomous serpents from the old to the new world?’

[I-262] Concerning unity or variety of the American races, see: Prichard’s Researches, vol. i., p. 268, vol. v., pp. 289, 374, 542; Morton’s Crania Amer., p. 62; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 197-98; Baldwin’s Anc. Amer., pp. 66-7; Maury, in Nott and Gliddon’s Indig. Races, p. 81; Humboldt, Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 83; Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 21-36; Willson’s Amer. Hist., p. 89; Jones’ Hist. Anc. Amer., p. 4; Smith’s Human Species, p. 251; Catlin’s N. Amer. Ind., vol. ii., p. 234; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 3-4.

[I-263] ‘I am compelled to believe that the Continent of America, and each of the other Continents, have had their aboriginal stocks, peculiar in colour and in character—and that each of these native stocks has undergone repeated mutations, by erratic colonies from abroad.’ Catlin’s N. Amer. Ind., vol. ii., p. 232; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 224-5, thinks it consonant with the Bible to suppose ‘distinct animal creations, simultaneously, for different portions of the earth.’ A commentator on Hellwald who advocates autochthon theory remarks that: ‘the derivation of these varieties from the original stock is philosophically explained on the principle of the variety in the offspring of the same parents, and the better adaptation and consequent chance of life.’ Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 345. ‘That theory is probably, in every point of view, the most tenable and exact which assumes that man, like the plant, a mundane being, made his appearance generally upon earth when our planet had reached that stage of its development which unites in itself the conditions of the man’s existence. In conformity with this view I regard the American as an autochthon.’ The question of immigration to America has been too much mixed with that of the migration in America, and only recently has the opinion made progress that America has attained a form of civilization by modes of their own. Neither the theory of a populating immigration or a civilizing immigration from the old world meet any countenance from the results of the latest investigations. Hellwald, in Id., p. 330. All tribes have similarities among them which make them distinct from old world. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 23. Dr. Morton says the study of physical conformation alone, excludes every branch of the Caucasian race from any obvious participation in the peopling of this continent, and believes the Indians are all of one race, and that race distinct from all others. Mayer’s Observations, p. 11. We can never know the origin of the Americans. The theory that they are aborigines is contradicted by no fact and is plausible enough. Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 177-8. The supposition that the Red Man is a primitive type of a human family originally planted in the western continent presents the most natural solution of the problem. The researches of physiologists, antiquaries, philologists, tend this way. The hypothesis of an immigration, when followed out, is embarrassed with great difficulties and leads to interminable and unsatisfying speculations. Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., p. 251. God has created several couples of human beings differing from one another internally and externally, and these were placed in appropriate climates. The original character is preserved, and directed only by their natural powers they acquired knowledge and formed a distinct language. In primitive times signs and sounds suggested by nature were used, but with advancement, dialects formed. It requires the idea of a miracle to suppose that all men descend from one source. Kames, in Warden, Recherches, p. 203. ‘The unsuccessful search after traces of an ante-Columbian intercourse with the New World, suffices to confirm the belief that, for unnumbered centuries throughout that ancient era, the Western Hemisphere was the exclusive heritage of nations native to its soil. Its sacred and sepulchral rites, its usages and superstitions, its arts, letters, metallurgy, sculpture, and architecture, are all peculiarly its own.’ Wilson’s Prehist. Man, p. 421. Morton concludes ‘that the American Race differs essentially from all others, not excepting the Mongolian; nor do the feeble analogies of language, and the more obvious ones in civil and religious institutions and the arts, denote anything beyond casual or colonial communication with the Asiatic nations; and even these analogies may perhaps be accounted for, as Humboldt has suggested, in the mere coincidence arising from similar wants and impulses in nations inhabiting similar latitudes.’ Crania Amer., p. 260. ‘I am firmly of opinion that God created an original man and woman in this part of the globe, of different species from any in the other parts.’ Romans’ Concise Natural Hist. of E. and W. Florida. ‘Altamirano, the best Aztec scholar living, claims that the proof is conclusive that the Aztecs did not come here from Asia, as has been almost universally believed, but were a race originated in America, and as old as the Chinese themselves, and that China may even have been peopled from America.’ Evans’ Our Sister Rep., p. 333. Swan believes that ‘whatever was the origin of different tribes or families, the whole race of American Indians are native and indigenous to the soil.’ N.W. Coast, p. 206.

Chapter II • Introductory to Aboriginal History • 7,400 Words

Origin and Earliest History of the Americans Unrecorded—The Dark Sea of Antiquity—Boundary between Myth and History—Primitive Annals of America compared with those of the Old World—Authorities and Historical Material—Traditional Annals and their Value—Hieroglyphic Records of the Mayas and Nahuas—Spanish Writers—The Conquerors—The Missionaries—The Historians—Converted Native Chroniclers—Secondary Authorities—Ethnology—Arts, Institutions, and Beliefs—Languages—Material Monuments of Antiquity—Use of Authorities and Method of Treating the Subject.

The preceding résumé shows pretty conclusively that the American peoples and the American civilizations, if not indigenous to the New World, were introduced from the Old at a period long preceding any to which we are carried by the traditional or monumental annals of either continent. We have found no evidence of any populating or civilizing migration across the ocean from east or west, north or south, within historic times. Nothing approaching identity has been discovered between any two nations separated by the Atlantic or Pacific. No positive record appears even of communication between America and the Old World,—intentionally by commercial, exploring, or warlike expeditions, or accidentally by shipwreck,—previous to the voyages of the Northmen in the tenth century; yet that such communication did take place in many instances and at different periods is extremely probable. The numerous trans-oceanic analogies, more or less clearly defined, which are observed, may have resulted partially from this communication, although they do not of themselves necessarily imply such an agency. If scientific research shall in the future decide that all mankind descended from one original pair, that the centre of population was in Asia rather than in America, and that all civilization originated with one Old World branch of the human family—and these are all yet open questions—then there will be no great difficulty in accounting for the transfer of both population and culture; in fact the means of intercontinental intercourse are so numerous and practicable that it will perhaps be impossible to decide on the particular route or routes by which the transfer was effected. If, on the other hand, a contrary decision be reached on the above questions, the phenomena of American civilization and savagism will be even more easily accounted for.

The Mystery of Antiquity

Regarding North America then, at the most remote epoch reached by tradition, as already peopled for perhaps hundreds of centuries, I propose in the remaining pages of this volume to record all that is known of aboriginal history down to the period when the native races were found by Europeans living under the institutions and practicing the arts that have been described in the preceding volumes of this work. Comparatively little is known or can ever be known of that history. The sixteenth century is a bluff coast line bounding the dark unnavigable sea of American antiquity. At a very few points along the long line headlands project slightly into the waters, affording a tolerably sure footing for a time, but terminating for the most part in dangerous reefs and quicksands over which the adventurous antiquarian may pass with much risk still farther from the firm land of written record, and gaze at flickering mythical lights attached to buoys beyond. As a rule, nothing whatever is known respecting the history of savage tribes until they come in contact with nations of a higher degree of culture possessing some system of written record. Respecting the past of the Wild Tribes by whom most of our territory was inhabited, we have only a few childish fables of creation, the adventures of some bird or beast divinity, of a flood or some other natural convulsion, a victory or a defeat which may have occurred one or a hundred generations ago. These fables lack chronology, and have no definite historical signification which can be made available. The Civilized Nations, however, had recorded annals not altogether mythical. The Nahua annals reach back chronologically, although not uninterruptedly to about the sixth century of our era; the Maya record is somewhat less extensive in an unbroken line; but both extend more or less vaguely and mythically to the beginning of the Christian era, perhaps much farther. Myths are mingled in great abundance with historical traditions throughout the whole aboriginal period, and it is often utterly impossible to distinguish between them, or to fix the boundary line beyond which the element of history is absolutely wanting. The primitive aboriginal life, not only in America but throughout the world, is wrapped in mystery. The clear light of history fades gradually, as we recede from the present age, into an ever-deepening shadow, which, beyond a varying indefinable point, a border-land of myth and fable, merges into the black night of antiquity. The investigations of modern science move back but slowly this bound between the past and present, and while the results in the aggregate are immense, in shedding new light on portions of the world’s annals, progress toward the ultimate end is almost inappreciable. If the human mind shall ever penetrate the mystery, it will be one of its last and most glorious triumphs. America does not differ so much as would at first thought appear from the so-called Old World in respect to the obscurity that shrouds her early history, if both are viewed from a corresponding stand-point—in America the Spanish Conquest in the sixteenth century, in the eastern continent a remote period when history first began to be recorded in languages still in use. Or if we attach greater importance to Biblical than to other traditions, still America should be compared, not with the nations whose history is traced in the Hebrew record, but with the distant extremities of Asia, Europe, and Africa, on whose history the Bible throws no light, save the statement that they were peopled from a common centre, in which populating movement America has equal claims to be included. To all whose investigations are a search for truth, darkness covers the origin of the American peoples, and their primitive history, save for a few centuries preceding the Conquest. The darkness is lighted up here and there by dim rays of conjecture, which only become fixed lights of fact in the eyes of antiquarians whose lively imagination enables them to see best in the dark, and whose researches are but a sifting-out of supports to a preconceived opinion.

The authorities on which our knowledge of aboriginal history rests are native traditions orally handed down from generation to generation, the Aztec picture-writings that still exist, the writings of the Spanish authors who came in contact with the natives in the period immediately following the Conquest, and also of converted native writers who wrote in Spanish, or at least by the aid of European letters. In connection with these positive authorities the actual condition, institutions, and beliefs of the natives at the Conquest, together with the material monuments of antiquity, all described in the preceding volumes, constitute an important illustrative, corrective, or confirmatory source of information.

Tradition as an Authority

Oral tradition, in connection with linguistic affinities, is our only authority in the case of the wild tribes, and also plays a prominent part in the annals of the civilized nations. In estimating its historical value, not only the intrinsic value of the tradition itself, but the authenticity of the version presented to us must be taken into consideration; the latter consideration is, however, closely connected with that of the early writers and their reliability as authorities on aboriginal history. No tribe is altogether without traditions of the past, many—probably most—of which were founded on actual occurrences, while a few are wholly imaginary. Yet, whatever their origin, all are, if unsupported by written records, practically of little or no value. Every trace of the circumstances that gave rise to a tradition is soon lost, although the tradition itself in curiously modified forms is long preserved. Natural convulsions, like floods and earthquakes, famines, wars, tribal migrations, naturally leave an impression on the savage mind which is not easily effaced, but the fable in which the record is embodied may have assumed a form so changed and childish that we pass over it to-day as having no historical value, seeking information only in an apparently more consistent tale, which may have originated at a recent date from some very trivial circumstance. Examples are not wanting of very important events in the comparatively modern history of Indian tribes, the record of which has not apparently been preserved in song or story, or the memory of which at least has become entirely obliterated in little more than a hundred years. Oral tradition has no chronology that is not purely imaginary; “many moons ago,” “our fathers did thus and so,” may refer to antediluvian times or to the exploits of the narrator’s grandfather. Among the American savages there was not even a pride in the pedigree of families or horses to induce care in this respect, as among the Asiatic hordes of patriarchal times. But the traditions of savages, valueless by themselves for a time more remote than one or two generations, begin to assume importance when the events narrated have been otherwise ascertained by the records of some contemporary nation, throwing indirectly much light on history which they were powerless to reveal. Three traditions are especially prevalent in some form in nearly every section of America;—that of a deluge, of an aboriginal migration, and of giants that dwelt upon the earth at some time in the remote past. These may be taken as examples and interpreted as follows, the respective interpretations being arranged in the order of their probability.

The tradition of a flood would naturally arise, 1st, from the destruction of a tribe or part of a tribe by the sudden rising of a river or mountain stream—that is from a modern event such as has occurred at some time in the history of nearly every people, and which a hundred years and a fertile imagination would readily have converted into a universal inundation. 2d. From the finding of sea-shells and other marine relics inland, and even on high mountains, suggesting to the natives’ untutored mind what it proves to later scientific research—the fact that water once covered all. 3d. From the actual submersion of some portions of the continent by the action of volcano or earthquake, an event that geology shows not to be improbable, and which would be well calculated to leave a lasting impression on the minds of savages. 4th. From the deluge of the scriptural tradition, the only one of the many similar events that may have occurred which makes any claims to have been historically recorded. The accompanying particulars would be naturally invented. Some must have escaped, and an ark or a high mountain are the natural means.

A traditional migration from north, south, east, or west may point to the local journeying of a family or tribe, either in search of better hunting-grounds, or as a result of adverse fortune in war; in a few cases a general migration of many tribes constituting a great nation may be referred to; and finally, it is not quite impossible that a faint memory of an Old World origin may have survived through hundreds of generations.

Interpretation of Tradition

So with the giant tradition, resulting, 1st, from the memory of a fierce, numerous, powerful, and successful enemy, possibly of large physique. No tribe so valiant that it has not met with reverses, and the attributing of gigantic strength and supernatural powers to the successful foe, removes among the descendants the sting of their ancestors’ defeat. 2d. From the discovery of immense fossil bones of mastodons and other extinct species. It is not strange that such were deemed human remains by the natives when the Spaniards in later times have honestly believed them to be the bones of an extinct gigantic race. 3d. From the existence of grand ruins in many parts of the country, far beyond the constructive powers of the savage, and therefore in his eyes the work of giants—as they were intellectually, in comparison with their degenerate descendants. 4th. From an actual traditional remembrance of those who built the ruined cities, and intercourse with comparatively civilized tribes. 5th. From the existence in primitive times of a race of giants.

Numerous additional sources for each of these traditions might doubtless be suggested; but those given suffice for illustration, and, as I have remarked, they are arranged in each case in what would seem the natural order of probability. The near and natural should always be preferred to the remote and supernatural; and the fables mentioned should be referred to Noah’s deluge, Asiatic origin, and the existence of a gigantic race, only when the previous suppositions are proved by extraneous evidence to be untenable. The early writers on aboriginal America, using their reason only when it did not conflict with their faith, reversed the order of probability, and thus greatly impaired the usefulness of their contributions to history. The supposition of a purely imaginary origin, common to aboriginal legend and modern romance, should of course be added to each of the preceding lists, and generally placed before the last supposition given.

Passing from the wild tribes to the civilized nations of Mexico and Central America, we find tradition, or what is generally regarded as such, much more complete and extensive in its scope, less childish in detail, and with a more clearly defined dividing line between history and mythology. Theoretically we might expect a higher grade of tradition among a partially civilized people; but on the other hand, what need had the Nahuas or Mayas of oral tradition when they had the art of recording events? In fact, our knowledge of Aztec and Maya history is not in any proper sense traditional, although commonly spoken of as such by the writers. Previous to the practice of the hieroglyphic art—the date of whose invention or introduction is unknown, but must probably be placed long before the Christian era—oral tradition was doubtless the only guide to the past; but the traditions were recorded as soon as the system of picture-writing was sufficiently perfected to suggest if not to clearly express their import. After picture-writing came into general use, it is difficult to imagine that any historical events should have been handed down by tradition alone. Still in one sense the popular knowledge of the past among the Mexicans may be called traditional, inasmuch as the written records of the nation were not in the hands of the people, but were kept by a class of the priesthood, and may be supposed to have been read by comparatively few. The contents of the records, however, except perhaps some religious mysteries which the priests alone comprehended, were tolerably well known to the educated classes; and when the records were destroyed by Spanish fanaticism, this general knowledge became the chief source whence, through the ‘talk of the old men,’ the earlier writers drew their information. It is in this light that we must understand the statement of many able writers, that the greater part of our knowledge of early American history is traditional, since this knowledge was not obtained by an actual examination of the records by the Spaniards, but orally from the people, the upper classes of whom had themselves read the pictured annals, while the masses were somewhat familiar through popular chants and plays with their contents. The value of history faithfully taken from such a source cannot be doubted, but its vagueness and conflicting statements respecting dates and details may be best appreciated by questioning intelligent men in the light of nineteenth century civilization respecting the details of modern history, withholding the privilege of reference to books or documents.

Hieroglyphic Records

Of the Nahua hieroglyphic system and its capabilities enough has been said elsewhere.[II-1]Vol. ii., pp. 523-52. By its aid, from the beginning of the Toltec period at least, all historical events were recorded that were deemed worthy of being preserved. The popular knowledge of these events was perpetuated by means of poems, songs, and plays, and this knowledge was naturally faulty in dates. The numerous discrepancies which students of the present day meet at every step in the investigation of aboriginal annals, result chiefly from the almost total destruction of the painted records, the carelessness of those who attempted to interpret the few surviving documents at a time when such a task by native aid ought to have been feasible, the neglect of the Spanish priesthood in allowing the art of interpretation to be well-nigh lost, their necessary reliance for historical information on the popular knowledge above referred to, and to a certain degree doubtless from their failure to properly record information thus obtained.

But few native manuscripts have been preserved to the present time, and only a small part of those few are historical in their nature, two of the most important having been given in my second volume.[II-2]pp. 544-9. Most of the events indicated in such picture-writings as have been interpreted are also narrated by the early writers from traditional sources. Thus we see that our knowledge of aboriginal history depends chiefly on the hieroglyphic records destroyed by the Spaniards, rather than on the few fragments that escaped such destruction. To documents that may be found in the future, and to a more careful study of those now existing, we may look perhaps for much corrective information respecting dates and other details, but it is not probable that newly discovered picture-writings or new readings of old ones will extend the aboriginal annals much farther back into the past. These remarks apply of course only to the Aztec documents; the Maya records painted on skin and paper, or inscribed on stone, are yet sealed books, respecting the nature of whose contents conjecture is vain, but from which the future may evolve revelations of the greatest importance.

The Spanish Writers

Closely connected with the consideration of tradition and hieroglyphic records as authorities for my present subject, is that of the Spanish and native writers through whom for the most part American traditions, both hieroglyphically recorded and orally transmitted—in fact, what was known to the natives at the Conquest of their own past history—are made known to the modern student. These were Catholic missionaries and their converts, numerous, zealous, and as a class honest writers. Through an excess of religious zeal they had caused at the first irreparable harm by destroying the native records, but later they seem to have realized to a certain extent their error, and to have done all in their power to repair its consequences by zealously collecting such fragments of historical knowledge as had been preserved among the people. Their works have passed the test of severe criticism, and the defects of each have been fairly pointed out, exaggerated, or defended, according to the spirit of the critic; but the agreement of the different works in general outline, and even their differences in detail and their petty blunders, show that in their efforts to record all that could be ascertained of the history of the New World and the institutions of its people, their leading motive was the discovery of the truth, although they were swayed like other writers of their time, and all other times, by the spirit of the age, and by various religious, political, and personal prejudices.

The prevailing weakness of Spanish writers on America is well known—their religious enthusiasm and strong attachment to church dogmas, which, in view of some of its consequences, is pronounced at least mistaken zeal even by devoted churchmen of the present day. They believed in the frequent miraculous interposition of God in the work of converting the native pagans; in the instrumentality of the devil in the spiritual darkness preceding the Conquest. In their antiquarian researches a passage of scripture as commented by the Fathers brought infinitely stronger conviction to their minds than any sculptured monument, hieroglyphic record, historical tradition, or law of nature. In short, they were true Catholics of their time.[II-3]The fact that they were Spaniards and Catholics is enough to condemn them with critics of a certain class, of which Adair may be quoted as an example: ‘I lay little stress upon Spanish testimonies, for time and ocular proof have convinced us of the labored falsehood of almost all their historical narrations…. They were so divested of those principles inherent to honest enquirers after truth, that they have recorded themselves to be a tribe of prejudiced bigots.’ Amer. Ind., p. 197. The prevalence of this religious spirit among the only men who had an opportunity to clear up some of the mysteries of the American past is to be regretted. They could have done their work much better without its influence; but, on the other hand, without such a motive as religious enthusiasm there is little probability that the work would have been done at all. It is not only in American researches, however, that this imperfection prevails. As we recede from the present we find men more and more religious, and religion has ever been an imperious mistress, brooking no rivalry on the part of reason. Reliance on superstition and prejudice, rather than facts and reason, is not more noticeable perhaps in works on ancient America than in other old works. The faith of the Spaniards renders their conclusions on origin and the earlier periods of primitive history valueless, but if that were all, the defect would be of slight importance, for it is not likely that the natives knew anything of their own origin, and the Spaniards had no means not now accessible of learning anything on that subject from other sources. We may well pardon them for finding St Thomas and his Christian teachings in the Toltec traditions of Quetzalcoatl; the ten lost tribes of Israel in the American aborigines; Noah’s flood and the confusion of tongues in an Aztec picture of a man floating on the water and a bird speaking from a tree; provided they have left us a correct version of the tradition, a true account of the natives and their institutions, and an accurate copy of the picture referred to. But it is not improbable that their zeal gave a coloring to some traditions and suppressed others which furnished no support to the Biblical accounts, and were invented wholly in the interests of the devil. Fortunately it was chiefly on the mythological traditions supposed to relate to the creation, deluge, connection of the Americans with the Old World peoples, and other very remote events that they exercised their faith, rather than on historical traditions proper; fortunately, because the matters of origin and the earliest primitive history were entirely beyond the reach of such authorities, even had they been represented with the most perfect accuracy.

The writings of the authors in question were moreover submitted to a rigorous system of censorship by Spanish councils and tribunals under the control of the priesthood, without the approval of whose officials no work could be published. The spirit that animated these censors was the same as that alluded to above, and their zeal was chiefly directed to the discovery and expurgation of any lurking anti-Catholic sentiment. Many valuable works were doubtless suppressed, but such of them as were preserved in manuscript, or those whose contents have since been made known, have not proved that the censors directed their efforts against anything but heterodoxy and unfavorable criticism of Spanish dealings with the natives.

Spanish credulity accepted as facts many things which modern reason pronounces absurd; shall we therefore reject all statements that rest on Spanish authority? Do we reject all the events of Greek and Roman history, because the historians believed that the sun revolved about the earth, and attributed the ordinary phenomena of nature to the actions of imaginary gods? Should we deny the historical value of the Old Testament records because they tell of Jonah swallowed by a whale, and the sun ordered to stand still? Do we refuse to accept the occurrences of modern Mexican history because many of the ablest Mexican writers apparently believe in the apparition of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe? And finally, can we reject the statements of able and conscientious men—many of whom devoted their lives to the study of aboriginal character and history, from an honest desire to do the natives good—because they deemed themselves bound by their priestly vows and the fear of the Inquisition to draw scriptural conclusions from each native tradition? The same remarks apply to the writings of converted and educated natives, influenced to a great degree by their teachers; more prone, perhaps, to exaggeration through national pride, but at the same time better acquainted with the native character and with the interpretation of the native hieroglyphics. To pronounce all these works deliberately executed forgeries, as a few modern writers have done, is too absurd to require refutation.

The writers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries who derived their information from original sources, and on whose works all that has been written subsequently is founded, comprise, 1st, the conquerors themselves, chiefly Cortés, Diaz del Castillo, and the Anonymous Conqueror, whose writings only touch incidentally upon a few points of ancient history. 2d. The first missionaries who were sent from Spain to supplement the achievements of Cortés by spiritual conquests. Such were José de Acosta, Bernardino Sahagun, Bartolomé de Las Casas, Juan de Torquemada, Diego Duran, Gerónimo de Mendieta, Toribio de Benavente (Motolinia), Diego García de Palacio, Didaco Valades, and Alonzo de Zurita. Of these Torquemada is the most complete and comprehensive, so far as aboriginal history is concerned, furnishing an immense mass of material drawn from native sources, very badly arranged and written. Duran also devotes a large portion of his work[II-4]Historia Antigua de la Nueva España, MS. of 1588, folio, 3 volumes. A part of this work has recently been printed in Mexico. I have a manuscript copy made by Mr C. A. Spofford from that existing in the Congressional Library in Washington. to history, confining himself chiefly, however, to the annals of the Aztecs. The other authorities named, although containing full accounts of the natives and their institutions, devote comparatively little space to historical traditions; Sahagun is the best authority of all, so far as his observations go in this direction. All have been printed, either in the original Spanish or in translations, except Las Casas, whose great historical works exist only in manuscript. 3d. The native writers who after their conversion acquired the Spanish language and wrote on the history of their people, either in Spanish or in their own language, employing the Spanish alphabet. Most of them were thoroughly imbued with the spirit of their converters, and their writings as a class are subject to the same criticism. Domingo Muñoz Camargo, a noble Tlascaltec, wrote, about 1585, a history of his own people, which has been published only in a French translation. Fernando de Alvarado Tezozomoc, descended from the royal family of Azcapuzalco, wrote the chronicles of Mexican history from the standpoint of the Tepanecs, represented at the time of the Conquest by the kingdom of Tlacopan. Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl was a grandson of the last king of Tezcuco, from whom he inherited all that were saved of the records in the public archives. His works are more extensive than those of any other native writer, covering the whole ground of Nahua history, although treating more particularly of the Chichimecs, his ancestors.[II-5]Ixtlilxochitl has been the subject of much criticism favorable and otherwise. The verdict of the best authors seems to be that he wrote honestly, compiling from authentic documents in his possession, but carelessly, especially in the matter of chronology which presents contradictions on nearly every page. Even Wilson, Conq. Mex., pp. 23, 61, who stigmatizes as liars all the early writers on this subject, admits that Alva lies elegantly, and has written an able though fictitious narrative. Carelessness in dates and a disposition to unduly exalt his own race and family, are the most glaring faults of this author, and are observable also to a certain extent in all the native historians.

Secondary Authorities

In this class should be included the reported but little known writings of Juan Ventura Zapata y Mendoza, Tadeo de Niza, and Alonzo Franco.[II-6]Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 91; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 10; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 196. There are also many manuscripts by native authors whose names are unknown, brought to light by comparatively recent researches, and preserved for the most part in the Brasseur and Aubin collections in Paris. Their contents are unknown except through the writings of the Abbé Brasseur. The Popol Vuh is another important document, of which there are extant a Spanish and a French translation. 4th. Spanish authors who passed their lives mostly in Spain, and wrote chiefly under royal appointment. Their information was derived from the writers already mentioned, from the official correspondence of the colonists, and from the narratives of returning adventurers. Most of them touched upon aboriginal history among other topics. To this class belonged Peter Martyr, Francisco Lopez de Gomara, Antonio de Herrera, and Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdés. 5th. Catholic priests and missionaries who founded or were in charge of the missions at later periods or in remote regions, as Yucatan, Guatemala, Chiapas, Oajaca, Michoacan, and the north-western provinces of New Spain. They wrote chiefly in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and treat principally of the conversion of the natives, but include also in many cases their historical traditions and their explanations of the few aboriginal documents that fell into the possession of the converts. The number of such works is very great, and many of them have never been printed. Among the most important writers of this class are Diego de Landa, Diego Lopez Cogolludo, Padre Lizana, and Juan de Villagutierre Soto-Mayor, on Yucatan; Ramon de Ordoñez y Aguiar,[II-7]Historia de la Creacion del Cielo y de la Tierra, conforme al Sistema de la gentilidad Americana. Fuentes y Guzman,[II-8]Recopilacion Florida de la Historia del Reyno de Guatemala, MS. in the Guatemalan Archives. F. E. Arana,[II-9]Memorial de Tecpan-Atitlan, a history of the Cakchiquel Kingdom, MS. discovered by Brasseur. Francisco García Pelaez,[II-10]Memorias para la Historia del Antiguo Reyno de Guatemala. Guatemala, 1852. and Domingo Juarros, on Guatemala; Francisco Nuñez de la Vega,[II-11]Constituciones Diocesanas del Obispado de Chiappas. Rome, 1702. Francisco Ximenez,[II-12]Vol. iii. of a History of Chiapas and Guatemala, found by Scherzer at the University of San Carlos. See Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. viii., xiii. and Antonio de Remesal, on Chiapas; Ribas, Alegre, and Arricivita on the north-western provinces; and Francisco de Burgoa on Oajaca. To the above should be added the regular records kept in all the missions, and the numerous letters and reports of the missionaries in distant provinces, many of which have been preserved, and not a few printed. There may also be included in this class the writings of some later Mexican authors, such as Boturini, Sigüenza y Góngora, Veytia, Leon y Gama, and Clavigero. Their works were mostly founded on the information supplied by their predecessors, which they did much to arrange and classify, but they also had access to some original authorities not previously used. Clavigero is almost universally spoken of as the best writer on the subject, but it is probable that he owes his reputation much more to his systematic arrangement and clear narration of traditions that had before been greatly confused, and to the omission of the most perplexing and contradictory points, than to deep research or new discoveries.

The preceding classes include all the original authorities, that is, all founded on information not accessible to later writers. These works have been the foundation of all that has been written since, except what has been developed from linguistic and other scientific researches. All that modern authors have done may be followed step by step, their facts as well as their conclusions.

Of the secondary authorities already alluded to, the condition and institutions of the natives, with the material relics of their past, not much need be said. It is only indirectly by means of comparisons that these authorities can help us in the study of history. How little they can teach unaided is illustrated in the case of the wild tribes, for whose history they are practically the only authorities. In Mexico and Central America the state of civilization as shown in native art, religion, government, or manners and customs, may indicate by resemblances or dissimilarities a connection or want of it between the different civilized tribes, and may thus corroborate or modify their written annals; it may even throw some light on the unity or diversity of its own origin by showing the nature of the connection between the Nahua and Maya cultures, in which striking resemblances as well as contrasts are observed. Outside of the regions mentioned, where there were no tangible records, we can only search among the wilder tribes for points of likeness by which to attach their past to that of the civilized nations. It may be foreseen that the results of such a search will be but meagre and unsatisfactory, yet on several important branches of the subject, such as the relation borne by the Mound-Builders and Pueblos to the southern nations, it furnishes our only light.

Language as a Historical Authority

Of the historical aids now under consideration, ethnology proper, the study of physical and mental characteristics, has yielded and promises apparently the least important results. In fact, as has been already pointed out in another part of this work, it has hardly acquired the right to be classed among the sciences, so far as its application to the American people is concerned. Theoretically it may, in a more perfect state of development than now exists, throw some light on the route and order of American migrations, possibly on the question of origin; thus far, however, ethnological studies have been practically fruitless. Results obtained from a comparison of the miscellaneous arts and customs of various tribes have likewise furnished and will continue to furnish but very slight assistance in historical investigations. Resemblances and dissimilarities in these respects depend intimately on environment, which in comparatively short periods works the most striking changes. Strongly marked analogies are noted in tribes that never came in contact with each other, while contrasts as marked appear in people but a short time separated. Under the same circumstances, after all, men do about the same things, the mind originating like inventions; and coincidences in arts and customs, unless of an extraordinary nature, may be more safely attributed to an independent origin resulting from environment, than to international identity or connection. That language is by far the best of these secondary authorities is conceded by all. No better proof of relationship between native tribes can be desired than the fact that they speak the same language, or dialects showing clear verbal and constructive resemblances. The most prominent abuse of this authority has been a disposition to connect the past of tribes in whose languages slight and forced verbal similarities are pointed out. There is also some difference of opinion about the use of the authority. That two tribes speaking the same languages or similar dialects have had a common origin, or have at least been intimately connected in the past, as tribes, is evident; but how far back that origin or connection may extend, whether it may reach back through the ages to the first division of the human race, or even to the first subdivision of the American peoples, is a disputed point. Fortunately the doubts that have been raised concern chiefly the question of origin, which for other reasons cannot yet be settled.[II-13]Languages, ‘the most ancient historical monuments of nations.’ ‘If in the philosophical study of the structure of languages, the analogy of a few roots acquires value only when they can be geographically connected together, neither is the want of resemblance in roots any very strong proof against the common origin of nations.’ Humboldt’s Pers. Nar., vol. v., pp. 143, 293. Language, ‘which usually exhibits traces of its origin, even when the science and literature, that are embodied in it, have widely diverged.’ Prescott’s Mex., vol. iii., p. 394. ‘In the absence of historical evidence, language is the best test of consanguinity; there are reasons why climate should alter the physical character, but it does not appear that the language would be materially affected by such local influence.’ Prichard’s Nat. Hist. Man, vol. i., p. xvi. ‘Efectivamente, la historia por sí sola nada nos descubre acerca del orígen de las naciones, muy poco nos enseña sobre la mezcla y confusion de las razas, casi nada nos dice de las emigraciones de los pueblos, mientras todo esto lo esplica admirablemente el análisis y la investigacion del filólogo.’ Pimentel, Discurso, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. viii., pp. 367-8. ‘The problem of the common origin of languages has no necessary connection with the problem of the common origin of mankind…. The science of language and the science of Ethnology have both suffered most severely from being mixed up together. The classification of races and languages, should be quite independent of each other. Races may change their language and history supplies us with several instances where one race adopted the language of another. Different languages, therefore, may be spoken by different races; so that any attempt at squaring the classification of races and tongues must necessarily fail.’ Müller’s Science of Lang., vol. i., pp. 326-7.

Having thus given a sketch of the sources to which we may look for all that is known and has been conjectured respecting the American past, I shall proceed to place before the reader in the remaining chapters of my work what these authorities reveal on the subject. I have not, I believe, exaggerated their value, but fully comprehend the unsubstantial character which must be attributed to many of them. I am well aware that aboriginal American history, like the ancient Egyptian and Hebrew annals, differs materially in its nature and degree of accuracy from the history of England since the expedition of William the Conqueror, or of Mexico since the Conquest by Hernan Cortés. I do not propose to record such events only as may be made to conform to the modern idea of chronologic exactitude, rejecting all else as fabulous and mythic. Were such my purpose, a chapter on the subject already given in the second volume would suffice, with some contraction for the earlier epochs, and a corresponding expansion, perhaps, for Aztec history during the century immediately preceding the Conquest. On the contrary, I shall tell the tale as I find it recorded, mingled as it doubtless is at many points with myth and fable, and shall recount, as others have done, the achievements of heroes that possibly never lived, the wanderings of tribes who never left their original homes. It is not in a spirit of real or feigned credulity that I adopt this course,—on the contrary, I wish to clearly discriminate between fact and fancy wherever such discrimination may be possible, and so far as an extensive study of my subject may enable me to do so—but it is in accordance with the general plan of the whole work to record all that is found, rejecting only what may be proven false and valueless rather than what may possibly be so.

Treatment of the Subject

I have compared the American past to a dark sea, from the bluff coast line of which projects an occasional cape terminating in precipitous cliffs, quicksands, and sunken rocks, beyond which some faint lights are floated by buoys. The old authors, as Torquemada, Clavigero, and Veytia, had but little difficulty in crossing from the headlands to the tower of Babel beyond the Sea of Darkness; they told the story, fables and all, with little discrimination save here and there the rejection of a tale infringing apparently on orthodoxy, or the expression of a doubt as to the literal acceptation of some marvelous occurrence. Of modern authors, those who, like Wilson, refuse to venture upon the projecting capes of solid rock and earth, who utterly reject the Aztec civilization with all its records, are few, and at this day their writings may be considered as unworthy of serious notice. Other writers, of whom Gallatin is a specimen, venture boldly from the main coast to the extremity of each projecting point, and acknowledge the existence of the rocks, sands, and buoys beyond, but decline to attempt their passage, doubting their security. These men, in favor of whose method there is much to be said, accept the annals of the later Aztec periods, but look with distrust upon the traditions of the Chichimec, Toltec, and Olmec epochs; and hardly see in the far distance the twinkling floating lights that shine from Votan’s Empire of Xibalba. Then there are writers who are continually dreaming they have found secure footing by routes previously unknown, from rock to rock and through the midst of shifting sands. Such are the advocates of special theories of American history resting on newly discovered authorities or new readings of old ones. They carefully sift out such mythic traditions as fit their theories, converting them into incontrovertible facts, and reject all else as unworthy of notice; these, however, have chiefly to do with the matter of origin. Finally, I may speak of Brasseur de Bourbourg, rather a class by himself, perhaps, than the representative of a class. This author, to speak with a degree of exaggeration, steps out without hesitation from rock to rock over the deep waters; to him the banks of shifting quicksand, if somewhat treacherous about the edges, are firm land in the central parts; to him the faintest buoy-supported stars are a blaze of noon-day sun; and only on the floating masses of sea-weed far out on the waters lighted up by dim phosphorescent reflections, does he admit that his footing is becoming insecure and the light grows faint. In other words, he accepts the facts recorded by preceding authors, arranges them often with great wisdom and discrimination, ingeniously finds a historic record in traditions by others regarded as pure fables, and thus pushes his research far beyond the limits previously reached. He rejects nothing, but transforms everything into historic facts.

In the present sketch I wish to imitate to a certain extent the writers of each class mentioned, except perhaps the specialists, for I have no theory to defend, have found no new bright sun to illumine what has ever been dark. With the Spanish writers I would tell all that the natives told as history, and that without constantly reminding the reader that the sun did not probably stand still in the heavens, that giants did not flourish in America, that the Toltec kings and prophets did not live to the age of several hundred years, and otherwise warning him against what he is in no danger whatever of accepting as truth. With Wilson and his class of antiquarian sceptics I would feel no hesitation in rejecting the shallow theories and fancies evolved by certain writers from their own brain. With Gallatin I wish to discriminate clearly, when such discrimination is called for and possible, between the historic and the probably mythic; to indicate the boundary between firm land and treacherous quicksand; but also like Brasseur, I would pass beyond the firm land, spring from rock to rock, wade through shifting sands, swim to the farthest, faintest, light, and catch at straws by the way;—yet not flatter myself while thus employed, as the abbé occasionally seems to do, that I am treading dry-shod on a wide, solid, and well-lighted highway.

Footnotes

[II-1] Vol. ii., pp. 523-52.

[II-2] pp. 544-9.

[II-3] The fact that they were Spaniards and Catholics is enough to condemn them with critics of a certain class, of which Adair may be quoted as an example: ‘I lay little stress upon Spanish testimonies, for time and ocular proof have convinced us of the labored falsehood of almost all their historical narrations…. They were so divested of those principles inherent to honest enquirers after truth, that they have recorded themselves to be a tribe of prejudiced bigots.’ Amer. Ind., p. 197.

[II-4] Historia Antigua de la Nueva España, MS. of 1588, folio, 3 volumes. A part of this work has recently been printed in Mexico. I have a manuscript copy made by Mr C. A. Spofford from that existing in the Congressional Library in Washington.

[II-5] Ixtlilxochitl has been the subject of much criticism favorable and otherwise. The verdict of the best authors seems to be that he wrote honestly, compiling from authentic documents in his possession, but carelessly, especially in the matter of chronology which presents contradictions on nearly every page. Even Wilson, Conq. Mex., pp. 23, 61, who stigmatizes as liars all the early writers on this subject, admits that Alva lies elegantly, and has written an able though fictitious narrative. Carelessness in dates and a disposition to unduly exalt his own race and family, are the most glaring faults of this author, and are observable also to a certain extent in all the native historians.

[II-6] Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 91; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 10; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 196.

[II-7] Historia de la Creacion del Cielo y de la Tierra, conforme al Sistema de la gentilidad Americana.

[II-8] Recopilacion Florida de la Historia del Reyno de Guatemala, MS. in the Guatemalan Archives.

[II-9] Memorial de Tecpan-Atitlan, a history of the Cakchiquel Kingdom, MS. discovered by Brasseur.

[II-10] Memorias para la Historia del Antiguo Reyno de Guatemala. Guatemala, 1852.

[II-11] Constituciones Diocesanas del Obispado de Chiappas. Rome, 1702.

[II-12] Vol. iii. of a History of Chiapas and Guatemala, found by Scherzer at the University of San Carlos. See Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. viii., xiii.

[II-13] Languages, ‘the most ancient historical monuments of nations.’ ‘If in the philosophical study of the structure of languages, the analogy of a few roots acquires value only when they can be geographically connected together, neither is the want of resemblance in roots any very strong proof against the common origin of nations.’ Humboldt’s Pers. Nar., vol. v., pp. 143, 293. Language, ‘which usually exhibits traces of its origin, even when the science and literature, that are embodied in it, have widely diverged.’ Prescott’s Mex., vol. iii., p. 394. ‘In the absence of historical evidence, language is the best test of consanguinity; there are reasons why climate should alter the physical character, but it does not appear that the language would be materially affected by such local influence.’ Prichard’s Nat. Hist. Man, vol. i., p. xvi. ‘Efectivamente, la historia por sí sola nada nos descubre acerca del orígen de las naciones, muy poco nos enseña sobre la mezcla y confusion de las razas, casi nada nos dice de las emigraciones de los pueblos, mientras todo esto lo esplica admirablemente el análisis y la investigacion del filólogo.’ Pimentel, Discurso, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. viii., pp. 367-8. ‘The problem of the common origin of languages has no necessary connection with the problem of the common origin of mankind…. The science of language and the science of Ethnology have both suffered most severely from being mixed up together. The classification of races and languages, should be quite independent of each other. Races may change their language and history supplies us with several instances where one race adopted the language of another. Different languages, therefore, may be spoken by different races; so that any attempt at squaring the classification of races and tongues must necessarily fail.’ Müller’s Science of Lang., vol. i., pp. 326-7.

Chapter III • The Pre-Toltec Period of Aboriginal History • 28,900 Words

Subdivision of the Subject—Tzendal Tradition of the Votanic Empire—Votan’s Book and its Contents as reported by Nuñez de la Vega, Cabrera, and Ordoñez—Testimony of Manners and Customs, Religion, Languages, and Monuments of the Civilized Nations respecting the Primitive Maya Peoples—The Quiché Record, or Popol Vuh—Civilizing Efforts of Gucumatz and his Followers—Exploits of Hunahpu and Xbalanque—Conquest of Xibalba—Migration from Tulan Zuiva, the Seven Caves—Meaning of the Quiché Tradition—Nahua Traditions—The Toltecs in Tamoanchan according to Sahagun—The Codex Chimalpopoca—Pre-Toltec Nations in Mexico—Olmecs and Xicalancas—The Quinames—Cholula and Quetzalcoatl—The Totonacs—Teotihuacan—Otomís, Miztecs, Zapotecs, and Huastecs—The Toltecs in Huehue Tlapallan—Migration to Anáhuac—The Chichimecs in Amaquemecan—Ancient Home of the Nahuatlacas and Aztecs—Primitive Annals of Yucatan—Conclusions.

Treatment of the Subject • Division of the Subject

In order to render more vivid than it would otherwise have been a picture of Nahua and Maya institutions as they were found in the sixteenth century, I have devoted one chapter of a preceding volume to an outline view of aboriginal history; to fill in so far as possible its details, is my remaining task. The sketch alluded to will prove convenient here, since it will enable me at various points to refer intelligibly and yet briefly to events somewhat in advance of their chronologic order. As has been stated, the sixth century is the most remote period to which we are carried in the annals of Anáhuac by traditions sufficiently definite to be considered in a strict sense as historic records. Prior to the sixth century there were doubtless other periods of Nahua greatness, for there is little evidence to indicate that this was the first appearance in Mexico of this progressive people, but previous development cannot be definitely followed—in a historical sense—although affording occasional glimpses which supply interesting matter for antiquarian speculation.

In the southern regions, where the Maya culture flourished, or what may be considered geographically as Central America, we have seen that the chronologic record is much less extensive and perfect even than in the north, taking us back in an oft-broken line only a few centuries beyond the Conquest. Yet we have caught traditional glimpses far back in the misty past of a mighty aboriginal empire in these tropical lands, of the earlier and grander stages of Maya culture, of Votan, of Xibalba, of even the early periods of Nahua civilization and power. Palenque, Copan, and their companions in ruin, the wonderful material monuments of the ancient epoch, proving it to be no mere creation of the imagination, have been described and pictured. With the breaking-up of the Maya empire into separate nations at an unknown date, the aboriginal history of Central America as a whole ceases, and down to a period closely preceding the Conquest, we have only an occasional event, the memory of which is preserved in the traditions of two or three nations.

The history of the Native Races may be most conveniently subdivided as follows;—1st. The Pre-Toltec Period, embracing the semi-mythic traditions of the earliest civilization, extending down to a date—always preceding the sixth century, but varying in different parts of the territory—when the more properly historic annals of the different nations begin, and including also the few traditions referring to pre-Toltec nations north of Tehuantepec. 2d. The Toltec Period, referring like the two following periods to Anáhuac alone, and extending down to the eleventh century. 3d. The Chichimec Period, extending from the eleventh century to the formation of the tri-partite alliance between the Aztecs, Acolhuas, and Tepanecs in the fifteenth century. 4th. The Aztec Period, that of Aztec supremacy during the century preceding the Conquest. 5th. The annals of such Nahua nations outside the limits of the Aztec Empire proper as cannot be conveniently included in the preceding divisions. 6th. Historical traditions of the Wild Tribes of the north. 7th. The Quiché-Cakchiquel nations of Guatemala. 8th. Miscellaneous nations and tribes of Central America. 9th. The Maya nations of Yucatan.

The first division, the Pre-Toltec Period, to which the present chapter is devoted, will include the few vague traditions that seem to point to the cradle of American civilization, to the Votanic empire, to Xibalba, and to the deeds of the civilizers, or culture-heroes, in Tabasco and Chiapas. Who can estimate the volumes that would be required for a full narration of all that actually occurred within this period, had the record been made or preserved;—the development, from germs whose nature is unknown, of American civilization; the struggles and misfortunes of infant colonies; the exploits of native heroes; plots of ambition, glorious success, utter failure; the rise and fall of princes and of empires; wars, triumphs, defeats; oppression and revolt; political combinations and intrigues; religious strife between the fanatic devotees of rival divinities; seasons of plenty and of famine; earthquake, flood, and pestilence—a tangled network of events spread over the centuries;—to relate all that we may know of it a chapter will suffice.

Votan and His Deeds

I have told in another volume the mythic tale of Votan,[III-1]Vol. iii., p. 450, et seq. the culture-hero, how he came to America and apportioned the land among the people. He came by divine command from Valum Chivim by way of Valum Votan, built a great city of Nachan, ‘city of the serpents’—so called from his own name, for he was of the race of Chan, a Serpent—and founded a great empire in the Usumacinta region, which he seems to have ruled over as did his descendants or followers for many centuries. He was not regarded in the native traditions as the first man in America; he found the country peopled, as did all the culture-heroes, but by his teachings and by the aid of his companions he firmly established his own ideas of religion and government. So far as his memory was preserved by tradition he was a civilizer, a law-giver, the introducer of the Maya culture, worshiped moreover, after his disappearance, as a god. He came by sea from the east, but with the locality whence he started I have nothing to do here; neither is it necessary to indulge in speculation respecting the four mysterious visits which he paid after his arrival in America to his original home in the Old World, where it is gravely asserted he was present at the building of Solomon’s temple and saw the ruins of the tower of Babel. His reported acts in the New World, whose people he came to civilize, were;—the dividing or apportioning of the lands among the people; their instruction in the new institutions they were required to adopt; the building of a great city, Nachan, afterwards the metropolis of an empire; the reception of a new band of disciples of his own race, who were allowed to share in the success already achieved by his enterprise; the subdividing of his empire after its power had become wide-spread in the land into several allied monarchies subordinate in a certain degree to Nachan, among whose capitals were Tulan, Mayapan, and Chiquimula; the construction of a subterranean road or ‘snake hole’ from the barranca of Zuqui to Tzequil; the deposit of a great treasure with tapirs as sacred animals in a ‘house of gloom’ at Huehuetan in Soconusco, protected by guardians called tlapianes, at whose head was a Lady Superior; and finally the writing of a ‘book’ in which was inscribed a complete record of all he had done, with a defense or proof of his claims to be considered one of the Chanes, or Serpents.[III-2]Ordoñez states in one part of his work that this record was not written by Votan himself, but by his descendant in the eighth or ninth generation. Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Popol Vuh, p. lxxxvii.

The Book of Votan

This document is the authority, indirectly, for nearly all that is known from Tzendal sources of Votan and his empire. Francisco Nuñez de la Vega, Bishop of Chiapas, claims to have had in his possession[III-3]Constituciones Diocesanas del Obispado de Chiappas. Rome, 1702. and to have read this historical tract. He does not describe it, but from his having been able to read the contents, it would seem to have been, if genuine, not the original in hieroglyphics but an interpretation in European letters, although still perhaps in the Tzendal language. Of the contents, besides a general statement of Votan’s coming as the first man sent by God to portion out the land, and some of his experiences in the Old World, this author says nothing definite. He claims to have had much knowledge of Tzendal antiquity derived from the work mentioned and other native writings, but he feared to perpetuate this knowledge lest it might “confirm more strongly an idolatrous superstition.” He is the only authority for the deposit of the treasure in the Dark House at Huehuetan, without saying expressly that he derived his information from Votan’s writings. This treasure, consisting of aboriginal relics, the bishop felt it to be his duty to destroy, and it was publicly burned in 1691. It is not altogether improbable that a genuine Maya document similar to the Manuscript Troano or Dresden Codex,[III-4]See vol. ii., pp. 771-4.preserved from the early times, may have found a native interpreter at the time of the Conquest, and have escaped in its disguise of Spanish letters the destruction that overtook its companions.

The next notice of this manuscript is found in the writings of Dr Paul Felix Cabrera,[III-5]Teatro Critico Americano, p. 32, et seq. who in the last part of the eighteenth century found it in the possession of Don Ramon de Ordoñez y Aguiar, a native and resident of Ciudad Real in Chiapas.[III-6]See vol. iv., p. 289. He describes the document as consisting of “five or six folios of common quarto paper, written in ordinary characters in the Tzendal language, an evident proof of its having been copied from the original in hieroglyphics, shortly after the conquest.”[III-7]‘At the top of the first leaf, the two continents are painted in different colours, in two small squares, placed parallel to each other in the angles: the one representing Europe, Asia, and Africa is marked with two large SS; upon the upper arms of two bars drawn from the opposite angles of each square, forming the point of union in the centre; that which indicates America has two SS placed horizontally on the bars, but I am not certain whether upon the upper or lower bars, but I believe upon the latter. When speaking of the places he had visited on the old continent, he marks them on the margin of each chapter, with an upright S, and those of America with an horizontal S. Between these squares stands the title of his history “Proof that I am Culebra” (a snake), which title he proves in the body of his work, by saying that he is Culebra, because he is Chivim.’ Cabrera, Teatro, pp. 33-4. The manuscript, according to Cabrera, recounted Votan’s arrival with seven families, to whom he apportioned the lands; his voyages to the Old World; and his reception of the new-comers. Returning from one of his voyages “he found seven other families of the Tzequil nation, who had joined the first inhabitants, and recognized in them the same origin as his own, that is, of the Culebras. He speaks of the place where they built their first town, which, from its founders, received the name of Tzequil; he affirms the having taught them refinement of manners in the use of the table, table-cloth, etc.; that, in return for these, they taught him the knowledge of God and of his worship; his first ideas of a king and obedience to him; and that he was chosen captain of all these united families.”

Ordoñez, at the time of Cabrera’s visit, was engaged in writing his great ‘History of the Heaven and Earth,'[III-8]Historia del Cielo y de la Tierra, MS. See vol. iv., p. 289, for additional notes respecting this author. a work, as the learned Doctor predicts, to be “so perfect in its kind, as will completely astonish the world.” The manuscript was never published, part of the historical portion was lost, and the remaining fragments or copies of them fell into the hands of Brasseur de Bourbourg, whose writings contain all that is known of their contents; and it must be confessed that from these fragments little or nothing of value has been extracted by the abbé in addition to what Nuñez de la Vega and Cabrera had already made known. Ordoñez was familiar with the Tzendal language and character, with the ancient monuments of his native state, and was zealously devoted to antiquarian researches; he had excellent opportunities to collect and record such scraps of knowledge as the Tzendal tribes had preserved from the days of their ancestors’ greatness;[III-9]‘Un estudio de muchos ratos (mas de treinta años) … acompañado de la constante aplicacion con que me dediqué á entender las frases de que usaron los Indios en su primitive gentilismo, principalmente en la historia que de su establecimiento en esta region que nosotros llamamos América, escribió Votan, la cual conseguí, de les mismos Indios (quienes me la franquearon), y sobre todo, la conveniencia que resulta de una prolixa combinacion de la situacion de aquella ciudad (Palenque), de la disposicion y arquitectura de sus edificios, de la antigüedad de sus geroglíficos, y finalmente de las producciones de su terreno, con las noticias que, á costa de porfiadas diligencias, habia adquirido; creí que me tenian en estado de despertar un sistema nada nuevo, pero olvidado.’ Ordoñez, MS., in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Cartas, p. 7. but his enthusiasm seems rather to have led him to profitless speculations on the original population of the New World and “its progress from Chaldea immediately after the confusion of tongues.” Even after rejecting the absurd theories and speculations which seem to have constituted the bulk of his writings, one cannot help looking with some distrust on the few traditional statements respecting Votan not given by other authors, and thinking of possible transformations that may have been effected in Tzendal fables under the pens of two writers like Ordoñez and Brasseur, both honest investigators, but of that enthusiastic class of antiquarians who experience few or no difficulties.

Tzendal Traditions

The few items of information respecting the Votanic period not already mentioned, some of them not in themselves improbable, but few traceable to any very definite native source, are the following: The date of the foundation of the empire, according to Ordoñez, was about 1000 B.C. Whether he had any other reason for this supposition than his theory that the building of Solomon’s temple, attributed by some writers to that period, took place during Votan’s life, is uncertain. The name Tzequiles, applied to Votan’s followers by the aborigines,—or rather, it would seem, by the first to the second division of the Serpents—is said to mean in Tzendal ‘men with petticoats,’ and to have been applied to the new-comers by reason of their peculiar dress.[III-10]Ordoñez, as represented by Cabrera—Teatro, p. 96—claims that the name Tzequiles has precisely the same meaning as Nahuatlacas in the Nahua dialect, and he applies the name to a Nahua rather than a Maya people, with much reason as will appear later, although Brasseur is of a contrary opinion. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 70. To them was given, after the permanent establishment of the empire, one of the great kingdoms into which it was divided, with Tulan as their capital city. This kingdom with two others, whose capitals were Mayapan in Yucatan and Chiquimula, possibly Copan, in Honduras, were allied with, yet to a certain degree subordinate to, the original empire whose capital was Nachan, built and ruled by Votan himself and his descendants. The only names which seem to have been applied in the Tzendal traditions to the people and their capital city were Chanes, or Serpents, and Nachan, or City of Serpents; but these names acquire considerable historical importance when it is noted that they are the exact equivalents of Culhuas and Culhuacan, names which will be found so exasperatingly prevalent in the Nahua traditions of the north. Ordoñez claims, however, that the name Quiché, at a later period that of a Guatemalan kingdom, was also in these earlier times applied to Votan’s empire.[III-11]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Cartas, p. 10.

Of Votan’s death there is no tradition, nor is anything definite reported of his successors, save, what is perhaps only a conjecture, that their names are recorded in the Tzendal calendar as the names of days,[III-12]For list see vol. ii., p. 767. the order being that of their succession. In this case it is necessary to suppose that Votan had two predecessors, Igh and Imox; and in fact Brasseur claims to find in one document a statement that Igh brought the first colony to America.[III-13]Cartas, p. 71. Chinax, the last but two of the line, a great soldier, is said to have been put to death by a rival of another nation.[III-14]Piñeda, Descrip. Chiapas, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. iii., pp. 343-6; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 95-7. Nuñez de la Vega notes the existence of a family of Votans in his time, claiming direct descent from the great founder; and Brasseur states that a wild tribe of the region are yet known as Chanes.[III-15]Cabrera, Teatro, p. 30; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. cix.; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 165; See on Votan and his empire, besides the works that have been mentioned in this chapter, Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 203; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 150-1, tom. iv., pp. 15-16; Boturini, Idea, pp. 114-5; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, introd; Id., Esquisses; Id., Palenqué; Fontaine’s How the World was Peopled, p. 136; Tschudi’s Peruvian Antiq., pp. 11-15; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 10, et seq.; Levy, Nicaragua, p. 4; Priest’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 248-9; Beaufoy’s Mex. Illust., pp. 218-21; Farcy, Discours, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. i., p. 43.

The Votanic Empire

Such are the vague memories of the Chiapan past so far as they were preserved by the natives of the region, and collected by Europeans. The nature of the traditions themselves, the sources whence they sprang, the medium through which they are given to us, are not such as to inspire great confidence in the accuracy of the details related, although some of the traditions are not improbable and were very likely founded on actual occurrences. But whatever value may be attached to their details, the traditions in question have great weight in establishing two general propositions—the existence in the remote past of a great and powerful empire in the Usumacinta region, and a general belief among the subjects of that empire that the beginning of their greatness was due to a hero or demi-god called Votan. They point clearly to the appearance and growth of a great race, nation, or dynasty; and they carry us no farther. Respecting the questions who or what was Votan, man or mythic creation, populator, colonizer, civilizer, missionary, conqueror, foreign or native born? When, how, and whence did he come to the central tierra caliente? Who were the people among whom he wrought his mighty deeds, and what was their past history? we are left to simple conjecture,—conjecture of a class which falls without the limits of my present purpose, and to which the first chapter of this volume has been devoted. Doubtless the Votanic was not the first period of American civilization and power, but none earlier is known to us. In addition to the Tzendal traditions there are several other authorities bearing more or less directly on this primitive empire, which I proceed to investigate.

In the second volume of this work I have described the physique, character, manners and customs, arts, and institutions of the civilized nations of our territory, dividing them into two great families or groups, the Mayas and the Nahuas, “the former the more ancient, the latter the more recent and wide-spread.” The many contrasts observed between the institutions of the northern and southern nations seemed sufficiently marked to outweigh the frequently recurring resemblances, and to justify me in the opinion there expressed that their culture had either been distinct from the beginning, or—what is more probable and for my purpose practically the same thing—that it had progressed in different paths for a long time previous to the coming of the Spaniards. The contrasts observed were attributed to a distinct origin of the two national groups, or, with more probability, to their long separation; while the analogies were to be referred either to unity of origin, to the tendency of humanity to like development under like circumstances, to frequent communication and friction by commerce or war, or still better, to the influence of all these causes combined.

The Mayas and Nahuas

The picture presented in the third volume of the myths and languages of the same nations favored the view previously taken. In the religious fancies, divinities, forms of worship, ideas of a future state, physical, animal, and creation myths, to which the first part of the volume was devoted, the analogies, it is true, seemed somewhat stronger and the contrasts less striking than in the characteristics previously portrayed; this was perhaps because the myths of any people point farther back into their past than do the so-called manners and customs; but in the consideration of languages which followed, the contrasts between the two groups came out more distinctly marked than at any previous stage of the investigation. A very large proportion of the tongues of the civilized nations were found to belong more or less closely to one or the other of two linguistic families. Finally, in the fourth volume a study of material relics tended very strongly to confirm the opinion before arrived at respecting the development of Maya and Nahua culture in distinct channels, at least during the historic period. I need not repeat here even en résumé the facts exhibited in the preceding volumes, nor the lessons that have at different points been drawn from them; but I may briefly mention some general conclusions founded on the preceding matter which bear on my present purpose of historical investigation. First, as already stated, the Maya and Nahua nations have been within traditionally historic times practically distinct, although coming constantly in contact. Second, this fact is directly opposed to the once accepted theory of a civilized people, coming from the far north, gradually moving southward with frequent halts, constantly increasing in power and culture, until the highest point of civilization was reached in Chiapas, Honduras, and Yucatan, or as many believed in South America. Third, the theory alluded to is rendered altogether untenable by the want of ruins in California and the great north-west; by the utter want of resemblance between New Mexican and Mexican monuments; by the failure to discover either Aztec or Maya dialects in the north; and finally by the strong contrasts between the Nahuas and Mayas, both in language and in monuments of antiquity. Fourth, the monuments of the south are not only different from but much more ancient than those of Anáhuac, and cannot possibly have been built by the Toltecs after their migration from Anáhuac in the eleventh century, even if such a migration took place. Fifth, these monuments, like those of the north, were built by the ancestors of the people found in possession of the country at the Conquest, and not by an extinct race or in remote antiquity.[III-16]On the Antiquity of Copan, the ruins of Yucatan, and Palenque, see vol. iv., pp. 104, 280-5, 359-62.Sixth, the cities of Palenque, Ococingo, and Copan, at least, were unoccupied when the Spaniards came; the natives of the neighboring region knew nothing of their origin even if they were aware of their existence, and no notice whatever of the existence of such cities appears in the annals of the surrounding civilized nations during the eight or nine centuries preceding the Conquest; that is, the nation that built Palenque was not one of those found by Europeans in the country, but its greatness had practically departed before the rise of the Quiché, Cakchiquel, and Yucatan powers. Seventh, the many resemblances that have been noted between Nahua and Maya beliefs, institutions, arts, and relics, may be consistently accounted for by the theory that at some period long preceding the sixth century the two peoples were practically one so far as their institutions were concerned, although they are of themselves not sufficient to prove the theory. Eighth, the oldest civilization in America which has left any traces for our consideration, whatever may have been its pre-historic origin, was that in the Usumacinta region represented by the Palenque group of ruins.[III-17]‘The monuments of the Mississippi present stronger internal evidence of great antiquity than any others in America, although it by no means follows that they are older than Palenque and Copan.’ Vol. iv., p. 790.

It is not likely that Américanistes of the present day will disagree materially with the preceding conclusions, especially as they do not positively assert the southern origin of the Nahua peoples or deny their traditional migration from the north. The general theory alluded to of a great migration from north to south, and the theory of a civilized race of foreign origin extinct long before the Conquest, will find few defenders in view of the results of modern research. It is true that many writers attribute more or less positively the grand ruins of Central America to the Toltecs after their migration southward in the eleventh century; but their decision has been generally reached without even considering the possible existence of any other civilized nation in the annals of American antiquity. Their studies have shown them that Palenque was not the work of an extinct race, and they have consequently attributed the ruins to the oldest people mentioned in the popular version of American traditional history—the Toltecs, and the more naturally because that people, according to the tradition, had migrated southward. Mr Stephens, who arrived at this conclusion in the manner indicated, admits that from a study of the ruins themselves he would have assigned the foundation of the cities to a much more remote period.[III-18]Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 454-5. By a careful study of Mr Stephens’ conclusions, it will appear evident to the reader that he ascribes the Central American ruins to the Toltecs, simply as the oldest nations on the continent of America, of which we have any knowledge, and that he reconciles their condition at the time of his exploration with their recent origin, chiefly by a consideration of the Yucatan ruins, most of which doubtless do not date back to the Votanic empire, and many of which were still occupied at the coming of the first Spaniards.

Monuments and Institutions

Thus the monumental relics of Central America by themselves and by comparisons with other American ruins, point directly to the existence of a great empire in the Palenque region; and the observed phenomena of myths, language, and institutions agree perfectly with such a conclusion, which, however, unaided, they could not have established. We may then accept as a reality the Votanic Maya empire on the authority of the native traditions confirmed by the tangible records of ruined cities, and by the condition of the southern civilized nations in the sixteenth century. It is more than probable that Palenque was the capital, as Ordoñez believes—the Nachan of the Votanic epoch—and not improbable that Ococingo, Copan, and some of the older Yucatec cities were the centres of contemporaneous, perhaps allied powers.[III-19]Although in the ‘general view,’ vol. ii., chap. ii., I have classed the Toltecs among the Nahua nations, it will be noticed that the preceding conclusions of the present chapter are independent of such a classification, and are not necessarily opposed to the theory, held by some, that the cities of Central America were built by the Toltecs before they assumed a prominent position among the nations of Anáhuac. The following notes bear more or less directly on points involved in the preceding text. Mr Tylor, Anáhuac, pp. 189-93; Researches, p. 184, believes that the civilization of Mexico and Central America were originally independent although modified by contact one with the other, and attributes the Central American cities to a people who flourished long before the Toltecs, and whose descendants are the Mayas. Yet he favors the climatic theory of the origin and growth of civilization, according to which the culture of the south must have been brought from the Mexican tierra templada. I have no objection to offer to this theory. It is in the Usumacinta region that the Maya civilization has left its first record both traditional and monumental; and that is sufficient for my present purpose. Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 124-5, etc., concludes from his linguistic researches that the Palenque civilization was much older than the Toltec and distinct from it. Hellwald, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, pp. 340-1, pronounces the Palenque culture the oldest in America, with no resemblance to that of the Nahuas. He rejects the theory that the ruins were the work of migrating Toltecs. Palenque will probably some day decide the question of American civilization. It only awaits a Champollion. Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 439. The ruins in the south have undoubted claims to the highest antiquity. Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., p. 199. The Usumacinta seems a kind of central point for the high culture of Central America. Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 456.

Traditions of the Quichés

I pass next to the traditions of the Quiché nations as preserved in the Popol Vuh, or National Book, and known to the world through the Spanish translation of Ximenez and the French of Brasseur de Bourbourg.[III-20]See vol. iii., pp. 42-4, note 1, for a bibliographical notice of the Popol Vuh. These traditions, the authenticity and general accuracy of which there is no reason to doubt, constitute a hopelessly entangled network of mythic tales, without chronology, but with apparent although vague references here and there, to actual events in the primitive history of the peoples whose descendants were the Quichés and Cakchiquels, and with a more continuous account in the closing chapters, of the Quiché annals of a much later period, immediately preceding the Conquest. In the introduction we read: “This is the origin of the ancient history of Quiché. Here we write the annals of the past, the beginning of all that has taken place in the city of Quiché, among the tribes of the Quiché nations. Behold we bring about the manifestation of what was in obscurity, its first dawning by the will of the Creator and of the Former, of Him who begets and of Him who gives being. Their names are Hunahpu Vuch—’shooter of the blowpipe at the opossum,’ Hunahpu Utïu—’shooter of the blowpipe at the coyote,’ Zaki Nima Tzyiz—’great white pricker,’ Tepeu—the ‘dominator,’ and Gucumatz—the ‘plumed serpent;’ Heart of the Lakes, Heart of the Sea, Master of the Verdant Planisphere, Master of the Azure Surface. Thus it is that these also are named, sung, and celebrated—the grandmother and the grandfather, whose names are Xpiyacoc and Xmucane, preserver and protectrice; twice grandmother and twice grandfather, as it is stated in the Quiché annals; concerning whom was related all that they did afterwards in the light of life, in the light of the word, (civilization). Behold that which we shall write after the word of God, and in Christianity; we shall bring it to light because the Popol Vuh, the national book, is no longer visible, in which it was clearly seen that we came from beyond the sea—’the narrative of our life in the land of shadow, and how we saw the light and life,’ as it is called. It is the first book, written in olden times; but its view is hidden from him who sees and thinks. Wonderful is its appearance, and the narrative of the time when he (the Creator) finished everything in heaven and on earth.”[III-21]Popol Vuh, pp. 1-5; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 4-5.

Then follows an account, which has already been presented in a condensed translation,[III-22]Vol. iii., pp. 44-7. of a time when all was silent, and there was yet no earth, and no living thing, only the immobility and silence of a boundless sea, on the surface of which floated the Creator and his companion deities named above, including Gucumatz, the ‘plumed serpent.’ Then the light appeared and the earth with its vegetation was created by Gucumatz and the Dominator at the word of Hurakan, Heart of Heaven, the Thunderbolt. Life and fecundity were given to the animals and birds, who were distributed as guardians of the forests and mountains, and called upon to speak and praise the names of those that had made them; but the poor animals, after efforts twice repeated, could not obey, and were assigned a position far below that which they had been intended to fill. Two attempts at the creation of intelligent beings followed, both failures. First man was made of earth, and although he could speak, he was intellectually stupid and physically clumsy, unable to stand erect, and soon mingled with the water like a man of mud. He was destroyed by the disgusted creators. The sorcerers, Xpiyacoc and Xmucane, grandmothers of the sun and of the moon, were consulted in the second creation, and the ‘chief of Toltecat’ is mentioned in addition to the names already given. Lots were cast, all needful precautions were taken, and man was made again of wood and pith; but he lacked intelligence, led a useless life, and forgot the Heart of Heaven. They became numerous on the face of the earth, but the gods were wroth and sent upon them a flood, and a resinous shower from heaven; their houses refused to cover them, the trees shook them from the branches where they sought shelter, the animals and even the household implements turned against the poor wooden men, reviling and persecuting them, until all were destroyed, save a few who remained as a memorial in the form of apes.[III-23]Popol Vuh, pp. 5-31; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 5-14.

At this point the character of the narrative changes somewhat, and, although an account of a third and final creation of man, given on a subsequent page,[III-24]Popol Vuh, p. 195, et seq. should, in the opinion of Brasseur, be introduced here, I proceed with a résumé of the Quiché tradition in the order of its arrangement in both the Spanish and French version, devoting a paragraph to each chapter of the French translation.

There was sky and earth, but little light; and a man named Vucub Cakix, ‘seven aras, or paroquets,’ was puffed up with pride and said, “those that were drowned were like supernatural beings;[III-25]Or, as Brasseur translates, ‘the remnant of those that were drowned,’ etc. now will I be great above all created beings. I am their sun and their moon; great is my splendor.” He was not the sun, nor did his view reach over the whole earth, but he was proud of his riches. This was when the flood destroyed the wooden manikins. Now we will tell when Vucub Cakix was defeated and man was made.

Vucub Cakix and Zipacna

This is the cause of his destruction by two young men, Hunahpu (or Hunhunahpu) and Xbalanque, ‘little tiger,’ who were really gods, and thought it not good that Vucub Cakix should swell with pride and offend the Heart of Heaven; and they plotted against his life and wealth. He had two sons, Zipacna and Cabrakan, the ‘earthquake,’ by his wife Chimalmat. Zipacna’s work was to roll the great mountains which he made in a night, and which Cabrakan shook at will. The death of the father and son was resolved upon by the two young men.

Vucub Cakix was shot by them while eating the fruit called nanze in a tree-top, and his jaw broken, although in revenge he carried home the arm of Hunahpu, which he hung over the fire. But an old man and an old woman, Zaki Nim Ak and Zaki Nima Tzyiz—divinities already named, in human disguise—were induced by the two young men to volunteer their services in curing the jaw of Vucub Cakix, who seems to have been a king, for they found him on his throne howling with pain. They pulled out his broken teeth of precious stones, in which he took great pride, substituting grains of maize; they dimmed his eyes, took away his riches, and recovered the missing arm. Then the king died as did his wife, and the purpose of Hunahpu and Xbalanque was accomplished against him who was proud and regarded not the will of the Heart of Heaven.

These are the deeds of Zipacna, son of Vucub Cakix, who claimed to be creator of the mountains. Bathing at the river-side he found four hundred young men striving in vain to carry away a tree which they had cut. Generously he bore the burden for them, and was invited to join their band, being an orphan; but they soon plotted against him, casting a tree upon him in a deep pit they had employed him to dig. He cunningly took refuge in a branch gallery, cut off his hair and nails for the ants to carry up to his foes, waited until the four hundred had become intoxicated in their rejoicing at his supposed death, emerged from the pit, and toppled over their house upon them so that not one escaped.

But in his turn Zipacna was conquered by Hunahpu and Xbalanque, who were grieved that the four hundred had perished. Zipacna, bearing the mountains by night, wandered in the day by the river and lived on fish and crabs; by an artificial crab his two foes enticed him in a time of hunger to crawl on all fours into a cavern at the bottom of a ravine, where the mountain, previously mined, fell upon him. Thus perished and was turned to stone, at the foot of Mt Meavan, the self-styled ‘maker of the mountains,’ the second who by his pride displeased the deities.

One only now remained, Cabrakan. “It is I who destroy the mountains,” he said; but it was the will of Hurakan, ‘the thunderbolt,’ that his pride also should be humbled, and the order was given to Hunahpu and Xbalanque. They found him at his favorite employment of overturning the hills, enticed him eastward to exhibit his skill and overthrow a particularly high mountain which they claimed to have seen, killed a bird with their blowpipe on the way, and poisoned it with earth before it was given Cabrakan to eat. Thus was his strength destroyed; he failed to move the mountain, was tied, and buried.

The Immaculate Conception

Thus ends the first of the four divisions of the Popol Vuh.[III-26]pp. 31-67; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 15-29. Next we are to hear something of the birth and family of Hunahpu and Xbalanque. The recital is, however, to be covered with mystery, and only half is to be told of the relation of their father.[III-27]Ximenez, p. 29, conveys the idea, however, that it is only from ignorance that so little is told, and not from a desire to be mysterious. Xpiyacoc and Xmucane had two sons, Hunhunahpu and Vukub Hunahpu, the first being as the French translation unintelligibly renders it a sort of double personage. The former had also by his wife Xbakiyalo two sons, Hunbatz and Hunchouen, very wise, great artists, and skillful in all things; the latter never married. All four spent the day in playing at dice and at ball, and Voc, the messenger of Hurakan, came to see them, Voc who remained not far from here nor far from Xibalba.[III-28]Ximenez renders this word by ‘infierno,’ or hell. No satisfactory meaning can be derived from its etymology. After the death of Xbakiyalo, the two played ball, journeying toward Xibalba, having left Hunbatz and Hunchouen behind, and this became known to Hun Came and Vukub Came, monarchs of Xibalba, who called together the council of the empire and sent to summon them or to challenge them to a game of ball, that they might be defeated and disgraced.

The messengers were owls, four in number; and the players, after a sad parting from their mother, Xmucane, and from the young Hunbatz and Hunchouen, followed them down the steep road to Xibalba from the ball-ground of Nimxob Carchah.[III-29]Carchah is the name of an Indian town in Vera Paz. Crossing ravines and rivers, including one of blood, they came to the royal palace of Xibalba, and saluted two wooden figures as monarchs, to the great amusement of the latter and the assembled princes. Then the brothers were invited to a place on the seat of honor, which proved to be a red-hot stone, and the contortions of the guests when they sat upon it provoked a new burst of laughter which well-nigh resulted in apoplexy. Five ordeals are here mentioned as existing in Xibalba, to the first of which only, that of the House of Gloom,[III-30]Casa lobrega, maison ténébreuse. It will be remembered that Votan is said to have established a House of Gloom at Huehuetan. See p. 160. were the brothers subjected; then they were sacrificed and their bodies buried together. But the head of Hunhunahpu was hung in a tree, which at once became covered with gourds from which the head could not be distinguished, and it was forbidden to all in Xibalba to approach that tree.

But Xquiq, a virgin princess, daughter of Cuchumaquiq, heard of the tree, and went alone to taste the forbidden fruit. Into her outstretched hand the head of Hunhunahpu spat, and the spittle caused the young girl to conceive, and she returned home, after a promise from the head that no harm should result to her. All this was by the order of Hurakan. After six months her condition was observed by her father, and in spite of her protestations that she had known no man, the owls, the royal messengers, were ordered to sacrifice her and bring back her heart in a vase. She persuaded and bribed the royal officers, however, by the promise of future emoluments, to carry back to the kings the coagulated sap of the blood-wort instead of her blood and heart, and she escaped; thus were Hun Came and Vukub Came tricked by this young girl.

Xquiq, far advanced in pregnancy, went for protection to the place where Xmucane was living with the young Hunbatz and Hunchouen. The old woman was not disposed at first to credit the stranger’s tale that she was with child by Hunhunahpu, and therefore entitled to protection as a granddaughter at the hands of Xmucane; but by calling upon the gods and gathering a basket of maize where no maize was growing, the young girl proved the justice of her claim, and was received by the great grandmother of her unborn children.

Hunahpu and Xbalanque

The virgin mother brought forth twin sons, and they were named Hunahpu and Xbalanque. From their very birth they were ill-treated. They were turned out of the house by their grandmother for crying, and throughout childhood and youth were abused by Hunbatz and Hunchouen, by reason of jealousy. They passed their time shooting birds in the mountains with their blowpipes, while their brothers, great musicians, painters, and sculptors, remained at home singing and playing the flute. But at last Hunbatz and Hunchouen were changed by the young heroes into monkeys. Xmucane was filled with sadness, and she was offered the privilege of beholding again the faces of her favorite grandsons, if she could do so without laughing; but their grimaces and antics were too ludicrous; the old lady failed in three interviews to restrain her laughter, and Hunbatz and Hunchouen appeared no more. Hunahpu and Xbalanque became in their turn musicians and played the air of hunahpu qoy, the ‘monkey of Hunahpu.'[III-31]A ballet, according to Brasseur, still performed by the natives of Guatemala, clad in wooden masks and peculiar costumes.

The first work undertaken by the twins was the clearing of a milpa or cornfield. It was not very difficult on the first day, for their enchanted tools worked by themselves while the young agriculturists went hunting, taking care to put dirt on their faces and to pretend to be at work when their grandmother brought their lunch at noon. In the night, however, the wild beasts met and replaced all the trees and shrubbery that the brothers had removed. Hunahpu and Xbalanque watched for them the next night, but in spite of their efforts the beasts all escaped—although the deer and rabbit lost their tails—except the rat, which was caught in a handkerchief. The rat’s life was spared by the youths and in return this animal revealed the glorious deeds of their fathers and uncles, their games at ball, and the existence of a ball of India rubber with other implements of the game which they had left about the house. All of the implements and the ball came into their possession with the knowledge of the secret.

Joyful at their discovery Hunahpu and Xbalanque went away to play in the ball-ground of their fathers, and the monarchs of Xibalba, Hun Came and Vukub Came, heard them and were angry, and sent messengers to summon them as their fathers had been summoned to play at Xibalba. The messengers came to the house of Xmucane, who, filled with alarm, dispatched a louse to carry the summons to her grandsons. On the way the louse consented, to insure greater speed, to be swallowed by a toad, the toad by a serpent, and the serpent by the great bird Voc. On arrival a series of vomitings ensued, until the toad was free; but in spite of his most desperate efforts he could not throw up the louse, who, it seems, had played him a trick, lodged in his gums, and not been swallowed at all. However, the message was delivered, and the players returned home to take leave of their grandmother and mother. Before their departure they planted each a cane in the middle of the house, the fate of which should depend upon their own, since it would wither at their death.

The ball-players set out for Xibalba by the route their fathers had followed, passing the bloody river and the river Papuhya; but they sent in advance an animal called Xan, with a hair of Hunahpu’s leg to prick the kings and princes. Thus they detected the artificial men of wood, and also learned the names of all the princes by their exclamations and mutual inquiries when pricked. On their arrival at court they refused to salute the manikins or to sit upon the red-hot stone; they even passed through the first ordeal in the House of Gloom, thus thrice avoiding the tricks which had been played upon their fathers.

The kings were astonished and very angry, and the game of ball was played, and those of Xibalba were beaten. Then Hun Came and Vukub Came required the victors to bring them four bouquets of flowers, ordering the guards of the royal gardens to watch most carefully, and committed Hunahpu and his brother to the House of Lances—the second ordeal—where the lancers were directed to kill them. Yet a swarm of ants in the brothers’ service entered easily the royal gardens, the lancers were bribed, and the sons of Xquiq were still victorious. Those of Xibalba turned pale, and the owls, guards of the royal gardens, were punished by having their lips split.

Hunahpu and Xbalanque were subjected to the third ordeal in the House of Cold, but warmed by burning pine-cones they were not frozen. So in the fourth and fifth ordeals, since they passed a night in the House of Tigers and in the House of Fire without suffering injury; but in the House of Bats, although the occupants did them no harm, Hunahpu’s head was cut off by Camazotz, ‘ruler of bats,’ who came from on high.

The beheading of Hunahpu was by no means fatal, but after a combination of events utterly unintelligible, including an assemblage of all the animals, achievements particularly brilliant by the turtle and rabbit, and another contest at ball-playing, the heroes came out uninjured from all the ordeals to which they were subjected in Xibalba.

Death of the Twin Brothers

At last, instructing two sorcerers, Xulu and Pacam, that those of Xibalba had failed because the brutes were not on their side, and directing them also what to do with their bones, Hunahpu and Xbalanque stretched themselves voluntarily face down on a funeral pile, still in Xibalba, and died together. Their bones were pulverized and thrown into the river, where they sank and were changed into fine young men.

On the fifth day they re-appeared, like man-fishes; and on the day following in the form of ragged old men, dancing, burning and restoring houses, killing and restoring each other to life, and performing other wonderful things. They were induced to exhibit their skill before the princes of Xibalba, killing and resuscitating the king’s dog, burning and restoring the royal palace; then a man was made the subject of their art, Hunahpu was cut in pieces and brought to life by Xbalanque. Finally, the monarchs of Xibalba wished to experience personally the temporary death; Hun Came, the highest in rank, was first killed, then Vukub Came, but life was not restored to them; the two shooters of the blow-pipe had avenged the wrongs of their fathers; the monarchs of Xibalba had fallen.

Having announced their true names and motives, the two brothers pronounced sentence on the princes of Xibalba. Their ball was to appear no more in the favorite game, they were to perform menial service, with only the beasts of the woods as vassals, and this was to be their punishment for the wrongs they had done; yet strangely enough, they were to be invoked thereafter as gods, or rather demons, according to Ximenez. The character of the Xibalbans is here described. They were fond of war, of frightful aspect, ugly as owls, inspiring evil and discord; faithless, hypocritical, and tyrants, they were both black and white, painting their faces, moreover, with divers colors. But their power was ruined and their domination ceased. Meanwhile, the grandmother Xmucane at home watched the growth of the canes, and was filled alternately with grief and joy, as these withered and again became green according to the varying fortunes of the grandsons in Xibalba.[III-32]The place whence the brothers started to contend against the princes of Xibalba, seems to have been Utatlan in Guatemala—see vol. iv., pp. 124-8—for Gumarcaah the Quiché name of that place is said to signify ‘house of old withered canes.’ Moreover, Torquemada and Las Casas have preserved the tradition that Exbalanquen (Xbalanque) set out from Utatlan for the conquest of hell. Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 53; Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. 125. Xibalba doubtless had the signification of the infernal regions in the popular traditions. Finally, to return to Xibalba, Hunahpu and Xbalanque rendered the fitting funeral honors to their fathers who had perished there, but who now mounted to heaven and took their places as the sun and moon; and the four hundred young men killed by Zipacna became stars in the skies. Thus ends the second division of the National Book of the Quichés.[III-33]Popol Vuh, pp. 68-192; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 29-79.

Migration from Tulan

The first chapter of the third division relates another and final creation of man from maize, in Paxil, or Cayala, ‘land of divided and stagnant waters,’ and has already been translated in full in another volume.[III-34]See vol. ii., pp. 716-7.According to Brasseur’s opinion it should follow the account of the preceding creations,[III-35]See p. 172. and precede the narrative of the struggle with Xibalba; but was introduced here at the beginning of the Quiché migrations intentionally in order to attach the later Quiché nations more closely to the heroic epochs of their history. The remaining chapters of the division have also been translated in substance.[III-36]Vol. iii., pp. 47-54. In them are related the adventures of Balam-Quitzé, Balam-Agab, Mahucutah, and Iqi-Balam, the product of the final creation by Gucumatz and his companion deities, and the founders of the Quiché nations. The people multiplied greatly in a region called the East, and migrated in search of gods to Tulan-Zuiva, the ‘seven caves,’ where four gods were assigned to the four leaders; namely, Tohil, Avilix, Hacavitz, and Nicahtagah. Here their language was changed or divided, and the division into separate nations was established. Suffering from cold and endeavors to obtain fire while they were awaiting the sun, are the points most dwelt upon during their stay in Tulan, and in connection with these troubles the coming of an envoy from Xibalba is mentioned,[III-37]Popol Vuh, pp. 221-2. which circumstance may indicate that Tulan was in the Xibalban region. But they determined to abandon or were driven from Tulan, and after a tedious journey, including apparently a crossing of the sea, they reached Mt Hacavitz, where at last they beheld the sun. Mt Hacavitz was apparently in Guatemala, and the events mentioned in the record as having occurred subsequently to the arrival there, although many are of a mythical nature and few can be assigned to any definite epoch, may best be referred to the more modern history of the Quiché-Cakchiquel nations in Guatemala, to be treated in a future chapter.

The events preceding the rising of the sun on Mt Hacavitz, are not easily connected with the exploits of Hunahpu and Xbalanque; but to suppose that they follow in chronologic order, and that the traditions in question reflect vaguely the history of the heroes or tribes that prevailed against Xibalba is at least as consistent as any theory that can be formed. The chief objection is the implied crossing of the sea during the migration from Tulan, which may be an interpolation. A lamentation which they chanted on Mt Hacavitz has considerable historical importance. “Alas,” they said, “we were ruined in Tulan, we were separated, and our brothers still remain behind. Truly we have beheld the sun, but they, where are they now that the dawn has appeared? Truly Tohil is the name of the god of the Yaqui nation, who was called Yolcuat Quitzalcuat (Quetzalcoatl) when we parted yonder in Tulan. Behold whence we set out together, behold the common cradle of our race, whence we have come. Then they remembered their brothers far behind them, the nation of the Yaqui whom their dawn enlightened in the countries now called Mexico. There was also a part of the nation which they left in the east, and Tepeu and Oliman were the places where they remained.”[III-38]Popol Vuh, pp. 245-7; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 98-9.

A Cakchiquel record of what would seem to be the same primitive traditions contained in the Popol Vuh, exists but has never been published. It is only known through an occasional reference or quotation in the writings of Brasseur de Bourbourg. From one of these references[III-39]Notes to Popol Vuh, pp. lxxxv, ccliv. we learn that the barbarian Utïu, Jackal, or Coyote, that conducted Gucumatz to Paxil where maize was discovered, was killed by one of the heroes or deities; hence the name Hunahpu Utïu, ‘shooter of the blowpipe at the coyote.’ The following quotation from the same document refers to the name Tulan, which with its different spellings occurs so perplexingly often in all the primitive traditions of American civilization. “Four persons came from Tulan, from the direction of the rising sun, that is one Tulan. There is another Tulan in Xibalbay and another where the sun sets, and it is there that we came; and in the direction of the setting sun there is another where is the god: so that there are four Tulans; and it is where the sun sets that we came to Tulan, from the other side of the sea where this Tulan is, and it is there that we were conceived and begotten by our mothers and our fathers.”[III-40]Id., pp. xci-ii.

Meaning of the Quiché Traditions

Such in a condensed form are the tales that make up the primitive annals of the Quiché nations of Guatemala. We may be very sure that, be they marvelous or common-place, each is founded on an actual occurrence, and has its meaning. That meaning, so far as details are concerned, has been doubtless in most instances lost. We may only hope to extract from the tenor of the record as a whole, a general idea respecting the nature of the historic events thus vaguely recorded; and even this would be perhaps a hopeless task, were it not for the aid derived from the Tzendal traditions, with monumental, institutional, and linguistic arguments already considered, and the Nahua records yet to be examined. It is not altogether visionary to behold in the successive creations by Gucumatz, the ‘plumed serpent,’ and his companions, as we have done in the coming of Votan, the introduction or growth of a new civilization, new forms of government or religion, new habits of life in America; even if we cannot admit literally the arrival at a definite time and place of a civilizer, Gucumatz, or hope to reasonably explain each of his actions. It is not necessary to decide whether the new culture was indigenous or of foreign origin; or even to suppose it radically different from any that preceded or were contemporaneous with it. We need not go back to ancient times to see partisans or devotees attach the greatest importance to the slightest differences in government or religion, looking with pity or hatred on all that are indifferent or opposed. Thus in the traditions before us opponents and rivals are pictured as the powers of darkness, while tribes that cling to the freedom of the forests and are slow to accept the blessings of civilized life, are almost invariably spoken of as brutes. The final creation of man, and the discovery of maize as an essential element in his composition, refer apparently to the introduction among or adoption by the new people or new sect of agriculture as a means of support, but possibly to the creation of a high rank of secular or religious rulers. Utïu, the Jackal, a barbarian, led Gucumatz and his companions to Paxil Cayala where maize was found, but was killed by the new-comers in the troubles that ensued. Early in the narrative, however, the existence of a rival power, the great empire of Xibalba, almost synonymous with the infernal regions, is explicitly indicated, and a large portion of the Popol Vuh is devoted to the struggle between the two. The princes and nations of Xibalba, symbolized in Vukub Cakix, Zipacna, Cabrakan, Hun Came, and Vukub Came, were numerous and powerful, but, since the history is written by enemies, they were of course bad. Their chief fault, their unpardonable sin, consisted in being puffed up with pride against the Heart of Heaven, in refusing to accept the views of the new sect. Consequently the nations and chiefs that had arrayed themselves on the side of Gucumatz, represented by Xbalanque and Hunahpu, of several generations, struggle long and desperately to humble their own enemies and those of the supreme god, Hurakan. The oft-repeated struggles are symbolized by games at ball between the rival chiefs. The ball grounds or halls are battle-fields. The animals of the forests often take a prominent part on one side or the other; that is, the savage tribes are employed as allies. Occasionally men are for some offense or stupidity changed to monkeys, or tribes allied with the self-styled reformers and civilizers prove false to their allegiance and return to the wild freedom of the mountains. It is difficult, if not impossible, to determine the meaning of that portion of the narrative which recounts the immaculate conception of the princess Xquiq; but Brasseur, not without reason, sees in the birth of Hunahpu and Xbalanque from a Xibalban mother, an indication that the rival nations became more or less mixed by intermarriage. The same author conjectures that the quarrels between the two twins and their elder half-brothers record dissensions that arose between the chiefs of pure and mixed blood. After a long series of wars with varying results, symbolized by the repeated games of ball, and the ordeals to which Xbalanque and his brother were successively subjected, the princes of Xibalba were defeated. From the terms in which the victory is described in the tradition, the general impression is conveyed that it was not a conquest involving the destruction of cities and the extermination or enslaving of the people; but rather the overthrow of a dynasty; the transfer of the supreme power to nations that formerly occupied subordinate positions. The chief feature in the celebration of the triumph was the apotheosis of the heroes who had fallen during the struggle.

After the triumph of Gucumatz’ followers, the written tradition is practically silent. Of the greatness of the newly constituted empire we know nothing; the record only re-opens when misfortune has again come upon the nations and they are forced to abandon Tulan for new homes. Neither their defeats nor the names of their conquerors were thought worthy of a place in the annals of the Quiché nations, afterwards so powerful in Guatemala; yet we can hardly doubt that the princes of Xibalba contributed to their overthrow. Forced to leave Tulan, spoken of as the cradle of their race, they migrated in three divisions, one towards the mountains of Guatemala, one towards Mexico, and the third toward the east by way of Tepeu and Oliman, which the Cakchiquel manuscript is said to locate on the boundary of Peten and Yucatan.

Conquest of Xibalba

The Quiché traditions, then, point clearly to, 1st, the existence in ancient times of a great empire somewhere in Central America, called Xibalba by its enemies; 2d, the growth of a rival neighboring power; 3d, a long struggle extending through several generations at least, and resulting in the downfall of the Xibalban kings; 4th, a subsequent scattering,—the cause of which is not stated, but was evidently war, civil or foreign,—of the formerly victorious nations from Tulan, their chief city or province; 5th, the identification of a portion of the migrating chiefs with the founders of the Quiché-Cakchiquel nations in possession of Guatemala at the Conquest. The National Book, unaided, would hardly suffice to determine the location of Xibalba, which was very likely the name of a capital city as well as of the empire. Utatlan, in the Guatemalan highlands, is clearly pointed out as the place whence Xbalanque set out for its conquest, and several other names of localities in Guatemala are also mentioned, but it should be noted that the tradition comes through Guatemalan sources, and it is not necessary even to suppose that Utatlan was the centre of the forces that struggled against the powers of darkness. Yet since we know through Tzendal traditions and monumental relics, of the great Votanic empire of the Chanes, which formerly included the region of Palenque, there can hardly be room for hesitation in identifying the two powers. The description of Paxil Cayala, ‘divided and stagnant waters,’ “a most excellent land, full of good things, where the white and yellow maize did abound, also the cacao, where were sapotes and many fruits, and honey; where all was overflowing with the best of food,” agrees at least as well with the Usumacinta region as with any other in Central America. The very steep descent by which Xbalanque reached Xibalba from Utatlan, corresponds perfectly with the topography of the country towards the Usumacinta. The statement that in the final migration from Tulan to Guatemala, two parties were left behind, one of which went to Mexico, and the other was left in the east, also seems to point in the same direction. The Cakchiquel Manuscript tells us that there was a Tulan in Xibalba, evidently the one whence the final migration took place, and from the Tzendal tradition through Ordoñez we have learned that Tulha, or Tulan, was one of the great cities of Votan’s Empire. Finally there is absolutely nothing in the narrative which points to any other location.

Xibalba the Votanic Empire

Xibalba was then the Empire of the Serpents, to which tradition assigns Votan as a founder; the same name was applied also to its capital city Nachan, probably identical with Palenque; and Tulan, or Tulha, the centre of nations which were successively subjects, allies, rivals, and conquerors of the imperial city, may be conjecturally identified with the ruined Ococingo or Copan. Vukub Cakix, the last but two of the Xibalban monarchs, was perhaps the same as Chinax who occupied the same position in the Tzendal tradition and calendar. But who were the followers of Gucumatz, the nations before whose leaders, Hunahpu and Xbalanque, the pride of Xibalba was humbled, and to whom the traditions thus far studied have assigned no name? It is most natural to identify them with the Tzequiles, who, according to the tradition, arrived during Votan’s absence, gave his followers new ideas of government and religion, were assigned lands, and became a powerful people with Tulan as their capital. This makes the Tzendal tradition much more intelligible and complete, and agrees much better with the Quiché record, than the opposite one adopted without any apparent reason by Brasseur de Bourbourg. According to the Quiché chant of lamentation, one division of the refugees from Tulan went north to Mexico, where they found their ‘dawn,’ their greatness. This seems to point toward the Nahua nations, which alone achieved greatness in Mexico during historic times. The tribes which migrated northward are called, in the Popol Vuh, Yaqui, a name which according to Brasseur de Bourbourg, has much the same signification etymologically as Nahuatl, and was commonly applied by the Maya-Quiché peoples of Central America to the Mexicans. Moreover, their god, Tohil, was called by these Yaqui tribes, even while they were yet in Tulan, Yolcuat Quitzalcuat, while the most prominent of the Nahua divinities is well known to the readers of the preceding volumes to have been Quetzalcoatl. Chanes, the only name given to the subjects of Votan and his successors, is the equivalent of Culhuas, a word which, especially in composition, is of frequent occurrence in all the native tongues. Culhuacan was one of the most celebrated cities of Anáhuac, as the Acolhuas were among the most noted peoples. Again Tulan Zuiva is defined as the Seven Caves, in the Nahua tongues Chicomoztoc, which the Aztecs are well known to have claimed as a former home. One of the divinities engaged in the creation, or in the propagation of the new doctrines in the region of Xibalba was the chief of Toltecat, another name prominent in all Nahua traditions as that of their most famous nation, the Toltecs; and finally Gucumatz, the great leader of Xibalba’s conquerors, was identical with Quetzalcoatl, since both names signify equally the ‘plumed serpent,’ the former in Quiché, the latter in Aztec. These facts seem significant and naturally direct our attention to an examination of the early Nahua records.

The Nahuas in Tamoanchan

The records of the Nahua nations, so far as they relate to the pre-Toltec period, if more extensive and numerous, are not less confused than those of the south. To bring into any semblance of order this mass of contradictory semi-mythical, semi-historic details, to point out and defend the historic meaning of each aboriginal tale, is an impossible task which I do not propose to undertake. The only practicable course is to present the leading points of these early traditions as they are given by the best authorities, and to draw from them, as I have done from the Tzendal and Quiché records, some general conclusions respecting the most probable course of primitive history; for conclusions of a very general nature, and bearing on probabilities only, are all that we can expect to reach respecting pre-Toltec America. Sahagun, justly esteemed as one of the best authorities, speaks in substance as follows:[III-41]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 139-45.

Countless years ago the first settlers arrived in New Spain. Coming in ships by sea, they approached a northern port; and because they disembarked there it was called Panutla, or Panoaia, ‘place where they arrived who came by sea,’ now corruptly called Pantlan (Pánuco); and from this port they began to follow the coast, beholding the snowy sierras and the volcanoes, until they reached the province of Guatemala; being guided by a priest carrying their god, with whom he continually took counsel respecting what they ought to do. They came to settle in Tamoanchan, where they remained a long time, and never ceased to have their wise men, or prophets, called amoxoaque, which means ‘men learned in the ancient paintings,’ who, although they came at the same time, did not remain with the rest in Tamoanchan; since leaving them there, they re-embarked and carried away with them all the paintings which they had brought relating to religious rites and mechanical arts. Before their departure they spoke as follows:—”Know that our god commands you to remain here in these lands, of which he makes you masters and gives you possession. He returns to the place whence he and we came; but he will come back to visit you when it shall be time for the world to come to an end; meantime you will await him in these lands, possessing them and all contained in them, since for this purpose you came hither; remain therefore, for we go with our god.” Thus they departed with their god wrapped in blankets, towards the east, taking all the paintings. Of the wise men only four remained, Oxomoco, Cipactonal, Tlaltetecui, and Xuchicaoaca, who, after the others had departed, consulted together, saying:—A time will come when there will be light for the direction of this republic; but during the absence of our god, how shall the people be ruled? What order will there be in all things, since the wise men carried away their paintings by which they governed? Therefore did they invent judicial astrology and the art of interpreting dreams; they composed the calendar, which was followed during the rule of the Toltecs, Mexicans, Tepanecs, and Chichimecs. By this calendar, however, it is not possible to ascertain how long they remained in Tamoanchan,—although this was known by the paintings burned in the time of the Mexican ruler, Itzcoatl, in whose reign the lords and princes agreed that all should be burned that they might not fall into the hands of the vulgar and be unappreciated. From Tamoanchan they went to sacrifice at Teotihuacan, where they built two mountains in honor of the sun and moon, and where they elected their rulers, and buried the lords and princes, ordering the tumuli, still to be seen, to be made over their graves. Some description of the mounds follows, with the statement that they were the work of giants. The town of Teotl, or god, was called Teotihuacan, because the princes who were buried there were made gods after death, and were thought not to have died but to have waked from a sleep. From Tamoanchan certain families went to settle the provinces called Olmeca Vixtoti. Here are given some details of these Olmecs and of the Huastecs, to be spoken of later.

After the centre of power had been a long time in Tamoanchan, it was afterwards transferred to the town called Xumiltepec. Here the lords and priests and the old men discovered it to be the will of their god that they should not remain always in Xumiltepec, but that they were to go farther; thus all gradually started on their migration, having first repaired to Teotihuacan to choose their leaders and wise men. In this migration they came to the valley of the Seven Caves. There is no account of the time they remained there, but finally the Toltecs were told by their god that they must return (that is towards Teotihuacan, or Anáhuac), which they did and came to Tollancingo (Tulancingo), and finally to Tulan (Tollan).

The Nahua Traditions

In the introduction to the same work[III-42]Tom. i., p. xviii. we are told also that the first settlers came from towards Florida, followed the coast, and landed at the port of Pánuco. They came in search of the ‘terrestrial paradise,’ were called Tamoanchan, which means ‘we seek our house,’ and settled near the highest mountains they found. “In coming southward to seek the earthly paradise, they did not err, since it is the opinion of those that know that it is under the equinoxial line.”

In Sahagun’s version of the tradition we find Tamoanchan,[III-43]According to Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 59, the name should be Temoanchan to agree exactly with Sahagun’s definition, ‘vamos á nuestra casa.’ The same author heard an Indian of Guatemala define the name as an earthly paradise. Popol Vuh, pp. lxxviii-lxxix. the first home of the Nahua nations in America, definitely located down the coast from Pánuco in the province of Guatemala. The coast region of Tabasco was probably included in this author’s time in Guatemala; at least it is as near Guatemala as the new-comers could get by following the coast. The location therefore agrees with that of Xibalba and the Votanic empire as derived from other sources; and in fact the whole narrative may with great plausibility be applied to the events described in the Quiché tradition—the arrival of Gucumatz and his companions (although Sahagun does not name Quetzalcoatl as the leader of the immigrants), the growth of a great power in the central region, and the final forced migration from Tulan Zuiva, the Seven Caves. The absence of the name Tulan, as applied to a city or county in Central America, from the northern traditions as they have been preserved for our examination, may be very satisfactorily accounted for by the fact that another great city founded much later in Anáhuac, the capital of the Toltec monarchy, was also called Tollan; consequently such traditions as the Spaniards gathered from the natives respecting a Tulan, were naturally referred by them to the later city. It is to be noted, moreover, in this connection, that the descriptions given by the Spanish writers of Tollan, with its luxuriant vegetation, and birds of brilliant plumage, often apply much better to the southern than to the northern Anáhuac. In addition to the points mentioned in the Quiché record, we learn from Sahagun that the Toltec calendar was invented or introduced during the stay in that southern country of Tamoanchan;[III-44]Brasseur believes that the Oxomoco and Cipactonal of the Nahua myth, are the same as the Xpiyacoc and Xmucane of the Popol Vuh, since the former are two of the inventors of the calendar, while the latter are called grandmothers of the sun and light. Popol Vuh, pp. 4, 20. that the Nahua power in the south extended north to Anáhuac and embraced Teotihuacan, a holy city and religious centre, even in those remote times; that the Olmecs, Miztecs, and Huastecs belonged to the same group of nations and their rise or appearance to the same period; and that from the Seven Caves the Toltecs migrated—that is their centre or capital was transferred—to Tulancingo, and later to Tollan. All these points we shall find confirmed more or less directly by other authorities.

The Codex Chimalpopoca

A very important Nahua record, written in Aztec with Spanish letters by an anonymous native author, and copied by Ixtlilxochitl, which belonged to the famous Boturini collection, is the Codex Chimalpopoca.[III-45]‘Una Historia de los Reynos de Culhuàcan, y Mexico, en lengua Nahuatl, y papel Europèo de Autor Anonymo, y tiene añadida una Breve Relacion de los Dioses, y Ritos de la Gentilidad en lengua Castellana, etc. Està todo copiado de letra de Don Fernando de Alba y le falta la primera foja.’ Boturini, Catálogo, pp. 17-18. ‘M. Aubin, qui possède les copies faites par Gama et Pichardo, ajoute au sujet de ce document: “Cette histoire, composée en 1563 et en 1579, par un écrivain de Quauhtitlan et non par Fernando de Alba (Ixtlilxochitl), comme l’a cru Pichardo, n’est guère moins précieuse que les précédentes (in Brasseur’s list), et remonte, année par année, au moins jusqu’à l’an 751 de J. C. A la suite de ces annales se trouve l’histoire anonyme (l’Histoire des soleils), d’où Gama a extrait le texte mexicain de la tradition sur les soleils.”‘ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. lxxix.; Id., Popol Vuh, p. xi. Unfortunately it has never been published, and its contents are only known by occasional references in the works of Brasseur de Bourbourg, who had a copy of the document. From the passages quoted by the abbé I take the following brief account, which seems of some importance in connection with the preceding:

“This is the beginning of the history of things which came to pass long ago, of the division of the earth, the property of all, its origin and its foundation, as well as the manner in which the sun divided it six times four hundred plus one hundred plus thirteen years ago to-day, the twenty-second of May, 1558.” “Earth and the heavens were formed in the year Ce Tochtli; but man had already been created four times. God formed him of ashes, but Quetzalcoatl had perfected him.” After the flood men were changed into dogs.[III-46]Chichime or ‘dogs,’ a transformation which may not improbably have something to do with the origin of the name Chichimecs, a name applied to so many tribes in all parts of the country. The Codex Chimalpopoca, however, speaks also of a transformation into monkeys as a result of a great hurricane. Popol Vuh, p. lxxx. After a new and successful attempt at creation, all began to serve the gods, called Apantecutli, ‘master of the rivers,’ Huictlollinqui, ‘he who causes the earth to shake,’ Tlallamanac, ‘he who presides on the earth,’ and Tzontemoc, ‘he whose hair descends.’ Quetzalcoatl remained alone. Then they said, “the vassals of the gods are born; they have already begun to serve us,” but they added, “what will you eat, O gods?” and Quetzalcoatl went to search for means of subsistence. At that time Azcatl, the ‘ant,’ going to Tonacatepetl, ‘mount of our subsistence,’ for maize, was met by Quetzalcoatl, who said, “where hast thou been to obtain that thing? Tell me.” At first the Ant would not tell, but the Plumed Serpent insisted, and repeated, “whither shall I go?” Then they went there together, Quetzalcoatl metamorphosing himself into a ‘black ant.'[III-47]Or, as Brasseur suggests, adopting the customs of the people in order to obtain the entrée of Tonacatepetl and the secret of their agriculture. Tlaltlauhqui Azcatl, the ‘yellow ant,'[III-48]Molina, Vocabulario, translates the name, ‘red ant.’ accompanied Quetzalcoatl respectfully, as they went to seek maize and brought it to Tamoanchan. Then the gods began to eat, and put some of the maize in our mouths that we might become strong.[III-49]Codex Chimalpopoca, in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 53-9, 70-1. The same record implies that Quetzalcoatl afterwards became obnoxious to his companions and abandoned them.[III-50]Id., p. 117.

In this document we have evidently an account of substantially the same events that are recorded in the Tzendal and Quiché records:—the division of the earth by the Sun in the year 955 B.C., or as Ordoñez interprets the Tzendal tradition, by Votan ‘about 1000 B.C.’; the formation of the earth by the supreme being, and the successive creations of man, or attempts to introduce civilization among savages through the agency of Quetzalcoatl,—acts ascribed by the Quiché tradition to the same person under the name of Gucumatz; the flood and resulting transformation of men into dogs, instead of monkeys as in the Popol Vuh, symbolizing perhaps the relapse into savagism of partially civilized tribes;—the adoption of agriculture represented in both traditions as an expedition by Quetzalcoatl, or Gucumatz, in search of maize. According to the Popol Vuh he sought the maize in Paxil and Cayala, ‘divided and stagnant waters,’ by the aid of Utïu, ‘the coyote;’ while in the Nahua tradition, aided by Azcatl, ‘the ant,’ he finds the desired food in Tonacatepetl, ‘mount of our subsistence.’ Finally, the Codex Chimalpopoca identifies the home of the Nahua nations, whence the search for maize was made, with Tamoanchan, which Sahagun has clearly located in Tabasco.

Primitive Nations of Mexico

Before considering the traditions that relate the migration of the Toltecs proper to Tollan in Anáhuac, it will be most convenient to give the little that is known of those nations that are supposed to have preceded the Toltecs in Mexico. The chief of these are the Quinames, Olmecs, Xicalancas, Totonacs, Huastecs, Miztecs, Zapotecs, and Otomís.[III-51]The Cuicatecs, Triquis, Chinantecs, Mazatecs, Chatinos, Papabucos, Soltecos, Chontales, and Cohuixcas, in the south-western regions, are regarded by Orozco y Berra as fragments of pre-Toltec nations. Geografía, pp. 121, 126. Prichard, Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., p. 512, adds the Coras, Tepanecs, and Tarascos. The Codices Vaticanus and Tellerianus, give the names of the tribes that migrated from the seven caves, as Olmecs, Xicalancas, Chichimecs, Nonohualcas, Michinacas, Couixcas, Totonacs, and Cuextecas. The Nonohualcas and Xicalancas, however, were probably the same, and we shall see later that Chichimecs was probably never a tribal name at all. Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 135. The Olmecs and Xicalancas, who are sometimes represented as two nations, sometimes as divisions of the same nation, are regarded by all the authorities as Nahuas, speaking the same language as the Toltecs, but settled in Anáhuac long before the establishment of the Toltec Empire at Tollan. As nations they both became extinct before the Spanish Conquest, as did the Toltecs, but there is little doubt that their descendants under new names and in new national combinations still lived in Puebla, southern Vera Cruz, and Tabasco—the region traditionally settled by them—down to the coming of the Spaniards. They are regarded as the first of the Nahua nations in this region and are first noticed by tradition on the south-eastern coasts, whither they had come in ships from the east. Sahagun, as we have seen, identifies them with certain families of the Nahuas who set out from Tamoanchan to settle in the northern coast region. Ixtlilxochitl tells us they occupied the land in the third age of the world, landing on the east coast as far as the land of Papuha,[III-52]Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 459. Papuhya, ‘river of mud,’ is a name also applied by the Quiché tradition to a river apparently in this region. See p. 178; Popol Vuh, pp. 140-1. Brasseur in the same work, pp. lxxii., lxxvii-viii., refers to Las Casas, Hist. Apol., tom. iii., cap. cxxiii-iv., as relating the arrival of these nations under Quetzalcoatl and twenty chiefs at Point Xicalanco. ‘muddy water,’ or in the region about the Laguna de Terminos. Veytia names Pánuco as their landing-place, and gives the date as a few years after the regulation of the calendar, already noticed in Sahagun’s record.[III-53]Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 150. Their national names are derived from that of their first rulers Olmecatl and Xicalancatl. Two ancient cities called Xicalanco are reported on the gulf coast; one of them, which flourished nearly or quite down to the time of the Conquest, and whose ruins are still said to be visible,[III-54]See vol. iv., p. 434. was just below Vera Cruz; the other, probably the more ancient, stood at the point which still bears the name of Xicalanco at the entrance to the Laguna de Terminos. This whole region is also said to have borne the name of Anáhuac Xicalanco.[III-55]See vol. ii., p. 112. Mendieta and Torquemada[III-56]Hist. Ecles., p. 146; Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 32. relate that the followers of Xicalancatl peopled the region towards the Goazacoalco, where stood the two cities referred to. The people of that part of the country were generally known at the time of the Conquest as Nonohualcas. The chief development of this people, or of its Olmec branch, was, so far as recorded in tradition, in the state of Puebla further north and inland.

Olmecs and Xicalancas

This tradition of the arrival of strangers on the eastern coast, and the growth of the Olmec and Xicalanca powers on and north of the isthmus, in view of the facts that these nations are universally regarded as Nahuas and as the first of the race to settle in Anáhuac, cannot be considered as distinct from that given by Sahagun respecting the Nahua race, especially as the latter author speaks of the departure of certain families from Tamoanchan to settle in the provinces of Olmeca Vixtoti. It is most natural to suppose that the new power extended gradually northward to Puebla as well as inland into Chiapas, where it came more directly in contact with its great rival. This view of the matter is likewise supported by the fact that Quetzalcoatl, the culture-hero, is said to have wrought his great works in the time of the Olmecs and Xicalancas—according to some traditions to have been their leader when they arrived on the coast. Sahagun also applies the name Tlalocan, ‘land of riches,’ or ‘terrestrial paradise,’ to this south-eastern region, implying its identity with Tamoanchan.[III-57]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., p. 264, tom. iii., lib. x., p. 136: Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., pp. 135-7, is the only author who differs materially in his account of the arrival and establishment of the Olmecs and Xicalancas. He states that in company with the Zacatecs they came from the Seven Caves, passed through Mexico, Tochimilco, Atlixco, Calpan, and Huexotzinco, founding their chief settlement in Tlascala where the village of Natividad now stands. See vol. iv., pp. 478-9, for notice of ruins. Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 299-300, also brings these nations from the Seven Caves.

Our knowledge of Olmec history subsequent to their first appearance, is confined to a few events which occurred in Puebla. Here, chiefly on the Rio Atoyac near Puebla de los Angeles and Cholula, they found the Quinames, or giants, a powerful people who long kept them subordinate in rank and power, or, as the tradition expresses it, ‘enslaved them.’ These Quinames, as Ixtlilxochitl states, were survivors of the great destruction which closed the second age of the world. They were, according to Veytia, “more like brutes than rational beings; their food was raw meat of birds and beasts which they hunted indiscriminately, fruits and wild herbs, since they cultivated nothing; but they knew how to make pulque with which to make themselves drunk; going entirely naked with disheveled hair.” They were cruel and proud, yet they received the strangers kindly, perhaps through fear of their great numbers, they being so few, and magnanimously permitted them to settle in their lands. The Olmecs were treated well enough at first, although they looked with terror upon the giants. The latter, aware of the fear they inspired, became more and more insolent, claiming that as lords and masters of the land they were showing the strangers a great favor in permitting them to live there. As a recompense for this kindness they obliged the Olmecs to serve as slaves, neither hunting nor fishing themselves, but depending on their new servants for a subsistence. Thus ill-treated, the Nahuas soon found their condition insupportable. Another great cause of offence was that the Quinames were addicted to sodomy, a vice which they refused to abandon even when they were offered the wives and daughters of the newcomers. At last it was resolved at a council of the Olmec chiefs to free themselves once for all from their oppressors. The means adopted were peculiar. The giants were invited to a magnificent banquet; the richest food and the most tempting native beverages were set before the guests; all gathered at the feast, and as a result of their unrestrained appetites were soon stretched senseless like so many blocks of wood on the ground. Thus they became an easy prey to the reformers, and perished to a man. The Olmecs were free and the day of their national prosperity dawned.

The Quinames, Or Giants

The Quinames, traditionally assigned as the first inhabitants of nearly every part of the country, have been the subject of much discussion among the Spanish writers. Veytia indeed rejects the idea that a race of giants actually existed, and Clavigero considers their existence as a race very doubtful, although admitting that there were doubtless individuals of great size. Most other writers of this class accept more or less literally the tradition of the giants who were the first dwellers in the land, deeming the discovery of large bones in various localities and the scriptural tales of giants in other parts of the world, to be sufficient corroborative authority. Veytia thinks the Quinames were probably of the same race as the Toltecs, but were tribes cast out for their sloth; Ixtlilxochitl records the opinion entertained by some that they were descended from the Chichimecs. The former fixes the date of their destruction as 107, the latter as 299, A.D. Oviedo adopts the conclusion of Mendoza that the giants probably came from the Strait of Magellan, the only place where such beings were known to exist. Boturini saw no reason to doubt the existence of the giants. Being large in stature, they could out-travel the rest of mankind, and thus became naturally the first settlers of distant parts of the world. Torquemada, followed by Veytia, identifies them with a similar race that traditionally appeared at a very early time in Peru, where they were destroyed by fire from heaven.[III-58]Concerning the giants, see Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 205-6, 392, 459; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 143-54; Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. ii. This author represents the Quinames as having been killed while eating and drinking, by the Tlascaltecs who had taken possession of their arms. He says they yielded after a desperate resistance. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 34-6; Boturini, Idea, pp. 130-5; Arlegui, Chrón. Zacatecas, p. 6; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 539-41; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 125; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 66, 153-4; Id., Popol Vuh, pp. lxviii., cxxvii.; Id., Esquisses, p. 12; Granados y Galvez, Tardes Amer., pp. 15, 21; Rios, Compend. Hist. Mex., p. 5; Piñeda, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. iii., p. 346; Pimentel, in Dicc. Univ., tom. x., p. 610.

The Quinames were of course not giants, and it is not at all probable that they were savage tribes. Such tribes are described as animals rather than giants in the American traditionary annals. The spirit of the narrative, the great power ascribed to the Quinames, their kind reception of the strangers, their growing insolence, even their vices, point clearly, here as in Chiapas, to a powerful nation, at first feared as masters, then hated as rivals, but finally ruled as subjects by the newly risen power. While it is impossible to decide authoritatively in the matter, it may be regarded as more than likely that this foe was a branch of that overthrown in the south; that the Xibalban power, as well as that of the Nahuas, extended far towards Anáhuac in the early days; that the great struggle was carried on in the north as well as in the south.

About the time the Quinames were defeated, the pyramid of Cholula was erected under the direction of a chief named Xelhua. The occasion of its being built seems to have been connected in some way with a flood, probably that mentioned in the Quiché tradition, the reports of which may or may not be founded on an actual inundation more than usually disastrous in a country subject to periodical overflow. The authorities are not agreed whether the mighty mound was intended as a memorial monument in honor of the builder’s salvation from a former flood, or as a place of refuge in case the floodgates of the skies should again be opened; neither is it settled whether Xelhua was an Olmec or a Quiname chieftain, although most authors incline to the former opinion. Pedro de los Rios tells us that the bricks for the construction of the pyramid were manufactured at Tlalmanalco and passed by a line of men from hand to hand for a distance of several leagues. Of course the Spanish writers have not failed to connect this pyramid in some way with the Hebrew traditions respecting the tower of Babel, especially as work on the Cholula tower was stopped by fire, sent from heaven by the irritated deities.[III-59]On building of Cholula pyramid, see Codex Mexicano, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 172; Ixtlilxochitl, in Id., vol. ix., pp. 206, 459; Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., pp. 45, 69; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 15, 18, 153; Boturini, Idea, pp. 113-14; Humboldt, Mélanges, p. 553; Id., Vues, tom. i., p. 114; Popol Vuh, p. cxxv.; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 153, 301-3; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 132; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 167.

Quetzalcoatl, The Culture-Hero

During the Olmec period, that is, the earliest period of Nahua power, the great Quetzalcoatl appeared. We have seen that in the Popol Vuh and Codex Chimalpopoca this being is represented as the half-divinity, half-hero, who came at the head of the first Nahuas to America from across the sea. Other authorities imply rather that he came later from the east or north, in the period of the greatest Olmec prosperity, after the rival Quinames had been defeated. To such differences in detail no great importance is to be attached; since all that can be definitely learned from these traditions is the facts that Quetzalcoatl, or Gucumatz, was the most prominent of the Nahua heroes, and that his existence is to be attributed to this earliest period, known in Mexico as Olmec, but without a distinctive name in the south. Quetzalcoatl was a white, bearded man, venerable, just, and holy, who taught by precept and example the paths of virtue in all the Nahua cities, particularly in Cholula. His teachings, according to the traditions, had much in common with those of Christ in the Old World, and most of the Spanish writers firmly believed him to be identical with one of the Christian apostles, probably St Thomas. During his stay in this region his doctrines do not seem to have met with a satisfactory reception, and he left disheartened. He predicted before his departure great calamities, and promised to return in a future year Ce Acatl, at which time his doctrines were to be fully accepted, and his descendants were to possess the land. Montezuma is known to have regarded the coming of Cortés and the Spaniards as a fulfillment of this prediction, and in his speech to the new-comers states further that after his first visit Quetzalcoatl had already once returned,[III-60]Cortés, Cartas, p. 86. Quetzalcoatl however is not named. and attempted unsuccessfully to induce his followers to go back with him across the sea. The first part of the prophet’s prediction actually came to pass, as traditions tell us, for only a few days after his departure occurred the earthquake which destroyed the pyramid at Cholula, the American Babel, and ushered in the new or fourth age of fire, according to Ixtlilxochitl. On the ruins of the pyramid was built a temple to Quetzalcoatl, who was afterwards worshiped as a god.[III-61]Respecting Quetzalcoatl in his mythological aspects as a divinity, see vol. iii., pp. 248-87. The story of his visit to the Olmecs is told in Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 206, 459; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 155-6, 161-204.

We shall find very similar traditions of another Quetzalcoatl who appeared much later, during the Toltec period, and who also made Cholula a centre of his reform. As we shall see, the evidence is tolerably conclusive that the two are not the same, yet it is more than likely that the traditions respecting them have been considerably mixed both in native and European hands. After the time of Quetzalcoatl we know nothing of Olmec or Xicalanca history down to the establishment of the Toltec empire, when these nations were still in possession of the country of Puebla and Tlascala. Boturini conjectures that, being driven from Mexico, they migrated to the Antilles and to South America. There is not, however, the slightest necessity to suppose that the Olmecs ever left the country at all. Their institutions and language were the same as that of the Toltec peoples that nominally succeeded them, and although like the Toltecs they became extinct as a nation, yet there is no reason to doubt that their descendants lived long in the land, and took part in the new political combinations that make up Nahua history down to the Conquest.[III-62]Boturini, Idea, p. 135; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iv., p. 52, tom. i., p. 147. Between Chiapas and Zacatecas is a vast space, of which the only notion given us by history is the fact that the Olmecs, Xicalancas, and Zapotecs lived in the region of Puebla and Tlascala. They were the primitive peoples, that is, the first known. Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 124-5. The Xicalancas founded Atlixco and Itzucan, but migrated to South America. The Olmecs who had been driven to the gulf coasts followed them. Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 242. The Xicalancas possessed the country before the Chichimecs, by whom they were regarded as enemies. Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 461. Mexicans, Culhuas, Tepanecs, Olmecs, Xicalancas, Tarascos, and Chichimecs were all of the same race and language. Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., pp. 131, 135, 188. See also Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 67, 196, tom. iii., p. 9; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 200, 213; Hellwald, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 337; Müller, Reisen, tom. iii., pp. 33-4.

The Olmecs passed from Mexico to Guatemala, which they conquered. Alcedo, Dicc., tom. iii., p. 374. Palenque, the oldest American city, was built by the Olmecs, a mixture of yellow aborigines and the first white immigrants. Viollet-le-Duc, in Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 45. The Mazahuas and Olmecs belong to the aborigines of Guatemala. Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 456.

The Totonacs and Teotihuacan • Apotheosis of Nanahuatzin

The Totonacs are included by the authorities among the primitive, or Pre-Toltec nations in Anáhuac. At the time of the Conquest they occupied central Vera Cruz, their chief city being Zempoala; but they claimed to have migrated from the valley of Mexico, and to have lived long near the banks of Lake Tezcuco, where they built the pyramids at Teotihuacan, a place already noticed as a religious centre in this early period. Torquemada seems to be the original authority for the Totonac traditions respecting their primitive history, having obtained his information from an aged native. His brief account, quoted in substance by all others who have mentioned the subject, is as follows:—”Of their origin they say that they set out from the place called Chicomoztoc, or Seven Caves, together with the Xalpanecs; and that they were twenty divisions, or families, as many of one as of the other; and although thus divided into families, they were all of one language and of the same customs. They say they started from that place, leaving the Chichimecs still shut up there; and they directed their journey towards this part of Mexico, and having arrived at the plains on the lake, they halted at the place where Teotihuacan now is; and they affirm that they built these two temples which were dedicated to the sun and moon. Here they remained for some time, but either not contented with the place, or with a desire to pass to other places, they went to Atenamitic, where Zacatlan now stands.” Thence they gradually moved eastward until at last they settled on the coast in their present location. That the pyramids of Teotihuacan[III-63]For description see vol. iv., pp. 529-44. were built by the Nahuas—the Olmecs or one of their companion nations—and became their religious centre and the burial-place of their kings and priests long before the establishment of the empire of Tollan, there can be but little doubt; nor is it improbable that the Totonacs were, as they claim to be, a pre-Toltec tribe in Anáhuac; but that they were in this early time a Nahua tribe, a nation contemporaneous with the Olmecs and of the same institutions, that they were the builders of Teotihuacan, is only proved by their own claim as recorded by Torquemada. This evidence must probably be regarded as insufficient in view of the fact that the Totonac language is wholly distinct from the Nahua.[III-64]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 56, pronounces the Totonac very like the Maya. Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 127, deems the relationship doubtful. See vol. iii., pp. 776-7. It is true that, as will be seen later, all the ancient tribes, that adopted more or less the Nahua institutions, and joined in the struggle against the rival Maya powers, did not speak the same language; but it is also very probable that many nations in later times, when the Nahua power as represented by the Aztecs had become so predominant, claimed ancient Nahua affinities to which they had no right.[III-65]On the Totonacs, see Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 278; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., pp. 223-7; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iv., pp. 51-2; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 151-61, tom. iii., pp. 350-1. This author says that the Totonacs came from the north at about the same time as the Olmecs came from the south. There seems to be no authority for this save the popular opinion that locates Chicomoztoc in the north. Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 120, 140. The Aztecs attributed Teotihuacan, Cholula, Papantla, etc., to the Toltecs because they were the oldest people they knew; but they may have been built before the Toltec invasion. Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., p. 98. In addition to what has already been said respecting Teotihuacan, only one event is mentioned in its pre-Toltec history,—the apotheosis of Nanahuatzin, an event which probably preceded rather than followed the erection of the pyramids. The strange fable respecting this event, already related in a preceding volume,[III-66]Vol. iii., p. 60, et seq. is, briefly, to the effect that the gods were assembled at Teotihuacan for the purpose of inducing the sun to appear and illumine their darkness. A great fire having been kindled, and the announcement made that the honors of apotheosis would be given to him who should give himself up as a living sacrifice, Nanahuatzin threw himself into the fire, was instantly devoured and transformed into the sun, which at once appeared in the east. Metztli followed the example of Nanahuatzin, and took his place in the heavens as the moon, less brilliant than his companion, since the heat of the fire had somewhat abated before his sacrifice. The true historic signification of this account we cannot hope to ascertain, yet it is of great interest, since it seems to point to the introduction in these regions of sun-worship and of human sacrifice; indeed, the Codex Chimalpopoca, according to Brasseur, expressly states that “then began divine immolation at Teotihuacan.” The same authority gives this event also as the beginning of a new chronologic period called Nahui Ollin Tonatiuh, ‘the sun in its four movements,’ thus suggesting some connection between this assemblage and that mentioned by Sahagun as having taken place in the south, when the new calendar was invented. The remark in the same document that “on that day the kings did tremble,” may point to this epoch as that of the great revolution—carried on chiefly in Chiapas, but which may have extended to Anáhuac—by which the kings of Xibalba were overthrown; especially since the narrative of the sacrifice at Teotihuacan bears a striking resemblance to the apotheosis of Hunhunahpu and his fellow-heroes at Xibalba.[III-67]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 180-8; Popol Vuh, pp. cxlii-iii.; Boturini, Idea, pp. 37-41; see also references in vol. iii., p. 60, et seq.

So far as the other so-called primitive nations of New Spain are concerned, little can be said, except that they claim and have always been credited with a very ancient residence in this land, dating back far beyond the beginning of the historic period. The Otomís, one division of whom are known as Mazahuas, differ entirely from the Nahua nations in language, having possibly a slight linguistic affinity with the Totonacs, and although far from being savages, they have always been to a certain extent an outcast and oppressed race, the ‘Jews of Anáhuac,’ as one writer terms them, down-trodden in succession by Toltec, Chichimec, and Aztec. They probably occupied a very large portion of Anáhuac and the surrounding mountains, when the Toltecs proper established their power. Ixtlilxochitl, followed by Veytia, represents the Otomís, though differing in language, as having been one of the Acolhua tribes that made their appearance in Anáhuac many centuries later, but the event referred to as their coming to the country at that period, may probably be their coming down from the mountains and adopting more or less the civilized life of the Acolhuas at Tezcuco.[III-68]On the Otomís, see Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 147-8, tom. iv., p. 51; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 39; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 90; Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 210; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 243; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 156-9, 196, tom. ii., p. 235, tom. iii., p. 56; Motolinia, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 9; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 120, 136-7; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., pp. 117-18; Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., p. 20; Prichard’s Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., p. 512.

The Miztecs and Zapotecs are simply mentioned by the authorities in connection with the Olmecs and Xicalancas as having occupied the south-eastern region during the primitive period. Later they became powerful nations in the country now constituting the state of Oajaca, and were probably at least the equals of the Aztecs in civilization. Their own annals do not, so far as they may be interpreted, reach back to the pre-Toltec times, and although they may very likely have come in contact with the Olmecs in Puebla, or even have been their allies, receiving from them or with them the elements of Nahua culture, yet the fact that their languages are distinct from the Nahua, shows that they like the Totonacs were not, as some authors imply, simply a branch of the Nahua people in Tamoanchan. It is more natural to suppose that these three nations were either wild tribes, or, if partially civilized, connected with the Maya, Xibalban, or Quiname nations, and that they accepted more or less fully the Nahua ideas after the Olmec nations had risen to power in Anáhuac. The statement of Brasseur that the tribes of Oajaca received their civilization from the two brothers of Xibalba’s conquerors, Hunbatz and Hunchouen, is probably unfounded, since nothing of the kind appears in the chapter of García’s work to which the abbé refers.[III-69]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 136, heads a paragraph ‘Olmecas, Vixtoti and Mixtecas,’ speaking of all together, and applying to them the name Tenimes, or those who speak a barbarous tongue. Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 120, 125, 133, speaks of the ‘Ulmecas or Mixtecs,’ and thinks they were driven from their former position by the first Nahua invasion, driving out in turn the Chuchones. He pronounces the Miztec and Zapotec kindred tongues, and states that these nations joined their fortunes from an early period. Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 150, says the Zapotecs are reported to have come with the Olmecs and Xicalancas. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 150; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 154; Id., Popol Vuh, p. cclv.; García, Orígen de los Ind., pp. 327-8; Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. i., p. 98; Hellwald, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 337; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 37.

The Huastecs in Vera Cruz

To the Huastecs of Northern Vera Cruz, the preceding remarks may also be applied, save that their language, while distinct from the Nahua, is also very evidently connected with the great Maya linguistic family of the south. Yet the ruins of Huastec and Totonac Vera Cruz,[III-70]See vol. iv., p. 425, et seq. are more like the Nahua monuments than like those of Yucatan or Chiapas, showing how powerful was the influence of the Nahua element in the north. The only historical tradition relating to the Huastecs is the following from Sahagun:—In the time of the Olmecs, after the art of making pulque had been invented in the mountain called thereafter Popoconaltepetl, ‘mountain of foam,’ the inventors prepared a banquet on the same mountain. All the principal old men and old women were invited, and before each guest were placed four cups of the new wine,—the quantity deemed sufficient to exhibit the excellence of the newly-discovered beverage, and to cheer without inebriating the dignitaries present. But one chief, Cuextecatl by name, was so rash as to indulge in a fifth cup, and was moved thereby to discard the maxtli which constituted his court dress, and to conduct himself in a very indecorous manner; so much so that after recovering his sound sense, he was forced by very shame to flee with all his followers, and all those of his language, to the region of Pánuco, where they settled, and were called from their leader Cuextecas, afterwards Guaxtecas or Huastecs.[III-71]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 142-3; Squier’s Cent. Amer., pp. 316-17. Huaxtlan means ‘where the huaxi (a kind of fruit) abounds.’ Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., pp. 5-6; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 141; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 173; Brinton, in Hist. Mag., n. s., vol. i., p. 16; Prichard’s Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., p. 513; Id., Researches, vol. v., p. 342, 345.

The Toltecs in Huehue Tlapallan

I now come to what may be termed the regular annals of that branch of the Nahua nations which finally established a kingdom in Anáhuac with Tollan for a capital, and which acquired the name of Toltec. These annals will be found not more satisfactory or less mythical than the traditions that have been given in the preceding pages, although in their more salient points they seem to agree with those traditions. They were recorded in a most careless and confused manner by the native writer Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl, who derived his information from the documents which survived the destruction by the Spanish priests. The comments of later writers, and their attempts to reconcile this author’s statements one with another and all with scriptural traditions and with the favorite theory of a general migration from the north, have still further confused the subject. I have no hope of being able to reduce Ixtlilxochitl’s statements to perfect order, or to explain the exact historical meaning of each statement; still, by the omission of a large amount of profitless conjecture, scriptural comparison, and hopelessly entangled chronology, the tradition may be somewhat simplified so as to yield, as other traditions have done, some items of general information respecting the primitive Nahua period.

At the end of the first age of the world or the ‘sun of waters,’ as we are told by Ixtlilxochitl, the earth was visited by a flood which covered even the most lofty mountains. After the repeopling of the earth by the descendants of a few families who escaped destruction, the building of a tower as a protection against a possible future catastrophe of similar nature, and the confusion of tongues and consequent scattering of the population—for all these things were found in the native traditions, as we are informed—seven families speaking the same language kept together in their wanderings for many years; and after crossing broad lands and seas, enduring great hardships, they reached the country of Huehue Tlapallan, or ‘Old’ Tlapallan; which they found to be fertile and desirable to dwell in.[III-72]The date of the arrival in Huehue Tlapallan is given by Ixtlilxochitl in his first Toltec relation (p. 322) as 2236 years after the creation, or 520 years after the flood. That is, it occurred long before the Christian era. In other places (pp. 206, 459) the same author represents the Toltecs as banished from their country and migrating to Huitlapalan in California on the South Sea in 387 A.D., whence they continued their journey to Tulancingo. Now, although I attach very little importance to this author’s chronology, and shall enter into no discussion with a view either to reconcile or overthrow it, yet it is plain that this last statement, notwithstanding the use of the name Huitlapalan, refers to a migration long subsequent to that mentioned in the text. The date 387 A.D., therefore, given by Gallatin, (in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 96) and Müller, (Reisen, tom. iii., p. 97), as that of the arrival in Huehue Tlapallan, according to Ixtlilxochitl, is calculated to convey a false impression. The second age, the ‘sun of air,’ terminated with a great hurricane which swept away trees, rocks, houses, and people, although many men and women escaped, chiefly such as took refuge in caves which the hurricane could not reach. After several days the survivors came out to find a multitude of apes living in the land; and all this time they were in darkness, seeing neither the sun nor moon. The next event recorded, although Veytia makes it precede the hurricane, is the stopping of the sun for a whole day in his course, as at the command of Joshua as recorded in the Old Testament. “When the mosquito, however, saw the sun thus suspended and pensive, he addressed him saying, ‘Lord of the world, why art thou thus motionless, and doest not thy duty as is commanded thee? Dost thou wish to destroy the world as is thy wont?’ Then seeing that he was yet silent and made no response, the insect went up and stung him in the leg, whereupon he, feeling himself stung, started anew on his accustomed course.”

Next occurred an earthquake which swallowed up and destroyed all the Quinames, or giants—at least all those who lived in the coast regions—together with many of the Toltecs and of their neighbors the Chichimecs. After the destruction of these Philistines, “being at peace with all this new world, all the wise Toltecs, both the astrologers and those of other arts, assembled in Huehue Tlapallan, the chief city of their dominion, where they treated of many things, the calamities they had suffered and the movements of the heavens since the creation of the world, and of many other things, which on account of their histories having been burned, have not been ascertained further than what has been written here, among which they added the bissextile to regulate the solar year with the equinox, and many other curiosities as will be seen in their tables and arrangement of years, months, weeks, days, signs, and planets as they understood them.”

One hundred and sixteen years after this regulation or invention of the Toltec calendar, “the sun and moon were eclipsed, the earth shook, and the rocks were rent asunder, and many other things and signs happened, though there was no loss of life. This was in the year Ce Calli, which, the chronology being reduced to our systems, proves to be the same date when Christ our Lord suffered” (33 A.D.)

Three hundred and five years later, when the empire had been long at peace, Chalcatzin and Tlacamihtzin, chief descendants of the royal house of the Toltecs, raised a revolt for the purpose of deposing the legitimate successor to the throne. The rebellious chiefs were after long wars driven out of their city Tlachicatzin in Huehue Tlapallan, with all their numerous families and allies. They were pursued by their kindred of the city or country of Tlaxicoluican for sixty leagues, to a place discovered by Cecatzin, which they named Tlapallanconco or ‘little’ Tlapallan. The struggle by which the rebels were conquered lasted eight years,—or thirteen, according to Veytia—and they were accompanied on their forced migration by five other chiefs. The departure from Huehue Tlapallan seems to have taken place in the fifth or sixth century.[III-73]Ixtlilxochitl, p. 322, says it was 305 years after the death of Christ, or about 338 A.D.; but on the same page he again makes the date 439 A. D. Veytia, tom. i., p. 208, dates the rebellion 583, the exile 596, and the founding of Tlapallanconco 604 A.D. Clavigero, tom. iv., p. 46, gives 544 as the date of departure, but on p. 126 of tom. i., he gives 596, agreeing with Veytia. Müller, in his tables, Reisen, tom. iii., p. 97, dates the outbreak of war 427, the departure 439, the migration 447 A.D. Brasseur, Popol Vuh, p. clv., gives the last of the fourth century as the date of the Toltec migration. Cabrera, Teatro, pp. 90-1, makes the date 181 B.C. 544 A.D., one of Clavigero’s dates, is that which has, perhaps, been most commonly adopted by modern writers.

Exile of the Toltecs • The Toltec Migration

They remained at Tlapallanconco[III-74]Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 126, writes this name Tlapallantonco; and in Popol Vuh, p. clix., he insists that it should be Tlapallantzinco. Müller, Reisen, tom. iii., p. 98, calls it also Tlappallanzingo. three years, and towards the end of their stay the seven chieftains assembled to deliberate whether they should remain there permanently or go farther. Then rose a great astrologer, named Hueman, or Huematzin, saying that according to their histories they had suffered great persecutions from heaven, but that these had always been followed by great prosperity; that their persecutions had always occurred in the year Ce Tecpatl, but that year once passed, great blessings ensued; that their trouble was a great evil immediately preceding the dawn of a greater good, and consequently it did not behoove them to remain so near their enemies. Moreover, his astrology had taught him that towards the rising sun there was a broad and happy land, where the Quinames had lived for many years, but so long a time had now passed since their destruction that the country was depopulated; besides, the fierce Chichimecs, their neighbors, rarely penetrated those regions. The planet which ruled the destinies of that new country yet lacked many years of carrying out its threats, and in the meantime they and their descendants to the tenth generation might enjoy a golden and prosperous century. Again, the threatening planet did not rule their nation, but that of the giants, so that possibly it might do no great injury even to their descendants. He advised that some colonists be left here to people the country, become their vassals, and in time to turn upon their enemies and recover their native land and original power. These and other things did Hueman counsel, and they seemed good to the seven chiefs; so that after three years were passed, or eleven years from the time when they left Huehue Tlapallan, they started on their migration. The first stopping-place, about seventy leagues distant and reached in twelve days was Hueyxalan—’great sandy’ as Veytia interprets it—a place discovered by Cohuatzon where they remained four years. They next halted after a journey of twenty days at Xalisco, a country about a hundred leagues farther east—or as Veytia says west—near the seashore. They lived eight years in this land, which was discovered by Ziuhcohuatl. Other twenty days and hundred leagues took them to Chimalhuacan Atenco on the coast where there were certain islands, and here they dwelt five years. At the start they had taken a vow, under penalty of severe punishment, to have no intercourse with their wives for twenty-three years; but as the time was now expired they began here to increase and multiply. After the five years they resumed their journey eastward for eighteen days or eighty leagues to Toxpan, discovered by Mezotzin, where they lived for five years also. Quiyahuitztlan Anáhuac, discovered by Acapichtzin—was twenty days’ journey or a hundred leagues east of Toxpan, also on the coast, with inlets so that they were obliged to pass in boats from one place to another. They remained here six years suffering great hardships. The next halting-place was Zacatlan, distant eighteen days or eighty leagues in a direction not stated. Chalcatzin was the discoverer, and during the first of their seven years’ stay here—just fifty-two years, or a xiuhtlalpilli, after their wars began—a son was born to the chief, and named from the place Zacapantzin. At Totzapan, eighty leagues distance from Zacatlan, they lived six years, in the last of which a son named Totzapantzin was born to Cecatzin, who discovered this place. This was just fifty-two years after they left their native country. Twenty-eight days or one hundred and forty leagues brought them to Tepetla, Cohuatzon being the discoverer for the second time, where they remained seven years. At Mazatepec eighteen days or eighty leagues distant, discovered by Ziuhcohuatl, they tarried eight years; at Ziuhcohuatl, at the same distance, discovered by Tlapalmetzin, also eight years; at Yztachuexucha, twenty days or one hundred leagues northward, discovered by Metzotzin, twenty-six years. Finally a journey of eighteen days or eighty leagues brought them to Tulancingo—written also Tulantzinco and Tollantzinco—discovered by Acapichtzin. Here they built a house sufficiently large to contain all the people, and remained eighteen years before transferring their capital to Tollan farther east and establishing what was afterwards known as the Toltec empire. The third year of their stay in Tulancingo completed an age, or one hundred and four years since the departure from their country.[III-75]Ixtlilxochitl, p. 324, makes this third year 543, and their arrival in Tulancingo consequently 540 A.D.; or as is implied on p. 307, 487 A.D.; or adding 104 years to the first date given by this author in note 71, we have 442 A.D. Veytia, tom. i., p. 221, 697 A.D. Id., after Boturini, in Tezcoco en los Ultimos Tiempos, 687 A.D. Müller, Reisen, tom. iii., p. 97, 558 A.D. Clavigero, tom. iv., p. 51, 648 A.D., or tom. i., p. 126, 700 A.D. According to Ixtlilxochitl, the Toltecs reached Anáhuac in the sixth century, or according to Veytia and others who have attempted to reconstruct his chronology, near the end of the seventh century.[III-76]In other parts of his work Ixtlilxochitl has a very different account of this migration to the effect that the Toltecs were banished from their country, sailed and coasted on the South Sea, arrived at Huitlapalan or Huitlapatlan—the Gulf of California, or a place on the coast of California—in 387 A.D., coasted Xalisco, arrived at Guatulco, then at Tochtepec or Turlitepeque on the North Sea, and finally at Tulancingo, pp. 206-7, 459-60. On the Toltec migration see Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 321-4; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 6-33, 139, 157, 205-21, 231; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 126, tom. iv., pp. 46, 51; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 36-7; Boturini, Idea, pp.136-7; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 216-18; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 100, 126; Popol Vuh, pp. clv., clix-xi.; Id., Esquisses, pp. 11, 13-14; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 203; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., p. 202; Müller, Reisen, tom. iii., pp. 91-7.

This tradition of the Toltecs affords in itself no sufficient data from which to locate accurately Huehue Tlapallan, their most ancient home in America. The name is interpreted as ‘ancient red land, or land of color,’ and might perhaps apply as well to the north as to the south. Pedro de Alvarado writing from Santiago, or Old Guatemala, to Cortés in 1524, announces his intention to set out in a few months to explore the country of Tapalan “which is in the interior fifteen days’ march from here. It is pretended that the capital is as large as Mexico.”[III-77]Alvarado, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 147; Id., in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 300. This indicates that at the time of the Conquest the name was still applied to a region which may correspond very well to Honduras, Peten, or Tabasco. Ixtlilxochitl himself, in relating the expeditions on which his ancestor of the same name accompanied Cortés, mentions one to “Tlapalan, a province which lies toward Ihueras,” or Ibueras, being the former name of Honduras.[III-78]Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 446.Brasseur says that “Mexican geography at the time of the discovery applied this name only to the provinces north of Guatemala, between the tributaries of the Rio Usumacinta and Honduras;” and also that the country was spoken of by authors at the time of the Conquest as Tlapallan de Cortés, on account of Cortés’ expedition to Honduras, but he mentions no authors except those I have referred to.[III-79]Popol Vuh, pp. lxiv., cxii., cxxvi-viii. The same author believes that the name Tlapallanconco given by Ixtlilxochitl to the first station, sixty leagues from Huehue Tlapallan, should be Tlapallantzinco. He tells us that the Guatemalan histories mentions such a city conquered by the Quichés in Soconusco on the coast, at a point not far from sixty leagues distant from the Ococingo region.[III-80]Id., p. clix. Again, according to Sahagun and Torquemada, when Quetzalcoatl, the second of the name, who flourished while the Toltecs were at Tollan, left the country, he embarked or disappeared on the gulf coast near the Goazacoalco River, announcing his intention to go to Tlapallan. This would certainly favor the idea that Tlapallan was a southern country.

The Country of Huehue Tlapallan

On the other hand, the eastward direction attributed to the migration from Tlapallanconco to Anáhuac is not consistent with any Central American location of the starting-place; but, in connection with the fact that Xalisco is given as the second station about a hundred and seventy leagues distant from Tlapallanconco, would agree somewhat better with the theory generally adopted by the Spanish writers that the original home of the Toltecs was in the north-west, probably on the Gulf of California; yet the name Tlapallan has never been found in the north-west.[III-81]The discovery of a town of similar name by Cortés, doubtingly reported by Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 23, and others, seems to rest on no authority whatever. Material relics of any great empire are wanting in that region, at least beyond Quemada in Zacatecas, and the itinerary is full of inconsistencies which prove it to be unreliable as a historic record. For instance, an eastern course of a hundred leagues to any point on the coast of Jalisco would be an impossibility; the next two moves led a hundred leagues down the Pacific Coast, and then across the continent to Toxpan, or Tuxpan, on the gulf coast in Vera Cruz; then, although Tuxpan is on the eastern coast, the migration continued still a hundred leagues eastward, another impossibility of course. How they returned to the states of Vera Cruz and Mexico, where the other stations would seem to be located, does not appear. In fact the tradition of this migration as it reads, so far as directions, distances, and names are concerned, is meaningless, a fact due either to the carelessness of the compiler or the scantiness of his materials. Intrinsically then the evidence, while not conclusive, favors the idea that Huehue Tlapallan was in the south.

Comparing the Toltec tradition with those that have been already given, we find, except in names, a strong resemblance in general features. In the successive creations and destructions of men; the apes that peopled the land after one of the destructions; the ancient settlement and growth to power of the Toltecs in a fertile country named Huehue Tlapallan; the destruction of a rival power, that of the Quinames; the regulation or invention of the calendar by an assemblage of wise men in Huehue Tlapallan; and a final forced migration to new homes—in all these features the tradition seems to represent a vague memory of events already familiar to us as having occurred in the central region; in the Votanic empire of the Tzendal traditions; in the Xibalba, Paxil, and Tulan Zuiva, or Seven Caves, of the Quiché record; and especially in the Tamoanchan and Tonacatepetl of the annals gathered by Sahagun.

Southern Origin of the Toltecs

In opposition to those analogies we have the fact that the Spanish writers locate Huehue Tlapallan in the north, as they do also the original homes of all the nations that are reported by native tradition to have migrated successively into Anáhuac. It is not probable that this idea of a northern origin was a pure invention of the Spaniards; they doubtless found among the Aztecs with whom they came in contact what seemed to them a prevalent popular notion that the ancestors of the race came from the north. Yet the tradition given by Sahagun—and referring to a time long prior to the Toltec migration of the fifth or sixth century—relating to the first appearance of the Nahua civilizers on the gulf coast, whither they had come by sea from the north-east, probably from Florida, would have been perhaps a sufficient foundation for such a popular idea; and the not improbable fact that the Aztecs proper and some other nations, prominent in rank and power at the time of the Conquest, did actually come into Anáhuac from the region immediately adjoining it on the north or north-west, would certainly have contributed to confirm that idea. In other words the Aztecs when questioned by the Spaniards may have replied that they came from the north, referring in most cases to the latest move of their nation into Anáhuac, but possibly in some instances to the vague traditions of their fathers respecting the very earliest periods of their existence as a race. The Spaniards at once connected the reported northern origin with the world-peopling migration from Central Asia after the confusion of tongues; and since the old and new world were supposed to be connected or nearly so in the north, they found the native tradition strongly confirmed by the scriptures. When the theory of successive migrations from the north, thus confirmed, had once been established in their minds, nothing could overthrow it; it became in a certain sense a part of their religion. Each migration subsequently found recorded in the native annals, as means of communication between the conquerors and conquered became perfected, was at once given a north-to-south direction. The natives themselves were in many instances not unwilling to please their masters by orthodox interpretations of their picture-writings. Finally the ruins of Quemada, the Casas Grandes of Chihuahua, and the adobe buildings on the Gila were discovered—doubtless traces left by migrating nations, and thus the last doubt on the subject, if any could exist, was removed even from the minds of later and more intelligent class of Spanish writers, like Clavigero and Veytia.[III-82]The Nahuas state that they came from the north-west. Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 147; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 33. The tradition of the Toltecs will not allow us to fix either date, locality, or source of their migration, but the north is vaguely given as the source. Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 203. Huehue Tlapallan situated north-west of the Gila. Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., p. 204. Not in the Gila Valley. Smith’s Human Species, p. 250. Tradition shows Huehue Tlapallan, miserable like all nations abandoned to luxury and power, unable to feed its children, casting them forth. Ramirez, in Revista Cientifica, tom. i., p. 21. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. clix., speaks of Tlaxi Coliuhcan, mentioned by Ixtlilxochitl, as the old capital of the Quinames, or Palenque. He perhaps has no other reason for this than the resemblance of the names Coliuhcan and Colhuacan. He says, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 100, that Huehue Tlapallan may be translated ‘land of colors’ or ‘land of nobles.’ Throughout his works he places this country in the south, identifying it with Xibalba. It is proved incontestably that the Toltecs came from Tulhá, whose ruins are seen near Ococingo. Id., Cartas, p. 28. Cabrera, Teatro, p. 94, thinks Tlapalla must have been in the south-east.

The Primitive Chichimecs

In the Toltec tradition we have found the Chichimecs mentioned as a powerful and fierce people and their neighbors in Huehue Tlapallan. Since this is the first mention of that famous people, since all the best authorities insist that the Toltecs and Chichimecs were of the same blood and language, and since the Chichimecs afterwards succeeded the Toltecs in Anáhuac, we naturally turn to the Chichimec traditions of their early home for additional information respecting Huehue Tlapallan, although the Chichimec migration occurring several centuries later would come chronologically beyond the limits of this chapter. Our search in this direction for data from which to determine the location of the ancient Nahua empire is, however, fruitless. Although Ixtlilxochitl is still the chief authority, we have no mention of Huehue Tlapallan. The country—or a country, for it is not certain that it was the original Chichimec home and not one located in central Mexico, although some of the traditions seem to point to primitive times—of immense extent, is called Amaquemecan; one of its chief cities seems to have borne the same name, and another city was Oyome. The names Necuametl and Nacuix are also applied to the country by Ixtlilxochitl, and he further states that the Chichimecs came like the other nations from Chicomoztoc. Some fourteen kings are named as having ruled over the kingdom, beginning with Chichimecatl who brought the people to the country and from whom they took their name. Nothing is known of the reigns of any except the last three, the first of whom is reported to have sent his son at the request of the Toltecs to become the first king in Tollan. Ixtlilxochitl in his account of the sending for this king says that the Chichimecs were at that time in the region of Pánuco, and that fear of hostility from them was the chief motive of the Toltecs in inviting a Chichimec to rule over them. It is not, however, stated that the Chichimec capital was in that part of the country. When at last the empire came into the hands of two brothers, one of whom Xolotl, with all his people, decided to migrate, not one of their halting-places is named, until they had journeyed for a whole year and reached the vicinity of Anáhuac; consequently there is no clue to the course of their migration. Besides the statement that the Chichimecs came from the Seven Caves, and another by Veytia that the kings wore quetzal-feathers, there seems to be absolutely nothing in the tradition to indicate whether Amaquemecan was in the north or south. Yet the Spanish writers have no hesitation in fixing the direction, although disagreeing somewhat about the locality. From two to three hundred leagues north of Jalisco, beyond New Mexico, and in Alaska are some of the decisions in this matter,—decisions resting on authority that the reader already understands. It seems probable that the great original Nahua empire whether it be called Huehue Tlapallan, Tamoanchan, Tulan, or Amaquemecan, was the Chichimec empire—that is, that the Toltecs or revolting branch constituted but a small portion of the Chichimec or Nahua people.[III-83]Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 208-9, 217, 333, 335-7, 392-4, 450; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 25, 139, 231, 301-2, tom. ii., pp. 3-7; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 38-40. Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 125-6, thinks that Chalcatzin and Tlacamitzin were the successors of Xhunahpa left by Xbalanque in command of the Nahuas, and that they were defeated and exiled by the monarch of Xibalba. For details and further references respecting the Chichimec migration see a future chapter. The Chichimec kings were: Chichimecatl, Mixcohuatl, Huitzilopochtli, Huemac, Nauhyotl, Quauhtepetla, Nonohualca, Huetzin, Quauhtonal, Masatzin, Quetzal, Icoatzin, Mozeloquitzin, Tlamacatzin—in one place Nequametl and Namocuix are named instead of Chichimecatl. Ixtlilxochitl, p. 394; Veytia, tom. i., p. 231; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 225-6; Müller, Reisen, tom. iii., pp. 43-4.

Migration from the South

The Chichimec migration was followed by many others at irregular intervals, ending with that of the Aztecs, all of which will be spoken of in their proper place. The chronologic order attributed by tradition to these migrations is not to be relied on, giving, as may be supposed, only a vague idea of the order in which the different nations acquired some prominence in and about the valley of Mexico. In its ancient centre—not in Anáhuac, whether it was in the north or south—the primitive Nahua power was overthrown, or from that centre it was transferred to be re-established by exiled princes and their descendants on the Mexican plateaux. This transfer, whose nature we may vaguely comprehend, but of whose details we know nothing, is the event or series of events referred to by the various migration-traditions. The recollections of these events assumed different forms in the traditions of different tribes until each nation claimed or were deemed by the Spaniards to claim a distinct migration from its former home. The accounts of the migrations following the Toltec will be given in their proper place, and here we have only to notice that the Seven Caves are mentioned as a starting-place or station in most if not all of these migrations, and that the only names that appear in the traditions applied to the ancient Nahua dwelling-place are Aztlan, Culhuacan or Teo Culhuacan, and Aquilasco. These names are perhaps applied to cities in the ancient home, but it is by no means certain, as will appear later, that they did not all belong to localities in central Mexico. At least neither the names nor the events of the migrations as reported afford any proof of geographical location. The analogy between Culhuacan and Culiacan is not a strong argument in favor of a north-western location, or at most does not outweigh the identity of the names Culhuacan and Nachan. A palm-tree painted on the picture-writing supposed to record one of the migrations, in connection with the starting-place, as has been remarked by several authorities, seems to favor the idea that the point of departure was in the south rather than in the north, and would certainly be a circumstance of considerable weight against an extreme northern location for Aztlan.

The Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg attempts to reconcile the general fact shown by all the earlier traditions that the primitive Nahua power was in the south, with the idea of a migration from the north apparently entertained by each of the nations of Anáhuac and by the Spanish writers. According to his idea the Nahuas, overcome by the monarchs of Xibalba, were driven from Chiapas, dwelt a few years on the Pacific coast at Tlapallantzinco, and thence migrated north-westward in different bands, following the general direction of the coast, to Sonora and Upper California. Along this route, as this author claims, distinct traces of their migration are apparent, referring perhaps, although he does not say so, to linguistic traces. In this northern region, about the Gulf of California, they established great kingdoms and built great cities, each Nahua colony becoming a centre of civilization to the wild tribes with whom it came in contact. From this region, to places in which the names Teo Culhuacan, Aztlan, etc., of the traditions may be applied, the different Nahua nations descended into Anáhuac in successive migrations from the seventh to the twelfth century, impelled by civil convulsions or the pressure of outside and warlike tribes.[III-84]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 126, 179-80; Id., Cartas, pp. 31-4; Id., Popol Vuh, pp. clix-clxi. Brasseur gives a report of the ruins of a northern Tula in California, which of course is unfounded. He thinks the Opatas, Yaquis, Mayos, and Tarahumares are remnants of the old Toltec populations in this region. He does not attribute the ruins of the New Mexican and Arizona group to the Toltecs, at least not at this early period. Bradford also, Amer. Antiq., p. 202, speaks of the first age as diffusing population from the centre through the north, to return in a reflux of numerous tribes in the second age.

I am inclined to find in the abbé’s theory a statement—too definite perhaps—of a general fact. That is, the Nahua power—established in eastern and south-eastern Mexico by the Olmec tribes almost simultaneously with its growth in the south—was after its overthrow in Central America established by exiled nobles over western and north-western Mexico. I find no evidence, however, that the Nahua power ever became settled and flourishing farther north than Durango and Sinaloa, although the influence of their institutions may, not improbably, have extended to the Sonora tribes; into California and the far north-west the Nahuas never penetrated. If a Nahua empire or political power ever really existed in the north-west, its centre was probably in the region of Quemada, in Zacatecas and Jalisco. Soon, however, the valley of Mexico became the political centre, and the subsequent history of the country was essentially a history of Anáhuac. The modern aboriginal annals of each nation dated from its rise to notice in Anáhuac, and in the traditions of previous history imperfectly communicated to the Spaniards, their former greatness in the south, their defeat and exile, their life in outside provinces, and their settlement in the valley were sadly confused.

Annals of Yucatan

Mendieta, Torquemada, Gomara, and others, record the popular tradition of the settlement of Mexico as follows: An old man Iztac Mixcohuatl, by his wife Ilancueitl, in Chicomoztoc, or the Seven Caves, had six sons, Xelhua, Tenuch, Ulmecatl, Xicalancatl, Mixtecatl, and Otomitl. Tenuch’s descendants were the Aztecs; Xelhua gave his name to no nation, but his followers settled at various points in the south-east; the others founded the nations which took their names. Mendieta adds that by another wife the same old man had a son named Quetzalcoatl.[III-85]Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 145-6; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 32-3; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 299-300; Prichard’s Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., p. 514; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, pp. xxix.-xxx. Piñeda tells us that a nephew of Votan divided the land of Anáhuac.[III-86]Descrip. Chiapas, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. iii., p. 344. According to Arlegui the Toltecs came from the west and divided New Spain between their seven families.[III-87]Chrón. Zacatecas, pp. 6-7. I believe I have now given all the important traditions that seem to belong to the pre-Toltec period in Mexico, and I deem it unnecessary to refer to the authors who merely give an abridged version of the same accounts, many of them confining themselves to the simple statement that the Toltecs, a very skillful people, came first from the north and settled in the region afterwards known as New Spain.

Returning to the south, it only remains to examine briefly the primitive Maya annals of Yucatan, which confirm in a few points those of other peoples, so far as they relate to the great American centre of civilization in the south. These annals will be given in full elsewhere; a very general view, with especial reference to the points referred to, will suffice here. A prevalent belief among the Mayas at the time of the Conquest was, that the peninsula was settled in ancient times by two races, one from the east, the other from the west. It is not implied that they came at the same period, but rather that the migration from the east preceded that from the west by many centuries. Lizana tells us that in ancient times the east was called cenial, or ‘little descent,’ and the west nohenial, or ‘great descent,’ believing that these names indicate the comparative numbers of the respective colonies. Landa and Herrera record a tradition that the oldest inhabitants came from the east, the sea being divided to afford them a passage. Cogolludo concludes, contrary to the opinion of Lizana, that the colony from the east must have been much more numerous as well as more ancient than the other, because of the universal use of the Maya language and of Maya names of places throughout the peninsula—a conclusion that carries little weight, since it rests mainly on the assumption that those who came from the west spoke the Aztec language, an assumption for which there is no authority whatever.

Zamná’s Empire

The personage whose name appears first in the Maya tradition is Zamná, son of the chief deity, who taught the people, invented the hieroglyphic alphabet, and gave a name to each locality in Yucatan. His rôle, so far as anything is known of it, was precisely the same as that of Votan in Chiapas. Zamná is reported to have lived long in the land and to have been buried at the close of his career at Izamal. During his life he founded Mayapan, ‘standard (or capital) of Maya,’—Maya being the native name of the country and signifying according to some authorities ‘land without water’—a city which was several times ruined and rebuilt after its founder’s time. Zamná may be most naturally connected with the traditional migration from the east. Cogolludo, it is true, states that he was at the head of the other colony, and this statement is repeated in one place by Brasseur, but as the Spanish writer directly contradicts his statement on the same page, not much importance is to be attached to it. Vague as it is, the tradition of Zamná and his followers from the east seems identical with that of Votan. If we suppose that such persons as Zamná and Votan actually had an existence—a supposition which like its opposite forms no part of this chapter—it would be impossible to determine whether the two were the same, or Zamná the companion, disciple, or descendant of Votan; but we may well believe that the period, the empire, the institutions alluded to in the Maya record are the same as those connected with the Votanic or Xibalban traditions. The ancient power whose centre was in Chiapas, Tabasco, and Honduras, extended north-eastward into Yucatan as it did north-westward into Anáhuac. Ordoñez states, as usual without giving his authority, that Mayapan was one of the allied capitals, which with Nachan and Tulan constituted the Votanic empire. The fact that the name of the Cocomes, the most ancient people, or at least the oldest line of kings and nobles, in Yucatan signifies in the Nahua tongue ‘serpents,’ like the name Chanes applied to Votan’s followers, may have some significance, although in the Maya tongue Cocome is also said to mean ‘listener.’

At an unknown date, but subsequent to that of Zamná’s rule, we find three brothers, the Itzaob, reigning at Chichen over a people called from them the Itzas, as the city also was called thereafter Chichen Itza. They came from the west, were just and chaste men, and their reign a long and glorious one. One of them, however, having finally left the country, the others gave themselves up to immoral practices, and were put to death. Notwithstanding the fact that the brothers came, according to the Spanish writers, from the west, there is much reason to suppose that the nation whose capital was at Chichen, was an ancient people dating back to the time of Zamná, since the most satisfactory interpretation of the name ‘Itza’ is that it came from ‘Ytzamna,’ the more ancient form of the great founder’s name. Connected with the three brothers in a manner not clearly defined by the tradition—either ruling conjointly with them or more probably coming into power immediately after their downfall—was Cukulcan, who also came from the west, who was also famous for the purity of his life, and whose teachings in fact were identical with those of Quetzalcoatl among the Nahua peoples. He also is credited with the founding, or re-founding of Mayapan, which under his rule became the political centre of the whole country, although Chichen still retained great prominence. Cukulcan having raised the country to a condition of the highest prosperity, finally abandoned Yucatan for some unknown motive and returned westward, disappearing at Champoton, or Potonchan, on the coast, where he dwelt for some time and where a temple in his honor was afterwards erected. After his departure the Cocome princes came into power, their capital being still Mayapan.

The identity in character, teachings, and actions between Cukulcan and Quetzalcoatl, suggests the first appearance in Yucatan, at this time, of Nahua tribes or Nahua institutions, corresponding to a certain extent with the appearance of the Olmecs and Xicalancas in Anáhuac, and indicating that the Nahua influence was exerted during its earliest period of development in the north-east as well as in the north-west. Indeed, Veytia records a tradition to the effect that Yucatan was settled by the Olmecs and Xicalancas driven from Mexico at the coming of the Toltecs; this author justly rejects the latter part of this report, but expresses his belief that bands from these nations did actually settle in the peninsula. When to the analogies already noticed between Quetzalcoatl and Cukulcan we add the fact that their names are etymologically identical, both signifying ‘plumed serpent,’ little reason remains to doubt that the Maya tradition refers, like the others that have been noticed, to the first coming into prominence of the Nahuas in America.

The Tutul Xius in Yucatan

The next prominent event in Yucatan history, as it is also the last that has any special bearing upon the period now under consideration, and the most important in that connection, is the arrival of the Tutul Xius. According to the traditions of the natives as recorded by the Spaniards, this peaceful but highly cultivated people came from the south, perhaps from Chiapas, after wandering for forty years in the unsettled and mountainous portions of the country, and settled near Mayapan. The Cocomes, successors to the Itza brothers and Cukulcan, having at the time governed the country long and prosperously, received the new-comers kindly and formed an alliance with them, an alliance which continued for a long time until the Cocome kings, becoming tyrannical, were overthrown by a revolution in which the Tutul Xius were the most prominent actors. It is, however, with their arrival and not with their subsequent actions that we have to do here. The mere tradition of their arrival after a long migration from the southern highlands would at best furnish only slight grounds for the conjecture of the Spaniards that they came from Chiapas; but another document unknown to the Spanish missionary-authors throws great light upon this people, and invests their appearance in Yucatan with increased importance. The document referred to is the Maya manuscript translated by Pio Perez, first published in Mr Stephens’ work on Yucatan, and later with the work of Bishop Landa, which begins as follows:—”This is the series of katunes elapsed since the four Tutul Xius departed from the house of Nonoual, which was west of Zuina, and came from the land of Tulapan. Four katunes passed after they set out before they arrived here with Holonchan Tepeuh and his companions, before they reached this peninsula; the 8 Ahau had passed, the 6 Ahau, the 4 Ahau, and the 2 Ahau—eighty-one years before they arrived in this peninsula, eighty-one years that they spent in their journey from their country to this peninsula of Chacnouitan.” Here we find it distinctly stated that this people came from Tulapan, ‘capital of Tula,’ the very place from which, according to the Quiché record, the Nahua nations migrated, and it is more than likely that Zuina should be Zuiva, defined in the Popol Vuh as the Seven Caves. This, in connection with the Quiché lamentation over that division of their brothers which they had left in the east, is amply sufficient to identify the Tutul Xius as one of the Nahua tribes that migrated from the original centre. The family of Nonoual seems to have given a name to the tribes that occupied Tabasco down to the Conquest. This document assumes to give the date of the Tutul Xiu migration, a most important date, since it is also that of the overthrow of Nahua power in Chiapas and its transfer to Anáhuac; but until the Maya system of Ahau katunes[III-88]See vol. ii., pp. 762-5. shall have been the object of much additional research, there is little hope of arriving at an accurate interpretation of the date. Sr Perez gives it as 144 A.D. The Abbé Brasseur, relying on the same document, gives the date repeatedly as 171 A.D.; but in his translation of the document in Landa’s work he concluded that it should be 401 A.D., reckoning each Ahau katun as twenty years, and remarking that this date agrees much better than the earlier one with Ixtlilxochitl’s chronology. Of the Perez manuscript Mr Gallatin remarks that it contains all we know of the history and chronology of Yucatan. To ascertain dates is out of the question; but it is probable that the events are stated in their respective order.[III-89]For details and for subsequent Yucatan history, see a future chapter. My authorities for the preceding remarks are Landa, Relacion, pp. 28-50; Lizana, in Id., pp. 348-56; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 178-9, 192, 196-7; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. 123; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 52; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 237; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. ii.; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., pp. 31-6. Perez, in Landa, Relacion, pp. 420-3; Id., in Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 465-9; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 68, 76-80, 126-7; Id., Popol Vuh, pp. lxxix, clv.-vi.; Id., Cartas, p. 13; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 171-3; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 128.

Overthrow of the Nahuas

A Mexican document, known only through Brasseur de Bourbourg, and by him called the Codex Gondra, furnishes some additional information respecting the overthrow of the Nahua power in Central America, and especially respecting the house of Nonoual alluded to in the Perez document. I quote from the author named as follows:—”The manuscript begins with a description of the twenty wards of the great city of Tollan, or Tulhá, Huey Tollan; but it gives the names of only the first twelve, the translator, who apparently attached but little importance to names, having deemed it proper to omit the other eight. The author relates the events that precipitated the ruin of the throne, occasioned by the minority of the last Chane prince, whose guardianship was claimed by two powerful families, one called the Chichimec-Toltecs, and the other the Chichimecs of Nonohualco. The quarrel terminated in the insurrection of the latter and the assassination of the young monarch. But the prince was beloved by the people, and on account of the popular indignation, the murderers were forced to flee by night with all their followers. On their departure from Tulhà, Xelhua, the chief the Nonohualcos, went to consult the oracle of Culhuacan, [Palenque?] which enjoined him to depart. On the way he did penance for his crime, and after several defeats at the hands of the tribes through whose lands he was forced to pass, he at last founded the kingdom of the Nonohualcos, fixing the capital at Quetzaltepec in the mountains about the country of the Zoques, who were conquered by his successors. The author gives the names of the thirteen princes who occupied the throne after Xelhua with the leading events of their reigns. But while Xelhua was establishing a new empire, Ieyxcohuatl, chief of the Toltec party, who had seized upon the power after the death of the young king of Tulhà, of which he had been the principal cause, was forced after a few years of power to abandon in his turn the capital, with all his followers, to avoid the vengeance of the people. He went into exile with the Toltecs, and the manuscript gives their itinerary as far as Tlachihualtepec, or Cholula, at the time occupied by the Olmecs and Xicalancas, who ruled the whole Aztec plateau.”[III-90]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Cartas, pp. 27-8. The abbé seems to have made but little if any use of the Codex Gondra in his subsequent works; although it may be supposed that from it, and indeed from the very portion above quoted, he takes his account of the closing events of the Toltec empire in Anáhuac to be given in a future chapter.

I have placed before the reader such historical traditions of the civilized nations as seem to bear upon the earliest period of their development. Their exact meaning, so far as details are concerned, is with the aid of existing authorities beyond the reach of the most careful study, and no attempt has been made to attach a definite significance to each aboriginal tale, or to form from all a symmetrical chronologic whole; indeed, their interpretation has not been carried so far in many cases as the authorities seemed with considerable plausibility to justify. Taking up one after another the annals of the leading nations as recorded by the best authorities, I have endeavored to point out only the apparent general significance of each. The evidence thus elicited by a separate examination of each witness has pointed—with varying force, but with great uniformity of direction—towards the Central or Usumacinta region, not necessarily as the original cradle of American civilization, but as the most ancient home to which it can be traced by traditional, monumental, and linguistic records. In obtaining this evidence there has been no occasion to resort to the sifting process of rejecting all testimony seemingly opposed to a preconceived theory. Almost the only argument against the general tenor of the traditions, monuments, and languages, has been the prevalent idea among Spanish writers favoring a migration from the north; and the force of this argument has proved to be more apparent than real. Comparison of the records one with another has greatly strengthened the evidence derived from them separately; and the cumulative proof afforded by their successive examination has been deemed sufficient to confirm the general conclusions of the preceding pages, which may be expressed as follows:

General Conclusions

Throughout several centuries preceding the Christian era, and perhaps one or two centuries following, there flourished in Central America the great Maya empire of the Chanes, Culhuas, or Serpents, known to its foes as Xibalba, with its centre in Chiapas at or near Palenque, and with several allied capitals in the surrounding region. Its first establishment at a remote period[III-91]About 1000 B.C. by Ordoñez, and 955 B.C. by the Codex Chimalpopoca, are the only definite dates given for this establishment. was attributed by the people to a being called Votan, who was afterwards worshiped as a god. Whether such a person as Votan ever had an actual existence; who, or what he was; whence, or how, or among what people the civilization attributed to him was introduced—we can only form vague conjectures. America was certainly peopled before the Votanic era, and that most likely by civilized as well as savage tribes, but pre-Votanic nations have left absolutely no record.[III-92]Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 44, speaks of cyclopean ruins in Central America left by civilized nations preceding or contemporary with those among whom Votan introduced his culture; but this is purely imaginary; there are ruins which may ante-date the epoch in question, but none to which there is any good reason for assigning so great an antiquity. Perhaps the most reasonable conjecture is that the Votanic power was of gradual growth, at first humble and subordinate, but constantly increasing, overcoming, absorbing, succeeding other powers as others in later times succeeded, absorbed, and overcame it. The Votanic institutions can only be known by the traces they may be supposed to have left in those of the later Maya nations. The prevailing language was doubtless either the Maya, the Tzendal, or a mother-tongue from which these as well as the Quiché, Cakchiquel, and others of the same linguistic family, have sprung; although it is not unlikely that the empire embraced some nations speaking other languages. From its centre in the Usumacinta region the Votanic power was gradually extended north-westward towards Anáhuac, where its subjects vaguely appear in tradition as Quinames, or giants. It also penetrated north-eastward into Yucatan, where Zamná was its reputed founder, and the Cocomes and Itzas probably its subjects. In other regions where its influence was doubtless felt it seems to have left no definite traces.

Much of our knowledge respecting the original Maya empire is drawn from the traditions of a rival power. It is not quite certain even that any of the ruined temples or palaces in the central region were entirely the work of the ancient people before they came under Nahua influences; the differences noted in the monuments referred to suggest the effects of such influences exerted in different degrees.[III-93]It may be well to give here the conclusions of M. Viollet-le-Duc, the distinguished French architect, respecting these ruins and their builders, although they carry the matter back to the question of origin, and consequently beyond the sphere of this chapter. This author’s conclusions are professedly based on an examination of material monuments, but were doubtless much affected, like those of other late writers, including myself, by the study of Brasseur’s works.

The whole continent was peopled with wild tribes of yellow blood from Asia via the north-west at a very remote period. About 1000 B.C., the Culhuas, a mixed race of black and white blood appeared from the east and introduced agriculture and a slight degree of civilization. Soon after the Culhuas, the Nahuas appeared, a white race coming from the north of Europe via the Mississippi Valley, Florida, and West Indies, in successive migrations. Palenque was built by the yellow races under a strong influence of the Culhuas and a very slight Nahua influence; the cities of Yucatan were built when the Nahuas had conquered their rivals and the influence of the white race had become predominant; Mitla owes its origin to a still more recent period, and was built by a migrating tribe in which the yellow blood seems to have predominated. Viollet-le-Duc, in Charnay, Ruines Amér. The Maya empire seems to have been in the height of its prosperity when the rival Nahua power came into prominence, perhaps two or three centuries before Christ.[III-94]A document, for the authenticity of which even Brasseur de Bourbourg declines to vouch, dates the first appearance of the Nahuas at 279 B.C. The abbé thinks that event was probably during the century before Christ; but he, it must be remembered, accepts the coming of Quetzalcoatl and his followers and the introduction of a new civilization literally. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 101. The origin of the new people and of the new institutions is as deeply shrouded in mystery as is that of their predecessors, although the nature of the institutions themselves is well known to us in a later and doubtless somewhat modified state of development. The language of the nations among which these institutions were first established was doubtless the Nahua, or old Aztec. The Plumed Serpent, known in different tongues as Quetzalcoatl, Gucumatz, and Cukulcan, was the being who traditionally founded the new order of things. The Nahua power grew up side by side with its Xibalban predecessor, having its capital Tulan apparently in Chiapas. Like the Maya power, it was not confined to its original home, but was borne by the Olmec colonies towards Anáhuac, where it came in contact with that of the Quinames; and in the person of Cukulcan it penetrated the peninsula of Yucatan to exert its influence upon the Itzas and Cocomes. The two powers seem not to have been on unfriendly terms at first. In fact there is much reason to suspect that their respective institutions did not differ radically, and that their rivalry developed into open hostility only after the Nahuas had succeeded in introducing their ideas among so many Maya nations, and in reducing to a life of civilization so many wild tribes, that they had acquired a balance of political power. For it is certain that, whatever may have been true of the Maya culture, the Nahua institutions and power were by no means confined to nations of the Nahua language, and that some of the leading nations which accepted the Nahua ideas of religion and government spoke other and even Maya tongues. The struggle on the part of the Xibalbans seems to have been that of an old effete monarchy against a young and progressive people. Whatever its cause, the result of the conquest was the overthrow of the Votanic monarchs at a date which may be approximately fixed within a century before or after the beginning of our era.[III-95]I find no authority for Brasseur de Bourbourg’s opinion that the fall of Xibalba preceded the final scattering of the Nahua nations by only one century. From that time the ancient empire disappears from traditional history, and there is no conclusive evidence that the Xibalban kings or their descendants ever renewed the struggle. Yet we read of no great destruction or enslavement or migration of the Chanes resulting from the Nahua victory. The result was only a change of dynasty accompanied by the introduction of some new features in government and religious rites. The old civilization was merged in the new, and practically lost its identity; so much so that all the many nationalities that in later times traced their origin to this central region were proud, whatever their language, to claim relationship with the successful Nahuas, whose institutions they had adopted and whose power they had shared.

Respecting the ensuing period of Nahua greatness in Central America nothing is recorded save that it ended in revolt, disaster, and a general scattering of the tribes at some period probably preceding the fifth century. The national names that appear in connection with the closing struggles are the Toltecs, Chichimecs, Quichés, Nonohualcas, and Tutul Xius, none of them apparently identical with the Xibalbans. Indeed there seems to be very little reason to suppose that this final struggle was a renewal of the old contest between the followers of Votan and Quetzalcoatl, although Brasseur de Bourbourg seems inclined to take that view of it; but a series of civil wars between rival Nahua tribes, or tribes that had accepted Nahua government, seems rather to have been the agency that brought about their final forced migrations. Of the subsequent history of the nations that finally remained masters of their central home nothing is known; it may be conjectured that the Tzendales and Chiapanecs found by the Spaniards in that part of the country were their somewhat degenerate descendants. Of the tribes that were successively defeated and forced to seek new homes, those that spoke the Maya dialects, although considering themselves Nahuas, seem to have settled chiefly in the south and east.[III-96]Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 128-9, judges from the occurrence of Nahua names in Guatemala that nations speaking Nahua were formerly located there, and were overcome either by Maya-speaking tribes that they found in the country, or by others that invaded the country after them. Some of them afterwards rose to great prominence in Guatemala and Yucatan, and their annals will form the subject of future chapters. The Nahua-speaking tribes as a rule established themselves in Anáhuac and in the western and north-western parts of Mexico, as their companion tribes, the Olmecs and Xicalancas, had already established themselves in the south-eastern region. The valley of Mexico and the country immediately adjoining soon became the centre of the Nahuas in Mexico; its history or that of the nations that successively rose to power there, will be continued in the following chapter.

From this epoch of separation in Chiapas the Mayas of the south and the Nahuas of the north were practically distinct peoples, as they have been considered in the preceding volumes of this work. At the date of separation all were in a certain sense Nahua nations, and the Nahuas proper had doubtless been considerably affected by the ancient peoples whom they had overcome or converted, and with whom they had so long associated:—hence the analogies that appear between the institutions and monuments of the north and south. Of the contrasts that also appear, some date back to original differences between the two rival powers; others result from development and progress in different paths, during the ten centuries that elapsed before the coming of the Spaniards.

Bradford, Squier, Tylor, Viollet-le-Duc, Bartlett, and Müller,[III-97]Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 524. Some of these writers, however, believe strongly in a migration of tribes from the north, although attributing the Nahua culture to the south. may be mentioned with Brasseur de Bourbourg among the authorities who practically agree with the conclusions expressed above, at least so far as the southern origin of the Nahua culture is concerned. It is true that the Abbé Brasseur’s general conclusions differ in many points from those that I have given; that his opinions expressed in different works and even in different parts of the same work differ most perplexingly from each other; that his theories in many of their details rest on foundations that seem purely imaginary; that his style, while fascinating to the general reader, is most confusing to the student; and that his citations of authorities are often inaccurate;—yet he must be regarded as the true originator of the views advanced in this chapter, inasmuch as the material from which they are built up was largely the fruit of his investigations, and his researches have done more than those of all other writers combined to throw light on primitive American history.

Footnotes

[III-1] Vol. iii., p. 450, et seq.

[III-2] Ordoñez states in one part of his work that this record was not written by Votan himself, but by his descendant in the eighth or ninth generation. Brasseur de Bourbourg, in Popol Vuh, p. lxxxvii.

[III-3] Constituciones Diocesanas del Obispado de Chiappas. Rome, 1702.

[III-4] See vol. ii., pp. 771-4.

[III-5] Teatro Critico Americano, p. 32, et seq.

[III-6] See vol. iv., p. 289.

[III-7] ‘At the top of the first leaf, the two continents are painted in different colours, in two small squares, placed parallel to each other in the angles: the one representing Europe, Asia, and Africa is marked with two large SS; upon the upper arms of two bars drawn from the opposite angles of each square, forming the point of union in the centre; that which indicates America has two SS placed horizontally on the bars, but I am not certain whether upon the upper or lower bars, but I believe upon the latter. When speaking of the places he had visited on the old continent, he marks them on the margin of each chapter, with an upright S, and those of America with an horizontal S. Between these squares stands the title of his history “Proof that I am Culebra” (a snake), which title he proves in the body of his work, by saying that he is Culebra, because he is Chivim.’ Cabrera, Teatro, pp. 33-4.

[III-8] Historia del Cielo y de la Tierra, MS. See vol. iv., p. 289, for additional notes respecting this author.

[III-9] ‘Un estudio de muchos ratos (mas de treinta años) … acompañado de la constante aplicacion con que me dediqué á entender las frases de que usaron los Indios en su primitive gentilismo, principalmente en la historia que de su establecimiento en esta region que nosotros llamamos América, escribió Votan, la cual conseguí, de les mismos Indios (quienes me la franquearon), y sobre todo, la conveniencia que resulta de una prolixa combinacion de la situacion de aquella ciudad (Palenque), de la disposicion y arquitectura de sus edificios, de la antigüedad de sus geroglíficos, y finalmente de las producciones de su terreno, con las noticias que, á costa de porfiadas diligencias, habia adquirido; creí que me tenian en estado de despertar un sistema nada nuevo, pero olvidado.’ Ordoñez, MS., in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Cartas, p. 7.

[III-10] Ordoñez, as represented by Cabrera—Teatro, p. 96—claims that the name Tzequiles has precisely the same meaning as Nahuatlacas in the Nahua dialect, and he applies the name to a Nahua rather than a Maya people, with much reason as will appear later, although Brasseur is of a contrary opinion. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 70.

[III-11] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Cartas, p. 10.

[III-12] For list see vol. ii., p. 767.

[III-13] Cartas, p. 71.

[III-14] Piñeda, Descrip. Chiapas, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. iii., pp. 343-6; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 95-7.

[III-15] Cabrera, Teatro, p. 30; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. cix.; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 165; See on Votan and his empire, besides the works that have been mentioned in this chapter, Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 203; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 150-1, tom. iv., pp. 15-16; Boturini, Idea, pp. 114-5; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, introd; Id., Esquisses; Id., Palenqué; Fontaine’s How the World was Peopled, p. 136; Tschudi’s Peruvian Antiq., pp. 11-15; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., p. 10, et seq.; Levy, Nicaragua, p. 4; Priest’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 248-9; Beaufoy’s Mex. Illust., pp. 218-21; Farcy, Discours, in Antiq. Mex., tom. i., div. i., p. 43.

[III-16] On the Antiquity of Copan, the ruins of Yucatan, and Palenque, see vol. iv., pp. 104, 280-5, 359-62.

[III-17] ‘The monuments of the Mississippi present stronger internal evidence of great antiquity than any others in America, although it by no means follows that they are older than Palenque and Copan.’ Vol. iv., p. 790.

[III-18] Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 454-5. By a careful study of Mr Stephens’ conclusions, it will appear evident to the reader that he ascribes the Central American ruins to the Toltecs, simply as the oldest nations on the continent of America, of which we have any knowledge, and that he reconciles their condition at the time of his exploration with their recent origin, chiefly by a consideration of the Yucatan ruins, most of which doubtless do not date back to the Votanic empire, and many of which were still occupied at the coming of the first Spaniards.

[III-19] Although in the ‘general view,’ vol. ii., chap. ii., I have classed the Toltecs among the Nahua nations, it will be noticed that the preceding conclusions of the present chapter are independent of such a classification, and are not necessarily opposed to the theory, held by some, that the cities of Central America were built by the Toltecs before they assumed a prominent position among the nations of Anáhuac. The following notes bear more or less directly on points involved in the preceding text. Mr Tylor, Anáhuac, pp. 189-93; Researches, p. 184, believes that the civilization of Mexico and Central America were originally independent although modified by contact one with the other, and attributes the Central American cities to a people who flourished long before the Toltecs, and whose descendants are the Mayas. Yet he favors the climatic theory of the origin and growth of civilization, according to which the culture of the south must have been brought from the Mexican tierra templada. I have no objection to offer to this theory. It is in the Usumacinta region that the Maya civilization has left its first record both traditional and monumental; and that is sufficient for my present purpose. Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 124-5, etc., concludes from his linguistic researches that the Palenque civilization was much older than the Toltec and distinct from it. Hellwald, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, pp. 340-1, pronounces the Palenque culture the oldest in America, with no resemblance to that of the Nahuas. He rejects the theory that the ruins were the work of migrating Toltecs. Palenque will probably some day decide the question of American civilization. It only awaits a Champollion. Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 439. The ruins in the south have undoubted claims to the highest antiquity. Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., p. 199. The Usumacinta seems a kind of central point for the high culture of Central America. Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 456.

[III-20] See vol. iii., pp. 42-4, note 1, for a bibliographical notice of the Popol Vuh.

[III-21] Popol Vuh, pp. 1-5; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 4-5.

[III-22] Vol. iii., pp. 44-7.

[III-23] Popol Vuh, pp. 5-31; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 5-14.

[III-24] Popol Vuh, p. 195, et seq.

[III-25] Or, as Brasseur translates, ‘the remnant of those that were drowned,’ etc.

[III-26] pp. 31-67; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 15-29.

[III-27] Ximenez, p. 29, conveys the idea, however, that it is only from ignorance that so little is told, and not from a desire to be mysterious.

[III-28] Ximenez renders this word by ‘infierno,’ or hell. No satisfactory meaning can be derived from its etymology.

[III-29] Carchah is the name of an Indian town in Vera Paz.

[III-30] Casa lobrega, maison ténébreuse. It will be remembered that Votan is said to have established a House of Gloom at Huehuetan. See p. 160.

[III-31] A ballet, according to Brasseur, still performed by the natives of Guatemala, clad in wooden masks and peculiar costumes.

[III-32] The place whence the brothers started to contend against the princes of Xibalba, seems to have been Utatlan in Guatemala—see vol. iv., pp. 124-8—for Gumarcaah the Quiché name of that place is said to signify ‘house of old withered canes.’ Moreover, Torquemada and Las Casas have preserved the tradition that Exbalanquen (Xbalanque) set out from Utatlan for the conquest of hell. Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 53; Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. 125. Xibalba doubtless had the signification of the infernal regions in the popular traditions.

[III-33] Popol Vuh, pp. 68-192; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 29-79.

[III-34] See vol. ii., pp. 716-7.

[III-35] See p. 172.

[III-36] Vol. iii., pp. 47-54.

[III-37] Popol Vuh, pp. 221-2.

[III-38] Popol Vuh, pp. 245-7; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 98-9.

[III-39] Notes to Popol Vuh, pp. lxxxv, ccliv.

[III-40] Id., pp. xci-ii.

[III-41] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 139-45.

[III-42] Tom. i., p. xviii.

[III-43] According to Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 59, the name should be Temoanchan to agree exactly with Sahagun’s definition, ‘vamos á nuestra casa.’ The same author heard an Indian of Guatemala define the name as an earthly paradise. Popol Vuh, pp. lxxviii-lxxix.

[III-44] Brasseur believes that the Oxomoco and Cipactonal of the Nahua myth, are the same as the Xpiyacoc and Xmucane of the Popol Vuh, since the former are two of the inventors of the calendar, while the latter are called grandmothers of the sun and light. Popol Vuh, pp. 4, 20.

[III-45] ‘Una Historia de los Reynos de Culhuàcan, y Mexico, en lengua Nahuatl, y papel Europèo de Autor Anonymo, y tiene añadida una Breve Relacion de los Dioses, y Ritos de la Gentilidad en lengua Castellana, etc. Està todo copiado de letra de Don Fernando de Alba y le falta la primera foja.’ Boturini, Catálogo, pp. 17-18. ‘M. Aubin, qui possède les copies faites par Gama et Pichardo, ajoute au sujet de ce document: “Cette histoire, composée en 1563 et en 1579, par un écrivain de Quauhtitlan et non par Fernando de Alba (Ixtlilxochitl), comme l’a cru Pichardo, n’est guère moins précieuse que les précédentes (in Brasseur’s list), et remonte, année par année, au moins jusqu’à l’an 751 de J. C. A la suite de ces annales se trouve l’histoire anonyme (l’Histoire des soleils), d’où Gama a extrait le texte mexicain de la tradition sur les soleils.”‘ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. lxxix.; Id., Popol Vuh, p. xi.

[III-46] Chichime or ‘dogs,’ a transformation which may not improbably have something to do with the origin of the name Chichimecs, a name applied to so many tribes in all parts of the country. The Codex Chimalpopoca, however, speaks also of a transformation into monkeys as a result of a great hurricane. Popol Vuh, p. lxxx.

[III-47] Or, as Brasseur suggests, adopting the customs of the people in order to obtain the entrée of Tonacatepetl and the secret of their agriculture.

[III-48] Molina, Vocabulario, translates the name, ‘red ant.’

[III-49] Codex Chimalpopoca, in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 53-9, 70-1.

[III-50] Id., p. 117.

[III-51] The Cuicatecs, Triquis, Chinantecs, Mazatecs, Chatinos, Papabucos, Soltecos, Chontales, and Cohuixcas, in the south-western regions, are regarded by Orozco y Berra as fragments of pre-Toltec nations. Geografía, pp. 121, 126. Prichard, Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., p. 512, adds the Coras, Tepanecs, and Tarascos. The Codices Vaticanus and Tellerianus, give the names of the tribes that migrated from the seven caves, as Olmecs, Xicalancas, Chichimecs, Nonohualcas, Michinacas, Couixcas, Totonacs, and Cuextecas. The Nonohualcas and Xicalancas, however, were probably the same, and we shall see later that Chichimecs was probably never a tribal name at all. Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 135.

[III-52] Relaciones, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 459. Papuhya, ‘river of mud,’ is a name also applied by the Quiché tradition to a river apparently in this region. See p. 178; Popol Vuh, pp. 140-1. Brasseur in the same work, pp. lxxii., lxxvii-viii., refers to Las Casas, Hist. Apol., tom. iii., cap. cxxiii-iv., as relating the arrival of these nations under Quetzalcoatl and twenty chiefs at Point Xicalanco.

[III-53] Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 150.

[III-54] See vol. iv., p. 434.

[III-55] See vol. ii., p. 112.

[III-56] Hist. Ecles., p. 146; Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 32.

[III-57] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., p. 264, tom. iii., lib. x., p. 136: Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., pp. 135-7, is the only author who differs materially in his account of the arrival and establishment of the Olmecs and Xicalancas. He states that in company with the Zacatecs they came from the Seven Caves, passed through Mexico, Tochimilco, Atlixco, Calpan, and Huexotzinco, founding their chief settlement in Tlascala where the village of Natividad now stands. See vol. iv., pp. 478-9, for notice of ruins. Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 299-300, also brings these nations from the Seven Caves.

[III-58] Concerning the giants, see Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 205-6, 392, 459; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 143-54; Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. ii. This author represents the Quinames as having been killed while eating and drinking, by the Tlascaltecs who had taken possession of their arms. He says they yielded after a desperate resistance. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 34-6; Boturini, Idea, pp. 130-5; Arlegui, Chrón. Zacatecas, p. 6; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., pp. 539-41; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 125; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 66, 153-4; Id., Popol Vuh, pp. lxviii., cxxvii.; Id., Esquisses, p. 12; Granados y Galvez, Tardes Amer., pp. 15, 21; Rios, Compend. Hist. Mex., p. 5; Piñeda, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. iii., p. 346; Pimentel, in Dicc. Univ., tom. x., p. 610.

[III-59] On building of Cholula pyramid, see Codex Mexicano, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. v., p. 172; Ixtlilxochitl, in Id., vol. ix., pp. 206, 459; Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., pp. 45, 69; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 15, 18, 153; Boturini, Idea, pp. 113-14; Humboldt, Mélanges, p. 553; Id., Vues, tom. i., p. 114; Popol Vuh, p. cxxv.; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 153, 301-3; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 132; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 167.

[III-60] Cortés, Cartas, p. 86. Quetzalcoatl however is not named.

[III-61] Respecting Quetzalcoatl in his mythological aspects as a divinity, see vol. iii., pp. 248-87. The story of his visit to the Olmecs is told in Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 206, 459; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 155-6, 161-204.

[III-62] Boturini, Idea, p. 135; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iv., p. 52, tom. i., p. 147. Between Chiapas and Zacatecas is a vast space, of which the only notion given us by history is the fact that the Olmecs, Xicalancas, and Zapotecs lived in the region of Puebla and Tlascala. They were the primitive peoples, that is, the first known. Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 124-5. The Xicalancas founded Atlixco and Itzucan, but migrated to South America. The Olmecs who had been driven to the gulf coasts followed them. Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 242. The Xicalancas possessed the country before the Chichimecs, by whom they were regarded as enemies. Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 461. Mexicans, Culhuas, Tepanecs, Olmecs, Xicalancas, Tarascos, and Chichimecs were all of the same race and language. Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., pp. 131, 135, 188. See also Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 67, 196, tom. iii., p. 9; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 200, 213; Hellwald, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 337; Müller, Reisen, tom. iii., pp. 33-4.

The Olmecs passed from Mexico to Guatemala, which they conquered. Alcedo, Dicc., tom. iii., p. 374. Palenque, the oldest American city, was built by the Olmecs, a mixture of yellow aborigines and the first white immigrants. Viollet-le-Duc, in Charnay, Ruines Amér., p. 45. The Mazahuas and Olmecs belong to the aborigines of Guatemala. Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 456.

[III-63] For description see vol. iv., pp. 529-44.

[III-64] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 56, pronounces the Totonac very like the Maya. Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 127, deems the relationship doubtful. See vol. iii., pp. 776-7.

[III-65] On the Totonacs, see Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 278; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., pp. 223-7; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. iv., pp. 51-2; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 151-61, tom. iii., pp. 350-1. This author says that the Totonacs came from the north at about the same time as the Olmecs came from the south. There seems to be no authority for this save the popular opinion that locates Chicomoztoc in the north. Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 120, 140. The Aztecs attributed Teotihuacan, Cholula, Papantla, etc., to the Toltecs because they were the oldest people they knew; but they may have been built before the Toltec invasion. Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., p. 98.

[III-66] Vol. iii., p. 60, et seq.

[III-67] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 180-8; Popol Vuh, pp. cxlii-iii.; Boturini, Idea, pp. 37-41; see also references in vol. iii., p. 60, et seq.

[III-68] On the Otomís, see Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 147-8, tom. iv., p. 51; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 39; Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 90; Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 210; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 243; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 156-9, 196, tom. ii., p. 235, tom. iii., p. 56; Motolinia, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 9; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 120, 136-7; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., pp. 117-18; Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., p. 20; Prichard’s Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., p. 512.

[III-69] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 136, heads a paragraph ‘Olmecas, Vixtoti and Mixtecas,’ speaking of all together, and applying to them the name Tenimes, or those who speak a barbarous tongue. Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 120, 125, 133, speaks of the ‘Ulmecas or Mixtecs,’ and thinks they were driven from their former position by the first Nahua invasion, driving out in turn the Chuchones. He pronounces the Miztec and Zapotec kindred tongues, and states that these nations joined their fortunes from an early period. Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 150, says the Zapotecs are reported to have come with the Olmecs and Xicalancas. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 150; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 154; Id., Popol Vuh, p. cclv.; García, Orígen de los Ind., pp. 327-8; Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. i., p. 98; Hellwald, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 337; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 37.

[III-70] See vol. iv., p. 425, et seq.

[III-71] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 142-3; Squier’s Cent. Amer., pp. 316-17. Huaxtlan means ‘where the huaxi (a kind of fruit) abounds.’ Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., pp. 5-6; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 141; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 173; Brinton, in Hist. Mag., n. s., vol. i., p. 16; Prichard’s Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., p. 513; Id., Researches, vol. v., p. 342, 345.

[III-72] The date of the arrival in Huehue Tlapallan is given by Ixtlilxochitl in his first Toltec relation (p. 322) as 2236 years after the creation, or 520 years after the flood. That is, it occurred long before the Christian era. In other places (pp. 206, 459) the same author represents the Toltecs as banished from their country and migrating to Huitlapalan in California on the South Sea in 387 A.D., whence they continued their journey to Tulancingo. Now, although I attach very little importance to this author’s chronology, and shall enter into no discussion with a view either to reconcile or overthrow it, yet it is plain that this last statement, notwithstanding the use of the name Huitlapalan, refers to a migration long subsequent to that mentioned in the text. The date 387 A.D., therefore, given by Gallatin, (in Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 96) and Müller, (Reisen, tom. iii., p. 97), as that of the arrival in Huehue Tlapallan, according to Ixtlilxochitl, is calculated to convey a false impression.

[III-73] Ixtlilxochitl, p. 322, says it was 305 years after the death of Christ, or about 338 A.D.; but on the same page he again makes the date 439 A. D. Veytia, tom. i., p. 208, dates the rebellion 583, the exile 596, and the founding of Tlapallanconco 604 A.D. Clavigero, tom. iv., p. 46, gives 544 as the date of departure, but on p. 126 of tom. i., he gives 596, agreeing with Veytia. Müller, in his tables, Reisen, tom. iii., p. 97, dates the outbreak of war 427, the departure 439, the migration 447 A.D. Brasseur, Popol Vuh, p. clv., gives the last of the fourth century as the date of the Toltec migration. Cabrera, Teatro, pp. 90-1, makes the date 181 B.C. 544 A.D., one of Clavigero’s dates, is that which has, perhaps, been most commonly adopted by modern writers.

[III-74] Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 126, writes this name Tlapallantonco; and in Popol Vuh, p. clix., he insists that it should be Tlapallantzinco. Müller, Reisen, tom. iii., p. 98, calls it also Tlappallanzingo.

[III-75] Ixtlilxochitl, p. 324, makes this third year 543, and their arrival in Tulancingo consequently 540 A.D.; or as is implied on p. 307, 487 A.D.; or adding 104 years to the first date given by this author in note 71, we have 442 A.D. Veytia, tom. i., p. 221, 697 A.D. Id., after Boturini, in Tezcoco en los Ultimos Tiempos, 687 A.D. Müller, Reisen, tom. iii., p. 97, 558 A.D. Clavigero, tom. iv., p. 51, 648 A.D., or tom. i., p. 126, 700 A.D.

[III-76] In other parts of his work Ixtlilxochitl has a very different account of this migration to the effect that the Toltecs were banished from their country, sailed and coasted on the South Sea, arrived at Huitlapalan or Huitlapatlan—the Gulf of California, or a place on the coast of California—in 387 A.D., coasted Xalisco, arrived at Guatulco, then at Tochtepec or Turlitepeque on the North Sea, and finally at Tulancingo, pp. 206-7, 459-60. On the Toltec migration see Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 321-4; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 6-33, 139, 157, 205-21, 231; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 126, tom. iv., pp. 46, 51; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 36-7; Boturini, Idea, pp.136-7; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 216-18; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 100, 126; Popol Vuh, pp. clv., clix-xi.; Id., Esquisses, pp. 11, 13-14; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 203; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., p. 202; Müller, Reisen, tom. iii., pp. 91-7.

[III-77] Alvarado, in Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série i., tom. x., p. 147; Id., in Ramusio, Navigationi, tom. iii., fol. 300.

[III-78] Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 446.

[III-79] Popol Vuh, pp. lxiv., cxii., cxxvi-viii.

[III-80] Id., p. clix.

[III-81] The discovery of a town of similar name by Cortés, doubtingly reported by Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 23, and others, seems to rest on no authority whatever.

[III-82] The Nahuas state that they came from the north-west. Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 147; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 33. The tradition of the Toltecs will not allow us to fix either date, locality, or source of their migration, but the north is vaguely given as the source. Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 203. Huehue Tlapallan situated north-west of the Gila. Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., p. 204. Not in the Gila Valley. Smith’s Human Species, p. 250. Tradition shows Huehue Tlapallan, miserable like all nations abandoned to luxury and power, unable to feed its children, casting them forth. Ramirez, in Revista Cientifica, tom. i., p. 21. Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, p. clix., speaks of Tlaxi Coliuhcan, mentioned by Ixtlilxochitl, as the old capital of the Quinames, or Palenque. He perhaps has no other reason for this than the resemblance of the names Coliuhcan and Colhuacan. He says, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 100, that Huehue Tlapallan may be translated ‘land of colors’ or ‘land of nobles.’ Throughout his works he places this country in the south, identifying it with Xibalba. It is proved incontestably that the Toltecs came from Tulhá, whose ruins are seen near Ococingo. Id., Cartas, p. 28. Cabrera, Teatro, p. 94, thinks Tlapalla must have been in the south-east.

[III-83] Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 208-9, 217, 333, 335-7, 392-4, 450; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 25, 139, 231, 301-2, tom. ii., pp. 3-7; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 38-40. Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 125-6, thinks that Chalcatzin and Tlacamitzin were the successors of Xhunahpa left by Xbalanque in command of the Nahuas, and that they were defeated and exiled by the monarch of Xibalba. For details and further references respecting the Chichimec migration see a future chapter. The Chichimec kings were: Chichimecatl, Mixcohuatl, Huitzilopochtli, Huemac, Nauhyotl, Quauhtepetla, Nonohualca, Huetzin, Quauhtonal, Masatzin, Quetzal, Icoatzin, Mozeloquitzin, Tlamacatzin—in one place Nequametl and Namocuix are named instead of Chichimecatl. Ixtlilxochitl, p. 394; Veytia, tom. i., p. 231; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 225-6; Müller, Reisen, tom. iii., pp. 43-4.

[III-84] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 126, 179-80; Id., Cartas, pp. 31-4; Id., Popol Vuh, pp. clix-clxi. Brasseur gives a report of the ruins of a northern Tula in California, which of course is unfounded. He thinks the Opatas, Yaquis, Mayos, and Tarahumares are remnants of the old Toltec populations in this region. He does not attribute the ruins of the New Mexican and Arizona group to the Toltecs, at least not at this early period. Bradford also, Amer. Antiq., p. 202, speaks of the first age as diffusing population from the centre through the north, to return in a reflux of numerous tribes in the second age.

[III-85] Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 145-6; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 32-3; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 299-300; Prichard’s Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., p. 514; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Popol Vuh, pp. xxix.-xxx.

[III-86] Descrip. Chiapas, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. iii., p. 344.

[III-87] Chrón. Zacatecas, pp. 6-7.

[III-88] See vol. ii., pp. 762-5.

[III-89] For details and for subsequent Yucatan history, see a future chapter. My authorities for the preceding remarks are Landa, Relacion, pp. 28-50; Lizana, in Id., pp. 348-56; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 178-9, 192, 196-7; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. 123; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 52; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 237; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. ii.; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., pp. 31-6. Perez, in Landa, Relacion, pp. 420-3; Id., in Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 465-9; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 68, 76-80, 126-7; Id., Popol Vuh, pp. lxxix, clv.-vi.; Id., Cartas, p. 13; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 171-3; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 128.

[III-90] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Cartas, pp. 27-8. The abbé seems to have made but little if any use of the Codex Gondra in his subsequent works; although it may be supposed that from it, and indeed from the very portion above quoted, he takes his account of the closing events of the Toltec empire in Anáhuac to be given in a future chapter.

[III-91] About 1000 B.C. by Ordoñez, and 955 B.C. by the Codex Chimalpopoca, are the only definite dates given for this establishment.

[III-92] Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 44, speaks of cyclopean ruins in Central America left by civilized nations preceding or contemporary with those among whom Votan introduced his culture; but this is purely imaginary; there are ruins which may ante-date the epoch in question, but none to which there is any good reason for assigning so great an antiquity.

[III-93] It may be well to give here the conclusions of M. Viollet-le-Duc, the distinguished French architect, respecting these ruins and their builders, although they carry the matter back to the question of origin, and consequently beyond the sphere of this chapter. This author’s conclusions are professedly based on an examination of material monuments, but were doubtless much affected, like those of other late writers, including myself, by the study of Brasseur’s works.

The whole continent was peopled with wild tribes of yellow blood from Asia via the north-west at a very remote period. About 1000 B.C., the Culhuas, a mixed race of black and white blood appeared from the east and introduced agriculture and a slight degree of civilization. Soon after the Culhuas, the Nahuas appeared, a white race coming from the north of Europe via the Mississippi Valley, Florida, and West Indies, in successive migrations. Palenque was built by the yellow races under a strong influence of the Culhuas and a very slight Nahua influence; the cities of Yucatan were built when the Nahuas had conquered their rivals and the influence of the white race had become predominant; Mitla owes its origin to a still more recent period, and was built by a migrating tribe in which the yellow blood seems to have predominated. Viollet-le-Duc, in Charnay, Ruines Amér.

[III-94] A document, for the authenticity of which even Brasseur de Bourbourg declines to vouch, dates the first appearance of the Nahuas at 279 B.C. The abbé thinks that event was probably during the century before Christ; but he, it must be remembered, accepts the coming of Quetzalcoatl and his followers and the introduction of a new civilization literally. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 101.

[III-95] I find no authority for Brasseur de Bourbourg’s opinion that the fall of Xibalba preceded the final scattering of the Nahua nations by only one century.

[III-96] Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 128-9, judges from the occurrence of Nahua names in Guatemala that nations speaking Nahua were formerly located there, and were overcome either by Maya-speaking tribes that they found in the country, or by others that invaded the country after them.

[III-97] Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 524. Some of these writers, however, believe strongly in a migration of tribes from the north, although attributing the Nahua culture to the south.

Chapter IV • The Toltec Period • 18,600 Words

The Nahua Occupation of Mexico in the Sixth and Seventh Centuries—Condition of Anáhuac—The Mixcohuas and Chichimec Culhuas—The Toltecs at Tulancingo and Tollan—Establishment of a Monarchy and Choice of a King, 710-720 A.D.—Kingdoms of Culhuacan and Quauhtitlan—The Teoamoxtli—Prophecies and Death of Hueman—Birth of Quetzalcoatl—Foundation of the Empire, 856 A.D.—Alliance between Culhuacan, Otompan, and Tollan—Reign of Topiltzin Ceacatl Quetzalcoatl at Tollan—Excesses of Huemac II., or Tecpancaltzin—Xochitl, the King’s Mistress—Fulfillment of the Prophet’s Predictions—Toveyo’s Adventures—Plagues sent upon the Toltecs—Famine and Pestilence—Reign of Acxitl, or Topiltzin—Debauchery of King, Nobles, and Priests—Tokens of Divine Wrath—Foreign Invaders—Final Overthrow of the Toltec Empire.

The sixth and seventh centuries of our era saw the Nahua power, represented by the various Toltec Chichimec tribes, transferred from Central America to the Mexican plateaux, with its centre about the lakes of the valley. The general nature of this transfer we may comprehend from what has been said in the preceding chapter; of its details we know little or nothing. Each tribe that rose to national prominence in Anáhuac during the succeeding centuries, preserved a somewhat vague traditional memory of its past history, which took the form in every case of a long migration from a distant land. In each of these records there is probably an allusion to the original southern empire, its disruption, and the consequent tribal scattering; but at the same time most of the events thus recorded relate apparently to the movements of particular tribes in and about Anáhuac at periods long subsequent to the original migration and immediately preceding the final establishment of each tribe. The Toltec version of this common record has already been given, down to the establishment of one of the many exiled tribes—the Toltecs proper—at Tulancingo just north-east of the valley of Mexico. The annals of other Nahua tribes, the Chichimecs, Nahuatlacas, Tepanecs, Acolhuas, and Aztecs—all of which may be regarded to a great extent as different versions of the same common record—will be presented in a future chapter with all their particulars, fabulous or historical, so far as they have been preserved. The migrations narrated may all be supposed to date back to a common beginning, but are arranged by the authorities chronologically according to the dates of their termination.

We have seen the Olmec tribes established for several centuries on the eastern plateaux, or in the territory now constituting the states of Puebla and Tlascala. Cholula was the Olmec capital, a flourishing city celebrated particularly for its lofty pyramid crowned with a magnificent temple built in honor of Quetzalcoatl. Teotihuacan within the valley of Anáhuac had long been as it long continued to be the religious centre of all the Nahua nations. Here kings and priests were elected, ordained, and buried. Hither flocked pilgrims from every direction to consult the oracles, to worship in the temples of the sun and moon, and to place sacrificial offerings on the altars of their deities. The sacred city was ruled by the long-haired priests of the Sun, famous for their austerity and for their wisdom. Through the hands of these priests, as the Spanish writers tell us, yearly offerings were made of the first fruits of all their fields; and each year at harvest-time a solemn festival was celebrated, not unattended by human sacrifice. It is true that the Spanish authorities in their descriptions of Teotihuacan and the ceremonies there performed, refer for the most part to the Toltec rather than the pre-Toltec period; but it has been seen in the preceding chapter that this city rose to its position as the religious centre of the Nahuas in Mexico long before the appearance of the Toltecs, and there is no evidence of any essential change in its priesthood, or the nature of its theocratic rule.[IV-1]Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 247-50. ‘Era servido de unos Sacerdotes llamados Papahua Tlemacàzque, que, à distincion de los demàs, traìan el cabello en melenas sueltas, y al acabarse el Cyclo Indiano, sacaban, y vendian el Fuego Nuevo à los Pueblos vecinos.’ Boturini, Idea, p. 42. ‘Allí tambien se enterraban los principales y señores, sobre cuyas sepulturas se mandaban hacer túmulos de tierra, que hoy se ven todavia.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 141. No national name is applied in tradition to the people that dwelt in Teotihuacan at this period, although the Totonacs claim to have built the pyramids before they were driven eastward by Chichimec tribes. Tabasco, Vera Cruz, and Tamaulipas were occupied by Xicalancas, Totonacs, and Huastecs, respecting whom little more than their names is known. Southward in Oajaca were already settled the Miztecs and Zapotecs. The Otomís, a very numerous people, whose primitive history is altogether unknown, occupied a large part of the valley of Mexico, and the surrounding mountains, particularly toward the north and north-west. There were doubtless many other tribes in Mexico when the later Nahua nations came, particularly in the north and west, which tribes were driven out, at least from the most desirable locations, subjected, or converted and partially civilized by the new-comers; but such tribes have left no traces in history.[IV-2]Brasseur cites Torquemada and Duran as authorities for the existence at this period of some remnants of the old Quinames, and of other savage tribes whose names have been lost; but these authors in the chapters cited say nothing to which such a meaning can fairly be attributed.

Anáhuac in the Sixth Century

During the sixth and seventh centuries we must imagine Anáhuac and the adjoining territory on the north and west, for a broad but unknown extent, as being gradually occupied by numerous Nahua nations of varying power and numbers and of varying degrees of civilization. Some were originally or soon became in their new homes wild hunting tribes, powerful but rude, the terror of their neighbors; others settled in the fertile valleys, lived by agriculture, and retained much of their original culture. The more powerful nations, probably the most advanced in culture as well, established themselves in and about the valley of Mexico, where their capitals were soon flourishing cities, and where all branches of aboriginal art received more attention than elsewhere and were correspondingly developed. These central peoples became known, perhaps at once, but more probably at a later date, as Toltecs, a name which, whatever its original derivation and signification, became synonymous with all that is skillful and excellent in art. On the other hand the outside Nahua nations, many of which had lost in their new life something of the true Nahua polish, and all of whom were regarded more or less as barbarians by their more favored brothers of the lake shores, were from this time known as Chichimecs, whatever may have been the original application of that name.

The Mixcohuas

It has been remarked that little or nothing is known of the events that occurred during these two centuries, during which the whole western section of the country came into possession of numerous Nahua tribes, as the eastern section had done long before, and as the whole country remained down to the Spanish Conquest; for there is little evidence of any subsequent migrations from or into Mexico. Ixtlilxochitl and the Spanish writers, Torquemada, Vetancvrt, Clavigero, Duran, Veytia, and the rest, confine their attention to the Toltecs proper, their migration from Huehue Tlapallan to Tulancingo, which I have already narrated, their subsequent removal to Tollan, the establishment of their monarchy, and the succession of their kings. According to these authors, the Toltecs met no opposition, Tollan had no rivals nor allied capitals. Brasseur de Bourbourg, however, finds in the Codex Chimalpopoca, already alluded to,[IV-3]See p. 192. and the Memorial de Culhuacan,[IV-4]Boturini, Catálogo, p. 17, No. 12. ‘Diferentes Historias Originales en lengua Nàhuatl, y papel Europèo de los Reynos de Culhuàcan, y Mexico, y de otras Provincias, el Autor de ellas dicho Don Domingo Chimalpàin. Empiezan desde la Gentilidad, y llegan à los años de 1591.’ See also Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. lxxvi. another similar chronologic record in the Nahua language, a slight account of some of the other nations that settled in Anáhuac at this period, even prior to the establishment of the Toltecs at Tollan. These two documents are the chief authorities for the whole Toltec period, and since neither of them has ever been published, nothing remains but to accept the version given by the abbé.[IV-5]Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 198, et seq. This author refers occasionally in his foot-notes to the Spanish writers Torquemada, Duran, and others, but such citations when looked up rarely prove to have any bearing on the matter in question, being for the most part only definitions of names employed in the text. It is much to be regretted that there are no means of testing Brasseur de Bourbourg’s version of these important annals. See, however, on this point, a future note of this chapter. The Mixcohuas were the first of the new tribes that came into notice in the annals. They first appear at Chalchiuhapan, afterwards Tlascala, but soon present themselves before the priests of Teotihuacan to receive their sanction and become ‘vassals of the Sun.’ Faithless to the vows taken at the sacred city, the new-comers, instead of establishing themselves peaceably in the land, proved at first a torment to the older inhabitants and a source of great anxiety to the priests who had encouraged their coming; but the first bands of Mixcohuas were finally subdued and forced to submit to the requirements of the priests of the Sun by the aid of other succeeding but kindred bands of Chichimecs. Thus the first epoch of Nahua occupation was one of strife, during which the name of Mixcohuatl, or Mixcohuatl Mazatzin, ‘the hunter,’ is most prominent; together with those of Xiuhnel and Mimich, who defeat the Olmecs at Huitzilapan. The united bands under Mixcohuatl are known in the tradition as Chichimec Culhuas, the founders of the city of Culhuacan on the lake shore, who in a period of sixteen years—from 670 to 686, according to the authorities—became masters of nearly the whole region south and east of the lakes.[IV-6]In addition to the two documents referred to, Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 145, has the following, which may refer to the migration of this earliest branch of the Nahua peoples; ‘according to their account, it was in five Tochtli that they arrived at the Seven Caves. Thence they went to Amaquetepec, then to Tepenec, or Echo Mountain, where Mitmitzichi (Mimich) killed Izpapalotl with his bow and arrows. Next they passed to the province of Tomallan, which they conquered after a long war, to Culhuacan, to Teotla Cochoalco, and to Teohuiznahuac where they wished to shoot Cohuatlicue, queen of that province; but they made peace with her. She married Mixcohuatl Amacohtle and by him had a son Colchacovatl [probably Quetzalcoatl].’ At about the same time the province of Quauhtitlan, ‘land of forests,’ north-west of the lakes, seems to have been occupied by another Chichimec nation—for all are known in the traditions as Chichimecs whenever they are alluded to as coming from without the valley, but become good Toltecs as soon as they acquire a degree of power within its limits. Chicon Tonatiuh, ‘seven suns,’ is named as the leader of this nation, and the chief cities of the province were Huehuetocan, ‘city of old men,’ and Macuexhuacan, ‘city of necklaces.’

Foundation of Tollan

Meanwhile the exiles from Huehue Tlapallan were tarrying at Tulancingo, where they had arrived toward the end of the seventh century,[IV-7]See note on p. 213 for dates. and where—contrary to the advice of their prophet Hueman, if we may credit the tradition—weary with their long wanderings, they lived from sixteen to twenty years in a house which they built sufficiently large to accommodate them all. During their stay they sent out parties to make settlements in the adjoining territory, as had been their custom wherever they had stopped in their long migration. Finally they listened to the counsels of the venerable Hueman, and, still under the command of their seven chiefs, transferred their home to Xocotitlan on the river Quetzalatl, since called Tula, Tullanatl, or Montezuma, where they founded the city of Tollan,[IV-8]Also written Tula, Tulan, Tulla, Tullan, and Tulha. where now stands the little village of Tula, about thirty miles north-west of the city of Mexico. According to Brasseur the Otomí city that stood here before the coming of the Toltecs was called Mamhéni. It cannot be supposed that the Otomís yielded up their fertile valley to the strangers without a struggle; but the relation of this struggle like that of many a subsequent one in which the Toltecs must have engaged in order to establish and maintain their power, seems to have been intentionally omitted in the native annals as recorded by the Spanish writers.

During the first six years of their stay in the valley of the Quetzalatl, the Toltecs gave their attention to the building of the new city, and the careful cultivation of the surrounding lands; at least such is the account given by Ixtlilxochitl and those who have followed him; but, according to Brasseur’s interpretation, they spent the six years in the conquest of the province and siege of the ancient city which they re-named Tollan. Up to this time the exiles from Huehue Tlapallan had lived under the command of the rebel princes Chalcaltzin and Tlacamihtzin with their five companions acting as chiefs of the different families,[IV-9]Chalcatzin, Tlacamilitzin, Checatl, Cohuatzon, Mazacohuatl, Tlapalhuitz, and Huitz. Veytia, tom. i., p. 207. Chalcatzin, Acatl, Eccatl, Cohuatzin, Mazacohuatl Otziuhcohuatl, Tlapalhuiz, and Huitz. Ixtlilxochitl, p. 393. Zaca, Chalcatzin, Ecatzin, Cohuazon, Tzihuacohuatl, Tlapalmetzotzin, and Metzoltzin. Id., p. 450. Tlacomihua or Acatl, Chalchiuhmatz, Avecatl, Coatzon, Tziuhcoatl, Tlapalhuitz, and Huitz. Id., pp. 206-7. Tzacatl, Chalcatzin, Ehecatzin, Cohuatzon, Tzihuac-Cohuatl, Tlapalmetzotzin, and Metzotzin. Torquemada, tom. i., p. 37. Tzacatl, Telacalzin, Echecalzin, Cohualzon, Tezihuaccoahuatl, Tlapalmezoltzin, and Melzolzin. Boturini, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 230. but all acting under the directions of Hueman the prophet. The great age attributed to both prophet and chiefs, who for over a century at the least had directed the wanderings of their people, does not, of course merit serious discussion, since it cannot be literally accepted. The most natural, yet a purely conjectural, interpretation of the tradition is that a line or family of chieftains is represented by its founder or by its most famous member; and that by Hueman is to be understood the powerful priesthood that ruled the destinies of the Toltecs, from the earliest days to the fall of their empire. The government was a theocratic republic, each chief directing the movements of his band in war and, so far as such direction was needed, in peace, but all yielding, through fear of the gods or veneration for their representatives, implicit obedience to the counsels of their spiritual leader in all matters of national import. But in the seventh year after their arrival in Tollan, when the republic was yet in a state of peace and prosperity, undisturbed by foreign or internal foes, the chiefs convened an assembly of the heads of families and the leading men. The object of the meeting was to effect a change in the form of their government, and to establish a monarchy. The motive of the leaders, as represented by the tradition, was a fear of future disturbances in a commonwealth governed by so many independent chieftains. They recommended the election of an absolute monarch, offering to surrender their own power and submit to the rule of whatever king the people might choose. The members of the convention acquiesced in the views of the chieftains, and approved the proposed change in their form of government. An election being next in order, a majority expressed their preference for one of the seven chiefs to occupy the new throne.

A Monarchy Established

At this stage of the proceedings Hueman addresses the meeting; though entertaining the highest opinion of the character, ability, and patriotism of the candidates proposed, he deems it his duty to oppose their election. He reminds the people that the main object of the proposed change was to secure a peaceable and independent possession of their new country; that the Chichimecs had pursued and already caused them much trouble; that much was to be feared from their confirmed hostility; that their foes were not far distant, and would very likely invade the country at no very distant day. He recommended as the most efficient means of avoiding future strife, that an embassy with rich presents be sent to the Chichimec monarch, asking for a son or other near relative who should be crowned king of the Toltecs. An express stipulation must, however, be required on the part of the Chichimec king that the Toltecs should ever be a perfectly free and independent people, owing no allegiance whatever to the Chichimecs, although the two powers would enter into an alliance for mutual defense and assistance. The advice of the aged and venerated counsellor was of course accepted without objection; in fact, as pictured by the Spanish writers, Toltec history is for the most part but a record of sage counsels of wise rulers cheerfully acquiesced in by an appreciative and obliging people. Ambassadors of the highest rank, laden with gifts of value, were dispatched by the shortest routes to the court of Huehue Tlapallan—notwithstanding the implied vicinity of some Chichimec nations—where Icauhtzin[IV-10]Ixtlilxochitl. Called also Achcauhtzin, Cabrera, Teatro, p. 95. Icoatzin, Veytia, tom. i., p. 301. occupied the throne. The mission was entirely successful. The second son of the king, still a young man, whose name in his own country is unknown, was with the required stipulations, brought back by the embassy and crowned at Tollan under the name of Chalchiuh Tlatonac,[IV-11]Torquemada, tom. i., p. 37; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 127; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 215. Chalchiuhtlanetzin, or Chalchiuhtlatonac. Veytia, tom. i., pp. 233, 301. Chalchiuhtlahuextzin, Ixtlilxochitl, p. 393. Tlalchiuhtlanelzin. Boturini, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 230. Ixtlilxochitl seems to imply, in another part of his writings, Hist. Chich., p. 207, that the king was chosen among the Toltecs themselves. This Sr Pimentel, in Dicc. Univ., tom. x., p. 611, deems much more probable than the course indicated in the other accounts. ‘shining precious stone.’

The young king, by reason of his fine personal appearance, his character, intelligence and amiability, seems to have greatly pleased from the first the people over whom he was called to rule. The events related above, the settlement at Tollan and the connection of the first king, must be attributed to the first quarter of the eighth century, between 710 and 720.[IV-12]503 or 510 or 509 or 556. Ixtlilxochitl. 700, et seq. Torquemada. 713-19. Veytia. Brasseur has 718. 670, et seq. Müller. All the authorities agree on 7 Acatl as the date of the establishment of the kingdom. Clavigero interprets the date as 667. Immediately after the accession of the young monarch, a law was established by him and his counsellors to the effect that no king should reign more than fifty-two years, but at the expiration of this term should abdicate in favor of his eldest son,[IV-13]See vol. ii., p. 140. whom he might, however, still serve as adviser. Should the king die before the allotted time had elapsed, it was provided that the state should be ruled during the unexpired term by magistrates chosen by the people. In addition to the inherent improbability of such extraordinary legislation, it should be noted that subsequent events, even as related by Ixtlilxochitl, do not in all cases agree with it. Its meaning can only be conjectured; it is noticeable, however, that the time allotted to each reign was exactly a cycle of fifty-two years, and it is not altogether unlikely that a custom prevailed of alluding in the pictured annals to each cycle by the name of the most famous king whose reign fell within the period. The next event, and the only one particularly recorded in the reign of Chalchiuh Tlatonac, was his marriage. Realizing the importance of providing for heirs that the dynasty might be perpetuated, he left the choice of a wife entirely to his subjects, much to their satisfaction, as indicating a desire on the part of royalty to please the people. The choice fell upon a beautiful daughter of Acapichtzin. The latter had himself been a favorite candidate for royal honors when a kingdom was first proposed, and was thus rewarded by seeing his daughter raised to the dignity of first Toltec queen. The Olmec, Xicalanca, and other Toltec nations had voluntarily given their allegiance to the monarch of Tollan, who reigned long and prosperously for fifty-two years, when he died and was buried in the chief temple in 7 Acatl, or about 771 A.D.[IV-14]608 A.D., according to Ixtlilxochitl, p. 450. On the establishment of the Toltecs in Tollan and the reign of the first king, see: Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 206-7, 322-5, 336, 392-3, 450, 458, 460; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 221-39; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 126-7, tom. iv., pp. 46, 51; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 106-15, 145, lib. xi., p. 312; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 37, 254; Boturini, Idea, pp. 77, 139; Id., in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 230; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 299; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 5; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 11; Cabrera, Teatro, p. 95; Arlegui, Chrón. Zacatecas, p. 6; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 209, et seq.; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 138; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 12-13; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 524; Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. i., p. 95; Chevalier, Mexique, p. 55; Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., p. 20; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 95; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 46; Pimentel, in Dicc. Univ., tom. x., pp. 610-11.

The Kingdom of Tollan

Thus in the record preserved by the Spanish writers, all participation in the new monarchy by other Chichimec Toltec tribes than those in and about Tollan, is altogether ignored. The Olmecs and other pre-Toltec nations are represented as having voluntarily offered their allegiance, new towns founded by colonists sent out from Tollan and Tulancingo became of course tributary to the new kingdom, and it is even admitted that powerful Chichimec nations were established not far distant, and were regarded with some anxiety in view of probable future events until the danger was averted by the selection of a Chichimec prince as king, and the consequent transformation of their rivals into allies. The absence of any further mention of these allied and friendly nations throughout the whole period of Toltec history is certainly most extraordinary, and might be sufficient in itself to arouse a suspicion that in the records from which this account was drawn the kingdom of Tollan was given unmerited prominence, while its allies and rivals were intentionally denied their share in the glories of the Toltec empire. This suspicion seems to be to a considerable extent confirmed by the two Nahua documents already referred to.[IV-15]Codex Chimalpopoca, and Memorial de Culhuacan, as cited by Brasseur de Bourbourg. These authorities relate substantially the same course of events as the others, and refer them to approximately the same date; they tell us of the original theocratic republic ruled by independent chieftains who were subordinate to a central sacerdotal power; the determination finally reached to adopt a monarchical form of government; and the choice of a king, who does not seem to have been one of the tribal chieftains. But they attribute these acts to several more or less closely allied nations, of which that established at Tollan was only one, and not the chief. The sacerdotal supremacy attributed to the priesthood of Tollan under the name of Hueman, was really exercised by the priests of the sun at Teotihuacan; there were the deliberations held; and there probably did the first king receive the rites of coronation. The leading nation in Anáhuac at the time was that of the Chichimec Culhuas under Mixcohuatl Mazatzin; those at Tollan and Quauhtitlan, and perhaps others whose name has not been preserved, having been less powerful allies. The choice of the chiefs fell upon Nauhyotl, or Nauhyotzin, as the first Toltec king, and having been crowned probably at Teotihuacan, he established his capital at Culhuacan, then, as for a long time after the metropolis of Anáhuac, in 11 Calli, or 721 A.D. Of Nauhyotl’s family and previous rank nothing is known. Whether he was a prince high in rank in a foreign land, identical with the Chalchiuh Tlatonac of Ixtlilxochitl, or, as Brasseur conjectures, sprung from the union of a native princess of the pre-Toltec tribes and a Chichimec Culhua chief, we have no means of determining. He was the first, so far as can be known, to assume the titles Tlatoani and Topiltzin,[IV-16]Respecting these titles see vol. ii., pp. 186-7, 201, vol. iii., p. 434. both of which endured to the time of the Conquest, the former signifying ‘lord’ or ‘monarch,’ and implying the highest rank in matters temporal, as the latter in matters spiritual, corresponding very nearly with that of ‘pope’ in Catholic countries. The close connection between church and state in all the Nahua nations has been frequently pointed out in this work; as the Abbé Brasseur says, “the empire and the priesthood were one, and the ritual was the base of the throne. In order to firmly establish the monarchy, and ensure the fruits of their conquests, the Toltecs must rule not only the bodies but the conscience of their subjects. Where persuasion and the imposing spectacle of religious ceremonies were of no avail, violence and terror were resorted to, and insensibly the peoples of Mexico adopted the civilization of their masters together with their superstitious rites.”[IV-17]Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 225.

Kingdom of Quauhtitlan

In 725 Chicon Tonatiuh, assumed the title of Tlatoani and became king of Quauhtitlan, probably in some degree subordinate to the king at Culhuacan. The first mention by these authorities of a king in Tollan is to the effect that Mixcohuatl Mazatzin was called to that throne in 752. Meantime one of Mixcohuatl’s sons, named Texcatlipocatl, afterwards deified as Tezcatlipoca, had founded the dominion of Tezcuco, and another son, named like his father Mixcohuatl, but better known and afterwards worshiped as Camaxtli, had continued the conquests of the Mixcohuas on the eastern plateau of Huitzilapan, or Tlascala.[IV-18]‘On regarda aussi comme des dieux Camaxtle et Tezcatlipuca qui vinrent de l’occident; mais ces prétendus dieux étaient sans doute des enchanteurs diaboliques et possédés du démon, qui pervertirent toutes ces nations.’ Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 146. ‘Fueron grandes capitanes esforzados y entre ellos valerosos hombres; los quales señorearon por grado ò por fuerza aquellas Provincias de Mexico, Tetzcuco y Tlaxcala, cuyos propios naturales a habitadores y aborigenes eran las gentes que se llaman Othomies.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. 122. In 753 Chicon Tonatiuh, who had died two years before, was succeeded in Quauhtitlan by Xiuhnel; the new king was murdered soon after by his subjects, or as the tradition has it, was stabbed through the liver by a native woman in whose arms he was sleeping. A revolt followed, by which the Toltec power in that province was temporarily overthrown by the aboriginal inhabitants, whoever they may have been. In 767 Nauhyotl, king at Culhuacan, died and was succeeded by Totepeuh, identical with Mixcohua Camaxtli, also known as Nonohualcatl, and whose father was at the time reigning at Tollan. Early in the reign of Totepeuh a wide-spread war is vaguely reported as having been waged chiefly in the regions outside the valley. In this war the original inhabitants of the country, the Toltec tribes already settled there, and newly arrived Chichimec bands are vaguely mentioned as the combatants; Xochitzin, a beautiful princess possessed of supernatural powers, or at least holding communication with the gods and regarded as an oracle, was the prime mover in this war; Huactli was the most prominent leader, in full sympathy apparently with the Toltec sovereign; and at the end of the strife Huactli married Xochitzin and became king of the re-established dominion of Quauhtitlan in 804. Thirteen years later after a long reign Mixcohuatl Mazatzin, king of Tollan, died. He had been a very famous warrior, one of the most prominent of all the Toltec chieftains in Anáhuac, and was in after years worshiped as one of the gods of war.[IV-19]See vol. ii., pp. 335-6, 351-2, vol. iii., pp. 118, 403-6. His successor was Huetzin, whom Brasseur conjectures to have been a son of the late king and identical with Tezcatlipoca.

The Teoamoxtli, Or Divine Book

Returning now to the other version of Toltec history we learn that after the death of the first king of Tollan, his son Ixtlilcuechahuac mounted the throne.[IV-20]Ixtlilcuechahuac, otherwise called Tzacatecatl, Tlaltecatl, and Tlachinotzin, in 771 A.D. Veytia, tom. i., p. 231. 608. Ixtlilxochitl, p. 450. Ixliuechahuexe or Tzacatcatl, 614. Id., p. 325. Ixtlilcuechanac or Tlaltecatl Huetzin. Id., p. 393. Tlilquechahuac Tlalchinoltzin, 572. Id., p. 207. Tlilque Chaocatlahinoltzin. Id., p. 460. Aixtilcuechahuac. Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 11. 719 A.D. Clavigero, tom. i., p. 127. Was reigning in 660. Boturini, Idea, p. 139. The preceding hardly confirms Brasseur’s statement that ‘toutes les Relations d’Ixtlilxochitl concordent ici avec le Codex Chimalp., pour donner le nom de Huetzin au second roi de Tollan.’ This is a pretty fair sample of the abbé’s references. His reign, like that of his predecessor, was peaceful and prosperous; but the only event recorded was a meeting of all the sages under the direction of the aged Hueman, which took place only a few years before the end of the second king’s term of office. At this assembly there were brought forward all the Toltec records reaching back to the earliest period of their existence, and from these documents, after a long conference and the most careful study, the Teoamoxtli, or ‘book of God,’ was prepared. In its pages were inscribed the Nahua annals from the time of the deluge, or even from the creation; together with all their religious rites, governmental system, laws and social customs; their knowledge respecting agriculture and all the arts and sciences, particular attention being given to astrology; and a complete explanation of their modes of reckoning time and interpreting the hieroglyphics. To the divine book was added a chapter of prophecies respecting future events and the signs by which it should be known when the time of their fulfillment was drawing near.

After the completion of the Teoamoxtli, Hueman, now three hundred years old, announced his approaching end and made known to the Toltecs their future. After ten cycles had elapsed from the time when they left Huehue Tlapallan, they were to be ruled by a king whose right to the royal power would not be undisputed among his subjects. From his mother’s womb he would have certain personal peculiarities by which he might be known; his curly hair would assume the form of a mitre or tiara. The earlier years of his reign were to be years of great prosperity; his rule would be wise, just, and able. In middle life the king would abandon the ways of wisdom and virtue, giving himself up to all manner of vice leading infallibly to disaster; and worst of all his subjects would imitate his vicious conduct and share in his misfortunes. Great calamities were to come upon the Toltecs, sent by Tloque Nahuaque, the great God, and like unto these with which their ancestors were afflicted in the remote past. Finally the kingdom was to be destroyed by civil wars, and the king, driven from his possession, after nearly all his subjects had perished, was to return to the ancient home of their race, there in his later years to become once more wise and discreet. Yet a sign was not denied this fated people; for certain unnatural phenomena were to announce their destruction as drawing nigh. When the rabbit should have horns like a deer, and the humming-bird be found with spurs, and stones yield fruit; when the priests of the temples should forget their vows of chastity with noble ladies, pilgrims to the shrines of the god—then might they look for the fulfillment of Hueman’s predictions; for lightnings and hail and snow, for famine and pestilence and devouring insects, to be followed by desolating wars. For such as escaped these disasters, or for their descendants, another visitation of divine wrath was reserved in the form of a foreign people from the east, who ten cycles later were to take possession of the country in fulfillment of the words of the ancient prophet Quetzalcoatl. No further information is given of Hueman’s death or of Ixtlilcuechahuac’s rule.

Huetzin, the third king, was crowned, according to Veytia’s chronology, in 823,[IV-21]666, or 613. Ixtlilxochitl, who also writes the name Huetzin Totepeuh and Huitzin. 771. Clavigero. a date that very nearly agrees with that given in the other version, or 817. Totepeuh,[IV-22]Totepauh and Totepeuhque. Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 326, 460; on p. 450 his reign is ignored. the fourth, elsewhere mentioned as second king at Culhuacan, took the throne from his father after fifty-two years; and handed it down after a like period to his own son Nacaxoc,[IV-23]Nacazxoc. Torquemada, and Vetancvrt. Nacaxzoch, Nacalxur, Nacaxoc Mitl, and Nacazxot. Ixtlilxochitl, who on pp. 450 and 393 calls him the fourth king. the fifth monarch at Tollan, who was in turn succeeded by Mitl in 979.[IV-24]Veytia. 927 according to Clavigero. 822 or 768 according to Ixtlilxochitl, who calls him Tlacomihua on pp. 207, 460, names him as fifth king on p. 393, and ignores his reign on p. 450. These reigns, the last of which lasted fifty-nine years, were marked by the occurrence of no event specially important, though in all great progress was made, new towns founded, old cities beautified, and new temples built, including one of great magnificence at Quauhnahuac (Cuernavaca, possibly Xochicalco) and another at Tollan intended to rival that of the Sun at Teotihuacan, which city is incidentally admitted to have surpassed Tollan in extent and magnificence. During this period the Toltec power was firmly established over a broad territory, and there were yet no tokens of approaching destruction.[IV-25]For the annals of Tollan during this period see Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 207, 325-6, 393, 450, 460; Veytia, tom. i., pp. 239-58; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 37. Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 127-8; Sahagun, tom. iii., lib. x., p. 114; Boturini, Idea, pp. 139-40; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., p. 11; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 524.

Totepeuh King of Tollan • Vengeance of Quetzalcoatl

In the annals of Culhuacan we left Totepeuh on the throne. His first military expedition was directed towards the eastern plateau, where Chalchiuhapan, later Tlascala, seems to have been founded at about this time, and where this king was afterwards worshiped under his name of Camaxtli. In his next expedition, to the province of Huitznahuac, he encountered, defeated after many fruitless attempts, and finally married a bold princess Chimalman, who fought entirely naked at the head of a body of amazons. The conquest of Cuitlahuac next claimed his attention, for this was the only city on the lakes that had been able to withstand the power of his father and predecessor. To this city and this period Brasseur traces back the foundation of the Nahual Teteuctin, an order of chivalry, whence proceeded the highest titles of learning and nobility, down to the coming of the Spaniards.[IV-26]Chief among which titles was that of Tecuhtli, respecting which see vol. ii., pp. 194-200. Queen Chimalman, becoming enceinte immediately after marriage, dreamed that she bore in her bosom a chalchiuite, or precious stone, and decided to name her son, predestined to a glorious career, Quetzalcoatl Chalchiuitl. At his birth, which occurred nine months later, the heir was named also Ceacatl, probably from the day on which he was born. In addition to his mother’s dream and the auguries drawn from it, the fact that Ceacatl Quetzalcoatl united in his veins the noblest blood of the Toltecs and the pre-Toltec peoples, gave special import to his birth, and the event was celebrated with great pomp at Culhuacan, and gifts of great value were sent from all directions.[IV-27]‘On célébra de grandes fêtes à la naissance de Colchacovat.’ Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 146. See also note 6 of this chapter. 839 is the approximate date to which Ceacatl Quetzalcoatl’s birth is referred; his mother died in childbed, and the child was entrusted to the king’s sister Cohuatl, a priestess of the temple, perhaps the same as Cihuacoatl, or Cioacoatl, afterwards deified as the goddess of childbirth.[IV-28]See vol. ii., pp. 269, 434, 608, vol. iii., pp. 350, 363. In 845 King Totepeuh Nonohualcatl himself, now far advanced in years, was murdered by conspiring nobles under the leadership of Apanecatl, Zolton, and Cuilton; he was succeeded by Yohuallatonac, and at the same time Ihuitimal,—a name that bears no resemblance to that of Huetzin’s successor according to the Spanish writers,—took Huetzin’s place on the throne of Tollan. Brasseur believes that Huetzin left Tollan to become king at Culhuacan, and that he was the same as Yohuallatonac. It must be noted that the confused state of the aboriginal annals is due not only to the incompleteness of the native records—many having been destroyed—and the errors of interpreters, but also largely to the unfortunate custom of the Nahua peoples of giving many names to the same person, and multiplying names apparently in proportion to fame and rank. It is recorded that Ceacatl, while yet a boy, wreaked a terrible vengeance on the murderers of his father. The latter took refuge in the fortress of Cuitlahuac on one of the lake islands deemed impregnable, but by a subterranean passage leading under the waters, the prince and his followers gained access to fort and temple. The leaders of the conspiracy were sprinkled with red pepper after a preparatory flaying and mangling, and dying in indescribable torture were sacrificed to the memory of Totepeuh, the first of the many thousand victims subsequently offered to the same divinity under his name of Camaxtli. From this time nothing whatever is recorded of Ceacatl for about twenty years, until he re-appears under his name of Quetzalcoatl as the most celebrated of the Toltec kings and high-priests, afterwards deified like most heroes of this early time.

The only event recorded before the re-appearance of Quetzalcoatl is one of great importance, a convention of the princes and wise men of Anáhuac and vicinity. At this assemblage the system of government and the laws of succession were perfected and as may be supposed given substantially the form which they preserved down to the Conquest; but the most important act was the establishment of an alliance between the crowns of Culhuacan, Otompan, and Tollan. Each king was to be perfectly independent in the affairs of his own domain; but in matters affecting the general interests the three monarchs were to constitute a council, in which the king of Culhuacan was to rank first, assuming a title nearly equivalent to that of Emperor. Otompan took the second place and Tollan the third. This is the first mention of Otompan as a capital, but since its domain seems to have included the territory of Teotihuacan and Tezcuco, its prominent position in the league is not improbable. The establishment of this alliance, or, as it may be more conveniently termed, empire, is referred to the date 1 Tecpatl, 856.[IV-29]This alliance rests altogether on the Codex Chimalpopoca and Mem. de Culhuacan. It is to be noted that Brasseur refers clearly to Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., lib. xi., cap. 18, as an authority, which chapter contains not a word bearing on the subject.

Ceacatl Quetzalcoatl

Ceacatl Quetzalcoatl re-appears in history, still following the same authorities, about the year 870, and succeeded Ihuitimal as king of Tollan, assuming the title Topiltzin, on the death of that king in 873.[IV-30]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 37, relates the succession of the Toltec kings at Tollan, agreeing substantially with the accounts of Ixtlilxochitl, Veytia, and the rest. It is to be noted, however, that on page 254 the same author gives another account, inextricably confused, totally disagreeing with the preceding, but agreeing in most of its names, with that derived by Brasseur from the two records in his possession. This proves that the version of the Toltec traditions followed by the Spanish writers, referring everything to Tollan and ignoring all other nations and kings, was not the only one extant when the Spaniards came. It confirms to a certain extent Brasseur’s account of other Toltec nations and monarchs besides those at Tollan, and is therefore important. I translate this version of the tradition from Torquemada, without any attempt to reconcile its many inconsistencies with itself and the versions already presented. It has the appearance of a successive interpretation of the records of distinct kingdoms, or distinct periods, tacked together and referred vaguely to Toltec history by a writer who did not suspect the existence of any other power than that at Tollan. ‘When the Mexicans arrived in this region of Tulla, it was already settled by many people; because, according to the truth as found in the most authentic histories of these nations, in 700 A.D., they began to settle here. Their first captain, or leader, was named Totepeuh, who lived a long and tranquil life, being a bold and famous chieftain. At his death those of the province of Tulla raised to the throne another called Topil [Topiltzin], who reigned fifty years and was succeeded by Huemac, mentioned elsewhere in connection with the tricks of Quetzalcohuatl. [These are among the very last rulers in Tollan by other accounts.] This Huemac was a very powerful king, who was much feared and caused himself to be worshiped as a god. He went out from Tulla to increase the extent of his kingdom, occupying himself throughout his reign in gaining new provinces, preferring the bustle of war to the quiet of peace. But while he was engaged in wars abroad the Toltecs made Nauhyotzin king, who was the second lord, and of Chichimec birth. He also left Tullan and marched towards this lake with a large number of people to conquer as much as possible of the territory thereabouts. He reigned more than sixty years, and at his death the kingdom was given to Quauhtexpetlatl, [a name not appearing elsewhere] who in his turn was followed by Huetzin Nonohualcatl [according to Brasseur, Huetzin probably succeeded Nonohualcatl at Culhuacan. All that follows probably belongs to the Chichimec period much later, and relates to the kings of Culhuacan]. After him reigned Achitometl, and, afterwards, Quauhtonal, and in the tenth year of his reign the Mexicans arrived at Chapultepec; so that when the said Mexicans were in the city or province of Tulla, this prince was neither its king or lord (as Gomara says), but continuing the account and succession of these Toltec kings, we say that the said Achitometl was succeeded by Mazatzin, [and not by Quauhtonal as above. This is unintelligible. Mazatzin was, according to Brasseur, the first king at Tollan] and he by Quetzal. After him came Chalchiuhtona, and then Quauhtlix, then Yohuallatonac, followed by Tziuhtecatl. It is said that in the third year of this king’s reign the Mexicans arrived where the city of Mexico now is. At Tziuhtecatl’s death, Xiuhtemoctzin succeeded to the throne, and he was followed by Coxcotzin.’ Then follows an account of the coming of Quetzalcoatl and his companions, in which the author is evidently much confused between the first and second of that name.

Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 301-2, gives a similar account, differing, however, in orthography and in some of the successions. The order of succession, according to this writer, is in substance as follows: 1st. Totepeuch, in 721, who died over 100 years after their arrival. 2d. Topil, son of the former, ruled about 50 years. An interregnum ensued of over 110 years; either had no kings or their names are forgotten. 3d, 4th. Two rulers chosen, Vemac and Nauhiocin, the latter a Chichimec. Both left Tollan with their followers; the latter settled near the lake, and reigned over 60 years. 5th. Quauhtexpetlatl. 6th. Vecin. 7th. Nonoualcatl. [We have seen that Torquemada unites these two names in one king.] 8th. Achitometl. 9th. Quauhtonal, in the 10th year of whose reign came the Mexicans to Chapultepec. 10th. Mazacin. 11th. Queza. 12th. Chalchiuhtona. 13th. Quauhtlix. 14th. Iohuallatonac. 15th. Ciuhtetl. 16th. Xiuiltemoc. 17th. Cuxcux, and so on with the Chichimec and Aztec kings of much later periods. It is very evident that these writers had access to the same documents which Brasseur uses, but did not comprehend their meaning. All the Spanish writers have much to say of Quetzalcoatl, although none of them—except Sahagun, who expresses himself very clearly on the subject—[IV-31]‘En esta ciudad (Tollan) reinó muchos años un rey llamado Quetzalcoatl, gran nigromántico, é inventor de la nigromancia,’ etc. Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 266. seem to have regarded him as one of the Toltec kings in the regular order of succession to the throne; and their accounts are inextricably confused by reason of their having made no distinction between Quetzalcoatl the original culture-hero, and Quetzalcoatl, the pontiff-ruler of Tollan, applying indiscriminately to one person all the traditions in which the name occurred. I will give first the regular Spanish version of these traditions.

Mendieta records the tradition that he was the son of Camaxtli and Chimalman, and also another to the effect that Chimalman became pregnant by swallowing a chalchiuite, which she found when sweeping; but other authorities, without going back to his birth, represent him as appearing on the eastern coast, most of them agreeing on the region of Pánuco as the locality. He was tall, well formed, with broad forehead and large eyes, of fair complexion, with long black hair[IV-32]Brasseur, tom. i., p. 255, misinterpreting Torquemada, tom. i., p. 255, calls him blonde; in another place, tom. ii., p. 48, Torquemada distinctly states that he has black hair. and a full beard. Bare as to his head and feet, he wore a long white robe ornamented with black flowers, according to Las Casas, or with black or red crosses, as other writers say, supporting his steps with a staff. He was austere in manner, but in character all that is good, and gentle, disapproving all acts of violence and blood, and withal most chaste, neither marrying nor knowing women. With him was a large company of artists and men learned in every branch of science, whom some of the authors seem to consider a colony from a foreign land. From Pánuco Quetzalcoatl, with his companions, came to Tollan after having tarried for some time, as Camargo tells us, at Tulancingo. He was at first received by the Toltecs with much enthusiasm, and during his stay in Tollan filled the position of high-priest or supreme spiritual ruler. His rule was mild, but he insisted on a strict performance of all religious duties, and subjected himself to severe penances, such as the drawing of blood from tongue and limbs by means of maguey-thorns. He was not without supernatural powers, since his announcements made by a crier from the top of a neighboring mountain could be heard for a distance of three hundred miles. He introduced many new religious rites, including the practice of fasting and the drawing of blood from their own body by penitents, also according to some authorities, the establishment of convents and nunneries, and the sacrifice of birds and animals; to human sacrifices he was ever opposed. He was a patron of all the arts and sciences, which in his time reached their highest state of development.[IV-33]The invention of the calendar attributed to him by Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 97-8, Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vii., p. 264, and others, should evidently be referred to the Quetzalcoatl of other times. Finally, Quetzalcoatl left Tollan and went to Cholula, which city with others on the eastern plateau, some authors—still referring to another Quetzalcoatl, and another epoch—credit him with having founded. There are many versions of his motives for abandoning Tollan, most referring to certain troubles between him and a rival Huemac or Tezcatlipoca. Playing ball with Tezcatlipoca, the latter assumed the form of a tiger, scared the spectators so that many fell over a precipice, and pursued his opponent from town to town until he reached Cholula; or he was driven away by the tricks of a sorcerer named Titlacaâon, or Titlacahua, who appeared in the form of an old man. By dint of much persuasion the magician induced Quetzalcoatl, who was unwell, to drink a medicine which he had brought, recommended to act as a narcotic. The medicine proved to be pulque, the high-priest was soon intoxicated, and in this condition was easily persuaded that by going to the ancient country of Tlapallan he might regain his youth. The other tricks of this sorcerer are many, but they seem to belong to the final overthrow of the Toltec empire rather than to Quetzalcoatl’s time. Many details are given of the high-priest’s journey towards Tlapallan, of the places through which he passed, and the wonderful traces which he left. He is generally credited with having stopped a short time at Quauhtitlan, and with having lived some years at Cholula, where he was especially popular, and where in after years his doctrines found their most devoted followers. But his chief enemy, Huemac, and the necromancers followed him even to Cholula with their persecutions, and he was forced to set out again on his journey towards Tlapallan. He finally disappeared in the Goazacoalco region, after predicting the future coming of bearded white men from the east. I have given here only a brief outline of the traditions respecting Quetzalcoatl, because a full account has been presented in another volume, to which the reader is referred.[IV-34]See vol. iii., pp. 239-87; also Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 161-205; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 82-3, 92-3, 97-8; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 255, 282, 380, tom. ii., pp. 20, 48-52, 79; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. ii.; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. 122, 173; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., pp. 243-8, 25-9; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 11-13; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 300; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 145; Ternaux-Compans, in Id., 1840, tom. lxxxvi., pp. 16-20; Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., pp. 66-9; Tylor’s Researches, pp. 154-5.

Flight of Quetzalcoatl

The supposition that Quetzalcoatl was a member of the Toltec royal family and reigned as a king at Tollan, together with the evident confounding in the traditions as recorded by the Spanish writers of two distinct persons named Quetzalcoatl,[IV-35]By calling them distinct persons it is not necessarily implied that the first Quetzalcoatl ever had a real existence. remove most of the difficulties connected with this famous personage, the second of the name. It seems to me most probable that the traditions relating to Quetzalcoatl’s foreign origin or his long absence in distant parts of the country, his arrival at Pánuco, and his final disappearance in the south—although these are all accepted by Brasseur—should be referred to the Quetzalcoatl of primitive times. The young prince, unable for some unrevealed reason, to obtain after his arrival at years of discretion the crown of his murdered father, retired to some city in or near Anáhuac, probably Tulancingo, where he first comes into notice, to bide his time. Here he settled on his future policy including some religious reforms, communicated with powerful friends throughout Anáhuac, and perfected his plans for recovering his lost throne. Some crosses and other relics seen by the Spaniards in the mountains of Meztitlan, were attributed by native tradition to Ceacatl’s residence in Tulancingo.[IV-36]Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 171-2. Such was the force of his claim as son of Totepeuh, and such the influence of the religious dogmas zealously promulgated by him and his disciples, that at last on the death of Ihuitimal, perhaps his brother, he was raised to the throne of Tollan, as has been said, in 873, under the title of Topiltzin Ceacatl Quetzalcoatl.

Reign of Ceacatl

There is nothing in the Spanish version of the Quetzalcoatl traditions by which to fix the epoch in which he flourished. It is merely implied that Huemac, his chief enemy, was temporal ruler at the same time that he exercised the functions of high-priest, and succeeded him in power. Huemac is identified by Brasseur, not without some reason, with Nacaxoc, the fifth king of the Spanish writers, whose reign is represented by them as having been most peaceful and uneventful. He is also known as Tezcatlipoca, and was closely related to Yohuallatonac,[IV-37]Probably, as has been said, the same as Huetzin and Texcaltepocatl. the king of Culhuacan. In the Codex Chimalpopoca he is called both Huemac and Matlacxochitl.

After Quetzalcoatl had been about ten years on the throne, opposition to his power, fomented by his enemies from the first, assumed serious proportions. Several causes are plausibly attributed by the records and their interpreters to this opposition. The new pontiff-king had effected many innovations in religious ceremonies. It does not appear that his doctrines differed very materially from those entertained by his predecessors, but the changes introduced by him had been so readily admitted by reason of the popularity and zeal of their author and his subordinates, as to excite jealousy among the ecclesiastical powers. Most prominent among his peculiar reforms, and the one that is reported to have contributed most to his downfall, was his unvarying opposition to human sacrifice. This sacrifice had prevailed from pre-Toltec times at Teotihuacan, and had been adopted more or less extensively in Culhuacan and Tollan. By Quetzalcoatl it was absolutely prohibited in the temples of the latter capital, and thus the powerful priesthood of Otompan, and Culhuacan was arrayed against him. Again it is thought that under Quetzalcoatl the spiritual power always closely connected with the temporal in Nahua governments, became so predominant as to excite the jealousy and fears of the nobility in Tollan, who were restive under a priestly restraint not imposed on their brothers of corresponding rank in the other nations of the empire. Finally, under the rule of Ceacatl, Tollan had become the metropolis of the empire. It does not appear that the terms of the alliance, according to which the monarch of Culhuacan outranked the others, had been changed; but in the magnificence of her palaces and temples, and the skill and fame of her artists, if not in population, Tollan now surpassed the cities of the valley, and thus naturally was looked upon as a too successful rival. The dissatisfied element at home was headed by Huemac, or Tezcatlipoca, who had perhaps some well-founded claim to the throne, and received the support of the allied monarchs. The ensuing struggle is symbolized in the record of the Spanish writers by the successive tricks of the necromancers; and the religious strife between rival sects was continued with more or less bitterness down to the latest Aztec epoch. Such was Quetzalcoatl’s repugnance to the shedding of human blood, that he seems to have voluntarily abandoned his throne against the wishes of his more warlike partisans, and after a brief stay in Quauhtitlan, to have crossed to the eastern plateau of Huitzilapan in 895. Huemac, Tezcatlipoca, or Nacaxoc succeeded immediately to the royal power in Tollan.[IV-38]875. Clavigero. 927. Veytia. 770 or 716. Ixtlilxochitl.

Conquest of Cholula

The teachings and influence of Quetzalcoatl had preceded him among the Olmec nations of the eastern region. His father, under the name of Camaxtli, had done more than any other to bring these nations under the Toltec power, had founded the city afterwards known as Tlascala, and was perhaps already worshiped as a deity. Moreover the Quetzalcoatl of old had traditionally introduced Nahua institutions in this region, where he was still the object of supreme veneration. Whether the city of Cholula was actually founded at this time or by the first Quetzalcoatl, it is impossible to determine,[IV-39]‘Los que de esta ciudad (Tollan) huyeron, edificaron otra muy próspera que se llama Cholulla.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 207. but the coming of Ceacatl seems to have marked the beginning of a new era of prosperity on the eastern plateau. Temples in honor of Camaxtli were erected in Tlascala and Huexotzinco, while Cholula became the capital of what may almost be termed a new Toltec monarchy. All the southern and eastern provinces subject to the empire during Ceacatl’s reign at Tollan, gave in their adhesion to him at Cholula. Large numbers of his partisans also followed him from Tollan, and all the primitive peoples, among whom human sacrifice in pre-Toltec times had been unknown, were glad to submit to the royal high-priest. His reign in Cholula lasted about ten years,[IV-40]See references already given on Quetzalcoatl, and also Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 265, et seq. and during this time his doctrines are thought to have been introduced by disciples dispatched from Cholula into the southern regions of Oajaca.

In 904 Yohuallatonac was succeeded in Culhuacan by Quetzallacxoyatl, and Huemac, having subdued by his strict and severe measures all open opposition to his rule at home, but looking with much uneasiness on the prosperity of Ceacatl in his new capital, and the constant emigration of his own subjects eastward, resolved again to attack his former rival. At the head of a large army he directed his march towards Cholula. Quetzalcoatl as before, notwithstanding the remonstrance of his people, refused to resist his progress, but departed before Huemac’s arrival for other lands as before related. Cholula, with the neighboring cities and provinces fell an easy prey to the valiant Huemac; but so long did he remain absent in his insatiable desire to conquer new territory, that his subjects revolted and with the co-operation of the king of Culhuacan proclaimed Nauhyotl king about the year 930.[IV-41]This king is called Mitl and Tlacomihua by Veytia and the rest. Dates: 927. Clavigero. Veytia, tom. i., p. 252, has 779, which may be a misprint for 979. 822 or 768. Ixtlilxochitl. Huemac’s expedition eastward, and the crowning of Nauhyotl, or Nauhyotzin, during his absence is recorded by Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 254, and Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 301, as quoted in note 30 of this chapter. Huemac did not yield without a struggle. Returning westward to defend his throne he met Nauhyotl on the lake shores; his army was routed and he was killed, or at least disappeared. As Tezcatlipoca and under various other titles he ever after ranked among the highest in the pantheon of Nahua divinities.[IV-42]Respecting Tezcatlipoca, fables respecting his life on earth, and his worship as a god, see vol. iii., pp. 199-248.

During the ensuing era of peace among the Toltecs under Nauhyotl, or Mitl, and his allies, it seems that Cholula regained its prosperity, re-established the institutions and worship of Quetzalcoatl, and soon rivaled in magnificence Tollan, Culhuacan, and Teotihuacan. Still remaining to a certain extent a part of the Toltec empire, under the rule of the king at Tollan, Cholula seems to have preferred from this period a republican form of home rule, similar, if not identical, to that in vogue on the eastern plateau at the coming of the Spaniards.[IV-43]See vol. ii., pp. 141-2. Four of Quetzalcoatl’s chief disciples were charged with the establishment of a permanent government, which they entrusted to two supreme magistrates, one chosen from the priesthood and exercising the functions of high-priest under the title of Tlachiach or ‘lord from on high,’ and the other from the nobility being at the head of the civil government with the title Aquiach.

Reign of Nauhyotl

The reign of Nauhyotl, or Mitl,[IV-44]Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 322, says that Ixtlilxochitl in one place calls this king Nauhyotl. Although I have been unable to find this statement in the works of the writer mentioned, yet there can be little doubt of the two kings’ identity. at Tollan was one of great prosperity and peace. The new king devoted all his energies to promoting the glory of his capital city, where he re-established nearly all the reforms instituted by Ceacatl and partially abolished by Huemac. He is represented as having looked with some uneasiness on the growing prosperity of Cholula, and on the pilgrimages continually undertaken by residents of Tollan to the eastern shrines; but instead of resorting like his predecessor to hostile measures, he determined to eclipse the glory of Cholula by the erection of new and magnificent temples at home. The finest of these temples was that built in honor of the Goddess of Water,[IV-45]Chalchihuitlicue, Toci, Teteionan, etc. See vol. iii., p. 350, et seq., p. 367, et seq. or the Frog Goddess, to which was attached a college of priests vowed to celibacy. Meantime the worship of Camaxtli and Tlaloc were more firmly established than before at Tlascala and Huexotzinco, and grand temples were built in several Toltec provinces without Anáhuac, particularly in the south, one of the most famous being near Quauhnahuac, later Cuernavaca, the ruins of which may be supposed with some plausibility to be identical with those of Xochicalco.[IV-46]For description of Xochicalco see vol. iv., pp. 483-94. After having restored Tollan to the position it had occupied under Ceacatl Quetzalcoatl, Nauhyotl died after a reign of fifteen years in 945.[IV-47]On Nauhyotl’s reign, see Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 207, 326, 393, 450, 460; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 255-8; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 37; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 127; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 11; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 319-31. The date 945 is from the Codex Chimalpopoca. The Spanish writers make his reign much longer, all except Clavigero representing him as having reigned, by the consent of his subjects, several years over the time prescribed by law. 979-1035. Veytia. 927-79. Clavigero. 822-80, or 768-826. Ixtlilxochitl. Torquemada and Gomara, as quoted in note 30, state that this king also marched eastward at the head of a large army to add to his domain by conquest.

All the authorities agree that Nauhyotl was succeeded at his death by his queen Xiuhtlaltzin,[IV-48]Also Xiuhquentzin, Xiuliquentzin, and Xiuhzaltzin, Ixtlilxochitl, and Xiuhzaltzin, Vetancvrt. who reigned four years, showing great zeal and wisdom in the management of public affairs, and dying deeply regretted by all her subjects.[IV-49]See references in note 47 and following pages of each authority. The Spanish writers name Tecpancaltzin as the successor of the lamented queen, referring to his reign and to that of his successor the events which brought about the overthrow of the Toltec empire. The Nahua records, however, represent queen Xiuhtlaltzin as having been followed by her son Matlaccoatl, who reigned from 949 to 973, and who in his turn was succeeded by Tlilcoatzin, ruling from 973 to 994, and preceding Tecpancaltzin, respecting whose reign these records agree to a great extent with the other authorities. We have no record of any specific events that occurred during the reign of the three sovereigns last mentioned, save that in Culhuacan Quetzallacxoyatl was succeeded in 953 by Chalchiuh Tlatonac, and the latter in 985 by Totepeuh, the second of the name.[IV-50]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 331, 336. Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., p. 181, speaks of an interregnum of forty-eight years after the death of Queen Xiuhtlaltzin.

I come now to the last century of the period to which this chapter is devoted, a century whose annals form a continuous record of civil and religious strife in Anáhuac, invasions by powerful bands from the adjoining regions on the north and north-west, pestilence and famine, resulting in the utter overthrow of the Toltec empire. There is somewhat less contradiction among the two classes of authorities quoted respecting the events of this century than in the case of those preceding. The Spanish writers still speak of Tollan, it is true, as if that city alone constituted the empire; but the Nahua documents also ascribe almost exclusively to Tollan the occurrences which caused the destruction of the Toltec power. The latter documents, however, still keep up the thread of historical events at Culhuacan and in other provinces, and they are doubtless much more reliable in the matter of dates than the Spanish version, besides narrating the invasions of foreign tribes, a disturbing element in Toltec politics almost entirely ignored by Ixtlilxochitl and his followers. Notwithstanding the general agreement of the authorities referred to, it must be noted that the record is but a succession of tales in which the marvelous and supernatural largely predominate, conveying a tolerably accurate idea of the general course of history during this period, but throwing very little light on its details. In accordance with my plan already announced, I have but to tell the tales as they are recorded; their general meaning is sufficiently apparent, and I shall offer but rarely conjectures respecting the specific significance of each.

Reign of Huemac II

Huemac II., also known as Tecpancaltzin,[IV-51]Called also Yztaccaltzin. Ixtlilxochitl. Atecpanecatl and Iztacquauhtzin. Codex Chimalpopoca and Ixtlilxochitl, according to Brasseur. the eldest son of Totepeuh II. of Culhuacan, mounted the throne of Tollan in 994,[IV-52]1039, 830, 884, according to the Spanish writers. See note 47. Clavigero ignores this king, while Torquemada, followed by Boturini in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 230, and Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., p. 11, seems to identify him with his successor. at a time when that city in respect of art and high culture was at the head of the empire, although Culhuacan still retained her original political supremacy, while both Teotihuacan and Cholula were rivals in the power and fame of their respective priesthood. There are no data for assigning even approximately exact limits to the Toltec empire at this period. It is probably, however, that while the Toltec was less absolute and despotic than the Aztec power in the sixteenth century, yet it was exerted throughout fully as wide an extent of territory, including Michoacan and a broad region in the north-west never altogether subjected to the Aztec kings. The Toltec domain had been enlarged gradually by the influence of the priesthood, particularly under Ceacatl Quetzalcoatl, until there were few provinces from Tehuantepec to Zacatecas, from the North to the South Sea, which did not render a voluntary allegiance to the allied monarchs of the central region. And at the same time it cannot be believed that foreign conquest by force of arms had so small a place among the events of Toltec history as the records would imply. Huemac II., unlike the first of the same name, belonged to the sect of Quetzalcoatl, using his power to restrain the practice of human sacrifice if not altogether abolishing it in the temples of Tollan. He even seems to have added the name of Quetzalcoatl to his other royal and pontifical titles, or possibly had this title before his coronation, as high-priest of the sect at Culhuacan. The application of this title to Huemac, and that of Tezcatlipoca to the high-priest of the rival sect, has been productive of no little confusion in the record, since it is sometimes impossible to decide whether certain events should be attributed to this reign or to the time of Ceacatl and Huemac I. The new king was endowed with fine natural qualifications for his position, and enjoyed to a remarkable degree the confidence and esteem of the people. During the first year he ruled with great wisdom, speaking but little, attending most strictly to the performance of his religious duties, and always prompt in the administration of justice to his subjects of whatever station; but the old fire of religious strife, though smouldering, was yet alive and ready to be fanned into a conflagration which should consume the whole Toltec structure. The leaders of the rival sect, followers of the bloody Tezcatlipoca and bitter enemies to all followers of Quetzalcoatl, although now in the minority were constantly intriguing for the fall of Huemac. But they well knew the popularity of their hated foe, and bent all their energies to the task of dragging him down from his lofty pedestal of popular esteem, by tempting him into the commission of acts unworthy of himself as high-priest, king, and successor of the great Quetzalcoatl. A scandal was to be created; wine and women were naturally the agents to be employed; the tale is a very strange one.

The King’s Mistress

Papantzin, a Toltec noble of high rank, presented himself one day at court, together with his daughter, the beautiful Xochitl,[IV-53]Ixtlilxochitl, p. 208, calls the name Quetzalxochitzin, and makes her the wife rather than the daughter of Papantzin. bearing with other gifts to the king a kind of syrup and sugar made from maguey-juice by a process of which Papantzin was the inventor. This syrup is generally spoken of as pulque, but there seems to be little reason for making a fermented liquor of ‘miel prieta de maguey.'[IV-54]Bustamante, in Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., p. 246, erroneously charges Veytia with saying that Papantzin presented to the king a vessel of pulque invented by Xochitl. Brasseur, for reasons not very intelligible, refers to this period Sahagun’s account of the invention of pulque in Olmec times (see pp. 207-8 of this volume), and also the efforts of the sorcerers to make Quetzalcoatl drink pulque that he might be induced to leave Tollan. I have attributed these tales to the times of Ceacatl. See p. 259 of this volume, also vol. iii., p. 242, 253, 261. Whatever the nature of the syrup, it pleased the royal palate, and the lovely face and form of the young Xochitl were no less pleasing to the royal eye. The king expressed his appreciation of the new invention, and his desire to receive additional samples of the sweet preparation, at the same time telling the father that he would be pleased to receive such gifts at the hands of the daughter, who might visit him for such a purpose unattended save by a servant. Proud of the honor shown to his family, and without suspicion of evil intentions, Papantzin only a few days later sent Xochitl, accompanied by an elderly female attendant, with a new gift of maguey-syrup. The attendant was directed to await her mistress in a distant apartment of the palace, while Xochitl was introduced alone to the presence of Huemac. Bravely the maiden resisted the monarch’s blandishments and protestations of ardent love, but by threats and force was compelled to yield her person to his embrace. She was then sent to the strongly-guarded palace of Palpan near the capital, and there, cut off from all communication with parents or friends, lived as the king’s mistress. Her parents were notified that their daughter had been entrusted by Huemac to the care of certain ladies who would perfect her education and fit her for a prominent position among the ladies of the court and for a brilliant marriage. To Papantzin the royal manner of showing honor to his family seemed at best novel and strange, but he could suspect no evil intent on the part of the pious representative of Quetzalcoatl. New favors were subsequently shown the dishonored father, in the shape of lands and titles and promises. For three years Huemac continued his guilty amour in secret, and in the meantime, in 1002,[IV-55]1051. Veytia. 900. Ixtlilxochitl. a child was born, named Meconetzin, ‘child of the maguey,’ or at a later period Acxitl. According to the Codex Chimalpopoca the king during these three years gave himself up to the pleasures of the wine cup also, yielding to the temptations placed before him by the crafty followers of Tezcatlipoca, and during one of his drunken orgies revealed the secret of his love; but however this may have been, that secret was finally suspected; Papantzin in the disguise of a laborer visited the palace of Palpan, met his daughter with the young Meconetzin in her arms, and listened to the tale of her shame. The angry father seems to have been quieted with the promise that his daughter’s son should be proclaimed heir to the throne, since the queen had borne her husband only daughters; but the scandal once suspected was spread far and wide by the priesthood of Tezcatlipoca, and the faith of the Toltecs in their saintly monarch was shaken. The queen having died, Xochitl with her young son was brought to the royal palace, and there is some reason to suppose that she was made Huemac’s legitimate queen by a regular marriage. Very serious dissatisfaction, and even open hostility among the princes of highest rank, were excited by the king’s actions, both on account of the shameful nature of such acts, and also because their own chance of future succession to the throne was destroyed by Huemac’s avowed intention to make Acxitl his heir. Everything presaged a revolution, and the foes of Quetzalcoatl were cheered with hopes of approaching triumph. Huemac’s mind was filled with trouble, which all the flattery of the court could not wholly remove, and the prospects of his family were not brightened by the fact that the young Acxitl from his birth had the physical peculiarities predicted by the prophet Hueman of olden time, in connection with such wide-spread and fatal disasters. Yet it was hoped that by careful instruction and training, even the decrees of fate might be reversed and impending disaster averted, especially as in childhood and youth prince Acxitl gave most cheering promise of future goodness and ability.[IV-56]See respecting the first part of Huemac’s reign, Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 207, 328-9, 460; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 262, et seq.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 37; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 337-48.

Toveyo’s Adventures

Another event served to increase the troubles that began to gather about the throne. It appears that Huemac by his first queen Maxio had three daughters, who were much sought in marriage, rather for motives of political ambition, perhaps, than love, by the Toltec nobles. One especially was greatly beloved by her father and none of the many aspirants to her hand found favor in her eyes. One day while walking among the flowers in the royal gardens, she came upon a man selling chile. Some of the traditions say that the pepper-vender, Toveyo,[IV-57]Tobeyo. Sahagun. Tohuéyo, ‘our neighbor.’ Brasseur. It does not seem to have been originally a proper name. was Tezcatlipoca who had assumed the appearance of a plebeian; at any rate he was entirely naked and awakened in the bosom of the princess a love for which her Toltec suitors had sighed in vain. So violent was her passion as to bring on serious illness, the cause of which was told by her maids to Huemac, and the indulgent father, though very angry with Toveyo at first, finally, as the only means of restoring his daughter to health, sought out the plebeian vender of pepper and forced him, perhaps not very much against his will, to be washed and dressed and to become the husband of the love-sick princess. This marriage caused great dissatisfaction and indignation among the Toltecs; an indignation that is easily understood, however the legend be interpreted. In case a literal interpretation be accepted, the upper classes in Tollan may naturally have been shocked by the admission of a low-born peasant to the royal family; on the other hand the version given may have originated with the disappointed suitors, who gratified their spite by reviling the successful Toveyo. It is also possible that the legend symbolizes by this marriage the granting of new privileges to the lower classes against the will of the nobility; however this may be, the result was wide-spread discontent ready to burst forth in open revolt.[IV-58]For a fuller account of the tale of Toveyo, see vol. iii., pp. 243-4. Also, Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., pp. 247-9.

Among the disaffected lords who openly revolted against Tollan, Cohuanacotzin, Huehuetzin, Xiuhtenancaltzin, and Mexoyotzin[IV-59]Cohuanacox, Huetzin, Xiuhtenan, and Mexoyotzin. are mentioned, by Ixtlilxochitl as rulers of provinces on the Atlantic, by Veytia as lords of regions extending from Quiahuiztlan (according to Brasseur, Vera Cruz) northward along the coast of the North Sea to a point beyond Jalisco. Respecting the events of this revolution of Toltec provinces thus vaguely located, we have only the continuation of Toveyo’s adventures, which seems to belong to this war. The tale runs that Huemac, somewhat frightened at the storm of indignation which followed his choice of a son-in-law, sent him out to fight in the wars of Cacatepec and Coatepec, giving secret orders that he should be so stationed in battle as to be inevitably killed. The main body of the Toltec army yielded to the superior numbers of the foe and fled to Tollan, leaving Toveyo and his followers to their fate; but the latter, either by his superior skill or by his powers as a magician, notwithstanding the small force at his command, utterly routed the enemy and returned in triumph to the capital, where the king and people received him with great honors and public demonstrations of joy. For a time the kingdom seems to have remained without disturbance, and fortune once more smiled on Huemac.[IV-60]Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 207, 393; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 271, et seq.; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., pp. 249-51. Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 356-60, represents Cohuanacox and Meyoxotzin as lords of Quiahuiztlan-Anahuac, or Vera Cruz, but gives no farther details of their revolt. Huetzin, he calls the Prince of Jalisco, stating that he marched at the head of a large army against Huemac, but was defeated at Coatepec near Tollan by the bravery of Toveyo, who drove him with great loss back to the frontiers of Jalisco. For these facts he refers to no other authorities than those mentioned in this note, and these contain no such information.

Omens of Destruction

As to the exact order in which occurred the subsequent disasters by which the Toltec empire was overthrown, the authorities differ somewhat, although agreeing tolerably well respecting their nature. Many events ascribed by Brasseur to Huemac’s reign are by Veytia and others described as having happened in that of his successor. There can, however, be but little hesitation in following the chronology of the Nahua documents often referred to, in preference to that of the Spanish writers. The latter is certainly erroneous; the former at the worst is only probably so. With his returning prosperity the king seems to have returned to his evil ways while the partizans of Tezcatlipoca resumed their intrigues against him. The sorcerer assembled a mighty crowd near Tollan, and kept them dancing to the music of his drum until midnight, when by reason of the darkness and their intoxication they crowded each other off a precipice into a deep ravine, where they were turned to stone. A stone bridge was also broken by the necromancer and crowds precipitated into the river.[IV-61]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., p. 251. Brasseur has no difficulty in interpreting this tale to indicate an earthquake. Other wonderful acts of the sorcerer against the well-being of the Toltecs as related by Sahagun have been given in another volume.[IV-62]See vol. iii., pp. 245-8. From one of the neighboring volcanoes a flood of glowing lava poured, and in its lurid light appeared frightful spectres threatening the capital. A sacrifice of captives in honor of Tezcatlipoca, was decided upon to appease the angry gods, a sacrifice which Huemac was forced to sanction. But when a young boy, chosen by lot as the first victim, was placed upon the altar and the obsidian knife plunged into his breast, no heart was found in his body, and his veins were without blood. The fetid odor exhaled from the corpse caused a pestilence involving thousands of deaths. The struggles of the Toltecs to get rid of the body have been elsewhere related.[IV-63]Vol. iii., p. 247. The other details, like the interview with the Tlalocs, are from the Codex Chimalpopoca. Next the Tlaloc divinities appeared to Huemac as he walked in the forest, and were implored by him not to take from him his wealth and his royal splendor. The gods were wroth at this petition, his apparent selfishness, and want of penitence for past sins, and they departed announcing their purpose to bring plagues and suffering upon the proud Toltecs for six years. The winter of 1018 was so cold that all plants and seeds were killed by frost, and was followed by a hot summer, which parched the whole surface of the country, dried up the streams, and even calcined the solid rocks.

Plagues Sent Upon the Toltecs

Here seem to belong the series of plagues described by the Spanish writers, although attributed by them to the following reign.[IV-64]Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 207-8, 329-30; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 280, et seq. Dates, 1097, et seq. Veytia. 984, et seq. Ixtlilxochitl. There is no agreement about the duration of the plagues. They seem, however, to have been continuous for at least five years. The plagues began with heavy storms of rain, destroying the ripening crops, flooding the streets of towns, continuing for a hundred days, and causing great fear of a universal deluge. Heavy gales followed, which leveled the finest buildings to the ground; and toads in immense numbers covered the ground, consuming everything edible and even penetrating the dwellings of the people. The next year unprecedented heat and drought prevailed, rendering useless all agricultural labor, and causing much starvation. Next heavy frosts destroyed what little the heat had spared, not even the hardy maguey surviving; and then came upon the land great swarms of birds and locusts and various insects. Lightning and hail completed the work of devastation, and as a result of all their afflictions Ixtlilxochitl informs us that nine hundred of every thousand Toltecs perished. Huemac and his followers were held responsible for disasters that had come upon the people; a hungry mob of citizens and strangers crowded the street of Tollan and even invaded the palace of the nobles, instigated and headed by the partizans of Tezcatlipoca; and the king was even forced at one time to abandon the city for a time. The Codex Chimalpopoca represented the long rain already referred to as having occurred at the end of six years’ drought and famine, and to have inaugurated a new season of plenty. Ixtlilxochitl refers to bloody wars as among the evils of the time. All we may learn from the confused accounts, is that the Toltec empire at that period was afflicted with war, famine, and pestilence; and that these afflictions were attributed to the sins of Huemac II., by his enemies and such of the people as they could influence.

After the plagues were past, and prosperity had again begun to smile upon the land, Huemac abandoned his evil ways and gave his whole attention to promoting the welfare of his people; but he still clung with fatal obstinacy to his purpose of placing his son on the throne, and determined to abdicate immediately in favor of Acxitl. His father, king of Culhuacan, died in 1026, and the crown, to which Huemac himself, as the eldest son would seem to have been entitled, passed to Totepeuh’s second son, Nauhyotl II. It is possible that Huemac consented to this concession in consideration of the support of the new king in his own projects at Tollan. After thoroughly canvassing the sentiments of his vassal lords, and conciliating the good will of the wavering by a grant of new honors and possessions, he publicly announced his intention to place Acxitl on the throne. The immediate consequence was a new revolt, and from an unexpected source, since it was abetted if not originated by the followers of Quetzalcoatl, who deemed Acxitl, the child of adulterous love, an unworthy successor of their great prophet. Maxtlatzin was the most prominent of the many nobles who espoused the rebel cause, and Quauhtli was the choice of the malcontents for the rank of high-priest of Quetzalcoatl. To such an extremity was the cause of Huemac and his son reduced that they were forced to a compromise with the two leaders of the revolt, who consented to support the cause of Acxitl on condition of being themselves raised to the highest rank after the son of Huemac, and of forming with him a kind of triumvirate by which the kingdom should be ruled. All the authorities agree respecting this compromise, although only the documents consulted by Brasseur speak of open revolt as the cause which led to it. It is evident, however, that nothing but the most imminent danger could have induced the king of Tollan to have entered into so humiliating an arrangement. Immediately after the consummation of the new alliance, the ‘child of the maguey’ was crowned king and high-priest with great ceremony in 1029, under the title of Topiltzin Acxitl Quetzalcoatl. Topiltzin is the name by which he is usually called by the Spanish writers, although it was in reality, like that of Quetzalcoatl, a title held by several kings. Acxitl is the more convenient name, as distinguishing him clearly from his father and from Ceacatl Quetzalcoatl. Huemac and Queen Xochitl retired ostensibly from all connection with public affairs.[IV-65]Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 207, 329, 393, 460. This author’s dates are 937 and 882. Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 271-4. Date 1091. Date according to Clavigero, 1031. Codex Chimalpopoca, in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 370-5; Maxtlatzin is called the prince of Xochimilco. According to the Mem. de Culhuacan, in Id., Huemac died at this time.

Excesses of Acxitl

The three lords of distant provinces, Huehuetzin, Xiuhtenancaltzin, and Cohuanacotzin, who had once before rebelled against the king of Tollan, now refused their allegiance to Acxitl; but at first they for some reason, perhaps their own difficulties with the wild tribes about them, engaged in no open hostilities. The new monarch, then about forty years of age, justified the high promise of his youth, and guided by the sage counsels of his reformed father, ruled most wisely for several years, gradually gaining the confidence of his subjects. But the decrees of the gods were infallible, and Acxitl, like his father before him, yielded to temptation and plunged into all manner of lasciviousness and riotous living. So low did he fall as to make use of his position of high-priest to gratify his evil passions. His inciters and agents were still Tezcatlipoca and his crafty partisans, who persuaded ladies of every rank that by yielding to the king’s embraces they would merit divine favor. The royal example was followed by both nobles and priests. High church dignitaries and priestesses of the temples consecrated to life-long chastity forgot all their vows; force was employed where persuasion failed. So openly were the requirements of morality disregarded, that the high-priestess of the Goddess of the Water, a princess of royal blood, on a pilgrimage to the temple of Quetzalcoatl at Cholula, lived openly with the chief pontiff of that city and bore him a son, who afterwards succeeded to the highest ecclesiastical rank. Vice took complete possession of society in all its classes, spreading to cities and provinces not under the immediate authority of Tollan. Public affairs were left to be managed by unscrupulous royal favorites; the prayers of the aged Huemac and Xochitl to the gods, like their remonstrances with Acxitl, were unavailing; crimes of all kinds remained unpunished; robbery and murder were of frequent occurrence; and the king was justly held responsible for all.

But Acxitl was at last brought to his senses, and his fears if not his conscience were thoroughly aroused. Walking in his garden one morning, he saw a small animal of peculiar appearance, with horns like a deer, which, having been killed, proved to be a rabbit. Shortly after he saw a huitzilin, or humming-bird, with spurs, a most extraordinary thing. Topiltzin Acxitl was familiar with the Teoamoxtli, or ‘divine book,’ and with Huemac’s predictions; well he knew, and was confirmed in his opinion by the sages and priests who were consulted, that the phenomena observed were the tokens of final disaster. The king’s reformation was sudden and complete; the priests held out hopes that the prodigies were warnings, and that their consequences might possibly be averted by prayer, sacrifice, and reform. The Spanish writers introduce at this period the series of plagues, which I have given under Huemac’s reign; and Brasseur adds to the appearance of the rabbit and the humming-bird two or three of the wonderful events attributed by Sahagun to the necromancer Titlacaâon, without any reason that I know of for ascribing these occurrences to this particular time. Such were the appearance of a bird bearing an arrow in its claws and menacingly soaring over the doomed capital; the falling of a great stone of sacrifice near the present locality of Chapultepec; and the coming of an old woman selling paper flags which proved fatal to every purchaser.[IV-66]Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., p. 254. These events occurred in 1036 and the following years. The king was wholly unable to check the torrent of vice which was flowing over the land; indeed, in his desire to atone for his past faults, he seems to have resorted to such severe measures as to have defeated his own aims, converting his former friends and flatterers into bitter foes.

Chichimec Invasion

In the midst of other troubles came the news that Huehuetzin was marching at the head of the rebel forces towards Tollan, and was already most successful on the northern frontier. The other two lords from the gulf coasts, who had refused to acknowledge the power of Acxitl, were in league with Huehuetzin. Unable to resist this formidable army, the Toltec king was compelled to send ambassadors bearing rich presents to sue for peace,—according to the Spanish writers at the capitals of the distant rebellious provinces; but as Brasseur says to the headquarters of the hostile army not very far from Tollan. The presents were received, but no satisfactory agreement seems to have been made at first. Veytia and Ixtlilxochitl speak vaguely of a truce that was concluded as a result of this or a subsequent embassy, to the effect that the Toltecs should not be molested for ten years, an old military usage requiring that ten years should always intervene between the declaration of war and the commencement of hostilities; and the latter states that the army was withdrawn in the meantime, because sufficient supplies could not be obtained in the territory of the Toltecs. Brasseur, without referring to any other authorities than those named, tells us that after remaining a whole year near Tollan, Huehuetzin was forced to return to his own province to repel the invasions of hostile tribes, which tribes, it is implied, were induced to come southward and to harass the Toltec nations.[IV-67]Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 282-7; Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 329-31; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 376-85.

Taking advantage of the precarious condition of the Toltecs, many of the tribes even in and about Anáhuac shook off all allegiance to the empire, and became altogether independent; and at the same time numerous Chichimec tribes from abroad took advantage of the favorable opportunity to secure homes in the lake region. These foreign tribes are all reported to have come from the north, but it is extremely doubtful if any accurate information respecting the invaders has been preserved. For the conjecture that all or any of them came from the distant north, from California, Utah, or the Mississippi Valley, there are absolutely no grounds; although it is of course impossible to prove that all came from the region adjoining Anáhuac. By far the most reasonable conjecture is that the invaders were the numerous Nahua bands who had settled in the west and north-west, in Michoacan, Jalisco, and Zacatecas, about the same time that the nations called Toltecs had established themselves in and about Anáhuac. Brasseur finds in his authorities, the only ones that give any particulars of the invaders, that among the first Chichimec bands to arrive were the Acxotecas and Eztlepictin, both constituting together the Teotenancas. The Eztlepictin settled in the valley of Tenanco, south of the lakes, while the Acxotecas took possession of the fertile valleys about Tollan. A war between Nauhyotl II. of Culhuacan and the king of Tollan is then vaguely recorded, in which Acxitl was victorious, but is supposed to have suffered from the constant hostility of Culhuacan from that time forward, although that kingdom soon had enough to do to defend her own possessions. The Eztlepictin introduced a new divinity, and a new worship, which Acxitl, as successor of Quetzalcoatl made a desperate effort to overthrow. He marched with all the forces he could command to Tenanco, but was defeated in every battle. What was worse yet, during his absence on this campaign, the Acxoteca branch of the invaders were admitted, under their leader Xalliteuctli, by the partisans of Tezcatlipoca into Tollan itself. Civil strife ensued in the streets of the capital between the three rival sects, until Tollan with all her noble structures was well-nigh in ruins. At the same time wars were waged between the three allied kingdoms, and pest and famine came once more upon the land. These events occurred between 1040 and 1047.[IV-68]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 385-93. Veytia and Ixtlilxochitl are occasionally referred to on these events, but the chapters referred to contain absolutely nothing on the subject.

Tokens of Divine Wrath

It was evident that the gods were very angry with this unhappy people. To avert their wrath, as Torquemada relates, a meeting of all the wise men, priests, and nobles, was convened at Teotihuacan, where the gods from the most ancient times had been wont to hear the prayers of men. In the midst of the propitiatory feasts and sacrifices a demon of gigantic proportions with long bony arms and fingers appeared dancing in the court where the people were assembled. Whirling through the crowd in every direction the demon seized upon the Toltecs that came in his way and dashed them lifeless at his feet. Multitudes perished but none had the strength to fly. A second time the giant appeared in a slightly different form and again the Toltecs fell by hundreds in his grasp. At his next appearance the demon assumed the form of a white and beautiful child sitting on a rock and gazing at the holy city from a neighboring hilltop. As the people rushed in crowds to investigate the new phenomena, it was discovered that the child’s head was a mass of corruption, exhaling a stench so fatal that all who approached were stricken with sudden death. Finally the devil or god appeared in a form not recorded and warned the assembly that the fate of the Toltecs in that country was sealed; the gods would not listen to further petitions; the people could escape total annihilation only by flight. The assembly broke up, and the members returned to their homes utterly disheartened.[IV-69]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 37-8.

Large numbers of the Toltec nobles had already abandoned their country and departed for foreign provinces, and this emigration was constantly on the increase even before it was definitely determined by the ruler to migrate. In the meantime, if Brasseur’s authorities may be credited, a new sect, the Ixcuinames or ‘masked matrons,’ introduced their rites, including phallic worship and all manner of sorcery and debauchery, into Tollan, thus adding a new element of discord in that fated city. The Ixcuinames originated in the region of Pánuco among the Huastecs, and began to flourish in Tollan about 1058.[IV-70]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 400-2. To civil and religious strife, with other internal troubles, was now added the peril of foreign invasion. According to the Spanish writers the ten years’ truce concluded between Acxitl and his foes under the command of Huehuetzin, was now about to expire, and the rebel prince of the north appeared at the head of an immense army, ready to submit his differences with the Toltec king to the arbitration of the battle-field. According to Brasseur, the Teo-Chichimecs invaded the rest of Anáhuac, while the former foes of Huemac and his son, under Huehuetzin, from the provinces of Quiahuiztlan and Jalisco, threatened Tollan. I may remark here that I have little faith in this author’s division into tribes of the hordes that invaded Anáhuac at this period and in the following years. We know that many bands from the surrounding region, particularly on the north, most of them probably Nahua tribes, did take advantage of internal dissensions among the Toltec nations to invade the central region. For a period of many years they warred unceasingly with the older nations and among themselves; but to trace the fortunes of particular tribes through this maze of inter-tribal conflict is a hopeless task which I shall not attempt. Many of these so-called Chichimec invading tribes afterwards became great nations, and played a prominent part in the annals to be given in future chapters; and while it is not improbable that some of them, as the Teo-Chichimecs, Acolhuas, or Tepanecs, were identical with the invading tribes which overthrew the Toltec empire, there is no sufficient authority for attempting so to identify any one of them. Neither do I find any authority whatever for the conjecture that the invaders were barbarian hordes from the distant north, who broke through the belt of Nahua nations which surrounded Anáhuac, or were instigated by those nations from jealousy of Toltec power to undertake its overthrow. Yet it would be rash to assume that none of the wild tribes took part in the ensuing struggle; as allies, or under Nahua leaders, they probably rendered efficient aid to the Chichimec invaders, and afterwards in many cases merged their tribal existence in that of the Chichimec nations.

conquest of Anáhuac

The other Toltec cities, Otompan, Tezcuco, Culhuacan, seem to have fallen before the invaders even before Tollan, although it is vaguely reported that after the destruction of Otompan the king of Culhuacan formed a new alliance for defense with Azcapuzalco and Coatlichan, excluding Tollan. All the cities were sacked and burned as fast as conquered except Culhuacan, which seems to have escaped destruction by admitting the invaders within her gates and probably becoming their allies or vassals. This was in 1060.[IV-71]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 402-5. Meantime Huehuetzin’s forces were threatening Tollan. By strenuous efforts a large army had been raised and equipped for the defense of the royal cause. The princes Quauhtli and Maxtlatzin, lately allied to the throne, brought all their forces to aid the king against whom they had formerly rebelled. The aged Huemac came out from his retirement and strove with the ardor of youth to ward off the destruction which he could but attribute to his indiscretions of many years ago. Even Xochitl, the king’s mother, is reported to have enlisted an army of amazons from the women of Tollan and to have placed herself at their head. Acxitl formed his army into two divisions, one of which, under a lord named Huehuetenuxcatl, marched out to meet the enemy, while the other, commanded by the king himself, was stationed within intrenchments at Tultitlan. The advance army, after one day’s battle without decisive result, fell back and determined to act on the defensive. Reinforced by the division under Huemac, and by Xochitl’s amazons, who fought most bravely, General Huehuetenuxcatl carried on the war for three years, but was at last driven back to join the king. At Tultitlan a final stand was made by Acxitl’s orders. For many days the battle raged here until the Toltecs were nearly exterminated, and driven back step by step to Tollan, Xaltocan, Teotihuacan, and Xochitlalpan successively. Here Huemac and Xochitl were slain, also Quauhtli and Maxtlatzin. Acxitl escaped by hiding in a cave at Xico in Lake Chalco. In a final encounter General Huehuetenuxcatl fell, and the small remnant of the Toltec army was scattered in the mountains and in the marshes of the lake shore.[IV-72]Such is the account given by Ixtlilxochitl and Veytia. Brasseur’s version, although founded on the same authorities, differs widely. According to this version, Topiltzin Acxitl remained in Tollan; Quauhtli and Maxtlatzin with the aged Huemac marched to meet the foe. After a fierce conflict near Tultitlan, lasting several days, the army was driven back to Tollan. The king resolved to burn the city and leave the country. For the burning of Tollan, Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., p. 255, is referred to, where he says, ‘hizo quemar todas las casas que tenia hechas de plata y de concha,’ etc., referring to the departure of Quetzalcoatl for Tlapallan. The Quetzalcoatl alluded to may be either Acxitl or Ceacatl. Retreating to Xaltocan and then towards Teotihuacan, a final stand was made by Huemac, Xochitl, Maxtlatzin, and Huehuemaxal (Huehuetenuxcatl?) against the Chichimecs. The Toltecs were utterly defeated, and of the leaders Xochitl and Quauhtli fell, Acxitl concealing himself for several weeks in the caves of the island of Xico. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 405-9.

Flight of Acxitl

From his place of concealment at Xico, Topiltzin Acxitl secretly visited Culhuacan, gathered a few faithful followers about him, announced his intention of returning to Huehue Tlapallan, promised to intercede in their behalf with the Chichimec emperor of their old home, and having committed his two infant children Pochotl and Xilotzin to faithful guardians to be brought up in ignorance of their royal birth, he left the country in 1062.[IV-73]Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 208, 331-3, 393, 450, 460. This author estimates the total loss of the Toltecs in the final war at 3,200,000, and that of the enemy at 2,400,000. He states that Topiltzin, before his departure, visited Allapan, a province on the South Sea, and notified his few remaining subjects that after many centuries he would return to punish his foes. He reached Tlapallan in safety and lived to the age of 104 years greatly respected. He records a tradition among the common people that Topiltzin remained in Xico, and many years after was joined by Nezahualcoyotl, the Chichimec emperor, and others. This author dates the final defeat of the Toltecs in 1011, 959, 958, and 1004. Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 287-304. This writer gives the date as 1116; states that Topiltzin’s youngest son, Xilotzin, was captured and killed; gives 1612 as the number of Toltecs assembled in Culhuacan before the king’s departure. Topiltzin reached Oyome, the Chichimec capital, in safety, and was kindly received by the emperor, Acauhtzin, who succeeded to the throne in that year, to whom Topiltzin gave all his rights to the kingdom of Tollan, on condition that he would punish the enemies of the Toltecs. He died in 1155. According to Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 131, the Toltec empire ended with Topiltzin’s death in 1052. Most modern writers take the date from Clavigero. Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 410, says, ‘Après avoir donné à tous des conseils remplis de sagesse sur la future restauration de la monarchie, il prit congé d’eux. Il traversa, sans être connu, les provinces olmèques et alla prendre la mer à Hueyapan, non loin des lieux où le grand Quetzalcohuatl avait disparu un siècle et demi auparavant. L’histoire ajoute qu’il gagna, avec un grand nombre de Toltèques émigrant comme lui, les contrées mystérieuses de Tlapallan, où après avoir fondé un nouvel empire, il mourut dans une heureuse vieillesse.’ He is supposed to have gone southward accompanied by a few followers. Other bodies of Toltecs had previously abandoned the country and gone in the same direction, and large numbers are reported to have remained in Culhuacan, Cholula, Chapultepec and many other towns that are named. Veytia, Ixtlilxochitl, Torquemada, and Clavigero tell us that of these who fled some founded settlements on the coasts of both oceans, from which came parties at subsequent periods to re-establish themselves in Anáhuac. Others crossed the isthmus of Tehuantepec and passed into the southern lands. The other authors also agree that of those who escaped destruction part remained, and the rest were scattered in various directions. None imply a general migration en masse towards the south.[IV-74]On the Toltec empire, see Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 11-14; Chevalier, Mex. Ancien et Mod., pp. 48-52; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 456, 522-5; Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. i., p. 95; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., pp. 95-6; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 96-7, 138-40; Rios, Compend. Hist. Mex., pp. 5-6; Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. i., pp. 1-3; Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. i., p. 287; Müller, Reisen, tom. iii., pp. 32-41; Lacunza, in Museo Mex., tom. iv., p. 445; Granados y Galvez, Tardes Amer., pp. 14-17; Ruxton, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1850, tom. cxxvi., pp. 38-40; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 39-40; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 341-4; Mayer’s Observations, p. 6; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 216-24. Lists are given of the Toltec nobles that remained in Anáhuac and of the cities where they resided. The larger number were at Culhuacan, under Xiuhtemoc, to whom the king’s children were confided. These remaining Toltecs were afterwards called from the name of their city Culhuas.[IV-75]Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., pp. 18-19; Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 333-4, 393-4; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 37; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 131. The number of remaining Toltecs is estimated at 16,000, who were divided into five parties, four of them settling on the coasts and islands, and the fifth only remaining in Anáhuac.

Brasseur finds in his two Nahua records data for certain events that took place after the flight of Topiltzin Acxitl. Maxtlatzin, as he claims, escaped from the final battle and intrenched himself in one of the strong fortresses among the ruins of Tollan. The Chichimecs soon took possession of the city in two divisions known as Toltec Chichimecs and Nonohualcas. They even went through the forms of choosing a successor to Acxitl, selecting a boy named Matlacxochitl, whom they crowned as Huemac III. To him the chiefs rendered a kind of mock allegiance, but still held the power in their own hands. Desperate struggles ensued between the two Chichimec bands led by Huehuetzin and Icxicohuatl, the followers of Tezcatlipoca under Yaotl, and the forces of Maxtlatzin in the fortress. The result was the murder of the mock king about 1064, and the final abandonment of Tollan soon after. It is claimed by the authorities which record these events that Huemac II. survived all these troubles and died at Chapultepec in 1070.[IV-76]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 410-23. I suppose that this information was taken from the Codex Gondra already quoted—see p. 230 of this volume—and applied by the same author in another work, and with apparently better reasons, to the overthrow of the great original Nahua empire in the south.

Downfall of the Empire

It is not difficult to form a tolerably clear idea of the state of affairs in Anáhuac at the downfall of the Toltec empire, notwithstanding the confusion of the records. There is, as we have seen, no evidence of a general migration southward or in any other direction. It is true the records speak of a large majority of the Toltecs as having migrated in different directions as a result of their disasters, but it must be remembered that in America, as elsewhere, historical annals of early periods had to do with the deeds and fortunes of priests and kings and noble families; the common people were useful to fight and pay taxes, but were altogether unworthy of a place in history. It is probable that the name Toltecs, a title of distinction rather than a national name, was never applied at all to the common people. When by civil strife and foreign invasion their power was overthrown, many of the leaders, spiritual and temporal, doubtless abandoned the country, preferring to try their fortunes in the southern provinces which seem to have suffered less than those of the north from the Toltec disasters. Their exiles took refuge in the Miztec and Zapotec provinces of Oajaca, and some of them probably crossed to Guatemala and Yucatan, where they were not without influence in molding future political events. The mass of the Toltec people remained in Anáhuac; some of them kept up a distinct national existence for a while in Culhuacan, and perhaps in Cholula; but most simply became subjects of the invading chiefs, whose language and institutions were for the most part identical with those to which they had been accustomed. The population had been considerably diminished naturally by the many years of strife, famine, and pestilence; but this diminution was greatly exaggerated in the records. The theory that the population was reduced to a few thousands, most of whom left the country, leaving a few chiefs with their followers in a desolate and barren land, from which even the invading hordes had retired immediately after their victory, is a very transparent absurdity. The Toltec downfall was the overthrow of a dynasty, not the destruction of a people. The ensuing period was one of bitter strife between rival bands for the power which had been wrested from the Toltec kings. The annals of that period cannot be followed; but history recommences with the success of some of the struggling factions, and their development into national powers.

Footnotes

[IV-1] Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 247-50. ‘Era servido de unos Sacerdotes llamados Papahua Tlemacàzque, que, à distincion de los demàs, traìan el cabello en melenas sueltas, y al acabarse el Cyclo Indiano, sacaban, y vendian el Fuego Nuevo à los Pueblos vecinos.’ Boturini, Idea, p. 42. ‘Allí tambien se enterraban los principales y señores, sobre cuyas sepulturas se mandaban hacer túmulos de tierra, que hoy se ven todavia.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 141.

[IV-2] Brasseur cites Torquemada and Duran as authorities for the existence at this period of some remnants of the old Quinames, and of other savage tribes whose names have been lost; but these authors in the chapters cited say nothing to which such a meaning can fairly be attributed.

[IV-3] See p. 192.

[IV-4] Boturini, Catálogo, p. 17, No. 12. ‘Diferentes Historias Originales en lengua Nàhuatl, y papel Europèo de los Reynos de Culhuàcan, y Mexico, y de otras Provincias, el Autor de ellas dicho Don Domingo Chimalpàin. Empiezan desde la Gentilidad, y llegan à los años de 1591.’ See also Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. lxxvi.

[IV-5] Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 198, et seq. This author refers occasionally in his foot-notes to the Spanish writers Torquemada, Duran, and others, but such citations when looked up rarely prove to have any bearing on the matter in question, being for the most part only definitions of names employed in the text. It is much to be regretted that there are no means of testing Brasseur de Bourbourg’s version of these important annals. See, however, on this point, a future note of this chapter.

[IV-6] In addition to the two documents referred to, Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 145, has the following, which may refer to the migration of this earliest branch of the Nahua peoples; ‘according to their account, it was in five Tochtli that they arrived at the Seven Caves. Thence they went to Amaquetepec, then to Tepenec, or Echo Mountain, where Mitmitzichi (Mimich) killed Izpapalotl with his bow and arrows. Next they passed to the province of Tomallan, which they conquered after a long war, to Culhuacan, to Teotla Cochoalco, and to Teohuiznahuac where they wished to shoot Cohuatlicue, queen of that province; but they made peace with her. She married Mixcohuatl Amacohtle and by him had a son Colchacovatl [probably Quetzalcoatl].’

[IV-7] See note on p. 213 for dates.

[IV-8] Also written Tula, Tulan, Tulla, Tullan, and Tulha.

[IV-9] Chalcatzin, Tlacamilitzin, Checatl, Cohuatzon, Mazacohuatl, Tlapalhuitz, and Huitz. Veytia, tom. i., p. 207. Chalcatzin, Acatl, Eccatl, Cohuatzin, Mazacohuatl Otziuhcohuatl, Tlapalhuiz, and Huitz. Ixtlilxochitl, p. 393. Zaca, Chalcatzin, Ecatzin, Cohuazon, Tzihuacohuatl, Tlapalmetzotzin, and Metzoltzin. Id., p. 450. Tlacomihua or Acatl, Chalchiuhmatz, Avecatl, Coatzon, Tziuhcoatl, Tlapalhuitz, and Huitz. Id., pp. 206-7. Tzacatl, Chalcatzin, Ehecatzin, Cohuatzon, Tzihuac-Cohuatl, Tlapalmetzotzin, and Metzotzin. Torquemada, tom. i., p. 37. Tzacatl, Telacalzin, Echecalzin, Cohualzon, Tezihuaccoahuatl, Tlapalmezoltzin, and Melzolzin. Boturini, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 230.

[IV-10] Ixtlilxochitl. Called also Achcauhtzin, Cabrera, Teatro, p. 95. Icoatzin, Veytia, tom. i., p. 301.

[IV-11] Torquemada, tom. i., p. 37; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 127; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 215. Chalchiuhtlanetzin, or Chalchiuhtlatonac. Veytia, tom. i., pp. 233, 301. Chalchiuhtlahuextzin, Ixtlilxochitl, p. 393. Tlalchiuhtlanelzin. Boturini, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 230. Ixtlilxochitl seems to imply, in another part of his writings, Hist. Chich., p. 207, that the king was chosen among the Toltecs themselves. This Sr Pimentel, in Dicc. Univ., tom. x., p. 611, deems much more probable than the course indicated in the other accounts.

[IV-12] 503 or 510 or 509 or 556. Ixtlilxochitl. 700, et seq. Torquemada. 713-19. Veytia. Brasseur has 718. 670, et seq. Müller. All the authorities agree on 7 Acatl as the date of the establishment of the kingdom. Clavigero interprets the date as 667.

[IV-13] See vol. ii., p. 140.

[IV-14] 608 A.D., according to Ixtlilxochitl, p. 450. On the establishment of the Toltecs in Tollan and the reign of the first king, see: Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 206-7, 322-5, 336, 392-3, 450, 458, 460; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 221-39; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 126-7, tom. iv., pp. 46, 51; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 106-15, 145, lib. xi., p. 312; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 37, 254; Boturini, Idea, pp. 77, 139; Id., in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 230; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 299; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 5; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 11; Cabrera, Teatro, p. 95; Arlegui, Chrón. Zacatecas, p. 6; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 209, et seq.; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 138; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 12-13; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 524; Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. i., p. 95; Chevalier, Mexique, p. 55; Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., p. 20; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., p. 95; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 46; Pimentel, in Dicc. Univ., tom. x., pp. 610-11.

[IV-15] Codex Chimalpopoca, and Memorial de Culhuacan, as cited by Brasseur de Bourbourg.

[IV-16] Respecting these titles see vol. ii., pp. 186-7, 201, vol. iii., p. 434.

[IV-17] Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 225.

[IV-18] ‘On regarda aussi comme des dieux Camaxtle et Tezcatlipuca qui vinrent de l’occident; mais ces prétendus dieux étaient sans doute des enchanteurs diaboliques et possédés du démon, qui pervertirent toutes ces nations.’ Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 146. ‘Fueron grandes capitanes esforzados y entre ellos valerosos hombres; los quales señorearon por grado ò por fuerza aquellas Provincias de Mexico, Tetzcuco y Tlaxcala, cuyos propios naturales a habitadores y aborigenes eran las gentes que se llaman Othomies.’ Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. 122.

[IV-19] See vol. ii., pp. 335-6, 351-2, vol. iii., pp. 118, 403-6.

[IV-20] Ixtlilcuechahuac, otherwise called Tzacatecatl, Tlaltecatl, and Tlachinotzin, in 771 A.D. Veytia, tom. i., p. 231. 608. Ixtlilxochitl, p. 450. Ixliuechahuexe or Tzacatcatl, 614. Id., p. 325. Ixtlilcuechanac or Tlaltecatl Huetzin. Id., p. 393. Tlilquechahuac Tlalchinoltzin, 572. Id., p. 207. Tlilque Chaocatlahinoltzin. Id., p. 460. Aixtilcuechahuac. Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 11. 719 A.D. Clavigero, tom. i., p. 127. Was reigning in 660. Boturini, Idea, p. 139. The preceding hardly confirms Brasseur’s statement that ‘toutes les Relations d’Ixtlilxochitl concordent ici avec le Codex Chimalp., pour donner le nom de Huetzin au second roi de Tollan.’ This is a pretty fair sample of the abbé’s references.

[IV-21] 666, or 613. Ixtlilxochitl, who also writes the name Huetzin Totepeuh and Huitzin. 771. Clavigero.

[IV-22] Totepauh and Totepeuhque. Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 326, 460; on p. 450 his reign is ignored.

[IV-23] Nacazxoc. Torquemada, and Vetancvrt. Nacaxzoch, Nacalxur, Nacaxoc Mitl, and Nacazxot. Ixtlilxochitl, who on pp. 450 and 393 calls him the fourth king.

[IV-24] Veytia. 927 according to Clavigero. 822 or 768 according to Ixtlilxochitl, who calls him Tlacomihua on pp. 207, 460, names him as fifth king on p. 393, and ignores his reign on p. 450.

[IV-25] For the annals of Tollan during this period see Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 207, 325-6, 393, 450, 460; Veytia, tom. i., pp. 239-58; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 37. Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 127-8; Sahagun, tom. iii., lib. x., p. 114; Boturini, Idea, pp. 139-40; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., p. 11; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 524.

[IV-26] Chief among which titles was that of Tecuhtli, respecting which see vol. ii., pp. 194-200.

[IV-27] ‘On célébra de grandes fêtes à la naissance de Colchacovat.’ Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 146. See also note 6 of this chapter.

[IV-28] See vol. ii., pp. 269, 434, 608, vol. iii., pp. 350, 363.

[IV-29] This alliance rests altogether on the Codex Chimalpopoca and Mem. de Culhuacan. It is to be noted that Brasseur refers clearly to Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., lib. xi., cap. 18, as an authority, which chapter contains not a word bearing on the subject.

[IV-30] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 37, relates the succession of the Toltec kings at Tollan, agreeing substantially with the accounts of Ixtlilxochitl, Veytia, and the rest. It is to be noted, however, that on page 254 the same author gives another account, inextricably confused, totally disagreeing with the preceding, but agreeing in most of its names, with that derived by Brasseur from the two records in his possession. This proves that the version of the Toltec traditions followed by the Spanish writers, referring everything to Tollan and ignoring all other nations and kings, was not the only one extant when the Spaniards came. It confirms to a certain extent Brasseur’s account of other Toltec nations and monarchs besides those at Tollan, and is therefore important. I translate this version of the tradition from Torquemada, without any attempt to reconcile its many inconsistencies with itself and the versions already presented. It has the appearance of a successive interpretation of the records of distinct kingdoms, or distinct periods, tacked together and referred vaguely to Toltec history by a writer who did not suspect the existence of any other power than that at Tollan. ‘When the Mexicans arrived in this region of Tulla, it was already settled by many people; because, according to the truth as found in the most authentic histories of these nations, in 700 A.D., they began to settle here. Their first captain, or leader, was named Totepeuh, who lived a long and tranquil life, being a bold and famous chieftain. At his death those of the province of Tulla raised to the throne another called Topil [Topiltzin], who reigned fifty years and was succeeded by Huemac, mentioned elsewhere in connection with the tricks of Quetzalcohuatl. [These are among the very last rulers in Tollan by other accounts.] This Huemac was a very powerful king, who was much feared and caused himself to be worshiped as a god. He went out from Tulla to increase the extent of his kingdom, occupying himself throughout his reign in gaining new provinces, preferring the bustle of war to the quiet of peace. But while he was engaged in wars abroad the Toltecs made Nauhyotzin king, who was the second lord, and of Chichimec birth. He also left Tullan and marched towards this lake with a large number of people to conquer as much as possible of the territory thereabouts. He reigned more than sixty years, and at his death the kingdom was given to Quauhtexpetlatl, [a name not appearing elsewhere] who in his turn was followed by Huetzin Nonohualcatl [according to Brasseur, Huetzin probably succeeded Nonohualcatl at Culhuacan. All that follows probably belongs to the Chichimec period much later, and relates to the kings of Culhuacan]. After him reigned Achitometl, and, afterwards, Quauhtonal, and in the tenth year of his reign the Mexicans arrived at Chapultepec; so that when the said Mexicans were in the city or province of Tulla, this prince was neither its king or lord (as Gomara says), but continuing the account and succession of these Toltec kings, we say that the said Achitometl was succeeded by Mazatzin, [and not by Quauhtonal as above. This is unintelligible. Mazatzin was, according to Brasseur, the first king at Tollan] and he by Quetzal. After him came Chalchiuhtona, and then Quauhtlix, then Yohuallatonac, followed by Tziuhtecatl. It is said that in the third year of this king’s reign the Mexicans arrived where the city of Mexico now is. At Tziuhtecatl’s death, Xiuhtemoctzin succeeded to the throne, and he was followed by Coxcotzin.’ Then follows an account of the coming of Quetzalcoatl and his companions, in which the author is evidently much confused between the first and second of that name.

Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 301-2, gives a similar account, differing, however, in orthography and in some of the successions. The order of succession, according to this writer, is in substance as follows: 1st. Totepeuch, in 721, who died over 100 years after their arrival. 2d. Topil, son of the former, ruled about 50 years. An interregnum ensued of over 110 years; either had no kings or their names are forgotten. 3d, 4th. Two rulers chosen, Vemac and Nauhiocin, the latter a Chichimec. Both left Tollan with their followers; the latter settled near the lake, and reigned over 60 years. 5th. Quauhtexpetlatl. 6th. Vecin. 7th. Nonoualcatl. [We have seen that Torquemada unites these two names in one king.] 8th. Achitometl. 9th. Quauhtonal, in the 10th year of whose reign came the Mexicans to Chapultepec. 10th. Mazacin. 11th. Queza. 12th. Chalchiuhtona. 13th. Quauhtlix. 14th. Iohuallatonac. 15th. Ciuhtetl. 16th. Xiuiltemoc. 17th. Cuxcux, and so on with the Chichimec and Aztec kings of much later periods. It is very evident that these writers had access to the same documents which Brasseur uses, but did not comprehend their meaning.

[IV-31] ‘En esta ciudad (Tollan) reinó muchos años un rey llamado Quetzalcoatl, gran nigromántico, é inventor de la nigromancia,’ etc. Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 266.

[IV-32] Brasseur, tom. i., p. 255, misinterpreting Torquemada, tom. i., p. 255, calls him blonde; in another place, tom. ii., p. 48, Torquemada distinctly states that he has black hair.

[IV-33] The invention of the calendar attributed to him by Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 97-8, Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vii., p. 264, and others, should evidently be referred to the Quetzalcoatl of other times.

[IV-34] See vol. iii., pp. 239-87; also Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 161-205; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 82-3, 92-3, 97-8; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 255, 282, 380, tom. ii., pp. 20, 48-52, 79; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. ii.; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. 122, 173; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., pp. 243-8, 25-9; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., pp. 11-13; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 300; Camargo, Hist. Tlax., in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 145; Ternaux-Compans, in Id., 1840, tom. lxxxvi., pp. 16-20; Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., pp. 66-9; Tylor’s Researches, pp. 154-5.

[IV-35] By calling them distinct persons it is not necessarily implied that the first Quetzalcoatl ever had a real existence.

[IV-36] Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 171-2.

[IV-37] Probably, as has been said, the same as Huetzin and Texcaltepocatl.

[IV-38] 875. Clavigero. 927. Veytia. 770 or 716. Ixtlilxochitl.

[IV-39] ‘Los que de esta ciudad (Tollan) huyeron, edificaron otra muy próspera que se llama Cholulla.’ Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 207.

[IV-40] See references already given on Quetzalcoatl, and also Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 265, et seq.

[IV-41] This king is called Mitl and Tlacomihua by Veytia and the rest. Dates: 927. Clavigero. Veytia, tom. i., p. 252, has 779, which may be a misprint for 979. 822 or 768. Ixtlilxochitl. Huemac’s expedition eastward, and the crowning of Nauhyotl, or Nauhyotzin, during his absence is recorded by Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 254, and Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 301, as quoted in note 30 of this chapter.

[IV-42] Respecting Tezcatlipoca, fables respecting his life on earth, and his worship as a god, see vol. iii., pp. 199-248.

[IV-43] See vol. ii., pp. 141-2.

[IV-44] Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 322, says that Ixtlilxochitl in one place calls this king Nauhyotl. Although I have been unable to find this statement in the works of the writer mentioned, yet there can be little doubt of the two kings’ identity.

[IV-45] Chalchihuitlicue, Toci, Teteionan, etc. See vol. iii., p. 350, et seq., p. 367, et seq.

[IV-46] For description of Xochicalco see vol. iv., pp. 483-94.

[IV-47] On Nauhyotl’s reign, see Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 207, 326, 393, 450, 460; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 255-8; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 37; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 127; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 11; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 319-31. The date 945 is from the Codex Chimalpopoca. The Spanish writers make his reign much longer, all except Clavigero representing him as having reigned, by the consent of his subjects, several years over the time prescribed by law. 979-1035. Veytia. 927-79. Clavigero. 822-80, or 768-826. Ixtlilxochitl. Torquemada and Gomara, as quoted in note 30, state that this king also marched eastward at the head of a large army to add to his domain by conquest.

[IV-48] Also Xiuhquentzin, Xiuliquentzin, and Xiuhzaltzin, Ixtlilxochitl, and Xiuhzaltzin, Vetancvrt.

[IV-49] See references in note 47 and following pages of each authority.

[IV-50] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 331, 336. Klemm, Cultur-Geschichte, tom. v., p. 181, speaks of an interregnum of forty-eight years after the death of Queen Xiuhtlaltzin.

[IV-51] Called also Yztaccaltzin. Ixtlilxochitl. Atecpanecatl and Iztacquauhtzin. Codex Chimalpopoca and Ixtlilxochitl, according to Brasseur.

[IV-52] 1039, 830, 884, according to the Spanish writers. See note 47. Clavigero ignores this king, while Torquemada, followed by Boturini in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 230, and Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., p. 11, seems to identify him with his successor.

[IV-53] Ixtlilxochitl, p. 208, calls the name Quetzalxochitzin, and makes her the wife rather than the daughter of Papantzin.

[IV-54] Bustamante, in Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., p. 246, erroneously charges Veytia with saying that Papantzin presented to the king a vessel of pulque invented by Xochitl. Brasseur, for reasons not very intelligible, refers to this period Sahagun’s account of the invention of pulque in Olmec times (see pp. 207-8 of this volume), and also the efforts of the sorcerers to make Quetzalcoatl drink pulque that he might be induced to leave Tollan. I have attributed these tales to the times of Ceacatl. See p. 259 of this volume, also vol. iii., p. 242, 253, 261.

[IV-55] 1051. Veytia. 900. Ixtlilxochitl.

[IV-56] See respecting the first part of Huemac’s reign, Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 207, 328-9, 460; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 262, et seq.; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 37; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 337-48.

[IV-57] Tobeyo. Sahagun. Tohuéyo, ‘our neighbor.’ Brasseur. It does not seem to have been originally a proper name.

[IV-58] For a fuller account of the tale of Toveyo, see vol. iii., pp. 243-4. Also, Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., pp. 247-9.

[IV-59] Cohuanacox, Huetzin, Xiuhtenan, and Mexoyotzin.

[IV-60] Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 207, 393; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 271, et seq.; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., pp. 249-51. Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 356-60, represents Cohuanacox and Meyoxotzin as lords of Quiahuiztlan-Anahuac, or Vera Cruz, but gives no farther details of their revolt. Huetzin, he calls the Prince of Jalisco, stating that he marched at the head of a large army against Huemac, but was defeated at Coatepec near Tollan by the bravery of Toveyo, who drove him with great loss back to the frontiers of Jalisco. For these facts he refers to no other authorities than those mentioned in this note, and these contain no such information.

[IV-61] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., p. 251. Brasseur has no difficulty in interpreting this tale to indicate an earthquake.

[IV-62] See vol. iii., pp. 245-8.

[IV-63] Vol. iii., p. 247. The other details, like the interview with the Tlalocs, are from the Codex Chimalpopoca.

[IV-64] Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 207-8, 329-30; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., p. 280, et seq. Dates, 1097, et seq. Veytia. 984, et seq. Ixtlilxochitl. There is no agreement about the duration of the plagues. They seem, however, to have been continuous for at least five years.

[IV-65] Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 207, 329, 393, 460. This author’s dates are 937 and 882. Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 271-4. Date 1091. Date according to Clavigero, 1031. Codex Chimalpopoca, in Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 370-5; Maxtlatzin is called the prince of Xochimilco. According to the Mem. de Culhuacan, in Id., Huemac died at this time.

[IV-66] Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., p. 254.

[IV-67] Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 282-7; Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 329-31; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 376-85.

[IV-68] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 385-93. Veytia and Ixtlilxochitl are occasionally referred to on these events, but the chapters referred to contain absolutely nothing on the subject.

[IV-69] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 37-8.

[IV-70] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 400-2.

[IV-71] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 402-5.

[IV-72] Such is the account given by Ixtlilxochitl and Veytia. Brasseur’s version, although founded on the same authorities, differs widely. According to this version, Topiltzin Acxitl remained in Tollan; Quauhtli and Maxtlatzin with the aged Huemac marched to meet the foe. After a fierce conflict near Tultitlan, lasting several days, the army was driven back to Tollan. The king resolved to burn the city and leave the country. For the burning of Tollan, Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. i., lib. iii., p. 255, is referred to, where he says, ‘hizo quemar todas las casas que tenia hechas de plata y de concha,’ etc., referring to the departure of Quetzalcoatl for Tlapallan. The Quetzalcoatl alluded to may be either Acxitl or Ceacatl. Retreating to Xaltocan and then towards Teotihuacan, a final stand was made by Huemac, Xochitl, Maxtlatzin, and Huehuemaxal (Huehuetenuxcatl?) against the Chichimecs. The Toltecs were utterly defeated, and of the leaders Xochitl and Quauhtli fell, Acxitl concealing himself for several weeks in the caves of the island of Xico. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 405-9.

[IV-73] Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 208, 331-3, 393, 450, 460. This author estimates the total loss of the Toltecs in the final war at 3,200,000, and that of the enemy at 2,400,000. He states that Topiltzin, before his departure, visited Allapan, a province on the South Sea, and notified his few remaining subjects that after many centuries he would return to punish his foes. He reached Tlapallan in safety and lived to the age of 104 years greatly respected. He records a tradition among the common people that Topiltzin remained in Xico, and many years after was joined by Nezahualcoyotl, the Chichimec emperor, and others. This author dates the final defeat of the Toltecs in 1011, 959, 958, and 1004. Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 287-304. This writer gives the date as 1116; states that Topiltzin’s youngest son, Xilotzin, was captured and killed; gives 1612 as the number of Toltecs assembled in Culhuacan before the king’s departure. Topiltzin reached Oyome, the Chichimec capital, in safety, and was kindly received by the emperor, Acauhtzin, who succeeded to the throne in that year, to whom Topiltzin gave all his rights to the kingdom of Tollan, on condition that he would punish the enemies of the Toltecs. He died in 1155. According to Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 131, the Toltec empire ended with Topiltzin’s death in 1052. Most modern writers take the date from Clavigero. Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 410, says, ‘Après avoir donné à tous des conseils remplis de sagesse sur la future restauration de la monarchie, il prit congé d’eux. Il traversa, sans être connu, les provinces olmèques et alla prendre la mer à Hueyapan, non loin des lieux où le grand Quetzalcohuatl avait disparu un siècle et demi auparavant. L’histoire ajoute qu’il gagna, avec un grand nombre de Toltèques émigrant comme lui, les contrées mystérieuses de Tlapallan, où après avoir fondé un nouvel empire, il mourut dans une heureuse vieillesse.’

[IV-74] On the Toltec empire, see Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 11-14; Chevalier, Mex. Ancien et Mod., pp. 48-52; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 456, 522-5; Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. i., p. 95; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. v., pp. 95-6; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 96-7, 138-40; Rios, Compend. Hist. Mex., pp. 5-6; Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. i., pp. 1-3; Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. i., p. 287; Müller, Reisen, tom. iii., pp. 32-41; Lacunza, in Museo Mex., tom. iv., p. 445; Granados y Galvez, Tardes Amer., pp. 14-17; Ruxton, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1850, tom. cxxvi., pp. 38-40; Domenech’s Deserts, vol. i., pp. 39-40; Foster’s Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 341-4; Mayer’s Observations, p. 6; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 216-24.

[IV-75] Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., pp. 18-19; Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 333-4, 393-4; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 37; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 131. The number of remaining Toltecs is estimated at 16,000, who were divided into five parties, four of them settling on the coasts and islands, and the fifth only remaining in Anáhuac.

[IV-76] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., pp. 410-23. I suppose that this information was taken from the Codex Gondra already quoted—see p. 230 of this volume—and applied by the same author in another work, and with apparently better reasons, to the overthrow of the great original Nahua empire in the south.

Chapter V • The Chichimec Period • 12,700 Words

The Chichimecs in Amaquemecan—Migration to Anáhuac under Xolotl—The Invaders at Chocoyan and Tollan—Foundation of Xoloc and Tenayocan—Xolotl II., Emperor of the Chichimecs—Division of Territory—The Toltecs at Culhuacan—Rule of Xiuhtemoc and Nauhyotl III.—Pochotl, Son of Acxitl—Conquest of Culhuacan—Death of Nauhyotl—Huetzin, King of Culhuacan—Migration and Reception of the Nahuatlaca Tribes—The Acolhuas at Coatlichan and the Tepanecs at Azcapuzalco—Nonohualcatl, King of Culhuacan—Revolt of Yacanex—Death of Xolotl II.—Nopaltzin, King at Tenayocan, and Emperor of the Chichimecs—Reigns of Achitometl and Icxochitlanex at Culhuacan—Tendencies toward Toltec Culture.

The Chichimec occupation of Anáhuac begins with the traditional invasion under Xolotl, but in order to properly understand that important event, it will be necessary to glance at the incidents which preceded and led to it.

The little that is known of the early history of the Chichimecs has been told in a former chapter; I will therefore take up the narrative at the time of King Tlamacatzin’s death at Amaquemecan,[V-1]Whether this Amaquemecan was the original home of the Chichimecs or not is uncertain. According to Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 355, it certainly was not, since he states that it was founded in 958 by Xolotl Tochinteuctli. The ancestors of the Xolotl who invaded Anáhuac, he adds, tom. ii., p. 199, ‘sortis de Chicomoztoc, avaient conquis le royaume d’Amaquemé, où ils avaient établi leur résidence.’Concerning the location and extent of Amaquemecan the authorities differ greatly. Thus Ixtlilxochitl gives its area as 2000 by 1000 leagues, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., p. 335. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 40, places its frontier 200 leagues north of Jalisco, which Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 132, thinks too near, since no traces of it exist, he says, within 1200 miles. Boturini, Idea, p. 141, places Amaquemecan in Michoacan. Arlegui, Chrón. Zacatecas, p. 7, among the wild tribes north of New Mexico. Cabrera, Teatro, p. 58, in Chiapas. which event occurred in the same year as the final destruction of Tollan. As I have already explained sufficiently my idea of the nature of the migrations by which Anáhuac is represented as having been re-peopled, I may relate these migrations literally, as they are given by the authorities, without constantly reminding the reader of their general signification. Tlamacatzin left two sons, Acauhtzin[V-2]Spelled also Achcauhtzin, and Axcauhtzin. and Xolotl,[V-3]‘L’étymologie du nom de Xolotl offre de grandes difficultés. Dans son acceptation ordinaire, il signifie esclave, valet, servant, et cependant on le voit appliqué à plusieurs princes comme un titre très-élevé. Lorenzana, dans ses annotations aux Lettres de Fernand Cortès, le traduit par Ojo, œil, et on le lui donna, dit-il, à cause de sa vigilance. Mais dans quelle langue a-t-il cette signification?’ Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 199. who, after wrangling about the succession for some time, finally agreed to divide the kingdom between them.[V-4]So says Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 39; but according to Boturini, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 231, Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., p. 337, and Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 200, Acauhtzin reigned alone. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 133, affirms that the old king divided the kingdom equally between his two sons.

Now, for a great number of years a harassing system of border warfare had been carried on between the Chichimecs and the Toltecs; the former doubtless raided upon their rich and powerful neighbors for purposes of plunder, and the latter were probably not slow to make reprisals which served as an excuse for extending their already immense territory. When the Toltec troubles arose, however, and the direful prophecies of Hueman began to be fulfilled, the people of Anáhuac found that they had enough to do to take care of themselves, and that their legions could be better employed in defending the capital than in waging aggressive wars upon the distant frontiers of the empire. They therefore recalled their troops, and the Chichimec border was left undisturbed. It was not long before the brother monarchs of Amaquemecan began to wonder at this sudden cessation of hostilities, and determined to find out the cause, for they were ignorant of the struggles and final overthrow of the Toltec empire. They at once dispatched spies into the Toltec territory. In a short time these men returned with the startling announcement that they had penetrated the enemy’s country for a distance of two hundred leagues from Amaquemecan, and had found all that region deserted, and the towns, formerly so strong and populous, abandoned and in ruins.

Xolotl’s Invasion

Xolotl, who seems to have been of a more ambitious and enterprising disposition than his brother, listened eagerly to this report, which seemed to promise the fulfillment of his dreams of independent and undivided sway. Summoning his vassals to the capital, he told them what his spies had seen, and in an eloquent speech reminded them that an extension of territory was needed for their increasing population, expatiated on the richness and fertility of the abandoned region, pointed out to his hearers how easy it would be to avenge on their crippled enemies the injuries of many years, and concluded by requiring them to be ready to accompany him to conquest within the space of six months.[V-5]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 40-1, gives in full Xolotl’s speech to his lords. Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 337, relates that he appointed Oyome as the rendezvous. Brasseur de Bourbourg, as before stated, does not suppose Xolotl to have shared the Chichimec throne with his brother Acauhtzin; he therefore tells the story as if Xolotl induced the great nobles to favor his project of invasion by his eloquence and argument, but used no kingly authority in the matter.

Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 302-3, tom. ii., pp. 3-4, 13, assigns an altogether different cause for the Chichimec invasion of Anáhuac. He affirms that when Topiltzin (Acxitl), the Toltec monarch, fled from Tollan, he went to Acauhtzin, the Chichimec sovereign, to whom he was distantly related, told him his sorrows, and ceded in his favor all rights to a land which he refused to revisit; whereupon Acauhtzin invested his brother Xolotl with the sovereignty of Tollan.

The date of the events recorded above is very uncertain. Veytia states that the Chichimecs left their country for Anáhuac in 1117, one year after the fall of the Toltec dynasty. Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 7. Ixtlilxochitl allows a period of four to six years to elapse before their arrival at Tollan; as usual, this writer is not consistent with himself in different parts of his work, and places the arrival in various years between 962 and 1015. Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 208, 337, 395, 451. Torquemada, always avoiding exact dates, gives on one page an interval of five years between the destruction of the Toltec empire and the arrival of the Chichimecs, and on another page an interval of nine years between the former event and the departure from Amaquemecan. Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 45-6. Clavigero places the Chichimec arrival at Anáhuac in 1170. Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 132, tom. iv., pp. 40-51. Boturini, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 233, allows a lapse of nine years between the Toltec fall and the Chichimec arrival.

It is difficult to credit the statements of the old authors respecting the number of Chichimecs that espoused Xolotl’s cause. Ixtlilxochitl and Veytia state that no less than three million two hundred and two thousand men and women, besides children, rallied to his standard, leaving one million six hundred thousand subjects of Acauhtzin, and thus making it not a mere expedition, but a decided emigration. Torquemada, who fears he will not be believed if he states the actual number who took part in the exodus, takes pains to assure us that the historic paintings mention over a million warriors, commanded by six great lords, and over twenty (two?) thousand inferior chiefs and captains, and as each of these had under him more than a thousand men, the total number would approach nearer to the larger numbers than to Torquemada’s unwontedly modest statement. The number was ascertained by census, taken at five different places to check the increase or decrease caused by leaving colonists along the route, by new arrivals, and especially by deserters. The counting was effected by each plebeian casting a small stone into a heap set apart for his class, and each lord or officer a larger stone into another heap. Ixtlilxochitl mentions two of these nepohualcos, or ‘counting-places,’ one near Oztotipac in Otompan district, and another three leagues from Ecatepec, near Mexico; while Torquemada refers to twelve similar hillocks near Tenayocan.[V-6]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 44; Boturini, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., pp. 231-2; Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 337, 375; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., pp. 4, 8-9. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 134, expresses his disbelief in the numbers given. ‘Rien ne justifie les millions que lui assignent les auteurs; ils ont compris évidement sous ce chiffre exagéré les diverses émigrations qui se succédèrent depuis lors sans interruption dans la vallée jusqu’à la fondation du royaume d’Acolhuacan.’ Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 202.

Xolotl’s Invasion

Having taken leave of his brother Acauhtzin, Xolotl started on his journey. Halts were made at a number of stations to gather supplies, and when camp was broken, settlers were left—generally selected from among the old and feeble—and their places filled by fresh recruits. Owing to these detentions it took the army some time to reach Chocoyan, or ‘place of tears,’ in Anáhuac, where many Toltec ruins were found. After proceeding some distance farther, and making several halts, Xolotl dispatched the six principal chiefs of his army, each with an appropriate force, in various directions, with instructions to explore the country, and reduce the inhabitants, if they found any, to subjection; at the same time he recommended these officers to use the people kindly, except where they offered resistance, in which case they were to be treated as enemies.[V-7]Brasseur gives the names of these six chiefs, as: Acatomatl, Quautlapal, Cozcaquauh, Mitliztac, Tecpan, and Itzaquauh, giving Ixtlilxochitl and Torquemada as his authorities; the latter writer, however, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 44, distinctly affirms that only one chief, Acatomatl, was sent in advance.

Xolotl himself proceeded with the body of the army, and after halting in several places, he finally reached Tollan. But the ancient splendor of the Toltec capital was departed, its streets were deserted and overgrown with vegetation, its magnificent temples and palaces were in ruins, and desolation reigned where so lately had been the hum and bustle of a mighty metropolis.[V-8]Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 134, states that they reached Tollan in eighteen months from the time of their departure from Amaquemecan. Ixtlilxochitl gives the date as 5 Tecpatl. Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 395. The site of Tollan being too important to be abandoned, Xolotl established some families there, which formed the nucleus of a future population. He then continued his march to Mizquiyahualan and Tecpan, and finally came to Xaltocan, on the shore of the lake of the same name, where he and his followers abode for a long time in the caves that abounded in that region, and where they subsequently founded the town of Xoloc or Xolotl, which afterwards became a city of considerable importance in Anáhuac.[V-9]‘Les auteurs sont généralement d’accord pour placer la date de cet établissement de l’an 1070 à 1080. Quelques-uns le portent exactement à l’an 1068. Xoloc, aujourd’hui Xoloque, village de fort peu d’importance, à 12 l. environ au nord de Mexico, et à 3 l. du lac de San-Cristoval. Une autre explication met cette localité au pied d’une colline, à une lieue environ vers le nord de Xaltocan.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ.; tom. ii., p. 214. See also, Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., pp. 8-10.

The narrative becomes somewhat confused at this point, owing to the conflicting accounts of the various authorities. It seems, however, that the Chichimecs remained for a long time, several years perhaps, at the settlement of Xoloc, doing little but sending out scouting parties to reconnoitre the immediately surrounding country. Finally, according to the majority of the Spanish writers, Xototl dispatched certain chiefs on regular exploring expeditions, and set out himself with his son Nopaltzin and a large force; journeying by way of Cempoala, Tepepulco, Oztolotl, Cohuacayan, and Tecpatepec, until he reached the hill of Atonan. Here he descried a goodly region lying to the south and east, which he at once sent his son Nopaltzin to take possession of, while he returned to Xoloc.[V-10]Cempoala was twelve leagues north of Mexico; Tepepulco was four leagues farther east. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 42.

Condition of the Country

Nopaltzin wandered for some time from place to place, seemingly making it his object rather to search for an inhabited country than to take possession of an uninhabited one. At first his efforts met with no success, notwithstanding he ascended several high mountains for the purpose of seeing afar off. At last he came to Tlalamoztoc, whence his view extended over the country toward Tlazalan, and Culhuacan valley,[V-11]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 43, writes Tlatzalan and Coyohuacan. and Chapultepec, on the other side of the lake; throughout this region smoke arose in various places, denoting the presence of human inhabitants. Without loss of time, the prince returned to his father with the news of his discovery, passing the ruined city of Teotihuacan on his way. Xolotl had in the meantime visited the large Toltec city of Cuhuac (Culhuacan?), and had also received information of Toltec settlements on the coast and in the interior. A consultation was held, and it was decided that Tultitlan was the most eligible site for a capital. Accordingly Xolotl left Xoloc in the care of a governor and proceeded to that region and there founded Tenayocan opposite Tezcuco, on the other side of the lake.[V-12]Founded 1120, Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 12. Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 338-9; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 42-4.

Brasseur’s version of these events is somewhat different. He does not mention Xolotl’s expedition to the hill of Atonan, though he does not omit to relate that Toltec settlements were described from that elevation by the reconnoitering parties sent out from the Chichimec camp at Lake Xaltocan; neither does he in any way refer to Nopaltzin’s journey, at his father’s command, to Tlalamoztoc. The reason of this difference is that according to Brasseur’s version Nopaltzin was not the son of Xolotl, the first Chichimec emperor but of Amacui, one of six great chiefs, who were the first to follow in the successful invaders’ wake, this they did not do, however, until after Xolotl had established himself at Tenayocan.[V-13]‘Le Codex Xolotl, qui fait partie de la coll. de M. Aubin, donne positivement Amacui pour père et pour prédécesseur de Nopaltzin.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 224. It seems that this Amacui has been confounded throughout with Xolotl by the majority of the Spanish chroniclers; in their version of the events which followed the founding of Tenayocan, during a period of nearly two hundred years, the deeds of the former are all ascribed to the latter, or at least the narrative is continued without any break, and no mention is made of any change of kings.[V-14]‘Xolotl étant le titre du chef principal des Chichimèques, il convenait à l’un aussi bien qu’à l’autre. Tout concourt, d’ailleurs, à prouver que, dans le Xolotl des auteurs, il y a eu divers personnages; c’est le seul moyen d’expliquer cette longue vie de près de deux cents ans qu’ils lui accordent.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 224.

The Spanish writers relate that the chiefs of whom Amacui was one were attracted to Anáhuac by the reports which reached them of Xolotl’s unopposed invasion, and of the richness of the land that he had appropriated.[V-15]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 46-7; Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 339-40; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 28; Boturini, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 232; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 14. Upon their arrival in Anáhuac they respectfully asked the Chichimec king’s permission to settle near him, and to hunt in his newly acquired territory. Xolotl evinced no jealousy, but welcomed the new-comers with generous hospitality; doubtless the politic monarch saw that such arrivals could not fail to strengthen his position, as all who came were pretty sure to acknowledge his supremacy and ally themselves to him, as chief of all the Chichimecs. From what source Amacui derived the influence which he afterwards used for his own aggrandizement is not known; it could scarcely have been from his personal power as a prince, because we are told that the number of his followers was small; but at all events, whatever were the means he used, he succeeded, at Xolotl’s death, in getting elected to the throne.[V-16]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 224-6. This being in all probability the true version, the events that are now to be recorded may be regarded as happening in the reign of Amacui, or Amacui Xolotl, as he was styled on his accession.

Remnants of the Toltecs

One of the first acts of the new king, whom we may call Xolotl II., was to remove from his capital at Tenayocan and take up his residence at Quauhyacac, at the foot of the mountains of Tezcuco. Calling his chiefs together, he next proceeded to take formal possession of the country. The ceremony, which consisted in discharging arrows towards the cardinal points, and in burning wreaths of dry grass, and scattering the ashes towards the four quarters, was performed in the royal presence at a great number of places; the spots selected being generally the summits of mountains. He also dispatched four lords, with the necessary forces, in the direction of the four quarters, instructing them to take possession of the country along their route, but not to disturb the Toltecs, except those who offered resistance, who were to be subjected by force. Either the progress made by these four expeditions must have been very slow, or the extent of country traversed by them must have been very great, for we are told that they did not return until four years after their setting-out. The most populous Toltec settlements were found at Culhuacan, Quauhtitenco, Chapultepec, Totoltepec, Tlazalan, and Tepexomaco, all ruled by lords, and at Cholula, where two priests held the reigns of government.[V-17]‘Porque fué una de las que ménos padecieron en el estrago pasado.’ Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 18. The name of the ruler at Chapultepec was Xitzin, with his wife Oztaxochitl and a son;[V-18]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 44, spells this ruler’s name Ecitin, which, says Brasseur, ‘signifie les trois lièvres, de Citli, qui est le singulier, au pluriel Citin. S’agit-il ici d’un seul individu ou de trois du nom de Citin, cité ailleurs comme celui d’une famille célèbre de laquelle prétendaient descendre les Alcohuas?’ Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 209. at Tlazalan was Mitl with his wife Cohuaxochitl,[V-19]‘Descendants du grand Nauhyotl.’ Id. and two sons, Pixahua and Axopatl,[V-20]Spelled Acxopal by Brasseur. who, instructed by their father, afterwards revived the art of working in metals; at Totoltepec were Nacaxoc, his wife, and his son Xiuhpopoca; at Tepexomaco were Cohuatl, his wife, and his son Quetzalpopoca; at Cholula ruled Ixcax, the issue of the adulterous connection of the pontiff with the high-priestess of the Goddess of Water. All these princes hastened to acknowledge the supremacy of Xolotl II., though without actually paying him homage. Besides this, the four lords who had been dispatched to the four quarters, announced on their return that they had visited a great number of places, among which were Tehuantepec, Guatemala, and Goazacoalco.[V-21]Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., pp. 17-19; Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 333-4, 339; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 226-8.

The invaders had hitherto met with no opposition from the few Toltecs who were left in Anáhuac; their plans had all been effected deliberately and slowly, but surely and without any trouble. Matters having now begun to assume a settled aspect, the Chichimec king at once turned his attention to a partition of lands among the nobles who had accompanied him and assisted his enterprise, and, as is usual in such cases, he dispensed with a free hand that which of right was not his to give. To each lord he assigned a defined section of the territory and a certain number of dependents, with instructions to form a town, to be named after its founder.[V-22]‘Repartióla por las sinosidades, cuevas, y rincones de las serranias, proporcionándola á la caza.’ Granados y Galvez, Tardes Amer., p. 18; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 232-3. Toltec cities retained their original names, and orders were issued that their inhabitants should not be interfered with, nor intruded upon by Chichimec settlers. One of the most thickly settled districts was that lying north and north-east of Tenayocan, named Chichimecatlalli, or ‘land of Chichimecs.’ Within its boundaries were the towns of Zacatlan, Quauhchinanco, Totoltepec, Atotonilco. Settlements were also formed on the coast, the whole extent of country appropriated by the Chichimecs being, according to Ixtlilxochitl, over two hundred leagues in circumference.[V-23]For names of places peopled by the Chichimecs see Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 460, 209. See also Id., pp. 339, 395, 451; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 45; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 134; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., pp. 14-5; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., pp. 12-13. It was about this time that Xolotl II., as supreme ruler, assumed the title of Huey Tlatoani Chichimecatl Tecuhtli, ‘great lord and king of the Chichimecs.'[V-24]To which his descendants added Huactlatohuani, ‘lord of the world.’ Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., p. 451.

Affairs in Culhuacan

At this juncture it will be necessary to glance at the state of affairs in Culhuacan.[V-25]The inhabitants of this province were known as Culhuas, and are not to be confounded with the Acolhuas, notwithstanding many of the old writers make no distinction between the two peoples. It has been related how Topiltzin, when he fled from Anáhuac, left Culhuacan, the most populous of the Toltec settlements at the time of the fall of the empire, to the care of Xiuhtemoc, an old relative, who was to act as a kind of honorary king, or regent, and as such receive obedience and tribute. The Toltec monarch also entrusted to Xiuhtemoc the charge of his son Pochotl, then an infant, with instructions that the young prince should be sent to the village of Quauhtitenco, situated in a forest near the ancient capital, and there brought up in secrecy and in ignorance of his royal birth. Another of Topiltzin’s relatives named Cocauhtli, who was married to Ixmixuch and had a son called Acxoquauh, seems also to have assisted Xiuhtemoc in governing Culhuacan, or at least to have had great influence there.[V-26]Veytia writes the names of those who governed at Culhuacan; Xiuhtemoc, with his wife Ozolaxochitl, and son Nauhyotl; and Catauhtlix with his wife Ixmixuch and son Acxocuauh. Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 18. Torquemada writes them respectively: Xiuhthemal, Oceloxroch, Coyol; Cocauhtli, Yhuixoch, Acxoquauh. Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 45. Boturini writes: Xiuchtimatl, Oceloxochitl, Coyotl; Cocoahtli, Yhyozochtl, Acxoquauhtli. Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 232; Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., p. 333.

For a number of years Xiuhtemoc continued to govern Culhuacan with much wisdom, and the province flourished wonderfully under his prudent administration. He never attempted to claim any other title than ‘father,’ and was well beloved by his subjects. In the meantime Pochotl, Topiltzin’s son, grew to be a young man, of a suitable age to be associated with Xiuhtemoc, according to his father’s directions. Xiuhtemoc seems, however, to have been in no hurry to draw the prince from his obscurity. What his object was in this delay, is unknown; it would appear at first sight as if he was scheming for the succession of his own son Nauhyotl, but his patriotic conduct and loyal character seems to render such a cause improbable. At all events Pochotl was still at Quauhtenanco where Xiuhtemoc died.

His son Nauhyotl, a prince well liked by the people, immediately seized the throne, and being of a more ambitious disposition than his father, lost no time in assuming the royal titles and in causing himself to be publicly proclaimed king and crowned with all the rites and ceremonies sacred to the use of the Toltec monarchs, being the third of the name on the throne of Culhuacan. According to Brasseur, two princes, Acxoquauh and Nonohualcatl, were admitted in some way to a share in the government.[V-27]Brasseur states that according to the Codex Chimalpopoca, Acxoquauh was a younger brother of Nauhyotl; we have already seen this prince spoken of, however, as the son of Cocauhtli, Xiuhtemoc’s associate; see note 26. Nonohualcatl, says Brasseur, was, without doubt, Nauhyotl’s eldest son. ‘C’est ce qui parait d’après la manière dont ce prince succéda au trône après Huetzin, avant Achitometl ou Ameyal.’ Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 222.

This bold act of usurpation[V-28]Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 222, objecting to the term usurpation in this connection, writes: ‘La loi toltèque excluait du sang suprême tout prince qui se montrait d’avance incapable de l’occuper. C’était probablement le cas où se trouvait Pochotl. Ixtlilxochitl et Veytia, qui accusent Nauhyotl d’usurpation, avaient oublié ou ignoraient la loi de succession toltèque.’ It is not probable, however, that Topiltzin either forgot or was ignorant of the Toltec law of succession, when he directed that his son should be associated with Xiuhtemoc when he came of suitable age. met with little or no outward opposition, notwithstanding it was well known that Pochotl still lived. This was doubtless due to the critical state of affairs in Culhuacan at the time of Xiuhtemoc’s death. The Chichimecs were steadily increasing in power; Xolotl seemed disposed to adopt a more decided policy toward the Toltecs than his predecessor, and it might at any moment be necessary to check his encroachments. In this condition of things it was natural that the energetic Nauhyotl, who had been brought up at court under the immediate care and instruction of his politic father, should be a more acceptable and fitting king than Pochotl, who had been brought up in total ignorance of the duties of a prince, and even of his own rights. Nevertheless, there were some who murmured secretly on seeing Topiltzin’s son defrauded of his rights, and Nauhyotl being aware of this discontent, determined to set the public mind at rest. He accordingly sent for Pochotl, publicly acknowledged him as the descendant of the Toltec kings, declared his intention of leaving the crown to him at his death, and gave him the hand of his young and beautiful daughter Xochipantzin[V-29]Also called Texochipantzin. Torquemada gives the name of Pochotl’s wife Huitzitzilin, though whether he refers to the same lady is not certain. Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 56. in marriage, all of which proceedings met with general approval both from the people and from Pochotl himself, whose unexpected elevation does not seem to have rendered him very exacting.[V-30]Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., pp. 18-23; Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 340; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 220-3.

Rule of Xolotl II

Favored by the peaceful, non-interfering policy of Xolotl I., the Toltecs at Culhuacan had increased rapidly in wealth and population. Xolotl II. seems to have grown impatient of this rivalry, and to have determined to define the position of Culhuacan and assert his own supremacy in Anáhuac without farther delay. Of the way in which he accomplished this end there is more than one version.

According to Veytia and others, he informed Nauhyotl that by right of the cession of the land of Anáhuac made to the monarch of Amaquemecan by Topiltzin,[V-31]The reader will recollect that Veytia affirms that Topiltzin Acxitl fled to his relative Acauhtzin, brother of Xolotl I., and ceded to him his right to Anáhuac. he should require him to do homage and pay a small tribute to the Chichimec empire in recognition of its supremacy; this done, he would recognize him as king of the Toltecs. To this demand Nauhyotl answered haughtily that Toltec kings acknowledged no superiors but the gods, and paid tribute to no earthly sovereign. Xolotl I., he added, had been permitted to enter Anáhuac and people it, because he had done so peaceably. Topiltzin’s cession was invalid, and he, Nauhyotl, merely governed during the minority of the rightful heir of Pochotl, now deceased, and had no power to dispose of any rights to the land.[V-32]According to Brasseur, these or similar overtures occurred in the reign of Xolotl I. Xolotl’s ambassadors, he says, ‘avaient plus d’une fois pressenti Xiuhtemal à ce sujet, mais celui-ci, trop prudent et trop ami de sa patrie, appréhendant, sans doute, de rendre les Chichimèques trop puissants, avait constamment éludé ses propositions en faisant valoir les droits de Pochotl, à qui seul il appartiendrait de prendre une décision dans cette matière délicate, une fois qu’il aurait été mis en possession du trône.’ Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 221.

Such a reply could have but one effect on the fierce Chichimec. He resolved to crush his rival at once before he became too strong, and for this purpose gave orders to Nopaltzin to advance without delay against Culhuacan. In the meantime Nauhyotl was not idle. A number of canoes were brought out to defend the water-line, and he himself issued forth at the head of a force which, though greatly inferior to the Chichimec army in point of numbers, attacked the enemy without hesitation, and succeeded in maintaining the field valorously until evening. Gradually, however, Nopaltzin’s numbers began to tell, until at length the Toltecs were routed. The Chichimecs then entered Culhuacan without difficulty, despite its advantageous position. The carnage was immediately suspended and no disorder allowed. The Toltecs had suffered great loss, and among the slain was Nauhyotl, whose death was deeply deplored by his subjects and regretted by the conquerors.

Culhuas and Chichimecs

Nopaltzin gave orders that the dead king should be buried with all the usual honors, and after leaving a garrison in the town, departed to carry the news of his success to his father. This battle was the first in which the Chichimecs had engaged since their arrival in Anáhuac, and Nopaltzin was much praised for its successful issue by Xolotl. The Chichimec emperor now proceeded in person to Culhuacan, to assure the inhabitants of his good will and to receive their homage. Pochotl’s first-born, Achitometl, then only five years of age, was solemnly proclaimed king, with the condition that he should pay yearly a small tribute in fish to the Chichimec government. After this amicable arrangement, the intercourse between the two nations became daily stronger, to the no small benefit of the Chichimecs.[V-33]Year 1141. Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., pp. 30-5. 984 to 1190. Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 209, 342-3, 396, 452.

Torquemada gives another account of the events which led to the war. Itzmitl, who succeeded to the lordship of Coatlichan on the death of his father Tzontecoma, had a son named Huetzin by Malinalxochitl, daughter of Cozcaquauhtli of Mamalihuasco,[V-34]Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., pp. 45-6. According to Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 238, this lady was the eldest daughter of Pochotl. Tzontecoma was one of the Acolhua chiefs, as will be seen hereafter. for whom he was anxious to secure a temporary regency until he should in natural course succeed to the government of Coatlichan. Relying on a promise made by Xolotl I. to Tzontecoma, Itzmitl asked Xolotl II. to award his son a lordship, and pointed to Culhuacan as available since it was an unappropriated Toltec settlement, to which he had a certain right from the marriage of Tzontecoma with a member of its royal family. Xolotl informed Achitometl, a grandson of Nauhyotl, of his wish that Huetzin should stay with the king of Culhuacan until he succeeded to his own inheritance.[V-35]The meaning of this request is not clear. It was probably Xolotl’s design to get Huetzin into Culhuacan under pretense of learning the art of government—though it would seem he might have done this at his father’s court—and then by some strategem place him upon the throne. Achitometl, pretending to favor the project, immediately sent information to Nauhyotl, who at once took steps to secure himself. Xolotl paid a visit to Culhuacan to make formal arrangements for the reception of his protégé, and was received with the most friendly assurances. But when Huetzin arrived, after the departure of Xolotl, an armed force opposed his entrance, and he precipitately retreated. This breach of faith caused a war, which resulted in the death of Nauhyotl, and the elevation of Huetzin to the throne.[V-36]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 57-8. Ixtlilxochitl and Veytia give a different version of this affair of Huetzin’s. Itzmitl, or Ixmitl, (known also as Tlacoxin, or Tlacoxinqui) proceeded to Tezcuco, where Xolotl was superintending the construction of a palace and garden, and reminded him of a promise of extra favors made to Tzontecoma, by way of compensation for the inferior bride which he had been compelled to accept; whereupon Xolotl gave the lordship of Tepetlaoztoc to his son Huetzin. This occurred, says Veytia, in 1207, more than 60 years after the Culhuacan war. Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., pp. 46-7; Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 341-2.

Brasseur’s relation of these events, partly derived from the manuscripts to which he had access, differs from the others in some particulars, though it generally agrees with Torquemada’s account. According to this writer, Huetzin, who, it is here stated, was Pochotl’s grandson on the mother’s side,[V-37]See note 34. coveted and endeavored to obtain the crown of Culhuacan prior to the arrangement made between his father and Xolotl. To gain this end he had, on account of his descent, the assistance of the Acolhuas, who were at all times disposed to reëstablish the original Toltec dynasty, and the sympathy of Xolotl II. and his son Nopaltzin, who were of course inclined to favor any scheme that would cripple Nauhyotl. The king of Culhuacan defeated Huetzin’s plans for the time, however, by proclaiming Achitometl—Pochotl’s eldest son, by the princess Xochipantzin, and consequently Nauhyotl’s grandson—as his successor, thus restoring the ancient dynasty, and doing away with the pretext under which the pretender had won so much sympathy. It seems that the claims of Huetzin met with no farther notice until the death of Quauhtexpetlatl, a son of Nauhyotl II., who had accompanied his father into exile, and after his death had returned to Culhuacan and been associated with Nauhyotl III., the present king. Upon the death of this prince, which occurred in 1129, Xolotl entered into an agreement with the lord of Coatlichan to procure for Huetzin, the son of the latter, Quauhtexpetlatl’s share in the government of Culhuacan. Hence followed the struggle, detailed by Torquemada, which resulted in Huetzin’s elevation to the throne he had so long coveted.[V-38]Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 237-51.

The Nahuatlaca Tribes

A digression is necessary at this point, in order to refer to the traditional arrival in Anáhuac of the Nahuatlaca tribes, which occurred at irregular intervals during a period extending from the early years of the Chichimec occupation down to, and a little beyond, the events recorded above.

Nahuatlaca Migration

The original home of the Nahuatlacas was Aztlan, the location of which has been the subject of much discussion.[V-39]Aztlan ‘était située au nord-ouest de la Californie…. C’est l’opinion d’un grand nombre d’écrivains. M. Aubin croit qu’ils habitaient la péninsule appelée aujourd’hui la basse Californie, et que là était Aztlan.’Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 292. Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., p. 179, and Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 53, followed by Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., pp. 6-7, 19, place Aztlan north of 42° N. lat.; Foster, Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 340-1, Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 20, refer to the account of Oñate’s explorations in New Mexico, Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., pp. 32, 47-8, 111-12, 625, and point to the golden Copalla, with its rumored Aztec-speaking people. See also, Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 454; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., p. 68; Ruxton, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1850, tom. cxxvi., pp. 40-9. Fontaine, How the World was Peopled, pp. 149-50, reminds us that the Aztec tl sound is found in the N.W., and considers the mounds in the N.E. to be evidences of Aztec wanderings. Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 41; Chevalier, Mexique, pp. 54-5. Prichard, Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., pp. 514-16, regards the Moquis in Arizona as the most northern Aztec remnants. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 156-9, places Aztlan north of the Colorado River, in accordance with some maps of the 16th century, and regards this stream as the water said to have been crossed on the migration, whilst Boturini, Idea, pp. 126-8, holds this to be the Gulf of California. Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 298, 301; Rios, Compend. Hist. Mex., p. 11. Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 79-82, 134-5, traces Nahuatlaca routes north of Mexico. Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. 1, looks to Florida for the ancient home. Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 144, identifies Aztlan with the later Chicomoztoc, like Acosta and Duran, but locates it in the Jalisco region. Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 283. Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 91, ventures a little farther north, to Sonora; see also, Möllhausen, Reisen, tom. ii., pp. 143-55. Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 128, considers Aztlan to have been near Culiacan, but on p. 205, and in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxxi., p. 281, he seems to favor the more direct north. Cabrera, Teatro, pp. 94-6, advances some argument for its location in Chiapas. See also, Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 532-3. Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 45, remarks that the palm-tree on the migration-map indicates a southern origin, but Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., p. 7, considers that this may be a thoughtless insertion of the painter. See remarks on pp. 216-18 of this volume, and pp. 681-4, 788-9 of vol. iv. For further remarks on position of Aztlan, and origin of Nahuatlacas, see: Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., pp. 266-7; Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. 54, et seq., Brasseur de Bourbourg, Esquisses, pp. 27-8; Id., Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 191-7; Id., Popol Vuh, pp. clxxxiii.-cxcvi.; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 203-5; Ruxton’s Adven. Mex., pp. 192-4; Cremony’s Apaches, pp. 89-90; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., p. 284; Smith’s Human Species, pp. 252-3; Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 323. The causes that led to their exodus from that country can only be conjectured;[V-40]Gallatin, Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 205, thinks they may have had a share in the dismemberment of the Toltec empire, or may have seized the opportunity offered by the Toltec emigration to enter into the deserted lands. Cabrera states that they were driven from Aztlan. Teatro, p. 94. but they may be supposed, however, to have been driven out by their enemies, for Aztlan is described as a land too fair and bounteous to be left willingly in the mere hope of finding a better.[V-41]Duran gives the description of Aztlan given by Cueuhcoatl to Montezuma the elder: ‘Nuestros Padres moraron en equel felice y dichoso Lugar que llamáron Aztlán, que quiere decir “Blancura.” En este Lugar hay un gran Cerro en medio del agua, que llamaban Culhuacan, por que tiene la punta algo retuerta hácia abajo, y à esta causa se llama Culhuacan, que quiere decir “Cerro tuerto.” En este Cerro habia unas bocas ó cuebas ó concavidados donde habitáron nuestros Padres y Abuelos por muchos años: alli tubiéron mucho descanso debajo de este Nombre Mexitin y Azteca: alli gozaban de mucho cantidad de Patos, de todo género de gazzas; de cuerbos marinos, y Gallinas de agua, y de Gallaretas; gozaban del canto y melodia de los Pájaros de las cabezas coloradas y amarillas; gozáron de muchas diferencias de grandes y hermosos Pescados; gozáron de gran frescura de arboledas, que habia por aquellas riberas, y de Fuentes cercadas de sauces y de Sabinas y de Alisos grandes y hermosos; andaban en canoas, y hacian camellones en que sembraban maiz, chile, tomates, huauhtli, frisoles, y de todo genero de semillas de las que comemos,’ &c. Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. 27. The native tradition relates that a bird was heard for several days constantly repeating the word tihui, tihui, meaning ‘let us go,’ ‘let us go.’ This, Huitziton, foremost and wisest among the Nahuatlaca chiefs, took to be a message from the gods directing the people to seek a new home. In making a declaration of such moment he needed the support of another influential man. He accordingly persuaded another chief called Tecpatzin, who at first seemed sceptical, that the bird’s note was nothing less than a divine message, and the two announced it as such to the people.[V-42]Ramirez, in García y Cubas, Atlas; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom., i., p. 78; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 157-8; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 17; Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. i., p. 3; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 399-300. The date of the departure is shown by the maps to be Ce Tecpatl, which is calculated by Chimalpain, Gallatin, Gama, and Veytia to be 1064, based on the hypothesis that the adjustment of the calendar in the year Ce Tochtli, which took place during the journey, corresponds to 1090. Brasseur would probably assign a later date, since he writes: ‘Les annales mexicaines nous montrent généralement les premières tribus de cette nation à Aztlan en l’an 1 Tecpatl, 1064.’ Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 292.

Whether all the numerous tribes into which the Nahuatlacas were divided, left Aztlan at the same time, or, if not, in what order they left, it is impossible to tell. It seems, however, that after several years’ wandering, a number of them were together at a place called Chicomoztoc, the famous ‘seven caves.'[V-43]Chicomoztoc is placed by Clavigero about twenty miles south of Zacatecas, but is regarded by Duran, Acosta, and others, as identical with, or within the region of Aztlan. According to Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 293, they arrived here 1116. Hellwald, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 339, agrees with this date, by making them arrive at Chicomoztoc 26 years after their departure from Aztlan, which, he says, took place in 1090. Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 92, states that they arrived 104 years after their departure. On the Gemelli map Oztotlan, ‘place of grottoes,’ is given as a place where they halted for a long time, from 160 to 200 years after leaving Aztlan, and may be the same as Chicomoztoc. Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 145, says that the Tlascaltecs, who according to most authors were one of the Nahuatlaca tribes, arrived at Chicomoztoc in the year 5 Tochtli. The little that is known of their wanderings before reaching this point will be found in the next chapter, in connection with the Aztec migration.

The list of tribes settled at Chicomoztoc at this time comprises only seven according to most authors. They are named for the most part after the locality in which they subsequently settled in and about Anáhuac, and are as follows: the Xochimilcas, Chalcas, Tepanecs, Acolhuas, Tlahuicas, Tlascaltecs, and Aztecs or Mexicans; to which some writers add the Tarascos, Matlaltzincas, Malinalcas, Cholultecs, Huexotzincas, Cuitlahuacs, Mizquicas, and Cohuixcas.[V-44]See Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 455-6; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. ii., cap. x.; Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. 2; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 228, 247; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 151; Hellwald, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 339; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 78; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 17; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 7-9; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 154; Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. v., p. 864; Gemelli Careri, in Churchill’s Col. Voyages, vol. iv., p. 482; Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., pp. 168-71; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 145. Brasseur de Bourbourg gives as the tribes that left Aztlan: the Huexotzincas, Chalcas, Xochimilcas, Quitlahuacas, Malinalcas, Chichimecas, Tépanecas, and Matlaltzincas. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 292.Some authors do not include the Acolhuas and Tepanecs; no importance is, however, to be attached to the traditional tribal divisions of the invading hordes before they settled in Anáhuac.

It was at Chicomoztoc that the separation of the Aztecs from the rest of the Nahuatlacas took place. The tradition relates that while the people were seated beneath a great tree partaking of a meal, a terrible noise was suddenly heard to issue from the summit of the tree; the idol which stood upon the altar at its foot then called the chiefs of the Aztec tribe aside and commanded them to order the other tribes to depart in advance, leaving the Aztecs at Chicomoztoc. The number of tribes that were thus sent in advance is not known; Torquemada says eight, Acosta and Duran say six,[V-45]Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 78-9; Hist. de las Ynd., p. 454; Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. 2. On Boturini’s map the hieroglyphs of the eight tribes are seen at Chicomoztoc for the last time; the priests or leaders of the Aztecs alone pursue the remainder of the course. As the Aztec hieroglyph does not appear to be included among these eight, it might be assumed that the Aztecs were composed of certain families belonging to one or more of the eight tribes, but this does not appear to be the view taken by the authorities. Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., pp. 25-6, remarks that the map indicates a consultation of six of the families with their god, and the departure of two. The non-recurrence of the tribal hieroglyphs he explains by saying that the families are henceforth designated only by the chiefs who lead them. This map cannot, however, be expected to be more accurate than the sources from which Torquemada, Acosta, and others, derived their information. and others greater or smaller numbers.

Acolhuas and Tepanecs

From the time of the separation we hear little more of the Nahuatlaca tribes until we find them coming into Anáhuac and settling in various parts of the country. In this manner we hear of the Xochimilcas, ‘cultivators of flowers,’ coming into the valley and occupying a district south of Tezcuco Lake, where they founded Xochimilco; but all we know of their former history is that they left Aquilazco, their original home, which we may suppose to have been a district of Aztlan, under a chief named Huetzalin,[V-46]Quetzalin according to Brasseur, who adds: ‘Dans le texte, il y a Huetzalin, ce qui est probablement une faute du copiste.’ Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 263. This chief may possibly be the same as Huitziton. who, dying on the journey, was succeeded by Acatonal, who conducted the tribe as far as the ruined city of Tollan and there died, after having ruled twenty-three years. The tribe then proceeded under the conduct of Tlahuil Tecuhtli[V-47]Veytia names this chief Xochimilco, which Brasseur says ‘ne peut être qu’une erreur.’ Id., p. 264. to the Culhuacan territory and attempted to settle there, one year after the accession of Huetzin.[V-48]Id. Ixtlilxochitl and Veytia place the arrival of the Xochimilcas in Tlotzin’s reign. Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 458; Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 88. Duran says they were the first to leave Chicomoztoc, and the third to arrive in Anáhuac. This writer gives a number of places founded by them besides Xochimilco. Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. 2., 13. Acosta says they were the first to arrive. Hist. de las Ynd., p. 488. But the people of Culhuacan were suspicious of the new comers and drove them to the other side of the lake to a place called Teyahualco, at the same time forbidding them to settle on any part of the lands belonging to the capital. For some years the Xochimilcas remained quietly at Teyahualco, but in 1141 Tlahuil Tecuhtli pounced suddenly upon Culhuacan, and before its defenders could gain their arms he penetrated into the heart of the city and sacked it remorselessly. The inhabitants soon rallied, however, and not only drove the marauders out of the city, but pursued them as far as the site of the ancient city of Ocopetlayuca. Here Tlahuil Tecuhtli resolved to establish himself and, with the permission of the king of Culhuacan, he forthwith founded the city of Xochimilco, which subsequently became one of the principal places in Anáhuac.[V-49]Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., pp. 88-9; Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 458; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 263-4. The Chalcas settled on the east side of the lake of Chalco and founded a number of towns of which the principal was Chalco. For the Tlahuicas no room could be found about the lake; they therefore proceeded to a district south of Mexico, where before long a number of settlements rose around their capital Quauhnahuac.[V-50]Now Cuernavaca. Of the other tribes included by some authors among the Nahuatlacas, we find the Tarascos settled in Michoacan, the Matlaltzincas in the province of that name, and extending towards Michoacan; the Malinalcas in the province of Malinalco; the Cuitlahuacs in the province of Cuitlahuac; the Mizquicas in Mizquic; the Cohuixcas in Guerrero.[V-51]Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 92-3, 141-3.

Acolhuas and Tepanecs

The Tepanecs and Acolhuas become prominent in the affairs of Anáhuac at this period, that is, during the reign of the Chichimec emperor Xolotl II. They were among the numerous bands that contributed to the overthrow of the Toltec empire, and are classed by several writers among the Nahuatlaca tribes.[V-52]Many writers who do not directly connect the Acolhuas with the Nahuatlacas, assert that they came from the same region, and were of the same race. Clavigero places the ancient home in Teoacolhuacan, near Amaquemecan. Veytia considers them to be the descendants of Toltec colonists who were settled along the Pacific coast. Ixtlilxochitl affirms that they were neighbors of the Huehue Tlapallan Toltecs and of Chichimec stock. One of their chiefs, Tzontecoma of Coatlichan, was, as we have seen, the grandfather of Huetzin, the present king of Culhuacan. The event that brings them into prominent notice at this time is their tendering allegiance to Xolotl II. In doing this they claimed descent from the Citin,[V-53]‘Citin, pluriel de Citli, lièvre, nom apparemment d’une tribu du Nord, comme les Pied-Noir, les Serpents, etc.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 232. Rios, Compend. Hist. Mex., p. 7, says they derived their origin from the family of Citin or Ulcua. Motolinia says of the Acolhuas: ‘Este nombre los quedó de un valiente capitan que tuvieron … Acoli, que así se llama aquel hueso que vá desde el codo hasta el hombro, y del mismo hueso llaman al hombro Acoli.’ He was very brave, and taller than other men. Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 11. Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 301, says that they claimed descent from a valiant chief named Chichimecatlh, who once tied a strap round the arm of Quetzalcoatl, near the shoulder. This was regarded as a great feat, for it was said that he that could bind a god could bind all men. illustrious for nobility of race and for heroic deeds. According to many of the Spanish writers the Otomís came into Anáhuac and tendered their allegiance to Xolotl II. in company with the Acolhuas and Tepanecs. We have already seen, however, that the Otomís were one of the most ancient nations of Anáhuac, and were there long before the Toltecs; this reputed entry of theirs was perhaps nothing more than their coming in from the mountains and adopting, to a certain extent, a civilized life.[V-54]Brasseur de Bourbourg says nothing about the Otomís coming in with the Acolhuas and Tepanecs at this time. The story goes that Xolotl II. and his son Nopaltzin were flattered by the propositions of these powerful chiefs and entertained their guests right royally. Nor did the Chichimec monarch delay to confer upon the three principal chiefs substantial marks of his favor and consideration. To the lord Acolhua with the Tepanecs he assigned several districts south of Tenayocan, with Azcapuzalco for a capital, and gave him the hand of his eldest daughter, Cuetlaxochitl, in marriage; the lord of the Otomís received the emperor’s second daughter, and a district four or five leagues north of Azcapuzalco, with Xaltocan for its capital; Tzontecoma, the third chief, a young man, was awarded for the Acolhua home a district one league south of Tezcuco, with Coatlichan for a capital, and, as Xolotl had no more daughters, he was given for a wife the princess next in rank.[V-55]This, according to Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 51-4, who is followed by Brasseur, was Coatetl, daughter of Chalchiuhtlatonac, or Chalchiuhtlanetzin, lord of Chalco, who, says Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 231, ‘paraît avoir été l’un des frères ou des fils de Nauhyotl II.’ According to other authors, Tzontecoma’s bride was named Cihuatetzin, and her father was a Toltec, lord of Tlalmanalco. Each of these names is spelled in a great variety of ways. See Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 341, 395, 452; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., pp. 39-43; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 136-7; Granados y Galvez, Tardes Amer., pp. 19, 142-3; Müller, Reisen, tom. iii., p. 45; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 526; Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. i., p. 3; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 92. It was in compensation for this inferior marriage that Xolotl afterwards obtained the throne of Culhuacan for Tzontecoma’s grandson, Huetzin, according to Torquemada’s account given on a preceding page. The three marriages were celebrated at Tenayocan with extraordinary pomp, and were followed by a succession of public games, gladiatorial exhibitions, and amusements of all sorts, which lasted sixty days.

It is difficult to say in what relation the Acolhua and Tepanec princes stood towards the Chichimec emperor. According to most of the Spanish authorities, they swore allegiance to Xolotl, and took rank as the first vassals of the empire, though they were exempted from payment of tribute. It is Brasseur’s opinion, however, that this statement must not be accepted too literally. Nothing was more jealously guarded by all these peoples than their independence and sovereign rights in the land they occupied. At the same time, the right of first occupation being held sacred by them, it was natural that the tribes that came in after the Chichimecs, should address themselves to Xolotl, before attempting any formal settlement. The act of the new tribes was, therefore, an observance of international etiquette rather than an acknowledgment of vassalage.[V-56]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 233-4.

The Toltecs in Anáhuac

The settlement of the Acolhuas and Tepanecs in Anáhuac resulted in an improved order of things, and in the rapid advance of culture throughout the country. Their comparatively high state of civilization was not slow to impart itself to the ruder Chichimecs, who were proud to ally themselves by marriage to the polished strangers, and eager to emulate their refinement. For the same reasons the name Acolhua soon came to designate the Chichimecs of the capital and surrounding districts. Nor was it the people alone who received this impulse from the new-comers. Xolotl began to perceive that if he wished to establish a permanent and hereditary monarchy it would be necessary to cure his fierce nobles of their nomadic tastes and habits by giving them possessions, and thus making it to their interest to lead an orderly and settled life. To this end he created a number of fiefs, and distributed them among his lords, according to their rank and quality. Those lying nearest to the centre of the empire were granted to the princes of the royal family, or to chiefs of undoubted loyalty; while to the more turbulent nobles distant provinces were assigned.[V-57]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 236-7.

For some time after the accession of Huetzin to the throne of Culhuacan, where, the reader will recollect, he had been placed by Xolotl II. after the defeat and death of Nauhyotl, it seems that Nonohualcatl, Nauhyotl’s eldest son,[V-58]See note 27. and Ameyal, Pochotl’s eldest son by Nauhyotl’s daughter, were permitted to retain their position as heirs to the throne which they had enjoyed during the reign of the late king. But this did not last very long; the ruse by which Ameyal had endeavored to frustrate Xolotl’s designs upon the throne of Culhuacan was not forgotten, and before many months had elapsed the young prince was despoiled of his dignities and cast into prison, where he was kept closely confined for several years.

Although the Toltec element in Anáhuac was growing weaker every year, and threatened to totally disappear in a short time, yet what little there was left of it possessed great importance in the eyes of Xolotl II. The Chichimec emperor, partly perhaps from motives of pride, partly because he saw that it would tend to ensure his son’s succession, desired nothing so much as to ally his family by blood with the ancient Toltec dynasty. With this end in view, the old monarch had for some time been looking about for a suitable bride for his son Nopaltzin. At length the lady was found in the person of Azcatlxochitl, sister of Ameyal, and therefore daughter of Pochotl, the son of Topiltzin, the last Toltec king. This princess, who was then about twenty-five years of age, was possessed of singular beauty and rare accomplishments, and was withal a model of modesty. Her father being dead, and her brother in captivity, she lived in seclusion with her mother at Tlaximaloyan, a town on the frontier of Michoacan. Whatever dislike the Chichimec nobles may at first have had for this alliance, was speedily overcome; the hand of the Toltec princess was formally demanded and given, and soon afterwards the marriage was celebrated with great magnificence. By this union Nopaltzin had three sons, Tlotzin Pochotl,[V-59]Named also Huetzin, says Brasseur. who subsequently succeeded his father as Chichimec emperor, Huizaquen Tochin Tecuhtli, and Coxanatzin Atencatl.[V-60]Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 47, writes the names Tlotzin Pocothl, Toxtequihuatzin, and Atencatzin. Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 210, Tlotzinpochotl, Huixaquentochintecuhtli, Coxanatzin Atencatl; on p. 342 he differs in the following: Toltzin, Toxtequihuatzin, Atencatzin Apotzoetzin; on p. 395, Tloxtequihuatzin; on p. 461, Tlotzinpochotl, Atzotgocoltzin, Totzin. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 62, Tlotzin, Quauhtequihua, or Tochintecuhtli, Popozoc. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 141, Apopozoc. Nopaltzin had also another son, named Tenancacaltzin, who in later years gave much trouble to the emperor Quinantzin, and who, according to the Spanish authorities, was a bastard. Brasseur, however, finds reason to believe that this prince was Nopaltzin’s legitimate son by a former marriage. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 254. When these came of age, their father obtained Tlazatlan from Xolotl for the eldest son to rule, until he should succeed to the imperial throne; for the second son he obtained a grant of Zacatlan, and for the third Tenamitec. Before departing to his fief, Tlotzin was married to Tocpacxochitzin, daughter of the lord of Quahuatlapal, one of the great chiefs that came with Xolotl from Amaquemecan.[V-61]Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 342, 395, 452; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., pp. 47-9; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 63; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 141.

Brasseur states that the tributes of the seigniory of Oztoticpac, in the province of Chalco, were granted to Tlotzin at his birth,[V-62]Commenting upon the statement of Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 211, that Xolotl abandoned to Tlotzin not only the revenues of the province of Chalco, but also of several other provinces as far as Mizteca, Brasseur writes: ‘Il y a évidemment exagération; jamais les armes de Xolotl n’allèrent aussi loin, et il est douteux même que les provinces renfermées dans la vallée lui fussent toutes tributaires.’ Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 258. and there the prince usually resided during his youth, under the able instruction of a noble Toltec named Tecpoyo Acauhtli, who, it is said, accompanied his pupil to Tlazatlan, whither he went after his marriage, and continued to educate him there.[V-63]Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 262. It was at this latter place that Tlotzin’s son Quinantzin, who afterwards became emperor, was born.

Reign of Xolotl II

About this time Xolotl’s peace was much disturbed by a conspiracy which nearly put an end to his life. It seems that for a long time a number of powerful Chichimec nobles had regarded with growing disfavor the civilization which the emperor, his son, and his grandson, were so anxious to advance, though whether this was their only reason for conspiring against the old monarch’s life is not clear. Of course any plot which tended to weaken the Chichimec empire called for the sympathy of the people of Culhuacan and the Toltecs generally throughout the country,[V-64]See Id., tom. ii., pp. 266-71. and thus the discontented faction grew to be quite formidable. At first the conspirators confined themselves to grumbling, and made no active demonstration; but as time went on and the aged emperor showed no signs of failing, their impatience for his death grew unbearable, and finally they deliberately plotted his assassination.

During the later years of his life Xolotl left the government almost entirely in the hands of his son Nopaltzin, and passed the greater part of his time in the royal gardens at Tezcuco. He had several times expressed a wish to have an additional supply of water brought into these grounds, and it was in gratifying his desire that the traitors attempted to take his life. The new supply having been introduced from a neighboring mountain stream, the conspirators waited until a time when the emperor was supposed to be reposing in a low-lying part of the gardens, and then suddenly breaking down a dam which had been constructed for the purpose, they let the water overflow the grounds. But their design was happily frustrated. It happened that Xolotl had not lain down in the usual spot, but had sought an elevation, where the flood could not reach him. From his conduct it would seem that he had been apprised of the plot, for instead of being disconcerted, he made merry over the disaster, saying: “I have long been convinced of the love of my subjects; but I now perceive that they love me even more than I imagined; I wished to increase the supply of water for my gardens, and, behold, they even exceed my wishes; therefore I will commemorate their devotion with feasts.” And he accordingly gave orders that the next few days should be devoted to public rejoicing, to the great confusion of his enemies. But the old monarch’s heart was sore within him, nevertheless, and the treachery of his subjects weighed heavily upon him.[V-65]Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 59-60; Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 343; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 138-9.

But the disaffection that had given rise to this iniquitous plot was not quelled by its failure, and received a new impulse from a love-quarrel which led to serious consequences. Before narrating this event, it should be stated that Ameyal, henceforth known as Achitometl,[V-66]See Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 265. This writer and Torquemada are the only authorities who use the name Ameyal at any time. had been released from captivity, probably through the influence of his sister, Nopaltzin’s wife, and that Nonohualcatl[V-67]See note 27. had succeeded to the throne of Culhuacan by reason of Huetzin’s falling heir to his father’s seigniory of Coatlichan.[V-68]Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 272, writes: ‘C’était probablement sur la promesse de recevoir la main de sa (Achitometl’s) fille que Huetzin avait renoncé au trône de Culhuacan.’

Revolt of Yacanex

Now, Achitometl had a daughter named Atotoztli, whose exceeding beauty and high rank brought countless admirers to her feet. Most favored among these, or most daring, it is not clear which, was Yacanex,[V-69]Spelt also Yanex, Yacazozolotl, Yacatzotzoloc, and Ixcazozolot.lord of Tepetlaoztoc, and vassal of Huetzin. This noble presented himself before Achitometl, and imperiously demanded his daughter’s hand. Angered at his insolence, the Culhua prince responded that Atotoztli was promised to Huetzin, but that if she were not he could never entertain a request made in such a manner. Yacanex, furious at this rebuff, but not in a position to proceed to extremes at the moment, returned to his fief and set about stirring up a rebellion against his rival and suzerain, Huetzin. His own people rose to a man at his call, and he was soon joined by several powerful neighboring chiefs.[V-70]Among these were Ocotox, or Acotoch, and Coacuech, who, according to Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 212, were disaffected towards the empire because agriculture had been forced upon them and tribute exacted in field produce; Quauhtla, lord of Oztoticpac, and Tochin Tecuhtli, lord of Coyuhuacan, who had fallen into disgrace in the following manner: Chiconquauhtli, Xolotl’s son-in-law, died suddenly, and was buried without notice being sent to the emperor. Xolotl thereupon dispatched Tochin Tecuhtli, to offer condolence to the widow, his daughter, and to appoint Omicxipan, a noted noble of that province, governor. Tochin Tecuhtli did as he was ordered, but instead of returning to Xolotl with a report of his mission, he went to Huetzin of Coatlichan. To punish this disrespect, or treason, as Torquemada calls it, Xolotl deprived Tochin Tecuhtli of his lordship of Coyuhuacan and exiled him to Tepetlaoztoc. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 58, 65; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 142; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 15; Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 267-9. According to Brasseur, Yacanex, having gathered his forces, marched to Culhuacan, and there repeated his demand to Achitometl; but that prince reminded the rebellious noble of his promise to Huetzin, and declared his determination to yield his daughter’s hand to no one else. Upon this Yacanex returned, with threats, to Tepetlaoztoc.[V-71]This is the account given by Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 274. Most writers do not mention this expedition to Culhuacan. There his army was swelled by a number of malcontents, among whom were two of Huetzin’s sons, who thought themselves robbed of their inheritance, because their father had left the crown of Culhuacan to Nonohualcatl when he succeeded his father at Coatlichan. The provinces of Otompan and Tezcuco also broke out into open revolt, and before long there was danger that the whole of Anáhuac would be involved in war.

Xolotl and Nopaltzin now began to feel seriously alarmed. Tochin Tecuhtli, who, as we have seen, had been previously disgraced,[V-72]See note 70. and who had therefore joined the rebels, was secretly sent for, and induced by fair promises to desert Yacanex and take command of the imperial troops. He immediately proceeded to join Huetzin, and the two with their united forces then marched against the rebels. But Yacanex had taken up an unassailable position in the mountains, and for some months could not be drawn into an engagement. At length, his strength being greatly increased by the numbers that flocked to his standard, he decided to risk a battle and descended into the plain. The engagement, which lasted an entire day and was attended with great loss on both sides, ended in the rout and almost total annihilation of the rebels. Yacanex, with his ally Ocotox and a small remnant of his followers, escaped to the mountains in the east; and Huetzin’s two sons[V-73]Ixtlilxochitl, p. 212, says he fled toward Pánuco, and afterwards, p. 343, states that he was pardoned and re-instated. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 65, affirms that the rebel chief was slain in battle, and that his allies fled to Huexotzinco, where they died in misery. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 142-3, follows Torquemada. We must accept the former version, however, as Yacanex subsequently re-appears upon the scene. fled to Huexotzinco.[V-74]Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., p. 277.

Nopaltzin Emperor

At this time Nopaltzin, with his son Tlotzin and his grandson Quinantzin, then about nine or ten years old, were sojourning in the forest of Xolotl, near Tezcuco. Ocotox, who had escaped with Yacanex, conceived the bold idea of capturing this royal party. But the princes were secretly informed of the plot, and, gathering what men they could, they rushed suddenly upon the concealed enemy with such fury that but few escaped. Quinantzin, though so young, is said to have been foremost in the melée and to have fought so valorously that Xolotl rewarded him with the lordship of Tezcuco, and ceded him its revenues.[V-75]‘Para que en ella y su contorno mandase en calidad de soberano.’ Veytia, tom. ii., p. 56. He could scarcely have been sole lord of Tezcuco, for Veytia himself says that Tlotzin reigned there. Tochin Tecuhtli was well rewarded for his services; he received in marriage the hand of Tomiyauh, daughter or grand-daughter of Upantzin, king of Xaltocan, and was made lord of the seigniory of Huexotla, which comprised the towns of Teotihuacan and Otompan; Huetzin returned to Coatlichan and there married the Helen of the war, Atotoztli, daughter of Achitometl.[V-76]Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 212, 396-7; Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 50-8; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 65; Sahagun, tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 278; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 271-7. Thus was this rebellion brought to an end in the year 1151.[V-77]Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., p. 277.

A few years after these events Xolotl II. expired at Tenayocan in the arms of his son Nopaltzin, to whom he left the crown, exhorting him to maintain peace in the empire if possible.[V-78]The exact year in which Xolotl II. died is uncertain. Brasseur, whose chronology I have followed, does not give the date, though he says it occurred some years after the death of Huetzin, which occurred in 1154. Xolotl, says this author, at his death, ‘ne pouvait guère avoir plus de cent ou cent dix ans, et, en calculant les années de son règne, à commencer de son arrivée dans l’Anahuac, il aurait pu durer tout au plus de soixante à soixante-cinq ans.’ Hist., tom. ii., pp. 277-8. Veytia, tom. ii., p. 69, writes that Xolotl died in 1232. Torquemada, tom. i., p. 60, says that he was nearly 200 years of age when he died. Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 212, 343, 397, 452, says, 117 years after his departure from Amaquemecan, in the 112th year of his reign in Anahuac, and gives, as usual, several dates for Xolotl’s death, namely: 1075, 1127, 1074, and 1121. Rios, Compend. Hist. Mex., p. 7, says that he died at the age of 160, after a reign of 99 years.

After the body of the late emperor had been interred with the customary ceremonies, Nopaltzin was crowned Chichimecatl Tecuhtli, and formally received the homage of his vassals. The coronation fêtes were on a scale of unusual magnificence, and lasted forty days.[V-79]Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 61-2, gives the speeches delivered on the occasion.

In spite of the wishes of the late emperor, Nopaltzin’s reign was anything but a peaceful one. Anáhuac was at this time divided into a great number of states, many of which had their peculiar languages, manners, and customs. The principal of these divisions were Tenayocan, Coatlichan, Azcapuzalco, Xaltocan, Quauhtitlan, Huexotla, and Culhuacan. Each of these communities was exceedingly watchful of its own interests and regarded all the others with more or less jealousy. In the early part of his reign the people of Tulancingo rebelled, and Nopaltzin marched in person to subdue them; it is doubtful, however, if he would have succeeded had not Tlotzin opportunely come to his aid, when, after a campaign of nineteen days, victory was obtained.[V-80]Torquemada, tom. i., p. 66; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 212-13; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 140-2; Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 71-3, 78; Rios, Compend. Hist. Mex., p. 8; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 281-8. On another occasion, Aculhua, King of Azcapuzalco, usurped the lands of Chalchiuhcua, lord of Tepotzotlan, at a time when Nopaltzin was too busy to prevent it.

In 1171 Nonohualcatl, king of Culhuacan, died and was succeeded by Achitometl, or Ameyal.[V-81]We have seen that according to the account given by Veytia, and others, of the events which led to the first trouble between the Chichimecs and the people of Culhuacan, Achitometl succeeded to the throne immediately after the death of Nauhyotl, no mention being made of the reigns of Huetzin or Nonohualcatl. See pp. 303-4. This prince, whose life had been such an eventful one, labored hard to advance civilization, and during his life the city of Culhuacan made great progress. But his reign was a short one, and he had been on the throne but a few years, when he died, and was succeeded by his son Icxochitlanex.

Nopaltzin, following the example set by his father, did all in his power to further Toltec culture. Great attention was paid to agriculture; masters were appointed in the several towns to teach the various arts, new laws were made and old ones revised, and civilization began to assume a higher phase than it had hitherto done since the fall of the Toltec empire.

Footnotes

[V-1] Whether this Amaquemecan was the original home of the Chichimecs or not is uncertain. According to Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 355, it certainly was not, since he states that it was founded in 958 by Xolotl Tochinteuctli. The ancestors of the Xolotl who invaded Anáhuac, he adds, tom. ii., p. 199, ‘sortis de Chicomoztoc, avaient conquis le royaume d’Amaquemé, où ils avaient établi leur résidence.’Concerning the location and extent of Amaquemecan the authorities differ greatly. Thus Ixtlilxochitl gives its area as 2000 by 1000 leagues, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., p. 335. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 40, places its frontier 200 leagues north of Jalisco, which Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 132, thinks too near, since no traces of it exist, he says, within 1200 miles. Boturini, Idea, p. 141, places Amaquemecan in Michoacan. Arlegui, Chrón. Zacatecas, p. 7, among the wild tribes north of New Mexico. Cabrera, Teatro, p. 58, in Chiapas.

[V-2] Spelled also Achcauhtzin, and Axcauhtzin.

[V-3] ‘L’étymologie du nom de Xolotl offre de grandes difficultés. Dans son acceptation ordinaire, il signifie esclave, valet, servant, et cependant on le voit appliqué à plusieurs princes comme un titre très-élevé. Lorenzana, dans ses annotations aux Lettres de Fernand Cortès, le traduit par Ojo, œil, et on le lui donna, dit-il, à cause de sa vigilance. Mais dans quelle langue a-t-il cette signification?’ Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 199.

[V-4] So says Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 39; but according to Boturini, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 231, Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., p. 337, and Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 200, Acauhtzin reigned alone. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 133, affirms that the old king divided the kingdom equally between his two sons.

[V-5] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 40-1, gives in full Xolotl’s speech to his lords. Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 337, relates that he appointed Oyome as the rendezvous. Brasseur de Bourbourg, as before stated, does not suppose Xolotl to have shared the Chichimec throne with his brother Acauhtzin; he therefore tells the story as if Xolotl induced the great nobles to favor his project of invasion by his eloquence and argument, but used no kingly authority in the matter.

Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. i., pp. 302-3, tom. ii., pp. 3-4, 13, assigns an altogether different cause for the Chichimec invasion of Anáhuac. He affirms that when Topiltzin (Acxitl), the Toltec monarch, fled from Tollan, he went to Acauhtzin, the Chichimec sovereign, to whom he was distantly related, told him his sorrows, and ceded in his favor all rights to a land which he refused to revisit; whereupon Acauhtzin invested his brother Xolotl with the sovereignty of Tollan.

The date of the events recorded above is very uncertain. Veytia states that the Chichimecs left their country for Anáhuac in 1117, one year after the fall of the Toltec dynasty. Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 7. Ixtlilxochitl allows a period of four to six years to elapse before their arrival at Tollan; as usual, this writer is not consistent with himself in different parts of his work, and places the arrival in various years between 962 and 1015. Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 208, 337, 395, 451. Torquemada, always avoiding exact dates, gives on one page an interval of five years between the destruction of the Toltec empire and the arrival of the Chichimecs, and on another page an interval of nine years between the former event and the departure from Amaquemecan. Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 45-6. Clavigero places the Chichimec arrival at Anáhuac in 1170. Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 132, tom. iv., pp. 40-51. Boturini, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 233, allows a lapse of nine years between the Toltec fall and the Chichimec arrival.

[V-6] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 44; Boturini, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., pp. 231-2; Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 337, 375; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., pp. 4, 8-9. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 134, expresses his disbelief in the numbers given. ‘Rien ne justifie les millions que lui assignent les auteurs; ils ont compris évidement sous ce chiffre exagéré les diverses émigrations qui se succédèrent depuis lors sans interruption dans la vallée jusqu’à la fondation du royaume d’Acolhuacan.’ Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. i., p. 202.

[V-7] Brasseur gives the names of these six chiefs, as: Acatomatl, Quautlapal, Cozcaquauh, Mitliztac, Tecpan, and Itzaquauh, giving Ixtlilxochitl and Torquemada as his authorities; the latter writer, however, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 44, distinctly affirms that only one chief, Acatomatl, was sent in advance.

[V-8] Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 134, states that they reached Tollan in eighteen months from the time of their departure from Amaquemecan. Ixtlilxochitl gives the date as 5 Tecpatl. Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 395.

[V-9] ‘Les auteurs sont généralement d’accord pour placer la date de cet établissement de l’an 1070 à 1080. Quelques-uns le portent exactement à l’an 1068. Xoloc, aujourd’hui Xoloque, village de fort peu d’importance, à 12 l. environ au nord de Mexico, et à 3 l. du lac de San-Cristoval. Une autre explication met cette localité au pied d’une colline, à une lieue environ vers le nord de Xaltocan.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ.; tom. ii., p. 214. See also, Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., pp. 8-10.

[V-10] Cempoala was twelve leagues north of Mexico; Tepepulco was four leagues farther east. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 42.

[V-11] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 43, writes Tlatzalan and Coyohuacan.

[V-12] Founded 1120, Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 12. Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 338-9; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 42-4.

[V-13] ‘Le Codex Xolotl, qui fait partie de la coll. de M. Aubin, donne positivement Amacui pour père et pour prédécesseur de Nopaltzin.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 224.

[V-14] ‘Xolotl étant le titre du chef principal des Chichimèques, il convenait à l’un aussi bien qu’à l’autre. Tout concourt, d’ailleurs, à prouver que, dans le Xolotl des auteurs, il y a eu divers personnages; c’est le seul moyen d’expliquer cette longue vie de près de deux cents ans qu’ils lui accordent.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 224.

[V-15] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 46-7; Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 339-40; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 28; Boturini, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 232; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 14.

[V-16] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 224-6.

[V-17] ‘Porque fué una de las que ménos padecieron en el estrago pasado.’ Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 18.

[V-18] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 44, spells this ruler’s name Ecitin, which, says Brasseur, ‘signifie les trois lièvres, de Citli, qui est le singulier, au pluriel Citin. S’agit-il ici d’un seul individu ou de trois du nom de Citin, cité ailleurs comme celui d’une famille célèbre de laquelle prétendaient descendre les Alcohuas?’ Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 209.

[V-19] ‘Descendants du grand Nauhyotl.’ Id.

[V-20] Spelled Acxopal by Brasseur.

[V-21] Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., pp. 17-19; Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 333-4, 339; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 226-8.

[V-22] ‘Repartióla por las sinosidades, cuevas, y rincones de las serranias, proporcionándola á la caza.’ Granados y Galvez, Tardes Amer., p. 18; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 232-3.

[V-23] For names of places peopled by the Chichimecs see Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 460, 209. See also Id., pp. 339, 395, 451; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 45; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 134; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., pp. 14-5; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., pp. 12-13.

[V-24] To which his descendants added Huactlatohuani, ‘lord of the world.’ Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., p. 451.

[V-25] The inhabitants of this province were known as Culhuas, and are not to be confounded with the Acolhuas, notwithstanding many of the old writers make no distinction between the two peoples.

[V-26] Veytia writes the names of those who governed at Culhuacan; Xiuhtemoc, with his wife Ozolaxochitl, and son Nauhyotl; and Catauhtlix with his wife Ixmixuch and son Acxocuauh. Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 18. Torquemada writes them respectively: Xiuhthemal, Oceloxroch, Coyol; Cocauhtli, Yhuixoch, Acxoquauh. Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 45. Boturini writes: Xiuchtimatl, Oceloxochitl, Coyotl; Cocoahtli, Yhyozochtl, Acxoquauhtli. Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 232; Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., p. 333.

[V-27] Brasseur states that according to the Codex Chimalpopoca, Acxoquauh was a younger brother of Nauhyotl; we have already seen this prince spoken of, however, as the son of Cocauhtli, Xiuhtemoc’s associate; see note 26. Nonohualcatl, says Brasseur, was, without doubt, Nauhyotl’s eldest son. ‘C’est ce qui parait d’après la manière dont ce prince succéda au trône après Huetzin, avant Achitometl ou Ameyal.’ Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 222.

[V-28] Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 222, objecting to the term usurpation in this connection, writes: ‘La loi toltèque excluait du sang suprême tout prince qui se montrait d’avance incapable de l’occuper. C’était probablement le cas où se trouvait Pochotl. Ixtlilxochitl et Veytia, qui accusent Nauhyotl d’usurpation, avaient oublié ou ignoraient la loi de succession toltèque.’ It is not probable, however, that Topiltzin either forgot or was ignorant of the Toltec law of succession, when he directed that his son should be associated with Xiuhtemoc when he came of suitable age.

[V-29] Also called Texochipantzin. Torquemada gives the name of Pochotl’s wife Huitzitzilin, though whether he refers to the same lady is not certain. Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 56.

[V-30] Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., pp. 18-23; Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 340; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 220-3.

[V-31] The reader will recollect that Veytia affirms that Topiltzin Acxitl fled to his relative Acauhtzin, brother of Xolotl I., and ceded to him his right to Anáhuac.

[V-32] According to Brasseur, these or similar overtures occurred in the reign of Xolotl I. Xolotl’s ambassadors, he says, ‘avaient plus d’une fois pressenti Xiuhtemal à ce sujet, mais celui-ci, trop prudent et trop ami de sa patrie, appréhendant, sans doute, de rendre les Chichimèques trop puissants, avait constamment éludé ses propositions en faisant valoir les droits de Pochotl, à qui seul il appartiendrait de prendre une décision dans cette matière délicate, une fois qu’il aurait été mis en possession du trône.’ Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 221.

[V-33] Year 1141. Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., pp. 30-5. 984 to 1190. Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 209, 342-3, 396, 452.

[V-34] Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., pp. 45-6. According to Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 238, this lady was the eldest daughter of Pochotl. Tzontecoma was one of the Acolhua chiefs, as will be seen hereafter.

[V-35] The meaning of this request is not clear. It was probably Xolotl’s design to get Huetzin into Culhuacan under pretense of learning the art of government—though it would seem he might have done this at his father’s court—and then by some strategem place him upon the throne.

[V-36] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 57-8. Ixtlilxochitl and Veytia give a different version of this affair of Huetzin’s. Itzmitl, or Ixmitl, (known also as Tlacoxin, or Tlacoxinqui) proceeded to Tezcuco, where Xolotl was superintending the construction of a palace and garden, and reminded him of a promise of extra favors made to Tzontecoma, by way of compensation for the inferior bride which he had been compelled to accept; whereupon Xolotl gave the lordship of Tepetlaoztoc to his son Huetzin. This occurred, says Veytia, in 1207, more than 60 years after the Culhuacan war. Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., pp. 46-7; Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 341-2.

[V-37] See note 34.

[V-38] Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 237-51.

[V-39] Aztlan ‘était située au nord-ouest de la Californie…. C’est l’opinion d’un grand nombre d’écrivains. M. Aubin croit qu’ils habitaient la péninsule appelée aujourd’hui la basse Californie, et que là était Aztlan.’Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 292. Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., p. 179, and Essai Pol., tom. i., p. 53, followed by Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., pp. 6-7, 19, place Aztlan north of 42° N. lat.; Foster, Pre-Hist. Races, pp. 340-1, Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 20, refer to the account of Oñate’s explorations in New Mexico, Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., pp. 32, 47-8, 111-12, 625, and point to the golden Copalla, with its rumored Aztec-speaking people. See also, Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 454; Schoolcraft’s Arch., vol. i., p. 68; Ruxton, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1850, tom. cxxvi., pp. 40-9. Fontaine, How the World was Peopled, pp. 149-50, reminds us that the Aztec tl sound is found in the N.W., and considers the mounds in the N.E. to be evidences of Aztec wanderings. Pickering’s Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 41; Chevalier, Mexique, pp. 54-5. Prichard, Nat. Hist. Man, vol. ii., pp. 514-16, regards the Moquis in Arizona as the most northern Aztec remnants. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 156-9, places Aztlan north of the Colorado River, in accordance with some maps of the 16th century, and regards this stream as the water said to have been crossed on the migration, whilst Boturini, Idea, pp. 126-8, holds this to be the Gulf of California. Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 298, 301; Rios, Compend. Hist. Mex., p. 11. Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 79-82, 134-5, traces Nahuatlaca routes north of Mexico. Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. 1, looks to Florida for the ancient home. Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 144, identifies Aztlan with the later Chicomoztoc, like Acosta and Duran, but locates it in the Jalisco region. Bartlett’s Pers. Nar., vol. ii., p. 283. Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 91, ventures a little farther north, to Sonora; see also, Möllhausen, Reisen, tom. ii., pp. 143-55. Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 128, considers Aztlan to have been near Culiacan, but on p. 205, and in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1851, tom. cxxxi., p. 281, he seems to favor the more direct north. Cabrera, Teatro, pp. 94-6, advances some argument for its location in Chiapas. See also, Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, pp. 532-3. Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 45, remarks that the palm-tree on the migration-map indicates a southern origin, but Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., p. 7, considers that this may be a thoughtless insertion of the painter. See remarks on pp. 216-18 of this volume, and pp. 681-4, 788-9 of vol. iv. For further remarks on position of Aztlan, and origin of Nahuatlacas, see: Norman’s Rambles in Yuc., pp. 266-7; Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. 54, et seq., Brasseur de Bourbourg, Esquisses, pp. 27-8; Id., Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 191-7; Id., Popol Vuh, pp. clxxxiii.-cxcvi.; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 203-5; Ruxton’s Adven. Mex., pp. 192-4; Cremony’s Apaches, pp. 89-90; Gregg’s Com. Prairies, vol. i., p. 284; Smith’s Human Species, pp. 252-3; Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. ii., p. 323.

[V-40] Gallatin, Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 205, thinks they may have had a share in the dismemberment of the Toltec empire, or may have seized the opportunity offered by the Toltec emigration to enter into the deserted lands. Cabrera states that they were driven from Aztlan. Teatro, p. 94.

[V-41] Duran gives the description of Aztlan given by Cueuhcoatl to Montezuma the elder: ‘Nuestros Padres moraron en equel felice y dichoso Lugar que llamáron Aztlán, que quiere decir “Blancura.” En este Lugar hay un gran Cerro en medio del agua, que llamaban Culhuacan, por que tiene la punta algo retuerta hácia abajo, y à esta causa se llama Culhuacan, que quiere decir “Cerro tuerto.” En este Cerro habia unas bocas ó cuebas ó concavidados donde habitáron nuestros Padres y Abuelos por muchos años: alli tubiéron mucho descanso debajo de este Nombre Mexitin y Azteca: alli gozaban de mucho cantidad de Patos, de todo género de gazzas; de cuerbos marinos, y Gallinas de agua, y de Gallaretas; gozaban del canto y melodia de los Pájaros de las cabezas coloradas y amarillas; gozáron de muchas diferencias de grandes y hermosos Pescados; gozáron de gran frescura de arboledas, que habia por aquellas riberas, y de Fuentes cercadas de sauces y de Sabinas y de Alisos grandes y hermosos; andaban en canoas, y hacian camellones en que sembraban maiz, chile, tomates, huauhtli, frisoles, y de todo genero de semillas de las que comemos,’ &c. Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. 27.

[V-42] Ramirez, in García y Cubas, Atlas; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom., i., p. 78; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 157-8; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 17; Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. i., p. 3; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 399-300. The date of the departure is shown by the maps to be Ce Tecpatl, which is calculated by Chimalpain, Gallatin, Gama, and Veytia to be 1064, based on the hypothesis that the adjustment of the calendar in the year Ce Tochtli, which took place during the journey, corresponds to 1090. Brasseur would probably assign a later date, since he writes: ‘Les annales mexicaines nous montrent généralement les premières tribus de cette nation à Aztlan en l’an 1 Tecpatl, 1064.’ Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 292.

[V-43] Chicomoztoc is placed by Clavigero about twenty miles south of Zacatecas, but is regarded by Duran, Acosta, and others, as identical with, or within the region of Aztlan. According to Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 293, they arrived here 1116. Hellwald, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 339, agrees with this date, by making them arrive at Chicomoztoc 26 years after their departure from Aztlan, which, he says, took place in 1090. Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 92, states that they arrived 104 years after their departure. On the Gemelli map Oztotlan, ‘place of grottoes,’ is given as a place where they halted for a long time, from 160 to 200 years after leaving Aztlan, and may be the same as Chicomoztoc. Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcviii., p. 145, says that the Tlascaltecs, who according to most authors were one of the Nahuatlaca tribes, arrived at Chicomoztoc in the year 5 Tochtli.

[V-44] See Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 455-6; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. ii., lib. ii., cap. x.; Duran, Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. 2; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 228, 247; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 151; Hellwald, in Smithsonian Rept., 1866, p. 339; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 78; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 17; Motolinia, Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 7-9; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 154; Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. v., p. 864; Gemelli Careri, in Churchill’s Col. Voyages, vol. iv., p. 482; Humboldt, Vues, tom. ii., pp. 168-71; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., p. 145. Brasseur de Bourbourg gives as the tribes that left Aztlan: the Huexotzincas, Chalcas, Xochimilcas, Quitlahuacas, Malinalcas, Chichimecas, Tépanecas, and Matlaltzincas. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 292.

[V-45] Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 78-9; Hist. de las Ynd., p. 454; Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. 2. On Boturini’s map the hieroglyphs of the eight tribes are seen at Chicomoztoc for the last time; the priests or leaders of the Aztecs alone pursue the remainder of the course. As the Aztec hieroglyph does not appear to be included among these eight, it might be assumed that the Aztecs were composed of certain families belonging to one or more of the eight tribes, but this does not appear to be the view taken by the authorities. Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., pp. 25-6, remarks that the map indicates a consultation of six of the families with their god, and the departure of two. The non-recurrence of the tribal hieroglyphs he explains by saying that the families are henceforth designated only by the chiefs who lead them. This map cannot, however, be expected to be more accurate than the sources from which Torquemada, Acosta, and others, derived their information.

[V-46] Quetzalin according to Brasseur, who adds: ‘Dans le texte, il y a Huetzalin, ce qui est probablement une faute du copiste.’ Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 263. This chief may possibly be the same as Huitziton.

[V-47] Veytia names this chief Xochimilco, which Brasseur says ‘ne peut être qu’une erreur.’ Id., p. 264.

[V-48] Id. Ixtlilxochitl and Veytia place the arrival of the Xochimilcas in Tlotzin’s reign. Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 458; Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 88. Duran says they were the first to leave Chicomoztoc, and the third to arrive in Anáhuac. This writer gives a number of places founded by them besides Xochimilco. Hist. Indias, MS., tom. i., cap. 2., 13. Acosta says they were the first to arrive. Hist. de las Ynd., p. 488.

[V-49] Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., pp. 88-9; Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 458; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 263-4.

[V-50] Now Cuernavaca.

[V-51] Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 92-3, 141-3.

[V-52] Many writers who do not directly connect the Acolhuas with the Nahuatlacas, assert that they came from the same region, and were of the same race. Clavigero places the ancient home in Teoacolhuacan, near Amaquemecan. Veytia considers them to be the descendants of Toltec colonists who were settled along the Pacific coast. Ixtlilxochitl affirms that they were neighbors of the Huehue Tlapallan Toltecs and of Chichimec stock.

[V-53] ‘Citin, pluriel de Citli, lièvre, nom apparemment d’une tribu du Nord, comme les Pied-Noir, les Serpents, etc.’ Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 232. Rios, Compend. Hist. Mex., p. 7, says they derived their origin from the family of Citin or Ulcua. Motolinia says of the Acolhuas: ‘Este nombre los quedó de un valiente capitan que tuvieron … Acoli, que así se llama aquel hueso que vá desde el codo hasta el hombro, y del mismo hueso llaman al hombro Acoli.’ He was very brave, and taller than other men. Hist. Indios, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 11. Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 301, says that they claimed descent from a valiant chief named Chichimecatlh, who once tied a strap round the arm of Quetzalcoatl, near the shoulder. This was regarded as a great feat, for it was said that he that could bind a god could bind all men.

[V-54] Brasseur de Bourbourg says nothing about the Otomís coming in with the Acolhuas and Tepanecs at this time.

[V-55] This, according to Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 51-4, who is followed by Brasseur, was Coatetl, daughter of Chalchiuhtlatonac, or Chalchiuhtlanetzin, lord of Chalco, who, says Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 231, ‘paraît avoir été l’un des frères ou des fils de Nauhyotl II.’ According to other authors, Tzontecoma’s bride was named Cihuatetzin, and her father was a Toltec, lord of Tlalmanalco. Each of these names is spelled in a great variety of ways. See Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 341, 395, 452; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., pp. 39-43; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 136-7; Granados y Galvez, Tardes Amer., pp. 19, 142-3; Müller, Reisen, tom. iii., p. 45; Müller, Amerikanische Urreligionen, p. 526; Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. i., p. 3; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 92.

[V-56] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 233-4.

[V-57] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 236-7.

[V-58] See note 27.

[V-59] Named also Huetzin, says Brasseur.

[V-60] Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 47, writes the names Tlotzin Pocothl, Toxtequihuatzin, and Atencatzin. Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 210, Tlotzinpochotl, Huixaquentochintecuhtli, Coxanatzin Atencatl; on p. 342 he differs in the following: Toltzin, Toxtequihuatzin, Atencatzin Apotzoetzin; on p. 395, Tloxtequihuatzin; on p. 461, Tlotzinpochotl, Atzotgocoltzin, Totzin. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 62, Tlotzin, Quauhtequihua, or Tochintecuhtli, Popozoc. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 141, Apopozoc. Nopaltzin had also another son, named Tenancacaltzin, who in later years gave much trouble to the emperor Quinantzin, and who, according to the Spanish authorities, was a bastard. Brasseur, however, finds reason to believe that this prince was Nopaltzin’s legitimate son by a former marriage. Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 254.

[V-61] Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., pp. 342, 395, 452; Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., pp. 47-9; Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 63; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 141.

[V-62] Commenting upon the statement of Ixtlilxochitl, Hist. Chich., in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 211, that Xolotl abandoned to Tlotzin not only the revenues of the province of Chalco, but also of several other provinces as far as Mizteca, Brasseur writes: ‘Il y a évidemment exagération; jamais les armes de Xolotl n’allèrent aussi loin, et il est douteux même que les provinces renfermées dans la vallée lui fussent toutes tributaires.’ Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 258.

[V-63] Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 262.

[V-64] See Id., tom. ii., pp. 266-71.

[V-65] Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 59-60; Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 343; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 138-9.

[V-66] See Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 265. This writer and Torquemada are the only authorities who use the name Ameyal at any time.

[V-67] See note 27.

[V-68] Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 272, writes: ‘C’était probablement sur la promesse de recevoir la main de sa (Achitometl’s) fille que Huetzin avait renoncé au trône de Culhuacan.’

[V-69] Spelt also Yanex, Yacazozolotl, Yacatzotzoloc, and Ixcazozolot.

[V-70] Among these were Ocotox, or Acotoch, and Coacuech, who, according to Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough’s Mex. Antiq., vol. ix., p. 212, were disaffected towards the empire because agriculture had been forced upon them and tribute exacted in field produce; Quauhtla, lord of Oztoticpac, and Tochin Tecuhtli, lord of Coyuhuacan, who had fallen into disgrace in the following manner: Chiconquauhtli, Xolotl’s son-in-law, died suddenly, and was buried without notice being sent to the emperor. Xolotl thereupon dispatched Tochin Tecuhtli, to offer condolence to the widow, his daughter, and to appoint Omicxipan, a noted noble of that province, governor. Tochin Tecuhtli did as he was ordered, but instead of returning to Xolotl with a report of his mission, he went to Huetzin of Coatlichan. To punish this disrespect, or treason, as Torquemada calls it, Xolotl deprived Tochin Tecuhtli of his lordship of Coyuhuacan and exiled him to Tepetlaoztoc. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 58, 65; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., p. 142; Vetancvrt, Teatro Mex., pt ii., p. 15; Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 267-9.

[V-71] This is the account given by Brasseur, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 274. Most writers do not mention this expedition to Culhuacan.

[V-72] See note 70.

[V-73] Ixtlilxochitl, p. 212, says he fled toward Pánuco, and afterwards, p. 343, states that he was pardoned and re-instated. Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 65, affirms that the rebel chief was slain in battle, and that his allies fled to Huexotzinco, where they died in misery. Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. i., pp. 142-3, follows Torquemada. We must accept the former version, however, as Yacanex subsequently re-appears upon the scene.

[V-74] Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., p. 277.

[V-75] ‘Para que en ella y su contorno mandase en calidad de soberano.’ Veytia, tom. ii., p. 56. He could scarcely have been sole lord of Tezcuco, for Veytia himself says that Tlotzin reigned there.

[V-76] Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 212, 396-7; Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 50-8; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 65; Sahagun, tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 278; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 271-7.

[V-77] Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., p. 277.

[V-78] The exact year in which Xolotl II. died is uncertain. Brasseur, whose chronology I have followed, does not give the date, though he says it occurred some years after the death of Huetzin, which occurred in 1154. Xolotl, says this author, at his death, ‘ne pouvait guère avoir plus de cent ou cent dix ans, et, en calculant les années de son règne, à commencer de son arrivée dans l’Anahuac, il aurait pu durer tout au plus de soixante à soixante-cinq ans.’ Hist., tom. ii., pp. 277-8. Veytia, tom. ii., p. 69, writes that Xolotl died in 1232. Torquemada, tom. i., p. 60, says that he was nearly 200 years of age when he died. Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 212, 343, 397, 452, says, 117 years after his departure from Amaquemecan, in the 112th year of his reign in Anahuac, and gives, as usual, several dates for Xolotl’s death, namely: 1075, 1127, 1074, and 1121. Rios, Compend. Hist. Mex., p. 7, says that he died at the age of 160, after a reign of 99 years.

[V-79] Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 61-2, gives the speeches delivered on the occasion.

[V-80] Torquemada, tom. i., p. 66; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 212-13; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 140-2; Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 71-3, 78; Rios, Compend. Hist. Mex., p. 8; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 281-8.

[V-81] We have seen that according to the account given by Veytia, and others, of the events which led to the first trouble between the Chichimecs and the people of Culhuacan, Achitometl succeeded to the throne immediately after the death of Nauhyotl, no mention being made of the reigns of Huetzin or Nonohualcatl. See pp. 303-4.

Chapter VI • The Chichimec Period—Continued • 14,400 Words

Migration of the Aztecs—Nations of Anáhuac at Beginning of the Thirteenth Century—The Aztecs submit to the Tepanecs—Reign of the Emperor Tlotzin—Quinantzin, King of Tezcuco and Chichimec Emperor—Transfer of the Capital—Tenancacaltzin usurps the Imperial Throne at Tenayocan—The Usurper defeated by Tepanecs and Mexicans—Acolnahuacatl proclaimed Emperor—Quinantzin’s Victories—Battle at Poyauhtlan—Quinantzin again Emperor—Toltec Institutions at Tezcuco—Events at Culhuacan—Mexicans driven from Chapultepec—Alliance between Mexicans and Culhuas—Religious Strife—Foundation of Mexico—Reign of the Emperor Techotl—Political Changes—Ruin of the Culhua Power—Tezozomoc, King of Azcapuzalco—Separation of Mexicans and Tlatelulcas—Acamapichtli II., King of Mexico—Quaquauhpitzahuac, King of Tlatelulco.

The last of the so-called foreign tribes that came into notice in Anáhuac, from out the confusion that followed the downfall of the Toltecs, was the Aztec, or Mexican, which settled at Chapultepec in the last years of the twelfth century.[VI-1]1194, Codex Chimalpopoca; 1140 or 1189, Ixtlilxochitl; 1245, Clavigero; 1331, Gondra; 1298, Veytia, Gama, and Gallatin. According to their traditions they set out on their migration from Aztlan together with the Nahuatlaca tribes, whose arrival has already been noticed; but were left behind by those tribes at Chicomoztoc, one of their first stopping-places. The migration of the Aztecs from Chicomoztoc is described much more fully than that of the tribes that preceded them; but in the details of this journey, so far as dates, names, and events are concerned, the traditions are inextricably confused. I have already expressed my opinion that some of these traditions may refer very vaguely to the pre-Toltec events in Nahua history, but that they chiefly refer to the movements of the Nahua, or Chichimec, tribes which occupied the Toltec provinces during the continuance of the empire, and which after a long struggle became powerful in and about the Valley of Mexico. We have no means of determining in a manner at all satisfactory whether Aztlan and Chicomoztoc were in Central America or in the region of Zacatecas and Jalisco; nor indeed of proving that they were not in Alaska, New Mexico, or on the Mississippi, although there is absolutely no evidence in favor of the latter locations; but we know at least that all the halting-places of the migrating tribes after Chicomoztoc were in the immediate vicinity of Anáhuac. The record as a whole is exactly what might be expected, were the traditions of half a dozen kindred bands respecting their wanderings about the central plateau, and efforts to establish themselves in permanent homes, united in one consecutive narrative; and I have little doubt that such was substantially the process by which the Spanish version of the Aztec migration was formed. Whatever the cause of the confusion that reigns in that version, it is utterly useless to attempt its clearing-up; and I dispose of the whole matter by simply presenting in a note the dates and successive halting-places attributed to this migration by the principal authorities; the opinions of these authorities respecting the location of Aztlan and Chicomoztoc have been previously given.[VI-2]I give here as compactly as possible the course of the Aztec migration as given by the leading authorities:—Leave Aztlan 1 Tecpatl, 1064 A.D., and travel 104 years to Chicomoztoc, where they remain 9 years; thence to Cohuatlicamac, 3 years, Matlahuacallan, 6, Apanco, 5, Chimalco, 6, Pipiolcomic, 3, Tollan, 6, Cohuactepec (Coatepec), 3, Atlitlalacayan, 2, Atotonilco, 1, Tepexic, 5, Apasco, 3, Tzonpanco, 7, Tizayocan, 1, Ecatepec, 1, Tolpetlac, 3, Chimalpan, 4, Cohuatitlan, 2, Huexachtitlan, 3, Tecpayocan, 3, Tepeyacac (Guadalupe), 3, Pantitlan, 2 years, and thence to Chapultepec, arriving in 1298, after a migration of 185 years, which necessitates an addition of 49 years for their stay in Michoacan. Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 91-8. According to Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 77-82, they reached Huey Culhuacan one year after their start; the time consumed in reaching Chicomoztoc is not given, and no dates are mentioned. Otherwise the account agrees exactly with Veytia’s, except that an unnamed station is represented as having occupied 3 of the 6 years’ stay at Matlahuacallan; there are also a few slight differences in orthography. Tezozomoc’s account is as follows:—Aztlan, Culhuacan, Jalisco, Mechoacan, Malinalco (Lake Patzcuaro), Ocopipilla, Acahualcingo, Coatepec (in Tonalan), Atlitlanquian or Atitalaquia, Tequisquiac, Atengo, Tzompan, Cuachilgo, Xaltocan and Lake Chinamitl, Eycoac, Ecatepc, Aculhuacan, Tultepetlac, Huixachtitlan, Tecpayuca (in 2 Calli), Atepetlac, Coatlayauhcan, Tetepanco, Acolnahuac, Popotla (Tacuba), Chapultepec (Techcatepec and Techcatitlan) in 2 Tochtli. Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 5-8. Following Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 156-63, the Aztecs left Aztlan in 1160, crossed the Colorado River, stayed 3 years at Hueicolhuacan, went east to Chicomoztoc, where they separated from the Nahuatlaca tribes, then to Coatlicamac, and reached Tula in 1196, remaining 9 years; then spent 11 years in different places, reached Zumpanco in 1216, remaining 7 years, then Tizajocan, Tolpetlac, Tepejacac, and Chapultepec in 1245 during Nopaltzin’s reign. Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 124-9, merely makes some remarks on Clavigero’s account, fixing the departure, however, in 1064, and noting the completion of the first cycle in 1090 at Tlalixco. Gama, Dos Piedras, pt i., pp. 19-20, makes them leave Aztlan in 1 Tecpatl, 1064, and arrive at Tlalixco, or Acahualtzinco, in 1087, where they completed their first cycle in 1091, and remained 9 years. Acosta, pp. 454-62, says that 6 Nahuatlaca tribes left Aztlan in 820, and were 80 years in reaching Mexico. The Aztecs started in 1122, passed through Michoacan, and halted at Malinalco and Coatepec before reaching Chapultepec. Herrera, dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. x-xi, agrees with Acosta. Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. i, ii, iii, says they left Aztlan in Chicomoztoc, giving dates as by Acosta; but he also gives as stations, Patzcuaro, Malinalco, Ocipila, Acahualcingo, Coatepec, Tulla, Atlitlalacpan, Tequixquiac, Tzumpanco, Xaltocan, Ecatepec, Tulpetlac, Tepaneca, and Chapultepec. Sahagun, tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 145-6, vaguely states that the Mexicans went westward from the Seven Caves to a province called Culhuacan Mexico, whence they were ordered by their god to return, and passed through Tulla, Ichpuchco, Chiquiuhio near Ecatepec, to Chapultepec. According to Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 290-308, the other Nahuatlaca tribes left Aztlan from 1062 to 1068, but the Aztecs in 1 Tochtli, 1090. They pass through Téo-Culhuacan, Quahuitl-Icacan, 1091, Quinehuayan-Oztotl or Quinehuayan-Chicomoztoc, 1116, stay 11 years, Acahualtzinco or Tlalixco (now S. Juan del Rio), 1st cycle in 1143, stay 9 years, Tonalan, Lake Patzcuaro, Malinalco, Cohuatlycamac or Coatepec, 1174, stay 9 years, Apazco, Tzompanco, Tizayocan, Tepeyacac, Pantitlan, Popotlan, and arrive at Chapultepec in 1194, having been several times broken up into different bands on the way. Humboldt’s—Vues, tom. ii., p. 176, et seq.—interpretation of Gemelli Careri’s map—see vol. ii., pp. 543-7, of this work—gives the stations in the following order: From Colhuacan, the Mexican Ararat, 15 chiefs or tribes reach Aztlan, ‘land of flamingoes,’ north of 42°, which they leave in 1038, passing through Tocolco, ‘humiliation,’ Oztotlan, ‘place of grottoes,’ Mizquiahuala, Teotzapotlan, ‘place of divine fruit,’ Ilhuicatepec, Papantla, ‘large-leaved grass,’ Tzompanco, ‘place of human bones,’ Apazco, ‘clay vessel,’ Atlicalaguian, ‘crevice in which rivulet escapes,’ Quauhtitlan, ‘eagle grove,’ Atzcapotzalco, ‘ant-hill,’ Chalco, ‘place of precious stones,’ Pantitlan, ‘spinning-place,’ Tolpetlac, ‘rush mat,’ Quauhtepec, ‘eagle mountain,’ Tetepanco, ‘wall of many small stones,’ Chicomoztoc, ‘seven caves,’ Huitzquilocan, ‘place of thistles,’ Xaltepozauhcan, ‘place where the sand issues,’ Cozcaquauhco, ‘a vulture’, Techcatitlan, ‘place of obsidian mirrors,’ Azcaxochitl, ‘ant flower,’ Tepetlapan, ‘place of tepetate,’ Apan, ‘place of water,’ Teozomaco, ‘place of divine apes,’ Chapoltepec, ‘grasshopper hill.’ Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., pp. 5-7, repeats this interpretation. Ramirez, in García y Cubas, Atlas, justly ridicules the ‘Ararat’ or deluge theory, and confines the wanderings of the Aztecs to the regions about the lakes; 15 chiefs leave their home in Chalco Lake after tying 1st cycle. The stations are mostly adopted from Humboldt, without any opinion expressed of their accuracy, but there are a few additions and corrections in definitions, as follows:—Aztlan, where 2d and 3d cycle are tied, Cincotlan, 10 years, Tocolco, 4th cycle, Oztotlan, 5 years, Mizquiahuala, 5th cycle, Xalpan, 15 years, Tetepanco, ‘wall of many stones,’ 5 years, Oxitlipan, 10 years, Teotzapatlan, 4 years, Ilhuicatepec, 4 years, Papantla, meaning doubtful, 2 years, Tzonpanco, ‘place of skulls or bones,’ 5 years, Apazco, 4 years, Atlicalaquian, ‘where water collects,’ 2 years, Cauhtitlan, ‘near the eagle,’ 3 years, Azcapotzalco, ‘in the ant-hill,’ 6th cycle, 7 years, 1 year to Chalco, Pantitlan, ‘place of tiers,’ ‘place of departure,’ neither quite correct; Tolpetlac, 2 years, Epcohuac, ‘serpent,’ Cuauhtepec, 2 years, Chicomoztoc, 8 years, Huitzquilocal, 3 years, Xaltepozauhcan, doubtful, 4 years, Cozcacuauhco, 4 years, Techcatitlan, 5 years, Azcaxochic, 4 years, Tepetlapa, 5 years, Apan, ‘on the water,’ Teozomaco, ‘in the monkey of stone,’ 6 years, Chapoltepec, 4 years. The same author from the Boturini map—see vol. ii., pp. 547-50—derives the following: Left their island home, passed through Coloacan, stayed 5 days in a place not named, thence to Cuextecatlichocayan, Coatlicamac, 28 years, Tollan, 19, Atlicalaquiam, 10, Tlemaco, 5, Atotonilco, 5, Apazco, 12, Tzonpanco, 4, Xaltocan, 4, Acalhuacan, 4, Ehecatepec, 4, Tolpetlac, 8, Coatitlan, 20, Huixachtitlan, 4, Tecpayocan, 4, ——, Amalinalpan, 8, Pantitlan, 4, Acolnahuac, 4, Popotla, 4, ——, Atlacuihuayan or Tacubaya, 4, Chapoltepec, 20 years. Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., pp. 23-30, interprets the Boturini map as follows:—Leave Aztlan 1168, pass through Colhuacan, Cuatlicamaca, 1216-25, Apanco, 1226-9, Tlamaco, 1230-4, Tzompango, 1246, Azcapotzalco, 1250, Jaltocan, 1251-4, Colhuacan, 1258, Tolpetlac, 1262, Ecatepetl, 1270, Cuautitlan, Chalco, Tecpayocan, 1295, Pantitlan, Atotonilco, 1303, Azcapotzalco, 1311, Apan, 1315, Acaxochitl, 1319, Tlacuihuallan, 1327, Chapoltepetl, 1331-51.

The Aztec Migration

Some of the events and circumstances connected with the migration, however, must be noticed, although there is little agreement as to the place or date of their occurrence. At Aztlan the Aztecs are said to have crossed each year a great river or channel to Teo-Culhuacan, to make sacrifices in honor of the god Tetzauh. Prompted by the cry of a bird, as has already been related, they left their home under command of Huitziton, or Huitzilopochtli, probably identical with Mecitl, or Mexi, whence was derived their name of Mexicas, or Mexicans. They seem to have left Aztlan about 1090, and to have settled in Chicomoztoc, after several halts, in 1116.[VI-3]Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 292-5, on the authority of the Mem. de Culhuacan and other original documents. Chicomoztoc, to which Brasseur adds the name Quinehuayan, was also on the bank of a river, and the Aztecs continued the profession of boatmen which they had practiced at Aztlan, being subject to a tyrannical monarch to whom the name of Montezuma is applied by some of the traditions. After the other Nahuatlaca tribes had separated themselves from the Aztecs by divine command, the leader, or high-priest, or god,—Huitzilopochtli—for the exact epoch of his death and deification it is impossible to determine—informed the latter that he had selected them as his peculiar people, for whom he destined a glorious future. He ordered them to abandon the name of Aztecs and adopt that of Mexicas, and to wear upon their forehead and ears a patch of gum and feathers, as a distinguishing mark, presenting them at the same time with arrows and a net as insignia.[VI-4]Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 135-6. This separation at Chicomoztoc, or the Seven Caves, presents strong analogies to that which took place in Tulan Zuiva; it is not impossible that the events related are identical, the earlier portions of this tradition referring vaguely back to the primitive epochs of Nahua history, while the later portions relate the events which followed the Toltec destruction. After the separation, and while the Aztecs were yet at Chicomoztoc,[VI-5]Id., pp. 136-8. Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 79-80, followed by Clavigero and Vetancvrt, represents this event as having occurred at a subsequent halting-place. an event occurred to which is traditionally referred the origin of the differences that in later years divided this people into two rival parties, the Mexicans and Tlatelulcas. Two small bundles mysteriously appeared among them one day when all were assembled; the first opened contained an emerald of extraordinary size and beauty, for the possession of which a quarrel ensued. The second bundle proved to contain nothing more attractive than a few common sticks, and the party into whose possession it fell deemed themselves most unfortunate, until Huitziton made known to them a novel process of producing fire by rubbing two sticks together.[VI-6]Veytia conjectures the emerald to typify the nobility of the Tlatelulcas, a useless attribute when compared with Aztec science and industry. According to Brasseur’s authorities one of the princes of Chicomoztoc, named Chalchiuh Tlatonac, was induced to depart with the Aztecs, assuming a rank second only to that of the high-priest Huitziton. It is also claimed that certain Toltec nobles with their followers, who had been driven from Chapultepec by the Chichimecs, joined their fortunes with those of the Aztecs at an early period of their migration, perhaps, however, before they left Aztlan.[VI-7]Hist., tom. ii., pp. 293-6; Ixtlilxochitl, vol. ix., p. 214. Veytia, tom. ii., p. 95, makes Chalchiuh Tlatonac another name of Huitziton.

Death of Huitziton

After leaving Chicomoztoc, and while in Michoacan according to most authorities, although by some of them Huitzilopochtli is spoken of as a god long before, the aged high-priest Huitziton died or disappeared suddenly during the night. It is hinted that he was foully disposed of by the priesthood, through jealousy of his popularity and power; but whether responsible or not for his death, the priests resolved to take advantage of it to advance their own interests. Consequently the next morning a report was circulated that Huitziton had been called to take his place among the gods with the great Tetzauh, or Tezcatlipoca, who on his arrival had addressed to him the following craftily prepared speech: “Welcome brave warrior, and thanks for having so well served me and governed my people. It is time that thou take thy rest among the gods; return, then, to thy sons the priests and tell them not to be afflicted at thy absence; for although they may no longer behold thee, thou wilt not cease to be in their midst to guide and rule them from on high. For I will cause thy flesh to be consumed, that thy skull and bones may remain to thy sons as a consolation, that they may consult thee respecting the routes they have to follow and in all the affairs of government, and that thou mayest direct them and show unto them the land which I have chosen for them, where they will have a long and prosperous empire.” Brasseur adds to the speech, “where they shall find a nopal growing alone on a rock in the midst of the waters, and on this nopal an eagle holding a serpent in his claws, there they are to halt, there will be the seat of their empire, there will my temple be built,” although this is not given by Veytia or Torquemada, the authorities referred to by the abbé. The god also gave directions that the bones of Huitzilopochtli should be carried in an urn by the priests on their migration, or according to some authorities that an idol should be made and carried in an ark on the shoulders of four priests. The four priests were of course designated for the important position of teomama, or ‘god-bearers,’ who were to constitute the medium through which the idol should make known his commands to the people. The people dared make no opposition to the will of their god, and the plans of the crafty priests were most successfully carried out.

But an episode that is related of this period, indicates that the plots of the priests were perfectly comprehended by at least one person. This was Malinalxochitl, the sister, friend, or mistress of Huitziton, a brave princess who rendered great aid to the high-priest against the machinations of his foes. She was charged, however, probably by the hostile priests, with the possession of the black art. She could kill with a glance, turn the course of rivers, and transform herself into any form at will. After the death of Huitziton the priests, whose tricks she very likely tried to expose, resorted to their new divinity to rid themselves of Malinalxochitl. The idol from its ark was made to issue an order that the sorceress should be abandoned while asleep. With her followers she went to Mt Texcaltepec, where she afterwards founded the town of Malinalco, and bore a son named Copil, or Cohuitl, to whom she entrusted her revenge on the Mexicans.[VI-8]On Huitzilopochtli see vol. iii., pp. 288-324. Some of the authorities imply that Huitzilopochtli died or at least appeared as an idol long before this period, soon after their departure from Aztlan. Boturini, Idea, pp. 60-1, states that Huitziton was taken up to heaven in sight of the people. See also on his death and the abandonment of Malinalxochitl; Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 93-101; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 78, 80-1; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 6-8; Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. ii.-iv.; Acosta, pp. 459-61, 468; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 160-1; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 299-302; Sigüenza, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. i., pp. 39-43; Ramirez, in García y Cubas, Atlas; Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., p. 25.

While they were yet in Michoacan, on the banks of Lake Patzcuaro, a trouble is said to have occurred which resulted in the separation of the Tarascos from the Aztecs, and their settlement in this region. The tale, to which very little importance is to be attached, from the fact that the Tarascan language was different from the Aztec, is as follows: A number of men and women were bathing together, when the rest, at the instigation of the priests, took their clothing and departed. The bathers were obliged to improvise a dress, which pleased them so much that they retained it ever after in preference to the maxtli; but they never forgave the Aztecs, resolved to remain where they were, and even changed their language that they might have nothing in common with that people. Camargo’s version is that in crossing a river a part of the travelers used their maxtlis to fasten together their rafts, and were forced to borrow the women’s huipiles to cover their nakedness; and Veytia adds that so imperfectly did these garments perform their office that the rest of the tribe, shocked at the appearance of their companions, abandoned them in disgust, calling them Tarascos from a circumstance that has been already given.[VI-9]See vol. ii., p. 130; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., p. 6; Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. iii.; Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 103-5; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 272; Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., pp. 131-2.

Aztecs at Tollan and Zumpango

Quauhtlequetzqui seems to have been the priest who of the four assumed the highest rank after the death of Huitziton; and coming under his command or that of their idol through him expressed, to Coatepec in the vicinity of Tollan, the Mexicans, at the order of their god, stopped the current of the river so as to form a kind of lake surrounding the mountain. Their stay in this place was one of great prosperity and increase in population and wealth; here they placed the sacred ark in a grand temple; and here they were taught to make balls of india-rubber and initiated by the gods into the mysteries of the tlachtli, or game of ball, which afterward became their national diversion.[VI-10]See vol. ii., pp. 297-9; Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 106-8; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 7-8. But the will of Huitzilopochtli was made known that this fair land must be abandoned, and their wanderings recommenced. The people murmured and showed signs of revolt, but the god appeared before them in so frightful an aspect as to fill them with terror; some of the malcontents were found dead near the temple with their hearts cut out; the dam was broken, thus destroying the great charm of their new home; and finally the will of the leader was obeyed, though not apparently until several revolting chiefs with their followers had separated themselves from the main body.[VI-11]See besides references in preceding notes, Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 18-19; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xi.; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 125-6; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 302-5.

At Tzompanco, now Zumpango on the northern lake, the Mexicans—not perhaps the main body, judging from the names given to the leaders—were most kindly received, possibly as allies in the wars waged by Tochpanecatl, the lord of that city. This lord’s son Ilhuicatl married Tlacapantzin, a Mexican girl, and, as Brasseur states, the same lord gave his daughter Tlaquilxochitl as a wife to Tozcuecuex, the Aztec leader, at the same time giving to the Mexicans through her the possession of Tizayocan their next halting-place. From one of these marriages sprung Huitzilihuitl, who afterwards became, according to many authors, the first king, or ruler, of the Mexicans.[VI-12]Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 96-7, calls the bride of Ilhuicatl, Tiacapapantzin; and Torquemada, tom. i., p. 82, Tiacapantzin. See also Clavigero, tom. i., p. 163; Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. iii.; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 306-8.

Several other intermarriages with tribes in Anáhuac are reported, and also some hostilities during the subsequent frequent changes of residence, but no important events are definitely reported before the arrival and settlement at Chapultepec in 1194 as already stated, although there is but little agreement in the dates, many traditions assigning the arrival to a much later period. As has been before stated, these traditions refer to different bands, and the disagreement in dates would be natural even if the chronology of the records had been correctly interpreted by the Spanish writers, which is not probable. There can be little doubt of the comparative accuracy of Brasseur’s dates.

The Aztecs at Chapultepec

At this period Nopaltzin was still on the throne of Tenayocan, but was succeeded in 1211 by Tlotzin Pochotl.[VI-13]Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 213, 346, 397, gives the dates 1107, 1158, and 1105; the first date is 5 Acatl which agrees with Brasseur’s documents, but is interpreted as 1211 or one cycle later than Ixtlilxochitl’s interpretation. Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 79-80, gives the date 1263. Acolnahuacatl, called by the Spanish writers Acolhua II., reigned over the Tepanecs at Azcapuzalco; Culhuacan was governed successively after Achitometl by Icxochitlanex, Quahuitonal, Mazatzin, Cuetzal, Chalchiuh Tlatonac II., Tziuhtecatl, Xihuiltemoc, and Coxcoxtli, down to about the end of the thirteenth century; the Teo-Chichimecs, one of the invading bands that have so vaguely appeared in preceding annals together with the Nahuatlaca tribes, were settled at Poyauhtlan in the vicinity of Tezcuco, a source of great uneasiness to all the nations, although nominally friends of the emperor Tlotzin; and Quinantzin, the son of Tlotzin, was chief lord at Tezcuco and heir to the imperial throne.[VI-14]Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 323, 378; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 254. This author gives the succession of kings at Culhuacan as Achitometl, Mazatzin, Quetzal, Chalchiuhtona, Quauhtlix, Yohuallatonac, Tziuhtecatl, Xuihtemoctzin, and Coxcotzin. Veytia gives the succession as follows: Achitometl, Xohualatonac, Calquiyauhtzin, and Coxcox. It is impossible to reconcile this matter; but no events of great importance in which the Culhuas were engaged seem to have taken place until the reign of Coxcoxtli. The Aztecs meantime fortified their naturally strong position at Chapultepec, and in 2 Acatl, 1195, celebrated the completion of their cycle.[VI-15]Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt i., p. 20, and Codex Chimalpopoca. Gallatin makes the date one cycle later or 1298. Huitzilihuitl, in spite of the sacerdotal opposition was made chief, or as some say, king; the scattered Mexican bands, and even the main body of the Mexicans under the high priest Quauhtlequetzqui, or his successor of the same name, came to join those of Chapultepec; and the colony began to assume some importance in the eyes of the surrounding monarchs. The king of Azcapuzalco sought to make the Mexicans his vassals, desiring their aid as warriors, but Huitzilihuitl proudly refused to pay tribute. Their first war, something over thirty years after their arrival, was with Xaltocan, against which province they had aided the lord of Zumpango when first they entered the valley. The armies of Xaltocan, under Huixton, attacked and defeated the Aztecs near Chapultepec, forcing them to retreat within their fortifications, acting probably by the encouragement of the Tepanecs.[VI-16]Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 83-4. This author represents the Aztecs as having been driven from Chapultepec at this time. There is but little agreement respecting the order of events in Aztec history previous to the foundation of Mexico. According to Brasseur’s authorities, the Tepanecs again proposed an alliance, and on refusal, marched with their own army, and soldiers from other nations, against Chapultepec, and at last forced Huitzilihuitl to submit to the payment of tribute.[VI-17]Codex Chimalpopoca, in Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 319-23. Before yielding, however, the Mexican chief sent ambassadors to Quinantzin at Tezcuco, offering him the allegiance of his people and asking aid; but the Tezcucan lord was not in condition to help them, and advised them to submit temporarily to Acolnahuacatl,[VI-18]Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., p. 348, and Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 140-1, mention this application to Quinantzin, but refer it to a much later period after the city of Mexico was founded. which they did about 1240.

Reign of the Emperor Quinantzin

The reign of Tlotzin, the Chichimec emperor, was, for the most part, one of great prosperity, although his enemies were constantly on the watch for an opportunity to overthrow his power. He seems to have used his influence against a tendency exhibited by the Chichimecs to a rudeness of manners, and independence of all control, which threatened, in his opinion, a relapse into comparative barbarism. He favored rather the elegance of Toltec manners, and the strictness of Toltec discipline. In his efforts for reform he was seconded, or even excelled, by his son, Quinantzin, lord of Tezcuco. Ixtlilxochitl tells us that Tlotzin, soon after his ascension, made a long tour of inspection through his territory, correcting abuses and enforcing the laws, but exciting thereby the enmity of some vassal lords. Tenayocan was properly the Chichimec capital, but the emperor spent much of his time at Tezcuco, which had become one of the finest cities in Anáhuac. For the embellishment of this city, many Toltecs are said to have been called in from various towns, by the orders of Quinantzin. Some of the officers placed in charge of the parks and public works of Tezcuco, particularly Icuex and Ocotox, abused their trust, were banished, headed revolts, and were defeated by Quinantzin. About this time Tlotzin formed a new monarchy at Tezcuco, abdicating his own rights there and giving the crown to his son, Quinantzin. Another son, Tlacateotzin, was given the province of Tlazalan, subject to the crown of Tezcuco, and still other sons, Tochintecuhtli and Xiuhquetzaltzin, were made by Tlotzin, rulers of Huexotzinco and Tlascala, indicating that the eastern plateau was at this time a part of the empire, though it is not probable that a very strict allegiance was enforced. As monarch, Quinantzin, from his royal palace of Oztoticpac, labored more earnestly and successfully than before for a return to the old Toltec civilization, thus exciting the opposition of many Chichimec nobles, and preparing the way for future disasters. Tlotzin became, at last, so fond of his son’s beautiful home, that he practically abandoned Tenayocan, appointing Tenancacaltzin, probably his brother, to rule in his stead. The newly appointed lieutenant had no fondness for Toltec reform, became secretly the chief of the opposition to the emperor, and only awaited an opportunity to declare his independence. Tlotzin Pochotl, at last, after an illness whose chief feature is said to have been a profound melancholy, was carried, at his request, to Tenayocan, where he died in 1246, after appointing Quinantzin as his heir. His funeral was accompanied with great pomp and display; all the kings of Anáhuac, both friends and foes, assisting in the ceremonies, and eulogizing his character.[VI-19]Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 81-8, 110-13, gives the date of Tlotzin’s death as 1298. Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 213, 346, 3981, 461, gives as dates, 1141, 1194, and 1140. See also on his reign; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 68-72; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 143-4; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 16; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 324-33.

Taking the title of Chichimecatl Tecuhtli, or Emperor of the Chichimecs, Quinantzin transferred the capital to Tezcuco, re-appointing, it would seem, Tenancacaltzin as ruler of Tenayocan. He immediately annexed the powers of Huexotla and Coatlichan to his dominion, forcing the princes of those cities, Tochintecuhtli, or Ihuimatzal, and Huetzin II., to reside in his capital, and forming from the three kingdoms that of Acolhuacan. As emperor, he gave freer vent than ever to his old inclinations to pomp and ceremony. Whenever he appeared in public he caused himself to be borne in a magnificent royal palanquin on the shoulders of four Chichimec nobles. The ill-will which Quinantzin’s strict discipline and Toltec inclinations had previously excited; the fears aroused by his annexation of Huexotla and Coatlichan, and other decided political measures; displeasure of those of Tenayocan at the change of capital; and the humiliation of the Chichimec nobles, in being obliged to bear the royal palanquin, soon resulted in a revolution. By the support of the Tepanec king at Azcapulzalco, Tenancacaltzin was proclaimed emperor at Tenayocan, and all Anáhuac, save Culhuacan, Coatlichan, Xaltocan, and Huexotla, were arrayed against the Tezcucan monarch, many of his own relatives joining in the movement against him, and his brother, Tlacateotzin, being driven from the dominion of Tlazalan. In so unequal a struggle Quinantzin seems to have made no effort to overthrow the usurper, but rather to have employed all the force that could be furnished by his remaining vassals in fortifying his position at Tezcuco, where he patiently awaited future opportunities for revenge and recovery of his imperial throne.[VI-20]Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 73-4, 85; Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 114-15; Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 347-8, 399, 452-3; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 144-5; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 16; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 333-8; Müller, Reisen, tom. iii., p. 48.

Tenancacaltzin Usurps the Throne

Acolnahuacatl, the Tepanec king, seems to have supported the usurpation of Tenancacaltzin not from any feelings of friendship, but from ambitious motives for his own interests. He took no steps to accomplish the conquest of Tezcuco, but on the contrary soon began to plot against the usurping emperor. He made use of the Mexicans, who had suffered much from the people of Tenayocan and were eager for vengeance, to accomplish his purpose. Reinforced by some Tepanec troops in Aztec dress, they made several raids for plunder against Tenayocan and the adjoining towns. Thus provoked, Tenancacaltzin marched with an army to punish the robbers, but was met at Tepeyacac, where now the church of Guadalupe stands, by the Mexicans and Tepanecs combined, and utterly defeated. The conquered emperor fled to Xaltocan, expecting aid from the enemies of the Mexicans, but the princes of Xaltocan were also friends of Quinantzin, to whom they delivered Tenancacaltzin, but who refused to revenge his wrongs upon his uncle, and permitted him to leave the country. The Tepanec king took possession of Tenayocan and had himself declared emperor of the Chichimecs, Quinantzin apparently making at first no opposition, but awaiting a more favorable opportunity to regain his power.[VI-21]Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 215, 347-8, 399, 452-3; Veytia, tom. i., pp. 116-17, 122-25, refers these events to a considerably later period, and states that Huitzilihuitl previously married a niece of Acolnahuacatl. Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 338-44.

Quinantzin Chichimec Emperor

I now come to the chain of events by which Quinantzin regained the imperial throne and a power surpassing that of any preceding monarch. The northern provinces of Meztitlan, Tulancingo, and Totoltepec, excited by the rebels Icuex and Ocotox, formerly banished by Quinantzin, raised the standard of revolt and marched to attack the capital. They were even joined by the four eldest sons of the king, according to Brasseur and Ixtlilxochitl, although other authorities make this rebellion a distinct and later affair, and disagree somewhat as to the time of the northern rebellion. Dividing his available force into four divisions, Quinantzin took command of one division, entrusting the others to his brothers Tochintzin, or Tochintecuhtli, and Nopaltzin, and to Huetzin II. of Coatlichan, while his son Techotl remained in command at Tezcuco. All the divisions were equally successful and the rebels were driven back with great loss. Nopaltzin killed Ocotox in personal combat but was himself killed later in the battle. The king’s rebel sons had not actually taken part in the fight, and on offering their submission were, at the intercession of their mother, pardoned, on condition of leaving Anáhuac and joining the Teo-Chichimecs on the eastern plateau. This success in the north was not without its effect in the valley. Many cities that had declared their independence, or had become subjects of Acolnahuacatl, now offered anew their allegiance to the monarch of Acolhuacan at Tezcuco. Congratulations flowed in from Culhuacan and other friendly powers, with various plausible excuses for not having aided Quinantzin in his time of trouble. Prisoners taken during the war were released, and some of the lords of the northern provinces were even restored to their former positions on promise of future loyalty. Thus the wise king laid the foundations of future success. The pardoned sons of Quinantzin, before proceeding to Tlascala and Huexotzinco, joined the Teo-Chichimecs at Poyauhtlan. This people, by their encroachments, had made enemies of all the nations of Anáhuac; it is even said that they had instigated the northern revolt in the hope that the formation of a league against themselves might be prevented. But this hope was vain, and soon after Quinantzin’s victory, they were attacked before their city by the united forces of the Tepanecs, Culhuas, Xochimilcas, and Mexicans. A battle ensued described as the most terrible ever fought in the valley, in which the Teo-Chichimecs held their ground, but which so exhausted the forces on both sides that it was long before any nation concerned was in condition to renew hostilities. The king of Acolhuacan seems not to have taken part in this struggle, perhaps because of the presence of his sons at Poyauhtlan and the fact that his relatives were ruling the Teo-Chichimecs in Tlascala. The state of affairs was now altogether favorable to Quinantzin, and after, as some authors state, another campaign against the northern provinces, he began to turn his attention toward his lost dominions about the lakes. The emperor Acolnahuacatl, at Tenayocan, seems to have clearly perceived that fortune favored his rival, and that in his exhausted condition since the battle at Poyauhtlan, he could not possibly defend either the imperial crown or even that of Azcapuzalco, and craftily resolved to voluntarily abandon his claims to the former in the hope of retaining the latter. His plans, as usual, were successful; Quinantzin accepted his proposition without any manifestation of ill-will, and was crowned emperor with the most imposing ceremonies in 1272, forming a friendly alliance with the kings of Culhuacan and Azcapuzalco, and becoming practically the master of Anáhuac. The Teo-Chichimecs soon after, by the advice of their god, and with the consent of the emperor, migrated eastward to Tlascala.[VI-22]Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 143-54, relates this rebellion and defeat of the northern provinces, and the consequent abdication of Acolnahuacatl, attributing these events, however, to a much later period, after the separation of the Tlatelulcas from the Mexicans, giving the date as 1325. Most of the authorities do not definitely fix the date, but Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 344-55, gives satisfactory reasons, supported by Camargo and Ixtlilxochitl, for referring both this war and the battle at Poyauhtlan to the time when the Mexicans were yet living under Huitzilihuitl at Chapultepec. Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 162-73, unites the rebellion of the king’s sons and the fight against the Teo-Chichimecs, referring this latter war to 1350, and including the provinces of Huastepec, Huehuetlan, and Cuitlahuac in the revolt. He represents the allied forces of Anáhuac, 100,000 strong, as serving in six divisions under the general command of Quinantzin, already emperor. He also states that Quinantzin’s queen accompanied her sons in their exile. Of course there is great diversity among the authorities in respect to names of leaders, and details of the battles; but the general account given in my text is the only consistent one that can be formed, since there is much even in Veytia’s account to support it. It is probable, in the light of later events, that Quinantzin took no part in the war against the Teo-Chichimecs, and quite possible that Camargo’s statement that the Teo-Chichimecs were victorious, though much exhausted, in the battle at Poyauhtlan, results to a great extent from national pride in the record of the Tlascaltecs. Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 84-6, 259-60, seems to be the authority for the second campaign of Quinantzin in the north, which was decided by a great battle at Tlaximalco in the region of Monte Real. Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 215-16, 349-52, 398-400, 461-2, as usual favors in different places nearly all the views of other authorities. See also Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., pp. 142-3; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 144-5, 154.

In his efforts to embellish his capital, and to restore his empire to the glory and his subjects to the culture of the ancient times, it has been stated that Quinantzin called in the aid of many Toltecs, showing them great favor. A few years after his accession, two of the Toltec tribes that had left the valley at the fall of the empire and settled on the coast of the Pacific in Oajaca, the Tailotlacs and Chimalpanecs, are said to have returned and to have been received by the emperor and granted lands in Tezcuco, after having stayed some time in Chalco. The new chiefs were even allowed to become allied by marriage to the royal family. The new-comers seem to have belonged to the partisans of Tezcatlipoca. Additional bands of Huitznahuacs, Tepanecs, Culhuas, and Mexicans, from distant lands, are also vaguely alluded to as having settled in Tezcuco, Azcapuzalco, and Mexico.[VI-23]Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 160, 228; Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 216-17, 351, 399, 401, 453. The chief of the Tailotlacs was Tempantzin, or Aztatlitexcan; and the Chimalpanecs were under Xiloquetzin and Tlacateotzin. In this, as in other cases I have not entered minutely into the names, marriages, and genealogies of the nobles of Anáhuac, since my space does not permit a full treatment of the subject, and a superficial treatment would be without value. About the same time the northern province of Tepepulco revolted, according to Torquemada,[VI-24]Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 86. It is not quite certain that this revolt, and that of some southern provinces, which occurred two years later, were not connected with those that have been already narrated. Torquemada rarely pays any attention to chronology. and was conquered by Quinantzin, spoken of as Tlaltecatzin by this and several other writers. The province was joined to the dominions of Tezcuco under a royal governor, its lord having been put to death. Another source of prosperity for Tezcuco seems to have been a fresh out-burst in Culhuacan of the old religious dissensions between the partisans of Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca, causing many of the inhabitants to make their homes in the Acolhua capital where they were gladly received; although Ixtlilxochitl tells us that Quinantzin erected no temples in his capital, and permitted the erection of none, being content, and obliging all the citizens to be so, with the simple religious rites of his Chichimec ancestors.[VI-25]Kingsborough, vol. ix., p. 217. It seems that Quinantzin’s successor granted permission to build temples. Xihuiltemoc, a descendant of Acxitl, the last king of Tollan, was on the throne of Culhuacan at this time, and seems to have formed some kind of an alliance with the Mexicans at Chapultepec, and to have admitted to his city the worship of Huitzilopochtli—a fact that leads Brasseur to think that the Culhua king was a partisan of Tezcatlipoca, almost identical with Huitzilopochtli so far as the bloody rites in his honor are concerned.[VI-26]Hist., tom. ii., pp. 377-80. In the last years of the thirteenth century, about 1281, Xihuiltemoc was succeeded by Coxcoxtli whose mother is said to have been a Mexican, but who was a devoted partisan of Quetzalcoatl.[VI-27]Id., p. 382; dates 1281, or 1300. According to Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 160-1, and Ixtlilxochitl, p. 462, Xiuhtemoc, king of Culhuacan, died in 1340, and was succeeded by Acamapichtli.

The Aztecs Leave Chapultepec

The Aztecs had, in the meantime, gained much in power, and although few in numbers, compared with the other nations, had, by their skill as warriors and the ferocity of their character, made themselves hated by all, becoming, indeed, the pests of Anáhuac, although nominally the allies of the Culhuas and Tepanecs. The story of their overthrow at Chapultepec is a brief one, as told by the Spanish writers. Copil, son of Huitziton’s sister, the sorceress Malinalxochitl, had, as has been already related,[VI-28]See pp. 327-8. been sworn by his mother to vengeance on the Mexicans. He now came to the lake region and used all his influence to excite the surrounding nations against his enemies, denouncing them as everything that is bad, and urging their extermination. Hearing of his plots, the priest Quauhtlequetzqui went with a party to Tepetzingo, where Copil was, killed him, tore out his heart and threw it into the lake. The place was known as Tlalcocomocco, and here afterwards sprang up the tunal which guided the Aztecs in founding their city; here was also a hot spring, called Acopilco. Immediately after this the Aztecs were attacked by many nations, chiefly the Culhuas and Chalcas, driven to Acoculco, amid the reeds of the lake, and many of their number carried captives to Culhuacan, among whom was their chief, Huitzilihuitl, who was sacrificed. Afterwards they were given, by the Culhuas, the district of Tizaapan, which abounded in snakes, lizards, etc., on which chiefly they lived, paying heavy tribute to the king of Culhuacan, and leading a very hard life for many years.[VI-29]Duran, MS. tom. i., cap. iv.; Acosta, pp. 462-4; Herrera, dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xi. Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 83-4, 89, says the Aztecs were either brought as slaves from Ocolco to Tizaapan, or were invited to Culhuacan and then enslaved. See also, Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 164-5; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 20-1; Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 127-9. I make no effort to follow Veytia’s chronologic order which, in this part of the history, is hopelessly confused and different from the other authorities.

Brasseur throws much light upon the events of this period. It seems that the Aztecs provoked Copil’s efforts for their destruction by two raids against Malinalco, which belonged to Culhuacan, and that the Mexicans treacherously drew the son of Malinalxochitl into their power by offering him the position of high-priest, according to a pretended revelation of Huitzilopochtli’s will. His daughter, Azcaxochitl, was forced to become the mistress of Quauhtlequetzqui; all his nobles were taken prisoners, and a band of Culhuas who came to Tlalcocomocco soon after, were massacred. All the rulers of the valley, save, perhaps, Quinantzin, were soon leagued together for the destruction of these marauders and butchers. Huitzilihuitl made a valiant and long-continued defence, defeating the Tepanecs in a fierce battle, but exciting renewed horror by murdering and cutting in pieces Acolnahuacatl, king of Azcapuzalco, and formerly emperor. They were at last conquered through their rash bravery, since, while their army was fighting the Culhuas whom they had been challenged to meet, another body of the enemy took and burned Chapultepec, carrying off the surviving inhabitants as prisoners. The Mexican army was then defeated, nearly exterminated, and the remnants scattered in the lake marshes, while Huitzilihuitl was taken, and, with his daughter and sister, put to death in revenge for the murder of Copil and the Tepanec king. These events occurred about 1297. For two years the scattered Mexican remnants were subjected to every indignity, but in 1299, perhaps through the influence of Acamapichtli, his son and heir, Coxcoxtli was induced to grant this unfortunate people the small, barren, and serpent-infested isle of Tizaapan.[VI-30]Hist., tom. ii., pp. 380-98.

War with the Xochimilcas

The Spanish writers do not imply that Acolnahuacatl, king of the Tepanecs, was killed by the Aztecs, or that he even fell in battle. His son, Tezozomoc, was heir to the throne, but as he was very young, his mother seems to have ruled as regent during his minority, and as she was the wife of Coxcoxtli, the power was practically in the hands of the Culhua monarch.[VI-31]There is some confusion about the parentage of Tezozomoc and Acamapichtli: ‘Coxcoxtli épousa une fille d’Acolnahuacatl dont il eut Tezozomoc, ou Acolnahuacatl épousa une fille de Coxcoxtli dont ce prince serait issu. Quoique le MS. de 1528 donne Acolnahuacatl pour père à Tezozomoc, le Mémorial de Culhuacan le donne pour le fils de Coxcoxtli et frère d’Acamapichtli. Ixtlilxochitl dit également qu’Acamapichtli était son frère.’ Id., pp. 394-5. See Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 349, 397, 401. He, however, seems to make Acamapichtli also the son of Acolnahuacatl. Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 73, 161-2, fixes the date of the king’s death at 1343. Torquemada, tom. i., p. 68; Granados y Galvez, Tardes Amer., pp. 142-3. Coxcoxtli thus saw his power in Anáhuac largely increased, but he was continually annoyed with petitions from the Mexicans for larger territory and permission to settle at various points in his dominions, and at the same time harassed by the encroachments of the Xochimilcas, particularly in the lake fisheries. He at last proposed to grant the requests of the Aztecs on condition that they would aid him in chastising the insolent and powerful Xochimilcas. The services of the followers of Huitzilopochtli were always in demand when there was fighting to be done. The secret plan of the king was to place the new allies in the front to receive the force of the attack; the heavier their loss the better, for his troops would have an easy victory, and a dead Aztec was a much less troublesome neighbor or subject than a live one. No arms were supplied to the allies, but their priests taught them to make shields of reeds, and arm themselves with clubs and obsidian knives. By a strange freak of fancy they resolved to retain no captives, though a reward was offered for them, but to disarm and release all they captured after having marked them by cutting off the right ear of each. The fury of their attack and their novel method of warfare struck terror into the hearts of the enemy, who were defeated and driven back to their capital in confusion, the Mexicans obtaining much plunder, and the Culhuas an extraordinary number of prisoners. Returning to Culhuacan, the Culhua braves proudly displayed their captives, ridiculing their allies, until the latter pointed out the lack of ears among the victims of Culhua valor, and calmly produced the missing features from their sacks; the effect was complete, and they carried off the honors of the day. Coxcoxtli was proud of such allies, their petitions were granted, and the two nations were also connected by intermarriage.[VI-32]Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 119-22. This author places this event in the lifetime of Huitzilihuitl and of Acolnahuacatl. Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 90-1; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 165-7.

The Mother of the Gods

The history of the Mexicans and Culhuas, during the early part of the fourteenth century, down to the founding of the city of Tenochtitlan in 1325, presents a confusion unequaled, perhaps, in any other period of the aboriginal annals. A civil war on the eastern plateau at Cholula, in which king Coxcoxtli was involved to a certain extent, will be mentioned elsewhere, as it only slightly concerns the general history of Anáhuac. Torquemada, Clavigero, and others, relate that after the battle with the Xochimilcas, the Aztecs had secreted four captives destined for sacrifice, and had, besides, asked the Culhua king to provide them with a suitable offering and to be present at the ceremonies. They were sent a dead body and a mass of filth which the Mexicans, restraining their anger at the insult, placed upon the altar and said nothing. When Coxcoxtli and his suite appeared, the priests, after a religious dance, brought out the four captives and performed the bloody rites of sacrifice before the guests. The Culhuas left the place in disgust, and orders were immediately given that the Mexicans should be driven from the territories of Culhuacan.[VI-33]See references in last note; also Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 260-1; Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., pp. 80-1, 260-1. As Acosta and Duran tell the story, the Aztecs sent from Tizaapan, where it seems many of them were still living, to the Culhua king, requesting him to give them his daughter to rule over them and be the mother of their god. The request was cheerfully granted and the young princess conducted with great pomp to the town of her future subjects. A great festival was prepared, the princess was privately sacrificed to Huitzilopochtli, who, it seems, had signified his intention of adopting her as his mother; her body was flayed, and her skin placed as a garment on a youth, or an idol, which was set up in the temple to receive the offerings of visitors. Among those who came to make such offerings, as a compliment to their allies, were Coxcoxtli and his nobles. Their rage at the sight that met their eyes may be imagined. The bloody followers of Huitzilopochtli were driven from their homes, and the allies their bravery had gained were lost to them.[VI-34]Acosta, p. 464; Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. iv. He calls the Culhua king Achitometl. Herrera, dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xi. Ixtlilxochitl, without mentioning their return to Culhua favor by the Xochimilco war, says that the Aztecs escaped from their bondage at Culhuacan on hearing that king Calquiyauhtzin intended to massacre them, and resided, for a time, at Iztacalco, whence they made inroads upon Culhua territory, but finally retreated to the island where Tenochtitlan was founded.[VI-35]In Kingsborough, vol. ix., p. 398. I append in a note an abstract of Veytia’s version of Nahua history during this and the immediately preceding period, since this version agrees with others at but few points.[VI-36]Quinantzin succeeded to the empire, and appointed his uncle, Tenancacaltzin, governor in Tenayocan, who usurped the throne in 1299; Huitzilihuitl, of Mexicans, obtained in marriage a niece of king Acolhua II. of Azcapuzalco; Coxcox succeeded Calquiyauhtzin as king of Culhuacan; the Xochimilcas were defeated by the aid of the Mexicans, and Acolhua II. became emperor in 1299; next, Acamapichtli used the Mexicans to conquer Coxcox, and made himself king of Culhuacan in 1301, but died in 1303 and was succeeded by Xiuhtemoc; Huitzilihuitl died in 1318, and the Mexicans chose as their king also, Xiuhtemoc of Culhuacan, where many of them had settled, under the rule of Acamapichtli, and where all now removed from Chapultepec, although against the wishes of the Culhua people; at last, in 1325, for no very definite reason, they were driven from Culhuacan and went to Acatzintitlan, or Mexicaltzinco; then they applied to the emperor Acolhua II. and were allowed to live for a time near Azcapuzalco, while their priests were searching for the predestined location of their future city; then took place the separation between the Mexicans and Tlatelulcas; the Tlatelulcas obtain a King from the emperor after having applied to Quinantzin in vain; Quinantzin regains the imperial throne from Acolhua II.; and finally, Tenochtitlan was founded in 1327. Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 114-57.

Hardly more can be gathered from the preceding records than that the Mexicans, after living for a time in Culhuacan, were forced, on account of their bloody religious rites and of their turbulent disposition, to leave that city, and to wander for several years about the lake before settling where the city of Mexico afterwards stood. Coxcoxtli is said to have been a devoted follower of Quetzalcoatl, and a zealous persecutor of all other sects, so much so, that many families were forced to abandon Culhuacan, and were gladly received at Tezcuco, as has been stated. It seems to have been an ineradicable Toltec tendency to indulge in religious controversy to the prejudice of their national prosperity. Brasseur[VI-37]Hist., tom. ii., pp. 402-3, 432-50. finds in his documents many additional details of some importance respecting the period in question. The religious strife in Culhuacan broke out into open war between the sects of Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca, the former headed by the king and his son Achitometl, the latter under another son, Acamapichtli, and seconded by the Mexicans, who had been driven by persecution from the city. This is the alliance alluded to by Veytia, when he states that Acamapichtli, of Culhuacan, was chosen king of the Mexicans. The rebellious son, at the head of the Mexicans, was victorious, and compelled his father to flee from his capital, but did not at once assume the title of king, and was, not long after, in his turn defeated and driven from the city. This was the final departure of the Mexicans, most of whom gathered at Iztacalco, where a band of their nation had been for some years residing, under the chief Tenuch. Many, however, settled at other points near at hand on the lake shores and islands, and to this period is attributed also their invention of the Chinampas, or floating gardens.

Foundation of Mexico

The localities thus occupied at this period, simultaneously or successively, besides Iztacalco, were Mexicaltzinco, Acatzintitlan, Mixiuhtlan, and Temazcaltitlan. At last the priests selected what they deemed a suitable place for permanent settlement, the same spot where Copil had been sacrificed, an island, or raised tract in the lake marshes, and pretended to find there the nopal, eagle, and serpent which had been promised by their god as a token that the proper location had been found. The nopal grew on a rock in the midst of a beautiful pool, into which one of the two discoverers was instantly drawn, and admitted to an interview with the Tlalocs, who confirmed the belief that here was to be their permanent home. According to some authorities, a title to this site was obtained from the king of Azcapuzalco. The first task was to erect a rude temple of rushes for the ark of the idol Huitzilopochtli, which was located exactly over the stone which bore the famous nopal; the huts of the people were built around this as a centre, divided by divine command into four wards, or districts. Then all set industriously to work, the men leveling and filling in the site of their town, or fishing and killing wild ducks on the lakes, the products being mostly bartered by the women in the cities of the main land, for stone and wood for building material. The first victim sacrificed to the god in his new temple was a Culhua noble, of hostile sect, opportunely captured.[VI-38]On the foundation of Mexico, its date, and name, see—Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. iv.-vi.; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 92-3, 288-91; Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 156-60; Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., p. 461; Tezozomoc, in Id., pp. 5, 8-9; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 531; Acosta, pp. 465-6; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 167-9; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 21; Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 40; Arlegui, Chrón. Zacatecas, pp. 8-9; Cavo, Tres Siglos, tom. i., p. 2; Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., pp. 1066-7; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 144, 204-5; Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. viii., pp. 405, 415; Müller, Amer. Urrel., p. 534; Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., p. 356. Thus was founded, in 1325,[VI-39]Date 1325, according to Clavigero, Gama, Chimalpain, Brasseur, and Prescott; 1327, Veytia, following Sigüenza y Góngora; 1318, Duran; 1324, Codex Mendoza; 1140, 1141, or about 1200, Ixtlilxochitl; 1131, Camargo; 1326, Tezozomoc, in Veytia; 1316, Id., in Gondra; 1225, Chimalpain, in Id.; 1317, Sigüenza, in Id.; 1341, Torquemada, in Id.; 1321, Zapata, in Veytia; 1357, Martinez, in Veytia and Gondra. the city named—probably from Mexi, the original name of Huitziton, and Tenuch, their chief leader at the time the city was formed—Mexico Tenochtitlan.[VI-40]On derivation of the name, see vol. ii., p. 559; also Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 92-3; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., p. 5; Ixtlilxochitl, in Id., p. 461. These authors derive Tenochtitlan from the Aztec name of the nopal. Cavo, Tres Siglos, tom. i., p. 2, Müller, Amer. Urrel., p. 534, and Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 315, derive Mexico from Metl-ico ‘place amid the magueys.’

Death of Quinantzin

Quinantzin continued in his glorious career at Tezcuco, allowing the surrounding kings to weaken their power by their intrigues and contentions one with another, while he devoted all his energies as a diplomatist, and all the strength of his armies to the strengthening of his imperial power, the enlargement and embellishment of his capital, where refugees from all directions were kindly welcomed, the quelling of rebellion in various provinces, and the conquest of new lands. Not only did he promptly put down every attempt at revolt in his own dominions, but insisted that the kings of Culhuacan and Azcapuzalco should check the attempts of their revolting vassals. Huehuetlan, Mizquic, Cuitlahuac, Zayollan, Temimiltepec, and Totolapan, are named as the rebellious provinces thus subdued during the last years of this emperor’s reign. No monarch in Anáhuac could have resisted Quinantzin’s power, but he seems to have had no disposition to encroach on what he deemed the legitimate domains of his brother sovereigns. In spite of the opposition of the Chichimec nobles to his reforms, his tendency to Toltec usages, and his fondness for display, the emperor after his power had become firmly established enjoyed the love and respect of all his subjects. His surname, Tlaltecatzin, ‘he who lords the earth,’ is said to have been given him in consideration of his success in subduing so many provinces. He died in 8 Calli, 1305,[VI-41]1357, Veytia; 1213, 1249, or 1253, Ixtlilxochitl; 1305, Brasseur. at an advanced age, and his funeral ceremonies were conducted with all the pomp that had been characteristic of him in life. Seventy rulers of provinces are said to have assisted. His body, embalmed, was seated in full royal apparel on the throne, an eagle at the feet, a tiger at the back, and the bow and arrows in his hands. All the people crowded to the palace to take a last look upon their emperor, and after eighty days, according to Torquemada, his body was burned, and the ashes, in an emerald urn with a golden cover, placed in a cave near Tezcuco; or, as Veytia and Ixtlilxochitl say, buried in a temple of the Sun in the Tezcocingo forest.[VI-42]Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 86-7; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 144-6; Veytia, tom. i., pp. 171, 176, 181; Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 215-16, 352, 400, 453; Sahagun, tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 275; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 422-5; Granados y Galvez, Tardes Amer., p. 39.

Limits of the Chichimec Empire

Quinantzin’s elder sons having proved rebellious during their father’s reign, and having, therefore, been banished, his youngest son, Techotl, Techotlalatzin, or Techotlala, was chosen as his successor. Techotl reigned from 1305 to 1357, a period during which the dominions attached to the crown of Tezcuco were almost entirely undisturbed by civil or foreign wars. Only one war is recorded, by which the province of Xaltocan, peopled chiefly by Otomís, with the aid of the chiefs of Otompan, Quahuacan, and Tecomic, attempted to regain her independence of Chichimec imperial authority. The revolt was, however, promptly repressed by the emperor and his allies after a campaign of two months. Tezozomoc had now succeeded to the throne of Azcapuzalco, and with his Tepanec forces, took a very prominent part in this war against Xaltocan and the northern provinces. The Mexicans also sent an army to this war, and received some territory as a result, the rest of the provinces being joined to the domains of Tezcuco and Azcapuzalco.[VI-43]Xaltocan is spoken of by Ixtlilxochitl and Veytia as having been at this time subjected for the first time to the emperor. Its inhabitants were Otomís, and the refugees are said to have built, or rebuilt, the city of Otompan. Tezozomoc is represented as having borne the principal part in the war, while the emperor Techotl joined in it more to watch and restrain the allies than for anything else. Another war in Tlascala, in which forces sent by Techotl, are said by Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 265-8, to have participated, was, perhaps, the same already mentioned in connection with the king of Culhuacan. Techotl’s tastes and ambitions were similar to those of his father, and his fifty-two years of peaceful and prosperous reign enabled him to successfully carry out his projects. To him, as emperor, belonged the allegiance of the kings of Culhuacan, Azcapuzalco, and Mexico in the latter part of his rule, when the latter power had risen to some prominence; but no tribute was paid by these kings, and their allegiance was probably only nominal.[VI-44]Azcapuzalco, Mexico, Coatlichan, Huexotla, Coatepec, and four or five others are mentioned by Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., p. 355, as paying no tribute; but some of these, according to other authorities, were actually joined to the kingdom of Acolhuacan, and had not even the honor of a tributary lord. Over the provinces that belonged to Tezcuco, or rather the kingdom of Acolhuacan, Techotl ruled in precisely the same manner as the other kings over their respective territories. The lord of each province acknowledged his allegiance to his king, paid tribute according to the wealth of his people, and was bound to aid his sovereign, if so requested, in time of war; in other respects he was perfectly independent, and governed his dominion with almost absolute sway. The long list of vassal provinces and lords given by the records[VI-45]The list of those lords present at the funeral of Quinantzin and the coronation of Techotl, is as follows: Tezozomoc, king of Azcapuzalco; Paintzin, king of Xaltocan, lord of the Otomís; Mocomatzin, Moteuhzomatzin, or Montezuma, king of Coatlichan; Acamapichtli, king of Culhuacan and Mexico (this could not be, as Mexico was not yet founded; Coxcoxtli was king of Culhuacan, but Acamapichtli was, in one sense, chief of the Mexicans, and heir to the throne of Culhuacan); Mixcohuatl, or Mixcohuatzin, king of Tlatelulco (the Aztec Tlatelulco was not yet founded; Brasseur believes this to refer to an ancient city of this name); Quetzalteuhtli, or Quetzalatecuhtli, lord of Xochimilco; Izmatletlopac, lord of Cuitlahuac; Chiquauhtli, lord of Mizquic (Chalco Atenco, according to Brasseur); Pochotl, lord of Chalco Atenco (Ixtlilxochitl); Omaca, or Omeacatl, lord of Tlalmanalco; Cacamaca, lord of Chalco; Temacatzin, lord of Huexotzinco, (or as Brasseur has it, of Quauhquechollan); Tematzin, prince of Huexotzinco (Brasseur); Cocaztzin, lord of Quauhquelchula (Ixtlilxochitl); Teocuitlapopocatzin, lord of Cuetlaxcohuapan, or Cuetlachcoapan; Chichimecatlalpayatzin, high-priest of Cholula; Chichitzin, lord of Tepeaca; Mitl, prince of Tlascala; Xihuilpopoca, lord of Zacatlan; Quauhquetzal, lord of Tenamitec; Chichihuatzin, lord of Tulancingo; Tlaltecatzin, lord of Quauhchinanco; Tecpatl, lord of Atotonilco; Iztaquauhtzin, lord of the Mazahuas; Chalchiuhtlanetzin, lord of Coyuhuacan; Yohuatl Chichimecatzin, lord of Coatepec; Quiyauhtzin, lord of Huexotla; Tecuhtlacuiloltzin, lord of Acolman. Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., p. 353; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., p. 428. Ixtlilxochitl says that these were not all, but merely the leading vassals, all related to the emperor. A list of 46 is given in Ixtlilxochitl, p. 355, and Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 214-15. 73 are said to have attended one assembly, 66 another, and 30 another. show that the authority of the Chichimec emperor extended far beyond Anáhuac, but do not enable us to fix definitely its limits; it probably was but little less extensive than that of the emperor at Culhuacan, in Toltec times, and was very similar to the Toltec rule in its nature.[VI-46]Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 182-3, and Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., p. 427, state that the distant provinces of Quauhtemalan (Guatemala), Tecolotlan (Vera Paz), Centizonac, Teoquantepec (Tehuantepec), and Jalisco, were represented in the crowd that gathered at Techotl’s coronation, offering their homage and allegiance; but Ixtlilxochitl, p. 353, says that these provinces would not recognize the emperor. There is very little probability that the Chichimec power ever reached so far, but not unlikely that communication took place between Mexico and Central America at this period. Techotl’s efforts seem to have been directed to the complete re-establishment of Toltec culture; to the building-up and embellishment of his capital; to the enacting of just laws and their strict enforcement by the appointment of the necessary courts and officials; to the work of attracting new settlers into his kingdom and capital, by kind treatment of all new-comers, and a toleration of all their religious beliefs and rites; and above all, to the centralization of his imperial power, and the gradual lessening of the prerogatives of his vassal lords. The refugees from different nations were given separate wards of Tezcuco for a residence, and were permitted to erect temples, and to perform all their various rites. Human sacrifice and religious strife were alone prohibited. The different creeds and ceremonials of Toltec times became almost universal in his kingdom,[VI-47]Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 195-6, implies that the new rites and ideas came rather from Mexican than Toltec influence. although the emperor himself is said to have ridiculed all these creeds and sacrifices, contenting himself with the worship of one god, of whom he deemed the sun a symbol. He is credited with having entertained sentiments on religious topics several centuries in advance of his time.

In his efforts for the centralization of the Chichimec power, he first summoned the chief lords of his provinces, some twenty-six in number, to Tezcuco, and practically compelled them to live there, although heaping upon them honors and titles which made it impossible for them to refuse obedience to his wishes. All together constituted a royal council, consulted on matters of national import; and from them were selected sub-councils, to whose management were entrusted the superintendence of various branches, such as the administration of justice, military regulations, art and science, agriculture, etc. Five of the leading lords were entrusted with the most important and honorable positions, and placed at the head of the chief councils.[VI-48]The general Council of State, composed of all the highest lords, men of learning, ability, and character, was presided over by the emperor himself. Of the five special councils the first was that of war, under a lord who received the title of Tetlahto, and composed, according to Brasseur, of lords of the Acolhua nation. The second was the Council of the Exchequer, under a superintendent of finance, with the title Tlami, or Calpixcontli, having charge of the collection of tribute, and composed of men well acquainted with the resources of every part of the country, chiefly as is said Chichimecs, Otomís, and lords of Meztitlan. The third was the Diplomatic Council, whose president had the title of Yolqui, and was a kind of Grand Master of Ceremonies, whose duty it was to receive, present, entertain and dispatch ambassadors. Many of this council were Culhuas. The fourth was the council of the royal household, under the Amechichi, or High Chamberlain. This council was composed largely of Tepanecs. A fifth official, with the title of Cohuatl, superintended the work of the royal gold and silver smiths and feather-workers at Ocolco, a suburb of Tezcuco. The Spanish writers state that the president of each of the councils must be a relation of the emperor, or at least a Tezcucan nobleman. Torquemada, tom. i., p. 88; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 181; Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 182-5; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 430-1. As an offset to the favors granted these lords at the capital and in the general government, their prerogatives at home were greatly diminished. The twenty-six provinces were subdivided into sixty-five departments; the lords retained their original titles and the absolute command of twenty-six of the departments, but over the other thirty-nine governors were placed who were supposed to be wholly devoted to the interests of the emperor. Techotl is even said to have gone so far as to transfer the inhabitants belonging to different tribes from one province to another, so that the subjects of each chief, although the same in number as before, were of different tribes, and, as the emperor craftily imagined, much less easily incited to revolt in the interests of ambitious chieftains, who were ever ready to take advantage of favorable circumstances to declare their independence. If the Chichimec nobles objected to these extraordinary measures, their opposition is not recorded.

Reign of Techotl

At one of the grand assemblies of kings and lords, held at Tezcuco, to deliberate on the general interests of the empire, in 1342, Techotl announced his intention to leave his crown to his eldest son, Ixtlilxochitl, and caused that prince to be formally acknowledged as heir apparent to the imperial throne. It does not appear that any opposition to his succession was made at the time,[VI-49]There seems to have been some trouble between Ixtlilxochitl and the Tepanec king Tezozomoc, even before Techotl’s death. Ixtlilxochitl was unmarried, although by his concubines he had many children; and, as Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 217-18, has it, he took Tezozomoc’s daughter as a wife at his father’s request, but sent her back before consummating the marriage; or, according to Ixtlilxochitl, p. 218, he refused to take Tezozomoc’s daughter, who had already been repudiated by some one, except as a concubine. The same author, p. 356, says this occurred after his father’s death. He finally married a Mexican princess. Tezozomoc was very much offended. although as we shall see, his right was not undisputed at the death of his father. At one of these assemblies, as all the authorities agree, it was ordered that the Nahua language should be employed exclusively at court, in the tribunals, and in the transaction of all public affairs. It has been inferred from this, by many writers, that the language of the Chichimec nations was different from that of the Toltecs;[VI-50]The emperor is said to have learned the Nahua language from his Culhua nurse Papaloxochitl, and to have become so convinced of its superiority that he ordered its adoption. Ixtlilxochitl, p. 217; Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 194-5. but such a supposition would be inconsistent with the whole tenor of the aboriginal annals, and cannot be admitted. Among the new tribes that occupied Anáhuac after the Toltecs, there were doubtless some that spoke another tongue; the enforced use of the Nahua at court was aimed at the chiefs of such tribes, and was a part of the emperor’s general policy. Of course it is just possible that one of the tribes of foreign tongue had become powerful and constituted a large part of the population of Tezcuco, but such a state of affairs is not probable, and the statement of some writers that the many learned Culhuas and Mexicans gathered at the Chichimec capital during this period, came as teachers of the Nahua language at the court of Techotl, cannot be accepted. Brasseur’s idea, as implied throughout this period of aboriginal history, that the Chichimecs were barbarians, gradually civilized by the few Toltecs that remained in the country, and forced by their kings to adopt Nahua language and institutions, I regard as wholly imaginary. The struggles of Quinantzin and his successors were directed, not to the introduction of Toltec usages, but to the preservation of their culture, threatened by the spirit of anarchy and independence that followed the downfall of the Toltec empire.

Death of Techotl

Feeling, at last, that his end was drawing near, and that the work to which he had devoted his energies must be committed to other hands, the aged monarch is reported to have held a long interview with his son and heir, Ixtlilxochitl. Most earnestly he instructed his son concerning his future duties, and warned him against dangers whose occurrence he already foresaw. He feared, above all, the projects of Tezozomoc, the Tepanec king, who had already, although nominally loyal to Techotl, shown tokens of far-reaching ambition and the possession of great executive ability, and who evidently remembered that Acolnahuacatl, his predecessor, had once been emperor. Special advice was given to Ixtlilxochitl, who was probably a very young man, although there is some disagreement about the date of his birth,[VI-51]Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 217-8, says he was over sixty years old; Ixtlilxochitl gives 1338 as the date of his birth, which would make him less than twenty. The method of arriving at his age seems to be by fixing the date of his son’s birth, noting that his father’s wife was eight years old at her marriage, and taking into consideration the reported Chichimec custom which required the husband to wait until his wife was forty before consummating the marriage. Ixtlilxochitl was endowed, at birth, with thirteen towns or provinces; his mother is said to have been the sister of Coxcoxtli, king of Culhuacan. as to the best policy to be followed with the king of Azcapuzalco, and after jealously striving to imbue his successor with the spirit that had made his own reign so glorious, the emperor died, as has been stated, in 8 Calli, 1357.[VI-52]1353, or 1357, Ixtlilxochitl; 1409, Veytia. On Techotl’s reign see: Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 217-18, 353-6, 400-1, 453, 462; Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 178-231; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 87-9, 108; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 180-1, 184; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 276; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 16-17, 24; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 425-32, 457-61, 472-3.

Aztecs at Mexico Tenochtitlan

Having traced the glorious, though peaceful career of the emperor Techotl, I have to close this chapter by narrating the events of Culhua and Mexican history during a corresponding period; a period most fatal to Culhuacan, the metropolis of Anáhuac in Toltec times, and the only Toltec city that had retained its prominence through the dark days of Chichimec invasion. We have seen the Mexicans expelled from Culhuacan at the triumph of Achitometl over his brother Acamapichtli; and, after a series of wanderings about the lake, founding their city of Mexico Tenochtitlan in 1325. One year before the city was founded, however, Acamapichtli seems to have regained his power, and this time, his father Coxcoxtli having died, he assumed the title of king. His rule was probably very advantageous to the Mexicans, his friends, during their first years in their new city, while they were strengthening their position; but in 1336 he died, murdered, as some of the records imply, and was succeeded by his brother Achitometl II., the avowed enemy of the Mexicans and their religious rites. His accession drove many of the rival sect to Mexico, and he thus aided, involuntarily, in building up the new power. The infant son of the dead king, also named Acamapichtli, was saved either by his mother, or, as others say, by the princess Ilancueitl.[VI-53]Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 302; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., p. 451. Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 127-30, agrees, except in dates, so far as the succession of Acamapichtli is concerned, and his friendship for the Mexicans. He, however, says nothing of Achitometl II., dates Acamapichtli’s death in 1303, and states that he was succeeded by his eldest son Xiuhtemoc. The Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 42, implies that Acamapichtli transferred his court in 1370 to Mexico, giving, as Motolinia, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 6, says, the lordship of Culhuacan to one of his sons. See also Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 218, 343, 349. Much of the confusion in the Culhua succession is caused by the fact that there were two Acamapichtlis, one, king of Culhuacan and in a certain sense the leader of the Mexicans, and the other, king of Mexico at a later date. During the troubles between the rival sects headed by Acamapichtli and Achitometl, large numbers of Culhuas had left their city and either taken refuge in Tezcuco, or had joined kindred tribes in different localities. On the final accession of Achitometl this depopulating movement was continued to a greater extent than ever before. According to Brasseur’s documents, a war with Chalco in 1339, fomented by Tezozomoc, who had succeeded to the Tepanec throne eight years before, gave the finishing blow to the power of Culhuacan, which was practically abandoned by king and people about 1347, her weaker tributary provinces being in part appropriated by the stronger, which now became independent of all save imperial power, although a large portion fell into the hands of the kings of Azcapuzalco and Acolhuacan. The larger part of the Culhuas proper were divided between Quauhtitlan,—which soon became practically a Culhua, or Toltec, city, under Iztactototl, grandson of Coxcoxtli, who succeeded in 1348,—and Mexico.[VI-54]Gomara and Brasseur as above; also Brasseur, p. 465.

The territory on which Mexico Tenochtitlan was built seems to have belonged to the domain of Azcapuzalco, and the Mexicans were obliged to pay to the Tepanec king a certain amount of tribute in fish and other productions of the lake. Their prosperity, the improvements they were constantly making in their city, and their strong position in the lake, taken in connection with their well-known valor and ambition, excited much jealousy among the surrounding nations. Possibly this jealousy is alluded to in the fable of a fatal epidemic which prevailed at this time, ascribed in the popular tradition to the fumes of fried fish and other delicacies, wafted from the island town, which created so violent a longing as to occasion illness.[VI-55]Torquemada, tom. i., p. 93; Duran, MS. tom. i., cap. x. The Tepanecs were the only people that had the power to oppress the Aztecs, which they are said to have done, not only by the exaction of the regular tribute due them, but by imposing special taxes, to be paid in articles of no value to the receivers, but which could be obtained by the Mexicans only with great difficulty or danger.[VI-56]Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. vi.; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 9-10; Herrera, dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xii; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 471-3; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 99-101; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 176; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 22-3. Brasseur says that Tezozomoc even went so far as to send his son Tlacotin to rule in Mexico after Tenuch’s death, and he dying after a short time, another son, Teuhtlehuac, became governor.[VI-57]Hist., tom. ii., p. 454. I find nothing in the Spanish writers respecting Tepanec governors in Mexico, although none of them give any very definite idea how the city was governed in the early period of its existence. Some authors mention Tenuch as one of the chiefs that directed the original Aztec migration; others, as we have seen, make him the chief of an Aztec band at Iztacalco, just before the founding of the city, and imply that he was the leader under the priesthood at the time of its foundation, and for some time after; while still other writers state that he was elected chief three years after the foundation.[VI-58]Veytia, tom. ii., p. 159, writes the name Tenuhctzin, and dates his election 1330. In the Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 40, it is stated that the other chiefs still continued to govern their clans. See also, Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 173-4; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 289-91; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 148.

At this period took place the division of the Aztecs into Mexicans and Tlatelulcas, although Veytia dates it back before the foundation of the city, and before many of the events already related. It was caused by a quarrel between the priests and nobles, and was a secession of the latter when unable to check the growing power of the former. Torquemada attributes the separation merely to the overcrowded state of the city; and the fable of the two bundles which originated the dissension in early times has already been related.[VI-59]See pp. 325-6, of this volume. Brasseur sees in this division the inevitable Nahua tendency to struggle bravely and unitedly against misfortune, but at the first dawn of prosperity to indulge in internal strife. The priesthood used their influence to excite the lower classes against the nobility, and particularly against their Tepanec governor, whom they denounced as a tyrant. They finally succeeded in raising such a storm that Teuhtlehuac was driven out, and his party, including most of the nobility, determined to seek a new home. The connection of a Tepanec governor with the matter, removes some of the difficulties involved in other versions, but it is not easy to understand why Tezozomoc permitted his son to be driven from Tenochtitlan. Whatever the circumstances which led to the secession, the location of the new establishment was miraculously pointed out. The nobles were attracted by a whirlwind to a sandy spot among the reeds of the lake, about two miles from Tenochtitlan, and found there the shield, arrow, and coiled serpent, which they deemed a most happy augury. They obtained a title of the land from the Tepanec king, on condition of a yearly tribute,[VI-60]Veytia says they first applied to Quinantzin, placing this event in the reign of Alconahuacatl, as emperor. and called their new home Xaltelulco, afterwards, Tlatelulco.[VI-61]Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 135, 138, 140-1; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 93, 99, 291. Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. v., names four chiefs who were at the head of the secessionists. Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., p. 398, mentions two chiefs with their adherents. Others speak of eight. Acosta, p. 468, writes Tlatelulco, ‘place of terraces.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 113, defines the name ‘islet.’ Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 22, derives it from tlatelli, ‘booth,’ because the market was located here. Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 467-8, says the original name was Xalliyacac, ‘point of land,’ which was in the territory belonging to Tlatelulco, at the time a small village, but in the Toltec period a flourishing city. See also, Clavigero, tom. i., p. 170.

Growth of Mexico and Tlatelulco

Both cities grew rapidly, and acquired much prosperity and power, notwithstanding the separation, by reason of the large immigration that they received, and of the rivalry that sprang up between the two divisions. The additions to the population in Tenochtitlan were chiefly Culhuas, who came in so large numbers as to outnumber, perhaps, the original Mexicans; while Tlatelulco received a corresponding influx of Tepanecs, and many from other neighboring nations. We have no further details of their history down to the death of the emperor Techotl, at Tezcuco, except that the establishment of a monarchy in each of the two cities. The Mexicans were at first ruled by the priests, with certain chiefs not definitely named; although by some Tenuch is still spoken of as alive and ruling down to 1357. It was finally decided, in an assembly of priests and wise men of the nation, to choose a king, and the choice fell upon Acamapichtli II., son of Acamapichtli of Culhuacan. The large Culhua element in Tenochtitlan doubtless had a great influence in this choice; and other motives were the friendship of the candidate’s father for the Mexicans in past times, the possibility of reconquering the old Culhua possessions and joining them to the Aztec domain, and possibly the extreme youth of Acamapichtli, which offered to the priesthood a prospect of easily controlling his actions. The young candidate was summoned from Tezcuco, where he had taken refuge, together with the princess Ilancueitl, who had rescued him, who seems to have been regent during his minority, and who is even said to have become his wife. 1350 was the date of the accession of Acamapichtli II., the first king of Mexico Tenochtitlan.[VI-62]There is great diversity among the authorities respecting the parentage of Acamapichtli II., some of which may probably be attributed to the confounding of two of the same name. Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 186-8, 161, dates his accession 1361, says a political contest of four years preceded his election, and calls him the son of Huitzilihuitl by Atotoztli, daughter of Acamapichtli. Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 173-4, Acosta, pp. 469-71, and Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. v-vi., represent the new king as son of Opochtli, an Aztec chief, by Atotoztli, a Culhua princess. Clavigero makes the date 1352; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 94-97, refers to him as a noble Aztec, son of Cohuatzontli by the daughter of a Culhua chieftain. Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 344, 348-9, 456, gives as usual two or three versions of the matter, saying in one place that the new king was the third son of the king of Azcapuzalco. Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 302, brings him from Coatlichan, whither he had escaped with his mother after the death of her husband the Culhua king. ‘Acamapichtli, king of Culhuacan, father of the second Acamapichtli spoken of here, was a grandson of Acxoquauhtli, son of Achitometl I., by Azcaxochitl, daughter of the Mexican Huitzilatl. Acamapichtli I. had also married Ixxochitl, daughter of Teotlehuac, who was a brother of Azcaxochitl and son of the same Huitzilatl, and had had by her Acamapichtli II.’ Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 469-70. See also:Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 22; Motolinia, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 6; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xii.; Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., pp. 1005-6. The question of the new king’s marriage is even more deeply involved. See same authorities. Soon after, probably the following year, 1351, the Tlatelulcas also determined to establish a monarchical form of government. They also sent abroad for a king, and received a son of the Tepanec king, Tezozomoc, named Quaquauhpitzahuac.[VI-63]Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 94-5; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 174-5; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., p. 471. Date according to Clavigero, 1353. Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 213, 348-9, 398, 453, and Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 141, say that the king’s name was Mixcohuatl, or Epcoatzin, or Cohuatlecatl. See also Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 22; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 273; Granados y Galvez, Tardes Amer., pp. 174-5; Müller, Reisen, tom. iii., p. 49; and Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 317-9, with portrait.

Footnotes

[VI-1] 1194, Codex Chimalpopoca; 1140 or 1189, Ixtlilxochitl; 1245, Clavigero; 1331, Gondra; 1298, Veytia, Gama, and Gallatin.

[VI-2] I give here as compactly as possible the course of the Aztec migration as given by the leading authorities:—Leave Aztlan 1 Tecpatl, 1064 A.D., and travel 104 years to Chicomoztoc, where they remain 9 years; thence to Cohuatlicamac, 3 years, Matlahuacallan, 6, Apanco, 5, Chimalco, 6, Pipiolcomic, 3, Tollan, 6, Cohuactepec (Coatepec), 3, Atlitlalacayan, 2, Atotonilco, 1, Tepexic, 5, Apasco, 3, Tzonpanco, 7, Tizayocan, 1, Ecatepec, 1, Tolpetlac, 3, Chimalpan, 4, Cohuatitlan, 2, Huexachtitlan, 3, Tecpayocan, 3, Tepeyacac (Guadalupe), 3, Pantitlan, 2 years, and thence to Chapultepec, arriving in 1298, after a migration of 185 years, which necessitates an addition of 49 years for their stay in Michoacan. Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 91-8. According to Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 77-82, they reached Huey Culhuacan one year after their start; the time consumed in reaching Chicomoztoc is not given, and no dates are mentioned. Otherwise the account agrees exactly with Veytia’s, except that an unnamed station is represented as having occupied 3 of the 6 years’ stay at Matlahuacallan; there are also a few slight differences in orthography. Tezozomoc’s account is as follows:—Aztlan, Culhuacan, Jalisco, Mechoacan, Malinalco (Lake Patzcuaro), Ocopipilla, Acahualcingo, Coatepec (in Tonalan), Atlitlanquian or Atitalaquia, Tequisquiac, Atengo, Tzompan, Cuachilgo, Xaltocan and Lake Chinamitl, Eycoac, Ecatepc, Aculhuacan, Tultepetlac, Huixachtitlan, Tecpayuca (in 2 Calli), Atepetlac, Coatlayauhcan, Tetepanco, Acolnahuac, Popotla (Tacuba), Chapultepec (Techcatepec and Techcatitlan) in 2 Tochtli. Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 5-8. Following Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 156-63, the Aztecs left Aztlan in 1160, crossed the Colorado River, stayed 3 years at Hueicolhuacan, went east to Chicomoztoc, where they separated from the Nahuatlaca tribes, then to Coatlicamac, and reached Tula in 1196, remaining 9 years; then spent 11 years in different places, reached Zumpanco in 1216, remaining 7 years, then Tizajocan, Tolpetlac, Tepejacac, and Chapultepec in 1245 during Nopaltzin’s reign. Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 124-9, merely makes some remarks on Clavigero’s account, fixing the departure, however, in 1064, and noting the completion of the first cycle in 1090 at Tlalixco. Gama, Dos Piedras, pt i., pp. 19-20, makes them leave Aztlan in 1 Tecpatl, 1064, and arrive at Tlalixco, or Acahualtzinco, in 1087, where they completed their first cycle in 1091, and remained 9 years. Acosta, pp. 454-62, says that 6 Nahuatlaca tribes left Aztlan in 820, and were 80 years in reaching Mexico. The Aztecs started in 1122, passed through Michoacan, and halted at Malinalco and Coatepec before reaching Chapultepec. Herrera, dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. x-xi, agrees with Acosta. Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. i, ii, iii, says they left Aztlan in Chicomoztoc, giving dates as by Acosta; but he also gives as stations, Patzcuaro, Malinalco, Ocipila, Acahualcingo, Coatepec, Tulla, Atlitlalacpan, Tequixquiac, Tzumpanco, Xaltocan, Ecatepec, Tulpetlac, Tepaneca, and Chapultepec. Sahagun, tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 145-6, vaguely states that the Mexicans went westward from the Seven Caves to a province called Culhuacan Mexico, whence they were ordered by their god to return, and passed through Tulla, Ichpuchco, Chiquiuhio near Ecatepec, to Chapultepec. According to Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 290-308, the other Nahuatlaca tribes left Aztlan from 1062 to 1068, but the Aztecs in 1 Tochtli, 1090. They pass through Téo-Culhuacan, Quahuitl-Icacan, 1091, Quinehuayan-Oztotl or Quinehuayan-Chicomoztoc, 1116, stay 11 years, Acahualtzinco or Tlalixco (now S. Juan del Rio), 1st cycle in 1143, stay 9 years, Tonalan, Lake Patzcuaro, Malinalco, Cohuatlycamac or Coatepec, 1174, stay 9 years, Apazco, Tzompanco, Tizayocan, Tepeyacac, Pantitlan, Popotlan, and arrive at Chapultepec in 1194, having been several times broken up into different bands on the way. Humboldt’s—Vues, tom. ii., p. 176, et seq.—interpretation of Gemelli Careri’s map—see vol. ii., pp. 543-7, of this work—gives the stations in the following order: From Colhuacan, the Mexican Ararat, 15 chiefs or tribes reach Aztlan, ‘land of flamingoes,’ north of 42°, which they leave in 1038, passing through Tocolco, ‘humiliation,’ Oztotlan, ‘place of grottoes,’ Mizquiahuala, Teotzapotlan, ‘place of divine fruit,’ Ilhuicatepec, Papantla, ‘large-leaved grass,’ Tzompanco, ‘place of human bones,’ Apazco, ‘clay vessel,’ Atlicalaguian, ‘crevice in which rivulet escapes,’ Quauhtitlan, ‘eagle grove,’ Atzcapotzalco, ‘ant-hill,’ Chalco, ‘place of precious stones,’ Pantitlan, ‘spinning-place,’ Tolpetlac, ‘rush mat,’ Quauhtepec, ‘eagle mountain,’ Tetepanco, ‘wall of many small stones,’ Chicomoztoc, ‘seven caves,’ Huitzquilocan, ‘place of thistles,’ Xaltepozauhcan, ‘place where the sand issues,’ Cozcaquauhco, ‘a vulture’, Techcatitlan, ‘place of obsidian mirrors,’ Azcaxochitl, ‘ant flower,’ Tepetlapan, ‘place of tepetate,’ Apan, ‘place of water,’ Teozomaco, ‘place of divine apes,’ Chapoltepec, ‘grasshopper hill.’ Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., pp. 5-7, repeats this interpretation. Ramirez, in García y Cubas, Atlas, justly ridicules the ‘Ararat’ or deluge theory, and confines the wanderings of the Aztecs to the regions about the lakes; 15 chiefs leave their home in Chalco Lake after tying 1st cycle. The stations are mostly adopted from Humboldt, without any opinion expressed of their accuracy, but there are a few additions and corrections in definitions, as follows:—Aztlan, where 2d and 3d cycle are tied, Cincotlan, 10 years, Tocolco, 4th cycle, Oztotlan, 5 years, Mizquiahuala, 5th cycle, Xalpan, 15 years, Tetepanco, ‘wall of many stones,’ 5 years, Oxitlipan, 10 years, Teotzapatlan, 4 years, Ilhuicatepec, 4 years, Papantla, meaning doubtful, 2 years, Tzonpanco, ‘place of skulls or bones,’ 5 years, Apazco, 4 years, Atlicalaquian, ‘where water collects,’ 2 years, Cauhtitlan, ‘near the eagle,’ 3 years, Azcapotzalco, ‘in the ant-hill,’ 6th cycle, 7 years, 1 year to Chalco, Pantitlan, ‘place of tiers,’ ‘place of departure,’ neither quite correct; Tolpetlac, 2 years, Epcohuac, ‘serpent,’ Cuauhtepec, 2 years, Chicomoztoc, 8 years, Huitzquilocal, 3 years, Xaltepozauhcan, doubtful, 4 years, Cozcacuauhco, 4 years, Techcatitlan, 5 years, Azcaxochic, 4 years, Tepetlapa, 5 years, Apan, ‘on the water,’ Teozomaco, ‘in the monkey of stone,’ 6 years, Chapoltepec, 4 years. The same author from the Boturini map—see vol. ii., pp. 547-50—derives the following: Left their island home, passed through Coloacan, stayed 5 days in a place not named, thence to Cuextecatlichocayan, Coatlicamac, 28 years, Tollan, 19, Atlicalaquiam, 10, Tlemaco, 5, Atotonilco, 5, Apazco, 12, Tzonpanco, 4, Xaltocan, 4, Acalhuacan, 4, Ehecatepec, 4, Tolpetlac, 8, Coatitlan, 20, Huixachtitlan, 4, Tecpayocan, 4, ——, Amalinalpan, 8, Pantitlan, 4, Acolnahuac, 4, Popotla, 4, ——, Atlacuihuayan or Tacubaya, 4, Chapoltepec, 20 years. Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., pp. 23-30, interprets the Boturini map as follows:—Leave Aztlan 1168, pass through Colhuacan, Cuatlicamaca, 1216-25, Apanco, 1226-9, Tlamaco, 1230-4, Tzompango, 1246, Azcapotzalco, 1250, Jaltocan, 1251-4, Colhuacan, 1258, Tolpetlac, 1262, Ecatepetl, 1270, Cuautitlan, Chalco, Tecpayocan, 1295, Pantitlan, Atotonilco, 1303, Azcapotzalco, 1311, Apan, 1315, Acaxochitl, 1319, Tlacuihuallan, 1327, Chapoltepetl, 1331-51.

[VI-3] Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 292-5, on the authority of the Mem. de Culhuacan and other original documents.

[VI-4] Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 135-6.

[VI-5] Id., pp. 136-8. Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 79-80, followed by Clavigero and Vetancvrt, represents this event as having occurred at a subsequent halting-place.

[VI-6] Veytia conjectures the emerald to typify the nobility of the Tlatelulcas, a useless attribute when compared with Aztec science and industry.

[VI-7] Hist., tom. ii., pp. 293-6; Ixtlilxochitl, vol. ix., p. 214. Veytia, tom. ii., p. 95, makes Chalchiuh Tlatonac another name of Huitziton.

[VI-8] On Huitzilopochtli see vol. iii., pp. 288-324. Some of the authorities imply that Huitzilopochtli died or at least appeared as an idol long before this period, soon after their departure from Aztlan. Boturini, Idea, pp. 60-1, states that Huitziton was taken up to heaven in sight of the people. See also on his death and the abandonment of Malinalxochitl; Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 93-101; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 78, 80-1; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 6-8; Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. ii.-iv.; Acosta, pp. 459-61, 468; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 160-1; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 299-302; Sigüenza, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. i., pp. 39-43; Ramirez, in García y Cubas, Atlas; Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., p. 25.

[VI-9] See vol. ii., p. 130; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., p. 6; Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. iii.; Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 103-5; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 272; Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., pp. 131-2.

[VI-10] See vol. ii., pp. 297-9; Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 106-8; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 7-8.

[VI-11] See besides references in preceding notes, Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 18-19; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xi.; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 125-6; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 302-5.

[VI-12] Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 96-7, calls the bride of Ilhuicatl, Tiacapapantzin; and Torquemada, tom. i., p. 82, Tiacapantzin. See also Clavigero, tom. i., p. 163; Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. iii.; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 306-8.

[VI-13] Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 213, 346, 397, gives the dates 1107, 1158, and 1105; the first date is 5 Acatl which agrees with Brasseur’s documents, but is interpreted as 1211 or one cycle later than Ixtlilxochitl’s interpretation. Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 79-80, gives the date 1263.

[VI-14] Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 323, 378; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 254. This author gives the succession of kings at Culhuacan as Achitometl, Mazatzin, Quetzal, Chalchiuhtona, Quauhtlix, Yohuallatonac, Tziuhtecatl, Xuihtemoctzin, and Coxcotzin. Veytia gives the succession as follows: Achitometl, Xohualatonac, Calquiyauhtzin, and Coxcox. It is impossible to reconcile this matter; but no events of great importance in which the Culhuas were engaged seem to have taken place until the reign of Coxcoxtli.

[VI-15] Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt i., p. 20, and Codex Chimalpopoca. Gallatin makes the date one cycle later or 1298.

[VI-16] Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 83-4. This author represents the Aztecs as having been driven from Chapultepec at this time. There is but little agreement respecting the order of events in Aztec history previous to the foundation of Mexico.

[VI-17] Codex Chimalpopoca, in Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 319-23.

[VI-18] Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., p. 348, and Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 140-1, mention this application to Quinantzin, but refer it to a much later period after the city of Mexico was founded.

[VI-19] Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 81-8, 110-13, gives the date of Tlotzin’s death as 1298. Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 213, 346, 3981, 461, gives as dates, 1141, 1194, and 1140. See also on his reign; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 68-72; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 143-4; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 16; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 324-33.

[VI-20] Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 73-4, 85; Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 114-15; Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 347-8, 399, 452-3; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 144-5; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 16; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 333-8; Müller, Reisen, tom. iii., p. 48.

[VI-21] Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 215, 347-8, 399, 452-3; Veytia, tom. i., pp. 116-17, 122-25, refers these events to a considerably later period, and states that Huitzilihuitl previously married a niece of Acolnahuacatl. Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 338-44.

[VI-22] Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 143-54, relates this rebellion and defeat of the northern provinces, and the consequent abdication of Acolnahuacatl, attributing these events, however, to a much later period, after the separation of the Tlatelulcas from the Mexicans, giving the date as 1325. Most of the authorities do not definitely fix the date, but Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 344-55, gives satisfactory reasons, supported by Camargo and Ixtlilxochitl, for referring both this war and the battle at Poyauhtlan to the time when the Mexicans were yet living under Huitzilihuitl at Chapultepec. Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 162-73, unites the rebellion of the king’s sons and the fight against the Teo-Chichimecs, referring this latter war to 1350, and including the provinces of Huastepec, Huehuetlan, and Cuitlahuac in the revolt. He represents the allied forces of Anáhuac, 100,000 strong, as serving in six divisions under the general command of Quinantzin, already emperor. He also states that Quinantzin’s queen accompanied her sons in their exile. Of course there is great diversity among the authorities in respect to names of leaders, and details of the battles; but the general account given in my text is the only consistent one that can be formed, since there is much even in Veytia’s account to support it. It is probable, in the light of later events, that Quinantzin took no part in the war against the Teo-Chichimecs, and quite possible that Camargo’s statement that the Teo-Chichimecs were victorious, though much exhausted, in the battle at Poyauhtlan, results to a great extent from national pride in the record of the Tlascaltecs. Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 84-6, 259-60, seems to be the authority for the second campaign of Quinantzin in the north, which was decided by a great battle at Tlaximalco in the region of Monte Real. Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 215-16, 349-52, 398-400, 461-2, as usual favors in different places nearly all the views of other authorities. See also Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., pp. 142-3; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 144-5, 154.

[VI-23] Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 160, 228; Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 216-17, 351, 399, 401, 453. The chief of the Tailotlacs was Tempantzin, or Aztatlitexcan; and the Chimalpanecs were under Xiloquetzin and Tlacateotzin. In this, as in other cases I have not entered minutely into the names, marriages, and genealogies of the nobles of Anáhuac, since my space does not permit a full treatment of the subject, and a superficial treatment would be without value.

[VI-24] Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 86. It is not quite certain that this revolt, and that of some southern provinces, which occurred two years later, were not connected with those that have been already narrated. Torquemada rarely pays any attention to chronology.

[VI-25] Kingsborough, vol. ix., p. 217. It seems that Quinantzin’s successor granted permission to build temples.

[VI-26] Hist., tom. ii., pp. 377-80.

[VI-27] Id., p. 382; dates 1281, or 1300. According to Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 160-1, and Ixtlilxochitl, p. 462, Xiuhtemoc, king of Culhuacan, died in 1340, and was succeeded by Acamapichtli.

[VI-28] See pp. 327-8.

[VI-29] Duran, MS. tom. i., cap. iv.; Acosta, pp. 462-4; Herrera, dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xi. Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 83-4, 89, says the Aztecs were either brought as slaves from Ocolco to Tizaapan, or were invited to Culhuacan and then enslaved. See also, Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 164-5; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 20-1; Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 127-9. I make no effort to follow Veytia’s chronologic order which, in this part of the history, is hopelessly confused and different from the other authorities.

[VI-30] Hist., tom. ii., pp. 380-98.

[VI-31] There is some confusion about the parentage of Tezozomoc and Acamapichtli: ‘Coxcoxtli épousa une fille d’Acolnahuacatl dont il eut Tezozomoc, ou Acolnahuacatl épousa une fille de Coxcoxtli dont ce prince serait issu. Quoique le MS. de 1528 donne Acolnahuacatl pour père à Tezozomoc, le Mémorial de Culhuacan le donne pour le fils de Coxcoxtli et frère d’Acamapichtli. Ixtlilxochitl dit également qu’Acamapichtli était son frère.’ Id., pp. 394-5. See Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 349, 397, 401. He, however, seems to make Acamapichtli also the son of Acolnahuacatl. Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 73, 161-2, fixes the date of the king’s death at 1343. Torquemada, tom. i., p. 68; Granados y Galvez, Tardes Amer., pp. 142-3.

[VI-32] Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 119-22. This author places this event in the lifetime of Huitzilihuitl and of Acolnahuacatl. Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 90-1; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 165-7.

[VI-33] See references in last note; also Humboldt, Vues, tom. i., pp. 260-1; Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., pp. 80-1, 260-1.

[VI-34] Acosta, p. 464; Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. iv. He calls the Culhua king Achitometl. Herrera, dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xi.

[VI-35] In Kingsborough, vol. ix., p. 398.

[VI-36] Quinantzin succeeded to the empire, and appointed his uncle, Tenancacaltzin, governor in Tenayocan, who usurped the throne in 1299; Huitzilihuitl, of Mexicans, obtained in marriage a niece of king Acolhua II. of Azcapuzalco; Coxcox succeeded Calquiyauhtzin as king of Culhuacan; the Xochimilcas were defeated by the aid of the Mexicans, and Acolhua II. became emperor in 1299; next, Acamapichtli used the Mexicans to conquer Coxcox, and made himself king of Culhuacan in 1301, but died in 1303 and was succeeded by Xiuhtemoc; Huitzilihuitl died in 1318, and the Mexicans chose as their king also, Xiuhtemoc of Culhuacan, where many of them had settled, under the rule of Acamapichtli, and where all now removed from Chapultepec, although against the wishes of the Culhua people; at last, in 1325, for no very definite reason, they were driven from Culhuacan and went to Acatzintitlan, or Mexicaltzinco; then they applied to the emperor Acolhua II. and were allowed to live for a time near Azcapuzalco, while their priests were searching for the predestined location of their future city; then took place the separation between the Mexicans and Tlatelulcas; the Tlatelulcas obtain a King from the emperor after having applied to Quinantzin in vain; Quinantzin regains the imperial throne from Acolhua II.; and finally, Tenochtitlan was founded in 1327. Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 114-57.

[VI-37] Hist., tom. ii., pp. 402-3, 432-50.

[VI-38] On the foundation of Mexico, its date, and name, see—Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. iv.-vi.; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 92-3, 288-91; Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 156-60; Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., p. 461; Tezozomoc, in Id., pp. 5, 8-9; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 531; Acosta, pp. 465-6; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 167-9; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 21; Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 40; Arlegui, Chrón. Zacatecas, pp. 8-9; Cavo, Tres Siglos, tom. i., p. 2; Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., pp. 1066-7; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 144, 204-5; Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. viii., pp. 405, 415; Müller, Amer. Urrel., p. 534; Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., p. 356.

[VI-39] Date 1325, according to Clavigero, Gama, Chimalpain, Brasseur, and Prescott; 1327, Veytia, following Sigüenza y Góngora; 1318, Duran; 1324, Codex Mendoza; 1140, 1141, or about 1200, Ixtlilxochitl; 1131, Camargo; 1326, Tezozomoc, in Veytia; 1316, Id., in Gondra; 1225, Chimalpain, in Id.; 1317, Sigüenza, in Id.; 1341, Torquemada, in Id.; 1321, Zapata, in Veytia; 1357, Martinez, in Veytia and Gondra.

[VI-40] On derivation of the name, see vol. ii., p. 559; also Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 92-3; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., p. 5; Ixtlilxochitl, in Id., p. 461. These authors derive Tenochtitlan from the Aztec name of the nopal. Cavo, Tres Siglos, tom. i., p. 2, Müller, Amer. Urrel., p. 534, and Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 315, derive Mexico from Metl-ico ‘place amid the magueys.’

[VI-41] 1357, Veytia; 1213, 1249, or 1253, Ixtlilxochitl; 1305, Brasseur.

[VI-42] Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 86-7; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 144-6; Veytia, tom. i., pp. 171, 176, 181; Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 215-16, 352, 400, 453; Sahagun, tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 275; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 422-5; Granados y Galvez, Tardes Amer., p. 39.

[VI-43] Xaltocan is spoken of by Ixtlilxochitl and Veytia as having been at this time subjected for the first time to the emperor. Its inhabitants were Otomís, and the refugees are said to have built, or rebuilt, the city of Otompan. Tezozomoc is represented as having borne the principal part in the war, while the emperor Techotl joined in it more to watch and restrain the allies than for anything else. Another war in Tlascala, in which forces sent by Techotl, are said by Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 265-8, to have participated, was, perhaps, the same already mentioned in connection with the king of Culhuacan.

[VI-44] Azcapuzalco, Mexico, Coatlichan, Huexotla, Coatepec, and four or five others are mentioned by Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., p. 355, as paying no tribute; but some of these, according to other authorities, were actually joined to the kingdom of Acolhuacan, and had not even the honor of a tributary lord.

[VI-45] The list of those lords present at the funeral of Quinantzin and the coronation of Techotl, is as follows: Tezozomoc, king of Azcapuzalco; Paintzin, king of Xaltocan, lord of the Otomís; Mocomatzin, Moteuhzomatzin, or Montezuma, king of Coatlichan; Acamapichtli, king of Culhuacan and Mexico (this could not be, as Mexico was not yet founded; Coxcoxtli was king of Culhuacan, but Acamapichtli was, in one sense, chief of the Mexicans, and heir to the throne of Culhuacan); Mixcohuatl, or Mixcohuatzin, king of Tlatelulco (the Aztec Tlatelulco was not yet founded; Brasseur believes this to refer to an ancient city of this name); Quetzalteuhtli, or Quetzalatecuhtli, lord of Xochimilco; Izmatletlopac, lord of Cuitlahuac; Chiquauhtli, lord of Mizquic (Chalco Atenco, according to Brasseur); Pochotl, lord of Chalco Atenco (Ixtlilxochitl); Omaca, or Omeacatl, lord of Tlalmanalco; Cacamaca, lord of Chalco; Temacatzin, lord of Huexotzinco, (or as Brasseur has it, of Quauhquechollan); Tematzin, prince of Huexotzinco (Brasseur); Cocaztzin, lord of Quauhquelchula (Ixtlilxochitl); Teocuitlapopocatzin, lord of Cuetlaxcohuapan, or Cuetlachcoapan; Chichimecatlalpayatzin, high-priest of Cholula; Chichitzin, lord of Tepeaca; Mitl, prince of Tlascala; Xihuilpopoca, lord of Zacatlan; Quauhquetzal, lord of Tenamitec; Chichihuatzin, lord of Tulancingo; Tlaltecatzin, lord of Quauhchinanco; Tecpatl, lord of Atotonilco; Iztaquauhtzin, lord of the Mazahuas; Chalchiuhtlanetzin, lord of Coyuhuacan; Yohuatl Chichimecatzin, lord of Coatepec; Quiyauhtzin, lord of Huexotla; Tecuhtlacuiloltzin, lord of Acolman. Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., p. 353; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., p. 428. Ixtlilxochitl says that these were not all, but merely the leading vassals, all related to the emperor. A list of 46 is given in Ixtlilxochitl, p. 355, and Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 214-15. 73 are said to have attended one assembly, 66 another, and 30 another.

[VI-46] Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 182-3, and Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., p. 427, state that the distant provinces of Quauhtemalan (Guatemala), Tecolotlan (Vera Paz), Centizonac, Teoquantepec (Tehuantepec), and Jalisco, were represented in the crowd that gathered at Techotl’s coronation, offering their homage and allegiance; but Ixtlilxochitl, p. 353, says that these provinces would not recognize the emperor. There is very little probability that the Chichimec power ever reached so far, but not unlikely that communication took place between Mexico and Central America at this period.

[VI-47] Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 195-6, implies that the new rites and ideas came rather from Mexican than Toltec influence.

[VI-48] The general Council of State, composed of all the highest lords, men of learning, ability, and character, was presided over by the emperor himself. Of the five special councils the first was that of war, under a lord who received the title of Tetlahto, and composed, according to Brasseur, of lords of the Acolhua nation. The second was the Council of the Exchequer, under a superintendent of finance, with the title Tlami, or Calpixcontli, having charge of the collection of tribute, and composed of men well acquainted with the resources of every part of the country, chiefly as is said Chichimecs, Otomís, and lords of Meztitlan. The third was the Diplomatic Council, whose president had the title of Yolqui, and was a kind of Grand Master of Ceremonies, whose duty it was to receive, present, entertain and dispatch ambassadors. Many of this council were Culhuas. The fourth was the council of the royal household, under the Amechichi, or High Chamberlain. This council was composed largely of Tepanecs. A fifth official, with the title of Cohuatl, superintended the work of the royal gold and silver smiths and feather-workers at Ocolco, a suburb of Tezcuco. The Spanish writers state that the president of each of the councils must be a relation of the emperor, or at least a Tezcucan nobleman. Torquemada, tom. i., p. 88; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 181; Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 182-5; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 430-1.

[VI-49] There seems to have been some trouble between Ixtlilxochitl and the Tepanec king Tezozomoc, even before Techotl’s death. Ixtlilxochitl was unmarried, although by his concubines he had many children; and, as Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 217-18, has it, he took Tezozomoc’s daughter as a wife at his father’s request, but sent her back before consummating the marriage; or, according to Ixtlilxochitl, p. 218, he refused to take Tezozomoc’s daughter, who had already been repudiated by some one, except as a concubine. The same author, p. 356, says this occurred after his father’s death. He finally married a Mexican princess. Tezozomoc was very much offended.

[VI-50] The emperor is said to have learned the Nahua language from his Culhua nurse Papaloxochitl, and to have become so convinced of its superiority that he ordered its adoption. Ixtlilxochitl, p. 217; Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 194-5.

[VI-51] Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 217-8, says he was over sixty years old; Ixtlilxochitl gives 1338 as the date of his birth, which would make him less than twenty. The method of arriving at his age seems to be by fixing the date of his son’s birth, noting that his father’s wife was eight years old at her marriage, and taking into consideration the reported Chichimec custom which required the husband to wait until his wife was forty before consummating the marriage. Ixtlilxochitl was endowed, at birth, with thirteen towns or provinces; his mother is said to have been the sister of Coxcoxtli, king of Culhuacan.

[VI-52] 1353, or 1357, Ixtlilxochitl; 1409, Veytia. On Techotl’s reign see: Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 217-18, 353-6, 400-1, 453, 462; Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 178-231; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 87-9, 108; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 180-1, 184; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 276; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 16-17, 24; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 425-32, 457-61, 472-3.

[VI-53] Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 302; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., p. 451. Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 127-30, agrees, except in dates, so far as the succession of Acamapichtli is concerned, and his friendship for the Mexicans. He, however, says nothing of Achitometl II., dates Acamapichtli’s death in 1303, and states that he was succeeded by his eldest son Xiuhtemoc. The Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 42, implies that Acamapichtli transferred his court in 1370 to Mexico, giving, as Motolinia, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 6, says, the lordship of Culhuacan to one of his sons. See also Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 218, 343, 349. Much of the confusion in the Culhua succession is caused by the fact that there were two Acamapichtlis, one, king of Culhuacan and in a certain sense the leader of the Mexicans, and the other, king of Mexico at a later date.

[VI-54] Gomara and Brasseur as above; also Brasseur, p. 465.

[VI-55] Torquemada, tom. i., p. 93; Duran, MS. tom. i., cap. x.

[VI-56] Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. vi.; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 9-10; Herrera, dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xii; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 471-3; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 99-101; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 176; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 22-3.

[VI-57] Hist., tom. ii., p. 454.

[VI-58] Veytia, tom. ii., p. 159, writes the name Tenuhctzin, and dates his election 1330. In the Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 40, it is stated that the other chiefs still continued to govern their clans. See also, Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 173-4; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 289-91; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 148.

[VI-59] See pp. 325-6, of this volume.

[VI-60] Veytia says they first applied to Quinantzin, placing this event in the reign of Alconahuacatl, as emperor.

[VI-61] Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 135, 138, 140-1; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 93, 99, 291. Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. v., names four chiefs who were at the head of the secessionists. Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., p. 398, mentions two chiefs with their adherents. Others speak of eight. Acosta, p. 468, writes Tlatelulco, ‘place of terraces.’ Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 113, defines the name ‘islet.’ Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 22, derives it from tlatelli, ‘booth,’ because the market was located here. Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 467-8, says the original name was Xalliyacac, ‘point of land,’ which was in the territory belonging to Tlatelulco, at the time a small village, but in the Toltec period a flourishing city. See also, Clavigero, tom. i., p. 170.

[VI-62] There is great diversity among the authorities respecting the parentage of Acamapichtli II., some of which may probably be attributed to the confounding of two of the same name. Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 186-8, 161, dates his accession 1361, says a political contest of four years preceded his election, and calls him the son of Huitzilihuitl by Atotoztli, daughter of Acamapichtli. Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 173-4, Acosta, pp. 469-71, and Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. v-vi., represent the new king as son of Opochtli, an Aztec chief, by Atotoztli, a Culhua princess. Clavigero makes the date 1352; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 94-97, refers to him as a noble Aztec, son of Cohuatzontli by the daughter of a Culhua chieftain. Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 344, 348-9, 456, gives as usual two or three versions of the matter, saying in one place that the new king was the third son of the king of Azcapuzalco. Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 302, brings him from Coatlichan, whither he had escaped with his mother after the death of her husband the Culhua king. ‘Acamapichtli, king of Culhuacan, father of the second Acamapichtli spoken of here, was a grandson of Acxoquauhtli, son of Achitometl I., by Azcaxochitl, daughter of the Mexican Huitzilatl. Acamapichtli I. had also married Ixxochitl, daughter of Teotlehuac, who was a brother of Azcaxochitl and son of the same Huitzilatl, and had had by her Acamapichtli II.’ Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 469-70. See also:Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 22; Motolinia, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 6; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xii.; Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iv., pp. 1005-6. The question of the new king’s marriage is even more deeply involved. See same authorities.

[VI-63] Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 94-5; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 174-5; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., p. 471. Date according to Clavigero, 1353. Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 213, 348-9, 398, 453, and Veytia, Hist. Ant. Mej., tom. ii., p. 141, say that the king’s name was Mixcohuatl, or Epcoatzin, or Cohuatlecatl. See also Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 22; Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 273; Granados y Galvez, Tardes Amer., pp. 174-5; Müller, Reisen, tom. iii., p. 49; and Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 317-9, with portrait.

Chapter VII • The Chichimec Period—Concluded • 14,700 Words

Aztec History—Reigns of Acamapichtli II. and Quaquauhpitzahuac—Rebuilding of Culhuacan—Huitzilihuitl II., King of Mexico—Tlacateotzin, King of Tlatelulco—Chimalpopoca Succeeds in Mexico—Funeral of Techotl—Ixtlilxochitl, Emperor of the Chichimecs—Symptoms of Discontent—Plans of Tezozomoc, the Tepanec King—Secret council of Rebels—Religious Toleration in Tezcuco—Conquest of Xaltocan and Cuitlahuac—Birth of Nezahualcoyotl—War between Tezcuco and Azcapuzalco—Victories of Ixtlilxochitl—Siege and Fall of Azcapuzalco—Treachery of Tezozomoc—Fall of Tezcuco—Flight and Death of Ixtlilxochitl—Tezozomoc proclaimed Emperor—Reorganization of the Empire—Adventures of Nezahualcoyotl—Death of Tezozomoc—Maxtla usurps the Imperial Throne—Murder of the Mexican Kings—Nezahualcoyotl’s Victory—Itzcoatl, King of Mexico—Acolhua and Aztec Alliance—Fall of Azcapuzalco—The Tri-partite Alliance, or the New Empire.

The next and final chapter of the Chichimec annals covers a period of three quarters of a century, extending from the death of the emperor Techotl in 1357, to the formation of the tri-partite alliance between the Acolhuas, Aztecs, and Tepanecs, in 1431. It embraces the reigns of three emperors, Ixtlilxochitl, Tezozomoc, and Maxtla; and is a record of continued struggles for the imperial power between the Acolhuas and Tepanecs, resulting in the humiliation of the latter and the triumph of the former, through the aid of a third power, which is admitted as an equal to the victor in the final reconstruction of the empire. The rôle of the other nations of Anáhuac during this period, is that of allies to one or the other of the powers mentioned, or, occasionally, of rebels who take advantage of the dissensions of the ruling powers to declare their independence, enjoyed as a rule only until such time as the masters may have an opportunity to reduce them to their old allegiance. We find the aboriginal record more and more complete as we approach the epoch of the conquest, with much less confusion in chronology, so far as leading events are concerned, although perfect agreement among the authorities is yet far from being attained in the minor details with which the narrative is crowded. A new source of disagreement is, moreover, reached as we approach the final century of the native annals—national prejudices on the part of the native historians through whom those annals have been handed down, and a constant tendency among such writers as Ixtlilxochitl, Tezozomoc, Chimalpain, and Camargo, to exhibit in their highest colors the actions of the nations from which they have descended, while ever disposed to cloud the fame of rival powers. Fortunately, one authority serves, generally, as an efficient check upon another in such cases.

Reign of Acamapichtli II • The Chichimec Period

Before relating the general history of Anáhuac during the successive reigns of the emperors Ixtlilxochitl and Tezozomoc, in which history the Mexicans took a prominent part as allies of the latter, it will be well to glance, briefly—for there is little to say on the subject—at the course of events in the new cities on the lake marshes. We left Tenochtitlan under the rule of its Culhua king, Acamapichtli II., or rather under the regency of his queen, Ilancueitl; while Quaquauhpitzahuac, son of the Tepanec king Tezozomoc, was on the throne of Tlatelulco, both kingdoms being tributary to that of Azcapuzalco. One of the last acts of the queen was the re-settlement of Culhuacan in 1378, by means of a colony sent from Mexico under Nauhyotl, the fourth of that name who had ruled in the Culhua city. This was done partly from motives of pride in restoring the capital of her own and her husband’s ancestors, and partly to serve as a check on the encroachments of the Chalcas in the south.[VII-1]Codex Chimalp., in Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 99. In the explanation of the Codex Tell. Rem., in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 148, vol. vi., p. 134, it is stated that king Acamapichtli burned the temple of Culhuacan in 1399, probably referring to the quarrels of Acamapichtli I. with Coxcoxtli, or Achitometl, at an earlier period. In 1383 the queen died. Ixtlilxochitl states that she bore her husband three sons, one of whom was Huitzilihuitl; Clavigero tells us she was barren, but took charge of the education of two of her husband’s sons, Huitzilihuitl and Chimalpopoca, by another wife; Torquemada confounds the two Acamapichtlis, and is, consequently, greatly puzzled about Ilancueitl’s children; and finally, Brasseur shows that she was espoused at an advanced age by the king solely for political motives, and that she lived harmoniously with his other two wives, one of whom bore him Huitzilihuitl, and the other Chimalpopoca.[VII-2]Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., p. 213; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 176-7; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 95-8; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 100; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 302; Herrera, dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xii.; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 470-3; Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xiii; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 148-9; Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 43. The reign of Acamapichtli II. dates, in a certain sense, from the death of his queen, who for many years had, at least, ruled jointly with him. The beginning of the wars between the Mexicans and Chalcas, which were waged so bitterly for many years, is attributed to Acamapichtli’s reign, as are the conquests of Quauhnahuac, Mizquic, and Xochimilco; but it must be understood that it was only as the allies of the Tepanec king that the Mexicans engaged in these wars. Torquemada and Acosta assert that Acamapichtli’s reign was a very peaceful one.[VII-3]Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 92; Mendieta, Torquemada, Acosta, Brasseur, and Clavigero, as in preceding note. It was after the conquest of Quauhnahuac, later Cuernavaca, that the first gold-workers came to ply their art in Tenochtitlan.[VII-4]Codex Chimalp., in Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 111. After having ruled wisely and justly, greatly enlarging and improving his capital, he died in 1403, leaving the choice of a successor wholly to his nobles and priests.[VII-5]Date, 1404, Duran; 1402, after reigning 41 years, Veytia; 1405, Boturini; 1389, 37 years, Clavigero; 1406, 7 years, Codex Tell. Rem.; 1396, Mendieta; reigned 21 years, Torquemada, Sahagun, Codex Mendoza; 1271, 51 years, Ixtlilxochitl; 46 years, Gomara and Motolinia; 40 years, Acosta and Herrera; 1403, 53 or 21 years, Brasseur. There is great disagreement among the authorities respecting the length of his reign, some dating it from his first call to the throne, and others from the death of the queen. Immediately after the funeral of Acamapichtli, an assembly of the wise men of the nation was held to deliberate on the choice of a successor. The priests made an effort to acquire the control by discontinuing the monarchy. They wished the temporal affairs of the state to be managed by a senate or council, with a military chieftain to lead their armies in war; but the majority believed that their only hope of national safety and future power was in a monarchy, and Huitzilihuitl II., the eldest son of the late king was called to the throne during the same or the following year. The speeches by which the old men convinced the assembly that their yet precarious condition, considering their isolated position and the powerful nations surrounding them, made it necessary to call to their throne a wise, prudent, and powerful king, are recorded by Duran, Tezozomoc, and Torquemada; as are the addresses of advice to the new king at his coronation, in which he was reminded that his position was no sinecure, but that on him depended the future greatness of the Mexicans foretold by the gods. The choice of the people was ratified by king Tezozomoc of Azcapuzalco; and at the same time it is reported that Itzcoatl, a natural son of the late king, by a woman of rank, was appointed commander of the Mexican armies. One of the means by which the Aztecs struggled to attain to their predestined greatness, was by contracting foreign matrimonial alliances with powerful nations; and as Huitzilihuitl had yet no wife, an embassy was sent to Tezozomoc with a most humble and flattering petition, begging that all-powerful sovereign to favor his most obedient vassal by sending one of his daughters, “one of his pearls, emeralds, or precious feathers,” as Torquemada expresses it, to share with the new king his poor home in the marshes. The petition was granted, the princess Ayauhcihuatl was given to Huitzilihuitl, and the following year his brother Chimalpopoca won the hand of the beautiful princess Miahuaxochitl, daughter of the lord of Quauhnahuac, who became the mother of Montezuma.[VII-6]Acosta and Herrera write the name of Huitzilihuitl’s wife Ayauchigual. Veytia says her name was Miahuaxochitl, and that she was the daughter of Tezozomoc. Torquemada, Clavigero, and Gomara make him marry, first, Ayauhcihuatl, daughter of Tezozomoc, and afterwards, Miahuaxochitl, princess of Quauhnahuac, the latter of whom bore Montezuma I. Ixtlilxochitl says the king married his niece, Tetzihuatzin, grand-daughter of Tezozomoc, one of whose children was Chimalpopoca. Brasseur, relying on the Codex Chimalp. and Mem. de Culhuacan, gives the account I have presented in the text. The Codex Tell. Rem. says Huitzilihuitl married a daughter of the princess of Coatlichan, and a grand-daughter of Acamapichtli, having by her no sons. Tezozomoc and Duran name Chimalpopoca as Huitzilihuitl’s first son; Veytia says it was Montezuma I., and Torquemada, Clavigero, and Brasseur name the first son Acolnahuacatl. By the alliance with Quauhnahuac, the city of Tenochtitlan received a large accession of artists and skilled workmen; while from Tezozomoc, who is said by Veytia to have personally visited the city at the birth of his grandson, the Mexicans obtained the removal of the tribute which they had so long been obliged to pay, or, at least, its reduction to a merely nominal amount, including a few wild fowl and fishes for the royal table. From this time the Mexicans are said to have felt more at their ease, to have paid more attention to the arts and sciences, and to have abandoned their coarse garments of nequen for more sumptuous apparel.[VII-7]On the death of Acamapichtli II., and the succession and marriage of Huitzilihuitl II., see Duran, MS. tom. i., cap. vi, vii; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 176-80; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 98-106; Sahagun, tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 268; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 218, 353, 456-7; Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 219-26; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 10-11; Codex Tell. Rem., in Id., vol. v., pp. 148-9; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 302; Motolinia, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 6; Herrera, dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xii.; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 473-5; Sigüenza, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. i., p. 50; Boturini, in Id., p. 239; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 149; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 110-17.

Aztec Alliances • Reign of Huitzilihuitl II

Very soon after Huitzilihuitl’s accession to the throne, the Tlatetulcan king Quaquauhpitzahuac died, and was succeeded by his son Tlacateotzin, according to Brasseur’s authorities; although Veytia places at about this date the succession and marriage of Quaquauhpitzahuac, soon followed by Tlacateotzin’s birth, the latter becoming king only in 1414. This subject of the Tlatetulcan succession is inextricably confused, since some authors make Mixcohuatl precede Quaquauhpitzahuac as first king; and Ixtlilxochitl, in one of his relations, even puts another king, Amatzin, between the two. The matter is not one of great importance, since it is certain that Tlacateotzin reigned after 1414 during a most exciting period, being one of the chief military leaders in Tezozomoc’s army.[VII-8]According to Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 216-7, 246, 249-51, Mixcohuatl reigned 75 years, was succeeded by Quaquauhpitzahuac in 1400, and he by Tlacateotzin in 1414. Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 213, 218, 353, 356, 453, 462, says Mixcohuatl died in 1271, reigned 51 years, and was succeeded by his son Quaquauhpitzahuac; or that he died in Techotl’s reign and was followed by Tlacateotzin; or that Quaquauhpitzahuac died in 1353; or was succeeded by Amatzin; or again, that Tlacateotzin succeeded his father; and that he married a daughter of Tezozomoc. Sahagun, tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 273, ignores Mixcohuatl, as do Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 94-5, 99, 127-8, and Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 175, 184. Both the latter authors make the first king a son of Tezozomoc. Clavigero places his accession in 1353, and that of Tlacateotzin, his successor, in 1399. Torquemada says the first king reigned 35 years, and was followed by Tlacateotzin in the tenth year of Huitzilihuitl’s rule. Both Mexicans and Tlatelulcas seem to have claimed the honor of having had the first king. See also Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 123. The two cities had by this time been extended greatly beyond their original limits, and were separated only by a narrow tract of marsh, which was dry at low water. Notwithstanding the fair promises made by the Tepanec king to his vassals and allies on the lake, some of his tyrannical acts seem to have been directed at them even at this early time, if we may credit the statement that Nauhyotl IV., in command of the Aztec-Culhua colony at Culhuacan for the past thirty-five years, was murdered by Tezozomoc’s orders in 1413.[VII-9]Codex Chimalp., in Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 120. Tlatelulco was yet in its buildings and some other respects superior to its rival, perhaps by reason of being less under priestly control, or through the greater favor shown its people by the Tepanecs. But Huitzilihuitl had done much to build up and embellish Tenochtitlan, and particularly to promote her commercial industries, by digging canals, multiplying the number of chinampas, and by a wise system of trade regulations. He is also accredited with a new code of laws, and with the introduction of war canoes and the training of his soldiers in their skillful management.[VII-10]Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. vii.; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 106; Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 226-8, 246; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 127-8. Mendieta states that this king conquered Tultitlan, Quauhtitlan, Chalco, Tulancingo, Xaltocan, Otompan, Tezcuco, and Acolman, during his reign, but the reference is of course to the wars of the Tepanec king by the aid of his Mexican allies; and Sahagun says he fought against Culhuacan, referring doubtless to a former ruler of the same name.[VII-11]Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 149; Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 43; Sahagun, tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 268. Huitzilihuitl II. died in 1417,[VII-12]Date 1414, Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 246-7; Boturini, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 239; Codex Tell. Rem., in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 149; 1353, Ixtlilxochitl, in Id., vol. ix., pp. 218, 356, 457; 1409, Clavigero, tom. i., p. 186; 1417, Codex Chimalp. in Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 129, and Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 43. and his half brother, Chimalpopoca, was immediately chosen to succeed him, in the absence of any legitimate son. We have seen that there is much disagreement respecting Huitzilihuitl’s marriage and his children; some authors even state that Chimalpopoca was his son, but the majority of the best authorities agree that the new king was the son of Acamapichtli II., and a brother of Huitzilihuitl. The latter’s only legitimate son, Acolnahuacatl, was killed, in childhood, by Maxtla, son of Tezozomoc, in 1399, through fear that he might inherit the crown of Azcapuzalco, as Clavigero states. Acosta, confounding this tradition with the fact that king Chimalpopoca was long after killed by Maxtla’s orders, tells us Chimalpopoca was killed in childhood. Torquemada adds to the fact of the young Acolnahuacatl’s murder, another motive for the crime, in a tale to the effect that Tezozomoc had given Maxtla’s wife to the Mexicans for a queen, hence the wrath and vengeance of the Tepanec prince. The choice of the Mexicans is said to have been approved both by the emperor Ixtlilxochitl and by Tezozomoc. Chimalpopoca’s marriage has already been noted, and the birth of his son Montezuma Ilhuicamina; Veytia states that his wife, by whom he had seven children, was the princess Matlalatzin, a daughter of the king of Tlatelulco. I shall have occasion to speak again of this king.[VII-13]On death of Huitzilihuitl II. and succession of Chimalpopoca, see Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 246-9; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 105-7; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 182-7; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 218, 355-6, 457; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 475-8; Sahagun, tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 268; Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. vii, viii; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 149; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 129-31; Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 43; Codex Tell. Rem., in Id., p. 149.

Succession of Ixtlilxochitl

To return to the general history of the Chichimec empire, the kings and lords were assembled at Tezcuco to perform the last honors to the dead emperor Techotl, and to celebrate the accession of his son and chosen heir Ixtlilxochitl. We have seen that Techotl had by his great ability and by a series of most extraordinary political measures checked the independent spirit of his vassal lords, avoided all internal strife, centralized the imperial power, and made himself almost absolute master of Anáhuac. Another Techotl might perhaps have retained the mastery; but we have seen that many of his acts were calculated to excite the opposition of the Chichimec lords, that on his death-bed he expressed his misgivings respecting future events, and that his son had already made of the Tepanec king an enemy. It is quite possible that the last years of Techotl’s reign were marked with troubles which have not been recorded, and that there were causes of enmity towards Ixtlilxochitl which are unknown to us. Brasseur attributes the misfortunes that ensued to Ixtlilxochitl’s vacillating spirit and love of ease; but his acts as recorded by the Spanish writers indicate rather a peaceful and forgiving disposition, joined to marked and brilliant abilities as a warrior. However this may be, trouble ahead was indicated at the very funeral of his mighty and popular father. Many lords invited to participate in the ceremonies were not present. Veytia, and Ixtlilxochitl in one of his relations, say that only four lords attended the obsequies; but the latter author elsewhere, and also Boturini, make the number present over sixty, which is much more probable. The absentees sent in various pretexts for not attending; if they had come they would have been obliged to swear allegiance to the new emperor or to openly rebel, an act for which they were not yet ready. Torquemada and Clavigero tell us that Tezozomoc was present at the funeral, but departed immediately after without giving his adhesion to the new emperor. Ixtlilxochitl, however, was crowned king of Acolhuacan by the princes present at Tezcuco, and in all probability assumed at that time the title of Chichimecatl Tecuhtli, or emperor, that was his due, although no author states this directly, and both Ixtlilxochitl and Veytia state expressly that he was not crowned as emperor for many years. Ixtlilxochitl says, however, in one place that he was proclaimed ‘lord paramount’ by the assembled princes, and there was no apparent motive for delay in this respect.[VII-14]Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 231-3, 236, 245; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 108-9; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 185; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 218-19, 356, 358-9, 401; Boturini, Idea, p. 142; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 87-92. Ixtlilxochitl was at first disposed to resort to force and to avenge the insult offered him. Putting his army in order and stationing his forces in and about the capital, he sent a summons to Azcapuzalco, ordering the Tepanec king to appear forthwith at court to pay allegiance to his emperor. Tezozomoc, not yet ready for open revolt, pleaded illness, assured Ixtlilxochitl of his good intentions and loyalty, and promised to come as soon as his health would permit. The emperor understood that this was but a pretext, but he was unwilling to resort to harsh measures if they could be avoided, and was induced by his counselors, many of them perhaps in full sympathy with Tezozomoc, to await the better health of his opponent.[VII-15]Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 234-7; Ixtlilxochitl, p. 356.

Plots of Tezozomoc

In the meantime Tezozomoc called a secret meeting of the disaffected lords, with many of whom he may be supposed to have been already in communication. The kings of Mexico and Tlatelulco were among the allies on whom he counted most, and to whom he made the most flattering promises in case of future success. In a long speech before the assembly he expatiated upon the acts of the late emperor which had been most calculated to offend the lords before him. He spoke of their rights as independent Chichimec rulers, of which they had been deprived and only repaid by empty honors at the imperial court; urged upon them the necessity of making an effort to shake off the tyranny that oppressed them while they retained the power to act; reminded them of Ixtlilxochitl’s youth and general unfitness to direct the affairs of a mighty empire. He boasted of having himself already shown his independence by absenting himself from the new emperor’s coronation. According to most authorities, he disclaimed any ambitious aims of his own, or any intention to despoil Ixtlilxochitl of his domains as king of Acolhuacan, his only avowed design being to restore to all Chichimec lords their ancient independence; but others state that he openly expressed his intention to wear the imperial crown. At any rate, the assembled princes signified their approval of his views, and looked to him for directions; pledged to secrecy for the present, they were dismissed, and Tezozomoc began his preparations for the coming struggle. But he proceeded slowly, for he knew that Ixtlilxochitl was not a foe to be easily overcome.[VII-16]Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 219, 356-7; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 108-9; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 185; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 93-5. Ixtlilxochitl probably knew of the meeting, but still took no active steps against the Tepanec king, although, as the Spanish writers say, he was constantly arming and disciplining his forces. It is said that immediately upon his accession he removed all restrictions upon religious rites among the many nationalities and sects which composed the population of Tezcuco, even permitting human sacrifice, so strictly prohibited by his ancestors. He thus laid the foundation for troubles analogous to those that had destroyed Tollan and Culhuacan.[VII-17]Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 95-6.

Tezozomoc carefully prepared his way to future power by establishing Tepanec colonies in different localities. One of them was at Tultitlan, near Quauhtitlan. We have seen the latter city pass under Culhua control at the fall of Culhuacan; but after the reigns of king Iztactototl and queen Ehuatlycue, the Chichimecs had regained control in 1372. In 1395 an army, composed chiefly of Tepanecs and Mexicans, under Xaltemoc, lord of Quauhtitlan, conquered and burned the Otomí city of Xaltocan, and a large extent of territory between that city and Tollan, of which Tezozomoc took for himself the larger share, giving also portions to his allies for their services. In 1392 the Cuitlahuacs had been conquered by the Mexicans and entrusted to a governor devoted to the interests of Tezozomoc, who embraced every opportunity to place his sons or his friends in positions where they might be of use to him in the future.[VII-18]Id., pp. 97-106. Ixtlilxochitl watched the aggressive movements without interfering, from cowardice or weakness as one would think were it not for subsequent events, and at last Tezozomoc proceeded to test his adversary’s feelings towards him, by sending, for three years successively, a quantity of cotton to Tezcuco, at first with the request, but finally with the order, that it should be woven into fine fabrics and returned to Azcapuzalco. Twice the request was granted and the cloths sent back with a polite message, still, as is said, at the advice of the Acolhua counselors; and the Tepanec king evidently began to think he had overrated his emperor’s courage. He was disposed to begin hostilities at once, but was induced by his allied counselors rather to increase year by year the quantity of cotton sent to Tezcuco, and thus to gradually accustom the Acolhua king to a payment of tribute, while he was also constantly winning over to his side lords that yet wavered. On the third year a very large amount of cotton was sent, without any formal request, but with a mere message directing that the staple be forthwith woven into the finest cloths, and to ensure dispatch that it be divided among the Acolhua lords.

Preparations for War

Ixtlilxochitl was at last fully aroused, refused to be controlled by his advisers, and returned to Tezozomoc’s message a reply substantially as follows: “I have received the cotton kindly furnished by you, and thank you for it. It will serve to make quilted garments to be worn by my soldiers who go to chastise a pack of rebels who not only refuse allegiance to their emperor, but relying on my forbearance, have the impudence to ask for tribute. If you have more cotton send it also; my soldiers do not need armor to fight against such foes, but these quilted garments will give my armies a finer appearance in their triumphal march.” With this reply, or soon after, according to Brasseur, a formal challenge was sent to Tezozomoc, whose gray hairs and near relationship, as Ixtlilxochitl said, could no longer protect him. The other authorities speak of no formal challenge, but of long preparation on both sides for the approaching conflict. The Tepanec king summoned his allies, chief among whom were the Mexicans and Tlatelulcas, promised to divide the conquered domain of Acolhuacan among them, and prepared to march on Tezcuco. Ixtlilxochitl also called upon his vassal lords, including those of Coatlichan, Huexotla, Coatepec, Iztapalocan, Tepepulco, Chalco, and others, explained to them the ambitious plans of Tezozomoc, recalled to them the favors they had received from his ancestors, and ordered them to aid him immediately with all their resources. Many of the authors state that he wished at this time to be crowned as emperor, but postponed the ceremonies at the wish of his lords, until after the defeat of his enemy, when they might be performed with fitting pomp. All the lords promised their assistance, although some of them are supposed to have been in sympathy with Tezozomoc. The Spanish writers represent these events as having occurred from 1410 to 1412, but it is evident from what follows that they are to be attributed to the last years of the fourteenth century.[VII-19]Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 219, 357, 401-2; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 108-9; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 185-6; Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 234-45; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 106-8.

Brasseur, relying on a chapter of Torquemada’s work,[VII-20]Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 108-9. states that in the challenge mentioned above, the region of Quauhtitlan was mentioned as a battle-ground, and that it was followed by a three years’ war, in which Ixtlilxochitl succeeded, at least, in holding his ground, and thereby greatly increased his strength by inspiring confidence in the minds of his wavering vassals. Other authorities, however, state that open hostilities were not engaged in for a long time after the affair of the cotton, although preparations were made on both sides; and this was probably the case, since I find nothing in Torquemada’s account to indicate that he intended to make this war distinct from that which, according to all the authorities, took place some years later.

Ixtlilxochitl had married a sister of prince Chimalpopoca of Mexico—half-sister to king Huitzilihuitl II.—by whom he had two children, the princess Atototzin and prince Nezahualcoyotl, ‘the fasting coyote.'[VII-21]The former also called Tozquentzin and Atotoztli; and the latter, Acolmiztli and Yoyontzin. All the authorities agree on 1402 as the date of his birth, although disagreeing somewhat respecting the month, day, and hour, these variations being, perhaps, not worth discussion from a historical point of view. The predictions of the astrologers at his birth were most flattering for his future career, and he was entrusted for education and training to a Toltec gentleman of high culture.[VII-22]Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 218, 359, 401, 405, 453; Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. vi.; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 110; Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt ii., pp. 41-2; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 109-10; Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., p. 146. Xaltemoc of Quauhtitlan, who in 1395 had commanded the allied forces in the conquest of Xaltocan, had, it seems, gained the good-will of both the Chichimec and Culhua branches of the population of that city, the power of which had been greatly increased; but this ruler, not lending himself readily to the plans of Tezozomoc, is reported to have been assassinated by the latter’s orders in 1408, and his domain to have been divided and put under sons or friends of the Tepanec tyrant, as governors.[VII-23]Codex Chimalp., in Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 117-18.

War Between Acolhuas and Tepanecs

The first act of open hostility took place in 1415, when Tezozomoc sent an army in several divisions round the lake southward to devastate the country, destroy the minor towns belonging to the emperor, to join forces at Aztahuacan, take and fortify Iztapalocan, an important city near by, and from that place to march on Tezcuco and capture the emperor. The plan succeeded at first and many towns were pillaged. A traitor led them by the best routes and gave them instructions as to manner of assaulting, or, as Brasseur says, admitted them into the city of Iztapalocan; but the inhabitants under the brave governor, Quauhxilotzin, succeed in repulsing the Tepanec forces although not without considerable loss of prisoners, to which misfortune was joined the death of the brave governor, murdered by the hands of the same traitor mentioned above. Ixtlilxochitl, hearing of the march of his enemy, came to Iztapalocan from Tezcuco soon after the battle, with a small army hastily gathered; but the Tepanecs finding that their plan had failed in its main object, had retreated to Azcapuzalco, and the emperor’s force was too small to attack Tezozomoc in his intrenchments.[VII-24]Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 219, 358-9, 402. Dates according to this author, April 15, 1359; Dec. 30, 1363; 1415. Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 255-6; date, Aug. 6, 1415. Torquemada, tom. i., p. 109; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 185-6; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 120-1.

Before beginning a campaign against Tezozomoc, Ixtlilxochitl called a meeting of such vassal lords as were accessible, and had his son Nezahualcoyotl proclaimed, with all the pomp of the old Toltec rites, as his successor on the imperial throne. The high-priests of Huexotla and Cholula assisted at the ceremonies, and the only lords present were those of Huexotla,[VII-25]Sahagun, tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 277-8, gives a list of the succession of lords at Huexotla from the earliest Chichimec times. Coatlichan, and Iztapalocan; others who were faithful were busy preparing their forces for war. The authorities do not agree whether this meeting took place in Tezcuco or Huexotla, and some imply that Ixtlilxochitl was crowned at the same time.[VII-26]Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 219-20, 359, 402. He states that in this meeting, or another held about the same time, there were many other lords present, including those of Acolman and Tepechpan, who, although pretending to be faithful, kept Tezozomoc posted as to the course events were taking. See also Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 257-8; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 110; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 121-2.

Tezozomoc, too old to lead his armies in person, gave his son Maxtla and the kings of Mexico and Tlatelulco, the highest places in command, making the latter, Tlacateotzin, commander-in-chief. He also took especial care in strengthening his fortifications on the frontier. Ixtlilxochitl divided his forces in three divisions; the first, commanded by Tochintzin, grandson of the lord of Coatlichan, was stationed in towns just north of the capital; the second, under Ixcontzin, lord of Iztapalocan, was to protect the southern provinces; while the third, under the emperor himself, remained near Tezcuco, ready to render aid to his officers where it should be most needed. They were ordered to remain within their intrenchments and await the enemy’s movements. The Tepanecs and their allies crossed the lake in canoes, landed in the region of Huexotla, carried some small settlements on the lake shores, and assaulted the Acolhuas in their intrenched positions. Day after day they repeated the assault, and were driven back each time with heavy loss, both sides in the meantime receiving strong reinforcements. Finally Tochintzin feigned a retreat towards Chiuhnauhtlan, drew the Tepanecs in pursuit, faced about suddenly and utterly routed the forces of Tlacateotzin. The lake shore was covered with the dead, and the defeated army retired in confusion to Azcapuzalco. The good-natured emperor gave orders to discontinue offensive operations, and sent an embassy proffering peace on condition of submission to him as emperor, and offering to forget the past. Tezozomoc haughtily declined the overtures, claimed a right, as the nearest relative of the great Xolotl, to the title of Chichimecatl Tecuhtli, and announced his intention to enforce his claims, naming a day when his armies would again meet the Acolhuas on the field of Chiuhnauhtlan. This may be the challenge already referred to as recorded by Torquemada. At any rate, it was accepted, a large army was concentrated at the point indicated, and another at Huexotla, which place, as was ascertained, Tezozomoc really intended treacherously to attack, and which he expected to find comparatively undefended. Tlacateotzin crossed the lake as before in canoes with an immense army, but as before was defeated in a succession of battles, and after some days forced to retreat to the Tepanec capital, branches of the Acolhua army in the meantime sacking several towns in the enemy’s domain, and punishing several lords who had deserted the emperor to join Tezozomoc.[VII-27]Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 359-60, 402-3; Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 257-68; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 108-9; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 186; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 122-5.

Ixtlilxochitl’s Victories

Ixtlilxochitl’s star was now in the ascendant; his valor and success in war inspired new confidence; and many lords who had hitherto held aloof, now declared their allegiance to the emperor. As usual, the Tezcucan monarch was disposed to suspend his military operations, and receive the allegiance which he supposed Tezozomoc would now be ready to offer; but he soon learned that his adversary, far from abandoning his projects, had succeeded, by new promises of a future division of territory and spoils, in gaining over to his side the lords of two powerful provinces, one of which was Chalco, adjoining the Acolhuan domain on the north and south. Exasperated at his foe’s persistence, and having a larger army than ever before at his command, Ixtlilxochitl determined to punish Tezozomoc and his allies in their own territory. Leaving at and about Iztapalocan, and under the lord of that city, a sufficient army to keep the Chalcas in check, he marched at the head of a large army northward and round the lakes, taking in his course Otompan and Tollan with many towns of minor importance. Now without opposition, now after a bloody combat, town after town fell before the advancing conqueror, whose fury was directed against Tepanec soldiers and treacherous vassals, women and children being in all cases spared. In the province of Tepotzotlan he was met by the regular Tepanec army of 200,000 men under the Tlatelulcan king Tlacateotzin, who attempted to stay the tide of invasion, but after a desperate conflict, was forced back to Quauhtitlan, and then to Tepatec, where a second great battle was fought. Defeated at every step, the allied rebels were at last forced to retreat within the fortifications of Temalpalco, which defended Tezozomoc’s capital, Azcapuzalco. For four months, as some authorities state, the siege of the city was prolonged, Ixtlilxochitl endeavoring rather to harass the pent-up enemy, and gradually reduce their number, than to bring about a general engagement. Finally, when he could hold out no longer, Tezozomoc sent an embassy to the emperor, throwing himself entirely upon his mercy, but pleading most humbly for pardon, reminding Ixtlilxochitl of their near relationship, pledging the submission of all his allies, and promising to come personally to Tezcuco, on an appointed day, to swear the allegiance he had so long and unjustly withheld. The too lenient emperor, tired of war and bloodshed, granted the petition, raised the siege against the advice of all his lords, returned to Tezcuco, and disbanded his armies. Brasseur makes this campaign end in 1416; others in 1417. Ixtlilxochitl states that the campaign lasted four years, and that Tezozomoc had under his command 500,000 men.[VII-28]Clavigero, tom. i., p. 186, states that Ixtlilxochitl granted this peace, not because he had any faith in Tezozomoc or was disposed to be lenient to his allies, but because his army was equally exhausted with that of the enemy, and he was unable to continue hostilities. This is hardly probable, although he had doubtless suffered more than the records indicate. See also Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 220, 360-2, 403, 453; Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 268-76; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 108-10; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 122-7.

Treachery of Tezozomoc

By this act Ixtlilxochitl sealed his fate. Some of his truest allies who had fought for glory and loyalty, understanding Tezozomoc’s hypocrisy and deeming their labors thrown away, were disgusted at their emperor’s ill-timed clemency and withdrew their support. Many more lords had undertaken the war with the expectation, in case of victory, of sharing among themselves the Tepanec dominions. The rank and file, with the lesser chieftains, had borne the toil and danger of a long campaign, and now that it was ended, were denied the spoils that belonged to them as victors. The discontent was loud and wide-spread, and Ixtlilxochitl’s prestige outside of Tezcuco and one or two adjoining cities, was lost forever. The Tepanec king, without the slightest idea of fulfilling his pledges, fomented the spirit of mutiny by promising the lords as a reward of rebellion, what they had failed to obtain in loyal combat, new domains from the Tezcucan possessions, together with independence of imperial power. Another motive of hatred on the part of Tezozomoc toward Ixtlilxochitl is mentioned by Brasseur’s documents as having come to the knowledge of the former king about this time. His son’s wife, a near relative of the Tezcucan king, who had left her husband and Azcapuzalco for good reasons, was now found to be living in or near Tezcuco as the mistress of an Acolhua chief, thus degrading the honor of the Tepanec royal family.[VII-29]Codex Chimalp., in Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 129-30.

Death of Ixtlilxochitl

Having completed as secretly as possible his preparations for a renewal of the war, Tezozomoc announced his readiness to swear allegiance to his sovereign, and his intention to celebrate that act and the return of peace by grand festivities. As his age and the state of his health would not permit him, he said, to go to Tezcuco, he appointed a suitable location[VII-30]Chiuhnauhtlan, as the Spanish writers say; Brasseur says it was at Tenamatlac, a Tepanec pleasure-resort in the mountains of Chiucnauhtecatl. for the ceremonies and invited Ixtlilxochitl to be present with his son Nezahualcoyotl, accompanied only by unarmed attendants, for the Tepanecs had not yet recovered, he said, from their terror of the Acolhua soldiers. The emperor at first consented, although by this time he had no faith in the Tepanec monarch, and, abandoned in his capital by all his leading nobles, bitterly repented of his unwise course; but at the last moment he sent Prince Tecuiltecatl, his brother, or as some say his natural son, in his stead to make excuses for his absence, and try to have the ceremony postponed. The substitute was flayed alive on his arrival at Tenamatlac, and Tezozomoc, finding that the prey had temporarily escaped his trap, ordered his troops to march immediately on Tezcuco, entered the Acolhua domains on the day after the murder, and the following day surrounded the capital. The lords of Huexotla, Iztapalocan, and Coatepec,[VII-31]Brasseur says Coatlichan, which is more likely. were the only ones to render aid to the emperor in this emergency. The city was gallantly defended by the small garrison for many days,[VII-32]50, and 16, are Ixtlilxochitl’s figures in different places; Veytia says 10, and Brasseur 40. but at last the emperor with Nezahualcoyotl and a few companions, by the advice of his lords, left the city at night and took refuge in the forest of Tzincanoztoc, where he soon learned that Toxpilli, chief of the Chimalpanec ward, had pronounced for Tezozomoc and opened the city to the enemy. A scene of carnage and plunder ensued, such of Ixtlilxochitl’s partizans as survived fleeing to Huexotzinco and Tlascala. From his retreat at Tzincanoztoc the emperor sent to demand protection of the lord of Otompan, a man deeply indebted to him for honors in the last campaign; but his petition was denied, and his messenger, who was also his son or nephew, a famous general, was murdered, his body torn in pieces, and his nails strung on a cord for a necklace. By this time quite a company had gathered about the emperor, and the enemy had also ascertained his whereabouts. Aided by the natural strength of his position, he defended himself for many days, until, without food or hope of succor, he decided to strive for life no longer. The authorities differ widely in the details of his death, and the matter is not sufficiently important to warrant a repetition of all that has been said about it. Torquemada and Clavigero state that he was drawn out of his last retreat by promised favorable conditions of surrender, and was treacherously murdered; but most agree that at the last approach of the foe, a band of Chalcas and men of Otompan, he induced his son to conceal himself in a tree, turned alone upon the enemy, and fell covered with wounds. At the close of his last conversation with Nezahualcoyotl, he urged him to escape to his friends in Tlascala, always to deal leniently with his enemies, for he did not repent of his own mercy, though it had cost him so dear; he concluded by saying: “I leave to thee, my son, no other inheritance than thy bow and arrow; strive to acquire skill in their use, and let thy strong arm restore the kingdom of thy Chichimec ancestors.”[VII-33]Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 220-3, 362-4, 403-4, 453-4, 462-3; Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 278-99; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 110-13; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 187-9; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 129-38. The emperor’s death took place probably in 1419.[VII-34]Oct. 29, 1418, Veytia; 1410, Clavigero; 1410, Ixtlilxochitl, p. 463; April 22, 1415, Id., p. 454; Sept. 21, 1418, Id., p. 404; 1419, Brasseur. Torquemada implies that Ixtlilxochitl’s reign lasted only seven years. Sahagun, tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 276, says he ruled 61 years, during which time nothing worthy of mention occurred. Ixtlilxochitl in one place, p. 223, says that the last Tepanec wars lasted 3 years and 273 days; elsewhere, p. 364, that they lasted 50 consecutive years, and that millions of people perished.

Respecting Tezozomoc’s short reign of eight years, we find in the records a general account of the leading events, but learn very little about the order of their occurrence. Of the lords that had remained faithful to Ixtlilxochitl to the last, those in Anáhuac were forced to submit for a time to Tezozomoc or flee for protection to the eastern plateau; but the ruler of more distant provinces, like those in the east about Huexotzinco and Tlascala, and those in the north in the Tulancingo region, beyond the reach of Tepanec power, utterly refused allegiance to the new sovereign. Of the powers that had supported Tezozomoc, few or none seem to have done so from any friendship to him, or respect for his claims, but for the direct benefit which they hoped to gain from the change. Some fought simply to gain their independence, or re-establish the old Chichimec feudal system broken up by Techotl, and such, at the close of the war, simply assumed their independence, the stronger provinces retaining it, and the weaker being kept in subjection by force of arms only, and keeping the Tepanec king so busy during his short term that he had hardly leisure to consolidate his empire. The other class of Tepanec allies had been drawn into the war by Tezozomoc’s extravagant promises of new honors, domains, and other spoils; these awaited the complete establishment and re-organization of the empire, and the fulfillment of the emperor’s promises.

Tezozomoc proposed as a basis of reconstruction of the empire, the division of power in Anáhuac among seven kings according to the old feudal system, the conquered Acolhua domains to be divided among the seven—himself, of course, taking the largest share, and each of the other six to be independent in the government of their realms, but to acknowledge him as emperor and to pay a regular tribute. The seven kingdoms were to be Azcapuzalco, Mexico, Tlatelulco, Chalco, Acolman, Coatlichan, and Huexotla, the last two being given to the lord of Otompan and his son.[VII-35]Torquemada states that Tezozomoc reserved Coatlichan for himself. King Chimalpopoca of Mexico was to receive the province of Tezcuco and certain Cuitlahuac districts; to king Tlacateotzin of Tlatelulco, was to be given portions of Huexotla and Cuitlahuac. Some minor rewards were also awarded to the lesser allied chiefs. The conditions were accepted, although not without some dissatisfaction on the part of the Mexicans, who had expected much more, and of such chiefs as were not among the seven chosen kings. Amid grand ceremonies and festivities in an assembly of the allied lords, Tezozomoc proclaimed himself emperor, and the six kings as his colleagues, to be consulted in all matters of general government; announced the transfer of his capital to Azcapuzalco; offered a general amnesty to the followers of Ixtlilxochitl on condition of submission to the new political arrangement; offered a reward for the capture of Nezahualcoyotl, dead or alive, proclaiming that all should be treated as traitors and punished with death who should dare to give aid or shelter to the fugitive prince; and appointed officers to publicly proclaim his accession and the new measures that accompanied it, in every city in the empire.[VII-36]Ixtlilxochitl tells a strange story, to the effect that Tezozomoc’s officers were directed to ask the children in each province, who was their king; such as replied ‘Tezozomoc,’ were to be caressed and their parents rewarded; but those that answered ‘Ixtlilxochitl,’ or ‘Nezahualcoyotl,’ were put to death without mercy. Thus perished thousands of innocent children. In Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 223, 463.

Reign of Tezozomoc

Some authorities state that the amnesty proclaimed by Tezozomoc in favor of the Acolhua provinces, included freedom from tribute for one year; however this may have been, the matter of tribute was not arranged until after the grand assembly and the swearing of allegiance to the new emperor, but was reserved by the crafty Tepanec as a means of practically retaining for himself what he had apparently given to the six kings, and what had in most cases proved satisfactory to them. Finally the system of tribute was announced. The amount of tribute and of personal service required was made much more burdensome than it had ever been, greatly to the dissatisfaction of the people and subordinate chiefs; then each king was to collect the tribute from his dominions, to retain one third for himself, and to pay over at Azcapuzalco the remaining two thirds into the imperial treasury. Thus the allied powers discovered that Tezozomoc had outwitted them; that he had taken for himself in the division of territory the lion’s share; that he had greatly increased the burden of taxation throughout the country; that, not content with the revenues of his own states, and a nominal tribute from his colleagues as a token of their allegiance, he claimed two thirds of that from other states; and that while they had gained the empty titles of kings and associates in the imperial power, they were in reality only governors, poorly paid for the labor of collecting taxes and administering the government. The Mexicans and Tlatelulcas had been promised, moreover, or at least had expected, an establishment on the basis of the old Toltec alliance, with their own kings as the two allies of Tezozomoc, owing him only a nominal allegiance. Moreover Chimalpopoca had now succeeded to the throne of Mexico, and he was a friend of Nezahualcoyotl and had never been favorably disposed toward the Tepanec monarch. The Mexicans, however, masked their discontent, until such time as they should see an opportunity for revenge; the other powers made open and loud complaint, so far as they dared to do so. The final establishment of Tezozomoc’s empire, so far as it was ever established, is placed by the Abbé Brasseur in 1425.[VII-37]Veytia, tom. i., pp. 300-6, 315-17; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 224-5, 365-8, 404, 454, 463; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 113-16; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 190-3; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 138-48; Boturini, Idea, pp. 143-4; Motolinia, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 254.

Adventures of Nezahualcoyotl

Prince Nezahualcoyotl, after the death of his father, had been joined by a few faithful friends and had succeeded in making his escape to Tlascala and Huexotzinco, where he found the people and lords true to him, and confident of their ability to repel any force the Tepanec usurper could send against them, but not strong enough at this time to warrant them in undertaking an offensive war against the allied forces of Anáhuac for the restoration of Nezahualcoyotl to his ancestral throne. They advised him to put himself in communication with the many disaffected chieftains of the valley, and to await his opportunity, which was sure to come, and that soon, promising him their aid in such an emergency. The prince thereupon turned boldly about and returned to Anáhuac in disguise. His adventures and hair-breadth escapes during his wanderings are related in detail by the Spanish writers, but must be omitted here as having no special importance in connection with the general history of the country. He found friends in every direction, and was especially protected by Chimalpopoca of Mexico. It is said that he was present in disguise at the assembly when Tezozomoc was crowned, and when he heard a reward offered for his murder, was with difficulty prevented by his friends from making himself known, so great was his rage. Finally his aunts, the queens of Mexico and Tlatelulco, went with a large company of ladies to the palace of Tezozomoc, and interceded for their nephew with so much earnestness that the king countermanded his previous orders, and granted him permission to reside, in a private capacity, at Mexico; and soon after he was even allowed to live at Tezcuco in a palace that had belonged to him personally from his birth.[VII-38]On Nezahualcoyotl’s adventures during this period, down to about 1426, see Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 224-5, 366-9, 404-5, 463-4; Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 304, 311-14, 317-19; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 190-1, 193-4; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 116-7; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 148-50.

Tezozomoc was now very old and infirm; for several years he had been kept alive only by means of artificial warmth and the most careful attentions. By a temperate life and freedom from all excess, in addition to a robust constitution, he had prolonged his life even beyond the usual limit in those days of great longevity, and retained the use of all his mental faculties to the last. In his last days he repented of the pardon that he had extended to Nezahualcoyotl; for he dreamed that an eagle tore his head in pieces and consumed his vitals, while a tiger tore his feet. The astrologers informed him that the eagle and the tiger were Nezahualcoyotl, who would surely overthrow the Tepanec power, punish the people of Azcapuzalco, and regain his father’s imperial power, unless he could be put to death. The old monarch’s last charge to his sons and to his nobles was that Nezahualcoyotl should be killed, if possible, during his funeral exercises, when he would probably be present. He died in 1427, naming Tayauh, one of his sons, as his successor on the Tepanec and Chichimec thrones, and charging him, after the Acolhua prince’s death, to strive by every means in his power to make friends among his vassal lords, and to avoid all harsh measures. Maxtla, another son, seems to have had more ability and experience than his brother, but his father feared the consequence of his hasty temper and arbitrary manner, by which he had already made a multitude of enemies.[VII-39]There is much confusion respecting these sons of Tezozomoc. Ixtlilxochitl in one place, pp. 368-9, names Maxtla, Tayauh, and Atlatota Icpaltzin, or Tlatecaypaltzin, as the sons summoned to his death-bed. In another place, p. 464, he calls two of them Tiatzi, or Tayatzi, and Tlacayapaltzin. Torquemada names them Maxtla, Tayatzin, and Tecuhtzintli. All imply that Maxtla was the eldest son. Brasseur, following the Codex Chimalpopoca, states that Tezozomoc had eight legitimate sons, of whom Maxtlaton was the seventh and Quetzalayatzin (Tayauh, or Tayatzin), the sixth. A large number of princes and lords were assembled at the royal obsequies, among them Nezahualcoyotl himself, against the advice of his friends, but relying on his good fortune and on the assurance of a sorcerer in whom he had great faith, that he could not be killed at that time. The heir to the throne was disposed to have his father’s recommendations carried out during the funeral exercises, but Maxtla claimed that it would be bad policy—for himself, probably, in consideration of his own ambitious plans—to disgrace so solemn an occasion by murder. All the authorities agree that Tezozomoc was the most unscrupulous and tyrannical despot that ever ruled in Anáhuac; the only good that is recorded of him is his own strict morality, and his strict and impartial enforcement of just laws and punishment of crimes within his own dominions. His extraordinary ability as a diplomatist and politician is evident from the events of his career as related above.[VII-40]Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 321-9, tom. iii., pp. 3-11; date, Feb. 2, 1427. Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 217, 225-7, 368-70, 405, 454, 464; dates, March 20, 1427, March 24, 1427, 1424. Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 68, 117-21, 253; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 194-6; date, 1422. Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 148-54; date, March 24, 1427.

Maxtla Usurps the Throne

Maxtla, although deprived of the succession to the imperial throne, had been made king of Coyuhuacan, a province of which he had long been ruling lord. He had, however, no intention of giving up his claim to his father’s crown; Tayauh was of a weak and vacillating disposition, having no enemies, but also no friends except the kings of Mexico and Tlatelulco who probably hated his brother rather than favored him; Maxtla by reason of his high military rank had control of the army; and only a few days after the funeral of Tezozomoc, he had himself proclaimed emperor of the Chichimecs. He offered his brother in exchange his lordship of Coyuhuacan, but the latter seems to have gone to reside in Mexico. Chimalpopoca blamed the deposed sovereign for having so easily relinquished his claims; and by his advice a plot was formed some months later to assassinate the usurper. Tayauh was to have a palace erected for himself at Azcapuzalco, Maxtla was to be invited to be present at the ceremonies of dedication, and was to be strangled with a wreath of flowers while being shown the apartments. A page overheard and revealed the plot; Maxtla aided in the erection of the palace for his brother, and had him stabbed in the midst of the festivities, instead of waiting to be shown the rooms and himself becoming the victim.[VII-41]See on the usurpation of Maxtla and the death of his brother, Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 226, 371, 464-5; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 11-18; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 119-21; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 196-8; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 155-7; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 26.

Chimalpopoca and Tlacateotzin had excused themselves from attending the fêtes, else they very likely might have shared Tayauh’s fate. Now that the plot was revealed and their connection with it, they well knew that Maxtla, who before had reasons to be unfriendly to them,[VII-42]On account of their friendship for Nezahualcoyotl and Tayauh. Another cause of enmity between Chimalpopoca and Maxtla, is said to have been the dishonor of the former’s wife by the latter, she having been enticed to Azcapuzalco by the aid of two Tepanec ladies. would neglect no opportunity of revenge. A strange story is here given, to the effect that Chimalpopoca, overwhelmed by misfortune, resolved to sacrifice himself on the altar of the gods, or, as some authorities state, by announcing such a resolve to test the feelings of his people and possibly to provoke a revolt in his favor. Maxtla, fearing the latter motive, sent a force of men to Mexico and arrested the royal victim just before the sacrifice was to be performed, taking him as a prisoner to Azcapuzalco, or as others say, confining him in his own prison at Mexico. Chimalpopoca died soon after this event, probably killed by order of Maxtla, but there is no agreement as to the details of his death, or that of Tlacateotzin which took place about the same time.[VII-43]Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 18-32, says that immediately after the assassination of Tayauh, a posse of men was sent to seize Chimalpopoca, whom they found engaged in some religious rites in the temple. Several authors state that the king died in prison, having been previously visited by Nezahualcoyotl, who risked his own life to save him. Veytia says Nezahualcoyotl found him much reduced from starvation, went for food, and found him dead on his return. Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 122-8, following Sigüenza, says he hung himself to avoid starvation. Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 226-8, 371-3, 457, 464-5, in one place states that he died in Nezahualcoyotl’s arms. In another relation he says that Maxtla in his rage at Nezahualcoyotl’s escape sent to Mexico and had Chimalpopoca killed in his stead, the assassins finding him in the temple carving an idol. Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 475-9; Herrera, dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xii.; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 11-12, and Duran, MS., tom. i., pp. 129-37—state that during Tezozomoc’s reign the Tepanec nobles, fearful that Chimalpopoca, as the grandson of Tezozomoc would succeed to the Tepanec throne, sent to Mexico and had him assassinated while asleep; adding that the grandfather Tezozomoc, died of grief at this act! Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 158-9, 164, implies that Maxtla only arrested the proposed sacrifice, and agrees with Ixtlilxochitl’s statement that the king was murdered at Mexico while at work in the temple.

The Tlatelulcan king was killed by the same party. He at first escaped from his palace, but was overtaken on the lake while striving to reach Tezcuco, and his body was sunk. Such is the account given by most authors; Ixtlilxochitl says he drowned himself; while Torquemada records two versions—one that he was killed for treason against Nezahualcoyotl; and the other, that he was killed by Montezuma I. of Mexico. See also on the death of the Aztec kings—Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 200-3; Motolinia, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 6; Granados y Galvez, Tardes Amer., p. 154; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 26-7; Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 44; Codex Tell. Rem., in Id., vol. vi., p. 135. The death of the Aztec kings took place in 1428, and was followed by a re-imposition, and even a doubling, of the tributes of early days, accompanied by every kind of oppression and insult towards the inhabitants of the lake cities.[VII-44]Date, July 23, 1427, or 1424, Ixtlilxochitl; May 31, 1427, Sigüenza; March 31, 1427, Vetancvrt; July 19, 1427, Veytia; 1423, Clavigero; 1427, Codex Mendoza; 1426, Codex Tell. Rem.; 1428, Codex Chimalpopoca.

Nezahualcoyotl Prepares for War

Maxtla had resolved that Nezahualcoyotl, as well as Chimalpopoca and Tlacateotzin, must die. Whether he came to intercede for Chimalpopoca, or as other authors say was summoned by Maxtla, the Acolhua prince visited Azcapuzalco at this time, and very narrowly escaped death at the hands of the soldiers posted about the palace with orders to kill him, by fleeing through the royal gardens and returning to Tezcuco. A Tepanec force was immediately dispatched to the latter city, with instructions to kill or capture him at a banquet to which he was to be invited by the governor of the city,—a bastard brother of Nezahualcoyotl, but his deadly foe,—but he was again fortunate enough to elude their pursuit, and after having received offers of aid from several lords in Anáhuac, escaped to Huexotzinco and Tlascala. He found the provinces of the eastern plateau, including Zacatlan, Tototepec, Cempoala, Tepepulco, Cholula, and Tepeaca, more enthusiastic than ever in his favor, and moreover convinced that the time had come for decisive action with a view to restore him to the imperial throne of his ancestors. Armies were raised and placed at his disposal; word came that the Chalcas would join in the enterprise; the sympathy of the Mexicans and Tlatelulcas he was already assured of; he consequently returned to Anáhuac and established his headquarters at a small village near Tezcuco.[VII-45]The Spanish writers state that about this time the king of Chalco became disaffected, and a messenger, Xolotecuhtli, was sent to win him over through the influence of his wife, who was a sister of Huitzilihuitzin, Nezahualcoyotl’s chief counselor. The Chalca king said his change of allegiance was on account of his hatred and fear of the Mexican king, but consented at last to leave the matter to his people, who decided unanimously in favor of Nezahualcoyotl. After having, according to Veytia, taken Otompan and some of the adjoining towns, the allied army was divided into three corps. The first, composed of the Huexotzinca and Tlascaltec forces, was to move on Acolman; the second, made up chiefly of Chalca troops, was to attack Coatlichan; while Nezahualcoyotl himself, with the remaining allied forces, was to operate against Tezcuco. The first two divisions were perfectly successful, capturing the capitals, Acolman and Coatlichan, and laying waste the surrounding territory. According to Ixtlilxochitl and Veytia, Nezahualcoyotl was equally fortunate, took possession of the Acolhua capital, and disbanded a large part of his army; but the author of the Codex Chimalpopoca, partially confirmed by Torquemada, and followed by the Abbé Brasseur, states that the prince imperial failed at this time in his assault on the city, and only succeeded in fortifying himself advantageously in the suburb of Chiauhtla. Subsequent events make this the more probable version of the matter.[VII-46]I have omitted in this account of Nezahualcoyotl’s flight, return, and victorious campaign, the numerous details of the prince’s adventures and escapes, the names of lords to whom he applied and the tenor of each reply, the wonderful omens that on many occasions foretold success to his plans, told at so great length by the authorities, but comparatively unimportant, and altogether too bulky for my space. See on this period of history: Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 14, 33-79, 92-107; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 228-35, 373-81, 405-6, 465-7; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 125-40; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 202-10; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 171-3; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 26-7.

Itzcoatl, King of Mexico

The murder of Chimalpopoca and Tlacateotzin caused the wildest excitement in Tenochtitlan and Tlatelulco. From these acts, together with the burden of tribute and the many insults heaped upon them, the people well knew Maxtla’s intention to destroy forever their kingdoms and reduce them to their former condition of abject vassalage. A mass meeting composed of all classes was held in Mexico, which anxiously awaited the decision of the senate, where the question of their future condition and policy was long and hotly discussed. The old and the timid members were in favor of yielding to the demands of an emperor whose power they could not hope successfully to resist; they implored their colleagues not to plunge the people into war and the horrors of future slavery by their rash spirit of independence. But the young men of all classes, seconded by most of the nobility, were in favor of war, chiding the cowardice of the rest, and boldly proclaiming their choice of death rather than a dishonorable submission to the tyrant’s commands. Moreover, the gods had foretold their future greatness, and should they render themselves unworthy of divine favor, and bring disgrace on the memory of their valiant ancestors?[VII-47]This discussion is placed by different authorities before or after the choice of a king. This is a matter of no great importance; the opposition to war probably continued down to the commencement of hostilities, but the election of a warlike king was of itself equivalent to a declaration of war, in view of Maxtla’s well-known designs; consequently, I have placed it before the election. It was decided by a large majority to proceed to the election of a king who should lead them to victory. According to the Codex Chimalpopoca, the first choice of the assembly was Montezuma, eldest son of Chimalpopoca, but he declined to accept the crown, pleading youth and inexperience, and urged the claims of his uncle Itzcoatl, for many years commander of the armies. The other authorities do not mention the choice of Montezuma. However this may have been, Itzcoatl was unanimously elected, and was crowned with the usual ceremonies and with something more than the usual amount of speeches and advice, in view of the gigantic task assumed by the new king, of shaking off the Tepanec yoke. Tempanecatl, or Tlacaeleltzin, was sent to demand a confirmation of the people’s choice at the hands of the emperor Maxtla. But he found that the news had preceded him and had been ill-received, war had practically begun, and a blockade was established. The embassador succeeded in reaching the royal presence; but though assured of Itzcoatl’s loyalty, Maxtla haughtily replied that Mexico must have no king, must be ruled by Tepanec governors, or take the consequences of a fruitless revolt. Tlacaeleltzin’s return with these tidings caused a new panic among the more timid of the Mexicans, but by renewed exhortations, by promises of honors and booty in case of victory, their courage was brought to the sticking point, and the same embassador was sent to Azcapuzalco with a formal declaration of war.[VII-48]An extraordinary treaty is spoken of by Tezozomoc, Duran, Acosta, and Clavigero, by the terms of which the nobles bound themselves in case of defeat to give up their bodies to be sacrificed to the gods; while the people bound themselves and their descendants in case of victory to become the servants of the nobles for all future time. Veytia states that titles of nobility, and permission to have many wives, were among the inducements to bravery held out to the plebeians. It is not impossible that the contract alluded to may have been invented or exaggerated in later times by the nobles to support their extravagant claims upon the people. Torquemada and Ixtlilxochitl refer to no such contract, and to no claim for the Tepanec recognition of their king; but state that the election of Itzcoatl on the one side, and the heavy tributes with the dishonor of Itzcoatl’s wife on the other, led to the establishment of the blockade. Only a few days after Itzcoatl’s coronation the Tlatelulcas also chose a king and joined the Mexicans in their fight for national existence. There was some jealousy between the two powers, but their interests were now identical. The choice of the Tlatelulcas fell upon Quauhtlatohuatzin, a celebrated warrior, but not of royal blood; and to this inferiority in the rank of her ruler is attributed, by some authors, the inferior position thereafter occupied by Tlatelulco, previously equal, if not superior, in power to her sister city.[VII-49]On the succession and declaration of war in Mexico, see—Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 128-34. This author says nothing of the succession of a new king in Tlatelulco. Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 206-13; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 78-91, 137; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 479-83; Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. viii., ix., Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 235-6, 381, 383, 406, 465; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 11-15; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 165-8; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 27; Granados y Galvez, Tardes Amer., p. 154.

Siege of Mexico

Such was the state of affairs in the early part of 1429, when the news of Nezahualcoyotl’s success reached Azcapuzalco and Mexico. All communication had been cut off between the cities of the lake and the mainland; many sharp attacks had been made by Itzcoatl on the enemy’s lines; but no general engagement had taken place. The Mexicans began to find their condition critical; Maxtla expected to be at an early date in possession of the Aztec strongholds, and deferred until after such success all offensive operations against Nezahualcoyotl; the besieged Aztecs naturally looked towards the Acolhua prince for assistance against their common foe. Here the national prejudices of the original native authorities, followed by Spanish writers, begin to appear in the historic annals. Ixtlilxochitl and Veytia favoring the Acolhua interests, represent the Aztecs, hard pressed by the Tepanecs, as having humbly implored the aid of Nezahualcoyotl, who graciously came to their relief; Tezozomoc, Duran, and Acosta make the Mexicans conquer the Tepanec king unaided, and render assistance to the Acolhua prince afterwards; while Torquemada, Clavigero, and the authorities followed by Brasseur state, what in the light of future events is much more probable, that the two powers formed an alliance on equal terms, and for mutual advantage against the usurping emperor. At any rate Montezuma[VII-50]This name is written in many ways; Moteuhzoma or Moteuczoma being probably more correct than the familiar form of Montezuma.—identical, as Clavigero and Brasseur think, with Tlacaeleltzin—was sent to Nezahualcoyotl, in company with two other lords. The ambassador succeeded in penetrating the enemy’s lines, although one of his companions was captured, made known to Nezahualcoyotl the wishes and condition of the Mexicans, and received assurances of sympathy, with promises to consult with his allies, render aid if possible, and at least to have an interview with Itzcoatl. His chief difficulty would seem to have been that most of his allies not without reason detested and feared the Mexicans more than the Tepanecs, and by too hastily following his own inclinations and espousing the Aztec cause, he might risk his own success. The fact that an alliance was finally concluded between these powers shows clearly that neither alone could overthrow the formidable Maxtla, and that it was no act of condescension or pity on the part of either, but rather of necessity, to join their forces. On his return Montezuma was captured by the Chalcas, or being sent, as some authorities state, to Chalco for aid was retained for a time as a prisoner, but set at liberty by his jailer, and reached Mexico in safety.[VII-51]Totzintecuhtli, king of Chalco, is said to have sent the prisoner first to Huexotzinca and then offered him to Maxtla to be sacrificed; but the kings sent him back and refused to do so dishonorable a deed. This action of the Chalcas is said to have so displeased the surrounding nations that neither party would accept their alliance, but this may well be doubted, considering the strength of that people. The Huexotlas, according to Torquemada, withdrew their allegiance on hearing that the Aztecs were to be aided. Nezahualcoyotl and Itzcoatl had an interview soon after at Mexico,[VII-52]Brasseur says the first interview was at Tenayocan. where the former was received with great rejoicing, and a plan settled for the campaign against Maxtla, whose territory was to be invaded by the allied armies. At about this time, according to the Codex Chimalpopoca, the province of Quauhtitlan succeeded after a succession of reverses and victories in shaking off the Tepanec yoke and announced their friendship to the Mexicans, although they were unable to render any open assistance in the early part of the campaign.[VII-53]See Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 91-2, 108-22; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 209-11; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 236, 381-2, 406-7, 464-6; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 136-40; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 173-9; Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. ix.

Siege of Azcapulzalco

The campaign by which Maxtla was overthrown and the imperial power wrested from the hands of the Tepanecs, lasted over a hundred days. To relate in detail all that the authorities record of this campaign, the marches and counter-marches, the attacks and repulses, the exploits of the leaders and lesser chieftains, noting all the minute variations in statement respecting the names of chiefs, places attacked, number of troops engaged, and the chronological order of events, would require a chapter much longer than my space will allow, would be monotonous to the general reader, and could not probably be made sufficiently accurate to be of great value to the student of aboriginal military tactics. The general nature of the war and the results of the victory may be told in a few lines. The allied Acolhua, Tlascaltec, Cholultec, Mexican, and Tlatelulcan forces, under Nezahualcoyotl, Itzcoatl, Montezuma, and other leaders, amounted to three or four hundred thousand men. Most entered Mexico in canoes from the east; but some divisions marched round the lake. At a preconcerted signal, the lighting of a fire on Mt Quauhtepec, all the forces advanced—probably in canoes, for it is not certain that causeways had yet been constructed—on the Tepanec territory. The lord of Tlacopan, by a previous understanding with the allies, opened that city to the invaders, thus giving them a sure footing in the country of their foe, and in a few days Azcapuzalco was closely besieged. Maxtla had an army somewhat smaller than that of his opponents but they fought for the most part behind intrenchments. The emperor personally took no part in the battles that ensued, but placed his greatest general, Mazatl, at the head of his armies. Day after day the conflict was waged at different points about the doomed capital without decisive result, although many local victories were won by both sides. At last, by a desperate effort, Mazatl succeeded in driving the Mexicans back to the lake shore; in the panic that ensued many Mexican soldiers threw down their arms and begged for quarter; Itzcoatl deemed the battle and his cause lost. Cursing the cowardice of his troops, he called upon his nobles and chieftains to rush upon the foe and die bravely; his call was responded to by large numbers, the troops followed with new courage, and, re-inforcements having arrived opportunely, the tide of battle was turned, Mazatl was slain in hand-to-hand combat by Montezuma, and the Tepanec capital carried by assault. Large numbers of the soldiers were put to the sword, a few bands escaped to the marshes and mountains, the city was plundered and burned, and the emperor was found in a bath and slain. Azcapuzalco never regained a prominent place among the cities of Anáhuac; it was chiefly noted in later times as a slave mart, and the disgraceful traffic is said to have been inaugurated by the sale of the Tepanec inhabitants after the Acolhua and Aztec victory. For a short time the victorious armies ravaged the territories on the west of the lakes, which still remained faithful to Maxtla, and were then recalled, and the allied troops dismissed, laden with spoils, to their own provinces. Itzcoatl and Nezahualcoyotl had no doubt of their ability to keep their foes in check and complete the conquest by the aid of their own troops; they consequently returned to Mexico to celebrate their victory.[VII-54]The chief point of difference between the authorities on this campaign, is the relative honor due to the different allies and leaders, and especially the share which the Mexicans and Acolhuas respectively had in the overthrow of the Tepanec tyrant. Clavigero places this war in 1425, and thinks that causeways were already built. Veytia gives the date 1428, notes that the Mexican troops were richly clad, while the forces of Nezahualcoyotl wore plain, white garments, and makes the siege last 140 days. Ixtlilxochitl also gives the date 1428, and the length of the war 100 and 115 days. According to Brasseur, Nezahualcoyotl found time during the siege of Azcapuzalco to reconquer Acolman and Coatlichan, which had revolted. He calls the Tepanec leader Mazatzin, and gives the date as 1430. See Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 236-7, 382-4, 407, 466; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 120-39; Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. ix.; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 214-20; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 140-3; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 180-5; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 483-5.

The fêtes in honor of the victory and victors were long continued, and conducted on a scale unprecedented in the Mexican capital. After Itzcoatl and Nezahualcoyotl, Montezuma seems to have carried off the highest honors. The altars ran with the blood of sacrificed human victims, rites most repulsive, as is stated, to the Acolhua king, but which he could not prevent on such an occasion. A prominent feature of the ceremonies was the rewarding by lands and honors of the chiefs who had distinguished themselves for bravery in the war, and, as some authorities say, the punishment by exile of such as had shown cowardice. The fêtes were immediately followed, perhaps interrupted, by the tidings that Huexotla, Coatlichan, Acolman, and the adjoining towns, had revolted; and the Mexican, Acolhua, and Tlatelulca forces, with some assistance from the eastern plateau, marched through the eastern part of the valley, and after a series of hard-fought battles conquered the cities mentioned, together with Teotihuacan and in fact nearly all the towns from Iztapalocan to the northern mountains, excepting probably Tezcuco, although some authors include the conquest of that capital in this campaign. In some of the cities no mercy was shown to any class, but all were slain. Veytia moreover divides this campaign into two, and places in the interval between them the final establishment of the empire to be given later. Torquemada and Clavigero connect the latter part of this campaign with a subsequent one against Coyuhuacan.[VII-55]See Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 221-3; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 142-6; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 136-47, 155-60; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 237-8, 383-5, 407, 466-7; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 16-17; Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. ix.; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 484-5; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt. ii., p. 28; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 187-9.

The Tri-Partite Alliance

At this time, in the year 1431, and before Nezahualcoyotl had regained the capital of his father’s empire, as Brasseur insists, took place the events which closed the Chichimec period of aboriginal history, the division of Anáhuac between the victors, the re-establishment of the empire on a new basis. The result is well known, but respecting the motives that led to it there is great confusion. It was decided to re-establish with slight modifications the ancient Toltec confederacy of three kingdoms, independent so far as the direction of internal affairs was concerned, but allied in the management of foreign affairs and in all matters affecting the general interests of the empire, in which matters neither king could act without the consent of his two colleagues. The three kingdoms were Acolhua with its capital at Tezcuco, under Nezahualcoyotl with the title of Chichimecatl Tecuhtli; the Aztec with Mexico for its capital, under Itzcoatl bearing the title of Culhua Tecuhtli; and the Tepanec capital Tlacopan, under Totoquihuatzin with the title Tepaneca Tecuhtli. A line drawn in a general north and south direction through the valley and lake just east of the city of Tenochtitlan, divided the Acolhua domains on the east from those of Mexico on the west. The capital Tlacopan, with a few surrounding towns, and as some say the Otomí province of Mazahuacan in the northwest, made up the limited Tepanec domain.[VII-56]The line is said to have extended from Totoltepec in the north to a point in the lake near Mexico, which would be in a S.W. course. Thence it extended to mount Cuexcomatl probably towards the S.E. Subsequent events seem often to indicate that these lines were intended to be indefinitely prolonged, and to bound future conquests. Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 266, takes this view of the matter, although on p. 191 he implies the contrary. Tezcuco and Mexico seem to have been in all respects equal in power, while Tlacopan was far inferior to either. As a descendant and heir of the Chichimec emperors, Nezahualcoyotl nominally took precedence in rank, presiding at meetings, occupying the place of honor at public ceremonies with his colleagues on his right and left, but had no authority whatever over them, and was probably in respect to actual military power somewhat inferior to Mexico. Provinces conquered by the allied forces, together with all the spoils of war, were to be divided equally between Mexico and Tezcuco after deducting one fifth for Tlacopan.[VII-57]Such was the basis of the alliance according to Ixtlilxochitl, Veytia, Zurita, and Brasseur. All agree respecting the inferior position of Tlacopan and her share of the spoils, but Ixtlilxochitl, p. 455, makes both pay a small tribute to Tezcuco. Veytia makes Nezahualcoyotl superior in nominal rank as above; Ixtlilxochitl in most of his relations makes him and Itzcoatl equal in this respect; while Torquemada, Clavigero, Gomara, and Duran make Itzcoatl supreme, and give to Mexico two thirds instead of one half of the spoils after deducting the share of Tlacopan. The chief support of the latter opinion is the great proportional growth of the Mexican domains in later times; but practically Mexico received much more even than the two thirds allotted to her by these authors. I think it more likely that Mexico in her great military power and love of conquest took much more than her proper share, at first with the consent of her colleagues and later without such consent; and it is also possible that the division agreed upon referred only to conquests accomplished under certain conditions not recorded, or, a supposition which agrees very nearly with the actual division in later times, that each of the three kingdoms was to have the conquered provinces that adjoined its territory, and that Mexico obtained the largest share, not only on account of her ambition, but because the most desirable field for conquest proved to be in the south-east and south-west. See preceding note.

Terms of the Alliance • Close of the Period

The confusion among the authorities about the circumstances and motives that led to the tri-partite alliance on the above basis, arises chiefly from the patriotism of the native authors. The narrative as given by Ixtlilxochitl and Veytia, to the effect that Nezahualcoyotl suspended his triumphal march through his old dominion of Acolhuacan to assist his friend and relative in overthrowing Maxtla, dismissed his allies, and then, out of kindness, admitted Itzcoatl to an equal share with himself in the empire, before completing the conquest of Tezcuco, must evidently be accepted with many allowances. There is still more evident exaggeration in the tale of Clavigero, Tezozomoc, and Duran, that Itzcoatl overthrew the Tepanecs, held the power in his own hands, and graciously put the Acolhua prince on the throne of Tezcuco in consideration of his friendship and assistance. It is evident, as already stated, that the alliance between Itzcoatl and Nezahualcoyotl was formed for the protection of mutual interests; that no allied troops were disbanded which could be retained; that if the conquest of Tezcuco was postponed after the fall of Azcapuzalco, it was because the allies had their hands full in other directions; and that in the final division and establishment of the empire necessity and policy played a much more prominent part than friendship or condescension. On the one hand, if we suppose that the Aztec military force, as is very probable, was at the time superior to that of the Acolhuas, it must be remembered that Nezahualcoyotl had the prestige of being the legitimate heir to the imperial throne of the Chichimecs, that he was popular in Anáhuac and had the support of the eastern cities; while the Aztecs were universally hated and could depend only on the valor of their chiefs and the numbers of their army. It is not impossible that the delay in taking possession of the Acolhua capital, was because the allies of Nezahualcoyotl refused to complete the conquest until their prince had some guaranty against the ambition of the Mexicans. On the other hand, if we credit the statements of those who represent Nezahualcoyotl as holding the balance of power in the first alliance, it is to be noted that the struggle had been a desperate one, even with the aid of Mexico; that it was yet far from ended, that revolts were occurring in every direction, and that with the Aztecs as foes, the success of Nezahualcoyotl was more than doubtful. On this supposition the delay in taking Tezcuco is to be attributed, as indeed some authors claim, to the fear of Itzcoatl that if he contributed further to increase his ally’s power he would soon be in a position to dictate terms. Neither power could stand alone, Mexico against all Anáhuac, Tezcuco against Mexico and her own independent and revolting vassals; hence the foundation of the alliance on equal terms is perfectly comprehensible. To account for the admission of Tlacopan to the alliance, we have the facts that that city had rendered important service in the defeat of Maxtla at Azcapuzalco; that she may very likely have been promised a place in the empire in case of success; that in any event it was policy to concentrate the yet powerful Tepanec element in a friendly kingdom; and finally, as several authors state, that the families of Totoquihuatzin and Nezahualcoyotl were closely related by marriage. Some authorities state that Tlacopan was admitted through the influence of Itzcoatl, others insist that it was Nezahualcoyotl’s idea. The inauguration of the new order of things, including the crowning of Nezahualcoyotl, king of Acolhuacan, and the conferring of the proper titles upon each of the colleagues, was celebrated in Mexico with great pomp in 1431. Thus ends the Chichimec period, during which a small band of turbulent marauders had passed through oppression and misfortune to a leading place among the American nations. Many strong tribes were yet to be persuaded or forced to submit to the new order of political affairs; the measures by which this was accomplished, and the Aztec power spread far and wide from Anáhuac as a centre, until it came in contact with a greater power from beyond the ocean, will form the subject of the following chapters.[VII-58]Totoquihuatzin was the grandson of Tezozomoc, and his daughter was either concubine or wife of Nezahualcoyotl. Torquemada and Clavigero state that the people of the region about Tezcuco petitioned Itzcoatl to allow Nezahualcoyotl to rule over them, because, as the latter suggests, this territory had been given to Chimalpopoca by Tezozomoc. To Nezahualcoyotl, during his stay in Mexico, are attributed a palace and hunting-park at Chapultepec, together with several reservoirs and the idea of an aqueduct to supply water to the city. Veytia claims to have seen traces of the boundary line between the Aztec and Acolhua domains. It extended from Mount Cuexcomatl in the south, between Iztapalapan and Culhuacan, through the northern lake at Zumpango to Totoltepec. This would, however, be far from a straight line. See respecting the establishment of the new alliance:—Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 237-8, 383, 407, 454, 467; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 155-68; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 143-4, 154-6; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 221-5; Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. ix., x., xiv.; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 187-93; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 303; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 19; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 28.

Footnotes

[VII-1] Codex Chimalp., in Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 99. In the explanation of the Codex Tell. Rem., in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 148, vol. vi., p. 134, it is stated that king Acamapichtli burned the temple of Culhuacan in 1399, probably referring to the quarrels of Acamapichtli I. with Coxcoxtli, or Achitometl, at an earlier period.

[VII-2] Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., p. 213; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 176-7; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 95-8; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 100; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 302; Herrera, dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xii.; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 470-3; Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xiii; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., pp. 148-9; Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 43.

[VII-3] Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 92; Mendieta, Torquemada, Acosta, Brasseur, and Clavigero, as in preceding note.

[VII-4] Codex Chimalp., in Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 111.

[VII-5] Date, 1404, Duran; 1402, after reigning 41 years, Veytia; 1405, Boturini; 1389, 37 years, Clavigero; 1406, 7 years, Codex Tell. Rem.; 1396, Mendieta; reigned 21 years, Torquemada, Sahagun, Codex Mendoza; 1271, 51 years, Ixtlilxochitl; 46 years, Gomara and Motolinia; 40 years, Acosta and Herrera; 1403, 53 or 21 years, Brasseur.

[VII-6] Acosta and Herrera write the name of Huitzilihuitl’s wife Ayauchigual. Veytia says her name was Miahuaxochitl, and that she was the daughter of Tezozomoc. Torquemada, Clavigero, and Gomara make him marry, first, Ayauhcihuatl, daughter of Tezozomoc, and afterwards, Miahuaxochitl, princess of Quauhnahuac, the latter of whom bore Montezuma I. Ixtlilxochitl says the king married his niece, Tetzihuatzin, grand-daughter of Tezozomoc, one of whose children was Chimalpopoca. Brasseur, relying on the Codex Chimalp. and Mem. de Culhuacan, gives the account I have presented in the text. The Codex Tell. Rem. says Huitzilihuitl married a daughter of the princess of Coatlichan, and a grand-daughter of Acamapichtli, having by her no sons. Tezozomoc and Duran name Chimalpopoca as Huitzilihuitl’s first son; Veytia says it was Montezuma I., and Torquemada, Clavigero, and Brasseur name the first son Acolnahuacatl.

[VII-7] On the death of Acamapichtli II., and the succession and marriage of Huitzilihuitl II., see Duran, MS. tom. i., cap. vi, vii; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 176-80; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 98-106; Sahagun, tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 268; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 218, 353, 456-7; Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 219-26; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 10-11; Codex Tell. Rem., in Id., vol. v., pp. 148-9; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 302; Motolinia, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 6; Herrera, dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xii.; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 473-5; Sigüenza, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. i., p. 50; Boturini, in Id., p. 239; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 149; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 110-17.

[VII-8] According to Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 216-7, 246, 249-51, Mixcohuatl reigned 75 years, was succeeded by Quaquauhpitzahuac in 1400, and he by Tlacateotzin in 1414. Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 213, 218, 353, 356, 453, 462, says Mixcohuatl died in 1271, reigned 51 years, and was succeeded by his son Quaquauhpitzahuac; or that he died in Techotl’s reign and was followed by Tlacateotzin; or that Quaquauhpitzahuac died in 1353; or was succeeded by Amatzin; or again, that Tlacateotzin succeeded his father; and that he married a daughter of Tezozomoc. Sahagun, tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 273, ignores Mixcohuatl, as do Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 94-5, 99, 127-8, and Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 175, 184. Both the latter authors make the first king a son of Tezozomoc. Clavigero places his accession in 1353, and that of Tlacateotzin, his successor, in 1399. Torquemada says the first king reigned 35 years, and was followed by Tlacateotzin in the tenth year of Huitzilihuitl’s rule. Both Mexicans and Tlatelulcas seem to have claimed the honor of having had the first king. See also Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 123.

[VII-9] Codex Chimalp., in Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 120.

[VII-10] Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. vii.; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 106; Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 226-8, 246; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 127-8.

[VII-11] Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 149; Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 43; Sahagun, tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 268.

[VII-12] Date 1414, Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 246-7; Boturini, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 239; Codex Tell. Rem., in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 149; 1353, Ixtlilxochitl, in Id., vol. ix., pp. 218, 356, 457; 1409, Clavigero, tom. i., p. 186; 1417, Codex Chimalp. in Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 129, and Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 43.

[VII-13] On death of Huitzilihuitl II. and succession of Chimalpopoca, see Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 246-9; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 105-7; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 182-7; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 218, 355-6, 457; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 475-8; Sahagun, tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 268; Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. vii, viii; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 149; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 129-31; Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 43; Codex Tell. Rem., in Id., p. 149.

[VII-14] Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 231-3, 236, 245; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 108-9; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 185; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 218-19, 356, 358-9, 401; Boturini, Idea, p. 142; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 87-92.

[VII-15] Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 234-7; Ixtlilxochitl, p. 356.

[VII-16] Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 219, 356-7; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 108-9; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 185; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 93-5.

[VII-17] Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 95-6.

[VII-18] Id., pp. 97-106.

[VII-19] Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 219, 357, 401-2; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 108-9; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 185-6; Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 234-45; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 106-8.

[VII-20] Monarq. Ind., tom. i., pp. 108-9.

[VII-21] The former also called Tozquentzin and Atotoztli; and the latter, Acolmiztli and Yoyontzin.

[VII-22] Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 218, 359, 401, 405, 453; Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. vi.; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 110; Leon y Gama, Dos Piedras, pt ii., pp. 41-2; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 109-10; Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., p. 146.

[VII-23] Codex Chimalp., in Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 117-18.

[VII-24] Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 219, 358-9, 402. Dates according to this author, April 15, 1359; Dec. 30, 1363; 1415. Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 255-6; date, Aug. 6, 1415. Torquemada, tom. i., p. 109; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 185-6; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 120-1.

[VII-25] Sahagun, tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 277-8, gives a list of the succession of lords at Huexotla from the earliest Chichimec times.

[VII-26] Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 219-20, 359, 402. He states that in this meeting, or another held about the same time, there were many other lords present, including those of Acolman and Tepechpan, who, although pretending to be faithful, kept Tezozomoc posted as to the course events were taking. See also Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 257-8; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 110; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 121-2.

[VII-27] Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 359-60, 402-3; Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 257-68; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 108-9; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 186; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 122-5.

[VII-28] Clavigero, tom. i., p. 186, states that Ixtlilxochitl granted this peace, not because he had any faith in Tezozomoc or was disposed to be lenient to his allies, but because his army was equally exhausted with that of the enemy, and he was unable to continue hostilities. This is hardly probable, although he had doubtless suffered more than the records indicate. See also Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 220, 360-2, 403, 453; Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 268-76; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 108-10; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 122-7.

[VII-29] Codex Chimalp., in Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 129-30.

[VII-30] Chiuhnauhtlan, as the Spanish writers say; Brasseur says it was at Tenamatlac, a Tepanec pleasure-resort in the mountains of Chiucnauhtecatl.

[VII-31] Brasseur says Coatlichan, which is more likely.

[VII-32] 50, and 16, are Ixtlilxochitl’s figures in different places; Veytia says 10, and Brasseur 40.

[VII-33] Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 220-3, 362-4, 403-4, 453-4, 462-3; Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 278-99; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 110-13; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 187-9; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 129-38.

[VII-34] Oct. 29, 1418, Veytia; 1410, Clavigero; 1410, Ixtlilxochitl, p. 463; April 22, 1415, Id., p. 454; Sept. 21, 1418, Id., p. 404; 1419, Brasseur. Torquemada implies that Ixtlilxochitl’s reign lasted only seven years. Sahagun, tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 276, says he ruled 61 years, during which time nothing worthy of mention occurred. Ixtlilxochitl in one place, p. 223, says that the last Tepanec wars lasted 3 years and 273 days; elsewhere, p. 364, that they lasted 50 consecutive years, and that millions of people perished.

[VII-35] Torquemada states that Tezozomoc reserved Coatlichan for himself.

[VII-36] Ixtlilxochitl tells a strange story, to the effect that Tezozomoc’s officers were directed to ask the children in each province, who was their king; such as replied ‘Tezozomoc,’ were to be caressed and their parents rewarded; but those that answered ‘Ixtlilxochitl,’ or ‘Nezahualcoyotl,’ were put to death without mercy. Thus perished thousands of innocent children. In Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 223, 463.

[VII-37] Veytia, tom. i., pp. 300-6, 315-17; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 224-5, 365-8, 404, 454, 463; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 113-16; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 190-3; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 138-48; Boturini, Idea, pp. 143-4; Motolinia, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 254.

[VII-38] On Nezahualcoyotl’s adventures during this period, down to about 1426, see Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 224-5, 366-9, 404-5, 463-4; Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 304, 311-14, 317-19; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 190-1, 193-4; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 116-7; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 148-50.

[VII-39] There is much confusion respecting these sons of Tezozomoc. Ixtlilxochitl in one place, pp. 368-9, names Maxtla, Tayauh, and Atlatota Icpaltzin, or Tlatecaypaltzin, as the sons summoned to his death-bed. In another place, p. 464, he calls two of them Tiatzi, or Tayatzi, and Tlacayapaltzin. Torquemada names them Maxtla, Tayatzin, and Tecuhtzintli. All imply that Maxtla was the eldest son. Brasseur, following the Codex Chimalpopoca, states that Tezozomoc had eight legitimate sons, of whom Maxtlaton was the seventh and Quetzalayatzin (Tayauh, or Tayatzin), the sixth.

[VII-40] Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 321-9, tom. iii., pp. 3-11; date, Feb. 2, 1427. Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 217, 225-7, 368-70, 405, 454, 464; dates, March 20, 1427, March 24, 1427, 1424. Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 68, 117-21, 253; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 194-6; date, 1422. Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 148-54; date, March 24, 1427.

[VII-41] See on the usurpation of Maxtla and the death of his brother, Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 226, 371, 464-5; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 11-18; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 119-21; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 196-8; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 155-7; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 26.

[VII-42] On account of their friendship for Nezahualcoyotl and Tayauh. Another cause of enmity between Chimalpopoca and Maxtla, is said to have been the dishonor of the former’s wife by the latter, she having been enticed to Azcapuzalco by the aid of two Tepanec ladies.

[VII-43] Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 18-32, says that immediately after the assassination of Tayauh, a posse of men was sent to seize Chimalpopoca, whom they found engaged in some religious rites in the temple. Several authors state that the king died in prison, having been previously visited by Nezahualcoyotl, who risked his own life to save him. Veytia says Nezahualcoyotl found him much reduced from starvation, went for food, and found him dead on his return. Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 122-8, following Sigüenza, says he hung himself to avoid starvation. Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 226-8, 371-3, 457, 464-5, in one place states that he died in Nezahualcoyotl’s arms. In another relation he says that Maxtla in his rage at Nezahualcoyotl’s escape sent to Mexico and had Chimalpopoca killed in his stead, the assassins finding him in the temple carving an idol. Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 475-9; Herrera, dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xii.; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 11-12, and Duran, MS., tom. i., pp. 129-37—state that during Tezozomoc’s reign the Tepanec nobles, fearful that Chimalpopoca, as the grandson of Tezozomoc would succeed to the Tepanec throne, sent to Mexico and had him assassinated while asleep; adding that the grandfather Tezozomoc, died of grief at this act! Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 158-9, 164, implies that Maxtla only arrested the proposed sacrifice, and agrees with Ixtlilxochitl’s statement that the king was murdered at Mexico while at work in the temple.

The Tlatelulcan king was killed by the same party. He at first escaped from his palace, but was overtaken on the lake while striving to reach Tezcuco, and his body was sunk. Such is the account given by most authors; Ixtlilxochitl says he drowned himself; while Torquemada records two versions—one that he was killed for treason against Nezahualcoyotl; and the other, that he was killed by Montezuma I. of Mexico. See also on the death of the Aztec kings—Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 200-3; Motolinia, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 6; Granados y Galvez, Tardes Amer., p. 154; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 26-7; Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 44; Codex Tell. Rem., in Id., vol. vi., p. 135.

[VII-44] Date, July 23, 1427, or 1424, Ixtlilxochitl; May 31, 1427, Sigüenza; March 31, 1427, Vetancvrt; July 19, 1427, Veytia; 1423, Clavigero; 1427, Codex Mendoza; 1426, Codex Tell. Rem.; 1428, Codex Chimalpopoca.

[VII-45] The Spanish writers state that about this time the king of Chalco became disaffected, and a messenger, Xolotecuhtli, was sent to win him over through the influence of his wife, who was a sister of Huitzilihuitzin, Nezahualcoyotl’s chief counselor. The Chalca king said his change of allegiance was on account of his hatred and fear of the Mexican king, but consented at last to leave the matter to his people, who decided unanimously in favor of Nezahualcoyotl.

[VII-46] I have omitted in this account of Nezahualcoyotl’s flight, return, and victorious campaign, the numerous details of the prince’s adventures and escapes, the names of lords to whom he applied and the tenor of each reply, the wonderful omens that on many occasions foretold success to his plans, told at so great length by the authorities, but comparatively unimportant, and altogether too bulky for my space. See on this period of history: Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 14, 33-79, 92-107; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 228-35, 373-81, 405-6, 465-7; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 125-40; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 202-10; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 171-3; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 26-7.

[VII-47] This discussion is placed by different authorities before or after the choice of a king. This is a matter of no great importance; the opposition to war probably continued down to the commencement of hostilities, but the election of a warlike king was of itself equivalent to a declaration of war, in view of Maxtla’s well-known designs; consequently, I have placed it before the election.

[VII-48] An extraordinary treaty is spoken of by Tezozomoc, Duran, Acosta, and Clavigero, by the terms of which the nobles bound themselves in case of defeat to give up their bodies to be sacrificed to the gods; while the people bound themselves and their descendants in case of victory to become the servants of the nobles for all future time. Veytia states that titles of nobility, and permission to have many wives, were among the inducements to bravery held out to the plebeians. It is not impossible that the contract alluded to may have been invented or exaggerated in later times by the nobles to support their extravagant claims upon the people. Torquemada and Ixtlilxochitl refer to no such contract, and to no claim for the Tepanec recognition of their king; but state that the election of Itzcoatl on the one side, and the heavy tributes with the dishonor of Itzcoatl’s wife on the other, led to the establishment of the blockade.

[VII-49] On the succession and declaration of war in Mexico, see—Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 128-34. This author says nothing of the succession of a new king in Tlatelulco. Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 206-13; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 78-91, 137; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 479-83; Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. viii., ix., Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 235-6, 381, 383, 406, 465; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 11-15; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 165-8; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 27; Granados y Galvez, Tardes Amer., p. 154.

[VII-50] This name is written in many ways; Moteuhzoma or Moteuczoma being probably more correct than the familiar form of Montezuma.

[VII-51] Totzintecuhtli, king of Chalco, is said to have sent the prisoner first to Huexotzinca and then offered him to Maxtla to be sacrificed; but the kings sent him back and refused to do so dishonorable a deed.

[VII-52] Brasseur says the first interview was at Tenayocan.

[VII-53] See Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 91-2, 108-22; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 209-11; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 236, 381-2, 406-7, 464-6; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 136-40; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 173-9; Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. ix.

[VII-54] The chief point of difference between the authorities on this campaign, is the relative honor due to the different allies and leaders, and especially the share which the Mexicans and Acolhuas respectively had in the overthrow of the Tepanec tyrant. Clavigero places this war in 1425, and thinks that causeways were already built. Veytia gives the date 1428, notes that the Mexican troops were richly clad, while the forces of Nezahualcoyotl wore plain, white garments, and makes the siege last 140 days. Ixtlilxochitl also gives the date 1428, and the length of the war 100 and 115 days. According to Brasseur, Nezahualcoyotl found time during the siege of Azcapuzalco to reconquer Acolman and Coatlichan, which had revolted. He calls the Tepanec leader Mazatzin, and gives the date as 1430. See Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 236-7, 382-4, 407, 466; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 120-39; Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. ix.; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 214-20; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 140-3; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 180-5; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 483-5.

[VII-55] See Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 221-3; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 142-6; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 136-47, 155-60; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 237-8, 383-5, 407, 466-7; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 16-17; Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. ix.; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 484-5; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt. ii., p. 28; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 187-9.

[VII-56] The line is said to have extended from Totoltepec in the north to a point in the lake near Mexico, which would be in a S.W. course. Thence it extended to mount Cuexcomatl probably towards the S.E. Subsequent events seem often to indicate that these lines were intended to be indefinitely prolonged, and to bound future conquests. Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 266, takes this view of the matter, although on p. 191 he implies the contrary.

[VII-57] Such was the basis of the alliance according to Ixtlilxochitl, Veytia, Zurita, and Brasseur. All agree respecting the inferior position of Tlacopan and her share of the spoils, but Ixtlilxochitl, p. 455, makes both pay a small tribute to Tezcuco. Veytia makes Nezahualcoyotl superior in nominal rank as above; Ixtlilxochitl in most of his relations makes him and Itzcoatl equal in this respect; while Torquemada, Clavigero, Gomara, and Duran make Itzcoatl supreme, and give to Mexico two thirds instead of one half of the spoils after deducting the share of Tlacopan. The chief support of the latter opinion is the great proportional growth of the Mexican domains in later times; but practically Mexico received much more even than the two thirds allotted to her by these authors. I think it more likely that Mexico in her great military power and love of conquest took much more than her proper share, at first with the consent of her colleagues and later without such consent; and it is also possible that the division agreed upon referred only to conquests accomplished under certain conditions not recorded, or, a supposition which agrees very nearly with the actual division in later times, that each of the three kingdoms was to have the conquered provinces that adjoined its territory, and that Mexico obtained the largest share, not only on account of her ambition, but because the most desirable field for conquest proved to be in the south-east and south-west. See preceding note.

[VII-58] Totoquihuatzin was the grandson of Tezozomoc, and his daughter was either concubine or wife of Nezahualcoyotl. Torquemada and Clavigero state that the people of the region about Tezcuco petitioned Itzcoatl to allow Nezahualcoyotl to rule over them, because, as the latter suggests, this territory had been given to Chimalpopoca by Tezozomoc. To Nezahualcoyotl, during his stay in Mexico, are attributed a palace and hunting-park at Chapultepec, together with several reservoirs and the idea of an aqueduct to supply water to the city. Veytia claims to have seen traces of the boundary line between the Aztec and Acolhua domains. It extended from Mount Cuexcomatl in the south, between Iztapalapan and Culhuacan, through the northern lake at Zumpango to Totoltepec. This would, however, be far from a straight line. See respecting the establishment of the new alliance:—Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 237-8, 383, 407, 454, 467; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 155-68; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 143-4, 154-6; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 221-5; Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. ix., x., xiv.; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 187-93; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 303; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., p. 19; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 28.

Chapter VIII • The Aztec Period • 12,700 Words

Outline of the Period—Revolt of Coyuhuacan—Nezahualcoyotl on the Throne of Tezcuco—Conquest of Quauhtitlan, Tultitlan, Xochimilco, and Cuitlahuac—Conquest of Quauhtitlan—Destruction of the Records—Death of Itzcoatl and Accession of Montezuma I.—New Temples at Mexico—Defeat of the Chalcas—Troubles with Tlatelulco—Conquest of Cohuixco and Mazatlan—Flood and Six Years’ Famine—Conquest of Miztecapan—The Aztecs Conquer the Province of Cuetlachtlan and reach the Gulf Coast—Final Defeat of the Chalcas—Campaign in Cuextlan—Birth of Nezahualpilli—Improvements in Tenochtitlan—Embassy to Chicomoztoc—Death of Montezuma I. and Accession of Axayacatl—Raid in Tehuantepec—Chimalpopoca succeeds Totoquihuatzin on the Throne of Tlacopan—Nezahualpilli succeeds Nezahualcoyotl at Tezcuco—Revolt of Tlatelulco—Conquest of Matlaltzinco—Defeat by the Tarascos—Death of Axayacatl.

Outline of Aztec History

The annals of the Aztec period constitute a record of successive conquests by the allied Tepanec, Acolhua, and Mexican forces, in which the latter play the leading rôle, and by which they became practically masters of the whole country, and were on the point of subjugating even their allies, or of falling before a combination of their foes, when they fell before a foe from across the sea. Besides the frequently recurring campaigns against coveted provinces or revolted chieftains, we have the constant growth of Tenochtitlan and Tezcuco; the construction of causeways, canals, aqueducts, and other public works; the erection of magnificent temples in honor of blood-thirsty gods; and nothing more, save the inhuman sacrifice of countless victims by which this fanatic people celebrated each victory, each coronation of a new king, each dedication of a new temple, strove to avert each impending disaster, rendered thanks for every escape, and feasted their deities for every mark of divine favor. From two sources there is introduced into this record a confusion unequaled in that of all preceding periods. The national prejudices of the original authorities have produced two almost distinct versions of each event, one attributing the leading rôle and all the glory to Tezcuco, the other to Mexico. The other source of confusion is in the successive campaigns against or conquests of the same province, as of Chalco for example. This province, like others, was almost continually in a state of revolt; and there was no king of Mexico who had not to engage in one or more wars against its people. In the aggregate about the same events are attributed to the Chalca wars, but hardly two authorities group these events in the same manner. Some group them in two or three wars, others in many, and as few attempt to give any exact chronology, the resulting complication may easily be understood. To reconcile these differences is impossible; to give in full the statement of all the authorities on each point would amount to printing the whole history of the period three or four times over, and would prove most monotonous to the reader without serving any good purpose; the choice is therefore between an arbitrary grouping of the events in question and the adoption of that given by Brasseur de Bourbourg. As the latter has the claimed advantage of resting on original documents in addition to the Spanish writers, I prefer to follow it. In respect to the difficulty arising from a spirit of rivalry between Mexico and Tezcuco, I shall continue the assumption already made that the two powers entered into the alliance on terms of equality, carefully noting, however, the views of the authorities on both sides respecting all important points.

While Nezahualcoyotl was still residing in Mexico, a desperate attempt was made to retrieve the defeat at Azcapuzalco, by Coyuhuacan, the strongest of the remaining Tepanec provinces. The rulers of this province applied for aid to all the lords in the region, picturing the danger that hung over all from the Aztec power and ambition; but for some reason, probably fear of the new alliance, all refused to take part in the war, and the Tepanecs were left to fight their own battles. They began by robbing and insulting Mexican market-women visiting their city for purposes of trade; afterwards invited the Mexican nobles to a feast and sent them back clad in women’s garments; and finally openly declared war. Their strong towns of Coyuhuacan and Atlacohuayan soon fell, however, before the allied armies under Itzcoatl and Montezuma, and the whole south-western section as far as Xochimilco was brought under subjection,[VIII-1]Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. x.; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 222-3; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 18-25; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 194-5; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 486-7; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 145. Duran and Clavigero place these events after Nezahualcoyotl had gone to Tezcuco. The former states that Tezcuco was one of the cities applied to for aid against the Mexicans, and introduces here the story of the people on the lake shore having been made ill by the smell of fish in Tenochtitlan; and the latter states that Huexotla aided Coyuhuacan in this war. Torquemada places the war in the second year of Itzcoatl’s reign, and implies that the Mexicans were forced to make several expeditions before they were completely successful. Itzcoatl making a triumphal return into his capital in 1432.

Occupation of Tezcuco

It was determined in the following year that Nezahualcoyotl should return to Tezcuco and take possession of his ancestral throne of Acolhuacan. A large army was fitted out for the conquest, but its aid was not required; for the lords that had thus far held out in the capital, realized that their cause was hopeless, fled to Tlascala and in other directions, allowing the king to enter Tezcuco without resistance, where he was gladly received by the people, was publicly crowned by Itzcoatl, and proclaimed a general amnesty, which course soon brought back many even of the rebel lords.[VIII-2]Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 145-6; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 196-8. Soon after his return he made a visit to Tlascala, concluding with that power a treaty of alliance, and afterwards ruling in great harmony with all his allies; at least, such is the version of the Abbé Brasseur, and Clavigero speaks of no trouble at that period; but other Spanish writers, although not agreeing among themselves, give a very different version of the events that occurred immediately after the occupation of Tezcuco. According to the statements of Ixtlilxochitl and Veytia,[VIII-3]Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 239-40, 407-8; the alliance with Tlascala is spoken of on pp. 247-8. Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 168-82. Itzcoatl soon repented of having allowed Nezahualcoyotl the supreme rank of Chichimecatl Tecuhtli, and made some disparaging remarks about his colleague. Nezahualcoyotl, enraged, announced his intention to march on Mexico within ten days; Itzcoatl, frightened, made excuses, and sent twenty-five virgins as a conciliatory gift, who were returned untouched; a bloody battle ensued, and the Mexican king was obliged to sue for peace, and submit to the payment of a tribute. Ixtlilxochitl even says that the Acolhuas entered Mexico, plundering the city and burning temples. Torquemada[VIII-4]Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 175. mentions a difficulty between the two monarchs, and Nezahualcoyotl’s challenge, but states that Itzcoatl’s excuses were accepted and an amicable arrangement effected. Boturini refers the quarrel and challenge to the later reign of Axayacatl. Ortega, Veytia’s editor, denies that any difficulties occurred;[VIII-5]Boturini, Idea, p. 26; Ortega, in Veytia, tom. iii., p. 178. and, indeed, the story is not a very reasonable one, which is perhaps Brasseur’s reason for ignoring it altogether.

Once seated on the throne of Acolhuacan, Nezahualcoyotl devoted himself zealously to the reconstruction of his kingdom, following for the most part the plan marked out by his grandfather Techotl, and establishing the forms of government that endured to the time of the conquest, and that have been fully described in a preceding volume. Unlike the king of Mexico, and against his advice, he restored to a certain extent the feudal system, and left many of his vassal lords independent in their own domains, instead of appointing royal governors. He was prompted to this course by a sense of justice, and by it his popularity was greatly increased; the plan was very successful; but whether it would have succeeded in later years without the support of the Mexican and Tepanec armies, may perhaps be doubted. Many however, of the strongest, the most troublesome, and especially the frontier provinces, or cities, were placed under the king’s sons or friends. Full details of the governmental system introduced by this monarch, of the many councils which he established, are given by the authorities but need not be repeated here. Particular attention was given to science and arts, and to educational institutions, which continued to flourish under his son, and for which Tezcuco was noted at the arrival of the Spaniards. The city was definitely divided into six wards called after the inhabitants of different nationalities, Tlailotlacan, Chimalpanecan, Huitznahuac, Tepanecapan, Culhuacan, and Mexicapan, and was enlarged and embellished in every direction with new palaces, temples, and both public and royal parks and pleasure-grounds.[VIII-6]See Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 239-47, 258-61, 386-8, 407-9, 454-5, 467-8; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 182-209, 223-9; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 146-7, 167-9; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 225-6, 242-7; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 197-202. Coatlichan, Tepetlaoztoc, Tepechpan, Chiuhnauhtla, Tulancingo, Quauchinanco, Xicotepec, and Teotihuacan are mentioned among the provinces whose lords were restored. Ixtlilxochitl and Veytia say that the same system of provincial government was forced on Mexico by Nezahualcoyotl.

Conquest of Xochimilco

In 1434 the Chichimec-Culhua city of Quauhtitlan was brought under subjection to Mexico, or at least entrusted to governors appointed by Itzcoatl, who made certain troubles among the people in the choice of a ruler an excuse for marching an army into that part of the country. Tultitlan was also conquered, probably in the same expedition.[VIII-7]Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 202-3; Veytia, tom. iii., p. 236; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 150; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 228; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 28. Xochimilco was now one of the largest cities in Anáhuac, and by reason of its location partially on the lake, and of a deep moat which guarded the land side, was also one of the strongest. Cuitlahuac was even more strongly defended; but both cities were forced to yield to the Mexicans and their allies during this year and the following. Many Tepanecs had taken refuge in these towns after the fall of Azcapuzalco, and their rulers, trusting to their increased force and the strength of their defences, were disposed to regard the Aztecs without fear. Some authors accuse the Xochimilcas of having provoked a war by encroachments; others state that they were formally summoned by Itzcoatl to submit and pay tribute or resort to the lot of battle. They made a brave resistance, but Itzcoatl’s forces crossed their moat by filling it with bundles of sticks and brambles, and entered the town, driving the army to the mountains, where they soon surrendered. Authorities differ as to the treatment of the people and the government imposed, as they do in the case of most of the conquered cities; but Xochimilco was certainly made tributary to the Mexican king. The Cuitlahuacs were conquered in a later expedition. The cause of the war, as Tezozomoc tells us, was the refusal to send their young girls to take part in a festival at Mexico. The battle was fought for the most part in canoes, the city was taken, as is said, by a detachment of students under the command of Montezuma, and many prisoners were brought back to be sacrificed in honor of the god of war. According to Tezozomoc and Duran, the people of Xochimilco with those of Coyuhuacan were ordered to furnish material and build a causeway, the first, it is said, which led from Mexico to the mainland. Herrera and Acosta tells us that after the conquest of Cuitlahuac, Nezahualcoyotl, seeing that it was useless to resist the destiny of the Mexicans, voluntarily offered his allegiance to Itzcoatl and retired to the second rank in the alliance. The latter adds that to content the monarch’s subjects with such a measure, a sham battle was fought, in which the Acolhua armies pretended to be defeated.[VIII-8]Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 384, 458, and Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 149-52, 234-5, state that Nezahualcoyotl accomplished the conquest of Xochimilco with the aid of a few Tlascaltecs, leaving Itzcoatl entirely out of the affair. Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 226-7, tells us that the Xochimilcas determined to make war on the Mexicans before they became too strong. Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xii., xiii., relates an evil omen for the Xochimilcas, in the transformation of a dish of viands, round which they were seated in deliberation, into arms, legs, hearts, and other human parts. See also Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 203-5; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 25-30; Sahagun, tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 268; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 488-90; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 140, 148-9; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 28; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xiii.

Affairs in Quauhtitlan

An opportunity was soon offered the allied powers to test their strength outside the limits of the valley, where reports of their valor and rapidly growing power had preceded them. The rich city of Quauhnahuac in the south-west, had once, as we have seen, formed an alliance by marriage with the Mexicans, but friendly relations seem to have ceased. In a difficulty between the lords of Quauhnahuac and Xiuhtepec, a neighboring city, about the hand of the former’s daughter, the latter called upon the Mexicans for aid, which they were only too ready to grant. The three kings, together with the Tlahuica forces of Cohuatzin, lord of Xiuhtepec, marched against the fated town, entered it after hard fighting, burned its temple, imposed a heavy tribute of cotton, rich cloths, and fine garments, thus taking the first step in their victorious march toward the South Sea.[VIII-9]Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 248-9, says that Quauhnahuac and eight other towns were awarded to Nezahualcoyotl, Tepozotlan, Huastepec and others to Itzcoatl, besides the share of Tlacopan not specified. The same author gives here without details of chronology, a list of subsequent conquests by the allies at this period, which we shall find scattered throughout this and the following reigns; such are:—Chalco, Itzucan, Tepeaca, Tecalco, Teohuacan, Cohuaixtlahuacan, Hualtepec, Quauhtochco, Atochpan, Tizauhcoac, Tochtepec, Mazahuacan, Tlapacoia, Tlauhcocauhtitlan, and Tulancingo. See also on conquest of Quauhnahuac, Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 227-8; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 149-50; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 235-6; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 28; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 205-7. The re-building and re-peopling of Xaltocan, by colonies of Mexicans, Acolhuas, and Tepanecs, and by a gathering of scattered Otomís, is attributed by the Codex Chimalpopoca to the year 1435. At the same time were laid the foundations of a new temple in honor of Cihuacoatl, and work on the grand temple of Huitzilopochtli, begun long before, was actively prosecuted. So zealous was king Itzcoatl in advancing the glory of his people that he is reported by Sahagun[VIII-10]Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 139-41; see p. 190, of this volume, and vol. ii., p. 528. to have destroyed the ancient records which related the glorious deeds of more ancient peoples. Nothing further is recorded during Itzcoatl’s reign save the execution of the death penalty on certain Chichimec families of Quauhtitlan, who refused to participate in some of the religious rites in honor of the Aztec gods, a short campaign against the province of Ecatepec, and a vaguely mentioned renewal of hostilities with Chalco.[VIII-11]Codex Chimalp., in Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 208-11; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 150.

I have already noticed the statements of Acosta and Herrera, that after the conquest of Cuitlahuac Nezahualcoyotl resigned his supremacy in favor of the Mexican king. Other authors, as Tezozomoc, Duran, Gomara, and Sigüenza y Góngora, also imply that from the end of Itzcoatl’s reign, the Mexican king was supreme in the alliance; but their statements disagree among themselves, and with previous statements by the same authors to the effect that the Mexican king was supreme monarch at the foundation of the alliance. Although Itzcoatl and his successors, by their valor and desire of conquest, took a leading part in all wars, and were in a sense masters of Anáhuac, there is no sufficient evidence that they ever claimed any superiority in rank over the Acolhua monarch, or that any important difficulties occurred between the two powers until the last years of the Aztec period.[VIII-12]Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 30-2; Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xv.; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 303; Sigüenza, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. i., p. 59; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 149-50, denies the story that Nezahualcoyotl submitted to Itzcoatl. Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 33-4, makes them still of equal rank. Tezozomoc makes no mention of any events in Itzcoatl’s reign after the conquest of Cuitlahuac. Duran, cap. xiv, states that his conquests included Chalco, Quauhnahuac, Huexotzinco, and Coatlichan. Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 228-9, 232-3; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 157, and Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 236-7, place in Itzcoatl’s reign the origin of the troubles with Tlatelulco which will be spoken of hereafter. According to the Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 44, Itzcoatl, or Izcoaci, conquered 24 cities. The king died in 1440, recommending the allies above all things to live at peace with each other, ordering work to be continued on the temple of Huitzilopochtli, and making provision for statues of himself and his predecessors on the throne of Mexico. He was succeeded by his nephew, Montezuma Ilhuicamina, or the elder, who was already commander of the armies and high-priest of Huitzilopochtli.[VIII-13]Date, 1440. Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xiv-xv.; Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 45; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 150; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 249, 457; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 28; Boturini, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 239; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 211-12. Duran also gives 1445 and Ixtlilxochitl 1441. 1436, Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 237-8; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 229; Bustamante, Mañadas de la Alameda, tom. ii., p. 174. See also on the succession; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xiii.; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 490-3; Sahagun, tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 268; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 150, 171; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., p. 30; Motolinia, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 6; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 303.

Reign of Montezuma I

His election having been confirmed by the kings of Tezcuco and Tlacopan, Montezuma I. was crowned with something more than the usual ceremonies, both because of his high ecclesiastical position and because he was the first monarch crowned by the Mexicans as a perfectly independent nation. According to several authors this king made an expedition against the Chalcas before his coronation to obtain the necessary prisoners for sacrifice.[VIII-14]Veytia, tom. iii., p. 239; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 491; Herrera, dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xiii.; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 29. From the first days of his reign Montezuma gave great attention to the building of temples in his capital, obtaining many of his workmen from Tlacopan, and his plans from the skilled architects of Tezcuco. He seems to have instituted the custom so extensively practiced in later years, of erecting in Mexico temples in honor of the gods of foreign provinces conquered or about to be conquered, making these gods subordinate to Huitzilopochtli as their worshipers were subject to the Mexicans. Two temples are especially mentioned by the documents which Brasseur follows; one called Huitznahuateocalli, and the other that of Mixcohuatepec. The latter was built to receive the relics of the ancient chief Mixcohuatl,[VIII-15]See pp. 241-2, 250, 255, of this volume. which had been preserved for centuries in their temple at Cuitlahuac, an object of veneration to all of Toltec descent. A quarrel between Tezozomoc and Acolmiztli, rival lords of that city, afforded a sufficient pretext for sending thither a Mexican army; the temple caught fire, by accident as was claimed, and the lord who had received aid could not refuse Montezuma’s request for the now shelterless relics, which were transferred to their new resting-place in Tenochtitlan. This was in 1441.[VIII-16]Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 213-17; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 239-40; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 230; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 150-1; Duran, MS. tom. i., cap. xvi. The latter author is careful to state that Montezuma did not request, but simply ordered aid in building his temples from Tlacopan and Tezcuco.

The Chalcas whom we have often found fighting, now on the side of the Acolhuas, now on the side of the Tepanecs, but always hating the Mexicans most bitterly, seem to have managed their alliances so shrewdly up to this time, as to have avoided becoming involved in the ruin that at different times had overwhelmed the leading powers of Anáhuac. Since the formation of the new alliance, in which they had no part, their soldiers had fought many skirmishes with the allied forces, but the latter had made no united effort to conquer them. Having become numerous and powerful, the Chalcas now dared, in 1443, to measure their strength against the allies, their chief purpose being to humble Mexico. They provoked hostilities by seizing and putting to death a party of noble young men who were hunting near their frontier. The party included some members of the Mexican royal family, and two sons of Nezahualcoyotl. The dead bodies of the latter were embalmed and made to do service in the palace of Toteotzin, lord of Chalco, as torch-bearers. The effect of such an indignity was immediate, and brought upon the perpetrators the whole strength of the allied kings. The Mexicans and Tepanecs approached by water, the Acolhuas by land; they were met by the Chalca army, and for several weeks the conflict raged fiercely without decisive advantage on either side. Kings Montezuma and Totoquihuatzin commanded in person; Nezahualcoyotl’s forces were under his two eldest sons. Another son, Axoquentzin, only about seventeen years old, performed prodigies of valor and turned the tide of victory. Visiting his brothers in camp, he was about to eat with them, when they ridiculed his youth and told him that was no place for a boy who had done no deed of valor. Ashamed and angry, he seized arms and rushed alone against the enemy, taking captive one of their mightiest warriors—their aged lord Toteotzin himself, Ixtlilxochitl says—and creating a panic which caused ultimate defeat. The victory was complete, the Chalca army was scattered, the city taken and made tributary to the central powers, although these people were able subsequently to cause the victors much trouble. Nezahualcoyotl was so angry at the murder of his sons that for once he shared to some extent the bloodthirsty spirit of the Aztecs, and gladly gave up the Chalca captives, among whom was their chief, to the sacrificial block.[VIII-17]Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 240-2; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 150-4; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 230-1; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 255-7, 467-8; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 217-24; Sahagun, tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 268; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 29.

Conquest of Tlatelulco

The exact status of Tlatelulco under the tri-partite alliance is not clearly recorded; but the inferior position accorded that city had doubtless caused much jealousy and dissatisfaction, which had already produced some trouble, though not open rupture, between the two kings, if we may suppose Quauhtlatohuatzin to have been at this date considered as a king. During Montezuma’s absence in the Chalca war, the Tlatelulca chief ventured so far as to engage in plots against the existing state of things; Montezuma, on his return declared war; the people were reduced to submission, their ruler was killed, and Moquihuix, supposed to be in the interests of the Mexicans, was put in his place.[VIII-18]Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 156-7; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 232-3; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 242-3; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 224-5; Granados y Galvez, Tardes Amer., p. 176; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 30; Sahagun, tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 273-4. On his return from the Chalca war, and while Montezuma was punishing the treason of the Tlatelulca chief, Nezahualcoyotl was engaged in quelling a revolt in the northern province of Tulancingo, where the rebels had burned some towns and driven out the Acolhua garrisons. The province was now finally conquered and joined to the domain of Acolhuacan under royal governors. Nezahualcoyotl is also said to have founded a new town in this region, and sent colonists from Tezcuco to dwell in it.[VIII-19]Ixtlilxochitl, p. 248; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 225. The former author says that this conquest extended to Quauhchinanco and Xilotepec, but implies that it took place immediately after the treaty with Tlascala, which followed Nezahualcoyotl’s accession to the Tezcucan throne.

The rich provinces of Cohuixco and Mazatlan, just south of Anáhuac and of the province of Quauhnahuac, at the time the southern limit of Mexican conquest, had long been coveted by the Aztec kings; and in 1448 the desired opportunity presented itself. The Cohuixcas attacked and put to death a large number of traveling merchants from Mexico, provoked to the outrage doubtless by the arbitrary conduct of the latter, who deemed that the great power of their own nation freed them from all obligation to obey the laws of nations which they visited. The murder of the traders was more than a sufficient cause of war to the belligerent allies, and by a campaign concerning which no details are recorded, the two provinces, or at least most of their towns, were conquered and annexed as tributaries to the Aztec domains.[VIII-20]The towns mentioned as included in this conquest are Cohuixco, Oztoman, Quetzaltepec, Ixcateopan, Teoxcahualco, Poctepec, Yauhtepec, Yacapichtla, Totolapan, Tlachmalacac, Tlachco, Chilapan, Tomazolapan, Quauhtepec, Ohuapan, Tzompahuacan, and Cozamaloapan. See Veytia, tom. iii., p. 243; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 233; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 157; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 225-7; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 30; Ixtlilxochitl, p. 249. During the following years the Aztecs were called upon to suspend their foreign conquests and to struggle at home against water and snow and frost and drought and famine, foes that well nigh gained the mastery over these hitherto invincible warriors. In 1449 heavy and continuous rains so raised the waters of the lake as to inundate the streets of Tenochtitlan, destroying many buildings and even causing considerable loss of life. The misfortune was bravely met; the genius of Nezahualcoyotl, the engineering skill of the valley, and the whole available laboring force of the three kingdoms were called into requisition to guard against a recurrence of the flood. A dike, stretching from north to south in crescent form, was constructed for a distance of seven or eight miles, separating the waters of the lake into two portions, that on the Mexican side being comparatively independent of the fresh water flowing into the lake in the rainy season. The dike was built by driving a double line of piles, the interior space being filled with stones and earth, the whole over thirty, or, as many authors say, sixty feet wide, and forming a much-frequented promenade. This work may be considered a great triumph of aboriginal engineering, especially when we consider the millions spent by the Spaniards under the best European engineers in protecting the city, hardly more effectually, against similar inundations. The Chalcas seem to have taken advantage of the troubles in Mexico to revolt, but were easily brought into subjection by an army under Montezuma.[VIII-21]Several authors give the dates as 1446. Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 247-8; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 233-4; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 157-8; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 228-32. This author gives the width of the dike as about 30 feet. Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 30.

Famine and Plagues

The famine and other plagues already alluded to began two years later, and continued for a period of six years.[VIII-22]1448-54, Veytia; 1451-6, Brasseur; 1447-54, Codex Tell. Rem.; 1404-7 (1444-7?) 11 years after accession of Montezuma, Duran. The authorities do not altogether agree respecting the exact order of the visitations, but severe frosts, a heavy fall of snow, long-continued drought, consequent failure of all crops, famine, and epidemic pestilence are mentioned by all. All the valley and many provinces without its limits were visited by the famine; indeed, Totonacapan, or northern Vera Cruz, is reported to have been the only part of the country that entirely escaped its effects. The suffering and mortality among the lower classes were terrible; the royal granaries were thrown open by order of Nezahualcoyotl and Montezuma, but the supply of maize was soon exhausted, and the fish, reptiles, birds, and insects of the lakes were the only sources of food. Thousands of the poor sold themselves into slavery, some at home, others in foreign provinces, to obtain barely food enough to sustain life. Several Mexican colonies attribute their origin to this period of want. The rulers could not prevent the sale of slaves, but they forbade children to be sold at less rates than four or five hundred ears of corn each, according as they were boys or girls. This national disaster was, of course, attributed to the anger of the gods, and the utmost efforts were made to conciliate their irate divinities by the only efficacious means known, the sacrifice of human victims. But since fighting and conquest had ceased, such victims were exceedingly scarce. Nezahualcoyotl would allow none but prisoners of war to be sacrificed in his dominions, arguing that such forfeited their lives by being defeated, and that it made but little difference to them whether they died on the field of battle or on the sacrificial altar. Moreover, only strong soldiers were believed to be acceptable to the gods in such an emergency; the sickly and famishing plebeians and slaves could not by their worthless lives avert the divine wrath. The result of this difficulty was one of the most extraordinary compacts known in the world’s history. It was agreed in a solemn treaty that between the Mexicans, Tepanecs, and Acolhuas in the valley, and the Cholultecs, Tlascaltecs, and Huexotzincas of the eastern plateaux, battles should take place at regular intervals, on battle-grounds set apart for this purpose, between foes equal in number, for the sole purpose of obtaining captives for sacrifice. Such battles were actually fought during the years of famine, and perhaps in later years, although the almost constant wars rendered such a resort rarely necessary. In the last years of the famine Nezahualcoyotl laid the foundations of a great teocalli at Tezcuco, in 1455 the tying-up of the cycle and the renewal of the sacred fire were celebrated, and the following year of 1456 was one of great abundance. The time of want and disaster was at last completed; a period of plenty and prosperity ensued.[VIII-23]Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xviii., xix., xxx., says the snow fell knee-deep in the valley. He also tells us that very many sold as slaves during the famine were ransomed and returned afterwards; this, however, does not apply to such as went to Totonacapan, since these remained in that province. Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 250-1, 257, says that the slaves sold to the Totonacs were all sacrificed to secure a continuance of productiveness in the province. This author also names Xicotencatl, a Tlascaltec noble, as the person who suggested the battles for captives. Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 232-6, implies that the name Totonacapan, ‘region of our subsistence,’ was given on account of the events described, although the same author has spoken frequently of the Totonacs at a period many centuries earlier. See also, Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix, pp. 63-6; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 158, 171; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 233-5; Sahagun, tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 269; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 248-9; Codex Tell. Rem., in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 150. Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 493, and Herrera, dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xiii, merely state that it was agreed to reserve Tlascala as a battle-field whereon to exercise the armies, and to obtain captives. Torquemada throws some doubt on this agreement.

Conquest of Miztecapan

With returning plenty and prosperity at home, came back the spirit of foreign conquest. The first to fall before the allied forces was the province of Cohuaixtlahuacan, or Upper Miztecapan, lying in the south-west, in what is now Oajaca, and adjoining that of Mazatlan, which had already been added to the Aztec domain. As in the case of the last-mentioned province and of many others, ill-treatment of Mexican traders was the alleged motive of the war. The Miztec king, called Dzawindanda in his own country and Atonaltzin by the Mexicans, had caused many of the traveling merchants to be put to death and had finally forbidden the whole fraternity to trade in or to pass through his territory. There is every reason to believe that this prohibition was merited by the conduct of the Mexicans. At this time, and still more so in later years, the monarchs of Anáhuac made use of their merchants as spies to report upon the wealth and power of different provinces, to ascertain the best methods of attack, and to provoke a quarrel when the conquest had once been determined upon. The province of Miztecapan was a rich field of traffic and was moreover on the route to the rich commercial towns on the southern coast of Anáhuac Ayotlan, where the products of the countries both north and south of the isthmus were offered for sale at the great fairs. The Mexicans attended these fairs in companies which were well armed and were little less than small armies, trusting in their own strength and that of their sovereign, and showing but little respect for the laws of provinces traversed. Atonaltzin was a proud and powerful ruler, and was not at all unwilling to measure his strength against that of the central nations. Montezuma sent an embassy to hear his complaints; Atonaltzin sent back by the same embassy a great quantity of valuable gifts, samples, as he said, of the tribute the Mexicans might expect if they should succeed in conquering his armies in the war which must decide which king was to pay tribute to the other. Montezuma’s reply was to march at the head of a large army towards Tilantongo, the capital of Cohuaixtlahuacan. The result was that the allied forces were utterly routed and driven back with great loss to their home. Montezuma had underrated the strength of his adversary and had undertaken the conquest without sufficient preparation.

A few months were now spent in new preparations on both sides for a renewal of the struggle. The Aztecs in some way formed a secret alliance with the lord of Tlachquiauhco, near Tilantongo, who was an enemy to Atonaltzin. The Miztecs on the other hand obtained aid from the Tlascaltecs and Huexotzincas, who before the Aztec alliance had been the leading traders of the country, and who were jealous of the commercial enterprise shown and success achieved by their rivals. The war began with an assault by the Miztec leader and his eastern allies on Tlachquiauhco; but the Mexicans, Acolhuas, and Tepanecs, under Montezuma, inflicted this time as severe a defeat as they had suffered before; Atonaltzin was forced to surrender, and the whole province was annexed to the domain of the victors, as were Tochtepec, Zapotlan, Tototlan, and Chinantla, soon after. The auxiliary army of the Tlascaltecs and Huexotzincas was almost annihilated. The record closes with a romantic episode of Montezuma’s love for Atonaltzin’s queen; the Miztec king was killed shortly after by his own subjects, not improbably at the instigation of the Aztecs, and the assassins brought his queen with the news of his death to Mexico. A palace was built for her, but she is said to have resisted the Aztec monarch’s ardor, and to have remained faithful to her first husband. The conquest of Cozamaloapan and Quauhtochco, also in the Miztec region, followed during the same year and the following, provoked as before by the pretended murder of traveling merchants.[VIII-24]Date, 1458-9, according to Brasseur; 1456 according to the other authors. Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xxii., xxiii., and Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 51-3, say nothing of the aid rendered by the Tlascaltecs and Huexotzincas. See also Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 236-7; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 249-51; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 237-52; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 159-61; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 30-1.

Conquest of Cuetlachtlan

Elated by their success in the south-west, the allied kings next turned their attention toward the south-eastern province of Cuetlachtlan, in what is now central Vera Cruz, lying between the Aztec possessions and the thriving commercial towns of the Xicalancas on the gulf coast in the Goazacoalco region. According to Veytia, Torquemada, and Clavigero, the chiefs of the province, incited by the Tlascaltecs and promised aid by them and the other cities of the eastern plateau, declared or adopted measures to provoke the war. Duran and Tezozomoc, on the contrary, represent the Mexicans as having sent an embassy to the south-eastern provinces, demanding a tribute of rare shells, or even of live shell-fish, and threatening war as an alternative. The ambassadors were to include the Totonac territory in their demands, but were seized and murdered in Cuetlachtlan, their dead bodies being subjected to great indignities, at the instigation of the Tlascaltecs. The army immediately dispatched from the lake cities was one of the strongest which had yet fought for the glory of the Aztec alliance, and numbered among its leaders three Mexican princes, Ahuitzotl, Axayacatl, and Tizoc, who afterwards occupied the throne, and Moquihuix the ruler of Tlatelulco. The alliance of the Olmec province with Tlascala and the other cities seems not to have been known at Mexico when the army began its march, and when it became known excited so much apprehension that orders were sent to the generals in command to fall back and postpone the conflict until further preparations could be made. All were disposed to obey the royal command, save Moquihuix, who bravely announced his purpose to attack and defeat the enemy with his Tlatelulca soldiers unaided. His enthusiasm had an electric effect on the whole army; there was no longer any thought of retreat; the battle was fought in disobedience of orders, near Ahuilizapan, now Orizava; the army of the enemy was defeated; the Aztecs were masters of a broad tract, extending from Anáhuac south-eastward to the sea; and over six thousand captives were brought back to die on the sacrificial block. Duran and Tezozomoc state that the nations of the eastern plateau did not give the aid they had promised, treacherously leaving the province of Cuetlachtlan to its fate; but this is consistent neither with the character nor interests of the Tlascaltecs, and it is more likely that their army shared the defeat. The victors were received at Mexico with the highest honors, the kings, priests, and nobles marching out to meet them; the leaders were rewarded for their bravery with lands and honors, particularly Moquihuix, who received besides the hand of a Mexican princess nearly related to the royal family; and the blood of the six thousand captives furnished an offering most acceptable to the gods at the dedication of a temple that had just been completed.

A revolt of the province of Cuetlachtlan is recorded by Duran and Tezozomoc at a later date not definitely fixed, when the Mexican governor was murdered, the payment of tribute suspended, and the ambassadors sent to ascertain the cause of such suspension, shut up in a tight room and suffocated with burning chile. The Tlascaltecs, as before, offered aid which was not forthcoming; the guilty parties were put to death by order of the Aztec monarchs, and the tributes of the province were doubled.[VIII-25]According to Veytia’s chronology, this conquest took place in 1457; Brasseur puts this and the following events in 1458-9. See Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 251-3; Ixtlilxochitl, p. 467; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 237-8; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 161-2; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 31; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 252-7; Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xxi., xxiv.; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 48-51, 53-6.

Revolt of the Chalcas

The Chalcas never missed an opportunity for revolt, and did not fail to take advantage of the events which obliged the hated Aztecs to give their whole attention to foreign wars. During the war in Cuetlachtlan, they are said to have defied the Aztec power by refusing certain blocks of stone from their quarries needed for building-purposes in the capital, and also to have seized and imprisoned several Mexicans of high rank. Among the latter was a brother of Montezuma, whom, according to several authorities, they offered to make king of Chalco; he refused to betray his country, but at last, influenced by entreaties and threats, pretended to consent. At his request a high platform was erected for the performance of certain ceremonies designed to fire the hearts of the Chalcas in the new cause; but from its summit the captive prince denounced the treachery of his captors, called upon the Mexicans to avenge him, predicted the defeat and slavery of the people of Chalco, and threw himself headlong to the earth below. The total annihilation of this uncontrollable people was determined upon by the kings of Mexico, Tezcuco, and Tlacopan; and a peculiar air of mystery enshrouds the war which followed. During the whole period of preparation, of conflict, and of victory, the people of the capital engaged in solemn processions, chants, prayers, sacrifices, and other rites in honor of the Aztecs who had perished in past Chalca wars. Signal fires blazed on the hills and in the watch-towers; and it is even said that the gods sent an earthquake to warn the Chalcas of their impending doom. The battle raged for a whole day before the fated city and the Aztecs were at last victorious, as they had been in a previous war against the same city. Great numbers of the enemy fell in battle or were put to the sword during the pursuit; the almost deserted town was entered by the Aztec army; surviving Chalcas were scattered in all directions; many took refuge in the cities of the eastern plateau, others perished in the mountains rather than to submit to their hated foe; but enough were finally pardoned by Montezuma and allowed to return to their city to cause not a little trouble in later years.[VIII-26]On the conquest of Chalco, see Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xvi., xvii.; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 33-40; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 238-40; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 258-61; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 492-3; Herrera, dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xiii.; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 253-4.

Other events recorded as having occurred before 1460 are few in number. The most important was the conquest and annexation to the Tezcucan domain of many towns in the north-eastern provinces of Tziauhcohuac, Atochpan, and Cuextlan, the home of the Huastecs in the Pánuco region on the gulf coast. In this campaign the allied troops were under two of Nezahualcoyotl’s sons, and this was the only important addition to the Acolhua possessions since the date of the tri-partite alliance; yet there is no evidence that Nezahualcoyotl expressed or felt any dissatisfaction at the rapid growth of the Mexican domain; he was not ambitious of conquest, and doubtless received his full share of other spoils and of tribute. At about the same time the Mexicans conquered several strong cities on the southern edge of the Cholultec plateau, such as Tepeaca, Quauhtinchan, and Acatzingo, thus threatening the independence of the eastern republics; outrages on traveling merchants were as usual the real or pretended excuse for these conquests. Tenochtitlan and Tlatelulco had now grown so far beyond their original limits as to form really but one city, the boundary line being a narrow and shallow ditch. This ditch was now deepened and widened at the joint expense of the two powers, and formed into a navigable canal. Great improvements were also made, particularly in the market buildings of Tlatelulco, which had now become the commercial headquarters of the whole country north of Tehuantepec. The commercial interests of the empire had been most jealously promoted by the reigning monarchs, and the Aztec merchants had contributed no less than the Aztec armies to the glory and prosperity of their nation.[VIII-27]According to the Codex Tell. Rem., in Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 150-1, the conquest of Goazacoalco took place about this time, in 1461. Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 249-50, implies that the Tlascaltecs fought on the side of Nezahualcoyotl in the conquest of Cuextlan. See Veytia, tom. iii., p. 254; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 493; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 240; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 164; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 261-2, 267-9; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 40-6; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 32; on the commerce of the Aztecs, see vol. ii., pp. 378-99.

Birth of Nezahualpilli

In 1463 Nezahaulcoyotl married a daughter of the king of Tlacopan, obtaining her hand, if we may credit Ixtlilxochitl and Torquemada, in a manner that reflected no credit on his honor. She had been from an early age the wife of Temictzin, a Tlatelulca general, somewhat advanced in years, but the marriage had not yet been consummated on account of her youth. The Acolhua monarch desiring by marriage to leave a legitimate heir to the throne, and becoming enamored of the young Azcaxochitl’s charms, sent her husband away to the wars, and managed to have him killed. After her period of mourning was past, the fair Azcaxochitl was made queen of Tezcuco; the nuptial feasts lasted eighty days among great rejoicings of nobles and people; and within a year the queen gave birth to Nezahualpilli, the emperor’s only legitimate son and his successor.[VIII-28]Clavigero, tom. i., p. 232, states that the Tepanec princess was the emperor’s second wife; and Ixtlilxochitl implies that Nezahualpilli was her second son. There is also no agreement respecting her name or that of her father and husband. All agree that this child was born in 1464 or 1465. See Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 253-4, 257, 467; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 244-6; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 271-3; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 154-6; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 29-30. The year 1465 is given as the date of the final submission of the Chalcas; that is the surrender and return to the city of the last bands that had since their defeat lived under chieftains of their own choice in the mountains, and kept up some show of hostility to Mexico.[VIII-29]Codex Tell. Rem., in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 151; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 277. In 1466, the causeway and aqueduct extending from Chapultepec to Mexico, and supplying the capital with pure water through a pipe of burned clay, were completed. This work had been planned by Nezahualcoyotl during his residence at Mexico, and had been commenced by Itzcoatl. Work was continually pushed forward on the grand temple of Huitzilopochtli, and many teocallis were built at this period in each of the three allied capitals. One in Tezcuco is particularly mentioned, which was very richly decorated with gold and precious stones, and was dedicated by Nezahualcoyotl to the invisible god of the universe. This pyramid was completed in 1467, but, according to the Codex Chimalpopoca, fell as soon as finished. It was necessary to rebuild the structure, and that it might be done rapidly, the Tezcucan monarch called upon Montezuma for laborers from his tributary city of Zumpango and other northern towns. The permission was given, but the people of Zumpango refused to send workmen, and raised a revolt, which was, however, quelled by the Acolhua forces in a short campaign.[VIII-30]Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 277-80; Ixtlilxochitl, p. 257.

Mission to Chicomoztoc

A remarkable story told by Duran and attributed to the reign of Montezuma I., may be introduced here as well as anywhere, although it is more than doubtful whether it should receive any credit as a historic record. In the midst of the glory acquired by his valor, Montezuma determined to send an armed force to the region of the Seven Caves whence his people came. Though armed they were to bear rich presents, with orders to explore the country and search for the mother of Huitzilopochtli, who if yet alive would be pleased to know of her son’s prosperity and glory, and would gladly receive the gifts of his chosen people. The intention was made known to Tlacaeleltzin—a famous prince who seems to be identical with Montezuma before the latter became king, but of whom many wondrous tales are told even after the latter ascended the throne—who gave his approval, but recommended that a peaceful embassy of wise men and sorcerers be sent on this mission. At Coatepec in the region of Tollan, after performing various religious rites, the sixty sorcerers chosen for the expedition were transformed into different animal forms and transported with their treasure to the land of their fathers, to the lake-surrounded hill of Culhuacan. Here they found certain people who spoke their language and to them announced their purpose. The priests of this people remembered well the departure of the Aztec tribes, and were surprised to learn that their original leaders were dead, for their companions left behind were yet alive. The messengers were promised an interview with Coatlicue, mother of their god, and had a most tiresome journey up the sandy hill with their gifts, much to the wonder of the guiding priests, who wondered what they could live upon in their new home to have become so effeminate. At last they found the aged mother of Huitzilopochtli weeping bitterly, and stating that since her son’s departure she had neither washed her body and face, combed her hair, nor changed her garments; neither did she propose to attend to her toilet until his return. The old woman expressed, however, considerable interest in the affairs of Mexico, and made known some prophecies of her son about the coming of a strange people to take the land from the Mexicans. The messengers were finally dismissed with presents of fowls, fish, flowers, and clothing, for Montezuma; and, re-adopting their disguises, were brought back in eight days to Coatepec, where they discovered that twenty of their number were missing. These lost members of the company were never heard of more.[VIII-31]Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xxvii.

Montezuma died in 1469,[VIII-32]1464, Veytia; 1468, Vetancvrt, Ixtlilxochitl, and Boturini; 1469, Ixtlilxochitl, Brasseur, Codex Chimalp., Codex Tell. Rem., Codex Mendoza. leaving his country in a more flourishing condition than it had ever known, notwithstanding the six years’ famine that had occurred during his reign. He left to his people or to his nobles the choice of his successor from among his three grandsons—by his daughter Atotoztli and Tezozomoc, son of Itzcoatl—Tizoc, Axayacatl, and Ahuitzotl, expressing, however, a preference for the second, who was now commander of the Mexican armies. His remains were enclosed in an urn and deposited in the walls of the grand temple now approaching completion, and his wishes were followed in the choice of a successor.[VIII-33]Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xxviii-xxix., xxxi-ii., and Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 58-63, 66, attribute to Montezuma I. the conquest of Oajaca, and the establishment there of a Mexican colony. They may refer to the conquest of the land of the Miztecs already related, or to that of more southern parts of Oajaca at a later period. They also state that Axayacatl was the son of Montezuma. Duran tells us that Montezuma before his death had his image sculptured on the cliff at Chapultepec; and that Axayacatl was nominated king by Tlacaeleltzin, who declined the throne. The Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 45-6, followed by Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 150, give the number of provinces conquered by Montezuma as thirty-three. Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 257, 457, says Montezuma left several sons. Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 169, 172, says he left one, not named, but that he disinherited him for the good of the nation. Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 493, 495, and Herrera, dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xiii., make Tizoc precede Axayacatl, both being sons of Montezuma. Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., p. 178, makes Ahuitzotl precede Axayacatl. Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 32, says that Axayacatl, Tizoc, and Ahuitzotl were sons of Montezuma’s uncle by a daughter of Itzcoatl. Motolinia, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 6, and Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 303, represent Montezuma as having been succeeded by his daughter. See also on the death and character of Montezuma I., and the accession of Axayacatl:—Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 280-2; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 241; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 254-5; Boturini, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 240; Codex Tell. Rem., in Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 149, 151; Sahagun, tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 268-9.

Raid in Tehuantepec

Before the coronation of the new monarch could be celebrated with fitting solemnity, and in a manner worthy of his predecessors, victims for sacrifice must be captured in large numbers; and it had now become an established custom for each newly elected king to undertake in person a campaign with the sole object of procuring captives. Axayacatl, in complying with the usage, distinguished himself by the most daring raid yet undertaken by Aztec valor. Passing rapidly southward by mountain routes at the head of a large force, and avoiding the Miztec and Zapotec towns of Oajaca, he suddenly presented himself before the city of Tehuantepec, routed the defending army, drawing them into an ambush by a pretended retreat, entered and pillaged the city, captured the rich commercial city of Guatulco some distance above on the coast, left a strong garrison in each stronghold, and returned to Mexico laden with plunder and with thousands of captives in his train, almost before his departure was known throughout the country. Brasseur tells us that he crossed the isthmus in this campaign, and for the time subjected to Aztec rule the province of Soconusco, even reaching the frontiers of Guatemala; but Torquemada is given as the authority for this statement, and this author implies nothing of the kind, consequently we may doubt it. The sacrifice of captives from distant and strange lands, together with the rich spoils brought back from the south-sea provinces, imparted unusual éclat to the coronation ceremonies; the successful warrior was congratulated by his colleagues at Tezcuco and Tlacopan; and the people felt assured that in Axayacatl they had a monarch worthy of his subjects’ admiration.[VIII-34]Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xxxii., says that the first five years of Axayacatl’s reign were undisturbed by war. See on the Tehuantepec raid and the Coronation: Torquemada, tom. i., p. 172; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 283-7; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 32; Clavigero, tom., i. pp. 241-2; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 496-7. Veytia, tom. iii., p. 256, and Clavigero speak of wars in the first years of his reign against the revolting provinces of Cuetlachtlan and Tochtepec.

During the same year, perhaps, a battle was fought against Huexotzinco and Atlixco on the frontier, in which the three kings took part personally; and it is recorded that in the midst of the conflict Tezcatlipoca appeared to the Aztec armies, cheering them on to victory. On the return of the victors, Axayacatl and Moquihuix of Tlatelulco each erected a new temple to the gods of Huexotzinco to propitiate those divinities in case of the war being resumed, which was foretold by the oracles. The Mexican temple was called Coatlan, and that in Tlatelulco Coaxolotl; the latter was a grander structure than the former and its erection in a spirit of rivalry excited some ill-feeling on the part of the Mexicans, and was not without an influence in fomenting the troubles that broke out between the cities a few years later.[VIII-35]Date according to the Spanish writers, 1468. According to the Codex Tell. Rem., in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 150, Huexotzinco had seized upon the province of Atlixco in 1456, driving away the people of Guacachula, the former possessors. Only Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 172-3, and Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 287-8, mention the apparition of Tezcatlipoca. See also Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 242, 248; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 256-7; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 32-3. An eclipse of the sun which took place about the time the temples were completed, was thought to portend disaster, and was followed within a period of two years by the death of the Tepanec and Acolhua monarchs. Totoquihuatzin, king of Tlacopan, died in 1470 at an advanced age and after a long and prosperous reign, during which he had gained the respect of his subjects and colleagues, fighting bravely in the wars of the empire and accepting without complaint his small share of the spoils as awarded by the terms of the alliance. He was succeeded by his son Chimalpopoca.[VIII-36]Date 1469 according to Spanish writers; 1470 according to Codex Chimalpopoca. Veytia, tom. iii., p. 261; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 288; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 242; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 173; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 32.

Death of Nezahualcoyotl

The burning of an immense tract of forest lying to the west of Azcapuzalco toward the Matlaltzinco region, is recorded by one authority as having occurred in 1471;[VIII-37]Codex Chimalp., in Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 288. and in the next year took place the death of Nezahualcoyotl, the king of Acolhuacan, and considered as the greatest and wisest of the Chichimec monarchs. His adventures in early life while deprived of his ancestral throne have cast a glamour of romance about his name; and the fortitude with which he supported his misfortunes, his valor in regaining the Tezcucan throne, and the prominent part taken by him in the wars of the allies, are enthusiastically praised by his biographers. His chief glory, however, depends not on his valor as a warrior, but on his wisdom and justice as a ruler. During his reign his domain had been increased in extent far less than that of Mexico; but he had made the city of Tezcuco the centre of art, science, and all high culture—the Athens of America, as Clavigero expresses it, of which he was the Solon—and his kingdom of Acolhuacan a model of good government. Such was his inflexibility in the administration of justice and enforcement of the laws, that several of his own sons, although much beloved, were put to death for offenses against law and morality. Official corruption met no mercy at his hands, but toward the poor, the aged, and the unfortunate, his kindness was unbounded. He was in the habit of traveling incognito among his subjects, visiting the lower classes, relieving misfortune, and obtaining useful hints for the perfection of his code of laws, in which he took especial pride. Ever the promoter of education and culture, he was himself a man of learning in various branches, and a poet of no mean talent.[VIII-38]See vol. ii., pp. 246-7, 294, 471-2, 491-7. His religious views, if correctly reported by the historians, were far in advance of those of his contemporaries or of the Europeans who in the cause of religion overthrew Tezcucan culture; he seems to have been unable to resist the Aztec influence in favor of human sacrifices, but he deserves the credit of having opposed the shedding of blood and ridiculed the deities that demanded it. The only dishonorable action of his life is the method by which he obtained his queen, and that may have received a false coloring at the hands of unfriendly annalists. Some of his poems were afterwards regarded as prophecies, in which was vaguely announced the coming of the Spaniards. He died in 1472, leaving over a hundred children by his concubines, but only one legitimate son.[VIII-39]Date 1470, Ortega and Clavigero; 1462 or 1472, Ixtlilxochitl; 1472, Codex Chimalpopoca.

Feeling that his death was near, Nezahualcoyotl had assembled his family and announced Nezahualpilli as heir to the throne. He informed his older natural sons that only by leaving the throne to a legitimate successor could he hope to secure a peaceful succession and future prosperity. He expressed great esteem for his oldest son Acapipioltzin, who was now at the head of his armies, and great confidence in his ability, calling upon him to serve as guardian and adviser of Nezahualpilli, at the time only eight years old, during his minority, and to protect his interests against possible attempts of his other brothers to usurp the crown. Acapipioltzin promised to obey his wishes, and was ever after faithful to his promise. Several authors say that the king gave orders that his death should not be announced until after his son was firmly seated on the throne; others state that it was a popular belief among the common people that Nezahualcoyotl had not died, but had been called to a place among the gods. After the funeral of the dead king, at which assisted an immense crowd of nobles, even from foreign and hostile provinces, such as Tlascala, Cholula, Tehuantepec, Pánuco, and Michoacan, three of his sons showed such evident designs of disloyalty to the appointed successor, that the young prince was removed to Mexico by his Aztec and Tepanec colleagues, and the ceremony of coronation was performed there. Axayacatl is said to have spent most of his time in Tezcuco during Nezahualpilli’s minority, and it is not improbable that he took advantage of his colleague’s youth to strengthen his own position as practically head of the empire.[VIII-40]On the character and death of Nezahualcoyotl, and the succession of Nezahualpilli, see: Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 254-62, 408-9, 467-8; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 156, 164-9, 173-4; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 232, 242-8; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 288-301; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 33-4; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 247, 261-7.

Conquest of Tlatelulco

In the year of Axayacatl’s accession three hills trembled in Xuchitepec, that is, there was an earthquake foreboding disaster, which came upon the people in 1472, in the shape of an Aztec army under Axayacatl. During a raid of a few days, the province was ravaged and a crowd of captives brought back to die on the altars of Huitzilopochtli. Such is Torquemada’s account, which is interpreted by Brasseur as referring to a raid across the isthmus into the Guatemalan province of Xuchiltepec, or Sochitepeques, but there seems to be very little reason for such an interpretation when we consider that there were two towns named Xuchitepec in the immediate vicinity of Anáhuac.[VIII-41]Torquemada, tom. i., p. 176. The author says, however, that the province was ‘on the coast of Anáhuac.’ Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 301-2.

Death of Moquihuix

All the authorities relate with very little disagreement that in 1473 Tlatelulco lost her independence, and was annexed to Mexico under a royal governor. Hitherto this city, notwithstanding the troubles during the reign of Montezuma resulting in the death of her king and the elevation of Moquihuix, had been more independent and enjoyed greater privileges than any of the other cities tributary to the Mexican throne. But the Tlatelulcas viewed the rapid advance of Mexican power with much jealousy; they could not forget that for many years their city had been superior to her neighbor; they were proud of their wealth and commercial reputation, and of the well-known valor of their prince Moquihuix. We have seen that there had been considerable dissatisfaction about the building of the temples a few years earlier; and frequent quarrels had taken place in the market-places between the men and women of the two cities. Duran and Tezozomoc relate certain outrages on both sides at the beginning of the final struggle. Moquihuix at last, counting on the well-known hatred and jealousy of the different nations in and about the valley toward the Aztec king, formed a conspiracy to shake off the power of Axayacatl, and invited all the surrounding nations except Tlascala, whose commercial rivalry he feared, to join it. Except Tlacopan, Tezcuco, and Tlascala, nearly all the cities of the central plateaux seem to have promised aid, and the plot began to assume most serious proportions, threatening the overthrow of the allied kings by a still stronger alliance. But, fortunately for his own safety, Axayacatl was made aware of the conspiracy almost at the beginning. It will be remembered that a near relative of his—his sister, as most authorities state—had been given to Moquihuix for a wife in reward for his bravery in the south-eastern campaign. She had been most grossly abused by her husband, and learning in some way his intentions, had revealed the plot to her brother, who was thus enabled to obtain from his allies all needed assistance, and to be on his guard at every point. I shall not attempt to form from the confused narratives of the authorities a detailed account of the battles by which Tlatelulco was conquered. At the beginning of open hostilities the wife of Moquihuix fled to Mexico. A simultaneous attack by all the rebel forces had been planned; but none of the rebel allies actually took part in the struggle, approaching the city only after the battle was over and devoting their whole energy to keep from Axayacatl the knowledge of their complicity. Moquihuix, confident of his ability to defeat the unprepared Mexicans without the aid of his allies, having excited the valor of his chieftains and soldiers by sacrificial and religious rites, giving them to drink the water in which the stone of sacrifice had been washed, began the conflict before the appointed time. For several days the conflict raged, first in one city, then in the other; but at last the Mexicans invaded Tlatelulco, sweeping everything before them. The surviving inhabitants fled to the lake marshes; the remnants of the army were driven in confusion to the market-place; and Moquihuix amid the imprecations of his own people for the rashness that had reduced them to such straits, was at last thrown down the steps of the grand temple, and his heart torn from his breast by the hand of Axayacatl himself. The city was for a time devoted to plunder; then the inhabitants were gathered from their retreats, after having been compelled—as Tezozomoc, Acosta, and Herrera tell us—to croak and cackle like the frogs and birds of the marshes in token of their perfect submission; heavy tributes were imposed, including many special taxes and menial duties of a humiliating nature; and finally the town was made a ward of Tenochtitlan under the rule of a governor appointed by the Mexican king. The re-establishment of peace was followed by the punishment of the conspirators. The Tlatelulca leaders had for the most part perished in the war, but two of them, one being the priest Poyahuitl who had performed the religious rites at the beginning of hostilities, were condemned to death. The same fate overtook all the nobles in other provinces whose share in the conspiracy could be proven. So terrible was the vengeance of Axayacatl and so long the list of its victims, that the lords of Anáhuac were filled with fear, and it was long before they dared again to seek the overthrow of the hated Aztec power.[VIII-42]Authorities on the Tlatelulca war:—Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xxxii-xxxiv.; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 66-76; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 176-80; Sahagun, tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 269, 274; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 256-61; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 302-15; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 248-52; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 34-5; Granados y Galvez, Tardes Amer., pp. 176-8; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 150; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 498; Herrera, dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xiv.; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 262-3; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 120.

A strange anecdote is told respecting the fate of Xihuiltemoc, lord of Xochimilco, who had either taken part in the Tlatelulca war on the rebel side, or more probably had failed to aid the Mexican king in a satisfactory manner. Both Axayacatl and Xihuiltemoc were skilled in the national game of tlachtli, or the ball game, and at the festivals in honor of his victory, the former challenged the latter to a trial of skill. The Xochimilca lord, the better player of the two, was much embarrassed, fearing either to win or to allow himself to be beaten, but the king insisted, and wagered the revenues of the Mexican market and lake for a year, together with the rule of certain towns, against the city of Xochimilco, on the result. Xihuiltemoc won the game, and Axayacatl, much crest-fallen, proclaimed his readiness to pay his wager; but either by his directions, or at least according to his expectation, his opponent was strangled with a wreath of flowers concealing a slip-noose, by the people of the towns he had won, or as some say by the messengers charged to deliver the stakes.[VIII-43]Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 180-1; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 263-4, 458; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 35; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 316-17.

Conquest of Matlaltzinco

Thus far the Aztec conquests had been directed toward the south-east and south-west, while the fertile valleys of the Matlaltzincas, immediately adjoining Anáhuac on the west, had for some not very clear reason escaped their ambitious views. A very favorable opportunity, however, for conquest in this direction presented itself in 1474, when the Matlaltzincas were on bad terms with the Tarascos of Michoacan, their usual allies, and when the lord of Tenantzinco asked the aid of the Mexicans in a quarrel with Chimaltecuhtli the king. Axayacatl was only too glad to engage in an undertaking of this nature, but, in order to have a more just cause of interference—for, as Duran says, the Aztecs never picked quarrels with other nations!—he peremptorily ordered the Matlaltzincas to furnish certain building-material and a stone font for sacrificial purposes, and on their refusal to comply with his commands, marched against their province at the head of the allied troops, and accompanied, as Torquemada says, by his colleagues. Town after town in the southern part of the province fell before his arms, and were placed under Mexican governors. Such were Xalatlauhco, Atlapolco, Tetenanco, Tepemaxalco, Tlacotempan, Metepec, Tzinacantepec, and Calimaya. Some Aztec colonists were left in each conquered town, and Torquemada tells us that people were taken from the other towns to settle in the first, Xalatlauhco. Tezozomoc relates that the king at one time in this campaign concealed himself in a ditch with eight warriors, and fell upon the rear of the enemy who had been drawn on by a feigned retreat of the Aztecs, causing great panic and slaughter. Flushed with victory, the allies pressed on to attack Xiquipilco in the north, the strongest town in the province, and Toluca, the capital. Xiquipilco is spoken of as an Otomí town under the command of Tlilcuetzpalin, with whom Axayacatl had a personal combat during this battle, being wounded so severely in the thigh that he was lame for life, and narrowly escaped death. Tezozomoc claims that the Otomí chieftain was hidden in a bush and treacherously wounded the Mexican king, who was in advance of his troops; Ixtlilxochitl, ever ready to claim honor for his ancestors, tells us that it was the Acolhua commander who saved Axayacatl’s life; while Clavigero and Ortega imply that a duel was arranged between the two leaders. The enemy was defeated, their leader and over eleven thousand of his men were taken captives, and the town surrendered, as did Toluca a little later, and other towns in the vicinity. The news of the conquest was received with great joy at the capital; the senate marched out to meet and receive the victorious army on its return; triumphal arches were erected at frequent intervals, and flowers were strewn in the path of the victors. The captives were sacrificed in honor of the god of war, or as Tezozomoc says, at the dedication of a new altar in his temple, except the brave Tlilcuetzpalin and a few comrades who were reserved to grace by their death another festival, which took place somewhat later. During this Matlaltzinca war a very severe earthquake was experienced.[VIII-44]According to the Codex Tell. Rem., in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 151, this war and earthquake took place in 1462. Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 181-2, places them in the sixth year of Axayacatl’s reign. Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xxxv.-xxxvi., and Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 76-82, state that Tlilcuetzpalin escaped. See also, Ixtlilxochitl, p. 264; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 252-3; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 317-22; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 267-8; Herrera, dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. xviii.; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 35.

A year or two later the Matlaltzincas revolted and obtained the promise of assistance from the Tarascos, who were anxious to measure their strength against that of the far-famed Aztecs. But the Tarasco monarch was unused to the celerity of Mexican tactics, and Axayacatl’s army, thirty-two thousand strong, had entered Matlaltzinco, re-captured Xiquipilco and other principal towns, crossed the frontiers of Michoacan, and captured and burned several cities, including Tangimaroa, or Tlaximaloyan, an important and strongly fortified place, before the news of their departure reached Tzintzuntzan, the Tarasco capital. But the Tarasco army, superior to that of the Aztecs, and constantly re-inforced, soon reached the seat of war, attacked the invaders with such fury that they were driven back, with great loss, to Toluca. This was doubtless the disaster indicated by an eclipse during the same year. After thus showing their power by defeating the proud warriors of the valley, the Tarascos did not follow up their advantage, but returned to their own country, leaving the Mexicans still masters of Matlaltzinco. Another attempt at revolt is vaguely recorded some years later, but in 1478 the Matlaltzinca cities were permanently joined to the Mexican domain, and the leading Matlaltzinca divinities transferred to the temples of Tenochtitlan.[VIII-45]Most of the details of this war are from Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 322-5. Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xxxvii.-viii., and Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 82-7, state simply that to procure victims for the dedication of a new sacrificial stone, the Aztecs marched to the borders of Michoacan and were defeated by superior numbers, returning to Mexico. The victims were finally obtained at Tliliuquitepec. Other authors represent the Aztecs as victorious, they having added to their possessions Tochpan, Tototlan, Tlaximaloyan, Ocuillan, and Malacatepec. See Torquemada, tom. i., p. 182; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 253; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 35-6; Codex Tell. Rem., in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 151.

Death of Axayacatl

Axayacatl died in 1481, just after his return, as Duran informs us, from Chapultepec whither he had gone to inspect his image carved on the cliff by the side of that of Montezuma I. Brasseur states that his days were shortened by the excessive number of his concubines. He was succeeded, according to the wish of his predecessor, by Tizoc, Tizocicatzin, or Chalchiuhtona, his brother, who was succeeded in his office of commander of the army by Ahuitzotl. Duran insists that the throne was again offered to the mythical Tlacaeleltzin, who declined the honor but offered to continue to be the actual ruler during Tizoc’s reign.[VIII-46]Clavigero, tom. i., p. 253, gives the date 1477. According to the Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 47, it was 1482. All the other authorities agree on 1481. See on family, character, and death of Axayacatl, and succession of Tizoc: Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 269-71; Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xxxviii-ix.; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 88-91, 143; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 264-5; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 182; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 36; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 494-5; Sigüenza, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. i., p. 70; Herrera, dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xiii.; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 164.

Footnotes

[VIII-1] Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. x.; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 222-3; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 18-25; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 194-5; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 486-7; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 145. Duran and Clavigero place these events after Nezahualcoyotl had gone to Tezcuco. The former states that Tezcuco was one of the cities applied to for aid against the Mexicans, and introduces here the story of the people on the lake shore having been made ill by the smell of fish in Tenochtitlan; and the latter states that Huexotla aided Coyuhuacan in this war. Torquemada places the war in the second year of Itzcoatl’s reign, and implies that the Mexicans were forced to make several expeditions before they were completely successful.

[VIII-2] Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 145-6; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 196-8.

[VIII-3] Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 239-40, 407-8; the alliance with Tlascala is spoken of on pp. 247-8. Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 168-82.

[VIII-4] Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 175.

[VIII-5] Boturini, Idea, p. 26; Ortega, in Veytia, tom. iii., p. 178.

[VIII-6] See Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 239-47, 258-61, 386-8, 407-9, 454-5, 467-8; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 182-209, 223-9; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 146-7, 167-9; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 225-6, 242-7; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 197-202. Coatlichan, Tepetlaoztoc, Tepechpan, Chiuhnauhtla, Tulancingo, Quauchinanco, Xicotepec, and Teotihuacan are mentioned among the provinces whose lords were restored. Ixtlilxochitl and Veytia say that the same system of provincial government was forced on Mexico by Nezahualcoyotl.

[VIII-7] Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 202-3; Veytia, tom. iii., p. 236; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 150; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 228; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 28.

[VIII-8] Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 384, 458, and Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 149-52, 234-5, state that Nezahualcoyotl accomplished the conquest of Xochimilco with the aid of a few Tlascaltecs, leaving Itzcoatl entirely out of the affair. Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 226-7, tells us that the Xochimilcas determined to make war on the Mexicans before they became too strong. Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xii., xiii., relates an evil omen for the Xochimilcas, in the transformation of a dish of viands, round which they were seated in deliberation, into arms, legs, hearts, and other human parts. See also Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 203-5; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 25-30; Sahagun, tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 268; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 488-90; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 140, 148-9; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 28; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xiii.

[VIII-9] Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 248-9, says that Quauhnahuac and eight other towns were awarded to Nezahualcoyotl, Tepozotlan, Huastepec and others to Itzcoatl, besides the share of Tlacopan not specified. The same author gives here without details of chronology, a list of subsequent conquests by the allies at this period, which we shall find scattered throughout this and the following reigns; such are:—Chalco, Itzucan, Tepeaca, Tecalco, Teohuacan, Cohuaixtlahuacan, Hualtepec, Quauhtochco, Atochpan, Tizauhcoac, Tochtepec, Mazahuacan, Tlapacoia, Tlauhcocauhtitlan, and Tulancingo. See also on conquest of Quauhnahuac, Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 227-8; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 149-50; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 235-6; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 28; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 205-7.

[VIII-10] Hist. Gen., tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 139-41; see p. 190, of this volume, and vol. ii., p. 528.

[VIII-11] Codex Chimalp., in Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 208-11; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 150.

[VIII-12] Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 30-2; Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xv.; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 303; Sigüenza, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. i., p. 59; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 149-50, denies the story that Nezahualcoyotl submitted to Itzcoatl. Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 33-4, makes them still of equal rank. Tezozomoc makes no mention of any events in Itzcoatl’s reign after the conquest of Cuitlahuac. Duran, cap. xiv, states that his conquests included Chalco, Quauhnahuac, Huexotzinco, and Coatlichan. Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 228-9, 232-3; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 157, and Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 236-7, place in Itzcoatl’s reign the origin of the troubles with Tlatelulco which will be spoken of hereafter. According to the Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 44, Itzcoatl, or Izcoaci, conquered 24 cities.

[VIII-13] Date, 1440. Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xiv-xv.; Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 45; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 150; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 249, 457; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 28; Boturini, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 239; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 211-12. Duran also gives 1445 and Ixtlilxochitl 1441. 1436, Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 237-8; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 229; Bustamante, Mañadas de la Alameda, tom. ii., p. 174. See also on the succession; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xiii.; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 490-3; Sahagun, tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 268; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 150, 171; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., p. 30; Motolinia, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 6; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 303.

[VIII-14] Veytia, tom. iii., p. 239; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 491; Herrera, dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xiii.; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 29.

[VIII-15] See pp. 241-2, 250, 255, of this volume.

[VIII-16] Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 213-17; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 239-40; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 230; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 150-1; Duran, MS. tom. i., cap. xvi. The latter author is careful to state that Montezuma did not request, but simply ordered aid in building his temples from Tlacopan and Tezcuco.

[VIII-17] Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 240-2; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 150-4; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 230-1; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 255-7, 467-8; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 217-24; Sahagun, tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 268; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 29.

[VIII-18] Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 156-7; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 232-3; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 242-3; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 224-5; Granados y Galvez, Tardes Amer., p. 176; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 30; Sahagun, tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 273-4.

[VIII-19] Ixtlilxochitl, p. 248; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 225. The former author says that this conquest extended to Quauhchinanco and Xilotepec, but implies that it took place immediately after the treaty with Tlascala, which followed Nezahualcoyotl’s accession to the Tezcucan throne.

[VIII-20] The towns mentioned as included in this conquest are Cohuixco, Oztoman, Quetzaltepec, Ixcateopan, Teoxcahualco, Poctepec, Yauhtepec, Yacapichtla, Totolapan, Tlachmalacac, Tlachco, Chilapan, Tomazolapan, Quauhtepec, Ohuapan, Tzompahuacan, and Cozamaloapan. See Veytia, tom. iii., p. 243; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 233; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 157; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 225-7; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 30; Ixtlilxochitl, p. 249.

[VIII-21] Several authors give the dates as 1446. Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 247-8; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 233-4; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 157-8; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 228-32. This author gives the width of the dike as about 30 feet. Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 30.

[VIII-22] 1448-54, Veytia; 1451-6, Brasseur; 1447-54, Codex Tell. Rem.; 1404-7 (1444-7?) 11 years after accession of Montezuma, Duran.

[VIII-23] Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xviii., xix., xxx., says the snow fell knee-deep in the valley. He also tells us that very many sold as slaves during the famine were ransomed and returned afterwards; this, however, does not apply to such as went to Totonacapan, since these remained in that province. Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 250-1, 257, says that the slaves sold to the Totonacs were all sacrificed to secure a continuance of productiveness in the province. This author also names Xicotencatl, a Tlascaltec noble, as the person who suggested the battles for captives. Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 232-6, implies that the name Totonacapan, ‘region of our subsistence,’ was given on account of the events described, although the same author has spoken frequently of the Totonacs at a period many centuries earlier. See also, Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix, pp. 63-6; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 158, 171; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 233-5; Sahagun, tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 269; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 248-9; Codex Tell. Rem., in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 150. Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 493, and Herrera, dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xiii, merely state that it was agreed to reserve Tlascala as a battle-field whereon to exercise the armies, and to obtain captives. Torquemada throws some doubt on this agreement.

[VIII-24] Date, 1458-9, according to Brasseur; 1456 according to the other authors. Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xxii., xxiii., and Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 51-3, say nothing of the aid rendered by the Tlascaltecs and Huexotzincas. See also Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 236-7; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 249-51; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 237-52; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 159-61; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 30-1.

[VIII-25] According to Veytia’s chronology, this conquest took place in 1457; Brasseur puts this and the following events in 1458-9. See Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 251-3; Ixtlilxochitl, p. 467; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 237-8; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 161-2; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 31; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 252-7; Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xxi., xxiv.; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 48-51, 53-6.

[VIII-26] On the conquest of Chalco, see Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xvi., xvii.; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 33-40; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 238-40; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 258-61; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 492-3; Herrera, dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xiii.; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 253-4.

[VIII-27] According to the Codex Tell. Rem., in Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 150-1, the conquest of Goazacoalco took place about this time, in 1461. Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 249-50, implies that the Tlascaltecs fought on the side of Nezahualcoyotl in the conquest of Cuextlan. See Veytia, tom. iii., p. 254; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 493; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 240; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 164; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 261-2, 267-9; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 40-6; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 32; on the commerce of the Aztecs, see vol. ii., pp. 378-99.

[VIII-28] Clavigero, tom. i., p. 232, states that the Tepanec princess was the emperor’s second wife; and Ixtlilxochitl implies that Nezahualpilli was her second son. There is also no agreement respecting her name or that of her father and husband. All agree that this child was born in 1464 or 1465. See Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 253-4, 257, 467; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 244-6; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 271-3; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 154-6; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 29-30.

[VIII-29] Codex Tell. Rem., in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 151; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 277.

[VIII-30] Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 277-80; Ixtlilxochitl, p. 257.

[VIII-31] Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xxvii.

[VIII-32] 1464, Veytia; 1468, Vetancvrt, Ixtlilxochitl, and Boturini; 1469, Ixtlilxochitl, Brasseur, Codex Chimalp., Codex Tell. Rem., Codex Mendoza.

[VIII-33] Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xxviii-xxix., xxxi-ii., and Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 58-63, 66, attribute to Montezuma I. the conquest of Oajaca, and the establishment there of a Mexican colony. They may refer to the conquest of the land of the Miztecs already related, or to that of more southern parts of Oajaca at a later period. They also state that Axayacatl was the son of Montezuma. Duran tells us that Montezuma before his death had his image sculptured on the cliff at Chapultepec; and that Axayacatl was nominated king by Tlacaeleltzin, who declined the throne. The Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 45-6, followed by Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 150, give the number of provinces conquered by Montezuma as thirty-three. Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 257, 457, says Montezuma left several sons. Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 169, 172, says he left one, not named, but that he disinherited him for the good of the nation. Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 493, 495, and Herrera, dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xiii., make Tizoc precede Axayacatl, both being sons of Montezuma. Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., p. 178, makes Ahuitzotl precede Axayacatl. Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 32, says that Axayacatl, Tizoc, and Ahuitzotl were sons of Montezuma’s uncle by a daughter of Itzcoatl. Motolinia, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 6, and Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 303, represent Montezuma as having been succeeded by his daughter. See also on the death and character of Montezuma I., and the accession of Axayacatl:—Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 280-2; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 241; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 254-5; Boturini, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 240; Codex Tell. Rem., in Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 149, 151; Sahagun, tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 268-9.

[VIII-34] Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xxxii., says that the first five years of Axayacatl’s reign were undisturbed by war. See on the Tehuantepec raid and the Coronation: Torquemada, tom. i., p. 172; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 283-7; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 32; Clavigero, tom., i. pp. 241-2; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 496-7. Veytia, tom. iii., p. 256, and Clavigero speak of wars in the first years of his reign against the revolting provinces of Cuetlachtlan and Tochtepec.

[VIII-35] Date according to the Spanish writers, 1468. According to the Codex Tell. Rem., in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 150, Huexotzinco had seized upon the province of Atlixco in 1456, driving away the people of Guacachula, the former possessors. Only Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 172-3, and Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 287-8, mention the apparition of Tezcatlipoca. See also Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 242, 248; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 256-7; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 32-3.

[VIII-36] Date 1469 according to Spanish writers; 1470 according to Codex Chimalpopoca. Veytia, tom. iii., p. 261; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 288; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 242; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 173; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 32.

[VIII-37] Codex Chimalp., in Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 288.

[VIII-38] See vol. ii., pp. 246-7, 294, 471-2, 491-7.

[VIII-39] Date 1470, Ortega and Clavigero; 1462 or 1472, Ixtlilxochitl; 1472, Codex Chimalpopoca.

[VIII-40] On the character and death of Nezahualcoyotl, and the succession of Nezahualpilli, see: Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 254-62, 408-9, 467-8; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 156, 164-9, 173-4; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 232, 242-8; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 288-301; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 33-4; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 247, 261-7.

[VIII-41] Torquemada, tom. i., p. 176. The author says, however, that the province was ‘on the coast of Anáhuac.’ Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 301-2.

[VIII-42] Authorities on the Tlatelulca war:—Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xxxii-xxxiv.; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 66-76; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 176-80; Sahagun, tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 269, 274; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 256-61; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 302-15; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 248-52; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 34-5; Granados y Galvez, Tardes Amer., pp. 176-8; Mendieta, Hist. Ecles., p. 150; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 498; Herrera, dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xiv.; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 262-3; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 120.

[VIII-43] Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 180-1; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 263-4, 458; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 35; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 316-17.

[VIII-44] According to the Codex Tell. Rem., in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 151, this war and earthquake took place in 1462. Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 181-2, places them in the sixth year of Axayacatl’s reign. Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xxxv.-xxxvi., and Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 76-82, state that Tlilcuetzpalin escaped. See also, Ixtlilxochitl, p. 264; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 252-3; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 317-22; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 267-8; Herrera, dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. xviii.; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 35.

[VIII-45] Most of the details of this war are from Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 322-5. Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xxxvii.-viii., and Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 82-7, state simply that to procure victims for the dedication of a new sacrificial stone, the Aztecs marched to the borders of Michoacan and were defeated by superior numbers, returning to Mexico. The victims were finally obtained at Tliliuquitepec. Other authors represent the Aztecs as victorious, they having added to their possessions Tochpan, Tototlan, Tlaximaloyan, Ocuillan, and Malacatepec. See Torquemada, tom. i., p. 182; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 253; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 35-6; Codex Tell. Rem., in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 151.

[VIII-46] Clavigero, tom. i., p. 253, gives the date 1477. According to the Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 47, it was 1482. All the other authorities agree on 1481. See on family, character, and death of Axayacatl, and succession of Tizoc: Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 269-71; Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xxxviii-ix.; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 88-91, 143; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 264-5; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 182; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 36; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 494-5; Sigüenza, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. i., p. 70; Herrera, dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xiii.; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 164.

Chapter IX • The Aztec Period—Concluded • 16,600 Words

Reign of Tizoc—Nezahualpilli defeats the Huexotzincas—Ahuitzotl, King of Mexico—Campaigns for Captives—Dedication of Huitzilopochtli’s Temple—Seventy Thousand Victims—Totoquihuatzin II., King of Tlacopan—Mexican Conquests—Conquest of Totonacapan—Aztec Reverses—Successful Revolt of Tehuantepec and Zapotecapan—Conquest of Zacatollan—Anecdotes of Nezahualpilli—New Aqueduct, and Inundation of Mexico—Montezuma II. on the Throne—Condition of the Empire—Montezuma’s Policy—Unsuccessful Invasion of Tlascala—Famine—Conquest of Miztecapan—Tying-up of the Cycle in 1507—Omens of coming Disaster—The Spaniards on the Coast of Central America—Trouble between Mexico and Tezcuco—Retirement and Death of Nezahualpilli—Cacama, King of Acolhuacan—Revolt of Ixtlilxochitl—Final Campaigns of the Aztecs—The Spaniards on the Gulf Coast—Arrival of Hernan Cortés.

Reign of Tizoc

Tizoc’s coronation was preceded by a campaign in the north-east, where the provinces stretching from Meztitlan to the gulf had taken advantage of the Tlatelulca and Matlaltzinca wars to shake off the yoke of their conquerors. Tezozomoc and Duran represent this campaign as having been undertaken by Tizoc, after most extensive preparations, for the purpose of obtaining captives, but attended with little success, only about forty prisoners having been secured. The former author tells us that this war took place during Nezahualcoyotl’s reign. Acosta implies that the failure resulted from Tizoc’s cowardice or bad generalship. Ixtlilxochitl, followed by Brasseur, makes Nezahualpilli the leader in this his first war, accompanied by both his colleagues. He seems to have felt, notwithstanding his extreme youth, much shame at not having performed any glorious deed of arms, ruling as he did over so valorous a people as the Acolhuas, and even to have been ridiculed on the subject by his elder brothers; but in this war he made for himself a lasting reputation worthy of his ancestors and his rank. The war is represented by these authors as a succession of victories by which Cuextlan and the surrounding provinces were brought back to their allegiance. No reverses are alluded to. The captives taken were sacrificed at Tizoc’s coronation, the new king attempting to surpass his predecessors by giving a series of magnificent festivals which continued for forty days.[IX-1]Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 93-8; Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xl.; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 495; Brasseur, Hist., tom. i., pp. 326-31; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 265-6. An expedition against Tlacotepec, mentioned by Torquemada without details, seems to be the only other war in which Tizoc engaged during his reign.[IX-2]Torquemada, tom. i., p. 182. He either lacked the valor and skill in war which distinguished his predecessors, or like the Tezcucan monarchs believed he could best promote his nation’s welfare by attention to peaceful arts. Very little is recorded of this king; his reign was very short, and was marked by no very important events. During this period, however, occurred a war between Nezahualpilli and Huehuetzin, the lord of Huexotzinco. This war seems to have been caused by the plots of Nezahualpilli’s brothers who had obtained the aid of Huexotzinco. According to Brasseur the Acolhua king and Huehuetzin were born in the same day and hour, and the astrologers had predicted that the former would one day be conquered by the latter, whose defeat would, however, be celebrated by the Acolhuas. Huehuetzin ascertained from the malcontent Acolhua princes a statement of the forces that were to march against him, with a description of Nezahualpilli’s armor, and directed all his men to make it their chief object to kill the king. But Nezahualpilli learned the intention of his opponent, clad a captain with his armor, placed him at the head of one division of his army, while he himself in disguise took command of the other division. So furious was the attack upon the mock king that he was killed, his soldiers driven back, and the Huexotzincas elated with victory; but in the meantime the main body of the Tezcucan army came up and attacked the foe as they were chanting their song of victory. The real Nezahualpilli killed Huehuetzin in personal combat, after receiving a serious wound in the foot; the Huexotzincas were utterly routed and their city was sacked, the Acolhua king returning to his capital laden with honors and spoils. At his return to Tezcuco Nezahualpilli enclosed an area of land equal to the space that had separated him from his army during the battle, or, as some say, equal to that occupied by the Huexotzinca army, erecting within the enclosure a grand palace with magnificent gardens and immense granaries. He also completed the temple of Huitzilopochtli commenced by his father, and sacrificed at its dedication the captives brought from the last war; for although he is said to have inherited to some extent his father’s repugnance to human sacrifice, he certainly consented to such sacrifices on several occasions. Tizoc also completed in 1483 the grand temple of Huitzilopochtli at Mexico, on which his predecessors had expended so much labor.[IX-3]Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 263, 269-70, 410; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 183-4; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 254-5; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 331-4; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 272-5; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 36. Several authors attribute the completion of the temple to Ahuitzotl. The Mexican king, however, died in 1486, after a reign of six years. His death is reported to have occurred from the effects of poison, or, as the records have it, of magic spells, administered by certain sorceresses at the command of Techotl, lord of Iztapalapan, with the connivance of Maxtla, lord of Tlachco, probably from motives of personal spite. Some authors, as Duran, Acosta, and Herrera, assert that he was poisoned by his own subjects, who were disgusted with his cowardice and inferiority to his predecessors; but his former position as commander of the Mexican armies is opposed to the charge of cowardice, as is the indignation of the people at his murder and the summary execution of all connected with the crime.[IX-4]Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xl.; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 495; Herrera, dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xiii.; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 271, 276-8; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 253-4, 256. This author gives the date as 1482. Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 182-5; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 36-7; Sahagun, tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 269; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 334-5; Codex Tell. Rem., in Kingsborough, vol. vi., p. 141, date 1487; Tezozomoc, in Id., vol. ix., pp. 98-100; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 265, 267; Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 47-8. Ixtlilxochitl claims that Tizoc died a natural death, and that Techotl died during his reign.

Accession of Ahuitzotl

Ahuitzotl, the last of the three brothers, was now called to the throne, the famous Tlacaeleltzin still refusing the crown, if we may credit Duran and Tezozomoc. During the first year of the new king’s reign successful campaigns are vaguely recorded against the Mazahua region adjoining the city of Xiquipilco, against the towns of the Tziuhcoacas and Tochpanecas, subject to the kingdom of Jalisco, against the south-eastern provinces of the Miztecs and Zapotecs, and even against the Chiapanec frontiers, while Nezahualpilli in the meantime conquered Nauhtlan on the gulf coast. No details of these campaigns are given save that the fortress of Huaxyacac, in Oajaca, since known as Monte Alban,[IX-5]See vol. iv., pp. 377-84. was built and garrisoned by the Aztecs; but the object of these wars was to procure captives for the coronation of Ahuitzotl and for the dedication of the grand temple of Huitzilopochtli, which took place in 1486 or 1487.[IX-6]Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 337-40, tells us that the Xiquipilco campaign furnished captives for the coronation, while the products of the other wars were reserved for the dedication. Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 99-108, speaks of the conquest of some city in Chiapas; while Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 499, states that a place called Quaxutatlan was taken by means of an artificial floating island. It is impossible to form from the authorities any idea of these wars and their chronological order. See, Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xli.-ii.; Ixtlilxochitl, p. 467; Sigüenza, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. i., p. 72; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 37; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 257; Veytia, tom. iii., p. 278; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 186. This dedication was witnessed by millions of visitors, including representatives from all parts of the country, from hostile as well as friendly provinces, the former being given the best positions to view the festivities, and being loaded with rich presents at their departure. The chief feature of the exercises was the sacrifice of captives, of whom from seventy to eighty thousand perished on the altar. The victims were arranged in two lines, stretching from the temple far out on the causeways; the kings began the bloody work with their own hands, and the priests followed, each continuing the slaughter until exhausted, when another took his place. This was the most extensive sacrifice that ever took place in Anáhuac, and it was followed by others on a somewhat smaller scale in the lesser cities, among which one at Xalatlauhco in the Matlaltzinca region is particularly mentioned.[IX-7]On the dedication, see vol. ii., p. 577; Ixtlilxochitl, p. 268; Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xliii-iv.; Motolinia, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 254; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 257; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 186; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 37; Codex Tell. Rem., in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 152; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 341-5. Considering the number of the victims sacrificed, it is probably more correct to suppose that several sacrificers were occupied at the same time.

Ahuitzotl’s Conquests

The campaign against the frontiers of Chiapas, during which some strongholds were taken by the Mexicans, as Chinantla and Cinacantlan, but which was altogether unsuccessful in the conquest of the Chiapanecs, is placed by Brasseur in 1488, the year after the dedication of the temple.[IX-8]Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 345-6; with reference to Torquemada, tom. i. lib. ii., cap. lxiii. which contains nothing on the subject. In 1489 Chimalpopoca, king of Tlacopan, made a brilliant campaign against Cuextlan, although leaving many slain on the battle-field of Huexotla; but he died soon after his return, and was succeeded by his son Totoquihuatzin II. Earthquakes and the appearance of phantoms in the air had indicated approaching disasters. Sahagun also mentions an eclipse about this time.[IX-9]Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 109-12, 154, places the Cuextlan war before the dedication, and calls Chimalpopoca’s successor Tlaltecatzin. See also Sahagun, tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 269-70; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 37-8; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 187; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 294-5; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 345-7; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 258; Ixtlilxochitl, p. 268. In the same year the allied troops conquered the southern provinces of Cozcaquauhtenanco, Quapilollan, Quauhpanco, and Quetzalcuitlapillan according to the Spanish authors, although Brasseur makes that place retain its independence down to the coming of the Spaniards. In 1490 Quauhtla, one of the strongest towns of Cuextlan on the gulf coast, was taken, giving Montezuma, afterwards king, an opportunity to display his valor and form a reputation, which he sustained in an engagement with the Huexotzincas a little later. A battle at Xonacatepec also against the Huexotzincas, aided by the forces of Totolpanco, is attributed to the same year. The captives obtained in these battles were sacrificed at the dedication of the temple of Tlacatecco, and during the ceremonies another temple in the ward called Tlillan was discovered to be on fire, and burned to the ground. The conflagration was popularly regarded as a visitation from the gods, and excited much superstitious fear.[IX-10]Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 187, 191; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 258-9; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 348-9; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 295-6; Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xl.; Codex Tell. Rem., in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 152.

Next in the catalogue of Aztec expeditions against revolting provinces was that in 1491, against the Huastecs of the north-east, who were this time assisted by the Totonacs. Something has been said of this ancient people in a preceding chapter on the pre-Toltec period. Of their history since they left, as their traditions claim, the central plateaux for the region of Zacatlan, and afterward for the gulf coast, nothing is recorded save some troubles with the Teo-Chichimecs on the first appearance of that people, a subsequent alliance with them, and a list of eight Totonac kings given by Torquemada. Their home was now the coast region of central and northern Vera Cruz, where, divided into thirty seigniories tributary to their monarch, and allied with the Tlascaltecs, they had thus far escaped the power, if not the attention, of the Aztecs. But in an evil hour they consented to help the revolting Huastecs on their northern frontier. Glad of an excuse to annex to his empire the fertile lands and flourishing towns of the Totonac coast, Ahuitzotl marched through Cuextlan, easily reducing the rebel chiefs to submission, and then directed his course southward, taking town after town until the whole province in terror gave up all hope of resistance and became subjects of the Aztec monarchs, paying tribute regularly down to the coming of the Spaniards, who landed and began their march towards Mexico in Totonac territory.[IX-11]Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 278-80; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 349-52. On his return from the north-east, the south-western provinces demanded the warlike king’s attention. The usual murder of traders had taken place, and the lords, as one author tells us, had refused to attend the dedication of Huitzilopochtli’s temple at the capital. Oztoman was the centre of the revolting district, and with the neighboring cities of Teloloapan and Alahuiztlan was taken by assault. The inhabitants of the three towns, except the captives taken for sacrifice and the thousands massacred in the assault, were mostly brought to the valley and distributed among the towns about the lake; while the conquered districts were given to Aztec colonies, composed of poor families selected from Mexico, Tlacopan, and Tezcuco, under the command of the warriors who had distinguished themselves in the war.[IX-12]Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 120-7; Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xliv., tom. ii., cap. xlv.; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 352-5. This author also refers to Torquemada and Ixtlilxochitl, who have nothing to say of this war and colony, although the latter, p. 271, speaks of the conquest of Zapotlan and Xaltepec, which may have been in the same campaign.

Reverses to Aztec Arms

A series of reverses to Aztec arms has next to be recorded. In 1494, as Ixtlilxochitl states, in a battle at Atlixco, Tlacahuepatzin, a son of the former king Axayacatl, was taken prisoner and sacrificed to Camaxtli the war god of the eastern plateau. The following year the Acolhua army was defeated in a battle at Tliltepec.[IX-13]Ixtlilxochitl, p. 271. But the most important events of these and the following years were the campaigns in Miztecapan, Zapotecapan, and Tehuantepec. Under the Zapotec king Cociyoeza a general revolt of all these provinces took place, accompanied by a suspension of tribute and a general plunder and murder of Aztec merchants throughout the whole country. At this time probably took place the exploit of the Tlatelulca merchants recorded by Sahagun.[IX-14]Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. ix., pp. 337-8. Traveling in a large company through the southern regions, they were at Quauhtenanco in Miztecapan when the persecution against their class began. As the only means of saving their lives and property, by a bold move they took possession of the town, which had unusual facilities for defence, seizing the lord and prominent men of the city, and holding them as hostages for the good conduct of the inhabitants. Here they maintained their position against all attacks during a period of four years, and even were able by occasional sorties to capture many officers and soldiers from the armies sent against them, whom they kept and fattened for the altars of their god at home. Their valor won great honors for themselves and for their class after their return to Mexico. Meanwhile all the territory and towns previously conquered by the Aztecs in Tehuantepec were retaken; most of the Mexican garrisons in the country of the Zapotecs and Miztecs farther north were forced to surrender; and besides the merchant garrison of Quauhtenanco, and the strong fortresses of Huaxyacac and Teotitlan near where the capital city of Oajaca now stands, the Aztec power was completely overthrown. Other wars nearer home, which have been alluded to above, at the time that they heard of these events, claimed the attention of the allied monarchs to such an extent that they could not direct their united force against the rebellious provinces; but soon an army of sixty thousand men, under the command of an able officer, was dispatched southward to quell the revolt and to capture Cociyoeza dead or alive. This army seems to have carried all before it in its march through the upper Zapotec regions; but no details are recorded, except that they took the sacred city of Mitla in their course, and sent her priests to die on the altars of Huitzilopochtli.[IX-15]Codex Tell. Rem., in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 151. The date is put at 1494 by this document.

Defeat in Tehuantepec

The march of the Aztec general was directed towards Tehuantepec, and near that city on a series of ravine-guarded plateaux the Zapotec king and his allies had fortified an immense area supposed to be sufficient to support his army by cultivation, and awaited the approach of the invaders. The ruins of Guiengola[IX-16]See vol. iv., pp. 368-71 . are supposed to be the remains of this extensive system of defensive works. Burgoa even claims that the king went so far as to form artificial ponds and to stock them with fish as a further provision against future want. The wily monarch seems to have purposely refrained from making any effort to defeat the Aztecs on their march through the upper country, simply giving orders to such chieftains as remained to guard their homes, to harass the enemy continually, and reduce their numbers as much as possible without bringing on a general engagement. As soon as the invaders, wearied with their long march and constant skirmishing, had entered the labyrinth of ravines through which lay their road to Tehuantepec, the brave defenders rushed down from their mountain forts, and in a series of bloody battles almost annihilated the invading force. The Aztecs could neither retreat nor advance, and day by day the leader saw his army melting away, by death and capture, prisoners being put to death by torture, except a few that were sent back to tell their comrades of the strength and ferocity of their foes. When the situation became known in Mexico, Ahuitzotl is said to have sent a second army larger than the first to relieve the blockaded force; and this re-inforcing movement was repeated three times within a year, but the Aztecs could not force the passage of Guiengola, or if allowed to pass could only comfort their brothers in arms by dying with them. The allied Aztec monarchs were at last fairly defeated, and sent an embassy with propositions of peace and alliance, professing great admiration for Cociyoeza’s valor and genius.[IX-17]Burgoa, Geog. Descrip. Oajaca, tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 367, et seq.

Such is the version given by Burgoa. Nothing is known of the negotiations which ensued, but Brasseur deduces from subsequent events that by the terms of the treaty formed, the Zapotec king was to retain possession of Tehuantepec; Soconusco was to be given up to Mexico; free passage was to be accorded to Mexican travelers, and the fortress of Huaxyacac was to remain in the hands of the Aztecs. It is also stated by Burgoa that Cociyoeza was to marry a Mexican princess. These conditions would indicate that the condition of affairs was not after all so desperate for the Aztecs in the south as the preceding account implies. Nothing is said of the fate of the Miztec provinces according to the terms of the treaty;[IX-18]Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 355-62. but we know that after the ratification of the alliance, the merchant garrison of Quauhtenanco was relieved from its state of siege, and with the aid of re-inforcements, conquered the whole adjoining province of Ayotlan on the South Sea, and then returned to their homes, where they were received with the highest honors at the hands of the monarchs and of the people, who greeted them with festivities, the details of which are given by Sahagun.[IX-19]Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. ix., p. 337, et seq.

Marriage of Pelaxilla

It seems not to have been stipulated which one of the Mexican princesses should be given to the Zapotec king; and a strange version is given of the manner in which this matter was settled. Cociyoeza was bathing one evening in one of the miniature lakes connected with his royal gardens. After he had removed his clothing, a beautiful female form appeared by his side in the moonlight, and announced herself as the sister of Montezuma of Mexico, who had heard of his valor, and had caused herself to be miraculously transported to his side by the magic arts of the Aztec enchanters. She assisted him in his bath, left with him the bathing utensils of her brother which she had brought, showed a peculiar mark on the palm of her hand, by which she might be identified, and disappeared as mysteriously as she had come. Cociyoeza had before looked forward to his marriage with some misgivings, but now, violently enamored with the charms of his nocturnal visitor, he made haste to send an embassy with the richest gifts his kingdom could afford to bring back his Aztec bride. A grand display was made in Mexico at the reception of this embassy, doubtless intended to impress upon its members an idea of Mexican power and wealth. The Zapotec nobles were brought into the presence of the assembled court beauties, and noticed that one princess had frequent occasion to arrange her tresses in such a manner as to show her palm and its peculiar mark. They were thus enabled at once to select the fair sister of Montezuma, Pelaxilla, or Cotton-Flake, who was borne in a litter on the shoulders of noblemen with great pomp to the court of Teotzapotlan the Zapotec capital, where a succession of brilliant fêtes were given in her honor; and soon after the nuptial ceremonies were performed at Tehuantepec amid great popular rejoicings.[IX-20]Burgoa, Geog. Descrip. Oajaca, tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 367-76.

It was, perhaps, not without hidden motives of future treachery that Ahuitzotl had insisted on a matrimonial alliance between the Aztecs and Zapotecs; at any rate, he is reported to have made an attempt some years later to assassinate Cociyoeza through the assistance of his wife. Ambassadors were sent to communicate with her on this matter, but Pelaxilla revealed the plot to her husband, who immediately sent back the embassy laden with gifts, and prepared his forts and his armies for war. The Aztecs, however, knowing that their plot was discovered, made no attack; they demanded permission to send troops through Zapotec territory for the conquest of Amaxtlan and Xuchiltepec, south of the isthmus, which was granted; but Cociyoeza, suspecting treachery, took the precaution to furnish a large army to attend the Aztecs through his territory, both coming and going, under pretense of furnishing an escort. Ahuitzotl’s forces seem to have been successful, although no particulars are recorded.[IX-21]Burgoa, as in note 20; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 362-9. A full account, mostly from Burgoa, is given in the Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. vii., pp. 167, 175-7, 183-7. Other authorities touch very vaguely upon the events related above; most of them utterly ignoring the defeat of the Aztecs. Duran, MS., tom. ii., cap. xlvi-vii., liv-v., puts the marriage in Montezuma’s reign, and says that the Tehuantepec king was told by his wife of the plot against his life by 10,000 soldiers who had entered the capital in small groups as guests; he caused the whole 10,000 to be put to death. According to the Codex Tell. Rem., in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 153, the king of Tehuantepec never afterwards allowed a Mexican to set foot in his country. This document makes Pelaxilla a daughter of Montezuma. Clavigero, tom. i., p. 262, says that the Aztec forces penetrated Guatemala at this time, referring to the Xuchiltepec campaign. Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 268, 271-2, states that the allies took 17,400 captives from the Zapotecs in 1499. According to Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, p. 2, Chiapas was made tributary to Mexico about 1498. See also for slight references to events that may be connected with these campaigns in the south-west. Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 127-37; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 193; Piñeda, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. iii., p. 347.

The events related bring the history of the Aztec empire down to the year 1497, and about the same time the province of Zacatollan on the Pacific, south-west of Michoacan, was annexed to the domain of Tezcuco—a fact which does not seem to agree with any version of the terms of the tri-partite alliance—by the exploit of an Acolhuan officer named Teuhchimaltzin. It seems that some efforts had already been made by Nezahualpilli’s orders for the conquest of this province, but without success, when Teuhchimaltzin, stimulated perhaps by the achievements of the Tlatelulca merchants at Quauhtenanco, obtained permission to enter the country disguised as a merchant, with a few companions, promising to subdue the province by taking the king, dead or alive. He was, however, soon recognized and captured, and the day was appointed for his sacrifice; but while the king Yopicatl Atonal with his nobles was drinking and dancing on the night before the sacrificial festivities, Teuhchimaltzin escaped from his prison, joined the dancers, and at last, when all were overcome with frequent libations, cut off the king’s head and escaped with it to the frontier where an army seems to have been in waiting. When the nobles awoke and found what had taken place, they forthwith dispatched an embassy after the escaped prisoner, and for some reason that Ixtlilxochitl does not make very clear, offered to surrender the province to the Tezcucan monarch. Thus Zacatollan was added to Nezahualpilli’s possessions, Teuhchimaltzin was honored as a hero, and an addition was made to the stock of tales by which sober Tezcucans were wont to illustrate the evils of intemperance.[IX-22]Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 270-1.

Punishment of Chalchiuhnenetzin

In 1498 took place in Tezcuco the public execution of one of Nezahualpilli’s wives. This monarch had a great many wives and concubines—more than two thousand, if we may believe Ixtlilxochitl, his descendant. Among the former were three nieces of Tizoc, one of them a daughter of Axayacatl, and a sister of Montezuma II., and very likely all three sisters, although there is great confusion on this point. Axayacatl’s daughter was named Chalchiuhnenetzin; she was very young, and was assigned a secluded palace while awaiting the consummation of the marriage. She soon showed an extraordinary fondness for decorating her apartments with richly decked statues, the king noticing new ones at each visit; she said they were her gods, and her future husband was willing to humor her tastes, strange though they appeared. But one day he noticed a noble of the court wearing a ring that he had seen in the hands of Chalchiuhnenetzin, and the following night went to visit her. The maids in waiting said she had retired and was sleeping, but he insisted on seeing her, and found her couch occupied by a sort of puppet counterfeit of herself. His suspicions now fully roused, he ordered all the attendants arrested, pushed his search farther, and at last found his virgin bride dancing in very primitive costume with three noble lovers, one of whom was he who wore the tell-tale ring. Further investigation revealed that this Aztec Messalina had been in the habit of giving herself up to every young man that struck her fancy, and when weary of her lovers had caused them to be put to death, and represented in her apartments by the statues above referred to. After the parties had been tried and found guilty by the proper courts, the king sent to all the cities round about Anáhuac and summoned all the people to witness the punishment of his false wife. With her three surviving lovers and about two thousand persons who had in some way abetted the deception of the king, the amorous queen was publicly strangled. All acknowledged the justice of the act, but the Mexican royal family, it is said, never forgave the public execution of the sentence.[IX-23]On the family affairs of Nezahualpilli, see Torquemada, tom. i., p. 184; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 255-6; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 372-5; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 265, 267, 271-2; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 36-7; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 275-6.

Anecdotes of Nezahualpilli

Nezahualpilli is said to have inherited all the good qualities of his father. Like Nezahualcoyotl he was a patron of the arts and sciences, but is reported to have given his chief attention to astrology, passing many nights in reading the stars from a lofty observatory erected for the purpose in the grounds of his palace. Sorcerers and magicians were always welcome at his court, whither they were often summoned both to advise the monarch on affairs of state and to impart to him a knowledge of their arts. Like his father he was famed for his inflexibility in the administration of justice and his kindness toward the poor and unfortunate. A small window in one part of his palace overlooked the market-place, and at this window the king was wont to sit frequently, watching the actions of the crowd below, noting cases of injustice for future punishment, and of distress and poverty that they might be relieved. How he condemned to death a judge for deciding unjustly against a poor man and in favor of a noble, and how he had his favorite son Huexotzincatzin executed for having publicly addressed his concubine, the lady of Tollan, has been related in a preceding volume.[IX-24]Vol. ii., pp. 446-50. Many other anecdotes are told to illustrate the king’s love of what he deemed justice. One of his sons began the construction of a palace somewhere in the Tezcucan domains without having either consulted his father or complied with the law requiring some brilliant deed in battle before a prince was entitled to a palace of his own. The guilty son was put to death. Members of the royal family seem to have had the greatest faith in the king’s judgment and to have accepted his decisions without complaint. There was great rivalry between his two brothers Acapipioltzin and Xochiquetzal respecting the credit of a certain victory in the province of Cuextlan. Each had a band of partisans who were accustomed on public occasions to celebrate the deeds of their favorite by songs and dances. So far did the rivalry proceed that a resort to arms was imminent, when Nezahualpilli appeared on the scene on the occasion of some festivity and joining the dance on the side of his oldest brother Acapipioltzin, decided the dispute in his favor without complaint on the part of the younger brother. The condemnation of two men, a musician and a soldier, for adultery, was on one occasion brought to the king for his approval. He ordered the musician to be executed, but the soldier to be sent for life to do duty in the frontier garrisons, declaring that such thereafter should be a soldier’s punishment for the fault in question. Nezahualpilli could also on occasion be most indulgent towards his children; for instance, his son Ixtlilxochitl early displayed an extraordinary fondness for having his own way. At the age of three years he expressed his emphatic disapproval of his nurse’s views and conduct by pushing that lady into a deep well, and then amused himself by throwing stones upon her. When seven years old he raised a company of boy soldiers and skirmished about the city much to the terror of peaceful citizens. Hearing that two members of the royal council had advised his father to kill so unmanageable a child, he proceeded one night with a selected detachment of his juvenile veterans to the house of the counselors and assassinated them both. Nezahualpilli seems to have looked with much leniency upon these youthful irregularities of his son, who at fourteen distinguished himself in battle and at seventeen was a captain. We shall hear of him again in the last years of Aztec history. The king on another occasion demanded from a brother a very excellent teponaztli in his possession and his daughter for a royal concubine; on his refusal the teponaztli was taken by force, and his disobedient brother’s house was razed as the property of a rebel. Two sons were strangled for having appropriated captives actually taken by their soldiers; a daughter for having spoken to the son of a lord; and two concubines for drinking pulque. A judge was hung for hearing a case in his own house instead of in the appointed hall of justice; and another for unduly prolonging a trial was condemned to have the front door of his residence walled up. This king is accredited with having abrogated the law which condemned the children of slaves to the condition of their parents, and with many other reforms calculated to ameliorate the condition of his people. The possession of supernatural powers was popularly attributed to him, and often in infancy he astonished his nurses by appearing before them in the form of a bird or beast.[IX-25]For these and other anecdotes of Nezahualpilli, see:—Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 267, 273-7; Duran, MS., tom. ii., cap. 1.; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 180-90; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 385-92; Granados y Galvez, Tardes Amer., pp. 48-9.

In the years 1498 and 1499 it is recorded that Ahuitzotl attacked Atlixco without warning, and was defeated by the Huexotzincas who, under a famous general Tultecatl sent re-inforcements to aid the armies of Atlixco; and also that, by aiding Cholula in a quarrel with Tepeaca, the same king greatly increased his power on the eastern plateau. The following year Tultecatl, before whose valor the Aztecs had been forced to retreat, was driven from his own country in consequence of certain religious dissensions, and applied at one of the Mexican towns for protection. He was put to death, however, with all his companions, by Ahuitzotl’s order, and the dead bodies were forwarded to Huexotzinco to show the rebellious inhabitants of that city with what relentless zeal the Aztec ruler pursued his foes.[IX-26]Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 259-60; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 191; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 375-7; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 296-9; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 38.

Inundation of Mexico

Ahuitzotl, finding the water supplied by the Chapultepec aqueduct insufficient for the use of the city, and moreover desirous of accomplishing during his reign some great work of practical utility, determined to conduct to his capital the waters of a spring called Acuecuexatl, near Huitzilopochco, in the province of Coyuhuacan. Tzotzomatzin, the lord of the province, was unwilling that the spring should be thus used, but his opposition was effectually overcome by strangling him. Many tales are told by different writers about his opposition to the scheme, and his death. Some say that he wished the water for the supply of his own cities; others, that he told Ahuitzotl the spring was liable at any time to overflow and flood the city, and was killed by the latter in a fit of passion at his persistence in that opinion; and still others represent him as a great magician, who frightened away the Mexican king’s ambassadors who were sent to negotiate with him in the matter, by appearing before them in the form of a ferocious beast, or serpent. Tezozomoc says he put the cord round his own neck to save his people from the wrath of the Aztecs; and Duran, that he did not die, but simply left Coyuhuacan at this time. Difficulties being thus removed, the aqueduct was constructed of stone and mortar, in a very short time, owing to the number of workmen employed, and its completion was celebrated with the proper ceremonies and sacrifices. But soon—some say in the midst of the ceremonies—so great was the volume of water introduced, that the city was inundated by the rising of the lake, and immense damage resulted to public and private buildings. It is, of course, impossible that the waters of any spring in Anáhuac could have caused this effect; indeed, Torquemada says the catastrophe was preceded by heavy rains for a year, and Ortega also tells us that the rains came down in torrents at the completion of the aqueduct; it is, therefore, altogether probable that the flood was not caused by the waters of the canal, but was simply attributed to that cause from superstitious motives, perhaps resulting from the predictions of Tzotzomatzin, and his death. So rapid was the rise of the waters, that king Ahuitzotl, who was in the lower part of his palace, had great difficulty in escaping, and in his haste struck his head against a door-post, receiving a wound which, a few years later, proved fatal. The engineering skill of Nezahualpilli, with the laboring force of the whole empire, was at once called into requisition to stop the flood and repair damages. The old dike that had before saved the city was strengthened and raised; the city was repaired and paved with tetzontli, or porous amygdaloid, the use of which is said to date from this period; but to stop the waters of the unruly spring human efforts were unavailing, and the aid of the gods was invoked with magic rites. First the priests, whose bodies were painted blue in honor of the Tlalocs, stood round the fountain and uttered prayers, burned incense, and scattered perfumes; then the divers plunged into the waters, each with a young child whose heart was torn out, and whose blood stained the waters; and finally the priests entered the water, and, as some say, Nezahualpilli with them. Half an hour after their emergence the waters became so quiet that the laborers were able to wall up the spring and stop the overflow. Other cities about the lake had suffered as much, or even more, than Mexico, particularly Cuitlahuac, which is said to have been uninhabitable for two years. Much damage was also done to the crops in the valley, and the next year was one almost of famine. The flood occurred in 1500, and at least two years passed before Anáhuac had recovered from its effects.[IX-27]Respecting this flood, see: Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 272-3; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 137-41; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 192-3, 293; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 377-82; Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xlviii.-ix.; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 299-302; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 260-2; Sahagun, tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 269; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 38-9; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 500-1; Bustamante, Mañanas, tom. ii., pp. 208-9; vol. ii., p. 566 of this work.

Accession of Montezuma II

Campaigns against Cuextlan, Tlacuilollan, and Xaltepec, are vaguely reported during the last two years of Ahuitzotl’s life, and may be distinct from any of the wars that have been mentioned, but no details are given, save that from Tlacuilollan twelve hundred captives were brought back to Mexico.[IX-28]Torquemada, tom. i., p. 193; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 262. In the Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 48, is given a list of forty-five towns conquered by Ahuitzotl. The king died in 1503,[IX-29]Clavigero and Vetancvrt make the date 1502. Ixtlilxochitl in one place, p. 457, says 1505. as is generally supposed from the effects of the blow mentioned above; although Tezozomoc attributes his death to chagrin and remorse at the misfortune of the flood, and Duran hints that he was poisoned. His likeness is said to have been sculptured with those of his predecessors on the cliff at Chapultepec. Ahuitzotl’s leading passion was his love of war, so strong as to amount almost to a hatred of peace. He was also passionately fond of music, of display, and of women. He was cruel, vindictive, and superstitious; and the quality of generosity attributed to him was probably closely connected with his reputed love of display and flattery. Immediately after his death Montezuma II., son of Axayacatl, was called to the throne; although, according to Ixtlilxochitl, his elder brother Macuilmalinatzin was the first choice of the electors, but was rejected by the advice of Nezahualpilli, who doubted his possession of the requisite qualities for the ruler of a great nation. Montezuma had already distinguished himself on many occasions in battle, and was at the time of his election high-priest of Huitzilopochtli. When the news of his election reached him he is said to have been employed in sweeping the temple, from a spirit of real or feigned humility. The usual campaign for captives was successfully directed against Atlixco, and foreign nobles from hostile as well as friendly provinces came in crowds by invitation to witness the coronation ceremonies.[IX-30]Duran, MS., tom. ii., cap. li-v., states that the first wars were directed against Nopallan, Icpatepec, and Toltepec; and that during the campaign Montezuma ordered the death of the tutors of his children and the attendants of his wives. Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 141-53, adds Huitzpac and Tepeaca to the towns mentioned by Duran. See also on death of Ahuitzotl and accession of Montezuma II.: Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 262-7; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 193-5; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 303-9; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 382-97; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 265, 277, 457; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 501-6; Herrera, dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xiv.; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 29; Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 51-2; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 303; Sigüenza, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. i., pp. 74-6.

Policy of Montezuma

Ahuitzotl left the Aztec empire in the height of its power and glory, yet even before his death the seeds of future disaster may be said to have been sown or even to have taken root, since the hitherto unparalleled sacrifice of human victims on the altars of the capital had filled the whole country with terror and added much to the hatred of which the Aztecs had been the objects from the date of their first appearance in the valley; the rapid increase of the Mexican power and their well-known greed of conquest had added to the hatred of the conquered the jealous fears of such nations as still retained their independence; and finally the reverses suffered in Tehuantepec, in Michoacan, and in several battles against the eastern nations, had taught the peoples of North America that the allied armies of the central plateaux were not altogether invincible. The dangers that thus began to threaten the empire, however, were all external, and might perhaps have been averted or long deferred by a series of successful wars under brave but wise kings. Under the preceding kings, the common interests of all classes in the success of the government, had been a prominent element of national glory. Commercial enterprise had done as much as valor in war to promote the conquests of kings and to build up the capitals; the common soldier might by bravery and brilliant achievements in battle hope to reach the highest military rank; the menial service of the royal palace with many posts of honor had been entrusted largely to plebeian hands; and in fact Aztec policy had been strikingly analogous to that which distinguished the French nation under the first Napoleon. The granting of titles and honors to the merchants had naturally excited much opposition among those who derived their titles of nobility from a long line of Chichimec or Toltec ancestors; and what made the matter even more galling to their pride, was the fact that these parvenu nobles by reason of their wealth were able to completely outshine their confrères of purer blood but slender purses, in all public displays as well as in their palaces and style of living. Montezuma II. from the first days of his reign openly espoused the cause of the ancient nobility against the merchants and plebeians. What is known of his character renders it probable that he was prompted to this course chiefly by his own extremely aristocratic tastes; but it is not impossible that he gained his election by committing himself to such a policy. He began by dismissing all plebeians employed about the royal palaces and appointing youths of noble blood in their places. He was warned that such a course would separate the interests of the common people from those of royalty and prove dangerous in the future; but he replied that he wished nothing in common with plebeians, who must be taught to keep their place and give up their absurd aspirations. His policy toward the merchants and the army was more cautious but equally decided. Advantage was taken of every opportunity to humble and oppress the hated class, by constantly clogging with new restrictions the wheels of trade, and by the promotion whenever practicable of noble officers. Montezuma was, however, a valiant and skillful warrior, and sacrificed oftener his inclinations to his interests in the treatment of his armies than in other cases. His policy of course gradually alienated the classes on which the prosperity of the empire chiefly rested, and ensured the fall of the Aztec power whenever disaffection should have an opportunity to ally itself with foreign foes. The bursting of the storm was averted for some fifteen years by the strength of the Acolhua and Tepanec alliance, and by the strength of the Mexican army. Montezuma’s reign was a succession of campaigns against revolting provinces, interspersed with the erection of magnificent temples, frequent and extensive immolations of human victims, and omens of disaster sent by the gods to trouble the mind of the superstitious monarch. When at last the day drew near when Mexico must struggle single-handed for the retention of her supremacy against a combination of all the Nahua powers, the last chance for success in such an unequal contest disappeared with the re-inforcement of the enemy by Spanish valor, Spanish armor, and Spanish horses; and Montezuma personally had not even the melancholy satisfaction of seeing his foes fall before the same wave of foreign invasion which had destroyed forever his own power.[IX-31]See on the policy and government of Montezuma II., vol. ii. of this work, passim; also, Duran, MS. tom., ii., cap. liii.; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 145-6; Ixtlilxochitl, p. 278; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 267-75; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 309-19; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 398-402; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 196, 205-6; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 505-7; Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough, vol. vi., p. 14; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 39; Herrera, dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xiv.; Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. i., pp. 4-5.

War Against Tlascala

Tlascala had thus far never been the object of an invasion by the united forces of the allies, although, as we have seen, frequent battles had been fought on the frontier, and the Tlascaltec armies as allies of other nations had been several times defeated. During the reigns of Montezuma I. and Axayacatl, however, the Tlascaltec territory had become completely surrounded by Aztec possessions, through the conquest of Cuetlachtlan, Cuextlan, and Totonacapan. Their communication with the coast having thus been cut off, the Tlascaltec commerce had been almost entirely destroyed, and for a period extending down to the Conquest, this brave people were obliged to do without many luxuries, and even necessities of life. Their lack of salt is particularly recorded; a small supply was occasionally smuggled into the state by the nobles, but the common people are said to have abstained entirely from its use, and to have completely lost their relish for this article. The other cities of the eastern plateau had in the meantime become either the subjects or allies of the Mexicans. Immediately after his accession to the throne, Montezuma II. determined to direct his armies against this last unsubdued territory in the east. The excuse was an embassy sent by the Tlascaltecs, probably to Axayacatl, complaining of the oppression to which their merchants were subjected on the coast, the claims of the embassy having been received with insulting indifference, and threats having been freely uttered on both sides. Huexotzinco and Cholula seem both to have allied themselves with Mexico in this affair; but, on the other hand, Tlascala had received constant additions to her population and armies in the refugees from all parts of Anáhuac, who were continually applying for protection to the only nation beyond the power of the Aztecs. The war was begun by the Huexotzincas and Cholultecs, who invaded Tlascala, killed in battle one of their chief leaders, Tizatlacatzin, and penetrated to within one league of the capital; but they were driven back, and the Huexotzinca towns were in turn ravaged by the Tlascaltecs, sending couriers to Montezuma to hasten the march of his forces. The Tlascaltecs, hearing of the approach of the Aztecs, fell upon them before they could effect a junction with their allies, and defeated them, inflicting heavy losses, and killing among others Tlacahuepantzin, the son of the Mexican king.[IX-32]Camargo says the combined armies were beaten at this battle. Torquemada places the event in the third year of Montezuma’s reign. Ixtlilxochitl, Duran, and Tezozomoc represent Tlacahuepantzin as the brother of Montezuma, and Ixtlilxochitl implies that he was sent to this war, placed in 1508, in the hope of his death. This brother is perhaps the same person spoken of by Ixtlilxochitl on p. 443. Duran and Tezozomoc seem to regard this as a war against Cholula and Huexotzinco. After the funeral ceremonies in honor of his son, Montezuma made another attempt to subdue the Tlascaltecs, sending against them the whole available force of the empire; but after a hard-fought battle the invaders were again driven back, and although skirmishes, and even battles, took place afterwards between the two nations, yet the Aztec allies never repeated their attempt to crush Tlascala, and the brave little republic retained her independence until by the aid of Cortés she was able to take her revenge on the tyrannical Mexicans and treacherous Cholultecs.[IX-33]On the war with Tlascala, see: Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 275-80; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 197-203; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 320-7; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 402-9; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 40-1; Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., pp. 178-86; Duran, MS., tom. ii., cap. lvii-lxi.; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 271, 278; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 160-78; Oviedo, tom. iii., p. 497.

In 1505 the crops were destroyed by the excessive heat, and although the public granaries were generously opened to the public by Nezahualpilli and Montezuma—for the latter, notwithstanding his aristocratic tendencies, was generous towards his people so long as they claimed nothing more than a right to exist—many perished of starvation or sold themselves and children as slaves. Totonacapan was again apparently the only province unaffected by the famine. Another plague in the form of rats which over-ran the country in immense numbers is recorded at about the same time; but the volcano of Popocatepetl ceased for twenty days to emit smoke, a good omen, as the wise men said and as it proved, for the next year was one of great plenty.[IX-34]This famine occurred in the third year of Montezuma’s reign, according to Clavigero; in fourth year, as Torquemada says; and Ixtlilxochitl puts it in 1505 and 1506. See Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 203-4, 235. Ixtlilxochitl, p. 278; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 282-3; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 41; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 409-10; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 331-2; Sahagun, tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 270; Codex Tell. Rem., in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 153. During the year of the famine a campaign against Guatemala, or as some authors say Quauhnelhuatlan, which may have been a Guatemalan province, is recorded as having yielded many captives for the inauguration of the temple of Centeotl, built in recognition of her services in staying the drought and sending a year of plenty. The festivities on the completion of certain repairs to the causeway and aqueduct of Chapultepec at about the same time were marred by the burning of a temple in Mexico. It is related that the Tlatelulcas seeing the flames, thought the city was invaded by an enemy and rushed in to help protect it, but that Montezuma chose to regard this as an act of rebellion and temporarily removed all Tlatelulcas from their positions at court.[IX-35]Clavigero, tom. i., p. 283; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 332-4; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 204, 207; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 41; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 410-11; Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. lv., lix.; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 170-1.

Revolt of the Miztecs

Before the end of 1506, two campaigns were made against the Miztecs by the last of which the whole province was permanently subdued. The pretext of the first was the refusal of Malinalli, lord of Tlachquiauhco, to give Montezuma for his royal gardens a very rare plant in his possession. An army was dispatched to bring the plant and punish the people; Tilantongo, Achiuhtla, and Tlachquiauhco fell before the Mexican soldiers; and the rare tlapalizquixochitl, or ‘red flower,’ was transplanted to Mexico, although the Oajacan records insist, according to Burgoa, that it died on the way. The Miztecs next determined upon a final effort to shake off the Mexican yoke, which well nigh succeeded. Cetecpatl, king of Cohuaixtlahuacan, invited the garrison of the impregnable Huaxyacac and other Aztec fortresses to a grand banquet, and on their return they were set upon by the ambushed troops of Nahuixochitl, lord of Tzotzolan, and all put to death, save one that escaped to tell the news. The Miztecs, now thoroughly aroused, adopted the tactics that had proved so effective in Tehuantepec, fortified their positions in the mountains near Tzotzolan, and awaited the attack. The first army sent by Montezuma was defeated and driven back with great loss. A second army representing the whole strength of the Aztec allies now marched southward under Cuitlahuatzin, Montezuma’s brother; but the Miztec forces could not be dislodged from their strong position until Cozcaquauhtli, lord of Huauhtlan and a brother of Cetecpatl, betraying his people, or faithful to his ruler Montezuma as the Mexican writers put it, opened his city to the enemy, revealed all Cetecpatl’s plans, and led Cuitlahuatzin by secret paths to a commanding position whence the attack was made and the Miztecs routed. Nahuixochitl soon came up with a fresh army from Tututepec, but was in his turn defeated. The whole province, including Tututepec and other cities on the shores of the Pacific, was then over-run and permanently subjected to Mexican authority. The captives included the leaders, and were brought back to Mexico in time to grace with their blood the festival of tlacaxipehualiztli, or ‘flaying of men,’ although according to some authorities the leaders, Cetecpatl and Nahuixochitl, were reserved for a later occasion.[IX-36]Ixtlilxochitl says the war was afterwards carried into Guatemala and Nicaragua. Brasseur tells us that the treacherous Cozcaquauhtli was made king of Cohuaixtlahuacan; others say ruler of Tzotzolan. According to Torquemada, the war was in the fifth year of the reign, and preceded by an eclipse of the sun. Tezozomoc refers to a campaign against Xaltepec and Cuatzonteccan in Tehuantepec. Vetancvrt gives as the date the seventh year of the reign. Clavigero makes Cozcaquauhtli the brother of Nahuixochitl. See Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 196-7, 207-9, 215; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 275, 283-4; Burgoa, Geog. Descrip. Oajaca, tom. ii., pt i., fol. 166-7; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 41-2; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 411-17; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 153-6, 162-4, 180; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 279-80; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 334-7, 359; Duran, MS., tom. ii., cap. lxv.

Tying-Up of the Last Cycle

Also in 1506 the Huexotzincas and Cholultecs had a quarrel, in which the former had the advantage and by a raid burned a few houses in the city of the latter. Knowing that Montezuma had great veneration for the city of Quetzalcoatl, the Huexotzincas thought it best to send ambassadors to explain the matter. The envoys for some reason not made clear greatly exaggerated the matter, representing Cholula as having been utterly destroyed and the inhabitants driven to the mountains. Greatly enraged the allied kings sent an army to chastise the perpetrators of such an outrage on the holy city; but the Huexotzincas escaped their punishment by stating the truth of the matter and delivering up for sacrifice the envoys with their ears and noses cut off. An expedition at the same time against Itztitlan and Itzcuintepec, and another according to Ortega and Torquemada against Atlixco, together with a war in Tecuhtepec, furnished a large number of captives, some of whom were sacrificed at the dedication of the Tzompantli[IX-37]Ixtlilxochitl, p. 278, speaks of a conquest of Zocolan in 1506, and of Totecpec in 1507. Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. lv., speaks of the conquest, at about this time, of Quatzoutlan and Toltepec, where Montezuma ordered that all persons over fifty years of age should be put to death. Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 284-6; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 337-40; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 417-20; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 209-10. or ‘place of skulls,’ while the rest were reserved for the tying-up of the cycle and lighting of the new fire which took place the following year, accompanied by ceremonies that have been described in a preceding volume. This was the last ceremony of the kind the Mexicans ever had the opportunity to perform; before another cycle had elapsed, the native gods had lost their power, their rites had been abolished, and replaced by others that did not include human sacrifices. The rites of the Inquisition were as cruel as those they replaced, but the number of victims in America was comparatively small.[IX-38]The lighting of the new fire took place at midnight, March 21-2, 1507, at the beginning of the year 2 Acatl, between the days 7 Tochtli and 8 Acatl. Codex Chimalp., in Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 423. The Codex Tell. Rem., in Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 153-4, says that the tie of the years had usually taken place in 1 Tochtli (1506), but was changed by Montezuma to 2 Acatl (1507). Most other authors name 1506 as the year of the fête; but perhaps they mean simply that 1 Tochtli the last of the seventh cycle corresponds for the most part, although not exactly of course, to 1506. See Boturini, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 240; Veytia, tom. iii., p. 340; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 210-11; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 285-6; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 41; see also vol. ii., p. 341, and vol. iii., pp. 393-6.

The year 1507 was marked by the occurrence of an eclipse and an earthquake, by the drowning of eighteen hundred soldiers in the Miztec country, and according to Ixtlilxochitl, by the execution of Tezozomoc, lord of Azcapuzalco and father-in-law of Montezuma, for adultery. In his trial it is related that the Mexican judges voted for his banishment, the Tepanec added that the end of his nose should be cut off, but Nezahualpilli, who had the final decision, ordered him to be strangled, much to the displeasure of Montezuma. During the same year the allies sent an expedition to the region of Mitla, which plundered a few towns and captured a small number of prisoners. The provocation of this war is not recorded. Immediately after its return an army was sent under Cuitlahuatzin against Quauhquelchula in the Huexotzinca region. The result was a victory with a goodly array of captives, but obtained only after a serious loss, including five Mexican leaders. The captives served for the inauguration of the temple previously burned, as has been noted, but now rebuilt, and also for the festival of the ‘flaying of men.’ According to Tezozomoc and Duran the provocation of this war was the burning of the temple of the goddess Toci in Mexico, or as Tezozomoc understands it, the tociquahuitl, a wooden signal tower on the hill of Tocitlan. Duran also informs us that a representation of Mexican nobles attended by invitation the festivals in honor of Camaxtli, at which were sacrificed the Aztec captives taken during the war. A renewal of hostilities with Huexotzinco is mentioned in the eighth year of Montezuma’s reign.[IX-39]Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 427-8, names Macuilmalinatzin, the brother of Montezuma, among the killed, and applies, probably with some reason, to this war the suspicions of Ixtlilxochitl, respecting foul play on the part of the Mexican king already referred to—(see note 32). See also: Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 343-4; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 211; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 286; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 278-9; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 171, 177; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 41-2; Codex Tell. Rem., in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 154; Duran, MS., tom. ii., cap. lxii.

Omens of Disaster

With the new cycle began a period, during which, down to the appearance of the Spaniards at Vera Cruz, almost every event was invested with a mysterious significance, every unusual phenomenon of nature, every accident, every illness, every defeat in battle, failure of crops, excessive heat or cold, rain or snow, thunder and lightning, shooting star or comet, earthquake or eclipse,—each and all portended evil to the Aztec empire, evil which some seem even at the time to have connected with the olden predictions of Quetzalcoatl respecting the coming of a foreign race to take possession of the country. The superstitious monarchs, priests, and nobles were in a constant state of terror. There are but two ways of accounting for this state of affairs; first by supposing that the supernatural element in the various events referred to, the terror which they caused in the minds of the natives, and many of the events themselves, were pure inventions of the native historians formed after the coming of the Spaniards to support the claims of their sages to a foreknowledge of events, or simply for the sake of telling a marvelous tale; and second by supposing that the terror of Montezuma and his companions, and their disposition to carefully note and construe into omens of evil each unusual occurrence, was caused by a knowledge more or less vague that the Spaniards were already on the American coasts. While there is every reason to believe that there are both inventions and exaggerations in the records written after the coming of foreigners, I am disposed to attribute the effects referred to above chiefly to the actual presence of Europeans. For about fifteen years the Antilles had been more or less completely in the possession of the Spaniards; five years before the opening of the new cycle Columbus had coasted Central America and even established a colony in Veragua. It is altogether improbable that no knowledge of the white men and their wonderful winged vessels had reached Mexico, however vague and exaggerated that knowledge may have been. The Aztec traders were not now such indefatigable and trustworthy spies as in former times, but they would hardly have failed to bring to Mexico exaggerated rumors of approaching disaster. It is also quite possible that various articles of European manufacture, or even human remains of white men, had been washed on the Totonac or Xicalanca shores. That Montezuma and his companions attached considerable weight to the traditional predictions of Quetzalcoatl and Hueman there is no reason to doubt. The predictions referred to may have been the threats of some exiled chieftain of ancient times, or the vain imaginings of a fanatic priest uttered to maintain his reputation among his followers; possibly the result of some native cosmographer’s theorizing respecting other lands across the ocean; not quite impossibly the remnant of an ancient knowledge of trans-oceanic peoples; and of course not the result of any prophetic foreknowledge; but like all other pretended prophecies they became at once most valid and authentic on the occurrence of circumstances which might be interpreted as their fulfillment.

Montezuma and Nezahualpilli

The signs and omens that followed those already mentioned I shall briefly relate without paying much attention to their chronologic order; very little else than these omens and the means adopted to avert their consequences is recorded from 1508 to 1512. An army sent to the province of Amatlan perished with cold and by falling trees and rocks; and a comet with three heads, perhaps the one already mentioned, hung over Anáhuac.[IX-40]Ixtlilxochitl dates the Amatlan war in 1514; Brasseur puts the war in 1510; Torquemada denies that the comet had three heads. Then a wonderful pyramidal light appeared in the east, reaching from the earth to the sky, visible for forty days, or, as some say, for a whole year, in all parts of the country, from midnight till morning, very similar, according to the description, to the Aurora Borealis. Nezahualpilli was so affected by these signs that he gave orders to discontinue all hostilities. An interview was held between him and Montezuma, although for some time they had not been on speaking terms. Nezahualpilli saw clearly in the strange omens the approaching end of the empire and his own death, but was resigned to the decrees of fate; Montezuma, on the contrary, instead of resignation felt only anger, and is even said by Tezozomoc and Duran to have strangled many of his sorcerers for their unfavorable interpretation of the signs, and their failure to avert evil omens. At last a game of tlachtli was agreed upon between the two monarchs to decide whose interpretation should be accepted; and to show how little importance he attached to his wealth and power, Nezahualpilli is said to have wagered on the result his kingdom of Acolhuacan against three turkey cocks. He won the game, but still Montezuma was not disposed to yield to the fates, and still persecuted his magicians in the hope to elicit a more favorable prognostication, but in vain; the magicians all agreed with the Tezcucan monarch. About the same time the towers of Huitzilopochtli’s temple took fire in a clear night without apparent cause, and were reduced to ashes in spite of all efforts to extinguish the flames; and another temple was set on fire by lightning. This was the temple of the god of fire, and was now burned for the second time.[IX-41]This was very likely the occasion already noted when the Tlatelulcas rushed into the city, supposing it to be invaded. In this period, in the reign of the second Montezuma, Brasseur puts the story of a mysterious aerial journey of the two kings to the ancient home of the Aztecs, referring perhaps to that already taken from Duran and applied to the time of Montezuma I.[IX-42]See pp. 422-4, of this volume; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 213. Torquemada, Clavigero, and Vetancvrt, tell us of the resurrection of Papantzin, a sister of Montezuma, who brought back from the land of the dead to her royal brother an account of the new people who were to occupy the land, and of the new religion they would bring. This lady is said to have been the first Mexican to receive the rites of Christian baptism, and the priests took pains to send a duly authenticated account of her miraculous resurrection to Spain. The intimate connection of this tale with the religious prejudices of the invaders, renders it unnecessary to seek even a foundation in truth for the report. Sahagun also speaks of a resurrected woman who predicted the fall of the empire, living twenty-one years thereafter and bearing a son. Boturini attributes this return from the dead to a sister of the king of Michoacan at a much later date, while the Spaniards were besieging Mexico.[IX-43]Clavigero throws discredit on Boturini’s version; I find it difficult to feel implicit faith in that of Clavigero. In 1509, as several authors say,[IX-44]Torquemada says in 1499. the waters of the lake became violently agitated, without wind, earthquake, or other natural cause, and in consequence the city was inundated. The fishermen of the lake caught a large bird like a crane, wearing a round transparent crown, through which Montezuma saw the stars, though it was in the daytime, and also many people that approached in squadrons, attired like warriors, and seeming half men, half deer. The bird disappeared before the sorcerers could satisfactorily interpret this strange thing. Double-bodied and double-headed men also were seen, and on being brought before the king suddenly disappeared; and the same happened with men who had no fingers and toes. In 1511 armed men were seen fighting in the air; and a bird appeared whose head seemed human; and a large stone pillar fell near the temple of Huitzilopochtli, no one knowing whence it came. An earthquake and a deluge at Tusapan, are reported; at Tecualoia a most ferocious and horrible beast was captured; a female voice was several times heard bewailing the fate of her children. At Tlascala a bright light and a cloud of dust arising from the summit of Mount Matlalcueje to the very heavens, caused the people to fear the end of the world was coming. The sorcerers of Cuetlachtlan also saw many wonderful visions; but among the peoples outside of Anáhuac the fearful phenomena and the predicted coming of a foreign people were less terrible than to the Aztecs, for with their terror was mingled hope of relief from the Aztec yoke. A wild hare invaded Nezahualpilli’s garden, but the king would not allow the animal to be killed, for in the same manner, he said, would a strange people presently invade his country. Tezozomoc and Duran give a long and detailed account of Montezuma’s sufferings. It seems that he was not content with his own dreams and omens, but instructed his subjects to report to him all their visions; at last he was so distracted that he determined to hide himself from impending calamities in a cave, but was prevented from such a course by a series of supernatural events more absurd, if possible, than those that have been narrated. Herrera tells us that Montezuma had in his possession a box washed on the eastern shore containing wearing-apparel and a sword of a style unknown to the natives.[IX-45]On these evil omens, see Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 278-80; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 344-59; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 211-14, 233-9; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 286-92; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 42-3, 126; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 177-8, 183-9; Codex Tell. Rem., in Id., vol. v., p. 154; Herrera, dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. viii., ix.; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 428-41; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 510-14; Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcix., pp. 139-40; Duran, MS., tom. ii., cap. lxiii., lxvi-ix.; Sahagun, tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 270-1; Boturini, Catálogo, pp. 27-8.

Visions and Omens

In the meantime military operations had not been suspended, for the anger of the gods could only be averted by sacrifice, and victims could only be obtained by war; but the details of these campaigns and their order are nowhere definitely recorded. It is stated, however, that in 1511, the Cuetlachtecas, encouraged by the visions of their magicians, and by the troubles that had fallen upon Anáhuac, refused openly to pay their tributes, and yet remained unpunished.[IX-46]Torquemada, tom. i., p. 214; Veytia, tom. iii., p. 361; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 42. In the same or following year, the Cakchiquel records note the arrival of a numerous embassy of the Yaqui, or Mexicans, at their court. Nothing whatever is said of the object of this mission, or its results; but the Abbé Brasseur has no doubt that the object sought was information respecting the actions of the Spaniards on the coast of Central America.[IX-47]Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 442-7, reference to Mem. de Tecpan-Atitlan. Although Nezahualpilli seems to have lost most of his interest in political affairs, and to have contented himself with simply awaiting future developments, no superstitious terror in Montezuma’s breast could overcome his ruling passion, ambition; and according to the authorities he was inclined to take advantage of his colleague’s listlessness for his own aggrandizement. Ixtlilxochitl relates an act of treachery against the Tezcucan monarch, which, in view of the author’s well-known prejudice against Montezuma, may be received with much doubt; according to this author, the Mexican king represented to Nezahualpilli that the anger of the gods was caused to some extent by the failure to offer captives from Tlascala, and the substitution of victims from distant provinces obtained not in holy battle but in a mere attempt to extend the imperial domain. He proposed a joint campaign against Tlascala; Nezahualpilli consented, saying that his inaction had not been the result of cowardice, but he had ceased to fight simply because the year of 1 Acatl was near at hand when the empire must fall. He sent an army under his two sons, but Montezuma had secretly notified the Tlascaltecs that the Acolhua’s motive was not the capture of victims, but the conquest of the republic, promising to take no part himself in the battle. The Tlascaltecs were very angry and the Aztec army stood calmly by and saw the Acolhua forces led into ambush and massacred. The whole march of Nezahualpilli’s army had been marked by the occurrence of many omens of evil. Immediately on his return Montezuma openly proclaimed his opposition to his colleague and ordered a suspension of all Tezcucan tributes from the cities about the lake. While there are reasons to doubt this act of treachery and the openness of his opposition to Nezahualpilli, it is evident that the two kings regarded each other from this time as enemies.[IX-48]Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 280-1.

Montezuma, Aztec Emperor

In 1512, with great festivities and the sacrifice of twelve thousand captives—taken it is said in a war against the revolting Miztec province of Tlachquiauhco—was dedicated a new sacrificial stone. It was only after a long search that a suitable stone was found near Coyuhuacan, and after it was formed and sculptured with the fitting devices, notwithstanding the honors paid it on the way to the capital, it broke through one of the causeways and carried with itself to the bottom of the lake the high-priest and many of his attendants. It was afterwards recovered and placed in its appointed place. Tezozomoc and others tell many marvelous tales of this stone, how it spoke frequently on the way, and how after sinking it found its way back to its original location. Tezozomoc also states that in connection with the ceremonies at this time Montezuma publicly proclaimed himself Zemanahuaca Tlatoani, equivalent to ’emperor of the world.'[IX-49]Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 168, 181-3; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 293; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 214-15; Duran, MS., tom. ii., cap. lxvi.; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 448-50; Herrera, dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. viii.; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 511; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 42-3.

Limits of the Aztec Empire

During the next few years Montezuma seems to have determined by brilliant exploits in battle to defy the predictions of his magicians and to shake off his own superstitious fears. In 1512, according to Torquemada, the Xuchitepecs and Icpactepecs were subjugated; in 1513, the Yopitzincas, who had attempted the destruction of the Mexican garrison at Tlacotepec, were defeated; in 1514, the city of Quetzalapan in Cuextlan was taken with many captives, although at the cost of several Aztec leaders of high rank; and in 1515 took place the conquest of Cihuapohualoyan and Cuexcomaixtlahuacan, including the siege of the strongholds of Quetzaltepec, Totoltepec and Iztactlalocan, narrated at considerable length by Duran, who represents this war as having been caused by the refusal of the inhabitants to furnish a peculiar kind of sand needed by the Mexican lapidaries in polishing precious stones.[IX-50]It is impossible here to distinguish between references to Tututepec in Oajaca, and Tototepec, or Totoltepec, north-east of Mexico. The Codex Tell. Rem., in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 154, mentions in 1512 the conquest of Quimichintepec and Nopala, towards Tototepec, and also that the stones in that year threw out smoke which reached the skies. The same authority records the conquest of Tututepec on the Pacific, and an earthquake in 1513; the conquest of Hayocingo in 1514, and that of Itzlaquetlaloca in 1515. See Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 278-80, 283-4. This writer also mentions the wars of Mictlanzinco and Xaltaianquizco as among the last waged by the Aztec monarchs. Duran, MS., tom. ii., cap. lvi. Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 293-4; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 359-60; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 214-5; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 42. Torquemada and Ortega relate that an expedition was at about this time sent southward to Honduras, Vera Paz, and Nicaragua, all of which were subjected to the Mexican power, the two former without much opposition, the latter only after a hard battle, a defeat, and subsequent treachery on the part of the Aztecs.[IX-51]Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 218-19; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 361-3. There is every reason to believe that this report is unfounded, and that the countries south of the isthmus, save perhaps Soconusco, were never conquered by the Mexicans. I need not enter into any discussion here respecting the limits of the Aztec empire; since the annals recorded in the preceding pages, with a résumé of the subject in a preceding volume,[IX-52]Vol. ii., pp. 93-5. are sufficient. In general terms the empire extended from the valley of Mexico westward only to the adjoining province of Matlaltzinco, Michoacan having always retained her independence; north-westward only a few leagues beyond the limits of the valley; in the north-east, east, and south-east it embraced the whole country to the gulf coast from the Rio Pánuco in the north to the Rio Alvarado in the south, excepting the small territory of Tlascala; in the south-west and south it reached the Pacific coast, along which it extended from Zacatollan to Tututepec; and it also included some towns and garrisons in Soconusco, and on the frontiers of Chiapas. Or, according to modern political geography, the empire embraced the states of Mexico, Puebla, Vera Cruz, Guerrero, and western Oajaca, with small portions of Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí, Querétaro, and Chiapas. The whole of Oajaca, including Tehuantepec, was at one time subjected, but the Zapotecs regained their independence, as we have seen, before Montezuma’s reign. Beyond these limits doubtless many raids were made, and towns, with small sections of territory, were reduced momentarily to Mexican provinces; hence the varying statements of different authors on this subject.[IX-53]Ixtlilxochitl, p. 280, gives the southern boundaries as Huimolan, Acalan, Vera Paz, and Nicaragua; the northern as the Gulf of California and Pánuco; makes the empire cover all the ancient Toltec territory, and incorrectly includes besides the north-western states, those of Tabasco and Guatemala. Herrera, dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xiii; lib. ix., cap. i.; agrees with the limits I have given, and shows that Goazacoalco and Tabasco never belonged to the empire. Aztecs never subdued the region about Zacatecas. Arlegui, Chrón. Zacatecas, p. 9. Clavigero, tom. iv., pp. 267-9, tells us that the empire stretched on the Pacific from Soconusco to Colima; that Chiapas was only held by a few garrisons on the frontier; that the province of Tollan was the north-western limit; Tusapan the north-eastern, Pánuco and the Huastecs never having been subdued; Goazacoalco was the south-eastern bound.

The appearance of the Spaniards on the distant American coasts, the predictions of disaster which all the soothsayers agreed in deriving from constantly recurring omens, the approaching subjugation of his people to a race of foreigners in which Nezahualpilli firmly believed, and above all the haughty and treacherous manner and deeds of Montezuma, who now made no secret of his intention to make himself supreme monarch of the empire, had a most depressing effect on the Tezcucan king. He retired with his favorite wife and a few attendants to the palace of Tezcocingo, announcing his intention of spending his remaining days in retirement, but six months later he returned to Tezcuco, retired to his most private apartments, and refused to see visitors. Some time afterwards, when his family insisted on being admitted to his presence, his death was announced to them, having been concealed for some time by the attendants acting under his orders. The peculiar circumstances of his decease caused the invention of the popular tale, according to which he had not died but had gone to the ancient Amaquemecan, the home of his Chichimec ancestors. His death occurred in 1515.[IX-54]On Nezahualpilli’s death see:—Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 216-17; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 282, 388, 410; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 452-5; Duran, MS., tom. ii., cap. lxiv.; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 363-4; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 294-5; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 178-9. Several authors make the date 1516; Duran says ten years before the coming of the Spaniards, or in 1509.

Revolt of Ixtlilxochitl

For some unknown reason Nezahualpilli had not named his successor on the throne, and the choice thus devolved upon the royal council in conjunction with the kings of Mexico and Tlacopan. So far as can be determined from conflicting accounts the sons of the deceased monarch and heirs to the throne were as follows in the order of their age:—Tetlahuehuetquizitzin, Cacama, Cohuanacoch, and Ixtlilxochitl. The eldest son was deemed incompetent to rule the kingdom, Cacama was chosen by the council, and the choice warmly approved by Montezuma, who was Cacama’s uncle. When the decision was announced to the other brothers, Cohuanacoch approved it, but Ixtlilxochitl protested against the choice of Cacama, insisting that his oldest brother should be proclaimed king. Something has already been said about this prince’s fiery temper in early years,[IX-55]See p. 451 of this volume. and age seems to have had no effect in calming his violent character. But on this occasion he seems to have been actuated not only by his own ambition to reign or to control the reigning monarch, but by patriotic motives and a desire for his country’s freedom. He denounced, probably not without reason, the council as acting wholly in the interests of the treacherous Montezuma, who had insulted his father, and aspired to the imperial power; and he regarded Cacama as a mere man of wax to be molded at will by the crafty monarch of the Mexicans. The details of the quarrel are given at considerable length by the authorities, but are hardly worth reproducing here; the trouble seems to have lasted, if the chronology of the records may be credited, two years, much of which time was passed by Cacama at Mexico with his uncle. At last, however, finding his efforts unavailing, Ixtlilxochitl left Tezcuco with his partisans and went to the province of Meztitlan with the intention of exciting a revolt in his own behalf, while Cacama in 1517 proceeded to his capital to receive the crown of his father.[IX-56]Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 282-3, 410, and Torquemada, tom. i., p. 221, are the chief authorities on the succession of Cacama. The former records a report, which he doubts, that Nezahualpilli before his death indicated as his successor a younger son, Yoiontzin. He implies that Cacama was an illegitimate son and had no claim to the throne, but was forced on the Acolhua nobles against their will by Montezuma. Torquemada, on the other hand, makes Cacama the oldest son and legitimate heir, not mentioning the existence of Tetlahuehuetquizitzin, and does not imply that Montezuma had any undue influence in the choice of a new king. Duran, MS., tom. ii., cap. lxiv., and Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., p. 179, give an entirely different version of the matter. They say that the Acolhua lords were summoned to Mexico and invited by Montezuma to select their new king. When they told him there were five competent sons—only two of whose names, Cohuanacoch and Ixtlilxochitl, are identical with those named by other authorities—he advised the election of Quetzalacxoyatl, who was therefore elected and proved a faithful subject of the Mexican king. He only lived a few days, however, and was succeeded by his brother Tlahuitoltzin, and he, after a few years, by Cohuanacoch, during whose reign the Spaniards arrived. See also, Brasseur, Hist., tom. iv., pp. 14-21; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 367-9; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 297-9; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 43-4; Herrera, dec. iii., lib. i., cap. i.

Ixtlilxochitl was in a high degree successful in the northern provinces, whose inhabitants were almost unanimous in their approval of his opposition to Montezuma, and gladly ranged themselves under his banners. Marching southward from Meztitlan at the head of a hundred thousand men, he was received as king in Tepepulco and other towns until he reached Otompan, where he met considerable resistance, but at last entered the city and made it thereafter his capital. He also took possession of all the northern towns, such as Acolman, Chiuhnauhtlan, Zumpango, and Huehuetoca. The news of his proceedings in the north reached Tezcuco just after the coronation ceremonies of Cacama, or, as some say, during their continuance. Montezuma seems to have made one effort to quell this northern revolt and to have sent one of his bravest generals against Ixtlilxochitl, but this general, Xochitl, was defeated, captured, and burned alive by the fiery Chichimec prince; no farther attack was made by the Mexican king. During the course of this year, 1517, the Totonacs secretly gave in their allegiance to Ixtlilxochitl, and of course Tlascala, the inveterate foe of Mexico, supported his cause. Montezuma’s failure to renew his efforts against the rebel, and the increasing spirit of revolt among the Aztec provinces are in great measure accounted for, when it is remembered that at this time the Spaniards, under Hernandez de Córdova, again appeared on the coast of Yucatan and Tabasco,[IX-57]On the voyage of Córdova, see: Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 349-51; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 3-8; Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. i-ii.; Herrera, dec. ii., lib. ii., cap. xvii.; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 1-5; Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 49-52; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 222-4; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 60-1. and the exaggerated reports of their appearance and deeds served to cause a renewal of the old terror in Mexico, and a corresponding hope, not altogether unmingled with fear, in the oppressed provinces. Cacama, either influenced by the same fears, or more probably encouraged to yield to his own kindly feelings towards his brother by Montezuma’s failure to proceed against Ixtlilxochitl, sent an embassy to his brother, who, from his new headquarters at Otompan, had shown no intention of marching against Tezcuco, proposing an amicable settlement of their difficulties. Ixtlilxochitl replied that he had none but the kindest feelings towards his brother and the kingdom of Acolhuacan, but renewed his denunciations of Montezuma, and his warnings against that monarch’s ambitious designs. A division of the kingdom was finally decided upon, Ixtlilxochitl retaining the sovereign power in the northern provinces, Cacama retaining his throne at Tezcuco and his place in the Aztec alliance, and Cohuanacoch receiving a large amount of revenue for his constant support of the king. Ixtlilxochitl faithfully observed the terms of the treaty, but retained all his enmity against the Mexicans; he had an opportunity to strike a decisive blow against the hated power a little later as an ally of the Spaniards.[IX-58]On Ixtlilxochitl’s revolt and the treaty with Cacama, see: Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 369-75; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 299-302; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 223-7; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iv., pp. 21-3, 36-7; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 44; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 283-4.

Final Wars of Montezuma

Yet wars were still waged by the allied kings as before, for the only hope of averting impending disaster was by drenching with human blood the altars of the gods. Several campaigns are recorded as having yielded captives in considerable numbers, but no details are given. Battles against the Tlascaltecs were continued down to the very last; the Mexicans fighting generally as allies of the Huexotzincas. In one of these battles the Huexotzinca chief Tlachpanquizqui by a valiant feat of arms obtained pardon for serious crimes which he had committed, and great rewards besides. He captured the famous Tlascaltec warrior Tlalhuicol and brought him to Mexico. But the honor of his capture was all that Montezuma desired; for he immediately offered Tlalhuicol his freedom, which was refused. The Tlascaltec was then put in command of a Mexican army and sent against the Tarascos, whom he defeated, taking their stronghold of Tangimaroa, or Tlaximaloyan, and subduing many towns on his way. He returned laden with spoils to Mexico, was entreated to accept the permanent position of Commander-in-chief of the Aztec armies, or at least to accept his release and return to his country; but the brave Tlalhuicol deemed it a dishonor to return or even to live after his capture, and earnestly entreated the privilege of dying like other prisoners of rank on the gladiatorial stone. His request was sorrowfully granted, eight of Anáhuac’s best warriors fell before him in the conflict, but by the ninth he was subdued, and his heart was offered as a pleasing sacrifice to the god of war.[IX-59]Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., pp. 189-91; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 172-5; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 197, 201, 228; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iv., pp. 23-7; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 280-2; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 325, 328-31, 375-6; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 45-6.

In the same year, 1517, it is related that Montezuma in his zeal to appease the irate deities, ordered the grand temple of Huitzilopochtli to be covered from top to bottom with gold, precious stones, and rare feathers. His Minister of Finance, ordered to supply the cost of this extravagant act of piety by imposing a new tax on the people, objected and warned the tyrant that his subjects would endure no increase of taxation. His objections were removed by putting him to death, but we hear nothing farther of the golden covering.[IX-60]Codex Chimalp., in Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 34-6. The following year, or 1518, took place at Mexico the last of the long series of sacrificial immolations on a large scale, at the dedication of the temple of Coatlan, on which occasion were sacrificed the captives that the last campaigns had yielded.[IX-61]Torquemada, tom. i., p. 228; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 376-7; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 46. But almost before the groans of the dying victims had died away there came to the ears of the Aztec sovereign the startling tidings that the eastern strangers had again made their appearance, this time on the Totonac coasts of his own empire. Juan de Grijalva and his companions had followed the gulf coast northward, and reached the spot where now stands the city of Vera Cruz.[IX-62]On Grijalva’s voyage, see:—Diaz, Itinerario, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 281-307; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 6-11; Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. iii-iv.; Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., pp. 55-64; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 811, 568; Herrera, dec. ii., lib. iii., cap. i-ii.; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 351-8; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 224-8.

Arrival of Juan de Grijalva

All Aztec officials in the coast provinces had strict orders to keep a constant look-out for the eastern strangers, and in case of their arrival to treat them kindly, but by pretence of traffic and by every possible means to ascertain who they were, whence they came, and the nature of their designs. In accordance with these orders Pinotl the Aztec governor of Cuetlachtlan and his Mexican subordinates were foremost among the visitors to the wonderful ships of Grijalva; paintings were quickly but carefully prepared of the strangers, their ships, their weapons, and of every strange thing observed, and with the startling news and the pictured records the royal officials hastened to Mexico and communicated their information to Montezuma. The king, concealing as well as possible his anxiety and forbidding the messengers to make the news public, immediately assembled his royal colleagues and his council of state, laid the matter before them and asked their advice. The opinion was unanimous that the strangers were the children of Quetzalcoatl, returning in fulfillment of the ancient prophecies, and that they should be kindly received, as the only means of conciliating the good will of the numerous followers of the ancient prophet. An embassy was sent with rich presents to the coast, but they were too late; the Spaniards had departed, with a promise, however, of returning at an early date.

The events that followed down to the fulfillment of that promise by the arrival of Hernan Cortés in 1519 are not very definitely recorded, but these months formed a period of the greatest anxiety on the part of the Aztec rulers and of mingled dread and hope for their numerous enemies. Interest in the one absorbing topic caused all else to be forgotten; there was no thought of conquest, of revolt, of tributes; even the bloody rites of Huitzilopochtli were much neglected and the star of the peaceful Quetzalcoatl and his sect was in the ascendant. Prophets and old men throughout the country were closely questioned respecting their knowledge of the old traditions; old paintings and records were taken from every archive and carefully compared with those relating to the new-comers; the loss of the precious documents burned by Itzcoatl was now seriously felt; the glass beads and other trinkets obtained from the Spaniards, and even carefully treasured fragments of ship biscuit, were formally deposited with all the old Toltec ceremonies in the temple of Quetzalcoatl. Many fictitious paintings were palmed off on the credulous Montezuma as ancient records in which the children of Quetzalcoatl were pictured in an amusing variety of absurd forms, but some of the documents agreed very closely with the late paintings of Montezuma’s agents, showing that others had bethought them to represent on paper Grijalva’s company or some preceding band of Spaniards.[IX-63]Torquemada, tom., i., pp. 378-80; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 515-16; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 377-8; Duran, MS., tom. ii., cap. lxix-lxx.; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 189-94; Herrera, dec. ii., lib. iii., cap. ix.

At last the presence of Cortés on the southern coasts, and his progress towards the Aztec possessions, was announced, and an embassy was dispatched to await his arrival, and to receive him with every attention and with the richest gifts the empire could afford. Subsequent events belong to the history of the Conquest, and must be narrated in another work; the remaining chapters of this volume being required for such fragments as have been preserved respecting the aboriginal history of other nations and tribes outside the central plateaux of Mexico.

Anáhuac in 1519

I close the chapter and the annals of the Aztec period, with a brief glance at the general condition of affairs in and about Anáhuac in 1519, and the most extraordinary combination of circumstances that made it possible for Hernan Cortés to overthrow with a handful of Spanish soldiers a mighty aboriginal empire. The power known as Aztec, since the formation of the tri-partite alliance not quite a century before under the Acolhua, Mexican, and Tepanec kings, had gradually extended its iron grasp from its centre about the lakes to the shores of either ocean; and this it had accomplished wholly by the force of arms, receiving no voluntary allegiance. Overburdened by taxation; oppressed and insulted by royal governors, Aztec tribute-gatherers, and the traveling armies of Tlatelulca merchants; constantly attacked on frivolous pretexts by blood-thirsty hordes who ravaged their fields and carried away the flower of their population to perish on the Mexican altars; the inhabitants of each province subjected to this degrading bondage entertained towards the central government of the tyrants on the lakes feelings of the bitterest hatred and hostility, only awaiting an opportunity to free themselves, or at least to annihilate their oppressors. Such was the condition of affairs and the state of feeling abroad; at home the situation was most critical. The alliance which had been the strongest element of the Aztec power was now practically broken up; the ambitious schemes of Montezuma had alienated his firmest ally, and the stronger part of the Acolhua force was now openly arrayed against him under Ixtlilxochitl at Otompan, leagued with the Tlascaltec leaders for the overthrow of the Mexican power. It is probable that the coming of the Spaniards retarded rather than precipitated the united attack of the Acolhuas and the outside provinces on Montezuma. But again, to meet the gathering storm, the Mexican king could no longer count on the undivided support of his own people; he had alienated the merchants, who no longer, as in the early days, did faithful duty as spies, nor toiled to enrich a government from which they could expect no rewards; the lower classes no longer deemed their own interests identical with those of their sovereign. Last but far from least among the elements of approaching ruin was the religious sentiment of the country. The reader has followed the bitter contentions of earlier times in Tollan and Culhuacan, between the rival sects of Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca. With the growth of the Mexican influence the bloody rites of the latter sect had prevailed under the auspices of the god Huitzilopochtli, and the worship of the gentler Quetzalcoatl, though still observed in many provinces and many temples, had with its priests been forced to occupy a secondary position. But the people were filled with terror at the horrible extent to which the latter kings had carried the immolation of human victims; they were sick of blood, and of the divinities that thirsted for it; a re-action was experienced in favor of the rival deities and priesthood. And now, just as the oppressed subjects of ecclesiastical tyranny were learning to remember with regret the peaceful teachings of the Plumed Serpent, and to look to that god for relief from their woes, their prayers were answered, Quetzalcoatl’s predictions were apparently fulfilled, and his promised children made their appearance on the eastern ocean. The arrival of Cortés at this particular juncture was in one sense most marvelous; but in his subsequent success there is little to be wondered at; nor is it strange that the oppressed Nahuas received almost with outstretched arms the ministers of the new faith thus offered them by the Spaniards.

Footnotes

[IX-1] Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 93-8; Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xl.; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 495; Brasseur, Hist., tom. i., pp. 326-31; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 265-6.

[IX-2] Torquemada, tom. i., p. 182.

[IX-3] Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 263, 269-70, 410; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 183-4; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 254-5; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 331-4; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 272-5; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 36. Several authors attribute the completion of the temple to Ahuitzotl.

[IX-4] Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xl.; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 495; Herrera, dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xiii.; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 271, 276-8; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 253-4, 256. This author gives the date as 1482. Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 182-5; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 36-7; Sahagun, tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 269; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 334-5; Codex Tell. Rem., in Kingsborough, vol. vi., p. 141, date 1487; Tezozomoc, in Id., vol. ix., pp. 98-100; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 265, 267; Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 47-8. Ixtlilxochitl claims that Tizoc died a natural death, and that Techotl died during his reign.

[IX-5] See vol. iv., pp. 377-84.

[IX-6] Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 337-40, tells us that the Xiquipilco campaign furnished captives for the coronation, while the products of the other wars were reserved for the dedication. Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 99-108, speaks of the conquest of some city in Chiapas; while Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 499, states that a place called Quaxutatlan was taken by means of an artificial floating island. It is impossible to form from the authorities any idea of these wars and their chronological order. See, Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xli.-ii.; Ixtlilxochitl, p. 467; Sigüenza, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. i., p. 72; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 37; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 257; Veytia, tom. iii., p. 278; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 186.

[IX-7] On the dedication, see vol. ii., p. 577; Ixtlilxochitl, p. 268; Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xliii-iv.; Motolinia, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 254; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 257; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 186; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 37; Codex Tell. Rem., in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 152; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 341-5. Considering the number of the victims sacrificed, it is probably more correct to suppose that several sacrificers were occupied at the same time.

[IX-8] Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 345-6; with reference to Torquemada, tom. i. lib. ii., cap. lxiii. which contains nothing on the subject.

[IX-9] Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 109-12, 154, places the Cuextlan war before the dedication, and calls Chimalpopoca’s successor Tlaltecatzin. See also Sahagun, tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 269-70; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 37-8; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 187; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 294-5; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 345-7; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 258; Ixtlilxochitl, p. 268.

[IX-10] Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 187, 191; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 258-9; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 348-9; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 295-6; Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xl.; Codex Tell. Rem., in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 152.

[IX-11] Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 278-80; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 349-52.

[IX-12] Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 120-7; Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xliv., tom. ii., cap. xlv.; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 352-5. This author also refers to Torquemada and Ixtlilxochitl, who have nothing to say of this war and colony, although the latter, p. 271, speaks of the conquest of Zapotlan and Xaltepec, which may have been in the same campaign.

[IX-13] Ixtlilxochitl, p. 271.

[IX-14] Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. ix., pp. 337-8.

[IX-15] Codex Tell. Rem., in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 151. The date is put at 1494 by this document.

[IX-16] See vol. iv., pp. 368-71 .

[IX-17] Burgoa, Geog. Descrip. Oajaca, tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 367, et seq.

[IX-18] Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 355-62.

[IX-19] Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. ix., p. 337, et seq.

[IX-20] Burgoa, Geog. Descrip. Oajaca, tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 367-76.

[IX-21] Burgoa, as in note 20; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 362-9. A full account, mostly from Burgoa, is given in the Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. vii., pp. 167, 175-7, 183-7. Other authorities touch very vaguely upon the events related above; most of them utterly ignoring the defeat of the Aztecs. Duran, MS., tom. ii., cap. xlvi-vii., liv-v., puts the marriage in Montezuma’s reign, and says that the Tehuantepec king was told by his wife of the plot against his life by 10,000 soldiers who had entered the capital in small groups as guests; he caused the whole 10,000 to be put to death. According to the Codex Tell. Rem., in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 153, the king of Tehuantepec never afterwards allowed a Mexican to set foot in his country. This document makes Pelaxilla a daughter of Montezuma. Clavigero, tom. i., p. 262, says that the Aztec forces penetrated Guatemala at this time, referring to the Xuchiltepec campaign. Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 268, 271-2, states that the allies took 17,400 captives from the Zapotecs in 1499. According to Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, p. 2, Chiapas was made tributary to Mexico about 1498. See also for slight references to events that may be connected with these campaigns in the south-west. Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 127-37; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 193; Piñeda, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. iii., p. 347.

[IX-22] Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 270-1.

[IX-23] On the family affairs of Nezahualpilli, see Torquemada, tom. i., p. 184; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 255-6; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 372-5; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 265, 267, 271-2; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 36-7; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 275-6.

[IX-24] Vol. ii., pp. 446-50.

[IX-25] For these and other anecdotes of Nezahualpilli, see:—Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 267, 273-7; Duran, MS., tom. ii., cap. 1.; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 180-90; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 385-92; Granados y Galvez, Tardes Amer., pp. 48-9.

[IX-26] Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 259-60; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 191; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 375-7; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 296-9; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 38.

[IX-27] Respecting this flood, see: Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 272-3; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 137-41; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 192-3, 293; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 377-82; Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. xlviii.-ix.; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 299-302; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 260-2; Sahagun, tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 269; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 38-9; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 500-1; Bustamante, Mañanas, tom. ii., pp. 208-9; vol. ii., p. 566 of this work.

[IX-28] Torquemada, tom. i., p. 193; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 262. In the Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 48, is given a list of forty-five towns conquered by Ahuitzotl.

[IX-29] Clavigero and Vetancvrt make the date 1502. Ixtlilxochitl in one place, p. 457, says 1505.

[IX-30] Duran, MS., tom. ii., cap. li-v., states that the first wars were directed against Nopallan, Icpatepec, and Toltepec; and that during the campaign Montezuma ordered the death of the tutors of his children and the attendants of his wives. Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 141-53, adds Huitzpac and Tepeaca to the towns mentioned by Duran. See also on death of Ahuitzotl and accession of Montezuma II.: Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 262-7; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 193-5; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 303-9; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 382-97; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 265, 277, 457; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 501-6; Herrera, dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xiv.; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 29; Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 51-2; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 303; Sigüenza, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. i., pp. 74-6.

[IX-31] See on the policy and government of Montezuma II., vol. ii. of this work, passim; also, Duran, MS. tom., ii., cap. liii.; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 145-6; Ixtlilxochitl, p. 278; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 267-75; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 309-19; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 398-402; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 196, 205-6; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 505-7; Codex Mendoza, in Kingsborough, vol. vi., p. 14; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 39; Herrera, dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xiv.; Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Theatro, tom. i., pp. 4-5.

[IX-32] Camargo says the combined armies were beaten at this battle. Torquemada places the event in the third year of Montezuma’s reign. Ixtlilxochitl, Duran, and Tezozomoc represent Tlacahuepantzin as the brother of Montezuma, and Ixtlilxochitl implies that he was sent to this war, placed in 1508, in the hope of his death. This brother is perhaps the same person spoken of by Ixtlilxochitl on p. 443. Duran and Tezozomoc seem to regard this as a war against Cholula and Huexotzinco.

[IX-33] On the war with Tlascala, see: Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 275-80; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 197-203; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 320-7; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 402-9; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 40-1; Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., pp. 178-86; Duran, MS., tom. ii., cap. lvii-lxi.; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 271, 278; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 160-78; Oviedo, tom. iii., p. 497.

[IX-34] This famine occurred in the third year of Montezuma’s reign, according to Clavigero; in fourth year, as Torquemada says; and Ixtlilxochitl puts it in 1505 and 1506. See Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 203-4, 235. Ixtlilxochitl, p. 278; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 282-3; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 41; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 409-10; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 331-2; Sahagun, tom. ii., lib. viii., p. 270; Codex Tell. Rem., in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 153.

[IX-35] Clavigero, tom. i., p. 283; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 332-4; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 204, 207; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 41; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 410-11; Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. lv., lix.; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 170-1.

[IX-36] Ixtlilxochitl says the war was afterwards carried into Guatemala and Nicaragua. Brasseur tells us that the treacherous Cozcaquauhtli was made king of Cohuaixtlahuacan; others say ruler of Tzotzolan. According to Torquemada, the war was in the fifth year of the reign, and preceded by an eclipse of the sun. Tezozomoc refers to a campaign against Xaltepec and Cuatzonteccan in Tehuantepec. Vetancvrt gives as the date the seventh year of the reign. Clavigero makes Cozcaquauhtli the brother of Nahuixochitl. See Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 196-7, 207-9, 215; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 275, 283-4; Burgoa, Geog. Descrip. Oajaca, tom. ii., pt i., fol. 166-7; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 41-2; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 411-17; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 153-6, 162-4, 180; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 279-80; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 334-7, 359; Duran, MS., tom. ii., cap. lxv.

[IX-37] Ixtlilxochitl, p. 278, speaks of a conquest of Zocolan in 1506, and of Totecpec in 1507. Duran, MS., tom. i., cap. lv., speaks of the conquest, at about this time, of Quatzoutlan and Toltepec, where Montezuma ordered that all persons over fifty years of age should be put to death. Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 284-6; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 337-40; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 417-20; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 209-10.

[IX-38] The lighting of the new fire took place at midnight, March 21-2, 1507, at the beginning of the year 2 Acatl, between the days 7 Tochtli and 8 Acatl. Codex Chimalp., in Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 423. The Codex Tell. Rem., in Kingsborough, vol. v., pp. 153-4, says that the tie of the years had usually taken place in 1 Tochtli (1506), but was changed by Montezuma to 2 Acatl (1507). Most other authors name 1506 as the year of the fête; but perhaps they mean simply that 1 Tochtli the last of the seventh cycle corresponds for the most part, although not exactly of course, to 1506. See Boturini, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série iii., tom. iv., p. 240; Veytia, tom. iii., p. 340; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 210-11; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 285-6; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 41; see also vol. ii., p. 341, and vol. iii., pp. 393-6.

[IX-39] Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 427-8, names Macuilmalinatzin, the brother of Montezuma, among the killed, and applies, probably with some reason, to this war the suspicions of Ixtlilxochitl, respecting foul play on the part of the Mexican king already referred to—(see note 32). See also: Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 343-4; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 211; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 286; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 278-9; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 171, 177; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 41-2; Codex Tell. Rem., in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 154; Duran, MS., tom. ii., cap. lxii.

[IX-40] Ixtlilxochitl dates the Amatlan war in 1514; Brasseur puts the war in 1510; Torquemada denies that the comet had three heads.

[IX-41] This was very likely the occasion already noted when the Tlatelulcas rushed into the city, supposing it to be invaded.

[IX-42] See pp. 422-4, of this volume; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 213.

[IX-43] Clavigero throws discredit on Boturini’s version; I find it difficult to feel implicit faith in that of Clavigero.

[IX-44] Torquemada says in 1499.

[IX-45] On these evil omens, see Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 278-80; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 344-59; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 211-14, 233-9; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 286-92; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 42-3, 126; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 177-8, 183-9; Codex Tell. Rem., in Id., vol. v., p. 154; Herrera, dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. viii., ix.; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 428-41; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 510-14; Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcix., pp. 139-40; Duran, MS., tom. ii., cap. lxiii., lxvi-ix.; Sahagun, tom. ii., lib. viii., pp. 270-1; Boturini, Catálogo, pp. 27-8.

[IX-46] Torquemada, tom. i., p. 214; Veytia, tom. iii., p. 361; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 42.

[IX-47] Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 442-7, reference to Mem. de Tecpan-Atitlan.

[IX-48] Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 280-1.

[IX-49] Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 168, 181-3; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 293; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 214-15; Duran, MS., tom. ii., cap. lxvi.; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 448-50; Herrera, dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. viii.; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., p. 511; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 42-3.

[IX-50] It is impossible here to distinguish between references to Tututepec in Oajaca, and Tototepec, or Totoltepec, north-east of Mexico. The Codex Tell. Rem., in Kingsborough, vol. v., p. 154, mentions in 1512 the conquest of Quimichintepec and Nopala, towards Tototepec, and also that the stones in that year threw out smoke which reached the skies. The same authority records the conquest of Tututepec on the Pacific, and an earthquake in 1513; the conquest of Hayocingo in 1514, and that of Itzlaquetlaloca in 1515. See Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 278-80, 283-4. This writer also mentions the wars of Mictlanzinco and Xaltaianquizco as among the last waged by the Aztec monarchs. Duran, MS., tom. ii., cap. lvi. Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 293-4; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 359-60; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 214-5; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 42.

[IX-51] Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 218-19; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 361-3.

[IX-52] Vol. ii., pp. 93-5.

[IX-53] Ixtlilxochitl, p. 280, gives the southern boundaries as Huimolan, Acalan, Vera Paz, and Nicaragua; the northern as the Gulf of California and Pánuco; makes the empire cover all the ancient Toltec territory, and incorrectly includes besides the north-western states, those of Tabasco and Guatemala. Herrera, dec. ii., lib. vii., cap. xiii; lib. ix., cap. i.; agrees with the limits I have given, and shows that Goazacoalco and Tabasco never belonged to the empire. Aztecs never subdued the region about Zacatecas. Arlegui, Chrón. Zacatecas, p. 9. Clavigero, tom. iv., pp. 267-9, tells us that the empire stretched on the Pacific from Soconusco to Colima; that Chiapas was only held by a few garrisons on the frontier; that the province of Tollan was the north-western limit; Tusapan the north-eastern, Pánuco and the Huastecs never having been subdued; Goazacoalco was the south-eastern bound.

[IX-54] On Nezahualpilli’s death see:—Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 216-17; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 282, 388, 410; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 452-5; Duran, MS., tom. ii., cap. lxiv.; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 363-4; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 294-5; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 178-9. Several authors make the date 1516; Duran says ten years before the coming of the Spaniards, or in 1509.

[IX-55] See p. 451 of this volume.

[IX-56] Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 282-3, 410, and Torquemada, tom. i., p. 221, are the chief authorities on the succession of Cacama. The former records a report, which he doubts, that Nezahualpilli before his death indicated as his successor a younger son, Yoiontzin. He implies that Cacama was an illegitimate son and had no claim to the throne, but was forced on the Acolhua nobles against their will by Montezuma. Torquemada, on the other hand, makes Cacama the oldest son and legitimate heir, not mentioning the existence of Tetlahuehuetquizitzin, and does not imply that Montezuma had any undue influence in the choice of a new king. Duran, MS., tom. ii., cap. lxiv., and Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., p. 179, give an entirely different version of the matter. They say that the Acolhua lords were summoned to Mexico and invited by Montezuma to select their new king. When they told him there were five competent sons—only two of whose names, Cohuanacoch and Ixtlilxochitl, are identical with those named by other authorities—he advised the election of Quetzalacxoyatl, who was therefore elected and proved a faithful subject of the Mexican king. He only lived a few days, however, and was succeeded by his brother Tlahuitoltzin, and he, after a few years, by Cohuanacoch, during whose reign the Spaniards arrived. See also, Brasseur, Hist., tom. iv., pp. 14-21; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 367-9; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 297-9; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 43-4; Herrera, dec. iii., lib. i., cap. i.

[IX-57] On the voyage of Córdova, see: Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 349-51; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 3-8; Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. i-ii.; Herrera, dec. ii., lib. ii., cap. xvii.; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 1-5; Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 49-52; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 222-4; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 60-1.

[IX-58] On Ixtlilxochitl’s revolt and the treaty with Cacama, see: Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 369-75; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 299-302; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 223-7; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iv., pp. 21-3, 36-7; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 44; Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 283-4.

[IX-59] Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., pp. 189-91; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 172-5; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 197, 201, 228; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iv., pp. 23-7; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 280-2; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 325, 328-31, 375-6; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., pp. 45-6.

[IX-60] Codex Chimalp., in Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 34-6.

[IX-61] Torquemada, tom. i., p. 228; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 376-7; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 46.

[IX-62] On Grijalva’s voyage, see:—Diaz, Itinerario, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., pp. 281-307; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 6-11; Peter Martyr, dec. iv., lib. iii-iv.; Navarrete, Col. de Viages, tom. iii., pp. 55-64; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 811, 568; Herrera, dec. ii., lib. iii., cap. i-ii.; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 351-8; Prescott’s Mex., vol. i., pp. 224-8.

[IX-63] Torquemada, tom., i., pp. 378-80; Acosta, Hist. de las Ynd., pp. 515-16; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 377-8; Duran, MS., tom. ii., cap. lxix-lxx.; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 189-94; Herrera, dec. ii., lib. iii., cap. ix.

Chapter X • History of the Eastern Plateau, Michoacan, and Oajaca • 19,500 Words

Early History of the Eastern Plateau—The Chichimec-Toltecs—Arrival of the Teo-Chichimecs in Anáhuac—They Conquer and Settle the Eastern Plateau—Civil Wars—Miscellaneous Events—Wars between Tlascala and the Nations of Anáhuac—Early History of Michoacan—Wars between Wanacaces and Tarascos—Founding of Tzintzuntzan—Metamorphosis of the Tarasco Princes—Encroachments of the Wanacaces—The King of the Isles—Murder of Pawacume and Wapeani—Reigns of Curatame, Tariacuri, Tangaxoan I., Ziziz Pandacuare, Zwanga, and Tangaxoan II.—Origin of the Miztecs and Zapotecs—Wixipecocha—Rulers of Oajaca—The Huaves and Mijes—Later Kings and History of Oajaca—Wars with Mexico.

Although all that is known of the history of the eastern plateau prior to the fall of the Toltec empire has been already told, it will be well to briefly review the events of that period before referring to the Chichimec occupation of the region under consideration.

The earliest inhabitants of the plateau of whom we have any definite knowledge were the Olmecs, one of the oldest of the Nahua nations, who appear to have settled the country about Puebla and Cholula with the permission of the Quinames, or giants, the original possessors, and to have been so badly treated by them that at length, by a stratagem, they slew their oppressors and became sole masters of the country. Next we hear of the erection of the great pyramid of Cholula by Xelhua, an Olmec chief; then of the advent and subsequent disappearance of Quetzalcoatl, the culture hero and reformer, who is not to be confounded with Ceacatl Quetzalcoatl, king of Tollan and afterwards of Cholula, who appeared on the scene at a much later period and was also a great reformer. After this, history is silent concerning the Olmecs until the founding of the Toltec empire, when we find them still flourishing on the eastern plateau with Cholula for their capital city. Then the king of Culhuacan, Mixcohua, better known as Camaxtli, under which name he was subsequently apotheosized and worshiped on the plateau, directs a military expedition towards Chalchiuhapan, afterwards Tlascala, which seems to have been founded about this time. But the most notable event of this pre-Chichimec history of the plateau, and the one which most advanced its importance and prosperity, was the coming of Ceacatl Quetzalcoatl, son of Camaxtli, to Cholula, in 895, after he was forced from his throne at Tollan by the ambitious Tezcatlipoca, or Huemac. As has been already stated, this event was the beginning of a new and golden era in the eastern region, which lasted, if we except the conquest and temporary subjection of Cholula by Huemac, up to the time of the Toltec troubles, in which Cholula and her sister cities on the plateau doubtless shared, though to what extent is not certain; at all events they were not deserted as the Toltec cities in the valley are traditionally reported to have been at the time of the Chichimec invasion.

Chichimecs at Cholula

Brasseur has an account, drawn from one of his manuscripts,[X-1]Historia Tulteca, Peintures et Annales, en langue nahutl, coll. Aubin. of the taking of Cholula shortly after the fall of the Toltec empire by a tribe which he calls the Chichimec-Toltecs, and the subsequent settlement of the greater part of the plateau by this and other fierce bands, the original inhabitants being driven out of the country. This relation is, however, of doubtful authenticity, and is, moreover, irreconcilable with other statements made by the same writer;[X-2]See Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 361-3. it seems, in short, to stand by itself, as an episode recorded in one obscure manuscript only, and having no connection whatever with the events that precede or follow it. The account relates that among the fierce hordes that contributed to the downfall of Tollan, was one which, from the fact of its settling in the ruined capital, and possibly founding a temporary power there, received the name of Chichimec-Toltec. After the death of Huemac III. this band left Tollan, under the leadership of Icxicohuatl, Quetzaltehueyac, Totolohuitzil, and other chiefs,[X-3]Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., p. 150, vaguely mentions an expedition said to have been made to Cholula under chiefs bearing similar names to the above, but he gives no details or dates. and after ravaging the country about lake Tenochtitlan, entered the mountains to the east of the valley of Anáhuac, and there wandered about for a number of years without making any permanent settlement. When next heard of they were encamped near Cholula, their numbers greatly reduced by famine or pestilence, and in a very wretched condition. Weary of their wandering life and not strong enough to take forcible possession of one of the rich provinces of the plateau, or even to forage for their subsistence, they resolved to humble themselves before the princes of Cholula, and implore their protection and assistance. Their small number and apparently broken spirit, caused their prayer to be granted with more readiness than they had expected, and the fierce warriors, who in former times had made the kings of Anáhuac tremble upon their thrones, were now scornfully admitted into Cholula as men too weak to be feared and upon the footing of slaves and servants. But a few years of rest and abundance roused the old spirit in the Chichimec-Toltecs, and made them burn to throw off their self-imposed yoke, and avenge the insults to which they were constantly subjected by their masters. To obtain this end, they resorted to a very ingenious stratagem, suggested it is said, by their national god, Tezcatlipoca. A deputation waited upon the Tlachiach and Aquiach, the two chief princes of Cholula, and begged permission to give a public entertainment, the chief feature of which should be their national ballad and dance. For the proper performance of this they must, however, be supplied with their old weapons, which, since their arrival in Cholula, had been shut up in the city arsenal. Their petition was readily granted, great preparations were made, and on the appointed day all the people assembled to witness the novel spectacle. The Tlachiach and Aquiach were present, surrounded by their suites and a vast number of the nobility. The entertainment opened with certain comic representations, which made the spectators roar with laughter, and excited them to drink freely and be merry. Then the Chichimec warriors dressed in full war costume and bearing their weapons in their hands, formed themselves into a great circle, with the teponaztli player in the centre, and the solemn mitote commenced. At first the music was low and sad, and the dancers moved with slow and measured steps, but gradually the pace grew faster, and the deep voices of the warriors as they chanted their battle song mingled with the sound of the teponaztli. Higher and still higher the shouts arose, accompanied now by terrible gestures and brandishing of weapons; more madly yet the circle whirled, until it was impossible to distinguish one form from another; then, on a sudden, the note of the teponaztli changed and became low and sad once more. This was the signal for the massacre; in a moment the mock fury became a terrible reality, as the Chichimecs turned and fell upon the unarmed and half-drunk spectators. A dreadful slaughter ensued, and the streets of the city ran red with human blood. The Tlachiach and Aquiach managed to escape, and took refuge with a few of their relatives and friends within the walls of Yancuitlalpan, which became for the time their residence. By night the Chichimec-Toltecs were masters of Cholula. The news of this victory soon attracted other savage tribes; the original inhabitants were driven from place to place, and at the end of a few years, the entire country “from the shores of the gulf of Mexico to the mountains which encircled the port of Acapulco,” had changed masters.[X-4]Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 363-70.

Teo-Chichimec Annals

With the arrival of the Teo-Chichimecs in Anáhuac, the history proper of the eastern plateau begins. This people, as has been said, was one of the invading bands that appear about the same time as the Nahuatlaca tribes, with whom they are classed by some writers. According to Camargo, the Tlascaltec historian, they were at Chicomoztoc in 5 Tochtli; thence they journeyed by way of Amaquetepec and Tepenec to Tomallan, which they conquered; then with great difficulty they fought their way through Culhuacan, passed into Teotla Cochoalco, and so on to Teohuiznahuac, where their march was opposed by Queen Coatlicue, who, however, after a severe struggle was forced to come to terms. They next advanced to Hueypuchtlan, and then to Tepozotlan, where the principal chiefs received certain military honors and adopted new names. After passing with many halts through other provinces they finally arrived in the vicinity of Tezcuco, in the year 2 Tecpatl, where they were well received by the king, and assigned the plain of Poyauhtlan as a place of encampment.[X-5]Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., pp. 138-9, 145-6. Veytia states that a great number of the Teo-Chichimecs, who did not like to settle in a locality surrounded by so many people, passed on into the country east of the Valley of Mexico, where they spread over Tlascala, Huexotzinco, and Cholula,[X-6]Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 108-9. which were probably occupied at that time by the remnants of the Olmecs and Xicalancas, who had formerly been subject to the Toltec empire.

Teo-Chichimec Migration

Notwithstanding the settlers at Poyauhtlan met with no opposition on their arrival, and even appear to have been well received, their presence soon became a source of great uneasiness to all the surrounding nations. At first they behaved themselves well enough, and as they gave no cause for complaint, were left undisturbed in their new country for a number of years; but as time progressed, and their numbers increased, they began to encroach upon and ravage the adjoining territories. This led to reprisals and bloody encounters, until at length the evil grew to be unbearable, and was finally put an end to by the famous battle of Poyauhtlan, and the departure of the Teo-Chichimecs to join their countrymen upon the eastern plateau, in the year 1272. Their real reason for leaving the country was doubtless their weakened condition, for though they had nominally won the battle of Poyauhtlan, yet it had been but a Cadmean victory for them, and they knew that another such engagement must infallibly result in their annihilation. But be this as it may, their god Camaxtli spoke opportunely through the mouth of his priests, saying, “arise, depart from hence, for the dawn of your greatness shall not break in this place, neither shall the sun of your splendor rise here.” But the strongest proof that the Teo-Chichimecs emigrated because their enemies were too strong for them, lies in the fact that they found it necessary to ask the king of Tezcuco for permission to leave the country, though Camargo gives as an excuse for their submission that they wished to be able to call upon him for assistance, should they meet with reverses in their intended journey beyond the mountains. The king of Tezcuco, doubtless delighted to get rid of such troublesome neighbors, not only gave the desired permission, but granted them safe conduct through his dominions and furnished them with trusty guides who were to conduct them by the safest passes to the summit of the range, and thence to point them out their road toward the east. No time was lost in setting out, and soon the whole Teo-Chichimec nation was marching eastward. Their guides led them to the peak of Tlalocan, from which elevation they overlooked an immense extent of country. Behind them the Lake of Mexico sparkled in the midst of the valley of Anáhuac, before them lay the fertile provinces of Tlascala, Huexotzinco, and Cholula. Descending to the plain they gave vent to their joy in feasts and rejoicings, and offered thanks to their god Camaxtli, who had delivered them from their enemies and brought them into such a fair land. It is related, however, that the entire nation did not ascend the peak. A large party under the leadership of Chimalcuixintecuhtli refused to climb the great eastern range, and proceeded northwards to Tulancingo, Quauhchinanco, and other neighboring provinces which they found to be already colonized by Macuilacatltecuhtli, a kinsman of Chimalcuixintecuhtli, who welcomed the wanderers with every mark of friendship, and as an especial token of his favor conferred wives upon their chiefs.[X-7]Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., pp. 142-7; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 260-1; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 154; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 357-60.

Meantime the larger portion of the emigrants pressed forward into the eastern country. They seem to have kept together until they reached a place called Tetliyacac,[X-8]Spelled Tetliyucatl by Camargo. Torquemada, tom. i., p. 262, says that a separation took place previously at Tepapayecan. Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., p. 150, may possibly imply the same, but he is very confused at this point. situated near Huexotzinco, where they separated into several divisions, and dispersed in various directions. Most of the surrounding cities and provinces fell into their hands one after another, and before long they had gained possession of the best part of the country. Thus the province of Quauhquelchula was appropriated by Toquetzal and Yohuallatonac, and the town of Coatepec was founded by Quetzalxiuhtli;[X-9]Torquemada, tom. i., p. 262. Camargo says that Coatepec was founded in the province of Quauhquelchula by the three last named chiefs; this is, however, probably a mistake of the French translator. Brasseur says Coatepec ‘se soumettait à Quetzalxiuhtli.’ Hist., tom. ii., p. 372. another band went to Ahuayopan, where a bloody fray took place among them, which caused a chief named Izcohuatl to separate from the rest and settle in Zacatlan. Tetzitzimitl founded, or took possession of Totollan; Quauhtzintecuhtli settled in Atlmayoacan; Cozcaquauh Huehue established himself in the Teopan district; Tlotlitecuhtli went a little lower down; Tempatlahuac settled in the Contlan district; Cacamatecuhtli in the Xaltepetlapan district; Calpan surrendered to Toltecatltecuhtli; Cimatecuhtli obtained Totomihuacan; Totomalotecuhtli gained possession of Tepeaca.[X-10]Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., p. 373, calls this chief Quauhtliztac.

For several years the Teo-Chichimecs continued to extend their settlements over the entire plateau. Some of the provinces yielded without a struggle, others offered a desperate resistance, but though the invaders occasionally met with a temporary repulse, their arms were always victorious in the end. At Nacapahuazcan they were visited by certain Chichimec chiefs who are said to have preceded them on the plateau, and who instructed the new-comers how to cook meat in earthen pots which they presented to them.[X-11]Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., pp. 151-2. These chiefs were named Totolohuizil and Quetzaltehuyacixcotl, and are the same as those mentioned by Camargo on p. 150, as having arrived at Cholula in the year 1 Acatl. They are also identical with the Chichimec-Toltec chiefs who, according to Brasseur’s account, already recorded, conquered Cholula by a stratagem soon after the Toltec fall. See ante, pp. 485-6. Speaking of their visit to the Teo-Chichimecs at Necapahuazcan, Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., p. 372, calls them the “nouveaux seigneurs de Cholula.” But it is evident from the context that Camargo does not regard them as such, notwithstanding what he has said about their arrival in 1 Acatl. Here they conferred the dignity of Tecuhtli upon a number of warriors who had distinguished themselves. They next proceeded towards the plain of Cholula, but their passage through the mountains was opposed by the Tlachiach and Aquiach, who refused to let them enter their country. They met with a very haughty response, however, in which the Teo-Chichimecs expressed their determination to continue their march in spite of all opposition. Upon this the Cholultec princes retreated, and the invaders advanced without hindrance. At Tepeticpac, a city strongly fortified by art and nature, their progress was again stayed by the Olmec prince, Colopechtli, but after a desperate resistance the city was taken and its brave defender slain. Struck by the advantageous position of this place, the Teo-Chichimec leader, Quanez,[X-12]Called ‘Colhua-Teuctli-Quanez, le vainqueur de Poyauhtlan,’ and Culhua-Teuctli, by Brasseur; and Culhuatecuhtli and Aculhua Tecuhtli by Camargo. resolved to found his capital here. The city was first known as Texcalticpac, then as Texcalla, and finally as Tlaxcallan, or Tlascala.[X-13]Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., pp. 136, 152-4, 164; Veytia, tom. ii., p. 175; Herrera, dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xii; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 263.

Conquest of Cholula

So far everything had gone well with the invaders. While they were united and occupied themselves only in driving the rightful possessors from the soil they had experienced a succession of brilliant conquests. But, as is usual in such cases, they had no sooner got possession of the country than they began to quarrel among themselves. Quanez was the first to give rise to a jealous feeling. He had fortified his position at Tlascala more strongly than ever, and seemed disposed to aim at the sovereignty of the plateau. To this his brother chiefs at Huexotzinco and other places would not submit. Each wanted to be independent in the territory he had won, and they clamored for a distinct division of the soil. Quanez, however, persisted in his ambitious designs and soon confirmed their suspicions by his acts. Upon this the other chiefs held a consultation which resulted in their uniting their forces and marching upon Tlascala. It seems that they were met by Quanez, who, however, was defeated in the engagement that ensued and forced to retreat to his stronghold, where he was closely besieged by his enemies.[X-14]Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., p. 154. The Tlascaltecs did not remain shut up within their walls, however, but made frequent and furious sallies against the besiegers. The horrors of these engagements, in which fathers fought against sons, and brothers against brothers, are dilated upon by the historians. All efforts were unavailing, outpost after outpost was lost to the enemy until the Tlascaltecs were finally driven within the walls of the city proper, without any hope of escape. In this extremity Quanez managed to secretly dispatch messengers to the king of Tezcuco and to the princes of Xochimilco[X-15]Brasseur writes Xicochimalco. and Xalpan, requesting assistance. The Tezcucan monarch promptly responded to the call with a considerable force, under the command of a valiant chief named Chinametl, and at the same time sent the beleaguered Quanez a valuable alabaster vase as an encouraging token of regard. This re-inforcement, together with certain prophecies delivered by the oracle of Camaxtli, re-assured the Tlascaltecs, and they at once set about strengthening their position.

In the meantime Xiuhtlehui, prince of Huexotzinco, who commanded the allied troops, seeing the aid obtained by the enemy, and fearing that the victory which had seemed so certain during the earlier part of the campaign, was slipping out of his hands, sent messengers to Coxcoxtli, king of Culhuacan,[X-16]‘Coxcoxtli, roi de Culhuacan, qui gouvernait alors, avec ses propres états, les Mexicains établis dans le voisinage de sa capitale, et les Tépanèques d’Azcapotzalco, est le seul prince à qui se puisse rapporter l’événement dont il s’agit ici, Tezozomoc n’ayant régné que beaucoup plus tard.’ Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., p. 409; see also note on p. 410 of same work. Camargo says that Xiuhtlehui sent for aid to ‘Matlatlihuitzin, qui régnait alors à Mexico.’ Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., p. 156. Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 197-201, states that he sent to Acamapichtli II, Matlatlihuitzin being probably a surname borne by that prince. Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 264-5, and Clavigero, tom. i., p. 155, agree with Camargo in the name, but speak of the prince as being Tepanec. imploring his aid, and expatiating on the strongest terms on the harm wrought by the Tlascaltecs. Coxcoxtli was much puzzled how to act; he was on friendly terms with both parties, and perhaps, as Camargo says, he was afraid of the Tlascaltecs. At length, after carefully considering the matter, he adopted a very cautious policy. He instructed the Huexotzinca envoys to tell their master that he would send an army as required, but no sooner had they departed than he sent a message to the Tlascaltec chief, greeting him in the most friendly terms, and informing him of the application he had received and the promise he had given. This promise, he said, he was bound to keep, but only as a matter of form; his troops should take no active part against the Tlascaltecs, who, he begged, in their turn, would take care not to injure his soldiers.

War Between Tlascala and Huexotzinco

Flattered by this proof of friendship, Quanez returned his thanks to Coxcoxtli with assurances that the latter’s troops should suffer no harm at his hands. The Tlascaltecs then prepared to meet the expected attack, and all the people attended an elaborate ceremony for the purpose of beseeching the protection and aid of their god Camaxtli. The answer of the god was favorable; he exhorted them to take courage and fear nothing, for they should surely be triumphant, and directed them to seek for a virgin having one breast larger than the other, and sacrifice her in his honor, which was done.

On the third day, when the last of the propitiatory ceremonies had been completed, the Tlascaltecs turned their attention towards the enemy; and, behold, the hills and plains, far and near, were swarming with hostile troops. Coxcoxtli’s auxiliaries had arrived and were posted as a reserve on a neighboring mountain, where they remained inactive during the combat that ensued. At this sight the hearts of the valiant Tlascaltecs sank within them, and they sought and obtained renewed assurances of divine favor. Scarcely had they done so when the battle commenced. At the first shock the Tlascaltecs captured a warrior, who was hurried to Camaxtli’s altar, and sacrificed in their horrible manner. The battle soon raged furiously, the air was black with stones, arrows, and javelins, the rocks resounded with the war-cries of the combatants, blood flowed in torrents. Cheered on by their high-priest, and strong in their faith in the oracles that had promised them victory, the Tlascaltecs were irresistible, and soon drove the enemy before them. Before long the rout became general, and a terrible carnage ensued, the like of which could be found only, say the annals, upon the bloody plain of Poyauhtlan. In the meantime Coxcoxtli’s troops descended from the hill from which they had witnessed the whole battle, and quietly retreated to Anáhuac, without in any way succoring the defeated army.

This great victory made the Tlascaltecs much respected, and all the neighboring nations hastened to congratulate Quanez upon his success and proffer him their alliance, while the conquered people humbly confessed that they had been in the wrong and prevailed upon the elated victor to pardon their presumptuous conduct. Thus Tlascala became the most powerful state on the plateau, a position which it enjoyed for some time in peace.[X-17]Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. cxviii., pp. 154-63; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 264-8; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 154-5; Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 200-12; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 405-18.

Eastern Alliance

It was about this time, or shortly afterward, that disturbances occurred in Cholula, of which there is more than one account. Brasseur relates that the ancient inhabitants of the city, who had groaned for a number of years under the Teo-Chichimec yoke, and whose principal men had long been in exile, resolved at length to make an effort to recover their freedom. They applied to Coxcoxtli of Culhuacan for aid, and as a sure inducement appealed to his piety, by reminding him that Cholula was in a spiritual sense the daughter of Quetzalcoatl, while in a temporal sense she was the vassal of the kings of Culhuacan, whom she had never ceased to venerate as sovereigns. Coxcoxtli granted their petition and at once sent a force to their assistance. The Teo-Chichimecs who were in power at Cholula, had leagued themselves with the Huexotzincas, against Tlascala, but since their humiliation, for some reason or other, they had concentrated at Quauhquelchula, where they continued to oppress the followers of Ceacatl. The lineal descendants of the high-priests of Quetzalcoatl were Iztantzin and Nacazpipilolxochi; they managed to interest in their favor the prince of Tlascala, by referring to the great things he had done to the honor of Camaxtli, and reminding him that this god was the father of Quetzalcoatl; was it not the duty of the Tlascaltecs, they added, to do all in their power to restore the ancient worship of the prophet and deliver his ministers from their banishment. This crafty argument had the desired effect. An alliance was concluded between the Cholultecs and the neighboring states of Tlascala, Huexotzinco, Totomihuacan, Tepeaca, Quauhtecan, and Quauhtinchan, and the exiled ministers of Quetzalcoatl were solemnly conducted back to the sacred city. The towns of the territory of Cholula were then subjected to the Toltec authority, as of old, and the Teo-Chichimecs of Quauhquelchula, Cuetlaxcoapan, and Ayotzinco, hitherto leagued together against Iztantzin, were forced to recognize him as their suzerain. These events occurred between the years 1280 and 1299.[X-18]Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 418-19. Veytia’s story of this disturbance in Cholula is that Quauhquelchula, Cuetlaxcoapan, Ayotzinco, and some other places in the province rose in rebellion against the high-priest Iztamantzin,[X-19]Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., p. 349, writes Iztamatzin, and on p. 216, Yztacima. who called upon Xiuhtemoc, king of Culhuacan, for assistance. The force furnished by this monarch was divided into two parts, one led by himself, the other by Nacazpipilolxochi. With this army the insurgents were finally humbled, though not without considerable bloodshed, and after the campaign had lasted nearly a year.[X-20]Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 154-5; Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 216, 349. After the return of its priests Cholula quickly regained its ancient prosperity. The old laws were enforced and the executive authority was entrusted to a military chief, who was assisted in his duties by a council of six nobles, and this form of government was preserved until the time of the Conquest. From this time the city was rarely troubled with wars, but was respected and held in veneration as a sacred place of pilgrimage by all the surrounding peoples.[X-21]Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 419-20.

The peace which followed the victory over the Huexotzincas and their allies gave the Tlascaltecs an opportunity to turn their attention to more peaceful pursuits. Their position as leading nation on the plateau was now assured, and for a time they devoted themselves to the furtherance of culture and commerce, fixing boundaries and granting lands to those who had deserved them by their conduct in the late wars. After remaining under one head for several years the government took the form of a sort of aristocratic republic. It was about this time that Tlascala was divided into four wards, or districts. Quanez had a brother named Teyohualminqui, to whom, in his old age, he made over the district of Ocotelulco,[X-22]Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., p. 164. Veytia, tom. ii., p. 213, considers this account wrong. Culhua Tecuhtli Quanez, he says, who is Xiuhquetzaltzin, the younger brother of Quinantzin of Tezcuco, had no brother by that name, or, none who would have joined him in Tlascala—he disregards the fact, as related by himself, that Xiuhquetzaltzin must have ruled over a hundred years already. It is therefore much more probable, as related by other writers, he continues, that Quanez left his own district of Tepeticpac or Texcalticpac to his eldest son, as will be seen, and Ocotelulco to his second son, Cuicuetzcatl, ‘swallow;’ he ruled jointly with his brother, and left the succession to his son Papalotl, ‘butterfly,’ who was followed by his brother Teyohualminqui, the above-named personage. He thinks the above two rulers have been omitted because of their brief rule. Others, he continues, relate that Mitl divided the rule with his brother. Ixtlilxochitl, p. 344, says that the Tlascaltec rulers descended from Xiuhguzaltzin. Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 143, though he cites Camargo as his authority, states that Quanez associated his brother with himself on the throne, and divided the town and territory of Tlascala with him. Teyohualminqui then chose Ocotelulco as his place of residence. giving him at the same time a part of the relics of Camaxtli, which were so highly venerated as to constitute in themselves a gift no less princely than the lands.

Reign of Quanez

This prince so distinguished himself and enlarged his domain by his bravery and conquests that he eventually came to be regarded as chief of the whole nation. Another district, called Quiahuiztlan,[X-23]Called also Tlapitzahuacan. was granted by Quanez to a chief named Mizquitl, who, according to Camargo, had been one of the leaders of the Chichimecs who went north after the battle of Poyauhtlan instead of crossing the eastern range. He had led his band northwards to Tepetlaoztoc, whence he had subsequently come to Tlascala, arriving there in time to assist Quanez against the Huexotzincas. It was for this service that the district was awarded him. These were three of the four wards, for the part that Quanez reserved for himself formed one, probably the largest at that time, and was called Tepeticpac. The history of the events which led to the foundation of the fourth district is much confused. Camargo relates that Acatentehua, grandson of Teyohualminqui, and third lord of Ocotelulco, after reigning mildly for some time, suddenly became tyrannical. Tlacomihua, one of his nobles, raised a revolt, killed him, and succeeded to the throne of Ocotelulco. These events led to the disaffection of one Tzompane, who went with his followers to a part of Tepeticpac, and there established a separate government. He was succeeded by his son Xayacamachan, otherwise called Tepolohua, who was afterwards massacred, together with all his relations. The next rulers were Aztoguihua Aquiyahuacatl and Zococ Aztahua Tlacaztalli, the latter of whom went with his followers to the heights of Tianazatlan, where he founded Tcatlaiz. His grandson, Xicotencatl, was reigning at the time of Cortes’ arrival.[X-24]Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., pp. 165-72. According to Brasseur, who follows Torquemada principally, a number of the inhabitants of the two oldest quarters, Tepeticpac and Ocotelulco, finding themselves too crowded, descended into the neighboring valley of Teotlalpan, where they constituted a separate government under a chief named Tepolohua.[X-25]Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 143-4, makes Tzompane, Xayacamachan, and Tepolohua, one and the same person. Camargo, as we have seen, speaks of them as father and son. Torquemada, tom. i., p. 275, combines two of the names, Xayacamachantzompane. The number of people that deserted the higher districts for the pleasant valley, excited the jealousy of the other chiefs. They united their forces, descended upon the young settlement, and killed Tepolohua. The followers of the late chief then departed to Tizatlan where they founded a seigniory which continued to thrive in peace up to the reign of Xicotencatl, who was ruling when the Spaniards came. At Tepeticpac the descendants of Quanez continued to reign, and were regarded as ranking first in the state. It was at this epoch that the united districts of Tlascala adopted the peculiar form of government described in a former volume,[X-26]See vol. ii. of this work, p. 141. and that Nezahualcoyotl paid his first visit to the republic, in 1420.

The history of the plateau grows very dim and disconnected from this time on, and has light thrown upon it only here and there, as it happens to be connected with the more important affairs of the Aztec empire, which seems to have engrossed the attention of the historians.

Miscellaneous Events

Almost all that is known of the events that remain to be recorded has already been told. We have seen that in 1428 Nezahualcoyotl, fleeing for his life from Maxtla, took refuge for a second time in Huexotzinco and Cholula, and was aided by the people of these and other places on the plateau to recover his father’s throne at Tezcuco.[X-27]See pp. 387-8, of this volume. In 1451-6 came the great famine, when the terrible compact was made between the people of the plateau and those of Anáhuac for the provision of human sacrifices.[X-28]Id., p. 414. Then followed the war between the Miztecs and the allied powers, in which the Tlascaltecs and Huexotzincas espoused the cause of the former.[X-29]Id., p. 416. We next find the restless Tlascaltecs stirring up a war between the Mexicans and the Olmecs of Cuetlachtlan, allying themselves with the latter and sharing in their defeat.[X-30]Id., p. 417. Shortly before the year 1460 several important cities upon the southern part of the plateau, at the instigation of the Tlascaltecs and Huexotzincas, killed some Mexican merchants, were instantly attacked by the powers of the valley, reduced to the rank of Mexican provinces, and appended to Montezuma’s empire.[X-31]Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 269. About the year 1469 Axayacatl, the Mexican monarch, having some cause of complaint against the people of Huexotzinco and Atlixco, invaded their country, and in the battle that ensued the Mexicans, encouraged by the miraculous appearance of Tezcatlipoca, routed their enemies.[X-32]See this vol., p. 426. During the reign of Nezahualpilli, Huexotzinco was again troubled, the reason for the war this time being, as we have seen, the predictions of the astrologers that Huehuetzin was fated to vanquish the Tezcucan monarch—predictions which Nezahualpilli falsified, in their literal meaning at least, by a stratagem.[X-33]Id., pp. 437-8. Ahuitzotl of Mexico is said by Camargo to have invaded the plateau and conquered Huexotzinco and Cholula,[X-34]Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., p. 178. and it would appear that this fierce king did not leave the country empty handed, for of the eighty thousand human victims immolated by him at the dedication of the temple of Huitzilopochtli in 1487, we read that sixteen thousand were Huexotzincas.[X-35]Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 341. His own nephew was afterwards taken captive in one of the numerous battles or skirmishes which seem to have been constantly occurring on the borders of the plateau, principally at Atlixco, and offered as a sacrifice on the altar of Camaxtli.[X-36]See this vol., p. 443. In 1498, an altercation arose between the lords of Cholula and Tepeaca, which led to a series of combats between those states. The Cholultecs sought and obtained the aid of Ahuitzotl, and we are left to suppose that they then triumphed over their enemies. But the Mexican emperor received a severe check soon afterwards at Atlixco. The close proximity of that town to the valley made it desirable for annexation to the empire. Ahuitzotl accordingly entered its territory suddenly with a considerable force. The Atlixcas gathered what troops they could to oppose the Mexicans, and at once dispatched messengers to their allies at Huexotzinco for aid. One of the Huexotzinca captains, named Tultecatl, who was playing at ball when the news arrived, hurried off with a few followers to the scene of combat without even taking time to arm himself. Without hesitation he plunged into the thick of the fight, slew a warrior with his hands, seized his arms, and threw himself with such fury upon the Mexicans that they were soon routed and forced to abandon the field. For this valorous conduct Tultecatl was made ruler of a Huexotzinca town. But in little more than a year events occurred which obliged him to retire from his post. For some time past the priests of his town had been indulging all manner of excesses with impunity; entering and pillaging houses with the greatest effrontery; taking away the women’s clothes while they were bathing; insulting the men; and, in short, taking advantage of their sacred character to commit every conceivable species of outrage. Tultecatl attempted to put a stop to this disorder, and punish its authors. For this purpose he armed a number of the most respectable citizens. But the priests also took up arms, and excited the populace in their favor. It is said that Camaxtli aided his servants by various enchantments, which so frightened the citizens that they retreated in dismay. A great number of the nobles with their followers, then betook themselves to Itzcohuatl, lord of a neighboring province, to whom they related the cause of their leaving Huexotzinco. But Itzcohuatl was a creature of Ahuitzotl, at whose hands he had received the lordship he now enjoyed; he betrayed the refugees to his master, by whom they were all put to death.[X-37]Torquemada, tom. i., p. 191; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 38; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 259-60; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 375-7; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 297-9.

Adventures of Tultecatl

Immediately after the accession of Montezuma II., Atlixco became once more the seat of war. This unfortunate city seems to have been regarded by the kings of the valley as the proper place to attack whenever they required human victims for sacrifice. It was customary for the kings of Anáhuac before they were formally crowned to make a raid upon some neighboring nation for the purpose of obtaining captives that their blood might grace the coronation ceremonies. This was the cause of Montezuma’s expedition against Atlixco on the occasion above referred to. He accomplished his end and returned with a great number of prisoners, though the victory seems to have been dearly gained. But the armies of the haughty Montezuma were not always triumphant when they encountered the stronger nations of the plateau, and a short time after the victory at Atlixco they received a serious check at the hands of the Tlascaltecs.

War Between Tlascala and Mexico

For a long time Tlascala had been regarded with much jealousy by the Huexotzincas, Cholultecs, and other nations of the plateau, both because of its great commercial prosperity, and of its successful resistance to the conquering kings of the valley. The Tlascaltecs seem at this period to have given up all hopes of gaining the sovereignty of the entire region—so long the object of their ambition—and to have confined their resources to strengthening their own position, and fortifying their frontiers. Almost all the neighboring states appear at this time to have been either allied to or conquered by the powers in the valley, and consequently the defensive measures adopted by the republic for the preservation of its independence fanned their smouldering envy into flame, so that they took every opportunity to provoke a quarrel between Tlascala and the kings of Anáhuac. They represented that the Tlascaltecs designed to possess themselves of the eastern maritime provinces; that they hindered the merchants of the other nations from trading in those regions, by making secret treaties with the inhabitants. Only too glad of an excuse to humble his ancient enemies, the Mexican monarch was easily prevailed upon to break up the Tlascaltec trade in the east, and this he did so effectually that for a number of years the people of the republic were deprived of the luxuries and even some of the necessaries they had previously enjoyed. At length, weary of these privations, yet not strong enough to better their condition by force, they dispatched an embassy to the Mexican king to inquire the cause of an enmity which they had done nothing to provoke. For answer, they were told contemptuously that the monarch of Mexico was lord of the entire world, and they must pay tribute to him or be prepared to take the consequences. To this they returned a haughty reply, saying that their nation had never payed tribute to any earthly king, and that before submitting to do so now they would shed more blood than their ancestors had shed at Poyauhtlan. They then once more turned all their attention to strengthening their position, and it was probably at this period, says Clavigero, that they built the six-mile wall on the east side of the city. They received considerable assistance from the numerous Zacatec, Chalca, and Otomí refugees, of whom the garrisons on the frontier were chiefly composed. But the privations which they suffered by reason of the stoppage of their intercourse with the surrounding peoples, constantly increased, and for over sixty years, says Torquemada, salt and other staples were unknown to the poorer classes, at least, though the nobles may have fared somewhat better.[X-38]Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., pp. 178-80; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 197-9; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 275-8; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 402-5. The date of these events is not certain, but they probably occurred during the reign of Axayacatl. From the time of the defiance recorded above until the accession of Montezuma II., there appear to have been no important hostilities between the Mexicans and Tlascaltecs, but no sooner had Montezuma ascended the throne of Mexico than he determined to make a grand effort to humble the stout little republic, and forthwith issued a proclamation commanding all his subjects and allies to assist in a general attack. At this time the four lords of Tlascala were Maxixcatzin, who ruled in the district of Ocotelulco; Xicotencatl, in Tizatlan; Teohuayacatzin, in Quiahuiztlan; and Tlehuexolotl, in Tepeticpac. Fifteen years afterwards these four princes received Cortés and his companions within their walls. The Huexotzincas and Cholultecs were the first to begin the war, which may be said to have lasted until the coming of the Spaniards. Failing to bribe the Otomí garrison of Hueyotlipan, on the Tezcucan frontier, to betray their trust, they invaded the Tlascaltec territory under the command of Tecayahuatzin of Huexotzinco, and advanced as far as Xiloxuchitla, within a league of the capital. Here they were met by Tizatlacatzin, a noble chief of Ocotelulco, who with a mere handful of warriors succeeded in checking their farther advance, though at the price of his own life.[X-39]Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 200-1; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 40. According to Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., pp. 182-3, and Clavigero, tom. i., p. 278, the Tlascaltecs were beaten on this occasion. The Tlascaltecs hastened to avenge the death of their brave leader by laying waste the province of Huexotzinco. Shortly afterwards they again encountered the Huexotzincas on the heights of Matlalcueje, and pressed them so hard that Tecayahuatzin sent off in haste to Montezuma for re-inforcements. The Mexican monarch at once responded with a large force under the command of Tlacahuepantzin, his eldest son.[X-40]Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., p. 183; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 279; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 200; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 40; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 406. These authorities say that the Mexican general was Montezuma’s eldest son. But Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., p. 271; and Duran, MS., tom. ii., cap. lvii., Tezozomoc, in Id., p. 160; say that he was Montezuma’s brother. After receiving re-inforcements at Quauhquelchula Tlacahuepantzin proceeded by way of Atlixco valley to effect a union with the Huexotzincas, but the Tlascaltecs, seeing that this must be prevented at all hazards, bore down upon him before he could join his allies with such fury that his army was scattered in all directions. In this battle Tlacahuepantzin was slain and a great spoil fell into the hands of the victors, who probably suffered severely also, as they now returned to their capital to recuperate. But it seems[X-41]Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 278-80; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 201-2; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 40; Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., p. 183; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 324-5. Tlacahuepantzin is regarded by Clavigero as a man appointed to the generalship on account of his birth, and not because he possessed any military ability. Duran, MS., tom. ii., cap. lvii., who makes this a war between Huexotzinco and Mexico, states that he performed wonders on the battlefield, killing over fifty men, but was captured and killed on the field, in accordance with his own request; the body was preserved as the relic of a hero. Other brothers of Montezuma were also killed, and many captives carried to Huexotzinco. Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 160-1, adds that the Aztecs were only one to twenty in number, and that 40,000 warriors fell in the fight. Shortly after, continues Tezozomoc, Ixtlilcuechahuac of Tollan, aided by Aztec troops under three of Montezuma’s cousins attacked the Huexotzincas again; the three cousins were killed, with most of their troops, and the lord of Tollan, who was conspicuous in his fine dress, was also slain; but the Chalcas coming up, the victory turned and the Huexotzincas were compelled to retreat. Id., pp. 165-6; Duran, MS., tom. ii., cap. lviii. After this, the Cholultecs, who had never yet had a war with the Mexicans, says Duran, challenged that people to fight a battle, ‘to give pleasure to the god of battle and to the sun.’ The Mexicans and their allies who, according to Tezozomoc, were opposed by six times the number of Cholultecs, aided by Huexotzincas and Atlixcas, lost 8,200 men; whereupon the fight was discontinued, and the Aztecs went home to mourn. Tezozomoc, pp. 169-70; Duran, MS., tom. ii., cap. lix. Ixtlilxochitl, p. 278, seems to refer to this battle when he says that Montezuma II. agreed with the Atlixcas to leave Macuilmalinatzin, the true heir to the Mexican throne, in the lurch. He accordingly perished with 2,800 of his warriors. Nezahualpilli composed a scathing poem, denouncing this act as a base assassination. that they still managed to keep the Huexotzincas penned up on the heights of Matlalcueje, where they again attacked them with fresh forces the following year. But the delay had also given the Huexotzincas time to recuperate, and to strengthen their naturally advantageous position, so that the worst the Tlascaltecs could do was to ravage the country, and this they did with such effect that many of the Huexotzincas were eventually compelled to migrate to Mexico in quest of food. Tezozomoc makes this a more serious affair. When the Huexotzincas, he says, were hard pressed by the Tlascaltecs, the children and aged of the former people were invited to take refuge in Mexico while the Mexicans with their allies set out to assist the Huexotzincas. For twenty days Tlahuicol, the Tlascaltec general, fought bravely, retreating at the same time before the superior number of the enemy. Finally he was captured in a marsh, his army scattered, and the land restored to the Huexotzincas.[X-42]Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 172-4; Duran, MS., tom. ii., cap. lx.; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 280; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 325-6.

Adventures of Tlahuicol

When Montezuma heard of the defeat of his troops by the Tlascaltecs and the death of his son he was furious, and in a public speech declared that he had hitherto permitted the republic to exist as a supply of captives for sacrifice and for the exercise of his armies[X-43]The truth of this bombastic assertion the Tlascaltec historian, Camargo, denies, and doubtless with reason; as it would be absurd to suppose that the Aztecs would have permitted the existence of such a formidable enemy at their very doors if they could have helped it. Besides, we have seen how often they did their best to subdue Tlascala and failed. but that now he was determined to utterly annihilate the presumptuous and obstinate little state now and forever. The people surrounding Tlascala were ordered to renew the attack on all sides in conjunction with the Aztec troops. But the Tlascaltecs were, as usual, well prepared, and with the aid of the Otomí frontier population, they gained a glorious victory, and rich spoils. At the festivities which ensued in Tlascala, the leaders of the Otomí auxiliaries were rewarded with the title of tecuhtli, while the defeated Mexican captains were, by Montezuma’s orders, deprived of their rank and privileges.[X-44]Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 202-3; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 326-7; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 407-9; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 41; Duran, MS., tom. ii., cap. lxi; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 176-8; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 280; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 497; Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., pp. 184-6. Thus the brave Tlascaltecs preserved their independence in spite of the united efforts of their enemies until the coming of Cortés, when it was their assistance and implacable animosity to the Mexicans that made it possible for a handful of adventurers to conquer a world.

War Between Tezcuco and Tlascala

The above-recorded events occurred about 1505. During the same year, the Huexotzincas and Cholultecs fell out. In an engagement which ensued the former put their enemies to flight and pursued them into Cholula, where they killed a few citizens and did some trifling damage to the temples. Anxious to carry this version of the quarrel to Montezuma before the Cholultecs could tell him another story, they at once despatched an embassy to the emperor. But the messengers mistook their rôle, and in their anxiety to extol the valor of their countrymen they lead Montezuma to believe that the Cholultecs had been utterly annihilated and their city destroyed. The emperor was much disturbed at this news, because he had always been accustomed to regard it as a holy city, secure from destruction. Upon inquiry, however, he learned the true facts, and at once sent a powerful army to punish the Huexotzincas for the deception they had practiced upon him. The Huexotzincas marched out to meet the imperial troops, but an explanation ensued, and the lying ambassadors having been properly punished, Montezuma was pacified.[X-45]Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 209-10; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 284-5; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 418-20; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 338-40. In 1507 the Huexotzincas, as we have seen,[X-46]See this vol., p. 464. became embroiled with the Mexicans once more, on account of their burning the lighthouse at Acachinanco—an offense for which they were severely chastised by Montezuma’s troops.

A war between Tezcuco and Tlascala, which took place a very few years before the conquest, is the latest recorded event in which the people of the plateau were concerned, prior to the coming of the Spaniards. On this occasion Nezahualpilli was urged by Montezuma to join him in making war upon the Tlascaltecs, for the purpose of obtaining victims for sacrifice. It seems that the Mexican monarch was jealous of the greatness of his Tezcucan rival, and planned this war for his destruction.[X-47]Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 280-1, the Tezcucan historian, is the only authority for this account, and it is probable enough that he has exaggerated Montezuma’s treachery. Nezahualpilli, however, suspecting no harm from his colleague, set out with his army towards Tlascala, and camped in the ravine of Tlalpepexic. Montezuma had in the meantime sent word to the Tlascaltecs of the threatened invasion, informing them at the same time that though he was bound, as a matter of form, to accompany Nezahualpilli, his troops would not aid him but rather favor the Tlascaltecs. The latter accordingly formed an ambuscade in the ravine of Tlalpepexic, and in the morning, just as the Tezcucans, warned by certain evil omens of the impending danger, were breaking camp in great haste, they fell upon them furiously, and routed them with great slaughter.

From the eastern plateau we turn now to the kingdom of Michoacan, which lay to the west of Anáhuac. The boundaries of this flourishing state, as they existed at the time of the Conquest, may be easily defined. On the north and north-east the rivers Tololotlan, Pantla, and Coahuayana separated Michoacan from Tonala and Colima; on the west the shores of the Pacific stretched south to Zacatollan; the winding course of the river Mexcala marked the southern frontier; and on the east lay the Mexican provinces of Cohuixco and Matlaltzinco. The face of the country enclosed within these limits presents a series of undulating plains, intersected by numerous mountain chains of varying height. The climate is temperate, the land fertile, well wooded and watered, and was celebrated, even in pre-Spanish times, for its mines of gold and silver.

Early Tarasco Annals

It is a singular fact that the Tarascos, the representative people of Michoacan, though they were certainly equal, if not superior, to their Aztec neighbors in civilization, wealth, and power, have left no record of their history anterior to the thirteenth century, while even the little that is known of their later history is told chiefly by Aztec chroniclers. The origin of the Tarascos[X-48]For etymology of this name, see vol. ii., p. 130. is consequently an unsolved problem. Their civilization seems to have been of the Nahua type, though their language was totally distinct from the Aztec, the representative Nahua tongue.[X-49]Several names of places in the country were, however, of Aztec origin, and even the name Michoacan, ‘place of fish,’ is derived from the Aztec words michin and can. Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., p. 47, says that the original name of the country was Tzintzuntzan, but he translates this, ‘town of green birds.’ Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 52, says Michoacan was ‘le nom que les Mexicains donnaient à la région des Tarasques.’ It is a prevalent opinion that Michoacan formed part of the Toltec empire, and that though from its position it was the first to suffer from the invading tribes, yet it was not affected by the causes which overthrew the empire to such an extent as the valley of Anáhuac; thus this theory would make the Tarascos the very best representatives of the oldest Nahua culture.[X-50]Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., p. 214, mentions a Toltec party that emigrated to the Michoacan region, and dwelt there for a long time. Sahagun, tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 145-6, refers to a Toltec migration as an issue from the same region. Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 39-40, speaks of Toltecs who founded colonies all along the Pacific coast, and gradually changed their language and customs. Orozco mentions the Tecos as being among the earliest inhabitants of Michoacan; the subsequent possessors, he says, took the country from this people about the time that the Toltecs settled in Tollan.[X-51]Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 120, 141. Tello speaks of the Culhuas coming from Aztlan, the home of the Nahuatlacas, and settling in Sonora, Jalisco, and as far south as Etzatlan and Tonala. Gil, commenting on this, expresses a belief that there was a succession of early migrations into this western and north-western region. Thus the Culhuas came from the west and extended along the coast to Zacatollan. They were followed by the Coras, who settled in Acaponeta Valley and as far as Zentipac. Then came the Thorames, who conquered the previous settlers and drove them to Nayarit. Afterwards various Aztec tribes arrived from the north. The first immigrants appear to have been the most civilized, and occupied Tuitlan Valley, founding the city of that name. The next comers erected the Teul temple. Last of all came a ruder people, who destroyed the young culture in places.[X-52]Gil, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. viii., pp. 500-1. But these accounts of the earliest occupation of Michoacan are very meagre and unsatisfactory. The authorities nearly all tell the story of the Aztecs in their migration from the Seven Caves to the valley of Anáhuac, passing through this region and encamping on the shores of Lake Patzcuaro, where they quarrel, in the manner already related,[X-53]See this vol. p. 328. and separate, one portion proceeding to Anáhuac, and the other, bearing the name Tarascos, remaining and settling the country.[X-54]See also Tello’s version of Aztec settlement given by Gil, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. viii., p. 501. As I have already remarked, however, no faith can be placed in this story. The total dissimilarity in language shows the Tarascos to have been a people entirely distinct from the Mexicans. It must not, however, be thought from this that there was any relationship between the Toltec and Tarasco languages. We have already seen that many nations adopted Nahua institutions, who did not speak Nahua dialects.

Herrera states that Michoacan was occupied, during its later years, by four peoples, each having a different origin and language, namely, Chichimecs, Mexicans, Otomís, and Tarascos.[X-55]Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. ix. Of these, says Brasseur, the Chichimecs were savage tribes who lived on the north-east frontier. Though they would not conform to the rules of civilized life, yet they recognized the sovereignty of the Tarasco princes, and lent them their aid in time of war. Their language was the Pame, which is spoken at the present day by the tribes living in the mountains of Tzichu, north-east of Guanajuato. The Mexican population was composed of those Nahuas who had separated from their companions on the march, or who had from various causes been forced to flee from Anáhuac. The Otomís were the primitive nations who dwelt in the valleys west of Anáhuac, including the Mazahuas on the north, and the Matlaltzincas on the south-west.[X-56]Hist., tom. iii., pp. 55-6.

An anonymous manuscript written for Don Antonio de Mendoza, viceroy of New Spain, formerly belonging to the Peter Force collection, in Washington, and quoted by Brasseur de Bourbourg, contains nearly all that is known of the early history of Michoacan.

Chichimec Occupation

At the period when the Chichimecs first made their appearance in Anáhuac and the surrounding regions, Michoacan was settled and its people were civilized. At that time the country was divided into a great number of little states, and the people of the principal of these called themselves Betamas and Ezcomachas. The most powerful of all the chiefs was the king of the isles of Patzcuaro, who bore the title of El Henditare, ‘lord above all,’ and had subjected a number of the surrounding peoples, including some Chichimec tribes, to his authority.

A little to the north of the lake was the independent town and territory of Naranjan, which was governed by a chief named Ziranziran Camaro. It is in the neighborhood of this town that we first meet with the wild Chichimec Wanacaces,[X-57]Called Chichimecas vanáceos by Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 266. led by their chief Iri Ticatame, who bore by virtue of his office the image of their god Curicaneri. All we know of the original home of this people is that, according to their own account, they came from a distant land called Bayameo. They were a wandering race of daring hunters, and seem to have had no particular object in coming to Michoacan other than to find good hunting-grounds. Upon arriving at the borders of the forest of Wiriu Quarampejo, within sight of the city of Naranjan, they halted and built a great altar to their gods as a token that they had found the kind of country they wanted and intended to settle there. The presence of the strangers created a great deal of alarm among the original inhabitants, and this was increased when Iri Ticatame sent word to Ziranziran Camaro that his people must bring fuel to the altar of Curicaneri. Such an insolent demand showed unmistakably that their intentions were not peaceful; and the priests, who in Michoacan had the greatest influence in secular as well as ecclesiastical affairs, at once began to propitiate the gods with sacrifice and prayer, without seeming to think for a moment of the expediency of even parleying with the invaders. But Ziranziran Camaro was more prudent, and calling his hot-headed ministers before him he pointed out to them the hopelessness and folly of engaging in a war with the Wanacaces. The invaders, he argued, would never have dared to make such a demand unless they had been confident of their power to enforce it; it was better to conciliate them than to risk the consequences of an open rupture; finally he proposed that a noble lady, one of his own relations, should be given as a wife to Iri Ticatame. His advice was taken; the people of Naranjan hastened to carry provisions and clothing to the strangers; the lady was conducted to the wild chief’s hut; and the barbarians were appeased.

Of this marriage was born a son named Sicuiracha, who was destined to play an important part in the history of his country. When he was old enough to leave his mother he was entrusted to the care of the priests, to be instructed in all those things which it was necessary for a youth of his country to know. One of his principal duties was to kill game in the forests and bring it to the altars for sacrifice. It happened one day when he was hunting to supply a special feast with offerings, that the quarry escaped to the fields of Quierecuaro, but being mortally wounded it died there, and was found by some women who were gathering maize for the same festival. Now, it seems that to wound game without killing it instantly was thought to forebode evil to the hunter, so that when the news of the discovery was carried to the lord of Naranjan, he at once foresaw the downfall of the Wanacaces, and lost no time before taking council with his priests and nobles upon the subject. It was not long before these things reached the ear of Iri Ticatame, and he appears to have shared in the superstition, for he resolved to change his place of abode without delay. Having announced his intention to his tribe, he departed with his family and the image of Curicaneri to a place named Quereqto, which does not seem to have been far distant; his wife also took her god, Wasoricuare, wrapped up in a rich cloth, to her new home.[X-58]‘Chaque tribu, chaque famille, souvent chaque personne avait son dieu ou ses génies particuliers à peu près comme les teraphim de Laban qu’enlevait à l’insu sa fille Rachel.’ Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 61. Soon afterwards he moved again to Zichajucuero, three leagues from the city of Tzintzuntzan, where he erected a temple and altars.

In the meantime Sicuiracha had grown up and had become a brave warrior and skillful hunter; but his father was now old, while his followers had lost their ancient fierceness and energy by long repose. The people of Naranjan had never forgotten the humiliation they had suffered when the Wanacaces first arrived. Now the time seemed ripe for vengeance.

Iri Ticatame and Oresta

At that time a very powerful prince named Oresta was reigning at Cumachen. An embassy, laden with costly presents, was sent to him from Naranjan, requesting his assistance to drive the Wanacaces out of the country. Oresta had as much reason as any to fear the interlopers, and he readily entered into the scheme. The united forces then marched rapidly and secretly against the place where Iri Ticatame was dwelling, intending to surprise him before he could call upon his warriors. On the borders of the lake they met his wife, who, comprehending the situation at a glance, attempted to run and warn her husband. But they caught her and reproached her with wishing to betray her own people, and prevent them from taking a just vengeance on their enemies. She was a better wife than patriot, however; and eluding the grasp of those who detained her, she fled to warn Iri Ticatame. She arrived too late; the allied troops reached the town before her, and at once began the assault. The venerable chief of the Wanacaces, attacked and surrounded in his own house, defended himself valiantly for some time, but at last overpowered by numbers, he fell dead upon a heap of slain. His wife came up just at this moment, and in spite of all that could be done to prevent her, the devoted woman cast herself upon the body of the fierce old chief and refused to be removed or comforted. The victors then set fire to the place and retired, carrying with them the idol Curicaneri.

Ignorant of the misfortune which had fallen upon his house, Sicuiracha was hunting in a forest at some distance from the doomed town when the news was brought to him. He at once hastened to the spot, but arrived only to find his mother weeping upon the body of his father, amid the blazing buildings. Filled with rage at the sight, and thirsting for vengeance, he wasted no time in useless mourning, but calling together the few warriors who had escaped the massacre, he started in pursuit of the enemy. His force was so small that this seemed an act of madness; but fortune favors the brave. Elated with their victory, or as the old chronicle has it, prompted by the god they had stolen, the allied troops had given themselves up to drunkenness, and in this state the avengers found them. The idol stood neglected at the foot of an oak; seizing this, the Wanacaces rushed furiously upon their fallen foes. A great number were massacred, and the rest were carried in triumph to Wayameo, where Sicuiracha dwelt. For some time they were kept in the condition of slaves, but eventually they were released upon the understanding that their chiefs should recognize the supremacy of Sicuiracha, who now formally took the title of king. The new monarch rapidly increased his territory by conquering and annexing the numerous petty states that lay around it; he built several temples, notably one to Curicaneri, whom he regarded as the author of his greatness; increased the number of priests, and erected dwellings for them about the temples; enforced religious observances; and established his capital at Wayameo, where, after a long and glorious reign, he died, leaving the kingdom to his two sons, Pawacume and Wapeani.

The Tarascos on Lake Patzcuaro

Shortly after the accession of these princes, events occurred in the flourishing region lying north of Wayameo, on the southern shore of Lake Patzcuaro, which affected the condition of the entire country, and eventually added greatly to the power of the Wanacace kings. The capital of this region was Tzintzuntzan. The chronicle I have hitherto followed gives no account of the origin of this city; but other authors, who in their turn make no mention of the events above recorded, furnish a story of its foundation, which I will relate here, before continuing the more consecutive narrative.

After the separation of the Tarascos from their Aztec brethren, says Beaumont, the former, resolving to settle, began at once to till the ground and sow the seeds that they had brought with them. They then proceeded to elect a king from among their bravest warriors. So highly was this quality of courage esteemed by them that even the later kings, who succeeded to the throne by inheritance, were not allowed to wear certain jewels and ornaments until they had earned the right to do so by capturing a prisoner in battle with their own hands. Under the administration of such energetic men the people progressed rapidly, both in wealth and power; commerce was encouraged and the arts and sciences flourished. But they especially excelled in feather-work, for which the splendid plumage of the birds of the country furnished abundant material.[X-59]Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., pp. 48, 63. This curious art is said to have been suggested by the phenomenon which led to the founding of their capital. When the Tarascos first halted on the southern shore of Lake Patzcuaro, they placed their principal idol in a pleasant spot that the god might repose, when, behold, a multitude of birds of gorgeous plumage congregated in the air and formed a brilliant shade or canopy above the sacred image. This was at once hailed as a divine indication that they should found their city here, and at the same time it suggested the feather mosaics for which they afterwards became so famous. In commemoration of this miraculous manifestation of the divine will the city was named Tzintzuntzan, ‘place of celestial birds.'[X-60]Beltrami, Mexique, tom. ii., p. 54. The first name given to the town was Guayangareo, says Granados y Galvez, Tardes Amer., p. 184. Padre Larrea translates Tzintzuntzan, ‘town of green birds,’ and the town was so called, he says, from the form of the idol. Beaumont calls it also Chincila and Huitzitzilaque. Crón. Mechoacan, MS., pp. 43, 46-7.

Little or nothing is known of the history of Tzintzuntzan from this time until it is again brought into notice by the events to which I have alluded as occurring shortly after Sicuiracha was succeeded by his sons on the throne at Wayameo. Granados, it is true, states that nineteen kings ruled over the Tarascos from the time of their settlement down to the conquest, but he gives no account of any of them, while Beaumont complains that he is able to find records of three only, namely, Characu, ‘the boy king,’ Zwanga,[X-61]Also known as Chiguangua, Chiguacua, and Tzihuanga. and the son of the latter, Tangaxoan,[X-62]Also, Sintzicha Tangajuan, ‘he of the fine teeth.’ better known by the name of Caltzontzin, ‘he who is always shod,’ to distinguish him from those other rulers who, being vassals of the Aztec monarch, appeared bare-footed before their suzerain.[X-63]Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., pp. 44-5, 68-9, 75. Herrera, dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. viii., translates Cazonzin by ‘old sandals,’ saying that the name was bestowed upon the king as a nick-name because of the shabby dress in which he appeared before Cortés. According to Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 91, Caltzontzin was the name given to Zintzicha by the Spaniards. Beltrami, Mexique, tom. ii., p. 44, writes the name Sinzincha. Torquemada, tom. i., p. 338, calls him Caczoltzin. Granados y Galvez, Tardes Amer., pp. 184-6, writes Caltzontzin or Cinzica. ‘Les relations et les histoires relatives au Michoacan donnent toutes au roi des Tarasques le titre ou le nom de Cazontzin. Était-ce un titre? c’est incertain. Torquemada ne sait ce qu’il doit en penser.’ Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 78. Cazonzi ‘paraît être une corruption tarasque du mot nahuatl Caltzontzin, Chef ou tête de la maison.’ Id., tom. iv., p. 363. At what period the boy king lived it is impossible to tell, but as the other two certainly reigned at a later date than our story has yet reached, they may all be referred to hereafter.

The Goddess Xaratanga

Let us now return to the anonymous narrative. At the time of Sicuiracha’s death at Wayameo, three brothers named Tarigaran, Pacimwane, and Sucurawe were reigning in the region of which Tzintzuntzan was the capital. On a hill overlooking the lake stood the temple of their chief divinity, the goddess Xaratanga, whose son was named Manowapa. Now, the priests of this goddess obtained the wood which they burned in the temple from the forest of Atamataho, close to Wayameo, and they frequently took advantage of their proximity to the temple of Curicaneri to carry wood there, a courtesy which the Wanacace priests returned by occasionally bearing fuel to the sanctuary of Xaratanga. It happened one day, when the feast of the goddess was approaching, that Tarigaran and his two brothers, with their attendants, went to the temple to assist the priests to decorate the idol. But the princes had been drinking deeply, and the goddess, perceiving this, punished them for their irreverence by making them very drunk. Then the brothers became alarmed, and sent their women to the lake to procure fish, by eating which they hoped to dissipate the fumes of the liquor. But the outraged goddess had hidden the fish, and the women succeeded only in catching a large serpent, which they carried to the priests, who cooked it and ate of it together with the princes, at sunset. But no sooner had the strange food passed their lips than, to their horror, they all found themselves turned into serpents. Filled with terror and dismay they plunged into the lake and swam towards the mountain of Tiriacuri, amid the recesses of which they disappeared upon landing.

The territory of Tzintzuntzan being now bereft of its chief priests and princes offered an easy prey to its Wanacace neighbors, and several chiefs, probably vassals of the kings of Wayameo, soon began to encroach upon its borders. Tarapecha Chanhori took possession of Curincuaro Achurin and established himself there, while Ipinchuari did the same at Pechetaro. The royal brothers of Wayameo also took up arms and possessed themselves first of Capacureo, and then of Patamagua Nacaraho. At the latter place they seem to have separated, each to make conquests on his own behalf.[X-64]Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 66-7, renders this passage very ambiguously. ‘Ce fut en ce lieu (Patamagua Nacaraho) que les dieux, frères de Curicaneri, se séparèrent; chacun des chefs chichimèques, prenant le sien, alla se fixer au lieu que la victoire lui donna. Pour lui, continuant le cours de ses conquêtes, il chassa tour à tour le gibier sur les terres voisines, passant d’une montagne à l’autre, et jetant la terreur dans les populations d’alentour.’

The Tarasco population was now thoroughly alarmed and with one accord the various states began to prepare for war. The kings of Wayameo, however, assured Cuyupuri, who had succeeded to the office of high-priest of Xaratanga at Tzintzuntzan, that he should receive no injury, and at their invitation he removed to the spot where his metamorphosed predecessors had disappeared. Later he removed to Sipico, on the borders of the lake, where he erected a temple and other buildings; after that he went to several other places, but finally established himself on Mount Haracotin, where Wapeani had taken up his abode.

The two brothers now continued their conquests in every direction, and before long they had gained possession of most of the places on the south shore of the lake Patzcuaro, including the fertile region of Tzintzuntzan. Now it came to pass one day, when Wapeani had climbed Mount Atupen, and was gazing longingly at the beautiful islands which dotted its surface, that his attention was attracted to a pyramidal structure which rose in the centre of one of the fairest of them. Perceiving a fisherman casting his nets at some distance, he called him to him. In answer to his inquiries, the fisherman informed the prince that the island upon which the temple stood was called Xaracuero, and was, together with the island of Pacandan, ruled by a king named Curicaten, who bore the title of El Henditare. He told Wapeani, moreover, that there were Chichimecs on these islands, though they did not speak the same language as the Wanacaces. Wapeani was astonished at this, as he had believed that his people were the only Chichimecs in the country. The warriors of his suite then asked the fisherman what his name was, and if he had any daughters. He answered that his name was Curipajan, and that he had no children. They insisted, however, that he had daughters, assuring him at the same time that they intended no harm, but merely wanted to obtain wives from the islands. At length, after repeated denials, he confessed that he had one, who was little and ugly, and quite unworthy of their consideration. It matters not, they answered, say nothing to anybody, but bring her here to-morrow.

The King of the Isles

What induced the fisherman to act against his inclinations after he had once got free, the chronicle does not relate, but on the next day he returned at the appointed time with his daughter. Wapeani arrived at the rendezvous somewhat later, and finding the girl to his taste he took her away with him, instructing her father to return home, and if questioned concerning the absence of his daughter, to say that she had been carried off and enslaved by the Wanacaces. Wapeani afterwards gave the woman to his brother, Pawacume, who married her, and got by her a son named Tariacuri, who subsequently became king and was the founder of the kingdom of Michoacan.

When the king of the isles learned what had been done by Wapeani, he was greatly enraged, and the neighboring lords having been called together a council was held to consider what action should be taken in the matter. But the lords were in favor of peace, and it was finally arranged that the brother kings should be invited to come and settle among them, when the office of grand sacrificer should be conferred upon Pawacume and that of priest of the god Cuangari Changatun upon Wapeani. Messengers were accordingly sent to make these proposals to the brothers. Flattered by such brilliant offers and dazzled by the costly presents which the envoys brought with them, the princes readily consented to the arrangement, and at once embarked for the islands, where they were received with great state, and immediately invested with the promised dignities. But it seems that the brothers’ followers had not been made acquainted with the details of this arrangement, for after impatiently waiting some time for the return of the princes, they also set out for the islands to discover the cause of their detention. Upon learning the true state of the case they were furious, and demanded with many threats that Pawacume and Wapeani, who, they said, had been appointed by Curicaneri as their guardians, should instantly be sent back to their own people. Curicaten thought it prudent to yield, and the brothers reluctantly returned with their followers to the mainland.

City of Patzcuaro

But during their brief sojourn in the islands they had seen much that was new to them, and having observed the benefit to be derived from civilization, they resolved to improve the condition of their country. Knowing, however, that their influence alone would not suffice to make the people suddenly change their nomadic habits, they called to their aid the voice of the gods. One day they announced that the god of Hades had appeared to them in a dream, commanding them to erect temples in honor of all the Chichimec divinities. The people, whose religious fervor seems to have been unbounded, were at once anxious to begin the pious work. It only remained to choose a suitable site. Under the guidance of the brothers, they repaired to a densely wooded hill near Tarimi Chundido, where there was a beautiful stream of water, known henceforth by the name of Cuirizcatero. Here they set to work in earnest; hewing down the trees and clearing the ground for the foundations of the temples. One after another the stately edifices rose, and when they were finished the chiefs began to vie with each other in building fine dwelling-houses, so that in an incredibly short space of time the sides of the hill were covered with buildings. Such was the origin of the city of Patzcuaro,[X-65]‘Patzcuaro veut évidemment dire le lieu de temples; cu ou cua, dans la langue tarasque, comme dans la langue yucatèque.’ Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 72. for a long time the capital, and afterwards one of the principal cities of Michoacan.

Now, at that time the kingdom of Curincuaro, which comprised part of the lake islands, was one of the most powerful states in all that region, and in common with its Tarasco neighbors, it regarded the rapid progress of the Wanacaces with feelings of jealousy and apprehension, which soon resulted in actual hostilities. An ambassador was sent to Patzcuaro to formally demand that its inhabitants should bring fuel to the altars at Curincuaro. The Wanacaces knew by experience what this meant, and at once prepared for war. All being ready they marched to meet the enemy. A terrible engagement took place near the town of Ataquaro, in which Pawacume and his brother were seriously wounded, and finally forced to retreat with their troops to Patzcuaro.

Soon after this the great feast of the goddess Curincuaro, the principal divinity of the kingdom that bore her name, was celebrated. It appears that it was arranged that all hostilities should cease during this solemn period, that the Wanacaces might join with their late enemies in the ceremonies. The lords of Curincuaro were particularly anxious that the brothers of Patzcuaro should appear at the feast, and to ensure their presence they employed an old woman, who had access to them, to expatiate on the grandeur of the coming festivities, and the number of sacrifices to be offered. She played her part so well that the princes promised to be present; afterwards, being assured by certain of their priests that treachery was designed, they renounced their intention of going; but emissaries from Curincuaro again found means to persuade them, and when the day of the feast arrived they set out to participate in it. On the way they fell into an ambuscade, and Wapeani was killed on the spot. His brother escaped and fled to Patzcuaro, but he was pursued by his enemies and slain in the city, which was deserted on account of all the people having gone to the feast. The bodies of the unfortunate princes were ransomed by their sorrowing subjects, and after being formally burned were buried with much ceremony in a grave dug at the foot of the steps leading up to the temple of Curicaneri.

Curatame, Wapeani’s eldest son, now ascended the throne at Patzcuaro. He had two brothers named Xetaco and Aramen. Pawacume, as we have already remarked, had also a son named Tariacuri, by the fisherman’s daughter. This prince was sent to the island of Xaracuero, to be educated by the Tarasco priests in the arts of civilized life. On his return to Patzcuaro, Tariacuri showed himself to be a youth of an excellent disposition, very pious and industrious, and withal highly accomplished in matters both of war and of peace. As soon as he arrived at a suitable age he was crowned king of the Wanacaces; whether his cousin Curatame continued to reign as his colleague, or what became of him, is not stated.

Tariacuri soon began to extend his empire by conquest in every direction. He carried his arms farther than any of his predecessors had done, and his hostile expeditions were invariably attended by success. Again the Tarasco princes were alarmed, and uniting their forces they marched upon Patzcuaro. But Tariacuri was irresistible; he surprised and vanquished the allies at Ataro and Tupuxanchuen, conquered the kingdom of Zirumbo, and finally blockaded the lake islands. Meanwhile, his cousins, jealous of his glory, conspired with his enemies to betray him. But he escaped their plots, and having possessed himself of the islands he became king of the whole of Michoacan. This king may be identical with Characu, the ‘boy king,’ to whom I have already referred. My reason for thinking so is that the events above recorded, or those immediately succeeding them, are said to have happened in the time of Montezuma I., while the founding of a city named Charo, in the reign of Characu, is also said by Beaumont to have taken place during the life of the same Mexican monarch. The founding of Charo was in this wise, according to one account.

Characu, The Boy King

During the reign of ‘the boy king’ the Aztecs made an inroad, aided by the Tecos and other unruly tribes. Being hard pressed, the king applied to the Matlaltzincas of Toluca for aid. Six captains started with their troops, and the Mexicans were defeated. In reward for this timely aid, the Matlaltzincas were granted their choice of lands within the kingdom of Michoacan, and selected the region around Tiripito, where the lower class founded Undameo, and the nobles, Charo, so named in honor of the king. This settlement being in the center of Michoacan, says Pimentel, the people came to be known as the Pirindas, ‘those in the middle.'[X-66]Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 499; Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., pp. 61-2, quoting Basalenque, Hist. Mech., lib. i., cap. xv.

In another place Beaumont gives Padre Larrea’s version of the founding of Charo. In the time of Montezuma I. the Aztecs appeared in conjunction with the Tecos and Matlaltzincas to attack Michoacan. The Tarascos who were only one-third as strong as their enemies, had recourse to strategy. Large supplies of food and drink were spread in the camp, and when the Aztec forces attacked, the Tarascos fled, abandoning the camp. The hungry Aztecs at once commenced to gorge themselves, and when filled with meat and drink the Tarascos returned upon them making a great slaughter, and capturing a goodly number of Tecos and Matlaltzincas, who were given lands in Michoacan; the Tecos as the more turbulent in Patzcuaro and the capital, and the Matlaltzincas in Charo, which was founded by them.[X-67]Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., pp. 60-61. Granados, p. 185, refers to a seven years’ struggle, which may be the same as the above. The records indicate two great battles at Tajimaroa and Zichu. The Matlaltzincas who remained in Toluca were conquered by Axayacatl, as has been already related.[X-68]Clavigero, tom. i., p. 150; Alcedo, Dicc., tom. iii., p. 461; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 499. See also this vol., pp. 432-5. Sahagun, tom. iii., lib. x., p. 129.

Before his death, Tariacuri divided the kingdom, and generously provided for the children of the cousins who had attempted his destruction. To Hicipan he left Coyucan, a very important city; to Hicucaxe, Patzcuaro and its dependencies, and to his son, Tangaxoan, he gave the territory of Tzintzuntzan, which comprised the lake islands. These events, says Brasseur, to which the anonymous historian assigns no date, occurred, in all probability, during the first part of the fifteenth century, Tangaxoan having been a contemporary of Montezuma I., of Mexico.

Michoacan did not remain long divided. Hicucaxe had a great number of sons, all of whom he put to death because they were disorderly and oppressed the people. Another son which was born to him later was killed by lightning, and apotheosized on that account. Thus the king of Patzcuaro died without leaving heirs, and his division was added to Tangaxoan’s territory. The kingdom of Coyucan, upon the death of Hicipan, was also annexed to Tzintzuntzan, where Tangaxoan’s son Ziziz Pandacuare, was then reigning. Michoacan became thus re-united under one head. Ziziz Pandacuare used his great power for the advancement and benefit of his country. He embellished the city of Tzintzuntzan, and made it his capital. His reign was a long and glorious one, and it was chiefly to his able administration that Michoacan owed its greatness.[X-69]Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 51-78; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 264-85.

Reign of Zwanga

Ziziz Pandacuare was succeeded by his son Zwanga.[X-70]Also spelled Tzihuanga, see note 62. It was during the reign of this prince that the valiant Tlascaltec general, Tlahuicol, invaded Michoacan at the head of a Mexican army, and took Tangimaroa, or Tlaximaloyan, and other towns, together with great spoils.[X-71]See this vol., pp. 477-8. Beaumont says that Tlahuicol gained nothing during his six months’ campaign except some booty, and he doubts whether that was much, as along the frontier there was little to be had. Crón. Mechoacan, MS., pp. 59-60. Zwanga was still on the throne at Tzintzuntzan when Cortés took Mexico. He was appealed to for aid by Cuitlahuatl, who was elected monarch after the death of Montezuma II. After some hesitation he promised his assistance. Ambassadors were sent to Mexico, who, when they arrived, found Cuitlahuatl dead, and the small-pox raging in the city. They hastened back to Tzintzuntzan, but bore with them the germs of the disease, which rapidly spread through the capital, and carried off the king and a great number of his subjects.

Zwanga left several sons, and the eldest of these, Tangaxoan II., seized the sceptre.[X-72]He bore the title of Caltzontzin. See note 63. Brasseur says he was also called Gwangwa Pagua, Hist., tom. iii., p. 78. He appears to have been a weak prince, and totally unfit to fill the throne at such a critical period. One of his first acts was to cause his brothers to be put to death, on the pretense that they had conspired against his life, but really because he was jealous of their power.[X-73]Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., p. 68. This cruel murder caused serious disturbance in the capital, and the fratricide brought great odium upon himself. It was said that such a terrible deed portended evil to the country—a prediction which was verified strongly afterwards, by the appearance of a Spanish soldier who had been sent by Cortés to reconnoitre the country.

The Tarascos, like most of the other Nahua nations, were warned by omens of their future subjection to a foreign power. Beaumont, who makes Tangaxoan II. a contemporary of Montezuma II., relates that the former was at first persuaded to assist the latter against the Spaniards, but was cautioned by the spirit of his dead sister, who, to prove that her utterances were not meaningless, pointed out certain signs in the heavens; namely, the figure of a young man with a glittering hand, and a sword, fashioned like those of the Spaniards, which appeared in the east on the day of the great festival. In the council convened to consider this warning it was decided not to resist the strangers.[X-74]Crón. Mechoacan, MS., pp. 71-3. It is related, moreover, that in Zwanga’s time there lived a high-priest, named Surites, who foretold the introduction of a new religion, and in anticipation of it instituted two Christian-like festivals.[X-75]See vol. iii. of this work, p. 446.

The Miztecs and Zapotecs

Among the earliest peoples of Mexico were the Miztecs and Zapotecs, whose country may be roughly described as comprising the modern state of Oajaca. The Miztecs occupied the western portion of this region, and their territory was divided into upper and lower Miztecapan,[X-76]For boundaries of Miztecapan, see ante, vol. i., p. 678. the latter reaching to the coast, and the former embracing the mountainous region farther north, which is sometimes called Cohuaixtlahuacan. Zapotecapan, the country of the Zapotecs, lay to the east of Miztecapan, and extended, at the time when we first hear of this people in history, to Tehuantepec.[X-77]See vol. i., p. 679, for boundaries.

The records of these nations are silent as to their history before they settled here; everything previous to this rests upon traditions of the vaguest character, one of which represents their ancestors as birds, beasts, and trees—to indicate their extreme antiquity, courage, and stubbornness, naively adds Burgoa, the historian of Oajaca.[X-78]Burgoa, Geog. Descrip. Oajaca, tom. ii., pt i., pp. 195-6; Murguia, Estadist. Guajaca, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. vii., p. 167. But though their own annals do not reach back to the pre-Toltec period, they are stated by some authorities to have inhabited at that time the region of Puebla, together with the Olmecs and Xicalancas.[X-79]Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 133; Veytia, tom. i., p. 150. Most of the old writers connect them with the Nahua stock, although their language was distinct from the Nahua. Thus Torquemada derives the Miztecs from Mixtecatl, the fifth son of Iztac Mixcohuatl, of the Seven Caves; while Sahagun states that they were of Toltec descent, and adds that some go so far as to regard them as descendants of Quetzalcoatl, because of the richness and beauty of their country, in which the famous Tlalocan, the ‘terrestrial paradise,’ was said to be situated.[X-80]Torquemada, tom. i., p. 32; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 299; Motolinia, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 8; Burgoa, Geog. Descrip. Oajaca, tom. ii., pt i., p. 175; Sahagun, tom. iii., lib. x., p. 136; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 120. At the time when civilization was introduced into Yucatan and Chiapas, says Brasseur, the mountains of Miztecapan were inhabited by savage tribes without any particular name, but who were afterwards known as Miztecs, or Wild Cats.[X-81]Hist., tom. iii., p. 5. Civilization is said by tradition to have first appeared in the mountains of Apoala. At the entrance of a gorge in this region where, says García, the gods lived before man came on earth, stood two majestic trees, from which sprung two youths, the founders of the Miztec monarchy.[X-82]Brasseur, citing Burgoa, Geog. Descrip. Oajaca, tom. ii., pt i., fol. 128-9, says they were male and female, and from them descended the race that subsequently governed the country. Hist., tom. iii., p. 6; García, Orígen de los Ind., pp. 327-8. The braver of the two went to Tilantongo, and there had a contest with the Sun for the possession of the country. After a desperate combat, which lasted a whole day, the Sun was forced to go down behind the hills, thus leaving the youth the victor.[X-83]Burgoa, Geog. Descrip. Oajaca, tom. ii., pt i., pp. 128, 175-6; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 80, says this story is merely invented to show the great age of the Miztecs. See also ante, vol. iii., p. 73.

Other traditions relate that certain of the warlike tribes from the north, that invaded Anáhuac from the eighth to the eleventh century, passed from the Aztec plateau into Miztecapan, coming down from the mountains of Apoala to the beautiful and naturally fortified valley of Yanguitlan, ‘new land,’ where they determined to settle. The Miztecs resisted the invaders for a long time, and their final subjection was effected more by religious teachings than by force of arms. On this plateau the immigrants from Anáhuac founded Tilantongo, and built a temple called Achiuhtla.[X-84]Burgoa, Geog. Descrip. Oajaca, tom. ii., pt i., fol. 128-9. Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 126, says the Zapotecs took their region by force of arms from the Huatiquimanes, or Guanitiquimanes. The date of this event seems to coincide, says Brasseur, with the sending out of missionaries from Cholula, though whether the followers of Quetzalcoatl or the tribes from Anáhuac arrived first is not known. But it appears certain that from the union of the priests of Achiuhtla and the Olmecs who fled from Cholula at the time of Huemac’s invasion, sprung the power which civilized these regions.[X-85]Hist., tom. iii., pp. 8-9.

It is in Zapotecapan, however, that the disciples of Quetzalcoatl appear most prominently. There they are said to have founded Mitla, or Yopaa, and to have diffused their arts and religious teachings throughout the whole country, as far as Tehuantepec.[X-86]Torquemada, tom. i., p. 255; Herrera, dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xi.; Veytia, tom. i., p. 164; Burgoa, Geog. Descrip. Oajaca, tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 297-8, 343-5.

The mysterious apostle Wixipecocha, of whom a full account has already been given,[X-87]See vol. ii. of this work, pp. 209-11. is said to have appeared in these regions. The tradition, which is very vague, relates that he came from the south seas, and landed, bearing a cross, at Tehuantepec. He taught morality, abstinence from women, confession, and penance. He was generally respected but was sometimes persecuted, especially in the Mije country, whither he went after passing through the Zapotec valley. The people there tried to kill him, and pursued him to the foot of Mount Cempoaltepec, where he miraculously disappeared, but re-appeared shortly afterwards on the summit of the mountain. His pursuers followed him, but he again vanished, and was seen no more in that country, though he afterward showed himself on the enchanted island of Monapostiac, near Tehuantepec.

The Priests of Achiuhtla

As I have already remarked, nothing definite is known of the early history of the Miztecs and Zapotecs. All that has been preserved is some account of their spiritual rulers. Thus we are told that the kingdom of Tilantongo, which comprised upper Mizteca, was spiritually governed by the high-priest of Achiuhtla, who bore the title of Taysacaa, and whose power equaled, if it did not surpass, that of the king; while in Zapotecapan the Wiyatao, or sovereign pontiff, united in his person the supreme sacerdotal and secular power. The origin of the city of Yopaa, or Mitla, where the Wiyatao held his court, is doubtful, though, as we have seen, it has been attributed to the disciples of Quetzalcoatl, who came from Cholula.

It is a singular fact that we hear nothing of the early Miztec and Zapotec kings, save that there were such, until we find the latter subjecting the Huaves to their authority. These Huaves are said to have come originally from the south, from Nicaragua or Peru say some authors. The causes that led to their migration are unknown; but the story goes that after coasting northward, and attempting to disembark at several places, they finally effected a landing at Tehuantepec. Here they found the Mijes, the original possessors of the country; but these they drove out, or, as some say, mingled with them, and soon made themselves masters of the soil. They founded their first city at Arrianjianbaj, or Arriangui Umbah, but afterwards extended their possessions to the city of Jalapa, which they are said to have founded also.[X-88]‘De allà de la Costa del Sur, mas cerca de la Eclyptica vezindad del Perù, y segun las circunstancias de su lengua, y trato de la Provincia ò Reyno de Nicarahua.’ Burgoa, Geog. Descrip. Oajaca, tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 396; Murguia, Estadist. Guajaca, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. vii., p. 183; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 173-4. See also Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt i., p. 176. Guillemot relates that some Peruvian families fled northward along the Cordilleras. On the banks of the Sarrabia they resorted to the fire test to find out whether the gods wished them to settle there. A brand was placed in a hole, but as it was extinct in the morning, they knew they must go further. Four emissaries went in search of another place. Beneath a coapinol-tree, where now stands Huixicovi, the brand-proof answered the test, and so they settled there. The coapinol is still venerated. Fossey, Mexique, pp. 50-1; see also p. 467.

But the easy life they led in this beautiful and fertile region soon destroyed their ancient energy, and they subsequently fell an unresisting prey to the Zapotec kings.[X-89]Burgoa, Geog. Descrip. Oajaca, tom. ii., pt i., fol. 196. Of the Mijes very little is known. They are believed to have been the most ancient people of the Oajaca region, and Burgoa affirms that they possessed of old the greater part of Tehuantepec, Soconusco, and Zapotecapan. The Beni-Xonos, who lived between the Mijes and Zapotecs, are said to have once belonged to the former people, but their character seems to disprove this. They are described as a tribe of rich, shrewd traders, very miserly, great liars, “incorrigible and inveterate evil-doers”—the Jews of Oajaca, Brasseur calls them. They were among the first to submit to the Zapotec kings, in the hope of being allowed to retain their wealth.[X-90]Burgoa, Geog. Descrip. Oajaca, tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 312, 367-76.

The Zapotec Kings

It was to one of these Zapotec princes that the fortified city of Zaachilla Yoho, or Teotzapotlan, as it was called by the Mexicans, owed its origin. At the time when history first sheds its light on these regions, Teotzapotlan was the capital of Zapotecapan,[X-91]Burgoa, Geog. Descrip. Oajaca, tom. ii., pt i., fol. 197. and rivaled in power and extent of territory the Miztec kingdoms of Tututepec and Tilantongo. It seems that during the war with the Mexicans these three powers united against the common enemy, though at other times they appear to have quarreled considerably among themselves, by reason of the ambitious designs of the Zapotec monarchs, who, it is said, aimed at universal sovereignty.[X-92]Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 39.

Of the kingdom of Tututepec, which stretched for sixty leagues along the shore of the Pacific, nothing is known, except that its princes were among the richest in all Mexico, that its kings had many powerful vassals, and that its principal city, which was also called Tututepec, was very populous.[X-93]Id.; Burgoa, Geog. Descrip. Oajaca, tom. ii., pt i., fol. 181, 188.

One of the earliest conquests of the Zapotec kings was that of the Mountain of the Sun, near the town of Macuilxuchil. There dwelt on this mountain a tribe of very fierce and blood-thirsty barbarians, who lived by plundering the surrounding nations. At length their depredations became so frequent, and were attended with such cruelty that it became evident that the country about the mountain would soon be abandoned by its inhabitants unless the robbers were annihilated. Accordingly, a large force of picked troops was sent against them under the command of two renowned warriors named Baali and Baaloo. The expedition was successful. After a desperate resistance the robbers were overpowered and slaughtered to a man. A fortress and temple were then erected on the summit of the mountain, and the charge of them given to Baali and Baaloo, as a reward for their valor. After their death these heroes received divine honors, and were buried at the foot of the mountain they had conquered. The veneration in which their memory was held increased with time; their tombs were visited by multitudes of pilgrims, and a city called Zeetopaa, which eventually became the principal seat of learning and religion, and the nucleus of civilization in these parts, soon rose upon the spot.[X-94]Burgoa, Geog. Descrip. Oajaca, tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 230, 245.

Death of Condoy

The first Zapotec king of whom we have any definite information is Ozomatli, who, it is said in the Codex Chimalpopoca,[X-95]Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 45. reigned in 1351. The next king, whose name or deeds are recorded, is Zaachilla, who, being master of all Zapotecapan, coveted the region lying east of the river Nexapa, and inhabited by the Chontales, Mijes, and Huaves. The Chontales were the most powerful of these nations, and against them Zaachilla proceeded first. He took from them the city of Nexapa, which he fortified and garrisoned with his own soldiers. To strengthen his position in the conquered territory he also built the fortresses of Quiechapa and Quiyecolani.[X-96]Burgoa, Geog. Descrip. Oajaca, tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 330; Murguia, Estadist. Guajaca, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. vii., pp. 167, 201. He next entered the country of the Mijes, took the town of Zoquitlan, and drove the inhabitants into the mountains. The Mijes were now confined between the Maya tribes of Chiapas and the Zapotecs. But, though in this difficult position, with a territory so small that it contained only one city of importance, namely Xaltepec, and numbering, says Herrera, only two thousand men, women, and children, the brave little nation seems to have gallantly maintained its independence for a number of years.[X-97]Herrera, dec. iv., lib. ix., cap. vii.; Murguia, Estadist. Guajaca, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. vii., p. 183; Burgoa, Geog. Descrip. Oajaca, tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 280. It was destined to be subjected at last, however, and in the hour of its greatest glory. Condoy, the last king of the Mijes, who is said to have made his first appearance from a cavern in the mountains, was a very brave and energetic prince. He waged war with the surrounding nations, and succeeded by his valor in increasing the extent of his dominions. The Zapotec and Miztec kings, jealous of these encroachments, formed an alliance against the Mije prince, while the tribes of Chiapas, from the same motives, attacked him at the same time on the other side of his dominions. In spite of all that the brave Condoy could do, his capital was taken and burned to the ground, and he and his followers, hotly pursued by the enemy, were forced to take refuge in the recesses of the mountains. Shortly after this Condoy disappeared and was seen no more. The Zapotecs claimed that their king slew him with his own hand, but the subjects of the Mije prince insisted that, tired of war and bloodshed, he had entered the cavern from which he had originally issued, and, attended by some of his warriors, had gone to far distant provinces.[X-98]Burgoa, Geog. Descrip. Oajaca, tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 302-3; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 48-50.

About the year 1456 occurred the war between Dzawindanda, king of Cohuaixtlahuacan or upper Miztecapan, with his allies the Tlascaltecs and Huexotzincas, and Montezuma I., with his allies of the valley of Anáhuac. The details of this war having been already given,[X-99]See this volume, pp. 415-17. it remains only to repeat Burgoa’s account of the supernatural powers of Dzawindanda. This prince, says the fable, when he wished to make war upon some neighboring nation, caused himself to be miraculously transported to the summit of a mountain inaccessible to ordinary mortals. Arrived there he prostrated himself upon a knoll, and besought the gods to favor his designs. Then he shook a bag which was suspended from his girdle, and immediately there issued from it a multitude of warriors, fully armed and equipped, who having formed in military order descended from the mountain in silence and marched at once to conquer the coveted territory.[X-100]Burgoa, Geog. Descrip. Oajaca, tom. ii., pt i., fol. 150.Dzawindanda’s magical powers must have deserted him on the occasion above referred to, however, for, as we have seen, his armies were terribly defeated, his kingdom was made tributary to the domain of the victors, he himself was assassinated, and his widowed queen was carried captive to Mexico to gratify a passion which Montezuma had conceived for her.

In 1469 Axayacatl of Mexico swooped suddenly upon the cities of Tehuantepec and Guatulco, and took them; according to Brasseur he even carried his victorious arms into Soconusco.[X-101]See this volume, p. 425. At this time Zaachilla III. was king of Zapotecapan. He was a warlike and ambitious prince, and succeeded in adding Jalapa and the valley of Nexapa to his kingdom, driving the Huave population into the less desirable region on the frontiers of Chiapas and Soconusco. During the later years of his reign Zaachilla, with the assistance of the Miztec king of Tilantongo, succeeded in regaining possession of Tehuantepec and the other places in that region which Axayacatl had garrisoned with Mexican troops. But this brought the Mexican king, Ahuitzotl, down upon him like a thunderbolt, and being deserted by his Miztec allies, Zaachilla’s armies were quickly routed; he was forced to flee for his life to the mountains, and Tehuantepec once more became a Mexican possession.[X-102]Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 284-5, 338-40.

Cociyoeza, who succeeded Zaachilla III. on the throne of Zapotecapan, was no less anxious than his predecessor to rid his kingdom of the Aztec garrisons, but being a very prudent, though brave, prince, he acted with greater deliberation and caution. Before proceeding to open hostilities he contracted a firm alliance with the neighboring nations; he then chose a favorable opportunity, when the prestige of the Mexican arms had been damaged by reverses, to declare war, massacre the Mexican merchants, and retake Tehuantepec and most of the other places occupied by Ahuitzotl’s troops. The reader has been made acquainted with the details of this war, in the course of which the sacred city of Mitla, or Yopaa, was taken, and of the final treaty by which it was arranged that the Mexicans should keep Soconusco, and that Cociyoeza should wed a Mexican princess and remain in possession of Tehuantepec.[X-103]See this volume pp. 443-7.

Montezuma Invades Miztecapan

In 1506, Miztecapan was invaded by Montezuma’s armies, and the cities of Tilantongo, Achiuhtla, and Tlachquiauhco were taken. In the same year the Miztecs made a determined effort to regain their independence, but, as has been seen, only succeeded in making their burdens heavier than before.[X-104]Id., pp. 461-2. From this time until the coming of the Spaniards Miztecapan may be regarded as virtually subject to the Mexican empire.

By his marriage with the faithful Pelaxilla, Cociyoeza had a son named Cociyopu. It is related that during the feasts with which the birth of this prince was celebrated, fiery rays of light were seen to dart across the sky. Such ominous phenomena did not escape the notice of the soothsayers, and the downfall of the kingdom was predicted. When Cociyopu had reached the age of twenty-four years, his father conferred upon him the crown of Tehuantepec.[X-105]Murguia, Estadist. Guajaca, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. vii., p. 187. It was at this time, says Brasseur, that the news of the conquests of the Spaniards reached Cociyoeza’s court at Teotzapotlan.[X-106]Hist., tom. iv., p. 539. Upon this the nobles of Tehuantepec besought Cociyopu to inquire of the gods what the meaning of these things was, and if the ancient prophecies concerning the introduction of a new religion and the conquest of the country by a race of white men, were about to be fulfilled. Cociyopu did as they desired, and was told by the oracle that the time had come for the fulfillment of the prophecies. Then an embassy was sent to Coyuhuacan, where Cortés then was, with instructions to announce to the Spanish chief that according to the directions of their oracles the people of Zapotecapan and Tehuantepec acknowledged his right of sovereignty.[X-107]Burgoa, Geog. Descrip. Oajaca, tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 367-76.

The Pueblos of New Mexico

In the subdivision of my present subject, given in an early chapter of this volume,[X-108]See p. 158. I named as one of its divisions the Historical Traditions of the Wild Tribes of the North, to which topic I intended to devote a short chapter. On further research, however, I find that there is absolutely no material for such a chapter. Some of the wild tribes had vague traditions of how the world was created and peopled, generally by the agency of a bird or beast; others told wonderful tales of supernatural adventures of their fathers many moons ago; a few named the direction, north, south, east, or west, whence their fathers came. Such traditions have been given in those portions of this work relating to the subjects of Mythology and Origin. There is great confusion among the different versions of these traditions, and even if we knew in each case which was the authentic version, they would shed not a ray of light on general aboriginal history; the very most that could be hoped from them would be slight information respecting modern tribal history. All the speculations of modern travelers and writers on primitive history in the north have been founded, so far as they have had any foundation at all, on the material relics of antiquity, fully described in volume IV. of this work; on the traces of the Aztec tongue in the north, a subject fully disposed of in volume III.; and on the theory of the Spanish writers respecting a general migration from the north, duly considered in the present volume. Consequently all that could be said on the history of the northern tribes here would be but a repetition of what has already been said; a collection of a few valueless speculations resting on foundations already proven to be unsound; and a renewed argument against the theory of a migration from the north, a theory that has already received more attention than it deserves. It may be thought that the reported Montezuma-tradition of the Pueblos in New Mexico deserves some investigation; but besides the fact that all the force of evidence and probability indicates that the myth was an invention of white men, it is also true that if the worship of Montezuma and the hope of his coming from the east, were actually found among the Pueblos, this would only prove what is not at all improbable, that the fame of Montezuma I. and of the great Aztec power had reached this northern region. It has been seen that the Nahuas a few centuries after the beginning of our era were driven northward and established themselves in Anáhuac and the region immediately north-west of that valley, but that their possessions never extended farther north than Zacatecas. Yet it is altogether probable that they came more or less into contact with tribes further north, and it is best to attribute to this contact at this period the Nahua linguistic traces that have been pointed out in the north. The Pueblos, who in ancient times occupied the country as far south as northern Chihuahua, were not Aztecs, as is clearly proven by their language, their monuments, and their institutions. The very slight Nahua analogies that have been pointed out in their manners and customs, do not necessarily imply any connection whatever with the civilized peoples of the south; yet I regard it as not improbable that the Pueblo tribes were slightly influenced by Nahua contact at the period referred to; and not altogether impossible that the Nahua seed sown at this time fell into good ground in some wild people of the north, and thus originated Pueblo agriculture and later culture. In favor of any closer connection between these peoples, there is absolutely no evidence.

The Mound-Builders

When we come to the Mound-Builders of the Mississippi Valley, the matter presents far greater difficulties. We know nothing of their language or manners and customs, since they have become locally extinct; but their material monuments, and their religious rites as indicated by those monuments, bear a very striking resemblance to those of the civilized nations of the south. I have already expressed an opinion that the Mound-Builders were in some way connected with the civilized nations; the nature of the connection is involved in difficulties, from which there is no escape save by conjecture. We have seen that the Aztec traces in the New Mexican region, and possibly the Pueblo culture, may be attributed to the migrating Nahua tribes after their overthrow in Central America; but there is little or no reason to attribute the establishment of the Mound-Builders of the eastern states to the same influence and the same epoch. The few Nahuas that were scattered in the north are not likely to have exerted so slight an influence in the Pueblo region, and so powerful a one on the Mississippi; besides, the Mississippi monuments bear marks of a much greater antiquity than can be attributed to the Pueblo buildings. Yet we have seen that it is much more reasonable to believe that the culture of the Mound-Builders was introduced by a colony or by teachers from the south, than to regard the Mississippi Valley as the original birth-place of American civilization. The Natchez of the gulf states are said to have been superior at the coming of Europeans to other aboriginal tribes of the eastern states, and presented some slight analogies in their institutions to what the Mound-Builders may be supposed to have been. It is also the opinion of several authorities entitled to considerable credit, that their language shows a very strong resemblance to those of the Maya family. Without attaching very great importance to the last argument, I am inclined to believe that the most plausible conjecture respecting the origin of the Mound-Builders, is that which makes them a colony of the ancient Mayas, who settled in the north during the continuance of the great Maya empire of Xibalba in Central America, several centuries before Christ. We have seen that the ancient Mayas, under the name of Quinames, probably occupied eastern Mexico at that epoch, and in later times we find the Huastecs in southern Tamaulipas speaking a Maya dialect. It is not at all unlikely that a colony of these people passed northward along the coast by land or water, and introduced their institutions in the Mississippi Valley, building up a power which became very flourishing as the centuries passed, but was at last forced to yield to the presence of environing barbarism. I offer this not as a theory which can be fully substantiated by facts, but simply as the most plausible conjecture on the matter which has occurred to me.

Footnotes

[X-1] Historia Tulteca, Peintures et Annales, en langue nahutl, coll. Aubin.

[X-2] See Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 361-3.

[X-3] Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., p. 150, vaguely mentions an expedition said to have been made to Cholula under chiefs bearing similar names to the above, but he gives no details or dates.

[X-4] Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 363-70.

[X-5] Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., pp. 138-9, 145-6.

[X-6] Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 108-9.

[X-7] Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., pp. 142-7; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 260-1; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 154; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 357-60.

[X-8] Spelled Tetliyucatl by Camargo. Torquemada, tom. i., p. 262, says that a separation took place previously at Tepapayecan. Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., p. 150, may possibly imply the same, but he is very confused at this point.

[X-9] Torquemada, tom. i., p. 262. Camargo says that Coatepec was founded in the province of Quauhquelchula by the three last named chiefs; this is, however, probably a mistake of the French translator. Brasseur says Coatepec ‘se soumettait à Quetzalxiuhtli.’ Hist., tom. ii., p. 372.

[X-10] Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., p. 373, calls this chief Quauhtliztac.

[X-11] Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., pp. 151-2. These chiefs were named Totolohuizil and Quetzaltehuyacixcotl, and are the same as those mentioned by Camargo on p. 150, as having arrived at Cholula in the year 1 Acatl. They are also identical with the Chichimec-Toltec chiefs who, according to Brasseur’s account, already recorded, conquered Cholula by a stratagem soon after the Toltec fall. See ante, pp. 485-6. Speaking of their visit to the Teo-Chichimecs at Necapahuazcan, Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., p. 372, calls them the “nouveaux seigneurs de Cholula.” But it is evident from the context that Camargo does not regard them as such, notwithstanding what he has said about their arrival in 1 Acatl.

[X-12] Called ‘Colhua-Teuctli-Quanez, le vainqueur de Poyauhtlan,’ and Culhua-Teuctli, by Brasseur; and Culhuatecuhtli and Aculhua Tecuhtli by Camargo.

[X-13] Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., pp. 136, 152-4, 164; Veytia, tom. ii., p. 175; Herrera, dec. ii., lib. vi., cap. xii; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 263.

[X-14] Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., p. 154.

[X-15] Brasseur writes Xicochimalco.

[X-16] ‘Coxcoxtli, roi de Culhuacan, qui gouvernait alors, avec ses propres états, les Mexicains établis dans le voisinage de sa capitale, et les Tépanèques d’Azcapotzalco, est le seul prince à qui se puisse rapporter l’événement dont il s’agit ici, Tezozomoc n’ayant régné que beaucoup plus tard.’ Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., p. 409; see also note on p. 410 of same work. Camargo says that Xiuhtlehui sent for aid to ‘Matlatlihuitzin, qui régnait alors à Mexico.’ Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., p. 156. Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 197-201, states that he sent to Acamapichtli II, Matlatlihuitzin being probably a surname borne by that prince. Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 264-5, and Clavigero, tom. i., p. 155, agree with Camargo in the name, but speak of the prince as being Tepanec.

[X-17] Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. cxviii., pp. 154-63; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 264-8; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 154-5; Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 200-12; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 405-18.

[X-18] Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 418-19.

[X-19] Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., p. 349, writes Iztamatzin, and on p. 216, Yztacima.

[X-20] Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 154-5; Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 216, 349.

[X-21] Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 419-20.

[X-22] Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., p. 164. Veytia, tom. ii., p. 213, considers this account wrong. Culhua Tecuhtli Quanez, he says, who is Xiuhquetzaltzin, the younger brother of Quinantzin of Tezcuco, had no brother by that name, or, none who would have joined him in Tlascala—he disregards the fact, as related by himself, that Xiuhquetzaltzin must have ruled over a hundred years already. It is therefore much more probable, as related by other writers, he continues, that Quanez left his own district of Tepeticpac or Texcalticpac to his eldest son, as will be seen, and Ocotelulco to his second son, Cuicuetzcatl, ‘swallow;’ he ruled jointly with his brother, and left the succession to his son Papalotl, ‘butterfly,’ who was followed by his brother Teyohualminqui, the above-named personage. He thinks the above two rulers have been omitted because of their brief rule. Others, he continues, relate that Mitl divided the rule with his brother. Ixtlilxochitl, p. 344, says that the Tlascaltec rulers descended from Xiuhguzaltzin. Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 143, though he cites Camargo as his authority, states that Quanez associated his brother with himself on the throne, and divided the town and territory of Tlascala with him. Teyohualminqui then chose Ocotelulco as his place of residence.

[X-23] Called also Tlapitzahuacan.

[X-24] Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., pp. 165-72.

[X-25] Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 143-4, makes Tzompane, Xayacamachan, and Tepolohua, one and the same person. Camargo, as we have seen, speaks of them as father and son. Torquemada, tom. i., p. 275, combines two of the names, Xayacamachantzompane.

[X-26] See vol. ii. of this work, p. 141.

[X-27] See pp. 387-8, of this volume.

[X-28] Id., p. 414.

[X-29] Id., p. 416.

[X-30] Id., p. 417.

[X-31] Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 269.

[X-32] See this vol., p. 426.

[X-33] Id., pp. 437-8.

[X-34] Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., p. 178.

[X-35] Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 341.

[X-36] See this vol., p. 443.

[X-37] Torquemada, tom. i., p. 191; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 38; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 259-60; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 375-7; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 297-9.

[X-38] Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., pp. 178-80; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 197-9; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 275-8; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 402-5.

[X-39] Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 200-1; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 40. According to Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., pp. 182-3, and Clavigero, tom. i., p. 278, the Tlascaltecs were beaten on this occasion.

[X-40] Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., p. 183; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 279; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 200; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 40; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 406. These authorities say that the Mexican general was Montezuma’s eldest son. But Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., p. 271; and Duran, MS., tom. ii., cap. lvii., Tezozomoc, in Id., p. 160; say that he was Montezuma’s brother.

[X-41] Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 278-80; Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 201-2; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 40; Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., p. 183; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 324-5. Tlacahuepantzin is regarded by Clavigero as a man appointed to the generalship on account of his birth, and not because he possessed any military ability. Duran, MS., tom. ii., cap. lvii., who makes this a war between Huexotzinco and Mexico, states that he performed wonders on the battlefield, killing over fifty men, but was captured and killed on the field, in accordance with his own request; the body was preserved as the relic of a hero. Other brothers of Montezuma were also killed, and many captives carried to Huexotzinco. Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 160-1, adds that the Aztecs were only one to twenty in number, and that 40,000 warriors fell in the fight. Shortly after, continues Tezozomoc, Ixtlilcuechahuac of Tollan, aided by Aztec troops under three of Montezuma’s cousins attacked the Huexotzincas again; the three cousins were killed, with most of their troops, and the lord of Tollan, who was conspicuous in his fine dress, was also slain; but the Chalcas coming up, the victory turned and the Huexotzincas were compelled to retreat. Id., pp. 165-6; Duran, MS., tom. ii., cap. lviii. After this, the Cholultecs, who had never yet had a war with the Mexicans, says Duran, challenged that people to fight a battle, ‘to give pleasure to the god of battle and to the sun.’ The Mexicans and their allies who, according to Tezozomoc, were opposed by six times the number of Cholultecs, aided by Huexotzincas and Atlixcas, lost 8,200 men; whereupon the fight was discontinued, and the Aztecs went home to mourn. Tezozomoc, pp. 169-70; Duran, MS., tom. ii., cap. lix. Ixtlilxochitl, p. 278, seems to refer to this battle when he says that Montezuma II. agreed with the Atlixcas to leave Macuilmalinatzin, the true heir to the Mexican throne, in the lurch. He accordingly perished with 2,800 of his warriors. Nezahualpilli composed a scathing poem, denouncing this act as a base assassination.

[X-42] Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 172-4; Duran, MS., tom. ii., cap. lx.; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 280; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 325-6.

[X-43] The truth of this bombastic assertion the Tlascaltec historian, Camargo, denies, and doubtless with reason; as it would be absurd to suppose that the Aztecs would have permitted the existence of such a formidable enemy at their very doors if they could have helped it. Besides, we have seen how often they did their best to subdue Tlascala and failed.

[X-44] Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 202-3; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 326-7; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 407-9; Vetancvrt, Teatro, pt ii., p. 41; Duran, MS., tom. ii., cap. lxi; Tezozomoc, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., pp. 176-8; Clavigero, tom. i., p. 280; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iii., p. 497; Camargo, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcviii., pp. 184-6.

[X-45] Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 209-10; Clavigero, tom. i., pp. 284-5; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 418-20; Veytia, tom. iii., pp. 338-40.

[X-46] See this vol., p. 464.

[X-47] Ixtlilxochitl, pp. 280-1, the Tezcucan historian, is the only authority for this account, and it is probable enough that he has exaggerated Montezuma’s treachery.

[X-48] For etymology of this name, see vol. ii., p. 130.

[X-49] Several names of places in the country were, however, of Aztec origin, and even the name Michoacan, ‘place of fish,’ is derived from the Aztec words michin and can. Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., p. 47, says that the original name of the country was Tzintzuntzan, but he translates this, ‘town of green birds.’ Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 52, says Michoacan was ‘le nom que les Mexicains donnaient à la région des Tarasques.’

[X-50] Ixtlilxochitl, in Kingsborough, vol. ix., p. 214, mentions a Toltec party that emigrated to the Michoacan region, and dwelt there for a long time. Sahagun, tom. iii., lib. x., pp. 145-6, refers to a Toltec migration as an issue from the same region. Veytia, tom. ii., pp. 39-40, speaks of Toltecs who founded colonies all along the Pacific coast, and gradually changed their language and customs.

[X-51] Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 120, 141.

[X-52] Gil, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. viii., pp. 500-1.

[X-53] See this vol. p. 328.

[X-54] See also Tello’s version of Aztec settlement given by Gil, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. viii., p. 501.

[X-55] Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. ix.

[X-56] Hist., tom. iii., pp. 55-6.

[X-57] Called Chichimecas vanáceos by Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., p. 266.

[X-58] ‘Chaque tribu, chaque famille, souvent chaque personne avait son dieu ou ses génies particuliers à peu près comme les teraphim de Laban qu’enlevait à l’insu sa fille Rachel.’ Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 61.

[X-59] Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., pp. 48, 63.

[X-60] Beltrami, Mexique, tom. ii., p. 54. The first name given to the town was Guayangareo, says Granados y Galvez, Tardes Amer., p. 184. Padre Larrea translates Tzintzuntzan, ‘town of green birds,’ and the town was so called, he says, from the form of the idol. Beaumont calls it also Chincila and Huitzitzilaque. Crón. Mechoacan, MS., pp. 43, 46-7.

[X-61] Also known as Chiguangua, Chiguacua, and Tzihuanga.

[X-62] Also, Sintzicha Tangajuan, ‘he of the fine teeth.’

[X-63] Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., pp. 44-5, 68-9, 75. Herrera, dec. iii., lib. iii., cap. viii., translates Cazonzin by ‘old sandals,’ saying that the name was bestowed upon the king as a nick-name because of the shabby dress in which he appeared before Cortés. According to Alegre, Hist. Comp. de Jesus, tom. i., p. 91, Caltzontzin was the name given to Zintzicha by the Spaniards. Beltrami, Mexique, tom. ii., p. 44, writes the name Sinzincha. Torquemada, tom. i., p. 338, calls him Caczoltzin. Granados y Galvez, Tardes Amer., pp. 184-6, writes Caltzontzin or Cinzica. ‘Les relations et les histoires relatives au Michoacan donnent toutes au roi des Tarasques le titre ou le nom de Cazontzin. Était-ce un titre? c’est incertain. Torquemada ne sait ce qu’il doit en penser.’ Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 78. Cazonzi ‘paraît être une corruption tarasque du mot nahuatl Caltzontzin, Chef ou tête de la maison.’ Id., tom. iv., p. 363.

[X-64] Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 66-7, renders this passage very ambiguously. ‘Ce fut en ce lieu (Patamagua Nacaraho) que les dieux, frères de Curicaneri, se séparèrent; chacun des chefs chichimèques, prenant le sien, alla se fixer au lieu que la victoire lui donna. Pour lui, continuant le cours de ses conquêtes, il chassa tour à tour le gibier sur les terres voisines, passant d’une montagne à l’autre, et jetant la terreur dans les populations d’alentour.’

[X-65] ‘Patzcuaro veut évidemment dire le lieu de temples; cu ou cua, dans la langue tarasque, comme dans la langue yucatèque.’ Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 72.

[X-66] Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 499; Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., pp. 61-2, quoting Basalenque, Hist. Mech., lib. i., cap. xv.

[X-67] Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., pp. 60-61. Granados, p. 185, refers to a seven years’ struggle, which may be the same as the above. The records indicate two great battles at Tajimaroa and Zichu.

[X-68] Clavigero, tom. i., p. 150; Alcedo, Dicc., tom. iii., p. 461; Pimentel, Cuadro, tom. i., p. 499. See also this vol., pp. 432-5. Sahagun, tom. iii., lib. x., p. 129.

[X-69] Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 51-78; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 264-85.

[X-70] Also spelled Tzihuanga, see note 62.

[X-71] See this vol., pp. 477-8. Beaumont says that Tlahuicol gained nothing during his six months’ campaign except some booty, and he doubts whether that was much, as along the frontier there was little to be had. Crón. Mechoacan, MS., pp. 59-60.

[X-72] He bore the title of Caltzontzin. See note 63. Brasseur says he was also called Gwangwa Pagua, Hist., tom. iii., p. 78.

[X-73] Beaumont, Crón. Mechoacan, MS., p. 68.

[X-74] Crón. Mechoacan, MS., pp. 71-3.

[X-75] See vol. iii. of this work, p. 446.

[X-76] For boundaries of Miztecapan, see ante, vol. i., p. 678.

[X-77] See vol. i., p. 679, for boundaries.

[X-78] Burgoa, Geog. Descrip. Oajaca, tom. ii., pt i., pp. 195-6; Murguia, Estadist. Guajaca, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. vii., p. 167.

[X-79] Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 133; Veytia, tom. i., p. 150.

[X-80] Torquemada, tom. i., p. 32; Gomara, Conq. Mex., fol. 299; Motolinia, in Icazbalceta, Col. de Doc., tom. i., p. 8; Burgoa, Geog. Descrip. Oajaca, tom. ii., pt i., p. 175; Sahagun, tom. iii., lib. x., p. 136; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 120.

[X-81] Hist., tom. iii., p. 5.

[X-82] Brasseur, citing Burgoa, Geog. Descrip. Oajaca, tom. ii., pt i., fol. 128-9, says they were male and female, and from them descended the race that subsequently governed the country. Hist., tom. iii., p. 6; García, Orígen de los Ind., pp. 327-8.

[X-83] Burgoa, Geog. Descrip. Oajaca, tom. ii., pt i., pp. 128, 175-6; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 80, says this story is merely invented to show the great age of the Miztecs. See also ante, vol. iii., p. 73.

[X-84] Burgoa, Geog. Descrip. Oajaca, tom. ii., pt i., fol. 128-9. Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 126, says the Zapotecs took their region by force of arms from the Huatiquimanes, or Guanitiquimanes.

[X-85] Hist., tom. iii., pp. 8-9.

[X-86] Torquemada, tom. i., p. 255; Herrera, dec. iii., lib. ii., cap. xi.; Veytia, tom. i., p. 164; Burgoa, Geog. Descrip. Oajaca, tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 297-8, 343-5.

[X-87] See vol. ii. of this work, pp. 209-11.

[X-88] ‘De allà de la Costa del Sur, mas cerca de la Eclyptica vezindad del Perù, y segun las circunstancias de su lengua, y trato de la Provincia ò Reyno de Nicarahua.’ Burgoa, Geog. Descrip. Oajaca, tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 396; Murguia, Estadist. Guajaca, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. vii., p. 183; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 173-4. See also Mühlenpfordt, Mejico, tom. ii., pt i., p. 176. Guillemot relates that some Peruvian families fled northward along the Cordilleras. On the banks of the Sarrabia they resorted to the fire test to find out whether the gods wished them to settle there. A brand was placed in a hole, but as it was extinct in the morning, they knew they must go further. Four emissaries went in search of another place. Beneath a coapinol-tree, where now stands Huixicovi, the brand-proof answered the test, and so they settled there. The coapinol is still venerated. Fossey, Mexique, pp. 50-1; see also p. 467.

[X-89] Burgoa, Geog. Descrip. Oajaca, tom. ii., pt i., fol. 196.

[X-90] Burgoa, Geog. Descrip. Oajaca, tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 312, 367-76.

[X-91] Burgoa, Geog. Descrip. Oajaca, tom. ii., pt i., fol. 197.

[X-92] Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 39.

[X-93] Id.; Burgoa, Geog. Descrip. Oajaca, tom. ii., pt i., fol. 181, 188.

[X-94] Burgoa, Geog. Descrip. Oajaca, tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 230, 245.

[X-95] Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 45.

[X-96] Burgoa, Geog. Descrip. Oajaca, tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 330; Murguia, Estadist. Guajaca, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. vii., pp. 167, 201.

[X-97] Herrera, dec. iv., lib. ix., cap. vii.; Murguia, Estadist. Guajaca, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. vii., p. 183; Burgoa, Geog. Descrip. Oajaca, tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 280.

[X-98] Burgoa, Geog. Descrip. Oajaca, tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 302-3; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 48-50.

[X-99] See this volume, pp. 415-17.

[X-100] Burgoa, Geog. Descrip. Oajaca, tom. ii., pt i., fol. 150.

[X-101] See this volume, p. 425.

[X-102] Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., pp. 284-5, 338-40.

[X-103] See this volume pp. 443-7.

[X-104] Id., pp. 461-2.

[X-105] Murguia, Estadist. Guajaca, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. vii., p. 187.

[X-106] Hist., tom. iv., p. 539.

[X-107] Burgoa, Geog. Descrip. Oajaca, tom. ii., pt ii., fol. 367-76.

[X-108] See p. 158.

Chapter XI • The Quiché-Cakchiquel Empire in Guatemala • 21,300 Words

No Chronology in the South—Outline View—Authorities—Xbalanque at Utatlan—The Migration from Tulan—Balam-Quitzé and his Companions—Sacrifices to Tohil—the Quichés on Mt Hacavitz—The Tamub and Ilocab—First Victories—Qocavib Founds the Monarchy at Izmachi—the Toltec Theory—Imaginary Empire of the East—Different Versions of Primitive History—The Cakchiquel Migration—Juarros and Fuentes—Lists of Kings—Cakchiquels under Hacavitz—Reigns of Balam-Conache, Cotuha, and Iztayul, at Izmachi—War against the Ilocab—The Stolen Tribute—Gucumatz, Quiché Emperor at Utatlan—Changes in the Government—Reigns of Cotuha II., Tepepul, and Iztayul II.—Cakchiquel History—Conquests of Quicab I.—Revolt of the Achihab—Dismemberment of the Empire—Cakchiquel Conquests—Reigns of the last Guatemalan Kings—Appearance of the Spaniards under Alvarado in 1524.

Preliminary View

In the south we have no connected history except for two centuries immediately preceding the conquest, and no attempt at precise chronology even for that short period. The Quiché-Cakchiquel empire in Guatemala was, at the coming of the Spaniards, the most powerful and famous in North America, except that of the Aztecs in Anáhuac, with which it never came into direct conflict, although the fame of each was well known to the other, and commercial intercourse was carried on almost constantly. The southern empire, so far as may be learned from the slight evidence bearing on the subject, was about three centuries old in the sixteenth century, and the nearest approach to chronology in its annals is the regular succession of monarchs who occupied the throne, the achievements of each king given in what may be considered to be their chronologic order, and an apparent connection in a few cases with occurrences whose date is known from the Aztec records.

In a preceding volume of this work I have presented all that the authorities have preserved respecting the manners and customs of the Guatemalan peoples, and their condition at the coming of the Spaniards, including their system of government and the order of royal succession. In a chapter devoted to a general preliminary view of these nations,[XI-1]See vol. ii., p. 121, et seq. I have already presented a brief outline of their history as follows: Guatemala and northern Honduras were found in possession of the Mames in the north-west, the Pokomams in the south-east, the Quichés in the interior, and the Cakchiquels in the south.[XI-2]See map in vol. ii. The two latter were the most powerful, and ruled the country from their capitals of Utatlan and Tecpan Guatemala, where they resisted the Spaniards almost to the point of annihilation, retiring for the most part after defeat to live by the chase in the distant mountain gorges. Guatemalan history from the time of the Votanic empire down to an indefinite date not many centuries before the conquest, is a blank. It re-commences with the first traditions of the nations just mentioned. These traditions, as in the case of every American people, begin with the immigration of foreign tribes into the country, as the first in the series of events leading to the establishment of the Quiché-Cakchiquel empire. Assuming the Toltec dispersion from Anáhuac in the eleventh century as a well-authenticated fact, most writers have identified the Guatemalan nations, except perhaps the Mames, by some considered the descendants of the original inhabitants, with the migrating Toltecs who fled southward to found a new empire. I have already made known my scepticism respecting national American migrations in general, and the Toltec migration southward in particular, and there is nothing in the annals of Guatemala to modify the views previously expressed. The Quiché traditions are vague and without chronologic order, much less definite than those relating to the mythical Aztec wanderings. The sum and substance of the Quiché and Toltec identity is the traditional statement that the former people entered Guatemala at an unknown period in the past, while the latter left Anáhuac in the eleventh century. That the Toltecs should have migrated en masse southward, taken possession of Guatemala, established a mighty empire, and yet have abandoned their language for dialects of the original Maya tongue, is in the highest degree improbable. It is safer to suppose that the mass of the Quichés, and other nations of Guatemala, Chiapas, and Honduras, were descended directly from the Maya builders of Palenque, and from contemporary peoples,—that is, as has been shown in the chapter on pre-Toltec history in this volume, from the Maya peoples after they had been conquered by a new power and had become to a certain extent, so far as their institutions were concerned, Nahua nations.—Yet the differences between the Quiché-Cakchiquel structures and the older architectural remains of the Maya empire, indicate a new era of Maya culture, originated not improbably by the introduction of foreign elements. Moreover the apparent identity in name and teachings between the early civilizers of the Quiché tradition and the Nahua followers of Quetzalcoatl, together with reported resemblances between actual Quiché and Aztec institutions as observed by Europeans, indicate farther that the new element was engrafted on Maya civilization by contact with the Nahuas, a contact of which the presence of the exiled Toltec nobility may have been a prominent feature. After the overthrow of the original empire, we may suppose the people to have been subdivided during the course of centuries by civil wars and sectarian struggles into petty states, the glory of their former greatness vanished and partially forgotten, the spirit of progress dormant, to be roused again by the presence of the Nahua chiefs. These gathered and infused new life into the scattered remnants; they introduced some new institutions, and thus aided the ancient peoples to rebuild their empire on the old foundations, retaining the dialects of the original language. The preceding paragraphs, however, gave an exaggerated idea of the Toltec element in forming Quiché institutions, as has been shown by the investigations of the present volume, since, while the Nahua element in these institutions was very strong, yet the Nahua influence was exerted chiefly in pre-Toltec times while the two peoples were yet living together in Central America, rather than by the exiled Toltec nobles and priests.

Authorities on Guatemalan History

The authorities for Quiché history are not numerous. They include the work of Juarros, which is chiefly founded on the manuscripts of Fuentes; the published Spanish and French translations of the Popol Vuh, or National Book, of which much has already been said; and a number of documents similar to the latter, written in Spanish letters, but in the various Quiché-Cakchiquel dialects, by native authors who wrote after the Conquest, of course, but relied upon the aboriginal records and traditions, never published and only known to the world through the writings of Brasseur de Bourbourg, who, in Maya as in many parts of Nahua history, is the chief and almost the only authority.

In the earliest annals of Central America, while the Xibalban empire was yet in the height of its power, we find what is, perhaps, the first mention of the territory known later as Guatemala, in the mention by the Popol Vuh[XI-3]Popol Vuh, p. 79; this volume, p. 175. of Carchah, or Nimxob Carchah, a locality in Vera Paz, as the place whence Hunhunahpu and Vucub Hunahpu, the first Nahua chiefs who conspired against the Xibalban monarchs, directed their first expedition toward the region of Palenque. Las Casas also names this as one of the entrances to the road which lead to the infernal regions, the sense probably given to Xibalba in the traditions of the country.[XI-4]Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., tom. iii., cap. cxxiv., cxxv. And from Utatlan, in the same region, in later centuries the Quiché capital, started Xbalanque and Hunahpu, the descendants of the two chieftains already named, to avenge the defeat of their ancestors, and to overthrow the proud kings of Xibalba. The young princes left behind them their mother and grand-mother, planting in their cabin two canes which were to indicate to those left at home their own fortune, to flourish with their prosperity, to wither at each misfortune, and to die should they meet the fate of their predecessors; hence perhaps the Quiché name of Utatlan, Gumarcaah, ‘house of withered canes.'[XI-5]This vol., pp. 178-80; Popol Vuh, p. 141. The mention of Guatemalan localities in this connection is not sufficient to prove that the opposition to Xibalba had its beginning or centre in Guatemala, but simply indicates that the Nahua power in those primitive times extended over that region, as did also the Maya power, not improbably. In other words, the long struggle between the two rival powers was no local contest at and about Palenque, but was felt in a greater or less degree throughout the whole country, from Anáhuac to Guatemala, and perhaps still farther south.

Expedition of Xbalanque

Xbalanque’s expedition and some subsequent occurrences are related by Torquemada, as follows: “After the people of the earth had multiplied and increased, it was made known that a god had been born in the province of Otlatla (Utatlan), now known as Vera Paz, thirty leagues from the capital called Quauhtemallan (Guatemala), which god they named Exbalanquen. Of him it is related, among other lies and fables, that he went to wage war against Hell, and fought against all the people of that region and conquered them, and captured the king of Hell with many of his army. On his return to the earth after his victory, bearing with him his spoils, the king of the Shades begged that he might not be carried away. They were then in three or four grades of light, but Exbalanquen gave the infernal monarch a kick, saying ‘go back, and thine be in future all that is rotten, and refuse, and stinking, in these infernal regions.’ Exbalanquen then returned to Vera Paz whence he had set out, but he was not received there with the festivities and songs of triumph which he thought he had deserved, and therefore he went away to another kingdom, where he was kindly received. This conqueror of Hell is said to have introduced the custom of sacrificing human beings.””[XI-6]Torquemada, tom. ii., pp. 53-4; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., tom. iii., cap. cxxiv. Brasseur adds on this subject: “Copan, the name of which (‘on the vase’) alludes mysteriously to the religious symbols of the mixed, or Mestizo, Nahua race, was it then chosen by this prince, whose mother (Xquiq) personified the fundamental idea of this sanguinary worship? However this may have been, it seems certain that the latter city owed its origin to a fierce warrior named Balam, who had entered the country by the way of Peten Itza about fifteen centuries before the Spanish conquest. During the last period of native rule the province of which Copan was the capital was called Payaqui (‘in the Yaqui, or Nahuas’) or the kingdom of Chiquimula.”[XI-7]Brasseur, in Popol Vuh, p. cclvi. The only authority referred to on this matter of Copan is the Isagoge Historico, a manuscript cited in García Pelaez, Mem. para la Historia del antiguo Reino de Guatemala, tom. i., p. 45 et seq. But all this may be regarded as purely conjectural.

From the time when Xbalanque and Hunahpu marched to the conquest of Xibalba, and succeeded in subordinating the ancient Maya to the Nahua power, for several centuries down to the subsequent scattering of both Nahua and Maya tribes, which preceded the appearance of the Toltec branches in Anáhuac, the history of Guatemala is a blank. That civilized peoples occupied the country at that remote time; that they had been more or less the subjects of the ancient empire; and that they had been brought within the new influences of the Nahua institutions, there can be little doubt; but they have left no record of their deeds, probably not even of their names. The annals recommence with the traditional migration from Tulan, by which the Toltecs established themselves on the central plateaux of Mexico, while the tribes afterwards known as Quichés wandered southward to the highlands of Vera Paz; but five or six centuries were yet to pass before we find any record that may be properly termed history. I return to the traditions of the Popol Vuh, it being necessary to take up the thread of the story at a period even preceding the arrival at Tulan, and thus to repeat in a measure certain portions already referred to in a preceding chapter.

Record of the Popol Vuh

After the creation of the first men, Balam-Quitzé, Balam-Agab, Mahucutah, and Iqi-Balam, wives were given them, and these were the parents of the Quiché nation. Among the nations then in the East, that received their names from those that were begotten, were those of Tepeuh, Oloman, Cohah, Quenech, and Ahau; also those of Tamub and Ilocab who came together from the eastern land.[XI-8]The other names are Lamak, Cumatz, Tuhalha, Uchabaha, Chumilaha, Quibaha, Batenab, Acul-Vinak, Balamiha, Canchahel, and Balam-Colob, most of which Brasseur connects more or less satisfactorily with the scattered ruins in the Guatemala highlands, where these tribes afterwards settled. It is stated by the tradition that only the principal names are given. Balam-Quitzé was the ancestor of the nine grand families of Cawek; Balam-Agab of the nine of Nihaïb; Mahucutah of the four of Ahau-Quiché. There came also the thirteen of Tecpan, and those of Rabinal, the Cakchiquels, those ofTziquinaha, Zacaha, and others. All seem to have spoken one language, and to have lived in great peace, black men and white together. Here they awaited the rising of the sun and prayed to the Heart of Heaven. The tribes were already very numerous, including that of the Yaqui (Nahuas). At the advice of Balam-Quitzé and his companions, they departed in search of gods to worship, and came to Tulan-Zuiva, the Seven Caves, where gods were given them, Tohil, Avilix, Hacavitz, and Nicahtagah. Tohil was also the god of Tamub and Ilocab, and the three tribes, or families, kept together, for their god was the same.[XI-9]The fourth god, Nicahtagah, is rarely named in the following pages; Tohil is often used for the trinity, Tohil, Avilix, and Hacavitz; and Balam-Quitzé for the band of the first four men or high-priests. Here arrived all the tribes, the Rabinals, the Cakchiquels, the Tziquinaha, and the Yaqui; and here their language was confounded, they could no longer understand each other, and they separated, some going to the east and many coming hither (to Guatemala). They dressed in skins and were poor, but they were wonderful men, and when they reached Tulan-Zuiva, long had been their journey, as the ancient histories tell us.

Now there was no fire; Tohil was the first to create it, but it is not known exactly how he did it, since it was already burning when it was discovered by Balam-Quitzé and Balam-Agab. The fire was put out by a sudden shower and by a storm of hail, but the fire of the Quichés was rekindled by Tohil. Then the other tribes came shivering with chattering teeth to ask for fire from Balam-Quitzé, which was at first denied them; and a messenger from Xibalba appeared, a Zotzil, or bat, as it is said, and advised the high-priests to refuse the petition of the tribes until they should have learned from Tohil the price to be paid for the fire. The condition finally named by the god was, that they consent to “unite themselves to me under their armpit and under their girdle, and that they embrace me, Tohil,” a condition not very clearly expressed, but which, as is shown by what follows, was an agreement to worship the Quiché god, and sacrifice to him their blood, and, if required, their children. They accepted the condition and received the fire. But one family stole the fire, the family of Zotzil, of the Cakchiquels, whose god was Chamalcan, and whose symbol was the bat; and they did not submit to the conditions of Tohil. Here they began to fast and to watch for the sun. It was not here that they received their power and sovereignty, but there where they subdued the great and the little tribes, when they sacrificed them before the face of Tohil, offering him the blood, the life, the breast, and the armpit of all men. Thus at Tulan came to them their majesty, that great wisdom which was in them in the obscurity and in the night. They came then and tore themselves away from there and abandoned the regions of the rising sun. “This is not our home; let us go and see where we shall establish it,” said Tohil. Truly he spoke to Balam-Quitzé—and the others. “Make first your thanksgiving, prepare the holes in your ears, pierce your elbows, and offer sacrifice; this will be your act of gratitude before god.” “It is well,” they replied, piercing their ears; and these things are in the song of their coming from Tulan; and their hearts groaned when they started, after they had torn themselves away from Tulan. “Alas! we shall no longer behold here the dawn at the moment when the sun comes up to illumine the face of the earth,” said they as they set out. But some were left on the road; for some remained asleep, each of the tribes arising so as to see the morning star. It was the sign of the morning that was in their thoughts when they came from the land of the rising sun, and their hope was the same in leaving this place which is at a great distance, as they tell us to-day.

The Quichés at Mt Hacavitz

They arrived and assembled on the mountain now called Chipixab, the Quichés, Tamub, Ilocab, Cakchiquels, Rabinals, and Tziquinaha. They took counsel one with another, and were very sad, and hungry too. Then, at their own request, were the gods concealed in different ravines and forests,[XI-10]The names of the localities named as the hiding-places of the gods are said to be still attached to places in Vera Paz. except Hacavitz, who was placed on a pyramid on Mt Hacavitz, and there all the tribes waited in great trouble for the coming of the dawn. “Now behold lords were made, and our old men and our fathers had their beginning; behold we will relate the dawn and the appearance of the sun, moon, and stars.” The account of the dawn and its attendant ceremonies, which follows in the Popol Vuh, would seem, in connection with the preceding quotations, to refer vaguely to the election of rulers, the establishment of temporal and spiritual government, the birth of Quiché institutions. Here they sang the song of lamentation for their separation from their kindred in Tulan, already referred to.[XI-11]See p. 182, of this volume.

Under Balam-Quitzé, Balam-Agab, Mahucutah, and Iqi-Balam, they lived together on the mountain, and the tribes of Tamub and Ilocab lived near by in the forests of Dan, under the same god Tohil, the god of the people of Rabinal being the same under the name of Huntoh, while the god of the Cakchiquels was different, Tzotziha Chamalcan, as was also their language. Their hearts were heavy because Tohil, Avilix, and Hacavitz were still hidden in the grass and moss, although it has been stated before that the latter was on the pyramid of Hacavitz. They went to thank Tohil for the sunrise, and to make offerings of resins and plants; and he spoke and made known a rule of conduct for the sacrificers; and they called upon him to aid them and said, “here shall be our mountains and our valleys;” and the gods predicted their future greatness. They still suffered from hunger, and the places where the wives abode were not clearly known.

And now many towns had been founded, apparently by other than the Quiché tribes, but as to Balam-Quitzé and his three companions they were not clearly seen, but cried like wild beasts in the mountains and on the roads, coming each day before Tohil, Avilix, and Hacavitz, offering them the blood of beasts, and blood drawn from their own bodies. Afterwards began the slaughter of the surrounding people who were overtaken on the roads, either one by one or in small groups, and slain, as was supposed, by wild beasts. After many had perished, suspicions were aroused of the four sacrificers and of their gods, but it was hard to track the pretended animals on the fog-enveloped summits of the Guatemalan heights. Now the gods Tohil, Avilix, and Hacavitz assumed the appearance of three young men, and were wont to bathe in a certain river, vanishing at will whenever they were seen by the people; and a council was held to devise means for effecting their death, and to escape the destruction caused by these Quichés of Cawek. They deemed themselves a great people and those of Cawek only a handful; yet if the power of the three gods was really so great that it could not be overcome, then would they call upon Tohil also to be their god. It was decided to send to meet the three young men at the bath two of the most beautiful of their virgins, that the passions of the former might be excited. These virgins, in obedience to the commands of their elders, went to the river to wash linen, and both removed all their clothing as soon as the three bathers appeared, and began to talk with them, saying that their parents had sent them to speak to the young men and to bring some token of having had an interview with them. But the young men did not, as was expected, so far descend from their godlike dignity as to take liberties with the fair Xtah and Xpuch, but after consultation with Balam-Quitzé and his brother sacrificers, gave the girls their painted mantles as tokens to carry to those that had sent them. One of the mantles was covered with painted wasps and bees which came to life and stung the lord who put it on, and thus was Tohil victorious over the princes, by the aid of Balam-Quitzé and his companions. Then an assault was determined upon by the numerous tribes against the small forces of the Quiché sacrificers on Mount Hacavitz, but Tohil knew of all their plans, as did Balam-Quitzé. The invaders were to make the attack by night, but they fell asleep on the route, and their eyebrows and beard were shaven and all their ornaments stolen by the valiant Quichés as they slept. The Quiché leaders fortified their position with palisades and fallen trees, and stationed on them manikins of wood armed like soldiers and decorated with the gold and silver stolen from the sleeping foe. The sacrificers were sore afraid, but Tohil re-assured them. They filled the shells of gourds with hornets and wasps and placed them about the defences of their town. Spies came from the enemy and looked upon the wooden soldiers and rejoiced that they were few in number, and at the victory their countless armies were soon to win.

The Three Tempters

The hostile forces, armed with bows and arrows, and bearing shields, ascended the mountain and surrounded the Quiché retreat, shouting and striving with fearful clamor to strike terror into the hearts of their foes, who meanwhile looked calmly on. At the fitting moment the winged allies of the Quichés were released from the gourds and in countless hordes attacked the invaders right valiantly, fastening themselves on the eyes and noses of the foe, who threw down their arms in their agony, threw themselves on the ground, and were slaughtered by the followers of Tohil, both men and women joining in the bloody work. Barely half of the invading army escaped to their homes. The tribes were thus humiliated before the face of the sacrificers, begged for mercy, and were made subjects; the victors were filled with exultation, and multiplied, begetting sons and daughters on Mount Hacavitz.

The sons of the sacrificers were as follows; Balam-Quitzé begat Qocaib and Qocavib, ancestor of the Cawek, or first Quiché royal family. Balam-Agab begat Qoacul and Qoacutec, from whom sprang the family of Nihaïb. Mahucutah had but one son Qoahau; and Iqi-Balam had none.[XI-12]Another document consulted by Brasseur, Popol Vuh, p. 286, places four generations between Balam-Quitzé and Qocaib and Qocavib mentioned above as his sons. The four sacrificers, the first leaders and fathers of the Quiché people, were now old and ready to die, and after many words of counsel to their sons they disappeared suddenly, leaving to their people what is called the ‘enveloped majesty’ as a most precious relic, the form of which was not known for the envelope was not removed; and thenceforth the Quichés from their home on the mountain ruled all the surrounding tribes now thoroughly subjected.

Establishment of the Monarchy

The three elder sons, Qocaib, Qoacutec, and Qoahau, were married long after the death of their fathers, and they determined to go as their fathers had ordered to the East on the shore of the sea, whence their fathers had come, ‘to receive the royalty,’ bidding adieu to their brothers and friends, and promising to return. “Doubtless they passed over the sea when they went to the East to receive the royalty. Now this is the name of the lord, of the monarch of the people of the East where they went. And when they arrived before the lord Nacxit,[XI-13]Brasseur insists that this was Acxitl Quetzalcoatl, the last Toltec king, who had founded a great kingdom in Honduras, with the capital at Copan. Popol Vuh, p. 294. the name of the great lord, of the only judge, whose power was without limit, behold he granted them the sign of royalty and all that represents it; hence came the sign of the rank of Ahpop and of that of Ahpop Camha, and Nacxit finally gave them the insignia of royalty, … all the things in fact which they brought on their return, and which they went to receive from the other side of the sea, the art of painting from Tulan, a system of writing, they said, for the things recorded in the histories.”

The three princes returned to Mount Hacavitz, assembled all the tribes, including the people of Ilocab and Tamub, the Cakchiquels, Tziquinaha, and the tribe of Rabinal, assuming the authority over them to the great joy of all. Then the wives of the original sacrificers died, and many of the people left Mount Hacavitz and founded innumerable other towns on the neighboring hills,[XI-14]Brasseur, in Popol Vuh, p. 297, gives a list from another document of many of these new settlements, many of which as he claims can be identified with modern localities. The chief of the new towns was Chiquix, ‘in the thorns,’ possibly the name from which Quiché was derived. This city occupied four hills, or was divided into four districts, the Chiquix, Chichac, Humetaha, and Culba-Cavinal. where their numbers were greatly multiplied. The three princes who went to the East to receive the royalty, had grown old and died, but before their death they had established themselves in their great city of Izmachi.[XI-15]Popol Vuh, pp. 205-99; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 83-118.

The narrative of the Popol Vuh condenses in the preceding paragraphs, the history of the Quichés during the whole time that elapsed between the scattering of the Nahuas from Tulan before the fifth century, and the final establishment of the Quiché empire, an event whose exact date is unknown—for we have nothing but approximate dates in the aboriginal history of Guatemala—but which, judging by the number of kings that are represented as having occupied the throne afterwards down to the coming of the Spaniards, is thought not to have been earlier than the thirteenth century. The record implies, in fact, that the Quichés lived long in their new home before they acquired power among the surrounding tribes. All this time they were directed by their trinity, Tohil, Avilix, and Hacavitz, acting through their four chief sacrificers, or high-priests, Balam-Quitzé, Balam-Agab, Mahucutah, and Iqi-Balam, the same who had led them in their migration from the region of Xibalba, and even in their migration to that region from the east. Of course many generations of priests bearing these names or these titles must have succeeded each other in the direction of Quiché affairs during this period; but the record admits the succession of sons to the ecclesiastical and temporal power only after the nation had risen to power. It has been noted, however, that another document mentions several generations between Balam-Quitzé and Qocavib. The surrounding peoples are continually referred to in the Popol Vuh, but for the most part simply as ‘the tribes,’ although the tribes of Tamub and Ilocab, of Rabinals, of the Cakchiquels, and several others are frequently named, sometimes in a manner that would lead the reader to suppose that these were ‘the tribes’ subdued, but oftener as if these were from the first connected with the Quichés. From the records of other Guatemalan nations which have never been published, the Abbé Brasseur attempts to throw some light on the history of the tribes among which the Quichés lived so long in a subordinate position, and on the period over which the Popol Vuh passes so rapidly.

Migration from Tulan

The many tribes that left the central region of Tulan did not probably do so simultaneously, but migrated at irregular intervals, so that the final destruction of Tulan may not have occurred before the sixth or seventh century. Juarros even gives a list of four kings, Tanub, Capichoch, Calel-Ahus, and Ahpop, who ruled in that city, although his account taken from that of Fuentes is not worthy of great confidence. According to the records followed by Brasseur, the first tribes to migrate southward towards Guatemala, were those of Tamub and Ilocab together with the thirteen clans of Tecpan, the ancestors of the Pokomams. We have seen, however, that Guatemala was already more or less in possession of the Nahuas before the overthrow of Xibalba, and the vague references to the tribes of Tamub and Ilocab—the oldest Nahua tribes in the country according to all authorities—are insufficient to show clearly whether they were already in Guatemala in the time of Hunahpu and Xbalanque, or like the Quichés proper migrated thither after the fall of Xibalba. The chiefs of Tamub held the highest rank in a kind of confederacy that seems to have been established at this early time. Their capital was Amag-Dan, a few leagues north of Utatlan. The family of Ilocab, the second in the confederacy, had its capital, Uquincat, at a short distance north-west of Utatlan, and was divided into two branches called Gale-Ziha and Tzununi-ha. The third chief of the alliance has escaped the abbé’s researches. The thirteen tribes of Tecpan, under the names of Uxab and Pokomam, occupied Vera Paz and the region south of the Motagua, their capital, Nimpokom, being near where the modern town of Rabinal now stands. The western country towards Chiapas was held by the Mames, one of the ancient peoples of Guatemala who were probably found in the country by the first tribes from Tulan. This nation was divided into many bands, whose names and towns are given, the latter including those afterwards known as Quezaltenango and Huehuetenango. One document mentions a succession of nine sovereigns in the Tamub dynasty before the Quiché power began.

The Quichés entered the country at about the same time as the tribes of Ilocab, Tamub, and the Pokomams, but as we have seen in their own record, they had no influence for many centuries among the nations that preceded them. During this period, with the Cakchiquels, the band of Rabinal, and the Ah-Tziquinaha, they constituted a group of small tribes, dwelling on the barren heights of Vera Paz, or the Lacandon country. It is not probable that they were yet known as Quichés, or ‘men of the woods,’ and all that is known of them is the names of their gods, Tohil, Avilix, and Hacavitz; of their chief priests, whose names, or titles, were Balam-Quitzé, Balam-Agab, Mahucutah, and Iqi-Balam; and of leaders mentioned by the MS. Cakchiquel, and named Xurcah and Totomay. According to our only authority on early events, excepting the Popol Vuh, the time which was occupied by the Quichés under Balam-Quitzé and his companions in their long struggles as animals against the other tribes, is not that which elapsed between their arrival from Tulan at Mt Hacavitz in the sixth or seventh century, and the establishment of their monarchy in the thirteenth, but rather that between their first coming prominently into notice in the mountains of Vera Paz in the twelfth century, and the founding of their empire. According to this version, the annals of the whole preceding period are included by the author of the Popol Vuh in those of the migration to Mt Hacavitz; Balam-Quitzé and the other sacrificers were not their leaders when they left Tulan, but were given to them much later by their god Tohil to guide the unfortunate people out of their difficulties; in fact, these sacrificers, so called, were Toltec chieftains who fled from Anáhuac at the fall of their empire, joined the partisans who accompanied their flight to the forces of the Quichés, gathered the scattered tribes on the heights of Vera Paz, and were enabled after a century of contest—during which the Quichés were regarded as a nation of brigands, much like the Aztecs at the same time, or a little later, about the Mexican lakes—to subdue the surrounding nations, and thus become masters of Guatemala. There are probably no sufficient reasons to deny that the empire was founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century;—although it should be noted that this gives to the following kings down to the Conquest, as will be seen later, an average reign of only twelve or fifteen years;—the Quichés are known to have claimed relationship with the Toltec sovereigns; and it is quite likely the exiled chiefs and priests of Tollan had an influence on the Quiché institutions; but that the Quiché empire was thus founded by the Toltec exiles, there is, as I have repeatedly shown, every reason to deny.

Embassy to Anáhuac

The first tribes conquered by the followers of Tohil were five of the thirteen Pokomam bands, which were forced to pay tribute. Ahcan was now the high-priest and leader of the bands who were gathered about Mt Hacavitz, and he was the great-grandson of Balam-Quitzé, and the father of Qocaib and Qocavib, mentioned by the Popol Vuh as the founders of the monarchy, and represented by that record as the sons of Balam-Quitzé. It was at his command, expressed just before his death, that the three princes undertook a journey to the East, to obtain from the great monarch of that region, the authority and insignia which should render legitimate the power they were about to assume. Other documents differ from the Popol Vuh in stating that while one of the brothers, Qocaib, thus visited the East, the other brother, Qocavib, directed his course northward to Anáhuac to seek the royal investiture at the hands of the Toltec princes who had remained at Culhuacan. He reached the valley, but such was the state of anarchy he found prevailing there, that he was forced to return without having attained his object, and reached his home long before the return of his brother. He even took advantage of Qocaib’s absence to dishonor his wife, who bore him a son. Qocaib, when he came back from his successful mission and was congratulated by the assembled chieftains, saw the child in its mother’s arms, and was not a little surprised at its existence, but he seemed perfectly satisfied with the assurance of his wife that the child was of his own blood, and taking it in his arms, he named it Balam Conache, who was the founder of the house of Conache and of Iztayul, and the first to bear the title of Ahpop Camha, or heir apparent to the throne. It is not explained why the younger brother, unsuccessful in his mission, was allowed to become the head of the government instead of the older and more successful Qocaib. A second journey to the East by the two princes is also recorded before their right to the throne was definitely established.

This subject of an eastern monarchy ruled by Nacxit is shrouded in impenetrable mystery. Brasseur claims confidently that the kingdom cited was in Honduras with its capital probably at Copan, and ruled by Acxitl Quetzalcoatl, the last of the Toltec kings, or by his son; the sea alluded to as having been crossed in the journey, must then have been the gulf of Amatique or that of Dulce. The only authority that I know of for this assumption is the vague report by Ixtlilxochitl that Acxitl went southward and established a great empire in Tlapallan, where he died in the twelfth century; and the slight resemblance in the names Acxitl and Nacxit. I need not say that the authority is altogether insufficient, and that it is much safer to give the tale of the mission to the East some mythologic meaning, or to admit that its meaning like that of many of the traditions of this early period in Guatemalan history is wholly unknown.

Reign of Qocavib

The monarchy as thus first established seems to have included, besides the Quichés proper of the house of Cawek, the Cakchiquels, Rabinals, and Ah-Tziquinaha, as the principal Quiché branches or allies. During the reign of Qocavib, the territory of the kingdom was considerably extended by the conquest of large portions of Vera Paz, which were taken from the Pokomams in the south. At the assault of Qoxbaholam, the stronghold of a powerful people called the Agaab, the prince of that nation is reported to have been captured, and to have made his nation tributary to the Quiché king and worshipers of the Quiché trinity, Tohil, Avilix, and Hacavitz. This and succeeding events, down to the foundation of Izmachi, already alluded to in the account from the Popol Vuh, I quote from the only writer who has had access to the other Guatemalan records.[XI-16]Brasseur, in Popol Vuh, pp. ccliii-cclxxi. The manuscripts referred to by this writer for this and the preceding information, are:—Título Territorial de los Señores de Totonicapan; Título Territorial de los Señores de Sacapulas; MS. Cakchiquel; Título Real de la Casa de Itzcuin-Nehaib; and Título de los Señores de Quezaltenango y de Momostenango.

“Already masters of Pachalum, and on the point of entering Zquina, the Quichés found themselves checked by strong forces, when an unexpected ally was offered them; this was Cotuha, prince of Cakulgi, hereditary guardian of the sacred stone of Tzutuha in the temple of Cahbaha, whom they had just made a prisoner. Like a skillful politician, Qocavib took advantage of this occurrence so providential for him. The annals reveal that in the midst of their conquests the Quichés were divided by family rivalries; and it seems probable that Qocavib, whose name takes the place of that of his older brother, had as enemies all the princes of the house of Ahcan, sprung from Qocaib. Placing little reliance on the support of his relatives, he sought to strengthen himself by making allies among the conquered chiefs; and thus Cotuha having become his captive, he offered him in the order of the Ahqib and Ahqahb the fourth rank, vacant at the time by the death of the incumbent who had no offspring; so that this prince was assured of eventually rising to the command of the whole nation. Cotuha, proclaimed by the nobility, soon proved his worthiness of that high honor. After having powerfully aided the Quichés in the conquest of Zquina, Bayal, Chamilah, Ginom, Tocoy, and Patzima, returning to the Rio Chixoy with his new allies and subjects, he guided them by passes known only to himself to the centre of the great city of Cawinal on the bank of the river, an event soon followed by the submission of the whole Agaab nation, to which it belonged. The Quiché kings finding themselves pressed for room on Mount Hacavitz, left this city for that of Cawinal, where they established the seat of government. This was not, however, the permanent capital. At the death of Qocavib, Balam Conache, his successor, crossed the river southward, probably even before his coronation, and fixed his residence at Izmachi; and there he had himself proclaimed Ahau Ahpop and consecrated with all the Toltec ceremonial, conferring the title of Ahpop Camha on his son Iztayul.”

Migration from the North

Here should be given such scattered items of information respecting this primitive period of Guatemalan history, given by the same author in an earlier work,[XI-17]Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 73-150. The authorities referred to besides those already named are the following: Fuentes y Guzman, Recopilacion Florida de la Hist. de Guat., MS.; Ximenez, Hist. de los Reyes del Quiché, MS.; Chrónica de la Prov. de Goattemala, MS. The chief authority, however, is the MS. Cakchiquel, or Mémorial de Tecpan-Atitlan. as are additional to or differ from those already presented. The famous mythical queen Atit is said by Fuentes to have lived four centuries, and from her sprang all the royal and noble families of Guatemala. The oldest nation, or tribe, in the country was that of Tamub, whose son Copichoch had come from the east with Cochochlam, Mahquinalo, and Ahcanail, brought the black stone afterwards venerated at Utatlan, and reigned for a time at Tulan. The tribe of Ilocab ruled after that of Tamub, or perhaps at the same time, over the adjoining provinces. Brasseur seems here to favor the idea that the tribes of Tamub and Ilocab were the Nahuas who occupied Guatemala before the overthrow of Xibalba in the time of Xbalanque and Hunahpu, who refused to receive the former at his return from the conquest, yet among whom he introduced human sacrifice. A Zutugil document makes the Seven Caves an earlier station on the Quiché migration than Tulan, and speaks of wars that drove the people from the latter place into the mountains of Vera Paz. The worthy abbé finds room in his capacious imagination for a theory that the Pokomams, Quichés, Cakchiquels, and other kindred peoples, originated in the regions north of Mexico, stayed a while with the Toltecs at Tollan, but not long enough to be influenced to any great extent by them, and then migrated to the Guatemalan highlands. It does not seem to occur to this author that there are no arguments in favor of such a theory, that there is no necessity for such a conjecture, and that it disagrees radically with nearly all that he ever wrote before or afterwards. The same writer notes that the Pokomams were bitter foes of Acxitl, the last Toltec king, while the other Quiché tribes were friendly to him, and he infers from Nuñez de la Vega and other authorities that the kingdom of Xibalba was still existing, though with greatly diminished power, at the time when the Quiché tribes came into notice in Guatemala and Acxitl established his southern empire. The Cakchiquels on their way are even said to have been employed to defend the Xibalban frontiers, and their chieftains, the Tukuches, took their name of Zotziles, or bats, from that of Tzinacantla, their residence at the time, which has the meaning of ‘city of bats.’ In fact the tribes are here represented as having gathered in the Xibalban region before they mounted to their later homes in the highlands.[XI-18]The tribes named as having gathered here, are the Quichés, Rabinals, Cakchiquels, Zutugils, Ah-Tziquinaha, Tuhalaha, Uchabaha, Chumilaha, Tucurú, Zacaha, Quibaha, Batenab, Balaniha, Canchahel, Balam Colob, Acul, Cumatz, Akahales, and Lamagi.

The accounts of this gathering are chiefly from the Cakchiquel record. The locality is called Deozacuancu, apparently in the tierra caliente of Tabasco; but war was declared against some neighboring power, and the tribes went to Oloman—perhaps the Tepeu and Oliman, mentioned in a preceding chapter.[XI-19]See p. 182, of this volume. The cities against which this expedition was directed were Nonualcat and Xulpiti, the former suggesting the Nonohualcas, whose home was in the Tabascan region. The leaders were the Cakchiquel, or Zotzil-Tukuche, chiefs Hacavitz (Gagawitz) and Zactecauh; the enemies were defeated in a battle fought chiefly on the water; their cities were taken and their people massacred. But even while engaged in the massacre, their foes rallied, attacked them in the rear, and in their turn routed the Quiché tribes with great slaughter, not without the aid of magic arts, as we are informed by the record. The remnants of the vanquished were re-united on Mt Oloman, but the influence of Hacavitz and Zactecauh was destroyed, the tribes could be no longer kept together, and they resolved to separate and each for itself to seek the regions of the interior. No particulars are preserved of their wanderings, but Brasseur believes that the Quichés proper were the first to reach the heights of Vera Paz, after a generation at least had passed since they left the Xibalban region of Tabasco, and the sufferings from cold and the giving of fire by Tohil, are by him applied to the period immediately following their arrival. Then the other tribes arrived one by one and applied for fire, as has already been stated, their languages having become different one from another during that interval. The envoy from Xibalba also appeared among them, a circumstance that indicates to Brasseur that the Xibalban empire still existed in the eleventh or twelfth century; but which may, I think, be taken much more reasonably as a proof that these events took place at a date as early as the fifth or sixth century. The Cakchiquels were the last to arrive, and they stole the fire of Tohil without submitting to the required conditions, coming, as it is said, like bats, another derivation of their name of Zotziles.

Mames and Pokomams

The Cakchiquels are said to have applied, on their arrival, the name Mem, or as the Spaniards afterwards called it, Mames, or ‘stutterers,’ to the Maya-speaking aboriginal tribes whom they found in possession of the country, on account of their peculiar pronunciation, although the Cakchiquel was also a Maya dialect. The Mames in later times occupied the north-western part of the country towards the Chiapan frontiers, where they were never entirely conquered by the Quiché nations down to the time of the Conquest, their capital being Zakuléu, near Huehuetenango.[XI-20]See vol. iv., pp. 128-30 , for notice of ruins. Besides the Mames, probably the most ancient of the Guatemalan nations, the tribes of Tamub and Ilocab also occupied the country before the later Quiché tribes. According to Fuentes the capital of the Tamub was Utatlan, or Gumarcaah, and it is stated that the Ilocab were bitter enemies of the Quichés, and were only conquered when nearly annihilated. The Pokomams and Pokonchis, kindred tribes or divisions of the same tribe, are here estimated by Brasseur to have arrived something more than a half century before the other Quiché tribes, and are said to have conquered or allied themselves with the Uxab, elsewhere[XI-21]See p. 555 of this volume. spoken of as a division of that tribe. Nothing is known of Pokomam history, but some remains of their language and of their towns may yet be studied. These people, together with the Tamub and Ilocab, were perhaps the chief foes of the Quichés in the earlier days of their power.

In their wars against the Pokomams the Quiché tribes made use of the ancient chieftains who had been subjected by that people, among whom are mentioned Zakbim and Huntzuy on the Chiquimula frontier. The first battle and the first Quiché victory was in the valley of Rabinal and brought into the possession of the Cakchiquels—for these events are taken from the Cakchiquel record—the stronghold of Mount Zactzuy, and also made allies of Loch and Xet, chieftains of the Ahquehayi, who afterwards became almost identical with the Cakchiquels. The next point against which Hacavitz proceeded was Mount Cakhay; but the allied Quiché forces were repulsed with great loss, and so weakened that it was long before they were able again to attack the warlike Pokomams. Then they retired from a hopeless contest, and took refuge in the inaccessible mountain fastnesses about Utatlan, now Santa Cruz del Quiché in the department of Totonicapan. The mountain where they established themselves is called in the Cakchiquel record Tohohil, ‘clashing of arms,’ but in the Popol Vuh is known as we have seen as Mount Hacavitz. All that is known of their stay at Mount Hacavitz, of their oppression by the neighboring tribes, their gradually increasing power, their final victory over those tribes, and the establishment of the Quiché monarchy with its capital at Izmachi, related by Brasseur in the work from which the preceding notes have been extracted, is taken by him from the Popol Vuh, and is substantially the same that I have already given on the same authority.

Version of Juarros

To conclude this primitive period of Guatemalan history, it only remains to present a few notes given on the subject by the Spanish writers, chiefly by Juarros, who follows the manuscript writings of Fuentes y Guzman, founded as is claimed on native documents, but full of inconsistencies, and doubtless also of errors. Juarros, or the authority followed by him, was fully imbued with the belief that the Quichés were the Toltecs who left Anáhuac after the fall of their empire, and his efforts to reconcile the native records to this theory perhaps account for many of his inconsistencies. I translate from this author that part of his work which relates to this primitive period. “The Toltecs referred to were of the house of Israel, and the great prophet Moses freed them from the captivity in which they were held by Pharaoh; but, having passed the Red Sea, they gave themselves up to idolatry, and persisting in it notwithstanding the warnings of Moses, either to escape the chidings of this law-giver or for fear of punishment, they left him and their kindred and crossed the sea to a place called the Seven Caves on the shores of the Mar Bermejo (Gulf of California) now a part of the Mexican kingdom,[XI-22]This is evidently taken by Juarros, from the Spanish version of the Mexican traditions. where they founded the celebrated city of Tula. The first chief who ruled and conducted this great band from one continent to the other, was Tamub, ancestor of the royal families of Tula and of Quiché, and first king of the Toltecs. The second was Capichoch; the third Calel Ahus; the fourth Ahpop; the fifth Nimaquiché,[XI-23]The reader is already aware that no such kings ever reigned over the Toltecs in Anáhuac. It is evident that the author has confounded the Tulan of the Guatemalan annals with Tollan, the Toltec capital in Anáhuac, and the Nahua migration from the Xibalban region in the fourth or fifth century, with that of the Toltecs in the eleventh. who, being the best beloved and most distinguished of all, at the order of his oracle, led these people away from Tulan, where they had greatly increased in numbers, and guided them from the Mexican kingdom to this of Guatemala. In this migration they spent many years, suffered unspeakable hardships, and journeyed in their wanderings for many leagues over an immense tract of country, until, beholding a lake (that of Atitan), they determined to fix their habitation at a certain place not far from the lake, which they named Quiché, in memory of the king Nimaquiché (or, the ‘great’ Quiché), who had died during their long wanderings. There came with Nimaquiché three of his brothers, and by an agreement between the four they divided the region; one founding the province, or seigniory, of the Quelenes and Chiapanecs; another the department of Tezulutan (Tezulutlan), or Vera Paz; the third became the ruler of the Mames and Pokomams; while Nimaquiché was the father of the Quichés, Cakchiquels, and Zutugils. The latter having died on the journey, Acxopil, a son of Nimaquiché, entered Quiché at the head of his nation, and was the first to reign at Utatlan. This prince, seeing the great increase of his monarchy in numbers and influence, appointed three captains, or governors, with whom he shared the burden of the administration of affairs. It is also added in the manuscripts referred to, that Acxopil, at a very advanced age, determined to divide his empire into three kingdoms, that of the Quichés, that of the Cakchiquels, and that of the Zutugils. Retaining for himself the first, he gave the second to his oldest son, Jiutemal, and the third to his second son, Acxiquat; and this division was made on a day when three suns were seen, which has caused some to think that it took place on the day of the birth of our Redeemer, a day on which it is commonly believed that such a meteor was observed.”[XI-24]Juarros, Hist. Guat., (Guat., 1857) pp. 7-9. The extract that I have made extends a little beyond the point at which I have left the other records. I give here also a list of the Quiché kings, who were according to Juarros: 1, Acxopil; 2, Jiuhtemal; 3, Hunahpu; 4, Balam Kiché (Balam-Quitzé); 5, Balam Acam (Balam-Agab); 6, Maucotah (Mahucutah); 7, Iquibalam (Iqi-Balam); 8, Kicab I.; 9, Cacubraxechein; 10, Kicab II.; 11, Iximché; 12, Kicab III.; 13, Kicab IV.; 14, Kicab Tamub; 15, Tecum Umam; 16, Chignaviucelut; 17, Sequechul or Sequechil.

The list of the Quiché princes of the royal house of Cawek, according to the order of the generations, is given in the Popol Vuh, pp. 339-40, Ximenez, pp. 133-4, as follows—the list apparently includes not only the Ahpop, or king, but the Ahpop Camha, heir apparent to the throne. And, as is indicated by the course of the history, and as Brasseur believes, each Ahpop Camha succeeded the Ahpop on the throne, so that the whole number of the Quiché kings, down to the coming of the Spaniards, counting from Qocavib, was twenty-two instead of eleven, as the list might seem to imply and as Ximenez evidently understands it:—1, Balam-Quitzé; 2, Qocavib, (although we have seen that, by other documents several generations are placed between the first and second of this list); 3, Balam Conache (the first to take the title Ahpop); 4, Cotuha and Iztayub; 5, Gucumatz and Cotuha; 6, Tepepul and Iztayul; 7, Quicab and Cavizimah; 8, Tepepul and Xtayub; 9, Tecum and Tepepul; 10, Vahxaki-Caam and Quicab; 11, Vukub Noh and Cavatepech; 12, Oxib-Quieh and Beleheb Tzi (reigning when Alvarado came, and hung by the Spaniards); 13, Tecum and Tepepul; 14, Don Juan de Rojas and Don Juan Cortés.

The princes of the house of Nihaïb given by the same authority, p. 343, Ximenez, pp. 135, were as follows:—1, Balam-Agab; 2, Qoacul and Qoacutec; 3, Qochahuh and Qotzibaha; 4, Beleheb-Gih; 5, Cotuha; 6, Batza; 7, Ztayul; 8, Cotuha; 9, Beleheb-Gih; 10, Quema; 11, Cotuha; 12, Don Christóval; 13, Don Pedro de Robles.

List of the princes of the Royal House of Ahau Quiché, Popol Vuh, p. 345, Ximenez, pp. 136-7; 1, Mahucutah; 2, Qoahau; 3, Caklacan; 4, Qocozom; 5, Comahcan; 6, Vukub-Ah; 7, Qocamel; 8, Coyabacoh, Vinak-Bam. These lists, however, do not seem to correspond altogether with the Quiché annals as given by the same authority, as the reader will see in the succeeding pages.

Primitive Quiché Period

Torquemada[XI-25]Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 38, tom. ii., pp. 338-40. See also Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. iii., pp. 246-9. briefly mentions a few of the points in early Quiché history, agreeing with Juarros. Orozco y Berra’s reasoning from a linguistic point of view respecting the primitive inhabitants of this region, is not very clear, or at least it is difficult to determine what are his conclusions on the subject. In one place he says that Utatlan was founded at the time of the Toltec migration southward; and elsewhere, that the Toltecs could not have been the ancestors of the Quichés, Cakchiquels, and Zutugils.[XI-26]Geografía, pp. 97-9, 128, et seq. Gallatin accepts the popular theory that the Quichés were a Toltec colony, but does not explain the linguistic difficulties in the way of such a supposition.[XI-27]Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 8. Waldeck rejects the Toltec theory on account of differences in language and physique; but states that the Guatemalan tribes came originally from Yucatan[XI-28]Voy. Pitt., pp. 41, 646..

I have now given all the information accessible respecting Quiché history preceding the establishment of the empire, which began in the twelfth or thirteenth century and endured with some modifications down to the coming of the Spaniards. It has been presented in the form of fragments, for the reader will readily perceive that to form from the authorities a connected narrative would have been an utter impossibility. I have in a preceding chapter presented the evidence of the existence during a few centuries before and after the beginning of the Christian era, of a great aboriginal empire in Central America, narrating all that may be known of its decline and fall resulting from the contentions of the great Maya and Nahua powers. In the sixteenth century the Spaniards found two powerful empires, the Aztec in the north, the Quiché in the south, both of which doubtless were offshoots of the great primitive monarchy. The annals of the northern branch have been traced more or less clearly back to the parent trunk, with only a blank of one or two centuries at most, during which the Nahua power was transferred northward; but in the annals of the southern branch, whose connection with the primitive empire was of precisely the same nature, the blank is lengthened to some eight centuries at least. From the Xibalban times and the tribal separation at Tulan down to the establishment of the Quiché empire we have only the fragments of the preceding pages. These fragments represent the history of many peoples for many centuries; they are not necessarily contradictory, for in the absence of all chronology we have no means of knowing to what epoch each refers. The apparent contradictions and inconsistencies result for the most part from the efforts of authors through whose writings the traditions are handed down to us to reconcile them with the Toltec theory; to apply to one people the traditions of many, to a modern people the traditions of a remote antiquity; to compress the events of eight or nine centuries into one. We shall still find the Quiché annals fragmentary and far from satisfactory, but from the foundation of Izmachi I shall attempt to carry along the tale as told by the different authorities together. By far the most complete of these are the Quiché records as given in the Popol Vuh and that of the Cakchiquels contained in Brasseur’s works.

Early Cakchiquel History

I begin with the adventures of the Cakchiquels after the defeat of Hacavitz and Zactecauh by the Pokomams, already mentioned.[XI-29]Mem. de Tecpan-Atitlan, in Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 155-75. They seem not to have continued in the company with the Quichés at Izmachi, but to have retired to other localities in the country of the Mames somewhat further west, among the Mames of Cholamag, as the record states it. They found the people very friendly, but only remained long enough among them to learn their language, which they found most difficult. Leaving this place they approached the Valley of Panchoy, in the region of the volcanos, and twice they penetrated the mountain of fire, Hunahpu, where a most wonderful and unintelligible interview with Zakiqoxol, the phantom or guardian of the fiery abysses is related, all being possibly the account of a volcanic eruption. Having reached the shores of Lake Atitlan the Cakchiquels wished to settle there permanently although the chief, Hacavitz, seems to have opposed the settlement. Tolqom, a powerful chieftain and a most wonderful magician, lived on Mount Qakbatzulu, which extended like a promontory into the lake; but the bold Hacavitz took him prisoner and became master of his domain. The Cakchiquels, or the Cakchiquel nobility, seem to have been divided in four families, the Zotzil-Tukuches, the Cibakihay, the Baqahol, and the Gekaquchi. All united in giving to Hacavitz and Zactecauh, of the house of Zotzil-Tukuche, after the victory over Tolqom, the supreme power, the former having the first rank. The conquered chieftain, Tolqom, was sacrificed at the coronation of Hacavitz, in the midst of great festivities, and a part of his body was thrown from the summit of Qakbatzulu, his former home, into the waters of the lake. Many of the Cakchiquels decided to remain here and chose a site which they named Chitulul; others built houses on a point called Abah, afterwards the site of the city of Atitlan. But Hacavitz was not pleased, and a violent wind arose and an extraordinary white cloud hung over the surface of the lake; the new dwellings were destroyed and great damage was done. The Cakchiquels accepted this as a warning to obey the will of the gods, except the Ah-Tziquinihayi who decided to remain with the Zutugils.

The other tribes retired under their leaders into the mountains, and became much scattered. In passing a deep ravine Zactecauh missed his footing and was dashed to death on the rocks below, the record hinting that his colleague and superior was not wholly free from the suspicion of having caused his death. This suspicion destroyed much of the prestige of Hacavitz, but he regained it all and more by extinguishing the fire of a volcano which by its lava and flames had hemmed in and threatened with total destruction all his followers. Zakitzunun aided him and was given the second place in the government. They then seem to have returned to the lake shores, conquering and making allies of several aboriginal tribes, including the people of Ikomag, with a lady of which people Hacavitz seems to have married. In the meantime the Gekaquchi, the Cibakihay, and the Baqahol, three of the four principal Cakchiquel families, had settled on the mountains in the region of Iximché, or Tecpan Guatemala, and the ambitious chief of the latter family had succeeded in obtaining the allegiance of his companions, who crowned him as supreme king of the three bands.

Hacavitz was filled with wrath, but being unable to overthrow his rival, Baqahol, was obliged to be content with establishing himself and his own band of Zotziles on the shores of the lake, where their dwellings were erected and the Cakchiquel god, Chimalcan, had his altars. A little later Hacavitz is reported to have aided Baqahol in overcoming certain foes that had attacked him, and as having received, at the end of the campaign, the voluntary allegiance of that chief, thus regaining the supreme power over the Cakchiquel tribes, whom he ruled from his residence at a place known as Chigohom, where he seems to have settled after his new accession to power, somewhat away from the shores of the lake. Here he died at a ripe old age, not long after his wife gave birth to Caynoh and Caybatz, his successors in later years.

Reign of Cotuha and Iztayul

Returning to the Quiché record as given in the Popol Vuh,[XI-30]Pp. 299-307; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 475-99; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 119-21. we find nothing recorded of the reign of Balam Conache,[XI-31]In his Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 478, Brasseur seems to regard Balam II. and Conache as two kings, one succeeding the other, but in his notes to Popol Vuh, p. cclxxiii., he unites them in one. son of Qocavib, in his new capital of Izmachi. He was succeeded early in the thirteenth century, as it seems, by Cotuha, with Iztayul as Ahpop Camha, and under this monarch many improvements were made in the city, including many houses of stone and mortar and three royal palaces, one for the house of Cawek, one for the house of Nihaïb, and a third for the house of Ahau Quiché. “Now all were of one heart in Izmachi; there were no enmities; there were no difficulties; the monarchy was in a state of repose, without disputes or troubles; peace and felicity were in all hearts.” But their power was yet confined to narrow limits; they had as yet achieved no great success. The Rabinals, the Cakchiquels, and the mingled Zutugils and Ah-Tziquinihayi of Atitlan are spoken of as being at this time allies and friends of the Quichés; but the descendants of the ancient Ilocab were yet powerful, and became hostile, although hitherto represented as joined to the house of Cawek; their capital was but a short distance from Izmachi. When Ilocab—the tribal name being used, as is often the case, for that of the ruling monarch—perceived the prosperity of the Quichés, “war was kindled by Ilocab, who wished to kill this king Cotuha, his people being unwilling that there should be any king but their own. And as to the king Iztayul, they desired to punish him also, to put him to death, in the cause of Ilocab. But their jealousy was not successful against the king Cotuha, who marched against them. Such was the origin of the revolt and of the war. At first they entered the city (Izmachi) by assault, spreading death in their way, for what they desired was the ruin of the Quiché name, that they alone might rule. But they came only to die; they were taken captives, and but few escaped. Then their sacrifices began; the people of Ilocab were immolated before the god, and that was the penalty of their crime, which was inflicted by the order of Cotuha. Many also were reduced to slavery, now that they had brought ruin upon themselves by kindling the flames of war against the king and against the city. What they had desired was that the name of the Quichés should be ruined and disgraced, but nothing could be done. Thus originated the usage of human sacrifices before the god at the declaration of war; and this was the origin of the fortifications which they began to erect in Izmachi.”

Another document[XI-32]Título de los Señores de Totonicapan. is said to give some additional information respecting the immediate cause of the war, which is reported to have been connected in some way with Cotuha’s marriage. He married Hamai-Uleü, ‘rose of the earth,’ a daughter of one of the friendly Zutugil princes whose territory was on Lake Atitlan, annexing that prince’s domain to his own, and giving his father-in-law, Malah by name, high rank at the Quiché court. The favor thus shown to Malah, with other acts of like nature, seem to have excited the jealousy of other Zutugil lords, who at last marched against Cotuha and were utterly defeated. It was while Cotuha had this war on his hands that the Ilocab engaged in the desperate effort above recorded to check the Quiché monarchs in their rapid progress to supreme power, and were enabled, perhaps during the absence of Cotuha, to penetrate his capital. After their final defeat, Uquincat, the Ilocab capital, was taken and destroyed, and many other towns fell into Cotuha’s possession.

Transfer of the Capital to Utatlan

The Quiché record narrates no further historical events down to the time when Izmachi was abandoned. It dwells, however, on the greatness of the kingdom after the overthrow of the Ilocab, and mentions the power and number of the surrounding princes yet unsubdued as the strongest proof of Quiché valor, since the new people even in the face of such environment had been able to establish and extend their monarchy. After the immolation which followed the Ilocab’s defeat, the practice of human sacrifice was carried to such an extent that the surrounding tribes were filled with terror at the number of captives slain by order of Cotuha and Iztayul. At this period the system of government was perfected by measures, the exact nature of which is not clearly given, and magnificent festivities with complicated ceremonial rites were instituted. “Long they remained in Izmachi, until they had found and had seen another city, and had abandoned in its turn that of Izmachi. After that they departed and came to the capital called Gumarcaah (Utatlan), which was so named by the Quichés, when the kings Cotuha and Gucumatz came together with all the princes. They were then in the fifth generation (of kings) from the commencement of civilization and from the origin of their national existence.”

The same document already referred to[XI-33]Título de los Señores de Totonicapan, in the introduction to Popol Vuh, pp. cclxxv-vi. disagrees with the Quiché record respecting the peace and harmony that followed Cotuha’s victory, while the people were yet at Izmachi. According to this authority dissensions arose between the heads of the government. Certain parties interested in fomenting the dissatisfaction, constantly reminded ambitious nobles that Cotuha was a foreigner,[XI-34]See p. 529, of this volume. and Iztayul the son of a bastard, both occupying the places that belonged to more legitimate princes. Then going to the Ahpop, Cotuha, they said, “the Ahpop Camha looks with scorn upon thee; he says thou art a miserable wretch, feeding only on the foam of the chiquivin and other vile food unworthy of a great king.” Then to the Ahpop Camha, Iztayul, they said, “the king Cotuha is filled with disdain for thee; to him thou art but a useless man, who livest upon dung and the eggs of flies and other insects, while his own table is always loaded with excellent fresh fish and other viands fit for a great prince.” The perfidy of these counselors was afterwards brought to light and they were driven in disgrace from the court after an attempt to assassinate Cotuha by suffocation in a steam bath. Yet the king afterwards, according to the same authority, fell a victim to another conspiracy. Iztayul succeeded to the throne, with Gucumatz as Ahpop Camha, and continued the conquests of his predecessor, but no details of his reign are given in the Quiché record.

In the Cakchiquel annals,[XI-35]Mem. de Tecpan-Atitlan, in Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 483-9. however, Brasseur relates certain events which would seem to belong to the period of Iztayul’s reign, although he is always called in the record of this nation, Tepeuh, ‘the dominator, or conqueror.’ We left Caynoh and Caybatz, infant sons of the deceased Hacavitz, under the guardianship of Baqahol and Gekaquch, who became practically monarchs of the whole nation, having their capitals on the mountain plateaux of Pantzic and Paraxone.[XI-36]See p. 570-1, of this volume. The Zotzil-Tukuche branch of the nation were naturally unwilling that the sons of the great Hacavitz, the former head of their family, should occupy a secondary rank, and they were not slow to urge Caynoh and Caybatz as soon as they reached a proper age to declare their independence and resume their legitimate place at the head of the nation; but the aged chieftain Baqahol, who, it will be remembered, had been for a time supreme monarch, even before the death of Hacavitz, haughtily refused to surrender his scepter; and the young princes must perforce await a more favorable opportunity to assume their due position. The Cakchiquels seem at this time to have been tributaries to the Quiché throne, now occupied by Iztayul, or Tepeuh, of whom it is said, “he was the first to reign with majesty; he dwelt in the castle of Chixnal; his mysterious power spread abroad terror; he caused to tremble the place where he had his dwelling, and all people payed tribute before the face of Tepeuh.”

The Stolen Tribute

The two sons of Hacavitz were sent to present the Cakchiquel tribute and homage at the Quiché court, where Iztayul received them with great kindness, giving them high rank and titles, and making them the royal tribute-gatherers of his empire. In this capacity they made a long tour through the Quiché possessions, even penetrating the mysterious region of the East, where the ancestors of the king had received the investiture of their royalty. At last they came to Lake Atitlan, where the united Zutugils and Ah-Tziquinihayi were still living. These vassals paid their tributes to the envoys, but contrived a cunning plan to recover the treasure. Two beautiful princesses, Bubatzo and Icxiuh, daughters of the ruling lords, were appointed to wait upon the royal tax-collectors. Caynoh and Caybatz were not proof against their charms, and the maidens, following the parental commands, allowed themselves to be easily won; but they managed in the night to escape from the couches of their royal lovers and to steal back all the gold and silver which had been paid as tribute. The princes complained bitterly when they discovered their loss, but as a compensation they received Bubatzo and Icxiuh for wives, with the promise of an honorable position at Atitlan, in case of Iztayul’s displeasure. On their way back to Izmachi with their wives, however, the prospective anger of Tepeuh so overcome them that they hid themselves in a cave for a long time; but at last the Quiché king not only pardoned them for the affair of the lost tribute and for their marriage, but enabled them to overcome and put to death Baqahol and Gekaquch, and reseated them on the Cakchiquel throne as tributary monarchs on favorable terms to the imperial crown of Izmachi. Caynoh was made Ahpop Xahil, and Caybatz Ahpop Qamahay, corresponding exactly with the Quiché royal titles of Ahpop and Ahpop Camha.

Gucumatz mounted the throne at Izmachi on the death of Iztayul, and Cotuha II. became Ahpop Camha. This king began to reign probably towards the middle of the thirteenth century.[XI-37]Brasseur places his reign somewhere between 1225 and 1275. Internal dissensions between the rival families of the Quiché nobility are vaguely alluded to in the records, but not with sufficient details to enable us to determine how they influenced Gucumatz to abandon Izmachi in favor of a new capital. He selected for this purpose the ancient Utatlan, situated on a plateau not far distant, which had probably long been in ruins.[XI-38]The Popol Vuh represents Utatlan, as we have seen, p. 573, to have been first occupied by Cotuha and Gucumatz; meaning, as is shown by the table of kings in the same document—see p. 566, of this volume—by Gucumatz as king and Cotuha II. as second in rank. Brasseur states that the name Gumarcaah was then given to the city, but it is much more likely that this was the ancient name, and Utatlan of later origin.

Division of the Empire

It is now time to return to Juarros’ version of Quiché history during the reigns of the first kings, although there is little hope of connecting it at any point with the versions already presented. Nima Quiché, who directed the people in their migration to these Guatemalan regions, ceded to his brother the command of the Mames and Pokomams, and at his death left his son Acxopal, or Acxopil, king of the Quiché tribes. This monarch, either by the increase of his people or by his conquests among the aboriginal tribes soon found himself master of the provinces now called Sololá, Chimaltenango, and Sacatepeques, with a part of Quezaltenango and Totonicapan. In his old age his empire seemed to him too vast and the duties of government too burdensome for his failing strength. He consequently divided his empire into three domains, keeping for himself that of the Quichés, giving that of the Cakchiquels to his oldest son Xiuhtemal, or Jiutemal, and that of the Zutugils to his second son Acxoquauh, or Acxiquat; the brother who ruled over the Mames and Pokomams is not named here. The bounds given by Juarros to the three kingdoms of the empire are substantially the same as those of the peoples speaking the same languages at the time of the Conquest, and were doubtless ascertained from the condition of affairs in the sixteenth century rather than from ancient records or traditions.

After the division it was not long before ambition began to produce what Juarros terms its usual results. Acxoquauh, king of the Zutugils, found his domain too small and wished to extend its limits to the detriment of his brother, Xiuhtemal. With this intent he marched at the head of a large army to the Cakchiquel frontiers, but was forced to retire to his fortified stronghold on Lake Atitlan, where the contest raged for many days until a truce was brought about by the aged Acxopal. Xiuhtemal took advantage of the peace to fortify his capital at Tecpan Guatemala, but during the extreme old age of his father he was called to direct affairs at the Quiché capital, and succeeded to the imperial throne at his father’s death, putting his own eldest son on the Cakchiquel throne. Still fearful of his brother, his first care was to fortify the Quiché capital,—which Juarros represents as having been Utatlan from the first—building, among other extensive works, the castle of Resguardo.[XI-39]For description of the ruins of Utatlan, see vol. iv., pp. 124-8 . His precautions seem not to have been unnecessary, for Acxoquauh soon recommenced the war, fighting particularly for the possession of the whole territory about the lake, which seems to have been in some way divided between the three monarchs. The war continued, with but brief intervals, throughout the reign of Xiuhtemal and during a part of that of Hunahpu, his son, who succeeded him. Nothing further is recorded of Hunahpu’s reign, save that he distinguished himself by introducing the cultivation of cacao and cotton.[XI-40]Juarros, Hist. Guat., pp. 9-16.

Except in the general statement that the Quiché, Cakchiquel, and Zutugil kingdoms formed a kind of alliance at this early period, a conclusion to which the other records have also led us, the version given by Juarros, from Fuentes, has apparently nothing in common with the others; and I shall not attempt to conjecture what may have been the source whence the names of kings given by these authors were derived. There is no room for hesitation in deciding which records are the more reliable. Brasseur in one place, after narrating the foundation of Izmachi, suddenly declares that with Qocavib and Nima Quiché the symbolic recitals cease and history begins, and then goes on for a few pages with an account of Acxopal and his division of the empire between his two sons, apparently accepting the version of Juarros, except in the name of the capital at the foundation of the empire. But shortly after, he abandons this for the other version, as follows: “The first king of Toltec race who appears after Acxopal is Xiuhtemal, who in his turn seems to have placed his son on the throne of Quauhtemalan, (Tecpan Guatemala, the Cakchiquel capital). According to more authentic documents, it is Balam II. of the house of Cawek, who succeeds Qocavib. Except the struggles mentioned by Fuentes, we find nothing about this prince or his predecessor, after the foundation of Izmachi,” etc. Thus he implies that Qocavib was identical with Acxopal, and Balam Conache with Xiuhtemal. We hear no more of the names given by Juarros until we have the statement by the same author respecting Hunahpu that “everything favors the opinion that he is the same who reigned under the glorious name of Gucumatz,” without any attempt to account for the intermediate kings of the Quichés, Cotuha and Iztayul. Consequently as I am inclined to suspect, “everything favors the opinion” that the worthy abbé has introduced the names Acxopal, Xiuhtemal, and Acxoquauh, from Fuentes solely because they are apparently Nahua names and therefore may add some force to his Toltec theory, and has then got rid of them as expeditiously as possible.[XI-41]Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 150-2, 475-7, 499. The opinion that Hunahpu and Gucumatz were identical, however, is said to receive some support from the Isagoge Historico, of Pelaez’ work, quoted by Id., in Popol Vuh, p. 316.

Gucumatz at Utatlan

The first care of Gucumatz was to restore the ancient buildings of Utatlan and to add to the city’s old-time splendor by the erection of new and magnificent temples in honor of the gods. “There they built their houses in great numbers, and there also they built the house of the god in the centre of the city at the most elevated point, where they placed it when they came to establish themselves in that place. Then their empire was much enlarged, and when their numbers were already considerable, their great families took counsel together, and were subdivided.” When the quarrels which had formerly threatened their empire were at last terminated “they carried into effect what had been resolved upon, and the royalty was divided among twenty-four grand houses or families.” “There they increased in greatness, having thus gloriously united their thrones and their principalities; the titles of all their honors having been distributed among the princes, there were formed nine families with the nine princes of Cawek, nine with the princes of Nihaïb, four with the princes of Ahau Quiché, and two with the lords of Zakik. They became very numerous, and numerous were those that followed each of the princes; they were the first at the head of their vassals, and many families belonged to each of the princes. We shall now tell the titles of these princes and of each of the great houses.” Then follows a list of titles, substantially the same that I have given in a preceding volume, when treating of the Quiché governmental system.[XI-42]See vol. ii., pp. 637-44.

“Thus were completed the twenty-four princes and the twenty-four great houses; then was multiplied the power and majesty in Quiché; then was strengthened and extended its grandeur, when the city and its ravines were built up with stone and mortar and covered with cement. Both great and little nations came under the power of the king, contributing to the Quiché glory; power and majesty sprang up, and the house of the god was built as well as the houses of the princes. But it was not they who built them; they did no work, neither constructing the temple of their god, nor their own buildings, for all was done by their vassals, whose numbers were multiplied. It was not by stratagem nor by force that these vassals were brought in; for truly each one belonged to some one of the princes, and great was the number of their brothers and relatives who gathered to hear what the princes commanded. Truly were they loved and esteemed, and great was the glory of the princes. Veneration kept pace with their renown, and with the lords were multiplied the dwellers in the ravines round about the city. Thus nearly all the nations surrendered themselves, not through war and force directed against them in their ravines and cities, but by reason of the marvels wrought by their kings, Gucumatz and Cotuha.

Reign of Gucumatz

Verily, this Gucumatz became a most marvelous king. In seven days he mounted to the skies—ascended the mountain heights—and in seven days he descended to the region of Xibalba.[XI-43]Or, as Ximenez renders it, to Hell. In seven days he took upon himself the nature and form of a serpent, and again of an eagle, and of a tiger; and in seven days he changed himself into coagulated blood. Truly the existence of this wonderful prince filled with terror all the lords that came before him. The knowledge thereof was spread abroad; all the nations heard of this prodigious king. And this was the origin of the Quiché grandeur, when the king Gucumatz wrought these signs of his power. The remembrance of his grandsons and sons was not lost—or, as Ximenez renders it, he did not lack descendants, both sons and grandsons. He had not done these things merely that there might be a royal worker of miracles, but as a means of ruling all nations, and of showing himself to be the only chief of the peoples. This prodigious king Gucumatz was of the fourth[XI-44]He is named as being of the fifth generation in the tables at the end of the document. generation of kings, Ahpop and Ahpop Camha. He left descendants who also reigned with majesty and begat children who did many things. Thus were begotten Tepepul and Iztayul, whose reign made the fifth generation. They were kings, and each generation of these princes begat sons.”[XI-45]Popol Vuh, pp. 307-17; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 121-5; Id., Escolios, in Id., pp. 165-8. This last work is perhaps the same as that quoted by Brasseur as Ximenez, Hist. de los Reyes del Quiché, MS., but it is merely a list of kings with some of their deeds, adding nothing whatever, in a historical point of view, to the translation of the Quiché record.

It is seen by the preceding account of Gucumatz’ reign that this king fully accomplished his object in transferring the capital to Utatlan. By removing his court to this ancient city he aroused the pride of all the tribes of Quiché race, and revived their traditional recollections of a glorious past; by restoring the ancient temples and by erecting new ones he enlisted the religious enthusiasm of the whole country in his favor. The universal interest in the new enterprise caused the former dissensions between rival nobles to be for a time forgotten. All these circumstances combined to create for Gucumatz a higher degree of popularity than he had ever before enjoyed; and when he felt sufficiently strong with the people, he still further fortified his position by a partial reconstruction of his empire. By the establishment of twenty-four houses of nobility he not only made partisans of those who were the recipients of new honors, but effectually checked the ambition of the leading nobles, whose quarrels had at one time threatened his sovereignty. Two of the new dignities were given to the family of Zakik, to which belonged the priest of the ancient temple of Cahbaha at Utatlan; and he gave the titles Ahau-Ah-Tohil and Ahau-Ah-Gucumatz, or high-priests of Tohil and Quetzalcoatl, to members of his own family, thus firmly attaching the priesthood to his own interests. Each of the newly created princes was required to have a palace in the capital and to reside there during a certain part of each year; in fact the policy pursued by Gucumatz resembles in many points that which we have seen pursued by the Chichimec emperor Techotl in Anáhuac as noted in a preceding chapter. There are no data from which to determine the extent of Gucumatz’ domain; the descent to Xibalba may indicate that the Palenque region was subjected to his power, or simply that he was wont to spend in the tierra caliente a portion of each year. Brasseur believes that from this period the Ahpop Camha of the Quichés spent his time chiefly in the Zutugil capital at Atitlan.[XI-46]Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 493-9; Id., in Popol Vuh, p. cclxxvi.

Cakchiquel History

After the death of Gucumatz, Cotuha II., already holding the second rank of Ahpop Camha, mounted the throne. He was in his turn succeeded by Tepepul, and he by Iztayul II. with Quicab, or Kicab, as Ahpop Camha. Respecting the reigns of these three monarchs, the Popol Vuh gives no details whatever; and but very little can be learned from other records. The three reigns may, however, be supposed to have extended to about the end of the fourteenth century, a century which is thus almost a blank in the annals of the empire. One document[XI-47]Título de los Señores de Totonicapan, in Popol Vuh, pp. cclxxvi-vii. informs us that the first of the three kings, Cotuha II., was treacherously put to death by the lords of Qohaïl and Ulahaïl, who drew him into an ambush, but his sons Quicab and Cavizimah, afterwards kings, avenged his murder by seizing and putting to death thirteen of the supposed guilty parties.

The Cakchiquel record[XI-48]Mem. de Tecpan-Atitlan, in Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 501-3. mentions the third of the Quiché monarchs, Iztayul II., under the name of Xitayul-Hax. Caynoh, whom we left on the Cakchiquel throne,[XI-49]See p. 576, of this vol. had been succeeded by his son Citan-Qatu, a valiant and wise ruler who, under the sovereignty of the Quiché emperor at Utatlan, had considerably extended the power of his people. At his death he was followed by his son Qotbalcan, ‘the coiled serpent,’ and under his rule the subordinate chieftains took advantage of his good nature or want of ability, to reclaim their independence. The descendants of the princes Baqahol and Gekaquch, who had caused Hacavitz so much trouble in former years, were the first to inaugurate this revolt, which the other tribes were not slow to join, and thus the nation was again split up practically into scattered tribes, the king having little, if any, more authority than the other chieftains. The same condition of affairs continued during the reign of this king’s son and grandson, Alinam and Xttamer-Zaquentol; the tribe under the royal command, after wandering for a long time, having finally settled near the kindred tribe of the Akahales, at the towns of Zakiqahol and Nimcakahpec. The great grandson of Qotbalcan, Chiyoc Queh, succeeded in again uniting under his rule most of the Cakchiquel tribes, and having founded the capital of Chiawar, somewhat further west than the old capital Tecpan Guatemala, and given the second rank of Ahpop Qamahay to his brother Ttattah-Akbal, he was laboring most strenuously to raise his nation to her old position at the time when the record mentions the death of Iztayul II., or Xitayul-Hax, and the accession of Quicab.

War Between Quichés and Zutugils

I must now return to the version presented by Fuentes and Juarros, for this version agrees with the others respecting the name of the next king, Quicab, and hence it may be inferred that the period between the reigns of Hunahpu and Kicab, is identical with that between Gucumatz and Quicab. The kings that Juarros puts on the throne during this period were Balam Kiché, Balam Acam, Maucotah, and Iquibalam, names which are evidently identical with the four high-priests or sacrificers of a much earlier period. It seems probable that the authors cited found these names in the aboriginal records, and could make no better place for them than in the list of kings. The events referred to in these reigns are as follows:—Balam Kiché did nothing worthy of record. Balam Acam, his successor, was a most kind-hearted prince, and had great confidence in his cousin, the king of the Zutugils at Atitlan. But the latter abused this confidence by stealing the king’s daughter from the royal palace in Utatlan; and Ilocab, a near relative of the Zutugil monarch—called Zutugilebpop by Juarros, evidently a title rather than a name—at about the same time abducted a niece of Balam Acam. These abductions caused a war which, as we are told, lasted with little intermission down to the coming of the Spaniards. The Quiché army under the king and Maucotah his chief general, marched on Atitlan, taking several strong towns on the way, and “the most terrible battle these countries had ever known” was fought against the Zutugil and Ah-Tziquinihayi forces under Ilocab. In this battle Ilocab was slain and the Quichés victorious. The campaign was continued, the Zutugils being aided by many allies, including the Pipiles of Salvador, while the Quichés were reinforced by the Cakchiquels and forces from Vera Paz. In a later battle the loss on both sides amounted to fourteen thousand, and among the slain was Balam Acam, who is blamed by Juarros for plunging the country in war for so slight a cause, since the purpose of the abduction was honorable marriage. Long wars between the Cakchiquels and Pipiles,[XI-50]Cakchiquels and Pipiles almost constantly at war; Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 323; Id., in Nouvelles Annales, tom. cliii., p. 180. as well as between the Quichés and Mames, resulted from Balam’s attempt at vengeance.

Maucotah was named as the successor of Balam Acam, while yet in the field. Zutugilebpop, flushed with victory, besieged Xelahuh, one of the Quiché strongholds, but the fortune of war seems to have changed with the change of rulers, for the Zutugils were defeated both before Xelahuh and in their own territory about the lake, and their king died of grief and disappointment soon after, leaving his throne to Rumal-Ahaus, a young man of nineteen years. This young king continued the war, but was unable to retrieve the ill-fortunes of his people. In a battle fought soon after his accession, he had a personal combat with Maucotah, in which he was wounded, and forced to retreat, the Quiché king remaining in possession of the towns that his predecessor had conquered. Maucotah died soon after his victory, and was succeeded by Iquibalam, who marched with two hundred thousand men into the Zutugil states, determined to put an end to the resistance of the valiant Rumal-Ahaus, who had recovered from the effects of his wound. He captured many towns, particularly in the territory of the Pipiles and about Zapotitlan, but he also met with severe losses, and seems not to have gained any permanent advantage over the Zutugils. He died during the campaign, and was succeeded by Kicab, or Quicab, and Rumal-Ahaus was succeeded on the throne of Atitlan at about the same time by Chichiahtulú.[XI-51]Juarros, Hist. Guat., pp. 16-23. Fuentes used a history written by a son and grandson of the last king of Guatemala, Müller, Amer. Urrel., p. 454. Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 46, declares the Guatemalan manuscripts not reliable, and states that the Macario manuscript used by Fuentes was badly translated.

The reign of Quicab is briefly disposed of by Juarros as follows: “He ascended the throne at a mature age, and with much experience in military and political affairs. Chichiahtulú, who, with the rank of Lieutenant General, had gained great advantages over the Quichés in the memorable campaign of Pinar (the one last referred to), having grasped the Zutugil sceptre, besieged the famous stronghold of Totonicapan. King Kicab not only opposed the movements of Chichiahtulú with a formidable army, but enlisting sixty thousand soldiers, he attacked with them many cities and towns of the Pipiles and Zutugils, among them Patulul; and although the governors of these places made great efforts to defend them, they were unable to resist the superior numbers of the Quichés. Chichiahtulú, seeing that his best possessions were being lost, hastened by forced marches to defend them, abandoning the siege of Totonicapan; but being taken grievously ill on account of his haste in that march, he died within a few days, greatly to the sorrow of his people. Still his army did not suspend their march, being commanded by the Lieutenant General Manilahuh, until they arrived within sight of the Quiché camp. The fury with which the attack was made on both sides is unspeakable; but the column of King Kicab on account of being close and double, being harder to break than the feeble and extended lines of Manilahuh, the latter were broken and scattered in less than an hour, the commander and many Atitlan chiefs being left on the field of battle, while the Quichés, chanting victory, returned to Utatlan. We do not know in detail the events under the seven monarchs of Quiché who succeeded Kicab I.; but it is certain that these two kingdoms were never for a long time at peace.”[XI-52]Juarros, Hist. Guat., pp. 23-4.

Reign of Quicab I

Now comes the version of Quicab’s reign given by the Popol Vuh, which document carries the Quiché history no farther, save a mere list of monarchs already mentioned. “Behold now the names of the sixth royal generation,[XI-53]The seventh according to the tables. of the two great kings Quicab, the name of the first king, and Cavizimah, name of the second (Ahpop Camha). And behold the great deed that Quicab and Cavizimah did, and how Quiché was made famous by reason of their really marvelous condition. Behold the conquest and destruction of the ravines and cities of the nations great and small, all very near, including the city of the Cakchiquels, that now called Chuvila (Chichicastenango), as also those in the mountains of the Rabinals, that of Pamaca (Zacualpa), in the mountains of Caokeb, that of Zacabaha (San Andres), Zakuleu, Chuvi-Mugina, Xelahuh, Chuva-Tzak (Momostenango), and Tzolohche (Chiquimula). These abhorred Quicab, but truly he made war upon them and conquered and ruined the ravines and the cities of the Rabinals, of the Cakchiquels, and of the people of Zakuleu. He conquered all the tribes and carried his arms afar. One or two nations not having brought their tribute he entered their towns that they might bring their tribute before Quicab and Cavizimah. They were reduced to servitude; they were tortured and their people tied to trees and pierced with arrows; there was for them no more glory nor honor. Such was the ruin of these towns, destroyed from the face of the earth; like the lightning which strikes and breaks the stone, thus by terror he blotted out the nations.”

“Before Colche, as a signal of its conquest, there stands to-day a monument of rock, as if he had formed it with his axe; this is on the coast called Petatayub, where it is still visible, so that everybody looks upon it as a sign of Quicab’s valor. He could not be killed or conquered; verily he was a hero, and all nations brought to him their tribute. Then, all the princes having taken counsel, they went away to fortify the ravines and the towns, having taken possession of the towns of all nations. Then sentinels (spies) were dispatched to observe the enemy, and new tribes (or colonies) were formed to dwell in the conquered countries.” Then follows with frequent repetitions an account of these colonies, their departure for their posts, their victories, and a list of cities occupied by them, including most of the names already mentioned. “Everywhere they waged war, taking continually new captives; they became in their turn heroes, they who had been guards of frontier posts; they became strong in their language as in their thoughts before the kings when they brought in their prisoners and captives.”

“Then assembled the council at the order of the kings, of the Ahpop and the Ahpop Camha, of the Galel, and of the Ahtzic Winak; and it was decided that, whatever might happen, they should remain at the head, for their dignities were there to represent their family. ‘I am the Ahpop, I am the Ahpop Camha, Ahpop to hold my rank like thine, O Ahau Galel.’ As to the Galels, their nobility shall be, replied all the lords forming a decision. Likewise did those of Tamub and Ilocab; equal was the condition of the three races of Quiché, when the chiefs of the people set themselves up against the kings and assumed nobility. Such was the result of this assembly, but it was not there in Quiché that the power was seized. The name of the place exists where the vassal chiefs took possession of the power, for although they had been sent each to a different place, all afterwards assembled together.

Revolt of the Plebeians

Xebalax and Xecamac are the names of the place where they took possession of the power, at the time when they assembled their rank, and that took place at Chulimal. Behold the nomination, the installation, and the recognition of the twenty Galels, and the twenty Ahpops who were installed by the Ahpop and the Ahpop Camha, by the Galel and the Ahtzic Winak. All the Galel-Ahpops entered into their rank, eleven Nim-Chocoh, Galel-Ahpop, Galel-Zakik, Galel-Achih, Rahpop-Ahih, Rahtzalam-Achih, Utzam-Achih, titles of the warriors which they obtained when they were nominated and titled on their thrones and on their principalities, they who were the chiefs of the vassals of the Quiché nation, its sentinels and spies, its chiefs of the lances and chiefs of the slings, the ramparts, the walls, and the towers which defended Quiché. Thus also did the people of Tamub and Ilocab, the chiefs of the people in each locality having seized the power and caused themselves to be titled. Such was the origin of the Galel-Ahpops and of the titles that now exist in each of these places; such was their source, when they sprang up at the hands of the Ahpop and the Ahpop Camha, as also of the Galel and of the Ahtzic Winak, from whom they derived their existence.”[XI-54]Popol Vuh, pp. 317-27; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 125-9. There are some differences and omissions in the Spanish translation.

From the preceding narrative we learn that Quicab by his skill in war and the valor of his armies extended the imperial Quiché power far beyond its former limits, subjecting to the monarch of Utatlan nearly the whole of Guatemala; and also that later in his reign he was forced by a combination of his vassal chieftains, to whom military power had been entrusted during his conquests, to reorganize his government, and to bestow on these chieftains of the people nobility, and practically the control of the empire. With this political revolution the record as presented by the Popol Vuh ceases, the remainder of the document being devoted to a description of Quiché institutions already given in another volume of this work. Whether a portion of the original work has been lost, or the Quiché history was deemed by the author to have ceased with the humiliation of the ancient nobility by their forced association with plebeian chiefs, it is impossible to determine. Ximenez in his account of the Quiché kings devotes five lines to Quicab and Cavizimah, whom, however, he unites in one person.[XI-55]Escolios, in Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 168-9. For additional details of Quicab’s reign and the political changes which marked it, as well as for all subsequent Guatemalan history, we have only the Cakchiquel record,[XI-56]Mem. de Tecpan-Atitlan, in Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 503-45. with slight information from other documents, as presented in the history of Brasseur de Bourbourg, together with the work of Juarros, whose version of Quicab’s reign has already been presented.

Tyranny of Quicab I

We left Chiyoc Queh, the Cakchiquel monarch, endeavoring to restore the former glory of his nation by re-uniting its scattered tribes under one head. The Zotzil-Tukuches were the only tribe that refused to recognize his royal authority, and at last the Cakchiquel monarch applied to the Quiché king for aid. Quicab and Cavizimah had just succeeded to the throne of Utatlan, probably early in the fifteenth century. They sent an army and routed the Zotziles, plundering and burning their towns and putting the inhabitants to death without mercy. They did not stop here, however, but forced Xiquitzal and Rahamun, who succeeded Chiyoc Queh on the Cakchiquel throne, to give up their sovereign rights and submit to become vassal lords, such of the people as resisted being massacred, sacrificed, or sold as slaves. The Mames met with the same treatment, their strongest towns including Zakuleu and Xelahuh (Huehuetenango and Quezaltenango) being forced to yield to the armies of Utatlan. Then the Rabinals and Pokomams were conquered, and no power was left that could make any resistance. Quicab claimed to be absolute monarch of the whole Guatemalan country; he admitted no allied kings paying homage and a nominal tribute as they had done under the reign of his predecessors, but reduced all rulers to the condition of royal governors entirely subject to his command. Few kings would submit to such conditions and most were consequently removed to make room for governors appointed by the Quiché emperor. In his efforts to subordinate all rank and power to his own personal sovereignty, he naturally arrayed the nobility of even the Quiché royal families against himself, and the means adopted to humble the ancient aristocracy were the appointment to high positions in the army of plebeian officers distinguished for their valor, and the humiliation of the noble officers on every possible occasion. The new chieftains were called Achihab, and so numerous did they become and so highly were they favored and stimulated against the nobles, that they soon possessed, and fully realized their possession of, the controlling power in the empire. In his efforts to humiliate one class, Quicab had created another which he could not control by force and which he had zealously educated to disregard all authority based on noble birth.

The Achihab, no longer content with military rank, aspired to the higher dignities of the court; the people were naturally enthusiastic in favor of their chiefs and were by them encouraged to question the authority of their king over them. Soon a deputation was sent to the court to demand certain reforms in favor of the people, including an abolition of personal service and labor on the highways. Quicab scornfully refused the petition of the popular chiefs, and his court was soon abandoned by the Achihab as it had long been by most of the nobles. Two of his sons, Tatayac and Ahytza, joined the Achihab in the revolt, promising them all the property and titles of the nobility in case of success, and being promised in turn the inheritance of the throne with the palaces, slaves, and wealth pertaining thereto. Quicab, in his extremity, applied for aid to the very nobility he had so oppressed, and seems to have received their zealous support, for notwithstanding the treatment they had suffered at the hands of the monarch, they saw plainly that with the success of the rebels all their prestige would be entirely destroyed. By the advice of the assembled nobles the leaders of the Achihab, including those who had composed the deputation demanding reforms, were seized and put to death. This caused an immediate rising of the people, who, incited by their chiefs, and by the descendants of the Tamub and Ilocab, invaded Utatlan, pillaged the royal palaces, and almost annihilated by massacre the ancient nobility. The king happened to be in a neighboring town at the time, and his life was spared at the intercession of his sons; but he was kept a prisoner while the rebel chieftains assembled in council as already narrated in the Popol Vuh, to reconstruct the monarchy and to choose from their own number the many lords that have been mentioned. At the close of their deliberations the king and the surviving nobles of the royal families were obliged to ratify the appointments at Chuliman, where the new lords were installed with great ceremony. The Ahpop and Ahpop Camha, seem, however, to have been left nominally in possession of their royal rank, although the power was practically taken from them.

War with the Cakchiquels

A quarrel broke out between the Quichés and the Cakchiquels residing in or near Utatlan, and the chiefs of the latter, Vucubatz and Huntoh, although particular friends of Quicab, were forced to flee from the city to avoid death at the hands of the Achihab. During their flight, however, accompanied by a large band of followers, they committed great ravages in the Quiché lands until they arrived at the Cakchiquel capital of Tecpan Quauhtemalan, or Iximché. On their arrival they assembled the nobles, and every preparation was made to resist the Quichés, who, it was thought, would not long delay an attack. The Cakchiquels determined to shake off the Quiché yoke; Vucubatz and Huntoh were raised to the throne, with the titles of Ahpozotzil and Ahpoxahil, borne by their successors down to the Conquest. The war began by the defeat of a Quiché army sent to punish the Cakchiquels for their warlike demonstrations. Other nations were ready to follow the example of the Cakchiquels; the Zotziles, Tzendales, Quelenes, Mames, Rabinals, Zutugils, and Ah-Tziquinihayi declared their independence, and many of these peoples not only threw off their allegiance to Quicab, but were further divided into independent bands or cities.

The Cakchiquel monarchy soon extended over nearly all of Guatemala south of Lake Atitlan and of the Rio Motagua, including many Pokomam districts, thus not only becoming independent of the crown of Utatlan, but also acquiring for itself the balance of power in the whole country, so long held by the Quichés. Quicab, now the mere tool of the Achihab, made little or no resistance, and was forced to see his nation reduced to a secondary position, her territory being constantly diminished by the revolt of new provinces and cities. It is said, however, by the author of the Cakchiquel document, that the Achihab had been restrained from attacking their rivals in the south by the influence of Quicab, who was friendly to the Cakchiquel kings, but this seems hardly probable. It is much more likely that the Achihab did not attack Vucubatz and Huntoh because all their power was required to repress hostile demonstrations nearer home. The idea of popular rights which had robbed Quicab of his greatness and raised the vassal chiefs to power was as dangerous and unmanageable for the new as for the old nobility.

About the middle of the fifteenth century the Quiché and Cakchiquel rulers died and were succeeded, the former by Tepepul II. and Iztayul III., the latter by Oxlahuh-Tzy and Lahuh-Ah. The Ahpoxahil, or second in rank at Iximché, however, lived only a few years, and was followed by his son Cablahuh-Tihax. Immediately after the change of rulers war was declared between the two nations, and at a time when the Cakchiquels were weakened by a famine resulting from a failure of crops, the Quiché army marched against Iximché. The kings Tepepul II. and Iztayul III., accompanied the army, escorting the idol of their god Tohil; but their forces were routed with great loss after a terrific contest, near the Cakchiquel capital; both kings with the idol fell into the hands of the enemy, and nothing farther is recorded of their lives. Ximenez[XI-57]Escolios, in Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 169-71. puts the revolt of the Cakchiquels and the establishment of their monarchy in the reign of these kings instead of that of Quicab; and he also mentions a successful revolt of the tribes of Sacatepeques against the Cakchiquels, and the arrival of a band of Pokomams from Salvador, who were given lands within the limits of the two kingdoms. The two captive monarchs may have been put to death by their captors, so that it is not certain that Iztayul III. ever held a higher rank than that of Ahpop Camha.

Later Kings at Utatlan

Tecum, Tepepul II., Vahxaki-Caam, and Quicab II. followed on the throne of Utatlan down to the beginning of the sixteenth century, but nothing is known of their reigns, and the Quichés seem to have had but little to do with Guatemalan events beyond the limits of their own territory during this period. Juarros, however—and it is to be noted that this author gives no intimation of any serious reverses to the Quiché monarchy—attributes to Quicab II. a successful campaign against the Mames, undertaken because his own territory was found to be overcrowded with the increasing numbers of his subjects, and because the Mames were a miserable people, who should be content with less territory. At the report of Quicab’s warlike preparations, all the surrounding nations made ready for defence, not knowing on which of themselves the blow was to fall. The lord of the Mames, Lahuhquieh by name, marched boldly to meet the Quiché army under the command of the king. The battle lasted all day, with no decisive advantage on either side; but during the night Quicab gained a commanding position on a hill, from the summit of which, at sunrise, a storm of stones and arrows was showered upon the foe. Lahuhquieh was soon defeated—the lord of Iximché, as is said, aiding in his overthrow—and his people were driven from their possessions to the northern mountains.[XI-58]Juarros, Hist. Guat., pp. 24-6.

About all that is known of the kings that reigned at Utatlan from the death of Quicab II., probably about the beginning of the sixteenth century, down to 1524, is their names as given by the Popol Vuh, Vucub-Noh, Cavatepech, Oxib-Quieh, and Beleheb Tzi, the last two being respectively Ahpop and Ahpop Camha at the arrival of Pedro de Alvarado. Juarros names as kings for a corresponding period, Iximché, Kicab III., Kicab IV., Kicab Tanub, Tecum Umam, Chignaviucelut, and Sequechul. This author finds it recorded that during the reign of Kicab Tanub an envoy arrived from Montezuma II., of Mexico, announcing the presence of the Spaniards, and his own imprisonment, news which caused the Quichés to make active preparations for defence. Juarros also relates that Ahuitzotl, king of Mexico, after many unsuccessful attempts to conquer Guatemala, sent an embassy to the different kings, ostensibly to form an alliance with them, but as the southern rulers believed, to study the country and the best means of attack; the embassadors were consequently driven out of the country. The arguments of this and other authors, that Guatemala was never subjected to Mexican rule need not be repeated, since there is absolutely no evidence in support of such a subjection.[XI-59]Id., pp. 9-11, 35-9.

The Cakchiquel record[XI-60]Mem. de Tecpan-Atitlan, in Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 529-45. gives some additional information respecting the later period of Guatemalan aboriginal history. The Cakchiquel monarch Oxlahuh-Tzy seems to have been disposed to follow the example of Quicab at Utatlan, by humbling the pride of his vassal kings, and taking from them all real power. Among the most powerful of his allies were the Akahales of Sacatapeques under Ychal-Amollac. This ruler was summoned before the royal tribunal at Iximché on some pretext and was put to death as soon as he appeared in the judgment-hall; the domain of the Akahales was annexed to the possessions of the Cakchiquel monarch, and placed under the government of officers who were that king’s creatures. The natural consequence of Oxlahuh-Tzy’s ambition was the formation of a league against him by powerful tribes unwilling to surrender their independence. Among these were the Ah-Tziquinihayi of Atitlan under Wookaok, and the Caokeb under Beleheb Gih; the latter, however, were conquered by the victorious king of Iximché. About this time internal dissensions were added to the external combination against Oxlahuh-Tzy. The Cakchiquels at Iximché were divided into two branches, the Zotziles and the Tukuches, and the leader of the latter, Cay-Hunahpu took advantage of the ill-feeling produced by the king’s oppressive measures against the nobility, to revolt with his partisans, leaving the capital and fortifying his new position near by. Here he awaited the movements of the revolting tribes which were leagued against the Cakchiquels, believing they would take advantage of his secession to attack Iximché, and hoping by aiding their attack and granting their independence, to place himself on the throne. The tribes in question and others did take advantage of Cay-Hunahpu’s secession, not however to attack the capital and thus lend themselves to that chief’s ambitious projects, but to declare their independence, establish governments of their own, and to make preparations for the defence of their homes. The revolting provinces included that of Sacatapeques as already mentioned by Ximenez, and the seigniories of Tzolola, Mixco, Yampuk, and Papuluka, established at this time, maintained their independence of Cakchiquel control down to the conquest, except perhaps Mixco.

Revolt of Cay-Hunahpu

Cay Hunahpu, disappointed in the movements of his allies, attacked Iximché with the Tukuches under his command, but his partisans were routed, most of them being killed and the remainder fleeing to distant provinces; while the leader was also among the slain. Thus Oxlahuh-Tzy was still victorious, but was in no condition to attempt the reduction of the rebel provinces; for new internal troubles soon broke out. Cinahitoh, one of his bravest commanders in the last war, but apparently of plebeian birth, demanded the rank of Ahtzih Winak made vacant by the death of Cay-Hunahpu, but his claim was rejected, the office given to Ahmoxnag, and the brave Cinahitoh was put to death. The successful candidate was also executed for treason within a year. Oxlahuh-Tzy continued in his policy of opposition to the nobles, and even succeeded in regaining a few of the weaker tribes that had thrown off their allegiance to his throne. In a war with the Akahales it is recorded that a band of Yaqui, or Mexicans, probably traders, took part against the Cakchiquels.

Prophecy of Disaster

About 1501 a defeat of the Zutugils and the capture of their stronghold of Zakcab by the Cakchiquel king is recorded; and about the same time the Ah-Tziquinihayi under Wookaok were besieged in Atitlan, but succeeded in defeating the invaders. Respecting the last epoch of Cakchiquel history, Juarros says: “The Cakchiquel king, Nimahuinac, also enjoyed for a long time the promised tranquility, having made peace and a perpetual alliance with the Pipiles; but this king having made his near relative Acpocaquil treasurer of his tributes, this traitor seized upon the city of Patinamit, now Tecpan Guatemala (Iximché) and all the country subject to that Cakchiquel stronghold; and the Zutugil king having declared himself an ally of the rebel Acpocaquil, an obstinate war was waged between these two lords, which lasted down to the arrival of the Spaniards. And it even seems that this was the reason why Sinacam, who had succeeded to the throne of the Cakchiquels, summoned and received peacefully the Spaniards, in order to regain by their aid the great possessions of which Acpocaquil, aided by the king of Atitlan, had despoiled him.”[XI-61]Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 26. It is impossible to connect this account in any way with the others. The Guatemalans were not left altogether without warnings of the Spaniards’ coming, for as early as the reign of Quicab II.—which, however, was after the Spaniards were actually on the American coasts—Ximenez relates that the son of the Cakchiquel king, a great sorcerer, was wont to visit the Quiché cities by night, insulting the king with opprobrious epithets, and disturbing his rest. Great rewards were offered for his capture, and at last he was taken and brought bound into Quicab’s presence, where preparations were made for his sacrifice, when, addressing the assembly the captive spoke as follows: “Wait a little and hear what I wish to say to you; know that a time is to come in which you will be in despair by reason of the calamities that are to come upon you; and this mama-caixon, ‘miserable old man,’ (the king) must die; and know that certain men, not naked like you, but armed from head to foot, will come, and these will be terrible and cruel men, sons of Teja; perhaps this will be to-morrow, or day after to-morrow, and they will destroy all these edifices, which will become the habitations of owls and wildcats, and then will come to an end all the grandeur of this court.” Thus having spoken, he was sacrificed to the gods.[XI-62]Ximenez, Escolios, in Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 172-3.

At the beginning of the sixteenth century, three rival and hostile monarchies ruled Guatemala, that of the Quichés at Utatlan, under Vucub-Noh and Cavatepech, probably the Kicab Tanub of Fuentes; that of the Cakchiquels at Iximché, under Oxlahuh-Tzy and Cablahuh-Tihax; and that of the Zutugils at Atitlan, under Wookaok. The condition of the Cakchiquel and Zutugil powers has already been portrayed so far as there is any information extant on the subject. The Quiché monarchy had recovered in a certain sense a large part of its former power. The Achihab had shrewdly kept the descendants of the ancient kings on the throne, and thus secured something of the friendship and respect of the scattered lords. True, these lords maintained their independence of the king of Utatlan, but so long as their privileges were not interfered with they were still Quiché allies against the hated Cakchiquels and all other foreign powers. So with all the independent tribes in the country, who, although admitting no control on the part of either monarch, were at heart allies of one of them against the others. Thus the ancient empire had been practically divided into three, each with its allied kingdoms or seigniories, of which three that of the Zutugils and Ah-Tziquinihayi at Atitlan, was much less powerful and extensive than the others.

There is no doubt that during this final period of Guatemalan history the Mexican traders, who constantly visited the cities of the coast in large caravans for commercial purposes, and who became, as we have seen, practically the masters of Soconusco, exerted an influence also in the politics of the interior. We have seen the prominent part this class played in the conquest of provinces north of the isthmus, and there is much evidence that they were already making their observations and laying plans, by mixing themselves in the quarrels of the Quichés and Cakchiquels, which might have brought the whole country under the Aztec rulers, had it not been for the coming of the Spaniards, which broke up so many cunningly devised plans in America. I have already noticed the expulsion of ambassadors seeking ostensibly an alliance with the southern powers, recorded by Juarros, and also the Mexican aid said to have been furnished the Akahales against the Cakchiquels.

Oxlahuh-Tzy died about 1510, and his colleague two years later, leaving the Cakchiquel throne to Hunyg and Lahuh-Noh. Early in the reign of these kings there came from Mexico the embassy already spoken of in a preceding chapter[XI-63]See p. 470 of this volume; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., p. 624. as having been sent by Montezuma II. probably to obtain information respecting the strangers on the eastern coast, and to consult with the southern monarchs about the best method of treating the new-comers. It is possible also, that the political designs alluded to above had something to do with the embassy, and Brasseur believes that the Mexicans and Cakchiquels formed at this time an alliance offensive and defensive against all foes. War broke out immediately afterwards between the Cakchiquels and Quichés, and lasted almost uninterruptedly for seven years, with no decisive results in favor of either party, although the Cakchiquels, who acted for the most part on the offensive, seem to have had the best of the struggle.

Ravages of the Small-Pox

In 1514, while the war still continued, immense numbers of locusts caused a famine in the Cakchiquel dominions, and in the same year the city of Iximché was almost entirely destroyed by fire. In 1519 the war was suspended, perhaps on receipt of the news brought by the envoy already mentioned, that the Spaniards had landed at Vera Cruz. Omens of sinister import appeared here as at the north, one of the most notable being the appearance of a ball of fire which appeared every evening for many days in the east, and followed the course of the sun until it set in the west. The famous black stone in the temple of Cahbaha was found, when the priests went to consult it in this emergency, broken in two pieces. In 1520 there came upon the Cakchiquels an epidemic cholera morbus, accompanied by a fatal affection of the blood which carried off large numbers, but which were as nothing in their ravages compared with the small-pox which raged in 1521, contracted as is supposed, from the Nahua tribes of the coast region. One half of the whole Cakchiquel population are estimated to have fallen victims to this pestilence, including the two monarchs, who were succeeded by Belehe Qat and Cahi Imox. Whether the pestilence also raged among the Quichés is not known; but the monarchs of Utatlan renewed their hostilities at this time, and the Cakchiquels, weakened by disease and famine, harassed by rebellious vassals, and now attacked again by a powerful foe, adopted the desperate resort of sending an embassy to Mexico to demand the aid of the Spaniards, advised to this course doubtless by their Mexican allies. The reply was the promise that relief would soon be sent. In the meantime two Cakchiquel campaigns are recorded, one most successful in aid of the rulers of Atitlan against insurgents, and the other, less favorable in its results, in aid of the Ah-Tziquinihayi of Pacawal.

The news of the Cakchiquel alliance with the Spaniards caused the most bitter indignation, not only at Utatlan, where Oxib-Quieh and Beleheb Tzy had succeeded to the throne, but among all the tribes of the country, which seem to have formed a combination against the monarchs of Iximché, and to have already begun hostilities when, in February 1524, the approach of Pedro de Alvarado was announced. The details of Alvarado’s conquest belong to another history; but in general terms, after having marched—not without opposition—through Soconusco, he defeated the native forces that attempted to check his progress on the banks of the Rio Tilapa, the Guatemalan frontier line, and advanced against the allied forces that had assembled from all directions in the region of Xelahuh, or Quezaltenango, under the command of Tecum, the Nim Chocoh Cawek of the Quiché monarchy. The two battles which decided the fate of the Quichés were fought near Xelahuh and Totonicapan, so that at Utatlan Alvarado met no open resistance, but was invited to enter the city, the plan being to burn the city and the Spaniards with it. The plot was discovered and the Ahpop and Ahpop Camha burned alive in punishment for their intentions, the city then being burned by the invaders. After the fall of Utatlan, Alvarado marched to Iximché, where he was kindly received by the Cakchiquel kings, and where he established his headquarters for the conquest of other nations, beginning with the Zutugils.[XI-64]Brasseur, Hist., tom. iv., pp. 619-51, with reference to MS. Cakchiquel, and other documents.

Footnotes

[XI-1] See vol. ii., p. 121, et seq.

[XI-2] See map in vol. ii.

[XI-3] Popol Vuh, p. 79; this volume, p. 175.

[XI-4] Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., tom. iii., cap. cxxiv., cxxv.

[XI-5] This vol., pp. 178-80; Popol Vuh, p. 141.

[XI-6] Torquemada, tom. ii., pp. 53-4; Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., tom. iii., cap. cxxiv.

[XI-7] Brasseur, in Popol Vuh, p. cclvi. The only authority referred to on this matter of Copan is the Isagoge Historico, a manuscript cited in García Pelaez, Mem. para la Historia del antiguo Reino de Guatemala, tom. i., p. 45 et seq.

[XI-8] The other names are Lamak, Cumatz, Tuhalha, Uchabaha, Chumilaha, Quibaha, Batenab, Acul-Vinak, Balamiha, Canchahel, and Balam-Colob, most of which Brasseur connects more or less satisfactorily with the scattered ruins in the Guatemala highlands, where these tribes afterwards settled. It is stated by the tradition that only the principal names are given.

[XI-9] The fourth god, Nicahtagah, is rarely named in the following pages; Tohil is often used for the trinity, Tohil, Avilix, and Hacavitz; and Balam-Quitzé for the band of the first four men or high-priests.

[XI-10] The names of the localities named as the hiding-places of the gods are said to be still attached to places in Vera Paz.

[XI-11] See p. 182, of this volume.

[XI-12] Another document consulted by Brasseur, Popol Vuh, p. 286, places four generations between Balam-Quitzé and Qocaib and Qocavib mentioned above as his sons.

[XI-13] Brasseur insists that this was Acxitl Quetzalcoatl, the last Toltec king, who had founded a great kingdom in Honduras, with the capital at Copan. Popol Vuh, p. 294.

[XI-14] Brasseur, in Popol Vuh, p. 297, gives a list from another document of many of these new settlements, many of which as he claims can be identified with modern localities. The chief of the new towns was Chiquix, ‘in the thorns,’ possibly the name from which Quiché was derived. This city occupied four hills, or was divided into four districts, the Chiquix, Chichac, Humetaha, and Culba-Cavinal.

[XI-15] Popol Vuh, pp. 205-99; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 83-118.

[XI-16] Brasseur, in Popol Vuh, pp. ccliii-cclxxi. The manuscripts referred to by this writer for this and the preceding information, are:—Título Territorial de los Señores de Totonicapan; Título Territorial de los Señores de Sacapulas; MS. Cakchiquel; Título Real de la Casa de Itzcuin-Nehaib; and Título de los Señores de Quezaltenango y de Momostenango.

[XI-17] Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 73-150. The authorities referred to besides those already named are the following: Fuentes y Guzman, Recopilacion Florida de la Hist. de Guat., MS.; Ximenez, Hist. de los Reyes del Quiché, MS.; Chrónica de la Prov. de Goattemala, MS. The chief authority, however, is the MS. Cakchiquel, or Mémorial de Tecpan-Atitlan.

[XI-18] The tribes named as having gathered here, are the Quichés, Rabinals, Cakchiquels, Zutugils, Ah-Tziquinaha, Tuhalaha, Uchabaha, Chumilaha, Tucurú, Zacaha, Quibaha, Batenab, Balaniha, Canchahel, Balam Colob, Acul, Cumatz, Akahales, and Lamagi.

[XI-19] See p. 182, of this volume.

[XI-20] See vol. iv., pp. 128-30 , for notice of ruins.

[XI-21] See p. 555 of this volume.

[XI-22] This is evidently taken by Juarros, from the Spanish version of the Mexican traditions.

[XI-23] The reader is already aware that no such kings ever reigned over the Toltecs in Anáhuac. It is evident that the author has confounded the Tulan of the Guatemalan annals with Tollan, the Toltec capital in Anáhuac, and the Nahua migration from the Xibalban region in the fourth or fifth century, with that of the Toltecs in the eleventh.

[XI-24] Juarros, Hist. Guat., (Guat., 1857) pp. 7-9. The extract that I have made extends a little beyond the point at which I have left the other records. I give here also a list of the Quiché kings, who were according to Juarros: 1, Acxopil; 2, Jiuhtemal; 3, Hunahpu; 4, Balam Kiché (Balam-Quitzé); 5, Balam Acam (Balam-Agab); 6, Maucotah (Mahucutah); 7, Iquibalam (Iqi-Balam); 8, Kicab I.; 9, Cacubraxechein; 10, Kicab II.; 11, Iximché; 12, Kicab III.; 13, Kicab IV.; 14, Kicab Tamub; 15, Tecum Umam; 16, Chignaviucelut; 17, Sequechul or Sequechil.

The list of the Quiché princes of the royal house of Cawek, according to the order of the generations, is given in the Popol Vuh, pp. 339-40, Ximenez, pp. 133-4, as follows—the list apparently includes not only the Ahpop, or king, but the Ahpop Camha, heir apparent to the throne. And, as is indicated by the course of the history, and as Brasseur believes, each Ahpop Camha succeeded the Ahpop on the throne, so that the whole number of the Quiché kings, down to the coming of the Spaniards, counting from Qocavib, was twenty-two instead of eleven, as the list might seem to imply and as Ximenez evidently understands it:—1, Balam-Quitzé; 2, Qocavib, (although we have seen that, by other documents several generations are placed between the first and second of this list); 3, Balam Conache (the first to take the title Ahpop); 4, Cotuha and Iztayub; 5, Gucumatz and Cotuha; 6, Tepepul and Iztayul; 7, Quicab and Cavizimah; 8, Tepepul and Xtayub; 9, Tecum and Tepepul; 10, Vahxaki-Caam and Quicab; 11, Vukub Noh and Cavatepech; 12, Oxib-Quieh and Beleheb Tzi (reigning when Alvarado came, and hung by the Spaniards); 13, Tecum and Tepepul; 14, Don Juan de Rojas and Don Juan Cortés.

The princes of the house of Nihaïb given by the same authority, p. 343, Ximenez, pp. 135, were as follows:—1, Balam-Agab; 2, Qoacul and Qoacutec; 3, Qochahuh and Qotzibaha; 4, Beleheb-Gih; 5, Cotuha; 6, Batza; 7, Ztayul; 8, Cotuha; 9, Beleheb-Gih; 10, Quema; 11, Cotuha; 12, Don Christóval; 13, Don Pedro de Robles.

List of the princes of the Royal House of Ahau Quiché, Popol Vuh, p. 345, Ximenez, pp. 136-7; 1, Mahucutah; 2, Qoahau; 3, Caklacan; 4, Qocozom; 5, Comahcan; 6, Vukub-Ah; 7, Qocamel; 8, Coyabacoh, Vinak-Bam. These lists, however, do not seem to correspond altogether with the Quiché annals as given by the same authority, as the reader will see in the succeeding pages.

[XI-25] Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 38, tom. ii., pp. 338-40. See also Helps’ Span. Conq., vol. iii., pp. 246-9.

[XI-26] Geografía, pp. 97-9, 128, et seq.

[XI-27] Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 8.

[XI-28] Voy. Pitt., pp. 41, 646.

[XI-29] Mem. de Tecpan-Atitlan, in Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 155-75.

[XI-30] Pp. 299-307; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 475-99; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 119-21.

[XI-31] In his Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., p. 478, Brasseur seems to regard Balam II. and Conache as two kings, one succeeding the other, but in his notes to Popol Vuh, p. cclxxiii., he unites them in one.

[XI-32] Título de los Señores de Totonicapan.

[XI-33] Título de los Señores de Totonicapan, in the introduction to Popol Vuh, pp. cclxxv-vi.

[XI-34] See p. 529, of this volume.

[XI-35] Mem. de Tecpan-Atitlan, in Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 483-9.

[XI-36] See p. 570-1, of this volume.

[XI-37] Brasseur places his reign somewhere between 1225 and 1275.

[XI-38] The Popol Vuh represents Utatlan, as we have seen, p. 573, to have been first occupied by Cotuha and Gucumatz; meaning, as is shown by the table of kings in the same document—see p. 566, of this volume—by Gucumatz as king and Cotuha II. as second in rank. Brasseur states that the name Gumarcaah was then given to the city, but it is much more likely that this was the ancient name, and Utatlan of later origin.

[XI-39] For description of the ruins of Utatlan, see vol. iv., pp. 124-8 .

[XI-40] Juarros, Hist. Guat., pp. 9-16.

[XI-41] Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 150-2, 475-7, 499. The opinion that Hunahpu and Gucumatz were identical, however, is said to receive some support from the Isagoge Historico, of Pelaez’ work, quoted by Id., in Popol Vuh, p. 316.

[XI-42] See vol. ii., pp. 637-44.

[XI-43] Or, as Ximenez renders it, to Hell.

[XI-44] He is named as being of the fifth generation in the tables at the end of the document.

[XI-45] Popol Vuh, pp. 307-17; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 121-5; Id., Escolios, in Id., pp. 165-8. This last work is perhaps the same as that quoted by Brasseur as Ximenez, Hist. de los Reyes del Quiché, MS., but it is merely a list of kings with some of their deeds, adding nothing whatever, in a historical point of view, to the translation of the Quiché record.

[XI-46] Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 493-9; Id., in Popol Vuh, p. cclxxvi.

[XI-47] Título de los Señores de Totonicapan, in Popol Vuh, pp. cclxxvi-vii.

[XI-48] Mem. de Tecpan-Atitlan, in Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 501-3.

[XI-49] See p. 576, of this vol.

[XI-50] Cakchiquels and Pipiles almost constantly at war; Squier’s Cent. Amer., p. 323; Id., in Nouvelles Annales, tom. cliii., p. 180.

[XI-51] Juarros, Hist. Guat., pp. 16-23. Fuentes used a history written by a son and grandson of the last king of Guatemala, Müller, Amer. Urrel., p. 454. Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 46, declares the Guatemalan manuscripts not reliable, and states that the Macario manuscript used by Fuentes was badly translated.

[XI-52] Juarros, Hist. Guat., pp. 23-4.

[XI-53] The seventh according to the tables.

[XI-54] Popol Vuh, pp. 317-27; Ximenez, Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 125-9. There are some differences and omissions in the Spanish translation.

[XI-55] Escolios, in Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 168-9.

[XI-56] Mem. de Tecpan-Atitlan, in Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 503-45.

[XI-57] Escolios, in Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 169-71.

[XI-58] Juarros, Hist. Guat., pp. 24-6.

[XI-59] Id., pp. 9-11, 35-9.

[XI-60] Mem. de Tecpan-Atitlan, in Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 529-45.

[XI-61] Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 26. It is impossible to connect this account in any way with the others.

[XI-62] Ximenez, Escolios, in Hist. Ind. Guat., pp. 172-3.

[XI-63] See p. 470 of this volume; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., p. 624.

[XI-64] Brasseur, Hist., tom. iv., pp. 619-51, with reference to MS. Cakchiquel, and other documents.

Chapter XII • Miscellaneous Tribes of Central America • 3,700 Words

Scarcity of Historical Data—The Tribes of Chiapas—The Founders and Heroes of the Chiapanec Nation—Wars with the Aztecs—The People of the Southern Coast—They are vanquished by the Olmecs—Their Exodus and Journey—They settle and separate—Juarros’ Account of the Origin and later History of the Pipiles—Pipile Traditions—The Founding of Mictlan—Queen Comizahual—Acxitl’s Empire of the East—The Cholutecs—Various Tribes of Nicaragua—Settlements on the Isthmus.

It is my purpose to relate in this chapter all that is known of the scattered tribes of Central America, exclusive of the Quiché-Cakchiquels. The historical information that has been preserved respecting these tribes is, however, so meagre and of such a vague and unsatisfactory character that the reader must expect nothing more than a very disconnected and incomplete account of them.

Chiapas, which is geographically the most northerly portion of Central America, though politically it belongs to Mexico, was inhabited in its northern part by the Tzendales and Zoques, in its central and southern region by the Chiapanecs, Zotziles, and Quelenes.[XII-1]See for location of these tribes, vol. i., pp. 681-2. The Tzendales lived in the vicinity of Palenque, and are said to have been directly descended from the builders of that city. Of the Zotziles and Quelenes nothing is known, save that they, together with the Tzendales and the Zoques, were at a late date subjugated by the Chiapanecs.[XII-2]Herrera, dec. iv., lib. x., cap. xi.; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, p. 264; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 16.

The Chiapanecs

The Chiapanecs, according to some authorities, came originally from Nicaragua. After a long and painful journey they arrived at the river Chiapa. Finding the region to their taste they resolved to settle, and founded a strong city upon the neighboring heights.[XII-3]Remesal, ib.; Herrera, ib.; Murguia, Estadist. Guajaca, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. vii., p. 187. Fuentes asserts that they were descended from the Toltecs, and that their kingdom was founded by a brother of Nima Quiché, one of the chiefs who led the Toltecs to Guatemala.[XII-4]Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 8. There can be no doubt that the Chiapanecs were a very ancient people; indeed their traditions refer us back to the time of Votan.[XII-5]Clavigero, tom. iv., p. 52, tom. i., pp. 150-1; Larrainzar, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. iii., p. 92; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., p. 202. Boturini, on the authority of Bishop Nuñez de la Vega, speaks of an original record in which Votan is represented as the third figure in the Chiapanec calendar. The record also enumerates the places where Votan tarried, and states that ever since his visit there has been in Teopixca a family bearing his name. Vega believes that the original population of Chiapas and Soconusco were of the race of Cham.[XII-6]Boturini, Idea, pp. 115, 118-19. The twenty heroes whose names are immortalized in the calendar of the Chiapanecs are commonly said to have been the founders or first rulers of that nation. We are told that they all distinguished themselves, and that some died in their beds, some on the battle-field, others at the hands of their rivals, but beyond this scarcely any record of their lives or deeds has survived. One of them named Chinax, a military leader represented with a flag in his hand, was hanged and burned by an enemy; of another named Been, it is stated that he traveled through Chiapas, leaving special marks of his visits in the places through which he passed. It appears by the calendar that Imox, sometimes called Mox, and occasionally Ninus, was the first settler in Chiapas. According to the worthy prelate above mentioned, this Ninus was the son of Belo, who was the son of Nimrod, who was the son of Chus, who was the grandson of Cham. He was represented by or with the ceiba tree,[XII-7]Five-leaved silk-cotton tree, Bombax Ceiba. from whose roots, it is said, the Chiapanec race sprang.[XII-8]Piñeda, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. iii., pp. 344-5. The names of these heroes were: Imox, Igh, Votan, Chanan, Abah, Tox, Moxic, Lambat, Molo or Mulu, Elab, Batz, Evob, Been, Hix, Tziquin, Chabin, Chic, Chinax, Cahogh, Aghual. It is Orozco y Berra’s opinion that the Chiapanecs should be placed before the better known tribes[XII-9]Who these ‘better known tribes’ are is not stated. and after the builders of Palenque and Copan. Their language has not been classified, but is said to resemble that of the Nicoya region.[XII-10]Piñeda, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. iii., p. 346. The history, position and civilization of the Chiapanecs shows that they preceded, or were at least contemporaries of the first tribes or factions of the Aztec family. They were certainly a very ancient people, and of Toltec origin, while their civilization undoubtedly came from the north and not from the south. Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 44, 60, 120.

The spot on which the pioneer settlers of the Chiapan region established their first stronghold was so difficult of access as to be almost unassailable, and was fortified so strongly both by nature and art, that it was practically impregnable. From here the inhabitants kept up a constant warfare with the Aztec garrisons at Tzinacatla, Soconusco and elsewhere.[XII-11]Clavigero, tom. iv., pp. 267-8; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 73, 178; Herrera, dec. iv., lib. x., cap. xi.; Larrainzar, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. iii., p. 92; Brasseur, Esquisses, p. 17. They cordially hated the Mexicans, and persistently refused to intermarry with them. Their enemies seem to have been stronger than they, but by their valor they not only maintained their independence until the time of the Conquest, but, as we have seen, they subjugated the surrounding nations. They incurred the bitter enmity of the Chinantecs, because they forced the Zoques to pay tribute.[XII-12]Herrera, dec. iv., lib. x., cap. xi.; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, p. 264.

The Pipiles

The southern coast region of Chiapas, between Tehuantepec and Soconusco, was occupied by a people whose origin is involved in some mystery. Brasseur relates that they came from Cholula; probably in the ninth century, at the time when Huemac took that city and persecuted the followers of Quetzalcoatl. Torquemada identifies them with the Pipiles of Guatemala and Salvador,[XII-13]Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 333. Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., p. 76, identifies them with the Pipiles and Xuchiltepecs. of whom I shall speak presently. These coast people were an industrious, frugal race, and for a long time they held peaceable possession of their territory, and prospered exceedingly. But their happy life was destined to be rudely and suddenly changed to one of bondage and oppression. A horde of fierce Olmecs invaded and conquered their country, and immediately reduced the vanquished to a state of miserable slavery. Not only were they forced to pay excessive and ruinous tribute, but they were compelled to yield up their children of both sexes to gratify the unnatural lusts of their masters. They were, besides, made amenable to a most rigorous system of laws, the least infraction of which was punished with death. For a time they groaned passively under this cruel yoke, but at length it grew unbearable. Then in their deep trouble they appealed to their priests for help and advice. The priests consulted the oracles and at the end of eight days announced to the people that the only way in which they could escape from their persecutors was to leave the country in a body, and go in search of another home. At first the people seemed disposed to question the prudence and feasibility of this step, but they were speedily re-assured by the priests, who declared that the gods would aid and protect them in their flight. A day was then set for their departure, and they were instructed in the meantime to provide themselves with everything necessary for a long journey. At the appointed time they assembled secretly, and set out at once. It would be difficult to believe that an entire nation of slaves could have made such an exodus unknown to and against the will of their masters, even though we read of a parallel case in Holy Writ; but, however this might be, they seem to have taken the road towards Guatemala without hindrance, and to have been pursued by no Olmec Pharaoh.[XII-14]Torquemada, tom. i., p. 332.

According to the tradition, they continued their march down the coast for twenty days, until they came to the banks of the river Michatoyatl. Here their chief priest fell sick, and the country being very pleasant, they halted for a time. Before long the priest died, and they then proceeded on their journey, leaving, however, some families behind, who settled here and founded a city, afterwards known in Guatemalan history by the name of Itzcuintlan. After this there is some confusion in the different accounts. Following the plainest version, similar circumstances caused them to make another halt twenty leagues lower down, in the neighborhood of the volcano Cuzcatlan.[XII-15]Cuzcatlan was the ancient name of Salvador. Here they found a lovely climate, and a productive soil, and that part of them that has since borne the name of Pipiles resolved to settle. The others went farther south, towards the Conchagua Gulf;[XII-16]Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 78-9. Torquemada, tom. i., p. 332, relates that twenty days after starting, one of their high-priests died. They then traversed Guatemala, and journeying a hundred leagues farther on, came to a country to which the Spaniards have given the name of Choluteca, or Choroteca. Here another priest died. After this the author goes on to tell the story which, according to the version followed above, applies to the Xuchiltepecs who proceeded to the Gulf of Conchagua, and which will be referred to elsewhere. but of these I shall speak again presently.

The authorities do not all assign this origin to the Pipiles, however. Juarros says that Ahuitzotl, king of Mexico, sent to Guatemala, in the garb of traders, a large number of Mexicans of the lowest class, under the command of four captains and one general. These were instructed to settle in the country. Ahuitzotl did this in order to have auxiliaries so situated as to facilitate his intended military operations against the chiefs of Guatemala. He died, however, before he could carry out this policy. The new settlers spoke the Mexican language very poorly, much as children might speak it; for this reason they were called Pipiles, which in Mexican signifies children.[XII-17]Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 224. A reduplication of pilli, which has two meanings, ‘noble,’ and ‘child,’ the latter being generally regarded as its meaning in the tribal name. Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. 137. See also Molina, Vocabulario. They prospered and multiplied wonderfully in their new home, and extended their settlements to Sonsonate and Salvador. But after a time they incurred the enmity of the Quichés and Cakchiquels, by whom they were so sorely oppressed that there was danger of their being speedily exterminated. In this emergency the Pipiles formed a military organization, much as Ahuitzotl had originally intended. But some time later the chiefs began to abuse the power with which they had been invested by imposing heavy taxes and otherwise robbing the people. Moreover, the principal lord, named Cuaucmichin, introduced human sacrifice, and made victims of some of the most highly esteemed persons in the community. A riot broke out, during which Cuaucmichin was put to death by the people of his palace. The other chiefs were also deprived of their authority, and left with the inferior rank of Alahuaes, or heads of calpullis. A nobleman named Tutecotzemit, a man of mild disposition, kind heart, and good ability to govern was then invested with the supreme authority. It appears that he was not free from ambition, however. His first step was to form a council, or senate, of eight nobles, connected with himself by blood or marriage, to whom he granted a certain amount of authority. He then appointed a number of subordinate officers, chosen from among the nobility, who were subject to the orders of the senate. He next proceeded to reduce the imposts and to remedy the evils that had arisen from previous misgovernment. Having thus gained the confidence and affection of the people, he caused himself to be formally proclaimed king of the Pipiles with the right of transmitting the crown to his children and their descendants. It is recorded that the Pipiles played a very prominent part in the numerous wars that took place between the several kingdoms of Guatemala. In later years they were engaged in a very long and bitter conflict with the Cakchiquels, in which they were finally worsted by Nimahuinac, king of that people, who forced Tonaltut, lord of the Pipiles, to sue for peace, and only granted it on the condition that the Pipiles should bind themselves to a perpetual alliance with the Cakchiquel kings.[XII-18]Juarros, Hist. Guat., pp. 81-4, 17-18, 20, 23, 26.

All that has been preserved of their earlier history is contained in two traditions, which are half if not wholly mythical. The first of these refers to the period immediately following the settlement of the Pipiles at their last halting-place in Salvador, and especially to the founding of Mictlan, a city which subsequently corresponded in its sacred character to Cholula on the eastern plateau of Mexico, and Mitla in Oajaca. The story goes that there issued one day from Lake Huixa a mysterious old man of venerable aspect, clad in long blue robes, and wearing upon his head a pontificial mitre. He was followed by a young girl of peerless beauty, dressed in a similar manner, excepting the mitre. Soon after his appearance the old man betook himself to the summit of a neighboring hill. There under his directions the people at once set about building a splendid temple, which received the name of Mictlan. Round about the sacred edifice the palaces of the chiefs rose in rapid succession, and in an incredibly short space of time a thriving and populous city had grown out of the desert. The same mysterious personage gave them laws and a system of government, under which they continued to prosper until the end.[XII-19]‘L’époque que les événements paraissent assigner à cette légende coïncide avec la période de la grande émigration toltèque et la fondation des divers royaumes guatémaliens qui en furent la conséquence.’Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., p. 81.

The other tradition to which I have alluded was preserved at the time of the Conquest by the inhabitants of Cerquin, a province in the mountainous region of northern Honduras. There is reason to believe that the people to whom it relates were Pipiles, as they extended their possessions in this direction, but their name is not given in connection with the story, which attributes to a woman the honor of having first introduced culture into this part of the country, two hundred years before the advent of the Spaniards. She is described as having been very beautiful, of a fair complexion, and well versed in the art of magic. She appeared suddenly, as if dropped from the sky, for which reason, and because of the great respect which she inspired, she was named Comizahual, or ‘flying tigress,’ the tiger being an animal held sacred by the natives. She took up her abode at Cealcoquin, and erected there many temples which she ornamented with monstrous figures of men and animals. In the principal temple she placed a stone having three sides, on each of which were three faces of hideous aspect. By means of the magic virtues which lay within this stone she overthrew her enemies and added to her dominions. She reigned gloriously for a number of years, and had three sons, though she was unmarried and had never known a man. When she felt her end drawing near, she summoned these princes to her presence, and after giving them the best of advice regarding the way in which they should govern, she divided her kingdom equally between them. She then caused herself to be carried on her bed to the highest terrace of the palace, and suddenly vanished, amid thunder and lightning. It is recorded that her three sons governed well and wisely, but no particulars of their reigns are given.[XII-20]Torquemada, tom. i., p. 336; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 106-7; Herrera, dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. iv.

Empire of the East

Brasseur implies that the Pipiles were in some way connected with or subject to the empire which he believes Topiltzin Acxitl, the last Toltec king of Anáhuac, to have founded in Central America, since he speaks of Mictlan being the seat of the spiritual power of that realm. I have already expressed my opinion that this empire of the East is the offspring of the Abbé’s inventive imagination; but at the same time, notwithstanding the two or three allusions upon which he must found his theory are so vague as to be practically meaningless, he manages to give a tolerably definite description of the condition in which the Cakchiquels found it when they came after a long and arduous pilgrimage from Anáhuac to do homage to Acxitl. He confesses his ignorance of the particulars of the Toltec monarch’s journey, and of the means by which he attained universal dominion in the east, but adds that it is certain that with the aid of the Toltec emigrants, like himself, and the Chichimecs of all languages, who followed in his footsteps, he had succeeded in establishing a kingdom larger, perhaps, than that which he had lost, and in conferring upon his subjects the benefits of civilization as well as the cult of Quetzalcoatl, of whom he was the supreme representative. Taught by experience the benefits of such a policy, he united under his authority the bands of emigrants that were constantly arriving, and with their assistance conquered by force of arms such of the surrounding provinces as would not peaceably acknowledge his supremacy. It was his custom to leave those princes who offered no resistance to his encroachments in possession of their titles and dignities, merely making them nominal vassals of the empire. By pursuing this policy Acxitl became so powerful that none of the numerous Quiché and Cakchiquel chiefs who afterwards founded states in these regions dared to assume the royal authority until they had been formally instated in their possessions by him. Thus it was that at the time when the Cakchiquels descended from the mountains to the plateau of Vera Paz, they found Acxitl occupied in conferring the sovereignty of that region upon one of the most renowned of the warriors who had followed him from Tollan, named Cempoal Taxuch before his coronation, and Orbaltzam afterwards.[XII-21]Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 101-5.

Nicaraguan Tribes

Let us now follow the fortunes of the Xuchiltepecs, or that part of the tribes of the coast of Chiapas which separated from the Pipiles at Cuzcatlan. Following the coast southward they arrived at the Gulf of Conchagua. Here they were forced to halt, by the illness and subsequent death of the priest who had hitherto been their guide. Before expiring, the old man, who seems in some way to have gained a knowledge of that region, gave them full information as to what they might expect of the surrounding nations, exhorted them to settle and live in peace, and predicted that their ancient enemies, the Olmecs, would eventually become their slaves. The Xuchiltepecs accordingly stayed permanently where they were, on the borders of Honduras, Salvador, and Nicaragua, and bore henceforward the name of Cholutecs, from the country from which they originally came.[XII-22]Torquemada, tom. i., p. 332; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 79, 107-8. See vol. i., of this work, p. 791, for territory of Cholutecs.

Of the other tribes of Nicaragua nothing is known, except the names and localities of those that inhabited the strip of country between the Pacific coast and the lakes. Of these, the Orotiñans occupied the country about the Gulf of Nicoya and south of the Lake of Nicaragua. Their principal towns were Orotiña, Cantren, and Choroté.[XII-23]Torquemada, tom. i., p. 332; Levy, Nicaragua, p. 6; see vol. i., of this work, p. 792. North of these were the Dirians, whose chief cities were settled at the foot of the volcano of Mombacho, and at Managua on the lake of that name.[XII-24]Id. North of the Dirians were the Nagrandans, or Mangnés, whose territory lay between Lake Managua and the ocean.[XII-25]Id. The Chontales inhabited the mountainous region north-east of Lake Nicaragua.[XII-26]Id., p. 790.Immediately south of the Cholutecs were the Chorotegans. These two nations are often regarded as identical. According to Squier the Chorotegans included the Orotiñans, Dirians, and Nagrandans.[XII-27]Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856), vol. ii., pp. 309-12; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 35. The Niquirans, or Nicaraguans, were one of the most prominent tribes in Nicaragua.[XII-28]For locality, see vol. i., p. 792. There is some confusion about their origin. Torquemada implies that they were part of the tribes that were driven from their home on the coast of Chiapas by the Olmecs, who, after the death of their priest at the Gulf of Conchagua, continued their journey to the Atlantic coast, along which they traveled as far as Nombre de Dios, founding several towns on the way. Thence they returned, in search of a fresh-water sea, to Nicoya, where they were informed that a few leagues farther on was a fine lake. They accordingly proceeded to the spot upon which Leon now stands, and there formed settlements. But growing dissatisfied with this site, they afterwards went to Nicaragua, where, by a treacherous ruse, they killed the inhabitants and took possession of the land.[XII-29]Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 332-3. Brasseur tells much the same story of their travels and ultimate settlement in Nicaragua, but asserts that they were Toltecs.[XII-30]Hist., tom. ii., pp. 108-9.

Footnotes

[XII-1] See for location of these tribes, vol. i., pp. 681-2.

[XII-2] Herrera, dec. iv., lib. x., cap. xi.; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, p. 264; Brasseur, Hist., tom. iii., p. 16.

[XII-3] Remesal, ib.; Herrera, ib.; Murguia, Estadist. Guajaca, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. vii., p. 187.

[XII-4] Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 8.

[XII-5] Clavigero, tom. iv., p. 52, tom. i., pp. 150-1; Larrainzar, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. iii., p. 92; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., p. 202.

[XII-6] Boturini, Idea, pp. 115, 118-19.

[XII-7] Five-leaved silk-cotton tree, Bombax Ceiba.

[XII-8] Piñeda, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. iii., pp. 344-5. The names of these heroes were: Imox, Igh, Votan, Chanan, Abah, Tox, Moxic, Lambat, Molo or Mulu, Elab, Batz, Evob, Been, Hix, Tziquin, Chabin, Chic, Chinax, Cahogh, Aghual.

[XII-9] Who these ‘better known tribes’ are is not stated.

[XII-10] Piñeda, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. iii., p. 346. The history, position and civilization of the Chiapanecs shows that they preceded, or were at least contemporaries of the first tribes or factions of the Aztec family. They were certainly a very ancient people, and of Toltec origin, while their civilization undoubtedly came from the north and not from the south. Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 44, 60, 120.

[XII-11] Clavigero, tom. iv., pp. 267-8; Bernal Diaz, Hist. Conq., fol. 73, 178; Herrera, dec. iv., lib. x., cap. xi.; Larrainzar, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, tom. iii., p. 92; Brasseur, Esquisses, p. 17.

[XII-12] Herrera, dec. iv., lib. x., cap. xi.; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, p. 264.

[XII-13] Monarq. Ind., tom. i., p. 333. Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., p. 76, identifies them with the Pipiles and Xuchiltepecs.

[XII-14] Torquemada, tom. i., p. 332.

[XII-15] Cuzcatlan was the ancient name of Salvador.

[XII-16] Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 78-9. Torquemada, tom. i., p. 332, relates that twenty days after starting, one of their high-priests died. They then traversed Guatemala, and journeying a hundred leagues farther on, came to a country to which the Spaniards have given the name of Choluteca, or Choroteca. Here another priest died. After this the author goes on to tell the story which, according to the version followed above, applies to the Xuchiltepecs who proceeded to the Gulf of Conchagua, and which will be referred to elsewhere.

[XII-17] Juarros, Hist. Guat., p. 224. A reduplication of pilli, which has two meanings, ‘noble,’ and ‘child,’ the latter being generally regarded as its meaning in the tribal name. Buschmann, Ortsnamen, p. 137. See also Molina, Vocabulario.

[XII-18] Juarros, Hist. Guat., pp. 81-4, 17-18, 20, 23, 26.

[XII-19] ‘L’époque que les événements paraissent assigner à cette légende coïncide avec la période de la grande émigration toltèque et la fondation des divers royaumes guatémaliens qui en furent la conséquence.’Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., p. 81.

[XII-20] Torquemada, tom. i., p. 336; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 106-7; Herrera, dec. iv., lib. viii., cap. iv.

[XII-21] Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 101-5.

[XII-22] Torquemada, tom. i., p. 332; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 79, 107-8. See vol. i., of this work, p. 791, for territory of Cholutecs.

[XII-23] Torquemada, tom. i., p. 332; Levy, Nicaragua, p. 6; see vol. i., of this work, p. 792.

[XII-24] Id.

[XII-25] Id.

[XII-26] Id., p. 790.

[XII-27] Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856), vol. ii., pp. 309-12; Oviedo, Hist. Gen., tom. iv., p. 35.

[XII-28] For locality, see vol. i., p. 792.

[XII-29] Torquemada, tom. i., pp. 332-3.

[XII-30] Hist., tom. ii., pp. 108-9.

Chapter XIII • History of the Mayas in Yucatan • 7,500 Words

Aboriginal Names of Yucatan—The Primitive Inhabitants from the East and West—Zamná, the Pontiff-King—The Itzas at Chichen—Rule of Cukulcan at Chichen and Mayapan—His Disappearance on the Gulf Coast—The Cocome Rule at Mayapan—Appearance of the Tutul Xius—Translation of the Maya Record by Perez and Brasseur—Migration from Tulan—Conquest of Bacalar and Chichen—Itza Annals—Tutul Xius at Uxmal—Overthrow of the Cocome Dynasty—The Confederacy, or Empire, of Tutul Xius, Itzas, and Cheles—Fable of the Dwarf—Overthrow of the Tutul Xius—Final Period of Civil Wars.

Respecting the original name of Yucatan, Bishop Landa tells us that it was called Ulumil Cuz and Etel Ceh, ‘land of turkeys and deer.’ Padre Lizana writes the name U Luumil Cutz and U Luumil Ceb. Malte-Brun claims to have found a tradition to the effect that in the early time the interior plains of the peninsula were submerged, forming lakes, and the people lived in isolated groups by fishing and hunting. Landa also applies the name Peten, ‘isle,’ thinking that the natives believed their country to be surrounded with water. The Perez manuscript terms the peninsula Chacnouitan, which Gallatin believes to have been its true name; while Brasseur regards this as the ancient name of only the southern portion of the country. There is no doubt that the native name of Yucatan at the coming of Europeans and afterwards was Maya. Several authors define this as ‘land without water,’ a most appropriate name for this region. Brasseur in one place derives the name from Mai, that of an ancient priest; Cogolludo says the country was named from its capital or chief city thus differing at each successive epoch, being in ancient times Mayapan, but in the time of the writer, Campeche. Ternaux-Compans declares that from the fall of Mayapan to the coming of the Spaniards the country had no general name. All agree that the name Yucatan originated from a misunderstanding by the Spaniards of the words first pronounced by the natives when questioned about the name of their country.[XIII-1]On the name of this country see:—Landa, Relacion, and Brasseur, in Id., pp. 6, 8, 42-3; Lizana, in Id., p. 348; Perez MS., in Id., pp. 421, 429; Id., in Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 465, 467; see also vol. i., pp. 139-40; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 60-1, 178-9; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 28; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcvii., pp. 30-1; Malte-Brun, Yucatan, pp. 14-15; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 60.

Migration from the East

The earliest inhabitants are supposed to have come from the east. As they fled before their enemies their god had opened a path for them through the sea.[XIII-2]Landa, Relacion, p. 28; Herrera, dec. iv., lib. x., cap. ii. Lizana believes these first inhabitants came from Cuba, which may have been connected with the peninsula in those primitive times; while Orozco y Berra seems to favor the idea that they came to Cuba from Florida.[XIII-3]Lizana, in Landa, Relacion, p. 354; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 128. Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 178, quotes this from Lizana. From this original population, few in numbers, is supposed to have come the ancient name cenial, or ‘little descent,’ applied by the inhabitants to the east; while the name nohenial, ‘great descent’ by which the west was called, originated from a larger migration from that direction. Cogolludo, it is true, claims that the eastern colony was the more numerous of the two, yet, this is not tradition, but his theory, based on the prevalence of the Maya language in connection with the unfoundedassumption that those who came from the west must have spoken Aztec.[XIII-4]Lizana and Cogolludo, as above. Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcvii., p. 32, also reverses the statement of the tradition respecting the relative numbers of the respective colonies. All that can be learned from these traditions is the existence among the Mayas of a vague idea that their ancestors came originally from opposite directions. Their idea of the most primitive period of their history, like the idea entertained by other nations whose annals have been presented, was connected with the arrival of a small band from across the ocean. This was the ‘little descent’; by this first band and their descendants the country was peopled and the Maya institutions established. The ‘great descent’ referred to the coming of strangers from the south-west, probably at different times, and at a much later period.

To account for the fact that but one language is spoken in Yucatan, and that closely related to those of Tabasco and Guatemala, Orozco y Berra supposes that the Mayas destroyed or banished the former inhabitants. They were evidently barbarians, as shown by their abandonment of the ruins; perhaps they were the same tribes that destroyed Palenque.[XIII-5]Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 129. But the reader already knows that the builders of the cities were found in possession of the country, and the unity of language is exactly what might be expected, if the traditional colony from the east peopled not only Yucatan, but the adjoining countries, and the subsequent returning colonies from the west came from the countries thus peopled. We learn from Boturini that the Olmecs, Xicalancas, and Zapotecs, of the eastern region of Mexico, fled at the approach of the Toltecs and settled in Yucatan. Veytia shows that if any of these peoples settled in Yucatan, it was from choice, not necessity; Torquemada and others add the Chichimecs and Acolhuas to the peoples that settled Yucatan. Cogolludo and Fancourt include the Teo-Chichimecs,[XIII-6]Veytia, tom. i., p. 237; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 269; Lizana, in Landa, Relacion, p. 354; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 178; Fancourt’s Hist. Yuc., p. 115. while most modern writers favor the theory that the Toltecs occupied Yucatan after their expulsion from Anáhuac in the eleventh century, erecting the cities that have since been found there in so great numbers.[XIII-7]Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 304-8, 342-3, 453-4; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 201-2; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 270-1; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 44-5; Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. i., pp. 99-100; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., pp. 33, 142; Prichard’s Researches, vol. v., p. 346; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcvii., pp. 31-2.

Toltec Theory

The conjectures of the preceding paragraph and many others of a similar nature, are a part of the theory, so often noted in this work, of a general migration of American nations from north to south, a theory which has amounted almost to a mania for dispatching every ancient northern tribe southward, and for searching in the north for the origin of every ancient southern people. It was not enough that the people of Yucatan and Guatemala migrated from the far north-west; but it was necessary to find in each of these states traces of every nation whose presence in Mexico during the past ages has been recorded by tradition. After what has been said on this subject in this and preceding volumes, it is needless to repeat here the arguments against a Mexican origin for the people and monuments of Yucatan. No people in America show less indications of a past intermixture with foreign tribes; the similarity between the monuments and those farther north is sufficiently accounted for by the historical events to be recorded in this chapter; and the conjectures in question are not only unfounded, but wholly uncalled for, serving only to complicate a record which without them is comparatively clear if not very complete.

The Yucatec culture-hero was Zamná, or Ytzamná, who according to the traditions was the first temporal and religious leader, the civilizer, high-priest, and law-giver, who introduced the Maya institutions, divided the country into provinces, and named all the localities in Yucatan. He was accompanied, like other culture-heroes, by a band of priests, artizans, and even warriors. Ruling the country from his capital of Mayapan, he gave the government of the provinces to his companions, reserving the best positions naturally for chieftains of his own blood. Zamná was the reported inventor of the Maya hieroglyphic art, and it is conjectured that the Cocomes, the oldest royal family in Yucatan, were the descendants of this first ruler. He died at an advanced age and was interred at Izamal, supposed to have been at that time near the sea shore, a city which was named for him, and probably founded by him, where his successors erected a sacred temple in honor of his memory, which was for many centuries a favorite shrine for Yucatec pilgrims. Another personage, Kinich Kakmo, is prominent in the Maya mythology, and may probably have been identical with Zamná, or one of his companions.[XIII-8]On Zamná, see:—vol. iii., pp. 462-5 of this work; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 178, 192, 196-7; Landa, Relacion, pp. 328-30; Lizana, in Id., p. 356; Brasseur, Hist., tom. i., pp. 78-80; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 23; Malte-Brun, Yucatan, pp. 15-17.

Zamná may best be connected with the first colony, the ‘little descent,’ the first introduction of Maya institutions into the country, although it is not expressly stated that he was at the head of that colony; and both the colony and its leader may be identified most naturally with the introduction of the Votanic civilization and the establishment of the Xibalban empire already narrated from the traditions of the nations. Whether Zamná was a companion or disciple of Votan, or even identical with that personage, it is, of course, impossible to determine; and it is not by any means necessary to accept literally the arrival of either colony or leader. But the rôle played by Zamná was the same as that of Votan, and the same events at the same epoch may be reasonably supposed to have originated the Yucatec as well as the Tzendal, Quiché, and Toltec traditions of this primitive historic period. The statement of Ordoñez, already referred to, that Mayapan was one of the allied capitals which with Palenque, Tulan, and Copan, constituted the Xibalban, or Votanic, empire, is not improbable, although its truth cannot be fully substantiated.

The Itzaob at Chichen

The next event in the annals of the peninsula is the rule of the Itzaob, three most holy men, at Chichen Itza, over the people also called Itzas. Closely connected with these rulers, and perhaps one of the three, was Cukulcan, or Quetzalcoatl, the ‘plumed serpent.’ Torquemada tells us that in very remote times, at the time of Quetzalcoatl’s disappearance from Mexico, Cukulcan appeared from the west with nineteen followers, all with long beards, and dressed in long robes and sandals, but bare-headed. This author identifies him with Quetzalcoatl. Cogolludo in one place briefly refers to Cukulcan as a great captain and a god; and elsewhere speaks of the coming of Cozas with nineteen followers, introducing the rites of confession and otherwise modifying the religious institutions of the country. Landa speaks of Cukulcan as having afterwards been regarded as a god in Mexico, whence he had come to Yucatan, under the name of Cezalcouati (Quetzalcoatl). Herrera gives him two brothers, and states that the three collected a large population and reigned together in peace for many years over the Itzas at Chichen, where they erected many magnificent temples in honor of their gods. The three brothers lived a most holy and continent life, neither marrying nor associating carnally with women; but at last one of them, Cukulcan, for most of the authorities agree that he was one of them, left his companions and adopted Mayapan as his capital. Landa says on this subject: “It is the opinion of the natives that with the Itzas who settled Chichen Itza there reigned a great lord named Cukulcan, which is shown to be true by the principal edifice called Cukulcan. They say that he entered the country from the west, but they differ as to whether he came before, with, or after the Itzas; and they say he was very moral, having neither wife nor children.” In another place the same author speaks of the three brothers also as having come from the west, reigning at Chichen, agreeing in life and character with Cukulcan, until one of the number died, or at least abandoned his companions and left the country.

After the departure or death of Cukulcan, the two remaining lords gradually gave themselves up to an irregular and dissolute life, and their conduct finally moved their subjects to revolt, to kill the two princes, and to abandon the city. Cukulcan in the meantime devoted his attention to building up, beautifying, and fortifying his new capital, erecting grand temples for the gods and palaces for his subordinate lords, among whom he divided the surrounding country and towns. He ruled here most wisely and prosperously for several years, but at last after fully establishing the government, and instructing his followers respecting their duties and the proper means of ruling the country peacefully, he determined, for some motive not revealed, to abandon the city and the peninsula. He tarried awhile, however, at Champoton on the western coast, where a temple was erected in commemoration of his stay. According to Herrera it was erected by himself.[XIII-9]On Cukulcan and the Itzas, see:—Herrera, dec. iv., lib. x., cap. ii.; Torquemada, tom. ii., p. 52, tom. iii., p. 133; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 190, 196-7; Landa, Relacion, pp. 34-9, 340-2; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 10-13; Malte-Brun, Yucatan, pp. 15-16; Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 140-1.

Cukulcan and the Cocomes

It is evident enough that Cukulcan was the same as Quetzalcoatl, but to determine with which Quetzalcoatl—the Nahua culture-hero or the Toltec king—is a difficult matter. We have seen what complications in Mexican history arise from the fact that the Spanish writers failed to make any distinction between the two, most of them entirely ignoring the latter. Cogolludo dates the departure of Cukulcan in the middle of the twelfth century; Herrera makes it precede by about five hundred and sixty years the coming of the Spaniards; and Brasseur de Bourbourg, in his history, implies that Cukulcan was Acxitl Quetzalcoatl, thus placing his stay in Yucatan in or after the eleventh century. Yet most of the traditions seem to point to the Itzaob and to Cukulcan as preceding the Tutul Xius. The Itzas seem to have been among the most ancient nations in the country, and their name is best derived from that of Ytzamná. Even Brasseur de Bourbourg, in a later work,[XIII-10]In a note to Landa, Relacion, pp. 35, 39; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 155-6. offers the conjectures that the Itzas were Xibalbans who fled from Chiapas after the overthrow of their empire by the Nahuas, and that Cukulcan “was the same as the more or less mythologic personage of whom Sahagun speaks, the leader of the Nahua race to Tamoanchan, who seems identical with the Quetzalcoatl of the Codex Chimalpopoca, and the Gucumatz of the Popol Vuh.”

There is no reason for bringing the Itza people from Chiapas, since they appear to have been like the Cocomes, descendants, or followers, of Zamná, whose history from the death of their great ruler down to Cukulcan’s coming, is unknown. But it is certainly most consistent to identify Cukulcan with the first Quetzalcoatl and with Gucumatz, to regard his appearance and the rule of the three ‘holy princes’ at Chichen and Mayapan as the first introduction of the Nahua influence in Yucatan, and to date it within the first two centuries of the Christian era, while the Nahua power was beginning to rival that of the ancient Xibalba in Chiapas, and while the Olmecs and Xicalancas were becoming established in Vera Cruz and Puebla. Malte-Brun and some others deem Cukulcan and Zamná the same without any apparent reason, although the lives and deeds of both these pontiff-rulers are recorded only in the vaguest manner.[XIII-11]Vol. iii., p. 465; Malte-Brun, Yucatan, pp. 15-16.

It is probable that Cukulcan abandoned Chichen and its people, among whom he at first attempted to establish his peculiar reforms, because his teachings were not so favorably received or so permanent in their effects as he desired, and because he had reason to expect more favorable results among the Cocomes, whom he now adopted as his chosen people. Both ‘listeners’ and ‘serpents’ are given as the signification of the name Cocomes; the first may be referred to the fact that they were the first to ‘listen’ to Cukulcan’s teachings; the second may arise from their relationship to the Votanic race of Chanes, or ‘serpents.’ Torquemada speaks of the Cocomes as the descendants of Cukulcan, but to regard them rather as disciples would be more consistent with the celibate life and chastity attributed to the great teacher. After the Plumed Serpent’s departure the lords of Mayapan, raised to the highest power in the state the chief of the Cocome family, as Landa says, “either because this family was the most ancient or the richest, or because he who was at its head was a very valiant chief.” Many of the aboriginal institutions of this country, as described in a preceding volume, are derived from traditions of this period of Cocome rule, one of the most prosperous in Maya history. The family names of rulers are often used as personal names in the annals of these nations, and thus we find the ruler at Mayapan spoken of as Cocom.[XIII-12]Torquemada, tom. ii., p. 52; Landa, Relacion, pp. 38-45, 54-6; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 179-80; Herrera, dec. iv., lib. x., cap. ii.; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcvii., p. 34; Malte-Brun, Yucatan, pp. 15-6.

Migration of Tutul Xius

Respecting the ensuing period of Cocome rule, we have no record until at a subsequent but undetermined date a new people, the Tutul Xius, appeared from the southern region where they had wandered long and suffered great privations, and settled in the vicinity of Mayapan, being kindly received by the Cocomes. All agree that they came from the south; Herrera brings them from the Lacandon mountains, and speaks of them as having entered Mayapan, where they lived in great peace together with the former inhabitants. Landa judges from linguistic and monumental resemblances that they came from Chiapas. Morelet suggests that they were a band from Palenque.[XIII-13]Landa, Relacion, pp. 44-8. ‘Le nom des Tutul-Xiu paraît d’origine nahuatl; il serait dérivé de totol, tototl, oiseau, et de xíuitl, ou xíhuitl, herbe, etc. En ceci il n’y aurait rien d’extraordinaire, puisqu’ils sortaient de Tula ou Tulapan, cité qui aurait été la capitale des Nahuas ou Toltèques après leur victoire sur Xibalba.’ Brasseur, in Id., p. 47. See also Herrera, dec. iv., lib. x., cap. ii., iii.; Torquemada, tom. iii., p. 132; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 178, 182; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 271; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 171; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcvii., pp. 34-5. I have already shown that the Tutul Xius were probably, like the Quichés and Toltecs, among the tribes that migrated from Tulan in Chiapas at some time between the third and fifth centuries.[XIII-14]This volume, pp. 227-8. Additional study of the subject has caused me to modify considerably in this chapter some of the statements on Maya history contained in vol. ii., pp. 118-20. They were not like the Toltecs a purely Nahua nation, that is, they did not speak the Nahua language; but they were, like the Quichés, a branch of the ancient Maya, or Xibalban, people, which had in Chiapas been subjected to Nahua influences and had adopted to some extent the Nahua institutions. In language they were kindred to the Cocomes, Itzas, and all the aboriginal inhabitants of Yucatan; but like the Cocomes they were also followers of Cukulcan and Quetzalcoatl. Their kind reception is not therefore to be wondered at, and their subsequent prominence in the history of the country accounts for the Nahua analogies observed in Yucatan institutions and monuments.

The Perez Record • Chronology of the Record

I now present in full the Perez document which contains nearly all that is known of the Tutul Xiu annals. I quote the version given in Mr. Stephens’ work, adding in parentheses the variations and a few explanatory notes from Brasseur’s translation.[XIII-15]Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 465-9; Brasseur, in Landa, Relacion, pp. 420-9. “This is the series of Katunes, or epochs, that elapsed from the time of their departure from the land and house of Nonoual, in which were the four Tutul Xiu, lying to the west of Zuina (probably the Tulan Zuiva of the Popol Vuh) going out of the land of Tulapan (capital of Tulan). Four epochs were spent in traveling before they arrived here with Tolonchantepeuj (Holon-Chan-Tepeuh, in both the Maya text and in Brasseur’s translation) and his followers. When they began their journey towards this island (peten, meaning literally ‘island,’ is the word used, but Brasseur tells us that it was applied as well to regions almost surrounded by water, and the Mayas knew very well that their country was a peninsula), it was the 8 Ahau, and the 6 Ahau, the 4 Ahau, and the 2 Ahau[XIII-16]For an account of this system of Ahau Katunes and the order of their succession, see vol. ii., pp. 762-5. were spent in traveling; because in the first year of 13 Ahau they arrived at this island (peninsula), making together eighty-one years they were traveling between their departure from their country and their arrival at this island peninsula of Chacnouitan. In the 8 Ahau arrived Ahmekat Tutul Xiu (an error perhaps, for 13 Ahau as above, or this may refer to a later arrival of another party), and ninety-nine years they remained in Chacnouitan. Then took place the discovery (conquest) of the province of Ziyan-caan, or Bacalar (Bakhalal, Chectemal at the time of the conquest, probably near the site of Bacalar). The 4 Ahau, the 2 Ahau, and the 13 Ahau, or sixty years, they ruled in Ziyan-caan, when (since) they came here. During these years of their government of the province of Bacalar, occurred the discovery (conquest) of Chichen Itza. The 11 Ahau, 9 Ahau, 7 Ahau, 5 Ahau, 3 Ahau, 1 Ahau, or one hundred and twenty years they ruled in Chichen Itza, when it was abandoned and they emigrated to Champoton (Chanputun) where the Itzas, holy men, had houses (had had dwellings). The 6 Ahau they took possession of the territory of Champoton. The 4 Ahau [and so on for twelve epochs to the 8 Ahau] Champoton was destroyed or abandoned (Brasseur has it, “4 Ahau, etc., etc., and in the 8 Ahau Champoton was destroyed”). Two hundred and sixty years reigned (or had reigned at the time when Champoton was destroyed) the Itzas in Champoton, when they returned in search of their homes (“after which they started out anew in search of homes,” according to Brasseur), and then they lived for several epochs under the uninhabited mountains (“for several epochs the Itzas wandered, sleeping in the forests, among rocks and wild plants, suffering great privations,” as Brasseur has it, noting an omission of a part of the text in Perez’ translation). The 6 Ahau, 4 Ahau, after forty years they returned to their homes once more, and Champoton was lost to them. (The French version is entirely different; “6 Ahau, 4 Ahau”—they wandered as above—”after which they—the Itzas—had again fixed homes, after they had lost Champoton”). In this Katun of 2 Ahau, Acuitok Tutul Xiu established himself in Uxmal; the 2 Ahau [and so on in regular order for ten epochs to 10 Ahau] equal to two hundred years, they governed and reigned in Uxmal with the governors (powerful lords) of Chichen Itza, and Mayapan. After the lapse of the Ahau Katunes of 11, 9, 6 Ahau, (Brasseur says 7 instead of 6 Ahau, as indeed it must be in order to preserve the order) in the 8 Ahau the governor (the powerful lords) of Chichen Itza was (were) deposed (ruined) because he murmured disrespectfully against Tunac-eel (Hunac Eel); this happened to Chacxibchac of Chichen Itza, who had spoken against Tunac-eel, governor of the fortress of Mayalpan (Mayapan). Ninety years had elapsed, but the tenth of the 8 Ahau was the year in which he was overthrown by Ajzinte-yutchan (Ah-Tzinteyut-Chan) with Tzuntecum, Taxcal, Pantemit, Xuch-ucuet (Xuchu-Cuet), Ytzcuat, and Kakaltecat; these are the names of the seven Mayalpans (lords of Mayapan). In this same period, or Katun, of the 8 Ahau, they attacked king Ulmil (king of the Ulmil) in consequence of his quarrel (festivities) with Ulil, king of Izamal (Ytzmal); thirteen divisions of troops had he when he was routed by Tunac-eel (Hunac Eel, ‘he who gives intelligence’); in the 6 Ahau the war was over, after thirty-four years. In the 6 Ahau, 4 Ahau, 2 Ahau, 13 Ahau, 11 Ahau (Brasseur says in the 8 Ahau), the fortified territory of Mayalpan was invaded by the men of Itza, under their king Ulmil, because they had walls and governed in common the people of Mayalpan. Eighty-three years elapsed after this event and at the beginning of 11 Ahau, Mayalpan was destroyed by strangers of the Uitzes, (perhaps Quichés) or Highlanders, as was also Tancaj (Tancah) of Mayalpan. In the 6 Ahau (8 Ahau according to original text and Brasseur), Mayalpan was destroyed (finally abandoned). The epochs of 6 Ahau, 4 Ahau, and 2 Ahau, elapsed, and at this period the Spaniards, for the first time arrived, and gave the name of Yucatan to this province, sixty years after the destruction of the fortress. The 13 Ahau, 11 Ahau, pestilence and small-pox were in the castles. In the 13 Ahau, Ajpula (Ahpulá) died; six years were wanting to the completion of the 13 Ahau; this year was counted toward the east of the wheel, and began on the 4 Kan (the 4 Kan began the month Pop). Ajpula died on the eighteenth day of the month Zip, in the 9 Ymix (in the third month Zip, and on the ninth day Ymix); and that it may be known in numbers, it was the year 1536, sixty years after the demolition of the fortress. Before the termination of the 11 Ahau, the Spaniards arrived; holy men from the east came with them when they reached this land. The 9 Ahau was the commencement of Christianity; and in this year was the arrival of Toral, the first (new) bishop.”

Such is our chief authority on the aboriginal history of Yucatan. It is, as Perez remarks, “rather a list than a circumstantial detail of the events,” was doubtless written from memory of the original records after the Spaniards came, and may be inaccurate at some points. Perez claims to interpret its chronology according to his theory that the Ahau Katun was a period of twenty-four years;[XIII-17]See vol. ii., pp. 762-5. while Brasseur, following most of the Spanish writers, reckons an Ahau Katun as only twenty years. I do not propose to enter into any further discussion on this point, but it should be noted that while Perez adduces strong arguments in favor of his general theory of the length of these periods, neither his translation of the document in question nor his comments thereon are at all consistent with his own theory. The document states clearly that Ahpula died in 1536, six years before the end of 13 Ahau, which must have closed in 1541. An accurate calculation, reckoning twenty-four years to an epoch, would make the 8 Ahau in which the Tutul Xius left their ancient home, begin with the year 173, A.D.,[XIII-18]In his Hist. Nat. Civ., Brasseur follows this system and repeatedly gives 174 (171 on p. 228 of this volume is a misprint) as the date of this migration, using it indeed to fix the date of the migration of the Toltecs and Quichés from Tulan; but he adopts the other theory in his notes to Landa’s work. instead of 144 as Perez gives it. If we compute the epochs at twenty years each, we have 401 as the date when the migration began. I have not attempted to fix the date of the migration from Chiapas, of which this forms a part, further than to place it before the fifth and probably after the second century; but the date 401 agrees better than that of 173 with the general tenor of the authorities,

I therefore follow this system in forming the following résumé, although I give in notes the dates of the other system, together with some of Perez’ dates.

The Tutul Xius left their ancient home in Chiapas in 401, wandering for eighty-one years before their arrival in 482 at Chacnouitan, or the southern part of the peninsula, under the command of, or together with, Holon Chan Tepeuh.[XIII-19]Reckoning an epoch as 24 years, the migration lasted from 173 to 270, or 97 years instead of 81, as in the text. Perez has it from 144 to 217, or 73 years, which agrees neither with the text nor with his own theory. Ahmecat Tutul Xiu arrived with them or at a later period,[XIII-20]As late as 661 or 485, if Perez’ statement of 8 Ahau be accepted, which is inconsistent with the whole record. and they remained ninety-nine years in Chacnouitan, down to 581.[XIII-21]From 218 to 360, according to Perez; or according to his statement that four epochs elapsed, from 270 to 366. Then took place the conquest of Bacalar, where they ruled for sixty years, or from 581 to 641; but at the same time the 4 Ahau, 2 Ahau, 13 Ahau, of this period, correspond to the years 701 to 761, leaving the years 641 to 701 unaccounted for.[XIII-22]360 to 432, Perez; 533 to 605, on the basis of 24 years to an epoch. During this rule at Bacalar, or at its end, they took possession of Chichen Itza, where they remained for six epochs, or one hundred and twenty years, from 761 to 881.[XIII-23]432 to 576, Perez; 605 to 725 on the basis of 24 years to an epoch. Then they went to Champoton where the Itzas had been, taking that country in 941,[XIII-24]Or 821 according to the other system. nothing being said of them during the three epochs from 881 to 941. The Itzas had ruled in Champoton for two hundred and sixty years, from 4 (or better 6) Ahau to 8 Ahau, or from 681, when they were probably driven from Chichen,[XIII-25]We have seen above that there is some confusion about the date of the Tutul Xius taking Chichen. to 941 when they were driven out by the Tutul Xius.[XIII-26]In his commentary, Perez applies this stay of 13 epochs to the Tutul Xius, although the text seems to state the contrary, making them live in Champoton from 576 to 888; or if he had added simply the 260 years of the text, 576 to 836; or if he had correctly adapted his chronology to his own theory, from 821 to 1133. On a basis of 24 years to a Katun the stay of the Itzas at Champoton, as given in the text, was from 533 to 821. The Itzas wandered for two epochs, from 941 to 981, suffering great hardships,

and then again obtained fixed homes. Where they settled the record fails to state.[XIII-27]888-936, Perez; 821-869, on the basis of 24 years. Perez, applying this wandering to the Tutul Xius, makes them settle again at Chichen.

Tutul Xiu Annals

Returning to the annals of the Tutul Xius, in 2 Ahau, 981, Ahcuitok Tutul Xiu settled at Uxmal, where his people ruled conjointly with the kings of Chichen and Mayapan for two hundred years, from 981 to 1181.[XIII-28]936-1176, Perez; 869-1109, on basis of 24 years, but this of course would not agree with the two hundred years of the text. In the tenth year of 8 Ahau, or 1191, Chac Xib Chac, and other lords of Chichen, were deposed for some offence against Hunac Eel, the ruler of Mayapan. In the same epoch the Cocome king attacked and defeated the Itza king Ulmil. This war lasted thirty-four years, and was ended before 1221, by the Itzas invading Mayapan.[XIII-29]Perez makes these events, which he seems to regard as two or three distinct wars, fill the time from 1176 to 1258. From 1119 to 1157, on a basis of 24 years.

Eighty-three years passed, and then in 11 Ahau, between 1281 and 1301, Mayapan was conquered by the Uitzes, or mountaineers; and Mayapan was finally abandoned in 8 Ahau, between 1441 and 1461.[XIII-30]1258 to 1368, Perez; 1229 to 1445, on the basis of 24 years. Perez admits in his commentary only one destruction of Mayapan in 1308. After three epochs more, the Spaniards came for the first time, between 1501 and 1521, sixty years after the destruction of Mayapan.[XIII-31]Or, on a basis of 24 years to a Katun, between 1493 and 1517. Either of these dates agrees very well with the facts, since Córdova reached the coast of Yucatan in 1517, and Gerónimo de Aguilar was wrecked there, probably some years earlier. But Perez dates their arrival between 1392 and 1488, before America was discovered! Between 1521 and 1561, the small-pox ravaged the country, and among its victims was Ahpulá, who died in 1536.[XIII-32]Perez directly contradicts the text in placing this death in 1493.Before 1561 came the Spaniards; and in the next epoch Christianity was introduced, and Bishop Toral arrived.

The first event narrated by the preceding document which seems to have any connection with those taken from other authorities is the establishment of the Tutul Xius at Uxmal, where they ruled during the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries with the monarchs of Mayapan and Chichen Itza. All authorities agree on the prosperity attending the reign of the Cocome monarchs in conjunction with the Tutul Xius at Uxmal. It was perhaps in this period that were built a large proportion of the magnificent structures which as ruins have excited the wonder of the world, and have been fully described in a preceding volume;[XIII-33]Vol. iv., pp. 140-285 . although there is no reason to doubt that some of the cities date back to the Xibalban period, to the time of Zamná and his earliest successors. Uxmal and the many cities in its vicinity may be attributed to the Tutul Xius.

The first king of Mayapan after the departure of Cukulcan is generally called Cocom, or Ahcocom, but we know nothing of his successors for some centuries, save Brasseur’s conjecture that the four Bacab mentioned by Cogolludo as gods should be reckoned among the number.[XIII-34]Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 197. At last, probably during the twelfth century, Landa and the other Spanish writers agree that the monarchs at Mayapan began to neglect the interests of their subjects, and to become exceedingly avaricious, oppressing the people by excessive taxation. The first to follow this course of conduct is called by Brasseur Ahtubtun, a name selected from Cogolludo’s list of gods for no other apparent reason than that his name signified ‘spitter of precious stones,’ certainly an indication of extravagance. To his successor this author applies the name Aban and the title Kinehahau. This monarch was even more oppressive than his predecessor, and loud murmurs of discontent began to be heard, but none were strong enough to make any opposition save the Tutul Xius. Either this king or a successor introduced into the country a force of foreign soldiers from Tabasco and southern Vera Cruz, and also established slavery, hitherto unknown in Yucatan.

Overthrow of the Cocomes

The Tutul Xius began their opposition to the Cocomes by sheltering their oppressed subjects. The third of the tyrants, probably identical with the Hunac Eel of the Perez record, was even more oppressive than those that preceded him, and brought in more foreign soldiers. In 1191 the monarch of Chichen Itza, Chac Xib Chac, was deposed by the tyrant and the deposition enforced by the aid of his foreign auxiliaries. Less than ten years later Hunac Eel with his allies marched again against Chichen, now ruled by a new monarch, Ulmil, and defeated him after a long campaign. The end of the trouble is briefly if not very clearly expressed by the author of the Maya record in the statement that Ulmil before 1221 invaded Mayapan.[XIII-35]It seems to me very probable that there is an error or omission by the copyist or translator in this part of the document.

Landa and Herrera relate that the tyranny of the Cocome monarch at last became insupportable, and his subjects with the aid of the Tutul Xius revolted, captured and sacked Mayapan, and put to death the king with all his family, except one son, who chanced to be absent. The king of Uxmal naturally acquired by this overthrow of the Cocome dynasty the supreme power. Ulmil, the Itza king who led the attack against the Cocomes, seems to have received the second place, while the head of the family of Cheles, before high-priest at Mayapan, was given the third rank as king of Izamal. Nearly all the authorities state that Mayapan was destroyed and abandoned at this time; but the dates they give with the fact that this city is mentioned by the Maya record at a much later period, show that it was still inhabited, though deprived of its ancient power.[XIII-36]On this revolution see:—Landa, Relacion, pp. 48-52, 56. This author calls the Chel prince Achchel, and calls him the son-in-law of a venerable priest in Mayapan. Herrera, dec. iv., lib. x., cap. ii., iii.; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 60, 178-9; Lizana, in Landa, Relacion, p. 350; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 28; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 32-40, 48-9. This author calls him Ahalin Chel, and their province Cicontun. Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcvii., pp. 31, 35; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 172-3; Prichard’s Researches, vol. v., p. 347; Malte-Brun, Yucatan, pp. 20-1; Stephens’ Yuc., vol. i., pp. 140-1.

The Tutul Xius on their accession to the supreme power, strengthened their popularity by a liberal policy toward all classes, and by restoring those who had been enslaved or exiled by the Cocomes to their former positions. They also permitted the Xicalanca troops introduced by Hunac Eel and his predecessors to remain in the country, and gave them the province of Canul, or Ahcanul, between Uxmal and Campeche, where they soon became a powerful nation.[XIII-37]Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 41-2, tells us that their province was called Calkini, and the people, from their ruler, took the name of Ahcanuls; and also that they built or enlarged the cities of Sabacché, Labná, and Pokboc. (See vol. iv., pp. 211-8 ) The only authority for the latter statement is probably the location of these ruins in a general southern direction from Uxmal. Cogolludo says the natives of Conil and Choàca, called Kupules, were the most warlike in Yucatan. Hist. Yuc., p. 143; see also Landa, Relacion, p. 54; Herrera, dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iii.The son of the Cocome tyrant, who by his absence from Mayapan at the time of the revolt escaped the fate of his family, on his return was permitted to settle with his friends in the province of Zotuta, where he is said to have built Tibulon, and several other towns. Thus was perpetuated with the ancient Cocome family the mortal hatred which that family continued to feel towards their successful rivals.[XIII-38]Landa, Relacion, pp. 54-5; Herrera, dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iii.; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., p. 42; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 143; Malte-Brun, Yucatan, p. 20.

Fable of the Dwarf

The reign of the Tutul Xius at Uxmal was doubtless the most glorious period of Maya history, but in addition to what has been said we have respecting it only a single tradition which seems to refer to the last king and the overthrow of the dynasty.[XIII-39]Registro Yuc., tom. ii., pp. 261-72. The tradition is given in the form of a dialogue between a visitor to the ruins and a native of extraordinary intelligence, who claimed to be well acquainted with the historical traditions of his race. Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 578-88, gives what is probably an extended translation of the article referred to. Stephens, Cent. Amer., vol. ii., pp. 423-5, obtained from a native a tradition similar in some respects, so far as it goes, which is translated by Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 369-71. An old sorceress lived at Kabah, rarely leaving her chimney corner. Her grandson, a dwarf, by making a hole in her water-jar, kept her a long time at the well one day, and by removing the hearth-stone found the treasure she had so carefully guarded, a silver tunkul and zoot, native instruments. The music produced by the dwarf was heard in all the cities, and the king at Uxmal trembled, for an old prophecy declared that when such music should be heard the monarch must give up his throne to the musician. A peculiar duel was agreed upon between the two, each to have four baskets of cocoyoles, or palm-nuts, broken on his head. The Dwarf was victorious and took the dead king’s place, having the Casa del Adivino built for his palace, and the Casa de la Vieja for his grandmother.[XIII-40]See vol. iv., pp. 172 , 192-7 . The old sorceress soon died, and the new king, freed from all restraint, plunged into all manner of wickedness, until his gods, or idols, abandoned him in anger. But after several attempts the Dwarf made a new god of clay which came to life and was worshiped by the people, who by this worship of an evil spirit soon brought upon themselves destruction at the hands of the outraged deities, and Uxmal was abandoned.

For this tradition we have only Brasseur’s conjectural, but not improbable, interpretation to the effect that the Tutul Xiu throne at Uxmal, in the earlier part of the thirteenth century perhaps, was usurped by a chief of another family, known in tradition as the Dwarf, or the Sorcerer. It is not unlikely that the usurping king was of the Cocome family and that he succeeded in his attempt by the aid of the priesthood. Whoever may have been at its head, the new dynasty was in its turn overthrown apparently by religious strife, and Uxmal ceased to be a capital or centre of temporal power in Yucatan, although its temples may still have been occupied by the priesthood. From the fact that the Maya record, or Perez document, speaks only of Mayapan after this period, it is not unlikely that the Tutul Xiu power was transferred to that ancient capital, after the downfall of its representative at Uxmal. Near the end of the thirteenth century Mayapan was conquered by a foreign army of Uitzes, or mountaineers, the reference being perhaps to a raid of one of the earlier Quiché emperors from Utatlan. For a century and a half, a period of contention between rival dynasties and tribes, we have, besides a few reported predictions of coming disaster, only one definite event, the flight of a band of Itzas under Canek, and their settlement on the islands in Lake Peten, where they were found, a most flourishing community, by the Spaniards. No definite date is given to their migration—or elopement, for a lady was at the bottom of the affair, as some say—except by Villagutierre, who places it in 8 Ahau, or between 1441 and 1461.[XIII-41]Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 507-8; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 29-31, 401-2, 488-91; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 24, 36, 41; Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., p. 200; Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., p. 98; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcvii., pp. 51-2; Squier’s Cent. Amer., pp. 547, 550-1.

Also between 1441 and 1461, Mayapan was finally ruined in the contentions of the factions, and abandoned at the death of a monarch called by some authors Mochan Xiu; the Tutul Xius then seem to have retired to Mani, which was their capital down to the Conquest.[XIII-42]Herrera, dec. iv., lib. x., cap. ii., iii.; Torquemada, tom. iii., p. 132; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 100, 179; Landa, Relacion, pp. 50-2, 62; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 28; Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 140-1; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 172-3. Landa makes the date 100 years before the Conquest, that is 1446. Villagutierre and Cogolludo say 1420. Herrera says 70 years before the arrival of the Spaniards, and 500 years after its foundation. Gallatin makes it 1517 or 1536. For twenty years after the final destruction of Mayapan the tribes are said to have remained at peace and independent of each other; but the remaining century, down to 1561, was one of almost continual inter-tribal strife, of which there is no detailed record, but which, with hurricanes, famine, deadly pestilence, and constantly recurring omens and predictions of final disaster, so desolated and depopulated the country, that the Spaniards found the Mayas but a mere wreck of what they once had been, fighting bravely, but not unitedly, against the invaders.[XIII-43]Landa, Relacion, pp. 58-64; Herrera, dec. ii., lib. iii., cap. i., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iii.; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 97-100, 185; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 63; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 35-7; Torquemada, tom. iii., pp. 132-3; Alcedo, Dicc., tom. iii., p. 473; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, pp. 245-6.

Footnotes

[XIII-1] On the name of this country see:—Landa, Relacion, and Brasseur, in Id., pp. 6, 8, 42-3; Lizana, in Id., p. 348; Perez MS., in Id., pp. 421, 429; Id., in Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 465, 467; see also vol. i., pp. 139-40; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 60-1, 178-9; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 28; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcvii., pp. 30-1; Malte-Brun, Yucatan, pp. 14-15; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 60.

[XIII-2] Landa, Relacion, p. 28; Herrera, dec. iv., lib. x., cap. ii.

[XIII-3] Lizana, in Landa, Relacion, p. 354; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 128. Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 178, quotes this from Lizana.

[XIII-4] Lizana and Cogolludo, as above. Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcvii., p. 32, also reverses the statement of the tradition respecting the relative numbers of the respective colonies.

[XIII-5] Orozco y Berra, Geografía, p. 129.

[XIII-6] Veytia, tom. i., p. 237; Torquemada, tom. i., p. 269; Lizana, in Landa, Relacion, p. 354; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 178; Fancourt’s Hist. Yuc., p. 115.

[XIII-7] Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 304-8, 342-3, 453-4; Bradford’s Amer. Antiq., pp. 201-2; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., pp. 270-1; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 44-5; Mayer’s Mex. Aztec, etc., vol. i., pp. 99-100; Wappäus, Geog. u. Stat., pp. 33, 142; Prichard’s Researches, vol. v., p. 346; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcvii., pp. 31-2.

[XIII-8] On Zamná, see:—vol. iii., pp. 462-5 of this work; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 178, 192, 196-7; Landa, Relacion, pp. 328-30; Lizana, in Id., p. 356; Brasseur, Hist., tom. i., pp. 78-80; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., p. 23; Malte-Brun, Yucatan, pp. 15-17.

[XIII-9] On Cukulcan and the Itzas, see:—Herrera, dec. iv., lib. x., cap. ii.; Torquemada, tom. ii., p. 52, tom. iii., p. 133; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 190, 196-7; Landa, Relacion, pp. 34-9, 340-2; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 10-13; Malte-Brun, Yucatan, pp. 15-16; Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 140-1.

[XIII-10] In a note to Landa, Relacion, pp. 35, 39; Orozco y Berra, Geografía, pp. 155-6.

[XIII-11] Vol. iii., p. 465; Malte-Brun, Yucatan, pp. 15-16.

[XIII-12] Torquemada, tom. ii., p. 52; Landa, Relacion, pp. 38-45, 54-6; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 179-80; Herrera, dec. iv., lib. x., cap. ii.; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcvii., p. 34; Malte-Brun, Yucatan, pp. 15-6.

[XIII-13] Landa, Relacion, pp. 44-8. ‘Le nom des Tutul-Xiu paraît d’origine nahuatl; il serait dérivé de totol, tototl, oiseau, et de xíuitl, ou xíhuitl, herbe, etc. En ceci il n’y aurait rien d’extraordinaire, puisqu’ils sortaient de Tula ou Tulapan, cité qui aurait été la capitale des Nahuas ou Toltèques après leur victoire sur Xibalba.’ Brasseur, in Id., p. 47. See also Herrera, dec. iv., lib. x., cap. ii., iii.; Torquemada, tom. iii., p. 132; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 178, 182; Morelet, Voyage, tom. i., p. 271; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., p. 171; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcvii., pp. 34-5.

[XIII-14] This volume, pp. 227-8. Additional study of the subject has caused me to modify considerably in this chapter some of the statements on Maya history contained in vol. ii., pp. 118-20.

[XIII-15] Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., pp. 465-9; Brasseur, in Landa, Relacion, pp. 420-9.

[XIII-16] For an account of this system of Ahau Katunes and the order of their succession, see vol. ii., pp. 762-5.

[XIII-17] See vol. ii., pp. 762-5.

[XIII-18] In his Hist. Nat. Civ., Brasseur follows this system and repeatedly gives 174 (171 on p. 228 of this volume is a misprint) as the date of this migration, using it indeed to fix the date of the migration of the Toltecs and Quichés from Tulan; but he adopts the other theory in his notes to Landa’s work.

[XIII-19] Reckoning an epoch as 24 years, the migration lasted from 173 to 270, or 97 years instead of 81, as in the text. Perez has it from 144 to 217, or 73 years, which agrees neither with the text nor with his own theory.

[XIII-20] As late as 661 or 485, if Perez’ statement of 8 Ahau be accepted, which is inconsistent with the whole record.

[XIII-21] From 218 to 360, according to Perez; or according to his statement that four epochs elapsed, from 270 to 366.

[XIII-22] 360 to 432, Perez; 533 to 605, on the basis of 24 years to an epoch.

[XIII-23] 432 to 576, Perez; 605 to 725 on the basis of 24 years to an epoch.

[XIII-24] Or 821 according to the other system.

[XIII-25] We have seen above that there is some confusion about the date of the Tutul Xius taking Chichen.

[XIII-26] In his commentary, Perez applies this stay of 13 epochs to the Tutul Xius, although the text seems to state the contrary, making them live in Champoton from 576 to 888; or if he had added simply the 260 years of the text, 576 to 836; or if he had correctly adapted his chronology to his own theory, from 821 to 1133. On a basis of 24 years to a Katun the stay of the Itzas at Champoton, as given in the text, was from 533 to 821.

[XIII-27] 888-936, Perez; 821-869, on the basis of 24 years. Perez, applying this wandering to the Tutul Xius, makes them settle again at Chichen.

[XIII-28] 936-1176, Perez; 869-1109, on basis of 24 years, but this of course would not agree with the two hundred years of the text.

[XIII-29] Perez makes these events, which he seems to regard as two or three distinct wars, fill the time from 1176 to 1258. From 1119 to 1157, on a basis of 24 years.

[XIII-30] 1258 to 1368, Perez; 1229 to 1445, on the basis of 24 years. Perez admits in his commentary only one destruction of Mayapan in 1308.

[XIII-31] Or, on a basis of 24 years to a Katun, between 1493 and 1517. Either of these dates agrees very well with the facts, since Córdova reached the coast of Yucatan in 1517, and Gerónimo de Aguilar was wrecked there, probably some years earlier. But Perez dates their arrival between 1392 and 1488, before America was discovered!

[XIII-32] Perez directly contradicts the text in placing this death in 1493.

[XIII-33] Vol. iv., pp. 140-285 .

[XIII-34] Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 197.

[XIII-35] It seems to me very probable that there is an error or omission by the copyist or translator in this part of the document.

[XIII-36] On this revolution see:—Landa, Relacion, pp. 48-52, 56. This author calls the Chel prince Achchel, and calls him the son-in-law of a venerable priest in Mayapan. Herrera, dec. iv., lib. x., cap. ii., iii.; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 60, 178-9; Lizana, in Landa, Relacion, p. 350; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 28; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 32-40, 48-9. This author calls him Ahalin Chel, and their province Cicontun. Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcvii., pp. 31, 35; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 172-3; Prichard’s Researches, vol. v., p. 347; Malte-Brun, Yucatan, pp. 20-1; Stephens’ Yuc., vol. i., pp. 140-1.

[XIII-37] Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 41-2, tells us that their province was called Calkini, and the people, from their ruler, took the name of Ahcanuls; and also that they built or enlarged the cities of Sabacché, Labná, and Pokboc. (See vol. iv., pp. 211-8 ) The only authority for the latter statement is probably the location of these ruins in a general southern direction from Uxmal. Cogolludo says the natives of Conil and Choàca, called Kupules, were the most warlike in Yucatan. Hist. Yuc., p. 143; see also Landa, Relacion, p. 54; Herrera, dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iii.

[XIII-38] Landa, Relacion, pp. 54-5; Herrera, dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iii.; Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., p. 42; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 143; Malte-Brun, Yucatan, p. 20.

[XIII-39] Registro Yuc., tom. ii., pp. 261-72. The tradition is given in the form of a dialogue between a visitor to the ruins and a native of extraordinary intelligence, who claimed to be well acquainted with the historical traditions of his race. Brasseur, Hist., tom. ii., pp. 578-88, gives what is probably an extended translation of the article referred to. Stephens, Cent. Amer., vol. ii., pp. 423-5, obtained from a native a tradition similar in some respects, so far as it goes, which is translated by Charnay, Ruines Amér., pp. 369-71.

[XIII-40] See vol. iv., pp. 172 , 192-7 .

[XIII-41] Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 507-8; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 29-31, 401-2, 488-91; Waldeck, Voy. Pitt., pp. 24, 36, 41; Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. ii., p. 200; Gondra, in Prescott, Hist. Conq. Mex., tom. iii., p. 98; Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales, tom. xcvii., pp. 51-2; Squier’s Cent. Amer., pp. 547, 550-1.

[XIII-42] Herrera, dec. iv., lib. x., cap. ii., iii.; Torquemada, tom. iii., p. 132; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 100, 179; Landa, Relacion, pp. 50-2, 62; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, p. 28; Stephens’ Yucatan, vol. i., pp. 140-1; Gallatin, in Amer. Ethno. Soc., Transact., vol. i., pp. 172-3. Landa makes the date 100 years before the Conquest, that is 1446. Villagutierre and Cogolludo say 1420. Herrera says 70 years before the arrival of the Spaniards, and 500 years after its foundation. Gallatin makes it 1517 or 1536.

[XIII-43] Landa, Relacion, pp. 58-64; Herrera, dec. ii., lib. iii., cap. i., dec. iv., lib. x., cap. iii.; Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., pp. 97-100, 185; Gomara, Hist. Ind., fol. 63; Villagutierre, Hist. Conq. Itza, pp. 35-7; Torquemada, tom. iii., pp. 132-3; Alcedo, Dicc., tom. iii., p. 473; Remesal, Hist. Chyapa, pp. 245-6.

(Also Available at Project Gutenberg )

• Genre: Racialist Literature, Sociology Writing

Reader Commentary

Current Commenter

says:

Current Date at Time Now

For this content material, only substantive commentary that is highly topical and written in a respectful manner will be displayed by default. Off-topic or vulgar comments may be ignored.

Cancel Commenting

A Name or SIMPLE Pseudonymic Handle

An Optional Website or Link

A Real or Fictitious Email (always hidden)

Remember My InformationWhy?
Email Replies to my Comment

Body of Comment

Submitted comments become the property of The Unz Review and may be republished elsewhere at the sole discretion of the latter

Subscribe to All Hubert Howe Bancroft Comments via RSS